AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
345 
pearance until the latter part of June or fore 
part of July, according to the latitude, and 
early Wheat, or the harder varieties, are 
less liable to injury. The Red Mediterra¬ 
nean has thus far been less injured than 
most other varieties. 
The yellow or orange-colored Maggots are 
readily seen—there being frequently as many 
as twenty or thirty or more upon a single 
head. We have found several of them upon 
a single kernel upon carefully removing the 
chaff or sheath. During the latter part of 
July and the fore part of August, the Mag¬ 
gots or Worms attain their full size, cast off 
their skins, descend to the ground and bury 
themselves half-an-inch or so below the sur¬ 
face, where they remain until the following 
season, when they come forth to multiply 
and continue their depredations. The 
swarms of flies over a field and an examina¬ 
tion of the Maggots, will enable any one to 
decide whether the clear-winged fly or Midge 
is at work.— [Ed. 
TRYING THE DRAFT OF MOWING MACHINES. 
We are carefully watching the operation 
of the various kinds of mowing machines, 
the present season, and if it seems to be 
called for, we may give the result of these 
observations during the early part of anoth¬ 
er year. We now propose to speak of one 
item only. There have been various claims 
put forth iu regard to the draft , but we know 
of only one thorough test of this matter, 
made by the actual application of the Dynam- 
eter, (force treasurer,) to a number of ma¬ 
chines, all worked upon the same ground 
and under similar circumstances. This was 
at Hempstead Branch, L. I., June 30, under 
the auspicies of the Queens County Agri¬ 
cultural Society. The dynameter was a 
new one imported from England. It is an 
arrangement of springs, with a dial plate 
to show the actual force expended, in 
drawing any machine, for example: at 
Hempstead, this instrument was placed be¬ 
tween the “double-tree,” and the mower ; 
two of the judges walked near, as the team 
was driven along and continually called out 
the draft indicated upon the dial plate. The 
Secretary recorded these weights as called 
out, thus 300, 325, 375, 400, 350, 300, 325, 
400, 325, 300, 275, 325, 375, 325, &c. 
After going across the field the dy 
nameter was attached to another moiver 
which took the next swath. The average 
draft was ascertained by adding together 
all the records and dividing them by the 
number. Thus in the above instance the 
sum of the 14 registerings is 4,700 lbs., 
which divided by 14 gives an average draft 
of 336 lbs. We describe the method thus par¬ 
ticularly as a guide to others. It is essential 
to til e fairness of a comparative trial, that 
each machine be tried on the same plot of 
grass ; that the number of markings be 
somewhat large-; that each machine cut its 
full width ; that each cut the grass at the 
same hight from the ground ; that the dri¬ 
ver (and he only) ride in every case, or that 
no one ride ; that no outsider be allowed to 
put a hand upon the machine to push or 
pull back, &c. We think it better that there 
be two callers and two recorders, to avoid 
suspicion of collusion. It is also desirable 
that more than a single swath be cut by 
each machine with the dynameter attached. 
Care must also be taken that the tongue of 
the mower play freely in the neck-yoke, 
and that the double-trees move freely on the 
tongue. A bolt head projecting up might 
prevent half or more of the draft from being 
exerted upon the register. These sugges¬ 
tions are made from our own observations 
upon the working of the Dynameter. These 
points were mostly attended to at the Hemp¬ 
stead Trial. The following table gives the 
result, together with the length of the cut¬ 
ting bar. The names are arranged alpha¬ 
betically : 
;Length of Cutting Bar. No. lbs. draft' 
Allen's.4 feet 8 inehes 336 
Burrall’s.4 feet 8 inches 321 
Dietz & Dunham’s.4 feet 8 inches 348 
Manny’s . 4 feet 10 inches 392 
Manny’s (4 wheel).4 feet 10 inches 438 
Weeks’.4 feet 8 inches 340 
Whitenack’s.4 feet 11 inches 388 
Several expressed surprise at the small¬ 
ness of the draft. It will be remembered, 
however, that this is the “ dead weight.” It 
by no means requires a dead pull of 2,000 
lbs. to draw along a waggon loaded with a 
ton of hay for example. The waggon once 
in motion on a level road, can be kept in 
motion by a small weight attached to a cord 
over a puliy and hanging perpendicularly 
so as to exert its full force. Or to illustrate 
in another way : Suppose a team attached 
to a rope over a puliy at the mouth of a well 
or pit. How many hundred pounds could 
the team draw up ? How great a weight 
could they hold suspended half way up the 
pit, for two or three hours at a time ?— [Ed. 
JETHRO TOLL. 
Who was he ? And what are his claims to 
the reputation which he has gained? We 
see this name frequently in the journals, but 
have never met with any very definite infor¬ 
mation touching this early British cultivator. 
It will not be uninteresting to our readers to 
give a brief outline of his life and labors. 
Jethro TuU, was an odd genius, and the 
diseases with which he was afflicted, and the 
farm life to which he devoted himself both 
tended to develop the very marked individu¬ 
ality of his character. Many have heard of 
his name, who never heard of Prosperous, 
the significant name by which he called his 
farm, or of Shalborn, the rural parish in 
Berkshire in which his farm was located. 
It is situated under the Coomb Hills, about 
four miles south of Hungerford, and is now 
a scene of pilgrimage for men, who have 
studied his writings and adopted his views 
of husbandry. We have not been able to 
discover the date of his birth, though judg¬ 
ing from the time of graduation, it could not 
have been far from 1670. He was born in 
Oxfordshire, on his paternal estate. He was 
educated for the legal profession, became a 
member of Staple Inn, and was called to the 
baron the 11th of December, 1693, by the 
benchers of Gray’s Inn. 
Incipient pulmonary disease interrupted 
his professional plans and prospects, and 
drove him to the more genial skies of France, 
and Italy. Compelled to be much in the 
open air for health, he observed closely the 
operations of husbandry in the places he 
visited, and returned to his home, a wiser 
man, if not better in physical health. Nor 
was this the only disease with which he had 
to struggle, for he says, in regard to his great 
work, “It is no wonder that the style is 
low as the author, or as the dust that is here 
treated of, since the whole was written in 
pains of the stone, and other diseases as in¬ 
curable and almost as cruel; but fine lan¬ 
guage will not fill a farmer’s barn.” 
Conceive now such a poor invalid assum¬ 
ing the supervision of a farm—a business 
that calls for constant oversight and vigorous 
health; conceive too that his head was full of 
new views of husbandry directly at variance 
with the system in which all the laborers 
he was forced to employ were drilled, and 
you will have some conception of the diffi¬ 
culty of his undertaking, and of the singular 
energy and perseverance of the man. It was 
a parody upon the fact to name the home of 
such an unvalid with such an undertaking 
before him, “ Prosperous.” 
Whatever the result may have been, we 
find occasional glimpses of the state of things 
upon the farm, at the beginning, showing 
that he did not regard his position as remark¬ 
ably prosperous. “It is the most formida¬ 
ble objection against our agriculture, that the 
defection of servants and laborers is such 
that few gentlemen can keep their land3 in 
their own hands, but, rather than make noth¬ 
ing of them, they let them for a little to ten¬ 
ants, who can bear to be insulted, assaulted, 
kicked, and bridewelled, with more patience 
than gentlemen are endowed, with.” The 
defection of servants here mentioned is that 
tenacious adherence to routine for #hich 
John Bull is so famous, and which shows 
itself in all kinds of business and in all ranks 
of society. 
The lands which Tull farmed consisted of 
about 70 acres of freehold land, and 130 
which he held by another tenure. A portion 
of his out houses, and stables are stili re¬ 
maining. In clearing out an old well re¬ 
cently, upon the premises, a three pronged 
hoe was found buried in the accumulated 
mud of a century, which undoubtedly was 
one of the new fangled tools, which awaken¬ 
ed the ire of his defective servants, and 
which probably was thrown into the well as 
a significant symbol of the treatment they 
would like to administer to the inventor, and 
his new theories. This hoe is carefully 
preserved in the Museum of the Royal Agri¬ 
cultural Society by a generation of cultiva¬ 
tors, that appreciate Tull much better than 
his cotemporaries. 
The tradition of his neighbors is, that he 
was much of the time confined to the 
house, but he carried on his experiments 
indoors by having boxes filled with pre¬ 
pared soil in which he could plant va¬ 
rious seeds and test his theories. He is 
still spoken of by them as a man strongly 
set in his way, and whom it was impossible 
to oppose with any hope of eventual suc¬ 
cess. 
