AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
223 
er. The side of the drain constitutes a drawing 
surface. If the soil is compact, the wider this 
surface, and the more effectual will be the draining. 
In clay land, it is desirable to have a layer of 
loose stones, 12 inches deep. Less than this will 
answer in a soil that presents less resistance to 
the water. These circumstances taken into con¬ 
sideration, the drain should in all cases be sunk 
not less than 34 to 40 inches deep, according to 
porosity of the soil. In our general remarks, we 
shall present other reasons for constructing all 
kinds of drains even deeper than this, in most 
cases. 
THE SEWING MACHINE 
An almost unlimited number of inquiries from 
our readers, on this topic, aside from our own 
personal interest in the matter, as a purchaser, 
has induced us to devote considerable time to in¬ 
vestigating not only the respective claims of dif¬ 
ferent machines offered to the public, but also 
whether even the best of them would be a paying 
investment. On the latter point we have become 
fully convinced that nearly all kinds of family 
sewing can be done more rapidly, and even bet¬ 
ter by machinery than by hand. We consider 
the difference in this respect as fully equal to that 
of threshing grain by a machine and by hand. 
Take a single illustration. The other evening on 
going home we found a sheet just “ basted,” 
ready to be hemmed or stitched. Though we 
have never learned to use a thimble, (having al¬ 
ways been favored with a kind mother, sister, 
wife or friend, to do all needed stitching,) on 
the above occasion we proposed to turn scamster , 
and stitch the sheet. The result of the trial was, 
we stitched the edges of the sheet, at the rate of a 
yard, in three minutes, “ including stoppings,” and 
some good judges, present, pronounced our work 
not to be excelled in fineness, regularity and beau¬ 
ty of stitch, by the best hand sewer. This was 
our first trial on actual needle-work—we had 
played sew, with pieces of cloth, a dozen times be¬ 
fore. We have since far excelled our first effort. 
Any of our lady readers can estimate the advan¬ 
tages of sewing a close, fine, strong stitch, even 
at only the rate of a yard in three minutes. 
We could give many illustrations that have al¬ 
ready been developed in our own family in less 
than one month’s trial; but it may suffice to say 
that where there is much sewing to be done in a 
family—and where is there not 1—it is cheaper to 
employ a good machine, even if it cost $200 or 
$300, or more. Suppose a housewife could, with 
a machine, do up her family sewing during a 
year, easier than by working with a needle 
and having the assistance of a seamstress five 
weeks. This would save, in wages and board, 
say $25, which would pay the interest on $200, 
and leave $11 for wear and repair. We estimate 
the saving as greater than this, and we are free 
to say that, looking at the subject in barely an 
economical point of view, it our machine could 
not be replaced, we would not part with it for 
$400 or $500. The cost was $125—$110 for the 
machine itself, and $15 for having it put in an 
extra cabinet, which serves the triple purpose of 
a table, work-stand, small chest of drawers, be¬ 
sides being a handsome piece of “ furniture.” 
With regard to the difficulty of using the sew¬ 
ing machine, on which point many inquiries have 
been made of us, we think it requires just about 
the same degree of skill, or “ gumption,” as the 
Yankees term it, to use a sewing machine suc¬ 
cessfully, that it does to operate a common grain- 
thresher, or a mowing machine. Our own was 
sent home with only the manufacturers’ printed 
directions, and it has been worked successfully. 
Others have found some difficulty, though not of 
an insurmountable character where a good ma¬ 
chine has been obtained. [A lady in Ohio wrote 
us an instructive chapter on the various difficulties 
in her first experience,' which we intended to 
have published, but we have mislaid her letter, 
and have not her Post-Office address. Will she 
please write again 1] 
As to the best kind of sewing machines, we are 
loth to say a word, and have no interest in doing 
so. There are three, perhaps four kinds now be¬ 
fore the public, either of which is better than no 
kind. We nave found none of them sold at less 
than $85 to $100 and upward, which we consid¬ 
ered worth buying. Wheeler & Wilson’s, Sing¬ 
er’s, and Grover & Baker’s machines, all work 
under Howe’s patent, and are, so far, the best 
machines made, we think. We were interested 
in witnessing the operation of Robinson & Ro¬ 
per’s, but not enough to give it any prefence over 
the others. For our own family use, we became 
fully satisfied that Grover & Baker’s machine is 
the best, and we accordingly purchased it. 
From among the many letters on this topic, 
from ladies who have used the sewing machines, 
we have only room for the following, from Anna 
Hope, whose contributions on Household Econo¬ 
my are familiar to many of the older readers of 
this Journal. 
To the Editor of the American Agricultur. 
An intelligent farmer would despise himseli il 
he failed to make subservient to his interests any 
improvement in agricultural implements, or ne¬ 
glected to derive advantage from any new inven¬ 
tion of which his circumstances would permit 
him to avail himself. That the more expensive 
implements find many purchasers, may be readily 
seen from the sales books of firms who deal in 
them. One such house of my acquaintance has 
sold this year about two thousand mowing ma¬ 
chines, and from two to three thousand threshers, 
the prices of which are $120 and $130, and these 
machines are of course needed only for a few 
weeks in the year. That the purchase of them 
is good economy, may fairly be inferred from the 
fact that so many are sold, and that they give so 
good satisfaction. We rejoice in all these helps 
afforded to men to make their labor easier or 
more productive, and we wish most fervently 
that woman might be equally relieved in her own 
sphere of labor; nor are we unmindful that 
whatever diminishes the number of “ hands” on 
a farm, diminishes the number of mouths to be 
fed, and the number of dishes to be washed, and 
thus indirectly makes the labor of the house less 
burdensome. But woman needs “ aid and com¬ 
fort” designed expressly for herself. She is too 
often considered very much of an agricultural 
implement—a piece of property secured at the 
altar—to be employed in any way that will add 
most, with the least outlay, to the money income 
of the farm, and she is not always cared for with 
the same watchfulness and anxiety that is be¬ 
stowed on the horses and cattle of her husband. 
They must not be neglected, nor over-worked, but 
she, poor creature, is never supposed to be weary 
nor over-burdened. This idea of property in 
woman is a remnant of barbarism, when brute 
force was the basis of power, and is an indica¬ 
tion of remaining barbarism in the so-called civ¬ 
ilized world. The more thoroughly the world 
becomes civilized and Christianized, the more 
general will be the recognition of woman as an 
individual embodied soul, with wants and capaci¬ 
ties no less numerous and actual than man’s, and 
whatever will contribute to her comfort will be 
deemed no less important than what contributes 
to his. 
The inventive genius of the present age is be¬ 
ginning to develop itself in mechanical contriv¬ 
ances for the relief of woman, and none of these 
are destined to prove a greater blessing than 
that of the Sewing Machine. Many a life has 
been sacrificed in unremitt ng toil, and the needle 
has pierced more hearts than the stiletto or 
sword, but a brighter day is dawning, and the 
sewing of a family need no longer oe locked upon 
with trembling and dread. For several years I 
have been much interested in sewing machines, 
as a means of emancipation to woman, and have 
examined with great interest every new improve¬ 
ment that came to my knowledge. The price 
alone deterred me from long ago availing myself 
of the services of one, for after seeing how 
quickly and well they did their work, I could not 
be satisfied with the slow progress made by my 
fingers, and I could but feel that I was bringing 
myself down to the level of mere matter, if I 
willingly did what a machine could do much 
better and more rapidly. At length I grew des¬ 
perate, for I was haunted by unfinished work, 
and it would neither “ down,” nor be done at my 
bidding, noi by my persevering efforts. Wherever 
I went, shirts with outstretched sleeves and 
dangling wrist-bands hung in mid-air before my 
eyes, hurling defiance at me, like some evil 
genius of fairy times, and grinning with most 
hideous triumph. For months these frightful 
spirits tormented me, ut, thanks to the Inventor 
of Sewing Machines 1 at length found a spell 
powerful enough to “ lay them,” and since I have 
used it, not one has dared to show his ugly head. 
Shirts are now no longer frisked about in the air 
by hobgoblins, but remain quietly in the drawer, 
and do not at all detract from my happiness, for 
to make one is but the work of a few hours, and 
I have leisure to look at the “ estray” buttons. 
I am not, by any means, the only woman whose 
peace has been disturbed by necessary but unac¬ 
complished work. I have had abundance of sym¬ 
pathy in these trials, and now I should be most 
happy to enjoy equal sympathy in the relief I 
have found from them. 
For several months I have used in my family 
one of Grover 6c Baker’s Cabinet Machines, and 
have found it capabte of accomplishing all I ex¬ 
pected from it, and all that it promised. I have 
done upon it every variety of family sewing, from 
muslin sleeves to dresses and pantaloons, and the 
work has proved equally strong and durable as 
sewing done by hand. I never feel hurried in my 
sewing, nor do I feel that I have not leisure for 
rest. I can afford time for an excursion with my 
children, without neglecting any necessary work, 
and I have no twinges of conscience when I sit 
down to read a newspaper or a book. It is not 
simply because of the actual work done that a 
Sewing Machine is one of the richest of family 
blessings, but it possesses a high value in bringing 
with it freedom from wearyin g care and anxiety. 
There are few families that do not need the relief 
such a seamstress would afford, and perhaps none 
need it more than those of farmers, for their do¬ 
mestic cares and labors are usually numerous and 
pressing. There is certainly no class of persons 
for whom I feel a deeper interest, or a more ear¬ 
nest respect, for the blood of farmers flows in my 
veins, and with it a most ardent love of country 
life; and if by adding my testimony to that of 
others in regard to the value of a Machine ■which 
may bring relief to my over-burdened sisters, I 
enn do aught to benefit them, I am happy to give 
them the result of my experience. I know some¬ 
thing of their toil, of their weariness, of their need 
of relaxation, and I would fain introduce to their 
notice that which will lighten the toil, diminish 
