1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



247 



majestic elms, forming a sort of rotunda under 

 which a hundred persons might sit at a marriage 

 feast. The position of the house, the spacious 

 piazza and pillars, strongly reminded me of Wash- 

 ington's house at Mount Vernon. Indeed, the 

 hill, the grand old trees, the extended and grace- 

 ful sweep of land to the banks of Sugar River, 

 and the valley itself, are almost a counterpart of 

 the"Custis Place," opposite Washington City, and 

 known as "Arlingio^'," while Custis lived. At his 

 death, the estate fell into the hands of Gen. Lee, 

 who married Custis' daughter. After he perjured 

 himself, turned a rebel and fled from justice, the 

 government took possession of the estate, cut 

 down the splendid trees, and made a fortification 

 of his once pleasant parks ! 



The grass crop is suffering in this region for 

 want of rain, and all the other crops will sensibly 

 feel that want soon, unless I'ain comes. The 

 annual sheep shearing has commenced, and the 

 farmers are looking forward with gratification at 

 the prospect of high prices. I hope they may get 

 them, as their share of the profits of manufac- 

 tured articles, is not always the lion's share. 



I must close with an expression of thanks to 

 Mr. Upham and his excellent wife, who made their 

 house almost as "home-like" to me as my own. 

 When I am there again, may some of you "be 

 there to see" if "I have extenuated anything, or 

 set down aught" but solid facts. With many 

 pleasant memories of my pleasant visit, 



I am truly yours, SiMON Brown. 

 IfESSRS. NouRSE, Eaton & Tolman. 



FAKM MACHIIfERY. 



One effect of the present war upon the agricul- 

 tural interests of the loyal States is to increase the 

 demand for labor-saving machinery and imple- 

 ments, consequent on the scarcity and high price 

 of farm labor. The business of the various ag- 

 ricultural warehouses of this city is said to be un- 

 commonly good ; and the orders for all grades of 

 labor-saving inventions from the mowing machine 

 to the simple wheel-hoe, more numerous than 

 ever before. 



Another way in which the war affects most farm- 

 ers, is by exciting so great an interest in the de- 

 tails of its progress as to cause them to overlook 

 the progress which their own "art and science" 

 may be making in the meantime. 



Everj farmer should be interested in the great 

 events which are now taking place in our country. 

 He cannot be otherwise. His neighb»rs, his 

 friends, his own sons, perhaps, are among those 

 wh» have made the march, or fought the battle, of 

 which the last telegram is a mere rumor, but yet 

 enough to excite the most intense solicitude for 

 more definite intelfigence. And thus there is dan- 

 ger that the time which can be devoted to reading, 

 and even to thought, may be given so exclusively 



to this one subject, that the agricultural journal 

 shall be too much neglected. 



While, therefore, the drain that war has made 

 on the young men of our country, and especially 

 of those in the agricultural districts, stimulates 

 the invention and adoption of labor-saving ma- 

 chines and processes, individual farmers may be 

 so much engrossed by the news of the day as not 

 to keep themselves informed as to the value of 

 the various new inventions with which others 

 greatly facilitate the labor of the farm. 



Numerous as are the implements which crowd 

 our agricultural warehouses, and slow as farmers 

 may be to adopt their use, we believe that ma- 

 chinery has but just begun its mission on the 

 farm ; but that eventually it must revolutionize 

 the process of field labor, as it has already those 

 of the shop and factory. 



Li "Comstock's Rotary Spader," an implement 

 recently invented in Illinois, the editor of the 

 Prairie Farmer sees an agent that is to revolu- 

 tionize the process and principle of ploughing, 

 which, however modified,^have remained material- 

 ly the same from time immemorial, and still run 

 through all the English experiments with steam 

 power. It has long been predicted by some far- 

 reaching minds that a substitute for the common 

 plough would come ; that the spading principle 

 was the true one on which to prepare the seed- 

 bed, and that machinery would yet accomplish the 

 purpose. All this the editor of the Prairie Farm- 

 er thinks is to be accomplished by Mr. Comstock's 

 invention, of which he says : 



"After all the discouragements and disappoint- 

 ments, success has at last crowned the persevering 

 eflorts of genius, and to-day the rotary spader, 

 adapted to the use of horse power, stands forth a 

 veritable fact, broadband indisputable — a thing of 

 curved spades, of cams, of axles and of springs, 

 composed of cast and wrought iron and steel — 

 simple, strong and durable, and with which three 

 or four horses can spade an acre an hour, doing 

 the work as thoroughly as if done by hand with 

 the laborious spade." 



Mr. J. U. Barnes, of Cornville, La Salle county, 

 111., who bought the first machine offered for sale, 

 gives the following description of his first day's 

 work with it, in a communication to the Prairie 

 Farmer, dated May 30, 1863 : 



"Hitching on four hoi-gesatSi A.M.., I started, 

 making a circuit around one end of a strip of seven 

 acres, (about one-third of it ;) the ground was in 

 fine condition, the stalks having been raked and 

 burned, and it worked beautifully, 'the horses 

 worked at an easy gait, and in a short time, with 

 my thi-ee feet swath, the piece was spaded, and at 

 the end of three hours, (ll.i o'clock.) had made a 

 couple of rounds on the balance. At 2.^ P. M., 

 started again, and at 7.^ o'clock, finished seven aaes 

 in sa-en hours, eight inches deep. 



Was there ever that quantity of ground spaded 

 or ploughed in the same time by one man and 

 fovir horses ? A new era, Messrs. Editors. An 



