P!r-- 



68 



THE ILLmOIS FARMEK. 



Mae. 



new impetus will be given to the West, 

 leaving the stony fields of the East at 

 a discount. 



With the opening of the Mississippi, 

 with the cheapening of transportation 

 to the East, giving the West the mar- 

 kets of the Avorld, she must and will 

 double her resources within the next 

 two decades. 



co:mstock's iiotaey spadek. 



This machine is composed of iron 

 and steel, with the exception of the 

 seat and tongue, and weighs about sev- 

 en hundred pounds. It spades a width 

 of three feet, and eight inches deep. 

 It will be seen that its cost will place it 

 out of the reach of tlie small farmer. 

 What the price may be we do not know, 

 but that a machine of its weight of iron 

 and steel cannot be a trifle at present 

 is pretty certain, and of course can only 

 2:0 into the hands of lar^j-e farmers. 



It will not work in sward land, nor 

 on cornstubble in the Autumn, as we 

 have verified bv trial, nor on anv foul 

 stubble land, where long tough weeds, 

 corn-stalks or the like, that would wind 

 about the shafts and clog them up. The 

 land must be clean, or at least nothing 

 more than the stul )ble of tlie small grains 

 and in spring tlie roots of corn, as 

 these will become sufficiently rotten at 

 that time to work well. In wet land 

 or soon after a heavy rain it will do bet- 

 ter than the plow, for while the plow. 

 Tinder such a condition of the soil will 

 pack it, and lock up its fertility, the 

 spader will throw it up loose and it wiU 

 soon become friable. Of course we do 

 not recommend the working of land 

 when sodden with water, but to point 

 to the fact that it can be spaded with 

 safety to the crop when so wet that, if 

 plowed it would be rendered worthless. 



At this time when labor is not to be 

 had, except at ruinous rates, it will 

 make a large saving, and tend to have 

 the crops in the ground in season, as 

 one man with three or four horses will 

 spade nearly as much as three 

 men with each a span of horses, 

 thus saving one team and two men, 

 and when the land is in suitable condi- 

 tion, doing the work much better. For 

 the preparation of land for orchards, 

 for vineyards, for sorghum, for tobacco, 

 for cotton, and for all gardening pur- 

 poses, it will be invaluable from its 

 deep tillage and thorough commination 

 of soil. 



On the close compact soil of the ba- 

 sin of Egypt, we think it wiU work a 

 revolution in the mode of culture, and 

 the crops to be cultivated. It is well 

 known that that soil needs deep tillage 

 and that after a heavy rain it runs to- 

 gether like a mortar bed, if plowed 

 v/hen wet it comes up in clods, and if 

 dry the common plow cannot penetrate 

 it ; but the spader will be able to work 

 it when notliing could be done with the 

 ploAV. In the summer when the ground 

 is baked hard it is not probable that it 

 would succeed. 



Like all valuable imj)rovements, we 

 do not expect to see it flood the coun- 

 try at once, but work its way gradually 

 to j)ublic favor. Of one thing we are 

 pleased that it is not to be made a mo- 

 nopoly or loaded down with an enor- 

 mous patent fee, but to be made and 

 sold at the lowest price consistant with 

 a view of a fair compensation to the 

 genius and mechanical skill of the in- 

 ventor and manufacturer. 



Plows will not, in consequence, got 

 out of date on a sudden, for they wiR 

 be wanted on small farms, to turn im- 

 der weed stubble, corn stalks, and for 



