174 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



DECEMBER 11, 1833. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DEC. 11, 1833. 



NEW AND IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL IM- 

 PLEMENTS, -WILLIS'S IMPROVED STRAW 

 CUTTERS, <fcc. 



It was remarked by Sir Jolin Sinclair that " the 

 introduction of new agricultural implements into 

 a district, is often a matter of the greatest difficul- 

 ty, owing to the ignorance, the prejudices and the 

 obstinacy of farm servants and laborers. Many 

 farmers, therefore, very absurdly retain their old 

 implements, though convinced of their inferiority, 

 rather than sour the temper of their laborers, by 

 attempting to introduce new ones. In many cases, 

 however, they have succeeded by attention, by 

 perseverance, and by rewarding their laborers, who 

 have been induced to give the new machines a fail- 

 trial." 



The farmers of New-England are too enlight- 

 ened and have too much regard to their own best 

 interests to be under the dominion of such profit- 

 less prejudices. Accordingly we find not only that 

 there is a very reasonable and increasing demand 

 for new and improved agricultural machines, tools, 

 &c. but that the Committees of our Agricultural 

 Societies, not only make honorable mention of such 

 machines, but by awarding premiums give more 

 substantial proofs of the estimation in which they 

 hold such products of well directed skill and in- 

 ventive ingenuity. 



Impressed with these sentiments we were much 

 pleased to perceive by the Report of E. Hersey 

 Derby, and Daniel Treadwell, Esqrs. [N. E. Far- 

 mer vol. xii. p. 131] that the march of improve- 

 ment in this field of invention, keeps pace with 

 its progress in other quarters, and that successful 

 efforts are making to facilitate and render more 

 effectual the labors of the cultivator, which com- 

 pose the foundation of all improvement, in all 

 arts and sciences. 



Among the premiums awarded by the Commit- 

 tee above named was one for Willis' Improved 

 Straw Cutters. We shall not give a descrip- 

 tion of this implement, (which may be seen and 

 purchased at the Agricultural Warehouse, No. 52, 

 North Market Street,) but merely point out, con- 

 cisely, some of the advantages resulting from the 

 use of a straw cutter. 



Mr. Thomas Williamson in a communication to 

 the Bath Society, [England] on the use of chaff", 

 or cut hay for feeding horses, remarks that " one 

 hundred weight of hay was found to yield 20 

 bushels of chaff* pressed into the measure and piled 

 as high as it could be safely carried ; consequently 

 each bushel weighed about 5 1-2 lbs. It was found 

 that five horses would eat 12 bushels of chaff in 

 24 hours, and that somewhat more than half the usual 

 quantity of food was saved by having it cut." 



Mr. Benjamin Hale, formerly proprietor of a 

 line of stages running between Newburyport and 

 Boston, has given a statement, published in the 

 Massachusetts •Agricultural Repository, vol. 10, p. 

 400, by which it appeared that the total saving in 

 using a straw cutter nine months, to wit at Newbu- 

 ryport four months, and at Salem five, was $780 

 97 cts. 



In the Memoirs of the Philadelphia Agricultu- 

 ral Society, a valuable paper was published enti- 

 tled Notices for a Young Farmer, written by Judge 

 Peters, formerly President of that Society. In 

 this the following passage occurs : " cut or chaff 

 your hay, straw, corn tops or blades and even 



your stalks with a powerful straw cutter and you 

 will save a great proportion, which is otherwise 

 wasted, or passed through the animal without con- 

 tributing to its nourishment. One bushel of chaff- 

 ed hay, at a mess, given in a trough, three times 

 in twenty four hours, is sufficient for a horse, ox 

 or cow. A bushel of chaffed hay, lightly pressed, 

 weighs from 5 to 5 1-2 pounds. A horse, or 

 horned beast thrives more on 15 lbs. thus given, 

 than on 24 or 25 lbs. as commonly expended (in- 

 cluding waste) in the usual mode of feeding in 

 racks, to which troughs properly constructed are 

 far preferable." 



The celebrated agriculturist, Arthur Young, 

 observed that " the practice of giving hay cut with 

 a mixture of straw, instead of feeding in the com- 

 mon way with hay, is recommended at all events 

 to as great a degree as can be effected, for the 

 saving is unquestionable. Mr. Page of Cobham, 

 in feeding his slock, gives no hay or straw but what 

 has been cut into chaff". At the expense of only 

 £5 he added a mill-wheel to his chaff-cutter, by 

 which means a boy and a little pony cut 20 bush- 

 els per hour. This practice he finds so profitable, 

 that he earnestly recommends it. 



" For sheep, attention must be paid to the troughs 

 in which it is given, to see that they be so boarded 

 as to prevent the wind from blowing the chaff' 

 out: this is effected in Lord Clarendon's sheep 

 yard, in Hertfordshire, by a boarding, which cov- 

 ers the sheep's heads, while feeding in the troughs." 



Other authorities might be cited in favor of cut- 

 ting hay and other fodder for stock, but anything 

 more on that topic, we believe would be superflu- 

 ous. It is also well known that cattle greatly pre- 

 fer short straw to long, and by mixing a little bar- 

 ley, oats, or Indian meal with straw, or other coarse 

 fodder, cut about as short as oats, they will eat the 

 mixture with eagerness, when they would reject 

 the coarser parts without such preparation. 



The advantages of cutting fodder are that it 

 saves labor in masticating and fitting the food for 

 digestion. Cattle's teeth are not so sharp as the 

 steel of a fine edged tool, and when their food is 

 rendered fine by artificial means, it will be still 

 more minutely divided by the grinders of the ani- 

 mal ; and the smaller the particles, the greater the 

 proportionate surface presented te the operations 

 of the gastric juice of the stomach. But theory 

 apart, practice has shown the advantages of these 

 machines; and that more than one third of a far- 

 mer's hay, &c. may be saved by their use. And 

 we have reason Jo believe that Willis , Improved 

 Strain Cutter is one of the most valuable of this 

 very important class of agricultural implements. 



NEW AND EXCELLENT VARIETY OF WHEAT. 



In our paper of September 4, 1833, page 58 of 

 the current volume, were given some notices of a 

 new kind of Spring Wheat, which was originally 

 procured by Payson Williams, Esq. from the 

 shores of the Black Sea. We have since learned 

 that Mr. Williams' crop of this kind of wheat, 

 raised on bis farm at Fitcbburgh, was very great, 

 amounting to fifty five bushels and three 

 pecks to the acre ! Some of the stalks and 

 heads of this wheat are left for inspection in the 

 New-England Farmer Office, and afford ocular 

 and tangible demonstration that report has not 

 gone beyond reality, as respects the excellence of 

 this article. We hope to have some of this kind 

 of wheat for sale in season for sowing next spring, 



and persons wishing to obtain it are requested to 

 send their orders as soon as convenient. 



For the New England Farmer. 



a mammoth turnip. 



Mr. Fessenden, 



I observed in your paper of the 4th inst. an ac- 

 count of a " Great Turnip" raised in Salem, meas- 

 uring 2 feet, 6 1-2 inches, and weighing 7 3-4 lbs. 



I send you with this a turnip raised on my 

 place the past season, which measured when taken 

 from the ground 3 feet 1 inch, and weighed 11 

 lbs. exclusive of tops. 



Charles Bowen. 

 Newton, Dec. 5, 1833. 



ITEMS OP INTELLIGENCE. 



Congress convened at 12 o'clock on the 2d inst. and 

 chose Andrew Stevenson of Virginia, Speaker, and 

 Walter S. Franklin, of Penn., Clerk. 



A Message was received from the President, embrac- 

 ing the usual topics; but as it has probably been in the 

 hands of most of our readers, we shall not attempt its 

 abridgement. This Message was subsequently referred 

 to a Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union. 



On the 5th inst. the President of the U S. returned 

 the Land bill, which passed both Houses of Congress at 

 the last session, accompanied by a long Message stating 

 the grounds on which he had declined signing the bill. 

 The reception and reading of this bill gave rise to a de- 

 bate in which this proceeding of the President was made 

 the subject of animadversion. 



John S. Abbott, Esq. of Thomaston, whose office and 

 library were consumed a few days ago, states in a com- 

 munication to the Portland Advertiser, that his papers 

 were enclosed in one of " Gayler's patent double Jire- 

 proof wrought Iron Chests." During the fire it fell 

 from the second story into the cellar and was exposed to 

 an intense red heat for some hours. The heat was so 

 great as to melt a part of a stove ; and the iron key 

 which was left in the padlock, on being touched, crum- 

 bled to atoms ; yet no paper in it was in the least degree 

 burnt — and not one was rendered illegible. 



Coal. Indications of vast quantities of excellent an- 

 thracite coal, are said to have been found in Virginia 

 within 12 miles of the Potomac, and in the vicinity of 

 the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. They are said to reach 

 along the base of the mountains quite into Tennessee. 



We commend the following paragraph to the particu- 

 lar notice of some country gentlemen, who do us the 

 honor to exchange papers with the Boston Courier. It 

 is from a paper lately established in the thriving village 

 of Brattleborough, Vt. called the Independent Press. 

 The custom of selling exchange papers, regularly, to in- 

 dividuals, at less than the subscription price, is about as 

 honest as to keep a reading room and furnish it at the 

 expense of other printers. 



We have had sundry persons in our office of late, of- 

 fering to purchase the Vermont Chronicle, the New- 

 England Farmer, the Boston Patriot, etc. &c. at re- 

 duced prices. They told us that they had been in the 

 habit of purchasing exchange papers frequently at other 

 printing offices, and seemed much surprised, when we 

 told them that we could not honorably sell any papers 

 sent us through the kindness of our editorial brethren, 

 and that wc could not, with any decency, fill our own 

 pockets, by making such a treacherous use of the labors 

 of others. We recommend the proposed convention of 

 editors to pass a decree, whenever they meet, excom- 

 municating any such delinquents from all interchange of 

 courtesy and civility. — Boston Courier. 



