THE CULTIVATOR 
195 
and forty, and the Saxony being but the eight hundred an for¬ 
tieth part. The serrations are only 2080 to an inch; while in 
the Saxony wool 2720 were observed in the same space. This 
greater comparative bulk of the fibre, and paucity of serrations, 
will account for the harshness and want of felting property 
which have been considered as defects in this wool. The brit¬ 
tleness of the fibre is perhaps to be attributed chiefly to the 
soil.” After speaking of some modifications of the fleece with¬ 
in a few years, he says —“ the South Down sheep master justly 
repudiates the charge of its deterioration; if has only changed 
its character ; it has become a good combing wool, instead of an 
inferior carding one.” As regards crossing—“even the cross 
with the Leicesters was a failure, and the promised advantages 
to be derived from a cross with the Merinoes were delusive.” 
I will transcribe further from Blacklock, which will prove 
what the world in general already knows, that the South Down 
is an invaluabe sheep for mutton. “ Their mutton is fine in 
the grain and of an excellent flavor. They are mostly found in 
in Sussex, on dry chalky downs producing short fine herbage, 
and arrive early at maturity, in which respect they are equal to 
the Cheviot, though inferior to them in quantity of tallow. For¬ 
merly they would not take on fat until fouryears old; now they 
are always at market when about two years of age, and many 
are killed before that period.” 
As regards being less subject to scab than Merinoes. I have 
no doubt of it, for the reason that the fleece is not as compact, 
and therefore admitting more freely the air which conduces to 
a healthy action of the skin. AVhether less liable to foot-rot 
than other breeds, I am unable to decide; but am inclined to 
think not, as there cannot be any essential difference in the 
conformation of the hoof and adjacent parts ; others perhaps, 
can speak with more certainty. 
44 Don’t Sell yonr Aslies.” 
I have made a fair experiment with leached and unleached ash¬ 
es during the present year,and found your remarks on the subject 
true to the letter ; and shall take your advice, and hereafter not 
sell my ashes. The experiment was on a small scale it is true, 
but nevertheless sufficient. I measured about one square rod 
of elevated ground in one of my old meadows, staked it in order 
to know exactly the spot, and sowed about two quarts of leach¬ 
ed ashes. The quantity of grass was increased certainly one- 
half, if not more. I also measured another piece of ground of 
similar size, in the same field, rather low and wet, and the soil 
evidently sour from the moss on the surface, and sowed one 
quart of unleached ashes; the increase of grass was similar to 
the. above. 
Like plaster, ashes act as a stimulative manure, and should 
never be parted with by any farmer, at least not for the paltry 
price of one shilling a bushel. L. A. MORRELL. 
Lansing , Tompkins Co. 1841. 
A Suggestion. 
Messrs. Gaylord <fe Tucker — I much like the suggestion that 
was made some time since, that the Cultivator be furnished 
with the names of the officers of the various agricultural socie¬ 
ties. I would amend the above suggestion by a request, that the 
names of all the officers of the various county societies be pub¬ 
lished, with the places of their residence, as it would furnish 
great facilities for interchange of opinions. I am led to make 
this request, as I wished to correspond with officers of the dif¬ 
ferent societies, but was prevented from doing so for the rea¬ 
son, I did not know their post-offices; and on looking over the 
Cultivator and Genesee Farmer for this year, I could find only 
about twenty-five societies that had reported their organization 
at all, and only about one-half of that number have given the 
As there is a general wish to interchange views with each other, 
let one and all comply with the request, and I can assure you 
places of residence of their officers. Now this should not be so. 
that all will receive great benefit thereby. J. B. D. 
Auburn, Nov. 16, 1841. 
A ituarg-e Calf. 
Messrs. Editors —Mr. Hendley Kissinger, a respectable far¬ 
mer of Pike county, Missouri, has a bull calf which he raised 
in said county, of the Durham and Patton stock, which weighed, 
at the age of five months and nine days, five hundred and seven¬ 
ty-four pounds gross. Color, deep cherry red. 
JAMES W. BOOTH. 
Clarksville, Mo., October 18, 1841. 
Quere. —A friend of mine inquires, whether there has ever 
been any trial of the comparative product of butter from fresh 
milk and that which has stood 24 or 48 hours? If the quantity 
is as great and the quality as good, I think the saving would, be 
very great. A. V. D. 
Clayton county, Iowa Territory, 1841 
National Agricultural Society. 
Messrs. Editors—I do not call the friends of a National Agri¬ 
cultural Society fools, neither do 1 wish to impute, to them any 
notion they do not entertain; but I do believe, they entertain the 
notion of establishing a National Agricultural Society, a Nation¬ 
al School, and a National Experimental Farm; and of petition¬ 
ing Congress for the Smithsonian legacy to establish them. 
Now, Messrs. Editors, as to the Smithsonian legacy, I can see 
no reason why the farmers, as a class, have any more right to 
claim it than any other class. Mr. Garnett and others say the 
farmer ought to have it because there is no profession which 
requires a more general knowledge than agriculture. 1 think 
that the different professions, priests, lawyers and. doctors, 
mechanics, artists, or manufacturers, might claim it for the 
same reasons. If I understand the Smithsonian legacy right, it 
was left to the government towards establishing a National 
University; that the philanthropic donor had no intention of be¬ 
queathing it to any particular class for their sole benefit; there¬ 
fore, if the farmer should obtain it of Congress by log-rolling, 
lobbying, petitioning or any other means, it -would be unjust, as 
much so as to obtain a half million of the revenue. My opinion 
is that government is constituted for the protection oi all, for 
the favoring of none ; therefore I cannot see what right govern¬ 
ment has to tax me to pay my neighbor a premium because he 
has reared a bigger bull calf than I have. Since I received the 
last number of "the Cultivator, I have carefully perused all the 
communications of Messrs. Garnett, Robinson and Gordon, as 
well as your own, on the subject of a National Agricultural.So- 
ciety, and cannot conjure up in my brain any thing much diffe¬ 
rent from what I did before. It is described as something from 
which great undefined blessings are to flow, and great honors 
are to be obtained, far exceeding the honors of congressmen. It 
is also said it will serve as a kind of bond to bind our grand 
confederacy together, although Mr. Garnett says, should the 
scheme be generally approved, members enough, and more than 
enough, will be found in the States most convenient to the place 
of meeting to constitute a numerous association. Well, sup¬ 
pose that this numerous association is collected at Washington, 
either from the remotest extremes of the grand confederacy, or 
from one or two of the adjoining States; what then? Why, an 
Agricultural School, with an Experimental Farm attached to it, 
is to be established. What is to be taught, or who are to be 
taught, at this school I know not; and as for one Experimental 
Farm for such a diversified soil and climate as there is in the 
United States, I cannot understand it. Friend Robinson thinks 
the scheme is like a complicated piece of machinery, very diffi¬ 
cult to start, but of great use when started. Now ! will admit 
it appears very complicated, and as he is comparing it to ma¬ 
chinery, I must take the liberty of comparing it to one of our 
double geared thunder-shower saw-mills, that go to kill, whilst 
the shower lasts, but stops for the want of water when the 
shower is over. So it will be with this grand scheme. As long 
as government will furnish funds, and riches and honors can be 
held out as inducements, it will go, and no longer. 
I will say no more on their scheme, but simply propose an¬ 
other, which is this : There shall be formed a great National 
Agricultural Society, composed of all the farmers in the United 
States and Territories. There shall be no president, vice-pre¬ 
sidents, secretaries or treasurer to manage the affairs, but 
every member shall manage his own affairs. There shall be 
a great National Agricultural School, and every farm shall 
be an experimental farm attached to it; every member of 
this society shall have a premium in exact proportion to his 
skill and industry; that is, he shall have all he produces on his 
farm, and shall not be obliged to give his neighbor a part be¬ 
cause he was more skillful than himself. It is recommended 
that every member of this society take the Cultivator, or some 
other good agricultural paper; and when any member makes 
any valuable discovery in the art of farming, he shall commu¬ 
nicate it to his brother members through the medium of those 
papers. I well remember the saying of Dr. Franklin to Thomas 
Paine, that he who spits against the wind spits in his own face, 
when I say any thing against the fashionable agricultural soci¬ 
eties of these days, but I do sincerely believe there is more hum- 
bugery about them than any real good. F. BURT. 
Importance of JLg, -Journals to the Farmer, 
Messrs. Editors —I have been a constant reader of your Cul¬ 
tivator for the year that is past, and I am convinced it does pro¬ 
duce the effect for which it was established—to improve the 
mind as well as the soil. Such publications infuse new life and 
energy into the farmer, and excite him to intelligent activity in 
Ills business. The time has past when agriculture was consi¬ 
dered a low and vulgar calling; yet there are still some who 
call themselves farmers who refuse to take an agricultural pa¬ 
per, and the reason they give is, that they can plant corn and 
potatoes without reading; they don’t believe in “book farming” 
at all. Now I contend that every farmer can afford to take an 
agricultural paper, and every farmer who refuses to take one 
is behind the age and blind to his own interest. In fact, the 
great reason why agriculture has been kept down so long, is, 
that the farmers themselves have been too negligent, they have 
been too ignorant, they have not read and informed themselves, 
they have acted as though they thought theirs was a low call¬ 
ing. If the occupation of the farmer is a degraded one, how is 
it that some of the greatest and ablest men this country has pro¬ 
duced axe or have been farmers ? Such men for in stance as Clay, 
Jackson, Webster, VanBuren, Hill, and the late Judge Buel, and 
many others that might be named, by their conduct prove they 
do not consider the calling of a farmer a disgrace. They are 
men who unite science with practice, and the results they give 
the public, for the benefit of their fellow-farmers. If a farmer 
has a liberal education, s-o much the better, if it gives him the 
means of greater influence. To be neat and thrifty farmers, we 
must be intelligent ones. Some farmers seem to labor under 
the great mistake they have done all that is required of them, 
when they have labored from week to week, and month to 
month, without giving one hour to mental improvement. 
And now let me say to every farmer who does not take an 
agricultural paper, send in your subscription for some such 
journal at once, and my word for it, you will never be sorry 
you have done it. What farmer is there among us who would 
not like to spend an hour with such men as James M. Garnett, 
A. B. Allen, Solon Robinson, C. N. Bement, and many others? 
Yet the subscriber to the Cultivator meets these and a host of 
others, scarcely less celebrated, monthly, and enjoys the rich 
results cf their skill, experience, and observation. The obser¬ 
vation of Mr. Bement is doubtless correct, “that in traveling 
through the country he can tell whether a man reads an agri¬ 
cultural journal or not, by looking at his farm gates, out build¬ 
ings, piggery,” &c. Depend upon it, Messrs. Editors, there is 
something in the outside show which a farmer makes about his 
premises. It speaks the mind and the man. L. DURAND* 
HATCH'S SOWING 
A machine, of which the aboye engraving gives a correct 
representation, designed for sowing grains of all kinds, grass 
seeds, plaster, &c., invented by Julius Hatch of Roches¬ 
ter, N. Y., was exhibited at the State Fair at Syracuse, and re¬ 
ceived a premium of $15, as the best machine for such purpo¬ 
ses. From what we hear of it, from those who have used it, 
we are inclined to think, with the New Genesee Farmer, from 
which we transcribe the annexed description of it, that it will 
prove one of the most useful labor-saving machines that has 
recently been brought into use. It “ consists of a pair of wheels 
of the size of ordinary carriage wheels; an axeltree 10 feet long, 
with a pair of shafts for the horse to draw by. Just in front of 
the wheels, and across the shafts is the hopper A, 10 feet long, 
and capable of holding 3 or 4 bushels of grain. At the bottom 
of the hopper is a slide or agitator one inch square, faced with 
iron and having teeth on the inside, by the motion of which the 
grain is shaken out. The width of the crevice, and the conse¬ 
quent discharge of the seed, can be increased or diminished by 
means of set screws, as shown at B. . When the machine is in 
operation a rapid vibratory motion is given to the agitator by 
means of a small rod and crank C, attached to one end.of a 
small shaft 15 inches long, on the other end of which is a pinion 
wheel D, with cogs or teeth meshing into the master wheel E. 
The master wheel is boiled on to the inside of the spokes.of the 
nigh wheel of the machine. It is .2 feet in diameter, and one 
revolution of it gives eight revolutions to the pinion wheel and ‘ 
MACHINE— (Fig. 87.) 
shaft. On the top of the back part of the machine is a seat for 
the driver. A small cord is attached to the end of the pinion 
shaft, and reaches to the seat of the driver, by means of which 
he can readily put the machine out of gear, so as to stop the 
discharge of seed at any time when desired. The machine will 
sow all kinds of grain, grass seed and plaster, at any desired 
rate from 4 quarts to as many bushels per acre. It is easily 
managed, and not liable to get out of order. A man or a smart 
boy with a horse, can sow from twenty to twenty-five acres 
with it in a day. 
“ The inventor and proprietor of this machine has spent seve¬ 
ral years in testing and improving it, and he now introduces it 
to the public with the utmost assurance that it will fully meet 
the wants and expectations of the community. It is well known 
that sowing is one of the most difficult and laborious operations 
of the farmer, and one which but few men can.perform proper¬ 
ly. Hence arises the need of a machine like this—one that will 
perform the work correctly, expeditiously, and with ease. All 
who have used this machine, agree in declaring that it answers 
the purpose exactly ; and if we are not mistaken, it will, in a 
few years be as uncommon to see a farmer sowing grain by 
hand, as it now is to see one thrashing with a flail.” 
The machine is manufactured at Rochester, N. Y., by thepa- 
j tentee, who offers the rights for counties or states to enterpris¬ 
ing mechanics on favorable terms. Letters to be addressed to 
I Mr. Hatch, as above. 
