124 
THE CULTIVATOR 
April. 
Mills for Farm Purposes. 
It should be remembered by those who desire to do 
their own grinding, that various considerations must 
be borne in mind in addition to the first cost of the 
mill, and its apparent capability of performing good 
work. The economy of the operation depends greatly, 
for instance, upon the amount of the work to be done. 
When but little is required, and there is a correspond¬ 
ingly small amount of power at hand to do it, we ques¬ 
tion whether it should be undertaken ; for considerable 
power is requisite to overcome the necessary friction 
and create sufficient speed in any mill, so that little or 
none will be left to do the work, and it is consequently 
slowly and very unsatisfactorily accomplished. Again 
the corn we produce at the north is a very different 
thing to grind from the softer kernels of the Southern 
varieties. Labor of men and animals is another im¬ 
portant item. With this preface we introduce the fol¬ 
lowing queries:— 
1. What is the best corn and cob or grain mill for 
farm use—for one-horse power ? and how much will it 
doper hour? 2. “Coleman’s” and “Felton’s” are 
the best iron mills I know of for two-horse power—will 
either of them work satisfactorily with one-horse power ? 
or are there better ones? 3. Do not the small burr- 
stone mills grind so slowly as to be practically of no 
use? 4. The Lever mills, such as “Little Giant,” 
“Magic,” “Young America,” &c., must necessarily 
do nearly dottble the work of the others, for the same 
power applied, but do not they grind only coarse pro- 
vender ? and 5. Is coarse provender as nutritious and 
economical feed as corn meal — or the same, finer 
ground, would be ? H. S. C. Connecticut. 
Answers. 1—Without speaking from personal experi¬ 
ence, we should say the smallest size of the “Little 
Giant,” manufactured in Philadelphia ; it will grind six 
bushels an hour of Southern corn, and perhaps three or 
four of that grown in your state. 2—We think not— 
would prefer the latter of the two, if we were to make 
the trial 3—So far as we know, these have given no 
satisfaction. 4—As fine, we presume, as any other 
metal mills, while, 5, the finer ground one’s provender 
is, the farther it will probably go—economy, however, 
requiring a due regard to the relative cost of the grain 
and the grinding. The smallest size of the “ Little 
Giant” weighs about 200 lbs. 
The subject, in all its relations, is one of great in¬ 
terest, and we hope some correspondents who are able 
to speak from personal experience, will give their views 
in detail upon it. 
-a- 
Manures and Corn Culture. 
Are we progressing backwards? I notice lately that 
some of your correspondents are advocating the decom¬ 
position of manures before they are used. The sub¬ 
ject, too, has been discussed in our legislative agricul¬ 
tural meetings. The use of long and unfermented 
manures was advocated if not initiated by the late 
Judge Buel, and adopted by many in this section, 
myself among the rest; but I have ever found it an 
excellent method of preserving the seeds of weeds, and 
have been partially going back to the old methods by 
half fermenting it, and working it into the soil with the 
cultivator. Fifty years ago, when we used to keep 
sheep, and sow from ten to thirty acres of rye aunual- 
ly their stock yards received an immense quantity of 
straw, whicn was allowed to rot down over summer, 
with the cows lying upon it—carted out in the fall, 
sometimes dumped into large heaps, to be re-carted in 
spring, but often laid in small heaps ready to be spread 
in spring. The heap manure as it was called, viz, that 
thrown from behind the cattle during the winter, being 
used fresh or unfermented. I think there were but few 
in those days who used more than fifteen loads of ma¬ 
nure to the acre; our loads meaning an ox-cart heap¬ 
ing full, I suppose about forty bushels. The average 
crop of corn thirty bushels to the acre. Mode of cul¬ 
tivation—plowed from five to six inches deep—plant in 
hills from three and a half to four feet apart each way, 
and hoe three times, making large hills—the last hoe¬ 
ing taking place just as the corn was tasseling out. 
This was the old method of raising corn, and I some¬ 
times think that with all our improved implements of 
agriculture, the turning fresh manure twelve inches 
deep under sod, the flat surface culture, the under¬ 
draining, and the improving of swamp land, which 
very soon needs manure as much as upland, has added 
more to our vanity, and to the purse of the ingenious 
inventors of agricultural tools, than to our crops. Those 
great crops of which we sometimes hear, were never 
raised with 15 loads of manure to the acre ; but may 
heaven bless experimenters and experiments, and you 
for spreading them before the public. L. Butterfield. 
Tyngsborough, Mass. 
- »-«- «-- 
Expense of liaising Corn per Acre. 
Believing that a knowledge of the cost of raising 
crops in the different States, would tend to the intro¬ 
duction of new and more economical modes of culture, 
I submit a statement of plan and cost:— 
Plowing one acre,.$1.00 
Dragging J day, 25 cents, and 6 qts. seed. 10 cents_ 35 
Planting—one-eighth of day for man, horse and drill, 18 
Working four times with cultivator, % day each,_1.50 
Husking on the hill and putting in granary,.2.00 
$5.03 
or 4j days’ work besides team labor. 
Produce, from 50 to 60 bushels shelled corn, at 25 cents 
per bush., say.$13.00 
Cost of Culture,. 5.00 
Profit,. $8.00 
I don’t wish to be understood that all raise that 
amount, or sell for $8 profit, as many do not half plow 
and not half cultivate, and then either let the cattle 
eat half the remainder, or let it stand through several 
snows, and the prairie chicks eat it; but such culture 
as I state, will always raise that amount. Then gather 
in season, and keep till June, and it will always meet 
the above figures. J. B. Jones. Eden Bale , Iowa. 
-e-9-4- 
Covering for Milli-Pans. 
I have a new plan for covering milk-pans in sum¬ 
mer, to keep out dust, flies, &c. I take a piece of com¬ 
mon brown sheeting, and cut it about three inches 
larger than the top of the pan, and make a wide hem, 
say an inch, around it. * I then take large wire and 
bend it in a circle same size as the cloth, and run it 
into the hem, and fasten it there. When laid over the 
pan, the wire falls over the edge of the pan, to the ef¬ 
fectual exclusion of dust or any other substance, h. a. t. 
- m - 
Steam Engines for Plowing and olher Work. 
—The Illinois State Agricultural Society offer a pre¬ 
mium of five thousand dollars for the best practical 
working engine. 
