TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
New Series. ALBANY, MAY, 1852. 
The Forces of the Farm. 
Success in any business requires a thorough knowledge 
of the means and materials under employ. Place the 
levers of a locomotive in the hands of one who had never 
before seen this powerful machine, and instead of being 
able to drive it with the speed of the wind and the pre¬ 
cision of mathematics, he would be sadly puzzled to know 
what first to do with his important charge. What could 
a plowman do if required to superintend a cotton factory? 
Or a blacksmith the machinery of a wholesale merchant? 
What could a shopkeeper accomplish if placed in charge 
of a thrashing machine, a horse-reaper, or a subsoil plow? 
We should all doubt the sanity of the man who would 
send fora lawyer to set a fractured limb, although he 
might point out to the nicety of a hair the rights, privi¬ 
leges, and liabilities of John Doe and Richard Roe, and 
their legal representatives. But it needs no argument 
to show the absurdity of looking for knowledge where it 
is not to be found; it is not, however, quite so plain to 
every one, that no business can be well conducted with¬ 
out thorough knowledge of its parts. The idea that men 
succeed by a sort of lucky guessing, instead of a tho¬ 
rough mastery of facts and principles, is quite too pre¬ 
valent. 
We remember some years ago, as an example, that a 
newly invented water-wheel was highly recommended to 
the public, as possessing, with an equal amount and fall 
of water, three times the power of the best overshot 
wheel. The wildness of such a claim would have been 
instantly evident, to many who were deluded by it, had 
they only known, or reflected, that the principles of 
gravity are such, that one hundred pounds of water de¬ 
scending ten feet, could never, by the most cunningly in¬ 
vented machine, be made to elevate more than a like 
quantity of water to a similar height, or do its equiva¬ 
lent in any other way. The heathen poet, who, in his 
historical fictions, spoke of wine that was twenty times 
stronger than common, that is, four times stronger than 
pure alcohol, did not commit a greater blunder, than 
many do in their estimates, or rather vague conjectures 
of the power of machinery. 
Inventors of farm machines, like most other men, re¬ 
semble very much a flock of sheep, and follow where some 
one is bold enough to lead. Hence we see that they have 
not struck off so much into every possible avenue, as they 
have travelled with the mass in certain beaten tracks. We 
have a plow invented for nearly every county in the north¬ 
ern states, but not half a dozen well constructed harrows; 
Vol. IX.— No. 5. 
we have had for a long time, a vast number of thrashing 
machines, but until very lately, scarcely a reaping ma¬ 
chine was known. The World's Fair, it is true, has 
turned the tide of fashion in the latter direction, and we 
shall now soon have them by scores. We have beeq sup¬ 
plied with as great a variety in churns, as in the dishes 
of a French cook; yet a good milking machine, a thing 
of much greater consequence, (counting the time con¬ 
sumed,) has never yet been made. We have often won¬ 
dered why Yankee ingenuity had never yet devised a 
single good mangle , although hours are consumed every 
week, in nearly all families of this broad country of 20 
millions, by the hard labor of the ironing table; yet sau- 
sage-stuffers, and sausage-mincers, paring-machines and 
pepper-grinders, have all had a large share of attention, 
although perhaps used but once a year. 
We cannot but believe, that one great reason of the 
deficiency in these, and in many other particulars, is that 
farmers themselves do not adequately comprehend what 
is needed, and what may be accomplished. They do not 
possess a sufficient knowledge of the principles of machi¬ 
nery, in many instances, to qualify them for judging of 
the merits of new machines; to know how much and no 
more, the best application of force can accomplish; and 
especially to enable them to judge with some degree of 
confidence, whether inventors have nearly reached per¬ 
fection in any particular point, or whether there yet re¬ 
mains a great field unachieved before them. It is here, 
if anywhere, that a thorough knowledge of means and 
materials, of facts and principles, is needed, to enable 
every one to conduct his business understandingly. We 
will furnish a few examples, by way of explanation. 
The crow-bar is simple and effective, and so far as it 
goes, may be considered as having about reached perfec¬ 
tion. It possesses but little friction, and a given force 
applied to it is wholly applied, without any loss, to the de¬ 
sired end. How is it with the reaping machine? One 
man, with the best hand-machine, will cut two and a half 
acres of wheat in a day; a horse is reckoned to the work 
of five men, consequently a two horse reaper, deducting 
one-fourth for the friction of the parts, should do seven 
and a half times as much as a single hand, or nineteen 
acres in a day, an amount which has been nearly reach- 
by the best reapers. They cannot, therefore, be expect¬ 
ed to be greatly improved in the quantity, but rather in 
the perfection of their work, and in cheapness and sim¬ 
plicity. Apply the same kind of calculation to ^the 
plow, and the reader cannot but be surprised at the great 
