194 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



April 





For the New England Farmer. 



PORTABLE WINDMILLS. 



Mr. Editor : — Your Maine correspondent, "A. 

 S.," inquires after "portable windmills." Mr. E. A. 

 Howard, of this village, an ingenious mechanic, who 

 has had much experience in mills propelled by 

 wind, recently showed me a model of a portable 

 mill, which my judgment tells me is of great prom- 

 ise. Thesimplicity of its construction is admirable 

 — very compact — adapted either to the upright or 

 circular saw, pumping, threshing, or any of the 

 multitudinous uses to which the farmer and me- 

 chanic can profitably put such a machine. Its 

 fans, when spread, extend sufficiently to give great 

 power to the saw or thresher, yet are so construct- 

 ed as to be unshipped and the machine housed in 

 an inconsiderable space of time ; and can be quite 

 as easily rigged and put in motion. A man or boy 

 of ordinary intelligence would be quite sufficient 

 to conduct all its operations. It can be moved from 

 place to place with the facility of a wheelbarrow. 

 Mr. Howard is not a professional inventor, nor is 

 lie at all anxious to appear as one before the pub- 

 lic, though to facilitate his business he has built 

 and improved upon many machines used by me- 

 chanics. He employs in his work a steam engine 

 of six hor.se power, and a windmill of his own con- 

 struction, yet in point of economy, gives his prefer- 

 ence decidedly to the latter ; and from what I know 

 of mechanics, think him right. 



I believe that it would be for the interest of your 

 correspondent, "A. S.," or any of your numerous 

 readers who desire a windmill at once simple, por- 

 table and efficient, nor yet costing too much, to write 

 Mr. H., or call on him personally. He is about 

 securing his invention by "letters patent," and 

 would build to order his machines — do it in the 

 most reliable manner, for a moderate price, to op- 

 erate in the most satisfactory manner. 



T. N. Jones. 



J^l'orth Reading, Mass., Feb. 23, 1857. 



Remarks.— The above is an advertisment worth 

 a moderately priced windmill to a man of busi- 

 ness, and yet we give it a place here with cheer- 

 fulness, because we desire to see such a mill as Mr. 

 Jones describes in common use on our farms. 

 There ought to be a mill so constructed as to be 

 attached to our barns, throwing their wings out from 

 the top, and giving power to cut the haj', grind the 

 corn, turn the grindstone and even to thresh if re- 

 quired. 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. — A 

 meeting of the Massachusetts State Board of Agri- 

 culture was held at the State House, on Wednesday 

 (2oth inst.) to consider the resolutions passed at a 

 late meeting of citizens with reference to the estab- 

 lishment of a new State Agricultural Society. A 

 full and free discussion took place, in the course 

 of which Hon. R. C. Winthrop addressed the meet- 

 ing in relation to the past history and the objects 

 of the State Society, and generously pledged it for 

 the sum of two thousand dollars in aid of an exhi- 

 bition, should it be decided to hold one this year. 

 The following motion was then adopted : 



Voted, That in the opinion of this Board it is ex- 

 pedient to hold a State Cattle Show and Agricultu- 

 ral Fair sometime in the month of September or 

 October, and that a Committee of Arrangements 

 be now appointed, with authority to fix upon a time 

 and place for holding the same, provided a sufficient 

 guaranty fund is pledged to defray the expenses. 



A Committee was accordingly appointed. It con- 

 sists of Marshall P. Wilder, Samuel Chandler, John 

 Brooks, Geo. Marston, Wm. G. Lewis, Moses New- 

 ell and Thomas J. Field. 



LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTURAL MEET- 

 ING. 



[Reported for the Farmer by H. E. Rock'Well.] 

 The Eighth of the series of meetings of the Leg- 

 islative Agricultural Society was held Tuesday eve- 

 ning. Subject for discussion, "Farm Implements." 

 Charles L. Flint, Esq., Secretary of the Mas- 

 sachusetts Board of Agriculture, was called on to 

 preside. He called the attention of the meeting to 

 some of the special topics which he thought would 

 naturally come before them. There was scarcely 

 anything, he said, in which so great advance had 

 been made in practical agriculture as in what is 

 called agricultural mechanics. There can be no 

 question that great progress has been made over 

 the ancients in bringing the inorganic forces of na- 

 ture, the wind, v/ater and steam, to bear, directly 

 or indirectly, in agricultural mechanics. It was a 

 hundred years after the time of Christ, before a 

 simple water-wheel was invented. The wind-mill 

 was not introduced into Europe till the elcA'enth 

 century. But within the last forty or fifty years, 

 the progress of agricultural mechanics has been ex- 

 ceedingly great ; and much of this progress in this 

 country has been brought about by the ingenuity, 

 enterprise and constant energy of Massachusetts 

 mechanics. Many of the improvements in the 

 plow were doubtless suggested by the early experi- 

 ments made in this State, although it is true that 

 many improvements were also made, nearly simul- 

 taneously, by English mechanics. The substitution 

 of iron for wooden plows is supposed to have been 

 suggested at quite as early a day in this country 

 as in England. But, within the last ten or fifteen 

 years, the rapidity of the progress in improvement 

 has been greater. Something of the rapidity with 

 which the amount of manufactures for agricultural 

 purposes has increased is shown by the "Statistics 

 of Industry," for Massachusetts, where it will be 

 seen that in 1845, the value of the shovels, spades, 

 forks and hoes manufactured was $275,212 ; and 

 in 1855 it was $894,515. The value of plows and 

 other agricultural implements, aside from those 

 enumerated, was, in 1845, $121,691 ; in 1855 it 

 was $763,980. One of the noticeable features con- 

 nected with the present state of the manufacture 

 of agricultural implements, is the concentration of 

 that manufacture in few hands. Whether that 



