The Plough, the loom, and the anvil

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JOHN A. GEAY,

Printer and Stercotyper,
No3. 16 & 18 Jacob Street, N. Y.

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INDEX TO VOLUME X.

From Jtme, 1857, to December, 185"", inclusive.

Agriculture, Ethics in 208.

Neglect of 20.

Our 195.
Agricultural Improvement, 26.

Press, Spirit of the 280.
American Inventions, Recent, (see Pa

tents.)
American Guano, 147.

" Patents, (see Patents.)

Application of Yard Manure, 12.
Birds, Utility of, <fec., 87, 146.
Bones as a Manure, 279.
Book Notices, 62, 128, 186, 252, 317,376.

2;

Horticultural, 30, 94, 159, 219, 286, 348,

Horn Ail— Hollow Horn, 339.

How to Increase Manure, 277.

How to Raise Potatoes, 15.

I'll give so much, and take so much, 534.

Improvement of Land by Drainage, 266.

Items and Comments, 345.

Indian Corn, 275.

Interrogatories, 340.

In Heafth Prepare for Sickness, in Sum-
mer prepare for Winter, 80.

Journal of a Tennessee Farmer, Extracts
from the 142.

Butter,Rules to be observed in Making 333

Camel Experiment, The 93

Cheese, Good 283.

Chinese Sugar Cane, 344.

Children's Page, 60, 127, 185, 250, 315, 374.

Corn Fields, 284.

Corn, Indian 275.

" Privy Manure for 276.
" Saving Seed 20, 150.
Cotton Crop, The 157.
Correspondence, Editorial 91.

326.
Ci'anberry, as an Ornamental Plant, The

10.
Danvers Town Farm, (Essex, Mass.) 86.
Did you ever, 77.
Discouraging to Sugar Eaters, 6.
Division of Labor, 259.
Domestic, 66, 124, 182, 246, 313, 374.
Drainage, Improvement of Land by 266.
Drouth, Protection against 69.
Editorial Correspondence, 91.
Ethics in Agriculture, 208.
Extracts from the Journal of a Tenn

Farmer, 142.
Family Circle, The 49, 117, 241, 305, 369.
Farm Life,. 152.
Fattening properties of Peas and Beans,

276.
Fertilizers, Home 9.
Foreign Inventions, Recent 44, 97, 171,

237, 301.
Good Cheese, 283.
Gopher vs. Rat, 343.
Green Fodder, 5.

" Manuring, 86.
Guano, 9, 69.
Hard Times, 260.
Health of Animals, 18
Hints for the Season, (Sept.) 129, (Dec.)
321.
■"' Hints to Farmers, 344.
-1 History of Fine Wool Sheep, 277
.^Home Fertilizers, 9.

Land, Increased Fertility of 337.

Lime, 43

Loss of Hogs by Disease, 29.

Manure, Application of Barn-yard 12.

Bones as a 279. [323.1

Fermented and non-fermented
How to increase 277.
Water, 274.
Manures and their General Application,

265.
Many Things in Little Space, 21, 139.
Massachusetts State Exhibition, 341.
Menhaden Oil, 213.
Middle Men, 263.

Mouldly Peas, Beans, or Grain, 276.
Mowers, 84.

Mules at the St. Louis Fair, 273.
Neglect of Agriculture, 20.
Notes by the Way, 153.
Oil, Menhaden 213.

Old Pastures, How shall we Redeem 144.
Onions, 88.
Osage Orange, 134.
Our Agriculture, 195.
Our Past and Our Future, 1.
Pastures, How Shall We Redeem

144.
Patents, Recent American 33, 97,

225, 289.
Patents, Recent Foreign 44, 97,

237,301.
Patents, List of New American 39, 103,

167, 233, 297.
Peas and Beans, Fattening Properties of

276.
Peruvian Guano, 69.
Plants, Speculation on the Origin of 204,
Plough, The Steam 279.
Potatoes, 344.

" How to Raise 16.
" Something about 197.
Prevention better than Cure, 18.
Privy Manure for Corn, 276.
Rearing and Feeding Swine, 79

Old
161,

171,

A

A

Index.

Kural Economy of England, Scotland and

Ireland, 65.
Ruta Bagas, 28.
Sav-ing Seed Corn 20, 150.
Scientific, 49, 117 175, 241, 305.
Season, Crops, Harvests, <fcc., 157.
Seed Wheat, 137.

" Corn, 331.
Sheep, History of Fine Wooled 277.
Smut on the Union, 17.

" " Wheat, 141.
Something about Potatoes, 197.
Soot, 326.

Sorglium, The 329.

Speculations on the Origin of Plants, 204.
Spirit of the Agricultural Press, 280.

Steam Plough, 279.

Sugar Mill for the People, 274.

Swamp Muck, 132.

Swine, Rearing and Feeding 79.

Trial of Reapers and Mowers, 113.

Trifle, A 212.

Under-draining, 85.

Utility of Birds, 87.

Western Emigration, 201, 336.

What a Woman thinks about Farming and

Farmers, 136.
Wheat, Smut in 141.
Worn out pastures too rough to be

ploughed, 4.
Yard Manure, Application of 12.

/IMHmcaN FASMER5* MAGMINB.

Vol. X.

JULY, 1857.

No. 1.

Our Past and our Future.

OuK last number closed the ninth volume of this Journal. With
this number commences the tenth volume. At this point it is natu-
ral to take a look at the past, and to lay our plans for the future.

The Plough^ the Loom^ mid the A^ivil, which we choose hereafter
to designate by the shorter and to us pleasanter term of Farmers'*
Magazine^ was commenced ten years ago, with less hope of pecuniary
gain on the part of its then editor, as every one will believe who
knew that gentleman, than with an earnest desire to make it an effi-
cient aid to the industrial interests of our country, including the
North and the South, the East and West.

But we say no more of the past. This is not an hour of parting.
We confidently expect that our old subscribers will go along with us.
We lay no claim to universal acquirements ; but we do claim to know
something about agriculture. We have learned it m the field ; we
have studied it in the closet ; we have no fancy views which arise
from the closet alone ; our sympathies are with the farmer in the field ;
we know what his labors are ; in some cases we can tell him how he
can lighten them, in others, make them more productive ; our zeal in
the cause is deep and earnest ; for, in our inmost soul, we believe that
nothing, save the direct influences of Christian prmciple, tends so
much as enlightened agriculture to work out the great problem of
human advancement.

Agriculture^ the heaven-appointed calling for two thirds of the
human race — agriculture^ not in antagonism with commerce and
manufactures, but in kindly companionship with them, for without
them it would droop — agriculture^ pursued labor-savingly, so as not

VOL. X. 1

Our Past and our Future.

to stint the soul by too hard working of the body — agriculture^ prac-
ticed on sound principles, in joint partnership of the body, the mind
and the heart, the great improver of every human fticulty, is destined
to elevate the race — to bring man into a better relationship with his
fellow-man, and nearer to his God. If, at the close of life, Ave can
feel that we have done a little even, to advance a scientific, rntlonal,
elevated agriculture, we shall feel that we have not lived in vain.

With regard to the future it is not necessary to say much. The
farmers of this country would not be taken by loud promises. We
know them too well to suppose that they would ; and besides, we
would not so take them if we could. We regard our new vocation as
too important to admit for a moment the idea of trifling with them.
We believe they will try us. We have indications of this from all
quarters. If we do well, they will find it out, whether we make
promises or not. If we do ill, they will, as they have a perfect right,
cut our acquaintance, and seek their agricultural instruction other-
where. To give us a candid hearing is all v/e can ask. We are willing
to be judged by our works. We will only say here that our desire
is to carry out the original design of this work ; to make it, as far as
in us lies, a sound, reliable adviser m all matters pertaining to the
farm, the garden, the orchard, and rural economy generally, adajitcd
to the peculiarities of our country, as regards its soils, climate, and
social institutions.

Our columns, to a limited extent, will be open for the discussion of
disputed points. Mainly they will be a medium for the communica-
tion of established truths. We invite contributions from literary
and scientific men, from any who feel an interest in the progress of
agriculture, especially from farmers, who, better than any others, can
give us facts, and from ladies, on those departments of domestic econ-
omy in which they are supposed to excel, reserving to ourselves, of
course, the right of selection. AU we shall claim on the score of
morality, will be, to admit nothing which could, by any possibility,
be interpreted as immoral. With politics and sectarianism our jour-
nal will have nothing to do. We shall strive to make it an unexcep-
tional visitor to families of all religious and of all political creeds,
practically useful^ as a journal of agriculture and kindred arts.

It is our design to associate as extensively ns circumstances permit,
with those among whom we wish our journal to circulate. We think
we laiow the farmers of this country. We wish to know them better.
By understanding our field well, we think we can be the more useful.
T)n a former occasion we intimated, and we here repeat, a willingness
tO lecture on agriculture, to attend farmers' gatherings, and to vi^it
farms, with a view to witness improvements, and to advise with farm-
ers, if desired, concerning the best and cheapest modes of improve-

Our Past and our Future.

ment in any particular case. Two motives induce us to say tins ; one
that we wish, as just stated, to be bettor acquainted with the fanners
and farming of this country ; the other, that from having studied the
subject of farm improvements a good deal, we beheve that we could
suo-o-est modes of improvements, which, iji some cases, would save
much expense, and in others prevent disappointment and loss.

We mean that the articles for the American Farmers^ Magazine
shall be short, plain, easily read and comprehended. We therefore
request all, who will be correspondents for it, to give us somethmg
short and to the point. If the editor should fall into the practice of
writino- long, prosy articles, it would only make the matter worse if
others^hould do the same. The time for retailing the long-wmded
opinions of anybody and everybody who chooses to shed mk and
darkness over the subjects of agriculture, is gone by. What the
cause of ao-riculture now wants is ficts, known and proved, simply
and truthfully stated, with no more of the attendant circumstances
than are necessary to a correct understanding of the mam pomt.

It will be impossible for us to see many of our subscribers person-
ally At the price we have fixed, the sending of agents is out of the
question. We therefore close this sort of prospectus, if any choose
so to call it, by repeating our most earnest request, that our old sub-
■ Bcribers will aU renew their subscriptions within the present month ;
and may we not ask, which we would not do but from a consciousness
of the goodness of our cause, that each of the old subscribers will
get at least one new subscriber, or a club at the reduced price, thereby
making up a sum, to be forwarded to the pubhshers. Should we have
but our present number, we will spare no efi"ort to make the Farmers'
Magazine satisftictory to those who take it. But let each subscriber
remember that it will cost him no more to be one of a large number
to pay us well, than to be one of a small number to half pay us.^

When in Europe, a few years ago, we observed that agricultu-
ral laborers there, who were but half paid, did not, and w^e suppose
could not, work as well as here, where they are well paid. It is so
everywhere, and in all departments of labor. We will work hard
whether or no; it is our nature ; if possible, we will make our journal,
all its patrons can wish ; but, like all the rest of the world, we can
work better and more cheerfully if we see a prospect of behig rea.
sonably compensated, by a large number of subscribers. We would
scorn to be compensated by exacting a large price of few subscribers ;
and hence it is that we have reduced our original terms thirty-three
per cent to single subscribers, and still more m favor of clubs, giving
us, as we deem it, a pecuHarly strong claim on our friends, and allow-
ing us to importune them a little more urgently than would accord
with nice rules of propriety, under other circumstances.— Ei>.

Worn-out Pastures.

Worn-out Pastures too Rough to be Ploughed.

Would Planter Pay f Would Superphosphate f Would Ashes ?

In reply to the question from a correspondent, " Would plaster
pay ?" we have no hesitation in saying, Yes. If applied at the rate
of one hundred pounds annually to the acre, it would more than
pay — would give a handsome profit — on most of our old pastures.
On other lands it would pi'oduce hut little effect. Must the owners
of the land therefore apply it wholly at random ? Not at all. It is
the easiest tlimg in the world to decide whether a particular pasture
would be benefitted by plaster. Try it. Scatter a few handfuls here
and there. If the spots where it falls become green, and clover suc-
ceeds to wire grass, then plaster may be applied without fear of loss.
It is true that j^laster is not sufficient of itself, as a manure. It con-
tains but two out of ten or twelve of the ingredients necessary to
crops. It would therefore be folly to hope that the continued appli-
cation of plaster Avithout other manures would be attended by good
results. But it should be remembered also, that the cattle are con-
stantly supplymg other manures. Most of what they take from the
soil they return to it. SujDplying plaster therefore to pastures at the
rate of one hundred pounds yearly, is only sui^plying it in a reasona-
ble proportion with other fertilizers, a very difierent process from
what it would be, if one should attempt to remove crops from plough
lands, by the mere application of plaster.

With regard to the question, by our correspondent, whether super-
phosphate of lime would pay, we can not tell. We hardly know
what superphosphate of lime is. We very much suspect that it is
anything, and nearly everything. One thing is certam — ground bones
are an excellent manure for old pastures. The result of their applica-
tion is, abundant feed, sweet feed, healthy animals, inclined to grow,
to lay on fat, or to give milk, as the case may be. But whether the
superphosphates of commerce will pay, is more than we know. We
wish that farmers would try it. Let them try it in such quantities as
they can afibrd to lose, if the result should be unfavorable. A single
cwt. spread upon a half acre, would test its value for that soil, nearly
as well as a tun spread over ten acres, and yet the loss in the former
case, provided no good results followed, would hurt no one.

We would say the same with regard to ashes ; as our correspondent
put that question also ; let them be tried. Some, to our certain
knowledge, have tried them on old pastures, and found them to an-
swer well. This however does not prove that they would pay in all
cases. We are of opinion that they would. Nevertheless they might

Green Fodder.

fail on some pastures, while they would do well on others ; and we
think therefore that each farmer should experiment for himself — settle
the point with regard to his own land. — Ed.

Green Fodder.

The late Col. Pickering, in an address before the Essex County
Agricultural Society, once said :

Every farmer knows how eagerly cattle devour the entire plant of
the Indian corn in its green state ; and land in good condition will
produce heavy crops of it. Some years ago, just when the ears were
in the milk, I cut close to the ground the plants growing on a meas-
ured space, equal as I judged, to the average product of the Avhole
piece ; and found that, at the same rate, an acre would yield twelve
tons of green fodder ; probably a richer and more nourishing food
than any other known to the husbandman. And this quantity was
the growth of less than four months.

It has appeared to me that the sort called sweet corn yields stocks
of richer juice than the common yellow corn. It is also more disposed
to multiply suckers — an additional recommendation to it when planted
to be cut in a green state for horses and cattle, and especially for
milch cows ; and the time of planting may be so regulated as to fur-
nish supplies of food just when the pastures usually fail. I am in-
clined to doubt whether any other green food will aiford butter of
equal quality.

Col. Pickering was wont to speak modestly^ when others regarded
him as good authority. Many things which appeared to him, years
ago, as important agricultural truths, have since been proved to be
such, and among others this of planting corn for green fodder. In
connection with Col. Pickering's remarks, that the time of planting
may be so regulated as to furnish supplies of food just when the pas-
tures usually fail, we would inquire, inasmuch as corn stalks and
leaves, well cured, are an excellent winter food for cattle, whether
the time of planting could not be regulated with some reference to
prospective wants of the succeeding winter. We believe that the
farmer should have the general plan of the summer's campaign made
out beforehand, should study in the winter, lay his plans for the sea-
son, and then carry them out in the summer. We suppose, however,
there are exceptions to be made. The clover on a particular field
may have failed ; or it may have become apparent, in time for sowing
corn, that the hay crop is going to be short. The farmer, therefore,
will find it convenient with regard to certain fields, not to have his
mind unalterably made up till as late as the end of June. To what
extent corn fodder is destined to take the place of hay we are not
certain. That it affords an excellent fall feed for dairy purposes there
can be no doubt ; and it is nearly ascertained that it may, on some

Discouraging to Sugar Eaters.

farms at least, be profitably grown for winter fodder. Much must of
course depend on the character of the farm ; and something we sup-
pose may dejjend upon the season ; we can see no reason, why, in case
of the prospect being dark at the end of June for fall and winter
food, the farmer who has land fit for the purpose, should not thrust
in a few acres for corn- fodder, when otherwise he would not, to be fed
out green in early autumn or to be cured for winter, as the case may
seem to require. The merchant turns. quickly in an emergency. To
a limited extent, very limited we confess, and yet not so limited as to
be unimportant, the farmer, for aught we can see, may do the same.
We advise farmers to look at this matter. — Ed.

Discouraging to Sugar Eaters.

" In case the intelligence of short crops in the sugar producing
islands and the combinations of the speculators in all parts of the
world is not sufficiently disheartening, we have the additional item
that the French Credit Mohilier is about to purchase all the best sugar
estates in the Island of Cuba. If such is the case — which, however,
we believe to bo a ' dodge' on the part of the sugar speculators — we
may as well bid farewell to all hope of ever having any lower prices
for the article. There is only one way in which we can hope to bring
sugar down within sight of former prices, and that is by using less of
it. Let us all study to economize in the article. We use altogether
too much sweetening. We must swallow our pills without a sugar
coating, make less cake, follow the example of the Chinese and drink
our tea without it, give our children less poisonous candy, wait till
our strawberries get perfectly ripe and let the sun do all the sweeten-
ing, dispense with preserves, in short reduce our sugar bill and at
the same time shorten the doctor's prescriptions and subtract from
the amount of his yearly charge. We are undoubtedly the greatest
sugar consumers in the world, and many of cur diseases may be attri-
buted to the too free use of sweet food. A moderate reformation in
this respect will result in a financial benefit if no other."

We did not write the foregoing, and do not know who did, but we
approve it, and are the veritable perpetrator of the following.

We do not believe that the French Credit Mohilier is going seri-
ously to eff'ect the price of sugar for any long time. It is too wicked,
too rotten, and too near its end to permit such a fear, unless the French
People are more servile than we believe they are.

Whether the Sorghum Sacharatum, the seed of which Mr. Browne
of the Patent-office has so meritoriously disseminated for trial, or the
Imphee Africana, brought to the country by Mr. Wray, will enable

k.

Discouraging to Sugar Eatzrs.

the peojsle of these United States to grow and manufacture there own
sugar, or how extensively in latitude either of these will prove appli-
cable for sacharine uses, we do not consider yet fully settled. Our
hope is strong, but we think no certainty can be reached till next fall,
and perhaps not as soon.

Nor, should our hopes of these exotics be disappointed, do we know
whether the best sugar making can be profitably introduced among us.
We know that deep ploughing, rich manuring and clean cultivation,
but not expensive — such as can be done with the horse-hoe mainly —
will give immense quantities, ten, twelve or fifteen hundred bushels an
acre, of the sugar beet, and that few crops are more certain, or attended
with less exhaustion of soil relatively with the weight of matter re-
moved. Can the refuse be made to pay for the crop, by a proper ad-
mixture with other food for cattle ? And can the juice be manufac-
tered into sugar, so as to pay for the labor and leave a margin for
profit ? These are questions which we can not answer. We doubt
whether they have yet been answered in our country, and yet the
ought to be. American farmers are more wilHng to labor hardly,
than to investigate patiently the great economies of their calling.
But while so much is yet uncertain as regards the Sorghum, the Im-
phee and the beet, one thing is settled ;— Maple sugar is, to say the
least, as good as any other. We made and ate it freely when a boy,
and hope to when an old man, if we live to that tune. Ten millions
worth, we beUeve, has been made the past year ; and twice as much
may be made in future years, if all the appliances are put into requi-
sition ; and a fliir profit m the labor, on such prices as sugar has borne
on the average for the last ten years, provided (this is an important
proviso) that the owners of sugar trees will make their arrangements
beforehand for domg the labor easily and evaporatmg the sap econo-
mically. If everything is to be got ready on the spur of the occasion,
and everything done by the hardest, and most uneconomically, the
farmer's boys might about as well suck their fingers after the whiter
school is over, and dream of sweetened ginger Avater without sugar
m haying and harvest. But if those who have from ten to five hun-
dred trees take our advice, they will lose nothing by it, even if the
best Muscovados should be down to four cents a pound.

Construct a little sugar house, by your chip-yard if your trees are
not very remote, but among the trees, if they are. Seven by ten is a
good size, if at your home, and a short distance from the woodhouse.
If far ofi; it would require to be larger, in order to afford other ac-
commodations than merely that of a shelter to the boiler. The boil-
ing pan may be of American sheet iron, nine feet long, two and a
half feet wide and one foot deep for a hundred trees, a little larger

8 Discouraging to Sugar Eaters.

tor more, and a little smaller for less, but not varying much from
these dimensions. In setting it, the bottom should be not more than
ten mches from the ground. The chimney at the further end, should
be high enough to create but a moderate draft. Ten feet would be
better than more. The sides of the sugar house should be made to
oj^en about on a level with the toji of the pah, that a current of dry
air may pass over the sap, to facilitate the evajDoration. One sap tub
for each tree, and two for very large trees, should be provided. A
sled so rigged that from one to six barrels may be fastened to it, so
as not to be easily thrown oft' or dashed against each other, wiU be
wanted. All these things should be provided in the fall or winter
previous, when they can be prepared with the least sacrifice of valu-
able time. Particular directions for the tapping of trees and making
and refining the sugar will be more timely after next New Year's.
We will only say now, that if the sugar house is in the chip-yard, and
if the work is done in conjunction with that of preparing fuel for the
season, the chips and refuse wood will sufiice for the boUing. Instead
of consuming fuel, as in the old way of boiling in the lot between two
large logs, neai'ly equal in value to the sugar, when made, the farmer
will actually gain something by reducing his refuse wood to ashes for
his land ; and if the whole be done with a decent economy of time
and fuel, nothing will be lost, at four cents a pound for sugar, and
ten cents a gallon for syrup, whereas these articles have been worth
two or three times as much the past season.

Why then should not preparation be made for drawing sap from
nearly all, instead of less than half of the sugar maples ? The dam-
age to the tree is very small. It is not worth taking into the account.
And why should we not have more sugar maples ? There is no clean-
er tree. Few are more beautiful. They bear transplanting well and
grow quickly. The only objection we can think of, is, that they are
of a cold nature, their roots running far, and exhausting the soil. But
this is hardly an objection if they can be made to line the street, and
not be too near the fields. The reward for transplanting them is
not as speedy as that of planting Indian corn, to witness a golden
return in three months, but where the soil favors their growth, as it
does almost everywhere, the prospective return, twenty years hence,
added to the beauty of the growing trees in the interval, afibrds a
reasonable inducement for transplanting them next fall. There are
2,500,000 farmers in this country. If 2,000,000 of them should set
one hundred trees each, on an average, next fall and spring, it would
make a long row in the aggregate. They would be of great value
twenty years hence, if sugar should be as high as now ; and if better
■^ays of sweetening our tea, cofiee, and cakes, and children's tongues

Guano . 9

should come about, nothing would be lost, for the alternate trees,
which might then be cut out for fuel, leaving the others for shades,
would be worth as much as the whole would have cost. If any pre-
fer fruit trees for the way side, it should be remembered that these
would thrive only in select places, whereas maples wiU endure any
degree of cold exposure, and wiU thrive equally well in a cold or
warm loam, even if there.be more rock than soil. — ^Ed.

Home Fertilizers.

No topic, perhaps, tends more strongly to improvements in agri-
culture, than the very homely one of " fertilizing materials enough on
almost every farm to convert it into a garden." We intend, at no
distant day, to write largely on this subject ; we have the vanity, if
it be such, to believe that we can demonstrate the truth that most
farms contain ample means of enriching themselves. — ^Ed.

Guano.

A VALUABLE Correspondent in our last, one from whom we would
gladly hear often, says : " The main business of every farmer is to
save manure ; (and there are fertilizing materials enough on almost
every farm, to convert it into a garden ;) yet there are many cases, we
doubt not, where an outlay for guano would be returned, principal
and interest, the first season."

His first statement is true beyond all question. To inaJce, to save,
and judiciously to apply manure is the great problem of farming.
His second statement, as cautiously qualified by the word almost, is
equally true. Few indeed are the farmers, who have not the fertili-
zing materials within their own limits, without money and price, ex-
cept as comparatively smaU amounts are to be paid for the labor of
collecting and composting them, to convert the farm mto a garden.
We hope our correspondent, W. C. G., will enlarge on these thoughts
hereafter. If he can make their truthfulness as clear to all our farmers
as it is to us, he will do them more good than if he could rain guano
upon them. Let him demonstrate this : " There are fertilizing mate-
rials enough on almost every farm to convert it into a garden ;" let
him show what they are, how they are to be saved, how to be used,
and what will be the efiect ; let him prove^ for it can be done and he
can do it, that while a just husbandry of the home fertilizers will ^7^^
crease the labor of the farm, it will diminish it — increase it relatively
to the extent of land, but diminish it as relates to the amount of pro-
duce ; — as thirty days' work on an acre, for sixty bushels of corn, is
more work per acre but less per bushel, than twenty days' for thu'ty
bushels of corn. — ^Ed.

The Cranberry.

The Cranberry as an Ornamental Plant.

No plant of its size can equal the Cranberry in beauty. Its leaves
of rich, dark green in summer, changed to a reddish brown in winter,
remain on the plant through the year. The thread-like stalks stand
erect and mat close like moss. They would form a border somewhat
resembling a box, and would require only an occasional trimming oflf
of the runners to keep them in form for years. From the last of June
to the tenth of July they are in blossom, being thickly interspersed
with the most beautiful transparent pale pink flowers. The flowers
are succeeded, as if by magic, with the berries, at first green but soon
changing to a bright crimson scarlet, covering the plant in a profusion
unequaled by any other fruit having produced three bushels of ber-
ries to the square rod. The berries will remain on the vines through
the year.

I may be enthusiastic, but have never seen any plant that would so
soon attract attention as the cranberry plant. When in blossom, its
bell-shaped floAvers, suspended by a hair-like stem, almost seem the
work of some fairy, and then the berries, two, three, and on some va
rieties five, attached by the same hair-like stem to the parent stock,
itself only the fifth part of the size of a straw, excites one's sympathy
lest the fruit break the parent stock, and we at once see the wisdom
of their clustering so close together, thereby being enabled to bear
the crimson load of berries.

If the nature of the cranberry was fully understood, it would be
found in every " Country Gentleman's" yard as well as in field culture.
They draw their sustenance from water, a small quantity of which
is absolutely necessary to sustain the plants in a bearing condition.
The air always contains sufiicient moisture, and pure sand will attract
and retain sufiicient moisture in the proper form for the cranberry
plant in any location.

We do not know who is the author of this. How could we ? It
couics to us in a paper which is very much in the habit of using other
writers' thoughts without giving credit for them — has filled long
columns with our editorials without a single recognition of their
source, and we suppose does the same with those of others. This is
unjust. We protest against it. It is true that some of our editorials
may be no great credit to us, but we sup]30se that those v/liich are
worth copying are worth crediting to their author, or at least to the
journal with which he may be connected. Everybody has heard how
the lion's skin, once upon a time when the beasts talked and Esop re-
corded their sayings, found its way to the back of the wrong beast,
and how the wind blew it ofi'and showed just what the wearer of the
borrowed robe was. Now there may be other winds ; and the man
who dresses in robes stealthily borrowed, would certainly dislike to
have the world see exactly what sort of an animal he is. Fair play is
the safest.

Originality in a journal is not necessarily an excellenc e, for art iele

The Cranberry. 11

may be original and yet worthless ; nor is the appearance of origin-
ality, where the thing is wanting, honest ; for thought that is worth
reading costs something, and although when once printed it becomes
common property, yet no one has a right to put it on and wear it,
as the king of brayers did the hide of the king of beasts, as his own.
Commend us to the editor who writes well and selects wisely, and has
the manliness to accredit thoughts, which he deems worth reprinting,
to their originator. We know of no better reason for stealing a
man's thoughts than for stealing his coat. Though in case of a stolen
coat there might result a bad fit, yet there might be, and often is,
a worse, in the case of stolen thoughts.

If the article to which we have appended these remarks was writ-
ten by the editor of the paper containing it, why did he put on paper
the very gross error, that " pure sand will attract and retain sufficient
moisture in a proper form for the cranberry plant in any location ?"
And if it was written by another, why did he not tell Ms readers, that
while the article as a Avhole was worth considering, the last clause was
a sad blunder, and so clear his own skirts of so palpable a falsehood.

One word more ; — we can hardly take up a papei*, without finding
an article, an item, or a mere snatch of thought, it may be of ours ;
something which we valued and which it seems others value, or they
would not copy, going the rounds, fatherless and without a name, so
far as the paper shows. "Well we are not sorry for this. If they are
adapted to do the least good, let them go and do it. But if the
thought is worth going the rounds, it would be worth no less for car-
rying with it the signature of the journal in which it originated.

We are not faulting the corps editorial ; it is an honorable corj)S ;
and we are proud to belong to it, and ambitious to help on its high mis-
sion for the elevation of mankind. The fault lies with only here and
there a brother of the craft, more a printer perhaps than a writer, who
finds a good article, fancies a plume over his head if some dunce
should think it his, and so strips it of its name and sends it out
as a foundling, at least to all intelligent eyes.

Other editors catch it going ; like it, want it ; will have it ; won't
credit it where they know it did not originate ; and can't credit it
where it did come from, because their imworthy brother of the next
degree has not told them where he got it.

It is our destiny to stop here. We will not write another ill-na-
tured article ; and if that implies that this is one, we take it back. It
is not. — ^Ed.

12 Yard Manure.

Application of Yard Manure.

The statement of John Johnston, of Geneva, in a late number of
the Country Gentleman^ is interesting, and it suggests some considera-
tions in connection with known facts and experiments which are perhaps
worthy of attention. It may be laid down as a universal rule, applica-
ble everywhere, that stable manure, to be applied in the most efficient
manner, should be perfectly intermixed with the soil, at precisely such
a depth as the root of the plants go in search of nutriment. Perhaps
the most perfect intermixture ynX\\ the soil, so far as it goes, is that
effected by the application of liquid manure, which becomes very
finely diffused through it. But as only a portion of the manure will
dissolve m water, the next mode, nearly as perfect, and more general-
ly applicable, is to pulverize the manure finely, either by harrowing,
or by grinding it down, Avith a " drag-roller," both of which at the
same time work it into the soil. Experiments have been made, which
go to show that manure completely pulverised and very intimately in-
termixed with the soil, will do more good than three or four times as
much fresh manure left merely in lumps and plowed under without
any further care. We see the reason why Johnston finds it best
to leave his manure in heaps through the first summer. He harrows
it into the wheat ground, which can be done much the best with rotted
manure ; and if the quantity of straw he uses is quite large, as is the
case with all good farmers, this amount of vegetable matter enables it
to hold most of the escaping gases. The proper way would be to add
some sods or loam to the heaps, and it would make admirable compost
by autumn. Great advantage is always derived from spreading
manure on the surface in autumn, to be ploughed under Ln sprmg. All
the soluble portions are washed in liquid form into the soil, and are
intimately diffused through it. This advantage is so great that some
good farmers prefer this practice alone to any other, Turnmg in the
remainder which lies on the surface during the spring, improves the
texture of the soil, even If all the enriching parts have been washed
out ; which, however, is not the case. Rules should be laid down by
every farmer in the application of manure. 1. Manure should be re-
duced to such a condition that it will easily break up fine, and mix
into the soil easily. A summer fermentation, secured fi:om loss by in-
termixed sods, ditch cleanings, or loam, is unquestionably the best.
2. Manure should never be })lowed under, without first having been
well and finely broken up, and worked into the soil by repeated har-
rowings. Grinding down with a " drag roller," and harrowing often
enough, will enable the farmer to mix fresh manure, as completely
with the soil as rotted manure, only with more labor, yet with a
smaller loss from evaporation.

The above, which we cut from the Litchfield (Conn,) Enquirer, af-
fords us an opportunity of correcting what we think a common error
in the minds of people in this country with regard to liquid manuring.
The writer speaks of manure being but partially soluble in water.
This is true ; but it should be understood that the more water, the
more of the manure will be dissolved; and if the proportion of water

Yard Manure. 13

be very large, the insoluble parts of the manure, by suitable agitation,
become so diffused in the water, as to secure for themselves an equal
distribution, whenever the liquid manure is applied.

The thick, dark puddles in our yards, are no sample of liqiud ma-
nure, in any proper sense of the term. They would kill almost any
plant to which they should be plentifully appUed. But let one gallon
of this be diluted with a hundred gallons of rain or brook water, or
let one ton of barn manure be agitated in a hundred tons of water, and
it becomes the very pabulum which plants feed upon. A considerable
portion of it is dissolved, and the rest is so evenly diffused, that as fast
as it becomes soluble, and is washed with rains, or rather diluted witli
rain water, it is found about every root and rootlet, just the thing for
plants and in just the place.

A i^ound of gunpowder tea boiled in a gill of water ■« ould be nei-
ther food nor drink for the human stomach, though an ounce boiled
in a gallon of water might be refreshing after a hard day's work — ge-
nial, pleasant, almost food and drink. Now plants do not require
strong food. We may say, that they drmk, but do not eat. Their
food must not only be in solution, but greatly diluted. Hence there
is wanted about their roots soluble food, or rather we should say food
actually dissolved, for present use, and food all the while becoming
soluble, that is, food to be dissolved with every falling rain, for future
use. This is the condition of a well pulverised and well manured
soil.

If now the barn manure is thorouglily mixed and agitated with
water, a himdrcd loads of the latter to one of the former; if the liquid
is then forced through a strainer, to keep back the course parts till
further decayed, and is thrown upon the growing crops like rain from
the clouds, the wants of the i^lants are supphed for the present and for
some time to come. There are the soluble parts, actually dissolved,
and the insoluable to be dissolved as wanted, and these last are on or
near the surface, accessible to sun and air, where they will be sure to
decompose in good time.

This is our idea of liquid manuring. That it is a wonderful means
of mcreasing vegetable growth there can not be the least doubt. We
have had opportunity of witnessing its results, on the farm of Mr,
Mechi, the first, we believe, who ever practiced it in England, and on
that of Mr. Littledale, who we think was the first to follow Mr.
Mechi's example. In the former case, it was applied to a farm of 175
acres; in the latter to about one-third of a farm of 470 acres ; and
such was the effect, especially on the grasses, that we are half ready
to believe the story, copied into our last, fishy as it seemed, of 100
tons of rye grass, grown in one year on a single acre — weighed green

14 Yard Manure.

ot course, and perhaps with as much water as would adhere to it, for
if one were to swallow the story, it might require some water to wash
it down.

Tliere is no other way in which manure can be applied with any-
thing like equal effect. Our retired merchants, with money enough,
would do well to lay down the pipes, and show us a sample of what
can be done. If they make a few thousand dollars, or lose a few thou-
sand, it will not hurt them ; and we should like to see on American
soil a few trials of what can be done in the way of liquid manuring.
We think we understand perfectly how the experiment should be
made, as regards both economy and effectiveness, and should be ready
at any time to communicate what we have been able to learn. But we
see not how the matter can be of much immediate interest to the
great body of fai-mers in this country ; though it can not be denied
that our climate, subject as it is to drougths, is far more favorable to
this mode of applying manure, than that of England. But the
expense ! it is too great for ordinary farming.

Liquid manure, in any proper sense of the term, is too heavy to be
transported, even short distances, by team power. We once suggested
the idea of applying ir, to certain lands favorably situated for the pur-
pose, on the common principle, that " water runs down hill ;" and we
are by no means sure that on fields at no great distance from the barn,
but on a much lower level, it might not be so applied advantageously.
Suppose for instance you have a ten acre lot within 30 or 40 rods
of the barn, but on a level 60 feet lower than the bottom of the
tank. A lead two inch pipe, connected with the tank, having the end
in the tank much enlarged and shielded by a strainer, might be run,
say from two to three feet under ground, to the center of the field.
A hydrant, placed at this point would throw the liquid manure at
least thirty feet into the air ; and the person, who should hold a gu-
tapercha hose connected with it, could direct the stream upward or
off at pleasure ; and if the hose were ninety feet long could easily
reach every part of the field, and yet give it a sufficient elevation to
break the stream and cause it to fall in drops like those of a shower.
There certainly would be no insuperable obstacle in the way of all this.
By continuing the pipe and placing additional hydrants, without extra
liose, the application could be made to other fields on the same or :i
lower level.

The cost of the most approved fixtures for liquid manuring is esti-
mated in England at something like a hundred dollars an acre, but
varies with circumstances, being much less on a large than on a small
farm, and will undoubtedly be greatly cheapened, if it becomes common.
The cost of what we have suggested would be a mere trifle in com-

Sbw to Raise Potatoes. 15

parison. The question is, would it answer the purpose ? Could a
cheap mode of liquid manuring be applied to side hill, or rolling-
farms, by availing ourselves of the simple laws of gravitation and hy-
drostatic pressure? Would it pay? We do not know; and of
course we would not recommend a trial, without a careful mquiry into
the expenses and the prospective advantages. But we wish that some
of our farmers, whose land is situated favorably for the experiment,
would think of it. — Ed.

Hov/ to Raise Potatoes.

Messes. Editors : — I have tried several experiments in raising po-
tatoes, which I wish to communicate for the benefit of such as are in-
quiring upon the subject.

1. The greatest yield I ever had, the potatoes were cultivated in
the following manner : The land was ploughed and furrowed lor the
same ; then straw was laid in the furrows instead of manure. The
potatoes were cut and dropped about eight inches apart in the same
upon the straw. The potatoes were then covered with a plough,
about six inches deep. I have sometimes put the straw upon the po-
tatoes ; I could see no diiference.

2. The second experiment was to sprinkle a handful of coal dust
into each hill, either before or after the potatoes were dropped. I
have seen a great effect from the use of half a pint of coal dust in the
hill. I have never used muck as substitute for coal dust in case the
dust could not be had, but I have recommended the practice to larm-
ers, who have used it, they say, successfully. A quart of muck should
be used in the hill.

3. My third experiment was to use a mixture of lime, plaster and
ashes upon the hill, applied after the first hoeing. Or if applied twice,
before and after the first hoeing. I have never applied this compost
in the hill, but my neighbors have done it, and say they succeed bet-
tor than to apply upon the hill. The compost might be applied to
good advantage both ways. I have never known potatoes to rot
where coal dust or straw was applied in the hill. The compost might
also be used in case the coal or straw dust is used.

One other thing and I have done. The potato itself exhausts the
soil but very little, as its elements are deri-v ed mainly from the atmos-
phere— but the potato top exhausts more than any other one vegeta-
ble, as its elements are derived more from the soil. Potato tops, then,
should all be carefully buried when and where they are dug. If this
practice were universally followed, no crop would exhaust the soil
less. Let the farmers try the experiment, and write the result for the
benefit of others. J. L. Edgeeton, in Country Gentleman.

The value of such statements as the above, from practical farmers, is
great. We Vv ish our readers would send us such oftener than they do.
But a question which here presents itself, is. How are farmers to make
use of such statements from each other, to their mutual advantage ?
Because Mr. E. grew potatoes profitably on straw in the furrow, cov-

16 How to JRaise Potatoes.

ered six inches deep, is it a matter of course that others will ? From
the largeness of his crop, we may pretty safely infer, what he tells us
nothing of, that his land was good and the season fiivorable. Now
we have long advocated the avoidance of nitrogenous manures for
this crop. We have supposed that carbonaceous manures are less
likely to be followed with the rot. Straw is of that kind. So is the
charcoal and muck recommended in the second experiment. A pound
or two of dry straw, two or three pounds of charcoal dust, or four
pounds of well-cured peat, may be regarded as equivalents for each
other. The straw would contam more potash than the peat, and per-
haps not quite as much as the charcoal. All may be regarded as car-
bonaceous, and none as affording much of the active salts. If there-
fore the soil were not pretty well supplied with these, especially
with potash, which the potato requires largely, it could not be ex-
pected to give a large crop without other fertilizers. If it were a
very cold soil, either peaty or clayey, neither the straw, charcoal or
peat would decay raj)idly enough to secure a good crop.

We have been through this kind of reasoning to show how, in our
opinion, farmers should use such facts as the above ; — they are not to
say, Mr. E. got a great crop by the use of straw and by the use of
charcoal, and his neighbors got good croj^s by the use of muck, and
therefore we shall ; but they are to consider whether their land is of
such a kind that, with this treatment, it would be likely to give a re-
munerative crop. Our own inference would be, that if we had land
that is neither very wet nor very dry, and that is in medium condi-
tion, or from that to the highest, we should not have the least fear in
imitating Mr. E.'s coui-se with the straw, or with the coal dust, or
that of his neighbors with the muck. With the straw, we would
cover full six inches deep, as he did ; with coal dust or the muck, not
more than four or five ; and we should have great confidence that,
with a tolerably good season, if the land were in medium condition, we
should have at least a paying crop, and if highly rich, a large, one, and
that the produce would be of fair quality.

But we would greatly prefer the third experiment above stated,
because we have had occasion to know its utility. Potatoes raised
with that composition are worth fifteen to twenty per cent more than
the general run of potatoes — are harder, heavier, contain less water
and more salts, and especially of these very salts which render- them
nourishing. If the composition be put into the hill, the seed should
be covered rather deejily, as it is heating, and liable to prevent
sprouting, if the spring be dry. — Ed.

Smut upon the Onion. ^"

FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, ANB THE ANTIL.

Smut upon the Onion.

Messes. Editors :— My attention has recently been called to a new
manifestation of disease that threatens waste to the onion crop, so much
reUed on by the cultivators of this vicinity. For the want of knowledge
of \iQpro2)er name, (if the term ^ro/^er can be applied to anything so
improper as is this affection of the plant,) in analogy to the disease at
times apparent on Indian corn, I call it sm,ut or rust. It is noticeable
on the little plant, where the leaf branches from the stem, as a Hack
sediment, that can be rubbed off by the fingers. Wherever it appears
it is death to the plant. On Saturday I saw half acres together, so
badly affected, as to render it expedient to substitute some other crop
upon the land. I learned that many of our cultivators had already
sown carrots or planted corn on their onion fields, where the onion
had failed to grow. This is not a new disease entirely, more or less
of it having been apparent for the last half dozen years, but never so
extensively as the present season. Whether this is to be attributed
to the long-continued moist weather, with less heat than usual, I can
not say ; but such is the fact, the cause I know not. I witnessed these
appearances on the carefully-cultivated grounds of Messrs. D. & E.
Buxton, who have heretofore done much to perfect the culture of the
onion, and who understand its characteristics as well as any others.
They do not presume to describe it scientifically, making no preten-
sion to book knowledge, but they do know when their plants advance
vigorously and bottom in right form. Guano has been the chief fer-
tilizer applied to their grounds the present season. They were so
well pleased mth its operation the last season, that an association was
formed in the neighborhood, and twenty tons of best Peruvian guano
obtained. They do not charge the disease to this fertilizer, for on
some parts of the same field, all fertihzed ahke, the crop looks bright
and vigorous — on others it has failed entirely.

These modest cultivators would be greatly obliged to you learned
professors for any light you can shed upon this subject, and especially
for instruction how their fields can be relieved of this blight of their
hopes. Truly yours, J. W. P.

South Dakveks, June 8, 1857.

We thank our friend and once co-laborer in the cause of agricul-
ture, for mforming us of what befalls the fields in his neighborhood.
When many others do the same we may become " learned" enough
to return sage advice, for all learning is derived from a comparison of
simple facts. At present we will barely express a suspicion, adverse
it would seem to his opinion, that possibly guano may after all have

18 Health of Animals

something to do with the mischief. Will friend P. keep an eye out
this summer, and carefully compare those fields that have been dressed
for longer or shorter periods with Peruvian guano, with those dressed
with |he old composts of sea weed, muck and barn manure. It may
be that guano is safer for the wheat crop than for the onion.
Wheat requires much soluble silica. One office of its ammonia is to
dissolve the sand to supply siHca for the straw, chaff, and coating for
the seed, which is little else than a small bundle of starch and Huten
neatly packed for future use in a sort of sand paper. Does the onion
require such a process ? We doubt it. There will be nothing like
trying the effects of both kinds of manure side by side. The onion
is an important crop in that region. Many a farmer there is living in
a splendid house built on a foundation of onions; and if the air is re-
dolent with the perfume of onions, it is at least as agreeable to our
old-fashioned sense of smell as some perfumes that are purchased at
high prices. — Ed.

Health of Animals — Prevention better than Cure.

Feed regularly, at stated times, never stuffing at one time and
starving at another, and be particular not to overfeed. A fattening
animal should have all he can eat and so digest as to have a good ap-
petite the next time of feeding. If you can hit that point precisely,
you will be a perfect feeder; but if you can not it wUl be safer to fall
a fraction short than to go over.

Pure water should always be within their reach, and so situated
that they can approach it without fear or peril. They should always
have salt ad libitum. A mixture of bone dust and ashes may be ad-
vantageously placed in a separate trough. The instincts of the cattle
will be a safe guide with regard to the quantity required, except in
case of salt when they have been long deprived of it, in which case
the re-supply should be gradual.

Regularity of feeding, reasonable service, and kind care and pro-
tection when withdrawn from the yoke or harness, is the rule for
working animals. There may be times when over-work would be pro-
fitable even at the risk of the animal's health, but with those who lay
their plans wisely this will seldom happen ; and as a general rule a
reasonable amount of labor, with good feed and proper care, is more
profitable than excessive labor.

Let all changes of food, as from hay to grass, or from dry fodder
to roots, be gradual. It is easier to keep animals in a healthy condi-
tion by a proper attention to food and cleanliness at all times, and by
special care to avoid exposure after labor or when changing their food,
than to restore them after becoming diseased. — Ed,

Imp'oved* Breeds of Cattle.

19

<r^ -v<- V-3-Vs

Look at these, and think whether our suggestions in another place
about getting into improved stock, either by importation or by breed-
ing from the best of our own, are not worth attendmg to. We have
seen cattle both at home, and abroad, equally as fine as these en-
gravings, and their keeping costs no more, perhaps less, than that of
the coarser races.

20 Saving Seed Corn.

Neglect of Agriculture.

" The complaints of the present season are not caused so much by
the deficiency of business as by the redundancy of traders, and the
over supply of manufactured articles furnished by the improved ma-
chinery winch has been brought into operation within a few years.
These are altogether disproportionate to the agricultural products of
the country.

" We can not look for any substantial and permanent reaction, till
larger amounts of capital and a much greater number of energetic
young men are withdrawn! from other pursuits and concentrated upon
agriculture.

"The general depression in commerce and mamiflxctures at the
present time, and the active demand and high prices for almost all
great agricultural staples, offers an excellent opportunity for the pro-
fitable transfer of a large amount of capital and labor to the cultiva-
tion of the soil." — Boston Traveller.

Send our own manufactures to grass ; buy more goods from other
nations ; turn all hands to the growing of agricultural produce ; and
in less years than a farmer has fingers and thumbs on one hand, he
may whistle for a buyer, and grow fat by the music — if he can. — ^Ed.

FOR THE PLOtTGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL.

Saving Seed Corn.

In the sprmg of 1856, many of the farmers in this region, after hav-
ing waited about the usual time for their corn to come up, found the
seed defective, and were vmder the necessity of gomg through a sec-
ond planting. The present cold, stormy and backward season, the
same misfortune has occurred in a multiplied number of instances.
This is certainly vexatious ; for besides the trouble and expense of
procuring new seed, and planting, it becomes a risky business in our
climate, where it is desirable to have corn growing as early as possi-
ble, in order to ripen it before the early frosts of autumn, which some-
times come too soon.

The causes of failure have, to a great extent, we think, been attri-
buted to the coldness of the earth, and the cold, humid, cloudy at-
mosphere— a doctrine we can not readily adopt, for so fixr as our own
experience goes, if good seed is used, though its growth may be de-
layed by cold, it will not be effectually stopped. We would cite sev-
eral instances of the earliest planting of the present year to sustain
this view, in which the corn all, though with much delay, eventually
came up well, and the blade presents a healthful appearance.

Now, as nearly as we can come at facts, these failures of seed have
been found in cases where it was taken from corn cut up and stacked

Multum in Parvo. 21

before it was fully matured. The cause probably was tbat it became
heated to some extent in this premature and exposed method of ri-
pening, and the vegetating power was destroyed, although the kernel
was said to look well when planted. Too much care can not be used
in selecting seed corn, not only to insure the success of the following
crop, but with this care it may be improved in quality. The earlier it
is gathered the better, after it reaches the proper state to germmate
freely, or in other words the ears that ripen earliest should be saved
for seed, and should be gathered and hung in a position where storms
will never reach them, but where air will have a free circulation, until
the cob becomes thoroughly seasoned. They may then be put m a
barrel, but not in large bulks, for damp weather may yet cause a heat-
ing which will destroy the germinating principle. In short, to save
good seed com, select the earliest and best ears, trace them, and hang
in a dry, cbol room, and if it does not grow when planted, there will
be other causes than poor seed or unfavorable weather, such as faulty
preparation or careless planting. Tours truly,

Richmond, June 8, 1857. W. Bacon.

Multum in Parvo.

A " notion''^ of ours. — If we 'could manufacture a journal for farm-
ers precisely to our liking, we would have all the short, pithy articles,
containing as many thoughts as words in the May, June, July, and
August numbers, reserving the long and more labored ones, till farm
work should become less absorbing. "Without expecting however to
reach our " beau ideal," we will attempt a few thoughts for the sea-
son in so few words that the working farmer can catch them at an
odd moment, and digest them as he goes afield.

A duty of yours. — The first thing for every farmer is to improve
himself, and to see that his children are growing up to adorn his own
profession or any other they may choose to engage in. More than
half the future Presidents, cabinet ofiicers, men in all responsible sta-
tions, are to be grown on the farms of our country. Now, farmers
and planters you must grow large crops ; it is a great loss to only half
cultivate the land. You must grow fine cattle ; it would be a shame
to perpetuate the scrubs. You must drive a horse to admire and not
one to be ashamed of, since in the long run it will cost no more ; but
above all things you must grow good boys and girls, for the country
wants them, it must have them, and nobody in the world is so well
situated for raising them just right^ healthy, vigorous, intelligent, in-
corrupt, as the farmer. Let no day go by, not even in harvest, with-
out getting a new idea, and see to it that your children are getting

22 Multum in Parvo.

new ideas and right ones. We want to say more, but you must
think out the rest.

The In-door Stock. — In order that the fanner may always be on the
road to self-improvement, that his sons may assist in his labors, not
only without injury to themselves but with positive benefit, and that
lus laborers (for he ought to look to their good) may participate in
the general welfare, the work should, as far as possible, be so laid out
that every hand may do a reasonable day's work every day, and
never more than a reasonable day's work m one day. This is very
important. Where the farm work is skilfully bossed, to use an ex-
pressive term, the fanner himself is more at ease, has more leisure
moments, can get a little time to read, can think more clearly, is less
confused in his ideas, and will possess a calmer and more reliable
judgment. It is so with all who work under him. The more perfectly
every one understands his duty, the more easily can he do.it, and the
more opportunity can he get for self-improvement. Lay out the plan
of the farm operations considerately ; execute the plan kindly but
firmly. Nothing, we know, is more difficult, yet few things are more
important. The products of the farm will be greater ; the profits will
be increased ; and what is infinitely more, every man and boy on the
farm, and every member of the household will arise to a better con-
dition in such a state of things. Our readers will forgive the homely
designation at the opening of this paragraph, since we have just
avowed our belief that out of such a stock will come the future Pres-
idents and great men of the nation.

Out-door Stock. — Of horses, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry, etc., we
suppose our readers know more than we, and better iinderstand their
interests. A word nevertheless for them to think of If you get in-
to a better class of horses for the road, or of horses, mules and oxen
for field labor, there will be extra expense in the outset, but ever after
they will do you more work in proportion to their feed, and whenever
you have one to disjoose of you will receive more. Is it not so ? and
is not the profit of fine working animals greater in the end ? and is
there not an innocent pleasure in seeing and using such animals ? and
is there not in the constant use of such animals, grateful, capable of
appreciating kind usage, noble spirited, a reaction favorable to the man
himself? We hardly dare broach this last thought. It will to many
of our readers look like a very whim. But look at it. All the world
is a school to one who has his eyes open. We verily believe that more
can be learned from a majestic thunderstorm than from a tempest in
a tea-pot ; more from a noble, tall, wide-spread tree than from a shrub ;
and why not more from the driving of high bred animals in one's life,
than from being constantly with those of inferior grades ? The thing

Mtiltum in Parvo. 23

is not unreasonable. If we had boys growing up on a farm, we should
rather they should drive the best animals than the poorest — should
expect they would love them more and abuse them less, and make
likelier men for it, other things being equal. But there are motives
enough, aside from this, to encourage imj)rovemcnt in working ani-
mals.

The great motive with the farmer, with regard to working and all
other animals will be, that after having once made the change, there
will be an increased profit. But how shall the imj)rovement be inau-
gurated ? The generality of farmers can not well pay fabulous prices
for stock to begin with. We think they should select the best of
their own as breeders. More attention should be given to pairing
them suitably. Select the best of each kind early ; rear them in a
way to produce an early and high development, of whatever the ani-
mal is capable of making. Good keeping, kind care, and suitable
pairing will, in a great majority of cases, be followed with satisfoctory
results. The farmer who will proceed in this way, instead of selling
the best of his young stock to the butcher, will soon find improved
races about him. A few years will witness decided changes for the
better. If he would avoid loss of time let him procure blood stock
from those Avho have imported and are propagating it, nor should he
begrudge the payment of pretty high prices, as compared with the
price of common stock, since the results will soon compensate him,
and especially since those among us, who have imported and are
breeding fine stock are doing a good thing for the country and at a
very heavy outlay.

The House^ Out-huildings^ Barn. — Don't talk about the house now,
we seem to hear you say. Well, perhaps you have enough else to do.
But a word about the barn, and we will let the rest go till you are
more at leisure. Is it all in order ? If not, look about and see what
can be done before the crops are gathered in. Do that now, and leave
the rest for autumn, but do not forget to have all right from founda-
tion to ridge-pole before another winter comes. Winter in no part
of our country is much to be dreaded by the farmer, if he has a Avarm
barn and warm sheds for his cattle. It is inhuman, or at least inhu-
mane, not to have them, in by far the largest part of our territory,
and it is unprofitable in all.

Grass for Hay. — When shall it be cut ? We say, clover, when in
full blossom ; herds-grass when out of blossom, but before the seed is
fully ripe ; other grasses, a little before they begin to dry up and be-
come woody. The sugar turns to wood, and becomes indigestible if
grass stands too long. If cut much before or much after the periods
indicated, it is less valuable. Nevertheless the difierence is not as

24 Multum, in Parvo.

great as is sometimes stated ; and we say again, as we have often said,
that no farmer should do more than a fair day's work, in a day, nor
require his hands to do much more, for the sake of cutting his grass
at precisely the best time. It comes just when the hoe crops are to
attended to, and on the very eves of the wheat, rye, barley, and oat
harvest, and when the flax, if that is grown on the farm, and we think
it ought to be more than it is, requires to be secured. All good fai-m-
ers are exceedingly anxious to get in the hay at the right time ; and
how to do it and not neglect other business, is a harder problem than
that of the fox, the goose and the bushel of corn. Every farmer
must solve it for himself. There is one a little worse than to mow too
soon or too late, and that is to have hay caught in a shower when
ready to go mto the barn. The damage to hay, of being wet after
being thoroughly dried, is considerable, in addition to the labor of
drying it over again. Yet it would not be wise to pitch a load of hay
in less than half the usual time even when a shower is at hand.
Health is worth too much to peril by an unreasonable violent exertion.
Our idea is that more men are seriously injured on the farms of this
country in July than all the rest of the year. The efi'ect follows in-
sidiously and they are not aware what the cause was. Clover is better
to lie a few hours in the swath, till the ground becomes heated, then
to be turned over on the hot ground between the swaths, to be put
in small tumbles towards night, these to be turned over the next
morning at 10 or 11 o'clock, two to be put into one at middle after-
noon, the same day, and then be let alone till pretty thoroughly dried,
than to be treated, as it too often is, in a way to deprive it of nearly
all its leaves, and to convert its stalk, by too much exposure to the
sun, into a dry, woody and indigestible mass. As to the degree of
dryness which should be aimed at, in curing clover and other grasses,
much depends upon the quality of the moisture. If it is the natural
juice of the grass, no harm accrues, even if it heats slightly in the
mow ; but if it is rain water, the effect is worse. We have always
observed that a water soaked load injures the whole mow. A too
green load may produce a fermentation, which we should dislike, but
is not as apt to produce smut and unpleasant odor.

Indian Corn. — When will it get its three dressings this year ?
While we wi-ite (June 15) it is hardly out of the ground. Our opin-
ion has always been in favor of giving this crop its three dressings in
rapid succession so as to finish it before entering upon harvest, be-
lieving that if the weeds are well fought in June and the beginning
of July, they will not become very impudent after that, and that the
stirring of the ground will not more than compensate for the injury
to the roots, by late cultivation. But when that work will be done

Multum in Parvo. 25

this season, we suspect every man will have to ascertain for himself.
We will only say that we do not believe that very late cultivation is
good for this crop.

Pastures. — Our observations incline us more and more to the belief
that permanent pastures are the true policy. This of course will de-
pend much on the nature and use of a farm. The grain farmer, whose
land is all suitable for the cereals would hardly like the idea of setting
apart large portions for permanent pasturage ; and the farmer on
broken land can do no otherwise if he could. In a recent trip through
the Eastern counties of this State we have been highly gratified with
the almost universal thrift of the farmers, and have witnessed the
most striking proofs of the benefit of plaster on old pastures. Thou-
sands of the farmers in these high, mountam regions are usmg it, and
the quantities of milk, butter and beef commg down the Harlem road,
show with with what efiect ; while the style in which these farmers
live shows that a good deal of money goes up the same route. It is
said that plaster does not suit all land. We would not reccommend
a large and indiscriminate outlay for plaster by those who have never
tried nor seen it tried near them ; but we do say that the farmer who
has extensive pasture lands, who goes on from year to year without
informing hunself by actual trial, whether fifty cents' worth of plaster
to the acre would double the feed, is not true to himself. Wood
ashes at twenty-five cents a bushel, or anything less, are a good in-
vestment for most pastures ; and we doubt whether there are many
pastures on which it would not be good poUcy to put 100 pounds of
plaster annually, at |10 the ton, though we believe that m many re-
gions, it can be had for less than half that price. The good efl'ects
do not always come out the first year. Those who make the experi-
ment, should contmue it two or three years at least. We say to farm-
ers, after observing the good effects of plaster on many farms for
some twenty years, and after hearing from not a few farmers that plas-
ter does them no good, believe nobody, take nobody's word, try for
yourself, and see with your own eyes, whether or not plaster will
double your feed. The question is worth setthng on your own autho-
rity.

Salt for the Extirpation of Moss.—'' It is stated to have proved
efficacious during several years' trial. The salt is sowed broadcast,
and in a few weeks after its application the moss (and heath) begins
to wither, and shortly is destroyed ; m its place sweet grasses and nu-
tricious plants make their appearance, and the herbage on such spots is
greatly rehshed by cattle. It is warned not to use too much salt, else
the grass itself is mjured ; the proper quautity is (in Enghsh meas-
ure) four bushels per acre." So says the Journal Ag. Soc. Hanover,

26 Agricultural Impro'oement.

translated by Professor J. W. Johnson. We know nothing about it.
The trial would cost little, and should be made at once. The farther
from the ocean the more likely it would be to succeed.

Saltpetre a Cure for Garget. — J. Ellsworth, of Ann Arbor,. Mich.,
says of a cow ^\^th swolen udder, that " I then pronounced it garget,
and gave her a teaspdonful of saltpetre at night in her mess, and ano-
ther dose the next night, which has cured her, and she is gaining in
her milk very fast." We have seen this recommended so often and
from so high sources, that it would seem as if there must be truth in
it. Were a case of the kind ours, we would try half a teaspoonful,
morning and night, and continue it some days, and then if a cure
were not effected, perhaps would increase the quantity. Potash,
whether in the form of saltpetre or saleratus, if more congenial to the
soil than to the animal stomach, and if taken into the latter at all,
should be taken rather as a medicine than as a part of the habitual
food, whether for man or beast.

Short-Horns. — Mr. Thomas Willis, of Swate Ireland, obtained from
a Short-horn cow : "In 1851, when 3 years old, from one week's
cream, 18 lbs. butter, (16 oz. to the lb.) In 1855, when 7 years old,
from one week's cream, 21 lbs. 4 oz. In 1857, when 9 years old, from
one week's cream, 24 lbs. 8 oz. In the same year, the second week
after calving, 24 lbs. 8 oz." In 1853 we conversed with a farmer in
Berkshire (Eng.) who milked sixty Durham coavs, which he said would
average 1400 lbs. of beef when fattened, that he found them the most
profitable dairy cows, and that a brother of his, who had milked the
same number of Herefords, was fast exchanging them for Durhams,
convinced that the latter were the most profitable. These facts look
very much as if the Durhams, or Short-horns may be better, as milk-
ers, than we have been wont to believe. It should be remembered
however, that the feed in all these cases was that of no ordinary pas-
tures.— Ed.

Agricultural Improvement.

Ip there is an earthly object, which deserves to be compared with
the higher object of cultivating the heart and amending the life in
conformity with the divine requirements, it is that of improvement
in agriculture. It is to point out the way, in which the tiller of the
ground, by industry and reasonable labor, without excessive toil, may
acquire a competency — enough for all the charities, the rational enjoy-
ments, and the real utilities of life. But for the hope of contributing
something towards a solution of the problem, how the farmer may be
the most aimable, the most comfortable, and the most independent
man in the Vi''orld, never subjected to oppressive labor, always bene-

Patent Mowers. 27

fitted by an employment favorable to thought and reflection, rising
intellectually and morally with his heaven-appointed employment, as
honorable as any other man living, we should not have assumed our
present relation to this paper. For the solution of the foregoing
problem we shall labor with a zeal worthy of a better cause, if there
is a better, which, with the exception already indicated, we doubt ;
for we believe that, next after teaching men, by a virtuous life and
truthful doctrines, how they may enter into the kingdom of heaven,
there is nothing more important to human welfxre, than well devised
efforts to elevate the character and to enlarge the rewards of agri-
culture.— Ed.

V

^^V

^s^^

We regard mowers as especially valuable for the reason that they
ease the labor of the farm at a time when it becomes oppressive.
Whose mower is the best, we know not, nor have we the first
earthly motive to run up or to run down any one. The above cut re-
presents Allen's patent mower and reaper. It appears like a good
piece of workmanship, and we should think it might do its work well,
but we have not seen it in operation. Mr. A.'s advertisement will be
seen on another page. Among hundreds who have used and
recommended it, we see the names of many with whom we have been
long acquainted, and whom we have been wont to regard as men of
sound judgment and candor, who would not purposely recommend
an article above their real opinion of its value.

Since writing the above we have visited the manufactory of A. B.
Allen, in Brooklyn, where many of the implements sold by R. L.
Allen, in New-York, are made. The main building is 100 feet by
fifty, and five stories high. A secondary building is occupied, one
hundred and thirty feet by forty. Blacksmith's shop, ninety feet by
forty. Steam engine, fifty horse-power, capable of running up to
seventy — runs from sixty to seventy much of the time. The ma-
chinery seemed to be of a high order ; and such is the convenient
arrangement of the buildings, and the system and perfect order appa-
rently pervading the whole establishment, as would naturally inspire
confidence in the character of the work to be turned out

Much depends upon the materials. An instrument made of spalt
or cross-grained wood, imperfect iron and half made steel, ought

28 Muta Bagas.

never to see a farm, but to perish with the maker, instead of breaking
to pieces when the farmer is in the midst of his most important work.
We looked especially at this point. The timber which we saw in
process of being worked (the paint not yet on) was excellent, with
scarcely an exception. Of this material we claim to be a judge. Of
iron and steel we know less, but from the prices which Mr. A. assures
us he pays, as compared with those for inferior articles in the market,
we are led to believe that he appreciates the rights of the farmer and
his own interest. We say his own interests, because we believe that
the sending out of implements made of spalt wood and cheap metals
would operate more to his disadvantage than even to that of the
buyer.

We will only add our advice to farmers to look well at the charac-
ter of the material their implements are made of, and our belief that
Mr. A.'s fixed purpose is to serve them well in this respect. May he
get good bargains from the farmers, and they better from him. — Ed.

Ruta Bagas.

When in the pleasant and rich farming town of Amenia, Duchess
Co., N. Y., a few days since, we heard of a farmer a mile or two out
of the village who was famed for great crops of Ruta Bagas. On
visiting his farm we found him a modest, unassuming man, but earn-
est, and we think wise, in bringing up his farm to a much higher
productiveness than it had been in before he had charge of it. There
is nothing like turnips, he said, for increasing the manure heap ; and
if fed to milch cows immediately after milking, he is confident that
they do not in the least injure the flavor of the milk. We became
satisfied that this gentleman knows very well how to grow crops of
turnips, of eight, ten or twelve hundred bushels to the acre, with as
great certainty as attends most crops, without exhorbitant expense
for labor and fertilizers, and consistently with leaving the soil in good
heart and the best tilth. We do not believe the turnip crop as impor-
tant for American as for EngUsh farmers. This gentleman does, and
he certainly has a right to his opinion, has earned it, and has a better
right to it than we have to ours. But we agree with him that,
whether this crop is as important to us as to English farmers or not,
it is certainly of very considerable importance, and we earnestly re-
quested a statement of his mode of culture, to which we have re-
ceived the following short, but very valuable reply. — Ed.

Amenia, June 11, 1857.
Messrs. Editors:

Dear Sius : — My mode of raising ruta bagas after a corn crop, is,

Loss of Hogs by Disease. 29

to plough at the same time as for oats, and harrow ; then plough
eight inches, and harrow twice up to time of planting ; then trench
thirty inches apart, and manure in the trench with twelve to twenty
loads of well-rotted manure ; then turn the furrows back on the
trench. That leaves it in ridges. Rake the ridges off lightly. Plant
last week in June or first week in July. Plant with Allen's seed drill.
Then leave them till the plants are good size. Plough in a clear, warm
day, with a half mold board corn plough. Turn the furrow to the
plants, and if they are thick no matter if you cover them half up.
Leave them about three days, and thin to six or eight inches. Plough
again if necessary, or cultivate. For raising ruta bagas on sod
ground, I plough when I plough for corn, seven inches deep. Harrow
the same as for corn, and cultivate two or three times up to the time
of planting. Sow three hundred pounds of guano per acre, cultivate
and harrow in three days before planting. Plant with seed drill thirty
inches apart. When the plants are large enough, plough with corn
plough. Turn the furrow to the plants, not breaking the sod ; thin as
above, and cultivate again if necessary.

Yours respectfully, Henry TV. Peters.

P. S. — For the want of a double mold board plough, I have not
pursued the best plan. I would mark with a marker that would make
six marks, and make the first one straight, then let one tooth follow
the mark already made. Then with the plough above-named, I would
plough in the center of the mark- Then manure if you like in the
trench. Then split the ridges with the plough. Have the rows long
if possible. H. W. P.

Will such of our readers as have long succeeded in the culture of
any valuable crop give us their experience as briefly and so to the
point as the above. If Mr. Peters will give us his experiments in
under-draming for a future number, we are sure they will be read
with interest and profit, and he shall have our thanks. Millions of
acres, which now pay but a small per cent on their estimated value,
would pay a large per cent on the estimated value plus the cost of
underdraining, if they were underdrained at an expense of from
fifteen to twenty dollars the acres.

Loss of Hogs by Disease.

A WRITER in a Cincinnati paper, giving an idea of the number of
hogs that have died this season by cholera, states the losses at the fol-
lowing places, thus: In Ingraham's distillery, from the 1st of August
to the 24th of October, 1285. At the distillery in Pittsburg since the
18th of October, 2566. Mr. Platte, of Rising Sun, lost 500; Mr.
Slumner, of Covington, 500 ; Messrs. Gaff, of Aurora, 4546. At
New-Richmond, since the disease made its appearance, 10,435 have

30 Horticultural.

died. Making an aggregate, as far as accounts have been received, of
60,000 hogs, vahied at $300,000, and when fattened would have been
worth $650,000,

iarticiiitural.

Black Wart in the Plum Tree.

In Bloomfield, N. J., a charming place, richly deserving its name,
whence we have just returned from a brief tour among the farmers,
one of our old subscribers, David Oaks, Esq., suggested that of late
the cherry trees are becoming afflicted with the same black wart as
the plum, and that it is caused by an insect, and that sulphur in-
serted in the body of the tree, while the sap is rising in the spring, is
an effectual cure. That sulphur destroys a certain nameless animal-
cule that sometimes finds its way into the human skin, has long been
known to prudent housewives. That, if inserted in the body of a
tree, it should diffuse itself in the form of hydro-sulphuric acid, and
thus ooze from every pore, and destroy minute insects, would not
seem unreasonable,

Mr, Oaks relates that some twelve years ago he had four large
plum trees, all alike afflicted with the black wart. To one of these
he applied no remedy. It died in less than two years. Be bored
into the other three, filled the holes with brimstone, plugged them
tightly,' and cut off all the diseased limbs. The consequence was that
new shoots sprung in the place of the old, and the trees became
flourishing, and produced eight or nine good croj^s of plums. It has
been tried by his friends, for a less time, but successfully.

We should like to know whether others have experimented in a
similar way, and with what success. — Ed.

Setting out Cabbage Plants.

Evert shower and rain during this month should be availed of to
plant out cabbage plants of the various sorts that may be cultivated
by you. In withdrawing the plants from the seed bed care should
be observed, so as to avoid injuring the roots. A mixture should be
prepared in a piggin, or other tight vessel, comprised of six parts fine
mold, one part soot and one part flour of sulphur, reduced to the
consistence of cream with water, and, as the plants are withdrawn
from the seed bed, they should be placed up to the first series of
leaves. By such care a two-fold object is gained. The mixture which
adheres to the stems and roots of the plants serves as a preventive
against the ravages of the cut-worm — that deadly enemy to newly
set out plants, and acts as a fertUizer.

Should drouth occur after the plants are set out, the bed must be

Horticultural. 31

watered every evening just before sundown, until rain occurs, as it is
very important that the plants should not suiFer from the want of
water at any period of their growth, and especially when newly set
out. — Ex.

The New-Enfjland Farmer prefers planting the seeds in hills, w here
the cabbage is to grow. Whether this course is as favorable to the
heading up process we do not know. — Ed.

Culture of the Melon.

There is no fruit that enters so largely mto the daily consumption
of our people as the melon, and none that seems to be so little under-
stood or appreciated in its culture. A fine flavored water or musk
melon should not be planted within one hundred yards of any other
melon, or any of the melon family. Gourds, squashes, or cucumbers
should never be planted in the same garden or field Avith melons, for
the volatile nature of the poUen of each will mix, making hybrids of
the next generation, giving the melon a gourdy, squashy flavor, and
softening the shell of the gourd. The melon delights in a sandy soil,
and to have them ia their greatest perfection, the ground should be
deeply spaded or sub-soil ploughed. The hills should be about ten
feet apart.

The water melon vine is very subject to injury from water ; heavy
and continued rains give them the appearance of having been scalded,
hence the necessity of planting on hills instead of on a level. Holes
should be excavated and filled in Avith well rotted manure, with a
inound over the manure at least twelve inches higher in the center
than on the outside ; on the center of this mound, plant the seed,
plant some six or eight, and when they have four leaves, thin out to
three plants in a hill. As the vines begins to run, branch and bloom,
pinch out the terminal bud, which will throw the whole vigor of the
vine into the young fruit just set ; as the fruit increases in size, take
off" all but one to a branch, and allow but one melon to ripen on one
branch vine.

An overloaded melon vine will produce but inferior fruit. The cul-
tivator sliould bear in mind that roots of melons run just as fast and
that the practice of laying back the vines over the hills, is very inju-
rious to the crop. The melon ground can not be broken too deep be-
fore the vines begin to run, but it is a positive injury to the vine for
the plough to go three inches below the surface over which the vine
has already run. Great care should be taken in handling the vines
when Avorking among them with the hoe. For every tendril broken
or bruised on the vine, the fruit is retarded in its maturity. Keep
the ground clean around the vines, and as fast as the vine elongates
a branch, peg it down, so that the winds may not blow them about
and break them. If the striped bug is troublesome, mix one portion
of guano to tAvo of gypsum, and dust over the vine Avhen the dcAV is
on — the bugs will quickly depart.

The first melons that set on the vine will mature in four weeks from
the time of setting. The second settings in about three weeks. As the

Horticultural.

season advances, they will mature in less than three weeks. Fine
crops of melons are made by using brush for the vines to run on, and
cling to. The seed of the first melon that ripeiis should be saved for
the next season's planting, if it grew where no other member of the
melon family could impregnate it. — Cotton Planter and Soil.

Floriculture.

The plants being out of the house, there need be little said at this
time. The required attention is in giving water according to their
diflferent constitutions and habits. Where there is no rain or river
water, it should stand at least one day in butts or cisterns, to take the
chUly air from it, and become softened by the surrounding atmos-
phere. This is more essential to the health of the plants than is
generally supposed. The small plants in dry weather Avill require
water evening and mornings. Give regular syringings as may be re-
quired. There are frequently rains continuing for several days, Avhich
will materially injure many plants if they are not turned on their
sides, or defended by sash or shutters, until the rain is over, especially
small plants. The syringings should never be done till after the
watering at the roots, and they should never be more seldom than
every alternate evening. Turn all the plants frequently, to prevent
them from being drawn to one side by the sun or light. Carefully
look over them at these turnings to detect any insects, and observe
that the tuberous-rooted or deciduous geraniums are not getting too
much water, they being now dormant, — Am. Farmer.

The Siberian Crab.

Every farmer should cultivate this beautiful fruit. A few scions
inserted into the limbs of an old tree, or in small branches of young
ones, will soon afford a liberal supply of fruit, which is an excellent
article for preserves and tarts, and brings a high price in the market.
The apples are but very little superior in size to the ordinary red
cherry ; the tree which is remarkably hardy, resembles the common
apple tree, and is propagatd in much the same way.

As an instance of the extreme hardiness of the crab, it is asserted
in one of the agricultural papers of Massachusetts, that some limbs
were detatched from a tree m the spring, and after having lain expo-
posed to the sun for six weeks, some scions were cut from them and
set, and grew well. A' distinguished culturist and fruit-grower, in
some practical observations relating to the propation of this fruit, says :
— " The scions we have set, usually blossomed the first year ; and we
have now ten full grown apples of this kind presented to us that grew
on a scion the same season it was set. A few years since we put
scions of different kinds into the same tree, and the Siberian Crab
bore plentifully before the other kinds." — N. E. Farmer.

American Jnventions.

mtmmm^ guide.

'gtttwt Ji m e r i c E w | n ij nt t i 0 ii; s .

Progress of Mechanics.
No view that we can take, illustrating the immense value of the mechanic arts
to the people of this country, is moi'o convincing or more pleasing than that of
the rapid advance of large mechanical establishments in the new settlements of
our Western States. "We have been especially gratified with the perusal of the
first two or three numbers of the Chicago Magazine, exhibiting, among many
other good things, very satisfactory evidence on this point. The third number
contains several well-drawn views, (the work of their own artists) of the new
city of Aurora, which, but a very few years ago was a wilderness. The first
saw-mill ever built on the Fox river, upon which Aurora stands, was erected
here in 1834, and it was about the same time that the attention of emigrants was
first attracted to this spot. In 1835, " the first village plot" was laid out. Now
the population is estimated at about 7000. But it is progress in mechanical in-
dustry to which we would invite special attention.

Three large carriage manufactories are now in operation there, one of which
employs 85 hands, which are engaged chiefly on fine and common carriages,
buggies and lumber wagons. Another employs 25 men, engaged chiefly in the
manufacture of carriages and ploughs. The third is a carriage and wagon fac-
tory employing 18 hands. Various smaller shops are also in operation.

The Black Hawk Mills turn out about 175 barrels of flour daily. The Eagle
Mills about 80 barrels, and the Aurora City Mills about 100 barrels of flour daily.
The latter also contains a good saw-mill.

Here too are the buildings for the manufacture of the machinery of the Chi-
cago, Burlington and Quincy railroad, in connection with which, not less than
a quarter of a milUon of dollars has been expended in Aurora, and in its vicinity,
in bridges, embankments, buildings, and gradings. The locomotive shop is of
hewn stone, two stories high, 180 feet by 50, and employs 200 hands, who re-
ceive about $8000 per month. The blacksmith shop is 154 feet by 50, the car-
shop 234 feet by 63, carpenter shop 100 by 30, paint shop 200 by 43, oil shop
22 feet by 20, etc., etc. The area of all the flooring in these buildings is two
acres. The whole number of hands employed is 335, at a cost of $13,400 per
month.

We need not add, for the foregoing necessarily presumes, that mercantile es-
tabhshments are numerous and profitable. But if anything is wanting to ren-
der such an inference inevitable, it is found in the fact that schools are well
patronized. An elegant building for the Clark Seminary is now in the process of
construction, $40,000 of the $85,000 required to set the institution in operation,,
being already taken. Newspapers, banks, and last not least, churches, are other
palpable demonstrations which speak well of the intelligence and virtue of the
people.

2

34 American Inventions.

Artificial Stone.

We have been this day, June 19th, to the office of Mr. Hardingc, who claims
to have discovered a mode of manufacturing stone, both for ornamental pur-
poses and for building, which shall supersede the use of many natural forma-
tions, both in the fine arts and in architecture. This process also affords, as he
claims, a very cheap and complete process, by dissolution, for perfectly separating
the gold from quartz rock, and at a rate surprisingly cheap and expeditious.

"We are well satisfied that this claim of Mr. Hardinge is well founded. "We
do not know, of course, the precise process by which this solution is effected,
but we can see the results. We have in our possession the liquid quartz, which
by a very simple and cheap process causes a deposition of the quartz, which
forms about two thirds the entire liquid solution. This deposition may be used
as a cement to bind into a solid mass, as in a wall or in a block of any desired
shape, fragments of rocks or pebbles, making an artificial breccia, or pudding
stone, the specific character and appearance of which is dependent upon the
nature of the fragments or pebbles used. The liquid may also be colored, as
you please, by different means, and imitations made of different kinds of pre-
cious stones or marbles. We have seen a very fliir carnelian, and an agate, the
chief fault of which was a lack of color. Nor is such a result so surprising,
after the dissolution is once effected, for the artificial stone consists, essentially,
of the same elements with these natural gems. Carnelian is 94 per cent silex,
and quartz is silex almost perfectly pure, with water. Agate, opal, chalcedony,
onyx, sardonyx, and many other precious stones, are almost entirely composed
of the same elements. The diamond, on the other hand, is totally unlike these,
being pure carbon. This liquid quartz is rapidly and cheaply procured, so that
a fortune could readily be made by selling it at fifty cents a gallon. The variety
of uses to which it may be applied are obviously indefinite. For busts, sta-
tues, ornamental architecture, and solid masonry of all kinds, it is just what is
wanted. For water-proof walls, as in cellars, cellar floors, and for cisterns, etc.,
etc., we can not conceive anything more convenient. As a covering or varnish
for walls of wood, brick, or stone, being applied with a brush, like paint, it
would seem to furnish the most thorough coating, durable and effective, exclud-
ing all absorption of moisture, and furnishes a sort of indestructible coating
even for perishable materials. No worms can eat into it. No ordinary acid,
even, affects it.

And yet if the fact be as the discoverer states, that every natural locality
where quartz abounds also forms in abundance the natural solvent for it,
which he uses in some of his operations, there is opened a field of inquiry as to
the process by which these immense mountains of quarts were deposited, and
the chemical agency by which the solvent and the substance solved became
separated. And again, does their proximity give us any occasion to inquire
whether the solution will ever occur a second time? But we are wandering,
and must return. The series on the elements of chemistry, now in hand by
our Senior, may be read with increased interest, in connection with these and
similar inquiries.

We are not among those who jump at once to desirable conclusions whenever
some enthusiast makes claim to an important discovery or invention, but in all

American Inventions.

35

such investigations are cautious in our admissions. But in this instance, as-
suming the correctness of the statements of Mr. Hardinge, as to the cheapness
of the process of solution, we can not conceive of anj^ question in reference to
the immense value of the discovery. Were it our property, we would not part
with it for any amount short of that which would meet any possible wants or
reasonable desires of ourself and family, on the most liberal rates of calculation.
We have witnessed the process of deposition, and have seen the specimens after
they have become hardened, and the practical uses to which the discovery vaa,y
hereafter be applied will be multipled by every year's experience on those ap-
plications which already are so obvious. Since the above was in type it has ac-
curred to us that this solution affords a most perfpct covering for insects that
are to be preserved, especially if they are to be transported a great distance.
We all have seen insects imbedded in amber, presenting the appearance of life
for an indefinite period. We commend this suggestion to naturalists.

Self-Generating Gas Light.

In our April number we gave a description of this new lamp in terms of high

commendation. It is not necessa-

1 J cent per hour, l} cent per hour. 1 cent per hour.

■J cent per hour.

J cent per hour.

ry to repeat what we then wrote.
Our more recent experience con-
firms us in the opinions then ex-
pressed. The engraving in the
margin shows the diflFerent forms
of the lamps and jets of flame, with
their estimated cost per hour.
We have not measured the quan-
tity consumed, except compara-
tively, but we do not expect a
brilliant light from any gas or
fluid, without a more rapid con-
sumption of the material em-
ployed than is produced by a
small or dull flame. See adver.
ment.

New Brick Machine.
In the list ol patents recently issued is a new brick machine, by R. R.
Hasbour, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, which appears to combine practical utility with
cheapness and simplicity of construction. This machine combines the circular
leverage of two rotary wheels with a simple lever, thus producing a very power-
ful pressure by the emplojTnent of a small amount of motive power. The clay
is fed into the machine and the bricks when pressed, are discharged from the
mold, without the aid of hand labor. The immense amount of capital employed
in the manufacture of bricks, and the fact that heretofore this branch of industry
appears to have received but little aid from the introduction of machinery to fa.
cilitate the making of b'-icks, must render Mr. Hasbour's invention an object of
interest with capitalists and builders everywhere.

36

American Inventions.

Galvanic Gas Lighter.
Broadway Theatre. — The only novelty at this house durinf;; the early part
of the week, was the introduction of a galvanic gas lighter, exhibited for the first
time on Monday evening. The new invention is simply the attachment to each
burner of a platina tipped wire, comnnmicating with a galvanic battery — the
moment the connection is made, the platina tips become simultaneously red hot,
and ignite the gas at each burner instantaneously — as a method of lighting chan-
deliers, etc., placed at an altitude difficult of access by the ordinary means.
This application of an old invention will be found exceedingly useful.

The above item is found in Porter's Sjnrit of the Times, of May 30th. Though
fjimiliar with 2.40 operations, our accomplished co-laborer docs not seem to have
learned that our Boston neighbors have lighted their elegant Music Hall, by a
similar process for several years. When the hall was first erected, this mode of
lighting the gas was introduced for some hundreds of small burners which near-
ly or quite surround the entire hall.

Artificial Ears.

'He that hath no ears," may now buy them of the artisan. Mr. Edward

Haslam, 181 Broadway, has contrived
a pair of artiScial ears, which can not
fail to be of service to those whose
hearing is partially destroyed.
Those with good ears, by the use of
these instruments, it is said, can hear
at a greater distance from the sound-
ing body than they can without
them. The contrivance consists of an
ivory tube, to be placed in the ear, connected with two auricles, with a steel
spring, and a slide by which it can be adjusted to the size of the head. Wc
commend it to the examination of those who need such helps. They cost $5.

Harrison's Automatic Whistle.
Any invention which diminishes the danger of " accidents" on our railroads is
a public benefit of no ordinaxy value. Such we believe to be the invention des-
scribed by our caption. Its object is to give the signal of danger independently
of the engineer, on the approach of a train to a public crossing. The contrivance
is attached to the locomotive, and acts by a lever and gearing connected with
the driving wheels of the engine. "When once arranged for a particular route,
it is of course independent of the prompt action of the engineer, who has in fact
no control over it. Our railway managers should adopt any invention which
is well calculated to promote the safety of passengers or of the general public.
It is now in operation on the Harlem, the Philadelphia Wilmington and Balti-
more and the Pennsylvania Central Railroad and Central Railroad of New-Jer-
sey, and we understand that it will probably be in operation on several other
railroads in this vicinity. In our next edition wc purpose to give a more parti-
cular description with an engraving.

American Inventions. 37

Broughton's Hand Seed-Planter.
Mr. Broughton has been very successful in this invention. It is scarcely
heavier than a substantial walking cane, and the only motion required in its
operation is to raise it from the hill last planted and to set it down at a proper
distance for the next. One cin plant about as many hills in a day as he can
reach by walking without incumbrance. We w^ill endeavor to give an engrav-
ing of this in a future number.

New Building Material.
New inventions of a practical character, and in very important departments
of industry are multiplied and fast multiplying. A new material for building is
now used, in Paris, it is said, consisting of a concrete, the larger part of which
is ashes. Slabs are now made, seven metres long by six metres wide, (a metre
being 39,37 inches,) while its strength is such that slabs of that length do not
require beams or vaulting beneath them. The inventor offers to furnish all
parts of a house, floors, roofs, exterior ornaments, cellars, drains, paving flags,
etc., with this material, as hard as the best stone. This seems allied with Mr.
Hardinge's discovery described in another place, or if different from it, the two
together may lead to results of immense value.

Manufacture of Steel.

Expeehients of scientific men, and the novel modes of producing steel lately
introduced, tend pretty strongly to show that steel is not merely iron carbon-
ized. It is possible that as in the case of animal organisms, where the small
proportion of nitrogen found in muscular tissues is quite as essential as the much
larger proportion of carbon. So a minute quantity of nitrogen is necessary
in this manufacture. In the manufacture of steel, the presence of cyano-
gen seems to be very useful, and the theory is that it furnishes nitrogen to
the iron. In a discussion before the Society of Arts, Manchester, England, this
idea was presented, and the experiments and analyses of engineers go far to
render the theory probable. Various nitrogenized substances have been used
in the manufacture or tempering of steel, such as horn, shavings of leather, ani-
mal charcoal, etc., while the influence exerted by them seems not to have been
understood. The old practice of using ferro-cyanide of potassium, in this pro-
cess, is also worthy of note in this connection. Our readers may also remember
that in a short account given by a correspondent, in our February number, of a
new process used by the Damascus Steel Company, cyanogen was mentioned as
one of the most important ingredients. They produce fine bar steel from
crude iron in a single day. We shall watch the progress of this discussion,
with more than ordinary interest.

Cheap Butter- Cooler.
Hard butter is a great desideratum. The Scientific American publishes the
following, by one of its correspondents. — Ed.

" Procure a large, new flower-pot of a sulficient size to cover the butter-plate,

38 American Inventions.

and also a saucer large enough for the flower-pot to rest in upside down ; place
a trivet or meat-stand (such as is sent to the oven when a joint is baked) in the
saucer, and put on this trivet the plate of butter ; now fill the saucer with
water, and turn the flower-pot over the butter, so that its bottom edge will be
below the water. The hole in the flower-pot must be fitted with a cork ; the
butter will then be in what we may call an air-tight chamber. Let the whole
of the outside of the flower-pot be then thoroughly drenched with water, and
place it in as cool a spot as you can. If this be done over night, the butter will
be as ' firm as a rock' at breakfast time ; or, if placed there in the morning, the
])utter will be quite hard for use at tea hour. The reason of this is, that when
water evaporates, it produces cold ; the porous pot draws up the water, which
in warm weather quickly evaporates from the sides, and thus cools it, and as no
warm air can now get at the butter, it becomes firm and cool in the hottest day."

New Steam Propeller.

A STEAMBOAT propelled upon a new principle made its appearance upon the
Delaware yesterday, and attracted considerable attention. Her propeller was
driven by an engine the power of which was applied direct from the engine to
the propeller without intervention of a crank. The power exerted is more regu-
lar and uniform in its motion than that of the old-fashioned engine. The depart-
ure of the boat for Washington attracted a crowd of spectators at the wharf, and
as she went down the river at the rate of twelve miles an hour much excitement
was manifested by them at this unexpected rate of speed.

Mr. Atherton, of this cit}', is the inventor of this new engine, and from the in-
terest exhibited by scientific and practical mechanics of this city, it bids fair to
create as great a revolution as the original invention of the steam-engine. — Savan-
nah Enquirer.

Splitting Rocks Without Blasting.

Some French inventors have taken out a patent in England for splitting rocks
by the generation of heat without causing an explosion. They use a substance
composed of 100 parts of sulphur by weight, 100 of saltpetre, 50 of sawdust, 50
of horse manure, and 10 of common salt. The saltpetre and common salt are
dissolved in hot water, to which 4 parts of molasses are added, and the whole
ingredients stirred until they are thorougly incorporated in one mass, which is
then dried by a gentle heat in the room, or by exposure to the sun, and it is fit
for use. It is tamped in the holes bored for blasting rocks in the same manner
as powder, and is ignited by a fuse. It does not cause an explosion upward like
gunpowder, but generates a great heat, which splits the rock.

Engineers and Firemen.

In a communication to the Paris Adademy of Sciences, Dr. Duchesne states
that engineers and firemen on locomotives improve in health and grow stout
during the first two years of their employment, but after this period a dangerous
change takes place in their health. Among the earliest unfavorable symptoms
are a weakening of sight, loss of hearing, and rh jumatic pains, chiefly on the right
side. These arc followed by pain, and a difficulty of standing while the locomo-
tive is in motion. We have never heard of American railroad engineers being
affected in this manner. — Scientific American.

Salt in Dyeing.

F. A. Gattv, of Accrington, England, has taken out a patent for the use of
common salt (chloride of sodium) in dyeing with garancine, alizarine, and other
preparations of madder. One pound of the salt is employed to every twenty-five
pounds of the garancine in the boiler or a vat. The salt, it is stated, produces
more beautiful and permanent colors. Some of our country dyers employ salt
in coloring woolen goods black. — Scientific American.

American Patents. 39

%tit\\\ latntls,

[issued from the d. s. patest office, from april 28 to jcne 2, 1857.]
Agricultural.

Reaping and Mowing Machine, Cha^. Crook, New Hope, Pa. — Straw Cutter,
E. G. Gushing, Dryden, N. Y.— Plough, Thos. C. Garlington, Lafixyette, Ala.
Bracing the beam, and securing the mold board to the stock. — Cutting and
binding grain, Hiram Kellogg, McHenry, 111. — Plough, Jackson Gorham, Bairds-
town, Ga. Means of securing foot piece to the beam, and the lower end of the
brace to the foot piece. — Land Fertilizer, Charles Stearns, New- York. A sepa-
ration of the useful matters from the green sand marl, and also the animal
matters and the super addition of ammonia. — Cotton Seed Planter, H. L. Jus-
tice, and John H. Galbreath, Goodlettsville, Tenn. — Corn Planter, John Brough-
ton, New- York, (see p. 37.) — Seed Planter, John H. Bruen, Penn Yan, N. Y. —
Corn Husker, E. F. French, Franklin, Vt. The husk is first loosened by rub-
bing between two aprons, and the ear is then dropt upon revolving teeth, which
strip the husks which fall from the machine. — Seed Planter, John Haselton,
Oxford, N. H. — Harv^ester, Moses G. Hubbard, Penn Yan, N. Y., (two patents.)
— Press for cotton, Henry Hughes, Port Gibson, Miss. — Treating Raw Cotton,
Julius C. Hurd, Medwa}'', Mass. By bleaching, previous to picking or carding
it, for removing the motes, etc. — Clearing guard of Grain Elevators, Geo. Mann,
Jr., Ottawa, 111. — Seed Planter, Charles Ketchum, assignor to C. G. Judd, Penn
Yan, N. Y. — Portable Barrack, Matthias F. Branting, Sangamon Co., 111. For
protecting crops from the weather. — Cleaning Grain, J. R. Gates, Eckmansville,
0. — Grain and Grass Harvesters, John H. Heyser and Edward M. Mobley,
Hagerstown, Md. — Mowing Machine, Thomas Harding, assignor to Warden,
Brokaw & Child, Springfield, 0. — Mowing and Reaping Machine, Armery Ams-
den, Rochester, N. Y. — Hand Seed Planter, Silas P. Briggs, Saratoga Springs,
N. Y. — Grain Scourer and Separator, Samuel Canby, Ellicott's Mills, Md. —
Tongue and castor plate for Harvesting Machines, Ralph Emerson, Jr., Rock-
ville, 111. — Corn Planter, Robert Kuschke and Peter Merkel, St. Louis, Mo. —
Cotton Cultivator, A. A. Roberts and Baldwin Davis, LaGrange, Ga. — Fertili-
zing compound, L. S. Robbins, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Corn Planter, T. J. Smith,
Four Corners, 0. — Seed Planter, Jesse Whitehead, Manchester, Va. — Mowing
Machine, S. P. Briggs, Saratoga Springs. — Plough, John S. Hall, West Manches-
ter, Pa., a plan for adjusting ttie draft of the beam, vertically. — Potato Digger,
Isaac GriflBn, Quaker Springs, N. Y. — Sowing seed broadcast, Daniel Haldeman,
Morgantown, Va., an adjustible graduating bar in connection with the vibrating
agitator and scatterer. — Harvesting Hemp, John B. McCormick, Versailles, Ky.,
for adjusting the position of the reel, and for chscharging the cut hemp on the
ground in gavels, no raking attachment being employed. — Atmospheric churn,
Robert McCutcheon, Towanda, Pa. — Sowing Seed broadcast, A. C. Miller, Mor-
gantown, Va. — Churn, Henry C. Nicholson, Mt. Washington, 0. — Seed Planter,
S. G. Randall, Dixon, 111.— Harvester, Wm. T. B. Read, Alton, 111.— Plough
clevis, J. D. Willoughby, Pleasant Hall, Pa, — Corn Husker, J. N. Whitaker, Pe-
catonica, 111. — Dressing Water Furrows in land, Jesse Whitehead, Manchester,
Va. — Plough, John Ormeston, Center Township, 0.

Metallurgy.

Screw Cutting Machine, Wm, N. Adams, Olmstead, 0. — Nut Machine, Richard
N. Cole, St. Louis, Mo. — Door Bolt, Jeremiah M. Crosby, Norwalk, 0. —
Wrench, Charles Pinder, Lowell, Mass. Moving, holding and releasing the
moveable jaws by a double wedge or key, etc. — Lock, Alfred Williams and Ed-
ward P. Cummings, Philadelphia. — Horse Shoes, David Cummings, Sorrel
Horse, Pa. A holding plate in connection with calks, screwed into the bottom
of the shoe. — Bridle Bit, Kasson Frazer, Syracuse, N. Y. — Nail Plate Feeder,
J. C. Gould, Boonton, N. J. — Lock, Stuart Perry, Newport, N. Y. — Blacksmith's
Striker, Hartwell Kendall, East Dorset, Vt— Rock Drill, John D. Hope, Niagara

40 American Patents.

Falls, N. Y., assignor to G. A. Gardiner, New-York.— Rollers for journals of
shafts, axles, etc., Wm. H. Main, Litchfield, 0. — Spring Hinge, Dr. Joseph S.
Smith, New- York. — Reducing zinc ores, Alfred Monnier, Camden, N. J. Com-
bination of gas generator and reducing furnace. — Cutting or bending sheet
metal, Elias F. Coates, Mystic Bridge, Ct. Cutting and bending sheets of tin
for roofs, etc., at one operation. - Ore crushing machine, Samuel F. Hodge, De-
troit, Mich. — Manufacture of iron and steel, Robert Mushet, Coleford, Eng. —
Making stove pipe, M. C. Root, Toledo, 0. — Ore Washer, Pierre P. Martin, Paris,
France. — Door Lock, Thomas B. Atterbur}-, Pittsburgh, Pa. — Skates, B. W.
Celson, Philadelphia. — Door Hinge, S. M. Ballard, Hollister, Mass. A detached
tititi-friction roller, inserted between two inclined planes. — Lock, Julius M.
Cook, Hinsdale, Pa. — Manufacturing screws, John L. Mason, New-York.. — Ma-
chine for making shovels, D. B. Rogers, Pittsburgh, Pa. — Die Stock, J. L. Shaver,
New-Yoik. — Door Bolt, Amos Wescott, Syracuse, N. Y. — Same, S. B. Wilmot,
assignor to S. B. Guernsey, Watertown, Conn. — Die for punching fork tines, L.
S. AVhite, Hartford, Conn., assignor to S. S. Rogers, E. W. Spering, J. H. Ash-
mead, and E. Hurlbut, of do.

Manufactcke of Textiles.
Sewing Machine, Br3-an Atwater, Berlin, Ct. A chain stitch made by a
single thread. — Loom for weaving pile fabrics, Erastus B. Bigelow, Boston,
Mass. — Picker motion for looms, Samuel Boom, Lowell, Mass. — Piinting sub-
sciibers' names on newspapers, Stephen D. Carpenter, Madison, Wis. — Napping
cloth, John C. Miller, Starracca, Pa., and C. N. Tyler, Washington, D. C. Ar-
rangement of two or more napping cylinders, and teazling disks, in combina-
tion, etc. — Turning the edges of cloth, J. P. Marston, Charlestown, Mass. —
Pocket Safe, G. R. Mcllroy, Covington, Ky. — Coupling for Shafting, William
and Coleman Sellers, Philadelphia. — Ladies' skirts, H. C. Traphagen, New-
York. A series of air tight tubes to expand the skirt. — Combing wool, Cullen
Whipple, Providence, R. I. — Cylinder for printing fabrics, R. F. Sturges, Bir-
mingham, Eng. — Clothes Pounder, Sardis Thompson, West Otis, Mass. — Stitch
for Sewing Machines, Chas. F. Bosworth, Petersham, Mass. — Hook Temples for
Looms, Warren W. Dutcher and Geo. Draper, Milford, Mass. — Needles for
sewing, Benjamin Garvcy, New-York. A sewing needle having a self-closing
eye, with a slit leading outwardly, and made to terminate at a point more or
less remote from the eye, through which slit the thread may be forced into the
e^-e. — Hemp Brakes, J. L. Hardeman, Arrow Rock, Mo. — Soap substitute for
scouring woolens, Louis Wilman, Worcester, Mass. Composition of soda, ash,
salt and bran. — Preparing canvass fi>r printing, painting, etc., Elisha Lee, Bal-
timore, Md. Composition used without sizing the canvas. — Copying Press,
AVm. M. Smith, assignor to himself and Peter Ranney, Washington, I). C. —
Binding Books, A. H. Rowland, AUeghanj', Pa. — Cordage Machine, Jas. P. Ar-
nold, Louisville, Ky. A series of puUies revolving each on its own axle, and
round a common center, with a ring concentric to said circle of revolution
whose surface adjacent to the puUies is elastic, and forms a track for the pullics
to roll on, etc. — Treating straw braid for hats, etc., Geo. Cornwall, 2d, Milford,
Conn. A method of stretching, beveling and curving the braid, before done by
hand. — Blanket and Calico Printing Machine, John Fallow, Lawrence, Mass.
Combination of the short India-rubber blanket with the multiple fold of " gregs"'

Eassing once through the machine. — Shuttle motion for loom, Levi Ferguson,
owell, Mass.— Dressing Sewing Thread, etc., J. D. Minder, Killingly, Ct.
Mode of arranging and operating bruslies, and obviates the use of a blower. —
Folding paper, Edwai-d N. Smith, Springfield, Mass., assignor to Steuben T.
Bacon, Boston, Mass.^Loom, N. B. Carney, assignor to J. B. Livingston, C.
H. Haswell, and R. C. Root, of New- York — Stencial plate printing, Samuel F.
Sanford, Fall River, Mass. — Sewing Machine, Solomon B. EUithrope, New-York.
— Registering apparatus for printing presses, Gordon McKaj'', Boston. — Loom,
Wm. H. Howard, Philadelphia. — Reel for yarn or thread, Christian Knauer,
Pittsburgh, Pa. — Sizing composition, John Leigh, Manchester, Eng. — Making
paper pulp, M. A. C. Mellier, Paris, France. — Sewing Machine, T. S. Wells,

American Patents. 41

Utica, N. Y. — Loom, Franklin Painter, assignor to the Nashua Wannock
Manufacturing Co., East Hampton, Mass. — Printing Press, S. D. Learned, Bos-
ton, assignor to A. C. Learned, Nevr-York. — Sleeve Fastener, Wm. A. Bates,
Boston, Mass. — Fastening for garments, Jeremy W. Bliss, Hartford, Conn. —
Sewing Machine, James E, A. Gibbs, Millpoint, Va. — Filing Saws for cotton
gins, J. T. Turner, Bridge water, Mass. — Pickers for Looms, T. J. Mayall, Rox-
bury, Mass.

Chemical Processes.
Purifying Gutta Percha, Robert Haering, New- York. Bj^ means of ether and
alkali. — Blasting Powder, Antoine Murtineddu, Marseilles, France. — Devulcan-
izing India-rubber, Conrad Poppenhusen and Ludwig Held, Brooklyn, N. Y. —
Projectile, Christopher C. Brand, Norwich, Ct. An improved fuse tube and
manner of making it. — Gunpowder, Lammot Dupont, Wilmington, Del, — Lan-
tern and oil can, Wm. G. Russell, assignor to himself and Wm. Sewell, New-
York. The attachment of a light to an oil can for illuminating the place to be
oiled. — ^Electro-Magnetic fire alarm telegraph, for cities, Wm. F. Channing,
Boston, and M. S. Farmer, Salem, Mass., assignors to said W. F. C. — Feeding
Gas Generators, C. B. Loveless, Syracuse, N. Y., improvement in Portable Gas
Apparatus. — Condensing vapors and gasses, for evaporating liquors, A. F. W.
Partz, New- York. — Wood Gas Generator, C. F. Werner, New- York. — To prevent
counterfeiting bank notes, etc., C. D. Scropyan, New- York.

Calokifics, Gas Lights, Lamps, etc.
Close or Open Stove, Henry Scitz, St. Mary's, Va. — Heating and cooking by
gas, R. Snowden Andrews, Baltimore, Md. — Roasting meat, John G. Brown and
John P. Derby, South Reading, Mass. A new article for this purpose, consist-
ing of a pan with handles, ratchet wheel, etc. — Coal Stove, John C. Keller,
Philadelphia. New arrangement of draft and current. — Heating soldering
tubes by gas, J. H. Stimpson, Boston, Mass. — Gas Generator, James A. Bruce,
assignor to Maryland Portable Gas Co., Baltimore, Md. A new gas retort, with
smoke attachment, admitting atmospheric air to clean the retort and purifj-ing
material by combustion. — Gas Regulator, Robert Cornelius, Philadelphia. —
Griddles, Wm. Bennett, New-York. — Cooking Stove, Joseph Hackett, Louisville,
Ky. — Sugar boiling apparatus, Adolph Hammer, Reading, Pa. — Cooking Range,
Charles J. Shepard, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Steam Engines, etc.
Stuffing boxes, N. R. Bates, New-York. An annular plate, adjusted by
screws, as the stuffing wears away. — Heating feed water apparatus for locomo-
tives, Peter S. Ebbert, Chicago, 111. — Locomotive Engine, Horace Gray, Boston,
Mass. — Directing the exhaust of locomotives, Robert Hale, Roxbury, Mass. —
Metal packed pistons for steam engines, Geo. W. Cotton, St. Louis, Mo. — Semi-
rotative steam-engine, C. B. Gallagher, Alleghany City, Pa. Means for pro-
ducing continuous rotary motion from the semi-rotative piston of the engine. —
Boring flue sheets of steam boilers, Sylvanus V. Lowe, Reading, Pa.— ^Safety
valves within steam boilers, Geo. P. Clark, assignor to himself and Wm. M.
Little/ Newark, N. J. — Therma-Pneumatic Safety Valve, S. H. Whitaker and
Ezra Cope, Cincinnati, O. — Packing pistons and stuffing boxes of stenm engines,
Patrick Clark, Rahway, N. J. The foil or plastic metal packing — Steam pump- .
ing apparatus, George R. Corliss, Providence, R. I. The arrangement of a
series of steam cylinders and pumps combined radially around a central crank
shaft, with a centi'al crank and crank shaft, with which the whole series of
pumps and steam cylinders are connected. Also, the method described of
forming the connection between the pistons of a series of cylinders and a
single crank pin, by means of a disk-ended connecting rod, and which is ap-
propriated to one piston in the series, and which is fitted with a series of pins,
to which the remaining connecting rods of the series of cylinders are applied,
thus obviating the direct application of all the connecting rods in the series to
the same crank pin. — Locomotive Boiler, J. E. McConnell, Wolverton, Eng. —
Water Guage for steam boilers, D. E. Rugg, assignor to D. N. Force and D. E.
Rugg, New-York.

42 American Patents.

Navigation and Maritime Implkments.

Boats for duck shooting, Robert Bogle, Rock Hall, Md. — Ice cutting attach-
ments to vessels, Thomas Estlack, Philadelphia, Pa. — Ship's hawse holes, R. R.
Osgood, assignor to Jason C. Osgood, Troy, N. Y. — Propeller Blade, George
Hibsch, Buffalo, N. Y. — Submarine Excavator, Wm. Kennish, Brooklyn, N. Y.
— Indicating the speed of vessels, and depth of water, David Hinman and F. B.
Fournier, of Berea, O., assignors to themselves and R. I. Parker, Ogdensburg,
N. Y. — Recflfing Topsails, Jas. E. Cole, New- York. — Bomb Lance, Julius Grud-
chos and Selmar Eggars, New-Bedford, Mass. — Apparatus for examining vessels,
keels, James E. Simpson, Boston. — Projectile for killing whale, Rufus Sibley,
assignor to C. C. Brand, Norwich. Ct.

Civil Engineering and Architecture.

Vault Cover, John B. Cornell, New-York, (two patents.) — Door sill and strip,
Henry Tryon, Steuben, Pa. — Blind Fastenings, Horace Vansands, Middletown,
Ct. — Stair steps, Charles Robinson, Cambridgeport, Mass. A spring or springs
beneath each step, so as to give an elastic movement. — Fastening sheet metal
on roofs, etc., Asa Johnson, Cairo, N Y., assignor to himself, Wm, Higbee, and
Henry Link, Little Falls, N, Y. A self adjusting fastener, admitting contraction
and expansion.

Land Conveyance.

Adjustable pole for carriages, Sherlock H. Bishop, Orange, Ct. — Transmitting
motion, Mathaus Kaefer, Alexandria, Pa. A balance wheel, the momentum of
which moves the carriage as it passes the dead points. — Sleighs and Cutters, L.
B. Randall, Penn Yan, N, Y. — Securing hubs to axles, Leonard J, Worden,
Utica, N. Y, — Wrought iron plate railroad car wheels, G. W, Alden, New- York.
New construction of the tread and flange, etc. — Signal Lamps, R, P. Bailey,
Niagara, N. Y. — Railroad Car Brakes, Louis Brauer, Sommerville, Tenn, — Gear
of Carriages, Richard Murdoch, Baltimore, Md, Giving the brace levers a for-
ward and outward projection from the short axles. — Vehicles, Charles Atkin-
son, Danville, 111., and Gilbert S. Manning, Springfield, III. New arrangement
of plate springs, diminishing the irregular motion of the carriage. — Carriage
Hubs, Sylvester W. Beach, Chicago, 111. — Wagon Couplings, W, D. Guseman,
Morgantown, Va. — Discharging a horse and shafts from a carriage, Gilbert
Hubbard, Sandersville, Mass. — Securing nuts on axles, T. W. Williams, assignor
to himself and H. T. Hoyt, Philadelphia. — Cast Iron Carwheel, Albert & Moury,
Cincinnati, 0.

Hydraulics and Pneumatics,

Chain Pump, James Harrison, New^-York. The use of coiled wire lifting
ropes, in connection with the buckets of a chain pump. — Gate of turbine wheels,
L. M. Wright, Niagara Falls, N. Y. — Pump, Silas Ilewit, Seneca Falls, N, Y.
Arrangement of tubes, piston head and valves.— Raising water, Andrew Nicol,
Carbondale, Pa. New mode of raising water, specially designed for mines. —
Basin Faucet, Erastus Stebbins, Chicopee, Mass. — Hydrodynamic machine for
testing the strength of materials, Francis C. Southrop, Trenton, N. J, — Wind
wheel, James Mitchell, Woodsfield. 0. — Hydrant, Wm, W. Benney, Seneca
Falls, N. Y., a self-closing hydrant. — Water Wheel, Reuben Daniels, Wood-
stock, Vt.

Mechanical Powers, etc.

Weighing Machine, Rufus Porter, Washington, D, C. — Hand Truck, Le Butt,
Lincolnton, N. C, New mode of constructing, arranging, operating, etc., the
dumping truck. — Lifting Jack, Wm, Thomas, Hingham, Mass, — Compressing ,
gaseous bodies, Wm. A. Boyce, Newburg, N. Y. — Drop Press, Milo Peck, New-
Haven, Ct.

Grinding Mills, and Mill Gearing.

India-rubber Belting, Robert Hale, Roxbury, Mass. Mode of folding and
cementing strips of India-rubber cloth by a series of mechanical devices, of moist-
ening the seams and applying the India-rubber, etc. — Redressing Mill Stones,
Wm. G. Gill, Henderson, Ky. Combination of two or more picks^ Mith the grind-

American Patents. 43

ing and operating screw shaft and lifting cams, etc. — Hanging mill stones, Wm.
A. Clark, Samuel D. Porter, and William D. Simpson, St. Louis, Mo., suspend-
ing the upper stone from above by means of a ball and socket joint, or its equi-
valent, when the ej^e of the said stone is made to embrace the upper portion of
the spindle of the running stone, and is secured thereto with a sufficient degree
of rigidity, by means of an elastic packing. — Faucet, Lucius J. Knowles, War-
ren, Wis. — Fluid metre, James K. Maxwell, Cincinnati, 0. — Feeding grain to
mill stones, Milton and Charles Painter, Owing's Mills, Md. — Hydraulic blast
generator, August F. W. Partz, New-York.

Lumber, and Machines for Working it.
Cutting Veneers, Gilbert Bishop, New-York. — Portable Field Fence, Ezra
Cole, Fairhaven, Mich. A picket fence, without rails or clasps. — Opening and
Closing Gates, Solomon Cole, Rochester, N. Y. — Pannels of Portable Field
Fence, Isaac D. Garlick, Lyons, N, Y. — Saw Mill, Daniel and Angus A. Methven,
Wooster, 0. — Adjustable Bed and Gauge, David Hodges, Suffolk, Va. — Turning
Cylindrical Wooden Boxes, Henry Mellish, Walpole, N. H., assignor to Chas.
Pope, Brookline, Mass. — Rotary Shingle Machine, Wm. Bevard, St. Louis, Mo.
— Cutting Match Splints, Thos. Cook, New- York. — Mortising Chisel, George P.
Ketchum, Bedford, Ind. — Joiners' Plane, Benjamin J. Lane, Newburyport,
Mass. New and efficient mode of securing the plane iron on the stock. —
Joiner's Bench Strip, Charles T. Pearson, Chelsea, Mass. A new contrivance
for adjusting the strip to the height of the board to be planed. — Planing chair
seats, Edward Q. Smith, Cincinnati, 0. — Dressing pieces of lumber, Harvey
Brown, New- York. Dogging lumber in planing machines, David N. B. Coffin,
Jr., Newton, Mass., and Henry D. Stover, Boston, Mass. — Machine for gathering
and depositing dipped matches, Thos. Cook, New-York. — Joiners' Plane, James
Lashbrooks, Owensborough, Ky. — Rotary Planing Cutter, Henry D. Stover,
Boston, Mass. — Allowing play to the arbors of circular saws, Harvey R. Wolfe,
Louisville, Ky. — Compressing the end of blind slats, Luther T. Smart, Man-
chester, N. H. — Shingle Machine, C. M. Young, Sinclearville, N. Y. — Bit for
cutting out cylindrical plugs, C. W. Saladec, Columbus, 0. — Cutting grooves
and slots, R. F. Underbill, Indianapolis, Ind. — Compound Guage, Albert Wil-
liams, Philadelphia. — Gage for Hand Saws, Michael Kennedy, Troy, N. Y. —
Scroll Sawing Machine, John J. Curtis, East Boston, Mass. — Portable Cross cut
Sawing Machine, Stephen Scotton, Wayne Co., Ind. — Riveting the panels of
portable fences, Charles Van De Monk, Oaks Corners, N. Y. — Shingle Machine,
Wra. A Garratt, Patonsville, Tenn.

Leather, Tanking, etc.
Leather Shoe Binding, Eugene L. Morton, Charleston, Mass. — Cutting of heels
of boots and shoes, John Shaw, Natick, Mass. — Splitting Leather and Hides,
Isaac Lippman, Paris, France.

Household Furniture.

Folding Bedstead, James A. Johnson, Antrim, 0. — Bed Bottoms, J. F. Kecler,
Cleveland, 0. — Curtain Rollers, Chandler Fisher, Milton, Mass. — Washing Ma-
chine, Abraham HufFer, Hagerstown, Md. — Folding Bedsteads, J. B. Wicker-
sham, New- York.

Arts, Ornamental, etc.

Swells for Melodeons, etc., Jeremiah Carhart, New-York, — Violin Attach-
ment, Andrew Hett, Ga. The application of vibrating strings to stringed
musical instruments. — Photographic ground for wood engravers, Robt. Pierce,
Worcester, Mass. — Pianofore Action, Henry Steinway, New-York. Mode ot
securing a rapid repeat or tremulant note. — Machine for engraving cylinders,
Robert Muckelt and AYm. Rigby, Salford, Eng.— Pianoforte Bridge, T, E. Power,
Columbia, Mo. — Fountain Pen, C. A, Rodetield, Columbus, Ga. — Pianofore ac-
tion, Spencer B. Driggs, New-York. Balancing or supporting the centers of
motions of the keys, at above or near the top thereof. — Violin, Bradley Fitts,
Charleston, Mass. Bells behind the sounding board of a stringed instrument.

4-4 Foreign laventioiis.

vibrating in harmony with the strings. — Removing photographs from glass to
paper, Edward Howell, Ashtabula, 0. By means of a coating of beeswax upon
tlie glass plate. — Printing in Colors, "Wm. Croome, Brooklyn, N. Y, — Printing
Press, Jason L. Burdick, New-Yoik. — Oscillating Printing Press, Charles Pot-
ter, jr.. Westerly R. I. — Printer's Composing Sticks, James and William Zedge-
weil, Middletown, Conn. — Printing Press, 1). II. Windner, Cincinnati, 0.

FiRE-AuMS.

Fire-arms, J. B. Read, Tuscaloosa, Ala. — Overcoming windage in fire-arms,
Ambrose E. Bainsede, Bristol, R. I. — Cartridges, Edward Lindmer, New-York.
An annular wad and casing to contain the powder, formed of certain materials
stated. — Revolving fire-arms, Fordyce Beal, New-Haven, Ct. Fire-arms, Edward
Lindmer, New-York. — Repeating fire-arms, Wm. M. Marston, New-York.
Medical and Surgical Instruments, etc.

Surgical splint apparatus, J. H. H. Burge, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Spinal corsets,
Alanson Abbee, Boston, Mass.

Miscellaneous.

Rotary Brick Machine, George Cranglc, Philadelphia. — Omnibus Coffer,
Joseph T. Curtiss, New-York. — Brick Machine, J. W. Jayne, Sandusky, 0. —
Same, James Hotchkiss and Wm. H. Scolfield, assignors to themselves and
\\m. R. King, Yellow Springs, O. — Artificial Honey, Zenas Corbin and Gedcon
Marlett, Syracuse, N. Y. — Coal Cracker, Townsend Poore, Carbondale, Pa. A
rocking cracker, with fixed and swinging gratings. Trap for animals, Frederick
Routhe, Hartford, Ct. Sliding and expanding spring barbed fangs, in combi-
nation with one, two, or more exploding barrels. — Portfolio, Robert Arthur,
Philadelphia. AVith an elastic back or pinge, and elastic fastening, both ad-
justible. — Wash-board, Edward and Britain Holmes, Buffalo, N. Y. — Approach
Opening Gate, Geo. W. McGill, Buffalo, N. Y.— Shirt Stud, W. Vogt and J. J.
Klink, Louisville, Ky. — Centrifugal Battery, Albert Potts, Philadelphia. — Ink-
stand, Bennett J. Heywood, London, Eng. — Brick Machine, Stephen Parks, San
Francisco, Cal. — Tanning Apparatus, 0. B. Wattles, Waddington, N. Y. —
Burglars' Alarm, David Coon, assignor to himself and B. F. Chessbrough,
Ithaca, N. Y. — Cutting boot and shoe soles, Stephen Thurston, assignor to him-
self, M. L. Ward, Huntington & Co., Newark, N. J. — Tips for sugar molds, John
Turl, New- York, assignor to Samuel Turl, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Block for blocking
hoots and shoes, Francis G. Harding, Boston, Mass. — Life Preservers, James
Knight, New-York. — Paring horses' hoofs, V. N. Mitchell, Concord, N. C. —
Hat Stand, John B. Wickersham, New-York, — Hominy Machine, 0. F. Mahew,
assignor to W. H. Weeks, and 0. F. Mahew, Indianapolis, Ind. — Holders for Sad
Irons, etc., Leon Londinsky, New- York.

The Maniifactiire of Wire.

The process of drawing wire is a matter of no little interest to all who have
a taste for mechanical operations. A recent foreign journal contains a descrip-
tion of the process employed at one of the principle establishments in England,
from which we take the following. — Ed.

The metal having been reduced by rolling to the proper diameter (known as
No. 4 iron wire gauge) for undergoing the further stages of reduction, by means
of draw-plates, is first " pointed," or hammered down at one end, to admit of
its extremity being passed through the soft steel die or draw-plate, and then
taken hold of by a pair of plyers at the opposite side of the die ; which plyers
draw a small portion of the wire through the die and cause its elongation. The
end of the wire is then released from the plyers and attached to a drum, which

Foreign Inventions. 45

is caused to rotate slowly, and draw the metal through the draw-plate (which is
held fast on a " draw-bench") and wind it up in a coil upon its periphery. The
wire, provided it is not steel wire, may then be passed through a second draw-
plate or die, having a somewhat smaller hole, and drawn down to a size corres-
ponding with the diameter of the hole in that die. After two drawings, the
metal will be found to have atttained such hardness and brittleness, that it
would be impossible to reduce it further while in that condition ; it has, there-
fore, to be softened by the annealing process. For this purpose an annealing
oven is employed, consisting of a cast-iron cylinder, set up vertically in a brick
furnace, the flue or fire-place of which surrounds the cylinder. Into this cylin-
der the hanks of wire to be annealed are thrown, until it is filled with wire ;
the cylinder is then closed at top, and it is fired up for about 15 hours. "When
the whole mass of iron wire is suflBciently heated in the closed chamber, the
fire is damped and let out, and the furnace is allowed to cool. After the lapse
of about 36 to 48 hours from the time of charging the oven, the wire is re-
moved in an annealed or softened state. A hard thick scale is now, however,
found on the surface of the wire, caused by the heat to which it has been sub-
jected ; and before the wire is re-submitted to the drawing process, it must un-
dergo the operation of "pickling," that is, it must be subjected to the corroding
action of dilute sulphuric acid, in order to loosen and remove the scale. This
operation is thus effected : The hanks are thrown into a tub lined with lead,
containing the dilute acid, and piled one upon the other to the height of some
f lur or five feet, the whole pile being covered with the liquid. When the wire
has remained sufficiently long immersed for the uppermost hank, which was
the last placed in the liquor, to become sufficiently corroded to insure the ready
disengagement of the scale, the wire is removed from the tub and thrown into
a water tank to be washed. By this method the hank that was first inserted is
the last to be removed from the action of the acid ; and that which was last
submitted to the acid is the first to be withdrawn from its action. The acid
having been washed out of the hanks, they are next washed with " lees," and
placed in a heated chamber to dry. The outer ends of the hanks are then again
pointed, and the drawing action is recommenced. These operations are repeated
in succession, as described, until the wire is reduced from gauge No. 4, the
starting point, to any gauge, say No. 10, 20, or 30, as may be required ; every
reduction in the diameter of the wire, when steel wire is being made, and every
second drawing, when iron wire is made, entailing extra labor in all branches
of the process. ^

A Liverpool gentleman, Mr. James Cocker, has contrived some valuable im-
provements in some of these details, and especially in the annealing process,
by which the operation is rendered continuous, and by which one batch of wire,
when suflBciently heated, may be removed without disturbing the rest. This is
done by means of sliding doors in an oven of peculiar construction, with a
series of chambers, railways, etc. By this means a bath of wire may be annealed
in three or four hours. The cost of fuel is also diminished.

Another improvement is in a simple machine, by which the wire is poUshed.
This is effected by the rapid oscillating motion of a padded box or rubber,
which is supplied with emery, the drums holding the wire at a moderate tension.
The pickling process has also been improved.

An improved method of obtaining or preparing printing surfaces and in

PRINTING THEREFROM. JeANE BaPTISTE DeSIRE ChEVALIER AND NaRCISSE

Rabouin O'Suluvan, of Paris.

This invention has for its object to obtain printing surfaces as a substitute
for lithography and other similar methods of printing, the use of which, besides
being much cheaper than lithographic printing, offers this advantage, that a

46 Foreign Inventions,

design consisting of a number of diflferent colors can be printed at one and the
same time ; while in ordinary printing each color has to be worked oflF separately,
and entails a great amount of labor.

In carrying out the invention, the patentees take any suitable permeable sub-
stance or fabric, such as linen, calico, cloth, canvas, or other woven or suitable
material, or, it may be, a reticulated metal surface, or metallic plate or sheet,
perforated with minute holes to impart the required degree of permeability, and
on this surface they draw or write the desired figures or characters in an ink
composed of lamp-black, Indian ink, gum, sugar and salt.

A coating of this ink being applied to the permeable surface in the form of
the design or character or characters required, they next coat the permeable
substance, on the side drawn upon, with a thin coating or film of gutta-percha
or of gelatinous material, covering the drawing as well as the other part of the
permeable material. When the coating of gutta-percha or other gelatinous
material is dry, the fabric, or other surface, so coated, is washed. The gutta-
percha or gelatinous material, at that part where it comes in direct contact with
the permeable material, adheres firmly thereto ; but at those parts covered by
the ink, it has no such adhesion, and simply holds to the ink design. The ink,
being readily soluble in water, is removed in the washing, and carries away the
gutta-percha covering it ; thus the design drawn upon the permeable material
is now the only pervious part remaining in the surface.

The back part of the pervious substance or fabric is now to be coated with
the ink or color or colors required to be printed ; and the ink or color having
been applied, the impression is taken from the face of the fabric or substance
by pressure in a suitable press ; the paper or surface to be printed being placed
in contact with the face of the fabric or printing surface, the ink or color pasess
through the pervious part, and is thus applied and printed on the paper or other
surface required.

Instead of applying the ink or color to the back of the pervious materia^, the
design in that material may be placed on a pad containing a reservoir of ink or
color, by which the ink or color is supplied by pressing it on such pad ; from
which it passes through the pervious parts of the material constituting the de-
sign, to the paper or substance placed on the face of the printing surface to re-
ceive the impression.

An improved pkocess of tanning. By Emile Constantin Fritz Sautelet, of

Paris.

In carrying out this improved process of tanning, the skin or hide is first
freed from the hair in the ordinary manner, and it is then cleansed from grease
by means of soap and water, or alcohol, or other solvent which does not injure
the fibres. A solution of bark, tannin, sumach, catechu, or other tanning ma-
terials is then caused to filter or soak through the skin by means of pressure
or suction, produced by mechanical or physical means. This filtration is con-
tinued from fourteen to forty-eight hours, or for a shorter or longer time, ac-
cording to the nature and thickness of the skin. The quality of the leather is
improved by employing weak solutions and continuing the action from two to
fifteen days. A solution of gelatine, or other matter capable of precipitating
the tanning material, is then introduced by pressure or suction. This solution
and the tanning solution may be introduced repeatedly and alternately. By
these operations the skin may be tanned in a very short time. The skin is
stretched during the process in a double frame, which confines and clips the
edges of the skin, which is sustained by a trellis or open framework. This
frame prevents the skin from being forced out and torn away from its attach-
ments by the pressure of the liquid to which it is subjected. The skin, thus
held and supported, is made to form the partition between two vessels or com-
partments. Into one compartment the soap and water or other cleansing liquid
is introduced by a pump or by a pipe from an elevated cistern, and the liquid
is thus forced to pass through the skin into the other compartment. The pres-
sure may also be given by a piston, acted on by steam, or by water or other
fluid, or by forming a partial vacuum in the other compartment. Several skins

Foreign Inventions. 47

may be fixed in the same apparatus, and traversed successively by the same
sohition ; and several apparatus may be arranged in stages, so as to operate
upon a large number of skins at the same time. After acting upon the skins
in this manner for three or four hours, more or less, the cleansing liquid is
drawn off, and water is introduced to wash out the cleansing liquid. The water
is then drawn off, and the tanning solution is then introduced in a similar man-
ner, and its action is continued for a period varying from a few hours to fifteen
days, more or less, according to the nature and thickness of the skin and the
the strength of the solution employed. A solution of gelatine, or other similar
substance capable of precipitating the tanning material in the interior or pores
of the skin, is then introduced in a similar manner. By thus impregnating or
nourishing the skin with gelatine, an additional quantity of leather is formed or
precipitated in the pores of the skin, and the quality and density of the leather
is thus improved. The alternate filtration of the tanning liquid and the solu-
tion of gelatine may be repeated several times, if desired. The nourishmg of
the skin with the solution of gelatine may also be effected by simply immersing
the skin in the solution, or by rubbing it into the skin by hand, or by mechani-
cal means. The density or weight of the leather may be still further increased,
if required, by impregnating it with a solution of a salt of baryta, or a salt of
lead, or other suitable metallic salt, and with another salt capable of forming an
insoluble precipitate with the first salt. Thus, the skin may be impregnated
successively with solutions of sulphate of soda and chloride of barium, which
decompose each other, and produce an insoluble sulphate of baryta, and also a
soluble sulphate of soda, which may be washed out by causing water to traverse
or filter through the skin as before.

Iron. — Mr. H. Gilbee, Finsbury, Eng., has patented an invention, which con-
sists in receiving a stream of melted iron as it flows from the melting or refining
furnace into a suitable trench, and projecting downwards upon it, either per-
pendicularly or obliquely, and at several places as may be required, a strong
current of atmospheric air, so that the stream of melted iron may be thereby
cut through, or nearly so, and every portion of the liquid metal brought suc-
cessively in contact with the current of air. It is also proposed by means of
suitable bridges or stops placed across the stream of liquid metal to arrest the
progress of the slag or scoriae, so that the pure surface of the metal may be
brought into contact with such currents of air. Currents or blasts of air are
also forced directly or obliquely upon the surface of pools or reservoirs of melted
iron, kept nearly full by adjusting the supply of metal, so that the current of
air shall decarbonize the said metal at the surface, and force such decarbonized
portion over the edge of the reservoir, into a second reservoir, where the said
operation may be repeated as often as may be required.

New Electric Magnetic Engine. — On the invitation of the Emperor of the
French, Mr. Thomas Allen, of London and Edinburgh, has recently visited
Paris, for the purpose of exhibiting to a scientific commission, appointed by the
Emperor, an electro-magnetic engine of his invention, which solves, as he asserts,
the problem of the application of electricity to the movement of machinery.
Mr. Allen's engines are now at work at the engine manufactory of M. Cail,
whither scientific men, anxious to test this new motive-power, are flocking to
witness the experiments. Napoleon I. was greatly interested in this scientific

48 Foreign Inventions.

problem, and the present Emperor is not less so, and, it is said, is about to order
a practical application, as an experiment, to a locomotive engine.

Fire-Arm Prize.

The Sardinian Government, through their Minister of "War, has caused a
proclamation to be issued, inviting the inventors and manufacturers of small
arms throughout the world to contest for the best fire-arm as a war weapon.
A premium of 10,000 francs will be awarded to the party or person whose wea-
pon shall eventually be approved by the Central Committee of Artillery, at the
city of Turin, as worthy of adoption by the infantry of the line, or riflemen. —
Scientific American.

Clay Retorts in Generating Gas.

Clay retorts are well adapted for generating gas from the Scotch cannel coal,
which produced coke of no appreciable value ; but it might be doubted, whether
they were, in useful effect, equal to iron retorts for the distillation of coals con-
taining or yielding a large quantity of liquid matter ; as, for instance, with coals
which yielded 350 lbs. per ton of ammonical liquor, instead of the very usual
quantity of 100 lbs. Nor were they to be commended for small works, using a
coal producing valuable coke, for in such works an exhauster could not be ap-
plied ; neither was the management and employment of the retorts so careful
as in larger establishments, conducted under intelligent and experienced super-
vision. An error had been committed by some speakers in supposing that clay
retorts could be worked at a pressure of seven inches of water with more advan-
tage than at lower pressures. Clay being a porous material, allowed the gas to
transpire through its capillary passages, and hence it was better to work under
a low pressure. Neither was it ordinarily correct to say, that clay retorts would
produce more gas than iron retorts, or gas of better quality. In fact, clay re-
torts would not evolve more, nor indeed so much gas as iron retorts, if they
were not, by the expenditure of a much larger quantity of fuel, sometimes
worked at a much higher temperature than would be prudent with iron retorts.

Method of Regulating the Height of Water in Steam Engines.

A WORKING model was exhibited in the library after the meeting, of Lapham's
'■'■ Method of regulating the height of water in steam hoilersy This consisted of
a pipe and cylinder in communication, situated at the proper level of the water
in the boiler, and kept filled with cold water. Two pipes proceeded to this
cylinder, the one from the steam portion of the boiler, and the other from the
water space. When the water fell below the proper level, steam would pass
through the lower or water pipe, and expanding the water in the cylinder and
pipe, would cause an expansive action against an india-rubber diaphragm, to
which was attached a lever, acting by cranks and levers upon the £top-ccck, or
valve in the feed-pipe.

Curiosity of Art.

Rev. Dr. Kirk, in a letter from Manchester, England, says : "I had in the old-
est factory of the town, a striking exhibition of the value of human art and
labor. A pound of cotton was pointed out as worth a pound of gold. Its cost
as crude cotton may have been eight cents. And as a curiosity of art, I was
shown a pound of cotton spun into a thread that would go around our globe at
the equator, and tie in a good large knot of many hundred miles in length."

SQientific.

THE FAMItV CinCiE.

Chemistry for the Million.

" Chemistry made easy" and applied to all useful purposes, is our object in these
articles. In our last we gave a somewhat protracted account of oxygen as one of
the most abundant and important elements of matter. If we were to enlarge as
much on each of the other fourteen elements, of which, in combination with oxygen
and with each other, nearly all known bodies are composed, it would take too long,
and the reader would despair, of coming to any practical application of these things
to the necessities and conveniencies of life. We therefore give below a very brief
description, little more than a definition, of the other fourteen, requesting that the
reader will review, what we have said of oxygen and form as definite an idea as
he can from so short a description of the following.

Chlorine. — A yellowish green gas, twice and a half heavier than air ; exists large-
ly in sea water ; constitutes more than half of common salt; enters slightly into all
soils, and is essential to their fertility. The most economical way in which a soil
deficient of it, can be supplied, is in the form of cheap agricultural salt, such, for
instance, as comes from fish barrels, or has been damaged by shipping, and is worth
little or nothing for other purposes.

Sulphur. — A yellow, solid substance, insoluble in water, pretty generally known
as Roll Brimstone ; flowers of sulphur, a fine yellow powder, or the milk of sulphur
(lac sulphuris) a still finer powder, nearly white. Sulphur exists in all soils ; consti-
tutes a portion of guano, superphosphate of lime, of animal manures, and of ferti-
lizers generally. If we were to analyze 86 lbs. of ground plaster, we should find it
to consist of precisely 32 lbs. oxygen, 20 lbs. lime, 16 lbs. sulphur, and 18 lbs. water
Derived from the soil and fertilizers, sulphur passes through the food into the ani-
mal economy, forming a part of the tendons, skin, horn, hoof, and especially of hair
and wool.

Phosphorus. — A yellowish substance, of about the hardness of bees' wax, existing
in all good soils, essential to the growth of the cereals, grasses and most other crops.
Is supplied to the soil originally from the decomposition of the rocks. Re-supplied
to soils exhausted of it in the form of guano, superphosphates and barn manures.
Passes from the soils to the crops, and thence to animals, making up a large part of
the bones and a considerable portion of the muscles, blood, and some other parts.

Carbon. — Charcoal is carbon, mixed with a little soot and ash. Diamond is pure
carbon. Plumbago, wrongly called black lead, as used in our pencils, is a less pure
form of carbon. Strange as it may seem to our young readers, charcoal, diamond
and plumbago, are one and the same thing, except that in the two last there is an in-
termixture, almost too small to mention, of other ingredients.

Silicon.— This is the basis of sand, flint and quartz rock. It is a brownish pow-
der, a little resembling the paint called Spanish brown ; is very abundant in nature,
constituting probably as much as one fifth of the entire globe.

Nitrogen. — A colorless gas. About four fifths of the air are nitrogen. The re-
maining fifth is mostly oxygen. It constitutes a part of all plants and animals ; is
supplied to the soil in the form of ammonia and the nitrates, as they exist in guano*
animal manures, vegetable fertilizers, green crops ploughed in, <fcc.

50 Scientific.

Hydrogen. — A colorless gas, about fourteen times lighter than air, used on account
of its levity for filling baloons. "Water is composed of one part by weight of nitrogen
to eight parts of oxygen. In bulk, the hydrogen in water is twice that of tlie oxy-
gen. If you simply heat a gallon of water it will expand into some 1700 gallons of
steam ; but if you decompose a gallon of Avater, that is, separate the oxygen from
the hydrogen, it makes 1000 gallons of the former, and 2000 gallons of the latter ;
and then if you mix the two and set fire to them, they return back with a violent
explosure, to one gallon of water. It is quite possible to educe light and heat from
water, but as no economical mode of doing it is yet discovered, we shall probably
have to resort to other materials for replenishing our hearths and lamps a while longer
yet, notwithstanding Mr. Paines' promises to the contrary. "We do not despair how-
ever of important discoveries being yet made in this line ; and if they should be
let us not be more surprised than our fathers would have been at the thought of
sending our errands by electricity across the ocean in a second, a thing which we
hope is on the eve of being done.

Iron. — This is too well known to require us to speak at large here. In another
place we shall illustrate facts concerning it of great importance to the farmer as
well as to many others.

Manganese. — ^This is a metal somewhat resembling iron. Like iron it exists in
most soils, like that it is never found separate from other substances, but has to be
prepared, like iron, by separating it first from other matters with which it is com-
bined.

Potassium. — This is a brilliant, silver- white metal, light enough to swim on water,
and so combustible, that it takes fire and burns with great heat, on falling upon
water, however cold, or even upon ice. It is the basis of potash ; and it exists in
all soils, as variously compounded with other substances, also in all plants, and in
the animal tissues.

Sodium. — This is the basis of soda ; is a dingy whiteish metal, comparing in ap-
pearance with potassium about as copper does with silver ; is lighter than water ;
floats on water and takes fire, if the water be a little warm, but is not enkindled,
like potassium, by cold water or ice.

Calcium. — This is a yellowish-white metal, and is the basis of lime. It is verj-
abundant in all limestone regions. '

Ilagnesiwn. — A white, shining metal, the basis of the magnesia of the shops.

Aluminum. — ^The basis of clay; a bright, silver-like metal, not easily rusted, hav-
ing nearly the strength of iron, with little more than the weight of wood.

Of these elements, it will be perceived that four, oxygen, chlorine, hydrogen,
and nitrogen, are gases. Four, sulphur, phosphorus, carbon, and silicop, are solids,
at ordinary temperatures. Seven, iron, manganese, potassium, sodium, calcium,
magnesium, and aluminum, are metals.

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, are regarded as organic elements, because
entering largely into organized bodies — plants and animals. All the rest are con-
sidered as inorganic elements, because not found in organized bodies, except in small
quantities — that which constitutes the ash when the vegetable or animal matter is
burned; and it should be remembered — what we have before stated — that when an
organized body perishes, its organic elements pass into the air and become a part of
it, while the inorganic fall as ash, and become a part of the soil, and that whether
the body be destroyed by the rapid process of combustion, or by the slow process of
decay.

Very few of the above fifteen substances are ever seen in their pure, elementary

Scientific. SI

state, except in the chemist's laboratory ; and it is difficult for those who have not
seen them, to form a just conception of their properties. We have endeavored to
give as good an idea of them, as we could by mere description, because it is out of
these that nature constructs those compounds with which we have to do in actual
life — those which constitute the rocks, the soils, plants, animals, our own bodies
even, and all that we see about us.

If two elements combine with each other, they form what is called a binary, (or
two-fold) compound. Three elements combined, form a ternary, (or three-fold) com-
pound. But it seldom, or never happens, that three elements combine with each
other directly. It is a general law of nature, that the elements combine first in
pairs, and then these pairs combine with each other. If the warp for a piece of
cloth be of cotton and wool, here are two substances. If the filling be of wool and
flax, here again are two ; but how many are there in the texture ? Not four, but
three, because one is common to the warp and the filling. So it is with chemical
combinations ; — sulphur and oxygen form sulphuric acid ; oyxgen and iron form oxide .
of iron ; now put these two pairs together, and you have sulphate of iron, a ter-
nary, or triple compound. If every farmer in North America, in addition to his
practical skill, understood the nature of this- one compound, as well as the chemist
in his laboratory, it would be worth at least a hundred millions annually to the con-
tinent. Millions of acres, now almost useless, would soon be producing valuable
crops, and the reclamation would be at a trifling cost, compared with the value of
the increased produce. It is so with a great many other compounds that either en-
rich or ruin the soil ; if the practical farmer understood their nature, he and the
whole country would feel the benefit. But can he understand them, and yet be in-
dustrious in the practice of his profession ? "We admit there is some difficulty. A
shrewd, common-sense, and pretty intelligent farmer, once said to an editor in our
hearing : " You tell us we should know a great deal, but we know nothing more for
your telling us that." He was right. The agricultural press has been in fault. It
has told the farmer that he should know every thing, but has it helped him to know
any thing of the real science that underlies his practice ? Certainly it has, and it
has been of immense benefit to the farming interest. But, to our apprehension, it
has not done the thing right end first. It has not begun at the beginning, and
taught the rudiments of science, and defined its terms, and made itself understood —
has not measured out its teachings to the wants of men, who are not students of all
day long, but have to catch a little now and a little then, as opportunity occurs.
"We are resolved to reform in this respect, and the farmer, or the farmer's boy, or the
farmer's wife or daughter, who will follow us in these articles, shall not have occa-
sion to say that we have taught nothing practical, or within their reach. Bear
with us in one or two more of these rudimentary articles, (which we know are dry,)
as they are absolutely necessary to a just understanding of what is to follow, and we
will be as practical as you wish, will use no jaw-breaking terms that can possibly
be avoided, and will come with our chemistry into your every-day aff'airs, and it
shall show you not only what sulphate of iron is, but why it sours the soil and how
you may sweeten it ; not that genial warmth and gentle motion with free access of
air makes the " butter come," for you know that well enough, but why it does ;
nor that yeast makes the bread rise, for you know that better than we, but why ;
and so of other things both pleasing and profitable for you to know, but which,
hitherto, have been known but to a few.

52

Scientific.

FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, ASD THE ANVIL.

THE WEATHEB.
Appearaxce of Birds, Flowers, etc., in Nichols, Tioga Co., N. Y., in May, ISST.

By R. HoweU.

Place of Observation, 42 degrees North, on a Diluvial Formation, about 40 feet above
the Susquehanna River.

May.

CAM.

1P.M.

1

42

55

2

46

54

3

40

53

4

42

51

5

53

60

6

45

60

7

39

54

8

32

64

9

44

74

10

58

73

11

31

40

12

26

54

13

27

62

14

43

61

15

49

53

16

43

61

17

34

50

18

32

68

19

42

52

20

38

36

21

42

62

22

47

74

23

48

81

24

47

82

25

52

88

26

55

86

27

61

78

28

62

75

29

47

78

30

48

67

31

60

73

9 P.M.
42
52
41
54
50
47
46
45
64
40
31
34
41
48
46
47
40
48
43
40
46
51
50
59

65
65
57
52
48
52
62

South

South

North

S.East

North

South

North
It

South
North

South
North

South
North

South

S.cfeN.
North

South

Cloudy

Clear
Cloudy

Kemabks.
Rain set in at 4 P.M. ; some snow ; barn swal-
Rain by squalls all day. [lows came.

Hard rain near all day ; began before day.

Light rain by squalls ; soft maple iu bloom.

Light rain in the night.

Light rain in the night ; toads first heard.

First whip-poor-will heard.

First bumble bee and small white flower seen.

Peach trees in bloom ; first water snake seen.

Dandelion and black currant besrin to bloom.

Hard rain all day ; daffodils and sugar maple
Very hard rain nearly all day. [bloom.

Hard shower in the night.

Water-trough froze over ; blue-belle in bloom.
Rain set in at 6 P.M. ; rain all night.
Hard rain all day, with snow — hills white.
English cherries begin to bloom.
A few plant corn ; first humming-bird seen.
Plum trees and Juneberry begin to bloom.
Common cherries begin to bloom ; sugar ma-
ple in full bloom.
White ash in full bloom ; red currants bloom.
A few apple trees begin to bloom.
Rain set in at 5 P.M.
Three fields of corn up on Susquehanna flats.

[bloom.
Light rain in morning ; apple trees in full

Observations on the Month of May.
With the exception of a few days, cold and very wet, so much so that by
the time farmers could get their land ready for sowing a heavy rain would set in,
90 that at the end of the month hundreds of farmers had not finished sowing oats,
and but little corn was planted till the 23d, and the following Monday and Tuesday,
and on the hills a number of farmers had not finished at the end of the month.
There was but little grass till after the 20th, although many turned out before the
15th because they had no fodder. Hay and all kinds of fodder scarcer than before
in a number of years. Hay rose from $6 or $7 in the winter to $14 or more during
the month, and corn rose from 62J cents in April to $1 06 cents at the end of tlie
month ; and oats from 40 cents to %1\ cents. All kinds of fruit trees were from
eight to fifteen days later in bloom than in former years. Apple tree leaves on the
20th were no larger than a five cent piece, and at the end of the month forest trees
generally showed but little greenness, and on many of them the leaves hardly to be

Scientific.

63

Insects

DESTRUCTIVE TO THE LEAVES, ETC., OF VEGETATIOX.

Having, by chance omitted, for one number, our familiar illustration of this branch
of economical farming, -which has so long occupied our attention, we again recur to
the topic with fresh interest. But if we have been inactive for a month, not so ex-
actly with those of whom we are now to speak.

Hybernians, are a group of caterpillars, chiefly without any covering, or naked,
which are exceedingly destructive to various kinds of trees. They have ten legs,
six before and four behind. The eggs are laid in rows in the spring, upon the
extremities of the branches by the parent moth, from sixty to a hundred in number,
which are hatched about the middle of May or when the currant is in blossom, and
she then dies. Canker-worms belong in this group. The young canker-worm is of
various colors, but generally a dark brown, or blackish, with a stripe on each side,
and two light bands across the head. The belly is also light colored. On the tip
of the last ring are two warts. When not eating they lie at full length on the leaf,
or rather beneath it. They are about one inch in length, and are sometimes called
Inch worms. When about four weeks old, they drop down by a thread to the
ground, and descending from two to six inches beneath the surface, according to
Dr. Harris, they become crysalids in twenty-four hours. They are of a light brown
color. They come out chiefly by night. The females are destitute of wings.

Canker-worms or Span-worms, (Geometers,) are naked or covered only by a very
short down, smooth, except the warts already spoken of. As they grow older they
grow darker in color. Some species, instead of lying at full length when at rest, ex-
tend themselves like a short twig, their hind legs only being in contact with the leaf
or twig, and remain so for hours. When they are alarmed, they drop by their
thread and hang suspended in the air, and when the supposed danger is passed, they
clunb up by the thread, seizing it with their jaws and fore legs, while they draw up
their hind legs, and then extend themselves as before. A few make for themselves
thin cocoons, protected partially by leaves, and thus undergo their transformations.
A few others fasten themselves to the stems of plants without any protection, and
are thus changed to crysalids.

In their perfect state, they are slender moths, with tapering antennas, those of the
males being often feathered. Their feelers are short and slender, the thorax not
crested, wings large, angular, thin, often marked by one or more bands, and when
at rest, slightly inclined or nearly horizontal. A very few species carry their wings
like the skippers, the hind wings extended horizontally and the fore wings somewhat
raised and but partially closed, or one or both pairs extended and elevated.

The crysalis of this moth is of a light brown color ; that of the female is larger
than that of the male. During a mild season, and after a hard frost, in the fall, the
insect bursts the skin of the crysalis and comes up to the surface. This process is
often delayed for weeks, and even months, so that they come up at almost all sea-
sons. As the female has no wings, it is confined to a very limited space, scarcely
leaving the ground covered by the limbs of the tree from which it dropt. She
slowly finds her way up the trunk of the tree, to the branches. The male being
provided with wings, soon follows after them, and being winged, they flutter about
the female during her ascent, during which they pair. The more general time of
this rising is in March. Soon after the female has laid her eggs she languishes and
dies, as already stated.

54 Scientific.

The defenses generally employed, and most efficient, \re described on a former oc-
casion. To prevent the ascent of the females, tar, or raw cotton, or dissolved or
melted India-rubber, may be placed on bands of cloth or otherwise, around the
trunk of the tree in October or early in November, and daily renewed till the insect
ceases to appear. Collars of tin or lead, or troughs containing a cheap oil with some
careful stuffing of fine hay, etc., which will not absorb the oil between them and
the tree, is often used with good success. A little mound of sand viMU it remains
dry, around the base of the tree, has proved an impassible barrier to this insect.
Sprinkling the leaves, etc., with fine air-slacked lime is sometimes successful, if used
when the leaves are wet with dew or rain. A mixture of a pound of soap to seven
gallons of water, thrown upon the trees by a syi-inge, has also been found efficient
in destroying these and other insects, without injury to the tree.

After they have entered the ground, swine will destroy great numbers of them.
Ploughing will facilitate this mode of their destruction. Some recommend plough-
ing in June and the removal of the soil to the depth of six inches, for some four or
five feet from the trunk of the tree, replacing it with compost or rich earth. The
earth carried away should be thrown into a pond-hole and left covered with water.
These last-mentioned plans are recommended by some of the best farmers in Massa-
chusetts. Another mode of destroying caterpillars was accidentally discovered by a
gardener in Glasgow, Scotland. A woolen rag blown by the wind into a currant
bush, was found covered with these insects. Placing pieces of cloth among his
bushes, through his garden, he found multitudes collected on them for shelter. In
this way he destroyed thousands every morning. We know not why this should
not succeed with one species as well as with another.

The canker-worm has a destructive natural enemy in several kinds of birds, and
in a large splendid ground-beetle, called Calosoma Scrutator. The ichneumon fly
stings great numbers of them, depositing an egg in each worm which it piei-ces.
Each a^g hatches a maggot that preys upon the worm and destroys it. The Platy-
gaster, another four-winged fly, drops an egg in each egg of the canker-worm, which
becomes a fly like its parent.

Another span-worm, larger than the canker-worm, of a light yellow color, head
rust-color, with black lines on the back, is often found very destructive to apple-
trees, elms, etc. It appears at the same time with the canker-worm, resembles it in
its habits, and can be kept in check by the use of similar means.

INSECTS ATTACKING THE COTTON PLANT.

A commission has been given, very judiciously, by the general government, to our
learned friend, Mr. T. Glover, to investigate the habits and conditions of insects in
the Southern States. In times past comparatively little has been done, in this direc-
tion, in that section of country, although we should seem, perhaps, inexcusably un-
just or ignorant, did we omit the mention of a splendid work, on " the rare insects
of Georgia," by Mr. Abbott, a work, neither excelled nor equalled, as a work of art,
on that subject, in this country. Other gentlemen have contributed valuable essays
in different periodicals, but no general examination, as by State authorities, has, to
our knowledge, been undertaken. We can not therefore do a better service to our
numerous Southern readers on this subject, than to follow the track of Mr. Glovei-,
presenting his experience in this investigation, as found in his official report, in con-
nection with the other sources of knowledge at our command.

Scientific.

'8S

CUT WORM.

THE CUT WOKM.

This insect has been very troublesome ; many cotton fields being literally thronged

with them, so that most of the plants were
either eaten off or destroyed. "When such
numbers are found, swine are perhaps
the most efficient exterminators. Young
pigs will not root deep enough to injure
the roots of the plant, and experience
shows that they will select those spots
which are most infested by the worm.
Like other moths, a lantern placed in and
around the fields, will attract the insects,
in their winged state, who fly into the
flame and burn their wings, by which
means they are or may be easily captured, their power of flight being destroyed.
Mr. Glover describes a lantern of peculiar form, which may have some advantages
over all others ; we should not, however, place much value on a lamp of any pecu-
liar construction.

THE COTTON CATERPILLAR.

This insect, sometimes called the Cotton-army worm, is very destructive to the
leaves of the plant. Sometimes they appear in great
numbers. In other years, they do not. In 1855, as Mr.
Glover informs us, this insect first appeared in August, on
the plantation of Mr. Hunter, of Tallahasse, Ga., and gra-
dually spread over that region, so that in October, much damage had been done.

The perfect insect, he describes as of a triangular
shape, the head and the extremities of the wings
forming the angles. The upper wings are reddish
gray, having a dark spot, with a whitish center,
on each. The under wings are reddish gray. As
the insect grows older, the gray changes to a more
reddish tinge. Like other moths, it flies by night,
and if undisturbed, remains motionless during the
day. When in the open air, they are found among
and under the leaves of the cotton plant, and also
among the weeds. The eggs are principally de-
posited on the under side of the leaf, but often on
tlie outer calyx, and sometimes on the stem, ten to
COTTON CATERriLLAR. fifteen being on a single leaf They are small and

being of a green color, and closely attached to the leaf, it is difficult to distinguish
them from it. The eggs are hatched, according to Dr. Capers, in from fourteen to
twenty days, but Mr. Glover found them hatched " invariably, in a Aveek from the
time they were brought into the house." The young caterpillars are able to suspend
themselves by a thread, when shaken from the plant ; when fully grown they mea-
sure from one and a half to nearly two inches in length. The first brood appears in
August and September. Those examined by Mr. Glover were all of a green color,
with narrow, longitudinal light stripes along each side of their bodies and two
broader light-yellowish stripes along each side of their backs, and down the center of
each of which, was one distinct, narrow, light-colored line. Each of the broader
bands was marked with two black spots on each segment, and on each segment of
the sides, were three or more dark dots. The head was yellowish-green, spotted

56 Domestic.

with black. The caterpillars of the second and third generations are of a much
darker color than those of the first, their undcrparts arc more of a yellowish green,
and tlieir sides sometimes of a purple cast. Their backs are black, with three dis-
tinct light-colored lines running down their length, and their heads are also darker,
and of a yellowish brown, spotted with black.

In fifteen or twenty days after this caterpillar has attained its full size it ceases
to eat, doubles over a portion of a leaf, and fastening the edge by its own silk, forms
an imperfect cocoon. The crysalis is first green, changing to a brown and almost to
a black. It is furnished with small hooks by which it can fasten itself to the leaf.
The habits of this insect do not seem as j-et to be definitely understood. Fires and
lamps are resorted to for the destruction of these insects ; white cotton flags about
a yard square, are also used, as are the woolen rags already mentioned.

g^mtstir.

Health, Morals, Patriotism.

After our thirtj--two pages of Agricultural matter, and our condensation of Me-
chanical matters for the next sixteen, and our Scientific articles, done in plain Eng-
lish for the general reader, we always feel a relief, in coming more freely into the fam-
ily circle, where we may throw off restraint, talk with the o\^ folks, take a romp with
the children, hear them laugh, and perchance give them now and then a bit of good
advice.

Of all the thousand and one subjects to be talked of on these occasions, none is of
more importance than the one at the head of these remarks. It is sad that scores
are born with frail constitutions, are diseased from the dawn of being, and never
know the blessing of anything like good health. But it is sadder far that hundreds,
thousands, tens of thousands, are every year spoiling a sound constitution, inherited
from healthy parents, worth more than all the gold of Ophir, and easier to keep, if
thej' could but understand, in time, and obey the laws of health. The following con-
siderations serve to illustrate the value of what thousands are throwing away, as if
not worth preserving.

You see men and women every day, with large hearts, of noble impulses, really
desirous of enacting a useful part in life, but unable by reason of impaired health.
Treasures of kindness, which they would diffuse, if their strength were equal to their
will, they can now only receive. You often see them departing from life when life
should flow at the highest — manhood, womanhood, youth and childhood lost to the
world and the world lost to them. It would be rash to say that all this is chargeable
to ignorance or disregard of the laws of life and health. But that a large part of it
is to be so charged, who can doubt ? To say that the good, the virtuous, the pure-
minded, those inchned to be industrious, useful, benevolent, ought not to die till after
a long time, might sound very strangely. But we would like our readers to look
around them and see if too many, with the buds of hope, or the blossoms of promise,
or the rich but immature fruits of life upon them, have not left us too soon for the
world, too soon for themselves, and sooner than Divine providence would have per-
mitted, had not his own laws, imprinted on our very being, been violated.

You hear a child cry. Nothing will pacify him. If the little one were a demon, he
could not be more ungratefully regardless of everj^ kind effort in his behalf. A boy
or a girl is peevish, sour, petulcnt, always in trouble, always troublesome, having per-
haps no friend but the mother, and that one only because the mother's love knows on

Domestic. 3^

bounds, and can hardly make distinctions. One man is recklessly brave— runs into
dano-er when there is no good reason for it ; another trembles and flies when he
ouo-ht to stand at his post. One is over excitable, easilj' thrown off his guard, now
ano-rv without a cause, at another time boisterous with mirth, and at another sad
enough to give the horrors to all about him, to-day endangering his own and others'
safety by reason of excessive anger, to-morrow grieving himself to death for what he
has done or left undone ; another has not spirit enough to be angry, and as for being
glad or sorry for anything, you would about as soon expect it of a stick. There is a
reason for this unhappiness somewhere. The instabilities, the inconsistencies, the
failures of high expectations in life are not causeless.

We do not mean to imply that all the babyishness, and petulence, and unhappiness,
all the recklessness and cowardice, the outburts of passion and the consequent crimes,^
the lack of mental balance and the want of moral courage, in the world, are the re-
sult of ill health. Nor would we insinuate that ill health alv/ays results from a viola-
tion of natural laws ; but that it often does, is too plain to admit of a doubt ; and
that a healthy body is favorable to the attainment of a well balanced mind and a
good heart, is equally clear.

The English are fast getting it into their heads that the Anglo-Saxon blood, or
rather the Anglo-Norman, as they call their own race, can not be long propagated in
this country ; that it can not be fully acclimated and yet retain its pristine vigor.
Some among us would say, they wish to have it so. We do not think so badly of
them. True there are narrow minds everywhere ; and envy is cruel wherever it ex-
ists ; but we believe of England at large, that, as a mother rejoices in the fair propor-
tions of a daughter, so she would rejoice to see us a great and happy nation, at peace
and in honorable alliance with herself. Our climate is not as favorable to a full and
manly development of the individual as hers. Nevertheless we have it in our power
to falsify her predictions, whether uttered in malice or in sorrow. The problem turns
not upon cUmate but upon ourselves.

If we will insist that our youth be guided by age, instead of being left while yet
inexpert to their own guidance ; if those of both sexes shall be trained to as much
healthful, invigorating, out-of-door exercise as those of old England ; if we will prac-
tically admit, what we all know to be true, that quiet comfort, innocent pleasures,
industry, and a good conscience, arc infinitely more to be desired than sudden wealth,
with all its accompaniments, including a guilty conscience among the rest, then will
the predictions of transatlantic croakers be vain. They will pass over us, like slander
over a good man, who lives it down.

But if childhood is to receive no counsel from the experience of age; if young
America at seventeen is to be too wise to be instructed by old fogy fathers and mo-
thers of forty ; if the garden hoe, and rake, and the bridle reins are to be regarded
as too vulgar things for delicate hands ; if our girls in their teens are to be too high-
minded to assist their mother in the family affairs, or to do anything else, except to
sit down and read a novel and wait for a beau ; if our sons are all to live by their
wits, except the foolish ones, who were born to hew and grub ; above all if intempe-
rance is to sweep over the land ; if our liquor dealers are to be made nabobs for poi-
soning us to death ; if, in proportion as their vile concoctions lack exhilaration, we
must swallosv the more, making the trade so much the better for them and the worse
for us; if we are to smoke, chew and snuff from childhood on ; if we are to cherish
visions of a deceitful liberty, that refuses all restraints, that neither fears God nor
regards man, that may wrong others at pleasure, and abuse our own nature because it
is nobody's business but ours, that allows practices utterly inconsistent with the pro-
pagation of a healthy race, as if, forsooth, posterity might not complain of the in-

58 Domestic.

fliction of a deteriorated constitution, provided only that we who now live mind
our own. business, have our enjoyments, elevated or vicious as we choose, and make
our money, honestly if we can, but make it, then will those predictions prove too
true. There will be neither health nor wealth, neither private worth nor national
dignity nor independence ; and that the Anglo-Saxo-Norman race has deteriorated
on our shores will become a matter of history. — Ed.

Do Right.

We sometimes get the hlucs — it is all wrong, and one never ought to have them —
and we say, in view of the tricks, frauds, crimes and outrages all around, that men
are taking leave of their virtue, their honor, and their integrity, as things that are
done with, not suited to the age, to be cast off, like winter garments in spring

Then, again, we think, it is so perfectly marufest that ''''Honesty is the best poUci/ ;"
that all but fools must see it, and begin to do right from selfish motives if they have
no better, and so the world will be saved from universal corruption and degradation.
"We cheer up again ; we begin to look on the bright side ; we say, there will be vir-
tue yet, there will be moral worth, there will be fair dealing ; honor, integrity, the
fear of God, a generous love for man will outlive this boisterous squabble for sudden,
ill-gotten wealth.

That most execrable saying, that " all the world's a cheat, and he's a fool that
won't have a hand in it," is magnificently refuted in the following, from Fowler &
Wells' Life Illustrated. May they give us many such illustrations of life. We would
rather be the author of the imperishable thought it contains, than the owner of mil-
lions obtained by means th^ least questionable. Reader, if it makes you feel as much
better as it has us, you will want to read it more than once. Duty should be done,
reward or no reward in view; but we are always thankful to the man who makes us
see and feel that well-doing and its reward is so nearly the whole of life, that it mat-
ters little for the rest.

"A wealthy merchant remarked a few days since, that he was fully convinced, from
his own experience, that the means to achieve success lay in a nutshell — po right.
' When I say success,' said he, ' I mean not only the accumulation of fortune, but the
ability to enjoy it — to live a useful, happy life.' What is the use of much wealth if
we know that it was obtained by wronging the widow and orphan, by the tricks of
trade, selUng articles for what they were not, and a thousand modes of unfair dealing ?
Granting that men grow better by doing kindly acts, and feel the better for seeing
others do them, how sickening it must be to the true man to know that by false deal-
ing he has curdled the milk of human kindness in one breast, turning it to bitter gall !
If wealth comes by such means let it come not at all. Shall an active man, possess-
ed of God-given powers, turn back to his past life and be able only to say : I have
done nothing to add to the wealth of the world in gold or silver, or in artistic pro-
ductions, but have coveted the labors of ochers, heaped treasures sordidly to myself,
foolishly supposing that I might trample down all feelings and sympathies not directly
productive of gain ? or shall he rather be able to say that. While I have industriously
gathered wealth, I have done it with cheerful looks, kindly words, warm sympathies ;
I have done it by making things which have added to the comfort of men, by bring-
ing within the reach of the poor great means of present enjoyment, the opening of
a brilliant future, by throwing lights of sympathy on the dejected, lifting up the
down-fallen, strengthening the weak, infusing in all a fervent belief in the brighter
part of their being ? Such a life will enable a man to throw off his ivealth as a scale,
at the last day, bearing away only the imperishable soul, which has accumulated
strength along with the mass of worldly goods justly and usefully obtained. Would
you, young man, belong to the latter class ? do right. How much better to do
right, if you die not worth a farthing, and feel that you have rather added to the
good faith in the /lir/Iier life on earth, than to die while rolling in the luxury, pomp,
and pride of ill-gotten gains ! Then do right ! do right ! anil if tempted for mone-

Domestic. 59

tary ease and vanit.y to abuse your better nature, rest assured that both the body and
spirit will suifer in a ratio corresponding to the transgression. There is but one
road to happiness and contentment — do right.

A New Sport for Ladies.

It is said that fishing is becoming a popular amusement for the ladies in some
parts " out \7cst." Good, if they will dress accordingly. We would recommend an
enlargement of the bonnet for sunny days, and india-rubber hoods and boots for rainy
weather. Perhaps a slight shortening of the dress, as compared with Broadway
fashions would be convenient. But let them go a-fishing. Anything to draw our
women from the everlasting tread-mill round of kitchen, pantry, and sitting-room.
If the garden and the side-saddle will not draw them into fresh air, let the fish-pond
and the trout-stream do it. — Ed.

Manufactures in Alabama.

The Huntsville Advocate states that manufactures in Lauderdale county are rapidly
growing in importance, value and variety. Water power there is great, and excellent
sites for mills, factories, etc., abound. Manufacturing there is more profitable than
any other pursuit. Seven thousand bales of cotton are expected to be required this
year. Most of the operatives, too, are whites — men, bo^'s, girls and women, who
now get paid for their labor, where before there was no demand at all for it. Villages
are growing up where these manufactories are established as they do in the North, and
have the same thriving appearance, with churches, schools, etc. The Advocate says :

We hope to see the manufacturing spirit in Lauderdale grow and multiply until it
becomes the Lowell of the South. She has greater power, free from disease, fuel
labor, mental and practical knowledge. And there is no hmit to the demand for all
that she can manufacture. There is wealth, power, population and independence to
all in the business. — Ex.

Our Southren brethren are beginning to understand it. Agriculture, or planting, (if
the distinction must be made, we love to call it all agriculture, as this last fairly covers
the whole) will impoverish anynation under heaven if the manufacturer is not amono-
them. Here is another. — Ed.

A LETTER from one of the upper counties in Georgia gives the most flatterino- ac-
count of cotton manufacturing in that State. Many of the factories were established
some years since, and even at the present high prices of the staple, are paj'ing the
stockholders handsome dividends, seldom, if ever, falling below 20 per cent. The
yarns and osnaburgs are of the first quality, and a better description of cotton bein<»
used in their manufacture, they find a more ready sale in Baltimore, Philadelphia
New-York and Boston, than similar products of Eastern mills. With cheap fuel, right
in the midst of the cotton growing region, illimitable water power, and the most
agreeable and healthful climate in the world, there is no reason why all the Southren
States should not possess manufactories of this kind. — Natchez Courier, 9th.

To us these views from such a quarter look the worse for old England, and not
quite so well for New-England, but all the better for the South. In order to steady-
prominent prosperity, Agriculture and the mechanic arts must dwell lovingly togeth-
er on the same soil. The farmer helps the mechanic ; the mechanic helps the farmer.
Part them, and both whistle for a customer ; the middleman gets the earnings of both.
Part them and expect prosperity ! You might almost as well part a man and wife and
expect a legitimate posterity. — Ed.

Learn to Spell.

An editor received a letter in which weather was spelt " wether." He said it was
the worst spell of weather he had ever seen.

60 Children's Page.

Gentle Words.

The sua may warm the grass to life, It is not much the world can give,

The dew the drooping flower, "With all its subtle art,

The eyes grow bright and watch the light And gold and gems are not the things

Of Autumn's opening hour — To satisfy the heart,

But words that breathe of tenderness, But oh, if those who cluster round

And smiles we know are true, The altar and the hearth,

Are warmer than the Summer time. Have gentle words and loving smiles,

And brighter than the dew. How beautiful is earth!

The Ploughshare.

Thk bark may rest upon the wave, the spear may gather dust,
But never may the prow that cuts the furrow lie and rust ;
Its metal is unsullied, no blood stain lingers there,
God speed it well, and let it thrive unshackled everywhere.

, Eliza Cook.

€I]ilbnn's fage.

For the Children to Think of.

Wonder if we could draw a word of practical instruction for our young readers
from the things about us ? Let us see.

Here is our office boy. He is a German. Eleven years have passed over him.
Within that time his father has died. A brother and a sister have gone, and he alone
is left to a mother of forty, in a strange land, feeble in health, and working hard for
his and her support.

Happening in the office with him alone just now, while the fresh morning breeze at

our window inspired loving thoughts, we held the following conversation : A ,

do you love your mother ? Yes. Does she love you ? I suppose so. Does she not
do for you every day what she would not, if she did not love you ? Yes. Then she
does love you, docs she not ? Yes, she does. And does all she pof sibly can for your
good; studies your comfort, clothes you neatly, sends you to the Sabbath-school?
Yea, and she is going to send me to the day school soon.

Well, A , I should almost know you had a good mother, though I never saw

her, from your coming here so early every morning, so neatly clad and so clean and
innocent looking. It must be that you have a good mother. Do you always go di-
rectly home to her when you leave the office in the afternoons ? Yes ; but she some-
times lets me go and play with the boys evenings. That is right ; she wants you to
be happy, and she knows you love play ; but would she not love to have you in chat-
ting with her? I suppose she would. Yes, the time seems shorter to her when you
are in ; she then has less fear of your falling into bad ways, thinks less of the rela-
tives she has lost, and more of you. Be a good boy ; be company for your mother
as much as you can ; tell her all your heart ; make her feel that she has one little
friend that will be kind always ; and when you have to be away use no words she
might not hear, do nothing she might not see, and you will make a good man and be
prosperous, if you love and obey your mother ; and now for the poet-office.

Off he goes, and while he is gone, we write the above. But here he comes, with
letters, containing, we hope, some of the needful, and we must stop. Children, most
of you have a father to love as well as a mother. Be obedient to them both ; above
all things be kind and loving to your mother ; and now read the fifth commandment,
obey it, and be happy ; and we will see what the boy is bringing from the post-
office. — Ed.

Childreri's Page. 61

A Stomachfull.

An Irishman, in great fright and haste, rushed into Abernethy's office, and ex-
claimed,—

" Be dad, the boy Tim has swoUowed a rat 'i'"

" Then, be dad,""said the Doctor, " tell the boy Tim to swallow a cat?"

Epitaph on a Drunkard.

Here lies the remains of a poor body.
Who ne'er could refuse a glass of toddy ;
Despite King Alcohol's power to save,
Death has laid his subject in the grave.
Beneath this stone, which now doth tell,
Of all his falls where last he fell.

The Toper's Nose.

In a great storm at sea, when the ship's crew were all at prayers, a boy burst into a
fit of laughter ; being reproved for his illtimed mirth, and asked the reason of it :

*' Why," said he, " I was laughing to think what a hissing the boatswain's red nose
will make when it comes into the water."

Morning Reflections.

Magistrate. — What has brought you here, sir ?
Prisoner. — Two Policeman, please your honor.
Mag. — Then I suppose liquor had nothing to do with it.
Pris. — Yes, sir, they were both drunk.

Parsing Extraordinary.

Some one furnished a Frenchman with a conjugation of English verbs that will
strike most people as being amusing if nothing more. He complained much of the
difficulties of our grammer, especially the irregular verbs. " For instance," says he,
" Ze verb to go. Did one ever see one such verb ?" And wdth the utmost gravity
he read from a sheet of paper: "I go." "Thou departest." "He clears out."
" We cut stick." " Ye or you make tracks." " They absquatulate."

" Mon Dieu ! Mon Dieu ! what disregular verbs you have in your language."

A Simile.

WiNCHELL tells a story of a dog which undertook to jump across a well in two
jumps. There are a great many people just Uke the dog — but they that undertake
such a feat usuallj- "bring up " down in the water.

Use no Bad "Words.

Impure words stain the tablets of a virtuous mind, and the more we hear of them
the less nice becomes our sense of the refined and pure.

Learn to love the Beautiful, and appreciate it whether in sound, or objects of
ght. We are convinced
cultivation of this faculty.

sight. We are convinced men do but half live in this world, from want of" proper
ration of this faculty. We have too few artists in soul and sense.

A Tumbler.

" 'Tis strange," muttered a young man, as he staggered home from a supper party,
" how evil communications corrupt good manners ; — I've been surrounded by tum-
blers all the evening and now I'm a tumbler myself."

Bring Water.

" Are those bells ringing for fire ?" inquired Simon Tiberias. " No indeed," ans-
wered Tibe ; " They have got plenty of fire and the bells are now ringing for water
to match."

" Capital punishment," as the boy said when the school mistress seated him with
the girls.

62 Booh Notices^ etc.

S00I1 |[0tirt$, etc.

Report of Wm. H. Ladd, President of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, for the
year 1856.

Through some one's favor this report has reached us. We see that Mr. Ladd speaks
of a diminution in the wheat crop of that State for the last tela years, but he rejoices
in a corresponding increase in the corn crop, and asks the Legislature, "if it docs not
become them to provide by law against the worse than destruction of so many mil-
lion bushels of this cereal annually," by distillation, we suppose he means.

Ohio, it appears, had in 1855, 624,746 horses, valued at $31,415,004. In 1856 it
had 621,443 horses, valued at $36,231, 127. A plain inference would be, since the
horses have diminished in number but increased in value, that the Buckeyes are mak-
ing money on their horses out of somebody.

Their horned cattle have diminished from 1,791,189 in '65 to 1,687,710 in '56 ; but
increased in value from $18,902,006 in '55 to $21,551,170 in '56. They are thus im-
proving their breeds of cattle and making money on thom also. The President says,
" That from the thousands expended by liberal, enterprising gentlemen, in introduc-
ing superior horses and cattle, milUons are accruing to the State." "We have not one
doubt it is so.

The importance of pasturage to the State is spoken of in fitting terms ; and liberal
seeding with more generous supplies of manure, especially in the way of top-dress-
ing the thinner portions, is commended. President Ladd expresses the hope that by
the next Agricultural report, " The vast interest of Ohio may be represented by
8,000,000 sheep, yielding 25,000,000 lbs. of wool."

The report closes with the recommendation of "A properly conducted Geological
survey of the State, with a report of the same, digested with a special reference to
the wants of the people." What could be more reasonable ? How could money be
better spent, and how can the people of that State, so rich in undeveloped treasures,
know how best to direct their industrial energies, till such a survey is had ?

If we were a Buckeye, we would clamor for a more thorough survey than has yet
been made on the Western continent. Ohio can afibrd it.

The Farmer, an Agricultural Magazine, for New-Brunswick, N"ova Scotia and Prince

Edwards Island.

The first and second numbers of this new work are on our table. It seems to
have commenced its existence with a good spirit, and we wish it all success. A sin-
gle article in the first number, on the improvement of stock, viW\ pay for more than
one year's subscription if the farmers of those provinces will heed it.

Spirit of the Agricultural Press. — A large, well printed sheet with this title,
full of valuable matter, has reached us from West Urbana, 111. It is Vol. I., No. 1,
and promises well. L. G. Chase and A. Gore are editors and publishers. We heart-
ily welcome them to the brotherhood of workers for the great cause of Agriculture.
They will get away some of our subscribers, but no matter ; there will be enough for
us and them. Their price is $2 a year in advance.

American Corn Planter, — This monthly Southern Rural Magazine, devoted to
improve Plantation economy, the advancement of Southern Horticulture, Manufac-
tures, and the Domestic and Mechanic Arts, is well worthy of the attention of the
Planter, Horticulturist and Housewife. Price $1 a year. It is pubUshed by N. B.
Cloud, M.D., Montgomery, Alabama.

JBook Notices^ etc. 63

Granville, O., June 12, 1857.
Messrs. Nasu & Parish:

Gentlemen : — I do no set much value on my own productions and presume that
you or your readers will think less, but perhaps you can glean something from the
following statement that may be of some use to your valuable paper. Central Ohio
Avas visited last fall with the most severe drouth we have ever experienced, proba-
bly not more than one-fourth part of the wheat sown ever came up, or if it came up
it soon died out, and the months of March and April were also hard on the wheat.
It looked the first of May as if we could not have more than one-fourth of a crop.
But May and June thus far have done wonders for it, and, although it is late, if the
midge and rust let it alone we may have two-thirds of a common crop, and occa-
sionally a field bids fair to be fine.

Oats and grass look finely. Meadows though thinned out by the drouth last fall,
that were not pastured this spring, look well.

Corn, though late has come finely, and with good cultivating and a favorable sea-
son, we shall make a larger crop than ever before, as there is a large amount
planted.

Fruit bids fair to be a large crop, except peaches and grapes. Most of our peach-
trees and grape-vines were destroyed by the cold winter of '55 and '6 ; what remain
alive, bid fair for a full crop of fruit.

Cattle were never so scarce and high as at this time since the settlement of the
country. Sheep, in better supply, but in this county not more than one-half as
many as five years since. The wool has been much of it taken off but none sold yet.
Buyers are not quite ready to enter the market.

Hogs are abundant and high. If they should not be thinned off by the disease
that prevails in some parts of the country (but not here,) and if we get a good corn
crop, I think pork-eaters may hope for cheaper fare a year from this time.

Respectfully yours, Wm. S. Wright,

Extracts about the Crops.

" Corn and cotton crops look well in the region of Vicksburg, Miss." " The

ai'my worm is committing great ravages in Barren County." " There is a general

complaint throughout this County, (Bait. Md.,) of the destruction of wheat by the

fly." In Illinois " The wheat crop is almost an entire failure, owing to being

winter killed." " In Illinois, the prospects for the yield of wheat and other small

grains are excellent." (Take which you please, or neither. We believe that the

ground in which winter wheat had been killed, was much of it sown with spring

wheat, on account of the high prices. Ed.) " The corn crop" in Illinois " will

be small." (Nobody knows that yet, for July and August are the months that

make corn. Ed.) "Hay," at the West," will be abundant." (It can hardly

fail to be so everywhere, in consequence of so much cool, rainy weather. Ed.)

" The wheat crop, in upper Georgia, is the most promising we have had in many
years ; the oat crop is represented as being uncommonly good ; and both crops
unusually large."

The Lawrenceville (S.C.) Herald, thinks the effect of the cold spring may be only
to retard, but not ultimately to diminish the cotton crop. It would now seem to
be about settled, that the grass crop — one of the most important — will be every-
where good. Of the wheat crop, we hardly know what to think, but from all ac-
counts, incline to a belief that it will be short of an average for the whole country.
Corn may be an average, or more even, but the prospect certainly is not favor-
able. Shall we advise to the putting in of Jurnips in July ? But there will be

64 Book Notices^ etc.

probably a liard drouth after these long rains, which is bad for the turnip ; and
then we see not when the farmer is ever to do his summer work, aside from the put-
ting in of late crops, if these long rains continue.

Accounts from almost all quarters indicate favorably for the fruits. — Ed.

5I10W and Trial of Implements.

A grand exhibition of Implements, with a thorough trial and comparison of their
respective claims is to come on July 13th, at Syracuse, N.Y., under the auspices of
the U. S. A. G. Soc, Col. Marshall P. Wilder, President.— Ed.

"We renew the offer of our May and June numbers, containing the valuable articles
on " Wool," on the " Artificial Propagation of Fish" and on " Chemistry for the Mil-
lion," to all new subscribers advancing for the next year ; and we here extend the
time to the first of August, provided the large number of extra copies, which we
printed for the purpose, shall last so long. This applies to the members of clubs,
forwarding at club rates. We also renew the offer in our last, of premiums to local
agents and to old subscribers, who will jiromote the formation of clubs in their res-
pective neighborhoods. — Eds.

New- York Wholesale Prices of Country Produce.

Fkuit. — ^The fruit market is well supplied with Strawberries from Soutli Jersey
and Hackensack. Gooseberries, Cherries, and Currants are beginning to be more
plentiful and cheaper. South Jersey berries are selling at f 2 50 « 3 50 per 100
baskets ; Hackensack, $4 a $6 per 100 baskets. Gooseberries, $3 75 a $4 per bushel.
Currants, 16c. per lb. Cherries, 12 a 15c. per lb.

Dried Fruit. — Peaches pealed, 18 a 21c. per lb. ; do. unpealed, 10 a 12c. per lb.
Dried Apples, 11a 13c. per lb.

White Beans, $2 a $2 25 per bushel.

Potatoes. — There has been no arrival of Bermuda Potatoes the past week, which
has made them rather scarce, and the price has advanced §1 per bbl. Charlestons
are also liigher, and selling well. Old Potatoes of good quality are also stiffer, and
the demand is better than it was last week. Bermuda New Potatoes, $6 50 a §7 per
bbl. Charlestons — Mercers, $6 per bbl. ; Round Ones, $5 per bbl. Sweet Potatoes,
$3 75 a $4 per bbl. Old Potatoes — Mercers, Western, $3 75 a $4 per bbl. ; do. Kid-
neys, $4 a $4 25 per bbl. ; Northern and Western Carters, $3 50 per bbl. ; do. do.
Junes, $2 75 a $3 per bbl.; do. do. Mercers, $3 25 a 3 50 per bbl.; do. do. Reds,
.$2 25 a $2 75 per bbl.

Turnips.— Ruta Bagas, $1 25 a $1 50 per bbl.

Onions. — New-Orleans, |3 25 a $3 50 per bbl. ; Bermuda, $3 per bbl.

Vegetables are not over plenty in market, owing to the cold, stormy weather of
the past week, which has had a tendency to make the prices of all kinds higher.
Green peas — Jerseys are selling at $3 50 a 4 25 per bbl. Green Beans, $G a %1 per
bbl. Long Island Peas, $1 25 a $1 37 per basket. Asparagus, $1 per doz. Lettuce,
$1 25 a %\ 50 per doz. Radishes, $1 50 a $1 75 per hundred bunches. Pie Plant,
75 a 87c. per doz. New Turnips, $6 a $8 per hundred bunches.

Butter. — Orange County Pail, 23 a 25c. per lb. ; good State yellow (firkins), 24c.
per lb. ; good State yellow (tubs), 22 a 23c. per lb. ; good State Welsh (tubs), 20 a
22c. ; common State, 18 a 19c. per lb. ; good Western, 19 a 20c. per lb. ; common
Western, 13 a 14c. per lb.

Lard. — 13 a 15c. per lb.

Cheese. — 10 a lie. per lb.

Poultry. — Dressed Fowls, 13 a 14c. per lb. ; do. Turkeys, 15 a 17c. per lb. ; Live
Fowls, 68 a 81c. per pair; do. Ducks, $1 per pair; do. Turkeys, 14 a 15o. per lb. ;
Pigeons, |1 50 a 1 75 per dozen.

Eggs. — State, 19-J- a 20c. per dozen; Western, 18c. per dozen.

Beef. — By side, 10 a 12|c. per lb. Veal — 10 a 13c. per lb.

Mutton. — 9 a lie. per lb. Lambs — $3 a $4 each.

Pork.— Corn-fed, 9 a 9ic. per lb. ; Still-fed, 8| a 9c. per lb.

Calves. — Slaughtered, 9 a lie. per lb. ; Live, 7 a 7^0. per lb.

\N. Y. Times, June 20th.

awEmciiN vhnmnz

Vol. X.

AUGUST, ISST.

No. 2.

Eural Economy of England. Scotland, and Ireland.

BY M. LEONCE DE LAVERGNE.

In 1855 a Frencliman of the above name, after enjoying great ad-
vantages for understanding the agriculture of his own country and of
Great Britain, published a book of 400 pages, octavo, with the above
title, in which he gives a vi\4d description of the agriculture of the
United Kingdom, and with admirable discrimination compares it with
the less prosperous condition of this great branch of human industry
in his own France.

Lavergne's book was translated into English, and republished in
England and read by everybody there. He did the English 2>eople
ample justice, and by this they were gratified ; he did it better than
any Englishman had been able to do the same thing, and by this
they were mortified. They were astonished that a little Frenchman
should run over the Channel, mingle among them a few years, and
then go back to belle France, knowing more of them than they knew
of themselves, and telling the story better than their best writers had
told it. That they should feel a little chagrin can not be wondered
at.

But the English have always had the good sense when a thing was
done, to make the best of it, even if their king-had lost them their
best provinces. It was so now. The book praised them, and they
praised it. As the laudations were deserved on both sides, there was
nothing unfair in the exchange. It might serve to prolong the alliance
between the granddaughter of George III. and the nephew of Napo-
leon. To praise and be praised is well enough ; but to be praised
first and then to return the compliment better comports with Johu

<36 Rural Economy.

Bull's dignity ; and as for his writers, we advise them to redeem their
laurels, by giving the world as truthful and graphic an account of
French agriculture as Lavergne has of English.

We have mentioned this book for the purjiose of giving our read-
ers a few instructive facts from its pages ; and first with regard to
Sheep culture,

Lavergne informs us that wool has always been the primary object
with the French farmer; meat only a secondary object; while with
English farmers, the reverse has always been the favorite policy. He
does not tell us, that now the carcase of an English sheep is worth
more than both the carcase and wool of the French. If he had told
us this, it would not have been far from the truth, Robert Bakewell,
of the Dishley farm, in Leicestershire, conceived the idea of breedmg
a race of sheep, that would give as much meat at the end of one year,
as the old did at fehe end of three. He set about it. By the perse-
verance of a lifetime, he accomplished the object, made himself rich,
trebled the profits of sheej) farming throughout the midland counties,
and gave England more wealth than their Australian gold will ever
give.

While Bakewell was doing this for the central regions, John Ell-
man commenced an operation equally favorable for the chalk hills of
the south, which resulted in the establishment of the farmers' South-
downs, so called from the downs (hills) on which they were first rear-
ed, though why those hills, which skirt nearly the whole south of
England are called Downs, is more than we know, unless it be from
the short, sweet, downy grass that grows upon them. Others com-
menced the Cheviot race, a hardy, large-bodied, long-wooled (we
suppose we ought to say long haired) race, adapted to the cold moun-
tainous regions of North Britain.

These races soon spread into other parts; and as the English have
long studied adaptations, it was natural that each should diverge to-
wards regions similar in soil and climate to that in which it originat-
ed. Other breeds have arisen, but these are the principal ; the South-
do^vn for the chalky or lime regions, where the grass is short, thick,
and sweet ; the Leicesters, or Dishleys, as sometimes called, from the
farm of the originator, for the rich valleys ; and the Cheviots for the
cold, mountainous regions. Up to the time of these improvements,
it had been the custom of English farmers to give their sheep good
,, pasturage through the summer, and to leave them to shirk as they
Vjould in winter. From being very fat in the fall, they became very
lean in spring. Such men as Bakewell and Ellman reasoned that if a
frog will be long in getting out of a well, by jumping up three feet
in the day time and falling back as far in the night, a sheep will come

Rural Economy. 67

slowly to maturity, if he gain in summer and lose about as much in
winter.

Their idea was to breed from parents maturing early, so as to create
a tendency to early maturity, and then to feed in winter sufficiently
to make up for the deficiency of the pasturage, in order to mature
them by one continuous growth instead of three or four growths and
retro-growths. Would not animals reach a larger size in one or two
years, than in three or four ? The result has shown that they will.
The present generation of English farmers are growing team horses,
oxen, cows, sheep, swine, in about half the time their grandfathers
did, and in many cases of larger size. Since George III., instigated
by the very learned and amiable, but much mistaken Lord North, set
the dogs of war upon our fathers, the average weight of horned cattle
slaughtered at the Smithfield market has doubled. The average
weight of sheep in the whole kingdom has probably mcreased as
much.

Lavergne assures us that the cattle strengthened in England, includ-
ing veals, are twice and a half as heavy as those slaughtered in hi;-
own country, on the average. It should be considered, however, that
in France a larger proportion are slaughtered as veals, and fewer are
raised from the very fact that by the practice there prevailing it re-
quires about twice as long to rear an animal, and consequently the
farmer can rear but about half as many. Lavergne states that the
Leicester sheep get their full growth in one year, and average one
hundred lbs. of mutton ; that the South-doAvns, on the shorter feed
of calcareous soils require a year and a half, and average 80 lbs., and
that the Cheviots in the North of England and the adjoining regions
of Scotland, come to maturity in about two years, and give on an
average a Uttle less weight than the South-downs. He believes
that the present tendency is for these three races to absorb all others ;
and he considers the English to have been profoundly wise in looking
as they have, almost exclusively, at the meat producing qualities oi
their flocks. If they have hitherto palmed upon us rather too mucL
of the cloths made from the sheep, whose mutton chops are more to
be commended than their wool, it may be well for us to look to that
hereafter ; and if our Congress should look at it the next whiter, and
correct what we consider to be an error of the last, the material pros-
perity of our country would not fail to be promoted.

That large portions of this coimtry can produce the finest of wool
advantageously, there is not the least reason to doubt. That such
wool should enjoy a reasonable protection we do not object, but wish
that the duty in its favor were somewhat higher than it is, because
we believe that the French and the German policy of keeping sheep

68 Bural Economy.

almost entirely for their wool — sheep that will give 10 or 12 lbs. of
meat to the quarter and 3 or 4 lbs. of exceedingly fine wool, is the very
best policy for a portion of the farmers of this country, promotive of
their own and the national wealth. But we as confidently believe
that the policy of the English, that of feeding sheep to weigh 25 lbs.
to the quarter, and to give more wool but coarser, is the true policy
of another portion of American farmers. Are the only sheep " pleas-
ant to the eye and good for food" to be driven from the country, be-
cause the lazy Spaniards or Creoles on the pampas of South Ameri-
ca, with their stolen farms of three leagues square, can afford to grow
wool for nothing, and throw away the carcase ? Is there a man among
us who is unwiUing to give a cent more for his blanket, or two
cents more for his working pants, or three more for his business coat,
if made from wool grown by American farmers and manufactured by
American mechanics ? And yet we do not believe that a protection
on medium and lower grades of wool, sufiicient to quicken the hands
of industry in every part of the land, would raise the price of these arti-
cles so much ; and sure we are that it would give us more money to
buy with of one another, than if the money for such articles is all to
be sent to other countries. We have heard a great many reasons
why the grower of sheep, whose meat is needed among us, but will
not alone quite remunerate the grower, should be turned off without
a cent of protection on the wool, because not of the first quality ; but
all the reasons which we have heard seem to us just no reasons at all.
Our reasoning is, that the meat of these large, beautiful, hardy sheep,
which everywhere adorn the hills and valleys of Old England, will al-
most remunerate the grower of them. If then he alone is not to go
unprotected, he can make it a good business to grow them, for their
ineat and wool together, to adorn with them our shores and river
sides and lake coasts, and to make them as truly a source of national
supply and of general industry as the finer- Avooled sheep better suited
to higher and more inland situations. We believe that if there is one
thing that should be protected more than any other, if it be admitted
that a government may care in any respect for the industries of the
people, it is the fleece of these very sheep, which Lavergne considers
the surest source of agricultural wealth, aftbrding the best of food
but not the finest of wool, quickly growing, of hardy habit, and
better suited to large portions -of our country than any other.

We may have recorded too many of our own thoughts, where
we promised interesting and important facts from Lavergne, but
our readers shall hear more from him hereafter, — Ed.

Peruvian Guano. 69

Peruvian Guano.

An 4,ccount of the Guano Trade at the Chincha Islands, on the

Coast of Peru.

An intelligent gentleman, Maurice F. Nash, of New-York, who has
been employed in loading ships with guano at the Chincha Islands, on
the coast of Peru, has communicated to me much interestiuo- infor-
mation with regard to the trade. He has been at the islands at three
different times, and nearly six months in all. The last tune he was
there was in the fall and summer of 1855. He says that he found at
times five hundred sail of vessels together at the islands load-
ing with guano, generally large ships ; one ship was 4,500 tons bur-
then. Not less than 500 sail of vessels are now at the islands loadino-
for the United States, Spain, Portugal, France, and English and Ger-
man ports; some cargoes are sent to Constantinople, and some to
Russian ports in the Black Sea. This was before the war in the Cri-
mea ; the Russian trade will now open again, both from the Black Sea
and the Baltic. Freights are high, £6 10s are often paid a ton for
Liverpool and Hampton Roads ; generally 10 shillings more per ton
freight is paid to Europe. At the rate at which guano is now shipped
from the Chincha Islands, it will be exhausted in eight years ; not a
ton will be left. Twenty thousand tons are sometimes removed from
the islands in a single day. These islands arc situated opposite to
the city of Pisco, 130 miles south and south-east from Callao and
Lima, on the west coast of Peru, within the tropics, in latitude about
13°, 46' south of the equator, in the great bay or bight of the coast.
It never freezes, snows, or rains at these islands ; fogs are seldom seen •
but in the winter months, which are June, July, and August, dcAvs
come on at night occasionally ; water does not fall in sufficient quanti-
ties to funiish a drink at the islands from one year's end to another
nor do the eaves of the houses drop water.

The Chincha Islands form a group about 10 miles from the main-
land on the Peruvian coast; the rise and flill of the tide at the islands
are regular and often equals six feet. The current of the gulf stream
works up along the coast from the Straits of Magellan and Capo
Horn, out of the Atlantic Ocean towards Panama Bay, by Valparaiso,
Lima and Callao. This current is one branch of the Gulf Stream'
which divides on the coast of Brazil ; one current runs north to the
Gulf of Mexico, the other south toAvards Cape Horn and then up
tlie coast of Peru to the coast south and east of Callao. Here the
shore forms a bay or bight, into which the sea exuviae, consisting of
animal matter, the remains of sea animals, floating and shell fish^ de-
posits itself, and forms a vast bed of sea mud, of a chalky substance,

70 Peruvian Guano.

containing ammonia^ nitrogen and phosphate of lime and soda ; this
mud is of a M'hite greeyi color. When the anchors of the ships arc
raised at the ishmds they bring up hirge quantities of this guano mud,
which, when dried, forms a substance like the guano on the islands,
and when mixed with the guano, can not be distinguished from it.

It will be asked from whence has come this great deposit of guano V
We answer, from the animal and vegetable matter of the sea. A
writer in one of the late English Reviews says : " That sea weed grows
from the bottom of the ocean to the surface, in stalks from 1000 to
2500 feet high, having stems scarce as big as a man's finger. A surface
fifteen times greater than that of Great Britain covers the ocean with
sea weed, stretching west from the Canaries and Caj)e Verd Islands,
and east of the Gulf Stream ; this vast dominion is not only filled with
vegetable, but also with animal life. All over the ocean in every
clime and latitude the water is filled with animal life until every
wave is converted into a crest of light by animals of the minutest
form uj) to sea monsters, which derive nutriment from the waters
impregnated with animal matter. Reason and imagination are
equally confounded by the effort to conceive the numbers of those
hosts of mdividual existence generated or annihilated at every pass-
ing instant of time. No scheme of numbers can reach them even by
approximation. All the materials of organic life are in a state of un-
ceasing change from the minutest animalcule of the ocean to the le-
viathan of the great deep."

The laws of life and death in the ocean are the same as on land ; as
we have above hinted the transformations are governed by the same
Divine economy. The bones left on the field of Waterloo were gath-
ered up to be put on the corn and grass fields of England to make
other bones for the fields of Sebastopol and Balaklava.

Man in his natural state was the last and most finished work of crea-
tion ; he is naturally the longest lived of the whole animal kingdom.
We are told by the philosophers that since the creation the remains of
the human family alone would cover the land on the globe more than
a foot deep of soil. What shall w^e say, then, of all the other animal
and vegetable productions ? When death takes place a large portion
of aU the animal and vegetable productions are carried by the streams
and rivers into the ocean and there deposited ; the purest water from
our springs contains much animal and vegetable, not to say mineral
matter, which glides ofi" into the ocean and is there deposited and
forms guano.

We find the ocean also instinct and alive everywhere with vegeta-
bles and animals in numbers and species beyound concej^tion ; these
come on the stage of life at periodical times, from a moment to a hun-

Peruvian Gxiano. 71

dred years, live and all die ; and are changed and form other organi-
zations. These decaymg animals and vegetables form guano, and
form the blue and green mud around our bays and creeks, which is a
fertile guano itself. The Gulf Stream commences in the Bay of
Panama on the west coast of America, and is occasioned by the com-
bined laws of attraction and motion, or by the centrifugal force of the
fluids and air which lie on the surface of the globe. The earth turns
on her axis east with a velocity of more than 1000 miles an hour ; on
the equator it turns so rapidly that it runs away from the power of at-
traction. The wind and water are not carried forward as fast as the
surface of the earth, hence both the wind and the water of the ocean
withki the tropics form a current to the westward, or rather the earth,
runs away from both wind and water and leaves them behind, hence
they both set off currents to the west, forming the trade winds, aud
the Gulf Stream, These are forced west imtil they strike the Asiatic
continent ; one branch turns off or is directed by the Eastern shore of
Siam, China, and Japan, and forms a gulf stream, which sets north
and east to Kamskatska, Another current sets south along the east-
ern coast of New-Holland to New-Zealand and the Fejee Islands.
But the main current continues on through the East Indies into the
Indian Ocean, and through it and by the Cape of Good Hope, thence up
to the Bay of Guinea and across to the Gulf of Mexico, while another
large current sets over from the Cape of Good Hope to South Ameri-
ca direct, and then it parts ; one stream runs north to the West Indies
and the Carribean Sea, and thence mto the Gulf of Mexico. The
south stream runs below Pernambuco, up along the South American
coast, and is kept inside of the Falkland Islands through the Straits of
Magellan, thence up by the coast of Chili and Pern, and then falls again
into the Bay of Panama to commence another circuit of the globe.
The north current on the American coast passes along North Ameri-
ca to the coast of Europe, to Norway, then east of Spitsbergen Islands,
thence into the Arctic Ocean, north of Russia, which greatly modifies
the climate of the Arctic shores, and thence out to Behrings Straits,
<Iown the coast of California to the Bay of Panama. It is the law of
motion and attraction which is the principal cause of the ocean tides.
The waves wash the American and Asiatic coasts, and are deflected
back to the East, to the opposite shores in unceasing motion, like the
pendulum of a clock, keeping one eternal time by tides like the
motion of the earth in her orbit and on her axis, hence the high tides
of the western sides of the ocean and the Eastern shores of the conti-
nents, and that so rapid is the tide that on the occasion of the great
earthquake at Japan, in 1855, the surge or tidal wave reached from
Japan to California in five hours.

72 Penivia7i G-uano.

Along these great currents in the ocean the vegetable and animal
matter, which fills the ocean, finds its great deposits. When life be-
comes extinct they become the feeding grounds of the living races,
hence the great deposits oi guano on the western coast of Peru, hence
the great feeding grounds of fish on the Grand Banks of ISTewfouud-
land, Scotland, Norway, California, Oregon, Behrings Straits, and
Brazil, hence the sea eels or the Beach La Mer on the coast of Ncav-
Holland, and at the Fejee Islands ; hence the great whaling grounds
on the coast of America and Brazil, in the Okhotsko Sea, in the Indian
Ocean, and on the coasts of Africa ; hence the sperm whale only is
foimd within the tropics where an abundance of food of a peculiar
kind is supplied to produce the white flesh and bone of the sperm
whale.

The largest of the Chincha group is two miles in length, and a quar-
ter of a mile wide ; this contains only a small quantity of guano. The
most northerly is the smallest, being about a mile in length by half a
mile in breadth. Guano on this island is 250 feet deep. This island
contains a Ohinese settlement of Coolies, about 1,000 in number, who
are employed in digging guano and loading the vessels. A task is
given them each day, and if the gang fail to get out the given number
of wagon loads of two tons each a day, their bondage is continued a
longer jDoriod to make it up ; so many months or days being added as
wagon loads are wanting.

The Coolies are cheated into the belief that they are to be shipped
from China to California and the gold diggings, and are further de-
ceived by the offer of a free passage. The knowing Chinese, or the
mandarins, ship them ; the shipmaster carries them to the Peruvian
coast and sells the cargo of living Chinese to the Peruvian Govern-
ment for his freight money ; all this time the Chinamen are kej^t in
irons and confined below in the hold of the ship. The Peruvian Gov-
ernment purchase the cargo of living Coolies, paying the Yankee or
English captain a roimd sum for his care, dilligence and labor in steal-
ing Chinamen from their homes to be sent into the guano 7nines of
Peru for life, or for five or seven years, and to be held in bondage or
peonage to pay their passage to the glorious land of the Incas I Once
on the islands a Chinamen seldom gets off, but remains a slave, to die
there. The guano is hard and firmly imbedded m strata on the
islands, and can only be broken up with the pick-axe and crow-bar ;
it is then broken and shoveled into the Avagons and rolled into the
shutes of the vessels and then stowed in the hold of the ship as cargo
in bulk, in which shape it is sent to market all round the world ; but
it loses much of its ammonia in the transportation and exposure to the
atmosphere, and is often adulterated with earth. The guano, when

Peruvian Chiano. '73

pressed into the hold of the ship is very offensive ; the seamen of ships
do not go below to trim the ship or to stow cargo ; this is done by the
native Peruvians, who strip themselves naked, fasten a sponge or a mop
of hemp over their mouth and nose, and cover their eyes with a thin
gauze, and work below to stow cargo ; generally the men below can
not work longer than from ten to twenty minutes before they come
on deck to catch a breathmg spell, when another gang go immediately
down below to work and repeat the same operation every fifteen to
twenty minutes. These stevedores are paid by the Peruvian Govern-
ment to stow the cargo at the rate of only one dollar every 500 tons
of cargo ; this is again a charge on the ship, and amounts to about
twenty cents for 100 tons cargo stowed.

The smell of the guano when stowed in the hold of the ship is
strongly like quick-lime and hartshorn combined ; indeed it is mostly a
carbonate of ammonia ; the ammonia may have come from a chemi-
cal action of the atmosphere, working on animal matter, lime and soda.
The animal matter, nitrate of lime and saltpetre, has much to do in
the composition of guano at these islands. Such is the opinion of our
informant.

No person can go upon or come away from the islands without a
pass, as they are guarded by more than one hundred armed soldiers
belonging to Peru.

The Peruvians send all their prisoners of state into the guano mines?
say about two or three hundred, where they are let out to work by
day, and at night are shut up m their cells with only two meals per
day.

The prisoners are given twenty-five cents a day by the Government
for their support, out of which they are to clothe and feed themselves,
and when they can spare a little money they keep a woman ; they
generally make out to provide themselves with wives, or female com-
panions who have been permitted to go to the islands and hire them-
selves out for work and prostitution. These are mostly Indian women,
who are natives of the country.

There is no fresh water on the islands, and each vessel is compelled
by law to carry a ton of fi-esh water there for every 100 tons burthen
of the ship. The oldest captain in the fleet, from each nation, is ap-
pointed Commodore jp:)ro tempore^ hoists his flag as such on his ship,
where all disputes are settled. Indeed, the municipal laws of the
islands and of the fleet are decidedly of Yankee origin.

The islands are composed of new red sandstone, the guano is (not
much of it) composed of bird clung^ but is composed of the mud of the
ocean. That brought from Peru is so.

Sea birds and seals come upon the islands when the people are not

74 Peruvian Guano.

at work, but it does not appear that their dung or decayed bodies are
more than a foot deep on any of the islands. Fish are taken in great
quantities about these islands, as are also seals, which come there in
large shoals ; sea-lions also abound. The composition taken from the
islands called guano is stratified, and lies in the same form it did
before it was hfted up from the botton of the ocean. Our informant
says that a geological examination of the islands will satisfy any man
that what the guano ships are bringing away from these islands is a
very different thing from the dung of birds or decomposed land ani-
mals.

The whole Peruvian coast opposite these islands is of the latest
geological formation, and seems to be volcanic. The Chincha Islands
evidently have been thrown uj) from the bottom of the ocean with
their guano on them. The bottom of the ocean on the west coast of
Peru contains vast deposits of guauo. An island during an earthquake
rose up in the bay of Callao, some years since, from the sea, containing
guano four feet deej), the formation the same as the Chincha Islands.

The average depth of the ocean is said to be about ten thousand
feet, while the average height of all the laud above does not exceed
one thousand feet. The proportion of land to water is only one fourth
of the surface of the globe, perhaps less ; now as the ocean is the great
basin into which m6st of the animal and vegetable matter from laud
and sea is ultimately deposited, and there forms guano, we must look for
fertilizers in the dej^osits of the ocean ; and from this source they come.
Also the mud of the River Nile, in Egypt, is very fertile ; this is so
because it is largely comjjosed of animal matter ; so is the mud of the
Oanges, of the Amazon, of the Mississippi, and of all the great rivers ;
to is the mud deposited from our cities. The nitrogen from vegetable
and animal matter carried down the rivers afford great quantities of
food for the fish of various kinds that visit the mouths of the streams,
hence the great feedmg grounds for fish at the mouth of the Colum-
bia river, the La Plata, the Amazon, the Chesapeake Bay, the St.
Lawrence, the Amoor in China, and other notorious streams. So are
the deposits of animal matter in the ocean, which raised up have formed
the Chincha Islands — guano.

The composition of the guano at the Chincha Islands is evidently
marine animal exuvice mixed with* lime and soda, which gives out car-
bonate of ammonia in large quantities when broken ; much of the fertili-
ty of the guano is lost by exposure to the atmosphere even before it
reaches us. The white and blue mud found in our creeks, bays and
harbors along the Atlantic coast, is one of the most valuable fertiUzers.
This mud is mostly composed of animal matter and marine exuvise.
Milhons of tons are at hand to be transferred to the compost heap.

Peruvian Guano. 75

This should always be under a shed to preserve the ammonia, and this
creek and bay mud will prove itself adequate to the renovation of
the fields of the Atlantic coasts. The more animal matter which can
be worked into artificial manure, renders them more fertile for vege-
table life. Whatever produces ammonia produces fertility.

A snow storm in April is said to be as good for a farmer as a top
dressing of manure for his farm. When great storms of snow come
down on the earth in winter, we always find heavy crops of vegeta-
tion succeed in the summer following. The reason is, when the snow
crystalizes in particles m the heavens, they absorb ammonia from
the atmosphere, and bring it down to the earth.

The ammonia liquor is the great stimulent for both animal and vege-
table life. The reproductive powers of animals contain a superabun-
dance of ammonia, and without it nothing is fertile, but all is barren.
During drouth time we have often witnessed attempts at irrigation,
but the growth of vegetation under irrigation is small indeed compared
with the growth during the same length of time under the operation
of rains and showers. The great rains within the tropics produce an
abundant growth of vegetation. The water from the heavens brings
<lown large quantities of ammonia.

The guano along our coasts, at the mouths of our rivers, and in the
bays and creeks through the Atlantic seaboard, is vast in quantity,
almost beyond calculation. This can be transferred to the barn-yard
at one half the cost of Peruvian guano, and will prove an invaluable
manure. On the south side of the north island, the rock has much
slag and iron ore^ and volcanic cinders in it. On this island is the most
of the guano which is found at the islands, and it is stratified in its bed.
There are many small islands composmg the Chincha group, where
birds and seals resort, but very little guano, comparatively speaking,
is found on them, and this of an inferior quahty. They are not cover-
ed with the real guano, but with a deposit of bird lime, or dung, and
dead animals, small in quantity and thickness. The seals, when they
become sick, come on to the islands to die ; they are much inclined
also to come on to the shore when not disturbed, to bring forth their
young ; so does the animal called the sea-lion, which is an enormous
seal., strong and ferocious. Whales and black-fish are plenty around
these islands, and come in shore to clean themselves of the barnacles
Avhich accumulate on them.

The sea-elephant is a very large species of seal, from which the sea-
elephant oil is taken, and occasionally it appears at these islands ; the
fish around these islands are eels, in a great abundance also a species of
bass, and rock cod, herrings, the fly-fish, the shad-fish, or a fish very sim-
ilar, a large shell fish, like sea snails and cockel, are found in great quan-

Did Tou Emrf

tities around these islands. Tlie -whole ocean is alive with inliabitants.
This resort offish brings the seals and bu-ds into these waters in great
quantities, which makes this sea their feeding grounds. The same
cause on the western coast of Peru, ag those on the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland, produce the great shoals of fish at the Cliincha
Islands.

Messrs. Gibbs & Bright, of Liverpool, have a lease of the guano
islands from the Peruvian Government for five years, which expires in
1857, but they expect a renewal. This house pays the Peruvian Gov-
ernment about 84 50 a ton for the privilege of taking all the guano
from the islands, the Government furnishing the men to dig the
guano.

The ships that load at the islands are mostly ships chartered to carry
a cargo, or are sent there by the owners to take away a cargo bought
of Gibbs & Bright, who have the entire monopoly of the trade at the
islands.

The day will come when the guano at these islands "udll be drudged
uj) with boats, like mud from our rivers and harbors.

Ai/ANSON Nash,
36 Beekman street, New York.

Did You Ever?

We feel just like telling our farmer readers a story. Some days
since a gentleman (we are not so sure of that, a man at any rate) came
into our ofiice for the purpose of getting a machme of his, for pulver-
izing the soil, put before the public, with our commendation. We
were out at the time. Our associate told him precisely as we should,
had we been on hand, that we could commend nothing till fully satis-
fied of its excellence, that if he could give us proof that it would be for
the farmer's interst to purchase his implement at the price he would
sell it for, we would speak of it in fitting terms.

He thought it a prodigious pity that we should have more sympathy
for the rich farmer, selling his produce at enormous prices, than for
the poor inventor, struggling against poverty, dear bread, and a hard-
hearted, unbelieving world, too stmgy to throw away the old ploughs
and get something better. But the chapter ended, and he left in a
dudgeon, as we have since learned he before had several other offices.

A friend of his invited us, some evenings afterwards, to call with
him at the inventor's rooms and see him. With some reluctance we
called. It was not over and above pleasant to have our associate
abused for the very thing we would have done. Nevertheless, we
bore it like an Atlas ; heard the whole corps editorial used up ;

Did You Ever? 77

there was not a decent grease spot left ; and were told that we were
not a whit better than the rest, simply because we were iinY>^illing to
commend a new machine, till we could see it, know how it would
work, whether it could be had at a price within the profits of agri-
culture, &c,, &c. We made some feeble efforts to show that editors,
high and low, Greeley, Bennett, and all the rest, down to om* humble
selves, are only about as wicked as the rest of mankind. But it was
no go. Volubility and loud talk are weapons, from which we think
the wisest part of valor is to retreat.

We have told this story for tUe sake of the moral. The moral is
this ; — ^The farmers being industrious, working men, always at home,
more or less out of the centers of the earliest news, are very liable to
be jockeyed by a set of men who have their foci of operations in our
larger cities ; and the consequence is, either that they are compelled
in self-protection to resist all innovations, and so to hinder the pro-
gress of their own most important art ; or, if they catch the spirit of
the age, and adopt proposed improvements promptly, there is a strong
chance for them to be sadly mortified and deeply injured — cheated
(we don't know a better word for our purpose) out of their hard earn-
ings, by gross imposition. It is not the mechanics who do this. The
mechanic is the farmer's best friend — makes his market, is willing to
do his work at a reasonable price, and to exchange commodities at fair
rates, to live and let live. It is not the inventors, as such, that do the
mischief. No man should be held in higher repute than the honest
inventor. Nor yet is the manure vender necessarily a rogue. That a
good many rogues have got into that business, does not prove that all
are such. The business of transfering city ofial to the farms is a good
business for all parties, if honestly conducted. There is room m it for
a large number to operate, and yet so as to leave the country the
richer and the city the cleaner.

Who does not know that not one in ten of all useful inventions re-
main long in the hands of the men who did the brain work ? And
nearly all useless inventions, either die quick, and are out of the way,
or they flill into second hands. It is mainly those who are ever ready
to jump on another man's horse and throw the owner ofi", and not the
original inventors, who cheat mankind fore and aft with patents. We
will stand up for the inventors, for we want the world to go ahead
and to do things in a better way, whenever'a better way can be found.
But let us ask them one question ; — why is it that so many of you fail
to hold your own inventions and to reap the reward instead of leaving
them to enrich sharpers ? Is it not, in too many cases, (we by no
means say always,) because you hold the privilege to use your machines
or your discoveries so high, that the world will wait longer before it

Bid You Ever?

consents to the bargain, than you can wait for your money? We
would say to manure venders and patentees, do not be too grasping.
Be willing that the buyers, and those who use your wares, should
make money as well as yourself. A deal of guano has been imported
into this coimtry. Money has been made on it. But who has made
it ? The shipper ; the vender ; we wish we could say the farmer ; and
doubtless some farmers have profited by it ; but not the farmers who
have used it, as a whole ; for they have bought so much stuft' for
guano, that was something else, that the real article, as a whole, has
cost them over $100 a ton, and the profit has been either small, or out
of pocket. The merchants, the middlemen, some of the inventors
even, are grasping. They object to a fair division of the profit. Give
them a sudden fortune, and they do not care whether God or the devil
takes care of the rest.

A case in point ; — there is now in this city a plough, digger, spader,
pulverizer, or what you choose to call it, seeking buyers at six
hundred dollars. The holder of the patent assures us that it will do
wonders. O ! yes, it can be drawn by a single horse, or a man even,
so light is the draft, and it will do more work and better, in one day,
than the strongest team with a plough in three, and then it will never
get out of repair. The real facts are, that it has some excellent
l)oints ; but in our judgment, formed from a drawing only, the draft
would be entirely too heavy for anything short of a steam power, and
the machine always out of running order, except in the most feasible
soils.

That the holder of a j)atent should indulge in expectations, more
fanciful than well formed, is nothing strange ; nor is it very strange
that this man should run away with the idea, as he does, that he has
an invention, which the farmers can not get along without, and so will
be glad to pay his price, whatever it may be. But let us see how he
proposes to divide the profits. He informs us that he can build the
machine for $150, and from that to $200 for the very largest and best,
but that not one shall be sold short of $600. Now if this man has a
machine, which all who cultivate the ground must have ; if, as he
says, no farmer without it can compete with those who use it, is it
generous, is it right to hold it quite so high ? Supposmg one million,
or about one m five, of the farmers in this country, should pay his
clean profit of $400, what would one man do with so much money ?
Or, if he could carry thirty times as much as Jacob Astor ever possess-
ed, would he feel any better for taking so much from the farmers of
his country ?

We are very far from wishing to compare all who seek the farmer's
patronage with this man. There are hosts of implement makers,

Bearing and Feeding of Swine. 1^

seedsmen, manure venders, and patentees, who are willing to deal
fairly. But there are others, men who seem to live by honest labor,
and to become rich by sIoav degrees, who are seeking to gouge the
laborious, home-keeping cultivators of the soil. They love the farmer
no doubt ; but they love his money-bag a great deal better ; and they
are not satisfied to deal with him on terms equally beneficial to both
parties ; but are managing to make more rich in a year by their trade,
than he can in life by constant labor. The evil is a great one, because
it forces the farmer to be so on his guard against imposition, that he
almost unconsciously falls into an attitude of resistance to real im-
provements. This unceasing schemmg in our cities to gouge the farm-
ers is what more than any other one thing now impedes the progress
of agricultural improvement in the whole country. It is a crime
against patriotism and humanity, and ought to be intensely detested.
—Ed.

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

Rearing and Feeding of Swine.

Messes. Editors : — It has struck me that I might, in some small
measure, aid the cause you advocate, by communicating my views ou
the rearing and feeding of swine ; a topic recently discussed at the
meeting of Legislative farmers m Massachusetts. Every farmer
should raise and keep a few hogs. In themselves they are valua-
ble, essential in the feed of his family. No man can get along
comfortably without the use of a certain quantity of pork. All the
parts of the hog will be found convenient in their domestic arrange-
ments. They can be reared and fed without much extra expense,
especially on a farm where the dairy processes of making butter and
cheese are carried on. But what I would paticularly notice in re-
lation to the hog, is the benefit of his services in preparing fertilizers
for their fields. Let a farmer keep half a dozen hogs, and take care
to sujDply them well with material for the making of manure, from the
swamp, the meadow, and the road-side, and I hesitate not to say that
the value of the manure made by them, at the close of the year, will
be quite equal to the value of the meat, even, though it bring, as noAV,
12 cents per pound. How can the farmer apply some portion of his
leisure hours to better advantage, than by looking after such a family
of hogs ? I remember this was always done on the farm where I
was brought up, and they found their account in so doing. What
breed of hogs is to be preferred ? For a time the Sufl:blk, with their
short legs, round and plump bodies, have been all the go ; but since it
is ascertained that their meat does not cook well in the pot ; that
there is much uncertainty in procuring fair litters of pigs ; and that

80 In Health Prepare for Sickness,

their growth costs more a pound than many of our native hogs, their
admirers have become few and far between. I heard a man of much
experience say, that he would sooner grow the common hog at ten
cents the pound, than the Suffolk at twenty-Jive cents per pound. If
this be so, the Suflblk will go down, for no man will continue to grow
pigs for their beauty alone. Beauty is of value, but utility more so.
Essex Co., Mass. P.

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

In Health Prepare for Sickness, in Summer for Winter.

Messrs. Editoks : — Experience is a good school, although we too
often pay a high tuition for that branch of education. The exj^erience
of last winter has proved such to many a farmer in this section of the
country ; and it has taught them a lesson that they will not soon forget.
It has been the practice of many to put up just what hay they thought
would possibly do by letting their cattle run in the stalk field after the
corn was picked. Here they would keep their cattle until they had
eaten (because they were forced to) everything they could eat, of the
frost-bitten leaves of the cornstalks, before they would feed any hay or
even corn. The winters previous to fifty-six and seven have generally
been very mild in this portion of country, so that it has required but
little care and attention to winter stock. Many prophesied an open
winter last fa'l, and for that reason laid up but a small portion of feed
for their stock, cut up but little if any of their corn fodder, but left it
for them to pick for themselves, as heretofore.

What has been the consequence ? Winter set in very early, and
very severe, with a heavy body of snow, so that the cornfield that
was designed to keep the cattle for a month or more was entirely
buried under snow, and remained so until the last of February. The
small quantity of hay that many of them had on hand v/as entirely
fed out. The straw, when the wheat was threshed ofi" from it, was
thrown into a pile, and of course was of but little use. After the last
of January, or the middle of February, many were out of feed, espe-
cially those that were too lazy or negligent to cut hay for stock ; and
the result was that many of them died.

When I was quite young I was sent from home, owing to the mis-
fortune of having a poor father, to " pick my own living," and as I
had the good fortune to get a good place, I stayed there for fourteen
years, and during that time my " boss" told me, when I went for my-
self, to be sure and " lay in a good supply of fodder ; to use every thing
that would make good food for cattle, and to be sure to have enough
in the fall to last through the winter." This advice I have followed.
Last August I cut a good supply of hay, and then cut and secured my

In Health Prepare for Sickness. 81

corn fodder, so that I had sufficient to last me through a long and
severe winter.

This country has taken more curses for its backward spring " than
you could shake a stick at." Every one has growled because he has
not had feed enough to keep his stock through the long winters, and
it is the " meanest country in the world." Who is to blame ? Is the
Ahnighty the one to find fault with because we have not feed enough,
when he has furnished us thousands of acres of grass, and all we had
to do was to cut it and put it up ? iVo ; it was our own negligence.
There was the grass, and why did we not cut it ?

Last winter was a severe one. Let us take heed from it, and never
let another fall pass over our heads without putting up plenty of fod-
der, as long as there is plenty of it to cut. Let us take care of our
own fodder, cut it up, and secure it, and learn a lesson from the past
to guide us in the future. One million of dollars would not cover the
money that has been lost by cattle dying for the want of feed,
and this in the State of Iowa. Iowa farmers, lay in fodder this com-
ing fill for the extra forty days of winter. Do not say as did Ezekiel,
" can these dry bones live ?" but say " that these lazy bones shall
move." Mr. Editor, may the past winter teach Oliver Shiftless
and Mr. Negligent to prepare while in health for sickness. May it
teach Mr. Let-go-to-waste to take care of what he has got, and not
let his dumb beasts starve. Simon Go-to-town-too-often, stay at home,
and put up feed enough to winter your cattle. Do not find fault with
Him who makes the grass grow, because you are not at home long
enough to cut it. It is your fau't, not His.

Farmers, and pretend-to-be farmers, take heed from the past, for
another winter will soon be iipon us. L. S. Spencer.

Lyme, Warren Co., Iowa.

The writer of the above said to us in a private note, " This was
written in haste ; please put it in shape." We have made the fewest
possible alterations, because we like the shape as it is.

Not all parts of the country, like that of our corresi)ondent, have
grass enough, and to spare, nor do all parts give hay for the cutting.
But where the winter food cannot be increased at pleasure, the stock
should be diminished, as good sense and forethought may decide. It
is bad policy and worse humanity to begin our winters with less feed
than stock. Every farmer should be prepared for a hard winter. — Ep.

82 More about Guano.

More about Guano.

Is it of any consequence how we pronounce this word ? Not much.
It will make the corn grow under one name as well as another ; and it
will cheat the farmer as Ladly, if he buys it of a rogue, under one
pronunciation as another. Still it might be as well to pronounce the
name of an article so common among us correctly. No one of us
says lan-gu-age^ but lan-guage^ runnuig the u and a into one syllable.
Why then should we say guan-o or gu-a-no ? This is murdering the
Spanish Queen's lengua and our own language to boot. Make the
word of two syllables ; pronounce the gua precisely as in the English
word language ; but give the a the sound of a in father, and not the
flat sound, and you will be right. So much for the word, and now
for the thing.

Our object is to give the farmer some tests, by which he may form
an oi)inion, not very accurate perhaps, yet better than none, of the
value of an article that may be presented, with this name. It has be-
come very clear, we think, that no guano yet offered, except that ot
the Chincha Islands, nor that unless it comes to the farmer very du-ect
nor always even in that case, is worth buying. There may be honest
dealers in other guanos ; new guanos may yet come mto the market ;
the American guano company in this city has an article which may
prove good, and they 7nay offer it, for a wonder, at a price which
would be fail*, as between them and the farmer ; but as the case now
stands, we would advise the farmers not to buy a dollar's worth of any
guano except the Peruvian, nor that without the utmost care to get a
pure article, inasmuch as it is quite certain that no other will pay at
present prices. The truth is, notwithstanding mterested efforts to
prove the contrary, that the Peruvian guano is not all gone yet.
There is considerable of the same sort left, and we should not be sorry
to see the holders so brought to their stomachs, as to be willing to
dispose of it on the broad principle of " live and let live."

If the buyer is shown an analysis, which he can make up his mind
to place confidence in, let him look specially at the figures rejDresenting
the organic matters containing ammonia, those representing phos-
phates, and those expressing the proportion of Avater. In a first rate
guano, there will be little water, which, although a good thing for
vegetation, we could hardly afford to buy and transport ; not more
than 20 or 25 per cent of phosphates, which, if good fertilizers, as they
certainly are, especially for permanent amendments of soils, are not
good enough to be bought at guano jDrices; and as much as 50 per
cent, of organic matters, containing ammonia. Or if, instead of the

More about Guano. 83

organic matters, the amounts of actual and potential ammonia are
stated, these should be large, not much less than 20 per cent., if you
are to get your money back, as these are the only ingredients for
which anything Hke |60 a ton, or even half that, can be afforded ; and
we think that the buyer would do well to ascertam, if he can, that
the analyst is not a very particular friend of the seller.

But if you are going to buy largely, it would be well to take home
a few lbs. as a sample, and experiment with it yourself Put an ac-
curately weighed lb., spread thinly upon a sheet of paper, into an
oven nearly hot enough to bake bread. This should be done soon
after the guano is taken from the bulk, as its tendency is to absurb
water from the air and become heavier by keeping. If it looses large-
ly, in weight, although the loss might not be wholly of water, yet
this would indicate that it contains more water than you would care
to buy at a high price.

A general rule is, that the lighter the color, the letter the guano.
This may not in all cases be true, especially with small samples. We
have seen those, which were nearly white, and yet not very valuable.
But lightness of color is a good indication as far as it goes. It gives
at least a strong probability, that the guano is not so far decomposed
as to have lost its organic matter.

Rub a pinch of the guano, with as much quick-lime, slightly mois-
tened, between tw^o shingles or bits of board. If it gives out a strong
pungent odor, affecting the eyes, causing one to sneeze, and producing
a dense vapor about a feather, first dipped in strong vinegar or muri-
atic acid, and then held over it, it is probably good. If it fails to do
this it is certainly inferior, and may be set down as not worth the
present price of Peruvian guano.

Next, put a little, say a teaspoonful, into a pint of pure, soft water.
Stir it about for some minutes, and then pour off the water with the
fine matters floating in it. If any considerable coarse matter remains
at the bottom, it is a bad indication. The coarse sediment remaining
in the vessel is worth nothing, and much of the finer parts, that flow-
ed off with the water, may be, and probably are, worth but little.
But if the guano seems nearly all to dissolve, so that the water flows
off but little riled, and almost no sediment is left, the indication is
avorable, though not alone to be depended upon.

You might now heat a portion to redness, and throw what is not
burned away, into dilute muriatic acid. This can be obtained at
almost any apothecary's ; one part of acid to three or four of water
would be a good proportion. If nearly the whole is not dissolved the
indication is a bad one. In the ash of a high priced guano, there

84 Ifowers.

should be nothing, or next to nothing insoluble in dilute muriatic
acid.

If, then, you are gomg to purchase a high-priced guano, relying on
analysis, insist that it be highly ammouial, not very phosphatic, and lit-
tle Tratery. If you trust to your own judgment, look for that which is
nearly dry, which is light in color, stings the eyes and tingles the nose
when rubbed with quick-lime, leaves little sediment when washed
with water, and almost none when burned and treated to muriatic
acid.

In what ratio the value of guano diminishes, as it fails to give the
above favorable indications, would be hard to say. But we very
much suspect that a good many American farmers have paid conside-
rable sums for guanos sold under false names, and not so valuable,
ton for ton, as the sheep manure in their own folds, which they perhaps,
though we think unwisely, would have sold for one dollar a ton. — Ed.

FOR THE AMERICAS FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

Mowers.

Messrs. Editors : — I regret my inability to witness the entire-
operations of the mowers presented at Syracuse ; for I consider the
exiDcriments iindertaken by Col. Wilder and others, of the first im-
portance to the farming community. They have long been waiting
with anxious solicitude the perfection of this class of implements. But
so long as those who construct them are more anxious to serve them-
selves by the sale, than the farmers by their use, we may expect to
postpone their maturity. There can be no apology in using timber
or iron of bad quality, or bad skill in their construction — nothing but
the best of material and the best of art will answer for such imple-
ments. I will not presume to speak of particular implements, because
the Committee themselves are much more competent to do this. For
thi'ee years 1 have been waiting to see a machine that can be relied
on, to operate through the day without giving out in some of its parts.
Nothing can be more annoying to the practical farmer, who is not ex-
pected to be expert in all the mysteries of mechanics, than when his
horses are trained ready to move, and his grass is grown ready to be
cut, and the sun is shining ready to cure it, and his hands are in readi-
ness to operate, to have his implement fail in a manner that he can not
repair — and for reasons that should not have existed, if the maker had
been honest. A few such occurrences will forever blast the hopes of
the enterprise. I do not mean to charge upon the makers of farm
implements, any greater degree of dishonesty than is to be found in
most other employments. The fact is the all-absorbing desire to make

Underdraining. 85

money, and to make it without delay, is the bane of all healthy ad-
vancement. Too much credit can not be awarded to the highminded
and honorable gentlemen, who have come together, from the East,
the West, and the South, with a determination fully to understand
this matter — and it is to be hoped that their perseverance, with the
suggestions of honest Editors, like yourselves, wiU give the community
opinions that will stand the racket.

Ever faithfully yours,
Bkooklyn, July 17th, 1857. J. W. Peoctoe.

Underdraining.

The importance of a good drain under every post fence, is not gen-
erally understood. Wherever post holes retain water, they are sure
to be heaved by frost, and the fence thrown out of shape ; and the
posts can not last so long, where they are alternately subjected to
water soaking and drying. But if all the water which foils, passes im-
mediately down into the ditch, it can not lie in contact with the posts
long enough to soak them, and as a consequence, they must remain
perpetually dry, and last for a long period. Robert B. Howland,
of Union Springs, N. Y., who has used Pratt's Ditcher with success,
found it cheaper to cut a ditch with this machine, in which to set the
posts for a fence, than simply to dig the post-holes by hand, and he
thus attained all the advantages of drainage besides a practice well
worth copying.

A single suggestion on the efficacy of underdraining, on lands that
do not at all appear to need it. It is a very good rule for determin-
ing its necessity, to observe whether water will stand in holes dug
two or three feet for this purpose. If the subsoil is porous, the water
will immediately sink away, and ditches would be wholly useless.
But if water will stand 48 hours in the holes, draining is necessary to
reUeve the subsoil of this cold and chilUng mass which fills it.

Now, if the surplus water in the soil and subsoil at the wettest
period, is only equal to a depth of two inches, then for a ten acre field
it would amomit to more than seven thousand hogsheads. Suppose,
therefore, that this field has such a slope as to give it what many
would suppose a natural drainage — " not needing ditchiag"— " dry
enough already" — then, in getting rid of these seven thousand hogs-
heads of hurtful water, it must, every gill of it, soak drop by drop,
from one particle of earth to another, until it all passes slowly down,
and almost imperceptibly from one side of the field to the other. No
wonder that days and even weeks are required to complete the pro-
cess, and to render the land dry enough to become friable and fit to
receive seed, and promote the extension of the young roots of crops.
Now, give this field a smooth tabular channel or tile, for every two
rods of its whole surface, the shortest way down the slope ; the water
, in the soil has then only about one rod to soak through the soil before
reachmg one of these drains, and most of it much less than a rod.
When it reaches them, it shoots rapidly down the smooth descending

86 Green-Manuring.

tube, and in a few minutes has passed the boundary of the field, in-
stead of being otherwise compelled to soak its weary way the Avhole 40
or 50 rods, or entire breadth of the field. This rapid discharge reduces
the dryness in so short a time, as to surprise those who have never
witnessed it, and to lead to tlie common supposition that the simple
statement of the practical advantages of thorough underdraining, by
those who have given it a trial, are wild exaggerations. — 0. Yal. Far.

FOB TUE AMERICAN FAKMERS' MAGAZISE.

Ban vers Town Farm, Essex Co., Mass.

Messrs. Editoes : — Two years since, I had occasion to speak to the
farmers in the State of Maine, of practical culture m Massachusetts, —
and for want of something better, I told them what had actually been,
within my omti observation, in my own village. Friends Southwich
and Shoves, two gentlemen of standing and means, having long acted
freely m the cajjacity of overseers of the poor of the town, advised to
the purchase of a farm for their residence, employment, and support.
xVccordingly, a farm of about 200 acres Avas j)urchased — situate
about two miles from the population of the village — one half of which
was covered with wood — the other half, poor exhausted gravely soil,
and peat and sunless meadow — from which crops of the smallest pat-
tern had been gathered by the former occupant. Many were recon-
ciled to the purchase in the belief that the wood m a few years would
pay for the farm. The wood was mainly cut at first, and taken to
market, and then the treasury was relieved of the purchase.

After the wood was gone, a system of deep ploughing and full ma-
nuring was introduced. Some fifty swine were constantly kept to
operate the materials gathered from the meadows and swamps. The
offal from all the slaughter-houses of the village was secured for the
feed of the swine. More than 200 cords of manure was made in the
yards. All the liquids from the house, the stable, and the pig-yard,
were conducted to the fields for grass. Meadows Avere ditched and
drained. The hard lands were planted with corn, rye, and other grain?
and crops of 30 bushels of Indian corn, 45 bushels of rye, and 50
bushels of oats, and 25 bushels of wheat, were grown to the acre.
Hay, from three to four tons to the acre, has repeatedly been cut from
the reclaimed meadows. So much for the application of industry and
skill. J. W. P.

Green-Manuring.

" If, instead of having the land exposed only to the action of the
atmosphere, we crop it with a plant whose roots run in every direc-
tion for food ; and if, when this plant has arrived at considerable
growth, we turn it into the surface-soil, we have not only enriched the

Utility of Birds. 87

latter by the elements derived from the air, but also by matters both
mineral and vegetable, fetched up from the subsoil. The j^lant thus
acts the part of collecting the nourishment for a future crop, in a way
that no mechanical subsoiling or trenching could eifect.'' — Way.

FK05I THE N. E. FAEMEB.

Utility of Birds.

Every o^ste who has paid attention to the matter, knows that even
crows and blackbirds are productive of more good than harm, and
that the vast increase of late years of destructive insects, is owing al-
most entirely to the wanton destruction of birds which are not even
legitimate game.

In Japan the birds are regarded as sacred, and never under any
pretense are they permitted to be destroyed. Durmg the stay of the
expedition at Japan a number of officers started on a gunning excur-
sion. No sooner did the people observe the cruel slaughtering of
their favorites than a number of them waited on the Commodore and
remonstrated against the conduct of the officers. There was no more
bird shooting in Japan by American officers after that ; and when the
treaty between the two countries was concluded, one express condition
of it was, that the birds should always be protected. What a com-
mentary upon the inhuman practice of our shooting gentry, who are
as eager in the pursuit of a tomtit as of an eagle, and indiscriminately
shoot everything in the form of a bird which has the misfortune to
come within the reach of their murderous weapons.

On the top of the tombstones in Japan, a small cavity or trough is
chiseled, which the priests every mornmg fill Avith fresh water for the
use of the birds. Enlightened America should imitate these customs
of the barbarous Japanese, if not by providing fresh water for the
feathered warblers, at least by protecting them from the worthless
louts who so ruthlessly destroy them. Unless something is done, and
that speedily, our insectivorous birds will be wholly exterminated, and
then farewell to fruit-growing. A thousand plans have been suggested
for the destruction of the curculio, all of which have proved worthless.
We have one which we know to be infallible — " protect the birds."

The swallows are the natural enemies of the swarming insects, liv-
ing almost entirely upon taking their food upon the wing. The com-
mon martin devours great quantities of wasps, beetles, and goldsmiths.
A single bird will devour five thousand butterflies in a week. The
moral of this is, that the husbandman should cultivate the society of
swallows and martins about his land and buildings.

The sparrows and wrens feed upon the crawling insects which lurk
within the buds, foliage and flowers of plants. The wrens are pugna-
cious, and a little box in a cherry tree vv^ill soon be appropriated^ by
them, and they will drive other birds away that feed upon the fruit, a
hint that chei-ry growers should remember this spring, and act upon.
The thrushes, blue-birds, jays, and crows, prey upon butterflies, grass-
hoppers, crickets, locusts, and the larger beetles. A single family of
jays will consume 20,000 of these in a season of three months.

The woodpeckers are armed with a stout, long bill, to penetrate. the

88 Onions.

■wood of trees where the borers dejiosit their larvre. They live almost
entirely upon these worms.

For the insects that come abroad only during the night, nature has
pro\'ided a check in the nocturnal barn owl, which take their food
upon the wing.

How wonderful is this provision of Providence for restraint of dep-
redators that live upon the labors of man, and how careful we should
be not to dispute that beneficial law of compensation by wliich all
thmgs are preserved in their just relation and proportion.

Onions. 3

Mr. Brown- :— In your March number of the Farmer^ I noticed a
request of a subscriber for information respecting the culture of onions
— and an invitation from yourself to any one who may possess such in-
formation to impart it. I perceive, also, in the same number, a com-
munication from Hollis Chafiin, of Providence, R. I., which purports
to contain the secret of the whole business, but which, I am sorry to
say, I have found to fail in my own case. Having tried almost every
experiment in the growing of this vegetable, I feel some confidence in
addressing your correspondent on the subject, and assuring him of
07ie successful— ^though it may not, for large crops, prove a very profit-
able mode of raising them.

It was in 1848 the maggot first appeared among my onions, almost
entirely destroying the crop, which led me the following year to test
many of the modes recommended by agricultural journals for protect-
ing the same. All these plans proved abortive. The next year ncAV
experiments were tried, among which was freeing the ground of in-
sects by great fermentation, but this also failed of success. A small
crop was raised the subsequent year on rockweed, well decomposed,
mixed with soil from an upland pasture. At that time, as none of my
neighbors could succeed in the least, I imagined I had discovered the
" secret," and presumed that a saline manure was all that was required
to prevent injury from maggots, but in this I was mistaken, for the
very next season the principal part of the crop was destroyed by this
pest.

Spealdng one day with a person who had witnessed a mode of raising
onions pursued in Nantucket, I was induced to try the follo-sving ex-
periment, which I found to succeed. I marked out my bed the size I
desired it, and threw out the soil to the depth of eight or ten inches.
I then filled in with clam shells, which I then had leveled, and beat
into a solid bed with a heavy maul, then slightly covered with rich
soil, say less than one inch deep. In this I planted the seed, and ever
smce have found no difiiculty in raising fine onions entirely free from
the maggot.

The origin of the maggot I have spoken of before in another journal,
but for the benefit of such as are unacquainted therewith, I may re-
peat the substance of what I then said. Almost invariably where a
plant droops, it will be found to contain one or more maggots. Now
by carefully removing the earth around the plant, will be seen a small
insect, which will run from one lump of dirt to another, making great

Drouth — Protection Against. 89

exertions to secrete itself, which if allowed to do, it will work its way-
deep into the soil, but if not permitted to hide, will fly away. This
insect unquestionably deposits its O:^^ in the envelope of the stock,
just under the surface of the ground, and next to the bulb, where it
soon starts into life, and eating into the interior of the plant, works
its destruction. This pest will not assail the plants where the fly can
not penetrate easily into the earth. Old Oechaed,

Maine, April 13th, 1857. New-England Farmer.

Br oiith" -Protection Against.

The frequent stirring of soils between the rows, is undoubtedly a
protection, and, in ordinary cases, a sufficient protection against
drouth. The air passes freely through soils frequently stirred ; and
whenever air conies in contact with a body colder than itself, it de-
posits moisture, as in a tumbler filled with ice water at the dinner ta-
ble, or in the particles of a soil at some inches depth, and consequently
colder than the air above the surface. When the farmer sees his
tumbler sweat, as it is sometimes expressed, he may be assured, that
so it fares with the soil six or eight inches below a well-stirred surface,
provided the soil were mellowed to that or a greater depth before
the crop Avas put in.

Mulching is often an efficient protection against drouth. Straw,
coarse hay, leaves, mold from the woods, chips, or even a pile of
stones, laid around the roots of a newly-set tree, retards evaporation,
and secures a moist condition for the roots. It is 'so with strawberries
if the ground is mulched between the rows. Raspberries, blackber-
ries, gooseberries, and many other crops may be partially protected
in the same way.

But the great source of protection in our country is in deep plough-
ing. On a soil of any decent consistency, it would be impossible that
a crop should suffer from the droiith, if the soil were pulverized to a
depth of fifteen inches, because the lower portions of such a soil would
retain moisture till long after the surface should have received new
supplies from the clouds. If our readers are alarmed at fifteen inches as
a depth which they despair of reaching, we think them too easily alarm-
ed, but still we will meet them on higher ground. A field thoroughly
pulverized to a depth often inches will seldom sufler from the drouth.
Abundant and reliable testimonies have been published, going to
show that fields jDloughed to a depth of eight or ten mches have es-
caped unhurt, when other fields, equally well cultivated, with the sin-
gle exception that they were ploughed but half as deep, have utterly
failed of giving crops. That deep ploughing is a sufficient remedy
agamst any ordinary drouth — any but the very longest and severest
— is an estahlisJwd truth. — Ed.

90 The Cotton Crop.

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

The Cotton Crop.

Edwards, Miss,, July 11th, 1857.

Messes. Editors : — We have heard an old adage since our youth,
" what is everybody's business is nobody's business," which is veri-
fied daily. One may make a sweeping remark that interests a large
community, yet no one takes upon himself to deny.

My mind is thus directed from seeing the circular of one of the
large houses in your citj^, Messrs. Stewart &> Co., as to this crop of cot-
ton, and as yet have seen in only one or two of the many papers I see,
any denial. The circular was gotten up for Europe, I think in May,
and gave the information that the growing crop promised to be the
largest ever known. Having loaned the paper out containing the ar-
ticle, I can not quote the language.

I have denied the fact m the Delta., published in New-Orleans, long
enough to have been corrected by any Southern house of the same way
of guessing, and now earnestly ask of you to permit me to deny in
the positive the fact and to give some facts., as are facts. I know
nothing of the house ; it may be reliable and only guesses occasionally,
or it may not be worthy of a planter's notice, but nevertheless, I have
never known a wilder guess in all my life, unless when a certain gentle-
man went on to "Washington City as a member of Congress, waiting
there for his papers — guessing he was elected, when lo ! the real mem-
ber presented himself with his commission. AVhether these gentlemen
are interested in purchase or sale, I know not, but I guess I know they
could not have guessed wider of the truth, even had they a wish to
depress prices and then to buy. Now for the facts :

April 6, Ther. 31°, ice, sleet and hail last night.
" 7, " 32°.

" 12. Snowing fully two hours after daylight, and from near midnight.
" 23, Ther. 31°, ice.
" 24, " 35°.
May, 5, " 54°. Yesterday morn. 49°.
" 18, " 51°, 7 P.M., not above 53° all day, 51° at sun rise.
" 19, " 40°, 6 A.M.

I reside nearly east of Vicksburg, about lat. 32° 30', about the center
of the best cotton region. How much more unfavorable say 2J°
north, I leave you to guess.

I never planted an acre of cotton over, before this year ; did j)lant
over 60 acres on the 22d and 23d of April, and should have doubled it,
but risked — now I would have preferred that I had planted over 160
acres. Many of my friends living remote from protection of water, plant-
ed all cotton over, and some again and again, even to three and five times
planting before they secured a stand. Now, up to May, where is the

Editorial Correspondence. 91

man that had even a show for a crop of any size, should it be one half
crop ? Since that time, we have had rains and cold weather beyond any
former experience of mine, and this is my twenty-seventh crop in
Mississippi. Even in July, we have had a fire over one half the morn-
ings, and blankets needed at night three fourths of the time. I learn
from a large planter of Alabama, whom I saw to-day, that when he left
there, Jime the 1st, his cotton was not up.

Present prospects. — The earliest bloom I had, and as early as any I
have heard of near here, was on the 25th of June ; the earliest before,
was on the 27th of May, the latest I have any record of in 27 years
was on the 13th or 14th of June. Cotton is smaller than I ever saw
it before. I have seen larger cotton and more blooms on the 10th of
June, than now.

What the crop may be I know not, nor would I venture now to say,
but this I do say, if that house will only insure me the average crop for
'57, that my crop on same land was in 1852, 1412 lbs. per acre, I will
make them safe in any way they require, to $2000. This is no idle
remark. I am willing to pay $2000 to insure my crop, as to pay $50
to insure my gm house for four months.

Yours, with esteem, M. W. Philips.

Editorial Correspondence.

Hadley^ Mass., July 1st. — The cultivation of broom corn has been
for the last quarter of a century a great business in this region, and
for the most of that time has afforded a profit considerably above the
average of farming. The process is much the same as for Indian
corn. Similar land is required. Manures suitable for Indian corn are
favorable to this crop. Less, however, is required, the broom corn
being a less exhausting growth, and more of the stalks, where not
taken to the paper mill, being left in the field. On the alluvial soils
of the Connecticut river, free, arable, but not the richest, seven loads
of barn manure to the acre wiU insure a good crop of broom corn in
a favorable season, and leave the land in pretty good heart for a suc-
ceeding crop.

But alas, for the broom corn ! Other regions are competing for the
profits; and the farmers of these jDarts have caught the tobacco
mania. For some years past the profits of this disgusting weed have
been quite seducing. It is a httle amusing to see how some of the
fathers, who a few years ago would have consigned tobacco and all
who use it, over, we will not say to whom, are now rejoicing in the
enormous profits of the last year's crop. But it is no strange thing
to hear men denouncing others, and then doing the same thing for
good pay. We would only suggest that the growers of the weed are

02 Editorial Correspondence.

shreM^der than the consumers ; inasmuch as a pocket full of money is
more desirable than a sallow skin, a nose turned into a chimney, a
foul breath, dyspej^sia and a swolen liver.

Westfiekl., July 2c?. — ^This town has mamifactured more whips pro-
bably than any other town not more than 200 years old. Its industry
is of late turned very much to the growing of tobacco and the manu-
facturing of cigars. Puritanism itself has caved in. An agent of the
Homestead, printed at Hartford, m'C learn, has promised $400 an acre
clear profit on tobacco to all those who will take that paper. "Whether
the j)roprietors of that journal instruct their agents to tell great
stories, is more than we know. But we were amused at learning how
the device didn't take. Four hundred dollars an acre, said the agent
to a rather fogyisli friend of ours hereabouts. Too big tallc for me,
said our friend ; never made but $200 an acre ; can't take your paper.
Said agent grappled with a sturdier farmer next time, one whom we
have long known as manuring highly and getting great crops. His
promise of only $400 an acre was met with astonishment. What do
you mean, said this deep-ploughing, manure-stuffing tobacco grower ;
I have been getting $600 an acre ; should'nt like to go back to $400 ;
can't take a paper that talks of no more.

Farmington, Conn., July ^d. — We said in our last that we were
exceedingly pleased with Allen's mower, as a piece of mechanism,
which we should judge, by the manner in which it is got up, might
work well, but that we had not seen it in operation. On the farm of
Hon. John F. ISTorton, of this place, we have had the pleasure of
seeing it work. The grass was stout ; equal we judge to two and a
half tons of hay to the acre. Much of it was badly lodged. But
the machine, though drawn by horses not accustomed to it, and man-
aged by a man then receiving from Mr. N. his first lesson in the busi-
ness, worked to a charm, and cut the grass better than we could have
believed it possible, in case of so heavy and tangled a crop.

Port Jerms, N. Y!, July 8. — Having to choose between the heat
of the city and the sun and dust of the country, we are again oiF.
Port Jervis is a pleasant little place on the Erie Road, some ninety
miles from New- York, grown suddenly, we believe, into being by
railroad influences. The Fowler House in this village, by reason of
its new and elegant building, its pleasant location, and the gentle-
manly deportment of its keeper, H. Foster, Esq., might satisfy some
of our readers, who like us, are willing for a while to forego the
pleasures of city life.

Bdnghaniton, July 9.— Here is one of our active growing villages ;
and to see how the agriculture of the region has improved smce we

Lime. 93

were familiar with it some eighteen or twenty years ago, does one's
heart good. Our journal conies largely to tliis place, and has contri-
buted no doubt, with others of a similar kind, to promote the im-
provements everywhere seen. Pine stumps were the bane of hus-
bandry, but the farmers have given them hoist, at very considerable
expense, but wisely, as we think. Many of them had extended their
long enduring roots over nearly a rod, so that by removing them the
owner adds about that extent to his field, and gives himself a chance
to make straight furrows. There is abundant use for the stump puller
in this region, but not in this only.

Syracuse^ July 10. — Here we are, at this city, to be honored by
the first trial of reapers and mowers, under the auspices of the U. S.
Agricultural Society, Hon. Marshal P. Wilder, Pres. Before leaving,
we hope to learn something concerning these important machines,
which we may communicate for the benefit of our readers. — Ed.

The Camel Experiment.

A Washington paper has an interesting item relative to the
Camels in Texas, based on recent informatiou. The animals are doing
well, the experiment of their acclimation having thus far proved suc-
cessful. Those first imported are now transporting supplies between
St. Antonio and Camp Verdo. "Three little ones were born in
March and are thriving, and five or six more births are expected.
From the reports of the conditions of the animals, at present, and
through the eleven months that the first importation have been on the
Continent, we may regard all doubts as to their acclimation dissipated,
and that so much of the experiment is v. fixed fact. The only remain-
ing intermediate point is the character of the stock that may be pro-
duced. For this, time will be required. The oflicers in charge are,
however, sangume that it will fully equal that of Asia Mmor and Af-
rica, and may, by proper attention, be more highly developed."

Lime.

To receive the greatest benefit from lime, it must be kept as near
the surface as possible. The reason is this ; its weight and minute-
ness give it a tendency to sink ; and after a few years of cultivation,
a large portion of it will be found to have gone beyond the depth of
its m^st efiicient action. Hence it is advisable to spread it on the
ground after ploughing ; then harrow it well in, and allow it to re-
main ua grass as long as good crops can be had. When the lime is
settled down beyond the reach of the common j)lough, the sub-soil
plough will prolong its effect, by enablmg the atmosphere and the
roots of plants to penetrate the sub-soil likewise.

lirpoETANT Agkicultural Mattee will be found in Brevier type.
It was received too late for insertion elsewhere.

94 Horticultural.

IjorticultunU.

FOR THE AMERICAN FAKMERS' MAGAZINE.

Horse Radish, Prussian Culture.

Mr, Editor : — Horse radisli is found in almost every farmer's garden,
yet I dare say very few, if any, know how to raise and cultivate the
same. To the gardner I think it is known, but to the most of the
farmers it is not. I think it, therefore, my duty to send you a pre-
scription, the way I have seen it done in Prussia. I think it an excel-
lent plan, and I follow the same with mine.

Take the longest roots you can find, (the young ones I mean,) ruh
them with a cloth up and down, so it takes all the fibre off. About
one-half inch at each end should not be rubbed, as the lower end is to
make the roots for the next years' setting, the upper the leaves.
Plant them in rows about eighteen inches ajiart each way. Lay them
in the ground in a slanting way. They are planted with a stick made
for the purpose, crooked at the ujaper end. The stick is stuck in the
ground in the above manner, pulled out, the root then put in the hole
left, and then tightened as any other plant. The bed should be planted
with the roots all in the same direction. They should never be
planted straight down. Keep them free from weeds, and pull the
heads up once m a while durmg their growth to keep the heads from
rooting. If the heads, in spite of this, make root, cut them off. In
the autumn dig them up by starting at the first row planted and dig-
ging a ditch two feet deep, to get every particle of root, as if there
are any left in the ground, they will be a nuisance. When the first
row is out take the next, throwing the ground in the ditch left from
the first row, and so on till it is done. If the ground is rich or well
manured, the roots, that is those planted last year, attain the size of
a man's arm. The young roots which are grown out of the lower
end should be sorted by taking the best for next years' planting. The
old roots which are for use can be kept in cellar in the winter. They
might be kept all the year by putting them in sand.

If the rows are planted north and south direction, they should be
dug east and west. "Wm. K.

Bolivar P. O., Bolivar Co., Miss.

Vegetable Garden.

Read the following remmders, from the Horticulturist for June, by
William Sanders :
The beneficial effects of mulching to transplanted trees is well

Horticultural. 95

known, and very generally practiced. Its eifects in the vegetable
garden are no less striking. The mowings of short lawn grass, rak-
ings of leaves, &c., thrown around and over the roots of egg-plants,
or between the rows of peas, and other crops, will .be found of great
service during dry weather. Previous to applying it, the soil should
receive a deep hoeing or forking up ; if covered immediately after-
wards, surface evaporation will be retarded, and the bad effects from
heavy rains dashing on the surface prevented. Green vegetable mat-
ter, when used as above, should be spread very lightly ; otherwise in-
jiuy may result from fermentation.

Thin oiit the rows of beets, carrots, parsnips, &c., as soon as the
crops are fairly advanced ; nothing is gained by defering the opera-
tion too long, but much loss if the plants are crowded, as they will
grow weak and slender ; thin them to stand six inches apart.

Asparagus beds ought to be kept clean. Young plantations should
not be cut very severely, as it will weaken the plants. The green
portion only of this vegetable is fit for use ; there is no occasion to
cut below the surface with a view of getting it white. It is strange
that white asparagus should ever be brought to market, and stranger
still, that horticultural societies should award it a premium in prefer-
ence to equally well known green samples. Water, with salted ram
water, m the proportion of two ounces of salt to a gallon of water ;
this is preferable to sowing the salt over the plants.

Pleasure Ground akd Lawn. — Frequent mowing is necessary to
preserve a neat lawn ; mow it when damp and clean the grass cut
thoroughly off with the patent grass rake. — Lawn mowing machines
are now constructed which economize labor and leave a beautiful sur-
face. Lately jDlanted trees should be secured from swaying about in
the wind ; they will grow better if the soil round their roots is kept
clear of weeds. Trees fairly established do not require this treatme nt.
It destroys the harmony of the lawn when the grass does not gro w
close up to the stems of the trees and shrubs. For the same reason
all grass edgings should be kept low ; nothing is more unsightly than
deeply cut edgings to roads and walks, although they should in all
cases be well defined and neatly trimmed. — Horticulturist.

A Small Field and a Large Yield.

ISIe. Isaac Faiechild, keeper of the Eagle Hotel, at Cortland ville, N.
Y., and cultivator of a ten acre farm, or rather garden, tells us that
last year, on one-eighth of an acre of a deep alluvial soil, heavily
manured, he grew 400 bushels of carrots ; that they were sowed in
rows nine inches apart, thinned to four inches in the row, the spaces
being carefully filled, so as to leave no vacancies ; and that although
he ploughed but ten inches deep, the roots, owing to the richness of
the soil, extended to twice that depth, and some of them more, actu-
ally measuring two feet in length, and from two to three inches
through at the large end. Mr. F. does not claim that he saw the
measurement — says that he took the statement of the men who har.
vested the crop, and thmks, what we very much suspect maybe true.

96 Horticultural.

that possibly they may have enlarged the number of bushels, by care-
lessly allowing the roots to fall crosswise into the measure — influenced
perhaps by a desire to make as large a story as the case would admit.
Now four carrots f o the square foot, according to his mode of plant-
ing, would give 174,240 to the acre, making no allowance for vacant
spaces; and if the size were such that 54.45 carrots, or about 5 4|,
would fill a bushel, they would give 3,200 bushels to the acre, not
less than 60 tons. But we are quite sure, that there is very little
land on which carrots would grow so thickly and yet attain a good
size ; nor does Mr. F. commend this mode of cultivation. He only
tried it once to see what could be done ; and has this year planted
his carrots in rows 18 inches apart, and is cultivating them by horse
power, mstead of hand, as last, believing that this way he will grow
as profitable, if not as large a crop. He esteems carrots the very best
of feed for milk cows ; the best to fatten horses not at work ; and bet-
ter for working horses, given in part with oats, than oats alone. — Ed.

The Flower Garden.

The warm weather has now fully come, every day adding to the
trojjhies won from the soil of a most reluctant spring. Already, to
those who have fulfilled the conditions, the flower garden begms to
give back the small percentage of time and labor it has cost, with a
principal rich in the glory of its many-colored gifts.

How kindred to our hearts seem the plants, upon whose culture we
have bestowed careful and personal attention. We have planted the
tiny seed, and, waiting in patience for its growth, done the little in
our power to hasten the result, around which, next to the upgrowth
and development of animal life, hangs the most inscrutable of myste-
ries. We have helped up, out of the cold, dark earth, the tender leaf,
and unfolding bud, till rejoicing in the warm sunshine and airs of hea-
ven, these flower children have stood around us, clothed in a beauty,
and breathing a fragrance that led the thought, and lifted the worshij)
to Him who is the Father of the blue-bell and violet, the lily and the
rose, no less than of the soul that fills Avith adoring wonder, and de-
light, in the presence of those beauteous emblems of his goodness and
power.

Even so, O parent, entrusted with the care of plants whose bloom-
ing is for eternity ! see to it that no dew-drop of kindness, no smile
of affection, no husbanding of natural goodness and health-giving re-
sources, no pruning ofi" of useless, or ruinous habits be wanting in
your great life-work of unfoldmg, and perfecting those immortal flow-
ers, the beauty and purity of whose being ought to be the incense,
whereon your own daily life might ascend to the fountain of light and
love. — Wisconsin Farmer.

" Oh ! if thei-e is one law above tlie rest
Written in wisdom ; if there is a word
That I would write, as with a pen of fire,
On the unsullied temper of a child,
'Tis human love."

American Inventions. 9Y

Salomon's Carbonic Acid Gas Engines— A Great Triumph.

In our fifth volume, page 211, (Oct., 1852,) we published a very interesting
communication from our much-esteemed friend. Dr. Newman, now deceased, in
reference to Prof. Salomon, and several very interesting experiments with his in-
vention, the " carbon engine." It will pay well for re-perusal, especially in
connection with the statement recently made, that the learned professor has at
length completely succeeded in making a practical working engine of which
carbon is the moving power, which for economy, simplicity, power, etc., is far
in advance of the steam engine, and will work out a thorough change in this de-
partment of practical mechanics. These hopes and expectations may be more
or less disappointed, but the present position of the matter is certainly such as
to give very great delight to the persevering professor, and if capital for such
operations is not freely and abundantly offered, if required by Professor Salo-
mon, it will be a disgrace to the country. But perhaps we are too fast (or too
slow) in this, for it may be that this hour of his need is already past, and he
may make a similar reply to such offers, as was made by Dr. Johnson to the
English nobleman, who offered to be his " patron" after his reputation had be-
come so great and wide, that such kind oflSces were needed no longer. The
Doctor's reply was the concentration of sarcasm. On this point we are informed
that "for this fortunate result. Prof. S. acknowledges himself under obligations
to some of our most intelligent and opulent citizens, who, becoming persuaded of
the feasibility of his design, did not hesitate to aid him with their means and en-
courage him with their confidence, without which, notwithstanding his own
close and sanguine application and unyielding energy, he may have failed tO'
bring his labors to a prosperous termination, at least for some time to come."

"We take the following account from Tlie Baltimore Repiiblican, and will, with
unusual delight, set before our readers any further developments that may reach
us, on this immensely important subject :

" Prof. Salomon calls his discovery the ' Sulph. Oil Carbonic Acid Engine.' It
is now located in Cyprus alley, between Pratt and Lombard streets, where its
operations have been witnessed by numbers of scientific and practical machinists,
all of whom agree in pronouncing it a complete triumph of science and mechani-
cal skill, and regard its destiny as the doubtless early supersedure of steam for
the motor of vessels, railroad cars, manufactories, etc. The machine we saw was
merely an experimental one, and, of course, is still susceptible of improvement.
The engine differs in no material feature from an ordinary rectilinial or recipro-
cating steam engine, and is calculated for four-horse power.

" The motor is produced by a compound of de-sulphiated bi-sulphuret of car-
bon, coal-tar, and volatile, or fixed oil, which under certain influences of heat be-
comes powerfully expansive, and hence is derived the momentum. The fluid or
gas, on being heated, passes into the cyHnder, acts on the piston, and is then
conveyed through pipes into the condenser. Thence it is again returned to the
heater, and again sent on its errand of imparting motion to the engine, to again
be returned by the way of the condenser, thoroughly renovated and ready for
4

98 American Biventions.

farther labor; and so on it continues until wasted away by such leakage, etc.,
as may not be prevented.

The heater into which the fluid or gas is introduced is submerged in a cistern
of oil kept hot hy a gentle fire, and in this the gas expands, gains its power, and
passing to the cylinder, acts on the engine to be carried oft" and condensed as we
have described, thus keeping up a constant active force, without the most re-
mote danger of accident or explosion. The apparatus and all its appliances are
without complication, easy to be understood, and at the same time not at all lia-
ble to disarrangement.

The cost of the fluid is about ten cents per gallon, and with careful attention,
about eighteen gallons, it is said, will serve an engine of the capacity of the one
now in use for at least an entire year. The engine alluded to has a piston of
twelve inch stroke and six inch crank. It was worked up to ten horse power
under the brake of a wheel three feet three inches in diameter, with a rim of two
and a half inches, which was pressed between two bars, each having attached a
friction block of seven and a half inches in length and two and a fourth inches
wide, and under a weight of one hundred and twelve pounds. In this condition,
the wheel easily made eighty revolutions per minute. The heat required was
only 23G' Fahrenheit, which produced 60 lbs. working povrer, under exhaus-
tion, and an atmospheric pressure of 15 lbs. adverse, which should be added
to the active agent. Steam, in the same proportions and under similar circum-
stances, with 267" Fahrenheit, only yielded 25 lbs. to the square inch, and,
when tested, the engine moved but slightly.

An elaborate report of a scries of experiments made with this apparatus, has
been prepared for publication by Wm. H. Shock, Esq., United States Naval En-
gineer, which we would gladly give in our columns, did space permit. His ex-
periments were made for the following {purposes, viz. : First — To determine the
pressure in the boiler at different temperatures of the oil-bath. Second — To as-
certain the capacity of the boiler to supply the steam engine, and to test the ca-
pacity of the condensing apparatus. Third — To ascertain the declining ratio of
temperature and pressures — the pressure recorded being due exclusively to the
heat in the oil-bath, as the fire was permitted to burn out at the commencement
of the trial. The thermometer used was Fahrenheit's ; the engine, an ordinary
condensing one, with four inches diameter of cylinder, and twelve inches stroke.
The fuel was coke and pine wood mixed. Mr. S.'s experiments were all emi-
nently successful. They commenced on the 23d of May last, and continued till
June 6th, and were so thorough as to leave no doubt of the capacity of this in-
vention to perform all which is claimed for it. The engine was at work on Fri-
day in the presence of a large number of persons, some of whom were well
versed in machinery, and all agree in confirming the opinion set forth above,
that this is truly the invention of the age.

American Cutlery.

We took occasion, some months since, to censure with some severity a cir-
cular of New- York hardware dealers, who took ground against our own manu-
factures, and forbade, on penalty of their displeasure, the use of a stamp of the
name and residence of the maker, on such wares. It is not a little singular
that at the same time the English were actually using, fraudulently, and to a
considerable extent, these same American stamps. In Germany the same thing
is done, to a still greater extent. It is also said that American mechanics use
more of English steel of the first quality, in our cutlery shops, than is used in
England. Of that known and marked as Hoop L, we use ten times as much as
is used in England, though they manufacture fifty times as much cutlery as we
do, A writer whom we all know as of high authoritj^, Mr. Fleischman, says :
*' The manufacturers of cutlery in the United States have far surpassed those

American Tnventions. 99

of the old world in the manufacture of tools, and that, not merely in the excel-
lence of the metal used, but especially in the practical utility of their patterns,
and in the remarkable degree of finish of their work." With such evidence of
success, the American artizan can not fail to make strenuous efforts to reach the
highest possible degree of skill in his profession, and he will thus acquire great
honor both for himself and the country. Further evidence in this subject is
found in the following paragraph, which we find in an exchange :

American MANUFACruRss Abroad. — An Illinois plough-maker, Mr. Deere, has
recently received an order from Naylor & Co., steel manufacturers of England,
for three ploughs, of different kinds, for their own use in England. Mr. Deere
made an order from the same firm, eight years ago, for German silver and cast
steel, and has since made so many orders that the manufacturers felt a natural
curiosity to know the purpose to which their customer applied it. It is some-
thing to talk about, that English material is sent to this country and to the
" Far West," to be manufactured into agricultural implements to return again
in its changed form to plough up English soil.

Architecture of the Capitol Extension.

This great work proceeds slowly, but well. The new dome will be a splendid
tribute to and evidence of American skill. It is divided into four sections — the
first occupied by thirty-six columns of cast iron, twenty-seven feet high, and
about three feet in diameter at the top. The foundation of the dome is the cir-
cular wall of the rotunda, carried up 24 feet above its interior cornice, and sur-
rounded above the roof of the main building by an octagonal entablature and
balcony. From the cast iron brackets embedded in this circular wall are to rise
a double row of hollow cast iron columns to the height of 27 feet. These
columns rest on a foundation consisting of cast iron plate, which again rests on
a circular wall, belted, girded, cramped, and compacted into a mass of solid mat-
ter, forming, as it were, but a single body. On these columns, (which are hol-
low and fluted, and about an'inch thick,) when in position will be placed a ring
to form the foundation for a superimposed section of pilasters, less in size then,
the columns, but agreeing with them in number, on which will be strong panel
work, constituting a third section or attic. The fourth section is the dome or
cupola proper, and differs from other domes in having an elliptical instead of a
circular section. Above the cornice of the rotunda, on the interior of the found-
ation wall of the dome, will appear a continuous belt of sculpture, 300 feet in
length, representing the history of America.

The whole structure (the dome) will be of cast iron and glass, 124 feet in dia-
meter at the base of the columns, and rising above the main building more than
200 feet. It is surrounded by stout circular plates of iron, bearing an altar-like
structure girt with fasces, all of iron, supporting a globe, around which will pass
a belt inscribed with the motto, " E Pluribus Unum." The apex consists of a
lantern 52 feet high, 17 feet in diemeter, surmounted by a female figure of the
goddess of liberty, 161 feet high, of bronze, erect, with sword and shield, and a
fillet studded with stars round her forehead, the work of Mr. Crawford.

The dome is to be ascended by spiral stairs between its outer and inner shell,
or its roof and ceiling. There will occur frequent landings or balconies, afford-
ing both external and internal views.

100 American Inventions.

Transatlantic Cable.
The process of this enterprise is uninterrupted. At the last accounts sev-
eral hundred miles of it were already on board the ship Niagara, and her whole
quota of this unique cargo would soon be complete. The cable is placed in
five coils of a conical shape, on the floor of the hold, and also of all the decks,
(orlop, berth, and spar,) both before and aft midships. These coils are about
twenty-five feet in diameter at base, and from three to four and a half feet high ;
and weighing from about 90 tons to 173. The coils he over and under and
around the hatches. They are wound upon a cone of hollow plank. It will
be placed on board the Agamemnon in a single coil. The cable weighs about a
ton to a mile, and is 2500 miles in length. Instead of one copper wire, it con-
sists of seven, " each about as thick as a pin." Eighteen strands of iron wire,
around these, form a protection or covering, which is within the insulating or
gutta percha wrapper, which forms the outer part of the cable.

Breckenridge Coal Oil Company.

Our readers will recollect what we have so lately written in reference to the
value of coal oil and coal gas, and also of Paraffine for candles. In looking
over the annual report of the company, the name of which forms our caption,
we notice several statements which are of great importance in reference to these
immense sources of profit and of convenience. It appears that " the Boghead
coal of Scotland, the Albert coal of the Province of New-Brunswick, and the
Breckenridge coal," are "the only coals yet discovered peculiarly adapted for
the production of oils." On page 558 of our March No., we stated that the
Boghead cannel was the richest coal known for the production of gas, and that
Scotch Parrot coal was the next. We see that the Breckenridge Company
claims " preeminence" for their coal in the production of oil, though the
grounds of the claim are not given. It is no doubt very valuable, and probably
the richest, for this purpose, in this country.

In our April number, page CI 9, we presented some of the statistics of this
company, and gave our readers to understand, as we supposed, that we looked
for very valuable results from it. We present below a few short extracts
from their report, in confirmation of our opinions there set forth.

"Hitherto, sperm oil has been unapproachable in its adaptabihtyto lubricating
and burning purposes — now it is equalled by coal oil, and it is only reasonable
to expect that, with the further developments in their manufacture, coal oil
will leave this article far behind. In the higher branches, such as the finer
portions of intricate machinery, and in cotton spinning, coal oil has already the
decided preference, and before long, linseed oil, which is yet considered essential
as a paint oil, will have to yield its place to this new rival. The lighter por-
tions of this production are not to be overlooked. Benzole and Naphtha are
now becoming known, and they only require to be properly known to be appre-
ciated as the perfection of light, and of solvents. Paraffine, too, deserves your
attention. Possessed of properties which place it on an equality with the very
finest spermaceti in the manufacture of candles, it contains others, which ren-
der it valuable to the artists in the production of various works of rare beauty
and elegance. . . .

" The question has frequently been asked, if our supply of coal warrants the

American Inventions. 101

erection of extensive works for its manufacture into oil — if we should not soon
run out of coal, were we to consume, say a hundred or more tons per day in these
works ? It will be gratifying to you to know that, although this quantity were
consumed daily, according to the statement given under oath by Professor Silli-
man and his associates, commissioners appointed by the Governor of the State
of Kentucky, to estimate the extent of the coal lands belonging to the Company,
we have a supply that will last over 570 years, so that instead of running out of
coal, we may increase the manufacture of oils to any conceivable extent, and
have a supply for many generations."

The Victoria Bridge, Montreal.

The new bridge that is to cross the St. Lawrence, near Montreal, will be one
of the architectural wonders of the day. It is to cross the river from Point St
Charles to the South Shore, the distance l^ing a little less than two miles. It
is to be on the tubular principle ; there will be a track for railroad cars in
the center, and on the outside of the tube will be, on each side, a balcony,
with a foot-path for passengers. The bridge will rest on twenty-four piers
and two abutments of limestone masonry, the center span being 330 feet
long, and 60 feet high from summer water-level, descending at either end at
the rate one in 130. It is to be built, in every respect, in the most sub-
stantial manner, and when finished will cost $6,250,000.

Clough's Traps for Insects.

A VERY learned friend one 3 said to us that the invention of friction matches
was one of the most useful inventions of the age. He who will defend us
from the inroads of barbarian insects deserves to be placed in the same
niche in the temple of fame. Mr. Clough, 489 Broadway, thinks he is this
happy man. His fly and mosquito trap and coakroach trap are certainly full
of promise. For after standing, when properly charged, they are often found
full of flies. Those who have tried them speak highly of them. We have
seen evidence of their eflBcicncy. Price 25, and 40, and 50 cents each.

Demorest's Miniature Gas Stoves & Dress Patterns.

Our readers have not forgotten what we published in regard to Demorest's
pattern of these useful articles. They might be called " Diamond Gas Stoves,"
with far less impropriety than in the case of California Quartz, for this term
is technically applied by printers to a very fine type, and it may also indi-
cate a great value in a small compass, Mr. D. has sold immense numbers of
them. The same establishment, 375 Broadway, also supplies Premium Dress
Patterns for twenty-five cents, which will save a housekeeper perhaps as
many dollars. By these patterns any dress may be cut at home, and made
up in the ftimily. Full sets of trimmed patterns, of any style, "including
cloak, mantilla, sack, basque," etc., etc., etc., costs but three dollars. This
enables any one to do all her work at home, as long as the fashion lasts. It
is a " capital institution."

102 American Itiventions.

To make Hard Candles of Soft Tallow.

To TWELVE pounds of tallow take half a gallon of water, to which add three
tablespoonfuls of pulverized alum, and two ditto saltpetre, which heat and dis-
solve ; then add your tallow and one pound of beeswax ; boil hard altogether,
until the water evaporates, and skim while boiling. It should not be put in your
molds hotter than you can bear your hand in. The candles look much nicer
when the wicks arc not tied at the bottom. It is not only a disagreeable task to
cut the wicks off, but it injures the mold. Never heat your mol(k to draw your
candles in cold water.

Tallow from beeves fed on corn or grain, is much softer than when fed on grass
or clover. Therefore the tallow froiu grass-fed cattle should always be selected
for summer use, and the candles will always be hard with the addition of very
little alum and beeswax. In very cold weathei- much less alum must be used, or
they will crack so as to fall to pieces sometimes ; and a third more of each should
be used in warm weather if the tallow is verj' soft. With a little management
you can always have hard tallow for summer use where you make all your own
candles. — Country Gentleman.

To Render Textile Fabrics "Waterproof.

Take 1 pound of wheat bran, and 1 ounce of glue, and boil them in 3 gallons
of water in a tin vessel for half an hour. Now lift the vessel from the fire, and
set it aside for ten minutes ; during this period the bran will fall to the bottom,
leaving a clear liquor above, which is to be poured off, and the bran thrown
away ; one pound of bar soap cut into small pieces is now to be dissolved in it.
The liquor may be put on the fire in the tin pan, and stirred until all the soap is
dissolved. In another vessel one pound of alum is dissolved in half a gallon of
water ; this is added to the soap-bran liquor while it is boiling, and aU is well-
stirred ; this forms the waterproofing liquor. It is used while cool. The tex-
tile fabric to be rendered waterproof is immersed in it, and pressed between the
hands until it is perfectly saturated. It is now wrung, to squeeze out as much
of the free liquor as possible, then shaken or sti'ctched, and hung up to dry in a
warm room, or in a dry atmosphere out-doors. When dry, the fabric or cloth
so treated will repel rain and moisture, but allow the air or perspiration to pass
through it.

The alum, gluten, gelatine, and soap unite together, and form an insoluble
compound, which coats every fibre of the textile fabric, and when dry repels
water like the natural oil in the feathers of a duck. There are various sub-
stances which are soluble in water singly, but when combined form insoluble
compounds, and vice versa. Alum, soap, and gelatine, are soluble in water singly,
but form insoluble compounds when united chemically. Oil is insolul^le in
water singly, but combined with caustic soda or potash it forms soluble soap.
Such are some of the useful curiosities of chemistry. — Scientific American.

FOR THE AMERICAN' FARMERS' MAGAZIHE.

The Mechanical Problem in April Number.

Clinton, Mass., June 24th, 1857.
Messrs. Plough, Loom, and Anvil : — Your correspondent, G. W., takes excep-
tion to my solution of the " Mechanical Problem" by saying that the point at
issue is taken for granted. All that can be said to be taken for granted is, that
the inference which I drew from my demonstration, was a legitimate result of
that demonstration, and thus, in my opinion, a proof of the point at issue ; which

American Patents. 103

result is, in brief, that the only power actually applied to propel the boat, con-
sists of the physical force of the man in the boat, who is pulling upon the rope,
with his feet braced against the side or bottom of the boat, and the other end of
the rope made stationary on the shore, by being attached either to a post or man,
either of which must be supposed to pull upon the rope precisely as hard as they
are pulled upon, and no harder ; for if the force of the man in the boat is more
than counterbalanced by the man on shore, our nautical hero is pulled over-
board, and the experiment ends. The case is the same with the two boats sup.
posed by G. W., with a man in each, and their ropes attached to a post in the
center of the pond. "We will suppose the man in the boat A — for convenience —
draws against the post with a power equal to fifteen pounds ; the post with-
stands this power by an equal reacting force. The man in the boat B also
pulls against the post with a power of fifteen pounds, which is also reacted b}^
the post ; and the power of these two men being applied in opposite directions,
the action of each neutralizes that of the other in their effect upon the post, so
that the result is necessarily the same, whether the lines are attached to the post
in the center, or "detached from the post, and fastened to each other."

Having eliminated the post as an unnecessary quantity, we will proceed with
the solution. The men are now pulling against each other, and obviously, mnst
pull with equal force, or the weaker must yield and get a ducking. The man in
the boat A applies the supposed power, which produces a given velocity to his
own boat, and, on the principle of the equality of action and reaction, it is im-
material whether the other end of his rope be attached to a man or post in the
other boat. And now the conclusion is, that all the diflference between the man
in the boat A pulling against boat i?, and pulling against a post on shore is,
that in the former case, boat B yields to the power applied, with a velocity
equal to that of boat A, and makes it necessary to haul in slack rope to double
the amount of his own motion, while in the latter case, the post on shore main-
tains its position, and the slack rope exactly measures the motion of the boat
Will G. W. please " devise a way" for arriving at a different conclusion ?

Yours, P.'W. F. C.

1 e c nt t intents,

[ISSDED FROM THE U. S. PATENT OFFICE, FROM JUNE 2 TO JUNE 30, 1857.]

Agricultural.

Self-loading cart, J. S. Brow, "Washington, D. C. Combination of revolving
elevator and scraper. — Grain Separator, Elihu Doud, Oshkosh, "Wis. — Self-acting
"Wagon Brake, M. C. Chamberlain, Johnsonsburgh, N. Y. — Portable Fence,
Wm. Morrison, Carlisle, Pa. — Stump Extractor, Peter Traxier, Scottsburg, N,
Y.— Cheese Hoop, C. P. S. Wardwell, Lake Village, N, H.— Mould board for re-
versible Plows, Henry S. Akens, Berkshire, N. Y. ; composed of rods or bars,
susceptible of torsion, or of being twisted to the right or left, &c. — Harvester,
Nicholas Clute, Dunnsville, N. Y. — Butter "Workers, Chas. W. Gage, Homer, N.
Y.~Corn Planter, Ives W. McGiftey, Buffalo, N. Y.— Seed Planter, Solomon T.
Holly, Rockford, 111. — Cutting apparatus of Harvesters, M. G. Hubbard, Penn
Yan, N. Y.— Plow, C. B. Ingersoll, Morris, 111.— Plow, E. D. & L. "W. Legg,
Speedville, N. Y. Combination of adj ustible cutter and reversible mould board.
—Sowing grain in drills, Frederick Moehlmann, Belleville, 111. — Corn Planter,

104 American Patents,

Wm. T. Pcpyor, Rising Sun, Ind. — Same, Sylvanus Richardson, Jericho, Vt. —
Gang Plows, Joseph Sutler, St. Louis, Mo. — Cultivator Plows, Micajah Tollc,
Newport, Ky. — Excavating Machines, Alonzo Taggart, Warrentown, Mo. — 'Mow-
ing Machine, J. B. Wardwell, Methuen, Mass. — Cleanicg rice, John F. Taylor,
Charleston, S. C. The kernels are rubbed together in a screw cylinder. — Earth
Excavator, Curtius Colby, Wilson, N. Y. — Raking attachment for Harvesters,
John Mcintosh, Geneva, 111. — Harvester, D. S. McNamara, N. Hoosick, N. Y. —
Fences, James Moore, Pittsburg, Pa. — Lozenge formed slats, and the alternate
twisting of the wires between the slats. — Frame for combined mower and reap-
er, J. A. Moore, and A. H. Patch, Louisville, Ky. — Chilling Plowshares, James
Oliver and Harvey Little, South Bend, Ind. — Farm Gates, Wm. Sherwood, Be-
loit,Wis. — Raking Apparatus, for Harvesters,Daniel C. Smith, Tecumseh, Mich. —
Harvester, C.T. Stetson, Amherst, Mass. Mode of raising and lowering the sickle
of harvesters. — Harvester, Henry D. Hammond, Batavia, N. Y. — Harvesting
Machine, John K. Harris, Allensville, Ind. — Self-acting rakes for Harvesters, S.
T. Lamb, New- Washington, Ind. — Automatic rake for Harvesters, Joseph H.
Manning, Philadelphia.

Metallurgy.

Holding the bit in the brace, Geo. Benjamin, Avoca, N. Y. — Grooving Stove
Pipe, Charles Bigelow, Hastings, Min. Tcr. — Making horse-shoe nails, Calvin
Carpenter, Jr., Providence, R. I. — Making wrought nails, Smith Gardiner, New-
York. — Nail Machine, E. W. Scott, Lowell, Mass., and A. M. George, Nashua,
N. H. — Wrench, Edward J. Worcester, Worcester, Mass. — Nut Machine, Samuel
H. Whittaker, Cincinnati, 0. — Tongueing and grooving Hand Plane, Porter A.
Gladwin, assignor to himself and Thos. F. Caldicott, Boston. — ^Forging Horse-
shoe nails, Robert Cook, assignor to himself and Samuel Norton, South Abington,
Ms. — Screw Cutter, James M. Evarts, Westville, Ct. — ^Bending Sheet Metal Pans,
E. A. Smead, Tioga, Pa. — Wiring Tin-pans, hj same. — Screw wrench, G. C.
Taft, assignor to A. W. Mason, Worcester, Ms. — Keeper for Locks and Latches,
Andrew Patterson, Birmingham Pa., assignor to J. H. Jones, Pittsburgh, Pa. —
Saw set, Jacob Erdle, West Bloomfleld, N. Y. — Manufacture of Iron, Wm. Kelly,
Lyon Co., Ky. — Straightening Knife-blades, H. Pierce, Claremont, N. H. — En-
ameling Iron pipes and Hollow Ware, Edward Pierce, Philadelphia. — Hardening
Axes, &c., J. N. Rockwell, Napanock, N. Y. — Candlesticks, Timothy Rose,
Courtlandville, N. Y. — Taps and Dies for cutting screws, Ira A. Richard, assignor
to Silas Stevens, East Brookfield, Mass. — Boring Mill, Wm. Sellers, Philadelphia.
— Making bolts and rivets, Joel R. Bassett, Cincinnati, 0. — Machine for riveting
boilers, Sylvester Bennett, New-Orleans. — Iron Pavements, for streets, Geo. W.
Bishop, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Making Horse Shoes, Henry Burden, Troy, N. Y. —
Horse Shoe, Wm Cooper, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Journal box for shafting, Daniel
Taylor, Carbondale, Pa., a brass lining embodying the latter being cast upon
the former. — Die Stock, James Teachout, Waterford, N. Y. — Permutation Lock,
Frank G. Johnson, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Iron truss frames for bridges, Francis C.
Lowthup, Trenton, N, Y. — Lock, Ludwig Baier, assignor to Joseph Lippencott
and Wm. C. Barr, Pittsburg, Pa. — Strap Pillow block for Shafting, Geo. H. Rey-
nolds, Medford, Mass., assignor to himself and D. B. Hinckley, Bangor, Me. —
Hob for cutting screw cutters, G. C. Schneider, Washington, D. C. — Making
cast iron malleable, A. K. Eaton, New-York. — Screw Cutters, J. M. Evarts,
AVestville, Conn.

Fibrous and Textile Fabrics.

Making paper, Edward B. Bingham, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Coloring yarn on the
bobbin, James Thompson, and W. P. Wakelee, New-Hartford, N. Y. The use
of a vacuum, to fiicilitate the absorption of coloring matter. — Sewing Machine,
Elias Howes, Jr., Cambridge, Ms,, and Wm. R. Bliss, Boston. — Same, William
Sage, Durham Center, Conn., assignor to Henry Sage, Berlin, Conn. — Preparing
India Rubber cloth, Charles Winslow, Lynn, Ms. — Roller Temple for looms,
"Warren W. Dutcher, Milford, Mass. — Sewing Machine, Daniel Harris, Boston,
Mass. — ^Ladies' Skirts, E. F. Woodward, Brooklyn, N. Y., a spiral stiffener, &c. —

American Patents. 105

Knitted Fabrics, Joseph Vickerstiif, assignor to Martin Landenberger, Philadel-
phia, a new article, a fabric, knitted with threads of different colors, and com-
posed of two separate thicknesses, interlocked at intervals, as required, by trans-
posing the threads, so that both sides shall present a plain uninterrupted surface
of loops. — Blotter, R. G. AUerton, New York, a convex surface with a handle,
<'0 be used by a single rocking motion. — Manufiicturing felt cloths, Thos. B.
Butler, Norwalk, Ct. — Carpet Fastenings, David N. B. Coffin, Jr., Newton, Mass.
A screw with a head on one side of its axis, so that a turn half round will re-
lease the carpet. — Drying pasteboard, Patrick Clark, Rahway, N. J. Heated
hollow tables, one above another. — Rope Machine, Wm. R. Dutcher, Lansing-
burgh, N. Y.— Camp Tents, Benjamin Hinckley, Troy, N. Y. The rafted frame
is hingefi, in sections, so that the frame can be folded for convenient carrying. —
Sewing Machine, Daniel Parris, Boston. — Machine for folding paper, James F.
Weeks, Columbus," 0. — Carpet Bags, Joseph Zepfel, assignor to himself and
John B. Radley, New -York.

Chemical Processes.

Covering insulated wire with lead or other ductile metal, Samuel C. Bishop,
New- York. — Making Lampblack, J. A. Roth, Philadelphia. — Brine Evaporator,
Charles "W. Atkeson, Henderson, Ky. — Condensing apparatus for salt and gasses,
J. C. F. Solomon, Baltimore, Md. — Refrigerator, J. C. Schooley, Cincinnati, 0. —
Preparing liquid Rose Pink, John W. Perry, assignor to James W. Gates, Bos-
ton.— Separating oil from steam, Robert Hill, Roxbury, Mass. — Electric Tele-
graph, Harrison G. Dyer, New- York. — Starch from Maize, Wm. Watt, Belfast,
Ireland. The corn is first steeped, whole or broken, in water, at a temperature
of 70° to 140° F., the water being changed several times, or applied in continu-
ous streams, it is then ground or " levigated" with water at 70° to 140°. The
starch is then separated by process as described. — Smelting Furnace, Charles C.
Alger, Newburgh, N. Y. — Condensing liquid in gas main pipes, John Walton,
Louisville, Ky. — Defecating cane juice, Leonard Wray, London, Eng.

Calorifics.

Steam Heating Stove, Asa Blood, Norfolk, Va. — Bakers' Oven, John Chilcott,
Baltimore, Md. — Solar Lamp, Joseph Hassell, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Coal Stove,
John B. Kohler, Philadelphia. — Gas Generator, Augustus A. Hayes, Boston,
Mass. — Gas Burner, John 0. Walsh, Lockport, N. Y. — Foot Stove, J. W. Lef-
ferts, Brooklyn, N. Y. Heated by a lamp. — Fire grates, or lining of fire pots,
Daniel H. Dean, Lowell, Mass., assignor to Wm. J. Coggsliall, Fall River, Mass. —
Gas Stove, Patrick Mihan, assignor to himself and Robert F. Fitts, Boston. —
Gas Generator, Napoleon Aubin, Albany, N. Y. — Vapor Burner, Horatio Fair-
bank, South Brookfield, Mass. — Fountain Lamp, Henry W. Adams, New- York. —
Steam Radicator, for heating apartments, J. H. Chester, Cincinnati, 0. — Gas
Regulator, John H. Cooper, Philadelphia. — Street Lantern, John Reese, and 0.
N. Tyler, Washington, D. C— Gas Generator, J. W. Smith, Washington, D. C.
Gas burner, Asa D. Gates, Binghamton, N. Y.

Steam and Gas Engines.
Guiding and cushioning paper valves, Joseph Hyde and Wm. Stearns, Wil-
mington, Del. — Damper regulators for steam boilers, Patrick White, Brooklyn,
N. Y. — Steam pressure gage, Joseph L. Eastman, Boston, Mass. — Valve con-
nections for Steam Engines, B. L. Phillips, Providence, R. L — ^Valve Gear for
steam engines, Samuel Swartz, Buffalo, N. Y. — Gas generator, E. W. White-
head and J. L. Conklin, Newark, N. J. — Steam pressure gage, J. H. Miller, and
John Kailey, assignors to themselves and John Danner, Canton, 0. — Vane gov-
ernor for steam engines, &c., Francis Gustine, Medford, Mass. — Safety steam
boiler, W. G. Pike and Isaac R. Scott, Waltham, Mass. — Steam boiler, Harry
Whitaker, Buffalo, N. Y. — Steam Whistle, Sylvester W. Warren, assignor to
himself and Dexter N. Force, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Cylindrical Throttle Valve,
James H. Simmons, Erwin, N. Y. — Valve Gear for Steam Engines, Sidney Malt-
by, Dayton, 0. The link and hook motion, in the reverse cut off and lead of

106 American Patents.

the valve are dispensed with, and a direct attachment to the wrist of the engine
crank is substituted. — Metallic Packing for Steam Pistons, Daniel Lasher,
Brooklyn. N. Y. — Valves in Steam Cylinders, M. G. Stacy, assignor to John W.
AVuy, Fk-mington, Ga. — Slide Valve for Steam Engines, Thomas Winans, Balti-
more, Md.

Navigation and Maiutime Implements.

Steering apparatus for ships, Phineas Smith, Patchogue, N. Y. — Rudder, R. S.
Harris, Galena, 111. An outer or second rudder, attached to and working in the
first rudder, with a short tiller, held and worked by stationary chains and ropes.
Propellor canal boats, G. W. Swartz, Buffalo, N, Y. — Propelling vessels in shoal
^\^ater, J. "W. Wetmore, Eria, Pa. — Reducing Topsails, Thomas Batty, Brooklyn,
N. Y. — Ships' Windlass, J. Peev}' and Abraham Sanborn, Bangor Me. — Ships'
Capstances, Robert Dunbar, and John F. Robertson, assignors to the Buffalo
Eagle Iron works, Buffalo, N. Y. A new mode of imparting a variable motion
to the capstan.

Civil Engineering and AiicniTECrcRE.

Catch for doors, Jeremiah M. Crosby, Norwalk, O. — Roofing Machine, J. B.
Driscole, Knoxville, Tcnn. — Hanging Doors, Albert W. Morse, Eaton, N. Y. —
Laths for buildings, John L. Brabyn, New York. — Constructing Stores, W. L.
Johnson, Peytonsville, Tenn. — Excavating Tunnels, Charles Wilson, Spring-
field, Mass.

Land Conveyance.

Repairing R. R. Bars, Lyman Beebe, and Geo. F. Smith, Michigan City, Ind.
Railroad switch dock, Wm. L. Cawthro, Harper's Ferrj^, Va. — Carriage Brake,
Geo. Hanck, Mechanicsburg, Pa. — Carriage Wheel, J. D. Sarven, Columbia,
Tenn. — Setting tires on wheels, John II. Williams, Pleasant Hill, 0.— Railroad
Snow Excavator, S. G. Ludlum, Oyster Bay, N. Y. — ^Ventillating Vault, and
platform light, John C. Wolvin, assignor to Geo. Peckham and himself, New
York. — Central draft joint of carriages, Luther 0. Rice, Caistorville, C. W. —
AYhiffletree hook, Anthony Cooley, Paw Paw, Mich. — Brake for Wagons, Hugh
Slater, Auburn, N. Y. — Carriage Top, R. S. Jennings, Waterbury, Ct.

Hydraulics and Pneumatics.
Basin Faucet, Wm. C, Marshall and Horace W. Smith, Hartford, Ct. — Rotary
Pump, Robert Ramsden, South Easton, Pa. — Method of increasing Hydrants,
William Bramwell, New- York, assignor to Samuel P. Ayers, New-Rochelle, N.
Y. — Valvular arrangement for Basin, and cocks, Edward G. Bunham, assignor
to himself and Henry A. Chapin, Springfield, Mass. — Hydrant, Joel Bryant,
Brooklyn, N. Y. — Elevating Water, by compressed air, Archibald Thompson,
Detroit, Mich. — Faucet, D, N. B. Coffin, Newton Center, Mass. — Valvular ar-
rangement for Faucets, &c., Edward Hamilton, Chicago, 111. — ^Pump, W. H.
Harrison, Philadelphia. — H3alrant, G. P. Fcrrine and J. E. Boyle, Richmond,
Y-A. — Attaching air chambers to Pumps, Charles N. Lewis, assignor to Geo. C.
King, Seneca Falls, N. Y. — Water Meter, Peter H. Nilcs, assignor to himself
and Alfred Douglass, Jr., Boston. — Blast Blower, John Brough, Aurora, 111.

Grinding MrLLS, and Mill Gearing.
Automatic Fans, Lawrence Rebstock and N. Reimel, Philadelphia. — Grinding
Mill, Ezra Coleman, Philadelphia. — Distributing apparatus of Flouring Mills,
Alfred T. Clark, Lancaster, Pa.

Lumber, and Tools and Machines for Preparing it.
Miter Box, Geo. L. Chapin, Perrysburgh, N. Y. The saw may be so guided
as to cut at any desired angle. — Preparing hubblocks for the Lathe, Lovctt
Fames, Kalamazoo, Mich. — Wheelrights' Machine, E. N. Kilpatrick, Byhalia,
Miss. — Machine for felling trees, Elliot F. Miller, Chelsea, Mass. — Shield and
Guide for circular saws, G. W. Rodeboy, Mihvaukie. Wis. — Adjusting circular
saws, obliquely to their shafts, G. R. Scrivcn, Philadelphia. — Automatic Saw
Mill Blocks, Hiram Wells, Florence, Mass. — Stock for Bench Planes, Joel Bryant,

American Patents. 107

Brooklyn, N. Y.— Cork Machine, Edward Conroy, South Boston. — Making Axe
Poles, Richard H. Cole, St. Louis, Mo. — Portable Steam Sawing Machine, S. R.
"Wilmot, Watertown, Conn. — Holding and adjusting plane irons in their stocks,
W. W. Shipman, Lowell, Mass. — Basket handles, Anthony Faas, Philadelphia. —
Picker sawing machine, John Haw, Old Church, Va. — Sawing Mill, J. G. Ken-
nedy, Cincinnati, 0. — Boring Machine, L. B. Lloyd, Warwich Township, Pa. —
Finishing brush handles, Thomas Mitchell, Lansingburgh, N. Y. — Securing and
adjusting plane irons in their stocks, Wm. Stoddard, Lowell, Mass. — ^Bench
Plane, Thomas D. Worrall, Lowell, Mass., assignor to Thomas F. Caldicott,
Charlestown, Mass. — Mortising Machine, H.B.Smith, Lowell, Mass. — Adjustible
fender posts for Saw Mills, Henry Harpold, Racine, 0. — Sawing machine for fell-
ing trees, Matthew Ludwig, Boston. — Cross cut sawing apparatus, Henry F.
Wilson, assignor to himself and Henry B. West, Flemington, Ga.

Leather, Tanning, etc.
Manufacture of boots, James Scrimgeour, Brooklyn, N. Y. So cutting out
the leathers that they do not require to be crimped — Pegging boots and shoes,
B. F. Sturtevant, assignor to himself and Elmir Townsend, Boston. — Deplating
compound for hides, A. K. Eaton, New-York. — Splitting leather, Dexter H.
Chamberlain, West Roxbury, Mass. — Scouring and Setting leather, Peter E.
Hammel, Pulaski, N. Y. — Machine for skiving boot counters, Wm. Butterfield,
Boston, and Bradford Stetson, Uxbridge, Mass., assignors to themselves and El-
mer Townsend, Boston. — Polishing raw-hide whips, Eugene Blattner, Phila-
delphia.

Household Furniture.

Paring, coring and quartering apples, Charles F. Bosworth, Petersham, Mass. —
Mop-head, E. P. Thompson, Worcester, Mass. — Invalid Bed Elevator, D. String-
ham, Dunham, New-York. — Chair for invalids, James G. Holmes, Charleston,
S. C. — Bedstead, Peter Hinds, Kendalls' Mills, Me, — Spring bed bottom, Geo.
W. Dow, assignor to himself and Walter F. French, Lynn, Mass. — ^Elastic Loop
for bedstead slats, Charles Robinson, Cambridgeport, Mass.

Arts, Polite, Fine, and Ornamental.
Rounding and backing books, Theodore Bergner, Philadelphia. — Card printing
press, Charles E. Emery, Canandaigua, N. Y. — Melodeon, Wm. Evans, Lock-
port, 111. — Constructing watch and locket rings, Henry A. Phillips, Providence,
R. I. — Power printing press, Jedediah Morse, Canton, Mass , assignor to the
S. P. Ruggles power press manufacturing Co., Boston, Mass. — Card printing
press, Franklin & Bailey, Boston, Mass. — Motion for preserving rolling contact,
&c., Geo. P. Gordon and Frederick 0. Degener, New-Yoi'k. Adapted to type
and lithographic presses, &c. — Printing press, F. L. Bailey, Boston. — Caligraph,
Charles Thurber, Worcester. Mass. — Background for photographs on glass, J.
W. Wykes, WheeUng, Va. — Printing Ink, George Matthews, Montreal,* C. E.

Fire Arms, &c.

Breech loading fire arms, Gilbert Smith, Buttermilk Falls, N. Y.— Same, John
Schenkl, Boston. — Fire arms, Jacob Shaw, Jr., Hinckley Township, 0. — Car-
tridges, Gilbert Smith, Buttermilk Falls, N. Y.

Surgical and Medical Instruments.

Uterine Supporters, W. E. Cooke, Philadelphia.

Miscellaneous.

Metallic band fastening for bales, &c., Asa 0. Broad, Louisville, Ky. — Clay
Pulverizers, Ira Herzey and James H. Van Riper, New- York. — Brick press, R.
R. Harbour, Oskaloosa, Iowa. — Paper file, D. A. Stiles, W. Meriden, Conn. —
Safety attachment for hatchways, James Bridge, Augusta, Me. — Animal trap,
Henry Hackman, Jr.,Pequa, Pa. — Safety Pocket, Horace Harris, Newark, N.J. —
Stamp label sticker, Coleman Sellers, Philadelphia. — Smut machine, James
Tompkins, Libc ty. Pa. — Umbrella and Parasol, James Willis, London, Eng. —
Machine for graduating linear measures, S. C, Hubbard, assignor to C. C. Hub-

108 Foreign Inventions.

bard, Midtlletown, Ct. — Lighting street gas, John Reede and Charles N. Tyler,
Washington, D. C. — Preserving green corn, David Rowe, Baltimore.-^Corapound
for covering Hams, Carter Van Veeck, Macomb, 111.

Puddling Pig Steel.

A Prussian correspondent of the Mining Journal, published in London, ex-
presses surprise that some of the capitalists in England do not turn their atten-
tion to puddling pig steel, which in Prussia is making rapid strides. Puddling
both iron and steel with ga=, is very general in Prussia. In some instances the
gas is obtained from the blast furnace, but in most cases it is generated to each
furnace ; dry wood, charcoal, lignite and turf, are employed as fuel. At one of
the iron works where wood is used for gas, the charges are eight hundred
weight of white mottled iron for each furnace, bringing out twenty to twenty-
one tons of puddled bars per week, at a loss of only four or five per cent., and
with a consumption of four cubic feet of timber per hundred weight of puddled
bars. At another establishment they charge with ten hundred weight of gray
pig, and bring out the charge in two and one-half hours with 8.70 cubic feet of
wood per hundred weight of puddled bars. A large rolling-mill is arranged to
puddle steel with gas from iron lignite, to be converted into railway wheels and
tires, for which there is an increasing demand ; these are forged under the
hammer to nearly the required form, and then passed through a pair of rolls to
finish them. A preparation of pig iron, of the following character, is found to
possess some excellent qualities : A small quantity of common salt — say one
and a half to two per cent. — is introduced into coke ovens, along with the small
coals ; the salt removes the sulphur from the coke, and hence the iron made
with this coke in the blast furnace is materially improved. Bars made fi'om
this iron have broken like crown iron, and it makes capital rails. All such
processes tend to bring the manufacture of this important metal to a continually
higher degree of perfection.

Manufacture of the Celebrated Eussian Leather.

In the production of the well-known Russian leather, the hides to be tanned —
whether wet or dry — are first laid to soak for three days and three nights in a
solution of potash, to which some quicklime is added. The potash used is
made of the common elm, which is said to be preferable to any other, if not es-
sential ; it is not purified, so that it is of a brown color, and of earthy appear-
ance. About four hundred and thirty-two pounds of this and seventy-two
pounds of lime, serve for one hundred skins. When the lie is weak, they let
the skins lie longer in the solution. When the skins are taken out, they are
carried to the river and left under water for a day and night. Next, two and a
half gallons of dog's ordure is boiled in as much water as is enough to soak fifty
skins ; but in the winter time, when the ordure is frozen, twice that quantity is
found necessary. The skms are put into this solution when it is about as hot
as the hand can bear, and in this they remain one day and one night. The
skins are then sewed up so as to leave no hole ; in short, so as to be water-tight.
About one third of what the skin will contain is then filled up with the leaves
and small twigs chopped together of the plant called bearberry, which is brought
from the environs of Solikamskaga, and the skin is then filled up with water.
Thus filled, they are laid one on the other in a large trough, and heavy stones
upon them, to press the infusion through the pores of the skin in about four
hours — the filling up being repeated ten times successfully, with the same
water. They are then taken to the river and washed, and are ready for the

Foreign Inventions. 109

dyeing — the whitest skins being laid aside for the red and yellow leather. The
skins are softened, after dyeing, by being harrassed with a knife, the point of
which curves upwards.

Discovery in Veneering^.

A PROCESS of veneering by transfer is mentioned with approval in the French
journals. The sheet of veneer or inlaying to be copied is to be exposed for a
few minutes to the vapor of hydrochloric acid. The sheet of veneer is then laid
upon one of calico or paper, and an impression struck off by means of a common
printing-press ; this impression remains invisible until, as with many of the sym-
pathetic inks, it is exposed to the action of heat, which is to be appHed imme-
diately after the sheet is printed off, when a perfect impression of all the marks,
figures, and convoluted lines of the veneer is instantaneously produced. This
may be repeated for an almost indefinite number of times, wetting the veneer
occasionally with the dilute acid, without the impression growing fainter. The
designs thus produced all exhibit a general woodlike tint, most natural when
oak, walnut, maple, and the light colored woods have been employed.

Fire-Place Shutters.

In many of the first class houses recently erected in England, fire-place shut-
ters are provided, which, when partly drawn down, act as powerful blowers, and
when wholly drawn down, so as to touch the hearthstone, entirely close up the
fire-place, and instantly extinguish the combustion of the fuel in the grate, or
that of the soot in the chimney, should it accidentally take fire.

Improvements in Reducinu the Friction of Axles and Axletrees of Carriages

ON Railways. Leon Joseph Pomme de Mirionde, Paris.

This invention consists in mounting saddlewise, in axle-boxes, two fi-iction
rollers, which are shaped to correspond with the journal of the axle ; and in a
method of lubricating the axes of the rollers and the journal itself. Bearings
are provided in the axle-boxes for the axes of the two saddle friction rollers,
which rollers take the bearing of the journal of the axle. •

To each side of the journal is affixed a ring, to which is connected a band or
covering of some suitable flexible material : this material dips in an oil reservoir
in the bottom of the axle-box, and being carried round with the axle, keeps up
a continuous lubrication to the axes of the friction rollers, and to the journal of
the axle.

Improvements in Apparatus to Facilitate the Printing of Yarns or Threads.

Richard Whytock, Edinburgh.

According to the method usually practiced for producing figural fabrics by the
use of printed yarns, hanks are formed on cylinders, and remain on the same till
printed. Now there are certain difficulties in this process which it is desirable
to remove. The first is, that the length of pattern is limited by the size of the
cylinder : thus, a cylinder six yards round only extends figures in velvet pile to
forty inches. Hence, recourse has been had to cylinders nine yards and eleven
yards in circumference ; but this is still not enough, although beyond this they
are scarcely manageable. Attempts have been made to get over this by using
two cylinders, placed at a distance asunder ; but no practical means have been
devised for covering them with yarns.

Now, this invention consists in employing two cylinders, or, in preference,
two open reels, and placing them opposite each other : these are held together
by connecting bars of wood or other suitable material, so that they can be lifted
about from place to place. These reels are covered with a continuous coating of
yarn or threads, laid in as regular order as the threads or yarns on a cylinder

110 Foreign Inventions.

are ; and this is effected by the following process :— The reels or cylinders are
each placed between two wheels of rather larger diameter than the reels. End-
less bands connect tliose wheels, that is, one fore-wheel and one hind-wheel ; so
that the two endless bands run parallel to each other. Upon those parallel
bands a light carriage is fixed, which conveys the bobbins containing the
threads or yarns with which the reels or cylinders are to be covered. The bob-
bins are passed over the reels or cylinders, and then under the reels or cylinders,
until so many coils or threads are placed in regular order, embracing both reels.
It is a motion directly the reverse of that used in covering the cylinders ; for
while the cylinder revolves on its center, the hank with the bobbins is station-
ary. Here the reels remain passive, and the hank with the bobbins revolves
round them. The change in the distance of the reels or cylinders from each
other regulates the size or length of the coil. These coils maybe removed fiom
the reels, and printed on tables or under cylinders — ^for such patterns as are
termed turn-over patterns ; but it is proposed to print the coils before removal
of the yarn by means of a printing machine, with traversing-pulleys, (formerly
patented by the present patentee,) so that all kinds of patterns can be produced
as by the cylinders, and with greater advantage.

Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron. Joseph Gilbert Martien, of

Newark, N. J., U. S. A.

This invention consists in applying to and disseminating through and amongst
fluid iron, or fluid metal possessing the characteristics of iron, of any kind, form,
or description whatsoever, as it flows from or whilst in a transition state from a
melting or re-melting furnace, cupola, fire, vessel or place of any land or form
whatsoever from which fluid iron may or can flow, (except from a smelting fur-
nace,) atmospheric air, oxj^gen gas, chlorine gas, hydrogen gas, carburetted hy-
drogen gas, or any desirable vapor, gas, or gases, separately or combined, and
in a natural state, or in a more or less heated state, as may be required, for the
purpose of heating, oxidizing, deoxidizing, carbonizing, decarbonizing, purifying,
strengthening, changing the nature of the metal, more or less, whatever the form,
character, nature, or name the metal may have or be known by, in consequence
wholly or in part of such treatment.

This invention also consists in applying to and disseminating through and
amongst fluid iron of any kind, form or description, as it flows from or whilst in
a transition state from a melting or re-melting furnace, cupola, fire, vessel or
placqiof any kind or form whatever fi'om which fluid iron may or can flow, (ex-
cept from a smelting furnace,) nickel, or matter containing nickel, zinc in the
fjrm of an oxide or otherwise ; manganese in the form of an oxide, carbonate,
carburet, or otherwise ; carbonaceous matter of any kind, or compound contain-
ing carbon ; kaolin, or any matter containing kaolin, chloride of sodium, chlo-
rates, carbonates, nitrates, or any saline, alkaline, vegetable, earthy, mineral, or
metallic matter, or matters, separately or combined, and in any form, state, or
condition that may be desirable for the purpose of oxidizing, deoxidizing, car-
bonizing, decarbonizing, purifying, alloying with the iron, or any matter con-
tained in the iron, strengthening, changing the nature of the metal more or less,
whatever the form, character, nature, or name the metal may take wholly or in
part in consequence of such treatment.

An Improved Mode of Adjusting Circular Saws. Henry Laxton, of Arundel

street. Strand.

This invention consists in securing a circular saw to its spindle in an oblique
direction, so as to enable the saw to cut grooves and rebates of any required
widths. This is effected in the following manner : — Between the saw and a col-
lar on the spindle are two bevilled washers, each capable of being turned inde-
pendently of the other ; and on the opposite side, is a plain washer, having a
concave recess for receiving a convex nut, which screws on to the end of the spin-
dle and secures the saw firmly thereto. The whole is so arranged, that by chang-
ing the relative positions of the two bevilled washers, a surface more or less
oblique with the axis of the spindle is presented for the saw to be secured

Foreign Inventions. Ill

against. Thus the obUquity of the saw with the axis of the spindle may be va-
ried at pleasure ; and grooves of various widths may be cut into the wood sub-
mitted to its action.

An Improvement in the Manufacture of Band-saws, and other Endless Bands

OR Hoops op Metal. Robert Thomas Eadon, Sheffield.

This invention consists in binding a bar or rod of cast steel, or other metal
suitable for the purpose required, into a circular form, and welding the ends
thereof in order to insure a perfect joint ; then in reducing the bar to the
thickness required between rolls, whereby an endless band, whether for band-
saws, casks, hoops, or for other use, is produced, of uniform strength.

The exact manner of carrying out the invention is as follows : — A bar of weld-
ing cast-steel having been prepared, of length, width, and strength suitable
to the size of the saw, band, or hoop required, and of suflQcient strength and
weight to enable a smith to obtain a perfect weld, the same is welded into a
hoop. This hoop is put into such a furnace as is ordinarily used in the saw
trade, and, when heated red hot, it is placed between a pair of open-end rolls.
The pressure exerted upon the rolls is regulated by a screw made to act upon
the top roll : the alternate heating and rolling are continued until the hoop or
band is reduced to the extent required. If intended for a band-saw, it is toothed
with a bed and punch with the common press or fly. The teeth and back of
the saw are afterwards filed.

The saw-band or hoop is now folded up into several coils and put into a saw
hardening furnace : it is heated red hot and precipitated into a cistern containing
fish oil ; when removed therefrom, the oil is partially wiped oflF, and the coil
again placed in the furnace until the requisite temper is obtained. The saw-
band or hoop is afterwards smithed, planished, or hammered, until it is free from
twist and bends, and straightened on both edges. The saw-band is then ground
and glazed in the ordinary manner, except that in tiurning over from one side to
the other, the saw-hoop or band is turned inside out, so that both sides may be
ground and glazed. Any irregularities or bends that have been caused by grind-
ing are afterwards straightened on a wood block of lignum-vita? or other hard
wood, by a smooth-faced hammer, so as not to cut or mark the body. The band
is afterwards tempered by "blueing" in an ordinary blueing stove, in sand;
any elasticity that hammering, grinding, etc., may have deprived it of being
thereby restored. When the teeth have been shaped in the ordinary manner
followed in the trade, the saw is ready for use.

Descripticn op Improved Corn-mill Machinery. Mb, Alexander Wright, of

Patrick.

In the ordinary mode of grinding wheat, the grain, after being properly
cleaned, is placed in a hopper above the millstones, and is thence fed in a regu-
lar manner into the eye or central aperture of the running or top stone, and by
the centrifugal effect of the stone's rotation is can'ied round in a spiral direction
between the two stones, until it gradually reaches the circumference of the
stones, whence it issues in a ground state and passes down a spout into a bin be-
low. In this system, which has been in use for centuries, there is, the writer
thinks, ample room for improvement, involving both an increase in the speed of
production, and superior quality of the flour.

An injurious efiFect is exercised upon the grain by its coming in contact with
the central portion of the stones, as at that part it is tortm-ed over and over on a
sharp flinty surface of nearly five feet area, and with a motion which, being in-
suflScient to grind it, tears the husk and kernel, to the detriment of the flour ;
this action taking place before the grain reaches that portion of the stones where
there is motion at once sufficient to grind it and to discharge the ground parti-
cles from between the stones.

In the improved arrangement of corn-mill machinery, forming the subject
of the present paper, the area at the center of the stones is altogether removed,
the stones being cut away at that part ; whilst in the opening there is inserted
a large distributing disc, which is driven at a high speed, lor the purpose of de-

112 Foreign Inventions.

livering the prepared grain between the stones, and also causing a current of air
as afterwards described.

The grain is supplied from a hopper along a spout to a small crushing appa-
ratus, (placed above the stones,) consisting of a pair of rollers driven from the
damsel spindle, hj means of bevil wheels. The grain passing between the
rollers on its way to the grinding surfaces, is bruised or crushed, which greatly
facilitates the grinding process, and improves the quality of the flour. The
crushed grain from the rollers falls upon the distributing disc, the surfece of
which is corrugated or notched radially, to aid the distribution of the grain : the
distributor is recessed half way into the face of each stone, and revolves clear of
the lower stationary stone, and also of the running stone.

The distributor is constructed so as to serve the double purpose of delivering
the grain between the stones, and also of supplying a current of cool air along
with the grain. The distribution disc, on which the crushed grain falls, forms
the upper side of a horizontal fan, which discharges a current of cool air along
with the grain between the stones. The air is drawn up through the enlarged
eye of the bed stone, which is left open, like the eye of the running stone, to al-
low of the free introduction of cool air, to act upon the grain where the grinding
action comes into most effective play. The fan of the distributor is made with a
number of curved arms, the spaces between which form horizontal curved pas-
sages for the air ; the outer ends of the air passages terminate at the circumfer-
ence of the distributor, and the inner ends open into the central chamber of the
fan, which communicates at the under side with trumpet-mouthed air tubes
which pass through the eye of the lower stone and are thus capable of taking in
cool air from below.

The action of the fan is such that, as the upper stone revolves, a current of
cool air is drawn up through the trumpet-mouthed tubes, and discharged in a
powerful stream upon the grain. By these means the grinding is accomplished
very rapidly and well, and the grain and flour are kept quite cool and in good
order. If the simple rate of the stones does not produce a sufficient current of
air by means of the fan, as may be the case with stones of large diameter, the fan
is driven at a greater velocity than that of the stones, by means of gearing, and
is arranged to revolve freely about the mill spindle.

A further improvement is effected in the discharge of the flour from the mill-
stones. Instead of allowing the flour to be carried round the inside of the
casing, so as to be delivered down a spout placed at one side, the casing is formed
with openings almost all round it, through which the flour falls in a thin film
into the conical or funnel-shaped casing below. In passing down this casing the
flour is exposed to the beneficial action of the upward current of cool air, which
is ascending to supply the fan — the heated air passing off by the ordinary open-
ing in the case over the top of the running stone. When the floor leaves the
casing, by a spout at the bottom, it is in a perfectly cool state, and may be im-
mediately bolted and put up into sacks for the baker.

The present improvements may be applied to a certain extent to old stones ;
but in erecting new mills or machinery, the stones should be made considerably
larger than hitherto ; that is to say, they should be at least six feet in diameter,
instead of only four feet or four feet six inches. These large stones should be
composed of a ring of burr blocks one foot broad, built up and nicely joined
round a center ring, composed either of a single piece of free-stone, or of cast-
iron.

Stones fitted up with the various improvements above described have, in prac-
tice, been found to do double, and in some cases more than double, the work
done by ordinary stones, whilst the flour produced has been of greatly superior
quality ; and where the lai-ger size of stones can be got, still better results will
be obtained, whilst the motion will be easier, and there will be less of the tremor
and vibration which, with ordinary arrangements, frequently annoys and frus-
trates the expectations of the most careful miller.

Reapers and Mowers. 113

Trial of Reapers and Mowers.

Commencing July \ith, 185*7, at Syracuse, N. Y., under the direction of the United
States Agricultural Society. Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, President, Major Benjamin
Perley Poore, Secretary.

Previously to Tuesday, the day appointed for the opening exercises, H. S. Olcott,
Secretary of the Implement Committee, had received notifications of entries for 38
mowers, 28 reapers, 22 combined machines for both mowing and reaping, 2 reapers
with automaton rakes, and sundry other machines for various farm purposes. Only a
small part of these implements, however, appear to have been actually entered. Most
of those entered were either on the ground the week before, or were brought forward
on Monday morning. Monday was altogether a quiet, pleasant day, and the arrange-
ments afforded to inventors and manufacturers the best opportunity of the whole
week for exhibiting their machines at rest. The pleasant, shady grounds of the Onon-
daga County Agricultural Society, were used for the purpose. This Society's great
tent was spread for the occasion. A tent for the President and officers of the
United States Agricultural Society, a large tent for refreshments, and several others
for various purposes, adorned the grounds, and added much to the comfort of exhibit-
ors and others.

On Tuesday morning, after the large procession had reached the grounds, at about
eleven o'clock, Gov. King, accompanied by Gov. Morehead, of Kentucky, and Ex-
Gov. Clark, of New-York, arrived on the ground under the escort of the marshals
and the Syracuse Dragoons and Washington artillery, a squad of the latter firing a
salute as they entered the ground, and the band playing " Hail Columbia."

The machines then formed, and mai'ched in procession around the track, preceded
by the marshals and Sutherland's brass band. When in front of the President's
stand, the procession halted, and the President of the Society, the Hon. Marshall P.
Wilder, then delivered an address, characterized by his usual earnestness and devotion
to the cause of agriculture.

In addressing the board of judges, Mr. Wilder said, I shall not attemjit to instruct
you minutely in reference to your duties. There are a few points, however, to
which I deem it important that your special attention should be directed.

1. Cost of machine. 2. Simplicity of construction. 3. Durability. 4. Effective
power, — or power required for a given amount of work, including the necessary at-
tendance. 5. The rate of motion, or what a machine will accomplish under an or-
dinary rate of speed for daily work. 6. Quality of work, or the manner of leaving
the grass and grain. 7. Facility of management. 8. Any machine posssessing spe-
cial points of excellence, although as a whole it may be inferior, such special advan-
tages should be noted, and a diploma awarded therefor.

At the conclusion of Mr. Wilder's address, which abounded in practical good sense,
and was listened to with great apparent interest, loud calls were made for Governor
King, who came forward and addressed the crowd in some very appropriate re-
marks, in which he paid a handsome compliment to the President of the United States
Agricultural Society, Mr. Wilder.

Governor Morehead, of Kentucky, being vociferously called for, next came forward
amid hearty cheers, and made a most interesting and patriotic speech, in which he
represented his State as ever true to the Union ; and as standing with one arm
around the agitators of the North and the other around the disorganizers of the
South, hugging each to her bosom, and ti'ying to make them love each other, but des-
tined to be the bloody ground of fraternal sti'ife, if she could not succeed. He ex-

114 Meapers and Moioers.

presses a wish that the extremists of North antl South miglit oftencr come togetlier
as on this occasion, and look each other in the face. He thought tliat neither might
look so uglj' to the other as both seem to tliink, -while keeping apart.

These ceremonies concluded, next followed a brilliant collation, in the President's
tent, of which the President, the invited guests, the marshals and gentlemen connect-
ed with the press partook. When " the love of eating ceased," and good things could
no longer tempt the appetite, the line of march was taken up for a large, and unfor-
tunately a rough and tangled clover field, one mile distant. Reapers, mowers, six
pounders, and other signs of peace and of war alternated along the line. The cannon
we suppose were well enough, though we could not exactly see why the smell of
powder should mingle with the fragrance of newly cut clover. It was about two
o'clock when the procession reached the field.

The machines entered the field in the manner in which they had drawn, as
follows:

1. D. M. Osborne, Buffalo, mower. 2. Seymour &, Morgan, Brockport, N. Y.,
combined machine. 3. Miller, Wright <fe Co., Louisville, Ky., combined machine.
4. Warder, Brokaw & Co., Springfield, Ohio, combined mower. 5. Ball, Aultman
<fe Co., Canton, Ohio, mower. 6. T. R. Hussey, Auburn, N. Y., combined machine.
7. M. HoUenbeek, Albany, mower. 8. Ilowland Sanford, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.,
combined machine. 9. W. A. Wood, Hoosick Falls, N. Y., mower. 10. W. F. Ket-
chum, Buffalo, mower. 11. T. P. Burrall, Geneva, N. Y., combined machine. 12-
Pells Manny, Freeport, III, mower. 13. Ball, Aultman & Co., mower. 14. W. A.
Wood, Hoosick Falls, K Y., combined macliine. 15. A, H. Caryle, Boston, Mass..
mower. 16. W. H. Hovey, Springfield, Mass., mower. 17. Rufus Dutton, Dayton,
Ohio, combined machine. 18. R. L. Allen, New-York, mower. 19. Pruyn &, Lan-
sing, Albany, K Y., mower.

An acre of ground was staked out for each machine. The unevcnness of the sur-
face and the lodged condition of the clover were calculated to put the machines to a
hard trial. If they could stand the test, it was thought they could stand anything.
The teams were started at three o'clock, and at four nearly the whole field was cut
over.

Ketchum's improved harvester, manufactured by Messrs. Howard & Co., of Buf-
falo, made wholly of iron, and certainly a beautiful piece of work, did its acre expe-
ditiously and well.

J. Manny's Patent Adjustible Self-Raking Reaper, manufiictured by Manny & Co.,
Freeport, III, also did its work rapidly and in good style, and apparently without
violent effort on the part of the horses. This is a recent Pells Manny, father to J.
II. Manny, and we heard it said, that the machine here used was the first and the
only one yet manufactured. The son, we apprehend was not easy to be beat; but if
the father should beat him, we should not be sorry.

Of Allen's ^Mowing Machine, we heard it said by many that it worked admirably.
We saw little of its work, as it was impossible among so many machines, far apart
from each other, to make accurate observations on each. But having seen Allen's
mower in operation a few days before in Farmington, Conn., where it worked well
under exceedingly unfavorable circumstances, we were prepared to think well of it.
We are prepared to think well also of J. H. Manny's patents, both of combined
reaper and mower and the single mower, as also of Kirby's improved reaping and
mowing machine, and of Burrell's mower and reeper, the frame of which is wholly
of iron, its draft appearing to be easy, and its work well done.

It will be understood that there were other machines than those we have named
on the ground. We were under necessity of leaving at an early stage of the trial-

Reapers and Mowers. 115

Our remarks relate to only a few which attracted our particular attention. The in-
vestigation of the Committee, we hope will be thorough, persevering, impartial and
as far as the nature of the case admits, reliable ; though it must be admitted that
their task is as difficult as it is important, and while from our knowledge of the men,
we are inclined to believe that " If any right arm could save Troy, these would," yet
we fear it will be utterly impossible for them either to do full and equal justice to
the manufacturers of these machines, or to give the farmers more than half of the
real, reliable information they want. If they can do so much, it will be something;
it will be worth a good deal ; and we shall thank the United States Agricultural So-
ciety, at least, for what it has attempted, and for what we trust it will have partially
accomplished.

Our confident expectation is, that great improvements are yet to be made in mow-
ing and reaping by other power than that of human muscles. None but the smallest
farmers should think of mowing and reaping much longer in the old way. It was
very naughty in the human race, that they did not search out better ways long ago.

In the present state of things, we see not how large farmers, who must have some
one of these machines noiv, can do better than to use the best light they can get.
For smaller farmers, would it not be wise, either to wait a little, or several of them
to join in the purchase of a machine to be used in common, or perhaps to hire their
grass and grain by a machine held by some one in their neighborhood for the pur-
pose.

Certainly- it would not be very comfortable for a farmer of limited means, who
should have purchased a machine, with the hope of its lasting many years, to be told
in a few months, that his machine was behind the times, only about as good as an
old almanac.

TRIAL OF MOWERS NEAR HOMER AND COUKTLANDVILLE, COUETLAND CO., N. T.

On our way home from the National trial of Mowers and Reapers, at Syracuse,
we stopped a day for the purpose of being present at a less extensive, but to us
hardly less interesting trial of mowers, on two adjoining farms, midway between
the beautiful and flourishing villages of Homer and Courtlandville.

This trial came off on Wednesday afternoon, July 21st, imder the auspices of the
Courtland County Agricultural Society. The first field entered was of very heavy
clover and herdsgi'ass, considerably lodged in spots. The borders had been previ-
ously cut and the hay removed. This gave ample room for the immense assemblage
of farmers and others to witness the working of the machines without crowding
upon the teams.

There were present ten mowers, nine of which were worked. An acre had been
previously marked off for each. The field was cut over in about one hour, some of
the teams finishing their portions in lesss than half that time. But we did not un-
derstand that this was a match on time, but rather a test of the quality of work
done by each machine, as the teams seemed to be going and standing alternately, to
suit the investigation of the committee.

The work of this field being finished, the line of march was taken for another
field on an adjacent farm. Here, too, the borders had been relieved of their crop
to admit the multitudes, and the field was soon set off into three quarter acre par-
allelograms, and a proper mowing match on time commenced. It was a brilliant
scene. The grass on this field was lighter than in the other, and for the most part
stood erect. Most of the lots were cut in from twelve to twenty minutes. But one
machine, we believe, failed of doing its work quickly enough, and that one failed
altogether owing to a break of a finger and one or more cutters.

116 Meapers and Mowers.

Our readers, no doubt, are by this time complaining that we deal too much in
generalities. They want we should tell them outright which was the best machine,
which was the worst, and so of all the grades. But really this is a harder task than
we are able to accomplish. The considerable number of the machines, all in motion
at once ; their distance from each other; the rapidity of the work; the falling rain,
which hindered our taking notes, and the difficulty of ascertaining precisely the charac-
ter of the work while yet covered with the crop, all rendered it impossible for us to
feel very confident in any opinions we might form. Wishing that we could do justice
to all, but conscious that we can not, and sensitively alive to the importance of doing
injustice to no worthy competitor, we shall attempt little more than to name the ma-
chines, with a passing remark on some of them.

1. Hussey's patent, manufactured by T. R. Hussey, at Auburn. This looked like
an " old settler ;" and if we were rightly informed it was the first mowing machine
introduced into this region. Many farmers said in our hearing ; " It is an old
friend ; give us the old Hussey after all ; it is the best yet," and words to that effect.
Some accused other patentees of stealing Hussey's "thunder," and said that the in-
fringement was shameful, and never ought to be sustained. Of all this we leave
others to judge. But it is certain that Hussey's machine did its work well and ex-
peditiously, and was of easy draft.

2. Ketchum's Patent, manufactured by R. L. Howard, of Buffalo, K Y. This is
wholly of iron. It appeared to be a good piece of workmanship, aud it worked
well.

3. J. H. Manny's Patent, with Daggert's improvement, manufactured by Daggert <fe
Jordan. Do not know how it worked, but think well.

4. J. H. Manny's Patent, with Wood's improvement, manufactured by Walter &
Wood, at Hoosick Falls, Renss county, N. Y. Remark same as of the last.

5. Hallenbeck's Patent, manufactured by HaUenbeck &, Cunningham, Albany, N. Y.
Our impi-essions of it favorable.

6. Ketchum's Patent, owned by Jedediah Barber, of Homer ; another old settler,
said in our hearing to have been the first sold in that village. Worked well.

7. R. L. Allen's Patent, manufactured by A. B. Allen, Brooklyn, and sold by R.
L. Allen, New-York. Worked well, but not quite as well as we have seen it other
wheres. Our impression is, that in heavy tangled grass, in a bottom not over
smooth, it does better relatively than in lighter and smoother work. It is an excel-
lent grass-cutter.

8. A mower got up by Stephen W. Card, of Homer, not yet patented, we believe,
but protected by a caveat. This was the only machine of the kind yet manufac-
tured. Promises well we should think, but can say nothing positive.

Last, but it may yet turn out not least, a new machine, on really new principles, so
far as we know, manufactured by Stephen R. Hunter, of Courtlandville. We have
long suspected that sooner or later, a circular motion would take the place of the
vibrating motion in all these machines. Mr. Hunter's machine is an effort in that
direction, and though it does not confirm our previous expectations of a revolution
in the grand principle of cutting grass and grain, it strengthens them. We advise
Mr. H. to persevere, nothing discouraged by the breaking of a knife or two and not
finishing his lot. He had not had time to complete his machine, nor to practice with
in advance of the trial. We strongly incline to the belief that he has got hold of
an idea which will be of great utility. Let it be thoroughly tested.

The time was a pleasant one, with the exception of a little rain, and the gather-
ing could not fail to give a favorable impression of the farmers and farming iu this
beautiful valley.

Scientific.

117

THE FAMItV CtaCtE.

Stitittifit,

THE WEATHEB.

Appearance of Birds, Flotvers, etc., in Nichols, Tioga Co., N". Y., in June, 1857.

By E. HoweU.

Place of Observation, 42 degrees North, on a Diluvial Formation, about 40 feet above

the Susquehanna River.

June.
1
2
3
4
5
6

8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

18
19

20
21
22
23
24
25

26
27
28
29
30

6A.M,
61
56
49
40
40
39
53
53
57
58
58
52
53
54
49
59
59
63

53
60
61
52
46
53

54
58
63
68
59

1P.M.

81
82
77
65
59
69
62
69
70
76
77
78
84
71
80
77
84
72
79

79

83
78
68
78
80

84
84
90
64

9 P.M.
64
55
56
48
48
52
56
61
59
62
57
61
64
53
57
58
64
62

61

56
54
56
62

58

58
62
72
62
57

South
N. W.
West
North
N. W.
West

S. W.

Cloudy.

a&K

s. w.

North

<i

South

"

S.East

"

"

"

S.(feN.

"

North

«

West

"'

North

"

South

"

'<

a

<i

"

Remarks.
Hard shower before day; lilacs begin to bloom.
Fe-w dashes of rain; crane's-bill begins to blo-w.
Few dashes of rain.

Light black frost in morning.
Quite a frost in morning.

Considerable rain in N.W.; began at 5 o'clock.
Light rain in P.M., and hard rain in evening.
Hard rain at sunrise ; moderate rain all day.
Light rain in A.M. ; peony begins to bloom.
Hard rain all A.M.; at intervals in P.M.
Showers in P.M. and evening.
Sprinkle of rain.

[April.
Hard rain near all day ; roads as muddy as
Light rain near night. [in evening.

Rain in morning ; aurora and sheet lightning
Hard rain before light; wild blackberry begins

to bloom.
Short hard shower at dark.

Hard rain nearly all the P.M.
Rain all night; a few dashes near night.
Button rose begins to bloom.
June 25th and 26th, a majority of farmers hoe
corn the first time.

[evening.
Sprinkle of rain before light ; lightning in
Light rain before day and hard rain in P.M.
Considerable rain before and after the day.

Prospect of the Crops in Nichols and vicinity, July 13th, 1857.
Of wheat, there was sown last fall more than usual, perhaps on the account
of the crop last year being but little injured by the insect wheat-fly or midge ; the
wheat this summer appears finer than I have seen before in a number of years, being
very large and even, but I understand the insects have appeared in some crops in
great numbers. I examined but two fields, and them but lightly ; they were
Mediterranean species, which are not generally as much injured as other species by the
insect ; this insect has been here nine or ten years. The rye crop is very fine, and
a large amount on the ground. Oats, with the exception of a few fields on hill, are
better than before in a number of years, and most probably a number of fields will
be too large. The corn is about two weeks later than usual at this time of year ; a
number of fields have been ploughed up and sown with buckwheat or are being

118 Scientific.

now sown. There never was a season that cut-worms and birds have done so
much damage as this year. Potatoes, so far, very large, that is, the tojis. Meadows
newly seeded generally fine ; old meadows poorer than before in a number of years,
being very thin and short; the hay must be light, also the pastures do grow but
little, and older fields thin in the bottom, being injured by the drouth last season
and also by the winter.

Toe usual chapter on Chemistry is omitted, on account of the absence of the Se-
nior. "The Markets" are also necessarily omitted.

Insects Injurious to Vegetation.

[Insects attackikq the Cotton Plant, continued.]
In continuing this branch of our subject, we present our readers with the following
extracts from Mr. Glover's Report, referred to in our last issue.
The Cotton-Louse. — Aphis?

"When the cotton-plant is very young and tender, it is particularly subject to the at
tacks of the cotton-louse, which by means of its piercer, penetrates the outer coating,

or parenchyma of the leaf or tender
shoots, and sucks tlie sap from the wound.
The under part of the leaves or joung
shoots are the places mostly selected, and
the constant punctures and consequent
drainage of sap enfeebles the plant and
causes the leaf to curl up, turn yellow, and
subsequently fall to the ground. The
young lice are extremely minute, and of a
greenish color ; but when they become
older, they are about a tenth of an inch in
length, and often dark green ; but, in some instances, they are almost black. It is
conjectured that the color somewhat depends upon the health of the plant as well as
that of the insect, or, perhaps, upon their food, as I have seen green and black lice
promiscuously feeding upon the same plant. The female produces her young alive
throughout the summer, when she may often be seen surrounded b^' her numerous
progeny, sucking the juice from the leaves and still producing young. Some natural-
ists state that the females, late in the fall, produce eggs, for the generation of the next
spring. If so, it is in order to preserve the species, as the insects themselves are ea-
sil3' killed by frost and cold ; and their increase would be incalculable were it not that
Nature has provided many enemies among the insect tribes to prevent their too rapid
multiplication. Both males and females are said to possess wings at certain seasons;
but the females and young in summer appear to be wingless. The end of the abdo-
men of both sexes is provided with two slender tubes, rising like horns from the back,
from which often exudes the " honey-dew," or sweet gummy substance, seen sticking
to the upper sides of the leaves beneath them, and which forms the favorite food of
myriads of ants. Although young plants are mostly attacked, yet I have seen old
"stands," in Georgia, with their young shoots, completely covered with this pest as
late as November.

The principal insects that destroy the aphides are the lady-bird, the lace-fly, and the
syrphus, all of which wage incessant war upon them, and devour all they can find.
Another fly, the ichneumon, hkewise lays an egg in the body of the louse, which,
hatching into a grul), devours the inside of the still hving insect until it eventually
dies, clinging to the leaf even in death, and the fly makes its appearance from the old
skin of the aphis.

When old cotton plants are suSering from the attacks of the louse, many planters
cause their tops to be cut off and burned, and by so doing partially succeed in destroy-
ing them ; yet, when we consider that, by this method, many young blossoms and
" forms" must likewise be destroyed, it must be confessed that the remedy is almost
as bad as the disease. In a garden or green-house, a solution of whale-oil soap, from

Scientific.

119

a syringe, showered upon the upper and under parts of the foliage, has been used
with much advantage ; yet, upon the extended scale of a cotton plantation, such a re-
medy is altogether impracticable, and, until we can collect further information upon this
subject from intelligent planters, we must rest content with the instinct of our insect
allies.

THE LEAF-HOPPER. — Tetigotiia ?

The leases of the cotton-plant are often injured by the leaf-hopper. This small in-
sect is found upon the plant in the larva, pupa and perfect state. In all
these forms, it sucks the sap from the leaf, causing small diseased and whit-
ish-looking spots, much disfiguring the foliage, and irguring the plant itself,
when the insects are very numerous. They are also found in great numbers
on grape-vines, in Florida, and injure the foliage to a considerable de-
gree.

The perfect insects are very small, measuring only from one-tenth to
three-twentieths of an inch in length. The head is somewhat crescent-shaped, of a
green color, with two red spots on the upper surface. The thorax is also green, with
two crescent-shaped spots of red on each side of a small red spot in the center The
wing-cases are green, with two stripes or bands of red, running parallel down each
wing-case, from the thorax to the upper margin, where they form an acute angle.
The legs are yellowish-green, the hinder pair being much longer than the others, and
furnished with bristles on the tibia. In the larva state, they are able to leap with
great agihty ; but it is only in the perfect state that they are able to fly, the under-
wings being hidden by the wing-cases, and not perfectly developed in the larvae or
pupa3. There are several species of these insects found upon cotton, which it will not
be necessary here to describe, as their natural history and habits are nearly the
same.

In using the lantern already described, it was found that thousands of these small
insects were attracted from some grape-vines in an adjoining field. The use of fires or
lights may therelore be recommended to destroy them, when they become verj
numerous, although, as regards the cotton, they are not often found on it in nuni-
bers sufficient to do much harm.

THE KED-SPIDER. AcurtlS ?

Much injury is done to the cotton-leaf by a minute red spider, which presents very

V . much the appearance of incipient rust, except that the leaf is of a more rus-

s»*AA ty-brown in spots, instead of the bright-yellow of the real rust. This red

M^ spider principally attacks the under side of the leaf, the spots caused by its

^^'iiife^ punctures turning brown, and finally increasing until it is completely stung

m^\ all over, and falls from the plant.

t % This insect is extremely minute, and when on the leaf, it can scarcely be
discerned by the naked eye. Some of the young appear to be of a greenish cast ; but
when they are advanced in age, the abdomen assames a dark crimson shade, with
darker maroon spots upon its upper surface. The legs, which are hairy, are eight in
number.

This family of the mites, (acari,) do much injury to vegetable life, as they are so
extremely minute as to escape the notice of the superficial observer. When they in-
fest grape-houses, or rose-bushes, it has been recommended to dust the leaves while
moist with flour of sulphur.

THE BOLL-WORM. HdiotheS ?

The egg of the boll-worm moth is generally deposited on the outside

of the involucel, or outer calyx of the
flower, and I have taken it from the outer
calyx even of the young boll itself. It has
been stated that the egg is laid upon the
stem, which also forms the first food of the
young worm ; but, after a thorough and
careful examination of several hundred
stems, I found only one egg in this situation,
and that, from its being upon its side instead

of its base, had evidently been misplaced, and never hatched.

The egg of the boll-worm is laid singly upon the involucel, about twilight, and is of

a somewhat oval shape, rather flattened at the top and bottom, and is formed with

120 Scientific.

ridges on the side, which meet at the top in one common center. The color is yel-
lowish until nearly hatched, when it becomes
darker, the young enclosed caterpillar showing
through the translucent shell. A single boll-worm
moth, dissected by Dr. John Gamble, of Tallahasse,
contained at least five hundred eggs, which differed
much from those of the cotton-caterpillar moth,
which are round and flattened like a turnip, of a
beautiful green color, and scarcely to be distin-
guished from the leaf on which they are deposited.
The eggs of the boll-worm moth hatched in three
or four days after being brouglit in from the field, and the young worms soon com-
menced feeding upon the parenchyma, or tender fleshy substance of the calyx, on
the outside, near where the egg was laid. When they had gained strength, they
pierced through the outer calyx, some through the petals into the enclosed flower-bud,
while others penetrated the boll itself. Sometimes the pistil and stamens are found to
be distorted and discolored, which is caused by the young worm when inside the bud,
eating the stamens and injuring the pistil, so that it is drawn over to one side. When
this is the case, the young worm bores through the bottom of the flower, into the
young boll, before the old corolla, pistil, and stamens fall off, leaving the young boll,
inner calyx and outer calyx, or involucel, still adhering to the foot-stalk, witn the
young worm safe in the growing boll.

The number of buds destroyed by this worm is very great, as they fall off when
quite young, and are scarcely observed as they lie brown and withering on the ground.
The instinct of the caterpillar, however, teaches it to forsake a bud or boll about to
fall, and either to seek another or to fasten itself to a leaf, on which it remains until
the skin is shed ; it then attacks another bud or boll in a similar manner, until, at
length, it acquires size and strength sufficient to enable it to bore into the nearly-
matured bolls, which are entirely destroyed by its punctures; for, if the interior is
not devoured, the rain penetrates the boll and the cotton soon becomes rotten and of
no value.

The rotted bolls serve also for food and shelter to numerous small insects, such as
t'lose already mentioned, and which have been erroneously accused of causing the
rot. Whenever a young boll or bud is seen with the involucre, or outer calyx, called
by some the " ruffle," spread open, it may be safely concluded that it "has been
attacked by the worm, and will soon fall to the ground and perish. The older bolls,
however, remain on the plant ; and if many of the fallen buds or bolls be closely ex-
amined, the greater portion of them will be found to have been previously pierced
by the worm, the few exceptions being caused either by the minute punctures of some
of the plant-bugs, from rain, or other atmospheric influences. Those injured by the
worm can be distinguished by a small hole on the outside where it entered, and which,
when cut open, will generally be found partially filled with small fragments of
foeces. *

When very young the boll-worm is able to suspend itself by a thread, if blown or
brushed from the boll or leaf on which it rested. After changing its skin several
times and attaining its full size, the caterpillar descends into the ground, where it
makes a silky cocoon, interwoven with particles of gravel and earth, in which it
changes into a bright chestnut-brown chrysalis. The worms which entered the
ground in September and October, appeared as perfect moths about the end of No-
vember.

A boll-worm, which was bred from an egg found upon the involucel, or ruffle,
of the flower-bud, grew to rather more than a twentieth of an inch in length by the
third day, when it shed its skin, having eaten in the meantime nothing but the paren-
chyma, or tender fleshy substance from the outside. On the fifth day it bored or
pierced through the outer calyx, and commenced feeding upon the inner ; and on the
sixth day it again shed its skin, and had increased to about the tenth of an inch in
length. On the tenth day it again shed its skin, ate the interior of the young flower-
bud, and had grown much larger. On the fourteenth day it for the fifth time shed
its sKin, attacked and ate into a young boll, and had increased to thirteen-twentieths
of an inch in length. From this time it ate nothing but the inside of the boll, and on
the twentieth day the skin was again shed, and it had grown to the length of an inch
and one-tenth, but unfortunately died before completing its final change.

These moths probably lay their eggs on some other plants when the cotton is inac-
cessible, as a young boll-worm was found this season in the corolla of the flower of a

Scientific. 121

squash, devouring the pistils and stamens ; and as there is a striking similarity be-
tween the boll-worm and the corn-worm moth, described in the Agricultural Report
for 1854, in the appearance, food and habits, alike in the caterpillar, chr3'Salis, and
perfect state, it will perhaps prove that the boll-worm may be the j'oung of the corn-
worm moth, and that the eggs are deposited on the young boll, as the nearest substi-
tute for green corn, and placed upon them only when the corn has become too old
and hard for their food.

Colonel B. A. Sorsby, of Columbus, in Georgia, has bred both these insects, and
declares them to be the same ; and, moreover, when, according to his advice, the
corn was carefully wormed on two or three plantations, the boll-worms did not make
their appearance that season on the cotton, notwithstanding that, on neighboring
plantations, they committed great ravages.

The worms, or caterpillars, have six pectoral, eight ventral, and two anal feet, and
creep along with a gradual motion, quite unlike the looping gait of the true cotton-
caterpillar, and vary much in color and markings, some being brown, while others
are almost green. All are more or less spotted with black, and slightly covered with
short hairs. These variations of color may perhaps be caused by the food of the
caterpillar. Some planters assert that, in the earlier part of the season, the green
worms are found in the greatest number, while the dark brown are seen later in the
fall, as we know is the case with the cotton-caterpillar.

The upper wings of the moth are yellowish, in some specimens having a shade of
green, but in others of red. There is an irregular dark band running across the wing,
about an eighth of an inch from the margin, and a crescent-shaped dark spot near
the center ; several dark spots, each enclosing a white mark, are also discovered on
the margin ; the under wings are lighter colored, with a broad black border on the
margin, and are also veined distinctly with the same color. In the black border,
however, there is a brownish-yellow spot of the same color as the rest of the under
wings, which is more distipct in some specimens than in others, but may always
be plainly perceived. There is also, in most specimens, a black mark or line in the
middle of the under-wings, on the nervure ; but, in some, it is very indistinct.

These moths multiply very rapidly ; for, as I have before observed, one female
moth sometimes contains five hundred eggs, which, if hatched in safety, would ra-
pidly infest a whole field, three generations being produced in the course of a
year.

In an interesting communication from Colonel Benjamin F. Whitner, of Talla-
hassee, he states that the boll-worm was scarcely known in his neighborhood before
the }-ear 1841 ; and yet, in the short period of fourteen years, it had increased to
such a degree as to have become one of the greatest enemies to the cotton on several
plantations in that vicinity.

It has been recommended to light fires in various parts of the plantations, at the
season when the first moths of this insect make their appearance, as they are attracted
by light, and perish in great numbers in the flames ; and, if the first brood of females
be thus destroyed, their numbers must necessarily be reduced, as it is highly probable
that it is the second and third generations which do the principal damage to the
crops. Some successful experiments in killing these moths with molasses and vine-
gar were made by Captain Sorsby a year or two ago, which I here describe in his
own words :

" We procured eighteen common-sized dinner-plates, into each of which we put
about half a gill of vinegar and molasses, previously prepared in the proportion of
four parts of the former to one of the latter. These plates were set on small stakes,
or poles, driven into the ground in the cotton-fields, one to about each three acres,
ami reaching a little above the cotton plant, with a six-inch-square board tacked on
the top to receive the plate. These arrangements were made in the evening soon
after the flies had made their appearance. The next morning we found from eighteen
to thirty-five moths to each plate. The experiment was continued for five or six days,
distributing the plates over the entire field, each day's success decreasing until the
number was reduced to two or three to each plate, when it was abandoned as being
no longer worthy of the trouble. The crop that year was but very little injured by
the boll-worm. The flies were caught, in their eagerness to feed upon the mixture,
bj^ alighting into it and being unable to make their escape. They were doubtless
attracted by the odor of the preparation, the vinegar probably being an important
agent in the matter. As flies feed only at night, the plates should be visited late
every evening, the insects taken out, and the vessels replenished, as circumstances
may require. I have tried the experiment with results equally satisfactory, and

122 Scientific.

shall continue it until a better one is adopted." It miglit be well also to try the lan-
tern-trap before mentioned, as another means of destruction, and, likewise, the
method of poisoning recommended in the general remarks on insects. As it appears
from Colonel Sorsby's communication that the moth is attracted by, and feeds with
avidity upon molassee and vinegar, could not some tasteless and effective poison be
mixed with this liquid, so that all the early moths which might partake of it would be
destroyed before laying their eggs ?

THE BED-BUG, OR COTTON-STAINER. Ll/gaUS ?

This destructive insect is found by millions in East Florida on the cotton planta-
tions, where it does immense damage by staining the fibre of the cotton in the boll',
and rendering it unfit for use where pure white fabrics 'are required. The specimens
figured were found near Jacksonville, in October, on the open bolls,
under the dried calyx, and congregating together on the dead leaves
under the plants, or on rotten logs or decayed wood. Several of
the open bolls were actually red with these insects, exhibiting
every stage of growth, from the larva to the perfect bug. all clus-
tered together in such masses as almost to hide the white of the
cotton itself. The beak, or rostrum, is four-jointed, with the end
blackish, and, when not in use, is re-curved under the thorax,
which is somewhat triangular in shape, with the anterior part red ;
a narrow, distinct band of whitish-yellow divides the thorax from the head; the pos-
terior part is black, edged between the thorax and wing-cases with whitish-yellow ;
the scutellum is triangular, red, and edged with a distinct line of whitish-yellow on
each side, and partly down the center of the wing-case ; the elytraj, or wing-cases,
are flat, brownish-black, and containing two distinct x-shaped whitish-yellow Hues on
them, intersecting each other near the center ; the wing-cases are also edged with a
distinct yellowish line, as far as the x. The body is flattened, and, in the female,
projects on each side beyond the wing-cases, showing the bright red of the abdomen,
and contrasting with the dark color of the wing-cases. The under wings are hidden
imder the upper wing cases, and are transparent, veined, and of a yellowish color,
clouded with black. The thighs of the fore-legs are somewhat spiny near the tibi^,
and of a red color. The tibia) and tarsi are black; the under part of the body is
bright red, with rings of yellowish-white running around it on the edge of each
segment.

The female produces about one hundred eggs ; the young larva is completely red,

almost scarlet, with distinct whirish-yellov/ bands around the body, on the edge

of each segment. The thighs are red, with the tibia;, tarsi, and antennas blackish.

The pupa differs only in size and in having the unformed wing-cases very small and

black, contrasting strongly with the vivid red of the body.

The perfect male is about three fifths an inch in length, and the female about seven
tenths of an inch, from the head to the end of the abdomen. They are similar in
shape and color, differing only in size. The head and eyes are red, the antennte
black, with four long joints.

The following communication on the subject of this insect was received from Mr.
B. Hopkins, of Jacksonville, a practical Sea-Island planter, of nearly thirty years
experience :

" The ' red bugs,' or, as they are sometimes properly denominated, the 'cotton-
stainers,' generally make their appearance about August or late in July, which is near
the usual season for cotton to begin to open. They can readily be distinguished from
other bugs, harmless in their nature, by their being of a red color, and more sluggish
in their movements. The nearer the fruit advances towards maturity, the more injury
they do to the cotton. The pod, or boll, is perforated by this bug. "Whether the
staining matter is imparled to the fibre of the cotton during the perforation directly,
or by a slow process diffusing itself with the sap abounding at that time in the pod,
is not yet ascertained. I am of the latter opinion from the fact that almost the entire
product of the boll is discolored when it opens, which does not seem at all to cause a
premature development. As winter approaches they gradually retire and take refuge
among the logs, or burrow into the soil at the root of the cotton-plant, where they
hybernate. After a wet season, in winter, they may be found in hundreds on the
sunny side of the stalKs, enjo-ying the genial atmosphere until towards evening, when
they again retire. They can be kept down very easily when there are not more than
five acres planted to the hand.

" I have been in the habit of offering a reward every night to the negro that brings

Scientific. 123

in the greatest quantity, each of whom is furnished with a pint bottle suspended
across the shoulders, into which, as they pass along picking the cotton, they depqeit
all they can discover. In many instances I have seen the bottle filled by one negro
in a day. They may also be greatly reduced by destroying them when they come
out in winter in their half-torpid state ; a torch of fire in that case is best. They may
be buried a foot under ground, and most of them will still escape from their inhuma-
tion. If there should be stumps or trees in the fields, they should be burned, and
that will generally reduce the quantity for a year or more. In fact, when they re-
ceive timely and proper attention, they need not be dreaded.

"No process that I know of can extract the stain produced in the bolls ; it is indel-
lible, and considerably reduces the price of the cotton in the market. These insects
have been much on the increase for the last ten years, which I attribute to the excess
in planting, as well as the want of proper efforts for their destruction."

It has been stated by other planters that the fceces of the insect produces the red-
dish or greenish stain, and that the red-bugs will collect where there are splinters
and fragments of sugar cane. Advantage has already been taken of this habit to
collect them b}- means of small chips of sugar-cane, when they may be destroyed
by boiling water ; and as they also collect around piles of cotton-seed, they may
thus be easily decoj-ed and then killed, either by fire or hot water, when congregated.
All stumps and dead trees standing in the field should be well burnt out. The ex-
periment to destroy them by means of the crushed sugar-cane and poison has been
tried, but as no report of the experiment has been received, it remains doubtful
whether it can be recommended or not.

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMEES' MAGAZINE.

Origin of Plants.

"Mk. Nash : — Dear Sir: — I wish to propose a question, suggested to me by our
mutual friend, whom you know to be one of the students of Nature, and an ardent
inquirer into her mysterious operations — a question that I know you wid elucidate
and enliven, with your active mind and pen : " Do not the elementary principles of all
vegetable life originate in the rocks?" Or, it might be stated thus: •' Did not the
elementary principles of primal vegetable life originate entirely from the rocks ? "
This question, suggests an innumerable train of curious and interesting inquiries.

It takes us back to the pre- Adamite period, when vegetable life existed in its rude
and more imperfect forms. There must have been a time when the first form of
vegetation made its appearance. Did it come from the vitalization of seeds ? I be-
lieve it did. Seeds, in the first instance, must have been created hy the direct power
of God; but he always works by the most natural, direct, and immediate causes; and
seeds probably were formed from materials at hand ; immediately at hand. I believe
there is not an element of vegetable life, on the closest analysis, that can not be
found in the atmosphere, water, soil, and rocks ; nor is there an element in the first,
that can not be found in the last. Am I right? Please give us a chapter on this
question, and oblige yours truly."

This was manifestly intended as a private note, but with the suppression of names
we venture to publish it. It contains the germs of thought, which we should like to
have the writer or any other person, who is able to do it as philosophically and as cor-
rectly, enlarge upon. For ourself, we know not why the oak springs up after the
pine on old worn fields, where the acorn is not known to be imbedded in the soil ; nor
from what seed the blue grass comes, after the fire on our western soils ; nor where
the white clover, from hard pan thrown from the bottom of a well. If anybody can
throw light on our correspondent's questions we will gladly give a reasonable space.
T-here is no reason to fear that religion will suffer, nor to doubt that theology will be
improved, by any candid researches into nature.

124 Domestic.

g0iiustit»

Air Poison.

People have often said that no difference can be detected in the analyzation of
pure and impure air. This is one of the vulgar errors difficult to dislodge from the
pubHc brain. The fact is, that the condensed air of a crowded room gives a deposit
which, if allowed to remain for a few days, forms a solid, thick, glutinous ma«s, hav-
ing a strong odor of animal matter. If examined by the microscope, it is seen to un-
dergo a remarkable change. First of all, it is converted into a vegetable growth, and
this is followed by the production of multitudes of animalcules ; a decisive proof that
it must contain organic matter, otherwise it could not nourish organic beings. This
was the result arrived at by Dr. Angus Smith, in his beautiful experiments on the Air
and Water of towns ; where he showed how the lungs and skin gave out organic
matter, which is in itself a deadly poison, producing headache, sickness, disease, or
epidemic, according to its strength. Why, if " a i^s^i drops of the liquid matter, ob-
tained by the condensation of the air of a foul locality, introduced into the vein of a
dog, can produce death with the usual phenomena of typhus fever," what incalcula-
ble evil must not it produce on those human beings who breathe it again and again,
rendered fouler and less capable of sustaining life with every breath drawn ? Such
contamination of the air, and consequent hot-bed of fever and epidemic, it is easily
within the power of man to remove. Ventilation and cleanliness will do all, so far as
the abolition of this evil goes, and ventilation and cleanliness are not miracles to be
prayed for, but certain results of common obedience to the laws of God. — Dickens'
Household Words.

Educate the Whole Man.

Everybody should have his head, his heart, and his hand educated ; let this truth
never be forgotten.

By the proper education of his head, he will be taught what is good, and what is
evil — what is wase, and what is foolish — what is right, and what is wrong. By the
proper education of his heart, he will be taught to love what is good, wise, and right,
and to hate what is evil, foolish, and wrong ; and by the proper education of his hand
he will be enabled to supply his wants, to add to his comforts, and to assist those who
are around him.

The highest objects of a good education are to reverence and obey God, and to
love and serve mankind ; every thing that helps us in attaining these objects is of great
value, and everything that hinders us is comparatively worthless. When wisdom
reigns in the head, the hand is ever ready to do good ; order and peace smile around,
and sin and sorrow are almost unknown. — Cotton Planter.

Statistics of English and French Agriculture.

Some interesting statistics relative to the agriculture of Fi-ance and England, were
given in a lecture delivered lately in Cornwall, England, by M. R. de la Trehonnais.
In England, out of 50,000,000 acres cultivated, 10,000,000 are sown to wheat or other
cereal crops, while in France 50,000,000 were cultivated for that purpose. The
average growth of wheat per acre in England is four quarters — the quarter is eight
bushels — and in France only one and three-fifth quarters ; while the produce of Eng-
lish land is about £3 4s. per acre, and that of French £1 12s. per acre. The number
of sheep grown in each country is about 35,000,000, and the wool produced about
60,000 tons; but, owing to the difference in the acreage, there is something less than
one and one-half sheep per acre in England, and only about one-third of a sheep per
acre in France. In France there are annually slaughtered 4,000,000 of cattle, the
average weight of each being two cwt. ; while in England there is not half the num-
ber slaughtered, but the average weight is five cwt. — The Farmer.

We can hardly believe all of the above statements. So far as true, they afford an
argument in favor of large farms, which has always been the policy of England,
while the reverse has prevailed in France.

Domestic. 125

The Emigration to America.

The number of passengers arrived in the United States, during the year 1856, was
135,308 males, 89,188 females; tdtal, 224,496— a smaller number than in any year of
the last ten, except 1850, when the number was only 65,570. The largest number
was in 1854, 460,474; the number in 1855 was 230,476. Of the emigrants arrived
last year, there were born in German}^ 63,807 ; Ireland, 54,349 ; England (princi-
pally Mormons,) 25,904 ; United States, 24,060 ; Great Britain and Ireland' 14 331 •
France, 7,246 ; Prussia, 7,221 ; British America, 9,493 ; China, 4,733 ; Wales, 3 297'
etc. The number landed in JSTew-York was, 162,108; in Boston, 19',225- New-Or-
leans, 18,758; Pennsylvania, 8,450; Maryland, 6,123; California, 5,668; and Texas
1,576. '

There are said to be 100,000 German inhabitants in the city of New- York. They
have upwards of twenty places of public worship, upwards of fifty schools, ten book
stores, and five printing establishments ; and a German theatre.

Simple Cure for Dysentery.

An old friend handed us the following simple recipe for publication. It has been
practiced in his family for many years, with uniform success, even in the most
alarming stages of the complaint : Take Indian corn, roasted and ground in the
manner of coffee, (or coarse meal browned,) and boiled in sufiicient quantity of water
tp produce a strong liquid like coffee, and drink a tea cup full, warm, two or three
times a day. One day's practice, it is said, will ordinarily effect a cure.— 3Iiddleton
Republican.

Not a bad medicine to take. Safer, in a bad case, to call a physician.— Ed.

Some Truth.

In the museum, at Hifalutin, is a flea skin containing seven misers' souls, seven rich
men's consciences, the " principles" of seven leading politicians, seventeen old bach-
elors hearts, and the remaining sweetness of seventy old maids.

All right but the last. A woman's not being married is not always evidence of the
want of a large soul. The patient toil, the self-sacrificing spirit, the modest worth
of many an old maid, are among the brightest things of earth. Many a man has
been great and good, a blessing and an honor to his race, who would have been a
loss, or a curse to the world, but for the self-sacrificing affection of a maiden sister,
or a maiden aimt. Leave off this indiscriminate laughing at old maids. It's a
shame. — Ed.

Agricultural College.

The State of Michigan has established a College of Agriculture, on a farm of seven
hundred fertile acres, near the city of Lansing, where the state capital is located
Joseph R. Williams, late editor of the Toledo Blade, is President. It has now an en-
dowment of fifty-six thousand dollars, the proceeds of the Salt Spring given to Mich-
igaa Territory by the federal government. The legislature h is appropriated twenty
thousand dollars per annum for two years to the support of the College. There are
already accommodations for eighty students. No charge is now made for tuition but
each student is required to work three hours per day, for which he is paid. '

Costly Bridges.

_ THEsuspension bridge about to be erected over the Mississippi, at St. Louis, will.
It IS said, cost about two millions of dollars ; it will be about eighty feet above high
water, and over a mile in length, and the bottom of the towers will be sixty feet below
water. It has been stated that this structure will be the most costly of any of its
kmd in the world. There are, however, many bridges in the world which have cost
more money than will that of St. Louis. Three of those crossing the Thames at
London, cost— the London bridge, ten millions of dollars ; the Southwark, eight mil-
lions ; and the Waterloo, five millions. The celebrated tunnel under the Thames, at
London, cost over three millions of dollars.

126 Domestic.

Infidels often grumble about the cost of preachers, who, by the by, are the poor-
est paid set of men in the United States, as a whole, with here and there an excep-
tion ; and who, in order to live, must hav» donation parties, as though they were
paupers, because they were preachers of eternal realities. The cost of all the clergy
in the United States is but $12,000,000 annually, while the criminals cost $40,000,000,
the lawyers $76,000,000, and intoxicating liquors $200,000,000.

If the talent of ridicule were employed to laugh men out of vice and folly, it might
be of some use to this world ; but instead of tliis we find that it is generally made
use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking evervthiug that is
solemn and serious, decent and praiseworthy, in human Ufe.

Protection to Game.

The Legislature of Ohio has passed a law for the protection of the birds, &c., which
makes it a fiucable ofl'ence to any one to kill a rabbit, deer, or any of the feathered
tribe mentioned, between the 1st of February and the 16th of September, or to kill a
blue-bird, mocking bird, red-bird, or any other singers at any time.

Children (especially grown up children) should seek pleasure in almost anything
rather than in destroying birds. Birds are of enormous value to a country by de-
stroying insects hurtful to fruits and other crops. There is httle danger of having
too many birds ; and it is a great pity that one should be destroyed wantonly. — Ed.

The Future,

The fate of this country depends on nothing so much as on the growth or decline
of the great idea what lie^ at the foundation of all our institutions — the idea of the
sacredness of every man's right, tbe respect due to every human being. This exists
among us. It is now to stamp itself on manners and common lite — a far harder
work. It will then create a society such as men have not anticipated, but which is
not to be despaired of, if Christianity be divine, or if the highest aspirations of the.
soul be true. — Channing.

A Sensible Doctor.

A HANDSOME widow applied to a physician to relieve her of three distressing com-
plaints, with which she was afflicted.

" In the first place," said she, " I have little or no appetite. What would be best
for that ? "

"For that, madam, you should take air and exercise."

" And, doctor, I am quite fidgety at night and am afraid to sleep alone. What
shall t do for that ?"

" For that madam, I can only recommend that you take — a — husband !"

" Fie ! doctor. But I have the blues terribly. What shall I do for that ?"

" For that, madam, you should, besides taking air, exercise, and a husband, take a
newspaper."

Sensible Doctor, that.

A Hint for the Season.

The simplest and best way of preserving wooU'iis through the summer from the
destruction of the moths is to wrap them well up, after brushing and beating them,
in Cotton or linen cloths. The moths can pass neither. Two covers well wrapped
around, and secured from the air will be effeptual. An old sheet Tvill answer and
save all expense of camphor, etc.

Fanning Mills.

In calling attention to the advertisement of R. M. Welles, of Athens, Bedford Co.,
Pa., we will only Bay, that we have recently visited his establishment, and we judge
from the general good order prevailing, from the intelligence of the men employed,
and from the appearance of the work, that the public may rely upon Mr. Welles for
a good article in his line.

Children'' s Page. 127

€>\iUxt\V$ lap.

Sowing" and Reaping, or Work for all Seasons.

Ne^er stand still, brave youth or fair maiden, -with hands folded and eyes half
shut, upon the supposition that you have nothing to do in making the world's ma-
chinery go with less creaking and jarring. Neither adopt the other extreme, and
because you are of somewhat an ambitious and active temperament, fancy you can
manage the whole affair yourself, and like Atlas carry the globe on your shoul-
ders.

"We have each and all of us something to do, but it can be done without much
noise or trouble, if we only think so. Our words, actions, our every look, tone,
smile, or frown, are exerting an influence upon those around us, and the sum of hap-
piness they enjoy increased or diminished by us. Smiles which cost us nothing, but
whicli, rightly bestowed, may enliven a whole day, we must not grudge, and kind
words and gentle tones we can surely afford to the friend at our fireside or the beg-
gar at our gate.

There is no neutral stand for us to take. We are positively good or bad. While
we profess to love our fellow-creatures, we are acting the part of a hypocrite if we
do not manifest that love by sympathy in their troubles and joy in their prosperity.

There are persons whose presence in a room is like " the sunbeam in a wintry day,"
making all hearts feel better and happier; " in the clear heaven of whose uncloud-
ed eyes an angel-guard of loves and graces lie."

" They are sowing the seed of word and deed,
Which the cold know not, nor the careless heed,
'Of the gentle word and the kindly deed.
Which have blessed the heart in its sorest need,

Sweet shall the harvest be."

There are others whose repelling, forbidding faces are like the door of a tomb on
which is written, " Wit, and grace, and all that is lovely, lie buried here." Their
hollow, grating voices give one a feeling of chilliness and gloom, and every naiTow
expression of their dwarfed and barren minds causes us to shrink from contact witli
such poor, suspicious, perverted natures. Sowing in young minds seeds of discord
and miserj', of wrath and bitterness — holding the wine cup to the lips of the inex-
perienced and careless — tempting with gold the poor and needy — enticing them to
the haunts of the gambler — instructing them in villainy — luring with honeyed
words the young and innocent to the very lowest dcptlis of moral, mental, and phy-
sical pollution — these agents of t'.e powers of darkness are ever busily at work.

" Daily sowing the seed of pain.
Of late remorse and a maddened brain ;
And the stars shall fail, and the sun shall wane
Ere they root the weeds from the soil again ;

Dai'k will the harvest be."
Dwellers in peaceful happy homes, young men and maidens, the pride of your
parents and the future hope of your country, there is work enough for you all.
Without anjj^ clamoring or struggling for official stations on the one side, or step-
ping aside from the sacred ministries of home in a contest for " woman's rights" on
the other, you can help to accomj^lish what legislation never yet effected — the
moral regeneration and redemption of faUen humanity. — Annie Lcc in Life Illust.

" Mr. Green, when you said there was too much American eagle in the speaker's
discourse, did you mean that it was a talon-ted production ; and to wliat claws of
the speech did you especially refer '?"

What a world of gossip would be prevented if it was only remembered that a per-
son who tells you of the faults of others, intends to tell others of your faults.

The " eye of the law" has become so weak from the want of proper practice in
the different courts, that it is going to advertise for a pupil

128 Book Notices^ etc.

The Congregational Hymn Book, for the Service of the Sanctuary. Boston ; John

P. Jewett &, Co. 1857. 752 pages.

This manual is executed on beautiful paper, and tlie hymns, 1081 in number, print-
ed in a new and elegant tj'pe, are choice, evangelical, and admirably arranged by
topics. The work does honor to editor and publishers.

The Cotton Planter ; Montgomery, Ala. N. B. Cloud, M.D. Agricultural Ed. ;

Chas. a. Peaisopy, Horticultural Ed.

This monthly reaches us in a style and dress which clearly indicates either that the
publishera are "casting bread upon the water" with the belief that it will sooner or
later come back to them, or that the farmers of those regions are already giving it a
generous support. The latter we hope. The July No. is pccuharl^^ rich ; and is fault-
less in its style of execution.

SouTUERN Planter ; F. G. Ruffin, Ed. Ruffin k August, Proprietors.

The July No. of this monthly comes to us replete with matters of the highest inter-
est to the cultivators of the soil. If Virginia farmers comprehend their true interests,
they will give it a hberal support.

TuE Norwich and Worcester route to Boston has many attractions. It has flue
boats, well oflBcered, and its train of cars from Norwich, arrive in Boston in the
morning in season for trains going East.

United States and State Fairs for 1857.

Fair of the United states Agricultural Society, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, Presi-
dent, wall be held at Louisville, Ky., September 1 — 4.

Annual Exhibition of the American Institute, in the Crystal Palace, New-York,
opens September 15. (Goods received now.)

Ohio Cincinnati September 14 — 18.

Canada East Montreal September 16 — 18.

Illinois Peoria September 21 — 26.

Pennsylvania Sop. 29, to Oct. 2.

Vermont Montpelier Sep. 30, to Oct." 2.

Wisconsin Janesville Sep. 29, to Oct. 2.

Michigan Detroit Sep. 29, to Oct. 2.

New-Jersey ...... .New-Brunswick . . . .Sep. 29, to Oct. 2.

Maine. Bangor Sep. 29, to Oct. 1.

California Stockton Sep. 29, to Oct. 2.

Canada West Brantford Sep. 29. to Oct, 2.

United States Louisville, Ky October 1 — 6.

Indiana Indianapolis October 4 — 10.

New-York Buffalo October 6 — 9.

Iowa Muscatine October 6 — 9.

New-Hampshire. . . .Concord October 7 — 9.

Kentucky Henderson October 13 — 16.

Connecticut Bridgeport October 13 — 16.

East Tennessee Kuoxville October 20 — 23.

Massachusetts Boston October 21 — 24.

Maryland Baltimore October 21 — 25.

West Tennessee. . . .Jackson ,. .October 27 — 30.

Virginia October 28—31.

Tcnnesse Nashville October 12 — 17.

Alabama Montgomery October 27 — 30.

MHEtoaN ummz

Vol. X.

SEPTEMBER, 185*7.

N"o. 3.

Hints for the Season.

Between the summer and the fall harvest is an interval favorable
to general and permanent improvements on the farm.

The gathering of materials for composting and increasing the ma-
nm-e, is among the most important. Abundance of these from the
swamj?, from the borders of the woodland where leaves have drifted
for years, from old hedges which you are about to clear up, or wher-
ever you can get them most economically, should be scattered about
the barn-yard, and a portion of them packed away in the barn, where
they can be found for bedding in winter.

It is not of very much consequence what they are, any thing that
■ will absorb the urine and retain it for the next year's crops. This is
the farmer's guano, and he should save it. Fifteen dollars worth of
labor, applied to saving and applying the urine of the farm, is worth
more than any ton of guano ever brought around Cape Horn, Brakes
mowed in the pasture, salt hay, leaves, dry muck, road scrapings,
mold from old hedges, almost any thing Tvill answer the purpose of
an absorbent.

"Wheat straw, oat straw, rye straw, pea vines, salt hay, if of a toler-
able quality, and even the poor hay cut in pastures after the meadow
haying is over, half brakes and weeds, are too good to be used for this
purpose. These should be run through the hay cutter and fed to an-
imals, when stock of all kinds and meats for the markets are as high
as at present. Put on the corn meal and make these a help to the
growing and fattening of stock ; or if you have root crops, as most
farmers in our country ought to have to a limited extent, these being
of a succulent, juicy nature, will help to a consumption of the straw
and inferior hay ; and the farmer is not true to his own interest who

VOL. X. 5

1 30 Hints J or the Season.

does not make his straw and coarse hay tell favorably towards the
feeding of stock ; for although these are not sufficiently nourishing
when given alone, yet as a material for fdling up with more nutritious
food, they are worth too much to he thrown under foot. They should
be turned into manure for the next year's crop, not by being thrown
out as bedding, but by beiqg passed through the digestion canal of
animals.

If you dry swamp muck for an absorbent in winter, remember what
we said in a former number about freeing it from hurtful acids, by ex-
posure to sun and rains, and by occasionally turning over with the
plough. It should not lie in high piles. All the sun and air it gets
makes it the better. It is better therefore to dump it a single load in
a place than to put it into large heaps ; and if the loads are dropped
along in a line, one after another, it is no great trouble to turn it over
now and then with the plough. Farm engineering — what is it ? Not
a contrivance to get rid of work, but an application of common sense
to make every stroke of labor tell to the best advantage ; as, for in-
stance, it is miich easier to turn over a hundred tons of swamp muck
with a plough if laid in a long line, than to fork it over if laid in a large
pile. If you have more of this muck than you care for in the yard and
the stables, look into one of our back numbers and see how, by the
addition of a little quick lime, and by throwing it into large heaps
just before winter, (the larger the better,) you may have it fermenting
during the coldest weather, and ready to act an effective part in start-
ing and carrying through the next year's crop, a richer fertilizer (in
proportion to the cost) than any manure you can buy for sixty or se-
venty dollars a ton.

That there may be no mistake in our reference to a past number, and
that our new. subscribers, fast becoming a majority of the whole, may
have the benefit, we will repeat in our next article one mode (tried
over and over again, and thoroughly proved to be good) for dealing
with swamp muck to prepare it for a next year's crop.

But there are other things to be done between summer and fall
harvest. That wall that you have been contemplating to put up along
the road these ten years — is it done yet ? If not, can you be doing
it now ? Perhaps you say the corn is growing on the very ground
from which the stones are to come. Well then, you must let it rest
awhile longer. But can you not remove the old fence a little inside
of w^here it now stands, and plough down and excavate with the spade
and then fill up with small stones, and thus prepare a foundation for
the wall, so as to be read)'- to build as soon as the corn crop is off?
Remember that if you excavate, and lay the foundation of your stone
wall two feet imder ground, every foot of land within twenty feet of
that wall will produce more ever afterwards. And remember too,

Hints for the Season. 131

that if you do up now all that can now be done to advantage, you
will not be so hardly pressed with work by and by, after the fall
harvest comes on. One grand secret of American farming, is to equal-
ize the work for the whole year, so as not to be out of work at one
time and at another to have more than you can possibly do. A farm-
er of the right stripe never is out of work, and seldom has more than
he can do. °One of the wrong stripe, is often out of work, and very
often unable to keep up with his work.

How is it with the public way through your farm or along side of
it ? you own perhaps, a quarter of a mile on both sides of the way, or it
may be half a mile or more on one side. Is there a beautiful row of trees,
maples, ehns, apple trees, anything that wiU afford beauty and com-
fort to you and the passing stranger ? Is the ground smoothed, made
decent, safe, such as to indicate that a man of sense and public spirit
lives in that house of yours, or is all as some slouchy surveyor of
roads lift it, rough, shadeless, just as the King's— no, a republican-
highway should not be ? Just answer this question honestly, and if
the highway through your premises presents a beautiful lawn, no
Canada thistles, no rampart weeds, shades in plenty, fruit, if the soil
permits, all right, a beautiful lawn each side of the drive, tasteful, safe,
such that a carriage would hardly be upset, if the horses should run
away, then we praise you ; we say you are a good fellow so far ; but
if all is wrong, homely, ugly, deformed, no shades, nothing neat and
safe, then we are down upon you ; we say you are lacking in self re-
spect. Why should the passer-by be compelled to say " a sloven lives
there." You are devoid of public spirit. If you will not make the
borders of the highway through your farm neater than some taste-
less, slovenly surveyor of roads leaves them, you ought not to have a
farm. Shame on a rude, stumpy, weedy, pest-producing way past a
farmer's house ! It ought never to be.

How is your farm laid out ? Are the fences crooked, where the
nature of the soils would just as well admit of their being straight ?
Are your lots of such shape as to escape conviction under the second
commandment, because not of the shape of anything else in heaven or
on earth or under the earth ? Are they so small as to make the ex-
pense of even a poor fence around them enough to eat up all the profit
of the crops ? The cutting of a farm into mince meat, havmg more
fences than you can possibly afford to keep in good repair, devoting
one-foiu-th of the whole land to broken fences and filthy hedge rows, a
gathering place for mice, weeds, briars and all unclean thuigs, is a
miserable policy. A well laid out, well fenced, and well cultivated fainn,
is the most beautiful object in nature. The eye of taste and sound judg-
ment sees there the beauty of nature, and the beauty of utility, and is
satisfied. If your farm is not laid out as taste and convenience, and

132 Swamp ATuc/c, etc.

economy in the matter of fencing requires, Sejitcmber is a good month
in which to connnence a reform, to be carried on next spring, and
completed in future years. — Ed.

Swamp Muck"-Indian Corn.

Swamp Muck — IIoio to get it out and apply it toithout too imicU la-
bor. Indian Corn — How to groio it loith composted much.
After it lias been thrown up a few days, exposed to the sun and
drained, carry it to the barn-yard, strew it over the whole yard, and
at some convenient time when there has been no rain for a long time,
pack away a portion of it for an absorbent in the stalls for winter's
use. Every farmer who has this material on his farm, as most have,
can make use of a considerable quantity in this way to great advan-
tage, and it will increase the value of the next spring's manure much
more than the cost of the labor.

But when you have enough out for the yard and stalls, or if it is
distant from the barn, and not far from the fields where you M'ill use
it, so that it would be bad policy to haul it all the way to the barn
and back again, then dump it on a level or gently sloping piece of
ground, a cart load in a place, m a long line, and occasionally run the
plough through it from the time you get it out, say in August or Sep-
tember, till nearly winter, that the v/hole may be washed and sunned.
This is to remove the sourness. Then, just before winter sets in, mix
a bushel or two of lime (one bushel if lime is high where you live, two
if it is cheap) to each load of muck, and throw it (with the scraper
will be the most economical way) into a very large, or as the case may
be, into several large heaps, the larger the better, provided the labor
be not thereby too much increased, and let it lie thus till spring.

The effect of the lime is to neutralize any remaining sourness and to
create a fermentation in the mass, keeping it warm through the cold-
est winter. On any gravelly, sandy, or loamy land, or even on clayey
soil, if nearly destitute of organic matter, this can hardly be applied
amiss, whether as a top-dressing or to be plowed in. It should never
be applied to peaty soil, not but that it would benefit such, when pre-
pared with lime as we have described, but it would be of more value
for other soils.

The best use we have ever observed for this compost, is to put with
each load a load of barn manure, a bushel of ashes, half a bushel of
salt, and a peck of plaster, and when the whole has come into a toler-
ably active fei'mentation, to plough in ten loads to the acre on the
corn field, and piit ten more in the hill, and to drop and cover the corn
as fast as the application is made, so that the heat of the compost will
hasten the germination of the seed.

Swamp Muck^ etc. 133

This mode of growing corn has been long practiced in some parts
of our country, and with signal success. We will not say that such a
compost is as good as Peruvian guano. That would be extravagant ;
for we believe it is now a settled, point that Peruvian guano is the best
fertilizer, ton per ton, in the world. We are as loud in our praises of
it as we are obstinate in our opinion, that the great mass of American
farmers can not., for the ordinary purposes of farming, afford to pur-
chase it at present prices.

No, no ; the compost we direct for preparing is not as good, ton
per ton, as Peruvian guano, not half as good, not a quarter ; and yet
the farmer can afford to use it, because if he has the material at hand,
as most farmers have, he can get a whacking profit on the labor of
preparing it. This swamp muck is more valuable than most farmers
are willing to admit. Its composition is much the same as that of
cow-dung, with the exception, of a few salts which have been washed
out and must be restored in the process of composting ; and with one
other exception, which is, that in most cases it has accumulated cer-
tain acids of a hurtful nature.

In other words, it is the same as cow-dung, with a few valuable
salts taken out and some hurtful acids added. It should not be used
in this state. Those who so use it always give a bad account of it.
The plan we propose — a plan that has been tried out and out, no mere
theory — provides for disposing of the acids and for restoring the salts.
The autumn suns and rains will take away the acidity mostly. The
lime, with which it lies in compost over winter, will neutrahze the re-
maining acidity and bring it into a slow fermentation. The barn ma-
nure, ashes, plaster and salt, proposed to be added in the spring, will
supply the lost salts and bring the whole into an active fermentation.

The cost of manuring Indian corn with twenty loads to the acre of
this compost, say ten or twelve loads to be plowed in, or harrowed in
near the surface, if the soil is at all heavy, and eight or ten loads in
the hill, appUed hot from the heap, and the corn covered immediately,
is not a very expensive dressing. It insures a good crop — forty to
eighty bushels shelled corn to the acre, according to the quality of
the land, with good cultivation — and it leaves the land in excellent
condition for after crops.

Who, that has not before, will try it ? Remember to get out the
muck early this fall ; drop it not more than a foot in thickness, that it
may feel the sun and rains ; stir it occasionally with the plough, that
the whole may be sunned and aired ; add the lime late, just before
winter sets in ; the other ingredients should be added early in the
spring, that the whole may have time to come into a pretty smart fer-
mentation at the time for using it. For starting the crop, wdiich is

164 Osage Orange.

always an important matter with corn, much depends upon its being
applied in a fermenting state.

If the manure you add in the spring is of a fair quality, having a
due share of urine, there will be no difficulty about the fermentation
coming on in time. Should it fail however to ferment, it mil be easy
to bruig on a fermentation by applying to the heap a load or two of
fermenting horse-manure, which will act as a yeast, and send the fer-
mentation through the mass. — Ed.

FOE THE AMEEICAN FARMERS'' MAGAZINE.

Osage Orange.

Messes. Editors : — Questions like the following are often asked :
" Will it not vnniQY-kill in this Northern cUmate, it being a Southern
plant?" On page 171 of the previous volume of The Plough^ the
Loorriy and the Anvil., I gave my experience in raising the plant from
the seed ; and another hard winter has proved to me that they will
stand this climate, and not winter-kill but very little, if rightly man-
aged. A more severe winter was never known in these parts than
the last. No winter has ever hurt fruit trees worse. My osage
plants " came out safe and sound." It is my opinion that this plant
will become acclimated, and be the adopted fence of this prairie coun-
try. One way to protect it fi-om the frost is, to cover it over with
straw or something else that will protect it from the wind, and cause
the snow to drift upon it, while it is young. After it gets to be three
or four years of age, if the frost does kill the tops down, it makes it
all the better for a fence. Last season being very dry in the fore-
part, I had my hedge cut, and kept it clean from weeds until harvest
and the busy season of haying came on, and several heavy showers
of rain started the weeds. My being busy at cutting hay, I did not
lioe thcni out and keep them from growing, as a tidy farmer ought
to, but let them grow until the frosts killed them forever.

When cold winter made his appearance, accompanied with tinghng
frost and snow, searching winds, that meddled with every one's busi-
ness out of doors, and very often in the house, especially where the
cracks between the logs were open, and took great pams to take the
snow from the field and prairie and pile it upon heaps behind fences,
etc., then the weeds that I neglected to cut out of my fence came
into good " play." Here it was that the snow had been piled nearly
to the top, and the result was that they did not kill down but a few
inches. This no doubt saved them in a great degree from being
killed down much lower. Those that did not have the " luck" to
stand where the snow drifted upon them, were killed within twelve
inches of the ground, the stem being some two feet high. After the

Osage Orange. 135

stalk becomes old, I do not think the frost will injure it for a fence.

In a letter published in the North- Western Christian Advocate.,
by Wm. G. Nevitt, he says, speaking of the osage orange : "After
about four years experience in trying to make a fence of it, I believe
I shall succeed very well, when I have a good board fence outside
and an old rail fence inside. In this way it will be preserved iu winter
from the frost by filling up with snow, and from stalk in the summer ;
but when it is left by itself it will winter-kill sufficient to spoil it for
a fence, on most of our prairie lands." I can not agree with Mr.
Nevitt, although experience may compel me to do so. I have seen
hedges at five, and even at four years of age, that cattle could not
break through nor over it, in this State, and I think the winters are
as severe here as in White-side county. 111. A portion of my hedge
lay exposed to the N. W. winds all winter, and they have come out
" right side up" this spring.

" Nothing ventured, nothing have," is an old proverb, and I have
commenced with the seed two years ago last spring, and I mtend to
carry it through and see what it will do. If it will not do for a fence,
then we farmers of the prairie must do something else in regard to
fencing our farms, for our small piece of timber will soon be gone,
and if the osage hedge will not stand the winters, then we shall have
to get up some other Yankee invention. Something certainly will
have to be done not only upon the prairies but in the old settled tim-
bered States.

Osage hedge may want, and must, like everything else, have care.
No farmer expects to raise a crop of corn without tending it. He
ploughs and hoes it ; he must do the same with his hedge ; he must
cultivate it and keep it trimmed down, so that it will thicken up at
the bottom. Unless he does this, he can not expect to have a livmg
fence.

Messrs. Editors, neither you nor your correspondents have ever
said much upon the subject of fencmg. Why is this? Are your
correspondents asleep upon this important subject? a subject that
costs the farmmg community millions of doUars annually. Rails and
boards will soon become extinct in fences.

I hope that the correspondents of The Plough., Loom., and Anvil.,
wUl speak out upon this subject, the editors not excused. Our coun-
try, both east and west, and all of Uncle Sam's dominions, will soon
see the want of something to fence with besides boards and rails.
Unless something is used for a substitute we shall have to return back
to the days of the patriarchs for an example.

Ltn^, Warren Co., Iowa. L. S. Spencek.

BemarJcs. — This subject is important, though perhaps not quite as

136 What a Woman ThiiiJcs.

pressing as the writer seems to think. Our country is large, and it
will produce not only rich harvests, but thnber lor fencmg them with.
From a quarter to a third of every country should be timbered. It
should be so on the prairies ; and if the occupants of these vast re-
gions miderstand their true interest and comfort, they will make
haste to break the prairie winds v/itli trees, in clumps and groves and
small forests ; several farmers, in many cases, uniting to extend these
wind-breaks continuously past their premises. Almost any country,
if rightly managed, will grow timber enough for shelter, and for pur-
poses of fuel, fencing and building.

The subject of hedging, however, is one of great interest. A live
fence is better in some respects than any other. It breaks the wind
better ; is not liable to be blown down ; gives beauty to a region ; and
above all, affords a covert to birds, which, we begin to think, are the
only power that can war successfully upon insects destructive to the
products of husbandry. We really hope that the osage orange will
bear our Northeni winters, but do not think that point yet fully set-
tled.

In some parts of our country fences are beginning to be dispensed
with. This practice, in connection with soiling, may be extended ;
but we see not how it can become general ; and we quite agree with
the writer of the foregoing that it is important to experiment, and to be
ascertaining, as fast as may be, what shrub is best adapted to the con-
struction of living fences m our various latitudes. The writer of the
above has our thanks for his experience, though it does not seem to
us very decisive ; and if others will give us the merits and the defi-
ciences of the hawthorn, buckthorn and other plants that have been
used or recommended for hedging, our pages shall be open to their
contributions.

What a Woman Thinks about Farming and Farmers.

A LADY writer at the close of a very womanly and very sensible
communication, not designed, we suppose, for the pubUc eye, thus
gives vent to her admiration for the farmer's calling :

" Your journal has much improved in its style, composition and sub-
ject matter. Even the children now, have a little corner. Though I
may not raise corn, yet I like to read how others raise it. If I had
the means, I would be a great farmer though I am but a woman. It
i.^ the noblest pursuit of earth, one that leaves no sting after its ac-
complishment, but on the contrary gains a contented, cheerful spirit,
and brings with, not overwearied limb and brain, the sweetest sleep,
and a calm conscience. A man can not be bad-hearted who is a steady,
untiring farmer. How can a man's heart be anything but fresh

Seed Wheat. 137

and green when lie works in nature's wide domain with the bhie sky
over him ? He must be good, in spite of himself, whether he will or
no. Give me a farmer before other men. But I am tiring your pa-
tience. Please excuse me ; — you know I am a woman and I mu&i
talk."

Seed Wheat— Mixing of Varieties.

As the season for putting in the wheat crop is near, farmers would
do well to consider the importance of sowing only the best seed. They
have been too much in the habit of threshing out a few shocks for
sowing, without much consideration of the soil on which it grew, and
without sufficient care to cleanse it perfectly of smut and of such for
eign seeds as might injure the crop, as if they Avould say, "Wheat is
wheat, the world round, and if we sow Avheat we shall get wheat."

We see it stated in the agricultural journals of some of our great
wheat-growing States, that great advantage is derived from the ex-
changing of seed. It is recommended not to brmg seed from a Avidely
different climate, but to select with regard to variety of soils — to sow
clay lands with seed from loamy soils, and the reverse. There may
be something in this. We presume there is, or it would not come re-
commended from so high authorities as it does, as from the Michigan
Farmer., for instance. Still we should look more at the perfection of
the crop out of wliich the seed is taken, than at the character of the
soil.

Suppose we had harvested but a small crop the past year, and that
not of the best quality, and that a neighbor, no matter whether very
near or not, for good seed is worth gomg after a considerable distance,
had harvested a very perfect crop, say 40 bushels to the acre, clean,
not a particle of smut, no cockle, nothing but the unmingled gift ol'
Ceres, and suppose he would sell it for a trifle more than the average
price of wheat at the time, we would sow that seed in preference to
our own, provided the variety were one we approved ; and then we
would cultivate with the same nicety and care that over neighbor had.

A new thought, at least new to us, about wheat. M. Lucien Rous-
seau, of Angerville, France, has broached the idea, or rather has stum-
bled on it by accident, that the mixing of varieties of seed is favorable
to the wheat crop. In 1855, he experimented apon fifteen varieties of
wheat, sowing each by itself, and noting the results, both in weight
of wheat and of straw. The disparity, on the same land and with the
same cultivation, was remarkable. But what was more remarkable,
and the only point to which we wish to call attention, was that after
sowing the fifteen varieties, a Httle seed of each remained. These fif-
teen parcels he mixed together and sowed on a separate patch, and

138 >>eed IVJieat.

although the land was no better, was more shaded, and no better cul-
tivated, tlic crop far surpassed cither of the plots sown with a single
variety.

M. Rousseau's reasons, wliich avc copy below from the Michigan
Farmer^ appears hardly satisflxctory to us, and yet there may be some-
thing in them. At any rate we would recommend a trial of the same
exi)eriment. It would be but Uttle trouble to sow a field with five or
six of the varieties accounted best for that region, keeping each va-
riety separate, and then sow another part of the same field with a mix-
ture of all, and note the results. The farmer who would make the
trial for himself would have the advantage of knowing Avhether there
is utility in the new idea, or whether it is to be ranked with the thou-
sand and one humbugs of the day. M. Rousseau's reasons are as fol-
lows:

1. The several varieties do not head out at the same time, and
therefore the period of flowering is lengthened, and the chances of
fertiUzation are thus increased.

2. The several vai-ieties are unequal in height, some being shorter
than others at the time when the plants flower ; the heads therefore^
are not so close, are more exposed to the air, and the floration is likely
to be more perfect, and the fertilization more general. This theory
seems to be confirmed by the fiict that where wheat plants are most
exposed, or are a little thin, other circumstances being equal, the fer-
tilization is more general over the whole head, than where the wheat
is thick.

3. The crop seems to ripen bettor from the same cause, namely, the
inequality in the height of the varieties, and in proof of this it has been
remarked that in mixtures of wheat and rye, often sown in Europe,
and of barley and spring wheat, the grain is finer than that of the
same grains grown separately, and under the same conditions. This
is considered to arise fi-om tlie more complete aeration afibrded by
the two kinds of plants, one of Avhich grows high and leaves room for
the sun and atmosphere to ripen the whole more perfectly, than when
the surface is composed of one unbroken mass of heads of grain which
shut out the light from the leaves and stems, and thus ripens one part
of the plant before the other is matured.

4. Another advantage claimed by this mixture of seed, is that the
crop does not depend altogether u})on one variety, which of itself may
be unsuitable for the soil where it is sown. The strong and healthy
varieties will always fill up the spaces left by the decay of the more
delicate or tender kinds, and thus in some degree be more likely to
insure a croj).

We have often noticed that a kernel of wheat in a rye field tillers
wonderfully and produces remarkably well. Is it possible that the
different kinds of wheat will produce a like effect on each other? — Ed,

Many Things in Little Space. 13f»

Many Things in Little Space.

A FEiEisT) of ours tells us that, not long since, his garden and or-
chard became infested with myriads of worms, (does not know the
name,) and they increased to such a degree that it seemed as if every
green thing would be devoured. There came along a flock of cherry
birds, which gorged themselves on the worms, and when hungry re-
turned again to the attack, till in three or four days not a worm re-
mained. "We know not what kind of worms these could have been,
nor did we know that cherry birds devoured worms of any kind. But
of one thing we have no doubt,— that our friend's premises were sadly
infested with some sort of worms, and that some kmd of birds, which
he called cherry birds, did him a capital job in clearmg them off. In
a recent trip of 1000 miles, out and back, we have scarcely stopped
at a public house where there were not two or three thmgs m the
shape of men, with double-barreled guns, talkuig over their grog oi
their exploits in shooting birds, not those desired for food, not because
they had done mischief, but simply for the pleasure of killing them.
Pleasure ! What pleasure can there be in killing an innocent bird
and leaving its young to perish for want of a mother's care ? Shame !
shame ! It is not Gothic ; it is not Vandal ; it is not barbarian ! The
insmuation would be a slander upon Goths, and Vandals, and barba-
rians. It is simply American. City gents lead off and country boys
follow, and whole regions are being desolated of their rightful tenants.
Song and beauty and the poetry of motion ceases from the grove.
Insect life will of course become rampant. Again, we say, shame !

We see that a writer in the Ohio Caltivator recommends the plant-
ing of wormwood about the roots of trees to keep off the borer. He
says that the wormwood operates as a raulchmg to the roots, securing
them against injury from drouth, and that its odor prevents the de-
posit of the eggs which produce the borer. It may be so.

We have from our correspondents not a few accounts hke the fol-
lowing : "The span-worm has lately made its appearance in Meigs
county, (Oliio.) In May it completely destroyed the leaves and left the
trees destitute of their foUage, with the appearance of having been
scorched by fire." Whether the span-worm of our correspondent is
the canker-worm that is doing so much mischief in the Eastern States,
is more than we know. The effects of his ravages are similar. Nor
do we know whether the cherishing of birds by all possible means,
such as surrounding our buildings with trees, planting hedges for
fence where we can do it with tolerable economy, leavmg them to en-
joy Ufe, instead of shooting them in cold-hlooded fun, would cure all
the ills flesh is heii' to from insects ; but we are strongly inclmed to

140 Many Things in Little Sjxice.

think that Divine Providence has set one tiling over against another,
as the birds agauist the insects, so that the former are to feed mainly
upon the latter, and the latter to be thereby kept within bovmds.
Man can not destroy insects. Birds can. Two hundred of the whcat-
lly were found in the maw of a wren. Supposing one-half of these
two hundred flies to have been females, and that each would have de-
posited in the heads of wheat one hundred eggs, then 10,000 enemies
of the wheat crop were prevented from having a being in one morn-
ing by a single wren, and this, looking only at her own food. But
who knows but that she had two young, and that she gave them an
equal number. Thii-ty thousand enemies, in that case, were cut short
of a being ; and if thirty thousand in a morning, then perhaps a hun-
dred thousand in a day ; a million in ten days ; and if a million by one
bii-d, then how many by all the birds on a farm, from which the mon-
sters, with double shooters, are excluded ? Enough, it may be, to
essentially diminish the ravages of the weevil for the present and has-
ten its extermination by many years.

The Western Farm Journal says that, in agriculture, " there is no
capital so essential as intelligence, and that a dollar's worth of this
kind of capital will return a hundred fold in corn and cattle." True,
every word.

Mr. Robert Leevers, of loAva, publishes that on a patch, 59 feet by
14, (less than three rods,) he has gathered this year four bushels and
three pecks of strawberries, equal to 232 bushels to the acre. Mc-
Avoy's Superior was the kmd. This is a great story, but not too
great to be true. We have seen crops this season that could not fall
much short of this.

We understand that Baldwin, De Witt & Co., of Cleveland, Ohio,
have turned out 900 of Manney's reaj)ers and mowers this year, and
yet have not suppHed the demand. John S. Wright, of Chicago, told
us last fall that he expected to manufacture 5000 of these machmes m
that city, and 3000 in Dayton, Ohio, in one year. These establish-
ments are but two out of many. A great country.

Lysander Pelton, of Gustavus, Ohio, purchases the curd of his neigh-
bors, and will make, it is said, 250 tons of cheese this year. A con-
siderable business this. 250 tons is 500,000 lbs. This at 10 cents a
pound would come to $50,000. As the prices of meats and dairy pro-
ducts have been for several years past, it would be hard to see why
grass farms will not pay.

At a recent discussion by the American Pomological Society, it
seemed to be agreed on all hands that the Roxbury Russet is an ex-
cellent fruit for nearly all parts of the country, more a national apple
than any other, except that Mr. Ernst, of Cincinnati, had found it to
vary much in quality on different soils, succeeding well on alluvial, but

Smut on Wheat. 141

not as well on clay soils ; and it was stated not to be doing as well in
some parts of Ohio as formerly. The Baldwin, so valuable in the
Eastern States, is not sufficiently hardy for the West. Most of the
trees in Iowa and Northern Illinois, which were reported well of a
few years since, are dead by the severe wuiters. Possibly this may be
from growing too rapidly on an over fertile soil.

The committees on reapers and mowers at the late trial in Syracuse,
we understand, are not to report till after the national fair at Louis-
ville, Ky.

While we write these items, the temperature is but little below the
scalding point. Perspiration flows, but not ideas. Our clothes stick
to us. Why may not gentlemen wear hoops also ? — Ed.

Smut on Wheat.

Smut seems to be a parasitic fungus, of which there are several va
rieties, as on Indian corn, wheat, etc. The black dust of matured
smut is to be regarded as its seeds, each particle of which, however
light and evanescent, is capable of germinating and producing its kind
when brought into favorable circumstances. It is difficult to say pre-
cisely how these seeds find their way into the receptacles of growmg
wheat. But it is probable that they adhere to the kernals of wheat
when sown ; and we know that in some way they are carried upward
with the growing plant ; and are developed at the base of the newly
forming kernels, simultaneously with the bursting of the spike from
its sheath, or perhaps a little before the head makes its appearance.
From this time the fungus grows and develops itself more or less ra-
pidly, as the weather favors or otherwise, drawing its nutriment from
the plant, thus partially depriving the forming wheat of its appropri-
ate food, as well as insmuating a hurtful ingredient.

Now, on the supposition that the smut in wheat comes from sporules
(smut seeds) distributed with the seed wheat, which we suppose to
be correct, it follows,* that if you could wash the seed before sowing,
perfectly clean, there would be no smut in the crop, for however
warm, damp and lowery the season, smut will not grow, unless there
is seed for it to grow from. But it is impossible to secure perfect
cleanliness from these sporules or smut seeds. They are too minute
to be all washed away ; and their vitality is not destroyed by pure
water. Hence the importance of washing seed wheat in some solu-
tion that will destroy the vitality of such of the sporules as fail to be
washed out.

Salt, plaster, quick-lime, arsenic, sulphate of copper and other things
have been recommended. The first is always at hand, and the next
two are seldom far absent from the farm; and we beheve that these

142 Journal of a Farmer.

are sufficient. If the seed be first washed in pure water, then in a
weak brine, of say one quart of salt to a pail full of water, and then
dried in plaster or quick lime, (the latter not to be used too fresh nor
very freely, lest it injure the vitality of the wheat,) we think that
there will be little danger from smut, and that the operation Avill be
favorable rather than otherwise to the germination and early growth
of the seed wheat. — Ed.

FOR TUB AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

Extracts from the Journal of a Tennessee Farmer.

July 20, 1857. — I have just finished cutting and shocking the wheat
crop, which, by reference to former leaves of this journal, has been
done about eighteen days later than usual. Last September, about
the 20th, I sowed sixty acres of bottom land in white blue stem, which
I will call field No. 1. This was a field which had lain in clover three
years, the crop of mat and seed was turned under in August at a
depth of say five inches, and one and a half bushels of seed wheat was
put down to the acre.

Field No. 2, of twenty-five acres, was sowed October 1st, on oats
stubble land turned in the same way, and mth one and three fourths
bushels Quaker to the acre. Both fields were harrowed in. So far
as I am now able to correctly guess, the yield to the acre of field No.
1 over that of field No. 2, will be as 24 to 15. The past winter was
long, cold and dry. The same sort of weather, though milder of
coui'se, characterized the spring, and indeed up to the date compara-
tively. This I think may account for the late harvest.

Our farmers in East Tennessee, generally, have gathered this year
one of the very best (in all respects) crops of wheat ever hai'vested
here in the memory of man. Last year this (Hawkins) county sold
to foreign markets about 50,000 bushels. Twice that amount can be
doubtless spared this year. The crop of last year was good, the mar-
ket fair, and transport easy. But the corn crop was short, which
made the home consumption of wheat greater than usual, because
horses, cows and hogs were fed upon this grain for several of the last
months, there being no corn at all. Now we are promised a bounti-
ful crop of the latter grain, though it is some four weeks later than
formerly, just now exhibiting the tassel. On a former leaf it may be
seen that "July 19th, 1854, we had full grown roasting ears in the
field." In this year's crop of wheat I am thankful that I am able to
record truthfully a marked improvement in the culture of it generally,
which has conducted our farmers to the happy result of an evident
superior quality of wheat, as well as increase in quantity as hinted.
In this desultory and often hastily sketching of odds and ends upon

Journal of a Farmer. 143

various subjects, I am aware that repetition is very often chargeable
to me. It may, for aught I know, be justly so in what I further
say. But in the ideas I proceed notwithstanding. Then, of the va-
rieties of wheat grown here, that mentioned as having been raised on
field No. 1 seems to stand first, and I think, everything considered,
merits the place. It is a smooth head and rather round, plump, small
berry, with a very small mesh with thin, tough and whitish bran.
This year there was generally about 90 to 120 grams in the head,
three grains in a breast on two opposite sides, with two on the others,
and from nine to twelve and now and then fourteen deep. The stalk
grows rather taller than other varieties, the straw thinner and of a
blueish yellow color, (imparting the name,) soft and tough like tanned
buck leather, and hence very difiicult to harvest with a machine reaper.
In my notes of last year I say 23|- bushels yield to the acre of this
wheat on average of 65 acres, some of the land not very well prepared,
nor adapted to the grain, but the greater portion might compare with
most of my neighbor's favorably. My neighbor, Mr. C, told me he
raised thirty-four bushels to the acre. When I speak of bushels I
mean dry measure., four pecks or thirty-two quarts, which of this class
of wheat weighs sixty-six pounds avoirdupois. When weU ground and
bolted, the good flour is seventy per cent., or seventy pounds flour to
one hundred pounds wheat of a snow white, is dryer and consequently
better.

Of that kind of wheat raised on field No. 2, much has been said in
its favor. It is a bearded head, long, heavy red berry, w^itli a deej)
mesh, two grams in a breast all round from eight to twelve deep.
The straw is heavy, large, and of golden yellow hue. It is very sub-
ject to fall on account of the immense cavity in the stock. It weighs
sixty pounds the bushel, and fifteen bushels are an average yield per
acre. The flour is of rich yellow cast, is not so glutinous, kneads
freer and smoother than the former, and the bread may perhaps re-
quire less condiment to be as nice to the palate. The bran is thicker
and less elastic ; the proportion of flour sixty-five from one hundred
pounds. Millers say their mills need not be so sharp to grind it, and
that it bolts freer, whilst the size of the berry renders it less subject
to waste. Meantime its advocates contend it is not so liable to dis-
ease, which I think from my observation is true.

It was, I tlfink, once said that wool and wheat grown south (of say
36° north latitude) could not be so good as that raised farther north.
I respectfully invite future facts in denial of the proposition, and whe-
ther or not as far down as 32 degrees much difierence is found. Mr. M.,
a gentleman from Ripley, Mississippi, visited us this summer, and in
talking on this subject, he asserted that there was as good wheat

144 Old Pastures.

raised in his State as in any other in the Union. And what is a little
strange, he said good wheat is now grown on lands that fifteen years
ago were covered with water the year round. Cold countries, it is
generally conceded, have the advantages in the growth of wheat. In
point of climate this may be fairly so. Yet may it not be very likely
that a warmer country may have an offset in the way of soil^ so that
the result may with the same farming in either country be the same ?
Probably more lies in farming from the field to the table mclusive,
than in either climate or soil, because we have been long ago ad-
monished that, " In the sAveat of thy face shall thou eat bread till thou
return unto the ground." A. L. B.

Mill Bend, Tennessee, July, 1857.

FOB THE AMERICAN PABMERS' MAGAZINE.

Old Pastures— How Shall We Reclaim Them,

BY DAVID KICE, M.D.

When I try to cure a sick patient, I, in the first place, study the
pathology of the case, or, in other words, seek the exciting cause of
the disease. The true nature of the complaint being found out, it is
a very easy matter to apply the proper remedial agents.

There is a certain disease called chlorosis, m which there is a lack
of one of the elements of the blood — a loss of a portion of its coloring
matter — iron. The patient suflering from it, loses the glow of health ;
the light and life leave the eye ; the roses upon the cheeks are sup-
planted by the pale lily, and a deadly pallor, almost like the touch
from the easel and pencil of death, spreads over the whole body. The
exciting cause here is a lack of one of the actual elements of the blood,
rather than any foreign miasm acting through and poisoning the life-
tluid, thereby communicating disease. We cure chlorosis by supply-
ing the lacking element, administer iron, and it almost always effects
a cure

Old pastures that have lost their vitality — pastures that once luxu-
i-iated in verdant greensward — whose broad surfaces were clothed
with a thick, velvet verdure of green blades and tender clover foliage,
])ut have now become dry, barren and sere, covered with a garb of
sorrel and whortlebury bushes. Such pastures are really sick. The
disease is a sjrt of chlorosis. There is a lack of some important ele-
ment or elements of vitality. The continual cropping of the vegeta-
l)le life has deprived the soil faster than the decomposition of the rocks
underneath could supply of one of its sources of fertility, and the foun-
tains of vegetable life are dried or drying up.

Vegetable, as well as animal life, is dependent upon the presence

Old Pastures. 145

and operation of certain proper principles of nutrition. Take those
away and life becomes extinct. Let the best pasture (unless it has an
inexhaustible soil) be fed year after year, without supplying it artifi-
cially with the necessary pabulum, and in the end it will become an
" old pasture," a " worn out pasture." It will certainly die at last
with a loss of vitality.

Can such pastures be cured ? I answer, Yes. How shall we re-
store them and cause them again to rejoice in the green garb of youth-
fal beauty, and to bud and blossom again as in their pristine state ?

We must bring about this revivification by supplying them with
their lost or lacking elements, or supply some element or substance
that wiU by unituig with the already existency and present agents
exact more rapid decompositions among them, and in this way supply
the loss. For it is certain that sometimes the apphcation of a single
substance like ashes or gypsum, ^vill effect a wonderful transformation.
In its afiinities, compositions, and decompositions, and double decom-
positions will ensue, and a great many of the real elements of vegeta-
ble hfe will be evolved ; and so the barren earth will rejoice in ver-
dure and beauty, and the husbandman be compensated for his toil.

How shall we ascertain the true pathology of the case, or how shall
we learn what substances are lacking in order to apply the proper re-
medy ? There are two ways— first, by chemical analysis ; second, by
actual experiment. A practical agricultural chemist by viewing and
analysing soil will readily teU what are the most proper fertilizers to
apply to a worn-out pasture.

Actual experunent, perhaps, is as good a way as any. Several sub-
stances—plaster, lime, ashes, muck, bone-dust, guano, barn-yard ma-
nure, or a mixture of two or three of these, can be appHed separately
in sufficient quantities to small patches of pasture in a single season.
The result will tell what is wanting. The want ascertained, then ap-
ply it. This will do on pastures, but not on patients. We can ex-
periment on the former to good advantage, but not on the latter.
Let me tell you how an esteemed neighbor of mine cured a worn-out
pasture of his by the application of plaster. Hear him. The gentle-
man to whom I refer is Moses Field, Esq., of this town.

" My experiments indicate that Plaster of Paris improves old pas-
tures, when the underlying rock is new red sand-stone, or the con-
glomerate or pudding stone, which is made up of rounded granite
boulders and pebbles, cemented together and slow of decomposition.

"In 1851 1 appUed 500 lbs. of plaster to five acres in Leverett, north-
west of Long Plain, upon the lower slope of Mt. Mettawampe, with
marked results. In two months the imperfection of the work of sow-
ing was indicated by waves in the grass as distinctly as the waves in

146 Birds.

an unevenly sowed piece of grain. In October, 1854, I sowed sixty
acres. The eifect Avas not A'isible tlie first season, and not nntil the
latter part of the second ; but at the third season the diflerence on the
whole was strikingly marked. On the more exhaused pasture lands,
I think the quantity to the acre of plaster should be about three hun-
dred pounds. My pasture that for sixty years has borne little nutri-
tious food for my stock, is now clothed with rich waving grass."

Mr. Field's experiment proved that plaster was needed on his land
to effect a cure. It probably acted by new elementary principles
from the rocky soil beneath, as well as by the effect of its own pre-
sence. Another pasture might require lime, ashes, guano, or bone-
dust, or a mixture of some of them. — Ed.

FOn TUB AMERICAS FARSIEBS' MAGAZl.SE.

Birds, Mischievous and Innocent, on the whole

Beneficial.

Amherst, Mass., August 10, 1857.

Messrs. Editors : — Having for the last four or five years carefully
studied the habits of our summer birds, I would like to say a few
words through your Farmers' Magazine concerning the crow, one of
the most common of our resident birds.

It is considered doubtful by many whether the crow is in the habit
of destroying the nests of other birds. On several occasions, upon
visiting the nests of robins and other of our — I can almost say — do-
mestic birds, in which only a few days before I had seen eggs, I have
found them much disturbed, and, with the exception of a few small
pieces of broken shells and drops of yolk, entirely empty. Until last
May I was unable to account for this. About the middle of that
month a pair of robins built a nest upon an apple tree m the yard. I
felt a peculiar interest in these birds, for they had occupied a nest in
that same tree for several successive years. Well, these birds in due
time laid four eggs, and commenced the process of incubation.

Everything was going on regularly and hap])ily, Avhen one day my
attention was attracted by the loud screaming and cryhig of both pa-
rent birds. Upon looking at the nest, I discovered an old crow sit-
ting upon the branch nearest the nest deliberately eating the Qgg>i.
The robins fought bravely, but were unable to force him to abandon
the feast. I immediately took sides with the robins, and quickly
drove the intruder to the woods, but it was too late. The nest was
destroyed and the eggs eaten. I have ujion several occasions smce,
seen the crow engaged in the same thieving business ; and I now con-
sider it quite settled, that the crow, as has frequently been charged

American Guano. 14Y

upon him, is a robber and devourer of the eggs and young of the
smaller birds, as Avell as a notorious rogue in the cornfield.

But it is said, " The devil should have his due ;" and it can not be
denied that the crow is a valuable scavenger, and that by the gorging
of grubs, beetles, moths, etc., he is an eifective auxiliary to man in
the battle he is constantly fighting with the insect tribes. Whether
the good he does, or the evil, preponderates, I leave others to judge.
Truly yours, N. S. C.

The good done by any bird that enlivens our American heavens,
probably outweighs the evil. We have not one quarter as many birds
as we ought to have, and as we should have but for the insensate folly
of popping them over for the fun of it. To us it seems a most cruel,
heartless sort of pleasure to kill innocent birds when gathering noxi-
ous insects for themselves and their young, and yet there are thou-
sands pursuing it. Robins, swallows, everything that has wings, falls
before them. It is a shame, and will cost the farmers of the country
hundreds of millions, if it can not be checked. Man has no adequate
protection against insects but in the birds. Let us proteet the birds
and they will protect us. — Ed.

American Guano.

The ship Aspasia is hourly expected laden with one hundred tons
of this superior fertilizer from Jarvis and Baker's Islands, two of the
possessions of the American Company secured and protected by a late
act of Congress. The attention of agriculturists is particularly called
to the following facts :

ANALYSIS OF JARVIS ISLAND GL'ANO, BY DK. HAYS.

Ci'enates and liumates of ammonia 13.50

Oily matter and eithific acids, embracing water and carbonic acids :

Phosphoric acid and lime 86.00

Magnesia from humates 2.21

Sulphate of lime and sulphate of soda 14.96

Silieia or sand 82

Total 117.49

ANALYSIS OF BAKER ISLAND GUANO, BY DR. GALE.

Organic compounds yielding ammonia, etc 9.940

Combined water 2.500

Carbonic acid from organic compounds of lime 600

Bone phosjihate of lime, and bone phosphate magnesia, (containing

phosphoric acid, 38.67) 83.266

Sulphate of soda 1.263

Common salt 1.615

Loss 816

Total 100.000

The analysis shows that more than 80 per cent, of these guanos con-
sist of the phosphate of lime and of magnesia, in an insoluble state, or

148 American Giiano.

in just sucli a condition that the roots of plants will take up and ap-
propriate so much of the salt as is requisite to perfect the same.

Now, if we examine the analysis of wheat, one of the great staples
of our Middle and Western States, Ave find that every 100 pounds of
its ashes contains fi-om 50 to 60 pounds of these phospliates, w^hich
must have been taken up from the soil. A large part of these salts
are required to form the hull or envelope of the kernel, and are indis-
pensable to the perfection of the seed. Hence the special value of the
phosphate guanos. And furthermore, as they are only soluble by
reason of the vital power of the i)lant, they remain in the soil as a re-
servoir, ready to be drawn ujion only when the roots of the plant re-
quire their ai)propriation to perfect the growth thereof Those are
the reasons why the guanos in question should be used in prcferendb
to the ammonia-yielding guanos. The effects of the former last for
years, and the soil acquires from its use an arcmnulative power ; while
the latter, annually applied, is exhausted with the crop ; the soil indi-
rectly becomes exhausted from the annually forced crop.

These are interesting and useful facts for the farmers of our coun-
try, and for this reason ^ye publish them.

The Commissioner of Patents has distributed five barrels of Ameri-
can Guano to farmers and j^lanters in every section of the Union, from
Maine to Texas, with cu-cular forms to be filled up by them of the re-
sults of the exj^eriment. Any one may be convinced of the superior
excellence of American Guano, by calling at No. 66 William street, in
this city. The Peruvian article is now held at IVO per ton, while the
American can be furnished at $50, and has been demonstrated to be
far superior as a fertilizer.

The above appears in a late number of the Weekly/ JVeics, without
a name to indicate its authorship or inform its readers on what author-
ity, other than the editor's, it goes forth. In copying it we offer our
readers the following remarks :

1. Tiie company, which it is said can afford this Guano at |50 a ton,
is an American Company. The Islands whence it comes are Ameri-
can Islands. The persons who will be employed to bring it to our
shores, will be mostly Americans. It will be likely to come in Amer-
ican shipping. All this is well. The sooner American citizens, native
and adopted, furnish our necessaries and perforn our labor, the better
will it be for us all. We should like to ride on a railroad constructed
of American iron, smelted with American coal, by American hands.
When we stop over night, we should like to sleep under American
blankets ; and if we take a lunch by the way, we should really a little
prefer that the wheat of which our bread is made sliould have been
grown with an American fertilizer. We are all over American ; we
would eat, drink, wear, sleep on, ride over, have, hold and use Amer-
ican goods, if we could get them, in preference to any other ; and we
really wish that our farmers would purchase this American guano in
preference to Peruvian, just as soon as they can ascertain its intrinsic
worth and find it offered at or within that figure.

American Guano. 149

2. Somebody, in the article above copied, states that Peruvian gu-
ano is now held at $70 a ton. We suppose that is so. And we sup-
pose that fancy farmers, who have amassed a fortune in speculating
on the labor of the working farmer, can afford to pay that price, or
perhaps almost any other. If market-gardeners, nursery-men, fruit-
growers, and some others, say that they can afford to pay $70 a ton
for Peruvian guano out of the results of their business, we have no
controversy with them. They probably understand that matter bet-
ter than we do. But we are bound to say, and to give Our readers
the benefit of our opinion, if it shall prove beneficial, that the general
farmer, having no special facilities for making money out of his crops,
can hardly afford $70 a ton for Peruvian guano. It is the best ma-
nure yet offered, but is not above all price, may be purchased too
dear, and fail to leave the purchaser a fair profit. For most kinds of
farming it is vastly better to have recourse to other modes of keeping
up fertility, such as ploughing in clover, digging muck, preserving
carefully all the home fertilizers, and thus making the farm enrich it-
self, than to purchase manures at $70 or even at $60 a ton. We are
no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but we do not believe that the time
is far distant when $50 a ton will be found quite as much as is profita-
ble for the general run of farmers to pay for any, even the best, ma-
nures ; and if Ave were practicing to live by farming, we should cer-
tainly take a coarse which, if other farmers would go with us, would
soon bring the Peruvian government to be willing to sell their guano,
of which they unquestionably have an immense supply, at that price,
or less. That there are individual cases where purchasers have done
well at a much higher price, is unquestionable ; but there are ten
times more cases where a loss has accrued from its purchase at that
price ; and since the fortunate holders of the Chmcha Islands can very
well afford to sell so as to give the purchaser a good bargain, we
really wish they may be starved to it. Fifty dollars a ton is enough
for them to receive, and it is enough for us to give.

3. Somebody in this same article, says that the American guano can
be furnished at $50. There must be some mistake in this if the writer
means by it that it can not be sold at less. We have heard the presi-
dent of the company say that it can be afforded at $40, and leave room
for a very large profit. This may mean one hundred per cent, on the
capital invested. If so, it can be afforded from 40 all the way down
to 20 dollars a ton, according to its real worth, when that point shall
be settled. We would here say that the company have done a very
fan- and honorable thing, in giving out considerable quantities of this
guano to farmei's that it may be subjected to a fair trial. We have been
of opinion that no phosphatic guano, as the analysis shows this to be,
is worth fifty dollars a ton, nor forty ; but we sincerely hope that this

150 Saving Se^d Coiii.

may prove all that is claimed for it, better even than Peruvian. The
discoverers have done a good thing for the country, should it prove
valuable, and we hope their enterprise may be rewarded ; but as com-
merce is in no respect a higher or more important calling than agri-
culture, and as merchants have evinced in all ages quite as much com-
petency as farmers to take care of themselves, we feel justified while
calling upon the latter to be American in their feelings, to patronize
an American guano company heartily, as fast as they can do so with-
out compromising their own interests, in reminding them also to be
cautious, to know the real value of the article before they purchase,
and then to purchase only as liberally as they can afford. And if they
remember that commerce steals a march upon agriculture ten times
oflener than agriculture upon conmaerce, we have no sort of objection.
—Ed.

FOK THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

Saving Seed Corn.

Fkieitos Nash & Parish : — Your Plough is an excellant imple-
ment, and works well in turning over the sod., and on old ground that
has been worked for years. But good tools are not all that the thrifty
husbandman wants to insure him good crops — those that will pay him
for his expense and labor. He may have the best of Ploiighs., hoes.,
etc., and put his ground in the best of order, but unless he has good
seed he can not expect a good crof).

During the spring of 1856, the seed corn in this part of the coun-
try proved almost a perfect failure, especially the first planting, as
most who planted early had to replant. This, with early frosts, made
a large quantity, of poor or soft corn. No one could give the reason
for it. At the time I talked with many of my neighbors xipon the
subject, and I found that nearly all of them planted the com that they
had cut up and put into stouts. The corn crop proved a poor one.
Hardly a farmer had enough for his own use. This caused the price
of corn to rise from the usual price (thirty cents) to $2 per bushel,
and it could not be had at that, for' it was not in the country.

Last spring came around, and many of the farmers did the same as
on the previous one. Corn that stood out all winter in the hill came
uj) finely, while that which was cut and stouted up or put into bins
proved a universal failure. Therefore, the crop of corn will be noth-
ing like a full one this season. The season was cold and very late ;
and where the seed failed the first planting, if frost comes as early as
common, the second planting will be cut off. My reasons for corn
not growing that is cut and stouted up or put in large bins, are the
same as friend. Bacon's, given in the July nmnber of the Plough,,
Looin^ and Anvil, on page 20.

Saving Seed Corn. 151

As the seed had proven such a faihire in the spring of 1856, 1
thought that I would try a new mode of saving my seed corn., if any
grew ; as my seed was old corn sent to me by a friend from Ohio, it
nearly all grew, the first planting. In the latter part of September,
when my corn Avas fairly out of the milk, and was glazed, I went and
selected the best of it, picked it and strung it up under my shed upon
poles, so that the air had a free circulation. It hung there until it
was nearly dry, I then put it up in the chamber where a stove pipe
went through, and it remained there until spring.

When it got dry, it shriveled up and looked as if it had no substance
in it. I thought it was uncertain whether it would grow. Before
planting I put some into the ground to see if it would germinate, and
it came up. I planted it into the field ; and while planting one of my
neighbors was there, and he looked at it and laughed at me for being
so foolish as to plant such corn this late season. " Why," says he,
"if that corn grows, there is no danger but what all corn will grow.
If that grows mine will grow, surely." His corn had been cut up and
stood in the stout until cold weather came, thea it was picked and
put into a crib. But did his all grow ? He planted it, and about one-
half of it came, while the corn that I had in the chamber grew to a
kernel. Even if the kernel was shrunk, the germination principle was
not killed. This proves to me that corn for seed should be gathered
as soon as the milk is out of it and it is fairly glazed over. An old
farmer, who has seen seventy summers, said to me once : " If you
want to have your seed corn come up well, save your seed before
your corn is fairly ripe." My advice to all farmers that have
had bad luck in having corn fail is, save your corn before it is fairly
ripe, and put it where it will cure, and keep it dry until you want to
plant it. Millions of dollars have been lost duruig the last crop of
corn, and there will be dollars lost this fall, for no other reason than
by planting poor seed. Messrs. Editors, I hope that you will give your
opmion upon this subject, for it is of vast importance. I hope your
correspondents will write, and if they have not tried it, may they do
so and give their experience through the Plough, Loom., and Anvil.
Respectfully yours, L. S. Spencee.

Lynn, Warren Co., Iowa.

We would prefer to select seed as soon as fairly ripe, but would be
careful not to do it sooner ; and would then keep it in a dry and cool
place, though it would not be seriously injured by wintering in a
heated room, as all experience shows, many farmers always keeping
it suspended over the kitchen fire. — Ed.

152 Farm Life.

Farm Life.

" Oh, friendly to the best pursuits of mnn,
Friendly to the thouG;ht, to virtue, and to peace,
Domestic life, in rural ])leasure passed!
Few know thy value and few taste thy sweets ;
Thouixh many boast thy favors, and affect
To understand and choose thee for their own." — [Cowper.

Education is by no means confined to scliools. These are but rn-
dimental and auxiliary to that training Avhicli is begun in the cradle
and finished only at death. The nursery days of our life, and its bu-
siness pursuits, have an important bearing upon the formation of cha-
racter. What a man does, as well as what he studies in books, edu-
cates him. The scenes amid which his boyhood is passed, out of
schools, the objects which occupy his thoughts, the problems he daily
solves in earning his bread, quite as much shape character as the
scenes and problems of a school-room. Agriculture is the largest and
most important of all our material interests, the occupation to which
the largest portion of our countrpnen are born. It is a matter of in-
terest to consider the bearmg of this pursuit upon the characters of
those who are engaged in it.

There are those who consider this a menial occupation — degrading
to the body by the toil it imposes, and beUttleing to the mind by the
attention it requires to the minute details of its business. They re-
gard its implements as the badges of servihty, and look with disdain
upon the plow-boy's lot. They dei^reciate the influence of farm life
upon the social and mental culture, and look upon the rustic man as
a type of boorishness and ignorance. They think it mainly a business
for brute muscles, where mind can achieve no conquests, and where
skillful labor finds a poor reward. They think the way of a man of
genius is inevitably hedged up upon the larm — that there is no heroic
work to be perfoi'med, no laurels to be won. If he Avould do deeds
worthy of his manhood, gain wealth, gain honor, make himself a name
that will live, he must turn to nobler occupations.

If those who are strangers to the farm alone cherished this view,
we could abide it in silence. But when farmers themselves admit this
impeachment of their calling, and the pestilence of this heresy finds its
way to our firesides, and makes our sons and daughters discontented
with our rural homes, it is time to speak out. If comparisons must be
made, which are invidious, the shadows shall not fall on the farmer's
lot. It is time that other callings were stripped of that romance in
which they are veiled, and that the sons of the farm should know what
they have in prospect when they turn their backs upon the homes of
their youth. It is meet that they should better understand the bless-
ings of their lot, its capacities for improvement, and its superiority to
all other occupations. We would arrest that feeling of disquiet which
keeps so large a part of our rural population perpetually longing for
new fields of enterprise. We Avculd have them settled, at least a por-
tion of them, in the old parish, and bend all their energies to the im-
provement and adornment of their homes. — Mei\ William Clift,

JSFotes by the Way. 153

Notes by the Way.

Ox the New-York md Erie and the Lake Shore roads, between
this city and the State line, a distance of about 500 miles, there is
some rather poor land, considerable that is but ordinarily good, and
a great deal that is excellent, so good that it would be difficult to find
much better, consisting of fertile valleys and beautiful slopes, with hill-
tops and broad table lands hardly inferior to either.

Why is it that farmers on the inferior lands are - doing better, as
compared with what one might expect, than those on the best ? If
the fact is admitted, and we rather think it must be, how shall we ac-
count for it ? Have those on the best lands set too high an estimate
upon ease ? As nature does more for them, have they concluded to
do less for themselves ? And does it require a rather hard soil to
make your real energetic, go-ahead farmers ? We throw out these
inquiries for others to answer, hoping it can be shown that the energy
and enterprise of the farmer are not to deteriorate with the goodness
of the soil.

At Ripley, the last town in this State, on the Lake Shore road, we
found a gentleman — we do not mean in any miserable, technical sense,
as if a gentleman and a Avorking farmer can not be the same, for we
found him with his coat off, hard at work— who is cultivating a large
farm, and is destined we believe to distinguish himself as a breeder of
fine stock, H. J. Cowden. Mr. Cowden's herd consists of thirty head
of Durhams, pure bloods, we think he said, without exception, or at
any rate with few exceptions. He has made a fine beginning, and will
hardly fiiil of advancing his own interest, as he certainly will that of
the country. Among Mr. C.'s stock, not to mention others, is the fa-
mous bull Ivanhoe, from the imported bull, Harold 2d, 1688 Allen's
Herd Book.

In this same town of Ripley, we accepted an invitation to dine with
Mr. Loren Shattuck, a good substantial flirmer, whose lady seemed at
first rather disinclined towards the ISTew-York corj^s editorial, on ac-
count of Mr. Greeley's criticisms on the cooking of farmers' wives. If
loud laughing makes a good dinner, we certainly had it ; and if it does
not, we had it ; for in the first place there was the staff of life, and a
good staff it was ; we never ate such bread in N'ew-York ; Mr. Greeley
never did and probably never will. It was made of wheat grown on
the farm, made at home, made just right, was white as snow, porous
without large cavities, tender, moist, perfect ; would have taken the
premium at any fair in the Union. We ate just such at a neighboring
hotel, but have not seen quite as good otherwhere. The butter was
good also ; and where there is such bread and butter there can not be

154 N'ot^s by the Way.

very poor living. The meat was good enough, and the pies were jBrst-
rate, and the good woman concluded to forgive Mr. Greeley after all,
on the ground that there is some bad cooking in farmers' families, and
that his strictures were on the whole adapted to abate the evil. The
fact is, we interceded for Mr. Greeley as eloquently as Ave could, hav-
ing some fear lest so many women as he had offended on the score of
cooking might possibly cook up a plan to overthrow the New-York
Tribune. We hope the editor of that journal will remember us if we
should ever get into a like trouble with the ladies.

John D. Patterson, of Westfield, has such a flock of French Marinos
as we have nowhere seen before ; 300 in number, bred from the
choicest importations, and certainly with eminent success. We un-
derstood Mr. P. that it is not his intention to enlarge his flock, but to
use every possible exertion to improve the quality. It has been
his object to combine size of body with fineness and quantity of
fleece. He does not claim that the quality of his wool is equal to that
of the Saxony sheep, but that it is good, and that the quantity is large,
and that the sheep are large and hardy. His shepherd told us that
he recently sold two lambs of eleven months old, the weights of which
(live weight, of course) were 185 and 197 lbs. Two lambs of nine ,
months old were shown us, the weights of which were not known ;
but such was their size, that after seeing them we could the more read-
ily believe the repoi't of the others. Several bucks, Ave understand,
have been sold from this flock for $1000 each, and many ewes for $250
each. So we were assured ; and we were informed by persons Avho
ought to know, that Mr. Patterson is the last man to be suspected of
reporting fictitious prices for the purpose of afiecting future sales.
These prices are too high to be thought of for the ordinary purposes
of farming; and yet we rejoice in such improvements, believing that
the benefits Avill ere long pass round, and that the Avhole country will
participate in them.

Mr. Elam C. Bliss, of Westfield also, showed us a lot of very beau-
tiful young DcA'on cattle, and stated that a few months ago he sold a
calf previous to its birth for $100, all risks with the purchaser; and
that the purchaser is now exceedingly pleased with his bargain.

We name such facts as indicative of a spirit of improvement, Avdiich
Avc are pleased to see, and not because we suppose it Avould be advis-
able for all farmers to pay fabulous prices for fine stock. Call these
high breeders fancy men, if you please, but there is some evidence that
they knoAV Avhat they are about ; call those Avho purchase of them by
what epithet you choose, but some of them at least will be likely to
take care of themselves ; and the advantages of high-bred stock Avill
pass around till all Avill become participants. We forgot to mention in
the proper place, that some fifteen months ago Mr. Bliss, of Avhose

N'otes by the Way. 155

Devon calf, sold quite as eaiiy as some of our veal here in New- York
is eaten for $100, paid $1500 for a Jack, which now promises to be a
good investment, both for him and for Chataugue county ; and that
one of Mr. Patterson's bucks is the same which drew a high premium
(the highest we think) at the world's fair in Paris. The name we have
forgotten, and of the price Ave only recollect that it was enormous ;
but we understood Mr. P. that he would not wish now to retrace the
measure of the importation if he could.

Other observations between the western and the eastern extremi-
ties of New- York we would l^ie to detail, but feel compelled to omit.
On one thing, however, we will dwell a little, even at the risk of
wearying our readers. It is the vmeyard of the Messrs. Fay, father
and son, at Salem Cross Roads, in the town of Portland, Chatauque
Co. Forty-six years ago the elder Mr. Fay removed from Worcester
county, Mass., and settled in this county, then entirely new. Mr.
Fay is an excellent f;irmer, as the land, which he took in its then
primeval state, and has ever since carried on, with the aid of sons and
a grandson, fully attests. The old orchard, planted with seeds he
carried from Massachusetts, is to-day one of the freshest and most
flourishing in the country. The trees at first were but seedlings.
The trees are now ingrafted, and most of them are abimdantly pro-
ductive of choice fruit.

On one part of Mr. Fay's farm, is a water meadow of twenty acres,
the finest by far we have seen m this country. The crop, which was
being taken from it at the time of our visit, could be hardly less than
three tons to the acre, and as good hay as ever was cut. The prac-
tice, we believe, is to mow it but once, though we are not positive on
this point. For twelve years it has been under the watering process,
no manure having been used all that time, and we were told that the
crops were good from the first, but have been steadily increasing, the
present crop being probably a little better than any other. On a
future occasion we may say more of this meadow, and give directions
for producing the like; for though it must be confessed that few
farms afford such an opportunity for inexpensive and yet effective
irrigation as this, yet there are many on which the same process
might be applied in a less extent. Think of the value of twenty
acres, or even half that extent, or a quarter, producing three tons of
lirst-rate hay to the acre, without a particle of manure, and then fur-
nishing manure for other portions of the farm, and you will have
some idea of the value of irrigation, Avhere the position of the land
admits, as in this case, of a cheap application.

But it was our present purpose to speak of the vineyard. The
elder Mr. Fay and Ms son, and Mr. Bykmaii, a grandson of the

156 JVbtes by the Way.

former, have together five acres of vineyard. We have not space for
particnliirs. Suffice it to say, that some of their vines are seven years
old, others six, five, and so on do'mi ; and that tlieir plan has been
from the beginning not to remit known and profitable crops, but to
add the culture of grapes to these, so that in case of failure in the
new branch of business, their success in the old M'ould not be much
interfered with. This has ever seemed to us a wise course, in relation
to new undertakings by the farmer. There is a j^lot, for instance,
which might produce more income, if set with cranberries, than all
the rest of the farai. But there is sojne imcertainty. The farmer
fears to let go his hold of the old and sure crops for what is doubtful.
In this he is right. But can he not experiment on what gives some
sort of promise of being more profitable, without letting go what is
better known and more sure ? It has seemed to us that the true
policy is for the farmer to adhere closely to some one or two branches
of farming, well known to him and suited to his land, as dairying,
stock-growing, the cultivation of the cereals and others ; to make
this or these his main dependence, but to try his hand at the same
time at other branches so cautiously as not essentially to interfere
with the main business. This is just what the Messrs. Fay have done.
Without neglecting other, and perhaps more sure employment of
their land, they have produced five acres of beautiful vineyard, and
are going on to enlarge it by Httle and little from one year to another.
Now if the vineyard should wholly fiiil, they will not be ruined by it.
If, on the other hand, it should produce half as well as it now prom-
ises, there is wealth in it ; and it would now seem hardly possible that
they will fail of a rich reward for the labor bestowed upon it. Very
much like this is the case of a farmer whom we have known in ano-
ther part of the country. There was a plot on his farm well adapted
to the culture of the cranberry. He was not certain of success ; and
not being wealthy, and having an expensive family, he would not
have dared to grow a bushel less of corn and other grains, but could
make an experiment at the cranberry business at intervals which
could be spared from the other crops. He did so, and the result has
been that for the last ten years the ci-araberry has had yielded him
more net income than all the rest of his farm, and he is now Avealthy.
Two years ago this farmer said to us, " If I had bent all my force to
the cranberry culture when I began, fifteen years ago, I should have
been rich now ;" and he ended by saying, " what a fool I was." We
replied, that he had taken a profoundly wise course ; because he had
felt his way safely, without imperilHng his creditors, (for fifteen years
ago he was deeply in debt,) and without subjecting his family to a
doubtful support. Such was the literal truth ; for although the cran-
berry culture turned out the most profitable investment, yet he could

The Season^ Crops^ etc. 15'^

not have known that beforehand ; and he was wise to hold on upon
the corn and the broom corn, the oats, peas, beans and clover, till as-
sured by actual results that he had hold of something better. And
then he was rich enough as it was ; a good farm, under high cultiva-
tion, well stocked, all paid for, a few thousands beforehand, frugal
habits, a family frugal, sensible, intelligent, healthy ; is there a richer
man in the world ? If any, let him speak, for we want to go and see
liiiii — would go farther to see a richer man than that, than to see all
the sights about, from Daii Rice's circus to Christy's Minstrels, now
attracting cockneys and fools in " famous London Town."

We want to say more of farming on the Erie Road, but have not
space. Our moral is, if the farmers in that southern line of counties
will bear with us, that they are not doing quite as weU, comparatively,
as farmers farther east, on poorer land. Too many of them are
dreammg of a better country West. The truth is, their country is
good enough. Its situation on the line of one of the greatest thor-
oughfares in the world, makes it doubly desirable. Whether the
New-York and Erie* Road is managed well for the stockholders, is
more than we know. That it is well conducted for the traveling com-
mimity, we have abundant reason to know ; and that it is of immense
value to the farmers along the route, present prices as compared with
former, two, three, and four times as much, sufficiently attest. If
the farmers of Western Pennsylvania and Southern New-York had
paid for the whole road, and were never to get a cent of dividend,
they would still be gainers, by the rise of their produce and land.
Immense extents are to-day worth ten, twenty and thirty dollars an
acre more than they would have been worth for half a century to
come without the road. In view of such facts, we shall venture to
question whether the people of these regions are actuated by quite as
liberal a spirit towards the road as becomes them. We think we have
seen some evidence withm the last five weeks that they are not. — Ed.

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

The Season, Crops, Harvest, etc.

Newman's Mills, Indiana Co., Pa., Aug. 1, 1857.
Messrs. Editors : — ^Last winter was a remarkable one. It was
very cold and wintry, with deep snow till Tuesday, the third day of
February, when it began to be a little milder. On the fourth of
February it set in warm and rainy ; and the snow nearly aU went off.
It was quite warm and spring-like. Some part of February was so
warm and free from snow, and even frost, that the grain and grass

158 The Season, Crops, etc.

began to start to grow as they ordinarily do in April. This kind of
weather lasted till the beginning of March, After that the weather
was variable till the 23d of March, on the morning of which we had
lightning, heavy thunder, and abundant rain. From that time, on
through April and May, the weather was cold, windy, and back-
ward, not half so spring-like as in February.

We had morning //-os^s till the 6th of June. There was but little
corn planted till after the 25th of May. Oats were sowed nearly a
month later than usual. On Monday, the 8th of Jmie, it rained
heavily in the forenoon, and washed the fields and roads considerably.
But that night the rain fell in torrents. Next morning, such washed
and gullied looking corn fields, oat fields, and roads ! And since that
time we have had only seventeen days till the first day of August,
during which it has rained more or less, at times powerfully, viz. :
June U, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28, and July 3, 4, 7, 8, 14, 17,
24 and 25. Nearly all of the rains have come from the east or
south-east.

Old grain is very scarce and prices high ; in faSt hard to be had at
any price. The new wheat and rye are good. Many fields are heavy,
A neighbor of mine has a field of wheat of ten acres, which I hear
he rates at thirty bushels the acre. Others reckon on twenty bushels
the acre. There was a large breadth sown last fall to wheat, and
most of it on land newly cleared, as last season was a good one for
clearing land. The oats were sown very late, but they give promise,
at present, of a large yield, and corn looks tolerably well, or would if
it were the first of July instead of August first. I fear the frosts,
if at all early, will find it not ready to bear their cold touch un-
harmed.

Potatoes, as many as were planted, look well, and there are yet no
signs of rot, so fiir as I know. So many potatoes were frozen last
year, and seed was so scarce, that not very many were planted about
here. As it rains almost daily, and some days almost all day and
night, harvest is progressing very slowly and unsatisfactorily. There
is a poor prospect of much new land being cleared this season in time
for wheat next fall. There is so much rain, the tunber will not burn
without great labor and pains-taldng.

I esteem your Magazine of Agriculture very highly, and Avould
most heartily recommend it to all cultivators of the soil everywhere,
as a safe guide for them. I think it grows better, like wine, as it
grows older. I am right glad to see in it such articles as " Multum
in Parvo," "Chemistry for the Million," " Health, Morals, and Patriot-
ism," and such like. Yours truly, David Mills.

JSorticultural. 159

fartintltitral.

Blanching of Celery in Trenches.

There are two modes of blanching : one is to draw the earth up to
the plants from time to time while they are growing ; the other is to
defer the earthing until the plants are nearly full grown. We prefer
the first method. Success in cultivatmg celery depends mostly on in-
ducing a rapid growth ; and to insure this, an abundant supply of ma-
nure and frequent stirring of the soil are indispensable. Waterino-
with liquid manure is very beneficial. The hoe should be used as
soon as the plants have fairly begun to grow, and the ground kept
loose and free from weeds. The j^lants will be greatly benefited by
stirring the soil immediately after a rain. As soon as rapid growth
has become established, or when the plants are about a foot high, the
process of earthing may be begun. As the leaves and stalks grow in
a spreading manner, it is necessary, in the first place, to collect the
stalks in one hand, and with the other draw up some earth and press
it agamst the plant just liard enough to keep the stalks together. The
hoe may then be used to complete the process, but the crown or heart
of the plant must not be covered until the blanching is finished late in
the fall. The earthmg must be repeated from time to time as the
plants progress in growth, and it should be done during dry wea-
ther, since, if the earth is wet, the celery is apt to become " rusted."
In our next number Ave shall give directions as to the best mode of
keeping celery durmg the winter.

Eipening of Fruits.

The ripenmg is a process as little understood as the period of pick-
ing, and various directions have been given on this subject by diflerent
writers, some advising it to be spread out upon shelves in the fruit
room, and others to be kei^t m boxes or drawers, excluded from the
fight and air. We have found that very few early pears will ripen
well when exposed to the air on open shelves, even in a tolerably
close fruit room. At this season of the year the atmosphere is too
dry, and the cui-rents of the air too great, and the juices are too
rapidly exhausted. It is far better to place the fruit in boxes of
moderate size, and let them stand in the fruit room or some other
cool and rather dark place, where they retain their juices better than
if exposed on shelves. We have tried this experiment, and found
that those fruits kept in small quantities m a drawer, shut out from
the light, were more juicy, higher flavored, and more delicious than
when preserved in other ways. As a general rule, we should advise
all early pears to be placed in boxes or drawers, covered with one or
two thicknesses of paper, and kept excluded from light and air, where
the temperature is cool and as even as possible at that season. A
damp, cool cellar is not so favorable a place as a cool, dry room, as
the former checks the ripening process too suddenly ; such a situa-
tion will do for the autumn and winter pears, but not for the early
kinds.

160 Horticultural.

'Apples, being less dependent for their excellence on their delicacy
of flavor, than for their tenderness, juiciness, etc., need only be gath-
ered a few days before eating ; they are better placed in baskets or
barrels, in moderate quantity, than to be spread out en shelves. Some
of these arc about as good when they fall from the tree as by any
process of keeping. The Red Astrachan, Porter, and some of the
more acid kind, seem to acquire their highest flavor in this Avay. But
as a general rule they should be gathered a few days before eating.
Tlie sweet varieties, particularly such as the Bough, Golden Sweet,
and some others, become mealy if allowed to hang too long. ^

Peaches and Plums, except clingstones and prunes, are only fit to
eat as they drop from the tree. The only objection to this mode of
gathering, is, that it bruises and disfigures the fruit. They should
not, however, be picked unless they part from the stem upon the least
touch. Clingstones and prunes may be kept in the fruit room for one
or more months.

Transplanting Strawberries.

The best time is always eai'ly in spring, as at that time, we have
only to set out the plants Avith ordinary care for all to grow. They
will bear abundantly the second season, and if kept clean and cultivat-
ed, for two or three years afterv»^ards.

Transplanted immediately after bearing, and while the plants are
somewhat exhausted, and consequently in a partially dormant state,
strawberries will do well, and afibrd as good a crop next season, as by
sjjring transplanting, but more care and labor are required. The
ground is first to be prepared by properly enriching it, and making it
clean and mellow.

The plants should be selected from the youngest well-rooted run-
ners of the previous year. They should be lifted out with a spade,
and the earth shaken off", and not pulled out, as is often done to the
injury of the roots. All the full expanded leaves are to be clipi^ed
off, leaving only the small, half open ones. The roots are then to be
dipped in mud, made in a pan or pail for this purpose, thick enough
to leave a coating on them about the fourth of an inch. They are then
to be transplanted, spreading out the fibres as much as may be con
venient, and taking care not to cover the crown. — Country Gent.

Memarks. — Every family that has a patch of ground should culti-
vate a bed of strawberries. For more particular directions, see our
number, Sept., 1S56, page 146. — Ed.

Soap for Killing Borers in Trees.

S. S. Green, of East Cambridge, has made an experiment with this
article. He has in his garden a white ash tree, which was full of these
worms, so fiital to our fruit and ornamental trees. He covered every
place on the tree which appeared to be wounded by them, Avith com-
mon hard soap, nicely rubbed into the place where the borer seemed
to have entered. During the rains of this week, the soap dissolved
and penetrated to the worms, which forced them out by scores,
causing their death. — Eo:chcmge.

American Inventions.

161

fv n e n t ^ m c n c a « | n 1) ni t i 0 it $

Reaping and Mowing Machine.

We are not quite sure that the machine described below has not acquired a
foreign reputation far greater than it has achieved as yet in this country. Our
readers are aware that a great trial of reapers and mowers has been recently
made in England, in which our own inventors have again carried off the palm.
We have now before us the Mark Lane Express and The Salisbury and Win-
chcster Journal, and both speak in unqualified praise of the "Eagle" Mower and
6

162 American Incentlons.

Ileaper. The latter paper says that English makers have nothing to fear " with
the exception of the American Eagle." So far as we can judge, this was the
only American Reaper that competed for the prize. The Mark Lane Express
says : " It professes to cut grain or grass at all heights, and on any kind of
ground, however rough and trying. It is only right to say that its performance
so far approaches its promise." We make these extracts in the hope that our
own agriculturalists will be careful not to neglect anything worthy of their at-
tention, and that our inventors may see a practical proof that the world is their
legitimate field, and that they have good reason for expecting entire fairness in
the trials made even beyond sea of the comparative merits of their inventions.
We only add that this invention received the premium of a thousand dollars
from the Massachusetts Society in 1856. Its cost is $125, and is now manufac-
tured by Messrs. Nourse, Mason & Co., of Boston.

The proprietors arc interested in the manufacture and sale of Heath's Com-
bined Mower and Reaper, manuflicturing it only as a combined machine. Some
of the superior merits of this Machine are set forth under the following heads :

1. The machine has no gear. The main or driving wheel, on which it moves,
has two cams in its fiice or rim ; low down, near the ground, is a friction roller,
between the cams ; this friction roller revolves on a pin which is attached to
the vibrating bar. The vibrating bar is below the frame in front of the wheel,
and moves between stirrups on the frame. The inner end of the vibrating bar
is attached to the cutter bar. As the main wheel revolves, the friction roller is
driven backward and forward by the cams or zigzags, imparting motion to the
cutter bar.

This main wheel and friction roller constitute the whole driving machiner}-,
and the application of the power being direct to the cutters, very little of the
draught is consumed by friction, so that in fact the machine is of very light
draught and easily operated by two horses for an entire day, without any neces-
sit}^ of change of team.

2. There are two sets of cutters -an upper and lower set — the upper set
vibrating, and the lower ones remaining stationary. The lower cutters project
an inch beyond the upper ones, and seiTC the double purpose of cutter and
guard — being each ^ inch thick and \ inch wide. Both upper and lower cutters
are made of wrought iron, faced with cast steel ; and are equal in quality to the
best edge tools in use. The cutters are held together by a spring pressure bar,
and each one is held to the bar by a screw bolt, so that in case of accident the
injured one can be removed and another substituted in a moment, in the field.
It will thus be seen that the grain or grass is cut between two sharp edges, of
the best quality of temper — the cutters acting like shears, excepting that one
blade is stationary. Hence the ease and certamty of cut, whether the grain or
grass be wet or dry, so that it is never necessary to urge the team beyond a
natural gait, the machine cutting as well at a moderate as at a high speed.

3. The arrangement for elevating the cutters in passing obstructions, is sim-
])le, convenient and eftective. In front of the seat, but in no way connected
with it, is a platform or foot-board, attached to the back rail of the machine.
^VHien cutting through a wet place or slough, or passing other obstructions, the
driver rises up and with his right foot throws his weight, or enough of it, upon
the foot-board or lever, to instantly raise the cutting apparatus from one to
eight inches, as may be desired, without checking the team ; and the obstruction
passed, he removes his foot froni the lever, and the cutters at once drop down
and are at work. Again, in turning the corners, it may sometimes be necessary
to drive over the cut grain or grass ; and in such case, by simply elevating the
front part, the machine will pass over tlixj grain or grass with as little inconve-
nience as a cart.

4. The seat is placed on hickory springs, wljich fasten to the hounds of the
draught pole, just forward of the axle — the draught pole hounds being attached
to the frame back of and below the axle. The springs of the seat bear on the

American Inventions. 163

cap of the box, over the axle, which thus becomes a fulcrum fn* them. B}'' this
arrangement, the driver's weight is made to balance the weight of the draught
pole — thus relieving the necks of the horses from burden.

5. The end of the machine next to the standing grain or grass is carried on a
wheel of about sixteen inches in diameter ; and the principal part of the weight
being at one side of the draught pole, that counterbalances the greater length
and the cutting apparatus of the machine at the other side of the pole — thereby
preventing "aide draught"

6. By means of the gauge-block attached to the draught pole, the cutters can
be set to any desired height.

7. "When the machine is stopped in the grain or grass, it can be started ahead
at once into its work, without first backing the team.

8. The reel is of essential service when the grain or grass leans from the
machine.

Upon a trial instituted by the Indiana State Board of Agriculture, and con-
tinued during three days, the Committee awarded the highest prize to Heath's
Machine, This Machine has also won the prize at various other t'-ials in the
Western States.

Pratt's Family Sewing Machine.

We have received many inquiries in reference to a " ten dollar sewing
machine," and though we can not yet exhibit the exact thing described, we can
come pretty near it. We have intended to give a short history of the progress
of art and invention in this direction, and our readers may expect, ere long, a
little narrative in this curious department of history. Thus far, however, a
well working " ten-dollar" sewing machine has not come under our observation.
But we now have some near approximation to it. Hand machines, that do as
good work as hand machines can be expected to do, may now be had for twelve
dollars, though their power is so much inferior to those moved by the foot, that
we can not advise their use. We have just examined with great care the con-
struction and action of one of these cheap machines, which certainly promises
very much. We do not perceive why it is not a complete success. We refer
to the sewing machine of Mr. S. F. Pratt, of Boston. It has been only some
Ax ov seven months before the public, but has begun to acquire a good and
wide reputation. Unlike other sewing machines, it stands upon a small table
which is supported by a single pedestal, like a "light stand." Its action is
also new. In most of the machines in use, the work is moved forward by the
revolution of a wheel having a rough or corrugated surface, which cariies with
it any substance (cloth, etc.,) placed upon it. In this the " feed motion" is se-
cured by the ascent of a corrugated edge, from beneath which confines the
cloth against the holder on one side, (the finished side,) while another behind it,
like the end of a dull chisel, then coming up and lifting it, secures motion from
the other side, the left hand holding and guiding the cloth, then draws straight
this loop, and the material is ready for the next movement. Hence the motion
of the cloth is not entirely unlike the movement of a canker worm or geometer,
and the length of the loop is controlled by the position of this part of the
machinery. Two or more thicknesses can thus be managed as well as one,
while in some machines the under and upper pieces do not alwaj's move with
t'xact uniformity. The upper piece moves more slowly than the lower, and the
lining is either looser or tighter than the outside.

Mr. Pratt uses a single thread on the original spool, thus avoiding the labor

164 American I?iventions.

of re-winding. The loop or chain is secured by a hook, but the action of that
hook is not the same which is in use in some older machines.

Hand machines make about three hundred stitches per minute, while those
moved by the foot will make about a thousand. Hence, though the hand
machine costs but twelve dollars, and though it can do the work of three or
four pair of human hands, the other form is more economical, while it costs
$25 and $30, because it works so rapidl3\ Yet, for a small ftimily, having but
little work to do, the cheaper one may answer ever}* needful purpose.

The arrangement of the machine can be changed so as to make five stitches
to the inch, or forty, at pleasure, by turning a screw, and it will sew woolen,
cotton or linen goods, with equal facility. Linen is, however, said to be the
severest test of its working ability. It fastens its own thread when it stops,
and thus prevents it from raveling.

"We think this can not faU to prove a good family machine, and worthy of
general attention. Our readers will remember that we have heretofore com-
mended Robinson's as the best of all, because it takes different kinds of stitches,
and exactly such stitches as are taken by a seamstress. But its machinery is
comparatively complicate, and costs $100 and upwards. To those of small
means, Pratt's machine commends itself both as cheap and capable of as good
workmanship as any other of the high cost machines. When the sale becomes
general, so that almost every family is accustomed to use them, the cost may be
reduced still lower. But with present competition, and the great cost of giving
publicity to any such invention by advertisements, agents, etc., probably the
present terms are as favorable as can be reasonably expected. Mr. E. A. G.
Roulstone, 7 Tremont street, Boston, has the right of this sewing machine, and
an agency is established at New- York, 577 Broadway.

Bradley's Sheep Shearing Machine.
A SUBSTITUTE for the " sheep shears," so long used in cutting off the fleeces of
sheep, has been invented by Mr. R. P. Bradley, of Cuyahoga, 0. Its cutters
are after the fashion of our mowing machines, consisting of several fingers at
the end of the implement, over which other moveable fingers slide. This slide
is moved by a handle, and the zigzag motion is given by a zigzag slot, in which
a pin, fastened in the slide, is inserted. It is guided by the left hand, and
operated by the right. It may prove a very useful invention, but we have not
<een it in operation.

Kenovating Worn Apparel.

To remove grease spots from silks and satins, use fresh ox gall, or pure tur-
pentine, camphene or burning fluid. Camphene is purified turpentine, and
burning fluid is a mixture of three parts of alcohol to one of champhene, and is
perhaps the best of all these. To remove acid stains, apply an alkali, as ammo-
nia, (hartshorn,) to the spot, very carefully. "With some colors, ammonia will
produce spots, hence it should be used sparingly, and applied only to the
stain. Ink can be removed by being soaked or repeatedly washed in solution
of tartaric acid, or oxalic acid, or salts of lemon. "Woolen goods may be freed
from grease by camphene, or burning fluid or alcohol, repeatedly applied, or

American Inventions, 165

even by soap, applied liberally and well rubbed in. The cloth must afterwards
be thoroughly rinsed. Paint can be removed by camphene or burning fluid,
repeatedly applied. Grease in a carpet may be removed by the same process,
or by covering it with a considerable quantity of magnesia, which will gradu-
ally absorb the grease, and at least very much improve the appearance of the
carpet. This process may require several days, and perhaps more than one ap-
plication. Dry French chalk, or powder, upon a grease spot, will also absorb
the grease, whatever the material to be cleaned, woolen, silk, etc. It must be
applied liberally, remain a day or two, and be thoroughly removed afterwards
by a brush, This is on the principle of absorption.

Ox gall may be prepared so as to be useful in this way, for an indefinite time,
as follows : Take one pint of gall, boil and skim, divide into two parts. To
one, add half an ounce of salt, and to the other, half an ounce of powdered
alum, both being heated till everything is dissolved. Pour into separate bottles,
and let them stand in a quiet place for six or eight weeks, or till bright. Then
pour off the clear portions, and filter both through tissue or blotting paper into
one vessel. In this state it will keep unchanged and free from odor.

Iron vs. Hemp.

Circumstances indicate that, in certain kind of steamers, iron will entirely
supersede the use of wood as a building material.

Another use has also been made of it, to a limited extent, in its substitution
for hemp, for standing rigging. Careful tests have been made recently, in Liv-
erpool, in which the superiority of iron seemed fully substantiated. These
tests had special reference to the comparative strength of wire, and of hempen
rope. The following are given as the sizes and materials of the samples sub-
jected to the first experiment, with the results : 3f inch galvanized wire rope,
broke at 20 tons 15 cwt. ; 8| inch Manila hemp, ditto, 5 tons 17 cwt. ; 3f inch
Russian hemp, ditto, 4 tons 15 cwt.; Z\ inch galvanized wire rope, ditto, 16
tons 10 cwt, ; 2^ inch galvanized wire rope, ditto, 8 tons 10 cwt.

How far these results may be counterbalanced in the matter of convenience,
it belongs to experience only to decide. The Liverpool Post says, in reference
to the superior strength of iron as shown in the above experiment :

" But from a table handed to us we perceive that this is not the sole, or in-
deed we might almost say the greatest, of the advantages it presents. For in-
stance, we observe that wire rope is a fourth less in weight, and not one half
the bulk of that made of the hemp of the relative strength and enduring capa-
city. The advantage of this, especially in beating to windward, needs no com-
ment. Moreover, we are assured the cost is 25 per cent, in favor of wire rope
over hemp, estimating weight and saving. Again, wire tigging is much Jess
susceptible than hemp of atmospheric changes, the latter continually stretching.
And when, in addition to all these advantages, it is remembered that wire rig-
ging needs no stripping or refitting, as hemp rigging must have every few years,
we can not but come to the conclusion that wire rope seems destined, ere many
years, greatly to surpass, if it shall not entirely supersede, hemp rope in ships'
standing rigging. Already, indeed, we see that for years it has been gradually
creeping into more general use ; and if the approval of experience can add, as
it must, to the value of scientific tests, the use of it will be even more than pro-
portionately rapid, for those who have used it invariably prefer it over hemp.

166 American Inventiotis.

Manilla vs. Hemp.
The experiments in Liverpool referred to as testing the comparative strength
of iron and hemp, seem decisive as to the superiority of manilla over hemp, in
various respects. It is not only stronger, but cheaper. It is lighter, runs more
freely through blocks, and does not require tarring. The Boston Post says that
the Americans were the first to demonstrate these facts, and also to show the
gupcriority of machine spun over the hand spun fibre.

Perfect Intonation.

The Economist contains a short article informing us of an attempt to con-
struct an organ capable of the same perfect correctness in all its keys and in-
tervals as the violin, or the human voice. "The experiment," he says, "has
been tried in the Enharmonic organ, and we have here a description of the
manner in which it has been done." To us the history of that " enharmonic
orn-au" is quite familiar. We were one of three who furnished the means far
its int'enious inventor to go to work upon his favorite employment, organ
building, although we did not employ him on the structure of that organ. We
were not sufficiently impressed with its practibility or with the benefits which
would result from it. All musicians know the imperfection common to organs
and pianofortes, occasioning the differences between Gtf and A B, etc. The en-
harmonic organ has a separate pipe for each sharp and each flat, and ingenious
machinery connects the proper series of pipes with the key. Thus the number
of pipes is nearly doubled, the key board remaining unchanged. In the use of
the instrument, the organist brings into play, by pedals, a different series of
pipes, at each change of the key, so that its use requires a thorough knowledge
of "Harmony," and not a little tact in promptly noticing and preparing for
sudden changes in the character of the harmony. A description of this organ
was given a few years since in SllUmari's Journal of Science, the name of the
ori"-inal inventor being omitted, as is too often the case, while he who furnished
the capital carried off the credit of the inventor. The real originator of that
organ was a Mr. John Alley, who is still engaged, as we suppose, in the con-
struction of instruments, at Newburyport, Mass. It is chiefly for the sake of
GOtmecting his name with this invention that we have written this paragraph.
The value of the invention is another matter, about which different persons
may not and do not agree, and subsequent generations may reverse the judg-
ment hitherto pronounced on this point. But there is no question that " the
enharmonic organ" produces sweeter harmony, especially in certain keys, and
that an instrument of given size! pipes, constructed on this plan, produces
more sound than does the common organ. The comparative silence which en-
tervenes between the repetition of " the wolf," is unknown in the enharmonic
organ, so that we have from its pipes a constant equal, smooth tone, at its loud-
est pitch. Practice with the enharmonic organ also raises a question of no
little importance in the theory of music, viz.. Is the seventh a discord ? It is
found that on this instrument the chord of the seventh produces no " wolf,"
while other " discords" develop the same phenomena as are produced upon the
eommon organ.

American Patents. 167

Ornamental Arts— Daguerreotypes.
If our readers turn to those numbers of our journal in which we described
various articles exhibited in different departments, in the Crystal Palace, of the
World's Fair, they will find that we announced the daguerreotypes of Masury &
SiLSBEE, of Boston, as decidedly the best. The collection was large, and the con-
tributors numerous, and even some of the latter expressed opinions on this point
coinciding with our own. This is not the only case, however, in which we and
others have come to results unlike those announced by officials, nor was it the
only one in that exhibition. But we refer to this now, because a visit at their
establishment in Boston, furnishes us with accumulative evidence on that subject.
It seems to us impossible to produce more perfect pictures than are to be fouud
by scores, in their rooms. The photograph and the ambrotype, are also exhibit-
ed in the same apartments, in the same excellent style, though we find that the
latter are not regarded by these gentlemen as so well worthy of regard as other
styles of this beautiful art. They say the pictures are not artistic, and in this
opinion, we find that they are not alone. But we do not intend to form an issue
on this question, with any one. Our present object is only to call attention
to this firm, and to invite at least a passing examination of their work. Having
once secured attention to this collection, we would have each one to determine
for himself the time to be given to it, for we should not doubt the verdict that
any one of ordinary judgment would arrive at by himself. Hence, we only say,
drop in for a few moments.

[issued from the d. s. patent office, from jclt 1 to july 28, 1857.]

Agricultural.
Machines for Husking Corn, G. W. Bachman, Clifton Springs, N. Y. — Grain
Separator, Amasa Curtis, Lena, 111. — Corn Harvester, Israel Dodenholf, Bloom-
ington, 111. — Cutting Apparatus for Harvesters, Joseph Irwin, Frankfort, O.
Spiral cutters in combination with curved cutting fingers. — Machine for Husking
Corn, Wm. Emery, Jr., Chester, 111. — Connecting the Panels of Field Fences,
S. F. Jones, Milford, Ind. — Cutting Apparatus for Harvesters, John P. Manny,
Rockford, 111.— Scroll Wheel for Harvesters, C. D. Rogers, Utica, N. Y.— Hay
Rake, S. W. "Wood, Washington, D. C, assignor to Lewis H. Parsons, New- York.
— Cultivating Ploughs, George G. Black, Crossinville, 0. A double plough,
with two beams, joined at the clevis, and adjustible to different widths. — Har-
vester, John P. Manny, Rockford, 111. — Churn, Charles H. Dana, West Lebanon,
N. H. — Corn Planter, Alvin Franklin, Genoa Cross Roads, 0. — Churn, Silas
Hewett, Seneca Falls, N. Y. — Cultivator, Howard Mann, San Francisco, Cal. — :
Raking Apparatus for Harvesters, John P. Manny, Rockford, 111. — Draining Ma-
chine, A. P. Routt, Somerset, Va. — Cultivator, Henry Schreiner, Jr., Berry s-
burg. Pa. — Maohine for Planting Potatoes, Gatusha J. Bundy, Lyndon, Vt. — Ro-
tating Harrow, James B. Glascock, Fancy Creek, 111. — Corn Harvester, G. D.
Haworth, Mechanicsburg, 111. — Shovel Handle, George C. Howard, Hardwich,
Mass. — Corn Planter, Norman A. Lewis, Glenn's Falls, N. Y. — Garden Hoe,
Solomon Shutter, Alleghany, Pa. — Cotton and Cane Cultivator, T. E. Shannon,
Woodville, Miss. A series or gang of cultivators in combination with a wheel
carriage. — Straw-cutters, J. L. Sullivan, Lexington, N. C. Two sets of knives,
rotating at right angles to each other. — Grain Separator, Wm. Zimmerman,
Quinty, 111. — Machine for digging potatoes, Joseph tieulings, Philadelphia, Pa.^

168 American Patenta.

assignor to W. II. Lawson, B. M. Heulings and Joseph Hculings, of do. — Clean-
ing Rice, Philip R. Lachicotte and T. B. Bowman, Charleston, S. 0. — Guard
Fingers for Harvesters, A. R. Reese, PhiUipsburg, N. J. — Corn Planter, Charles
Schnepf, Lancaster, Pa. Semi-circular scooping hoes, with jointed ends, in com-
bination with slides, and operated by revolving levers. — Cultivator, Harrison
Ogborn, Greensfork, Ind., and George Taylor, Richmond, Ind., assignors to Har-
rison Ogborn. — Machine for trimming hedges, William Wimmcr, Billingsville,
Ind.

Metallurgy.

Metal Separator, Edward Borlase, Bristol, Conn. — Machine for tapping nuts ,
A. B, Glover, Birmingham, Conn.— Wrench, J. H. Hathway, Millbury, Mass. —
Lock, Henry Isham, New-Britain, Conn. — Goldwasher and Amalgamator, T. V.
Tavnay, San Francisco, Cal. — Bit or Drill Holder, Amos J. Smith, assignor to
himself and George W. Otis, Lynn, Mass. — File Cutting Machine, Wm. Van Ar-
den, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. — Machine for gaging and filing saws, Emanuel An-
drews, Elmira, N. Y. — Nail Plate Holder, Wm. H. Battell, Newcastle, Pa. — Coal
Tar in iron furnaces, Isaac F. Johnson, Spuyten Duyvil. — ^Lock, L. F. Munger, Le
Roy, N. Y. — 'Machine for cutting metal, James Tetlow, Salem, Mass. — Centering
Machine, E. J. Whiton, West Stafford, Conn. — Lock, Wm. Whiting, Roxbury,
Mass., and Henry Pickford, Boston, Mass. — Hand Wrench, G. Philips, Albany,
N. Y. — Locking Cylindrical Door Bolt, C. G. Page, Washington, D. C. — Tem-
pering Scythes, C. P. Grossman, Warren, Mass. — Shell Roller, bed for planing
machines, Geo. Darby and James E. Young, Augusta, Me. — Seaming Sheet
Metal Roof, Lucian Fay, Cincinnati, 0. — Punching and Shaping Metals, George
Hazeltine, Washington, D. C.

. Fibrous ai;d Textile Fabrics.

Pasteboard Cutter, D. Burhaus, Burlington, Iowa. Of two cutters, each cuts
half way through, and avoids the rough edge of former machines. — Cutting but-
ton-holes, Wm. Chicken, Boston. — Sewing Machine, E. T. Lathbury, Buffalo,
N. Y. — Mattresses, Wm. P. Ford, Cheneyville, La. — Rope Machine, Ezekiel
Guile, St. Louis, Mo. — Hemp Drawing Machine, Samuel Loundes, Brooklyn, N.
Y. — Cotton Gins, Daniel Pratt, PrattviUe, Ala. — Machine for cleaning cotton, L.
S. Chichester, assignor to Hemy G. Evans, New-York. — Sewing Machine,
Abram Bartholf, New-York. — Machine for manufacturing felt cloth, Thomas B.
Butler, Norwalk, Conn. — Tension Apparatus for Sewing Machiaes, Abraham
Hoagland, Jersey City, N. J. — Treating Paper Staff, J. A. Roth, Philadelphia,

Hemp Brakes, Stephen Stafford, Carrol Co., Mo. — Stuffing horse collars, J. C.

Tobias, Lincoln, 111. — Fastenings for carpets, Washington H. Penrose, Philadel-
phia.— Crane, R. E. Schroeder, Rochester, N. Y.

Chemical Process.

Alcohol Blow Pipe, Edward Conway, Dayton, 0. — Making acid bi-sulphite
cf lime, Laurent Gamotis and Sabin Martin, New-Orleans, La. — Retort Covers,
J, R. Floyd, assignor to T. C. Kibbe, New-York.

Calorifics.

Cooking Stove, Wm. Resor, Cincinnati, 0.— Air-Heating Stove, Charles B.

Sawyer, Fitchburg, Mass. — Gas Stove, Patrick Mihan, assignor to Robert B.

Pitts, Boston, Mass.— Same, Thomas Watters, Boston.— Bagasse Furnace, Geo.

M. Lingacre, New-Orleans, La.— Railroad Car Stove, James Spear, Philadelphia.

Steam and Gas Engines.
Packing of Pistons, George H. Hoagland, Port Jervis, N. Y.— Governor of
Steam Engines, etc., A. F. Ward, Louisville, Ky.— Spark Arrester, Henry H.
Graham, Paterson, N. J.— Same, J. F. Page, assignor to himself and Jas. Landy,
Philadttlphia. — Governor for Engines, Frederick W. Howe, Newark, N. J. —
Spark Arrester, Ethelred May, Boston.— Valves and passages to the cylinders of
steam engines, John A. Reed, Jersey City, N. J.— Oscillating steam engines,
John Wallace, PittsburR-h, Pa.— Governor, Nathan Scholfield, Norwich, Conn.

American ^Patents. 169

— Rendering joints steam-tight, Wm. S. Gale, assignor to Peter Poillon, New-
York, — Regulating the fire of coal burning locomotives, John M. Hartnett,
Waukegan, 111.

Navigation and Maritime Implements.
Steering Apparatus, D. H. Chamberlain, W. Roxbury, Mass. — Rigging of
ships, James E, Cole, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Marine Canal, Thomas Bell, New-York.
— Stopping Shot-holes in vessels, John WoodvUle, Chillicothe, 0. — Raising
sunken vessels, John Ponton, New-York.

CrviL Engineebing and Aechitectube.

Truss Bridge, Josiah Brown, Jr., Buffalo, N. Y. — Bos Window-frame, J. B.
Dodge, St. Louis, Mo. — Sash Lock, Marcus P. Norton, Troy, N. Y. — Segmental
Truss, for Bridges, etc., Geo. S. Avery, Lewisboro', N. Y. — Pendulum Level,
Calvin Cole, Tarry town, N. Y. — Mastic Roofing Composition, Samuel K. Lighter
and James A. Morrell, Hamilton, 0. — Spindle for door knobs, Orrin Newton,
Pittsburgh, Pa. — Gate Latch, A. E. Morgan, assignor to himself, David Todd, and
H. Waddle, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. — Sash Fastener, F. Tarbell, assignor to himseli
and D. C. Bicknell, Boston. — Roofing Composition, J. B. Wands, Chicago, 111.

Land Conveyance.

Upsetting Tires, Rockwell Hazen and Volney Gibbs, Homer, Mich. — ^Whiffle-
tree, David A. Smith, Washington, D. C. — Applying railroad car brakes, Ira J.
Webber, Salem, Mass. — Machine for making railroad chairs, Robert Arthur,
Richmond, Va. — Fly AYheel to Hand Cars, Charles T. Kipp and John Lawren-
son, New- York. — Seal for car doors, etc., D. W. Long, Baltimore, Md. — Freight
Cars, Henry D. Mears and Wm. Houlton, Jr., Baltimore, Md. (Two patents,)
covering the seal and the manner of defending it from accidental or designed in-
jury.— Carriage, Rufus Nutting, Randolph, Vt. — Car Seats, B. J. Lamothe,
New- York. — Railroad Car Coupling, Wellington Prosser, Kendall, N. Y.

Hydeaulics and Pneumatics.

Air chamber for water-pipes, Thomas Clark, Philadelphia. — Pump, Henry
Pease, assignor to Eckler, Baswell & Co., Brockport, N. Y. — Pump, BirdsiU
HoUy, assignor to Silsby, Mynders & Shoemaker, Seneca Falls, N. Y. — Governor
for wind-mills, etc., Ethan Allen, Worcester, Mass.

Mechanical Powers.
Lifting Jack, Heber G. Seekins and Charles H, Goss, Elyria, 0.

Grinding Mills, and Mell Gearing.
Shaft Coupling, Edwin F. Schoenberger, Germantown, Pa. — Belt shifter for
machinery, L. J. Knowles, Warren, Mass.

Lumber, and Tools and Machines for Preparing it.

Device for securing the stock to the guide-rods of joiner's planes, Stephen
Going, New- York. — Straightening Veneers, J. H. Goodell, Bridgeport, Conn.- —
Operating radical cutters in lathes for beaded work, Geo. W. Walton and Henry
Edgarton, Wilmington, Del. — Bit Brace, Henry W. Porter, Rothsville, Pa. —
Automatic Lathe, Alexander Edmonds, Mt. Pulaski, 111. — Mortise Boring Ma-
chine, Hiram E. Paine, Troy, N. Y. — Adjusting Tenon Cutters, Melyn Weather-
ington, Springfield, 0. — Cutting Tenons, W. H. Harrison, Philadelphia. The
use of two circular saws, whose planes are at an acute angle to each other on the
same shaft. — Sawing-Mill, Wm. M. Ferry, Jr., Ferrysburg, Mich. — Feed rollers of
planing machines, etc., Jona. Hall, Worcester, Mass. — Sawing MiU, Franklin B.
Kendall, Bath, Me. -^Method of turning carriage hubs, Alexander Rickhart,
Schoharie, N. Y. — Feed for Sawing machines, Thomas J. Alexander, Wester-
ville, 0. — Driving Circular Saws, Thomas J. Alexander, Westerville, 0. — Lathe
for turning irregular forms, Samuel N. Baker, New-Haven, Conn. — Auger Han-
dle Fastening, Wm. N. Clark, Chester, Conn. — Sawing and dressing staves,
Elisha K. Collins, Cambridge, Mass. For sawing, jointing, dressing and shaping

IVO American Patents.

staves at one operation. — Mortising Chisel, Christian J. Ileistand, Rapho, Pa. —
Mortising and Boring Machine, J. M. Jay, Canton, 0. — Bit l)racc for boring ob-
liquely to the stock, Charles C. Plaistcd," Cliicopce, Mass. — Shingle Machine, E.
Webber, Gardiner, Me. — Feeding the bolt in Shingle machines, Win. Wood,
Westport, Conn.

Leather, Tanning, etc.
Tanning Composition, Ira Carle, Kingston Township, Pa. Hemlock or oak
bark, nitric acid and Glauber's salts, all to be used in one bath. — Edge Plane,
for boot and shoe soles, Charles Warren, Putnam, Conn.

IIOUSEHOLD FUKNITURE.

Washing Machine, Adam Fisher, Leavenworth City, K. T. — Bureau Bedsteads,
Ethan Whitney, Boston, Mass. — Fixtures for curtain rollers, Lewis White, Hart-
ford, Conn.

Arts, Polite, Fine, and Ornamental.

Backing Electrotype Plates, A. H. Jocelyn, New-York. — Metallic Pens, F. A.
Wait, Philadcli)hia. — Embossing and Printing Press, Samuel J. Smith and
Charles Loekle, New-York. — Melodeon Attachment, D, L. Sprague, Townsend,
Vt. — Harp attachment, played by a series of hammers, moved by the same keys
that play the reeds. — Pen and Pencil Case, Edward Baptis, Hudson, N. J. —
Piano Forte, G. Henry, Hulskamp, Tro)', N, Y. — Breast Pin, John F. Mascher,
Philadelphia. — Wrest Pins for Pianos, Gustav Schilling, Hoboken, N. J. — Ink-
ing Rollers, E, E. Baftett, Chicago, III. — Metallic Bridge for piano-forte, G.H.
Hulskamp, Troy, N, Y. — Photograpy, II. A. Marchant, assignor to E. D. Mar-
chant, Philadelphia. — Fastening breast pins, Charles F. Kobb, Philadelphia.

Fire Arms, &c.

Self-priming gun locks, M. J. Gallager, Savannah, Ga. — Shot Cartridge, Wm.
B. Johns, U. S. Army. — Projectiles and smooth bored guns, John L. McConnell,
Jacksonville, 111. — Revolving Fire arm, James Warner, Springfield, Mass. — Fuze-
making Machine, Albert F. Andrews, Avon, Conn.

Surgical and Medical.

Fastening Artificial Teeth, Theodore H. and Jas. P. Bradish, Utica, N. Y. —
Pill Machbc, James C. Ayer, Lowell, Mass. — Artificial Legs, R. H. Nicholas
and Douglas Bly, Rochester, N. Y.

Miscellaneous. '
Dry Sand Cores, Wm. Gage and R. B. Felthousen, Buffalo, N. Y. — Paper Cap-
tubes, Alexander McCausland, Providence, R. I. — Covering for Drawing Rolls,
Jas. M. Smith, Manchester, N. II. — Rock Drilling Machines, Lemuel P. Jenks,
assignor to George A. Gardner, Boston. — Same, Lemuel P. Jenks and George
A. Gardner, assignors to George A. Gardner. — Device for sealing bottles, cans,
etc.. Mills B. Espy, Philadelphia. — Self-setting Trap hook, Donald McLean, Bos-
ton.— Lime Kilns, Leonard Phleger, Philadelphia. The use of a series of water
cells, for supporting the lime. — Fly Trap, W. F. Shannon, Greensboro, Ga. — Oil
Cans, George W. and George H. Simmons, Bennington, Vt. — Signal and Alarm
Bells, George Hoagland, Port Jervis, N. Y. — Hog Troughs, Elmore Johnson,
Winchester, Mass — Diaper pins, J. Heilmann, assignor to Ignatius Sturn, New-
York — Smut Machine, Everard M. Clark, Lancaster, Pa. — Mop Head, James S.
Harris, East Poultney, N. Y. — Lime Kiln, John McGregor, Selma, Ala. — Same,
Clark D. Page, Rochester, N. Y. — Diilling Rock, M. F. Rowlands, Pittston, Pa.
— Receiving boxes for passengers' fares, J. B. Slawson, New-Orleans, La. — Brick
Machine, Stephen Ustick, Philadelphia. — Locking cylindrical door bolts, Charles
G. Page, Washington, D. C. — Paring and Slicing Apples, R. W. Thickens,
Brasher Iron Works, New-York.

Foreign Inventions. 171

'%m\\\ i\mi^\\ %\\\it\\M\$,

Tjtpkoved Valve Cock — being a communication. William Webster, of

Bunhill-row.

This invention relates to an improved mode of working the valves of valve-
cocks, and consists in having a screw-thread cut upon the lower end of the valve
stem, such screw working through a fixed nut on the under side of the cock ;
or in having a hole with a screw-thread formed in it, made inside the valve-
stem in the direction of its axis, in which works a screw spindle, fixed to or
made in one piece with the fixed nut hereinbefore referred to — the valve being
opened or closed by turning the valve-stem or spindle by any of the usual con-
trivances.

Thprovement in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel. Henry Bessemer, of

Queen-street-place, New Cannon-street.

This invention consists in obtaining crude or grey pig iron, hard white iron
and steel, or malleable iron, direct from carbonaceous iron ores, or from any
mixture of carbonaceous ores, with oxides or other ores of iron, by the appli-
cation thereto of a blast of hot or cold air or steam, or of any other gaseous
matter containing or capable of evolving oxygen or hydrogen gas, and without
requiring any fuel except such as is contained in or is evolved from the ores
of iron, and from the gaseous matters forced into and among the pieces of ore,
and into and among the particles of fluid metal which have been separated from
the ore.

The iron ore, either raw or previously roasted, and in a cold or in a heated
state from such roasting process, is to be put from time to time into the upper
part of a blast furnace. The blast of air or other gaseous matter is forced
through suitable tuyeres situated below the surface of the fluid metal , or it may
be in part directed into and among the pieces of ore at a level above the surface
of the molten metal.

In carrying out this system of fusing the carbonaceous ores of iron, one or
more fire-clay tuyere pipes are inserted on three sides of the hearth of the fur-
nace, the fourth side being provided with a tapping hole at the lowest level of
the hearth— the tuyeres, before referred to, being placed, by preference, near
to the bottom or sole of the heart, so that the air or other gaseous matters maj'
enter beneath and bubble up through the fluid matters occupying the hearth of
the furnace. Other tuyeres are also fixed above the level of such fluid matters;
so that the air or other gaseous matters propelled through them will enter
among the masses of solid matter under opei'ation, consisting of pieces of car-
bonaceous iron ores and lime, or other fluxes used to assist in their fusion, and
in giving fludity to the molten materials. In thus forcing air into a furnace or
vessel containing ores of iron rich in carbon, it will be found that a very high
degree of temperature will be produced in part by a further combination of
such carbon with the oxygen of the air, and in part by other combinations of
oxygen with combustible materials contained in the iron ore, and that the solid
masses of ore will, by means of the heat so generated, pass fi'om the solid to the
fluid state, and settle down to the lower part or hearth of the furnace. The
temperature of the furnace may also be assisted by the introduction of hydro-
gen, which, by uniting with tlie oxygen present in the materials, will also
assist in raising the temperature and in the reduction of the metal. Hydrogen
for this purpose may be most advantageously obtained in the form of carburetted
hydrogen gas distilled from coal. When using air alone, large quantities of
fluid cinder, rich in oxide of iron, are produced, and may be run into another
chamber ; and solid carbonaceous substances or carburetted gases may be forced
into and below the surface of such liquid cinder, whereby the oxide of iron will
become reduced and metallic iron formed, as described in a patent of the present
patentee, bearing date tha 19th of August, 1856.

1^2 Foreign Inventions.

The fluid iron may be cast into pigs, ingots, or other articles in molds ; or it
may be run into a separate vessel, and be there converted into steel or malle-
able iron, in the manner described in the specification of a patent granted to the
present inventor on the 12th day of February, 1856.

In commencing to work, some coke is put into the crucible or hearth of the
furnace, and by a blast of air through the tuyeres the same is thoroughly ig-
nited ; some pig iron is then placed on the coke, and it will rapidly melt and
sink down on to the sole of the hearth. The furnace is then charged with carbo-
naceous iron ores and lime or other fluxes, not mixed, as in the ordinary pro-
cess, with coke, coal, or other fuel ; the lower tuyeres may then be opened, and
a blast of air allowed to enter the molten iron. The intense heat produced,
acting on the iron ore, will cause its fusion, accompanied by a further evolution
of heat; and thus the process may be kept up, the charging on of materials
going on as the charge diminishes from below ; so that a continuous fusion of
the ore may be kept up without the use of any fuel other than is contained
in the ore and in the air or other gaseous matters forced therein.

Improvements in Ornamenting Glass, and in the Preparation of the Mate-
rials EMPLOYED therein. William Wilkinson, of Nottingham.
This invention consists, firstly, in interposing figured designs, pictures, prints,
lace, and other textile fabrics, and ornamental and other devices (which are ren-
dered transparent or not) between two sheets of glass, whereby the device may
be apparent on the face of either sheet.

Secondly, in rendering engravings, prints, and other designs upon paper
transparent, by first soaking the paper in linseed or other suitable oil or oleagi-
nous matter, then drying it and immersing it in turpentine or spirit ; or the
same design may be printed on both sides of a sheet of paper and placed be-
tween the surfaces of glass. The print is attached by transparent cement to
one of the surfaces, and then to the edge of the glass a narrow strip of tape is
cemented, and the remaining jjlate of glass is applied thereon. The two plates
of glass are finally secured by India-rubber, gutta-percha, or a thin metal clamp
or frame ; or the edges of the plates are united by melting the same by means
of a blow-pipe. In order to add to or increase the effect of the printed design,
at the back of one of the sheets of glass is placed a glass case containing water.
This case may be formed in a piece with one of the sheets of glass ornamented
as aforesaid, or it may be formed separately and be applied thereto.

This invention consists, thirdly, in the application of prints and engravings
made transparent as aforesaid to the inside of glass globes and shades.

Fourthly, the invention consists in cementing a piece of paper, made trans-
parent by oil and turpentine, as above-mentioned, upon a piece or sheet of
glass ; then printing a design upon it in a lithographic or other suitable press ;
in applying thereon another plate of glass ; and in sealing the two plates, as
before mentioned.

Fifthly, the patentee forms bottles and other vessels of capacity, of two
thicknesses of glass, and interposes any device between the two thicknesses.
In order to add to the effect, the outer surface of the outside is made plain, and
any desired device is formed on the inner surface of the outside coat, or on the
outer surface of the inner coat, whereby both the inside and outside of the
bottle will be smooth, and thus be easily cleaned, and offer no inequalities of
surface to catch the dust, etc.

The manner of laying on colored engravings or prints between glass in order
to ornament the same, is as follows : Over the face of the engraving is laid a
wash, composed of linseed or other suitable oil, spirit of wine, turpentine, or
other spirit, and the engraving is then placed face downwards on a sheet of
glass, previously brushed over with spirit of wine or turpentine. When the
engraving is thus fixed on the glass, a mixture of oil and spirit is applied to the
back thereof until the engraving becomes distinctly visible. A corresponding
sheet of glass, with white lead or paste round all the edges, is next laid evenly
on the first sheet. The prepared engraving being interposed, the two sheets of
glass are pressed firmly together, and retained by a metal clamp round all the
edges, or by gutta-percha, or by other suitable means.

Foreign Inventions. 1T3

If a glass is desired to be ornamented, and to be placed against some opaque
object, then the second sheet of glass becomes unnecessary ; and directly after
the engraving has been applied on the glass, as before described, it may be let
into a panel or otherwise, or may be let into a metal or other frame or dish.
Glass, ornamented as aforesaid, let into metal dishes, would form a highly or-
namental and fire-proof floor.

In the case of oil engravings, such as those known as " Baxter's," white lead
or paste is placed evenly upon a sheet of glass, and the back of the engraving
is pressed thereon — then round the edges of the glass a layer of cement is ap-
plied to receive the second sheet of glass ; or a thin strip of metal, gilt or other-
wise, is interposed between the edges of the two sheets of glass. The outer
edges of the two sheets of glass are held together by metal clamps, or by a
metal or other fi*ame. Glass ornamented in this manner may be made to form
the w^hole or part of the tops of tables, boxes, etc.

Instead of paper, perforated metal or wire gauze, painted, embossed, or other-
wise, is placed between two sheets of glass to form window blinds.

Improvements in the Preparation op Size, which mat be used as a water-
proof VARNISH OK coating. William Septimus Losh, of Wreay Syke, Cum-
berland.

This invention consists in preparing from resin, resins, or stearine, or a mix-
ture of the two, a substance or substances suitable for sizing or water-proofing
purposes.

The inventor, first, prepares a solution of caustic soda or potash (by prefer-
ence soda) by boiling carbonate of soda or potash with about equal weights ot
lime and a large quantity of water — about 100 gallons of water to 1 cwt. of dry
soda or potash. This is effected in an iron vessel, heated by driving in steam
from a boiler. After boiling about two hours the lime is allowed to settle, and
the clear solution is ready for use. Into another iron vessel he puts the resins
or stearine to be acted upon, and takes as much of the clear alkaline solution,
prepared as aforesaid, as is required to render the resins or stearine soluble. It
is found that 1 lb. of dry soda or potash answers for 6 lbs. of resin or stearine —
but more or less may be used. The mixture is boiled by steam for about 6
hours, and then allowed to cool, and about 100 gallons of water are added to
each cwt. of the resin or stearine solution. This is then filtered carefully
through cotton cloth, to remove any insoluble dirt, etc., and to the filtered solu-
tion chloride of lime, also in solution, is added, in the proportion of about 1 lb.
of dry chloride of lime to 20 of resin or stearine. This mixture, which forms
a white insoluble precipitate, is then washed with an acid solution, or alum
solution, and afterwards with clean water, and filtered ; the substance thus
obtained is in this state fit for use as a size. When using it in sizing paper,
it is added to the paper pulp, with or without the addition of ammonia, in the
beating engines, by which means it becomes well mixed with the pulp. By
mixing ammonia with the prepared size, in the proportion of, say 1 part of am-
monia to 500 parts of size, it becomes more equally mixed with the pulp.

When the size, prepared as above described, is to be used as a varnish, it
must be dissolved in a spirit, or essential oil, or naphtha, or rendered viscid by
ammonia. When used as a coating, it may be spread, with or without the ad-
dition of ammonia, evenly on the surface to which it is to be applied, and passed
upon such surface through heated or cold rollers, or be otherwise submitted to
hot or cold pressure.

Improvements in Agricultural DRaLs. Thomas Chambers, Jr., of Colkirk,

Fakenham, in the County of Norfolk.

This invention has for its object improvements in agricultural drills, with a
view to deposit at intervals in place of continuously, and the same is applicable
when drilling seeds and liquid manures, and also when drilling seeds, water,
and manure. For these purposes there is applied a rotating hollow wheel or
chamber to each channel or furrow made by the drill. The rotating hollow

174 Foreign Inventions.

wheel or chamber has spouts or passages at intervals at its periphery. The
seed and liquid manure, or the seed, water, and manure, are delivered into the
interior, of the rotating wheel or chamber from the separate compartments of
the drill containing them, and they arc retained from flowing out from the
wheel or chamber, except when, bv the rotation of the hollow wheel or chamber, a
spout or outlet comes to the ground. The axis of the rotating wheels or chambei"s
may receive motion by wheels thereon, which run on the land, and the run-
ning wheels may be made to expand and contract, to vaiy the distance at which
the deposit takes place from the spouts or outlets, or the axis may receive mo-
tion by gearing from the drill.

An Improved Method of or Apparatps for Inking, PRiNTrso or Stamping Sur-
faces. Charles William Lancaster, New Bond street.
This invention consists in mounting an inking roller upon an arm or lever in
such manner, that when the stamping or printing surface is at rest, the roller
is held clear thereof, and that when the printing surface moves, it acts upon the
lever, presses it back, and causes the inking roller to traverse over and ink the
printing surface. Upon the printing surface resuming the position from Avhich
it started, a spring draws the lever and roller to their original position, and
causes the inking roller in its course to travel a second time over the printing
surface.

Mills Stopped.

The number of cotton looms that have been stopped in New-England, in con-
sequence of the high price of cotton and the low price of goods, is about six
thousand, and orders have been given to stop many more, as fast as the yarn
runs out. We heard, yesterday, of two large mills that will run only till the
cotton now in process of manufacture is exhausted. This is the only remedy.
We talk of the short supply of cotton. The evil is not there ; it is the over
supply of cotton machinery. The looms now in operation are not only too
many for the supply of cotton ; they are too many for the demand for cotton
goods at anything like the prices which alone, at the present cost of the raw
material, can return a new dollar for an old one. In England thirty thousand
looms have been stopped, and prices have quickly responded to this judicial
curtailment of production. — Providence Journal.

Copper in tlie Sea.

Experiments are now in progress to show that the sea is constantly charged
with a solution of copper. Mr. Septimus Piesse caused a bag of iron nails to
be hung from the sides of steamers passing between Marseilles and Nice, and
obtained a precipitation of copper upon the iron. He finds the same metal in
the substance of animals inhabiting the sea, and recommends the popular ex-
periment of putting an oyster — a had one^ if possible — on the blade of a knife,
and leaving it there for twenty-four hours, when, on the removal of the oyster,
the copper will be found on the knife. In Mr. Piesse's opinion, the beautiful
blue color of some portions of the Mediterranean is due to an ammonical salt of
copper, while the greenness of other seas is owing to the chloride of copper.

The Mechanics of this Number.
On account of the absence of tlic junior editor in New-England, this depart-
ment of the present number is not quite full. It is difficult to supply such mat-
ter, exactly fitted to a pattern, either in quantity or quality, while absent from
home. But we present a few matters of special importance, and will endeavor
to make amends hereafter for all present deficiencies. Our future numbers will
contain more of original inventions, than we have lately been accustomed to pre-
sent to our readers.

Scientific. 175

Chemistry for the Million.

Having before given the names and a brief description of the more abundant ele-
ments in nature, the compound resulting from these will next claim our attention.
The figures prefixed denote the proportions of each ingredient and of the compound.
Thus, read the first ; — 8 lbs. of oxygen, combined with 1 lb. of hydrogen, form 9 lbs.
of water ; and so the others, putting " combined with" after the first word in each
line, and the word " form" after the second.

8 OXYGEX 1 HYDROGEN 9 WATEK.

"Water with other substances forms hydrates, as hydrates of lime, of iron, etc.

16 OXYGEN 6 CARBON 22 CARBONIC ACH).

Carbonic acid forms Carbonates, as Cai'bonate of Lime, (chalk, marble, lime-stone.)

' .r;. Carbonate of Soda (washing soda,) bi-carbonate of soda, (cooking soda) etc.

14 NITROGEN 3 HYDROGEN 17 AMMONIA.

The three compounds above, water, carbonic acid, and ammonia constitute a very

large part of the food of all growing plants. Nothing could grow if deprived

of either of them. Decaying plants and animals are always giving them

off; and living, growing plants are always receiving them.

Water. The reader will see by the table above that this liquid is composed of
two gases, oxygen and hydrogen. The first is the cause of all combustion; the se-
cond is one of the most inflammable substances in nature ; and yet the liquid com-
posed from them is the great extinguisher of flame. Oxygen is a little heavier than
air; hydrogen is fourteen times lighter than air; and yet water composed from
them weighs about 63 lbs. to the cubic foot.

The laws by which water is governed ought to be understood by all. 1st. It is
perfectly fluid at ordinary temperatures — seeks its level, and will obtain it perfectly
if no disturbing forces operate to prevent — will rise as high in the spout of the tea-
kettle as it stands in tlie kettle itself, as high in the penstock as in the fountain, and
as high in one pai-t of the broad ocean as in any other part, so that, measuring from
the center of the earth, every part of the surface will be equi-distant from that
point.

2. As water cools from a high temperature, say from the boiling point, it dimin-
ishes in bulk, till it comes down to about 39° Farenheit. It then, contrary to the
general law, that bodies shrink as they cool, expands gradually till it comes down
to the freezing point, 32", where it suddenly expands and crystalizes into ice. This
expansion below 39° is the cause of ice being lighter than water, so as to remain on
the surfaces instead of sinking. By remaining on the surface it protects the water
beneath from the cold air, and prevents freezing more than a few inches, or at most
a few feet in thickness. Whereas, if it sunk to the bottom, the surface would freeze
and sink successively, till the whole mass of our rivers, lakes, and even the ocean it-
self, in the polar and temperate latitudes, would become solid bodies of ice during
winter, and would not dissolve sufficiently soon on the return of the sun to admit
of vegetation, by reason of the chill that would be produced on the atmosphere.
Nothing more strikingly illustrates the wisdom and goodness of the Great Author,
and the constant executor of nature's laws.

176 Scientijic.

3. When water is heated, it gradually expands from 39 degrees upward, enlarging
its bulk so slowly as not to be perceived except by the use of nicely constructed
vessels, until it reaches 212°. At this point it turns into steam, of which every drop
of water gives a bulk 1700 times greater than its own. When a kettle of water
over the fire comes to 212°, the boiling point, where it begins to form steam, all of
it would pass into steam at once with a violent explosion but for one reason, and
that is, that when water changes from a solid to a liquid state, and then again when
it changes from a liquid to a vaporous state, it takes heat from the surrounding
objects. Every one must have noticed that when snow melts it chills the air, and
when it begins to freeze it warms the air. When it consolidates, it gives heat to
surrounding bodies, and when it liquifies it takes heat from surrounding bodies. So
when it turns from vapor to a liquid state it gives out heat, and when it changes
from a liquid to a vapor, or steam, it takes in heat — steals heat, so to speak, from
every object near it. You heat water to 212°. The first particle of steam that goes
off takes away heat from the water that is left, and so between the stealing away
of heat above by the departing steam and the infusing of heat by the fire below, the
temperature remains at 212°, whether you have little fire or much. If the water
is open and uncompressed, you can not heat it above that point, and if you have
but very little fire, it will not fall below. The more fire you make, the faster the
steam passes off; but the faster the steam passes off the faster it carries off with it
heat from the water left behind. If it were not for this it might be as dangerous an
operation to convert a kettle of water into steam as to explode one filled with gun-
powder. At 212° the expansive force of water — its tendency to fiy off in steam —
is 15 lbs. to the square inch, but as the pressure of the atmosphere is 15 lbs. to the
inch, the one just balances the other. If you could heat it, when open and uncom-
pressed, above 212°, the expansive force would overbalance the aerial pressure and
there would be an explosion. But we have seen that this is impossible — ^that it
can not be heated above 212° — because the steam passing off the instant it would
rise above that point, takasaway heat precisely as fast as the fire infuses it.

We have considered the facts of the fluidity of water from 32° to 212°, of its
solidity below the former point, and of its gaseous, or vaporous state, above the
latter. We desire the reader to impress on his mind the facts that, when water
changes to ice it gives out heat, imparting it to surrounding objects, and that when
it changes back to water it absorbs heat, taking it from all bodies near, and thus
producing a chill ; also that when it changes to steam it absorbs still more heat than
when it passes from ice to water, taking it from any body near, but mainly from the
water which it leaves behind yet unevaporated. If it evaporates from the surface
of the ground, then it takes its heat from the ground itself. There is no more pro-
lific cause of cold, unproductive soils, than the evaporation of undue amounts of
v,-ater from their surface. As the hottest fire will not heat an open kettle of water
above a certain point, because the evaporation from the surface carries off heat as
fast as the fire infuses it, so the sun can not heat a soil saturated with water, because
the evaporation carries off the heat, which the sun would otherwise infuse in the
eoiL

Insects Injurious to Vegetation.

INSECTS INJCRIOCS TO THE ORAKGB TREE.

We avail ourself again of the careful observation, and minute and reliable state-
ments of our friend Mr. Glover, in relation to insects found in the South. And here
we may be permitted to say that we regret very much that our learned friend has re-
pigned his position in this department of the Patent Ofi3ce. His necullar genius is ad-

Scientific. HI

mirably fitted for such duties, and his retiring will cause a void not easily filled. His
models of fruit, and the reports from which we gather what follows and the substance
of our last chapter on this subject will bear perpetual testimony to his industry and
skill. But we must proceed with our subject, and we first describe,

THE OEANGE-SCALE. — CoCCUS ?

The insect which has been so destructive to the once flourishing orange-groves of
Florida presents the appearance of a minute, narrow, elongated scale, with a narrow
semi-transparent, whitish margin. That of the female resembles one of the valves of
a long muscle-shell, in shape, and adheres closely to the leaf or branch on which it is
fixed, and is apparently formed by successive semi-circular layers added from time to
time. When fully grown, it measures about the tenth of an inch in length, by about
the fortieth part of an inch in breadth, at the broadest part.

The young insacts are produced from eggs deposited by the female under the broader
end of the outer case, or shell ; and, when first hatched, are furnished with six legs,
by means of which they escape from under the maternal shelter, which is soinewhat
elevated from the leaf, at the hinder part, to allow the egress of the young, which are
extremely small, and appear in numbers, like minute, yellowish specks upon the leaf ;
but, if magnified, the six legs, two antennae, and two short bristles, at the end of the
abdomen, can be plainly distinguished. The body is of a pale-yellowish color, and di^
vided into segments.

"When tired of rambling, and having arrived at a suitable place for feeding, the
cocci fix themselves to the leaf, or branch, for life. A light-colored, semi-transparent
film, or case, with two projecting points at the narrow end, is soon formed over the
young insect, aud under this thin scale, it may at first be plainly perceived. The scale
gradually increases in size, and becomes more opaque and brown, until the shell of
the female attains its full growth, at which time it measures about the tenth of an inch
in length. If the large scales are taken from the leaf, the female larva, or worm, may
be seen in the concavity of the scale, in the same manner as an oyster or muscle, ra-
ther in the concave valve of its shell. This grub is of a yellowish, or sometimes pink
color. The case itself, when turned upside down, appears to have a narrow margiq
of a whitish, or semi-transparent substance, where it had adhered to the leaf ; a flat
flap, or wing, extends on each side from the head, or narrowest end, at least two-
thirds down the shell. This appears also to have adhered to the leaf. A longitudinal
opening is left between the two projecting pieces, where the naked body of the grub
may be seen. The end towards the thicker extremity, is often vacant until filled with
eggs, which, in color, are yellowish or pink. The head of the grub is placed towards
the narrow part of the scale, and a piercer, or thread-like filiament, proceeds from the
under part of the breast, by means of which it sucks the juices from the plant. If the
scale is gently removed from the leaf, it will often be found to hang to it by means of
this thread-like piercer.

When the female commences to lay her eggs, under the shelter of the scale, they
appear to be deposited in parallel rows on each side ; but it is difficult to ascertain
their number correctly. As many as twenty or thirty, however, have been counted in
one female scale. The female decreases in size in proportion to the number of eggs
laid, and finally, after having deposited all under the scale, she dies and dries away in
the smaller end, with the case still adhering to the leaf. The scale of the male is much
smaller than that of the female. The grub inside, after changing in a pupa, of a yel-
low color, with rudiments of wings, legs, and antennae, eventually emerges from the
case a perfect two-winged fly, so extremely minute as to be scarcely perceptible to the
naked eye.

The head of the perfect fly is small, rounded, and furnished with two comparatively
long, jointed, and somewhat hairy or brisky antennae ; the thorax is very large ; it
has six short legs, and two large, transparent wings, in which are two nervure. The
body is short, in comparison with the thorax, and has a long point, curved downwards
at the extremity of the abdomen, which is somewhat hairy. It is said of some of the
coccus tribe that the males escape backwards from the shell, or case, with the wings
extended flatly over the head.

Various reniedies have been tried to arrest their progress, such as fumigating the
trees with tobacco-smoke, covering them with soap, lime, potash, sulphur, shellac,
glue, and other viscid and tenacious substances, mixed with clay, quick-lime, salt,
etc. ; but all have failed, partially or entirely, and it appears not to be in the power
of man to prevent the ravages of these insignificant and insidious destroyers.

The plan of highly cultivating and enriching the soil has also been much recom-

1^8 Scientific.

mended, as promoting a healthy, vigorous growth, and strengthening the coDStitution
of the tree, so that it is better enabled fo withstand the attacks oltlicse toes. Grease from
fat bacon, rubbed on the trunk and main brandies, or the rind or outside thick skin
placed in the fork of the branches, where the fat and salt may run down the main
stem, is said l)y one person to have been of much benefit ; but' others, who tried tliis
plan, ifssert that the trees were killed in consequence of the application. In fact, so
many diflerent remedies have been recommended, and so monv contradictory re])orls
given of the results, that it will not be prudent to place reliance upon any of them, un-
til a regular series of experiments shall have been instituted with the various mixtures,
upon trees of the same age and strength in different soils and localities, and a faithful
report given as to the success or failure — bearing always in mind, however, that al-
though the old scale insect may be destroyed, yet millions of eggs may remain un-
hatched under the sheltering scales, wailing only for a few days' genial sunshine to
hatch and spread over the tree, which, perhaps, may have been washed in the mean-
time by heavy rahis, so as not to leave a vestige of the mixture remaining to prevent
the young from fixing themselves, ad libitum, when they first emerge from the shel-
tering scale.

Another kind of scale insect (coccus) is also found upon the orange-trees, which
measures about the tenth of an inch when fully grown, and is of a much more oval
form than that already described. The young cocci were of a yellowish-white color,
and had the head and thorax somewhat defined by indentations on the sides, and
marks on the scale itself. They are furnished with two antenna?, and had six legs, by
means of which they moved about the leaf until they found a place suited to their
taste, when they immediately fixed their piercers in a leaf or branch, and became
coated with a scale-like covering, which appeared to adhere to the surface of the place
where it v as fixed ; and here they remained motionless the remainder of their
lives.

This description applies to the female coccus alone, as the males were not discovered ;
but doubtless they resemble the species already described, in being provided with
wings, as well as in general habits. As the female scale becomes older, it gra-
dually assumes a brownish-black appearance, having a somewhat light colored margin.
This coccus appears to be pccuharly subject to the attacks of parasitical insects, which
serve materially to check its increase. Many of the scales were observed in Septem-
ber to be punctured with small holes in their backs, made no doubt by small parasiti-
cal flies, which had devoured the original tenant of the scale. One of the flies which
came out of these scales measured about the twentieth of an inch in length; the body
and thorax were of a metallic green color; the eyes black, and the legs of a brownish
color ; the four wings were transparent, and the antenna; jointed and hairy.

Another hymenopterons fly came out of the dead scales, which also measured about
the twentieth part of an inch in length, the thorax and first segment of the body being
light-brown, with the rest of the abdomen blackish and hairy ; the head was furnished
with three ocelli; the four wings were transparent, and the antennae long, jointed, and
hairy. These parasitical flies no doubt do much good in lessening the numbers of this
kind of coccus ; as, although breeding in similar situations, and with apparently as good
a chance to multiph- as the others, it was not found to be nearly so numerous as the
scale insect first mentioned. This may perhaps be attributed to the attacks of these
flics, as hundreds of dricd-up scales were seen with large holes in their backs, and the
contents eaten out as above described.

While on the subject of the orange-scale insect, it may be as well to mention that
some time last year (1855) another coccus was imported into Jacksonville, Florida,
on some lemons sent from Bermuda ; and, as they may perhaps spread in the vicinity,
it would be well to draw attention to the insect, and describe it as far as known. The
length of the full-grown female scale is rather more than tlic twentieth of an inch ; it
is somewhat pear-shaped, and of a brown color ; the grub is of a reddish-yellow, and
furnished with a piercer from its breast, like the coccus first described; the young
have two antenna?, six legs, and two long hairs, or bristles, at the end of the body.
The male scale is not so large as the female, and is formed of a white, cottony or
parchment-looking substance, constituting a case, with an elevated and rounded ridge
in the center, in which a reddish pupa was found. The mouth of this case wa? stopped
up with a dark-looking substance, apparently the cast skin of the larva. The male
larva is reddish in color, and measures not more than the fortieth of an inch in length.
The perfect fly is also red, and is furnished with two hairy antenna;, six legs, and has
the thorax very large. The two wings are transparent, and the end of the body is
furnished with a curved, hard projection. As it is very probable that this insect will

Scie7itijic. 179

increase, it would be well (o note any progress it may make during the ensuing j'ear,
and to use the remedies suggested in the tirst article on the coccus of the orange.

There are also found on the orange-trees numbers of small mites which have fre-
quently been mistaken for the young cocci ; but they may be very easily distinguished
by their activity from the young scale insects, which crawl about very slowly. The
mites have eight hairy legs, somewhat like those of minute spiders, and are mostly of
a yellowish color, although some are also found of a delicate pink hue. They are ge-
nerally seen briskly running among the stationary cocci, and may often be found con-
cealed under the old scales ; but, whether they do any harm to the tree, or merely
feed upon the dead or dying cocci, has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained.

The pupa of a parasitical fly was found under the scale of one of the cocci; the
head, wings, antennae, and legs were perfectly formed as in the ichneumon-tiies; the
eyes were comparatively large and brown, and the rest of the body of a whitish-yel-
low. The perfect fly could not be recognized, however, as the pupa died without
changing;.

FOB THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZISE.

Messrs. Editors :— There was a beautiful white horse of great value killed by
lightning several nights ago. When found next morning his tongue was burnt,
black and swollen, so as to expand his jaws frightfully. His snow-white skin ap-
peared as though dotted all over with innumerable dark spots, which on close exam-
ination were found to contain minute punctures as though small shot had been driven
through from the internal parts outwardly, and the hairs immediately suri-ounding
these holes were discolored almost to blackness. Is such a legitimate or common
effect of the electric fluid ? It appeared almost as though it was conducted by the
animal's breath through his mouth into his body, and there exploded into thousands
of minute fragments which escaped through his hide, staining every hair it touched.
It just occursto me, at this late moment, that the change of color might have been
caused by the scorchings of electrical heat rather than any other chemical action.
What do you think of it, if you please ? Yours, truly,

Andoyer, Aug. lY, 185Y. E. Sanborn.

The above shows a frightful effect of electricity. Will some one versed in the
laws of this fluid, (so far as they are known, and that is not very far,) give us his
views of its action in this case ? Were the punctures in the skin made by an in-
ward or an outward movement of the fluid ? There was an instant when the animal
was chai'ged (overcharged) with electricity. The next instant his body contained
no more than the normal amount of the fluid. Was the charging instantaneous,
and the discharging gradual ? or was the charging gradual and the discharging in-
stantaneous? or were both instantaneous? Was the horse electrified by induction,
or only by conduction, and if the latter, was the fluid passing from the clouds to the
ground, or from the ground to the clouds ? If we knew half as much of the laws,
which govern the electric fluid, as some of our learned professors. Prof. E. S. Snell,
of Amherst College, for instance, and scores of others, whom we have not the hap-
piness of knowing as well, we could give a theory of the operation and course of
the fluid in the case mentioned by Dr. Sanborn, which should be at least plausible,
and therefore measurably satisfactory.

Such men as we have just alluded to do not half realize their obligation to throw
Bome of their light outside of college walls. A practical article, if but five pages
in length, detailing some of the more important laws of electricity, and showing
what are some of the safer positions in a thunder storm, from the pen of the gen-
tleman just named, or another equally well qualified to give it, would be a means
of saving several valuable lives every year. Who will give us that very article,
and thus entitle himself to o\ir and the world's thanks ?

180

Scientific.

THE WEATHEH.
Appearance of Birds, Flowers, etc., in Nichols, Tioga Co., N. Y., in July, 1857.

By B. Howell.

Place of Observation, 42 degrees North, on a Diluvial Formation, about 40 feet above

the Susquehantia liivcr, and 800 feet above tide, according to the survey

of the New- Yrok and Erie Railroad.

July.

1

2

3

4

6

6

•7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

6 AM.

1P.M.

9 P.M.

57

62

55

South

Cloudy.

53

70

53

"

52

68

52

North

56

78

64

«

62

80

61

"

61

72

58

West

58

85

64

S.&N.

62

74

53

West

51

84

68

«

58

88

68

South

63

90

69

West

66

91

68

"

65

92

68

North

68

96

69

N.«S£S.

68

91

65

South

66

89

65

"

69

93

68

S. W.

67

94

70

«

66

96

65

S.East

68

93

64

South

65

78

62

"

63

84

62

"

62

75

62

N. W.

65

84

66

11

60

90

68

"

66

92

72

South

68

91

74

«

72

90

69

«

62

75

60

North

59

67

62

South

63

81

69

<(

Remarks.
Hard rain nearly all day. [bloom.

Ladies' blush and double damask rose begin to
Liglit rain in afternoon.
Tulip tree in bloom.

[at 6 P.M.
Hard short shower with hail and violent wind
Shower at night and evening.
Red currants begin to ripen.
Common sweet elder begin to bloom.

Timoth}^ grass begin to bloom.
One field of oats seen in head.

A few farmers begin haying.

Milk weed begin to bloom.

Thunder in afternoon ; chestnut trees in bloom.

Hard shower with hail between 5 & 6 P.M.

Very hard shower at 6 P.M., with hail.

Liglit shower between 1 and 2 P.M.

Light rain from soutli at 2 P.M. Th'r &, Lt'ng.

Hard rain all afternoon ; commence about noon.

Light dash of rain in P.M. Corn begin to silk.

Light dash of rain in the afternoon.

Bas3wood trees in full bloom.

Rain at 3 P.M. from the south.

Considerable rain in the afternoon.

FOK THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZIBB.

The Magic Square.

Messrs. Editors : — If you do not deem it inconsistent with the object of your pa-
per, I should like for you or some of your correspondents to throw a little light on
the construction of the Magic Square.

Many farmers have a taste for mathematical investigations, and it would, no doubt,
afford them a pleasure to meet occasionally with the solution of some curious pro-
blem.

Perhaps there are few school-boys who have not puzzled themselves in trying to
form the Magic Square. The whole difficulty consists in not understanding the rule.
There should be a rule for everytliing, and this rule should be founded on reason.

It is no difficult matter to form one of those squares when the sides composing it
consist of an odd number of places ; but when the number is even, hoc opus, hie labor
est, and this simply because there is no rule — at least, I have never been able to dis-
cover one.

I was in hopes that Prof. Pierce, who introduced this subject in one of his Lee-

Scientific.

181

tures, would have made the matter plain ; but he did not — at least to my mind. I
shall here introduce a square of each kind, so that some of your youthful readers, in
a leisure moment, may exercise their ingenuity in constructing similar ones, and in
finding out the rule.
The Magic Square with an odd number of places in a side.

22

47

16

41

10

35

4

5

23

48

17

42

11

29

30

6

24

49

18

36

12

13

31

n

25

43

19

37

38

14

32

1

26

44

20

21

39

8

33

2

27

45

46

15

40

9

34

3

28

This square consists of 7 places in a side, consequently the highest series is 49, and
the sum of the series, in each column both ways, is 175.

The rule by which this square is constructed is easy, but the reason of it is not
plain.

The Magic Square with an even number of places in a side.

11

92

12

88

14

15

16

1 84

83

90

100

82

26

27

67

35

59

58

50

1

99

19

75

74

33

66

42

43

51

3

2

20

76

73

34

36

60

57

49

98

4

81

25

28

68

65

41

44

52

97

94

21

77

72

32

37

61

56

48

7

5

80

24

29

69

64

40

45

53

96

6

79

23

30

70

38

62

65

47

95

93

22

78

71

31

63

39

46

54

8

91

9

89

13

87

86

85

17

18

10

This square has 10 places in a side, making a series of 100, and the same each
way 505.

What we want now, is a rule by which this square was constructed. Will some
one please make it known ? B.

To the private inquiry of the person who sent the above, our answer is, yes, we
accept your proposition, and we are obliged to answer in this way, because no date
was prefixed to the communication, and the post-mark was too obscure to indicate
the writer's place of residence. With regard to so much of the communication as
we have published, will some one give us the rule asked? This is a kind of amuse-
ment which has its utility. — Ed.

182 DemesUe.

§ 0 nu $ t i c .

FOB THE AMFRICAN FARMMIS' MAGAZINE.

Glue.

Persons who use glue may save troulilo, los?, time, and glue, if tlicy -nil! prepnro
it for use as follows :

Dissolve the glue in as small a quantity of water as possible, and at the heat of
boiling water, and while warm, (and away from fire where alcohol will not inflame,)
pour into the thick mass enough of alcohol to make it as thin as you want it, stir-
ring briskly while adding ihe alcohol. Put it in a bottle, over the mouth of which
tie a piece of air-proof India rubber. Thus glue may be preserved during many
years, ready for use at any time. In cold weather it may need warming a little be-
fore use. Mercuaxt Kelly.

Bkxtonville, Indiana.

Puddings by the Wholesale.

Here is a rule for building a dozen puddings or more on one foundation. What
an idea ! It may be a good, one, however. Let the ladies loolc at it and see :

Baked Puddings. — Take about three eggs for each quart of milk, beat them thor-
oughly and stir with the milk, adding salt and sugar or molasses to the taste, and a
little nutmeg, or other spice if desired. It is now ready to pour into the pudding-
dish and set in the oven as a custard pudding, or with apple or other sauce stirred in,
as a fmit pudding; or it can be used as a basis for almost any other pudding. Take
the custard as prepared, and thicken it somewhat with cold corn cake or pone crum-
bled fine, and you will have a light and excellent Indian pudding, or thicken with dry
bread well crumbled, for a good bread pudding, that will please all. Or the pieces of
stale bread may be sliced thin, and slowly dried and browned in the oven, then
pounded fine or ground in the coffee-mill, and a little of this powdered rusk — about
one tablespoonful to a quart — used to thicken it, with ground clove for spice, and
you have a rusk pudding.

Add rice which has been previously boiled in milk, to the custard, for a rice pud-
ding, or a httle sago or tapioca, well soaked and boiled, for a still further variety.
Hominy well boiled, or grated sweet corn, too, make puddings which some are fond
of. A pudding which we particularly like, is made by taking very thin slices of bread
buttered thinly, putting a layer of this at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of ap-
ple sliced thin, another layer of bread, and so on till you have enough, then pour a
custard made as first directed over the whole, and pat it into the oven. Or for the
bird's nest pudding, take small turt apples, pare and core, put them in the pudding-
dish and pour the custard over.

The proportion of eggs may be increased or diminished in any of these puddings,
according to the supply, and raisins or West India currants can be added or not at
the pleasure of the cook. All of these puddings should be baked very slowly, and
not suffered to boil in the oven. Sweet cream, with sugar, and if wished, a little nut-
meg added, makes the best sauce for any of those. Or thicken boiling water with a
little flour, add a small lump of butter, sugar, salt and spice, and either lemon juice,
or lemon essence and vinegar, and you have a good, plain sauce. — Ohio Cultivator.

Hard Cement.

The following cement has been used with great success in covering terraces, lining
basins, soldering stones, etc., and everywhere resists the filtration of water. It is so
hard that it scratches iron. It is formed of ninety -three parts of well-burnt brick,
and seven parts of litharge, made plastic, with linseed oil. The brick and litharge
are pulverized; the latter must alwaj's be reduced to a very fine powder; they are
mixed together, and enough of linseed oil added. It it then apjdied in the manner
of plaster, the body that is to be covered being always previously wetted with a
sponge. This precaution is indispensable, otherwise the oil would filter through the

Domestic. 183

hoAj, and prevent the mastic from acquiring the desired degree of hardness. When
it is extended over a large surface, it sometimea happens to have flaws in it, which
must be filled up with a fresh quantity of the cement. In three or four daj's it be-
comes firm. — Mass. Ploimian.

Potato Yeast.

A New-Bedford lady vouches for the good quality of yeast made after the follow-
ing recipe :

Cook and mash ten peeled potatoes, pour on a quart of boiUng water and stir well,
and add a coffee cup of sugar ; let this stand a few minutes ; pour in a quart of cold
water, wanting a gill, and when lukewarm stir in a pint of yeast, and set in a mode-
rately warm place to rise. When well fermented, put into a stone jug, cork tightly,
and tie the cork down and keep it in a cool place. Afcer the first rising keep enough
of this yeast for the second batch. A teacup of this yeast is sufficient for two large
loaves of bread ; most excellent it is for muffins and griddle cakes also. There is no
need for hops or flour in it, and in my opinion it is the best yeast I have ever tried, and
I have experimented in all known recipes.

Treatment of Hens.

Herk is a timely item, containing a valuable hint to poultry keepers. An uncredited
paragraph in an exchange says : " Two flocks of hens were compared. One laid eggs
almost all the time. The other laid scarcely any. On examining their treatment the
following difierences were found to exist ; the former had a warm cellar to roost in
during the winter ; the latter roosted in a stable where the wind blew in. The former
had a fine place in an open cellar for scratching among ashes, lime, and earth ; the
latter scratched in the manure heap, or in the stable when the cows were put out.
The former had plenty of good water, with milk, etc. ; the others had no drink ex-
cept what they could find. It can be seen, we think, why one flock laid eggs gene-
rously, and the other did not."

Agriculture in Portugal.

Professor Haddock, in his address before the State Agricultural Society in 1855,
repeated the following legend:

" When reminded of their want of progress in agriculture and manufactures, the
Spaniards relate a legend, that Adam, once upon a time, requested leave to revisit
this world ; leave was granted and an angel commissioned to conduct him. On
wings of love the patriarch hastened to his native earth ; but so changed, so strange,
all seemed to him, that he felt at home nowhere till he came to Portugal. 'Ah,
here,' exclaimed he, ' set me down here ; everything here is just as I left it.' "

Hatred of Work.

Rev. Henry Ward Beecher says : " God is the most wondrous worker in the uni-
verse^facile, sleepless, untiring ; but men instead of counting it a joy to labor, are
always striving to evade what is to them a burden, and look forward witli delight
to the time when they can 'retire.' As a worm, feeding upon mulberry leaves,
might say, ' How glad I shall be when I am fat enough to roll myself into a cocoon ;'
so they eat the leaves of duty and long for no higher joy than this silk worm's hap-
piness. And thus we have cocoon merchants, cocoon lawyers, cocoon ministers, co-
coon— everything. The worm's cocoon is worth unwinding, but these men are
spoilt — it does not pay to unthread them."

Fault Finders.

In our judgment there can be no more detestable companion than a brutish fault-
finder. AVe have them every where. Their tailor, their shoemaker, tlieir mer-
chant, all are defective. On Sunday they complain that their preacher preaches too
long or too short. In business their lawyer gives wrong advice, .and charges too
much for it ; and the printers — bless the ci-aft, come in for a good share of their
spleen. This one's editorials are too lively, that one's too dull and prosy ; this is
perhaps in the wrong place, and there's a word the " devil" mis-spelled. Then the
climate is bad, the weather is too hot or cold, and things are wrong generally and
out of gear particularly. Such persons had better wait for a change in their mode
of existence, when probably the weather will be really warm and dry.

184 Domestic.

Rare Plants for Distribution.

It is Btftted in a letter from Washington, that the propagating department of the
United States Botanical Garden there is in a position to distribute a large number
of seedling trees, cuttings and other like matters, in the same manner as dry seeds
are given out at the Patent Office. Mr. W. A. Smith, United States Horticulturist, it
is said, has now under glass in the garden near the Capitol grounds, hundreds of
species of trees, flowers and shrubs, procured through the expeditions to Japan, and
to the South Seas, which will be distributed to the public this year. A considera-
ble addition to the green houses is under way in the shape of a large octagon to ac-
commodate the rapidly growing results of Mr. Smith's diligence and scientific enthu-
siasm. The increased liberality of Congress to this highly useful enterprise will soon
be felt throughout the whole country, and we hope our readers will not be backward
in availing themselves of these facilities. — Southern Cultivator.

Take Good Advice Whencesoever it Comes.

Some folks are silly enough to disregard all good advice unless he who gives it
lives up to his precepts. This is just about as smart as it would be in a traveler to
scorn the directions of a finger-post, unless it drew its own leg out of the ground and
hopped after its own finger.

Potato Rot.

The potato rot has made its appearance in parts of this county, says the Salem
Standard, but as yet has not assumed an alarming aspect. It abounds most in pota-
toes grown in low ground, and is doubtlees occasioned by the repeated rains with
which we have been visited this season. The crop is more than an average one,
and must pay a handsome profit to producers, if this blight does not prove of too
serious a nature. — West jerseyman.

A Sonr Blessing.

A Frenchman learning English, and anxious to say something very striking, in
parting from a lady, consulted his dictionary, and there finding that pickles meant
to preserve, he bade her farewell, with the emphatic exclamation ; " May heaven
pickle you !"

Rheumatism.
^S' Lemon juice is relied upon by the physicians of London for curing the rheu-
matism. Three table-spoonfuls per day is a dose for a man.

Poor Substitute for Industry.

" When a fellow is too lazy to work," says Sam Slick, " he paints his name over
the door, and calls it a tavern or a grocery, and makes the whole neighborhood as
lazy as himself."

Gentlemen and no Gentlemen.

Thb late Vicar of Sheffield, Rev. Dr. Sutton, once said to the late Mr. Peech, a vet-
erinary surgeon, " Mr. Peech, how is it you have not called upon me for your ac-
count ?" " Oh," said Mn Peech, " I never ask a gentleman for money." " Indeed,"
said the vicar ; " then how do you get on if he don't pay ?" " "Why," replied Mr.
Peech, " after a certain time I conclude that he is not a gentleman, and then I ask
himl"

Swallowing Poison.

If poison should be swallowed accidentally, take two teaspoonfuls of ground mus-
tard, mixed in warm water. It will operate as an instantaneous emetic.

Cheap Fruit.

An American, at Gibralter, writes that he bought " two pounds of grapes, two pounds
of apples, two of peaches, two of lemons, and a basket to carry them, aod all for s
quarter of a dollar."

Children'' s Page. 185

CljiUtu's i^P*

Now, children, a little more about our German boy, and a bit of a moral ; and
then we will give you a question or two in arithmetic, and you may get Henry,
Charley, Fanny or Isabella, or any one else to help you solve them if you can not
do it alone.

To-day the boy brought us a bundle of letters. The first opened said : " Enclosed
is that balance of one dollar." We looked; there was no dollar; we said, but per-
haps not as playfully as we felt : "A, you must have got that dollar ; we shall take
it out of your wages." Nothing more was said, and we supposed that the writer
of the letter had posted it hastily and forgotten to put in the doUar, as we have
done sometimes, and then written another and sent it with the money endorsed to
chase the first, and carry on our apology. At the close of the day, A came to us
and assured us most seriously that he had not taken the money. Of course he had
not, for the letter was closely sealed, and we had not had the least suspicion. But
he had been feeling badly for two hours or more. We hastened to relieve him by
assuring him that we were only in fun, that we meant nothing, and knew he would
do no such thing. Our moral is, that " it is a good thing for children (and every-
body else) to be so honest, sincere and true, that nobody can suspect them." The let-
ter, in this case, unbroken as it was, would have saved the boy from suspicion, but
another time circumstances may be different, and it is always desirable to have a
good character to fall back upon. A character above suspicion, is worth more than
everything else.

QUESTIONS IN ARITHMETIC.

A thousand of the operations by which God constantly blesses mankind, are so
silent, so quiet, so common, that we think little of them. Look at the falling rain.
If men were to water a parched acre, what a bustle, what an array of horses and
carts and drivers there would be ; and they could not do it half as well after all as
it is effected by a single shower. It is the hydraulic power of the atmosphere that
waters the earth, is it ? Yes ; but that power is God's power, as all otlier power is.
His hand waters the earth and makes it fruitful ; and now in order that the children
may have some idea of the extent of his power and goodness in this one thing, we
want they should study out and answer these questions. Calling the cubic foot of
water 63 lbs., how many tons of water fiill on an acre of land in a gentle shower of
two or three hours continuance, which gives one inch in depth ? How many in a
township of fifty square miles ? How many on a county forty miles square ? And
how long a canal, 25 feet wide and 4 feet deep, would the water which falls in such
a shower on a State of 50,000 square miles, fill 1 If an answer is sent us to these
questions, with the figures neatly written out, we will propose others at another
time.

We advise the farmers' boys to exercise their judgment of distances, height, size,
and weight, by a sort of game of estimating, to see which will come the nearest.
Say, how far off is that tree ? 20 rods says William ; 25 rods says James. Measure
it. It is 19 rods; William beats. How high is that plum-tree? 20 feet, 18 feet,
25 feet, 30 feet, are said ; it measures 23 feet. The boy who said 25 has beat. How
large is that log ? 9 feet in circumference, 8 feet, 6 feet. Draw a cord around it and
see. If a yoke of oxen are to go on the scales, let the boys try their judgment at
estimating beforehand the live weight. Or if an ox is to be slaughtered, let them
pass their judgment upon the net weight.

If you wish to be beautiful, you must be good.

186 Booh Notices^ etc.

§0011 |)[0titcs, ctr.

IsTRODUciioN TO JIoxteith's Mamal uf Gkouuaphy.

This is a good little work fur cliilJren ; is liiglily illustrated, as works for tliat
class should be; and it makes us vish tliere had been such works when we were a
child. Published by A. S. Barnes and Co., 51 and 53 John street, N. Y.

TuK National Pkosouncixg Speller, by Richard G. Parker and J. M. Watson, au-
thor of " The National Series of Readers." A. S. Barnes and Co., 51 and 53 John
street, N. Y., Publishers.
This is an eflFort, successful we should think, to smooth the passage, for both

teacher and pupil, through that hard road to travel (it was so to us and wo have

hardlj- got through it yet) of learning to spell English.

How TO DO Business; a Pocket Manual of Practical Affiiirs, and Guide to Success in

Life. Fowler and Wells, 308 Broadway, N. Y., Publishers.

A good book for young men, and one in which older heads might see the causes
of failure, and learn to do better in future. Young business men, and others who
have not succeeded to their minds, would do well to read it. It contains mucli
common sense, practical instruction.

The Word-Builder ; or National First Reader, on a plan entirely new. By Richard
G. Parker, A.M., and J. Madison Watson. Illustrated from original designs.
This is one of those modern contrivances with which the age abounds, for making
learning easy to children, some of which are really good, as we believe from a cur-
sory perusal, this is. Success to all such attempts. Any facilities that consist with
thoroughness are a public good.

The Song of Hiawatha. By Henry Wadswortu Longfellow. Boston: Ticknor

«fe Fields. 1857. 40th thousand. 310 pages, 12mo.

Many products of the intellect as of the soil, spoil by keeping. Not so with this.
It is as fresh and sweet as were its first sheets. Many others spoil by using ; but
this seems to improve as we are familiar with it. It will live as long as the legends
of the original tribes, and wOl be admired as long as it lives.

White Lies. A novel. By Charles Reade, Author of " Never too Late to Mend,"
" Peg WofBngton," " Christie Johnstone," etc. Part 1. Boston: Ticknor & Fields.
1857. In 4 parts.
Tlie reputation of the author secured for this book high anticipations. Nor will

the reading of it cause any disappointment. In this part it opens well, and is full

of promise for the future.

Memories of the Loves of the Poets. Biographical sketches of women celebrated
in ancient and modern poetry. By Mrs. Jameson, authoress of "Diary of an En-
nuyee," etc, Boston : Ticknor & Fields.

It is often a so.urce of perplexity with the general reader of poetry to know how
much to regard as truth and how much as fiction. These little volumes -will be
prized by such as of great value,, and every reader of taste will be at least entertain-
ed and gratified by their perusal. They are beautifully executed, and should be on
the center-table and the shelves of every reader and scholar.

School Days at Rugby. By an Old Boy. Boston : Ticknor <fe Fields. 1857. 409

pages, 12mo.

" Tom Brown's school life" is full of interest, well written, full of life, recalling,
by association, a thousand reminiscences in the life of many of its readers. It will
be read wherever opportunity and good taste are found.

Booh Notices^ etc. 187

TuE Testimony of the Rocks ; or, Geology in its bearings on the two Theologies,
Natural and Revealed. By Hugh Miller, etc. Boston : Gould & Lincoln.
New-York : Sheldon, Blakeman &, Co.

Huo-h Miller requires no introduction from us, Mr. Bayne well says, in a book
notice with this, that " the Duke Avho would come to confer distinction on Hugli
Miller by taking his hand, and showing him a little countenance, would get himself
.simply covered with derision." Nor is it necessary to say that this book fully equals
its predecessors, both in importance and in interest. No scientific scholar will vol-
untarily be without it, nor fail to read it. A sketch of Mr. Miller's character and
death occupies some 30 pages of the volume. It is richly illustrated with 152 en-
gravings.

Sermons ON Special Occasions. By Rev. John H.\rris. 1st series, Boston: Gould
& Lincoln. New-York: Sheldon, Blakeman <fe Co. 1857. 363 pages.
These are invested with tlie interest peculiar to posthumous publications. The

high reputation of Dr. Harris is well sustained in this volume. These sermons were

delivered on various special occasions, and his numerous friends will prize this

among their choicest volumes.

Essays in Biography and Criticism. By Peter Bayne, M.A., author of the Christian
Life, Social and Individual, etc. 1st series. Boston : Gould & Lincoln. New-
York : Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. 1857. 426 pages.

We are sometimes half inclined to censure, lest our frequent encomiums should be
c-onsidered as a tribute to publishers. But when as good books are sent us as many
of those we receive, we can not hesitate to praise them. And now with this volume
of Essays before us, we are constrained to commend highly. If our opinion is wor-
thy the attention of our readers, surely the studied and detailed criticisms of Mr.
Bayne, upon a long list of the most eminent authors of the times, including De
Quincey, Tennison, Ruskin, Hugh Miller, etc., with Dickens, Thackeray, Bulwer,
and Currer Bell, can not fail to bo of great value, and to command general atten-
tion. Some of these essays, for we have not read them all, are intensely interesting.

The Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier. Boston : Ticknor & Fields.

Complete in 2 volumes, 16mo.

There is no sweeter poetry than some of Mr. Whittier' s, and very few authors can
count more friends than he. A choice edition, like these beautiful little volumes of
all his poems, will be hailed as a boon by them and by the multitude of his readers.

The author of " The Lamp Lighter," Miss Cummins, has in press, and soon to be
issued, a new tale, to be published by John P. Jewett & Co. We have been favored
with a perusal of some of the proof sheets, and we can assure our readers that her
L,'reat reputation already achieved, will rise still higher when this book is published,
it is the result of more than two years' labor, is written with almost classic elegance,
and will find a ready sale wherever reputation, talent and high culture can secure a
favorable reception. The name of this beautiful tale is to be Mabel Vaughan.

Sorgho and Imphee, the Chinese and African Sugar Canes ; by H. S. Olcott, Asso-
ciate Principal of the Mt. Vernon Farm School, Westchester Co., N. Y. ; C. M.
Saxton & Co., 14 Fulton street, publishers.

This is a forthcoming work, on a subject about which many desire to be informed.
We understand it is to contain about 400 pages, and to be sold at $1 00. From what
we know of the author and his sources of information, we feel assured it will contain
:i large amount of valuable matter on the culture of these plants, and their uses as
food for cattle, and for the manufacture of sugar, syrup, alcohol, etc. By an arrange-
ment with the publishers we shall be able to send it for $1 00 enclosed, prepaid to
any who may order it through us.

188 Book Notices^ etc.

"We see by the Kegulations and Premium List, that a goodly sum is to be distri-
buted, and that the mechanics and mechanic arts are not forgotten. That is right.
There is not good land enough, even in our glorious West, to make farming a good
business, unless manufactures and the mechanic arts flourish, too. — Ed.

Ths Skillful HousE-mFE's Book ; a complete Guide to Domestic Cookery, Taste,
Comfort and Economy, combining 659 recipes, pertaining to Household Duties,
the Care of Health, Gardening, Flowers, Birds, Education of Children, etc. By
Mrs. L. G. Abel, Author of " Gems by the Wayside," "Woman in her various rela-
tions," etc. Published by A. M. Saxton & Co., 140 Fulton street, Ne-w-York.
So far as we can judge of such matters, this book is judiciously executed, and con-
tains a very large amount of practical and valuable instruction in things pertaining
to the health, comfort and economy of families. Solomon, we suppose, had refer-
ence to the subject, when he said, " She looketh well to the ways of her house-
hold."

Thirty-fifth thousand on sale. We wUl send this book post paid to any of our sub-
scribers on the receipt of the price, 25 cts. in paper, 50 cts. in cloth, post-paid.

Ditson & Co., Boston, Mass.

In a recent visit to Boston, we were shown over the new, beautiful and extensive
publishing office and sales-rooms of these extensive dealers in music. The building
was erected by them for their own exclusive use. It is 277 Washington street, is
five stories high, 25 feet front, which is of granite, and nearly 100 feet deep. Their
stock embraces every thing published in this country and a large quantity of for-
eign music, whether in sheets or volumes. The basement is exclusively devoted to
the wholesale department of sheet music, and its shelves contain about 4000 cubic
feet of music. Here, too, is a safe to hold 50,000 plates, and even more, if closely
packed. The story above the basement is for retail. The second story is the piano-
forte room. The third floor is the book room, and some judgment can be formed of
the extent of the business of this house, when we state that the number of their own
publications in volumes and instruction books, and such like, exceeds 400. This
room contains some 200,000 volumes. On the fourth floor is the stock of printing
papers, covers, books in sheets, etc. On the fifth their sheet music is printed, giving
employment to twelve presses and twenty workmen. The books published by them
are printed elsewhere. The amount of paper used at this establishment annually, is
not less than 100,000 reams. Their publications include much standard music.
They have issued several volumes of operas in score, II Trovatore, that last and
perhaps most beautiful, as it surely is one of the most popular of all brought out at
the N, Y, Academy, has been published lately. It, like its predecessors, is executed
and done up in excellent style, Nor is sacred music overlooked here. One of the
recent issues of this house consists of a volume of Catholic music, called The Memo-
rere, and contains the very gems of this splendid style of this divine art. The
Golden Wreath, a collection " for schools, seminaries, select classes," etc., represents
another extensive and very important department in this establishment. All these
are standard works of their kind. We advise all our musical friends to avail them-
selves of some opportunity to look over these attractive and loaded counters.

A New Phase in the Iron Manufactitre. — John B. Wickersham, 312 Broadway,
New-York, has put out a splendidly illustrated circular of his business, of 80 pages,
folio, containing, in addition to private notices, a vast amount of information on the
manufacture of iron and its trade, valuable to everybody. Price by mail three 3
cent postage stamps.

Booh Notices^ etc. 189

A Suggestion kindly received.

A CORRESPONDENT from the Far West says of our Magazine :—" It is to my mind
defective in this— a horticultural or pomological department. Whilst I feel a deep
interest in all agricultural improvements, stock growing, etc., yet it does not abate
my interest in horticulture in the least. On the contrary I am increasing my or-
chards, fruit and ornamental garden with renewed zeal."

Just so every farmer should do, and if, in our zeal in the great and absorbing inter-
est of agriculture at large, we have paid less attention than we ought to the hardly
less important matters of the garden and the orchard, we will strive to mend our
ways. — Ed.

Another correspondent says:—" I have long since expressed my humble opinion
that your monthly ranked with the very best pubUcations of this age, having been
(pardon my vanity) a little proud of it, as a publication hailing from my native
State, a State in which many years of my life have been employed in farming. In
Ohio,' the third State of this confederacy, agriculture is the great interest. As a
science it has been lamentably neglected in years past, but a better day is dawning
in our State. Agricultural reading, agricultural schools, and every thing pertaining
to the subject is constantly progressing, and I hope the day is not far distant when
Ohio shall stand foremost in every department of agriculture."

We are sorry when New-York looses such farmers as the above, but are glad
when Ohio gains them. — Ed.

How to make Water Cold without Ice.

The following description of a method of rendering water almost as cold as ice has
been going the rounds of the press for many years. Just now it is again " in season,"
and we copy it for the benefit of those of our readers who either have not the oppor-
tunity or the inclination to purchase ice: rut
Let the jar, pitcher, or vessel used for water be surrounded with one or more folds ot
coarse cotton, to be constantly wet. The evaporation of the water will carry off the heat
from the inside and reduce it to a freezing point. In India and other tropical chmes,
where ice can not be procured, this is common. Let every mechanic and laborer have
at his place of employment two pitchers thus provided, and with Uds and covers, one
to contain fresh water for drinking, the other for evaporation, and he can always have
a supply of cold water in warm weather. — Exchange.

This should be received with some grains of allowance. If you could afford to
keep the surface of the pitcher constantly wet with ether, you might even freeze the
water in it. It is true also that keeping the surface wet with water, as above de-
scribed, wiU cool the water within sensibly, if the air be dry, and evaporation conse-
quently rapid. But in ordinary states of the atmosphere, the process is at best slow,
and in a damp sultry day would be quite unsatisfactory. We have little doubt that
it would be quite possible to construct a vessel in such a way that a part of the water
contained in it might leak through, keep the outer surface moist, evaporate and leave
such a chill upon the vessel that the water remaining in it would be so reduced in
temperature, as to serve well for ice water. If we happen to thmk of this at another
time we wiU suggest a mode in which we suppose it could be done, and any of our
friends may try it, and, if they choose, may take out a patent, in case they succeed.
Our present object is simply to illustrate a great principle, one exceedingly important
to the farmer.

It is a well known fact that when ice melts it contains more heat than it did when
in the condition of ice, and is yet no hotter— wiU raise the thermometer no higher,
and feels no warmer to the hand. Again, when water evaporates— changes from
water to vapor, as before from ice to water— it contains 1000 degrees additional heat,

190 Book Notices^ etc.

and yet is no warmer as judged of by the thermometer, or by the senses. What was
before sensible heat becomes insensible, or latent. Now, when water evaporates, it
takes this thousand degrees of latent heat from the nearest objects. Dip your finger
in ether, and then hold it in a current of air, and it will feel very cold, by rea.son of
the natural warmth being drawn from your finger to supply latent heat to the evapo-
rating ether. If you dip it in water, the same efifect will follow, only in a less degree.
That is, whenever a liquid evaporates, it steals away the heat necessary to maintain
it in the state of vapor from the body from which it evaporates, whether that body
be the surface of a pitcher, or the surface of our bodies, or of the earth.

If we are understood, it now appears why a soil from which the redundant water
passes freely through a porous subsoil into the deep earth, or in the lack of a porous
subsoil, runs freely through well laid drains, is many degrees warmer and the crop
several weeks earlier llum happens in a soil from which the redundant water passes
by evaporation into the air.

An Old Absurdity.

" We find the following old absurdity in a well written article by Mr. Nash, of New-
York, in the last No. of the Plough, Loom and Anvil :

" ' We are told by the philosophers that since the creation the remains of the
human family alone would cover the land on the globe more than a foot deep of
soil.'

'•Take the most, populous country on the globe — say Belgium — with a population
of 345 to the square mile, and suppose every day of the si.K thousand years since
creation had produced a generation equal to the present, the whole crowd could stand
on a square mile, and each have room to kick his neighbor oif his premises."

Remarks. — We cut the above from Life in the West, an able and spirited little
paper, published at, Sigouruey, Iowa. Our readers will perceive, if they look at the
initials, that we were not the writer of that article. It Avas handed us by a namesake
of ours, who probably descended from Julius Caesar, as we suppose we have, though
we can not trace our ancestry to that source with absolute certainty, and who maj'
have had nearer ancestors in common with us, possible the famous Beau Nash, who
used to figure as master of ceremonies in somebody's (we forgot whose) court. It is
also quite probable that we are both cousins of that John Nash who used to play the
fool with poor old George the Third, or some of his progeny, (our memory is bad
again,) as the king's architect, and who contrived to get money enough out of him to
build himself a splendid mansion near 0:-born Ilouse, in the Isle of Wight, which we
had the pleasure of visiting a few years ago, and that notwithstanding that he seems
to have been a rogue and wc are honest men. But be all this as it may, the article
was a good one, and we are proud of having published it from the pen of a relative,
one who has undoubtedly a common origin with us somewhere a great waj* this side
of father Adam.

We fully agree with the editor of Life in the West, that the article is a " well
written one ;" and wc agree with him further, that our friend has not at all committed
himself to " An old Absurdity," but has only said, " We are told by the philosophers,"
etc. The article in question abounds in facts of great value and importance to the
farmers of this country. If any of the philosophical deductions it contains are not
perfectly accurate, or if allusion is made to speculative errors of "the philosophers,"
without correcting them, we regard that as of very little consequence. But our
friend is undoubtedly able to defend any statememt he has made, and wc leave it
with him. For ourselves, wc do not believe that all the humanity that has died for
the last six thousand years would make a foot, nor half a foot, nor a quarter of an
inch of soil over all the land on the globe. " The philosophers" are certainly mis-
taken. But how is it with our Iowa brother of the pen ? He should consider that a

Book Notices^ etc. 191

generation of 345 a day would make 126,011 in a year, and 756,067,500 in six thou-
sand years. Now it is said that Xerxes had an army of five millions, men, women,
children, scullions, and all the rest. We don't believe it was more than half as large ;
even allowing two hangers on for every man that could'nt or would'nt fight. But if
there were 5,000,000, including the rag-shag and bob-tail, what then? 756,067,500
men would make 151 such armies, and leave 1,067,500 men to be kicked out as un-
army-worthy. Does our Western friend think they could all stand on a square mile,
and leave a wide berth for the lower extremities to play in ? We doubt whether he
could stick as many pms in a square mile, though we have made no calculations.
Will some of our children readers answer the following questions, and send us the
figarcs. If their elder brothers and sisters should help them a little, no matter.

1st. If each man occupies only one square foot, and that would be close enough to
prevent any far-fetched kicks, how much land would be required for 756,067,500 men
to stand upon ? The answer may be in miles, acres, rods and feet.

2d. How many pins could be stuck in a square mile, allowing that each pin, in-
cluding the head, was one twentieth of an inch in diameter, or in other words, allow-
ing each pin to occupy a square one twentieth of an inch each way, which would
give 400 pins to the square inch ?

These are not very difiicult questions. Let us have an answer. No matter if we
have more than one, as it would be a good exercise for the children to write a hand-
some letter, and such is our interest in children that we should not tire of reading
tliem.

Maine State Fair.

This Fair is to be held in Bangor on September 29th and 30th and October 1st
and 2d. The programme for the several days is generally announced as follows:
On Tuesday, the several committees will call upon the Trustees in session at the
City Hall, and fill any vacancy that may exist, and proceed to the examination of
the departments entrusted to them, and make their decisions. On Wednesday there
will be a drawing match for horses and oxen, a trial of speed for horses, and in the
evening a meeting of the Pomological Society. On Thursday there will be a plough-
ing match at 1 o'clock, a trial of speed of horses at 10 o'clock, ladies riding at 2
o'clock, and another trial of horses at 4 o'clock. On Friday, the premium stock will
be discharged after being ranged and led round the course ; then another trial of
speed, sale of stock, etc.

About these lady riders we say to our Maine friends in all earnestness; — if you
can turn out from 150 to 300 ladies, well skilled in horsemanship, ladies of unques-
tioned respectability, your own wives and daughters, not professional circus women."
or men iu woman's clothing from town ; if you can furnish as many well trained
horses, safe and suitable for ladies to ride on a public occasion ; if you can furnish
the ladies a separate enclosure, where they can mount according to their own no-
tions of convenience and propriety, and give their horses a trial before making their
debut on the show ground, we advise you to let them ride by all means. Our fe-
males need invigorating exercise. It should be encouraged ; and nothing is more
exhilarating, invigorating, than riding horseback. But if you can only persuade
half a dozen of them to compete with as many gii-ls or boys in skirts from the city,
and especially if you have not perfect preparations for the game, don't try it. We
advise no lady to take the staring, unless as many as a hundred and fifty will agree
beforehand to divide it with her. — Ed.

Stra^wberries.

We have received from Wm. R. Prince, Flushing, L. I., his Descriptive Catalogue
of Strawberries, embracing upwards of one hundred varieties, among which we no
tice Peabody's Seedling.

192 Markets.

State Fairs for 1857.

Ohio Cincinnati September 14 — 18.

Canada East Montreal September 16 — 18.

Illinois PeorLa September 21 — 26.

Pennsylvania Sep. 29, to Oct. 2.

Vermont Montpelior Sep. 8, 9, 10, and 11.

Wisconsin Janesville Sep. 29, to Oct. 2.

Michigan Detroit Sep, 29, to Oct. 2.

New-Jersey New-Brunswick Sep. 29, to Oct. 2.

Maine Bangor Sep. 29, to Oct. 1.

California Stockton Sep. 29, to Oct. 2.

Canada West Brantford Sep. 29. to Oct,- 2.

United States Louisville, Ky October 1 — 6.

Indiana Indianapolis October 4 — 10.

New-York Buffalo October 6—9.

Iowa Muscatine October 6 — 9.

New-Hampshire. . . .Concord October 7 — 9.

Kentucky Henderson October 13 — 16.

Connecticut Bridgeport October 13 — 16.

East Tennessee Knoxville October 20 — 23.

Massachusetts Boston October 21 — 24.

Maryland Baltimore October 21 — 25.

West Tennessee. . . .Jackson .October 27 — 30.

Virginia October 28—31.

Tennesse Nashville October 12 — 17.

Alabama Montgomery October 27 — 30.

NE'W-YOEK CATTLE MARKET.

August 26, 1857.

Beevzs are sold by the estimated dead weight of the four quarters ; the so-called
" fifth quarter" (hide and tallow) is not reckoned in here as it is in Boston and some
other cities. When cattle are weighed or estimated alive, the dead weight is reck-
oned at a certain number of pounds to the 100 lbs. of live weight, as agreed upon.
The general rule in this market for medium cattle is 66 lbs. to the 100 ; 44 lbs. be-
ing allowed for the "fifth quarter" and ofi'al.

The average prices to-day, as compared with last week, are about 1 cent higher. —
N. Y. Times.

MiLcn Cows waTii Calves. — Not unfrcquently a cow is sold at $90 to $100, or even
^120. The general price throughout the year for ordinary cows is |30 to .$40 or
$50. Quite a number sell above $50, and more, perhaps, below $30. We often see
apologies for cows go at $20 to $25. Market fully supplied and sales slow.

Veal Calves. — Veal Calves are sold by live weight, each animal being weighed
alive at the time of sale. " Bobs" — that is. Calves a few days old — are usually sold
by the head at such prices as can be agreed upon, sometimes for but little more than
the skin is worth. Prices of calves having less or more experience of life, from 6 to
8 cents the lb., live weight.

Sheep and Lambs. — These are cliiefly sold at Allerton's, Browning's, and Chamber-
lin's, at so much per head for a particular lot of Sheep or Lambs, or of the two to-
gether. They are also frequently sold by live weight, as this is readily ascertained.
The actual prices at the different yards seldom vary greatly. The difference in re-
puted prices is generally due to variation in the quality. When they are sold by
weight, it is usually the net weight, which is ordinarily one-half what they weigh
when alive, the pelt and offal making the other half If fiit and small-boned, thoy
will dress 55 lbs., and in some cases 60 lbs., per hundred. The average run is about
one-half the live weight. The receipts for the past week have reached a higher
figure than for a long time previous. A very large proportion of these were lambs.
Many of them light and thin. The market is at present overstocked and some sell
at low prices. Sheep in good condition sell at 9 to 10^ cents per lb. dressed weight,
and 8 to 12i cents per lb. for lambs.

Swine. — These are sold alive at so much per lb., gross or live weight. Supply

East week not quite equal to the demand. Corn-fed hogs from 8 to 8f ccnt.=> per lb.
listillery-fcd 8 cents. Not half difference enough. Who, that knows what he is
about, would not wish the pork steak for his breakfast to be out of the farmer's
corn-fed hog ? Stock hogs, 7| to 7i.

AMEaiCAM rABMEHS* MAO

Vol. X.

OCTOBER, 1857.

No. 4.

Our Agriculture.

Is it prosperous ? If "vye look at the condition of the farmers, the
gardeners, the orchardists, all who are drawing from mother earth for
the suppoi't of her children, we shall say it is. A larger proportion of
these, than at any former period in our history, are enjoying an en-
viable fime, as the result of their head and hand labors in the soil.
More, perhaps, than ever before, are becoming decidedly rich. Many
are in a condition in which they have reason to be contented and
happy. The workers in the soil, and all who are putting their intelli-
gence and energy at work for the supply of necessary food and inno-
cent luxuries, are better paid.

But are agricultural and horticultural products increasing, as a
whole, relatively with the population ? The contrary is true. From
1840 to 1850, the faUiug off in the production of wheat was one
seventh, in potatoes one third, and in horned cattle one tenth. That
there may have been an increase m other products, is possible. It is
true also that the aggregate products of the soil have steadily in-
creased for these many years; but there can be no doubt that rela-
tively with the population there was, from 1840 to 1850, considerable
decrease. This appears from a comjsarison of the U. S. census at
these two points ; and we might allow largely for inaccuracy, and
stiU find a decrease, as compared with the population.

Meantime our exportation of agricultural produce doubled in these
ten years, and has nearly doubled again since 1850. Multitudes have
rushed from the form to the building of railroads, from cultivating the.
soil to speculating in land, from homes in the East, where, on a harder
soil, they were producing a little more than they consumed, to homes
VOL. X. 7

194 Our Agriculture.

iu the more fertile West, Avhere, of course, tliey produce for a year
or two at first less tbau they consume. Otlier nations, the Avhile, are
willing to take more of our produce ; and so "\ve present at this
moment the sjiectacle of a nation producing relatively with the num-
ber of inliabitants less and less, and exporting more and more.

Such a state of things ought to produce good times for the culti-
vatorj^i ; especially when we consider that increasing wealth enables
many among us to enjoy the luxuries of the garden, orchard and
vineyard to an extend hitherto unknown, and at prices which our
fathers never dreamed of It has produced good times, and hence
the truth of the assertion with which we started that the wise, fore-
seeing head and hand cultivators are doing better than ever before.
But it may not be unwise to pause a little and 'inquire whither we
are tending. If the mechanic, by the reward of the shop, can not
buy meats and vegetables at present prices, may he not turn to the
soil for a living, and so the farmer have him for a competitor instead
of a customer ? If the manufacturer, by reason of the high price of
the raw material, can not keep his mills going, what will become of
that five, six, eight, ten hundred of the farmer's customers that were
gathered round him ? Will they be driven to cultivate the earth,
and so the farmer lose them as customers, and the country lose the
benefit of their superior skill as manufacturers, and take instead their
unskillfulness in the soil ?

As a nation, we are drifting somewhere. May it not be well to
look out for breakers ? For our own part, though in a country of
such immeasurable resources, and with the energy we possess to de-
velop them, we would not be projihets of evU, yet for our lives we
can not see all fair weather and high prices ahead for the farmer,
unless the shop and the factory, as well as the plough and the reaper,
are kept going. Right glad are we if foreign nations will continue to
take our wheat and corn. All we shall export will be a little help to
American agriculture — better than nothing. But really, so far as we
can see, and we do not pretend that it is very far, Ave would rather,
for the sake of our own fiirmers, im^^ort a hundred mouths than ex-
port a million bushels of wheat ; and would sooner employ ten sets
of muscles in our own shops, to bo fed by American farmers, and to
make what Americans need or will have, than to pay for tlie work of
a thousand sets of muscles abroad, to be sustained mainly, after all
our exports, by the foreign farmer.

We Avould rather use our own iron ore, since God has given us
more than all the world needs, than pay for other people's ; rather
use our own coal to sraolt it with, since God has given us more than
enough ; rather work the iron, the cotton, the wool, and everything

Bones. 195

else into the forms we need, and be truly independent, than pay any-
body else for doing these things ; and that not less for the sake of
American farmers than of all other Americans, whether by birth or
by choice. — Ed.

Bones.

The value of bone-dust as a manure lias been so thoroughly estab-
lished in other places, and in fact alfords such permanent fertility to
the soil, that it is matter of surprise that so little of it has been used
in this region of country. We can only account for the neglects of
this and other means of improvement, by the reliance which farmers
have got into the habit of placing on Peruvian guano. This enters
into the production of almost every crop ; and even at present prices
it continues to be purchased with avidity ; though it is thought by
many judicious farmei'S that if an accurate debit and credit account
was kept with it, the profit would not be found in the majority of
cases to counterbalance the expense.

The waste of fertilizing material in the form of bones, in such a
place as Petersburg, is incalculable. And we think a company of en-
terprising gentlemen could not make a better investment, on a mod-
erate scale, than by the establishment of a mill for the purpose of
grinding the raw bones. That they could be collected in large quaji-
tities can not well admit of a doubt. Whenever it is ascertained that
there is a certain market for them, they will be carefully preserved
by most housekeepers or their servants, just as ashes have long been;
and they might both be collected at stated times in the same manner.
Depots for their reception might also be established in the neighbor-
ing towns, such as Lynchburg, Farmville, Weldon, and even in the
city of Richmond. A little systematic eifort would soon bring all
such arrangements to bear.

In vie.v of some such enterprise, and in order to pi'omote it to the
best of our ability, we submit some remarks on the peculiar value of
bones as a fertilizer. Their composition is, when dry, of earthy matter
about 66 lbs. in 100 ; and of organic matter 34 lbs., which is the
amount carried off by burning. The earthy matter consists of phos-
phate of lime, or lime in combination with phosphoric acid — sub-
stances both of them, forming valuable applications to every soil. The
organic part is called gelatine or glue, which is extremely rich in nitro-
gen, and therefore an excellent manure.

Bones are thus seen to unite some of the most desirable o^rganic and
inorganic manures. For speedy action on the growing, crop,, they
should be reduced to a fine state, which can only be done by very
powerful machinery. Eight or ten bushels per acre are thought to be
a libenil application ; but the effect will be more satisfactory when
combined with half the usual quantity of barnyard or stable manure.
What the eftect would be on tobacco, we are unable to state from ac-
tual experiment ; but we have used it on cabbages and turnips with
the besr, results. For plants of this class, indeed, it may be regarded
as a specific manure ; and its action on tobacco would no doubt be
equally conspicuous.

The most popular form in whicii bones are now used as manure, is

196 Sones.

in a state of solution with sulphuric acid. This preparation is known
under the name of siq)erj)hosphate of lime, and if made according to
chemical principles, there can he no douht of its value. But since it
has become an extensive article of manufocture and commerce, it can
not always be relied on as genuine. Every farmer of ordinary intel-
ligence, however, can make it for his own purposes. To every 100
weight of bones, about 50 or GO of acid are taken ; or if tlie powdered
bone is used, but little more than half the quantity of acid will be ne-
cessary. The acid should be mixed with two or three thnes its bidk
of water, and poured on the bones — one-third at a time — and permitted
to remain for 24 hours, the mass being occasionally stirred. Another
third may be poured on the second day, and tlie remainder the third
day. A tub is a convenient vessel in which to prepare the mixture.
Two bushels of bones, treated in this manner, will be sufficient for an
acre of ground — the expense of Avhich will be something like the fol-
lowing: bones 81 ; 50 lbs. acid, which, at the cost per carboy, would
not exceed 3 cents jicr pound^say 8l 50. At an expense, therefore,
of $2 50, a sufficient quantity of superphosphate of lime may be pre-
pared for one acre of land.

It may be thought that the acid will prove destructive to the oil
and gelatine contained in the bones, but it is not at all injurious to
them. The whole earthy or inorganic portion may be dissolved out
by the acid, while the cartilage or gelatine \n\\ remain — retaining the
size and form of the bone. Sulphuric acid may be also mixed with
guano with manifest advantage ; not only with the phosphatic guanos,
but with the Peruvian. It will act on the phosphates and prepare
them for the immediate nse of plants, without diminishing the energy
of the organic constituents.

The above, originating with the /Southern Fanner, but taken by us
fi'om the Richnond W/dg, is all true, and is of so much real, practi-
cal importance that we are wilhng to do our part to keep it going, and
we hope other editors, who can find or write nothing better, as we
are sure not many can, Avill do the same ; and we here venture the
opinion, that a ton of bones, finely crushed, as above recommended,
with the gelatine and oil, applied to any and all crops, either Avith or
without the sulphuric acid, at the rate of 250 lbs. to the acre Avith half
the usual quantity of barn manure, Avill give a greater return than any
ton of guano ever imported, except the best Peruvian. If applied with
the acid, the return will be more speedy. If Avithout, the return will
be more gradual, but probably about as great in the end, and less
profitable only because farming, like other business, thrives best Avith
quick returns. One other thing we wish to say here, and Ave wish
both scientific men and practical farmers Avould consider it well : The
very same arguments, which are being used to prove that 2'>hosphatic
guano is better than the real ammoniacal Peruvian, woxdd prove that
bones, crushed and used as reconvmnded hy the Southern Farmer, are
better than Peruvian guano. — Ed.

Something about Potatoes. 19i

From Liebig.

" In all cases of failure in the culture of a plant, the immediate
cause must be sought in the soil and not in the want of the atmospheric
supplies."

" As the smallest particles of nutriment^ do not change their place
in the ground while the soil retains them, it must he seen what an ex-
traordinary influence upon the fruitfulness of the land, or the amount
of the harvest, is exercised by worldngthe soil mechanically, by care-
fully pulverizing, and thoroughly mixing it up for each successive
crop." — Liebig.

If we understand the first of the above, the idea is that if you feed
your plant rightly at the root, the mechanical and chemical conditions
of the soil bemg such as the plant requires, this causes a greater expan-
sion of leaves, and thereby enables it to draw from the air so as in all
cases to attain a reasonable growth and productiveness. In this sense
it is undoubtedly true. But if he should go farther and deny that the
chemical condition of the air has an influence on the growth of plants,
it would be imtrue. Of two hills of corn, equally well cared for at
the roots, if one is in a very pure atmosphere, and the other in an at-
mosphere surcharged with the breath and exhalations of animals, af-
fording carbonic acid and ammonia, the latter will grow the more
luxuriantly. We have no doubt that the action between the roots
and the leaves is reciprocal — if the feeding of the roots causes the
leaves to spread and draw more strongly upon the air ; so the feeding
of the leaves causes the roots to spread and draw more strongly upon
the soil.

The second remark, quoted above from Liebig, is of a more practi-
cal nature. We can not believe, with him, that the particles of nutri-
ment do no change their place in the ground. We believe on the
other hand, that through the influence of suns, rains, frosts, and vari-
ous chemical afiinities they are always in motion, always tending to
an equal difi'usion through the whole soil. But Liebig's inference is
important, whether from true or false j)remises. Unquestionably the
" amount of the harvest" depends largely upon " working the soil me-
chanically, carefully pulverizing and thoroughly mixing it uj? for each
successive crop." — Ed.

SometMng about Potatoes.

An item is going the rounds, to the efl'ect that potato tubers are
not exhaustmg to the soil, that the tops are very exhausting, and
should therefore be spread as evenly as may be and left to decay in
the field.

198 The Cranberry.

Allowing something for exaggeration, the premises seem to be
true, and the conclusion of some practical importance. The facts are,
that the tuber draws largely, and the tops still more largely, upon the
potash of the soil. Consequently the growth of both must be exhaust-
ing, but that of the top most so, on soils not over stocked with pot-
ash ; but if the tops are lefi to decay on the soil, this ingredient is re-
stored, and the whole result is not more exhausting (we believe this
from experience as well as from reasoning) than the generality of crops.

While on this subject we wish to say, or rather to repeat, for we
have said it before and mean to keep it before our readers, that in pre-
paring for a crop of potatoes, unless the soil is known to abound in
potash, this should be a ijrominent ingredient in the manure. The po-
tato being a potash plant, not that it carries off a very large amount
of that substance, but using a great deal of it during its growth, re-
quires that the soil should be well supplied with it.

"We lay claim to no specific for the potato disease, but we have long
suspected that the exhaustion of the potash in old fields may have had
something to do with it; and if the plant is ever to regain a complete
ascendancy above the i)0Aver of the disease, Ave are strongly inclined
to the belief that it will be by supplying it plentifully through succes-
sive growths with this its favorite food. — Ed.

The Cranberry.

This fruit affords a delightful acid, and is most genial to the human
constitution. A plentiful use of it by all classes, the poor as well as
the rich, would improve the general health, and prolong life. But
for years it has been so high in price, and so scarce, that even the
rich have not been able to enjoy it. At the present time, we doubt
whether it can be had for love or money.

Experience, we believe, has now decided that it can be grown on
upland, and of a superior quality. But our own experience in keep-
ing down the grasses among strawberries and other perennial ]jlants,
does not allow us to believe that it can be so grown remuneratively ;
and besides, we want our uplands for other purposes ; and it seems
to us that it Avould be bad policy to devote them to a crop which all,
we believe, will agree, does quite as well on lands which produce
nothing else of value.

With most crops, it is almost as fiital to have stagnant water a little
under as on the surflicc. But this is just Avhat the cranberry deiiohts
m. Xow there are thousands of acres Avhose surface is but a little
elc'vaied above standing water, so situated that for the want of an
outfiill they can not be drahied. The time will come when, by the

Caution to Farmers. 199

lowering of the bed of a river, or by elevating the drainage water
by means of machinery driven by water, steam or wind, these lands
will be drained and become the best lands in the world. But that
time is not yet. It will not be for long to come. We have no doubt
that there will be an immense demand for cranberries. Their value
is just beginning to be known. At ten, fifteen, and twenty dollars a
barrel, few can use them. "With fairly remunerative prices, every-
body could use them plentifully, and they are far more conducive
to health than the rich preserves which they would displace.

The cranberry requires a water meadow, with a few inches, from
five to seven, of sand on its surface. Those who have meadows so
situated that they can not well be drained, and which, by a juxta-
position of sand, can easily be covered with it to the requisite depth,
would do well to establish cranberry plantations, small if they judge
that prudent at first, to be enlarged as their success and the prospect
of the demand shall justify. The spring is the best time to set them ;
but fall and winter afford a better time for preparing the land.

We propose, m an early number, to give a chapter on the best
mode of establishing plantations of this fruit, and on its cultivation. —
Ed.

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

Caution to Farmers.

It can not be too soon or universally known to agriculturists, that
a new and fearful evil assails their interests m the wholesale destruc-
tion of frogs which threaten to exterminate, root and branch, the
whole race of these ever active and efiicient destroyers of noxious in-
sects. Not only frog-eating Frenchmen hailing from all parts of the
old world, but (mirabile ditu) frog-eating Americans, veritable Yan-
kees, who having contracted this most unholy frog-eating mania, may
be seen with their frog nets,- hooks, and spears ransacking fields, mea-
dows, marshes, ponds, and brooks, doing more mischief to farmers
than all the owls, hawks, crows, foxes and wolves in New-England.
The frogs, as well as the toads and birds which dame Nature has kmd-
ly provided to occupy our grounds, are worth their weight in gold,
and indispensable to their safe-keeping and productiveness in counter-
balancing and checking the increase of noxious insects which generate
there by thousands and threaten the destruction of vegetation. They
are indeed our chief defense in this respect, and he who wantonly
luants or harms them in these their own legitimate spheres of useful-
ness and self-enjoyment, is guilty of a Avrong and outrage not only
against nature but our own best agricultural interests. An intelligent
gentleman from one of the interior towns in New-Hampshu-e, says

200 Caution to Farmers.

hosts of caterers are overrunning our fields who, by paying farmers a
iew shillings, are allowed to take away all the frogs on their grounds,
and even to command the seiTices of tarmers and farmer's boys in do-
ing it, so that bushels and bushels are taken daily by the cars to feed
the idle frog-eating gluttons of the cities. Among the strangest and
most unaccountable phenomena of the present time, is the ignorance
or indifference of farmers in studying and following up nature's plan
for guarding against the increase and ravages of insects. There is
now and then one wide awake on this subject, and their clean produc-
tive trees and grounds, and their abundant harvests fully testify to
the fict. But how many, either through ignorance or blindness or
greediness of temporary gain, act on the pound-foolish and penny-wise
policy of kilUng the goose which laid the golden egg., and would for
fifty cents allow sportsmen to shoot all the birds on their farms, and
justify their folly by api:)ealiug to authority, as baseless and superficial
as that of the scribbler who wrote a few weeks since in unqualified
condemnation, even of the ever and everywhere consecrated robin,
because forsooth it has occasionally, for a short week or two in the
whole year, and in midsummer when its natural food, msects, are
scarce, taken the liberty to wet its whistle and tune its throat to mel-
ody with a currant, a cherry, or a strawberry or two from his (the
scribbler's) own little solitary bush, tree or vine. For this he fulmi-
nates, he explodes his one idea, and blazes lustily away to create a
prejudice and a bad name for the total annihilation of a bird which,
from early spring to latest autumn, is cheering us with his song, and
ever busy and active in clearing our exj^ansive corn, grain, grass and
vegetable fields and gardens, and our boundless orchards and wood-
lands, of the hosts of vermin which would otherwise ruin their pro-
ductiveness. Scout such contracted views and one ideaisms. The
story of the yellow-bird which was killed and opened and found to be
full of the noxious insects on which it feeds, has been the rounds, and
is a fair sample and illustration of the subject. Similar results by sim-
ilar investigations are foxmd true of frogs, toads, and several varieties
of field and garden snakes, which also benefit vegetation by the car-
bonic acid gas they are constantly exhaling ; and fai-mcrs may be as-
sured that if they suffer their grounds to be divested of the good ser-
vices of these wisely-provided guardians of nature, whether through
prejudice or a desire to gratify the capricious appetite of epicures and
gourmands, they will soon have abundant cause to regret their impru-
dence and want of foresight. E. Sanbokn.
AxDovER, August, 1857.

Western Emigration. 201

Western Emigration.
The following very sensible article, from the Yorkville (S. C.) J^n-
quirer, applies equally well to emigration from the Northern and Mid-
dle States, as from the Southern.

From a glance at our advertisements it will he seen that there is
now a large quantity of land for sale in our district. The mania for
moving West has never been greater, although the crops promise to
be abundant and provisions plenty. To those desirous of developing
the resources of the State, this tide of emigration presents a picture
altogether disagreeable. Its direct effect on the State will be, to re-
tard the progress of that agricultural reform, which has been in agita-
tion for the last few years. And it is questionable whether those emi-
grating will better much their condition. There are difficulties to be
met, privations to be suffered, and risks to be rim which should make
men hesitate, ere they break up the associations of life, and go forth
to tabernacle among strangers in a strange land. A mistaken view
of the nature of wealth and the true objects of life, we imagine, influ-
ences many of those who are leaving forever the land of their nativity.
A man who has the comforts and conveniences of life around him here,
is much richer than any one can possibly be in the far West, no mat-
ter what may be his resources. For money is not wealth, any farther
than it is the synonyme of all that is desirable or all that renders us
happy. And there are many pleasures here which money can not pur-
chase in the West. Years must elapse before social life can be fully
developed, before convenient churches can be built, good teachers
and good academies be procured, and all the appliances to make men
moral, happy and intelligent, be put in operation.

Nor should it be imagmed that fortunes are to be made in the West
by any new and simj^le process. Industry and economy are the only
honest paths to affluence. Circumstances may be favorable, but these
qualities are indispensible requisities. The same negligence or indo-
lence which has prevented them from securing an independence here,
must wherever they go operate against them.

But let it not be inferred that we would check altogether the spirit
of emigration. There are many in the older States who have no
strong ties to bind them, no comforts to leave behind, no associations
to make them cling to any particular spot of earth and repeat, with
the fervor of Scott, " This is my own — my native land." To such the
West proffers strong inducements. The cheapness of the land Avill
enable them to secure homesteads with very limited means. To this
cla,ss we would say, go. With industry and economy you can soon
gain " the glorious privilege of being independent," for which the
hapless bard of Scotia vainly sighed.

On our first page will be foimd an instructive article on this sub-
ject.

The following is from the article referred to in the last sentence.-ED.

If those who immigrate to the newer States and territories would
but_ apply the same energy they are obliged to use there to the reno-
vation of the ill farmed lands of the Atlantic border, and would con-

302 Buncombe County.

sent to wear homespun, to live in log houses, and, eschewing all lux-
urious appliances, be satisfied to live upon the products of the home-
stead, they could acquire a competence with more ease in settled
neighborhoods than on the fertile and sparsely populated prairies of
the great West.

Now we are not inclined to be critical upon the foregoing. "We
believe it to be true, that if young men will put forth as much energy
and endure as many privations in the East as in the "West, they will
thrive as well, all along the coast from Maine to Georgia. But then
it is a very different thing to endure privations in the East and the
"West. We would rather live in a log ca^iin, where our neighbors
would look out of log cabins at us, than where they would look doion
upon us from tall houses ; and if our sons must live in log cabins, much
as we would like to have them near, where they could come home and
see us of a Thankscjivi/ifj day, if no more, we say, let it be in Nebraska
rather tlian in this State. Whether it is better to be first in a hamlet
than second in Rome, we Avill not undertake to decide. But really,
if we were a young man, with strong hands, we should feel quite in-
clined to go where we could live in about as good a house as the rest
of the world thereabouts. In this we believe the editor of the Courier
very nearly agrees with us. Moneyed men who love ease and social
advancement will cei-tainly do well to remain East, but young men,
whose capital is in their energy and endurance, will benefit the coun-
try and themselves by " pushing out West."

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMERS MAGAZINE.

Buncombe County.

Dear Sir : — I have for some time past purposed writing to you,
setting plainly before you the advantages this place possesses, I
might say, before any other part of the States. It is allowed that Vir-
ginia and North Carolina possess the best climate in the States, and
for healthiness I believe Buncombe Covmty exceeds all others. It has
long been famous for the speeches of its representatives in Congress,
nor has it fallen off in that respect. As it has been a by-word on that
account, so it should be celebrated for the fruitfulness of its soil, the
healthiness of its climate, the value of its waters, possessing chalybe-
ate, sulphur, and warm springs. I am not going to infliict an account
on you of all their virtues; but I will bring imdcr your notice a few
plain and estabUshed facts, such as can not be gainsayed or denied.
But as to its fertiUty, N. W. Woodfire, Esq., one of our most enter-
prising gentlemen, three yeai's ago raised 149 bushels of shelled corn
from an acre of ground. Last year 18 acres of his crop produced 1800
bushels. He also last year, from a field of six acres, had 180 bushels

buncombe County. 203

of wheat, cut the 22d June, after which he planted in corn and raised
a good crop, and but for the unprecedented early frost of the 23d
Sept. would have had 50 bushels of corn to the acre, and off the same
ground in the intervals had a moderate crop of turnips. The same six
acres he has in corn this year, and I feel satisfied it will at least aver-
age 120 bushels to the acre. A Mr. Ripley raised a crop of excellent
wheat last year, averaging 35 bushels an acre. From the same ground
he had upwards of 400 bushels of excellent turnips to the acre. I
could give you many more instances of good heavy crops of corn,
wheat, rye, barley, oats, hay, potatoes, carrots, etc. I will only state
that Mr. James W. Patten had 1100 bushels per acre, measured, of
Irish potatoes. No country is better suited for growing fruits, I
might say of all kinds ; its apples and pears can not be surpassed in any
country in the woi'ld, and its native grapes, the Catawba, for instance,
has got a wide-world celebrity, and not without reason. I have cause
to believe that there are a very great number of what may be called
wild grapes, natives, fully as good and perhaps of better qualities.
However, that is a matter likely soon to be tested, as that enter-
prising gentleman, N. Leveysworth, of Cincinnati, has taken the mat-
ter in hand. One advantage its climate and soil possesses, that I never
saw the Catawba grape here, no matter what season, either mildew or
rot, and where in Ohio this year such is the case to a great extent, we
are free from any thing of the kind.

Dr. Samuel Dickson, of Charleston, S. C, has often said the climate
of Buncombe is superior to any other part of the world for consump-
tive or delicate persons ; if they can not live here they need not go
elsewhere for health. I don't want it too generally known lest all the
sick might flock here, and some might die and give the place a bad
name ; but you may, if you please, let any of your friends know it. I
believe for good farming there is no country better fitted to repay the
steady, enterprising farmer. For a wine country and the cultivation
of the grape, it can not be surpassed — the greatness of the neighbor-
hood is proverbial — and if we had a railway so that its advantages
might have a chance to become known, few places could compete with
Buncombe. But the narrow-minded jealousy of the Eastern members
to the State Senate and House of Representatives has hitherto with-
held from us such a privilege — so narrow-minded and selfish as to be
a disgrace to any State or people.

The Chinese sugar cane promises exceedingly well. Seven or eight
gentlemen here have sown largely, and an intelligent West India sugar
planter of great experience informed me yesterday he feels no doubt
of being able to make sugar of the very best quality from it. I have
told you a few, very few, of the many advantages of Buncombe, If I

204 Origin of Plants.

stated half, this communication -woulcl be so long you would reject it.
Should any of your friends require any further information, I ^nll be
happy to give or procure it, and they may rest assured they shall hear
nothing but the truth. In sheep and cattle raising, the land and cli-
mate is most favorable ; and the osage orange grows so well that the
expense of fencing is decreased four-fifths — a matter of no small con-
sideration to the farmer. Believe me, yours respectfully,

AsHEViLLE, August 26, 1857. W. M.

Remarks. — It must be confessed that our coi"resj)ondent goes it
strong for Buncombe. Eleven hundred bushels of potatoes is the larg-
est yield by 100 bushels we have ever heard of. A farmer in the
Green Mountain State was once reported to have grown a thousand
bushels. He was said to have raised them in this way : — Ploughed
the ground, harrowed it thoroughly, soAved the seed-potatoes broad-
cast plentifully, and covered with a composition of chip-dung, leaf-
mould and yard-manure some five or six inches deep, and then let
them pretty much alone until harvest-time. Whether the Vermonter
ever grew 1000 bushels to the acre, we do not know. If he did, he
must have grown lyfli piuts, or just about a pint and a half to the
square foot. Will some of the boys see if we are right ? In the
olden times, when old fashion whigs and potatoes were both rampant
in that State, it might be done, but we do not believe it can be beat
in these times except in Bmicombe couuty, N. C.

Speculations on the Origin of Plants.

BY DAVID KICE, M.D.

I. Natural Laws. — There are certain fixed facts known to philoso-
phers existing perpetually the same, always operating in the same
way, pertaining to things in nature that are styled " Natiiral Laws."
Attraction of cohesion is one ; — it brings together the particles of bo-
dies and holds them in union. Gravitation is another ; — attracting all
matter to the center of the earth. By the power of gravitation, bo-
dies fall to the earth, or arise to a stratum of air of their own density.
It is a law in chemical attraction, that elementary principles unite in
certain definite proj^ortions. Oxygen and hydrogen unite thus and
form water. Oxygen miites Avith a mmeral, forming an oxide or an
acid. It is a law that particles of matter, united in a certain way,
form an opaque body. Agaiji, united in a more perfect manner, the
body is crystalline or transparent, or becomes resolved into geometri-
cal, perfect forms, such as a cube, or a hexagon, or an octagon. These
we call natural laws.

II. The laii's of nature are the fixed toill of God. — All the fixed

Origin of Plants. 205

laws of nature, as well as the constant exhibition of chemical affinities,
both in the animal, vegetable, and mineral worlds, are nothing more
nor less than the oi^eration of the will and wisdom of God. These
phenomena we are too apt to regard as merely scientific facts, natural
and matters of chance in themselves. But however we regard them
they are no less the operations of the Divine mind, and in all their
methodical complicity and beauty, in their immensity of scope and
constancy of operation, they reveal only the original, the immediate,
the eternal will of God ! He spoke, He speaks ; it was, and it is done.

ni. Operation of natural laws in the formation of the earth. —
There is no doubt hut that the Creator worked methodically, bring-
ing these same natural laws mto operation in the creation and forma-
tion of the globe on which we live. In the immensity of space, two
or more loving affinities joined hands, and from the great gaseous
realms of chaos, manufactured a particle of matter, and yet another.
Attraction of cohesion united them together. The nucleus of the
earth was formed, and the great operation went on, particle iiniting
with particle, until, rocked in the cradle of infinite space, the infant
globe became a full grown world, created and governed by the me-
thodical workings of divine wisdom, which we call Natural Laws.
Without saying a word in regard to the phenomena and changes that
must have occurred during the countless years anterior to the time
when the earth was prepared to sustain vegetable life, the time did
come at last. And I believe that the Creator observed the same
beautiful method, working by natural laws, in the creation of vegeta-
ble life as in the formation and development of the earth, and as in all
the great and admirable operations of nature ever since.

I do not believe that God spake into existence, in a short period of
time, vegetable life and forms in all their variety and maturity. I do
not beheve that the earth was clothed " in a day" with verdure, that
the valleys waved with grass, and the forests teemed with full grown
trees. Why should God work by miracle in the formation of plants,
more than in other formations ? I believe that seed was first created,
and that the first vegetable form sprang from seed. Vegetable forms,
at first, no doubt, were very few, such as the earth was fitted to sus-
tain— the fungi, the mosses, and the ferns ; but I believe they all
sprang from germs or seeds, of whatever variety, in \he first instance.,
and that those germs or seeds were eliminated, created, formed from
the immediate elements existing in earth or air. Analyze seeds and
you resolve them back into elementary principles, always found in
earth or air. It was no more for the Creator to form seeds from ele-
ments ready existing and immediately at hand, than to form full-grown
oaks or shrubbery, as some suppose he did. Natural operations are

20G Origin of Plants.

constantly going on in the deep laboratories of the earth, eliminating
earths, ores, and precious stones in all their beautiful and perfect
forms. In the formation of these God works by fixed, natural laws.
Was the formation of seeds more ditlicult than the formation of dia-
monds, or rubies, or pearls ? I think it far more rational to suppose
that Our Creator, in the gradual clothing of the earth with vegetable
life, first formed seeds or germs, than to conclude that it was done by
miracle, as many suppose.

JMy speculations may appear to many somewhat dogmatical, but I
feel that they are at least as rational as the "Miracle theory."*
" Method," I was almost tempted to say, was another attuibute of
God. The formation of worlds, and the laws which govern them —
all the phenomena of earth, of animal and vegetable life, are bom of
method. With Him, method is eternal. JMiracle, in His works, ne-
ver appeared as a fixed, creative agent ; but only to instruct, convince,
or punish mankmd. Method is and ever was, with Ilim, a fixed and
eternal purpose, by which he creates and governs, originates and
brings to perfection. Reasoning then from analogy, and form a com-
prehensive view of the ordinary operations of " God in Nature," we
may safely infer that plants may have originally come from germs or
seeds.

Leverett, September,' 1857.

* We have not the least wish to enter into any theological specu-
lations Avhich may be suggested by the above. A word, however,
with regard to miracles. What is a miracle? A miracle— miracu-
lum, Avonder, something that astonishes — is simply a thing out of the
common course, and is no more an exhibition of power than the ordi-
nary operations of nature. If you admit with the writer of the above,
as we most certamly do, that all things are of God, that the opera-
tions and results of nature are his works, so that, when an ear of corn
matures in the field, by a slow elaboration of its materials from the
soil and air, we have just as much occasion to admire the Divine
power and goodness and to be grateful, as if God had created it for
us in some new and strange way instead of the old and common, then
you must admit that a miracle differs from the other works of God
only by being out of the common course of things.

If a sick man, almost too feeble to move a limb, should all at once
rise from his bed, bid his doctor and nurse farewell, and go to work
in his field, that would be a miracle, a miraculum, a most astonishing
occurrence. But if under the influence of medicine, kind nursing, and
genial food, he should go through an agreeable convalescence, happy
every day in being a little stronger, grateful to his God, his physician

Origin of Plants. 207

and his nurse, till at length he should find his health restored and his
age renewed, would not the result be the same, and would not the
only difference be that in the latter case a beneficent result Avas
reached in a very common, and in the former, in a very uncommon
way?

So, if God should in an instant create a mighty oak, or a wide-spread
elm, or a luxuriant fruit tree laden with fruit, would it imply more
power, more beneficence, or more of any attribute, entitling him to
our reverence and love, than the way in which he is creating millions
of oaks, and elms, and fruit trees all the time ? AVe can not see that it
would. Some people are terribly afraid of new truth, lest it should
circumvent the old, as if all truth were not consistent with itself No
truth can discredit the truths of the Bible. No knowledge of facts,
as they really are, can be dishonorable to God. Whether the sun
goes round the earth or the earth goes round the sun, it will do no
harm for mankind to know it. What a pity that Gallileo's persecu-
tors could not have known this. It would have saved the good man
both pain and ignominy.

It would be so, iF it should yet be shown, that God originally crea-
ted all things by the slowest possible process ; that he did not create
fuU grown trees at once, nor seeds even, nor germs, but only by an ap.
titude in matter, under fitting circumstances and regulated by his own
laws, to produce trees and the various plants which have sprung and
may yet spring into being. This idea makes God no less the Creator.
It represents him as the perpetual Creator. We teach no such doc-
trine. We are ignorant. We don't know why the fireweed sjDrings
upon the burned fallow. We don't know why, on earth thrown from
the bottom of a well, plants spi'ing up before unknown to that region.
We don't know why, after the pine, oaks spring up where it seems
next to impossible that acorns should exist in the soil. We know not
whether God created the world and everything on it in an instant, or
whether he wrought billions of years before the work could fairly be
said to have begun, and is working yet, and will work on, a perpetual
Creator. We only say that some facts are more easily explained on
the latter theory ; and that if it is true, the world will not be harmed
by knowing it ; nor will the least injury come from so far suspecting
it to be true as to induce candid investigation, even if it have no foun-
dation in truth. It is high lime for mankind to learn, what but few
have yet learned, that two persons may think very differently, and
that on the most important subjects, and yet both behave pretty well.
—Ed.

208 Ethics in Agriculture.

FOR THE AMBRIOAM FARMERS HAQAZrSR.

Ethics in Agriculture.

Messks. Eds. : — The Avorth, dignity, ami influence of classes in com"
munity depend not as much on the skill and dexterity, with which
their pecuUar business operations are conducted, as on the reputation
they win and the character they sustain in regard to moral principle.
No enterprise or pursuit can stand well in general favor, or reasonably
expect approval from tlie judicious and discreet, the men Avho ordina-
rily give tone to popular sentiment, which bids defiance to the ac-
knowledged laws of moral right and wrong. This social characteristic
is essential to all that is estimable and truly desirable in human life.
And since a good deal has been said, at one time and another, about
elevating the standard of respectability in the farming interest, as
compared with other professions, the topic seems to be fairly initiated
into the routine of subjects which resort for discussion to such journals
as the American Farmers'' Magazine.

And as most that has hitherto appeared in publications of this sort,
lias, as far as I know, been directed towards the economical, I see
not why it may not, properly enough, devolve on me to venture a
word or two on the tnorale of the thing, it being a concern of such
magnitude and extent.

The grand and all-absorbing question among tillers of the soil seems
generally to reach no further than to the mere matter of pecuniary
profit. Will the crop I contemplate ^>a?/ loell for the labor and cost I
am about to bestow on it ? "Will the market receive the product and
make me a generous remunerative return ? In what kind of cultiva-
tion shall I be likely to find my best money account ?

Now, Mr. Editor, in all soberness and honesty, let me ask, Is this
properly the decisive consideration which is to prevail and overrule
all others ? Is no respect to be had to the interest and the well-being
of those who are to be consumers of the articles prepared for them ?
Is it enough that the producer is compensated to his heart's content ?
Is his responsibility bounded by the gains which are to accrue to him-
self alone? "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof;" and
has he put it into the hands of the cultivator to be used by him as an
instrument of life or death, as he may arbitrarily and capriciously
elect? If man has a conscience that is at all alive to moral distinc-
tion, he Avail not suffer himself to be seduced or allured into any ap-
propriation of the soil for the production of a bane, how high soever
it may stand in the market, or however loudly called for by the vic-
tims of an appetite, which knows not how to refuse a drug pregnant
with poison and death.

Ethics in Agriculture. 209

Having said this, let me in the name of the farming community,
which I dehght to honor, enter a decided protest against any desecra-
tion of eveujthe least portion of American soil for the vile purpose of
raising tobacco, that insidious enemy and destroyer of health and cor-
rupter of good morals. Let that nauseous, that worse than useless
weed alone ; and let us use our lands for such increase as will afford
plenty of wholesome nutriment, good bread and meat, together with
needful covering for our bodies, and all this made doubly valuable by
by additions of a " conscience void of offence towards God and man."

J. F.

Memarhs. — We would dissuade everybody, if we could, from the
use of tobacco, because we believe that all, or if not all, at least an
overwhelming majority of those who use it, would be healthier, strong-
er, and longer lived without it. Their companionship would be worth
more to their friends. They would enjoy life better, and be more useful.
Their children would be happier and live longer. This will seem ex-
travagant to many, but we do not say it without having looked at the
subject long and in all its bearings ; and we are just as well convinced
that the general, habitual use of tobacco tends to the deterioration of
a race, as that plenty of food, suitable clothing, sound education and
reasonable labor tend to its elevation. The ethical bearings of the
subject we leave with our correspondent. It would be easy to an-
athematize him and his arguments. Whether it would be easy to an-
swer them, others must judge.

On the tendency of a free and general use of tobacco to deteriorate
a people, we will say (not without some hesitation, because it may seem
to imply an indelicacy of which we oitght not to be guilty) that no
sensible breeder of stock would endure that those animals, which are
to be the fathers of his flocks and herds, should wear a seaton in the
mouth or be made to drule constantly from any other cause ; nor
that their nostrils should be stuffed with Spanish flies or other sub-
stances to irritate the membranes and produce an unnatural sneezing ;
nor that their heads, trachea and lungs should be smoked half a dozen
times a day. He insists that they shall be in condition — no ailment,
no symptom of disease, perfect health. He would mourn if his favor-
ite Eclipse or his Duke of Cambridge should betray a foul breath. He
is wise.

How is it with those who are to be fathers of our grandchildren ?
The general, the habitual, the excessive use of tobacco augurs badly.
There is no use in closing our eyes to the fact. But enough has been
said. Think out the rest. — Ed.

210 Mne Wool Sheep.

History of Fine Wool Sheep.

The following, M^hich we extract from the speech delivered by Hon.
J. CoLLAMER, "on the Tariff and Wool interest," in the U. S. Senate,
February 26th, ^yill be found highly interesting to all classes of read-
ers, and especially to sheep breeders. It is in reply to the suggestion
of Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, that we did not raise fine wool in this
country. — Vt. Watchman and State Jour.

There are no fine wools in the world, raised anywhere on this earth,
which are not all from the same family of sheep. By fine avooI, I
mean such wool as is sometimes called spinning wool, which is spun
and wove into broadcloths and kerseymeres, especially those Avhich
are required to take a finish ; that is, after they are woven and fulled,
there is a face raised upon them, by either carding or teaseling, and
then they are sheared and pressed and calendered, for the ])urpose of
making a finish on them. That can be done only with fulling wool.
Now, where do the fulling wools come from ? I say they are all from
the same family of sheep.

At the period of our earliest acquaintance with Spain, there was
found a certain breed of sheep called merino sheej^. "We do not
know how early they were there. We have seen inklings that they
were there at as early a period as the Romans had control of the
country. Where they came from we know not ; but the word " me-
rino" means " over the sea," and it was connected with the idea that
these sheep came over the sea, so that probably they were not indige-
nous to Spain originally. This is the family of sheep out of which all
the fine wool sheep of the world were produced. For a number of
centuries these sheep were entirely owned by the nobiUty and royal
family of Spain. They were pastured and-driven north \\\ summer, and
south in winter, so that they were always kept on green fields. They
Avere kept in large flocks. They roamed South into Andalusia, and
north into Castile. For many centuries men were prohibited, under
the most severe penalties, from carrying any sheep out of the king-
dom. A man who exported a sheep was sentenced to the galleys for
life. None of these sheep were obtained in the rest of Europe. In
1784 or 1785 — I will not be exact in the date, but at any rate between
1780 and 1790 — the King of Spain gave a flock of these sheep, forty
in number, to George the Third. The English Kmg gave him, as a
royal present in return, six English coach horses. These sheep were
placed at Windsor, vender the care of Sir Joseph Banks, and the ut-
most exertions were made to induce the use of that kind of fine sheep
among the farmers of England. To this day, England does not raise
a pound of wool out of which you can make a yard of broadcloth that
any gentleman in this house wears. For a long time all her fine wool
has come from abroad. After Sj)ain went into the business of digging
gold in South America, all her wool was exported to England, there
manufactured, and sent back to Spain to be sold, and they dug gold
to pay for it. The result has been that, while they have run down,
England has run up.

I wish to show why that flock of sheep did not succeed in England,
and to show the difference between their condition and ours, to see

Fine Wool Sheep. 211

why fine wools succeed here and can not there. At the same time
that that present was made to George the Third, a similar present
was made to Louis the Sixteenth. The flock given to the King of
France Avas put on the Ramboullet farm, which was then the royal
farm, and is still, Bonaparte having always kept it. That flock of
sheep, bred in, as I shall hereafter mention, is the French merino of
the present day.

At the same time, the same present was made to the Elector of
Saxony. The flock which went to the Elector of Saxony was attend-
ed to, and selected all the time for the finest wool, without regard to
size. The French selected with regard to size. The Germans select-
ed for fineness of wool merely. The flock given to the Elector of Sax-
ony is the basis, the origin, the parentage of all the Saxony wool of
the world, now to be found all over Bavaria, Silesia, Hungary and
Russia, and this country — as I shall directly show.

About the latter part of last century, there was introduced into
England that branch of farming called the turnip culture, which is the
basis of prosperity to the English agriculturist at the present day.
Everything in England which sustained human life, everything that
the people could eat was very dear, as we all know, imtil a )-ecent pe-
piod, since they have taken ofi" their sliding scale of duties on wheat,
and allowed foreign provisions to be introduced for the benefit of man-
ufactures. The turnip culture was this ; they sowed a large field, es-
pecially on the downs of England, with turnips — generally the Swedish
turnips — and then in the fall of the year they would put upon the tur-
nip fields a flock of their native long wool sheep — the best improved
breeds of which are the South Downs and the Leicestershires. Those
sheep ate the turnips on the ground. There was no gathering them
— ^no cutting them up. When they exhausted one field they went to
another, and so on through the winter. The climate being mild, they
wintered in the fields on the turnips, and were in a fine condition for
mutton in the spring. A mutton sheep in England, at that day and
noAv, averages from eighty to one hundred pounds dressed oft* The
French merinoes, with all the improvements they could give them by
breeding in, do not average more than forty pounds dressed oft". The
mutton of the English sheep would command in the British market,
and has all the time for thirty years back, from ten to twelve cents a
pound. It is a very superior mutton.

That is not all. When a piece of land in England had been tilled in
the manner I mentioned, and the sheep herded upon it, it would pro-
duce twenty- two bushels of wheat to the acre, and that wheat ave-
rages from two dollars to two dollars and fifty cents a bushel in Eng-
land at all times. Bearing these facts in mind, you will see how fruit-
less was the attempt to introduce into England these little merinoes,
small sheep, which shear about three pounds and a half in their natu-
ral condition as they came from Spain. Even the French merinoes,
as they have improved them, yield but six, and ours from three to
three and a half or four pounds. The farmers were told by the nobil-
ity, " The King has made me a ^jresent of some fine wool sheep, and
we want you to attend to them, so as not to be dependent on foreign
countries for our supply of fine wool." The farmer saw at once that
the wool from these sheep would not bring him more than two shillings

212 A Trifle.

sterling a pound foi* three pounds, while the long wool sheep would
shear eisrht or ten pounds of wool ; and then the inquiry was, how
much Avill that little sheep bring for mutton ? Not a cent. You can
never make valuable mutton of it. In Vermont, where we have so
many fine wool sheep, our people use little or no mutton, though we
have a little lamb occasionally. I never saw any mutton there that
compared at all Avith the Virginia mutton which I see here. Indeed,
I am reminded of an anecdote of an old neighbor of mine who was
rather fond of mutton. He used to talk about these little merino
sheep, and said, " When you got a quarter of it dressed off, you could
see the Ught between the' ribs. In good old times, Avhcn we had the
large sheep, a man might go out and steal a sheep, and bring home
something for his family to eat, but now, if you bring home one of
these little merino sheep, you might as well have a tin lantern to eat."
[Laughter.]

[COXCLITDED NEXT MONTH.]

FOR THE AMERICAS FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

A Trifle.

Farmers are a class who should regard more than others, the small-
est trifle. Yet how many we meet who disregard the small things,
and deem them unworthy their consideration. Men of ti-ade learn,
from experience, to treasure up the items and fragments, as it is
from those alone that they obtain their living and accumulate their
fortunes — from saving as well as from getting.

"With farmers it is different ; they look ujion the vast fields of grain
and count the proceeds to be obtained from the crops now being har-
vested, and overlook the waste occasioned by the carelessness of their
workmen. The crop is estimated by the hundreds of bushels, and not
by the ear. A thought is not entertained that bushels are made of
the smallest kernels.

In times when grain of all kinds was cut with the sickle, it was
gathered much cleaner than by the processes now employed ; yet an
instance is related of a boy who ran after the reapers and picked up,
straw by straw, what was dropped. It took some time to gather a
handful, but gradually that swelled to a large sheaf by the addition of
straws. So astonishing Avas the success of the boy, that the man from
whose land the grain was gathered suspected something was wrong,
and accused the lad of appropriating to his own use from the already
gathered grain, but was assured by the reapers that such was not the
case, and was induced from the circumstances to try it himself, and he
asserted that he could gather enough to pay his men ! It is no less
astonishing than true.

By the above illustration it is not meant that farmers could or
should adopt the plan of saving all the grain that may be wasted ; but

Menhaden Oil. 213

only to serve to picture out the necessity and utility of saving in every-
thing. Many things there are which go to waste because people do not
consider their imjjortauce. Those chips which are allowed to lay there
and rot, would warm the hearthstone of a dark chamber in the crowded
city, and perhaps save many from suffering, and as a necessary conse-
quence, suppress crime. On this subject there is room for much spec-
ulation. To specify all the things in which a saving could be affected,
would occupy time and space to no consequence.

Some people think they have learned to perfection the art of saving ;
but there is one thing which demands their consideration : They save
in quantities and don't mind a trifle. O. A. Gould.

Wateetown", N. Y.

Sorgho in the South.

Judge De Ltok states in the Savannah Georgia, as the result of
his experiment, that an acre of the cane will produce three hundred
gallons of syrup, twenty-five bushels of seed, of the average weight
of thirty-five pounds, and twelve hundred weight of fodder. He is
also convmced that the syrup, by proper management, can be made
to granulate. On the same subject, an experiment stated in the
Chester (S. C.) Standard gives six hundred and twenty-five gal-
lons of the syrup as the product per acre. Thus far the reports vary
from one hundred and fifty to six hundred gallons. The Charleston
Standard thinks the average will be finally settled at four hundred
gallons.

One planter in Louisiana will send to the New-Orleans market this
fall about three hundred barrels of sorgho molasses, and will put a
large part of his plantation in the cane next year. It is his opinion
that it will form a staunch ally to the old sugar cane.

It will be a strong spoke in the wheel of Virginia agriculture if
every farmer can make his own sugar and molasses, besides an exten-
sive addition to his forage, which is always in demand, and of which
the supply generally runs short towards spring. — Winchester ( Va.)
Hejnihlic.

We suggest to our Virgmia friends that the supply should not run
short with the same man but once m a lifetime. — Ed.

Menhaden Oil.

Men"hade]S', or " pogies," as the fishermen call them, are a species
of fish which swarm in millions along our shores in the summer sea-
son, and although formerly used only for bait, they are now caught
in large quantities by the " down-east" fishermen for the manufacture
of an oil which is valuable for dressing leather and other purposes.
This business, as we learn from the Bangor Wliig, is now an impor-
tant and growing one, producing many thousand dollars annually,
with a large profit. They are taken in nets in large quantities, boiled

214 Gice so Much, Take so JIuch.

in a large kettle fitted up in a furnace at the shore, then passed into a
press constructed like a cider press, and the oil pressed from them.
It is then banded up and sent to the Boston market and elsewhere.
When the tish become fat, they yield a gallon or more per hundred,
(the fish being about the size of an alewive,) or a barrel of oil from
2500. The fishermen sometimes take from 1500 to 2000 in a single
net set over night. The oil was worth $20 per barrel last year. This
year it is not worth quite so much — say from $15 to $18 — but it pays
a lai-ge profit at that. The refuse or "chum" left, after expressmg
the oil, is used for manure, and is said to be almost equal to guano.

FOR THB AMERICAN rARMERS' UAOAilHB.

The "Old Fogy."

Yert few farmers come under this title, yet we know some who
still use the old-fashioned " bull-plough," because their fathers or
grandflithers did ! Such a man may be called an " old fogy." An
old fogy imagines he has an independence of mind. He will not
listen to reason, because he thinks he knows quite as well how to
manage his affairs as the inventor who claims superiority over the
old-fashioned instrument w^hich the fogy continues to follow. An old
fogy has his eccentricities, odd habits, vague ideas, notions, proverbs,
and steadiness. He always follows the same plough, swings the same
scythe, and always uses that fork Avith the " tine bent," milks the
same cows, and, in fact, steps in the same tracks throughout the entire
year, turning neither to the right hand nor left.

The old fogy always makes money. Perhaps not so flist as his
neighbor ; but he mvariably dies rich, though he never lived happy.
His life is a constant, unbroken monotony, which, if once disturbed,
renders the victim unhappy. Don't be a fogy. There are other and
better ways to acquire property. Would you live for yourself alone ?

WATERTowjf, N. Y., 1857. 0. A. Gould.

ron TUB AiiERicAN farmers' magazine.

I'll Give so Much, and I'll Take so Much."

NO. I. I'll give.
Sucu is the language of the merchant, I care not what grade of
merchants he belongs to ; Avhether he uses a basket, a wheelbarrow,
a cart, a stall, a shop, a warehouse, a counting-room, or a bank. All
are the same — men that live by buying and selling. This class of
men at present are the ruling class of the nation. It is the merchant
who regulates the price of all articles of commerce, not only in dry-
goods, groceries, etc., but on everything the farmer has to sell. He
regulates the price of grain, of beef, and of pork ; the producer, the

Give so Much^ Take so Muck. 215

farmer, wlio is the foundation of all other business — I say the founda-
tion of all other business, because when the farmer ceases to exist, all
other business must forbear — he has no say in the market. Why is
this ? The farmer, for the last five hundred years, has been nothing
but an " understrapper," a despised class of people ; if the men have
not been, their profession has. But a short time has passed since he
was thought worthy to have a voice either in Church or State. If a
young man wanted to be somebody in the world, he must be a
lawyer, doctor, or a merchant. The stigma is not all gone yet.
There is something in the wordi farmer that is despised, especially by
the young of both sexes.

Why ? because the word ' ' uiork " can not be stricken out. It is
joined to farmer, and is as immovable as the Rock of Gibralter. If a
young man farms for a livelihood, he must expect to have his hands
tanned by the sun, and to get his shirt bosom " dirted in the bar-
gain ;" kid gloves and starched collars seldom, if ever, raise much
grain. Black boots and superfine broadcloth pants seldom dig pota-
toes in the mud.

A firmer goes to market with a load of grain ; when he enters town
Mr. Land-Shark is there, meets him in the street and says to him,
" Is that grain for sale ?" " Yes." " What do you want for it ?" or
"What do you expect to get for it?'' " Money," is the reply. Mr.
Shark says, " I'll give you so much ; it's more than you can get any
where else in town." If his load is wheat, Shark's ofier is fifty cents
per bushel, he tells him that wheat is "down, the market is full."
Farmer says, " That is low ; can't you give a little more." " No, I
can not afibrd it ; I shall loose on it at that, but to accommodate you,
I'll give that." Shark knows all the time that he is telling a falsehood
as regards his " loosing on it." Farmer, instead of selling it to the
consumer, like a fool tells Shark that he can have it at that price.
Shark, instead of " loosing on it," sells it to the consumer at one hun-
dred per cent profit. A scene like the above I saw m Fort Des
Moines but a short time within the present century.

Another case. A boy of some seventeen years came to town with
a load of some thirty watermelons. He no doubt had worked hard
in planting, hoeing and taking care of his " patch," in order to get a
little " change," perhaps to take a " spree" with his young "belle" of
the i^rairie. Being unused to the customs of town, and in a hurry to
get home, he too was met by a young shark or a clerk, and asked if
those melons were for sale. " Yes," was the reply. " What are they
worth," says the boy. " We can afibrd to give you one dollar for
the lot ; they are large, nice melons, but the market is full, and they
are dull sale ; that is the best we can do ; you can't hardly sell them

216 Give so Much^ Take so Much.

in town ; we are paying the highest price of any one." The boy be-
lieved him, and sold his melons. He thought that the clerk had told
him the truth, and he believed him. After the boy had gone, I
stepped into the store and a.sked what the price of those melons Avere.
Fifteen cents. I asked if melons had not taken a rise. " Xo ; they
cost us nearly that." I do not say that all merchants are of this
kind ; there is now and then an honest merchant. The above cases
that have been i-eferred to, are of common occurrence among what
are called " middle men," men that stand between the producer and
the consumer. These " middle-men," instead of being a blessing to
community, are a curse ; they are the ones that make the " money,"
and if they can not get it honestly, then dishonestly.

Merchants are as necessary for the transacting of business as any
other class of people, but " middle-men" are drones to society. Messrs.
Editors, how long must this mode of swindling be practised upon the
farmer? Until the farmer gets his eyes oj^en. How is he to get
his eyes open ? It is through the press, the agricultural press, by
reading such works as the Aiu. Mir. JIag., and by exposing such
modes of doing business as the above. "Who is the most to blame in
this swindling business, shark or farmer. Shark is to blame for
telling a falsehood, but farmer is to blame for several reasons, these
reasons I will explain in my next number.

Mr. Editor, if you think these few lines Avorthy of publication,
throw them to view among the farming class. The Am. Far. Mag.
is the farmer's friend, and such things should be exposed. They are
the truth, it can not be denied. You are at liberty to make such
comments as you deem necessary, and I hope that the formers will
look to their own interest, expose such things to the world — read
and inform yourselves. L. S. Spencer.

Lynx, Warren Co., Iowa.

We shall avail ourselves of the liberty given — should take the lib-
erty Avhether or no — to comment on the above.

1. Our correspondent's definition of merchants — " all who live by
buying and selling" — is good, is true to the letter. Our mercantile
friends in the city plume themselves on being a very select class ; and
it is true that in their banking houses, their exchange offices, their tall
stores and their gatherings about Wall street to raise and to cheapen
property at pleasure, they appear like very gentlemanly men ; and
you would certainly suppose they had no design to cut your throat
or pick yovir pockets. And then they know a good many things,
though it must be confessed that their knowledge is mostly about
matters of mere effemeral interest, things of the day and not worth
remembering till to-morrow. And when avc take into account that all

Give so Miich^ TaJce so Much. 217

the petty dealers and tricksters, the agents, the drummei's, the hateful
and hated middle-men, all who buy and sell for a living, are part and
parcel of the mess, we think they have no great to brag of as a
class. "We may as well put each man of them to trial on his own ac-
count, from the bank director who eats a great dinner at five o'clock,
and the over-grown rum-dealer, who mourns that his daughter should
be of so low instinct as to fall in love with a common chap, down to
the poor news-vender, who eats a cold potato when he can get it, and
is glad to have anybody marry his daughter who will take good care
of her. If any of the kit and kin will do an honest business, that
harms none, and is of general utility, let us honor them. Otherwise,
let us think them scamps, as well as if they figure in Wall street and
cheat the honest workers out of millions, as if they sell bad fruit by
the street side and cheat the buyer out of pennies. This is the best
rule we know of for judging of the class — to put each upon his indi-
vidual responsibility.

2. We can not quite agree with Mr. Spencer, that the merchants
control the prices of every thing, and that farmers have no " say"
in the matter. It is the farmei''s business to look after the market
prospectively, and to cultivate as far as may be such things as will
be wanted. In this way the intelligent, far-seeing farmer, though
he says little, does, nevertheless, what will more or less influence
prices. Commerce does not alone fix the price of every thing. Com-
merce does not desire fixed prices. It prefers that prices should
be ever changing, up and down, down and up, even and round, here,
and there, and nowhere, like the angler's bob on the wavy stream,
because the merchant is sure to out-wit the producer in such fluctua-
tions, if not in every instance, yet in a great majority of instances.
And then if he gets bit now and then at his own tricks, he can wipe
out all former obligations with a very soft sponge, and begin anew,
just as good in Water street and along the wharves as if he had turn-
ed no somerset by and for the benefit of his own brains. That mer-
cantile contrivances and connivances are always shuffling prices, to the
great detriment of the laborer and honest holder of property, is quite
certain. This effects the farmer — sometimes favorably, but generally
very unfavorably. At one time it makes jKoduce higher than it would
be, by the natural law of supply and demand, and then the farmer
profits by it, if he happens to hold the article in Ms own hands. At
another it depresses the price below where it ought to be, by the same
law, and then the farmer is pretty sure to loose. The merchant ascer-
tains sooner than the farmer whether the tendencies are upward or
downward, and of course he has the advantage, and his very instinct,
keen as the scent of a blood-hound, leads him to use it. It will always

218 Give so Much, Take so Much.

be so, as long as our present banking system, and a consequent over-
grown credit system, exists. Any bank in this city can make a par-
ticular butcher rich in a few days, partly at the expense of the farmers
and more at that of the New-York eaters of meat, and they icill do it,
if that butcher happens to be the friend of an influential director.
The banks make a great many men rich ; and tlmt would be a good
thing, if they did not make a hundred laboring men poor, while they
enrich one sharper. It is with farm produce generally, as with butch-
er's meat. Banks and shar])ers are always making it more precious
with the consumer than with the producer. How many produce mer-
chants are there to-day in this city who burst up in other business ten
years ago and left their creditors to go ichlstling, who are now worth
more money — not worth more, but Avortli more money — than all the
farmers together, who have grown all the produce they have bought
and sold ? They are not great men, don't know much, but know one
thing well, and that is how to make a tub of butter or a fat (cheese
cost the consumer about twice as much as it brings the producer, i
such a way that they get the lion's share of the difference, and give
the ass's share to the carrier. That is our idea of commerce; and a
long as our bloated credit system, giving to sharpers, not worth a red
penny, millions to speculate with to the detriment of better men, lasts,
there will be a few honest merchants doing a useful business, worthy
of all praise ; but the great body of those who buy and sell for a liv-
ing, will be scamps, and they will live and some of them get rich at
the expense of honest men.

3. The story of the man selling his wheat and the boy his melons, is
a very good illustration. It shows how the merchant sells the farmer.
But courage, friend ! It does not prove that the farmers of the coun-
try are all dolts. Much less does it prove that they always will be.
There is a better time coming. There was a time when we bought
all our manufactured goods of other nations. There "were no consu-
mers of agricultural produce among us except those who grew it, and
no money came for the jDroduce that Avas put into their own mouths
It was then that the farmers learned that they were underlings. Plow
could producers without a customer be anything else ? But now we
make half of our own iron. We make nearly half of all our manufac-
tured goods. The farmer begins to have a few customers about him.
The times are better for him ; and they will be still better when our
government wakes up, as it assuredly will, sooner or later, to its obli-
gations to the great agricultural interest, so far as to inaugurate mea-
sures that will give to the American fanners the feeding of the men
who make their coats, log-chains, bed-blankets, etc., etc. Let us look
at the question, whether we shall supply our own wants or depend

Horticultural. 219

upon other nations to supply tliem, not as partizans, not in the light of
stump speeches which we may have heard, not as the abetters of some
theory which we may have taken up hastily about its being cheaper
to buy than to make our own necessaries, but as farmers, as men ca-
pable of thinking for ourselves, who mean to be at least on a level
with the rest of mankind, and who will have, yes, will have the pro-
fit of feeding the makers of our sheep-shears, case-knives, wearing ap-
parel, and what else we want. — Ed.

m^^ « * « ^^

fortiniltural.

Preparation of Soil.

In the cultivation of the garden, as of the farm, the first thing is to
select the locality for a particular crop, or for a permanent object, as
that of a garden, for instance, and to prepare the soil.

After all the divisions of soils that have been made, they may for all
practical purposes be reduced to three, sandy, clayey, and loamy, in
the first of which saiid predominates, and in the second clay, while in
the third sand and clay are happily blended in about those proportions
which render them desirable to the cultivator.

A loamy soil is to be preferred for gardening purposes. Choose
such a soil, if you have it on your farm, and in a location suitable for
the garden. But remember that the garden is a part of the home-
stead ; it is to be beautiful as well as profitable ; its elegances and lux-
uries are to be on hand and not afar oft'; it is to adorn your dwelling,
as your dwelling is to adorn it ; is to be the rendezvous for many a
social enjoyment, earlier in the morning than you go to the broad
field, and later in the evening than you return from its weary labors.

If, then, your buildings are already erected, or even if the ground
for them is chosen, you have no great range for the choice of a "gar-
den spot." If the soil, where as a matter of taste and convenience
you want to meet your wife and children and friends, among flowers
and fruits and esculents, is not a feasible loam with a porous subsoil,
one that will both stand the drouth and drink in excessive rains so
readily as not to keep the surface long flooded, you must make it such.
The expense will be considerable, but it will pay, and you can not en-
joy the pleasures and profits without. »

An expense may be necessary which migljit well alarm you, if it
were to be applied to your whole farm. But what is it for an acre, or
half an acre? Nothing compared with the substantial benefits prom-
ised, to say nothing of the exquisite pleasure. If the soil is so exceed-

220 Horticultural.

ingly refractory that it can not be made deep and mellow and rich,
without a very great exjiense, it might be well to content yourself
with a smaller garden than you would otherwise cultivate, though as
a general rule we believe the gardens of our country are too small,
and should be enlarged rather than diminished. If the mechanic or
tlie i)rofessional man has but the six-tenth of an acre, it is worth a
great deal, and we would advise him to make the most of it. But
why should not the farmer, who has land enough, take a generous
piece for a garden ? Of all that the garden produces, there is scarcely
an item which he can not dispose of advantageously, if he have a sur-
plus, either by sale, or by giving it away, or feeding it to stock. An
acre is perhaps better than more, because if the enclosure is too large,
it may foil of getting cultivated so well as to be ornamental and high-
ly productive ; and half an acre is certainly better than less, because
the person who but half appreciates the economical and ornamental
value of a garden, can not do all he would desii-e on less ground. An
acre, with fruit borders occupying one-half, and leaving an oblong or
square half acre for the garden proper, would be to our mind, and that
whether the farm of which it were a part were thirty acres or three
hundred.

If your soil is a medium loam, and has a porous subsoil, you have no-
thing to do m the way of preparing the soil but to plough 10 or 15
inches deep, harrow, grade, plough again, and work in a plenty of
good barn manure, so incorporating it with the soil that it shall per-
vade every inch, and you are ready to set your trees and make your
garden. But suppose it to be a stiff instead of a medium loam, a few
loads of sand in addition to the manure will effect the requisite amend-
ment. Or if it is a light, sandy loam, then a few loads of clay will
make it just what you want. And the cost in either case will hardly
be worth naming. If instead of being a loam, a little too stiff or rather
too light, it is a sandy soil, then clay in addition to manure is all you
want to make it just what you would have it. The more sandy the
more clay will be required. Or if your soil is the stiffest clay, sand
enough with manure will make it as good a loam as you can desire.
■Where clay is used as an amendment, it should always be exposed to
the frosts of winter before ploughing in, and should be thoroughly in-
corporated with the soil ; and even when sand is used the soil should
be j)loughed more than once, harrowed many times, and the new ingre-
dient evenly mixed. And where sand or clay, as one or the other may
be required, can not be obtained within a reasonable distance, swamp
mud, long out and well-warmed in the sun, and washed with rains, will
go far towards producing the same amendments — will really produce,
only less permanently, both the effect of clay on sand, and of sand on

Horticultural. 221

clay, rendering a compact soil lighter, and a light soil more compact.
The difference is, that this application would need to be repeated
every few years, whereas the amendment of a soil by applying its
opposite, is a j^ermanent amendment.

The above is all on the supposition that the subsoil is porous, such
that water passes downward freely, neither floods the surface, nor
stops and becomes stagnant one, two, nor even three feet below. If
there is any doubt about this, dig holes, like post holes, one, two,
three, and three and-a-half feet deep, and if water stands more than
a very few minutes in them after even the hardest shower, that grovmd
requires draining, in order to be fit for a garden. You then have to
preface your other amendments, whatever may be required, by un-
derdraining. Of course, you would not have an open drain in your
garden or anywhere near your house. A tidy farmer will hardly have
them anywhere. Go to work then, and lay down the under-drains.
For a garden where you expect to do a good deal of work, and would
deem it bad economy to render your labor less satisfactory by any
defect in the soil, the drains should be near each other. In some
cases one very deep drain running through the center, and side
drains falling in from opposite directions, not quite as deep, and near
to each other, would be advisable. But we all know that " water
runs down hill," and the owner can decide where to lay his drains
better than somebody a thousand miles off.

We will only add, that the autumn is the best time to prepare the
ground for a garden. Winter even need not be lost, in case of large
amounts of heavy earth to be drawn from a distance. How we wish
that one million of farms in our land, now showing only a little, stingy,
miserable apology for a garden, not the most beautiful nor always the
most productive spots on these farms, could show next spring, as the
snow leaves them, grounds already prepared for gardens beautiful
enough and fruitful enough to tempt the angels to come do^m and walk
in them in the cool of the morning and evening.

Reader, we are not talking about the garden. It is only about
preparmg the ground. Do this, and next spring you can set your
trees, begin your flower-beds, plant your seeds, and all that you do
will prosper. We will tell you how to proceed as best we can.
Have a good garden, you who have land. We have none — are
doomed to look on brick and mortar and doT\Ti on pebble stones.
But you, who have land, should have a proud garden You may be
proud of it. If it is a sin to be proud of a good garden — we don't
believe it is — we'll act the priest and give you absolution. Have a
garden that any one could be proud of, and not sin, and if the angels
do not visit you there, your wives and daughters and their female

222 horticultural.

frifends will, and Teith a little aid of the imagination, you can think the
angels wore helping you. Prepare the plot before winter.

Fruit Garden and Orchard.

Hakdy trees should be reviewed in autumn. Manure unthrifty trees.
Top-dress straw-berry beds late in the month. Bank \\\) trees to i)re-
vent the attack of mice. Lay down and protect tender grapes. —
Grape layers may be removed from the vLie. — Grafts may be cut
and preserved. — Workiyig Farmer.

FOR THE AMBRIOAM FARHrERS'' MAOAZINB,

Cabbage.

We have been astonished at the growth of this vegetable. We
have recently seen a field of two acres or more covered with the
drum-head cabbage, (so called) their leaves extending so as to inter-
fere with each other, some of the larger plants weighing between
thirty and forty pounds, and very few of them less than twenty
pounds. Suj^posing the plants to number 3000, and their average
weight to be 25 lbs., this would give 85,000 lbs., or forty-two and a
half tons to the acre. Is there any other vegetable that will produce
so large a crop ?

This crop was produced on land of ordinary quality, simply by ap-
plying one shovelful of a compost to each hill of cabbage, made of
equal quantities of barn and sea manure and night-soil, thoroughly
mingled. This crop is grown witli as little labor as any other, and
requires no special skill in planting or growing. Great quantities of
these cabbage are used by the Germans and the Irish, and it is found
one of the cheapest and most palatable articles of their food.

We know of no man who has been more successful in the growth
of cabbage than Mr. S. A. Merrill, of Salem, Mass., on the farm of
the late E. H. Derby.

Sept. 12, 1857.

Kitchen Garden.

Thin out turnips by pulling the larger ones for market, leaving
the smaller to increase in size. Prepare for gathering fldl crops ;
gather such as the weather may demand. Continue to weed si)innge,
etc. Pl'irth up celery on dry days, after the dew has dried oif. Pre-
pare frames for parsely, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, and such other
plants as were sown last month. Put away vegetables by the latter
part of the mouth for protection, and sales during winter. Potatoes
should be cellared or put in pits or jjiles, so as to secure them from
wet and frosts.

Horticultural. 223

In taking np roots and storing them, begin with the most tender,
and take advantage of dry weather while you have it.

Expose pumpkins and winter squashes to the sun and wind, placmg
them on a dry board before storing them. Pack beets in sand in cel-
lar, or put them in pits. Horse-radish may now be dug for use as
wanted, leaving the old stools for future production.

Weeding at^his time should not be considered as useless, and in-
deed the removal of parasites cannot receive too much attention in
late fall. Mulching soils intended for early gardening, will add ma-
terially to their profitable culture and earlier products.

To Destroy Weeds.

Those who have visited the Nursery of Wm. Reid, at Elizabeth,
New-Jersey, have seen 20 acres free from weeds. We once heard
the question asked of Mr. Reid, how he managed to have his weeds
so thoroughly pulled ? He replied that " they were never pulled, but
that the cultivator and other tools were run between the trees and
crops so frequently, that the weeds were disturbed and destroyed be-
fore they became large enough to pull." The only question in our
mind was, " Will so many disturbances of the soil as \^ ould be neces-
sary to destroy all weeds be paid for by increased crops ?" Our ex-
perience since has proved, that row crops of all kinds pay a better
profit when the soil is so frequently disturbed as to destroy all weeds,
than with a less number of disturbances, and this, too, on soil natur-
ally as full of w^eeds as any other we ever have seen. It must be ad-
mitted, however, that hand hoes are not the proper implements with
which to disturb row crops, or to destroy weeds among such crops,
with the single exception perhaps of a few weeds between plants in
the rows, but never between the rows. — Working Far.

Only, among potatoes, the earth should not be thrown around the
hills but once, and we would recommend great caution about disturb-
ing the roots of corn, after the plants have attained a height of two
or three feet. — ^Ed.

High Farming.

Me. F. Mechi, whose name is associated with the first triumphs of
American reaping machines in England, which occurred on his farm
at Tiptree, has recently written a little work called " How to Farm
Profitably," in which he disposes, in a good humored manner, of all
those who have taken grounds against hi gJi farming. He says :

"I have often been much amused by the compassionate look and
manner in which my friends inquired after my doings at Tiptree. The
translation of these sentiments is this : ' Mr. Mechi, you are kindly
losing money by your experiments to oblige the country, and we
ought to feel grateful to you.' But I sternly ejaculate that what
does not pay in agriculture is not an improvement. The fact is, for
several years I have been deriving a most gratifying return for my
expenditure, and it is of a very enduring and continuous character ;
but the world does not believe it."

224 horticultural.

Hygienic Influence of Trees.

The cultivation of forest trees is becoming more and more a sub-
ject of serious consideration among public economists.

The relation of ti*ees to the comforts and conveniences of life, and
the great question of a future supply, which arises in \'iew of tlic con-
tinual destruction of our forests has attracted the attention of the best
intellects of our country

To the physician the subject has an additional importance in view
of the hygienic influence of trees upon the atmosphere, and conse-
quently upon the human system, both in health and disease.

It is well known that naw diseases make their a})pearance as the
forests are cleared away, and the superior physical power and health
of backwoodsmen over the inhabitants of treeless plains, has always
been acknowledged.

The influence of animal and vegetable life, one upon the other, has
not escaped the attention of observing men; but little or no eflbrt has
been made to inform the public of many facts in coimection with this
subject Avhich it is vitally important should be known ; and a whole-
sale destruction of our forest trees has gone on to an extent that
threatens to leave us, at a time not far in the future, comparatively
destitute of the great pride of America — its forests.

The physiological influence of trees of all sorts is apparent to every
one who knows the avidity with wliicli they absorb carbon and am-
monia, the two great extractions of animal life, which, if left free in
the atmosphere, render poisonous the air we breathe.

The planting of trees in our cities, and the preservation of forests,
would do more to preserve the public health than many other more
expensive hygienic measures. — JSF. II. Jour. Med.

The Fruitery.

Those who have them of a few years' growth, will now be realizing
a very pleasant advantage over their less provident neighbors ; but
not ^^■ithout still constant and faithful care. Insects are to be ob-
served and destroyed ; blight to be prevented ; every useless leaf and
twig to be carefully removed. Whatever does not add directly to
the health and productiveness of the tree or bush, is to be avoided ;
whatever does, to be appropriated.

The mildew, which is the greatest foe to the Gooseberry, may be
prevented l)y removing the earth from directly around the roots, and
mulching with salted hay, or any light compost well saturated with
salt. Indeed, this system of mulching can not be too highly recom-
mended for fruits generally. It should cover the ground four or five
inches in depth, and extend as far out as the hight of the bush or tree ;
thus protecting the roots from the effects of intense heat and sudden
changes of temperature.

If the (7«<a/i7y of your fruit is a more desirable object than the quan-
tity^ a lai'ger size and better flavor may be secured by thinning out
from one-third to one-half, as soon as it is fairly set ; or, perhaps, bet-
ter still, by pinchmg ofl" the blossoms. — Wisconsin Farmer.

American Inventions. 225

g u nt t 1^ m e ri c R H | it ,lj ni; t i 0 n $ ,

Sewing Machines.

A GENERAL interest appears to be awakened upon the subject of these domes-
tic labor-saving machines, -which extends to all classes of the community. In our
recent tour to the East, we visited scarcely a single family who did not make
some inquiry in reference to them. Every sewing girl regards her fortune as
secure if she can possess one. Housewives look upon them as a godsend, that
will save them a large portion of the time now devoted to the preparation of
clothes for the family. And among even the extra fashionable, there seems a
quiet current in actual motion, freighted with sewing machines for their special
use. Our Fifth Avenue could make quite a parade of these implements. But
there is, for obvious reasons, a universal fear of being cheated in the purchase.
The wrong machine, or a machine badly constructed, or not in complete pre-
paration for use, may be chosen, from the entire want of experience and of all
knowledge in regard to them. Hence the anxiety of those who, in scores, have
inquired of us, "what is the best?"

To answer this question is about as difficult as to tell which is the best apple
in the market, or the best pear, or the handsomest dress pattern. But there
are certain things that we can state in reierence to them, which will be a useful
guide, to some extent, for all those who would procure this curious and useful
mechanism.

The world is indebted to the mechanical genius of this countrj'' for all the
sewing machines in actual use in every country under the sun. The patent of
Mr. Howe, for the " shuttle movement," which was obtained in 184G, is the
beginning of the history of sewing machines for general use, and although he
was not able to perfect his machinery so as to make a good machine, those who
were competent to this, or rather who were successful in doing this, were obliged
to use his "shuttle movement," because his patent covers all the known contri-
vances for using two threads, and all the recent inventors are obliged to pay
him a handsome tribute for the use of that movement. This, of course, secures
to him an immense income from sewing machines, though he never made one
that the public would bu3^ Leaving the construction of the various parts of
these machines, we proceed to make such suggestions as are of interest to one
who would purchase.

Each kind of machine makes a peculiar stitch, and is confined to that, with
the exception mentioned hereafter. The length of the stitch can be varied in
all.

The machines familiar to us make one of the three following stitches : The
tambour or chain stitch, the lock stitch, or (as in Grover and Baker's) a stitch
with a compound or double looping.

The tambour stitch is that in common use in manufactories of broadcloth,
etc., for marking their goods. It is formed by di'iving the needle through the
cloth, (the eye of the needle being near the point.) then withdrawing it, but
n 8

2-26 American Inventions.

leavin'^ a loop " slack," or not drawn out. The needle is again driven through
the cloth, in the place of the second stitch, and a second loop left as before.
The first loop is then hitched on to the second, which second loop secures the

first as soon as the second is itself hitched on to the third, as already described,
and so the process goes on. Each loop is fostcned by the next to the end of
the work. Hence if this end of the thread is not properly secured, a slight
force applied to it will draw out the whole seam. But it can not be thus ripped
from the end at which the work was commenced. This is essentially the same
stitch that is formed in plain knitting.

Another stitch is the lock or shuttle stitch, patented by Mr. Howe. This stitch
is made by nearly all the machines which use two threads, the second thread
being wound on a " shuttle" or its equivalent, on the under side of the work.

This is formed by locking one thread in another, as a man would hook his two
fore fingers together. The second diagram exhibits this loop. This is some-
times called the mail bag stitch. The needle is thrust through the cloth, and
then withdrawn, leaving a slack loop, when a shuttle or some other similar con-
trivance draws a thread through this loop. The next descent of the needle
draws this loop tight, while the shuttle thread prevents the first or needle
thread from escaping through the cloth. This action is constantly repeated.
The lower thread may be nearly or quite straight, as it always is when Jiard
cloth as linen is sewed. It then operates like a wire, running through every
loop, or like the chain of the mail-bag, and thus holds the work firm. If, in
u.sino; this stitch, the lower thread is quite straight, and the work drawn too
tight, or gathered, whenever force is applied, as in washing, ironing, etc., to
pull the cloth straight, the thread is liable to break. But few stitches, however,
would be "let down" by this, the tightness of the work securing the thread in
its place. If the under thread is drawn nearly or quite into the center of the
cloth as it would be in thick goods, if both threads are equally tight, the elas-
ticity of the cloth will secure the thread from breaking, and the work will be
much more durable.

A third stitch is made only by G rover & Baker's machine, and is formed as
follows : The needle is thrust through the cloth and withdrawn, leaving a loop
as in those before described, which loop is kept in its place by a rotary hook

cr

till a second loop is formed. The first loop is then passed between the threads of
the second loop, and hitched over the third loop, and the whole is drawn tight.
The second loop, passing between the threads of the third, is hitched over the
fourth, and so on.

The complication of the stitch made by Grover & Baker's machines, in other
words, the double looping of each stitch, produces on the under side of the
work a small ridge, which is a blemish to its appearance where both sides are
exposed to view, as in shirt collars, wristbands, etc. Hence they manufacture

American Inventions. 221

another kind of machine, to be used for such purposes, which makes the same
stitch as the otlier high-priced machines, though with different machinery.

The machine referred to as forming different stitches, is Robinson's, or rather
" Robinson's with Roper's improvement." This uses only a needle-full of thread,
the whole length of which passes through the eye of the needle at every stitch,
the eye being a kind of hook, and the needle re-seizing the thread at every
movement. Hence, if there is any imperfection in the thread, it will be dis-
covered at once ; its rupture is almost certain. This machine takes any stitch
in use, we believe, except the " button hole" stitch. A friend informs us that
Mr. Harrison, of this city, has a machine designed for sewing button holes, but
we have never seen it.

The machines of Wheeler & Wilson, and Singer & Co., make the lock stitch,
as shown in the second diagram. All the ''cheap sewing machines" we have
examined, as Pratt's, Watson's, Avery's, etc., make the tambour stitch, as
shown in the first diagram.

So far as any advantages are to be found in one or the other of these, we are
aware of none except what results from the difference of the stitch, and
also the ease with which the different machines are kept in motion. One form
of machine may be thought more neat and tasteful than another, and one
or the other be more easily managed by particular individuals, its mysteries
being more readily understood, but hosts of certificates might be obtained by
each, testifying that each one is far better than all the rest, The chief point of
difference between the several machines may therefore be stated as follows :

Grover & Baker's double-locked stitch is peculiar to their machines. Their
shuttle machine, Wheeler & Wilson's, and Singer & Co.'s, all make the same
stitch, but by different machinery, and into these mechanical differences we can
not now enter. They do not very materially affect the comparative value of
either, Robinson's makes its various kinds of stitches, but it has complicated
machinery, does less work in a given time, and requires more effort to work
it It requires also the very best of thread. The cheap machines make the
tambour stitch only, as in first diagram, and will not do so much work as the
more expensive machines. There are other machines, too numerous to mention,
both using the shuttle and a single thread, the special merits of which have not
been brought to our notice. Some are " high priced ;" some are " cheap," and
one or two, like Woodruff's, are more costly than those named as cheap, and
cheaper than those called high priced. i

Telegraphs for Railroads.

A NEW system of telegraph for railroads has been devised by Mr. L. Solo-
mons, of Savannah, Ga,, which seems to us very promising. The subject is
one of very great importance, and all suggestions in relation to it should receive
due consideration. If a plan proposed is a bad one, it may suggest a good one.
Mr. Solomon uses signals, consisting of lanterns placed at intervals of five or
ten miles along the whole line of the road. The sides of the lanterns next to
the road are closed so as to exclude the light. Revolving shades, governed by
an electrical current, alternately shut off the light of the lamps, or expose it so
as to throw its rays up or down the road. A single wire connects these re-

228

American Inventions.

volving shades in a series of telegraphic circuits, which are completed only
when an additional wheel, attached to a locomotive fur the purpose, passes over
a lever which is fixed with necessary insulation on the track near each signal-
I&mp. As soon as this wheel presses on the lever, its further aim is thrown
up, and the point of contact completes a telegraphic circuit of five or ten miles,
and thus makes a magnet of a coil of wire, which changes the position of the
revolving shades, and exposes the light of the lamp five or ten miles ahead,
warning engineers on trains moving in counter directions that they must go
forward cautiously, if at all. When the train reaches the next signal lamp, the
wheel again depresses a second lever, which by a like operation closes the shade
at the starting point or depot, opens that at the second signal lamp, and that also
at the lamp five or ten miles in advance. The lights thus opened disclose the
fact to one engineer that another train is w'ithin the section over which the
light is shed, while the absence of the light notifies him that the track is clear.
During the day the same effect is produced upon the shades, and the same
warning given, which engineers may as plainly learn fiom the position of the
shades as they could from the light of the lamps at night. The shades stand
upright when the track is clear, and lie horizontally when there is a train on
the section to be passed.

Nutting's Carriage Gear.

We here present our readers with a description and engraving of an improve-
ment in carriage gear, by Mr. Rufus Nutting, of Randolph, Vt., for which a

patent was obtained in July
last. The improvement con-
sists in so constructing and ap-
plying the springs that a variety
of pressure upon them shall
not vary their length, so as to
put the wheels out of " track,"
if the pressure happens to be
greater upon one spring than
the other ; also in so combining
springs and guard rods or straps
for carriages with the body and
axles, that they will answer the
five-fold purpose of springs,
reaches, perch, braces, and
rocker, thereby greatly dimin-
ishing the weight and cost of carriages, while they are not only not injured in
auy respect, but greatly improved.

A is the forward axle, raised in the central part for increased stiffness, and
ateo that the downward curvature near the end of the springs, C, may not hit
it v^hile turning the carriage. The hind end of the springs are T shaped and
firmly held to the upper side of the axle, B, by the clasp, T, and the bolt, K,
which also holds to the luider side the curved bar or plate, E, which projects
Ibrwai'd and downward about four inches, or to a certain point which is always
»t the same distance from the ear, H', however much the axle, B, is made to

American Inventions. 229

roll by the depression of the springs, and into which is linked the guard, D,
attached to the ear, H', which is a part of the chafing iron, H. The object
of the guard, D, is to prevent any extension of the spring when the wheel sud-
denly strikes any obstruction, and also to support the body in case the spring
should br_ak.

The springs, 0, are curved downward near each end just so much that in de-
pressing them those parts below a straight line, from one end to the other, in-
crease just as much as that part above decreases, and vice versa, and being
firmly fastened near to the outer ends of the hind axle, converge to the king-
plate or fifth wheel, F, to which they are bolted, and through which the king-
bolt, G, passes loosely, and screws into the under side of the forward axle,
which is rounded a httle upon its upper side, that the springs may play freely,
the thills being firmly attached to it, instead of being connected by joints or
Jmiges, as is sometimes the case. The body is attached to the springs by
spring-bars, as usual.

The advantages of this invention consist chiefly in simplicity of construction,
as by it 2 reaches, 1 perch, 1 rocker, 6 iron plates or braces, 18 bolts, and 4
hinges or joints, usually used, are whoUy dispensed with, thus lessening cost
and weight ; in admitting of longer and consequently more elastic springs
without increasing the length of the carriage ; in shorter turning ; in allowing
the hind axle to be much smaller and lighter ; in admitting of having the four
wheels of equal size, which renders the jolting much less and the draft easier;
in stillness in running, it being impossible for the king-bolt to work loose or
rattle, and the guards being alwaj^s tense, so that they can make no noise ; in
lightness of appearance, etc., etc. '

The chief features of this improvement have been thoroughly tested in one
one-horse and one two-horse carriage for more than a year, and it proves entirely
satisfactory.

American Institute.
The twenty-ninth Annual Fair of this honorable and useful institution was
opened to the public, as has been announced. We have been able to make but
a very partial examination of the numerous machines and useful inventions there
collected, nor have we space fully to describe the few we have examined.
Besides, many pieces of machinery are not yet in operation. Hence we can
make but a beginning in this direction. The show will prove a good one, and will
pay well for the time given to it. For the better appreciation of the extent and
value of the exhibition, in some of the more important branches, we shall take thera
up in classes. But convenience requires us now to refer to several of a mis-
cellaneous character without much order or arrangement.

SPRING STATES.

Mr. Charles Robinson of Cambridgeport, Mass., exhibits his Patent Elastic
Spring Stairs. This invention was patented in May last, and consists of a steel
spring in connection with an India rubber supporter, which arc placed upon a
cross slat under the stair, upon which the stair rests. At each tread of the foot
the spring yields, and in its expanding or upward movement, it diminishes the
effort required for rising to the next stair. The yielding of the spring is also a

230 Anierica?i Inventions.

relief as the foot rests upon a stair, cither in ascending or descending, prevent-
ing all the jarring which sensitive nerves or weak or tired persons sometimes
feel even in descending a steep hill. The whole cost of a stair thus connected,
is within a dollar and a half.

WINDOW SASn DETACHMENT.

Mr. John Casey, whose Depot is announced as 345 Broadway, exhibits a
new and ver}- much improved method of attaching the cords and puUies to a
window sash, and of removing the sash from its casings. The invention was
patented June 185G, and is very simple, consisting only of a large spherical
knot at the end of the cord, let into a corresponding nitch made for it in the
edge of the sash. Hence there is no untying or cutting of cords, when the
window is to bC;,rcmoved. The sash is taken out from its position in its frame
without drawin a nail or turning a screw.

WINDOW BLIND OPEKATOH.

McMaken's Bhnd Operator is designed to open and shut an outside blind,
without opening the window. This is done by jointed levers, running through
tlie lower side of the frame, fastened to the blind, and secured in its place on the
inside of the window by a small brass plate. The change is effected very easily ;
the blind is moved to and kept at any desired position, and docs not interfere
with shutters. Several architects have given it their commendation.

ORNAMENTAL FLOORING.

Messrs. Groebl & Volkmar, of Baltimore, Md., exhibit some very handsome
specimens of "improved marquetry," which they claim to be an improvement
upon all hitherto in use. It consists of Mosaics of various patterns, and is suit-
able for private or public buildings. It is very highly ornamental. Its cost is
$1.5 or $1.25 per squai'c foot, more or less, according to its figure, etc.

VENTILATING CUAIK.

*""■ We saw at the Mechanic Fair, in Lowell, a chair, the rocking of which kepi
in motion a large fan, just over head. But a much more luxurious arrangement
is on exhibition at the Crystal Palace. Between the back ends of the rockers of
a well-stuffed chair, arc arranged compound bellows, placed upon tlie floor ; a
pipe leads from these bellows into an ice-box under the seat, where the draft is
cooled. Another pipe leads from the ice-box up the side of the chair to a con-
venient height, which then turns towards its occupant, who receives the draft
upon his person. In its passage the draft passes through a box provided with
any desired scent, so that this artificial current breathes of roses, or spices, and
will carry any medical influence which is placed within its course, to the lungs
of an invalid. The whole arrangement costs from $18 to $20 and upwards, ac-
o-ording to its style. It is exhibited by Mr. David Kahnweiler, of Wilmington,
N. C.

PORTABLE PErNTrNG PRESS.

A very simple little affair, which one wonders never was thought of before, is
Lowe's Patent Portable Printing Press, which does its work very neatly. The
smallest size prints a sheet 5 by 6 inches, and costs but $5, and the largest
13 by 17 inches. This costs $15. It may also be conveniently used as a letter
copying press. It is exhibited by the Lowe Press Company, Boston.

American Inventions. 231

IHON FUKIsrrCRE.

Very elegant furniture is now manufactured, exclusively of iron. Many
articles are on exhibition at the Crystal Palace. Among the most beautiful are
Patent Spring Chairs from the ware-room 292 Broadway. These are even
luxurious, so perfectly are they arranged. But whenever iron comes even in
indirect contact with the person, it is found to be uncomfortable in winter
These chairs are designed to be proof against this. How successfully this is
carried out we can not judge.

weight's bed bottom.

This old friend of ours again makes its appearance. Continued use of it con-
firms our conviction that it is at least as good as the best. It has also the
advantage of being easily kept clean, every part being perfectly accessible
both to the brush and the scouring cloth. It is for sale 640 Broadway.

We have memorandums of other articles equally worthy of special mentio23,
but our pages are full, and we must defer the mention of them to our next num-
ber.

Mechanics Fair, Lowell, Mass.

The second exhibition of the Middlesex County Mechanic Association is now
in progress. We had the pleasure of being present at its opening, and of exam-
ining its numerous apartments.

Lowell is the center of a vast array of mechanical talent. The mantle of it?
founders, the Lowells and the Moodys, now rests on not a few whose inventive
skill, and whose executive energy have wrought and are still working out an
amount of good through the world, the origin of which the world is ignorant of,
and which it constantly uses as a means of wealth and of power, while the in-
ventors are seldom thought of, and their very names may not endure longer
than will their tombstones.

The anxiety and paralysis which have seized whole communities of business
men, in almost every section of our country, have not failed to make a deep mark
upon the industry of that city. One " corporation" after another has stopped
its machinery and dismissed its operatives— the same process that is going on
at Lewiston, Newburyport, in Rhode Island, and indeed in almost all manufac-
turing districts. This turn of affairs has no doubt operated unfavorably upon
the Fair. Mechanics and inventors had less than their usual ardor of ambition,
and less hope of present advantage from the exhibition of their ingenious pro-
ducts. In several departments the show is therefore less extensive than we no-
ticed in their first exhibition some two or three years ago.

Nevertheless, enough is there collected to show the high attainments and con-
summate practical skill, which characterize the people of that city and county,
while strangers residing at a distance make some very valuable contributions,
to the show.

Of cotton, woolen, and silk goods, white and colored, there is a very extensive
and very elegant assortment from the Merrimac and Hamilton corporations of
Lowell, the Lowell Bleachery and Dye Works, from the Lawrence Mills, and the
Lewiston Mills. Most of these are from the well known house of Lawrence &
Stone, the agents of these and other manufacturing establishments, whose repu-

232 AmericaJi Invetitiotis.

tation is world-wide and not excelled by that of any house in Christendom, while
it is equalled by few.

In the home-made department wc saw much to admire and some to censure.
A quilt composed of some six or seven thousand pieces, sewed together by a
j^l of thirteen j-ears of age, proves, by "six or seven thousand" witnesses, that
" all the fools are not dead yet," and that some mothers have very debased and
debasing views of the elements of true education, and of the essence of good do-
mestic training. Each of those little polygons, scarcely larger than a dime, in
emphatic tones, proclaims time wasted, energies prostituted, temper tried, and
labor worse than thrown awaj'. Let it be regarded as a warning to parents who
are responsible for the proper development and training of the mind and affec-
tions, and for the due growth and strengthening of each and every part of the
physical being.

In the same apartment is a new gas light by Mr. Mace, of Springfield, Mass.,
which promises well. A passing view of it will not warrant us, however, in any
wholesale commendation. "We can only say it looks well and seems quite wor-
thy of attention. The same idea is also applied by ]Mr. Mace to a portable gas
lamp.

All the varieties of fancy work, in silk, linen, etc., silver wares, hair work,
musical instruments, etc., etc., are here collected, and furnish opportunities for
those fond of examining these departments of art.

MECH.4NICAL INVENTIONS.

This department is limited in extent, but excellent in its detail'?. Some few
of them demand a more extended notice than we can now give. Among these
is the Improved Turbine, which is used very generally in the Lowell mills, and
i.s of far greater value than the public generally seem to suppose. Some other
matters should be described, did our space permit. We can give room, how-
ever, only to the following :

SOAP-STONE WORK.

We often see " marbles" of various sorts, and composed in fact, of all sorts of
things, wrought into articles of furniture and utensils of various kinds. But wc
do not remember to have seen soap-stone wrought into so useful and tasteful
forms as in the exhibition of Wm. H. Maine & Co., of Boston. A medal was
awarded them at the Exhibition of the Massachusetts Mechanic Association, of
1856. Sinks, buckets, etc., etc., are "finished, complete in every part," in the
language of the judges. We commend them to public attention.

The Newburyport, Mass., Fisheries.

TnEr.E are employed in the mackerel lisliery of this city, fifty sail of vessels,
with a total tonnage of 3,827 tons, valued at one hundred and twenty-five
thousand dollars ; the outfits for the same are upwards of thirty thousand dol-
lars ; the number of barrels used exceeds fifteen thou.sand ; number of hogs-
heads of salt, twenty-five hundred ; bait, two thousand barrels. This fleet
employs six hundred men, to whom are disbursed some fifty thousand dol-
lars.

The Labrador fleet, engaged in cod fishing, comprises ten vessels ; aggregate
tonnage, 1,200 tons, valued at twenty thousand dollars; outfits for the same,
fifteen thousand dollars ; number of hogsheads of salt used, two thousand ;
number of hands employed, 180 ; amount of disbursements, about fourteen
thousand dollars. The population of the city is about 10,000.

American Patents.

233

Manny's New Mower and Reaper.

The following engraving represents a new Mower and Reaper, invented by
that hero in the conception and construction of agricultural machines, Pells
Manny of Freeport, 111. We have not room now for a protracted description,

but will
place of

give it hereafter. There is a Reel, not shown in the engraving, the
which will be obvious to those ftimiliar with this implement.

[issued from the h. s. patent office, from august 28 to september 8, 1857.]
Agricultural.
Raking apparatus for harvesters, Israel Dodenhoff, Bloomington 111 — Hay
and manure forks, Wm. Jones, Speedsville, N. Y.— Harvester, Pells Manny,
Waddam's Grove, 111. A new mode of constructing the fingers of the cutting
apparatus and of securing them on the finger bar.— Fence for poultry yards,
Wm. P. Thomas, White tvater, Ind.— Rake for harvesters, J. W. Brokaw, as-
signor to Warder Brokaw and Child, Springfield, 0.— Cultivator OH. Sayre,
Utica, N. Y., assignor to himself and Samuel Remington, Ilion, N. Y. A com-
bined horse hoe and double mould board plow.— Cutting corn stubble, John
Ausparger, Trenton, 0. A combination of teeth of a rake and rotating knives.
—Rake, Andrew J. Blodgett, Newport, N. H.— Seeding machine, Charles AJ .
Caohon. Brooklyn, N. Y.— Straw Cutter, Aury G. Goes, Worcester, Mass. bo
constructed that its bed and knife shall each operate with a compound motion
produced by a lever, crank, fulcrum rod and guides.— Operating the cutters _ot
Harvesters, James Haviland, Milton, N. Y. By means of a spirally grooved in-
termediate shaft, and a series of hemispherical or oval-headed teeth projecting
from the face of the main bearing wheel.— Raking device for harvesters, Stephen
R. Hunter, Cortland, N. Y.— Cotton seed Planter, Thomas J. Rogers, Cassville,
Ga.— Attaching scythes to snaths, Oliver Clark, Henrietta, 0.— Seed Planter,
Cyrus C. Aldrich, Fairbault, Min. Ter.--Corn Planter, D. R. Alden, Unionville,
0 —Same, H. R. Allen, Athens, 0.— Corn Sheller, Andrew Dillman, Plainfaeld,
111 —Seed Planter, J. W. Ells and James Charlton, Pittsburgh, Pa.— Mowing
Machine, G. C. Dolph, West Andover, 0.— Hand Seed Planter, Joel Haines,
West Middlebury, 0.— Straw Cutter, Porter Hill and C. E. Jones, Millport, JN.
Y A. combination of the rotating knife, or cutting disk, and a series of revolv-
ino- chambers, arranged round a central shaft, in such manner that its revolu-
tions shall bring the straw in each, successively, between the edge of the knife
and the periphery of the chambers. There is also a new method of feeding the
straw to the knife.- Corn Planter, D. W. Hughes, New-London, Mo.— Sheep-

234 American Patents.

phearing Machine, J. V. Jenkins, Jackson, Mich. — Scythe Snath, Abner H. Fin-
ney, Columbus, O. — Churn, Daniel E. True, Lake Village, N. II. — Harvester,
C. M. Lufkin, Ackworth, N. H., assignor to Norris Lufkin, Unit}-, N. II. — Culti-
vator Teeth, Edmund L. Freeman, Brownville, N. Y., assignor to himself and J.
and G. Lord «fc Co., Watertown, N. Y.

Metallurgy and JIanltacture of Metals.

Dressing; saws, Philo Maltby, Dayton, 0. — Bending metal plates, E. L. Gay-
lord, Terrysville, Conn. For bending metals at right angles. — Same, Julius Per-
ry, Plymouth Hollow, Conn. For accomplishing the sume point. — Metal but-
tons, Jared 0. M. Ingersoll, Ithaca, N. Y. — Shears for cutting metal, T. F. Taft,
Worcester, Mass. A rolling lever, upon an inclined plane, which is on the side
or blade holder. — Twisting curb chains, Lauriston Towne, Providence, R. I. —
Separating ore, Thos. J. Chubb, New-York. Effecting a separation of a thin
layer of finely pulverized ore, into layers or sti'ata of different specific gravity,
upon a perforated bed, or its equivalent, b}- means of applying light, minute puffs
of air up through the interstices of the said bed, and through a thin layer of ore,
evenly spread, and resting thereon, for the purpose of gently agitating said layer
of ore and floating the lightest substances therein to the top, and allowing the
heaviest to gravitate to the bottom. — Pin sticking machine, Thaddeus Fowler,
^Yaterbury, Conn. — Bending machine, Lewis Haj'mond, New-York. An ar-
rangement of three rollers, convex and concave, for bending sheet metal trans-
versely and longitudinally by one operation. — Setting saw teeth, Pearson Cros-
by, Fredonia, X. Y. — Vibrating shears, John Toulmin, New-Worcester, Mass.
Hanging the movable blade of a pair of shears by two adjustibls center pivots
upon an adjustible pillar block. — Ore Separator, Thos. J. Chubb, New-York,
an addition to the 2>atent above described, perfecting the operation of the device
there secured — Swedging hatchet heads, Levi Dodge, Cohoes, N, Y. — Planing
saw teeth, John N. Wilkins, Waukegan, 111. Two planers and cutters for sha-
ping the edges of saw teeth. — Forging metals, Elbridge Wheeler, Feltonville,
Mass. — Pipe coupling, E. Wright, Boston, Mass. A compressible packing ring,
inserted in a groove round a pipe on each side of the joint in combination with
screw threaded or flanged and bolted couphngs, and a thimble for holding the
packing rings in the grooves, so as to form a water light joint and resist separa-
tion.— Head Rest, Wm. M. McCauley, assignor to J. N. j\rclntire, Washington,
D. C, — Casting bearings on water wheels, Chas. Taylor, Little Falls, N. Y. —
Socket coupling for lathes, G. N. Trowbridge, Lowell, Mass. — Cutting figures
out of sheet metal, C. P. S. Betts, New-York. — Improved wrench, H. M. Clark,
New Britain, Conn. — Bolt for safes, Stuart Perry, Ncwpoit, N. Y. Combining
:i .safety bolt with the lock of a bank, vault, etc., by means of a bar or trigger,
so that the forcing of the lock by any means, from the door, shall trip or release
the safety bolt and allow it to securely fasten or lock said door. — Lock, John P.
Sherwood, Fort Edward, N. Y.-~-Door Spring, Edward P. Torrey and Wm. B. Til-
ton, New- York. — Padlock, Linus Yale, Newport, N. Y. — Sash Lock, AVilliam
Patton, Towander, Pa. — Machine for forging nuts, Edward Pay and Samuel Hall,
New-York.

Maxufactcre of Fibrous and Textile Substances.

Hoops for ladies' skirts, Charles S. Goodman, Washington, D. C.' — Self-acting
mules for spinning, George Wright, Grafton, Mass. — Wetting and cutting paper,
.Moses S. Beach, iirooklyn, N. Y. — Manufacturing hat bodies, Joseph Booth,
Newark, N. J. A rotary flat hurdle, having its perforated surface divided, in
combination with a picking or bowing apparatus, and air exhausting apparatus,
;dso an arrangement of the fan-shaft upon the spindle of the revolving hurdle. —
Umbrellas and Parasols, Sheldon Confield, Derby, Conn., the form and construc-
tion of the clasp. — Loom, Edwin A. Scholfield," Westerly, R. I. A driving or
revolving cam or tappett wheel, which acts to spring the harness, or produce a
shed in weaving, by an intermittent or variable motion, by the use of star gears.
— Sewing Machine, Wm. Wickersham, Boston, which we" shall notice hereafter.

American Patents. 23S

A

other,

—Same, Henry Behn, assignor to himself and Thos. Scwall, New-York
method' of looping by two pointed bars, one moving in a plane above the 0-_-
and so operating in combmation with the needle, that the loop is formed and
held open by bending the thread in opposite directions.— Same, Samuel Larkm,
assio-nor to Wheeler & Wilson Ma.niif;ictnring Co., Bridgeport, Ct. A spring
brake.— Folding Paper, 0. P. Wiggins, A. H. Nordyke, and Benj. Strawbndgo,
Pachmond, Ind. ^Spooling thread, Charles H. Bradford, Lynn, Mass back
fastener, Wm. P. and Jacob E. B. Maxson, Albion, Wis. A spring tongue,
pressint^ the string against a side flange or projection.— Sewing Machine, Orson
0. Phelps, Rochester, N. Y. Constructing the needle bar with a cap or i^elmet
on its top, and a spring or clastic material interposed between the parts, for the
purpose of giving a yielding bearing to the thread bolt, whereby a very tme
thread may be used without breaking.— Carding Engines, H. N. Gambrill and
S. F. Burgee, Woodbury, Ind. Delivering the cotton into the main cylinder
always at'^two and sometimes at three different places, while using but one set
of feeding rollers, etc.— Wash mixtures for woolens, etc., Wm. Reisig, ^storia,
N. Y. A cheap aqueous solution, with alkali in excess.— Condenser tor list
speeders, Wm. Mattison, assignor to J. C. Whitin, Northbridge, Mass.

Chemical Processes, Manufactures, etc.

Telegraph Repeaters, J. E. Smith, Troy, N. Y.— Filter, Wm. W. Ayres Wm-
cester, Mass.— Glass Furnace, Samuel Richards, Philadelphia, Pa.— bpirit btiii
Edward Herring, Walton-on-Thames, Eng.— Insulated telegraphic wires inclosed
in metallic tubing, Samuel 0. Bishop, New-York.— Manufacturing A ercUgri.'
Ludwig Brumlen, Hoboken, N. J.— Gas Retorts, Sounders Coates New- York.
A false bottom of metal of different degrees of fusibility, as one of lead in com-
bination with one of iron, resting upon the easily fusible metal.— Vapor l-amp,
J G Gilbert, New-York.— Machines for punching paper fillets, for transmitting
paper fillets, John P. Humaston, New-Haven, Conn.— Blast Furnace, Samuel
Wilkes, Hammondville, 0. The application of steam in blast lurnaces at the
boshes.— Saccharine Evaporators, Joseph Bour, Forbach, France, assignor ti.
Charles Parlange, Parish of Point Cupee, La.

Calorifics, Including Lamps, Stoves, &c.

Coal sifters, Cyrus C. Aldrich, Faribault, Min. Ter.- Signals for stcam-Jjoats,
Albert Potts, Philadelphia.— Extension Gas Tubes, Charles Monson, New-Haven,
Conn.— Coal Sifter, William D. Brown, Wevmouth, Mass.— Chimney <^ap, Ira
Mahew, Albion, Mich.— Gas Regulator, John H. Powers, Nev^'ark, IN. J.—
Lantern, J. S. A. Rohrman, Philadelphia, Pa.— Portable Gas generatoi;s, War-
ren A. Simmons, Boston, Mass.— Cooking Range, Samuel Pierce, Troy, N. 1.—
Cupola Furnace, Philip W. Mackenzie, Jersey City, N. J.— Water vessel tor
hot air furnace, Wm. Moultrie, New-York.- Gas Regulator, John H. Oooper,
Philadelphia, Pa. -Grate Bars, Edward Dugdale, Burlington, N. J.— Cooking
Stove, Sidney Godley, Lockport, N. Y.— Baker for Cooking Stoves, P. P. Stewart,
Troy, N. Y.— Hot Air Register, J. V. Tibbetts, New-York.

Steam and Gas ^^ngines, &c.

Tube for steam pressure gauges, E. H. Ashcroft, Boston, Mass.— Metallic Pack^
ing for pistons of steam engines, G. H. Corliss, Providence, R. I-— ^^^'^
Pressure Regulator, Lucius F. Knowles, Warren, Mass.— Packing of Rotary
Engines, Gerard Sickles, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Navigation and Maritime Implements.

Surf and Life-Boats, Richard C. Holmes, Cape May C. H., N. J.— Life preserv-
ing berths, Eldridge Foster, Hartford, Conn. —Attaching whiffle-trees to tow
lines, Andrew Seaman, Amsterdam, N. Y.— Ships' Berths, Henry Getty, Brook-
lyn, N. Y.— Ships' Capstans, Charles E. Marwick, Portland, Me.

236 American Patents.

Mathematical, Philosophical, &c.
Eye Shading Apparatus, Francis H. Jones, Federalsburg, Md.
Civil ENCiiNEERiNt;, AucniTECTuuK, &c.

Macliine for ramming under the cross-tics of railroads, R. B. Harrison, Vicks-
burg. Miss. — Wiring Blind Rods, Byron Boardman, Norwich, Conn. — Drawing
the curve of circular stair railways, Geo. S. Stewart, Meadville, Pa. — Suspending
Eave's troughs, James A. "Watrous, Gi-een Sjiriiig, Ohio. — Moving stores, &c. in
case of fire, Asa Blood, sen., Norfolk, Va., and Robert "W. Brown, Washington,
D. C. — Boring Machine, Ennnett Quinn, Trenton, N. J.

Land Conveyance.

Reversible Railroad-car coupling, Joseph Boothroyd, Michigan City, Ind. —
Tightening tires of carriage wheels, J. M. Dick, Buffalo, N. Y. — Automatic rail-
road car-brake, W. R. Jackson, Baltimore, Md. — Wear iron for carriages, I. Geo.
Lefler, Philadelphia, Pa. — Thills, Philipe Baillau, New-York. — Hub for carriage
wheels, Jas. W, Jackson and Luther W. Burchinal, Smithfield, Pa. — Adjusting
Carriage Tops, C. W. Saladec, Columbus, 0. — Railroad Car Brake, James
Mitchell, Osceola, Iowa. — Railroad Rail, Edward W. Stephens, and Richard
Jenkins, Covington, Ky.

Hydraitlics and Pneumatics.

Sealing Cans, Edwin Bennett, Baltimore, Md. — Locking faucets, Henry Getty,
Brooklyn, Nj,Y. — Hermetically -sealing Cans, Win. Borrman, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mechanical Powers.

Portable Horse Power, Daniel Woodbury, Rochester, N. Y.
Mills and Mill Gearing.

Winding Mill, William Staufler, Middlebury, Ind. — Feed and Gigging for saw
mills, Geo. D. Lund, Yonkers, N. Y. — Tubular Shafting, Zacharia Allen, Pro-
vidence, R. I.

Lumber, Including Implements, &c.

Mortising chisel, John A. Scroggs, Burlington, Vt. — Manufacturing Modem
Washboards, L. B. Batcheller, assignor to West, Canfield & Co., Arlington, Vt.
— Sawing Staves, Peter Deal, Amsterdam, N. Y., and James Greeman, North-
ampton, N. Y. — Saw Clamp, Leonard 0. Fairbanks, Bridgeton, Me. — Sliding Rest
for lathes, E. S. Gardiner, assignor to Smith, Gould & Co., Philadelphia. —
Crozing and champering staves, H. L. McNish, assignor to D. C. Butler, and H.
L. McNish, Lowell, Mass. — Piercing Blind slats, John Carpenter, Stonington,
Codd. — Clamping Logs in sawing machines, Stephen Woodward, New-London,
N. H. — Rotary Plaining cutters, H. H. Baker, Newmarket, N. J.

Stone, Clay, Glass, &c.

Brick Machine, Stephen Ustic, Philadelphia, Pa. — Same, P. S. Devlan,
Reading, Pa.

Leather, Tanning, &c.

Machine for lasting boots and shoes, John Kemball, Boston, Mass. — Pegging
boots and shoes, Seth D. Tripp, Winchester, Mass., assignor to himself and
Luther Hill, Stoncham, Mass. — Boot Crimp, William W. Wilmot, assignor to
Iiimself, Amos H. and Charles H. Brainard, Boston, Mass. — Tanning Liquid, Leo
de la Peyrouse, Paris, France, assignor to Michael J. A. Guiet, New -York.
Household Furniture, &c.

Washing Machine, Philip N. Woliston, Springfield, 0. — Shower-bath apparatus,
Wm. Meyer, Progress, N. J. — Smoothing-iron, Wm. V. Shaw, Boston, Mass.
A new mode of constructing the iron with ascending and descending flue.s, so as
to heat it more effectually and conveniently by gas. — Washing Machine, Hiram
F. Everett, Benton, Pa. — Self-waiting table, William B. Farrar and Jonathan H.
Parrar, Evans' Mills, N. C. A table with a central revolving top. — Washing
Machine, Wm. M. Hammond, Jonesville, Mich. — Same, Justin Loomis, DcRuyter,

Foreign Inventions.

237

N. Y.— Same, Isaac A. Sargent, Springfield, Ohio.— Same, Abram Wcod,
Camden, N. Y.

Arts Polite, Ornamental, &c.

Photogalvanographic Printing, Paul Pretsch, Austria. — Inkstand, Thomas
Rotjohn, New-York.— Watch-key Finger-ring, EUhu Bliss, Newark, N. J.

Fire Arms, &c.

Cartridges for breech-loading fire-arms, J. D. Greene, Cambridge, Mass.^
Percussion cap primer, Geo. W. Baker, Burlington, Vt. — Projectile for rifled
cannon, Theodore T. S. Laidley, U. S. Army.— Percussion Powder, Magnus
Kling, Reading, Pa,

Miscellaneous.

Machine for drying grain, etc., Christian Custer, Philadelphia. — Attaching
wires to bell telegraphs, Henry Hochstrasser, Philadelphia, Pa.— Washing
bottles, Henry N. Degraw, Watervleit, N. Y.— Animal Trap, George Hart,
Granger, Ohio.— Rendering trunks water-tight, Chas. A. Hinckley, Stoning-
ton. Conn.

■r^

%m\\\ lorngn |iib,euti0ns.

Improved Union Gas Stove for Lighting and Heating.
By Geo. Neall, Northampton, Eng.
We have already given our readers to understand that we regard this as one
of the few great points, which, when it is fairly brought out, will be one of the
grand discoveries of the age. Light and heat, by artificial means, are two of
the absolute necessities, and in a sense, the highest luxuries to be offered any
community. We present the following description of Mr. Ncall's invention, as
promising something in itself, but as of still greater value as a suggestion tobe
improved upon. It combines, as will be seen, the stove and the lamp, warming
and lighting by the same apparatus.

Fig. 1 represents the apparatus as resting on a pedestal.
The gas is supposed to be carried up through the center of
the pedestal, a, and through the base or stand of the stove,
6, and through the radial arms, partly shown in dotted lines,
d, e, /; and to these arms (which may be of any convenient
number) the circular rim, cj, r/, is attached, around the out-
side of which a slight fence or rim is formed, which may be
pierced or raised in any ornamental pattern or suitable de-
sign, and within this rim or fence the glass dome, /;, rests.
Tne burners y, /, are fixed perpendicularly to the radial arms,
or they may be inclined inwardly, if desired. In some con-
venient place, at or near the stove, it is necessary to have a
stop-cock for regulating the supply of gas ; the necessity of
this will be hereafter referred to. The shape of the dome
may be varied, but the form herein exhibited is preferred ;
and must be made without any openings or apertures other-
wise than at its base ; and, as a rule, the dome should be
ground or deadened on the outside, which will tend to soften
the effect of the light, and at the same time allow of its being
painted, stained, cut, or otherwise ornamented.

In lighting this union stove and lamp ft is necessary, as a
precaution, to turn on at first but a little gas, (which may be
regulated by means of the stop-cock above referred to,) and
to light all the jets as simultaneously as possible. The small
quantity of gas at first lighted will have the effect of gradu-
ally and uniformly heating the dome, and that done, the gas
may be further turned or increased, as required. This heat-
ing of the dome is effected by the then rarified and heated state of the air

Foreign Inventions.

within it, which has no way of escaping but by being forced down by the
continuous supply tliat is constantly rushing; in around the burners svipporting
the flames, and ascending to the center of the dome, there distributing itself,
and descending close to its interior surface, and escaping beneath the rim, g, g ;
thus there is a continuous stream of heated air continually pouring out under-
neath the rim of the dome, and diffusing itself around the apartment ; and at
the same time that light is emitted through the dome, heat is also thrown off
from the surface of the dome by radiation.

This union stove and lamp may be constructed with or without the reflector,
marked 1% k ; but when that is used, the light is thrown down and diffused
around the floor of the ajuirtincnt ; and this reflector being roughened, ground,
or deadened on its under side, may, like the dome, be painted," stained, cut, or
otherwise ornamented.

The same description of gas stove or lamp may be applied to a bracket sup-
port, suitable for being placed around galleries or walls of churches, chapels, or
such like buildings, where light and heat are required to be generally diffused.
The gas in this instance is conducted through a tube constructed or applied to
the bracket, and thence to the burners ; and around the rim that supports the
dome, glass drops or prisms are suspended, and merely introduced here by way
of ornaments.

Fig. 2 represents a plain view of the rim, radial supports, and burners,/, /;
the eccentric circle, I; I; representing the glass dish or reflector.

The union stove and lamp may also be adapted so as to be suspended from
the ceiling, and may or may not be fitted with a slide and compensating or bal-
ance weights.

Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Stone, etc.
By Frederick Eansojie, Ipswich, Eng.
The discoveries of Hardinge in this country, and of scientific men in Eng-
land, promise much for the next generation, in the economical preparation of
building stone, not inferior to any natural rock, and nearly or quite as cheap as
bricks now are. Mr. Ransome is doing much in this direction.

This invention, as now made known, is applicable to those descriptions of
artificial stone which are compounded with sand, cla}% and other mineral or
earthy substances, together with soluble silica or a soluble silicate; and consists
in adding thereto a substance which will fuse more readily than the sand, and
will run into and fill the pores of the stone, and thus increase its density. The
substances preferred for this purpose are pumice-stone, or a readily fusible
glass. AYhen pumice-stone is employed, it is prepared in the following man-
ner : Take finely-powdered pumice-stone and mix it with a solution of soluble
silica, sp.gr. (1-700,) so as to form a stiff paste capable of being moulded, and
mould it into balls of about one inch in diameter, and fuse it in an ordinary
crucible. When fused, grind it in to a powder and mix with it a solution of silica,
so as again to form a paste. In preparing the artificial stone the ingredients
are mixed with the following proportions, by measure : Siliceous sand 80 parts ;
finely-powdered silica, 10 parts; solution of silica, or what is called silicious
cement, described in the specification of a patent granted to the present
patentee, 22d October, 1844,5 parts, sp. gr. 1-700 ; powdered pipe-clay, 5 parts ;
and pumice-stone, prepared in the way above described, 5 to 10 parts. These
materials arc mixed together and treated in the way described in the specifica-
tion above referred to, and which is now well understood. When a readily
fusible glass is employed in the manufjicture of artificial stone, the glass is pre-
pared by fusing together, in a reverberatory furnace or crucible, the following
materials: Silicate of soda, 100 parts, sp. gr. 1-400; oxide of lead, 100 parts.
And in preparing artificial stone, for the 5 to 10 parts of the prepared fusible
glass, is substituted 5 to 10 parts of the pumice-stone in the mixture before
mentioned.

This invention also consists in a method of rendering artificial or natural

Foreign Inventions. 2^

stone, bricks, and other materials used for building purposes, less liable to
decay. For this purpose the stone or other material is coated or saturated
wholly or superficially with a solution of soluble silicate, and has afterwards
applied to it a solution of chloride of calcium, by which an insoluble silicate of
lime is formed in the body of the stone or other material. In place of a solu-
ble silicate and chloride of calcium, other preparations may be used ; the in-
vention consists in the application, in succession, of two solutions, which, by
mutual decomposition, produce an insoluble substance, which is deposited in
the structure, and on to the surface of the stone or other material. When
a soluble silicate is employed, the patentee takes a solution of silicate of soda
or potash (the sp. gr. of which must depend upon the texture of the stone to
be operated upon, but generally about the s;:i. gr. of l--iOO at ordinary tempera-
tures,) and after having removed from the stone, etc., as much extraneous mat-
ter as is convenient, the solution is applied over the surface of the stone or
other material, with a brush or otherwise, until it has absorbed a sufficiency.
A solution of chloride of calcium is immediately, or as soon after as conve-
nient, applied — taking care to incorporate the two solutions as much as possible
by means of a brush or otherwise. By this application the silica combines
with the lime, forming silicate of lime in the pores and on the surface of the
stone or other material, whilst the chloride, combining with the soda or pot-
ash, forming chloride of sodium or potassium, is readily removed by washing.
When the stone or other material is of a very porous nature, the strength of
the silicate solution may be increased, and one coating will be sufficient ; but if,
on the other hand, the stone or other material is very slightly porous, then the
strength of the silicate solution should be reduced, and several coats should be
laid on. Or, for some descriptions of stone, more particularly sandstones or
freestones, a saturated solution of sulphate of alumina instead of the silicate of
soda or potash is preferred, followed by a solution of baryta ; by which means
a compound precipitate of alumina and baryta is produced. Where convenient,
instead of applying the solutions by means of a brush, the stone or other
material may be immersed in . the several solutions. When desired, the pre-
cipitates can be colored to any tint to suit the stone or other material, by means
of soluble salts of chrome or iron mixed with the solutions employed.

Improvement in Dyeing-.
By Frederic Albert Gatty, Lancashire, Eng.

This invention consists in the use of nitrate of soda, sulphate of soda, chloride
of sodium, sulphate of magnesia, sulphate of lime, and cliloride of calcium in
dyeing cotton with logwood, quercitron bark, Sapan wood, peach wood, Lima
wood, and other dye woods of the same description.

In carrying out this invention, it is found that one pound of either of the
above-named salts, or a mixture of two or more of them, placed in the vat with
fifteen pounds of any of the above-named dye materials, produces a good result ;
the quantity of the salt may, however, be varied, as an excess produces no bad
effect. Instead of mixing the said salts with -the dye materials in the vat, as de-
scribed above, they may be previously mixed with the dye materials. The pro-
cess of dyeing is carried on in the ordinary manner.

Improvement in the Manufacture of Wire Ropes.
By John Fowler, Havering, Essex, Eng.

In the manufacture of wire ropes, instead of having all the wires which are
around the central core of one size or diameter as heretofore, and in place of all
the wires being of iron, one of the wires in each strand is of larger size or diam-
eter than the others, and this larger wire in each strand is made of steel ; hence
each strand of wire will have a spiral ridge around it, and when such strands
are laid together, the projecting ridges of the strands which are outwards rest
on or against any surface on which the rope is moved, and the steel projecting
wires are the ones which are first worn away.

The patentee says : "I have found that about three sizes larger is a conve-

240 Foreign Inventions.

nient size for the larger wires, though I do not confine myself thereto, as the
size may be varied ; and I make such larger wires by preference of steel, in or-
der that they maj' wear better and longer, and preserve the others from wear."

Patent Manure for Vines, etc.
By Ann'e Marie Mack, Paris.

Madam Mace is the widow of Georges Fremont, late of Rue dcs CoUonnes,
and is the patentee of what is called " Fremont's Maniu-c." The " invention"
consists in employing the ashes of wood and charcoal, or coal cinders, or other
similar ashes, combined with human urine, in equal proportions by measure.

The use and purpose of such compost is similar to that of any other artiticial
manure. For vines, it is only requisite to apply to the foot of each stock a com-
pound of about two pints of ashes and two pints of urine. For tilling land the
quantity to be used may differ, according to the quality of the soil to be opera-
ted upon, but the mixture must be in the proportions, or about the proportions,
before named. Such manure destroys a quantity of insects noxious to the pro-
ducts of the soil, and greatly improves the lands submitted to its action.

Transmitting Signals by Musical Sounds.

The France Musicale gives an interesting account of experiments made in
presence of the Emperor of the French when at Plombieres, to test the effi-
ciency of M. Sudre's plan for transmitting signals to the troops of an army or
navy by means of musical sounds. During the Emperor's stay, M. Sudre, the
inventor of what is called telephonie, or the art of transmitting signals and
phrases by sound, had, with his wife, the honor of exhibiting before his
Majesty. Placing himself in the middle of the saloon, he announced that he
would, with his violin, express any phrase his Majesty might please to dictate
to him, in such a manner as to enable Mme. Sudre, who was seated at the further
end of the room, among a group of ladies, to say what it meant. The Emperor
immediately wrote on a piece of paper the words : ^'' Le premier qui fat roifat
un soldat heureux,'^ and M. Sudre produced a few sounds from his violin. Mme.
Sudre immediately rose and repeated the phrase word for word. Another ex-
periment was then made — it consisted in speaking the notes instead of playing
them. The Emperor wrote, ^'■Plombieres est une ville charmante ce soir,^'' and
M. Sudre, after reading the phrase, pronounced, without any intonation of
voice, certain notes. Mme. Sudre at once gave the words correctly. Experi-
ments in telephonie were made. M. Sudre's system reduces the transmission of
signals to three sounds expressed by the trumpet, the drum, or the camion ; or,
in the event of high winds preventing sounds from being heard, to three signs.
The Emperor gave the order, " Construct batteries on the height," and M. Sudre
produced three sounds on the clarion ; Mme. Sudre at once repeated the phrase.
Another order, given by General Espinasse, was repeated by the drum, and
translated instantaneously by the lady. The order, " Let the artillery paralyze
the fire of the enemy's battery," was transmitted by taps on the table, to imi-
tate cannon, and was in like mamner at once repeated by Mme. Sudre. The
Emperor asked if proper names and the names of towns could be transmitted by
the .system, and being answered in the alfirmative, wrote the name of Nabucho-
donosor; some soimcls from the trumpet enabled Mme. Sudre to repeat the
name alouJ. The ICmperor expressed his satisfaction at what he had witnessed.
He then graciously invited Mme. Sudre to sing one or two morccaiix^ after
which his Majesty dismissed her and her husband with marks of his munifi-
cence.

Letters Patent.

We have made arrangements with one of the most experienced and able of the

late examiners in the Patent Office, at Washington, for the transaction of any

business, in that line, committed to us, and we invite all who would apply for

patents to communicate with us. The business shall be done promptly and well .

Scientijie. 241

THE FAMttV OISGIE.

Scientiltt.

Chemistry for the Million.

Having before given the names and a brief description of tlie more abundant ele-
ments in nature, tlie compound resulting from these will next claim our attention.
The figures prefixed denote the proportions of each ingredient and of the comjjound
Thus, read the first ; — 8 lbs. of oxygen, combined with 1 lb. of hydrogen, form 9 lbs.
of water; and so the others, putting "combined with" after the first word in each
line, and the word "form" after the second.
8 OXYGEN 1 HYDROGEN 9 WATER.

Water with other substances forms hydrates, as hydrates of lime, of iron, etc.
16 OXY^GEN 6 CARBON 22 CARBONIC ACID.

Carbonic acid forms Carbonates, as Carbonate of Lime, (chalk, marble, lime-stone,)

Carbonate of Soda (washing soda,) bi-carbonate of soda, (cooking soda) etc.

14 NITROGEN 3 HYDROGEN 17 AMMONIA.

The three compounds above, water, carbonic acid, and ammonia constitute a very

large part of the food of all growing plants. Nothing could grow if deprived

of either of them. Decaying plants and animals are always giving them

off; and living, growing plants are always receiving them.

USES OF WATER IN AGRICULTURE.

The influence of water on rocks, soils, manures — whatever goes to make uj) the
seed bed and standing place of plants — is prodigious.

1, Water is the principal agent in the reduction of rocks to soil. Without it we
can hardly suppose that soil wotild ever have been formed. The whole surface of the
earth, but for its agencies, must have presented, at this moment, one unbroken mass
of rock, with not even a lichen or the smallest stem of moss to variegate its surface.
It is water, by its expansion in freezing, that has split the rocks. By freezing in
large quantity it has removed the cleft fragments from their beds, and often rolled
them down mountain sides, grinding them and other rocks in their fall to powder.
By the freezing of water, icebergs have carried large and small fragments thousands
of miles; and glaciers have rounded them into boulders, or ground them into
minute particles. Running streams have carried down the pulverized rock to form
our fine alluvial soils ; and standing waters, as oceans, seas and lakes, receiving the
fine sediment of streams, have deposited it in the form of outstretched plains or
rolling prairies. Large portions of the Gulf of Mexico probably would need but to
be upheaved, as other portions of the globe undoubtedly have been, to afford as
beautiful plains and prairies as any of our Western States, made up of materials
transported by the agency of water from large portions of North and South Ame-
rica, and enriched by myriads of plants and animals that have perished and left
their remains mingled with the soil.

2. TTie agency of water is constantly improving soils mechanically, Probably no
change, from wet to dry, or the reverse, takes place without meliorating the soil.
It is the opinion of observing farmers that some drouths even are followed by good
effects ; that excessive rains — Avhat we call excessive, perhaps only from ignorance
of what we need — are beneficial also ; and that for the damage of both we are
more than repaid in the after influences on the soil. But however this may be,

242 Scientific.

whether those extremes are essential to tlie best influenees of water on the soil or
not, it is certain that the freezing and tliawing process is of vast benefit. Investi-
gations go to show that the fineness of a soil is among its best qualities. Some
liave gone so for as to say tliat it matters little what a soil consists of, if it is sufR-
cientl}- fine; that the New-England granite soils, if as fine as those of the Ohio
valley, would be as good. This Aiay seem extravagant, and probably is so, yet all
will agree that fineness is a most important quality. Now a December frost, stiffen-
ing the ground for eight, twelve, sixteen inches deep, is a silent, quiet operation,
but it is one in which an immense meclianical power is exerted. By reason of the
expansion of Avater at the point of freezing, particle is made to impinge against par-
ticle, by a slow but irresistible movement, both held as in a vice, and pressed against
each other, till probably more particles in an acre of soil are broken up and divided
into two, five, or a dozen, than could be effected by the labor of a score of men in
a whole summer. Clay soils are rendered less adhesive, and coarse soils (not made
up too much of mere silicious sand, that holds no water,) are rendered finer by
freezing. Throwing them into ridges in autumn to give the frost greater access, is
beneficial.

3. Water improves the soil chemically — manures it. Exhalations from the sea,
from lakes, rivers and ponds, from decaying animal and vegetable matter wherever
found, affluvia from cities, from barn yards and pig-styes, and light, downy particles
of solid matter from thousands of sources, are always ascending into the atmosphere.
The air is the great receptacle of the world's filth. None of us could live long in cities
if it did not lift our bad odors. But the air itself becomes filthy by the operation.
It wants washing. It contains, at times, over such a territory as ours, millions upon
millions of loads of what we maj^ call manure, because it is made up of the very
ingredients which promote plant growth. Water, in the form of rain, washes this
out, and brings it back to the soil, where it is wanted. Every drop of rain deposits
in the soil ammonia, carbonic acid, various organic and some inorganic matters, em-
bracing probably every ingredient required by the growing plant. It is the same
with snow. That snow is the poor man's manure, is no fiction. It is the rich
man's also. Neither could thrive but for wliat the air takes away from cities and
towns, sea and land, and the rains and snows bring back and deposit in the fields.

4. Wafer preserves mamires. All ammoniacal manures, as those of the stable, the
field, the pen, the barn yard, tend to ferment; and if the weather is warm and
they arc not sufficiently moist, they fire-fang, as the farmers say. The expression is
a good one. But what is it to fire-fang? It is to ferment too violently, to become
very hot, to evaporate nearly all the water in a manure heaji, and to send off its
ammonia into that vast receptiele of the atmosphere, not to be lost from the world,
but to be brought back, as before explained, in the rain and snow, some of it per-
chance on the owner's land, but more on other farms within a few thousand miles
of him. It is the province of water to prevent this violent, wasteful fermentation,
which scatters from one tenth to four or five tenths of the value over the wide
world, in the state of invisible gases, and makes it common instead of private
jiroperty.

5. Water enables light soils to retain the manure put upon them. Perhaps a
btrong clay soil would retain the manure commingled with it without tlie aid of
water. A substantial loam might to considerable extent. But a sandy soil (and, by
the way, sandy soils are about as profitable, not as productive , not equally capable,
but about as pofitable, considering their feasibility, as any others) is not sufficiently
retentive to hold the manure till such time as the plants appropriate it to their own

Scientific. 243

growth, without the aid of water. If we could be assured beforehand of a smart
rain twice a week for a whole year, it might be good policy to apply 30 loads ot
manure to a sandy acre and plant corn. So many rains would hold the manure
down — keep it in the soil, instead of letting it go into the air — so that the current
crop would appropriate largely from it, and leave the rest for future crops ; where-
as, in an ordinary season, we should expect less to go into the present crop, little to
be left in the soil, and much to go in the form of ammonia and carbonic acid, into
the air, to be returned in future rains, as much for the benefit of others' crops as of
our own. So much as went into the air would become public property. We sup-
pose that the man who applies 30 loads of manure, in a green state, not composted,
to a sandy acre, before one of our hot dry simimers, contributes some ten dollars
worth to the general productiveness of that region — a tax which the public need
not find fault with, but which he would be slow to pay if he knew what he was
about.

6. Water conveys plaiit food from jilace to jjlace in t/te soil. Liebig says not.
" The smallest particles of nutriment do not change their place in the ground while
the soil retains them," is his language. Ploughing, harrowing, mixing the soil me-
chanically are, according to him, the only means of equalizing the nutriment
throughout the soil. We are sorry to differ with so great an authority. But as
with some German preachers, whose pliilosophy is better than their common sense,
80 we think his chemistry is better than his pliilosophy or common sense either.
He reasons, as we understand him, that because, if you pass brown water from the
barn yard through a few inches of earth, it comes out pure enough to cook one's
breakfast in, therefore no plant food — that which constitutes the impurity of the
water — moves from place to place in the ground. We would ask him whether he
would drink the brown water when he had i:>assed it through one inch of soil. If
he says no, we have the case; for if the plant food, alias the impurities of the water,
pass through one inch, then they move in the soil with the water, and that is all we
claim. With Liebig we believe in ploughing, harrowing, lifting, stirring, mixing
the soil. It can hardly be done too much. But we believe that nature co-works
with the farmer at every step ; that the falling rain helps him to an equal diii'usion of
his manures through the seed bed ; and that the agency of water is of immense
value, not only in equalizing the plant food in the soil, but in carrying it (short dis-
tances of course, and the stronger the soil the shorter the distance) to meet the
roots of plants.

What we have said thus far of the uses of water in agriculture, relates to its
agencies in the formation of soils and the preparation of soils and manures to become
a fit seed bed and standing place for jilants. Of its agencies in the germination of
seeds, in conveying food for the growth of j^lants, and in bringing them to maturity,
we will speak in our next.

The Salt Works at Syracuse.

Your readers may be pleased to learn something about the Salt Works at Syracuse.
From many years residence near them I will ventm'e to say a few words in regard to
them.

The salt-blocks, as they are called, are principally located at Salina, (from saline,)
Syracuse and Geddes, but there are several large blocks at Liverpool, a village four
miles distant from Syracuse. The solar evaporating vats are spread over a large dis-
trict, and occupy, perhaps, over 300 acres of land. The land is reserved by the State
for constructing the vats upon. The season being an unusually wet one in this vicin-

^^^ Scientific.

ity, not much solar salt will be made. It requires a good deal of sunshine to make
solar salt successfully, and the vats should be thoroughly made in order to hold all
the water safely. The.^e vats, to which we have alluded, are so arranged that the
covers can be removed at any time in a few moments, and replaced as soon. In case
of a heavy thunder shower the covers are all shoved over the vats, and in this way no
rain water is admitted into them. The solar salt is very nice for salting butter. Ic is
usually prepared for this purpose by grinding in salt-mills, which do a driving busi-
ness in putting up "fine salt" in small "shilling bags" This solar salt is usually
crystalized, and assumes many queer shapes.

The number of salt-blocks about and in Syracuse is about 305. Each block makes
about 20,000 bushels of salt annually. From this amount to each block, you can easily
calculate that there are nearly G, 000,000 of bushels of salt manufactured at Syracuse
every year. Some of the blocks fall short of 20,000 bushels, but the solar evaporat-
ing vats make up the amount.

The expense of keeping the different works in water is immense. The water is
supphed by the State, and is carried to a large reservoir by huge pump-logs bored out
for the purpose. There must be many miles of these pump-logs, for they reach over
a large territory. The salt water is conducted from the springs to a certain elevation
by force pumps, and then goca into the reservoirs.

The amount of wood that is consumed annually is immense. Wood is getting to
be a scarce commodity here, and demands now at the works from $3 50 to $5 50 per
cord, according to the kind, hard or soft wood. The kettles in the blocks are placed
in long arches, from 20 to 30 kettles occupying each arch. The front kettles boil
salt down the fastest and the hindermost ones boil more moderately.

The " bitterns," as the sediment is called, is thrown out of the kettles, and may be
seen in large quantities near the blocks. Some formers make use of this substance
to put on their lands. I have no experience in its use.

The salt blocks arc rough looking buildings, and will last a great number of years
on account of being pretty well saturated with salt. They present a queer appear-
ance to the stranger, and I should judge emit about a? much smoke and vapor as the
volcanoes of Italy.

When the salt business first started at Salina, some fifty or sixty years ago, wood
was very abundant immediately in the vicinity of the works, but now is principally
boated into the city by scows and wood-boats. It is carried from the banks of the
Oswego, Oneida, and Seneca rivers, and from the Erie and Oswego canals. Some of
it is boated at least forty miles.

The experiment of burning coal in the arches has, I believe, proven a failure. It
burns the grates out too often, and there are other objections to its use which I can
not now make a note of.

" The Citj' of Conventions" (Syracuse) owes its growth and prosperity to the man-
ufacture of salt within its corporate limits. At one period, where the city now stands,
the land was a dense cedar swamp almost impenetrable from any quarter ; but now
the country assumes a different aspect, and is noted for its garden products. So how
easy it is to see what changes these salt springs have made in this growing city.
There has been a good deal of dispute with respect to the qualities of the Ononda-
ga salt compared with that coming from Turk's Island. I am of the opinion that the
Syracuse salt is as good for all purposes as any now in use, but may be prejudiced in
its favor. When it is made right, it is an excellent salt, and meets the approbation of
the butter-making community generally. A great many thousand barrels are shipped
annually to the west by the " Salt Company," the said company binding its members
to give to the manufacturer so much per barrel at the works. The " Salt Company"

Scientific.

245

receive a certain per centage upon each barrel sold, but advance the money to the
manufacturers previous to removing the salt from the blocks, or, at least, the money
is paid in due season. There was a surplus on hand last season which was not dis-
posed of until this year. It is presumed all the salt will be sold in the course of the

coming winter.

I will conclude this article by merely stating that all efforts at boring for the mam
body of salt have proven failures. Large sums of money have been expended in this
direction. It would seem that the great deposit does not lie in this vicinity. There
must be some great subterranean passage by which the salt water finds its way into
the valley of the Onondaga lake, and therefore centuries may pass away ere the
greatfountain of salt is found. Yours, etc., W. Tappan.

Baldwinsville, N. Y., Sept.

THE -WEATHER.

Appearance of Birds, Flowers, etc., in Nichols, Tioga Co., K Y., in August, 185'?.

By E. HoweU.

Place of Observation, 42 degrees North, on a Diluvial Formation, about 40 feet above

the Susquehanna River, and 800 feet above tide, according to the survey

of the New-Yrok and Erie Railroad.

Aug.
1
2
3
4
5

9

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

6 A.M.I P.M.

62 84

55
53
55
65
57
56
61

64

60

61

49

59

68

65

57

62

58

51

51

45

51

56

54

41

44

65

65

64

55

45

81
88
89
68
82
87
91

84

74

77

81

90

92

79

76

84

72

79

73

79

70

72

68

79

81

72

80

73

70

80

9 P.M.
61

58
62
68
58
58
63
68

S.&N. Cloudy
North

West
S. W,

S.East

North

South

North

S.East

S. W.

West

North

60 In. w.

60 S.East
N. E.

54
60
51
52
60
57
45
54
57
62
59
55
50
58

S.&N.
North
South

East
North

South

North
West

Remarks.
Sprinkle of rain in afternoon from north.

Light rain in the evening.
Fog in the morning.

Shower went south at 6 P.M. Liglitning in

evening. Hard shower 11 P.M.
Oats ripe.
Light sprinkle of rain during the day. Hard

rain in the evening.
Fall cricket first heard in the evening.
Few drops of rain in the morning.
Light sprinkle in the afternoon.
Light sprinkle at 11 A.M.
Corn in the field large enough for eating.
Light rain before light; short shower at sun-
[rise ; two hard showers in P.M.
Light rain in afternoon ; hard rain in evening.
Potatoes found to be rotting very fsist.

Light sprinkle of rain in P.M. Hard S. wind.
Light rain before light ; number of squalls in
Light drizzling rain at sunrise. [P.M.

Harvest apples about ripe.

[and evening.
Light mist of rain in A.M. Hard rain in P.M.
Hard rain all night. Light sprinkle in morn-
Light shower in" the afternoon. [ing.
Wild blackberries generally ripe.

Christianity and Science.

PROFESSor Joseph Henry, the distinguished head of the Sniithsonian Institute, tes-
tifies that he knows but one man among the scientific men of the United States who
is an infidel.

246 Domestic.

il 0 m n t i r .

Chinese Sugar-Cane in Massachusetts.

Joel Lake, the Topsfiold nurseryman, has sent the juice of the sugarcane, ot this
year's growth, to the Boston Journal otfice. -The seed was phmted June 1st, and the
stocks are now thirteen feet high. There is considerable of the cane growing along
the upper route to Boston, in Top.-ficld and Danvers, and it has done better there
than here. The best that we have heard of in this city was planted in May and is
not yet eleven feet high. The yielding of the sap, in Mr. Lake's experiments, is
1200 gallons to the acre, and he reduced it to 100 gallons of syrup. The experiment-
ers are becoming more confident that this cane will be a profitable crop. It stands
drought and frost better than corn. We notice that several hundred barrels of this
molasses has already been received at New-Orleans, and it may be possible that in
these parts it will not be less profitable than the maple groves. — Newburyport
Herald.

Fresh Milk.

The Journal of Commerce mentions a new discovery of Gail Borden — who has
become somewhat distinguished for his various inventions for the preservation of
human food — by which famihes in cities can be supplied with the pure arlicle, without
the adulteration of chalk or other admixtures. This fluid also suffei-s no deterioration
from a long voyage.

Mr. Borden's process is simple. It evaporates 'ZoO of the 840 parts of water in all
milk, afl determined by chemistry, and leaves as a residuum, a thick paste, which can
at any time be reconverted into milk by restoring the water. One tea-spoonful of the
condensed substance to four of pure water will make rich country milk, precisely as
it comes from the cow, while one to five will produce a richer compound than is often
sold in cities. The addition of one or two parts of water makes a rich cream.

Mr. Borden has established a condenser (capable of reducing five thousand quarts
per day) in Litchfield county, one of the richest grazing districts in Connecticut,
where the unadulterated article can be bought for two cents a quart. The heat is
applied under a covered kettle, from which the air is c-ihausted and the water is thus
evaporated. The]reraainder is brought to market. It will be sold in New- York at
about 32 cents a quart. This will bring'the cost, when restored, by the addition of
four times its bulk of water, to sixpence a quart. If any one wishes to use cheaper
milk, he has only to add another quart of water. The milk trade of New-York is
stated by the Journal to amount to over $1,000,000 per year. That of Boston must
exceed §1,000,000 per year; and if Mr. I3orden's invention will really accomplish
what is contended for it, it is of no slight importance to housekeepers in this city.

Soup, Beef Tea, Mutton Broth, etc.

I.v the preparation of these, our object is the reverse of that which has been previ-
ously considered. We desire to take the nutritive and savory principles out of the
meat, to a liquid extract of meat, in the form of soup, broth, or tea, the flesh is finely
chopped and placed in cold water, which is then slowly heated and kept boiling for a
few minutes, when it is strained and pressed. In this manner we obtain the very
strongest and best flavored soup which can bo made from flesh. Liebig says, " When
one pound of lean beef, free of fat, and separated from the bones, in the finely-
divided state in which it is used for beef-sausages or mince meat is uniformly mixed
with its own weight of cold water, slowly heated to boiling, and the liquid after
boiling briskly for a minute or two, is strained through a towel from the coagulated
albumen and fibrin, now become hard and horny, we obtain an equal weight of the
most aromatic soup, of such strength as can not be obtained, even by boiling for
hours, from a piece of flesh." To make the best article it is desirable not to boil it
long, as the effect is to coagulate and render insoluble that which was extracted by
cold water, and which should have remained dissolved in the soup. It is obvious,
from what has been said, that a piece of meat introduced undivided into boiling
water merely thickens and apparently enriches the soup. This is effected by the
gelatin, which is gradually extracted from the tissucs,bones and other parts, but in a

Domestic. 247

nutritive point of view, this ingredient is a fiction, as will be shown in the proper
place. Soup-making is a kind of analysis of alimentary sub-atances used iu its pre-
paration— a part is taken and a residue usually rejected. Yet it is clear that we shall
have the completest nourishment by taking both parts, as the fibi-e of meat and the
softened beans and peas of their respective soups.

Preserving Green Corn for Winter Use.

One of the greatest luxuries of the table, both in summer and winter, is the sugar
or s-weet corn. To our taste all other varieties of corn to eat green, are worthless
compared with it. Our method is to keep a constant supply, by successive plant-
ings, from June to the period of frost, making the largest planting about the first of
July, with an early variety, for drying for winter. This matures usually in Septem-
ber, which is the best season for drying. Our method is this : — When there is pro-
mise of a fair day, early in the morning the corn is gathered — such only as is well
filled. It is then husked, put into boiling water, and allowed to remain eight or
ten minutes. It is then taken out and immediately cut from the cobs with a sharp
knife, and spread on a clean sheet upon a roof or scaffold inclining to the south. It
should be stirred once or twice during the day, and by night it Avill become so dry
as to bo past danger of injury. It should be covered during the night to keep off
the dew, and exposed again for two or three days to the sun, when, if the weather
is fair, it will usually be perfectly dry, and may then be put into a keg and headed
tight, or hung up in a firm linen bag for use.

"We have recently eaten corn of the common kind, preserved by a new and easier
method, which seemed to be as tender, with all the sweetness and freshness of flavor
that it had when first gathered, and may answer equally well in preserving the
sweet corn, which we regard as the only variety worth preserving.

It is simply gathered and boiled in the usual manner, fit for the table. It is then
cut from the cob and packed in a tight keg or jar, (wood is said to be best,) in alter-
nate layers of salt sufficient to preserve it. Some, in the i:>lace of salt, apply a strong
brine. When wanted for use, it is soaked in fair water, which must be changed, to
remove the excess of salt, and then boiled, adding butter or cream and a little sugar
to suit the taste. — Louisville Journal.

Lightning Eods for SMpping.

An invention of Dr. Cushman, of Wisconsin ; being made of four copper wires, by
a new process which we are not familiar enough with to explain. The conductor has
the appearance of a rope, being put in such form by machinery got up for that pur-
pose, which presses or compacts the wires into form, making a beautiful rope, which
is intended to be a permanent conductor, forming a backstay or a part of the rigging,
passing into a copper plate, which is attached to the ship or vessel in such a manner
that it is entirely out of the way ; the rope having sufficient power of expansion and
contraction to render it pliable and easy tathe vessel; the plates being attached in
such a way as to be at all times in contact with the water, thus maldng an un-
broken conductor from the top of the mast to the water, being a cheap and rehable
protection. Every vessel of any importance upon our lakes should have one or more
of them. The different insurance companies would do well to attend to this matter.

Smith & Co. are the manufacturers of this new rope, who have a house at Cleve-
land, Chicago, Waukegan, 111. ; and Racina, Wis. — Western Paper.

Vermont Horses in the West.

In our report of the State Fair it will be seen that Chas. Semple, of St. Louis, took
with him to his western home, a stallion and a pair of matched mares. The num-
ber and value of horses annually sent to the Western States would surprise one
unacquainted with the extent of these transactions.

Dr. Richard F. Barrett, of St. Louis, who has been boarding at the Lawrence
Water Cure in this village for a few months past, recently shipped for that city eleven
valuable Morgan mares, all animals of the best blood and action. They will make a
desirable acquisition to the stock of that region. — Vermont Phoenix.

Love of God.

It has been beautifully said that man's love to God is only an echo called forth by
the divine voice. " We love him because he first loved us."

248 Domestic.

Healthy Food.

In regard to diet, a plentiful use of ripe fruit should be indulged in. Every family
should have the table constantly supplied with baked apples. Cooked in this way
their preparation for the table gives but little trouble to the housewife, and anything
that lessens her labor is particularly desirable. For supper we wont no better meal
than good light bread and rich country milk, accompanied with a plate of good baked
apples. And especially for a children's supper, notbing can surpass it. A plenty of
stewed tomatoes as an accojnpanimeut for breakfast and dinner is also excellent. —
Ag. Press.

Hints to Farmers.

Toads are the best protection of cabbage against lice.

Plants, when drooping, are revived by a few grains of camphor.

Pears arc generally improved by grafting on the mountain ash.

Sulphur is valuable in preserving grapes, etc., from insects.

Lard never spoils in warm weather, if it is cooked enough in trying out.

In feeding corn, sixty pounds ground go as far as one hundred pounds in the
kernel.

Corn meal should never be ground very fine, it injures the richness of it.

Turnips of small size have double the nutritious matter that large ones have.

Rats and other vermin are kept away from grain by sprinkling of garlic when
packing the sheaves.

Moneys expended in drying land, by draining or otherwise, will be returned with
ample interest.

To cure scratches on a horse, wash their legs with warm soap suds, and then with
beef brine. Two applications will euro the worst case.

Timber, when cut in the spring, and exposed to the weather with the bark on,
decays much sooner than if cut in the fall.

Wild onions may be destroyed by^ cultivating corn, j)lowing and leaving the corn
in the plowed state all winter. — Ex.

Tobacco Poison.

The French poet, Santeuill, was killed by a little snuff being thrown into his wine
glass at the Prince of Conde's table. Bocarmy, of Belgium, was murdered in two
minutes and a half by a little nicotine, or alkali, of tobacco. Dr. Twitchell believes
that sudden deaths and tobacco arc found together, and he sustains this opinion by
an array of facts altogether conclusive. Tlie names of scores of men can be given,
who were found dead in their beds, or fell dead in the streets or elsewhere ; who had
been the victims of this poison.

The Gapes in Chickens.

A correspondent says: " Tell those of your readers who are interested in raising
chickens, that a small pinch of gunpowder, given to a chicken with the gapes, will
effect a sure and complete cure in from one to three hours time, and leave poor chick
healthy and hearty."

Remedy for Diarrhoea.

The following is said to be \(^vy eificacious:

Take a handful of strawberry leaves and pour on them halfapintof boiling water ;
let it remain one hour and drink the tea. If you can not get boiling water, chew
and swallow the juice. This is a most valuable and efficient remedy. It rarely
fails to give immediate relief, and performs a permanent cure.

Poisoning Mice-

Take one fourth oz. powdered mix vomica: half pint common boiling peas; sim-
mer them with as much water as will jjrevent their burning, for half an hour, and
take them off. When any person sows his peas, let him add one third of the pois-
oned ones to what he intends to sow, and throw them together in the same drills. —
Horticulturist.

Domestic 249

Defective Religion.

A RELiGiox that never suffices to govern a man, will never suffice to save him ; that
which does not sufficiently distinguish one from a wicked world, will never distinguish
him from a perishing world. — Howe.

l^ " The press, the pulpit— and petticoats — the three ruling powers of the day.
The first spreads knowledge, the second spreads morals, and the last spreads con-
siderably."

p^ To give brilliancy to the eyes, shut them early at night and open them early
in the morning; let the mind be constantly intent on the acquisition of human
knowledge, or the exercise of benevolent feelings. This will scarcely ever fail to
impart to the eyes an intelligent and amiable expression.

^° Max feels yearnings which nothing here can satisfy, entertains hopes which
on this side of the grave never can be realized, forms designs which by reason of
the shortness of his mortal existence can not be accomplished.

JJ^ Life, properly speaking, is progress, for we commence our pilgrimage here,
but only commence it ; all nature is in a state of development, and man above all
things.

1^" The hog disease has appeared on the farms near Minerva, Mason county and
one in Fleming county. One farmer in the latter lost 300 hogs.

^^ To carry a Collins steamer from New-York to Liverpool requires eight hun-
dred tons of coal, enough to keep an ordinary family forty years.

|^° In 1745 hoops were worn as large as now. Sir Robert Strange, fleeing from
pursuit after the battle of Culloden, was concealed in the crisis of his trouble by a
young lady, who offered to shelter him under the ample folds of her petticoat. To
this strange proposal, considering all circumstances, it is not strange that he assen
ted, and here he remained undiscovered. Either love or gratitude suggested the
sequel, and they were subsequently married,

t^= It is estimated that the decline of the market values of Railroad Stocks in the
last three months, amount to an aggregate of $60,000,000. This immense sum is lost
by somebody to be gaiued by somebody else, for the railroads are worth as much
now as three months ago, all for a restless, ambitious, unprincipled spirit, that won't
work, and must live out of somebody, no matter who, and grow rich.

|^° A PARTY of ladies, who were proceeding to bathe in a beautiful cove at Gene-
va, Wis., discovered a young farmer in a thicket watching them, and gavehim a
sound beating in the hazel-bushes in which he was hid. Served the sneak right.
So says Prentice of the Louisville Journal, and who will dispute him?
(J^^ The man who thought he could learn to make boots by drinking "sherry
cobblers," has just issued a work in which he attempts to prove that by eating hops
you will acquire a knowledge of waltzing. Queer old customer !

^^ If we could read the secret history of our enemies we_ should find in each
man's life, sorrow and suft'ering enough to disarm all our hostility.

l^ In the affairs of life, activity is to be preferred to dignity ; and practical energy
and dispatch, to premeditated composure and reserve.

1^ Louisiana promises 300,000 hogsheads of sugar against less than one-third of
that amount last year; Cuba will come up to tlie full limit of her past production,
if she does not surpass it, under the tumults of the late high prices. Brazil shows
no falling oft'; Mauritius continues the ratio of increasing production that has doub-
led her crop in seven years, and it is doubtful whether India will not yield as large
a supply as ever.

Ij^" The hoop question, like most others, has two sides to it. The ladies take the
inside, and of course we must take the other.

'^^ " The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars.
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
J^" A PRETTY pair of eyes the best mirror to shave by. " Yes," replied a bache
lor, on reading the above, "many a man has been shaved by them."

250 Children^i Page.

CbiUrcu's ^agc.

Well, chil<iivn, here we are again, at tho eml of aiiotlior month. To lis it has
l)oeu a very short oue. We hope it has with you.

But with us there is a draw-back — one wliich you hanlly need feel, but which we
can not help feeling sensibly — for we have been inquiring, within, what we have
done this month, and really we can not make out a very large history of good things
done.

Uncle John — you may call us so if you like — is at an age when half a century has
gone (how long that seems to j'ou,) and when something is to be done, and done
pretty soon, if ever. You are at an age when there is less for you to do, and more
to learn. Nevertheless, there is something for you to do, as we will show.

We have much to do ; you have much to learn. While we strive to do something.
you must strive to become something ; yes, to become something — to be good and
USEFUL, and perhaps great. The last i? not of nuich consequence, and then it is
pretty sure to come, if you attend to the first two. To be good and to do good, is the
text on which we want to give you a bit of a lay sermon for children.

Like the rest, we must have some divisions. Thoy used to have about thirty long
ones. Three short ones are enough for those times ; 1, to be good ; 2, to do good ;
3, to show that both are about one and the same thing, since persons that are really
good are very apt to be showing it by kind and civil actions, and those that are
bad generally show it by unkind, uncivil, selfish and dishonest acts.

I. To be good. — God is good beyond all others. In order to be good we must be
like him. What an idea for children, and yet these children can begin to compre-
hend it. Thej' understand that "God is love;" that is, that he loves other beings
who are capable of happiness and of misery, and that he delights to sec all happy.
Now you can not be like God in his greatness and his power. The greatest man
living can not. But you can cherish a kind, loving disposition, and that is the
greatest step which any mortal has ever taken towards being truly good.

Next to God, your parents are your examples. They love you. They wish you
to be happy. When thej' grant your requests, it is because they love and desire
your happiness. If they ever deny you, it is because they are unable to grant what
you ask, or because they see that it would not really be well for you. That is a
beautiful arrangement by which children, while they yet know little of the Avorld
and have almost every thing yet to learn, are placed under tlie direction of others
who have been longer in the world, who know more of its dangers, and who have
a parent's lieart to love and care for them ; and if j-ou will strive to be as kind and
affectionate to one another and to every bodj' as your mother is to you, you will
liardly fail of having an example calculated to advance you in goodness.

Among others whom you know, j'ou will see some who seem to delight in vexing
the children, getting awaj' their play-things, disappointing them, making them and
every body else unhappy. We suppose you do not like such. Well, then do not
be like them. And you will see others who arc always saying a kind thing, re-
membering to bring presents for the children, and seeming to delight in making all
around them happy. The more you try to be like these the better.

II. To do good. — Here again, God is our first example. You can not be like him
to create worlds, to govern them, to make his sun shine, to open the beautiful flow-
ers, to mature the luscious fruits. No, no ; nor can all the kings and queens of the
earth. But you cau make somebody very happy or very unhappy. Think of it.

Children'' s Page. 251

If you had a large, blushing peach, and should bi-eak it open, and give your little .
sister half, she would be happy. If you had two such peaches, and should insist
upon eating both, while your little brother was looking on, he would be unhappy.
The veriest child can create happiness, or destroy it. Your father may seem to you
a stern man, quite beyond your reach ; but we will answer for it, he is happier
when you meet him affectionately than when he sees you sour ; when he sees you
kind and obedient to your mother than when he sees you pouting ; when he sees you
generous and noble hearted than when he sees you mean and selfish. 0, yes ! and
your mother is happier, and your brothers and sisters, and all about you.

III. "When we see persons always saying and doing kind things, striving to do
right always, and often doing a little more than could be absolutely demanded, we
are apt to form a high opinion of them. True, we can not see their heart ; but we
gee the streams that are always flowing from it, and we see that they are good. If
we see them" saying and doing unkind things, excessively careful not to do more
than could absolutely be demanded of them, the inside goodness becomes doubtful,
because the streams are not remarkably good, and these are all we can see.

Children, you have but just began life. Take advice of those who have seen the
woidd longer than you have. Your parents are your best friends, your safest ad-
visers. If we tell you any thing different from what they do, believe them, not
us. But we rather think they will agree with us, when we tell j-ou that the more
you try to be good and to do good, the more kindness and love you will meet from
others, and the happier you Avill be.

Answer to Cluestions in Last.

One boy replies that a shower of one inch average would give on an acre 214 Ions
and 600 lbs, of water; on a square mile, 73,180 tons and 1600 lbs.; on a township
of fifty square miles, 3,659,040 tonsj on a coxmty forty miles square, ll*? ,089,280
tons ; and on a State of 50,000 sqiiare miles, enough to fill a canal twenty-five feet
wide and four feet deep, for 220,000 miles, long enough to reach about nine times
around tlie arlobe.

Decision.

" I don't see why you do not like them. They are a good fit, and the best boots
we have in the store. Them's a good fit."

The above words were addressed by a storekeeper to a customer, evidently a
farmer, who was examining a pair of boots with a view of purchasing, and who,
when the clerk had finished his sentence, regarded him sternly for a moment, and
then said firmly, " Are you buying those boots, or am I 'C " You are, I suppose,
said the person addressed, a little nettled. " Well sir," said the farmer, "/ know
what kind of goods I want without any of your assistance, /say these boots don't
suit me. If you have others show them, and if not I will go where they are to be
had, and I don't think I shall take you along to tell me what I want .'"

There was decision. Some 2:ieople will go to a shop to purchase goods, and in
stead of depending upon their own judgment, allow the seller to force things upon
ihem which they do not want, and frequently become dissatisfied with their pur-
chase before they leave the store. Manifest decision in everything. 0. A G.

Take what you Give.

What do we often drop, yet never etoop to pick up ? A hint.

252 Booh Notices^ etc.

oak Maticcs, M c,

Tut: Illustrated Family Gymnasium, containing the most improved methods of
applvincf Gymnastic, Calistlienic, Kincsipathic, and Vocal exorcises to Ihc develop-
ment of the Uodily Organs, the Invigoration of their Functions, the Preservation
of Health, and the cure of Diseases and Deformities ; witii numerous illustrations ;
By R. T. Trail, M.D. P'onler & Wells, publishers, 308 Broadway, New-York. 1857.
What a title page! and yet it describes but what the author has earnestly attempled,
and we think has ably accomplished, viz., to furnish an ample range of illustrations
for the attainment, by the cheapest and simplest means, within every one's reach, of
freedom from deformity, health, strength, agility, beauty, and long life.

We have no more to say of the book. Of its object we would speak in terms to be
heard from New-Brunswick to Mexico, if our voice was strong enough to be heard
so far. Americans, you arc missing it. By spitting life away in chewing, or
smoking yourselves to skeletons, or snuffing spoilt tobacco and hurtful aromatics; by
absorbing poisoned liquors, instead of stickling for good, or drinking none ; by a rest-
less, figitting ambition to be suddenly rich ; by your love of votes and a reckless hurry
to be shabby politicians, instead of being honest business men ; above all by dis-
qualif>ing yourselves by these and other vices in early life for being the parents of
sound, healthy offspring, you are sinning at a rate that none but the thoughtful and
far-seeing can realize, against the health of posterity and the future greatness and
happiness of our country.

This is a heavy charge, but too many of us deserve it. We are not as conserva-
tive of health as we ought to be, and we arc far less observant of the influence of
our own doings, of our virtues and our vices, upon the destinies of our race, than
becomes an intelligent people. That "the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon
the children," jy/tysifaWy, is too evident to doubt. It is written in the Bible ; but we
need not go to the Bible to learn it. It is extant, patent, wide open every where — is
seen wherever the human race is seen. Every man and woman, whose conjugal life
is not yet achieved, ought to see it, feel it, and abstain from foolish and hurtful indul-
gences, from higher considerations than any that affects the welfare of any one
being. Young man, let alone that tobacco ; throw away j'Our cigar; flee from adul-
terated liquors — and you can hardly get any other these days — as if all the evil spirits
in the universe were after you. The groggery will spoil you, and the greatest fear is,
that it will not spoil you soon enough to prevent your leaving a spoilt image of your
spoilt self behind you.

The physical in our being, whether relating to our own health, or the untold evils
of a half spoilt parentage on posterity, or the training of children with the first and
ever constant care to make them hale, sound men and women, is too much neglected.
Encourage in your boys manly exercises. Work them ; yes, work them. If you are
rich as Crcsus, no matter. Give them something, occasionally at least, in the way of
employment, that they may have the high enjoyment of feeling that they arc useful,
helping somebodj-, doing good. It is the best feeling any mortal ever enjoyed. Why
should rich men's sons be deprived of it? And then your daughters — are they up in
the early morning? do the garden walks feel their nimble feet? do the roses blush
less beautiful by the comparison of lips and checks tinted by morning zephyrs ; are
they helping their mother, when that is needful ? are they learning to make hoe-cake
and hasty-pudding, supawn, mush, whatever you call it? yes and pound cake, break-
fast cake, pics for dinner, poor-man's cake, rich-man's cake, and all the rest ? and

Book Notices, etc. 253

more, are they learning the luxury of doing good ? When you lay out and adorn
your grounds arc the wife and daughters out, exercising an exquisite, womanly taste,
counting on the efiect of that tree you are setting when full grown, seeing how this
winding path sorts with that straight fence, and reckoning where luscious fruits may
combine utility with beauty. Or if their hands, a little softer perhaps than yours,
should seize the proper implement and round off an unseemly prominence, what harm
would be done ? And where is the old side-saddle that your daughter's grand-
mother used to ride on ? Have the rats eaten it, and have you got no other ?

But perhaps we say too much. We would not be always talking in this strain if it
were not a matter of prime importance. The fact is, we want that some of the old
American blood should survive all the onslaughts of foreigners. But it never wiU,
unless we cherish good habits and educate our children to be hale, stout, physically
able men and women. And wUl this spoil them intellectually ? Will it hurt them as
ladies and gentlemen '? V¥ill it dwarf them morally ? Reader, you know better. It
does not take a frail helpless thing to make a lady. It does'nt take a weak, shamble-
legged thing to make a gentleman. And surely it does not require an imbecile, in
body, to make a giant in mind. A sound body is the substratum of all intellectual
greatness, not a hindrance, but a help to all that is intellectually and morally great
and good.

Sorgho and Imphee, the Chinese and African Sugar Canes By Henry S. Olcott, Esq.
A. 0. Moore, 140 Fulton street, publisher. New-York. 1857.

This work contains 350 pages, 12mo, and treats of the origin, varieties, and culture
of these two plants, which it is hoped will prove of immense value to our country.
The prominent topics are, " Their value as a forage crop, the manufecture of sugar,
alcohol, syrup, wines, beer, cider, vinegar, starch, and dye stuffs ; "with a paper by
L. Wray, Esq., of CeftVasia, and a description of the patented process for crystaUzing
the juice of the Imphee. It promises a great amount of information, specially valua-
ble at the present time ; and from a cursory perusal of the work, but more especially
from what we know of the author's zeal and abiHty, we are sure its promises are weU
redeemed. The work is published in the best style of the firm whence it emanates,
which is saying much for its typography and style of execution. As stated in our
last, we will forward this volume, prepaid, on the receipt of the publisher's price, $1.

E. N. Wade's Music Store, Boston.— We can not forget our old friends in our re-
gard for more recent ones. Wade's music store is one of the best in Boston, and
his publications are numerous and valuable. Some of his recent issues of sheet
music are very beautiful. The Fisherman's Cottage, by Weiss, words by Long-
fellow, and in his volume of poems they are thought worthy of a beautiful illustra-
tion. " May guardian angels hover o'er thee," is another beautiful ballad, music
by Frank Remer. " Soft and gentle twilight," by Lindley, is also beautiful.

White Lies, part 2d, by Charles Reade, published by Ticknor &, Fields, is on our
table. The plot thickens, and the interest of the story much increased. Four
parts complete the story.

United States Agricultural Fair at Louisville, Ky.

MARSHAL P. -WaLDER, PRESIDENT.

This Fair came off on the 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th of September. By the glowing ac-
counts in the papers of Louisville, we are justified in the conclusion that there was
a tivic, and a good one too. The weather was most propitious. The heavens smiled,
the breezes fanned, and even the hotel-keepers didn't swindle the thousands assembled.

234 Boole Notices^ etc.

aflcr doin!^ all they could, more than they could comfortably, to provide for them.

As this Fair was held a thousand miles from us just at the time we were going to
press with our September issue, we could then publisli nothing from it ; and now
what would have been news at that time, is a month old. We must content our
selves, therefore, with barely stating that so fixr as we can learn, the indications
were highh' favorable, alike honorable to the society, and encouraging to all wlio
wi:=h iox our country a higher agricultural condition.

Men Y,-ho arc doing so much as some of these Ohio, and Kentucky and other
Western farmers, for the improvement of horses, horned cattle, sheep and swine,
ought to enjoy a wide spread and lasting fome. They are doing what will greatly
benefit our generation, and redound to the good of generations to come. Their
names ought to be blazoned by the press; their stock should be advertised gratui-
tously ; and we are glad to sec that the daily and weekly press has done its duty.

Had our October issue been nearer the time of the sliow, we would have copied
the eatire list of premiums awarded, and that with a view to benefit the receivers,
both by contributing to a well earned fame, and by making their business known.
But at this time it hardly seems Avorth while to exclude other matter fur what the
dailies and weeklies have done so well.

ITorwicli Route— The Commonwealtli.

Though we know the high reputation of the boats of the Korwich route, we had
never experienced the comfort of a trip in the Commonwealth till within the last
month. It is a beautiful as well as an immense structure. Iler length is three
hundred and eighty feet, and her other dimensions are proportioned, and her frame
so firm that she moves through the water with remai-kable ease. Her births are
admirable, and her state-rooms uncommonly desirable. Her engine is counted as a
sixteen hundred horse-power.

Testimonials.

A GENTLEMAN of great practical skill in agricultm'c, and thoroughly versed in those
sciences which throw light upon the soil and its cultivation, says :

'• In this periodical is found a pleasing variety of mat'icr pertaining both, to agricul-
ture and the mechanic arts ; a combination of thought and interest that never should,
and never can be, with propriety, separated; and while these two are caused to go
hand in hand, the great field of science is not left unexplored."

"Among the many pariodicals upon the subjects of agriculture, science and art, I
consider this among the foremost, and take great plcasm-c in commending it to favor-
able notice." — J. Bernard, Prof, of Mincralorfy, Geology, and Botany, in the Ohio
Agricultural College.

This is beyond all comparison the most valuable Agricultural work published in the
United States. Every farmer who wishes to keep himself properly posted in his pro-
fession, will do well to become a subscriber for this important and truly valuable work.
— Geneva (iV. Y.) Courier.

The price of tliis oxcelleut Farmers' Magazine has been reduced to $2 a year, with
ao diminution in the quantity or value of its contents. It is, in fact, one of the very
best agricultural monthlies published. — Independent Republican.

It has the impress of talent, research, and industry on every page, and while it has
these, it is courteous and true to sections as well aa individuals. — New-England
Farmer.

This periodical will distance anything in its peculiar province published in America.
— Genesee Argus.

Markets. 255

New- York Mai-kets.

[From the N. Y. Times, Sept. 26.]

Tlie Produce Markets have been very much injured by the pressure for money
during tlic past Aveck. The receipts of the leading articles were on a pretty large
scale, and receivers were anxious sellers. These circumstances worked against any
prominent improvement. Yet, Breadstuffs were freely dealt in, especially by ex-
porters, whose orders could be executed as prices here fell within their limits. This
export movement led to an advance in freights, the shipping accommodation having
been inadequate to the requirements of the trade. Towards the close, favorable
news was received from Europe, which stimulated the demand for grain for export
at rising prices, chiefly for Wheat and Corn. Oats were very freely offered at much
reduced quotations, ye"t they were lightly dealt in. Advices from the principal n;ar-
kets of the interior report heavy arrivals and limited sales of Oats, prices generally
leaning in favor of purchasers. Rye and Barley were plentier and cheaper, with a
moderate inquiry for each.

TUE COTTON CROl'.

Cotton has been lightly dealt in throughout the week at nominally unchanged
quotations. The reported sales do not exceed a daily average of 500 bales. The
export movement from first hands continues. The total exports from this port since
the 1st inst. reach 5,3G8 bales, against 5,639 bales same period last year. Our available
stock is now but 6,645 bales, against 25,213 bales this time last year. The receipts
at all the shipping ports to latest dates this season, which commenced with the 1st
inst., have been 7,324 bales, against 38,961 bales to the corresponding period of last
season. The total exports from the United States, so far this season, have been 6,149
bales, against 8,694 bales to the same date last season. The total stock on hand and
on shipboard in all the shipping ports at the latest dates was 2*7,648 bales, against
61,118 bales at the same time last year. The stock in the interior towns at the latest
dates was 5,353 bales, against 3,993 bales at the corresponding dates a year ago.

Poultry is active at former prices.

Potatoes— Junes, ^ bbl $2 00 o$2 25 Turnips— Flat, <(3 bb! % 50 a 75

Potatoes— Mercer, ^ bbl 2 75 a 8 25 Pumpkins— Yankee, ^ 100 4 00 o 6 00

Potatoes— Dykeman, ^ bbl 2 50 a 2 75 Pumpliins— Cheese, ^ 100 5 00 a 6 00

Potatoes— Peach Blow, ^ bbl 2 50 a 2 75 Squashes— Marrow, ^ bbl 1 25 a 1 50

Potatoes— Sweet, Va., ^ bbl 2 50 a 2 75 String Beans— ^ basket 3T a 50

Potatoes— Sweet, Delaware, ^ bbl 3 00 « 3 25 Beans— Lima, ^ bushel 50 a 62

Onions— Rareripes, %? 100 strings 3 00 a 8 50|Corn--Sweet, ^ 100 50 a 't5

Onions— Eed, ^ bbl I S5 o 1 50|Corn— Common, ^ 100 ears 50 o 70

Onions— White, ^ bbl 1 75 a 3 00 Cabbages— ^ 100 1 00 a 3 50

Onions— Yellow, ^ bbl I 75 a 2 OO^Cauliflower- ^ doz 87 a 1 00

Beets— ^ 100 bunches 1 00 a 2 00 Kohl Rabi— ^ 100 bunches 2 50 a 8 00

Carrots— ^ 100 bunches 2 00 « 3 OOJ Egg Plants— f doz 50 o 62

Parsnips— ^ doz. bunches 87 a 44,Leeks— ^ 100 2 50 a 3 00

Blackberries— Lawton,^ 100 q.b's... 25 00 a — jOkra— flOO 20 a 25

Whortleberries—^ bushel 1 50 a 2 00, Celery— ^ dox 75 a 1 00

Cranberries-^ bbl S 50 a 9 00 Garlic— ^ 100 7 00 a —

Chickory— f 100 75 o 1 OOjPeppers— ^ 1(0 37 a 50

Cucumbers— Pickles, ^ ItOO 2 00 « 2 SO'Butter- Orange ('o.,pails,^ fi) 25 a 28

Tomatoes— 5tp basket 25 a 37!Butter— State, ^ B> 21 a 2S

Apples— Common, ^ bbl 1 50 a 2 00, Ohio and other Western States, ^ fi). 14 a 18

Apples— Table, f} bbl 8 00 a 4 OOXard— In bbls I5ia 16i

Apples— Fall Pippins, ^ bbl 3 00 a 5 0O|Lard— Kegs 16 a 16J

Pears— Cooking, ^ bbl 2 50 a S (0 Cheese— ^ fi> 8 a 10

Pears— Seckel, ^ bbl 5 00 a 8 00 Eggs— Fresh, State, |9 doz 15 a —

Pears- Common, ^ bbl 1 50 a 2 00 Eggs— Western, ^ doz 16 a 12

Pears— Bartlett, ^ bbl 12 00 al6 dO Fowls— ^ pair 88 a 1 00

Peaches— Jersey, ^ basket 1 .50 a 2 50 Chickens— Roast, ^ pair 63 a 1 00

Peaches — Delaware, ^ basket 1 75 a 2 25 Chickens — Broileis, @. pair 50 a CM

Peaches— Extra, ^ basket 2 50 a 8 00

Plums— Damsons, ?p bushel 8 50 a 4 00

Plums— Peach, ^ bushel 3 00 a —

Plums— Egg, # bushel 4 50 a 5 00

Grapes— Fox, ^ E> 6 a 7

Watermelons— Prime Jersey, ^ 100.. 15 00 a25 00

Ducks— ^ pair 75 a 1

Turkeys— #fi) 20 a 22

Turkeys— Spring 88 a 1 25

Geese— Each 1 00 a I 50

Pigeons— Squab, ^ doz 1 50 a 1 63

Pigeons— Wild, ^ doz 63 a 75

Watermelons— Common, ^ 100 2 00 a 4 00| Woodcocks— ^ doz 3 7.5 a 4 50

Nutmeg Melons— Common, ^ bbl .50 a 75iReed Birds— ^ doz 81a 88

Nutmeg Melons— Primes 1 25 a 1 75' Plover— Grass, ^ doz 2 50 a 3 00

Turnips -Rutabagas, f bbl 1 25 a 1 50! Roasting Pigs 1 75 .» % fi

256 Markets.

REMARKS ON THE BEEF MARKET.

A cool, coniforfaljle day favored the outdoor transactions of the cattle market,
■which was mucii more lively than last Wednesday, although higher prices were
only obtained upon the verj' few droves of good stock. There is always a demand for
fine, fat cattle, of moderate size, no matter hoAV abundantly the market is supplied
with common and poorer grades. This class was especially in demand to-day.
There were quite enough light, thin steers and cows, with a sprinkling of coarse
oxen and stags. We call the market Je.rt^c. higher on a few of the prime cattle, but
no better on the majority of very Common stock, a part of whicli was left over from
last week. The numbers at Allerton's were 3,472 for to-day, and 2,722 for the
week. Last week the corrc?jionding numbers were 3.230 and 3,464, showing a fall-
ing off of about 750 head. The footings give 3,685 as the weekly sales at all the
markets, which is more than the general average of last week. Butchers had bought
quite freely at Bergen and the city markets, which, with a good supply, laid in last
Wednesday, in a measure curtailed their wants to-day, so that the yards were barely
cleared at night. About 600 cattle were either purchased at Buffalo and Albany
for the Brighton market, or tJiken there by owners, and some 500 or 600 head were
sent into the country from those points as store cattle.

MILCH cows WITH CALVES.

Milch Cows are sold at each of the above yards, usually loith their calvca at their
sides. The prices vary somewhat with the supply and the demand, and vary great-
ly, of course, upon the milking value. The particular fancy of the buyer "has also
considerable to do with the price. Not unfrequently a Cow is sold at $90a$100 or
even $120. The general price throughout the year for ordinary Cows is $30 to $40
or $50. Quite a number sell above $50, and more, perhaps, below thirty. We often
6ee apologies for Cows go at $20a|25. The weekly reports from the different yards
will give the weekly fluctuations. There is scarcely any variation in prices, or the
market generally, since our last report. Quite enough are offering for the present
demand, which has increased of late.

VEAL CALVES.

Veal Calves are sold by live weight, each animal being weighed alive at the time
of sale. " Bobs," that is. Calves a few days old, are usually sold by the head at such
prices as can be agreed upon, sometimes for but little more than the skin is w'orth.
Tlie markets have been well supplied the past week, the receipts being 150 in excess
of the preceding week. Pi-ices remain unchanged, with a little more briskness in
the market.

SHEEP AND LAMBS.

These are chiefly sold at Allerton's, Browning's? and Chauberlin's, at so much
per head for a particular lot of Sheep or Lambs, or of the two together. They are
also frequently sold by live weight, as this is readily ascertained. The actual prices
at the different yards seldom vary greatly. The difference in reputed prices is gen-
erally due to variation in the quality. When thoy are sold by weight, it is usually
the net weight, which is ordinarily one-half what they weigh when alive, the pelt
and offal making the other half. If fat and small-boned, they will dress 55 lbs. and
in some cases 60 lbs. per hundred. The average run is about one half of the live
weight. Afalling oft' of 1,300 head of live Sheep from last week's footings, is about
made up by arrivals of dead Sheep from Albany. Prices are a little firmer, and
an advance may be quoted on good stock.

These are sold alive at so much per lb. gross or live weight. Considerable num-
bers are sold at Allerton's, Forty-fourth street, and at various other yards, while
large droves are sold direct from the ears or boats, and driven immediately to the
various slaughter-houses. Receipts have been moderate, being about 2,200 from all
Bources. One lot of fat Hogs, on their way to this market, were wholesaled at
Albany, at 7ic. This is the highest market price today.

AMBHiOAM unmn^'

Vol. X.

NOVEMBER, 1857.

No. 5.

Bivision of Labor.

At a, recent fair of the " Hanipsliire, Hampden, and Franklin Agri-
culture Society," held at Northampton, Mass., the orator of the day
Ex-Governor Everett, illustrated this subject by comparing Massa-
chusetts now with what she was half a century ago ; " Then," said he,
" agriculture was almost the only element of our domestic industry.
There were then only 15 cotton mills in the country, and not one
item in ten now contained in our industrial statistics had an existence.
Now we can show a million of dollars of our productive industry for
every day in the year."

And so the workers of Massachusetts are paid a million a day for
the toil of heads and hands. What a pity that her statistics do not
run back fifty years. But we venture to say that they would show
an annual industry of less than one-twentieth of the present. Think
of the whole population grubbing among rocks and boulders, not more
than half a million acres in the whole State fit to cultivate without
costly improvements, and no capital to make improvements with ;
tliink of a glut of agricultural produce at that, everybody having a
little of that commodity and nothing else to sell, and nobody wishing
to buy it, because all grubbed for themselves in that time, and if they
got any money, paid it for foreign productions ; think of a farmer car-
rying his veal twenty miles to a little country town, selling it for 2^
cents a pound, and taking slazy India cotton at 5 cents a yard for pay ;
(we have seen that done withm much less than fifty years ;) think of
the whole wealth of the State, consisting at that time of old brown
school-houses, that could but just stand alone, in churches so ugly that
the evil spirits certainly would not trouble the worshipers unless they

VOL. X. 9

258 Division of Labor.

are devoid of all taste for architectural beauty, in agricultural imple-
ments that ^vouId make any decent horse laugh if he should see them
now-a-days, and in land that, as things then were, was better to emi-
grate//-o?;i than to immigrate to ; and you have a pretty good view of
Avhat Massachusetts was fifty years ago.

Her people toiled prodigiously, and got little for it. Still they toil.
It is their nature. Soil, cUmate, education, every conceivable influ-
ence, all conspire to make them work. But the difference is that
now they get something for it. They earn a million a day. And
what has made this change ? Manufactures. Not that manufactur-
ing labor is better paid than agricultural, but that agricultural labor
is better rewarded Avhen manuflicturing is carried on in its neighbor-
hood. In our humble opinion Massachusetts, and we ought to know
something about her, is naturally the worst State in this Union for
agricultural purposes. On the whole, we do not believe there is an-
other spot on the globe, M'here, till the last fifty years, the people toiled
as hard and got as little for it. The little, which the people scattered
over the 5,000,000 hard acres of the State, earned in a summer, the
Boston merchants were sure to take before the next spring. Enough
was retained this side the Atlantic to make a few prince merchants in
Boston, and the rest went to Europe to pay for doorlocks which
wouldn't keep a rogue out, and sometimes wouldn't lot the o\TOcr in,
for lo"' chains that wanted tinkering amazingly often, and for cotton
shirting that wouldn't keep afelloxo warm, nor always cover his naked-
ness very long.

Commerce had every thing in its own way, and its way was to take
to itself about all the earnings of the people. Their system was es-
sentially the free-trade system, and it cursed the people. They
worked twice as hard as any planter in the Union would dare or wish
to work his slaves, and for it had the pleasure of seeing the Boston
merchant and the English manufacturer grow rich at their expense.
Now the people of that State earn a million a day, and it does not
([uite all go straight to Boston, and thence to England.

Free trade principles, if fully carried out, would reduce the whole
American people, spite of exhaustless resources, to just the position
of Massachusetts people fifty years ago, all working at one calling, and
all working more for the benefit of middle men than their own. That
plaguey Indian cotton — the e2)ithet is none too harsh — it makes us
feel as if all the bed-bugs in creation were biting, to think of it — came
to us by a very round-about course, just as conmierce would like to
have every thing come, that there may be a great many freights and
a heap of profits.

Let us see how it worked. The girl in India that span and wove

Division of Labor. 259

it, probably got one cent a yard for her work ; the peddler who helped
it along to Calcutta may have sold it there for two cents. The Cal-
cutta merchant shipped at four cents, and the London merchant gave
it a cant Americanwards at eight cts. The Boston merchant made on it
just what he chose ; the country merchant ditto, and the hard-work-
ing fai-mer paid fifty cts., and i:>aid in agricultural produce dog cheap.
For what the worker at one end got one cent, the worker at the other
paid fifty, and half a dozen princely fortunes were being built up by
the way.

That is free trade, nothing more nor less ; no fancy sketch. It is
just what was going on in Massachusetts less than fifty years ago,
when the people couldn't earn a million a day, nor keep but the small-
est fraction of what they did earn. If the majority want that state
of things again, we must have it. The mighty resources of the
country can not save us from it. You may shout " free trade" tilli
you are hoarse, but if you will have it you are done for ; mineral and
agricultural resources never will be developed profitably by a nation
that spurns manufictures. History has written this with a pen of
iron. Theories about its being cheaper to buy than to make ar® idle
nonsense in the presence of such testimony. The nation that pays its
gold, or even its agricultural produce to any great extent for foreign
manufactures, is doomed in advance, must be poor, however rich her
soil or teeming her mines. Agriculture and manufactures, hand hi
hand, will enrich a state as poor in soil and mines as Massachusetts
was fifty years ago, having nothing but ice and granite to export.
Agriculture Avithout manufactures, be the soil and mines ever so deep,
or mountains of ore piled ever so high, will impoverish. Despise
manufactures,- let them languish and die among you, depend upon the
industry of another country, or another State even, and that moment
you give yourself over to a spirit of commerce, that never has treated
and never will treat the worker in the soil fliirly — a spirit that loves
better to malce money than to earn it, and that will be very contented
if the Indian girl gets a cent for her cloth, for which the consumer
pays 50 cents, provided it can pocket the difference. Our mothers
fancied that the Indian cotton was nicer than the homespun linens of
their day, because they paid a great deal for it ; and we are not yet
so much wiser than our ancestors, that we may not do as foolish
things.

Let free trade have its way, and such a tornado as now sweeps over
the land, cursing city and hamlet, making the poor poorer, and with
some hateful exceptions the rich no richer, and destined to fall heavily
upon all the true workers, will sweep over us once in ten or twelve

Hard Times.

years, and in each case the longer it delays, the more withering force
will it acquire to expend upon us.

On the other hand, let us have a revenue taritV, fully adequate to
the wants of the government, Avith sometlquig to spare for the high
purposes of national education and general improvements ; let it dis-
criminate slightly in favor of articles which advancing art among us
would now enable us to produce Avith a little protection against half-
paid labor abroad ; and the sun never yet shown on such a country as
ours will be fifty years hence. The history of Masssachusests for the
last fifty years will be the history of the whole country for the next
fifty, only that the half has not yet been told.

If Massachusetts, with a proper division of labor, from being what
she was, has become what she is, what may not States a hundred fold
richer in soils, and a thousand times richer in mines, become vmder
the influence of alike system. We have no wish to glorify Massa-
chusetts. She has faults enough, everybody knows. Uut we M'ould
hold her up to the gaze of the nation, in one point of view, and that
is her union of manufactures with agriculture. Why, fifty years ago,
all Massachusetts out of Boston, that is about half of the State — Bos-
ton being at that time the biggest half— could have been bought for
four-aud-sixpence, but for a childish attachment of the people to their
own rocky hill tops and swampy dells. Then the workers could earn
little and keep nothing. Xow they earn a milUon a day, one dollar
for every man, woman, and child, and keep a part of it. Then it was
a blessed State to emigrate from. Now it would, not be a bad State
to immigrate to. Despite the hardness of the soil, agricultural capi-
tal pays as high a per cent., and agricultural labor receives as good a
reward in that same little Massachusetts as in any other State in the
Union ; and from being the worst State, agriculturally considered,
she is destined in another fifty years to be as good as any other. — Ed.

Hard Times.

No wonder. We have been importing half of all that we need, and
more that we do not need, time out of mind, and the only wonder is
that we have had hard times no sooner.

Such a system of governmental encouragement to American labor
as James K. Polk commended when seeking the presidency, such as
Zachary Taylor approved while on his way to that high office, and
such as Henry Clay sighed for to the last day of life — a system by
which Americans would pay Americans mostly for Avhat they eat,
drink and wear, instead of buying of foreigners, and which, while se-
curing an ample revenue, should incidentally protect such branches of

Hard Times. 261

industry as can be about as well prosecuted in this country as any
other, but can not be inaugurated solely by private enterprise unaided
— would have prevented all -this.

Under such a system, every man, woman and child, not too feeble
or too proud to work, would have had employment. Nobody would
have been out of work ; nobody out of money. There would have
been to-day more workers and less speculators, fewer merchants and
better, and a great many more honest men. It may seem boastful,
but it is true nevertheless, that if the doctrines advocated by this
Journal from its commencement had been heeded by the nation, there
would be no revulsion, no prostration of credit, no loss of confidence —
these ten banks failed yesterday, sixteen more gone to-day, all the
rest going over, would not have been ringing in our ears, as they are.
But, government and people, we have been acting like madmen — have
sown the wind and are now reaping the whirlwind — and it is just
about good enough for us. If the virtuous, industrious poor, those
who have done as much to create our wealth as any others, but have
not been sharp enough (how we hate the term) to get their part, were
not going to suffei", we should hardly care for the rest.

Oh, but here is a rich merchant gone do^vn ! " He was worth eight
millions." An honest man, who pursues a useful calling intelligently
is worth more than eight millions. He is not to be estimated in dol-
lars and cents. But the possession of eight nullions, or one million,
as the result of a few years' trade, is no certain proof that the holder
is a richer man than the rest of us in any decent sense of that term.
It comes much nearer proving that he is a greater thief. But here
we are in the midst of a mighty crash ; and if it turns out that the Shy-
lock over his bags of gold is a god to be sought to in trouble, but
sought to in vain, and the merchant who has stimulated our folly by
his display of foreign silks and laces is more pitied than the real suffer-
ers, it will be but the old thing over. Our abominably inflated credit
system gives the sharpers untold advantages over the honest worker,
and if the jDresent crash makes us more cautious of gassy inflations it
will not be without its good effects.

The fact is we have bought too much and manufactured too little.
It is not true that if we buy a handkerchief for a belle in Broadway
at $100, and pay for it in wheat at $1 a bushel, we are no poorer for
it. Enough such exchanges would ruin the richest nation on the globe.
Much less is it true that if we pay for gewgaws in California gold, we
are no poorer for it. We are poorer at least by the amount that the
gold diggers would have earned in other employments. If you build
a substantial barn, worth $2500, the nation is richer by that sum ; but
if you were to dig gold the while, and then exchange it for what only

262 Hard Times.

gratifies the mawkish folly of wislung to have something which other
peoitle as good as yourself can not get, who is the richer for it ?^or
who the better ? Nor is it true that if we purchase the real substan-
tials of life and of national wealth and comfort, we arc no worse off,
even if we pay for them in our own produce. The producers of the
two countries are too far from the consumer. They are, , it is true,
producers and consumers to each other, and so lar so good, but are
too far apart. Too many freights and quite too many profits are be-
tween.

Suppose England should make our ploughs and we should jiay her
in corn. Would that be good policy ? Would the plougli-maker get
more for his work ? Would the corn-grower get more for his corn ?
or would the intervening freights and profits take something out of
both ? TIic latter unquestionably, and it is so with everything. Com-
merce is necessary only because not all climes produce all that is de-
sirable. It is good only as it promotes necessary exchanges, and .is
evil whenever it induces mmecessary exchanges, as if the English
plough-maker and the American corn-grower should exchange com-
modities at arms' length instead of each trading with his own neigh-
bors. The interests of both producer and consumer are safer in their
own hands, whenever and wherever they cSn be brought together,
than in middle hands. Commerce is always a toll upon the results of
labor, paid by the producer, or consumer, or both. When necessary,
by reason of the remoteness of these parties, it is to be submitted to
as a necessary evil. But the sober matter of fact is, that more than
half the so-called commerce of this age, is a made up affair for the
benefit of somebody between the producer and the consumer. We
not only trade too much with foreign nations, but we trade too much,
or rather employ others to trade too much for us, among ourselves.
Too many of us are practising to live by buying and selling, and not
enough by producing. AYe prefer a big slice of what others have
earned to earning something ourselves, to live by our wits rather than
by our energies, to be sharp rather than industrious.

Now if the Congress at its next session, will lay aside its party
bickerings for once, and consider what is due to the farmers and me-
chanics of this country in the way of legitimate protection to Ameri-
can industry, it can hardly fail to take a mighty step towards the pre-
vention of such crashes as the present. In perfect consistency Avith
our republican institutions, and with the eternal laws of right and
justice between man and man, state and state, section and section,
American industry may be fostered instead of being crushed, and we
may become an independent nation in place of being as now the most
dependent, with more wants, real or imaginary, that we can not our-
selves supply, than any other people under heaven.

Middle Men. 263

Autl if Congress will do its duty, let the people do theirs. Let about
500,000 of the runners, drummers, agents of all sorts and sizes, who
are steaming people up to buy what they do not need and to sell what
they ought not to part with, and swap away Avhat they should keep,
go to work. We see more every day, who are teasing for a place,
where they can run up and down for a paltry commission, without
hardening the inside of their hands, to whom we want to say, " Go
into the woods, cut down a tree, hew it into some useful form and do
the world some good; or let yourself to a son of Vulcan and learn to
be a blacksmith ; or to a son of Ceres and learn to be a farmer ; or to
some other master of an honorable calling, and learn to be indepen-
dent, instead of hanging upon others for their shillmgs.

And then, if we can learn to work, it is more likely than not we
shall learn not to spend so foolishly for what other nations manufac-
ture. Here in New- York is a merchant (there are thousands such)
who is sharp y yes, very sharp, sharp as a razor, sharp enough to cut
all that come near him ; prides himself upon bemg shreicd ; shrewd
is the term ; he is not talented, but shrewd ; and he has made a quar-
ter of a million smce the last " burst up" before the present. His sons
are fast learning to' be spendthrifts. His wife and daughters don't
work, could'nt make a loaf of bread or a pie, nor order either made
Avithout an extra house-keeper to run between them and the Irish girls,
who know more than both of them. They know how to sport foreign
goods uj) and down Broadway, and that is about all. So we go —
sweep our streets with amazmgly expensive brooms, and no wonder
there is a crisis, for surely the disease could'nt " get" much worse and
the patient live.

Aye, if the government will favor American industry and the peo-
ple will be industrious, and not senseless spendthrifts, we shall get on
))etter. — Ed.

FOR TUE AMEKICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

"Middle Men."

Messrs. Editors : — I have read Mr. Spencer's article in the October
number of the American Farmers' Magazine, and your comments
thereon. It seems to me a great mistake to attribute the exploitation
of the producer and the consumer by the merchant to the rascality
of individual merchants. The difficulty, I aj^prehend, will be found
inherent in the entire system of exchanges — in the relation which ex-
ists between the producer and the exchanger.

Let us inquire a little into this, and try to throw some light upon
this darkened subject. To go back for a moment to first principles, I

264 Middle Men.

hold it to be an axiom, self-evident, needing no proof, that labor is
the only legitimate source of wealth. "Whoever produces, is entitled
to the product ; this right of course carries with it certain duties,
which we all recognize, but which it does not come within the scope
of my present purpose to discuss.

But the fact is that the accumulations of wealth constituting capital
are found, not in the hands of the producer, but in those of a class
called by various names, merchant, banker, speculator, etc., who de-
vote themselves to the busmess of acciumdat'mg the wealth produced
by others. These accumulators generally act, directly or indirectly, as
distributors and exchangers of products, and contrive while so doing
to retain in their possession a very considerable part of the articles
exchanged. This per centage of other people's property which they
are thus enabled to obtain, is called their profits, and under the dis-
guise of that little word all the wrong is eifected. How do they make
their profits ? By buymg cheaj^ and selling dear, by thus getting a
real for a fictitious value. And just so long as the producer sells his
products to the merchant, just so long will the evil continue. It is
necessary that there shoiild be some mediation between the producer
and the consumer, since society is too complicated to make it possible
or desirable that the farmer should make his own tools, houses, cloth-
ino-, and other necessaries or luxuries, or that he should directly ex-
change his products himself. For performing the labor required in
making these exchanges the exchanger should receive a just and libe-
ral compensation and no more. He should act as the servant of the
producer and the consumer, exchanging for their benefit the goods of
one for an equal cost of the goods of another, but not buying on his
own account or owning any of the goods he exchanges. As certainly
as the trader buys and owns the goods he will manage to get more
than a fair compensation for his labor.

This business of PROFITS, that is, of gambling, or getting something
for nothing, also leads to the evil of ten men bemg employed in mak-
ing exchanges where one or two would be ample to do all the neces-
sary work. If there were no profits to be made, only compensation
to be received for lahor, no more would be anxious to go into that
business than could find actual work needed to be done.

Whereas now, the producer has to support at least five (more likely
ten) times as many exchangers and spoliators as would be necessary
for the transaction of the busmess, who rush mto it hoping to accumu-
late wealth without producing it, or to Hve better than their neigh-
bors with less labor. Brain work is honorable and entitled to fair pay
when usefully directed, as for example, to secure the proper adapta-

3Ianures and their Amplication. 265

tion of supply to demand for the good of all; but brain work di-
rected simply to making profits is not honorable.

If farmers then wish to enjoy the results of their labors, they should
employ exchangers to sell their products for their benefit. • They
should not undertake to sell their own goods to a " middle man," who
in turn is to sell them for his benefit at the largest advance he can
get, and who, devoting his whole energies to the business of buying
and selling, is sure to be more than a match in sharpness for the
farmer.

I know it is not easy to efiect a complete and thorough refoi'm in the
whole system of trade — it is not possible to do it at once. In the first
place farmers must take the pains to study the relations of man to
man, must endeavor to ascertain what constitutes equity in exchanges,
then the first step will be taken toward practically realizing justice.
I know the difficulty of finding those who love equity enough to be
willing to act for the producer, without trying to spoliate him, and
who are both capable and honest ; but there are those. The demand
will never be long without the supply ; that is a law of God. I have
only given hints where volumes may be, and have been written, but if
it leads any to search for the law of justice or equity between man
and man, I shall be satisfied. F. S. Cabot.

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

Manures, and their General Application.

The present is the season when farmers in general, and good far-
mers in particular, scrape up and remove all manures, and give them
immediate application in top-dressing, or pile it for future use. How fiir
either of the above ways of disposing of it, are pursued mth the strict
economy of good husbandry, we shall not attempt to decide. Our ob-
ject, just now, is to tell of a course we have for several years adopted,
and which we have found productive of very good results.

Our manure for next year's corn crop. — This is made up of such as
remained and accumulated in the barn-yard through the summer, and
is composed of the droppings of the animals and such other material
as comes to hand for the purpose. We draw it to the ground where it
is to be used the following year in September, and make it into a pile
as nearly conical as possible. The object of this is, to keep it compact,
and in a shape to shed rain, an object we consider as important in a
manure-stack as in a hay-stack. In building our manure heap we have
plaster at hand, and every three or four loads, (cords) we spread a
coat of plaster over the whole, and when the stack is finished we give
it a covering of plaster of the eighth of an inch in thickness, and here

266 Drainage.

wc leave it until spring, to find it in a beautiful conditiou at i>lanting
time, for putting under the bill.

For top-dressing meadows, wc spread the same kinds of manure
evenly upon the surface, as near as we can before the fall rains, at the
rate of four or five cords i)cr acre. We then give a coat of plaster at
the rate of fifty pounds (it looks small in quantity) per acre, in this
case the two ingredients act together, arc actually worth more than
double the quantity of cither would be if used separate.

The foregoing system of preparing and applying manures we have
found to be a decided imjjrovement. We believe it is generally admit-
ted that the action of plaster (gypsum) is greatest on newly stocked or
recently manured lands. This being so, the more the manure and
plaster are incorporated the more each will help the other, and the
greater benefits will result. When they are spread and sown on grass
lands at the same time, then their action must be in close connection,
and if i)ut on M'hcn the rains of autimm come into their aid their eflect
will be early and strongly marked in the coming spring.

We might carry our experience one stej) further. When manures
are to be apj^lied as toi>dressings, on grass lands, the quantity may
be greatly increased without any material diminution of quality, by
composting muck, or indeed almo.st any absorbent soil in the pi'opor-
tion of one half. Indeed, wc have top-dressed by simply takmg earth
from the way-side, often removing the thin sod, and sj^reading it over
meadow, in the same proj^ortion we would other manures. If its fer-
tilizing j^roperties were not so great as guano, it possessed this quality,
— it covered the exposed roots of grass and furnished them soil in
which to throw new fibres and of course contributed to a more abun-
dant future growth. Where manures are scarce, it is certainly worth
trying. Yours truly, Wm. Bacon.

RicuiiOND Oct. 4, 1857.

Improvement of Land by Brainage.

In every State in the Union are larger or smaller extents of land,
imfit for cultivation and injurious to health by reason of stagnant
water. Smce 1849 the general government has ceded to the States
some 50,000,000 of acres of swamp-land, with the idea that the States
in which these lands lie might devise means for their reclamation to
agricultural purposes, or at least take mea.sures to abate their evil in-
fluences on the health of the people.

Over the whole Union, on the sea-coast, along the margin of rivers,
on the steps of hill-sides, in mountain glens, in valleys and on flats,
there are wet lauds, useless for agriculture and injurious to health,

Drainage. 267

Avhich are destined, beyond all question, to be reclaimed and to be-
come the most productive and the most beautiful and healthy portions
of the country. In this view the subject of drainage becomes one of
great and general interest — of great interest because of the vast
amount, productiveness and wealth involved, and of general interest,
because nearly every land-holder has, directly, a work to do and a
benefit to receive in this line, while, indirectly, all are to be benefitted
by the increased productiveness and healthfulness of the country.

Lands requiring drainage may be divided into uplands and swamps,
calling those uplands, M-ithout reference to actual height, whose sur-
face is free of water, and those swamps whose surface is inundated a
considerable part or the whole of the year. In this view of the subject
we find uplands on the very sea-shore and swamp lands on mountain
tops. When uplands require draining it is generally owing to an im-
pervious subsoil alone, there being no want of an outfall for the water,
nor higher lands aroimd to prevent passing off freely.

On the drainage of uplands we propose to speak now, and on the
reclamation of swamps at another time. But does upland require
drainage ? On this point we quote from the report of the committee
on draining of the New-York State Agricultural Society for 1848.
They say: "There is not one farm in seventy-five, in this State, but
needs draining — yes, much draining — to bring it into high cultiva-
tion." They say further, " It will be conceded that no farmer ever
raised a good crop of grain on wet ground, or on a field where pools
of water become masses of ice in winter." The late Mr. Delafield said,
" No man ever raised good Avheat from a wet or moist subsoil." On
land not prepared by underdraining, farmmg becomes too much a
matter of chance, a sort of lottery in which you draw a prize if the
season is just right for your land, but a blank if it is not ; whereas if,
instead of waiting for a season right for your land, you make your
land right for any season, by plowing to a good depth and under-
draining where necessary, then there are no blanks in the case. Every
year returns you a crop, and farming becomes a matter, not of chance,
but of calculation.

It is now as settled a point that depth of pulverized soil, so under-
drained by nature or art, that no water M'ill remain stagnant in it, is a
security against injury from severe drouths, as that it is a guarantee
against the bad influence of excessive rains. One foot of pulverized
soil on a porous subsoil, whether the subsoil be such by nature or be
made such by drainage, is as good an insurance against injury, to any
great extent, from too much or too little rain, as any farmer ought to
ask. If the subsoil is naturally so porous that no water will stand in
it — a point easily decided by digging three or four feet after a long

268 I>rainage.

rain — then the flirmer Las nothing to do but to mellow the surface for
a foot in depth and to enrich it properly, to he more certain of a crop,
be the season what it may, than we ever are that the banks, which
give us their promises to pay, will redeem them ; and forming becomes
the surest business in which capital and labor can be invested. But
if the subsoil, owing to clay, rock, or hard-jjan, be impervious to wa-
ter, it is just as unwise to keep on trying to cultivate it, without
first preparing it for cultivation, as it would be to mow all day with a
dull scythe, instead of first grinding it in the morning, and then grind-
ing it as often as necessary through the day. Why grind the scythe ?
Is there not labor enough without this ? Yes, but if you add the labor
of grindhig, your labor will avail you more as a whole. And just so
it is with the labor of under-draining. If the subsoil is impervious
the labor of under-draining, added to that of cultivating, will be more
surely and better paid, as a whole, than that of cultivating without
under-draining.

Under-draining deepeyis the soil, greatly increasing the amount of
vegetable food that is made available to plants. It alloios of a more
thorough ^pulverization, thereby increasing the amount of soil with
which the roots will come into contact. It alloios the water to circu-
late more freely, to sink readily, and to be drawn upward again by ca-
pillary attraction as evaporation from the surface goes on, thus charg-
ing it with the soluble matters in the soil, to be brought to the roots
by it, as plant food. It j^revents surface washing, and thereby retains
in the soil plant food that would otherwise be carried off, and preserves
the field from being gullied into rude, unseemly forms. Streams of
water should never be seen running' from the barn-yard ; because they
carry off the strength of the manure ; and for a like reason they should
not be seen running from a richly- cultivated field. They dissolve and
carry away the strength of the surface soil. It lengthens the season,
making the ground warm earlier, keeping it Avarm all summer, for-
warding the crojis, and delaying in some small degree the autumn
frosts, or if not actually delaying them, at least making them later
relatively with the ripening of the crops. It prevents freezing out in
winter, toarms the soil in spring and summer, and tnaJces the crops ear-
lier owX of the way of frost in autumn. Every one of these assertions
could be backed up by sound, philosophical reasoning, if there were
space ; and what is more, every one of them, without exception, is sus-
tained by the oft-related experience of the very best farmers in this
and other countries.

But supposing that all who are not hopelessly behind the times are
now convinced of the benefits of under-draining, let us inquire after

Drainage. 269

the best means, confining ourselves for the present to uplands, and
leaving the reclamation of swamps for another occasion.

A stone drain, sides eight inches apart, with flat stones over them,
making a culvert of about eight inches square, and then covered sev-
eral inches deep with small stones, and filled above with earth, is a
pretty good drain, and will operate well for a long time, provided the
bottom be brought to a perfect grade before laying it, and provided
also that no vermin be allowed to burrow about it and expose it to
sudden gushes of water. But there are too many provisos and too
many uncertainties for so expensive a drain — the most expensive, we
believe, that has ever yet been proposed. It is one which we would
recommend only in a case where there are round and flat stones in
abundance for the culvert and pebbles for the filling up, all within a
stone's throw of the ditch. This is an expensive drain for two reasons :
1. In order to lay it well the ditch has to be very wide, quite to the
bottom, nearly doubling the labor of excavation above that of exca-
vating for a tile drain. 2. The handUng of such an amount of stones
is ex23ressive of labor. We would never resort to this mode of con-
structing a drain, unless we were willing to charge about all the labor
of handlmg the stones to surfiice improvements in the immediate
neighborhood of the drain. The carrying of so many stones a consid-
erable distance would be hardly better policy than " carrying coals to
ISTewcastle."

A pretty good drain is constructed by digging from three to four
feet deep, filHng up two feet with small stones, dumped in from the
cart at random, and then covering with straw, bark, shavings, or salt
hay, and filling to the surface with earth. Where a good fall can
be obtained, and the adjacent grounds are full of pebbles to be
got rid of at almost any expense of labor, it might be recommended.
We would prefer this drain, on the whole, as costing less, and if right-
ly done, quite as reliable. The stones should be small, only from the
size of a hen's q^^ to that of an ostrich, larger ones, if any, to be
broken. In this case the ditch may be narrower. Six inches at the
bottom would do well. Care should be taken so to even the stones
that the earth will not fall in around them, and the bottom of the
drain, pre\dously to filling in with stones, should be brought very
nearly to a regular grade, with a uniform descent from the upper end
to the outfall. Indeed no drain which has not a very nearly uniform
descent, can be relied upon to carry water long ; for the steep runs
will be very sure to lodge obstructions in those less steep, till the
whole becomes inefiective.

Brush drains are better than nothing, and pretty effective and dur-
able if made in the best manner, and may be recommended where

2V0 J>rainage.

there are no stones to be disposed of, and the tiles can not be obtained
without great expense for transportation. If resorted to, tlie butts of
the brush should be laid upward, the work to be commenced at the
outfall, after the manner of shingling, from the eaves upward, each
l)u-5h drawn in a little as compared with the last, till the whole is fin-
ished, the ditch to be nearly filled, as they would settle on being cov-
ered with earth, to allow room for the plow above them.

Filling with poles laid parallel with each other ; with rails, two laid
a little apart, and a wide one over them, or if rail timber is so plenty
as to be worth but little, six or eight rails thrown in at random and
covered with earth, makes a tolerably good drain. Wo have seen
such working well after many years, and we have often heard of their
answering a good purpose for a quarter of a century or more, but we
could not I'ecommend them. It is manifest that a drain constructed
of wood, in any form, whether of brush, poles, or sjjlit timber, would
be more durable in cold grass-lauds than in cultivated fields, because
in the latter the air penetrates more freely, the soil becomes warmer,
and the brush or timber would decay sooner. But we doubt whether
it is good policy to construct such drains m any soil, unless where
timber is a drug, stones scarce, and tiles can not be transported with-
out great expense, and even then the farmer might be led to inquire
whether he might not better procure a machine and make his own tiles.

Three strips of board, say four inches wide, nailed together in a trian-
gular form, the ends fastened by nailing to a shorter strip, so as to
be kept firmly in place, that the ends might match perfectly, would
carry water well for a while, and if laid deeply in a cold soil would
last many years. But we should think that there are few sections
where true policy would permit the construction of such drains. " Cir-
cumstances," we know, " alter cases ;" and every man is the best
judge of the circumstances in his own case.

Where cii'cumstances peculiar to a location, such as abundance of
round and flat stones, that want to be sunk into a culvert drain to get
rid of them ; of pebble stones to be disposed of in a cheaj) way, as in
a fiUed-in stone drain; of brush at hand, already cut, or to be cut in
order to clear the land of them ; or of timber so plenty as to be of
little account — with these and perhaps some other exceptions, which
may now escape us — the best way is, beyond all controversy, to lay
the best tile drains, and in the long run it is the cheapest and pays
best to lay them in the best possible manner. Let the excavations be
from 3 to 4 feet deep, and if you set your own judgment at work, in-
stea<l of waiting for some one to tell empyrically, to an inch, how deep
to go, we think your drains will turn up nearer 4 than 3 feet ; or if
you bring the bottom to nearly an exact grade, which we would urge,

Drainage. 271

because Ave believe an uneven grade, now steep and then nearly level,
to be tlie bane of all draining, it will happen that your drains will
vary all the Avay from three to four feet, and in quite uneven surfaces,
perhaps in some extreme points two and a half to five feet.

The sole tile is the best ; that is, the tile which has the bottom or
sole attached, moulded in . one piece. Some have used collars. The
collar is but a short piece of a larger tile, say 4 inches long when the
tile itself is about 13 inches, so made that the ends of two tiles, at the
place of joining, slide into the collar, and are held by it exactly end
to end, so as not to be liable to be displaced in covering, or ever after
to get out of place, by any possible heaving of the ground. In laying
the tiles, even if collars are used, and especially if they are not, be
careful to make them firm in their places, the ground under them to
be made equally hard, so that one will not settle more than another,
which can be efiected with certainty only by making all so firm as not
to settle at all. Too much care can not be given to the attainment of
a regular descent, or rather ascent, as you will begin to lay them at
the lower and not the upper end. Laterally^ a line of tiles may
curve, if the nature of the ground requires it. You might even run
your drain in a semi-circle, especially if the collars be used, provided
the shape of the field demanded it, which, however, would rarely if
ever happen, it being quite attainable, in most cases, to make the
drains perfectly straight, and this being decidedly the best way when
jsracticable. We only say, that laterally you may give the drain a
gentle curve, without serious injury if you regard that as desirable,
but let them be straight, unless your ground presents a special reason
for the curve. Vertically., the drain should not curve, but should
descend by a regular gradation, whenever the face of the ground will
permit.

With regard to distance of drains from each other, much depends
upon the character of the soil and more on the depth. In a very
clayey, tenacious soil, through which water passes with the greatest
difficulty, they need to be near each other. Twenty feet in extreme
cases would be far enough ; and if the ground is to be cultivated in
the highest manner, as in some branches of gardening it might be
wise to put them but one rod. On soil but ordinarily impervious to
water, depth takes the place of nearness, so that whether you lay the
drains 2 feet deep and 33 feet apart, or 4 feet deep and 66 feet apart,
nearly the same object is gained, a little more speedily perhaps by the
first, but we think more durably and at less expense by the second.

ISTot only does a deep drain extend its influence more widely, but
its cost we think must be less in proportion to the breadth of land af-
fected by it. The deeper a drain the less likely is it to be made in-

272 Drainage.

effective by the insinuation of roots, a fruitful cause of failure with
shallow drains. "We have seen tiles that liad lain but two and a half
feet deep, so completely filled -wdth grass roots for rods, that very lit-
tle if any water could be passed through them. It is true, also, we
believe, that the deeper a drain is the less the danger of its being
stopped by sediment, because in this case the water is more i^erfectly
filtrated before reaching it. "We incline, therefore, to the oiiinion that
few drains and deep is the best policy, but no certain rules can be
laid down. The man who is about to expend money in draining should
study the subject in the light of all the experience and observation he
can summon ; should call in the advice if possible of those Avho know
more than he of the subject ; and after all should leave a wide margin for
the exercise of liis own judgment, acquainted as he is, better probably
than any one else, with the nature, tendencies, and wants of his own
soil.

As regards the size of drain tiles, something depends upon the
length of the lines, those which are longer havmg to carry more water
towards the lower end. "We see that the sizes advertised by James
M. Crafts, of "Whately, Mass., by whom excellent tiles are made, are
two inch, three inch, and four inch calibre. The two inch are sold at
8ig per 1000 pieces, about 13 inches long; the three inch at $10 per
1000 ; .and the four inch at SlO per 1000. Rarely, however, do the
main drains require so large a calibre as four mches ; and for all ordi-
nary cases, the run not bemg unreasonably long, a two-inch calibre is
quite as good for the secondary drains as larger. A one-inch calibre
will carry a large amount of water by constant running. A two-inch
cahbre will carry just four times as much, alloAving nothing for differ-
ence in friction or retardation of water by the sides of the pipe ; and
after making due allowance for friction, and considering that the fric-
tion is less the larger the pipe, it is probable that a two-inch calibre
would carry six or eight times more water with a moderate fall, say
one inch to the rod, than a one-inch calibre.

It is not uncommon to lay tiles with a fall of but half an incli to the
rod ; and they have been known to work well with even less fall than
this ; but a greater fall is desirable, and there is room for the exercise
of much judgment in so laying out the j^lan of operations as to secure
a considerable, and as far as may be, a uniform fall for each drain.

The first of the cuts below exhibits the section of a drain, such as we
have described, with the exception that the culvert is differently
formed. Perhajis the mode here shown is the best, where stones of
precisely the right quality are at hand. The second represents a fill-
ed-in stone drain. Such a drain, if three feet deep, and filled a foot
and a half with small stones, well covered to prevent the earth fall-

Mules at the St. Louis Fair.

2Y3

ing in, could hardly fail to do good service, and is not very expen-
sive if half or three-fourths of the fiUing in be charged to improve-
ment of land in the vicinity. The third, fourth and fifth cuts suffici-
ently explain themselves.

'-^i/lu ,

lyeyLM tdli.

Mules at the St. Louis Fair.

TiiH exhibition of mules at the St. Louis Fair was said to have been
the finest ever seen in this country, A Mr. Adams, of Clay county,
Missouri, bore off ten premiums of the aggregate value of ^250. His
matched mules, four years old, were elephantine feUows — seventeen
hands high, of remarkable breadth, with the finest of shoulders and
hind quarters, as symmetrically formed as a fine horse, easy trotters,
docile, and worth any fancy price their owner might place upon them.
Under the class of saddle mules, Mr. Adams exhibited a beautiful an-

274 Sugar 3fill.

imal, nearly black, ha^^ng three gaits, to which he was well broken, a
trot, pace and cantor. In size, he was less of a manunoth than the
others, but large enough, and well suited to the saddle or buggy,
quick in his motions, graceful and perfectly manageable. Mr. A. ex-
hibited him in a buggy, sliowing a square speedy trot, that would roll
a buggy along at the rate of ten miles per hour. — Prairie Farmer.

Manure Water.

Manure water is a great assistance, judiciously applied, to plants in
pots, j)articularly to increase the size and coloring of flowers, if given
when the flower buds are swelling, and before they expand. An ex-
cellent manure water for this purpose is made by mixing one ounce of
guano and two ounces of superphosphate of lime in four gallons of
water, previously stirring it well, and use it when it has become clear.
This is quite strong enough, and should be given alternately, with
waterings of jjure water. — Me. Farmer.

This is all very well ; and it is well enough to have some guano
and superphosphate for such uses always on hand ; but as few have
them, or care to go to a dealer for a few pounds, Ave venture to say
that four shovelfuls of well-rotted manure from the various animals
of the farm, including the hens, thrown into a barrel of water, to stand
a few days in the sun, and to be occasionally stirred, will give a
manure water equally good — one that will make a potato hill grow
as luxuriantly, the fruit on a dwarf j^ear ripen as luxuriously, or the
rose blush as sweetly.

In a shovelful from each of the various sources of fertility about
the farm-house, as the yard, stables, pig-pen, and hen-house, mixed
together and fermented, or if they be taken in only a partially decay-
ing state, are all the elements found in guano and superphosphate,
and they are sufiiciently soluble for the above purpose.

There is not a farm-house — scarcely a house of any kind — in the
country, where we could not find decomposing matters, on the
shortest notice, that would be valued by the occupant at one cent or
less, which would make a barrel of mainire water, just as good as
that recommended above.

It is true that a homosopathic dose of guano or superphosphate,
especially the former, and perhaps both better than either alone, will
give a wonderful richness to the colors of flowers. But they are not
the only things that will do it.

It would be Avell for us not to forget that there are manures other-
where than in the merchant's back-room. — Ed.

A Sugar Mill for the People.

Two weeks ago, we stated in the Local Department of our paper,
that we had been informed by certam iron-founders of New-Jersey,

Indian Corn. 275

that they had constructed a sngar-mill, which they Avould haye m
operation at the Burlington County Fair on the 6th and 7th uist. ;
that it was our intention to he present at the Fair, and that we would
examine the mill and report our opinion of its merits. We were there
the first day of the Exhibition, and saw the mill in operation ; the
juice in process of conversion into molasses ; and tasted the manufac-
tured article. It was a success throicghout. The mill seemed to us
to be exactly what every good farmer needs — for we believe that
every good farmer will speedily go into the cultivation of this cane to
supply his own family with both molasses and sugar. It is a very
simple and substantial piece of machinery, and apparently it is impos-
sible to get out of order with anything hke fair usage. The canes
pass between three iron rollers, put in operation by a sweep similar to
that used in old-fashioned cider mills. About ten canes are crushed
at a time, producing about one gallon of juice per minute. _ The juice
falls through strainers into a receivmg vessel. The driving^ of the
mill is quite easy work for one horse ; and the feeding of it is mere
play for a small boy. The juice was most thoroughly crushed out.
The cost of the mill is |125, and we feel very sure that a better arti-
cle for the money can not be obtained or would be desirable at this
time. Half a dozen farmers might join in the purchase of one.

The makers of this mill — we feel it our duty to announce, for the
benefit of farmers— are Risdon & Son, of Mount Holly, N. J. ; and we
presume that any order for the mills will be promptly filled in time
for the present crop. But not a day is to be lost in securing the canes
from the frost, and converting the juice into molasses, if advantage is
to be taken of the canes still standing. — Germantow?i Telegraph.

Indian Corn.

Maize, or Indian corn, originated in America, and is not yet, we
think, cultivated to any extent on the European continent. Though
the people of Great Britain can not be made to appreciate its merits
very fully, the aggregate exports of corn in 1856, in the form of whole
grain, meal, corn starch, farina, etc., amounted to between seven and
eight milHon dollars, or about one-fortieth of the whole exports of
the country, and 6,700,000 bushels, considerably more than half, went
to England alone. Corn has always been an important article in this
country, both of consumption and export. The total amount of this
produce exported in 1770 was 578,349 bushels; in 1791, 2,064,936
bushels of which 351,695 were Indian meal. The value of corn and
its manufacture exported from the United States in 1830, was
$597,119 ; in 1835, $1,217,665 ; in 1840, $1,043,516 ; in 1845,
$1,053,292 ; in 1850, $4,652,804. The export increases more rapidly
than the production. The export of corn quadrupled between 1840
and 1850, while the production did not quite double. The great
amount of invention bestowed on corn-planters, corn-cutters, shellers,
cob-grinders, etc., tends each year to promote the increase of produc-
tion. It has been estimated that as a general rule, seven pounds of
corn will produce one pound of pork ; so that m localities where,
through distance from market or from transportation facilities, the
cereal can not be raised at profit for sale, it is frequently the material

276 Manure for Com.

used in fattening the more concentrated form of diet, and on which,
consequently, the freight is less. Cob meal, we bclieA'e, is most valu-
blc fur animals that chew the cud ; horses and hogs, as a general
thing, deriving less benefit from the cob-grinding invention. With
all animals, however, we believe, there is a perceptible advantage
realized by mixing the cob Avith the denser meal. — Scientific Amer.

Fattening Properties of Peas ''and Beans.

These articles have been found by chemical analyses rich in nitro-
gen. The inference has been that they Avould be specially useful in
supporting the waste of the muscles of animals, and it has been sug-
gested that they would be particularly useful in the production of
wool. They are evidently valuable for these purposes, but not the
less valuable for the production of fit. Those persons who have used
peas for fattening hogs, consider them worth as much as Indian com.
In districts where that grain is not groA^na, very fine pork is produced
from peas. Dickson, in his work " On the Breeding of Live Stock,"
states that a sweep-stakes Avas entered into between five East Lothian
farmers, to be claimed by the one who should be pronounced the best
feeder of cattle. Forty cattle of the same breed, and in equal condi-
tion, were divided equally among them, as fairly as possible. They
were put up together the second week in September, and killed at
Christmas following. The Manner of the stakes fed his animals wholly
on boiled beans with hay. — Exchange.

Mouldy Peas, Beans, Grain.

The generation of mould in peas, beans, and grain, when put into
granery in a somewhat moist or humid state, is with difficulty pre-
vented. When this evil occurs the legumes or cereals aftected are
supposed to be rendered utterly worthless thereby ; but such is not
the fa^t. Peas or beans, corn or wheat, tliat has become mouldy,
may be perfectly deprived of its unpleasant smell and taste by im-
mersing it in hot or boiling water and permitting it to remain therein
till the liquid becomes quite cool. If one immersion does not prove
effectual let it be repeated. Animals devour mouldy grain when
managed in this way as greedily as any, and are apparently as much
benefited by it. Peas constitute an excellent feed for swine ; and
few articles are more strengthening to shee]) than beans. They should
be given before and after casting their lambs, with a small quantity of
clioi)ped turnips — say about two quarts per day — one quart in the
morning and one quart at night. This will generally be sufiicient, and
will tend to promote the action of the lacteous system, and procure a
copious flow of milk, besides proving highly promotive of the general
health of the system — Germantown Telegraph.

Privy Manure for Corn.

A GEXTLEiiAN mauurcd one-third of a corn plat with guano, one-
third with barn manure, in which the urine had been saved, and one-

Fine Wool Sheep. 211

third with privy manure, in which swamp muck had been mixed as
an absorbent. While the corn was growing, that which had been
treated with guano seemed the most luxuriant, but on harvesting it,
the section manured from the privy produced the most corn, both m
the ear, and m shelled corn, by weight. — Ilaine Farmer.

How to Increase Manure.

If you have not hitherto done so, permit us now to prevail on you
to take this advice : Have as many loads of rough materials hauled
and spread over your cow-yard as will make twelve inches in depth.
In spreading, so fashion the materials as to be basin shaped, the low-
est point being in the center to prevent the escape of the urine.
While the rough materials are being placed in and spread on the yard,
dust each layer so spread, with j)laster, or with pulverized charcoal,
and when completed, dust the surface with either of the substances
named ; then roll the yard to consolidate its contents — the heavier
the roller the better. Occasionally throughout the yarding season
spread plaster over the yard, and from time to time add rough ma-
terials.— American Farmer.

History of Fine Wool Sheep.

[concluded fbom our last.]

The English farmer said at once : " I can do nothing with these lit-
tle sheep ; I may get two or three doUars for the wool, but I can get
ten dollars for the carcase of the mutton sheep, if I loose all else.
Besides, these little sheep can not live in the fields in the winter. They
are not stout enough to endure that. I must have the large sheep for
the mutton I can get out of it, and because it wUl live on the fields in
the winter and enrich my land, so that it will yield twenty two bush-
els of wheat to the acre." That is the average in England ; our ave-
rage is not fourteen. Do you wonder, Mr. President, why they would
not introduce and adopt the merino breed of sheep in England ? You
can see at once why it was so. After the utmost exertions, for some
thirty years, in trying to do this, and succeeding not at all, finally the
royal flock of fine wool sheep was sold at auction. I have seen the
account of those sales in the Library of Congress, showing to whom
each sheep was sold, and hoW: much it was sold for.

While this business was going on in England with this w^ant of suc-
cess, in Saxony they had attended to that family of sheep which came
to the Elector of Saxony, and had bred in entirely with regard to the
fineness of the wool. They had shepherded them on the fields and
plains of Germany, and bred them in fine, by selecting the finest aU
the time, without regard to size. The result was, they got a delicate,
small, tender sheep, called the Saxony sheep, which is all over the re-
gions I have mentioned.

The gentleman who bid off, in ISIV, I think, the greater part of the
royal flock that was sold in England, was a captain in the British
Navy. His name I do not remember ; I think it was Mitchell, or some
common name of that kind. He went, about the same time, to Sax-

278 Fine Wool Sheep.

ony, and bought a larger flock of the Saxony breed, and carried them
both to Australia.

That is now the family of Australian sheep ; their wool is a fine
silky wool. It has been produced by crossing the breeds from Eng-
land and Saxony.

Kow, how came these in our country ? Mr. Livingston, who was
our Minister to France in the latter part of the reign of Louis XVI.,
got a few sheep from the Rambouillet flock in France, and carried
them to Xew-Kochelle, in New-York. Colonel Ilum^ihries, of Con-
necticut, M-as our Minister to Spain at that time, and he got a few
sheep as a present from the King of Spain. They were taken to Con-
necticut ; but they never amounted to much.

About 1810, at Bonaparte's second invasion of Spain, when he had
possession of the Prmce of Peace, and endeavored to reestablish Jo-
seph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne, the Cortes ordered the sale of
the royal flocks, for the purpose of raising money to defend the nation,
giving to the purchasers the right to carry them out of the kingdom.
WilUam Jarvis who is still Uving in Vermont, was then our consul at
Lisbon, Seeing this advertisement, he went into Estramadura, and
at that auction bid ofi" eleven hundred of the sheep. He sent them to
this country — to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New-York and Boston — re-
serv'ing a flock to himself, as he was about to return home. He re-
turned with his flock to his farm in Vermont, where he now resides,
and where he has kept that family of sheep to this day. He has
shearings of each year from that time to this, marked with the dates,
so that you c^n compare them, and see whether the wool is improving
or deteriorating. There is a decided improvement. It is a great deal
better than when he brought the sheep from Spain. His importation
Avas the basis of the merino sheep of this country. I well remember
that soon after the close of the last war with Great Britain, in ^vhich
we suffered so much for the want of woolens, some of these sheep, a
year or two old, sold for $400 a piece. 1 have seen a little merino
sheep, that a man could carry under his arm, sold for $400. They
were thus introduced mto New-England, and they have gradually
spread ofi* into Pennsylvania, New- York, Ohio, and so on West. As
late as 1826, after we had entered upon the protective system in rela-
tion to woolens, and especially after the act of 1828, our people went
to Saxony and obtained some of the Saxony flock as a finer wool sheep.
Considerable numbers of them were imported in those two years; but
they did not answer our purpose at the north. They were too feeble ;
they were not stout enough for our climate ; they did not winter well ;
but they have done pretty well in some parts of the country — I have
particularly on my mind Washington county, in Pennsylvania, where
they are producing Saxony wool of high quality. In Ohio they have
crossed the Saxony with our eastern merinos ; and a large part of the
wool of northern Ohio now is of as high grade as the full blood meri-
no, and perhaps a grade beyond that and Saxony together.

I have thus, Mr. President, attempted to show, in a brief, summary
manner, that fine wool is all the produce of a single family of sheep.
Whatever difference there is in its quality depends on the care, and
the breeding, and somewhat slightly on the climate and feeding. In
Saxony their flocks are driven under shelter in hot days of summer.

Bones as a Manure. 2V9

There are sheds for them to protect them from the heat of the sun.
That care is not taken in this country ; perhaps they do not need it
here. In Australia the wool made from the English and Saxony
merino sheep is a fine and rather longer wool than ours. It is
silk. Some few of these sheep have been taken to Brazil and Chili,
and there crossed with the native sheep, producing a rather better
quahty of wool, but still a coarse wool. The great body of the long
wool, which is combing wool, for the making of worsteds, is English
wool. The coarser wools, which we use for bocking, carpets, blankets,
and coarse articles, are the Smyrna and Rio Janeiro wools. The
wools cited in your commerce and navigation reports as Smyrna wool
comes from Asia Minor ; and the wool quoted as Buenos Ayres is
from Rio Janeiro and other parts of South America.

The Steam Plough.

The whole world seems waking up to the importance of the suc-
cessful introduction of the Steam Plough. At the present time it
would be particularly fortunate for the whole coimtry. A great many
are looking for a wide-spread revulsion in the monetary aiFairs of the
country, consequent upon the immense speculations in Western lands.
Whether such a revulsion will occur or not, depends upon the ability
of the coimtry to occupy and make productive these lately purchased
lands. The . amount of labor applicable for this purpose is Hmited.
But if the Steam Plough can be invented, that shall go over twenty
acres a day, and do the work icell, which we believe will yet be done ;
then the manual and horse labor that can be procured, coupled with
the new invention, will be made to occupy and render productive
twice the quantity of land that could otherwise be done.

Mr. Bronson Murray, of Illinois, has offered a reward of $50,000
for the best practical Steam Plough. And we presume that Mr.
Murray, in doing this, does not lay claim to any great liberality or
public spirit, for the patent right of such a plough would probably be
worth half a million of dollars. In offering, therefore, such a re-
ward, it simply shows that Mr. Murray, (living among the prairies,)
can appreciate the immense demand there would be for such a plough,
when once practically and satisfactorily tested. The inventive mind
of the nation is now busy at work, and we hope soon to be able to
announce a satisfactory solution to the problem proposed. — Ohio
Valley Farmer.

Bones as a Manure.

A LATE number of the Country Gentleman has an elaborate article
by Levi Bartlett, of New-Hampshire, on bone manure. He conclude's
that there is no other manure whose effects are so lasting as an appli-
cation of ground bones. Besides the increase of crops, he says it sup-
plies phosphate, "vvhich the grasses generally lack, on old and long
grazed fields in New-England, and the want of which, cause what is
called " bone disease" in cattle. Mr. B. recommends that the bones
be pounded, and thus broken to pieces, boiled or ground, and then
spread evenly over the soil, and mixed with it. He has a field that
was thus dressed years ago, and the efiect is yet perceptible on clover.

280 Spirit of the Press.

Spirit of the Agricultural Press.

Of a recent trip among the flirmcrs of New- Hampshire, the editor
of the Country Gentleman says, among many other good things :

" In the vicinity of the manufacturing places, many farmers are in
the practice of selling large quantities of hay, yet these farms are
annually improving, without the purchase of manures to any great
extent. The muck beds, barn cellars, the tying up of their cows and
some other of their stock in hovels the year round, and skill m col-
lecting other materials for enriching their grounds, solves all mystery
in this matter."

On the cultivation of the grape for the purpose of manufacturing
domestic wines, he has the following remarks :

"At many farm-houses we were treated with domestic wmes,
generally that made from currants, and in most mstances the wine
was of superior quality. At one farm-house we partook of some
superior grape wine, manufactured fi'om the domestic grape — the
worthy old farmer assuring us that it was the pure juice of the grape,
having neither strychnine or any other poisonous ingredient in its
composition. We think it would be well for farmers, generally, to
cultivate more extensively the currant and the grape, for the manu-
facture of domestic wines for family use."

As to whether it is twelve or fourteen degrees below zero, irre-
spective of other circumstances, that kills peach trees, we find the
following, a poser, we should think, to those who ascribe the winter-
killing of peach trees simply to cold :

" In most parts of this State, the mercury, the past winter, sunk fi-om
30 '^ to below the freezing point of mercury, and yet the peach buds
in many localities survived, and we have freely partaken of New-
Hampshire peaches the past week."

The editor of the Germantoion Telegraph., on Horse-Racing at
Agricultural Fairs, after admitting the necessity of a reform, has the
following, as we think, very sensible remarks :

" But may they not go a little too far, and destroy this important
feature of these occasions ? The horse is the noblest and most valua-
ble animal owned by man ; and the farmer should be the last of man-
kind to strike a blow at the position which it must always hold in the
interests which he represents, and the sympathies and affections of his
heart. What ever is done ui the premises, ought to be well considered
by practical men — those who cultivate the soil, and would, naturally,
promote the respectability and benefits of agriculture and agricultural
exhibitions. We think there can be no solid objection to the trial of
the speed of a horse upon a ring, which should never be more than
one-fourth of a mile in circumference, inasmuch as the action and
general movements, and, we may add, hardihood, or bottom of a
horse, can in no wise be judged of better than from such a display.

S2nrit of the Press. 281

But matches — that is, the trial of the speed of more than one horse at
a time — are what produce all the mischief, and cause all the complaint.
These we have been always opposed to ; and if our advice had been
taken in due season, there would have been no reason for the hostility
of our local society to the horse track., at the present time. The idea
that an exhibition of " steam culture " would be of more importance
to this community, at our annual shows, than the proper display of
horses, is one that may be cultivated by intensely philosophical mmds,
but it win cause only a broad grin among the farmers of Pennsylva-
nia. No, gentlemen, reform, not destroy, the manner of exhibitino-
horses, or you wiU speedily put an effectual damper upon the success
of any future exhibition which our good, time-honored, beloved but
neglected society may attempt to hold."

" Reform, not destroy," says the editor of the Telegraph., and so
say we. No man can be more opposed than we are to changing the
fair grounds from delightful gathering places for honest farmers, into
rendezvous for all the impudent jockeys in creation, and yet we would
not exclude that noblest of all animals, the horse, nor would we
exclude the man who inaugurates improvements in our horse flesh,
from a participation in the funds of our agricultural societies.
" Reform, not destroy," is the word.

The California State Journal tells us of a new cereal, but does not
know its name. Probably it will turn out to be Sorghum Cereale,
Imphee ^dibile, or something as strange to our ears. It gives the fol-
lowing description :

A New Ceeeal. — ^We saw, a few days since, a specimen of a new
cereal, grown in this county. We could not get a description of the
stalk, or an account of its origin, and, with nothing to guide us beside
the ripened grain, we could not class. It appeared to be the fruit of
a rank grass, stronger and larger than wheat, but more light and fra-
gile than Indian corn. The ear or cluster of grains, formed on the
summit of the stalk, was about three and a half inches in length, about
four inches in circumference, and of an irregular, oblong shape. The
grains, of Avhich there were several hundred in the cluster, resembled,
in size and form, the grain of the common broom corn, were compactly
set, without an outer or general covering, each grain haviuo- a del-
icate husk, covering about half its bulk. The grain was harder than
wheat, rather brittle, and, when broken, gave a taste undistinguishable
from that of Indian corn. From the limited knowledge of the nature
and habits of the plant to be gathered from a cursory examination of
this isolated specimen, we incline to the opinion that it may become a
prolific and valuable article of agriculture. The " head," or cluster,
that we saw, will yield about as much in weight and volume as
fifteen or twenty ordinary heads of wheat. We shall learn more
about this interesting specimen in a few days. — S. J. Be}).

Mr. E. D. Boylston, of the Amherst (N. H.) Cahinet, has experi-
mented quite extensively with the Chinese sugar cane. He says :
" We have continued our experiments with the sugar cane up to

282 Spirit of the Press.

the present time. Tlie yield of syrup has steadily increased from
the time of the ai)penrance of the panicles some weeks since, and the
quality has as steadily improved. Our last trial yielded one-sixth of
syrup of the thickness of sugar-house molasses, and of a very fine
quality. We think it will still improve until after a heavy frost,
which will not injure the cane itself, which may be left standing while
the leaves may be gathered at any time when likely to be destroyed.
We are, as we were last year, fully sanguine in our belief of the prac-
ticability of raising this crop for syrup in this State."

Similar statements of opinions appear from various places in Ncav-
Hamj^shire, and from other places as far south. One writer says:
" The taste of the syrup is indeed something like that of the " sugar
house molasses, or syrup, and, in our opinion, much better for warm
cakes than ordinary molasses." Will our readers send us a statement
of their experiments with the sugar cane?

Our opinion has inclined favorably to the new plant for the South ;
and if it benefits the South, we have believed it would benefit the
whole country, on the principle that the good of a part is the good of
the whole ; but we now incline to the opinion that it may be of direct
benefit to all the parts ; not to the North probably as a sugar-plant,
but as one that may produce syrups, and is without much doubt a
valuable forage plant.

• The Honolulu Commercial Advertiser has the following " Hints to
Agriculturists," not bad for this or any other latitude :

Independekce or the Farmer. — The merchant or manufiicturer
may be robbed of the reward of his labor by changes in the foreign or
domestic market entirely beyond his control, and may wind up a year
in Avhich he has done everything which intelligence and industry could
do to insure success, not only without profit, but with an actual di-
minution of capital. The strong arm of mechanical industry may be
enfeebled or paralyzed by the prostration of those manufacturing or
commercial interests to whose existence it so essentially contri-
butes, and on whom in turn it so essentially depends. But
what has the intelligent and industrious firmer to fear ? His
capital is invested in the solid ground. He draws on a fund which
has never wholly suspended or repudiated ; his success depends on no
earthly guarantee, but on the assurance of that great and beneficent
Being wlio has declared that while the earth endureth, seed-time and
harvest shall not cease.

Not so bad this from the Chicago Ledger :

"To Persons out of Employment."— Go to work! Take oft'
your coat, roll up your sleeves, and look about you ! If you can't find
anything congenial or remunerative, in the city or town, betake your-
self to the country. Better weed gardens and tend sheep, or fi)llow
the plowshare bare-footed, and tread on the furrows, or to act as a
scare-crow in the cornfield, tlian to remain in the city, out of pocket,
out at the elbows, in debt, in distress, and in misery, generally.

Good Cheese. 283

Don't be afraid to commingle freely with your mother earth, and sit
under a cataract and be washed clean — be invigorated and feel like a
man. The country is the place for you, decidedly, where pure air
costs nothing, where the sunbeams steal through the cracks in your
chamber and dance on the floor, where one doesn't have to walk a
mUe and a-half to see the sun rise, and where the waving grains bows
gracefully to the gentle breeze, and eggs can be had for the hunting.
Once there, and reinvigorated, and you will look with pity upon us,
poor mortals, walled in by brick and mortar on all sides, with the
heavens far, far before us, and no hope of ever reachmg that blessed
■abode.

New-England Faeming. — We cut the following from the Valley
Farmer^ Louisville, Mo. Whether the New-England farmers manage
as well as the writer represents, we are not so certain, but we are quite
certain that he has " good notions" since he has been down east, about
feedmg, sheltering, caring for, and making improvements in cattle.
Hear him :

" I see much in my New-England travels that I would like to speak
of to your readers. There is life astir in all the valleys. There is
beauty on all the hills. The season is a wet one and very productive,
so that greenness and freshness make lovely every landscape. But
just now I wish to speak of the stock of this country. As yet I have
not seen a mean, poor, scrawny ox, cow or hog. They are all fat,
sleek, and generally large. There has been a wonderful improvement
in the stock of this country in the last ten years. And it has been
almost wholly effected by good keeping and care in breeding from the
best animals of their kind. In the parts in whicli I have traveled I
have seen but little foreign blood. I think I have not seen a speckled
or parti-colored ox or cow in New-England. I have met with one roan
bull of the Durham breed. The farmers here like handsome cattle,
80 they choose their color. Dark red or chestnut is the prevailino-
color. Sometimes brown verging near to black will be found. The
general build of the stock here is compact, close and hardy. It looks
thrifty and active. One seldom sees a sleepy, dull looking animal.
There is something bright and animating in the countenances of
all the cattle I have met. They seem to be alive with the stir of the
times, and to partake of the intelligence of the age. I speak not of
horses, for New-England has not improved her horses so much as her
cattle. What I have seen has convinced me more than ever that
good keeping, good shelter, (for all stock is well housed here) and in-
telligent care in fcreeding, will be sure in the end to make good stock.
This is emphatically a stock country. Stock is the main reliance of
the farmer for money. Hence the farms here are continually improv-
ing. All the hay and grain raised is consumed on the farm, and con-
verted into manure. Let the western farmer take heed in season."

Good Cheese.

For a cheese of twenty pounds, a piece of rennet about two inches
square is soaked in a pint of water twelve hours. As rennet differs

284 Cornfields.

much in quality, enough should be used to coagulate the milk suffi-
ciently in about forty minutes ; no salt is put into the chcsse, nor any
outside during the first six or eight hours it is being prepared, but a
thin coat of fine salt is kejjt on the outside during the remainder of
the time it is in the press. The cheeses are pressed forty-eight hours
under a weight of seven or eight hundred pounds. Nothing more is
required but to turn the cheeses once a day on the shelves.

Mother's PKEMiUii Cheese. — The milk strained in large tubs over
night, the cream stirred m milk, and in the morning strained in
the same tubs ; milk heated to natural heat ; add rennet ; curd broken
fine and whey off, and broken fine in hooj) with fost bottom, and put
in strainer ; pressed twelve hours ; then taken from hoop, and salt
rubbed on the surface ; then put in hooj), without strainer, and pressed
forty-eight hours ; then put on tables, and salt rubbed on surface, and
remain in salt six days for cheese weighing thirty pounds ; the hoops
to have holes in the bottom ; the crushings are saved and set and
churned to greese the cheese. The above is for making one cheese
per day.

1. No salt to be put into the cheese, but fine salt rubbed on the
surface.

2. Remain in press forty-eight hours.

3. Dry, cool cellar, not damp.

4. To make whey, add the rennet while the milk is warm.

I would like a cheese made after either of the above plans. — J. M.
-S., in the Neio-England Farmer.

Cornfields.

We copy the following from that excellent paper, the Germantoion
TeUfjraph., not supposing that it will be quite new to all our readers,
but because we regard it so practical and imj^ortant as to be worth
their reading twice, if any of them may have seen it before. Some
will say, it is too laborious to prepare soil as nicely as the writer re-
commends. Perhaps so, and yet, while we are sure you will get more
corn to the acre by such cultivation, we are by no means sure you
will get less, in proportion to the labor required. We commend you
to the article :

Mk. Feeas : A few suggestions at this season, to those of my fel-
low agriculturists in relation to the management of lands that have
been cultivated in corn, may not be unimportant. It is a common
practice to harvest this crop, by cutting it up at the roots, leaving the
latter and a portion of the stalks in the soil. When so left, both the
roots and the stalks attached present a serious obstacle in the way of
the after cultivation, diminishing, to a certain extent, the subsequent
product whether of roots or grains. The most economical method,
perhaps, that can be adopted, is to pull the plants from the soil, and
detach the roots by the aid of a keen knife, or other efiicient instru-
ment, and convey them to the compost heap or hog yard. This prac-
tice secures a clean surface, and renders the operation of plowing, har-

Cornfields. 285

rowing, cultivating and hoeing, much more easy, and secures a much
larger extent of surface for the occupancy of the crop. Before plow-
ing— whether that operation be performed in spring or autumn —
every vestige of spurious vegetation should be moved, and the surface
rendered as clear as circumstances will admit. Stones, stumps, and
all substances of a similar character, oppose a serious obstacle to the
successful performance of all the more important operations of hus-
bandry, and their presence should not, on any account, be allowed.
Very little time is required to get rid of them. As a general practice,
I prefer plowing corn lands in the autumn. N"ot only is there more
leisure time than during the more busy and exciting season of spring,
but the team is more energetic, and consequently labors with less re-
luctance, and less fatigue. There is also another important advantage
resulting to the farmer from the autumnal preparation of the land.
Where clay abounds, the pulverulent action of frost and the elastic
gases are of decided importance, rendering the texture fine and easily
managed, and securing a more speedy decomposition of the manure
when applied the subsequent spring. By careful examination, and
fi-om information of a most reliable nature, obtained from practical
men during the last twenty years, I am irresistibly compelled to ac-
cord by suffrage to this practice, as being every way sujDcrior to every
other method now in use ; and this, I am persuaded, will be the con-
clusion of every one who carefully examines the subject. The finer
the soil is made, the better adapted will it be to the production of any
crop ; but this fact does not appear to be appreciated as it ought by
most of our farmers. They seem to suppose that if land is plowed, it
matters but little how it is performed, or whether it be fine or coarse
— reduced to a light, compressible mass, or merely broken into lumps.
This is a fatal mistake, and one that requires to be corrected at once.
If those who are at all sceptical on this point, will but make an ex-
periment, they ^vill have palpable evidence of the superiority of fine
over coarse tillage. To all such, I would saj^, as a friend, try it.
Jethro Tull promulgated the doctrine that pulverization alone would
produce fertihty, and that all that was actually necessary to secure the
productiveness of any land, was to divide it into infinitesimal atoms, in
which condition it would, he contended, be competent to produce,
indefinitely, any and every variety of vegetable required. But this,
subsequent experience demonstrated to be a fallacy. Still, how-
ever, the advantages found to result fi-om the careful comminution of
lands intended for cultivation, were, at the same time, demonstrated
to be very great, and his views, although deprecated in the main,
were nevertheless adopted in part, especially by those who had heavy
and tenacious soils, and who could well afford to bestow the labor ne-
cesary to reduce them to the tilth required. We are all aware that
garden beds receive far more thorough culture than lands devoted to
field crops ; that they are much more thoroughly plowed, to begin
with, that they are worked till every lump is broken and reduced to
that fineness of subdivision which renders it a fit medium for the finest
and most minute seed. To this superior tillage, in a very great de-
gree, we attribute the superior productiveness of lands under garden
culture, to those imder field culture. It has been proved, by repeated
and accurate experiments, that a fine, light surface acts as a non-con-

286 Horticultural.

ductor, and that all lands finely divided in their paiiiclcs, are capable
of Avitlistanding tlie effects of drouglit and 'intense heat for a much
longer period than those Avliich are not finely pulverized. Some
"practical men" assume to question this fact ; but let any one try it,
and he Avill soon see enough to convince him of its truth. It is only
making the trial, and will cost but a mere trifle.

A New Animal for Farmers.

A VALUED friend and correspondent, in New-York, informs us,
upon authority which is undoubted, that a naturalist in South Amer-
ica has imdertaken to introduce into the United States from one
hundred and forty to one hundred and fifty Llamas^ the well-known
animal of Peru and Ecuador, which are used there as beasts of bur-
den, and which produce the wool, or rather hair, called alpaca. The
adventure has been entered into by a very responsible house on
the south-west coast of South America, who have collected the ani-
mals and chartered a vessel to transport them to Panama, whence
they will be conveyed to New- York, where they are expected shortly
to arrive, and will be offered for sale.

These are very hardy, docile animals, capable of carrying over the
rockiest portions of the mountains of South America about three
hundred pounds weight each. They are easily nourished, and it is
believed that though coming from a much warmer climate than our
own, they will stand our winters as well as our sheep, and be equally
or more profitable in the production of wool. We shall keep our
farniers apprised of the arrival of the first importation, and, if we are
furnished with it, with the address of the party or house, having the
disposal of them. — Ger. Tel.

iartiniltitraL

Northern Muscadine Grape.

The Maine Farmer^ always somid, sensible and conservative,
though we can not say whether correct in the present case, has the
following remarks on this fruit :

The Northern Muscadine Grape.— The Northern Muscadine
grape has made some noise in the world, and in regard to it the most
contradictory opinions seem to exist, some pronouncing it a first-rate
grape, some an ordinary one, and some good for nothing at all. It
has been extensively propagated by the Shakers and claimed to be a
seedling of theirs.

Friend Otis Sawyer, a member of the West Gloucester family, ex-
hibited some of the fruit at the State Fair in Bangor, and specimens
were laid before the Pomological Society. These were quite ripe,
althoiigh raised in the open air. Although not coming up to the class
ot A. No. 1, It IS nevertheless a good grape to those who relish a little

Sorticutturah 287

touch of the musk, (and many do,) and considermg its hardy charac-
ter and early maturing, is worth a trial in this section of New-England.
A prolific, hardy, and early ripening grape, is yet a desideratum with
us in Maine. We should therefore make a trial of everything that
promises to be successful in this way. The Northern Muscadine can
be obtained of friend Sawyer. We are aware that our horticultural
brethren farther south turn their noses up at it and call it " old red
fox," but a good " red fox" with us is not to be despised, and it may
lead to the propagation of a still better early variety. We must ex-
periment on these matters for ourselves, and with reference to our
own climate.

Leather Scraps.

The parings of shoes, boots, harnesses, whi2:)s, trunks, portmanteaus,
etc., are an excellent fertilizer, hardly equalled for durability. Noth-
ing is better for vines ; and they are good for all kinds of fruits. In
some districts in England as high as 4 cts. a pound ($80 a ton) have
been paid for them. Their excellence lies in the fact that they last a
long time, and if placed xmder vines and fruit trees at transplanting,
they will be changing into purj)le clusters and golden fruits for a life-
time.— Ed,

HovtT True.

In a recent number of IIovey''s Magazine^ the remark is made that
" few complete and thoroughly made gardens and grounds are to be
foimd. We see everywhere in the rapid increase of wealth and pop-
ulation in our suburban towns, fine buildings, erected almost by
magic, in the highest style of architectural art, and finished without
regard to expense. These costly dwellings, as well as those of more
humble pretensions, meet our eyes in every direction, and would com-
mand our highest admiration, but for one defect. They are Avanting
in the elegant surroundmg which should belong to every suburban
residence ; the lawn, the ornamental grounds, the fruit garden, or
even the little parterre, have been entirely neglected, and they stand
bleak and alone, an ostentatious display of wealth vnthout taste^ on the
one hand, or the appearance of a depleted purse without the means of
doing anything more on the other."

A Good Method of Keeping Grapes.

" Dr. E. Liffingdale, of Aurora, N. Y., assures the horticulturist,
that both himself and neighbors have no more difficulty in keeping
grapes than apples. Gather them carefully on a dry day, remove all
unsound or unripe berries and pack them in small, shallow boxes,
with paper on the bottom and between the layers ; set them in a cool,
dry place for ten days, when they vali have passed the sweating jjro-
cess, and then close them tight and keep them at a low temperature
without freezing. A dry cellar will answer."

288 Horticultural.

The Birds.

Mr. Editor : — You are probably aAvare that against certain species
of the feathered tribe, there exists a very strong prejudice in the
minds of our farming friends. Of these, the crow comes in for rather
more than his share, I tliink, considering the good he does. His la-
bors may not, it is true, always result m the good of the farmer ; but
we should be candid in this matter, and allow the good he does to
oifset the evil. In the spring of the year, when there is a scarcity of
those insects which nature has set apart, by a sort of special appro-
l)riation, as his peculiar food, he sometimes preys upon the farmer's
corn ; but as soon as the various tribes of vermin which throng the
fields and " people the multitudinous air," issue from their dormitories
and commence their depredations upon the vegetable world, the crow
heroically enlists in the farmer's defence. He is no inactive ally, eith-
er ; he carries the war into Africa, at once, and destroys whole heca-
tombs of voracious bugs, Avorms, flies, caterpillars, and other vermin
which would soon lay waste his fields and his hopes, and efiect more
injury m one month, than his crowship efiects in a lifetime. To hunt
and destroy him, therefore, because during a period of scarcity, he
manifests an inclination to take pay for his future services, is ungener-
ous and unkind, to say the least. When the farmer rightly compre-
hends Ms own interests, and looks upon the subject as he ought, he
■nail be as anxious to preserve the crow from harm, as he is now to
destroy him. There are other birds who, in like manner, are made to
share in this ungenerous proscription ; yet there is not one in the whole
catalogue — quite a lengthy one, by the way — which does not efiect far
more good than harm. The number of insects which these birds des-
troy, is prodigious ; and were it not for their labors, our fields would,
in a very short time, be completely overrun and devastated l)y them.
The fecundity of many of the aligerous, or winged depredators upon
our crops, is truly astonishing, and nothing but the ceaseless and efiect-
ive labors of our winged friends of the air prevents the total destruc-
tion of every vegetable upon which we rely for subsistence, both for
ourselves and our animals. It is therefore much better to adojit some
simple means for the protection — partial or entire — of our crops, than
wantonly to destroy the birds, and let our fields be overrun with ver-
min.— Germantoion Telegraph.

Stunted Unthrifty Pear Trees.

Wm. Day, of Morristown, N. J,, considers that one great cause of
the unthriftiness of the pear, lies in the fixct that many of them are
worked (budded) upon sucker stocks. He tried the experiment by
planting out 1000 of these suckers, obtained from old trees, and after
nursmg them for several years, during which he budded some and
grafted others, giving all careful culture in good ground, he w^as com
pellcd to discard the whole of them. A neighbor of his held on to
them for ten years, but failed to get four good trees out of 100
planted. We fully endorse his (Mr. Day's) closing remarks, viz, :
" Good, thrifty stocks and clean culture will alone produce vigorous
and thrifty trees, and no respectable nurseryman wiU use any other."

American Inventions.

289

Fi.g

MHCHA«tC0» GUIDE.

Jewett's Patent Artificial Leg.
This leg is so constructed that its lower end overlaps the foot on all sides. In
Mr. Palmer's patent, the leg overlaps the foot behind, and the foot overlaps the
/ T^L(/' 2 ^^^ before. Mr. Palmer also

has an opening in the top of
the foot at the joint, allowing
the entrance of dirt and lint
upon the spring within the
foot. Ml". Jewett's is free fi'om
this objection. The toe is kept
down by a spiral spring, G, one
end of which is inserted into
the foot, and the other presses
against the toe above the joint,
and it is prevented from open-
ing too far by the contact of
the bottom of the foot and the
toe. A spiral spring inserted
in the hollow of the foot keeps
the foot in its proper place, a
cord passing through the
spring and terminating in a
wire hooked to a cross bar in
the leg near it. The toes are
so connected with the foot, that
they can be removed by mere-
ly taking out a screw in each
side of the foot. The knee and
ankle bolts, B, are slightly tapering, both ends being squared and fitted to the
inside of the plates, with a flat-headed screw in the smaller end, to secure the
bolt in its place. By taking out those screws, the bolts can be easily removed
for lubrication. These bolts pass through metallic boxes, F, and both bolts
and boxes are of cast steel and hardened. By the use of a bent steel sprin"- E
in the leg, attached by a wire to the front of the knee, which may be used with
any length of stump above the knee, the use of the wire spring used by Mr,
Palmer is avoided. The tendon Achilles and knee cord, D and C, pass through
apertures in the knee, and are attached to the thigh with blocks fitted into
sockets in the wood. Every part is so constructed as to be easily removed.

New Type Setting and Distributing Machine.

One of the most ingenious inventions we have ever examined is a new typ e
setting and distributing machine, just patented by Mr. Alden of this city. The

10

290 Americati Inventions.

patent covers twenty-one points, and of course it requires many diagrams to
exhibit the whole so as to be understood by the reader. These diagrams arc
not in existence, except in the letters patent, and hence we make only a state-
ment of the prominent parts, with the specific points covered by the patent,
viz. : 1. A method of conveying the type to and from the cases and the com-
posing tables. These convc3-ers receive all tj-pc indiscriminately. 2d. The
mode of attaching the conveyors to the carrier. 3d. A contrivance for giving
to the conveyor a vibratory or tilting motion. 4th. Devices for arranging the
types edgewise. 5th. Mechanism for pushing out the type upon the conveyors.
6th. Mechanism for preventing the stopping of a setting conveyor at a channel
■when full of types. 7th. The method of discharging the type from a distribut-
ing conveyor into the type channels. 8th. Mechanism for setting the gripping
bolt upon the conveyors. 9 th. The method of securing the deposit of the
types into or taking them from the case. 10th. Stationary inclined planes.
11th. Movable indicators. 12th. Method of setting the distributing indicators.
13th. The graduated stop, in combination with the indicating levers, for regu-
lating the feed of the line of jtype. l-ith. Mechanism for moving the levers.
15th. Mechanism for feeding up the column of types into the channel, 10th.
The method of engaging or disengaging the feeding pacols. The points num-
bered from 17 to 21 inclusive, regard the mechanism used in securing right
movements in the parts already mentioned.

We regard this as a work of genius of high order, and fi'om the evidence
already exhibited, can hardly doubt that it will become of practical value.

Brown's Safety Alarm Detectors.

We saw and carefully examined sundry contrivances, or rather sundry appli-
cations of the same contrivance, now on exhibition in the Mechanics' Fair at
Lowell, Mass., devised and patented by Mr. Ephraim Brown, of that city, for
the detection of burglars. One of them is

DETECTOR MORTISE LOCK FOR DOORS.

It looks precisely like any other mortise lock, with a knob handle, but when-
ever an attempt is made to open the door, a bell is rung. This bell is con-
cealed within the casing. Ingenious arrangements are made by which the ring-
ing may be prevented, and the alarm is thrown off from a given lock by difier-
ent means, so that one who can open his own door without detection, can not
open his neighbor's. Nor can even the maker of the lock. One hundred of
these locky, it is said, in use only one year in one city, have detected seventy-
four thieves, and not a case has occurred in which a thief has succeeded in open-
ing one of them without ringing. AVithout reference to the alarm machinery,
the lock is a very good one.

WINDOW AND MONET DRAWER DETECTOR.

The same application is fitted to a money drawer, and similar modes are
adopted for preventing the action of the alarm, by any who are in the secret.
It is also applied to a window, so that it can not be raised without making an
alarm. The bell is in the casing. It does not ring when the sash is lowered.
It holds the sash in different positions like any other spring. In the country,

i

American Inventions. 291

where watchmen cind policemen are seldom employed, these detectors would be
of very great service, and in the cities they might sometimes detect even the
guardians of the peace in criminal attempts. Mr. Brown has pubHshed the tes-
timonials of several gentlemen of high respectability, assuring the public that
his statements may be relied upon, and that his engagements will be honorably
fulfilled. Several thousand detectors have already been sold, many of them as
a substitute for the night locks, so extensively used on outside doors.

IMPROVED STEAMERS.

Mr. Brown has also contrived a very convenient and useful aifair for steaming
vegetables, etc. It consists of a wire basket, to be set in any boiler, above the
water for steaming, or in the water for boiling. In boiling eggs they are espe-
cially convenient. The whole number being immersed at the same moment, and
all removed at once. They may be used advantageously in cooking potatoes
and ia general they are convenient as a security against the scalding of the hands.

Sewing Machines — Grover & Baker's Stitch.

In our last number we described the different kinds of stitch taken by several
of the most popular sewing machines, with diagrams of the stitch. The third
diagram, (Grover & Baker's stitch,) gives an incorrect idea. We described this
as a shuttle machine, that is as using two threads, while the diagram shows but
one. The waving thread, advancing and retreating, there given, was intended
to show only the general movement of the lowei', which is operated on this machine
by a curved hook beneath the cloth, and the diagram gives only an imperfect idea
of this. This hook thread traverses only upon the lower side of the cloth and
this is curiously and ingeniously hooked into and interwoven with the needle
thread, and each thread being doubly locked forms a stitch of great strength
and elasticity. Each stitch fastens itself, and holds on, even if the seam be cut
or broken every quarter of an inch. We make these corrections to prevent any
injustice to the proprietors of this machine, from an error which was purely ac-
cidental, and shall probably have more to say upon the subject in our subse-
quent issues.

New and Curious Printing- Machine.

There is no end to the progress of inventive genius. Hoe's exploits, on a
grand scale, seem to bid defiance to competition, but some happy thought,
directed by accident perhaps, may result in throwing even his wonderful inven-
tions into the shade. At the other end of the series, the contrivance of simple,
portable printing machines, stands a recent invention of Mr. S. W. Francis, of
Frankfort street, in this city. Mr. Francis has availed himself of the simple
and eflicient arrangement of the finger board of the pianoforte, each key stand-
ing for a letter, by which he plays out printed lines with the same facility with
which the musician throws off his melodies. His hammers are types, and all
the strings or wires he uses are for the management of his types and the sheet
to be printed. As to speed, he states that he can print " seven letters in a

292

American Inventions.

.swond." Two copies may be printed at the same time, on the principle of the
letter copjinj^ press. The types may be of any size required. Mr. Francis
believes that for editors, clergymen, etc., the use of this is preferable to that of
the pen, and certainly for reporters and the like, aside from the inconvenience
of transportation, it is a very useful invention, and clergymen whose sight is
flcfective can hardly fail to find it of great convenience. For capitals, Mr.
Frrincis uses the lower case, with a dash over the letter. Whether he can mul-
tij>ly his keys, so as to include a set of capital letters, without interfering with
his mechanism, we are not informed. But he has contrived an ingenious and
efficient machine, for which we hope he will receive a large pecuniary return.

American Institute.
We have made several visits, during the past month, to the Crj^stal Palace,
and have carefully examined many of the articles on exhibition. The increase
of machinery and of works of art, meanwhile, is very noticeable. We invite
the attention of our readers to the following, and shall no doubt continue our
descriptions in our next issue. There are thousands of useful and ingenious
contrivances there quite worthy of the public attention.

PATENT SPOOL AND BOX MACHINE.

Waymouth and Page, Fitchburgh, Mass., have one of the most ingenious
machines we have ever seen. We have seldom seen one that works so rapidly
and so well. It turns out some twenty-five wooden druggist's boxes per min-
ute, though probably one man could not continue at this rate a long while. It
is a most admirable invention, and can scarcely fail to be a good property to
the patentee.

A.merican Inventions. 293

PATENT SCROLL SAW

L. Wright of Newark, N. J., has a pa,tent scroll saw, which for nicety of
movement, and for the ease of its management, and its
capacity in meeting any demand made upon it in the way
of scroll cutting, excels anything we have seen. We
have made reference to this in a former exhibition of the
Institute. These machines are of different sizes, accord-
ing to the nature of the work required of them. By a pe-
culiar arrangement of the saw and the spring, the latter
moves only a fraction of the distance of the movement
of the saw. Hence a speedier motion is practicable than
if the spring had a longer vibration, and this also enables
ths operator to avoid the shaking or jarring usually pro-
duced by rapid motion of a saw.

MEANS OP PRESERVING FERMENTED LIQUORS.

When cider, beer, ale, etc., are on tap, and the barrel is partly filled with at-
mospheric air, it is well known that constant and rapid changes in its condition
are unavoidable, and if the bung is tight, no liquor can be drawn from the tap.
These evils are readily obviated by a very simple contrivance of Mr. A. F. Boyd,
of Zanesville, Ohio, who exhibits his elastic sack of thin India rubber, which is
applied at the bung hole, or at the vent hole in the head of the barrel, and
which expands as the liquor is drawn away, t'll it fills the barrel. It thus ex-
cludes all atQios[jheric air, prevents rapid fermentation, and secures a free dis-
charge at the tap. A single bag may be made to serve for several barrels, all
being connected by a tube.

PATENT ROPE AND CORDAGE MACHINE.

W. R. Dutchei-, Lansingburgh, N. Y., exhibits a very neat and compact mar
chine for the manufacture of rope and cordage. His improvement, whiih was
patented June, 1857, consists of a self-adjusting thimble, applied in combination,
with a grooved cone, through which grooves the yarns or strands run, and by
which the yarns are kept at a proper tension. It is cheap, simple, and effective.

MAYEs's IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE.

This machine was patented in April, 1857, and consists of a sliding and re-
volving top, the under side of which, as well as the botrom of the tub, consists
of a kind of corrugated surface, or a surface resembling one of boy's marbles,
(though immovable,) by which the amount of friction is very much increased.
The clothes are placed in the tub, the cover is allowed to drop down upon them
through a central spindle, and is then made to operate in a kind of see-saw
motion, by means of a handle upon the cover. It is by Josiah Mayes, Cohoes,
N. Y. He claims that he can wash a dozen shirts in twelve minutes.

king's washing MACHINE,

Which we have favorably noticed in former volumes, is also on exhibition, and
is offered by the inventor, Thos. King, of Westchester, as saving much labor,
and as secure agrainst tearing even the finest fabrics.

294 American Inventions.

PUMPS, ENGINES, ETC.

This department, as usual, is very fully represented at this fair, and it is im-
possible to make a perfectly fair comparison among them. Each one may be
specially commendable in a certain view, or for a specific purpose, and taking
cheapness into the account, the less meritorious, viewed as a power, may be
preferable for ordinary family use, or even for more important positions,

Gary's pumps, for the amount of water they will throw a large distance, or
for rapid work, we have considered the best. They have often commanded
the first premium. They are valuable for ships, and for all cases where great
power is desired. For fire engines, they have been preferred over all others,
although they won a hardly-contested field before our city fathers, a year ago,
in competition with a pump, now on exhibition also, from Seneca Falls. "We
fully described Gary's pump in our number for July, 1854, page 44.

The chronometer steam pump of Ruperts, Crumble & Go., Brooklyn, N. Y.,
will throw a stream of f of an inch, 120 feet high, with a piston of 4^ inches
in diameter.

The steam pump of Taylor, Campbell & Co., of Brooklyn, N. Y., throws two
streams, each 1\ inches in diameter, to the height of 125 feet. But this re-
quires a piston ten inches in diameter.

The steam pump of C. and G. M. Woodward, with a piston seven inches in
diameter, delivers 240 gallons in a minute.

The steam pump of Guild, Garrison & Co., Williamsburgh, N. Y., with a pis-
ton seven inches in diameter, throws a stream 1 inch in diameter, ninety-six feet
high.

Wm. D. Andrews, of this citj'-, has a power pump in the palace, which throws
a powerful stream, we should judge, five or six inches in diameter.

Heed and Birkbeck, of Jersey City, have a very excellent portable engine, sim-
ple, compact, and efficient, suited for any kind of farm business. It received the
first prize medal at the Industrial Exhibition in Paris, in 1855, where it is said
to have been tested by the most eminent engineers of Europe. It is manufac-
tured, to order, from two horse to two hundred horse power, and costs, com-
plete for service, from $350, upwards. A fifteen horse power, complete, costs
$1,550. If not portable, the cost is much less.

The Forest and Agricultural Steam Engine Co. have also a portable steam
saw for felling trees, cross-cutting wood, etc. The steam is led through flexible
hose a hundi-ed and fifty feet, if desired. The boiler is mounted on wheels, and
can be moved by a yoke of oxen. Three men, it is claimed, with one of these
machines, will cut from 15 to 40 cords of wood per day. A slight change in the
machinery, produces a farm engine of from six to eight horse power, capable of
application to a great variety of farm labor, as driving a threshing machine,
shingle mill, corn mill, cotton gin, straw cutter, pumps, etc. The cost is from
$800 to $1,300, the last including extra machinery.

The hand suction and force pumps are quite as numerous as the power
pumps.

American Inventions. 295

Carpenter's rotary force pump and fire engine may be worked by hand or
steam power. It has no valves and requires no packing. It seems to be a mo-
dification of the device used by Cary. Its working machinery is contained in
a hollow cylinder of some four or five inches in diameter, in which a revolving
solid piston plays, moved by a crank or other convenient machinery. It is said,
by the proprietor, to work efficiently in deep wells, mines, etc.

Dodge's Suction and force Pump is operated by steam or hand power, and is a
capital pump. It is without valves or chambers, India rubber balls being sub-
stituted. Hence it requires no packing. Prices vary from $15, for cylinders two
inches diameter and three inches stroke — often used as a green house engine, to
$175, which will buy a small fire engine for villages, factories, or plantations.
It is well worthy of public attention.

BENZOLE GAS LIGHT.

This old friend of ours shines as brightly as ever. The only difficulty with
this, as we have repeatedly stated, is the want of benzole. The market, hither-
to, has not been well supplied with it.

AIR BLAST OK BLOW PIPE.

This is a recent addition or annexation to the Benzole gas light, is very con-
venient and economical, and is worthy the attention of chemists and mechanics.

BRECKENRIDGE COAL OILS.

These oils are variously prepared for illumination, lubrication, etc., and the
former produces a very brilliant light at a very moderate cost. It requires a
lamp of peculiar construction. Coal wax, or paraffine, gas, naptha and asphalt,
are produced from the same coal. The paraffine makes beautiful candles, as
we recently stated. Depot in New- York, 98 Greenwich street. Manufactory,
Cloverport, Ky.

safford's patent window-sash adjuster.

This has been in use three years, on several railroads in New-England, and
in steamboats, and has proved itself to possess several advantages. It is free
from noise, excludes the dust when the window is closed, dispenses with
catches, bolts, etc., provides for the shrinking and swelling of the wood, and is
easily repaired. It consists of a small spii'al spring, fixed in the edge of the
sash, pressing against the casing. Hence it can be applied to any window. As
long as the spring retains sufficient elastic force to resist the tendency of the
sash to fall, it is certainly the most desirable of all the adjusters we have seen.

Plimpton's combined secretary, bedstead, and toilet-table.
This is not a new thing to our readers. It was one of the attractive features
of the "World's Fair, and has been exhibited in many State Fairs. As a taste-
ful and convenient combination of useful furniture, as its name imports, it is
unrivalled.

New Process in Forging Iron.

One of the most valuable processes in the forging of iron is that invented by
Mr. Nasmyth, by which the certainty of the production of perfectly sound

296

American Inventions.

cylindrical forgings, especially those of large size, such as shafts, axles, and the
like, is increased. A wedge-shaped or V anvil is used, between the jaws of
which the work to be hammered is i)]accd. In this case, instead of a tendency
to spread, so as to render the central portion of the metal less compact and
solid, tliere is exactly the opposite effect, besides which the article is more easily
kept under the hammer, and the scales or impurities which fall from the hf)t
iron fall down into the apex of the V out of the way, thus removing tlie blemish
and roughness which is caused by the scales collecting on the face of the anvil
and being beaten into the surface of the metal.

Machinery for Cutting Down Trees.
We have by accident delayed a notice of the invention of Mr. G. C. Ehrsam,

of this city, for cutting
down trees, patented in
June, 1856, and manufac-
eured and sold by Eveleth
& Bissel, Pine street. The
cutting part of the machi-
nery is represented in the
engraving in the margin.
This is made to encircle
the tree, and is moved
around it by strong and
accurate gear work, which
is connected with a crank.
It is claimed that these
cutters will do the work
of from four to eight men ;
that a two-foot tree can be
felled in from eight to twelve minutes, and that each cutter will fell from a hun-
dred to a hundred and fifty trees without sharpening. It can be used within
five inches of the ground. The cut surface of the stump will be left flat, there-
by securing speedy decay. Price, from sixty dollars, (for machines two feet in
diameter,) and upwards according to size.

Concentrated Milk.

The Winstead (Conn.,) Herald contains the following description of Mr. Gail
Borden, jr's., process of concentrating and preserving milk :

" The milk, as it is received from the neighborhood farmers, (they being paid
some two or three cents per quart for it,) in cans of six or eight gallons each,
is at once deprived of its animal heat by placing the cans in ice-cold water. It
is then, while in the cans, subjected to a heat of IGO to 190 degrees — a few
degrees below the boiling point. Thus prepared, the milk is immediately trans-
ferred to the boiler, a huge receptacle of cast iron, of incalculable strength.
While there subjected, by means of steam, to a heat of but 120 to 160 degrees,
the air is withdrawn by two nicely adjusted air-pumps, and the process of
evaporation commences. The vapor, as it forms, and this it does with sur-
prising rapidity, within the vacuum, is as rapidly condensed and thrown oflF by
means of the pumps, and so quick is the process that, according to our infor-

American Patents. 297

mation, a boiler of 500 quarts can be reduced to 125 quarts within one and a
half hours. The liquid thrown off by the evaporation is clear, like water — has
a sickish, unpleasant taste— in no way resembling milk, and its smell is slightly
offensive. It is considered that the concentrated article is rendered purer by
the process, to say nothing of its other advantages."

[ISSDED FROM THE U. S. PATENT OFFICE, FROM SEPTEMBER 8 TO OCTOBER 6, 1857.]

Agricultural.

Hulling Rice, Wilson Ager, Rohrsburg, Pa. — Cleaning Rice, same. — Mowing
Machine, A. H. Caryl, Sandusky, 0. — Raking Attachment for Reapers, same. —
Same, Christian Yost, Lea'cock, Pa. — Apparatus for Grain and Grass Harvest-
ers, J. W. Bultzly and Wm. Hobson, Pana, 111. — Machine for Binding Grain,
Jos. F. Black, Lancaster, 111. This sheaves and binds the grain as fast as it is
cut by the reaper. It is to be attached to reaping machines. — Reaping and
Mowing Machine, J. G. Dunham, Raritan, N. J. — Harvester, A. B. J. Flowers,
Greenfield, Ind. Grinding the machine by means of castor wheels, and adding
an endless apron and a new discharging device. — Rake for Harvesters, Isaac
Van Doren, Somerville, N. J. — Hax-vester, Samuel Pennock, assignor to himself
and Morten Pennock, Kennett's Square, Pa. — Corn Sheller, J. J. Parker, Mari-
etta, 0. — Grain Drill, Henry Beitzell, Centerville, Ind. — Corn Sheller, A. M.
Cook, Milford, Mass. — Mode of attaching Scythes to Snaths, Wm. T. Clement,
Shelburne Falls, Mass. — Sod Cutters, Nelson Newman, Springfield, 111. — Reap-
ing and Mowing Machine, M. E. Ellsworth, Hudson, 0. — Cultivator, Wm. J.
Forshee, Indianapolis, Ind. — Corn Husker, A. M. George, Nashua, N. H. —
Same, H. P. Gerrish, Sandoval, 111. — Seed Planter, W. Y. Gill, Henderson, Ky.
Same, A. M. Gould and Albert Flanders, Cambria, N. Y. — Plough, Manasseh
Grover, Clyde, 0.— Hill-side Plough, A. J. Hardin, Shelby, N. C— Rake, A. A.
& Andrew Hotchkiss, Sharon Valley, Ct. — Guard finger for Reaping Machines,
Charles Howell, Cleveland, 0. — Machine for Shucking and Shelling Corn, Sand-
foi'd Kingsbery, Carrolton, Ga. — Gang Plough, L. S. Kingston and David Gore,
Plain View, 111. — Seed Planter, C. 0. Luce, Brandon, Vt. — Seeding Machine,
Daniel and A. S. Markham, Monmouth, 111. — Seed Planter, Hosia Willard, Ver-
gennes, Vt. — Plough, Thos. Sharp, NashviUe, Tenn. — Corn Sheller, Ancil Stick-
ney, Concord, N. H. — Corn Husker, W. H. Smith, Newport, R. I. — Seed Sow-
ing Machine, Wm. C. Squier, Rockford, 111. — Balancing Threshing Cylinders,
Damon R. Averhill, assignor to himself, James F. Davis, and Henry Twitchell,
Pulaski, N. Y.

Metallurgy and Manufacture of Metals.

Socket for Bolts, H. W. Collendar, New-York. — Pointing Wire, C. Jillson,
Worcester, Mass. — Lock, H. W. Covert, Roxbury, N. Y.^— Same, J. L. Hall,
Cincinnati, 0. — Nut Machine, S. H. Whitaker, Cincinnati, 0. — Wrench, H. D.
Blake, New Hartford, Ct. — Bit Holder, Ben. B. Hill, Chicopee, Mass. — Spike,
Orin Newton, Pittsburgh, Pa. Constructed with concave sides, etc. — Wire
Fences, J. B. Reyman, Bloomington, 111. A mode of bending or kinking the
wires. — Manufacture of Metallic Squares, Samuel Darling, Bangor, Me. — Saw
filing Machine, Harley Stone and J. S. Cole, Blackstone, Mass. — Curry-comb,
N. C. Harris and Alonzo Butler, Poultney, Vt. — Melting and Refining Iron, G.
P. Miller and Hugh Dougherty, Lancaster, Pa. — Power Looms for weaving wire
cloths, E. B. Bigelow, Boston, Mass. — Cutting Metal Caps for nail heads, Zacha-
riah Walsh, assignor to Cornelius Walsh, Nevrark, N. J. — Stove Cover Stand,
Hiram Carsley, Lynn, Mass.

298 American Patents.

Manxfactctke of Fibrous and Textile Substances.

Hardening^ Hat Bodies, Joseph Booth, Newark, N. J. — Making paper pulp
from ivor}'^, AVilliam N. Clark, Lancaster, Pa. — Treating fibrous and textile
substances, Julius A. Gillson, Poughkcepsie, N. Y., and Henry Whitney, New-
York. In a perfect vaccuuni for extracting coloring matter, grease, etc. —
Treating cotton and linen waste, Eben Norton Horsford, Cambridge, Mass.
The use of acid to dissolve metallic particles in cotton and linen factory waste. —
Harness for Looms, George !Matoon, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. A mode
of making a harness so that its lease and knot shall be below its eye, and
the threads of each loop be caused to pass against one side of their shaft
or bar instead of being caused to embrace opposite sides of it, namely, first
knitting the harness with a lease at top and one at bottom, or one above as well
as one below each eye, and subsequently changing the upper shaft so as to pass
it between tlie several loop threads of the upper side of the harness in such
manner as to make both thieads of each loop pass against one side of the shaft.
— ^Preparing tracing muslin, Jesse K. Park, Marlborough, N. Y. The use of
the oil of Palma Christi, or of castor oil, alone or as an ingredient, in the com-
position for increasing the transparency of tracing muslin. — Carding Engine,
\Vm. H. Walton, Brooklyn, N. Y., and G. H. Phinney, New-York. The use of a
rotary brush for stripping the main cylinder in combination with a lever or its
equivalent. — Sewing Machine, Edward A. Jcnks and John Underwood, Lowell,
Mass. A new kind of loopcr and a spring feed piece, with its pressure guide
or sheatn, etc. — Hemp Brake, Conrad Simon, Louisville, Ky. — Coating hose
pipe, Charles R, Hinckley, Stonington, Ct. Constructing a hose pipe of textile
and fibrous materials, with an internal coating of vulcanized India rubber, first
applying the rubber outside, and afterwards inverting the same by drawing it
over and through a metallic cylmder. — Cork sole stuftj William Johnson, Brook-
lyn, N. Y. The making of cork cloth, by said process, for inside soles and lining
of boots, shoes, and other articles, for which solid sheet cork has been used. —
Machine for measuring cloth, Wm. Y. Wythes, St. Clair, Pa. — Machine for
forming and hardening hat bodies, A. C. Arnold, Norwalk, Ct. — Machine for
packing wool, Chas. Carlisle, Woodstock, Vt. — Curtain Boilers, D. N. B. CoflBn,
Jr., Newton Centre, Mass. — Machine for Packing Wool, Albert Dorr, Orleans,
Mich. — Sewing Machine, Millford H. Nettlcson and Charles Baymond, Bristol,
Ct. — Same, E. H. Smith, New- York. — Machine for picking cotton in the field,
Jos. W. Thorn, Courtland, Ala. — Sewing Machine, Wm. C. Watson, assignor to
himself, Geo, H. Wooster, and Ira W. Gregory, New- York,

Chemical Processes, Manufactures, etc,

India rubber paint, Wm. & Wm. A. Butcher, Philadelphia. A composition
for making a water-proof paint. — Mastic Roofing, Wm. 11. Carver, Covington,
Ky, and J. Bcekley, Cincinnati, 0. "The precise manner employed of mixing
and comi)ounding the ingredients composing the cement, when combined with
the proportions of ingredients, as specified, by which process of mixing and com-
pounding and combination of ingredierits, and applying the cement to use, we
are enabled to decompose or destroy the ammonia contained in the coal tar, to
prevent it from destroj-ing the cement and eating the canvas on which it is
spread, and at the same tmie produce a cement that is not brittle and subject
to cracking, but hard enough to resist forces that roofs are generally subject
to, and at the same time elastic enough to expand and contract to suit all con-
ditions of heat and cold, and make the cement water-proof." — Preserving
alkalies, George Thompson, East Tarcntowu, Pa. The use of metallic boxes,
united with refusible cement, for putting up caustic alkalies in small quan-
tities.— Cooler, W. F. Messenger and Henry Rchahn, New-York, Adapt-
ed for casks containing liquids on draught. — Composition for covering meats,
John J. Bate, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Francis S. Lowe, Jersey City, N. J.

American Patents. 299

The use of shellac, varnish and beeswax, etc., in composition.— Lard rendering
kettle, John J. Bate, Brooklyn, N. Y.— Prepariog rooffing cements, Robert f.
Havens, Casstown, 0.— Factitious oils, Joseph W. Harman, Elizabethtown,
N. J. The use of the residuum of candle factories in the manufacture of com-
pound oil.— Separating oily matter from water, James Naughten, Cincinnati, 0.
— Cooler for breweries, Adolph Hammer, Reading, Pa.— Drip pots for sugar
houses, John Turl, New-Yoik.— Brewer's Coolers, Adam Wood, Pittsburgh,
Pa. A double bottom of corrugated iron, through which cold water con-
stantly runs.— Making white lead, Henry Hannen, Dubuque, Iowa.— Bronzing
liquors, Henry Hoflman, New- York.

Calorifics.

Gas Generator, John Butler, Brooklyn, N. Y Generating gas in a retort
over the surface of melted lead and other fusible metal.— Illuminating Gas Ap-
paratus, Chas. B. Waring, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.— Gas Burner, Wm. W. Batch-
elder, New- York.— Steam Heating Apparatus, Edmund Gibbs, Madison, Wis.—
Gas Burner, William H. Lindsay, Brooklyn, N. Y.— Apparatus for roasting on
cooking stoves, ranges, etc., Samuel Peirce, Troy, N. Y.— Protecting buildings
from fire, Thomas Odion, Portsmouth, N. H. By means of a portable screw.—
Hydro-carbon Vapor Lamp, Isaac Suggitt, Providence, R. L— Hot Air Registers,
Sylvester J. Sherman, New- York.— Coal Stove, Wm. H. Stinson, Baltimore, Md.

Steam and Gas Engines, &c.

Operating valves of steam engines, Robert H. Fletcher, Brooklyn, N. Y.—
Valve gear for oscillating steam engines, John C. Penninghu, Paterson, N. J.—
Arrangement of passages and means for working steam valves, by the direct
action of steam, Barnabas Roberts and Alex. Crumble, assignors to themselves
and John Benson, Brooldyn, N. Y. An arrangement of the steam channels,
which are opened and closed by the travel of the main piston, connecting the
steam chest and cylinder as described in combination with pistons of equal
areas, or their equivalents, etc.— Metallic packing rings for steam engines, P.
Clark, Rahway, N. J. A number or series of layers or lamina of sheet metal,
with flexibility enough to be bent round a rod, etc.— Rotary Steam Engine, D.
C. Turner, Aztalan, Wis.— Valve gear for oscillating steam engines, N. W.
Wheeler, New-York.'-Steam Pressure Guage, Henry Bates, New-London, Ct —
Steam Boiler, Wm. M. & Jonas B. Ellis, Washington, D. C— Variable eccentrics
for operating the valves of steam engines, S. L. Wiegand, Philadelphia.— Tank
for Locomotives, John Kimball, Concord, N. H., assignor to Robert Hale, Rox-
bury, Mass.— Steam Generator, Julien F. Belleville, Nancy, France.— Locomo-
tive Oow-Catcher, James Mitchell, Osceola, Iowa.

Navigation and Maritime Implements.

Ships' Pump, Abraham Coates, New-York.—Feathering paddle-wheels, Lewis
T. Howard, Smith's Mills, Miss.— Reefing and furling sads, G. W. La Baw,
Jersey City, N. J., assignor to himself and Chas. A. Durgin, New-York.— Life-
boats, M. M. Camp, New-Haven, Ct.— Diving Apparatus, George Williamson,
Brooklyn, N. Y.— Life-Preserver, Charles J. Banker, New-York.— Marine Pro-
pelling Apparatus, Ethan Campbell, Boston, Mass., assignor to Wm P Pa^-e
Cambridge, Mass., and Edward F. Hodges, Boston. ° '

Civil Engineering, Architecture, &c.
Excavator, Ze Butt, Lincolntown, N. C- Sustaining Window Sash, Edward
T. Briggs, Salem, Mass.— Street Sweeping Machine, John Critcherson, Boston,
Mass.— Bridge, Charles H. Earle, Green Bay, Wis. A bridge so constructed as
to rise and fall with the change of water level, being self adjusting.— Safety
fuse compositions, Edward Gomez and Wm. Mills, New-York.— Operating Win-
dow Sash, John 0. Grant, Salem, Mass.— Controlling cog gear sash balance
John Mac Murtry, Lexington, Ky., assignor to Dan. Wiehl, Fayette Co., Ky.—
Apparatus for loading logs on wagons. Philander Gilbert, Alexandria, 0. A

300 American Patents.

portable frame combined with a windlass. — Connecting: and disconnecting the
blocks of iron or other pavements, B.irzillai C. Smith, Burlington, N. J. —
Trussed Bridge, Abram S. Swartz, Buffalo, N. Y.-;-Ap|)rnach Opening Gate,
Charles A. Howard, Pontiac, Mich. — Oi)ening and closing Vertico-latern) fulding
gates, Francis Thrasher and H. B. Horton, Akron, 0. — Rock Cutting and Drill-
ing Machine, Wm. Plumer, Boston, Mass. — Extension Elevator, Pierce Porter,
Hookset, N. H. — Oil pressing machiner}', Wm. Wilbur, New-York.

Land Conveyance.

Railroad Car Seats, J. H. Swan, New-York. — Carriage Prop, Chauncey
Thomas, West Newbury, Mass. — Window for Locomotives, Henry Skinner,
Fulton, N. Y. — Lubricating Carriage Axles, Albert A. Vedder, Lysander, N. Y.

Hydraulics and Pneumatics.

Hydraulic Engines, John I). Heaton, Dixon, 111. — Pump, J. D. We.st, New-
York. — Regulating the velocity of wind-wheel.';, Francis Peabody, Salem, Mass.
— Shower Bath, Wm. Miller, Walthcm, Mass. — Wind-wheel, Wm. Zimmerman,
Quincy, 111,

Grinding Mills, and Mill Gearing.

Grinding Mill, Aaron Arnold, Troy, N. Y. — Flour Bolt, N. Bauman, Elmore,
m. — Hanging Mill Stones, Edwin Clark, Lancaster, Pa. — liearings for mill stone
drivers, same. — Horse Power, G. E. Burt, Ahriim Wright, and G. F. Wright,
Harvard, Mass. — Drilling and Milling Machine, Wm. D. Sloan, New-York. —
Journals of axles with fi iction rollers, George A. Prentiss, Cambridge, Mass.

Lumber, Tools for Preparing, etc.
Spoke Machine, Samuel Lord, Perry, Ga.^ — Tenoning Machine, Perry Putnam
and John E. Crone, Lowell, Mass. — Manufecturing Shingles, J. E. Young,
Augusta, Me. — Lathe for the manufacture of clothes-pins, etc., John Humphrey,
Keene, N, H., assignor to himself and Amos E. Perry, Hanisville, N. 11. —
Filing and setting saws, Ansby C. Smith and Joseph K. Creighton, East Bir-
mingham, Pa. — Holding and setting logs in circular sawing machines, James
H. Batchelder, Rome, Mich. — Cutting Bungs, Josiah Kirby, Cincinnati, 0. —
Attaching adjustable handles to joiners' planes, Thos. D. Worrall, Lowell, Mass.
— Saw Flier, J. J. Near, Oneida, N. Y., assignor to Eli Noar and Levi Vandusen,
Madison Co., N. Y. — Joiners' Bench, J. W. Mahan, Lexington, 111. — Sawing
Shingles, Jesse Gilinan, Nashua, N. H. — Wood Boring Machine, Lafayette Ste-
vens, assignor to Wm. L. Gibson, Elmira, N. Y.

Stone and Clay Manufactures.
Brick Machine, G. J. Washburn, assignor to himself and Anson L. Hobart,
Worcester, Mass. — Manufacturing Pottery Ware, Philip Pointon, Baraboo, Wis.
— Brick Press, E. H. Bellows, Worcester, Mass.

Leather, Tanning, Dressing, &c.
Belt Tool, David A. J. Lamson, Cherry Valley, Mass. — Improved boot and
shoe sole cutter, Parker Wells, Middletown, Mass., assignor to Samuel Mower,
Boston, Mass. A cutter with a yielding slide. — Edge-plane for trimming boot
and shoe soles, J. A. Dunham, North Bridgewater, Mass. A cutting blade and
guard that, together, forms a circle or very nearly, and so arianged as to be set
up to its guard as fast as it becomes worn, by simply turning said cutter on its
center. — Stirrups for riding saddles, James Neill, Yorkville, N. Y. An arrange-
ment for releasing the stirrup from its strap when the rider falls. — Hame tug
fastening, Wm. J. Lockwood, Sturgis, Mich. — Manufacture of the uppers of
boots and shoes, without seams, Samuel Middleton, England. — Hollow metallic
.asts, Sylvanus H. Whorf, Maiden, Mass. A last with a yielding spring instep.

HousF.noLD Furniture, Machines and Implements for Domestic Purposes, &c '
Kneading dough, Hiram Berdan, New-York. A rotating "flipper" to rotate

Foreign Inventions. 301

through the dough, cutting it, etc. — Invalid Beds, George H. Clark, Poutiac,
Mich.— Fly Trap, S. R. Wilmot, Watertown, Ct.— Spring bed-bottoms, Henry
J. Smith, Washington, D. C.

Arts — Polite, Fine, Ornamental, &c.

Expanding spectacle bows, George N. Cummings, Hartford, Ct. — Painter's
Easel, George Gillett, Little York, N. Y.— Watchmaker's Lathe, Roswell H. St.
John, Bellefontaine, 0. — Diaphragm for photographic cameras, J. R. Werner,
New-York. — Type setting and distributing machine, Tunothy Alden, New-
York, (see another page.) — Safety clasp for bracelets, etc., Isaac Hermann, New-
York.— Sleeve Fastener, David C. Peacock, Brookl.yn, N. Y.— Hand Stamp, T.
J. W. Robertson, New- York. — Machine for distributing type, Wm. H. Mitchell,
Brooklyn, N. Y. — Pencil Sharpener, J. W. Strange and Samuel Darling, Bangor,
Me.— Fastenmg for Jewelry, John T. Folwell, Philadelphia. — Reed stops tor
musical instruments, Amos B. Hughes, Philadelphia. — Setting diamonds, etc.,
Isaac Lindsley, Providence, R. I. — Stemming and polishing peanuts, Samuel
Sheppard, Nashua, N. H. — Fountain Pen, A. F. Warren, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Fire Arms, &c.

Ball Carti'idges, Lemuel Wells, Astoria, N. Y. — Safety fuse compositions,
Edwin Gomez and Wm. Mills, New-York.

Miscellaneous.

Burglar's Alarm, Simeon Coon, Ithaca, N. Y. — Portfolio, or music Stand,
Augustus Eliaers, Boston.— Fly Trap, S. R. Wilmot, Watertown, Ct— Fire
Escape Ladder, Henry Lorvenberg, New-York. — Apparatus for opening oysters,
Waldren Beach, Baltimore, Md.— Cribs of horses stables, William Croasdalc,
Hartsville, Pa.— Burglar's Alarm, E. M. & J. E. Mix, Ithaca, N. Y.— Awning
frame for horses, N. Pullman, New-Oregon, Iowa. — Fastening for metallic bands
of cotton bales, etc., Charles J. Provost, Sardis, Ala. — Mode of attaching elastic
soles to horse shoes, Wm. Somerville, Buifalo, N. Y,

New Process for Preserving Timber.

Among the expedients adopted for the purpose of preventing the decay of
wood, the following, by the eminent French chemist. Dr. Boucherie, seems wor-
thy of special attention. The following is his method of operation :

After the tree has been felled, a saw-cut is made across the center through
about nine-tenths of the section of the tree. The tree is then slightly raised at
the center by a lever or wedge, so as to open the saw-cut a little ; a piece of
string or cord is placed all round the edge of the saw-cut, and on lowering the
tree again, the cut closes upon the string, which thus forms a water-tight joint
in a simple and eflfectual manner. An auger hole is then bored obliquely into
the saw-cut from the outside, into which is driven a hollow, wooden plug, to
which a flexible tube is fitted. The tube communicates with a raised cistern,
placed at a height of from 30 to 40 feet above the timbers that are to be pre-
pared, and containing a solution of sulphate of copper. When the preparations
have been completed, the liquid flows through the tube into the saw-cut in the
tree, and forces itself along the log in both directions, driving the sap out at
each end. As soon as the liquid has reached the ends of the log, the process is
finished and the log is ready for use.

If the timber is required of the entire original length, the cross saw-cut at
the center can not be made, and instead thereof, a cap, consisting of a piece of

302 Foreign Inventions.

board, J inch or 1 inch thick, is fixed on the end of the log by screws or clampsr,
and made, by means of a piece of strinp; or cord, to enclose a space at the end
of the tree. As tlie direction of the ,'::rain in the board forniin^ tlie cap is trans-
verse to that of the tree, the Hq;iid can not pass through the cap, and the injec-
tion proceeds from one end of the log to the other.

In order to ascertain when the process has been continued for a sufficient
length of time, so that the sap has been all expelled and replaced by the solu-
tion of sulphate of copper, a piece of prussiate of potash is rubbed on the end
of the timber while in the damp state, and if the solution has reached the end
of the log a deep reddish brown stain is produced, showing that the timber is
thoroughly impregnated with sulphate of copper.

The sap expelled fiom the timber in the process of impregnation contains at
most only l-lOdOth part of organic matter in solution, and accordingly no in-
convenience is experienced in emi)loying it as a solvent for the sulphate of cop-
per. It is, indeed, preferable to many kinds of spring water, particularly those
containing lime, which decomjiose a considerable proportion of sulphate of cop-
per. Tioughs are therefore laid under the ends of the logs to catch the sap and
the waste solution, which are conducted to a reservoir to be pumped up to the
cistern and mixed witli sulphate of copper to the i)roper strength.

The solution that has been found most effectual for pi-eserving the timber is
composed of 1 part by weight of sulphate of copper, and 100 parts by weight of
water. The strength of the mixture is ascertained by a hydrometer, having a
properly graduated scale. The specific gravity of water at G0° Fahr. being 1000,
if 1 per cent, of sulphate of copper is added, the specific gravity of the mixture
will bcl 006, nearly.

The sooner the trees are prepared after being felled, the better, and it is
therefore advisable to pi-epare them as near as possible to the place where they
are felled. Trees felled at any time between November and May, may be pre-
pared in May ; but those cut down in May, or at any time from May to the end
of November, should be prepared within three weeks from the time of being
felled.

In tlie course of the operations carried out in the practical application of this
process, the following focts have been ascertained :

All kinds of wood do not absorb equally, and the absorption of the liquid is
more rapid in the sappy parts than in those nearer the heart of the tree.

The quantity of the solution forced into the timber is equal in cubic measure
to at least one-half of the cubic dimensions of the timber. "When a solution
containing about 21 lbs. of sulphate of copper in every 22 gallons, has been
force i through a log, it appears, after allowing for the sulphate carried off by
the sap, that every 35 cubic feet of wood have retained from 11 lbs. to 13 lbs. of
sulphate of copper.

For a log about 9 feet long, the process of impregnation occupies two days,
when the timber is newly felled and the solution is sujjplicd by a head of
about 3^ feet. If the wood has been felled three months, three days are re-
quired ; and if four montlis, four dajs are necessary to complete the impregna-
tion.

Of different kinds of tree, those which possess most moisture are most easily
penetrated b}' the solution ; and of the same kind, those which have groAvn in
the dampest soils. Hence the least valuable and cheapest kinds of timber are
precisely those which give the best results when impregnated with the sulphate
of copper.

Improvements in Castors.
Br Tnos. Bird and Tnos. Bose, Manchester, Eng.

This invention consists in making the lower or rolling part of castors in the
form of spheres, globes, or balls, of any convenient dimensions, having their
upper parts pressing against one or more smaller balls or spheres, the whole
being enclosed in suitable standards or frames, either with or without anti-fric-

Foreign Inventions. 303

tion rollers, pulleys, or balls. The frame of the castor is provided with a screw,
in order to lengthen or shorten it, when required to adjust the article of fur-
niture to a proper height, and if the surface of the floor is uneven, to adjust it
to the various inequaltties, and give it a perfect level, which arrangement will be
found peculiarly applicable to pianos and similar articles.

In this improved castor the large sphere or ball is made of glass, and the
small one of ivory, or similar material, — thus making it a double spherical insu-
lator peculiarly applicable to pianos, harps, or other musical instruments.

Improvements in the Construction of Axles and Boxes of Carriages
for Common Roads.

By Richard Emery, St. James's Square.

This invention consists in so constructing the axles and axle-boxes of car-
riages for common roads that the wear on the bearings of such axles and boxes
will be uniform, and that the lateral lashing against the back and front of such
axle-boxes will be provided for in a better, cheaper, and more simple way than
is common in axles and axle-boxes of the present known constructions.

The improvements consist, firstly, in having the front and back bearings paral-
lel with the axis of the axle, or in other words, parallel with a center line drawn
through the axle bearings, which parallel bearings, although of different diame-
ters, will be always uniform in their wear ; the surfaces being equal both in
the busbing, for the bearing in the axle-box, and the bearing part of the axle-
arm.

Secondly, in constructing the axle-boxes of any known or suitable metal, and
bushing them with a different metal from that which the box is made of.

These beaiings may, if of steel, or case-hardened iron, or hard compositions,
be screwed or driven into their places, or shrunk in, or be run in, if of the softer
compounds or simple metals.

New Mode of Applying Metals to Surfaces of Wood, Pottery, etc.

The process for coating vitrified or enamelled surfaces is as follows : Suppose
the object to be treated by the process to be a china vessel, cover first that part
of it which is inteaded to receive the coating of metal with a layer of varnish,
or gold size ; and when the layer of varnish has become sufiBciently dry, apply
copper leaf to it, so as to cover it well, and leave the whole to dry completely ;
carefully remove all dust from the surface, and place the vessel so prepared in a
bath containing a solution of sulphate of copper. By submitting now the vessel
so prepared to the action of a galvanic battery, as usual a deposit of copper
takes place ; and when the deposit has acquired a suflacient thickness (for which
purpose about 60 hou? s immersion will be necessary) the vessel is taken out of
the bath, cleaned, and smoothed by filing off the asperities, and finished with
pumice-stone, to be finally polished as required.

The coppering may also be effected by another process, which is considered
to be as efficacious, and more convenient and easy than that just described. It
consists in making use of German gold dust or bronze powder containing much
mercury ; this metallic powder is a very good conductor. It is to be triturated
with common salt. When well mixed, it is put into an earthen basin, and hot
water is poured over the mixture ; the salt then dissolves, and the copper dust
is left to settle. The deposit thus formed is collected, dried, and used as a con-
ductor for the metallic coating to be given to the vessel.

By a similar process the silvering of looking glasses can be preserved irom the
efiects of dampness, — the glass being thus rendered at the same time less liable
to break. It is done as follows : Melt together equal quantities of bees'-wax and
taUow : when the mixture has become completely fluid and quite homogeneous,
the glass is dipped into it and taken out immediately ; it is then allowed to
cool, and the parts which are required to be coppered are prepared with metallic
powder, and treated in the same manner as before mentioned.

304 Foreign Inventions.

For metallizing objects the surface of which are soft, such as animal bodies,
the following process is adopted: First stop all the apertures with modellers'
wax, or some other convenient material, and place the dead animal body, which
may be a human corpse, in a suitable attitude, and spread over the skin, which is
of a greasy nature, a layer of suitable metallic salt ; pulverized nitrate of silver
being used by preference. This salt then penetrates into the pores of the skin,
and when a sufficient quantity of nitrate of silver has been thus applied to the
body in question, by means of a brush or otherwise, it is then put into a bath of
sulphate of copper, and the galvanic current being established, the whole sur-
face soon becomes covered witti a metallic deposit of copper of the requisite
thickness ; the result being a metallic mummy.

Similar objects, either of china or earthenware, may be covered with iron in-
stead of copi)er by preparing them as above described, and plunging the said
objects in a bath containing a solution of protosulphate of iron. The objects
which have been thus coated wiih copper, may receive afterwards another coat-
ing of either silver, gold, or platinum.

This is applicable to vessels of china and earthenware, pottery, crystal, glass,
and the like, and also to soft or supple surfaces, as leather, India rubber, gutta
pei'cha, and "other organic substances."

Improved Filter or Drainer.
By Fbedekic Albert Gatty, Accrington, Lancashire, Eng.
These improved filters or drainers are made by preference of wood and of a
square shape, but thej- may be of other shapes, and other materials may be
used. The sides and bottom of the filter or drainer are furnished with narrow
slots made with a circular saw or otherwise. When the filters or drainers are
made of wood it is requisite to make the slots in a line with the grain of the
wood. They may be rendered suitable for filtering dilFerent materials by in-
creasing or diminishing the width of the slots, according to the fineness or
coarseness of the substances to be separated from the liquids. In some cases
the slots of these filters or drainers may be filled with animal charcoal or other
purifying material. These impi-oved filters are said to possess considerable ad-
vantages over those in general use, which are usually made of woolen or other
fabric, and are soon injured V)y being continually wet, and bj'^ the action of acids.
The improved filter, after being in operation, is easily cleaned by passing a suit-
able instrument through the slots, to free them from any substances adhering
thereto.

Mining in Prussian Westphalia.

It is asserted that in Prussian Westphalia no less than sixteen mining and
smelting companies have been formed since 1848 — twelve of them since 1854,
showing a very considerable progress. In 1853, this province produced but
603,525 cwt. of iron, and 118,064 cwt. cast iron ware, while in 1854 the product
was 709,110 cwt. pig iron, and 332,061 cwt. cast iron ware, showing an increase
of 73 per cent, in one year. In 1855 the province produced 1,513,039 cwt. pig
iron, and 1,126,052 cwt. bar iron.

Tenacity of Metals.

As the results of numerous experiments in regard to the tenacity of metals,
M. Baudrimont has arrived at the following conclusions : That the tenacity of
metals varies with their temperature ; it generally decreases, though not with-
out exception, as the temperature rises; with silver, the tenacity diminishes
more rapidly than the temperature ; with copper, gold, platinum and palladium,
it decreases less rapidly than the temperature ; iron presents a very remarkable
case; at 212 degrees its tenacity is less than at 32, but at 392 degrees it is
greater than at 32.

Scientific. 305

' Chemistry for the Million.

The figures in the following tabular view denote the proportions of each ingredi-
ent and of the compound. Thus, read the first ;— 8 lbs. of oxygen, combined with 1
lb. of hydrogen, form 9 lbs. of water; and so the others, putting " combined with"
after the first word in each line, and the word "form" after the second.
8 OXYGEN- 1 HYDROGEN 9 WATER.

Water with other substances forms hydrates, as hydrates of lime, of iron, etc.
16 OXYGEN 6 CARBON 22 CARBONIC ACID.

Carbonic acid forms carbonates, as carbonate of lime, (chalk, marble, lime-stone,)

carbonate of soda (washing soda,) bi-carbonate of soda, (cooking soda) etc.

14 NITROGEN 3 HYDROGEN 1-7 AMMONIA

The three compounds above, water, carbonic acid, and ammonia constitute a very

large part of the food of all growing plants. Nothing could grow if deprived

of either of them. Decaying plants and animals are always giving them

off; and living, growing plants are always receiving them.

Water.— 7ifs agencies in the germmation of seeds, in conveying food for the growth

of plants, and in bringing them to maturity.

Three conditions are essential to germination, air, warmth and moisture. Give to
a seed that free circulation of air, which naturally takes place in a cultivated soil, and
give It a genial warmth, yet without moisture it will not germinate. Most seeds
can adapt themselves to various degrees of moisture. A kernel of corn, for instance,
with the requisite air and warmth, will sprout and grow vigorously, whether there
be much or little water in the soil. But without some moisture it will lie dormant
though ever so well supplied with air and warmth.

As soon as the germ, or minature plant, contained in the seed, begins to swell, it
does so, manifestly, by receiving into itself the material for its growth That ma-
terial it receives from the seed itself As yet it has no organs for receiving it from
without. The seed is nothing else than a young plant, microscopically small but
containing all the parts it wiU have when grown, closely wrapped up, in a mem-
braneous envelop, together with a convenient supply of food, to furnish material for
Its growth, till it can put forth roots and leaves, and draw from the soil and air

This food, so snugly enveloped with the germ, is mostly starch. A little of it is
gluten, and a very little ablumen, the former containing no nitrogen, the latter being
a nitrogenous substance. But plants absorb no food that is not in a limpidly fluid
state-perfectly dissolved either in air or water. Now starch is insoluble in water
It will form with water a kind of jelly, but not a transparent solution, and hence it '
can not be taken into a plant as food so long as it remains starch. That is a condi-
tion favorable to its preservation till wanted for the young plant, but before actually
feeding the germ, it has to be changed into some thing that is soluble in water, and
that somethifig is sugar.

Every one must have noticed that when a seed sprouts, it becomes sweet. This is
because the starch is turned to sugar. Out of the nitrogenous substances in the seed
is formed a new substance, called diastace. This diastace operates upon the starch,
turning it into sugar, But this change from starch to sugar can not be effected with-

306 Scientific.

out the aid of water. If it could, nothing would be gained ; for the germ could not
feed and grow upon dry sugar any more than it could upon dry starch. But tho
sugar will dissolve in water, whereas starch is insoluble. "Water, then, is essential,
both as a means for the formation of sugar, and as a solvent for it when formed. It
is not proposed here to investigate all the secrets of germination, nor to state all that
is well known on the subject. Enough has been said to show the importance of
water to the first step in plant growth. As soon as the germ begins to swell, it
must have oxygen, hj'drogcn, carbon and nitrogen, and a few mineral substances,
all of which are contained in tlie seed ; but not one could find its way into the or-
ganism of the germ without the agency of water.

As with the commencement so with the continuance of plant growth, water is a
most important agent. Some plants require more of it ; some less. Strawberries,
if the soil is porous, and made up largely of decaying vegetable matter, can hardly
have too much at fruiting time ; Indian corn, at the time of ripening, can hai-dly
have too little. But whatever water each plant, at its various stages, requires, is a
necessity. ]S'"ot only is all plant food prepared, as in the case of the sugar made
from starch, by the agency of water, and dissolved in water, but water becomes the
carrier of the food, first from the soil, at short distances, to the roots, and then along
the roots, and through the organism of the plant.

On the first of these points others differ from the view here taken. Liebig seems
to consider that plant food is perfectly immovable in the soil, except so far as it is
moved by the plow and other implements, or is seized by living roots in actual con-
tact with the portion of soil in which it is contained. He would have it, that the
roots go after food, and that is undoubtedly so. A grape root will run towards a
decaying bone, when but for the bone it would have traveled in another direction ;
and when it approaclies the bone, will divide itself into a thousand fibres, and at-
tack the bone on every side. But while it is clear that a root will turn out of its
course to come upon a richer source of food, is it not true also, that the food, by a
kind of reciprocal action, is drawn towards the root ?

"We know that water, by a natural law, passes downward in the soil. But by
another law of nature, that of capillary attraction, it will, under certain circumstan-
ces, travel upwards. For instance, if the sun evaporates the surface water, then the
water below will rise to take its place. Or if you put into a moist soil a shovelful
of soil that is perfectly dry, the Avater around and below it will travel out of its
course to supply it with moisture, till it becomes about equally moist with the sur-
rounding soil. It is evident that the movement of water in soil is downward, up-
ward, lateral or sloping, according to various causes operating upon it, and that its
tendency always is to an equal diffusion of moisture. It is evident also, that water,
in passing from point to point in the soil, always holds in solution more or less of
plant food. Now, while this plant food attracts the roots, it is reasonable to suppose
that the roots attract it. "We can hardly conceive of an attraction that is not mu-
^tual. If I give my hand to a drowning man, the pull between us tends as much to
draw me into the water as to draw him out of it. So it is hard to see how the plant
food can attract the roots without being attracted by them. AVhatever may be the
cause of the attraction, whether it is owing to different electrical states of the living
root and the dead matter surrounding it, or to some other cause, it would seem that it
must be reciprocal, that if tlic roots run after the food, the food, dissolved in water,
runs after the roots, and that the place of meeting is not where either was an hour
before ; but at an intermediate point, a meeting half way.

Liebig seems to suppose that a root exhausts of plant food, or rather of the food

Scientific. 307

specially adapted to that plant, tlie portion of soil immediately in contact with it,
but no other. To us it seems more reasonable to suppose that water, -which is known
to move in all possible directions in a soil, not only tends to equalize the plant food,
where no disturbing influences, as of hungry roots for instance, prevent, but also that
it acts as a carrier, transferring food from every possible direction to the roots.

That water acts as a carrier along the roots and throughout the organism of the
plant, there can be no doubt. Of all plants, in a growing state, by far the largest
portion is water. The quantity of water that a thrifty plant passes through its
organism in a day is great, often many times its own weight. "Why is this ? Not
merely to keep its average amount of water, for then it would not be, as it is, thrown
off by the leaves into the air. Its errand through the plant, from the earth to the
air, is to carry up, and deposit by the way, distributing wherever wanted, what is
to compose the solid jiarts of the future plant.

If any thing more were wanted to prove that water acts as a carrier of food to the
roots, consider this : any plant, a maple tree for instance, maybe regarded as a self-act-
ing pump. A wide-spread maple, thrifty, and standing in a rich soil, on a dry day in
June, pumps up from the earth a hundred gallons of water, nearly as quick as we, or
any of our readers, would care to pump as much from a deep well. Ninety-nine
gallons, at least, it throws, in the same time, into the air, as watery vapor — not ex-
actly watery vapor, for then it would be seen, but water dissolved in air, a perfect
solution of water in air being that state in which the air appears clear and transpa-
rent, while an imperfect solution of water in air implies that state in which the
water, not being wholly dissolved, becomes visible to the eye, as clouds or fog.
This may be further illustrated, by comparing it with solutions of solids in water.

Throw a bit of sugar, or salt, into a tumbler of pure water. It dissolves. Does
the appearance of the water change ? Not at all. It is as clear and transparent as
ever. You see no sugar or salt, yet you know it is there. But it has diffused itself
equally throughout the water, hidden itself away among the particles of water, and
become invisible. That is what is meant by a solution. Let the tumbler stand a few
days till the water evaporates, and the sugar will be found at the bottom.

Again, put into a tumbler of water a teaspoonful of slacked lime. Not more than
a thousandth part of it will be dissolved, for lime, unlike sugar and salt, is very little
soluble in water. The rest gives the water a clouded or milky appearance. This is
a mixture. Just so, in a foggy, damp day ; what we see is a mixture of air and
water, the water being but partially dissolved, like the lime mixture above, whereas
in a clear day, there may be quite as much water in the air, but in the latter case it
is perfectly dissolved, like the sugar or salt in the tumbler, and is, therefore, invisi-
ble. It is thus that the spreading maple, through its leaves, is constantly throwing
immense quantities of water invisibly into the air.

But all this water comes from the ground. The extremities of the rootlets
take it in from their several locations. From other points near, water inclines
to the exhausted points, flows towards, and then through the roots, and up
the pores of the trees, till most of it escapes from the leaves into the
air. Now, when this water enters the roots it is, undoubtedly, limpid, free
from any visible particles of sand or gravel; but it holds in solution a great
variety of substances, which are to constitute both the organic and the inor-
ganic parts of the future plant, or those which burn, and those which form the ash.
We say, then, that inasmuch as it is known that the water, in a cultivated field,
as it enters the roots of plants, is impure (a solution of various matters,) and that
when it departs from the leaves it is free from those substances, it must have

808

Scientific.

brought them from the soil and deposited them for the growth of the plant. In a
Btalk of wheat, for example, the soluble silica is deposited as a covering for the straw,
to give it iirmness; the soluble phosphates, in the grain, to give it richness; and so
the ammonia, the sulpliur and other ingredients, to answer their various purposes,
water being, in each ease, the carrier of the substance to its appointed place.

One use of w^ater in vegetation is that of washing the plant externally. The
leaves and bark become clogged by substances often exuding from them, with the
deposits of insects, and with dust adhering to them. A rain or a shower washes
them eflfectually from 'these and other impurities. But the great and ever active
agency of nature is that of dissolving, and carrying, and distributing the food, as
required for the growth of the plant, and for bringing it to maturity.

FOK THE AMBRICAN FARMERS' MIOAZIHE.

THE AVEATHER.
Appearance of Birds, Flowers, etc., in Nichols, Tioga Co., N. Y., in September, 1857.

By R. Howell.

Place of Observation, 42 degrees North, on a Diluvial Formation, about 40 feet above

the Susquehanna River, and 800 feet above tide, according to the survey

of the New-York and Erie Railroad.

Remarks.

Light rain at sunrise.
Considerable rain before daylight.
Small frost seen in the morning.
Small frost seen on the hills.

Sept.

6A,M.

1 P.M.

9 P.M.

1
2

57
54

82
84

60
58

West
South

Cloudy.

3

50

88

60

N. E.

"

4

56

83

63

"

"

5

58

88

64

West

"

6

54

64

45

North

"

7

40

64

43

"

Clear.

8

38

71

49

South

"

9

41

79

58

"

"

10

58

88

69

"

"

11
12

61
65

93
89

68
66

S.&N.
South

Cloudy.

13

66

81

62

'<

"

14

63

86

68

"

"

15

52

71

50

North

"

16

41

73

55

West

"

17

56

80

68

S.&N.

a

18

58

58

44

North

19

20

45
49

50
61

48
49

S.&N.
North

Cloudy.

21

43

62

47

N.&S.

"

22

49

60

54

South

"

23

43

57

43

North

"

24

36

70

48

"

Clear.

25

41

72

51

South

"

26

43

82

51

"

"

27

28

44
53

80
56

59
51

North

Cloudy.

29

37

51

34

"

"

30

26

58

39

"

A few forest trees begin to turn red & yellow.
Hard shower at dark from north with hail.

Light shower between 7 & 8 P.M. Corn ripe.

Hard rain before daylight. Two hard show-
ers in the afternoon. Hard rain in evening.

Hard rain all day.

Quite hard rain before daylight.

Hard rain all afternoon, commenced before 12.

Leaves of forest trees turn red and yellow
quite fast.

Showery by squalls all day.

First hard killing frost. Water in trough
frozen over. Rain squalls in afternoon.

"I Never knew," said Lord Erskin, "a man remarka1)le for heroic bravery,
whoso very aspect w'as not liglitcd up by gentleness and humanity.

Scientific. 309

METEOROLOGICAL.

CHAPMAN'S PRECALCULATIONS FOR ELEMENTARY CHANGES,

SIMULTANEOUS WITH THE "MONTHLY RAINBOW AND METEOROLOGIST,"

PHII1ADEJL.PHIA, PENJST.

BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH THE AUTHOR.

[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, iy L. L. CHAPMAN, in the Cleric's
Office of the District Court, for the Eastern District ofPennsyl/vania.]

THEORY SIMPLIFIED.
The Natural Laws which control the changes of the Elements have their simple
and positive illustration in the Solar Spectrum — as follows :

A beam of light (A) falling obliquely upon a prism (B) or any
three-square block of glass, will be divided by the refracting
' power of the prism, diverging into seven distinct and diiferent
angles of direction, (R, O, Y, G, B, V, I,) and in each angle, the
light will assume a color of the Rainbow, and possess a nature,
and produce an effect different from the light refracted in the
other angles. The light diverged in the angles of the Violet,
Indigo, (V, I,) etc., producing a cool, damp temperature, and

(when converged) magnetizing bits of wire, etc., in less than

R o" Y G 15 1 v an hour, whilst that diverged in the angles of the Yellow, Red,

(Y, R,) etc., produces a warm, dry temperature, with little or no perceptible mag-
netic power.

The Rainbow gives a similar illustration by the reflection of light.
These facts have been established by the scientific world for centuries. But the
display given on a small scale in the above illustration of the laws which regulate
the changes of the elements, has been hitherto overlooked. For the currents of light
that the earth is constantly intercepting from the other bodies of the Solar System,
(some of which are a thousand times its bulk,) in every differing angle of reflection,
can not fail to produce in its elements similar effects on a large scale to those pro-
duced by single rays in the same angles on a s^nall scale, as seen in the above illus-
tration. It will also be seen, from the mathematical exactness of the laws of light,
that the periods when these reflected currents will be intercepted, admit of precalcu-
lation in the same manner as eclipses, and that their tendencies and effects may be
inferred to an important extent beforehand.

I have found during some ten years' observation, that Electrical phenomena —
Storms — Earthquakes, etc., have usually occurred at periods when excessive sup-
plies of electricity by many intercepted currents were indicated. Also, that sick-
ness— Cholera — vegetable defection, or blight, etc., usually prevail, when great and
long-continued deficiency, in consequence of fewer intercepted currents of Electrical
supplies to the Elements are indicated.

The changes of Atmospheric temperature, I have usually found to correspond to
within the hour, with intercepted currents, as precalculated, according to the anal-
ogy of the solar spectrum, three or four times out of five.

These Precalculations, if we understand Dr. Chapman rightly, are founded on ob-
servations of electrical currents, from the heavenly bodies passing through space,
and intercepted by the earth. Dr. Chapman regards light as nothing else than elec-
tricity, made manifest by passing through a transparent medium. Now, as the laws
which govern the passage of light are definite, fixed and weU understood, he sup-
poses it to be possible to precalculate the position, much as eclipses are precalcu-
lated, in which the earth will be at any given time future, with regard to electrical
influences, so as to foretell storms, cold, heat, winds, hurricanes, and generally those
conditions in which our spirits will be buoyant or depressed, and in which health
or sickness will prevail.

That he has published wonderful precalculations, as for instance the cholera at St.
Jago, foretelling long beforehand almost the exact hour when that terrible visitation
began its ravages, and when it suddenly ceased, is matter of history. We have long

310 Scientific.

believed the science of meteorology to be of vast importance to mankind. If Dr. Chap-
man, by liis patient investigations and his discoveries, has placed this science on its
true basis, he has done a great thing for the race. We do not affirm that he has.
That is more than we know. But if he shall accomplish half, or even a tenth part
of what he enthusiastically hopes, in the way of helping mankind to foreknow the
condition of the elements, that by sea and by land, in health and in sickness, they
demean themselves accordingly, he will deserve to be enrolled among earth's great-
est benefactors.

"We do not xinderstand that Dr. C. claims to have yet perfected the science to
which his investigations lead. These precalculations are immensely laborious, some
single problems requiring the close study of a week. In the precalculations below
for the weather in November, 1857, let not the reader understand that he vouches
for their exact fulfillment. What he claims, is that he has made discoveries which
constitute the basis of a new science ; and that this science when better understood,
will enable the meteorologist to foretell the weather and its influences on the busi-
ness and the health of mankind, with about the same certainty with which the as-
tronomer foretells eclipses.

The reader, therefore, must not be disappointed if the precalculations below are
not verified to the moment. If the predictions should be verified in three or four
cases out of five, it should be regarded as satisfactory, because if he shall appear to
be correct in only a majority of cases, it would sufficiently show he has a clue un-
known to the rest of us, and aifo^d a hope that when he and others shall have
pushed these investigations further, certainty or something nearly approximating to
it, will be attained in these precalculations of atmospheric conditions, afltecting the
great interests, agi'iculture, navigation, sanitary measures, etc., etc.

We bespeak for Dr. C. a candid comparison, on the part of our readers, of his pre-
calculations with their versification or their fiiilure, as the case may be. Read his
explanations, see that you understand him, and then make great allowance for the
newness of the science on which his predictions are based.

The way to treat those men who are struggling to enlarge the the boundaries of
human knowledge, for the general good, is not as the world treated John Fitch and
Eobert Fulton, scouting the first into his grave, and withholding all honor from the
second, till a brilliant success crowned his efforts, and gave us the incalculable bless-
ing of steam navigation.

We suppose it will be understood that by R. O. Y. G. B. I. and V. arc intended
the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet rays of light.

FIRST DEPARTMENT.

EXPLANATORY.

VISION", {instead of being a faculty pos-
sessed and exerted at will on distant objects,)

THE TERM POSITIVE is here given
to conditions abounding 7nore with vital
electricity, inspiring more health, vigor,
cheerfulness, and better feelings for busi-

is simply a sense of feeling excited on the "^^' intercourse, etc., and consequently,
nerves of the eye by currents of electricity,^ 9re;^'l '''%'''' Z^'^^JZJii'J^'- . . ,
radiated or reflected from the object seei^, ™E TERM NEGATIVE is given to
Hence, light is idcndicalVith f4<rm<y,l *';«? .^?"*l't'«"" ^''^'"'^' "^r'"^ less vfith
which, hence, instead of being confined to electricity and consequently are more un-
our earth, is the common property of the /f^f '."^^^"^ *« ^'^"''l^'' ^^^^^^"S^' ^"Siness, bo-
solar system. j cial intercourse, etc.

The angles of incidence and reflection 1 Indicates Sundays.
are Posih'ye and i\^("7a<u'(; angles, inducing TiT-r-iTT-mvTmTT -hi^.t^ttitt /t^t i \

(with other causes) a successive series of ELEVENTH MONTH, (November.)
positive and negative conditiotis of the at- Tendency. Time o clock.

mosphere and elements. I 1st, ^ Negative, from 1 morn 2 to 8 eve.

Scientific.

311

2d, Mixed, from 1 to 8 morn.

Positive, from 9 morn to 12 eve.
3d, Mixed, from 2 morn to 12 eve.
4th, Negative from 2 morn to 12 eve.
5th, Negative, from 1 to 9 morn.

Positive, from 10 morn to 12 eve.
6th, Mixed, from 1 to 8 morn.

Positive, from 9 morn to 12 eve.
"Zth, Positive, from 1 morn to 7 eve.
8th, \ Mixed, from 1 morn 2 to 12 eve.
9th, Negative, from 1 to 8 morn.

Positive, from 8 morn to 12 eve.

Negative, from 1 to 11 eve.
loth. Mixed, from 1 morn to 1 eve.

Positive, from 1 to 12 eve.
11th, Negative, from 1 morn to 2 eve.

Positive, from 3 to 12 eve.
12th, Positive, from 8 morn to 6 eve.
13th, Positive, from 1 morn to 12 eve.
14th, Mixed, from 3 morn to 12 eve.
15th, ^ Negative, from 1 morn to 4 eve.

Positive, from 5 to 12 eve.
16th, Negative, from 7 morn to 5 eve.

Positive, from 6 to 12 eve.
I'Zth, Positive, from 1 raoi'n to 12 eve.
18th, Mixed, from 1 morn to 10 eve.
19th, Negative, from 4 morn to 3 eve.

Positive, from 4 to 10 eve.
20th, Positive, from 4 to 9 morn.

Negative, from 10 morn to 6 eve.

Mixed, from 1 to 7 morn.

Positive, from 8 morn to 12 eve.

^ Zodiacal period ends at 3 morn.

Positive, from 1 to 6 morn.

Negative, from 7 morn to 3 eve.

Positive, from 3 to 11 eve.

Negative, from 1 morn to 1 eve.

Positive, from 3 to 12 eve.
24th, Mixed, from 1 morn to 12 eve.
25th, Mixed, from 1 to 7 morn.

Positive, from 8 morn to 7 eve.
26th, Negative, from 1 to 7 morn.

Positive, from 8 morn to 8 eve.
27th, Negative, from 3 morn to 12 eve.
28th, Negative, from 1 morn to 2 eve.

Positive, from 3 to 12 eve.
29th, \ Negative, from 5 morn to 5 eve.

Positive, from 6 to 12 eve.
30th, Positive, 1 morn to 12 noon.

Negative, from 12 noon to 12 eve.

21st,
22d,

23d,

and usually more or less wind stirring ; O,
to variable, but in most cases to damp.
Periods in the place of letters show cur-
rents under investigation. Double letters,
or periods, show combined currents, ope-
rating longer and with greater force. — See
General Remarks.

COMMAS (,) after the letters show posi-
tive, apostrophes, (") negative currents.
See First Department. One comma or
apostrophe shows weaker, two commas or
apostrophes („ ") stronger currents. Hy-
phens (-) show confluent currents.

The changes are four minutes eatrlier
for each degree of longitude (60 miles)
west. Difference of latitude in the same
meridian is immaterial. The dry condi-
tions are fair, and the damp conditions
cloudy or wet, at least three or four times
out of five in the average. When fair, the
damp conditions diffuse a cool, damp sen-
sation through the atmosphere.

Blanks indicate very weak, or mixed, or
uncertain conditions.

^ Indicates Sundays.

2d,

3d,

SECOND DEPARTMENT.

EXPLANATORY.

The Capital Letters after morn, eve,
are the initials of the colored rays, show-
ing the angle of the solar spectrum in
which the current of reflected light which
produces the change is intercepted.

CURRENTS intercei:)ted in the angles
of the Y, or R, or G, rays, usually tend to
a warm, dry temperature ; V, or I, to cool
and damp ; B, and often V, to electrical,

ELEVENTH MONTH, (November.)
1st, ^ At 1 morn, B" windy.

At 2 morn, 1" cool, damp.

At 3 eve, 0'

At 8 eve, Y" warm, dry.

At 8 morn, GV cool.

At 9 morn, G, warm.

At 1 eve, YI, cool, damp.

At 3 eve, 0„

At 12 eve, V- cool, damp.

At 1 morn, G' warm.

At 2 morn, I„ cool, damp.

At 9 eve, B, wind stirring.

At 11 eve, YR" warm, dry.
4th, At 2 morn, G„ warm.

At 3 morn. .. windy.

At 10 morn, B'

At 5 eve, 0" damp.

At 9 eve, R' warm, dry.
5th, At 9 morn, V cool, damp.

At 1 eve, B,, wind stirring.

At 10 eve, R„ warm, dry.

At 12 eve, 0,

6th, At 4 morn, Y,, warm, dry.

At 8 morn, G" warm, dry.

At 2 eve .

At 6 eve, R, warm, drJ^

At 9 eve, 0„ damp.
7th, At 4 morn, I- cool, damp.

At 7 eve, G, warm, dr^-.

At 10 eve, B" wind stirring.
8th, T[ At 3 morn, OR' windy.

At 10 morn, V, cool.

At 11 morn, Y" warm, dry.

At 3 eve, BR" windy.

At 5 eve, BI, damp, wind}'.
9th, At 8 morn, V" cool, damp.

312

Scientific.

lOth,
11th,

12th,

13th,
14th,
15th,
16th,

17th,
18th,

19th,

20th,

At 12 noon, B, wind stirring.

At 11 eve, G' warm.

At 7 morn, R„ warm, dry.

At 1 eve, I' cool.

At 2 eve, B„ wind stirring.

At 12 eve, Y„ warm, dry.

At 2 eve, R, warm, dr^'.

At 4 eve, V,, cool, damp.

At 5 eve, 0„

At 6 eve, I,, cool, damp.

At 7 eve, B'

At 2 morn, .. warm.

At 3 morn, 0V„ damp, windy.

At 7 morn, Y' warm.

At 8 morn, R, warm, dry.

At 6 eve, I, cool, damp.

At 11 eve, V cool.

At 8 morn, 0I„ cool, damp, windy.

At 2 eve, .. warm.

At 5 eve, V, cool, damp.

At 3 morn, G- warm, dry.

At 6 morn, I" cool, damp.

At 6 eve, .. warm.

^ At 5 morn, R" warm, dry.

At 12 noon, GI" cool, damp, windy.

At 4 eve, 0'

At 7 morn, B- wind stirring.

At 5 eve, V" cool.

At 7 eve, I„ cool, damp.

At 8 eve, Y- warm.

At 11 eve, 0„ damp.

At 10 eve, GO, damp.

At 2 morn, I' cool.

At 6 morn, R, wai-m, dry.

At 9 morn, YI" windy.

At 3 eve, " warm.

At 8 eve, I, cool.

At 10 eve, R' warm, dry.

At 1 morn, YB- windy.

At 4 morn, OR, warm.

At 7 morn, BV" cool, damp, windy.

At 3 eve, O"

At 5 eve, V, cool. I

At 6 eve, G, warm.

At 10 eve, BI„ cool, windy.

At 1 morn, •• warm.

At 4 morn, R„ warm, dry.

At 9 morn, YI„ cool, damp, windy.)

At 12 noon, V cool.

At 6 eve, B' wind stirring.

At 8 eve, G, weak.
21st, At 3 morn, •

At 5 eve, V„ cool.

At 7 eve, I" cool.

At 10 eve, Y„ warm, dry.
22d, ^ At 2 morn, B„ wind stirring.

At 3 morn, end of the zodiacal pe-
riod, or natural month.

At 6 morn, 0„

At 12 noon, G" warm.

At 3 eve, R" warm, diy.

At 11 eve, Y, warm.
23d, At 12 noon, 0'

At 1 eve, GR" warm, dry.

At 12 eve, R, warm.
24th, At 2 morn, B0„ windy.

At 3 morn, V" cool, damp.

At 5 morn, O,

At 12 noon, Y" warm, dry.

At 3 eve, I, cool.

At 7 eve, B" wind stirring.

At 10 eve, R„ warm, dry.
25th, At 2 morn, G„ warm, dry.

At 7 morn, I' cool, damp.

At 10 morn, V, cool.

At 7 eve, .

26th, At 2 morn, R' warm.

At 7 morn, G' warm.

At 8 morn, V" cool.

At 9 morn, I„ cool, damp.

At 8 eve, Y„ warm, dry.

At 10 eve, O"

27th, At 2 morn, B„ wind stirring.

At 6 morn, V' cool.
28th, At 2 morn, Y' warm, dry.

At 1 eve, I" cool, damp.

At 5 eve, Y, warm, dry.

At 10 eve, B,

29th, 1[ At 4 morn, R- warm, dry.

At 5 eve, G" warm, dry.

At 6 eve, I, cool, damp.
30th, At 7 morn, Y0„ windy.

At 10 morn, V., cool.

At 12 noon, I„ cool, damp.

At 1 eve, BI' cool, damp, windy.

GENERAL REMARKS. {See Mrst Department.)

Longer, or more prominent cool periods usually occur near combined currents, end-
ing with V, or I, especially where the first letter is Y, as near October 28th, Novem-
ber 19th, or 20th.

Warm Periods usually occur near combined currents ending with R, or G, espe-
cially where the first letter is Y.

Windy, or Cloudy, or Stormy Periods, or Gusts, usually occur near combined cur-
rents which end with B, V. I, or O, in the table, as near October 23d, or 24th, 28th,
November 2d, 8th, 12th or 13th, 15th, 19th or 2(ith, 24th, 29th.

Positive Atmospheric Conditions, or periods more prominently favorable to the
general health, to the humors of the sensitive, to business, feelings, etc., near (mostly
preceding for hours, sometimes days) those combined currents in the table, which
are followed by commas (, „)

Negative Atmospherio Conditions, or periods more prominently unfavorable to

Domestic. 313

the general health, the humors of the sensitive, to business and social feelings, etc.,
near (mostly preceding for hours, sometimes days) those combined currents which
are followed by apostrophes (' ") in the table, as near October 23d, 24th, November
2d, 3d, 8th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 23d, 29th.

HABrrs and attachments are easier to break — infants to wean, etc., in consequence
of existing physical conditions affecting the mind, from October 23d to 27th, Novem-
ber 17th to 25th. Harder from October 30th to November 12th.

Periods of Greater Electrical Efficiency, such as predispose more to vegetable
defection or blight, to the Cholera, etc., November 1st to 10th.

All the combined currents predispose more to electrical disturbances, earthquakes,
auroras, etc.

Natural tendency of the zodiacal period from October 23d to November 22d, damp
—23 to 30th, dry.

0 m u t i t .

How to Cook Potatoes.

A WRrTER in the domestic department of the Ohio Farmer, some good house-
keeper we guess, gives the following recipes for cooking potatoes. When we go
there, may the potatoes for breakfast be cooked in the first way, and those for din-
ner in the second :

Potatoes Fried in Slices. — Peel large potatoes, slice them about a quarter of an
inch thick, or cut them into shavings, as you would peel a lemon ; dry them well
in a clean cloth, and fry them in lard or dripping. Take care that the fat and fry-
ing-pan are quite clean ; put it on a quick fire, and as soon as the lard boils, and is
still, put in the slices of potato, and keep moving them until they are crisp; take
them up, and lay them to drain on a sieve. Send them to table with a little salt
sprinkled over them.

To Boil Potatoes. — Put them into a sauce-pan, with scarcely sufficient water to
cover them. Directly as the skins begin to break, lift them from the fire, and as
rapidly as possible pour off every drop of the water. Then place a coarse (we need
not say a clean) towel over them, and return them to the fire again until they are
thoroughly done and quite dry. A little salt, to taste, should have been added to
the water before boiling.

Internal Beauty.

" Handsome is that handsome does," is an old adage with truth in it. A boy,
who was riding down hill on his sled, last winter, in the street, ran into a lady's
dress. Springing to his feet, he expressed regret at the accident, when the lady
kindly remarked, " There's no great harm done, my boy ; you feel worse about it
than I do."

" But your dress is ruined," said the lad. " I thought you would be very angry."
" Better have a spoiled dress than a ruffled temper," the lady replied ; and as she
passed on, the boy exclaimed to his companions, " Isn't she a beauty ?"

" Call her a beauty T said one of them ; " she's more than forty, and has got
wrinkles !"

" I don't care for that," retorted the lad ; " her soul is handsome, any how !"
Such beauty is within every one's reach. Bad temper, too, generally disfigures
the outward as well as the inward face.

Will the ladies, the boys and girls, and every body else think of this. It is so !
Bad temper, petulence, ill will, every unamiable feeling indulged, hurts the face as
well as the heart ; kind, loving, amiable feelings, not only make people look beauti-
ful to us, but actually go far to make them really beautiful ; a heart devising good
acts, while the hands execute them, makes the face and the whole form a little hand-
somer, while it secures for us a favorable judgment from others, and makes us look

314 Domestic.

a great deal better in the eyes of our friends. "What kind hearted mother is not
pretty to her children. Though as homely as an untrimed hedge-fence, they would
think her handsome, if no one told thorn to the contrary. Their eyes arc deceived
by a blaze of inward goodness, llajipy decei)tion ! Let the homely avail them-
selves of it ; let the handsome consider how short lived is all beauty not emanating
from goodness ; and so all may be handsome, if they will. — Ed.

A Good Word for the Ladies.
Some of the papers arc lecturing women upon extravagance in dress, and advising
them to retrench, especially during the present financial difficulty. Doubtless there
are many cases of unwarrantable extravagance in this way; but do people ever con-
sider that two or three glasses of brandy and half a dozen regalias indulged in daily
bv a man, to say nothing of five and ten dollar dinners, amount to more in a year
than would be required to dress a woman up to the full requirements of fashion ?
Much of this talk about the extravagance of women is nonsense. They are almost
universally careful, and many a trader woidd to-day have been safe and sound if he
had listened to the prudent counsels of his wife, rather than the reckless promptings
of his own ambition. It is natural for men to endeavor to shift the responsibility of
their folly to other shoulders, but it is rather too much to charge a commercial revul-
sion like this upon one's wife and daughter. — Tribune.

True, true, we must not make the ladies responsible for our own wrong doings.
We do not believe the wives and daughters of our readers — the sensible farmers and
mechanics — the only real producers, are much in fault for these hard times, but the
ladies of uppcrtendom, and their flunkey imitators, have contributed largely to the
present distress. There is no getting away from it.

Preserving Butter.

The farmers of Aberdeen, Scotland, are said to practice the following method for
curinf their butter, which gives it a superiority over that of their neighbors:

Take two quarts of the best conmion salt, one ounce of sugar, and one of saltpetre ;
take one ounce of this composition for one pound of butter ; work it well into the
mass, and close it up for use. The butter cured with this mixture appears of rich
and marrowy substances, and fine coloi", acquires a brittle hardness, nor ta^tea. Dr.
Anderson says:

" I have eaten butter cured with the above composition, that has been kept for
four years, and it was as sweet as at first."

It must be noted, however, that butter that is thus cured requires to stand three
weeks or a month before it is used. If it is sooner opened, the salt is not sufiiciently
blended with it, and sometimes the coolness of the nitre will be perceived, which
totally disappears afterward.

The above is worthy the attention of every dairy-woman.

The Honeysuckles.

Of these there are several varieties, possessing various excellencies. Where the
climate will permit its cultivation, nothing can be finer than the Japan or Chinese
twining, but for northern gardens, it is too tender. The best plants of this family,
all things considered, are the scarlet and yellow trumpet honeysuckles. They
are hardy, are not infested with insects, grow fast, and bloom all summer. — Minne-
sota Free Press.

Grasshoppers and Mormons.

Some eastern philosopher has come to the conclusion that the grasshoppers which
have troubled us for a year or so past, are natives of Utah and Minnesota.

So far M the first part is concerned, we believe it. At any rate, whether natives or
not, they are regular Mormons., and the way they go in for j^olygamy and multiplica-
tion, is proof positive that they practice the doctrines of Mormonism whether they arc
recognized by the "Saints" as brethren or not ! The desolation left in their wake, is
a very good representation of the moral desolation caused by Mormonism wherever it
prevails. — Minnesota Free Press.

Children'' s Page. 315

CI]iUm's lap.

Children in years and knowledge young,
Your parents hope, your parents joy.

Here Tve are witli you again ; and do not think by tlie lines from the good old
children's friend, that we suppose you know but little. We hope you know much,
and are learning more. Is it so ?

The other line is very true. You are indeed you parents hope and joy. They
love you; they rejoice in your welfare ; they desire your happiness; they av ill cling
to you with fond affection, will grant your requests when they see it would be well
for 3'ou, and deny them only when they think it would injure you. Now then, how
should you feel and act towards them? Think of that, and you can answer just as
well as we could — perhaps better.

But now we want to talk of other things ; for we will not give you a discourse
all on one subject this time. First of ourself That is a favorite subject with some
people, but we will be brief on this point. How do you think uncle John looks ? Why,
we are tall, rather shad-faced, have thin hair and a long beard, beginning to be gi'ay.
You would be afraid of us at first sight, but would soon find that we are one of
those mortals that do not hurt anybody. We have got into our head a sort of an
inveterate notion, that it is best to use everybody well, if they use us well, and if
they don't. But come and see us, if your parents ever bring you to New-York.

We know just how you look, for we see you, or at least we think we do, and that
answers our purpose very well. In order to prove that we see you, we will under-
take to tell how you look and what you are doing now while we write, and if we
tell wrong, you need not believe what we say hereafter. It is now the 28th of
Oct., 9 o'clock in the morning.

There is in our family circle, among the readers of our children's page, a little
flaxen-headed girl, of twelve years, with a thin face, dark blue eyes, nose in-
clined to the Grecian, hair straight, and half way between red and auburn, lips
moderately thin, and but slightly rolled, teeth white and always clean, and whole
expression intellectual, a girl, you would say, of a good deal of spirit, and yet there
is something in her expression, which seems to indicate that a temper, naturally a
little too high for comfort, is in process of subjugation to reason and good sense.
Her manner is animated, lively, cheerful, but seldom extravagant. We said it
is 9 o'clock. This little gii"l has been up two hours, has helped her mother conside-
rably, had a merry chat with her father, while he was waiting a few moments for
his breakfast, a pretty hearty romp with her brothers, and now, after the breakfast
table is cleared off, has sat down to read awhile. She is reading the story of a good
woman, whose husband was dead, her children making a good living for themselves,
and leaving her much time and abundant means to look after the poor and alleviate
their sufferings. Now her countenance brightens with ncAV animation. She is think-
ing what she can do to relieve distress. You would almost know by her look that she
is thinking a good thought, that some kind design is being formed within. It is
the soul — the generous or the selfish purposes it chooses, that gives expression to the
fece. Ah, yes, kind intentions in the heart make one beautiful. Foul purposes give
an ugly look. Now she rises, lays aside her book, runs to her mother, and asks if
she may not take a loaf of bread and some of the meat that was left this morning,
and carry it down to Mrs. A., under the hill, who is too feeble to go out washing, as
she used to do, and whose children are sick, and they are very poor. Her mother

316 Children? s Page.

consents, and off she goes, and her countenance beams with pleasure as she thinks
how glad Mrs. A. and the children will be. Tlie very angols would be in love wit^^
Anuftto, if they should meet lier in this littlo, unpreteuding mission she has devised.
Oil, yes, it is a kind heart, that makes a pleasant face.

There is another little girl among our readers, though it is probable she will not
be long, for we rather think our ideas will not please her. She is round faced,
plump, fair, with dark hair and eyes, and a fresh countenance, much handsomer, as
almost everybody would say, than Annette. At 9 o'clock, Jane is just up. Iler
mother has just explained to her thatshe whishes to go and visitafriend ina neigh-
boring town and wants her to stay at home this day and evening. But Jane has
had an invitation to a party. Iler mother has offered to take her to the city next
week, if she will stay at home to-day. But Jane is hard to be pleased. She wants
to go to the party this evening, and to go to the city next week too, and she means
to have her way in both. She has been crying and has spoken crossly to her mo-
ther. From the woebegone expression of her face, you would think she had lost
all her friends, and never meant to smile again. But look, a sudden change comes
ever her. She affects to submit, very pleasantly, but it is not sincere ; — she has
formed the purpose to deceive her mother. She tells her. Oh, yes, you may go, and I
will stay at home. But in her heart, she means to go to the party, and to bribe
Bridget, the maid, not to expose her. Now, if a little girl would deceive her mo-
ther, and draw the servant girl into a falsehood to conceal it, and then should do
such things habitually, what would be the consequence ? Her mother would love
her, for mothers love always, but would be grieved at her conduct; and very likely
all others would secretly despise her. Selfisliness and a lack of sincerity arc not
remarkably amiable qualities ; at least the world does not so regard them, and it
only tolerates, but does not love those who are selfish and insincere. Sooner or
later they will show these traits in the face. The workings of the heart go very
far to make the expression of the countenance beautiful or ugly.

If our portraits fit none of the children who read this page, you may set us down
as mistaken when we think we see you ; but if they fit any, you must admit that
we see j'ou through our long spectacles, and know pretty much what you arc doing.

We have taken off two of the girls this month. Next month we will see if we
can hit some of the boys.

Composition.

It is worth a great deal to be able to express one's thoughts easily and naturally
on paper. By practice only can it be acquired. What child of ten or twelve years
old will send us an item now and then for our children's page, on the condition that
we may publish it or not, as we think best, and may alter a word or two if we think
that would make it better ? You may send a riddle, a conundrum, a charade, or
something of that sort if you choose ; but we would rather have your tlioughts on a
subject of some consequence. If your mother or an older sister should lielp you a
little, we warrant the composition would be none the worse, but it would be better
for you to depend on yourselves. By the way, the mothers and the elder sisters •
should write something for our miscellaneous department, on their own account.
Just tell them so from us. And the older sons, too, can occasionally give us an
article that would increase the interest and usefulness of our Magazine. Only, let
no one be disheartened by finding that his article does not appear. If a young man
can get one article in three inserted in a journal of the character of this, he should
take courage, and believe that with perseverance he will make an excellent writer.
What do the farmers and mechanics' sons say to this ? Will they try it?

Book Notices^ etc. 317

00I1 l[0ticu, He,

The Farmers and Planters' ENCYCLOPJiDiA of Rural Affairs; embracing all the
most recent discoveries in Agricultural Chemistry; adapted to the comprehension
of unscientific readers ; illustrated by numerous engravings of Animals, Imple-
ments, and other subjects interesting to the Agriculturist. By Cuthbert W. John-
son, Esq., F. R. S. Adapted to the United States by Gouverneur Emerson.

This is a new work, just from the press of O. A. Moore, (till of late C. M. Saxton
A Co.,) 140 Fulton street, New-York, of about 1200 pages, with almost countless en-
gravings of a high order. On another occasion we shall give it an extended notice,
as it deserves. What we have to say now is, that Cuthbert W. Johnson is one of
the best, if not the very best, of English writers on agriculture, and that Dr. Emer-
son has fully Americanized this most valuable work — has made the American edition
every whit as good for American farmers as the English edition is for English farm-
ers, so that the fact of the basis of the work being foreign, is rather an advantage
than otherwise, as Dr. Emerson has had every opportunity, and has well improved
it, of adapting it to American wants and American readers. The amount of matter
it contains is about equal to ten dollar volumes, embracing nearly every thing the
agriculturist wants, and so arranged that the reader can easily turn to any subject
at pleasure. The price is |4. For this sum it will be sent post-paid from this office,
if any one chooses to order it through us instead of the publisher.

Chapman's Principia, or Nature's First Principles ; a Theory of Universal Electro-
Magnetism. By L. L. Chapman. Campbell & Co., Philadelphia, Publishers. 214
pages, 12mo.

This is a little book which we have read with great interest, believing that Mr.
Chapman's Theory will prove of immense benefit, if it shall be confirmed ; but whe-
ther it will, we are hardly able yet to form an opinion. See article on the weather
for November.

The Atlantic Monthly, devoted to Literature, Art and Politics. November, 1857.
Boston : Phillips, Sampson & Co. London : Triibner & Co. Number 1.

The first number of this new monthly has been laid, in advance, upon our table_
It certainly promises well for the future, both for " true scholarship and culture," as
well as for more sparkling and lively qualities. It has in its lists of contributors the
very best names in the country. The articles of this number show vai-ious excellencies
of a high character, and among the more prominent of these we would refer specially
to a fine sketch of Douglass Jerrold, which is introductory only ; Florentine Mosaics,
a sketch of several of the famous European churches and pictures, etc. ; Sally Par-
son's Duty, a very funny story of a very " curious" Yankee family ; The Manchester
Exhibition, an admirable criticism of this famous gallery, and one which savors
strongly of Ruskin ; The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, or every one his own Bos-
wjII ; British India, etc. All these are excellent of their class. We bid this new
eotner. God's speed. It will be for sale by booksellers and periodical dealers in all
cities and large villages. Price $3 a year.

Illustrated Annual Register of Rural Affairs, for 1855-'6-'7, with 440 engravings.

Vol. 1.
Illustrated Annual Register, etc., for 1858, with 130 engravings. Albany: Luther,

Tucker & Son. 1858. Price 25 cents.

These two little volumes are admirable compilations, in a very condensed form ,

318 Booh Notices^ etc.

of a thousand things that every farmer and gardener ought to know. The selection
of topics is made with great judgment, and tlie Avork is executed with remarkable
taste. Every man who owns or cultivates even a garden, would find much that is
useful to him on these pages. Tlie Register of each year contains new matter, with-
out repetition. Both are for sale by A. O. Moore, of this city.

Dinsmore's American Railroad and Steam Navigation Guide, for the United States,
Canada, etc.

Dinsmore & Co., 9 Spruce street, have made valuable improvements upon what was
good before. This little book now contains all that a traveler can ask for, short of a
bound volume of Gazetteer and History combined. Indeed he gets even this, in a
good measure, in this small compass. Price 25 cents.

Editor's Table.

FOR THE AMEUIC.l:^ FAIiMERS' MAGAZINE.

Messrs. Eds. P. L. & A. : — Will you be kind enough to give me, through your
valuable Magazine, the Plough, Loom and Anvil, a few statistics about dairy farming,
and answer some questions on that subject, namely :

1. Would a dairy be reasonably profitable on ordinary farms in the neighborhood
of Rahway and Ehzabeth, New-Jersey ?

2. What number of cattle could be kept in that part of the country on, say two
hundred acres ?

3. Which is the most remunerative, butter or cheese ?

4. What cash capital would it require to stock such a farm with cattle, stables,
cheese-presses, etc?

5. And what are the most approved arrangements for these latter ?

By answering these questions, and giving any other informatioa in your power
touching this subject, you will greatly oblige a subscriber. If, however, you be not
sufficiently " posted," you might perhaps be able to tell me in what works I could ob-
tain the desired information, or perhaps some of your numerous readers would be
kind enough to give their views on the subject.

Very respectfully, gentlemen, your obedient servant, Wm. S.

Let not the brief and imperfect reply we here make to the above deter our corres-
pondents nor any of our readers from answering them. Farmers, let us hear from
you on these questions. It is not necessary that one should answer them all, and
here let us say, there are rather too manj^ questions for one batch, but as they are
sensible ones, and somewhat strongly connected with each other, we find no fault.
Let some farmer answer one of them, and another another, in our Dec. number, and
they will be answered well, and if the answers clash with ours, no matter, provided
they are sound, for we never supposed ourselves infaUible, or wished others so to re-
gard us.

1st Question. As a general rule, the interests of both city and countrj- would be
better subserved by using the land as near great cities as Elizabeth, for growing fruits
and vegetables, and that more remote for dairy purposes. Whether a dairy business
there would be profitable, would depend much upon the price of the land. If land
there is as high as we suppose, it could hardly be very profitable after paying labor
and other expenses, unless for the production of milk.

2. Two horses, twenty horned cattle, and forty sheep, if you feed on grass and hay
only, simply letting the land to grow what grass it will without help ; but from two to

Book Notices, etc. 319

five times that stock, if you grow and feed corn and roots largely, thereby making
the land productive in proportion to the labor and skill expended on it.

3. In that location butter, feeding the refuse to swine, and thereby making abun-
dance of roasters and fresh pork for this market, would in our opinion be more profit-
able than cheese. The sale of milk would probably be more profitable than either.
But if j'ou adopt this last suggestion, let us implore you for humanity's sake to give
the living babies better milk than the poor dead ones got. That couldn't keep them
alive. The milk cheating in this city kills more infants than the Hindu mothers sacri-
fice to all their gods.

4. If you want to start off in fancy style, like a Sparrowgrass, with plenty of money
earned easier than by farming, it will require more capital than you will ever get back.
But a moderate beginning and a cautious procedure would require less. If you are
a wise man, and will look well to the probability of a pretty speedy return for your
investments, you can use, as a working capital, just about half the value of your land
to great advantage.

5. This question we will leave for others to answer. It is a capital subject for an
experienced dairy farmer to write upon. May we hear from some such.

OTHER QUERIES.

E. N. asks : — " Why should the animal products of a farm be of at least equal value
with the vegetable products?" We suppose, of course, he would except farms near
large cities, and other farms specially adapted to a specific purpose, and confine the
question to the general run of mixed farming. With this limitation, a very brief an-
swer is : Because in no other way can you profitably keep a farm perpetually improv-
ing in fertility. Will some one give a fuller reply for our next. It is a good question
in which to develop the true philosophy, aim and end of farming.

To J. A. E. : — Yes. If you cover your manure heaps, carried to the field in autumn,
with soil three or four inches thick, it will pay for the labor. Exhalations that would
otherwise go into the air, will be held by the soil thrown on, and this soil, by the 10th
of May, will be so impregnated as to be half as fertilizing as the manure itself.

Among the curiosities worth visiting in this city is tlie establishment of Thos. Otis,
LeRoy & Co., 261 and 263 Water St., for the manufacture of Lead Pipe, Sheet Lead,
Drop Shot, Buck Shot, Balls, &c. The necessity of a high shot-tower is dispensed
with, by forcing up through passages in which the melted lead descends a stream of
cold air. In the drawing of the lead pipe, and in the making of pressed balls, very
beautiful and ingenious machinery is used.

A correspondent, wbo has often given us a spicy little article from the east, but
has now removed to the far west, promises us something from that section when he
becomes sufficiently posted. He says, " Thus far I am pleased with this country,
but I will endeavor not to be extravagant and lavish in my praise, a common fault
with writers of this section." This is a capital idea. Be discriminate, and give
us something of a practical nature, instructive to agricultural readers.

C. L. Brace's request shall be attended to in our next.

N. G.'s very excellent article, the more valuable for being written so plainly, that
the printer can hardly mistake, was unfortunately mislaid till too late for this num-
ber. It will appear in our next. We here take occasion to say that N. G., from
whom we hope to hear occasionally, is a practical farmer, and to renew our
request that more such will favor us with the results of their experience.

J. R. B., also, will appear in our next number.

320 Book Notices^ etc.

Mummy Wheat.— A Popular Error Exploded.

A FEW ?ec(ls of wlieat, supposed to have bten found in an Egyptian mummy, ■were
some years ago, sown, and, having germinated and sprung up, led eventuallj' to the
Danio of mummy wheat being applied to it, as a distinct species. The circumstance
led to an inquiry on the vitality of seeds in general ; and a cinnmission was appoint-
ed in England to experiment upon different kinds. A report has been made, which
was brought before the British Association at its late meeting at Dublin. A register
of the experiments that were made has been kept. From this, it would appear that
the shortest period for which any of the seeds had retained their vitality was eight
years, and the longest forty-three years. This statement at once dispels the illus-iuu
as to the nmminy wheat ; and most probably some substitution of other modern
seeds had been made in these instances ; for it was, moreover, stated at the meeting,
on the discussion that took place after the reading of the report by Dr. Steele, that
he had planted many seeds obtained from Egyptian mummies, but had always failed
to obtain any indication of their vitality.

Not so fiist, friend. It is quite possible, that there may have been a substitution
of modern seed, and so the mummy wheat be all a humbug, for hardly anything is
more common than humbugs these days.

It is quite possible also that 45 years is the longest that the vitality of any seeds
can now be proved to have been preserved among the living.

But another thing is possible, and no mortal can disprove it, or satisfy a truly logi-
cal min'd that it may not be a variety, viz. : that among tlie relicts of the dead, in
the deep, dark catacombs of Egypt, w^here the temperature has hardly changed half
a degree since the days of Sesostris, there may be seeds, which have changed as little
as objects around, and are as vital to-day as they were 8,000 years ago.

If a seed has lain in a situation where the degree of warmth and dryness are
alwaj's the same, and where the air has little or no access, it is not within the limits
of human knowledge to say that its vitality may not be perfect at the end of 3,000
or that it will not be perfect at the end of 10,000, or 100,000 years, or even a lon-
ger period if you please.

Agricultiiral Department of the Government.

At the dinner table of an agricultural fair down east, Hon. C. C. Chaffee, of
Springfield, Mass., recently said :

The agriculture of Massachusetts can be brought up to one hundred millions of
dollars per year, and the ftirmers of Massachusetts owe it to themselves to see that
it is done. Manufactures and commerce need but little aid; they are strong enough
to go alone, but agriculture must make higher advances.* * * *

Commerce, he said, requires its $17,000,000 to protect and foster it, but agricul-
ture is left to care for itself. The speaker urged upon the farmers the necessity of
bringing the subject of an agricultural department before Congress. This great in-
terest of our country demanded a Cabinet Officer as much and more than any other
industrial pursuit in the country. If the farmers will only consolidate in their ef-
forts and persistently besiege Congress in this behalf, their prayer would be grant-
ed.

So mote it be. But the greatest thing that Congress can do for agriculture, is to
aid by means clearly within its constitutional powers, the mechanical and manu-
facturing industry of the country. Give the farmer plenty of home customers.
That is what he wants.

Drained vs. Wet Land. — Temperature.

In a recent report of a comrailtec of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,
upon an examination made in January last of the soil of R. Cluttcrbuck, Esq., of
Hineworth, we find the following remark : That, whereas, the undrained laud exhibi-
ted a temperature as low a3 thirty degrees at eighteen inches below the surface, the
drained land never reached so low as the freezing point at the same depth, allhough
the temperature of the air above was recorded at sixteen degrees below the freezing
point. — Moure n Rural New-Yorker.

Vol. X.

DECEMBER, 1857.

No: 6.

Hints for the Season.

Hail, steru December ! We welcome thee with gladness. "With-
out, we fear thee not, for we are warmly clad ; within, thou canst
not come. We have houses to flee to, and we defy thee to enter.
Thy invigorating winds will do us good — rejDair our health, strength-
en our frame, prepare us for another summer's labors and enjoyments.
But thou canst not harm us, for if thou pliest thy remedies too hardly,
we shall flee thy prescriptions, or take but half the dose, as we can
bear it. Come on with thy good and ill ; we both love thee and we
defy thee ; the good we are sure of, the evil we can escape. Hoio
happi/, xoere all this true !

Our neighbors, too, are all provided for — fed, clothed, housed,
warmed. It is not ours to enjoy the fruits of our labor and the gifts
of the Divine munificence alone, and see others sufier. No, no ! We
have advised kindly where kind advice would be received, and thus
saved some from coming to want. Our example of industry and fru-
gality may have influenced some favorably. We have given employ-
ment, with a liberal compensation, whenever we could, and this has
resulted well for us and others. We have encouraged the faUing and
helped the fallen. Our foot has oftener pressed the threshold of
those poorer than ourselves than of those richer. God knows, and
our neighbors see that we esteem the virtuous poor more than the
profligate, however rich ; more than the miser, hoarding only for him-
self; more than the spendthrift, doing but what he will with his own;
and than the mere votary of fashion, at whosesoever cost. By our love
and good works we have provoked others to the like — have wrung
aid from selfish, and made the Shylock charitable, (?) and there is no

VOL. Z. 11

322 Ilmts for the Season.

killing want among us ? No ! our OAvn liouses are -warm ; our children
are clad ; our cmyloyees are comfortable ; our neighbors are all doing
well ; our barns, sheds, folds and sties, even, give promise that not a
living thing about us shall suiFer. Let cold December come — we are
ready ; all are prepared. Would to Heaven this, or lialf of it, were
true !

It is not yet too late to verify a portion of our dream, if we will set
about it. First let us look at home. The word and providence of God
affirm most significantly that we are to take care for ourselves and our
own. Charity begins at home. Let it have its perfect work there.
Is the house made Avarm, if it was not so before ? Is it properly em-
banked, if not built (as it ought to have been) in a way to keep the
cellar and lower rooms warm without embankment ? Is the heating
apparatus all right — so economical of fuel that you can afford to use
enough and give some to the needy ? Is the glass in, and the sash
tight ? Arc the occupied rooms on the sunny side ? How are the
door fastenings? Let the latch string be in to Boreas, out to the de-
serving poor. Are the children ready for cold December and its cold-
er successor — so warmly clad that they can laugh at the north Mind,
on their way to school, and enjoy the fun and frolic of gliding down
hill and tugging up, peculiar to their happy age, and make the welkin
ring, and grow hale and stout ? Are the cattle so provided against
the cold that they will eat the less and grow the faster ? The pigs
love filth, but they love a clean warm nest in a cold winter night, and
will not grow half enough to pay for their feed without it. On the whole,
piggy is not as unamiable a being as generally reported. For his sake
and. the profit, we should not leave him to suffer of a cold winter night.
Are the fowls so provided Avith a warm retreat by night and a sunny
walk by day, that with a little pulverized lime-stone to form the shell,
some corn to form the yolk, and a few gravel stones in reach to grind
their food in the crop, they will lay nearly all winter ? Are the vege-
tables placed beyond the danger of frost ? It is folly to let them freeze
this winter and then complain of the loss next summer. Now is the
time to see that they do not freeze. If they freeze, it will be your
own fault and you will deserve very little pity. A cellar should be
often ventilated and never suffered to become hot. If it does, the veg-
etables will decay and produce sickness in the family. More than half
of all the fevers in all naturally healthy regions come from decaying
vegetables in the cellar. The windows should be on ojiposite sides ;
should be kept open for a free current of air from March to December,
and frequently opened all winter, and the temperature should be kept
down as near the freezing point as it well can he without danger of
going below. The few things we have hinted at will suggest a thou-

Fermented or Non-fermented Manures ? 323

sand others. Attend to them now, if you have not ah-eady, and may
your home he a happy one for the commg wmter.

But is this all ? Is it enough that our own homes are prosperous
and happy ? " No man liveth unto himself." Such is a declaration
of sacred writ, a deduction of reason, an aspiration of our better
feelings. Charity begins at home, but does not always stay at home.
God and reason, and all that is generous within us, prompt to
something higher and holier than a mere selfish life. We are not in-
dependent of others. The well-to-do if well behaved are a blessing
to us ; as we, if kindly true, are to them. The virtuous poor make
an important part of our happiness. We could hardly get along better
without them, than they without us. Why should we not look after
them with kindly sympathies, as stern December heralds the coming
winter. Some could give employment, on terms that would hardly in-
jure them and would be better for the poor than idleness and want ;
many could extend aid to such as are unable to labor, or for whom
there is no employment open. If the city is a worthy example for the
country in any thmg, perhaps it is in its care for the poor and suffer-
ing. The nation has paid a hundred million within a few months for
the handiwork of other countries, and now thirty thousand of our
own people here in New-York, who desire to work out an honest liv-
ing, have nothmg to do. There is here as much profligacy, as much
expenditure for useless shew, as much hurtful extravagance as any-
where. But amid all this wrecklessness, there is charity. Some 10,000
poor are now in our charitable institutions, and we hear of no tax-payer
complaining of a pi'oper expenditure of money for their support. But
our public charities are small compared with the private ; and the
consequence of both, we trust, will be, that few will perish here in this
year of plenty with absolute want, whereas thousands would, but for
men and women and children, who have hearts as well as money, and
who think it not enough to live for their single selves. We are not
sermonizing, but just reminding our readers that, while winter is here,
many, and probably some within their reach, are ill prepared for it. —
Ed.

Fermented or Non-fermented Manure?

Peofessoe Voelcker states that in dung heaps under a state ol
fermentation, however excessive, that free ammonia is not generated
except in the center of the heap, where the heat is greatest, and where
it has risen from 120 to 150 degrees Fahr ; and that it even then rarely
escapes, except in very small quantity, as the external layers of the
dung heap, where but little heat is generated, arrest and fix it in its
course and endeavor to escape ; that the strong smell emanating from

324 Fermented or Non-fermented Manures?

lung heaps in a state of fermentation does not arise from the ammo-
nia escaping, but is rather to be attributed to peculiar volatile organic
combinations — to some sulphuretted and phosphorated hydrogen and
a variety of other gaseous matters, amongst which ammonia as a gas
is only found in very minute quantities.

\J\>on the other hand, the learned professor attributes the greatest
injury sustained by farm-yard manure, to arise from its being exposed
to tlie action of rain-water, especially in open yards, or after removal
to the field in heaps ; and to obviate this, he recommends that the
manure be carted immediately to the field, and incorporated with the
soil — at all times a diflicult task, and at the same time frequently a
slovenly mode of application — Mark Lane Express.

The above is expressive of the opinion of the head man, as we un-
derstand, of the Cirencester (Eng.) Agricultural college. That dis-
tinguished professor and practical farmer, whose name we will not
place before our readers very often, in as much as they might not
" frame to pronounce it easily," is of opinion, it seems, that barn manure
is to be incorporated with the soil at once, not because it will give its
fertilizing matters to the air, if fermented in heaps, but because it will
be washed, if permitted to ferment, either in the yard or the field.

His opinion, on the main point, we suppose to be correct. We have
no doubt that the best policy, with the mass of barn manure — perhaps
all that is not surcharged with tindecayed vegetable matter — is, to get it
into the soil at once carting ; and provided it has been pi-operly cared for
while in the yard, it will be in a pretty good condition, just at the time
it is wanted. The saving of once loading and unloading is worth
considering ; and if plenty of cured muck, leaf mold, rotted turf
t&c, are brought to the barn to be incorjjorated with the manure as it
accumulates, which we have often recommended, as a means of retain-
ing the uiine and of increasing the quantity without lowering the
quality, it will be already composted, and ready for use as the spring
opens. Or, if no such materials are mixed, still, if to be ploughed in, it
may in most cases be about as well got into the ground by one removal,
because the soil itself acts as a divisor and a retainer; and the whole
field may be looked upon as a comjDost heap, provided it be well work-
ed over with the plough and harrow, and the soil and manure be as
evenly mixed as may be. These are some of our reasons for believing
Prof Voelcker (pronounce it if you can) to be right on the main ques-
tion. The saving of labor is, in our estimation, an important consider-
ation. American farmers can not expect, and perhaps oilght not to
desire, to keep the prices of food always at the high marks of the past
few years. A problem of more promise to them and to all the rest of
us, is, how to produce food at such a cost as will enable them to sell
at reasonable prices, and still make a handsome profit, or in other-
words, " to live and let live."

Fermented or Mon-fermented Manures f 325

But Prof. V.'s (?) reasons for ploughing in green manure ! Are
these sound ? The first we think no reason at all ; and the second is
ditto ; because the losses sustained both by fermenting and washing
may just as well as not be avoided.

First, of loss by fermentation. Prof. V. (a dodge to get rid of a
hard name) says, and we presume after careful investigation, that
" some sulj)huretted and phosphuretted hydrogen and a variety of
other gaseous matters" escape, and he admits that " ammonia" also
escapes in small quantities. Now sulphur, phosphorus, and especially
ammonia are too valuable to be allowed to escape, and if their escape,
even in small quantities, could not be prevented, a strong objection
would lie against the fermenting of manures. But for the sake of
those who still adhere to the practice of fermenting their manures, by
heajjing them up in their field and occasionally forking them over to
admit the air — a labor, we believe, that does not pay, and should not
be resorted to, except in special cases, as for top-dressing, or when a
compost is to be prepared for a particular crop, far from the barn, and
the transportation of the muck or other materials could thereby be
avoided — we will state again, as we often have done, how the loss of
sulphuretted hydrogen, phosphuretted hydrogen, ammonia, and other
gaseous matters, can be prevented ; — mix with the fermenting manure,
muck, leaf mold, decaying turf, or even soil, if you can get nothing
better, in considerable quantity, say as much, or nearly as much, as
there is of the manure ; cover the top and sides with some one of these
substances ; as the fermentation proceeds, do not allow the surface to
become entirely dry, even if you have to carry water to moisten it ;
and whatever gaseous productions the manure parts with, will be re-
tained by the other materials. Ofiensive odors will not be perceived ;
and in the absence of these, it is safe to conclude that little or no value
is escaping. By the way, the same holds true of the home jDremises.
Foul odors about the farmstead are costly, as well as unpleasant. Let
no farmer think that he is saving his maniTres till his entire premises
are free from all offensive exhalations. Whether we of the city can af-
ford to live in a vitiated atmosphere is not so clear, but it is quite cer-
tain that the farmer can not.

Second, of loss by washing. If the soil beneath a barn-yard is tole-
rably firm, and the surface of such a form that no water flows from it
— a trifle lowest in the middle — little or nothing is washed away. The
soluble matters of the manure may be washed into the surface of the
underlying soil. But then every good farmer, in cleaning his yard,
takes ofl' a portion of the soil, because he knows it to be about as valu-
able as the manure itself, and supplies its place, by bringing back as

326 Correspondence.

much fresh soil or something better, so that Httle or nothing is, or can
be, lost from a well regulated yard, by washing.

As for loss by rains on the heap after being placed in the field, Ave
think there is none. Indeed we would rather have a moderate rain
on a manure heap once a day than not, because it keeps the surface in
iust that moist condition which enables it to retain the gases gener-
ated within. It is true that rains on the shoal borders of the heap pass
through and carry soluble matters into the soil, making them some-
times over rich, injuring instead of benefitting the crop. But this is
the farmer's fault. He should take away some of the top soil with
the manure, enough to leave the place but httle richer than the aver-
ao-e of the field, and then nothmg would have been lost in consequence

of rains.

We believe with Prof V. in getting manures into the soil in pretty
good season in the spring, mainly because it is the shortest and most
labor-saving way, and because we believe that economy of production
is becoming more and more an important problem with us. But for
top-dressings and for other special objects, the composting of manm-es
is and always will be resorted to, and we were desirous that our
readers should understand how it may be practiced, when desirable,
Avithout these losses from fermentation and rains which Prof. V. seems
to dread.

Soot.

In England this is saved and applied to the wheat and other crops,
with great returns. In this country it is too often thrown into the
street and lost. About 18 bushels are a good dressing for an acre.
Several salts of ammonia, magnesia, and lime render it too valuable to
be wasted.

As a liquid manure for the garden, nothing is better than three or
four quarts of soot dissolved in a barrel of water, and applied with a
watering pot. Almost every family may as well as not preserve a few
bushels of it. It is good for any kind of grain ; also for roots, especi-
ally potatoes and carrots ; and nothing except Peruvian guano, Avhich
it is silly to buy and at the same time throw away about as good an
article, is equal to it for giving a rich bloom to flowers.

Save your soot and you may have the richest vegetables and the
brightest flowers.

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

Editors op P. L. & A. : — Your monthly, which I always look for
with unfeigned pleasure, has again made its appearance, and, after
perusing its leading articles, I venture to address you on some few

Correspondence. 327

points, which, I feel assured, you or your readers can satisfactorily
explain.

Hoping you will not 1)0 offended at the liberty I take upon myself,
to request an answer to my queries through your valuable columns, I
will proceed, to state my case.

Farming, m the district in which I reside, (in the south-eastern part
of Pennsylvania,) although being a celebrated agricultural country, does
not offer facilities to carry it on profitably or extensively with only mod-
erate means ; good lands being worth from fifty to one hundred and
twenty dollars per acre.

Now, we know land is cheap in the west ; in '■'•Illinois,'''' for example,
along its central R. R., (the location, I think, of the principal farming
population,) and where land can be purchased for from five to twenty
dollars per acre. My question amounts to this. Having a capital of
several thousand dollars, would it be policy for me to emigrate to that
State, buy land, break it, cultivate and farm it ? Having little more
than a theoretical knowledge of farming, I concluded to ask your ad-
vice as editors, or the advice of any of your western or eastern read-
ers, and abide by the decision. G. H. P.

Nov. 15, 1857.

Our own opinion has been already pretty fully expressed ; those of
our eastern and of our western correspondents might differ. For our-
selves we are conscious of no bias that would disqualify us for an im-
partial verdict.

We have thought and have said, that in our opinion, the young or
middle aged man, whose capital consists in a strong arm and a resolute
purpose, is a gainer by going west. "We are confident that it is so as
regards the northern half of the Union, and we know not why it
should not be with the southern.

Those who, in addition to a strong arm and a heart to cultivate the
earth, possess " a few thousand dollars," would, in our humble opin-
ion, have to look far before they would find a more favorable location
for agricultural enterprise than south-eastern Pennsylvania. We say
nothing here of the o])portunities, east and west, for the employment
of surplus capital. Whether the east or the west is the better place
for speculators we neither know nor care. It is simply of farming that
we speak, and that will pay anywhere if managed with energy and
sound judgment ; but nowhere, if not.

Suppose an acre in Westchester county. Pa., to be worth |115 ; and
in Central Illinois, |15. For the sake of the argument, suppose the acre
in Illinois to be as well fenced as that in Pennsylvania, and in connec-
tion with as good buildings, and as near to churches, schools, mills
stores, mechanics' shops, and all else that is necessary and desirable.

328 Correspondence.

Suppose further that the "Nvestern acre is broken, and as fairly in cul-
tivation as the eastern ; what tlicn ?

There is §100 difference in the investment. Money, in the long run,
is not worth, for any useful, honest purpose, over six per cent. The
annual difference, then, in the cost of cultivation, allowing the acres to
be equally feasible, would be six dollars, on account of difference in
investment. The cost of labor for cultivating an acre east we suppose
would be a dollar or two less than west ; and we suppose the cost of
transportation would be less, and that the chance for getting into
market at the best time would be greater, and so the eastern farmer,
taking one year with another, would come out quite as well as the
western.

So we should reason. But what next ? We, not long since, went
through south-eastern Pennsylvania. We should like to know more
of the farmers there. But we have seen and heard enough to satisfy
us that they are haj^py and prosperous. The apjaearance of their lands,
the style of their buildings, their school-houses, their chiirches, the
books on their tables, the number and variety of the publications
reacliing them through the post-office, all went to convince us that
their agriculture had not only made good farms, but good men, intel-
ligent, enterprising, rich. Their condition appears to be well enougli :
and it may be well for them to " let well enough alone."

With the cotton and sugar plantations in warmer latitudes it may
be otherwise. We do not claim to comprehend their interests as we
think we do those of the northern farmers. But with the latter we
are confident that farming for many years to come Avill pay as well on
the North River, the Connecticut and the Delaware, as on the Missis-
sippi. In both regions capital will become more and more essential.
Less, perhaps, will be absolutely essential at the west ; and the young
man, with little but his head and hands to begin with, will sooner get
under way there. We would be the last to hold him from the great
and growing Avest.

Nor if men with abundant means choose to remove westward, have
we the least objection. Western growth and prosperity are not going
to impoverish the east. Wherever there is action there is reaction.
If there is a raikoad from the east to the west, there is one from the
west to the east, and it will be well used in both directions. We are
as earnestly in favor of free trade at home as we are bitterly opposed
to that unwise dependence upon foreign nations for many of our neces-
saries and more of our luxuries, which has caused the revulsion under
which we all groan, and will cause other and greater revulsions, unless
the cause is removed by Amei'ican legislation.

A national pohcy, that should encourage a development of our own

The 8orghum. 329

resources, would check our revelry in foreign luxuries, leave us more
money to pay American laborers, lift up the fallen mechanic, create a
steady, enduring prosperity for the farmer, and be better for all
classes, not only of our own country, but, in the long run, of every
coimtry with which we have intercourse.

We advise G. H. P. " to abide the decision" of no one but himself.
" Every tub stands upon its own bottom."

The Sorghum.

Habtfoed, Trumbull Co., O,, )
Nov. 10, 1857. y

Me. Editor : — Among experiments on the Sorghum, some made by
an enterprising gentleman in this vicinity, Mr. Geo. K. Pelton, of
Vernon, in this county, may interest your readers. On the 27th and
28th of May Mr. Pelton planted about four-fifths, or, by measurement,
eighty-two one hundredths of an acre, with seed obtained of Col.
Peters, of Ga., and J. M. Thorburn, of K. Y., in rows four feet, and
in hills two to three feet apart, cultivating the same as Indian corn.
He put four kernals in a hill ; more would have been better, as they
did not all come up. The seed seemed alike, the products being equal-
ly sweet. The soil was upland loam, barely m good heart, having
been tilled several years.

He first boiled on Sept. 22, when the cane was in bloom, and eight
and one-half gallons of juice made one of molasses. Of two and one-
half gallons of syrup, made Sept. 24, a small portion went to sugar.

Oct. 12. — Thirty-one selected canes that were started in a hot bed
about the 1st of May, now fully ripe, weighing fifty pounds, yielded
twenty-six and one-fourth poimds of juice ; boiling this to four and
three-fourth pounds, fully three-fourths turned to sugar, of well defined
crystals. This batch was clarified with soda and sulphate of zinc. At
first he used cream of lime, a tablespoonful to five gallons of juice ;
but he fovmd soda better, a tablespoonful to from fifteen to thirty gal-
lons, according to its greenness, clarifying better, and making syrup
of much lighter color.

The syrup thus clarified is like honey in color, as good as sugar-
house syrup, free from all tang, and on cakes no loorse to take than
maple molasses.

Oct. 15.— Ninety average main stalks, weighing one hundred and fifty
pounds, yielded ninety pounds of juice, that made eleven pounds of
very thick syrup. The four-fifths acre produced one hundred and

^30 The Sorghum.

fifty-two gallons of good molasses and some sugar. Now, for the
cost :

r>R. Cr.

Rent of land, §3.00

Plowing and harrowing, 2.00 j

Three fourths pound seed, 2.12i'

Planting and hoeing, S.OO'jBy one hundred and fifty two gal-
Seven and one-half days' boiling, in- Ions at seventy five cents per

eluding self, boy, horses and mill, 20.621 gallon, $1 14.00

Fuel,say,... I.50' Deduct cost, 34.25

Total cost, *34.25 I Net gain, $79.75

The pan and arch are Hke those for boiUng maple sap. He found
old rails and refuse pieces better than solid hickory; the hickory
making a bed of coals beneath the pan, and choking the draught. In
cool, frosty weather there is no need of hurrying, as some of his canes,
after being slightly touched with the frost, were cut over a week be-
fore being crushed, yet uninjured. There is also then less juice and
less green matter in it, but the sweetness is undiminished. He pours
the strained juice into the pan, adds the soda dissolved in a little juice,
and boils to syrup without removing it from the fire. Although not
a carpenter by trade he made his own mill, except turning the rollers.
Fifteen dollars cover all expense^ allowing ample wages for his time.
The mill consists of three vertical wooden rollers, sixteen inches .long
and fifteen in diameter, in a little frame, high enough for convenience,
and the juice to drain into a large tub. The rollers may be keyed up
to each other, the last two especially, perfectly tight, so that a smart
blow on the keys will rebound. The drivmg roller has cogs at its up-
per end that mesh into the other rollers, and passes up through its
bearing into a sweep, to which the horse or hoi'scs are hitched, like a
common cider mill. He thinks it would be better to have the rollers
two feet long.

Oct. 24. — Manufactured two loads of good cane, brought ten miles,
and that day, with the help qf a boy eleven years old, two horses, and
another horse for two or three hours, he made forty gallons of good
syrup, beginning a little before simrise, and closing about 10 P. M.
Another batch of ninety-two hills, averaging three stalks with their
suckers, brought four miles, gave forty gallons of juice and six and
one-fourth of good molasses. This stood till after a heavy frost and
two freezings, one forming ice like window glass ; the other froze the
ground, and formed ice one-fourth inch thick. When he commenced
boiling, eight and one-half gallons of juice made one of molasses; but,
Oct, 24, a little less than six would do it. He has made for others,
with his own, three hundred and seventy-five gallons, makmg to the
halves, the canes being delivered at the mill ; he has sold a good por-
tion at seventy-five cents per gallon, and some even higher, making

Seed Corn. 331

nearly $200 in about fifteen working days, and hindered some by the
weather at that ; for his works are in the open field.

The leaves and tops will more than pay for cutting, preparing, and
delivering the canes at the mill. Mr. Pelton has persevered in his ex-
periments in spite of the good-natured incredulity of some ; but now
the laugh is on the other side ; at any rate, the dimes are. He is
much to be commended for his enterprise.

These facts are not taken from a few hills, and multiplied mto gal-
lons and acres, but from memoranda made by him at the time. Per-
haps the cane may be planted some thicker to advantage, but the
Sorghum is no longer an experiment ; it is a fiict, and to most of us a
fact full of sweetness. Benjamin Fenn, Jr., in

Ohio Cultivator.

FOR THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZISB.

Seed Corn, etc.

Messes. Editors : — I am a constant reader of your valuable Maga-
zine, and have often felt disposed to send you an article for its col-
umns, but have omitted it for two reasons : first, you have written
upon all the most important points which interest the farming com-
munity, and secondly, those subjects have been described with an
ability so far exceeding my own, and yet so nearly expressing my own
views, that for me to write on those subjects would have subjected me
to the charge of plagiarism, or an attempt to transfer your well ex-
pressed ideas into a more homely style. But in your September num-
ber I have found an editorial expression which is a little at variance
with my opinion, founded on long experience, and therefore send you
my views on

SAVING SEED CORN.

You may place me on the list with the "old farmer who has seen
seventy summers," as quoted on page 151, and yet I have not lived long
enough to see a hill oi properly saved seed corn rot in the ground,
even in the most adverse seasons.

The corn crop is destined to be the most important crop of all the
Western States, and it becomes important that great attention should
be paid to each and every part of its cultivation ; it is not only for in-
dividual interest, but should be considered a mater of national con-
cern, and I venture to assert that a want of proper information on the
subject of Saving Seed Corn^ or the neglect to follow proper instruc-
tions when given, has been accompanied with the loss of many millions
by the farming community. There is, and always has been, a reluctancy
on the part of mankind to acknowledge their own faults, more partic-

332 Seed Com.

larly when they think they can by some current excuse place them
elscwliere. Hence, foi' the two past seasons, the cry has been that
the great failure of seed corn has Leeu in consequence of the back
wardness of the seasons. This is all fudge. I have planted corn in
the months of April, May and June; have broken the frozen groimd
with my hoe to cover the seed, and yet, unless so planted as to have
water stand upon it, have never lost a hill through the influence of
the weather. This year I adopted an idea expressed in one of your
nwmhers, oi'-'- going tipon all fours.'''' I planted cnxXy four kinds of
corn, the hills /bwr feet apart, and put/bwr kernels in each hill, plac-
ing them at the corners of a square of four mchcs. By disposing
them in this maimer, the locality of each kernel was readily ascertained.
"When the corn was sufficiently grown for the first hoeing, I went
over it carefully and noted if any hill lacked its number of stalks, if
so, and I found several that did, I removed the earth wdth my fingers
to ascertain the cause of failure. In every mstance I found the kernel
had germinated, but had been ate off by the white grub. I did not
find a kernel of either variety that had failed to germinate, and this
when many of my neighbors were complaining that the weather was
such that it had rotted their seed corn.

I have experimented with corn for seed by picking it in all stages,
from its boiling state until " fairly ripe." Corn that is picked when
in its boiling condition will germinate sooner than than that which is
picked when " fairly ripe," and with equal certainty ; but I think the
nourishment from the kernel to the blade is sooner exhausted than
when the kernel is more perfected. The stage at which I prefer se-
lecting my seed corn, is when it is ^''fairly glazed ;'''' and when so se-
lected, it will come \\\) twenty-four hoiirs sooner than that which is
allowed to stand until " fairly ripe," and the young shoot sooner as-
sumes a dark green color.

I have much improved several varieties of com, by pursuing the
following course, which I most approve : As soon as the corn has
passed its boiling state, or become glazed, I go through the field and
select the earliest ears, always preferring those where there are two
ears upon one stalk ; picking double the quantity, or more than I wish
for seed, carrying it to the house or shed, where I husk and braid it.
In doing this I select those ears which approach nearest to my desired
standard, as to shape and length of ear, breadth, and dejHh of kernel,
placing those by themselves ; the others I trace up for early grinding,
hanging both in a warm and airy situation. By pursuing this course,
both kernel and cob become perfectly dry before the commencement
of freezing weather ; and if then kept in a dry room, Avill never fail of
germinating, if propei'ly planted, in almost any soil where the water is

Bules for 3Iahing Butter. 33'

not allowed to stand so as to cover it, aud seclude tlie circulation of
air and liglit.

Most of the cases of failure, for the two past seasons have been
where farmers cut up their corn, set it up in the field in stocks, where
the ears remained damp, then on the approach of the wet season cart
it to the barn or shed, pack it very closely to save room, and allow it
to remain until most of out-door work is done, when it is husked out
evenings and wet days, seed ears selected, braided up or thrown in a
heap— and this they call seed corn, after it has been exposed in this
damp state to an acidifying process for at least one month, then put
away undried and exposed to all the, severity of our whiter frosts,
whereby the last vestige of vitality is perfectly destroyed. Oh, shame !
Better go into the open fields of the Western States where corn is
allowed to stand out all winter, and select your seed corn from such
ears as dropped and furnished their own covering, than fi-om corn se-
lected as above. N. Goodsell.

New-I-Iaven, Oswego Co., N. Y., Sept. 10, 185V.

Ten Eules to be Observed in Making Butter.

lis- making good butter there are several nice operations to be gone
through with, which require an eye to cleanliness, forethought and
experience.

1. On milking clean, fast yet gently, regularly twice a day, depends
the success of the dairyman. Bad milkers should not be tolerated in
a herd ; better pay double the price for good ones.

2. Straining is quite simple, but it should be borne in mmd that
two pans about half full each will produce a greater amount of cream
than the same milk if in but one pan ; the reason of this is the greater
surface.

3. Scalding is quite an important feature in the way of makmg but-
ter in cool weather ; the cream rises much quicker, milk keeps sweet
longer, the butter is of a better color, and churns in one half the
time.

4. Skimming should always be done before the mUk becomes lop-
pered ; otherwise much of the cream turns into whey and is lost.

5. Churning, whether by hand or otherwise should occupy fifty
minutes.

6. Washing in cold soft water is one of its preserving qualities, and
should be continued until it shows no color of the milk by the use of
the ladle ; very hard water is highly charged with lime, and must m a
measure impart to it alkaline properties.

V. Soilting is necessarily done with the best kind of ground salt ; the
quantity varies according to the state it is taken from the churn ; ii'
soft, more— if hard, less ; always taking taste for the surest guide. ^

8. First working, after about 24 hours, is for the purpose of giving
it greater compactness.

334 Give so Much and Take so Much.

9. Second working takes place at the time of packing, and when the
butter has dissolved the salt, that the brine may be worked out.

10. Packing is done with the hands or with a Ijutter mall ; and
when butter is put into wooden vessels, they should be soaked two or
three days in strong brine before using. After each packing cover
the butter with a Avet cloth, and put a layer of salt upon it ; in this
way the salt can easily be removed at any time, by simply taking hold
of the edges of the cloth.

Butter made in this way will keep any length of time required. —
Jl C. Adams, G. Farm.

The above, which we cut from the American JEagle, York, Pa,,
contains much that is true and important. "Whether the Cth item,
about washing, is correct we doubt. Indeed we believe the less water
is used the better, that washing injures rather than helps the keeping
qualities of the butter. — Ed.

FOR THE AMEBICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

"I'U Give So Much, and I'U Take So Much."

NO. II. I'LL TAKE.

Paul's advice to Timothy should be adhered to by every farmer.
But under the present mode of doing busmess it is almost impossible.
Let us then translate Paul's advice so that instead of reading, " Owe
no man anything," read " Owe no merchant anything." Merchants,
at the present time, as a class, have the farmers " under their thumbs ;"
so much so, that they say, " IHI give so mucJi and IHl take so mtich,''
and instead of the farmer setting his own price upon his grain the
merchant sets it for him.

A common ju-actice among the farming class is going to the mer-
chant and running into " debt" for articles that might be dispensed
with. Farmers, as a class, are men of moderate circumstances ; their
sons and daughters must be dressed in satins and silks, instead of mak-
ing their own clothes, that would be of much more service than those
that are "made to sell." Sons and daughters are permitted to run to
she store for every thing — trinkets of all sorts. These are got upon
" tick," not thinking that there is a pay-day coming. All debts must
then be paid. When they go to the store they get things charged, and
if the man they deal with is honest, perhaps all is right on pay-day.
But perhaps when the farmer comes to settle up, his account is five
dollars on every twenty-five more than is his honest due, and
the farmer is none the wiser, but five dollars the poorer. "A
burned child dreads the fire." Here is where the j^ierchant has
the farmer "under his thumb." If I buy a horse of neigh-
bor B. upon "tick," I know what I have got to pay him ; if the jnib-

Give so Much and Take so Much. 335

iisher sends me Ms paper, I know what I owe him for it ; or if I
buy a piece of land of Mr. C. I know what I am owing him, and can
make my calculations accordingly ; but where I or my family are con-
tinually going to the store, I never know how much I am owing him.
I do not know whether he keeps a correct book or not. All that I
have is his word. There the debt stands booked agamst me, and I
must pay it. When pay-day comes I have not got the money. Cred-
itor says, " Never mind ; give me your note, payable twenty days
from date ; by that time your wheat or oats will be ready for market ;
then you can pay it." Twenty days roll round, and the farmer has
got his grain ready for market. He goes with a load, and when he
gets to town he is met by a land-shark, perhaps the one that he is in
debt to. If so, he says, " I'll give you so much for that load of grain,
(by the bushel,) or I want the money on that note ; one or the other
I must have." The farmer is in the " box," and to get out he must
sell his gi-ain for what shark offers him, for the money he has not got.
Here is one reason for which the farmer is to blame. Another reason
is, he should put more into his own and his children's brains, and less
finery upon their backs. It is well enough to dress well, but bad pol-
icy to run into debt to a merchant for it. Better wear a plain vest
and be clear of debt from the merchant, than to wear a satin one, and
be in debt for it.

When the farmer goes to get a bolt of calico or muslin, a gallon of
molasses, etc., the merchant does not ask the customer what he will
give ; but says, " I'll take so much, and that is the least that I can af-
ford to take. It cost so much in New- York or Boston ; and then the
freight so much, etc., and I must have a small profit. I let you have
it nearly at cost." He cares but little whether the farmer makes any-
thmg or not, but he must have a projit upon his goods, and a profit
upon the produce he buys. When the merchant sells — " I'll take so
much ;" when he buys—" I'll give so much." And as long as the
farmer does as described above, he is the one to* blame in a great
degree, for he often pays for things that he never gets, and pays
the highest price for what he does get. I do not wish to be un-
derstood that all merchants are of this class, but a great many of
our country merchants and city merchants will do it, for they well
know that the farmer does not know how much, nor what he gets.
There are honest merchants, and those I do not wish to censure. It
is an admitted fact that the mercantile class have, and talce the advan-
tage of the laboring class. Messrs. Editors, I have censured the farm-
ing class of the community. They are to blame for doing as they do.
If they give up the staff they must expect to be beaten with it.
Farmers, take more pains to inform yourselves, to become on a level

336 Western JEmigration.

with otlicr professions. Inform yourselves as regards the markets, and
not be sliarked ont of half your earnings. It is our duty, as farmers,
to bring about a reconciliation in buying and selling. I may say more
about this in future.

Friends Editors, your pens are at liberty to pen what remarks you
deem proper. L. S. Spencek.

Lyists", Wayne Co., Iowa.

Well, then, we will pen two remarks : 1. If the farmer buys at the
store without keeping any sort of account of Avhat or how much, some
merchants, (for the honor of humanity we hope a great many,) will
deal fairly with him, notwithstanding ; but a great many others will
yield to the temptation, and though wo have no great experience in
the west, we have no doubt it has its share of men who are more
anxious to make money than to make it honestly. 2. If the farmer
is cheated in the settlement of an account, in which the merchant only
knows what or how much he has had, it is, as our correspondent says,
his own fault, iu part at least. — Ed.

FOR TUB AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

Western Emigration.

Messes. Editors : — Your remarks on the subject above, as elicited
by the article copied from the Yorhville {S. C.) Inquirer^ are in the
main consonant with my feelings and views, and the sjjirit thereof I so
much admire, that I needs must thank you.

The editor of the South Carolina paper in Yorkville and yourself
are, no one should doubt, honest, and mean to give the very best ad-
vice. But, sirs, I am one -who left the " comforts and conveniences"
enjoyed by many, not far from that same Yorkville. I know what
the deprivations are. And I had to know somewhat the difference
between having those " comforts and conveniences" and working for
them, between seeing others enjoy and enjoy myself ; and I take your
position, only change of cardinal points, and aver I can prove to
the very letter, that "if young men will put forth as much energy and
endure as many privations in the West as in the JEast^ they will thrive
as well" and accumulate fortunes.

The privations to be endured here are only for a day, whereas in
the East it is " for ever and a day." Let us look to the facts of the
case, and I defy a successful proof that I am in error. A young man
comes out West ; he is to be industrious, of course ; he can, I admit,
only get the same wages here that he could have procured in Caro-
lina ; his expenses are no more ; when he has enough to buy property,
he can buy as cheap, certainly ; and when he cultivates his acres, he can

Fertility of Land. 337

make double and can sell for as much. I say he can make double, be-
cause he can buy land here at $10 or |20 per acre that will yield say
1000 pounds of cotton or 25 bushels of corn, when same price lands
in Carolina will not yield the half, though it is his own fault, if he is
content with that quality of land at that price.

I said " privations here were but for a day," etc. And so I repeat,
of course figuratively. The idea is, if mdustry, energy and economy
be the watchwords here, m a few years the young man will have se-
cured a competency, and all the time on an equality with his neigh-
bors ; whereas m the older States he is very sure to remain but little
better oflf when his grand-children are crawling upon his knees, and
by that time, if ever, used to be looked down upon. The time has been
here when a young man with his whole fortune, consisting of a suit of
clothes, hard hands, a stout heart, and clean conscience, could in ten
or fifteen years be entirely able to live easy and keep out of the sim —
the great desideratum of those who know not the luxury of having a
nmid to work. An overseer at $250 per year of 1830, has his thirty
hands, a farm well stocked, his rooms well carpeted, and a carriage
for his wife in 1860. How many gray-haired sires and grand-sires
have I known, who were industrious, frugal, and energetic, yet died
without more than the means of a horse to take his old wife to the
country church ?

If those old countries in the Soitth w^ould plant less cotton at 300
pounds per acre, and at two bales per hand, and sow more grain, make
more compost, plow deeper, and encourage a system of living within
themselves, there would not be so much moving ; (that's true. — Ed.)
and if the new countries would learn wisdom from the past, there
would be at the least a movement to this same policy, (and that too. —
Ed.) If God holds man accountable for the good gifts he has be-
stowed upon us, there is a fearful reckoning coming on.

It is said 1^ some people that the young bees drive the old ones off.
I am not posted up as to that ; but I think it right that old people
should imitate birds— learn the young ones how to use their own wuags
—to leave all the " comforts and conveniences" of the homestead to the
old folks, and go out m the world and seek their own fortunes, my
young friends. A South Carolinian who has tried it.

Increased Fertility of Land.

Flint Ridge, Frederick Co., Va., )
November 4, 1857. f

Dr. R. T. Baldwin -.—Bear >S'iV— Knowing the deep mterest you
feel in agricvilture, and especially in anything that relates to the im-
provement of the soil, and believing as I do that those interests would

338 Fertility of Land.

be promoted by a more frequent communication among farmers in re-
gard to their practice and experience, must be my apology, for ad-
dressing you this communication.

About twenty years ago I determined to try >vhat improvement I
could make on a small portion of my farm by the use of clover and
plnister. For the purpose of making the experiment, I selected aiield
of about thirteen aces, the soil of wliich was light and sandy. I had
cleared this field, and had it in cultivation about eight years' before I
commenced to use clover and plaister on it ; during this time it had
been producing an average of about nine bushels of wheat and about
twenty-seven bushels of corn to the acre. I commenced my effort to
improve the soil by sowing it with about one gallon and a half of clo-
ver seed and about one hundred pounds of plaister to the acre. I soon
found that the plaister acted well on the soil, producing a very heavy
crop of clover, which was allowed to remain on the land, without eith-
er mowing or pasturing it off, for three years ; at the end of which
time it was ploughed up, in the month of March or April, when the
clover was in a dry state, and planted in corn, and the next summer
it was left over for stalk fallow and sowed with wheat in the fall, and
again sowed with clover and plaister in the spring, and the same rou-
tine continued up to the present time : that is to say, first either two
or three years in clover without pasturing or mowing any part of it
off, then corn succeeded by wheat on a stalk fallow.

The result of this practice is that the product of this land was more
than doubled, and is still increasing. For the last eight years it has
averaged upward of twenty bushels of wheat and about forty-five
bushels of corn ; and last season, when the wheat crop in this section
of country was remarkably light and of very poor quality, I harvested
from this field twenty-four bushels of blue-stem white wheat of excel-
lent quaUty, and weighing sixty-four pounds to the bushel. It may
be proper to remark that no fertiUzer has ever been used on this field,
except the clover and plaister.

Now, whether this improvement is the eftect of s/iaf?e, or whether it
is mainly attributable to the decomposition of vegetable matter in the
soil, I will not attempt to decide. I merely give you a fixithfiil state-
ment of the mode of culture and the result, and Avill leave it to you
and others to draw your own inferences. — James Gather, in Win-
chester {Va.) Mepiiblican. f

Remarks and Queries. — ^That land can be thus improved is cer-
tain. But will 24 bushels of wheat and 45 of corn, once in three
years, pay interest on the estimated value of the land, and pay for the
labor, and leave a margin for profit ? We think not. There is, how-
ever, another element to come into the calculation — the increased
value of the land. Is Mr. Gather's land increasing in value ? Is it
coming into a state in which it will give valuable crops two years in-
stead of one, out of the three? And for hoAV mucb more would that
land sell now than when this improvement was commenced ? Evi-
dently the ingredients for wheat and corn were not in the surface soil
then. Has the clover brought them up, by means of its deep roots,

Horn Ail. ^^^

and has it so supplied the lequisite organic matter, as to make that
land worth more for cultivation the next ten years, by several dollars
a year, than it was ten years ago ? We suppose it may be so ; and if
the prospective use of the land is far more valuable than the past, this
is an important consideration. We wish Mr. Cather would inform us,
either directly in a communication for the Farmers' Magazine, or
through the Winchester Bepuhlican, what proportion of his compen-
sation he considers he has received in the crops of wheat and corn,
and what he yet expects from the improved capability of the land ?
Agriculture will not reach its highest point, till we learn to estimate
money in land as well as money in the poclcet. — Ed,

Horn Ail— Hollow Horn.

There is no such thing. This is our settled belief; or, at most, it
is merely an incorrect name for some ailment which has no more to
do with the horns than with some other parts of the body not parti-
cularly diseased. The horns are at the base exceedingly thin, as we
all know ; they are very good conductors of heat, and they cover a
bone, the pith, which with its integumen, is exceedingly vascular, as
is evinced when a horn is broken and the blood-vessels ruptured, the
flow of blood is vastly greater than when any other bone is broken or
bruised. Hence it is that by feeling of the horns it is easy to ascer-
tain the general temperature of the animal— if it is feverish and heated
the horns are hot ; if debilitated, and its energies in a measure pros-
trated, the horns will not be warm as usual. Standard writers, writers
on vetermary practice either deny the existence of the disease, or say
not a word about it. The symptoms are those of general debility, or
this as connected with some prostrating distemper. — Homestead.

One thing which we know about this matter is, that in our younger
days we helped to hold the heads of many a struggling animal to have
the horns bored ; first one and then the other, to be followed by a
clipping of the tail. The operation of boring the horns seemed to
inflict, in most cases, severe pain. Our father, who was largely a stock
grower, and was an accurate observer, and therefore.less likely to be car-
ried away with popular error than most persons, believed, in common
with the whole neighborhood,that the disease called horn distemper, and
known by a languid expression of the eye, an unnatural heat in the horns,
and a spongy softness of the end of the tail, with loss of appetite, was
best cured by boring the horns and clipping the tail. The animals so
treated were those, m nine cases out of ten, at least, that had just been
purchased, and that had not been previously well fed and cared for.
Neglect and starvation were generally supposed to have been the
cause of the disease, and the process of boring and clipping, the sure
remedy. If there is no tendency in this process to cure, and we know

340 Interrogatories.

not tliat there is, it certainly ought to have been discontinued more
than thirty years ago. AVe can only say that the animals always " got
well" after this application ; but considermg the good feed and kind
care always afforded on that farm, we are not so sure but they might
have recovered as soon, perhaps sooner, Avithout it. Among the ear-
Uest maxims we were taught with regard to stock was, never to keep
more than you can keep well, that it was better to commence winter
with ten too ia^f than one to many, that animals well fed and made
always comfortable, seldom sicken, and invariably pay better for their
feed and care than those but half fed and half cared for. If these in-
herited notions, ever since growing strong, are erroneous, there is
danger that we shall never be right on the subject. — Ed.

FOR TDE AMEHICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

Interrogatories.

Messes. Editors : — I should like to see the following questions an-
swered satisfactorily, either by yourselves, or by some of your scien-
tific correspondents.

1. Does a tree continue to grow as long as it lives? or does it,
like man and other animals, attam a certain size, and then cease to
grow, although it may live many years afterwards ?

It is well known that the rising and descending sap, hardening,
forms a ring every year, by which the age of the tree may be ascer-
tained. I^ow, as long as the tree lives it puts forth leaves, which is a
proof that the sap continues to flow. The question, then, is, can the
sap continue to flow without forming annual rings, and thus increasing
the growth of the tree ?

If we follow up the analogy between animals and trees, we know
that animals may be fed on nutritious diet ; their stomachs may projj-
erly digest their food ; all the secretions may go on regularly, and
perform their jDroper functions, and they may live in the enjoyment of
good health for many years, and yet their bodies not increase in size.
May not a tree do the same ? I hope some one versed in vegetable
physiology will give us information on this subject.

2. On what principle depends the durability of wood ? We ascribe
the durability of the pine knot to the rosin in contains, which makes
it capable of resisting the influences of air and moisture. Hence Ave
might conclude that all kinds of Avoodthat possess the property of last-
ing, must contain rosin, oil, or some substance that Avill resist atmo-
spheric influences. But we find that this is not the case in every
instance ; for the locust (Robiuia) seems to contain neither rosin nor

State JExhihitiooi at Boston. 341

oil, and yet, perhaps, there is no wood that is more durable, either in
the ground or out of it.

N'or does the durability of wood depend on the hardness of its fibre,
or the doseyiess of its texture ; for the red cedar, (Juniperus) although
the texture is close, is a soft wood, and yet its durabiUty is proverbial.
The sassafras (Laurus) is both soft and porous, and yet it is very dura-
ble, either for posts or rails. The walnut, the poplar or tulip tree, the
mulberry and the chestnut are all porous, and yet they last well as
rails or boards.

Wood of every kind, no doubt, contains more or less essential oil,
and on this, perhaps, may depend, in some measure its lasting quali-
ties; but not to that degree which is generally supposed, for facts
prove the contrary. I should like te see this subject satisfactorily ex-
plained. ^- 1^« P-

RosEMo:jfT, near Nashville, Tenn.

As long as a tree lives, it grows outwardly, but may decay as fast
inwardly, and even faster, so as to remain stationary, or be dimin-
ishing, in the real amount of sound living tissue.

Till an animal has reached maturity, the food supplies new tissues,
more than enough to balance the wastes of the old. He grows. At
maturity, the wastes of the old tissues equal the formation of new,
and he ceases to grow. In oldage, when the digestive and assimulat-
ing functions become less active, the wastes of the old tissues exceed
the formation of new, and he diminishes in size. The same takes place,
when an animal is worked severely, or when his food is scant, or if he
is so far uncomfortable as to interfere with the digestion and assimula-
tion of his food.

For instance, m the climate of New England and New- York, you
may feed cattle to the top notch, yet if you give them no shelter, they
will not increase in weight durmg the cold winter, but will diminish.
New tissues will not be formed sufficiently fast to supply the wastes
of the old, and the food given will be lost.

We do not claun to have answered J. R. B's. questions, but we have
found a moral, which every stock grower may turn to account, and
we refer the rest to our correspondents. His question on the durabil-
ity of Avood is important, and we hope it may receive a corresponding
answer.

Massachusetts State Exhibition at Boston.

The first exhibition of the kind, under the supervision of the Board
of Agriculture, came ofl'the last week, from the 20th to the 25th of
October. It was well sustained throughout by objects of interest pre-
sented for premiums aud exhibition. There was nothing lacking ex-

342 Cheat yield of Hay.

cept a sufficiency of people to look on. The truth is, there has been
of late too many shows for the times ; people had rather keep their
change than spend it, when there are so few ways to obtain it. You
meet three persons who have nothing to do where you find one em-
ployed.

Of all the classes of domestic animals there was a fine display, of the
horse kind more than all others, and where the horse is shown, others
will be but slightly noticed. Of the stock, the Devons were most
abundant, and of first-rate quality. If o\\Tiers' certificates are to be
relied on, there were milch cows on the ground it would be hard to
beat — particularly the fine herd of the veteran editor of Framingham.
We have been an unbeliever in his alleged products ; but still he and
his maids certify, that foicr quarts of his Devon cow's milk, make a
pound of butter, and we have no means of j^roving the contrary, ex-
cepting we have never known this done by any other herd. The
cows look as well as any we have seen.

The show of agricultural implements was first rate ; if farmers do
not hereafter do their work in the best manner, it will not be for the
want of tools fitted for the j^urpose.

Of plows exhibited the number was legion. There are none which
suit our taste so well as the Michigayx double^ and the Side-hill j^lows.
My neighbors like the side-hill because it leaves the ground so even,
without any dead furrows.

How to separate the Horse-ail from the beneficial influences of our
shows, is an inquiry not easily answered. It is very clear that this
Boston Show would have been a complete failure without the horse
influence. It came too late in the season. People do not like to stand
out shivering in the cold. — Gran. St, Farmer.

The following on the great snake story (as some have viewed it)
about grass, is from the Weekly Farmer,, via that excellent journal
the Homestead, Hartford, Conn. Look, among others, at the last
paragraph :

One Hundred Tons of Grass to the Acre. — A statement ap-
peared in the Scientific American a short time since, taken from an
English paper, setting forth that one hundred tons of ^rass had been
grown in one season from a single acre, on land belongnig to the estate
of Lord Derby. Some writers took it for granted that there must be
a mistake in the figures. We thought so at the time ; but in reply to
Mr. Joseph R. Nichols, of Haverhill, Mass., Avho traveled in England
last summer and visited this estate, is inclined to believe that there is
no mistake in the matter. He says, " My visit was made about the
first of June, and they had already secured tioo heary crops of grass,
and it is not improbable that four or five more were cut during the
long and fiivorable season of last year. Four or five crops of the
heavy, stout Italian rye grass is not unusual ; and Mr. Mechi, of the
celebrated Triptree Farm, informed nic tliat he liad once grown seven
crops during the summer." This grass grows with great rapidity and
luxuriance under the system of irrigation adopted on many of the

Imphee. 343

large estates of England, and particularly by Mr. MecM, of applying
liquid manures through pipes imbedded in the soil.

The American farmers can hardly form a remote idea of the bene-
fits that are yet to result from science applied to farming. Land drain-
ing, trench ploughing, irrigation, liquid manuring, are agencies yet to
be employed to swell the products of our leading crops to an extent
now almost exceeding belief.

To render the story of Lord Derby's hundred tons of grass from
one acre less improbable it should be considered that it was probably
cut and weighed with the dew on, so that many tons of it so weighed
would be required for one ton of dried hay. — Ed.

Gopher vs. Rat.

It is an old saying that "there's no great loss without some small
gain," which is generally verified. A farmer in Alameda county, Cal-
ifornia, had a liberal supply of rats about his premises, which were
guilty of their usual fecundity, and were anything but welcome so-
journers. But the gophers having lately invaded his grounds, the
rats had to give way, and now no trace of a rat is to be found. His
boys have an amusing way of catching gophers by a string, on the
end of which is a noose, which they place carefully round the hole,
and when a gopher's head appears above the ground, the string is
pulled, and he finds himself captured. Having secured one in this
way, the boys placed him before a large rat-hole in the barn, and al-
lowed him to go in prospecting, still retaining hold of the string, when
he soon caused a commotion inside, and out ran no less than five large
rats, one after another, and were quickly despatched by the boys. —
Prairie Farmer.

Me. Weay thinks that Imphee, or the African sugar cane, will fur-
nish the Northern States with means of making sugar for themselves.
Several varieties of it will ripen perfectly in from '75 to 100 days. He
thinks that it can be crystalized by a method which he has used, and
for which he has applied for a patent in the United States, as well as
in Great Britam, and some countries on the Continent. The method
consists of several distinct operations. 1. Treating the juice with
" cream of hme" without heat. 2. Filtermg the juice through char-
coal, to remove all feculence. This gives a clear, bright liquor, with-
out any heat. 3. Heat the liquor to 120 or 180 degrees Fahrenheit,
put in nut galls, and brmg the liquor to the boiling point. KeqD_it so
a few moments, then cool and filter again. 4. Evaporate the liquor
in open pans, skimming the scum as it rises till the syrup is ready to
grain. 5. Then remove to vessels proper for this purpose. If it
should not granulate readily, throw into the concentrated syrup a
few ounces of well grained sugar. This will cause it to grain raj^idly.
By the use of this method, Mr. W. afliirms that excellent white sugar
can always be made from the African sugar cane.

344 Chinese Sugar Cane.

Potatoes.

Messes Editors:— The following article is translated from the
" Farmers' Gold Mine" {Barren Goudmyn), a Dutch paper, and may-
be of interest to growers and consumers of potatoes.

"Potatoes were first brought to Europe in 1583. After fifty-nine
years the potato rot broke out, and after eighty years there was no
seed fit for planting to be obtained. In 1696 the Spaniards brought
good seed from Peru, which gave healthy tubers for forty five years.
In 1779 the rot so for destroyed the potatoes that no erood seed was
obtamed. In 1797 the EngUsh brought new seed to Europe, but it
was not imtil 1802_ and 3 that the seed generally spread throughout
the continent and in general use. Fifty years later the rot again ap-
peared, and decreased in 1856. From this it would appear that pota-
toes are hable to siTflfer from the disease about every fifty years."

If the above is correct, would it not be kuportant that new seed
should be imported from the native soil of the potato ?— .Z>., in Bos-
ton Cultivator.

Hints to Farmers.

Toads are the best protection of cabbage against lice. Plants when
drooping are revived by a few grains of camphor. Sulphur is valua-
ble in preserving grapes, &c., from insects. Lard never spoils if cook-
ed enough in frymg out. In feeding corn sixty pounds ground, goes
as far as one hundred pounds in the kernel. Corn meal should not be
ground very fine, it injures the richness of it. Turnips of small size
have double the nutritious matter that large ones have. Rats and
other vermin are ke])t away from grain by sprinkling garlic when pack-
mg the sheaves. Money expended in drying lands by draining or
otherwise, will be returned with ample interest. To cure scratches
on horses, wash their legs with warm soapsuds, and then with beef
brine ; two applications will cure the worst case. — Ohio Farmer.

The Chinese Sugar Cane.

We learn that quite a number of the farmers upon the Island have
planted parcels of the " Chinese Sugar Cane" this season, but not in
sufficient quantities for any practical results. Enough has been ascer-
tained, to show that the Cane can be successfully groAvn in this region,
and yield a good jwofit, provided it is entered into to an extent to
warrant the erection of mills for the purpose of prcssmg out and man-
ufacturing the syrup in quantities, but for merely domestic use it
would hardly pay. To any individual who would take up several
hundred acres of the waste lands of the Island, or a company who
would enter into it with the intention of manufacturing the syrup for
the market, would, no doubt, find it a profitable investment. — Suffolk
County Gazette.

Items and Comments. 345

Items and Comments.

The American Eagle, York, Pa., says : " A large part of our farm-
er's wives are overworked. What with the boarding of the farm
hands, the dairy, and all the other nnavoidable parts of the routine of
daily work, there needs to be extra hands to do it, and when these
can not be, or are not furnished, health suffers, the temper is often
soured, the beauty of mind and soul is marred, and too often the
worn-out mother fails to live out half her days."

The remedy it proposes is, that farmers should not so much insist
upon unmarried laborers, but hire those who have families, furnish
them with houses, and receive aid in their own household affairs from

the wives and daughters of those who labor for them. Is not the

suggestion an important one ?

We venture another suggestion on our own account. It is that

not half as much attention is given to facilitating the in-door as the

out-door labor of the farm. Let labor-saving machinery do all it can

on the land, in the barn, and in the house also. — Ed.

" The State Fair at Columbia, S. C, was hugely attended, and the
Exhibition was very respectable. We congratulate the State Society
upon the result of their second annual meeting. Col. J. T. Marshall's
address on the occasion is an admirable one." — Edgefield Advertiser.

" Orchards. — Lov) and sohhy lands are loholly unfit for orchards.
By far the best lands are those somewhat elevated, gently rolling— of
light porous surface, with a good clay foundation at the depth of eight
or ten inches. The holes for planting trees should be from a foot to
fifteen inches in depth, and two feet or more in diameter. They
should then be filled half full of a light compost of stable manure, de-
cayed leaves, stale ashes, surface earth, etc. Upon this set the roots
of the tree — adding two or three inches more of the compost. Then
pour in several gallons of water, which will cause this compost to set-
tle closely around the roots. The next day, fill up the remainder of
the hole with surface earth, or rich mold."

If by a " clay foundation" is intended anything heavier than a good
clay loam, easily pervious to water, we think it should be xmder-
drained.

The compost here recommended is excellent for the purpose, but
the stable manure may be by far the smallest ingredient, and it should
be well rotted, so as to produce no heat by fermentation after the
roots are placed in or above it. Decaying bones, old shoes and boots,
(to be dug in quite away from the young roots,) old woolen clothes,

346 Items and Comments.

horns, or dust from the comb factory, would be vahiable additions, as
they would feed the roots years hence, when the less enduring sub-
stances will have been exhausted. There is no better Avay to be rid
of such nuisances as old boots, bones and woolen rags, scraps of leath-
er, etc., than to plant them where the roots of a fruit tree M'ill find
them.

We would be a little more sparing of water than is above recom-
mended. Our experience has been, that if the soil is well moist,
(about in the state in Avhich it works most easily with the hoe or
si)ade,) and if it is placed nicely about the roots, not one tree in a
thousand will die for the want of water ; and if water is to be applied,
we think it should be m small quantities, and so as to reach the roots
gradually and not in a drenching way. A mulching, to keep the sim
oft', and to procure an equal temperature is important.

Apples are now $4 a barrel in this city, and can hardly be obtained at
that price. Why do not the owners of land appropriate more to the
growth of fruits ? There can be scarcely a doubt that the cultivation
of fruits, especially of those that can be kept nearly all the year, will
be profitable for many years to come ; and you are guaranteed against
loss, for, if there should be no other market, apples are worth the rais-
ing for cattle. No one need fear to set an orchard. — JEd.

" Seed of the Chikese Sugar-caxe, — A paragraph is going the
rounds which states that the seed of the Chinese Sugar-cane is poison-
ous— that a horse died at Mobile from eating it. But what proof is
there that the seeds were poisonous f Horses and other animals
sometimes die from eating too much wheat, or other grain ; but does
anybody suppose that such can be called cases of poison ? AVe shall
not be likely to be troubled much with seed of the Chinese Sugar-cane
in this section, till our summers are lengthened, but those who may
chance to have it need not fear to use it in the same way they would
broom-corn seed." — Boston Cultivator.

" Sale of Cheviot Rams. — According to the accounts in English
and Scotch papers, the Cheviot breed of sheep is much sought after,
and is spreading over sections where they have not hitherto been kept.
The sale of Mr. Brydon is noticed, at which fourteen four-year-old
rams brought £l TV los. — equal to an average of |63 50 per head.
One sold for £27, and another for £39. At the same sale sixty-five
three-year-old rams brought £720 15s. — equal to an average of $55 43
each. 'Sixty-six two-year-old rams brought £571 17s. — equal to |43 31
per head." — Ex.

" Michigan Agricultural College. — There are sixty students at
this College, and arrangements are being made by which one himdred

Items and Comments. 347

will be accommodated at the uext term, to commence early in Decem-
ber next. The applications for admission are nmnerous."

"Vast tracts of land are lost to husbandry in this country, which
might be reclaimed by dykes and embankments, or become fertile by
drainage. Land is yet too abundant and cheap in America to admit
of great expenditures in this way, exce]5t in very limited localities ;
but the time will no doubt come, when, in the populous portions of
the country, especially in the neighborhood of large cities, the sunken
marshes which now stretch along our coast will be reclaimed from the
ocean, as in Holland ; and thousands of acres in the interior, now gi-
ven up to alder swamps and cranberry meadows, be clothed with grass
and corn. There are few farms of any size in the country which do
not contain waste spots of this kind — the harbor of turtles, frogs and
serpents — which might be brought, at moderate expense and some
hydraulic skill, into cultivation." — JE. Everett.

We notice that the more the swamp lands in any region have been
reclaimed, the more the people are convinced of its feasibility and
profit. We believe it is true also that the more drain-tiles have been
manufactured in any district, the more are required. — Ed.

Green Mantjeing. — " If, instead of having the land exposed only
to the action of the atmosphere, we crop it with a plant whose roots
run in every direction for food ; and if, when this plant has arrived at
considerable growth, we turn it into the surface-soil, we have not only
enriched the latter by the elements derived from the air, but also by
matters both mineral and vegetable, fetched up from the subsoil. The
plant thus acts the part of collecting the nourishment for a future
crop, in a way that no mechanical subsoiling or trenching could effect."
— Way.

It has been estimated that the hay grown in 1855, was 15,000,000
tons, worth $150,000,000. The value of the pasturage is considered of
equal amount, making an aggregate of $300,000,000 for the grass crop
of a single year. In the Northern States, the crop is entitled to a
prominence far in advance of any other. New-York leads in its pro-
duction— the census of 1850 crediting her with 3, 728, 797 tons, annu-
ally. The importance of this crop is manifest, if we consider that the
crop has probably increased since 1855 to 4,000,000 tons, worth at $10
a ton, $40,000,000, showing the hay from a single State to equal in
value about three-fourths of all the gold brought into the country
from California. Another inference from the above statistics is, that
in the whole United States the hay crop of one year is worth the gold
yield of at least five yearg. The valur of the corn crop is the greatest

348 Horticultural.

of any one crop in the Union. That of the hay crop is next. Wheat
is the third. Cotton is fourth in amount of annual value, but should
not be compared with others without taking into view its relations to
our foreign trade and our home industry. Abroad it pays our debts.
At home it gives emplojTnent to thousands. Unlike corn and wheat,
it is susceptible of vast increase in value after coming from the hands
of the agriculturist ; and if we were to add the amount of foreign in-
debtedness it discharges for us to the value of the goods made from
it at home, the sum would certainly be large, and perhaps would ex-
ceed the value of any other one product. — Ed.

Sugar from the Chinese Caxe. — The Ellsworth American says
that ]Mr. Levi Foy has handed to the editor of that paper a specimen
of sugar which he had made from the Chinese sugar cane grown upon
his place in Hancock county. This is an important fact, as it has been
doubted whether it were j)ossible to make sugar from this cane. —
Maine Farmer.

fortiniltiiraL

Good and Bad Luck in Planting Trees.

Mr. Bateham has issued a wholesale priced Catalogue of fruit'
trees, <&c., for sale at the Columbus Nursery, from the last page of
which we copy the following :

Thousands of fruit trees are annually planted in the State of Ohio,
and die before the end of the first summer. " Bad seasons" and " bad
lucJc''' are the common excuses of these failures ; or the blame is charg-
ed to dishonest nurserymen or " rascally tree pedlars ;" but seldom to
the want of care and common sense on the part of the purchasers and
planters, which in fact is the foundation of all the other causes.

It is true, our climate is unfavorable — the dry atmosphere and hot
sun causing more evaporation from the stems and tops of newly plant-
ed trees than can be supplied by the roots, when their vitality has
been nearly destroyed by transportation and exposure, or when the
proportion of roots is too small for the tops, as is always the case with
the large and tall trees so frequently sought for at the nurseries.

The way to have good luck in tree planting, as in other operations,
is to use good sense and industry. Procure trees as near home as you
can find good ones ; if from a distance, send your orders direct to the
nurseryman who has the most reputation at stake ; choose healthy and
stocky trees, of less size and height than iisual, and take special pains
to protect them from damage in transportation, then plant carefully,
in good deep mellow soil, and with reasonable care and God's bless-
ing, good luck will be sure. — Ohio Cultivator.

Provided the nurseryman sends us good trees, properly taken up and
packed. The writer of the above does this, Ave presume, in all cases.

horticultural. 349

But the same can not be said of all his fellow craftsmen ; and, though
there have been great faults in the transplanting and care of young
trees, yet it will not do to throw all the blame on one side ; for, when
the nurseryman sends us poor, miserable, death-struck trees, it is vain
to try to make them live ; you might as well send for the doctor after the
patient is dead. — Ed.

Forcing the Rhubarb or Pie Plant.

It sometimes happens that there is a larger quantity of stools or old
roots of pie plants than the family need. When such is the case, they
can be made to serve a good purpose by affording a supply in winter.
By looking out m time, a few plants might always be reserved for this
purpose, so that a supply would be always on hand for whiter. The
following manner of obtaining it, from Buist's Kitchen Gardener, may
help some to a wrmkle :

" To force rhubarb, it is only necessary to procure some large pots,
boxes, or half barrels, and invert them over the roots. Then cover
the whole entirely, ground and all, with hot stable manure. This will
cause an agreeable heat to arise ; the plants will grow freely under
their warm, dark covering ; the stalks wiU be finely blanched, very
tender, and delicately flavored. This operation should be performed
before the ground gets frozen, by placing the boxes, c%c., over the
plants intended to be forced, and covering the ground with eight or
ten inches of leaves or litter. Then, about the middle of January,
mix with the leaves as many more, with warm dang, as will entirely
cover the articles. If properly managed, the stalks will be fit for use
in from four to six weeks, and the plants will continue to produce till
the roots in the open air take their place." — St. Louis WeeJdy Jour.

Cuttings of Fruit Trees.

Cuttings should be made in autumn after growth has ceased, or
early in winter — they may be preserved by fastening them in a box
by slats runnmg across, and then placing the oj)en side of the box
downwards with its contents in the bottom of a pit dug for the pur-
pose, on a dry spot of ground, and burying the whole with earth. The
slats keep the cuttings from coming in contact with the eartb below,
and they are preserved In a proper moist condition. Or they may be
packed in a slightly damp moss, in a large box, placed in a cellar.
Every cutting should be cut off just above a bud at the ujjper end,
and just below one at the lower end. Taken off closely to the
old wood^ with the base attached, they are more sure of growth. They
should be set out in a mello^w rich soil, which is to be packed or trod-
den closely about them as the trench is filled, and afterwards a mellow
surface made by drawing on a little more earth. The length of the
cutting should be eight inches to a foot, and two-thirds to nine-tenths
buried. Shading the cuttings of any deciduous trees, is of little or no
advantage, but it is important to keep the ground imiformly moist ; if

350 Horticultural.

this is done by watering, the sui-face should be preserved from crust-
ing or cracking by mulch. This is the mode of raising quince trees,
currant and goose-berry buslies, grapes, &c., ])ut -svill not do for the
larger fruits generally, in the Northern States — it is clieaper to bud
and graft, than to procure the few Avliich may be obtained among
many failures in this way. — Ulghtstown Excelsior.

Notes for Farmers.

Chinese sugar cane syrup was sold in Wheeling, a fcAv days since,
at fifty cents per gallon.

In Wisconsin and Illinois corn standing in the field is offered at an
average of ten cents a bushel.

Atilla Burlingarae, a farmer of Cortlandt county, New-York, says
wheat can be prevented from spoiling in bins if one dry brick is put in
with every five bushels.

Messrs. Tavenner & Nesmith got a premium at the Loudoun coun-
ty fair for the best three-horse plough on exhibition. Messrs. Steer
&Schooley's wheat and guano drill attracted fivorable attention.

The Chicago Tribune says the knowing ones of that region are pro-
phesying a mild winter, because the corn husks are remarkably thin ;
considered a sure sign in the rural districts that the winter wnll not
be severe.

The Advocate says that thousands of bushels of corn have been sold
in Tazewell county, in the last few weeks, at twenty cents per bushel,
to be used for fattening hogs. Flour is selling in East Tennessee at
two dollars per hundred pounds. — Ex.

The First Apple in Nebraska.

Judge J. W. Hall of this county, has presented us with an apple
grown on his farm, five, miles north-west from this city. This is the
first apple grown in Nemaha county, and for aught we know in the
Territory. It is a beautiful specimen both in appearance and taste ; a
bright yellow, medium size, and slightly sweet, rich and juicy; was
grown upon a tree planted one year ago the past spring. The early
production of this tree is evidence of the ada^jtation of the Nebraska
soil to the growth of fruit. — Ohio Cultivator.

Keeping Celery.

Celery must be taken up before hard frost sets in, and stood nearly
upright in mold in the cellar, or it will be iitterly spoiled and lost.
Or it may be readily preserved in trenches in the open ground, if in a
perfectly dry spot and covered over well with soil. The method is as
follows : Have all the celery taken up with the roots, and pull off* a few
of the loose and decaying stalks from the outside. Select a dry spot,
stretch down the line and mark off" a space twelve or eighteen inches
wide, and as long as needed. Take out this breadth of soil nearly to

Horticultural. 351

the depth of the celery, and lay on each side. Stand the celery on
the bottom as thickly as possible. Lay some short boards at intervals
across the trenches as supports to other boards placed lengthwise,
which are to cover the trench entirely. Pile over the soil taken out,
throw over some litter or dung, and it will keep perfectly, and blanch
as white as snow. It keeps best if it has not previously been much
earthed up. — Emerxps Journal of Agriculture.

Southern Fruit Raising.

There is no branch of domestic economy more neglected at the
South than the culture of fruit. It is true, there is an awakened spirit
among the few, but as yet, not among the masses. The grape is ex-
citing a universal interest, not so much for the dessert as for wine. The
nurseries and extensive fruit orchards springing up in the vicinity of
our commercial towns, which are a credit to the country, and a source
of profit to the proprietors. But this is not all the country needs.
Every proprietor in the coimtry — every owner of a half acre lot, owes
to himself, his children and his country, to plant fruit trees. Land
holders of the South ! cancel the debt you owe to posterity this fall.

Say not that your soil does not suit the apple, pear, peach or grape,
for on a small scale you may make a soil to suit any of them. This is
the great advantage you have over them who never read. You may
all grow peaches as well as Moses, or cherries as well as Peters, or
strawberries as well as Peabody, or grapes as well as Axt, if you will
but study how to do it. The smallest farmer among you thinks it no
labor lost, or time misspent, to study how he may best fatten his pig.
He does not think of building a pen for his pig, and then feeding him
on shucks and water, but he studies out and experiments with that
food which will produce the greatest amount of pork.

Now if we will divest ourselves of the erroneous idea that fruit is
but an article of luxury and not of food, and look at it in the true
light in which God designed it, we shall find it as much to our interest
to study what will feed a fruit tree, as what will feed a hog. There
can be no excuse for any fiimily being without fruit. There are relia-
ble nurseries all around us. The fig and grape grow so rapidly from
the cuttings, and the apple and peach from seeds, that any family, no
matter how poor, may have an orchard.

Our mission is, to encourage the production of good fruit among
the masses, and when we see every householder in the land sitting
under his own vine and fig-tree, we shall feel that we have accom-
plished our mission. — Cotton Planter.

This advice is given to the South, but is good for North, East and
West. Let all cultivate fruits adapted to their climate, and have
enough of it. — Ed.

Large Bunch of Grapes.

Dr. Durfee, of Fall River, has in his green house a bunch of
grapes estimated to weigh fifteen pounds, measuring one foot and five
inches in length. Such a bunch of grapes, we presume, never grew
in this country before.

352 Horticultural.

Fall Transplanting.

As many persons, either through preference or necessity, plant
fruits and ornamental trees and shrubs in the f^^ill, we Avould advise
them to do it jiroperly. When a tree is carelessly or unskilfully plant-
ed in autumn, tlie high winds and frost often entirely destroy it. If
the hole which is dug to receive the roots is small, and the roots are
crumpled and confined, or, Avhat is even worse, grubbed short in the
act of digging up, the wind will be sure to blow the tree down, or at
least give it an awkward hiclination ; and the frost will, if severe, des-
troy the small amount of vitality left. Dig, tlierefore, large and deep
holes ; have the soil well drained and properly enriched ; lay a good
stratum of rich soil at the bottom of the hole, and spread the roots of
your tree thereon evenly and naturally ; fill in carefully, leaving no
empty space between the roots, and there is no danger that your tree
will be iiprooted by any ordinary blast. — Freeport 'Weehly Journal.

The hardier fruit trees, such as ajiples, especially, may be transplant-
ed nearly as well in the fall as in the spring. It is not yet too late.
A tree may be transplanted any time before the ground freezes.
If the work is done as late as this, then is there more need of staking
up, to guard against their being blown about after winter thaws. — Ed.

To Prevent Girdling of Trees.

Great injury is done to young orchards in some districts by the
m&acloio mouse. This little animal always works under cover, and
therefore does its mischief in winter when the snow lies deeply u2)on
the ground. A common and eflectual mode of deterring it is that of
treading down the snow firmly about the stem directly after every
fall of snow. But this is a very troublesome afl:air.

The following mixture will be found to be an efi'ectual prevention.
Take one spadeful of hot slaked lime, one do. of clean cow's dung,
half do. soot, one handful of flowers of sulphur, mix the whole togeth-
er with the addition of sufiicient water to bring it to the consis-
tency of thick paint. At the approach of winter paint the trunks of
the trees sufticiently high to be beyond the reach of these vermin.

English nurserymen are in the habit of protecting nurseries of small
trees from the attacks of rabbits, simply by distributing through the
squares of the nursery coarse matches made by dipping bunches of
rags, or bits of tow, in melted sulphur, and fastening these in split
stakes a couple of feet high. The latter are stuck into the ground,
among the trees, at from 12 to 20 feet apart, and are said completely
to answer the purpose. — Ex.

Plack a. bone in the earth, near the root of a grape, and the vine
will send out a leading root directly to the bone. In its passage, it
will put out no fibres ; but when it reaches the bone, the root Avill en-
tirely cover it with the most delicate fibres, like lace, each one seek-
ing a pore of the bone. On this bone, the vine wUl continue to feed
as long as any nutriment remains to be exhausted. — Farmers' Cabinet.

American Inventions. 353

MECHANICS* GUIDE.

SI u ni t Jt m e r i c a « | u Ij o t i 0 n 5 .

The Influence of the Fine Arts upon the Mechanic and the Masses.

A CAREFUL observation will convince any inquirer, that the cultivation of the
fine arts is of great benefit to the working classes. The present condition of af-
fairs shows beyond dispute, that, under existing circumstances, the interruption
of those great plans which the rich are constantly carrying out for their own
profit or pleasure, are the substantial support and only dependence of thou-
sands. Many are in the habit of speaking of wealth and luxury as of something
that places their possessors in opposition to A* poor. The reverse is true. If
any are in hostile attitude, it is the poor and dependent towards the poor and
dependent. Wealth, on the the other hand, is the electric power which binds
together the extremes of society, and gives motion to the machinery of industrj.
The poor man is not dependent on his poor neighbor. These are often in each
other's way. The rich man needs the poor, and as much as the poor needs the
rich. Together, they form a system, a circuit, which keeps the whole in health-
ful motion. Let some demon finger disturb these connections, taking from the
rich the power to indulge in " luxury," and the poor drop at once, like the ar-
mature of a spoilt magnet, and become isolated, powerless, helpless. Wall
street and splendid avenues are essential to the comfort of the poor.

It may be urged that this is the result of an unhealthy and abnormal state of
things, that we have foolishly gone up in a balloon which has burst, and col-
lapsed, and left us to fall to the ground together ; that we aspired too high. But,
still, we must prescribe for the patient from actual symptoms, and not from
those we should be pleased to discover. " Junior" as we are, we have lived long
enough to see the folly of attempting reforms, moral or physical, by any the-
oretic nostrum, which has not specific reference to all the actual conditions of
the patient, and without much reference to what we oiKjlit to find, had he been
or done something else. Should the wives and daughters of the rich manage
their own households, becoming " producers" instead of " consumers," thou-
sands, now cared for, would not knoW where to find a home, and should those
who devote themselves successfully to the fine arts change the sphere of their
labor, they would often encroach upon the ground now occupied by some hum-
bler aspirant. But we would take a higher view of the subject. The masses
are more profited, as men, by the successful culture of the fine arts, than are
the artists themselves. These last are already educated to love beauty, and to
discover it, and even to create it, while with a multitude there is no other prac-
tical way of opening their eyes to the existence of beauty, and the attractions of
refinement, but by witnessing these exhibitions offered to them by others. It
is true, some benevolent teacher might take them out to a lofty eminence, and
point out the beauty of the scene, and thus teach them how to discover it by
themselves. But who does it ? Who will do it ? We are here brought back
to the actual and not to the theoretic possible. It is the hour or the evening
spent before a fine picture, or in a gallery of paintings, that often opens the eyes
12

354 American Inventions.

of those living in attics or in the wretched apartments of our crowded streets,
destitute of all t<isteful attractions, to a sense of what beauty is, and to a con-
sciousness that loving and cherishing the beautiful is a personal advantage. "VYe
are glad to see the crowds which always surround the windows of our print
shops, absorbing, as it were, the valuable influence which emanates from beauty
and skill. Elegant buildings, tasteful dresses, and polished manners, though
seen in the streets, produce an immense effect on the popular mind and heart.
Our own little parks are of inestimable value, not as cool retreats, but as educa-
tors of infancy and childhood.

Thus we hail as a great moral storehouse, a good picture gallery. There is
a mine of uncounted worth in the hall of the Dusseldorf, and that more neg-
lected, but rich array, the Br3-an Gallery. And now we have missionaries from
Great Britain and France, holding up to our view the highest conceptions of ge-
nius, made real in the highest possible degree, by years of patient effort. The
gallery of British art, and the gallery of French art, now on exhibition in this
cit}'-, we welcome not only as sources of enjoyment to the amateur, but as public
instructors. If our city government would expend a thousand or two dollars to
secure the admission to all these galleries of those who can not afford to pay,
and who, perhaps, are " unemployed," it might save many a stormy hour on
Tompkin's Square and in the City Hall Park, and those who are suffering would
bear their privations with a kinder if not with a firmer heart. But this is not
our expectation, for the millenium has not yet come. There are, however, dis-
tant indications of its approach. Our friends in England have brought up the
miners and their families, buried for years beyond the reach of sunshine, and
have shown them the splendid Gallery of the Manchester Art Union, so ably
described in the first numbers of the Atlantic Monthly. Let them now give
them homes above ground, and show them the beauty that is fi-ee to all who have
eyes to see. The two methods combined can not fail of happy results. We
have no reason to despair, but rather for constant, earnest, persevering labor in
behalf of humanity.

Recent Patents.
We have been accustomed, of late, to give short descriptions of patents re-
cently issued, in the " List of Patents." But we have reason to believe that
some of our readers find it inconvenient to run over so large a surface to find
what they seek. Hence we have thought it wise to arrange these descriptions
in a chapter by themselves. We confine these items to those patents which
are valuable and at the same time easily understood without diagrams. This
latter condition excludes many which we would be glad to present more fully.
When diagrams are sent us, we give them a separate title and place.

Water Cooling Pitcher.
Alonzo Hebbard has secured a patent for "the combination of the woolen
cloth or felt covering as an elastic, non-conducting packing for a porcelain or
glazed ware pitcher, with the said porcelain or glazed ware interior pitcher,
and external metallic shell or pitcher, for the purpose of making a water-cool-
ing pitcher."

American Inventions.

355

Portable Furnace, Expanding Tires.
Samuel Pentherbt, Chicago, 111., has devised a portable furnace for expand-
ing tires of locomotives and other carriages, while on their axles or shafts, and
connected with their vehicles or locomotives.

Neil's Safety Stirrup.
Fig. 1 is a view of the stirrup attached to the stirrup-strap when used for
riding.
Fig. 2 is a view of the same when detached from the strap.
Both of these are front views. The whole contrivance is extremely simple,
and may be thus described.
The lever or extension piece, DDF, is made to work easily at the joints, E E.
7 y The end P, is provided with a pin C,
W'll/f/f ^'^ich works freely through a hole in the
m§ upper end of the stirrup, and holds the

MM b Uj. d place in the slot. The piece D D, pro-
jects slightly in front, and is kept out,
and the pin C, consequently in, by the
spiral spring which is coiled round the
pin which goes through the hinge joint,
E E. This spring is hidden.

The action of the invention is this :
As long as the rider is on horseback, the
stirrup remains secure, and can not be
detached by any movement of the foot ;
but if the rider is thrown, and the foot
remains fastened, instead of being drag-
ged to pieces, as is the case when other
stirrups are used, the fallen person is
instantly and with certainty liberated, because, in being dragged, some part of
the foot necessarily presses against the piece D, and this draws out the pin C,
and liberates one end of the cross piece A, and the whole stirrup falls from the
strap along with the rider's foot. The same will be the case if the whole foot is
through. This appears to be valuable, not only for common, but for army use.
It was patented in England in October. Preparations are being made to supply
the market as soon as possible. For particulars, address the inventor and pa-
tentee. Dr. James Neil, Yorkville, N. Y.

Fastening for Metallic Bands for Cotton Bales, &c.

"War. Minor, Houma, La., has obtained a patent for securing the ends of me-
tallic bale hoops, by cutting loops, or eyes, or parallel slits through them, and
bending outward the intervening portions, the loops overlapping each other as
the ends of the hoops are overlapped, and a transverse wedge or key is passed
through the loops.

356 American Inventions.

Cultivator.
Nicholas Whitehall, Rob Roy, Iiid., (assignor,) has invented a double cul-
tivator, the middle of which is elevated to pass over the corn, with a compound
evencr, suspended upon three points.

Making Iron Spoons.

E. Y. Mix, "Wallingford, Conn., Las secured a patent by which the rivet or pin
which secures the handle and bowl of the spoon together is formed on the han-
dle at the same time and of the same piece of metal, by the same die which
gives form to the handle.

Russel B. Perkins, Meriden, Ct., has secured another mode of cEfecting this
attachment. The bowl is formed, with the tongue at the end of the handle,
with a cavity fitted to receive it, and the two, placed together, are then united.

Mowing Machine.
John P. Mannt, Rockford, 111., has patented the mode of "suspending, elevat-
ing and lowering the cutting bar of mowing machines, in a horizontal position,
by means of flexible connections, as cords or chains, attached to each of its ends,
where the same are arranged in relation to, and used in combination with inde-
pendent rigid frames, substantially in the manner and for the purposes de-
scribed."

Preparing Fats for Candle Making.
Mr. M. W. Brown, of Buffalo, has patented a process for preparing fats for
candle making, which seems worthy of notice, though it may be too complicate
for housewives generally to undertake it. It consists of four points. J'irst, the
employment of a soluble soap, as a base upon which to work his process for con-
verting the same into stearic acid candles. Second, the application and use of the
sulphate of soda and its equivalent corresponding salts in admixture with solu-
ble soap, before a decomposition or change of the soluble soap into fatty acids.
Third, the application and use of dilute sulphuric acid, or its equivalent, in ad-
mixture with soluble or detergent soap, for the purpose of decomposing or
changing the soluble soap into fatty acids. Fourth, the use of spirits of turpen-
tine, camphene or burning fiuid, in admixture with the fatty acids while in the
liquid state before and preparatory to the expression of the oleic acid oil there-
from by pressure.

Grossman's Patent Rudder.
Mr. a. B. Grossman, of Huntington, N. Y., has contrived and secured a pa-
tent for an improvement upon the rudder, which is highly commended by nau-
tical men. It consists of a broad, oval-shaped double jilate, or "extension piece,"
partly embracing the lower part of the rudder, and turning upon a pivot run-
ning through it. A chain leads from the hinder and lower part of this exten-
sion piece to the quarter deck. "When this swinging extension piece hangs down-
ward, it so enlarges the surface of the rudder, as greatly to increase the facility
of steering a vessel. When the water is too shallow for the use of this addition,

American Inventions. 367

by drawing upon the chain, the " extension piece" is lifted up so that the whole
of it is above the bottom part of the keel proper. The shape of the extension
piece and its proper point of suspension are determined by careful experiments,
and such results have been secured that a mere child can easily steer a vessel
of almost any description. It may be graduated to any desired amount of pres-
sure upon the tiller. ■

Hanson's Self-acting Water Engine and Meter.
We were gratified the other day by an examination of this pump and meter.
It is "self-acting," since it may be so set as to stop at any given pressure, so
that when the reservoir is full, its action will cease, and when the removal of this
counter pressure, by the consumption of the water, is effected, the engine com-
mences again of its own accord.

Hydraulic Ram.
Mb. Hanson has also improved the design of this curious little worker. He
uses this ram in connection with the meter, or it may be used separately. The
improvement consists in the substitution of a light leather valve, in place of the
clappers, before used. In the old form the surface pressed upon within the air
chamber is about twice that below. In this both are alike. Hence the leather
collapses with a very slight pressure. It will endure a long while, as it frees it-
self from gravel, etc., at every stroke. This leather is seen in the engraving,
bent up at the circumference, resting up a stirrup and fastened by a nut upon
the central screw. The amount of the flow is also easily regulated by a lever
operation, quite prominent in the engraving.

Rotary Excavator.

Gilbert H. Moore, Rochester, N. Y., has patented " a carrier or receiver," on
which the support and hinging of the bodies upon the axle is so arranged that
they may be dumped by elevating the two extremities.

Folding Iron Bedstead with Sides.
Mr. Vandenhove, of New-York, has patented a folding iron bedstead, with
side pieces and other " improvements."

Self-Dumping Car.

Le Butt, of Lincolnton, N. C, has secured a patent for a self-dumping truck,
an " adjustable self-incHned plane, with ropes, pulleys, etc., forming an im-
proved horse-run."

Process of Coating Iron.

Mr. E. G. Pomeroy, Philadelphia, has secured a patent for "the practical use
and application of the described solution of hydrated sulphate of iron and cop-
per brought in contact with the surface of the iron, in conjunction with the heat
of the melted metal in the bath described, thereby producing a molecular sepa-
ration of the particles of the iron, giving to them the susceptibility of forming a
perfect flowing union or fusion together with the aforesaid metals in the bath in
such a substantial manner as entirely to exclude a galvanic cement between the
iron and the surrounding alloys, or any other or either of them.

358 American Inventions.

Amalgamation of Precious Metals.
J. A. Bertola, assignor, etc., of New- York, has a patent foi" a machine for
"effecting the complete amalgamation of precious metals from ores containing
such metals, consisting of a double concave muUer with grooved bottom, extend-
ing diametrically from side to side of the tub, leaving spaces or chambers on
each side of it, and revolving in said tub upon a central and vertical axis."

Nail Machine.
J. S. King, Raynham, Mass., secures a claim for pointing a cut nail or a spikj
immediately after it has been severed from the nail plate, by a peculiar mode of
compression.

Shade for Lamps.

Wm. Kejible, of New- York, and associate, have contrived and secured a
patent for a light shade, so constructed that all rays shall fall perpendicularly
upon the receiving surfaces, by which the rays may be made to deviate in any
ariven direction.

Apple Slicer.
Nathaniel Thomas, East Dixfield, Me., has patented an arrangement of two
straight knives, placed radiallj^ within a tube, the apple rotating between them.

Manufacture of Seamless Felt Garments.

The patent of Messrs. Eitchell & Badger, of Matteawan, N. Y., is thus set forth :
" First cutting the original portion or portions of a seamless article of clothing
from a hardened bat, and then so perfectly uniting the edges of the said portion
or portions, with each, by felting, that the article thus formed will be of a uni-
form thickness in every part, and will be of so tenacious a texture, that they
will retain their original shape during the ultimate condensing operation of the
fulling mill, all substantially as set forth."

Brushing Rice.
Oliveu I. Butts, Georgetown, S. C, has secured a patent for the application
of a flat brush for brushing rice, consisting of a flat runner, dressed with sheep-
skins and bazils, in connection with a wire bed.

Rotary Exhaust Regulator for Locomotives.

E. R. Addison, Baltimore, Md., has secured a patent for a regulator, consisting
of variable series of openings in a revolving skeleton wheel, moved by gearing
from the outside of the locomotive steam boiler. A close case excludes the
ashes from the wheel, which would interfere with its complete action.

Machine for Bending Wood.
C. F. Beverly, Lancaster, 0., has patented a machine for bending wood by
pressure, for making felloes of wheels, and similar purposes. A lever presses
the wood against the mold, and other machinery confines it in its place.

American Inventions. 359

Harvester.
N. S. Patterson, Kingston, Term., has patented a movable double-tree, to
which the horses are attached, by which the harvester is easily turned and man-
aged.

Improved Plow.

J. A. Lash, Carlisle, Pa., has secured a patent for the use of a " long, flat and
straight spring, on the top of the beam, in connection with the draught rod, and
an elbow lever, for preventing the shock to the plow and to the team, when the
plow strikes against a rock."

Manufacture of Cotton Yarns.
S. C. LiSTEE and J. Warbui-ton, of England, have secured the right to im-
provement in the method of manufacturing cotton yarn, which consists in wet-
ting the cotton roving previous to its being drawn, or drawing and spinning it
while in a wet state. The mode of wetting the cotton is also covered by the pat-
ent. This was patented in England in 1855.

Steam Boiler.
Wm. Geo. Norris, of Philadelphia, has secured a patent for a closed chamber
between the fire-box and tube sheet, for the purpose of preventing any combus-
tion going on in actual contact with the tubes of the boiler, and for the purpose
of reverberating and thereby equalizing the heat, before it reaches the tubes of
the boiler.

Sewing Machines.
T, J. "W. Robertson, New-York, in his recent patent, claims the forming a
seam by passing a loop of thread through the fabric to be sewed ; then passing
through the fabric and through the first loop, a loop taken from another thread,
from the same side of the material as the previous loop ; then passing through
the fabric another loop from the first thread, through its own first loop and the
loop of the second thread ; thus making a line of stitching which he calls " double
back stitching." Also a new arrangement and combination of the needles, de-
scribed.

Cultivator Teeth.
Chas. H. Sayre, mica, N. Y., has patented a method of securing cultivator
teeth, formed of sheet metal, to the frame, by means of a head or cap piece.

A New Basket.
Made entirely of upright splints or staves, one length of an inch thick, with-
out braids or cross bands, but held firmly between two pieces of thin board
forming the bottom and two hoops which form the rim, which are fastened to-
gether by wrought nails. The bottom pieces are so placed that the grain runs
in diflerent directions. A wire hoop also passes round the middle of the basket.
The cost is about the same as that of an ordinary basket. It was patented in
April last, by Mr. Ellis, of Springfield, Vt.

360 American Inventions.

Natural Engraving.

A NEW and beautiful process for securing " fac simile" impressions of leaves,
plants, etc., was described at a recent meeting of savans in Boston.

Mr. F. II. Storer exhibited some proof-sheets of a M'ork upon the Plants of
Austria by Ettingshausen and Pokorny, recently published at the Imperial
Printing Office in Vienna. The impressions, from which these prints were
struck off, are obtained by the process known as " Natures own engraving," in
which the di'ied plant to be copied is placed between a sheet of steel and another
of very pure soft lead, and altogether subjected to great pressure by passage be-
tween rollers. An impression of the plant, even in microscopic details of the
most delicate Algas, is thus transferred to the soft lead — the plant being forced
into it — ^from which any number of copies may be taken by electrotyping.

Examples of the application of this process in the delineation of other objects,
such as small animals, agates, fossil impressions, sections of wood, lace, etc.,
were also exhibited.

Water Proof Soles and Heels.
Mr. Godfrey, of Milford, Mass., has recently taken out a patent for a cast
heel of India rubber with an entire sole of rolled or sheet rubber, which he
claims to be an improvement in the manufacture of India rubber shoes. This
may be an important improvement. Why will not somebody contrive to make
such soles and heels to leather shoes and boots ? This would prove, in our
opinion, of great value.

A New Fire Ladder.

A VALUABLE ladder has been devised by some one in Ohio. It is spoken of in
the Cincinnati Gazette. Turning a crank extends the reach of the ladder from
a very few feet to seventy-five feet. When its length is sufficient for the use
required of it, it is hooked upon the roof or other convenient place. At the up-
per end is a pulley over which a rope is drawn, with a basket attached, into which
persons or valuables may be placed and safely removed. The bottom rests upon
a carriage, for the sake of rapid transportation.

Polishing Plate Glass.
A NEW process for polishing plate glass has been described in some of our ex-
changes, which, if successful, will greatly reduce the price of large mirrors. The
plates are placed between two disks, turned by steam. It requires two and a
half hours to grind down the plates, and one hour to polish it. By this process,
the large mirror in the drinking saloon of the St. Nicholas, which cost $1200,
or $16 75 per square foot, can be made and polished for 40 cents a foot, and
silvered for 30 cents, making a cost of only $56. Everybody then can have
a large mirror, but then they would cease to be fiishionable.

Manufacture of Gas.

The process of making coal gas is much simpler than persons imagine. Bi-
tuminous coal is thrown into a hot cylinder of iron, the mouth of which is closed
carefully by an iron door with the edges cemented with soft clay. The vapor

American Inventions. 361

arising from the coal is received into a tube, by means of which it is permitted
to escape into a series of vessels, where it is cooled and deposits much of its im-
pure matter. It is then poured into another series of vessels, containing quick
lime, which robs it of its sulphurous and other intermixtures. From this re-
ceiver it flows purified into the gasometer, and is from thence distributed, as
may be needed, through mains and service pipes. The highly -charged bitumin-
ous coals are found best adapted to the purpose of gas making. In the manu-
facture of gas from Newcastle coal, a chaldron weighing 24 cwt. is found to
yield 8,650 cubic feet of gas, 14 cwt. of coke, 12^ gallons of ammoniacal liquor,
and 12 gallons of thick tar, Cannel coal will yield on an average 16,000 feet to
the chaldron.

Sewing Machines.

We find the following lively paragraphs in the Home Journal^ a paper which,
by the way, we regard as one of the very brightest gems of the. first water,
among all the brilliants which issue from the weekly press of this country.

Taking the "Wo from Woman. — Like all families residing in the country, we
have been obliged to make a very considerable event of " the year's sewing" —
the sending to the city for sempstresses, who, for weeks together, came and ap-
plied the indefatigable needle — an amount of confining and unintellectual toil
which has always seemed to us to call for the liveliest sympathy with those who
were compelled to follow it for a subsistence. " The Song of the Shirt" and the
Medical Essays which appear from time to time deprecating the disastrous effects
upon health, and particularly upon the mind, of employment so monotonous
and sedentary, have helped to fix the attention of human charity upon this —
woman's slavery to the needle. The first announcement of the discovery of "a
machine that could sew," was simply, therefore, "too good news to be true."
It was received with a smile and an incredulous shake of the head — as if, were
it true, the millennium were almost here, or that part at least of the curse of
"the ssveat of the brow," which bore hardest on woman, were removed or sus-
pended.

Of the household in which we at present write, a most sensible person, of
middle age, is the time honored and attached housekeeper. For some years of
the earlier part of her life this excellent woman was a professed sempstress ; and
her skill and experience in all the mysteries of the needle, particularly fitted her
for an examination into the merits of the new invention ; while her sound com-
mon-sense could be fully trusted for an opinion as to its effects on the destiny
of her sex. A few weeks ago, she was sent to the city with this mission — to
look into the operation of the several patents, see what could be achieved by
them severally, and select one for our use. And it is this skilful and unpreju-
diced judgment which we wish to record, for the benefit of those of our country
readers who are in want of precisely such guidance and counsel.

With the general success of the invention — the efiiciency of the sewing ma-
chine as a new discovery — Mrs. J. was, (to her own great surprise,) immediately
satisfied. A machine, in the hands of one woman of ordinary intelligence, will,
she thinks, do the work of seven. Its beautiful operation and expedition, also,
take ofi" much of the monotony of needle-work ; and even to those who would
still follow the vocation of sempstress, the possession of one of these marvellous
facilitators would be a very great blessing and assistance — there being no pro-
bability that the lessening of the price for work will be at all in proportion to
the increase of quantity which can be now done by a single person.

After a careful examination of the different inventions patented and on exhi-
bition, her preference was for that of Grover & Baker. The use of this machine,
in the first place, she thinks, is easier learned. Then the stitch is more elastic
and much stronger for woolen cloths. It finishes off" its own work, which the
others do not. The work can be ripped and re-sewed, and does not rip, of itself,
without its being intended, though every third stitch be cut. The same machine

362 American Inventions.

runs silk, linen thread, and common spool cotton, with equal facility ; and a
very material advantage is that it sews from ordinary spools, not making it ne-
cessary, as in the other machines, that the cotton should first be re-spooled. In
her opinion, it would be both easier worked than either of the others, and like-
lier to be kept in repair. Its construction is simpler and stronger. "While its
cost is no more, she thinks a Grover & Baker is, in most respects, superior to
the other machines, and particularly for remote use in the country. — N. P.
Willis, in Home Journal.

Manufacture of Carpets.

The New- York Journal of Commerce thus describes the process of manufac-
turing Brussels Tapestry and Velvet carpets, by the New-England "Worsted Co :

The process of making these carpets is one of the most interesting in the
whole range of manuflicturing. The goods are not printed in the piece, but the
threads are colored by the printing process before the fabric is woven. The
operation is as follows. The yarn in a white state is reeled upon a large drum,
so that the threads lie side by side, the circumference of the drum being the
length of the figure, or of the yarn necessary to make it, in an elongated state,
while enough yarn is placed upon it to make eight threads, each running the
whole length of a piece of carpet. A plan for the figure is then drawn, and
gaged with mathematical accuracy, showing the exact space of each color to
be printed on each separate thread of warp. Holding this plan before her, the
girl in charge, by the assistance of a boy, rolls a box of color under the drum,
making a line across the drum ; if a wider space of the same color is needed this
box rolls several times, the drum meantime slowly revolving. The next color
is then added and so on, until the whole surface of the yarn upon the drum is
straped with these lines. The yarn is then removed, and makes eight threads,
only one of which can be used in a single piece of carpet ; they are, in fact, eight
first threads for as many pieces of carpet. Yarn or the next thread is then
wound on the drum, and printed according to its plan, and this is continued
until enough is done for the whole width of carpet, the result being enough for
eight pieces of carpet just alike. The separate threads numbered are then
brought together in proper order side by side, and placed in the loom, the filling,
as all our readers know, being of hard twisted uncolored thread which only
shows on the back of the carpet. The carpet is then woven, without farther re-
gard to style, the beautiful figures resulting being produced entirely by the pre-
vious printing, the mathematical accuracy of which is truly astonishing. The
most exquisite shadings, bouquets, and figures of every imaginable design or
colorings, may thus be produced with all the accuracy of needlework upon pre-
pared canvas, and at a price which is wonderfully cheap when the brilliancy of ef-
fect is considered. The loop on the surface of the Brussels is made by throwing
the thread over a polished wire, which is withdrawn as the work progresses ; and
the velvet surface is made by cutting the loop after weaving.

Nautical Invention.
The Washington papers give an account of the exhibition of a canvas boat,
recently patented by an officer of the army, Col. R. C. Buchanan. The Intelli-
gencer says of it :

When the singular craft was first presented to our view it had the appearance
of a huge canvas bag inflated ; on being opened, the only things it contained
were a jointed frame work, a few pieces of thin board, and an additional piece
of canvas. In less than fifteen minutes, these things being properly put to-
gether, we saw a safe and convenient little boat afloat upon the river, in which
some half dozen gentlemen crossed and re-crossed the Potomac. The canvas
boats invented and employed by Col. Buchanan have been made of various di-

American Inventions. 363

mensions ; but it is said that a specimen eighteen feet long, eight feet wide and
eighteen inches deep, can convey with safety over a rapid river no less than
thirty men, with all their arms and equipage ; and the total weight of a boat of
this size is not greater than can be carried over plains or mountains upon the
backs of two mules. Officers of high rank in the army have pronounced this
invention one of great importance as a military ponton, while men of experience
in the navy have expressed the opinion that it might be employed with advan-
tage as a kind of life-boat at sea.

Heating Power of Coal.

In a paper read by Mr. Waller, of Lincoln, England, before the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, a series of experiments, with a view to ascertaining the
heating power of coal, were referred to as having been made by the aid of a sim-
ple and eflTective instrument, invented by Mr. Jonathan Wilkinson, of Grimes-
thorp, near SheflSeld. The results obtained from the several descriptions of fuel
experimented upon are subjoined ; the figures showing the number of lbs. of
water evaporated by 1 lb. of fuel :

Charcoal for foundry blacking. . , 12.20

Charcoal, Oak 12.25

Charcoal prepared for electric light, very pure 12.50

Anthracite coal 13.00

Anthracite coal, average of two samples 13.10

Hard Yorkshire coal — Woodhouse 13.75

Wallsend coal — Yorkshire 14.85

South Yorkshire coal — average of seven samples 15.00

Welsh coal 15.12

Silkstone coal — Yorkshire 15.20

Gas coal near Chesterfield — first sample 15.50

Gas coal near Chesterfield — second sample 16.00

From these results it appears that the evaporating power of coal does not de-
pend so much upon its containing a large proportion of carbon, as in the case of
charcoal and Welsh coal, as upon the gaseous quality of the coal. In one case,
with two qualities of Yorkshire coal, a 30 grain experiment made with this ap-
paratus was fully confirmed by a 5 ton experiment with a steam-boiler ; but in
another instance the results did not agree, as a different sort of coal requires a
different description of furnace, the coals composed almost entirely of carbon re-
quiring less air for combustion than the gaseous coals, and consequently requir-
ing a smaller furnace and smaller flues. The result obtained from coke, which
is composed almost entirely of carbon, is low with the apparatus ; whereas with
a strong draught and proper furnace it would be high.

The Grade and Horizontal Level.

As the citizens of all this region are abundantly aware, the greatest difficulty
with which our farmers and planters have to contend is the constant " washing"
to which their lands are subject from the moment they are put in cultivation.
Scarcely a plantation in Hmds county, probably, is entirely exempt from this
annoying and perplexing fault ; and, certainly, we have seen immense fields so
completely riddled with " washes" as to be abandoned as utterly worthless. In
many instances, even the most careful and scientific management has failed to
secure broad acres from this destruction — a destruction not unlike that which
awaits the sandbar when its front is presented to the dashing floods of the great
Father of Waters.

This natural characteristic of our genial soil is a source of immense injury and
serious loss, throughout the upland region of Mississippi, to the State as well as
individuals, and numberless have been the experiments, and great the mechani-
cal and scientific research, to discover a practical and certain remedy. We now
have the pleasure to announce that an old citizen of Hinds county, Joseph Gray,

364 Americati Inventions.

an eminently practical and clear-headed man, has, after numberless experiments
and thorough tests, invcDted an instrument of the above name, which is pro-
nounced by those whose opinions on sucli subjects are entitled to the utmost
consideration, the very thuig which will jjut it in the power of every man not
only to secure his land from the " washing" process, but also place it in such
condition as to justify him in applying to it, when it may become somewhat ex-
hausted, any of the fertilizers of the day, with the assurance that they will re-
main where they are placed, and hence amply repay him for his outlay and la-
bor.

Mr. Gray has already made an application for a patent, and procured a beau-
tiful drawing from Messrs. Munn & Co., of New-York, which can be seen at the
Post-office. The instrument may be regarded as one of the most important in-
ventions of the day, and can not fail to be well received by the public, as it has
already met the decided approval of many experi'jnced planters, as well as that
of civil engiaeers and scientific men who have critically examined the drawing.
— Hiads County {Miss.) Gazette.

Borden's Concentrated Milk.

The patent for this milk was issued 19th August, 1856. It is prepared at Burr-
ville, Litchfield county, Conn. The works are open for the inspection of all. It is
concentrated -s^hevi perfectly fresh. Nothing is added, and no valuable property is
removed. The process consists in evaporating in vacuo the watery portion of the
milk, which is ofi'ensive to both taste and smell, owing, as we believe, to original
impurities.

When properly sealed it will keep for years ; not sealed, it remains good upon
ice for many days; without ice, unless highly concentrated, it may not continue
sweet in hot or damp weather for more than from one to four days, and in that case
it should be kept 02)en, in a dry place. In a few days after the milk is concen-
trated, a granulation of the " sugar of milk " begins to take place. This, however,
dissolves in water when prepared for use. The development of the natural sugar
in the milk demonstrates that it had undergone no change when concentrated.

It is prepared for use by adding water until the taste is suited. Its richness may
be varied indefinitely. Two parts to one will make it equal to cream ; six parts to
one will give better milk than is generally furnished by milkmen.

The above is what the sellers of this milk, Gail Borden, jr., & Co., say of their arti
cle. We have copied it as the shortest way of informing our readers how this milk
is condensed for transportation, and then prepared for use. While we were writing
another item, our door opened and in came an agent of this company to make us a
present — as the farmers and mechanics are often doing, for which all thanks — of a can
of the concentrated milk. We 02')en it. It is about as thick as very heavy sugar-
house syrup, and of a clear, light yellow. We take our knife, for want of a spoon,
and drop a little into a tumbler of water. It sinks to the bottom. Presently it dis-
solves, diffuses itself through the water, and as rich and luscious a milk as we ever
tasted is the result. We take some of it home for tea, and it improves our Oolong.
And now what we have to say is this, if that milk is nothing else than fresh cow's
milk, condensed, four gallons into one, simply by means of vacuum j^ans, with no
cooking, no foreign mixtures, as the inventor of the process avers, and though he is
little known to us, we have the highest testimonials of his integritj', then his dis-
covery is unquestionably valuable ; and as the price of this milk is little, if any,
higher than that of the blue, watery stuff that kills so many of our city babies, or at
best, lets them die for want of nourishment, we think that its coming from the land
of wooden nutmegs and white oak cheese, will not prevent our citizens from sub-
stituting a better for a worse article. All success to the company, if they will fur-
nish such an article, as they now promise to do, at a price hardly, if at all, higher
than for the old distillery slops run through the cow's organism, or what is some-
thing better, yes, a great deal better, but not good enough, the couutry milk churn-
ed by a hundred miles of jarring on a railroad.

American Patents. 365

f e c e n t | h t nt t s ,

[issued from the united states patent office, from octobee 6 to November 3, 1S57.]
Agricultural.

Machine for cleaning Rice, Wilson Ager, Rohrsburg, Pa.— Churn Dasher, I.
N. Buck, Elgin, 111.— Churn, Moses Bayard, Milan, Ind.— Corn Husker, Robert
Bryson, Schenectady, N. Y.— Harvester, Reuben Daniels, Woodstock Vt.—
Seed Planter, Joseph Hall, Honeycut, Ala.— Corn Husker, J. B. Heich, Cincinnati,
O.— Ditching Machine, Edward and Britain Holmes, Buffalo, N. Y.— Gang
Plows, Geo. W. Hildreth, Lockport, N. Y.— Digging Machine, James Mitchell,
Osceola, low^a.— Harvester, N. A, Patterson, Kingston, Tenn. — Cotton Gin
Feeder, Jedediah Prescott, Rockford, 111.— Corn Husker, Geo, K. Brown, Moul-
tonboro', N. H.— Dumping Wagon, Mathias Y. Cope and T. J. Cope, Center-
bridge, Pa.— Sowing seed broadcast, Wm. A. Chapin, St. Johnsbury, Vt.—
Cotton Cultivator, Daniel P. Forney, Jacksonville, Ala.— Screen for Grain Sep-
arators, Abram Gaar, Richmond, Ind.— Steam Plow, John R. Gray, Fair Play,
Wis.— Corn Husker, Alden Graham, Roxbury, Mass.— Closing Farm Gate, Thos.

B. Hand, Madison, Ind.— Seed Planter, P. Hinkley, Charleston, 111.— Rake for
Harvesters, Samuel Comfort, Jr., Morrisville, Pa.— Endless Aprons of Threshing
Machines, Adolph Junge, Belleville, III.— Plow, J. S. Lash, Carlisle, Pa —Same,

C, M. Magruder, Thomasville, Ga.— Grain Cradle, Daniel Miffleton, King George,
Va.— Steam Plow, E. Graves Otis, Yonkers, N. Y.— Swathing apparatus for
Harvesters, Samuel C. Longshore, Lanaska, Pa.— Cultivator Teeth, Charles H.
Sayre, Utica, N. Y.— Corn Husking Machine, M. M. Stevens and E. G. Kinsley,
Stoughton, Mass. Plow, D. K. Thorn, Farmington, Ct. Combining with the
ordinary turning plow-scraper, adjustable laterally and perpendicularly.— Cot-
ton Cultivator, R. A. Vick, Byhaha, Miss.— Machine for spading land, Wm. E.
Ward, Port Chester, N. Y.— Plow, Noah Warlick, Lafayette, Ala. A double-
faced plow stock.— Cotton Seed Planter, T. W. White, Milledgeville, Ga.— Sow-
ing seed broadcast, Jacob Bovers and David S. Greer, Granville, Va.— Seeding
Machine, Horace R. Allen, Nelsonville, 0.— Brushing Rice, Oliver L Butts,
Georgetown, S. C— Butter Workers, Ebenezer Butler, Pompey, N. Y.— Fruit
Gatherer, Wm. Doty, South Hartford, N. Y.— Severing ears of corn from the
stalks, A. J. and J. A. French, Franklin, Vt— Corn Planter, Hanford Ingraham,
Naples, N. Y.— Mowing Machine, Pells Manny, Rockford, 111.— Cultivator,
Thomas A. Robertson, Friendship, Md.— Seed Planter, I. D. Smith, Lancaster,
0. — Cotton Scraper, J. E, Winger, Vicksburg, Miss. — Cultivator, Nicholas
Whitehall, assignor to himself and A. L. Whitehall, Rob Roy, led.- Smut Ma-
chine, J. A. Woodward, Burlington, low^a.— Harvester, Hosea Willard and Ro-
bert Ross, Vergennes, Vt.

Metallurgy.

Saw Filer, A. M. Beardsley, White Pigeon, Mich.— Sash Supporter, Nathaniel
E. Baker, Holyoke, Mass.— Ore Separator, Thos. J. Chubb, New-York.— Ore
Washer, Joseph Paull, Clifton, Mich.— Saw Filer, Jona Smith, Agawam, Mass.
—Cellular iron pavement, S. H. Titus and 0. Des Granges, St. Louis, Mo.— Ma-
king Hammers, Russel B. Perkins, Meriden, Conn. — Furnace, John Case and
Isaac Soules, Amsterdam, N. Y— Same, John Aldridge, Hudson, N. Y.— Gra-
ter, Nathan Ames, Saugus, Mass.— Polis':ing the heads of trunk nails, Correlius
and Zachariah Walsh, assignors to Cornelius Walsh, Newark, N. J. — Construct-
ing the tires of wagon wheels, John L. Blinn, Austin, Texas.— Bending flanges
on boiler heads, David Howell, Louisville, Ky.— Nail Machine, J. S. King, Rayn-
ham, Mass.— Chain Machine, Lauriston Toune, Providence, R. L— Core spin-
dle for casting, D. A. Webster, New- York.— Metalic screw cap for jars, John K.
Chace, New-York.— Nut Machine, Richard H. Cole, St. Louis, Mo.— Rotary
Shears, Anson Hardy, Boston, Mass.— Grinding and Polishing Machine, Daniel
Lovejoy and George F. Butterfield, Lowell Mass.— Making iron spoons, Russel
B. Perkins, Meriden, Conn.— Same, G. I. Mix, Wallingford, Conn.— Machine for

366 American Patents.

making bolts, Richard H. Cole, St. Louis, Mo. — Bending metal plates, E. L.
Gaylord, Terryville, Conn. — Expanding tires, Samuel Penberthy, Chicago, III. —
Iron Shutters for doors, etc., :M. C. Root, Toledo, 0. — 'lightning tires on car-
riage wheels, N. J. Skaggs, Talladega, Ala. — Fastening for metallic bands for
cotton bales, etc., Wm. Minor, Houma, La.

Manufactcue of Fibrous and Textile Substances, etc.

Preparing paper pulp from beet and other refuse, R. H. Colly er, Camden, N.
J. — Twine Reel, S. E. Davis, Waterbury, Conn. — String fastening for sacks, etc.,
James A. AVatrous, Green Spring, 0. — Carding Machine, Joseph Davis, East
Wilton, N. H., assignor to himself and Royal Southwick, Lowell, Mass. — Manu-
facture of cotton yarns, S. C. Lester, Bradford, and J. Warburton, Addingham,
England. — Sewing Machine, T. J. W. Robertson, New- York. — Cotton Cleaner,
Jesse Johnson, Hampstead County, Ark. — Steam cotton press, T. J. de Yampert,
Mobile, Ala. — Sewing Machine, S. H. Roper, Roxbury, Mass. — Same, by John
W. ^Marsh, Roxbury, Mass. — Machinery for spinning Flax and Hemp, M. D.
Whipple, Charlestown, Mass., assignor to Alfred R. Ely, Newton, Mass. — Machi-
nery for burning wool on the felt, John Waterhouse, Little Falls, N. Y. — Sew-
ing Machine, C. H. Andrus, assignor to Squire Lee, Goshen, N. Y. — Machine
for folding paper, Cyrus Chambers, Jr., Philadelphia,
Chemical Processes, etc.

Process of coating iron, E. G. Pomeroy, Philadelphia. — Lime Kiln, A. G. An-
derson, Quincy, 111. — Amalgamator, J. A. Bertola, assignor to himself and John
Stagg, New-York. — "Water Cooling Pitcher, Alonzo Hebbard, New-York.

CoLORiFics, etc.

Preparing fats for candle making, M. "W. Brown, Bufifalo, N. Y. — Gas Gene-
rator,. Salmon Skinner, Yonkers, N. Y. — ^Bakers' Oven, Hiram Berdan, New-
York. — Coal Sifter, Samuel Booth, New- York. — Stove and Furnace Grate, "Wm.
T, Coggeshall, Fall River, Mass. — Air and "Vapor Burner, 0. F. Morrill, Boston,
Mass. — Coal Stove, D. Christian Raub, Davenport, Iowa. — Shade for Lamps,
Wm. Kemble, New-York, and Wm. H. C. Bartlett, West Point, N. Y.— Break-
ing Coal, John R. Deihm and Jasper Snell, Pottsville, Pa.
Steam and Gas Engines, etc.

Rotary Exhaust Regular for Locomotives, E. R. Addison, Baltimore, Md. —
Water Gage for steam boilers, Edward Whitely, Boston, Mass. — Water Indica-
tor for steam boilers, F. B. Fournier and David Hinman, assignors to themselves
and J. Munroe, Berea, 0. — Steam Generator, A. B. Latta, Cincinnati, 0. — Steam
Boiler, Wm. George Norris, Philadelphia. — Steam Pressure Gage, E. G. Allen,
Boston, Mass. — Feed water pipe in the bed of a steam engine, Henry W. Bell,
Cuyahoga Falls, 0. — Vane Governor for steam engines, C. Whittier, Roxburjr,
Mass.

Navigation and Maritime Implements.

Flooding "Vessels, John Quigley, Saugerties, N. Y. — Harpoon, James Q. Kelly,
Sag Harbor, N. Y. — Unloading "Vessels, Robert Ferguson, New-Orleans, La.
Mathematical, Philosophical, etc

Barometer, T. R. Timby, Medina, N. Y.

Civil Engineering and Architecture.

Folding Chair for church pews, Moses S. Beach, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Canal Lock
Gate, Samuel J. Seely, New- York. — Iron Truss Frames for bridge, etc., Francis
C. Lowthrop, Trenton, N. J. — Rotary Excavator, Gilbert H. Moore, Rochester,
N. Y.— Rock Drill, G. H. Wood, Green Bay, Wis.

Land Conveyance, etc.

Raih'oad Car Seats, Chas. P. Bailey, Zanesville, 0. — Scaling railroad cars, etc.,
F. W. A. Crause, Baltimore, Md. — Fastening shafts and poles to carriages, Thos,
Miller, Worcester township. Pa. — Wagon Brake, Melvil C. Chamberlin, John-
sonburgh, N. Y.^ — ^Detaching horses from vehicles, W. D. Mayfield, Bloomington,
III., assignor to himself and S. D. Porter, Clarksville, Tenn. — Rubbers of rail-

American Patents. 367

road car brakes, Henry M. Collier, Binghamton, N. Y. — Carriage Spring, Bold
R. Hood, Clinton, N. 0. Railway, Sidney A. Beers, Brooklyn, N. Y. — Railroad
Car Spring, Henry M. Paine, "Worcester, Mass. — Operating railroad brake. Phi-
lander Perry, Troy, N. Y. — Railroad chair, John S. Robinson, Levi Herenden,
and George Shelden, Canandaigua, N. Y. — Joints of Carriage tops, Reuben W.
Stone, Solsville, N. Y.

Hydraulics, Pneumatics, etc.
Vane for wind wheels, Jesse M. Clock, Atlanticville, N. Y. — ^Automatic castor
and fan, Ellis and Addison H. Nordyke, Richmond, Ind. — Rotary Pump, Henry
Pease, Brockport, N. Y. — Water wheel, William Henley, New-Salem, N. C. —
Hoisting buckets, George Focht, Reading, Pa. — Water closet, Francis McGhan,
Washington, D. C. — Pump, Noah Sutton, New-York. — Hose carriage, John W.
Wiler, Stephen B. Sturges, and Gaylord McFall, Mansfield, 0.

Grinding Mills and Mill Gearing, etc.

Elastic Coupling for mill shafting, etc. — Hominy Machine, Peter Siemers, St.
Louis, Mo.

Lumber, iNCLUDmG Machines and Tools, etc.

Machine for bending wood, C. F. Beverly, Lancaster, Pa. — Saw Mill, W. A.
Flanders, Troy, N. Y., J. B. Drake, Williamsport, Pa., A, W. Fox, Elmira, N.
Y. — Sawing Machine, J. E. Foster, Jersey City. — Wheelwrights' Machine,
Chauncey L. Guard, Brownsville, N. Y. — Reciprocating mill saw, Samuel Tar-
ver, Augusta, Ark. — Shingle machine, Simeon Marshall, Philadelphia.— Revers-
ing the chisel in mortising machines, C. B. Rogers, Norwich, Conn. — Same, D.
M. Cummings and P. C. Cambridge, Jr., North Enfield, N. H. — Operating scroll
saws, John L. Lawton, Baltimore, Md. — Rose for door knobs, Samuel S. Day,
New-York. — Chamfering and crozing barrels, James H. Mattison, Scribna, N.
Y. — Guiding logs in sawing given curvatures, Thomas Miles, Greenbush, N. Y.

Stone and Clay Manufactures.
Manufacture of artificial hones, Timothy Deming, East Hartford, Conn.

Leather, including Tanning, etc.
Lasting Pincers, B. F. Sturtevant, Skowhegan, Me., assignor to Elmer Town-
send, Boston, Mass, — Striping leather, Adolph R. E. Falck and Paul Stoeger,
Newark, N. J.

Household Furniture, etc.
Washing machine, Benjamin H. Pearson and Daniel B. Neal, Mt. Gilead, 0. —
Same, Thomas J. Price, Industry, 111. — Feather dressing machine, Amon Bailey,
East Poultney, Vt. — Curtain fixtures, John M. Currier and James M. Thomp-
son, Holyoke, Mass. — Folding iron bedstead, H. F. Vandenhove, New- York.

Arts, Polite and Ornamental, etc
Melodeon, S. A. Jewett, Cleveland, 0. — Pianoforte action, George Howe, Rox-
bury, Mass. — Printing press, John H. Utter, New-York. — Printing machine,
Samuel W. Francis, New -York. — Hand printing press, Jedediah Morse, Canton,
Mass., assignor to Ruggles Power Printing Press Manufacturing Co., Boston. —
Violin attachment, Jackson Gorham, Bairdstown, Ga. — Printing press, George
R. Gordon, New-York. — Smoothing iron, James Goodwin, Jr., Cincinnati, 0. —
Hand printing press, Samuel J. Smith, New- York. — Printing press, Merwin
Davis, New- York, assignor to P. G. Bergen, Brookyn, N. Y.

Fire Aems.
Hair triggers for fire arms, P. F. Charpie, Mt. Vernon, 0. — Lock for fire arms,
Michael Tromley, Mt. Vernon, 111. — Bomb shell, Samuel Driver, assignor to
himself, Isaac V. Culin, and Joel B. Sutherland, Philadelphia. — Breach loading
fire arms. C. D. Skinner, Haddom, Conn., and Dennis Tryon, Middletown, Conn.
— Projectiles for rifled ordnance, James H, Merrill, Baltimore, Md. — Mode of
priming repeating fire arms, George R. Crocker, New- York, assignor to George
C. Martin, Brooklyn, N. Y.

368 Foreign Iiwentions.

Wearing Appabel, etc.

"Wristband Fastener, Benjamin F. Grinnell, New-York.

Miscellaneous.

Machine for separating slate and other foreign substances from coal, Eugene
Borda and D. Glover, Woodside, Pa. — Arrangement for self-dumping trucks, Z.
Butt, Lincolnton, N. C. — Apparatus for barns, stables, etc., for sccuiing hor.ses
and other stock from fire, Joshua E. Hall, Cleveland, O. — Street sweeper, M. TV.
St. John and Isaac Brown, Lconardsville, N. Y. — Beating off" peanuts from their
vines, Thomas L. Colville, Wilmington, N. C., and Samuel Shepherd, Nashua,
N. H. — Apple slicer, Nathaniel Thomas, East Dixficld, Me. — Cane umbrella,
Herman Crosby, Jr., Waterbury, Conn. — Beehive, B. D. Sanders, HoUidays
Cove, Ya. — Making brushes, L. A. Tripp, New-York, assignor to L. C. Piatt,
Westchester county, N. Y. — Candy twisting machine, John Gardner, Philadel-
phia.— Cleaning and polishing coftee, Wm. Newell, Philadelphia.— Mixing and
grinding oil paints, William II. Dolson, New-York.

Bar Iron— Improvement in Manufacture.

Mb. W. Clay, of Liverpoel, has patented some improvements which contem-
plate the employment of rolling pressure for the conversion of bar-iron of vari-
ous sectional figures, as plain, straight, square bars, or T, or channel-grooved,
or trough iron, into tapering bars, the object being to impart to bars of iron, so
made, different strengths or powers of resistance at different points, and thereby
to adapt rolled metal to various uses, where gj'eater strengths or rigidity are re-
quired at one point than anoiher. It also relates to the adaption of rolling pres-
sure to the formation of bars, with sudden inequalities of depth or thickness
forming projections, protuberances, or indentions on or in the bars at different
points, according to the particular purpose for which the iron is required. In-
stead of alio ^ ing the top roll to rise gradually in its bearing, (as in his patent of
December IG, 1848,) Mr. Clay adjusts the rolls to the work they have to per-
form, and keeps them to that position until the operation is completed, his ob-
ject being to produce a class of work the irregularity in the section of which is
too great to permit of its being manufactured with facility by the rising-roll pro-
cess. Thus; f<)r forming a taper on the extremity of bars, suitable for railway
"points," he sets the rolls to a distance apart that will correspond with the
greatest depth which the formed bar is required to measure, say three inches ;
and assuming also that the extremity of the bar is to be tapered down to one
inch in depth, he provides a plate of iron or steel of a taper form, and of a thick-
ness corresponding exactly with the diminution of thickness required in the end
of the bar under operation. This plate he takes, in its cold state, and places
over the end of the bar of red hot metal, and then passes the two between the
rolls. The taper plate acting as a filling piece, or as an eccentric projection on
one of the rolls would act, enables the rolls to put a severer pressure on the bar
at the part overlaid by the plate, and thus by simple rolling, in an ordinary roll-
ing mill, a taper bar may be produced.

We do not see why this plan may not be extended with great advantage to
almost every variety of form. By providing plates of any conceivable shape,
within certain dimensions, that is, to an extent within which the whole can be
passed through the rollers, one may obviate the necessity of a subsequent process
of forging. The originality of this invention seems to us to be limited to the
idea of connecting the principle of the mold, used in cast iron manufactures,
to the specific uses here specified in connection with the roller. The type
founder and other workers in metals have come so near to this, that we wonder,
as we often have done before, why such an appUcation of the principle was not
suggested years ago. — P.

Scientific. 369

THE FAMjtV CIRCtE.

Chemistry for the Million.

Oxygen — Carbon — Carbonic Acid.

Oxygen, we have before said, constitutes about one-fifth of the atmosphere. It is
the vital principle of the air, that which stimulates the lungs as we inhale it, and
purifies and gives life to the blood, whereas without it the lungs would cease to
move, and the blood would become thick and dark colored, and cease to flow.

Carbon is known to us in three forms. 1. It is absolutely pure in the diamond.
2. Nearly pure in charcoal. 3. In plumbago, sometimes, though incorrectly, called
black lead, it is also nearlj^ pure ; and it exists largely, in some of its compounds, in
all vegetable and animal substances ; is an important part of our own bodies, and of
everything which we use as food or clothing. It is pure, so far as we know, only in
the sparkling diamond. In charcoal it is blackened with soot, and in plumbago it
is found in combination with other ingredients.

Carbon, in the form of the brilliant diamond, possesses a sort of importance. It
gratifies the pride of a few, who delight to shine in what is more costly than others
can get. In its more useful forms it is shared by the poor as well as the rich. The
prince who can cover himself with diamonds, could not live a month if deprived
of carbon in the same forms in which the poor man takes it in his bread and meat.

One of the compounds of carbon — one which should be understood by all; be-
cause it concerns the interests, and the health and life of all — is carbonic acid. What
a name ! it may be said. We can not help that. It is an important compound, and
all the world have given it that name, and it has no other. But what is carbonic
acid? It is a compound of 16 pounds of oxygen to 6 pounds of carbon, thus :
16 Oxygen, 6 Carbon, 22 Carbonic Acid.

Perhaps some of our young readers, who are trying to gather a little knowledge
of chemistry from us, without enjoying other instruction, will say, " We know about
as much of it as we did before." Well, then, it is for such that we write, and not
for old chemists, and therefore we will try to make this very plain. Suppose you
take six pounds of charcoal, and burn it ; nothing but a little ash is left. Where,
then, has it gone ? Into the air. But did you see it go into the air ? No. It stole
away imperceptibly to the sight. You may have seen a spark or two rise, and pos-
sibly a few particles of soot. But 99-100 of the charcoal has gone invisibly into the
air.

Suppose j'ou had inclosed the charcoal in an iron case, excluding the air entirely,
would it burn ? No. There would be no combustion, be the heat ever so great :
for combustion is nothing else than a combination of the burning body with oxygen;
and no oxygen could come to the coal if the air was excluded. But if you heat the
coal with access of air, then 16 pounds of oxygen combine with 6 pounds of carbon,
and form 22 pounds of cai-bonie acid, which diffuses itself invisibly in the atmo-
sphere. This gas is once and a half as heavy as atmospheric air.

In fermenting cider, wine, or beer, or when the soda and acid, for soda water, are
mixed, you see bubbles of air escape. In all these cases it is this same carbonic acid
gas that passes off.

So, when a lime-kiln is burned, the same gas, in vast quantities, escapes. Com-
12

370 SHentiJic.

mon lime-stone, the shells of fish, and coral, from all wlucli lime is prepared, are a
compound of carbonic acid and lime. Tlie carbonic acid is driven ofif by heat, and
rises into the air.

Burning bodies of every kind, whether consumed for fuel or lights, or by accident-
al fires, and all decaying vegetable matters, if accessible to air, throw into the atmo-
sphere a great deal of this gas.

Volcanoes also throw it out in large quantities, and in some places it flows plen-
tifully from caverns and fissures of the earth.

In tlie lungs of men and of all animals it is formed by a union of the oxygen they
inhale with the carbon of the blood, and is exhaled into the air. From these and
other sources the whole volume of atmosphere is kept supplied with this gas.
■ In an average condition of the atmosphere, it contains just about one part in twen-
ty-five hundred (1-2500) of carbonic acid. With this proportion the air is not un-
healthy for respiration, and it is rich enough in carbon to produce a heavy vegeta-
ble growth, if other requisites are present in the air and soil.

With a larger proportion the air would be unhealthy to breathe. In very large
proportions, as sometimes happens in dry wells, and in sleeping rooms heated with
charcoal, having no open eliimney to take the gas off, it destroys life.

In the burning of lime-kilns, it has been known to destroy the lives of whole fiim-
ilies slewing in houses towards which the wind was blowing from the kiln.

And beyond question it shortens thousands of lives by being inhaled in closely
packed and ill ventilated rooms. Taken into the stomach, as in soda-water, it is not
hurtful; but injurious if inhaled in much more than its ordinary proportion, 1-2500
of the air.

How to escape its injurious effects ; its offices in covering the earth with verdure,
and its vast importance to agriculture, will be considered hereafter.

METEOROLOGICAL.

CHAPMAN'S PRECALCULATIONS FOR ELEMENTARY CHANGES.

SIMULTANEOUS WITH THE "MONTHLY RAINBOW AND METEOROLOGIST,"

PHILADELPHIA, PENN.

BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH THE AUTHOR.

{'filtered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S5G, hy L. L. CHAPMAN; in the Clerk's
Office of the District Court, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.)

I'IBST DEPARTMENT.

EXPLANATORY.

VISION {instead of being a faculty pos-
f;csscd and exerted at ivill on distant objects)
is simjily a sense of feeling excited on the
nerves of the eye by currents of electricity,
radiated or reflected from the object seen.
Hence, light is identical with electricity,
which, hence, instead of being confined to
our earth, is the common property of the
solar system.

The angles of incidence and reflection
are Positive and Negative angles, inducing
(with other causes) a successive series of
positive and negative conditions of the at-
mosphere and elements.

THE TERM POSITIVE is here given
to conditions abounding more witli vital
electricity, inspiring mor health, vigor.

cheerfulness, and better feelings for busi-
ness intercourse, etc., and consequently,
greater success, cnjoipnent, etc.

THE TERM NEGATIVE is given to
those conditions which abound less with
electricity, and consequently are more un-
favorable to health, feelings, business, so-
cial intercourse, etc.

^ Indicates Sundays.

TWELFTH MONTH, (December.)
Tendency. Time o'clock.

Ist, Positive, from 1 to 5 morn.

Negative, from 5 morn to 10 eve.
2d, Positive, from 3 morn to 9 eve.
3d, Negative, from 3 morn to 7 eve.
4th, Positive, from 1 to 11 morn.

Negative, from 11 morn to 1 eve.

Positive, from 2 to 11 eve.

' Scientific.

371

5th, Positive, from 3 morn to 3 eve.

Negative, from 4 to 12 eve.
6tli, ^ Positive, from 1 to 9 morn.

Negative, from 9 morn to 12 eve.
7tli, Positive, from 1 morn to 10 eve.
8th, Negative, from 1 morn to 1 eve.

Positive, from 2 to 11 eve.
9th, Positive, from 1 morn to 6 eve.

Negative, fi-om 8 to 12 eve.
10th, Negative, from 1 to 7 morn.

Positive, from,8 morn to 12 eve.
11th, Mixed, from 1 morn to 12 eve.

Mixed, from 6 morn to 12 noon.

Positive, from 1 to 12 eve.
13th, ^ Positive, from 1 to 8 morn.

Negative, from 9 morn to 9 eve.
14th, Negative, from 1 to 8 morn.

Positive, from 8 morn to 12 eve.
15th, Positive, from 7 morn to 3 eve.

Negative, from 4 to 12 eve.
16th, Positive, from 1 morn to 12 eve.
I'Zth, Positive, from 1 to 9 morn.

Mixed, from 10 morn to 12 eve.
18th, Mixed, from 1 to 9 morn.

Negative, from 10 morn to 7 eve

Mixed, from 7 to 12 eve.
19th, Negative, from 1 morn to 10 eve,
20th, ^ Positive, from 1 morn to 12 eve.

Positive, from 8 morn to 7 eve.

Negative, from 7 to 12 eve.
22d, Negative, from 1 morn to 6 eve.

Positive, from 7 to 12 eve.

Positive, from 6 morn to 3 eve.

Negative, from 4 to 12 eve.
24th, Negative, from 1 morn to 5 eve.

Positive, from 6 to 12 eve.
25th, Negative, from 5 morn to 12 eve.
26th, Negative, from 1 to 8 morn.

Positive, from 8 morn to 12 eve.
27th, T[ Positive, from 1 to 11 morn.

Negative, from 11 morn to 3 eve.

Positive, from 5 to 12 eve.
28th, Negative, from 3 morn to 10 eve.
29th, Mixed, from 1 morn to 1 eve.

Negative, from 1 to 4 eve.

Positive, from 5 to 12 eve.
30th, Positive, 1 to 11 morn.

Negative, from 1 1 morn to 8 eve.
31st, Mixed, from 1 to 10 morn.

Positive, from 10 morn to 12 eve.

SECOND DEPAKTMENT.

THE EXPLANATION of the capital
letters after morn, eve, and the commas
and apostrophes after the letters, and the
hyphens and periods in tlie place of let-
ters, etc., are given in fall below.

The changes are four minutes earlier
for each degree of longitude (60 miles)
west. Difference of latitude in tlie same
meridian is immaterial. The dry condi
tions are fair, and the damp conditions
cloudy or wet, at least three or four times
out of five in the average. When fair, the
damp conditions diffuse a cool, damp sen

sation througli the atmosphere.

Blanks indicate vei'y weak, or mixed
or uncertain conditions.

^ Indicates Sundays.

3d,

TWELFTH MONTH, (December.)
Time o'clock. Ray-angle. Tendency.
1st, At 5 morn, 0,, damp.

At 6 morn, Y" warm, dry.

At 12 noon, I' cool.

At 5 eve, B" wind stirring.

At 10 eve, • '

At 3 morn, R' warm, dry.

At 9 eve, .. warm.

At 10 eve, G' warm.

At 2 morn, R„ warm, dry.

At 6 morn, 0" damp.

At 9 morn, V cool.

At 5 eve, •■ windy.

At 10 eve, R, warm.
4th, At 1 morn, G., warm, dry.

At 10 morn, V„ cool, damp.

At 11 morn, B,

At 12 noon, Y' warm.

At 1 eve, YI' cool, damp, windy.

At 5 eve, GV cool, damp.

At 11 eve, BI, cool, windy.
5th, At 3 morn, R" warm, dry.

At 10 morn, 0„

At 3 eve, Y„ warm.

At 12 eve, OV damp, windy.
6th, ^ At 9 morn, B„ wind stirring.

At 10 morn, G" warm, dry.

At 1 eve, V" cool, damp.

At 2 eve, 0, damp.

At 12 eve, I' cool.
7th, At 8 morn, R„ warm dry.

At 5 eve, GB, windy.

At 10 eve, G, warm.
8th, At 1 morn, Y" warm, dry.

At 12 noon, R' warm.

At 1 eve, GV" cool, windy.

At 9 eve, V„ cool, damp.

At 11 eve, G„

At 12 eve, B" windy.
9th, At 1 morn, I„ cool.

At 2 morn, GI„ cool, dam^^, windy.

At 7 morn, R, warm.

At 4 eve, Y, warm.

At 11 eve, I, cool, damp.
10th, At 1 morn, GO" cool, windy.

At 7 morn, G' warm.

At 8 morn, 0 ■ —

At 6 eve, Y„ warm.
11th, At 8 morn .

At 11 morn, I" cool, damp.

At 5 eve, BV, cool, windy.

At 6 eve, " warm.

At 9 eve, B„ wind stirring.
11th, At 5 morn, R" warm.
13th, ■[[ At 2 morn, YI, cool, damp, windy.

At 9 eve, V" cool.

At 11 eve, I,, cool, damp.

At 10 morn, BR„ windy.

372

Scientific

At 2 eve, G- warm, dry,
15th, At 5 morn, R, warm.

At 10 morn, .. windy.

At 3 eve, 0„

At 9 eve, .

At 11 eve, 11' warm.
1 6th, At 6 morn, Y- warm, dry.

At 4 eve, O,

At 9 eve, V, cool.
I7th, At 6 morn, R„ warm, dry.

At 9 morn, .

At 3 eve, V' cool.

At 5 eve, B- wind stirring.
18th, At 6 morn, 0"

At 9 morn, .

At 7 eve, G' warm, drj^

At 9 eve, V„ cool.

At 10 eve, I" cool.
19th, At 4 eve, R" Avarm, dry.

At 10 eve, GV cool, windy.
20th, At 2 morn, G„ warm, dry.

At 7 morn, Y' warm.

At 3 eve, R, warm.

At 7 eve, 0„ damp.

At 9 eve, OV, cool, windy,
21st, At 2 morn, G, warm.

At 7 morn, V" cool.

At 2 eve, Y„ warm, dry.

At 7 eve, I, cool.

At 11 eve, end of the zodiacal pe-
riod, or natural month.

At 12 eve, 0'

At 12 noon, 1' cool.

At 4 eve, V, cool, damp.

At 6 eve, G" warm.

At 11 eve, O,

23d, At 2 morn, B„ wind stirring.

At 12 noon, .. windy.

At 1 eve, V„ cool.

At 2 eve, YV, cool, damp, windy.

At 3 eve, I„ cool, damp.
24th, At 1 morn, R" warm, dry.

At 4 eve, V cool, damp.
25th, At 5 morn, G,, warm, dry.

At 10 morn, BO" cool, windy.

At 12 noon, O"

At 1 eve, B" windy.

At 7 eve, 1" cool.
26th, At 8 morn, G' warm.

At 9 morn, Y„ warm, dry.

At 11 morn, R- warm.
27th, Tl At 11 morn, YR., warm, dry.

At 3 eve, G' warm.

At 7 eve, B„ windy.

At 8 eve, V- cool.

At 10 eve, GI. cool.
28th, At 1 morn, BV„ cool, damp, windy.

At 3 morn, Y, warm.

At 10 morn, BI" cool, damp, windy.

At 5 OTC, O"

At 9 eve, B' wind stirring.
29th, At 1 morn, I, cool.

At 11 morn, R' warm.

At 1 eve, .. warm.

At 4 eve, G" warm, dry.

At 6 eve, 0„ damp.

At 8 eve, I„ cool, damp.
30th, At 11 morn, R,, warm, drj'.

At 8 eve, I' cool.
31st, At 7 morn, R„ warm.

At 10 morn, •

At 3 eve, GO,, damp, windy.

At 12 eve, .. damp.

GENERAL HEMARKS,

Cool Periods, longer and more promi-
nent, are more liable near the 4th.

Greater tendency to windy, cloudy or
stormy periods, or gusts, near the 4th, 6th,
8th or 9th, 14th, 20th, 25th, 28th.

Periods more prominently negative near
the 4th, 6th, 8th, 20th, 2oth, 28th.

Periods of greater electrical deficiency,
1st to 6th, 15'th to 25th.

Natural tendency of the zodiacal period
from the 1st to 22d to dry. From the
22d to 31st, the same tendency.

GENERAL
EXPLANATORY" REMARKS.

THE FIRST DEPARTMENT giving
the positive and negative electrical condi-
tions of the atmosphere, constitutes the
chief importance of this document.

These alternating conditions not only
affect all the minutia of life, health, and
enjoyment among mankind, but also bear
universally upon the various animal and
insect tribes, and even upon the vegetable
world. For electricity is the universal
principle oi physical vitality.

By glancing at the first department sy-
nopsis the physician can usually Judge,
wliether he will find his patients better or
worse. The out-of-door business man may
also judge when in a strongly positive
day, he may succeed more in all business
depending on the will of others, especially
of the sensitive, than in often several neg-
ative days — not from luck, chance, or for-
tune ! but because mankind usually act as
they feel.

The synopsis is of universal bearing
and application, and of great usefulness
to all professions and classes of mankind.

The general tendencies are given, but
their effects vary according to mental dis-
cipline and constitutional sensitiveness.
A robust person may only feel a shade
pass over his rniud from a condition that
would prostrate another by sickness.

THE SECOND DEPARTMENT, or sy-
nopsis of changes in the atmospheric tem-
perature is less important, and because
not infallible. Yet it is sufficiently cor-
rect to be deemed useful by many. Tlie
changes usually corresponding to within
the hour before or after, three or four

Scientific.

373

times out of five in the average.

In this synopsis the first letter of each
colored ray is given, instead of the word
in full, after the words, morn, eve. — Tliey
show the angles of the solar spectrum in
which the current of reflected light that
produces the condition is intercepted. —
Thits, R for the red ray, 0 for the orange
etc. — Cim-ents intercepted in the angles
of the Y, or R, or G rays tend to a warm
and usually fair temperature. — R some-
times showery. — V, or I, to cool and
damp — three or four times out of five
cloudy or wet. — B, and often V, to elec-
trical, and more or less wind stirring. — 0
to variable — in most cases cloudy or wet ;
but when dry, to sultry or exciting. — Sin-
gle letters show single currents. — Double
letters show combined currents, which
usually operate longer and with greater
force ; often so superceding the effects of
passing single currents that the latter be
come only modulations in a long dry or
wet, warm or cool period, induced by the
formei'. They can not be calculated so

accurately as the single currents, but sel-
dom vary many hours.

Periods (.) in the place of letters show
currents under investigation — Double pe-
riods (..) combined currents — Hyphens (-)
after letters show confluent currents —
Commas (,) after the letters show positive
— apostrophes (') negative condition. — See
second department. — TJiey also show the
force of the intercepted current. — One
comma or apostrophe shows weaker, two
commas or apostrophes (,, ") stronger cur-
rents.

Many of the weaker changes are per-
ceptible only by instruments. Those in-
struments are the Prism, Thermometer,
Barometer,Hydrometer,and Electrometer.

In most cases, V and I currents induce
Eastern winds ; O, Western ; G, Southern ;
B, R and Y, variable ; but B and R often
Northern or West, and Y Eastern.

Long, pointed clouds or haze, usually
attend V or I currents. R, cumuli, or
woolpack clouds. Y and G scattering,
fleecy clouds — the latter more white.

rOE THE AMERICAN FARMERS' MAGAZINE.

THE WEATHER.
Appearance of Birds, Flowers, etc., in Nichols, Tioga Co., N. Y., in October, ISST.

By E. Hovirell.

Remarks.
Rain commenced at 10, A. M. and continued

all day.
Quite hard rain all day and niglit before.

6A,M.

1P.M.

9 P.M.

1

81

54

47

South

Cloudy.

2

49

56

48

"

"

3

49

60

52

S. W.

"

4

50

61

44

"

"

5

44

62

44

West

"

6

43

62

52

North

a

7

45

58

40

"

Clear.

8

38

64

43

"

"

9

39

66

47

"

"

10

49

65

45

West

"

11

31

62

40

South

<'

12
13

51
54

71

78

60
60

North

Cloudy.

14

56

60

55

"

"

15

51

54

47

"

"

16

47

49

43

"

"

17

35

54

40

"

Clear.

18
19

40

49

55

58

41

47

South

Cloudy.

20

34

37

32

West

"

21

31

38

34

North

"

22

25

49

35

South

"

23

33

48

42

"

"

24

42

54

49

"

"

25

49

58

47

"

"

26

43

42

39

North

"

27

35

36

35

"

"

28

34

39

34

"

"

29

33

42

36

"

"

30

30

47

36

S.(feN.

"

31

35

55

36

"

"

Farmers thresh their buckwheat.

Light frost in the morning.

Forest leaves begin to fall fast.

Drizling rain commenced at 4 P. M. [P. M.

Rain all night ; drizzling rain in A. M.; hard in

Hard rain set in 1 1 A. M. and continued all

Light squals of rain at intervals. [P. M.

[in evening from North.
Light rain commenced at 4 P.M.; hard rain
Rain by squalls all night — snow squalls.
Snow squalls at sunrise ; very windy day.
Froze water in a trough ; ice remained all day.
Light drizzling rain at intervals.
Light rain in the morning, [rain in evenino-.
Light drizzling rain and fog in A. M. ; hard
Drizzling rain all day — wind very hard.
Light snow and rain in A. M.

Light mist of rain in morning and afternoon.

374 Children'' s ^agc.

g^mMtit.

Cake Recipes, etc.

TiiK following are from tlic pen of a fair writer in the Michigaii Farmer, who
saj-s she lias found tlicm good and hopes others may:

White Cup Cake. — Two cups white sugar, one cup of rich cream, one cup of but-
ter, three eggs, a full teaspoouful of saleratus, four and a half cups of flour, nutmeg.

Sugar Gingerbread. — One teacup of sugar, three eggs, two tliirds of a cup of
butter, one teacup of thin sour cream, two and a half cups of flour, one teaspoonful
of saleratus, one tablespoon of ginger.

Cruller.?. — One cup of sugar, half a cup of butter two eggs, half a cup of sour
milk, half a teaspoonful of saleratus.

Soda Sponge Cake. — Four eggs, one teacup of sugar, one teacup of flour, one tea-
spoonful of cream of tartar, half a teasp6onfut of soda, salt and lemon.

Potato Panc.uces. — Boil and mash some potatoes, add a bit of butter, two eggs,
pepper and salt, and thin them with milk till they are of the consistency of pan-
cake batter.

Tomato Champagne.
A Tennessee paper records the manufacture of a novel beverage in the shape of
wine expressed from the juice of the tomato. Good judges pronounce it a first rate
article. Its ingredients are simply the pure juice of the tomato and sugar, and it
much resembles champagne, having a light, transparent color, with a pleasant, pala-
table flavor.

Bee stings may be easily cured by applying repeatedly a soft paste made of
saleratus and water, the potash neutralizing the poison.

^§" Cracks in stoves may be effectually stopped by a jxiste made of ashes, salt
and water. Iron filings and sal-ammoniac make a still harder and firmer cement.

^^° Father Sawter. — ^That remarkable man, Father Sawyer, reached his 102d
year, Oct. 9th. He is now stopping with his grandson, in Bangor, and though his
sight and hearing are somewhat imj^aired, his mental faculties are bright and
strong.

"Wonder if those little girls, described in our last, accept the portraits, and believe
that we know^ more about them than they know of themselves. Very much sus-
pecting that they do, we now proceed with some of the boys, as promised in our last.

One of them, as we seem to see him from our Sanctum, is growing a very wise
boy, rather too wise for his years. In sober truth, he is a clever boy, we mean in
the English sense — about what we Americans mean by smart. By the way, in this
country, we are apt, by a slight perversion of language, to call a person clever, if he
means well, whether he succeeds well in life or not. If he succeeds well we call him
smart. In England they apply the word smart only to a case of pain; as if, on
scratching a finger, they should say it smarts. If you should say of a man or a boy
he is smart, they would hardly know what you meant, and might be looking to see
if any of his skin was knocked off, or whether a bee had stung him. And, as to the
word clever, they say it means a butcher's implement, and implies activity, forcje,
sharpness. They suppose it should be applied to a man who is active, forceful,
sharp, one who cuts his way in the world. To call an inefficient, dumpish, drowsy

Children's Page. 375

sort of a personage clever, as we do, simply because he means well, seems to them
queer enough, and they put it down as a Yankeeism. In all this, they are not far
from right. But never mind ; we are not under the queen ; and she will not harm
us if we murder her English.

But to return to our boy ; he is both clever and smart, as John Bull and Brother
Jonathan will have it. Almost any one would be proud of such a boy. That he
will know enough to behave well, and have force enough to do something in life,
and be sharp enough to cut his way in the world, there is abundant ground of hope.
But whether, he will know enough and have force enough and be sharp enough to
govern himself, is another thing, and a very important one in this case, because he
seems determined that no one else shall govern him, and there are sad indications
that he is going to be ungoverned, as unfortunate a thing as can well happen to a
boy of his age.

This boy's ^larents are very judicious, always kind to their son, inflicting no
restraint which they do not think clearly for his good. But this young American
thinks his mother might have known very well how the world wagged in her time,
but that she is a little behind the present age, and that he knows what belongs to
these times better than she does, and that it is quite unnecessary for her to be in-
formed how and where he spends his evenings and holidays.

We speak of his mother because we believe that mothers, to an extent not often
appreciated, form the tastes, habits and characters of their sons. But this young
gentleman — we call him thus because he is a fine fellow, and gives every indication,
save the one of which we are speaking, that he will become a first-rate gentleman —
is too wise to be directed by his mother. This is a sad mistake, but we hope he will
correct it.

If any boy, 12 or 15 years old, reads this, and is conscious that he does not think
well of his mother's counsels, and cheerfully comply with them, we want him to think
he is the one we have in our eye. He has natural endowments enough to make him
ere long a man to be useful, happy and honored. But more is wanted to carry him
upward, a shining, honored pathway. If every boy in the land were before us and
we could speak to them all at once, we would say, confide in your mother ; none is so
worthy of your confidence ; none will ever love you with so pure an affection ; none
will be BO faithful, or seek your good so earnestly ; and if she goes the way of all
the earth before you, her memory will be dear to you and free from regrets, in pro-
portion as you have maintained towards her a kind, obedient, loving spirit.

Will our boy readers think of this ? Will they believe us, when we tell them
what we know is true, that iu about the same propoi-tion as they cherish such a spirit,
they will be likely to succeed in all the high and noble purposes for life.

Reading for the Winter.

" There are hundreds of intelligent families in Bucks county who at present take
no county paper, and who, if they ever read one, depend upon borrowing it of some
neighbor."

The Bucks county Intelligencer utters the above. Now we hardly believe there can
be very much ignorance in a county where that paper is published. Such papers as
that, one or two in a county, are the greatest educators in the land. We believe the
editor is looking out for the people, to see that they have something to read these
long evenings that are coming. No doubt he would be glad to furnish them the
Bucks county Intelligencer at a merely living price. It is so with us. We would be

376 Book Notices^ etc.

glad to furnish the Plough, Loom and Anvil to 50,000 families at a trifle over what
it costs us, and a great deal less than it is worth to them. Will our friends take the
hint and shove it along, if there are families among them likely to suffer for want of
reading these winter evenings, or to be troublesome borrowers? — Ed.

§0011 g0tit^s, He.

The Illustrated Pear Cultuiust ; containing plain, practical directions, for plant-
ing, budding, grafting, pruning, training and dwarfing the Pear Tree; also
instructions relating to the propagation of new varieties, gathering, preserving
and ripening the fruit, together with valuable hints in regard to the locality,
soil, and manure, required for, and best arrangement of the trees in an orchard,
both on the Pear and Quince stock, and a list of the most valuable varieties for
dwarf and standard culture, accurately described and truthfully delineated by
numerous colored engravings. By an Amateur. New-York: C. M. Saxton& Co.,
140 Fulton street. New-London: Starr & Co., 4 Main street. 1857.
The above title-page faithfully describes the Illustrated Pear Culturist. It is a
complete directory in whatever pertains to the cultivation of this delicious fruit, and
will be found of the greatest value to the thousands engaging in its culture, but in-
experienced, and consequently feeling the want of just such plain, common sense,
practical instruction as is here found. The work contains thirty-five engravings, of
great merit, beautifully colored, representing the fruit as growing on the tree and in
its perfection — enough to make any man's mouth water, if not entirely insensible to
the pleasures of taste. The mechanical execution is equal to anything we recollect
to have seen from the American press. We heartily commend the work to all, but
especially to all who are, or would be, cultivators of choice fruits. By the aid of
this book, the mechanic with a patch of land, the farmer at his country-seat, and
the retired merchant at his — all very good seats if well filled, and either just about
as desirable as the others — can supply their families -with delicious pears nearly the
whole year, at less than half the expense they are willing to pay for inferior lux-
uries.

The Farmer's and Planter's Encyclopaedia. Compiled by Cuthbert W. Johnston,
Esq. Adapted to the United States by Gouverneur Emerson, M.D. Republished
in this country by A. O. Moore, agricultural publisher, 140 Fulton street, New-
York.

In a former notice we said that Cuthbert W, Johnson is one of the best of English
writers on agi-iculture ; that Dr. Emerson has done his part of the Avork with great
ability ; and that the publisher puts it before the American public, in the usually
elegant and substantial style of that house, at the price of four dollars. We took
occasion then to say, and we now repeat, that by an arrangement between ourselves
and the publisher, Ave can forward it to our subscribers, postage prepaid, for that
price, if it will accommodate them. It contains about 1200 pages, and is a very elab-
orate work, combining a vast amount of information on all important subjects per-
taining to the interests of the husbandman.

^^ No woman can be a lady who would wound or mortify another. No matter
how beautiful, how refined, or how cultivated she may be, she is in reality coarse,
and the innate vulgarity of her nature manifests itself here. Uniformly kind, cour-
teous, and polite treatment of all persons, is one mark of a true woman.

^^° The Albany Knickerbocker gives the following recipe to destroy flies:
" Take a boarding house 2)ie, cut it into thin slices, and lay it where tlie flies can
have full access to it. In less tlian fifteen minutes, the whole cobodle of them will
Avill be dead with the colic.

Book Notices, etc. 3t7

Editor's Table.

Our own Matters. — In a sort of confidential tete-a-tetc (literally head to head, c r
confab) with our readers, they will not deem us talkative if we tell them, in a sly
sort of a way, that we are short of money about this time. They have not sent
us much of late. With most of them, we suppose, it is because they had
paid up long ago, and that is an unq[uestionably good reason. With others, we
reckon, it is because the times are hard — a pretty good reason also, and one that
disarms us of all fault-finding, but does not help us a whit, since the times are a
little harder for publishers than for any others. If a boot pinches it is hard to feel
good natured, though no one but ourselves may be in fault. But there are other
pinches quite as bad to bear as that of a tight fit in the region of the toes, and we
only want to say to our paid-up subscribers, that if they will renew pretty prompt-
ly for the next volume, on the cash principle, it will \\e\\) us mightily through these
hard times, and we must say to those not paid \\\>, that we suppose the times may be
hard with them ; that we know it is difficult to transmit in the present deranged
state of things, and that we will not take them by the throat, as we ourselves would
not like to be garroted, but that if they can help us a little just at this time, we will
never forget it of them.

Next of Your Affairs. — ^Agriculture is the greatest and the best employment for
man. He who lives by the plow and draws from the earth food, clothing and wealtli
for all, and is contented with a remunerating price for the results of his skill and
labor, training a family, the while, to virtue and usefulness, amid the ever changing,
but always glorious scenes of nature, is nature's nobleman ; and if a higher civilization
and a purer Chi-istianity shall ever bless mankind, this will be acknowledged by all.
The prominent ideas of a patent nobility are, that it owns the soil, enjoys special
privileges, and is to be iipheld by government, in spite of folly, in spite of prodigal-
ity, in spite of itself. American farmers own the soil, bear special burdens, and
stand in spite of everything but themselves. All must feed, clothe and perpetuate a
patent nobility. American farmers feed all, clothe all, and perpetuate mostly what-
ever there is of good among us — stand on their own foundation and uphold the re.
public — a proud position, but one full of responsibility, whose merited honors they
can cause to be acknowledged only by aspiring to a high intelligence for them-
selves and their children, it being as fixed as the decrees of fate, tliat evciy calling,
whatever its intrinsic merit, will be, in the esteem of mankind, about according to
the enterprise and intelligence of those who practice it. Lay in, then, as the winter
with long evenings approaches, the best of reading for yourselves and families. If
lectures can be obtained for the gratification of the young people, see that you do
not undervalue them. You might prefer a warm fire-side and a book or a friend
for a winter evening's enjoyment, but the young have special tastes, and they should
be gratified in all ways consonent Avith your means and their happiness. The
young in our farm-houses should have their social enjoyments, their innocent plea-
sures, and their means of improvement. Let none of them, as they look back ft'cm
any future point of being, have occasion to regret, but rather to rejoice, that they
were born on a farm. The farm is not alone for raising the inferior animals, but is
the best place in the world for raising men and women.

A Short Trip. — Since our last we have been out the length of Long Island. It
has King's county, of Brooklyn, and four or five smaller towns on the west ; Queen's
county, some ten times as large, next, and Suffolk county, east of Queen's, extending
to Montauk Point, nearly a hundred miles in length. King's and Queen's, being in

378 Booh Notices^ etc.

the vicinity of New-York, are for the most part thickly settled and pretty well cul-
tivated. The same is true of the north and south shores, and the east end of Suffolk
county. But in the central region of the island, in Suffolk count}', is a region forty
miles long, and from four or five to eight or nine miles wide, embracing from 150,000
to 200,000 acres, j-et as new as the prairies of Nebraska. The land, as it lies on each
side of the L. I. R. R., is nearlj'^ nude, the trees having been cut off for wood, time
out of mind, as soon as grown large enough to be worth cutting. About the soil
there is much dispute, the islanders saying generally that it is worth little or no-
thing for agricultural purposes, while the holders are asking for it all sorts of prices,
from twenty dollars an acre upwards. The soil appears to be of a sandy loam, of
one, two, or three feet thickness, lying on a deposit of great depth made np of coarse
sand and gravel. Extreme opinions about its value prevail, and such a thing as a
medium opinion, or one that we could look upon as reasonable we do not recollect
to have heard expressed. Said one man, with whom we were sitting in the cars,
whom we took to be a farmer of the island, " You could not afford to farm this land
if it were given you." Five minutes after, at a station, we met an old acquaintance,
now a farmer in that neighborhood, who told us that all that vast track is worth
from thirty to one hundred and thirty doUai-s an acre ; that he was farming a por-
tion of it, and would like to see better crops than he raised, but would have to go
far to find them. We asked him, " Is it selling for such prices ?" His reply was,
"The holders never will sell it for less." We saw that there is a quarrel about it, in
which the borders of the island are at war with the center, and that hence the ques-
tion of the availability of this land for agricultural purposes has become one of all
extremes and no means. Further than this the whole thing is a mystery to us. In
a few days we hope to visit the region again, and till then we shall very much sus-
pect that this land is neither worth as much as good farms already under cultiva-
tion at the same distance from market, nor yet that it is worth absolutely nothing ;
but that the truth lies somewhere between. All agree that the climate is good,
milder both in summer and winter than the mainland. It is from thirty to seventy
miles from New-York. A well managed railroad runs through the whole extent-
Much of it is well watered, and over nearly the whole tract, the best of water, we
understand, can be obtained by digging, in most eases, to no very great depths. If
this land can be obtained at a fair outlay, and made productive at a moderate ex-
pense, we see not why, on account of its proximity to the city and its excellent rail-
road privileges, it should not be occupied before another two hundred years of dense
settlement and high cultivation all around it.

HuxGARiAN Grass. — ^From River Head, a flourishing town at the head of Pcconic
Bay, we brought home a sample of this new grass. It is said that a wandering
Pole gave the first seed ever seen in this country to an Iowa farmer, who has since
cultivated it, and scattered the seed among his neighbors, till now it has become
generally disseminated in that country, and is highly valued, but has yet gone but
little beyond. Mr. David Davis, of River Head, received from Wm. D. Wilson,
editor of the Iowa i^ar»zcr, about two spoonfuls of the seed, and sowed three-fourths
of it on a plot sLxteen feet by ten, or one himdred and sixty square feet. The result
was two stout crops, each growth equal to about a pretty good crop of oats, and
yielding six or seven quarts of seed. The stalks grow from three to four feet high,
and put forth broad leaves to very near the top; heads from three to four inches
long, very large and full of seeds, resembling somewhat those of herdsgrass, but
larger, and very full of seeds, which are of a dark color, but in size resemble those of
red clover, Mr. D. says cattle and horses are exceedingly fond of this grass, whether

Booh Notices, etc. 379

green or cured into hay ; that it requires to be sown each spring, but will produce
two crops; and that so far as he can judge from a single experiment in a small way,
he believes it will be quite equal the glowing accounts published in Iowa, and may
be of great benefit to Long Island fiirmers.

Chinese Sugar Cane.— Mr. Isaac Swasey, of River Head, cultivated half an acre
of this plant, made syrup from it, with some difficulty for want of suitable apparatus,
but good; thinks nothing could be better, and is convinced that the plant will prove
of great value for our country. Of this we can only say that if it has done well in
so many cases as are reported from all over the country, in an uncommonly cold,
wet summer, may we not hope that it will do still better in more favorable seasons,
and that, as we gain more experience in its culture and uses, it may prove increas-
ingly valuable 1 It is now past a doubt that excellent crystalizcd sugar has been
made from it in the most northern States. This was, perhaps, more by accident than
from any definite knowledge of the best process. But if it has been done in a few
cases, without experience and without the desired apparatus, does not this encourage
the hope, that with these it may be done hereafter with as much certainty as at-
tends other branches of production ? And if this is partially hopeful for the north,
how much more so for the sunnier south ? There is now, certainly, very great en-
couragement for giving the new sugar cane a thorough trial in every part of the
country.

In this last number for the current year and volume we close, as we began, with
good wishes for our subscribers, soliciting so many of them as will consent to go
with us into another year, to renew their subscriptions in good time, that we may
be enabled to serve them and their cause efficiently. Send us some of the needful
for these hard times, and, what is more, send us facts, as they occur in your business,
that our future pages may be intei-spersed with matters of practical interest, direct
from the farm, the garden, the field, the pasture and the stock yard.

In the multiplicity of writers there is safety. Wholesome discussions will arise ;
new thoughts will be suggested; and all will be benefitted.

Chinese Sugar Cane in the far West.

A writer in the Ohio Cultivator, Avriting from Nebraska, says: — "About twenty
acres of sugar cane has been raised in this county, and all done welL One gentle-
man has made three barrels of molasses."

The editor of the Maysville (Cal.) Herald, as quoted in the California Farmer, in
describing a field in his neighborhood, gives the following rather tall story, as we
should think, though there is "no telling" what those California valleys will pro-
duce :

The average height of the stalks in this field, we should judge to be at the least
ten feet — more than two feet higher than the average in the East, so far as we are
able to ascertain. Many of the stalks are much higher, and we measured one that
was 14 feet 4 inches in length and six inches and-a-half in circumference. This Avas
the highest stalk of fifteen, all of which grew from a single seed. Nine of the stalks
%vere over ten feet heigh, and the average bight of the others was about eight feet.
These fifteen stalks weighed fifty pounds, produced ten pounds of the seed, and in
the opinion of Mr. Adams, would yield half a gallon of syrup, and leave over thirty
pounds of excellent fodder. All this from a single seed no larger than a kernel of
buckwheat. What amount of syrup or sugar could be made from the entire crop,
with suitable apparatus, we are unable to state with any degree of accuracy, but
the amount of fodder from an acre is at least six times as great as Indian corn pro-
duces, and cattle prefer it to all other kinds. The sorghum should not be planted in
the immediate vicinity of either Indian corn or broom corn, as it readily hybridises.

380 Markets.

Curculio.

Mr. Walker, of Kentucky, through the Ohio Valley Farmer, suggests the follow
ing remedy: "As soon as the fruit is attacked take a tin-pan, into -which soap-suds
has been placed to the depth of an inch or two; place it in the tree and place a
small glass globe lamp in the middle of the pan, -wliich permit to burn all night.
In darting towards the light, the curculios strike the glass, and are precipitated into
the liquid, from which they are unable to extricate themselves."

"We know nothing of this prescription, further than from the above, but it could
be easily tried, and we should think the experiment might be worth making. Ee-
member it till next June and then see for yourself. — Ed.

Market Items.

The General Produce Markets, yesterday, opened very heavily for nearly all the
leading articles, especially Flour and Wheat, as well as for hog products, all of
which decreased in value, without finding more extensive purchasers. Cotton and
groceries were rather quiet, though quoted firm. Freights were dull and droop-
ing.—iV. Y. Daily Times, Dec. 1, 1857.

The sales of cotton yesterday embraced about 600 bales, based upon middling up-
lands at life., and good middling do. at 12c. The foreign news by the Fulton and
the favorable prospects of re-opening the Erie canal, in whole or in good part, com-
bined to depress the market for flonr and wheat.

The market for flour was heavy, and prices declined from 10c. to 15c. per barrel,
while sales were moderate and chiefly confined to the local and eastern trade.
Wheat was from 3c. to 5c. per bushel lower, and sales light. Corn was scarce and
firm at 90c. for Western mixed ; sales of Southern white at 92c. to 94c. Pork was
heavy and prices tended downward, while sales were moderate. — New-York Herald,
Dec. 1, 1857.

Provisions. — Pork is heavy and drooping. Sales, 450 barrels, in lots, at $1 8 for Mess,
and $16 to $16 50 for Prime per barrel. Stock of Pork in the packing-yards of New-
York and Brooklyn, 4,359 barrels, Dec. 1, 1857 ; 10,109 barrels, Nov. 1, 1857, and
8,390 barrels, Dec. 1, 1856. Cut Meats are quiet and languid at gjc. to lO^c. for
new pickled Hams, and 7^c, to 8c. for Shoulders per lb. Smoked Bacon 12e. per
lb. Lard appears heavy and declining. The transactions since our last embrace
250 barrels fair to prime, at 10c. to lOfc. per lb. Beef is inactive and drooping.
The transactions since our last consist of 170 barrels, in lots at $12 to $13 50 for re-
packed Western Mess; $14 25 to $14 75 for extra do., $9 to $10 50 for country
Mess, and $5 75 to $7 for do. Prime per barrel. Prime Mess Beef, $19 to $24 per
tierce. Beef Hams, $14 50 to $17 per barrel. Stock of beef in the packing yards,
27,095 tierces and barrels, Dec. 1, 1857 ; 9,085 tierces and barrels, Nov. 1, 1857, and
10,228 tierces and barrels, Dec. 1, 1856. Butter is in fair command at steady rates,
12c. to 17c. for Ohio ; 15c. to 21c. for common to very good State, and 22c. to 25c.
for prime to choice do. per lb. Cheese is plenty and saleable, at 6c. to 8^c. for com-
mon to prime per lb. — N. Y. Daily Times, Dec. 2, 1857.

Bull's Head. — The prospect of supply and price of cattle at Bull's Head to-day,
from all that could be learned last evening in Forty-fourth street, was that the num-
ber and price would be about the same as last week — that is, 10 cents for good cat-
tle, and 10| and 11 cents for those of extra quality. The high tariff" upon Western
cattle over the railroads is cutting off" the supply and keeping the price up. It is a
questionaVjle policy for railroads to enhance the price of necessaries of life at such a
time as this by increasing freight — since it lessens the receipts of the roads, while
it increases the cost to all consumers of meat. — N. Y. Daily Tribune, Dec. 1, 1857.

Those of our subscribers who receive bills in their Magazine, and any others who
have not sent us all their dues, will confer a special favor by enclosing to us with-
out delay. Bills current with them will be received at par. We trust our friends
will favor us by prompt remittances. V \

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