DRILL HUSBANDRY IN DELAWARE. 



585 



ican imported, and we must not take it as a se- 

 curity that, because little has been done m this 

 article this year, an extensive business is not 

 yet to be cultivated in it. Lard has become a 

 staple article of commerce, both lor culinary pur- 

 poses and pressors' and soapers' uses. With 

 respect to beef, there can be no mistaking 

 American superiority. The imports this year 

 have been of uniform good qiiality, and nothing 

 is now inquired for, for .ship stores, but Amer- 

 ican beef. It has been steady in price all the 

 year, scarcely differing 5 per cent, in value. It 

 IS considered to be remunerative to the packer 

 and exporter, as well as importer here ; and the 

 manufacture of it is now so well understood there, 

 and has so gained confidence here, that there is 

 no doubt of this article (equally with lard) be- 

 coming a staple article of commerce. Under 

 a 21s. duty a trade in butter will not be culti- 

 vated ; the fluctuations in this market, and the 

 risk of it becoming grease, operate against it, 

 but we are likely to have some extent in butter 



shipped as gi-case from the States, and an effort 

 may be made to cultivate a butter trade from 

 Canada. 15ut there is a prejudice against it, and 

 it is not likely either to be extensive or profit- 

 able. There is very little doubt about the trade 

 in cheese becoming extensive and pcnnunont. 

 Some of the iniports have been equal in (juality 

 to any made in England, and the ready .sale thfa 

 article has met with nearly all through tlie year, 

 with the good prices lately obtained for it, say 

 as high as COs. per cwt., will tend to encourage 

 the trade in it. A better knowledge of packing 

 the chee.se for the English market, so as to pre- 

 vent loss in cutting out, is the principal thing 

 wanted, and that will no doubt be gained in 

 time. The imports of these articles this year have 

 been, 14,8;U tierces, 3,437 baiTcLs, of beef ; 7,713 

 barrels of pork ; 10,471 barrels, 4i),452 kegs, of 

 lard; 5,322 casks, 43,702 boxes^ of cheese. And 

 the stocks now ou hand are light of beeC pork, 

 and cheese, but heavy of lard." 



Viator. 



DRILL HlfsBANDRY IN DELAWARE : 



ITS ECONOMY AND SUCCESS— THE AMERICAN AND ENGLISH DRILL— HUSSEY'S 

 HUMPHREY'S REAPING-MACHINES. 



Wilmington, May 16, 1846. 



John S. Ski.vner, Esq. : After the very flat- 

 tering opinion expressed by you to me the other 

 day in New- York, of the improving state of Ag- 

 riculture, and the general intelligence and suc- 

 cess among the farmers of Newcastle County, 

 compared with other sections of the Union you 

 have so recently visited, I take great pleasure 

 in forwarding to you for the Farmers' Libra- 

 ry some interesting facts which should be ex- 

 tensively known to the whole farming commu- 

 nity, in relation to " Drill Husbandry as prac- 

 ticed by several of our largest and most success- 

 ful agriculturists in Delaware — members of our 

 Society and Fanners' Club. The long use of 

 the Drill in English and European Husbandry, 

 you are aware, has been tardily adopted in the 

 United States, where there is still greater need 

 ofecoiiomizhig time and money, and (exceptfor 

 root-crops) we have but few and imperfect re- 

 ports in our journals, of American success and 

 practice in drilling crops of any kind. 



In answer to a number of letters received 

 by me, as late President of our Agricultural 

 Society, and Messr.s. Sawdon, Jones & Co. 

 who have for years been in the full tide of suc- 

 cessful experiment with the Drill, I proceed to 

 inform you that two kinds of the Drill are known 

 and used by these gentlemen — the first brought 

 out from England by Mr. Francis Sawdon some 

 ten or twelve years ago — is now manufactured 

 (124.1) 



by Mr. Groundsell of Chester, Pa. and cost from 

 $90 to $100. The other, the American Drill, 

 invented and patented by Mr. Moses Pennock, 

 of Kennet Square, Chester Co. Pa. the inventor 

 of the revolving rake, which costs about the 

 same, and although varying somewhat in de- 

 tail from the other, the principle is the same ; 

 each is driven by two horses, the carriage rest- 

 ing on an axle with two wheels ; above is the 

 reception box for the seed and concentrated ma- 

 nures or ashes, guano, poudrette, &c. which 

 communicates with from 7 to 8 tubes or funnels 

 through a hollow coulter through which the 

 seed is regularly and evenly deposited and cov- 

 ered in the earth. The enclosed letter ad- 

 dressed to me from Mr. John Jones, of Green- 

 bush, is fully confirmed in its statements by 

 Messrs. Sawdon & Co. all eminent practical 

 farmers of this County, and the inferences from 

 their e.Kperience are — 1st. That by the use of 

 the Drill there is a great saving of seed per acre, 

 from at least two to three pecks of wheat, five 

 pecks with the Drill being considered ample; 

 2d. A greater amount of acres can be sown per 

 day, more evenly covered, and thus materially 

 lessening the cost of agricultural labor ; 3d. That 

 when the wheat w gathered tlie product is at 

 least one-fourth f^reatcr than when hand-sown, 

 after the old method ; that it withstands the win- 

 ter frosts better, is less liable to be spread or 

 thrown out, and stands stronger and firmer — 



