272 
DOG-POWER MACHINE.— CULTURE OF RUTA BAGA. 
wind shall never sow and it must be confessed 
that no one of the foregoing indications are inva¬ 
riable criterions of weather. “ One swallow does 
not make a summer,” and we have often seen 
even the wild geese and birds of passage mistaken 
in their observations. It is only by comparing 
several of these prognostics that anything like 
certainty can be attained. 
R. L. Allen. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
DOG-POWER MACHINE. 
Newburgh , October 19th, 1843. 
Dear Sir : Agreeably to your request, I send 
you herewith a sketch of the dog or sheep-power 
machine, manufactured by Thomas Mitchell of 
Dog-Power Ma< 
this place. One of the machines was exhibited 
at the late Agricultural Show in this county, as 
you probably remember, and the committee for its 
examination, composed of our butter makers well 
qualified to judge of its merits, gave a very-favor¬ 
able report of it, recommending it as fully equal 
to any machine heretofore invented; and the so¬ 
ciety awarded him a premium for it. I have my¬ 
self seen several of the machines in operation, and 
am §o well satisfied of their superiority over the 
machines now commonly in use, that I have or¬ 
dered one for my dairy establishment, in place of 
the one which I now use. I am certain that they 
work much easier than our common machines, 
and as they are cheaper, more durable, and occu¬ 
py much less room than the others, I deem ther" 
more desirable. 
UNE.— (Fig. 56.) 
The sketch is made for you by Mr. T. M. Niven 
of this place, and is so simple and plain as to need 
no description. 
Frederick J. Betts. 
A friend informs us that he saw this piece of 
ground previous to plowing, from which Mr. Soth- 
am has raised so good a crop of ruta baga, and 
that it was literally covered with conch—nothing 
else did, or could grow upon it. This was all gath¬ 
ered into heaps and burnt, and the ashes strew¬ 
ed over the ground for manure. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CULTURE OF RUTA BAGA. 
Hereford Hall, near Albany, 
September 21th, 1843. 
I have about nine acres of ruta baga, which I 
sowed broadcast, and I verily believe it to be the 
best system of growing them. I have tried every 
new and fashionable experiment, but after all I 
prefer the old one, when you have men that un¬ 
derstand hoeing them, and I can soon teach a 
person, if he is willing to work and observe ; the 
only difficulty is they leave them too thick. 
I can grow a greater weight per acre, and my 
manure is spread regularly over my soil for the 
succeeding crop. I plowed a piece of sod the 
early part of last fall, cross-plowed just before the 
winter set in, leaving it as rough and as much ex¬ 
posed to the weather as possible. Early in the 
spring, I harrowed it thoroughly, raked up all 
the conch and burnt it. I plowed it the third 
time the latter part of May, and gave a second 
dressing with harrows and rakes, and burnt all 
the refuse. I then put on about thirty loads of 
good rotten manure per acre, which had been 
turned in the mine in the course of the winter and 
well mixed together, and all pernicious seeds de¬ 
cayed. I plowed it under about four inches deep, 
and sowed the seed on a fresh furrow. They 
have grown luxuriantly, and are a very profitable 
crop for a breeder. 
Sir John Terril, in answer to Mr. Everett’s re¬ 
marks in England, said the climate would not al¬ 
low us to grow Sweeds (ruta baga) in America. 
I say that better Sweeds can be grown here tnan 
