Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1853-12-29
New Agricultural I'M piements.


Mr. Isham. Of the Michigan Farmer,
gives the following description of new
implements r now on exhibition at the
Crystal Palace, in New York.
Among the agricultural implements
found number of new inventions, some
|of which bid fair to be useful, while 9th.
ers are undoubtedly humbugs.
There is spade .ditcher on exhibi-
tion, the spades projecting in somewhat
similar manner TO the plow, only the dir,
is carried to the top of the machine,
where 1t slides off each side; bu, have
no confidence in il at all--in fact, feel
assured that il will be of no manner ot
use. In the first place, it cannot dig an
open ditch a, all, for it leaves the sides
perpendicular; and in the next place,
am certain it cannot dig turf.
There is a machine called the separa.
tor. which have no doub, is destined to
be useful implement, the design Of it
being to separate all foul stuff from grain.
Ii will not only separate clover and tim
.oihy seed from wheat, but il will separ-
ate the two former from each other, and
do it most perfectly-and so of all kinds
of seeds. |. is done by means Of selves
of all the different degrees of hneness
required. II is from Elgin, Illinois.
could moi learn the price, The proprietor
not being present. ..
There is side-hill plow, which is
made to adapt itself to the emergency by
turning the beam, handles and all, to the
"righ;- about face" a. The end of fur
row, the beam turning upon a pivot,
where the bolt passes through il, ,he
mould d.board being adjusted without TAX
ing the plow out of the ground, there
being double share. | have some doubt
whether ii is an improvement.
There is an invention for making
brooms: all ,ha, is required being to lay
the broom corn bunches close into a
clasp, with the hands, and lock them in.
Any housewife can make nice broom
in two or three minutes.
There is pig-pen, designed to learn
hogs good manners. /. does not differ
from those swing partitions given in the
Farmer some months ago, only there
are castiron kettles instead of trough,
so that the animals cannot be unclvil to
each other.
What would you think of machine
which should take off your hands the
tedious, cold and shivering task of husk-
ing your corn. /, might spoil the fun of
husking bee, bui would il not be a des
idera,um for all that! Such mechine is
in show at the exhibition, by IT. G. Har.
greaves, of Schenectady, and it seems to
understand the business. There is cir
cular revolving platform with ten grooves
in it. The ears are placed in the grooves
and as the platform revolves, knife
(chisel fashion) descends, cuts through
the husk and cob, jus, at the head of the
ear, while another contrivance slides out
the ear, leaving the husk which is prop
erly disposed of. The hand machines
cost from $lS to $25 each; and operated
by man and boy, will husk 800
bushels of ears per day. That is what
i, professes, and | have strong hopes Of it.
My heart went out upon it with gush,
in remembrance of the horrid time used
to have iE husklng late in The season.
And wha. would you think of plow,
which is no plow at all. and yet plows
better than plow! That is to say,
how would it conform with your ideas
OF the fitness of things to have tha, honor
ed implement, the plow, thrust aside to
max ke room for one not one tenth part as
good looking, and which is only thing
of yesterday! There is such an imple-
ment in the Exhibition; it is az uncou,h-
looking object but claims to be equal to
the task OF pulverizing the earth more
effectually than the plow, at less ex-
pense Of draft, and requires no holder.
Two plates OF iron. an inch thick. and
circular, are fastened TO each other, SO
as to leave a couple of inches OF space
between them. From between these
circular plates, narrow spades project all
around at the distance of few inches
apart. the saanks of the spades extend
ing in towards the centre, while they
work upon pivot. The spades pro-
ject six, nine, twelve, fifteen or twenty
inches from the circumference of the
wheel. as may be desired; and there
may be two or three, or more wheels, or
sets Of wheels, or sets of spades, strung
upon single axle, carrying breadth OF
several feet. As the machine is drawn
forward, the whole, of course, revolves
upon the ground like cart or wagon
wheels, the project spades sinking into
the earth as they come over. When
each spade in its turn is loaded. i, is
thrown up behind, as the wheel passes
round, by means of a trigger which,
just in The nick of time, is pressed to
the earth by the advancing wheel. oper-
ating upon the principle Of lever with
a large purchase. and thus the land is
thoroughly spaded and put in the best
possible condition for crop. The
diaf. OF machine with three sets Of
spades, which would carry breadth of
some four feet, is said TO be not much,
if any more than that of a common
plow.
There is also model of machine
for cutting up corn, the stalks falling
back upon the machine, as the straw Of
wheat does upon ihe reaper, where il