February, 1842. 



TflE FARMER'S M ONTH L Y V I S I TO R . 



23 



would be "dieapest in tlia end," liecause in the 

 uiimerous handlings these bundles are destined 

 to undergo, much time is lost in binding over. 

 In shocking we use a stake five feet long with 

 cross-pieces near the upper end to steady the 

 liundleb' till ready to bind at top, when it is lifted 

 out and the tops turned over and bound together. 

 By taking care of any which may fail it may 

 stand till all your roots are boused. 

 Yoiu's, &r., 



.TAMES BATES. 



F.om the N. H. Baptist Register. 



Bb. Worth : — Having read n quotation from 

 the Portland Tribune in your paper of the 27th 

 ult. of a remarkable Shingle M.ichine by a JMr. 

 Chapman of Philadelphia, &c. I thought it [los- 

 sible your readers might like to hear a few words 

 concerning one just put into operation in this 

 place ; and if you please to insert it us an article 

 of news it is at yoin- service. 



A. ARiSrOLD. 



East Jjcbanon, Feb. 5, 1842. 



Another Shiugic Machine. 



Mr. D. M. CuMMiNGs, now residing in this vil- 

 lage, has recently invented and put into opera- 

 tion a Machine of the following description as 

 near as I can give it. The Machine is so con- 

 structed that it rotates horizontally with two 

 cutters on the upper surface, nearly opposite 

 each otiiei-, over which is a cap fitted for receiv- 

 ing eight blocks to be wrought into shingles; 

 with permanent rests, under which the cutters 

 pass at the rate of sixty revolutions per minute. 

 Above the cap are eight levers so arranged as to 

 feed down the blocks to the surface of the wheel 

 as fast as it is cut off. The levers are borne 

 down by means of weights attached to the ends 

 of the levers and falling outside of the machine 

 — and cuts 16 shingles at one revolution, and is 

 capable of cutting at that rate six hundred and 

 ninety one thousand and two hundred shingles i»i 



TWELVE HOURS. 



N. B. A sjiecimeii of the shingles will be sent 

 by Mr. Cumitiings, to be divided between your- 

 self and Ex-Governor Hill, to be exhibited at 

 your respective offices. 



Yours tiuly, 



A. ARNOLD. 



The specimen of shingles received with the 

 above is of the most beautiful kind : they .arc 

 as true and unifoiin as if adjusted to an exact 

 mould — as smooth as if worked by the carpen- 

 ter's foie-plane. The.se shingles are made from 

 the beautiful |)inc which is common on the 

 plains of the streams running into Connecticut 

 river. They are taken from the heart of this 

 elegant timber which is the most noble tree of; 

 our forests, and is really more valuable than any 

 other tree of North America. This heart pine 

 for shingles, on a roof of the i)roper pitch, will 

 last as well fifty years as the common sap shin 

 gles wotdd last fifteen years. If the one sells 

 for two dollars and a half in this maritet, the bet- 

 ter kind will be cheaper at the prii'e of five dol- 

 lars the thousand. E\cc])tingforsecurity against 

 fire, the Welsh slate roofs will be hardly superior 

 to roofs covered with these sliingles. 



The sample of shingles from Mr. Cummings' 

 machine may be seen at the counting room of 

 Hills' printing establishment. The pine frotn 

 which they are made grew in the valley of the 

 Mascomy river and lake, which are discharged 

 into Connecticut river. The best building ever 

 constructed in the State of New llainpshire, the 

 large and spacious stone house erected by the 

 Church Family of Shakers at Enfield, is finished 

 in the interior with this pine. This wood is very 

 remarkable for its straigbtness of rift and clear- 

 ness, as well as for its equal grain. When once 

 completely seasoned, there is very little expan- 

 fiion or contraction in the work. The stone 

 house is finished with the remarkable workman- 

 ship that leaves not the bead of a nail or a knot 

 hi view, either in the floors, ceilings, doors or 

 .window trimmings. The color of panels in the 

 natural state of the clear pine is capable of re- 

 ceiving a ])olish that presents the work equal- 

 ly elegant and rich as that of mahogany or the 

 more expensive foreign woods : the common 

 mode of the Shakers has been to stain their in- 

 side finish; and this is perhaps equally valuable 

 for durability on inside work as the best painting. 

 There is no wood in the world probably that re- 



ceives oil paints better than the pine. A coat of 

 red paint upon roofs covered with seasoned heart 

 pine shingles, su?h as are ruanufactured by Mr. 

 Cummings from the Connecticut river timber, 

 would probably make a roof not shut out from 

 the sun last the conunon age of man. — Ed. Vis- 

 itor. 



nil be 

 letal- 

 rstand 

 lat is 



Insects. The last number of the North Amer- 

 ican Review contains a good article on "Dr. Har- 

 ris's Report on the Insects of Massachusetts injuri- 

 ous to Vegetation," made by authority of the Leg- 

 islature. The Ibllowing is an interesting extract: 

 "It is really curious to see bow the animals 

 around us are formidable, not in proportion to 

 their size and jiresence, but rather to their little- 

 ness and obscurity. Since the days of the dwel- 

 lers in Samaria, we hear of no race of men who 

 are much troubled with lions. That large and 

 powerful beast is easily disposed of If it resists, 

 it is destroyed ; and if it submits, it is led about 

 in a cage, to expire at last, a driveller and a show.' 

 But the small fry of creation laugh at the idea 

 of such a hondagr. The musquito, for example, 

 can no man tame. lie sounds his horn through 

 the chamliers in wild independence. The blow 

 which we aim at him falls lieavily upon our own 

 heads. At the very same moment when we arc 

 calling ouiselves lord of the creation, his venom 

 ousbite destroys all our composure of mind, and 

 makes us feel "that the little are mightier than the 

 great. The amount of injury inflicted on man 

 by larger animals, is nothing compared to that 

 which we suffer from these creatures: of no maik 

 nor livelihood, in.significance is their shield 

 and safeguard. Dr. Harris has described their 

 persons, traced out their operations, aiid put the 

 public on their guard against them ; if after this 

 we choose to lie still and be eaten by them, the 

 I'lame and lesponsibility is our own. As it is 

 not tlie part of the naturalist to find the remedy, 

 Dr. Harris makes no mention of that, which u"c 

 have, elsewhere in this jotnnal, dc 

 the only effectual one. We miaii, 

 iatory measures, and giving tlirm 

 that if they eat us, we^sliall eat tli 

 certaiidy tlie alternative to w hicli we at last must 

 come; but at present the |uiblic mind is not quite 

 prepared for it, ami we have no recourse but to 

 keep on in our I''lorida war against theui, in which 

 :an hoiie neither for vengeance nor victory, 

 and which promises to end only with the history 

 of man. 

 Dr Harris is induced by the natme of his instruc- 

 3ns, to consider the subject chiefly in reference 

 to vegetation,and the enetnies by w liich cultivators 

 e harrassed ; which cei'taiuly offers a field suf- 

 •iently large fur any single observer, and one 

 requiring time far more e.xiendcd than tltat which 

 this commission allovven. It has been said, 

 that there is on an average, six different enemies 

 to every plant. This is probably oidy another 

 way of stating that each plant has many destroy- 

 ers ; but when the number of s|!ecies in the state 

 is between four and five thousand, and each must 

 get a living by some moans or other, it is clear 

 that no plant worth taking has much chance of 

 escape, and insects too. The thought of such 

 an army, all engaged in foraging upon man's do- 

 minions, is enough to fill the cultivator with di.s- 

 may ; and many, finding the havoc among their 

 fruits and flowers by these innumerable agents, 

 have left the field in despair. But, pro|)erly 

 regarded, it appears to be one of those evils which 

 are necessary to bring out the energies, to quicken 

 the attention, and to call into action those higher 

 faculties which make the bmnan anitnal a man. 

 Doubtless it would be pleasanter to the housewife, 

 to be exempt from the visitation of those spectres 

 which make night hideous, and to live where no 

 moth might corrupt food and raiment; the agri- 

 culturist, too, would be greatly delighted, if tdl 

 his minute persecutors, like those which once in- 

 fested Egypt, could be swept off wholesale to 

 the Red Sea. But the question is, not what they 

 would like best, but what would be best for 

 them ; and, thus considered, it is evident thatthese, 

 like all other physical inconveniences, are bles- 

 sings in fantastic disguise, and could not be re- 

 moved without opening the way for more evil 

 than themselves." 



plant produces flowers only, the female fruit. — 

 We shoidd remember, too, that Adam was crea- 

 ted out of paradise, and Eve in it, and something 

 earthly therefore still clings to Adam's race. Even 

 in the heathen mythology, we find that though 

 the gods often transformed themselves into 

 beasts, the goddesses never did. 



The Vermont Oat Crop. 



In our last volume we gave an accotmt of a 

 crop of oats grown on four acres, by D. June, 

 Esq. of Brandon, Vermont, which i)roduced 588 

 stooks, of 12 bundles each. It will be seen by 

 the following letter froin Mr. June that he has 

 since thrashed, measured, and weighed the oats, 

 and that the four acres produced 514 bushels 

 and 20 quarts, being an average of 128 bushels 

 21 quarts to the acre. Who can equal, not to 

 say beat, this ? — Cultivator. 



Brandon, Vt., Jan. 22, 1842. 



Messrs Gati,ord &. Tucker — Having been 

 requested to communicate the result of my oat 

 crop, and manner of cultivation, to your paper, 

 as it has an extensive circulation among the far- 

 ming commui>ity, I would state that the land was 

 pastured several years previous ; in the season 

 of 1839, it was ploughed up in the sward, (the 

 soil black muck ;) in the month of May, 1840, it 

 was thoroughly tilled, harrowed down smooth, 

 then twenty loads of good manure spread to the 

 acre, and ploughed in to the depth of four inch- 

 es, and harrowed ; then planted to potatoes. In 

 the spring of 1841, the land was ploughed once, 

 four inches deep, which made it very light and 

 mellow ; the 16th of May, I sowed sixteen bush- 

 els of barley oats on the fonr acres. I reaped 

 .'588 stocks of 12 bundles to the stook, from the 

 fom- acres ; having thrashed and measured them 

 in the half bushel, (not by the stook or load) the 

 resHlt is 514 bushels SOxjuarts, making 128 bush- 

 els 21 quarts to the acre, and weighing 36 pounds 

 to the bushel. 



DRANCES JUNE. 



Trom the Albajiy Cultivator. 

 Culture of Indian Corn. 

 Messrs Gaylord &; Tucker — I now propose 

 to redeem my i>romise, made some time since, 

 by giving you !ui account of my crop of corn. 

 There were four acres in the field — one acre of 

 Duiton, two do. of Brown, and one do. of China. 

 The followmg is the amount of each variety per 

 acre : 



1. Dutton. — One acre produced 7,711 lbs. ears; 

 100 lbs. ears, taken promiscuously, made 82i 

 lbs. shelled corn— equal 361i lbs. shelled corn 

 per acre, or 1 13 bushels 33i lbs. per acre. 



2. Brown Corn. — 7,300 lbs. of ears per acre 

 100 lbs. ears made 811-4 lbs. of shelled corn-- 

 equal 5,931 1-4 of shelled corn, making 105 

 bushels 51 1-4 lbs. per acre. There were two 



of this variety in the field; I know of no 

 difference in it, but think one acre as good as 

 the other. 



3. China Tree Corn — third crop, from seed 

 obtained of Williiirn Thorburn. Esq. of Albany, 

 in the spring of 18:39. It produced 7,020 lbs. 

 ears per acre : 100 lbs. ears made 79i lbs. shelled 

 corn — equal 5,580 3-4 lbs. of shelled corn, or 99 

 bushels 36 3-4 lbs. per acre. 



The above crop of corn was all raised in the 

 same field ; the Dutton and China were on a part 

 of the field that has been under cultivation for a 

 time that extends beyond the knowledge of any 

 of the present inhabitant.? of our village. The 

 Brown corn was on a part of the field that was 

 broken up to subdue the sweet elder, with which 

 it was covered about si.v years ago, and has been 

 under cultivation ever since, with a crop of corn 

 or oats, without manure, e.xcept the two last 

 summers. The China corn grew on the same 

 acre of ground that yielded mo 100 bushels of 

 Dutton corn in the summer of 1840, and 80 

 bushels in the summer of 1839. For the present 

 crop, the ground was ploughed late last fall ; this 

 spring, the ground on which the Dutton and 

 China corn grew had fifteen loads of uoferment- 

 cd stable manure per acre, spread broad-cast 

 and ploughed jn, the ground marked across the 

 furrows four feet apart for the China, Jind three 



feet apart for the Dutton. Corn planted across 



Woman. — How valuable arc wonuin's labors, as I the marking, the same distance apart, making 



mother, as nurse and teacher ! so much so that the China corn four feet apart each way, and the 



the two eexf-s are like the dat>' tree ; the inale ' Dutton three feet apart each way. Seed at the 



