106 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



grow.- It does not bury it as the plow does. Upon the adjoining land, 

 which had been twice plowed, the digger does disintegrate the surface 

 verj'^ finely, leaving it as loose and porous as though worked by the spad- 

 ing fork, when it went twice in the same spot. If the machine was made 

 much lighter, with teeth only four inches long, and used as a substitute 

 for the harrow upon plowed land, it would be a valuable one, and could 

 then be worked by two horses. It cannot now, unless they are very strong, 

 and I do not think it will answer as a substitute for the plow. 



Mr. John G. Bergen, of Long Island. — Let us see about that. My soil, 

 it is true, is not quite so heavy as Mr. Vandervere's, but I plow with a pair 

 of horses not as strong as those working the digger, and in stubble or fal- 

 low ground I do two acres a day with ease. My plow cuts a furrow-slice 

 ten or twelve inches wide and eight inches deep, and leaves the ground in 

 better condition for planting. Mr. Comstock only claims four and a half 

 or five acres a day for the digger; it is, therefore, extravagant to say that 

 it will do as much as five plows, or as much as two hundred men with 

 spading forks. And I think my plowed ground is in as good condition as 

 it would be after twice working over with the digger. Still, if it can be 

 worked with the same team that is required to plow, at equal speed, it can 

 go twice over the ground at less cost than plowing, because it works three 

 times as wide. I wish to credit the machine with all it can do, and nothing 

 more. 



Prof. Mapes. — I do not think that the machine is well enough arranged 

 for working the soil we saw it tried upon. It has too many teeth. That 

 is why it appeared to lift the earth in lumps, which were not broken up by 

 the shaking motion given to the teeth by the peculiar cam action. With 

 fewer teeth it will require less power, and do the work better. I believe 

 tliat a team that can plow five inches deep can work this machine; which 

 cuts thirty-one inches wide, and loosens the soil five inches outside of the 

 teeth upon each side. 



Mr. Bergen thought this a mistake — that it would average less rather 

 than more than the width from one outside tooth to the other. You cannot 

 count upon an average width of over thirty inches. Let us be correct, not 

 extravagant. In the soil where we saw the machine work, once going 

 over stubble will not prepare it fit for a crop. Upon light, sandy land, I 

 believe it would. 



Butter and Butter Making. 



Solon Eobinson read the following letter from Le Hoj Whitford, of Har- 

 mony, Chautauqua county, N. Y., and earnestly recommended the Chib to 

 adopt its suggestions, which it did, in hopes of getting a good deal of 

 information from butter makers and dealers in the country. Mr. W. says: 



"I would like to propose for the discussion of the Club, 'The Butter 

 Question.' There may not be a butter-maker among the members of the 

 Club, while it is probable that ever_y one is a consumer. So I ask what is 

 the encouragement for the production of the best butter? The consumers 

 may. very properh^ answer this question. As the business is now done in 

 the country, there is not much inducement to make a first class article. A 

 buyer Avill take butter of A, B, and C to-day at 18 cents per pound. A's is 



