120 Manufacture of Horse-shoes. — Tlwrough CuVnofCorn. Vol. VII. 



Manufacture of Horse-shoes. 



Editors of Farmers' Cabinet, — Accord- 

 ing- to the late census of the United State?, 

 we have at least four millions of horses, to 

 be shod, perhaps twice round, annually. This 

 probably requires twenty thousand tons of 

 iron and steel, which, together with the 

 making and putting on the shoe, swells up 

 to no trifling item, in our yearly expendi- 

 tures. Henry Burden, of Troy, N. Y., took 

 out a patent some two or three years ago, 

 for manufacturing horse-shoes by machinery. 

 He does not appear, however, to have been 

 able to perfect his plans and bring them into 

 operation, till recently. We now learn that 

 he is successfully at work, taking the straight 

 bars of iron and transforming them into horse- 

 shoes, grooved and punched, at the rate of 

 fifteen per minute. Shoes of five different 

 sizes are made, so that the foot of any horse 

 is pretty sure to be fitted by one or the other. 

 The nail holes are punched — the heel corks 

 are turned, and the steel toe corks are welded 

 on, &c, with an accuracy and rapidity, which 

 the eye and hand of the most expert work- 

 man cannot attain. It is said none but the 

 best Swedes' iron is used by the inventor, 

 and that he is able to reduce the price of 

 horse-shoeing by one half. I have not seen 

 any of the shoes manufactured by this pro- 

 cess, but it certainly appears to be such an 

 improvement in the production and economy 

 of an article of general necessity, that the 

 whole country must feel interested in it. 



Shoeing the horses on my little farm, has 

 sometimes cost me twelve or fourteen dol- 

 lars a year; and in rough, mountainous dis- 

 tricts, the expense would, of course, be much 

 greater. Now, if I could save six dollars a 

 year in this particular, it would be as good 

 as the present price of twenty bushels of 

 potatoes, after I had carted them to your 

 city. Will our smiths attend to it ! 



Yours, with respect, T. M. 



Salem County, N. J., October 10th, 1$4\>. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Thorough Cultivation of Corn. 



Messrs. Editors, — In the August Num- 

 ber of the Cabinet are two communications 

 on the cultivation of corn, than which, per- 

 haps, there is no subject of greater interest 

 to the American agriculturist ; it is one at 

 least that will bear a thorough stirring. I 

 must, however, be permitted to differ with 

 your correspondent, "P. J.," as 1 apprehend 

 very few of us are guilty of the sin of over- 

 working our corn crops in proper season, 

 and if he or any practical farmer, expects to 

 grow a full crop, by merely "throwing a 

 furrow from eacli row into the interval, there 



to lie for a season, and then to be returned 

 to the rows as a last tending," I fear he will 

 be disappointed in the result. My experi- 

 ence, however, has brought me to very dif- 

 ferent conclusions. I have no fears of over- 

 working my crops, if done timely, for on 

 that every thing depends ; I make it a point 

 never to work my corn when the earth is 

 " full of water, and when the furrows turn 

 over like mortar;" a worse system could not 

 be devised. A knowing one at my elbow, 

 says, "corn should never be worked except 

 when the dust will fly," and I guess he 

 comes much nearer the mark, than P. J.'s 

 "neighbour Clifton." In sandy land it is 

 almost death to corn to plough it in wet 

 weather, being certain to " scald." 



I would inquire by what kind of manage- 

 ment the enormous crops of 100 bushels and 

 upwards, have been obtained 1 Is it by par- 

 tial cultivation, or by the most thorough 

 system of working and stirring the soil that 

 could be devised] I have no doubt, how- 

 ever, that better crops have in some in- 

 stances, been obtained from fields that have 

 received but little attention, than from others 

 where a great deal of labour has been be- 

 stowed ; but isolated cases may be taken, 

 from which anything or nothing may be 

 proven ! Witness, for instance, the fields of 

 my two neighbours ; J., an enterprising go 

 ahead little fellow, with more zeal than pru- 

 dence, ploughed and harrowed, without re- 

 gard to the weather; the consequence was, 

 he "scalded" his crop, but not a weed to be 

 seen. B., a " slow and easy," " time enough" 

 kind of man, simply harrowed once, and 

 ploughed once, and then laid his crop by; 

 the weeds at this time, are growing most 

 luxuriantly, and a better crop of corn than 

 J.'s. Now, does this argue much in favour 

 of partial cultivation J I think not. Had 

 J. consulted the weather a little more, I have 

 no hesitation in saying, he would have been 

 a gainer of some 20 bushels per acre. 



" S. S. I." has a very interesting paper, 

 from which I hope to see much o;ood result; 

 but who ever heard of ploughing corn to 

 the depth of 8 or 10 inches. I presume 

 there is no field of corn in the country that 

 would survive such an ordeal, particularly 

 at the season when it is to be laid by. 



And would it not be well, Messrs. Editors, 

 before you consider the question answered, 

 " How is it, it so often happens that corn 

 which has by some means escaped its last 

 workings, turns out a better crop than that 

 which has been tended to the end," to in- 

 quire whether it has any foundation in fact. 

 I think, upon a critical examination, you 

 will find in it a pretty little bull. A. 



Gloucester county, N. J., Sept. 12th, 1342. 



