Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 18o 
and money enough left to purchase another one, and considerable 
left to add to means for increasing the productiveness of the 
farm, or. in other words, to increase the available capital. And 
right here we will indicate one direction in which inventive genius 
may be exercised to the great advantage of the farmer, we refer to 
the idea partially perfected in the Hollingsworth Sulky-Rake, we 
mean the use of the same axle and wheels to drive several attach¬ 
ments, such as a plaster sower, and grass seed sower, each of 
which becomes a perfect machine of itself, entailing but a slight 
additional cost above the rake to secure three separate machines, 
and we think it quite praciticable to add to these a hay tedder, a cul¬ 
tivator, a corn planter, and possibly some others. 
It is well known that the sowing of plaster and grass seed are at¬ 
tended with certain difficulties in distributing them evenly and in con¬ 
stant quantities and which are well nigh impossible to be overcome 
by hand-sowing. Just contrast a man carrying 25 or 30 pounds of 
plaster, sowing it unevenly, with the wind blowing it in his face 
and covering his clothes, with his feet and legs drabbled with wet 
and dirt, sowing perhaps 8 or 10 acres a day, and the same man sit¬ 
ting in a spring seat, trotting along comfortably and clean, sowing 
30 cr 40 acres a day, even and uniform, and choose which you like 
best, and the course you deem wisest and most profitable. 
An incidental advantage generally induced by the introduction 
of machinery on the farm, is the cleanlier culture, more level and 
smooth working, the leaving of strips of grass along the fences 
or border of the field for the purpose of turning around and to ob¬ 
tain access to the different fields at all times of the year, and also 
the necessity of large fields to save time in turning around. Per¬ 
haps very few have ever computed the loss of time and labor, as well 
as money, occasioned by dividing a farm into 5, 8 o r 10 acre fields 
as compared with 20 or 40 acre fields, and yet taking lost time, lost 
land, and money expended in fences, the crops raised in the 8 acre 
field will cost nearly twice as much as those raised in the 20 acre 
field. 
Finally; the use of machinery necessitates acquaintance with 
the various kinds offered for sale, so that the best may be purchased 
for the existing conditions and the variety of crops to be raised— 
acquaintance with the general laws of mechanics so as to be able 
to judge as to the efficiency of the machine from its construction 
