822 



THE GENESEE FAR^tER. 



The exhibition of agricultural implements and ma- 

 chines was not as large as usual. The western part of 

 the province was not represented. A marked feature of 

 the show to an American visitor is the number of long 

 handled iron plows. Many of them were painted and 

 polished as if they were intended for a drawing room. 

 They do excellent work, however, on cleared land. The 

 Canadian plowing has a decided English and Scotch 

 look — straight and narrow furrows, turned up at an an- 

 gle of 45°, with well finished dead furrows. Joseph 

 Hall exhibited his well known Pitts Thrashing Machine 

 and many other articles manufactured at his Canadian 

 works in Oshawa. His tile ditching machine attracted 

 much attention. The soil is broken u]) by a kind of plow 

 share, and is then taken np by a revolving apparatus sim- 

 ilar to that used in elevating grain and tumbles on to 

 the sides of the drain. It will cut a drain three feet 

 deep. Underdraining is attracting more attention in 

 Canada as well as in the States, and such a machine is much 

 needed. Li.ndsay's tile making machine was on exhibi- 

 tion, acd is said to be capable of making ten thousand 

 tiles per day. 



There was a fine show of vegetables. In turnips, ruta- 

 bagas and cauliflowers the Canadians beat us very de- 

 cidedly. In fruits we are far ahead of them — though in 

 this respect they are making great advances. As usual 

 the Ontario grape was shown, of extraordinary size. We 

 suppose this result is obtained by ringing the vine, and 

 estra care in cultivation and thinning out the bunches. 



Dr. Beadle, of St. Catharines, made an excellent display 

 of apples, pears, plums and grapes. 



Cllwanger & Barry, of this city, also showed a fine 

 collection of fruit, although the rules of the Association 

 do not allow them and others from the " States " to com- 

 pete for the prizes. 



Jamrs Fleming, of Toronto, made an excellent display 

 o£ greenhouse and other plauts,igrapes, <tc. 



The Farmer who doks not Take an Agricultural 

 Paper. — In a recent address before the Union Agricultu- 

 ral Society at Aurora, the Hon. Geo. W. Cli.vton re- 

 marked : "The truth is, gentlemen, I have a theory. I 

 believe that though a man maj- be a tolerably {food far- 

 mer without science, he never can be an excellent one 

 without it. I believe that in order to be an excellent far- 

 mer, the man must keep pace with his times — that he 

 must read and study, as well as observe and work. And 

 when I see the fences of a farmer weak and broken, the 

 barns .shabby, and the stock poor and of indifferent 

 breeds, I at once conclude that the woman is slipshod 

 and slatternly, that the children are ragged and play tru- 

 ant all they can, and that the man wears a poor coat on 

 Sundays if he don't work on that day, and tl)at he don't 

 take an agricultural paper. Vou liave, I presume, the 

 choice of several such papers, and I have nothing to say 

 of their comparative merits. I love to dip into such a 

 paper when I meet it, and I always find in it matter of 

 amusement and instruction ; and I will add that it gives 

 me peculiar pleasure to look into u stray number of the 

 G«n*f«« Farmer, identified as it is with the agricultural 

 bialory of this portion of the State. 



Notes on the Weather from June 15th to Septembeb 

 I5Tn, 1863.— The heat of the first half of June was half 

 a degree below the average for twenty-six years, and of 

 the last half was 66.5", which was 2.6o below the mean 

 for twenty-six years. The mean of the month was 64.6«, 

 or 2.4° below the general mean. The rain gave only 1.37 

 inch of water— a small quantity for the month. Straw- 

 berries were ripe at the middle of the month, and by the 

 rain of the 21st became abundant. Before this date the 

 fine cultivated black cherries became plenty. Still th» 

 earth was quite dry at the close of the month, and, with 

 a heat ranging from 84o to 88° at noon for the last five' 

 days, rain was a great necessity. 



Seneca Lake, at Geneva, on the 17th, rose and fell 

 about a foot above and below its level, till after several 

 oscillations it came to its level — doubtless caused by a 

 gale or water-spout on the lake. 



July gave us a week of quite warm weather, the heat 

 at noon being from 82" to 88°. The mean of the first 

 half was 74.2", or 4.2*^ above the general average. In the 

 second half the heat was lower njost of the time, and the 

 average was near 69. 3o, about 1.3* below tiiat for this 

 half; and the average of the month about 69", near a de- 

 gree below the general average. The last three days of 

 July were quite warm, and the beginning of the hot 

 period of the papers. 



The rain of the 1st and 2d of July was 1.13 inch, which 

 made the holders of empty cisterns glad, and the earth 

 itself to smile that the proximity of drouth was not to be 

 found. The rain of the 20th began at 7 P. M. here, at 8 

 P. M. in Auburn, and ended early on the 21st; but this 

 storm mo"ed eastward, so that' it began early (at 3 or 4 

 A. M.) at Pittsfield, Mass., and rained all day. At Boston 

 the storm begau in the forenoon. This was a great storm 

 south of u.s, doing much damage to the Valley Canal at 

 and south of Mt. Morris, and was a heavy rain over New 

 England. Here it gave 1.63 inch of water. The amount 

 of rain in July here was 6.03 inches, and nearly made up 

 for the previous small supply. At Boston there fell 12i 

 inches in July. 



August began hot, and so continued to the 12th, making 

 the hot period fourteen days— three in July and eleven in 

 August. The highest here was not above 90° ; but heat 

 continued through the night and was on hand in tl>e 

 morning. The average heat of this half is 75°, or 4.5° 

 above the general average. Since the 11th the heat has 

 been less ; but still the weather is warm. The rain of 

 the 7th and 8th was 1.4S inches, and of the half month 

 2.35 inches. AfTter the rain at the beginning of July, the 

 crops matured rapidly. Indian corn sprang up with 

 power, for the power was given. The growth of the bot- 

 tom gra.ss made great additions to our hav, as well as fbr 

 feed in the pastures. The voice of Plenty is heard: let 

 thanks be given. 



The last half of August was cool. Its mean tempera- 

 ture was 64 6°, or 2 9° below the average for twenty-six 

 years. Once the heat was SO", but generally below 80° in 

 the hottest part of the day. The mean of the month was 

 60.7*, or 1.10 above the general average. The rain of the 

 month gave 3.7 inches of water. 



The last half of July is hotter commonly than the first 

 half of it, and the last half of August is cooler than ihe 



