22 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Jan. 



NEW SAUSAGE OK MINCING MACHINE. 



Having been furnished by Mr. H. L. Emery, of 



the Albany Ag. Warehouse, with the accompanying 

 cut and description of this neat and valuable machine, 

 we give it to our readers in the belief that it is a 

 great labor-saving article for farmers, pork packers, 

 and hotel keepers. We are informed that the 

 machine is extensively used in the eastern portion of 

 this State, and very generally in the New England 

 States : 



JYew Sausage or Mincing Machine. 



One machine, by the power of a man, is capable 

 of cutting readily from 80 to 100 lbs. of meat per 

 hour — the person turning the crank feeding the 

 machine, thus leaving the mass cut sufficiently fine 

 and uniform. 



It is constructed of blocks of hard wood about five 

 inches thick, nine inches wide, and fifteen inches 

 long, connected together by hinges and hasps. The 

 two faces of the blocks are carved or bored out so as 

 to form a hollow cylinder or barrel extending through 

 the length of the blocks, excepting enough at each 

 end to form a head or cap. -In this cavity is suspended 

 a wooden cone on an iron shaft, running lengthwise, 

 and one end of the shaft extending through and 

 connecting with a crank outside. In this cone are 

 placed three rows of wood or iron pegs, so arranged 

 spirally as to form a kind of screw, running length- 

 wise — the pegs being smaller, snorter, and closer 

 together as they approach the large end of the cone 

 — making the mean diameter of the pegs the same at 

 each end of the cone, and just filling the space or 

 cavity. Each block has a set of triangular knives 

 fixed stationary, and so as to allow the pegs to pass 

 between them. 



The process is simply putting in the meat at the 

 small end of the cone, through the kind of hopper or 

 funnel, and by turning the cranS the meat is passed 

 round, through and between the knives, and forward 

 to the large end of the cone by the combined act inn 

 of the pegs and knives, and finally discharged through 

 an aperture in the bottom at the large end of the 

 cone or opposite the hopper end — the fineness being 

 guaged by the size of this discharging aperture. 



The machine is warranted to cut fit for use fnnii 

 80 to 150 lbs. per hour, according to the power 

 applied — one man being sufficient to turn it con- 

 stantly. Several hundred have been sold during the 

 pant two years, am] given entire satisfaction. A good 

 machine, warranted, can be afforded at from $12 to 

 $1-5 — and may be obtained at Mr. Emery's Ware- 

 house in Albany, or at his Depot in Rochester. 



THE AMERICAN LOCUST IN VIRGINIA. 

 BY YARDLEY TAYLOR. 



In the 6th month number of the Genesee Farmer 

 is a communication by David Thomas, written it 

 seems in 1831 and republished in 1848, asking for 

 information from other sections of the country 

 respecting the American Locust as it is called, or 

 the Cicada Septcndecem of Linnaes ; and concluding 

 with several queries to which answers are requested. 



To several of these queries I have no answer to 

 give, but to this one, " What has caused the locusts 

 in one district to differ in regard to time from those 

 of another district"?" I reply, that I have no evidence 

 that they do so differ. There may be in other places, 

 as there is here, two sets of them, but they regularly 

 observe the period of 17 years in their appearance. 

 These two sets have different boundaries for their 

 districts, and consequently overlap each other, and 

 such circumstances as these may lead the casual 

 observer to suppose there is an irregularity in their 

 appearance, when there is not. 



By noticing the public papers we hear of the 

 locusts being numerous in some sections of our 

 widely extended country almost every year. In this 

 county, (Loudon, Va.,) they have appeared in regular 

 intervals of 8 and § years for upwards of 50 years. 

 It is said that they have appeared here in 1792, in 

 1800 and in 1809. Since then I recollect them 

 myself, to wit : in 1817, in 1826, in 1834, and 1843, 

 and we look for them again in 1851. In 1826 and 

 1843 they extended to the north, east and south of 

 this county for a great distance, but did not extend 

 but very little to the west of the Blue Ridge, which 

 bounds this county on that side. In Frederick 

 county, Va., there were no locusts those years, 

 though only 30 miles west'of this, while in 1817 and 

 1834 they were numerous in that county, and at the 

 same time extended to the north and east and south 

 of this place as well as to the west. They were 

 more numerous in the latter than in the former yoars. 

 Whether these boundaries in other directions are the 

 same, I do not know. 



If I remember right Dr. Gideon B. Smith, of 

 Baltimore, is collecting materials for a map of the 

 United States, showing the different districts of the 

 locust as they appear in different years. Such a 

 map, with the history of this singular insect, would 

 be interesting. The great length of time they 

 remain in the ground renders it very difficult to 

 ascertain their history exactly, yet their appearing 

 in the immediate vicinity where their eggs were 

 deposited, shews conclusively that they do not travel 

 far in a lateral direction. And they sometimes 

 appear in situations where we might reasonably 

 conclude they could not descend into the earth many 

 feet without coming in contact with water at all 

 seasons. What their food is in this long interval il is 

 difficult to say. I have never seen any injury to 

 the roots of plants done by them, and seldom ever 

 see them except a short time previous to their 

 appearance. There are a few solitary ones to be 

 met with every year, and I see no good reason to 

 suppose them a different species, as has been in- 

 timated. London Co., Va., 11th month, 1848. 



Plants that are grown too fast cannot be hand- 

 some. The more rapid the growth, the further apart 

 arc the leaves, the longer the bare part of the stems. 

 Flowering plants arc better grown too slow than 

 too fast. 



