254 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Nov. 



and other mephitic gases. On the contrary, if Cyprus, 

 pine, and plants that contain but a triflle of nitrogen, 

 sulphur and phosphorus, grow and decay, there is 

 little or no danger. The same vegetable and animal 

 substances that poison the air when they rot, will 

 poison water with eq.ual facility. All gases that 

 escape into the atmosphere from decomposing mold 

 or vegetation, which often cause sickness where 

 large tracts of prairie are broken, are condensed, or 

 soluble in rain and other water. If tillage did not 

 largely increase the decomposition, and of course 

 consumption of organic matter in soils, it is incon- 

 ceivable how the plowing of prairies should augment 

 disease. \_To be Continued.] 



NOTES FOR THE MONTH. 



Horace Greely, at our State Fair says, "it was 

 sad to see so many unintellectual faces there." One 

 would have supposed that after having escaped the 

 cearments of the city, friend Greely would have felt 

 in such good humor with the throng at our great 

 rural festival, as to have formed a more liberal judg- 

 ment, the more especially, as it is but a few short 

 months since Mr. G. complained how hard it was 

 to find an honest face, even among his own political 

 associates. But [ would ask if Cockneyism with full 

 cribs of corn, beef and pork in the cellar, and no 

 notes in the bank, would not put on as unintellectual 

 a face as Ruralism. It is the province of fruition to 

 make man look dull, as it is of care and doubtful suc- 

 cess to give mental lines to his countenance. 'Tis 

 true that farmers lack the furbishing of that daily 

 social intercourse which give colloquial facility to 

 the gregarious town's people, neither are they ac- 

 complished with that mental sharpening, so insepa- 

 rable :rom him who wins his daily bread by practicing 

 the tricks of trade. But who would have the farmer 

 thus improved, at the expense of his honest, inde- 

 pendent face ? Surely not the philanthropic editor 

 of the justly famed New York Tribune. 



That both farming and farmers are in a more rapid 

 state of progress at this time in these United States, 

 than at any former period, every man must be con- 

 vinced who examines the reports of the various agri- 

 cultural societies, now organized throughout the 

 length and breadth of our land. 'Tis true that every 

 man who ives by tillage cannot be induced, as Mr. G. 

 would have him, to think, read and reflect. But the 

 number of those who do keep up with the improved 

 theories in manuring and culture, is sufficient to 

 enlighten, by their example, all those of their own 

 calling who are not utterly impracticable. Hence it 

 is that at this time the theory of farmingis much better 

 than the practice. Perhaps there is no trade or call- 

 ing in the land in which practice is so far below 

 theory as in farming: "the spirit is willing, but the 

 flesh is weak." Ther_> is not one intelligent farmer 

 but will confess that he cultivates more land than he 

 works well; having a !arge breadth of field, he pre- 

 pares the soil and puts in his seed indifferently, trust- 

 ing to Providence to give him a good season ami a 

 fair crop— very much like the man who trusts to luck 

 when he buys a ticket in a lottery. But as there is 

 no error without palliation lor its consequences, the 

 slovenly farmer is not slow to charge each failure i I 

 crop to the ravages of insects, or the untowardness 

 of the season. 



Our Seneca County Agricultural Fair, held at 

 Ovid, on the 4th and 5th of October, is represented 



to have been much more interesting and more numer- 

 ously attended than any one of our previous fairs. 

 Very many thanks are due to our masterly President, 

 John Delafield, Esq., the light of whose counte- 

 nance is sufficient to make every man put his shoulder 

 to the wheel of progress and reform. I am proud to 

 say that many of our farmers attended this fair and 

 were pleased, who heretofore had lived so deep in 

 the rut of tradition that they could not see out on 

 either side. 



Every crop in this county is good this season. 

 Pasture, and in some instances Indian Corn, have 

 suffered from the extreme hot weather and continued 

 drouth. Potatoes in August were supposed to be 

 done for by the heat and drouth, but the September 

 rains have induced a continued growth in this root. 

 I have not heard a single complaint of rot up to this, 

 (13th October.) Pink Eyes and Mercers have again 

 caught their original flavor, and are no longer waxy 

 and tasteless. The supply will be short, as many 

 farmers, discouraged by previous rot, have planted 

 only for their own use. 



Anecdote of Draining. — Last spring several 

 gentlemen called to see the justly celebrated farm of 

 John Johnston, in Fayette. In going over the 

 premises Mr. J. purposely omitted to tell them which 

 wheat field was under-drained, and the better to elicit 

 their surprise, he led them over one wheat field where 

 the wet, heavy, unctuous soil adhered to their boots, 

 much to their annoyance; then crossing the fence to 

 another wheat field, of like soil and formation, they 

 one and all uttered their surprise at its dry and mel- 

 low surface. " Gentleman," exclaimed Mr. J., "you 

 are on my tile." These tile are laid twenty to thirty 

 inches deep. They were made by Mr. Wkartenby, 

 in this village, (Waterloo,) with the aid of a machine 

 imported for the purpose from England, by Mr. 

 Delafield. S. W.— Seneca Co., Oct., 1849. 



BURRALL'S SHELL -WHEEL PLOW. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer : — In your May number, 

 I find an article by H. L. Emery, purporting to be 

 a history of the Plow and its improvements, con- 

 taining statements which I deem incorrect, and 

 injurious to me. 



I cannot, for a moment suppose that you would do 

 me an intentional injury: but having made valuable 

 improvements by a series of laborious and expensive 

 experiments, I am unwilling to have them kept 

 back by the expression of hasty opinions, or incorrect 

 statements of those who have but partially examined, 

 or are interested in misrepresenting them. Such 1 

 deem to be the case with the writer above referred to. 



He says, " in theory, by the use of a revolving 

 landside a saving of power is obtained," &c; "but 

 when the earth is mellow and constantly giving way 

 to the pressure of the wheel, this saving of power 

 is more than counterbalanced, by the increased r 

 ance to be overcome." 



Now, without examining his theory, which has no 

 foundation in truth, I speak only to the fact which 

 is known to the public by repeated and careful ex- 

 periments, that in all soils, and in all conditions, 

 there is a manifest saving of power in the draft of 

 the plow, by the use of the wheel. The average 

 gain in the use of the wheel by Wilkie, nearly thirty 

 years since, (as stated by Loudon,) was about thirty 

 per cent, and the mqst careful experiments with mine, 

 have given about the same result. It is therefore too 



