52 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



AGRICULTURAL MACHINES PATENTED. 



By the aid of Mr. Keller, a scientific g-entle- 

 man, lately of the Patent Office, and now agent 

 for obtaining patents, and one in whom the 

 utmost confidence may be placed, it will be in 

 our power to keep our readers advised of the 

 progress of improvement in Agricultural Ma- 

 chinery, as far as that progress may be indicated 

 by the issuing of Patents for new inventions. 

 It is not designed to cumber our pages with 

 descriptions of every piece of humbuggery, 

 however specious its pretensions, hut the inten- 

 tion is, by engravhigs and descriptive explana- 

 tions, to give the earliest and most authentic 

 knowledge of whatever may come into exist- 

 ence which gives fair promise of saving labor 

 and of augmenting crops. At present we must 

 be content with pre-senting the last report to the 

 Commissioner of Patents, made by Doct. Page, 

 then, and w^e hope now, of the Patent Office. 

 These (Keller and Page) are gentlemen, like 

 many others, in the Departments at Washington, 

 of sound scientific acquirements, who are little 

 known to the public, but who are the real doers 

 of the work, while their nominal and official 

 superiors, too often scioli.sts and empirics, run 

 away with all the credit. We are promised a 

 summarj- which shall bring up the account to 

 the middle of July — for the August number of 

 the Farmers' Library. 



■"The large number of patents gi-anted for 

 applications pertaining to this class may be 

 .tKkc^ as fair ground for the deduction that the 

 safejoctis still one of great growmg interest, and 

 is at present engi-ossing a very large share of the 

 inventive talent of our country. In the short 

 epace of one year, it could hardly be expected 

 that any important revolution, any signal dis- 

 ooverj', or many really u.^eful inventions, should 

 bo made in a pursuit claiming, above all others, 

 the -right of primogeniture. Advances, ncver- 

 dielefis,.aw; constantly being made in this branch 

 of indastry. Every year it is acquiring fresh 

 laurels and a higher reputation for itself The 

 -".iitweat of the brow" is not now the mainspring of 

 itB operations, the grand key to its success ; nor 

 the open field the sole theatre of experiment. 

 The closet the lahoratoi-y of the cliemist, are its 

 nurses. The mo.«t exalted intellects are be- 

 coming farmers, as it were, in the retiracy of 

 their studies. Science, both chemical and phy.si- 

 cal, have become the palladium of agriculture. 

 Since the publication of Liebig's valuable 

 work on the Chemistrj- of Agriculture, we must 

 date a new era in this science. It has, at least, 

 received a fresh impulse from his labors ; and 

 Us publication in this countrj-, in newspaper 

 form, for the low price of 25 cents, (when the 

 ordinary bookstore price has been $1 50,) will 

 aid greatly in disseminating knowledge, so es- 

 (100) 



sential to fanning interests. The u.se of guano 

 as a manure has long been known in remote 

 paits of the world, and this substance has been 

 employed for many years to fertilize the barren 

 soils on the coast of Peni ; but it does not seem 

 to have elicited attention, other than as a matter 

 of curio.sity, from the most enlightened agricul- 

 tural portions of the world, until after the ap- 

 pearance of Liebig's work. The announcement 

 that it was only nece.ssarj' to add a small quan- 

 tity of guano to a soil which consists of nothing 

 but sand and clay, to procure the richest crop of 

 maize, was sufficient to awaken an interest in 

 the fanner, and excite the cupidity of the mer- 

 chant. No writer has dwelt so much on the 

 importance of nitrogen as a manure, as Liebig ; 

 and it is this feature in part, which constitutes 

 the grand novelty and value of his work. In 

 the above-quoted asseition, where Guano is ad- 

 ded to clay and sand, we suppose not a trace of 

 organic matter in the soil ; and j'ct, by the addi- 

 tion of a manure, consisting chiefly of urate, 

 phosphate, carbonate, and oxalate of ammonia 

 salts, all containing nitrogen, we have the rich- 

 est crops of maize. The husbanding substances 

 containing nitrogen, and attention to the proper 

 methods for its fixation, will soon become objects 

 of paramount importance with the farmer. 



Plows. Several important improvements 



have been made in this instnimcnt during the 

 past year ; but they are chiefly for modes of 

 fastening and so fitting the points and shares, 

 that, m case of wear or injury, they can be 

 ea.sily replaced by the farmer himself It is a 

 question, perliap.s, yet to be decided, whether 

 cast iron plows are more economical to the farm- 

 er than the plows with cast iron mould boards 

 and wrought shares and points. In the latter, 

 the mould board is liable to be broken, and, if 

 so, can hardly be replaced ; but, as the share 

 and point are the parts most liable to injury, if 

 these are wrought iron, and fastened in a simple 

 and firm manner, the farmer who is in the neigh- 

 borhood of an ordinary blacksmith, or may have 

 one upon his establishment, can easily repair 

 the damage, which, in the case of the cast iron 

 jdow, he could not do without sending to the 

 manufacturer or the foundrj- for a new casting. 

 This objection to the cast iron plow is now, in a 

 great measure, obviated by many dealers, who 

 are in the practice of putting up with each plow, 

 for a slight extra expense, two or more extra 

 points and shares. Few plows have been pa- 

 tented during the past year. Several applica- 

 tions have been made for patents for the substi- 

 tution of steel for cast or wrought iron in plows, 

 and rejected upon the well-establi.thcd ground 

 that the mere substitution of one well-known 

 material for another is not the subject of a patent. 

 Several cultivators and combined plows for 

 light soils have been patented ; but nothing of 

 definite value can be predicated upon this cla-ss 

 of inventions. An ingenious instrument for 

 digging potatoes has been the subject of a 

 patent, and, though it may fail to do all it pro- 

 fesses, is certainly an approximation to an in- 

 vention very much needed. This operation is 



