5&i 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



that the young farmers in many of our towns 

 would readily raise the means to pay for two or 

 three lectures, if the thing were once started, and 

 they knew of some lecturer on whom they might 

 call, and in whose science and good judgment 

 they might have confidence. The truth is, that 

 a^good many of us farmers have been rather sus- 

 picious of book farmers, and volunteer lecturers 

 upon agricultural science. But if a lecturer is 

 appointed by the Board, it will be a guarantee 

 that he will not present wild theories, or tell ex- 

 aggerated stories, or premise impracticable re- 

 sults. I do not remember noticing that any ap- 

 propriation was made, the last session of the Leg- 

 islature, for this object. But I beheve that two or 

 three thousand dollars put at the disposal of the 

 Board, and divided between three or four lectur- 

 ers, who should spend the winter months in lec- 

 turing in the principal towns in the State, would 

 do more towards sustaining and increasing the 

 rising interest in the subject of agriculture, than 

 almost any measure that can be devised. 



Yours, &c., n. s. 



Oct. 31, 1853. 



Remarks. — No such appointments have been 

 siadc by the Board. Something of the kind ought 

 to be done. 



AGHICUIjTURAL IMFIjxilvIjtiNTS. 



In two or three previous articles we have spok- 

 en at some length on the subject of the tools of 

 the farm. In the present article we will speak of 

 some of the smaller implements, in regard to 

 ■vfhich there are questions of importance to be set- 

 tled. For instance : — 



It may be asked, what weight and breadth are 

 the most advantageous for the hoe? Undoubted- 

 ly they should be such that the person using it 

 could make the greatest number of effective strokes 

 in a given time with the least fatigue. Hoeing is 

 a laborious work, for the reason that the body is 

 held in a bent position, which requires a constant, 

 sustained effort, of the muscles of the abdomen 

 and back, to hold up the great weight of the trunk, 

 shoulders and head. The hoe should have the 

 least weight consistent with the strength and size 

 required for good work, and in order to be as light 

 as is convenient, should have the least width that 

 is sufficient for economical use. "The laborer, 

 who makes with a common hoe, two thousand 

 strokes an hour, should not weild a needless ounce 

 If any part is heavier than necessary, even to the 

 amount of half an ounce only, he must repeatedly 

 and continually hft this half ounce, so that the 

 whole strength thus spent, would be equal in a 

 day, to twelve hundred and fifty pounds, which 

 ought to be exerted in stirring the soil, and de- 

 stroying the weeds." 



The same principle is applicable to most of the 

 other small implements of the farm. Great im- 

 provements have been made in the shovel and ma- 

 nure fork. It is probably safe to say that nearly 

 double the amount may be accomplished in a giv- 



en time with a sis, eight, or ten-tined fork, in 

 most kinds of work where a shovel has formerly 

 been used, than can be done with the shovel itself, 

 and this, too, with greater ease to ihe operator. 

 And to use the forcible language of another, "in 

 no direction can we grasp more aid than in gath- 

 ering about us all good and necessary tools. Par- 

 simony here is ruin ; a liberal and judicious ex- 

 penditure is a precursor of success." 



The patent laws have been a powerful auxiliary 

 to the efforts of the agricultural societies, in stim- 

 ulating the ingenuity of inventors. By securing 

 to the inventor the exclusive benefit of his inven- 

 tion, they enable him to enrich liimself, while he 

 is benefiting the public. Agriculture owes many 

 of the most useful inventions, designed to facilitate 

 the labors of the farm, to this healthy and proper 

 stimulus furnished by the laws. 



If our fathers fifty years ago had foreseen the 

 amount of immigration to this country, instead 8f 

 making laws to protect patent rights from infringe- 

 ment in order that ingenuity and labor might reap 

 their due reward, they probably would have en- 

 acted stringent laws against inventions, in fear 

 that the laborer would be thrown out of employ- 

 ment and come upon the parish for support. Cot- 

 ton cloth was then thirty or forty cents a yard ; 

 a girl's wages fifty cents a week. Now a girl's 

 wages are often three to five dollars a week, which 

 will purhase forty or fifty yards of cloth. TChe 

 inventive genius of the country seems to be, for 

 the most part, concentrated in New England, 

 though some of the most beneficial inventions have 

 started in other parts. And the inventive power 

 of the people of New England, hjjs been turned 

 very much to improvements in farm implements. 

 Since our great political revolution which made us 

 a nation, changes almost as great have been 

 wrought out in the field of agriculture. Principles 

 in vegetation then unheard of, or just beginning 

 to be known by a few searching minds, have been 

 more fully established and published to the world. 

 No subject can be presented to the notice of the 

 agricultural societies of the country, more wor- 

 thy their attention, than the construction of farm 

 implements, and improvements therein. . Even the 

 form and weight of so small an instrument as the 

 hoe, might be a profitable subject of earnest and 

 mature discussion, in a series of experiments 

 like those of the plowing matches, which have 

 brought about so much improvement in the plow. 

 The adaptation of the various tools and machinery 

 used in the field to fulfil their design, most thor- 

 oughly, by their capacity of doing the most work 

 and in the best manner, with the least fatigue to 

 the operator, can hardly be the subject of too much 

 examination. All such examinations, though at- 

 tracting but little public attention, may work out 

 most substantial benefits. - 



The whole subject of farm implements in all its 



