THE CULTIVATOR 
177 
namental —embroidery and fancy needle work, a display 
of which was made last year, which reflected greatly 
the fine taste and industry of our farmers’ daughters. A 
piano made in the county was presented, and pronounced 
by qualified judges to be quite equal in tone and finish 
to the average of those made elsewhere; besides several 
well executed oil paintings and pictorial engravings, by 
artists of Ithaca. I had proposed some observations on 
the great importance of these in door exhibitions, but 
want of space will compel me to defer giving them un¬ 
til another time. 
Although a large proportion of the farmers returned 
to their homes on the evening of the first day, yet very 
many returned to participate in the proceedings of the 
second, which went off with spirit, and not a little of 
enthusiasm. Five teams entered at the plowing match, 
and although all exhibited good work, yet the prize was 
won by the Southard plow, as yet “ unknown to fame,” 
beating two other teams attached to the celebrated Liv¬ 
ingston county plows. This was a decided triumph for 
Mr. Southard, who is a native of the ‘county, quite a 
mechanical genius, and his improved plow is the result 
solely of his inventive powers. 
Early in the afternoon a procession was formed and 
marched, attended with a band of music, together with 
the intrepid fire companies, in their showy costumes, 
and drawing their beautiful engines, to the Methodist 
chapel, to hear the address, which was delivered by 
Mr. J. J. Speed, Jr. of Ithaca. The orator had him¬ 
self been a practical farmer, and in changing his pro¬ 
fession, he acknowledged he had taken a “ Paddy hoist, 
and jumped two pegs lower;^’ that in his estimation no 
avocation could be more exalted and reputable than that 
of farming; but however reputable it might be, yet he 
i-egretted to say that that independence which should be 
its concomitant had been latterly too much sacrificed by 
the extravagance of farmers generally; that too many, 
instead of holding aloft their heads like independent 
farmers, and indulging in no fear of looking any man 
and all men in the face, thej' skulked behind corners 
and by streets to avoid their needy creditors; hence he 
urged us never to buy beyond our capacity to pay when- 
ver the creditor demanded his just dues, and especially 
never run to a bank to borrow, as bank officers were the 
most superstitious of all men, being rigid observers of 
set hours and days, and demanded equally rigid observ¬ 
ance on the part of those who worshipped at their shrine. 
The importance of bestowing more attention in making 
and judiciously disposing of manure, was foi’cibly 
shown; that a contrary course would, as it has in a 
thousand of instances, impoverish our farms and our¬ 
selves, and compel to the west, where very many have 
the poor privilege of working four hours of the day, 
and shaking with fever and ague the other twenty. He 
drew a humorous picture of the slattern farmer, who, 
among other items, permitted his pigs to tresijass within 
his door yard, nay, within his dwelling, and thereby to 
sour the temper of his amiable half, to breed dirt, dis¬ 
content and misery, where only should be cleanliness, 
therefore health, sweet tempers and cheerfulness, there¬ 
fore happiness. My space will not permit me to notice 
any further the well chosen topics of this address. Af¬ 
ter it was concluded, the reports of viewing committees 
w^ere read, and officers of the Society elected for the en¬ 
suing year. 
Thus ended the fourth agricultural exhibition of 
Tompkins county, with a unanimous feeling that we 
have effected much good, and the futui-e is full of pro¬ 
mise of efi'ecting still greater. 
I had intended to have accompanied this with a no¬ 
tice of an agreeable visit to Owego, to attend the Tioga 
Fair, but must defer it to another time. Your friend, 
L. A. Morrell. 
Lake Ridge, Tompkins co., Oct. 2, 1843. 
LETTER FROM IOWA. 
Messrs. Editors —The farmers inhabiting Northern 
Iowa,” have harvested a heavy crop of wheat, free from 
either rust or smut. In the southern portion of the ter¬ 
ritory, however, the wheat was mostlywinterkilled.” 
Notwithstanding the severe drouth through June and 
July, the August rains will produce good crops of corn, 
potatoes, &c.; hemp will not, however, be so good. 
From recent observations, I am satisfied, that there is 
no region of country in the United States, better suited to 
the raising of sheep than Iowa. In fact, we have a great 
country; one of the noblest rivers in the world wash its 
eastern border for 650 miles; the Missouri river on the 
south, the St. Peters on the north, and numerous tributa- 
I'ies intersect the country, which furnish water power in 
great abundance. There are some beautiful cascades in 
the interior. We have a rich soil, a salubrious climate, 
numerous springs, and the earth contains her endless 
stores of minerals. 
Wild plums, apples and cherries, are large and abun¬ 
dant, and the fruit of the oak seldom fails. And as the 
doctors say, it is “ distressingly healthy.” 
Send us on some of your enterprising men, however 
poor they may be in regard to dollars and cents, provided 
always, they have capital in the shape of industry and 
perseverance. A man who cannot support a family in 
Iowa, should be expelled from either hemisphere or 
or translated to the moon. 
I know of no commodity, wares or merchandise, that 
go off with such rapidity as do girls; and a married lady 
coming to our territory, should always bring along at 
least one single sister, or sister-in-law. ° 
Dubuque, Iowa, Sept., 1843. John King. 
References. —A. A. Boiler—B. B. Steam Box—C. C. 
Vat—D. D. Chimney—E. E. Cross piece between stan¬ 
chions, on which the steam box rests and turns—F. F. 
Arch. 
a. a. Conductor—b. b. Feeder—o. c. Shutters which 
slide in grooves—d. d. Stanchions—e. e. False bottom 
to steam box. 
MR. FIELD’S ROOT STEAMER. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —At the earnest solici¬ 
tation of Mr. Arnold Field, before his death, I have made 
a drawing of his Root Sfeamer, which he had used for 
the last five or six years with such perfect success, that 
he was desirous for the benefit of pork growers gene¬ 
rally, his system of cooking food for fatting pork should 
be known; and at his request, I enclose the drawing with 
a description, that you may exercise your judgment on 
the same, and publish it if you deem it worthy of notice. 
I observed in the last number of the Cultivator, a plan 
of a root steamer, which in some respects must be in¬ 
convenient; one in particular, in taking the roots from 
the steam box. In the plan before us, this is remedied 
by the box being on hinges and easily turned, and its 
contents emptied into a vat, to be mixed with meal, &c. 
The boiler as well as the steam box is made of two inch 
plank: the boiler bottdm is made of sheet iron, for which 
cast iron may be easily substituted; but sheet iron one-six¬ 
teenth of an inch, I think is far preferable. The drawing 
is made on a scale of one inch to four feet, which makes 
an apparatus of sufficient size for the use of most of farm- 
ei'S. The steam box containing about 15 bushels, which, 
when the steam is up, can be steamed in fifteen or twenty 
minutes. The building to contain such an apparatus, 
should be built one and a half or two stories high, as the 
steam box is filled from the second floor while standing 
in a vertical position, and then turned down and rests up¬ 
on the conducting pipe, which is made of wood. The 
feeder is also made of wood, and attached to the boiler 
in such a manner as to run to within half an inch of the 
bottom, to prevent escape of steam, and through which 
water is conducted to the boiler. The water is drawn 
from the boiler by means of a tube and stopcock. The 
boiler should be placed over the arch in such a manner 
as to prevent any fire or extreme heat coming in contact 
with the lower edge of the box, as is represented by dot¬ 
ted lines in the horizontal projection. A board one inch 
thick is made fast two or three inches from the bottom 
of the steam box, in which numerous half inch holes are 
bored, in order that the steam maybe equally distributed 
throughout the mass. The steam box should be a little in¬ 
clined, that the water which is condensed may run out. 
The drawings arc made on the plan of horizontal and 
vertieal projections, which may be easily understood by 
considering the eye above the apparatus in the horizon¬ 
tal projection or plan, (fig. 91.) and in front in the ver¬ 
tical projection or elevation, (fig. 90.) 
The total cost of the above described apparatus did not 
exceed twenty dollars, and may be built much cheaper. 
Very respectfully, 
H. B. Field, U. S. Army. 
New Berlin, Chenango co., N. Y., Oct. 12, 1843. 
THE FARMER’S MANUAL. 
A Practical Treatise on the Nature and Value of Manures, 
founded from experiments on various crops, with a brief 
account of the most recent discoveries in Agricultural 
Chemistry. By F. Faulkner, and the author of 
“British Husbandry;” 153 pages 8mo: published in 
New-York by D. Appleton & Co., 200 Broadway, and 
in Philadelphia by George S. Appleton, 148 Chesnut- 
street. Price 31| cents, or bound in cloth, 50 cents. 
This is a cheap reprint of a recent British publication 
on that branch of agriculture which relates to manures, 
as well as to discoveries in the science of this most va¬ 
luable art. Whenever a business or employment is car¬ 
ried on without knowledge, order or system, it is un- 
skillfully managed, and generally unproductive. Such 
has frequently been the case in agriculture, but the 
doubts, the mistakes and the losses have awakened farm¬ 
ers in Europe and in a portion of the United States to 
their true interests, the study of the sciences connected 
with their art. Hence we find an increase of publica¬ 
tions on agriculture; and the one recently published, 
whose title we have given above, is very valuable to 
the farming interest, because it is cheap and concise, 
and is not so much encumbered with learned and tech¬ 
nical phrases as some others which have been published. 
The author divides his subject into three parts; 1st, an¬ 
imal and vegetable manures; 2d, mineral and artificial 
manures; 3d, on the management and application of 
manures. The first part is divided into six chapters, 
the second into five, and the third into twelve; from 
every one of which the practical farmer may take some 
hint or reap some real advantage. 
We first opened the book with some prejudice, as 
our eye caught the title, “ The Farmer’s Manual,” 
directly over which, on the margin of the cover, were 
the words, “ Muck is the mother of money.” Here we 
thought was some quackery, or some plagiarism from 
the publication of our countryman, Ur. Dana, by an al¬ 
teration of the title of his work, “A Muck Manual for 
Farmers.” But as we proceeded in the perusal of the 
volume before us, we became more and more interested, 
and found that though treating on the same subjects 
with Dr. Dana, it was done in a different manner, and 
easier for the reading farmer to comprehend. 
The object of the treatise is said to be “ to explain 
the nature and constitution of manures generally; to 
point out the means of augmenting the quantity, and 
preserving the fertilizing power of farm yard manure; 
the various sources of mineral and other artificial ma¬ 
nures, and the causes of their frequent failure.” 
We found, too, that the author of the ‘‘ Farmer’s 
Manual” used the word “muck” in a different sense from 
Dr. Dana. Our countryman means, by muck, the black 
sediment of ponds, swamps and peat bogs; while Mr. 
Faulkner means by the same word the barnyard com¬ 
post, consisting of various animal and vegetable sub¬ 
stances, mingled with such earthy and saline ingredients 
as are known to add value to artificial and barnyard ma¬ 
nures. 
We were pleased that the Farmer’s Manual had pre¬ 
served the word humus and its general acce; ation 
among farmers, instead of the uncouth term “ geine” 
employetyiy Dr. Dana, a word derived from the Greek 
language, and difficult to pronounce. The term humus 
has been in use among agricultural and periodical wri¬ 
ters so long, that farmers have become familiar with its 
sound and meaning; and we hope that Dr. Dana, in the 
next edition of his “ Muck Manual,” will restore it and 
abandon “ geine,” as it is difficult to fix the pronuncia¬ 
tion of this latter word, and whether it be of one sylla¬ 
ble, pronounced as gine, of two syllables, as ge-ine, or 
of th^ee, as ge-i-ne. 
In countries which have been ages under cultivation, 
crops cannot be profitably raised without manure. The 
aufhor of the Farmer’s Manual on this subject advises 
the following course: 
“ To increase the quantity of manure raised on the 
land, should, therefore, be the constant aim of every 
farmer; every portion of apparently refuse vegetable 
and animal matter should also be carefully collected and 
added to the dung heap, and in this manner it is incon¬ 
ceivable what additional quantities of excellent muck 
may be producq;!.” (Page 24.) 
This muck or barnyard manure requires the attention 
of every farmer, and our author says that “ in the ma¬ 
nagement of farmyard manure two primary objects pre¬ 
sent themselves: first, to prevent waste of every kind; 
and secondly, to increase the quantity of dung by every 
means in the farmer’s power. The waste is effected in 
the manner before alluded to, by unnecessary and exces- 
siv^e fermentation, by which the organic parts are dis¬ 
sipated in a gaseous form, and by suffering water to run 
through the dung, by which the inorganic substances, 
the salts, are canned away in solution. No dung should 
be allowed to ferment until a few weeks before it is put 
into the soil, and then only in that slight degree as to 
render it manageable, and to facilitate its decomposition 
when in the soil.” (Page 69.) 
If heretofore there has been a want of care in the 
management of farmyard dung, it is no reason, our author 
thinks, (p. 75,) why that negligence should continue 
among farmers of the present day. Hence, if a culti¬ 
vator of the soil turn his attention to the subject of ma¬ 
nures, he can, by directions contained in the Farmer’s 
Manual, increase both the quantity and quality of his 
compost or muck (in the author’s sense,) to a great ex¬ 
tent. The author thinks that such compost is preferable 
