78 
March. 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Oar experience in cutting fodder has been varied. 
We have used, seen, and heard of many horse and 
hand power machines for cutting fodder, but most of 
them, we regret to say, incline one, after having test¬ 
ed them for cutting fodder, to “resort to the old prac¬ 
tice of feeding stalks whole.” Last summer we visit¬ 
ed the well-managed farm of Hon. Louis P. Legg, 
President of the Tioga County. Ag Society, and there 
saw a machine which fully meets the wants of every 
farmer working from one acre to five hundred acres. 
It is a combined hand and horse power machine, man¬ 
ufactured by J. E. Dutton & Co., Fulton, Oswego Co., 
N. Y., Cuming’s Patent, price $25, and will cut corn¬ 
stalks, bound straw or loose straw, equally well, from 
half an inch to two inches long, as may be desired. 
There are four knives set on a cylindrical wheel, cut¬ 
ting spirally, and when all on, cut half an inch long, 
making corn stalks or straw, to be fed with grain, a 
very good length, while for cutting straw to feed with 
stalks without grain, we usually remove two knives op¬ 
posite each other, which cuts one inch long, and, if de¬ 
sired, the third knife may be removed, leaving it to 
cut two inches long. The machine is a self-feeder, find 
hence will draw one straw as well as a mouth full. 
We have a two-horse (Emery) power, and with the 
lowest possible elevation of the band wheel from the 
floor, one of our 1200 lbs', horses will cut two bushels 
of straw, threshed by machine, per minute. A little 
more elevation, or another horse is required to cut 
stalks or bound straw well, and of course it will cut 
them much faster than loose straw. 
We regard it as an almost perfect piece of machine¬ 
ry. Dunham & Wood. Etna, Tompkins Co., N. Y 
Oats on Turnip Ground. 
Messes. Editors —You published in your paper for 
March 26th, my experiments with raising turnips by 
the application of guano. It may interest some of 
your readers to see an account of the oat crop on the 
ground where the flat turnips grew. In pulling the 
turnips, three rows on each side were thrown together 
in winrows and then topped. Part of these tops were 
carried off and fed to sheep, but the greater portion 
remained on the ground through the winter. In April 
sowed to oats—plowed in with one horse plow. Very 
soon dark green strips were observed through the whole 
piece. For some time I could not account for the dif¬ 
ference, but by examining the strips closely, I found 
they were just on the rows on which the tops were left; 
and they have continued to grow ahead until the pre¬ 
sent time. I should judge double the quantity of oats 
are on the strips manured with tops. The whole tur¬ 
nip ground is far superior to corn ground joining it, of 
the same quality, treated alike, except the very small 
quantity of manure in the potato hills, and the 200 lbs. 
guano for turnips. 
From the result I consider turnips an excellent crop 
to prepare the ground for oats. J. C. Taylor. Holm- 
del, N. J., July 23, 1857. 
P. S. To show the size o the oats on the strips, I 
would mention that one week ago I measured some 
pulled up by the roots—their length was six feet and 
one half inch. 
2d P. S. 1 find the above put away safely, but on 
looking it over, thought it might be worth publishing, 
so I send it thus late. j. c. t. 
How Manure is made in Switzerland. 
In the first number of vol. x. of the Country Gen¬ 
tleman, appeared an article on the management of 
manure in Switzerland, by S. W. Johnson. A prolon¬ 
ged stay last year in the French part of Switzerland, 
and the acquaintance of some of the best farmers, gave 
me an opportunity to know and study thoroughly their 
method of making and saving manure, and before 
and after I went there, I had tried it enough to 
know that it can be employed here with great benefit 
and little trouble. To-day, being at leisure, I will try 
to give you a short description of it, with the hope that 
it may benefit some of your numerous correspondents. 
On the farm of Mr. C , of Moulhey, near the Lake 
of Neufchatel, I had the opportunity of seeing that 
method carried into effect in as easy and simp’e a man¬ 
ner as possible. Mr. C. is considered one of the best far¬ 
mers of the Canton de Vaud, and I was fortunate enough 
to get introduced to him, and spend a day on his farm; 
and with a kindness and politeness seldom equalled, 
seeing my interest in agricultural matters, he showed 
me all over his property, pointing out the many im¬ 
provements, and thus by his agreeable and interesting 
conversation, giving me the best lesson in agriculture 
I ever received. If it was not out of my subject, I 
should like to give you a description of his beautiful 
farm, but I shall speak only of that important part, the 
manure heap. 
Mr. C.’s farm buildings are situated on the top of a 
hill gently inclined towards the lake. His stock con¬ 
sists of forty cows, five yoke of oxen, and six or seven 
horses. 
The manure is carried to the heap every day, the lit¬ 
ter thoroughly mixed with the dung, and saturated 
with the urine. The heap stands about twenty yards 
from the buildings, a little lower down the hill, and is 
built in the manner described by Prof. Johnson, with 
the exception of plaster of Paris, which is not used. 
The cistern is built a little on one side of it, so as to 
receive all its drainings, and also the surplus liquid from 
the stables. About one hundred yards lower down, on 
a level spot, Mr. C. collects all the numerous materials 
for compost so easily found on a farm, adding to it 
scrapings from the road and ditches, heaping the whole 
carefully in a large square pile, and keeping the top of 
it always level and loose. 
Taking advantage of the inclination of the ground, 
he had a pipe laid from the cistern there, and every 
two or three weeks, by its means, he drenches tho¬ 
roughly the compost heap, thus making it every way 
equal to the best stable manure. An artificial pond 
by the side of it, receives its drainings, and the water 
of the fountain at tbe house ; when full its contents 
are let loose, and irrigate many an acre of fine mead¬ 
ows that lie beneath. 
By such admirable management, every particle of 
manure made on that farm is saved, and the natural 
result is that although wheat and cclza are the staple 
crops raised by Mr. C., he has, without the help of any 
foreign manure, improved the quality of his land in a 
very remarkable manner, and that in a country, where 
to keep up the land in a fair condition, it must be 
heavily manured every third or fourth year. 
On another farm, in summer, the liquid manure of a 
few cows was pumped from the cistern into a barrel on 
a cart, and spread on a field of sainfoin, used for soil- 
