52 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



AUGUST 34, 1830. 



horse; mowikg machine:. 



We attended o:i jMondiiy week, by invitation, 

 to witness the operation of tlie Horse Mowinij Ma. 

 ohine invented hy Mr Hnzza, of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

 The theatre selected for its operation was a field 

 of oats helonting to Dr. Hitch, situated in the 

 northwestern part of our city, containing about 

 six acres. The persons collected together to see 

 this novel innovation upon old established customs 

 were not numerous; with those, however, who 

 did attend, the principle of curiosity was, as it 

 was reasonable to expect it wouhl be, actively 

 alive; but it was soon destined to be arrested in 

 its gratification ; for after the enlerprjsins inven- 

 tor of the machine had twice made liis way 

 around the field, its owner stopped his further pro- 

 gress, urged to the adoption of his course, as we 

 were informed, by the fear that a part of the com- 

 pany would injure his grain by following the im- 

 plement, and from the circumstance of the stubble 

 being cut too long. In coniirion with those pres- 

 ent, we regret that reasons sufficiently cogent ex- 

 isted in the opinion of the proprietor to produce 

 the result we have mentioned, as the disappoint- 

 ment affected alike the inventor and those r.ho at 

 cor.siderable troubl.-, under a scorching sun, hud 

 convened to witness the experiment. Contenting 

 ourselves with the remarks we have made with 

 respect to the cause of the stopping of ^he work, 

 we will make a jiassing observation or two in re- 

 gard to the work itself. The machine was drawn 

 by two hor.ses, and moved at a smart trot, cufing 

 tlie grain as it went with considerable eleaidifiess, 

 «3 much Po, probably, as could have been dtjne 

 witli eradle.s, with the exception, that the stublde, 

 as we have before prenused, wad left too long, be- 

 ing about 6 inches in length ; the inventor of the 

 machine, however, assured us that he could have 

 towered the cutting knives to 3 inches. It may 

 be but justice to observe that the field was rough 

 and cloddy, and presented a very uneven surface 

 CO act upon, which may account in part for the 

 height at which the knives were set. So far as 

 our own opinion may be entitled to consideration, 

 we believe the machine better adapted to level 

 fields than broken ground, and we have no doubt 

 at all that on the lOastern Shore of this s'.ale, in 

 Eastern Virginia, and other portions of our coun- 

 try where grain is cultivated on large even fields, 

 it wouhl be found truly useiul, and that it '.vill he 

 foimd an object with tho wealthy pro[)ri<tors of 

 Sands in those sections of the country to procun; 

 one. It certainly cuts with great expedition, and 

 we should sujipose, from what we say, that it would 

 be able to mow twenty or twentyfive acres a 

 day. 



Mr Huzza assured us, that he had given great sat- 

 isfaction to the meujbers of the Agricidtural Board 

 of Talbot County on the eastern shore of this 

 State, before wliicli body he Jiad operated with 

 his machine, and we sincerely trust this distin- 

 guisheil association may pidilish .ui account of his 

 labors in that quarter, for from the intelligence 

 and standing of its memb;n's theif opinion will be 

 he)d in high estj.-nation in every quarter where 

 correct information is duly appreciated. — Balti- 

 more Farmer. 



Some British Capita'isia are about to erect a 

 porcelain factory in Ohio. 



THE TURNIP PI.Y. 



Mr CAfip:^ 



i send a few extracts from tlie Encyclopedia 

 Britannica, wliich may possibly be of service to 

 you. 



In speaking of the culture of turnips, (or more 

 properly the enemy of turnips,) the author re- 

 marks : Turnips, when young are apt to be total- 

 ly destroyed by a multitude of little black flies, 

 from thence called the tmnip fjy ; as a preventive 

 of these some advise the seed to be- mixed with 

 brimstone ; but this is improper, as brimstone is 

 found to be poisonous to vegetables. — The best 

 method seems to be the fumigation of the fields 

 with smoke of half dried vegetables. For this 

 purpose weeds will answer as well as any. This 

 fumigation must no doubt be often repeated, in 

 order to drive away the innumerable multitudes 

 of these insects which are capable of destroying a 

 large field of turnips. 



Some liave supposed that the fly is either en- 

 gendered in new dung, or enticed by it, and have 

 therefore advised the manure to be laid on in au- 

 tu:>m preceding, by which it loses all its nox- 

 ious qualities ; while its nutritive ones are retain- 

 ed, notwithstanding these might be sujiposed lia- 

 ble in some degree to be exhaled by the sun. 

 i his method is said to have been ascertained by 

 experiments; and it is added, that another mate- 

 rial adv.intage accruing from autumn manuringfor 

 turnips is, that all the seeds contained in the dung, 

 and which of e'ourse ars carried on the land with 

 it, vegetMte almost immediately, are mostly killed 

 by the severity of the winter, an<l the few that re- 

 main seldom avoid destruction from the plough- 

 share. 



The following method of sowing has also been 

 recommended as a preventative of the fly. "About 

 midsummer, take the first ojiportunity when it 

 rains, or there is an ajij>arent certainty of rain ap- 

 proaching, to sow your seed ; in this case neither 

 harrow, bru.'h nor roll, after sowing. The natu- 

 ral heat of the ground at that season, and the con- 

 sequent fermentation occasioned by copious rain, 

 will give an astonishingly quick vegetation to the 

 seed, which in a few days will he up and out of 

 all danger from the fly. At all events, sow not 

 till it rains ; it is better to wait a montli, or even 

 longer for rain than to sow (merely for the sake 

 of sowing about the usual time (wjien the grouiul 

 is parched with heat. By the scorching of the 

 sun, the oil and vegetative quality of tiio seed are 

 exhausted ; and the few weak plants that come up 

 here will be destroyed by the fly before they can 

 attain strength to put forth their rough leaves. 

 The fly infests the ground abundantly in ilry hot 

 weather, but does no injury in rain, i'he falling 

 rain will sufficiently wash the turnip seed into the 

 ground without harrowing it in ; which instead 

 of merely covering, too often buries this seed at 

 so great a depth, as never afterwards to get above 

 groimd " — JVew Castle (Md.j Gazette. 



Remarks of the Editor of the Baltimore Farmer 

 and Gardener. 

 We have not inserted the above article with a 

 view of endorsing all its opinions, but of giving 

 the f)id)lic a fair opportunity of jmlging of the 

 soundness of the views of its author, by exposing 

 to the judgment all that he says upon the sidiject, 

 and of respectfully pointiuir out what we consider 

 erroneous. We object to the folio wiug point made 

 in the aiticle. 



We do deny that brimstone has been found poi- 

 sonous to vegetables. It is well known and be- 

 lieved that it is the i)rinciple of sulphur existent 

 in, and forming a conijionent part of plaster which 

 gives to that valuable article its meliorating pro- 

 perties ; and from experience we can say that we 

 restored a bed of cabbage and cesarian kale plants 

 to a state of vigorous health from one the most 

 sickly and unpromising by the use of a weak so- 

 lution of soot and sulphur by only three waterings. 

 Our solution was prepared as follows: 



We placed 1 oz. of flour sulphur (in a bag) and 

 1 gallon of soot in a 15 gallon cask, which we fill- 

 ed with water, and let it remain until the exhala- 

 tion was sulphurous, when we watered the plants 

 — then filled up the cask and after reiriaining un- 

 til the water was impregnated, we used it as be- 

 fore. This application was repeated thrice and 

 wrought the good effect spoken of above. 



INlilAN COKN. 



There is another question of interest to farmers, 

 which relates to the mode of harvesting the crop, 

 that is, whether it is best to top the stalks, cut the 

 whole at the ground when the grain is glazed, or 

 cut the whole when the grain is fully lipened. We 

 have stated the experiments of Mr Clark of North- 

 ampton, one of the best practical farmers of our 

 country, and of other gentlemen showing that the 

 grain suffers a diminution of six or eight bushels 

 the acre, by topping the stalks; and there seems 

 to he no counterbalancing benefit in the fodder, 

 unless at the expense of carrying the stalks to the 

 borders of the field, that they may be secured be- 

 fore the crop is gathered, and before they become 

 blanched and half ruined. And it is no protec- 

 tion against early autumnal frosts, but lather ex- 

 poses nnripened grain to be more injured. Hence, 

 so far as regards these two modes, all who have 

 made a comparison, seem to concur in the opin- 

 ion, that slri|)ping the corn of its tops and leaves 

 is a had practice. William Carmichael, of Vir- 

 gitiia, has given us in the Farmer's Register, his 

 exj-eriments in this matter, which go to corrobo- 

 rate the conclusion we have drawn. He took, 

 promiscuously, 100 ears from corn tliat had been 

 topped, and 1(10 ears from that which had not been 

 topjied, growing side by side. The first weighed 

 (Ml the cob, 50 lbs. — shelled, 41 lbs., and measur- 

 ed 21 qts. 1 pt. The other 54 lbs. — shelled, 46 

 lbs., atid measured 26 qts. — showing a difference 

 of nearly one-fifih in favor of unstrippe^ or un- 

 topped corn. — The fact is, that top|ing not only 

 prevents the fmtlier elaboration of the sai', which 

 can only take place in the leave.s, and which is ne- 

 cessary for the growth of t>,e corn, but it deprives 

 the grain of much that is already elaborated, and 

 on its way to the grain. If a fruit tree is depriv- 

 ed of its leaves, before the fruit has attained its 

 giowtli, or mature flavor, for its supply of elabo- 

 rate food, or vegetable blood is cut ofi" by the loss 

 of leaves. We have noticed this partieidarly in 

 the plum. 



Satisfactory experiments have not been made to 

 ileterm:ne whether it is most advantageous to cut 

 the crop when the grain is merely glazed, or to 

 wait till it is perfectly ripe, '1 his will depend 

 upon the amount of loss, if anv, in the grain by 

 early harvesting, — the relative value of the grain 

 aiTil fodder, and the prospects of both being injur- 

 ed by early frosts — tor neither are liable to suf- 

 fer from frost after the crop has been cut and put 

 into shooks. It is to be noticed that ir; early 



