SOLON ROBINSON, 1848 173 



An ox-breaking machine, I saw at Dr. Wilkins',^ con- 

 sists of a pole about ten or twelve feet long, fastened on 

 top of a stump by a bolt, so it will turn round freely, the 

 steer being fastened at the other end with a strong bow, 

 and having a rope fastened around his loins and to the 

 pole, he is left to go round and round, until, on being 

 taken out next day and yoked in the team, he is ready 

 and willing to go ahead. Dr. W., who has this machine, 

 says he copied it from some agricultural paper, and as he 

 owns a large steam sawmill, and has a great many steers 

 to break every year, he would not be without it for a hun- 

 dred dollars a year. But still, to use it, is "book farm- 

 ing." Perhaps a little more such book farming would be 

 economy. He also says that bleeding a horse until he 

 faints and falls, will cure the worst case of colic, and not 

 injure the horse. [Doubted. — Eds.] Although he owns 

 a thousand acres of cypress swamp, the difficulty of get- 

 ting the lumber out, unless he should first dig a canal, is 

 so great that he buys all his logs in rafts that come down 

 the river. Lumber is worth $12 to $30 a thousand. He 

 has in operation at his mill, a stave-making machine, that 

 makes six to eight staves a minute. It is the same kind 

 of machine, I believe, patented and in use in the state of 

 New York, and in this sugar region where so many bar- 

 rels and hogsheads are used, it ought to be in general use. 

 I commend it to the attention of planters. They can easily 

 see it in operation, and learn its labor-saving powers. 



Mr. Fagot,^ a very polite French gentleman, whose first 



* Possibly Dr. William F. Wilkins, engineer and sugar maker, 

 Opelousas, Louisiana, who contributed an article to the March, 

 1852, issue of De Bow's Review (12:286-87). 



^ Charles Fagot de la Garciniere, planter of St. James Parish, 

 born August 30, 1793, at his father's plantation in the Attakapas 

 country at Isle de Cypres; died in New Iberia, August 13, 1872. 

 Dropped the de la Garciniere from his name. As orderly sergeant, 

 fought in the battle of New Orleans with the United States Army. 

 Sold his plantation on Isle de Cypres in 1850 and moved to New 

 Orleans. Surveyor of Customs for port of Pontchartrain, from 

 1853 until his death. Arthur and Kernion, Old Families of Louisi- 

 ana, 409-10. 



