1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEE. 



147 



when grain is so cteap with which to feed 

 the team. The time spent in anchoring of the 

 engine, the hauling up of the slack and the 

 clogging of the gang of plows will soon show 

 such discouraging results that it will not be 

 repeated on an extensive scale. 



ROTARY DIGGING. 



A year since, and this new style of pul- 

 verizing the soil was to take precedence of 

 all other modes of culture. ' The objection 

 to working up grades did not apply to this 

 mode in so serious a manner, but in practice 

 nothing was gained. The earth had a way 

 of adhering to the spaders not laid down in 

 the programme, nor would the rubbish and 

 granite boulders walk out of the way to 

 please the inventor. It appears dead and 

 buried beneath the pulverized loam with 

 which it filled the air. Peace to its manes, 

 paddj and his spade are yet veritable eco- 

 nomic institutions, and for all the rotary dig- 

 ger may accomplish, are like to so continue. 



A NEW STEAM PLOW. 



Since writing the above we have been 

 called on by the agent of " G-atling's steam 

 skavering machine." Don't be alarmed, 

 reader, skavering is only a Danish word sig- 

 nifying to shave oflF, and this machine is in 

 tended to shave off the soil to any given 

 depth by means of rotary cutters, on the plan 

 of a Woodworth plainer, the cutters being 

 scolloped in form of miniature plows, the 

 shares join each other and are firmly riveted 

 together. This machine is being manufac- 

 tured at Indianapolis, where, the agent in- 

 forms us, one is now ready to go into the 

 field. He is now canvassing the State for 

 orders, and therefore a notice at this early 

 day may be of use not only to the inventor, 

 but the great public. 



The price of a six foot machine is 01,500, 

 and for eight feet, 01,700. The whole ma- 

 chine, when loaded with wood and water, 

 is to weigh three tons, to be propelled by 

 one yoke of oxen, (good, for if it fails with 

 steam up hill you can put on a dozen more,) 



and an eight horse power engine, which is 

 geared direct to the skavering apparatus 

 which is to revolve some two hundred and 

 fitty times a minute, the earth is to be sliced 

 in curved wedge-shaped sections and revers- 

 ed with the grass side down. The represen- 

 tation of this part before us is most beauti- 

 ful, as the lithographer has succeeded to per-^ 

 fection, and not even the tip of these long 

 slices of friable loam are in the least marred, 

 and should the machine follow copy we shall 

 have to take back all that we have said above 

 in regard to the use of steam. The cutting 

 apparatus works like the paddles on a stern 

 wheel steaner, and are supposed to almost 

 run alone after the machine is started ; the 

 oxen are used merely for ornament and to 

 guide the machine. The machine is soon to 

 be put on trial at Mattoon, Tuscola (on the 

 farm of E. McCarty), Champaign, and pos- 

 sibly near the village of Chicago. We in- 

 tend to be present and see the thing move ; 

 of course it would be premature and pre- 

 sumptions in us to attempt an opinion of its 

 value at this early day. We do hope no one 

 will sacrifice his plows or horses, nor pur- 

 chase the ornamental oxen until we make 

 further report of its actual working. Before 

 closing we will remind our readers that only 

 about two hundred acres of land have as yet 

 been plowed by steam in the United States, 

 and therefore they will have to await the ad- 

 vent of some new machine to come up to the 

 seven hundred and fifty acres in the season, 

 as figured out above. We are ready to be 

 convinced that steam plowing will be the 

 rule, not the exception, but wo give due no- 

 tice that models, plans, lithographs and the 

 like, will never convert us; that nothing 

 short of the plowed facts will have any 

 avail. 



-••»- 



Waiter (to party from the country, just seat- 

 ed) — " Here's a bill of fair, sir." Zekiel Green 

 — " Neow, look-a-here ! Do you think I'm go- 

 ing tu pay any bill o' fare, till we've had suthin 

 to eat ? " 



Extraordinary agriculture — The man who 

 planted a dagger in his enemy's breast, raised a 

 crop of hemp that elevated him in the world. 



