AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
3Q5 
Agriculture in Ohio—State Fair for 1858 
by 5 for the hight, and take one-seventh of the 
water as the amount to be discharged. Of course, 
ivith a discharge pipe of only 200 or 300 feet in 
length, but carried to the same hight, the greater 
would be the proportion of the water conveyed 
upward. In like manner, the amount of water 
discharged will be greater if it be carried up less 
than 5 times the amount of fall in the drive-pipe. 
For great distances the larger the discharge 
pipe, the less will be the friction against its sides 
to be overcome. 
The drive-pipe should not exceed 50 feet in 
length, as the whole body of water within is to he 
set in motion and brought to rest at every motion 
of the valve i. It is desirable to have it at least 
20 or 25 feet long, to give sufficient momentum. 
When the supply of water does not exceed 2 
gallons per minute the smallest size ram, weigh¬ 
ing 22 lbs., will answer to drive the water to any 
desired hight and distance. The drive-pipe, 25 
to 50 feet long, may be i inch, and the discharge 
pipe | inch, internal diameter. If the fall be not 
over 10 feet, the drive-pipe need npt weigh over 
2 lbs. per foot. If the water be carried not 
over 50 feet in hight, £ lb. per foot will be strong 
enough for the discharge pipe. When there is a 
larger amount of water, ora greater fall, ancLwhen 
the water is to be carried to above 50 feet, the 
size of the ram, and the size and strength of the 
pipes will need to be increased. 
Persons proposing to adopt this implement who 
may desire further information in regard to the 
exact requirements for particular circumstances, 
will do well to address Messrs. W. & B. Douglas, 
Middletown, Conn., who manufacture Hydraulic 
rams of superior excellence. They will doubt¬ 
less furnish any information desired. We have 
taken up this subject without any suggestions 
even, from any one interested in the sale of the 
implement, believing that its importance and in¬ 
terest would be appreciated by all our readers. 
We will simply add that the cost of the Hy¬ 
draulic ram is but little. They are sold as low as 
$5 00 for the smallest size. The only other ex¬ 
pense is for the lead pipe, which will of course de¬ 
pend upon the amount required in every case. To 
p it them in operation it is only necessary to set 
down the ram, and screw in the ends of the two 
pieces of lead pipe. The ram and pipes will of 
course need to be covered, to protect them, if to 
pe kept in operation durico freezing weather, A 
strainer should be placed over the upper end of 
the drive-pipe to keep out coarse materials. 
We have drawn a larger engraving, (fig. 7,) to il¬ 
lustrate the practical working of the Hydraulic 
ram. For convenience, we have represented the 
parts a little out of proportion, in the perspective. 
By a similar arrangement water may be carried 
to almost any required hight and distance. 
The Steam Plow Firing up- 
“ What are American farmers doing towards 
applying steam to soil tilling 1 Here is a fine field 
for ..some one. Steam, and not animal muscles 
is speedily to become the moving power before 
clod-breakers, and the man in this country who 
first successfully yokes the steam-chest to the 
plow-beam will reap a rich reward. Notwith 
standing the present interest awakened abroad, 
we predict that that man now lives on this side 
of the Atlantic.” 
The above we wrote three years since, in clos 
ing an article on this subject. The prediction is 
near fulfillment we believe. The nearest approach 
to a practicable steam plow has been made by 
Mr. Wm. Fawks, of Christiana, Pa., and the 
Keystone State promises to steal the march upon 
Yankeedom this time. Mr. Fawks’ steam plow 
was exhibited at the recent State Fair, at Cen- 
tralia, Illinois, and awakened no little admiration 
and hope in the minds of all who saw it tried. 
Some changes -in its arrangement were found to 
he necessary, which are being made, when it is 
confidently expected that its operation will be 
successful. It is built on the locomotive principle, 
and draws half a dozen plows, more or less, after 
it. Further changes and improvements will of 
course be needed, but the thing is now more 
nearly perfect than the first railroad locomotive 
that went into operation. It requires but a little 
stretch of the imagination to bring before one the 
important results to be looked for, when—as will 
be the case in less than three years we think— 
the steam-horse will be driven at will over the 
broad Western Prairies, doing the work of a dozen 
or twenty horses, at a cost for food, drivers, etc., 
little above the expense of a couple of teams. As 
soon as the implement is sufficiently perfected to 
go into successful and continued operation, we 
shall present a complete engraving and descrip¬ 
tion- 
Without disparaging or being insensible to the 
claims of other districts of the country, we can 
say, Ohio is a grand and glorious agricultural 
State—an opinion which received, if possible, ad¬ 
ditional force on the occasion of our recent visit 
to the annual Slate Fair at Sandusky, Sep. 14-17. 
We congratulate the people of Ohio on the long 
career of prosperity which, with an intelligent 
eye to their own improvement, lies open before 
them. Forty?years ago, when but a boy, we first 
saw Sandusky, with two solitary buildings in it 
one, a framed store-house, to receive the occa¬ 
sional packages which a stray coasting vesse] 
left at its rickety wharf ; the other a log cabin, 
tenanted by a solitary family—and a rich back 
country, sparsely settled by a poor, but industri¬ 
ous population. Now, it is a city of twenty thou¬ 
sand people, or more, with several railroads ter¬ 
minating in it; a flourishing agricultural country 
in the rear, abundant in resources and produc¬ 
tions ; and a lake commerce at its doors, of mil¬ 
lions in amount per annum. We have attended 
sundry of the State Agricultural Exhibitions of 
Ohio, and nowhere do we meet a more hearty 
welcome, by its open-hearted managers, nor see 
stronger progressive signs in the great staples ol 
industry which enrich, or the high tone of morals 
which exalt a nation. We were about to say, 
that when we move west of New York, we think 
our residence will be somewhere in Ohio —provided 
some one of the mighty young amazonians be¬ 
yond her Western borders do not forcibly lay their 
grappling fingers upon us. 
The Great State Agricultural Exhibition, this 
year, was successful, as usual. As with its pre¬ 
decessors, the grounds were extensive, thorough¬ 
ly fitted up, and well filled with choice specimens 
of agricultural excellence and mechanical ingenu¬ 
ity, demonstrating a constantly increasing im¬ 
provement in the one, and a persevering skill in 
the other departments of industry. The farm 
stock was well represented, on the whole; but 
we think the horses were not quite equal to those 
at Cleveland two years ago, nor the Short-horns 
so numerous, nor, as a whole, quite so choice, al¬ 
though some equally good specimens were pres¬ 
ent. The breeders of the latter assured us that 
the various changes of the cars on the different 
railroads necessary to get them there, prevented 
many of the large breeders in Central and South¬ 
ern Ohio—where the largest herds are found— 
from bringing their stock, so great is the risk of 
accident. The few Herefords on the ground—to 
the extent of nearly a dozen—were the best we 
ever saw, anywhere. They belonged to Messrs. 
Aston and Humphrey, of the adjoining county of 
Lorain, who imported their original stock some 
years ago, direct from Herefordshire, its native 
county, in England. The Devons were more nu¬ 
merous than we had ever seen them at any pre¬ 
vious show in Ohio, and generally of better quali¬ 
ty—an evidence of their increasing popularity in 
that region of the State, as they were chiefly 
owned in the northern counties, among the Yan¬ 
kees. There were some remarkably good fat cat¬ 
tle, principally grade Short-horns, and Devons, 
and a passable yoke or two of working oxen, only 
—Ohio not working many catttle, in comparison 
with her horses. 
The sheep and swine department were full, and 
each superior of their kind. The Cotswold and 
Southdowns were excellent, the Merinoes and 
Saxonys, choice, and in goodly numbers Better 
pigs, of both large and small breeds, we never 
saw anywhere—all the distinct breeds, from the 
immense Leicester, through the medium Berk- 
