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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the frame rests on two guiding wheels three-and-a-half 

 feet diameter, and sixteen inches wide on the tire, which 

 prevents their miring in soft ground. There are ad- 

 justible spuds in the periphery of the large drum to pre- 

 vent it slipping. lie guides his machine in a manner 

 something similar to Boy dell. It draws a gang of six 

 ploughs, eaeW,urning a twelve-inch furrow. These are 

 attached to a frame, which, by means of chains and a 

 windlass, is hoisted and lowered by the engine when it is 

 required to turn at the ends of furrows. The turning is 

 done in three-sevenths of a minute. It is worked by 

 two men, an engineer and a fireman, consumes but little 

 fuel and water, and pumps the water into the boiler 

 when either stationary or in motion. Its regular rate of 

 travel when at work is three miles per hour ; and it can 

 be made to start, stop, back, and turn to either side, by 

 a gentle touch of the operator. It is claimed that it will 

 plough twenty acres of sod per diem, at a cost of 2s. per 

 acre. This one of twenty horse-power (American com- 

 putation) costs £bOO. Although this is evidently not a 

 complete success, yet from certificates from respectable 

 engineers and farmers which 1 have seen, I make no 

 doubt but that it warrants us in expecting much from 

 its future performances. There can be no question but 

 that we shall ultimately see steam applied to the harvest- 

 ing of our corn and grass crops as well as to ploughing ; 

 and I rejoice to see the earnest competition which is 

 going on between English and American mechanics to 

 bring about these desirable results. 



To give you some idea of the number of agricultural 

 implements annually produced in this country, I may 

 mention that the great house of Nourse, Mason, and 

 Co., of Boston, manufactured and sold last yesirff/i/- 

 one thounand plottghs ; and a firm in Illinois built four 

 thousand two hundred reaping machines, which is, 

 doubtless, twice or three times as many as have been 

 made by all your makers since they were first introduced 

 by Mr. Bell. The royalty paid by this firm to the 

 widow of the patentee at £b on each reaper is the snug 

 sum of ^21,000, which for one year's income of a once 

 poor mechanic is not so bad. 



Hand in hand with the magical progress of your Aus- 

 tralian colonies, has marched our California ; and at the 

 present day its agriculture exhibits a remarkable evi- 

 dence of prosperity. It mwy not be uninteresting to 

 look back for a moment upon its past history. In 1769 

 and '70 the first settlements were made in Upper Cali- 

 fornia (at San Diego and Monterey), by the Mexicans. 

 Without improvement of its agriculture, with no com- 

 merce or manufactures, the country remained under their 

 listless sway for eighty years, until by the treaty of 

 Guadaloupe Hidalgo, it was annexed to the United 

 States. The tide of empire then set toward its shores, 

 and like some dream of Oriental fables, it has grown 

 into magnificent proportions. la 1850 there were pro- 

 duced 367,151 qrs. of wheat, 4()3,6.")3 qrs. barley, 

 45,554 qrs. oats, 20,683 qrs. Indian corn, 721,018 

 bushels potatoes, 258,982 lbs. wool, 452,173 lbs. butter, 

 246,113 lbs. cheese. There were 81,703 horses, 

 17,713 mules, 520,276 head of cattle, 192,271 sheep, 

 138,910 swine. Of fruit trees there were 1,071,713, of 



grape vines 1,317,957. Her crops of wheat average 

 more to the acre than the best wheat- growing districts 

 of the older states. The climate and soil are capable of 

 producing the vine, olive, fig-tree, orange, lemon, pome- 

 granate, the cork-tree, prune, date, tamarind ; and be- 

 side these the quassia, Egyptian senna, rice, tobacco, 

 cotton, mulberry, madder, and multitudes of other pre- 

 cious articles of commerce. Of the future of California 

 it is impossible to j udge ; but if it does not belie the pro- 

 mise of the present, it must become a wonderful empire. 



Of agricultural societies under state or county organi- 

 zation we have nearly eight hundred, and their influence 

 is in general of a salutary nature. This same want of 

 individual capital amongst the farmers prevents the 

 accumulation of funds by donation, and as the society 

 must in great measure depend upon its receipts ac the 

 gates to pay its expenses, care is taken to make such 

 displays as will draw a large concourse of spectators. 

 Hence it is that you may notice in your American agri- 

 cultural exchanges, frequent criticisms upon the greater 

 attention bein^ paid to horse-trotting on the trial track, 

 at the expense of a thorough examination of the cattle or 

 implement on the ground ; or of the officers of certain 

 societies lending encouragement to exciting displays, 

 which would scarcely come within the province of a 

 purely agricultural association. But with all our im- 

 perfections, there is very much to challenge the approba- 

 tion of sensible men, and what is bad will right itself in 

 due course of time. At the meeting of the United States 

 Agricultural Society, held at Philadelphia in 1856, there 

 were in one day over seventy-five thousand persons on 

 the grounds, and wherever the show has been held the 

 concourse has been vast. At Louisville, in '57, there were 

 Herefords on exhibition, which had been brought some 

 six hundred miles by railway ; and this year at Rich- 

 mond, Ya, there were animals, implements, and pro- 

 ducts from equally great distances. The number of 

 entries of all kinds was not so great as at some former 

 meeting, but the herds are spoken of as being of excel- 

 lent quality. The number of entries were— of cattle 

 110, horses 191, sheep (pens) 51, swine (pt-ns) 24 ; and 

 the amount of premiums offered about ;£ 1,600, exclu- 

 sive of gold, silver, and bronze medals, and diplomas, 

 for implements and manufactures. The annual busi- 

 ness meetings are held in the City of Washington, in 

 January, when valuable papers are read, and interest- 

 ing discussions held upon agricultural topics. The 

 present government of the Society are using every 

 endeavour to increase its influence and utility, and with 

 a fair share of public assistance there can be no doubt of 

 a favourable issue. 



The greatest interest is felt by our fruit growers in 

 the labours of the American Pomological Society, which 

 in September last made its tenth annual display. The 

 wide diversity of our climates enables us to produce the 

 fruit of every part of the world, and the task of testing 

 the merits of the multitudinous varieties of our com- 

 monly cultivated fruits, of unravelling the confusion of 

 names, and distributing the most suitable fruits to each 

 section of country, is no slight one. The good already 

 accomplished by this society is almost incalculable, and 



