180 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
dryden farm. Dr. Cr. 
1837. To expenses of ditching, repairing buildings, 
&c. $59 76 
To expenses of repairing fences, cultivating 
farm, furnishing seed, securing crops, pre¬ 
paring crops for market, conveying them to 
market, &c... 373 74 
By one pasture lot rented out, at $1'8,. 18 00 
Oct. 2. By 143 bushels of potatoes, at 2s.. 37 00 
“ 26.“ 114 “ buckwheat, at 3s.6d. 49 87 
Nov. 3. “ 100 “ wheat, 12s. 150 00 
“ 24. “ 450 “ oats, 3s. 168 75 
“ 24. “ 50 “ corn, 6s. 37 50 
« 24. “ 50 « ruta baga turnips, Is.6d. . .. 9 37 
Dec. 1. “ 30 “ tons of hay, 40s. i50 00 
“ growth on young stock, horses and cattle, 65 00 
“ amount received from other small items,.. . 14 89' 
To one years interest on $2,500, or cost of 
farm,.. 175 00 
To balance to new account. 91 88 
$700 38 700 38 
Dec. 10. By balance from old account of profits of the farm, 91 88 
So you see that we have been able to pay all expenses of the farm, 
$59.76 for useful improvements, seven per cent intereston the capital in¬ 
vested, and have a balance on hand of $91.88, or in other words, our in¬ 
vestment has yielded lOi per cent interest, and our farm is left in a con¬ 
dition to do at least three per cent better next season than it has this, if 
the season is equally favorable. If you think any benefit will result from 
publishing the account of our small experience in farming in your valua¬ 
ble paper, you are at liberty to do so. 
The Dutton corn answers my utmost expectation. I had a piece that 
yielded me at the rate of eighty bushels pei acre, of as sound corn as I 
ever saw, and was ripe by the middle of August. I am keeping 100 bu¬ 
shels for seed. And the Berkshire pigs that I received from C. N. Be- 
ment. Esq. are admired by all who see them; they are certainly the finest 
animals of the hog species that I ever saw. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servent, 
E. CORNELL. 
P. S. The above is a practical illustration of the benefits that result from 
keeping farm accounts. E. C. 
STEAMERS-ROTARY STEAM ENGINES—MANURES. 
Buffalo, Nov. 22, 1837. 
My Dear Sir —In the Sept. No. of the present vol. of the Cultiva¬ 
tor, there is an admirable plan for a cheap steaming apparatus, which it 
■would be for the advantage of every one keeping 8 or 10 hogs, to use for 
steaming all the food to be given them. But I should like to see some¬ 
thing more perfect than has yet come under my observation, which shall, 
without too much expense, and without liability to get out of repair, cook 
a larger quantity of food in the shortest time, and with the smallest quan¬ 
tity of fuel It appears to me, my dear sir, that this is now the great 
desideratum for every one who has much stock ot feed. Every person is 
convinced of the great advantage of grinding their grain before feeding it, 
yet after it is ground, without subsequent cooking, it will yield only a part 
of its nutriment. Now steaming, if it can be done effectually, will not 
only answer the purpose of both grinding and subsequent cooking, but 
add, also, materially to the quantity of food which can be used, besides 
effecting a larger saving of labor. I will illustrate this by an example. 
With a boiler of sufficient power to generate steam to 400° or 600° of 
Fahrenheit; a furnace so constructed as to apply fuel in such away as to 
produce this heat, and a vat sufficiently capacious to hold a large quantity 
of food, and hold the steam at the above temperature, corn can be cook¬ 
ed on the cob, and in the husk, in a few minutes, by which all the labor 
of husking, shelling, sending to mill, and loss of toll, will be saved, while 
the husk and cob is added to the mass of food, and contributes materially 
to its value by making it lighter and less cloying to cattle. The stalks 
can then be steamed whole if required, or which would be preferable, af¬ 
ter being cut into pieces suitable for feeding. I have seen no account ofi 
any such experiment; but it is my opinion that one acre so used, would be 
worth more than two, perhaps three, fed in the ordinary way. In the 
same manner oats, barley, buckwheat or any other kinds of grain, may be 
steamed so as to extract every particle of their nutritive qualities, and 
without any expense of threshing, milling, &c . The saving in all vege¬ 
tables fed to swine would be proportionable great, and their nutrition 
would be much increased for feeding cattle. If hay also can be cooked 
to advantage, and I doubt not it can, the value of such an apparatus would 
be vastly enhanced. When we consider the importance of this subject, 
it is a matter of surprise that no pi emium has yet been offered for a per¬ 
fect apparatus, by any of our societies, agricultural or mechanical, nume¬ 
rous and enlightened as they are throughout the country; but in the ab¬ 
sence of any such premium, there is sufficient inducement in the profit 
in manufacturing and selling such as could be warranted durable, effective 
and capacious, and at not too great a price, to justify any ingenious and en- 
[terprizing mechanic to perfect one. 
1 The boiler shewn in the Cultivator, vol. 2, No. 7, seems to me perfect 
enough. The material for it, as well as the cocks, should be strong^and 
durable, and the size proportioned to the use required. 
The furnace should be so constructed, especially when wood is used 
for fuel, that in addition to exposing all the bottom of the boiler to the 
fire, the flue should pass once entirely around it in an ascending direc¬ 
tion, so as to expend all the heat on the boiler; and this may be done with 
brick, or I think more effectually, by a flue to fit the boiler made of thick 
boiler iron. This would allow the smoke and flame to pass off readily 
and without incurring any risk.from the carelessness or botching of ma¬ 
sons. 
The only thing that remains then, is'to deliver the steam into a vessel 
suitable for holding the food to be cooked. And here it is especially, that 
we want the aid of science and experience. A reservoir of copper or 
iron would undoubtedly answer the purpose; but if we are going to cook 
on a large scale, stalks, hay, &c. we require a great deal of room, and 
besides the exposure to corrosion in using metals, it would be too expen¬ 
sive. If we wanted only a temperature of boiling water, or 212° Fahren¬ 
heit, most kinds of wood would sustain this heat and pressure; but to ac¬ 
complish our purpose effectually and speedily, we require a temperature 
twice or three times as high. Can oak, or pine, or cedar sustain it? 
Here we must have absolute certainty, we must know what kinds of 
plank are suitable, and what thickness—how secured, by iron clamps or 
otherwise, and how much this strength is to be increased for every increase 
in size. The form should, 1 think, be an oblong box, and for a moderate 
size the one before referred to is of a proper kind; if enlarged considera¬ 
bly, it should be made longer and larger, and open at both ends. We 
want the exact proportions. Is it necessary to carry off the condensed 
steam, and if so, in what manner? The foregoing seem to be the essen¬ 
tial features to be established relative to this subject, and are they not 
worthy to be solved in the most scientific and satisfactory manner? Who 
that has 15 or 20 head of any kind of stock to feed, would hesitate to give 
| 50, 100 or even $200, for a cooking apparatus, that with a little addition 
of time and fuel will save him half his food, or with the same quantity 
will enable him to keep twice the number of cattle? Let such an one be 
made, and my word for it, the inventor will have as much call for it, as Dr. 
Nott had for his celebrated stoves. I conceive such an improvement 
to be of far greater value than all the inventions of ploughs, harrows, 
horse rakes, mowing and threshing machines, et id genus omne, that have 
been constructed, and patented, and exhibited, and talked about, and cost- 
so much money within the last ten years. 
Here I will just allude to two other important appendages to alarge farm¬ 
ing establishment. The first is a small simple rotary steam engine, to be 
propelled by connecting it with the boiler heretofore described. Let this 
occupy a central position, between the barn, the pump, the wood-house 
and milk room, and by connecting bolts or shafts, it hardly matters how 
long, it can, for a trifling expense, be made to thresh all the grain, cut all 
the fodder, pump the water, cut the wood, turn the grindstone, churn the 
milk, press the cheese, and do any other work within its "Teach. Engines 
every way adapted to this purpose, ought to be kept for sale with other 
farming utensils, where they can always be had at a moderate price. 
The other and only subject I will mention is a stercorary, and as every 
man who reflects on the subject at all cannot fail to be convinced of their 
great utility, I shall confine myself to a few queries. 
1st. Can there be a more suitable place for it than an excavation under 
the stable, which shall receive the manure from above through a trap 
door? 
2d. Is a stone wall laid in mortar sufficient to retain all the moisture and 
salts that are liable to escape laterally? 
3d. Is a stiff clay bottom and sides sufficient for the same object? 
4th. What would be the effect on the timbers and plank, not coming in 
contact with the manure, but exposed to the effluvia, and what kind of 
timber will best resist this deleterious influence? 
5th. Should there be any ventilation to it, and how much? 
A full answer to all or any of the above suggestions, will confer a ge¬ 
neral benefit on the community, and particularly oblige, 
Yours, very truly, 
Judge Buel. R. L. ALLEN. 
remarks. 
There are some points in the above which seem to demand our atten¬ 
tion; but our remarks must be brief. And first, we are inclined to be¬ 
lieve, with Mr. Allen, that thorough steaming, will supercede the grind¬ 
ing of grain for farm stock—it will burst the globules which contain the 
dextrine—to profit by a recent discovery—the nutritive matter of the grain. 
2d. We do not like the flue around the boiler—the whole boiler, except 
the upper rim, about the flange, should be exposed to the flame. The 
brick work maybe conformed to the shape of the boiler, leaving an inter¬ 
val of four or five inches between them; the bottom of the wood grate 
may be two to four inches above the bottom of the kettle with an ash pit 
below—the flame then comes in contact with the exterior of the boiler. 
