60 



THE FARiMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



Smith's Sub-soil Plough, Improved. 



tliis macliinp, the fiimior may be certain tliat his seed is put into the ground, 

 and at the same time in the best possible manner. There has been a great 

 difliculty in machines for sowing garden seeds : tiiey are very apt to clog up, 

 and the farmer might go over an acre of land and not sow a single seed ; but 

 not so with this; it so constructed that itcrninot possibly clog. In usinff this 

 sower, the farmer can save one half of his seed, and do the work at less'than 

 one quarter the expense of the commori v;ay of sowing his seeds, and liave it 

 done in a much better manner; it opens the furrow, drops the seed, coTers it 

 over and rolls them down. It will sow any kind of Garden Seeds ; say Ruta 

 Baga, Mangel Wurtzel, Turnips, Carrots, Beets, Parsnips, Onions, &c. 



Hand Cultivator. 



[Fig. 10.] 



The most astonishing effects appear to have been produced by the inven- 

 tion of the above machine. It is a necessary accompaniment to draining, and 

 is also well calculated to make the most unproductive soil, fertile and profit- 

 able. Breaking the sub-soil without bringing it to the surface, renders it per- 

 vious both to air and water, and after a few years, by a greater depth of 

 ploughing, the sub-soil is mixed with the upper and is found to be so com- 

 pletely changed in its nature as to be capable of producing every species of 

 grain. 



Major Wheeler's Paring Plough, Improved. 



■"-•<>l->l>ll,4l..^„„„„,^,^llfjl^JZ~^ 



[Fig. 11.] 



The object of this plough is to take off the top of meadow and peat lands, 

 for the purpose of reclaiming them. Frt m one to two acres can be pared in 

 a day, and in the course of two or three days, if the wea'her is pleasant, it 

 will be dry enough to burn. In this way meadow or peat laud may be made 

 to produce large crops of hay, &c. 



Howard's Improved Cast Iron Plough. 



[Fig. 12.] 



This implement, one of the oldest and m.st useful employed on a farm, has 

 undergone of late years, a wonderful ch.Tnge in all its most essential parts, 

 and has been greatly improved. The cast Iron Plough is now most general- 

 ly used among the best farmers, and considered decidedly the best. Among 

 the different ploughs now made of cast iron, Howard's stand unrivalled.— 

 They have been used at the different Cattle Shows, and Ploughing Matches, 

 and have in all cases been approved by them. At the Brighton cTatle Show 

 at the exhibition in October, 1333, they received tlie premium of $10, award- 

 ed as being the best plough presented. 



Willis' Latest Improved Seed Sower. 



[Fig. 13.] 



STILL LATER. 



Willis has made some considerable improvement in his Seed Sower for the 

 present year, making it as complete as time and hard study can possibly make 



t. He sold of the last year's improvement, oviir eighty machmes, being all 

 'hat was manufactured, (and could have sold at least fifty or sixty more had 



h»y been made,) »v«ry one of which jfave universal satisfactiori. In using 



[Fig. 14.] 



This is a very useful article for going between vcg-etables, in order to keep 

 down the weeds. A man, with one of these machines, will do more work 

 than four or five with the hoe. 



[Lr The foregoing are among the manj useful agricultural implements 

 which may be constantly procured at thee.Ttensive Agricultural Warehouse of 

 Messrs. Breck and Co. No. 52, North Market Street/Boston. 



Improvement in Breeds of Swine. 



From our own experience during the last five years, we are free to give the 

 op.nion that tliere is so great difference in the breed of hogs simply, that a 

 man had better pay five dollars apiece for some kinds of pigs at six weeks of 

 age than to have other kinds given to him of the same age. There are some 

 kinds, raw-boned, lank-bellied, and hump-backed, that \\ill not receive flesh, 

 be they ever so highly ft-d : there are others, tolerably well shaped, of so dis- 

 contented and uneasy disposition, that witli bellies full they annoy the whole 

 neighborhood by their continued squealing. Others again are of so content- 

 ed and easy disposition that they keep constantly quiet, and increase in weight 

 and fatness on comparatively small quantities of food. 



The most interesting array of swine we have ever seen was tlie exiiibition 

 at the farm of Elias Phinney, Esq. of Lexington, Mass. last October, during 

 our short stay there. In the different pens were different varieties. The 

 kinds most distinctly remembered were the Berlishire and Muckaij and the 

 Moco breed.s ; and the most beautiful hogs we ever saw were tliose with the 

 cross of about three-fourths Berkshire and one-fourth Mackay. Tliere was 

 upon these more pork and less bone than upon any others : their bodies were 

 long, and uniform in size from the ears almost to the point of the tail — their 

 backs broad — their hams and shoulders thick — their hair white and thin with 

 no bristles. Along side of these in another pen was placed anotiier liog pur- 

 chased from a drove driven from the interior of New York — a large boned, 

 pointed back and hmg snouted animal with tlie legs usurping the place of 

 thighs and hams. This animal, if we mistake not, Mr. Phinney stated had 

 for months consumed an equal quantity of food with all four of the animaU 

 of mixed breed ; and it was proved from the different weighings that he gain- 

 ed no more daily than each of them. 



Mr. Bement of Albany, N. Y. has had great success in raising swine ; and 

 from him have been derived most of the Berkshire breed that las been intro- 

 duced into this country. From an interestino- article in Bucl's Cultivator for 

 January, written by tiiat gentleman, we extract the follow ing : 



"Many attempts have been made in Europe to improve the breed of the 

 native swine, by selections nnd otherwise; but so far as the writer has been 

 able to follow them up, there has been little success, and that little very elow- 

 ly obtained, except only where resort has been iiad immediately to the Chin- 

 ese bear. TJiis is particularly the ca.se with England, v.'hose efforts seem to 

 have carried her, in tiiis department, as far beyond her neighbors as in that 

 of the improvement of horses, cattle and sheep. Every county there boasts 

 of its breed of swine, and certainly many lue very deserving, having deriv- 

 ed their chief excellence from across more or less deep with the large white 

 Chinese boar. Of these are the Leicester, the Bedford or Woburn, the Sussex 

 and Cheshire. But the most decided improvement, and which by the care and 

 skill of recent breeders, has now nearly attained perfection, wiis tliat of tho 

 black Siamese boar upontlic old stock of Bcrksiiire countj'. This! understand, 

 began about forty years since. The Berkshires were then mostly a lone, 

 large, coarse, lop eorcd iiog, of a sandy or reddish brown, or white, witii black 

 spots, and coming up, not unfrequcully, to the iiigh weights of SOO, and even 

 1,000 pounds. But it was a slow feeder, long attaining to maturity, an enor- 

 mous consume/, and in common wiLli most of Entflands other varieties, an 

 unprofitable beast. Vet possessing ratiier thicker hams and shoulders than 

 the ntlier kinds, a longer, fuller body, and its meat aboundlna greatly in lean, 

 the liLtle, short, fat, black mouse-eared Siamese told well in the cross ; and thus 

 was produced the dark, splendid Berkshire, that at present occupies the same 

 rank among hogs tJiat the Durham^ do among cattle. They mature quickly, 

 and like the Chinese, can be fattened at any age, and still may be selected, 

 when desirable, for great sizes; are prolific- breeders and the best of nurses ; 

 thrifty, hardy, and of most excellent constitution. They are fine in their 

 points, possessing remarkable thickuess in the ham and shoulder, and show a 

 round, smooth barrel of good length, that gives a large proportion of side 

 pork. They have little o'ffal, thin rind and hair, uid few or no bristles. Tho 



