1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



195 



> 



change, and others that have been introduced, is an 

 improvement, veould be matters for the meeting 

 to consider. 



Mr. Howard, of the Cultivator, thought the 

 improvements in agriculture, for the last half cen- 

 tury, were, to a very great degree, owing to the ad- 

 vance in mechanical science generally, and its spe- 

 cial application to agricultural implements. Jethro 

 Wood, of N. Y., and Newbold, of N, J., took out 

 patents for cast iron plows simultaneously. They 

 were ridiculed by many farmers in this part of the 

 country, who called them "pot-metal plows." 

 Their plows were short, and were well calculated 

 to break up the soil, but not fitted to bury the sod 

 so that it would decompose. Mr. Howard thought 

 more was due to the Massachusetts Society for the 

 Promotion of Agriculture for the improvement in 

 plows than to any other source. They instituted 

 plowing matches, and offered premiums for excel- 

 lence in plowing ; and thus the attention of makers 

 of plows was turned to their special adaption to 

 particular purposes. It is as necessary to have dif- 

 ferent plows for different soils, or for different pur- 

 poses, as to have a variety of tools for any other 

 species of labor. The lighter class of agricultural 

 implements which are made in New England, are 

 superior to any made in any other part of the world. 

 But we need a plow of a different pattern for hard 

 land. Our mechanics should turn their attention 

 to that want. The English and Scottish plows for 

 clayey soil are superior to ours. As we have a bet- 

 ter system of mechanical operations and labor gen- 

 erally than any other jjortion of our countr)', we 

 ought to retain our present position as the manu- 

 facturers of agricultural implements for other parts 

 of the world. The use of mowing and reaping ma- 

 chines will doubtless become very general where 

 the land is adapted to them. 



Hon. J. W. Proctor, of Danvers, spoke partic- 

 ularly of the Michigan plow, which turns a double 

 furrow, being in his opinion superior to any he had 

 used. It leaves the soil of turf land in a condition 

 that it can be harrowed without disturbing the sod. 

 On old land that has no turf to be turned under, a 

 side-hill plow is found most popufer among the 

 farmers in Essex county. Considerable attention 

 has been given to the mowing machine in that 

 county. Repeated experiments have been made 

 there to test the comparative excellence of differ- 

 ent machines. Manny's machine has generally 

 proved the best. One acre of grass has been cut 

 by one pair of horses and one man in forty minutes, 

 yielding two tons to the acre. It has been shown 

 there satisfactorily, that, with one pair of horses, 

 when they have been properly trained, ten acres of 

 grass, producing two tons of hay to the acre, can 

 be cut in a day. It has been demonstrated that 

 grass can be cut for fifty cents an acre. There are 

 some objections made to the Michigan plow — that 



it gets out of order, &c. But that is not the fault 

 of the principle, but of the material of which the 

 plow is made. Mr. Proctor wished to give his tes- 

 timony especially in favor of these two implements 

 — the Michigan plow and the mowing machine. 



Hon. J. W Brooks, of Princeton, doubted wheth- 

 er there had been as much improvement in plows, 

 all things considered, as some are disposed to be- 

 lieve. He thought he used to know plows that 

 would work as easily nearly fifty years ago, as those 

 that are now made. The que^stion is, whether the 

 plow shall turn the furrow flat, or whether it shall 

 pulverize the land. The latter kind of plow — the 

 short, rather blunt plow — is the better, because, as 

 it pulverizes the soil, it leaves the sod so that it will 

 thoroughly decompose. When he plowed one por- 

 tion of a field, turning the furrows flat, and another 

 portion with a Michigan plow, he saw a great dif- 

 ference in favor of the latter, both in the crop, and 

 in the thorough decomposition of the sods. 



Mr. Dyer, Secretary of the Connecticut Board 

 of Agriculture, was called up by the chairman. He 

 said he thought farmers, throughout the country, 

 should be grateful to Massachusetts for what she 

 has done in the improvement of agricultural imple- 

 ments. But there is room for still greater improve- 

 ment. He doubted whether some implement would 

 not be yet made for moving and pulverizing the 

 soil, which will supersede the use of the plow. He 

 inquired why it is that farmers are so slow to adopt 

 many of the improvements that are made. Mechan- 

 ics are quick to see, and ready to adopt anything 

 that will facilitate their operations. Mowing ma- 

 chines have not been much introduced in Connecti- 

 cut. The Michigan plow has been used some ; but 

 on the stony land of that State, it is found to break 

 easily, and has not met with general approval. Mr. 

 D. was then asked to explain the operation of the 

 invention of Mr. Ayers, of Hartford, by which cat- 

 tle, by their own weight, in stepping on a platform, 

 draw water for themselves to drink. A few min- 

 utes were occupied in explaining the apparatus, and 

 its utility seemed to be apparent, while its simplici- 

 ty excited admiration. It was stated that the weight 

 of a common sized cow was sufficient to draw water 

 from a depth of thirty-six feet. 



Mr. Leander Wetherell spoke of some of the 

 experiments made in England, in order to meas- 

 ure the force required to move plows in the soil. 

 It is plain that a heavy plow requires more force 

 than a light one. In some instances, it has been 

 found that thirty per cent, of the force required in 

 plowing is required to draw the plow on the sur 

 face of the ground. It is therefore of importance 

 to use a lighter plow. By experiments, it has been 

 found that the resistance is not greater when the 

 team moves quickly, than when it moves slowly ; 

 and this is an argument in favor of a quick team. 

 He did not think that a large amount of muscle was 



