130 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 



IHachiaery applied to Agriculture. 



Messus. Editoks — I herewith ecnd yen a notice in 

 the New Yorli Tribune, of a work whicli proposes aa 

 great a saving in the manual labor pertaining to rural 

 economy, as thepowcrl oom has circeted in the pro- 

 duction of cotton cloth. 



I have often thought that if a portion of the great 

 labor-saving improvemcms, which have in late years 

 been applied to manufactures and river navigation, 

 could be so applied to agriculture as to enable the 

 North to accomplish more, with leas bodily exertion 

 and expense of muscle, and the South to diepensc 

 with slave labor; that a greater social revolution 

 would be produced by it, than our eyes have yet 

 Been, or our hearts have yet felt. Tt may be said that 

 man, xolivewcU, must " live by the sweat of bis 

 brow;" figuratively speaking, that man docasolive, 

 who lives by artificial production; the high civiliza- 

 tion which labor-saving machintiy induces, only 

 creates those renewed wants, which vary, improve, 

 and stimulate production. The simple comforts which 

 in past ages could only be indulged in by the rich, 

 are now attainable by all; and if the time which 

 Henry the Fourth wished for,when "every poor mon 

 could have his lowl in the pot," has not orrivcd, it is 

 alone the poor man's fault. 



It may be said that the cultivation of the potato in 

 Ireland, by the introduction of a more cheaply raised 

 necessary of life, has produced tho same elFect aa la 

 bor-eaving in agriculture, and that the result has tre 

 bled the population of Ireland without adding any 

 thing to their social comforts. But may not the 

 wretchedness of the Irish be attributed to other causfs 

 that to an increased population? Is it not rather to a 

 lack of a well directed manufacturing industry; to the 

 want of that home trade which the absenteeism of the 

 aristocracy produces, by leaving tho workers of the 

 soil to the grindings of the middle man and the tiihc 

 proctor; "Thou shall not muzzle the o.\ that trcad- 

 oth out the corn," is one of those scriptural injunc- 

 tions which is never read nndcrstandingly by tho 

 land holders of Ireland. If her aristocracy would 

 stay at home and expend their incomes there, in pro- 

 perly encouraging and directing the industry of the 

 people, there is no doubt but that the condition of 

 Ireland would at least compare with either of the oih 

 er United Kingdoms. 



■ When reading Humboldt's description of thescanty 

 and widely scattered eidtivation in some of the most 

 fertile sections of equinoctial America, I have felt 

 that nothing short of the discovery of labor-saving 

 machinery to bo applied to agricultuio, could ever 

 bring all tho arable land of those hot and debilitating 

 regions into cultivation. What a stupendous revoia- 

 tion in the production of tho edible things of the 

 earth, may not bo produced by the application of ma- 

 chinery to a soil where organic Nature is enlarged to 

 Buch a gigantic scale, that not only the earth produces 

 its sempiternal vegetation, the treea their parasitic 

 families, but oven the air itself is filled to darkness by 

 the pendant drapery of the lianas, which hang in fl's- 

 toons from tree to tree at the height of more th.nn a 

 hunuTed feet. S. w. 



Waterloo, Juhj UGth. 1841. 



From tin: Rem York Trilni^e. 

 The New World, or M;iCHANicAL System, to per- 

 form tlw Labor ,.J Man and beast by inanimate 

 Pmcers that east nothing, for producins and pre- 

 paring the substar.a^s of life, by J. A. ElzLcr. Pub- 

 lished by C. F. Stollmcyer. Philadelphia, 75 

 pages. 



The object of this little work is, ns the author in- 

 forms us, to show how to cultivate in a superior man- 

 ner 10,000 acres of land by one machine and three or 

 four men, with a capital less than one Dollar per aero, 

 —how to clear land from trees and stumps, roots and 

 Btones,— fill and drain swamps,— make dame, can- 



als, ditches, roads and perform any kind of work on 

 the ground, — build hriuses, and fiunieh aa much inan- 

 imate power for any place or stationary machine as is 

 wanted, — ail by the same system. 



The author of this work is certainly a bold, on ori- 

 ginal thinker, — is a man of a high order of talent. 

 Men heretofore have only applied mochinery to cer- 

 tain general purposes, — to manufactures, mechanics, 

 navigation, &c., but Etzler has conceived the gigantic 

 plan of applying it to the daily works of society, — to 

 cultivating our lands, building our houses, roads, 

 canals. &c. To do all this he does n jt make use of 

 costly powers, like beasts of burthen ond steam, but 

 of powers that cost nothing, such as the heat of the 

 sun, the wind, tides, &c. He has invented machin- 

 ery adapted to those powers, and so contrived it as to 

 make use of them at all times. Weofcoursocongive 

 no idea of bis liiuchinrry or invention; the book itself 

 must be studied; it cunlains plates and full explana- 

 tions. 



Etzlerhaa forseen and explained the immense ulte 

 rior results which would follow, if machinery could 

 be applied to agriculture and to the various dady La- 

 bors of Man: he sees that it would do away with po- 

 verty, elevate the condition of tho human race, fertilize 

 and cultivate the tropical climates, which aro now ne- 

 glected and which are the fairest portion of the earth, 

 and lead to a great and fundamental llelcrm in 

 society. 



We particularly recommend his work to attention, 

 and we trust that he may find the rner.ns of mukin" a 

 practical experiment of his plan. The views of the 

 most celebrated machinists have been very limited; 

 they havo not conceived the possibi'ity of applying 

 machinery farther than to a few specialities. Is it 

 not pitiful to see our large canals dug out by single 

 spadefuls, blocks of grauito bowed by human hands; 

 lirick? carried to the tops of houses on human should- 

 ers 1 It seems so to us, and no one has felt it more 

 keenly than Etzlcr, and no one has undertaken before 

 him to invent a general system of machinery lor ob- 

 viating it. 



For t/te NciB Genesee Farmer. 

 ITEMS. 



Corn-cob Feed. — The best way to dispose of cobs 

 isofcource to grind them with the corn. But we 

 observe two substitutes which havo been successfully 

 made use of. One is to soak the cobs in a half hogs- 

 head of brine, when the catde eagerly thrust in their 

 noses and devour them. The other, or better way, 

 is to boil them. One farmer says ho would as soon 

 throw away his fodder as his cobs. 



Preserving Cheese. — Solon Robinson says a neigh- 

 bur has practised for several years the method of pre- 

 serving his cheeses by placing thera within a hay 

 stack, where they aro kept from freezing through win- 

 ter. 



,101 



ofC» 

 jipiioi 



V.rl 



succeeded after a year or two of careful attention) 

 removing it entirely. 



He thinks it rarely reaches thot degree of mat 

 nancy described by Eu-opean writers, by whom it 

 represented to become contagious, and occasion t 

 rcctly the destruction of tho animnl; or at least ti\ Jin 

 several years would be required to produce such a 

 suit; death appearing here to be caused by tiie sevji 

 tyof winter operating on weakened and emacioi 

 animals affected by the disease. 



mm 

 titet 



ire 



[lie I 

 ■In 



pe 



Foot rot in Sheep. 



An intelligent and euccobsful wool grower informs 

 us of the method by which he entirely prevc7its the 

 inroads of this disease. 



It is known that the sheep, when removed from its 

 native mountains and rocks, to the soft and luxuriant 

 pastures, no longer bus its hoofs worn away as in a 

 stale of nature, by which as they grow they aro pre- 

 served liesh and sound, — but the outer part, which is 

 naturally intended to support the weight of the ani- 

 mal, grows out of all bounds, nntil it laps nioro or leas 

 over the sole, and retains the accumulated earth and 

 filth which collects v.'iihin. From this the disease 

 originates. 



Ac^;ording to our informant, by repeatedly and 

 carefully paring off this crest of the hoof, as ot'ten as 

 necessary, the disease is effectually prevented. Where 

 it has already made progress, something more is ne- 

 cessary, as the application of turpentine, or tar with 

 cauterization, the disease being very similar in nature 

 to the "foul in the foot" in cattle, which is success- 

 fully treated by rubbing a hot iron rod with tar, be- 

 tween the hoofs. Although it had made such pro- 

 gress in the flocks of our informant, aa to cause indi- 

 rectly the loss of several hundred sheep, yet he has 



Resources of the West— Agricultural Biche ''jj'' 



How can we better promote the objects for wh 



the Genesee Farmer was eslabllBhed, than by pnbli 



ing Bomo articles calculated to expand the thoughii 



our Farrnei-s by reference to the growing greatn 



and glorious destinies »f tho Mighty West? The dig 



tynnd importanceofAgricidture can only be prope 



estimated by contemplating such views aa are herep 



sented in the annexed statements from Mr. Penfiek 



formerly resident in Rochester — a man whose tale 



and observation enable uiiii to speak confidenily on 



vast topics which he diacueses. Wore Mr. Penfii 



unknown to us personally, we hare an endorser 



his behalf, whose testimony would clone secure an 



sertion for hia statements. That endorser is JEifnJ 



Hawlet — well known as one of the earliest i 



steadiest friends of Inteunal Improvement in t 



State of New York. Mr. Pehfield was formerly 



derlhe instruction of Mr. Hawley; and doubtless p 



filed considerably by tho itatislical knowledge i iw 



enlarged views of his friendly instructor. The arti 



has not suffered in value by the delay in pnblicatioi 



though we must apologize for omitting it till this ti 



— having had it in possession for some months. : 



it be read carefully — let its statemenls bo mntur 



considered — and let other et»tements beating on 



great questions, be attentively examined with a v: 



to more thorough knowledge of the vast regions V 



tered by our Inland Seas. 



From the Cleveland Herala^^ 



Wheat asid Flour Trade of the Westi 



NKW YORK AND OHIO COMPABEIl. 



Mb. EuiTOR — In making up some accounts on 

 subject for a private communicatiod, I havo sii 

 thought the figures would not be uninleiesting 

 some of your readers; and hope I shall not be c 

 sidcred too tedious for your columns or ihoir 

 iience, in the closing remarks. 



There arrived at Cleveland by the Canal in If 

 504,900 barrels ot Flour, and 2,151,450 bushek 

 Wheat. We compute the (lour as in wheat, alli 

 ing as in other instances that follow, 5 bushels to e 

 barrel of flour, making tho aggregate 4,675,950 bi 

 There was bought from wsgons besides 80,000 bi 

 of wheat and considerable Hour; the exact quan 

 not to be ascertained, euflicient, however, for tho c 

 sumption of the city. The exportation from ' 

 place then was equal to 4,705,9.50 busheis. Se»i 

 oiher points on tho Lake within this state also e^ 

 large quantities; at Huron for instance, equivalen 

 472,878 buahels during th« past season. The u.xf 

 of Ohio on Lake Erie we estimate Irom 5J to 6,0C 

 000 of buahols. That on tho Ohio river wo have 

 the means of stating with so much accuracy. So 

 portion of the 139,637 barrels of flour shipped ie 

 from Pittsburgh; the past season, was doubtless fr 

 Ohio wheat. "There are several points on the ri 

 that send off more or leso, besides those of Porlsmou 

 where the receipts by canal were 34,134 barrels 

 flour, and Cincinnati, by the Miami canal 105,1 

 barrels of flour, and 97,800 biwhels of wheat. V 

 put the river export equal to 2,000,000 of busbf 

 mailing that of the Stale, not less than 7,500,C 

 buflhela.* 



Governor Seword stotce in his message at the opi 

 ing of the Now York Legislature, in January 1b 

 that there was delivered in 1840, at the eastern tcrr f 

 nation of the Erie Canal, 1,805,135 barrels of flo; i 

 and 1,395,195 bushels of wheat, equal to 10,420,8 ' 

 bushels. Deducting from this quantity, that p: ' 

 which went from the Western States, as will here, i 



k 



* A recent 

 natl f^hroniele, l 

 l;tn;!, Huron, l*or 



purporting to be from the Cine, 

 akefl the export of the State from Clc\ 

 mouth mill Cin-iiiniiti, 8,000,OU0 bu«!-.i 



