1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
41 
The Indian’s View of Agriculture. 
We doubt if a better argument for improved 
agriculture can be given, than is found in the 
speech of an Indian chief to his 
tribe at the West. It ran thus: 
“ Do you not see the whites living 
upon seeds, while we eat flesh? 
That the flesh requires more than 
thirty moons to grow up, and is then 
often scarce! That each of the won¬ 
derful seeds they sow in the earth 
returns them an hundred fold ? 
That the flesh on which we subsist 
has four legs to escape us, while we 
have but two to pursue and capture 
it ? That the grain remains where 
the w T hite man sows it, and grows. 
That Winter with us is the time for 
laborious hunting-to them a pe¬ 
riod of rest. For these reasons, they 
have so many children, and live 
longer than w T e do. I say therefore 
unto every one that will hear me, 
that before the cedars of our village 
shall have died down with age, and 
the maple trees of the valley shall 
have ceased to give us sugar, the 
race of the little corn-sowers will 
have exterminated the race of the 
flesh-eaters, provided their hunts¬ 
men do not resolve to become sowers.” His¬ 
tory shows the truth of these prophetic words. 
a letter V, with their cutting edges facing those 
of the large knives. By rotating the cylinder 
in the direction of these blades, the roots are 
reduced to quite small fragments. By turning to 
A Double Action Boot Cutter. 
Farmers are beginning to learn the value of 
root crops, and their increasing consumption 
has led to the invention of several machines 
for slicing or reducing roots to a condition for 
feeding. We present an engraving of a very 
good one, lately introduced from England. Its 
novelty consists in the cutting knives. These 
are of steel, placed on a wrought iron cylinder, 
(Fig. 1) which revolves in the box of Fig. 2. At 
the lower part of the cylinder as represented 
in the engraving, is seen one of these knives ex¬ 
tending the whole length,—it has an irregular 
cutting edge elevated about an inch above the 
cylinder, and an opening below, which com¬ 
municates with its interior. The box in which 
the cylinder revolves has cast iron sides. If the 
hopper is filled with roots and the cylinder 
turned in the direction of this cutting edge, they 
are rapidly sliced by the knife, the pieces pass¬ 
ing into the cylinder and falling through its 
open ends below. There are two knives of 
this kind which divide the roots into rather 
large slices, suitable for cattle. For cutting 
the right or left, the pieces are cut large or small 
as may may be required. The roots when fed 
to the machine, are thrown upon an inclined 
iron grating, which forms one side of the hopper, 
through the openings of which any loose dirt 
or small stones may fall out. The machine will 
readily cut a bushel of roots in from 10 to 15 
seconds, is substantial in make, and requires no 
adjusting, as it cuts fine or coarse by merely re¬ 
versing the direction in which the crank is 
turned. TheN. Y. manufacturers’ price is $35. 
Mulching Wheat. 
H. M., of Kent County, Maryland, writes 
to the American Agriculturist as follows: In 
1858 I had a field seeded, part of which 
was a basin of loamy, spongy, black soil. On 
this portion of the field the frosts of Winter did 
their work so effectually, that I did not get my 
seed at harvest. During all the freezing weath¬ 
er the soil looked like a honey-comb; and in the 
Spring, the wheat which the land had thrown 
out, might be gathered up in handfuls. In the 
fall of 1861,1 sowed the same land, and imme¬ 
diately covered the whole basin with old wheat 
straw; last harvest this was nearly the heaviest 
of the field. Now, for the science of this: I 
imagine it consists in the fact that the straw 
Fig. 1. 
smaller, or finger pieces, for sheep and calves, 
there are two other sets of knives, one of 
which is represented in the engraving, at the 
side of the cylinder. These are stout blades 
about an inch long, and are placed in the form of ’ 
serves not to keep the land from freezing, or the 
wheat from being thrown out, but to protect it 
from the air and sun, and afford moisture to the 
roots until they can again fasten upon the soil. 
It may, however, be that the mulch acts in some 
degree as a protection from excessive cold. (a). 
One of my neighbors having similar land and 
looking about for a remedy, was told by a Penn¬ 
sylvania farmer to sow one and a half bushels 
of gypsum to the acre on such land after being 
seeded. He tried this with good effect, the sup¬ 
position being that the weight of the gypsum 
kept the soil more compact and prevented the 
throwing out of the plants. What think you ? (6.) 
I suppose, of course, that thorough drainage 
would operate as a permanent cure of such soils; 
but with us, where stones are not to be had, and 
tiles are very costly (owing to transportation), 
the next best plan seems to be the one I have 
suggested, giving, besides, a coat of manure, (c). 
(a.) Excessive cold is less injurious to winter 
grain, than the alternate freezing and thawing 
by which the roots are broken and the plants 
“thrown out” on wet soils, by the repeated 
expansions and contractions of the earth around 
them. Any covering of light material capable 
of holding considerable air, as snow, straw, 
leaves, etc., serves as a regulator of the temper¬ 
ature. Thus, on a warm day the air contained 
in the mulch being a poor conductor of heat, 
will partially prevent the soil beneath it from 
thawing, and during the cold nights it will par¬ 
tially retain the warmth gathered during the 
day, and prevent hard freezing. The mulch 
may also protect some of the roots from being 
killed, until they can fasten upon the soil, as 
suggested by our correspondent, but its chief 
value is probably due to the facts noted above. 
(6.) One-and-a-half bushels of gypsum, sown 
broadcast over an acre of ground, would have 
no appreciable effect on the compactness of the 
soil. In the case mentioned above, the grain 
was probably stimulated to strong growth by 
the plaster, and the Winter being very favorable, 
the yield chanced to be better than ordinary. 
(c.) Yes, draining is the cure. Where neither 
tile nor stone drains are available, wood drains 
as described in the June American Agriculturist , 
1861, (Yol. XX, page 169) will usually answer 
a good purpose, for a few years at least.—E d.] 
A Hew-Jersey Corn Marker. 
P. S. Brokaw, of Somerset Countjq N. J., 
writes to the American Agriculturist as follows: 
I propose offering your Iowa correspondent 
(C. J. Rhodes, in Jan. No., p. 15) a New-Year’s 
present, in the form of an improvement on his 
corn marker. When about dispensing with the 
common plow in marking for corn, some years 
ago, we tried his plan among other things; but 
by perseverance in experimenting, we have 
foimd the common block sled, with the improve¬ 
ment represented in the annexed sketch, far 
superior. 1st. It is much lighter, and requires 
less room in housing; 2nd. there is no need of 
stakes, set up in the field as guides, especially if 
there are two straight sides to the field; 3d. the 
marks will all be of uniform width, which is of 
great importance in the after cultivation of the 
crop by horse power. In making the imple¬ 
ment, the runners, r, r, are, of course, set as far 
apart, as the rows of corn are intended to be. 
To the middle of one of the beams, l>, a guide- 
pole, p, is attached, so as to admit of its being 
swung over to operate on either side of the sled. 
This pole is made twice the length of the dis¬ 
tance between the runners: thus, if the rows 
are to be four feet apart, the guide-pole must bo 
q. 
