434 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



invention of the right engine for this work, a han- 

 dy little locomotive, that can do everything but eat 

 and get weary like a horse team. The "American 

 Eagle" mowing machine bearing the name of 

 Nourse, of Boston, I am gratified to learn has tak- 

 en the highest prize at this exhibition. The trials 

 were had last week, and the award was announced 

 to-day, and gave me as much pleasure as if 1 had 

 been myself the exhibitor. One's patriotism thrives 

 wonderfully on a foreign soil, and one hardly ap- 

 preciates the full beauty of the American Eagle, 

 till he is seen soaring in the distance across the 

 ocean. 



A great variety of turnip and wheat hoes are ex- 

 hibited, indicating the different mode of cultivating 

 those crops here, and in America. 



Various light, thin hoes of different width, fitted 

 80 as to be changed, one after another, upon the 

 same handle, are used in hoeing turnips, a weight 

 in the form of a ring being slipped down over the 

 handle for giving a heavier stroke on land where 

 the weeds are large and firmly rooted. All the 

 wheat is sowed in drills, about seven inches apart, 

 and various drills for sowing it, form a conspicuous 

 feature in this show. Horse hoes, or cultivators, 

 are also used to work between the rows both of 

 turnips and wheat, and are made to match the 

 drills, so that a horse hoe is worked at one opera' 

 tion in some fourteen rows of wheat, or in four 

 rows of turnips, and small harrows, cleaning four 

 rows at a time of turnips or mangolds, I have fre- 

 quently seen in operation. All the wheat in Lin 

 colnshire at least, I may add, is carefully hand 

 weeded, till all weeds are exterminated. Some 

 idea of the nicety of English farm operations may 

 be gained from these facts. Liquid manure drills 

 are also shown, and machines for broadcast sowing 

 of pulverized manures, like guano and superphos- 

 phate, but I observe nothing that is worth carry- 

 ing across the water, for that purpose. 



TILE MACHINES, 



of various pattern, to work by hand, by horse pow 

 er, or by steam, call for a particular notice, because 

 the time is not far distant, when tiles for draining 

 will be made in New England as commonly as 

 brick. Two incli tiles can be made at a less price 

 than bricks, when the business is well understood ; 

 the cost of burning being much less, because the 

 tiles are but about half an inch thick, while bricks 

 are two inches. The estimate is that it takes but 

 five-sevenths as much coal to burn 1000 2-inch 

 tile, as to burn 1000 brick, though they are usually 

 burnt together. I observed particularly the opera- 

 tions of the "Pipe and Tile Machine," exhibited 

 by the manufacturer, W. Williams, of Bedford 

 I saw it worked easily by one man, who is a tile 

 maker, and who said that he and one boy can 

 make with it seven thousand two inch tiles per 



day, after the clay is prepared in the pug mill. 

 Four are made at once, by being pressed through 

 four dies, and the box holds enough to make thirty- 

 two, so that thirty-two are turned out as quickly 

 as they can be taken away, and as many more as 

 soon as the box is refilled. The size. No, 3, which 

 is suitable for our use, costs at Bedford 888,50, 

 with one die, and the extra dies for making three, 

 four and six inch pipes, and other forms if desired, 

 with the horses, as they are called, for removing 

 the tiles, cost about five dollars each. Tile ma- 

 chines are adapted to the making of tiles for roofs 

 as well as for draining purposes. 



I think there are more roofs in England covered 

 with tiles, than with everything else. No shingles 

 are used, and cheap buildings are usually thatched 

 with straw or rushes, in the country, while in the 

 cities, the roofs are tiles or slate. The tiles are 

 made in the machines, of various forms, and some 

 of them, with rounded or ornamental corners, pro- 

 duce a very handsome effect, on ornamental cot- 

 tages and gate lodges. My opinion is that tiles 

 for roofs might be made in all parts of New Eng- 

 land, and might be found a good substitute for 

 shingles, and far less expensive than slate. 



A sheep dipping machine for washing sheep, and 

 also for some preparation for increasing the growth 

 of wool, seemed a novel idea. To prove how his 

 medicine would make the wool grow, the exhibi- 

 tor showed me a fleece about as large as a small 

 buffalo robe, the wool of which I measured, and 

 found it fifteen inches long ! a Cotswold fleece, he 

 said. 



I thought his preparation must have affected 

 the sheep as much as the wool, by the size of the 

 skin. 



I have glanced at but few of the thousands of 

 implements that are shown, only such as I deemed 

 of some peculiar interest at home. In conclusion, 

 on this subject, I may say, that the larger imple- 

 ments, like steam engines, threshing machines, horse 

 carts, wheat drills, are made more thoroughly and 

 more expensively than in New England, but that 

 in the manufacture of nearly all small, hand tods, 

 such as hoes, forks, shovels, rakes and the like, we 

 far excel them. The reasoi\, I apprehend, is that 

 with us the farmer who buys the implement uses it 

 with his own hand, while here he buys it for a la- 

 borer's hand, and cares more for strength than light- 

 ness, or beauty of finish. 



As I shall be obliged to notice at considerable 

 length other parts of the exhibition, I will close 

 this letter here, and commence another to-morrow. 

 Yours truly, H. F. F. 



The Language of Mother Earth.— Plants 

 are, as it were, the most direct language of the 

 earth. Every new leaf, every strange flower is 

 some secret that is pressing forth, and which, be- 



