70 BaARD- OF AGRICULTURE. 



be to refuse all coin, because some in circulation was counter- 

 feit. A better way is, to prove well, and bold fast tbe good^ 

 and tbis proving of a new implement is not always a very easy 

 and simple affair. Intelligent labor is as necessary in its opera- 

 tion, as scientific skill was in its original construction. A plougb 

 may be perfect in model, and yet prove a failure in practice, 

 unless tbe materials and workniansbip be good ; and witb these 

 good also, from lack of skill in its use. 



Multiplied and rapidly multiplying as labor-sa\'ing maeliines 

 now are, it is well that our farmers be advised of the experience 

 of their neighbors in their use, and with this view a few state- 

 ments are here appended : 



FKOM AV. D. DAXA, PEEUT. 



" The cast iron ploughs have come into almost universal use. A few 

 of the old wooden ones are still in existence. I don't know of any 

 one using the old Roman crooked stick, or attaching it to the oxen by 

 their tails. Cultivators and horse rakes are in pretty general use. 

 Threshing machines and movy-ers are used by two farmers, but although 

 so slow in adopting new implements, (a portion of which are nothing 

 but humbugs) our farmers are adopting imj^roved modes of husbandry, 

 and the better drainage, ploughing and cultivation generally, is attested 

 by the increased fertility of the fields." 



FEOM S. F. PEELET, KAPIES". 



" Farmers here have been slow to introduce improved implements, 

 or adopt improved methods of husbandry. The iron plough, the cul- 

 tivator and the hoi*se rake have been extensively used. Also improved 

 hand implements, and the drill barrow for sowing small seeds. 



One mowing machine has been put in operation in this town, of 

 Ketchum's manufacture. But it does not fully meet the wants of the 

 farmer. It performs its work well, where the burden, does not exceed 

 one and one-half tuns of hay to the acre. In heavier grass, it is in- 

 clined to clog. Its work is one acre per hour. It will work on ground 

 not perfectly smooth, or free from stones, though it is at the expense 

 of extra wear of the machine. Thorough preparation of the ground is 

 good economy. The most serious objection to this machine, is the 

 severe labor it imposes on the team. The heavy draught, coupled 

 with the requisite speed, a fast walk, soon exhausts a team of two 

 horses ; and a four horse team is cumbersome to manage, making so 

 often short turns, and also adds to the expense. Five or six hours 

 per day is all a single pair of horses, weighing ten or eleven hundred. 



