1861. 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEE. 



339 



buyers, who ^ancy straight whip-like sticks, in- 

 stead of good re-iable sorts. Persons sending 

 us stamps to pay the posta;'e, shall receive scions 

 of this variety. We have three trees of this sort 

 in (he orchard at Leyden, set fourteen years since, 

 and have borne heavy annual crops for the past 

 eleven years, which we cannot say of any 

 other variety except the Codiin, uud h-^.d we to 

 choose one summer and winter variety only, we 

 would select th-se two without he.'ritation The 

 trees have t-tood all scrts of exposure, and one 

 of them on low, rather spongy ground, snd yet 

 they show no signs of failure. Of cou'^^se, there 

 are better apples, but we have long since learned 

 that the best was not the most prohtable. 



DRAINAGE. 



Unlesa an orchard stands on well drained land, 

 it will be short lived and u'lprnductive. The 

 most thorough ihainage is l\v t'l- iwp nf fie, 

 though ridging up in narrow lands will answer a 

 very go^u purpose. la all heavy clay s )ils, tile 

 drain;!ge wi^l prove the most profitable. Tile can 

 now be had iu qnantityand of good quality. Its 

 cost, with liraiiis tuvee feet atie(>, wi.l be from 

 twerity-tivp to f irty dollar-: per acre, depending 

 upon the siza and number of the main drains, 

 and the distance of hauiing the tile. 



OF CULTURE. 



The orchard should be kept cultivated, or not 

 more than the narrow strips between the trees 

 seeded to clover for one or two years, and then 

 turned under. Timothy and blue grass should 

 be kept out at all limes ; no small grains should 

 be sown. We are now planting twenty feet apart 

 each way, and after the first five or six years, no 

 crops will be cultivated, with a view to be taken 

 from the ground. Clover and buckwheat will 

 alone be admissible, and those for mulching. 



DURABILITY OF ORCHARDS. 



We do not think an orchard is as long lived as 

 generally supposed. The orchard of Mr. Sado- 

 rus, noticed in our last, is but thirty- one years 

 and is fast going to decay. The largest trees are 

 twenty inches in diameter, many are dead, and 

 it is probable that the next four or five years will 

 finish them. In one orchard in Adams county, 

 set seventeen years since, the trees are a foot in 

 diameter, and some of them show signs of hav- 

 ing reached a respectable age. Fifteen years 

 more, we think, will close them out. With low 

 heads we think they will come into full bearing 

 at least three years sooner, and probably last 

 longer, as the sun cannot scald their trunks, or 

 the winds disturb the fibres of their wood. 



<•»- 



Flax-Cotton Calico. — The Providence Jo^it- 

 nal says : " We have latterly seen a specimen 

 of prints made from a mixture of 25 per cent, 

 cotton, and 75 per cent. flax. It shows to de- 

 cided advantage in texture, color, and general 

 appearance by the side of the cloth made whol- 

 ly of cotton. The raw material can be afiforded 

 at seven cents a pound." 



["■rom the Philadelphia Bulletin.] 



Trial of a Steam Plow— A Great Ag- 

 ricultural Improvement. 



We were invite! yesterday to w'tness the ope- 

 ration of a steam plow which has been brought 

 to the vicinity of this city, and set to work oa 

 the farm of Mr. Alburger, near the Lazeretto. 

 The plow is an English inveotion, and at the 

 latest dates there were from eighty to one hun- 

 dred of them at work in the fair fields of " mer- 

 rie England." The patentee is Mr. John Fowier, 

 and the agent and bctive manager is Mr II W. 

 Eddison, who politely afforded us every facility 

 for inspecting the operations of the machine. 



The plow is really a portable steam engine, the 

 plow and portable anchor all in one. The steam 

 engine resembles a railroad locomotive, and is of 

 twelve horse power. It can be propelled over 

 common roads at the rate of three miles an hour 

 with perfect safety Id also can be used for 

 threshing, and for any other farm work which it 

 would pay to use a steam engine for. The an- 

 chor is an iron frame work, so arranged thit it 

 takes a firm hold of the soil, while around a 

 wheel connected with it, revolves a wire rope 

 which draws the plow. The plow is a pi«ce of 

 machinery so intricate that we will not attempt 

 to describe it. Suffice it to say, that it is so ar- 

 ranged that four, six, or eight furrows may be 

 made at one operation, or the plow may be £0 

 arranged as to plow, drill and hi^rrow all at 

 once. 



When in motion the anchor is firmly set in the 

 ground at one end of the field, while the steam 

 engine stands at the other. The wire rope runs 

 between the anchor and engine, and is attached 

 to the plow ; the rope is kept off the ground by 

 pullies set in iron frames, which are distributed 

 between the engine and anchor. The plow is 

 fai ly started, the guider takes his seai upon it, 

 and the engine begins its work. Four or more 

 beautiful furrows are at once cut, and without 

 deviation, the instrument keeps straight on until 

 the anchor is reached. The plow being arranged 

 with double reverse shares, is then placed in the 

 right position, without loss of time, and the en- 

 gine agiin starts. The furrows are thrown ex- 

 actly as before, though the plow is moving in the 

 contrary direction. This process is repeated, 

 and the anchor is shifred until the whole field is 

 plowed over. In the combined operations of 

 plowing, drilling and harrowing, the apparatus 

 works both up and down tho fiild, as we have 

 described, the machinery being changed by a 

 simple movement, when the plow reaches the an- 

 chor at one end of the field, or the engine at the 

 other. In this manner the plow can go over 

 three acres per hour, though the lightness or 

 heaviness of the soil, of course, makes its exe- 

 cution vary somewhat. 



The cost of the entire apparatus, plow, anchor 

 and twelve horse engine, Will be between $3 000 

 and $4,000. Two men and three boys are re- 

 quired to work the apparatus properly when em- 

 ployed in plowing, drilling or harrowing, though 

 when the engine is detached for sawing weed 

 or threshing grain, a less number of "hands" 

 will be required. 



