Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-12-20
acre is something wonderful. fItisgiven to
all kinds of stock. ] find my own farm
horses do well upon the grain. ,,..-T an 10
lGRICULTURAL MACHINERY,

y. d.
demand has set in during the last twenty
years for improved agricultural imple-
ments. This has mainly arisen from n more
correct appreciation Of the value and adj
vantages of good machines. In America,
owing to the high rate of wages and the
! difficulty of obtaining an adequate supply
oflabOr, agricultural machinery calculated
to save manual labor has been an absolute
necessity. Without the reaping machine
the crops could not be harvested, and with
out the threshing machine they could not
be brought to market. Hence the trade In
agricultural implements has reached giganr
tic, proportions. From inquiries 1, made ]
| found that atleast 100000 reapihg and now
ing machines are made annually in the
States was there during the harvest
everywhere the reaper was to be seen go-
ing; the scythe or the sickle wasjust as ex-
ceptional as the reaping machine was in
England ten years ago. The threshing ma
chimes were very inferior to ours, though
the Americans were apt to think that they
were far ahead of us, and that we were
very slow people their machines were
almost exclusively worked by horse
power. One farmer on the banks
of Lake Ontario, who had ten horses yoked
to his threshing machine, seemed much
surprised that in England we did all our
threshing by steam power. He had never
heard of such thing. The implements
of the farm, If we except reapers, are of
very inferior design and build to our Eng
lsh machines. l thought one great want
in American farming was good steerage
drills and horse hoes to follow. In coun-
try where labor is so scarce and dear, the
hoeing of the corn crop by animal power
would be an immense boon. The drills are
not made with steerage; consequently
the drilling is bad, rendering the use of the
horse hoe impracticable; and, as labor Is
so dear, in most cases the corn and weeds
seem to be left ''tO grow together until the
harvest" To a farmer in the north OF
New York State, on whose land / went to
sec some reaping machines at work, and
whose barley was full of thistles, said
4" If that crop had been in e gland, we
should have cut out the thistles." He re-
piled it would not pay, adding he did not
mind thistles, for he always had good
crop of wheat after. Nearly the whole OF
the implements are furnished with seat
for the men to ride-the idea being to get
more work out of the laborers. found the
prairie farmers very desirous Of having a
good gang plow." as it is called, on which
the plowman could ride. | told them if
the men had easier work, it would be at the
expense of horses. As reaping machines
are used, and in consequence open burrows
undesirable, the land is frequently plowed
as follows: A short ridge is set in the mid
die of the field, the plow passing not ouly
up and down each side, but furrow is
taken off in going round at each end. By
this means the plow is always in the
ground aud the whole field plowed with
out leaving an open furrow. A field may
also hn onprrnoAood by Plowins a fur1vw
all round the outside and finishing I'm the
middle The American farmer is not sat-
isfed, as we are, with one team plowing an
acre per day; but expects from each
team of a pair of horses two acres
to two and half acres. 1 rather
doubted SO much being done; but
was over and over assured by both
masters and men that two acres and half
were not at all an unusual days work. The
furrows, | must tell you, are over afoot wide,
none of your fancy ploughing match style.
The land is also generally much higher than
our English soils. and the depth of the
ploughing is, according to my notions, very
much too shallow-a fault not at all un-
common on this side the Atlantic. Steam
pl0nghshave not yet been introduced. Sew
eral attempts have fbeen made; but as all
the schemes have been with engines to
travel over the surface-afCer Romain's
plan-nO wonder they have not succeeded.
On the prairies there would be no difficulty
in constructing machinery capable of
breaking up twenty or even Twenty-Five
acres of such land per day, and this with
only three men. - .. .....r -.- .,,-.
~.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS ' r
Although the territory of the United
States is 50 much greater than England, the
live stock is by no means in the same pro-
portion. The COWS and other horned cattle
according to the census of 1860, amounted |
to l7,00O,0O0, about d,ube the estimated |
number of the United Kingdom-two and |
one-tourth millions of the cattle were re-
turned as working oxen. The sheep, on the |
other hand, fell shortof the estimated Eng
lish number by two and one half millions;
while the pigs exceeded by ten times our
number, reaching the fabulousnumb OF |
SO, 900, or just about as many pigs as |
people. The bulk of the cattle [ saw were
of the short horn type. Alderueys and |
Ayrshires are much in repute for dairy |
purposes; but, as in England, the short |
horn Is the prevailing breed. The sheep OF |
America are of very nondescrpt charac-
ter, generally miserably bred and ill-oOk- |
ing things, about half the size of the Eng
lish. Flocks of LeiceSters, Southdowns |
and merinoes are to be found; but they are |
exceptional. There is one matter, an i'm |
poftant one to an Englishmau, viz: the |
quality of the meat. Whether it be the |
climate, the food, or the cooking, or all |
three, don't know; but the beef and NUT |
ton are most inferior, tasteless and tough |
in the extreme. Pork is tolerably good |
The national Importance of paying |
more attention to sheep is being |
/ a1 A q, he, d,