1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



527 



meadows, those mines of agricultural wealth, would 

 be drained and recovered. C. 



Oct., 1856. 



A STSAM PLOW FOE THE PEAIRIES. 



In the Prairie Farmer, Cliicago, 111., of the 10th 

 insc, Bronson Murray proposes that a premium ofj 

 $50,000 be raised by subscription of one hundred! 

 persons, paying $oQ0 each, to be av.-arded for a per- j 

 fected steam plow suited to farm use, and capable ' 

 of performing the labor at an expense not greater | 

 than the average cost of performing the same work | 

 under the present system. He offers to be one of 

 the hundred subscribers, and wishes the subscrip- 

 tions secured to the Illinois State Agricultural So- 

 ciety, and the premium to be offered by it, under 

 such rules as an Executive Committee may direct. 

 He asserts that there is not a farmer who cultivates 

 500 acres of prairie land, but can well afford to 

 unite in the proposed subscription. He is confident 

 that the steam plow would long since have been 

 invented, had the capital of mechanics been equal 

 to their inventive genius. In this opinion we cor- 

 dially agree with him. It would be a most inesti- 

 mable boon to farmers on the prairies if they could 

 plow their stubble lands quickly after the crops are 

 removed. The benefit of the steam plow to them 

 VFould be quick-plowing, — doing as much by one 

 plow in one day, as is now done by five or six with 

 teams, which cannot be driven beyond a certain 

 speed. When Mr. Murray came to the prairies 

 fourteen years ago, there were no harvesting ma- 

 chines in use ; but he felt confident they would 

 soon be, and this determined him in settling in Ill- 

 inois. His hopes have been realized regarding 

 harvesting machines, and we trust they will also be 

 realized respecting a prairie steam plow. Its work- 

 ing expenses may be as great as plowing by pres- 

 ent modes, but if it does the work in less time, 

 with fewer hands, (as Vi'e undersland it,) farmers 

 will be satisfied. 



At a meeting of the Farmers' Club, held at the 

 American Institute, in this city, on the 9th iust., 

 Judge Meigs read an account of an English farm 

 locomotive of 16 horse power. It weighed 9 tuns, 

 was stated to move easily over soft fields, and as- 

 cend pretty steep inclines. Its inventor had spent 

 $50,000 in making experiments, and he was now 

 sati.-.fied with its performances. It draws a gang of 

 plows with ease. Our friends in Illinois would like 

 a steam plow of much less weight than 6 tuns ; it 

 is too heavy for general use, but no doubt smaller 

 ones on the same principle can be constructed. We 

 are not acquainted with its peculiarities ; but in our 

 opinion, the common locomotive, with broad-faced 

 wheels, is the principle on which to build a success- 

 ful prairie steam plow. 



Something New about Bread. — Louis Napo- 

 leon, whom men begin to recognize as a Napoleon- 

 ic sort of a man, in 1853 conceived the idea that it 

 would be practicable to compress flour so as to 

 diminish its bulky and in that way facilitate its 

 transportation, and yet not injure its quality. In 

 July of that year an experiment was made by his 

 command to test his views. Flour, subjected to a 

 hydraulic pressure of 300 tons, was reduced in vol- 

 ume more than 24 per cent. On close examina- 

 tion it was found to possess all the qualities it had 

 previous to its violent treatment. It was then put 



into zinc boxes and sealed up. At the same time, 

 other ilour manufactured from the same wheat, but 

 not compressed, was also sealed up. In October 

 thereafter, several boxes containing both kinds of 

 flour v."ere opened and examined. The pressed 

 was pronounced to be the best. Twelve months 

 after this, in October, '54, another examination 

 took place, and with the same result. 1 he two 

 kinds were then kneaded into loaves and baked. 

 The pressed flour made the best bread. In March, 

 '55, more of the zinc boxes were opened, and on 

 examination the loose flour showed mouldiness, 

 while the ]n-essed was sweet, and retained all its 

 qualities. Made into bread, the same differences 

 were observable. 



The Emperor has ordered experiments to be 

 made at sea, as well as on land. ]Men-of-war are 

 to take out both kinds of flour, and both are to be 

 sent on sea voyages to hot and to cold latitudes, and 

 examinations are to be made and recorded of the 

 influence of climate and salt air upon each. — Jllba- 

 ny Journal. 



EIGHT EYED. 



In a paper read before the Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, at its recsnt session in 

 Albany, Prof. John Brocklesby, of Trinity College, 

 Hartford, Conn., gives the following as the result 

 of a series of experiments on "visual direction :" 



"In view of these facts, I am inclined to believe 

 that most persons, when they gaze upon a near ob- 

 ject with both eyes open, habitually neglect the 

 image formed by the left eye and employ that of 

 the right to fix the visual direction — in fact, that 

 we are right eyed. Moreover, that cases some- 

 times occur where the left eye is used for this pur- 

 pose, and in such exceptional instances the observ- 

 ers may be termed left eyed. A boy shoots mar- 

 bles with both eyes open, and a sportsman not un- 

 frequently brings down his game in the same man- 

 ner; but I a])prehend that in both instances the 

 aim is as truly taken as if one eye is shut ; and that 

 either the right eye or the left gives the range, 

 while the other is passive. 



"If it is true that the right eye, under the cir- 

 cumstances mentioned, possesses a superiority over 

 the other, the fact would be in strict accordance 

 with some other physiological phenomena. V/e 

 are all aware of the pre-eminence which the right 

 hand has over the left, either from iiabit or other- 

 wise. How much more ready and quick it is in all 

 its motions, being the first to advance whenever 

 the hand is needed. So marked is this character- 

 istic that we term expertness and activity of manip- 

 ulation, dexterity. Right handedness constitutes 

 the law, left handedness the exception. The same 

 fact is observed in respect to the feet. In the 

 game of foot-ball, for instance, the right foot na- 

 turally comes first into play, and is decidedly more 

 active than the other. The superiority of one or- 

 garf of vision over the other would not therefore 

 constitute an anomaly, neither would it be surpris- 

 ing if the same phenomena should be found to ex- 

 ist in respect to one or more of the other senses. 



I^^The Warrenton (Fauquier, Va.) Flag notices 

 a decline in the prices of negroes, and says that 

 several sold to the highest bidder on Monday, at 

 prices ranging several hundred dollars below sums 

 paid for the same description of servants a few week? 

 ago. 



