AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
which the frost gives them is rather a bene¬ 
fit than a damage. On the other hand, clay¬ 
ey lands can not safely be sowed early 
enough for spring crops if the plowing is de¬ 
layed over winter, since plowing only serves 
to make the surface into mortar. Fall 
plowing for clay lands is the very thing for 
them, heaving them up to the frost, which 
is their great agent of fertility. 
On all lands, then, fall plowing is the thing. 
Let us urge to a full use of it while the calm, 
smoky days of October and November last. 
While some gather the potatoes and the corn, 
let others keep the team in motion. 
THE VERMONT WIND-MILL. 
Invented by-A. P. Brown, of Brattleboro’, Vt. 
The illustration above accompanied an ad¬ 
vertisement in this number. We can not 
speak understandingly of this mill, as we 
have not seen it. As the subject is one of 
considerable interest, we publish, without 
necessarily endorsing all said, the following 
remarks furnished us by an interested party, 
as they apply equally well to any other good 
wind-mill. The writer should have closed 
several sentences with “ when the wind 
blows.” He says : 
The advantage of using wind in prefer¬ 
ence to horse or steam-power has not been 
duly appreciated by farmers and mechanics. 
The difficulties in using wind-power to ad¬ 
vantage are overcome in the mill above rep¬ 
resented. It is ingenious, simple, and a 
most perfect regulator of its own motion. It 
spreads a wide sail to a light breeze, and a 
small surface to a heavy one. An acceler¬ 
ated motion is checked by the action of the 
mill itself as readily as the steam-engine is 
checked by the action of Watt's centrifugal 
governor. 
Its construction will be readily understood 
by reference to the engraving. The radical 
feature in which this machine differs from 
others is simply this : It governs the obli¬ 
quity of its own fans, /c, to the wind by 
means of the centrifugal force of those fans. 
Each is furnished with a helical or spiral 
slot and pin, made fast in the arm, as seen 
at i, fig. 2. In case of acceleration, the ten¬ 
dency of the fans is to overcome a suitable 
coiled spring, or a weighted lever, and to 
move farther out on their respective arms, 
and in so doing the spiral groove, or slot, 
slides on the pin and turns the fan more and 
more edgewise to the wind, presenting less 
surface. When the velocity of the wheel is 
diminished, the spring or weight immediate¬ 
ly draws the fans in an opposite direction, 
and the same slot and pin turn them more 
to the wind, always adjusting itself to the 
necessities of the occasion. 
Farmers and others in want of a cheap 
motive power, should look to the induce¬ 
ments offered of putting up wind-mills upon 
their farms or premises. It may be used 
very economically to pump water for irriga¬ 
ting or draining land, watering cattle, or for 
household purposes to the tops of houses. 
It may be used, and will operate very satis¬ 
factorily, to thrash and clean all kinds of 
grain, to shell corn, and grind wheat, rye, 
corn, or any other thing to be ground, cut,or 
mashed, such as apples, roots, vegetables, 
etc. It is particularly adapted to churning, 
working butter, washing, turning grindstones, 
sawing wood, cutting straw, and stalks, or 
fodder. It will bore and mortise timber, 
drive small saw-mills, lath-machines, turn¬ 
ing-lathes, etc., etc., and, if you wish, it will 
ventilate your house exceedingly well. It 
will not plow, harrow, cultivate, or mow, 
but any work which can be brought to it may 
be performed; and it will perform readily, 
without waiting to be caught, fed, or har¬ 
nessed. The only food these mills require 
is about one gallon of oil a year. They do 
not require as much nursing and attention 
as horses or oxen, one coat of paint will 
keep them clean and beautiful a year or 
more. The attachments used to connect 
them to different machines, so as to do dif¬ 
ferent kinds of work, cost less than the har¬ 
ness and equipage of horses, and will last 
more than twice as long. The expense for 
repairs is much less than that for the shoe¬ 
ing and preparing of teams for labor. The 
same amount of power costs less, and the 
wind will not die. Wind-mills will work by 
night as well as by day, and will run steadi¬ 
ly without a driver. They are generally 
ready to work the greatest number of hours 
when their work is most needed, viz., in the 
fall, winter, and spring. They do not re¬ 
gard the ten-hour system, but work early and 
late, summer and winter. 
Look Wei.l to the Farm Stock.— One of 
the most observable features among the live 
stock, in this season of abundance, is the 
ill condition in which they are prepared for 
the winter. The luxuriant growth of grass 
has been at the expense of its nutricious 
qualities, and every where we go, we find 
the cattle, and more particularly the sheep, 
in a lean and often sickly condition ; and 
when we consider that very much of the hay 
and grain for next winter’s use is a good deal 
damaged, we feel apprehensive that our 
farmers will suffer great loss among their 
animals, unless they bestir themselves in 
time. Farm stock now, is even worse pre 
pared for the winter, than after the great 
drouth of last year. Sheep and calves 
should be looked to closely. Get them in 
good heart, and provide ample shelter and 
dry quarters against the storms coming on, or 
you will see such a display of sheeps’ pelts 
and kip skins upon the fences before next 
spring, as will tell badly upon the profits of 
[ the season. 
WINTER MANAGEMENT OE LAMBS. 
The necessity for making-ample provision 
of pasture for lambs from their weaning un¬ 
til the approach of winter has already been 
urged. This, however, is not properly at¬ 
tended to by many, and when winter is at 
hand, their condition is by no means what it 
should be. It may be set down as a rule 
never to be transgressed with impunity, that 
all animals when growing should be bounti¬ 
fully fed, as well as receive all other proper 
attentions conducive to their welfare ; other¬ 
wise, it will be in vain to expect, when at 
maturity, they will exhibit the perfection of 
their species. The general qualities of any 
domestic animal, however perfect nature 
may have done her work, can always be 
further improved by art, or otherwise, by 
judicious feeding, and strict attentions in 
every other regard. It is very much from 
this cause, that celebrated breeders have 
gained their renown for improvements ef¬ 
fected in breeds of cattle, as well as sheep. 
If we would have perfect animals, we can 
not commence too early to lay the founda¬ 
tion of their excellence. 
It is a custom with quite a large majority 
of sheep farmers to delay graining their 
lambs until the approach of spring, when 
they are sometimes far gone in poverty. Is 
this wise 1 Would it have been thus if they 
had been grain-fed at the beginning and 
through the early part of winter 1 Is it not 
better to begin as soon as this, in order to 
furnish them with the necessary stamina to 
withstand the severity of northern winters, 
which is always greatest in the months of 
January and February ? Put them early in 
a condition to pass through those terrible 
months, and subsequently all will be well. 
Truly the course of flock-masters, in this 
regard, is like giving the patient his medi¬ 
cine when he is on the confines of death ! 
Therefore, viewing the matter in this light, 
the writer has no hesitation in saying that a 
single peck of grain fed in December is worth 
the bushel fed in March. 
As we remarked at the conclusion of sum¬ 
mer management, the grass at the begin¬ 
ning of November loses much of its nutri¬ 
tion from repeated freezing ; therefore at this 
period the lambs should be assembled, and 
classed relative to size and condition, divided 
into flocks of about 100 each, and feeding 
them grain should forthwith commence. As 
it is sometimes impracticable to call them into 
the sheep-folds without considerable trouble, 
the feeding-troughs should be removed to the 
field in which they are confined; then the 
flock-master may begin feeding them about 
four quarts of oats daily, which he should 
be careful to distribute the entire length of 
the troughs. They will be very shy for a 
day or two, but the example of approaching 
them by the tame sheep which were placed 
among them at weaning time, will be the 
means of soon overcoming it. After the 
lapse of a week, the quantity of grain may 
be gradually increased to half a bushel, 
which should be the minimum quantity for 
the residue of the season. When the major 
portion have partaken of the oats, the troughs 
may be removed back to the sheep-yards, 
