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mal but $5 after getting pay for his feed. Thus by poor keeping there is lost annually in Illinois by the growers of cattle, $10 in cash on each head, $15 being the value in October. By this system of feeding, there is an annual loss to Illinois of two-thirds of the whole value of stock cattle, and the productive wealth of the country is decreased; and a home market for a vast amount of the food of the country is left unopened. Look at the figures. Suppose we change our system of winter feeding, and instead of giving $5 worth of food, to the head, we give $8, which is $3' more in food. On the first of May instead of the animal weighing 200 lbs. net, he will weigh 400. By the addition of $3 in food, the animal improves 100 lbs. instead of loosing 100. Now take $8, the cost of feed, from $20, the value of the animal, (400 lbs. being his weight in the spring,) and the grower has, after receiving the value of his food, $12 instead of $5 when he feeds $5 worth. Thus you have $7 in favor of the greater amount of feed. How does this effect the productive labor and wealth of the state? In the first place, it creates a home market for $1,800,000 worth of the products of the state, (giving increased employment to labor and additional profit to the farmer,) which must be consumed at home, in the proper wintering of stock cattle. The advantages resulting from consumption of food on the lands where grown, are too obvious to be dwelt upon. Under the one system, in May the animal is worth $10, under the other he is worth $20. Multiply 600,000 by $10, which is the increased value per head of the stock cattle of Illinois, when properly wintered, and on which taxation will rest, and it will give the enormous sum of $6,000,000 as the increased value of cattle.

Perhaps it would not be improper for me say a word here in reference to the course of many of our breeders, in different parts of our country, in running to England every year for short horned cattle. I for one believe that we have at this time as good cattle in the United States as are to be found in England, and in numbers sufficient to supply all the wants of our country in crossing our stock. And I am not, as one of the breeders of cattle, willing to admit that the climate and productions of England, or the talent and judgment of the breeders of stock there are superior, if equal, to those of this country. I confidently believe that the importation of 1817 and up to 1842 have produced as good cattle as are to be found in England. And for all that renders cattle valuable, which is milk and beef, I think we have as good as the world can produce. There would be as much good sense and profit, in my judgment, in the breeders of England now coming to our country to get stock to cross on as it is for us to go to England. I think it would be for the interest of both countries to exchange stock often for the purpose of judicious crossing. And so far, I approve of it, and no farther. In this age of progress and improvement I would dare hope the talent, skill and enterprise of the American agriculturist will not rest satisfied until he equals, and surpasses if he can, the rest of the world, in all the legitimate branches of his vocation.

JAMES N. BROWN.

AGRICULTURE, AS CONNECTED WITH MECHANICS AND ENGINEERING.

BY EDWARD EVERETT, Secretary of Adams County Agricultural Society.

Not being a practical farmer, it would not become me to attempt to instruct those of that profession in the practice of their art; but it has occurred to me that it may be advantageous to examine the science of agriculture in an engineering point of view, and as I am a mechanical engineer it may not be uninteresting to notice some of the principles which present themselves in this light.

In the times of our forefathers it was not considered necessary that a farmer should be possessed of more than the common rudiments of an education, and sufficient knowledge of the ordinary routine and manual operations of husbandry, which were principally derived by tradition from his predecessors, to enable him to till the ground and manage the other branches of his business. But the case is altered now, and it is not only necessary for a successful farmer that he should be well versed in the science and practice of agriculture, but he should also be acquainted with those principles of engineering which are employed in his profession, and have sufficient knowledge of mechanics to keep the machinery which he uses now-a-days in efficient working order. A want of such practical information has greatly retarded the introduction of labor-saving agricultural machinery; but as farmers become more accustomed to the use and care of such machines the difficulties experienced in their use, which at first appear insurmountable, vanish. A prominent instance of this was felt in the introduction of reaping machines, the principal features of which have been invented many years; and they might have been brought into successful and extensive use long ago, if farmers had only known how to operate them.

The agricultural community have been gradually improving themselves in the requisite knowledge of mechanics, but much further advances have to be made to open the way to the introduction of machinery which shall perform all the heavy laborious operations of the farm, and leave the farmer to work more with his head than with his hunds. The successive introduction of labor-saving machines has been somewhat in the following manner: When farmers found that they could manage and keep in order a fanning mill, they ventured on a trial of the threshing machine, and finding that successful too, and that, by degrees, they were becomings ufficiently qualified as machinists to undertake the

charge of more complicated machinery, they were led to the adoption of the reaper, as well as many other implements which are now considered essential. It is not intended to convey the idea that other causes did not co-operate with the above to bring about the extensive introduction of machinery for agricultural purposes, such as the increasing scarcity of labor, and the continual improvements in the machines themselves, which have more than kept pace with the demand for them.

One of the most important considerations to be attended to before machinery which has to be drawn over the ground, such as reapers, mowers, seeding machines, &c., can be profitably employed, is the preparation of the land for them. Stumps, ridges, gullies, clods, corn roots, brush, and cther obstructions which many permit to remain in their fields, are incompatible with the economical use of such machines; and even when they do not amount to positive impediments which occasion breakage and derangement, they add largely to the amount of power required to draw and operate them. With the reaper, an even surface to the ground is highly important, but with the mower it is essential, in order that the cutting parts may be carried in close proximity to the ground; as with crops whose value lies in the blade, and not wholly in the ears at the upper extremities of the straw, as in grass crops, there is great waste unless the cutters can run very low.

The fields should also be laid out so as to avoid as much as possible all slopes and hollows, and where these are unavoidable, to cultivate them in such a manner as to obviate the necessity of ascending and descending them unnecessarily, by working them in the direction of their length and not across.

Such obstructions and impediments together with the loose and yielding nature of cultivated lands have hitherto prevented the introduction of locomotive machinery in place of animal power for field work, and will continue to do so until some means are devised of adapting the locomotive to the fields, or the fields to the locomotives in a superior manner to what has yet been accomplished. A parallel case is the attempted use of locomotives on common roads, which though successful under favorable circumstances, have failed to work economically in consequence of the large excess of power required to surmount obstacles, above the average power needed for overcoming the ordinary resistance of the load; and as this extra power involves a corresponding excess of weight and strength of parts of the machine-all of which besides adding to the unavailable load, cause the wheels to sink deeper into the substance of the road and so increase the resistance to be overcome. On the other hand, where a locomotive has a road adapted expressly for its use, as on railroads, where the traveling surface is hard, smooth and unyielding, and the grades are made as near level as practicable, machinery far surpasses both in performance and economy anything that can be done by animal power. I lately had an opportunity of observing the utter helplessness of a locomotive of the most powerful class which had run its truck wheels off the track, without being otherwise disabled. All its amazing power when on the rail did not suffice to extricate its fore wheels from between the cross ties, where their rims had not sunk

more than two or three inches. From this instance the difficulties may be con ceived of employing self-moving machinery in plowed fields.

The increase of power required to draw a load up hill above that needed to draw the same load on a level is in direct proportion to the steepness of the incline: that is, if a certain amount of power or tractive force will draw a ton on a level, the force required to draw the same up an incline, say of one foot rise in one hundred feet length, is equal to one hundredth part of the load, or twenty pounds additional: or if the incline is one in fifty feet, it will require and additional force one fiftieth part of the load, or forty pounds. From these examples it can be judged what an immense difference there is in the amount of tractive force required on hills when compared with level roads or fields, the grades of which may range as steep as one foot rise in ten or fifteen before they are considered impracticable for working.

The steam plow has been a favorite project with many inventors, but they have generally failed in bringing their machines into successful operation for the reasons before mentioned. But there are some extensive districts where many of these objections do not exist; for instance, the sugar plantations on the banks of the lower Mississippi where the lands are a dead level, and many of the prairies of the west which are nearly so, may admit of the advantageous use of steam machinery, &c. These offer a wide field for invention, and I have so much confidence in the eventual introduction of agricultural machinery, together with the adaptation of the lands to its use, as to believe that it will not only supercede animal labor, but also that of man in its lower and more laborious branches; and it may be looked forward to as one of the most likely means by which the emancipation of the slave may be brought about, namely, by superceding him in those branches of labor where only a slave can be profitably employed.

The plow, in its improved forms, is, in my opinion, one of the most perfect instruments in use in agriculture. It excels in its extreme simplicity, in the effectual manner in which it inverts, breaks up, or pulverizes the soil; and its work is accomplished probably with as small an amount of friction and resistance as the nature of the work will admit of. When the amount of work performed with this implement in plowing a furrow is examined and calculated, or compared with the same amount of work accomplished with the spade, the result is truly astonishing.

In the choice of a machine especial regard should be had to simplicity and convenient arrangement. The machine which will perform the purpose desired with the fewest number of parts is generally the most preferable. The most valuable inventions are frequently those which merely simplify previously invented implements, and thereby render practically useful what before may have been condemned for complexity or some defect which caused its inefficiency. Thus with nearly every invention when its success and reputation become established we hear of claimants to the original invention coming forward from various parts of this and foreign countries to share, if not engross, all the credit. These claims whether founded in truth or otherwise,

cannot detract from the merit of the individual who so shapes the machine as to render it of practical benefit to society.

The subject of this communication appears inexhaustible, but I must now bring my observations to a close, hoping that they may at least induce agriculturists to study how they can best co-operate with machinists and inventors for their mutual benefit, as well as that of the community, as I have endeavored to point out,

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