m 
OORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FES. SO 
MATTHEWS’ GARDEN 8EED DRILL. 
Seed Drills, as at present constructed, 
are so much superior to the unreliable ones 
formerly made that they now enter into very 
general use, and are regarded by all vege¬ 
table growers as among the indispensable 
labor-saving implements of the day. 
Among the many excellent ones in market 
is the justly-popular Matthews’ Garden 
Seed Drill, a representation of which is here 
presented to our readers. It is one of the 
latest and most approved patterns, and was 
awarded the first prize at the New England 
Fair, last autumn, in competition with other 
leading drills. It was invented by Mr. E. G. 
Matthews, a well known inventor and man¬ 
ufacturer of agricultural implements, and is 
finished with that tasto and thoroughness 
characteristic of all his productions. The 
great merit of this Drill consists in the sim¬ 
plicity of its construction, there being no 
parts subject to unusual wear; also its dura¬ 
bility and the certainty and ease with which 
it performs its work. It ia provided with an 
ingenious device, which gauges the deposit of 
the seed uniformly to the depth required ; 
and its general arrangement is such that, 
whilo the operator is propelling it at a com¬ 
fortable pace back and forth across the lot, 
it opens the furrow, drops the seeds, covers 
them, rolls them and marks the next row, 
with an accuracy and precision impossible to 
accomplish by hand. 
For further particulars concerning this 
valuable implement we refer to the adver¬ 
tisement of Mr. J. B. Small of Boston, given 
in the advertising department of this paper. 
! room to be warmed. The furnace is very 
effective in this direction, as there is always 
an ample supply of surplus heat. 
" The gas, as fast as generated, passes 
through the pipe to the 'condenser,’ in 
which is deposited the tar evolved with the 
gas. From the condenser the gas passes to 
the ‘washer,’ in which other extraneous 
matters are taken up and a further purifica¬ 
tion effected, and from thence into the gas¬ 
ometer. The final purification i 9 aceom- 
<£i|0nomg. 
8EVERAL SUGGESTIONS. 
Mr. D. Lee, in alatenumberof Rural New- 
Yorker, sets one to thinking how extraor¬ 
dinary it seems that chemists do not use 
their talents in devising means to concen¬ 
trate the vast amount of night soil, &c., 
GAS AND HEAT COMBINED. 
For years the great desideratum, in many 
sections of the country, has been an appa¬ 
ratus for manufacturing good and cheap gas 
for private dwellings, hotels, schools, church¬ 
es and puble institutions. Many effort* have 
been made to accomplish this laudable and 
economical object, but generally with only 
partial success. Recently, however, a “Com¬ 
bined Gas Generator and Heating Furnace” 
has been in operation at, 280 Court St., Brook¬ 
lyn, N. Y., which has attracted the atten¬ 
tion of both the people and press and elicited 
much commendation. Prominent citizens of 
Brooklyn who have examined the apparatus 
in operation, commend It in the strongest 
terms, saying they are fully satisfied that 
all the inventor claims for it is justly merit¬ 
ed, and that “it is clean, simple, safe—giving 
ample heat and a brilliant light at a mar¬ 
vellously low figure.” The proprietor of the 
store in which the apparatus has been tested 
for some mouths certifies to having “used 
eighteen Bix-foot burners producing a light 
never equaled by City Gas, at the aggregate 
cost of 25 cents a day for Gas and Heat 1” And 
he adds :—“ The Gas is pure and steady, the 
heat more than adequate, apparatus clean, 
labor no more than an ordinary furnace; 
the coal that makes the gas to-day 
furnishes the coke for the fire to-mor¬ 
row, etc,” The safety of the gas, as well 
as its economy, is also assured by tha 
same party, who says he finds his in¬ 
surance is not increased and that there 
is no occasion for alarm. 
The editors or representatives of sev¬ 
eral prominent, papers have examined 
the apparatus and spoken of it in high 
terms, and we are confident that it is 
worthy the attention of all interested 
in the subject, especially those of our 
readers in isolated situations. 
A recent number of American Pro¬ 
gress, which gives a cut and description 
of this apparatus, says “it seems to 
solve completely the problem of portable 
or private gas works, possessing as it Afj 
does the elements of simplicity, safety f ® 
and economy.” We give herewith an ( M 
illustration of the apparatus, with the |® 
following brief description : sS 
“ The apparatus consists of a furnace 
—seen at the left in the cut-in the up¬ 
per part of which is a cylindrical retort 
in which common bituminous coal is ^jf? 
“roasted” at red heat by means of a "1? 
coke fire. The retort is arranged so 
that it may be partially rotated as often 
as necessary to bring a new surface in 
contact with the fire—an improvement 
which secures the advantage of a greatly in- 1 
creased durability over the ordinary retort. V 
At the top of the furnace are seen openings t 
for hot air pipes, competing with the air- t 
jacket of the furnace. The cold air enters at j: 
the apertures seen near the bottom, and p 
passes through the pipes and registers to the fi 
MATTHEWS’ GARDEN 
plished bypassing the gas through a square whic 
cast-iron box, filled with a new compound, that i 
the constituents ol which are kept a secret, it for 
but which is claimed to give much better quan 
results than any process in use by the gas siden 
companies, so that the light is remarkably easy 
pure and brilliant, and the gas unusually free and t 
from sulphur or ammonia vapors, which are that i 
so unhealthy and so destructive to silver into t 
plate, &o. Tile light is guaranteed to be of of th 
a higher candle-power than that furnished the c 
by the companies—the estimate being that a dirtie 
four-foot burner gives a light equal to a six- to by 
foot burner with city gas. pursu 
“The apparatus has the advantage of oc- “ T 
cupying but a email spare, is portable and never 
easily moved; it is simple und durable in foily 
construction ; can be easily managed by any coddl 
one who can manage a furnace; and in sum- and a 
mer time (when the heat is not needed and out to 
but little gas used) will make gas enough in Old \v 
one day to last a week.” for tl 
All communications in regard to purchase tlu 
of Machines and Territory, with right to 
manufacture, should be addressed lo M. F. 
James, President Portable Gas Machine Co, 1 * eve 
105 Broad Street, New York, or to Isaac f Very 
Miller, Superintendent, 254 President St 
Brooklyn, N. Y. ’ Wlth 
SEED DRILL 
Umbrella Shades for Plowmen. — If 
a plowman walks or rides as he plows, here¬ 
after, it will not be the fault of Inventors if 
which is wasted in cities and elsewhere so 
that a profit might be made by substituting 
it for the guano, &c., which is sold in such 
quantities in sacks and barrels. Any con¬ 
sideration on the subject bLows it would be 
easy to make odorless powder from the tons 
and thousands of tons of fertilizing matter 
that is washed from millions of human beings 
into the sea; and everybody reading aught 
of the corporations and political bodies of 
the country, is well aware that ten times 
dirtier ways of making money are resorted 
to by men who cannot succeed in the general 
pursuits of trade. 
“ The Doct or’s Htory ” is first rate ; there 
never was anything better illustrating the 
foily of drugging and dosing, messing and 
coddling, but this insane mania for physic 
and applications of blisters, &e., is carried 
out to a great extent to animals, and every 
old woman of a man has a long list of cures 
for the evils produced by foolish treatment 
of the poor creatures in the possession of 
ignorant farmers and there are also in¬ 
numerable cures for imaginary ailments. 
Prevention is so much better than cure in 
every case that the weak mind boasting of 
his cures ought to be set down instantor 
with “ why not have prevented the disease ?” 
The prevention of waste of every manure 
as is done in China, the prevention of wastiug 
fertility in the soil when new and the pre¬ 
vention of disease and ailments in live stock 
would be a great step towards the salvation 
in their own hands, unless, it may be those 
who are over head and ears In debt and can¬ 
not command the means to extricate them¬ 
selves. The most essential point is to have 
the land in such condition as to pay for culti¬ 
vation, for the labor and most of the ex¬ 
penses are the same on the soil which grows 
only 20 bushels per acre as on such as will 
produce from 30 to 40 ; consequently a farmer 
must put his land in such a state of fertility 
as to make it grow full crops. If a farmer 
cannot find money or credit to enrich his 
whole farm at ouce, he must allow part of it 
to lie in grass and graze it, for it is use less to 
plow and sow such fields as will not pay for 
the labor ; and if he cannot buy stock to eat 
the grass It is generally easy enough to take 
in animals whose owners are ready to pay a 
certain sum per week, or per month; and 
thus there will be no loss on the poorer 
fields; and if it can be contrived to have 
sheep as well as other varieties of animals, 
and some cil cake or grain can be profitably 
fed to them, the soil will mend very fast. 
Every farmer ought to be thoroughly ac¬ 
quainted with the profitable management of 
horses, cows and sheep ; for farms away 
from cities, or ai.y cheap supply of purchased 
manure, must have a good lot of live stock 
kept on them or they will soon wear out ; 
for it is ridiculous to talk or write about ro¬ 
tations of crops unless in the course some of 
the crops are used to renovate. 
Even steam and every other modern inven¬ 
tion and appliance will not avail, if the fer¬ 
tility is not kept up, for the farm must be 
fed as a necessity quite as great as for the 
engine to be supplied with fuel or the live 
stock With food. A Working Farmer 
SOURCES OF NITROGEN AND AMMONIA 
FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. 
COMBINED CKAS O-KISTLlli^VTOlt AND HEATING FURNACE. 
One of the staple articles which is largely 
used in supplying the stimulating properties 
in the manufacture of fertilizers is sulphate 
of ammonia, which is generally sold with a 
guaranty that It shall yield 24% to 25 per 
cent, of actual ammonia, and its cost, in 
moderate quantities, is about fie. per lb. Ni¬ 
trate of sad a is very largely used in England 
for the same purpose, and to a small extent 
in this country. It is equivalent to 19 or 20 
per cent, of ammonia when its quality is of 
good average. Its cost is variable, the pres¬ 
ent price being 4 to 4%c. per lb., according 
to the quantity of purchase. Both the 
above-described articles are dissolved easily 
in water. 
The article more largely used than either 
of those named is dried blood, or dried blood 
and meat, which is ground and put in nice 
condition and sold under the name of nitrine. 
It varies somewhat in quality, the average 
yield of ammonia being about 12 percent. 
Iu making an amoioniuted superphosphate] 
500 Us. of this are taken and mixed with 
1,500 lbs. of plain superphosphate, thus 
making, as will be seen, an article yielding 3 
per cent, of ammonia and 8 to 9 per cent, of 
soluble phosphoric acid—a good, plain super¬ 
phosphate, having in it 11 to 13 per cent, of 
soluble phosphoric acid. 
The dried blood and meat is produced 
“ in tliis country to the extent of 8,000 to 
10,000 tons per annum, und in its con¬ 
sumption takes the place of Peruvian 
guauo, which was formerly used for the 
same purpose. The cost of the dry blcod 
and meat is about 845 per ton “by the 
single ton. 
“Fish guano,” which is the name 
given to the matter remaining in the 
presses after the oil is extracted from 
the manhaden fish, which are taken in 
large quantities on our coast, contains, 
when in its crude state, an average of 
6% per cent, of ammonia, or nitrogen 
equivalent to that amount. When dried 
and ground, it becomes a convenient 
commercial article, yielding about 10 per 
> <^nt. of ammonia. The crude firii guano 
is sold largely in some sections and used 
by making a compost of one-half good 
p tea™ and letting it remain in the heap 
J for t wo or three weeks. It costs at retail, 
put up in barrels, about 825 per ton. 
In addition to these there may be 
mentioned dried “tantings” from fat 
boding establishments, which contain 
bone and ni-trogenous matters in quan¬ 
tities which show by analysis 3 to 4 per 
cent, ammonia and 20 to ,25 per cent, of 
bone phosphate of lime. w. 
he is not protected from the rays of the sun | of farm ere ; it really only requires fore- 
htr n n - a. , i . i .. i . . . . ‘ J * 
by an umbrella, since a patent umbrella at¬ 
tachment that may be applied to any plow 
has been invented. Next thing we want is a 
patent fan for those who labor in an atmos¬ 
phere where it is necessary to climb a tree, 
fence or ladder to “ catch breath.” 
• v •/ i—- —- - '' 
thought by clear common sense, to see that 
the salvation of agriculture could be accom¬ 
plished if cause and effect were studied and 
if then all the old customs were reckoned at 
their true worth. 
The salvation of farmers is most decidedly 
Take an Agricultural Paper.— it is 
true economy for the farmer to take a good 
paper devoted to his profession. He who 
tries to get on without it will succeed as well 
as a doctor or lawyer who does not study; 
and still some farmers say they don’t take’ 
any paper because they have no time to read. 
