THE CULTIVATOR 
1849 . 
American Institute 
gold medal 
New*York Agricultural Warehouse, 
BY A. B. ALLEN & CO. 
Nos. 189 & 191 Water Street, New York. 
T HE Implements kept, embrace upwards of FIFTY different 
kinds of Plows, a great variety of Harrows, Cultivators, Rol¬ 
lers, Seed Sowers, Horse Powers, Grain Cradles, Threshing- and 
Fanning Machines, Mills, Hay Cutters, Corn Shelters, Shovels, 
Spades, Hoes, Scythes, Rakes, Wagons, Wheels, Carts, Wheel¬ 
barrows, Pumps, Rice Threshers and Hullers, Road Scrapers, Ax¬ 
es, Chains, &c., &c. These implements are mostly made up from 
new and highly improved patterns, and are warranted to be of 
the best materials, and put together in the strongest maimer, and of 
a superior finish. 
Horticultural Tools —A complete assortment. 
Castings, Skeleton Plows, Harrow Teeth, and Iron work of all 
kinds done to order in the cheapest and best manner. 
Steayn Engines, Sugar Boilers, Sugar Mills, Saw Mills, Kettles, 
Cauldrons, &c., for Plantations. 
Wire Cloth and Sieves —Different kinds and sizes kept constantly 
on hand. 
Seeds for the Field and Garden —Such as Improved Winter and 
Spring Wheat, Rye, Barley, Oats, Corn, Beans, Peas, Turnip, Cab¬ 
bage, Beet, Carrot, Parsnip, Clover, and Grass Seeds, improved va¬ 
rieties of Potatoes, &c , &c. These are warranted fresh and su¬ 
perior of their kind. 
Fertilizers— Peruvian and African Guano, Lime, Plaster of Pa¬ 
ris, Bone Dust, See., Sc c 
Fruit and Ornamental Trees and Shrubs —Orders taken for these, 
and executed from a choice of the best Nurseries, Gardens, and Con¬ 
servatories in the United States. 
Horses Cattle, Sheep, and Swine —Orders received for stock of all 
kinds, to be executed to the best advantage, and shipped in the most 
careful manner. 
Agricultural Books —A general and varied assortment of these for 
sale. 
Produce on Consignment— All kinds of Agricultural Produce will 
be received for sale on consignment. 
A Catalogue of the above Implements, Seeds, &c., of 100 pages, 
handsomely illustrated with plates, will be forwarded by mail, when 
requested, postpaid. 
Subscriptions to the AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST received. 
Price $1 per year, for 12 numbers, of 32 pages each, royal octavo, 
numerously illustrated and descriptive of the latest'improvements 
on all subjects connected with agriculture. Seven volumes now 
printed, and handsomely bound, at $1.25 each. Jan. 1, 1848—It 
THE HORTICULTURIST, 
AND 
Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste 
EDITED BY A. J. DOWNING, 
Author of “ Fruits and Fruit Trees of America,” “ Landscape 
Gardening .” “ Cottage Residences ,” \‘c., fyc. 
T HIS work is published by the proprietor of “The Cultivator,” 
at his office in Albany, to whom all orders should be sent. Two 
volumes are completed, and the third is now in course of publica¬ 
tion. The numbers are issued promptly on the first of the month, 
each containing 48 pages, and embellished with an engraved fron¬ 
tispiece, and illustrated with numerous engravings of Rural Cotta¬ 
ges and Villas, Farm-Houses, Gates, Lodges, Ice-Houses, Vineries, 
Fruits, Flowering Shrubs and Plants, & c , Sec. 
Terms. —Three Dollars per year—Two copies for Five Dollars. 
KT* Subscribers may commence with the volume in July, or 
with the January number. The back Vols. and back Nos. can be 
furnished. 
Agents for “ The Cultivator,” will do us a favor by acting al¬ 
so as Agents for “ The Horticulturist,” a work designed to 
promote rural taste andrural art, not only in the orchard and the 
garden, but in all that gives character and pleasure to a country re¬ 
sidence. LUTHER TUCKER. 
Albany, January, 1849 . 
Stevens 9 Spiral Hay and Straw Cutters. 
T HE subscriber wishes to call the attention of the public to the 
following extract from the report upon Hay cutters, of the 
committee on New Inventions, Machinery, Optical and Philosophi¬ 
cal Apparatus, Edge Tools, &c. &c. of the Worcester County Me¬ 
chanics’ Association, at their first exhibition at Worcester, Mass., 
Sept. 26th, 27th, 28tb, 29th, 30lh, 1848. This committee was com¬ 
posed of five residents of Worcester county, each and every one 
being practical mechanics , inventors and manufacturers of machi¬ 
nery of the highest character, and known as such throughout the 
country—and all personally acquainted with the several makers of 
Cylinder Hay Cutters, as also the several kinds of machines made 
by them. 
They say O 5 * “ That all articles reported upon by them have un¬ 
dergone full scrutiny, and in every case where practicable, have 
subjected the claims of merit to severe tests.” 
t( Instructions having been received by the committee, authorising 
them to act upon any subject involving questions of mechanical 
merit—such action not to interfere with the awards of other com¬ 
mittees.” Upon an application being made to them for a mechan¬ 
ical analysis of the action of spiral and straight lines as cutting ed¬ 
ges on the surfaces of cylinders, the “ committee deemed it a proper 
subject for their action,”—and in their report they say :— 
“ A true radial spiral, of whatever pitch or angle, has its plane 
at all times perpendicular to the axis around which it winds; and 
at all points where it comes in contact with a cylindrical surface of 
whatever diameter, it will point directly to, and the pressure will he 
in perpendicular lines to the cylinder’s axis. If then any object 
passes between the points of contact, it will be severed by direct 
pressure—and such is the action of spiral blades or knives now un¬ 
der consideration. 
“ When straight lines are carried diagonally across the surface 
of a cylinder in the form of a cutting edge, (or any other) the plane 
of ihe edge can at no time or place form a radial or perpendicular 
line with the axis; and consequently the pressure at the points of 
contact is not in a line with the centre of the axis and plane of tbs 
edge, but either in advance or rear of both cylinders; and such is 
the arrangement of the cylinder, with straight knives or blades now 
under consideration.” 
“First. The strain upon the edge of the knife is oblique to its ro¬ 
tating action—the most dangerous that it can possibly sustain—being 
precisely that of a pair of shears with a loose joint.” 
“ Second. A loss of power ; for whatever angle the plane of the 
cutting edge makes with the perpendicular of the cylinder’s axis, 
the measurement of the base of such angle must be deducted from 
the leverage working the cylinders.” 
“We therefore unanimously consider that the Radial Spiral knives 
require less power and are less subject to breakage, and also, much 
less difficult to keep in repair than the straight diagonal knives, which 
last are, in the opinion of the committee, at Variance with all 
true mechanical economy.” Q 
STEVENS' SPIRAL HAY CUTTER being constructed pre¬ 
cisely upon the above principles, and at the same time the most sim¬ 
ple of all spiral cutters in use, and as simple as any kind with straight 
diagonal knives—and having a newly invented and patented sub¬ 
stance superior to dry hide for the roller, upon which the knives act, 
it is in all respects as good, if not the best machine, for the purpose, 
in use—and at the same time, the prices of machines of equal size, 
average considerably lower than any other kind, with either spiral 
or straight knives. 
They are kept constantly on hand, at wholesale and retail, at ma¬ 
nufacturer’s prices—and all warranted—at the Albany Agricultural 
Warehouse, by H. L. EMERY. 
N. B. If reports of committees are to be considered, and the pub¬ 
lic to be guided thereby, it is of the utmost importance that proper 
persons are selected as judges. Such as have both practical talent, 
and time to bestow in making their examinations ; and at the same 
time such men as are known and have the confidence of the public. 
But such is the hurry, bustle, little time appropriated, and most fre¬ 
quently the poor selection of judges, that the reports at our State 
and County Fairs, exert comparatively a small influence for im¬ 
provement, particularly on agricultural machinery, to what is in 
their power, under a more practical and efficient organization of 
their committees. Jan. 1—It. 
