278 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Dec. 



True Farming. — Great Farming on a Small 

 Farm. 



A. Macumber, of Spring Port, Cayuga coun- 

 ty, has a farm of only 60 acres including two 

 public roads. It was originally covered with 

 oak and hickory trees ; the soil a clay loam, 

 with limestone pebbles. He keeps three horses, 

 four cows, and 35 sheep. His crop this year is 

 652 bushels plump wheat ; 150 bushels oats ; 5 

 acres of corn, very stout ; 4 acres clover seed ; 

 between .30 and 40 tons of hay, and more pas- 

 ture than can be found on any other farm of the 

 size in the county of Cayuga. 



He always sows his corn ground with wheat ; 

 first haul off the corn, harrow, then plow, then 

 seed, then harrow again three times, and sow 

 plenty of clover seed in the spring. He makes 

 all the stravv into manure and puts most of it on 

 his corn ground. The great secret of this man's 

 success, is in keeping his ground covered either 

 with grain crops, or a heavy mat of clover and 

 timothy grass. He considers the exposure of a 

 naked fallow to the sun of July and August, a 

 sort of necessary evil ; that the soil, to be kept 

 strong, should be covered. 



In addition to barn-yard manure, Mr. Mac- 

 umber applies plaster, salt, and ashes broad-cast 

 to his crops. He says he was induced by David 

 Thomas to take the Genesee Farmer, many 

 years ago. Although no friend to too many ex- 

 periments or theories, he is a very decided advo- 

 cate for the union of science with agriculture, as 

 it is explained by Dr. Lee in the Farmer. 



Now I am aware that many farmers who read 

 the foregoing, will say that Macumber must 

 either hire a great deal of help, or work very 

 hard himself. Very true ; but has he not the 

 product to pay for the labor. He himself avers, 

 that the labor of harvesting and securing his 

 crops is the most formidable part of his farm la- 

 bor. How much better thus to expend money 

 to harvest and secure crops, than waste money 

 and labor in a tardy, slovenly, ill directed course 

 of farming, which gives no crops to the harvest, 

 or very poor ones. 



Such men as A. Macumber are before hand, 

 and in season with all their work ; their corn 

 leaves never bleach in a wet season, nor curl in 

 a dry one. They keep no old sward to hybern- 

 ate worms, the affliction of all lazy farmers, as 

 well as of those who have too many arable acres. 

 They are the favorites of fortune, because for- 

 tune delights to favor those only who court her 

 favors. It is in the tact, intelligence, and good 

 will with which they apply their labors, rather 

 than in the labor itself, which enables them to 

 succeed so well ! Such men are strangers to 

 that hopeless egotism, which is the curse of all 

 progress — the nurse of self willed ignorance and 

 hoary error. S. W. 



Seneca Covnty, Oct., 1847. 



Hydraulics for Farmers. 



BY C. N. BEMENT. 



NUMBER V. 



Syphon Ram. — The following is a description 

 of a Syphon Ram, constructed by H. H. Straw- 

 bridge, of New Orleans. Though the principle 

 is quite against our laws of natural philosophy, 

 still facts would seem to contradict theory. It is 

 contended by scientific writers, that the same 

 power might be obtained by making the driving 

 pipe of the same length of the syphon when 

 straightened, and placing the ram further from 

 the head. The question naturally arises, wheth- 

 er there is not less friction in perpendicular than 

 in an inclining tube, by which momentum and 

 power is gained. In the experiment of Mr. Straw- 

 bridge, power was gained sufficient to burst his 

 machine, by increasing the height of the syphon. 



" A few years ago," says Mr. Strawbridge, in the Farm- 

 er's Cabinet, "before these machines had come into use, in 

 the United States, I caused one to be constructed near Cov- 

 ington, La. The fall of water requisite to work it being 

 very small, I continued to increaee it by the improvement 

 which I am about to describe. 



" A B D is a leaden pipe, bent into the form of a syphon 

 and carried over the bough of a tree, the short leg A, B, 

 resting in the pond or spring that feeds the machine, apd the 

 longer leg B, I), conducting to and terminating in the ma- 

 chinery itself, which is placed a few inches lower. C, is 

 the funnel connecting with the interior of the syphon 

 through an air-tight three-way water cock B, of the same 



