256 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



A NEW SEED SOWER. 



We have rarely examined a machine which commended itself 

 so readily to our jadgment, as the one pictured below. As will 

 be seen by a reference to the illustration, tiie whole thing is sim- 

 plicity itself. There is little friction for the strength to be wasted 

 on, and so few pieces and httle gearing, that a single glance 

 would detect anything out of order, if it could be deranged short 

 of a violent blow. 



One great advantage in this sower, is the ease 

 with which the hopper which contains the seed may 



^,t5l/H.V-rt^«CLOq,~5^ 



be taken off and the seed changed. To do this 

 nothing is required but to move a hasp, when the 

 hopper may be taken off and the brush removed. 



In this machine we have the advantage of an ad- 

 justable plow, by its being hinged to the arbor of 

 the driving wheel forward, and holding the roller 

 in the rear of the plow by the same arms, thereby 



For tlie New England Farmer. 



EOCK ISLAND, ISLAND CITY. 



I mean the veritable Island itself, not the city of 

 that name, just below it. This beautiful three hun- 

 dred acre plat is, and is to be. Government land, 

 which no sharp speculator in land-warrants can 

 "enter," at any price. Nature, in her uncontami- 



giving a uniform depth to the seed, independent of h^\^f ' P"™^1 ™o°^' reigns here undisturbed. Ven. 



the operator. There is also attached to the plow 

 an iron rod, which passes through the cross bar of 

 the handles, by M'hich the operator is enabled, by 



erable oaks and elms, thrifty young hickories, ma- 

 ples, ashes, clambering vines, with all the nameless 

 shrubbery and undergrowth, interspersed with lit- 

 tle open grass-plats, gentle elevations and depres- 



dropping the handles, to raise the plow, and at thel^io^^ of the surface, responsive to the underlying 

 same time the seed is cut off, and the whole thing T^^''?"^ surrounded by the ceaseless murmur of 

 . ., .UP J 1. 1 .1- .1. * the Mississippi rapids, render this one of the most 



isthiwraupon the forward wheel ; then the ma- enchanting spots on earth. While you are still 

 chme may be run from one row to another, or from | shrouded in a mantle of snow, the grass is here 

 field to field, in the easiest manner possible. The quite green, and the birds are singing as merrily 



plow is self-covering. The whole thing is simple, 

 and easy in its operations. 



We believe this machine will prove a valuable 

 one, but intend to give it a thorough trial and then 

 speak of it again. The improvements are by Mr, 

 James A. Howe, of Boston, the same gentleman 

 whose skill wrought the changes in the Horse Hoe 

 which were figured last week. 



The machine is light, and will be sold cheaper 

 than the large ones have been heretofore. 



as in May. One is forcibly reminded, as he enters 

 the little quiet nooks, or wanders through the nar- 

 row paths, of the original garden, where Adam and 

 Eve 



'both stood, 



Sea Bathing. — Home Tooke ridiculed the prac- 

 tice of sea bathing, and said, if any of the seal spe- 

 cies were sick, it would be wise for a seal physician 

 to order them to go on shore. Porson declared 

 that sea bathing was only reckoned healthy because 

 many persons have been "known to sur\'ive it ;" — 



but Sheridan's objection to salt water was the most; is thawed down sufficiently to receive a plow, it is 

 quaint: "Pickles said he, "don't agree with me." Ij,eady for seeding. The rapidity with which the 



Both turned, and under open sky adored 



The God that made both sky, air, earth and heaven, 



Which they beheld." 



All the more delightful and refreshing is such a 

 place, by contrast with the monotonous prairies on 

 either side, and the "intense practicabihty" which 

 is every where exhibited. Not that a wise and an 

 earnest practicalness is to be despised, or is any- 

 thing else but a wholesome duty; but that neither 

 is an occasional recurrence to the principles of taste 

 and beauty in nature, which God has so profusely 

 planted around us, anything else but a duty also, 

 and a prime felicity. 



The Iowa farmers, in this vicinity, are now sow- 

 ing their spring wheat, while the frost is still a foot 

 in depth, in many places. So soon as the ground 



