THE. UE.ISE.SE.& lAKM^ii. 



be absent for several days in succession, without 

 any special detriment to his fanning operations. 

 His corn and roots are hoed and kept in a flourish- 

 ing condition, and his hay, and wheat, and rye 

 crops carefully secured, so that he finds loaded 

 scaffolds of golden grain, and bursting bays of aro- 

 matic hay, all safely housed, to gladden him on his 

 return. 



If he has used a mowing machine, all this labor 

 has undoubtedly been greatly facilitated, and the 

 crops have been economically secured. But sup- 

 pose he has not availed himself of this labor-saving 

 implement— he has had, and always can have, a 

 force, in athletic men, equal to all the demands up- 

 on him. If there is any class of our farmers who 

 can dispense with the mowing machine, and not 

 most sensibly feel its absence, it is this that we have 

 described. This class may be independent of the 

 machine if it will, but not without loss. 



Such, however, is not the case with the small far- 

 mer. His whole success is centred in his own ju- 

 dicious management, aided by his own muscular 

 power. The hard jobs, as well as the easy, and all 

 the duties that incessantly come both late and early, 

 are also his. His sons may be in the army, factory, 

 or behind a counter, all but the youngest, who is 

 only fourteen, and yet has swung the scythe the 

 two previous years. 



Perhaps the farmer is considerably past middle 

 life, and, although in good health, his cheek is fur- 

 rowed, and grey hairs sprinkle his temples. It is 

 true that the grasshopper is not a burden to him 

 yet, but he does not feel like cutting his acre before 

 dinner ; he stops to whet oftener than he did twen- 

 ty years ago, and rests longer in the shade of the 

 big apple tree ! In fact, his " mowing machine " 

 I does not work as it formerly did. There is plenty 

 I of will, but less power, and the work progresses 

 j slowly, while he looks painfully around to see what 

 i he can call in to his aid, to secure ffhe crops which 

 I beneficent Heaven has matured for the support of 

 I his family. 



The mowing machine comes to such a man as a 

 real blessing. It enables him to keep up with his 

 younger neighbors ; to cut his crops in season and 

 i secure them without loss. He is relieved, encour- 

 aged, and feels comparatively young again, because 

 he can carry on his farm as rapidly and successfully 

 as he did in his younger and stronger days ! 



Perhaps the small farmer is in feeble health — not 

 really sick, but unable to take the lead in laborious 

 work — but with the aid of a mowing machine and 

 a good horse-rake, he is more than a match for the 



best five men in the country. But this is not all. 

 Some how he feels better than he did. His appe- 

 tite is sharp — he has gained flesh — stands up 

 straighter than for s many years before, and with 

 these blessings another has come, more valuable 

 than all, in a cheerful, trusting, hopeful spirit, 

 which brings a new sunshine and joy to his whole 

 homestead! Wonderful! And the doctor says, 

 " All this has come because you do not work so 

 hard !" 



THE VALUE OF COMMERCIAL MANURES. 

 In the May number of the Genesee Farmer, we 

 published an article on this subject embodying the 

 results of analyses, made in the laboratory of Dr. 

 Pugh, of several artificial manures. The results 

 were not at all favorable to the majority of the 

 manufacturers. As yet only two, so far as we have 

 observed, have made any attempt to reply — the 

 Lodi Manufacturing Co. and Prof. Mapes. There 

 is nothing in the remarks of the former that we 

 Meed reply to. They claim that they sell their 

 proudrette, in lulk, at a price less than Dr. Pugh 

 estimates it to be worth. 



Prof. Mapes is very wroth. He assails Dr. 

 Pugh's motives. He seems to think the statement 

 that " the greatest cheat of the whole lot is that pf 

 Mapes' so-called Nitrogenized Superphosphate," is 

 neither kind nor courteous ! He further states 

 that the sample of his manure analyzed could not 

 have been genuine. He also asserts that the esti- 

 mates of the commercial value of the constituents 

 are erroneous. In proof of this, he says that the 

 estimate of one cent per pound for the sulphuric 

 acid " is decidedly oeloio its market value.'''' 



Let us see if this is the case. The sulphuric 

 acid in Mapes' Superphosphate, and in other 

 similar manures, exists in the form of sulphate of 

 lime (gypsum or plaster.) One ton of. this sul- 

 phate of lime or plaster contains 651 pounds of 

 lime, 930 pounds of sulphuric acid and 419 pounds 

 of water. In this city we can buy plaster for 

 $3.00 per ton. One ton contains 930 pounds o? 

 sulphuric acid. We get, therefore, 930 pounds of 

 sulphuric acid for $3.00. This is less than one-third 

 of a cent per pound. Dr. Pugh estimates it at one 

 cent per pound. This is equivalent to paying $9.30 

 per ton for plaster, and throwing the 651 pounds 

 of lime into the bargain ! And yet Prof. Mapes 

 tells us that this is " decidedly below its market 

 price ! ! " 



We are not surprised that Prof. Mapes asserts 

 that the manure analyzed was not a true sample 

 of his Superphosphate. Any manufacturer might 



