1836J 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



239 



References to the figures. No. 1., the ex- 

 panding harrow, here represented at its great- 

 est expansion of 5| feet, a, a, a, a, Eye-bolts 

 to hold together the two middle pieces, which 

 are rounded on the inside, to admit of the side 

 pieces rising or sinking with the inequality of 

 the surface, b, b, Iron tenons passing through the 

 middle pieces, and playing on pins to admit the 

 contraction of the side [tieces. c, c. Small iron bars 

 also playing on the pins h, h. By moving the in- 

 ner ends of' these bars to the holes rf, d, d, d four 

 contractions are effected, each less by 6 inches than 

 the proceeding, e, e, Head of the central iron No. 

 2, which is so fixed as not to hinder the rising and 

 sinking ot" the miildle pieces of tiie harrow, f, f, 

 f, f, Mortices for the handles, g, Coupling iron ibv 

 the 2 clevaccs. 



No. 3, cast iron to fiislen on No. 2 by means of 

 the dove-tail groove behind. This, when the 

 first point is worn out, affords a fresh point by be- 

 ing reversed; but is not large enough (or opening 

 the furrows to plant corn. To eft'ect this, I intend 

 to use a cast iron formed something like Sinclair's 

 double mouKI-board plough, having also a dove- 

 tail groove behind, to fit the same iron No. 2. The 

 form, I presume, will readily be understood with- j 

 out a drawing. I 



No. 4. This represents the Echelon Cultivator; I 

 No. 5, the wrought irons fastened in the diagonal 

 bar, and No. 6, the cast irons, each of which has 2 

 dove-tail grooves in the under surface, by means of 

 which the points may be reversed. I must apolo- 

 gize for this drawing, as the teeth or cultivating 

 irons have not the proper draft, or pitch, (I know 

 not which to call it,) and the lower end of the 

 handles ought to be represented as being fastened 

 together by one staple on the upper surface of the 

 beam. 



Permit me, while writing of my own inventions, 

 or improvements of agricultural implements, to say 

 a word or two in favor of one, which, although 

 long m use near Richmond, wherein it is made, 

 was not known until 12 or 18 months ago, even to 

 myself, whom many of my acquaintances accuse 

 of being somewhat hobby-horsical on this subject. 

 I mean the corn-sheller of Mr. Jabez Parker, ma- 

 chinist, whose manufactory of agricultural ma- 

 chines and implements is on the Main street, in 

 Richmond, the next house below the Union ta- 

 vern. There is abundant certified proof, in addi- 

 tion to my own experiments with this very valua- 

 ble implement in a corn-growmg country, to satis- 

 fy even one of Dr. Doubty's breed, that it will 

 shell out ten barrels of corn per hour, if the grain 

 be dry and perfect. It requires only two hands, of 

 medium strength, to turn it with perfect ease; one 

 to feed; one occasionally to haul away the cobs, 

 which pass out unbroken andapartfrom the gram, 

 (the two last mentioned hands to spell the two first 

 at distant intervals,) and two or three of the 

 youngest hands to supply the corn when near at 

 hand; and it occupies little more s])ace than a cut- 

 ting box; of which, (by the way,) Mr. Parker 

 sells one that will pay any purchaser much more 

 than compound interest on "the first cost. His corn- 

 sheller, if geared to a wheat machine, has been 

 certified to shell out at least one hundred and eighty 

 barrels per day. The only possible objection I 

 can see to it is, that a small portion ot the grains 

 of corn will be cut, unless they be of the hard, 

 flinty varieties. This would be no objection where 



the corn was soon to be ground; nor can I see wliy 

 it should be so when it is shipped, unless for a long 

 voyage. In a word, it is the best corn-sheller, 

 among six or eight varieties, that I have ever seen; 

 and I take this occasion to recommend it, not only 

 in the hope of encouragnig a worthy man, highly 

 useful to agriculturists, but of stimulating our 

 brethren to exert themselves more than they ever 

 have done, in searching out and examining for 

 themselves the numerous agricultural machines 

 and implements invented or improved by the me- 

 chanical genius of our countrymen, and whose 

 great utility is thoroughly established with all who 

 have tried them, although utterly unknown, proba- 

 bly, to three-fourths of our profession. This is the 

 case, not only in regard to IMr. Parker's corn-sheller 

 and cutting-box, but likewise with Fox & Borland's 

 very superi )r portable wheat machine, also made 

 by him,|with a much improved horse power, which, 

 I believe, is not made by any machinist in Virginia, 

 but himself 



The truth is, and it ought not to be concealed, 

 nay, it should be exhibited in its strongest colors,, 

 that, in regard to all such matters, we Virginia 

 planters and farmers too much resemble the inhab- 

 itants of a country called "Lubber-land,''^ des- 

 crilied by a writer in that excellent periodical "The 

 World." These he represents as laying on their 

 backs with their mouths wide open, expecting it to 

 rain fat pigs ready roasted for their special use. 

 Now, although laziness cannot be justly charged 

 upon us as a characteristic vice, yet the good- 

 enough-palsy, (if I may call a very old disease by a 

 new name,) prevails, I believe, more among our 

 order, than in all the other orders of society put 

 together. Its invariable "diagnosis," as the doc- 

 tors would say, is an utter contempt, manifested by 

 looks, vvords and actions, for every imaginable 

 thing called a discovery or invention. Its effects 

 are perfectly congenial, and flow necessarily from 

 their parent cause ; for they preserve all upon 

 whom they operate — all stultified by their paralytic 

 influence, in a situation which an old Quaker friend 

 of mine, formerly in Congress, used to call "<Ae 

 state of statu quo. To use an old adage, they are 

 "gum against thunder;'''' and although surrounded 

 by agricultural neighbors who have long judicious- 

 ly availed themselves of every new thing really 

 beneficial to themselves and their profession, these 

 ineffably self-satisfied planters and fiirmers, tri- 

 umphantly persist in believing that "the grand 

 march of mind," ^«oad agriculture, had reached its 

 "neplus ultra'''' in the days of their fathers, and of 

 course, that any departure, however small, from 

 the course which they and their fathers and grand- 

 fathers had pursued, would be downright rebellion 

 against supreme ancestral authority. 



Believing you to be somewhat of a radical in 

 such matte'rs, I venture to address these remarks 

 to you, with a request that you will indite us a ho- 

 mily upon the good- enough-palsy. If you will take 

 the assurance of a friend who has never been a 

 flatterer of any man, however idolized, you are 

 able to do it with some effect; nay, if persuasion, 

 and coaxing, and wheedling will not do, I know 

 that you have caloric enough to clap the coal of 

 fire, (if nothing else will ans^wer,) on the backs of 

 our terrapin agriculturists, that, when forced to 

 poke their heads out of their shells, they may have 

 at least a chance of hearing something f)r their 

 own benefit. It will be, I confess;, rather a dis- 



