1863.] 
AM KRICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
173 
A Cart Weighing Machine. 
Mr. J. S. Taylor, of Danbury, Conn., has left 
at the office of the Agriculturist a model of an 
apparatus which may be readily attached to a 
cart for the purpose of weighing the load. The 
engraving will give a general idea of the ar- 
rangement, though to exhibit it more distinctly, 
would require a separate engraving of the ap- 
paratus detached, for which we have not room. 
A long lever or scale beam, A, carrying a mov- 
able weight, B, is fixed upon a support or ful- 
crum, 0. The whole is clamped by thumb 
screws to the axle of the cart in such a way 
that the weight comes upon the short arm of 
the lever, A. At B, is a compensating lever to 
Iwld the weight of the tongue. The supporting 
frame under the axle and the leg at B, are so 
arranged as to be turned up out of the way and 
allow the cart to be moved from place to place. 
When it is wished to weigh the load, these can 
be let down and the weighing performed. It is 
claimed that this apparatus will be found use- 
ful in weighing produce, etc., in those neigh- 
borhoods which have no large scales. 
»-. —•— ■ « 
A Corn Coverer. 
A "Prairie Farmer" sends to the Agriculturist 
a sketch and description of the implement illus- 
trated below, designed for covering corn on 
smooth mellow land. This may be new to 
some readers; it has been for a number of 
years in use at the West, where it is called the 
"jumping* shovel." The beam, B, is of 2x2i 
inch stuff, 4 feet long. This is mortised into 
the post P. The latter is 2x2 inches, and 2 feet 
9 inches long. The mortise to receive the tenon 
of the beam is 1 foot from the lower end. The 
two are held together more strongly by a J iron 
brace under the beam. A 1 inch augur hole 
is bored 3 or 4 inches from the upper end of 
the post to receive a round brace which is fast- 
ened to and supports the upper end of the han- 
dles B. These are 1 by 1 inch, in size, long 
enough for convenience, and bolted to the sides 
of the beam. The shovel S, is bolted to the 
lower part of the post. It can be made from 
an old ditching spade, or a piece of steel 8x10 
inches. It should have a straight edge at the 
bottom. To use the implement, the ground is 
first marked out both ways, two boys are em- 
ployed to drop the seed, and a man follows 
with the coverer drawn by a horse. The shovel 
is kept in the furrow, gathering earth as it goes, 
and is raised a little at each hill, throwing the 
soil over the corn. The maker says that with 
a little practice a man can cover five acres in 
this manner as well and as quickly as one acre 
could be planted with a hoe. 
Profitable Com Haising in Connecticut. 
In the Spring of 18G2 the writer commenced 
preparing a newly purchased field of twenty- 
three acres, to be planted with corn. Most of 
the field was an old pasture lot, much grown to 
cedars and briers, stony, with a northeastern 
exposure; the remainder was mowing land, 
separated from the former by a deep ravine. 
We commenced operations by removing the 
division fences, clearing the cedars and stones, 
under-draining the wet portions, and plowing it 
all deep and well. Some parts that had never 
before been plowed, cost from |6 to $8 per acre. 
It was manured with 800 lbs. per acre of Quin- 
nipiac Co.'s Fish Guano, sown broadcast and 
harrowed in. Harrowed the field three times 
and brushed over once, marked the rows three 
feet nine inches apart each way, dropped in the 
hills a small handful of manure made by com- 
posting fish guano with soil, planted the corn 
with a hand corn planter, and covered with a hoe. 
As soon as the corn was up, which stood very 
even, the ground was thoroughly stirred with 
a cultivator going each way, which was repeated 
three times during the season, and it was twice 
hoed by hand. The corn looked remarkably 
well, retained its dark green color, until very 
late, and ripened to perfection. An account of 
expenses was carefully kept each day, and the 
labor being all hired and paid for, prevented any 
difficulty in knowing the exact amount. Thus : 
17 1-10 days plowing $3 per day $ 51.30 
7 days harrowing $3 per day 21.00 
1 day bushing $3 3.00 
10 7-20 tons fish guano $33 1^ per ton 344.UG 
\1}4 days sowing $1 per day 12.50 
2'4 days marking out $2.50 per day 6.25 
SH days manuring in lit 1 1 $1 per day 8 25 
3 1 ,' bushel seed corn $1 per bushel 3.12 
ll 1 ,' days planting $1 per day 11.50 
Protection from birds : "3? 
21 days cultivating 46.75 
36 days hoeing 38.25 
Interest on cost of land m 50.00 
Total expenses of crop $599.25 
By 1000 bushel corn $1 per bushel $1000 
Net profit on the crop $400.75 
The cost of harvesting is not taken into ac- 
count, neither the value of corn-fodder, one is 
expected to balance the other. The yield was 
determined by careful estimate, made when the 
crop was gathered, and by what has since been 
sold, and is considered below, rather than above 
the actual amount. The price given, has been 
received per bushel of 50 pounds. The wood 
paid the cost of clearing the brush off the land, 
and the increased value will more than balance 
the expence of draining. Let Western farmers 
beat it, if they can. Hall Dickermann. 
New Haven Co. t Conn. 
[We'll agree to turn out any number of west- 
ern farmers who will beat this, if Mr. D. will 
take the corn at half the price he names. The 
best corn has occasionally sold here the present 
year at $1 per bushel, but 00 cents per bushel is 
as high as it will do to calculate upon. Many 
farmers upon the western prairies would get 
rich very soon, if they could depend upon 25 
cents per bushel, one year with another. We 
do not make these remarks to discourage plant- 
ing corn, nor to depreciate the experiments of 
Mr. D., but as a rule, eastern men, especially in 
New England, put too high a price upon their 
farm products, when reporting upon farm opera- 
tions. Being nearer the market for consumption, 
they obtain much higher prices than western 
farmers, and can afford to work poorer land, 
and expend more in tillage and manure. Still, 
western men would find it pay better to go over 
less surface, or by better cultivation get the 
same amount of crops from smaller areas. — Ed.] 
What Kills the Squash Vines ? 
Several correspondents have written to the 
Agriculturist that their vines were destroyed last 
year to such an extent as to discourage them 
from attempting to raise squashes. One suc- 
ceeded in ripening only a single Hubbard Squash 
from a packet of seeds sent from this office. 
The vines, apparently in full vigor, suddenly die, 
and when cut open, are found to have a worm 
or borer near the root. The destructive worm 
is the larva of a rather pretty insect, call- 
ed Trochilium cucurbits, or Squash-vine Borer. 
We give an engraving of the perfect insect from 
a drawing kindly 
furnished us by 
Prof. Glover, the 
entomologist of the 
Department of Ag- 
riculture at Wash- 
ington. The fore- 
wings are black and 
the second pair 
transparent ; the body orange colored, and the 
hind legs furnished with long fringes. The insect 
deposits its eggs, which are very minute, from 
June to August on the stem of the vine near 
the root. The larva penetrates to the interior 
of the stem, and by eating away the substance 
lulls the plant; after it reaches its full size, it 
enters the earth and forms a coccoon of a gum- 
my substance covered with particles of earth, 
from which the perfect insect issues the follow- 
ing summer. These are the habits of the in- 
sect, and as will be seen, it is a difficult one 
to exterminate, as its presence is not suspected 
until the mischief is done. If the moths are 
seen flitting about the vines, every effort should 
be made to entrap them. The vines should be 
examined daily, and if any one is observed to 
droop, the larva should be searched for in the 
stem near the roots and cut out as carefully as 
possible, hilling earth around the stem, so as 
to cover the wound. If a vine is killed, care 
should be tn'.cen to destroy the insect which has 
done the mischief, to prevent multiplication. 
