THE CULTIVATOR. 
BURRAIiL & REAPER. 
while growing more and more open, admit it to 
pass more readily; the heat rushes through them 
as through a funnel, and of consequence diverting, 
as it were, the heat from these parts-which need 
it most. Turning obviates this difficulty. They 
all become mixed, and all dry alike at the same 
time. They may be turned in different ways- 
but I think plowing through them with the feet 
about as good as any. Then level'with a rake. 
Drying is decidedly the most critical and im¬ 
portant operation that we have to perform with 
hops. It is very important that they be cured 
well, and just enough and not too much. No 
rules can be laid down, the strict observance of 
which- wontd enable any one, without the exercise 
ofgood judgment, to dry hops well. There 'are, 
perhaps, as many tests as men, by which persons 
determine when their hops are sufficiently dried. 
A very simple one, and perhaps as often used as 
any, is to examine the stems, and when about 
one-third of them are dry and brittle, the others 
being more or less wilted, they may be considered 
about done. 
Hops ought not to be removed from the carpet 
*until they are cool. But if necessary to take them 
off warm, to make room for others, they must be 
"carefully handled or they will break and shell and 
waste- 
As to the time required for drying a kiln of 
hops, it will depend on circumstances. Thej 7 may 
be cured in ten to fourteen hours, though a little 
more time would he desirable. 
Formerly all hops were cured by burning char¬ 
coal under them. This was found to-answer very 
well, though of late a better way is found, in the 
use of sto.ves, with wood for fuel. This is beyond 
doubt the least expensive, and altogether the best 
way now in use, and is fast being substituted in 
place of coal. Two.stoves, if rightly put up, are 
sufficient for any kiln. An Otsego Hop-Grower. 
Burrall’s Reaper. 
One of the best reapers at the Geneva trial of 
implements, as our readers of last year are awape, 
was the one presented by Thomas D. Burrall, 
which for its simplicity of construction and the 
perfection of its work, became one of the very 
few general favorites, among the crowd of intelli¬ 
gent farmers who constituted the spectators of that 
very interesting exhibition. 
We furnish our readers with the above repre¬ 
sentation of this reaper, showing distinctly the 
circular platform, which receives the cut and falling 
grain, fmmediateiy behind the serrated and vibra¬ 
ting .teeth, and giving a general view of the wheel- 
work, in the compact and simple form which this 
machine is known to possess. 
Effective Action of Manures. 
Nothing has had a mom retarding influence on 
the success of chemical agriculture, than the 
error -which has been so frequently, committed, 
of calculating and pronouncing with precision, 
in advance, the result of the application of 
mere theoretical estimates. Farmers have been 
told that analysis would show the exact com¬ 
position Of their soils, and its wants; that ff any 
ingredient should be deficient, the chemist could 
point out with the accuracy of mathematics, the 
substance and the quantity that would restore its 
fertility, without resorting to the random and 
empirical course of applying a whole set of ferti¬ 
lizers in the shape of common manure. Experi¬ 
ments of this sort have, been abundantly tried; a 
few have succeeded, and-these have been widely 
published; most of them have failed, and the 
failures have slowly fouud tneir way among the in¬ 
telligent portion of the farminsc community. 
We admit that at first view, the chemical theo¬ 
ry appears exceedingly plausible, and promises 
the most satisfactory results. But there are a 
number of circumstances which were inadvertent¬ 
ly overlooked, and which, had they been taken 
into account and properly appreciated, would 
have furnished the strongest grounds for doubting 
this beautiful theory. 
Far more important than the mere preser.ee of 
fertilizing ingredients, or even the chemical con¬ 
dition of those ingredients in many cases, is their 
mechanical texture and degree of pulverization. 
We have elsewhere given an instance, furnished 
by one of the most eminent scientific and practi¬ 
cal cultivators of our country, where the com¬ 
plete crushing of the eloctsot an adhesive soil, and 
grinding together with them intp powder the ma- 
