ns 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Harrows ,” presented by Mr. Craig - , the maker. West Galway, 
Montgomery county. The wood work is light but strong, contains 
40 teeth, each tooth is 3 inch, square and 10 inches long, of high¬ 
ly tempered Swede’s iron. The harrows may be worked together 
or separate; an excellent implement on all soils—particularly for 
seeding. Price $15 the pair. [Described and figured in the Au¬ 
gust No. of the Cultivator.] 
Smut Mill. 
Smut Mill and Grain Cleaner —invented by Wm. Battle, Al¬ 
bany, a cast iron cylinder, 2 feet 4 inches diameter, 3 feet high. 
Mr. Battle being engaged on another committee, no information 
was obtained of its performance and price. 
Cheese Press. 
Kibbee’s Cheese Press. This press is figured in the May No. of 
the Cultivator, since which it has undergone material improve¬ 
ments by the inventor, S. Kibbee, Esperanee, Schoharie. It is 
three feet long, 16 inches broad, and 5 feet high. It is a combi¬ 
nation of mechanical powers—the force being applied to a short 
lever—the power of which may be judged from the fact, that a 
10 pound weight, at two feet from the fulcrum, causes a pressure 
of 1,600 pounds, and its power may be carried to any extent by 
corresponding strength in the main wheel and shaft. The piston 
dec-ends perpendicularly, and its friction is taken oft' by a friction 
roller. Price $15. 
This press is admirably adapted, on a commensurate scale, to 
the pressure of hay, hops, cotton, &c. and to the manufacture of 
cider. 
Cheese Shelves. 
Wilber’s semi-revolving slide cheese shelves, is an admirable 
contrivance to save labor in the cheese dairy. By it a woman 
can easily turn 24 heavy cheeses in a minute, and is enabled to 
rub them without their being lifted from the shelves. The model 
consists of an upright frame, suspended by an axis passing through 
its horizontal centre, and into which slide eight pair of shelves, 
the distance of which may be graduated to the size of the cheeses. 
The cheeses are placed alternately above and below the axis. 
Slats are fixed upon the back of the frame to prevent the cheeses 
falling out when the frame revolves. The frame is made station¬ 
ary by a pin ; and when this is withdrawn, it is made to revolve 
half round upon its axis, which turns the cheeses ; the shelves over 
them, and upon which the cheeses have lain the preceding day, 
may then be withdrawn, and left to dry, till the next day, when 
they may be returned, the turning process repeated, and the other 
shelves cleaned and dried in turn. The improvement is a valua¬ 
ble one in large dairies. Henry Wilber of Richfield, Otsego county, 
is the inventor. The price of a single right to construct is $5. 
[For further description see letter of E. Perkins, in this number 
of Cultivator.] 
Though not coming exactly within their province, the commit¬ 
tee cannot but notice, with high commendation, an improved Pee 
Hive, with a swarm of bees in it at work, exhibited by the inven¬ 
tor, Levi H. Parish, of Brighton, Monroe county. Externally it 
appears as a square box. The two ends and back have doors which 
open upon hinges, the end ones into the interior of the hive, and 
the back one covers a large pane of glass through which the con¬ 
dition of the interior, and the operations of the bees, maybe ob¬ 
served. There is an upper chamber above these doors, which 
opens by a lid at the top, and discloses four boxes, nicely adjust¬ 
ed, into which the bees ascend through apertures, from the main 
hive, and deposite their honey. These boxes may be taken out and 
returned at pleasure, without destroying or disturbing the bees, 
and thus the proprietor may be furnished with a constant supply 
of truly excellent honey without diminishing his stock of bees. 
The bee moth, it is believed, is less liable to trouble this than or¬ 
dinary hives. Channels are cut in the under side of the upper lid, 
leading to an aperture in the edge, to carry off the rarified and vi¬ 
tiated air which is engendered in the hive. The price of a single 
right to construct these hives is $5. 
The committee regret that time and circumstances did not af¬ 
ford them a better opportunity of examining the several machines 
and implements offered for their inspection, and of testing their 
utility by a satisfactory trial. Yet they cannot refrain from ex¬ 
pressing their strong conviction, that an annual examination of 
new agricultural machines and implements, by a competent board 
of scientific and practical men, to be selected and paid by the 
government, would prove of incalculable advantage. Human la¬ 
bor has been astonishingly abridged in the mechanic and manu¬ 
facturing arts, by improved machinery and labor saving - contri¬ 
vances-agriculture is also susceptible of being benefitted in 
like manner ; but the incompetency of the farmer to judge of the 
intrinsic value of an implement at first sight, the frequent imposi¬ 
tion of spurious arid defective ones upon him, and the difficulty 
of obtaining correct knowledge of their merits, induces distrust, 
and prevents the more general introduction of many implements 
that would be highly valuable. A board of inspectors would 
stamp a seal upon whatever is of value, determine its relative me¬ 
rits, and give confidence to the purchaser ; while on the other 
hand, the want of the approving certificate, would justly excite 
distrust, and prevent imposition. This board might make an an¬ 
nual report, which by being promulgated in our 150 journals, would 
give, to the state at large, interesting and prompt notices of all 
new inventions calculated to promote the agricultural, and conse¬ 
quently every subordinate interest of the state. The committee 
hesitate not to say, that $1,000 annually appropriated to this object, 
to be awarded in premiums by a competent board, would add ten 
times its amount to the products of agricultural labor, and yield a 
compound interest to the revenue of the state. 
J. BUEL, Chairman. 
SUCCESSION OF CROP. 
We gave, in our last, part of a chapter from Low’s “Elements 
of Practical Agriculture,” explaining the principles upon which 
a succession of crops is rendered beneficial to the farmer; and 
considering the subject of the first importance to profitable hus¬ 
bandry, and as one but imperfectly understood or appreciated 
among us, we insert in this number, the views which Chaptal has 
given us in his “Chemistry applied to Agriculture,” upon this in¬ 
teresting topic. We cannot quote better authorities. The quota¬ 
tions from Chaptal in this number, are alone worth to the farmer, 
capable and desirous of improving, three years’ subscription of 
the Cultivator, and the price of the volume from which we make 
them in the bargain. 
We have omitted to copy the courses of crops recommended in 
either work, because many of their crops are not cultivated, or 
but partially so, among us; while maize, one of the staple pro¬ 
ducts of our soil, is neither grown in England or the north of 
France. The principles or laws which regulate matter apply every 
where, though the correct practice under these principles may 
vary in every latitude. 
Substitute for Indigo. —A patent has been taken out, in Eng¬ 
land, and a company formed, for the manufacture of a cheap dye, 
which answers all the purposes of indigo, and which promises a 
great saving in this important item of manufacture. It is said to 
give colors which resist the action of light, air and friction. The 
new material seems to be similar to Prussian blue, without its ob¬ 
jectionable caustic qualities, which are neutralized. With it wool 
may be dyed in the flock, the fleece, the yarn or skein, or when 
woven into cloth ; and in many respects the substitute is found to 
be superior, in giving brilliancy and durability to colors, to in¬ 
digo itself. The principal ingredients, as in Prussian blue, are 
common potash and blood or animal carbon. For the animal car¬ 
bon, horns, hoofs, bones, fish, cuttings of leather, old harness, 
and all other kinds of animal substance, old woollens and the re¬ 
fuse of woollen manufactories, even in a corrupt state, are em¬ 
ployed. The fair average price of indigo, in Great Britain, is 
considered to be 5s. sterl. per lb. and of the substitute 2s. at most, 
so that the latter is likely to effect, in Great Britain alone, an an¬ 
nual saving of £450,000, (equal to about $2,000,000) with the 
further advantage, that the gross amount of cost for the substitute 
would be expended for what is now wasted, and in the labor of 
its poor inhabitants. 
Strawberries. —We find detailed, in the Q. J. of Agriculture, 
the mode by which London is supplied with Strawberries. It is 
stated, that within ten miles around London, 1,000 acres are de¬ 
voted to the culture of this fruit, the product of which is trans¬ 
ported to market almost exclusively by women, who carry the 
baskets upon their heads ! The fruit is first put into small pottle 
baskets, holding about a pint; fifty or sixty of these are placed 
in a large basket, which is then placed upon a woman’s head, on 
a small cushion, who trudges miles with it to market. The weight 
of the baskets and fruit is from 30 to 40 lbs. The pottle baskets 
