time. Four horses (or mules,) are required to operate the machine throughout the day, without a change, though the draft is not more than two horse power; and it is attended by a boy to drive the team, and a man to rake the grain from it into gavels of suitable size for sheaves. Six or seven men, (or "women," as the case may be,) are required to bind and shock the wheat. This is the estimated labor of harvesting wheat that stands up, and yields, say twenty to thirty bushels per acre. If the wheat be heavier, and fallen, the operation will of course be more difficult, and the speed retarded. This reaper has uniformly been warranted to cut one and a half to two acres of wheat or other small grain per hour, (equal to fifteen or twenty acres per day;) to save at least three-fourths of the wheat that would be scattered by ordinary cradling; and it is also warranted to be durable. Perhaps the best evidence of the satisfaction given by the Reaper has been the continued large and increasing demand for it. It is constructed to cut as high or as low as required, and the saving of wheat by it, over that cut by the cradle, is estimated at not less than one bushel per acre, and in some situations more; the whole operation being more perfect than can possibly be done by hand labor in any way, and without being materially obstructed by "May-weed, thistles, dock, &c." "What will be the expense, per acre of wheat," may be calculated from the foregoing. The following is the estimated cost here, as taken from a certificate signed by some hundreds of farmers who have used this Reaper, viz: Cost of Cradling and binding 16 acres of wheat; 8 cradlers and 9 bin$20 00 ders, at $1,25 each,. Cost of cutting and binding 16 acres of wheat with the reaper; two men, or a man and a boy with the machine, at $1,25 and $1.00, $2.25 acres, to,. 150 00 96 00 10 00 troduction there,-one of them having been prepared for exhibition at the great World's Fair, in May next, and for which the gold medal of the American Institute" has been awarded. C. H. McCORMICK. Chicago, Ill., Nov. 12th, 1850. Letter in reference to different Reapers. EDS. CULTIVATOR-Four years ago, the first harvesting machine was brought into this county, and so fast did such machines come into favor with the farmers, that for the two seasons past nearly all the grain has been cut by them. Mr. McCormick, when introducing his Virginia reaper, warranted it to cut one and a half acres per hour, and save one bushel per acre more than by the ordinary mode of harvesting, or it might be returned. No machine has ever been returned to my knowledge, or any dissatisfaction expressed on account of a failure to fulfil the warrant. This machine, as well as others, has been greatly improved, while a host of new ones are brought into the harvest-field every year. In reply to the inquiries of your London correspondent, I would say these machines are worked by horses, sometimes two being used, but more generally four. Some of the machines require the horses to go by the side of the standing grain, while the machine works on one side. The cutting apparatus of others is directly in front of the horses. Some drop the grain directly behind, which must be bound before the machine comes round again, while others drop it at one side, and the whole field may be cut before any of it is removed. Some require a man to rake the grain from them; others are constructed for self raking, and one has been brought into the field the past season that does its own binding. The cost of these machines is from 75 to 125 dollars; the amount which they will cut per day, varies from 12 to more than 20 acres. The price charged per acre for cutting, is from 50 to 62 cts. From seven to nine men are employed to bind and shock $10 00 the grain. Women's labor is too scarce and valuable to be employed in tying grain. These machines cut all the grain, and if the raker is careful none is scattered, and if the binders carry a rake and use it, none need be lost. Fields harvested by these machines present a beautiful appearance. The stubble is uniform in height, while no prostrate, scattering straws speak of waste. If the binders have felt at all interested in doing their work well, there is nothing to glean with the sickle, bagging-hook, or rake. Weeds, brush, pitchforks, rakes, if standing 00 To which add one bushel of wheat per acre, saved 40 HUSSEY'S REAPER. in the way, and even horses legs, are all cut smooth | year has there been any thing presented to the pubalike. Weeds make heavy raking, that is all. lic that would cut our prairie grasses, some of which Now as one man can cut from two to five acres are the most difficult of all to cut by machinery. per day with a cradle, of the grain that stands up- At the late fair of the Buel Institute held at Granright, and another can rake and bind it, it may be ville, Putnam county, two machines of different supposed that there is no great difference in the ex-patterns were exhibited, and tested in cutting prairie pense per acre, by hiring a machine or cutting by grass, to the entire satisfaction of all. One of the hand; but other considerations render the machine machines clogged in some of the worst places, but valuable in the estimation of farmers. First, it is the other cut its way through every thing as close or supposed that it saves over and above other modes closer to the ground than a scythe, leaving the grass enough to pay for cutting, if not the whole expense in a much better condition to dry. I learn that one for harvesting, and then it cuts lodged and crinkled of these last mentioned machines was used some grain readily, saving much in both labor and grain; few miles east of us, working to the entire satisfacand again, it enables us to cut our grain in season, tion of its owner and all others who witnessed its which we could not do with the limited amount of operation. Both of these machines are also designed help in the country. for harvesters, and both are manufactured at Ottawa, in this county. The price of the latter I understand is 75 dollars. L. L. BULLOCK. La Salle County, Illinois, November, 1850. There are other machines at work in the harvestfield, differing from those to which your correspondent's inquiries alluded. They take the heads of the grain only, dispensing with binding and shocking. This machine is really a labor saving machine, yet, on account of the prejudice in favor of the timehonored custom of binding grain, they are working themselves but slowly into use. Those who have tried them cannot be induced to return to the old method. The grain as it is gathered in and cut by these machines, is thrown into a canvass which carries it one side and deposits it in a wagon-box, made for the purpose, and driven by the side of the machine. From sixteen to twenty acres can be cut and put in rick in a day, by six men and eight horses. The only objection raised against this mode of harvesting, is the danger of the grains damaging in the rick, but the testimony of all who have tried it is in its favor. In a damper climate than this, it might not save well; but here, with our sunny sky and pure air, I think there is no danger. If we had your correspondent's two hundred acres of wheat here on the prairies, we would, in two weeks time, with six men and eight horses, put it all in rick for him, wasting no more than he will with all his men and his women. We are doing more here than your correspondent or many of your readers may be aware of. Horses will soon do our haymaking as well as harvesting. For three years or more, there has been in use a harvesting machine that has been made to cut timothy and timothy and clover mixed, but not until this Letter in reference to Hussey's Reaper. EDITORS CULTIVATOR-In answer to inquiry about reaping machines, page 379 of the Cultivator for 1850, I would state that I have used one of Hussey's for two years. Our wheat crop was not heavy in straw in 1849, and we cut with two horses, changing twice a day, on an average, rather over fourteen acres. This season the straw was very heavy, and I could not get over from ten to eleven acres cut per day, even using three horses at a time, and changing horses twice or oftener per day. The machine ought never to be worked with two horses,except the grain is quite light. It requires about seven men to bind after the reaper, one man to drive the team, and another to push off the sheaves from the platform of the reaper. In this way, I think wheat can be taken up as clean as in any way I am acquainted with; even the best reapers cannot do it so clean. It leaves a stubble of about seven and a-half inches in length; it can be cut lower, but then it is harder on the team. Much "May-weed" might impede the cutting somewhat, but docks and thistles would not hinder. Any grain requires to be fully ripe before it is cut with the reapers, as it is impossible for a man to push off the cut grain from the platform when eut in a raw state. It is, on the whole a wonderful labor-saving machine, as even in heavy grain, nine men may cut, bind and shock, ten aeres per day. The reaper does not work well when the grain is wet, but no farmer ought to cut his grain in that state. When grain is all laid one way, the machine will cut it beautifully by the team working in a direction opposite to that the grain lies; but if it is twisted in different directions, the machine will not work. Hussey's reaper costs $100 at Auburn. J. JOHNSTON. Near Geneva, Nov. 25, 1850. Notes of a Tour in Central New-York. ANALYTICAL LABORATORY, YALE COLLEGE, "} New-Haven, Conn., Dec. 5, 1850. MESSRS. EDITORS-The last days of 1850 have come, and find me still lingering in Wayne county; a district which constantly suggests fresh topics of a most interesting character. I hope however, to tear myself away before we have advanced far into 1851. At the conclusion of my last letter, I had just returned from an excursion with Mr. PARDee, as far as the shores of Lake Ontario. A day or two afterward, I drove, with Mr. HYDE of Palmyra, a few miles south into Ontario county. One of the most interesting farms that we visited, was that of Mr. RUSH. He owns a large number of acres, and keeps a numerous stock, feeding out all of his corn, barley, oats, &c. on the premises, and only selling off the wheat. In this way he makes much manure, and keeps the land in fair condition. The wheat crop of the present year had been so good in all this region, that very many of the farmers were carrying their corn off the land preparatory to sowing wheat, Mr. RUSH, at the time of my visit, was clearing a corn-field by placing the stacks together in rows, and had commenced harrowing in the wheat without any plowing. This was certainly a labor-saving method, but I doubt if it will afford very heavy wheat as a return. By way of illustrating the short-sighted rapacity of some farmers in this section, I mention a case of which I was told by Mr. Rush. He named a person who had shortly before cut a heavy second crop of clover from one of his fields, and had immediately gone on to plow it for wheat. It is fair to say that even on this rich land, such farming is considered rather exhausting. I saw in this neighborhood, an instance of the evil which results from making drains of large loose stone, imperfectly covered on the top, as such must always inevitably be. A man was at work upon a drain of this description, into which the water had broken from above, washing in so much earth that it had completely choked, and required taking up for nearly its whole length. If this drain had been covered with small stones above the large ones, such a catastrophe could scarcely by any possibility have occurred. his fine fruit. The nursery of Mr. SMITH was in this neighborhood, but our limited time forbade the call we had contemplated. Mr. Hyde very modestly waived my visit to his own farm in favor of some others; but from what I saw and heard, he also must be included among the improving farmers of this section. I noticed as we passed along the road, a superb field of corn belonging to him, and quite a number of acres just brought in from swamp and wood. The fair at Palmyra, was excellent in many respects, and the show of stock acknowledged by all to be very good. I saw some fine Devons, and some. showy horses. Sampson, a Clydesdale stallion, I should judge, attracted much attention. After the list of orchards and nurseries that I have mentioned, it may easily be conceived that the show of fruit was uncommonly good. From Palmyra, I went via Canandaigua, Geneva and Seneca Lake, to Ovid, where the fair of the fair was more numerously attended than any of those Seneca county Society, was held this year. This show of stock. The horses were said to have been at which I was present. I arrived too late for the ferior in quality. The exhibition of fruit did not good, but the cattle few in number, and rather inappear so well as some that I had previously seen, perhaps because there was no place properly arranged for its reception and protection. On reaching Ovid, I found Mr. DELAFIELD, the President of the Society, at his post, as a matter of course, and exerting every energy to keep up the interest of the occasion. The name of JOHN DELAFIELD, will hereafter be associated with all the best interests, and all the progressive agricultural movements of Seneca county. If we could have but one man of such enterprise, perseverance, and sagacity, in each county of our Union, the revolution that our country would witness within the next few years would be quite surprising; the cause of improvement could not then languish as it too often has alone. I saw the plowing at Ovid, and thought it generally very good; the Michigan subsoil plow was at work, for the purpose of showing its operation. This seems to me a truly valuable implement; the turf and grass are turned by it very completely, and the surface is Ifet in a mould like that of a garden; at the same time it possesses the great additional advantage of plowing deeply. In a stony subsoil, or one that was very much compacted and indurated, this plow probably would not work so well as in the mellow soils where I saw it tried. A real subsoil plow of the old construction, would be the only thing for the more obdurate soils. From Mr. RUSH's we drove through the town of I may notice here as an instance of the interest Farmington to Macedon, where we passed a few which is felt by the people of this county, in any moments with the well known horticulturist and thing relating to improvement in agriculture, that on author, Mr. J. J. THOMAS, walking through parts repairing to the court-house before the hour appointof his extensive nurseries, and looking at some ofed for the address, I found the room already densely packed, and a large number waiting outside utterly unable to obtain admission. It soon became evident that we must adjourn to the open air, and the address was delivered from a temporary stage erected upon the court-house steps, to a large audience, that testified by constant attention, the desire of its members to gain knowledge connected with their profession. Fayette, arriving just after dark at Mr. Delafield's place, near Geneva. Much of the soil in Fayette is quite heavy for this section of the county, and decidedly wet; all that is necessary to bring it at once into a highly productive state, is the tile drain. Mr. Delafield's farm has already been described by others on various occasions, and I will therefore only say that it bears evidence of skilful management in every part. The farms of Mr. John Johnson, and of Mr. er; the latter has taken the state premium. On the day after the fair, under the guidance of Mr. DELAFIELD, I traversed a very considerable por-Foster, are also excellent schools for the young farmtion of Seneca county. We first drove south from Ovid to Lodi, passing on our way thither, through numerous handsome farms, seemingly under good cultivation. Having a long circuit to make, and being obliged to reach the north end of the county by evening, we were compelled to pass many interesting farms and good farmers, without making any stop. The houses on the main road through Lodi, reminded one of New England, in their large size, their neat comfortable appearance, and the little evidences of taste as well as of thrift which appeared about many of them. From the high grounds of Lodi, may be seen both the Cayuga and Seneca lakes for a large portion of their length. The roads were all laid off at right angles at distances of a mile, and running straight across from one lake to the other. In descending toward Seneca lake, we experienced some genuine farmer-like hospitality from Mr. WYCKOFF of Lodi Mills, and afterwards under his guidance visited the Lodi falls. These are in a deep cleft of the Moscow Shale, worn out probably by the action of water to a far greater than its original depth. The stream is insignificant, and though it falls in one place 150 feet, makes in summer but little show. The amphitheatre of cliffs however, which it has scooped out below, is some 200 feet in perpendicular height, and is magnificent beyond description; it will richly repay a visit from all who can appreciate the sublimity of such a scene. The falls can be reached in ten minutes walk from Lodi landing, where a steamer calls four or five times in each day. At one place in the face of these cliffs, native alum appears upon the surface in considerable quantities; it can be detached in pieces of medium size, and the rock from which it exudes may at some time be valuable for the purpose of alum making. It is due to Seneca county to say, that I noticed fewer weeds in its fields, and along its roadsides, than in any other district that I visited; this may to some seem a trifling sign, but to me it signifies a wide-spread spirit of enterprise and improvement. The county will be fully described, its various peculiarities elucidated, and its advantages made known when the survey now in progress by Mr. Delafield for the State Society, shall be published. I will not anticipate any of its information, but will merely say that it shows a general state of agriculture that is highly creditable at present, and that is rapidly advancing toward the best standards. Yours truly, JOHN P. NORTON. Profits of Fowls. E. M. BRADLEY furnishes the East Bloomfield Farmers' Club with a statement in regard to the month of February 1850, he built a poultry-house, profits of eighty fowls for ninety days. In the 31 feet long and 13 feet wide, attached to a shed on one side and to a barn at one end. The roof was of boards, battened, and it had two windows for lowed to roam every afternoon. His account of the Nine bushels oats at 33 cents.. Making the whole expense.. $10 90 4.50 15 00 5 00 3.00 $39 40 In ninety days they furnished 385 dozen and ten eggs, which at ten cents per dozen, were worth $38,58-being a trifle more than the cost of build On emerging from the foot of this defile, we found ourselves on the shore of Seneca lake, and among the remains of an Indian orchard. Apple and peaching the house, the fowls and the grain consumed. trees were here in bearing, which escaped the destruction made by Sullivan's expedition against the Six Nations. Some of the apples that we picked up under these trees, were quite handsome, and showed that the Indians must have selected their fruit with some care. CROPS IN NOVA SCOTIA.-Rev. H. L. OWEN, Aylesford Rectory, writes that the crops of last year were more than an average. "Wheat has succeeded well wherever sown, which has not been the case for four years. Potatoes abundant, but I fear are rotting in the cellar. Hay, a good crop, as also Rye and Barley. Turnep From this point we commenced our journey north-culture is becoming extensive, and peat soil is coming ward again, passing through Ovid, Romulus, and into free use." ings of evergreens, which will serve wonderfully to mitigate the evils of our long and rigorous winters, which are so generally felt. To come at once to an estimate by bank-note consideration,-we are satisfied by considerable observation, as well as actual experience, that on many bleak situations, at least one half the fuel consumed might be saved by planting twenty-five to fifty good evergreen trees, across the sweep of the prevailing winds. It is a matter of some importance to one who values coin, whether he pays twenty-five or fifty dollars a year for cord-wood; and whether by saving twenty-five dollars a year, he may save the value of a small farm in a life-time. And if at the same time that this positive tangible profit is secured, a tasteful and attractive appearance is given to a home,—an influence of very great importance in the moral education of a rising family, the matter is most certainly worthy of attention. To explain more distinctly how a dwelling may be thus protected by tasteful planting, we give the above imperfect plan; more particularly as writers on ornamental planting have apparently lost sight of this important end. The prevailing winds are supposed to be from the south, north-west, and north-east. It will be observed in the plan, that the plantings of evergreen trees predominate at three points, while in other directions the view is left more open. At the same time, art is concealed, and artificial stiffness avoided. The number of trees for these screens may be tripled if necessary. There are few parts of the country where native evergreens of some kind may not be procured within a days journey. They may be conveyed on sleds with great ease and safety while sleiging lasts, as the large balls or cakes of earth, which all evergreens must carry on their roots for successful removal, are easily loaded on sleds, and the motion is not sufficient to jar off the soil. We have never succeeded bet SOUTH. ter with the white pine and other trees, than by cutting out a circle of unfrozen earth round each tree, under the snow, enough to preserve the tree upright, without staking, and af ter drawing them home, to leave them standing unplanted till spring. They varied from seven to twelve feet high when removed. One of the most beautiful and tasteful evergreens, when grown in open ground, is the hemlock. Intermingled with white pine, balsam fir, white spruce, red and white cedar, and other native sorts, occasionally interspersed with such exotics as the Norway, silver fir, &c., in connexion with deciduous trees properly arranged, a plantation presents an exceedingly pleasing and varied appearance. The Seventeen Year Locust. A copy of the recent Transactions of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (received through the kindness of Dr. Brinckle,) contains a paper from Margaretta Morris, and another from Prof. Goadby, on the injury sustained by the pear tree from the Cicada septendecim or seventeen year locust. It appears that these insects during their long residence below ground in the larval and pupa state, attach themselves to the roots of the tree and injure it by abstracting its sap. A special committee, under the direction of M. Morris, examined the roots of some pear and apple trees, and found great numbers of these insects passing from the larval to the pupa state. They were enclosed in separate earthern cells opening only against a portion of the root. They were then in the sixteenth year of their subterranean life. Trees thus infested by them presented usually a sickly appearance. From the roots of one pear tree nearly five hundred of these insect larvæ were |