596 SometTiing Worth Seeing. [December, 



been nearly exhausted of its fertilizing properties, and often only 

 needs a stirring of the substratum, to reanimate and stimulate tbe 

 growth of this great staple, as well as the summer crops. We here 

 appeal to every farmer who cultivates a clayey soil, whether or no 

 upon exhaustion he does not suifer from excessive moisture or ex- 

 cessive drouth. By stirring the subsoil, then, all or nearly all, the 

 evils attending shallow plowing, would be obviated. We are fully 

 persuaded that subsoil plowing would be of incalculable advantage, 

 if practiced generally. But there seems to be in this — more 

 than in some other things — a wonderful reverence for the infallibil- 

 ity of our forefathers ; and it is to be presumed that for years to 

 come, as our forefathers skimmed, so will we, until the cream shall 

 be absolutely all taken off, and nothing but the honnydahher left, or 

 until starvation shall stare them in the face ; and then they will not 

 reform as long as they have it in their power to pull up stahes, and 

 go west. Many are now taking this course, and are purchasing rich 

 lands in Illinois and Kansas, to run over again the same improvident 

 round, coming to the sage conclusion that farming here will no 

 longer pay. We have now in our mind's eye, fields deserted, over- 

 grown with stinted briars, and a useless grass, something like moss, 

 ■which to our certain knowledge, were never plowed more than four 

 inches and a half deep. Such persons, who would thus beggar pos- 

 terity, and starve earth's future millions, should be made to suffer 

 the penalty — at least for a time — to which they are certainly subject- 

 ing others. 



Something Worth Seeing. — Those who are interested in curious 

 and useful mechanical inventions, will be gratified by calling at 

 Moore & Chester's, South-east corner of Walnut and Fifth streets, 

 where there is on exhibition a machine to manufacture all kinds 

 and sizes of ropes and cables, yet dispense entirely with a rope-walk. 

 It can be placed on a table in a parlor, and made to turn off rope at 

 the rate of seventy feet a minute, and this rope more evenly twisted 

 than it can be in a rope-walk. One man can take charge of three 

 machines, and turn out from one to one and a half tons of rope per 

 day. The chief beauty of this machine is the excellent work it per- 

 forms, and the extreme simplicity of its construction — a child hav- 

 ing once seen it can understand its operation, and it can scarcely get 

 out of order. By the revolution of a single main shaft, a contra- 

 motion caused by friction is produced, which twists the strand, lays 



