1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



395 



teries of our profession — nothing short of this will 

 satisfy, nothing short of this will ensure success. 



The question now arises, what State other than 

 our own Massachusetts — with all its intelligence, 

 wealth, and public spirit, should be foremost in 

 this important movement ? And what associated 

 body, other than our own " State Board " of ag- 

 riculture, is there, so able to shape up and present 

 to the people some phin for establishing an insti- 

 tution for the promotion of a more enlightened 

 system ■? 



And now in closing I will say, that I have been 

 somewhat disiTppointed in the action of the Board 

 in this behalf. I do not intend to find fault, for I 

 know very well what obstacles there are to con- 

 tend with, and that it requires deliberation and 

 wisdom to manage judiciously so important a mat- 

 ter ; but still, I feel that it is time something of 

 this nature was submitted in some form, and that 

 the people should be advised in relation thereto. 

 As at present advised, I do not see much to en- 

 courage the hope that any thing of consequence 

 is to be presented ; surely there is a wide field 

 open, and the laborers are many ; all that in my 

 opinion is required, is, some efficient and decided 

 action by the State Board, to ensure complete 

 success. 



I have extended this train of thought perhaps 

 farther than I ought, and I will stop, hoping to 

 hear from some of your many able correspondents 

 upon this important subject. 



Yours truly, j. h; r. 



Dorchester, Aug. 8th, 1853. 



CHANGES OF TIMBER FROM CLBAR- 

 ING LANDS. 



_ There are few things connected with the natural 

 history of trees or plants more suprising, or that 

 have occasioned more speculation, than the chang- 

 es that not unfrequently take place in the growth 

 of timber after clearing, from what it was before 

 that operation. So inexplicable is this change, in 

 many instance^ on the commonly received princi- 

 ples ofvegetaticm.that it has been adduced by the 

 believers in the doctrine of spotaneous production, 

 as oneof the strongest supporters of their system. 

 We think, however, that, singularas the phenom- 

 ena may be, its solution cannot require a supposi- 

 tion so unphilosophical. 



In the Southern States, where the timber is 

 principally pine, when that is cleared off, a growth 

 entirely different, and composed of such as was un- 

 known to the place before it springs up ; and this, 

 when cut off, is often succeeded by new varieties, 

 01- perhaps by a return of pine. Lands covered 

 with oak and chestnut, or such timber as shoots 

 up from cut trees, do not change the timber except 

 in a stnall degree , it is on those lands covered 

 with timber that requires to be propagated by 

 seeds that this change is most apparent" Every- 

 body must have noticed in what numbers a 

 species of wild cherry will spring up where the for- 

 ests are cut down, or are propagated by winds, 

 though that particular kind is rarely or never found 

 growing in the unbroken forest. 



More than thirty years since, apart of our farm 

 was cleared of its timber, a dense growth of maple, 

 bass wood and elm. A small piece of perhaps 

 half an acre was separated from the rest by a nar- 

 row ravine ; after being cultivated three or four 



years, and part of it planted out as a nursery of 

 fruit trees, it was left to itself. It was soon cov- 

 ered with young trees, which M'Crc sufiered to 

 grow unmolested, and there are naw on this small 

 spot, white oak, black oak, butternut, white pop- 

 lar, common willow, walnut, hickory, and black 

 cherry, of all varieties of which not one was grow- 

 ing near at the time it was cleared, and most of 

 them not within three-fourths of a mile. An ex- 

 planation we leave to others. — Warren Journal. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MOWING MACHINES. 



Many of the farmers of New England have not 

 yet had an opportunity to see a mowing or reap- 

 ing machine in operation, and doubtless, some 

 have the impression that they will never be much 

 used, upon our hill and valley forms in New Hamp- 

 shire and Massachusetts. Until I witnessed their 

 operation, I had myself the idea that their appro- 

 priate field would be the western prairie, or the 

 broad wheat fields of a more level country than 

 New England. 



On the 26th of July last, I attended the trial of 

 two Mowers, at Greenbush, near Albany, in a fine 

 field of herdsgrass. One of them was a machine 

 of Ketchem's, a description and drawing of which 

 is contained in the monthly Farmer of August, 

 1852; the other, an improved Mower and Reaper, 

 made by Emery, of Albany. 



I will not undertake to decide upon the compa- 

 rative merits of the machines, but rather give 

 some general idea of their operation, for the ben- 

 efit of those who have not seen them. There was 

 no perceptible difference in the quantity or quality 

 of the work done by each. I have since seen in tho 

 Crystal Palace, at New York, Reapers and Mow- 

 ers of various kinds. They all cut upon the same 

 principle ; by large teeth like a saw, moved back 

 and forth, by gearing attached to a heavy iron 

 wheel which rolls upon the ground, serving as the 

 great wheel of the machine, and carriage wheel 

 for the machine and driver. The Mower is drawn 

 by two horses abreast, driven by a man who rides 

 and drives and works the machine. The work is 

 hard for two good horses, but not hard for the dri- 

 ver. It cuts a swath about four and a half feet 

 in width, as fast as the horses can walk, and the 

 mowing I saw done was performed closer and bet- 

 ter than any man could do it, with a scythe. Af- 

 ter the hay was raked off, no mark of the swath 

 could be seen. 



In cutting the first swath, the horses walk in 

 the grass ; afterwards they travel over the last 

 swath. The grass is spread very evenly, as it is 

 cut, so that the boys who used to spread, will be 

 out of business, when horses do the mowing. 



One of the machines was owned by some young 

 men in the neighborhood, and had been used, to 

 cut about ninety acres, the present season. One 

 of the owners said he could cut a ton in one hour 

 easily, and that the machine required no great 

 care, and very little repairs. The cutting part re- 

 quires grinding about once a day, upon a common 

 grindstone, which must have a very long crank. 

 The owners, and a very large number of gentle- 

 men who were present, seemed perfectly satisfied 

 that mankind would soon shift the labor of mow- 

 ing off upon the brute creation. 



Mowing machines will no doubt be used in most 



