Proceedixgs of the Farmers^ Club. 587 



accelerating, lightening and cheapening all other labor of the farm, 

 a necessity has been created for a substitute for the plow, the princi- 

 ples or combinations of which may admit of a construction of width 

 and depth limited only by the power convenient to apply and control 

 by one p'erson, something on the rotary principle, that shall be 

 divested of the compressing action of the plow upon the subsoil, the 

 injurious effects of wliich, together with the tramping of horses' feet 

 in tlie furrow, has long been a subject of comment by many of the 

 ablest agricultural writei*s of the age. In this age of improvement it 

 is not meet that we should be compelled to walk from 825 to 1,100 

 miles, as is now and always has been done, to every hundred acres 

 plowed with animal power, iu furrows twelve or nine inches in width. 

 Could anything but absolute necessity, or the notoriety of testing liis 

 pedestrian powers for gain, induce a man to undertake a journey of 200 

 or 275 miles once or twice a year on foot ? And yet this is what every one 

 is compelled to do that plows his twenty-live acres once or twice a year. 

 Tlie small field of five acres requires forty to sixty miles of travel, 

 and some little exercise of muscle beside, in holdino- and euidino- the 

 plow. Some may enjoy this exercise, but we know of many that 

 would more enjoy an easy spring seat without the labor of holding 

 the plow, if the work can be as well done. If it can be better done, 

 if it can be done on a large field with less stops of the team than 

 required in plowing, and in a more thorough mann'er than with a 

 spading fork in the hands of a man, and with ease and comfort to 

 the operator, who would not be glad to see it done ? An implement 

 of this kind, somewhat rude in its construction and imperfect in some 

 respects, the first one brought before the public, was exhibited in 

 operation before a committee of this club iu the summer of 1862, 

 known as ' Comstock's Rotary Spader,' and elicited a very favorable 

 report ; and in tlie field, though not as one of the committee, was one 

 then of your members, who had devoted much time and expended 

 much money in endeavoring to perfect a machine that should work 

 the soil on the principle of forking up and mixing, as preferable to 

 the packing action of the plow and harroAv. I allude to Professor 

 Mapes, since passed away. It ma}' be remembered by some present 

 here to-day, how cordiallv he congratulated us on our succe.-s in 

 producing the action that he had found by experience necessary, but 

 which he had failed to get. The encouragement thus received from 

 your committee, and other members present at the trial, as well as 

 from other eminent agriculturists and mechanics iu other parts of the 



