THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



83 



An Improved Threshing Machine. 



The labor of linud tliresliiiifj lo extensive grow- 

 ers of icniii) is a larue iliMii of expense, and the 

 most st^veie of all hand lalMjr: it seems to us an 

 expense of human strength that njiglit and sliould 

 be supplied by some of the nuineroiis laljoi'-sav- 

 ing machines' which the injremfity of our coun- 

 trymen has invented. Tiireshmg shonhl he done 

 by niachiiieiy ; and we have no doubt, us im- 

 provement advances, that this business will soon 

 be done at a far less expense tliaii Iieretoti^ue. In 

 the wheat country of New York and Pcimsylva- 

 nia it had lung been the practice to get out grain 

 bv the tread ol' horses and oxen passing iu an 

 eiidless round over a floor in the barn, or a hard 

 clay bed in the field. This method seemed tons 

 to be a clumsy and shiftless appropriation of 

 brute strength ; and the idea at once suggested 

 itself; that the same amount of labor might work 

 ton for one with a mechanic-al improvement, 

 such as has taken place in spimfnigand weaving. 

 Machinery, within the last few years, has been 

 applied to the threshing out of grain ; but these 

 machines and their use have cost too much. A 

 small farmer cannot afford to pay three or four 

 hundred dollars for a threshing machine ; and the 

 liiirh price he is obliged to pay for the hire of one 

 will induce him rather to adhere to the tedious 

 process of hand threshing than encounter that. 

 From the following conmumication, and accom- 

 ]innyii)g vouchers, we are inclined to give the o- 

 pinion that Mr. Hibbard has made an advance 

 towards perfecting the threshing macliine greater 

 than any patentee that has preceded him.— Ed. 

 Visitor. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 



A New Horse Power Machine, and Valuable 



Improvement. 



It is well known, that in many places threshing 

 witli the flail has been entirely abandoned for the 

 more expeditious way of doing it by horse 

 power. The change has been an advantage to 

 tlje fanner of considerable importance. It has 

 generally been allowed that nearly or quite 

 enough is left in the straw, when threshed with 

 the flail, that might be ttikcn out with a machine, 

 to pay the threther's hill. And much less will be 

 destroyed by the fowls in the short time required 

 to thresh a man's grain with a machine, than in 

 the longer lime necessary tor the flail. 15!it with 

 ail the benefits l! e various kinds of threshing ma- 

 cliin.'S have conferred on the farmers, are they 

 salisried? Have they been accommodated with- 

 out delay .' Has theexpcnse been much less by 

 emjiloving the machines than if flails were used? 

 Has the price of horse m.n'liiiics Wm so low 

 that a man, raising one limidreil hu^h-ls of wheat, 

 or other grain equivalenl, annually, could afford 

 to purchase, for liis own particular or individual 

 use? To all these questions, it is believed, the 

 majority of farmeis will answer "No: we are 

 not satisfied ; but have been looking (or a more 

 simple machine: one less comple.x, rimning with 

 less friction, and, consequently, operated with 

 less fatigue to the horse ; and, above all, one that 

 may be piu'chased at a price more nearly com- 

 paring with the price of other implements of 

 husbandry." 



The patentee would announce to the public 

 that he has invented a horse power macliine, and 

 obtained letters patent for the same, which he 

 doubts not will recommend itself to general use, 

 for threshing and other purposes. The cost, 

 which is only forty dollars, including thresher, 

 (separate from the right, wliich will be sold on 

 reasonable terms,) is so small, that every grain- 

 grower can afford to own a machine ; or one may 

 be owned in each school district where grain is 

 raised, ready to thresh the grain in season — be- 

 fore one bushel to every ten is destroyed by rats 

 or other iiitm<!^M-s. 



Other m.irirnns are called light and jiortable 

 that require tuo liurscs to draw them on level 

 ground, and a pair of oxen added at every hard 

 hill : this can be drawn up the hardest hill with 

 one horse, making at a common hill much less 

 than half a load. 



Other machines have been called easy for the 

 horses to operate — here, it will be admitted by 

 nil, that the horse machine, having the least flic- 

 tion, is the most easily operated, due regard be- 

 ing had to the most natural position of the horse. 

 The entire friction of this horse power is ctuised 

 by three bearings, of one inch diameter each, 



except what little may be caused by the band : 

 being the least, by fifty percent, no doubt, of that 

 of any other horse jjower in this part of the 

 conn'try. 



The scheme was first conceived with a view 

 only to |)rodnce a machine with which the inven- 

 tor could more easily thresh his own grain, than 

 to hire other machines, or use the flail. But find- 

 ing, by its ojieratiou, that it combined so many 

 auvantages, he was induced to a])ply for letters 

 [latent, believing that thereby he might himself 

 be benefitted, and still leave to the public an op- 

 portunity to make a great saving iu the expense 

 of threshing, or propelling other kinds of ma- 

 chinerv hv horse power. 



CHARLES HIBBARD. 



Gilford, M H. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



This may certify that the undersigned has seen 

 the operation of Mr. Charles Hibbard's Patent 

 Horse Power Threshing Machine, and believes it 

 to be the best invention for that and other ptir- 

 lioses that he has ever seen; and that its opera- 

 tion is so easy, with so little friction, that one 

 horse will drive it with as much ease as two 

 horses would any other tnachine for that purpose. 

 And being acquainted with the operation of nia- 

 chinery, he does confidently recommend Charles 

 Hibbard's Patent Threshing Machine, in prefer- 

 ence to any other that he has ever seen. 



J. 31. CLARK. 

 Gilford, Feb. 9, 1841. 



This may certify that, having seen in operation 

 Hibbard's Patent Machine, we believe it to he a 

 valuable improvement in the ap])lication of horse 

 power. Said machine is easily moved from place 

 to place with one horse; will thresh a bushel of 

 wheat in three minutes; runs with the least fric- 

 tion of any horse power within our knowledge, 

 consequently with the greatest ease to the 

 horse ; is easih kept in repair; and, in our opin- 

 ion, wTll not cost over forty dollars, snfRciently 

 large for two horses. 



HIRAM MERRILL, of Gilmanton. 

 SAM UEL B. BARTLETT, of Campton. 

 AARON RANDALL, of Centre Harbor. 

 .T. W. DAVJS, of Gillord. 

 To all to whom these presents shall come : We, 

 tlie subscribers, coiiiidcntly certify that the newly 

 invented Horse Power Machine, patented by 

 Cliarles Hibbard, for threshing, and other pur- 

 |i(.ses, is decidedly superior to every other horse 

 power within our knowledge. Having employed 

 sail! machine, or seen its operation, we have no 

 hesitation in stating, as our belief^ that by it as 

 iiiMcli liusiucss may be done with one horse, as 

 with two by the other kinds, in a given time. It 

 runs with the least friction, probably, ol any 

 hcpisi' jiower in existence; may be iTioved ea.sily 

 with one horse from [ilace to place, and is very 

 chea)ilv kept in repair. 



JAMES H. PLUMER, ^ 



ISAAC S. JEVVETT, ( 



MOSES W. WHEELER, | 



ENOCH B. PRESCOTT, f 



HENRY WHIT'IIER, I 



AARON ROBINSON, J 



ABRAM LIBBY, Plymouth. 



SAMUEL B. WILKINSON, New Hampton. 



JOHN G. ROBINSON, Meredith. 



JOSEPH HUNT, > ^.,p , 



NATHANIEL EDWARDS, ^ ^"""'"• 



Gilford. 



The Rev. Mr. Drew, editor of the Maine Culti- 

 vator, we are constrained to believe to bo an e,x- 

 cellent fiirmer, and may be a good preacher. 

 We answer for him that he preaches well on the 

 snhjoct of Agriculture. His successfid practice 

 on a little spot of ground iu Hallowell cultivated 

 by his own hand, in which he succeeds in gathe - 

 ing where he has strewed more produce than 

 some careless fiirmers on many acres, entitles 

 him to be heard ; and we hesitate not lo say that 

 the fVillovving is a much better article than we 

 could ourselves have written on the same sub- 

 ject. — Ed. Visitor, 



From the Mainft Cultivator. 

 Good Cultivation. 



In nothing does the reward correspond more 

 exactly with the deserts, than the amoimt and 

 perfection of crops do the amount of labors of the 

 cultivator. Men you may cheat, by obtaining ad- 

 vantages of them in trade ; but old" mother Earth, 



you cannot cheat. She will reward yon accord- 

 ing to your works. Aud if you would obtain 

 lai ge and sound crops, you must deserve thein by 

 skill and labor— otherwise you will fail in calcu- 

 lations. 



Good husbandry is as much a science, as any 

 thing else— a science which, emiihatically, " prac- 

 tice makes perfect." Not only are the great 

 things, but the little things to lie attended to and 

 at proper times. For good crops, first, the land 

 must be enriched— it should have as much ma- 

 nure, annually, as it can digest and convert into 

 liuits which you propose to gather from it. We 

 say "as much;" but it should not have more. A 

 superabundance « ill over stimulate the soil, and 

 leave a mass of inert matter, that will do more 

 harm than good next year. The soil should be 

 fed annually, as a man is fed daily. The idea of 

 giving the earth manure enough to last several 

 years, on cultivated ground, is like making a man 

 eat in one day enough to last him a week. When 

 the soil is well manured, the next thing is to pul- 

 verize it with the plough or spade. It is not 

 enough to turn it over, hut it must he pulverized. 

 All the lumps should be broken up till they are 

 crumbled into powder. 



In planting, care should be taken to procure 

 good seed of the best sort. Unhealthy and viti- 

 ated parents, in the vegetable, as well as the ani- 

 mal world, are pretty sure to produce inferior 

 offspring. The seed should lie dropped or sowed 

 suantly. Every hill, and if possible, every ker- 

 nel, should have an equal space of ground allot- 

 ted lor its growth. Then there will be no soil 

 wasted, and no plants pinched for want of room. 

 Machines lor planting are valuable, not only as 

 saving labor, but also because they divide the land 

 equally and give each hill or plant an equal chance. 

 This is real eionomy. 



The seed being jilanted at the right season — 

 neither too early or too late — and earliness and 

 lateness relate to the condition of the earth and 

 skies, rather than to the day of the month — the 

 next thing is to hoe the ground well as soon as 

 the plants are high enough to work amongst 

 The sooner this is done the better, as it will not 

 only kill the tender weeds, before they get much 

 root, but will |irevent the coming up of many 

 other weeds, the seeds of which are deeper in 

 the earth, or slower of vegetation. Many a weed 

 is killed by hoeing belbre it is out of the ground. 

 But in hoeing corn, potatoes or beds of vegeta- 

 bles the first time, be careful and be faithful. 

 Once well done is worth all of /our times half 

 done. Let the fingers be used about the plants, 

 to pull up the weeds by the roots — not to break 

 them of}"— and to loosen the soil about the plants. 

 Let not an inch of the ground be untouched by 

 the hoe, and stir it as deeply as you can with that 

 instrument. A soft soil, that will admit the air 

 and light, is indispensable lo the young roots of 

 the plants, which wish to run down and along the 

 surface. 



Be sure and kill all the weeds. Everv one 

 that grows exhausts the soil just so mucli as is 

 necessary for its support, and robs your crop of 

 its food, besides shading and crowding it to its in- 

 jury. Weeds are poor things in a garden or cul- 

 tivated field. If the first weeding and hoeing are 

 done thoroughly, the great effort of the season is 

 over. There wilj be but few weeds after that. 

 But it is best to hoe in a dry time. 



Some gardeners and cultivators with whom we 

 are acquainted, think that as soon as a shower 

 of rain is over, they must seize the hoe and run 

 out to kill the weeds. This is bad husbandry in 

 two respects. First, if the ground is stirred vvlien 

 it is wet, the earth is adhesive and it will dry in 

 fiard lumps and make a bad matter woise; sec- 

 ondly, hoeing at such a time will inevitably but 

 transplant the weeds, that they will .soon shoot up 

 again. Let the top of the soil be dry when you 

 hoe. This is important, not only to destroy the 

 weeds, but the crop will suffer less from (Irj^ 

 weather, if hoed in such a time, thasi if stirred at 

 a different lime One of the best ways in tho 

 world to ))revent the effects of a drought, is to 

 stir the land when it is dry. Jt is !\ mistake to 

 suppose that the porous conditicai of the surface 

 which is left by hoeing, aliovva the moisture ta 

 escape more rapidly. It will not escape so fast, 

 as if it was not hoed. There is a greater circula- 

 tion between the earth and the air, and in a dry 

 time a greater amount of dew falls upon the 

 plants in the night, when the earth is loose at the 



