98 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
ones need watching when the snows fall. 
They are often buried under the banks, and 
will be broken or destroyed if they are not 
dug out. A few hours work at the right 
time will save you many dollars. 
Seeds. —Have them all in readiness. As¬ 
sort the potatoes and put the seed in barrels 
by themselves. If you have a surplus, 
market them now. They will be poor prop¬ 
erty in June. Let all the garden seeds be 
selected and labeled, and put in the right 
place. Seed sowing is a busy time, and an 
hour spent then in looking up some mislaid 
package will be a vexation to mar the happi¬ 
ness of a whole day. February is the gate of 
the opening year. Let it be rightly improved 
in making ready, and you will pass on 
smoothly through the seed time and harvest. 
BEUSH SWAMPS. 
Few lands are richer in vegetable matter 
than the brush swamps of our country, gnd 
yet there are millions of acres of them still 
left untouched—harbors for all sorts of ver¬ 
min—the fruitful sources for billious fever 
and ague—and huge eve-sores in the land¬ 
scape. When cleared and drained, these 
swamps are oftentimes found to be ten times 
as productive as the adjacent uplands ; and 
yet our farmers have gone on cultivating the 
uplands in preference to them for scores of 
years, although it has often cost more to cut 
off the forest, blast the rocks, and pick up the 
stones of the former, than it would to have 
drained the swamps. 
Now, while frozen over, is the best- time 
to cut off the brush and wood from swamps, 
as it is the only season when their surface 
will bear a team to carry off the rubbish; 
it is also an excellent time, when not covered 
with snow, to burn the brush. The main 
ditches for draining can also be more easily 
dug at this season than any other, and farm¬ 
ers usually have more leisure for this kind 
of work ; in fact, with many it is their only 
chance throughout the year for such im¬ 
provements. 
Since mowing machines have come into 
use, swamp lands may be made much more 
valuable than ever ; as they usually present 
a nearly perfect level surface, in which they 
can operate with considerable greater facili¬ 
ty than on uplands. Besides, no lands are 
so well adapted to grass, for they are rich, 
cool and moist. 
The great fault in draining swamps gener¬ 
ally is, that the ditches are not cut sufficient¬ 
ly deep, especially the main ones. Three 
feet ordinarily is the least we should say for 
these, while four or five feet would be still 
better. The cross drains may be two feet 
or so—nothing less than this. The advan¬ 
tage of deep main drains is to dry the sur¬ 
face quickly and sufficiently to grow the 
best sorts of cultivated grasses the first year, 
or even to take off a crop of corn or pota¬ 
toes. 
New-Yoric State Agricultural Society. 
—The Annual meeting opens at Albany on 
the 13th inst. These winter meetings fur¬ 
nish a capital opportunity for farmers to 
come together, to get acquainted and talk 
over various agricultural topics, without the 
excitement attendant upon the annual exhibi¬ 
tions. __ 
DECISION OF THE GEEAT REAPED CASE 
IN EAVOE OF MANNY’S MACHINE. 
We subjoin the recent decision in the im¬ 
portant case of McCormick vs. Manny, 
for allegedinfringement in reaping machines, 
and a very satisfactory decision, we doubt 
not, this will prove to the great mass of 
American farmers. It hasbecome quite the 
fashion of late for inventors of exceedingly 
moderate merits, but of very great preten¬ 
sions, who have invented a little and claim a 
great deal, or what is much more common, 
for non-inventors who have got hold of some 
patent, and hope to realize largely from it, 
to attempt excluding all subsequent inven¬ 
tors who have secured some highly im¬ 
proved machine or implement to effect a 
similar result; and this, too, when there is 
scarcely a shadow of resemblance to the 
previous machine, which, in too many cases, 
is a mere copy itself of an antiquated patent 
or forgotten machine. We are glad to per¬ 
ceive our United States Courts, while firmly 
protecting new, peculiar and important prin¬ 
ciples in mechanics, are determined on not 
shutting the door against all subsequent im¬ 
provements. The genius of our institutions 
and national character is against monopolies, 
and especially such monopoly as shuts out 
the efforts of enterprise and talent, which 
have made our country what it is, and which 
are destined to carry it rapidly forward in a 
career that will soon distance all competi¬ 
tors. 
The above case was argued last Summer 
at Cincinnati by Hon. Reverdy Johnson and 
E. N. Dickerson for Mr. McCormick, and E. 
M. Stanton and George Harding for Manny 
& Co., defendants. Judge McLean delivered 
the opinion of the Court at Washington on 
the 16th ult. ; the decision on all points is in 
favor of Manny, the defendant. The Court 
held : 
1. That Manny’s Reaping Machine does 
not infringe any of the ^patents of Mr. Mc¬ 
Cormick. 
2. That the leveler and reel-post used in 
Manny’s machines are not the same, in form 
or principle, as the improvements patented 
by Mr. McCormick in 1845, and are no in¬ 
fringement. 
3. That several useful improvements, in¬ 
vented and patented by John H. Manny are 
not covered by McCormick’s patent, but are 
different in form and principle, and, conse¬ 
quently, no infringement. 
The injunction was refused and the bill dis¬ 
missed at cost of complainant. The Court 
fully sustains the validity of McCormick’s 
patents, and pays a high compliment to the 
patentee. An appeal has been taken to the 
United States Supreme Court. 
The opponents of any idea, founded on rea¬ 
son and common sense, are like men strik¬ 
ing among live coals ; they may scatter 
them, but only to make them kindle and 
blaze in spots that otherwise they never have 
touched.—Goethe. 
EOSES—DIRECTIONS TO THE UNINITIATED- 
No flowering plant is more appropriate— 
more indispensable to the house-yard and 
garden, than the Rose. Nothing adds so 
much of beauty and attractiveness, at so lit¬ 
tle cost. They may be obtained of a thou¬ 
sand hues and forms, and in varieties almost 
illimitable. Some European catalogues have 
contained the names of five or six thousand 
separate varieties, and any respectable 
American catalogue contains the names of 
a thousand or more. But the farmer, as 
well as he who has but a few hundred square 
feet, has no call for such a list. For his 
purpose, a dozen, more or less, is amply suf¬ 
ficient. The difficulty is to select this small 
number of those which are really the most 
valuable ; and to aid in this selection is the 
object of what follows. Let us first, how¬ 
ever, give a general view of a system of 
classification, which will be useful to even 
those who desire only half-a-dozen. 
There are three general classes of Roses, 
including several subdivisions.* 
I. —Those that bloom at several distinct 
periods throughout the season. These are 
called Remontant (or growing again) Roses. 
II. —Those that bloom continually without 
any temporary cessation, called Ever-Bloom¬ 
ing. 
III. —Those that bloom only once in a 
season. 
The First Class (Remontant) includes 
only the Damask, and those called the Hy¬ 
brid Perpetuals. 
The Second Class, or Ever-Blooming, in¬ 
cludes : 
1. The Bourbon Roses—Known by their 
luxuriant growth, and thick, leathery leaves. 
The most of them are perfectly hardy. 
2. The China Roses—including the Tea- 
scented, and the Noisette or cluster-bloom¬ 
ing roses. 
3. The Musk—known by its odor and 
rough appearance. 
4. The Macartney—known by its very 
rich, glossy foliage, almost evergreen. 
5. The Microphylla—distinguished by its 
peculiar foliage and straggling habit. 
The Third Class, or once-blooming, in¬ 
cludes : 
1. Garden Roses.—This embraces a num¬ 
ber of varieties, such as the French, Pro¬ 
vence, Hybrid Provence, Hybrid China, Hy¬ 
brid Bourbon, White, and Damask Roses. 
2. The Moss Roses. 
3. Briar Roses—including the Sweet- 
Briar, Hybrid Sweet-Briar, and Austrian 
Briar. 
4. The Scotch Rose. 
5. Climbing Roses, of which there are a 
number of varieties, such as the Rubifolia, 
the Sempivirens or evergreen, the Ayrshire, 
the Banksia, the Boursault, the Rosa Multi¬ 
flora or cluster-blooming, and others. 
Several of the above are not hardy, and 
many are not adapted to general cultiva¬ 
tion. 
Supposing that we have no piazza or walls 
for roses to climb upon, we should select 
for out-door cultivation on a small plot, first 
* We follow the simple and beautiful classification of Mr. 
Sami. B. Parsons, in his admirable work upon the Rose . 
