370 



THE FAKMERS' CABlNE-f. 



VOL. 1, 



wood they burn the shell lime at an expense 

 of about iwo cents por bushel. 



Tiie proprietors of this estate live in Dela- 

 ware, mid arc; iiiakini,^ ettbrts to inlmduce tiie 

 Pennsylvania n:ode ut' fariuing inio the neigh- 

 borhood ; they have now on hand thirty tliou- 

 6a:id bushel;) of shell Imie, whicli is to he 

 drawn out this season and spread at the rate 

 of one hundied bushels to ihe acre tor the 

 next year's crop. We had taken with us 

 small quantities of Ruta Baga, Mangle 

 Wurtzle, and Sugar Beet seed, and here we 

 found a person willing to prepare a pitce ol 

 ground to try the experiment of root culture 

 with the siflings or dust from the shells as a 

 manure. We likewise engaged him to make 

 an experiment upon an acre of poor land in 

 raising of wheat. We directed him to turn 

 the land down with the plough, spread upon 

 it one hundred bushels of shell lune, sow it 

 with three bushels of oats ; when the oats had 

 grown up and was beginning to change its 

 color, roll it down, plough it in and sow the 

 ground with two bushels of corn broad cast; 

 about the second week in October, roll the 

 corn down, plough it in and sow the ground 

 with wheat. To give this experiment a lair 

 trial, the oats should have been sown in the 

 eariy part of the fourth month. 



I am inclined to the opinion that the above 

 plan would make the principal part of Dela- 

 ware and Maryland produce twenty bushels 

 of wheat to the acre, which, at 81 50 per 

 bushel would buy the land and pay all ex- 

 penses ol lime, seed and labor, and if laid 

 down with clover, would, for a succession of 

 year?, produce good crops of hay and pasture. 

 Such an investment of idle money would be, 

 more profitable than shaving notes at two per 

 cent, a month,besides the additional security of 

 real estate, and the satisfaction every generous 

 mind must feel in the reflection that his lalor 

 has made two blades of grass grow where one 

 grew before. This Peninsula possesses local 

 advantages that few places in our country 

 can boast. A soil peculiarly adapted to rais- 

 ing of grain, one that is easily improved and 

 very difacult to wear out. It is watered 

 with such a number of creeks, outlets and 

 bays, that many of their farms are bounded 

 by navigable streams, and very few indeed 

 that lie further than five or six miles from a 

 landing where abundance of lime and plaster 

 can be had at reasonable prices; stone lime 

 from the Schuylkill sells from sixteen to 

 twenty ce nts per bushel, and shell lime at about 

 half the price, 



While so many are enamored with the " far 

 west," parting with their friends, their homes, 

 and their firesides, for a prospect of buying 

 land cheap, and being independent, for $1 25 



{►or acre, could here buy hundreds of acres for 

 ess than nothing, compared with the wild lands 



of the west, and that too within a day's journev 

 of three of the largest cities in theUnion. 1 

 .-,ay less than nothing, for such is the depressed 

 .-late of agriculture in the peninsula, that 

 tarms are olten sold lor less than the build- 

 ings, fences and other improvements have 

 cost. 



it is certainly a question of some import- 

 ance, whtlher the worn cut lands of Dela- 

 ware, Maryland, and other parts of our coun- 

 try cannot be improveo at Jtts exper.te than 

 to clear otf the almost impenetrable forests of 

 the west. When we' consider the time it 

 necessarily occupies to clear and nitike ready 

 tor the plough an hundred acres of heavy tim- 

 bered land, the expeiite of labor, where labor 

 is not easily obtained, the distance from 

 'market, the privations and hardships insepa- 



rably connected with new settlements; it 

 seems at leatt v\orthy of an experiment to 

 ascertain the fact. A Svbsckieeb. 



Wiliuiiigloij, Del , 5tli mo. 18, Ifl)?. 



For the Fanners' C.nbiiiel. 



j Agricultural Implcuseuts. 



I NO. IX. 



I THE THRESHING MACHINE. 



A machine for this purpose requires great 

 care in the materials and proportions, ouirg 

 to the liability of coming in contact with 

 sticks, stones, and other foreign suLstancef: 

 jtherelbie, it is Lest either to have all the 

 , parts so strong as not to be injured by them, 

 or some part to give way and thereby save 

 the other parts. A cylinder to turn with 

 considerable velocity, having spikes or pro- 

 jections in it.s periphery moving between 

 j other similar projections in a fixed concave, is, 

 ! probably, the best kind of a machine for grain 

 in every stage of dryness. One of the for- 

 mer kind may be made with a hollow iron 

 cylinder, the ends composed of cast, and the 

 I shaft, projections, and periphery of wrought 

 or malleable iron; the projections are made 

 I tapering and passed part way out through 

 i openings cut in the periphery, not quite io 

 large as the larger end of the projections; 

 eacii projection has a key through it, parallel 

 I with the centre of the cylinder, to as to press 

 I with great force against the periphery, and 

 thereby force the projection outwards and 

 I confine it firmly to the cylinder. The con- 

 jCave and projections within it may be com- 

 j posed of cast iron, all in one piece, and be 

 I confined by bolts and nuts to a frame of iron 

 lor wood. 



The latter kind may be composed of spikea 

 or projections that will bend when coming in 

 contact with sticks, stones, &c. and which, 

 iinay be bent back (or returned) to their pro- 

 per position without breaking, and ore con- 

 fined firmly to a cylinder and concave o? 



;t 



A 



