1852 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
47 
2. By a majority of eleven to one, that Mr. Hussey’s 
machine caused the least waste. 
3. Taking the breadth of the two machines into con* 
sideration, that Mr. Hussey’s did most work. 
4. That Mr. Hussey’s machine leaves the cut corn in 
the best order for gathering and binding. This question 
was submitted to the laborers employed on the occasion, 
and decided by them as above, by a majority of 6 to 4. 
5. Their unanimous opinion that Mr. Hussey’s ma¬ 
chine is best adapted for ridge and furrow. 
6. This question was referred by the jury to Mr. Ro¬ 
binson, foreman to Messrs. Bellerby,of York, a practical 
mechanic of acknowledged ability. 
7. That Mr. Hussey’s machine at first cost is less price. 
8. 9. The jury decline to express a decided opinion on 
these points, in consequence of the state of the weather. 
In regard to the trial, the Gateshead Observer re¬ 
marked —“ One thing was clearly demonstrated by both 
machines—that reaping by machinery is practicable. As 
surely as the threshing machine has superseded the flail, 
so certain is it, that the reaping machine will set aside the 
scythe and the sickle.” 
Manufacture of Manure. 
We have been favored with the annual Report of the 
doings of the St. John (N. B.) jig. Society , for the last 
year, from which we select the following, from a state¬ 
ment furnished by Mr. Robert Bowes, of the manner 
in which he manufactures annually large quantities of 
manure. It is worth remembering. 
I have the bog earth raised one year before being mix¬ 
ed with any thing, as muck is so long excluded from the 
atmosphere and sun that it requires a year’s frost and 
sun and air to absorb the sour water properly out of it, 
to make room for the rich liquids it is to receive in tanks 
and elsewhere. I keep my cows in the barn at night, 
and place dry muck behind them to absorb the liquid 
manure. The cow stable is cleared out every morning, 
and the manure is mixed once a week with one load of 
rich earth to three of manure. Clay loam is the best, 
if it can be got, to mix a compost, as there is a retainer 
in clay that other earths are not possessed of. In addi¬ 
tion to this., I have in rear of my dwelling house a tank 
sunk that holds thirty common cart loads of dry muck; 
this tank is fourteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six 
feet deep; it is made of three-inch plank, with hackma¬ 
tack posts and is properly caulked and paved to hold 
water. When this tank is is filled with the dry muck, 
there are conductors that convey all the slops from the 
kitchen into it, as well as all the chamber lye and the 
soap suds from an outside kitchen ; the hearth ashes are 
likewise put into it in a dry state. In about a month, 
when the tank gets pretty well filled up with the liquid, 
it gets into an acid state, and in a few days will ripen 
and be ready for removal, which is easily known by a 
disagreeable odour and an increase of yellow flies. In 
the spring and fall of the year it requires five or six 
weeks to ripen, as the weather is not so hot. To prevent 
surface water getting in, the tank has a covering, which 
is removed when required. I can make at least one 
hundred cart loads of good powerful manure by this 
tank in a year. I have manure removed to a large shed 
at the end of my cow stable, the bottom of which is in 
the shape of an amphitheatre, from which no liquid can 
escape. I add one load of earth to three loads of tank 
manure, which, in the fall of the year, will cover the 
floor of the shed about four feet deep. The manure 
from the cow stable is thrown on the top of this through 
the winter, and spread evenly over it. The roof of the 
manure shed is constructed so as to admit the rain freely, 
which washes down the liquid into the compost ; but the 
sun and wind are excluded. 
I have a piece of ground, about a quarter of an acre, 
which was so poor that it would give nothing but weeds. In 
May last I plowed and harrowed it, and then put on 
six loads of tank manure, unmixed, to try its strength. 
I sowed it with barley, harrowed it well, and rolled it. 
I never saw ranker barley, and I am happy that you saw 
it, so that you could judge for yourself. 
The Primate Apple. 
About a year since, we noticed an apple which had 
been described as new in Ilovey’s Magazine under the 
unpomological name of 11 Rough and Ready,” remarking 
at the same time that it was an old variety, having been 
cultivated in different parts of Western New-York for 
twenty or thirty years. A late number of that journal 
furnishes a communication from A. Fahnestock of Syra¬ 
cuse, tracing this variety to eastern origin, and to grafted 
trees in Western New-Y^ork from twenty to forty years 
old. The oldest name known appears to be the Primate 
—a name that will probably remain fixed to this variety. 
Management of Bees. 
Eds. Cultivator' —I have been for several years, a 
successful owner and manager of bees, and am led to 
wonder that farmers do not more generally include this 
among their varieties of productive stock. I am confi¬ 
dent that, on a comparatively small scale, it makes the 
most profitable return for the investment and labor re¬ 
quired, of all the stocks a farmer can keep. They re¬ 
quire no daily feeding, no housing, save the two dollar 
tenement allotted to each separate colony; no fencing, 
either for protection or escape; no room, when hung on 
frames in open order, where grass can grow under them; 
and no expense of wintering, as they provide their own 
stores. 
I have a grass plat of about nine square rods, sur¬ 
rounded by a clothes line of tinned wire, which has stood 
the weather for the last ten years without rusting, and 
within this are arranged my bees on frames. I cut two 
crops of grass each season, and have some thrifty young 
fruit trees interspered. I use YVeek’s Vermont hive, 
and think it the best in use. My hives are made of pine 
plank, painted wfiiite, so that they neither warp nor al¬ 
low the comb to be melted in hot weather. I had 28 
swarms last spring, and shall sell $150 worth of honey. I 
may at some future time give in detail the result of several 
years experience in this business, with some hints on 
management. II. W. Bulkeley. Ballston, Oct. 1851. 
—---- 
Seedling Grapes. 
Nicholas Longworth informs us in the Western Hor¬ 
ticultural Review^, that he has a few thousand seedlings 
from our best native grapes, and of one superior variety , 
has 800 plants of extra vigorous growth, and shall be 
disappointed if he has not grapes of black, wdiite, and 
red color, among them, equal in the size of the grape 
and the bunch, to the Black Hamburgh, and its rival in 
quality. So much for a man renowned for his doubts 
and incredulity. He says two or three years will 
test the question. 
Chickens versus Insects. 
Cuthill says “ one bantam is worth fifty toads.” He 
states that his rubbish corner, wdiere ail the rakings, 
leaves, and general refuse of the garden were put, be¬ 
came the grand breeding-place for all sorts of insects 
He inclosed it with four-feet laths, and placed a brood 
of bantams there; it is now the most valuable corner of 
the garden. 
