1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



529 



DEDERICK'S PARALLEL LEVEE VERTICAL HAY PRESS. 



The manufacturers say they be- 

 lieve this press to be, in every 

 respect, the simplest, most com- 

 pact, easiest working, most con- 

 venient and powerful hay press in 

 the United States, 



"The engraving is so plain," 

 they continue, "that it requires 

 scarcely any explanation. AVhen 

 the door, C, is closed, the heads 

 U, is moved over to either side at 

 pleasure. The hay is then thrown 

 in, and when the box is full the 

 head is moved back again to the 

 centre of the press. The power 

 being then applied to the parallel 

 levers, J, K, through the block 

 and tackle system of ropes and 

 pulleys, N, R, R, the follower, B, 

 is pressed upward against the hay 

 with a power which is not inter- 

 fered with by the least particle of 

 friction against the sides of the 

 press ; with a power which is as 

 simple as it is evidently tremen- 

 dous. The door, C, and also a 

 similar door on the other side, 

 are then opened ; the bale is then 

 bound, and the ends of it being 

 relieved by releasing the end of 

 the bar or handle, D, it is taken 

 out from either side at pleasure. 



"It is worthy of remark that when the bale is 

 made, the doors of this press can be opened by a 

 boy, standing right in front of the door, with one 

 hand ; whereas, as is well known, the doors of the 

 other hay presses have to be pounded open with a 

 mallet or crowbar, and when relieved will fly open 

 with a force sufficient to break a man's leg. This 

 press is operated by a horse upon a capstan, the 

 horse going round on a seven or eight foot sweep 

 only six times to make a bale. With two men and 

 a boy it will bale, without any extra exertion, from 

 six to nine tons per day, according to the number 

 or size of the press. This can be readily conceived 

 when it is considered that the time required to op- 

 erate the machine to make a bale does not exceed 

 30 seconds ; and how easily this is done by the 

 horse may be inferred from the fact that three men 

 upon a sweep two feet longer than that used by the 

 horse, can press 300 lbs. into our usual dimensions 

 — viz., 3 feet ten inches long by 22 by 28 inches on 

 the sides — in the same time, and without any hard 

 or extra labor whatever." 



For the Kew England Farmer. 



STATE OF MAINS POTATO— SIDE-HILL 

 PLOW. 



Mr. Editor : — I took occasion to say, the last 

 autumn, in a communication that I forwarded to 

 you, that intelligent cultivators in this vicinity ex- 

 pressed doubts of the superlative qualities of the 

 variety of potato called State of Maine ; whereup- 

 on, a gentleman who professes to know all about 

 this variety, and much about most others, queried 

 whether I had ever seen the genuine State of 

 Maine potato, and strongly reaffirmed its superior 

 excellence. I am now assured by the cultivator 

 before referred to, that he and others of his neigh- 

 bors have tested this variety thoroughly the pres- 

 ent season, and find it to fail in having those supe- 

 rior qualities that have been ascribed to it. That 

 it yields many small potatoes, is quite liable to rot, 

 and compared with other varieties they have grown 

 is decidedly inferior. I am quite confident their 

 views of it are correct. 



The same gentleman informs me, that he and 

 his neighbors aje very much in favor of the side- 

 hill plow on their cultivated grounds. They find 



