1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
345 
THE FARMER’S MOTE BOOK, 
Sherman’s Seed Planter and Cultivator, 
The above is a cut of a machine invented and patent¬ 
ed by J. W. Sherman, of Ontario, Wayne county, N. 
Y. It is designed for the following purposes:—1, to 
plant all kinds of grain in drills or rows; 2, to sow all 
kinds of grain, plaster, lime, ashes or bone dust, broad¬ 
cast; 3; to be used as a cultivator for any kind of hoed 
crop. It is simple in construction and may be readily 
changed in adapting it to its various purposes. The 
inventor describes its operation as follows: “ All the 
tubes, or either or any part of them, can be raised or 
lowered into the ground, with ease; and with one mo¬ 
tion of the hand, the grain can be stopped or started 
at the same motion, without stopping the team. Any 
one can alter the machine in one minute, so as to sow 
from one peck to four bushels of grain, or from one to 
twenty bushels of plaster, or other fine manure, per 
acre.” It is recommended as capable ol sowing all 
kinds of seed—such as that which is soaked and plas¬ 
tered, or that which is light and husky. Even cotton 
and carrot seed, it is said, can be sown with accuracy, 
in any quantity per acre. We saw this machine at the 
late State Fair, and were pleased with its appearance. 
It received a premium fiom the State Society. 
Stacking Corn Fodder. 
The practice of 
sowing two and a-half 
bushels of corn per 
acre in thick drills , 
exclusively for fodder, 
is rapidly extending 
through the country, 
farmers discovering 
that they can in this 
way obtain the richest 
food for wintering cat¬ 
tle which will be whol¬ 
ly consumed, and be 
preferred to the best 
hay,—at a cost never 
exceding a dollar and 
a-half per ton, on 
good land in the coun- 
•ewn from a hand bas¬ 
ket rapidly in the one horse furrows, to be as quickly 
covered with a common harrow; no hoeing, and but 
once cultivating, is ever needed; and all weeds are so 
effectually smothered, that the ground is left as clean 
as a neat woman’s floor. 
But thus easily raised, the fodder must be well pre¬ 
served, or the labor will be lost. If put up in shocks, 
they should dry several weeks—the leaves may be quite 
dry, while the stalks will furnish moisture enough to 
cause hot fermentation, mouldiness, or decay. Stacks 
of this kind of fodder settle very compactly, and the 
steam from the heating, which must always take place, 
will not find vent, unless a chimney is made in the mid. 
die of the stack, by setting three or four rails, uprightl 
in the ground, a foot apart, to form the centre of the 
stack, as shown in the above figure. A further pre¬ 
caution, highly essential, as well as useful, is to salt 
well the fodder while the stack is going up. Stacks of 
small size should be preferred, and so placed that in 
case of much heating, they may be thrown with a fork 
into a new stack, which is often necessary under unfa¬ 
vorable circumstances. 
Farm Gate. 
Eds. Cultivator —The above represents, or at 
least is intended to represent, a farm gate, which in 
cheapness, convenience and comparative simplicity, of 
construction, is not excelled by any which has come to 
my knowledge. I have one on my farm, built by my¬ 
self, without the aid of carpenter or blacksmith, and 
commanding general satisfaction. 
A. and B. are posts, hewn out of cedar, locust, or 
rich yellow pine—B. is cut and morticed out in such a 
manner that the gate can be enclosed in the top part 
C., by a piece of wood slipped in dove-tail fashion. In 
the bottom, a 1^ inch auger hole contains a rich pine 
knot D., with a round tenon on top; this is received in 
a hole bored in the bottom of the gate piece; so that by 
this arrangement it is kept off the ground, and top and 
bottom of the principal part of the gate, are secured 
against the injurious effects of water, while the greasy 
nature of the pine knot on which it turns, causes each 
movement of the gate to be easy in every kind of wea¬ 
ther. 
A. has a hole, E., morticed in its centre, to receive 
the tongue of the latch F.; the last is made according 
to the model given in your vol. for 1847, page 159. 
You will observe that this gate has no iron about it, 
and opens to its full extent either wav, while the latch, 
by being thrown back with the gate, slips over the 
notch at G. and shuts itself. 
Lightness is one of the main requisites in this subject 
to keep it from swagging; I have obtained this by ma¬ 
king my gate out of f stuff, and the scantling holding 
the latch 2 h inch square. 
In my next I will send you a plan of a machine for 
drawing hickory, oak and other shrubs out of the soil. 
Alb. C. Richard. Walden’s Ridge , Hamilton Co., 
Tenn., Sept. 1848. 
On the Use of Fish tor 3famire. 
Messrs. Editors— In those towns in this section 
bordering on the seacoast, White-fish are extensively 
used as manure, for all kinds of crops. The price of 
them varies from 50 cts. to $1.50 a thousand, the ave* 
