1860. 



XE^V ENGLAXD FARiMER. 



507 



taking care to let the ashes, nearly pure, come in 

 contact with the roots of the plants. The experi- 

 ment, I am happy to say, has proved entirely suc- 

 cessful. Every one of the phints has c;ro\vn to a 

 thrifty cabbage, and not one has exhibited any in- 

 dications of disease. 



If such is the effect of v.-ood ashes upon one 

 plant, why not upon others? The "club foot" is 

 undoubtedly caused by an insect which bites the 

 root of the plant ; and if thus rendered "innox- 

 ious," why cannot the grub that destroys the cu- 

 cumber, the marrow squash, -and other vines, be 

 disposed of in the same way ? I think the in- 

 creased growth of plants treated in this way, will 

 amply repay the cost of experimenting ; for my 

 garden, in its palmiest days, never produced 

 handsomer cabbages than those of the present 

 season's growth. E. C. P. 



Somerville. 



MBCHAlSriCS' FAIR. 



A DAT AMONG THE AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS 

 AND MACHINERY. 



So far as we have been able to judge by sever- 

 al visits to the ninth exhibition of the Massachu- 

 setts Charitable Mechanic Association, and by a 

 cursory examination of the articles generally, and 

 a careful inspection of those belonging to the ag- 

 ricultural department, we came to the conclusion 

 that no previous exhibition has equalled this in 

 regard to the number of articles presented, or in 

 the ingenuity of new inventions, or in the style 

 and excellence of their construction. 



In the section appropriated to agriculture, we 

 found some one hundred articles devised and con- 

 structed for the special use of the farmer, and 

 they comprised many of the most useful labor-sav- 

 ing implements used upon the farm and in the 

 farm-house, and many of the specimens of ma- 

 chinery that are happily influencing the industry 

 and prosperity of the country. 



The observing person cannot have failed to no- 

 tice how much the farmer has been aided by the 

 introduction of improved implements and ma- 

 chinery in the prosecution of his labors, — and 

 taking the broad fields of the west into the ac- 

 count, it is not extravagant to say that those la- 

 bors have produced more than double what they 

 ever have before, through their agency. "Plows 

 turn up the soil deeper, more evenly and perfectly, 

 and with greater ease of draught ; hoes and spades 

 have become lighter and more efficient ; grain, 

 instead of being beaten out by the slow and labo- 

 rious process of the flail, is now shov/ercd in tor- 

 rents from the thrashing machine ; horse-rakes 

 accomplish singly the work of many men using 

 the old hand rake ; twelve to twenty acres of ripe 

 grain are neatly cut in one day with a two-horse 

 reaper ;" the large hand or "loafer-rake," light 

 and cheap seed-sowers — wheat hoes and weeders 

 vith which one man can perform in the same 

 time as much service as can five men with a com- 



mon hoe — mowing machines, hay-caps, grain cra- 

 dles — lighter, and yet stronger and better, rakes, 

 pitch-forks, manure-forks, fanning-mills, straw- 

 cuttors, root-slicers, pumps, and especially new 

 implements for aiding in the process of draining 

 lands — one of the most profitable operations of 

 the farm, and now introduced as a system of the 

 first importance — which reduce the cost of prod- 

 ucts nearly one-half from that required twenty 

 years ago, are now common on most well-con- 

 ducted farms. The balance, or fly-wheel, in equal- 

 izing the motion of machinery used by farmers, 

 is annually saving a vast expenditure of human 

 power, and that saving may fairly be carried to 

 the credit side of their account. 



As a farmer, we find pleasure in acknowledg- 

 ing our indebtedness to the genius of the mechan- 

 ic in devising and constructing the improved im- 

 plements and machinery v.'hich so greatly lessen 

 our toil, facilitate our labors, and at the same 

 time increase our profits. We believe in progress, 

 and that it is better to balance the grain in the 

 bag that is thrown across the back of the horse 

 than to put a stone in one end of it; that it is bet- 

 ter to lessen the friction of the drag by using 

 wheels, and that these principles hold good in 

 most of the tools and machines used on the farm. 

 We believe that farming is the natural pursuit of 

 man ; that it is healthful, profitable and honora- 

 ble, and that as its labors have been guided more 

 by intelligence, and as improved means and modes 

 of husbandry have been introduced, the farmer 

 has assumed a higher rank, and has become more 

 and more influential in every department of the 

 business of men. 



As these means and modes have progressed, 

 they have furnished the farmer with the ability to 

 surround his home with the comforts and elegan- 

 cies of life. When, fatigued with the labors of 

 the day, he returns to his home and family, 

 he no longer sits upon the hard, awkward, old- 

 fashioned white pine "settle," or upon bare floors, 

 in uncomfortable, straight-backed chairs which 

 scarcely relieve the pressure of out-door toil. In- 

 stead of this he finds chairs, sofas or lounges fit- 

 ted to receive the weary form and restore it to a 

 vigorous condition. His floors are covered with 

 cheap and substantial carpets, economical in a 

 money point of view, and yet comfortable if not 

 luxurious. The glare of rooms is softened by 

 blinds, while a world of woman work is avoided 

 by the occasional coats of paint which their wood- 

 work receives. His cooking-stove saves him ten 

 cords of wood annually, while his food is better 

 prepared, and with less labor, than under the 

 open fire-place processes. He has a carriage, too, 

 of modern construction, to ride to town-meeting, 

 or to church on Sunday, and really is a stronger 

 and better citizen in possessing these things, and 



