NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



99 



NICHOLS & MARSH'S PATENT PORTABLE GRIST MILL. 



Among the many new inventions of tlie day, "sve 

 would call the attention of our readers to the mill 

 represented above. In many sections of the cbuntrj', 

 great inconvenience is often experienced, by farmers 

 and others, for want of mills for grinding grain for 

 various purposes. As this mill is portable, it occu- 

 pies but little room, and if water power cannot be 

 had, steam or horse power may be used. 



In some places, the natural advantages for grist 

 mills are not improved in season to accommodate 

 early settlers ; in such cases, this may be used with 

 great economy, as it costs far less than a common 

 grist mill with the various expenses that usually 

 attend a preparation for using water power. 



The patentees of the above mill remark as fol- 

 lows : — 



" There is one best way to do every thing. With 

 great confidence we recommend this article to the 

 notice of practical men who are engaged in or are 

 about to establish the mealing business, or who wish 

 to erect a mill at a comparatively small exjiense, for 

 occasional use. Out of the numerous imj^rovements 

 that have appeared in the last twenty years, there 

 are none, in oiu- view, either for simplicity, efficiency, 

 durability, or economy, that equal it, and, as far as 

 our experience has gone, we are led to believe it 

 the best portable mill for grinding grain, corn, salt, 

 plaster, and spices, extant. It is composed of the 

 best French burr stones, which hitherto we think 

 entitled to the preference of all other material for 

 that use. They are substantially built, easily kept in 

 order, and can be attached to the requisite power 

 ■with great facility." 



Three sizes arc manufactured, of sixteen, twenty- 

 four, and thirty inch stones, adapted to different 

 powers. These mills are in use in some parts of 

 New England, and in the state of New York. It 

 may be seen in operation in this vicinity. 



THE RUST IN WHEAT. 



The following remarks from the Annual Report 

 of the St. John (N. B.) Agricultural Society, as to 

 one of the causes of rust in wheat, are thrown out 

 rather as a supposition than an opinion, with the 

 view of exciting inquiry. 



The oat draws nutriment from the earth by side 

 roots, which spread over the ground. The wheat 

 plant has similar rootlets, but, in addition thereto, 

 when about to head, sends down a tap-root into the 

 earth, for the purpose, it may be presumed, of pro- 



curing the additional nutriment which its large, rich 

 ear requires ; and this tap-root has been known to go 

 down to the depth of four feet. We may observe, 

 that up to the time of sending down the tap-root, 

 the wheat is the hardiest and thriftiest of all the 

 cereals, but afterwards the most liable to disease. 

 This delicacy is accounted for, when we consider 

 that land is generally undrained ; that not more 

 than a few inches of soil get the benefit of sun, air, 

 and manure ; and that, therefore, the root must 

 encounter, in its downward travel, nothing but dis- 

 appointment. It comes in contact with the cold 

 clay, or a sour, wet subsoil, tiirns back in despair, 

 and dies. In accordance with the laws of nature, 

 insects, or rust, Avhich is itself a fungus, or vegetable 

 insect, come to finish the work of devastation on the 

 dying plant. The forlorn farmer rails at the climate, 

 and cries out that his wheat is killed by rust, while, 

 in fact, it has died from starvation — from the want 

 of that food, which, as a provident husbandman, it 

 was his duty to have provided for it. — American 

 Agriculturist. 



Rem.vkks by the Editor New Englaxd Farmer. 

 If the theory in the foregoing article is correct, 

 much may be done to remedy the evil by subsoil 

 ploughing, as the subsoil will gradually become 

 mixed with the surface soil, by deeper ploughing, 

 which should follow subsoiling ; and by exposure to 

 the air, it will be fitted to promote vegetation and 

 improve the active soil by the addition of fresh 

 ingredients. 



SUBSOIL PLOUGHING. 



In the summer of 1S14, I harvested a piece of 

 wheat, comprising ten acres of good wheat land, that 

 had been under the plough for about seventeen years ; 

 it had not been seeded, was very much run down, 

 full of "foul stuff," June grass, &c. It was clay soil. 

 My crop of wheat amounted to about eighty-five 

 bushels. 



In June, 184.5, with the subsoil plough, two yoke 

 of oxen, and a span of horses, by once plough- 

 ing, I most thoroughly subdued the grass and foul 

 stuff, and fitted it for seeding down ; and from the 

 same ten acres, in 1846, I had over three liandred 

 bushels of wheat. 



CLARK BEARDSLEY. 



Avon, Oakland Co., March, 1848. 

 — Michigan Farmer. 



The best snuff in the world is a snuff of the 

 morning air. 



