1848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



129 



hardihood and endurance under all circumstances. 

 " Your committee consider Mr. Harris' horse 

 one of unusual substance and symmetry, for the 

 breed. The shoulder lies well back, the back is 

 short, the whole conformation betraying immense 

 strength. He has a great length and substance 

 of fore-arm, and the limb below the knee is clean 

 and short, for the f;haracter of the breed. He 

 also displayed free and spirited action. Your 

 committee cannot but believe that in its pure 

 state, this variety of horses would prove one of 

 the most valuable for heavy draft ; and there is 

 little doubt that crossed with the light mares of 

 our country, would produce a peculiarly hardy and 

 active race of horses, fit for the road or the plow." 



Pennock's Wheat Drill. 



Messrs. Editors : — As the above machine is 

 comparatively but little known in this wheat 

 growing region, and having used one the past 

 season and thereby pretty thoroughly tested its 

 valuable properties, we have thought it not amiss 

 to commend it more particularly to the farmers 

 generally. The past winter has been unusually 

 severe upon wheat in this section, rendering the 

 appearance of the forthcoming crop anything but 

 promising — while, in many cases, whole pieces 

 have become entirely worthless. The attention of 

 wheat growers is called to the subject with a view, 

 if possible, to devise some remedy for the evil. 



The use of the roller has been recommended 

 by some ; but when the roots of the wheat plant 

 have been once drawn out by the action of frost, 

 there is but little hope of replacing them so as to 

 produce a healthy, vigorous growth. " Pen- 

 nock's drill," in our humble estimation, affords 

 the best, if not an entire preventive of the evil 

 complained of — depositing the wheat in small 

 trenches and leaving a ridge of some three inches 

 in height between the drills, the action of frost 

 instead of laying the roots bare is gradually level- 

 ing these ridges and covering the roots deeper. 



In drilling in my wheat last fall in a field of 

 some eight acres, we sowed one acre broad-cast, 

 as an experiment. We find this spring the one 

 acre completely ruined, while the remainder of 

 the field is apparently but little affected by frost 

 — the roots of the plant being generally well re- 

 tained in the soil ; and now present a lively, vig- 

 orous growth. In another field the same exper- 

 iment was tried with nearly the same result. — 

 Upon the one acre we have drilled in a bushel of 

 the 'black sea' spring wheat, and await the result. 



The drill is equally adapted to sowing other 

 kinds of grain. We tested its qualities a few 

 days since f>s a corn-planter, with the most grat- 

 ifying result. Having placed the machine in a 

 proper position, with horses attached, and throw- 

 ing the drills "out of gear," except the first, fifth, 

 and ninth, we took the reins and giving "old 

 Rock" the word^o, off we started at a quick step 



— depositing three rows at a "through" with all 

 the precision and regularity of clock-work — not 

 in drills, but in hills — thus rendering the task of 

 planting a ten acre lot but a play spell. But the 

 best part of the operation is still in prospect. We 

 propose, as soon as the crop is fairly out of the 

 ground, to reverse the order by throwing " out 

 of gear" the above mentioned three drills, and 

 throwing the other six " into gear," and thus, 

 passing over the ground in the same order as 

 before, shall be enabled to cultivate the whole 

 surface nicely — repeating the operation every 

 few days, or as often and as long as may be 

 necessary. Such is my plan for raising corn 

 with the drill — rich enough in theory and suffi- 

 ciently promising in prospect. The operation I 

 find gives infinite delight to 'the boys,' who have 

 thrown their hoes to the ' tomb of the Capulets.' 

 Respectfully yours, Calvin Sperry. 

 Gales, Monroe Co., N. Y., 1848. 



The Locust. 



( Cicada Septendecim. — Lin.) 



This mysterious insect will again make its 

 appearance in this city and a large surrounding 

 tract of country about the first of June next, 

 after a submergence in the earth for a period of 

 seventeen years. It would be a valuable and 

 curious inquiry to learn the district of country 

 to which they are restricted, and whether the 

 whole terrene surface of the United States is 

 inhabited by them ; and whether they overlap 

 and infringe each other's territories, whereby 

 they apparently appear at shorter intervals than 

 the fixed and unchangeable term of seventeen 

 years, which, as far as our knowledge extends, 

 never varies. If that period is constant, there 

 must have been more than one creation, as the 

 difference in the temperature in different seasons, 

 since the historical period, is not sufficient to ad- 

 vance or retard their progress, from the egg to 

 the imago, or perfect insect, for a number of 

 years. Their appearance in the region of Sara- 

 toga Springs and the Hudson River was in 1843, 

 and in a large district in Ohio in 1846, and we 

 have no doubt that their emergence to light is 

 annual in the different parts of this continent, and 

 perhaps in more than one place in the same year. 



Will some of our subscribers living east, west 

 and south of this city, in the neighborhood, but 

 beyond the region of their actual appearance, 

 advise us of this fact, that we may learn the ex- 

 tent of the district they inhabit, and that future 

 observers may note whether they increase or 

 diminish in the extent of their territory. Our 

 own opinion is, that the clearing and cultivation 

 of the land will eventually be fatal to them. This 

 is a legitimate subject of inquiry, and we shall 

 be obliged to some of our readers if they will 

 charge their minds with this subject, and com- 

 municate the facts we want . 



