170 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
May, 
field yet open for improvement. A cubic foot of earth 
weighs about 125 pounds ; a team turning a slice a foot 
wide and six inches deep, and moving four feet per se¬ 
cond, lifts two cubic feet of soil or 250 lbs. in each second , 
about on an average seven inches high. Now, a good 
American horse has been found in ordinary work to lift 
100 lbs. at the rate of four feet per second, or 700 lbs. 
seven inches high per second, which is nearly three times 
as great as the amount effected by two horses attached 
to a plow. That is, five-sixths of the force applied in 
plowing is expended in overcoming friction and cohesion. 
Here is a chance for inventors to exercise their ingenuity 
for a long time to come, in endeavoring to lessen this loss 
of-500 per cent. 
" A two-horse team, as we have just remarked, should 
do nearly ten times as much work as a single hand. This 
remark applies to cases where the full strength of the 
man is exerted to the best advantage. But the gain by 
machinery is much greater, if well perfected, in doing 
what men perform to a decided disadvantage, or where 
their strength can be only partially applied. Such for 
example, is the case with some of the best seed planting 
machines, as compared to planting by hand • or of some 
of the most perfect horse hoes or cultivators, as compared 
to the slow and tedious process of hand weeding,—in 
neither of which instances is one half of the human strength 
advantageously applied. It is here that inventors are to 
look for extraordinary results. The manufacture of cot¬ 
ton furnishes an interesting illustration,—where the best 
modern machinery turns out in each day at least two hun¬ 
dred times as much goods as the tedious process of hands 
and fingers accomplished eighty years ago. 
Our limits will not allow us to enter into the details of 
this subject, which would furnish ample materials for a 
volume. We only wish to call the attention of farmers, 
whose business it is to judge of farm machinery, and fur¬ 
nish suggestions to manufacturers, to the importance of 
thoroughly understanding the subject. It is interesting 
to look back and see what has already been done. The 
capital now constantly invested in farm-labor and farm- 
forces in the United States is not less than 500 millions 
of dollars per annum, although but one half of what it 
would have been, but for the improvements in the plow, 
the thrasher, the fanning-mill, the seed-sower, the horse- 
rake, and the reaper. What may yet be done towards 
reducing this enormous amount, must depend on the in¬ 
genuity of our inventors, and on the general knowledge 
and sagacity of our farmers. 
Fraud in Guano. —Every thing which brings a high 
price, invites fraud, and impositions in the form of spu¬ 
rious merino sheep, artificial fertilizers, &c., are natural 
results where men do not know the 11 beginning of wis¬ 
dom,” or that honesty is best policy. Prof. Norton says 
“ the most barefaced impositions are practiced in Eng¬ 
land, certain parties having sold a species of loam resem¬ 
bling Peruvian guano, at a high price, the bags having 
been dusted, both inside and out, with some of the real 
article to counterfeit the true smell”—thus selling cha¬ 
racter and conscience for life to get a few weeks dishonest 
gain,—a hard bargain. 
Hay and Fodder—Cutting and Curing. 
It may be safely averred that there is not a single ope¬ 
ration on a farm that cannot be, and that ought not to be 
conducted upon scientific principles. Hence the utility, 
the necessity, of a scientific education of farmers. If the 
remark be true of farm operations generally, it is more 
especially so of the subject of hay-making. In this we 
require a knowledge of vegetable physiology, of chemis- 
istry, of pharmacy . Vegetable physiology will teach us 
the nature and functions of the various organs and parts 
and juices ot the plants with which we have to do; chem¬ 
istry will teach us the theory, and pharmacy the art, of 
curing and saving the article in the best manner. There 
is no doubt that a very large portion of the nutritive mat¬ 
ter of hay, and all kinds of fodder, is lost by a want of 
knowledge of this kind. The writer of this has never 
seen a hay-field at haying time, that he was not forcibly 
impressed with this truth. To illustrate this subject— 
suppose a pharmaceutist, the Shakers, for example, were 
to gather their medical herbs, and cure them, and house 
them in the same way that hay and fodder are usually 
gathered, cured, and saved—what, let us ask, would they 
be worth? Gathered at very improper seasons, cured in 
such a manner as to ferment and evaporate all their in¬ 
trinsic virtues, and at last housed in a place, and in a 
condition, to make assurance of its destruction ;£ doubly 
sure,” it may well be conceived they would not be worth 
much. There are certain rules to be observed in this, as 
in all things, to attain the highest degree of perfection. 
Every kind of hay and fodder will be good or good for 
nothing, according to the degree of attention to these 
rules. The grass should be allowed to attain the high¬ 
est degree of perfection before it is cut, and that degree 
is found to be at the time of flowering or blooming, just 
before the seed begins to form. It being a herbaceous 
plant, the whole natural object of it is to make seed, 
and all its juices are, at the time of flowering, in their 
richest state. This is the time to cut it, If cut before 
this time, the juices are imperfect, and the fibrous mat¬ 
ter immature; and if delayed beyond this time, more 
or less of the richness of these juices is expended in mak¬ 
ing the seed. If the seed is allowed to become ripe, the 
hay is comparatively worthless. We never saw a load 
of hay in the market for sale, that did not exhibit une¬ 
quivocal signs of having had a very large portion of its 
rich qualities exhausted, either before it was cut, or in 
curing. When it is understood, that if allowed to ripen 
seed perfectly, the grass loses all its rich juices, and be¬ 
comes mere dry strw—woody fibre, a little silicate of pot¬ 
ash , and a very trifling quantity of vegetable extractive 
matter, the importance of cutting it at the right time will 
be apparent. 
And here it is proper to mention another error of al¬ 
most, if not quite equal importance. It is that of mix¬ 
ing different kinds of grass together. There are scarcely 
any two grasses that flower at the same time, exactly, 
and if two be mixed that flower at different times, one 
or the other will be greatly deteriorated by being cut too 
soon or too late. All grasses should, therefore, be kept 
in distinct meadows. 
The curing process is, however, of much the most im¬ 
portance. No matter at what times the grass be cut, if 
