1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



175 



the show, and are almost overlooked or forgotten. 

 How is it with the Mechanic's Fair? Here, per- 

 haps, the farmers' department is better represent- 

 ed, but even here the display is mostly confined to 

 the old and common tools of the farm, and there 

 is little^which from its novelty and importance in- 

 vites attention. As a significant fact, 1 notice that 

 the editor of the Ploughman states, that he ex- 

 pected to see a mowing machine at the last exhi- 

 bition, but did not find one there. 



It is not much consolation to know that they 

 are to 1)e found at the Crystal Palace. They are 

 not accessible, visible or tangible to the great body 

 of our farmers, and there is little reason to hope 

 that they ever will be. Should w^e ever have a 

 Crystal Palace in our neighborhood, they would 

 probably eome v^'ith it, but this is an event upon 

 which we cannot calculate. If it should ever oc- 

 cur, it most likely will be in some remote period 

 of the distant future. But while we cannot go to 

 the Crystal Palace, nor bring it to us, we can 

 transport a part of the mighty whole into our 

 midst; we ca-u gather that portion which most 

 nearly concerns us as a farming community, and 

 have a show quite as interesting to us profession- 

 ally, as the Great Fair at New York. 



And now if it is asked what is to be gained by 

 the introduction of all this machinery, I answer, 

 much every W'ay. It not only multiplies the pow- 

 er of production, but at the same time diminishes 

 its .cost. Take Ketchum's Mowing Machine, for 

 example. In the ordinary act of mowing, the mo- 

 tive power comes out of the man ; he has emphat- 

 ically to put his shoulder to the wheel, and make 

 it go ; but by the use of the machine, he is relieved 

 from this exhausting toil ; the hibor is transferred 

 from the man to the team. He is released from 

 the wear and tear of personal effort, he takas the 

 place of an overseer, and at the same time is able 

 to push forwai-d the work five times as fast as he 

 couldrdo it himself. He thus saves himself, and 

 saves time, and time is money. 



The jirocess of unloading hay is usually a slow 

 and toilsome one. Pitched and mowed away as 

 It commonly is with a fork, it will take two or 

 three men fifteen or twenty minutes to remove a 

 load. By the use of a certain apparatus construct- 

 ed by Mr. J. A. H. Ellis of Rochester, New York, 

 'Hie man can do it as well in less than five minutes. 



Ream's patent corn harvester is upon the same 

 labor-saving principle. It will cut with the labor 

 of a horse and boy, from sixteen to twenty acres of 

 corn a d-ay, and lay it in bundles all ready for 

 binding. 



Such are some of the triumphs of genius. Great 

 as they are, they are but a specimen of what has 

 been achieved in the improved implements of the 

 farm. A correspondent of the Ploughman, in his 

 observations upon things at the Crystal Palace, 

 remarks, "If we were to judge from the number 

 of labor-saving implements, and the recommenda- 

 tions, we think our farms might be carried on with 

 fewer Irishmen than they arc at present. Un- 

 doubtedly many, perhaps a majority of them, are 

 adapted to some sections of our country, and are 

 a great saving of labor." 



In the scarcity of farm laborers, Irishmen are, 

 with few exceptions, the only men to be had, and 

 they are generally i-aw hands,green in every thing in 

 which we wish to find them efficient. If then the 

 hossc and the ox can be humanized by the magic 



power of machinery, so as to serve as a substitute 

 for this precarious help, of which we know noth- 

 ing, and upon which we cannot rely, why should 

 they not have the preference ? In the one case, 

 we have a sure and never failing resource ; in the 

 other, all is doubt and uncertainty. 



In view of these facts, I have been led to pro- 

 pose a Farm Implement Fair, to be held at a season 

 when we can have a practical exhibition of the 

 mowing machine. Taken conjointly, they would 

 mutually lend attraction to the time and place. / 

 would have this Fair for the benefit of inventors. It 

 is not to he supposed that individuals would bring 

 their machines from distant sections of the coun- 

 try, without some consideration. No one could 

 afford to do it at his own charge. Now it is be 

 lieved that the sale of tickets for admissioji to the 

 shoicfor two or three days, would secure an ample 

 fund to meet this contingency, And gratuities might 

 be awarded by an exaniining committee, which 

 would operate as a bounty upon the products of 

 American genius. I was happy to find that the 

 President of the United States alludes to this sub- 

 ject in his late message to Congress. "I commend 

 to your favorable consideration the men of genius 

 of our country who by their inventions and dis- 

 coveries in science and art, have contributed large- 

 ly to the improvements of the age, without, in 

 many cases, securing for themselves anything like 

 an adequate reward." It is only by a just and 

 liberal patronage, that we can stimulate the best 

 minds to labor in the wide field of invention. 



Aside from the practical advantages of a Farm 

 Implement Fair, it would be a museum to every 

 curious and inquisitive mind. It would be a high 

 day, a great day, for the place where it should be 

 held. Is it asked where shall we hold it ? I would 

 answer at Concord. There the Agricultural So- 

 ciety have a building suitable for such an exhibi- 

 tion, and the warm and generous spirit of the peo- 

 ple afford ground to hope that they would give a 

 hearty response to this movement. You, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, are a Concord man, you move in a circle of 

 influence which gives peculiar weight to your 

 opinions and efforts. If, then, what I have ad 

 vanced in this communication, meets your views 

 and wishes, I hope you will have the frankness to 

 say so, and if not, as a committee of ways and 

 means, I trust you will suggest some other meth- 

 od by which the same great object can be better 

 accomplished. A- 



Actou, February!, 1854. 



Rem.vrks. — We most heartily concur with the 

 opinion so succinctly and earnestly expressed by 

 our intelligent correspondent. Our County Show 

 has been sadly deficient for several years in the 

 number and variety of Farm Implements present- 

 ed. As a single item of encouragement to our 

 friend, we will say that we have engaged a Mow- 

 ing Machine, and intend to use it in our neighbor- 

 hood during the next haying season. We hope 

 his suggestions will induce some action on the 

 subject. 



Vegktaijle Mecuamcs. — There is a n inavkable 

 tree on the farm of the late Hon. Olney Ballon, of 

 Cumberland, R. I., which is an emblem of himself 

 in his struggles against the obstacles of life. An 



