1867 .] 
AMI'.RICAN AGRTOUI.TURIST. 
24.9 
best seed and prepare it with brine and lime, 
and sow early, and put it in with a cultivator 
two or three inches deep. Ui'ion soil, naturally 
or artificially, well drained, it will stand the 
winter and give you a good crop. There is 
great satisfaction in growing your own wheat. 
You get it in the best condition ; you can have 
it fresh ground, and not be troubled with sour, 
musty Hour, and poor bread. You can have it 
unbolted for Gndiam bread and biscuit, ami 
furnish the raw material for the enamel of your 
children’s teeth. The dentists may suffer for 
lack of custom, but 3 ’ou ‘‘ will put money in 
your purse” and health in your bones. 
Fatal Accidents from Mowing Machines. 
The great number of serious and fatal acci¬ 
dents which are reported every year ivs arising 
from carelessness in handling mowing ma¬ 
chines, or from drivers being thrown off from 
their seats in front of them, has led to much 
thought, both on the part of conscientious man¬ 
ufacturers and others, to prevent such occur¬ 
rences. Some iiKJwing machines are peculiarlj- 
liable to throw the driver off on going over 
rough ground, or when the cutter bar strikes a 
fixed obstacle. They should be avoided by pur¬ 
chasers. as one would any treacherous danger¬ 
ous thing. When accidents occur and are re¬ 
ported in the papers, the name of the machine 
should always be given. We should like to 
publish a list showing the number of each ma¬ 
chine in use, and number of accidents to those 
using them, coidd a fair one be made out. 
Some j'ears ago a ladj' of Burlington, N. .1., 
invented an arrangement for throwing the 
knives out of gear the instant the driver’s 
weight was taken from the seat. We never | 
knew of its being put to use. There have been j 
several other guards contrived, generally, how'- 
ever, not applicable to all machines. 
We have received a suggestion in a letter 
from -Mr. J. S Hammond, of Scarsdale, which 
we regard as eminently practical :iud sensible, 
and believe it will be the means of saving 
many lives and limbs. He writes: 
“As the mowing season is rapidly approach¬ 
ing, I desire to make known a simple device, 
which I have employed during two seasons, to 
prevent being thrown from my mowing ma¬ 
chine. It is well known that serious accidents 
have been thus produced. It is this: I take a 
strong leather strap, about 30 inches long, and, 
passing one end between the bars on the left 
side of the seat, (generally of open iron work,) 
buckle, so as to make a loop. Pul the left arm 
through this loop. Let the loop be long enough 
to allow free use of the arm iti driving, and at 
the same time to steady tljc body. The right 
arm must be free to work the machine. Should 
the machine strike any hidden obstacle, the 
strap will prevent the rider from being thrown 
to the right side, or forward, upon the knives, 
and will in most cases enable him to keep his 
Properly adjusted it will not inteifere with 
the management of the team or the machine. 
Animals as Weather Guages. 
“A. S. B.,” writes: “I have observed this 
spring that the robins and some one or two oth¬ 
er birds, (but especially the robins), seem to be 
building their nests higher than usual, and more 
on the outside of the trees, or further out on 
the limbs. The robin, as a general thing, builds 
its nest close to the trunk or main body of the 
tree and I have known them not to build more 
than 8 to 10 feet from the ground, and I may 
say generally they are not inclined to build 
much above the center of the tree, but this 
year the contrary seems to be their hubil. I 
have noticed this fact to one or two others, and 
to a Doctor to whom I have noticed it, told me 
he had observed some two or three robins build¬ 
ing higher and nearer the tops of the trees 
than he had ever noticed their doing before. 
I Avould ask, does it indicate a warm or cold 
summer, a wet or dry one, heavy or light winds ? 
I had thought, perhaps, it indicated a cloudy, 
cold, wet, summer. I would like others to 
make some observation of this in their part of 
the country, and see if it is so with them.” 
It is quite common to forecast the season 
from certain indications among animals, and 
many people, intelligent in other respects, have 
abiding faith in these signs. Thus, when par¬ 
tridges and quails have their feathers very low 
down on their legs, it is said to indicate a se¬ 
vere winter, and when muskrats build their 
nests very high, it will be a wet winter. These 
signs are very numerous, but being of a skepti¬ 
cal turn, we do not believe them. If our corre¬ 
spondent’s observation is correct, it might indi¬ 
cate that the cats in his neighborhood had been 
more active than usual, and the birds were 
anxious to get out of the Avay. It has always 
seemed to us that the robin was very loose in 
its notions of locating its nest, and studied small 
fruits rather than the Avealher. If a straAvberry 
bed Avere near, Ave have noticed that cock-robin 
and his bride pitched into the first red cedar, 
apple tree, or fence corner, at hand, Avhere there 
Avas a little screen from observation. If the 
cheriy trees Avere tall, they Avould not object to 
a tall berth in the jieighboriug spruce or maple. 
Men knoAv very little about the coming seasons, 
and birds and beasts still less. We shall be 
glad to receive anj' facts in regard to the loca¬ 
tion of birds’ nests this season—Avhether they 
sustain our theory or magnify bird forecast. 
-- ■ » * -- 
Large vs. Small Cotton Plantations. 
We have received from a gentleman in 
Georgia, a communication to prove that cotton 
cannot be groAvn profitably henceforth upon 
large plantations. The argument, condensed, is 
this; It cannot be done, first, because under the 
slave system, the planter’s chief profit Avas the 
increase of his slaves. This being gone, no 
money can be made Avith tree labor. Second, 
compulsor}’’ labor Avas more reliable than that of 
freedmen. Third, cotton Avas groAvn at a loss 
last year. Fourth, capital invested in tools, 
stock and machinery is too insecure to tempt 
large capitalists. Fifth, the freedmen Avill be a 
tax upon the i)roduction of cotton. They Avill 
be henceforth full consumers and only partial 
producers, instead of full producers and partial 
consumers. Sixth, the small farmer Avill have 
an advantage in laboring AA’ith his oaa’u hands, 
and in the more intelligent direction of the few 
hands under him. He corroborates his own at- 
gument by the detailed cost tiud profit ot AVork- 
ing tAvo cotton plantations in his vicinity, Avhich 
AA’c give in full: 
I’L.AJSTATIOX NO. 1, BAUNWELI. DISTKICT, S. C. 
Employing 18 laborers, cultivating 3”() acies, 
viz.; 180 in corn, 140 in cotton, the planter fur¬ 
nishing land, stock, implements, etc., etc., and 
furnishing each laborer Aviih shelter, loO ])ounds 
of bacon and 12 bushels of corn, and allowing 
the laborers one-third of the ])ruducc laised. 
This plantation overlooked by the proprietor. 
140 acres may yield .AO bales cotton, ivelglilu'-- oooib^ 
eacli, and may yield tlio planter iO cents per Ih' 
irecoi chari'es, miikinp:. fACOOOO 
180 acres In pin may yield 10 bushels per acielwortli ’ 
blades, wortli $1 per lOOtbs.’220 00 
1,500 bushels cotton seed, wortli 20 cents per bushel.. 300 00 
{’.ross yield.S7,.T20 00 
Deduct one-third, beliiK laborers' share.. . . ’2,110 00 
il 3<0 Oo 
Deduct 2,700n)s. bacon at 17 cents.S4S9 00 
Deduct 210 bushels corn at$l 6.A.! iiii 00 
Provisions furnished laborers. 815 00 
... , . 84,075 00 
Deduct for Interest and Insurance of 9 mules, 
costing 8150 each, equal to 81,350 at 20 per 
cent, per annum ...827o 
Deduct for wear of pin, gin house aud pear, 
screw. Implements, wagon, cart, etc., at 20 per 
ceut.ou 8t00.. no_ 410 00 
, . , 83,665 00 
Deduct planter’s share of corn, blades and cotton 
seed, which must be reserved as outfit tor ue.xt 
ytor. 1,547 00 
. 82,118 00 
Deduct rentof land, or interest on Its cost,estimated 
Its equal to one-sixth of what It will produce. 1,220 00 
Planter’s profits. 8393 00 
Being his return for his individual services, 
and Avith this sum lie must pay State and local 
taxe.s, purchase tlour, coft’ee, sugar, clothing, 
etc., and pay the doctor’s charges. 
I’LANTATIOX NO. 2, BUKKE COUNTY, OEOKGIA. 
Empbtying 15 laborers in number, regarded 
by lu’oprietor as equalling 10 good operatiA'es; 
cultivating 225 ticres, viz.: 100 in corn, 125 in 
cotton, and overlooked an agent. 
Cotton. 85,000 oo 
Corn. 1,250 00 
Blades. 250 00 
Cotton seed.•.. SOO 00 
Gross yield.86,800 00 
Deduct wages paid in luonev . .$960 00 
Do. juovlslons furnished laborere. 662 00 
Do. Interest on stock and Implements.. 43100 
Do salary and rations of agent. 491 00 
Do. outfit of corn, blades and cotton 
seed for next year.1,900 00 
Deduct rent of plantation, estimated at one- 
lllth of its production.1,360 00— 5,804 00 
Proprietor’s net profit. 8996 CO 
1. As to the first argument, it is Avbat the 
logicians called a non sequitur. Tlicre is so 
much difference between slave and free labor 
! that it is quite difficult to reason from one to the 
other, especially in a community Avhcrc free 
labor has not j'ct liad a fair trial. 2. When 
this trial has fairly been made, Ave have no 
doubt that jilanters genei’ally Avill concede that 
free labor is both more reliable and more eco¬ 
nomical. At present the freedmen labor under 
tAvo very great disadvantages. The carelessness 
and idleness resulting from tlieir former slaving, 
and insecurity of payment. AV^hen the dollar is 
made certain, the Avork Avill be. The stimulus 
of the dollar is much more efi’eclive than that of 
the hish. Labor in the free Slates is mueli more 
secure, and more profitable, than it ever Avas in 
the South, and it is owing to this tact, mainly, 
that land is Avortli so much more in the North. 
Umler the Avorking of freedom a reliable class 
of laborers Avill be trained in the Soiilli. If the 
planter has the capital to pay his hands every 
Aveek, there Avill he little- trouble about the 
AVork. 3. Last year Avas exceptional, as all ad¬ 
mit, yet, Avitli all its disadvantages, nearly two 
millions of bales of cotton Avere raised. Had 
the season been favorable, the product Avould 
■ have been double, or fully up to the average of 
cotton production before the Avar.^ This is qulfe 
us luueli as could liave been expected. AVe 
think the results of last year, under the circum¬ 
stances, are encouraging, both to the huge and 
the small planter. AVe may fairly prophesy 
from it five millions of bales, as the annual crop 
Avitliiu three years. 4. The insecurity of capital 
invested does not arise from the use of free 
labor. On the contrary, it is made more secure 
by it, as the history of all free labor comiuuui- 
tics proves. The only hesitation that capitalists 
now have in investing in cotton jdantations, 
arises from the unsettled state of the country. 
There is a fear of mobs, of regulators, of social 
