264 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
The Back Volumes of the American Agriculturist, 
neatly bound, can now be supplied from the commence¬ 
ment. These of themselves constitute a beautiful and 
valuable Farmer’s Library, embracing a compendium 
ol all the important agricultural articles that have ap¬ 
pealed during the last thirteen years. First ten volumes, 
new edition, furnished bound for $10. 
Bound volumes XI, XII and XIII (new series), $1 50 per 
volume; unbound, $1 per volume. The whole thirteen 
volumes furnished bound for $14 50. 
%mAm ^grkulturist. 
Wew-¥«rk, Thursday, July 5 . 
This pa-per is never sent where it is 
not considered paid foi—and is in all cases 
stopped when the subscription runs out. 
We occasionally send a number to persons 
who are not subscribers. This is sometimes 
done as a compliment, and in other cases to 
invite examination. Those receiving such 
numbers are requested to look them over, and 
if convenient «how them to a neighbor. 
AGRICULTURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT 
We spent a few hours last week in exam¬ 
ining the Agricultural part of the Egyptian 
Museum, in this City. The remains of that 
ancient and most interesting people that are 
deposited here are, many of them, in a won¬ 
derful state of preservation. They were 
gathered from the tombs about Sakhara and 
Thebes, by Dr. Abbot, and are attested by 
such names as leave no doubt of their au¬ 
thenticity. 
These primitive farmers did not differ so 
much from us in their implements and prac¬ 
tices as we might suppose. Their plow was 
shaped something like our old-fashioned 
“ bull-tongue,” though but a small portion ol 
the sole ran in the ground—this part extend¬ 
ing back until it met the beam, and made a 
joint with it, so that the instrument resem¬ 
bled fire-tongs with one short leg. The 
opening between the two sticks was secured 
by a piece of chain. There seems to have 
been no idea of turning the furrow, or of 
distinguishing between the land and the mold 
sides; so that the thing must have been 
driven around over the ground very much 
after the manner of our harrow. The back 
end of the beam was elevated so much, that 
a perpendicular wooden pin inserted into it 
answered the purpose of a handle. 
Like some Connecticut farmers, these 
Egyptians preferred ox teams; and they had 
an odd way of yoking them, by lashing a 
stick to their heads m front of their horns. 
The plowman, in one picture, holds the im¬ 
plement with his left hand, and flourishes 
the goad vigorously with his right. He 
wears a simple cloth about the loins, while 
the more pretentious farmer, who precedes 
him carrying a basket of grain on his arm 
from which he sows, is dressed in a kilt that 
reaches to his ankles. So it seems that 
they plowed in their grain as we now recom¬ 
mend for wheat, when a drill is not used. 
In another picture, oxen are treading out 
the grain, in the way that some farmers in 
this country do with horses. Champollion 
tells us that the peasants that drove the cat¬ 
tle enlivened their labors with songs, and he 
has given us a translation of one, written in 
hieroglyphics over such a picture, of the date 
of fifteen hundred years before Christ: 
“ Tread ye out for yourselves, 
Tread ye out for yourselves, 
O,oxen! 
Tread ye out for yourselves, 
Tread ye out for yourselves 
The straw; 
For men, who are your masters, 
The grain,” 
There are here three mummied bulls, pre¬ 
served in bulk, resting with their limbs 
drawn under them. Their horns^re straight 
and divergent. These animals are so wound 
in bandages that it is impossible to judge ol 
their actual size, but we can judge some¬ 
thing of this from a separate jaw-bone and a 
portion of a back-bone. There is an idea 
prevalent that the domestic animals and the 
races of men are continually improving. In 
order to test the matter, in the case of the 
genus bos, we examined this jaw-bone, and 
found that the teeth were identical in num¬ 
ber, in position, in shape, and in protuber¬ 
ances, with those of our common ox. Hence 
we conclude that the species was the same ; 
and this conclusion is still further strength¬ 
ened by the fact that, on measurement, this 
bone does not differ essentially in size from 
specimens in our butcher shops. We made 
accurate measurements and drawings of this 
jaw-bone, and of one from a modern animal, 
which the curious in such matters can ex¬ 
amine at our office. 
The edge tools are made of bronze—a 
mixture of copper and tin. There are no 
eyes to the axes, the blade being inserted in 
a groove in the handle, and secured by plait¬ 
ed leather. In some of the knives the han¬ 
dle extends the whole length of the blade 
along the back of it, so that the ax is only 
one of these knives with a very long handle 
and a very narrow blade. The hoe is a 
clumsy thing, that looks very much liko an 
adz. The sickle is shaped like the letter Z, 
only the cutting part is long and curved. 
Of the manufactured articles, much of the 
linen looks like our “ tow cloth,” though 
part of it is as fine as ordinary sheeting, and 
some small pieces are equal even to cam¬ 
bric. Sometimes one thread in every dozen 
or so of the filling, is coarser than the others, 
and this thread is looped at about an equal 
space along the warp, so that the texture 
has a kind of nap on one side, like shaggy 
woolen mittens. Some of the cordage is as 
finely and evenly twisted as if it had been 
made by our best spinners. 
We noticed that these ancients affected to 
increase their stature, by contrivances equiv¬ 
alent to the modern stove pipe hats. The 
gods generally wear something of the sort, 
with a steeple-top; and the artist who cut 
the statue of Thotmes III, or the Pharaoh of 
Moses’s time, has carried the crown of the 
head upward and backward to a deformity. 
Among their games was a kind of checkers 
or draughts, the men for which were made 
of porcelain, and distinguished from each 
other by difference in hight, instead of color. 
Another consisted in tossing up a set of 
sticks, and guessing which side would fall 
up—as boys toss up a stone and say “wet 
or dry ” for innings. The doll babies were 
cut out of flat pieces of wood, and had no 
joints. 
Horns were finished, for some purpose, in 
the same style that we finish powder-horns 
now, only the small end was expanded into 
a spoon, so that it held a certain quantity, 
like the nose of a modern powder-flask. 
Blue was a favorite color, and it was a 
compliment to be represented as “true blue.” 
The Egyptian mother called her baby her 
“ chicken,” and it was as much an insult to 
be called a “ goose ” in those days as it is 
now. 
They spoke of the cow as the moo, the 
dog as the bow-wow, a serpent as a hiss, and 
a cat as a mew. The principal men wore 
“goatees,” and braided them as a China¬ 
man does his hair. 
After a few hours of pleasant reverie, we 
came away well satisfied with our visit to 
the realms of the Pharaohs, and more than 
ever inclined to believe that King Solomon 
was right when he said that there was, even 
in his day, nothing new under the sun. 
TO OUR EXCHANGES: 
Every paper has a species of property in 
its original articles, especially when—as is 
the case with this journal—considerable ex¬ 
pense is incurred to procure the best matter 
for its columns. It is admitted on all hands 
that when such articles are copied by other 
journals, they should receive due credit; but 
we are sorry to find that nearly or quite one- 
third of our exchanges copy from us, week 
after week, giving no credit, or rather doing 
what is equivalent to this, they append a 
simple Am. Ag., which amounts really to no 
credit at all. We have called attention to 
this matter before, without producing the 
desired effect; and, as the cause of com¬ 
plaint is daily increasing, we now give notice 
that, hereafter, we shall strike from our ex¬ 
change list such papers as continue this 
course. 
Correction. —Mr. Keeler, Chairman of the 
Committee of Arrangements, requests us to 
say, that in his card published in the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist two weeks since, he inad¬ 
vertantly omitted to mention that Mr. John 
Jay, of Bedford, sent up a bountiful collation 
for all on the ground at the trial of Mowers, 
on Friday, the 15th June ; and that on the 
second trial, before his house, the next day 
(16th June), Judge Jay furnished a handsome 
collation to all present. The Messrs. Jay, 
and their neighbor, Mr. Lyon, also gener¬ 
ously placed their grass land at the disposal 
of the Committee, to take any quantity they 
desired for a trial of all the Mowing machines 
present._ 
It is not yet too hate to plant corn for fod¬ 
der. If sown or drilled in now, it will be 
ready for use the latter part of August. 
We direct attention to the advertisement 
of Morrison’s shingle machine. 
In our advertising columns will be found 
the announcement of the Woodstock Acad 
emy, to which we call attention. 
