1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



165 



IMPROVED HAY- FORK. 



Messrs. Editors : — As it is now about haying time, 

 I would bring to the notice of your readers a new 

 and simple contrivance for pitcliing hay by horse- 

 power. We all know that unloading hay and stow- 

 ing it away in the mow is icarm tvork some days in 

 July, and any labor-saving device which is not ex- 

 pensive, will, I think, prove as useful to farmers as 

 the horse-rake which is now coming into general use. 

 The annexed figures will illustrate tliis contrivance, 

 so that any farmer can put one up in his barn. The 

 design was shown to me by an ingenious farmer, 

 while in the Patent Office last year, but not being- 

 patented, it is of course public property. It consists 

 of three pulleys, 

 8 bout 80 feet of I 

 inch rope, and a 

 large fork. Fig. 

 ] is the fork, the 

 head of which is 

 about 28 inches 

 long and 2J inch- F'g- 1- 



es square, made of good hard wood. The handle is 

 5j feet long, morticed into the head, and secured 

 from splitting by a strap of iron clasped round the 

 head and extending some distance up the handle. 

 The prongs are made of steel, 20 inches long, | inch 

 thick at the head, and tapering to a point. They 

 may be set in the head at equal distances apart, with 

 a burr; ttached to screw them up tight. Two ropes, 

 or rod,' of iron, (a, a,) 3 feet long, fastened to the 

 ends o the head, are brought together at b, to which 

 a pully is attached. A small rope, c, is fastened to 

 the end of the handle, in length to suit the height of 

 the barn, by which the fork is kept level as it is 

 raised to the top of the mow, where the hay is dis- 



charged by slackening the rope. In adjusting the 

 machine, let one end of the main rope be attached to 

 the peak of the rafter, about three feet over the bay, 

 as at a, fig. 2, which represents a section of the barn, 

 thence let it pass through the pulley 6 on the fork, 

 then through the second pulley c, then through the 

 third pulley d, fixed to the lower part of the door 

 post, to give a level draft for the horse. One man 

 on the load, another in the mow, and a boy to lead 



the horse, constitute the force necessary to unload 

 hay in this manner ; it is done very rapidly, and the 

 machine, though a simple one, will be found to save 

 mtsch haVd labor. W. p. p. 



CULTURE OF WHEAT I]f WESTERN NEW YORK. 



It is universally admitted that Western New York 

 is the best wheat growing district in the world, both 

 from the superior quality and quantity of the wheat. 

 Any practical farmer would immediately pronounce 

 it first rate wheat soil, from its texture and appear- 

 ance — and these have more to do with it than most 

 scientific writers imagine. A ride, at this time of 

 year, through the Genesee Valley, on either side of the 

 river, would equally delight and reward an enlight- 

 ened agriculturist. The scenery is delightful— more 

 beautiful than anything I have before seen. The 

 neat houses, with well cultivated gardens of fruit and 

 flowers, good, substantially built barns, and board, or 

 good worm fences, are sure indications of indepen- 

 dence, intellect and plenty. 



Many farmers informed me that their table-lands 

 have been gradually improving for years, owing to 

 good tillage and the growth and plowing in of clover. 

 The most peculiar feature; in this ivheat growing dis- 

 trict, is the exceeding luxuriance of the clover and 

 the comparative poverty of the wheat crop, though, 

 I am told, it is as good as other years, and will, per- 

 haps, average twenty bushels per acre — a small crop 

 lor such land and such a climate. I know a soil, 

 certainly no better than this, that has grown a crop 

 of wheat every year of 16, 18, and sometimes 20 

 bushels per acre, for ten successive years, and the 

 whole crop been removed and no manure supplied. 

 This same soil, by supplying ammonia, phosphoric 

 acid, and alkalies, yields 40 bushels every year, but 

 it would not pay ihus artificially to supply them. 



Though twenty bushels in Western New York 

 might be considered remunerative, it appears to me 

 that thirty might be grown, and be more so. The 

 uxuriance of the clover indicates that there is abun- 

 dant inorganic matter in the soil, for crops now grow- 

 ing there would contain sufficient ash constituents 

 for thirty bushels of wheat and straw ; yet on this 

 same soil, eighteen bushels is considered a good crop. 

 It is plain, then, that the deficient element is organic, 

 and it has been clearly proved by a series of carefully 

 conducted scientific experiments, by Mr. Lawes, that 

 nitrogen is the one, and if that is supplied, the 

 other three, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, will 

 be obtained from the atmosphere. The object, 

 then, of the farmer, is to obtain this nitrogen 

 from the atmosphere, and get the minerals in the 

 soil in a fit state for assimilation. The former 

 he can best do by growing clover and other ligu- 

 minous plants ; the latter, by good tillage and 

 under-draining. 



In the May number, is given the analysis of 

 a soil from Lockport, by Dr. Salisbury, of Al- 

 bany, from which it appears that beside other 

 substances I have not calculated, this soil contains 

 in one acre, six inches deep, 



Lime, 1.212 



Potash, 1.851 



Soda, 740 



Phosphoric Acid, 109 



The phosphoric acid would be soonest exhausted. 

 A crop of wheat of twenty-five bushels to the acre, 

 and equal weight of straw, would contain about twen 



