312 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEK. 



Oct- 



Decatur ; Barber, Howell & Company, Decatur, 

 (Stafford's Patent;) Piatt k Parker, Moreton, Illi- 

 nois, (Morton's Cultivator ;) Furst & Bradley, Chi- 

 cago, (Patent applied for;) A. J. Spark, Wyauett; 

 Charles H. Deere. 



CoiiN PiAXTERS. — James Armstrong, jr., Elmira 

 Illinois: J. C. Moore, Peoria; G. D. Haworth 

 Springfield ; Selby & Elder, Peoria. 



CcLTiTATOR AND Pla.ntek. — "W. 11. Maple, Chari- 

 town, Iowa. 



PLo■5^• Ccz/riyATOR. — Barber, Ilowley & Company 

 (Stafford's Patent.) ' 



Cane and Cokn Cutter. — W. M. Mason, Polo. 



Broadcast Sower. — "Warren & Carhart, Fox 

 Lake, Wisconsin. 



Con.v AND Hay Stackkr, — W. M. Mason. 



CoK-N SuocKER. — "W. M. Mason. / 



Coulter Harrow. — 6. P. Lowrener, Pana, Illi- 



noisi. 



The two-horse cultivators and gang plows, form 



the chief feature of the occasion, and for the first 

 time, will undergo a thorough triaJ before the pub- 

 lic. Tlio weather is fine and the soil in good con- 

 dition for the trial, but the attendance is small. 

 The implements, as a general thing, are well made 

 .'ind of good timber, showing a decided improve- 

 ment in both workmanship and material. 



The first thing examined was the cane and the 

 corn cutter. This is made some like a reaper, cuts 

 a single row, and lays it in gavels ready for shock- 

 ing. It is drawn by one horse and driven by a 

 man or boy, and will cut six to eight acres a day^ 

 It must prove a highly valuable machine. Its cost 

 is agaiu.'vt it, being one hundred and ten dollars. 

 For sorghum, it must come into general use. The 

 apron is too shoit and it cuts too high, both faults 

 can be remedied. 



The gang plow came next. Two of th.esc hail 

 from the rery heart of Egypt, Washington county. 

 Seibert's plow cut eleven inches each, cost seventy 

 dollars, are well made, easily adjusted, run on two 

 wheels and a castor in the rear, plowed five inches 

 deep a drop of five hundred and fifty pounds as 

 shown by Dymnomonetor. 



Black's plows cut thirteen inches, cost forty dol- 

 lars, are made very light, probably too much so for 

 hidden boulders and strong roots, has a light draft, 

 being only 575 pound?., has wood standards and 

 cast iron wheels, can't plov/ deep in hard land, 

 being too light to hold it in the ground. 



Robinson's is a heavy, strong machine, costs 

 eighty dollars, to which twepty is added for sod 

 and old land trench plow, uses rolling trotters, is 

 not readily adjusted, no cast iron wheels, cuts 

 twelve inches wide, and at five inches deep, requires 

 ''To pounds to draw. 



Runk has two machines, decidedly the best of 

 the lot, cost $55, cut ten inches, each plow; is 

 from Egypt, is strong and well made, easily adjusted 

 and, at fire inches deep, draws 550 pounds. 



Both the committee and the spectators were 

 pleased with the general features of these plows 

 yet, from the dr;ift, tlicy show no gain over the 

 common plow, and, at least, save one driver, as 

 they require four horses to draw them. Seibert 

 put on one with three, eight and a half inch plows, 

 but it required some 100 pounds to draw it at five 

 inches deep. 



If this trial proves anyihing, it proves that a 

 single fourteen inch plow, with the driver mounted 

 on a light pair of wheels, would be an advantage, 

 and render the labor of the man less than to walk. 

 With such a rig, a boy of twelve or sixteen could 

 do good work and not wear him down, as is now 

 the case. We trust that some of onr inventors 

 will get up a sulky plow apparatus that will be 

 chciip and durable, and to which any of our plows 

 can be attached. "We can see little real progress 

 in the gang plow thus far. 



the plow cultivator. .;■ 



Stafford's patent had a trial and gave the most 

 entire satisfaction. It has six small cultivators, 

 and does the work most admirably. For the plant- 

 ing of winter wheat it must be valuiible, dispensing 

 with the harrow, but its chief virtue is in the put- 

 ting in of spring wheat and oats, and to prepare 

 fall plowed land for corn. Year after year the 

 harror;^ is becoming less valuable, and we should 

 not be surprised to see it dispensed with altogeiher. 

 With the cultivator and roller wc can put in all of 

 the small grain. ' ; '." . 



Some of the readers of the Farmer may call to 

 mind our prediction that the so much lauded grain 

 drill would go out of date in less than ten years. 

 Has it really gone? We can neither see nor hear 

 of it, it must have been swallowed up by some one 

 of the cultivators, or gobbled down by the iron 

 roller. 



The cultivators have had partial trial, which is 

 to be resumed in the morniog. The competition is 

 close, as all of them are of great value, differing 

 mainly in case of drop and durability. All do good 

 work. • ■ ■ ■' • ■■ - '■ -'-- •' 



Many mamrfacturers are deterred from competing 

 on account of what they esteem too high an entry 

 fee. All of them appear to prefer the diploma to 

 cash or medals, which would have lessened the fees 

 materially. As the Society receives nothing for 

 visitors at these treats, they must either make the 

 exhibitors pay the expense or draw the premiums 

 from the three thousand dollar fund donated by 



!.J^^.'* ttt^t fc 



-i <!-,-i^t j t . ^ ,^ ^ r.ju^ 



ftflrf*ip vin^y ' i'i ttiti tfT i Ai '' 



