758 



F A R M E R r>' R E G f S T K R. 



[No. 12 



mactiine which is not costly at first, and which if I one amorio: the best farmers of niy acfjuaintancC) 



it vvorI<s but one hour in the twenty-four, wil} it 

 eeif' be a consumer in tlial proportion only; :i ma 

 chine which we can at any moment set to turn 

 our laihes, our jxrindstones, our vvashiuij machines, 

 our churns, our circuh'.r sau',-=, and a caiaiogne of 

 other thinp-s which it would he no easy task lo 

 make out; such a machine would also perlbrm a 

 million ol other operations, liy tiie conversion o!"the 

 rotary into a reciprocatmg motion; atui we afraia 

 ask who is there atuonir us who would not want 

 one? our nirmers. our iru^ciianics, and our house- 

 keepers jTcnerally, musf all he supplied. We 

 could no more suiimit lo live wiihout. it, alierithas 

 been once inirodi:ced, than we can now sahmit lo 

 travel at the slow rate ot" ten miles an hour, an 

 event which we have learnt to think one of tl'.e 

 miseries of human life. 



With such a machine at our command, we 

 should soon wonder how we could have lived so 

 long wiihout it; and if taken (i'om us, it would 

 leave a most awful chasm in the necessaries of life, 

 of the existence of which our liuhers never dream- 

 ed, and which happily we could not be called 

 upon to witness so long as the siore house of na- 

 ture would enable us to obtain zinc and sulphuric 

 acid at a cheap rate. 



The steam ensine cannot be used to advantage 

 where it has not the labor of several horses to 

 perlbrm; as, whether large or small, it re«|uires 

 tile constant attention of the engineer, or of ihe 

 fireman, and is kept at work at an expense which 

 is relatively increased as iis power is diminished. 

 One irivingthe power of a man only, would he 

 employed at a cost which would pay the hire of 

 two or three men, and if used but tor an hour or 

 two in the day, the expense would be incalculably 

 increased; of course it is not, and never will be 

 used, under such circumstances. 



Let it not be said that we are prophesying about 

 what is to happen; not so by any means; but be it 

 remembered that we are speaking of what is a 

 possible contingency. We have no doubt re- 

 specting the practicability of obtaining the power 



told me last spring that he would not plant a crop 

 wiihout one, it' he were compelled lobuy one every 

 year. And one properly uiade and taken care ot| 

 would, I think, last ihiriy years. Ii is so construct- 

 ed thai it can be made to drop the corn at any dis- 

 tance apart you may wish, with the same planter, 

 from one fool to six. Or, it will scatter it all along 

 the row, if it should be laeli-rred. And ii is so sim- 

 ple, ihat any lough woikman can make them if he 

 has one to look at. Aiu\ by mak n<j a division in 

 the hoprer, ii can he maile to drop p'lasler with the 

 corn. If any f)erson should wish to <ret one, I ex- 

 pect they coulil be supplied in l\ii-hmond; as Capf. 

 Blair Boiling, of that place, has made several i()r 

 persons in that neiL''hborliood. Any workman 

 there could look at one, and m;d<e them. A cood 

 ploughman, with a i)risk horse, can plant eighieerii 

 acres per day. When I have been recommemiing^ 

 them to my friends, they would reply that their 

 land was too rough to be planted with a corn- 

 planter. But, said I, "If you had one, it would 

 put it compkiely in your power to make your land 

 as fine as you would wish it. As all I he opera- 

 lion of plantini? would be done wil h one hand and a 

 horse, yon couid employ the balatice ol your leam 

 and hands in prepariiii? the land before ihe plant- 

 er." In preparing my land lor corn, I use the five- 

 hoe cultivator, drawn bv two horses, and follow 

 that by the log-dracr. But if the land is turly, I 

 use the two-horse rake instead of the los, which 

 tears the turf all to pieces, and puts the land in fine 

 order. Afier all, if the land is rough, I put one 

 horse to a two-horse [)lough and run befiire the 

 planter; by just skimming ilie surliice, which puts 

 all the clods and turf out of the way of the plan- 

 ter, and it will plant the corn as well as it can be 

 done. 



As I ara a tobacco maker, and perhaps my 

 mode of preparing my land aud cultivating that 

 crop may differ from some, and we all think our 

 way best, I will inform you, as well as I can, my 

 way of cultivating it. Every tobacco maker 

 knows that his land should be well prepared before 



of a man by the agency of electro magnetism; we j he commences making his hills; but instead of 

 believe that such a machine may be kept at work j making hills, I prefer to list all old land. It does 

 without any considerable tax upon the time of the t not only save the labor of making hills; but I find, 

 person using it, and we further believe that the I fi'om many years experience, that the tobncco will 

 only thin^f which can prevent its coming into use live better when planted in lists, than it will in hills, 

 is, the cost of the ma erials employed in operatinir | :i'id will sland a drought better. To regulate the 

 il. The statements which we have heard upon this | distance I wish to plant my tobacco on the list, I 



point are extremely contradictory, and upon the 

 whole, are flir from encouraging; the time, liow- 

 ever, is not remote when this point will be deter- 

 mined. 



PI.AKTIIV-G CORIV BY A MACHINE. TOBACCO 

 CULTURE. LEAVES AS MAKURE. 



To tlie Editor of ttie Farmers' Rftin^ter. 



Goochland, Feb. 9, 1&3S. 



As the season for planting corn is approaching, 

 allow me, through your valuable paper, to recom- 

 mend to tbe public the use of my corn planter in 

 planting their corn. In 1818 I made an improve- 

 ment ou the corn-planter, and it answers the pur- 

 pose so well, that I have not planted a crop with- 

 out one since. It certainly plants corn better than 

 I have been able to plant'in any other way. J\5y 

 neiglihor, Capt. J. JM. Vaughan, whom I consider 



let in a tongue about four feet long, with an inch 

 and a half auger into a piece of oak scantling 

 three inches square, into which piece I let in three 

 blocks with tlie same auirer three feet apart, and 

 six inches long; those blocks should be three-square, 

 and about fiiur inches wide behind; and fix handles 

 lo it as yon would to a harrow. With poles nine 

 feet long, I lay ofli' my rows across the list with 

 this implement, which lays ofT three rows at 

 a time, thereby dpspaiching the work three times 

 as fast as you could wilh a plough or coulter, and 

 yotir rows are more regular, because there is no 

 splitting. I make all my tobacco on manured land, 

 except some It'w spots that are rich enough with- 

 out it. I have some fine tobacco land that I might 

 clear; but as I have a plenty of open land, and I 

 think I can manure two acres with less labor than 

 it would take to clear one, I prefer to manure. My 

 principal rpsource (or manure is leaves from the 

 woods. The first thinij I do after sowing wheat 



