112 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



May 



PATENT WHEEL.. 



Our mechanics are certainly taking a deep interest 

 in the improvement of agricultural implements. — 

 There appears to be a more lively competition at this 

 time than ever before, as an examination of our 

 advertising pages will readily show, and the farmers 

 will no doubt reap the benefit of this competition in 

 the production of good implements at moderate prices. 

 Some of these machines may not stand the test of 

 use, while many, we have no doubt, will be found 

 truly valuable lo the farmer, doing his work well and 

 cheap. Perhaps of no agricultural machine has there 

 been such a variety produced within the last few 

 years, as of Grain Drills. Sc.rcely a number of the 

 Farmer is issued, but some new drill is presented to 

 the notice of agriculturists, through our advertising 

 columns, or some old one improved urges its claims 

 upon the atrention of the cultivators of the soil. We 

 sliall endeavor to keep our readers advised of the 

 various improvements, and particularly to give the 

 experience of our correspondents in their use. Of 

 the advantage of drilling, they have already spoken 

 pretty freely. 



But, our object at this time was more particularly 

 to speak of Rogers' Patent H'heel Cultivator, an 

 engraving of which we give at the head of this 

 article. Speaking of this machine, a correspondent 

 says : " From its construction, it is well calculated 

 to work after deep and tiiorough plowing ; it pulver- 

 izes and mixes the ground more perfectly than any 

 other machine now in use ; it destroys thistles and 

 other weeds more efToctually than any other process 

 of culture. It is a labor-saving machine — one team 

 will go over about the same amount of ground per 

 day (and the work will be better done) as four will 

 with the common plow." 



This machine was exhibited at the last State Fair, 

 and took the first j)reminm. The manufacturers, 

 however, think that valuable as this machine was 

 before, as proved by the committee who awarded the 

 premium, they have much improved it the past \\in- 

 trr, in the raising of one wheel at a time, or both if 

 required, and tha manner of " hitching to." 



It is manufactured by J. Ganson &. Co., of Brock- 

 portj in this county, who also manufacture McCor- 

 mick's Virginia Reaper and Atkins' Grain Drill, 



both advertised in this number. 



HARD-PAN SOILS 



Am excellent friend of the Farmer, Mi. Oscar F. 

 Warren, desires us to give a chapteron Hard-pan 

 Soils, which is far easier than to plow and mellow 

 them, as we know from considerable experience at 

 the plo'v handles. It is of no use to mince the mat- 

 ter at all ; Iht undcr-crust vmst be broken, and well 

 broken, before one can have a deep, Iriable soil, on 

 shallow, hard-pan land. Last autumn, a premium 

 was awarded to a sub-soil plow which we presented 

 at the great Fair of the Southern Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation, at Stone Mountain, in (ieorgia. Cultivators 

 regard this implement as better than the New-Eng- 

 land sub-soil plows ; and if it should be our lot to dig 

 an honest living out of the hard-pan hills of old Chen- 

 ango, as in days past, a sub-soil plow would follow 

 in the furrow of the turning one, and break the iron 

 bound earth into small fragments. The Southern 

 implement to which allusion has been made, is essen- 

 tially a winged-coulter, made strong, and placed in a 

 stout beam. A good single team can pull it without 

 severe labor. Late English agrioultural journals 

 abound in discussions on the subject of pulverizing 

 "iron-pan" in sub-soils. In some, the conglomerate fi\ 

 mass is so petrified, that six heavy horses are barely i\ 

 able to break the crust : hut experience proves the l-> 

 benefit and ultimate profit of the operation. If a soil (l) 

 which is six inches deep is worth ^JO per acre, it 'ji 

 will be worth $40, or twice as much, when the soil r] 

 is made twelve inches dee]>. The art of mtnufae- W 

 turing soils of any desirable dcj.lh, is destined to J| 

 experience great improvement-; within a few years. |i|ii 

 Science, practical skill, and indcunilable perseverance Jr 

 will add four-'iild to the productiveness of all arable ]^ 

 lands whose cultivation is necessary. .4ilready lime i^ljl 

 is used on iiard-paii soils with twice the good effects i^J 



