AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
243 
grass thoroughly wet with a hard rain of two 
hours’ duration just before the trial com¬ 
menced. The crop was clover in full blos¬ 
som, about 18 inches high ; and the ground 
covered with stones, from the size of a hen's 
egg to that of a man’s head ; while there 
were many sharp rocks projecting above the 
ground from 3 to 9 inches. 
Such was the grass field alluded to in the 
3d point in the report, as “ rough, uncleaned 
bottom.” The Committee’s report tells the 
result. We will only add that Allen’s ma¬ 
chine (patented by S. S. Allen of New- 
Jersey—which seems from some cause to 
have been singledjout by the Tribune’s Re¬ 
porter for special condemnation as “ unsat¬ 
isfactory to the ^public and the proprietors,”) 
cut cleanly and beautifully over this rough 
ground, gathering the loose stones upon its 
fingers and tossing them behind, and gliding 
smoothly over the fast stones. Instead of 
being “ unsatisfactory,” both the proprietor 
and the spectators considered it a complete 
triumph. It came out of the rough trial un¬ 
injured, save two or three nicks in a knife, 
not larger than a pin’s head. 
On smooth ground, all the machines en¬ 
tered did very well; and the whole trial 
demonstrated the capability of Mowers to 
take the place of the hand-scythe, even on 
meadows which were thought to be proof 
against their use. That this was so, we 
think is evident from what we have just 
learned from the manufacturers of Allen’s 
Mower, viz : that they have received a large 
number of orders from Westchester County 
since thejrial. We presume the manufac¬ 
turers of other Mowers will tell a similar 
story. 
We are much pleased with the result, both 
at the above trial and at others, some of 
which are noticed in our advertising columns, 
to which we refer our readers. We are glad 
to see in prospect an end to “ back aches ” 
over the old scythe, and also the complaints 
of a lack of laborers at just the time when 
grass most needs to be cut. Now that their 
perfect practicability is established by actual 
field trials, several thousands of Mowers, 
and Mowers and Reapers, will be used this 
season by our farmers. 
COL. J, M. SHERWOOD’S SALE OF SHORT HORNS, 
AT AUBUR\, N. Y., JUNE 20, 1854. 
BULLS. 
1. Third Duke of Cambridge (5941)—not 
sold. 
2. La Fayette, red, calved June 5th, 1852, 
got by Vane Tempest (10,469), to Mr. Os¬ 
born, of Sandusky, Ohio.$350 
3. Powhattan, roan, calved September 20, 
1852, got by Vane Tempest (10,469), to Mr. 
Taylor, Ontario Co., N. Y...$120 
4. Novelty, white, calved Nov. 24, 1852— 
not sold. 
5. Pope, red, Jan. 24, 1853, by Earle Sea- 
ham (10,181), to S. B. Payne, Geddes, N. 
Y...$415 
6. Young Cambridge, red, March 4, 1853, 
by 3d Duke of Cambridge (5941), to Edw. 
Jones, Stamford, Canada West.$500 
7. Waterloo, red, July, 1851, by same as 
No. 2, to Mr. Butler, Seneca Co., N. Y. $135 
8. Chatauque Chief, roan, August, 1854, 
by imported Harrold 2d, to Mr. Birdseye, 
Onondaga Co., N. Y.... .$55 
9. Prince Albert, red, April 26, 1855, by 
Earl Vave, to Mr. Ashton, Galt, Canada 
West.— $75 
10. Red Jacket, Nov. 3, 1853, by 3d Duke 
of Cambridge (5941), to J. W. Wilkin, Or¬ 
ange Co., N. Y.$500 
11. Schenandoah, Dec. 27, 1853, by same 
as No. 10, to Balkerell & Robinson, London, 
C. W...$500 
cows. 
1. Red Rose 2d, imported, bred by Mr. J. 
Stephensonof Durham, Eng., red, Nov. 1846, 
by Napier (6238), to Ambrose Stevens, $300 
2. Red Rose 4th, same breeder as last, red, 
October 22, 1849, by Earle Chatham (10176), 
to Mr. Ashton, Galt, C. W.$925 
3. Red Rose 5th, red, by 3d Duke of Cam¬ 
bridge (5941), to B. & S. Haines, Elizabeth¬ 
town, N. J.$600 
4. Red Rose 7th, red, October 1852, by 
same as No. 3, to Mr. Ashton.$620 
5. Red Rose 8th, roan, July 24, 1854, by 
same as No. 3, to Mr. Osborn, of Sandusky, 
Ohio.$250 
6. Red Rose 9th, red, January 26,1855, by 
same as No. 3, to Thomas Gould, Aurora, 
N. Y., (re-sold to J. W. Wilkin, Orange Co., 
N.Y.).$350 
7. Lady Sale 2d, roan, bred by same as 
No. 1, got by Earl Chatham (10176), to Mr. 
Ashton. $610 
8. Lady Sale 4th, white, Nov. 20,1854, by 
same as No. 3, to J. R. Page, Sennett, N. 
Y.$400 
9. La Polky 2d, roan, April 9, 1853, by 
Vane Tempest (10469), to ,T. W. Wilkin, Or¬ 
ange County, N. Y.$410 
10. Phantom 3d, roan, April 24, 1853, by 
same as No. 9, to J. W. Wilkin.$450 
11. Lady Brown, roan, 3 years old, by 
Gen. Halsey, to Mr. Osborn.$200 
12. Style, roan, by imported Young Wa¬ 
terloo (2817) to Mr. Osborn.$220 
13. Lady, red, Dec. 1851, by imported Win- 
dle (5667) to Mr. Osborn ..$310 
14. Flower, Aug. 18,\ 1853, by imported 
Wolviston, to Mr. Osborn.$260 
15. Pink, Aug. 31, 1854,^by Woo^viston, 
sick, unsold. 
16. Red Rose 10th, roan, May 30, 1855, by 
same as No. 3, to Mr. Ashton.$350 
Nine Bulls sold for.$2,650 
Average per head ....$294 44 
Fifteen Cows sold for.$6,255 
Average per head ....$417 00 
Total—24 Animals sold for.$8,905 
Average per head ....$371 04 
Preservation op Wheat from the At¬ 
tacks of the Weavel.—M. Caillat, in the 
Comptes Rendus, a French journal, says : 
“ The efficacy of tar in driving away the 
the weavel and preserving the grain, is an 
incontestable fact. My father had, a long 
time ago, his granaries, barns, and the whole 
house, infested with these insects, so much 
so that they penetrated into all the chests, 
and among the linen. He placed an open 
cask impregnated with tar in the barn, and 
then in the granaries; at the end of some 
hours the weavels were seen climbing along 
the walls by myriads, and flying in all direc¬ 
tions away from the cask. On moving this 
tarred vessel from place to place, the premi¬ 
ses were in a few days completely cleared of 
these troublesome and pernicious guests. 
The agriculturist who wants to get rid of 
weavels, may, as soon as he per¬ 
ceives their presence, impregnate the sur¬ 
face of some old planks with tar, and place 
them as required in his granaries. Care 
must be taken to remove the tar from time 
to time in the course of the year, to pre¬ 
vent the return of the insects.” 
HOW TO USE A MOWING MACHINE. 
Some of our best tools upon the farm are 
entirely useless for want of a little ingenuity 
or practical knowledge of the best methodof 
using them. We lent our seed sower this 
spring to a neighbor, but he soon returned it 
unable to use it, through we had found it an 
indispensible article, doing the work of a half 
dozen men and doing it better. This is es¬ 
pecially true of more complicated tools such 
as the new mowers and reapers that have 
lately come into use. Some farmers pur¬ 
chase these or take them on trial and pro¬ 
nounce them a failure, when the difficulty 
lies in the operator, and not in the machine. 
We requested an intelligent farmer, whom 
we found last summer mounted upon his 
mower, and doing a sweeping business with 
it, to give us some notes of his mode of ope¬ 
rating the machine. We received the fol¬ 
lowing private communication, which he will 
pardon us for layingbefore our readers, as it 
contains some hints, that will be of service 
to those who are just beginning to use these 
labor-saving machines : 
Walnut Grove, Stonington, Ct., June 20, 1855. 
Dear Sir: * * * My machine was not 
so perfect as they make them this year ; but 
after overhauling, fitting, wedging, oiling, and 
filing, so.that everyhvheel would work freely, 
I started it with two horses. It went on very 
well for 10 or 15 minutes in rather light grass, 
but when coming into a spot of little heavier, 
it rolled up the cut grass under the shoe or 
flat iron brace, that goes from the under side 
of the cutter to the main frame, which clogged 
it up so much that the cutter was raised off 
the ground, and I was’ brought to a stop. 
This occurred every few moments, owing to 
this shoe not being polished or smoothed on 
the under side, jl found after it became worn 
a little it did not occur so often. The next 
difficulty was from the sharp shoe or tooth 
at the outer end, which would also gather, 
and take the grass along until it accumulated 
a large mass, tvhich would raise the cutter 
over the grass. In order to guard against 
these two difficulties, I started a man to fol¬ 
low me witharake, and told him to watch the 
weeds, and if he saw the grass accumulating, 
to pull it quickly and carefully off and over 
the knife. This I found answered the pur¬ 
pose well, and as they got worn smoother the 
trouble was less. But I found it necessary 
to have a man follow it with a rake, as when 
I stopped to clear the grass out it was ne¬ 
cessary to haul the machine back a foot or 
so, and clear the hay all out from the teeth 
to let the motion get well started before it 
struck the grass. The next thing I discov¬ 
ered was that the knives must be kept quite 
sharp, stopping often to touch the edges with 
a stone and Rifler; also a fine flat file was 
useful when we had been in contact with a 
stone. We easily rubbed them up, by block? 
ing up the end of the cutter. These short 
stoppages made a good rest for the horses, 
which is necessary as it is pretty heavy 
work. 
I also found it important to grease the 
knife frame throughout. Care should be 
taken, while sharpening, to throw the wheel 
out of gear; as you might lose a finger, if 
the horses should start. After these discov¬ 
eries I got it to working very well. Further 
experience showed that it cut much faster 
and easier, after the dew was off. The wet 
grass clogged up the slats in the teeth and 
sometimes hung to their points. I found 
