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r 


.■tMm^^    VOL.  VII.    .^ 


1-/0  0  0 


N'tiW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  MYRON  FINCH,  No.  9  SPRUCE  STREET,  FOR  THE  PROPUIETOE. 

1855. 


JOHN    A.    GRAY, 

PRINTER, 

9-5  &  97  Cliff,  cor.  Frankfort  St. 


INDEX    TO    VOLUME    VII. 

From  July,  1854,  to  June,  1855. 

The  reader  will  please  note  the  divisions  pf  the  Index  of  this  volume,  as  divided 
according  to  the  arrangement  of  the  articles  under  its  general  heads.  The  first  is  of 
treatises  in  the  body  of  the  work.  The  second  includes  what  is  treated  of  in  the 
Miscellaneous,  Editorial  Jottings,  and  the  Mechanical  Record.  The  third  is  an  index 
to  American  Patents,  and  the  fourth  to  English  Patents.  Reference  is  made  some- 
times to  the  same  topic  under  several  of  these ,  divisions.  If  a  pai'ticular  title  is  not 
found  in  one  it  may  be  in  another. 


^ 


«0 


Acids  for  the  Mint,  The  Factory  of,  740. 
Adulteration  of  Manures,  227. 
Agriculture  of  Japan,  141. 

"         Practical,  732. 

"         Science  in,  385. 

"         State  Patronage  of,  648. 
Agricultural  Capacities  of  Texas,  586. 

"         Education  in  Ohio,  340. 

"  "         in  Tennessee,  C04. 

"         Societies  in  Massachusetts,  91. 

«  "        in  N.  Carolina,  333. 

"  "        in  Tennessee,  004. 

"         Statistics,  198. 
Agriculturists  in  Palestine,  American,  745. 
Alloys,  in  Relation  to  their  Chem.  Comp.,  235. 
American  and  English  Iron,  '.i97. 
"        Gas  Company,  361. 
"        Industry,  7<i,  641. 
"        Patents,  705. 
"       Pomological  Society,  423. 
"        Solidified  Milk,  501. 
Amoskeag  Machine  Shop,  l(l9. 
Annual  Fairs,  Repi  rts  of,  286. 

"         "     The  Policy  of,  449,  532,  577,  C49. 
Apples,  Large,  .508. 
Architecture,  331,  388. 
Armament  of  a  Ship  of  War,  117. 
Artiflcial  Manures,  401,  4S5. 
Asparagus,  32,  344. 
Atlantic  Cotton  Mills,  487. 
Baby  Stiow  in  Springfield,  O.,  290. 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  460. 
Barbadoes  Tar  for  Horses,  542. 
Bare-Footed  Printer  Boy,  602. 
Barn,  A  model,  215. 
Barn,  The  Sliaker,  38. 
Beams,  The  Strength  of,  409, 560. 
Bee  Hive,  Or.  Eddy's  Protective,  356. 
Bees,  The  Transfer  of,  540. 
Benefits  of  Fairs,  321,  649. 
Biography  of  .lohn  Stewart  Skinner,  1. 
"         of  Hon.  M.  P.  Wilder,  472. 
"         of  E.  B.  Bieelow,  545. 
Birds,  Their  Utility,  230. 
Blacksmithing,  Science  in, 359. 
Bog  Meadows  Reclaimed,  607, 
Boots  and  Shoes,  New  Kind  of,  98. 
Boyden's  Place,  Topsfield,  Mass.,  268. 
Bread,  Good  Corn,  605. 

"      Corn,  and  Rye,  and  Indian,  8S6. 
Breckenrid^e  Cannel  Coal,  33. 
Brush,  Machine  for  Chopping,  569. 
Building  Materials,  193,269,  461. 
Butter  Making,  679 
Caen  Stone,  461. 
California,  Stage  Route  to,  405. 
Candle  Making,  618. 
Cane  Field,  Guano  in  the,  143. 
jQannoD,  Breech-loading,  744. 


Car  Ventilator,  Lancaster's,  170. 
Gary's  Rotary  Pump,  44. 
Cashmere  Goats,  496. 
Cast  Iron  flouses,  498. 
Cattle  and  the  Prospect,  670. 
Cattle,  Experiments  in  Fattening,  277. 
"      Keep  Iheni  well  Fed,  201, 
"     Breeds  of,  725. 
Charcoal  a  Disinfecting  Agent,  404. 

"        Properties  of,  021. 
Cheap  Candles,  211. 

Chemical  E.xamination  of  the  Cob  of  Maize,  481. 
"        Effects  of  certain  Fertilizers  on  the  Po- 
tato, 590. 
Chalk,  611. 

Chicago,  Statistics  of,  30. 
Chloroform  for  Animals,  542. 
Church  Architecture— Trinity  Chapel,  743. 
Cinciimati  Horticultural  Society,  677. 
Cincinnati  and  Charleston  Railway,  169. 
Climate,  657. 

Coal,  How  they  dig  Anthracite,  354. 
"     Repeal  of  the  Duty  on,  470. 
"     Fields  of  the  World,  138. 
Coffee,  Good,  490. 

"      at  Moch,a,  211. 
Colors  of  Hangings,  Furniture,  &c.,  612. 
Combined  Steam,  220. 
Commerce  is  King,  513. 
Composition  for  Roofs,  &c.,  558. 
Connecticut  State  Fair,  288. 
Copper  Mines  in  South  Africa,  623. 
Corn  Cob,  Chemical  Examination  of,  481. 
Corn,  Fine  Field  of,  402. 
"     forFodder,  212,  590. 
"     in  New-Hampshire,  478. 
"      its  culture,  595. 
"     Bread,  Good,  565. 
"     and  Rye  and  Indian  Bread,  086. 
"     the  Staple  of  Ohio,  398. 
"     Statistics  in  France,  482,  726. 
Cotton  and  its  Culture,  661. 
•<     Culture,  Rotation  in,  399. 
"     Crop,  Importance  of,  347. 
«     Gin,  A  new,  730. 
Cows,  Diseases  of  Uddf  r  and  Teats  of,  347. 

"     Succulent  Food  for  MilcU,  345. 
Cranberries  on  High  Ground,  235. 
Crescent  Iron  Works,  231. 
Crops  in  Viginia  390,  480. 
Cross'  Patent  Grape  Frame,  293. 
Cryptomeria  Japonica,  736. 
Crystal  Palace,  49. 
Cultivation  of  Sandy  Soils,  486. 

"  What  is  it?  153. 

Culture  of  Flax  at  the  West,  280. 
"       of  the  Orange,  610. 
"      of  the  Pelargonium,  673. 
"       of  the  Potato,  594. 


590642 


ro 


IV. 


Index. 


Culture  of  the  Rose,  535. 
"       of  the  Tomato,  014. 
"       of  the  Verbena,  in  Pots,  2S1. 
Curculio,  Remedy  lor  the,  97. 
Cure  for  Garget  and  for  Wounds,  119. 
Curiosities  of  British  Census,  202. 
Curious,  Something  for  the,  351. 
Cuttin?  Met:ils,  New  iMachine  for,  294. 
Cylindrical  Steam  Valve,  502. 
Cypress  Vine,  872. 
Daisy,  Chrysanthemums,  38. 
Dahlia,  The,  89.  673. 

Decomposition  of  Water  and  Steam  by  Heat.,  682. 
Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western,  Railroad,  73. 
D'uvvood,  the  Residence  of  John  J.  Smith,  Esq., 

Germantown,  Pa.,  714. 
Detroit,  84. 

Dilatation  of  Cast  Iron  by  successive  Heat,  166. 
Dock  Railway,  Liver, lOo],  534. 
Drought  in  Hawkins  County,  Tenn.,  .340. 

"       in  Lamoille  County,  Vt.,  177. 
Drying  Fruit,  204,  2S3. 
Elastic  Power  Accumulators,  234. 
Electricity,  Weaving  by,  229. 
Electrotyptug,  175.  v 

Envelopes,  Manufacture  of,  223. 

"  "  Stamped,  742. 

Esse,\  County,  Mass.,  Agr.  Reports  of,  456. 
Experiments  in  Fattening  Cattle,  277, 
Fairs  and  Humbugs,  632, 

"    of  1654,  List  of  State,  53. 

"    their  Benefits,  &c.,  321,  577, 649, 
Fall  River  Company,  21, 
Farmers'  Sales  and  City  Prices,  525. 
Farming,  Wasteful,  533. 

"        Another  Specimen  of,  282. 
"        in  E.  Tennessee,  065, 
"        Profits  ol,  720. 
"        on  Tar  River,  391. 
Fat  Hogs,  479. 

Fattening  Cattle,  Experiments  in,  277. 
Feed,  Turnips  as. 
Fence,  A  Good  Wire,  417,  499, 
Fis,  The,  88. 

Fires,  Best  Position  of,  491. 
First  Milk,  is  it  poisonous?  142. 
Fisher's  Steam  Carriage,  116. 
Flax,  Culture  of,  151,  581. 

"     at  the  West,  Culture  of,  280. 

"      Manufacture,  584. 
Food,  The  Best  Sort  of,  351 
Forest  Trees,  28,  200,  271. 
France,  Wine  Trade  of,  523,      - 
Franklin  County  Agr.  Society,  37, 
Fruit,  Take  Care  of  your,  604. 

"      Drying  ot,  205,283. 

"      Trees  in  1854,  Flowering  of,  4S3. 

"  "     Mulching  ol,  510. 

"  "     Preservation  of,  226. 

"  "     Raising,  152. 

Galls  on  Horses,  408. 
Garden,  Vegetable,  672, 

''       Flower,  672. 
Garget,  Cure  for,  119, 
Uas  Stove,  New,  497, 

'•     in  the  N.  A.  States,  624, 
Gin,  A  new  Cotton,  730. 
Glass,  Manufacture  of  Plate,  494. 
Glue  for  Plants,  469. 
Golden  or  Basket  Willow,  S9. 
Grand  National  Cattle  Shi.w,  31, 144. 
Granite  and  Sienite  BuildingStones,  269. 
Grape,  Culture  of  the,  293, 738. 

"  "        in  Ohio,  34L 

Grapes  in  December,  617. 

''      in  Kssex  Couuiy,  Mass.,  400. 
Grease  or  Scratches,  146. 
Great  Mechanical  Feat,  106. 
Greatest  Grain  Port  in  the  World,  605. 
Grouping  of  Koses,  537. 
GuaiiO  in  the  Cane  Field,  143,  731 

''     on  Potatoes,  353. 
G Wynne's  Pumps,  303. 
Harrow,  Universal  Flexion,  235. 


Hazel  Rods,  2(58. 
Health,  Robust,  651. 
Heaves  or  Broken  Wind,  352. 
Hemp,  Water  Rotted,  22. 
Hereditary  Spavin,  433. 

Hous,  Peas  &  Sweet  Potatoes  for  fattening,  731, 
Hoof-Bound,  544, 
Homography,  360. 
Honey,  Improvement  of,  724. 
Hops  in  Lamoille  County,  Vt.,  345. 
Horn  Ail.  541. 

Horse,  The,  407,  408,  544,  592,  683, 
"     How  lo  judge  a,  726. 
"      To  stop  a  Runaway;  276, 
Horse  shoeing,  592. 
Horses,  Barbadoes  Tar  for,  542. 

"      New  Mode  of  Breaking,  407. 
Horticultural,  672,  734. 

"  Society,  Cincinnati,  677. ' 

How  much  Lime  do  Soils  need?  471. 
How  Railroads  Increase  Wealth,  335. 
Hydraulic  Rams,  Strode's,  418. 
Illinois  Marble,  21. 
Illumination  under  Water,  405. 
Importance  of  Farm  Registers  and  Accounts,  063. 
Improved  Stereoscopes,  008, 

«         Suffolk  Swine,  140. 
Improvement  in  Rolling  Railroad  Bars,  221. 

"  of  Honey,  724. 

Indian  Corn,  Important  Crop,  595,  C43,  644, 
"         "     Culture  of  in  New-Hampshire,  478. 
"         "     The  Staple  of  Ohio,  398. 
Industry,  Results  of  American,  70. 
Influence  of  Agricultural  Societies,  136. 

"        and  Improvement  of  the  Subsoil,  420, 
"        of  Taste  in  Rural  Homes,  660. 
International  Transportation  and  Travel,  059. 
Iron,  English  and  American,  297, 
"    Houses,  111,  498, 
"    Manufacture,  Renton  Process,  366. 
"     Smelting,  Theory  ot,  103, 
"    Trade  oi  Sweden  and  Norway,  517, 
"    Works,  Crescent,  231. 
"    and  Zinc,  Manulacture  of  Slags,  362. 
Italian  Rye  Grass,  484. 
Japan  Cedar,  736. 
Kislichy,  a  Beverage,  713, 
Labor  in  the  South,  Respectability  of,  133. 
Large  Apples,  508. 
Largest  Mill  in  the  World,  309,  427, 
Laws  of  Health,  717. 
Lawton  Blackberry,  210. 
Lime,  its  Uses,  &c.,  355, 471. 
Linen,  729. 

Lines  of  Railroads  between  the  E.  and  W.,  587, 
Lists  of  Patents,  62,  125,  189,  253,  319,  383,  447, 

511,  575,  039,  702,  759. 
London,  How  Smoke  is  made  in,  62S. 
Long  Island,  Sandy  Soils  of,  4t-6.  529, 
Louisville,  Mechanic  Arts  at,  S37. 
Lowell  Wire  Fence,  499. 
Machine  for  Making  Chain  Links,  567. 
"       for  Chopping  Brush,  569. 
"       for  Cutting  Metals,  294. 
"       Winnowing,  233. 
Management  of  Fairs,  321,  532,  577,  649. 
Manufacture  of  Envelopes,  228. 

"  ''       for  Government,  742. 

of  Flax,  5S4. 
"  of  Plate  Glass,  494. 

Manufactures,  Value  of,  493. 
Manures,  Artificial,  401,  485. 
"        Adulteration  of,  227. 
"         Mineral,  93. 
"         Nascent,  606. 
"         their  Use,  223. 
Marble,  for  Buildin.g,  193. 

«     Illinois,  21, 
Maryland  State  Soc,  Proposed  Premiums,  214, 
Mechanics'  Exhibition,  Portland,  292. 
Mechanic  Arts  at  Louisville,  337. 
Mechanics,  Progress  of,  40, 
Memphis,  Enterprise,  &c,,  836. 
Meteorological,  688. 


Index. 


Metropolitan  Mechanics'  Iiis=titute,  421 

Michigan,  Population  of,  489. 

Microscopic  Plants,  461. 

Milch  Cows,  Succulent  Food  for,  315 

Milk  in  Bread,  528. 

Mineral  Resources  of  Virginia  and  N.  Care,  176, 

Minnesota,  Condition  and  Prospects  of,  493. 

Mines,  Minerals,  and  Manufactures  in  East  Ten- 
nessee, 219. 

Mississippi  Planter,  The,  203. 

"  an  Agricultural  State,  145. 

Mulchin?  Fruit  Trees,  Spent  Tan  and  Sawdust 
for,  530. 

Music,  New,  61,  251,  316,  574,  702. 

Musical,  441. 

Musquit  Tree,  The,  419. 

Musquitoes,  Anatomy  and  Propagation  of,  409. 

Nascent  Manures,  660. 

National  Cattle  Show.  144. 

Natural  Coke  in  Va.,  90. 

Nemophila,  The,  076. 

New  Booksj^ei,  124,  ISO,  254,  316,  381,  442,509, 

New-England  Horse  Show,  289. 

New  Gas  Stove,  497. 

New  Music,  61,  254,  316,  574,  702. 

New  Tree,  85. 

Nitrogen,  Origin  of,  433. 

Observations  on  the  Drought  in  Lamoille  County, 

Vt.,  177.  ' 

Ohio,  Agricultural  Education  in,  340. 

"     Corn  the  Staple  of.  898. 

"     Grape  Culture  and  Wine  Manu.  in,  341. 
Orange,  Culture  of  the,  610. 
Origin  of  Nitrogen,  433. 
Osage  Orange,  673. 
Pacific  Railroad,  65,  72,  131,  324,  393. 
Paints  for  Buildings,  236. 
Patents,  Lists  of,  6i,  125,  189,  255,  319,  333,  447, 

511,575.639,702,759. 
Paulownia  Imperialis,  209. 
Peach  Trees  Killed  by  Cold,  676,  737,  740 

"     Rot,  358. 
Pear  Blight,  99. 
Peat  on  Potatoes,  353. 
Pelargonium,  The  Culture  of,  673. 
Photography,  5Gi. 
Pie  Plant,  39. 

Piggery,  Description  of  a,  47. 
Pike  County,  Illinois,  37. 
Planting  in  iMississippi,  104. 
Plate  Glass,  Manufacture  of,  494. 
Ploughs,  their  Construction,  &e.,414. 
Ploughing,  Amount  of  travel  in,  071. 
Plum  Trees,  C78,  735. 
Plumbago  Larpentre,  The,  675. 
Policy  of  Annual  Fairs,  &c.,  321,  449,  532. 
Pomological  Congress,  Third,  338. 
Post  Oak  Glade  Land,  606. 
Potato  Culture,  The,  590, 594. 
Potomac,  Waier  Power  of  the,  559. 
Poudrette,  Home  Manufacture  of,  403. 
Practical  Science  of  Candle  Making,  018. 
Preservation  of  Wheat  in  Tennessee,  103. 
Principles  of  Agriculture,  716. 
Principles  of  this  Journal,  54. 
Printing,  The  Art  of,  40. 
Products  of  French  Colonics  in  Algiers,  at  Paris, 

Profits  of  Farming,  720. 

Pruning  Trees  at  Transplanting,  273. 

Pumps,  Gary's,  45. 

"        Gwynnes,  .363. 
Quick  Lime  in  High  Furnaces,  Employment  of. 

Rags,-  A  substitute  for,  406. 

Railroad  Bars,  Improvement  in  Rolling,  221. 

"        Fares  in  Virginia,  139. 

"       Routes  to  the  Pacific,  131,  324. 
Railroads,  Inventor  of,  110. 

*'  How  they  Increase  Wealth,  335. 

"  Security  on,  110. 

"  Western,  464. 

Railways  in  Russia,  589. 


Railways  to  the  Pacific,  393. 
Railway,  Royal  Danish,  465. 
Raising  Fruit  Trees,  152. 
Remedy  for  the  Curculio,  97. 
Repeal  of  the  Duty  on  Coal,  470. 
Results  of  American  Industry,  70. 
Rose,  Culture  of  the,  535. 
Roses,  Grouping  of,  537. 
Root  Crops,  How  to  Raise,  29. 
"  Value  of,  216,  531. 

Rotation  in  Cotton  Culture,  399. 
Rumination,  342. 
Ruta  Baga,  234. 
■Sal  Ammoniac,  Employment  of  in  Steam  Boilers, 

173. 
Sandy  Soils,  Cultivation  of,  480,  529. 
Science  and  the  People,  42. 
"      in  Agriculture,  385. 
"     in  Blacksmithing,  359. 
Sculpture  and  Sculptors,  50, 113. 
Security  on  Railroads,  110. 
Shaker  Barn,  The,  .38. 
Sheep  and  "Wool,  389,  458,  603. 
Shoe  Business,  112. 
Shrubbery,  357. 

Skinner,  Biographical  Notice  of  John  S.,  1. 
Social  Position  of  the  Farmer  and  Mechanic,  207. 
Solidified  Milk,  285. 
Southern  Crops,  Why  not  more  productive  ?  652. 

"         Progress,  213. 
Spice  Orchard,  A,  55. 
Spider,  The,  601. 

Spiral  Turning  in  a  Common  Lathe,  298. 
State  Fairs  for  1654, 119. 

"     Patronage  of  Agriculture,  453,  G48,  649. 
Statistics  of  Chicago,  30. 
"        of  Sonoma,  199. 
"        of  St.  Louis,  129. 
"        Valuable,  326,  543. 
Statues.  IIow  Made,  107. 
Steam  Boilers,  Use  of  Sal  Ammoniac  to  prevent 

Incrustations  in,  173. 
Steam  Carriages  and  their  Enemies,  156. 
"  "         Fisher's,  116. 

''     Valve,  Bloomer's  Cylindrical,  502. 
Stereoscopes,  Mascher's,  6(18,  687. 
Stereotyping,  The  Art  of,  41. 
Strength  of  Beams,  409,  500. 
Subsoil,  Influence  and  improvement  of  the,  420. 
Substitute  for  Rags  in  Paper-making,  406. 
Suflolk  Swine,  Improved,  140. 
Suspenders,  723. 
Swine,  457. 

Taste  in  Rural  Homes,  660. 
Telegraph  round  the  World,  620. 

"  Submarine,  622. 

Texas,  Agricultural  Capacities  of,  586. 
Transplanting  in  Autumn,  277. 

"  Pruning  Trees  at,  273. 

Transportation  and  Travel,  International,  659. 
Trees  and  Shrubs,  newer  Deciduous,  80. 
Turnips,  as  Feed,  492. 
Turpentine  Convention,  462. 
U.  Stales  Agricultural  Society,  456,  567. 
Valuable  Statistics,  826,  543. 
Vegetable  Physiology,  257. 

"  Garden,  672. 

Verbena,  Pot  Culture  of,  281. 
Virginia,  Crops  in,  396,  480. 
Wasteful  Farming,  533. 
Water  Power  on  the  Potomac,  559. 

"     Rotted  Hemp,  22. 
Weaving  by  Electricity,  229. 
Welch  Anhydrous  Cement,  558. 
Western  Railroads,  464. 
Wheat,  150. 
Wheat  in  Tennessee,  Preservation  of,  103. 

"      The  Neplus  Ultra,  421. 
White  Golden  Fhnt  Wheat,  566. 
Willimantic,  Ct.,  and  its  Factories,  82. 
Wine  Trade  of  France,  523. 
AVinuowing  Machine,  233. 
Wire  Fence,  New,  417,  499. 
Wool,  What  Food  Will  produce  most,  728. 


VI. 


Index. 


mDEX  TO  MISCELLANY,  EDITORS'  JOTTINGS  &  MECHANICAL  RECORD. 


Agriculture  in  France,  634. 

Algeria,  Productions  of,  432. 

Americaa  Wire,  60. 

Anastatic  Printing,  507. 

Anoesthetic  Agent,  A  New,  635, 

Apples  for  Market,  429. 

Arkansas,  Progress  in,  636. 

Attaching  Car  Wheels  to  Axles,  57. 

Baby  Shows,  182,  482. 

Bending  Ship  Timber,  634. 

Black-Knot,  Remedy  for,  428. 

Brass  a  Dull  Black  Color,  To  gire,  504. 

Breckenridge  and  Cannel  Coal  Co.,  253. 

Breeding  Ewes,  Winter  Feed  foi-,  429. 

Brown  or  Red  Sandstone,  433. 

Butter  Sale,  245. 

Bridge,  An  immense,  57. 

Brilliant  White -wash,  58. 

Camden  and  Amboy  Railroad,  ISO. 

Car  Shops,  431. 

Cashmere  Shawls,  59. 

Caulkins,  John  &.,  his  Umbrellas,  &c.,  753, 

Clock  Manufiictory,  Jerome's,  246. 

Clothing  Business  in  Boston,  123. 

Coal  in  Indiana,  309. 

"   Mines  in  Tennessee,  571. 

"   Trade,  506. 
Composition  of  Eggs,  430. 
Concord  Grape.  253. 
Connecticut  Wine,  253, 
Copper  in  Tennessee,  432, 
Corn  Planters,  57. 
Cotton  Manufactories  at  the  South-West,  123. 

"      Plaster  and  Guano  for,  370. 
Creeping  Things,  121. 
Crops  in  England  and  Ireland,  253. 
Curculio,  Fencing  out  the,  56. 
Curious  English  Statistics,  252. 
Deformed  Roots,  571. 
Dickens'  Household  Words,  372. 
Drawbridge  Signal.'lSO. 
Durham  Cattle,  570. 
Earthquakes  and  Electricity,  670. 
Eggs,  Composition  of,  430. 
Embossing  Telegraph,  503. 
Employment  for  the  Poor,  503. 
Engines  of  the  French  ship  Brandon,  250. 
Engraving  on  Glas.s,  251. 
Enlarging  Vegetables,  428. 
Ericsson's  Trial  Trip,  The,  756, 
Fair  in  Providence,  251. 
Fairs,  Management  of,  430. 
Fall  River  Route  to  Boston,  170,  433. 
Pat  Turkeys,  372. 
Fencing  out  the  Curculio,  56. 
Fireflies,  633. 
Fish,  Growing,  370. 
Fitchburg,  Mass.,  122, 
Flax  Thread,  687. 

Flowers  and  Fruit,  How  to  Keep,  252, 
Fruit  Trees  Injured  by  Cold,  635, 
Gas  Coal,  Preston,  Va.,  433. 
Gas  Lime  as  a  Manure,  569. 
Gas  Tar  in  Horticulture,  369. 
Georgia  Marble,  699. 
Gigantic  Boring  Machine,  57. 
Glass  Globes  Unsuitable  for  Fish,  250. 
Gold  in  S.  Carolina,  120. 

"     in  Virginia,  571. 
Granaries,  429. 

Grease  tor  Carriage  Wheels,  571. 
Great  Bell  of  Vienna,  60. 
Great  Harvesting  Machine,  301. 
Greatest  Steamer  in  the  World,  249, 


Guano  and  Plaster  for  Cotton,  370, 

"     for  Sugar  Cane,  369. 

"     what  our  Country  pays  for,  1S4. 
Gutta  Percha,  New  Treatment  of,  507. 
Hair  and  Feathers,  121. 
Harlem  Railroad,  180. 
Hurd's  Hair  Restorer,  099. 
Illinois,  Minerals  in,  570. 
Important  Discovery,' 300. 
Improved  Pianos,  M.  Alexander's,  181. 
Interesting  Presentation,  59. 
Internal  Improvement  Convention  at  Norfolk,  249. 
Iron  and  Steel,  Maufacture  of,  248,  506,  570, 

"    Trade,  Yorkshire,  505. 
Ironing,  New  Contrivance  for,  250,  253. 
Kaoleri,  253 

Lawrence,  Pacific  Mill  at,  369. 
Lawton  Blackberry,  087. 
Lewis  House,  Binghampton,  087. 
Light  in  Dyeing,  181. 
Lightning  Conductors,  433. 

"  Speed  of,  60.     , 

Lime  Light  bv  Decompositson  of  Water,  503. 
Liquid  Glue,  250. 
Live  Stock  Agency,  Clement's  181. 
Locomotion  by  Vacuum  and  Compression,  504. 
Locomotives  for  High  Grudes,  120. 
Machinery  in  Farming,  247. 
Marble,  Silexian,  368. 

"        Testing,  185. 

"       Verd  Antique,  308. 

"       Vermont,  371. 
Mast,  The,  301. 

Mathematician,  A  Wonderful,  252. 
ftleteorgraph,  61. 
Minerals  in  Illinois,  570. 

"       in  Tennessee,  181. 
Monument  and  Fund  Movement,  56,  753. 
Mowing  Machine,  New,  185, 
Mule  Trade  of  Bourbon  Co.,  Ky,,  2.51. 
Musical  Congress,  Crystal  Palace,  56. 

"        Grisi  and  Mario,  245,  441. 
Musquitoes,  371. 
Natural  Printing  Process,  58. 
Needles,  Manufacture  of,  036. 
New-England  Enterprise,  Warren,  Mass.,  429, 
North  Western  Pomological  Convention.  186. 
Oakford's  Hats,  Philadelphia,  Charles,  123. 
Oblique  Railroad  Wheel",  183. 
Orange  Water  Melon,  569. 
Organ  at  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  246. 
Ozier  Willow,  699. 
Pacific  Mill  at  Lawrence,  369,  427. 
Panam;i  Railroad,  Opening  of,  635. 
Patent,  A  Wonderful,  252. 
Peach,  Hampton's,  247. 
Peat  for  Fuel,  252. 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Tunnel,  181. 
Perpetual  Motion,  251. 
Photography,  Wax-paper  Process,  367. 
Piano  Fortes,  Hallet,  Davis,  &  Co.,  ISO. 
"•  M.  Alexander,  181, 

"  Premium,  635. 

*'  Woodward  &  Brown,  185,  253, 

Pig,  A  Puzzled,  633. 
Pittsburgh,  Iron  Foundries  at,  248. 
Plaster  and  Guano  for  Cotton,  370. 
Polished  Shirt  Bosoms,  504. 
Portable  Screwing  Tackle,  504. 
Preservation  of  Meat,   Flowers,  and  Fruits,  252 

433, 508. 
Printing  Press,  Stephen  Brown's,  370. 
Printing  Press,  Wilkinson's,  370. 
Protection  to  Bank  Notes,  129. 


Index. 


vii- 


Protecting  Hay  Stacks,  122. 
Puddling  Iron,  Improvements  in,  570. 
Purifying  Gas,  251. 
Quilting  Frame,  A  new,  CO. 
Railroad  Brake,  120. 

"        Camden  and  Amboy,  180. 

"        Harlem,  180. 

"        New-York  and  Erie,  179, 

"       Panama,  635. 

"       Phil.,  Wil.,  and  Bait.,  180. 

"        Reading,  59. 

"        speed,  '252. 
Rereads  to  Farmers,  Benefits  of,  634. 

"         in  Maine,  756. 

«         in  Ohio,  430. 
Reciprocity  Treaty,  248. 
Remedy  for  the  Black  Knot,  428. 
Running  Gear  for  Carriage  Wheels,  56. 
School  Furniture,  124. 
Science  turned  peevish,  250, 
Sea  Monster,  300. 
Secret  Dispatches,  122. 
Ship  Building,  431. 
Silexian  Marble,  368. 
Silk  Worm,  New  Species,  430. 
Sizes  of  Shoes,  571. 

Skinner,  J.  S.,  Monument  to,  and  Fund,  753. 
Slag  for  Fictile  Purposes,  504. 
Sound  of  Bells,  123. 


Speed  of  Lightning,  60. 

Statistics  of  Trade,  248. 

Steam  Gun  in  England,  570, 

Stove,  Dining  Room,  745. 

Strawberries,  Culture  of,  183. 

Strever's  Double  Acting  Force  Pumps,  179. 

Sugar  Trade  of  U.  S.,  756. 

Telegraph  Apparatus,  122. 

"  Embossing,  503. 

Tennessee  Copper,  432. 
TerreU,  Dr.  Wm.,  253. 
Testing  Marbles,  185. 
Thermotypy,  Impression  by  Heat,  36^. 
Tomato  Figs,  301 
Tubular  Iron  Bridge,  59.  596 , 
Vegetable  Mechanics,  121. 
Verd  Antique  Marble,  368, 
Vermin,  How  to  rid  Plants  and  Animals  of,  186. 
Vermont  Machinery  for  England,  371. 

"        Marble,  .^71,  432, 
Victoria  Bridge,  183. 
Ware,  Mass.,  Industry  of,  758. 
Warm  Feed,  636. 
Warren,  Mass.,  429. 
Water  in  Blasting  Operations,  249. 
Weights  of  Grain,  429. 
West  Lincoln  Agr.  and  Hort.  See-,  Maine,  60. 
Wisconsin  Harvest,  123. 
Why  do  Teeth  Decay,  699. 


Vlll. 


Index. 


INDEX  TO  AMERICAN  PATENTS. 


Ames's  Polygraph,  or  Duplicate  Writing  Machine, 

692. 
Brush  for  Washing  Bottles,  241. 
Calcium  Light,  374. 
Carts,  Self-loading  and  dumping,  748. 
Cultivator,  Rol)inson's  Hand,  746. 
Cutting  Wood  Screws,  373. 
Fast  VVood  Screw  Machine,  302. 
Gas  Heating  Apparatus,  374. 
Horse  Shoes,  Improvement  in,  747. 
Improved  Lathe,  243. 

"         Process  in  treatment  of  Paint,  243. 

"         Burfjlar's  Alarm,  244. 

"         Method  of  turning   Casks  from  solid 

Pieces,  244. 
"         Arrangement  for  Lathe  Chuck,  627, 
«         Bevelling  Plane,  304. 
"  Calipers,  308. 

"         Carriage  Axle,  308. 
"         Douhle  Acting  Force  Pump,  307. 
"         Machine  for  Uniting  Plates  of  Metal  of 

unequal  thickness,  623. 
"         Printing  Press,  373. 
"         Sawing  Machine,.  375,  690. 
"         Bucket  for  Chain-Pumps,  689, 
"         Tires  for  Carriage  Wheels,  626. 
"        mode  of  constructing  Iron  Build'gs,  750. 
"  "     of  securing  Hubs  to  Axles,  752. 

"         arrangement  of  means  for  working  and 
stopping  Chain  ('ahles,  752. 
ImprOTBinent  in  Combing  Cotton  or  other  Fibrous 
Material,  303,  624. 
"  in  C  rdage  Machinery,  304. 

"  in  Preparation  of  Collodion  for  Pho- 

tographic Pictures,  304, 
"  in  Ornamenting  Metallic  Buttons, 

304. 
"  in  Folding  and  Measuring  Cloth,305. 

"  in  Padlocks,  306. 

"  in  Furnaces  of  Steam  Boilers,  306. 

"  in  Gas  and  Liquid  Regulators,  306. 

"  in  Bank  Locks,  307. 

"  in  Gas  Burners,  307. 

"  inManufactureofVVooden  Buttons, 

307. 
•'  in  Machines  for  Cutting  Brads,  308. 

"  in  the  Preparation  of  Archil,  308. 

"  in  Self-Acling  Mules  for  Spinning, 

375. 
"  in  Machines  for  Pegging  Boots  and 

Shoes,  375. 
"  in  Fire  Arms,  624,  628,  749. 


Improvement  in  Tubular  Bridges.  625. 

"  in  Cotton  Presses,  625. 

"  in   Manufacturing    Pigments    from 

Iron  Ore,  625. 

"  in  Pvadiators,  626. 

"  in  Air  Heating  Stoves,  626. 

"  in  Compositions  for  Bleaching  and 

Stuffing  Leather,  627. 

«  in  Working  Lime  Vats  in  Tanneries, 

627. 

"  in  Sola  Bedsteads,  628. 

"  in  Railroad  Car  Windows,  628. 

"  in  Steam  Generators,  242. 

"  in  Feathering  Paddle  Wheels,  242, 

"  in  Seed  Planters,  242, 

"  in  Carriages,  243. 

"  in  Harvesters,  243. 

"  in  Paint  Composition,  243. 

"  in  Weaving  Double  Cloth,  243, 

"  in  Vehicles,  747. 

"  in  Horse  Shoes,  747. 

"  in  Machine  for  sticking  Card  Teeth, 

748. 

"  in  Machines  for  Moulding  Crackers, 

750. 

"  in  Lasting  Instruments,  750. 

"  in  Machines  for  graduating  Carpen- 

ters' Squares,  751. 

'•'  in  Polishing  Wheels,  751, 

"  in  Warping  and  Dressing  Yarn, 751. 

"  in  Buggies,  752. 

"  in  Machines  for  turning  Irregular 

Forms,  752. 
Iron  Buildings,  Improved  mode  of  constructing, 

750. 
Interesting  to  Bricklayers  and  Builders. 
Irresistible  Horse-Bit,  627. 
Lubricating  Material,  625. 

Machine  for  Cleaning  and  Watering  Slreets,241, 
Mettiod  of  Coating  Iron  with  Brass  or  Copper, 

626. 
Morris's  Improved  Buckets  for  Chain  Pumps,  689, 
Oil  Socket  and  Screw  Plug,  695. 
Prince's  Protean  Fountain  Pen,  695. 
Process  of  Engraving  or  Painting  on  G'ass,  808, 

372. 
Self-loading  and  dumping  Carts,  748. 
Sewing  Machine,  Robinson's,  690. 
Vehicles,  Improvement  in,  747. 
Victoria  Bridge,  Montreal.  752. 
Water  Pressure  Engines,  754. 


INDEX  TO  ENGLISH  PATENTS, 


Application  of  Gluten  to  Bread  and  other  Articlcg 

of  Food,  434. 
Bleaching  and  Scouring,  238. 
Boiling  OiU  in  a  Vacuum,  311. 
Castings  of  Malleable  Iron,  313. 
Direct  Action  Oscillating  Engines,  377. 
Dock  Railway,  Liverpool,  436. 
Double  Acting  Threshing  Machine,  309, 
Effect  of  Light  on  the  Compass,  437. 
Files,  Rasps,  and  Edge  Tools,  239. 
Fire  Place,  Dr.  Arnott's,  309. 
Foundations  nf  Houses,  379. 
Grain  Mills,  379. 
Imitation  Leather,  311. 
Improved  Steam  Piston,  Ramsbottom's,210. 

"  Wheels  and  Axles,  237. 

Ingram's    Cast   Steel   Rifle-barrels    and   Bullet- 
Moulds,  695. 
Irish  Flax  Production,  309. 
Journal  Bearings,  435. 
Lappet  Loom,  440. 
Life  Size  Sun  Portraits,  311, 
Manufacture  of  Caoutchouc,  635. 

"  of  Iron  and  Steel,  239. 

«'  of  Ornamental  Fabrics,  238,  240. 

Mining  Engines  and  Machinery,  439. 


New  Build  of  Steamer,  310. 
New  Mordant  in  Dyeing,  436. 
Ornamental  Fabrics,  238,  240. 
Ornamentation  of  Pottery  and  Glass,  623. 
Patent  Hydrostatic  Cranes,  438. 
Pendulum  Test  of  the  Earth's  Mass,  632. 
Preparing  Skins  for  Tanning,  311. 
Preservation  of  Iron  by  Stauno  plumbatiug,  630. 
Printing  Surfaces,  378. 
Pvailway  Wheels,  313. 
'  "        and  Alarm  Signals,  379. 
Renewing  the  Teeth  of  Files,  813. 
Revolver  Fire  Arms,  573. 
Rocket  Bullet,  753. 

Safety  Apparatus  for  Steam  Boilers,  237. 
Safely  Floating  Dress,  314. 
Self  Air-Heating  Blast  Furnace,  376. 
Steam  Boiler  Apparatus,  441. 
Steam  Engines  and  Boilers  for  Screw  Propellers, 

376. 
Thermography,  311. 
Thistle  Paper,  698. 
Twin  Dredger  of  30  Horse  Power,  437. 
Ventilating  Case  for  Mill-Stones,  240. 
Wood-VVookiug  Machinery,  Slater  &  Tails',  696 


^/00<f 


\  \\)t  %u%  anil  ti)f  Jlituil. 


Vol.  VII.  JANUARY,  1855.  No.  7. 


SCIENCE     IN     AGRICULTURE.  • 

In  our  November  number,  we  gave  a  full  account  of  the  arguments,  on 
one  side  and  the  other,  -which  are  derived  solely  from  experiments,  on  the 
question,  "  Whence  do  plants  derive  their  nitrogen  ?"  And  v/e  have  repeatedly 
given  it  as  our  opinion  that,  if  the  ground  is  in  a  proper  condition,  every 
plant  will  find  this  element  without  difficulty.  We  can  not  doubt  this,  and 
would  by  no  means  therefore  commend  the  heavy  outlays  of  millions  of 
dollars  annually,  in  this  country,  to  obtain  what  the  atmosphere,  and  rains, 
and  brooks  contain  in  abundant  quantities,  and  readily  supply  without  cost. 
But  this  is  by  no  means  the  only  department  of  agricultural  science  on  which 
there  is  a  diversity  of  opinion.  The  number  of  unquestionable  facts,  touching 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  is  exceedingly  limited. 

Thus,  it  is  one  of  our  "received"  doctrines  that  the  soil  must  contain  what 
the  plant  requires,  and  yet  if  the  nitrogen  of  the  plant  is  furnished  from  the 
air  and  from  water,  this  is,  at  least,  one  exception.  Another  element  is,  no 
doubt,  supplied  from  other  sources,  to  wit :  the  carbon.  From  the  state- 
ments presently  cited,  as  well  as  from  other  sources,  we  may  conclusively 
draw  the  inference,  that  the  soil  itself  can  not  furnish  the  am.ount  of  carbon 
contained  in  the  growing  plant.  Hence  the  statement  of  this  general  principle 
should  be  modified  so  far  as  to  say  that  of  the  inorganic  elements,  the  soil  is 
the  only  known  reservoir. 

We  ought  perhaps  to  add,  in  this  connection,  for  the  sake  of  avoiding 
apparent  inconsistencies  between  these  statements,  and  those  made  by  us 
elsewhere,  that  the  conditions  belonging  to  a  "  fertile  soil"  are,  undoubleJIy, 
required  for  the  most  productive  crops.  The  only  question  is,  Why  such  con- 
ditions are  required  ?  For  it  is  also  true  that,  while  the  most  successful  culti- 
vation peremptorily  requires  the  presence  of  all  these  conditions,  it  still  does 
not  necessarily  follow  that  the  soil  itself  conveys,  from  its  own  substance  into 
the  plant,  a  single  one  of  its  elements.  Such  an  inference  would  no  more 
be  logical  than  to  infer  from  the  fact  that  some  persons  can  sleep  best  on  a 
bed  of  down,  that  the  down  furnishes  and  cor. iiiiimicattis  substantial  elements 
from  its  own  material,  in  the  producti&c.  cf  sleep.  Because  any  given  phy- 
sical arrangements  are  of  great  utility,  or  even  absolutely  essential  in  furnish- 
ing facilities  for  certain  operations,  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  those 
arrangements  are  themselves  immediately  efficient  in  performing  these  opera- 
tions. They  may  be  merely  the  staging,  by  the  aid  of  which  other  materials 
are  combined  into  an  organized  structure. 

But  we  do  not  purpose  to  extend  this  discussion  here,  but  lay  out  the 
ground  and  partially  illustrate  the  present  condition  of  agricultural  science, 
by  the  passages  already  referred  to,  from  a  very  learned  German  writer. 

VOL.  VIL  25 


386  SCIENCE   IN   AGRICULTUHE. 


^*'The  goodness  of  the  soil,"  he  says,  "depends  upon  its  inorganic  con- 
stituents— so  far  at  least  as  they  are  soluble  in  water,  or  throuffhconliaued 
action  of  carbonic  acid ;  and  the  more  abundant  and  various  these  solutions, 
the  more  fruitful  is  the  ground."  Arguing  from  this  view,  it  is  not  richness 
of  soil  or  humus  that  produces  the  multiplied  varieties  of  alpine  plants  in 
Germany,  or  the  absence  of  it  that  produces  but  few.  "  Soluble  mineral  con- 
stituents" are  shown  to  be  the  characteristic  of  our  cultivated  field ;  and  "an 
agricultural  plant"  is  defined  as  one  "distinguished  from  wild  individuals  of 
the  same  species,  by  peculiar  qualities,  which  constitute  its  fitness  in  culture, 
and  which  depend  upon  a  modification  of  chemical  action."  The  amazing 
jield  of  Indian  corn  in  Mexico — from  two  hundred  to  six  hundred  fold — is 
something  which,  with  all  our  skill,  we  can  not  accomplish,  and  is  a  fact  in 
favor  of  the  argument,  "that  in  no  case  do  the  organic  substances  contained 
in  tlje  ground  perform  any  direct  part  of  the  nutrition  of  plants."  The  annual 
destruction  of  organic  matter  all  over  the  earth  is  estimated  at  145  billions 
of  pounds,  equal  to  2^  billions  of  cubic  feet ;  and  if  all  vegetation  depends  on 
organic  matter  for  nutrition  to  satisfy  this  consumption,  "  there  must  have 
been,  five  thousand  years  back,  ten  feet  deep  of  pure  organic  substance  on  its 
surface."  Another  illustration  is  furnished  by  taking  the  number  of  cattle 
and  other  animals  in  France  in  a  given  year,  (1844,)  and  observing  the  amount 
of  food  they  consume.  The  process  of  nutrition  would  require  '70,789,000,000 
pounds  of  organic  matter — six  times  more  than  the  whole  number  contribute 
of  organic  matter  toward  the  reproduction;  and  in  100  years  "the  whole 
organic  material  of  the  country  would  be  consumed !" 

^  Again,  look  at  a  farm.  How  much  more  is  carried  ofi:'  from  it  than  it 
gives  back  again  ;  generally  the  amount  of  its  yield  is  three  times  greater 
than  that  of  the  organic  matter  it  receives :  while  of  the  manure  applied,  the 
greater  part  is  not  taken  up,  but  imperceptibly  decomposed.  Carbon  is  the 
most  important  of  the  constituents  of  plants.  An  acre  of  sugar  plantation 
produces  7500  pounds  of  cane,  of  which  1200  pounds  are  carbon;  and  yet 
sugar  plantations  are  rarely  manured,  and  then  only  with  the  ashes  of  the 
burnt  canes.  With  bananas,  the  result  is  still  more  striking;  the  yield  is 
98,000  pounds  of  fruit  in  a  year  from  a  single  acre;  and  of  this 'l 7,000 
pounds,  more  than  a  fifth,  is  carbon  ;  and  the  same  acre  will  give  the  same 
return,  year  after  year,  for  twenty  or  thirty  years ;  and  the  ground  at  the 
end  of  that  time  will  be  richer  than  at  the  commencement,  from  nothing 
more  than  the  decay  of  the  leaves  of  the  plant.  Here  in  Europe,  too,  the 
•difference  in  weight  and  in  carbon  between  the  seed  and  the  produce  has 
often  been  noted:  in  wheat,  89  per  cent;  in  red  clovei;  158  per  cent;  in 
peas,  361  per  cent.  These  facts  afford  evidence  of  a  sujiply  of  carbon  derived 
from  other  sources  than  those  commonly  supposed  to  exist ;  and  while  we 
know  that  seeds  will  germinate  and  become  vigorous  plants  in  pure  quartzose 
sand,  or  in  cotton  wool,  or  on  a  board,  we  seem  to  have  proof  that  the  chief 
source  of  supply  is  the  atmosphere.  This  is  an  interesting  point,  which 
further  research  will  verify.  Schleiken  shows  the  process  to  be  eminently 
simple.  He  says  in  his  work :  According  to  Link,  Schwartz,  and  others,  an 
acre  of  water  meadow  contains  4400  pounds  of  hay;  which,  when  dry,  con- 
tains 4f  per  cent  of  carbon.  The  hay  then  yields  1000  pounds  of  carbon, 
to  which  1000  pounds  may  be  added  in  the  portion  of  the  year  in  which  the 
grass  is  not  cut,  and  the  roots.  To  produce  these  8000  pounds  of  carbon, 
10,980  pounds  of  carbonic  acid  are  requisite,  which  may  be  raised  to  12,000 
|)0unds  to  compensate  for  the  uightly  expiration.     Now  Scliubier  has  shown 


SCIENCE   IN  AGRICULTURE.  387 


that  an  acre  of  so  wretched  a  grass  as  Poa  annua,  exhaled  in  120  days  of 
active  vegetatiou,  6,000,000  pounds  of  water.  To  supply  the  exie'encies 
of  the  plants,  therefore,  it  is  only  necessary  for  the  meadow  to  imbibe  3^, 
grains  of  carbonic  acid  with  every  pound  of  water. 

Mr.  Lawes  has  found  also,  in  a  plant  of  any  one  of  our  ordinarj'  crops, 
more  than  200  grains  of  water  mast  pass  through  it  for  a  single  grain  of 
solid  substance  to  accumulate  within  it.  He  states  that  au  evaporation  from 
an  acre  of  wheat  during  the  period  of  its  growth,  to  be  114,800  o-allons,  or 
73,510,000  gallons  per  square  mile.  Wi'th  clover  it  is  rather  more;  with 
peas  and  barley  less.  When  we  apply  these  calculations  to  a  county  or  a 
kingdom,  we  are  lost  in  the  magnitude  of  the  processes  by  which  nature 
works,  but  we  see  the  more  clearly  that  on  such  a  scale  the  quantity  of 
material  supplied  by  the  air,  though  minute  to  the  individual,  becomes  vastiu 
the  aggregate.  We,  see  moreover,  the  necessity  of  understanding  the  rela- 
tions between  the  evaporation  and  rate  of  growth,  and  the  laws  and  effects  of 
absorption  in  soils.  A  thousand  pounds  of  dry  calcareous  sand  will  gain  two 
pounds  in  weight  in  twelve  hours,  when  the  air  is  moist,  while  pure  agricul- 
tural clay  will  gain  thirty-six  pounds. 

The  source  of  nitrogen  comes  next  to  be  considered ;  and  this  also  is  seen  ic) 
be  independent  of  manures.  Hereupon  it  is  observed,  that  "  our  domestic 
plants  do  not  require  a  greater  supply  than  in  a  state  of  nature.  A  water 
meadow  which  has  never  received  any  dung,  yields  from  forty  to  fifty  pounds 
of  nitrogen,  while  the  best  ploughed  land  yields  only  about  thirty-one  pounds. 
The  plants  for  Avhich  must  dung  is  used,  as  potatoes  and  turnips,  are  in  fact 
proportionally  the  poorest  in  nitrogen."  That  there  is  a  supply  independent 
of  the  soil  is  further  seen  in  the  millions  of  hides  furnished  every  year  by  the 
cattle  of  the  Pampas,  without  any  diminution  of  produce;  and  in  the  "great 
quantity  of  nitrogenous  matters,  hay,  butter,  and  cheese,  carried  oft"  from 
pasture  land,  far  more  than  is  returned  by  the  animals  fed  thereon.  Exoeri- 
ments  with  various  kinds  of  plants,  on  various  soils,  have  satisfactorily 
demonstrated  that  increase  of  nitrogen  in  the  land  and  in  the  crop,  does  take 
place  quite  irrespective  of  supplies  of  manure. 

With  respect  to  ammonia,  "  it  appears  that  one  thirteenth  of  a  grain  in 
every  pound  of  water  is  sufficient  for  the  exigencies  of  vegetation,  and  there 
is  perhaps  no  spring  water  in  the  universe  which  contains  so  little."  Then 
as  to  sul[)hur  and  phosphorus,  which  are  also  among  the  constituents  of 
plants,  the  quantity  needed  in  proportion  to  the  time  of  vegetation  is  so 
small,  that  one  51-0,000th  of  a  grain  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  per  cubic  foot, 
diffused  through  the  atmosphere  to  a  height  of  3000  feet  is  all  that  is 
required.  The  consideration  that  cereals  would  soon  disappear  from  the 
north  of  Europe,  if  not  cultivated,  and  perhaps  from  nearly  the  whole  of  this 
quarter  of  the  globe,  adds  weight  to  the  arguments  in  favor  of  enligiitencd 
attention  to  the  inorganic  constituents  of  plants.  The  point  is  to  bnn,(»-  the 
soil  into  harmony  with  the  conditions  by  which  growth  may  best  be  pro- 
moted. Much  depends  on  the  nature  of  the  soil ;  the  darkest  colored  lands  are 
generally  the  highest  in  temperature,  hence  the  advantage  of  vegetable  mould, 
while  deep  light  sands  and  clay,  which  turn  almost  to  stone  in  dry  weather, 
weary  and  vex  the  cultivator  by  their  unprofitableness.  It  is  to  be  remembered^ 
however,  that  soils  which  have  the  highest  temperatures  of  their  own,  may  not 
be  those  most  susceptible  of  receiving  heat— that  is,  from  the  sun,  because 
some  lands  are  warmed  by  the  springs  that  irrigate  them.  Here  we  have 
an  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  certain  soils,  which  are  warm  in  winter 


ARCHITECTURE. 


and  cool  in  summer.  The  application  of  humus  evolves  heat  by  the  process 
of  coiubu^tion,  and  sand,  lime,  clay,  and  humus  are  the  combinations  needed, 
the  clay  being  in  a  proportion  of  forty  to  fifty  per  cent ;  if  less  than  ten  per 
cent,  the  land  will  ba  too  light  and  poor. 


ARCHITECTURE. 

In  a  former  number,  in  illustrating  the  social  influence  of  architecture,  we 
referred  to  the  change  of  the  hearthstone  for  the  close  stove,  or  the  register, 
and  the  briglit  and  cheerful  fire  for  the  distant  and  invisil)le  furnace.  IIow 
great  is  that  change  !  It  removes  one  of  the  elements  which  had  an  import- 
ant influence  in  binding  families  together,  in  past  generations,  and  it  brings 
in  its  stead — nothing.  We  can  ill  aftbrd  to  lose  so  important  a  check 
upon  the  wayward  tendencies  of  youth.     It  makes  home  far  less  attractive. 

This  is  one  point  in  whicb  we  have  lost  much.  There  are  others  in 
which  we  neglect  our  opportunity  to  gain  much.  We  quote  from  Ruskin  : 
"  Have  not  these  words,  pinnacle,  turret,  belfry,  spire,  tower,  a  pleasant  sound 
in  all  your  ears  ?  I  do  not  speak  of  your  scenery,  I  do  not  ask  you  how 
much  you  feel  that  it  owes  to  the  gray  battlements  that  frown  through  the 
woods  of  Craig  Millar,  to  the  pointed  turrets  that  flank  the  front  of  Holy- 
rood,  or  to  the  massy  keeps  of  your  Ciichtoun  and  Bosthwick,  and  other 
border  towers.  But  look  merely  through  your  poetry  and  your  romances  ; 
take  away  out  of  your  ballads  the  word  tower  wherever  it  occurs,  and  the 
ideas  connected  with  it,  and  what  will  become  of  the  ballad?  See  how  Sir 
Walter  Scott  can  not  even  get  through  a  description  of  Highland  scenery 
without  help  from  the  idea : 

'Each  purple  peak,  each  flinty  spire, 
Was  bathed  in  floods  of  living  fire." 

Take  away  from  Scott's  romances  the  word  or  idea  turret,  and  see  how  much 
you  would  lose.  Suppose,  for  instance,  when  young  Osbaldistone  is  leaving 
Osbaldistone  Hall,  instead  of  saying  '  The  old  clock  struck  two  from  a  turret 
adjoining  my  bed-chamber,'  he  had  said,  '  The  old  clock  struck  two  from  the 
landing  at  the  top  of  the  stairs,'  what  would  become  of  the  passage  ?  and 
can  you  really  suppose  that  what  has  so  much  power  over,  you  in  words  has 
no  power  over  you  in  reality  ?  Do  you  think  there  is  any  group  of  words 
which  would  thus  interest  you,  when  the  things  expressed  by  them  are  unin- 
teresting? For  instance,  you  know  that  for  an  immense  time  back,  all  your 
public  buildings  have  been  built  with  a  row  of  pillars  supporting  a  triangu- 
lar thing  called  a  pediment.  You  see  this  form  every  day  in  your  banks, 
and  club-houses,  and.  churches,  and  chapels;  you  are  told  it  is  the  perfection 
of  architectural  beauty,  and  yet  suppose  Sir  Walter  Scott,  instead  of  writing 
'  Each  purple  peak,  each  flinty  spire,'  had  written  '  Each  purple  peak,  each 
flinty  pediment,'  would  you  have  thought  the  poem  improved  ?  And  if  not, 
why  would  it  be  spoiled  ?  Simply  because  the  idea  is  no  longer  of  any  value 
to  you ;  the  thing  spoken  of  is  a  nonentity. 

These  pediments,  or  stylobates  and  architraves,  never  excited  a  single 
pleasurable  feeling  in  you — never  will  to  the  end  of  time.  They  are  ever- 
more dead,  hfeloss,  and  useless,  in  art  as  in  poetry,  and  though  you  built  as 


ARCHITECTURE.  389 


many  of  them  as  there  are  slates  on  your  house-roofs,  you  will  never  care  for 
them." 

It  may  be  said  that  all  this  is  poetry.  Granted,  if  you  please,  only  acknow- 
ledge that  it  is  reality.  If  it  is  poetry,  it  is  something  we  can  ill  afford  to 
lose.  Our  developments  of  cold,  business,  acquisitive,  delving,  debasing  ten- 
dencies are  monstrous.  If  we  let  go  what  little  there  is  of  poetical,  imagi- 
native, devotional,  in  us,  we  shall  be  monsters  indeed. 

What  ends  are  to  be  gained  by  architectural  structures  ?  Why  build  any 
houses  or  churches?  The  first  answer  is,  for  utihty  and  comfort;  we  need 
protection  from  the  elements,  whether  by  night  or  by  day.  But  these 
objects  will  be  equally  well  secured  by  much  cheaper  structures  than  are 
built  even  in  our  economical  times.  This  end  is  not  obtained  by  means  of 
architraves  or  pediments,  pilasters  or  porticoes.  An  open  shed  is  even  a  better 
defense  than  a  handsome  balcony,  and  many  a  barn  is  a  better  protection 
against  cold  than  some  much  more  costly  arrangements.  We  know  of 
nothing  more  comfortable  in  a  cold  day — it  is  one  of  our  boyish  reminis- 
cences—than a  nice,  sweet  "  hay-mow."  "  Yes,  but  we  also  want  the  c^^ur- 
tesics  and  refinements  of  cultivated  life."  We  admit  it,  and  contend  that 
few  things  have  a  more  decided  influence  in  this  respect  than  tasteful  archi- 
tecture. Why  do  you  buy  a  mahijgany  or  rose-wood  bedstead  ?  Would 
not  pine  do  just  as  well?  Polishing  and  painting  can  not  secure  a  good 
night's  sleep.  No,  but  that  gentleness,  that  kindness,  that  love  of  all  things 
beantifal  and  true,  which  is  prompted  by  tasteful  designs,  carved  out  and 
combined  gracefully  and  truthfidly,  are  points  of  incalculable  importance  in 
the  formation  of  the  character  of  the  young  and  also  of  the  old.  The  man- 
ners of  the  roughest  clown  will  be  somewhat  subdued  as  soon  as  he  enters 
the  threshold,  erected  and  furnished  by  a  refined  taste. 

There  are  certain  things  very  trivial  in  some  respects,  which  show  in  bold 
relief  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  we  infurce.  We  refer  to  those  barbarous 
designs — designs  barbarous  in  their  origin,  at  any  rate — which  represent 
soTue  little  image  of  gold  or  bronze,  which  is  so  often  seen  holding  up  the 
bowl  of  a  large  lamp,  or  the  branches  of  a  candelabrum  or  of  a  gas-burner. 
What  child  has  not  remarked  upon  the  fatigue  which  such  a  little  baby-boy 
must  inevitably  suffer?  How  different  the  effect,  if  this  same  sculptured 
little  boy  were  only  climbing  up  after  a  branch  of  grapes,  or  some  other 
delicious  fruit  ?  We  referred,  some  months  since,  to  a  very  elegant  church 
in  this  city,  on  the  Fifth  avenue,  in  which  the  entire  weight  of  the  ceiling  rests 
on  human  heads.  Was  any  thing  ever  more  absurd?  AVhat  if  the  idea  is 
copied  from  an  old  master  of  the  fifteenth  century  ?  It  proves  that,  great  as 
he  was,  he  could  blunder; — that  the  feat  has  not  yet  been  witnessed,  of  an 
architect  who  has  risen  by  his  own  genius,  perfect  in  all  his  proportions,  out 
of  the  depths  of  the  dark  ages.  That  he  has  exhibited  so  few  such  weak- 
nesses, is  one  of  the  greatest  of  wonders.  And  modern  times  show  too  often 
how  much  easier  it  is  to  copy  errors  than  to  copy  truths.  We  remember 
another  similar  remnant  of  those  same  dark  ages.  In  the  beautiful  chapel  of 
the  New-York  University,  you  may  see,  high  up  on  the  walls,  some  chubby 
little  fellov.'s,  secured  in  their  places  by  having  their  limbs  below  the  knees, 
(the  knees  being  bent  at  right  angles,)  set  into  the  solid  wall.  As  we  have 
listened  to  some  eloquent  lecturer  in  the  desk,  and  our  eyes  have  strayed 
upward  to  those  chiseled  forms,  we  have  felt  sincere  pity  for  them,  and  have 
wondered  why  they  were  doomed  to  so  painful  "a  posture.  Besides,  if  the 
strength  of  their  knees  should  fail  them,  they  would  swing  as  on  a  hinge,  and 
dash  their  breasts  and  faces  against  the  wall  below,  to  the  ruin  not  onl\-  of 


390 


AKCHITECTURE. 


tbis  over- tasked  joint,  but  of  their  whole  persons.     Scholars  should  be  more 
humane. 

We  are  now  prepared  for  a  further  reply  to  the  question,  "What  ends  are 
to  be  trained  by  architectural  structures?"  and  we  say,  secondly,  to  open  the 
■way  for  the  grac^^s  and  amenities  of  re6aed  society.  Whoever  admits  this, 
will  hold  no  controversy  with  us.  If  any  one  should  be  disposed  to  deny 
this,  we  are  at  a  loss  to  know  on  what  ground  he  would  favor  the  customs 
universally  prevalent,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  civilized  communities. 
Such  a  man  would  be  contented  with  a  country  where  the  groves  and  woods 
were  formed  in  light  lines  and  rectangles,  after  the  fashion  of  a  diagram 
given  in  a  former  number,  and  which  we  here  repeat  for  his  especial  benefit. 


And  can  any  one  tell  lis  why  living  matter  should  always — always,  exhibit 
some  form  of  the  pointed  or  arched  style,  any  more  than  dead  forms  1  Yes  ; 
convenience.  It  would  be  inconvenient,  sometimes,  to  carry  out  thoroughly 
this  feature,  so  universal  in  God's  arcliitecture ;  and  this  is  the  only  excep- 
tion that  is  admissible.  It  is  not  proper  that  utility  should  be  sacrificed  to 
appearances.  Wherever  the  law  of  necessity  docs  not  command  a  different 
course,  let  not  the  law  of  good  taste  be  violated.  In  the  whole  universe  of 
nature  there  can  not  be  found  a  specimen  of  rectangular  architecture.  The 
sun,  and  moon,  and  stars,  are  bounded  by  arched  walls.  The  constellations 
are  grouped  in  various  forms,  so  that  when  variously  connected,  at  pleasure, 
they  will  present  an  indefinite  variety  of  figpres;  and  yet,  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  find  any  four  prominent  stars  that,  when  grouped,  would  make  a 
perfect  rectangular  figure.  We  do  not  allude  to  this  as  a  fact  of  .very  grave 
authority  on  ihe  subject  before  us,  but  only  to  show  that  this  style  is  pecu- 
liarly a  device  of  our  own  invention,  and  therefore  very  likely  to  be  inferior, 
in  some  essential  particular,  to  the  devices  of  Him  who  is  of  infinite  wisdom 
and  of  perfect  truth. 

Who  would  not  as  soon  have  devised  square  plates,  and  square  and  cubic 
forms  for  a  tea  service,  as  square  windows  ?  But  we  need  not  dwell  further 
on  this  point.  There  are  greater  evils  to  contend  against.  Our  architecture 
is  scarcely  more  than  a  bap-hazard  mixture  of  many  crudities  and  meannesses. 
We  shall  endeavor  hereafter  to  bring  some  of  them  to  the  light,  that  they 


FARMING  ON'  TAR  EIVER.  891 

may  be  destroyed.  But  we  would  endeavor  to  have  some  correct  principle 
to  stand  upon,  ere  we  undertake  any  important  step  in  the  progress  of  the 
science,  that,  if  need  be,  we  may  safely  retrace  our  steps  and  secure  a  right 
direction. 


FARMING-     ON     TAR     RIYER. 

Mr.  Editor  :  Facts  are  sometimes  stubborn  things,  and  some  men  are  stub- 
born farmers,  and  cultivate  stubborn  soils,  and  complain  of  their  Maker, 
because  he  does  not  send  genial  showers  and  favorable  seasons,  and  make 
them  good  crops. 

Who  is  to  blame,  the  soil  or  the  farmers  ?  No  one  but  those  stubborn 
and  self-conceited  farmers,  who  will  not  read  and  learn,  because,  forsooth, 
no  one  can  teach  them  any  thing  about  their  avocation  ! 

Now,  I  have  contended  for  years,  that  any  planter  tolerably  well  situated 
for  the  purpose,  on  the  ordinary  up-lands  of  the  oldest  settled  portions  of  the 
South,  can  make  more  ma.nure  and  manure  more  land  in  a, year,  than  he 
can  clear  and  take  into  cultivation  from  the  forest,  and  the  manured  land  will 
make  more  corn  and  cotton,  one  year  with  another,  than  the  cleared  land. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  this,  and  1  can  produce  many  witnesses  to  prove  it. 

But  let  one  suffice,  iu  this  instance,  and  speak  for  himself  from  Tar  Eii/er. 

I  quote  an  extraot  from  Mr.  John  S.  Daucy's  letter  published  in  the  Far- 
mers^ Journal,  at  Kaleigh,  for  July. 

He  says,  "  I  give  you  an  account  of  our  preparations  for  the  crop  of  '54. 
In  the  first  place,  our  laboring  force  on  Panola  consists  of  34  horses,  of 
various  sizes,  ages  and  qualifications  ;  20  head  of  mules,  and  3  yoke  of  oxen. 
During  the  year  1853,  we  had  two  wagons  constantly  employed  in  hauling 
up  materials  for  manure  making,  besides  taking  advantage  of  every  day, 
(when  the  condition  of  the  growing  crop  would  justify  it,)  to  make  compost 
with  our  entire  force.  The  interval  between  laying  by  the  crop,  and  the 
beginning  of  the  fodder-pulling  and  cotton-picking  season,  (usually  from  two 
to  three  weeks,)  was  busily  devoted  to  the  making  of  compost  and  filling  up 
our  cattle  and  hog  lots. 

After  housing  our  crops  of  corn,  cotton,  and  peas,  which  we  last  fall  com- 
pleted by  the  10th  December,  we  again  set  to  work,  composting  cottuu-seed, 
and  ditch  bank,  stable  manure  and  low-ground  soil,  and  hauling  again  into 
the  cattle  and  hog  lots.  This  was  kept  up  (with  an  occasional  hindrance  in 
packing  cotton)  by  nearly  all  hands  and  teams,  till  we  commenced  plough- 
ing, about  the  middle  of  January,  with  six  double  teams,  using  the  Maryland 
or  Patuxent  plough,  procured  from  Sinclair  &  Co.,  Baltimore. 

After  the  ploughing  season  began,  the  remainder  of  our  hands  and  teams 
continued  to  make  manure  in  the  difierent  way-s  I  have  mentioned,  till  the 
28th  February,  when  we  commenced  the  troublesome  and  laborious  job  of 
hauling  out  what  we  had  collected  during  the  twelve  months  past.  We 
finished  the  work  of  hauling  out  on  the  25th  April,  being  near  two  months 
engaged  at  it,  and  according  to  our  plan  of  manuring,  one  load  for  every 
twenty  feet  square,  or  110  loads  to  the  acre,  we  hauled  out  compost  enough 
to  put  on  350  acres  of  land,  or  over  35,000  loads,  (one-horse  cart-loads,  five 
bushels  to  the  load.) 

Beside  this,  we  applied  twelve  tons  of  Peruvian  guano  to  cot'on,  corn, 


392  FARMING  ON  TAR   RIVER. 

and  oats.  Some  of  the  compost  previously  mentioned,  had  two  hundred 
pounds  of  guano  mixed  in  each  acre-heap,  so  that,  altogether,  we  have 
manured  over  400  acres  of  land  for  the  crop  of  1854,  at  the  rate  of  110  loads 
to  the  acre. 

Our  crop  consists  of  220  acres  of  cotton,  all  manured;  225  in  corn,  150 
of  it  manured ;  30  in  oats,  and  8  in  sweet  potatoes,  manured.  The  cotton 
crop  to  date  looks  promising,  (the  weather  at  this  time  is,  however,  very 
unfavorable  for  the  cotton  plant,  and  a  few  days  of  it  will  alter  the  appear- 
ance of  things.)  The  corn  crop  is  backward  and  indifferent,  and  presents  an 
irregular  appearance,  owing  to  the  cold  snaps  the  latter  part  of  April,  when 
much  of  it  had  to  be  ploughed  up  and  replanted. 

Having  detailed  to  you  clearly,  I  hope,  our  pre2Mrations^  I  will  now  tell 
you  our  calculations,  and  when  the  crops  are  gathered,  I  will  give  you  and 
your  readers  the  results,  so  that  you  may  see  how  far  I  miss  the  mark. 
YoM  must  bear  in  mind  that  this  is  our  third  crop  on  Panola,  and  the  process 
of  making  poor  land  fertile  is  the  work  of  years,  long  years.  The  land  we 
have  now  in  cultivation,  when  we  took  charge  of  the  farm  in  .January,  1852, 
would  have  made,  in  my  opinion,  without  manure,  not  exceeding  400  pounds 
of  seed-cotton,  or  two  barrels  of  corn  per  acre.  Our  calculation  this  year  is 
to  make  900  or  1000  pounds  to  the  acre  of  cotton,  and  four  barrels  of  cor?7. 
if  an  average  season  prevails. 

I  will  try  and  recollect  to  prepare  for  your  January  number,  the  resuli-, 
of  our  operations  for  1854." 

Here  are  four  hundred  acres  of  land  manured  in  one  year,  and  a  ciop 
made  beside.  j!^ow,  how  long  would  it  require  to  clear  400  acres  of  such 
land  as  he  cultivates,  and  put  it  in  the  condition  to  make  the  crop  he  calcu- 
lates on  ? 

2Iore  than  one  year,  and  after  it  is  brought  to  the  highest  state  of  cultiva- 
tion, the  virgin  soil  would  not  produce  exceeding  500  pounds  of  seed-cotton, 
and  20  bushels  of  corn,  per  acre.  And  after  a  few  years  of  cropping,  it 
would  not  produce  near  that  amount,  without  manure.  Here,  then,  is  an 
illustration  of  the  benefits  of  manuring  that  can  not  be  disputed  ;  and  I  could 
name  many  men  in  Edgecomb,  who  have  brought  about  similar  results  by 
manuring. 

I  have  seen  a  great  many  manure  heaps,  in  my  travels  in  the  new  and  old 
world,  but  I  never  saw  manure  piles  until  I  saw  them  in  North-Carolina; 
and  what  did  these  piles  do  ?  They  made  old  barren  pine-fields,  turned  out 
as  worthless,  produce  20  bushels  of  corn,  and  1200  pounds  of  cotton  per 
acre.  When  I  first  saw  those  fields,  I  could  scarcely  believe  my  senses,  and 
recognize  them.  I  looked  at  the  land  and  then  at  the  cotton.  The  land 
looked  as  poor  as  ever,  but  the  cotton  looked  like  our  black  lime-land  cotton, 
branching  from  the  ground,  spreading  far  and  wide,  and  as  full  of  bolls  as 
persimmon  trees,  that  matured  early  and  opened  well. 

By  the  side  of  this  cotton,  now  and  then,  1  could  recognize  an  old  friend, 
a  sap-wccd,  growing  like  a  pine  tree,  all  body  and  no  limbs,  and  but  little 
fruif,  and  that  little  maturing  late,  and  much  of  it  killed  by  frost.  How  is 
this,  I  asked  ?  I  was  told  the  good  cotton  had  manure  in  the  drill,  and  the 
sorry  cotton  had  none.  Before  the  discovery  of  shell-marl  there,  a  few  years 
since,  and  the  commencement  of  the  manuring  system,  many  of  the  Edge- 
comb  lands  were  lying  idle,  and  but  a  little  cotton  cultivated.  Cotton  cul- 
ture was  abandoned  in  a  manner,  because  the  lands  and  climate  were  not 
considered  adapted  to  its  production  ;  but  they  have  discovered  that  manure 
adapts  both  the  land  and  climate  to  its  culture,  and  Tar  River  and  Pedee 


RAILWAY  TO   THE   PACIFIC.  893 

are  beating  many  of  the  cotton  lands  of  Georgia  and  Alabama  for  making 
cotton.  They  have  this  advantage  over  lis — no  boll-worms  or  caterpillers  to 
destroy  their  cotton. 

A  little  manure,  I  venture  to  say,  would  change  the  production  of  many 
of  our  soils,  and  make  our  old  fields  here  snowy  with  cotton.  Try  it,  stub- 
born farmers  f  T.  N.  SORSBT. 

Forkland,  Ala.,  1854. 
— From  Soil  of  the  Soutli. 


RAILWAY    TO    THE    PACIFIC. 

It  is  certain  that  such  a  road  will  be  built — the  only  questions  involving 
much  uncertainty  regarding  tlie  time  and  the  route.  It  is  in  respect  to  the 
latter  that  we  make  a  few  suggestions. 

With  a  given  and  limited  amount  of  business,  length  of  route  is  an  obstacle 
to  an  undertaking,  of  most  imposing  magnitude.  But  where  the  length  of 
the  road  is  onh'  proportioned  to  the  amount  of  business,  length  is  not  an  evil 
but  a  help.  A  long  road  Avith  large  business,  is  better  property  than  a  short 
one  with  little  business.  Tbe  expenses  of  conducting  a  road  of  fifty  miles  are 
much  larger  per  mile,  than  those  of  a  road  of  five  hundred. 

Routes  on  the  seaboard  are  comparativel}'  expensive.  All  large  streams 
are  to  be  crossed,  and  the  bridges  must  bo  of  an  expensive  kind.  "Where 
the  track  is  parallel  with  the  streams  of  the  territory,  the  cost  is  essentially 
diminished. 

Way  business  is  one  of  the  important  elements  which  give  value  to  a  road. 

Applying  these  principles  to  the  Pacitic  Kailroad,  we  shall  be  forced  to 
certain  conclusions,  in  reference  to  the  several  proposed  routes  to  the  Pacific. 
Let  us  look  at  them  for  a  moment. 

The  most  Southern  route  possible,  necessarily  contemplates  the  crossing  of 
all  the  rivers  in  Texas,  large  and  small,  and  where  Spanish  territory  is  entered 
upon,  though  the  route  is  indefinite,  there  are,  at  the  best,  no  advantages 
gained  by  pursuing  the  courses  of  rivers,  for  all  run  in  the  wrong  direction  ; 
and  though  the  streams  themselves  are  small,  the  physical  formations,  the  val- 
leys, and  the  highlands,  are  all  adverse.  But  how  is  it  in  the  higher  latitudes  ? 
Starting  from  St,  Louis,  the  physical  formation  of  the  surface  is  entirely 
favorable.  The  Kansas,  the  Platte,  the  upper  portions  of  the  Arkansas,  and 
some  smaller  streams,  if  required,  furnish  a  natural  route  to  the  very  foot  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  On  the  western  slope,  the  Colorado  and  other  rivers 
may  be  used  with  equal  advantage.     But  look  at  the  second  point. 

The  extreme  Southern  route  passes  through  a  foreign  state,  not  yet  pos- 
sessed of  the  higher  forms  of  civilization,  where  the  arts  do  not  flourish,  and 
can  not  so  long  as  the  government  is  what  it  is,  and  where,  of  necessity,  the 
population  is  very  limited  and  trade  nearly  nominal.  But  how  is  it  in  more 
northern  latitudes  ?  A  westv?ard  course  from  St.  Louis  towards  the  State  of 
Missouri,  the  Kansas  territory,  and  Utah,  a  territory  sufficiently  large  for  four 
or  five  extensive  States,  consisting  of  excellent  soil,  well  watered,  and  with  a 
fine  climate,  and  capable,  of  course,  of  sustaining  an  immense  population. 
Besides,  the  materials  for  the  road  may  be  chiefly  obtained  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  route,  in  which  respect  it  has  a  decided  advantage  over  the  extreme 


S94  RAILWAY  TO   THE   PACIFIC. 

Southern   road.     Ilence,  also,  a  third    requisite  is   secured — a  large  way 
business. 

la  all  routes,  as  stated  in  a  previous  article,  the  idea  of  profit  must  be 
regarded  only  in  a  somewhat  distant  future,  but  that  future  .is  as  certain  as 
a  mathematical  demonstration.  To  doubt  this,  would  be  as  absurd  as  to 
doubt  whether  one  of  our  genuine  progress-men  would  refuse  a  capital  farm 
when  offered  him  for  nothing. 

But  there  is'another  consideration  of  no  small  importance.  A  road  "  ultra- 
Southern,"  must  ever  remain  comparatively  unimportant  to  all  the  States 
lying  in  higher  latitudes.  San  Francisco,  the  Arkansas,  St.  Louis,  etc.,  are 
all  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  38th  parallel  of  latitude.  For  the  sake  of  this 
■ultra-Southern  connection,  goods  and  passengers  must  be  brought  down  some 
six  hundred  miles,  or  ten  degrees  of  latitude,  and  then  be  transported  back 
again,  perhaps  an  equal  distance,  without  an  eastern  progress  of  a  single 
mile.  There  can  be  no  roads  branching  towards  the  north,  through  New- 
Mexico,  nor  Texas,  the  direction  of  the  streams  and  the  necessary  formation 
of  the  land  utterly  forbidding  any  such  structures.  The  Mississippi  is  the  first 
point  from  which  any  connections  could  be  built  uniting  this  with  the  more 
Northern  roads. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  line  of  the  main  track  through  Kansas,  Missouri, 
lUinois,  etc.,  would  be,  and  is,  in  fact,  already  to  some  considerable  extent, 
connected  by  branches  with  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  without  any  con- 
siderable waste  of  travel.  Georgia,  the  Carolinas,  Virginia,  etc.,  are  already 
connecting  themselves  with  the  States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Ohio,  while  " 
way  travel  and  freight  will  soon  pay,  if  they  do  not  already,  all  the  expenses 
of  the  connecting  roads. 

If  this  is  so,  the  upper  route  is  the  only  one  that  can  be  successfully  carried 
throvigh.  We  would  not,  however,  decide  too  hastily  such  important  ques- 
tions, but  we  throw  out  hints  that  can  not  be  overlooked  by  those  who  may 
have  the  management  of  this  immense  interest,  or  who  may  be  called  upon 
to  lend  their  aid  in  behalf  of  so  great  an  enterprise. 

Having  thus  expressed  more  fully  the  ideas  suggested  in  our  October  num- 
l>er,  we  will  lay  before  our  readers  a  few  statements,  from  an  address  by 
Thos.  H.  Benton,  in  reference  to  the  character  of  the  country  crossed  by  the 
upper  route,  going  to  prove  that  the  country  near  the  latitude  of  38°  is 
*•  remarkably  adapted  fur  the  construction  of  railroads,  and  that  it  is  travers- 
able in  all  directions."  If  this  is  so,  we  should  consider  these  facts  decisive 
on  this  question.     On  this  point  he  says  : 

"  I  have  some  direct  and  positive  testimony  on  this  head,  which  the  import- 
ance of  the  subject,  and  the  value  of  the  testimony  itself,  requires  to  be  pro- 
duced. I  speak  of  the  last  expedition  of  Colonel  Fremont — his  winter  expe- 
dition of  1853-54 — and  of  the  success  which  attended  it,  and  of  the  value 
of  the  information  which  it  afforded.  He  chose  the  dead  of  winter  for  his 
exploration,  that  he  might  see  the  worst — see  the  real  difficulties,  and  deter- 
mine whether  they  could  be  vanquished.  He  believed  in  the  practicability  of 
the  road,  and  that  his  miscarriage  in  1848-49,  was  the  fault  of  his  guide, 
not  of  the  country ;  and  he  was  determined  to  solve  those  questions  by  the 
test  of  actual  experiment. 

With  these  views  he  set  out,  taking  the  winter  for  his  time,  the  west  for 
his  course,  a  straight  line  his  object,  the  mouth  of  the  Kansas  for  his  point  of 
departure,  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  the  points  to  be  connected.  The  paral- 
lels of  38°  and  39°  covered  his  course,  and  between  these  he  continued  to 
move  west  until  he  reached  the  Little  Sj  It  Lake — within  three  hundred  miles 


RAILWAY  TO   THE   PACIFIC.  895 

of  the  California  line ;  after  that,  upon  a  slight  deflection  to  the  south, 
between  the  parallels  37°  and  38°,  until  he  entered  California.  This  may  be 
called  a  straight  line  ;  and  so  fulfills  a  primary  condition  of  every  kind  of 
road,  and  especially  of  a  railroad,  where  a  speed  of  a  hundred,  miles  an  hour 
may  be  as  easily  attained  and  as  safely  run  as  the  third  of  that  velocity  in  a 
road  of  crooks  and  curvatures. 

Snow  was  the  next  consideration,  and  of  that  he  found  none  on  any  part 
of  the  route  to  impede  any  kind  of  travelling.  On  the  Kansas,  the  Upper 
Arkansas,  and  the  Huerfano,  he  found  none  at  all ;  in  the  Sand  Hill  Pass  of 
the  Sierra  Bianca,  none ;  in  the  Coochatope  Pass,  four  inches !  and  none  if 
he  had  crossed  the  day  before  ;  and  that  was  the  14th  day  of  December,  cor- 
responding with  the  time,  and  almost  in  view  of  the  place,  where  he  had 
been  buried  in  snow  five  years  before.  This  solved  the  question  of  snow  in 
the  passes  of  the  mountains,  and  showed  his  miscarriage  had  been  the  mis- 
take of  the  guide,  and  not  the  fault  of  the  country.  After  that — after  cross- 
ing the  Eocky  Mountains — the  climate  changes.  A  great  amelioration  takes 
place,  which  he  knew  before,  and  then  fully  experienced.  The  remainder  of  the 
route,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  view  of  the  country,  may  be  said  to  have 
been  found  free  from  snow — a  hundred  miles  at  a  time  in  one  place  without 
finding  any  ;  and  when  found  at  all,  both  thin  and  transient. 

And  that  this  was  the  common  winter  state  of  the  pass,  and  not  an  occa- 
sional exception,  has  been  shown  by  Mr.  Antoine  Leroux  and  others,  and  cor- 
responded with  his  own  theory  of  snow  in  the  passes. 

The  Sierra  Nevada  was  the  last  range  of  mountain;  and  there  not  a  par- 
ticle of  snow  was  found  in  the  pass  which  he  traversed,  while  the  mountain 
itself  was  deeply  covered.  And  this  disposes  of  the  objection  of  snow  on. 
this  route,  so  formidable  in  the  view  of  those  who  have  nothing  but  an  imagin- 
ary view  of  it.  Smoothness  of  surface,  or  freedom  from  abrupt  inequalities 
in  the  ground,  is  the  next  consideration,  and  here  the  reality  exceeded  the 
expectation  and  even  hopes,  and  challenges  incredulity. 

Here  is  a  section  of  the  route,  above  seven  hundred  miles  long,  being 
more  than  half  the  distance  to  California,  in  which  there  is  no  elevation  to 
arrest  the  vision — in  which  you  might  look  down  in  the  wide  distance,  (if  the 
ej'-e-sigbt  was  long  enough,)  and  see  the  frontier  of  Missouri  from  the  mouth 
of  the  first  pass  in  the  first  mountain — being  more  than  half  the  length  of  the 
road.  This  would  do  for  a  start.  It  would  satisfy  the  call  for  a  fair  surface 
at  the  commencement.  This  first  pass  is  called  the  Sand  Hill,  or  Robidoux, 
through  which  Fremont  entered  the  valley  of  San  Luis  ;  and  the  way  so  low 
and  level  as  to  be  seen  through.  And  through  that  valley,  and  its  continu- 
ation, (the  Sahwatah,)  to  the  Coochatope,  the  ground  is  so  smooth  as  so  pre- 
sent no  exception  to  its  level  but  the  natural  curvature  of  the  earth. 

More  than  forty  loaded  wagons  went  through  it  in  the  summer  of  1853, 
twenty  of  them  guided  by  Leroux  for  Captam  Gunnison,  the  rest  by  emi- 
grant families,  without  guides.  But  more  than  that — the  bufi:aloes  have 
travelled  it  always. 

This  is  enough  to  show  that  the  Rocky  Mountains  may  be  passed  with- 
out crossing  a  hill — that  loaded  wagons  may  cross  it  at  all  seasons  of  the  year. 
In  a  word,  there  is  no  difficulty  about  passes ;  the  only  bother  is  to  choose 
out  of  so  many  all  so  good,  both  in  themselves  and  in  their  approaches. 
This  is  enough  for  the  passes ;  with  respect  to  the  whole  mountain  region, 
and  the  difficulty  of  going  through  it,  and  upon  difierent  lines,  we  have  also 
the  evidence  of  facts  which  dispense  with  speculation  and  assertion.     That 


396  CROPS   IN  VIRGINIA. 

region  was  three  times  traversed,  and  on  different  routes,  by  Messrs.  Beale 
and  Heap,  in  the  summer  of  1853. 

It  hajipened  thus :  When  they  had  reach  the  east  fork  of  the  Great 
Colorado  of  the  West,  and  were  crossing  it,  they  lost,  by  the  accident  of  an 
overturned  canoe,  their  supply  of  munitions,  both  for  the  gun  aud  the  mouth, 
and  were  forced  to  send  back  to  the  nearest  settlement  for  a  further  supply. 
That  nearest  settlement  was  Taos,  in  New-Mexico,  distant  three  hundred  and 
thirty  miles ;  and  that  distance  to  be  made  upon  mules,  finding  their  own 
food,  which  had  already  travelled,  on  the  same  condition,  one  thousand  miles 
from  the  frontier  of  Missouri ;  and  these  mules,  (thus  already  travelled  long 
and  hard,  without  other  food  than  the  grass  afforded,)  now  made  the  double 
distance  at  the  rate  of  forty  miles  a  day,  still  finding  their  own  food,  and  on 
the  return,  bringing  packs  on  their  backs.  This  performance  must  stand  for 
a  proof  that  the  whole  mountain  region  between  the  Upper  Colorado  and 
the  valley  of  the  Upper  Del  Norte  is  well  adapted  to  travelling  ;  and  that  in 
a  state  of  nature;  and  also  well  supplied  with  nutritious  grass;  and  this 
clears  us  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  from  which  to  the  Little'Salt  Lake  it  is 
all  an  open  practicable  way,  not  limited  to  a  track,  but  traversable  on  any  line. 
Loaded  wagons  travel  it  in  a  state  of  nature.  The  valley  of  the  Colorado  is 
either  level  or  rolling ;  the  Wahsatch  and  Anterria  ranges  are  perforated 
by  incessant  valleys;  and  from  the  Little  Salt  Lake  to  the  Great  Sierra 
Nevada,  as  explored  by  Fremont  last  winter,  the  way  is  nearly  level — a  suc- 
cession of  valleys  between  the  mountains — and  terminated  by  a  superb  pass, 
debouching  into  the  valley  of  San  Joaquin, 

This  completes  all  that  is  necessary  to  be  shown  in  favor  of  the  smooth- 
ness of  the  way — its  equality  of  surface,  throughout  the  whole  line ;  although 
it  attains  a  great  elevation,  and  lands  you  in  California,  in  the  rich  and  set- 
tled valley  of  San  Joaquin,  proximate  to  the  southern  end  of  the  gold  mines. 
Not  a  tunnel  tu  be  made,  a  mountain  to  be  climbed,  a  hill  to  be  crossed,  a 
swamp  to  be  seen,  or  a  desert  or  movable  sand  to  be  encountered  in  the 
whole  distance." 

We  shall  be  glad  to  publish  any  suggestions,  on  this  subject,  from  any 
quarter. 


rOR   THE  PLOUGH,    THE   LOOM,   AND   THE   ISVIL. 

CROPS       IN       VIRGINIA. 

Messrs.  Editors  :  It  is  several  months  since  I  last  addressed  you.  Bleak 
winter  has  driven  me  within  doors,  and  now,  with  the  mercury  standing  at 
16^  Farenheit,  I  seat  myself,  not  to  give  you  an  essay  on  agriculture,  but 
to  write  of  things  past,  present,  and  in  prospect,  in  our  beautiful  valley. 

This  portion  of  our  valley  has  not  sutiered  from  drought  so  much  as  the 
counties  below  us.  The  crop  of  wheat  in  the  upper  part  of  our  county  was 
a  full  average,  and  of  fine  quality.  The  counties  of  Augusta,  Rockingham, 
Shenandoah,Pfige,  Jefferson,  etc.,  if  lam  correctly  informed,  fell  short  one  third 
to  half  crops.  The  corn  crop  was  equally  short,  and  taking  the  valley  range, 
will  not  average  half  crops.  Grass  was  also  very  short.  Upon  those  crops 
the  graziers  are  dependent,  and  as  a  necessary  consequence,  there  will  not  be 
fed  in  the  lower  part  of  the  valley  over  one  half  to  two  thirds  of  stock  cattle 
usually  wintered  there.     It  is  computed  that  last  year  some  40,000  head  of 


CKOPS  IN   VIRGINIA.  397 

-• — — — — — 

stock  cattle  were  driven  clown  the  country.  This  year  about  28,000  passed 
through  our  county,  and  several  thousand  of  them  were  driven  back  for  want 
of  a  market.  It  is  fair,  however,  to  presume,  that  the  stock  on  hand  this 
year  in  the  lower  part  of  the  State  is  better  than  that  of  last  year,  with  much 
less  to  feed  them.  For  some  weeks  past,  many  lots  of  very  tine  beeves  have 
been  passing  down  to  the  Baltimore  market  from  the  counties  of  Botetourt, 
Roanoke,  Wythe,  Montgomery,  Pulaski,  etc.,  etc.,  which  counties  are  famed 
for  the  finest  cattle  raised  in  Virginia.  The  Cloyd's,  Kent's,  Crocket's,  with 
many  other  gentlemen  in  the  south-western  part  of  the  State,  are  celebrated 
for  their  fine  stock.  Many  of  their  beeves  would  average  net  1000  lbs., 
finely  fatted,  and  command  the  highest  prices.  There  is  also  much  fine 
beef  driven  from  the  counties  of  Rockbridge  and  Augusta,  with  the  entire 
range  of  valley  counties.  Last  year  every  description  of  cattle  was  high  and 
in  great  demand.  This  year  there  is  little  incpiry,  and  prices  for  stock- 
cattle  have  fallen  oti'froni  one  fourth  to  one  third,  and,  notwithstanding  every 
description  of  produce  is  high,  there  appears  a  pressure  in  money  matters. 
Speculation  has  run  too  high.  Time  will  bring  things  right.  The  price  of 
bread-stuffs  has  ruled  high  all  season,  contrary  to  my  expectations,  and 
from  present  indications,  will  continue  to  do  so  till  spring,  and  it  may  be  till 
the  coming  harvest.  Your  canals  are,  I  suppose,  now  closed  with  ice  ;  your 
supplies  will  bo  cut  off  from  the  West.  The  surplus  here  is  small,  and 
owing  to  the  continued  dry  weather,  and  now  the  freeze,  the  stock  of  flour 
on  hand  must  run  short ;  and  I  am  deceived  if  prices  do  not  continue  to  go 
up.  You  may  rely  on  it.  The  stock  on  hand  here  is  inconsiderable.  The 
high  prices  heretofore  have  induced  farmers  to  push  off  their  stock  as  fast  as 
they  could  get  it  ground.  I  own  a  Merchant  mill.  My  stock  on  hand  will 
be  out  before  Christmas,  and  I  do  not  know  where  I  can  buy  1000  bushels 
of  wheat.  I  hear  that  this  is  the  case  with  the  mills  around  me.  Wheat 
commands  in  the  interior  $1.50  per  bushel ;  corn,  70  to  75  cents,  and  in  some 
places  $1 ;  oats, 45 cents;  rye,  75  cents;  all  scarce, and  in  demand.  Pork  worth 
$5  to  |!6  as  in  quality.  Should  the  winter  prove  severe,  I  fear  there  will  be 
suffering  before  grass  comes  again.  The  stocks  of  cattle,  horses,  hogs,  and 
sheep  are  about  as  usual,  with  less  to  feed  them.  There  has  been  an 
unusual  number  of  sheep  driven  down  the  valley  the  past  season,  from  the 
western  part  of  the  State,  from  Tennessee,  and  the  mountainous  parts  of 
North-Carolina.  They  were  mostly  a  common  article,  bought  at  an  average 
of  II  per  head  to  $1.25,  and  sold  at  11.75  to  13.50  ;  40,000  were  supposed  to 
have  been  driven  through  our  county.  It  is  a  matter  of  surprise  that  the 
farmers  of  East-Tennessee,  and  the  northern  portions  of  North-Carolina  do 
not  pay  more  attention  to  stock  raising.  They  send  in  hordes  of  things  here — 
two,  three,  four,  and  five  years  old,  remarkable  only  for  stag-heads  and  horns, 
with  bandy  legs,  of  small  bone — any  thing  but  comely  animals.  Our  good 
farmers  don't  like  to  buy  them,  and  will  not  when  they  can  do  better.  One 
of  Kent's  fine  beeves  at  the  same  age,  is  worth  two  of  them.  They  are  driven 
mainly  to  Eastern  Virginia,  and  generally  at  four  years  old  fatten  well,  but 
grow  but  little.  There  may  be  exceptions,  and  no  doubt  are,  but  I  speak  of 
this  as  applying  to  most  of  the  cattle  driven  from  East-Tennessee,  and  the 
border  of  North-Carolina  adjoining. 

I  informed  you  some  time  since,  that  we  were  building  a  Branch  Canal 
from  the  James  River  and  Kanawha  improvement,  a  distance  of  twenty 
miles.  We  have  completed  that  work  to  within  six  and  a  half  miles  of  Lex- 
ington. Owing  to  the  pressure  on  the  money  market,  our  work  is  now  pro- 
gressing slowly ;  we  are  dependent  for  funds  for  the  completion  of  the  Canal 


CORN  THE   STAPLE   CROP   OF   OHIO. 


on  bonds  guaranteed  by  the  James  River  &  Kanawha  Co.  The  payment 
of  those  bonds  is  based  upon  the  tolls  over  the  entire  hne  on  produce  pass- 
ing over  our  Canal.  First  paying  the  James  River  Co.  $5000  per  annum. 
It  is  computed  that  the  surplus  tolls  will  pay  principal  and  interest  in  thir- 
teen years  from  this  date.  From  an  experience  of  one  year's  business,  we 
do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  an  investment  in  those  bonds  is  equal  to  Virginia 
State  stocks.  The  interest  will  be  paid  semi-annuall}'^,  and  the  redeemed 
within  the  next  thirteen  years.  Last  y<!ar  the  tolls  amounted  to  near  $1  G,000, 
and  they  will  continue  to  increase  as  the  canal  is  completed.  We  want 
capital  here  to  occupy  some  of  our  fine  sites  for  water  power.  Can  you  not 
send  out  some  of  your  surplus  funds,  and  energetic  citizens,  to  build  up  our 
waste  places?  We  want  furnaces,  forges,  and  factories.  Much  of  the  raw 
material  is  here.     We  lack  capital  to  make  it  available. 

Your  obedient  servant,  etc.,  H.  B.  Jones. 

Rochhridge  Co.,  Va.,  near  JBrownsburg,  Bee.  5,  1854. 

P.S. — Mercury  down  to  10°  ;  at  sunrise,  22^;  at  4  P.Af.,  and  at  5  P.M., 
19° ;  wind  high  for  two  days.     The  night  will  be  cold.     Cih,  mercury  I'/o. 


CORN  THE  STAPLE  CROP  OF  OHIO. 

Mr.  Mansfield,  in  an  address  to  the  Highland  County  (0.)  Agricultural 
Society,  at  its  late  Fair,  thus  speaks  of  their  great  staple,  and  the  necessity  for 
improvement  in  its  culture : 

"  In  this  State,  and  in  the  whole  Valley  of  the  Ohio,  Indian  corn  is  the  most 
important  staple.  In  the  five  States  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Illinois,  Indiana,  and 
Tennessee,  are  raised  280,000,000  bushels  of  corn — one  half  of  the  whole 
raised  in  the  United  States,  and  three  times  as  much  as  are  raised  in  the 
same  States  of  wheat,  oats,  barley,  and  potatoes,  together.  Corn  is,  therefore, 
the  great  staple  of  the  Ohio  Valley  ;  and  if  we  can  improve  its  culture,  we 
■  add  more  than  in  any  other  way  to  the  products  of  agriculture.  Is  that 
impossible  ?  In  examining  the  statistics  of  this  State  you  will  find  some  facts 
bearing  strongly  on  this  })oint,  and  quite  startling  to  the  curious  inquirer. 

We  find,  _/i/-s/,  that  the  average  product  per  acre  is  37  bushels,  namely, 
1,604,429  acres,  producing  61, 1*71,282  bushels;  the  highest  being  50  per 
acre,  in  the  counties  of  Butler,  Warren,  ifnd  Fayette ;  and  the  lowest  20 
bushels,  in  the  counties  of  Huron,  Wayne,  and  Williams. 

We  next  find,  by  turning  to  the  proceedings  of  agricultural  societies,  that 
150  "bushels  per  acre  have  been  repeatedly  raised,  and  that  100  bushels  is  no 
uncommon  crop.  Thus  we  have  two  facts  worth  consideration,  the  sum  of 
which  is,  that  the  average  corn  crop  of  Ohio  is  only  one  fourth  ofiohat  it  ■might 
be  under  high  cultivation,  on  the  same  breadth  of  land.  Is  this  a  state  of 
things  that  ought  to  exist  2  But  some  one  will  ask  in  the  popular  language, 
Will  this  superior  cultivation  ;5ay.^  Will  superior  cultivation  pay  its  costa? 
If  it  will  not,  your  agricultural  societies  ought  not  to  exist.  No  premiums 
should  ever  be  offered,  and  you  should  contented  to  let  dock,  thistles,  and 
iron  weed  grow  where  they  will,  and  leave  nature  alone  to  raise  your  crops. 
Wh}^,  gentlemen,  it  is  only  on  the  supposition  that  superior  cultivation  is  valu- 
able, that  you  attempt  any  agricultural  improvement. 

But  it  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  in  the  Pioneer  State,  in  the  period  when 


EOTATIOlsr    IN   COTTON-CULTURE.  39^ 


lands  were  clearing  up,  it  ?ms  the  doctrine,  that  nature  should  be  left  to  dO' 
the  work  of  growth ;  for  lands  were  cheap  and  labor  dear.  But  Ohio  ha& 
passed  that  period — at  least  as  regards  farms.  Fanning  land  is  worth  ii?20 
per  acre,  on  an  average,  and  there  is  too  much  capital  in  land  to  He  idle.  The 
time  has  come  for  high  cultivation,  the  time  has  come  when  it  will  pay  ;  when,, 
if  rightly  applied,  culture  put  on  land  will  pay  better  than  any  other  Species 
of  human  labor." 


ROTATION     IN     COTTON-CULTTJRE. 

The  richest  soils,  if  not  properly  cultivated,  will  lose  more  or  less  of  their 
fertility.  Every  one  of  the  older  States,  north  and  south,  is  suffering  from 
this  depreciation  in  the  value  of  their  soils.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  true 
that  tliere  is  no  necessity  for  suffering  such  a  state  of  things  to  exist,  and  it  is 
now  in  the  power  of  the  landholder,  everywhere,  to  improve  the  condition  of 
his  lands,  and  that,  too,  without  any  immediate  and  excessive  expenditure. 
The  following  is  the  substance  of  a  system  of  rotation  by  which  the  impove- 
rishment of  the  soil  is  effectually  prevented,  which  has  stood  the  test  of 
several  years  of  practice. 

One  hand  is  allowed  to  every  twenty  acres.  The  land  is  divided  into 
four  parts.  Grade  and  ditch  as  circumstances  may  require.  Next,  allot 
five  acres  to  each  hand  in  cotton,  ten  acres  in  grain,  and  let  five  acres  lie  ia 
fallow.  Plant  cotton  on  the  same  land  once  in  four  years,  and  always  on  fal- 
low land,  with  a  dressing  of  five  hundred  bushels  of  compost  or  stock-yard 
manure  per  acre,  spread  on  the  land  broadcast,  and  incorporated  with  the 
soil  uniformly  in  the  process  of  bedding  out  the  rows.  The  residue  of  the 
cotton-stalks,  leaves,  burs,  blooms,  and  limbs,  with  the  seed,  except  for  plant- 
ing, are  all  returned  back  to  the  same  land  where  they  grew.  Upon  this 
land  the  next  year  plant  corn,  manuring  it  with  cotton-seed.  But  to  the 
corn  crop,  the  most  important  on  the  plantation,  add  two  acres  of  the  land 
which  was  in  corn  last  year,  thus  giving  seven  acres  in  corn  to  each  hand. 
On  the  other  three  acres  of  that  poition  that  was  in  corn  last  year,  sow 
small  grain,  which  upon  land  thus  treated  will  furnish  a  sufficiency  of  oats, 
rye,  and  wheat,  for  the  wants  of  the  plantation.  Then  we  have  lying  in 
fallow  for  the  next  year's  cotton  crop  the  three  acres  that  were  in  small  grain 
last  year,  and  two  acres  that  w^ere  in  corn. 

The  following  reasons  for  commending  this  course  we  give  as  set  forth  by 
Dr.  Cloud  in  the  American  Farmer  : 

"In  the  first  place,  it  embraces  all  the  conditions  necessary  to  sustain  the 
cotton-planting  interest  within  itself,  independent  of  external  or  foreign  aid. 
To  this  feature  I  think  there  can  not  be  too  much  importance  attached. 
Again  :  the  several  crops  succeed  each  other  to  better  advantage,  both  as  to 
their  culture  and  healthy  growth,  than  in  any  other  way  that  we  have  seen 
or  attempted.  It  may  not  be  generally  understood  by  planters  from  practice, 
because  it  is  not  a  common  practice ;  indeed,  it  is  of  the  rarest  occurrence, 
how  well  cotton  grows  after  one  year's  rest  or  fallow.  I  conceive  it  to  be^ 
in  its  healthy,  vigorous  growth,  and  exemption  from  insects,  more  like  grow- 
ing cotton  on  fresh  land.  Nor  will  this  be  difficult  for  any  planter  to  com- 
prehend, when  he  recollects  that  on  the  fallow  I  spread  five  hundred  bushels 
per  acre  of  good  stock-yard  compost,  or  its  equivalent. 


400  EOTATION   IN  COTTON-CULTUKE. 

I  am  sure  I  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  persuading  any  planter  that  corn 
grows  better,  bears  better,  and  is  less  trouble  to  cultivate  after  cotton  than 
after  any  other  crop.  So  well,  indeed,  does  it  do  after  a  crop  of  cotton  that 
has  received  a  dressing  of  five  hundred  bushels  per  acre  of  manure,  that  it  is 
yet  a  matter  of  uncertainty  with  me,  after  twelve  years'  experience,  whether 
or  not  a  good  corn  crop  is  not  more  certain  without  than  with  the  seed ;  and 
if  we  have  drought  it  is  certainly  best  not  to  use  the  seed  on  corn  thus  treated. 
Then  we  have  the  seed  to  add  to  our  compost  heap  for  our  cotton.  Then 
again,  the  effect  of  the  corn  and  small  grain  crops  on  the  land  being  about 
the  same,  I  prefer  placing  the  small  grain  after  the  corn,  as  it  does  better 
after  com  than  corn  does  after  it.  After  the  small  grain,  the  land  lies  one 
year  in  fallow.  I  have  a  theory  about  this  four  years'  shift  and  one  year  in 
fallow,  in  regard  to  its  curative  influence  upon  the  diseases  of  the  cotton- 
plant.  Of  course  I  can  not  go  into  its  explanation  here,  but  I  give  it  as  my 
opinion  that  if  the  same  land  throughout  the  country  was  planted  in  cotton 
but  once  in  four  years,  it  would  prevent  the  insect  of  rust ;  I  am  sure  it 
would  of  lice,  and  I  think  it  altogether  probable  it  would  do  much  toward 
relieving  it  from  the  injury  of  the  boll-worm. 

Under  this  treatment  the  plantation  is  every  year  improving.  From  the 
extent  of  pasturage  which  it  affords,  and  the  large  amount  of  corn  raised  on 
the  plantation,  an  average  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  bushels  per  hand,  there 
will  be  no  manner  of  difliculty  in  raising  all  the  stock — hogs,  mules,  and 
cattle — that  are  needed  on  the  plantation.  It  has  been  objected  to  this 
system,  that  in  the  extent  of  pasturage  afforded,  prairie  and  clay  land  would 
become  too  much  trod  by  the  stock,  causing  such  land  to  run  together  and 
break  n\>  cloddy.  I  am  confident  the  objection  is  unfounded,  as  the  great 
object  of  the  system  is  to  accumulate  on  the  land  the  largest  possible  amount 
of  vegetable  matter,  which,  while  it  keeps  the  land  loose  and  friable,  contri- 
butes so  largely  to  the  luxuriant  and  healthy  growth  of  cotton.  These  objec- 
ctions,  that  fail  to  stand  the  theory  and  science  of  agriculture,  fall  to  the  ground 
as  impotent  and  futile  when  we  examine  the  same  system  (in  principle)  in  suc- 
cessful practice  in  the  States  of  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  etc.,  on  calcareous 
clay  lands,  raising  by  pasturage,  etc.,  not  only  mules,  horses,  hogs,  and  cattle 
for  home  consumption,  but  for  all  our  cotton  planters.  There  is  an  incom- 
patibility here  certainly.  The  only  precaution  necessary  is  to  prevent  stock 
running  on  the  land  while  wet  with  rainwater  standing  on  it. 

There  is  nothing  more  easy  than  to  account  for  this  false  alarm  among 
cotton-planters.  See  the  sedulous  care,  if  you  please,  with  which  they  have 
drained  the  vegetable  strata  of  their  fields  for  the  last  forty  yeai's ;  each  row 
is  a  perfect  drain,  not  of  water  alone,  but  of  vegetable  mould,  the  Hfe's-blood 
of  the  land;  the  cotton  and  cornstalks  generally  burned  ;  thus  denuded  and 
leached,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  hoof  of  a  hungry  cow  should  poison  it ! 
It  is  further  objected,  by  those  otherwise  approving  the  system,  that  it  will 
not  make  cotton  enough  ;  that  it  does  not  lot  sufiicient  land  to  secure  every 
year  a  full  crop  of  cotton.  To  this  objection  we  simply  oppose  at  first  this 
fact.  No  man  in  this  country,  on  the  same  quality  of  land,  has  realized  from 
1844  to  1853  inclusive,  to  the  same  proportion  of  hands  which  I  have,  not- 
withstanding I  have  been  experimenting  all  the  time.  If  I  have  not  made 
as  many  bales  of  cotton,  which  is  improbable,  I  have  raised  that  which  cotton 
had  to  supply  necessarily.  This  is  obvious  in  the  substantial  improvements 
on  the  land,  and  its  increased  value,  at  least  five  hundred  per  cent;  not  that 
I  could  simply  sell  it  for  that  much  over  and  above  its  cost  twelve  years  ago, 


ARTIFICIAL   MANURES.  401 


but  it  is  its  absolute  annual  production.  Nor  does  it  possess  any  artificial 
advantages  of  railroad  or  city  value,  as  land  in  sight  of  it  of  the  same  quality, 
and  just  as  valuable  in  1843,  under  the  "  kiifand  cripple  policy"  of  the 
country,  sold  last  year  at  less  than  $6.25  per  acre." 


ARTIFICIAL    MANURES. 

We  have  often  alluded  to  the  strong  temptation  to  fraud  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  various  fertilizers,  and  have  advocated  the  policy  of  sworn  exami- 
ners to  mark  every  box  and  bag  of  it  according  to  its  merits.  There  is  no 
force  whatever  in  the  pretense  so  shamefully  urged  by  some  of  those  who 
are  interested,  that  self-interest  will  lead  them  to  be  honest.  Such  consider- 
ations are  no  more  effective  with  the  makers  and  sellers  of  phosphates  than 
with  makers  and  sellers  of  watches,  or  of  any  other  article.  Selfishness  is 
the  most  miserable  motive  to  be  honest  that  a  man  could  devise,  while  fraud 
can  seldom  if  ever  be  detected  by  ordinary  means.  Those  who  rest  their 
own  character  on  such  a  plea,  ought  not  to  be  trusted  beyond  the  length  of 
a  halter. 

We  are  led  to  refer  again  to  this  subject,  by  noticing  some  very  conclusive 
statements  in  reference  to  the  subject  in  a  recent  Country  Gentleman,  and 
we  heartily  commend  the  advice  which  is  given  at  the  close  of  the  extract  by 
our  learned  and  judicious  brother : 

"From  the  Transactions  of  the  Highland  Agricultural  Society  of  Scot- 
land, we  learn  that  a  Mr.  G.  W.  Hay,  of  Roxburghshire,  being  desirous  of 
trying  experiments  with  various  manures,  put  himself  in  communication  with 
a  dealer  or  dealers  in  '  agricultural  manures.'  Among  the  substances  to  be 
employed  by  Mr.  Hay  were  super-phosphate  of  lime,  nitrate  of  soda,  phosphate 
of  soda,  sulphate  of  potash,  phosphate  of  magnesia,  sulphate  of  ammonia, 
and  muriate  of  ammonia.  When  the  parcels  of  chemicals  furnished  by  the 
respectable  peo[>le  of  whom  they  were  bought,  came  to  be  examined,  the 
nitrate  of  soda  was  found  to  contain  only  56  lbs.  of  that  substance  in  every 
100  lbs. ;  the  phosphate  of  soda  only  6  lbs.  in  the  100  lbs. ;  the  sulphate  of 
potash  60  lbs.  ;  the  sulphate  of  ammonia  not  quite  9f  lbs.;  the  nitrate  of 
potash  (saltpetre  of  commerce)  about  11.}  lbs.;  the  phosphate  of  magnesia 
2%  lbs.  (! !)  ;  and  the  muriate  of  ammonia  5i4  lbs.  only.  As  to  the  super- 
phosphate of  lime,  as  it  was  called,  it  contained  only  4  per  cent  of  soluble 
phosphate  of  lime ;  the  other  96  lbs.  consisting  of  water,  gypsum,  siliceous 
matter,  some  kind  of  free  acid,  and  insoluble  phosphate  of  lime,  a  perfectly 
useless  substance. 

When  Mr.  Hay  ventured  to  complain  of  the  fraud  thus  practised  upon 
him,  he  was  coolly  informed  by  the  dealers  that  they  could  not  think  of  taking 
their  rubbish  back.  They  staled  that  what  be  had  bought  of  themwas  '  the 
usual  quality  for  agricultural  purposcs^^  and  contained  'the  quantities  suit- 
able for  plants.'  That  is  to  say,  in  the  opinion  of  the  dealers,  the  quantity 
which  is  suitable  for  2'>lants  is  2|-  lbs.  in  every  hundred  of  phosphate  of  mag- 
gnesia,  9f  lbs.  of  sulphate  of  ammonia,  4  lbs.  of  super-phosphate  of  lime,  and 
6  lbs.  of  phosphate  of  soda.  This  insolent  answer  is  pretty  good  proof  that 
some,  perhaps  most,  dealers  in  '  agricultural  manures '  take  it  for  granted 


402  A  FINE  YIELD  OF  CORN. 


that  the  agricultural  community  are  easily   imposed  upon,  and  may  be 
cheated  and  fleeced  to  almost  any  extent. 

By  every  case  of  detection  and  exposure  of  such  frauds,  farmers  will  be 
more  and  more  persuaded  of  the  expediency  of  manufacturing  their  fertilizing 
substances,  as  much  as  possible,  at  home.  They  will  turn  their  attention 
more  and  more  to  saving,  and  putting  into  available  or  usable  forms,  all  the 
urine  and  excrements  upon  their  premises  ;  to  saving  their  barn-yard  manure 
from  the  wasting  influences  of  exposure  to  winds,  and  rains,  and  sun ;  to 
composting ;  and  to  the  manufacture  of  chemical  manures  under  their  own 
eye.  That  this  latter  can  be  done  to  same  extent  is  evident  from  the  direc- 
tions given  in  the  last  volume  of  The  Country  Gentleman  in  regard  to  the 
composition  and  domestic  manufacture  of  what  is  known  in  Great  Britain  by 
the  name  of  'Economical  Manure.'  By  every  case  of  exposure  of  such 
frauds,  the  number  will  be  diminished  of  those  who  purchase  annually  various 
quantities  of  guana,  super-phosphate  of  lime,  poudrette,  etc.,  while  the  guano 
of  their  own  hens  and  all  the  animal  excretions  on  the  premises  are  allowed 
to  go  entirely  to  waste." 


A     FINE     YIELD     OF     CORN. 

Mr.  John  Q.  Hewlett,  who  has  a  farm  about  four  miles  from  this  city, 
on  the  Frederick  road,  has  just  measured  the  corn  gathered  from  three  acres 
of  a  field  of  eighteen  acres.  The  corn  was  heaped  and  shaken  twice,  in 
accordance  with  the  old  rule ;  twice  before  and  once  after  Christmas.  The 
product  of  the  three  acres  was  46  barrels,  or  15^  barrels,  or  '76|  bushels,  per 
acre. 

The  field  had  heretofore  been  improved  by  a  liberal  dressing  of  animal 
manure^,  the  ploughing  in  of  a  green  crop,  and  the  application  of  one  hun- 
dred bushels  of  oyster-shell  lime,  and  had  been  set  in  timothy.  Last  year, 
owing  to  the  lowness  of  the  ground,  and  the  thorough  manuring  which  it 
had  previously  received,  a  heavy  second  growth,  or  after-math  of  timothy, 
grew  up,  fell  down,  and,  by  the  force  of  its  smother,  destroyed  the  timothy, 
which  was  followed  by  a  luxuriant  crop  of  blue  grass.  Last  fall  the  blue 
grass  was  ploughed  in  some  eight  or  ten  inches  in  depth,  and  the  inverted 
soil  left  exposed  to  the  meliorating  influence  of  the  winter's  frosts.  This 
spring  the  field  was  rolled,  harrowed  until  a  perfectly  fine  tilth  was  obtained, 
and  then  planted  with  corn,  ivithout  any  manure.  The  result  of  the  pro- 
duct of  three  of  the  eighteen  acres  we  have  already  detailed,  and  we  will  add 
tbat  it  is  estimated  that  the  remaining  fifteen  acres  will  yield  ten  barrels  on 
an  average  to  the  acre. 

Now,  what  think  you  enabled  this  field  to  yield  so  luxuriant  a  crop  of 
corn  during  the  past  season  of  drought  ?  Why,  the  thorough  system  of 
improvement  to  which  it  had  been  subjected  some  years  since ;  to  the  appli- 
cation of  concentrated  organic  manures;  to  turning  in  green  crops  ;  to  liming 
and  to  deep  ploughing,  thorough  pulverization  and  judicious  culture  of  the 
corn. 

The  crop  of  timothy  cut  in  1853  yielded  more  than  two  tons  to  the  acre; 
its  produce  of  corn  in  1854  we  Jiave  already  stated,  and  jet  this  field  in  1849, 
when  the  farm  came  into  its  present  owner's  possession,  would  not  have 
brought  more  than  four  barrels  of  corn  to  the  acre ! 

Can   any  one,  after  this  plain  statement  of  facts,  doubt  the  policy  of 


HOME  MANUFACTUEE  OF  POUDRETTE.  403 

thorougbly  improving  land  ?  Can  they  doubt  that  true  economy  is  thereby 
conserved  ?  Can  they  doubt  that  inouey  thus  laid  out  will  not  came  back — 
not  only  the  principal,  but  with  a  heavy  interest  ?  We  think  that  no  one 
who  is  capable  of  forming  a  correct  oi)inion  can  entertain  'the  slightest  doubt 
upon  the  subject.  We  know  that  every  dollar  judiciously  laid  out  in  the 
improvement  of  land  will  pay,  and  pay  well. — A7nerican  {Baltimore)  Farmer. 


■HOME     MANUFACTUEE    OP    POUDRETTE. 

The  contents  of  privies,  commonly  known  under  the  name  of  night-soils, 
furnish  exceedingly  powerful  manure  when  properly  manufactured  ;  and  under 
right  management,  the  process  will  destroy  all  the  effluvia  arising  from  those 
deposits,  and  render  the  closet  entirely  inoffensive. 

When  a  reservoir  or  small  stream  of  water  is  at  command,  so  that  a  cur- 
rent may  be  made  to  sweep  through  several  times  a  day  and  carry  off  the 
contents  into  the  manure-yard,  or  into  a  covered  bed  of  peat,  or  a  compost 
heap,  this  forms  perhaps  the  most  perfect  mode  of  removal.  An  essential 
requisite,  however,  is  freedom  from  the  influence  of  frost,  and  the  closet 
should  therefore  be  connected  with  the  dwelling  where  the  reservoir  of  water 
may  be  kept  from  freezing,  and  fioni  which  there  should  be  an  underground 
channel  of  considerable  size  and  slope.  We  have  known  all  this  to  be  per- 
fectly accomplished  by  means  of  a  lead  cistern  in  the  upper  story,  which  was 
kept  supplied  with  rain-water  at  all  times  from  the  broad  roof  of  the  house, 
and  which  was  sufficient  beside  for  baths,  washing,  and  all  other  domestic 
purposes. 

AVhen  a  current  of  water  can  not  be  used,  the  next  best  contrivance  is  to 
form  a  tight  box,  of  matched  pine  plank,  and  give  it  two  or  three  coats  of 
coal-tar,  so  as  to  render  it  durable,  and  proof  against  moisture  and  warping. 
It  is  to  be  placed  on  two  runners  like  that  of  a  sled,  made  of  plank  or  scant- 
ling, to  the  forward  end  of  which  a  chain  and  iron  hook  are  attached,  so  that 
it  may  readily  be  drawn  off  by  a  horse.  This  box  must  be  pf  such  a  size  as 
to  fit  a  cavity  made  on  purpose  under  the  building. 

The  next  thing  is  to  provide  a  supply  of  some  efficient  deodorizing  sub- 
stance. Dry  saw-dust  or  thoroughly  dried  peat  does  tolerably  well,  with  the 
occasional  addition  of  ashes  and  powdered  charcoal.  Charcoal  dust  alone  is 
much  better,  and  if  daily  applied  in  small  quantities,  will  nearly  destroy  all 
smell;  but  it  is  absolutely  essential  to  success  that  a  full  supply  of  this 
material  be  kept  near  at  hand  in  a  large  box  or  hogshead  in  a  shed  or  out- 
house, where  it  shall  be  always  dry  and  in  a  condition  to  apply  every  day, 
summer  and  winter.  Animal  charcoal  is  still  more  efficient  than  common 
charcoal,  and  may  be  made  to  form  a  portion  of  a  material  made  as  follows : 
Make  a  pile  of  peat,  turf,  old  straw  and  brush,  mix  with  tanner's  shavings  and 
broken  bones ;  let  the  pile  become  dry  enough  to  burn,  and  then  cover  it 
with  sods  and  set  it  on  fire.  It  should  be  suffered  to  burn  with  a  slow, 
smothered  combustion,  so  as  to  char  without  consuming  the  materials.  When 
the  process  is  completed,  the  whole  heap,  including  the  turf  covering,  should" 
be  well  mixed  together  and  broken  fine,  and  then  placed  in  a  large  box  under 
shelter,  for  daily  use.  Any  portion  of  clay  introduced  by  means  of  the  turf, 
and  well  dried,  forms  a  poweiful  absorbent  of  fetid  matter.     As  often  as  may 


404  CHARCOAL  A  DISINFECTING  AGENT. 


be  convenient,  a  horse  is  hitched  to  the  hook  and  chain,  and  the  whole  is 
drawn  off  into  the  barn-yard,  where  it  is  quickly  discharged  by  turning  the 
box  upside  down  ;  and  after  covering  the  bottom  and  sides  with  the  prepared 
material  already  described,  it  is  replaced  as  before.  The  strong  manure  thus 
obtained,  will,  if  well  mixed,  possess  but  little  odor  and  may  be  used  directly, 
or  may  be  mixed  with  common  manure  in  the  compost  heap.  Durable 
plank  should  be  placed  under  the  runners,  to  prevent  their  sinking  into  the 
earth,  and  enable  the  horse  to  start  the  box  easily.  It  is  said  that  those  who 
are  employed  to  obtain  the  materials  for  the  whole^^ale  manufacture  of  pou- 
drette,  throw  in,  before  commencing  operations,  a  few  quarts  of  a  strong  solu- 
tion of  copperas,  which  immediately  neutralizes  effluvia,  and  adds  to  the  value 
of  the  manure. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  we  have  received  the  fallowing : 
"The  different  modes  of  saving  as  well  as  making  manure,  very  properly 
engage  the  attention  of  agriculturists  to  a  great  extent.  There  is  one  mode 
of  saving  manure,  however,  which  is  very  much  overlooked.  The  farmers 
generally,  in  building  a  'palace'  for  the  accommodation  of  the  household, 
either  dig  a  pit  to  a  great  depth,  or  a  shallow  one  with  a  movable  building, 
to  be  removed  as  often  as  the  pit  becomes  filled.  In  the  former  case,  there 
is^  fitted  up  a  complete  nuisance  (after  a  year's  existence)  and  a  trap  to 
frighten  mothers  and  nurses.  The  latter  is  a  nuisance  from  the  beginning, 
and  a  subject  of  complaint  almost  everywhere.  The  plan  I  have  adopted  is 
simple  and  cheap — leaving  the  '  palace'  as  sweet  as  any  chamber  in  the 
house,  and  productive  yearly  of  a  tank  of  manure  worth  tvventy-fivc  dollars — 
a  species  of  poudrette,  I  venture  to  say,  more  fertilizing  than  any  that  can  be 
purchased. 

^  I  have  sunk  a  tank  or  pit,  ten  feet  square  and  four  feet  deep,  and  lined 
■with  plank  ;  stone  or  brick  walls  would  perhaps  be  better.  Upon  transverse 
beams  is  built  the  '  palace,'  five  feet  square.  From  the  kitchen  and  wash- 
house,  I  have  underground  sewers  emptying  into  this  tank,  through  which 
all  the  slops  of  every  description  pass.  The  seat  is  fixed  on  hinges  so  that 
the  whole  top  may  be  opened  up,  and  at  this  opening  is  deposited  all  the  dirt 
accruing  about  the  house  including  the  ashes  from  two  fires.  The  dirt  and 
ashes  absorb  all  the  slops  and  moisture,  and  prevent  the  slight(*fet  unpleasant 
smell.  This  tank  may  be  filled  once  or  twice  a  year,  and  each  filling  would 
be  worth  to  the  garden  the  sum  before  mentioned.  It  is  astonishing  that 
this  is  so  much  neglected  by  persons  even  who  know  the  value  of  manures, 
and  can  appreciate  cleanliness  and  convenience. —  Country  Gentleman. 


CHARCOAL    A    DISINFECTING    AGENT. 

We  have  often  made  suggestions  on  the  use  of  charcoal  in  stables,  closets, 
etc.,  and  copy  some  experiments  below,  made  by  an  English  gentleman,  and 
reported  in  the  London  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts.  The  account  is  as 
follows : 

"My  attention  was  particularly  drawn  to  the  impoitance  of  charcoal  as  a 
disinfecting  agent  by  my  friend  John  Turnbull,  Esq.,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
the  well-known  extensive  chemical  manufacturer.  Mr.  Turnbull,  about  nine 
months  ago,  placed  the  bodies  of  two  dogs  in  a  wooden  box,  on  a  layer  of 
charcoal  powder  a  few  inches  in  depth,  and  covered  them  over  with  a  quan- 


ILLUMINATION   UNDER   WATER.  405 

tity  of  the  same  material.  Though  the  box  was  quite  open,  and  kept  in  his 
laboratory,  no  effluvium  was  ever  perceptible ;  and  on  examining  the  bodies 
of  the  animals  at  the  end  of  six  months,  scarcely  any  thing  remained  of  them 
except  the  bones.  Mr.  Turnbull  sent  me  a  portion  of  the  charcoal-powder 
which  had  been  most  closely  in  contact  with  the  bodies  of  the  dogs.  I  sub- 
mitted it  for  examination  to  one  of  my  pupils,  Mr.  Turner,  who  found  it 
contained  comparatively  little  ammonia,  not  a  trace  of  sulphuretted  hydro- 
gen, but  very  appreciable  quantities  of  nitric  sulphuric  acids,  with  acid  phos- 
phate of  lime. 

Mr.  Turner  subsequently,  about  three  months  ago,  buried  two  rats  in 
about  two  inches  of  charcoal-powder,  and  a  few  days  afterward  the  body  of 
a  full-grown  cat  was  similarly  treated.  Though  the  bodies  of  these  animals 
are  now  in  a  highly  putrid  state,  not  the  slightest  odor  is  perceptible  in  the 
laboratory. 

From  this  short  statement  of  facts,  the  utility  of  charcoal-powder,  as  a 
means  of  preventing  noxious  effluvia  from  churchyards,  and  from  dead 
bodies  in  other  situations,  such  as  on  board  a  ship,  is  sufficiently  evident. 
Covering  a  churchyard  to  the  depth  of  from  two  to  three  inches  with  coarsely 
powdered  charcoal,  would  prevent  any  putrid  exhalations  ever  finding  their 
way  into  the  atmosphere.  Charcoal-powder  also  greatly  favors  the  rapid 
decomposition  of  the  dead  bodies  with  which  it  is  in  contact,  so  that  in  the 
course  of  six  or  eight  months  little  is  left  except  the  bones. 

In  all  the  modern  systems  of  chemistry,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  last 
edition  of  Turner's  '  Elements,'  charc*)al  is  clescribed  as  possessing  anti-septic 
properties,  while  the  very  reverse  is  the  fact.  Common  salt,  nitre,  corrosive 
sublimate,  arsenious  acid,  alcohol,  camphor,  creosote,  and  most  essential  oils, 
are  certainly  anti-septic  substances,  and  therefore  retard  the  decay  of  animal 
and  vegetable  matters.  Charcoal,  on  the  contrary,  as  we  have  just  seen, 
greatly  facilitates  the  decomposition  of  any  organic  substances  with  which  it 
is  in  contact.     It  is,  therefore,  the  very  opposite  of  an  anti-septic." 


ILLUMINATION     UNDER    WATER. 

That  science  is  progressive  is  apparent  on  all  sides.  Among  other  sub- 
jects of  great  interest,  this  has  received  its  share  of  attention.  The  November- 
number  of  the  American  Journal  of  Science  and  the  Arts  contains  interesting 
statements  on  this  subject.  We  are  informed  that  at  the  Lake  D'Enghien, 
M.  Duboscq,  the  successor  of  Soleil,  performed  an  experiment  of  this  kind 
before  many  competent  observers.  Ihe  electrodes  of  carbon  were  placed  in 
a  glass  globe,  being  connected  with  one  of  Duboscq's  regulators,  which  com- 
municated with  the  battery  by  a  copper  wire  covered  with  gutta-percha. 
The  globe,  submerged  to  the  depth  of  sixteen  and  one  half  feet,  spread  light 
over  a  circle  of  sixty-six  feet  diameter,  and  it  remained  constant  for  two 
hours,  after  which  the  carbon  required  replacing. 

The  idea  of  this  process  was  suggested  by  an  agent  of  a  company  that 
had  been  engaged  in  exploring  the  bottom  of  the  Mediterranean  wheie  the 
battle  of  Navarino  took  place.  The  diver  usually  remained  beneath  the 
water  three  quarters  of  an  hour,  after  which  he  came  up  to  breathe  and  rest; 
his  hght  was  an  oil  lamp  placed  on  the  head  of  the  diver,  and  fed  with  air 
proceeding  from  his  respiration,  whence  it  was  in  a  variable  current,  and  was 


40G  SUBSTITUTE   FOR  RAGS   IN   PAPER-MAKING. 

often  extiDo;uis}ied,  requiring  him  to  go  up  and  relight.  Duboscq's  arrange- 
ment was  devised  to  avoid  these  inconveniences.  It  is  made  light,  so  that 
the  diver  may  carry  it  in  his  hand;  and  at  the  same  time  it  is  strong,  and 
well  secured  hermetically,  to  resist  a  pressure  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  of  sea-water.  It  consists  of  a  cylinder  of  strong  glass  secured  to  a  brass 
foot,  and  surrounded  with  a  gutta-percha  sack.  The  light  pai?ses  out  through 
Ji  large  plano-convex  lens,  the  convexity  being  inward,  the  focus  being  so 
arranged  that  the  rays  escape  nearly  parallel.  As  the  lamp  is  movable,  the 
diver  walks  about  with  it,  and  places  it  where  he  wishes  to  make  a  search ; 
and  as  it  is  only  necessary  to  bring  the  electrodes  near  one  another  to  light 
it,  the  diver  need  only  to  turn  a  small  screw  to  continue  the  light  for  two 
hours,  which  is  more  than  twice  as  long  as  he  can  remain  at  the  bottom. 

This  beautiful  invention  supplies  a  want  which  has  always  been  felt  by 
persons  engaged  in  operations  wnth  the  diving-bell.  A  vast  quantity  of 
property  now  lying  on  the  bottom  of  our  large  rivers,  bays,  and  lakes,  may 
be  recovered  by  the  use  of  submarine  armor  and  these  electric  lamps.  In 
seeking  for  nuggets  of  gold  in  the  deep  pools  of  streams  in  California,  these 
lamps  may  also  be  advantageously  employed.  They  will  likewise  materially 
aid  the  engineer  in  arranging  the  foundation  of  works  that  are  to  be  erected 
in  deep  water.  In  recovering  the  body  of  a  person  who  has  been  drowned, 
they  will  be  eminently  useful ;  in  short,  the  introduction  into  use  of  this  sub- 
marine lamp  is  another  of  the  beautiful  contributions  that  science  is  constantly 
oftering  to  man  for  the  promotion  of  his  happiness  and  prosperity. 


SUBSTITUTE     FOR     RAGS     IN"     PAPER-MAKING. 

Our  exchanges  from  the  Atlantic  States  contain  favorable  notices  of  the  newly- 
discovered  paper  plant  which  grows  spontaneously  and  abundantly  in  Canada. 
We  do  not  entertain  a  doubt  that  this  plant,  which  appears  to  have  as  many 
aliases  as  a  pickpocket,  will  supply  the  material  for  the  manufacture  of  paper 
that  will  surpass  in  quality  and  economy  that  now  made  from  rags.  In 
Canada,  the  name  commonly  given  to  the  plant  is  "  Cudweed,"  another  is 
"  Life-everlasting."  In  the  notice  we  now  give,  which  is  taken  from  a  Savan- 
nah paper,  the  botanical  name  is  said  to  be  "  Gnaphaluno."  The  writer  of 
this  notice,  as  will  be  seen,  speaks  very  favorably  of  this  plant  as  a  substitute 
for  rags  in  paper-making :. 

"  It  is  said  that  the  experiment  to  make  paper  out  of  an  American  plant 
called  'white  top,'  or  'immortelle,'  has  been  successful.  The  botanical  name 
is  Gnaphaluno,  and  the  paper  is  therefore  called  'gnaphahc  paper.'  The 
plant  is  very  abundant  in  Canada.  The  paper  is  glossy,  smootb,  and  thin, 
and  evidently  much  stronger  than  that  kind  in  the  manufacture  of  which 
cotton  is  so  largely  used.  The  stalk  as  well  as  the  flower  of  the  plant  may 
be  employed,  but  from  the  white  silky  flowers  alone  a  finer  and  whiter  article 
can  of  course  be  produced.  The  manufacturers  assert  that,  without  taking 
into  consideration  the  difl'erence  of  the  cost  of  materials,  paper  may  be  made 
from  this  plant  at  12^  per  cent  less  expense  than  rags.  The  adhesive  quali- 
ties of  the  plant  are  such  that  in  the  manufacture  of  the  paper  no  animal 
matter  need  be  used,  and  a  good  surface  is  obtained  without  sizing." 

We  find  the  foregoing  in  the  Louisville  Journal.     We  do  not  know  about 


NEW   PLAN   OF   BREAKING-IN"  HORSES.  407 

the  aliases  spoken  of,  except  so  far  as  some  compositor  or  proof-reader  is 
responsible.  The  true  name  is  Gnapiialium,  and  it  grows  "  everywhere." 
The  lu7io  must  have  been  contrived  by  some  moon-stiiick  typo.  The  com- 
mon, or  English  names  of  plants  are  never  reliable.  Every  locality  has  its 
own  nomenclature.  The  "  Ladies'  Slipper "  of  one  region,  is  "  The  Toad 
Flax"  of  another,  and  so  on. 

We  have  not  the  confidence  of  our  learned  brother  at  Louisville,  in  the 
matter  of  substituting  any  thing  for  Jlax  in  the  manufacture  of  paper,  but 
quere  whether  an  economical  process  may  not  perhaps  be  devised  for  making 
paper  from  the  vegetable  itself,  without  a  previous  operation  for  converting 
it  into  Jlax,  or  still  more  into  a  web.  Perhaps,  too,  something  maybe  accom- 
plished by  mixing  raw  cotton  and  prepared  flax  together. 


NEW  PLAN  OF  BREAKING -IN  HORSES. 

A  NEW  system  of  breaking-in  horses,  by  means  of  a  very  few  lessons,  and 
so  as  to  preserve  all  their  precious  qualities,  has  come  into  use,  and  what  is 
singular  is  that  the  author  of  it  is  a  lady,  named  Isabelle.  Having  a  great 
liking  for  horses,  Madame  Isabelle  some  yeai-s  ago  began  studying  the  differ- 
ent systems  employed  in  breaking-in  horses,  and  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  they  were  all  more  or  less  defective.  She  then  sought  for  a  plan  of  her 
own,  which  should  render  the  horse  more  tractable,  by  developing  its  intelli- 
gence ;  and  she  succeeded  in  discovering  one  so  perfect  that  the  most  restive 
horse  is  reduced  to  obedience  in  a  very  short  time,  and  without  the  slightest 
ill-treatment.  Her  plan,  as  is  almost  always  the  case  Avith  things  really  use- 
ful, is  very  simple.  She  begins  by  making  the  horse  carry  his  head  high, 
and  perpendicularly,  whereby  she  prevents  the  weakness  caused  by  the  con- 
staut  binding  of  the  neck,  gives  free  play  to  the  muscles  in  the  neck,  and 
allows  full  action  to  be  exercised  over  the  mouth.  Then  she  places  on  the 
horse  a  surcingle,  surmounted  by  an  iron  rod  about  fifteen  inches  long,  which 
is  bent  about  four  inches  forward  at  the  summit.  On  each  side  of  the  rod 
are  placed  four  rings,  destined  to  receive  the  rtins  according  to  the  height 
that  may  be  desired.  The  horse  soon  gets  accustomed  to  this  check,  and  it 
exercises  a  great  moral  effect  on  him.  He  places  his  head  in  such  a  manner 
as  not  to  sufter  from  the  bit  in  the  mouth,  and  thereby  soon  gets  accustomed 
to  being  held  in  hand  by  his  rider  or  driver.  The  surcingle  also  promptly 
accustoms  him  to  adopt  the  best  movements,  and  to  advance  when  desired 
without  offering  any  resistance.  The  breaker-in  remains  at  the  left  of  the 
horse,  and  is  armed  with  a  whip  with  a  spur  in  it.  After  forming  her  sys- 
tem, Madame  Isabelle  went  into  Germany,  and  practised  it  with  marked  suc- 
cess on  horses  belonging  to  Prince  de  Lichtenstein,  at  Vienna.  From  Vienna 
she  went  to  Russia,  and  there  stopped  two  years.  In  the  course  of  that  time 
she  rendered  completely  docile  all  the  most  restive  horses  of  model  cavalry 
regiment  at  St.  Petersburg,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  Re- 
cently she  returned  to  France,  and,  having  explained  her  plan  and  stated  its 
results  to  the  Minister  of  War,  she  was,  by  the  special  direction  of  the  Em- 
peror, who  was  consulted,  authorized  to  practise  it  on  a  number  of  young 
horses  of  the  regiment  of  guides,  and  with  an  equal  number  of  recruits  who 
had  recently  joined  the  regiment.     The  lessons  were  given  under  her  direc- 


408  GALLS   OlSr    HORSES. 


tion  at  the  riding-scbool  of  the  Ecole  Imperiale  d'Application  d'Etat  Major- 
After  the  fifteenth  lesson  the  horses  manoeuvred  with  the  tranquillity  and 
precision  of  old  troop  horses.  A  few  days  ago,  Colonel  Fleury,  who  com- 
mands the  regiment,  manoeuvred  the  horses  and  recruits,  and  every  one  of 
the  usual  cavalry  movements  was  admirably  executed. — Mark-Lane  Express. 


GALLS      ON     HORSES. 

Some  horses  are  more  predisposed  to  galls  than  others,  but  even  the  most 
liable  to  injury  in  this  respect  may  by  care  be  kept  perfectly  sound.  Bad 
harness  is  the  great  cause  of  galls.  In  order  to  save  a  few  shillings  in  re-stuff- 
ing an  old  collar,  getting  camel's-hair  pads,  or,  perhaps,  a  new  collar,  many 
a  valuable  horse  has  been  materially  injured,  and  ever  afterwards  particularly 
liable  to  sore  shoulders.  The  collar  should  be  frequently  examined,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  very  likely  to  become  hard  and  lumpy.  A  little  pounding  will  gene- 
rally remove  the  difficulty,  and  render  the  collar  soft.  If  the  horse  is  known 
to  be  predisposed  to  sore  shoulders,  camel's-hair  pads  should  always  be  used. 
Heavy  and  unsteady  work  is  also  a  frequent  cause  of  galls.  A  man  unused 
to  labor  can  easily  blister  or  gall  his  hands,  while  he  who  labors  habitually 
suffers  no  inconvenience.  So  it  is  with  horses;  they  have,  perhaps,  done 
little  or  nothing  during  the  winter,  and,  when  the  busy  season  comes  on, 
they  are  put  to  "  breaking  up,"  or  other  heavy  work,  and,  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence, their  shoulders  are  galled.  Could  any  other  result  be  expected  ? 
Light  work,  till  their  shoulders  are  hardened,  would  be  a  more  humane  and 
profitable  course. 

Bathing  with  salt  and  water  is  a  good  thing  to  harden  the  shoulders. 
Some  prefer  to  bathe  the  shoulders  in  the  morning,  previous  to  going  to 
work ;  but  we  think  it  is  better  to  do  it  at  night,  and  wash  it  off  with  cold 
spring  water  in  the  morning.  Otherwise  the  particles  of  salt  are  apt  to 
adhere  to  the  collar  or  to  the  hair,  and  act  somewhat  as  would  fine  sand  in 
a  person's  boot.  Of  course,  the  poor  horse  is  allowed  to  rest  his  weary  limbs 
on  the  Sabbath ;  for,  as  experience  has  fully  demonstrated,  neither  man  nor 
beast  can  labor  seven  days  in  the  week  with  impunity.  On  Saturday  night, 
therefore,  the  shoulders  should  be  thoroughly  bathed  with  a  saturated  solu- 
tion of  salt  and  water,  washing  it  off  on  Monday  morning  before  commencing 
work.  These  precautions  are  particularly  necessary  where  the  skin  exhibits 
tenderness,  or  becomes  knotty  or  thickened.  A  few  minutes'  labor,  night 
and  morning,  is  all  that  is  required,  and  it  can  not  be  better  applied. 

In  case  of  actual  sores,  or  where  the  skin  is  broken,  it  is  desirable  that  the 
horse  be  allowed  to  rest  a  few  days ;  but  if  this  is  impossible,  the  collar  must 
be  so  padded  as  not  to  touch  the  sore.  It  would  seem  essential  that  the 
sore  be  covered  in  some  way,  so  as  to  keep  out  the  dust  and  prevent  flies 
from  troubling  it.  We  never  found  any  thing  answer  the  purpose  in  this 
particular.  If  any  of  our  readers  have  been  more  fortunate,  we  should  like 
to  hear  from  them.  A  solution  of  alum  is  good  to  bathe  the  sore  with,  but 
we  prefer  white  vitriol,  (sulphate  of  zinc.)  "We  know  of  nothing  so  cooling 
and  healing,  A  tea-spoonful  should  be  dissolved  in  a  pint  of  water,  and  the 
sore  be  kept  constantly  moist  with  it.  For  this  purpose,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  take  a  bottle  of  it  into  the  field  with  you,  and  to  keep  a  moistened  rag 
on  the  sore  all  the  time.  Act  on  these  hints,  and  your  teams  shall  praise 
you. — Rural  New-Yorker. 


THE  STRENGTH  OF   BEAMS.  409 


ANATOMY    AND    PROPAGATION    OF    MOSQUITOES. 

At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Natural  Histor}^  in  Boston,  Dr. 
Durkee,  of  that  city,  exhibited  under  the  microscope  the  rostrum  or  sting  of 
the  common  Mosquito,  {Culex pipiens.)  The  Doctor  remarked  that  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  features  in  the  anatomy  of  the  mosquito  is  that  the 
parts  which  constitute  the  mouth  are  elongated,  so  as  to  form  a  bealc  extend- 
ing horizontally,  Hke  that  of  some  birds.  The  beak  or  sting  is  about  half 
the  length  of  the  body,  and  to  the  unassisted  eye  appears  to  be  very  simple 
in  its  structure.  When  examined  with  the  microscope,  however,  it  is  found 
to  be  composed  of  seven  different  parts,  which  are  comparatively  stout  on 
one  edge.  These  parts  vary  in  length,  and  can  be  separated  from  each  other 
without  much  difficulty.  They  are  broad  at  the  upper  part,  where  they  are 
united  to  the  head,  and  they  gradually  taper  to  a  point.  One  of  the  parts 
is  a  tu'jular  canal  or  groove,  in  which  the  others  are  lodged  when  the  pro- 
boscis is  not  in  use.  "Dr.  D.  stated  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  find  any 
appearance  of  teeth,  except  on  the  two  longest  pieces ;  in  these  he  had  found 
them  near  the  tip.  The  two  longest  pieces,  also,  are  marked  by  transverse 
lines,  extending  from  one  edge  to  the  other,  throughout  their  whole  length. 

Cuvier  and  others  state  that  the  male  mosquito  does  not  suck  blood. 
From  repeated  examinations,  Dr.  D.  has  satisfied  himself  that  the  male  has 
no  sting,  and  consequently  can  not  draw  blood.  The  female  alone  is  en- 
dowed with  this  organ.    The  male  lives  upon  the  juices  of  flowers  and  plants. 

Mosquitoes  are  propagated  only  where  there  is  water.  The  eggs,  deposited 
in  water,  go  through  the  larva  and  pupa  state,  small  collections  of  shallow 
water  being  most  favorable  for  their  development.  Most  of  them  die  in  the 
fall  of  the  year,  but  some  hybernate  in  cellars  and  other  warm  retreats,  sup- 
ported by  the  oil  which  they  have  accumulated  during  the  summer,  and 
with  which  they  are  distended  in  the  fall  of  the  year. 


FOR    TUE    PLOUGH,    THE     LOOM,    AND     TUB     ANVIL. 

THE      STRENGTH      OF      BEAMS. 

"When  the  ordinary  mechanic  looks  into  those  books  which  are  professedly 
written  for  his  own  especial  benefit,  and  sees  there  the  armies  of  x\Igebra  and 
the  Calculus  drawn  up  in  battle  array,  presenting  at  him  their  bristling 
weapons  of  squares,  and  abscissas,  and  integrals,  he  starts  back  dismayed. 
There,  he  knows,  is  hidden  the  treasure  which  he  seeks ;  but  his  heart  sinks 
within  him  as  he  thinks  of  the  tremendous  and  to  him  almost  hopeless  eflbrt 
required  to  break  down  the  guard  that  surrounds  it.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  such  treatises  are  immediately  useful  to  the  mechanic.  They  are  suitable 
only  for  those  who,  in  early  fife,  have  enjoyed  better  advantages  than  he  ; 
who  have  had  more  time  and  opportunities  for  study  than  he  can  generally 
command.  He  is  a  plain  hard-working  man,  with  brain  quick  enough 
to  comprehend  and  at  once  realize  any  thing  that  is  practical  and  ordinary, 
but  who  turns  hopelessly  from  a  complicated  series  of  misty  mathematical 
reasonings.  The  results  of  these  reasonings  must  be  popularized  for  him. 
The  technicalities  of  the  mathematicians  must  be  removed,  and  their  formuhe 
translated  into  his  own  tongue.     It  is  in  the  hope  of  so  doing,  to  a  certain 


410  THE   STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS. 


extent,  that  this  is  written,  and  if  any  one  herefrom  gets  a  clearer  idea  of  the 
very  important  subject  discussed,  the  writer  will  feel  abundantly  repaid. 

THE    ELEMENTARY    PRINCIPLES    OF     THE    CALCULATION    OF    THE    STRENGTH    OF 

BEAMS. 

To  simplify  the  reasoning,  we  will  suppose  for  the  present  that  the  beam 
itself  weighs  nothing,  and  consider  only  the  effect  upon  it  of  the  imposed  load. 

There  are  three  strains  to  which  a  beam  may  be  exposed.  1st.  Of  exten- 
sion, as  when  a  weight  is  suspended  from  the  end  of  a  perpendicular  beam. 
The  ties  of  a  bridge-truss  sutler  a  strain  of  extension.  2d.  Of  compression, 
as  when  a  weight  rests  upon  the  top  of  a  beam.  The  braces  of  a  bridge-truss, 
or  ordinary  columns  are  instances  of  this  strain  ;  and  3d,  a  transverse  strain 
— that  sustained  for  instance  by  the  chords  of  a  bridge-truss.  The  first  two 
act  in  the  direction  of  the  fibres  of  the  wood,  and  the  third  at  right  angles  to 
them.  It  is  evident  that  the  first  depends  directly  upon  the  number  of  fibres 
composing  the  beam,  without  regard  to  its  length,  and  therefore  the  tensile 
strength  of  beams  are  as  the  areas  of  their  cross-sections ;  that  is,  if  one  beam 
of  a  certain  area  will  sustain  100  lbs,,  another  beam  of  twice  that  area  will 
sustain  200  lbs.  The  second  also  depends  directly  upon  the  number  of  fibres; 
but  here  enters  another  element.  It  is  evident  that  if  the  beam  can  be  pre- 
vented from  flexure,  and  retained  in  such  a  position  that  the  weight  shall 
always  act  in  the  direction  of  the  fibres,  the  length  is  immaterial.  But  after 
the  beam  is  elongated  beyond  a  certain  point,  (which  practically  is  about 
seven  times  the  diameter  of  its  base,)  it  is  found  difficult  to  retain  it  in  such  a 
position,  and  this  difficulty  increases  with  its  length  ;  therefore  the  strength  of 
beams,  to  resist  a  compressive  force,  varies  directly  as  the  areas  of  their  cross- 
sections  and  inversely  as  their  length.  Resistance  to  a  legitimate  crushing 
force  depends  upon  the  lateral  adhesion  of  the  fibres,  which  may  be  re- 
sembled to  a  bundle  of  rods,  which  would  not  fail  if  bound  firmly  together. 
Thus,  for  a  brace  or  post,  straight-grained  is  better  than  cross-grained  timber. 
A  fir  post  will  carry  three  times  as  much  as  one  of  oak ;  although  to  resist  a 
strain  by  extension,  oak  is  much  the  stronger.  _ 

The  third,  or  transverse  strain,  is  in  a  measure  a  combination  of  the  first 
two. 

It  is  easy  to  find  by  experiment  the  strength  of  a  single  beam,  but 
in  the  experiment,  the  beam  is  generally  destroyed,  and  besides,  a  series  of 
experiments  can  not  be  entered  upon  to  ascertain  the  strength  of  every 
portion  of  each  one  of  the  myriad  structures  which  the  ever-increasing  wants 
of  a  restless  industrial  progress  demand.  A  way  must  be  devised  by  which, 
from  an  experiment  on  one  beam,  we  can  determine  at  all  times  and  readily 
the  value  of  any  similar  beam.  And  this  is  the  province  of  the  mathema- 
tician. Into  his  formuUe  enter  always  and  chief  the  results  of  the  practical 
experiment,  and  the  constant  must  be  known  thoroughly  and  truly,  or  the 
formula  is  useless.     Let  us  endeavor  to  see  how  the  two  are  connected. 

If  a  beam  is  supported  at  each  end  and  loaded  in  the  middle,  the  conse- 
quence is  a  deflection  more  or  less  from  the  horizontal.  In  this  deflection 
different  parts  of  the  beam  sustain  different  strains.  Of  a  vertical  section 
taken  transversely  through  the  middle,  those  fibres  at  the  top  of  the  beam 
■will  suffer  a  strain  of  compression,  while  those  at  the  bottom  will  suffer  a 
strain  of  extension.  It  is  similar  to  the  case  of  a  bended  bow,  the  string  of 
which  is  stretched  taut  while  the  fibres  of  the  bow  itself  are  crushed  into  each 
other  longitudinally.  If  we  examine  the  section  of  fracture  of  a  beam  broken 
across,  we  shall  find  the  fibres  at  the  bottom  literally  torn  asunder,  while 


THE   STRENGTH   OF  BEAMS.  411 

those  at  the  top  are  forced  into  each  other.  It  is  evident  that  as  these 
diverse  strains  approach,  they  gradually  neutralize  each  other,  until  finally 
meeting  they  harmonize  in  a  line  within  the  beam,  in  which  there  is  neither 
compression  nor  extension.  This  is  called  the  Neutral  Axis,  and  in  regularly 
shaped  beams  is  generally  at  or  near  the  centre.  It  is  important  in  esti- 
mating the  power  of  a  beam,  to  ascertain  as  nearly  as  may  be  its  exact 
position;  for  the  strength  of  the  beam  is  limited  ta  that  of  its  weakest  part. 
For  instance :  if  the  resistance  to  compression  is  represented  by  100,  while 
that  to  extension  is  but  50,  then  the  strength  of  the  beam  is  but  50.  Thus, 
the  ultimate  tensile  strength,  that  is,  the  power  of  the  cohesive  attraction  of 
the  particles,  which  must  be  overcome  in  tearing  them  asunder,  of  cast-iron 
is  about  6.5  tons  per  square  inch,  while  its  compressive  strength  is  about  48 
tons  per  square  inch.  To  construct,  therefore,  a  cast-iron  bar  in  the  strongest 
possible  form,  the  quantity  of  material  in  the  bottom  must  exceed  that  in  the 
top,  in  the  ratio  of  48  to  6.5  ;  that  is,  the  neutral  axis  must  be  located  nearly 
eight  times  as  far  from  the  bottom  as  from  the  top. 

This,  however,'for  the  most  part  depends  upon  the  material  composing  the 
beam,  and  as  such,  does  not  properly.come  within  the  limits  of  this  paper. 

We  will  take  the  case  of  a  beam,  the  neutral  axis  of  which  is  in  the  middle^ 
and  the  re«istance  of  which  to  compression  is  equal  to  its  resistance  to  exten- 
sion.    This  is  a  perfectly  balanced  beam,  and  in  the  strongest  possible  form. 
A  beam  may  be  varied  in  either  or  all  of  its  three  dimenbions,  length, 
breadth,  and  thickness. 

It  is  evident  that  the  longer  a  beam  is,  the  other  dimensions  remaining 
constant,  the  weaker  it  is,  and  this  in  direct  proportion  to  its  length ;  that  is, 
if  the  length  be  doubled,  the  strength  is  halved.  Therefore  the  strength  is 
said  to  be  inversely  as  the  length.  Suppose  a  beam,  fastened  at  each  end  in 
a  wall,  and  loaded  in  the  middle.  The  pressure  from  the  weight  is  communi- 
cated by  the  particles  composing  the  beam  to  each  other,  and  so  is  trans- 
mitted to  the  abutments,  or  end-supports.  It  is  manifest  that  the  pressure 
and  the  resistance  to  it  are  equal  on  each  side  of  the  weight  and  at  each  end 
of  the  beam.  Therefore  if  we  calculate  the  effect  of  half  the  weight  on  half 
the  beam,  it  will  be  as  though  we  had  calculated  the  effect  of  the  whole 
weight  on  the  whole  beam,  and  will  be  much  more  simple  and  comprehensible. 

Suppose  then  the 
beam  A  D,  loaded  at 
the  centre  E  with 
the  weight  2  W,  be 
divided  through  the 
point  E,  and  the  part 
E  D  with  half  the 
weight  be  removed. 
What  will  be  the 
effect  of  the  remain- 
ing weight  W  upon  the  part  B  E?         {-^'i'/-  !•) 

B  E  may  be  considered  as  a  lever,  of  which  W  is  the  powtr,  and  A  B 
the  fulcrum.  And,  therefore,  the  strain  at  A  B  is  equal  to  the  product  of 
the  length  of  the  lever  into  the  power  ==  W  Z  in  which  l  =  B  E.  But  W  is 
constant,  therefore  the  strain  varies  with  the  length,  and  hence,  as  above,  the 
strength  is  inversely  as  the  length. 

Now,  to  resist  this  strain  we  have  the  inherent  strength  of  the  section  at 
A  B.  At  A,  as  we  have  seen  above,  is  the  greatest  strain  of  extensiun,  and 
at  B  the  greatest  of  compression,  while  at  /  the  neutral  axis  is  no  strain 


412 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS. 


whatever.     Suppose  the  beam  to  Le  cut  by  a  number  of  parallel  horizontal 

planes  through  the  points 
a  h  cf  d  e  g,  and  that  each 
of  these  planes  represents  a 
layer  of  the  fibres  of  the 
beam.  Then  the  strain  sus- 
fa'ned  by  the  extreme  out- 
side fibres  at  F  G,  will  con- 
tinually diminish  until  it  be- 
comes nothing  at  the  neu- 
'^''    '  tral  axis  /,  and  the  strain 

upon  any  intermediate  layer  of  fibres  depends  upon  its  distance  from  /. 
Therefore,  if  the  strain  upon  the  outside  be  represented  by  the  line  F  G, 
the  strain  upon  the  Avhole  section  of  extension  will  be  equal  to  the  triangle 
F  /  G ;  and  correspondingly  that  upon  the  section  of  compression  by  tlie 
trinngle  H/L  Now,  the  entire  sum  of  the  forces  of  these  triangles  may  be 
considered  as  accumulated  at  their  respective  centres  of  gravity  x  and  y. 
Let  us  at  present  consider  that  part  of  the  beam  affected  by  extension  alone : 

/is  the  point  at  which  there  is  no 
strain  ;  E  the  end  of  the  beam  to 
which  is  attached  the  weight  W, 
and  X  is  the  focus  of  the  triangle 
of  extension  :  a;  /  E  may  then  be 
considered  as  a  bent  lever,  of  which 
/  is  the  fulcrum.  The  effect  of  the 
„.  weight  W  is  to  turn  the  point  x 

'"'    '  around  the  point  /.     This  is  coun- 

teracted by  the  power  P,  representing  the  resistance  to  extension  of  the  beam. 
Suppose  that  the  arm  /  E  of  the  lever  is  four  times  as  long  as  that  of/  x, 
then  P=E  W ;  for  by  the  principles  of  the  lever  the  products  of  the  arms 
into  their  respective  weights  must  equal  each  other — that  is, /E  x  W=xf 
.V  P,  which  is  the  equation  of  equilibrium.  If  a;  /be  doubled,  P  must  be 
halved,  in  order  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  equation.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  triangle  of  compression.  Where  /  E  and  AV  remain  constant,  the  P 
varies  as/.-r  ;  or  the  power  of  resistance  is  as  the  line/rr,  or  the  distance  of 
the  neutral  axis  from  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  resisting  triangle.  This 
distance,  which  is  the  leverage  with  which  the  resistance  acts,  depends,  of 
course,  upon  the  depth  of  the  beam.  If  the  depth  is  doubled  this  leverage 
is  doubled,  and  thus  the  resistance  doubled.  But  by  doubling  the  depth  of 
the  beam,  the  entire  number  of  fibres  is  doubled,  and  this  also  doubles  the 
resistance.  Hence,  by  doubling  the  depth  of  the  beam  the  strength  is  qua- 
drupled— that  is,  the  strength  of  beams  varies  directly  as  the  squares  of  their 
depths. 

If  the  breadth  of  the  beam  be  doubled,  the  leverage  of  resistance,  as  above 
explained,  will  not,  as  is  readily  perceived,  be  effected.  But  the  number  of 
fibres  Avill  be  doubled,  and  with  them  the  strength,  which,  therefore,  will 
vary  directly  as  the  breadth. 

We  have  seen  the  results  of  changes  and  modifications  in  all  the  dimen- 
sions of  a  beam — its  length,  depth,  and  breadth.  Combining  them  all,  and 
representing  the  length  by  I,  the  depth  by  d,  and  the  breadth  by  b,  we  see 
that  the  strength  of  beams  varies  as  ^-y^ ;  which  may  be  taken  for  the  ex- 
pression of  the  strength.  Now,  let  us  find  the  weight  that  will  break  this 
beam. 


THE   STRENGTH  OF   BEAMS.  413 


Suppose  that  we  have  made  experiments  on  a  beam  of  certain  dimensions 
— for  instance,  one  each  side  of  which  is  a  square  inch — and"  have  found  that 
a  certain  weight  C  will  just  bieak  it..  This  is  its  ultimate  strength.  From 
the  result  of  this  experiment,  we  wish  to  estimate  the  strength  of  other 
beams,  of  various  dimensions  and  of  similar  material.  By  using  the  breaking- 
weight  C  of  this  beam,  as  a  unit  of  comparison  with  any  other  whose  brcak- 
ing-weiglit  W  we  wish  to  tind,  we  see  that  the  strength  of  the  beam  experi- 
mented upon  is  to  the  strength  of  the  given  beam  as  the  breaking-weight 
known  is  to  the  breaking  weight  sought ;  or, 


bd  - 
I 

:     ( 

w 

= 

i 

W — whence 


C. 


Rule. — That  is,  to  ascertain  the  breaking  weight  of  any  rectangular  piece  of 
timber,  fastened  at  one  end  and  loaded  at  the  other,  multiply  the  product  of 
the  breadth  and  the  square  of  the  depth  in  inches,  by  the  weight  necessary  to 
break  a  piece  of  similar  timber,  whose  length,  breadth,  and  depth  are  each 
one  inch,  and  divide  this  by  the  length  in  inches. 

In  cylindrical  beams  the  strength  is  as  the  cube  of  the  diameter,  and  in 
square  beams,  as  the  cube  of  the  depth  or  breath  — for  it  is  evident  that  in 
both  these  cases  6=c?. 

From  a  great  variety  of  experiments  the  value  of  C  has  been  deduced,  and 
tables  are  given  by  authors  shov/ing  the  experimental  strength  of  diii'erent 
timbers  when  exposed  to  a  transverse  strain.  The  following  is  compiled  from 
Cresy's  Encyclopedia  of  Engineering.  The  numbers  set  opposite  each  kind 
of  material  is  the  breaking  weight  of  a  stick  one  inch  in  each  of  its  dimen- 
sions, or  the  value  of  C  as  above  explained  : 


Alder,     ...         -  1590  lbs. 

Oak,     -       -       -       -  le'ze  lbs 

Ash,   -         -         -         -       2355    " 

"    (Canadian,)  -         -       llGQ    " 

Beach,    ....  1556    " 

Pine,  (pitch,)  -         -         -  1632    " 

Elm,  -         -         -         -       1620    " 

"      (red,)-         -         -       1341    " 

Fir,  (Norway,)           -         -  2576    " 

Poplar,   -         -         -         -     981    " 

«    (N.  England,)          -       1102    " 

Sycamore,  -         -         -       1008    " 

"    (Spruce^,)  -         -         -  1395    " 

By  this  table,  what  is  the  breaking-weight  of  a  beam  of  oak,  the  breadth 

of  which  is  10  inches,  the  depth  12  in 

ches,  and  the  length  14  feet  ? 

W  =  V^'    X    1072   =   14,331  lbs. 

This  is  its  ultimate  strength.  In  practice  it  should  never  be  subjected  to 
more  than  one  fourth  of  its  breaking  weight. 

The  above  formula  is  applicable  to  a  beam  subjected  to  the  aforesaid  con- 
ditions alone — that  is,  to  a  beam  fastened  at  one  end  and  loaded  at  the  other  ; 
or  what  is  the  same  thing,  to  a  beam  fastened  at  each  end  and  loaded  in  the 
middle.  A  departure  from  these  limitations  necessitates  a  change  in  the 
formula.  It  is  true,  however,  that  this  position  of  the  load  subjects  the  beam 
to  the  severest  strain  to  which  it  can  ever  be  liable ;  and,  therefore,  if  it  be 
strong  enough  to  resist  this,  it  may  be  safely  trusted  to  bear  the  same  load 
in  any  other  position  in  which  it  may  be  placed. 

By  a  reference  to  fig.  1,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  principal  transverse 
strain  sustained  by  the  beam  A  D,  loaded  by  the  weight  2  W,  is  in  the 
middle  E,  because  there  the  leverage  is  the  greatest.     From  here  it  continu- 


414  ploughs:  their  construction,  etc. 


ally  dirninishes  toward  the  abutments.  The  philopophy  and  extent  of  this 
diminution,  the  effects  of  a  change  in  the  position  of  the  load — of  a  uniformly 
distributed  load — of  a  movable  or  variable  load,  and  other  such  important 
matters,  will  be  considered  hereafter.  C.  E. 


PLOUGHS:    THEIR    CONSTRUCTION,    ETC. 

'"  We  have  taken  up  our  pen,  with  the  purpose  of  preparing  an  article  that 
shall  be  of  practical  value,  in  respect  to  this  important  implement.  But  it  is 
exceedingly  difScult  to  do  justice  to  our  own  ideas  upon  this  subject,  for  the 
want  of  means,  geometrical  diagrams  but  iraperf^^ctly  representing  some  of 
the  principles  involved.  The  most  that  we  shall  assume  to.  undertake,  just 
now,  is  to  open  the  subject  for  future  elucidation,  and  we  shall  be  "  right 
glad"  if  our  readers  will  give  us  the  benefit  of  their  thoughts  in  relation  to  it. 
Ploughmakers  have  a  direct  interest  in  the  subject. 

At  almost  every  annual  fair,  we  used  to  find  that  premiums  were  given  for 
the  "  best  plough."  Now,  all  are  fully  persuaded  that  no  one  plough  is 
"the  best,"  for  all  uses, in  the  same  soil,  nor  for  the  same  service  in  diflerent 
soils.  It  is  equally  obvious  that  different  services  are  required  of  the  plough 
in  the  same  field,  at  different  states  of  the  seasons  and  of  the  crop. 

What  are  these  services  ? 

1.  The  sward,  or  matter  consisting  of  matted  roots  and  soil,  variously  mingled, 
are  to  be  turned  up.  The  roots  are  not  to  be  torn  asunder,  nor  the  soil  pul- 
verized, but  the  whole  object  of  the  farmer  is  gained  simply  by  turning  a  few 
inches  of  the  soil  bottom  upwards.  If  old  grass  lands  are  ploughed  in  the 
fall  and  are  to  remain  untouched  till  spring,  the  fanner's  desire  is  fully  realized 
by  this  one  process,  and  all  power  applied  beyond  this  is  labor  lost. 

2.  It  may  be  that  the  same  kind  of  surface  is  to  be  prepared  by  a  single 
ploughing,  in  spring,  for  the  reception  of  the  seed.  Then  a  certain  degree 
of  pulverization  is  desired.     But  how  much  ? 

If  the  soil  is  san\ly  and  dry,  too  much  pulverization  will  prove  fatal  to  the 
germination  of  the  seed.  All  the  moisture  is  evaporated.  In  such  cases,  a 
plough  is  wanted  that  will  turn  the  furrow  without  entirely  destroying  the 
slight  adhesion  that  exists  among  the  sandy  particles. 

But  other  soils  are  more  adhesive,  and  more  moist.  In  such,  the  plough 
should  be  so  constructed  as  more  completely  to  separate  the  particles  of  soil ; 
or  in  other  words,  to  pulverize  the  soil  more  effectually. 

A  difference  of  great  importance  also  regards  the  depth  of  furrow.  One 
shape  is  best  for  a  shallow  furrow,  and  another  for  a  deeper;  or  rather  a 
plough  that  operates  well  in  a  shallow  furrow,  does  not  of  necessity  w^ork  as 
welPwhen  it  turns  a  deeper  furrow.  A  plough  may  be  built  to  turn  equally 
well  a  furrow  of  any  desired  depth. 

Then,  there  is  the  cutting  of  the  soil,  preparatory  to  turning  it,  and  the 
direction  of  the  draught. 

All  these  points  are  of  practical  importance.  Not  one  can  be  overlooked 
withoiit  loss.  And  we  might,  perhaps,  add  one  more  at  least,  for  extra  deep 
ploughing,  to  wit,  the  pulverization  of  the  soil  without  regard  to  any  change 
in  its  position.  The  object  then  is  merely  to  stir  up,  to  loosen,  without  bring- 
ing lower  strata  to  the  surface,  or  burying  the  surface  soil  beneath  the  lower 


ploughs:  their  construction,  etc.  415 


strata.     After  all  these,  must  be  considered  the  best  mode  of  adapting  the 
handles  of  the  plough,  to  secure  the  most  perfect  control  of  it. 

The  mere  act  of  cutting  calls  for  the  exercise  of  science.  Go  into  a  book- 
binder's shop  and  see  the  hands  at  \vork  rapidly  cutting  up  the  sheets,  per- 
haps with  a  piece  of  bone  or  horn  that  is  so  far  from  having  a  sharp  "  edge," 
that  an  insect  might  crawl  on  any  part  of  it,  and  yet  the  sheets  are  not  torn. 
If  you  attempt  to  use  the  same  tool,  you  spoil  half  the  paper.  Many  of  our 
readers  have  had  experience  of  this  sort,  in  attempts  to  cut  the  leaves  of  books 
and  pamphlets.  Some  of  our  readers  complain  of  us  that  we  do  not  "  cut 
open  the  leaves."  It  would  be  convenient  for  them,  perhaps,  but  if  they  w\\{ 
apply  a  little  science,  as  we  intend  by  and  by  to  explain  it,  they  will  not  find 
it  a  very  severe  nor  hazardous  task. 

After  the  soil  is  properly  cut,  in  two  directions,  then  the  process  of  turning 
the  furrow  commences.  The  wedge  is  to  be  driven,  the  furrow  is  to  be  lifted, 
simultaneously  or  successively.  Shall  these  two  processes  be  carried  on  at 
the  same  instant,  or  one  at  a  time  ?  The  latter,  of  course,  requires  less  power 
at  any  one  moment,  than  if  the  double  service  were  required.  Propelling  the 
plough  forward  one  foot  involves  several  distinct  actions — that  of  a  wedge 
in  aljorizontal  direction,  lifting  it  perpendicularly,  and  also  a  proper  amount 
of  pulverization.  The  inventor  of  a  plough  has  regard  for  each  of  these 
results,  and  must  adapt  his  tool  to  all  the  different  kinds  of  soil.  For  what 
-will  thoroughly  pulverize  sand,  will  scarcely  break  a  clod  of  other  soil. 

To  accomplish  these  various  results  in  different  soils,  and  to_  any  given 
extent,  different  mechanical  contrivances  are  requisite.  For  turning  furrow- 
slices  unbroken,  in  loose  soils,  certain  gentle  curves  are  requisite.  For  a 
thorough  breaking  up  and  separation  of  the  masses  of  earth,  bolder  curves  and 
shorter  mould-boards  are  required. 

So  far  as  the  resistances  to  be  overcome  are  concerned,  all  may  be 
resolved  into  two  terms,  adhesion  and  friction,  while  on  most  soils  the  latter 
consumes  a  large  portion  of  the  power  demanded  in  this  work.  Ilence, 
other  things  being  equal,  that  plough  which  accomplishes  the  service  required 
with  the  least  friction,  is  the  best  plough ;  and  this  friction  is  determined  by 
mathematical  calculation.  Here  is  one  of  the  most  important  questions  for 
the  investigations  of  the  man  of  science.  Experiment  must  test  his  correct- 
ness, for  perhaps  in  his  calculations,  which  are  right  as  far  as  the}'  go,  he 
has  overlooked  some  one  factor  or  requisite,  which  will  render  all  his  calcu- 
lations worthless. 

First,  the  requisites  of  a  good  cutter.  A  thin  cutting  edge,  of  course,  can 
be  driven  through  soil  with  less  force  than  would  be  required  to  tear  it  open. 
But,  besides  this,  the  position  of  the  blade  is  also  important.  Apply  a  thin 
ivory  blade,  or  a  table-knife,  to  the  fold  of  a  newspaper,  at  right  angles  to  it, 
and  exert  a  little  force,  and  you  tear  the  paper  anywhere  else  rather  than  at 
the  point  to  which  it  is  applied,  and  if  the  paper  should  be  separated  in  the 
right  place,  it  will  present  very  rough  torn  edges.  Hold  the  blade  obliquely 
and  apply  force,  and  the  roughness  of  the  edges  will  be  sensibly  diminished. 
If  the  handle  is  further  from  yuu  than  the  point  of  the  blade,  and  the  motion 
is  longitudinal,  so  that  the  cutting  point  constantly  moves  from  the  handle  to 
the  other  end  of  the  blade,  while  you  push  from  you,  there  is  still  improve- 
ment in  the  condition  of  the  cut  edge.  But  if  the  handle  is  much  nearer  to 
you  than  the  blade,  say  at  45°  with  the  fold  of  the  paper  which  is  to  be  cut, 
and  the  knife  is  drawn  towards  you,  while  it  is  also  forced  against  the  paper, 
you  will  make  a  smooth  edge  when  you  cut.    One  who  shaves  himself 


416  PLOUGHS:   THEIR   CONSTRUCTION',  ETC. 

may  experiment  upon  these  modes  of  operation,  and  will  scarcely  doubt 
their  importance. 

In  a  plough,  there  is  no  opportunity  for  the  sliding  motion — that  is,  none 
has  ever  been  devised.  But  regard  is  had  to  the  position  of  the  knife.  It 
should  not  be  perpendicular  to  the  surface,  but  cut  obliquely.  It  should  also 
cut  to  the  bottom  of  the  furrow.  The  horizontal  blade,  or  that  which  severs 
the  bottom  of  the  furrow-slice  from  the  stratum  below  it,  is  governed,  of 
course,  by  the  same  rules.  There  is,  however,  one  point  of  uitierence.  If 
the  furrow-slice  is  to  be  turned  unbroken  and  retain  its  place  on  the  field, 
without  lapping  over  the  next  furrow-slice  in  one  place,  and  leaving  a  gap  in 
another,  it  is  desirable  to  leave  a  short  space  uncut,  that  it  may  act  as  a 
hinge  on  which  the  furrow-shce  may 'turn  with  due  regularity.  This  is  not 
obviously  to  gain  power,  but  rather  at  a  slight  loss  of  it,  for  the  sake  of 
another  good. 

The  turning  of  the  furrow-slice.  If  the  width  of  the  plough  is  too  great 
in  proportion  to  its  length,  making  the  wedge  too  blunt,  the  furrow  will  be 
broken  into  pieces  and  be  laid  irregularly.  If  the  wedge  is  too  long,  the 
plough  will  not  be  so  easily  managed,  and  the  furrow-slice  will  not  probably  be 
well  laid.  The  furrow-slice  should  notjeave  the  mould-board  till  it  has  been 
carefully  turned  considerably  beyond  a  perpendicular,  so  that  it  may  drop 
regularly  into  its  place.  If  the  plough  is  too  short,  the  extreme  pressuio 
of  the  soil  against  the  mould-board  will  drive  the  plough  to  the  land-slide, 
and  produce  irregularities  in  the  line  of  its  direction  and  in  the  position  of 
the  slice. 

The  great  question  then  comes  up.  What  should  be  the  shape  of  a  plough- 
share in  order  to  secure  all  these  points?  Some  are  concave  through  nearly 
their  whole  extent,  thereby  increasing  friction  unnece.-sarily ;  some  are 
decidedly  convex,  breaking  the  fmTOw  by  lifting  it  too  suddenly  ;  some  others 
are  concave  in  one  direction,  and  straight  in  another. 

This  seems  to  us  the  best  form  for  general  work,  while  each  of  the  others 
may  have  their  merits  for  some  special  service.  The  boldly  convex  will  pul- 
verize the  soil  most  eifectually,  while  it  requires  most  strength  of  team.  But 
as  suggested  in  the  beginning,  no  two  states  of  the  same  soil  are  best  suited 
by  thie  same  plough.     General  principles  only  can  be  inculcated. 

If  A  B  and  A  C  are  the 
mould-boards  of  two  ploughs 
of  the  same  vvidth,  the  resist- 
ance which  each  encounters  is 
in  proportion  to  the  perpen- 
diculars B  6  and  G  c.     Hence, 

the  smaller  the  angle  formed 

by  the  mould-board  with  the  ^g^a^Mfc 

line  of  the  furrow,  the  less  will  1     i       '     istance. 

But  this  is  only  one  view  of  the  subject.  We  regard  the  mouhl-board  as 
a  flat  surface,  in  the  above  proportion,  while  in  all  ploughs,  we  have  more  or 
less  of  curved  lines  in  this  part  of  the  implement.  The  amount  of  curve,  its 
direction,  and  the  shape  of  the  board,  are  all  questions  of  great  practical 
importance.  The  eifects  of  these  different  shapes,  we  propose  to  consider 
hereafter. 

So  also  the  form  and  length  of  the  beam,  or,  in  other  words,  the  connec- 
tion of  the  plough  with  the  driving  power,  and  the  length,  connection,  and 
adaptation  of  the  handles,  are  essential  items  in  considering  this  question. 

What  ploughs,  in  fact,  possess  the  requisite  proportions  in  the  greatest 


A  NEW  AND   GOOD   MODE  OF  WIRE-FENCE.  417 

degree,  with  the  best  line  of  draught,  etc.,  is  a  separate  brancli  of  inquiry, 
which  we  have  not  the  means  to  pursue.  If  any  of  the  difFareut  manufac- 
turers, or  their  friends,  will  furnish  statements  or  descriptions  il  ustraling  this 
subject,  we  will  cheerfully  give  them  jilace. 


A   NEW   AND   GOOD   MODE   OF    WIRE-FENCE. 

The  agriculturists  of  the  United  States  have  been  looking  long  and  anxi- 
ously for  some  better  mode  of  fence  than  auy  now  in  vogue.  Our  forests 
are  steadily  retiring  before  the  advancing  wavie  of  civilization ;  and  wood, 
the  most  common  material  for  fencing,  is  daily  becoming  more  scarce  and 
expensive.  Many  of  our  States  have  no  stone^  so  that  we  can  find  little 
relief  from  the  growing  scarcity  of  wood  in  wall-fences.  Nor  can  hedges  or 
live-fences  avail  us  ;  our  soil,  climate,  and  physical  geography  being  inimical 
to  them.  One  of  the  most  eminent  agricultural  writers  in  the  country 
recently  stated,  that  in  all  his  travels  east,  west,  north,  and  south,  he  had 
found  but  one  good  live  farm  fence  ;  "  and  that,"  sai.l  he,  "  was  supported 
on  one  side  by  a  board-fence,  and  on  the  other  by  a  rail-fence." 

So  expensive,  indeed,  have  all  our  present  modes  of  fencing  been  found, 
that  Burnap,  a  well-known  agricultural  writer,  has  demonstrated  that  "  the 
fences  of  this  country  cost  more  than  twenty  times  the  amount  of  all  the 
specie  that  is  in  it.  In  some  States — for  instance,  Texas,  where  rough  cypress 
boards  are  sold  for  seventy  dollars  per  thousand  feet — the  expense  of  fencing 
a  farm  is  two  or  three  times  greater  than  the  first  cost  of  the  farm  itself. 

These  long-established  facts  long  since  led  many  of  our  leading  agricul- 
tural and  mechanical  journals,  lecturers,  writers,  and  associations,  and  espe- 
cially the  New-York  Society  of  Agricultural  Debates,  to  the  conclusion  that 
iron  or  loire  would  eventually  be  adopted  as  the  staple  material  for  fences. 
But  the  difliculty  heretofore  has  been  found  in  the  want  of  a  machine  for 
the  manufacture  of  wire  or  other  iron  into  fencing.  That  machine  has  now 
been  invented,  patented,  started,  and  the  netting  made  by  it  successfully  and 
extensively  tried  for  fencing.  The  inventor  was  John  Nesmith,  Esq.,  of 
Lowell,  Mass. ;  and  the  Lowell  Wire-Fence  Company  are  the  manufacturers 
of  this  fencing,  which  they  claim  to  be,  and  perhaps  correctly,  the  cheapest, 
considering  its  strength,  closeness,  durability,  and  beauty,  in  the  world. 
Thus  has  the  great  necessity  of  American  agriculture  been  supplied,  by  an 
invention  which  will,  without  doubt,  produce,  at  least  in  some  sections  of 
country,  a  considerable  revolution  in  our  system  of  fencing. 

By  different  machines,  constructed,  however,  on  the  same  general  princi- 
ples, all  kinds  of  this  netting  have  been  produced,  adapted  equally  as  a  fence 
for  cattle,  sheep,  pigs,  fowls,  roads,  lawns,  gardens,  ornamental  fences,  vine- 
trelisses,  netting  in  lieu  of  bed-cords  in  bedsteads^  window-netting,  bird- 
cages, hen-coops,  etc.  The  netting  is  furnished  in  neat  and  portable  rolls, 
at  from  seventy-five  cents  to  two  dollars  per  rod  ;  some  being  varnished 
black  with  asphaltum  varnish,  some  painted  of  whatever  color,  and  some 
galvanized,  in  order  to  beautify  and  preserve  it  from  rust ;  the  width  or 
height  of  this  netting,  the  size  of  the  wire  of  which  it  is  composed,  and  the 
meshes  or  spaces  between  the  wires,  all  vary  to  suit  the  tastes  of  purchasers. 
Some  of  the  netting  is  two  feet,  some  three  feet,  and  some  four  feet  in  height. 

VOL.  VII.  26 


418  stroDe's  hydraulic  ram. 


The  sizes  of  the  wire  are  from  No.  20  to  No.  10  ;  and  the  meshes  are  from 
one  to  six  inches.     Any  farmer  has  skill  enough  to  apply  it  to  his  own  uses. 

The  fencing  is  ftistcned  to  posts,  set  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  apart,  by  nails, 
brads,  or  iron  or  wire-staples  ;  the  upper  edge  of  the  netting  being  kept  on 
a  level  from  one  terminus  to  another ;  and  no  rails  are  necessary,  though 
some  farmers  use  a  top-rail  occasionally. 

This  fence  is  particularly  adapted  to  those  districts  which  are  periodically 
subjected  to  hurricanes  and  floods^  offering  no  resistance  to  wind  or  water. 
While  other  fences  cover  from  one  to  four  feet  of  the  soil  throughout  their 
length,  this  occupies  no  space  at  all,  and  shuts  out  none  of  the  genial  rays 
of  the  sun.  While  other  iron-fences  are  seriously  iujui-ed  by  the  alternate 
expansion  and  contraction,  occasioned  by  the  changes  incident  to  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  atmosphere,  this,  by  the  novel  and  ingenious  manner  in  which 
its  wires  are  knit  or  woven  together,  is  enabled  to  undergo  these  changes  of 
temperature,  and  the  expansion  and  contraction  occasioned  thereby,  without 
the  slightest  deterioration  or  injiuy.  It  requires  little  and  unfrequent  repair, 
and  is  calculated  to  last  a  century  or  more.  The  farmer  who  has  not  a 
surplus  of  wood  or  stone  on  his  farm,  can  find  no  fence  so  admirably  adapted 
to  his  wants,  by  cheapness,  strength,  portability,  durableness,  beauty,  and 
economy,  as  this.  By  an  outlay  of  less  than  a  dollar  and  a  half  per  rod, 
•with  a  little  personal  labor,  and  a  few  posts,  he  can  erect  a  substantial  farm- 
fence,  impassable  to  cattle,  sheep,  or  pigs,  which  will  survive  when  he  is  no 
more,  to  his  children  and  his  children's  children. 

We  propose,  in  a  future  article,  to  present  suitable  drawings  of  this  re- 
markable mode  of  fence,  with  additional  descriptions  of  the  same.  Mean- 
while, we  will  be  happy  to  answer  inquiries,  and  can  send  printed  specimens 
of  the  different  patterns  or  styles,  if  so  requested. 


STRODE'S    HYDRAULIC    RAM. 

Mr.  Strode,  of  Philadelphia,  has  been  engaged  several  years  in  the  manu- 
facture and  erection  of  water-rams,  in  which  he  has  made  several  valuable 
improvements,  secured  by  various  patents.  He  has  received  premiums  at  the 
Pennsylvania  State  Fair,  1854,  and  at  the  Franklin  Institute,  1854. 

His  first  improvement  consists  in  laying  the  driving-pipe,  which  conveys 
the  water  from  the  head  to  the  ram,  in  the  brachysto-chroue  curve,  which  is 
the  curve  in  which  a  body  will  descend  from  one  point  to  another  point  in 
the  shortest  time,  and  therefore  with  the  greatest  mean  velocity.  By  this 
property  of  the  above  curve,  a  greater  quantity  of  water  can  be  raised  by  a 
machine  of  a  given  size,  than  can  be  raised  with  the  driving-pipe  laid  in  any 
other  directioa;  and  in  consequence  of  the  increased  reaction  of  the  water 
thus  produced,  the  discharge- valve  is  opened  with  more  rapidity  and  cer- 
tainty. A  second  improvement  consists  in  the  carrying  of  a  pipe  from  the 
upper  valve-seat  of  the  puppet-valve  to  the  bottom  of  the  air-chamber, 
'for  the  purpose  of  transferring  the  shock  produced  by  the  rising  of  the  puppet- 
valve  to  the  air-chamber;  and  also  in  placing  a  series  of  short  vertical  lubes, 
extending  from  the  upper  valve-seat  of  the  puppet-valve  to  the  external  air. 
By  these  improvements,  the  puppet-valves  of  hydraulic  rams  can  be  made 


THE  MUSQUIT   TREE.  419 


to  slide  in  perfect  contact  with  the  top  of  the  chamber,  without  producing  a 
destructive  shock  on  the  metallic  parts  of  the  chamber,  and  without  the  pup- 
pet-valves sticking  to  the  upper  seat,  by  reason  of  a  partial  vacuum  there. 
He  has  also  made  a  further  improvement  in  the  arrangement  of  these  valves, ' 
whereby  as  the  puppet-valve  rises,  the  water  inclosed  between  the  top  of  the 
puppet-valve  and  the  valve-seat,  is  made  to  escape  at  the  side  of  the  puppet- 
valve  down  into  the  valve-chamber,  by  which  arrangement  the  shock  of  the 
valve  and  its  sticking  are  entirely  obviated,  without  any  additional  tubes  or 
complication  of  apparatus.  By  means  of  these  improvements,  he  can  construct 
rams  which  will  be  free  from  lability  to  derangement;  and  rams  of  the  largest 
size  can  be  constructed,  which  shall  be  equally  durable,  efficient,  and  simple 
in  construction,  as  rams  of  the  smallest  size. 


THE      MUSQUIT      TREE. 

A  Texas  paper  contains  the  following  interesting  account  of  the  tree  con- 
cerning which  so  much  has  been  said  as  alfording  a  gum  which  it  is  thought 
will  prove  an  excellent  substitute  for  gum  arable,  and  the  getting  of  which 
it  believed,  will,  ere  long,  prove  a  profitable  employment  for  the  Indians  of 
the  West : 

"  This  is  a  very  abundant  timber  in  many  portions  of  Western  Texas,  pos- 
sessing some  remarkable  and  valuable  properties.  It  deserves  attention.  Al- 
though a  very  compact  and  heavy  wood,  and  generally  free  from  rot,  yet  the 
centre  portion  is  generally  shivered  in  circles  often  as  near  as  two  or  three  inches 
to  the  surface.  It  splits  with  remarkable  accuracy  through  the  centre,  and, 
although  a  scrubby  low  growth,  its  great  durability  renders  it  valuable  for 
jjosts  and  fencing  material.  A  considerable  amount  of  timber  may  be  procured 
from  it,  and  for  furniture  there  is  scarcely  any  wood  superior  to  it.  It  takes  a 
beautiful  smooth  polish,  never  shrinks,  although  put  together  green.  The 
color  is  at  first  a  bright  brown,  and  with  age  assumes  a  deeper  bright  brown. 
Perhaps  no  wood  yields  greater  heat  than  this  when  seasoned.  The  sap 
portion  is  very  thin,  often  not  more  than  one  fourth  of  an  inch  thick.  If  the 
tree  is  hacked  in  the  months  of  June  or  July,  a  gum  issues  in  considerable 
quantities,  and  hardens  from  the  action  of  the  sun,  having  all  the  properties 
of  gum  arable.  The  decayed  wood  by  being  burnt  under  cover  yields  a 
large  amount  of  benzoic  acid.  The  burning  of  this  wood  in  stoves  is  very 
destructive  to  them;  the  grating  and  sides  are  rapidly  corroded  both  by  the 
heat  of  the  grate  and  acid  vapor  of  the  burning  fuel.  To  the  soap-maker 
it  furnishes  a  material  of  importance.  The  ashes,  instead  of  containing  pot- 
ash, as  most  hard  woods  do,  are  carbonic  acid  and  soda  combined  ;  and  by 
putting  say  a  peck — and  half  a  bushel  would. do  no  damage — of  fresh-burnt 
quick  lime  to  the  barrel  of  ashes,  it  will  yield  caustic  soda-lye  that  will  make 
the  very  best  soap.  Cattle  are  very  fond  of  the  ashes,  as  they  lick  them  up 
whenever  a  tree  is  burnt  upon  the  prairies.  Another  use,  it  is  probable, 
could  be  made  of  the  ashes;  which  is  to  scatter  say  half  a  bushel  through 
each  load  of  corn  as  it  is  housed,  to  destroy  the  weavil.  It  would  certainly 
do  no  mischief,  and  would  improve  the  shucks.  As  a  fertilizer  there  is  no 
doubt  it  would  give  valuable  results  upon  worn-out  soils;  but  it  is  not  probable 
that  the  application  will  be  made  for  many  yeai-s,  for  the  soil  upon  which  the 
musquit  grows  is  invariably  fertile  and  of  great  depth.  This  tree  belongs  to 
the  family  of  acacias." 


420      INFLUENCE  AND  IMPROVEMENT  OF  SUB-SOIL. 


INFLUENCE  AND  IMPROVEMENT  OF  THE  SUB-SOIL. 

The  influence  of  the  sub-soil  is  of  great  importance.  It  may  entirely 
control  the  fertility  or  barrenness  of  a  given  tract.  Hence  its  actual  and 
relative  conditions  should  be  carefully  studied,  For  example :  Let  us  first 
suppose  a  sandy  surface  with  a  clay  sub-soil.  The  hard  clay  is  impervious 
to  the  rains,  and  the  sand  above  it  has  but  little  power  to  retain  them. 
Hence,  if  the  surface-soil  is  shallow,  aud  if  the  waters  falling  upon  it  are  not 
retained  by  the  natural  formation  of  the  surface  around,  in  a  dry  season  it 
must  be  dry  and  comparatively  unproductive.  But  let  this  sub-soil  be 
thoroughly  brohen  up,  and  rendered  so  porous  as  to  absorb  the  rains  which 
fall  upon  it.  Clav having  the  power  to  retain  moisture  in  an  eminent  degree 
a  reservoir  is  here  provided  for  a  season  of  drought,  which  may  secure  good 
crops,  which  would  otherwise  be  a  comparative  failure.  For  this  clay,  being 
well  furnished  with  moisture,  as  the  surface  becomes  dry  and  hot,  will  gra- 
dually yield  up  this  valuable  deposit,  in  the  form  of  water  or  of  vapor,  ac- 
cording to  circumstances.  If  the  season  is  wet,  large  quantities  of  rain  fall- 
ing upon  it,  which  are  not  absorbed,  m\l  themselves  dissolve  the  more  solu- 
ble parts,  and  running  off  to  waste,  greatly  impoverish  the  land.  If  the 
season  is  wet,  a  part  at  least  of  the  excess  of  moisture  is  absorbed  by  the 
prepared  sub-soil,  and  the  surface  is  proportionally  benefited. 

If  the  land  in  question  is  inclosed  on  all  sides  by  higher  surfaces,  so  as 
to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  rains  descending  upon  it,  of  course  it  will  be 
cold  and  wet,  and  comparatively  worthless.  Under  such  circumstances,  a 
thorough  breaking  up  of  the  clay  beneath  would  open  a  way  of  escape  for 
the  excess  of  water,  the  clay  retaining  a  considerable  portion  of  it,  which 
would,  as  before,  become  available  in  time  of  need. 

If  both  soil  and  sub-soil  are  porous,  the  tendency  will  be  to  render  the 
whole  too  dry  in  ordinary  seasons.  Under  such  circumstances,  deep  plough- 
ing is  not  desirable. 

If  the  soil  is  clay  for  a  considerable  depth,  including  what  is  usually 
termed  soil  and  sub-soil,  shallow  ploughing  will  only  produce  a  cold  and  wet 
surface,  unless  there  are  ample  facilities  for  draining.  And  if  these  latter 
conditions  exist,  then  the  soil  may  be  well  moistened  by  the  rains,  but  it 
speedily  becomes  hard  and  dry,  the  roots  can  not  penetrate  into  it,  and  the 
plant  dwindles  and  is  comparatively  worthless.  If  this  clay  were  thoroughly 
pulverized  to  a  great  depth,  the  excess  of  water  would  speedily  disappear, 
and  the  soil  might  still  remain  in  a  fixvorable  condition  for  the  growth  of 
plants. 

A  gravelly  sub-soil  exerts  a  similar  and  favorable  effect  on  a  clay  soil.  If 
the  latter  is  well  cultivated,  the  sub-soil,  retaining  a  bountiful  supply  of  water, 
though  less  than  if  it  were  clay,  yields  it  up  as  it  is  required,  and  tends  to 
secure  a  good  growth  on  the  surface. 

A  sandy  sub-soil,  being  incapable  of  retaining  any  thing,  acts  as  a  leach 
in  depriving  the  soil,  not  only  of  its  moisture,  but  of  every  thing  that  may 
be  held  in  solution,  which  as  readily  escapes  to  still  lower  depths,  or  is  other- 
wise eft'ectually  cut  off  from  contact  with  the  roots  of  the  crop.  Hence,  to 
benefit  such  soils,  the  first  step  must  be  to  render  not  only  the  soil  but  the 
sub-soil  retentive  of  moisture.  To  this  end,  lime,  gypsum,  charcoal,  and 
other  substances  of  the  same  character  should  be  freely  used,  and  thoroughly 
mixed  with  the  soil  to  as  great  a  depth  as  is  practicable. 


METROPOLITAN  MECHANICS'   INSTITUTE.  421 

While  this  process  is  going  on,  it  should  also,  as  indeed  in  all  cases,  be 
remembered  that  one  great  point  in  all  cultivation  is  to  produce  a  soil  of  fine 
minute  grains  or  particles.  The  particles  of  soils  differ  in  this  respect  as 
essentially  as  do  the  fibres  of  wool  in  fineness,  or  of  hair.  As  a  frequent 
and  continued  application  of  the  comb  and  brush  will  make  the  most  stub- 
born head  of  hair  to  become  soft  and  pliable,  so  will  proper  cultivation  im- 
prove, in  these  respects,  the  character  of  our  soils. 

The  ploughing  in  of  green  crops,  or  of  vegetable  matter  but  partially 
decomposed,  tends  very  strongly  to  recover  a  soil  that  is  too  hard  and  dry. 
For  a  clay  soil,  compost,  well  mixed,  in  which  sand  is  a  predominant  ele- 
ment, will  also  be  found  very  useful.  So  horse-dung  is  an  efficient  applica- 
tion for  such  lands,  not  acting  as  a  proper  manure,  so  much  as  an  amend- 
ment, its  effect  being  physical  rather  than  chemical. 


THE   "NE    PLUS    ULTRA"   WHEAT. 

For  several  seasons  past,  much  interest  has  been  excited  in  this  neighbor- 
hood, in  the  result  of  experiments  made  by  Mr.  Harradine,  of  Needingworth, 
near  St.  Ives,  Huntingdonshire,  in  the  growth  of  a  new  description  of  wheat, 
and  which,  if  "  it  giveth  forth  its  increase"  at  the  rate  of  multiplication  that 
has  attended  it  hitherto,  bids  fair  to  create  a  revolution  in  the  agricultural 
world.  One  ear  of  it  was  sown  in  1849,  on  the  land  of  Mr.  Harradine,  and 
the  produce  of  this  again  in  1850  and  1851,  when  it  yielded  at  the  extraordi- 
nary rate  (especially  for  those  years)  of  19  combs,  1  bushel,  and  1  peck  per 
acre,  (77;^  bushels.)  It  has  been  sown  on  almost  every  available  description 
of  soil,  and  introduced  in  every  imaginable  change  of  crops.  It  was  sown 
after  Tartarian  oats,  clover,  seeds,  peas,  and  tares,  on  soil  of  various  composi- 
tions, fen  and  highland  ;  in  all  cases  the  quantity  of  seed  was  restricted  to 
four  pecks  per  acre ;  but  the  result  was  the  same,  the  yield  reaching  that 
previously  realized  by  Mr.  Harradine.  It  has  been  sown  after  wheat,  clover, 
barley,  beans,  oats,  and  fallow,  and  sustained  its  reputation  through  these 
trials  :  it  has  been  sown  in  winter  and  in  spring,  drill,  broadcast,  and  dibbled, 
with  the  same  results,  some  put  in  in  February  showing  no  diminution  in  the 
yield.  The  preparation  of  the  land  may  be  the  same  as  for  ordinary  wheat, 
and  the  same  rate  of  increase  in  the  yield  over  ordinary  sorts  may  be  ex- 
pected. 

[The  above  is  from  the  Cambridge  (Eng.)  Chronicle,  and  if  reliable,  is 
certainly  worth  the  attention  of  agriculturists. 


METROPOLITAN    MECHANICS'    INSTITUTE. 

The  Second  Exhibition  of  the  Metropolitan  Mechanics'  Institute,  for  the 
promotion  of  Manufactures,  Commerce,  and  the  Mechanic  and  Useful  Art-^, 
will  be  opened  in  the  city  of  Washington,  on  Thursday,  February  8,  1855, 
in  the  new  and  splendid  hall  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute.  The  rules  adopted 
by  the  Committee  are  as  follows  : 

RULES. 

1st.  The  hall  will  be  opened  for  the  reception  of  goods  on  Monday,  the 
29th  day  of  January ;  and  on  the  evening  of  Thursday,  the  8th  of  February, 


422  METROPOLITAN   MECHANICS'   INSTITUTE. 

at  1  o'clock,  the  exliibition  will  be  formally  opened  for  tlae  reception  of  visit" 
ors,  and  continue  open  about  four  weeks. 

2d.  No  article  deposited  after  Saturday  night,  3d  of  February,  can  be 
entered  upon  the  Judges'  lists  for  competition  or  premium,  except  such  as 
the  Committee  sliall  be  satisfied  were  dispatched  from  a  distance  in  time  to 
have  reached  the  hall  by  that  day,  but  failed  to  arrive  from  unavoidable 
detention. 

3d.  Articles  designed  Jbr  exhibition  only  will  be  received, //-ee  of  charge, 
until  Tuesday  night,  6th  of  February,  at  10  o'clock,  after  which  time  de- 
2)Ositors  ivill  be  nubject  to  a  charge  of  from  50  cents  to  $1,  for  each  article 
deposited. 

4th.  Apprentices  and  minors  who  contribute  articles  of  their  own  make 
or  invention  shall  specify  their  age,  and  the  time  they  may  have  served  at 
their  business. 

5th.  All  articles  deposited  for  competition  and  premium  must  be  of  Ame- 
rican manufacture,  conspicuously  labeled  with  appropriate  names ;  the  name 
of  the  maker  and  inventor,  if  known,  and  the  name  of  the  depositor  ;  a  copy 
of  which  label  must  be  furnished  the  Clerk  at  the  time  of  bringing  the 
goods  for  entry  on  the  record.  Prices  may  be  affixed,  or  not,  at  the  option 
of  the  exhibitor. 

6th.  Depositors,  at  the  time  of  entiy,  will  receive  a  ticket  of  title  to  their 
goods,  which  ticket  will  also  admit  them  to  the  Exhibition  at  all  times,  when 
open  to  the  public. 

'7th.  This  ticket  or  check  shall  only  be  used  by  the  depositor,  and  when 
found  in  the  hands  of  another  person,  will  be  stopped  at  the  door,  and  the 
depositor  deprived  of  its  use. 

8th.  No  article  can  be  removed  from  the  Exhibition  until  its  close,  without 
permission  of  the  Committee. 

9th.  The  Machinery  Department  will  be  under  the  care  of  a  special 
Superintendent,  and  the  Committee  ofter  every  facility  of  steam-power,  fix- 
tures, labor,  etc.,  free  of  expense,  hoping  that  this  portion  of  the  display  will 
be  unusually  varied  and  attractive. 

10th.  The  time  of  delivery  of  the  Opening  and  Annual  Addresses  will  be 
announced  hereafter.  The  Closing  Address  will  be  delivered,  and  the  Pre- 
miums announced  on  the  closing  day,  by  the  President  of  tbe  Institute. 

11th.  The  Judges  will  be  appointed  about  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the 
Exhibition,  and  the  hours  before  10  o'clock,  each  morning,  will  be  appro- 
priated,  exclusively  to  them  to  examine  the  articles.  Before  10  o'clock,  there- 
fore, no  owner,  agent,  depositor,  or  visitor  loill  be  admitted  to  the  hall,  unless 
the  Judges  require  some  explanation,  in  which  case  all  the  competitors  in  the 
same  class  shall  be  duly  notified  to  attend. 

12th.  Where  objections  are  raised,  proof  of  origin  may  be  required  by 
the  Judges  or  Committee  on  Awards. 

13th.  All  articles  will  be  at  the  risk  of  the  owner  or  depositor,  who  is 
expected  to  be  present  during  the  hours  of  exhibition.  In  the  intervening 
time,  and  at  all  times,  the  Committee  will  use  every  efibrt  for  their  preserva- 
tion. 

14th.  Proper  order  will  at  all  times  be  preserved  by  an  efficient  police, 
who  will  be  present  to  prevent  offenses  against  contributors  and  visitors. 

15th.  Season  tickets  to  the  Exhibition  will  admit  the  owner  and  a  lady  or 
two  children  at  all  exhibition  hours.  A  season  ticket  will  make  its  holder  a 
member  of  the  Institute,  and  will  be  received,  at  the  close  of  the  Exhibition, 
in  payment  for  his  initiation  fee  and  one  years  subscription. 


AMERICAN   POMOLOGICAL   SOCIETY.  423 

Members  or  junior  members  who  transfer  tlie  use  of  their  tickets,  shall 
be  deprived  of  the  privileges  of  the  Exhibition. 

N.  B. — Goods  should  be  addressed  as  follows :  "JSxhibition  of  the  Metro- 
poUtan  Mechanics''  Instihcte,  Washington  City^''  and  should  have  the  nature 
of  the  articles,  and  the  name  of  the  party  sending  them,  distinctly  marked 
on  the  package.     They  should  also  be  accompanied  by  a  detailed  invoice. 

Any  further  information  will  be  given  by  applying,  post-paid,  to  the  Super- 
intendent, to  whom  all  communications  on  the  business  of  the  Exhibition 
should  be  addressed.  Thomas  C.  CosTNOLLy,  Superintendent. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  officers  : 

President^ 
Joseph    Henry. 
Vice- 1^  residents, 
JoHK  W.  Maury,-*  C.  F.  Wood, 

W.  B.  Todd,  F.  MohuxX.* 

J.  C.  Brent,  .         .         .         Corresponding  Secreianj. 

P.  M.  Pearson,*      .         .         .     Recording  Secretary^ 
W.  H.  Ward,       .         .         .         Financial  Secretary. 
Joseph  Bryan,*        .         .         .     Treasurer. 
HoLLis  Amidon,*  .         .         .         Librarian. 
Directors, 
Geo.  H.  Plant,*  Jas.  A.  Tail,*  Wm.  H.  Baldwin,* 

Z.  M.  P.  King,*  Jos.  H.  Bradley,*         Thos.  B.  Entwisle,* 

Thos.  Greaser,*  F.  Mattingly,*  Martin  Buell,* 

Jas.  O'Neill,*  H.  Polkinhorn,*       •     W.  F.  Bayly, 

F.  Y.  Naylor,*  W.  D.  Brackenridge,*  Chas.  Edmonston, 

W.  Ashdown,*  David  Hepburn,*         Almon  Baldwin, 

Wm.  Dougherty,*        John  Sessford,  Sr.,*     John  Clarke. 


H.  N.  Easby,-^ 


* 


AMERICAN    POMOLOGICAL    SOCIETY. 

third    session    and    fifth    MEETINa.       BOSTON,    SEPT.    13,    14,    15,    1854. 

Br  the  courtesy  of  Hon.  M.  P.  Wilder,  the  President,  we  have  received  a 
copy  of  the  proceedings  of  this  Society.  It  forms  a  pamphlet  of  258  pages 
of  8vo  size,  and  is  executed  in  very  handsome  style,  worthy  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Horticultural  Society,  by  whom  and  at  whose  expense  it  was  published. 
AVe  gave  in  our  last  number  a  short  extract  from  one  or  two  of  the  addresses, 
as  brought  to  our  notice  in  some  newspaper  report,  and  we  now  give,  as  we 
purpose  to  do  hereafter,  further  extracts. 

Mr.  Wilder,  the  President,  in  his  admirable  address,  spoke  as  follows  in 
relation  to 

THE    PRODUCTION    OF    SEEDLINGS. 

My  next  suggestion  relates  to  the  production  from  seed  of  neio  varieties  of 
fruits  adapted  to  particulax  localities,  or  to  general  cultivation. 

The  immense  loss  to  American  cultivators,  from  the  importation  of  foreign 
varieties,  in  many  instances  not  well  adapted  to  the  countries  from  which 

*  Those  marked  with  an  asterisk  compose  the  Exhibition  Committee. 


424  AMERICAN   POMOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


they  come,  and  often  still  less  adapted  to  our  soil  and  climate,  suggests  the 
importance  of  raising  from  seed,  native  sorts  which,  in  most  instances,  possess 
peculiar  advantages.  It  is  now  generally  conceded  that  the  trees  and  plants 
of  a  given  country,  like  its  aboriginal  inhabitants,  will  flourish  better  at  home 
than  in  most  foreign  localities. 

We  rejoice  that  public  attention  has  been  turned  to  this  subject  by  some 
of  our  horticultural  journalists,  and  that  many  cultivators  and  amateurs  are 
engaged  in  this  interesting  and  promising  department.  The  success  which 
has  crowned  their  exertions  aff'ords  great  encouragement  to  perseverance. 
Witness,  for  instance,  thirty  or  more  varieties  of  the  cherry,  by  Dr.' Kirtland, 
of  Ohio,  which  appear  adapted  to  our  eastern  climate,  and  some  of  them  of 
superior  excellence.  Witness  the  numerous  varieties  of  the  raspberry,  by 
Dr.  Brinckle,  Ex-President  of  this  Society,  of  which  some  have  endured, 
without  covering,  the  severities  of  the  last  winter  in  the  New-England  States, 
and  which  also  promise  to  be  valuable  contributions  to  American  pomology. 
In  addition  to  these,  how  many  new  varieties  of  the  apple,  the  pear,  the 
plum,  and  the  grape  have  recently  been  added  to  the  list  of  American  fruits  ! 
How  many  new  and  excellent  varieties  of  the  strawberry  have  appeared  since 
the  introduction  of  Mr.  Hovey's  Seedlings  ! 

These  are  sure  indications  of  the  success  which  will  reward  future  efforts 
to  obtain  valuable  and  native  varieties  of  fruit;  and  they  point  to  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  prediction  of  the  celebrated  Van  Mons,  "  that  the  time  will  come 
when  our  best  fruits  will  be  derived  from  seedlings."  He  gives  the  following 
sage  counsel  to  his  correspondents  to  whom  he  had  sent  trees :  "aSom;  your 
seed  and  jjersevere  luithout  interruption,  and  you  will  obtain  even  better  fruit 
than  miney 

Among  pioneers  in  this  department  I  am  happy  to  notice  a  gentleman 
(now  residing  among  us)  the  pupil  and  friend  of  Van  Mons,  one  who  has 
adopted  our  country  as  his  future  home,  and  who  has  already  transplanted 
to  our  soil  many  thousands  choice  seedlings  of  the  pear,  which  have  come 
into  his  possession  from  the  collections  of  that  gentleman  and  the  celebrated 
Esperen. 

As  to  the  best  method  of  producing  fine  varieties  from  seed,  the  opinions 
of  distinguished  pomologists  are  not  uniform. 

Duhamel,  among  the  French,  from  causes  which  seem  to  us  irreconcilable 
with  nature  and  experience,  entertained  serious  doubts  of  the  practicability 
of  any  method  for  obtaining  new  and  valuable  varieties  from  seed,  especially 
of  the  pear,  because  he  had  tried  various  experiments  without  success  for 
fifty  years. 

Dr.  Van  Mons,  of  Belgium,  instead  of  saving  the  seed  of  the  finest  varie- 
ties, selected  those  of  inferior  sorts,  upon  the  principle  that  a  kind  having 
arrived  at  the  highest  state  of  perfection  must  deteriorate,  while  an  inferior 
one  would  improve  by  successive  reproductions.  He  also  held  that  hybrid- 
izcition  tended  to  degeneracy  and  imperfection.  Thus  he  assumes  the  doc- 
trine that  a  perfect  variety  necessarily  deteriorates,  and  also  overlooks  the 
fact,  observed  by  other  distinguished  men,  that  the  improvement  or  deterio- 
ration of  which  he  speaks  may  result  from  natural  impregnation  by  the 
pollen  of  other  varieties,  conveyed  by  the  air  or  insects,  and  therefore  that 
tbe  seed  of  a  good  variety  may  produce  either  a  better  or  a  worse,  and  that 
of  a  bad  either  a  worse  or  a  better. 

Mr.  Knight's  system  of  obtaining  new  and  improved  varieties  depended 
entirely  on  hybridization,  or  artificial  impregnation,  so  lightly  esteemed  by 
Dr.  Van  Mons.     This  is  somewhat  difficult  to  practise,  on  account  of  natural 


AMERICAN  POMOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  425 


fertilization  by  insects  and  the  wind  ;  but  it  has  the  merit  of  depending  on 
a  truly  philosophical  principle,  and  with  very  particular  attention  may  yet 
prove  as  available  for  the  improvement  of  our  fruits  as  it  has  for  the  produc- 
tion of  fine  varieties  in  the  vegetable  and  floral  kingdom,  or  as  the  corre- 
sponding principle  has  in  the  crossing  of  the  breeds  of  domestic  animals. 

The  results  of  Mr.  Knight's  experience  disprove  the  tendency  to  degene- 
racy, inasmuch  as  many  of  his  fruits,  obtained  by  hybridization,  are  among 
the  most  durable  and  hardy  varieties,  as  the  Eyewood  and  Dunmore  Pears ; 
the  Black  Eagle,  and  other  Cherries. 

Many  cultivators,  as  Esperen,  Bivort,  Berckmans,  and  others,  both  in  this  and 
foreign  countries,  have  sown  seeds  in  vaiiety,  and  have  obtained  some  valuable 
sorts.  But  I  am  confirmed  in  the  opinion  that  the  best  means  of  producing 
new  and  excellent  varieties,  suited  either  to  general  cultivation  or  to  particu- 
lar localities,  is  to  plant  the  most  mature  and  perfect  seed,  of  the  most  hardy^ 
vigorous,  and  vaduable  sorts  ;  on  the  general  pathological  principle  that  like 
produces  like,  and  upon  the  conviction  that  immature  seed,  although  the 
embryo  may  be  siifiiciently  formed  to  vegetate,  yet,  not  having  all  its  ele- 
ments in  perfection,  it  will  not  produce  a  vigorous  and  healthy  off':?pring. 
Dr.  Lindley,  commenting  upon  this  practice,  justly  remarks  :  "All  experience 
shows  that  in  every  kind  of  created  thing,  be  it  man,  or  beast,  or  bird,  the 
mysterious  principle  called  life  remains  during  the  whole  period  of  existence 
what  it  was  at  first.  If  vitality  is  feeble  in  the  beginning, so  it  remains.  Weak 
parents  produce  weak  children,  and  their  children's  children  are  weaker  still, 
as  imperial  dynasties  have  sadly  shown."  With  him,  we  believe  this  theory 
as  applicable  to  the  vegetable  as  to  the  animal  kingdom.  May  not  a  disre- 
gard for  this  doctrine  account  for  the  great  number  of  feeble,  sickly,  early- 
defoliated  trees  often  found  in  our  grounds  by  the  side  of  those  that  are 
vigorous,  healthful,  and  persistent  in  foliage  ?  Is  not  the  theory  we  advocate 
as  important  in  the  production  of  fruit-trees  as  in  the  raising  of  cereal  grains  ? 
The  skillful  agriculturist  saves  the  best  seed  of  his  various  crop?,  and  selects 
the  best  animals  from  his  flocks  and  herds  for  breeders.  Why  should  not 
this  law  of  reproduction  regulate  the  practice  of  the  pomologist  as  well  as  of 
the  farmer  ?  Has  the  All-wise  and  Infinite  enacted  several  laws  where  one 
would  subserve  the  purpose  ? 

To  the  doctrine  of  Van  Mons,  and  other  distinguished  writers,  respecting 
deterioration  by  age,  and  after  a  variety  has  reached  its  perfection,  there 
seem  to  be  some  exceptions.  From  the  accounts  of  Oriental  travellers,  may 
we  not  believe  that  the  grapes  of  Eschol  are  as  perfect  now  as  when  the  chiefs 
of  Israel  plucked  their  rich  clusters  three  thousand  years  ago ;  and  that  the 
same  variety  of  the  fig,  the  olive,  and  the  pomegranate  are  as  perfect  in 
Syria  to-day  as  in  the  period  of  David  and  Solomon  ?  It  is  worthy  of  inquiry 
whether  the  native  grapes  on  the  banks  of  our  rivers  have  deteriorated  since 
the  day  when  the  red  men  of  the  forest  refreshed  themselves  with  the  fruit 
from  those  vines,  and  whether  the  orange,  the  lemon,  the  bananna,  and  the 
fruits  of  southern  latitudes,  evince  any  more  signs  of  decay  than  they  did 
centuries  ago  ;  in  a  word,  whether  this  doctrine  of  deterioration  is  as  applica- 
ble to  the  native  as  to  the  foreign  fruit  of  a  country  ? 

Why  may  we  not  expect  to  obtain  natural  varieties  of  the  apple  and  other 
fruit  as  durable  and  far  more  valuable  than  those  which  have  passed  their 
second  centennial,  as  the  Endicott  and  Stuyvesant  Pears  ?  From  meteorolo- 
gical, or  other  causes  which  we  do  not  at  present  understand,  particular 
varieties  may  deteriorate  in  a  given  locahty  for  a  season,  and  afterward 
revive ;  or  they  may  show  signs  of  decay  in  one  locality,  and  flourish  well 


426  AMERICAN  POMOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


in  others  not  very  remote,  as  the  White  Doyenne, -which  has  been  considered, 
for  many  years,  by  some  in  this  vicinity  on  the  decline,  while  it  is  perfect  in 
several  places  in  Maine,  New-Hampshire,  Vermont,  and  other  States.  Fruit- 
bearing  may  exhaust  the  vital  energy  of  the  tree,  and  hasten  decay,  but  still 
the  variety  may  remain.  We  have  among  fruit-trees  no  example  of  longevity 
equal  to  that  of  the  new  Taxodium,  found  in  California,  supposed  to  be  three 
thousand  years  old.  Our  object  is  not  to  controvert  the  opinions  of  those 
who  believe  in  the  running-out  of  varieties,  whether  their  duration  be  limited 
to  one  hundred  or  one  thousand  years,  but  to  enforce  the  importance  of 
raising  new  varieties  from  seed,  especially  adapted  to  our  own  location. 

^  At  this  meeting  a  Report  was  made  by  Dr.  Harris,  the  eminent  entomolo- 
gist of  "  the  Diseases  and  Insects  affecting  Fruit-trees  and  Vines."  This  we 
intend  to  publish  as  soon  as  we  can  obtain  engravings  of  these  insects,  of  a 
reliable  character.     We  have  already  taken  measures  to  secure  them. 

A  large  portion  of  the  pamphlet  before  us  is  taken  up  with  the  discussion 
on  the  lists  of  fruits  worthy  of  general  cultivation,  of  those  that  promise  well, 
and  those  that  are  rejected  from  the  lists.  . 

The  following  is  the  corrected  hst  of 

FRUITS    WORTHY    OF    GENERAL    CULTIVATION. 

Apples. — American  Summer  Pearmain,  Baldwin,  Bullock's  Pippin,  Dan- 
ver's  Winter  Sweet,  Early  Harvest,  Early  Strawberry,  Fall  Pippin,  Fameuse, 
Gravenstein,  Hubbardston  Nonesuch,  Lady  Apple,  Ladies'  Sweet,  Large 
Yellow  Bough,  Melon,  Minister,  Porter,  Red  Astrachan,  Rhode-Island  Green- 
ing, Roxbury  Russet,  Summer  Rose,  Swaar,  Vandervere,  White  Seek-no- 
Further,  William's  Favorite,  (except  for  light  soils,)  Wine  Apple  or  Hays, 
Winesap. 

Pears. — Ananas  d'Ete,  Andrews,  Belle  Lucrative  or  Fondante  d'Automne, 
Beurre  d'Anjou,  Beurre  d'Aremburg,  Beurre  Die],  Beurre  Bosc,  Bloodgood, 
Buffum,  Dearborn's  Seedling,  Doyenne  d'Ete,  Flemish  Beauty,  Fulton,  Golden 
Beurre  of  Bilboa,  Lawrence,  Louise  Bonne  de  Jersey,  Madeline,  Manning's 
Ehzabeth,  Paradise  d'Automne,  Rostiezer,  Seckel,  Tyson,  Urbaniste,  Uve- 
dale's  St.  Germain,  (for  baking,)  Vicar  of  Winkfield,  William's  Bon  Chretien 
or  Bartlett,  Winter  Nelis. 

for    cultivation    on    quince    STOCKS. 

Pears. — Belle  Lucrative,  Beurre  d'Amalis,  Beurre  d'Anjou,  Beurre 
d'Aremberg,  Beurre  Diel,  Catillac,  Duchesse  d'Angouleme,  Easter  Beurre, 
Figue  d'Alengon,  Glout  Morceau,  Long  Green  of  Cox,  Louise  Bonne  de  Jer- 
sey, Napoleon,  Nouveaii  Poiteau,  Rostiezer,  Beurre  Langelier,  Soldat  Labo- 
reur,  St.  Michael  Archange,  Triomphe  de  Jododigne,  Urbaniste,  XJvedale's 
St.  Germain  or  Belle  Angevine,(for  baking,)  Vicar  of  Winkfield,  White  Do- 
yenne. 

Plums. — ^Bleecker's  Gage,  Coe's  Golden  Drop,  Frost  Gage,  Green  Gage, 
Jefferson,  Lawrence's  Favorite,  McLaughlin,  Purple  Gage,  Purple  Favorite, 
Eeine  Claude  de  Bavay,  Smith's  Orleans,  Washington. 

Cherries. — Belle  Magnifique,  Black  Eagle,  Black  Tartarian,  Downer's 
Late,  Downton,  Elton,  Early  Richmond,  (for  cooking,)  Grafficfn  or  Bigarreau, 
Knight's  Early  Black,  May  Duke. 

Apricots. — Breda,  Large  Early,  Moorpark. 

Nectarines. — Downton,  Early  Violet,  Elruge. 


■THE   LARGEST.  MILL   IN  THE   WORLD."  427 


Peaches. — Bergen's  Yellow,  Cooledge's  Favorite,  Crawford's  Late,  Early 
York,  (serrated,)  Early  York,  (large,)  George  IV.,  Grosse  Mio'uonne,  Morris 
White,  Old  Mixon  Free. 

Grapes,  (under  ffhss.)— Black  Hamburg,  Black  Frontignan,  Black  Prince? 
Chasselas  de  Fontainebleau,  Grizzly  Frontignan,  White  Frontignan,  White 
Muscat  of  Alexandria.     (02)en  culture.) — Catawba,  Diana,  Isabella. 

Raspberries. — Fastolf,  Franconia,  Knevet's  Giant,  Red  Antwerp,  Yellow 
Antwerp. 

Strawberries. — Boston  Pine,  Hovey's  Seedling,  Large  Early  Scarlet. 

Currants. — Black  Naples,  May's  Victoria,  Red  Dutch,  White  Dutch, 
White  Grape. 

Gooseberries. — Crown  Bob,  Early  Sulphur,  Green  Gage,  Green  Walnut, 
Houghton's  Seedling,  Iron-Monger,  Laurel,  Red  Champagne,  Warrington, 
Woodward's  White  Smith. 

Blackberries. — Lawson's  New-Rochelle. 


"THE     LARGEST     illLL    IN     THE     WORLD." 

Perhaps  we  ought  to'  have  been  more  careful  than  to  have  extended  the 
circulation  of  a  mistake  of  the  nature,  of  that  referred  to  below.  Had  we 
gone  into  any  "  calculation,"  we  should  have  discovered  the  error.  But  find- 
ing it  with  a  responsible  indorser,  and  that  it  was  an  item  of  general  inter- 
est, we  used  the  scissors  at  once,  scarcely  reading  it  through,  and  thought  no 
more  about  it.  We  thank  our  correspondent  for  his  favor,  which  we  insert 
below,  and  should  like  to  receive  statistical  or  other  information  from  him  at 
all  seasons.  Though  it  comes  anonymously — so  that. we  owe  no  body  for  it — 
the  handwriting  is  quite  familiar  to  us. — Eds.  P.,  L.,  &  A. 

FOR   THE   PLOUGH,    THE    LOOM,   AND  THH  ANVIL. 

Messrs.  Editors  :  On  page  369,  No.  6,  of  your  useful  periodical,  you 
have  copied  from  the  LoiueU  Courier,  and  as  your  journal  goes  broadcast 
over  the  land,  you  have  given  extensive  publicity  to  a  very  considerable 
blunder.  You  say  that  at  the  "  Pacific  Mills,"  in  Lawrence,  the  largest  in 
the  world^  (not  yet,  they  may  be  one  of  these  days,)  Mr.  Clapp,  the  pay- 
master, pays  out  to  the  operatives,  2000  in  number,  $500,000  for  wages 
every  month.  Now,  $.500,000  per  month  are  equal  to  $0,000,000  per 
annum,  and  $6,000,000  per  annum,  divided  among  2000  operatives,  give 
$3000  per  annum  to  each.  Only  think  of  that — each  Yankee  boy  and 
girl,  and  each  Irish  boy  and  girl — of  these  "  largest  mills  in  the  loorld"  earn- 
ing $3000  a  piece  per  annum.  Come  hither,  ye  poor  desolate  men  and  women 
of_  all  trades,  and  grades,  and  professions ;  come,  ye  pulpitless  ministers,  ye 
brietless  lawyers,  ye  patientless  doctors,  ye  starving  needlewomen,  needless  is 
it  for  you  to  go  any  longei-  without  money  and  without  price ;  hasten  to  the 
♦'largest  mills  in  the  world,"  and  sell  your  services  at  the  glorious  price  of 
"$3000  a  piece  per  annum."  And  here  it  may  be  asked,  if  the  operatives 
get  that,  what  does  the  treasurer  get,  what  the  agent,  what  the  book-keepers, 


428  MISCELLANEOUS. 


and  paymaster  ?  Why,  they  must  pile  it  up  so  thick,  that  the  stockholders 
will  run  the  chance  of  getting  precious  thin  pickings. 

The  fact  is,  your  friend  of  the  Lowell  Courier  put  on  just  one  cipher  too 
much  to  his  $500,000  per  month.  It  should  have  read  $50,000,  and  would 
not  be  right  then,  for  their  monthly  pay-roll  has  never  yet  exceeded 
$35,000.  Perhaps  it  will  be  $50,000  as  soon  as  they  get  to  be  "the  largest 
mill  in  the  world."  At  $50,000,  the  average  pay  per  annum  of  the  opera- 
tives would  drop  down  to  $300,  and  out  of  this  they  must  pay  their  board. 

Again,  it  is  stated,  as  something  remarkable,  that  Mr.  Clapp  appropriates 
"  to  each  the  exact  amount  she  has  earned."  Of  course  he  does,  and  so 
does  every  paymaster  in  every  mill  in  the  whole  world.  He  would  neither 
pay  more  or  less.  Is  there  any  thing  wonderful  in  paying  a  person  just 
what  he  or  she  earns  ?  There  are  time-tables,  and  clerks,  and  pay-rolls  in  all 
mills,  and  this  monthly  exact  payment  is  the  commonest  thing  in  the  world. 

The  Pacific  Mills  are  very  fine  and  very  large,  and  are  spending  a  good 
deal  of  money.  The  time  for  the  first  dividend  is  not  yet  fixed  by  the  Direc- 
tors, but  it  may  come  ofi"  in  due  season. 

As  to  their  being  the  largest  in  the  world  now,  it  is  not  true,  since  the 
Atlantic  Cotton  Mills  are  70  feet  longer  in  the  main  mill,  and  the  Bay  State 
Mills  undoubtedly  cover  more  space.  It  is  expected  that  the  Pacific  Mills, 
when  finished,  will  be  the  largest  in  the  world.  At  present  the  main  mill 
is  but  500  feet  long ;  they  are  intended  to  be,  one  of  these  fine  days,  800 
feet  long.  Yours  truly, 

Lawrence,  Bee.  16,  1854.  Old  Millwright. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 

Enlarging  Vegetables. — Upon  an  average,  only  one  half  the  size  is  attained 
for  all  vegetables  grown  which  might  easily  be  had  by  an  improved  mode  of 
culture.  If  every  thing  was  doubled  in  size,  without  saying  any  thing  about 
the  increase  otherwise  in  the  amount  of  crops,  what  a  vast  gain  it  would  be 
to  the  farmer.  Every  body  is  struck  with  the  improved  value  given  to  grain, 
as  well  as  roots  and  esculents,  by  increased  size.  Then  why  don't  eveiy  body 
try  to  increase  their  own  ?  Take,  for  example,  the  common  garden  pea,  and 
try  the  following  experiment : 

Plant  it  in  very  rich  ground;  allow  it 'to  bear  tlie  first  year  say  half-a- 
dozen  pods  only ;  save  the  largest  the  foKowing  year,  and  retain  of  the  pro- 
duce three  pods  only ;  sow  the  largest  the  following  year,  and  retain  one 
pod  ;  again  select  the  largest,  and  the  next  year  the  sort  will  have  trebled  its 
size  and  weight.  Ever  afterward  sow  the  largest  seed,  and  by  these  means 
you  will  get  peas,  or  any  thing  else,  of  a  bulk  of  which  we  at  present  have 
no  conception. 

Select  wheat  in  the  same  way,  and  after  three  years  you  will  be  astonished 
at  the  result. 

Remedy  /for  the  Black-Knot. — A  correspondent  of  the  Cultivator  says 
that  he  has  never  found  any  thing  that  will  compare  in  efficacy  for  preventing 
black  excrescences  on  the  plum-tree  to  a  strong  solution  of  chloride  of  lime, 
applied  to  the  wounds  made  by  their  removal.  He  has  tried  this  remedy 
for  two  years,  and  in  no  instance  has  it  failed  to  prevent  the  fungus  from 
bursting  out  again  from  the  wound.     A  trial  was  made  this  year  on  about 


MISCELLANEOUS.  429 


fifty  young  trees,  from  a  portion  of  whicli  the  knots  were  cut  off  early  in 
summer,  and  no  application  made  to  the  wound  ;  to  a  second  portion  strong 
lime  was  applied,  and  to  a  third  chloride  of  lime.  In  numerous  instances 
the  excrescence  burst  out  again  in  the  first  two  cases ;  in  the  latter  none. 
Salt  has  been  strongly  recommended,  but  the  superiority  of  the  chloride  was 
very  decided. 

Weights  of  Grain,  etc. — We  are  indebted  to  our  friend  Col.  Buckner 
for  the  following  weights,  regulated  by  the  laws  of  Kentucky,  of  grain,  etc., 
per  bushel:  Wheat,  60  pounds;  corn,  shelled,  56  pounds;  rye,  56  pounds; 
potatoes,  60  pounds;  beans,  60  pounds;  clover  seed,  60  pounds;  oats,  33^ 
pounds  ;  corn-meal,  50  pounds  ;  bran,  20  pounds  ;  barley,  48  pounds  ;  onions, 
5*7  pounds;  buckwheat,  52  pounds;  salt,  50  pounds;  flax  seed,  56  pounds; 
hemp  seed,  44  pounds ;  timothy  seed,  45  pounds.  The  above  is  taken  from 
the  revised  statute  laws  of  Kentucky. 

Apples  for  Market. — We  see  it  stated  that  Mr,  James  Upton,  of  Monroe 
county,  N.Y.,  has  shipped  twenty  thousand  barrels  of  apples  to  New-York, 
by  canal,  this  season,  and  has  now  several  boats  loading  with  the  same  fruit. 
He  purchases  apples  at  all  points  accessible  to  the  canal.  The  crop  this 
year  is  an  excellent  one,  better  than  those  of  several  previous  years,  and  the 
demand  for  the  fruit  abroad  makes  it  a  profitable  one. 

New-England  Enterprise. — We  have  often  alluded  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  towns  and  villages  of  these  States.  We  find  the  following  statement  in 
reference  to  the  industry  of  one  of  these  small  communities.  The  whole 
township,  by  the  last  census,  has  a  population  of  only  1776  inhabitants. 

Warren. — Among  the  many  towns  which  furnish  the  Boston  market  with, 
the  necessaries  of  life,  AA'arren  holds  a  prominent  rank.  The  people  are 
intelligent,  enterprising,  and  active.  The  farms  are  well  adapted  to  grazing, 
and  are  almost  exclusively  devoted  to  that  purpose.  Since  the  first  of  May 
last,  there  have  been  sent  from  Warren  to  Boston  218,004  pounds  of  cheese, 
and  589,994  gallons  of  milk;  and  during  the  month  of  November,  the 
same  city  received  73,128  pounds  of  pork  from  Warren  and  vicinity.  Efforts 
are  making  to  secure  a  course  of  lectures  during  the  winter,  and,  though  late, 
it  is  hoped  the  endeavors  will  succeed.  The  Warren  Cotton  Mills  Co.  are 
completing  a  large  brick  factory  over  one  hundred  feet  long,  and  four  stories 
high. 

Granaries  for  the  Storing  of  Corn. — The  Messrs.  Huart,  the  great 
millers  of  Cambrai,  have  patented  a  peculiar  kind  of  granary  which  they 
have  in  use  for  the  storing  of  their  corn.  In  this  arrangement  the  corn  fills 
completely  the  space  in  which  it  is  to  be  preserved,  and  is  kept  in  constant 
motion  by  means  of  a  steam-engine.  The  grain  is  lifted  up  and  siirred  round 
by  means  of  a  helix,  and  from  thence  falls  upon  an  apparatus  where,  by  means 
of  a  fan,  the  chatf,  dust,  and  other  foreign  substances  are  removed,  and  the 
insects  and  their  larvai  destroyed.  The  corn  is  then  carried  back  to  the  same 
inclosed  space  again,  and  the  operation  from  time  to  time  repeated.  These 
granaries  are  considered  to  be  adapted  not  only  for  the  preservation  of  corn 
in  good  condition,  but  for  that  which  is  already  damaged. — Le  Genie  Indus- 
triel,  France. 

Winter  Feed  of  Breeding  Ewes. — Until  two  or  three  weeks  preceding 
lambing,  it  is  only  necessary  that  breeding  ewes,  like  other  store  sheep,  be 
kept  in  good  plump  ordinary  condition.  Nor  are  any  separate  arrangements 
necessary  for  them,  after  that  period,  in  a  chmate  where  they  obtain  succu- 


430  MISCELLANEOUS. 


lent  food  to  provide  for  proper  secretion  of  milk.  In  backward  seasons  in  the 
north,  where  the  grass  does  not  start  prior  to  the  lambing  time,  careful  flock- 
masters  feed  tbeirewes  with  chopped  roots,  or  roots  mixed  with  oat  or  pea-meal. 
This,  in  my  judgment,  is  excellent  economy.  For  the  efiect  of  the  various 
esculents  on  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  milk,  see  Liebig's  Animal 
Chemistry. — Sheep  Husbandry. 

Kailroads  IX  Ohio. — This  enterprising  State  contains  2181  miles  of 
railroad  completed,  and  1576  miles  in  progress.  It  is  said  that  of  these, 
300  miles  will  be  completed  in  1855.  There  are  four  great  trunks  across 
the  State  from  north  to  south,  and  four  from  east  to  west.  These  eight  lines 
pass  through  forty  county  seats. 

Management  of  Fairs. — We  have  on  our  table  a  communication  from 
our  old  friend  and  contributor,  Durant,  whom  we  welcome  back  again  to  our 
pages,  on  the  Management  of  Fairs,  called  forth  by  views  which  we  have 
recently  given  on  that  subject;  but  it  came  too  late  for  this  number.  We 
shall  give  it  a  place  in  our  next.  We  mentio^i  this  fact,  contrary  to  our 
general  usage,  because  we  wish  to  keep  the  subject  on  the  minds  of  our 
readers,  and  again  to  invite  further  discussion.  We  are  just  beginning,  in 
our  opinion,  to  take  correct  observation  of  our  true  place  on  this  subject,  and 
it  is  second  in  importance  to  very  few. 

Composition  of  Eggs. — The  investigation  has  been  made  of  late  by 
several  distinguished  anatomists,  and  a  part  of  the  results  is  given  in  the 
present  number  of  the  American  Journal  of  Arts,  and  Sciences.  From  this 
Tve  gather  the  following  facts : 

An  examination  of  the  eggs  of  numerous  animals  proves  that  these  bodies 
are  as  varied  as  the  animals  which  they  produce.  They  differ  in  the  ele- 
ments present,  in  their  organisms,  and  in  their  structure.  Some  of  them  do 
not  harden  by  exposure  in  boiling  water.  In  the  eggs  of  some  birds,  the 
white  is  almost  fluid ;  in  others,  it  is  gelatinous.  The  color  of  the  white  of 
a  hen's  egg,  after  boiling,  is  pure,  opaque,  white,  and  solid.  That  of  the 
lapwing,  after  cooking,  becomes  transparent,  opaline,  greenish,  and  so  hard 
that  it  may  be  cut  into  little  stones,  used  in  some  parts  of  Germany  for 
common  jewelry.  The  chemical  constitution  of  the  eggs  of  various  birds 
differs  very  materially. 

Turning  to  the  eggs  of  fishes,  it  is  found  that  the  new-laid  egg  of  the  ray 
is  covered  with  a  shell  of  a  bronzed-green,  whose  tissue  is  made  up' of  short, 
felty  fibres  ;  its  general  form  is  rectangular,  more  or  less  elongated  and 
curved  on  both  sides.  The  internal  organism  is  also  peculiar,  and  among 
other  differences  it  is  found  that  the  yellow  is  not  separated  from  the  white 
by  any  membrane.  The  white  also  differs  from  the  white  of  a  bird's  Qgg  in 
its  chemical  properties. 

The  eggs  of  a  bounce  shark  are  rectangular,  much  longer  but  much  nar- 
rower than  those  of  the  ray.  Its  shell  is  hard,  resisting,  yellowish,  horny. 
The  vitellus  or  yolk  occupies  the  greater  part  of  it,  and  the  white  is  more 
viscous  than  that  of  the  ray. 

These  and  other  differences  are  pointed  out,  somewhat  extensively,  in  the 
treatise  before  us,  but  the  subject  is  not  one  of  sufficient  general  interest  to 
■warrant  us  in  occupying  much  space  with  these  details. 

A  New  Species  of  Silk-Worm. — Experiments  have  been  made  in  France 
to  acclimate  the  Bomhyx  cynthia,  a  silk-worm  of  India,  which,  according  to 
Koxbuigh,  furnishes  a  silk  so  firm  that  clothes  made  of  it  will  last  a  hfe- 
time.     These  experiments,  thus  far,  are  very  favorable. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  481 


C,  C.  &  C,  AND  C.  &  E.  Car-Shops,  under  the  Superintendence  of 
N.  H,  March. — Last  Friday  we  visited  the  large  car-shop  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  N.  H.  March,  on  the  Lake  Shore  Road,  and  spent  an  hour  or 
more  in  examining  it. 

The  building  is  a  large  one.  It  is  some  two  hundred  and  ten  feet  long 
and  about  sixty  wide.  Near  by  is  Geo.  W.  Sizer's  foundry.  There  are 
employed  in  the  car-shop,  or  connected  with  it,  117  men,  (a  large  majority  of 
whom  are  married,)  and  20  in  the  foundry. 

These  buildings  are  devoted  to  the  construction  of  cars  of  every  descrip- 
tion, and  the  repairing  of  them. 

The  lower  room  iu  the  "  large  brick"  of  the  shop  is  taken  up  with  the  iron 
and  wood  work,  and  adjoining  is  a  complete  blacksmith's  establishment.  We 
noticed  all  the  improved  machinery  for  manufacturing  cars.  The  whole  was 
driven  by  an  engine  of  sixty-horse  power.  The  upper  room  is  devoted  to 
cabinet-work,  finishing,  upholstering,  etc.,  etc. ;  and  connected  with  the  main, 
building  is  a  large  paint-shop  under  the  charge  of  Charles  Reipleir,  a  master 
in  ornamental  painting.  In  this  department  all  are  Germans.  Opposite  is  a 
lumber-yard,  and  a  large  building  for  storing  lumber. 

We  found  on  the  track,  just  turned  out,  six  new  cars  and  a  baggage-car, 
by  all  odds  the  most  perfect  we  have  seen.  They  are  ten  inches  wider,  giving 
three  inches  more  on  each  seat  and  four  inches  in  the  aisle.  Their  bodies  are 
thrown  on  to  steel  and  India-rubber  springs,  which  it  is  believed,  will  make 
them  easier  every  way.  The  trucks  are  far  stouter  than  heretofore.  One 
improvement  we  were  glad  to  notice.  The  breaks  are  very  much  improved, 
both  in  power  and  in  speed  of  application — for,  as  arranged  in  these  cars,  one 
man  may  break  upon  two  sets  of  cars.  In  the  baggage-car  we  observed 
also  another  improvement.  The  doors  were  constructed  to  fold  round  into  a 
recess  so  as  to  prevent  accident  to  the  men  inside,  or  to  lessen  the  chances  of 
injury  to  them  in  case  of  accident. — Cleveland  Weekly  Leader. 

Snip-BuiLDiNa.  —  The  Boston  Journal  published  recently  a  detailed 
account  of  the  ship-building  in  lioston  and  its  vicinity  during  the  year  1854. 
The  Journal  of  Commerce^  on  Tuesday,  published  a  similar  account  of  ship- 
building in  New- York  and  vicinity.  From  these  statistics  it  appears,  that 
for  the  first  time,  the  amount  of  tonnage  built  in  the  District  of  Boston,  dur- 
ing the  year  1854,  was  greater  than  in  the  District  of  New-York.  But  in 
both  districts  the  business  is  now  nearly  at  a  stand-still,  thouoh  it  has  been 
unusually  large.  In  New-York,  it  is  said  that  not  more  than  1000  hands  are 
now  employed  in  the  ship-yards,  against  3500  or  4000  employed  in  pros- 
perous seasons.  And  that  though  the  year  has  been  one  of  unusual  activity 
in  the  ship-yards,  it  has  yet  been  an  unfortunate  one  to  builders,  owing  to 
the  advance  in  building  materials  and  labor ;  and  several  builders  of  long 
standing  and  acknowledged  ability  have  been  compelled  to  succumb  to  the 
pressure  of  the  times,  and  stop  business.  In  New- York,  there  have  been 
launched  during  the  year  88  vessels  of  all  descriptions,  representing  80,130 
tons,  (of  which  26  were  full  rigged  ships,  and  4  were  steamships,)  which  have 
cost,  at  the  estimate  of  $65  a  ton,  not  less  than  $5,200,000.  While  the 
number  of  ships  built  this  year  exceeds  the  number  in  1853  by  eiglit,  the 
number  of  steamships  built  this  year  is  six  less  than  it  was  last  year.  About 
"70  steamships  in  all  have  been  built  in  New- York,  mostly  of  large  size,  at  an 
estimated  cost  of  about  $14,000,000. 

In  Boston  and  vicinity,  during  the  year,  there  have  been  built  57  vessels, 
of  which  45  were  ships,  S  were  barques,  3  were  steamers  of  from  150  to  350 


432  MISCELLANEOUS. 


tons,  and  1  was  a  schooner.     The  aggregate  tonnage  of  these  vessels  was 
68,282,  and  the  estimated  cost  of  the  "whole,  at  $65  a  ton,  was  $4,483,430. 

Rutland  County  Makble  and  Slate. — At  the  late  Agricultural  Meet- 
ing at  Rutland,  Vt.,  Charles  Sheldon,  Esq.,  of  West-Rutland,  said  that  in 
1850,  there  was  quarried  at  West-Rutland,  $190,000  worth  of  marble;  in 
1853,  $360,000  worth;  in  1854,  probably  $400,000  worth.  From  other 
towns  in  the  county,  he  thought  that  $200,000  worth  of  marble  would  be 
exported  this  year.  The  value  of  the  marble  sold  is  twice  as  great  as  the 
wool  clip  of  the  county  in  1850.  It  exceeds  the  value  of  the  wool  and  dairy 
products  of  the  county.  At  the  West-Rutland  quarry,  there  are  consumed 
annually  150  tons  of  hay,  6000  bushels  of  potatoes,  6  tons  of  butter,  and 
6000  bushels  of  corn.  Of  the  value  of  the  marble  exported,  three  fourths  is 
added  to  the  wealth  of  the  county. 

The  demand  has  always  exceeded  the  supply.  There  is  no  fear  of  a  de- 
crease of  the  demand.  To  increase  the  supply,  more  capital  should  be 
invested  in  quarrying  and  sawing  marble.  Rutland  can  furnish,  annually, 
marble  to  the  amount  of  $1,500,000.  He  said  that  the  quality  of  the  slate 
in  this  county  was  equal  to  that  of  any  part  of  the  world.  It  was  inexhaust- 
ible in  quantity,  and  the  demand  for  it  was  far  greater  than  the  supply.  He 
thought  that,  this  year,  not  less  than  $300,000  worth  of  slate  would  be  quar- 
ried in  Rutland  count}". 

Tennessee  Copper. — The  Knoxvillc  Register  states  that  recent  discoveries 
afford  proof  of  the  existence  of  one  continuous  vein  of  rich  copper  ore  be- 
tween the  Polk-county  mine  in  East-Tennessee,  and  the  mine  recently  dis- 
covered in  Carroll  county,  Virginia,  In  the  Tennessee  vein,  the  miners  have 
reached  the  yellow  sulphuret  of  copper,  which  is  considered  an  infallible 
indication  of  the  great  extent  and  richness  of  the  mines  in  which  it  abounds. 
The  discoverv  of  this  metal  has  infused  a  new  impetus  into  mining  operations, 
and  several  weeks  since  there  were  sales  of  three  quarter  sections  of  raining 
land,  at  about  $1,250,000.  The  Register  states  that  some  five  thousand  tons 
of  rich  copper  ore  are  taken  from  the  mines  monthly,  netting  at  least  half  a 
million  of  dullars.  The  amount  will  doubtless  be  increased  when  the  shafts 
which  are  being  sunk  penetrate  the  rich  sulphuret. 

Moral  of  the  Baby  Show, — We,  at  our  cattle  shows,  give  prizes  to  the 
man  who  produces  the  best  food  for  the  people's  eating.  The  Americans  give 
prizes  for  the  mouths  best  adapted  to  eat  the  food  which  is  so  bountifully 
prepared  for  them  on  their  vast  continent.  The  two  nations  typify  their 
differences  in  this  manner.  Our  great  desire  is  to  find  ample  food  for  our 
population.  The  Americans  are  only  desirous  of  a  large  population  to  con- 
sume their  food, — London  Times. 

Productions  of  Algeria, — This  colony  promises  to  take  a  prominent 
rank  among  countries  which  derive  their  principal  wealth  from  the  produc- 
tion of  silk.  The  success  of  the  cochineal  insect  at  Algiers  is  no  longer 
doubtful.  The  madder  of  Algiers  is  more  highly  esteemed  than  that  of 
Cyprus.  The  cotton  of  that  colony  took  eleven  prizes  at  the  London  Exhi- 
bition. The  olive-tree  grows  there  to  the  height  of  our  largest  forest-trees. 
Certain  countiies  are  covered  with  it.  Species  of  cork-oak  constitute  a  large 
part  of  the  forests.  There  are  also  forests  of  cedar,  pine,  juniper,  arbor  vitre, 
black  walnut,  etc.  These  statements  are  contained  in  an  official  report  to 
the  French  orovernment. 


MISCELLANEOUS,  433 


The  Fall-River  Route. — This  Company  still  retain  their  unrivalled  re- 
putation. Their  new  boat  will  be  ready  with  the  return  of  the  next  seasont 
and  will  be  in  advance  of  any  thing  yet  seen  in  our  waters.  The  workmen 
are  busily  engaged  in  iSnishing  the  interior  apartments,  which  will  so  unie, 
elegance  and  comfort  as  to  satisfy  the  most  extravagant  demands  of  the  travel- 
ler. We  have  recently  been  shown  over  every  part  of  it,  and  must  say  that 
we  have. never  seen  any  steamboat  that  was  so  completely  furnished  with 
every  thing  that  comfort,  luxury,  or  taste  could  conceive.  The  following  de- 
tails show  not  only  her  mammoth  size  but  thorough  provision  for  all  suppos- 
able  necessities : 

Her  length  is  345  feet,  (or  more  than  —  of  a  mile.) 

Beam,  47  feet. 

Width  from  guard  to  guard,  80  feet  11  inches. 

Hold,  depth,  16  feet  11  inches. 

Tons  measurement,  2300. 

Height  of  ceiling  in  cabin,  11  feet  6  inches. 

Steering-wheel,  1  feet  diameter,  3  rims. 

Water-wheels,  43  "         "        14  feet  length  of  buckets. 
She  has  108  inches  cylinder. 

She  has  95  state-rooms,  of  which  18  have  each  four  berths,  etc.,  and  18  of 
them  have  berths  of  extra  width.  There  are  also  400  open  berths,  furnishing 
comfortable  accommodations  for  YoO  persons. 

She  is  also  provided,  on  a  level  with  the  upper  saloon,  with  an  apartment 
for  ladies,  in  which  they  may  arrange  their  toilets,  etc.  Water-closets  are 
provided  on  both  decks.  Her  name  is  The  Metropolis,  and  she  will  be 
commanded  by  Captain  Brown,  now  of  the  '  Bay  State.' 

Building  Stones  :  Brown  or  Red  Sandstone. — We  have  not  forgotten 
our  promise  to  give  our  readers  some  information  on  this  subject,  in  continu- 
ation of  what  we  have  written  of  marble  and  granite.  We  shall  probably 
do  so  in  the  next  number. 

Origin  of  Nitrogen. — M.  Boussingault  has  published  the  details  of 
other  experiments  upon  the  vegetation  of  several  plants,  confirming  his 
views  as  recently  presented  in  this  journal.  He  also  promises  another  me- 
moir on  the  same  subject. 

Lightning  Conductors. — Mr.  Nasmyth  has  described,  before  the  British 
Association,  an  improved  arrangement  for  a  lightning  conductor  for  chim- 
neys. Instead  of  fixing  it  outside  by  metal  hold-fasts,  he  would  suspend  it 
in  the  middle  of  the  chimney  by  branching  supports  fixed  on  the  top.  "x\n 
experience  of  eighteen  years  has  tested  the  superiority  of  the  plan."  In  the 
discussion.  Professor  Faraday  recommended  that  the  lightning  conductors 
should  bo  placed  inside  instead  of  outside  of  all  buildings.  He  considered 
the  shape  of  the  conductor,  whether  flat  or  round,  as  immaterial. 

Preservation  of  Meat. — Carbonic  acid  is  very  efficient  in  retarding 
putrefaction.  Beef  in  contact  with  carbonic  oxide  for  the  space  of  three 
weeks  was  found  perfectly  fresh,  and  of  a  fine  red  color. 

Gas  Coal. — The  coal  near  Preston,  Va.,  is  found  to  be  of  great  value  for 
the  production  of  gas,  superior  to  any  other  coal  in  this  country.  It  lies 
adjacent  to  the  Ohio  &  Baltimore  Railroad.  So  says  the  Cumberland 
Journal. 


484  NEW   ENGLISH   PATENTS. 

NEW     ENGLISH     PATENTS. 
APPLICATION  OF  GLUTEN  TO  BREAD  AND  OTHER  ARTICLES  OF  FOOD. 

J,  H,  Johnson,  47  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  Glasgow. — This  British  patent 
has  been  taken  out  on  behalf  of  M.  Durand  of  Toulouse,  who  has  occupied 
himself  for  several  years  back  with  expei'iments  as  to  the  best  modes  of  treat- 
ing gluten  so  as  to  obtain  a  palatable  bread  from  it.  .  Gluten  is  obtainable 
from  various  vegetables,  being  their  essential  nutritive  component ;  but  it  is 
to  that  obtained  from  wheat  that  M.  Durand's  improvements  more  particu- 
larly refer.  The  invention  consists,  in  the  first  place,  in  preparing  gluten 
bread  by  baking  it  in  moulds  fitted  with  loose  lids  which  rest  upon  the  gluten, 
and  rise  with  the  gluten  as  it  expands  by  the  action  of  the  heat.  The  bread 
formed  from  gluten  possesses  great  nutritive  quality,  and  will  keep  for  a  long 
period  of  time  without  injury.  This  substance  may  be  employed  in  various 
proportions  with  farinaceous  substances  of  all  kinds,  and  is  also  found  advan- 
tageous in  the  manufacture  of  chocolate  and  vermicelli.  In  making  gluten- 
chocolate,  a  small  quantity  of  muriatic  acid  may  be  added.  In  baking 
gluten-bread,  the  inventor  employs  moulds  of  a  square  section  and  slightly 
conical,  that  is  to  say,  slightly  contracted  at  the  base,  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
removal  of  the  bread  after  it  is  baked.  When  the  paste  is  introduced  into 
the  mould,  it  is  covered  with  a  movable  lid,  which  rests  upon  it,  in  order 
that  its  development  may  be  progressive.  The  weight  of  this  lid  should  be 
proportioned  to  the  degree  of  purity  of  the  gluten.  Two  rods  of  iron  fitted 
at  each  extremity  serve  to  prevent  the  lid  or  cover  from  falling  off,  and  to 
limit  the  rising  of  the  paste ;  this  being  most  essential,  as  the  heat  having  a 
great  influence  over  the  gluten,  the  rising  or  development  of  this  matter 
would  become  too  great,  and  deteriorate  the  bread  if  not  forcibly  restrained. 
For  the  same  reason,  the  baking  should  be  accomplished  in  a  moderately- 
heated  oven,  and  for  the  preparation  of  wheat-gluten  no  leaven  need  be 
employed.  The  kneading  ought  to  be  eflfected  by  manual  labor,  and  as 
actively  as  possible.  To  proceed  with  that  operation  it  is  necessary  to  choose 
a  favorable  moment,  which  will  be  known  by  the  degree  of  moisture  of  the 
substance,  this  luoisture  always  agreeing  with  the  amount  of  flour  to  be  mixed 
with  the  gluten.  Bread  thus  made  presents  the  appearance  of  bread  well 
worked ;  it  is  exceedingly  light,  and  of  an  agreeable  flavor.  It  is  rather 
elastic  when  it  is  first  made,  but  hardens  in  a  few  hours.  It  may  be  heated 
after  being  cut  into  slices  when  required  for  consumption  ;  it  then  becomes 
more  brittle,  and  is  more  easily  masticated.  It  may  be  also  kept  for  a  long 
period  without  any  deterioration  whatever.  The  following  are  the  proportions 
which  are  employed  in  the  mixture  of  gluten  with  other  alimentary  sub- 
stances, and  from  which  the  best  results  have  been  obtained : 

1.  Bread  composed  of  pure  wheat-gluten,  with  the  addition  of  one  per 
cent  of  salt. 

2.  Bread  composed  of  ninety  per  cent  of  moist  gluten,  ten  per  cent  of 
wheat-flour,  and  one  per  cent  of  salt. 

3.  Bread  composed  of  eighty  per  cent  of  moist  gluten,  twenty  per  cent  of 
wheat-flour,  and  one  per  cent  of  salt. 

4.  Bread  composed  of  seventy  per  cent  of  moist  gluten,  thirty  per  cent  of 
corn-flour,  and  one  per  cent  of  salt. 

6.  Bread  composed  of  sixty  per  cent  of  moist  gluten,  forty  per  cent  of  corn- 
flour, and  one  per  cent  of  salt. 


NEW   ENGLISH   PATENTS.  435 


6.  The  same  kinds  of  bread,  with  the  addition  of  three  per  cent,  five  per 
cent,  ei2;ht  per  cent,  or  ten  per  cent  of  fresh  butter. 
For  chocolate,  the  following  proportions  are  employed : 

1.  Gluten-chocolate  made  in  the  ordinary  manner,  and  composed  of  about 
two  parts  of  cocoa,  and  one  part  of  gluten-bread  reduced  to  an  impalpable 
powder. 

2.  Gluten  chocolate  made  in  the  same  manner,  and  composed  of  two  parts 
of  cocoa,  two  parts  of  sugar,  and  one  part  of  gluten-bread  reduced  to  a  fine 

powder.  /•      i      •    j 

3.  Four  parts  of  cocoa,  five  parts  of  sugar,  and  one  part  of  pulverized 

gluten-bread. 

4.  Gluten-chocolate  composed  of  two  parts  of  cocoa,  two  parts  of  sugar, 
and  one  part  of  pure  gluten-flour,  also  reduced  to  an  impalpable  powder. 
Each  of  the  parts  composing  this  chocolate  should  be  well  and  carefully  tritu- 
rated and  operated  upon  separately. 

5.  Gluten-chocolate,  in  which  the  fresh  gluten  is  rendered  less  adhesive 
by  the  addition  of  one  half  of  its  weight  in  water  with  0-002  of  pure  muriatic 
acid,  and  dried  at  a  stove,  the  proportions  being  two  parts  of  cocoa,  two  parts 
of  sugar,  and  one  part  of  moist  gluten.  The  chocolate  may  be  also  prepared 
without  any  admixture  with  the  acid. 

Vermicelli  may  be  prepared  by  means  of  any  of  the  various  breads  already 
described.  To  manufacture  it  dry  bread  is  used,  and  it  is  only  after  it  has 
been  submitted  to  the  action  of  heat  that  it  can  be  pulverized. 

For  gluten-bread  made  of  Indian-corn  flour,  the  same  treatment  must  be 
adopted  as  for  gluten-bread  from  wheat,  with  the  addition  of  a  leaven  com- 
posed of  two  thirds  of  wheat- flour  and  one  third  of  pure  water. 

Manufacture  of  Caoutchouc.  J.  H.  Johnson,  London  and  Glasgow. 
— This  French  invention,  which  has  been  patented  in  England  on  behalf  of 
MM.  Guibal  &  Cumenge,  relates  to  the  recovery  and  utihzation  of  the  volatile 
ingredients  used  in  dissolving  caoutchouc  in  the  process  of  manufacturing  it, 
instead  of  allowing  these  ingredients  to  be  lost  by  evaporation.  This  great 
saving  is  efi"ected  by  placing  the  soft  caoutchouc  upon  traversing  cloths  iu 
closed  chambers,  provided  at  the  top  with  a  means  of  condensing  the  vapors, 
and  carrying  off  the  products,  the  material  being  heated  by  suitable  apparatus 
beneath  the  traversing  cloth.  The  caoutchouc,  as  it  leaves  the  spreading 
rollers,  is  traversed  over  a  horizontal  table,  consisting  of  upper  and  lower  cast- 
iron  plates,  with  an  intervening  place  for  the  introduction  of  steam,  hot  water, 
or  heated  air.  This  table  is  covered  in  by  a  roofing  of  metal  plates,  set  at 
convenient  angles,  the  chamber  being  closed  in  at  each  end  by_  triangular 
metal  plates,  placed  vertically.  The  roof  is  covered  with  felt,  which  iskept 
constantly  saturated  with  cold  water,  supplied  by  a  duct  above,  and  which  is 
again  collected  by  gutters  running  along  the  lower  edges  of  the  roof-plates. 
The  vapor  rising  from  the  material  is  condensed  upon  the  under  sides  of  the 
roof-plates,  and° trickling  down,  is  collected  in  suitable  gutters ;  these  gutters 
being  carried  completely  round  the  chamber,  and  across  the  end-plates,  so  as 
to  prevent  any  of  the  products  of  condensation  from  falling  upon  the  caout- 
chouc beneath.  The  gutters  communicate  with  suitable  receptacles,  into 
which  the  condensed  matter  passes ;  and  this  matter  can  be  used  over  again 
repeatedly  in  the  manufacture  of  the  caoutchuc,  thereby  considerably  reduc- 
ing the  cost. 

Journal  Bearings.     A.  Barclay,  Kilmarnock.— With  a  view  of  econo- 
mizing the  oil  used  in  lubricating  the  journal  bearings  of  horizontal  shafts, 


436  NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS. 


by  enabling  it  to  be  repeatedly  reused,  Mr.  Barclay  has  designed  the  improve- 
ments forming  the  subject  of  the  present  patent,  and  which,  by  preventing 
the  too  rapid  escape  of  the  lubricating  oil  from  between  the  rubbing  surfaces, 
also  renders  the  lubrication  of  the  shaft  much  more  efficient.  In  carryiuo-  out 
this  invention,  according  to  one  modification,  the  shaft  is  formed  with  a  project- 
ing collar  upon  it,  of  the  length  of  the  intended  bearing,  and  the  brasses  are 
formed  to  suit  this  modification.  Each  brass  extends  considerably  past  each 
edge  of  the  collar,  and  is  slightly  turned  out  or  recessed,  so  that  the  angles  of 
the  collar  shall  be  slightly  overlapped  by  the  brass.  Beyond  this  overlap  on 
each  side,  the  extension  of  the  brass  is  hollowed  out  internally,  to  form  an 
annular  cup  for  the  reception  of  oil,  and  these  edge-cup  pieces  are  well 
overhung,  and  brought  close  to  the  plain  part  of  the  shaft  to  prevent  the 
entry  of  dirt.  The  inner  face  of  the  upper  brass  is  inclined  upwards  from 
each  side  towards  the  centre,  instead  of  being  square  across  as  usual ;  and 
the  result  is,  that  the  oil  supplied  from  the  top,  in  the  usual  way,  is  well 
spread  over  the  frictional  surfaces,  and,  flowing  down,  it  is  caught  by  the 
annular  cups  of  the  brasses,  and  retained  therein  for  continued  use ;  or  the 
same  effect  may  be  obtained  by  beveling  the  inner  edge  or  edges  of  the 
inner  brass  alone,  the  upper  brass  being  made  square  across,  as  usual.  The 
continued  use  of  the  oil  is  effected  by  the  action  of  the  bearing  collar  on  the 
shaft,  for,  as  this  revolves,  its  edges  gather  films  of  oil  from  the  annular  cups, 
and  bring  up  the  oil  so  collected  to  the  top  brass.  Here  the  revolving  collar 
edges  apply  the  oil  to  the  corresponding  edges  of  the  upper  brass,  and,  owing 
to  the  duplex  interior  incline  thereon,  the  oil  is  thence  conveyed  towards  the 
centre  of  the  bearing,  whence  it  is  well  distributed  over  the  whole  rubbing 
surfaces.  Instead  of  a  plain  collar  projection,  other  forms  of  journals  may  be 
employed  with  the  same  result,  or  a  couple  of  rings  may  be  set  fast  on  the 
shaft,  so  as  to  carry  up  the  oil  in  a  similar  manner. 

New  Mordant  in  Dyeing. — A  Swede  named  Rydin,  has  published  a 
method  of  obtaining  a  fine  blue,  of  excellent  tint,  for  cotton,  by  employing  as 
a  mordant  the  oxide  of  chromium,  dissolved  in  an  acid ;  in  place  of  this 
oxide,  a  double  salt  may  be  used,  such  as  the  double  sulphate  of  chromium 
and  potash.  This  salt  is  obtained  by  mixing  one  part  of  a  solution  of  bichro- 
mate of  potash,  and  one  part  and  a  half,  or  two  parts,  of  sulphuric  acid. 
Alcohol,  sugar,  or  any  other  substance  capable  of  converting  the  chronic  acid 
into  an  oxide  of  chromium,  may  be  added.  The  oxide  is  added  to  a  decoc- 
tion of  logwood,  and  the  dyeing  may  be  effected  in  one  operation,  by  putting 
together  the  salt,  the  decoction,  and  the  cotton,  and  heating  the  whole.  Or 
the  cotton  can  be  treated  with  the  salt,  hot  or  cold,  and  may  then  be  placed 
in  the  decoction  until  the  desired  color  is  obtained.  By  varying  the  propor- 
tions of  the  salt  to  the  decoction,  very  delicate  shades  of  gray  and  lilac  may 
be  obtained. 

Dock  Railway,  Liverpool. — At  the  last  meeting  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion, there  was  exhibited  a  large  model  of  a  high  level  railway,  which  it  is 
proposed  to  carry  along  the  east  side  of  the  whole  line  of  docks  at  Liverpool. 
The  construction  will  consist  of  iron  frame-work  supporting  two  platforms. 
The  lower  will  be  about  52  feet  wide  and  20  feet  above  the  present  quays, 
designed  entirely  for  goods  traffic,  having  four  lines  of  railway — the  two 
nearest  the  docks  to  be  used  as  sidings  for  trucks  while  loading  and  unload- 
ing, and  the  other  two  as  up  and  down  lines  for  trucks  in  motion.  The  upper 
platform  is  to  be  about  23  feet  wide,  and  to  have  two  lines  of  railway, 
intended  for  passengers  only.     The  lower  platforin  will  be  provided  with 


NEW   ENGLISH   PATENTS.  437 

hydraulic  cranes,  whicli  will  transfer  goods  either  from  or  to  the  vessels  or 
the  trucks,  as  well  as  work  through  the  hatchways  in  the  platform  to  the 
quays.  The  scheme  embraces  the  construction  of  deposit  and  transit- sheds, 
a  connection  with  existing  or  future  railways,  and  with  private  warehouses, 
and  the  erection  of  passenger-stations.  The  great  thoroughfares  will  be 
crossed  by  bridges,  and  the  line  will  be  equally  applicable  for  horses  or  loco- 
motive power.  The  cost  is  estimated  at  less  than  £250,000  a  mile.  This 
includes  hydraulic  cranes  and  platforms,  with  stationary  steam  power  to  work 
them.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  calculated  that  the  value  of  the  quay  space 
gained  by  the  platforms  of  the  railway,  at  the  low^  rate  of  £5  a  yard,  will 
yield  a  return  of  about  £210,000  a  mile,  not  much  below  the  estimated 
expenditure. 

Effect  of  Light  upon  the  Compass. — Attention  was  called,  by  Sir 
John  Eoss,  at  Liverpool,  to  the  omission  of  any  notice  in  the  Admiralty 
Manual  of  Scientific  Inquiry,  of  the  effect  which  light  exerted  upon  the  mag- 
netic needle.  The  Swedish  philosopher,  Wrede,  totally  excluded  light  from  his 
magnetic  observatory,  with  the  exception  of  a  subdued  light  at  a  considerable 
elevation  vertical  to  the  horizontal  needle,  while  the  arc  was  read  oft"  by  a  tele- 
scope, at  a  distance  of  several  yards  from  the  instrument.  Means,  with  the  same 
end  in  view,  ought  to  be  adopted  in  every  magnetic  observatory  ;  otherwise,  no 
reliance  could  be  placed  on  the  observations.  It  was  evident  that  the  more 
deliberately  the  magnetic  needle  was  suspended,  the  more  obnoxious  it  would 
be  to  the  efiect  of  artificial  light  in  the  operation  of  reading  off  the  instru- 
ment. In  proof  of  the  effect  of  every  description  of  light  on  the  magnet,  Sir 
John  mentioned  that,  during  his  last  voyage  in  the  J^elix,  when  frozen  in. 
about  TOO  miles  north  of  the  magnetic  pole,  he  concentrated  the  rays  of  the 
full  moon  on  the  magnetic  needle,  when  he  found  it  was  five  degrees  attracted 
by  it. 

Twin-Dredger  of  Thirty  Horse  Power.  By  J.  W.  Hoby  &  Co.,  En- 
gineers, Renfrew. — This  powerful  dredging  machine  was  constructed  for  the 
Commissioners  of  Leith  Harbor,  the  designs  furnished  by  the  makers  being 
approved  of  by  Mr.  Rendel,  the  engineer.  It  has  been  a  very  successful 
machine,  its  performances  being  at  the  rate  of  1840  tons  discharged  per  day 
of  ten  hours.  A  deviation  from  the  ordinary  system  of  construction  was 
adopted  in  it,  on  account  of  certain  peculiarities  of  the  locality  for  which  the 
dredger  was  destined. 

The  hull  is  of  plate-iron,  and  is  ninety  feet  long,  thirty  feet  wide,  and  eight 
feet  six  inches  deep.  A  large  well  is  formed  in  the  centre  of  the  vessel  for 
the  passage  of  the  two  endless  chains  of  buckets,  and  for  the  introduction  of 
the  ladders  upon  which  the  buckets  are  supported.  These  ladders  are  upheld 
at  one  end  by  the  main  shafts,  by  means  of  which  the  buckets  are  driven,  the 
other  extremities  of  the  ladders  being  slung  to  a  hoisting  apparatus  at  the 
other  end  of  the  vessel,  so  that  they  may  be  elevated  or  lowered  to  suit  the 
level  of  the  bottom  to  be  deepened.  The  machinery  is  driven  by  a  pair  of 
oscillating  cyhnders,  each  twenty-five  inches  in  diameter,  and  placed  imme- 
diately below  the  main  driving  shaft,  which  is  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
bucket-ladders.  These  cylinders  are  supplied  with  steam  from  two  boilers 
near  the  longitudinal  centre  of  the  vessel,  and  j)laced  one  on  each  side  of  the 
central  well.  The  motion  is  first  communicated  to  a  transverse  horizontal 
shaft  immediately  over  the  steam-cylinders.  This  shaft  carries  two  very 
heavy  fly-wheels,  and  has  bevel-pinions  upon  its  overhanging  ends,  and  con- 
nected to  it  by  frictional  couplings,  so  as  to  yield  to  any  inordinate  strain. 


438  KEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS. 

These  bevel-pinions  gear  with  bevel-wheels  keyed  upon  vertical  shafts,  which 
carry  bevel-pinions  upon  their  upper  ends  in  gear  with  large  bevel-wheels  on 
the  main  driving-shafts.  The  bevel-pinions  on  the  upper  ends  of  the  vertical 
shafts  can  be  engaged  with,  or  disengaged  from,  their  shafts  by  means  of 
adjustable  clutch-boxes.  Connections  are  likewise  provided  to  enable  the 
engines  to  drive  the  several  winches  for  lifting  the  lower  ends  of  the  bucket- 
ladders,  for  warping  the  vessel  into  a  new  position,  and  for  other  purposes. 

The  sand  or  mud  raised  by  the  buckets  is  discharged  into  a  shoot  or  duct 
of  plate-iron,  which  conveys  it  into  the  pontoon-hopper,  or  lighter,  placed 
across  the  end  of  the  vessel  to  receive  it. 

Patent  HrDROSTATic  Cranes.  By  J.  Robertson,  Engineer,  Ardrossan* 
— These  hydrostatic  machines  will  be  found  useful  in  the  operations  of  the 
civil  engineer,  and  in  engineering  work-shops,  in  all  cases  in  which  heavy 
bodies  have  to  be  lifted  or  moved,  and  particularly  where,  from  the  nature 
of  the  ground  or  the  position  of  the  object  to  be  lifted,  it  is  difficult  to  apply 
ordinary  winch  or  crane  power.  One  of  these  cranes  can  be  attached  as 
easily  as  the  ordinary  block-tackle,  whilst  it  has  the  advantage  of  being 
worked  so  as  to  exert  its  full  power  directly  in  the  line  of  the  centres  of 
attachment,  the  machine  simply  acting  as  a  contracting  connecting  link  in 
the  lifting-chain  with  no  lateral  strain  whatever,  such  as  is  occasioned  by 
the  drawing  end  of  the  rope  in  block-tackles. 

In  common  with  all  machines  of  this  class,  great  power  is  obtained  in  a 
very  small  compass,  and  the  working  of  it  can  be  easily  changed  to  suit  the 
load,  a  quick  speed  being  employed  for  a  light  body,  and  a  slow  speed  with 
great  power  for  a  heavy  one. 

The  essential  feature  of  the  apparatus  is  the  use  of  a  working  cylinder,  of 
the  pendulous  kind,  fitted  with  a  piston  to  be  actuated  by  water  pressure. 
For  example,  in  a  warehouse  or  vork-shop,  the  working-cylinder  may  be 
slung  or  suspended,  in  an  inverted  position,  from  any  convenient  over-head 
beam,  by  a  rope,  link,  or  joint  attached  at  its  closed  end.  In  this  way  the 
piston-rod  works  through  a  stuffing-box  at  the  lower  end  of  the  cylinder,  and 
the  projecting  end  of  the  rod  carries  a  hook,  or  other  connection,  for  attach- 
ment to  the  actual  hauling-chain.  The  actuating  fluid  is  conveyed  into  the 
cylinder  by  a  flexible  pipe,  so  that  the  vibration  of  the  cylinder  can  not  afiect 
the  pressure  flow.  By  attaching  a  suitable  valve  to  the  workiog-cylinder,  the 
pressure  fluid  may  be  directed  to  either  side  of  the  piston,  so  that  the  upper 
end  of  the  cylinder  answers  as  a  convenient  reserroir  for  the  fluid.  The  fluid 
pressure  may  be  obtained  from  various  sources,  as  from  natural  head-columns, 
or  from  pumping  apparatus  ;  and  in  using  pumps,  these  details  may  be 
either  at  a  distance  from,  or  attached  to,  the  side  of  the  working-cylinder. 
Where  long  strokes  or  lifts  are  required,  this  may  either  be  efiected  by 
suitable  pulley  or  lever  arrangements  in  connection  with  the  working  piston- 
rod,  or  by  the  adoption  of  a  telescopic  arrangement  of  the  working-cylinder, 
one  cylinder  being  placed  inside  the  other,  the  traversing-cylinder  inside  the 
external  one  being  formed  to  work  as  a  piston ;  this  internal  cylinder  again 
having  a  piston  within  it,  so  that  a  long  stroke  is  obtainable  from  this  duplex 
action  ;  and,  instead  of  using  one  cylinder  only  as  the  lifting  movement,  two 
or  more  may  be  suspended  side  by  side.  Travelling  cranes  may  also  be  con- 
structed on  this  principle,  the  working-cylinder  in  such  case  being  disposed 
horizontally  upon  the  cross-beam  of  the  crane-framing,  and  being  imme- 
diately supported  by  a  traversing  carriage,  so  that  the  lifting  apparatus  can 
be  run  back  or  forward  at  will,  to  suit  the  requirements  of  the  time,  whilst 


NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS.  439 

the  travelling  frame  itself  further  adds  to  this  power  of  removal ;  such  a  car- 
riage may  also  have  upoa  it  the  actuating  pump.  In  such  hoisting  apparatus, 
the  stop-valve  of  the  lifting-cylinder,  by  holding  the  fluid-column,  acts  as  a 
certain  holder  of  any  weight  which  may  be  upon  the  crane.  Such  cranes 
are  made  to  indicate  the  weight  upon  them,  by  attaching  to  the  main  work- 
ing-cylinder a  smaller  cyhnder  bored  to  two  slightly  diflerent  diameters.  A 
single  piston-rod  has  upon  it  two  pistons,  one  for  each  of  these  two  diameters, 
and  the  working  fluid  from  the  main  cylinder  has  access  to  the  space  included 
between  these  two  pistons.  The  difference  in  the  area  of  the  pistons  being 
extremely  slight,  the  larger  piston  is  caused  to  traverse,  in  proportion  to  its 
greater  area,  against  the  resistance  of  a  spring  fastened  to  the  piston-rod. 
This  rod  carries  an  index  bearing  upon  a  graduated  scale,  and  the  suspended 
weight  is  thus  at  once  pointed  out. 

Mining  Engines  and  Machinery.  A  Barclat,  Kilmarnock.  Patent 
dated  March  2,  1854. — A  portion  of  the  improvements  comprehended  in 
this  patent  relate  to  the  so  arranging  the  winding  engines  of  coal  and  other 
mines,  that  they  may  be  more  safely  managed  than  at  present,  whilst  all 
chance  of  "over-winding"  and  injury  to  the  mining  mechanism  may  be 
avoided.  These  improvements  are  effected  by  adapting  the  ordinary  and 
well-known  "  link  motion"  to  the  hand-gear  of  the  engine,  so  that  the  attend- 
ant can  easily  stop  and  reverse  his  engine  at  the  exact  moment  re*quired  in 
the  action  of  winding.  To  do  this,  the  engine-man  has  only  to  work  a  hand- 
lever  up  or  down ;  and  this  lever  being  suitably  connected  with  the  "  link- 
motion,"  correspondingly  afiects  the  portion  of  such  motion,  and  thereby 
either  stops  or  reverses  the  engine,  as  is  at  present  done  in  locomotive  and 
marine  engines.  By  such  a  system  of  gearing,  the  motion  is  entirely 
unbroken,  and  the  attendant  has  always  a  safe  and  perfect  command  over  his 
engine ;  and  to  add  still  further  to  the  safe  working  of  the  system,  a  self-act- 
ing movement  is  contrived  to  come  into  play  at  the  precise  moment  required, 
for  the  purpose  of  stopping  or  reversing  the  engine,  in  case  the  engine-man 
should  be  careless  or  absent  at  the  proper  time.  For  this  purpose  a  tumbler 
is  so  connnected  with  the  engine  or  winding  mechanism,  that  it  shall  be 
slowly  wound  up,  or  elevated  to  its  falling  centre,  at  the  time  that  the  motion 
of  the  engine  is  to  be  changed.  Thus,  as  this  tumbler  falls  over,  it  acts 
through  suitable  connections  upon  the  reversing  or  stopping-link,  and  effects 
the  intended  movement.  Various  means  may  be  adopted  for  securing  the 
self-acting  effect,  disengaging  pins  or  stoj^s  being  so  set  as  to  actuate  the. link- 
movement  at  the  proper  time. 

As  adapted  to  direct-acting  horizontal  cylinder  winding  and  pumping 
engines,  for  instance  a  small  shaft  passes  away  back  from  the  main-shaft  to 
the  steam-cylinder,  at  which  end  this  small  shaft  carries  a  worm  in  gear  with 
a  vsrorm-wheel  set  on  a  horizontal  stud.  This  wheel  has  a  ring-groove  in  its 
side  to  receive  adjustable  stud-pins,  which  are  set  at  the  proper  distances  in 
the  wheel,  so  as  to  act  upon  the  adjusting  lever  of  the  valve-link  motion. 
Provision  is  also  made,  by  a  separate  adjusting  slide  or  bolt,  for  allowing  the 
engine-man  to  set  the  engine  to  go  constantly  in  one  direction,  as  when  used 
for  pumping.  When  so  set  the  adjustable-pins  of  the  worm  wheel  no  longer 
aftect  the  engine,  so  as  to  set  the  valves  for  back  or  forward  actions,  or  the 
up  and  down  winding.  Shoidd  the  engine  accidently  run  slightly  beyond 
the  intended  point,  an  eccentric  piece  on  the  stud-spindle  carrying  the  worm- 
wheel  acts  upon  a  sliding  piece  carried  round  by  the  wheel,  and  this  move- 
ment, acting  upon  the  under  side  of  the  valve-link  lever,  sets  this  lever  to  its 


440  NEW   ENGLISH   PATENTS. 


central  position,  so  as  to  prevent  the  return  of  the  engine.  These  gearintr 
details  are  obviously  capable  of  being  modified  in  various  -svavs,  and  the 
arrangements  are  suitable  for  beam  or  other  kinds  of  engines.  "  To  prevent 
accidents  from  the  main  gearing  getting  disengaged,  a  fnction-brake  appa- 
ratus is  provided,  to  stop  the  engine's  movement.  Thus,  should  the  wheels 
fly  out  of  gear — owing,  for  instance,  to  the  attendant's  leaving  out  the  fast- 
ening-key when  changing  from  pumping  to  winding — this  friction-stra])  will 
be  brought  into  play  to  prevent  the  engine  from  running  away.  The  brake- 
pulley  is  set  upon  the  shaft,  which  is  liable  to  slip  back,  and  being  loosely 
encircled  by  a  friction-stiap,  the  lateral  traverse,  owing  to  the  disengage- 
ment, makes  the  pulley  press  itself  hard  against  the  interior  of  the  strap. 
This  strap  encircles  three  fourths  of  the  wheel,  and  is  workable  as  well  from 
both  its  ends.  These  two  opposite  ends  are  each  connected  to  one  of  the  two 
opposite  cages,  that  is,  the  ascending  and  descending  cages.  For  instance, 
when  one  of  the  cages  arrives  at  its  proper  stopping  point,  it  acts  upon  a  pin  or 
stop  in  connection  with  one  end  of  the  friction-strap,  and  draws  the  strap  tight 
around  the  pulley  in  the  direction  of  the  revolution  of  the  pulley  at  the  time 
being.  Hence,  whichever  way  the  engine  is  running,  the  friction-strap  has  a 
tendency  to  be  forced  down  into  frictional  contact  by  the  pully  movement 
when  once  started.  The  engine-man  can  also  work  such  friction-brake  by  a 
separate  hand  or  foot-gear  movement. 

Lappet  Loom.  J.  Smith,  Glasgow.  Patent  dated  February  21,  1854. 
— This  invention  relates  to  the  manufacture  of  goods  of  the  "  lappet " 
class,  a  portion  of  the  improvements  being  in  substitution  of  the  ordi- 
nary pattern  ratchet-wheel,  whilst  the  nsual  "whip"  rolls  are  superseded 
by  another  branch  of  the  invention.  Instead  of  the  pattern-wheel,  a  small 
cylinder  or  barrel  is  used,  carrying  an  endless  chain,  composed  of  small  slips 
of  wood,  gutta  percha,  or  other  "material  capable  of  being  shaped  to  the 
required  foi-ra  of  link,  and  hard  enough  to  withstand  the  working  action.  Or, 
instead  of  this  contrivance,  a  framework,  or  combination  of  plates,  or  slips  of 
iron,  wood,  or  other  material,  may  be  used,  such  pieces  being  acted  upon  by 
a  cylinder  with  perforated  cards,  so  as  to  produce  the  required  pattern,  by 
acting  upon  the  usual  figuring  mechanism  of  the  loom.  This  movement  is 
on  the  principle  of  the  jacquard.  In  the  endless  chain  arrangement,  the 
links  of  the  chain  are  formed  and  arranged  to  suit  the  intended  pattern  to  be 
woven.  The  pattern,  or  figure,  is  engraved  or  formed,  either  in  intaglio  or 
in  relievo,  w^ovi  the  external  face  of  the  chain,  as  many  lines  of  pattern,  or 
figure,  being  used  as  there  are  needle-frames.  These  pattern-lines  extend 
continuously  over  the  chain,  and  a  pike,  or  catch,  from  each  needle-slide,  is 
connected  with,  or  enters  into,  each  of  such  pattern-lines.  The  endless  chain 
is  made  to  traverse  to  suit  the  loom  action,  and  the  needle-frames,  govern- 
ing the  figuring  movements,  are  thus  made  to  traverse  for  the  figuring  action. 
In  addition  to  this  movement,  the  endless  chain  carries  a  secondary  figure 
actuating  a  set  of  cranked  pieces,  which  communicate  with  the  lines  of 
needles,  so  as  to  throw  in  or  out  such  sets  of  needles  as  the  pattern  may 
require. 

In  dispensing  with  the  "  whip"  rolls,  the  cops,  or  bobbins  of  whip  material, 
are  applied  directly  to  the  loom.  This  whip-yarn  is  used,  either  twisted,  or 
in  its  natural  untwined  condition,  and  as  many  ends  or  lines  of  yarn  are 
passed  up  in  combination  from  the  cops,  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  produc- 
tion of  the  required  figuring-thread.  These  lines  of  yarn,  in  passing  from 
the  cops,  are  kept  at  a  regular  even  tension,  by  being  passed  between  fric- 


NEW  ENGLISH  PATENTS.  441 

tional  spring-holdei-s,  or  elastic  clips,  so  as  to  dispense  with  any  other 
mechanism,  the  yarn  being  guided  uniformly  to  the  fabric  as  the  weavino- 
goes  on.  The  improved  processes  considerably  extend  the  capabilities  of  the 
lappet  loom,  affording  a  greater  horizontal  range  for  the  needle-rods,  so  that 
an  increased  number  may  be  used  with  convenience.  Thus  a  greater  width 
or  greater  complexity  of  design,  is  easily  attainable,  whilst  any  length  is 
secured  by  adding  to  the  chain  or  to  the  perforated  cards. 

Steam  Boiler  Apparatus.  J.  IIousTOff,  Glasgow. — These  improvements 
consist  in  regulating  the  supply  of  steam-boilers  by  the  aid  of  a  float,  actino- 
by  means  of  suitable  connections,  passing  through  the  boiler-case  upon  the 
stop-cock  of  the  water-supply  pipe.  In  marine  boilers,  this  float  is  made  to 
work  in  a  chamber  or  casing  communicating  with  the  main  boiler  space  by 
a  small  aperture,  so  that  any  motion  of  the  mass  of  the  water  in  the  boiler 
may  only  affect  the  float  very  slightly.  Another  branch  of  the  improvements 
relate  to  the  adjustment  of  the  flue-damper  of  a  steam-boiler  furnace,  by 
means  of  a  piston  acted  upon  by  the  steam  pressure,  and  arranged  to  open 
or  shut  a  water-supply  cock  in  connection  with  the  damper  movement. 


Musical. — Grisi  and  Mario,  New- York  Philadelphia,  and  Boston.  Those 
who  have  not  heard  these  renowned  artists,  know  not  what  they  have  lost. 
Mario,  as  a  tenor,  certainly  has  no  superior,  among  all  whose  fame  has 
reached  us,  and  no  equal  has  appeared  in  this  community.  But  Grisi 
stands  far  above  competition.  As  a  vocalist,  she  has  few  equals  ;  as  a  tragic 
actress,  she  has  at  least  ho  superior.  Certainly,  the  union  of  so  great  power 
in  these  two  departments,  gives  her  a  prominent  place  among  the  most  emi- 
nent artists  in  the  history  of  the  stage.     She  honors  her  profession never 

descends  to  clap-trap  and  trick.  She  has  fewer  ornaments  than  many  of 
our  own  vocalists,  and  therein  she  proves  her  greatness.  Like  Sontao-  she 
dares  to  sing  a  simple  melody  as  it  is  written.  Every  time  she  is  listened 
to  in  tragic  opera,  she  gains  in  her  power  over  you.  We  shall  never  pro- 
bably be  favored  with  such  an  opportunity  again.  As  we  write  this  these 
artists  are  announced  as  soon  to  appear  in  Philadelphia  and  in  Boston.  We 
charge  every  one  of  our  readers  who  can  appreciate  the  music  of  the  opera 
in  the  very  highest  style  the  world  has  known,  to  take  the  earliest  opportunity 
to  hear  them. 

The  Orange  Water-Melon. — Mr.  Peabody,  editor  of  the  Soil  of  the 
South,  Columbus,  Ga.,  has  lately  introduced  a  new  kind  of  water-melon, 
and_  which,  from  its  singular  properties,  he  calls  the  orange  water-melon.  By 
cutting  the  rind,  as  you  peel  an  orange,  the  entire  skin  may  be  taken  off, 
leaving  the  pulp  unbroken,  which,  with  a  little  care,  may  be  divided  as  you 
would  an  orange.  The  flavor  is  said  to  be  very  fine,  and  it  has  proved 
itself  perfectly  hardy  in  this  State.  Mr.  P.  will,  on  receipt  of  a  dollar,  for- 
ward pre-paid  packages  of  the  seed. 


442  NEW   BOOKS. 


Gexekal  Agency. — The  publisher  of  The  Plough,  the  Loom^  and  the  Anvily 
believing  it  in  his  power  to  be  of  essential  service  to  the  readers  of  that  journal, 
in  the  purchase  or  sale  of  various  articles,  and  the  transaction  of  various  kinds  of 
business,  would  announce  to  theui  that  he  is  ready  to  execute  any  such  commis- 
sion which  he  may  receive,  including  the  purcliase  of  books  of  any  description  ; 
implements  connected  with  agricultural,  manufacturing,  or  mechanical  opera- 
tions; artificial  manures;  farm  and  garden  seeds,  etc.,  etc.  One  of  the  gentle- 
men connected  with  the  journal  is  a  proficient  in  music,  and  experienced  in  the 
selection  of  piano-fortes,  flutes,  etc.,  and  will  execute  orders  in  that  department. 

He  will  also  act  as  agent  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  Real  Estate. 

J^^Farticular  attention  to  business  connected  with  the  Patent-Office. 

Letters  of  inquiry  on  these  matters  will  be  promptly  attended  to. 

ScHOOL-TEAcnERS.  —  Having  had  occasion  to  furnish  teachers  for  some 
of  our  Southern  friends,  we  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  learn  of  several 
young  ladies  who  are  admirably  well  qualified  for  fiimilies  or  schools,  and  if  any 
are  in  need  of  such,  a  letter  addressed  to  us  will  receive  immediate  answer.  "We 
shall  not  fear  to  guarantee  that  any  reasonable  expectations  will  be  fully  met. 
Some  of  them  are  desirous  of  going  South. 


NEW    BOOKS. 


Literary  Recreations  and  MiscELLANrES.     By  Joim  G.  Whittier.     Boston:  Ticknor 
&  Fields.     1854.     431  pages. 

Mb,.  Whittihb's  numerous  friends  ■will  be  highly  gratified  with  this  collection  of  prose 
and  poetry,  by  this  gifted  author.  Most  of  the  pieces  have  already  appeared  in  various 
journals,  but  being  selected  from  a  large  number  of  his  writings,  pubJi?hed  at  different 
and  distant  times,  they  raay  be  regarded  as  possessing,  iff  the  writer's  view,  pecuUar 
merits  compared  with  others  that  were  passed  by,  and  as  especially  illustrative  of  his 
peculiar  but  highly  cultivated  mind.  The  volume  is  handsomely  executed,  and  does 
honor  to  the  enterprising  publishers, 

MEMORABtE  Women,  the  Story  of  their  Lives.     By  Mrs.  Newton  Crossland.     With 
eight  illustrations  by  Blrket  Foster.    Boston:  Ticknor  <fc  Fields.     1854.     355  pages. 

This  book  will  be  read  with  great  interest.  It  describes  women,  several  of  whom 
were  very  prominent  in  their  day,  and  whose  characters  and  social  position  secure  for 
them  universal  regard.  Among  them  are  Lady  Rachel  Russell,  Mrs.  Thrale,  Fanny 
Burney,  etc.  Their  biographies  introduce  us  to  the  most  learned  and  most  celebrated 
circles  of  those  times,  and  give  an  insight  into  the  private  life  and  manners  of  some  of 
the  most  cultivated  minds  in  England. 

Home  Stories. 

John  P.  Jewett  &  Co.,  Boston,  have  recently  published  a  series  of  four  small  volumes, 
for  children,  written  by  Phcebe  Harris  Phelps,  which  are  handsomely  printed  and  neatly 
bound,  as  follows : 

Henry  Day  Learning  to  Obey  Bible  Commands. 

Henry  Day'ss  Story-Book. 

Mary  Day  Forming  Good  Habits. 

Mary  Day's  Story-Book. 

These  stories  are  well-written  and  short,  and  each  inculcates  very  clearly  some  import- 
ant moral  or  religious  truth.  The  plan  is  excellent,  and  is  very  well  executed.  With 
juvenile  libraries  consisting  of  books  like  these,  and  the  little  work  below,  in  all  our 
schools,  we  might  anticipate  no  small  improvement  in  the  conduct  of  our  cliildren. 


NEW   BOOKS.  443 


Rose  and  Lillib  Stanhope  ;  or,  the  Power  of  Conscience.  By  M.  J,  McIntosh.  New- 
York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co.    1854. 

This  little  book  is  a  gem.  Not  a  line  of  it  needs  mending ;  not  a  paragraph  could  be 
spared.  The  story  is  well  devised  for  illustrating  the  necessiiy  of  conscience,  and  its  tre- 
mendous power,  when  properly  enlightened,  over  the  conduct  of  children.  Pai'ents  and 
teachers  might  read  this  story  with  great  profit.  No  juvenile  or  Sabbath-school  library 
should  be  without  it. 

Sabbath  Morning  Readings  in  the  Old  Te'stament.  By  Rev.  John  CtrainNG,  D.D., 
F.R.S.E.,  Minister  of  the  Scottish  National  Church,  Crown-Ci)urt,  Covent  Garden,  Lon- 
don. Book  of  Genesis  and  book  of  Exodus.  Boston:  John  P.  Jewett  &  Co.  1854. 
pp,  385  and  871. 

These  volumes  contain  the  substance  of  the  exposition  of  the  Scripture  lesson  of  the 
morning  service,  to  his  own  people.  His  object  is  not  so  much  learned  criticism  as  the 
solution  of  diiBculties,  and  to  impress  the  truth  of  the  passage  on  the  heart  and  mind  and 
conscience.  We  need  not  say  that  the  plan  is  ably  carried  out.  In  fact,  these  volumes 
are  exactly  what  the  inielligent  reader  of  the  Bible  needs,  and  the  want  of  which  has 
been  seriously  felt.  It  is  not  a  dry,  doctrinal  skeleton,  but  living  Scripture  truth,  ably 
set  forth,  and  will  secure  the  attention  of  every  intelligent  reader.  For  sale  by  Jew- 
ett, Proctor  &  Worthiugton,  Cleveland,  Ohio ;  and  Sheldon,  Lamport,  &,  Blakeman,  New- 
York. 

Amabel;  a  Family  History.     By  Mart  Elizabeth  Wormlet.    New- York:  Buncq  tt 

Brother. 

This  is  a  remarkable  book.  In  every  part  of  it,  the  story  excites  the  deepest  sympa- 
thies of  the  reader.  The  character  of  Amabel  is  drawn  with  great  skill,  and  is  well  sus- 
tained from  beginning  to  end.  The  plot  is  quite  complicate,  but  the  progress  of  events 
seems  ptrfectly  natural,  and  the  story  has  an  air  of  truth  and  reality  quite  unusual  in  this 
kind  of  literature.  Some  of  the  scenes  exhibit  great  power,  especially  near  the  close  of 
the  book.  The  account  of  the  storm  and  wreck  it  would  be  difficult  to  match  from  any 
female  writer.  The  story  is  rather  a  sad  one ;  but  there  are  generally  palliating  circum- 
stances, or,  at  least,  there  is  a  bright  light  in  the  distant  future,  relieving  the  darkness  of 
the  past.  The  final  scenes  are  very  adroitly  conceived,  and  equally  surprise  and  delight 
the  reader. 

We  may  certainly  be  proud  of  some  of  our  female  writers. 

Investigation  of  the  Alleged  Official  Misconduct  of  the  Late  Sdpkrintendfnt 

OF  the   Philadelphia,   Wjlmington   &   Baltimore  Railroad   Co.     Vol.  I.     Pho- 

nographically  reported  by  Arthur  Cannon.     Philadelphia.     1854. 

This  ponderous  volume  of  more  than  a  thousand  octavo  pages,  besides  seventy-two 

pages  of  appendix,  contains  the  evidence  adduced  by  both  parties  to  this  contioversy, 

before  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Directors  of  this  Company  to  make  such 

investigation.     At  the  close  of  the  text,  we  find,  "The  testimony  being  concluded,  the 

Committee  went  into  private  session."     When  they  report  their  proceedings,  probably 

the  second  volume  will  be  issued. 

Te.\nsactions  of  the  New-York  State  Agricultural  Society;  with  an  Abstract  of 
the  Proceedings  of  the  County  Agricultural  Societies.  Vol.  XIII.,  1853.  Albany. 
1854.     783  pages,  8vo. 

We  tender  our  thanks  to  Mr.  Johnson,  the  Cor.  Secretary  of  this  Society,  for  this  valu- 
able book.  We  shall  avail  ourselves  of  its  highly  useful  information  in  our  future 
numbers. 

The  Biography  of  Self-T aught  Men;  with  au  Introductory  Essay.     Boston:  Perkins 

&  Whipple.     1850  and  1852. 

Two  small,  volumes  have  been  publislfed  at  different  times.  One  volume  was  pre- 
pared ahnoat  entirely  by  that  accomplished  scholar,  the  late  B.  B.  Edwards.  In  this, 
twenty-seven  distinguished  characters  are  given,  and  eighteen  in  the  second  volume. 
We  need  not  say  that  they  are  well  written,  nor  that  they  are  worthy  of  notice.  We 
commend  them  to  general  attention,  and  especially  to  young  men,  for  whom  these  ex- 
amples are  peculiarly  profitable.  Fine  likenesses  of  Nathl  Bowditch  and  of  Roger 
Sherman  form  the  frontispiece.  The  successors  of  these  publishers  are  the  firm  of  S. 
K.  Whipple  &  Co.,  100  Washington  street. 


444  NEW   BOOKS. 


Romanism  in  Ameeica.     By  Rev.  Rufus  W.  Clark.     Boston:  S.  K.  Whipple  <t  Co- 

1855.     271  pages. 

The  title  describes  the  character  of  this  volume.  Tlie  origin  and  progress  of  Roman- 
ism, its  principles,  etc.,  as  contrasted  with  Protestantism,  are  described  in  Mr.  Clark's 
pleasing  style.  It  discusses  also,  at  length,  the  propriety  of  the  claims  of  this  denomina- 
tion in  reference  to  school-books  and  kindred  matters.  So  far  as  we  have  examined  it, 
it  is  free  from  the  use  of  opprobrious  language,  and  shows  a  candid,  kindly  spirit.  These 
subjects  deserve  investigation,  and  indeed  demand  not  only  consideration,  but  decisive 
actioD. 

The  Science  and  Art  of  Et.ocdtion  and  Okatoey  ;  containing  Specimen?  of  the  Elo- 
quence of  the  Pulpit,  the  Bar,  the  Stage,  the  Legislative  Hall,  and  the  Battle-Field. 
By  Worthy  Putnam,  Professor  of  the  Science  of  Elocution,  and  Practical  Instructor 
in  the  Art.     Auburn  and  Buffiilo  :  Miller,  Orton  &  Mulligan. 

This  is  a  good  selection  from  the  best  of  authors,  from  Mrs.  Sigourney  to  Daniel  Web- 
ster. It  is  in  three  parts.  Part  1st,  theoretic  and  scientific,  contains  rules  and  princi- 
ples, illustrating  thejorgans  of  speech,  the  elementary  sounds  of  the  language,  inflections, 
attitudes,  etc.,  occupying  about  fifty  pages.  The  2d  part  is  rhetorical,  classical,  and 
poetical,  one  hundred  and  fifty  pages;  and  the  3d  part,  comical  and  musical,  another 
hundred  pages.  The  volume  is  well  printed  and  bound  in  cloth.  For  sale  by  Appleton 
<feCo. 

The  Complete  Manual  for  the  Cultivation  of  the  Strawberry;  with  a  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Best  Varieties.  Also,  Notices  of  the  Raspberry,  Blackberry,  Cui-rant, 
Gooseberry,  and  Grape,  with  directions  for  their  cultivation  and  the  selection  of  the 
best  varieties.  By  R.  G.  Pardee.  With  a  valuable  Appendix  containing  the  observa- 
tions and  experience  of  the  most  successful  cultivators  of  these  fruits  in  our  country. 
New- York :  C.  M.  Saxton.     1854.     144  pages. 

This  long  title  tells  its  own  story.  It  is  the  result  of  actual  experiments,  long  and 
carefully  tried  both  in  Northern  and  Southern  climates,  and  deserves  the  attention  not 
only  of  the  amateur,  but  of  the  professional  gardener.     Price,  50  cents. 

Practical  Mechanic?'  Journal.     Glasgow. 

The  recent  numbers  of  this  journal  have  been  received,  and  they  commend  themselves 
to  the  attention  of  all  mechanics.  The  chapters  devoted  to  American  patents  are  full 
and  scientific.     Stringer  &  Townsend,  Agents. 

Harper's  Gazetteer  of  the  World. 

We  have  already  commended  the  earlier  numbers  of  this  able  work  to  the  attention 
of  our  readers.  The  first  six  have  been  laid  on  our  table.  They  are  admirably  exe- 
cuted. The  matter  is  well  digested.  The  statistics  are  so  condensed  as  to  comprise 
much  information  in  a  small  compass.  Ten  numbers  are  to  complete  the  set.  Price,  50 
cents  each  number, 

Ruth  Hall  ;  a  Domestic  Tale  of  the  Present  Time.     By  Fanny  Fern.     New- York ; 

Mason  Brotheri,    400  pages. 

This  volume  is  peculiarly  a  family  story.  The  heroine,  her  parents  and  brothf^r,  her 
husband  and  his  parents  are  the  chief  characters.  They  are  skillfully  drawn,  and  some 
of  them  are  decidedly  rich.  But  the  book  is  peculiar.  The  author  appears  to  have 
seated  herself  to  this  tale,  with  the  single  view  of  exhibiting  every  one  of  these  relatives 
in  the  most  odious  light  possible,  while  the  heroine  is  lauded  to  the  skies.  Unlike  other 
writers  of  fiction,  who  are  content  to  allow  actions  to  speak  for  themselves,  she  interrupts 
her  narrative  to  introduce  accumulative  testimony  to  the  meanness  and  cold-heartednees 
of  these  persons.  She  acts  the  part  of  a  state's  attorney  in  a  criminal  court,  who  endea- 
vors to  array  all  the  witnesses  he  can  find,  to  make  out  his  prisoner  as  bad  as  be  can. 
This  peculiarity  and  certain  well-known  resemblances  have  led  some  to  suppose  that 
Fanny  is  the  heroine  of  her  own  story.  Nothing  but  ])ersonal  antipathies,  it  is  supposed, 
and  not  without  reason,  would  lead  one,  in  ordinary  cases,  to  conceive  such  a  plot,  or  to 
dishonor  so  holy  relations,  or  to  bring  into  ridicule  religious  professions,  as  does  the  con- 
ception which  brought  into  being  this  story.  We  think  she  has  erred  also  in  her  cxcc^s- 
ive  commendations  of  the  heroine,  who,  if  a  rational  woman,  must  revolt  at  such  gross 
flatteries.  No  friend  was  ever  guilty  of  such  fulsome  stuff.  But  it  may  be  that  the 
whole  is  a  work  of  fancy.  If  so,  she  certainly  has  a  peculiar  taste,  peculiar  ideas  of 
filial  afifection,  or,  at  least,  peculiar  modes  of  showing  and  inculcating  it,  as  well  as  a 


NEW    BOOKS.  445 


peculiarly  unchristianized,  not  to  say  uncivilized,  style  of  imagination.  But  in  this  ag® 
of  morbid  appetite  for  family  scandal,  whether  real  or  imaginary,  however  they  may 
affect  her  reputation  as  a  woman,  these  very  peculiarities  will  cause  her  book  to  be  read, 
and  will  increase  not  only  her  own,  but  also  the  profits  of  the  publishers. 

Ladies'  Guide  or  Skillful  Housewife  ;  or  Complete  Guide  to  Domestic  Cookery, 
Taste,  Comfort,  and  Economy ;  embracing  650  receipts.  By  Mrs.  L.  G.  Abell  Thirty- 
Fifth  Thousand.     1855.     C.  M.  Saxton,  New-York, 

This  little  work  contains  almost  every  thing  connected  with  the  duties  of  a  house- 
keeper, including  directions  for  preparing  meats,  breads,  cakes,  puddings,  pies,  etc.,  for 
curing  the  diseases  and  dressing  the  wounds  to  which  families  are  particiJarly  exposed, 
and  many  other  things  that  every  body  ought  to  know.     All  for  25  cents.     Send  for  it. ' 

Annual  Illustrated  Register,     C,  M.  Saxton. 

A  vert  pretty  annual,  well  worth  the  25  cents  at  which  it  is  sold. 

Among  the  many  elegant  and  valuable  Books  for  Holiday  Gifts,  published  by  Messrs. 
R.  Carter  &  Brothers,  285  Broadway,  may  be  found  the  following: 
The  Auto-Biographt  and  Reminiscences  of  the  Rev.  William  Jay,     2  vol"?     l^mo 
$2.50.     In  1  vol.,  full  gilt,  ?3  ;  half-calf,  $3  ;  full  calf,  $4.50.  "'     "      ' 

"Few  names  are  so  extensively  known  in  the  Christian  communities  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  as  that  of  William  Jay.  His  Morniug  and  Evening  Exercises  is 
in  the  great  niajority  of  Christian  families,  the  Auto-biography  is  written  in  a  style  of 
great  simplicity  and  pleasantness.  The  reminiscences,  by  Mr.  Jay,  of  prominent  indi- 
viduals with  whom  he  was  well  acquainted— as  John  Newton,  Richard  Cecil,  Robert 
Hall,  Wilham  Wilberforce,  and  others,  are  graphic  and  entertaining,  and  replete  with 
anecdote,"  ^ 

Evening  Hours  with  mt  Children  ;  or.  Conversations  on  the  Gospel  Story,  Illus- 
trated with  twelve  large  Illustrations,  (quarto  size,)  colored  and  plain, 

Kitto's  Dailt  Bible  Illustrations.     8  vols.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $8;  in  half-calf,  $12, 

j-^'^^^  ^^f^^  °^  ^^'^  ^"^^"^  '^  *°  ^^'^®  "P°°  passages  of  Scripture  that  are  obscure,  or 
ditticult  to  be  understood,  particularly  from  their  allusions  to  ancient  places  or  customs 
or  persons  or  thmgs,  and  throw  upon  them  the  light  of  history.  Beginning  in  the  first 
volume,  with  the  Antediluvians  and  Patriarchs,  the  reader  is  led  on,  day  by  day  through 
the  historic  records  of  Moses  and  the  Judges,  Saul  and  David,  Solomon  and  the  Kings 
Job  and  the  poetical  writers,  Isaiah  and  the  Prophets,  and  thence  to  the  New-Testament 
characters  and  times,  everywhere  gathering  new  facts,  and  discovering  the  breadth  and 
beauty  of  new  truths." 

Scotia's  Bards  ;  comprising  the  choicest  productions  of  Scottish  Poets,  illustrated  with 
more  than  fifty  elegant  engravings  in  the  highest  style  of  the  art,  with  Frontispiece 
and  Vignette  by  Ritchie.     8vo.     Cloth,  $3 ;  full  gilt,  |4;  Turkey  Morocco,  $6.50. 
"  Scotland,  rich  in  the  treasures  of  Theology,  History,  and  Philosophy,  here  stands 
before  us  with  her  long  array  of  Poets,  such  as  any  country  might  be  proud  to  acknow- 
ledge as  its  own,"  ^       o  r 

Palet's  Evidences  of  Christianity.  With  Notes  and  Additions  by  Charles  Murray 
Nairne,  M.A, 

This  is  one  of  the  best  popular  treatises  upon  the  external  evidences  of  Christian  Faith. 

The  Land  of  the  Forum  and  the  Vatican;   or,  Thoughts  and  Sketches  during  an 

Eastern  Pilgrimage.     By  Newman  Hall,  B.A, 

This  is  a  truthful  record  of  the  author's  impressions  and  opinions  formed  by  a  careful 
study  of  scenes  and  places  that  he  visited,  and  in  his  best  style  of  composition, 

Fritz  Harold;  or,  The  Temptation,    By  Sarah  A.  Myers. 

Jeanie  Morrison  ;  or,  the  Discipline  of  Life.    By  the  Author  of  «  The  Pastor's  Family.' 

Words  to  Win  Souls.  Twelve  Sermons  preached  in  1620  and  1650.  By  Eminent 
Divines  of  the  Church  of  England.  Revised  and  abridged  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  S. 
Mellington. 


446  2irEW  BOOKS. 


The  Millineks'  and  Dress-Makers'  Guide. 

This  work  13  issued  on  the  first  of  every  other  month,  at  $"  per  annum,  by  Samuel  T. 
Taylor,  407  Broadway.  Mr.  Taylor  enables  the  subiscriber  to  cut  and  make  dresses 
from  diagrams  sent  with  the  work.  It  is  richly  embellished  with  four  large  colored 
fashion  plates  in  each  number,  obtained  directly  from  Paris.  The  Maryland  Institute 
and  the  Crystal  Palace  have  awarded  Mr.  Taylor  Prize  Medals  for  the  excellency  of  his 
system  of  cutting,  as  taught  in  the  Guide.  We  commend  the  Guide  to  all  housekeepers 
and  others  having  families,  as  one  of  the  most  useful  and  practical  publications  of  the 
day. 

Peteeson's  Ladies'  National  Magazine. 

Mrs.  Stephens,  the  editress  of  this  popular  monthly,  is  a  lady  of  great  talent,  and  the 
writer  of  several  very  valuable  books,  which  are  eagerly  sought  for  by  the  reading  pub- 
lic. Her  magazine,  which  is  produced  with  much  taste,  is  filled  with  choice  reading,  at 
a  reduced  rate  of  subscription,  only  f  2  per  annum.  Should  the  reader  desire  other  lite- 
rary works  of  a  popular  character,  he  will  find  a  supply  rarely  surpassed  in  richness  and 
variety,  at  Peterson's,  102  Chestnut  street,  Philadelphia,  the  publication  office  of  the  La- 
dies' National. 

Arthur's  Home  Magazine. 

The  idea  conceived  by  Mr.  Arthur  a  few  years  ago,  of  imposing  the  reading  matter  of 
his  Gazette  in  the  form  of  a  monthly,  seems  to  have  taken  well  with  the  public.  This 
magazine  is  among  our  most  popular  periodicals,  and  we  take  pleasure  in  commending 
it  to  our  readers.     It  is  riclily  embellished,  and  furnished  at  $2  a  year. 

The  Life  of  Horace  Greeley,  Editor  of  the  New- York  Tribune.     By  J.  Parton. 
New- York :  Mason  Brothers.     1855.     442  pages. 

There  are  many  things  in  the  framework  of  this  book  which  we  should  regard  as  of 
doubtful  expediency,  and  there  are  opinions  defended,  incidentally,  for  which  we  have 
no  sympathy.  But,  on  the  whole,  the  plan  adopted  gives  a  more  thorough  view  of  the 
man  than  any  other.  It  is  not  a  eulogy,  but  a  plain  narrative.  The  history  of  Mr. 
Greeley  necessarily  includes  a  history  of  the  daily  press  in  this  city,  and  throws  much 
light  on  the  history  of  political  parties  during  a  period  of  many  years.  Much  of  the 
volume  would  be  very  entertaining  to  all  parties,  and  no  one  can  read  the  whole  with- 
out the  conviction  that,  however  erroneous  his  views  may  be  regarded,  he  is  at  least 
honest,  thoroughly  honest ;  and  a  life  more  persevering,  untiring,  and  unyielding,  even  in 
the  face  of  formidable  obstacles,  without  the  aid  of  friends  or  patronage,  is  seldom  the 
subject  of  any  biography.  A  true  friend  of  the  working  classes,  which  is,  in.  fact,  syno- 
nymous with  being  the  friend  of  the  whole  community,  he  certainly  is  ;  and  if  his  advice 
is  not  always  the  best,  we  but  have  in  this  fact,  the  evidence  that  he  is  not  infallible. 
His  boyhood  and  youth  may  be  a  useful  example  to  others  in  that  period  of  life,  and  is 
a  severe  commentary  on  the  utter  failure  of  thousands  who  have  utterly  failed  with 
vastly  greater  facilities  for  winning  the  prize.     • 

Godey's  Ladj's  Book. 

The  January  number  of  this  journal,  received  in  advance  of  its  date,  furnishes  abund- 
ant evidence  of  the  determination  of  the  publisher  to  deserve  the  reputation  whirh  he 
has  already  secured,  and  the  extensive  patronage  he  has  long  received.  His  illustra- 
tions are  abundant.     Terms,  $3  a  year. 

The  Land  of  the  Saracens;  or.  Pictures  of  Palestine.  Asia  Minor,  Sicily,  and  Spain. 

By  Bayard  Taylor.     New- York :  G.  P.  Putnam  &  Co.     1855. 

Mr.  Taylor's  extensive  travels  in  the  most  remarkable  countries  on  the  globe  furnish 
him  an  iutxiiaustible  supply  of  material  for  interesting  narrative.  This  volume  is  the 
second  portion  of  a  series  of  travels,  of  which  the  "Journey  to  Central  Africa,"  already 
noticed,  is  the  first  part.  No  portion  of  his  travel  is  more  fruitful  of  interesting  topics 
than  this.  A  few  titles  of  his  chapters  furnish  proof  of  this.  For  example:  2.  The  Coast 
of  Palestine ;  3.  From  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem ;  4.  The  Dead  Sea  and  the  River  Jordan ;  9. 
Pictures  of  Damascus;  10.  The  Visions  of  Hasheesh;  31.  The  Eruption  of  Mount  Etna, 
etc.,  etc.  We  need  not  say  Mr.  T.'s  pecuUar  gift  in  description  especially  qualifies  him 
for  such  work,  and  guarantees  fresh  interest  even  where  numerous  travellers  have  pre- 
ceded him. 


LIST   OF  PATENTS. 


447 


Me.  Rutherford's  Children.     2d  vol,     New- York :  G.  P.  Putnam.     1855. 

This  volume  ia  intended  for  "Ellen  Montgomery's  Book-Shelf,"  and  is  by  the  author 
of  "  The  Wide,  Wide  World,"  "  Dollars  and  Cents,"  etc.  The  first  volume  was  published 
isome  years  ago.  It  is  very  handsomely  printed,  and  is  done  up  in  very  neat  binding, 
for  a  gift-book.    The  contents  are  sprightly  and  entertaining. 

The  Shaksperean  Oracle.    Edited  by  John  Crcger  Mills.     Jfew-York:   Bunce  & 
Brother.     1855. 

This  is  a  very  neatly  executed  little  volume  of  147  pages,  more  especially  designed 
for  young  ladies  and  young  gentlemen.  Thirteen  questions,  of  veri/  interesthir/  nature, 
in  certain  conditions  of  things,  are  each  answered  by  a  reference  to  any  chosen  one  of 
fifty  answers,  all  gathered  from  Shakspeare. 


List     of    Patents    Issued 

FROM  NOV,  14  TO  DEC.  5. 


Edwin  Allen,  of  South-Windham,  Ct.,  improve- 
ment in  machinery  for  carving  stone. 

Levi  B.  Ball,  Putnam,  Ohio,  improvement  in 
smut-machines. 

Wm.  Brancroft,  of  Whiteford,  Ohio,  improve- 
ment in  cultivators. 

Henry  Bates,  New-London,improvement  in  slide- 
valves  tor  the  exhaust  steam. 

William  Beebe,  New- York,  improvement  in  dou- 
ble cylinder  boilers  for  hot-water  apparatus. 

Martin  Bell,  of  Sabbath  Rest,  and  Edward  B. 
Isett,  of  Cold  Spring  Forge,  Tyrone  city.  Pa.,  im- 
provement in  furnaces  for  making  iron  direct  fiom 
the  ore. 

Wm.  Bell,  Boston,  improved  lamp-caps. 

Job  Brown,  Lawn  Eidge,  III.,  improvement  in 
cultivators. 

Thos.  M.  Chapman,  Oldtown,  Me.,  improved  de- 
vice for  adjusting  mill-saws. 

Matthias  P.  Coons,  Brooklyn,  multigrade  iron 
lence. 

Horace  J.  Crandall,  East-Boston,  improved  me- 
thod of  adjusting  vessels  upon  the  keel-blocks  of 
dry  sectional  or  railway  dock. 

George  Crampton,  Worcester,  improvement  in 
looms  for  weaving  figured  fabrics. 

Daniel  Harris,  Boston,  assignor  to  John  P.  Bow- 
ker,  Jr.,  of  same  place,  improvement  in  sewing  ma- 
chmes. 

Jonathan  Hibbs,  Tullytown,  Pa.,  improvement 
J  a  ploughs. 

Geo.  Hodgkinson,  Cincinnati,  improved  pegging- 
raachines.  i   oo    & 

George  T.  Leach,  Boston,  improvement  in  the 
method  of  engaging  and  disengaging  self-acting  car- 
brakes. 

Fras.  Maton,  New-York,  improvement  in  breach 
loading  fire-arm. 

Wm.  Morris,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in  om- 
nibus registers. 

Joseph  Miller,  Olean,  N.  Y., improvement  in  rail- 
road car  coupling. 

Wm.  Moore,  Belleville,  Ohio,  improvement  in 
grain-winnowera. 

Alpheus  Myers,  Logansport,  for  tape-worm  trap. 

Alpheus  Myers,  Logansport,  for  tape-worm  ope- 
ration. ^ 

C.  B.  Normand,  Havre,  France,  mode  of  controll- 
ing and  guiding  logs  in  saw-mills,  without  a  car- 
nage. Patented  in  England,  27th  Oct.,  1S52  Pa- 
tented in  France,  Nov.  5,  1S52. 

C.  B.  Normand,  Havre,  France,  for  improved 
method  of  hanging  saws  for  mills. 

C.  B.  Normand,  Havre,  Prance,  for  improved 
method  of  controlling  the  log  for  curved  and  bevel 


sawing.    Patented  in  Francej  Nov.  5, 1852  •  Eng- 
lish patent,  Oct.  27, 1852.  ° 
Julius  A.  Peas,  New-York,  improvement  in  India- 
rubber  over-shoes. 

Charles  A.  Robbing,  Iowa  City,  Improved  excava- 
tor and  ditching  plough. 

Geo.  D.  Stillbon,  Rochester,  improved  excavating 
machine. 
Wm.  Stoddard,  Lowell,  for  shingle-machine. 
Jacob  Swartz,  Buffalo,  improvement  in  grain  and 
grass  harvesters. 

Benj.  James  Tarman,  Philadelphia,  improvement 
in  machinery  for  stretching  and  drying  cloth. 
Orson  Westgate,  Riceville,  Pa.,  for  saw-gauge. 
Leon  Jarosson,  Jersey  City,  improved  method 
of  constructing  printing  blocks. 

George  Bruce,  New-York,  improvement  in  cast- 
ing types. 

John  A.  Robling,  Trenton,  N.  J.,  improvement 
in  steam-boilers. 

Michael  Shimer,  Union  Township,  Pa.,  improve- 
ment in  railroad  car-brakes. 

James  E,  i^impson,  East-Boston,  for  improve- 
ment in  dry  docks. 

Thomas  J.  Sloan,  New- York,  improvement  in 
casting  metal  window-sashes. 

David  G.  Smith,  Carbondale,  improvement  in 
running  gear  of  railroad  cars. 

Mathew  Stev.'art,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
the  manufacture  of  brushes. 

Amasa  St.wie,  Philadelphia  county,  for  method 
of  extinguishing  tire  in  accessible  places. 

Thomas  T.  Tasker,  Philadelphia,  for  mode  of 
regulating  the  furnace  of  hot  water  apparatus. 

James  Taylor,  Newark,  N.  J.,  improvement  in 
covering  cotton  thread  with  wool. 

Wm.  D.  Titus,  Brooklyn,  for  improvement  in  lan- 
terns. 
Ellis  Webb,  Parkersville,  Pa.,  for  hydraulic  ram. 
Elbridge  AVebber,  Gardiner,  Me.,  improvement 
in  churns. 

Cyrenus  Whee'er,  Jr.,  Poplar  Ridge,  N.  J.,  im- 
provement in  grain  and  grass  harvesters; 

Franklin  Darracott,  Boston,  assignor  to  Geo. 
Darracot,  same  place,  improvements  in  dry  gas 
meters. 

John  Pepper,  Jr.,  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  assignor  to 
the  Franklin  Mills,  i'>auklin,  N.  H.,  improvement 
in  knittiug-machifies. 

Joshua  Register,  Baltimore,  assignor  to  Ellas 
Clampitt  and  Joshua  Register,  of  same  place,  im- 
proved lubricating  apparatus. 

John  AV.  Cochran,  New- York,  improved  quartz- 
crusher.     Patented  in  England,  Nov.  21,  1853. 
George  Thompson  and  Menell  A.  Furbush,  of 


us 


LIST  OF  PATENTS. 


Worcester,iraprovemeut  in  rollers  for  pattern  chairs 
for  looms. 

Jonathan  W.  CaUlweU,  Rochester,  improved  ar- 
rangement of  lever  and  catch  for  tow-lines  of  canal 
boats. 

Jno.  Absteidam,  Boston,  Mass.,  improvement  in 
lubricatini?  the  cylinders  of  steam-engine". 

Clark  Alvord,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  for  hand  brick- 
moulds. 

H.  F.  Baker,  Centreville,  Ind.,  improvement  in 
paperinfT  walls. 

H.  F.  David,  Ipava,  111.,  improvement  in  sauce- 
pans. 

Chas.  O.  Everitt,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  improvement 
in  machines  fur  closina;  sheet-metal  boxes. 

Jas.  Freeland,  Allegheny,  Pa.,  improvement  in 
valve  gear  for  locomotive  engines. 

Samuel  Greene,  VVoousocket,  R.  I.,  cleaning 
cards  of  carding-engiues. 

Adoniram  Kendall,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  improve- 
ments in  shingle-machine. 

.Terome  B.  King,  New-York,  kettle  for  calcining 
piaster  of  Paris. 

G.  W.  Lee,  Ercildown,  Pa.,  improvement  in  seed- 
planters. 

D.  B.  Martin,  Washington,  N.  J.,  improvement 
in  packing  slide-valves  in  steam-engines. 

R.  I.  Nelson,  Ocala,  Florida,  improvement  in  at- 
taching life-preservers  to  vests. 

Mighill  Nutting,  Portland,  Me.,  for  arrangement 
of  pencils  for  drawing-machine. 

Chas.  Parham,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  improvement  in 
sewing-machines. 

Wni.  Perry,  Graniteville,  S.  C,  improvement  in 
spinning-frames. 

J.  A.  Roebling,  Trenton,  N.  J.,  improvement  in 
manufacturing  wire  rope. 

Elliott  Savage,  Berlin,  Ct.,  improvement  in  ma- 
chines for  threading  screw-blanks. 

J.  I/.  Stevens,  Kensington,  England,  improve- 
ment in  furnaces.  Patented  in  England,  Oct.  1, 
1852. 

S.  H.  T.  Tilghman,  Snow  Hill,  Md.,  improvement 
in  inhaling  apparatus. 

W.  H.  Towers,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  for  clothes- 
clamp. 

T.  \V.  Trussell,  Winchester,  Va.,  for  improvement 
in  dressing  mill-stones.     • 

Isaac  Van  Bensehoten,  New-York,  improvement 
in  lamps. 

Milan  Waterbury,  Cuba,  N.  Y.,  improvement  in 
aeed-planters. 

William  Watt,  Glasgow,  North-Britain,  improve- 
ment in  hemp-rotting  processes.  Patented  in  Eng- 
land, May  23, 1S32. 

Mary  Ann  Loomis,  executrix  of  Josh.  G.  Loomis, 
deceased,  late  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  (assignor  to  W. 
A.  Gardiner,  of  Philadelphia,)  for  improvement  in 
aurgical  furceps. 

T.  C.  Ball,  Shelburne  Falls,  Mass.,  (assignor  to 
Nath'l  Lamson,)  for  improved  scythe  fastening. 

Harvey  Snow,  Dubuijue,  Iowa,  (assignor  to  Jas. 
A.  Woodbury  (Winchester,  Mass.,)  improved  presser 
bar  for  pla  ing-machines. 

Stephen  Woodward,  Sutton,  N.  H.,  (assignor  to 
himself,  J.  P.  Nelson,  and  A.  C.  Carroll,)  improved 
apparatus  for  drying  clothes. 

Sylvanus  Miller,  Urbana,  Ohio,  improved  rake 
harvestii:g-machine. 

Alden  Adam,  Jerseyvillc,  Illinois,  improvement 
in  hay  and  cotton  presses. 

Gottlieb  I'ackstein,  Philadelphia,  improved  ar- 
rangement of  devices  for  applying  power  to  fire-en- 
gines. 

Jno.  Cram,  Bostorj,  improvement  in  the  towel- 
stand,  or  clothes-horse. 

A.  B.  Crawford,  Wooster,  Ohio,  improvement  in 
clov.cr-hullcrs. 

Augustus  Eliaers,  Boston,  improvement  in  seats 
for  public  buildings. 

Fletcher  Felter,  Perth  Amboy,  improvement  in 
feathering  paddle-wheels. 

C.  B.  Gallagher,  San  Francisco,  improvement  in 
converting  reciprocating  into  rotary  motion. 


Elias  A.  Hibbard,  Winchester,  Va.,  rotary  cook- 
ing stove. 

Jos.  IloUen,  White  Township,  Pa.,  improvement 
in  knitting-machines. 

Whitteu  E.  Kidd,  New- York,  improvement  in 
moulds  lor  pressing  bonnet  fronts. 

Daniel  B.  Martin,  Washington,  N.  J.,  improve- 
ment in  steam-boilers. 

Angus  W.  McDonald,  New  Creek  Depot,  Va., 
improvements  in  tanks  and  cisterns  for  supplying 
locomotives. 

Jordan  L.  Mott,  Mott  Haven,  N.  Y.,  improvement 
in  stoves. 

James  Newman,  Birmingham,  England,  imi)rove- 
ment  in  making  mclal  rods  and  tubes.  Dated  No- 
vember 28,  186i.  Patented  in  England,  March  23, 
1854. 

A.  D.  Perry,  Newark,  improvement  in  breech- 
loading  fire-arms. 

E.  K.  Root,  Hartford,  improved  machine  for  bor- 
ing chambers  in  the  cylinders  of  fire-arms. 

Daniel  II.  Shirley,  of  Boston,  impruved  piano- 
forte action. 

Nathaniel  Spence,  New-York,  improvement  in 
moulds  tor  pressing  bonnet  frames.  Dated  Novem- 
ber 28,  1S54.     Ante-dated  Nov.  10,  1S54. 

Wm.  Talbot,  Sandford,  Me.,  improvements  in 
looms  for  weaving  bags. 

Wm.  Tinsley,  Glenn's  Falls,  improved  mitre-box. 

Edward  H.  Tracy,  New- York,  inclined  sliding- 
valve?. 

George  Tugnot,  New-York,  improved  rotary 
lathe. 

Daniel  Van  Fleet,  Sandusky  iCity,  planing-ma- 
chine. 

Wm.  Wakely,  Homer,  improvement  in  metal 
drills. 

Theodore  E.  Weed,  Williamsburgh,  improve- 
ment in  sewing-machines. 

Wm.  Wheeler,  Acton,  Mass.,  improvement  in 
washing-machines. 

Henry  Richards  and  Charles  F.  Winsor,  Boston, 
improvement  in  windlasses. 

Osgood  G.  Boynton,  Haverhill,  assignor  to  Nehe- 
miah  Hunt,  of  same  place — improvemeiit  in  bind- 
ing guiiles  for  sewing-machines.  Dated  November 
2S,  1854  ;  ante-dated  June  1,  1854. 

Thomas  J.  W.  Robertson,  New-York,  assignor  to 
himself  and  Alfred  E.  Beach,  of  same  place — im- 
provement in  sewing-machines. 

Arad  Woodworth,  3d,  Boston,  and  Geo.  Chara- 
berlin,  Olean — improvement  in  machinery  for  mak- 
ing rope  and  cordage. 

Aaron  H.  Allen,  Boston,  for  improvement  in  seats 
for  public  buildings. 

Gardner  S.  Blodgett  and  Paul  T.  Sweet,  Eurhng- 
ton,  N.  J.,  improved  oven  for  baking. 

P.  Clark,  Eahway,  N.  J.,  for  improvement  in 
steam-boiler  alarms. 

Horace  J.  Craiidall,  East-Boston,  improved  ar- 
rangements for  re  fing  top-sails. 

Joseph  D.  Crowed,  Boston,  improvement  in  steer- 
ing apparatus. 

Joshua  Gray,  Boston,  for  rotary  pump. 

John  T.  Haramltt,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
railroad  switches. 

Samuel  B.  Kittle,  Buffalo,  improvement  in  rail- 
road switches. 

John  Lilley,  Birkenhead.  England,  impiwement 
in  machinery  for  separating  the  fibre  from  the 
woody  portion  of  tropical  plants.  Patented  in  Eng- 
land, July  21, 1S53. 

Leonard  F.  Markham,  Cambridgeport,  improved 
machine  for  rounding  the  back  of  books. 

Obadiah  Marland,  Boston,  improvement  in  pa- 
per-making nachines.  Patented  in  England,  Sep- 
tember 28,  1854. 

Wm.  H.  Miller,  Brandenburgh,  Ky.,  improve- 
ment in  wash-stands. 

Henry  R.  Miller,  Louisville,  improved  mill  for 
shelling  and  grinding  corn. 

Wm.  H.  Plumb,  New-York,  improved  machine 
for  crushing  ores. 


Clje  |l0ttgl)^  tl)e  f  00111,  anJi  tl)e  Ml 


Vol.  VII.  FEBRUARY,  1855,  No.  8. 


ANNUAL  FAIRS— THE  POLICY  OF,  ETC. 

Two  months  since,  we  gave  our  views,  somewhat  concisely,  on  tlie  policy 
of  these  institutions.  We  have  received  one  reply,  which  will  be  found  in 
connection  with  these  remarks,  and  which,  we  think,  brings  out  distinctly  the 
essential  facts  and  principles  which  belong  to  the  discussion  of  this  subject. 

FOR   THE  PLOUGH,  THE   LOOM,   AKD   THE  ASVIL, 

Messrs.  Editors  :  The  benefits  of  agricultural  fairs  have  become  so  well 
known  among  all  classes,  that  a  repetition  of  their  valuable  results  among  all 
classes,  hardly  need  be  made  at  present.  Yet  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
conducted  appears  to  claim  more  of  the  attention  of  the  public  now  than  the 
principle  on  which  they  are  sustained.  That  fairs,  both  agricultural  and  me- 
chanical, should  always  be  held  in  connection  with  each  other,  all  must  see 
and  admit  at  once.  But  their  management  in  detail  is  another  consideration, 
which  we  all  are  or  should  be  interested  in.  Now,  the  question  is,  how  to 
obtain  from  these  annual  "  fairs"  the  greatest  amount  of  good.  During  the 
last  twelve  or  fifteen  years,  in  connection  with  the  "New-Haven  County  So- 
ciety," we  (with  others  that  we  could  name)  have  had  some  experience  in  the 
management  of  "  fairs,"  and  the  interest  taken  in  them  by  the  people.  Our 
out-door  exhibition  was  always  held  in  such  a  way  that  it  was  "free"  for  all 
to  look  on  and  learn  as  much  from  the  exhibition  as  they  might  feel  disposed 
to.  But  that  was  not  the  end  of  it.  When  we  came  to  foot  up  the  expenses, 
and  pay  the  "  premiums,"  we  always  found  ourselves  "  short"  of  means,  and 
an  empty  treasury  to  begin  the  next  year.  By  the  in-door  exhibition,  which 
was  held  usually  in  connection  with  the  "  Horticultural  Society,"  we  obtained 
some  six  cents  a  menaber — a  mere  nominal  sum.  But  as  the  out-door  exhi- 
bition was  "  free"  for  all,  it  was  a  mere  matter  of  fancy  whether  farmers  be- 
came members  or  not;  as  in  case  they  became  members  of  the  Society,  they 
paid  their  "  dollar ;"  if  not,  of  course  they  paid  nothing.  Of  course,  all  we 
had  to  depend  on  to  pay  our  "  premiums"  were  the  amounts  received  from 
farmers  who  paid  their  dollar,  except  a  small  sum  we  received  from  the  State 
on  condition  we  raised  the  same  sum  in  the  county.  If  all,  or  even  a  major- 
ity of  the  farmers  in  the  county  would  pay  their  annual  dollar  tax,  we  should 
then  have  means  enough  to  pay  the  "  premiums,"  and  have  a  snug  sum  left 
to  begin  the  next  year.  But  as  it  was  optional  with  farmers  whether  they 
became  regular  members  or  not,  there  was  no  dependence  to  be  placed  on . 
the  amount  of  means .  to  be  obtained  in  that  way.  Many  farmers  will  pay 
their  dollar  if  there  is  a  chance  of  getting  it  back  in  a  "  premium,"  with 
two  or  three  times  as  much.  These  ideas  have  led  us  to  see  that  there 
must  be  some  other  plan  adopted  to  raise  means  in  order  to  make  these 

VOL.  VII.  28 


450  ANNUAL   FAIRS, 


annual  exhibitions  permanently  successful.  The  plan  that  has  been  adopted 
by  some  societies,  of  buying  or  hiring  a  piece  of  land  of  sufficient  size  and 
extent  for  the  annual  exhibition,  is  a  good  one.  This  plan,  of  course,  "will 
make  the  county  exhibition  a  permanent  fixture  in  one  place,  then  the 
inclosing  of  the  grounds  with  a  substantial  board  fence,  and  erecting  such 
buildings  as  are  wanted  for  the  present  and  future  exhibitions.  This  plan,  of 
course,  secures  an  "  entrance-fee"  at  the  gates,  which  is  right  and  just,  as  we 
understand  it ;  and  in  this  way  a  handsome  sum  can  be  raised  to  pay  the 
"  premiums,"  leaving,  perhaps,  a  balance  in  the  treasury  to  begin  another 
year.  When  a  State  or  county  fair  is  holding  its  first  exhibition,  perhaps  a 
twenty-five  cent  charge  at  the  gates  might  not  be  out  of  place ;  but  after  this 
we  think  a  twelve-and-a-half  cent  charge  after  the  plan  of  the  New- York 
State  Fair,  would  eventually  leave  more  money  in  the  treasury  than  a  higher 
charge.  Of  course,  this  plan  of  a  permanent  exhibition  can  not  apply  to  a 
State  society,  as  they  must  change  the  place  of  these  exhibitions  each  season, 
according  to  circumstances.  But  as  to  free  fairs  for  every  body  to  look  on 
without  any  expense,  we  have  but  little  confidence  in  them.  Of  course,  every 
reasonable  man  should  understand  that  a  "fair"  can  not  be  got  up  and  sus- 
tained without  much  labor  and  a  great  deal  of  expense.  And,  further,  they 
should  understand  that  if  a  fair  is  worth  any  thing  at  all,  it  is  worth  paying 
for,  and  that  this  "  tax"  to  support  and  sustain  the  fair  should  not  come  out 
of  the  pockets  of  the  few,  but  from  the  hands  of  the  many.  Our  experience 
has  shown  us  that,  when  farmers  have  become  interested  enough  in  the 
"  fair"  to  become  permanent  members,  that  then  they  would,  in  reality,  begin 
to  learn  something  from  the  exhibition.  But  as  long  as  they  stood  as  mere 
lookers-on,  as  "  outsiders,"  it  was  a  matter  of  indifl:erence  whether  they  gained 
any  profit  or  not.  And  this  rule,  we  believe,  will  hold  good  with  the  masses ; 
that  the  extra  "  shilling"  that  is  paid  at  the  gate  is,  in  reality,  of  no  particu- 
lar consequence;  that  if  they  go  to  the  "fair"  for  the  object  of  getting 
instruction  and  learning  something,  they  can  do  so  always. 

It  should  be  ever  borne  in  mind  that,  to  carry  out  these  annual  fairs 
requires  a  great  deal  of  labor  and  much  money.  Hence  the  idea  of  carrying 
the  "  fair"  into  the  "  rural  districts,"  among  a  sparse  population,  we  think 
could  only  be  thought  of  by  having  beforehand  an  overflowing  "  treasury"  to 
start  with.  Because,  when  you  get  through  with  the  exhibition,  the  "mo- 
ney" has  got  to  be  raised  to  pay  off.  If,  after  you  have  got  through  with  the 
exhibition,  you  find  that  you  have  only  means  enough  to  pay  the  premiums, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  current  expenses,  where  are  you  ?  Echo  will  answer, 
"  where  ?"  Of  course,  it  would  be  a  very  fine  idea  for  every  section  through- 
out the  State,  if  they  could,  once  in  a  series  of  years,  have  the  fair  in  their 
own  locahty ;  but  then,  as  we  said  before,  who  is  going  to  pay  for  it  ?  It  is 
very  evident  that,  if  these  fairs  are  sustained  at  all,  it  must  be  done  by  the 
people  at  large.  Then,  if  this  be  the  case,  it  is  very  evident  that  the  fair 
must  go  where  the  people  are,  or  where  they  would  be  likely  to  come.  Then 
again,  it  must  be  held  at  some  point  where  the  multitude  can  be  accommo- 
dated for  two  or  four  days,  or  during  the  exhibition. 

So  it  will  be  seen  that  all  these  ideas  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in 
locating  the  "  fair"  from  year  to  year,  in  order  to  insure  success.  These  ideas 
have  been  thrown  out  by  seeing  some  remarks  on  the  "  Benefit  of  Fairs,"  in 
the  December  number  of  The  Plough,  the  Loom,  and  the  Anvil.  As  we 
have  said  before,  the  idea  of  the  spectator  paying  a  small  fee  to  see  the  exhi- 
bition, we  consider  of  no  consequence  whatever,  so  far  as  the  "  looker-on"  is 
concerned,  although  in  the  receipts  of  the  treasury  it  might  make  a  vast  dif- 


ANNUAL  FAIRS.  451 


ference.  We  have  found,  in  our  experience,  that  farmers  were  even  more 
indifferent  toward  becoming  members  of  the  society,  where  they  could  have 
the  whole  out-door  exhibition  open  to  every  body,  than  when  managed^  on 
the  present  plan.  In  regard  to  the  general  benefits  of  fairs,  it  is  impossible 
to  enumerate  them  ;  their  name  is  legion,  and  it  would  require  many  sheets 
of  paper  to  name  them  all.  That  there  can  be  great  improvements  made  in 
their  management  hereafter,  no  one  can  doubt.  Still,  in  whatever  way  or 
shape  these  exhibitions  are  managed  or  held,  all  will  depend  on  the  people 
themselves,  whether  they  learn  any  thing  from  the  exhibition  or  not.  They 
can  spend  their  time  to  good  advantage,  or  spend  it  in  a  listless,  careless  way, 
as  they  see  fit.  Yours,  etc., 

Derhv,  Ct,  December,  1854.  L.  DuRAND. 

We  propose  now  to  give  these  questions  of  policy  a  more  careful  consider- 
ation, and  inquire — 

1.  Are  fairs  designed  for  the  especial  benefit  of  those  who  receive  the  pre- 
miums ?  Decidedly  not.  The  premiums  themselves  are  awarded,  or  rather 
are  offered,  to  induce  competition.  But  competition  among  whom  ?  Among 
two  or  three  of  the  best  farmers  in  the  country  ?  By  no  means.  This  com- 
petition is  for  all,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  entire  mass  of  farmers,  of 
emancipating  farm-labor  from  the  bondage  of  inefficiency,  ignorance,  misap- 
prehension, and  miscalculation,  that  the  laborer  may  work  wisely  and  effi- 
ciently on  sound  theories  and  correct  principles,  and  become  the  man  he 
ought  to  be. 

Hence  the  premium  is  merely  one  of  the  moving  agencies  which  are  to 
give  efficiency  to  the  fair,  and  may  he  comparatively  unimportant.  It  is  one 
of  the  inducements  held  out  to  cultivators  of  the  soil  to  improve  their  own 
husbandry.     It  has  an  effect ;  but  to  what  extent  ? 

Suppose  no  articles  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  committees  on  premiums 
were  to  be  seen  by  any  body  at  the  show.  The  animals  are  all  confined  in 
stables,  and  the  specimens  of  crops  grown  are  shut  up  in  private  apartments. 
None  are  allowed  to  look  at  any  thing,  except  at  the  few  choice  specimens 
for  which  a  premium  has  been  awarded,  while  all  these  are  arrayed  in  a  very 
conspicuous  place.  How  many  tickets  of  admission  could  be  sold  ?  Scarcely 
one  to  a  thousand.  Nay,  how  many  competitors  for  those  premiums  would 
there  be  ?     Not  one  where  there  are  now  a  hundred. 

Where  were  the  crowds  at  our  own  State  fair,  last  fall  ?  Gazing  at  the 
few  things  which  obtained  the  premium  ?  No.  Pressing  to  see  the  scores 
of  roadsters  in  swift  pace  in  the  ring — perhaps  fifty  competitors  to  a  prize ; 
or  listening  to  the  explanations  of  the  owner  of  some  new  machine,  which 
was  on  exhibition  ;  or  thronging  the  tent  filled  with  flowers  and  fruits,  very 
few  specimens  out  of  hundreds  obtaining  any  premium. 

Nay,  more  than  this.  If  every  article  to  which  a  premium  is  awarded 
were  removed  from  view — burnt  up  or  destroyed — how  much  would  our 
fairs  suffer?  Very  often,  the  loss  would  scarcely  be  noticed.  There  would 
be  still,  in  almost  every  such  collection,  a  good  show  left ;  and  a  show  of ^  as 
good  things,  or  very  nearly  as  good — so  good  that  the  two  rivals  must  lie  side 
by  side  ere  the  superiority  of  either  can  be  appreciated.  We  ask  again,  then, 
for  whose  benefit  are  fairs  instituted  ? 

2.  Are  they  ^designed  for  the  especial  benefit  of  those  who,  in  fact,  exhibit  ? 
We  admit  that  such  do,  very  often,  receive  great  benefit  from  fairs.  It  is 
the  very  best  way,  in  many  cases,  of  getting  the  attention  of  the  public  to  the 
article  in  their  possession.    We  recently  invited  one  whom  we  found  exhibit- 


452  ANNUAL   FAIRS. 


ing  an  ingenious  invention  to  advertise  in  our  journal.  "  No,  sir,"  said  he ; 
"  this  is  the  only  way  we  advertise."  He  was  wrong.  After  seeing  the  thing 
on  the  grounds,  under  the  excitement  of  the  scene,  and  after  looking  at  scores 
of  other  things  equally  new,  and  perhaps  more  curious,  the  mind  of  the  spec- 
tator is  bewildered,  and  while  the  exhibitor  may  think  that  all  leave  him  sen- 
sibly impressed  with  the  wonders  of  his  invention,  the  fact  is,  the  next  ma- 
chine they  look  at  drives  out  all  others,  and  this  will  presently  be  made  to 
give  place  to  another.  But  when  they  come  to  sit  down  coolly  at  home,  and 
read  a  description  of  the  same  thing,  and  perhaps  an  editorial  commendation, 
they  are  far  more  open  to  receive  abiding  impressions — far  more  so  than  if 
thev  had  not  made  a  personal  examination  at  the  fair. 

While  inventors  and  producers  thus  gain  much  by  an  exhibition  of  the 
articles  they  may  have  on  sale,  the  impression  is  made  on  the  mind  <rf  the 
spectator.  The  change  is  only  on  him.  The  exhibitor  is  a  gainer  thereby, 
because  his  object  is  to  impress  the  people  with  a  conviction  that  he  furnishes 
a  better  article  than  any  other. 

This  is  more  completely  and  entirely  the  case  in  exhibitions  of  machinery 
or  implements,  but  is  essentially  true  of  field-crops  and  animals.  Why  does 
A  or  B  exhibit  his  basket  of  corn  ?  To  show  that  he  has  done  better  than 
others,  has  pursued  methods  and  plans  that  were  more  successful ;  and  to 
those  who  see  that  corn,  the  evidence  of  the  senses  outweighs  all  others.  To 
those  who  do  not  see,  the  award  of  a  premium  is  evidence,  and  this  award  is 
good  for  nothing  else,  except  as  it  was  required  as  a  means  of  procuring  that 
corn  for  the  committee's  tables.  The  offer  of  a  premium,  then,  is  only  a 
means  of  securing,  not  so  much  better  crops,  but  the  evidence  that  better 
crops  may  be  grown  than  are  usually  obtained  ;  and  that  many,  not  one  or 
two,  but  many,  do,  in  fact,  secure  such  crops,  and  find  it  to  their  advantage 
so  to  do. 

If  every  body  would  raise  crops  as  good  as  those  which  obtain  the  first 
premium,  it  miffht  be  that  no  premium  would  be  expedient.  JESTo  premium 
would  be  expedient  unless  something  still  better,  not  yet  attained,  was  to  be 
looked  for. 

We  are  brought  back,  therefore,  to  the  fact  that  the  ultimate  aim  of  all 
shows  is,  to  effect,  through  the  senses,  the  mass  of  the  people.  We  say 
through  the  senses,  though  not  necessarily  or  exclusively  at  the  fair.  The 
fair  is  the  first  only  of  a  series  of  more  private  exhibitions  and  conversations 
and  discussions.  If  mere  reading  an  account  of  such  and  such  productions 
was  all  that  is  required,  all  fairs  might  be  dispensed  with.  Then  a  few  itin- 
erant committees,  appointed  and  paid  by  the  State,  might  be  the  very  best 
thing ;  and  we  shall,  indeed,  have  something  to  say  on  that  matter  before  we 
are  through  with  this  subject. 

We  come,  then,  to  the  inquiry,  whether,  in  itself  considered,  it  is  best  to 
tax  this  same  public  with  such  an  assessment  as  will  hinder  them  from  seeing 
that  show.  The  answer  is  perfectly  obvious.  Such  a  plan  is  suicidal  and 
without  excuse.  Whether  a  demand  of  six,  twelve,  or  twenty  cents  will  have 
this  eff'ect,  we  do  not  now  stop  to  inquire. 

But  money  must  be  had,  premiums  must  be  paid,  various  expenses  must 
be  incurred,  and  the  fair  is  indispensable  to  rapid  improvement  in  agricul- 
ture. Men  are  so  free  from  selfishness,  that  they  will  not  look  after  their  own 
interest,  unless  the  effort  is  accompanied  with  some  Dodworth's  band — some-^ 
thing,  at  least,  to  make  some  kind  of  a  noise.  Hence  noise  has  become  of 
very  great  consideration  in  civilized  communities.  It  not  only  keeps  Louis 
Napoleon  on  his  throne,  but  is  of  very  great  importance  in  rearing  calves 


ANNUAL  FAIRS.  453 


and  raising  potatoes.  The  only  question  is,  What  is  the  best  method  of 
making  the  noise,  or  who  shall  pay  for  the  powder  ?  Let  us  examine  this 
question. 

The  first  inquiry,  as  it  occurs  to  us,  is  whether  these  institutions  are  among 
the  "  benevolent,"  so  called,  or  the  self  or  mutual-improving.  We  should 
place  them  among  the  latter,  the  mutual-improvement  class,  which,  by  the 
way,  is  a  very  numerous  one.  If  we  are  right  in  this,  oiu-  investigation  will 
be  very  short.  For  among  all  these,  it  is  proper  and  usual  for  them  to  pay 
in  common  their  own  expenses.  A  parish  library  is  to  be  bought  for  the 
mutual  benefit  of  all.  Then  the  parish  must  pay  for  it,  by  tax  or  contribu- 
tion. The  former  plan  is  always  just,  the  latter  sometimes  expedient.  A 
mutual  insurance  company  is  to  be  carried  on.  Who  foots  the  bills  ?  Each 
member,  pro  rata.  Illustrations  are  needless,  the  theory  is  so  plain.  Those 
who  choose  to  go  into  the  enterprise  must  stand  in  their  lot.  But  many  will 
not  do  so.  They  "  can't  aftord  it."  Then  the  ordinary  modes  of  proceeding 
must  be  abandoned,  and  the  next  best  means  attempted,  or  the  plan  must  be 
dropped.     Voluntary  subscription  is  next  in  order. 

Now,  why  should  A  and  B  and  C,  each  give  more  than  his  share?  Be- 
cause he  has  it  to  give,  and  feels  the  importance  of  the  subject.  At  whose 
cost  is  the  temperance  reform  sustained  ?  At  the  cost  of  those  who  totally 
abstain,  and  who  do  not  need  the  reform.  Who  sustain  all  the  isms  of  the 
day  ?  Those  who  are  sufficiently  persuaded  of  their  importance  to  open  their 
purse-strings  in  their  behalf.  The  agricultural  reform  being  one  of  this  class, 
those  who  feel  its  importance,  and  they  alone,  can  be  relied  upon  to  sustain 
it.  But  suppose  this  reliance  fails  you,  what  then  ?  Take  the  third  best 
means  ?  It  may  be  so,  or  it  may  not  be  so.  Perhaps  it  "svould  be  better  to 
wait  awhile,  and  bring  up  the  people  to  a  better  state  of  feeling  on  the  sub- 
ject. But  the  trouble  then  would  be,  that  the  fair  is  one  of  the  most  efficient 
means  for  giving  vitality  and  power  to  the  truth  on  this  very  subject.  This 
fact,  then,  should  be  allowed  its  proper  influence  on  the  minds  of  those  who 
have  hitherto  refused  to  subscribe  for  this  object. 

We  have  been  somewhat  celebrated  in  our  day  for  our  advocacy  of  the 
doctrine  of  Protection  to  American  Industry.  Our  views  of  principles  have 
not  changed  one  iota,  though  our  hopes  and  expectations  are  essentially 
modified.     But  we  venture  here  a 

Novel  Form  of  Industrial  Protection. 

If  the  State  is  benefited  by  the  progress  of  American  industrj^,  as  it  surely 
is ;  if  it  is  the  State  which  is  reformed  in  all  such  progress  as  that  now  solicit- 
ing our  attention,  as  it  certainly  is,  then  the  State  is,  in  fact,  the  community 
which  should  tax  itself,  and  the  people  have  no  cause  of  complaint  for  any 
such  assessment.  It  is  equally  true  that  all  outsiders  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  thing;  and  if  they  "come  in"  at  all,  it  must  be  on  our  own  terms. 
Now,  suppose  we  should  agree  that  any  may  come  in,  provided  a  certain 
amount  or  per  centage  of  the  articles  thus  brought  in  and  sold  shall  be  put 
into  our  own  treasury,  to  form  a  Fund  to  be  expended  for  our  own  improve- 
ment, to  enable  us  to  produce  the  very  best  specimens  of  the  article  in  ques- 
tion in  the  very  best  manner.  It  is  unquestionably  better  that  each  unit, 
whether  individual  or  social,  should  be  independent  of  all  others,  so  far,  at 
least,  as  these  necessary  products  of  labor  are  concerned.  It  is  desirable  that 
no  "  neighbor"  should  be  obliged  to  ask  favors  of  another,  to  enable  him  to 
carry  on  successfully  his  own  legitimate,  regular,  and  desirable  and  even  indis- 


454:  ANNUAL    FAIRS. 


pensable  calling,  whether  this  necessity  involve  one  or  one  hundred  items. 
Tills  seems  clear. 

These  outsiders  would  like  to  sell  us  lots  of  linen  goods,  iron  in  various 
forms,  etc.,  etc.  We  have  agreed  to  sufter  them  to  do  so  at  certain  rates. 
Now,  let  the  committee  of  arrangements  at  Washington,  who  say  that  things 
must  remain  as  they  are,  so  arrange  the  matter  that  all  or  a  certain  share  of 
the  profits  of  these  sales  of  the  property  of  outsiders,  shall  be  given  to  our 
State  societies,  (there,  perhaps,  to  be  further  subdivided,)  to  be  expended  in 
instructing  us  how  to  produce  the  highest  and  best  specimens  of  the  same 
kind  among  ourselves.  In  other  words,  our  Society  will  admit  outsiders  to 
sell  on  our  own  grounds  and  in  our  warehouses,  provided  they  will  pay  us 
what  we  consider  a  fair  price  for  this  right,  in  competition  with  our  own  pro- 
ducts. While  we  are  unwilling  to  tax  ourselves  for  self-improvement,  this 
plan  would  work  out  magnificent  results.  Minute  calculations  and  apportion- 
ments would  be  too  tedious,  of  course ;  but  we  might  make  a  general  appor- 
tionment. The  essential  point  of  the  thing  is,  that  the  management  at  Wash- 
ington shall  secure  to  the  State  societies,  as  trustees,  an  amount  for  agricul- 
tural and  mechanical  improvement  at  home,  which  shall  be  a  fair  equivalent 
for  any  loss  by  the  competition  of  outsiders,  which  may  be  permitted  on  our 
own  soil.  If  we  shall  prove  ourselves  incompetent  to  the  work  of  producing 
the  very  best  qualities,  and  in  indefinite  amounts,  after  a  fair  trial,  then  let  all 
the  gates  of  our  inclosure  be  thrown  down,  and  all  our  fairs,  through  all  our 
States  and  territories,  be  turned  into  commons.  •  Would  not  any  farmer  justly 
complain  if  he  was  obliged  to  furnish  the  necessary  facilities  in  his  own  build- 
ings, for  a  rival  from  a  distance  to  sell  the  very  same  articles  he  produces,  and 
in  which  competition  is  hazardous  to  himself? 

But  the  form  in  which  we  have  presented  this  may  be  thought  "  too  poli- 
tical." In  fact,  we  think  it  entirely  politic,  and  we  will  be  content  if,  in  any 
form,  our  political  governments — who  do  almost  every  thing  because  it  is 
politic  or  policy,  and  not  because  it  is  just — will  carry  out  a  plan  of  this  sort ; 
and  we  do  strenuously  contend  that  our  national  and  State  governments 
ought  to  furnish  liberal  provision  for  expenditures  of  this  description.  It 
might  reasonably  be  required,  that  all  kinds  of  useful  industry  should  be  alike 
encouraged  by  premiums  and  otherwise ;  and  then  we  can  see  no  reason  why 
the  measure  should  be  deemed  undesirable  or  impracticable.  All  that  is 
necessary  is,  that  the  farming  and  manufacturing  industry  of  the  country 
should  demand  this  for  themselves,  and  the  thing  is  done.  One  million  of 
dollars  apportioned  among  the  States,  would  give  an  average  of  more  than 
$30,000  to  each  State,  and  even  much  more  than  this  might  be  given.  Our 
national  treasury  is  running  over,  but  no  one  dreams  of  distributing  of  its 
profusion  among  the  farmers  and  mechanics,  for  the  improvement  of  their 
several  crafts,  though  these  are  the  very  men  who  sustain  the  institutions  of 
the  country. 

We  have  said  that  premiums  are  or  may  be  comparatively  unimportant 
among  the  instrumentalities  used  for  this  object.  Perhaps  it  would  be  better 
to  say  that  they  should  be  regarded  chiefly  as  the  indirect  means  of  good, 
rather  than  as  having  any  value  of  their  own.  Thus,  when  premiums  and 
other  means  of  power  over  men's  curiosity,  selfishness,  love  of  gain,  etc.,  have 
done  their  work,  of  securing  the  attention  of  the  public  in  one  or  several 
places  of  convocation,  then  let  us  have  the  benefit  of  carefully-drawn  state- 
ments of  the  processes  adopted,  all  the  circumstances  involved,  with  the  errors 
of  previous  years ;  the  details  of  experiments,  whether  successful  or  unsuc- 
cessful ;  oroDositions  for  future  experiments ;  suggestions  in  regard  to  new 


ANNUAL   FAIRS.  455 


macbinery  and  new  applications;  specimens  of  very  high  styles  of  products 
of  any  kind,  as  of  printing,  weaving,  paper-making,  etc.,  etc.  Thus  all  may 
be  alike  encouraged  to  emulate  these  higher  specimens  of  skill,  and  a  general 
attention,  at  the  same  time,  be  secured  at  these  annual  or  semi-annual  convo- 
cations, which  might  continue  for  several  successive  days.  Were  no  other 
expenditures  demanded  in  such  cases,  this  amount  of  time  and  labor  would 
be  cheerfully  given,  and,  no  doubt,  prove  very  profitable. 

The  actual  view  of  fine  products  of  the  farm,  or  shop,  or  mill,  we  think,  oi 
vastly  higher  value  than  the  most  eloquent  harangue  on  theories  or  on  facts. 
The  premium  is  only  valuable  as  it  leads  to  this  other  and  greater  good. 
Hence  the  influence  of  the  latter  should  be  as  widely  extended  as  possible. 
The  boy,  in  his  teens,  may  be  essentially  afiected  for  a  whole  life  as  a  farmer 
by  such  an  exhibition.  Many  a  fruit-grower  or  raiser  of  cattle  would  then  be 
stimulated  to  adopt  practices  of  vital  importance  in  the  improvement  of  our 
stock.  Many  a  dairy-maid  might  there  be  inspired  with  a  sort  of  esprit  de 
corps,  which  would  exert  a  controlling  influence  upon  these  products  of  the 
farm.  This  kind  of  training  might  awaken  a  ^jri't/e  of  production  in  every 
department  of  farm  work,  which  would  deserve  the  name  of  revolution,  when 
contrasted  with  the  general  indiflerence  now  prevalent  among  a  large  major- 
ity of  our  citizens. 

We  have  often  said  that  our  farmers  need  not  information  half  so  much  as 
means,  to  place  them  all  among  our  men  of  progress.  One  form  in  which 
capital  might  be  used  to  very  great  advantage,  through  the  agency  of  agri- 
cultural societies,  is  by  loaning  money,  with  or  without  interest,  for  a  term  of 
two  or  three  years,  to  enable  farmers  of  small  means  to  cultivate  their  lands. 
Increased  products  would  furnish  the  means  of  repayment  and  leave  them  in 
possession  of  fertile  acres  in  place  of  barren,  worn-out  wastes.  The  loan  might 
be  repaid  by  a  certain  amount  of  each  year's  crop,  or  by  the  excess  of  all 
over  so  much  per  acre,  when  expended  under  direction,  and  thus  more  be 
received  than  was  given,  while  the  farmer  also  has  more,  beside  his  improved 
lands.  We  are  by  no  means  sure  that  the  money  now  paid  as  premium?,  if 
laid  out  as  interest  for  money  hired,  even  from  the  banks,  for  such  uses, 
would  not  accomplish  more  good  than  it  does  now.  Certainly  it  is  true  thai 
a  Capital  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  State  stocks,  might  be  created, 
costing  no  man  a  farthing,  but  the  whole  manufactured  out  of  a  quire  of 
paper,  and  at  the  only  possible  cost  of  the  State's  name.  We  can  see  no 
objection  whatever  to  such  an  operation,  to  any  reasonable  amount.  It  is  not 
fictitious  issue  for  currency,  but  a  State  loan  for  a  specific  purpose.  AH  that 
the  State  could  be  liable  for  could  be  most  abundantly  secured  in  various 
ways,  so  that  no  loss,  in  any  event,  would  be  anticipated.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  a  fund  of  actual  value  to  an  indefinite  extent  might,  in  due  time,  be 
acquired  by  the  payments  of  instalments,  from  time  to  time,  by  those  who 
have  had  the  benefit  of  the  loans.  Then  the  whole  operation  would  be,  not 
more  safe,  but  become  a  solid  and  substantial  fund,  the  very  erection  of 
which  has  already  renovated,  perhaps  half  the  farms  of  the  State,  and  its 
future  operations  secure  constant  ancl  important  progress  in  every  branch  of 
home  industry,  whether  on  the  farm  or  in  the  shop. 

There  is  another  form  of  service,  which,  we  think,  our  agricultural  societies 
might  render  at  a  trifling  cost.  When  we  had  the  honor  of  presiding  over  a 
school,  we  did  much  by  honorary  marks.  Not  only  each  boy  might  earn 
them,  but  a  series  of  benches — that  is,  the  occupants  of  them — was  also  enti- 
tled to  them.  Thus  the  more  orderly,  or  more  gentlemanly  half,  as  the  east- 
ern a«id  western,  received,  each  week,  some  valued  distinction.     So  our  com- 


456  UNITED  STATES  AGRIOULTUEAL   SOCIETY. 

mittees  might  do  with  towns  or  districts.  Some  men  have  a  measure  of  tOAvn 
pride,  who  have  no  love  of  self-reform.  They  like  to  belong  to  a  handsome 
company,  military  or  any  thing  else  ;  though  they  have  no  love  for  tactics  or 
strict  discipline.  When  the  best  town  team  is  honored  with  a  premium,  as  it 
is  in  many  counties  in  Massachusetts,  a  farmer  may  buy  a  yoke  of  good  oxen, 
from  this  sort  of  pride,  when  he  would  not  do  so  from  any  love  of  good  cat- 
tle. So  the  general  condition  of  the  several  districts  or  towns  in  each  and 
all  the  several  points  of  good  husbandry  might,  at  least,  be  given  in  a  care- 
fully-drawn report,  the  facts  being  determined  by  actual  observation.  Thus 
we  have  work  for  a  traveUing  committee,  named  in  the  former  part  of  this 
paper,  on  whom  also  the  weekly  or  monthly  supervision  of  all  farms  entered 
for  premium  as  the  "  best-managed  farms"  would  naturally  devolve.  The 
same  committee  might  also  inspect,  with  little  additional  trouble,  all  experi- 
ments going  on  under  the  auspices  of  the  society.  In  fact,  the  difficulty 
would  consist  in  making  the  selection  of  those  services  which  should  seem 
most  urgent,  rather  than  in  finding  out  how  to  occupy  such  a  committee  to 
advantage.  This  labor  would  now  seem  premature  in  some  communities. 
When  we  have  advanced  far  enough  to  employ  such  committees,  many  ques- 
tions will  naturally  present  themselves  as  to  the  duties  to  be  required  of  them. 
It  is  only  just,  however,  to  suggest  that  several  societies  in  New-England,  and 
perhaps  elsewhere,  have  had  such  committees  for  several  years. 


UNITED   STATES   AGRICULTURAL   SOCIETY. 

The  Third  Annual  Meeting  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society  will 
be  held  at  Washington,  D.  C,  on  Wednesday,  February  28,  1855.  Business 
of  importance  will  come  before  the  meeting.  A  new  election  of  officers  is 
to  be  made,  in  which  it  is  desirable  that  every  State  and  territory  should 
be  represented.  Lectures  and  interesting  discussions  are  expected  on  sub- 
jects pertaining  to  the  objects  of  the  Association,  by  distinguished  scientific 
and  practical  agriculturists.  The  various  Agricultural  Societies  of  the  coun- 
try are  respectfully  requested  to  send  delegates  to  this  meeting ;  and  all  gen- 
tlemen who  are  interested  in  the  welfare  of  American  agriculture,  who  would 
promote  a  more  cordial  spirit  of  intercourse  between  the  different  sections  of 
our  land,  and  who  would  elevate  this  most  important  pursuit  to  a  position  of 
greater  usefulness  and  honor,  are  also  invited  to  be  present  on  this  occasion. 

W.  S.  King,  Secretary.  Marshall  P.  Wilder,  PresH. 


REPORT   OF   ESSEX  COUNTY  (MASS.)   AGRICULTURAL   SOCIETY. 

By  the  courtesy  of  Hon.  J.  W.  Proctor,  we  have  recei-ved  a  copy  of  the 
Transactions  of  the  Essex  County  (Mass.)  Agricultural  Society.  This  county, 
the  home  of  Pickering  and  his  compeers,  is  not  famous  in  its  political  renown 
alone;  it  raises  men.  And  though  not  remarkable,  generally,  for  the  quality 
of  its  soil,  it  can  show  a  list  of  farms,  and  farmers,  and  farm  products,  that 
would  honor  any  county  in  New-England.  But  we  took  up  our  pen  to  com- 
mend and  make  extracts  from  some  of  these  reports ;  and  first  from  that  on 


ESSEX  COUNTY  AGEICULTU'RAL  SOCIETY.  457 

SWINE. 

"'  It  may  be,  and  may  remain  a  general  truth,  that,  in  the  language  of  the 
Ohairman  of  the  Hampshire  County  Committee  of  last  year,  '  No  one  breed 
is  best  adapted  to  all  locations  and  circumstances.'  It  can  hardly  be  credited, 
however,  for  a  moment,  that  the  answers  to  inquiries  of  the  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Patents,  some  two  years  ago,  making  a  different  and  dis- 
tinct breed  necessary  for  almost  every  State,  are  to  be  taken  as  literally  true. 
May  it  not  be  fairly  questioned  whether  there  are  really  as  many  distinct 
breeds  of  swine  as  there  appear  to  be  ? 

And  might  not  a  better  knowledge  of  animal  physiology  aid  us  in  account- 
ing for  the  fact  that  different  breeds  of  swine  are  so  often  recommended  for 
the  same  or  a  neighboring  locality  ?  Or  to  be  more  explicit,  has  it  not  often 
been  found  true,  that  of  the  same  litter  of  pigs  some  die  and  some  live — and 
of  those  that  live,  a  part  shall  do  well  and  the  rest  shall  not  ?  And  what 
butcher  of  swine  is  not  familiar  with  the  fact,  that  the  2^ost  mortem  examina- 
tion often  reveals  the  diseased  liver,  with  its  large  or  small  ulcers,  or  worms 
in  the  intestines  requiring  a  considerable  part  of  the  food  taken  by  the  ani- 
mal for  their  support ;  or  other  diseased  organs,  not  easily  detected,  even 
when  the  animal  is  slaughtered,  and  almost  always  unsuspected  till  then  ?  In 
short,  may  not  adventitious  circumstances  have  often,  most  undeservedly, 
given  complexion  to  our  ideas  of  the  value  of  our  breeds  of  swine  ?" 

"The  following  from  the  Agriculture  of  Massachusetts,  for  1853,  compiled 
by  our  indefatigable  Secretary,  Mr.  Flint,  page  364,  will  show  how  little  reli- 
ance can  be  placed  upon  opinions  often  formed  and  expressed  upon  this  sub- 
ject. The  question  put  to  gentlemen  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  con- 
tained in  the  United  States  Commissioner's  circular,  was,  '  What  is  the  best 
breed  of  hogs  V  and  says  the  writer,  New-Hampshire  answers  '  The  Suffolk ;' 
Connecticut,  '  A  mixture  of  the  old-fashioned  hog  with  Berkshire  and  the 
China  breed  does  very  well ;'  New- York,  by  three  of  her  citizens,  separately, 
says,  '  Berkshires  and  Leicesters ;'  New-Jersey  answers,  '  A  cross  with  the 
Berkshire  ;'  Pennsylvania  says,  '  A  cross  of  the  Berkshires  and  Chester  Coun- 
ty;' Virginia  says,  'Irish  Grazier  and  mixed  Berkshire  are  our  common 
stock;'  Georgia  answers,  'The  best  breeds  for  the  climate  are  the  Woburn 
and  Grazier ;'  Mississippi  says,  '  The  best  hogs  I  have  tried  are  the  Berk- 
shires;' Texas,  'Irish  Grazier;'  Tennessee  says,  'The  common  old  Grazier 
mixed  with  the  Hindoo  breed.'  And  without  following  the  language  too 
literally,  it  may  be  added,  that  while  Kentucky  is  satisfied  with  the  '  Wo- 
burn' only,  her  more  voracious  neighbor,  Ohio,  must  have  the  'Leicester,' 
'  Bedford,'  '  Chinese,'  and  the  '  Calcutta ;'  and  while  Missouri  takes  a  cross  of 
the  '  black  Berkshire'  and  the  '  white  Irish,'  Florida  says  that  '  for  the  range, 
or  shift-for-yourself  system,  the  long-nosed  Pike  stands  A  No.  1.' 

And  when  it  appears  as  it  does  from  the  same  source,  that  a  hundred 
pounds  of  corn  yield  in  some  cases  '  but  eight  pounds  of  pork,'  and  in  others 
'  forty  pounds,'  it  would  seem  that  there  must  be  something  moie  than  the 
peculiarities  of  breed  to  be  taken  into  the  account  in  explaining  these  results. 
Not  indeed,  let  it  be  distinctly  understood,  that  the  accidents  of  diseased 
organs,  etc.,  referred  to,  would  account  for  all  this  variety  of  opinion  ;  and 
least  of  all  would  we  intimate  that  gentlemen  answer  the  Commissioner  with- 
out suitable  reflection.  But  great  as  is  the  confusion  and  apparent  nnmbei* 
of  breeds,  and  the  mixing  up  of  breeds,  there  might  be  found  to  be  less  of 
both,  we  think,  if  the  '  accidents'  were  fewer,  or  if  we  were  better  able  to 
detect  them. 


458  ESSEX   COUNTY   AGRICULTURAL   SOCIETY. 

It  is  a  fair  question,  and  an  important  one  to  begin  with,  What  and  how 
many  breeds  of  hogs  are  there  really  distinct  ?  Some  are  so,  clearly — but 
the  question  is  not  easily  determined,  and  no  discussion  of  it  is  proposed  in 
this  report.  The  generally  received  opinion  is,  that  the  Suffolk  is  a  distinct, 
original  breed.  Let  it  be  so  considered.  Now,  is  it  the  best  breed  for  getie- 
ral  use  in  the  county  of  Essex  ?  It  is  not,  even  though  it  is  true  that  the 
pork  of  this  breed  is  much  esteemed,  and  generally  commands  from  one  to 
two  cents  a  pound  extra  in  Boston  market.  The  reason  is  obvious ;  they 
come  to  maturity  at  a  very  early  age,  and  never,  or  rarely  weigh  more  than 
250  to  300  pounds.  There  is  a  real  difficulty  in  keeping  them  from  taking 
on  fat,  it  is  said,  in  order  to  their  getting  any  considerable  growth  at  all.  Dr. 
J.  Kittredge  informed  the  Committee,  while  examining  his  pure  Suffolk  boars, 
that  he  could  with  difficulty  keep  them  low  enough  in  flesh  to  answer  for 
breeders  or  to  bring  to  the  show.  Their  keeping  had  been  one  quart  of  meal 
a  day,  with  the  house  slops,  and  raw  apples,  both  sweet  and  sour ;  and  upon 
this  keeping  they  were  fat,  notwithstanding  the  large  one  had  served  for  forty- 
two  sows,  and  the  small  one  for  twenty  to  thirty,  since  last  spring.  It  seems 
therefore  now  clear,  that  the  Suffolks,  being  easy  to  fat,  (indeed,  being  always 
fat,  it  is  said,  after  being  a  month  old,)  are  a  suitable  breed  to  cross  with. 

The  only  remaining  difficulty  is,  to  know  and  obtain  the  best  breed  for 
crossing  with  them.  And  first,  it  should  not  be  the  Chinese,  because  they 
incline  to  fatten  too  much  on  the  belly  and  too  little  on  the  back,  and  besides, 
according  to  Youatt,  they  are  too  oily,  and  do  not  make  good  bacon.  Nei- 
ther should  they  cross  with  either  the  Berkshire  or  Byfiekl,  because  both  are 
too  small  and  snug-boned,  to  make  a  large  hog.  But  probably,  to  put  a  case 
within  the  reach  of  all,  almost  any  of  the  large  kind,  the  'old-fashioned 
kind,'  would  make  a  good  crossing  with  the  Suffolk." 

"  As  the  '  Agriculture  of  Massachusetts'  by  Mr.  Flint,  referred  to  in  the 
early  part  of  this  Report,  is  not  likely  to  be  seen  by  all  who  may  see  our 
County  Society's  Transactions,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  draw  upon  the  Report 
of  the  Norfolk  County  Society's  Committee  on  Swine,  for  last  year,  in  rela- 
tion to  one  point.  It  is  a  report  prepared  with  great  care,  and  contains, 
moreover,  a  treatise  upon  swine,  by  Sanford  Howard,  of  unusual  value. 

The  point  about  to  be  mentioned,  taken  from  the  report,  referred  to,  is 
discussed  by  another  writer.  This  writer  starts  the  idea,  and  refers  to  '  Giles, 
in  Philosophical  Transactions  for  1821,'  as  an  authority  for  the  theory,  thai 
the  male,  hy  whom  the  female  is  destined  to  receive  her  first  progeny,  stamps 
a  character  upon  every  subsequent  produce,  even  hy  other  males  !  As  no  facts 
are  cited  in  support  of  this  theory,  it  will  be  doubted  by  many,  of  course.  If, 
hovrever,  it  should  have  the  effect  of  inducing  those  having  valuable  sows,  to 
be  careful  in  selecting  the  boar  to  which  the  young  sow  shall  go  for  the  first 
time,  the  hint  will  not  be  lost.  And  to  apply  the  rule  in  our  county,  it 
would  seem  a  clear  case,  that,  if  those  having  large-framed  sows  of  any  breed, 
and  living  within  a  reasonable  distance  of  a  pure-blooded  Suffolk,  would  take 
the  pains  to  carry  them  to  such  boars,  they  would  be  well  compensated  by 
the  extra  price  they  would  obtain  for  their  pigs,  or  by  the  quantity  and  qual- 
ity of  the  pork  if  they  should  keep  them,  or  sell  them  at  market." 

Another  admirable  report,  by  Thos.  E.  Payson,  Esq.,  deserves  careful 
attention,  especially  from  the  farmers  of  New-England.     We  refer  to  that  on 


In  discussing  the  question  whether  sheep  are  profitable  there,  and  what  is 
the  best  breed  of  sheep,  he  proceeds  as  follows : 


ESSEX  COUNTY  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY.  .         459 

"But  why  speculate  upon  a  matter  which  is  capable  of  proof;  and  that, 
too,  by  the  best  evidence  possible — the  testimony  of  experience  ?  This  testi- 
mony is  all  one  way,  so  far  as  the  information  of  your  committee  extends, 
and  that  is,  that  sheep  are  very  profitable  animals  in  Essex  county,  to  the 
general  farmer.  Not  only  has  this  been  the  case  since  the  demand  for  lamb 
and  mutton  has  increased — and  the  prices  of  wool  have  sometimes  ranged 
high — but  taking  all  things  into  the  account,  it  has  always  been  true.  A 
member  of  our  Board  of  Trustees,  lately  deceased,  whose  opinions  always 
received,  as  they  deserved,  great  consideration,  and  were  seldom  found  to  be 
wrong,  used  to  say  that  a  pasture  which  would  carry  twenty  head  of  full- 
grown  cattle,  and  for  which  that  number  was  sufficient,  would  carry  twenty 
^heep  besides,  without  detriment  to  the  cattle,  and  with  positive  benefit  to  the 
pasture.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  conceded  on  all  hands  that  a  small  flock 
of  sheep  are  as  profitable  as  any  stock  a  farmer  can  keep.  Admit  this  to  be 
so,  and  it  is  easy  to  make  them  far  more  profitable. 

We  have  had,  heretofore,  with  very  few  exceptions,  what  are  termed  the 
old-fashioned  breed  of  sheep,  v.'hich  is  no  breed  at  all,  or  rather  a  mongrel 
intermingling  of  several  breeds ;  some  with  long  wool,  more  with  short  wool, 
others  between  long  and  short — 'but  all  of  them  deficient  in  what  is  most  anil 
permanently  profitable,  to  wit,  weight  of  carcase.  The  raising  of  sheep  for 
their  loool  mainly,  or  exclusively,  must  be  left  to  districts  of  country  where 
pasturage  abounds,  and  which  are  remote  from  markets.  With  us  the  car- 
case is  to  be  looked  to,  rather  than  the  fleece.  This  deficiency  of  carcase  can 
be  entirely  remedied  with  very  little  trouble  or  expense.  Sheep  of  improved 
breeds — introduced  from  England  by  men  of  ample  means  and  enlarged 
views,  have  become  so  numerous  that  any  farmer  can  improve  his  flock 
almost  without  money — certainly  at  a  very  moderate  price.  The  Leicesters 
and  South-Downs,  or  grade  animals  largely  impregnated  with  their  respective 
blood,  can  be  obtained  anywhere  — and  any  of  them  would  give  increased 
value  to  the  progeny  of  our  ordinary  sheep.  The  Leicesters  have  long 
headed  the  list  of  English  sheep,  but  recently  either  some  of  the  less  aristo- 
cratic families  have  stolen  a  march  upon  them  or  the  taste  of  John  Bull  has 
changed  ;  for  the  mutton  of  the  black-faced  breeds  is  worth  in  Smithfield  mar- 
ket half  pence  per  pound  more  than  the  Leicesters.  We  take  it  that  tlie 
Enghsh  are  the  best  judges;  and,  following  them,  South-Downs  are  to  be 
recommended  as  more  valuable  to  us  here  than  Leicesters.  They  certainly 
are  to  be  so  recommended,  if  the  fashion  of  feeding  or  more  properly  starv- 
ing sheep,  hitherto  often  practised,  is  to  be  continued,  for  they  have  '  a  pa- 
tience of  occasional  short  keep,  and  an  endurance  of  hard  stocking  equal  to 
any  other  sheep.' 

But  the  best  sheep,  (in  the  opinion  of  those  of  your  committee  who  have 
seen  them,)  which  have  yet  been  introduced  to  the  United  States,  are  those 
lately  imported  by  Mr.  Fay,  of  Lynn — a  gentleman  to  whom  our  Society,  for 
his  pecuniary  liberality,  is  under  many  obligations ;  for  the  benefit  of  his 
suggestions  and  examples  far  more.  After  very  particular  and  extensive  ob- 
servation of  different  breeds  and  different  flocks  of  the  same  breed,  Mr.  Fay 
selected  these,  as  in  his  opinion,  the  best  English  sheep  to  send  to  his  farm 
in  Essex  county,  both  for  profit  and  improvement.  These  sheep  have  been 
by  him  named  '  Oxfordshire  Downs.'  They  are  cross-bred  between  the  Cots- 
wold  and  pure  South-Down,  inheriting  from  the  former  a  carcase  exceeding 
in  weight  that  of  the  South-Down  from  one  fifth  to  one  quarter — a  fleece,  the 
fibre  of  which  is  somewhat  coarser  and  stronger,  it  is  true — but  weightier 
than  the  South-Down  by  one  third  to  one  half;  from  the  latter,  the  rotund- 


460        .  ESSEX   COUNTY  AGRICULTURAL   SOCIETY. 

ity  of  form  and  fullness  of  muscle  in  the  more  valuable  parts,  witli  the  brown 
face  and  legs,  so  that  they  may  not  be  very  inaptly  termed,  South-Downs, 
enlarged  and  improved.  We  should  suppose  that  the  live  weight  of  either 
of  Mr.  Fay's  imported  bucks  would  exceed  two  hundred  pounds.  The  owes 
are  larger  than  pure  South-Down  ewes,  in  like  proportion.  We  recommend 
to  those  farmers  of  the  county  who  are  interested  in  sheep-breeding,  to  look 
at  these  sheep.  The  sight  will  well  repay  the  expense  of  a  visit  from  any 
part  of  the  Commonwealth. 

With  these  various  and  abundant  materials  for  improvement  within  our 
reach,  and  with  the  certainty  that  the  raising  of  sheep,  even  unimproved,  is 
profitable,  we  must  be  blind  to  our  interests  not  to  take  advantage  of  the 
opportunities  within  our  reach.  Hundreds  of  acres  of  pasture-land  in  the 
county,  partially  worn  out,  and  full  of  shrubs  which  the  cattle  reject,  may  be 
improved  by  stocking  with  sheep.  At  the  same  time  the  animals  themselves 
will  probably  pay  a  better  profit  than  any  other  farm  stock." 

"  Every  farm  is  not  adapted  to  sheep-breeding.  Those  best  adapted  to  the 
purpose  ai6  whcic  there  is  an  extent  of  elevated  pasture,  such  as  we  see  in 
all  parts  of  the  county,  being  over-run  with  moss  and  worthless  bushes.  The 
improvement  of  such  would  add  much  to  the  agricultural  value  of  the  county. 
In  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  the  stocking  of  sheep  would  bring  about 
this  result. 

In  short,  your  committee  recommend  to  every  farmer,  whose  land  is 
adapted  to  them,  to  make  trial  of  a  few  sheep.  Give  them  a  fair  chance  in 
summer — bestow  upon  them  moderate  care  at  all  seasons — but  at  yeaning 
time  give  them  your  undivided  attention — feed  well  afterwards,  particularly 
if  the  lambs  are  dropped  early  in  the  year,  and  we  think  they  will  amply 
repay  the  pains  and  expense  which  may  be  bestowed  upon  them." 

GRAPES. 

We  learn  from  the  report  on  this  subject,  that  Mr.  Blood,  of  NcAvburyport, 
presented  grapes  for  premium,  which  were  produced  from  the  seeds  of  Ma- 
laga raisins.  They  are  cultivated  in  the  open  air,  and  ripen  by  the  last  of 
August.  The  vines  have  been  in  bearing  nine  years,  and  have  never  failed 
to  produce  a  good  crop  in  the  natural  soil,  without  any  nursing,  such  as 
bone-manures,  guano,  etc.  Slips  from  them  have  proved  as  productive  in 
Vermont  and  New-Hampshire,  and  ripen  as  early  as  in  Essex  county.  The 
committee  say  that  the  fruit  was  "juicy,  sweet,  and  pleasant,  but  lacked 
sprightliness  and  flavor."  But  they  do  not  consider  the  fruit  so  "  superior" 
to  others  as  to  deserve  a  premium  under  the  rules  of  the  Society. 

Other  reports  will  receive  attention  in  another  issue,  our  space  being  lim- 
ited. One  on  Poultry,  by  H.  K.  Oliver,  Esq.,  is  wonderfully  full  of  classic 
quotations  from  Euglish  and  Latin  poetry,  the  former  ranging  from  Mother 
Goose's  Melodies  to  Milton,  and  all  alike  overflowing  with  fun  and  wit.  No 
man  but  a  good  scholar  could  write  it,  and  no  man  who  is  injured  by  a  real 
abdominal  laugh  should  dare  to  read  it.  We  commend  it  to  all  who  are 
dyspeptic.  But  let  no  devoted  lover  of  Shanghais  read  it.  He  would  at 
once  call  "  coffee  and  pistols  for  two." 

A  Report  on  Farm  Implements,  by  J.  W.  Proctor,  Esq.,  urges  the  import- 
ance of  what  we  have  so  strenuously  advocated — the  more  liberal  use  of 
implements  on  the  farm.  We  wish  our  excellent  friend  would  give  us  his 
views  more  in  defail  in  these  pages,  and  in  a  practical  foi'm.  Will  he  please 
consider  himself  notified  accordingly? 


BUILDING  MATERIAIiS.  461 


BUILDING    MATERIALS. 

Caen  Stone. — We  present,  in  this  number,  but  a  single  one  of  the 
important  building  stones  not  already  described,  and  that  a  new  stone  in  this 
country,  and  not  very  well  understood.     It  is  from  Caen,  in  Normandy,  and  • 
is  extensively  used  across  the  Atlantic.    Its  more  noticeable  properties  are  as 
follows : 

It  is  a  species'  of  yellow  limestone,  a  mingling  of  yellow  or  cream  color 
and  white.  It  yields  with  great  facility  to  the  mallet  and  chisel ;  and  when 
the  surface  is  fresh,  it  may  even  be  cut  with  a  knife.  As  it  is  longer  exposed 
to  the  air,  it  becomes  harder.  From  its  appearance,  there  might  be  some 
doubt  as  to  its  durability.  Its  grain  is  less  compact  than  our  marbles ;  and 
if  it  should  be  found  so  porous  as  to  absorb  moisture  too  freely,  it  might 
receive  damage  from  our  severe  frosts.  Still  we  have,  at  least,  the  experience 
of  the  present  winter,  and  find,  as  yet,  no  such  result.  The  Nassau  Bank, 
the  whole  surface  of  which  is  of  this  stone,  exhibits  no  sign  of  disintegration 
that  we  can  discover.  Several  buildings  in  this  city,  recently  erected,  are  con- 
structed with  this  material.  Some  dwelling-houses  in  Ninth  street  and  ia 
Sixteenth  street,  have  fronts  of  the  Caen  stone.  A  new  building  on  the  Fifth 
avenue,  opposite  Madison  Square,  is  now  going  up,  of  the  same  material. 
The  Unitarian  church,  still  unfinished,  corner  of  Fourth  avenue  and  Twenti- 
eth street,  partly  of  this  material,  is  of  peculiar  construction.  The  outer  sur- 
face on  all  sides  consists  of  alternate  layers  of  Caen  stone,  yellow  of  course, 
and  of  brick,  of  the  usual  red.  What  the  origin  of  this  idea  is,  we  can  not 
say.  The  stripes  of  the  zebra,  etc.,  run  the  other  way,  or  perpendicularly, 
while  these  are  horizontal.  Some  caviller  has  uncourteously  hinted  at  a  bar- 
ber's pole.  It  is  an  immediate  copy,  we  understand,  of  "  an  elegant  church 
on  the  Continent ;"  and  this,  to  many  minds,  is  explanation  and  recommend- 
ation quite  sufficient.  But  we  purpose  simply  to  describe,  without  any 
attempt  at  defense.  These  Caen  stones  are  some  twelve  inches  deep,  and 
these  are  succeeded  by  an  equal  height  of  bricks ;  and  thus  these  two,  the 
bricks  and  the  stone,  alternate  from  foundation  to  the  coving.  The  entire 
style  of  architecture  of  this  church  is  novel  in  this  country,  and  will  deserve 
special  mention,  no  doubt,  when  it  is  completed.  But  our  present  business 
only  relates  to  the  material  employed. 

In  the  new  Trinity  Chapel,  which,  by  the  way,  is  a  very  large  church,  yet 
unfinished,  near  Fifth  Avenue,  and  on  Twenty-fifth  street,  we  believe,  the 
Caen  stone  is  used  for  the  interior  lining.  We  should  think  it  admirably 
adapted  for  this  purpose.  It  is  light  and  pleasant  to  the  eye,  which  can  not 
be  said  of  the  brown  sandstone  so  much  in  use  both  for  exterior  and  interior 
walls,  and  it  is  also  comparatively  cheap.  It  is  brought  here  as  ballast,  at  a 
trifling  expense,  and  being  very  easily  worked,  it  may  be  made  to  present  any 
■shapes  that  the  fancy  of  the  architect  may  prefer,  whether  in  the  forms  of 
mouldings  or  more  labored  and  more  fanciful  chisellings. 


Microscopic  Plants. — It  is  stated  that  a  French  gardener  has  reversed 
the  order  of  things,  and  instead  of  producing  colossal  vegetables,  has  suc- 
ceeded in  growing  microscopic  specimens,  which  are  said  to  contain  as  much 
®.f  the  nutritious  principle  as  vegetables  several  times  their  size. 


462  TUKPENTINE  CONVENTION. 


TURPENTINE      CONVENTION. 

A  Convention  of  gentlemen  interested  in  the  jiroduction  of  turpentine  has 
recently  been  held  in  Mobile,  Ala.  Col.  J.  S.  Deas  was  President,  and  A.  C. 
Blount,  Esq.,  Secretary.  Able  committees  were  appointed  on  different 
branches  of  the  subject.     Col.  R.  D.  James  presented  the  following  as  to  the 

BEST   MODE    OF    MAKING    AND    PREPARING    TURPENTINE. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  resolution  of  Col.  James,  upon 
the  subject  of  the  cultivation  of  turpentine,  etc.,  beg  leave  to  make  the  follow- 
ing report :  That  the  character  of  the  soil  best  adapted  to  the  production  of 
the  turpentine  pine  should  be  of  light  and  porous  nature,  with  a  subsoil  of 
clay,  capable  of  retaining  moisture.    The  pine  should  be  of  an  extended  low- 
growing  top,  with  thick  bark  and  sap-wood — the  trees  not  to  stand  so  thickly 
upon  the  land  as  to  be  too  much  shaded  by  the  overgrowing  foliage.     The 
number  of  boxes  to  be  cut  in  a  tree  should  be  governed  by  the  size  of  the 
same.     As  a  general  rule  for  cutting  boxes,  the  committee  recommend  the 
following  standard :  the  box  to  be  thirteen  inches  in  horizontal  width,  three 
and  a  half  inches  in  horizontal  depth,  and  seven  inches  in  perpendiculsur 
depth  ;  this  will  produce  a  box  of  the  capacity  of  one  and  a  quarter  quarto, 
which,  after  a  few  years'  use,  will  be  reduced  to  a  box  capable  of  containing 
a  full  quart  only  ;  which,  from  experience,  your  committee  believe  to  be  the 
most  profitable  size.     Taking  a  tree  capable  of  sustaining  two  boxes,  they 
would  recommend  that  the  boxes  be  cut  side  by  side,  with  a  life-streak  of 
bark  of  foUr  inches  intervening  between  them,  in  preference  to  cutting  them 
opposite  to  each  other,  and  that  one  third  or  more  of  the  bark  should  be  left 
for  the  support  of  the  tree,  the  boxes  to  be  cut  just  at  the  bulge  of  the  tree 
near  the  root  of  the  same.     The  corners  of  the  boxes  should  be  cut  out  with 
the  inclination  of  the  face  of  the  box,  and  to  extend  in  a  line  perpendicular 
to  the  outer  corners  of  the  same,  so  as  to  show  a  line  horizontal  and  the  top 
of  the  box — the  object  of  chipping  being  to  expose  a  new  surface  of  the  pores 
for  the  exudation  of  the  turpentine.     The  cut  of  the  hacker  should  extend  a 
half  inch  in  depth  into  the  tree,  and  one  fourth  in  altitude,  and  the  chipping 
should  be  renewed  once  a  week.     The  best  instrument  for  the  purpose  is  the 
hacker  with  a  small  bowl,  to  be  kept  exceedingly  sharp,  and  the  best  instru- 
ment for  sharpening  the  same  is  the  stone  known  as  the  Siam  hone  or  slip. 
Your  committee  have  nothing  new  to  suggest  or  recommend  as  to  the  best 
mode  of  dipping,  or  the  best  instrument  for  that  purpose ;  but,  in  reference 
to  the  scrape  or  hard  turpentine,  they  would  advise  the  use  of  cloths  instead 
of  the  old-fashioned  box  for  receiving  the  same.      The  committee  would 
recommend  the  light  iron  axle  two-horse  wagon,  as  the  most  expeditious  and 
econorliical  for  hauling  turpentine.     The  frame  for  the  barrels  should  be 
made  of  4  x  6-inch  scantling,  with  segments  of  circles  cut  therein,  one  half 
across  the  upper  face  of  the  same  to  receive  the  ends  of  the  barrels,  with  two 
interior  parallel  rails,  so  that  when  either  end  of  a  barrel  is  removed  from  the 
concave  which  it  occupies,  it  can  be  rolled  from  the  wagon  on  a  smooth  sur- 
face.    The  committee  would  recommend  that  when  the  distiller  can  avail 
himself  of  a  hill-side,  the  simplest  plan  to  elevate  turpentine  to  the  still,  is  to 
extend  a  railway  frotai  the  top  of  the  hill  to  the  platform.     If  upon  a  level 
plain,  the  use  of  the  machine  employed  by  flour-mills  to  elevate  their  sacks 
and  barrels  to  the  upper  stories  of  the  mill,  the  said  machine  being  a  plat- 
form, with  four  upright  posts,  with  a  roller  in  the  head  of  each,  two  ropes 


TURPENTINE  CONTENTION.  463 


from  the  roof  of  the  still-house,  passing  beneath  said  rollers,  (one  on  each 
side,)  thence  through  sheave-blocks  and  around  a  cylinder,  turned  by  a 
crank  from  below.     In  regard  to  preparing  the  turpentine  for  distillation,  we 
refer  you  to  the  explanation  aiade  by  a  member  of  this  committee,  as  to  the 
style  best  adapted  to  making  the  best  article  of  rosin.     The  experience  of 
your  committee  would  lead  them  to  decide  in  favor  of  a  small-size  still,  or 
with  a  flat  and  greatly  extended  surface.    The  committee  would  recommend 
that,  in  distilling,  the  still  should  be  charged  to  only  two  thirds  its  capacity, 
to  allow  for  the  expansion  of  the  material  during  ebullition.     The  amount  of 
water  to  be  supplied  should  be  equivalent  to  the  amount  condensed  m  the 
still-worm,  and  kept  in  the  same  ratio  so  long  as  the  spirit  comes  over ;  and 
should  the  still  have  a  tendency  to  boil  over,  an  increased  amount  of  fuel  is 
to  be  supplied  until  the  excessive  ebullition  ceases;  the  heat  is  then  to  be 
diminished,  and  the  still  run  regularly  as  before.    Your  committee  deem  it 
unnecessary  to  enlarge  on  this  point,  as  they  presume  that  in  all  cases  of  new 
beo-inners,  a  practical  distiller  will  be  employed.     Your  committee  recom- 
mend that  in  addition  to  the  usual  mode  of  glueing  the  spirit-casks,  that  the 
casks  being  partially  drained  after  each  glueing,  be  placed  upon  a  horizontal 
plane,  each  head  alternately  placed  upon  said  plane,  and  would  further 
recommend  the  use  of  the  Scotch  glue,  in  all  cases  in  which  the  distiller  is 
unable  to  manufacture  his  own  glue  from  good  sound  bides.     The  commit- 
tee would  recommend  that,  in  making  barrels  and  casks,  the  staves  and  head- 
ing should  be  fully  dressed,  ready  for  the  truss-hoop,  and  be  permitted  to 
remain  some  time,  previous  to  being  made  into  barrels,  for  the  purpose  of 
allowing  the  staves,  etc.,  to  shrink.     By  adopting  this  course,  the  barrels  are 
less  liable  to  leakage.    The  staves  for  turpentine  barrels  should  be  thirty-two 
inches  in  length,  the  head  to  be  worked  in  a  twenty-inch  truss-hoop.     The 
spirit-cask  should  contain  forty-five  gallons,  and  in  case  oak  heading  can  not 
be  obtained,  we  would  recommend  the  substitution  of  poplar  instead. 

From  statements  made  during  the  discussions  of  the  Convention,  it  ap- 
pears that  more  than  a  million  of  acres  of  land  are  in  partial  cultivation  in 
turpentin(i,  and  that  from  the  commencement,  this  business  has  more  than 
doubled  itself  annually. 

The  average  product  of  a  laborer  is  said  to  be  much  greater  than  in  the 
culture  of  cotton.  The  following  statement  was  embodied  in  one  of  the 
reports: 

The  average  product  of  the  laborers  in  making  cotton  may  be  said  to  be 
at  a  maximum  of  four  bales  ;  upon  which  the  receivers  in  Mobile  would  real- 
ize $10.  The  same  laborers  engaged  in  turpentine  will  produce  IVO  barrels 
of  rosin  and  30  casks  of  spirits,  the  handling  of  which  in  the  city  will  produce, 
ilnder  the  varioi^  charges  of  wharfage,  drayage,  storage,  insurance,  cooper- 
age, and  commissions,  $8Y.60— $45  on  the  spirits,  and  $42.50  on  the  rosin. 
And  we  would  further  suggest  that  the  laborer  in  turpentine  will  consume  of 
the  merchandise  of  Mobile  to  an  amount  equivalent  to  five  hands  engaged  in 
cotton,  from  the  fact  that  his  occupation  precludes  the  possibility  of  his  pro- 
ducing any  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  The  amount  used  in  painting  the  four 
millions  of  dwelling-houses  in  the  United  States,  or  the  exceeding  great 
amount  of  this,  together  with  other  naval  stores,  used  in  painting  and  pre- 
serving our  vast  shipping  and  steamboat  marine,  your  committee  have  no 
means  of  correctly  stating.  The  amount  of  spirits  used  in  the  printing  busi- 
ness (there  being  2800  presses  in  this  country  at  a  pint  per  day  each)  at  a 
low  estimate  is  2600  casks,  containing  112,000  gallons.    The  manufacture  of 


464  WESTERN    RAILROADS. 


India-rubber  (but  yet  in  its  infancy)  consumes  4650  casks,  containing  187,000 
gallons ;  this  business,  it  is  estimated  by  those  conversant  with  the  subject, 
will,  in  the  course  of  five  years,  increase  to  the  amount  of  $;1 5,000,000 ;  in 
importation  of  the  raw  material  of  caoutchouc,  reaching  now  the  sum  of 
$5,000,000,  The  extent  of  its  use  in  gas,  caraphene,  burning-fluid,  and  for 
chemical  and  medical  purposes  in  this  country,  and  the  exact  amount  ex- 
ported for  foreign  consumption  in  these  and  various  other  branches  of  manu- 
facture, your  committee  have  no  correct  data  upon  which  to  base  an  estimate. 
Your  committee  are  advised  and  are  aware  that  an  immense  amount  of  rosin 
is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  rosin  oil,  the  amount  of  36,000  barrels  being 
converted  into  this  article  in  one  factory  alone  in  the  city  of  New- York.  A 
similar  amoimt,  nearly  (say  24,000  barrels)  being  converted  into  this  oil  in 
the  State  of  North-Carolina,  besides  a  large  amount  at  Norfolk  and  various 
other  factories  in  the  United  States;  the  exact  quantity  used  by  these  is  not 
definitely  known.  The  consumption  of  rosin  in  the  lighting  of  cities  and 
private  residences,  also  affords  an  outlet  for  a  very  considerable  amount ;  the  - 
Capitol  of  the  United  States,  and  some  of  our  best  hotels,  being  lighted  exclu- 
sively with  gas  made  from  it.  The  extent  of  the  soap-making  business  in 
which  rosin  enters  in  the  ratio  of  about  fifty  per  cent,  is  an  interest  of  nO' 
insignificant  magnitude,  and  is  a  source  of  the  greatest  consumption,  and  yet 
the  largest  portion  of  this  article  consumed  seems,  from  the  shipments  abroad,, 
to  enter  into  the  manufactures  of  foreign  countries.  And,  in  conclusion,  we 
would  remark  that  under  no  circumstances  can  the  price  of  spirits  fall  below 
thirty  cents  per  gallon  ;  for  in  that  event  it  will  be  used  to  an  unlimited  extent 
in  the  production  of  gas ;  and  it  is  produced  in  no  other  country  to  any  great 
extent,  except  the  United  States. 


WESTERN    RAILROADS. 

The  following  continuous  routes  are  in  progress,  and  are  regarded  as  cet^ 
tain  of  an  early  completion  : 

Memphis  to  Hopkinsville,    -----         203  miles. 

Hopkinsville  to  Henderson,      -         -         -         -  -      72      " 

.   Henderson  to  Evansville,     -         -         -         -         -  12" 

Evans ville  to  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  road,  -  -      55      " 

Point  of  junction  to  Cincinnati,   -         -         -         -         155" 

Total — Memphis  to  Cincinnati,  _         .         .    49Y 

On  this  subject,  the  Louisville  Journal  says :  "  The  most  rapid  communi- 
cation we  now  have  with  the  South  and  South-west  is  by  steamboats,  which, 
on  an  average,  occupy  three  days  in  a  run  from  Memphis  to  Louisville. 
When  the  line  of  road  I  have  described  shall  have  been  completed,  a  speed 
of  but  twenty-five  miles  per  hour  will  make  the  travelling  time  from  Memphis 
to  Cincinnati,  twenty  hours. 

Thus  the  opportunity  will  be  presented  at  Memphis,  to  business  men  wish- 
ing to  make  purchases  in  Louisville  or  Cincinnati,  to  reach  the  latter  city  by 
railroad -in  twenty  hours,  remain  there  thirty-two  hours,  and  return  to  Mem 
phis — all  during  the  three  days  that  would  be  necessary  simply  to  convey- 


A  STAGE   ROUTE  TO   CALIFORNIA.  465 


them  by  steamboat  to  Louisville.  If  we  will  contribute  our  aid  toward  the 
construction  of  a  liundred  and  sixty-nine  miles  of  railroad  on  the  air-line 
route  to  Memphis,  we  can  save  our  city  in  spite  of  all  competitors.  Such  an 
improvement  will  place  us  within  fourteen  hours'  run  of  Memphis,  and  will 
even  fix  for  ever,  as  the  shortest  route  from  that  city  to  Cincinnati,  the  one 
throuffh  our  own  borders." 


A   STAGE    ROUTE    TO   CALIFORNIA. 

Gentlemen  of  St.  Louis  and  elsewhere  are  endeavoring  to  establish  a  daily 
or  "weekly  line  of  stages  between  Missouri  and  California.  They  wish  to 
organize  a  company,  with  capital  to  sustain  the  line  a  year.  The  means  being 
made  sure  of,  the  Company  would  obtain  a  force  of  men,  stages,  and  horses, 
adopt  a  line  across  the  plains  and  through  the  mountains,  and  locate  stations 
iifteen,  twenty,  or  thirty  miles  apart,  as  the  character  of  the  country  might 
admit,  and  improve  the  same  by  permanent  tenements,  stables,  and  inclo- 
sures,  with  men  at  each  station  to  guard  the  property  and  take  care  of  the 
stock,  and  sufficient  horses  or  mules  for  changes  and  relays.  Ten  through- 
passengers  daily,  at  llOO  each,  would  produce  $730,000.  The  way-business 
would  add  to  this,  according  to  the  statement  of  Mr.  Mitchell,  and  an  im- 
mense amount  of  gold  would  pass  over  the  line  at  a  heavy  freight.  The 
mails,  they  say,  could  be  carried  in  twelve  days  from  Kansas  to  Sacramento, 
and  of  course  the  line  would  be  employed  to  carry  the  mails.  These  views 
were  detailed  with  minuteness.  F.  P.  Blair  followed  in  a  clear  and  con- 
vincing review  of  the  great  merits  of  the  enterprise.  Col.  Mitchell,  an  expe- 
rienced "  mountain  man,"  approved  of  the  project,  and  said  that  his  experi- 
ence satisfied  him  that  the  stage  in  the  mountains  would  not  more  materially 
be  obstructed  by  snows  in  winter  than  the  stage  lines  in  New- York  and  Mas- 
sachusetts. Col.  Campbell  confirmed  this  statement.  He  had  spent  three 
winters  near  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow  Stone,  and  there  was  no  snow  to  hin- 
der any  kind  of  travel.  Col.  Campbell  said  that  the  grass  of  the  mountains 
did  not  rot  in  the  fall,  but  dried  and  became  hay,  and  could  be  used  by  stock. 
K.  M'Kenzie,  another  "  mountain  man,"  confirmed  these  statements. 

Mr.  Holiday,  of  California,  who  had  driven  stock  over  the  route,  believed 
in  the  entire  practicability  of  the  project,  and  said  the  "  Californians  would 
meet  Missouri  half-way."  Finally,  resolutions  were  adopted  for  making 
application  to  the  Legislature  for  charter  for  this  great  project;  and  we  are 
encouraged  to  believe,  says  the  Illinois  Weekly  Journal,  which  gives  this 
account,  that  those  persons  have  taken  hold  of  the  measure  who  will  be  likely 
to  carry  it  through. 


Royal  Danish  Railway — The  important  section  of  this  railway,  connect- 
ing the  Baltic  and  the  North  Sea,  has  been  announced.  The  entire  line, 
including  the  Rendsburg  Branch,  forming  the  junction  with  the  Kiel,  Altona, 
and  other  lines,  will  be  open  early  this  month,  and  the  undertaking  will  thus 
be  finished  before  the  stipulated  period.  Messrs.  Peto,  Brassey,  and  Betts, 
the  contractors,  have  obtained  a  lease  of  the  line  for  fourteen  years,  at  a  mini- 
mum dividend  of  six  per  cent  on  the  capital,  £540,000,  with  an  equal  divi- 
sion of  all  surplus  profits.  The  Company,  however,  has  power  to  put  an  end 
to  the  agreement  in  five  or  ten  years. 


466  BALTIMOEE   AND   OHIO   RAILROAD. 


BALTIMORE  AND   OHIO  RAILROAD. 

This  Road  is  a  great  work.  Its  importance  as  a  means  of  travel  between 
New-York  and  Cincinnati,  and  other  points  at  the  West  and  South- West,  is 
beginning  to  be  appreciated,  especially  since  the  opening  of  the  Ohio  Cen- 
tral Road. 

At  an  election  for  President,  held  in  December,  Wm.  G.  Harrison,  Esq., 
who  has  so  long  and  so  satisfactorily  served  the  Company  in  that  capacity, 
was  reelected  over  two  powerful  competitors  for  the  office. 

We  append  a  few  statistical  tables,  and  some  other  items  of  information 
gleaned  from  the  Report  just  published,  prepared  by  John  H.  Done,  Esq., 
the  acting  Superintendent  of  the  road. 

REVENUE  FOR  NOVEMBER. 

The  revenue  for  the  month  of  November  has  been  as  follows : 

Main  stem.  Wash.  Br.  Totals. 

For  passengers,       .         .         $52,600  15  $23,&5l  82  $'76,258  51 

For  freight,    .        .         .         264,170  11  7,443  59  271,613  70 


$316,770  86  $31,101  41  $347,872  27 

There  was  an  increase  of  nearly  $9000  for  passengers  on  the  Main  Stem, 
as  compared  with  November  of  last  year,  which  shows  the  advantage  already 
resulting  to  the  road  from  the  opening  of  the  Ohio  Central  Railroad. 

A  summary  of  the  receipts  of  both  the  Main  Stem  and  the  Washington 
Branch  roads  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  on  the  30th  of  September,  1854, 
presents  the  following : 

From  From  .p^j^j 

Passengers.  Tonnage. 

Main  Stem,  .         .         $569,091  51  $3,076,517  92  $3,645,609  43 

Washington  Branch,       278,302  11  94,927  50  369,229  61 


$846,393  62  $3,167,445  42  $4,014,839  04 

PASSENGER   BUSINESS. 

Mr  Done,  in  alluding  to  the  foregoing  statement,  calls  attention  to  the  fact 
that  "of  the  entire  revenue  for  the  year — amounting  to  $3,645,609.43,  only 
$569,091.51,  or  15.6  per  cent,  has  been  derived  from  passengers — a  result 
so  different  from  the  expectations  which  were  formed  before  the  opening  of 
the  road,  as  to  surprise  even  the  best-informed  upon  the  subject." 

The  continued  and  unprecedented  low  water  in  the  Ohio,  has  rendered  the 
magnificent  line  of  steamers  constructed  by  the  enterprise  of  the  citizens  of 
Wheeling,  of  little  or  no  avail,  as  to  the  increase  of  the  number  of  passengers, 
they  having  been  able  to  run  but  a  few  months  continuously  since  the  open- 
ing of  the  road  to  the  Ohio. 

The  condition  of  the  Ohio  River  at  various  periods,  very  seriously  aff"ects  the 
revenue  of  the  road,  as  regards  both  freight  and  passengers.  The  navigation 
is  obstructed  by  ice  or  low  water  for  more  than  one  half  of  the  year.  The 
report  indulges  in  some  just  remarks  as  to  future  prospects  from  the  opening 
of  the  Ohio  Central  Road,  and  also  the  Cleveland  &  Pittsburgh  Road  from 
Wellsville  to  Wheeling. 

OF  THE  TRADE  IN  LIVE  STOCK. 

This  important  branch  of  trade  has  been  quite  active,  and  appears  to  be 
steadily  on  the  increase,  especially  from  Moundsville,  Cameron,  and  other 
stations  on  the  western  division  of  the  Road.     The  following  statement  will 


BALTIMORE  AND   OHIO   RAILROAD. 


467 


show  the  extent  of  this  trade,  giving  the  quantities  of  each  description  of 
stock  transported  during  the  year  ending  the  30th  of  September,  1854  : 

119,699  Hogs, Weighing  10,201.1.3.5 

31,631  Sheep, 

3,522  Horses  and  Mules, 

10,017  Horned  Cattle, 


1,800,10.0.0 

1,762.0.0.0 

5,013.0.0.15 


164869 


Tons,  18,776,11.3.20 


OF  THE  FLOUR  TRADE. 


The  great  importance  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Raih-oad  is  seen  in  the 
following  table,  which  shows  the  amount  of  flour  brought  to  Baltimore  during 
the  yea^  with  the  number  of  barrels  from  the  principal  points  of  shipment : 


Wheel- 
ing. 
10,440 
23,592 
28,559 
20,746 
35,680 
12,352 
12,266 
8,267 
11,369 
4,341 
1,060 
1,435 


Mounds- 

viUe. 

1,812 

570 

6,815 

358 

1,501 

1,680 

601 

90 


Cumber- 
land. 
95 

577 

852 
1,319 
2,377 

503 

110 


Months 

October,  . 

November, 

December, 

JaBuary,  . 

February, 

March, 

April, 

May, 

Jane, 

July, 

August,    .         .         .       1,060  203 

September,      .         .       1,435  2,257 

Total,  .         .         .  170,147  15,887         5,833         27,406i       229,966 

Total  from  the  above  point? •     529,160* 

«         "    all  other  points  on  the  Main  Stem        ....     180,334^ 

709,495 
42,754 


Martins- 
burg. 
4,128 
3,614 
2,847 
3,274 
2,379 
1,777 
2,391 
546 
437 
1,290 
3,090^ 
2,633 


Harper's 

Ferry. 

28,905 

28,288 

26,185 

21,197 

21,951 

20,498 

13,798 

10,680 

9,235 

4,699 

22,964 

21,556 


Freder- 
ick. 
5,902 
10,765 
8,284 
12,602 
12,080 
10,106 
4,746 
2,948 
2,518 
1,804 
3,609 
4,460 

79,921 
bbls. 


From  the  Washington  Branch  Road,  . 


Total  number, 


FREIGHT    FROM    WHEELING. 


752,249 


The  whole  report  of  Mr.  Done  abounds  in  important  and  well-arranged 
statistical  statements,  the  latter  of  which  we  regret  are  too  voluminous  for 
our  limits.  There  is  one  statement,  however,  showing  the  description  and 
amount  of  commodities  transported  from  Wheeling  to  Baltimore  from  the  1st 
of  March  to  the  30th  of  September,  1853,  and  from  the  1st  of  October  1853, 
to  the  30th  of  September,  1854,  a  period  of  nineteen  months,  which  we  con- 
dense, showing  the  following  results : 


Flour,  barrels, 

202,545 

Cotton,  bales,      .        .        .        . 

3,612 

Grain,  bag?, 

,         . 

15,735 

Hemp,  bales, 

18,686 

Seed,  barrels, 

, 

6,849 

Wool,  bale,s. 

6,086 

Butter,  barrels. 

1,986 

Tallow,  barrels,   . 

2,286 

kegs, 

5,099 

Feathers,  bags,     .        . 

4,393 

Lard,  tierces, 

11,530 

Tobacco,  hhds. 

22,754 

"     barrels, 

.       37,801 

Hides,          .... 

10,843 

"     kegs,  . 

.      43,317 

Leather,  rolls. 

9,527 

Oil,  barrels, . 

.       11,125 

Soap  and  Candles,  boxes, 

11,883 

Pork,  barrels. 

58,621 

Cheese,  boxes, 

5,264 

Bacon,  casks. 

39,030 

Apples,  barrels,   . 

7,825 

"       boxes, 

.       28,935 

Dried  Fruit,  bags, 

9,192 

Hams,  tierces. 

19,693 

Horses, 

510 

Beef,  barrels, 

7,000 

Miscellaneous  packages, 

64,920 

Whiskey,  barrels, 

.       26,536 

468  BALTIMORE   AND   OHIO   RAILROAD. 


The  total  number  of  pounds,  in  all  the  above  articles  from  Wheeling  alone^ 
is  stated  at  222,703,675. 

This  table  is  interesting  as  showing  "  the  amount  and  description  of  the 
Western  produce  which  has  passed  over  the  road  from  Wheeling  to  Baltimore, 
since  the  commencement  of  through-transportation,  say  1st  March,  1853.  It 
is  interesting  as  showing  the  character  of  the  trade,  as  well  as  its  amount  and 
value  to  the  city  of  Baltimore.  Its  irregularity  also,  comparing  one  month 
with  another,  illustrates  fully  the  disadvantage  we  have  labored  under  from 
the  fluctuations  in  the  river,  and  the  frequent  and  long  interruptions  of  navi- 
gation." 

THE    COAL    TRADE. 

The  following  statement  will  show  the  quantities  of  Coal  transported  during 
the  year  ending  30th  September,  1854,  from  Cumberland,  Piedmont,  and 
Fairmont,  the  three  points  at  -svhich  this  trade  originates,  and  showing  the 
respective  quantities  delivered  at  Locust  Point,  in  the  city,  and  at  way-sta- 
tions : 


Point  of 

Delivered  at 

Delivered  in         Delivered  at 

For  Com- 

Total from 

departure. 

Locust  Point. 

the  city.           Way-Stations. 

pany's  Use. 

each  Region. 

Cumberland,     . 

274,273  06 

24,134  18           5,262  08 

9,112  17 

312,783  09 

Piedmont, 

99,903  02 

14,530  01         13,176  10 

46,614  12 

174,224  05 

Fairmont, 

21,149  17 

10,825  16              157  05 

5,294  13 
61,022  02 

37,437  11 

Total,       . 

395  326  05 

49,490  15         18,606  OS 

524,445  05 

The  statement  show*  the  quantity  which  paid  freight  to  have  been 

463,423  tons. 

During  the  prev 

ious  year  the  amount  was 

... 

308,890    " 

Increase, 

154,533    " 

or  50  per  cent. 

The  revenue  from  coal  during  the  year  amounts  to  $1,134,628.46.  The 
coal  trade  was  almost  entirely  confined  to  nine  months  of  the  fiscal  year. 

During  the  mouths  of  January^  February^  and  March^  the  operations  of 
nearly  all  the  mines  were  stopped^  by  reason  of  a  strike  of  the  miners  ;  and 
whilst  it  continued  there  was  almost  a  total  suspension  of  the  trade.  Had 
this  not  been  the  case,  the  amount  transported  during  the  year  would  probably 
have  reached  550,000  tons. 

The  demands  of  the  trade  at  the  present  time  are  very  urgent ;  almost 
every  ojieratcr  in  the  coal  region  is  pressing  for  larger  accommodations,  and 
new  and  important  mines  are  about  commendng  business,  with  the  capacity 
to  mine  and  send  down  large  quantities  of  coal.  Full  employment  could  be 
found  for  at  least  60  per  cent  more  machinery  in  that  trade  than  is  now  or 
can  be,  with  the  present  equipment  of  the  road,  appropriated  to  it.  From 
these  facts  it  will  be  seen  that  the  advance  in  freight  of  50  cents  per  ton  from 
Cumberland,  and  56  cents  from  Piedmont,  made  on  the  1st  November,  1853, 
has  not  operated  to  check  or  limit  the  business. 

The  road  department  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  is  not 
less  worthily  administered  than  is  its  transportation  affairs.  This  branch  of 
the  service  though  less  before  the  public  eye,  from  the  nature  of  its  opera- 
tions, is  of  vital  concern.  The  skill,  experience,  energy,  and  sound  judgment 
of  its  head,  Wendel  Bollman,  the  inventor  of  the  much  approved  Railroad 
bridge,  insure  the  best  results  to  the  Company.  His  annual  report,  con- 
taining much  valuable  information,  is  also  just  published,  and  may  be  found 
in  the  pamphlet  containing  the  report  of  the  President  of  the  Road,  and  heads 
of  its  several  departments. 


BALTIMORE  AND  OHIO  RAILROAD.  469 

During  the  past  year  twenty -one  miles  of  the  second  track  liave  been 
added,  and  various  new  sidings  put  in.  Fifty  miles  of  old  string-timber  track 
have  been  removed  from  the  east  end  of  the  line,  and  substituted  by  new  and 
heavy  T  rail  on  cross-ties.  Several  new  bridges,  depot  buildings,  etc.,  etc., 
have  also  been  added.  m 

Dr.  T.  C.  Atkinson  and  Mr.  John  L.  Wilson,  are  Mr.  Bollraan's  eflBcient 
chief  assistants. 

The  machinery  departmeut  is  of  deep  importance  also  to  the  successful 
working  of  a  great  road  like  this,  and,  upon  its  careful  and  energetic  admin- 
istration much  depends.  The  report  of  Mr.  S.  J.  Hayes,  the  worthy  master 
of  machinery,  shows  that  the  Company  owns  208  locomotives,  of  all  kinds, 
which  are  mostly  in  a  good  state  of  repair.  A  number  of  superior  ten-wheeled 
monster  engines  have  been  built  by  the  Company  during  the  last  two  years, 
after  patterns  furnished  by  Mr.  Hayes,  and  are  working  most  satisfactorily  on 
the  Mountain  Division,  between  Piedmont  and  Newburg.  A  number  of  old 
locomotives  have  been  rebuilt  in  the  same  time  for  passenger  uses,  and  every 
thing  scfcms  to  cvldanco  a  judicious  supsrvioioi;.  IL:  Hi.ycs  is  said  to  have 
arisen  from  an  humble  apprentice  in  the  Company's  shops,  to  its  chief  ma- 
chinist, and  as  such  is  now  in  command  of  some  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred 
workmen  in  various  capacities.  Mr.  D.  P.  Rennie  is  the  Company's  assistant 
master  of  machinery. 

This  subject  is  one  of  general  interest,  affecting  almost  every  locality  in 
the  Union.  No  one  can  glance  at  the  tables  presented  by  Mr.  Done  in 
his  able  report,  and  not  feel  that  in  the  agricultural  products  and  the  coal, 
passing  over  this  great  road,  every  consumer  of  these  articles  is  deeply  in- 
terested. Baltimore  must  soon  become  one  of  the  largest  coal  marts  in  the 
country,  from  the  transportation  facilities  afibrded  by  this  road.  The  ready 
means  for  shipment  at  that  point  are  quite  equal  to  those  of  Philadelphia, 
and  can  not  fail  to  be  of  much  importance  in  keeping  the  country  at  large 
supplied  with  this  necessary  article  of  fuel. 

It  has  been  our  pleasure  to  pass  over  this  road  several  times  during  the 
past  year.  We  shall  only  reiterate  what  is  the  testimony  of  every  one  at  all 
informed  on  the  subject,  when  we  say  that  every  thing  connected  with  the 
road  is  under  the  very  best  management.  Two  passenger-trains  are  now 
running  daily  between  Baltimore  and  Wheeling,  passing  over  the  whole  dis- 
tance, 380  miles,  in  a  little  more  than  sixteen  hours.  The  opening  of  the 
Ohio  Central  Road  furnishes  a  complete  hne  to  Cincinnati  and  points  further 
west,  and  is  fast  commanding  a  heavy  travel.  We  take  pleasure  in  com- 
mending this  route  to  the 'travelling  public,  as  one  in  which  speed,  comfort, 
and  romantic  scenery  are  combined  in  a  remarkable  degree.  It  must  become 
at  no  distant  day  the  route  to  Cincinnati  and  the  great  West. 


Glue  for  Plants. — Here  is  a  fact  for  our  horticultural  readers.  It  has 
been  discovered  in  France,  that,  for  the  generality  of  flowers,  and  more  espe- 
cially for  pelargoniums,  and  the  most  delicate  specimens  of  the  lily  tribe,  com- 
mon glue,  diluted  with  a  sufficient  portion  of  water,  forms  a  richer  manure 
than  guano,  or  any  other  yet  discovered ;  plants  placed  in  sand,  or  the  worst 
soils,  displaying  more  beauty  and  vigor,  when  watered  with  this  composition, 
than  those  grown  in  the  richest  mould,  and  only  sprinkled  with  water. 


470  REPiiAL   OF  THE   DUTY   ON  COAL. 


REPEAL   OF  THE   DUTY  ON"  COAL. 

This  is  truly  a  progressive  age,  but  the  progress  is  not  all  in  one  way. 
We  deny  to-day  what  we  urge  as  indispensable,||io-morrow,  and  the  next  day's 
behef  will  depend  upon  circumstances.  We  are  by  no  means  disposed  to 
deny  the  sincerity  of  those  who  dare  to  revise  their  opinions ;  but  we  do  wish 
sometimes  that  men  would  be  sure  that  what  they  advocate  is  the  clear  voice 
of  reason,  and  not  the  dictate  of  prejudice  or  of  social  instincts  merely,  and 
then  a  change  of  circumstances  might  not  overturn  all  their  theories.  It  used 
to  be  called  a  sound  doctrine  with  those  with  whom  we  were  associated,  that 
those  measures  were  alone  safe  and  reliable,  which  made  us  independent  of 
the  aid  of  others.  This,  to  us,  has  always  seemed  reasonable.  It  never 
occurred  to  us  that  time  and  effort,  even  a  considerable  outlay  reckoned  in 
dollars  and  cents,  expended  in  teaching  a  child  to  walk,  was  an  absolute  Igiss, 
not  even  if  those  engaged  in  various  pursuits  were  called  upon  for  their  pro- 
portional contributions  in  this  behalf.  And  what  if  the  pupil  became  refrac- 
tory, and  kicked  his  patient  and  benevolent  instructors  ?  Why,  he  must  be 
punished,  but  not  by  being  suffered  to  grow  up  unable  to  help  himself. 
Others  are  nearly  as  much  interested  as  he  in  his  acquiring  this  art. 

Now,  you  may  call  this  refractory  child  what  you  please,  Carlos  or  Oar- 
bon;  names  are  nothing.  We  would  have  all  our  juveniles  fully  instructed 
and  confirmed  in  this  indispensable  tuition.  But  what  do  we  mean  by  this 
figurative  allusion  ? 

Immense  quantities  of  ink  have  been  expended  in  urging  the  necessity  of 
fostering  our  native  productions,  that  is,  of  teaching  our  juveniles  to  go  alone. 
And  we  have  thought,  on  all  hands,  that  among  all  our  possibilities  the  coal 
interest  was  one  of  the  most  valuable.  The  successful  operation  of  this 
reaches  all  classes  and  conditions  among  the  people.  The  rich  and  the  poor 
are  aifected  alike,  and  no  one  of  any  craft  or  trade  or  pursuit  has  not  in  it  a 
direct  personal  interest. 

But  the  question  is  gravely  agitated  whether  it  is  not  best  to  allow  the 
importation  of  coal,  duty  free.  We  are  not  surprised  that  this  project  should 
find  advocates  in  certain  quarters,  but  we  are  surprised  at  finding  certain 
advocates  on  that  side  of  the  question. 

The  project  may  succeed.  The  duties  may  be  repealed.  If  so,  what  will 
be  the  consequence  ?  We  hazard  little  in  uttering  the  words  of  prophecy. 
We  shall  witness,  in  substance,  the  following  state  of  things. 

The  first  result  is,  a  large  importation  of  foreign  coal,  with  constantly 
descending  prices.  Very  soon,  one  after  another  of  our  own  mining  compa- 
nies will  be  obliged  to  abandon  their  work.  The  entire  supply  falls  then, 
essentially,  into  the  hands  of  foreigners  of  large  capital,  able  to  endure  tem- 
porary losses.  Then  the  price  will  rise.  Coals  will  be  higher  than  we  have 
known  for  years.  But  if  our  own  mining  companies  shall  venture  to  reopen 
their  abandoned  shafts,  these  foreign  capitalists  will  again  fall  in  their  prices 
and  ruin  those  who  engage  in  the  enterprise.  This  is  just  what  has  been 
done,  over  and  over  again,  within  the  memory  of  many  not  among  the  oldest 
inhabitants. 

What  is  required  by  any  enterprise  which  demands  such  immense  outlays 
in  advance,  ere  they  can  secure  the  confidence  of  the  money  market  ?  Not 
immense  profits.  Our  cotton  manufacturers  taught  us  this,  years  ago.  Their 
large  profits  were  almost  their  ruin.  No,  not  their  ruin,  but  the  ruin  of 
scores  who  engaged  in  that  business,  and  who,  in  the  rusli  of  competition, 


REPEAL  OP  THE  DUTY  ON"  COAL. 


-^1 


were  victims  of  extravagant  promises.  What  is  required,  and  what  is  surest, 
safest,  and,  on  all  hands,  most  desirable,  is,  moderate  but  certain  profit ;  a 
market  that  can  be  measured,  and  valued,  and  relied  upon  beforehand,  a 
market  that  is  essentially  controlled  by  a  regular,  healthful,  and  compara- 
tively constant  demand.  Fancy  stocks,  rising  and  falling  with  the  success  or 
failure  of  a  few  stock-jobbers,  who  create,  or  who  fail  to  do  so,  a  fictitious 
value  to-day  that  will  be  essentially  changed  to-morrow,  this  will  never  estab- 
lish an  enterprise  of  this  description.  Read  the  brief  history  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania iron  furnaces,  and  the  importance  of  a  steady,  sound,  healthful  condi- 
tion of  the  market  is  perfectly  obvious. 

Our  coal  mines  have  not  yet  paid  high  dividends.  The  older  and  better 
established,  if  convenient  to  market,  have  promised  well.  They  are  and  have 
been  doing  well.  With  increased  facilities  of  transportation,  many  others 
will  do  well,  and  those  facilities  are  constantly  increasing.  Some  of  those 
recently  commenced  are  in  a  very  favorable  condition.  Let  the  duty  on  coal 
be  repealed,  and  many  of  these  companies  will  be  "repealed,"  too.  They 
may  bear  a  moderate  and  gradual  reduction  in  the  price  of  coal,  even  from 
the  last  year's  prices,  when  they  are  fairly  under  way,  with  cheap  convey- 
ances to  seaboard,  but  they  must  understand  the  market.  They  must  know 
what  they  can  reasonably  anticipate,  and  then  make  their  arrangements 
accordingly. 

"  But  they  have  conspired  together  to  raise  the  price  of  coal,  and  the  peo- 
ple sufter  severely."  Well,  so  have  flour-dealers;  what  will  you  do  with 
them  ?  So  have  drovers.  What  will  you  do  with  them  ?  So  have  three 
fourths,  and  almost  four  fourths  of  all  our  craftsmen,  and  men  of  all  avoca- 
tions, from  money-lenders  to  hotel-keepers.  What  is  the  penalty  ?  "  But 
they  were  obliged  to  do  so."  Is  this  excuse  satisfactory  ?  If  so,  before  you 
condemn  colliers,  see  whether  they  were  not  in  the  same  category. 

But  this  is  all  volunteer  defense.  The  fact  is  denied  by  the  parties  con- 
cerned, and  the  fault  is  thrown  back  upon  the  operatives,  who  struck  for 
higher  wages.  It  is  a  hard  lesson  to  learn,  to  bear  unusual  prosperity.  How 
often  have  we  seen  very  marked  success  in  business  turn  a  Uberal  man  into  a 
miser,  at  least  so  far  as  to  lead  him  to  crave  more  and  more  earnestly  with 
every  increase  of  the  past  and  present. 

If  any  craft,  or  any  members  of  any  craft,  do  conspire  to  over-reach  or  fore- 
stall the  market,  the  law  is  open.  The  offense  is  indictable,  and  if  the  com- 
mon law  does  not  furnish  the  means  for  getting  at  some  modern  forms  of 
this  offense,  call  in  the  aid  of  legislatures.  We  can  have  it  our  own  way. 
But  Itt  us  not  punish  ourselves  in  trying  to  punish  our  oppressors. 


How  Much  Lime  do  Soils  Ne^ed  ?— Professor  Emmons,  in  his  Report  on 
the  Geological  Survey  of  North-Carolina,  says  :  "  If  we  may  appeal  to  obser- 
vation and  experiment,  it  is  established  that  a  small  per  centage  of  lime  only 
is  necessary  to  the  highest  degree  of  fertility;  and  yet  this  small  per  centage 
is  necessary.  If  there  is  present  one  half  of  one  per  cent,  it  seems  to  be  suf- 
ficient ;  for  it  is  rare  to  find  a  larger  quantity  in  productive  soils."  Prof.  E. 
is  a  chemist  and  geologist  of  long  experience,  and  was  one  of  the  first — per- 
haps the  first — to  ascertain  that  some  of  the  most  productive  soils  for  wheat 
in  Western  New-York  contain  comparatively  little  lime. 


4:1%  BIOGRAPHY   OF   EMINENT  MEN. 


BIOGRAPHY    OF    EMINENT    MEN. 

Some  months  ago,  we  announced  to  our  readers  our  intention  to  place  upon 
our  pages  biographical  notices  of  gentlemen  eminent  as  agriculturists,  or  as 
mechanics,  and  this  purpose  we  have  delayed  longer  than  we  then  intended. 
We  begin  the  discharge  of  this  assumed  obligation  in  the  following  pages, 
being  assisted  in  this  service  by  an  interesting  portion  of  a  sketch  in  the  last 
number  of  Hunt''s  Merchants'  Magazine^  which  is  also  accompanied  with  a 
well-executed  portrait.  Whether  we  regard  Mr.  Wilder's  public  position  in 
agricultural,  horticultural,  and  pomological  societies,  or  his  private  character, 
and  the  general  estimation  in  which  he  is  held  by  a  very  large  circle  of 
friends,  we  certainly  could  not  commence  with  a  more  suitable  subject.  We 
are  therefore  very  happy  to  be  able  to  commence  our  series  with  a  sketch  of 
the  life  of 

Hosi.  ITIarsSiall  Pinckuey  H^ilder, 

DORCHESTER,    MASS. 

Mr.  Wilder  was  born  in  Rindge,  a  rbugh  and  rocky  town  in  Cheshire  Co., 
New-Hampshire.  His  father  was  Samuel  L.  Wilder,  a  highly  respectable 
farmer  and  merchant  of  that  place.  His  grandfather  was  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Convention  of  1*787,  which  voted  to  adopt  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  The  family  were  held  in  very  great  respect,  and  filled 
many  important  offices.  When  nearly  prepared  for  admission  to  college,  the 
subject  of  our  sketch  was  allowed  to  follow  his  own  inclinations  in  a  free 
choice  between  a  learned  profession,  and  the  mercantile  and  agricultural 
duties  of  his  father.  He  preferred  the  latter,  and  labored  on  his  father's  farm, 
and  also  assisted  in  his  fiither's  store,  commencing  as  the  youngest  apprentice — 
a  candidate  for  future  promotion,  as  his  abilities  and  opportunity  might  per- 
mit. Here  he  had  a  training  which  was  of  fundamental  importance  in  pre- 
paring him  for  a  constantly  successful  and  healthful  progress  in  after-years. 
At  twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  became  a  partner  with  his  father.  In  1825, 
he  commenced  business  in  Boston,  in  the  firm  of  Wilder  &  Payson,  and 
afterward  was  engaged  as  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Wilder  &  Smith,  and  still 
later  of  Parker,  Blanchard  &  Wilder,  and  Parker,  Wilder  &  Parker,  and 
now  under  the  name  of  Parker,  Wilder  &;  Co.,  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
and  extensive  commission-houses  in  Boston,  engaged  exclusively  in  the  sale 
of  domestic  manufactures,  their  goods  being  wrought  in  mills,  of  which  they 
are  either  owners  or  agents. 

It  Avould  be  to  us  a  very  grateful  task  to  follow  Mr.  Wilder  into  his  own 
dwelling,  surrounded  by  his  affectionate,  accomplished,  and  well-instructed 
children,  where  every  thing  betokens  both  refinement  and  efiiciency,  and  pre- 
sents a  fine  model  for  imitation.  But,  however  pleasant  this  might  be  for  us, 
it  would  require  much  space,  and  compel  us  to  be  more  brief  in  that  depart- 
ment in  which  our  readers  are  more  particularly  interested.  We  therefore 
leave  this  track  to  our  own  delightful  personal  recollections,  and  to  the  grate- 
ful remembrances  of  all  his  acquaintances  and  occasional  visitors.  It  is 
chiefly  in  the  marvellous  products  of  the  earth,  its  flowers  and  its  fruits,  nur- 
tured under  his  skillful  supervision,  that  we  are  to  present  him  to  our  read- 
ers. It  is  in  connection  with  his  gardens,  his  vines,  his  nurseries,  and  his 
orchards,  that  we  must  draw  our  picture. 

It  was  in  1832  that  Mr.  W.  established  himself  in  his  present  residence, 
and  here  he  has  brought  into  being  one  of  those  little  kingdoms  of  Flora,  so 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   EMINENT  MEN. 


frequently  occurring  in  the  suburbs  of  Boston.  In  this  departnient  he  is  olie 
of  the  inost  distinguished  and  successful.  He  was  among  the  first  who  intro- 
duced the  new  camellias  from  Europe,  and  for  some  species  he  paid  immense 
sums.  -  Five  "or  six  guineas  for  each  was  the  price  of  several,  having  only 
as  many  leaves.  He  entered  upon  the  practice  of  hybridization  of  these 
splendid  plants  upon  the  principles  laid  down  by  Herbert,  and  has  produced 
some  very  remarkable  varieties.  Among  these  maybe  named  C.-Wilderi, 
Mrs.  Abby  ^yilder,  Maria  Louisa,  Glory,  and  others.  He  now  has  in  his 
possession  the  mother  plant  of  C.  Floyi,  raised  some  thirty  years  ago,  by 
Mr.  Floy,  of  this  city,  and  for  which  he  paid  the  price  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars. 

But  this  is  not  especially  his  forte.  Others,  in  that  beautiful  neighbor- 
hood, can,  perhaps,  make  in  this  department  as  fine  a  display  as  he.  Flora 
is  not  sole  queen  on  that  soil ;  Pomona  has  a  still  higher  throne.  And  two 
such  realms  on  the  same  territory,  both  triumphantly  rejoicing  in  constant 
and  successive  victory,  without  defeat,  it  may  be  diflncult  to  discover. 

Pears  are  Mr.  Wilder's  hobby.  He  has  been  styled  the  Pear  King.  For 
many  years,  by  importations  and  other  means,  he  has  secured  whatever  has 
been  produced  that  was  worth  possessing.  His  collection  embraces  from  six 
to  eight  hundred  varieties.  He  has  had  on  exhibition,  at  one  time,  three 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  varieties  of  this  fruit.  Several  of  the  most  valuable 
now  grown  in  this  country,  were  imported  by  him.  For  this  he  had  peculiar 
facilities,  being  in  constant  correspondence  with  the  leading  amateurs  and 
nurserymen  of  Europe,  who  have  orders  to  send  him  every  thing  new  and 
desirable  as  soon  as  promulgated.  He  is  also  an  honorary  or  corresponding- 
member  of  the  principal  horticultural  societies  in  Europe.  Hence  he  has  the 
means  of  obtaining  the  earliest  information  on  this  subject.  He  has  recently 
been  appointed  Commissioner  of  the  Belgian  Royal  Poraological  Society  for 
the  United  States.  These  facts  show  also  the  estimation  in  which  he  is  held 
abroad.  Indeed,  his  name  is  known  in  Europe  almost  as  extensively  as  in 
this  country. 

This  correspondence,  to  which  we  have  alluded,  and  the  copious  notes, 
memoranda,  etc.,  etc.,  naturally  accumulating  from"  his  constant  study  and 
numerous  experiments,  and  successful  culture,  have  produced  a  mass  of  manu- 
script, from  which  he  might  prepare  a  work  of  great  value  on  this  subject, 
and  we  hope  we  may,  ere  long,  be  favored  by  its  publication. 

We  have,  more  than  once,  heard  farmers  complain  that  they  did  not 
receive  that  degree  of  general  respect  which  was  their  right.  That  they  were 
passed  by  unnoticed,  while  professional  men  were  placed  in  important,  honor- 
able, and  lucrative  posts.  On  this  complaint  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a 
complete  commentary,  and  also  a  thorough  refutation  of  it.  For  while  Mr. 
W.  is  both  merchant  and  farmer,  it  is  not  to  his  eminence  in  the  mercantile 
line  that  he  owes  most  of  his  reputation.  Though  he  deservedly  stands  high 
in  that  capacity,  there  are  scores  about  him  whom  he  regards  as  his  equals, 
accomplished,  educated,  efficient,  all  competitors  for  this  same  prize,  and  not 
a  few  of  them  are  worthy  rivals  of  the  greatest  and  best.  Of  that  class,  in 
the  city  of  Boston,  it  is  emphatically  true  that  "there  are  giants  in  the  land." 
Nor  is  it,  we  admit,  from  the  mere  fact  that  he  is  a  farmer,  that  he  is  honored, 
but  because,  when  appearing  as  such,  he  exhibits  the  qualities  and  powers  of 
a  MAN — an  edittated,  efficient,  determined,  upright,  honorable,  honest  man. 
He  has  within  him,  and  everywhere  and  always  exhibits,  the  urbanity  and 
kindness  and  liberality  which  adorn  man.  It  was  on  the  resolution  hereaf- 
ter cited,   offered   and   passed  unanimously  at   a  magnificent  pomological 


474  BIOGRAPHY  OF   EMINENT  MEN. 

levee,  given  by  Mr.  W.  at  the  Revere  House,  that  Mr,  Lines,  of  Connecticut, 
said: 

"  It  was  due  to  the  gentleman  who  has  presided  over  the  discussions  of  the 
Society  with  so  much  dignity  and  ability.  He  considered  that  Che  position  in 
pomology  which  the  president  had  reached,  conferred  more  honor  upon  him 
than  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  could  do.  A  gentleman  who  con- 
fers such -immense  benefits  upon  the  whole  country — he  might  say  the  world 
— as  Hon.  Mr.  Wilder  does,  is  entitled  to  distinguished  honors.  He  hoped 
this  resolution  would  be  passed  by  a  standing  vote."  Several  other  gentlemen 
offered  remarks  in  the  highest  degree  complimentary. 

On  the  formation  of  the  Norfolk  County  Agricultural  Societ}^,  in  1849,  we 
think,  Mr.  W.  was  chosen  President,  and,  in  the  year  following,  gave  the  first 
annual  address,  full  of  valuable  thoughts,  on  the  subject  of  agricultural  edu- 
cation. It  was  at  the  dinner,  after  the  close  of  that  address,  that  we  enjoyed 
a  greater  intellectual  treat  than  often  falls  to  the  lot  of  one  in  any  country, 
or  under  any  circumstances.  We  heard,  at  this  one  table,  addresses  from  Mr. 
Wilder,  who  presided ;  Levi  Lincoln,  Horace  Mann,  George  Briggs,  Josiah 
Quincy,  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  Edward  Everett,  and  Dan- 
iel Webster !  Mr.  W.  has  been  President  of  the  Norfolk  County  Society  for 
six  years. 

Nor  does  the  preeminence  freely  acceded  to  Mr.  Wilder  result  from  the  fact 
that  he  is  in  the  midst  of  small  men  in  the  department  of  agricultural  reform. 
It  is  precisely  the  reverse.  Anywhere  else,  almost,  many  of  his  associates 
would  be  head  and  shoulders  above  all  competitors.  Among  his  near  neigh- 
bors, and  in  the  same  small  county  of  Norfolk,  are  Messrs.  Samuel  Walker, 
known  and  acknowledged  as  a  host  in  himself,  anywhere  and  everywhere ; 
Benjamin  V.  French,  the  great  Apple  King,  and  one  of  the  best  and  most 
intelligent  farmers  in  the  State;  Thomas  Motley,  Jr.,  not  more  distinguished 
for  his  splendid  cows  and  other  imported  animals,  than  for  his  equally  sj^len- 
did  cultivation,  and  others  deservedly  distinguished ;  and  these,  with  a  more 
numerous  list  of  associates,  in  different  sections  of  the  State,  form  a  body  of 
men,  who,  for  personal  worth  and  personal  influence,  are  not  exceeded  by 
those  of  any  other  profession. 

Let  our  farmers,  as  a  body,  be,  and  show  themselves  to  be,  men — yes, 
MEN — able  to  sustain  the  interests  they  represent,  and  then  let  them  demand 
the  concurrence  of  the  State  or  national  legislatures  in  those  measures  which 
are  deemed  of  especial  importance,  and  we  shall  no  longer  hear  such  mean- 
ings and  lamentations  from  a  forgotten  or  unthought-of  and  "  dumb"  portion 
of  the  community. 

In  1851,  on  the  formation  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture,  Mr. 
Wilder  was  elected  its  first  presiding  ofBcer.  At  the  formation  of  the 
United  States  Agricultural  Society,  at  Washington,  in  1852,  Mr.  Wilder 
was  made  President,  and  still  holds  that  office.  He  also  held,  for  eight 
years,  the  office  of  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  and 
is  still  one  of  its  directors.  This  Society  holds  weekly  exhibitions  of  fruits  and 
flowers,  the  year  round,  at  Horticultural  Hall,  in  School  street,  opposite  the 
City  Hal),  and  often  collects  a  large  concourse  of  people  to  admire  the  rich 
display.  He  is  now  President  of  the  American  Pomological  Society.  He 
has  also  held  the  office  of  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate,  and  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Governor's  Council.  He  has  often  pfesided  over  large 
deliberative  assemblies,  and  always  with  remarkable  success.*     Who  would 

*  We  cut  from  a  Boston  paper  the  following  paragraph : 

"  United  States  Senatoeship. — "We  regret  to  learn  that  the  Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wil- 
der, whose  name  has  been  prominently  before  the  public  for  this  office,  desires  not  to  be 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   EMINENT   MEN.  475 

not  covet  such  distinctions  rather  than  the  noisy  honors  of  a  mere  politician  ? 
The  most  popular  achievements  of  the  latter  are  often  of  little  permanent 
value,  sometimes  positively  harmful,  and  seldom  last  beyond  a  brief  term. 
Such  honors  as  we  have  depicted  are  incorporated  in  the  very  soil,  bloom  in 
the  flowers,  and  bear  fruit  year  by  year.  Even  the  child  who  enjoys  these 
luxuries,  which  are  often  appropriated  as  a  daily  lunch,  has  occasion,  day  by 
day,  to  give  honor  to  such  men.  They  have  their  reward.  They  will  not 
soon  be  forgotten.  His  virtues  have  a  practical  existence,  benefiting  and  en- 
noblino-  the  whole  community,  and  his  name  will  fill  a  page  in  history  that 
will  suflfer  no  detriment  by  the  lapse  of  years,  and  which  will  have  its  inter- 
preter on  every  hill-side,  and  in  every  valley  where  rural  taste  and  refinement 
are  found. 

Perhaps  we  can  not  better  occupy  the  space  devoted  to  this  subject,  than 
by  presenting  the  following  extract  from  the  well-written  and  truthful  sketch 
referred  to  on  a  preceding  page.  After  giving  a  very  commendatory  account 
of  Mr.  W.,  but  more  especially  as  a  merchant,  the  writer  proceeds  thus : 

"  You  pass  through  Roxbury  to  his  place,  which  is  the  first  house  in  Dor- 
chester, on  the  road  to  Milton  and  Quincy.  It  is  called  Hawthorne  Grove, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  suburban  residences  in  the  vicinity  of  Bos- 
ton. 

Here  he  conducts  you  to  the  plants  which  you  are  curious  to  examine,  and 
speaks  to  you  of  their  history  and  habits.  He  guides  you  through  his  con- 
servatories, deservedly  ranked  among  the  best  furnished  in  the  country ;  and 
with  the  plants  therein  he  appears  as  familiar  as  Cyrus  was  with  the  soldiers 
in  his  vast  army,  calling  them  by  name,  and  giving  at  pleasure  their  locality 
and  family  connections.  We  will  suppose  that  you  pass  on  through  these 
conservatories  into  his  garden,  tastefully  laid  out  and  adorned,  and  thence 
into  his  nurseries,  which  cover  about  ten  acres  in  the  highest  state  of  culti- 
vation, and  which  contain  many  thousands  of  young  fruit  trees,  particularly 
the  pear.  For  the  last  species  of  fruit  his  grounds  are  as  distinguished  as  his 
green-houses  are  for  the  best  varieties  and  the  most  extensive  collection  of 
camelias.  Of  the  pear,  he  has  exhibited,  at  one  time,  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  varieties. 

When  you  have  accomplished  the  object  of  your  mission  and  taken  your 
departure,  reflection  suggests  the  inquiry  how  a  gentleman  engaged  in  a  mer- 
cantile business  so  extensive,  can  have  acquired  a  fund  of  information  so 
varied  and  extensive,  a  knowledge  so  profound  of  the  sciences  of  horticulture, 
agriculture,  and  kindred  arts.  A  word  of  caution  is  needful  before  we  answer 
this  question.  It  may  not  be  wise  nor  safe  for  every  merchant  to  prosecute 
so  many  and  such  varied  subordinate  pursuits.  Singleness  of  purpose  and 
concentration  of  energy  are  the  general  rules  of  success.  All  have  not  the 
same  versatility  of  genius,  the  same  adherence  to  system,  the  same  inclina- 
tion, taste,  and  indomitable  perseverance.  Each  must  study  himself,  and 
thus  ascertain  what  he  can  attempt  with  safety,  and  with  a  reasonable  pros- 
pect of  prosperity  and  happiness.  So  much  variety  in  the  objects  of  pursuit, 
while  it  would  probably  distract  or  perplex  most  persons,  would  utterly  dis- 
qualify some  for  business,  and  insure  their  loss  of  health,  fortune,  and  life. 

A  more  familiar  acqua)intance  with  Mr.  Wilder's  natural  endowments  and 

considered  a  candidate.  In  common  with  his  numerous  friends,  we  sympathize  tenderly 
with  him  in  the  repeated  domestic  bereavements  with  which  he  has  been  visited  the  last 
year ;  and  especially  in  the  recent  aflfliction  under  which  he  now  mourns  the  recent  death 
,if  a  son.  His  decision  is  one  which  our  readers,  many  of  our  merchants,  and  the  farmers 
throughout  the  country,  will  deeply  regret." 


476  BIOGRAPHY  OF   EMINENT   MEN. 

private  habits,  discloses  the  manner  in  whicb  he  has  been  enabled  to  make  so 
extensive  attainments,  and  to  pursue  objects  so  various.  Blessed  by  nature 
with  quick  perceptive  faculties,  and  unusual  versatility  of  mind,  he  acquires 
with  ease  and  rapidity,  and  readily  applies  his  acquisitions  to  his  numerous 
and  varied  employments.  Besides,  he  is  a  rigid  economist  of  time,  a  close 
adherent  to  system.  Every  hour  has  its  appropriate  business,  which  is 
attended  to  in  its  appointed  season.  In  the  evening,  and  at  early  dawn,  he 
is  in  his  well- selected  and  valuable  library,  either  investigating  subjects  which 
the  labors  and  scenes  of  the  past  day  have  suggested,  or  planning  the  busi- 
ness of  the  approaching  day. 

When  his  gardeners,  nurserymen,  and  others  employed  on  his  place  pre- 
sent themselves  at  however  early  an  hour  in  the  morning,  his  rule  is  to  meet 
them,  and  assign  to  each  company  its  appropriate  business,  under  its  respect- 
ive foreman,  who  receives  the  requisite  instruction  and  orders.  Away  they 
go  to  their  work,  and  he  returns  to  breakfast  with  his  family,  and  with  them 
to  acknowledge  the  Giver  of  all  their  mercies. 

Next  he  goes  forth  to  see  that  each  man  is  at  his  post,  performing  his  duty 
in  the  best  manner,  to  drop  a  word  of  encouragement  to  the  industrious  and 
faithful,  and  by  his  own  example  to  encourage  and  instruct  them,  now  train- 
ing a  vine  or  giving  a  finishing  touch  to  a  bouquet,  then  wielding  the  spade 
or  the  pruning-knife,  hybridizing  a  cameha,  planting  a  tree,  inserting  a  bud, 
sketching  a  flower,  or  gathering  the  first  fruit  of  a  new  variety  of  pear  for 
subsequent  study,  delineation,  and  description.  At  ten  o'clock,  or  thereabout, 
he  doffs  his  garden  robes,  and  is  attired — in  his  carriage — and  on  his  way  to 
Boston,  where  the  rest  of  the  day  is  devoted  to  his  mercantile  business.  This 
system  he  has  steadily  pursued  for  a  long  course  of  years  ;  and  in  his  strict 
adherence  to  it  lies  the  secret  of  his  success,  and  of  his  elevation  to  the  dis- 
tinguished position  which  he  holds  as  a  merchant,  a  horticulturist,  and  an 
agriculturist. 

Hitherto  we  have  spoken  of  him  principally  in  the  first  of  these  capacities. 
But  we  must  also  notice  his  progress  in  the  others,  related  to  the  former  in 
his  multifarious  business,  as  the  planets  to  the  central  orb  around  which  they 
revolve. 

When  Mr.  Wilder  moved  from  Boston  to  his  present  residence,  he  was 
associated  with  gentlemen  of  taste  in  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Soci- 
ety, with  such  men  as  Dearborn,  Phinney,  Fessenden,  Lowell,  Manning, 
Story,  Everett,  and  AVebster,  and  with  others  of  fair  fame  who  still  live. 
The  object  of  this  organization  was  the  promotion  of  horticulture ;  and  as  a 
means  to  that  end,  it  contemplated  the  publication  of  its  transactions,  a 
library,  exhibitions  of  fruits  and  flowers,  an  experimental  garden,  and  a  rural 
cemetery.  The  two  latter  of  these  it  sought  to  realize  by  the  purchase  of 
Mount  Auburn.  But  many  of  the  proprietors  in  this  Pere  la  Chaise  of  Amer- 
ica felt  little  interest  in  the  legitimate  object  of  the  Association.  At  length  it 
was  deemed  expedient  to  give  exclusive  control  of  the  Cemetery,  while  the 
original  organization  should  confine  its  efforts  to  horticulture. 

But  a  large  sum  had  been  invested  in  this  purchase,  and  a  considerable 
annual  income  was  accruing  from  the  sale  of  lots.  On  the  motion  of  Mr. 
Wilder,  the  terms  for  the  separation  of  the  cemetery  interest  from  the  Horti- 
cultural Society  were  referred  to  a  joint  committee,  and  after  much  delibera- 
tion were  agreed  upon.  By  these,  the  Horticultural  Association  received  one 
fourth  part  of  the  income  of  the  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery  from  the  sale  of 
lots,  an  arrangement  that  has  proved  in  the  highest  degree  beneficial  to  both 


BIOGRAPHY   OF  EMINENT   MEN.  477 


bodies,  and  for  which  the  Horticultural  Society  are  much  indebted  to  Mr. 
Wilder  and  his  associate,  Hon.  Elijah  Vose. 

In  1840,  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Soci- 
ety, an  office  which  he  filled  with  honor  to  himself  and  to  that  Association  for 
eight  years.  During  his  administration,  it  greatly  increased  in  the  number 
of  its  members,  in  its  resources,  usefulness,  and  respectability.  It  erected  its 
beautiful  hall  in  School  street,  at  the  laying  of  thetcorner-stone  and  the  dedi- 
cation of  which  he  delivered  appropriate  speeches.*  It  held  two  triennial 
festivals  in  Faueuil  Hall,  occasions  which  congregated  the  elite  of  city  and 
country,  and  which  will  long  be  remembered  for  their  luxurious  entertain- 
ments, and  for  their  soul-stirring  speeches  from  Webster,  Everett,  and  other 
chief  masters  of  eloquence.  When  he  retired  from  the  office,  the  Society 
accompanied  its  resolutions  of  thanks  with  a  silver  service,  as  a  substantial 
testimonial  of  its  gratitude  for  his  valuable  labors. 

Both  before  and  since  that  period,  he  has  contributed  largely  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  pomology  by  the  annual  importation  of  fruit  trees  from  the 
chief  European  cultivators ;  by  the  encouragement  of  nurserymen  ;  by  the  cul- 
tivation of  trees  and  plants  in  variety  in  his  own  grounds ;  by  his  extensive 
correspondence  with  fruit-growers ;  and  by  his  addresses  and  communications 
devoted  to  this  interest.  Hence,  upon  the  organization  of  the  American 
Pomological  Society,  a  national  institution,  embracing  the  various  States  and 
territories  of  our  Union,  he  was  elected  President  of  that  body,  an  ofiice  to 
which  he  has  been  elected  for  the  third  time. 

At  its  session  in  Philadelphia,  September,  1852,  he  delivered,  by  appoint- 
ment, a  most  eloquent  eulogy  on  the  life,  labors,  and  death  of  his  intimate 
friend,  Andrew  Jackson  Downing,  the  great  rural  architect  and  landscape 
gardener  of  America,  who  perished  in  the  conflagration  of  the  steamer  Henry 
Clay,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  the  preceding  July ;  a  gentleman  who  was  an 
honor  to  his  country,  and  was  honored  by  her,  and  was  distinguished  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  for  his  numerous  publications  and  valuable  ser- 
vices. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  that  production  we  will  quote  as  an  illustration 
of  the  force  of  Mr.  Wilder's  diction,  the  beauty  of  his  style,  and  the  range  of 
his  thoughts : 

'  Downing  is  dead  !  Yet  how  little  of  such  men  can  perish  !  The  clayey 
tenement  may  indeed  fall  and  crumble ;  but  to  him  who  dwelt  in  it,  a  place 
is  assigned  in  the  firmament  of  American  genius,  far  above  the  storms  and 
convulsions  of  earth,  in  that  clear  upper  sky,  where  he  shall  shine  for  ever  to 
illumine  the  path  of  intelligence,  enterprise,  and  virtue,  and  henceforth  to 
enkindle  in  the  human  mind  a  love  of  order,  taste,  and  beauty.  We  rank 
him  with  those  who  start  improvements  which  advance  ages  after  they  are 
dead,  and  who  are  justly  entitled  to  the  consideration  and  gratitude  of  man- 
kind. Washington  and  his  illustrious  associates  are  dead ;  but  the  liberty 
which  they  achieved  still  lives  and  marches  in  triumph  and  glory  through 
the  earth.  Franklin  is  dead;  but  the  spark  which  his  miraculous  wand 
'drew  from  heaven  speaks  with  tongues  of  fire  and  electrifies  the  globe.  Ful- 
ton is  dead ;  but  he  awoke  the  spirit  of  invention  which  turns  the  machinery 
of  man — aye,  he  awoke  also  the  genius  of  navigation — 

'And  heaven-inspired 
To  love  of  useful  glory,  roused  mankind, 
And  in  unbounded  commerce  mixed  the  world.' 

*  See  its  Transactions  for  1845. 


478  CORX    IN  NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 


Downing  also  is  dead  ;  but  the  principles  of  artistic  propriety  and  ornament, 
of  rural  economy  and  domestic  comfort,  wliich  he  revealed,  await  a  more  full 
and  perfect  development ;  and  as  they  advance  toward  their  glorious  con- 
summation, grateful  millions  will  honor  and  cherish  his  name.  His  memory 
shall  live  for  ever.'* 

At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  Pomological  Association  in  Boston,  Mr.  Wil- 
der was  reelected  its  president,  and  delivered  an  able  address  on  the  arts  of 
cultivation,  and  other  topics,  embodying  the  results  of  his  long  and  valuable 
experience. 

In  conclusion,  he  exhorted  the  members  to  diligence  and  perseverance,  and 
said :  "  Gentlemen,  go  on.  Prosecute  the  work  you  have  so  honorably  com- 
menced. Sow  the  seeds  of  your  best  fruits,  raise  new  varieties,  ply  the  arts 
of  judicious  cultivation,  study  the  laws  of  nature,  and  extend  your  researches 
and  labors,  till  our  beloved  land  shall  be  adorned  with  orchards,  vineyards, 
and  gardens,  and  man  shall  realize  the  poet's  idea  of  Paradise  Regained."! 

During  the  sessions,  which  lasted  three  days,  Mr.  Wilder  gave  a  magnifi- 
cent Pomological  Levee,  at  which  about  two  hundred  gentlemen  were  pre- 
sent, including  his  Excellency  the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  other 
distinguished  guests.  The  editors  of  the  Horticulturist^  in  their  description 
of  the  occasion,  say  :  '  The  table  was  the  richest  and  most  tasteful  we  have 
ever  seen ;'  and  this  was  the  expression  of  many  who  have  attended  the  most 
brilliant  affairs  of  this  kind  ever  given  in  Boston.  The  occasion  was  free  from 
formalities.  Sentiments  were  given  by  the  host,  and  responded  to  in  brief 
speeches.  At  the  close  of  the  session,  Hon.  Mr.  Benson,  M.  C.  from  Maine, 
proposed  the  following  resolution  : 

^Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Society  are  most  cordially  presented  to 
the  President,  Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wilder,  for  the  prompt,  able,  and  impartial 
manner  in  which  he  has  presided  over  its  deliberations ;  and  we  hereby 
assure  him  that  the  members  will  long  cherish  a  lively  recollection  of  the 
pleasure  enjoyed  at  his  bountiful  and  brilliant  festive  entertainment  with 
which  he  comphmented  the  Society.'  " 

We  do  not  prepare  this  paper  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  doing  justice  to 
the  subject  of  it — the  testimony  is  not  shut  up  in  our  pages — but  partly 
because  it  is  a  most  pleasing  task,  and  still  more  because  we  would  add  our 
little  word  of  encouragement  to  those  who,  with  strong  powers,  and  perhaps 
not  unfavorable  circumstances,  have  it  in  their  power,  with  the  blessing  of 
Heaven,  to  exercise  an  influence  on  their  associates  and  successors  that  shall 
one  day  work  out  an  earthly  paradise. 


FOR  THE  PLOUGH,  THB  LOOM,  AKD  THE  ANVIL. 

CORN     IN     NEW-HAMPSHIRE, 

Messrs.  Editors  :  The  cultivation  of  Indian  corn  does  not  receive  the  atten- 
tion that  it  deserves  from  the  farmers  of  the  North.  It  might  rank  next  to 
the  grass  crop,  which  is  undoubtedly  the  first  in  the  Northern  States.  It  is 
not  an  uncommon  thing  to  hear  sensible  farmers  talk  about  its  costing  one 
dollar  per  bushel  to  produce  this  grain,  but  this  talk  is  all  moonshine.  No 
one  that  has  kept  debt  and  credit  will  make  such  a  statement.     Large  crops 

*  ProceediBgs  at  American  Pomological  Congress,  1852.      f  Transactions  for  1854. 


CORN   IN   NEW-HAMPSHIRE.  479 


of  this  grain  can  be  produced  among  the  rugged  hills  of.jSTew-Hampshire,  by 
judicious  cultivation,  and  with  less  injury  to  the  soil  than  is  occasioned  by 
most  other  white  crops,  while  it  furnishes  the  largest  amount  of  feed  for- stock, 
which  can  be  returned  back  again  to  the  soil  in  manure. 

The  unprecedented  drought  of  the  past  season  reduced  our  crop  of  corn, 
perhaps  one  third  from  that  of  the  previous  year,  which  was  uncommonly 
laro-e,  ranging  from  thirty  to  over  one  hundred  bushels  per  acre  in  our  vici- 
nity, on  well-cultivated  land. 

Since  my  remembrance,  our  vicinity  furnished  corn  for  market.  Now  they 
buy  largely,  while  the  soil  is  equal  to  any  in  the  county  of  Rockingham,  for 
producing  this  grain.  We  might  and  ought  to  produce  our  own  bread,  if 
we  would  but  come  up  to  the  work.  What  has  been  done  can  be  done 
again.     Good  soil  is  a  good  thing,  but  good  cultivation  is  better. 

Our  opinion  is,  that  manuring  for  a  series  of  crops  for  the  raising  of  this 
grain  is  the  best  system,  all  things  considered.  Corn  is  a  great  feeder,  and  is 
seldom  injured  by  high  manuring,  as  some  other  crops  are.  Our  system  is, 
spread  on  the  sod,  and  plough  in  late  in  the  fall.  On  land  that  is  liable  to 
wash,  and  of  a  dryish  order,  the  furrow  should  run  across  the  slope  to  pre- 
vent it  from  washing.  On  moist  land,  plough  in  the  fall;  in  the  spring, 
cart  on  and  spread  a  good  coat  of  fine  manure,  and  give  it  thorough  harrow- 
ing. About  the  20th  of  May,  plant  and  keep  clean  through  the  season. 
Allow  no  weeds  to  seed.  The  next  year,  sow  to  wheat  and  clover,  then  three 
or  four  years  in  grass,  then  plough  and  manure  again,  and  plant  to  corn.  The 
advantage  of  this  system  is  this  :  The  corn  takes  off  the  heat  of  the  manure ; 
the  manure  assists  in  readily  decomposing  the  vegetable  fibre  in  the  soil,  and 
hastens  on  the  crop  to  maturity,  so  that  it  escapes  the  early  frosts,  while  a 
crop  sparingly  manured  will  be  a  week  or  two  later,  and  may  be  caught  by 
the  frost. 

The  second  year  the  land  is  in  fine  condition  for  a  crop  of  wheat,  nor  will 
it  be  so  hkely  to  mildew  as  newly-manured  land  will.  If  it  would  not  be  out 
of  place,  we  would  state  the  cost  of  growing  a  patch  of  corn  the  past  season, 
by  estimation  one  acre : 

66  bushels  of  corn, U1  20 

Top  stalks,  etc., 25  00 

Whole  value  of  crop, S92  20 

Whole  cost  of  cultivation,  interest  on  land,  taxes,  etc.,      -     32  50 

Net  income, $59  70 

By  the  unprecedented  drought,  this  crop  was  injured  at  least  one  third 
from  what  it  would  have  been,  if  we  had  had  rain  in  the  proper  time.  The 
stalks  were  topped  the  last  week  in  August,  and  harvested  the  third  week  in 
September.  The  manure  on  a  part  of  the  piece  proved  an  injury,  owing  to 
the  drought.  We  do  not  say  that  this  is  a  great  crop ;  but,  under  all  the 
unfavorable  circumstances,  it  is  a  paying  one.  The  land  is,  at  least,  worth 
twenty  per  cent  more  for  the  four  next  succeeding  crops,  than  it  was  before 
it  was  ploughed.  D.  L.  Harvey. 

Epping,  N.  H.,  January,  1855. 


Fat  Hogs. — David  Robinson,  of  Russel,  Geauga  Co.,  sold  in  our  market 
the  other  day  three  hogs  weighing  421,  480  and  680,  respectively.  The  last 
was  a  huge  animal. 


480  CROPS  IN  VIRGINIA. 


FOR  THE  PLOUGH,  THE  LOOM,  AND  THE  ANVIL. 

CROPS   IN  VIRGINIA.— SOUTHERN   PLOUGHS,   ETC. 

Messrs.  Editors  :  Since  my  communication  of  the  6tli  ult.,  we  have  had 
an  open  winter,  with  httle  or  no  snow.  The  first  two  weeks  of  December 
were  cold,  giving  a  good  supply  of  ice,  and  the  ice-houses  were  generally 
filled.  The  last  forty  days  have  been  unusually  pleasant  for  winter  months, 
and  have  been  very  favorable  to  our  stock.  Sheep,  up  to  this  date,  have 
scarcely  been  fed  at  all.  My  flock  has  not  been  fed  a  handful  of  any  thing, 
and  have  given  me  no  trouble,  further  than  salting  once  a  week.  My  cattle 
have  not  consumed  half  the  usual  quantity  of  feed ;  and  should  the  close  of 
the  winter  months  continue  favorable,  we  will  be  enabled  to  get  through  win- 
ter full  as  well  as  in  years  past,  when  plentiful  crops  were  made. 

The  farming  community  have  availed  themselves  of  the  open  winter,  and 
much  ground  has  been  ploughed  for  the  corn  crop.  The  Virginia  State 
Agricultural  Society  is  to  have  a  good  influence  on  the  farming  community. 
We  are  getting  to  plough  better  than  formerly,  and  more  attention  is  paid  to 
a  regular  rotation  of  crops ;  and  there  is  more  attention  paid  to  good  stock. 
Horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs  are  better  attended  to  than  formerly.  The 
three-horse  plough  is  in  more  general  use ;  most  of  our  best  farmers  use  it. 
The  ground  is  deeper  and  better  ploughed,  which  saves  our  rolling  lands  from 
being  as  badly  washed  as  under  the  old  practice.  Our  lands  also  stand  a 
drought  much  better  from  being  deeply  cultivated.  The  subsoil  plough  is 
but  little  used  as  yet.  We  have  no  good  plough  of  this  description  amongst 
us,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends.  We  have  two  kinds  of  hill-side  ploughs  : 
one  invented  by.  Bradley,  and  one  introduced  by  Messrs.  Leyburno,  and  now 
manufactured  by  Messrs.  Taylor  &  McDowell,  all  of  our  county,  which  do 
pretty  good  work.  The  best  plough  we  have  is  one  introduced  some  fifteen 
years  since,  of  various  numbers,  from  1  to  4,  by  S.  Bradley  &  Co.,  and  called 
the  Livingston  Plough.  It  is  simple  in  its  construction,  and  can  be  kept  in 
order  by  any  ordinary  ploughman.  They  are  also  cheap,  ranging  from  $4  to 
$8.50,  cash,  for  one,  two,  and  three  horses.  They  have  been  put  in  competi- 
tion with  many  of  the  best  ploughs  from  the  North ;  and  our  real  practical 
men  say,  taking  all  things  into  account,  they  are  equal,  if  not  superior  to  and 
plough  ever  introduced  here.  The  cutters  and  land-sides,  when  worn  out,  are 
easily  replaced,  and  with  a  wooden  pin  that  any  one  can  make,  are  firmly 
fitted  and  as  good  as  new,  till  the  mould-board  is  worn  out.  They  are  en 
tirely  of  cast-iron,  except  the  beam  and  handles,  with  two  or  three  pins.  This 
plough  is  not  easily  broken,  but  may  be  butted  up  against  fixed  rock  without 
danger.  More  ploughs  are  broken  by  inexperienced  ploughmen,  by  trying  to 
slide  over  rocks,  than  in  any  other  way.  A  good  ploughman,  with  a  steady, 
firm  hold  on  his  plough-handles,  buts  up  against  a  rock  or  stump,  then 
draws  back,  and  starting  slow,  with  a  steady  team,  ploughs  all  his. ground, 
and  rarely  breaks  a  plough.  But  if  you  hop  from  rock  to  rock,  to  save  the 
plough,  you  often  split  the  mould-board,  lose  half  a  day  in  going  to  the 
foundry  for  a  new  one,  and  paying  $1  to  |2  to  repair  damages.  There  are 
many  other  good  ploughs  in  our  valley,  and  I  have  examined  samples  manu- 
factured in  Richmond,  Baltimore,  the  States  of  Massachusetts  and  New- 
York — ploughs  that  cost  more  money,  and  withal  more  complicated — yet  I 
have  seen  none  that  I  consider  superior  to  the  Livingston  County  plough. 
The  left-hand  plough  is  generally  in  use  with  us.     This  plough  took  a  pre- 


CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION    OF  THE   COB   OF  MAIZE. 


481 


December  1,  28o 

u 

2,  32 

u 

3,  33 

u 

4,  26 

u 

5,   16 

u 

6,  17 

(( 

V,  32 

<( 

8,  14 

(( 

9,  15 

« 

10,  26 

(( 

11,  38 

(( 

12,  34 

(( 

13,  38 

(( 

14,  35 

u 

15,  32 

« 

16,  32 

<( 

17,  38 

a 

18,  36 

January 


2,  30 

3,  36 

4,  44 

5,  44 


Your  obedient  servant,  etc., 
22i  cTiwwary,  1865. 


January    6,  38° 
"  7,  54 


mium  at  the  cattle  show  and  fair,  held  at  Syracuse,  September  29th  and 

30th,  1841.  ,  •     ,    . 

We  have  had  quite  a  gale  since  2  P.M.  yesterday,  21st;  heavy  rain,  last 
night,  with  thunder  and  lightning.  The  mercury  is  falling.  From  noon  yes- 
terday till  noon  to-day  the  mercury  has  fallen  26°,  and  still  going  down. 
Annexed,  I  send  you  the  state  of  the  mercury  at  daylight,  since  1st  Decem- 
ber, 1854: 

December  19,  26® 

"         20,  12 

"         21,  30 

«         22,  20 

«         23,  26 

"         24,  34 

"         25,  44 

"         26,  60 

"         27,  50 

"         28,  48 

"         29,  38 

"         30,  16 

"         31,  34 
1,  31 


«  8,  36 

"  9,  35 

«  10,  36 

«  11,  32 

«  12,  42 

"  13,  50 

«  14,  22 

"  15,  24 

«  16,  32 

"  17,  33 

"  18,  40 

»'  19,  25 

"  20,  34 

"  21,  40 

«  22,  27 

"  23,  16 

Henry  B,  Jones. 


CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION  OF  THE   COB  OF  MAIZE. 

BT   J.   H.   SALISBURY,   M.D. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  manure  of  an  animal  varies  in  quality  with  the 
food  which  it  eats ;  and  that,  generally,  manure  is  richer  in  nitrogen  bodies, 
and  less  rich  in  non-nitrogenized  matter  than  the  food  consumed.     Probably 
a  greater  proportion  (though  I  do  not  know  as  this  has  actually  been  demon- 
strated) of  100  lbs.  of  nitrogen  bodies  would  be  assimilated  by  the  system,  if 
it  were  mixed  with  500  lbs.  of  non-nitrogenized  matter ;  and  still  more,  if 
mixed  with  1000  lbs.,  than  if  taken  into  the  system  undiluted  or  alone.    It 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  as  essential  for  food  to  contain  bodies  des- 
titute of  nitrogen,  (such  as  starch,  sugar,  oil,  etc.,)  or  those  that  go  to  sup- 
port animal  heat  and  respiration  in  the  body,  as  it  is  to  have  nitrogen  com- 
pounds to  nourish  or  supply  the  waste  of  the  living  tissues.     Hence,  food 
suited  best  to  sustain  animal  life,  is  that  which  is  made  up  of  these  two 
classes  of  bodies  mixed  in  the  proper  proportion.     And  a  deficiency  in  the 
one  is  equally  as  deleterious  to  the  healthy  existence  of  the  animal,  as  a  defi- 
ciency of  the  other ;  therefore  we  can  hardly  say  that  one  of  these  classes  is 
in  reality  more  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  life  than  the  other.    They  both 
seem  to  perform  equally  important  offices.    If  this  view  be  taken,  the  cob 
can  not  be  regarded  as  deficient  in  those  bodies  which  contribute  to  respira- 
tion and  nutrition.    The  following  table  shows  about  the  amount  of  the  seve- 
29 


482 


CORN   STATISTICS  IN  FRANCE. 


ral  T^ro: '  p-'''^  oror^r.'"  bodi"'?  thrown  amy  in  roV'-'^^inr  ^h'?  -•  '■  '  u.^ated 
from  the  analysis  ot  the  small  wliite  Hint  variety;  1000  ids.  of  eaia  contain 
Hot  far  from  200  lbs.  of  cob  and  800  lbs.  of  grain.  These  contain  the  follow- 
ing bodies  in  the  following  proportions,  expressed  in  pounds  and  decimals  of 
a  pound : 

Sugar  and  extract,    -         -        -         - 

Starch,    ---... 

Fibre,      -         -         -         - 

Oil, 

Zein, 

Matter  separated  by  potash  from  fibre, 

Albumen,        -         -         .         .         . 

Casein,    ------ 

Dextrine,  or  gum,     -         -         -         . 

Resin,     ------ 

Glutinous  matter,     -         -         - 

200  lbs.  800  lbs.  1000  lbs. 
In  the  above  table,  the  inorganic  matter  is  not  separately  considered,  it 
being  distributed  among  the  several  organic  bodies.  By  rejecting  the  cobs 
of  1000  lbs.  of  dry  ears,  about  200  lbs.  of  organic  matter  is  lost,  which  con- 
sists of  13  J  lbs.  of  sugar,  and  extract  12*71-  lbs.  of  fibre,  45-|-  lbs.  of  matter, 
separated  from  fibre  by  a  weak  solution  of  potash,  1|-  lbs.  of  albumen,  .288 
of  a  pound  of  casein,  2.31  of  gum  or  dextrine,  1.8  lbs.  of  resin,  and  7.4  lbs. 
of  glutinous  matter.  Hence  the  cob,  though  not  rich  in  nutritive  matter, 
can  by  no  means  be  said  to  be  destitute  of  those  proximate  principles  which 
go  to  support  respiration  and  sustain  animal  heat,  and  those  which  are  capa- 
ble of  being  transformed  into  nerve,  muscle,  etc ,  and  the  phosphates  which 
contribute  so  largely  to  the  formation  of  bone. 


200  lbs.  cob. 

800  lbs.  grain. 

1000  lbs.  ears. 

13.582 

115.320 

128.902 

.003 

487.384 

487.387 

127.68V 

7.712 

135.399 

.... 

39.824 

39.824 

.... 

31.856 

31.856 

45.404 

61.856 

97.260 

1.518 

37.136 

38.654 

.288 

.688 

.976 

2.310 

28.224 

30.534 

1.806 

.  •  •  • 

1.806 

7.402 

7.402 

CORN   STATISTICS   IN   FRANCE. 

The  Siede  says :  "  According  to  the  latest  statistical  returns,  the  crop 
of  every  kind  of  corn  in  an  average  year  in  France  now  amounts  to  about 
180,000,000  of  hectolitres.  In  wheat,  our  country  produces  60,000,000 
of  hectolitres;  rye,  26,000,000;  barley,  19,000,000;  Metiel,  (a  mixture  of 
wheat  and  rye,)  1,500,000 ;  oats,  40,000,000 ;  buckwheat,  8,000,000 ; 
maize  and  millet,  7,000,000 ;  small  grain,  pulse,  etc.,  2,500,000.  The 
crop  of  wheat  is,  therefore,  in  the  proportion  of  60  to  180;  that  of  oats, 
50  to  180;  and  that  of  rye,  23  to  180;  that  is  to  say,  these  three  de- 
scriptions of  corn  compared  with  all  the  others,  are  in  the  proportion  of 
103  to  77  only.  This  quantity  of  180,000,000  of  hectolitres  of  corn  is  not 
all  consumed;  deducting  25,700,000  hectolitres,  for  seed,  there  remains 
154,300,000  for  the  general  consumption.  As,  however,  oats,  the  net  pro- 
duction of  which  is  39,250,000  hectolitres,  can  not  be  reckoned  as  human 
food,  we  find  that  the  quantity  remaining  for  the  food  of  the  people  is 
115,050,000  hectoHtres.  If  we  now  take  the  difierent  crops  by  weight,  which 
is  the  best  manner  of  estimating  the  nutritive  value  of  each,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  average  weight  of  wheat  is  75  kilogrammes  per  hectolitre,  that  of 
rye  65  kilogrammes,  barley  60  kilogrammes,  Metiel  70  kilogiainmes,  buck- 
wheat GO  kilogrammes,  maize  78  kilogrammes,  and  dry  pulse  80  kilo- 
grammes.    It  follows,  therefore,  from  these  bases  that  with  51,500,000  hec- 


HEREDITARY   SPAVIN.  483 

tolitres  of  wheat,  weighing  3  millards  of  kilogrammes,  and  the  oiher  quantities 
of  corn  in  proportion,  we  have  a  total  weight  of  8,046,800,000  kilogrammes 
of  corn  fit  for  consumption  of  man.  It  has  been  calculated  that  on  an  aver- 
age including  women,  children,  and  old  people,  it  requires  220  kilogrammes 
of  corn  per  year  for  the  food  of  one  person.  This  would,  therefore,  be 
for  France,  where  the  population  is  reckoned  at  36,000,000,  a  total  of 
7,920,000,000  kilogrammes.  If,  therefore,  from  8,046,800,000  kilogrammes 
calculated,  as  above  stated,  for  human  consumption,  there  be  deducted  the 
7,920,000,000,  which  suffice  for  the  consumption  of  France,  the  following 
result  which  must  be  satisfactory  to  every  one,  is  come  to — namely,  that 
France,  in  an  average  year,  has  a  crop  of  127,000,000  kilogrammes  of  corn 
beyond  the  wants  of  the  people,  and  that  she  could  still  feed  600,000  inhab- 
itants more  than  the  present  number  of  her  population." 


FLOWERING    OF   FRUIT   TREES   IN   1854. 

We  copy  the  following  interesting  table  from  the  American  Almanac  for 
1855.  The  work  is  replete  with  useful  information.  See  our  Notices  of 
New  Books. 


PLACES. 

Cambridge,  Mas?., 

PL0M. 

April  30 

PEAR. 

April  30 

PEACH. 

May  3 

CHERRY. 

May  5 

APPLE. 

May  10 

"Woodstock,  Vt.,.    .     . 

May  10 

May  15 

May  22 

New-Haven,  Ct.,    .     . 

April  25 

May  6 

Lambertville,  N.  J.,    . 

April  24 

April  24 

May  1 

Perth  Amboy,  K  J.,  . 

April  30 

.... 

April  25 

April  27 

May  23 

King  George  Co.,  Va. 

* 

April  8 

Mar.  17-22 

April  5 

Ap'l  15 

Savannab,  G3.,f     . 

Feb.  15 

Feb  15 

«... 

Mar.  1 

Muscatiae,  Iowa,    .     . 

May  3 

:May  6 

May  3 

May  1 

May  S 

*  The  fruit  was  generally  killed  by  the  excessive  cold  weather  in  April,  after  a  very  mild  March. 
Snow  and  ice,  April  15  ;  frost,  Mny  1. 
+  Frost,  early  in  April,  killed  the  early  fruit. 


HEREDITARY  SPAVIN— CAUSE,  ETC. 

The  following  article  on  "  Hereditary  Spavin  in  Horses,"  is  taken  from 
the  London  Farmers'  Magazine  : 

Spavin  and  other  Ossific  Enlargements,  the  predisposition  to  which 
may  be  either  constitutional  or  local,  are  compof'^'d  of  the  earthy  matters  of 
bone,  chiefly  invading  the  tissues  low  in  the  scale  of  organization,  such  as 
cartilage  and  fibrous  cartilaginous  substance^ ;  injuring  the  structure  and  func- 
tions of  the  parts,  by  rendering  them  rigid  and  inelastic  ;  and  causing  partial  or 
complete  lameness,  depending  on  the  situation  and  extent  of  the  deposition. 

It  is  perfectly  well  ascertained  that  the  progeny  of  some  horses  inherit  a 
constitutional  tendency  to  splints,  epavins,  ring-bones,  and  other  bony  deposits, 
without  exhibiting  any  peculiar  conformation  of  limbs  or  joints  to  account 
for  it.  There  are  instances  of  in  ossific  diathesis^  transmitted  from  parent  to 
oflfspring ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  this  hereditary  predisposition  more  com- 
monly depends  on  faulty  or  peculiar  conformation. 

Thus  horses  most  disposed  to  spavins  are  those  possessing  short  pointed 
hocks,  deficient  in  width  and  breadth  below,  and  disproportionately  small, 
compared  with  the  upper  portion  of  the  joint.  Those  most  disposed  to  ring- 
hones  are  horses  with  upright  pasterns  and  high  action  ;  and  those  most 


484  ITALIAN   RYE-GRASS. 


liable  to  ossified  cartilages  are  the  heavy  draught  breeds  ;  so  much  so  that 
it  is  no  uncommon  case  to  find  the  cartilages  of  the  feet  of  horses  of  this 
character  changed  into  bone  at  four  and  five  years  old.  The  reason  of  this 
is  evident  enough ;  concussion  is  easily  produced  in  the  joints  of  the  character 
of  horses  described ;  inflammation  of  a  slow  chronic  kind  follows  as  a  natural 
consequence,  and  osseous  eflusion  is  the  result. 

There  is  no  diflBculty  in  establishing  the  hereditary  character  of  those 
diseases.  Taking  spavin  as  an  example,  we  have  numerous  and  unquestion- 
able cases  to  produce.  Some  ten  or  a  dozen  years  since  a  spavined  thorough- 
bred stallion  served  mares  in  the  neighborhood  of  Truro,  and  in  a  few  years 
afterwards  it  was  really  astonishing  to  see  the  number  of  his  stock  that  were 
similarly  diseased.  One  striking  circumstance  connected  with  this  horse  is 
much  to  the  purpose.  A  half-bred  mare,  one  of  the  stock,  exhibited  spavins 
at  four  years  old,  and,  becoming  unfit  for  fast  work,  was  kept  for  breeding 
purposes  and  occasional  work  on  the  farm.  Two  of  the  mare's  stock  also 
exhibited  spavins  in  a  short  time  after  the  breaking. 

There  is  a  curious  case  recorded  in  the  Veterinarian,  by  Mr.  Percivall,  of 
a  thorough-bred  horse,  called  Dominie  Sampson,  that  had  run  very  success- 
fully on  the  English  turf,  and,  although  fired  in  both  hocks,  was  inconsid- 
erately purchased  for  the  East  India  Company,  and  was  sent  out  as  a  cover- 
ing stallion  to  the  stud  at  Buxar,  where  for  years  he  had  forty  mares 
annually,  and  the  whole  of  which  generally  proved  with  foal,  but  were 
afiected  either  with  curbs  or  spavins,  and  only  one  of  his  stock  was  passed 
into  the  cavalry  ;  consequently  he  was  discharged  from  the  stud. 

Curbs  are  frequently  found  in  horses  exhibiting  the  character  of  hock  de- 
scribed in  the  last  example,  and  are  generally  caused  by  injury  of  the  annu- 
lar ligament  from  over-exertion,  producing  swelling  and  inflammation  about 
three  inches  below  the  point  of  the  hock  formed  by  the  os  calcis.  The 
peculiar  form  of  this  bone  appears  to  be  connected  with  the  cause  of  the 
disease.  Its  chief  purpose  is  to  act  as  a  lever  for  the  action  of  very  powerful 
muscles,  the  tendons  of  which  are  inserted  into  its  extremity,  and  in  propor- 
tion to  the  projection  of  this  bone  will  the  muscular  energy  be  increased  by 
which  the  joint  is  moved.  On  this  account  its  length  is  a  matter  of  consid- 
erable importance.  It  is  supposed  also  to  assist  indirectly  in  supporting  the 
superincumbent  weight  with  the  other  bones  of  the  hock,  and  materially 
assists  in  preserving  these  parts  from  the  effects  of  concussion.  But  when 
the  OS  calcis  is  short,  forming  a  pointed  hock,  the  leverage  or  mechanical 
power  is  injuriously  diminished,  leaving  too  much  for  the  other  parts  of  the 
joint  to  perform,  and  concivssion  is  the  common  consequence,  followed  by 
inflammation  and  lameness,  som-^.times  connected  with  curbs,  at  other  times 
spavins  or  thorough  pins  ;  and  it  'is  not  an  uncommon  case  to  see  all  three 
of  these  diseases  in  the  hock  at  one  time.  There  are  other  formed  hocks, 
which  even  more  dispose  to  curbs  than  the  one  just  mentioned;  such  are 
the  "  sickle-hock"  or  "  cow  hock."  Wo  can  scarcely  name  any  disease  of 
the  horse  which  affords  stronger  evidence  of  a  hereditary  tendency  derived 
from  peculiarity  of  structure  than  the  one  wt  have  been  considering. 


ITALIAN     RYE-GRASS. 

This  grass,  recently  introduced  into  the  United  States,  is  either  a  native  of 
Italy  or  Germany,  and  is  probably  perennial.  It  differs  from  the  common 
kinds  of  rye-grass  in  many  botanical  particulars,  which  it  is  needless  to  enu- 


AETIFICIAL   MANURES.  485 


merate,  and  wliicli  are  only  intelligible  to  tlie  scientific  eye ;  but  to  the  ordi- 
nary observer,  it  difiers  very  perceptibly  in  presenting  a  darker  green  color, 
and  in  having  much  more  abundant  and  broader  foliage.    It  very  commonly 
attains  the  height  of  four  feet,  and  sometimes  more,  and  is  not  inclined  to 
spread  on  the  ground.     If  sown  in  September,  it  may  be  cut  in  the  following 
May ;  and  if  sown  early  in  March,  it  will  yield  a  heavy  crop  in  July.     "Whe- 
ther given  as  green  food  or  converted  into  hay,  it  is  eaten  with  avidity  by 
cattle,  which  have,  in  various  instances,  manifested  their  preference  of  it  to 
the  common  sorts,  which  is  accounted  for  by  its  superior  succulence  and  soft- 
ness.    It  braids  much  quicker  than  any  other  species  of  rye-grass  known  to 
us,  arrives  sooner  at  maturity,  and  is  in  every  respect  superior  to  all  of  them. 
As  it  overpowers  clover  if  sown  with  it,  it  is  useless  to  sow  them  at  the  same 
time ;  and  the  only  chance  of  their  doing  well  together  would  be  on  poor  soil, 
where  the  vacancies  between  the  turfs  of  rye-grass  might  be  filled  with  clo- 
ver, to  be  available  in  the  second  or  third  mowings.     It  is  sown  in  the  usual 
way  after  a  harrowing,  and  covered  with  a  bush-harrow  and  a  roller,  and  the 
quantity  of  seed  for  clean  ground  is  about  twenty-one  pounds  per  acre. 
Among  its  other  good  qualities,  it  is  found  to  withstand  the  influence  of  frost 
better  than  any  other  varieties  of  grass.     In  a  word,  it  is  a  decided  acqwsi' 
tion  to  our  agriculture. — Genesee  Farmer. 

This  growth  is  very  highly  commended  by  those  who  have  had  exiensire 
experience.  Two  or  three  growths  may  be  cut  in  a  single  year.  For  soiling 
it  is  very  superior. — [Ed.  P.,  L.,  &  A. 


FOR  THE  PLOUGH,  THE  LOOM,  AND  THK  ANVIL. 

ARTIFICIAL  MAl^URES. 


Messrs.  Editors  :  I  have  noticed,  with  much  pleasure,  the  prompt  and 
decided  stand  you  have  taken  in  some  of  your  late  numbers,  in  exposing  the 
frauds  that  are  practised  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  artificial  manures. 
Every  farmer  who  has  made,  or  intends  to  make,  use  of  these  manures,  will, 
no  doubt,  feel  their  obligations  to  you  for  the  exposure  you  have  given,  and 
which  will,  in  all  future  purchases,  keep  them  on  the  look-out  for  frauds,  to 
which  they  are  so  often  exposed. 

From  the  article  in  your  last  issue,  it  appears  that  in  an  instance  where  the 
purchaser  complained  to  the  vender  of  the  impurity  of  the  article  bought,  he 
was  consoled  by  the  soothing  assurance  that  it  "  contained  the  quantities  suit- 
able for  plants."  How  kind  it  was  in  this  vender  to  get  up  the  article  in  just 
the  right  proportion,  and  mix  in  so  much  foreign  matter  that  "  the  2}^C'nts'^ 
should  not  get  an  over-supply  of  that  which  was,  no  doubt,  cracked  up  loudly 
as  something  essential  to  their  healthful  growth ! 

jSTow,  after  many  years'  experience  on  the  farm  and  among  manures,  we 
have  never  seen  an  instance  where  farmers  could  not  apply  substances  bene- 
ficial to  the  soil  in  just  the  right  quantities  for  plants,  without  being  at  the 
extra  expense  arising  from  the  purchase  of  adulterated  articles ;  and  we  know 
of  no  reason  why  such  unwarrantable  frauds  should  be  practised  without  ex- 
posing their  perpetrators  to  such  punishments  as  swindling  of  the  baser  sort 
demands. 

What  would  be  the  result  if  the  farmer  should  adulterate  the  articles  of 
produce  he  sends  to  market  ?    In  the  fii-st  place,  he  would  have  to  restore  to 


486  CULTIVATION   OF   SANDY   SOILS. 


the  purchaser  all  moneys  he  received  over  the  actual  value  of  the  article  sold 
and  if  he  escaped  without  paying  heavy  damages  for  the  imposition  practised, 
he  might  think  himself  fortunate ;  and  then,  if  such  frauds  became  common, 
laws  of  greater  stringency  would  be  passed  in  order  to  overcome  such  evils. 
All  this  would  be  right — for  farmers,  like  all  others,  should  be  honest ;  and 
when  they  show  an  inclination  to  the  contrary,  it  should  be  checked,  so  that, 
whatever  temptations  may  await  them,  the  power  of  law,  where  their  own 
love  of  right  would  not  do  it,  should  keep  them  in  their  legitimate  bounds. 

The  same  rule  should  apply  to  men  in  other  employments.  The  farmer 
should  be  protected  from  frauds  as  well  as  other  men  are,  and  in  the  manures 
he  jiurchases,  as  well  as  in  other  things ;  for  what  he  suffers  in  these  matters 
arises  from  a  failure  in  his  harvest,  and,  of  course,  in  the  loss  of  hard  labor,  as 
well  as  in  the  cash  he  pays  out  for  valueless,  useless  property,  and  through 
his  sufferings  the  community  must  suffer  from  deficient  crops. 

It  is  apparent  enough,  that  the  evils  of  these  frauds  in  artificial  manures  are, 
in  each  successive  year,  becoming  more  and  more  common  in  our  country, 
and  all  under  the  pretense  of  benefiting  the  farmer. 

We  know  of  but  two  ways  of  remedying  this  evil :  One  is  to  make  it  a 
penal  offense  for  any  one  to  manufacture  or  sell  adulterated  artificial  manures, 
and  to  carry  out  this,  a  responsible  and  intelligent  inspector  should  be  ap- 
pointed for  every  mart  where  such  manures  are  offered  for  sale,  whose  duty  it 
should  be  to  brand  every  parcel  just  in  proportion  to  the  purity  of  the  article 
it  claims  to  be,  whether  first,  second,  or  third  quality,  beyond  which  it  should 
be  condemned. 

In  the  second  place,  farmers  should  look  more  to  their  own  resources,  and 
less  to  the  manufactures  for  the  means  of  improving  their  soils.  Where  is 
the  farmer,  in  all  our  country,  that  avails  himself  of  all  the  means  at  his  com- 
mand for  increasing  both  the  quantity  and  value  of  his  manure-heaps  ?  What 
wastes  of  some  sort  are  to  be  found,  even  on  premises  the  most  economically 
managed  !  How  far  can  the  manures  offered  as  merchandise  in  the  market 
be  manufactured  at  home,  at  less  expense  than  they  cost,  and  of  a  superior 
quality  ? 

These  are  questions  for  each  farmer  to  answer ;  and  in  looking  over  the  mat- 
ter, the  mass,  if  not  all,  we  are  sure,  will  find  that  available  means,  not 
hilherto  adopted,  are  within  their  reach  of  increasing  their  crops,  and  beauti- 
fying their  lands  with  luxuriant  vegetation  without  having  recourse  to  swin- 
dlers and  speculators,  who,  without  conscience  or  remorse,  will  turn  them  off 
with  catch-penny  commodities  under  the  assumed  names  of  fertilizers ! 

Yours  truly,  W.  B. 


FOR  THB  PLOOGH,  THB  LOOM,   AND  THE  ASVIL. 

CULTIVATION   OF   SANDY   SOILS.— LONG-ISLAND. 

Messrs.  Editors  :  A  large  portion  of  the  soil  of  the  country  is  of  this 
class,  and  very  little  of  it  is  under  what  may  be  called  good  cultivation.  The 
greater  part  is  managed  on  the  skinning  or  starvation  system.  That  these 
soils  possess  many  advantages,  has  been  long  acknowledged  by  those  who 
have  given  the  subject  the  ier.st  consideration,  whilst  their  peculiar  adaptation 
to  the  culture  of  root-crops  ib  now  generally  admitted.  The  absence  of  alu- 
mina and  their  porous  character  rendering  them  unable,  in  a  great  measure, 
to  retain  moisture,  the  best  portions  of  manure  are  lost,  either  by  percolation 


ATLANTIC   COTTON   MILLS. 


487 


or  evaporation;  aid  hence  has  arisen  a  great  objection  to  the  cultivation  of 
thi?  cb?s  of  7  '3,     u:  -a  thsi-  ;'r:.,.ne.  ,  ca-^.  ."i  i.  :  g.,  ^nd  ::..-.^7  L.  _.i.-Dg 
early  crops,  do  not  seem  to  have  obviated.     And  yet  that  such  soil  can  be 
well  and  profitably  cultivated  has  been  long  known  ;  witness  the  barren  sand 
of  Belgium  and  the  estates  of  Coke  and  Hatherton  in  England,  or,  nearer 
home,  the  blowing  sand  near  Albany,  and  some  small  portions  of  Long-Island. 
Their' adaptation  also  for  sheep  husbandry  is  well  known;  and  yet,  withm  a 
few  miles  of  this  great  city  are  thousands  of  acres,  every  way  capable  of  sup- 
porting immense  flocks,  with  not  a  sheep  on  them.    I  have  been  led  to  make 
these  observations  from  a  recent  trip  on  the  Long-Island  Railroad,  when,  in 
the  space  of  about  fifty  miles,  I  did  not  see  that  number  of  sheep  ;  and,  as  a 
friend  with  me  observed,  on  passing  Hempstead  Plains,  here  are  the  Downs, 
but  where  are  the  South-Downs  ?    Certainly  not  there.    A  great  many  sheep, 
I  understand,  are  raised  on  the  north  side  of  the  island,  and  the  stock  is  gene- 
rally improving;  Wm.  Becar,  W.  W.  Mills,  and  J.  Smith  having  some  fine 
flocks.     Still  they  are  the  exception,  not  the  rule,  and  it  is  the  latter  that  we 
want.     The  arrowing  taste  for  mutton,  and  the  high  price  a  good  article  will 
always  command,  we  think  should  stimulate  the  farmers  of  Long-Island  to 
push  forward  in  what  I  consider  a  profitable  branch  of  husbandry ;    and 
instead  of  being  satisfied  with  raising  from  eight  to  ten  bushels  of  rye  to  the 
acre,  and  then  carrying  the  straw  off  the  farm,  consume  it  on  the  farm,  and 
not  rest  satisfied  till  they  can,  from  the  same  land,  raise  from  five  to  six  hun 
dred  bushels  of  turnips.     That  this  can  be  done,  we  will  endeavor,  at  some 
future  time  to  show.  ^• 


ATLANTIC    COTTON   MILLS,    LAWRENCE. 

President — J.'  Wiley  Edmunds. 

Treasurer — Wm.  Gray. 

Agent — Henry  K.  Oliver. 

Directors— Khhoii  Lawrence,  Nathan  Appleton,  John  A.  Lowell,  G..  W. 
Lyman,  J.  W.  Edmunds,  George  H.  Kuhn,  Wm.  Gray. 

Superintendent — Jos.  P.  Battles. 

Paymaster — Samuel  C.  Oliver.  .  .      , 

This  Company  was  incorporated  in  1 846.    Its  capital  is  |1,800,000,  divided 
into  1800  shares,  of  $1000  each. 

Ground  was  broken  for  the  erection  of  these  mills  in  1846 ;  and  in  May 
1849,  mill  No.  1  went  into  operation.  The  mills  which  are  situated  between 
the  Pacific  and  Bay  State,  in  ward  3,  are  popularly  designated  as  Nos.  1, 
(west  building,)  2,  (east  building,)  and  3,  (centre.)  The  centre  or  main  build- 
ing was  erected  subsequently  to  Nos.  1  and  2,  and  between  them,  and  they 
nolv  form  one  connected  structure  577  feet  in  length.  Nos.  1  and  2  are  each 
220  feet  in  front,  64  feet  wide,  and  five  stories  high,  including  basement,  be- 
side attics.  The  height  of  each  is  65  feet  to  the  eaves.  The  centre  mill  No. 
3,  is  137  feet  in  length  in  front,  123  feet  in  rear,  and  100  feet  wide.  _  It  is 
six  stories  high,  including  basement,  or  78  feet  to  the  eaves.  Exclusive  of 
these  buildings,  are  two  picker-houses  75  feet,  8  inches,  by  53  feet,_4  inches, 
and  three  stories  high ;  two  cotton-houses ;  No.  1  being  200  feet  in  length, 
50  feet  in  breadth,  and  25  feet  in  height;  No.  2,  120  feet  in  length,  50  feet 
in  breadth,  and  25  feet  in  height;  these  buildings  are  capable  of  holding 
10,000  bales  of  cotton ;  a  waste-house,  80  feet  long,  23  wide,  and  15  high  ; 


488  ATLANTIC  COTTON  MILLS. 

a  boiler-house,  42  feet  square,  with  coal  shed  attached,  62  feet  by  42.  It  has 
at  present  four  boilers,  but  is  capable  of  containing  six;  steam-chimney  150 
feet  in  height.  Canal  building,  805  feet  long,  40  feet  wide  and  two  stories 
high,  exclusive  of  attic. 

The  counting-room  is  in  the  canal  building,  and  beside  a  general  recep- 
tion-room, contains  the  respective  offices  of  the  agent,  superintendent,  pay- 
master, and  clerks. 

In  the  same  building  is  the  repair-shop,  including  iron,  carpenter,  and 
blacksmith  shops ;  also  a  store-room  and  cloth-room.  The  building  contains 
in  addition,  a  15-horse  power  steam-engine. 

In  the  repair-shop  48  men  are  employed,  under  the  superintendence  of 
John  S.  Stafford,  head-machinist,  and  Perley  Ayer,  head-carpenter.  In  the 
cloth-room  20  hands  are  employed  under  the  direction  of  Lewis  Young,  over- 
seer. The  number  of  out-door  hands  is  25,  of  which  Artemas  Harmon  is 
overseer. 

Mills  Nos.  1  and  2  each  contain  a  carding-room,  spinning-room,  dressing- 
room,  and  upper  and  lower  weaving-room,  with  the  following  number  of  per- 
sons employed  in  each,  namely  : 

Total  number  of  males  employed  in  Mill  No.  1,  61 ;  females,  290.  The 
average  amount  monthly  paid  to  males  in  this  mill  is  $1800;  to  females, 
$4000. 

Total  number  of  males  employed  in  Mill  No.  1,  60;  females,  281.  The 
average  paid  monthly  for  wages  is,  to  males  1800 ;  to  females,  $4000. 

Total  number  of  males  employed  in  Mill  No.  3,  84 ;  females,  226.  The 
.average  amount  of  wages  paid  monthly  to  males  is  2100 ;  to  females,  $4100. 
The  whole  number  of  males  employed  by  the  corporation  is  307  ;  of  females, 
701 ;  and  total  employed,  1104. 

Machinery. — These  Mills  are  thoroughly  supplied  with  machinery  of  the 
most  approved  kind  and  in  best  order,  as  follows :  No.  1,  1  whipper ;  3  cal- 
vert-openera ;  8  pickers;  78  breaker  cards ;  62  finishers' oards ;  2  lappers; 
1  lap-winder;  14  railways;  12  drawing  frames;  13  speeders,  carrying  258 
spindles;  19  stretchers,  carrying  936  spindles;  54  warp  frames,  with  128 
spindles  each;  50  filling  frames,  of  128  spindles  each,  and  averaging  13,312 
spindles;  18  warpers;  10  dressers;  398  looms. 
Mill  No.  2  contains  the  same  machinery  as  No.  1. 

Mill  No.  3  contains  1  whipper ;  3  calvert-openers ;  8  pickers ;  76  breaker 
cards ;  74  finisher  do. ;  2  lappers,  one  for  42  cards,  and  one  for  34  cards ;  8 
railway  heads  for  finishers,  8  cards  each ;  18  fine  speeders,  72  spindles  each; 
88  warp  frames,  128  spindles  each,  carrying  11,264  spindles ;  26  mules,  car- 
rying 14,460  spindles — a  total  of  25,724;  18  warpers;  12  dressers;  530 
looms.  The  whole  number  of  looms  in  the  above  mills  is  1326  ;  of  spindles, 
52,348. 

Beside  the  machinery  contained  in  the  above,  there  are  3  folding  ma- 
chines ;  3  hydraulic  presses,  and  all  sorts  of  machines  necessary  for  repairing 
at  the  mills ;  also  for  making  rolls,  banding,  belts,  etc. 

Thirteen  thousand  bales  of  cotton  are  annually  used,  averaging  450  lbs. 
per  bale.  The  goods  made  are  Nos.  14  and  24,  shirtings  and  sheetings,  of 
various  widths ;  285,000  yards  are  manufactured  weekly,  or  about  15,000,000 
yards  yearly — equivalent  in  length,  for  every  year,  to  eight  thousand  miles, 
or  one  third  the  circumference  of  the  globe.  The  power  is  supplied  by  three 
of  Boyden''s  iron  Turbine  wheels,  8  feet  in  diameter,  and  of  500-horse  power 
each.  The  surface  embraced  in  the  mill-site  comprises  an  area  of  300,000 
feet 


ATLANTIC   COTTON  MILLS.  489 

The  Company  have  six  blocks  of  brick  boarding-houses,  three  stories  high, 
exclusive  of  attics,  containing  spacious  tenements.  One  half  fronts  on  Me- 
thuen  street,  and  the  other  on  Canal  street.  The  houses  are  built  in  the  most 
substantial  manner,  in  which  taste  and  convenience  are  combined.  Shade- 
trees  are  planted  on  either  side,  thus  giving  them  a  pleasing  and  attractive 
appearance. 

In  September,  1851,  at  a  meeting  of  the  overseers,  a  library  association 
was  formed,  and  a  library  commenced  by  the  donation  of  one  hundred  vol- 
umes and  a  loan  of  fifty  dollars  from  Gen.  H.  K.  Oliver,  the  Agent.  Subse- 
quently $50  and  24  volumes  of  Littell's  Living  Age  were  presented  by  Wm. 
Gray,  Esq.,  Treasurer  of  Mills.  Donations  were  afterward  received  from 
Amos  Lawrence,  Esq.,  and  the  Lawrence  Tract  Society.  Recently  the  direct- 
ors have  appropriated  |500  for  the  library,  and  the  Company  will  pay  the 
future  expense  of  the  same.  It  now  consists  of  1500  volumes,  and  is  an- 
nually increasing.  It  is  kept  in  the  Canal  building,  and  is  free  to  all  in  any 
way  connected  with  the  mills. 

Much  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  social  and  moral  condition  of  those 
engaged  in  the  mills,  and  the  agent  has  been  indefatigable  in  his  efibrts  to 
promote  the  best  welfare  of  all  concerned.  The  regulations  require  a  proper 
observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  a  regular  attendance  at  some  place  of  public 
worship.  The  reception  of  company,  or  any  rudeness  or  disorder  is  strictly 
prohibited  on  that  day  in  all  the  boarding-houses. 

Altogether  the  Atlantic  Mills  are  a  model  of  neatness,  order,  and  excel- 
lence. The  most  perfect  harmony  exists  between  the  various  departments, 
reflecting  the  highest  credit  upon  the  management  of  so  extensive  a  corpora- 
tion. As  might  be  expected,  this  corporation  is  in  a  highly  flourishing  con- 
dition, having  for  some  time  past  declared  semi-annual  dividends. 

While  establishments  like  the  one  above  described  are  thus  successfully 
contributing  to  the  national  wealth ;  creating  a  home  market  and  affording 
employment  to  thousands,  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that  they  are  conducted 
with  the  highest  regard  to  the  best  interests  of  the  employed.  And  so  long 
as  the  social,  moral,  and  intellectual  wants  of  those  connected  with  them  are 
duly  considered  and  regarded  so  long  should  proprietors  and  agents  receive 
the  meed  of  approbation  from  an  enlightened  and  intelligent  community. 

We  collate  the  above  statement  from  a  recent  number  of  the  Lawrence 
Sentinel.  But  we  are  not  willing  to  dismiss  the  topic  without  adding  our 
OWN  testimony,  from  long  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  accomplished 
agent,  to  his  earnest  endeavors  to  promote  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  his 
operatives,  as  well  as  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Company.  When  we 
contrast  his  policy  with  what  we  have  sometimes  (but  thank  God,  not  often) 
seen  in  some  other  establishments,  in  other  places,  we  are  prompted  publicly 
to  thank  Gen,  Oliver  for  his  noble  and  successful  example.  God  bless  him 
and  his,  and  all  who  follow  in  these  his  footsteps,  and  let  every  one  of  our 
readers  say,  Amen. 


Population  of  Michigan. — We  have  before  us  the  population  of  Michi- 
gan, taken  this  fall  by  State  authority.  It  exhibits  a  very  rapid  growth.  All 
the  counties  are  given  except  eight  small  ones,  and  the  number  is  518,698, 
estimating  the  omitted  counties.  Four  years  ago,  the  census  returns  made 
Michigan  contains  397,967  ;  increase  in  four  years,  120,731,  or  30  per  cent. 
The  same  rate  of  increase  would  elevate  Michigan  to  about  700,000  in  1860. 


490  GOOD   COFFEE. 


GOOD        COFFEE. 

There  are  comparatively  few  who  can  prepare  a  cup  of  good  coffee.  Iq 
this,  as  in  wines  and  liquors,  the  taste  of  the  many  is  so  depraved  by  use  that 
they  do  not  relish  the  best  specimens.  We  once  knew  a  country  wine-dealer 
who  returned,  as  unfit  for  his  market,  the  onlt  cask  of  imported  wine  ever 
sent  to  him  by  his  city  correspondent.  It  would  not  be  strange  if  similar 
wisdom  should  be  developed  in  the  matter  of  coffee.  "  Who  is  to  determine 
what  is  best  ?"  We  suppose  they  are  to  decide  who  are  most  devoted  to  the 
business,  and  have  been  longest  tinder  the  best  instruction  on  the  subject. 
The  Chinese  best  know  how  to  use  tea ;  and  those  who  acquire  the  art  from 
them  are  next  in  order.  The  Turks  have  been  long  famous  for  their  coffee, 
and  so  have  the  French.  If  any  of  us  do  not  like  such  coffee,  then  we  must 
adopt  our  own  plans.  But  we  can  not  claim  to  be  the  only  sensible  people 
on  this  subject.  One  might  not  relish  a  segar  that  would  be  pronounced 
capital  by  au  old  Spaniard,  and  yet  the  Spaniard  is  by  far  the  best  judge  of 
what  "  good"  tobacco  is.  So  it  is  with  all  artificial  preparations.  Use  may 
accustom  us  to  think  almost  any  thing  "  the  best."  We  go  against  the  long 
boiling  of  coffee  or  long  steeping  of  tea.  We  thereby  get  an  excessive  pro- 
portion of  the  hitter  principle,  which  is  no  advantage  to  the  flavor  of  the 
beverage.  It  is  not  this  which  abounds  in  almost  every  plant  that  we  desire, 
but  it  is  the  peculiar  flavor  of  the  berry  of  the  coffee,  and  of  the  leaf  of  the 
tea.  This  flavor  exists  chiefly  in  its  oil,  its  essential  oil.  When  this  is  ob- 
tained by  the  use  of  alcohol,  it  is  called  an  essence.  When  this  alcohol  is 
taken  from  the  essence,  the  essential  oil  remains. 

In  Knighton's  ^'■Forest  Life  in  Ceylon^''  are  the  following  hints  on  the  pre- 
paration of  coffee,  derived  from  long  experience :  "  The  subtle  aroma  which 
resides  in  the  essential  oil  of  the  coffee-berry  is  gradually  dissipated  after 
roasting,  and  of  course  still  more  after  being  ground.  In  order  to  enjoy  the 
full  flavor  in  perfection,  the  berry  should  pass  at  once  from  the  roasting-pan 
to  the  mill,  and  thence  to  the  coffee-pot ;  and  again,  after  having  been  made 
should  be  mixed  when  almost  at  a  boiling  point,  with  hot  milk.  It  must  be 
very  bad  coffee,  indeed,  which,  if  these  precautions  be  taken,  will  not  afford 
an  agreeable  and  exhilarating  drink.  Two  great  evils  are  constantly  perpe- 
trated in  England  in  its  preparation,  which  are  more  guarded  against  in 
almost  all  other  countries,  and  which  materially  impair  its  flavor  and  strength — 
keeping  the  coffee  a  considerable  time  roasting  or  grinding,  by  which  its 
strength  is  diminished,  and  its  delicate  and  volatile  aroma  lost,  and  mixing 
the  milk  with  it  after  it  has  been  allowed  partially  to  cool." 

He  who  can  not  indorse  this  from  his  own  experience,  has  not  entered 
far  into  the  mysteries  of  the  culinary  art,  and  yet  how  many  families  boil 
their  coffee  and  tea  almost  by  the  hour,  "  so  as  to  get  the  strength  out."  We 
had  almost  as  lief  drink  an  infusion  of  peas  or  of  rye,  as  such  coffee.  Rather 
than  partake  of  this,  we  would  secure  what  passes  out  of  the  nose  of  a  boil- 
ing coffee-pot.  This  vapor  might  be  passed  by  a  tube  into  a  closed  vessel 
filled  with  hot  water,  from  the  top  of  which  a  tube  should  descend  into  the 
liquid,  as  a  safety-valve.  x\fter  long-continued  boiling,  we  have  no  doubt 
that  this  second  vessel  would  contain  a  better-flftvored  beverage  than  that  in 
the  pot;  and  if  the  quantity  of  water  was  properly  graduated,  it  might  not 
be  very  weak.    It  certainly  would  be  worth  saving  and  restoring  to  the  pot. 

But  vr-hen  the  "coffee"  is  bought  of  the  grocer,  already  burned  and  ground, 
and  then  is  prepared  by  long  boiling  in  a  coffee-pot,  from  which  there  is 


BEST   POSITION   OF   FIRES  FOR  WARMING   APARTMENTS.     491 

abundant  evaporation,  the  wretched  stuff  is,  at  best,  but  a  poor  apology  for  well- 
prepared  coffee.  Especially  as  it  is  often  "  settled"  so  very  imperfectly  as  to 
deposit  large  quantities  of  mud  on  the  bottom  of  each  cup.  Under  our  per- 
sonal or  family  direction,  neither  our  coffee  nor  chocolate  will  present  any 
such  evidence  that  any  powdered  or  solid  material  has  been  employed  in  the 
preparation.  We  think  there  is  no  part  of  the  culinary  art  in  which  people 
are  so  self-sufficient  and  yet  so  ill-informed. 


BEST  POSITION    OF   FIRES    FOR  WARMING   APARTMENTS. 

A  VERY  valuable  paper  on  this  subject  has  been  read  before  the  London 
Society  of  Arts,  by  Dr.  Arnott.  He  goes  into  a  full  exposition  of  several 
popular  errors  on  this  subject,  and  then  proceeds  as  follows : 

"  These  explanations  being  premised,  the  two  popular  delusions  respecting 
the  low  fires  become  at  once  apparent. 

1st.  The  supposition  that  fuel  burnt  in  a  low  fire  gives  out  more  heat,  has 
arisen  from  the  experimenter  not  reflecting  that  his  hand  held  over  the  low 
fire  feels  not  only  the  heat  radiated  from  the  fire  itself,  but  also  that  reflected 
from  the  hearth  close  beneath  it,  which  second  portion,  if  the  grate  were  high, 
would  have  room  to  spread  or  radiate  downward  and  outward  to  the  more 
distant  floor  or  carpet,  and  so  warm  them. 

2d.  The  notion  that  the  fire,  because  near  the  floor,  must  warm  the  carpet 
more,  springs  from  what  may  be  called  an  error  in  the  logic  of  the  reasoner, 
who  is  assuming  that  the  hearth,  floor,  and  carpet,  being  parts  of  the  same 
level,  are  in  the  same  predicament — the  truth  being,  however,  that,  in  such  a 
case,  the  hearth  within  the  fender  gets  nearly  all  the  downward  rays,  and  the 
carpet  almost  none — as  a  candle  held  before  a  looking-glass  at  a  moderate 
distance  diffuses  its  heat  pretty  uniformly  over  the  whole ;  but  if  moved  close 
to  one  part  of  the  glass,  it  overheats,  and  probably  cracks  that  part,  leaving 
the  rest  unaffected.  A  low  fire  on  a  heated  hearth  is  to  the  general  floor  or 
carpet  of  a  room  nearly  what  the  sun,  at  the  moment  of  rising  or  setting,  is 
to  the  surface  of  a  field.  The  rays  are  nearly  all  shooting  upward  from  the 
surface,  and  the  few  which  approach  it  slant  obliquely  along  or  nearly  paral- 
lel to  the  surface,  without  touching,  and  therefore  without  warming  it. 

Striking  proof  of  the  facts  here  set  forth  is  obtained  by  laying  thermome- 
ters on  the  floor  of  a  room  with  a  low  fire,  and  of  a  room  with  the  fire,  as 
usual  of  old,  at  a  height  of  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  inches  above  the  hearth. 
An  experiment  tried  in  two  such  rooms,  in  both  of  which  thermometers  on 
the  piano-fortes,  four  feet  above  the  floor,  stood  at  62°,  showed  the  carpet, 
not  far  from  the  hearth,  to  be  at  56°  with  the  low,  and  at  73°  with  the  high 
fire. 

As  would  be  anticipated  by  a  person  understanding  the  subject  aright, 
low  fires  make  cold  feet  very  common,  unless  to  those  who  sit  near  the  fire 
with  their  feet  on  the  fender ;  but,  deceived  by  their  fallacious  reasoning,  the 
advocates  are  disposed  to  blame  the  state  of  their  health  or  the  weather  as 
the  cause,  and  they  rejoice  at  having  the  low  fire,  which  can  quickly  warm 
their  feet  when  placed  near  it.  A  company  of  such  persons  seen  sitting  close 
around  their  fire,  with  thankfulness  for  its  warmth  near  their  feet,  might  sug- 
gest the  case  of  a  party  of  good-natured  people  duped  out  of  their  property 
by  a  swindler,  and  afterward  gratefully  accepting  as  charity  from  him  a  part 
of  their  own  property." 


492  TURNIPS   AS   FEED. 


These  suggestions  certainly  commend  themselves  to  our  good  judgment, 
and  would  lead  us  to  increase  rather  than  diminish  the  height  of  our  grates, 
stoves,  etc.  For  aught  we  can  see,  the  reasoning  would  lead  us  to  elevate 
these  fixtures  to  the  highest  point  from  which  heat  would  radiate  in  very  sen- 
sible quantities  to  the  surrounding  floor.  Thus  the  circle  of  attraction  to 
those  having  cold  feet,  would  be  very  materially  enlarged. 

Our  readers  may  remember  some  statements  which  we  made  in  our  num- 
ber for  April,  1853,  in  which  we  explained  the  mode  by  which  our  atmo- 
sphere is  warmed.  The  direct  rays  of  the  sun  in  passing  through  it  are  very 
inefficient,  while  the  temperature  of  the  earth  has  a  very  important  influence. 
The  notion  that  "heat  rises,"  is  not  the  controlling  principle  in  this  matter, 
but  the  efiect  is  dependent  on  other  and  very  difterent  principles,  which  we 
need  not  here  repeat.     We  refer  the  reader  to  the  article  already  described. 


TURNIPS       AS       FEED. 

While  in  attendance  upon  the  late  National  Poultry  Show  at  Barnum's 
Museum,  we  spent  a  few  minutes  in  the  "  Lecture-Room."  Our  friend  Mr. 
Solon  Robinson  was  making  remarks  upon  the  use  of  turnips  as  feed,  as 
reported  in  some  of  the  journals  of  the  day.  He  took  the  position  that  they 
were  good  for  nothing  as  nutriment,  and  sustained  himself  by  giving  its 
analysis.  This  is  all  very  well,  but  unfortunately  it  is  not  in  accordance  Avith 
well-known  facts.  We  used  to  talk  in  the  same  way,  but  were  obliged  to 
yield  not  simply  to  a  few  doubtful  experiments,  but  to  years  of  experience. 
This  the  speaker  seemed  to  feel,  for  he  admitted  that  "  in  England  it  might 
not  be  so."  But  we  suppose  a  turnip  in  England  is  very  much  the  same 
thing  as  a  turnip  in  New- York.  He  also  added  that  they  should  be  fed  by 
turning  the  cattle  in  upon  them,  as  they  are  growing  in  the  field.  We  can 
not  see  the  force  or  propriety  of  this  distinction.  Is  it  not  the  same  worth- 
less thing  before  it  is  pulled,  as  afterwards  ?  Must  the  cattle  or  sheep  pull 
it,  or  bite  it  ofi",  to  render  it  nutritious  ?  But  even  here  there  is  no  escape, 
for  the  English  practice  is,  after  the  animal  has  bit  off"  as  much  as  is  prac- 
ticable, the  root  remaining  in  the  ground  is  then  lifted  by  a  fork  and  le  ft  on 
the  top  of  the  ground,  for  the  cattle  to  eat  at  pleasure. 

We  are  compelled  to  admit  that  there  is  something  in  this  fact  of  nutri- 
tion, that  no  doctrine  of  chemistry  or  physiology  is  able  to  explain.  The 
fact  is  unquestionable,  that  turnips  are  excellent  for  fattening  sheep  and 
cattle,  whether  we  can  explain  why  it  is  so  or  not.  It  is  equally  true,  as  Mr. 
R.  stated  in  the  same  speech,  that  about  97  per  cent  of  the  flat  turnip,  as 
shown  by  a  chemical  analysis,  consists  of  water.  These  two  facts,  so  appar- 
ently contradictory,  are  entirely  above  and  beyond  contradiction.  We  sub- 
join the  following,  on  this  subject,  which  appears  in  the  Northern  Farmer. 

"  The  vegetable  I  wish  to  recommend  as  the  best,  all  things  considered, 
for  milch-cows  in  winter,  is  white  flat  turnips.  Some,  perhaps,  will  object  to 
the  turnip,  because  it  will  aft'ect  the  taste  of  the  milk  and  butter.  So  it  does 
if  fed  raw ;  this  can  be  avoided  by  boiling.  For  each  cow,  boil  a  half  a 
bushel  of  turnips  soft ;  while  hot,  add  five  or  six  quarts  of  shorts ;  which 
will  swell,  and  you  will  get  the  full  worth  of  it.  A  mess  like  this  fed  to  a 
cow  once  a  day,  will  produce  more  milk  of  a  good  quality,  than  any  other 
feed  at  the  same  cost.     Turnips  fed  in  this  way  do  not  taint  either  milk  of 


VALUE  OF  MANUFACTURES.  493 

butter.  One  thing  in  favor  of  turnips  as  feed  for  cows,  is,  that  they  can  be 
sown  in  August,  or  as  late  as  the  first  of  September.  I  sowed  some  as  late 
as  September,  last  year,  which  were  very  fine.  Turnips  are  also  very  profit- 
able feed  for  pigs,  when  boiled  in  the  same  way  as  for  cows." 


FOR  THIS  PLOUGH,  THE  LOOM,   AND  THB  ANVIL. 

CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    OF   MINNESOTA. 

I  ONCE  before  mentioned  something  about  threshing-machines.  Illinois  as 
yet  has  furnished  the  best  or  most  substantial  and  useful,  that  have  been 
brought  to  Minnesota.  Elgin,  III.,  has  the  praise  of  furnishing  the  best  ma- 
chines as  yet.  One  machine  has  threshed  12,000  bushels  of  grain,  and  the 
repairs  have  not  amounted  to  five  dollars.  As  Minnesota  will  be  a  great 
farming  country,  a  great  number  of  machines  will  be  wanted  in  this  country. 
Spring  wheat  is  worth  from  $1  to  $1.25  per  bushel;  oats,  40  to  45  cents  per 
bushel. 

The  crops,  on  an  average,  have  been  good.  I  hear  of  no  failures  of  crops, 
unless  by  negligence  or  improper  culture.  Potatoes  have  done  well,  and  no 
sign  of  rust  as  yet ;  and  I  may  say  that  Minnesota  farmers  are  a  happy  peo- 
ple. Taxes  are  light,  and  a  ready  market  for  all  that  farmers  can  raise  of 
every  description ;  cash  in  hand  for  all ;  cattle,  horses,  pork,  poultry,  butter, 
etc.,  in  abundance.  The  bank  panic  has  not  afl'ected  us  much  as  yet,  and  we 
feel  confident  that  Minnesota  has  managed  her  afiairs  so  as  to  stand  aloof 
from  the  Eastern  pressure  in  financial  business. 

There  is  so  much  good  land  in  Minnesota,  and  so  much  of  it  is  cultivated, 
that  systematic  farming  is  little  thought  of.  If  a  man's  farm  don't  suit  him, 
all  he  has  to  do,  is  to  move  a  few  miles  off,  and  find  a  farm  that  will  suit  him 
better.  We  turn  the  sod  over  in  June  and  July,  and  the  spring  following  we 
get  from  twenty  to  forty  bushels  per  acre  of  spring  wheat.  Corn  of  most  all 
varieties  does  better  here  than  in  the  Eastern  States. 

Your  most  obedient,  P.  Prescott. 

Fort  Snelling,  Min.,  Jan.,  1855. 


VALUE   OF   MANUFACTURES. 

We  know  of  nothing  which  so  forcibly  illustrates  the  importance  of  encou- 
raging HOME  INDUSTRY,  as  the  rise  and  progress  of  our  manufacturing  towns, 
and  among  these  the  history  of  Lawrence  is  eminently  worthy  of  attention. 
We  gather  the  following  facts  from  a  carefully-written  article  in  the  Lawrence 
Sentinel. 

The  first  town-meeting  after  the  town  charter  was  obtained,  was  held  April 
26,  1847.  The  whole  number  of  votes  for  Moderator  was  six.  The  town 
voted  to  raise  14500  for  general  expenses,  $1200  for  roads  and  bridges, 
$2000  for  schools,  and  $2000  for  building  two  school-houses. 

At  the  second  annual  meeting,  $18,000  were  appropriated  for  current  ex- 
penses, $4000  for  schools,  $30,000  to  build  a  town-house,  $12,500  to  build  a 
brick  school-house,  $250  for  another  school-house,  $1500  for  Hook  and  Lad- 


494  MANUFACTUEE   OF  PLATE-GLASS. 


der  Company;  and  July  1,  $10,000  additional  were  appropriated  for  the 
town-house. 

At  the  third  annual  meeting,  $25,000  were  appropriated  for  the  expenses 
of  the  town,  of  which  about  $8500  were  for  schools  and  school-houses. 

Thus  progress  and  regard  for  education  go  hand  in  hand.  In  these  mat- 
ters it  is  emphatically  true  that  "  the  liberal  soul  shall  be  made  fat,"  while  the 
industry  you  cherish  and  protect  is  not  only  self-sustaining  but  is  constantly 
and  increasingly  aggressive  upon  all  idleness,  and  ignorance,  and  the  vices 
that  grow  therefrom.  It  is,  in  many  respects,  the  leaven  that  pervades  the 
entire  mass. 


MANUFACTURE   OF   PLATE- GLASS. 

AVe  find  in  the  Polytechnic  a  very  concise  account  of  the  process  enjployed 
in  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass.  We  have  not  yet  been  able  to  compete 
with  the  English  in  this  department,  on  account  of  the  great  expense  with 
which  it  is  attended,  and  the  necessity  of  great  skill,  which  it  requires.  With- 
out occupying  space  now,  with  its  history,  we  copy  the  account  given  of  its 
present  condition.  The  American  invention,  spoken  of  at  the  close  of  the 
extract,  is  by  the  learned  editor  of  the  journal  from  which  we  copy. 

"  The  best  plate-glass  now  manufactured  comes  from  St.  Gobain,  in  France, 
where  the  manufacture  of  cast  plates  was  first  established  in  1689  ;  the  Eng^ 
lish  plate  is  next  in  quality  ;  the  German  being  liable  to  cloud  ;  the  excellence 
of  the  plates  of  St.  Gobain  is  due,  it  is  said,  to  the  fact  that  it  is  a  true  chemi- 
cal compound,  consisting  of  one  atom  of  trisilicate  of  soda,  and  one  atom  of 
trisilicate  of  lime,  with  a  small  per-centage  of  alumina ;  this  manufacture  is  a 
very  good  example  of  the  advantage  of  employing  the  best  chemical  talent  in 
a  manufacture  where  chemical  compounds  are  used.  The  services  of  Gay 
Lussac  were  engaged  for  a  long  time  at  these  works,  where  his  investigations 
were  in  the  highest  degree  valuable. 

The  manufacture  of  plate-glass,  as  at  present  conducted,  requires  a  number 
of  workmen,  and  the  greatest  care,  after  the  vitrification  of  the  materials  is 
complete,  which  takes  ordinarily  about  twenty  hours.  The  glass  is  trans- 
ferred from  the  pots  in  which  it  is  made  to  a  cistern,  or  as  the  French  call  it, 
cuvette,  made  oblong,  and  so  formed  as  to  be  readily  transported.  This  cis- 
tern is  highly  heated  in  a  furnace,  and  the  glass  is  ladled  from  the  melting- 
pot  into  it,  and  then  stands  till  it  is  fined,  and  at  a  proper  heat  to  work. 
When  the  melted  glass  in  the  cistern  is  in  the  proper  state  for  flowing  readily 
and  equably,  the  cistern  is  taken  out  of  the  furnace  by  means  of  tongs,  which 
are  made  to  embrace  the  cistern.  It  is  then  raised  by  a  crane,  placed  upon 
a  low  carriage,  and  removed  to  the  casting-table.  The  outside  of  the  cistern 
is  carefully  cleaned,  and  the  glass  skimmed  with  a  broad  copper  sabre,  to 
prevent  any  impurities  from  mixing  with  the  glass  on  the  casting-table.  The 
cistern  is  then  wound  up  to  a  suificient  height  by  means  of  a  crane,  and  swung 
over  the  upper  end  of  the  casting-table,  which  has  been  heated  by  hot  coals 
spread  over  it,  and  then  wiped  perfectly  clean.  The  cistern  being  tilted  over, 
a  torrent  of  melted  glass  is  suddenly  poured  out  on  the  surface  of  the  table  : 
it  is  prevented  from  running  off  the  sides  by  ribs  of  metal,  one  of  which  is 
placed  along  the  whole  length  of  each  side,  their  depth  being  the  exact  mea- 
sure which  is  to  be  given  to  the  thickness  of  the  glass.  When  the  cistern 
has  been  emptied,  a  massive  copper  cylinder,  three  feet  in  diameter,  extend 


MANUFACTURE   OF   PLATE-GLASS.  495 


ing  entirely  across  the  table,  and  resting  on  the  side-ribs,  is  set  in  motion, 
and  spreads  the  glass  out  into  a  sheet  of  uniform  breadth  and  thicliness.  The 
pouring  out  of  the  glass  is  a  grand  sight,  and  the  variety  of  colors  exhibited 
by  the  plate,  immediately  after  the  roller  has  passed  over  it,  is  beautiful  to 
behold.  In  order  to  remove  all  impurity  from  the  casting  slab,  a  washer  is 
drawn  immediately  in  front  of  the  fluid  glass ;  the  excess  of  glass  pours  over 
the  front  edge  into  a  trough,  filled  with  water;  the  roller  then  passes  off  the 
slab,  and  is  received  in  grooves  in  front  of  the  slab.  The  slab  is  then  cleared 
of  any  redundancy  at  the  sides ;  a  thick  flange  of  the  still  soft  glass  is  turned 
up  at  the  end;  and  when  this  flange  has  become  somewhat  rigid,  a  rake- 
shaped  iron  is  applied  to  it,  and  the  plate  is  forced  forward  into  the  annealing 
oven,  or  thrust  upon  a  wooden  platform  moving  on  wheels,  and  so  conveyed 
to  the  oven,  where  it  remains  about  five  days,  in  a  horizontal  position,  ex- 
posed to  a  gradually  diminishing  temperature. 

Grinding  and  Polishing. — The  plate  being  still  hot,  and  yielding  wheri  it 
is  slid  into  the  oven,  takes  an  impression  of  the  bricks  of  the  oven  upon  which 
it  rests,  while  the  upper  surface  is  generally  made  smooth  and  bright  from 
the  action  of  the  fire,  but  it  is  not  flat.     The  plates,  as  they  come  out  of  the 
annealing  furnace,  are  about  half  an  inch  thick,  of  an  irregular  mottled  ap- 
pearance.    They  are  carefully  examined,  to  see  whether  the  glass  is  suffi- 
ciently free  from  defects  to  admit  of  forming  large  plates,  which,  of  course, 
have  a  much  greater  comparative  value  than  small  ones.     If  the  defects  are 
such  as  can  not  be  removed  by  grinding,  the  plate  must  be  cut  up  into 
smaller  plates,  so  that  the  defective  portions  maybe  rejected.     The  plates 
having  been  squared,  next  undergo  the  processes  of  grinding  and  polishing. 
These  were  formerly  done  by  hand,  but  of  late  years  this  laborious  work  is 
almost  entirely  performed  by  machinery.     The  first  object  is  to  produce  a 
level  surface,  which  is  done  by  gfinding  one  plate  upon  another,  a  rough  or 
rolled  surface  being  opposed  to  the  comparatively  smooth  or  casting-plate  sur- 
face.    The  grinding  machines  for  large  plates  are  arranged  in  pairs,  consist- 
ing of  two  benches  of  stone,  fifteen  feet  long,  eight  feet  wide,  and  eighteen 
inches  high.     On  the  surface  of  each  bench,  one  or  more  plates  of  glass  are 
imbedded  in  plaster  of  Paris,  close  together,  and  quite  level.    Other  plates  of 
glass  are  cemented  upon  the  lower  faces  of  two  swing-tables  or  runners,  which 
are  made  to  traverse  over  the  fixed  beds  by  appropriate  machinery,  in  such  a 
way  that  each  runner  is  made  to  rotate  around  its  own  axis,  and  by  a  combi- 
nation of  two  movements  to  change  continually  the  relative  position  of  the 
fixed  bench  and  runner.     Such  an  arrangement  tends  to  the  mutual  correc- 
tion of  the  two  surfaces  of  the  glass,  and  greatly  assists  the  equal  distribution 
of  the  sand  and  water.     All  the  irregularities  of  the  surface  are  first  ground 
out  with  sharp  river-sand,  which  has  been  washed  and  sifted  into  three  sizes : 
the  sand  and  water  are  thrown  on  by  hand  from  time  to  time.     When  the 
plates  have  been  ground  quite  flat,  the  finer  sand  is  employed ;  this  is  fol- 
lowed by  one  finer  still,  which  removes  the  scratches  made  by  the  coarser. 
The  plates  of  glass  are  well  washed  between  every  change  of  sand  ;  and  when 
one  side  has  been  ground,  the  plates  are  reversed,  and  the  other  side  ground. 
When  the  plates  become  sufficiently  smooth  to  require  the  application  of 
emery,  there  is  a  tendency  to  cohesion  between  the  surfaces,  which,  travelling 
over  each  other  with  moderate  velocity,  produce  so  much  friction  that  one 
surface  will  frequently  tear  the  glass  from  the  other.     Hence  it  has  not  been 
thought  safe  to  trust  the  next  process,  namely,  the  smoothing,  to  machinery, 
and  hand-labor  has  been  employed. 

The  polishing  is  completed  by  rubbers,  covered  with  thick  felt,  and  worked 


496  MANUFACTURE   OF   PLATE-GLASS, 


by  machinery.  The  plates  of  glass  are  embedded  close  together,  with  their 
surfaces  quite  level,  upon  movable  platforms,  fixed  upon  a  traversino-  bed. 
The  rubbers,  which  measure  eight  by  six  inches  each,  are  attached,  one  foot 
asunder,  to  reciprocating  carriages,  which  drag  the  rubbers  backward  and 
forward  over  the  surface  of  the  glass,  while  the  latter  traverses,  beneath  the 
rubbers,  a  space  equal  to  the  distance  between  the  two  lines  of  rubbers,  so  as 
to  expose  all  parts  of  the  glass  equally  to  their  action.  Each  rubber  is  made 
to  exert  a  pressure  of  about  fifteen  pounds,  by  means  of  lead  weights.  The 
powder  used  for  polishing  is  Venetian  pink  ;  this  contains  only  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  oxide  of  iron  mixed  with  earthy  matter ;  it  admits  of  being  mixed 
with  water,  and  thus  reduces  the  friction,  and  prevents  the  glass  becoming 
heated  by  the  action  of  the  rubbers.  Tripoli  irocees,  or  putty-powder,  used 
with  water,  are  too  active  to  produce  a  high  polish  on  glass ;  but  they  may 
be  employed  dry  for  the  last  finish  in  hand-polishing.  In  polishing  by  ma- 
chinery, dry  powders  must  be  avoided  on  account  of  the  friction  and  heat 
evolved.  Hand-polishing  is  very  tedious,  and  is  apt  to  produce  a  wavy  ap- 
pearance ;  hence,  machine-polished  glass  is  to  be  preferred. 

The  grinding  and  polishing  of  the  glass  reduce  their  thickness  as  much  as 
one  third,  and  in  some  cases  one  half.  Should  the  glass  be  defective,  the 
polishing  will  only  serve  to  heighten  the  defects ;  hence,  a  second  and  more 
careful  examination  and  selection  are  now  made.  The  defective  ones  are  cut 
up  into  smaller  plates,  and  these  are  polished  again ;  the  perfect  ones  are 
reserved  for  silvering." 

"A  machine  for  making  plate-glass  has  been  invented  by  J.  J.  Greenougb, 
and  patented  a  short  time  since,  which  does  away  with  almost  all  the  mani- 
pulations formerly  required ;  by  it  glass  of  any  required  magnitude  can  be 
made,  and  at  a  cost  very  greatly  reduced  from  the  old  method ;  it  consists  in 
taking  the  glass  from  the  cistern  or  cuvette  directly  between  two  rollers,  by 
which  it  is  drawn  out  into  the  form  of  a  slab;  descending  perpendicularly,  it 
is  again  reduced  to  a  thinner  plate  by  a  pair  of  rollers  placed  below  the  first 
and  made  to  draw  sufiiciently  for  the  purpose ;  it  then  passes  downward  to  a 
third  pair  of  rollers,  and  thence  to  any  number  found  necessary,  the  sets  of 
rollers  being  sufficient  in  number  to  sustain  and  draw  the  glass,  and  hold  it 
till  it  gets  suflSciently  cool  to  sustain  its  own  weight,  when  it  descends  into  an 
annealing  oven  below,  where  it  is  suspended  till  cool.  By  this  means  the 
two  sides  of  the  plate  are  perfectly  straight  and  parallel,  requiring  but  little 
polishing  to  prepare  them  for  mirror  plates,  or  other  like  purposes.  It  will 
be  seen  that  great  rapidity  of  execution  can  be  attained  with  this  method ; 
the  quickest  working  glass,  such  as  could  not  be  used  in  the  ordinary  way, 
may  by  this  means  be  wrought  at  a  very  low  cost.  The  rollers  are  kept  cool 
by  a  stream  of  cold  water  running  through  them  to  carry  ofi"  the  superfluous 
heat,  and  the  temperature  of  the  glass  is  thereby  rapidly  reduced  to  the  pro- 
per point  for  annealing. 

There  are  many  minor  details  in  the  manufacture  which  we  have  here  not 
enumerated  ;  but  sufficient  has  been  shown  to  demonstrate  a  greatly  reduced 
cost  over  the  old  method  of  making  plate-glass,  which  it  must  eventually 
supersede." 


Cashmere  Goats. — A  pair  of  pure-bred  Cashmere  goats  were  recently 
bought  by  some  gentlemen  in  Eichmond,  Va.,  for  fifteen  hundred  dollars. 
The  wool  from  another  pair  of  the  same  lot,  when  examined  by  a  micro- 
scope, compared  precisely  in  fineness  with  the  hair  of  a  $2700  Cashmere 
shawl. 


NEW  GAS  STOVE.  497 


NEW      GAS      STOVE. 

A  NEW  method  of  obtaining  heat  from  gas  has  been  invented 
by  Mr.  Shaw,  of  Boston. 

The  stove  consists  of  three  upright  iron  cylinders,  the  middle 
one  being  about  one  half  larger  than  the  other  two.  Above 
these  is  another  cylinder  of  radiation,  which  shows  the  amount 
of  gas  consumed.  The  engraving  is  a  small  representation  of 
its  general  appearance. 

One  of  our  exchanges  says  : 

"Although  very  diminutive  in  size,  it  heats  a  room,  in  ten  minutes,  warm 
enough  for  all  practical  purposes,  when  the  flame  can  be  reduced  and  an  even 
temperature  maintained.  When  in  full  blast,  it  consumes  about  four  cents' 
worth  of  gas  per  hour ;  but  after  the  room  is  heated,  one  cent's  worth  of  gas 
per  hour  will  amply  suffice.  It  is  easily  managed ;  indeed,  there  is  nothing 
complicated  about  it,  and  a  servant  who  has  sense  enough  not  to  attempt  to 
blow  a  gas-light  out,  can  safely  be  intrusted  with  its  care.  The  heat  it  pro- 
duces is  not  a  dry  heat,  but  of  an  agreeable  moisture,  partly  produced  by  the 
usual  pan  of  water,  which  should  be  attached  to  every  stove,  while  the  flame, 
burning  through  asbestos,  resembles  so  closely  hot  coals  that  the  difi'erence  is 
scarcely  perceptible."  The  following  letter  from  Professor  Hayes,  who  has 
inspected  and  tested  the  stove,  and  who  is  very  high  authority  in  such  mat- 
ters, is  quite  explicit : 

'  The  present  invention  is  based  upon  the  principle  of  burning  a  mixture  of 
illuminating  gas  with  air,  so  as  to  develop  the  largest  amount  of  heat  which 
the  gas  can  afford. 

Ordinary  burners  consume  a  current  of  gas  in  air,  thereby  producing  light 
and  an  ascending  current,  by  which  the  heat  generated  is  carried  upward  and 
dispersed. 

The  iron  structure,  or  stove,  serves  as  an  absorbent  of  the  heat  generated 
by  the  perfect  combustion  of  the  mixture  of  gas  and  air.  It  then  presents  a 
large  heated  surface,  which  warms  the  air  in  contact  with  it  by  conduction, 
and  also  in  a  high  degree  all  bodies  near  it,  by  radiation. 

No  danger  exists  in  this  mode  of  combustion  ;  the  utmost  amount  of  explo- 
sion attending  it  is  that  which  we  observe,  when  we  light  gas,  at  the  top  of  a 
tall  burner-chimney. 

The  products  arising  from  the  combustion  are  vapor  of  water,  carbonic 
acid,  and  nitrogen  gas,  and  the  amount  or  volume  of  these  bodies  is  the  same 
as  that  produced  from  an  equal  number  of  gas-burners  as  arranged  for  aff"ord- 
ing  light. 

It  is  a  feature  of  economy  shown  in  carrying  out  the  application  of  the 
principle,  that  has  led  the  inventor  to  so  arrange  the  parts  that  the  heat  pro- 
duced is  retained  as  long  as  possible  low  down  in  the  space  to  be  warmed. 
The  second  or  upper  radiator  has  been  added  for  this  purpose,  and  it  also 
serves  as  an  indicator  of  the  amount  of  gas  which  should  at  any  time  be  con- 
sumed for  v/arming  the  air  of  an  apartment. 

If  after  the  first  hour  of  the  combustion  the  temperature  of  the  exit-pipe 
becomes  higher  than  that  of  the  hand,  a  portion  of  the  gas  may  be  shut  ofi^, 
and  when  the  air  of  the  room  has  become  warmed,  a  small  volume  of  gas 
will  maintain  that  temperature. 


•iyb  CAST-IKOX    HOUSES. 


I  think  the  inventor  has  shown  much  judgment  and  skill  in  adapting  the 
parts  to  the  scientific  principle,  and  that  his  gas-stoves,  without  ventilation 
for  open  rooms,  and  with  ventilation  for  close  rooms  will  prove  a  great  addi- 
tion to  our  means  of  comfort  and  convenience. 

Respectfully, 
(Signed)  A.  A.  Hayes,  M.D. 

Assayer  to  the  State  of  Massachusetts.^ 

II  Boylston  street,  22d  Nov.,  1854. 

In  a  library,  where  dust  is  so  injurious  to  books,  its  value  is  inestimable. 
In  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  Boston,  Mr.  Shaw  has  placed  one  of  the  largest 
size,  which  contains  eight  jets,  and  gives  satisfiiction.  To  warm  the  room,  it 
requires  that  they  all  be  lighted  for  the  first  half  hour,  after  which  four  may 
be  shut  off" 


Cast-Iron  Houses. — A  most  ingenious  and  practically  useful  application 
of  cast-iron  has  just  been  introduced  by  Mr.  Chaplin,  engineer  and  iron-house 
builder,  Glasgow,  giving  the  material  a  wide  scope  in  an  extremely  novel 
direction.  It  consists  in  the  adoption  of  cast-iron  for  house-building  purposes, 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  produce  a  close  resemblance  to  stone.  To  this  end, 
the  metal  is  cast  in  rectangular  blocks,  with  back-flanges  and  strengthening 
ribs,  for  bolting  together  into  a  solid  mass,  each  separate  detail  being  made 
in  the  shape  of  ashlar-hewn  stone,  or  brick.  The  pieces  may  obviously  be  of 
any  convenient  size  and  shape,  all,  when  erected,  running  in  level  courses, 
and  each  numbered,  in  correspondence  with  its  size  and  special  form.  In  this 
way  a  solid  cast-iron  mass  is  easily  erected,  the  numbering  system  very  much 
facilitating  the  ordering  and  putting  together  of  the  pieces  ;  and,  if  desired,  a 
single  plate  may  be  made  to  resemble  two  or  more  stones,  by  being  suitably 
marked.  An  internal  air-space,  or  non-conducting  section,  may  also  be 
formed  by  an  inner  hning  of  wood,  or  lath  and  plaster;  and  the  chimneys 
and  flues  may  be  carried  along  in  this  space,  as  in  stone  or  brick  erections. 
By  this  system  an  entire  house,  of  large  size  may  be  erected  with  very  few, 
perhaps  four  or  five,  varieties  of  sizes  and  shapes  of  cast-iron  pieces,  or  facti- 
tious stones.  No  lintels  are  necessary  for  the  windows  and  doors,  as,  by  bolt- 
ing together  the  flanges  of  the  pieces,  due  support  can  be  given,  without 
involving  the  use  qf  long  pieces.  A  double  shop,  with  an  overhead  dwelling, 
recently  erected  by  the  patentee,  exhibits  the  value  of  the  plan  in  a  most 
favorable  light.  The  roof,  which  is  of  arched  corrugated  iron  plates,  is  con- 
cealed by  the  projecting  eaves ;  and  whilst  the  entire  front  is  severe  and  plain 
ashlar  imitation,  sufficient  relief  is  given  by  the  separate  attachment  of  light 
ornamental  beads  or  mouldings — one  at  the  top  of  the  first  course  above  the 
windows,  and  one  for  the  roof-gutter.  The  roof-gutter  is  fastened  on  outside 
the  wall  face,  and  the  edge  of  the  roof  is  brought  over  the  wall,  so  that  no 
dripping  from  leakage  can  find  its  way  to  the  interior  of  the  house.  Either 
new  or  old  stone  and  brick  buildings  may  be  faced  with  thin  plates  of  this 
"  imitation  ashlar,"  Avhich  is  obviously  more  enduring,  and  less  liable  to  injury, 
than  the  best  sandstone  or  cement;  whilst  the  material  admits  of  the  most 
elaborate  ornamentation  at  a  comparatively  small  cost. 


THE   LOWELL  WIRE   FENCE. 


499 


THE   LOWELL   WIRE    FENCE   ILLUSTRATED. 

In  our  January  number,  we  clironicled  the  invention,  by  John  Nesmith, 
Esq.,  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  of  a  machine  for  manufacturing  wire-fence,  and  spoke 
of  the  admirable  adaptiveness  of  this  mode  of  fencing  to  farms,  gardens,  roads, 
railroads,  canals,  trellis-work,  etc.  We  are  now  happy  to  present  our  readers 
with  some  cuts  illustrative  of  this  novel  and  excellent  fencing. 

Fig.  1. 


Fig.  1  represents  the  strongest  kind  of  this  fencing,  four  feet  high  ;  the 
mesh  or  squares  six  inches ;  the  straight  or  lateral  wires  of  JSTo.  10  wire ;  the 
body  of  the  fence  of  No.  12  wire,  (or  it  may  be  of  No.  15  wire ;)  varnished 
with  asphaltum  blacking,  (or  it  may  be  coated  with  coal  tar,  or  painted,  or 
galvanized,)  for  beauty  and  preservation.  If  re-varnished  once  in  five  or  six 
years,  this  fence  will  last  a  century  or  more,  while  the  rflost  durable  post-and- 
rail  fence  lasts  but  about  thirty  years.  The  price  of  this  mode  of  fence  is 
from  75  cents  to  $1.10  per  rod,  according  to  the  weight  of  the  wire. 


2. — This  netting  is  of  the  same  height  as  the  former,  with  wire  and 


600 


THE  LOWELL  WIEE   FENCE. 


mesh  of  the  same  sizes,  but  without  the  two  lateral  wires  through  the  middle 
of  the  fence.  This  varies  in  price  from  60  to  '95  cents  per  rod.  Both  these 
make  first-rate  cattle  fences. 

Fig.  3  represents  a  different  kind 
of  this  netting,  from  sixteen  inches 
to  four  feet  high,  with  mesh  of  three 
inches.  The  outside  wires  are  of 
No.  10  wire  ;  the  inside  of  No.  15  ; 
the  price  from  75  cents  to  $1.50 
per  rod.  It  is  a  capital  sheep,  gar- 
den, and  poultry  fence.  This  net- 
ting, four  feet  high,  is  sufficient, 
without  covering,  to  "hold"  hens. 
All  who  have  tried  it  attest  its  practicability.  Richard  S.  Fay,  Esq.,  the 
popular  agricultural  lecturer,  writes  of  it  as  follows : 
"Charles  Cowley,  Esq.,  Agent  of  the  Lowell  "Wire  Fence  Co.: 

SiE :  Your  favor  of  Jan.  2d  is  duly  received.  I  have  used  the  Lowell  wire  fence  dur- 
ing the  past  summer,  for  folding  sheep  at  night  on  land  that  I  wished  to  manure,  shift- 
ing once  or  more  every  week,  and  have  found  it  answer  the  purpose  perfectly.  I  have 
also  inclosed  an  acre  or  two  of  ground  with  it  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  a  few  sheep 
separate  from  the  flock.  If  properly  set,  it  would  hold  any  thing,  and  for  smaller  ani- 
mals, particularly  sheep,  it  is  impossible  that  they  should  break  it  down  or  escape  from 
it.  I  have  had  some  iron  rods  made  with  a  double  foot,  which  I  drive  into  the  ground 
and  attach  the  fence  to  it  either  by  copper  wire  or  stout  twine.  A  man  and  a  boy  will 
inclose  a  quarter  of  an  acre  in  less  than  an  hour,  having  these  posts,  which  should  be  set 
not  more  than  a  rod  apart. 

When  I  change  the  fence  to  a  new  spot,  I  unfasten  it  from  the  posts— throw  it  down — 
begin  at  one  end,  and  roll  it  up  as  you  would  a  carpet.  And  so  in  re-setting,  reverse  the 
process,  rolling  it  out  where  it  is  to  be  set;  drive  down  the  posts,  and  then  raise  it  and 
attach  it  to  them.  My  fence  cost  $1.50  per  rod,  and  it  is  a  cheap  mode  of  hurdling  or 
inclosing  at  that  price.     I  understand  now  that  it  is  made  much  cheaper. 

_  I  am  very  truly  yours,  Richard  S.  Fat. 


Boston,  Jan.  5,  1855." 

F\s.  41. 


Fig.  47  represents  the  front  door  of  a 
house,  arched  with  some  of  this  netting  as 
a  mode  of  trellis-work.  It  may  be  had  of 
any  width,  from  sixteen  inches  to  four 
feet,  and  of  any  mesh,  one,  three,  or  six 
inches.  Light,  cheap,  elegant,  and  dura- 
ble, this  is  the  most  admirable  trellis-work 
yet  devised.  Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wil- 
der, of  Dorchester,  Mass.,  President  of  the 
United  States  Agricultural  Society,  who 
has  recently  procured  some  of  the  four- 
feet-wide,  six-inch  mesh  netting  for  grape 
trellises,  writes  as  follows : 

"  Charles  Cowlet,  Esq.,  Agent,  Etc.  : 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  recently  examined  some  of 
the  netting  of  the  Lowell  Wire  Fence  Company, 
for  fences,  trellises,,  etc.  From  my  own  expe- 
rience and  that  of  others,  I  can  not  doubt  that  it 
is  perfectly  practicable  as  a  fence  for  fields  and 
gardens,  or  that  it  is  well  adapted  to  all  uses 
where  a  strong,  close,  elegant,  economical,  and 
durable  fence  is  required.  Wlaere  stone  is  not 
abundant,  or  where  lumber  is  expensive,  as  in 
many  of  our  States,  I  should  deem  it  the  most 
practicable  fence  that  could  be  procured.  If 
our  railroads  are  hereafter  to  be  inclosed,  as 


AMERICAN  SOLIDIFIED  MILK.  501 


safety  and  economy  demand,  they  can  scarcely  be  fenced  cheaper  or  better  than  by  this 
mode  of  fence.  The  stouter  kinds  of  this  netting  are  of  such  strength,  that  cattle  could 
not  easily  penetrate  or  pass  it ;  while  the  closeness  of  the  lighter  kinds  renders  them  ad- 
mirably available  for  garden  uses,  heneries,  and  poultry  fences.  Fencing  like  this  has  lor 
some  years  been  extensively  used  in  Great  Britain ;  and,  since  it  can  now  be  made  at  a 
much  less  cost,  by  machinery,  it  would  seem  to  be  equally  adaptive  to  the  United  states. 
1  know  of  no  fencing  so  good  as  this,  that  can  be  procured  for  $1.50  per  rod  the  highest 
price  asked  for  the  most  costly  kinds  of  this  netting;  and  this  is,  probably,  the  only 
fencing  of  equal  merit  that  can  be  bought  for  $1.50  per  rod.  ,         ,    .  ■,        t 

As  a  material  for  rose-trellise?,  grape-trellises,  and  ornamental  work  m  gardens,  1 
think  it  unequalled  in  cheapness,  durability,  and  beauty,  by  any  thing  yet  devised.  It 
will,  without  doubt,  eventually  be  received  into  general  use,  when  its  merits  are  appre- 
ciated by  the  public.  Tours  respectfully,  Marshall  P.  Wilder. 

Dorchester,  Jan.  15, 1855." 

Besides  the  kinds  of  this  netting  represented  in  these  cuts,  there  are  other 
kinds— one  of  one-inch  mesh,  whicli  is  fast  coming  into  use  for  window-net- 
ting, bird-cages,  etc.,  etc. 

The  enormous  expense  of  constructing  and  repairing  stone  walls,  post-and- 
rail  fences,  and  other  modes  of  fence  now  in  vogue,  is  such  that  many  do  not 
hesitate  to  attribute  to  it  the  present  backward  state  of  American  agriculture. 
The  well-known  Mr.  Biddle,  some  years  ago  estimated  that  the  fences  of 
Pennsylvania  alone  cost  $100,000,000,  and  the  annual  expenditure  upon  them 
not  less  than  $10,000,000.  In  all  the  other  States,  the  '' fence-oppression,  as 
it  has  been  called,  weighs  no  less  heavily  than  in  Pennsylvania.  In  view  ot 
such  facts,  we  regard  Ue  introduction  of  the  fencing  above  portrayed  as  a 
blessing  to  all  the  farmers  in  the  country.  That  it  will,  in  a  great  measure, 
supersede  all  our  present  modes  of  fencing,  is  an  opinion  concurred  in  by  its 
inventor,  by  the  Company  organized  to  manufacture  it,  and  by  all,  whether 
practical  agriculturists  or  scientific  theorists,  who  have  tried  or  examined  it. 


American  Solidified  Milk.— Mr.  Blatchford  has  established  a  factory  for 
the  purpose  of  carrying  on  this  process  at  Armenia,  N.  Y.  There  the  follow- 
ing treatment  is  adopted  :  To  112  lbs.  of  milk,  28  lbs.  of  Stuart's  white  sugar 
are  added,  and  a  trivial  proportion  of  bicarbonate  of  soda— a  teaspoonful, 
merely  enough  to  insure  the  neutrahzing  of  any  acidity,  which  in  the  suna- 
mer  season  is  exhibited  even  a  few  minutes  after  milking.  The  sweet  milk  is 
poured  into  evaporating  pans  of  enamelled  iron,  embedded  in  warm  water 
heated  by  steam.  To  facihtate  the  evaporation  by  means  of  blowers  and 
other  ingenious  apparatus,  a  current  of  air  is  established  between  the  covers 
of  the  pans  and  the  solidifying  milk.  Connected  with  the  steam-engine  is  an 
arrangement  for  stirrers,  for  agitating  the  milk  slightly  whilst  evaporating, 
and  so  gently  as  not  to  churn  it.  In  about  three  hours  the  milk  and  sugar 
assume  a  pasty  consistency.  By  constant  manipulating  and  warming,  it  is 
reduced  to  a  rich  creamy-looking  powder ;  then  exposed  to  the  air  to  cool, 
weighed  into  parcels  of  a  pound  each,  and  by  a  press,  with  the  force  of  a  ton 
or  two,  it  is  made  to  assume  the  compact  form  of  a  tablet,  (the  size  of  a  small 
brick,)  in  which  shape,  covered  with  tinfoil,  it  is  presented  to  the  public.  On 
a  recent  examination  of  the  routine,  some  of  the  solidified  milk  which  had 
been  grated  and  dissolved  in  water  the  evening  previous,  was  found  covered 
with  a  rich  cream.  This  skimmed  off,  was  soon  convered  into  excellent  but- 
ter. Another  solution  was  speedily  converted  into  wine-whey,  by  a  treatment 
precisely  similar  to  that  employed  in  using  ordinary  milk. 


502 


bloomfield's  cylindrical  steam  valve. 


BLOOMFIELD'S    CYLINDRICAL    STEAM    VALVE. 

The  annexed  engravings  represent  a  new  valve  for  engines,  invented  by 
Hosmer  Bloomfiekl,  of  Springville,  N.  Y. 


Fig.  2  is^  a  side  elevation  of  tlie  valve,  with  the  inlet  pipe  attached,  and 
the  crank-pin,  for  oscillating  the  valve.  Fig.  1  is  a  transverse  vertical  section 
of  the  valve  and  the  steam  passages  of  the  cylinder  of  an  engine.  A  repre- 
sents the  cylindrical  valve,  which  forms  a  steam-box,  with  head  and  bottom 
like  a  cylinder.  This  valve  extends  to  the  outside  of  the  valve-cover,  C,  and 
is  oscillated  by  the  eccentric  rod,  which  is  attached  to  the  pin  of  the  arm 
shown  in  Fig.  1.  B  is  an  opening  in  the  roof  of  the  valve,  to  counteract  the 
abutting  force  of  the  steam  on  the  cylinder  ftice.  D  is  an  oil-cup,  and  there 
are  channels  cut  in  the  valve  to  allow  its  whole  surface  to  be  lubricated.  E 
is  a  layer  of  vulcanized  india-rubber  packing,  to  render  the  cover,  C,  steam- 
tight,  la  Fig.  1  the  steam  is  exhausting  from  the  steara-cylinder  at  the 
right-hand  end,  and  the  engine  is  taking  in  steam  by  the  left-hand  port  and 


MISCELLANEOUS.  503 


passage.  This  figure  is  taken  through  the  length  of  the  steam-cylinder,  and 
is  consequently  at  right  angles  to  Fig.  2,  which  shows  the  exhaust-pipe  on 
the  steana-cylinder  under  the  top  inlet  steam-pipe.  The  advantages  claimed 
for  it  by  its  author  are  :  1st,  perfect  freedom  from  unequal  steam-pressure  ; 
2d,  accessibility  of  all  its  parts  to  lubrication  ;  3d,  simplicity,  4th,  even  wear 
of  surface  after  it  is  ground  in  steam-tight. 

More  information  respecting  it  may  be  obtained  by  letter  addressed  to 
Mr.  Bloorafield,  at  Springville. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 

Embossing  TELEaRAPH. — Mr.  E.  S.  Barnes,  of  South-Camden,  N.  J.,  pro- 
fesses to  have  made  certain  discoveries  which  enable  him  to  improve  vastly 
upon  the  present  system  of  printing-telegraphs.  He  calls  his  invention  the 
"  Embossing  Telegraph,"  and  sets  forth  in  a  circular  the  principal  advantages 
over  other  methods.     Some  of  these  are  as  follows  : 

The  difficulties  from  atmospheric  electricity  are  entirely  removed,  by  a  pro- 
cess which  needs  to  be  seen  to  be  properly  understood.  Suffice  it  here  to 
say,  that  however  great  the  volume  that  may  be  discharged  into  the  office, 
there  is  a  contrivance,  no  more  complicated  than  a  simple  vessel  of  acidulated 
water,  to  arrest  and  dissipate  nearly,  if  not  quite  all  the  charge ;  and  any  that 
may  pass,  will  not  disturb  the  equilibrium  of  the  magnet,  at  most,  more  than 
momentarily,  owing  to  a  combination  of  a  permanent  with  an  electro  mag- 
net, the  former  of  which  will  not  be  inductively  affected  by  any  amount  of 
water  that  can  pass  the  vessel  of  acidulated  water.  And  now  to  produce  the 
Roman  letter,  by  a  process  combining  simplicity  of  mechanical  construction, 
strength  of  operation,  and  ease  of  acquirement  by  any  operator  of  ordinary 
capacity.  This  I  have  done.  But  to  set  forth  how,  would  be  to  give  a 
detailed  description  of  the  instrument,  which  is  not  here  my  intention.  I  will 
endeavor  to  make  it  perfectly  clear  to  any  one  who  will  be  pleased  to  witness 
the  operation,  at  Camden,  New-Jersey.  There  is  another  feature  of  great 
advantage  in  this  instrument — the  "  circuit-breaker,"  at  the  terminating  sta- 
tion, and  the  type-wheel,  at  the  receiving  station  or  stations,  return  to  a  given 
starting-point  at  the  completion  of  each  letter,  the  instrument  thereby  adjust- 
ing itself  at  every  letter,  and  this  without  loss  of  time. 

"  Mr.  Barnes,"  says  the  Louisville  Journal,  "  resided  here  for  a  considerable 
time  a  few  years  ago,  and  fci  well  remembered  by  many  of  our  citizens.  He 
gave  much  attention  to  the  subject  of  electro-telegraphs,  and,  by  those  who 
knew  him  well,  he  was  considered  a  great  inventor.  We  have  a  strong  hope 
that  his  Embossing  Telegraph  will  accomplish  all  that  is  expected  of  it. 

Employment  for  the  Poor. — We  cheerfully  give  place  to  the  following 
by  request  of  Mr.  De  Motte.  The  object  is  obvious  to  the  reader.  It  was  ori- 
ginally addressed  to  the  editor  of  the  Sun  : 

The  Address  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Emigrant  Protective  and  Em- 
ployment Society,  which  you  kindly  gave  a  place  in  your  columns,  has  already 
produced  its  anticipated  fruits.  Numerous  letters  have  been  received  within 
the  last  few  days  at  the  Society's  office,  requesting  that  portions  of  the  sur- 
plus labor  of  our  city  may  be  removed  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  writers. 
These  letters  are  on  file,  and  open  to  the  inspection  of  any  disposed  to  exam- 
ine them.     The  Board  of  Managers  have  to  deplore  an  exhausted  treasury. 


604  MISCELLANEOUS. 


One  thousand  dollars,  placed  in  their  hands,  could  be  at  once  advantageously 
employed  to  defray  the  travelling  expenses  of  suitable  persons,  desirous  of 
obtaining  employment,  to  the  locations  where  their  labor  is  desired  and 
needed.  It  would  undoubtedly  be  the  best  investment  of  charitable  funds 
that  could  be  made.  In  all  cases  the  beneficiaries  are  required  to  refund  the 
amount  thus  advanced  out  of  their  future  earnings,  and  their  employers  are 
engaged  to  see  that  this  is  done.  This  very  day  a  respectable  American  me- 
chanic— a  wheelwright— applied  to  the  Society  for  aid  to  remove  himself  and 
family  to  the  country,  where  employment  and  a  home  awaited  him,  but  the 
boon  could  not  be  granted  him. 

The  Managers  take  this  opportunity  of  inviting  the  friends  of  humanity  in 
the  country  to  aid  in  this  work  of  benevolence.  The  support  of  the  destitute 
poor  now  in  the  pity  of  New- York,  who  can  not  be  removed,  is  taxing  to  the 
utmost  the  charity  of  the  citizens.  Let  those  communities  where  labor  is 
wanted  form  Associations,  collect  funds  and  remit  them  to  the  Society,  and 
the  pledge  will  be  given  that,  if  not  restricted  to  country  or  creed,  careful 
selections  will  be  made  of  moral  and  industrious  persons  to  fill  the  stations  to 
which  they  may  be  invited.  A  good  opening  is  oflfered  to  those  wanting 
employment  who  have  means  sufficient  for  their  removal,  of  doing  so,  as  in 
removing  under  the  auspices  of  the  Society,  care  will  be  taken  to  prevent  im- 
position or  disappointment,  and  every  facility  and  information  will  be  ex- 
tended to  each.  Mortimer  de  Motte,  Cor.  Sec. 

Weiv-York,  Jan.  12. 

Slag  as  a  Material  for  Fictile  Purposes.— Some  time  ago,  Mr.  Elliott, 
of  Ellsworth,  made  a  very  satisfactory  attempt  to  establish  the  manufacture 
of  bricks  and  tiles  from  the  slag,  or  refuse  cinder,  of  blast  furnaces.  Now, 
we  have  a  further  movement  towards  a  similar  end,  at  the  hands  of  Dr. 
Smith,  of  Philadelphia,  who,  with  a  staff  of  chemical  assistants,  is  at  present 
engaged  in  the  matter  at  Merthyr.  His  experiments  have  been  made  with 
the  view  of  producing  bottles,  and  domestic  utensils  of  various  kinds,  as  well 
as  tiles  and  paving-flags ;  and  this  mode  of  converting  the  enormously-accu- 
mulating cinder  of  the  iron  works  has  been  decidedly  successful.  The  new 
bottles  are  tougher  and  more  perfect  in  their  anneal ment,  than  any  of  the 
ordinary  glass  kind;  but  they  are  undistinguishable  from  glass  ones  in 
external  appearance.  Lady  Charlotte  Guest  has  adopted  the  process,  and 
it  is  believed  that  not  much  time  will  elapse  before  the  transmutation  of  what 
has  hitherto  been  a  constantly-increasing  waste  mass,  will  be  a  commercially- 
valuable  fact. 

To  Give  a  Dull  Black  Color  to  Brass. — A  dull  black  color,  such  as 
is  frequently  employed  for  optical  instruments,  may  be  given  to  brass  by  first 
carefully  rubbing  the  object  with  tripoli,  then  washing  it  with  a  very  dilute 
solution  of  a  mixture  of  one  part  of  neutral  nitrate  of  tin  and  two  parts  of 
chloride  of  gold,  and  then  wiping  off  the  excess  of  liquid,  after  the  lapse  of 
ten  minutes,  with  a  wet  cloth.  If  there  has  been  no  excess  of  acid,  the  sur- 
face of  the  metal  will  have  assumed  a  dull  black  color.  The  neutral  nitrate 
of  tin  may  be  prepared  by  decomposing  the  perchloride  with  ammonia,  and 
dissolving  the  precipitated  oxide  thus  obtained  in  nitric  acid. 

Locomotion  by  Means  of  a  Vacuum  and  Compressed  Air. — Mr.  Som- 
meiller,  a  Sardinian  engineer,  and  director  of  the  railway  works  of  Turin,  has 
invented  an  ingenious  aparatus,  which  he  has  patented  in  France  and  several 
countries  abroad,  for  the  utilizing  of  natural  waterfalls  for  the  purpose  of 


MISCELLANEOUS.  505 


compressing  air  into  suitable  receivers,  or  for  producing  a  vacuum  in  such 
receivers,  and  applying  the  same  to  locomotive  purposes.  The  Sardinian 
Government  has  just  made  a  grant  of  80,000  livres,  for  the  purpose  of 
experimenting  upon  the  invention,  which  will  probably  be  applied  to  the 
ascent  of  Mount  Cenis  and  the  Col  de  Tende. 

Portable  Screwing  Tackle, — This  form  of  sere  wing-tackle  possesses 
the  valuable  feature  of  extreme  portability.  It  is  intended  more  especially 
for  gas  and  water-pipe  fitters,  or  for  other  artisans  whose  avocations  require 
the  carrying  about  of  screwing  apparatus  to  scattered  jobs.  The  die-frame 
is  of  cast-iron,  with  two  diametrically-opposite  bosses  cast  upon  it,  which  are 
bored  up  sufficiently  far  to  receive  the  two  wrought-iron  handles.  The  boss- 
holes  are  made  with  a  slight  taper,  so  that  a  tap  will  fasten  the  handles  in 
their  places,  whilst  they  can  be  at  once  knocked  out  when  required.  When 
both  handles  are  unshipped,  the  stock  will  go  into  a  very  small  compass,  so 
as  to  be  easily  packed  in  an  ordinary  tool-basket  or  box. 

Polished  Shirt-Bosoms. — We  have  often  endeavored  to  learn  how  this 
work  is  done,  but  have  met  with  little  success.  We  are  now  able  to  give 
the  following  as  a  process  in  use  in  some  laundries  : 

To  a  quarter  pound  of  starch  add  white  spermacetti  of  the  size  of  a  walnut, 
or  say,  half  an  ounce  ;  boil  these  together  from  one  to  three  hours. 

In  ironing,  when  the  flat  is  hot,  rub  the  face  of  it  rapidly  with  a  piece  of 
white  wax,  taking  care  not  to  suflFer  it  to  adhere  too  freely  ;  and  this  gives  a 
smoothness  to  its  surface  which  is  serviceable  in  heightening  the  polish  of 
the  linen. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  we  have  seen  the  following  in  an  exchange : 
"  We  often  hear  ladies  expressing  a  wish  to  know  by  what  process  the 
gloss  on  new  linens,  shirt-bosoms,  etc.,  is  produced,  and  in  order  to  gratify 
them,  we  subjoin  the  following  recipe  : 

"  Take  two  ounces  of  fine  white  gum  arable  powder — put  it  in  a  pitcher, 
and  pour  on  a  pint  or  more  of  boiling  water,  according  to  the  degree  of 
strength  you  desire — and  then,  having  covered  it,  let  it  stand  all  night.  In 
the  morning  pour  it  carefully  from  the  dregs  into  a  clean  bottle,  cork  it,  and 
keep  it  for  use.  A  table-spoonful  of  gum-water  stirred  into  a  pint  of  starch 
made  in  the  usual  manner,  will  give  lawn,  either  white  or  printed,  a  look  of 
newness,  when  nothing  else  can  restore  them  after  they  have  been  washed. 
The  Water-Powee,  Etc.,  Potomac. — We  have  received  a  pamphlet 
and  extensive  maps,  describing  the  water-power  at  the  Great  Falls  and  town 
of  Potomac,  owned  by  the  Great  Falls  Manufacturing  Company,  and  in- 
tended to  give  a  particular  account  of  it.  But  the  pamphlet  was  mislaid, 
and  hence  forgotten  till  our  pages  were  full.  We  shall  publish  it  in  our 
next  number.  Meanwhile,  we  merely  remark  that  here  are  the  means,  if 
properly  used,  for  one  of  the  largest  and  safest  manufacturing  establishments 
in  the  United  States. 

Northen  Farmer— Caution.— The  editor  of  The  Northern  Farmer 
recently  complained  of  some  of  his  contemporaries  for  not  giving  credit  for 
borrowed  articles.  But  in  his  January  number  he  has  published  an  entire 
article  entitled,  "Raising  Forest-Trees,"  which  we  prepared  for  our  own 
journal,  without  any  intimation  that  it  is  not  editorial  in  his  pages.  This 
example  is  not  commendable. 

Iron  Trade,  Yorkshire. — Since  the  recent  discovery  of  iron-ore  in  the 
Cleveland  Hills,  in  the  North  Riding,  the  trade  has  made  rapid  progress. 


506  MISCELLANEOUS. 


E;g"'"t.aen  "••!->■  ''••s-  i  t.-tiiV.' heu  tbe^nseWcs  ^r>  tlie  c"??'  ;t!'^  of  t!if  '^7'?  aii'' 
Tees,  who  will  shortly  have  eighty-five  furnaces  in  blast,  producing  500,000 
tons  of  iron  per  annum.  Several  of  these  are  already  at  work ;  others  are 
building.  Sites  for  300  houses,  with  a  church,  market-place,  and  other  pub- 
lic structures,  have  been  laid  out  near  Stockton,  and  the  whole  will  be  com- 
pleted in  two  years.  The  new  town  will  bear  the  name  of  North-Ormsby, 
and  this  makes  the  second  town  erected  since  the  discovery  of  ore. 

Manufacture  of  Iron  and  Steel. — A  Frenchman  has  been  attempting 
to  instruct  the  Americans  in  the  application  of  wood  to  the  manufacture  of 
iron  and  steel.  Wood  can  not  be  employed  without  previous  preparation,  on 
account  of  the  quantity  of  water  it  contains ;  and  he  calls  attention  to  the 
methods  which  have  been  employed,  for  a  short  time,  in  Styria  and  Carinthia, 
for  driving  off  the  water  by  heat,  but  stopping  the  distillation  as  soon  as  the 
substances  which  escape  begin  to  contain  carbon.  One  method  is  this :  The 
gases  coming  from  the  fire-place  are  brought  into  immediate  contact  with  the 
wood,  which  is  thereby  raised  to  a  temperature  sufficiently  high  to  yield  its 
moisture  to  them.  In  the  second  method,  the  gases  are  not  brought  into 
contact  with  the  wood,  but  are  conducted  through  iron  pipes,  around  which 
the  wood  is  piled.  This  is  the  more  economical  process,  and  does  not  render 
the  wood  liable  to  spontaneous  combustion,  as  the  first  is  apt  to  do.  The 
carbonaceous  residue  is  then  applied  to  the  puddling  process,  in  which  the 
quantity  of  air  introduced  into  the  furnace  is  regulated,  so  that  no  more  is  ad- 
mitted than  is  required.  Under  the  old  system  it  was  found  that  mineral 
combustibles  were  much  better  adapted  than  wood  to  the  operations  of  the 
puddling  furnace ;  they  produced  a  more  regular  current  of  gas,  and  the 
interstices  between  the  pieces  of  wood  permitted  too  much  air  to  pass.  But 
now  the  dried  wood  and  the  current  of  air,  by  which  ignition  is  supported,  are 
admitted  separately  into  the  laboratory,  and  hence  the  fire-place  must  have 
quite  different  dimensions.  It  is  very  long  vertically  ;  the  grate  is  very  low, 
and  composed  only  of  a  few  bars  to  support  the  wood.  The  air  does  not 
enter  freely  into  the  fire-place ;  the  bellows  sends  a  graduated  current  of  air 
under  the  wood,  and  produces  its  distillation.  On  account  of  the  j^ile  which 
the  air  is  obliged  to  traverse,  the  distillation  is  gradual.  The  air  admitted  is 
in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  wood  I'equired  to  be  carbonized  in  a  given 
time.  The  current  of  combustible  gas  found  in  the  wood  passes  into  the 
laboratory,  where  the  puddling  takes  place,  and  is  met  by  a  regulated  current 
of  air  driven  through  a  pipe.  The  laboratory  thus  obtains,  instead  of  an 
ordinary  flame,  a  combustible  gas,  free  from  all  traces  of  oxygen.  It  is 
asserted  that,  by  this  process,  the  purification  of  the  iron  takes  place  under 
very  favorable  circumstances,  and  that  even  impure  kinds  yield  excellent 
metal. 

Coal  Trade. — In  the  year  1853,  8,835,5*73  tons  of  coal,  40,142  tons  of 
cinders,  and  195,269  tons  of  culm,  in  all  9,070,984  tons,  were  shipped  at  the 
several  ports  of  the  United  Kingdom,  coastways,  to  other  ports  of  the  United 
Kingdom.  In  the  same  year,  3,758,123  tons  of  coal,  to  the  declared  value  of 
£1,507,950,  and  176,939  tons  of  cinders,  to  the  declared  value  of  £96,641, 
were  exported  from  the  several  ports  of  the  United  Kingdom  to  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  to  British  settlements  abroad.  4,026,985  tons  of  coal  were  brought 
into  the  port  of  London  during  the  year,  of  which  3,373,256  were  brought 
coastways,  and  653,729  by  inland  navigation  and  land  carriage.  The  export 
of  coals  to  Russia  during  the  year  1853  amounted  to  212,762  tons,  the  de- 
clared value  of  which  was  £78,559.  We  glean  this  information  from  a  par- 
liamentary paper. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  507 


"Anastatic  Printing,"  now  a  comparatively  antique  invention,  is  a 
peculiar  process,  by  which  any  design  made  on  paper  with  prepared  ink, 
chalk,  or  other  oleaginous  matter,  may  be  transferred  from  the  paper  to 
a  metal  plate,  which  plate,  in  turn,  may  be  used  as  the  actual  printing 
surface  for  the  production  of  an  indefinite  number  of  copies  of  the  original 
design. 

The  discovery  of  this  interesting  art  occurred  at  Erfurt,  in  Germany, 
some  years  ago ;  but  its  introduction  here  is  mainly  due  to  Professor 
Faraday,  who  gave  an  elaborate  lecture  on  the  subject,  at  the  Royal  Institu- 
tion, in  1845.  The  term  "anastatic"  has  been  deduced  from  the  Greek, 
(dvdaramg,  resurrection,  or  reproduction?!  The  plan  is  simply  this  :  The 
printed  original,  or  the  paper  carrying  the  oleaginous  device,  however 
produced,  is  laid  face  downwards,  upon  a  clean  zinc  plate,  and  an  acidulous 
solution  is  then  applied  to  the  back  of  the  paper,  when  the  whole  is  passed 
through  a  press.  The  presence  of  the  oleaginous  lines  in  contact  with  the 
plate,  prevents  the  acid  from  taking  efTect  at  those  parts,  whilst  the  black 
spaces,  being  quite  unprotected,  are  fully  and  completely  acted  upon,  or 
"  bitten"  in  by  the  acid.  We  have  thus  a  reversed /ac-simjVe  of  the.  original 
device,  the  lines  of  such  figure  or  letters  being  in  relief.  On  the  removal 
of  the  paper,  the  plate  is  treated  with  a  gummy  solution  to  prevent  the 
adhesion  of  the  printing-ink  upon  the  blank  spaces,  and  the  plate  is  then 
inked  upon  by  rollers,  and  printed  from — ^j'jst  as  a  form  of  types  would  be 
used. 

In  some  instances,  very  old  letter-press  and  drawings  have  been  most  per- 
fectly re-produced  in  this  way  ;  but,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  the  comphcated 
and  uncertain  chemical  arrangements  necessary  for  reviving  the  hard  and  ■ 
dry  ink  of  old  subjects,  have  been  a  complete  bar  to  the  application  of  the 
new  process  to  this  purpose.  Hence,  Mr.  Cowell,  with  other  printers,  has 
been  led  to  adapt  the  art  to  purposes  of  more  general  utility. 

New  Method  of  Treating  Gutta  Percha. — A  new  mode  of  treating 
gutta  percha,  with  the  view  of  applying  it  to  various  new  purposes,  has  been 
lately  patented  in  France.  To  render  it  liquid,  a  carburet  of  hydrogen,  ob- 
tained in  the  following  manner,  is  made  use  of:  Take  of  the  fight  oils  from 
the  distillation  of  coal  tar,  (spec.  grav.  20°  to  30°,)  and  wash  it  well  several 
times,  adding,  the  first  time,  a  little  sulphuric  acid,  for  the  purpose  of  remov- 
ing matters  injurious  to  the  production  of  the  carburet.  The  acid  can  be 
removed  by  repeated  washings  with  water,  after  which  the  oil  must  be  dis- 
tilled. To  the  distilled  oil  some  lime  in  powder  and  sulphuret  of  carbon  must 
be  added,  and  it  is  then  subjected  to  a  second  distillation.  A  liquid,  indi- 
cating 28  or  30  degrees  on  the  hydrometer,  passes  over.  By  means  of  this, 
gutta  percha  may  be  liquefied,  applied  either  cold  or  hot,  the  latter  being 
best.  By  adding  a  little  alcohol  to  the  carburet  thus  obtained,  a  liquid  is 
obtained  of  32°  or  33°,  which  will  take  away  spots  of  grease  from  all  kinds 
of  textile  fabrics,  even  from  silk,  without  altering  the  color,  and  it  may  be 
used  for  cleansing  gloves.  Its  unpleasant  smell  can  be  removed  by  adding  a 
little  essence  of  lavender.  An  important  application  of  the  liquefied  gutta 
percha  is  for  printing  rollers,  which  are  usually  made  of  gelatine,  or  glue  and 
molasses  mixed  in  different  proportions,  according  to  the  temperature  and  the 
season.  If  to  these  matters  a  small  portion  of  liquefied  gutta  percha  is  added, 
a  very  superior  kind  of  roller  is  obtained.  Liquefied  gutta  percha,  mixed 
with  gum  copal,  dissolved  in  the  carburet  above  described,  produces  an  excel- 
lent varnish  for  wood  and  metals,  and  applied  to  iron  it  prevents  its  oxydiza- 


508  MISCELLANEOUS. 


tion.  All  sorts  of  fabrics  can  be  rendered  water-proof  by  a  single  coating  of 
liquefied  gutta  percba.  Wben  intended  to  be  used  in  a  solid  state,  tbe  gutta 
percba  should  be  well  kneaded  in  a  heated  mortar,  and  then  pulverized  color- 
ing matter  is  added.  It  is  then  kneaded  again,  in  order  to  make  the  coloring 
enter  into  every  part  of  the  mass.  It  is  then  passed  between  rollers.  Thus 
prepared,  it  resists  from  140°  to  160°  Fahr.  of  heat.  It  is  made  use  of  in 
the  manufacture  of  all  kinds  of  objects  of  art  or  industry,  such  as  pipes,  boxes, 
vases,  statuettes,  casts,  etc. 

PRESERViNa  Meat  and  Fruit. — The  French  have  been  experimenting 
upon  this  subject,  and  it  is  reported  that  a  mode  of  preserving  meat  and  fruit 
has  been  discovered,  by  which  they  are  not  altered  in  size  or  appearance,  so 
that  at  the  end  of  six  or  eight  months,  when  placed  on  the  table,  they  would 
be  taken  to  be  perfectly  fresh.  What  is  still  more  strange,  the  articles  have 
lost  none  of  their  original  flavor.  If  all  this  is  true,  the  discovery  is  a  very 
valuable  one.  MM.  Delabarre  and  Bonnet  have  submitted  to  the  French 
Minister  of  War  some  samples  of  meat  preserved  by  their  method.  This  con- 
sists in  drying  it  by  natural  means,  and  then  preparing  it  with  materials  fur- 
nished by  the  animal.  When  the  water  which  composes  a  large  part  of  fresh 
meat  is  driven  off,  the  osmazome  supplied  by  the  animal  is  applied  as  a  var- 
nish to  the  increase  of  the  nutritious  properties  of  the  meat.  By  desiccation 
the  meat  is  reduced  in  size  and  weight  one  half,  and  this  is  done  Avithout  the 
application  of  artificial  heat.  It  may  be  eaten  in  this  state,  and  is  not  dis- 
agreeable. When  cooked,  half  an  hour's  immersion  in  hot  water  is  sufficient 
to  increase  its  bulk  to  what  it  was  originally,  and  to  render  it  as  palatable  as 
if  fresh  meat  had  been  cooked.  There  has  been  such  wholesale  deception  in 
the  preservation  of  meats,  that  the  public  is  naturally  suspicious  in  the  mat- 
ter;  but  we  need  not  say  that  a  cheap  method  of  preserving  meats  in  an 
eflfectual  manner,  would  be  most  valuable  both  to  the  inventor  and  the  public. 

Lime  Light  from  the  Decomposition  of  Water. — Professor  Callan,  of 
Maynooth,  has  published,  in  a  recent  number  of  the  London,  Edinburgh, 
and  Dublin  Philosophical  Magazine,  the  results  of  a  series  of  experiments  on 
the  decomposition  of  water,  with  a  view  to  obtain  a  constant  and  brilliant 
lime  light.  He  states,  firstly,  that  he  has  invented  a  new  apparatus  for 
applying  with  perfect  safety  the  mixed  gases,  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  to  the 
production  of  a  flame  of  the  most  intense  heat,  which,  when  thrown  on  lime, 
produces  a  most  dazzing  light.  Secondly,  that  he  has  invented  a  new 
voltameter  to  which  a  common  jet  may  be  screwed,  and  the  gases  inflamed 
as  they  issue  from  it,  without  the  smallest  risk  of  injury,  and  by  which  the 
full  decomposing  effect  of  a  battery  of  100  or  500  pairs,  arranged  in  one 
series,  may  be  produced  without  exhausting  the  power  of  the  battery  more 
rapidly  than  if  it  only  contained  three  or  four  cells.  Thirdly,  that  he  has 
discovered  a  new  negative  element,  far  cheaper,  more  durable,  and  one  which 
may  be  made  to  act  more  powerfully  than  the  platinized  silver  used  in  Smee's 
battery.  Fourthly,  that  he  has  discovered  a  new  mode  of  protecting  iron 
against  the  action  of  the  weather,  and  of  various  corroding  substances,  so 
that  it  may  be  used  for  all  the  purposes  to  which  sheet-lead  and  galvanized 
iron  are  applied.  Fifthly,  that  he  has  discovered  a  new  method  of  produc- 
ing a  brilliant  intermittent  lime  light  by  means  of  a  small  galvanic  battery  ; 
and,  sixthly,  a  new  mode  of  exhibiting  dissolving  views  by  means  of  the  lime 
light.  Lastly,  that  he  has  invented  a  new  sine  galvanometer,  the  only 
instrument  yet  made  by  which  very  powerful  galvanic  currents  can  be 
measured. 


NEW  BOOKS.  509 


A.  C.  RussEL,  of  Kirtland,  one  of  the  heaviest  sheep  men  on  the  Reserve, 
and  who  knows  what  a  good  sheep  is,  sent  sonae  of  his  best  ewes  to  Brooklyn, 
last  week,  to  be  tupped  by  "  Tippecanoe,"  the  celebrated  buck  owned  by  Jno. 
Goes. 


General  Agency. — The  publisher  of  The  Plough,  the  Loom^  and  the  Anvil^ 
believing  it  in  his  power  to  be  of  essential  service  to  the  readers  of  that  journal, 
in  the  purchase  or  sale  of  various  articles,  and  the  transaction  of  various  kinds  of 
business,  would  announce  to  them  that  he  is  ready  to  execute  any  such  commis- 
sion which  he  may  receive,  including  the  purchase  of  books  of  any  description ; 
implements  connected  with  agricultural,  manufacturing,  or  mechanical  opera- 
tions; artificial  manures;  farm  and  garden  seeds,  etc.,  etc.  One  of  the  gentle- 
men connected  with  the  journal  is  a  proficient  in  music,  and  experienced  in  the 
selection  of  piano-fortes,  flutes,  etc.,  and  will  execute  orders  in  that  department. 

He  will  also  act  as  agent  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  Real  Estate. 

j^^Particular  attention  to  business  connected  with  the  Patent-Office. 

Letters  of  inquiry  on  these  matters  will  be  promptly  attended  to. 

School-Teachers.  —  Having  had  occasion  to  furnish  teachers  for  some 
of  our  Southern  friends,  we  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  learn  of  several 
young  ladies  who  are  admirably  well  qualified  for  families  or  schools,  and  if  any 
are  in  need  of  such,  a  letter  addressed  to  us  will  receive  immediate  answer.  We 
shall  not  fear  to  guarantee  that  any  reasonable  expectations  will  be  fully  met. 
Some  of  them  are  desirous  of  going  South. 


NEW        BOOKS. 
Wm.  Hall  <fe  Son's  New  Music. 

Among  the  capital  pieces  of  new  music  published  by  this  well-known  firm,  are  We- 
molo  Schottisch,  by  Wra.  Vincent  Wallace,  very  beautiful  when  nicely  executed.  It  is 
also  a  capital  exercise  for  those  who  would  acquire  a  fii'ra  and  vigorous  touch. 

Zme  Or  and  Polka  de  Concert,  by  Wm.  V.  Wallace — very  difficult,  but  very  fine. 

The  Dream  of  Youth,  song  and  quartet,  by  Wm.  lueho  —  simple,  natural,  and 
effective. 

Down  the  River,  down  the  Ohio,  as  sung  at  Christy's,  by  E.  P.  Christy — quite  charac- 
teristic. 

Messrs.  Hall  <fe  Son  have  recently  produced  a  great  excitement  among  the  music 
dealers,  by  offering  all  their  music,  not  copy-righted,  at  about  half  pkice.  Their  idea  is 
to  give  music  a  value  like  other  publications,  not  merely  by  the  square  foot,  but  by  its 
cost,  modified  somewhat  by  other  considerations.  Whether  this  is  or  is  not  a  wise 
policy,  is  not  for  us  to  decide,  though  we  confess  we  do  not  see  why  an  impression  from 
an  old  plate  which  has  produced  its  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  copies,  and  been 
thrummed  for  years,  should  command  as  much  price  as  new  music,  especially  that  for 
which  a  large  sum  has  been  expended  in  the  purchase  of  a  copy-right.  But  one  thing 
we  do  know.  This  is  a  capital  opportunity  to  obtain  a  large  portfolio  of  good  music 
very  cheap.  This  arrangemeat  may  be  permanent,  and  it  may  not.  Hence  all  should 
avail  themselves  of  it.  Let  any  of  our  subscribers  make  out  their  lists,  inclose  their 
costs  at  half  price,  "  or  thereabout,"  and  send  to  us,  and  we  will  purchase  and  forward 
immediately  as  ordered,  without  charga.  And  though  we  much  prefer  definite  instruc- 
tions, we  will  venture  to  assume  the  task  of  selection,  provided  the  general  character  of 
the  pieces  desired  is  sent  to  us  with  their  cost.  State  also  what  proportion  of  vocal  or 
of  instrumental  is  desired. 

The  Field-Book  of  Manures;  or.  The  American  Muck-Book,  etc.,  etc.     By  D.  J. 

Beowne.    New- York :  C.  M.  Saxton. 

We  have  before  commended  this  book.  We  repeat  the  commendations  before  given. 
It  is  literally  full  of  valuable  instruction  in  the  making  and  using  of  all  manures,  ani- 


510  NEW   BOOKS. 


mal  and  artificial.  It  is  entirely  reliable  from  beginning  to  end.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  improye  it. 

"  Father  Clark  ;"  or,  The  Pioneer  Preacher.     Sketches  and  Incidents  of  Rev.  John 

Clark.  By  au  Old  Pioneer.  New- York:  Sheldon,  Lamport  &  Blakeman.  1855. 
•  Tuis  title  is  doubled,  if  not  somewhat  twisted.  The  book  is  the  first  of  a  series  of 
"  Pioneer  Books,"  -written,  it  is  said  on  the  cover,  by  Rev.  J.  M.  Peck.  Why  the  author's 
name  is  not  on  the  title-page  as  well,  we  do  not  know.  Father  Clark  -was  the  first 
preacher  who  ventured  into  the  Spanish  country  west  of  the  Mississippi.  His  earlier 
life  was  various — a  sailor,  privateer,  a  prisoner,  a  fugitive,  shipwrecked,  a  teacher,  and 
a  preacher  in  the  South  and  West.     He  died  in  1883. 

The  American  Almanac  and  Repository  of  Useful  Knowledge,  for  1855.  Bos- 
ton :  Phillips,  Sampson  &  Co. 

This  annual  is  filled,  as  usual,  with  a  large  amount  of  valuable  information.  The  sta- 
tistics are  full  and  reliable.  The  execution  of  the  volume  is  very  creditable  to  the  pub- 
lishers. 

Poems  of  the  Orient.  By  Bayard  Taylor.  Boston:  Ticknor  &  Fields.  1855. 
203  pages. 

This  volume  is  handsomely  executed,  and  it  ought  to  be,  for  it  contains  some  of  the 
finest  things  we  have  seen  for  many  a  day. 

"  And  the  poet  knew  the  land  of  the  East ; 
His  soul  was  native  there." 

The  soul  of  our  author  is  quite  at  home,  whether  he  treats  of  the  "  Arab  Warrior,"  "  The 
Temptation  of  Hassan  Ben  Khaled,"  or  "The  Birth  of  the  Prophet."  "The  Shekh," 
from  the  Arabic,  is  a  very  beautiful  effusion.  There  is  certainly  poetry,  and  of  a  high 
order,  and  nature,  perhaps  unsanctified,  in  "In  Articulo  Mortes."  There  is  much  to  com- 
mend in  this  little  volume. 

De  Bow's  Review. 

We  have  taken  occasion  repeatedly  to  commend  this  publication.  It  is  chiefly  statis- 
tical, and  of  course  less  attractive  as  a  mere  amusement  than  many  of  far  less  value. 
But  Mr.  De  Bow  is  a  worker,  and  he  works  to  some  purpose.  His  pages  uniformly 
exhibit  proof  of  this.  His  connection  with  the  census  department  gives  him  peculiar 
facilities  for  a  work  of  this  description,  and  if  his  results  are  sometimes  imperfect,  it  is 
not  from  want  of  care  on  his  part,  but  from  errors  in  original  documents.  But  other 
matters  beside  statistics  are  always  found  in  this  journal,  both  from  his  own  pen  and 
from  contributors,  and  these  contributors,  for  ability  and  information,  will  not  suffer  by 
comparison  with  those  of  any  other  journal.    It  surely  deserves  a  liberal  patronage. 

This  Review  has  recently  been  enlarged.  Each  monthly  number  now  contains  144 
pages,  and  the  editor  will  devote  his  time  exclusively  to  it.  It  is  published  both  at  New- 
Orleans  and  Washington. 

Statistical  View  of  the  United  States,  Etc.  ;  being  a  Compendium  of  the  Seventh 
Census.  By  J.  J).  B.  De  Bow,  Superintendent  of  U.  S.  Census.  1854. 
This  volume  has  just  been  sent  us  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  De  Bow.  It  is  a  House 
document.  The  contents  are  prepared,  evidently,  with  unusual  care.  Several  tables 
are  added,  not  found  in  former  volumes  of  this  description.  Mr.  De  Bow  is  a  very  indus- 
trious and  efficient  officer. 

A  Universal  and  Critic 4l  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language  ;  to  which  are 
added  Walkei's  Key  to  the  Pronunciation  of  Classical  and  Scripture  Proper  Names, 
much  enlarged  and  improved,  and  a  Pronouncing  Vocabulary  of  Modern  Geographical 
Names.  By  Joseph  E.  Worcester,  LL.D.  Boston:  Jenks,  Hickling  &  Swan,  Pub- 
lishers. 

Johnson's  Dictionary  (Todd's  Edition)  and  the  words  found  therein,  and  in  common 
use,  are  without  cited  authority.  To  these  have  been  added  nearly  twenty-seven  thou- 
sand words,  and  authorities  given.  Beside  a  complete  dictionary,  this  volume  comprises 
the  principles  of  pronunciation,  orthography,  English  grammar,  the  history  and  origin 
of  the  English  language,  Archaisms,  provincialisms,  and  Americanisms.  Also,  Walker's 
Key  to  the  Classical  Pronunciation  of  Greek,  Latin,  and  Scripture  Proper  Names,  and  a 
department  devoted  to  the  pronunciation  of  modern  geographical  names  and  European 
languages,  which  are  alike  invaluable  to  the  student  and  the  common  reader. 


LIST  OF  PATENTS. 


511 


List     of     Patents     Issued 

FKOM  DEC.  12,    1854,  TO   JAN.  2,  1855. 


Nathan  Ames,  Saugas,  improvement  in  poly- 
graphs. 

Nathau  Ames,  Saugus,  for  improved  polygraph. 

Qaetan  Bonell,  Turin,  Sardinia,  improvement  in 
operating  looms  by  electricity.  Patented  in  France, 
Aug.  15, 1853. 

B.  F.  Brown,  Dorchester,  Mass.,  improvement  in 
hanging  carriage  bodies. 

Mathew  Cridge  and  Samuel  Wadsworth,  Pitts- 
burg, improvement  of  oscillating  steam-engines. 

Wm.  F.  Cumberland,  Newark,  improvement  in 
machines  for  bending  metal.  Patented  in  England, 
Jan.  23,  1854. 

Thos.  0.  Cutler,  New-York,  improvement  in  ma- 
chines for  crushing  and  grinding  minerals  and 
other  substances. 

Charles  Danforth,  Paterson,  N.  J.,  improvement 
in  throstles  for  spinning  cotton. 

George  W.  French  and  William  Wagstaff, 
Cambridge,  improved  method  of  destroying  ver- 
min. 

Moses  Gates,  Gallipolis,  improvement  in  hoes. 

John  Good,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in  cof- 
fins. 

E.  L.  Hagar,  Frankfort,  N.  Y.,  improvements  in 
harrows. 

J.  W.  Hoard,  Providence,  angler's  combined  float 
and  sinker. 

Enoch  Jackman,  Portland,  Ct.,  improvement  in 
securing  carpets  to  floors. 

Jacob  Jenkins  and  John  R.  Cooke,  Winsted,  Ct., 
improvement  in  hub-bands  for  carriages. 

Edward  C.  Johnson,  Lowell,  improvement  in 
flyers. 

U.  A.  Luttgens,  Paterson,  N.  J.,  improvement 
in  cut-off  regulators  for  steam-engines. 

J.  W.  Lovocraft,  Rochester,  feed  motion  for  saw- 
ing light  lumber. 

Wm.  Lyon,  Newark,  improvement  in  sewing- 
machines. 

Henry  H.  Olds,  New-Haven,  improvements  in 
propulsion  of  vessels. 

Eldridge  H.  Penfleld,  Middletown  Ct.,  improve- 
ment in  dock-holders  for  horses. 

James  Perry,  New-York,  improved  gold-col- 
lector. 

Henry  A.  Roe,  West-Andover,  Ohio,  improve- 
ment in  cheese-vats. 

Joel  n.  Ross,  New- York,  improved  hygrometric 
regulator  for  hot- water  apparatus. 

George  Ross,  New-York,  improvement  in  looms. 

Geo.  W.  Stedman,  Vienna,  N.  J.,  improvement 
in  sewing-machines. 

Daniel  W.  Shares,  Hamden,  Ct.,  improvement  in 
seed-planters  and  cultivators. 

Jeremiah  Stever,  Bristol,  Ct.,  improvement  in 
machine  for  scraping  metals. 

Edward  Stiercn,  Alleghany  county.  Pa.,  improve- 
ment in  processes  of  treating  the  mother  water  of 
salines. 

Benjamin  F.  Taft,  South-Boston,  for  boring  ma- 
chine. 

Henry  Waterman,  Huason,  improvement  in  con- 
densers for  steam-engines. 

D.  P.  Weeks,  Maiden,  Mass.,  improved  hot-air 
furnace. 

Jacob  W'eimar,  New-York,  improvement  in  door- 
locks. 

C.  W.  Wyatt,  New- York,  machine  for  dressing 
felloes. 

Daniel  L.  Winsor,  Duxbury,  improvement  in 
ships'  windlasses. 


John  Andrews,  Winchester,  Mass.,  assigned  to 
himself,  Nathaniel  A.  Richardson,  and  Gardner 
Symones,  of  same  place,  for  improvement  in  seed- 
planters. 

M.  J.  Lieberman,  New- York,  assigned  to  George 
S.  Hanford,  Solomon  H.  Handford,  and  John  E. 
Hanford,  for  improvement  in  water-proof  cloths, 
etc. 

Henry  and  William  Tiebe,  Cincinnati,  assignors 
to  themselves  and  Harmon  H.  Herman,  same  place, 
for  improvement  in  casting  the  spouts  of  tea- 
pots. 

Joseph  Perkins,  Salem,  Mass.,  assignor  to  him- 
self and  Henry  P.  Upton,  of  same  place,  for  im- 
provement in  trussing  yards  to  vessels'  masts. 

Chas.  P.  Bailey,  Zanesville,  for  feeding  apparatus 
to  a  machine  for  cutting  irregular  forms. 

S.  W.  Brown,  Lowell,  improvement  in  conden- 
sers. 

T.  J.  Chubb,  New-York,  improvement  in  metal 
separators. 

Maj.  B.  Clarke,  Newman,  Ga.,  improvement  in 
cleaniDg  seed-cotton  and  feeding  it  to  the  gin. 

David  W.  Clark  and  Sylvester  H.  Gray,  Bridge- 
port, Ct.,  for  double-acting  force-pump. 

Horace  J.  Crandall,  Boston,  improvement  in  bilge 
supporters  for  holding  vessels  in  docks. 

Daniel  Fitzgerald,  Thos.  Rogers,  and  Wm.  C. 
Walker,  New-York,  improvement  in  guards  for 
ferry-boats. 

Jno.  S.  Gage,  Cowagiac,  Mich.,  improvement  in 
clover  harvesters. 

Geo.  W.  Grader  and  Benj.  F.  Cowen,  Memphis, 
improvement  in  grain  mills. 

Stephen  Hadley,  Jr.,  Lyman,  N.  H.,  for  direct 
action  water-wheel. 

Isaac  B.  Howe,  Nortbfield,  Vt.,  improvement  in 
machines  for  straightening  heavy  metal  bars. 

Wm.  B.  Leonard,  New-York,  improvement  ia 
dynemometers. 

Chas.  Merrill,  Maiden.,  Mass.,  improvement  in 
sash-fasteners. 

James  Myers,  Jr.,  New-York,  improvement  in 
making  sugar-moulds. 

Geo.  Keynolds,  Bangor,  improvement  in  compo- 
sitions for  tanning. 

John  P.  Sherwood,  Fort  Edward,  improvements 
in  cut-nail  machines. 

Jona.  Smith,  Neponset  Tillage,  Mass.,  improved 
method  of  holding  vessels  by  the  keel  in  dry  and 
other  docks. 

John  J.  Speed,  Jr.,  and  John  A.  Bailey,  Detroit, 
for  shingle-machine. 

Louis  Stein,  New-York,  improvement  in  revolving 
fans  for  apartments. 

Samuel  Taggart,  Indianapolis,  for  improved 
clutch  in  machines  for  packing  flour. 

Nathan  Thompson,  Jr.,  AVilliams burgh,  improve- 
ment in  life-preserving  seats.  Patented  in  Eng., 
Sept.  18,  1854. 

Grey  Uiley,  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C,  improvement  in 
boot -crimping  machines. 

Daniel  P.  Weeks,  Maiden,  Mass.,  improved  oven 
cooking  range. 

Wendell  Wright,  New-York,  improvement  in 
spring-bed  bottom. 

Robert  Griffiths,  Alleghany  City,  and  Geo. 
Shields,  Cincinnati,  assignors  to  Robert  Griffiths, 
aforesaid,  improvement  in  machines  for  forging 
horse-shoes 

Wm.  F.  Ketchum,  Buffalo,  assignor  to  Rufus  L. 


512 


LIST  OF  PATENTS. 


Howard,  improvement  in  grain  and  grass  harvest- 
ers. 

Elisha  Pratt,  Salem,  Mass.,  assignor  to  Elisha 
Pratt  and  II.  E.  Upton,  of  same  place,  improve- 
ment in  leather-splitting  machines. 

Milton  Roberts,  lielfast,  Me.,  assignor  to  Milton 
Roberts,  and  Iliram  E.  Pierce,  same  place,  im- 
proved machine  for  turning  prismatic  forms. 

Allen  B.  Wilson,  Watertown,  Ct.,  assignor  to 
W.  P.  N.  Fitzgerald,  Washington,  D.  C  ,  improve- 
ment in  sewing-machines. 

Norman  Aylsworth,  Rochester,  improvements 
in  machines  for  boring,  planing,  and  slotting 
metals. 

David  Baldwin,  Godwinville,  N.  J.,  improved 
apparatus  for  feeding  paper  to  printing-presses  and 
ruling-machines. 

Wm,  Ballard,  New- York,  improvement  in  con- 
structing vessels. 

Abram  Brigham,  Manchester,  N.  IT.,  improve- 
ment in  looms. 

John  E.  Brown  and  Stephen  S.  Bartlett,  Woon- 
socket,  E.  I ,  improvement  in  grain  and  grass  har- 
vesters. 

Thos.  II.  Burley,  Cincinnati,  dovetailing  ma- 
chine. 

Marshall  Burnett  and  Chas.  Vander  Woerd, 
Boston,  improvement  in  grain  and  grass  harvest- 
ers. 

S.  J.  Butterfleld,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
locks  for  fire-arms, 

J.  Caffry,  Paradise  Township,  Pa.,  improved 
trap  for  catching  animals. 

Thos.  J.  Flanders,  Manchester,  N.  H.,  construc- 
tion and  mode  of  driving  circular  saws. 

Ezekiel  Gore,  Bennington,  Vt.,  improvement  in 
churns. 

Jesse  W.  Hatch  and  Henry  Churchill,  Rochester, 
improvement  in  machines  for  cutting  out  boot  and 
shoe  soles. 

Chas.  W.  Hawkes,  Boston,  and  Geo.  P.  Reed, 
Waltham,  improvement  in  compensation  balances 
for  time-keepers. 

Alex.  Holstrom,  New- York,  improved  apparatus 
for  atmospheric  pile-driving. 

James  B.  Harris,  Cincinnati,  improvement  in 
railroad  chair  machines. 

■  Asa  P.  Keith,  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  improvement 
in  cotton-gins. 

Julius  H.  Kroehl,  New-York,  improvement  in 
machines  for  forming  flanges  on  wrought-iron 
beams. 

Hazard  Knowls,  New- York,  for  cutters  for  tongu- 
i  ng  and  grooving. 

Westley  M.  Lee,  New-York,  improvement  in 
machines  for  forging  car  wheels. 

Jean  F.  LeMovinier,  New-York,  improvement  in 
constructing  pavements,  etc. 

Adrian  V.  K.  Orr,  Steeleville,  Pa.,  for  a  shingle 
machine. 

Samuel  Pearson,  Jr.,  and  Wm.  H.  Gardner,  Rox- 
bury,  improvement  in  regulating  the  size  of  rov- 
ing. 

Obediah  Rich,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  improvement 
in  processes  for  extracting  tannin  from  leather. 

H.  J.  Rogers,  Baltimore,  improvamentsin  signal 
flags. 

Sylvanus  Sawyer,  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  aacliine  for 
splitting  rattans  into  strips. 

Richard  A.  Tilghman,  Philadelphia,  improvement 
in  processes  for  making  soap. 

Farnham  Z.  Tucker,  Brooklyn,  improvement  in 
life-preserving  rafts. 

Henry  G.  Tyer  and  Jno.  Holm,  New-Brunswick, 
improvement  in  processes  for  making  India-rubber 
cloth. 

Wm.  E.  Ward,  Fort  Chester,  improvement  in 
sheet-iron  blinds. 

Daniel  T.  Ward,  Newark,  improvement  in  sew- 
ing-machines. 

Edward  A.  Foote,  Hartford,  improvement  in  pro- 
tecting slides  and  ways  from  dust. 

RufuB  Keeler,  Rochester,  assignor  to  Lewis  C. 


England,  New-York,  improvement  in  tanning  pro 
cesses. 

Lewis  Kech,  New- York,  assignor  to  Theodore 
Pincus,  same  place,  for  machine  for  manufacturing 
wooden  boxes. 

P.  H.  Nile?,  Boston,  assignor  to  himself  and  J.  A. 
Richards,  same  place,  improvement  in  curtain  fix- 
tures. 

A.  H.  Ward,  Jr.,  Boston,  assignor  to  himself  and 
Kirk  Book,  some  place,  improvement  in  composi- 
tions for  uuhairing  hides, 

Alex.  Anderson,  Markham,  Canada,  improve- 
ment in  seed-planters. 

Robt.  Arthur,  Washington,  improvement  in  self- 
sealing  preserve-cans. 

S.  B.  Balchelder,  Lowville,  improvement  in  jour- 
nal boxes  for  carriages. 

Wm.  H.  Brown,  Erie,  improvement  in  suspended 
purchases.    Patented  in  England,  Oct.  2, 1854. 

Sharpless  Clayton,  West-Chester,  Pa.,  improve- 
ment in  teeth. 

Willard  Cowles,  Washington,  improvement  in 
apparatus  for  stereotyping. 

Levi  Dedrick,  Albany,  improvement  In  ox-yokes. 

St.  John  D'Doris,  Philadelphia,  for  composition 
for  fuel. 

Adolph  Hammer,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
fermenting  tuns  for  beer. 

Emanuel  Harmon,  Washington,  improvements  in 
flre-proof  iron  buildings. 

M.  G.  Hubbard,  New- York,  improved  mode  of 
hanging  the  knife  in  planing  machines. 

Jno.  Imel,  Liberty,  Ind.,  improvement  in  culti- 
vators. 

Asa  Keyes,  Brattlehorough,  improvement  in  ma- 
chines for  cutting  and  trimming  slate. 

Philip  W.  Mackenzie,  Jersey  City,  for  machine 
for  blowing  blasts,  etc. 

Henry  Miller,  New- York,  improvement  in  steam 
railroad-car  brakes. 

Russell  S.  Morse,  East-Dixfield,  Me.,  improve- 
ment in  fruit-dryers. 

Francis  Randolph,  New- York,  improvement  in 
elevating  scaffolds. 

Emile  Sirret,  Buffalo,  imnrovement  in  rakes. 

John  A.  Taplin,  Fishkill,  improved  method  of 
hanging  a  path-finding  saw. 

Cuno  Werner,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
compositions  for  dressing  leather. 

Chapman  Warner,  New- York,  improvement  in 
cast-iron  pavements. 

Wm.  J.  Warburton,  Philadelphia^  improvement 
in  hats. 

Warren  Wadleigh,  Hill,  N.  H,,  improved  mar 
chine  for  cutting  irregular  forms. 

Jos.  S.  Winsor,  Providence,  improvement  in  ma- 
chine for  making  weaver's  harness. 

Lysander  Wright,  Newark,  for  sawing-machine. 

Daniel  Wells,  Philadelphia,  for  burglar's  alarm. 

Stephen  Brown,  Syracuse,  improved  press  for 
printing  different  colors. 

Warren  S.  Burgess,  Norristown,  Pa.,  improved 
arrangement  in  double-piston  steam-engines. 
Sf  Pulaski    S.  Gaboon   and  Samuel  J.  Ross,  La 
Grange,  Me.,  approved  chuck  for  turning  elliptical 
cylinders. 

Amory  Felton,  Troy,  improvement  in  grinding 
mills. 

Wm.  Hicks,  Steubenville,  improved  paint  brush. 

Sidney  Kelsey,  Erie,  improved  printing-press. 

C.  Locher,  New-York,  improvement  in  folding 
life-boats. 

Jas.  Lewis,  Prattville,  N.  Y.,  improved  printing- 
press. 

Thos.  Slaight,  Newark,  improvement  in  pad- 
locks. 

John  Smith,  of  Cincinnati,  improved  crank  con- 
nection in  double-piston  steam  engines. 

Dwight  Gibbons,  Rochester,  assignor  to  F.  Starr, 
same  place,  improved  brace  for  piano  frames. 

Joshua  Stevens,  of  Chicopee  Palls,  assignor  to 
Massachusetts  Arms  Company,  of  same  place,  im- 
provement in  repealing  fire-arms. 


Clje  |l0M9lj,  tij?  |00m,  anil  tl)e  Jlnull. 


Vol.  VII.  MARCH,  1855.  No.  9. 


"COMMERCE      IS      KING" 

So  was  Charles  I.,  of  England,  and  so  is  Francis  Joseph,  of  Austria. 
There  are  kings  who  have  but  little  power  of  their  own,  and  that  little  they 
abuse.  There  are  kings,  who,  distrustful  of  themselves,  carry  out  the  suo-- 
gestions  of  wise  counsellors,  and  they  have  far  more  credit  for  intelligence 
and  energy  than  they  really  deserve.  There  are  kings,  whose  crown  is  theirs 
of  right,  whether  reference  is  had  to  descent  or  to  personal  desert.  There 
are  kings,  whose  authority  is  acknowledged  with  not  a  little  of  awe  and  re- 
verence ;  and  there  are  kings  who  are  permitted  to  retain  their  title  and  their 
place  because  they  do  no  harm,  and  allow  every  body  to  manage  their  own 
aflfairs. 

Without  regarding  the  particular  sense  of  the  phrase,  when  this  "  com- 
mon saying,"  which  we  have  taken  for  our  title,  is  uttered  by  one  and  an- 
other of  this  or  that  nation,  let  us  examine,  in  the  light  of  facts,  what  is  its 
TRUE  sense.  How,  and  why,  and  where,  is  commerce  king  ?  We  could 
point  to  countries  and  to  regions  of  less  extent,  where,  in  a  mistaken  sense,  it 
is  supposed  that  commerce  reigns ;  and  we  could  show  too,  that  sometimes 
this  reign  is  anything  but  just  and  kind.  We  could  point  out  localities  and 
times  when  her  iron  heel  is  upon  the  head  of  those  under  her  authority, 
Avhile  they  all  live  and  breathe  only  as  she  nods  a  contemptous  permission. 
But  we  can  also  point  out  the  times  and  the  places  where  she  is  as  submis- 
sive and  unpretending  a  servant  as  any  Ethiop.  She  has  no  will  but  that  of 
her  subjects,  and  she  ceases  to  labor  only  by  their  consent. 

There  are  some  phrases  that  seem  to  be  chiselled  into  the  very  granite  of 
our  social  structure  that  are  very  indefinite  in  their  meaning.  But  this  does 
not  prevent  their  use  on  all  occasions  and  for  all  purposes.  They  are  heard 
either  as  sigh  or  song  in  every  breeze ;  they  are  uttered  in  triumph  or  in 
dismay,  as  they  encounter  one  or  another  class  of  the  community.  Perhaps 
what  was  commenced  as  a  shout  is  echoed  back  in  the  note  of  despair. 
*' Commerce  is  King"  may  be,  by  bare  possibility,  of  this  class. 

This  cry  reminds  us  of  a  story  told  of  more  than  one,  but  which  describes 
an  actual  scene  in  the  life  of  an  eccentric  divine,  of  Berkshire  County,  Mass. 
"In  those  days  catne  John  the — Episcopalian  ?  No,  that  does  not  sound 
right.  In  those  days  came  John  the— Presbyterian  ?  No,  that  is  not  it.  In 
those  days  came  John  the — the  Baptist?  Ah,  yes  ;  'John  the  Baptist.'  So 
you  see,  my  hearers,  John  was  a  Baptist."  So  "  Commerce  is  King."  But 
who  is  Commerce  ?  What  is  this  king  ?  Is  he  a  man  ?  a  ship  ?  a  class  ?  a 
clan  ?     Does  he  live  on  land  or  on  the  sea  ?     Is  his  throne  near  by,  or  "  afar 

VOL.  vir.  80 


514  COMMERCE  IS   KING. 


oflf?"  Does  he  take  cognizance  of  all,  or  only  of  the  great  ?  Who  is  he,  and 
what  is  he  ? 

Commerce,  says  Webster,  (we  go  for  Webster,)  is — "  1.  An  interchange  or 
mutual  change  of  goods,  wares,  productions,  or  property  of  every  kind,  between 
nations  or  individuals,  either  by  barter  or  by  purchase  and  sale;  trade ;  traf- 
fic— foreign  or  inland.  2.  Intercourse  between  individuals,  interchange  of 
work,  business,  civilities,  or  amusements  ;  mutual  dealings  in  common  life." 
And  Daniel  Webster  has  spoken  of  "  a  vast  commerce  of  ideas,'" 

Now  in  view  of  this  definition,  we  confess  ourself  almost  puzzled.  We 
hardly  know  what  to  say  next.  The  thinff,  the  image,  is  almost  as  misty  as 
the  form  described  in  Milton's  first  book ;  as  formless  as  the  spirit  which  we 
can  scarcely  seem  to  see  in  the  4th  chapter  of  Job.  Its  limits  pervade  all 
space.  Its  motions  are  felt  in  every  place.  Its  breath  is  heard  wherever  one 
proposes  a  trade  with  his  neighbor.  His  voice  sounds  loud  in  the  auction- 
room,  in  the  market,  and  on  'change.  Wherever  men  meet,  and  each  re- 
cognizes the  existence  of  the  other,  there  is  commerce.  Surely  then,  there 
is  at  least  one  attribute  of  power.  Commerce  may  be  king.  But  look 
again. 

In  the  strictest,  technical  sense,  commerce  embraces  "all  exchange  of 
goods,  wares,  productions,  or  property  of  any  kind."  No  proper  definition 
of  the  term  can  be  given  less  comprehensive  than  this.  Commerce  with 
foreign  nations,  trade  on  the  sea,  exchange  of  large  values — these  are  no  de- 
finitions of  commerce.  No  sane  man  ever  so  believed.  These  are  parts, 
branches,  departments  of  commerce,  nothing  more.  And  as  we  dwell  on  the 
subject,  we  are  more  than  half  persuaded,  in  spite  of  all  that  farmers,  me- 
chanics, or  trades  or  crafts  of  any  sort,  can  say,  that  "commerce  is  king." 

But  what  does  the  phrase  mean  ?  Who  will  tell  us  ?  Is  any  one  and 
every  one  king,  who  carries  on  commerce  ?  Such  a  claim  would  be  like  that 
of  some  anti-monarchists,  which  makes  every  citizen  a  monarch — a  monarch 
without  the  title,  and  destitute  of  power.  Is  this  the  case  with  King  Com- 
merce ?     Poor  King  Commerce  ! 

Perhaps  we  can  come  to  some  result  by  a  series  of  negations.  And  it  is 
very  clear  that  these  words  can  not  imply  that  the  individuals,  or  any  limited 
combinations  of  persons  interested  in  commerce,  can  make  themselves  kings. 
Commerce  is  king ;  and  these  caballers,  these  factionists,  these  conspirators 
against  the  existing  sovereignty,  have  no  crown,  no  thrones,  no  court,  no 
paraphernalia  of  authority.  The  chair  of  state  is  occupied.  What  if  each 
owns  a  score  of  ships,  or  daily  sells  10,000  barrels  of  flour,  or  every  hour 
sends  a  ship  to  a  foreign  port.  They  are  not  commerce,  and  commerce  is 
king  ;  and  what  is  more,  it  is  not  in  their  power  to  dethrone  him.  Nor  are 
the  small  or  the  large,  nor  all  the  people  interested  in  commerce,  in  any  city, 
state,  country,  or  continent,  identical  with  commerce.  All  that  can  be  said 
is  that  ihey  live  by  it. 

How  far  shall  we  pursue  these  negations  ?  Probably  we  have  already 
blown  away  some  of  the  fog  which  rests  on  many  minds  in  regard  to  this 
great  image.  They  perceive  that  those  interested  in  a  thing,  must  be  essen- 
tially and  utterly,  and  in  every  part  and  particle,  different  from  the  thing  in 
which  they  have  this  interest,  and  by  which  they  thrive.  All  the  merchants, 
traders,  dealers,  sellers,  buyers,  barterers,  &c.,  <fec.,  in  all  the  world,  arc  ?wt 
commerce.  Whatever  is  true,  therefore,  it  is  not  true  that  those  who  trade 
in  any  particular  sorts  of  wares  or  merchandize,  have  the  throne  and  reign, 
of  right,  over  others.  It  does  not  follow  that  "a  merchant"  can  therefore 
Zco't  c?own  on  "  a  farmer  "  or  "  a  mechanic."     He  is  no  more  "  commerce " 


COMMERCE    IS   KING.  515 


than  they,  and  perhaps  we  may  see,  by  and  by,  that  the  balance  is,  if  any 
where,  the  other  way.  If  commerce  is  king,  then  "foreign  commerce"  is 
but  a  foot  or  a  leg,  it  may  be  only  a  toe.  Let  us  see  what  the  facts  are, 
bearing  most  directly  on  this  subject. 

1.  The  man  engaged  in  foreign  commerce  has  first  to  procure  every  thing 
that  he  puts  into  trade,  from  those  of  other  pursuits.  Not  a  kernel  of  corn, 
not  a  grain  of  wheat,  not  a  seed  of  an  apple,  not  a  particle  of  anything,  can 
he  have,  even  for  himself]  till  he  procures  it,  by  the  aid  of,  or  through  com- 
merce, of  the  producer.  His  name  goes  through  all  the  commercial  ^papers 
of  the' country,  as  having  sent  out  so  many  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth 
of  apples,  pears,  figs,  oranges,  and  other  fruits,  such  a  value  of  spices,  so 
much  cotton,  tobacco,  &c.,  &c.  Where  did  he  get  it  ?  He  had  to  buy  every 
mill's  worth  of  the  producers,  the  growers,  the  farmers.  They  had  it,  he 
had  none.  Which  position  seems  like  that  of  a  king  here  ?  Bat  have  we 
strained,  or  tortured,  or  misapplied  the  truth  in  this  representation  ?  Surely 
not. 

2.  The  foreign  trader  may  fail  to  purchase  these  articles.  He  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  them.  What  then  ?  Must  the  producers  starve  ?  By 
no  means.  They  will  graduate  the  amount  to  be  produced  by  the  probable 
demand,  but  they  will  be  pretty  sure  to  raise  enough  for  their  own  use,^  so 
that  they  are  safe.  But  where  is  "  our  king,"  who  sent  these  goods  to  foreign 
nations  ?  He  begs  of  those  producers  to  let  him  have  at  least  enough  for 
his  personal  necessities.     Who  is  most  like  a  king  then  ? 

Is  this  declamation  ?  Is  it  mere  theory  ?  Look  at  facts.  Of  all  the 
commerce  of  the  world,  it  is  fairly  estimated  that,  in  100  parts 

Trade  among  neighbors  forms, 75 

Trade  among  fellow-citizens,  but  living  more  remotely 
from  each  other,         ------         20 

Foreign  trade,  --------5 

100 

Which  interest  stands  highest  here  ?  This  is  not  theory,  nor  speculation, 
nor  dogma,  nor  sect,  nor  party.  It  is  the  result  of  actual  calculation.  And 
perhaps  many  persons  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  if  all  our  foreign  com- 
merce were  annihilated,  the  entire  amount  of  trade  would  be  directly  dimin- 
ished only  by  five  parts  in  a  hundred.  Ninety-five  per  cent,  would  still 
remain. 

There  is,  however,  another  view  of  the  subject,  which  changes,  to  some 
extent,  the  appearance  of  this  picture.  In  its  essence,  it  is^  unchangeable. 
The  parts  of  it  are  fixed  on  the  canvass  beyond  the  power  of  art  to  change 
them.     We  can,  however,  materially  improve  the  shading. 

Instead  of  adopting  Adam  Smith's  division  of  labor  into  productive  and 
unproductive,  we  are  inclined  to  consider  all  forms  of  industry  (so  called) 
j^  productive,  and  arrange  difterent  craftsmen  into  those  who — 1st,  produce 
valuable  material,  and  those  who — 2d,  by  a  change  of  form  or  condition  of 
the  material,  add  something  to  its  value.  Thus,  by  the  labor  of  the  farmer, 
with  a  trifling  cost  of  money,  one  bushel  of  grain,  of  trifling  value,  becomes 
many,  worth  a  large  sum.  This  is  his  business,  and  he  has  no  time  for  any 
thing  else.  He  attempts  nothing  else.  The  miller  changes  the  form  and 
condition  of  this  grain,  and  thus  making  it  available  for  use  as  food,  increases 
to  some  extent  its  value.  The  baker  does  the  same.  They  are  producers  of 
the  second  sort.   The  second  form  may,  in  some  cases,  be  quite  as  productive 


516  COMMERCE   IS    KING. 


as  the  first.  Such  is  the  case  with  the  watchmaker,  for  example.  Suppose 
all  these  opportunities  of  useful  industry  are  promptly  and  fully  met,  that 
territory  then  may  be  said  to  be  supplied  with  all  the  population  it  can  sup- 
port. It  can  feed  no  more.  But  a  new  thought  is  suggested.  There  is  a 
community  "elsewhere,"  who,  being  otherwise  occupied,  do  not  produce  this 
useful  article  of  food ;  and  it  is  ascertained  that  the  producers,  if  they  could 
but  convey  the  material  to  that  community,  would  find  a  ready  market  at  a 
paying  price.  But  who  shall  convey  it?  They  have  business  enough  in 
producing  it,  and  can  not  endure  this  additional  labor.  They  may  find  a 
third  party,  who  will  transport  their  merchandize  for  them,  for  a  reasonable 
cotnpensation.  This  third  party  is,  then,  the  foieign  merchant.  The  producer 
pays  him  for  his  services  ;  they  cultivate  more  land,  secure  greater  crops,  and 
also  supply  the  third  party  with  his  food,  as  he  has  no  opportunity  to  pro- 
duce it  for  himself,  and  thus  they  again  have  an  increased  demand  for  the 
results  of  their  labor.  They  call  in  help  from  abroad.  Their  sons,  as  they 
grow  up,  are  all  engaged  in  the  same  labor,  and  both  the  communities  arc 
thus  increased  ;  while  the  third  party,  the  carrier,  obtains  a  very  important 
position.  He  is  dependent  on  them  for  his  daily  bread.  They  are  dependent 
on  him  for  the  profit  that  may  be  obtained  from  their  surplus  products.  If 
he  abandons  them,  they  must  limit  their  products  to  their  own  wants,  or  he- 
come  tkeir  010)1  carriers  ;  and  whether  the  one  or  the  other  would  be  the 
more  profitable,  would  depend  entirely  on  circumstances. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  producers  generally  can  not  be  carriers.  If  they 
would  get  the  profits  of  their  increased  production  Avithout  help  from  others, 
they  must  induce  the  people  to  whom  they  have  before  conveyed  their  food, 
to  change  their  location,  and  to  come  and  reside  in  their  neighborhood. 
When  this  is  done,  the  only  third  party  they  will  need  is  one  of  the  younger 
boys,  who  will  drive  the  team  to  the  neighboring  village,  and  there  leave 
what  has  already  been  contracted  for,  or  what  will  be  called  for  as  soon  as  it 
arrives.  And  here  we  have  the  value  of  immigration,  not  the  immigration  of 
rival  producers,  but  of  consumers  ;  not  of  farmers,  but  of  artisans  and  ma- 
nufacturers. 

But  "commerce  is  king,"  although  our  commercial  hero  of  the  third  party 
has  abandoned  the  field,  and  is  no  more  heard  of.  And  how  is  "commerce" 
king?  Evidently  thus.  All  these  arrangements  are  made  with  a  view  to 
increase  the  facilities  of  commerce.  It  is  for  this  the  merchant  carrier  was 
dispensed  with.  His  employment,  as  a  business  by  itself,  was  abandoned,  for 
the  very  purpose  of  encouraging  commerce.  The  interests  of  trade,  that  is, 
of  commerce,  are  promoted  thereby,  though  at  the  ruin  of  the  foreign  ship- 
per, and  thus  Commerce  is  King.  Another  view  of  a  kindred  topic  will  be 
found  in  another  page  of  this  journal. 


Treatment  of  Boots  and  Shoes  when  Burned. — In  our  juvenile  days 
we  had  occasion,  too  often,  to  need  a  cure  for  carelessness  in  burning  our 
boots,  and  we  used  to  apply,  with  good  effect,  an  application  we  have  seen 
recently  recommended  in  a  late  exchange.  Apply,  very  liberally,  and  in- 
stantly, soft-soap  to  the  burned  leather,  till  it  is  peifeclly  saturated.  If  not 
too  badly  burned,  the  leather  will  be  soft  and  pliable  as  before. 

To  Thaw  Pcmps. — Procure  a  lead  tube  of  convenient  length  to  reach  the 
ice  ;  place  the  tube  on  the  ice,  and  pour  into  it  hot  water,  till  the  whole  is 
mtlted. 


IRON  TRADE   OF   SWEDEN   AND   NORWAY.  517 

IRON    TRADE    OF    SWEDEN    AND    NORWAY. 

BY    H.    SCRIVENOR. 

Sweden  has  been  long  celebrated  for  its  mines  and  mineral  productions, 
particularly  iron,  which  still  forms  one  of  the  principal  exports,  although  it 
has  much  decreased  of  late  years.  By  an  account  taken  by  the  government 
in  the  year  1748,  we  find  that,  at  that  time,  there  were  496  foundries,  with 
539  large  hammers,  and  971  small  ones,  for  making  bar  and  other  manufac- 
tures ofiron,  Avhich  produced  304,415  ship-pounds'*,  or  nearly  40,600  tons. 

The  government  established  an  office  in  1740  to  promote  the  production 
of  iron,  by  lending  money  on  the  ore,  even  at  so  low  a  rate  as  4  per  cent. ; 
a  correct  register  was  then  made  of  the  mines,  which  is  still  continued. 
Each  forge  has  its  particular  mark  stamped  on  the  bars  of  iron  it  produces, 
which  is  correctly  copied  into  the  manuscript,  with  the  name  of  the  place 
where  the  establishment  is  situated — the  names  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
work — the  commissioner  or  agent  for  the  sale  of  the  iron — the  assortment 
each  makes,  and  to  what  country  it  is  generally  shipped — the  quantity  annu- 
ally made  by  each  work — the  quantity  which  each  work  delivers  to  the  gov- 
erment  (which  is  about  1  per  cent,  on  the  quantity  of  the  iron  produced) — 
the  estimation  of  the  quality  of  the  iron  of  each  work,  which  is  variable — 
the  place  and  province  in  which  the  works  are  situated — the  place  from 
whence  the  iron  is  generally  shipped,  and  how  many  hammers  each  work 
has :  all  which  particulars  are  regularly  and  alphabetically  described  and 
arranged. 

As  the  working  of  the  mines  is  attended  with  considerable  expense,  and 
the  sale  of  the  iron  uncertain,  the  Bank  of  Stockholm  receives  that  metal  as 
a  proper  security  for  a  loan.  The  iron  being  duly  appraised,  and  lodged  in 
the  public  warehouse,  the  proprietor  receives  three-fourths  of  its  value,  at  the 
interest  of  3  per  cent.,  and  when  he  can  find  an  opportunity  to  dispose  of  his 
iron,  it  is  again  dehvered  to  him,  on  producing  a  certificate  from  the  bank, 
that  the  loan  upon  it  is  duly  discharged. 

The  iron  mine  of  Dannemora,  the  most  celebrated  in  Sweden,  is  situated 
in  the  province  of  Upland,  about  one  English  mile  from  Osterby,  and  thirty 
English  miles  north  of  Upsala.  This  mine  was  discovered  in  the  year  1448, 
and  though  it  has  now  been  wrought  for  four  centuries,  it  still  yields  abun- 
dance of  the  best  iron  in  Europe. 

The  iron  mine  is  on  a  hill  so  little  elevated  above  the  surface  of  the  neigh- 
boring country  as  easily  to  escape  observation.  It  is  about  two  English 
miles  long,  and  nearly  half  a  mile  broad  ;  it  is  almost  surrounded  by  lakes — 
those  of  Dannemora,  Films,  and  Grufve,  lying  quite  contiguous  to  it.  On 
the  side  where  there  are  no  lakes  there  is  a  turf  moss.  The  ore  forms  a 
large  vein  in  this  hill,  which  stretches  in  a  north-west  and  sonth-east  direc- 
tion. The  mine  was  some  years  ago  inundated  by  the  water  from  the  ad- 
jacent lakes;  a  strong  wall,  however,  has  been  built  to  keep  off  the  water. 
It  is  drained  by  two  steam  engines,  kept  at  work  by  means  of  wood  for  fuel. 

It  was  first  wrought  as  a  silver  mine,  the  silver  being  extracted  from  ga- 
lena. This  source  of  emolument  soon  failing,  or  becoming  unproductive,  the 
iron  ore  began  to  be  extracted  and  smelted,  and  the  excellent  quality  of  the 
iron  gradually  drew  to  it  the  attention  of  the  public.  At  first  it  belonged  to 
the  King  of  Swedes,  but  that  monarch  consigned  it  over  to  the  Archbishop 

*  7i  to  a  ton. . 


518  IRON  TRADE   OF   SWEDEN    AND   NORWAY. 

of  Upsala  as  a  part  of  his  revenues  ;  at  present  it  belongs  to  a  number  of 
private  individuals,  who  work  it  separately,  each  on  his  own  account. 

At  the  side  of  the  mine  is  a  large  opening,  about  fifty  fathoms  deep,  and 
fifty  wide,  and  at  the  lower  part  of  this  is  the  entrance  to  the  mine,  which 
is  wrought  about  thirty  fathoms  deeper  than  this  opening.  The  mines  are 
thus  described  in  "  Coxe's  Travels,"  who  visited  them  in  the  year  1790: — 
"  The  pits  are  deep  excavations,  like  gravel  pits,  and  form  so  many  abysses 
or  gulfs.  The  descent  is  not,  therefore,  as  is  usual  in  mines,  down  a  narrow, 
subterraneous  shaft.  At  the  side  of  the  mine  I  stepped  into  a  bucket,  and, 
being  suspended  in  the  open  air,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  a  person  was 
placed  in  a  bucket  at  the  top  of  Salisbury  spire,  was  gradually  let  down  to 
the  ground  by  a  rope  and  pulley.  The  inspector  accompanied  me  to  the 
bottom,  and  while  I  was  placed  at  my  ease  in  the  inside  upen  a  chair,  he 
seated  himself  on  the  rim  of  the  bucket,  with  his  legs  extended  to  maintain 
the  equilibrium.  He  had  in  his  hand  a  stick,  with  which  he  gently  touched 
the  sides  of  the  rock,  and  the  rope  of  the  ascending  bucket,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent our  bucket  from  swepving  against  them,  which  must  have  infallibly 
overset  us. 

While  hung  suspended  in  mid-air,  and  so  giddy  that  I  could  not  venture 
to  look  down,  I  observed  three  girls  standing  on  the  edge  of  the  ascending 
bucket,  knitting  with  as  much  unconcern  as  if  they  had  been  on  terra  firma  ; 
such  is  the  efleot  of  custom.  We  were  about  five  minutes  in  descending, 
and  the  depth  which  we  reached  before  I  stepped  out  of  my  aerial  seat  was 
500  feet.  Not  being  a  mineralogist,  my  curiosity  was  soon  satisfied;  I  again 
got  into  the  bucket,  and  was  drawn  up  in  the  same  manner. 

The  inspector  informed  me  that  the  richest  ore  yields  70  per  cent,  of  iron, 
the  poorest  30;  that,  upon  an  average,  the  collective  mass  gives  one-third  of 
pure  material;  that  about  12,000  tons  are  annually  drawn  from  the  mines, 
which  yield  about  4000  tons  of  bar-iron. 

The  mass  of  ore  occupies  a  small  compass.  The  length  of  the  pits,  con- 
sidered as  one,  is  7G0  feet,  and  the  breadth,  from  three  to  twelve.  The  ore 
runs  from  east  to  west.  The  richest  ore  is  near  500  feet  in  dejith.  and  the 
Storoe  Grube  is  not  yet  fathomed. 

The  matrix  of  the  ore  being  a  calcareous  earth,  consequently  contains  but 
little  sulphur,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  reason  of  its  superior  quality." 

The  ore  is  blasted  with  gunpowder.  The  part  of  the  vein  which  lies  under 
the  great  opening  which  forms  the  mouth  of  the  mine,  is  called  stor  rymning  ; 
it  constitutes  by  far  the  greatest  portion  of  the  mine.  The  next  portion  is 
called  j^'onZ  grufca  (earth  mine),  and  it  yields  the  ore  of  the  very  best  quality. 
The  portion  farthest  south  is  called  sodra  grufva,,  or  southern  mine ;  it  yields 
the  worst  kind  of  ore  of  all  the  three,  probably  from  being  mixed  with  gale- 
na and  blende.  The  rock  through  which  the  vein  runs  is  said  to  be  quartz. 
The  substance  immediately  contiguous  to  the  vein  appeared  to  Dr.  Thomson 
to  bo  hornstone,  and  to  contain  hornblende.  The  ore  itself  contains  lime- 
stone, quartz,  and  actinolite,  and  affords  from  25  to  75  per  cent,  of  cast-iron. 
In  the  worst  kind  of  ore  Dr.  Thomson  also  perceived  blende,  fluor-spar,  galena, 
and  amethyst,  but  in  small  quantities.  Carbonate  of  lime,  crystallized  in 
dodecahedrons,  also  occurs  in  this  vein  ;  and  likewise  sulphate  of  barytes, 
mountain  cork,  and  the  aplome  of  Ilaiiy. 

The  ore  is  broken  into  small  pieces,  and  roasted  ;  it  is  then  put  into  coni- 
cal shaped  furnaces,  constructed  of  the  slag  from  cast-iron.  In  these  furnaces 
it  is  mixed  with  the  proper  quantity  of  charcoal,  and  then  melted  and  sepa- 
rated from  the  slag.     The  cast-iron  obtained  in  this  manner  is  as  white  as 


IRON  TRADE   OF   SWEDEN  AND   NORWAY.  519 

silver,  completely  crystallized,  and  very  brittle.  The  cast-iron  is  reduced  to 
malleable  iron  by  heating  it  in  a  bed  of  charcoal,  and  hammering  it  out  into 
bars.  In  this  state  it  is  whiter  than  common  iron,  and  is  less  liable  to  rust, 
is  distinctly  fibrous  in  its  texture,  and  much  stouter  than  any  other  iron. 

Tlie  cause  of  the  superiority  of  the  Dannemora  iron  has  never  been  ex- 
plained. Some  chemists  ascribe  it  to  the  presence  of  manganese.  Berzelius 
attributed  it  to  the  presence  of  the  metal  of  silica,  while  others  suppose  it 
to  arise  from  the  nature  of  the  process  employed.  Dr.  Thomson  was  assured 
by  one  gentleman,  who  had  bestowed  particular  attention  to  the  subject, 
that,  by  following  a  similar  process,  he  has  obtained  as  good  iron  from  other 
Swedish  ores.  But  that  something  is  due  to  the  ore  itself  is  evident  from 
the  circumstance,  that  the  quality  of  the  iron,  though  the  same  process  is 
followed,  differs  a  good  deal,  according  to  the  part  of  the  vein  from  which 
the  ore  is  taken. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  the  mines  are  establishments  for  forging  the  iron, 
and  for  the  accommodation  of  more  than  300  workmen  and  their  families. 
Bach  of  the  little  villages  has  three  or  four  regular  streets,  often  planted 
with  trees,  a  church,  a  school,  and  a  hospital. 

In  1833  there  were  in  the  whole  of  Sweden  from  330  to  340  smelting 
furnaces,  producing  90,000  to  95,000  tons  of  pig- iron;  in  converting  this 
into  bar-iron,  about  23  per  cent,  is  allowed  for  waste,  and,  as  near  as  can  be 
ascertained,  the  annual  manufacture  of  this  latter  is  63,000  to  65,000  tons. 
The  number  of  iron  works  is  about  420  to  430,  having  about  1100  forge- 
hammers.  The  annual  export  of  bar-irou,  on  an  average  of  ten  years,  end- 
ing 1831,  vras  49,568  tons.  The  smelting  furnaces  and  iron  works  are 
licensed  for  a  particular  quantity,  some  being  as  low  as  50  tons,  others 
as  high  as  400  to  500  tons  per  annum ;  some  few  bar-iron  works  draw 
licenses  for  1000  tons  each.  The  licenses  are  granted  by  the  College  of 
Mines,  which  has  a  control  over  all  iron  works  and  mining  operations.  The 
iron-masters  make  annual  returns  of  their  manufacture,  which  must  not  ex- 
ceed their  privilege,  on  pain  of  the  overplus  being  confiscated,  and  the  col- 
lege has  subordinate  courts,  called  courts  of  mines,  in  every  district,  with 
supervising  officers  of  various  ranks  ;  and  no  iron  can  be  sent  to  any  port  of 
shipment  without  being  landed  at  the  public  weigh-house,  the  superintendent 
of  which  is  also  a  delegate  of  the  college,  and  his  duty  is  to  register  all  that 
arrives,  and  to  send  his  report  quarterly  to  the  college.  It  is  impossible  for 
an  iron-master  to  send  to  market  more  than  his  license.  Many,  however, 
sell  at  the  forges  to  inland  consumers,  returns  of  which  are  never  made,  and 
so  far  licenses  are  exceeded,  but  it  is  supposed  this  excess  cannot  be  above 
3000  tons. 

There  is  no  chance  whatever  of  the  mauufacture  of  iron  in  Sweden  becom- 
ing free  ;  on  the  contrary,  there  is  much  greater  probability  of  its  decrease  ; 
as  in  those  parts  of  the  country  where  iron  works  are  established,  there  are 
already  as  many  forges  as  the  neighboring  forests  can  supply  with  charcoal. 
If  there  are  proprietors  of  forests  on  which  they  can  prove  that  iron  works 
have  not  been  privileged  in  former  times,  in  that  case  the  Government  can 
not  refuse  to  grant  the  right  of  erecting  works  in  proportion  thereto  ;  but, 
except  either  very  ftir  north,  or  far  in  the  interior,  there  do  not  exist  such 
woods. 

It  does  not  always  follow  that  the  forests  belong  to  the  proprietors  of  the 
iron  works,  but  they  have,  nevertheless,  the  right  of  purch;\sing  all  the  char- 
coal sold  from  these  woods.  "We  may  consider  the  case  in  this  manner  : — 
A  person,  a  century  back,  who  had  20,000  acres  of  forest,  may  have  ob- 


620  IRON   TRADE   OF  SWEDEN    AND  NORWAY. 

tained  tlie  privilege  of  manufacturing  200  tons  of  iron  annually  ;  the  estate 
in  the  lapse  of  time  has  become  divided  amongst  a  number  of  heirs,  or  has 
been  sold  in  lots  to  different  persons  ;  but  the  proprietor  of  the  iron  works 
still  retains  the  right  to  the  charcoal  of  the  whole,  if  any  is  made  for  sale. 

There  is  no  department  in  Sv/eden  conducted  with  more  fairness  than  the 
College  of  Mines,  which  manages  these  matters.* 

Average  Produce.  Average  Exports. 

Unvrroiight  iron.  Bar-Iron.  Bar-Iron. 

Years.                                    Tons.  Tons.  Tone. 

1833  to  1839      .         .       89,610  73,592  58,766 

1840  —  1844           .           105,485  84,041  66,046 

1845  —  1849      .         .     106,630  90,466  74,069 

I860  —  1852           .           124,169  99,889  7.5,940 

Important  recent  discoveries  have  had,  and  necessarily  will  have,  a  mate- 
rial effect  on  the  iron  manufacture  of  Sweden.  Dr.  Ure  may  introduce  the 
subject  to  our  readers  in  the  following  observations  respecting  Mr.  Heath's 
experiments  in  the  manufacture  of  steel  and  their  results  : 

"  One  of  the  greatest  improvements  which  this  valuable  modification  of 
iron  has  ever  received  is  due  to  Mr.  Josiah  M.  Heath,  who,  after  many  elabo- 
rate and  costly  researches  upon  both  the  small  and  the  great  scale,  discovered 
that,  by  the  introduction  of  a  small  portion  (1  per  cent.,  and  even  less)  of 
carburet  of  manganese  into  the  melting-pot,  along  with  the  usual  broken 
bars  of  blistered  steel,  a  cast-steel  was  obtained  after  fusion,  of  a  quality  very 
superior  to  what  the  bar-steel  would  have  yielded  without  the  manganese, 
and,  moreover,  possessed  of  the  new  and  peculiar  property  of  being  weldable, 
either  to  itself  or  to  wrought  iron. 

He  also  found  that  a  common  bar-steel,  made  from  an  inferior  mark  or 
quality  of  Swedish  or  Russian  iron,  would,  when  so  treated,  produce  an  ex- 
cellent cast-steel.  One  immediate  consequence  of  this  discovery  has  been 
the  reduction  of  the  price  of  good  steel  in  the  Sheffield  market  by  from  30 
to  40  per  cent.,  and  likewise  the  manufacture  of  table-knives  of  cast-steel  with 
iron  tangs  welded  to  them ;  whereas,  till  Mr.  Heath's  invention,  table-knives 
'were  necessarily  made  of  shear-steel,  with  unseemly  wavy  lines  in  them, 
because  cast-steel  could  not  be  welded  to  the  tangs." 

Mr.  Heath  obtained  a  patent  for  this  and  other  kindred  meritorious  in- 
vention?, on  the  5th  Apiil,  1839,  "but,  strange  and  melancholy  to  say," 
observes  Dr.  Ure,  "he  has  never  derived  anything  from  his  acknowledged 
improvement  but  vexation  and  loss,  in  consequence  of  a  numerous  body  of 
Sheffield  steel  manufacturers  having  banded  together  to  pirate  his  patent, 
and  to  baffle  him  in  our  complex  law  courts."  Whether  the  remarks  on  the 
conduct  of  the  steel  manuf\icturers  of  Sheffield  are  just,  is  not  important  to 
this  inquiry  ;  the  fact  is,  that  various  alterations  and  improvements  have 
been  effected  in  the  manufacture,  not  confining  it  to  the  use  of  Swedish  or 
Russian  inferior  marks,  but  to  the  use  of  English  iion,  and  this  to  the  extent 
of  attracting  the  notice  of  Mr.  C.  F.  Woern,  Junior,  a  member  of  the  Swedish 
Diet,  who  made  it  the  subject  of  a  motion  in  the  Diet,  1853,  1854  : — "  On 
the  repeal  of  the  taxes  on  pig  and  bar-iron,  as  well  as  of  the  privileges  still 
existing  in  favor  of  the  mining  districts  and  iron  works  of  Sweden." 

"  In  several  parts  of  Lapland,  the  protoxide  of  iion  occuis  in  great  beds,  or  im- 
mense masses  ;  at  Gillivara,  200  leagues  north  of  Stockholm,  towards  the  67th  degree 
of  latitude,  it  constitutes  a  considerable  mountain.  The  iron  is  despatched  in  small 
sledges  drawn  by  reindeer,  lo  streams  which  fall  into  the  Lutea,  and  thence,  by 
■water  carriage,  to  the  port  of  Lutea,  where  it  is  embarked  for  Stockholm. 


88  lbs. 

per  head. 

81 

36 

29 

24 

18 

IH 

11 

IRON   TRADE   OF  SWEDEN   AND   NORWAY.  521 

Mr.  Woern,  in  his  Treatise — after  a  review  of  the  iron  trade  in  Sweden 
during  the  last  twenty  years,  and  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  the  home 
consumption  has  certainly  been  on  the  increase,  owing  to  the  general  growth 
of  population  and  trade  between  the  years  1834  and  1851 — says:  "Yet, 
in  comparison  to  the  population,  the  consumption  per  man  is  very  much 
smaller  than  in  other  civilized  countries  ;  accurate  calculations  on  this  sub- 
ject show  the  following  results — all  kinds  of  iron  being  reduced  into  pig- 
iron  : 

In  North  America  the  consumption  is 
Great  Britain,         .... 

France, 

Hanover  and  Oldenburg, 

German  Customs'  Union,    . 

Switzerland,  -         .         .         .         . 

Sweden,    ..... 

Austria,  ..... 

Russia, 8  " 

At  present  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Swedish  consumption  is  14  lbs. 
per  head." 

He  then  speaks  of  the  exports  of  bar  and  manufactured  iron  from  Sweden, 
which,  during  the  same  period,  he  calculates  to  have  increased  about  25  per 
cent. 

In  order  to  show  the  insignificance  of  this  increase,  in  comparison  to 
that  which  has  taken  place  in  other  countries,  he  reviews  the  trade,  and 
speaks  more  particularly  of  the  discoveries  and  improvements  made  from 
1796  to  1851  in  Scotland,  and  observes:  "Instead  of  having  been,  as 
before  these  discoveries  and  improvements  were  made,  only  two-fifths  of  the 
Swedish  production,  it  rose  in  Scotland  in  ten  years  to  double  the  Swedish 
production,  and  is  now  six  times  as  large.  In  Wales  we  notice  the  same 
thing,  as  well  as  in  the  United  States,  Belgium,  Silesia,  the  German  provinces 
on  the  Rhine,  and  even  France.  If  we  compare  the  countries  -which  chiefly 
produce  iron  for  the  last  twenty  years,  we  find  that 

Great  Britain       ,         .         increased  in 

United  States  .         .  " 

France         ...  " 

Russia     ....  " 

German  Customs'  Union  " 

Austria  ....  " 

Belgium      ...  " 

Sweden  ....  " 

Norway       ...  " 

and  thus  the  production  has  increased  more  rapidly  in  every  country  than 
in  Sweden,  with  the  single  exception  of  Russia.  Now,  if  we  compare  the 
total  production  of  these  countries  twenty  years  ago,  and  that  of  Sweden  at 
the  same  time,  with  what  it  is  now,  we  find  that  the  production  of  this 
country  has  suffered  a  decrease  from  y\  to  -g'g-." 

He  then  goes  on  to  the  more  important  subject  of  the  manufacture  of  En- 
glish steel.  He  says :  "I  have  found  it  impossible  to  obtain  trustworthy 
information  as  to  the  amount  of  manufacture  or  consumption  of  English  steel 

*  Mr.  Warn  statfsthe  make  of  pig-iron  in  France,  in  1846,  as  2,742;51  ship-lbs. 
T.  v.,  equal  to  457,087  tons. 


1850 

244  pe 

r  cent. 

u 

471 

a 

1846* 

141 

u 

1849—1851 

20 

11 

1850 

60 

a 

<( 

130 

u 

u 

217 

i( 

(( 

51 

(( 

1841— 184c 

,    62 

a 

522  IRON  TRADE   OF  SWEDEN   AND   NORWAY. 

iron ;  but  to  a  certain  extent  such  a  guide  is  found  in  the  number  of  steel 
furnaces  in  Sheffield  and  the  neighborhood.  I  have  had  returns  made  at 
four  different  periods.  The  first,  of  1835,  is  found  in  Porter's  '  Progress  of 
the  Nation  ; '  the  second,  of  1842,  is  given  by  Professor  Le  PJaj,  iu  his  ex- 
cellent treatise  on  the  manufacture  of  steel  in  Yorkshire  ;  the  third  is  of  the 
year  1846,  and  is  part  of  the  evidence  of  one  of  the  largest  manufacturers  of 
Sheffield,  Mr.  Henry  Unwin,  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
on  the  occasion  of  a  railway  being  applied  for  to  Sheffield  ;  and  the  fourth 
is'the  result  of  an  account  taken  at  my  request  by  the  same  gentleman,  in 
July,  this  year,  of  existing  furnaces,  in  which  he  says  he  is  so  much  the  more 
sure  of  not  having  overstated  the  case,  as  he  has  separately  noted  the  owner 
and  situation  of  each  furnace. 

According  to  these  statements,  there  existed,  in  Sheffield  and  the  immedi- 
ate neighborhood,  in 

1835,     56  blistered-steel  furnaces,  and  554  cast-steel  furnaces. 
1842,     97  "  'f  IU  " 

1846,  lOS  "  «  974  " 

1853,  160  "  «  1,495  " 

The  new  furnaces  are  built  rather  larger  than  the  old  ones,  and  Mr.  Unwin 
estimates  their  capacity  of  production  at  300  tons  annually,  and  the  total 
production  of  steel  in  England  at  40,000  tons. 

Porter  estimates  the  manufacture  of  steel  in  Sheffield  in  1835  at  15,000 
tons,  of  which  2,000  tons  were  from  English  iron.  The  same  amount  is 
given  by  Mr.  Danielson,  in  his  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of  Steel  in 
England  in  1844.  Mr.  G.  Ekman,  in  his  letter  which  refers  to  Professor  Le 
Play's  work,  estimates  this  production  of  1845  at  3,000  tons;  and,  according 
to  Mr.  Unwin's  statement,  giving  40,000  tons  as  the  annual  production  of 
steel  in  England,  it  must  now  amount  to  7,200  tons,  when  the  whole  im- 
port of  foreign  iron  not  re-exported  has  been  deducted.  The  Unglish  steel- 
iron  is,  moreover^  universally  known  for  its  closeness  and  pureriess,  and  some 
of  the  best  sorts  are  so  much  liked,  that  they  fetch  a  higher  price  than  the 
best  Swedish  marks." 

Thus  much  as  to  the  competition  of  British  iron  with  Swedish,  in  Great 
Britain,  for  the  manufacture  of  steel.  He  then  refers  to  the  export  to  other 
countries,  and  shows  that  of  Great  Britain  to  be  five  or  six  times  as  large  as 
it  was,  whilst  that  of  Sweden  has  been  almost  stationary, — "  that  the  latter 
amounted  to  almost  one-half  of  the  export  of  Great  Britain  twenty  years  ago, 
and  in  1850  it  was  scarcely  a  tenth  part  of  it,  and  must  since  then  have 
fallen  ofl'  still  more." 

The  object  of  Mr.  Woern's  motion  was  to  alleviate,  if  possible,  this  state  of 
aff'airs,  by  inducing  the  Government  to  remove  all  taxes  and  restrictions  on 
the  manufacture  of  iron.  But  the  greatest  difficulty  Sweden  has  to  contend 
against,  as  far  as  the  increase  of  manufacture  is  concerned,  is  the  want  of  coal. 

Now  comes  a  consideration,  whether,  with  the  immense  abundance  of  rich 
ore  which  Sweden  possesses,  there  are  not  certain  localities  where  it  may  be 
shipped  at  a  low  rate  of  cost.  Let  the  Swedish  Government  take  off  any 
heavy  restrictions  on  the  export  of  this  ore,  and  a  valuable  trade  may  be  en- 
couraged between  Gottenberg,  or  other  shipping  ports,  and  the  port  of  New- 
castle, thus  bringing  the  ore  to  the  coal,  and  a  more  certain  benefit  might  be 
derived  by  Sweden  than  by  an  attempt  at  any  great  increase  of  the  manu- 
facture. 

Oddy,  in  his  work  on  "  European  Commerce,"  observes,  that  iron  makes 


THE  WINE  TRADE  OF  FRANCE. 


523 


no  regular  article  of  export  from  Norway ;  yet  there  does  not  appear  any 
reason  why  they  might  not  have  cultivated  this  branch  of  manufactures  as 
well  as  Sweden.  Wood  they  have  m  sufiacient  abundance.  There  are 
several  foundries  in  Norway,  but  they  have  not  been  worked  with  spirit ; 
their  produce  is,  therefore,  but  small.  Since  the  year  1'792  ihey  have  not 
much  extended  their  works.  Moss,  a  town  of  a  thousand  inhabitants,  con- 
tains a  principal  iron  work.     Skaggerak  is  also  in  repute  for  its  iron  trade. 

The  iron  mines  of  Norway  he  on  the  coasts  of  the  Gulf  of  Christiana,  and 
on  the  side  facing  Jutland,  principally  at  Arendal,  at  Krageroe,  and  the 
neighborhood.  The  ores  consist  almost  solely  of  black  oxide  of  iron,  which 
forms  beds  in  veins  of  from  4  to  60  feet  thick,  incased  in  gneiss.  These  iron 
ores  are  reduced  in  a  great  many  smelting  forges  situated  on  the  same  coast, 
and  particularly  in  the  county  of  Laurwig.  The  annual  product  is  about 
"7,300  tons,  in  the  form  of  cast-iron,  bar-iron,  sheet-iron,  nails,  etc.,  of  which 
one-half  is  exported. 

AVERAGE  MAKE  OF  BAR-IRON. 

Years.  Tons. 

1831   to  1835,     ....         3,645. 

1836  —  1840,         ....     3,898. 

1841  —  1845,     ....  3,7'72. 

Average  export,  about  2,050  tons. 


FROM   hunt's   MKECHASt'a  MAOAZINB. 

THE    WINE   TRADE    OF   FRANCE. 
LETTER    FROAI    DR.  GOODRICH,  U.  S.  CONSUL    AT    LYONS. 

I  propose  to  give  you,  in  this  communication,  some  account  of  the  staple 
productions  of  France,  that  may  be  of  interest  to  many  of  the  readers  of 
the  Merchant's  Magazine,  and  especially  so,  as  the  vine  culture  is  beginning 
to  attract  attention  in  the  Southern  and  South-western  sections  of  our  own 
country. 

As  you  are  aware,  the  two  principal  products  of  France  are  wheat  and 
■wine — both  entering  largely  into  domestic  consumption,  and  the  latter  yield- 
ing a  surplus  for  exportation. 

The  most  productive  wine  districts  of  France  are  the  South  and  South- 
western, and  the  least  productive  is  the  North-western.  The  vine  grows  not 
only  on  the  level  and  undulating  lands,  but  also  on  the  hill-sides  and  moun- 
tain summits.  These  lands  are  mostly  stony,  sandy,  sterile,  worn  out,  and 
unfit  for  wheat  growing.  During  the  last  three  or  four  years  a  destructive 
disease  has  attacked  the  vine  not  only  in  France,  but  in  Italy,  Spain,  and 
Portugal.  This  malady  is  of  a  fungoid  character,  and  its  preventive  or 
remedy  has  hitherto  eluded  the  vigilance  and  researches  of  the  chemist  and 
naturalist. 

In  the  statistics  I  shall  give  you — and  they  will  be  official — I  will,  for 
brevity,  avoid  the  smallest  numerals,  as  my  object  can  be  attained  without 
them.  The  number  of  acres  of  land  under  vine  culture  in  France  difiere  but 
a  little  from  5,000,000.  There  are  about  2,000,000  of  persons  (mostly 
females)  employed  in  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  and  the  manufacture  of 
wine,  exclusive  of  250,000  engaged  in  the  transportation  and  sale  of  wines. 


524  THE  WINE  TRADE  OF  FRANCE. 

The  average  annual  product  is  a  little  more  than  800,000,000  gallons — for 
obvious  reasons  I  give  you  American  rather  than  French  terms.  The  domes- 
tic or  home  value  varies  of  course  with  the  supply  and  demand,  say  from  ten 
to  twenty  cents  a  gallon.  For  the  last  two  years,  owing  to  the  "disease,"  the 
price  has  augmented  from  one  to  two  hundred  per  cent,  on  former  prices. 
The  annual  value  may  be  set  down  in  round  numbers  at  $100,000,000. 

In  the  year  1849,  which  is  probably  the  best  for  several  years,  the  num- 
ber of  acres  under  cultivation  w^as  5,500,000,  producing  925,000,000  gallons 
of  wine.  This  was  an  increase  of  115,000,000  over  that  of  the  last  decade, 
1839.  Nearly  50,000,000  gallons  are  annually  exported  as  French  wines. 
In  1849,  41,000,000  were  exported  ;  in  1850,  42,000,000  ;  in  1851,  49,500,- 
000  ;  in  1852,  53,200,000  ;  in  1853,  43,500,000.  Ninety  millions  of  gal- 
lons are  annually  distilled  into  brandy,  although  for  the  ensuing  year,  owing 
to  governmental  restrictions,  there  will  be  but  little  French  brandy  exported 
to  the' United  States  except  that  made  from  American  whiskey  imported  into 
France.  One-seventh,  or  about  133,000,000  gallons  of  wine,  are  annually 
exported  from  France,  either  as  wine  or  its  distillations.  The  excise  duty  on 
wine  and  its  productions  paid  into  the  French  Exchequer  during  the  past  year 
was  $22,800,000.  This  includes  the  ordinary  excise,  as  also  the  "  Octroi"  or 
city  duty.  There  are,  by  estimate,  220,000,000  gallons  of  wine  raanufac-. 
tured  into  spirits,  inclusive  of  the  90,000,000  made  into  brandy.  This  leaves 
more  than  700,000,000  gallons  of  wine  for  home  consumption,  or  about  21 
gallons  for  each  inhabitant  for  the  year. 

Wine,  as  a  beverage,  is  universally  used  here  by  all  classes.  The  strong 
liquors  are  chiefly  for  exportation  ;  hence,  you  see  very  little  drunkenness  in 
la  belle  France. 

The  disease  of  the  vine  in  France  has  for  the  last  two  years  been  very 
destructive,  and  it  has  greatly  diminished  the  production  of  wine.  This  is 
on  the  increase,  and  fears  are  entertained  that  it  may  totally  destroy  the  vine. 
Under  this  apprehension,  may  not  the  subject  of  vine  culture  legitimately 
and  appropriately  attract  the  attention  of  our  Southern  and  South-western 
planters  ?  Many  of  our  Southern  lands,  I  opine,  are  })eculiarly  adapted  to 
the  vine,  and  from  natural  sterility  or  other  causes  are  unsuited  to  products 
requiring  I'icher  and  stronger  soils.  The  lands  of  southern  Europe  employed 
by  the  vine  are  light  and  sterile,  unsuited  to  wheat  and  other  grains. 

If  our  Southern  farmers  would,  at  this  time  more  especially,  turn  their 
fvttention  to  this  subject,  would  it  not  enure  to  their  own  individual  interests, 
enhance  the  national  wealth,  and  be  promotive  of  national  temperance  by  the 
introduction  into  general  use  of  a  cheap  beverage,  that  would  ultimately 
root  out  those  "  villainous  spirits,"  whose  baneful  influence  is  felt  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land  ? 

In  regard  to  the  vine  and  its  diseases  in  Europe,  should  the  present  con- 
dition of  things  continue  for  a  few  years,  would  it  be  the  strangest  fact  in  the 
history  of  commerce,  if  our  favored  country  should  become  the  exporter 
instead  of  the  importer  of  wine?  and  may  not  the  vine  yet  prove  one  of  the 
sources  of  our  national  wealth,  as  well  as  the  promoter  of  a  sound  national 
morality  ? 

Such  a  result  would  restore  the  vine  to  its  pristine  value,  as  one  of  the 
good  gifts  of  God.  Yours,  &c,, 

CHARLES   S.  GOODRICH. 
Lyons,  Franca,  September  1,  1854. 


farmers'  sales  and  city  prices.  525 


FARMERS'    SALES    AND    CITY    PRICES. 

If  some  of  our  domestic  animals  knew  their  own  strength,  they  might 
forever  free  themselves  from  the  state  of  servitude  in  which  they  are  now 
held.  Like  the  lion  and  tiger,  they  might  be  their  own  masters,  but  they 
would,  at  the  same  time,  assume  the  responsibility  of  providing  for  them- 
selves, and,  on  the  whole,  the  exchange  might  not  be  an  improvement  in  their 
condition.  Our  farmers,  however,  year  after  year,  live  in  voluntary  bondage 
to  an  army  of  greedy  bloodsuckers,  who  draw  out  of  them,  at  beggarly 
prices,  the  hard  earnings  of  the  labor  of  months,  while  they  remain  ever 
doomed  to  constant  toil,  and  must  themselves  incur  the  risk  of  droughts,  and 
of  floods,  and  of  overstocked  markets,  and  of  blighted  crops,  with  no  one 
bound  to  give  them  food  or  shelter  for  a  single  day.  And  this  bondage  is 
the  result,  to  a  great  extent,  of  their  own  inefficiency  and  indolent  habits. 
They  scarcely  feel  their  chains,  or  if  they  do,  they  have  no  idea  that  they  can 
possibly  be  shaken  oft". 

How  is  this?  A  complex,  expensive,  and  artificial  system  is  called  into 
being,  having  in  special  charge  the  interests  of  the  producer,  who  is  taxed 
therefor  from  sixty  to  ninety  per  cent,  of  his  possible  profits.  This  system  is 
composed  of  carriers,  brokers,  commission  agents,  and  men  of  various  other 
sorts,  who  make  their  entire  living  out  of  the  profits  on  the  products  of  the 
farm,  actually  paid  by  the  consumer.  That  consumers  do  pay  cruelly  high 
prices  under  this  system  is  a  matter  of  actual  experience.  That  farmers,  at 
the  same  time,  obtain  little  or  no  advance  over  the  prices  of  years  gone  by, 
is  equally  a  matter  of  experience. 

What  would  our  farmers  think  of  receiving  from  18  to  25  cents  for  their 
beef?  What  castles  would  they  not  build,  in  imagination  at  least,  if  they 
should  realize  eight  or  ten  shillings  a  pair  for  their  chickens,  and  three  shil- 
lings a  dozen  for  their  eggs  ?  prices  paid  every  day  in  this  market.  They 
now  sell  their  chickens  at  three  or  four  shilllings  a  pair,  oftener  the  smaller 
of  these  prices  ;  their  eggs  at  twenty  or  twenty-five  cents  a  dozen,  paid  in 
groceries  ;  and  so  on  through  the  chapter.  Some  services  are  required,  wo 
are  aware,  before  the  living  animal  is  prepared  for  the  operations  of  the  cook. 
But  we  remember  when  the  hide,  tallow,  and  oflal,  paid  the  butcher  for  his 
services,  and  suppose  this  would  not  be  thought  unworthy  of  the  craft  in 
these  later  times  ;  and  as  to  poultry,  eggs,  and  the  products  of  the  dairy  in 
general,  there  is  no  occasion  for  extra  services,  requiring  compensation,  to  fit 
them  for  the  stalls  and  shops  of  the  retailer. 

The  difference  between  eight  and  ten  cents  a  pound  for  pork  is  by  no 
means  slight  in  the  matter  of  profit ;  twentj'^  per  cent,  does  not  tell  half  the 
story.  Probably  the  pork  itself  cost  six  cents.  All  the  farmer's  profit,  then, 
(save  the  manure,)  is  two  cents,  at  the  lower  price,  but  is  four  cents  at  the 
the  higher ;  and  this  increase  from  eight  to  ten  cents,  makes  a  diftereace  in 
the  gain  of  exactly  one  hundred  per  cent.  If  they  could  get  but  ten  cents 
a  pound,  selling  directly  to  the  consumer,  and  sell  for  eight  cents  to  the  mid- 
dle man,  then  they  pay  him  just  half  their  entire  profits.  Wall  street  men 
could  not  afford  to  pay  for  services  at  that  rate. 

Every  thing  that  the  farmer  produces,  with  very  few  exceptions,  is  subject 
to  the  expense  of  a  burdensome  and  complicated  system.  His  butter  and 
eggs  often  go  to  the  village  grocer,  in  payment  for  goods  at  the  highest  rates. 


526  farmers'  sales  and  city  prices. 

which  goods-  are  often  and  usually  of  an  inferior  quality,  and  for  a  sum  vary- 
ing from  one-hair  to  three-fourths  their  fair  price  in  the  market.  Milk  is 
sold  to  the  cartmen,  in  a  pure  state,  for  about  one-half  (often  less)  of  what 
it  brings  in  the  city,  after  it  is  nearly  or  quite  doubled  in  quantity  by  the 
addition  of  the  Croton,  to  say  nothing  of  the  chalk  mixtures — and  so  runs 
the  whole  story.  The  poor  farmer  toils  on,  overjoyed  to  get  six  or  eight  per 
cent,  on  his  investment,  but,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  doomed  to  drag  on  from 
year  to  year,  subjecting  his  farm  (for  want  of  means)  to  a  wretched  system 
of  management,  which  is  annually  destroying  its  ability  to  produce — glad  if 
he  can  feed  and  clothe  a  family,  every  member  of  which  toils,  not  Hke  a 
slave,  but  harder  than  he,  while  even  his  children  can  scarcely  be  spared  to 
go  to  school,  even  in  winter.  And  all  this  for  what  ?  Because  the  lazy 
earth  will  not  produce  what  she  ought  ?  NO  ! !  But,  because  farmers  have 
no  means  to  feed  her.  She  is  feeble  as  old  age  itself.  They  are,  year  by 
year,  trying  out,  as  by  fire,  the  tat  of  the  land,  and  the  poor  thing  shows  signs 
of  decay,  not  to  be  mistaken.  And  all  this,  while  middle  men,  out  of  the 
same  products  of  the  farm,  are  building  splendid  city  mansions,  and  living 
on  the  luxuries  of  the  season,  paid  for,  all  of  them,  from  the  crops  produced 
by  these  poor  farmers. 

Horrible  as  is  this  picture,  we  thank  God  that  we  can  perceive  no  difficultv 
in  producing  an  entire  change  in  this  system,  if  farmers  shall  so  will  it,  so 
that  the  profits  that  are  made  shall  go  into  the  pockets  of  those  to  whom  they 
properly  belong — to  wit,  of  the  producers.     And  how  can  this  be  done? 

To  some  extent,  the  way  is  clear,  and  without  any  hindrance.  Tinae 
might  be  required  for  perfecting  the  details  of  this  important  reform,  but  the 
following  are  self-evident  propositions. 

So  far  as  the  large  establishments  of  hotels  and  boarding-house?,  in  all  our 
cities  and  villages,  are  concerned,  every  man,  who  may  be  relied  upon  for 
keeping  his  contract,  might  engage  an  almost  indefinite  amount  of  eggs, 
milk,  meats,  his  vegetables,  and,  if  a  good  dairyman,  his  butter  and  cheese, 
at  prices  much  higher  than  are  now  received  by  first  hands,  though,  perhaps,. 
not  quite  so  high  as  the  consumers  now  pay.  Our  milk  farms  are  scarcely 
among  the  most  profitable  sources  of  income,  while  commissions  or  charges, 
of  some  sort,  ai-e  paid  to  two  or  three  middle  men,  who  get  a  large  part  of 
their  income,  perhaps  the  whole  of  it,  from  the  profits  which  might  be  secured 
to  the  producer. 

Suppose  the  Astor  House  requires  fifty  gallons  of  milk,  at  regular  periods. 
Let  an  arrangement  be  made  by  which  that  quantity  of  milk,  properly 
secured,  shall  be  sent  by  cars,  or  otherwise,  at  the  times  agreed  upon.  The 
hotel  keeper  sends  his  porter,  on  its  arrival,  and  takes  possession,  returning 
the  cans  at  the  same  time.  How  simple  is  this  machinery.  If  the  hotel  or 
boarding-house  keeper  does  not  wish  the  trouble  of  sending  for  it,  let  him. 
pay  one  cent  per  gallon  additional,  or  half  that,  according  to  circumstances, 
while  you  engage  a  faithful  porter  to  do  this  service  at  your  cost. 

The  same  arrangement  is  practicable  with  egg^,  and  most  of  the  produc- 
tions of  the  farm,  including  vegetables  and  perishable  fruits.  All  that  is  re- 
quired to  accomplish  this  is  enterprise,  and  a  good  article.  Nor  would 
these  establishments  require  a  very  limited  supply.  Hundreds,  even  thou- 
sands, of  contractors  for  the  whole  products  of  a  farm,  so  far  as  several  of 
these  articles  are  concerned,  might  be  found,  at  once,  in  this  cit}^  Other 
cities  would  furnish  customers  in  proportion  to  their  size;  and,  by  degrees,  a 
general  system,  relieved  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  of  high-priced  middle  men, 
might  be  put  in  operation,  for  the  sale  of  all  the  varieties  of  products  required 


farmers'  sales  and  city  prices.  527 


for  our  table?,  and  with  very  little  trouble  to  any  body.  But  if  it  were 
otherwise ;  if  the  labor  were  considerable,  still  that  labor  would  have  its 
reward,  and  that  is  just  what  an  active,  efficient  farmer  would  desire — an 
increase  of  his  labor,  without  au  increase  of  required  capital,  which  would 
bring  with  it  a  proportional  increase  of  profit. 

We  could  refer  producers  to  moderate  sized  boarding-houses — say  families 
of  twelve  to  twenty  persons,  who  would  rejoice  to  make  such  an  arrange- 
ment. We  have  heard  them  express  views  in  accordance  with  these  sug- 
gestions, and  we  have  also  known  such  plans  in  successful  operation. 

Nor  would  this  be  a  small  affair  to  the  farming  interest.  At  present  rates, 
probably,  it  would  quadruple  their  profits  ;  and,  at  ordinary  prices,  it  would 
more  iban  double  them.  The  farmer  who  now  gets  six  or  eight  cents  for 
his  pork,  makes  but  a  very  small  profit.  Three  or  four  cents  increase  on  each 
pound  would  be  a  very  great  gain.  If  he  could  himself  receive  twenty-five 
and  twenty-eight  cents  a  pound,  in  cash,  for  his  butter,  which  the  speculator 
now  gets,  he  would,  ere  long,  have  money  in  the  bank,  after  paying  off  his 
mortgage,  and  buying  improved  stock.  Twenty-five  cents  a  gallon  for  milk 
and  water,  even  though  it  was  only  half-and-half,  would  enable  him,  if  he 
choose,  to  keep  his  pleasure  carriage  and  fast  horses ;  and  more  than  this 
does  many  an  unscrupulous  city  cheat  get  every  day  of  the  year,  for  a  meaner 
article,  to  say  nothing  of  another  large  amount  for  chalk  mixture,  intended, 
more  particularly,  for  the  poorer  classes,  who  are  obliged  to  buy  where  they 
can. 

This  whole  system  of  middle  men  grows,  to  a  very  great  degree,  out  of 
the  indolence  and  inefficiency  of  the  producer.  Do  we  not  hear  it  said  in 
reply,  "  the  farmer  does  not  wish  to  become  a  carrier,  nor  a  porter,  dancing 
attendance  at  the  doors  of  city  aristocrats."  Very  well ;  then  let  him  be 
content  with  his  two  to  four  per  cent,  profits  on  his  most  productive  articles, 
while  his  active  and  less  conceited  city  neighbor  takes  these,  his  hard  earn- 
ings, and,  by  performing  such  services,  pockets  an  additional  twenty  to 
fifty  per  cent.,  and,  by-and-by,  becomes  himself  the  city  aristocrat.  But  why 
should  not  the  farmer  do  this  service  ?  Is  it  less  honorable  to  contract  with 
another  for  the  sale  of  an  article,  delivery  included,  than  it  is  to  plough,  and 
hoe,  and  ditch,  and  make  compost,  in  producing?  Is  it  less  honorable  for 
him  to  sell  and  deUver,  than  it  is  for  our  dealers  in  dry  goods  ?  Very  few, 
we  trust,  will  raise  such  objections.  But  they  "  do  not  want  the  increase 
of  care  and  attention  such  a  plan  would  demand."  In  reply  to  this,  we  say, 
if  an  increase  of  care  is  to  be  thus  rejected,  whatever  it  might  return  by  way 
of  profit,  then  it  would  be  better  to  sell  half  the  farm,  and  thus,  by  confining 
the  labor  of  production  to  a  few  acres,  and  realizing  from  their  products  a 
larger  sum  than  is  now  obtained  from  the  whole,  and,  with  less  care,  secure 
a  greater  income  with  less  outlay.  The  value  of  this  other  half  might  then  be 
vested  in  safe  and  remunerative  stocks. 

Commercial  agencies  are  very  good  things  when  they  are  wanted  ;  but  they 
are,  generally,  death  to  the  producer.  Their  incomes,  kept  out  of  their 
pockets  by  their  own  consent,  and  with  their  eyes  wide  open,  and  without 
the  use  of  chloroform,  have  built  many  a  princely  mansion  in  this  and  other 
cities,  and  furnished  their  tables  with  all  the  luxuries  of  the  season,  while  the 
producer,  who  might  have  reaped  this  golden  harvest,  is  shivering  in  a  cold 
kitchen,  and  sits  at  a  table  supplied  with  the  less  desirable  products  of  his 
own  hog  stye,  toughened  and  possibly  made  unwholesome  by  saturation 
with  salt,  and  not  merely  villainous,  but  poisonous  salt  petre.     Who  sits 

FOR   THIS   PICTURE? 


528  MILK   IN   BREAD. 


MILK      IN"      BREAD.; 

We  are  sometimes  forced  to  confess  ourselves  deficient  in  patience,  wlien 
we  read  some  of  the  deliberate  assertions  of  scientific  men.  They  pronounce, 
as  from  the  seat  of  power,  and  the  centre  of  all  the  wisdom,  in  favor  of  this, 
and  that,  and  the  other,  in  the  very  teeth  of  a  general  and  almost  universal 
experience.  We  are  compelled  to  place  a  very  hw  of  the  solemn  announce- 
ments, even  of  the  i^reat  Liebig,  in  this  category.  He  has  proclaimed  that 
bread  is  rendered  unhealthy  by  being  moistened  with  milk,  and  though  wo 
cannot  at  this  moment  cite  his  words,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  intends  to 
teach  this  doctrine.  Many  of  our  journals  have  copied  his  language,  and 
also  the  following,  without  comment,  which  we  regard  as,  at  least,  a  partial 
sanction  of  it : 

Milk  ix  Bread. — I  have  more  objection3  than  one  to  milk  in  bread,  but  the  most 
eerious  is,  that  persons  of  advanced  age,  who  are  in  the  daily  use  of  millc-made  bread, 
will  be  expected  to  suffer  from  an  over  supply  of  osseous  or  bony  matter,  and  par- 
ticularly if  their  kidneys  are  affected.  Bread  should  always  be  made  with  water, 
and  when  so  made  it  is  suitable  lor  the  aged  and  the  young,  the  sick  and  the  well. 
And  as  for  sour  milk,  a  microscopic  view  would,  I  presume,  present  additional  argu- 
ments against  its  use. —  Water  Cure  Journal. 

Now,  whatever  may  be  said  on  this  wise,  we  can  not  hesitate  to  pronounce 
the  principle  here  inculcated,  as  a  general  proposition,  in  our  opinion,  utterly 
at  variance  with  truth.  We  doubt  not  that  there  are  persons,  of  all  ages, 
who  can  not  digest  milk,  even  when  diluted.  We  have  seen  infants  in  that 
condition.  We  are  well  acquainted  with  a  very  learned  divine,  who  acquired 
an  ability  to  indulge  in  the  use  of  milk,  in  his  maturer  years,  only  by  first 
diluting  it  very  freely  with  water — perhaps  nine  parts  water  to  one  of  milk. 
We  have  no  doubt  that  these  v^riters,  to  whom  we  refer,  have  met  with  such 
cases.  But  to  pronounce  that  milk,  in  itself,  is  an  unwholesome  beverage,  or 
a  substance  that  demands  of  rational  men,  not  moderation,  but  abstinence,  is 
too  ridiculous.  What  does  the  milk  do  to  us,  whether  mingled  in  bread  or 
otherwise,  to  make  us  dread  it  ?  Does  it  makes  us  too  "  bony  ?"  We,  who 
were  brought  up  in  the  country,  and  who  have  used  milk  as  drink,  and  in 
bread,  and  in  various  modes  besides,  shall  not  easily  be  led  to  admit  that 
doctrine.  We  know  of  many  more  people  who  are  apparently  injured  by 
meats  than  by  milk,  in  bread  or  out  of  it;  and  our  friend  of  the  "  Water 
Cure"  is  consistent  in  this,  and  forbids  both. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  "dietetics,"  why  should  milk  in  bread  be  unwhole- 
some? Is  it  of  doubtful  expediency  as  a  beverage?  Whosays  that?  And 
how  is  its  nature  changed  when  mingled  in  the  bread  ?  As  a  chemist,  we 
venture  to  say,  in  nothing  essential.  Fermentation,  when  carried  to  excess,- 
may  affect  portions  of  the  milk,  but  it  is  not  then  unwholesome.  Ask  our 
Southern  friends  what  they  think  of  sour  milk,  of  bonny-clapper.  Why 
not  eat  bread  moistened  with  milk  before  baking,  as  well  as  after?  Is 
not  bread  and  milk  wholesome?  Does  "  bread  and  milk"  cause  us  to  suffer 
from  an  "over-supply  of  osseous,  or  bony  matter?"  We  have  no  patience 
with  such  science.  "A  microscopic  view  would,  I  presume,  present  addi- 
tional arguments  against  its  use."  Indeed  I  And  how  is  it  with  water? 
Does  not  a  microscopic"  view  of  that,  too,  "  present  arguments  against  its 
use?''  We  venture  the  opinion,  that  very  f^w  can  view  a  drop  of  water  Ixforo 
a  solar  microscope,  and  straightway  go  away  and  drink  it.  And  how  does  a 
"  microscopic  view"  affect  the  wholesomeness  of  vinegar?  Fiiend  Water 
Cure,  vegetarian  as  you  are,  your  logic  is  surely  out  of  joint ;  for  no  one,  of 


SANDY   SOILS — LONG   ISLAND.  529 


any  considerable  experience  ia  the  use  of  optical  instruments,  can  be  ignorant 
that  a  microscopic  view  of  vegetables  would  present  millions  and  billions  of 
"arguments  against  (their)  use;"  and  nice,  large,  and  plump  ones,  too. 
We  doubt  whether  you  will  make  much  on  either  of  these  tacks. 

We  have  lived  for  years  on  milk-bread,  and  wish  those  glorious  days  might 
return.  And  we  are  not  very  bony,  nor  troubled  with  the  animalcules,  so 
far  as  we  know.  Some  of  our  family  connexions  have  continued  to  live  in 
the  same  style  ever  since,  and  they  are  not  particularly  bony.  And  when 
we  visit  "  the  spot  where  we  were  born,"  or  its  neighborhood,  we  always  go 
back  to  these  old  habits,  and  eat  our  bread  and  milk,  and  milk-bread  and 
milk,  too;  and  we  generally  come  back  with  less  apparent  symtoras  of  too 
much  bone  than  we  had  before.  We  exhort  our  readers,  one  and  all,  who 
are  not  already  diseased,  or  in  an  ab-normal  state,  to  get  and  eat  as  much 
milk-bread  as  they  can. 


FOR    THE  PLOUGH,  THE  LOOM,  AND  THE  ANVIL. 

SANDY    SOILS  — LONG    ISLAND. 

Messrs.  Editors  :  I  was  pleased  to  notice,  in  your  last  number,  an  article 
over  the  signature  of  "L,"  calling  the  attention  of  your  readers  to  Long 
Island  and  its  neglected  soil.  It  is  truly  remarkable  that  the  lands  of  Long 
Island,  so  cheap,  and  so  close  to  New-York,  the  best  market  in  the  world, 
have  been  suffered  so  long  to  lay  waste  and  unproductive. 
_  The  chief  causes,  no  doubt,  are,  that  immense  tracts  have  belonged  to 
single  families  or  individuals,  and  that  cutting  wood,  catching  oysters  and 
fish,  instead  of  farming,  have  long  been  the  principal  occupation  of  the 
inhabitants  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  there  has  prevailed  a  mistaken  opinion 
as  the  quality  of  the  land  and  its  fitness  for  agricultural  purposes. 

A  gentleman  of  Islip  informed  me,  not  long  since,  that  he  had  resided 
forty  years  upon  a  farm  on  the  south  side,  which  was  very  productive  ;  but 
that  the  great  body  of  the  land,  in  the  middle  of  the  Island  and  along  the 
railroad,  was,  until  recently,  considered  worthless  ;  but  that  he  had  put'some 
under  cultivation  near  Suffolk  Station,  and  was  surprised  at  the  result ;  and 
from  experience  he  found  it  superior  to  the  old  farm. 

There  is  a  very  erroneous  opinion  generally  entertained  about  porous  soils 
losing  the  manure  by  percolation.  A  recent  examination,  by  a  gentleman  of 
Long  Island,  of  a  barn-yard  where  the  soul  was  porous,  showed  that  the  dis- 
coloration of  the  soil,  underneath  the  barn-yard,  had  not  extended  but  a  little 
depth ;  and  his  opinion  was  that  he  lost  but  little  of  the  strength  of  the 
manure  by  percolation. 

It  is  a  well  known  property  of  water,  in  passing  through  the  earth,  to  part 
with  all  foreign  matter  held  by  it.  Witness  the  purity  of  the  springs  on 
sandy  or  gravelly  soil,  and  the  operation  of  artificial  filters,  as  seen  on  a  small 
scale  about  our  cities,  and  on  a  large  scale  in  the  water-works  of  London  and 
other  European  cities.  Is  it  not  a  popular  error  that  the  manures  are  lost  by 
percolation  ? 

May  there  not  also  be  an  error  about  the  loss  of  manures  by  evaporation, 
when  covered  in  the  soil  ?  Evaporation  carries  off  the  moisture,  it  is  true ; 
converts  the  water  into  steam,  but  how  can  anything  except  moisture  leave 
the  soil  ?  If  you  evaporate  salt  water  the  salt  is  left;  if  sweet  water— sap  of 
the  maple  or  juice  of  the  cane — sugar  is  left. 
31 


580        SPENT  TAN   AND   SAW-DUST   FOR   MULCHING   TREES. 

There  are  some  well  known  facts  that  bear  on  this  subject.  One  is,  that 
in  very  dry  seasons  porous  soils  suffer  less  than  the  close  and  clayey  soils. 
This  was  the  case  on  Long  Island  last  year,  which  was  a  very  dry  one.  Long 
Island  suffered  less  than  almost  any  other  section  of  the  country  where  the 
drought  prevailed  equally. 

The  sandy  soil  allows  early  ploughing  and  sowing,  and  if  thus  worked  and 
properly  manured  the  vegetation  of  the  crop  covers  the  soil  before  the  sun 
renders  the  surface  too  dry.  The  air  penetrates  the  open,  porous  soil,  and  at 
night  deposits  its  moisture,  with  which  on  Long  Island  it  comes  richly  laden 
from  the  ocean  or  the  Sound. 

I  will  venture  to  predict  that  Long  Island  is  destined  at  no  distant  day  to 
be  a  remarkably  rich  and  productive  agricultural  country  ;  or  rather,  that  it 
will  be  one  immense  and  teeming  garden. 

W.  E.  M. 

Note. — Our  correspondent  is  no  doubt  correct  in  his  opinions  above  ex- 
pressed iu  relation  to  the  percolation  of  manures  on  the  soils  of  Long  Island. 
There  are  soils,  however,  which  admit  the  passage  of  liquid  manures  through 
them  without  any  apparent  loss.  We  make  this  remark  lest  some  of  our 
readers  should  be  led  to  suppose  that  we  inculcate  the  doctrine  that  there  is 
no  soil  where  the  application  of  manure,  in  its  present  condition,  seems  quite 
inexpedient.  The  subsoil  has  an  important  connection  with  this  matter.  We 
have  before  given  some  specific  directions  iu  regard  to  it.  As  to  Long  Island, 
we  know  that  good  farms  have  been  made  there,  and  that  thousands  of  acres 
upon  it,  yet  unimproved,  could  be  made  into  fertile  and  paying  farms. 


FOa  THK  PLOUQH,  THE  LOOM,  AND  THB  ASVIL. 

SPENT  TAN  AND  SAWDUST  FOR  MULCHING  FRUIT-TREES. 

Messrs.  Editors  :  It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  your  readers  to  learn 
that  spent  tan  spread  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  under  a  tree  which  has 
been  recently  transplanted,  is  one  of  its  greatest  protectors  from  drought. 
In  the  spring  of  1853,  we  set  a  quantity  of  fruit  trees  in  a  gentleman's  gar- 
den and  fruit  grounds.  The  soil  was  very  dry  and  gravelly,  and  it  was  the 
common  opinion  that  they  all  would  die  from  the  drought. 

The  ground  was  prepared  for  setting  in  our  usual  way,  with  the  addition 
of  loam  to  set  the  roots  in.  After  setting  the  trees,  the  ground  was  covered 
to  the  distance  of  two  feet  from  the  tree  with  common  sawdust.  There  was 
not  one  fruit-tree  that  suffered  from  the  drought ;  and  last  season  several  of 
them  bore  and  ripened  fruit. 

We  set  on  the  same  grounds,  also,  about  fifteen  rods  of  arbor  vita)  hedge. 
We  mulched  them  also  with  sawdust,  and  there  was  not  one  failure. 

Last  June  I  set  a  quantity  of  arbor  vita3  on  a  bank,  close  to  a  wall.  I  put 
about  two  shovels  full  of  spent  tan  around  each  tree  ;  and  although  they 
were  set  just  as  the  extremely  dry  season  commenced,  not  one  of  them  died, 
although  we  did  not  water  them. 

Villages  are  frequently  built  on  alluvial  soil,  and  then  it  is  often  extremely 
difficult  to  make  trees  flourish.  Those  who  wish  to  ornament  their  gardens 
will  find  that  a  liberal  supply  of  sawdust  or  spent  tan  added  to  the  soil,  either 
by  mixing  with  it  or  as  a  top  dressing,  is  very  advantageous. 

Either  of  the  above  substances,  which  are  usually  considered  worthless,  and 


ROOT   CROPS.  531 


can  be  had  in  abundance  near  all  our  villages,  will  many  times  pay  the  ex- 
pense of  hauling  and  applying.  Adopt  this  treatment,  and  those  trees  which 
usually  appear  sickly  in  mid-summer  will  be  of  a  darker  hue,  and  their 
broad  leaves  will  shelter  you  from  the  scorching  heat  of  a  summer's  sun. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  near  almost  every  country  village  sufficient  quantities 
of  sawdust  and  tan  are  wasted  every  year  to  top-dress  the  ground  under  five 
thousand  trees. 

Let  me  advise  you,  then,  to  apply  it  to  your  alluvial  soils,  and  your  villages 
will  no  longer  have  the  appearance  of  being  built  in  a  desert,  but  rather  in 
the  luxurious  soil  and  in  the  balmy  climate  of  the  Indies. 

Plant  trees  and  make  them  flourish,  and  then  the  weary  traveller  will 
admire  your  scenery,  and  will  thank  you  for  the  rare  pleasure  which  such 
scenes  impart ;  while  your  own  eyes  constantly  beholding  the  work  of  your 
own  hands,  you  will  daily  and  hourly  find  occasion  to  rejoice  in  the  pleasing 

change. 

L.  H.  Spear. 
Brainton,  VL,  Feb.  5th,  1855. 


ROOT-CROPS.— THE  NEW-ENGLAND  FARMER  AND  "  WE,"  vs.  THE  COR- 
RESPONDENT OF  THE  NEW-ENGLAND  FARMER. 

We  are  very  happy  to  notice  the  commendation  of  the  learned  Editor  of 
the  New-E*igland  Farmer,  with  which  he  prefaces  our  article,  taken  from 
our  journal,  entitled,  "The  Value  of  Root-Crops."  We  are  gratified  at  this 
for  two  reasons,  one  personal,  and  the  other  subjective.  That  is,  we  are  glad 
to  have  his  endorsement  as  to  the  importance  of  Root- Crops,  and  of  having 
more  light  on  the  subject  of  fattening  and  muscle-producing  food. 

We  are  also  glad  to  read  the  language  quoted  below,  from  a  correspondent 
of  the  N.  E.  F.,  who  seems  disposed  to  find  fault  with  something,  or  else  to 
be  troubled  with  what  scholars  call  cacoethes  scribendi — are  thus  glad,  because 
we  think  if  there  was  unfavorable  criticism  to  be  made  on  that  short  essay, 
this  writer  might  have  discovered  it.  But  he  represents  us  as  taking  a  posi- 
tion we  never  have  taken,  and  then  attacks  it.  Whether  he  carries  even 
that  fiction,  remains  to  be  seen.  Our  language  was  as  follows  :  "  We  are 
inclined  to  explain  it  (a  certain  fact)  on  the  principle  that  concentrated 
nutriment  is  not  so  wholesome  as  that  which  is  more  diluted.  The  more  di- 
luted our  food,  provided  we  do  not  overtask  the  energies  of  the  intestinal 
canal,  in  the  conveyance  of  it  to  its  destination,  the  better  for  the  health  of 
the  animal.  May  not  this  be  the  rule  ?  In  such  cases  the  absorbents  have 
more  time,  and  a  better  opportunity  to  possess  themselves  of  what  they 
need,  without  sufi"ering  anything  to  escape  them.  We  do  not  assert  this. 
We  on\j  suggest,  where  no  one  appears  to  estabhsh  anything." 

But  out  of  this  doubly-guarded  enquiry  and  "  suggestion,"  this  corres- 
pondent, E.  C.  P.,  objects  to  us  because — "  among  other  objectional  sentences, 
(sentiments?)  I  can  not  help  noting  the  following:  '  The  more  diluted  our 
food,  provided  we  do  not  overtask  the  energies  of  the  intestinal  canal,  in  the 
conveyance  of  it  to  its  destination,  the  better  for  the  health  of  the  animal.' 

"  Now  this  means,  (says  our  critic,)  if  it  means  anything,  that  the  less  con- 
centrated the  food  of  animals, — that  is,  the  greater  proportion  of  bulk  to  nu- 
triment,— the  '  better  for  the  health  of  the  animal.'     The  writer  does  not 


532  FAIRS  AND   HUMBUGS. 

seem  to  perceive  that,  in  carrying  out  his  doctrine,  he  must  inevitably  run  it 
"into  the  ground  ;"  for  it  comes  to  this,  that  when  food  is  discovered  which 
contains  no  nutriment  at  all,  it  is  better  adapted  than  any  other  for  sustain- 
ing animal  life." 

Really,  tbis  is  singular  logic.  It  reminds  us  of  the  so-well-known  Paddy, 
who,  on  the  assumption  that  the  use  of  a  stove  would  save  half  the  fuel,  pro- 
posed by  buying  two,  to  save  it  all.  We  can  not  seriously  find  fault  with 
such  logic,  even  if  we  had  asserted  what  the  learned  E.  C.  P.  says  we  have, 
but  leave  him  in  his  glory  ;  nor  shall  we  enquire  how  he  can  "  dilute"  nutri- 
ment when  there  is  none.  It  is  not  on  account  of  such  criticism  that  we 
notice  this  writer,  but,  because  we  would  give  our  own  readers  to  understand, 
that  our  opinions,  as  there  expressed,  are  sustained  by  one  of  the  best  editors 
in  the  United  States,  and,  also,  to  renew  our  exhortation  to  them  to  cultivate 
root-crops  much  more  extensively,  and  to  feed  them  to  their  stock  quite 
freely.  Every  week,  almost,  we  find  accumulative  evidence  on  this  subject. 
We  would  not  have  the  diet  exclusively  nor  mainly  such ;  nor  can  we  go 
with  this  same  E.  C.  P.,  of  "  Somerville,"  who  commends  "  about  sixty  per 
cent,  of  nutriment  to  forty  per  cent,  of  bulk !"  that  is,  that  the  nutriment 
(solid  contents,  of  course,)  should  be  fifty  per  cent,  more  than  the  bulk ;  for 
Ave  are  quite  sure  that  far  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent,  of  nutri- 
ment would  be  quite  ruinous  to  the  health  of  animals.  Rather  than  this, 
because  cheaper,  and  the  results  the  same,  we  would  "  buy  two  stoves,"  and 
save  all — the  cost  of  nutriment. 


[We  publish  the  following  communication  without  [any  hesitation,  al- 
though we  are  surprised  at  the  statements  made  by  the  writer,  in  respect  to 
exhibitors  and  committees.  We  have  more  to  say  on  this  subject,  which 
we  perhaps  may  put  into  form  in  season  for  the  present  number.  But  we 
wonder  that  any  community  should  t©lerate,  for  a  moment,  any  approach  to 
such  practices  as  are  described  in  the  statements  below.  We  must  believe 
that  such  occurrences  are  very  unfrequent. — Eds.  P.  L.  &  A.] 

FOR    THE   PLOUOH,    THB    LOOM,   AND  THK   ANVIL. 

FAIRS      AND      HUMBUGS. 

Although  we  are  said  to  be  fond  of  being  humbugged,  yet  I  apprehend 
that  we  may  possibly  overdo  the  thing,  and  become  disgusted  with  it.  In 
fact,  there  are  some  men  who  already  have  become  so,  and  declare  that  all 
fairs  are  humbugs.  The  utility  of  fairs,  in  future,  must  depend  on  the 
manner  of  conducting  them,  and  the  character  of  the  articles  and  stock  ex- 
hibited in  them,  and  the  candor  and  honesty  of  the  exhibitors  and  judges. 

Few  men  who  have  been  attendants  on  our  fairs,  have  failed  to  notice  the 
attempts  at  deception  practised  by  exhibitors;  in  fact,  it  has  become  so  com- 
mon, that  honorable  men  are  hardly  expected  to  be  perfectly  reliable  in  these 
matters. 

The  true  friends  of  improvement  have  it  in  their  power  to  prevent,  in  a 
great  measure,  these  evils,  if  they  will  set  themselves  about  it  in  earnest. 

It  may  require  some  time  and  effort  to  remove  these  evils,  but  the  advan- 
tages to  be  obtained  are  worth  the  eftbrt.  We  cannot  afford  to  lose  the 
impulse  that  has  been  given  to  agriculture,  and  the  improvement  in  stock 


WASTEFUL   FARMING.  533 


and  agricultural  implements  by  fairs,  because  these  are  not  conducted  as 
they  should  be,  or  because  a  few  unprincipled  men  care  for  nothing  but  to 
advance  their  own  interest  by  imposing  upon  the  credulous. 

When  a  man  presents  a  sheep  on  exhibition,  that  a  committee  are  confi- 
dent was  shorn  high  stubble^  as  it  is  called,  which  means,  so  shorn  as  to 
leave  the  wool  one  inch  long  at  shearing ;  or  paints  them,  so  as  to  make 
them  appear  like  black-tops,  when  they  are  not  so,  let  a  committee  report 
what  they  believe  to  be  the  fact  in  a  few  such  cases,  and  the  effect  will  be 
felt  as  far  as  the  case  becomes  known. 

True,  this  would  require  some  independence  in  judges,  but  that  is  what 
we  ought  to  expect.  If  men  have  not  that  quality,  they  are  not  the  men 
we  want  for  those  places,  and  they  had  better  not  serve  in  them. 

Shall  a  committee  say  to  the  public  that  an  artide  or  an  animal  is  worthy 
of  commendation,  when  they  are  confident  it  is  not  so  ?  Certainly  not.  By 
so  doing,  they  inflict  a  great  injury  on  the  cause  they  are  chosen  to  advance. 

Let  every  honest  man  sustain  truthful  reports,  and  set  his  face  like  flint 
against  impositions,  and  those  that  are  guilty  of  such  deception  would  aban- 
don the  fairs  or  their  evil  practices. 

Although  there  is  perhaps  no  other  stock  so  liable  to  deceive  as  sheep, 
yet,  by  over-feeding  and  other  ways  they  are  made  to  deceive  the  buyer,  the 
spectator,  and  perhaps  the  public. 

In  hopes  that  these  few  thoughts,  imperfectly  expressed,  may  do  some- 
thing to  increase  the  utility  of  fairs,  I  leave  them  at  your  disposal. 

w. 

Ohio,  Feb.,  1855. 


/■OR   THK    PLOUGH,    THE   LOOM,    AKD   THE    ANVIL. 

WASTEFUL  FARMING. 

Mr.  Editor  : — Each  farm  has  within  itself  the  means  of  its  own  improve- 
ment. Science  of  late  years  has  done  much  to  improve  the  most  ancient  of 
arts ;  still  there  is  much  left  to  accomplish.  The  field  of  investigation  is  still 
but  partially  explored.  But  there  is,  of  late,  a  spirit  of  inquiry  in  most  of  our 
farming  communities,  as  to  the  best  system  to  be  pursued  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  soil,  which  speaks  for  good. 

There  are  but  few  pursuits  that  would  suflfer  the  loss  and  waste  to  which 
the  farmer  submits  in  manure,  and  other  modes  of  wasteful  management, 
■without  a  failure.  Our  manure  heap  is  our  capital  and  bank  of  deposit. 
Here  refuse  of  all  kinds  should  be  safely  placed  to  be  converted  by  the  labo- 
ratory of  Nature  to  some  useful  purpose.  The  farmer  would  be  astonished 
were  he  to  know  fully  how  little  the  system  of  reproduction  is  understood. 

There  is  an  immense  loss  in  not  yarding  stock  in  a  proper  manner,  and 
supplying  muck  or  turf  to  absorb  the  urine.  Where  barns  have  stood  for 
years  without  a  cellar  under  them,  and,  for  several  generations,  the  manure 
heaps  have  been  deposited,  all  that  is  wanting  is,  that  this  soil  be  carted  to 
the  field.     Here  is  one  of  the  many  means  of  improvement. 

Again  we  can  see  a  great  advantage  in  the  the  change  of  soil,  by  carting 
from  the  most  barren  knoll  soil  of  a  diSerent  character.  The  most  wonderful 
eflfects,  sometimes,  are  thus  produced.  This  process  supplies  to  the  soil  that 
which  was  wanting  for  the  formation  of  a  perfect  plant.     Here,  again,  ac- 


534  DOCK  RAILWAY,  LIVERPOOL. 

cording  to  my  theory,  we  have  within  our  reach  the  means  of  greatly  adding 
to  the  amount  of  our  crops. 

The  larger  the  crop,  if  judiciously  managed,  the  larger  the  manure  heap, 
and,  on  our  system  of  reproduction,  the  better  prepared  for  the  next.  By 
pursuing  this  system,  our  lands  will  iucrease  in  fertility  from  year  to  year. 

Another  great  loss  the  farmer  is  subject  to  is  from  the  wrong  application 
of  manure  to  his  fields.  Different  soils  require  different  applications  ;  while 
the  heavy,  tenacious  soil  will  require  the  manure  on  the  top  of  the  furrosv, 
and  the  dryer  soil  that  it  be  turned  under.  There  can  be  no  particular  rules 
laid  down  on  paper  for  the  application  of  manure.  The  practical  tiller  of 
the  soil  must  use  his  best  judgment  according  to  the  nature  of  the  soil,  and 
the  crop  he  intends  to  raise.  On  this  subject  our  farmers  need  much  light, 
which  they  should  obtain  by  reading  and  experiment. 

There  is  another  lai-ge  loss  the  farmer  is  subject  to  from  the  planting  of  a 
particular  crop  on  the  wrong  soil.  A  particular  crop  planted  in  a  particular 
location  would  prove  a  dead  loss ;  while,  by  planting  it  elsewhere,  it  might 
drove  a  source  of  profit.  Good  cultivation  will,  generally,  do  much  to  insure 
a  good  crop.  One  acre,  well  cultivated,  will  be  of  as  much  actual  profit  as 
three,  poorly  done.  It  costs  no  more  to  cultivate  one  acre  for  a  full  crop 
than  it  does  for  a  half  a  crop — the  acre  proving  a  profit,  and  three  a  loss  ; 
while,  by  a  good  cultivation,  the  value  of  the  one  acre  is  increased,  and,  by 
the  poor  cultivation,  the  value  of  the  three  is  diminished. 

We  would  not  be  understood  to  discountenance  the  purchasing  of  highly 
concentrated  fertilizers.  On  the  application  of  these,  at  present,  our  farmers 
need  much  light.  But  we  would  be  understood  that  we  do  not  make  use  of 
one-half  the  means  within  cur  reach  for  the  improvement  of  our  farms  and 
crops,  and  have,  therefore,  no  reason  to  find  fault,  or  be  disappointed,  if  such 
farming  is  not  found  profitable.  D.  L.  Harvey. 


Dock  Railway,  Liverpool. — At  the  last  meeting  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion, there  was  exhibited  a  large  model  of  a  high  level  railway,  which  it  is 
proposed  to  carry  along  the  east  side  of  the  whole  line  of  docks  at  Liverpool. 
The  construction  will  consist  of  iron  frame-work  supporting  two  platforms. 
The  lower  Avill  be  about  52  feet  wide  and  20  feet  above  the  present  quays, 
designed  entirely  for  goods  traffic,  having  four  lines  of  railway — the  two 
nearest  the  docks  to  be  used  as  sidings  for  trucks  while  loading  and  unload- 
ing, and  the  other  two  as  up  and  down  lines  for  trucks  in  motion.  The  upper 
platform  is  to  be  about  23  feet  wide,  and  to  have  two  lines  of  railway, 
intended  for  passengers  only.  The  lower  platform  will  be  provided  with 
hydraulic  cranes,  which  will  transfer  goods  either  from  or  to  the  vessels  or 
the  trucks,  as  well  as  work  through  the  hatchways  in  the  platform  to  the 
quays.  The  scheme  embraces  the  construction  of  deposit  and  transit-sheds, 
a  connection  with  existing  or  future  railways,  and  with  private  warehouses, 
and  the  erection  of  passenger-stations.  The  great  thoroughfares  will  be 
crossed  by  bridges,  and  the  line  will  be  equally  applicable  for  horses  or  loco- 
motive power.  The  cost  is  estimated  at  less  than  £250,000  a  mile.  This 
includes  hydraulic  cranes  and  platforms,  with  stationary  steam  power  to  work 
them.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  calculated  that  the  value  of  the  quay  space 
gained  by  the  platforms  of  the  railway,  at  the  low  rate  of  £5  a  yard,  will 
yield  a  return  of  about  £210,000  a  mile,  not  much  below  the  estimated 
expenditure. 


THE   CULTURE   OF   THE   ROSE.  635 


HORTICULTURAL. 

FOR   THE   PLOUGH,  THE    LOOM,  AND   THE   AKVIL. 

THE       CULTURE       OF       THE       ROSE. 

The  Rose,  on  account  of  its  exquisite  sweetness  and  surpassing  beauty,  is 
often  termed  "  The  Queen  of  Flowers."  Although  there  are  some  flowers 
which  may  have  a  more  gaudy  appearance  ;  yet  there  is  none  which  pos- 
sesses so  many  excellent  qualities  as  the  Rose,  and  none  so  universally  ad- 
mired, or  so  generally  cultivated.  It  is  the  universal  favorite.  No  flov^er, 
either,  is  of  more  easy  cultivation,  particularly  in  the  Middle,  Western,  and 
Southern  States. 

We  can  scarcely  pass  a  house,  however  humble,  without  seeing  one  or 
more  of  the  family  Rose,  within  the  garden  or  about  the  door.  These,  dur- 
ing the  months  of  May  and  June,  give  a  cheerful  and  an  enlivening  appear- 
ance to  every  thing  around,  and  are  calculated  to  drive  dull  melancholy  from 
the  most  phlegmatic. 

But  why  should  the  pleasure  thus  afforded  be  confined  to  the  short  season 
of  a  month  or  two,  when  it  might,  with  little  trouble  or  expense,  be  extended 
through  eight  or  nine  months  in  the  year  ?  In  this  respect,  the  Rose  sur- 
passes every  other  flower  which  can  be  grown  in  the  open  air.  There  are 
many  varieties  of  this  beautiful  flower,  which,  under  proper  cultivation,  will 
bloom  profusely  from  early  spring  until  late  autumn.  And  who  that  has  a 
taste  for  the  sweet  and  the  beautiful,  would  willingly  forego  this  luxury  of 
nature  ?  This  would  argue,  not  only  a  want  of  refinement,  but  a  want  of 
taste  for  Nature's  works. 

Many  persons,  no  doubt,  are  deterred  from  the  cultivation  of  fine  roses, 
from  an  apprehension  that  they  are  too  tender  for  the  climate,  and  require 
more  attention  than  they  are  willing  to  bestow  upon  them.  But  this  is  en- 
tirely a  mistake.  The  rose  is  much  more  hardy  than  many  persons  suppose. 
It  will  stand  the  winters  of  the  Middle  and  Western  States,  uninjured,  almost 
without  protection.  But  as  our  winters  are  sometimes  pretty  severe,  it  is  best 
to  guard  against  this  contingency  by  throwing  around  the  root  of  the  rose  a 
little  protection  ;  and  this  will  require  not  more  than  one  minute's  labor  to 
the  plant.  I  have  found  that  to  draw  up  the  earth  a  few  inches — say  from 
four  to  six — around  the  root  of  the  rose,  is  quite  sufficient.  Indeed,  this  is  a 
better  security  than  wrapping  it  up,  and  keeping  it  warm  by  putting  manure 
around  it.  This  keeps  it  too  warm,  and  causes  it  to  throw  up  tender  shoots 
beneath  the  protection,  Avhich  never  fail  to  be  killed  when  exposed  to  the  air. 
There  is  more  danger  of  killing  roses  by  keeping  them  too  warm  than  too 
cold  during  winter.  They  should  be  kept  sufliciently  cool  to  prevent  them 
from  vegetating  until  the  frost  is  entirely  over,  and  there  is  no  danger.  It  is 
true,  the  tops  may  be  killed,  but  this  is  no  serious  disadvantage.  A  rose 
must  always  put  out  a  new  growth  before  it  blooms,  even  if  the  last  year's 
wood  should  not  be  killed ;  and  when  the  plant  is  killed  down  by  the  frost, 
Oft  cut  with  a  knife,  it  will  throw  up  more  vigorous  shoots,  and  grow  better, 
and  bloom  prettier,  than  if  the  old  wood  should  remain  untouched,  either  by 
the  frost  or  the  knife.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that,  because  the  rose 
has  been  bitten  down  by  the  frost,  that  it  is  killed,  or  even  injured.  Protect 
the  root,  and  what  is  called  the  neck,  or  collar  of  the  plant,  and  there  is  no 
danger.     I  have  had,  growing  in  my  garden,  in  the  open  ground,  for  several 


536  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE  ROSE. 

years,  all  the  varieties  of  the  ever-blooining  rose,  such  as  the  Tea,  Bengal, 
Noisette,  and  Bourbon,  and  have  never  lost  one  by  the  cold  weather,  when 
protected  as  I  have  described. 

A  good  deal  has  been  said  on  the  different  methods  of  propagating  the 
rose — whether  it  should  be  on  its  own  roots,  or  on  a  foreign  stock.  Each 
method,  no  doubt,  has  its  advantages  and  disadvantages.  Some  will  do  best 
■when  budded  on  a  good  thrifty  stock  ;  others,  perhaps,  will  succeed  better 
on  their  own  roots.  There  is  a  very  general  prejudice  existing  against  budding 
roses.  There  are  two  objections  urged  against  it.  One  is,  that  the  bud  is 
often  inserted  so  high  up  on  the  stock  that  it  cannot  be  protected,  and  con- 
sequently is  killed  by  the  frost.  There  is  great  weight  in  this  objection,  and 
I  would  advise  my  friends  never  to  purchase  a  rose  that  has  been  budded 
some  distance  above  the  ground,  particularly  if  it  belongs  to  any  of  the  ten- 
der families.  A  rose  should  always  be  budded  as  near  to  the  surface  of  the 
ground  as  possible  ;  and  then,  when  transplanted,  the  point  of  inoculation 
should  be  placed  a  little  below  the  surface,  and  this  point  being  protected 
during  the  winter,  there  is  not  the  least  danger  of  its  being  killed.  Sorae- 
times,  when  planted  in  this  way,  roots  will  strike  out  from  the  bud,  and  then 
it  will  have  a  double  advantage. 

Another  objection  to  budded  roses  is,  that  the  stocks  are  apt  to  throw  up 
suckers,  which  not  only  prove  troublesome,  but  often  draw  the  nourishment 
from  the  rose.  This,  it  is  admitted,  is  sometimes  the  case ;  but  it  is  very- 
easy  to  distinguish  between  the  two,  and  the  suckers  should  always  be 
removed  as  soon  as  they  make  their  appearance. 

I  have  had  considerable  experience  on  this  subject,  and  can  say,  that  in 
many  respects  I  prefer  a  rose  budded  on  a  hardy,  strong-growing  stock.  It 
is  hardier,  more  thrifty,  and  blooms  better.  I  have  frequently  lost  roses  in 
the  winter  when  on  their  own  roots,  although  protected ;  but  never  when 
budded.  The  reason  is  obvious :  for  when  the  top  of  a  rose  is  tender,  the 
rest  is  so  too,  in  the  same  proportion ;  and  when  a  tender  rose  is  on  its  own 
roots,  and  the  top  should  be  killed,  the  root  is  very  apt  to  be  killed  also. 
But  I  find  the  prejudice  against  budded  roses  is  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  minds 
of  some  people  that  no  reasoning  will  remove  it;  and  the  old  adage  is 
verified, 

"Convince  a  man  against  hia  will, 
He's  of  the  same  opinion  still." 

Well,  I  suppose  we  must  use  another  old  adage,  and  say, 

"What  can't  be  cured 
Must  be  endured." 

I  have  sometimes  been  amused  at  persons  when  they  would  come  into  my 
garden  ;  they  would  exclaim,  "  0,  what  pretty  roses !"  and  earnestly  inquire, 
"  Why  is  it  that  your  roses  bloom  so  much  better  than  mine  ?"  "  0,"  I  would 
answer,  "it  is  because  mine  are  budded.''''  I  would  then  give  my  reasons  for 
believing  a  budded  rose  was  better  than  one  on  its  own  roots  ;  and  although 
they  seemed  to  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  what  I  said,  yet,  when  asked 
which  they  would  prefer,  "O,"  they  would  say,  "  they  never  intended  to  have 
a  budded  rose !"     Thus  you  see  it  is  of  no  use  to  reason  with  some  persons. 

The  rose  requires  a  strong,  rich  soil  to  bring  it  to  perfection.  If  it  is  not 
naturally  rich,  it  must  be  made  so.  I  have  found  that  alluvial  soil,  with  a 
portion  of  sand,  is  well  adapted  to  the  growth  of  the  rose;  so  also  is  well 
rotted  chip  manure,  leaf  mould,  or  rich  virgin  soil  from  the  woods.  It  is  of 
service  to  take  up  a  rose  every  three  or  four  years,  and  transplant  it,  trimming 
the  roots,  and  renewing  the  soil  about  it.   This  seems  to  give  it  new  life  and 


THE  GROUPING  OF   ROSES.  537 

vigor.  The  surface  around  should  be  kept  loose,  and  clear  of  weeds.  I  have 
also  found  that  mulching  is  of  great  service,  particularly  in  summer.  It  pre- 
vents the  too  rapid  evaporation  of  the  moisture,  and  keeps  the  ground  in 
good  condition  around  it. 

Roses  should  be  kept  well  pruned.  All  the  dead  and  sickly-looking 
branches  should  be  removed,  and  a  proper  shape  given  to  the  plant.  This 
not  only  improves  it  in  appearance,  but  makes  it  more  thrifty,  and  increases 
its  blooming  qualities. 

Nothing  has  a  more  beautiful  appearance  than  a  garden  with  roses  of 
different  hues  richly  arranged  in  it.  It  seems  to  impart  a  cheerfulness  to 
everything  around  it.  A  garden  is  a  pretty  good  index  of  the  character  of 
the  inmates  of  a  dwelling;  and  I  have  often  thought  that  I  could  determine, 
with  a  good  deal  of  accuracy,  respecting  the  industry,  good  taste,  and  refine- 
ment of  a  family,  by  taking  a  peep  at  the  garden  as  I  passed  by  their  house. 
It  requires  but  little  time  or  trouble  to  plant  a  few  trees  in  a  yard,  or  a  few 
flowers  in  a  garden,  and  the  pleasure  thus  afforded  will  more  than  balance 
the  trouble  and  expense  of  doing  it.  Besides,  this  greatly  increases  the  in- 
trinsic value  of  a  place,  and  if  a  man  wished  to  sell,  he  might  expect  to  get 
more  for  a  place  thus  improved  and  ornamented,  than  he  could  get  if  there 
were  no  such  improvements. 

A  taste  for  these  things  should  be  encouraged  in  children — particularly  in 
females.  The  cultivation  of  flowers  is  particularly  adapted  to  young  ladies. 
Indeed,  I  have  thought  that  a  female  without  a  taste  for  the  beauties  of 
Nature,  was  destitute  of  at  least  one  distinguishing  trait  of  female  character. 

To  cultivate  flowers  is  not  only  a  pleasing  employment,  but  it  conduces 
greatly  to  health.  We  know  that  a  beautiful  garden  will  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  females,  and  bring  them  out  to  the  open  air  when  they  could  not  be 
induced  to  leave  their  room  were  there  no  such  attraction. 

J.  R.  B. 
Rosemont,  near  Nashville,  Term. 


THE       GROUPING       OF       ROSES. 

[We  find  in  the  Courier,  published  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  the  following  advice 
in  reference  to  the  grouping  of  this  splendid  variety  of  plants  in  the  embel- 
lishment of  grounds.  We  are  not  familiar  with  all  these  varieties,  but  we 
know  many  of  them  to  be  as  described,  and  we  give  the  entire  article  a  place 
in  our  journal,  as  the  opinion  of  a  professed  florist,  who  appears  to  under- 
stand what  he  writes  about. — Eds.  P.  L.  &  A.] 

In  our  paper  of  Saturday,  we  endeavored  to  point  out  the  rewards  that 
may  be  gained  by  a  proper  grouping  of  roses,  and  we  promised  to  give  some 
aid  towards  this  enjoyment  by  giving  a  list  of  such  roses  as  may  be  relied 
upon  for  this  object.  Those  who  carefully  study  the  whole  subject  may  give 
an  infinite  variety  of  efi'ects  by  a  judicious  grouping.  But  we  proceed  to  the 
names  and  characters  of  roses  for  the  purpose  we  have  indicated  : 

We  begin  with  the  Remontants  or  hybrid  perpetual  Hoses.  These  should 
be  the  favorite  of  the  garden.  They  grow  luxuriantly,  bloom  freely  through 
the  season,  have  a  variety  of  colors  and  a  delightful  fragrance.  Among  the 
preferable  ones  of  this  class,  we  rank  the  following: 

Baronne  Prevost — Bright  red,  and  very  large. 


538  THE   GROUPING   OF  ROSES. 

Cornet — Bright  rose  color,  with  odor  of  the  Cabbage  Rose. 

Duchess  of  Sutherland — Light  pink  color,  and  ranked  by  the  rose  fanciers 
of  France  as  among  the  first. 

Geant  des  Batailles — Brilliant  crimson,  superb  in  size  and  appearance,  and 
deemed  nearly  perfect  by  rose  fanciers. 

Jacques  Lafitte — Deep  brilliant  rose  color,  and  a  splendid  flower. 

La  jReine — Brilliant  glossy  rose,  large  and  superb.  This  is  a  prime  favor- 
ite with  rose  cultivators. 

Madame  Laffoy — Dark  crimson,  very  brilliant,  large  and  splendid. 

Marquise  Bocella — Pale  blush,  dwarf. 

Mrs.  Elliott — Bright  lilac,  crimson. 

Prince  Albert — Rich  velvetty  crimson,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the 
whole  family  of  perpetuals.  We  have  never  seen  any  Remontant  rose  that 
we  preferred  to  this.  We  are  glad  to  see  that  it  is  becoming  a  denizen  of 
Cave  Hill  Cemetery.     It  will  be  a  beautiful  gem  in  that  city  of  the  dead. 

Rivers''  Perpetual — Is  another  great  favorite  of  those  who  know  the  merits 
of  the  Remontant  roses.  Its  colors  are  very  rich,  and  it  is  quite  a  prolific 
bloomer. 

Sidonie — A  brilliant  rose  color,  very  perfect. 

William  Jesse — Light  crimson,  lilac  tinge,  large  and  very  beautiful. 

The  name  Remontant,  meaning  to  grow  again,  indicates  the  character  of 
this  variety.  A  succession  of  blooming  periods  may  be  looked  for  from  the 
Remontants.  The  perfection  of  the  foliage,  variety  in  the  colors  of  the  petals, 
in  the  shape  and  size  of  the  flowers,  and  the  delightful  fragrance  of  the  Re- 
montants have  made  them  welcome  guests  in  every  flower  garden. 

Bourbon  Roses. — The  Bourbon  Roses  are  well  called  ever-blooming  plants. 
They  richly  reward  the  cultivator.     We  name  a  few  choice  specimens  : 

Leveson  Goioer — This  is  esteemed  equal  to  any  of  the  Rose  family.  It  is 
very  large  and  double,  and  of  a  deep  rose  color.  It  is  equal  in  form  to  the 
Souvenir  de  Malmaison,  and  that  is  merit  enough. 

Hermosa — This  is  an  old  variety,  but  none  of  the  new  favorites  have  been 
able  to  displace  it.  The  flower  is  cupped,  very  double  and  perfect,  and  the 
plant  is  one  of  the  most  prolific  of  bloomers  ;  color,  a  very  delicate  rose. 

Queen  of  the  Bourbons — The  most  indifferent  person  could  not  pass  this 
plant  in  bloom  without  pausing  to  do  homage  to  its  beauty.  The  flower  is 
a  delicate  fawn  color,  cupped  beautifully,  very  fragrant,  large,  and  its  rich 
glossy  appearance  makes  it  resemble  wax-work.  No  group  of  roses  can  be 
complete  without  it. 

Souvenir  de  Malmaison — We  are  sure  that  no  one  who  has  properly  cul- 
tivated this  rose  ever  hesitated  in  putting  it  at  the  very  head  of  all  roses.  It 
is  perfect.  The  foliage  is  unsurpassed  in  richness,  the  flowers  cupped,  perfect 
in  form,  very  double,  with  thick  velvety  petals.  The  flower  is  the  largest  of 
all  the  roses,  but  its  petals  are  compact  and  shingled  with  perfect  regularity. 
The  flowers  are  often  from  four  to  five  inches  in  diameter,  and  their  color  is 
an  exceedingly  delicate  blush,  tinged  with  cream.  It  is  one  of  the  most  pro- 
lific of  bloomers,  one  of  the  earliest  in  the  spring,  and  one  of  the  last  of  the 
autumnal  bloomers.  This  is  a  deserved  favorite  in  Cave  Hill  Cemetery,  and 
it  flourishes  there  in  all  its  perfection. 

Raymond — A  deep  pink,  tinged  with  purple. 

Emile  Courtier — Four  cupped,  double  and  perfect,  and  color  a  deep  rose. 

Enfant  d''  Ajaccio — A  rapid  grower,  making  shoots  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
feet  in  length.  Flower  double-cupped,  very  fragrant,  and  a  brilliant  scarlet 
crimson. 


THE   GROUPING   OF   ROSES.  539 

The  Bourbon  roses  properly  grouped  witli  the  Remontant  family,  and  well 
cultivated,  would  be  the  pride  and  glory  of  any  grounds,  and  we  hope  to  see 
Louisville  extensively  ornamented  in  this  way.  But  the  means  of  grouping 
are  not  yet  complete. 

The  China  or  Tea  Roses  are  essential  to  a  tasteful  grouping  of  the  plants. 
These,  like  the  Remontants  and  Bourbons,  have  perfections  of  their  own. 
We  name  such  as  will  aid  in  making  charming  groups.  They  are  peculiarly 
adapted  to  bedding  out  upon  a  lawn,  but  also  make  rich  pillar  roses.  An 
Englishman,  living  in  Rome,  made  a  number  of  rose  arcades,  called  Per- 
goles,  which  he  ornamented  with  the  China  rose.  Andot,  who  was  entranced 
with  the  splendor  of  the  beauty,  says  :  "  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  a  more 
splendid  bloom  than  that  of  these  roses  trained  upon  pergoles  so  graceful. 
The  foliage  was  hidden  under  the  gorgeous  drapery  of  the  glittering  roses." 

The  China  roses  should  be  kept  free  from  weeds,  and  young  shoots  should 
be  kept  pegged  down,  in  order  to  make  masses  of  foliage  and  bloom  of 
every  variety  of  tint.  Parsons,  in  his  great  work  on  the  Rose,  speaks  cora- 
mendingly  of  the  adaptation  of  the  China  rose  to  the  terraces  of  grounds. 
The  slopes  should  be  planted  with  dwarf  China  roses,  the  shoots  of  which 
should  be  pegged  down.  A  magnificent  mass  of  brilliant  and  various  bloom 
will  reward  the  labor.     But  to  the  varieties. 

Adam — Flowert  cupped,  double,  very  large,  and  perfect  in  form ;  color, 
rich  glossy  rose. 

Agrippena  de  Cramoise — One  of  the  oldest,  but  the  principal  favorite  of 
this  class.  It  is  beautifully  formed,  and  its  rich  crimson  color  is  unsurpassed. 
It  is  hardy,  and  a  prolific  bloomer. 

Devoniensis — A  beautiful  flower  of  immense  size ;  color,  a  fine  creamy 
white.  The  flower  bud  is  the  most  beautiful  of  all  with  which  we  have  any 
acquaintance.     The  odor  is  very  rich. 

La  Sylphida — A  pale  yellow,  and  very  beautiful. 

Barbat — Fawn  colored  flower,  and  superb. 

Niphetoes — Large  pure  white,  very  splendid. 

La  Pactole — Form  of  flower,  cu2)ped  ;  color,  pale  sulphur ;  centre,  deep 
lemon  yellow.     An  abundant  bloomer,  and  quite  hardy. 

Saffrano — The  half  opened  bud  is  one  of  the  gems  of  floral  beauty.  It 
is  a  rich  fawn  color.    Of  all  the  fawn  colored  roses  this  is  the  most  beautiful. 

Souvenir  d^n  Ami  is  ranked  by  rose  fanciers  as  the  queen  of  tea-scented 
roses.  It  blooms  freely,  and  its  large  imbricated  flowers  resemble  those  of 
the  ^falmaison  ;  color,  a  delicate  crimson,  shaded  delicately  with  rose  tints. 

Triumphe  de  Luxembourg — An  old  but  still  a  favorite  variety.  The  plant 
is  of  luxuriant  growth,  the  flowers  of  immense  size,  rose  and  buff"  color,  and 
very  fragrant. 

Noisette,  or  Climbing  Roses. — Ami  Vibert — A  small  fragrant,  perfectly 
double,  pure  white  flower. 

Belle — White,  with  rosy  centre. 

Fellenberg — Very  prolific,  bright  crimson  flowers. 

Jaune  Desprcz — Bright  fawn  color,  and  one  of  the  most  fragrant  of  all 
the  tea  or  Bengal  roses. 

Ophire — Bright  salmon  and  fawn  colored  flowers  ;  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful of  its  class. 

Monstreuse — A  fine  blush,  and  a  capital  rose  for  pillars. 

He  that  may  study  and  cultivate  these  varieties  will  obtain  rewards  and 
gratifications  from  which  he  will  not  be  willing  to  part.  And  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  a  perfect  feast  of  rose  pleasures  cannot  be  enjoyed  without 
having  members  of  the  four  classes  we  have  described  to-day. 


640  THE   TRANSFER   OF   BEES. 


»  THE    TRANSFER    OF    BEES. 

Mr.  Eddy  gives  the  following  information,  with  directions,  in  tlie  Puritan 
Eecorder,  in  reference  to  this  subject.  We  think  he  understands  the  busi- 
ness as  well  as  anj'^  man  : 

"The  reasons  for  a  transfer  are: — 1.  The  leaky  condition  of  the  hive;  2. 
The  bad  condition  of  the  comb.  3.  The  presence  of  the  Bee-Moth.  When 
a  transfer  becomes  necessary,  and  is  decided  upon,  the  method  of  performing 
the  operation  is  as  follows  : — 1.  Close  the  Bee  entrance  with  cotton  batting; 
2.  Nail  a  thin  piece  of  board  over  the  same  ;  3.  Slide  a  zinc  plate,  or  its  equiv- 
alent, between  the  bottom  board  and  the  base  of  the  hive ;  4.  Invert  the  hive 
with  the  bottom  board  held  in  place;  5.  Remove  the  bottom  board  ;  6.  Set 
the  new  hive  upon  the  zinc  plate ;  7.  Adjust  the  hives  so  that  no  Bees  can  es- 
cape when  the  zinc  plate  is  removed  ;  8.  Withdraw  the  zinc  plate ;  9.  Rap 
smartly  upon  every  side  of  the  hive,  for  twenty  or  thirty  minutes,  until  the 
Bees  are  thoroughly  routed,  and  nearly  all  of  them  have  ascended  into  the 
new  hive;  10.  Slide  the  zinc  plate  between  the  two  hives;  11.  Set  the  new 
hive  precisely  in  the  place  of  the  old  one;  12.  Remove  the  zinc  plate  upon 
which  the  new  hive  stands. 

The  operation  is  now  complete,  with  the  exception  of  a  very  few  Bees 
which  remain  in  the  old  hive.  These  are  now  to  be  drummed  out,  at  a  short 
distance  in  front  of  the  new  hive,  and  they  will  return  to  the  familiar  spot. 
I  choose  to  perform  the  operation  in  the  after-part  of  the  day.  Care  should 
be  taken  that  the  Bees  which  are  to  be  transferred,  should  occupy  a  stand  by 
themselves.  This  is  a  matter  to  be  attended  to  early  in  Spring.  One  prime 
object  of  the  transfer  is  to  get  rid  of  the  black  comb  which  is  no  longer  suit- 
able for  use.  Of  course  I  do  not  transfer  this  comb  to  the  new  hive.  I  lose, 
and  expect  to  lose,  the  young  which  are  found  in  the  brood  comb,  at  the 
time  the  transfer  is  made.  For  this  loss,  I  receive  more  than  an  equivalent 
in  the  new  circumstances  of  prosperity  in  which  the  colony  is  placed.  The 
transfer  should  usually  be  made  in  the  month  of  June.  I  prefer  about  the 
middle  of  the  month.  If  it  is  done  later  than  this,  suflBcient  winter  stores 
may  not  be  secured.  For  further  particulars,  relative  to  Bee  management,  I 
would  refer  your  readers  to  my  book  on  "  I3ee  Culture ;"  a  copy  of  which 
will  be  sent  to  individuals,  free  from  postage,  who  may  forward  to  my  address 
nine  letter  stamps." 


New  Mordant  in  Dyeing. — A  Swede  named  Rydin,  has  published  a 
method  of  obtaining  a  fine  blue,  of  excellent  tint,  for  cotton,  by  employing  as 
a  mordant  the  oxyd  of  chromium,  dissolved  in  an  acid;  in  place  of  this 
oxide,  a  double  salt  may  be  used,  such  as  the  double  sulphate  of  chromium 
and  potash.  This  salt  is  obtained  by  mixing  one  part  of  a  solution  of  bichro- 
mate of  potash,  and  one  part  and  a  half,  or  two  parts,  of  sulphuric  acid. 
Alcohol,  sugar,  or  any  other  substance  capable  of  converting  the  chromic  acid 
into  an  oxyd  of  chromium,  may  be  added.  The  oxyd  is  added  to  a  decoc- 
tion of  logwood,  and  the  dyeing  maybe  effected  in  one  operation,  by  putting 
together  the  salt,  the  decoction,  and  the  cotton,  and  heating  the  whole.  Or 
the  cotton  can  be  treated  with  the  salt,  hot  or  cold,  and  may  then  be  placed 
in  the  decoction  until  the  desired  color  is  obtained.  By  varying  the  propor- 
tions of  the  salt  to  the  decoction,  very  delicate  shades  of  gray  and  lilac  may 
be  obtained. 


HORN   AIL.  541 


THEHORNAIL. 

The  notion  that  this  was  a  specific  disease  has  long  been  denied  by  skill- 
ful surgeons  and  doctors.  The  opinions  now  prevalent,  which  are  deemed 
worthy  of  confidence,  are  well  given  by  Dr  Dadd,  in  his  remarks  at  a  late 
legislative  agricultural  meeting  in  Boston.  He  remarked,  that  Veterinary 
science  had  been  too  long  neglected  in  this  country.  He  commenced  prac- 
ticing the  Veterinary  art  some  twelve  years  ago  in  this  city.  There  were 
many  who  pretended  to  prescribe  for  diseases  of  animals,  without  knowing 
anything  about  them,  and  would  commence  some  very  funny  operations. 

They  would  examine  the  horns,  and  would  sometimes  bore  into  them,  and, 
perhaps,  let  out  a  little  pus,  if  they  found  the  horn  cold. 

He  considered,  however,  that  heat  or  cold  on  the  surface  were  only  symp- 
toms. If  the  surface  was  hot,  the  circulation  of  the  system  was  active  ;  if 
cold,  the  reverse  was  true. 

There  was  communication  from  the  horn  to  the  nares,  or  nostril,  and  any 
pus  in  the  horn  would,  of  course,  run  down  through  the  nostril  instead  of 
upwards  into  the  horns  ! 

Sometimes  this  might  become  tenacious,  so  as  to  stop  the  passage.  Then 
it  was  requisite  to  steam  the  nostril  to  make  it  run  down.  By  penetrating 
the  living  membrane,  or  by  admitting  the  atmospheric  air  by  boring,  inflam- 
mation was  apt  to  ensue. 

He  maintained  there  was  no  such  disease  as  "  horn  ail."  Has  examined 
animals  said  to  die  of  horn  ail.  Has  found  a  softening  of  the  brain.  And 
this  arises  often  from  an  improper  condition  of  the  stomach.  Many  diseases 
of  the  brain  originate  in  the  stomach. 

He  has  some  fine  anatomical  preparations  of  horns  which  he  invites  people 
to  examine.  There  is  a  perfect  channel  to  the  tip  of  every  horn.  There  are 
longitudinal  divisions  of  the  horn,  and  if,  in  boring,  the  gimlet  hits  one  of 
the  partitions,  it  appears  to  be  solid.  If  it  chances  to  go  between  two  of  these 
partitions,  it  would  appear  to  be  hollow. 

The  cold  horn  is  really  only  a  circumstance  indicative  of  the  state  of  cir- 
culation in  the  system. 

He  was  called  to  see  a  cow  that  had  been  driven  ninety  miles.  Some  of 
the  neighbors  guessed  she  was  constipated,  and  gave  her  a  poimd  of  salt  per 
day  for  three  days  in  succession.  No  eflfect  was  produced,  and  another  ad- 
vised thirty-six  drops  of  Croton  oil.  A  third  caused  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of 
gunpowder  to  be  given.  If  some  matches  had  been  given  with  the  gun- 
powder it  might  have  been  heard  from  1 
^  He  found  the  cow  groaning,  and  recommended  ending  her  misery  at  once 
by  killing.  This  the  owner  would  not  do.  The  cow  died  in  a  few  hours, 
and  he  found  all  these  nostrums  in  her  paunch. 

Now  if  medicine  be  turned  down  a  cow's  throat  very  slowly,  almost  im- 
perceptibly, the  animal  has  the  power  to  send  it,  and  will  send  it,  to  the  real 
digesting  stomach.  It  must  be  poured  very  slowly  to  get  to  this  second 
stomach,  otherwise  it  goes  into  the  paunch  where  it  can  do  no  good.  The 
stomach  of  the  horse  is  quite  dififerent. 

It  requires  skill  and  science  to  prescribe  properly  for  a  dog  or  a  horse  as 
well  as  for  a  man. 

Many  die  of  flatulent  and  spasmodic  cholic.  The  intestines  appear  as  if 
knotted  up.  Without  knowledge  this  cannot  be  cured.  The  seat  of  the 
disease  is  in  the  nervous  system.     There  are  two  sets  of  fibres  in  the  intestine. 


542  CHLOROFORM  FOR  ANIMALS. 

the  lorgitudinal  and  the  circular.  The  contraction  of  these  makes  a  me- 
chanical obstruction,  presenting  this  knotted  appearance,  and  leaving  the  pas- 
sage hardly  as  large  as  a  goose-quill. 

He  contends  that  animals  perspire  as  we  do — that  a  great  deal  of  matter 
passes  off  by  the  "insensible  perspiration."  Hence  we  should  rub  them  to 
promote  circulation  on  the  surface  and  prevent  congestion. 

Kindness  to  cows  is  requisite.  They  do  not  return  all  the  food  from  the 
ruminating  stomach ;  only  the  coarser  parts. 

The  Alderneys  are  very  nervous.  It  annoys  and  injures  them,  especially, 
to  be  ill-treated.     Indigestion  is  the  result. 


BARBADOES  TAR  FOR  HORSES. 

FOR  THE  PLOUGH,  THE   LOOM,  AND  THE  ANVIL, 

Messrs.  Editors  :  When  I  first  tried  my  luck  as  a  physician,  I  had  in 
my  possession  a  gallipot  of  Barbadoes  tar,  which  I  had  purchased  of  the  ex- 
ecutors of  a  deceased  physician.  They  did  not  kuow  what  the  article  was, 
and  I  kept  it  a  long  time  before  I  knew.  The  first  use  I  made  of  it,  was  to 
apply  it  to  my  horse's  tail,  after  pricking ;  it  relieved  the  soreness  to  the  ex- 
tent, the  tail  might  be  turned  over  the  back,  and  the  horse  would  not  move, 
which  was  an  indication  that  the  movement  of  the  tail  was  not  painful. 

It  may  not  be  known  to  every  one,  that  Barbadoes  tar,  or  rack  oil,  is  the 
principal  ingredient  in  British  oil,  and  oil  spike.  The  oil  from  Seneca 
Lake,  N.  Y.,  is  an  inferior  article.  In  preparing  this  ingredient  for  use,  I 
melt  the  tar  with  an  equal  quantity  of  lard,  mixed  well. 

Any  person  who  will  make  a  trial  of  the  above,  will  derive  a  benefit.  The 
flesh  of  the  horse  is  of  a  dry,  inflammatory  nature,  and  it  is  difficult  to  pro- 
mote a  discharge  of  pus ;  and  this  article  will  promote  this  discharge  more 
eflectually  than  any  other  article  known  to  me.  When  this  point  is  attained, 
the  inflammation  will  cease,  and  the  cure  is  much  facilitated. 

A.    HUNTON. 

Hyde  Park,  Vt,  Feb.  11,  1855. 


CHLOROFORM    FOR    ANIMALS. 

Dr.  Jacksox,  of  Boston,  the  first  discoverer  of  the  value  of  ether  in  sur- 
gical operations,  commends  the  use  of  a  mixture  of  ether  and  chloroform  in 
operations  on  domestic  animals.  This  mixture  may  be  conveniently  inhaled 
by  the  animal,  by  wetting  a  sponge  with  it,  and  placing  it  on  a  basket  or 
muzzle,  to  be  attached  to  the  head,  in  the  same  manner  as  teamsters  often 
feed  their  horses  with  provender.  The  sponge  should  first  be  saturated  with 
water,  squeezed  dry,  and  then  the  mixture,  one  part  of  chloroform,  and  four 
parts  of  ether,  mixed  in  a  bottle,  may  be  poured  upon  the  sponge  as  required, 
supplying  it  anew  as  it  evaporates. 

This  mixture  Dr.  J.  regards  as  a  safer  application  than  ether  alone.  He 
has  never  known  a  fatal  accident  from  its  use,  where  it  was  inhaled  in  con- 
nection with  atmospheric  air.  The  latter  is  necessary  in  inspiration  to  sus- 
tain the  functions  of  life.  Animals  which  perspire  freely  will  bear  strong 
doses,  while  it  should  be  given  very  cautiously  to  cats,  dogs,  etc.  The  Dr. 
commends  its  use  in  shoeing  refractory  horses. 


VALUABLE   STATISTICS. 


643 


VALUABLE      STATISTICS. 

We  select  the  following  useful  tables  from  the  volume  recently  prepared 
by  Mr.  De  Bow,  from  the  census  returns.  The  title  of  each  table  explains 
its  special  design.  We  shall  probably  have  occasion  to  refer  to  them  here- 
after. 

Land  actually  cultivated  m  the  several  Crops  of  the  U.  States,  1849-50. 


Products. 


Indian  Corn 

Meadow  or  pasture  lands — that  pro- 
portioQ  which  is  regarded  improv- 
ed, and  exelusiTe  of  Ilay  croj; 

Hay 

Wheat 

Oats 

Cotton 

Rye 

Peas  and  Beans 

Irish  Potatoes 

Sweet  Potatoes 

Buckwheat 


Acres. 


31,000,000 


20,000,000 

13,01)0  000 

11,000  000 

7,500,000 

5,000,OOU 

1,200,000 

1,000,001 

l,0OU,UOi 

750,000 

600,000 


Products. 


Tobacco 

Sugar 

Barley 

Rice 

Hemp 

Flax 

Orchards 

Gardens 

Vineyards 

Other  products 

Improved  but  not  in  actual  cuUiva'n 

Total  improved  lands 


Acres. 


400,000 
400,000 
30n,000 
175,000 
110,000 
100,000 
500,000 
500,000 
250,000 
1,000,000 
17,2i7,614 


113,032,614 


Imports  of  several  leading  articles  into  the  U.  States,  1821-1853. 


1821 
18-25 
1830 
1835 
1S40 
1845 
1850 
1851 
3S52 
1853 


Cotton 
manufac- 
tures. 


i7 ,589,711 
12,509,516 

7,81.2,326 
15,307,585 

6,504,484 
13,863,2S-.i 
211,103,719 
22,161,442 
19,689,496 
27,731,313 


Woollens. 


Linen 
manufac- 
tures. 


Silk  manu- 
factures. 


$7,437,737 
11,392,264 

5,766,39b 
17,834,424 

9,071,184 
10,666.176 
17,151,509 
19,507,309 
17,673,694 
27,621,911 


$2,564,159 
3,887,787 
3,011,280 
6,472,021 
4,614,466 
4,923,109 
8,134,674 
8,79i,742 
8,515,709 

10,236,037 


Coffee. 


.■§4,480,9241 

10,290,7431 

5.932,242 

16,677,547 

9,H35,7.J7 

9  928,411 

19,.596,858 

28,026,268 

23,6U9,279 

33,048,542 


Tea. 


ic      .        ji  Iron  and 
iSP-^if  ^'"^  steel  man- 
^'^"'°«-     ulactures. 


$4,489,970 
5,260,82^ 
4,227,021 
10.715,466 
8,546,222 
6,243,5;i2 
11,234,835 
12,851,070 
14,474,900 
15,564,590 


$3,553,895 
4,232,602 
4,630,922 
6,806,425 
5,;  8 1,428 
4,780,720 
7,5.58,554 
13  845,940 
14,718,359 
14,993,003 


51,322.6.36 
3,728.9.35 
2,425,018 
4,-522,806 
5,427,010 
5,761,788] 
4,719,232| 
4,798,005: 
7,285,817i 
8.224,853! 


$8,064,990 
0,1.50,765 
8,155,964 

13,131,44" 
8  882,813 
4,070,242 
4,028  972 
5,4.53,592 
5,505,044 
4,201,382 


$1,868,529 
3,706416 
3,655,848 
5,351,610 
3,184,900 
5077,788 
7,078,603 
8,182,438 
8,048,618 
7,838,791 


Exports  of  certain  leading  articles  from  the  U.  States,  1821-1853. 


«• 

1 

Beef  and 

Cotton. 

Tobacco. 

Specie. 

Rice. 

Flour. 

Fish        Man^'^c- 
*'^'^-           tures- 

Lumber. 

pork,   cat- 
tle &  hogs. 

1821 

$20157,484 
36,846.649 

$5,648,962 

$10478,059 

11.494,307 

«4,298,043 

$973,591 

«2,584,916 

$1,822,077 

$2,052,439 

1825 

6,115,6-23 

8,797,055 

1,925,245 

4,212,127 

1,078,773 

5,417,978 

1,988,2-20 

2,763,144 

183(1 

29,674,683 
64,961,302 

5,586,365 

2,178,773 

1,980,8-24 

6,085,953 

756,677 

5,320,980 

2,056,289 

2,032,928 

1835 

8,250,.577 

6,477,775 

2.210,331 

4,894,777 

1,008,534 

7,':94,07;) 

3,402,9-24 

2,415,493 

1840 

63,870,307 

9,883,957 

8,417,014 

1,942,076 

10.143.615 

720,164 

9,873,462 

2.926,846 

1845 

51,739  643 

7,469819 

8,606,495 

2,160,4.56 

5,39.8,593 

1,012,007 

10,329,701 

3,099,455 

4,918,093 

185(t 

71,984,616 

9,951,023 

7,522,994 

2,631,5.57 

7,098,57(1 

456,794 

9,99-2,-!  44 

4,493,658 

9.155,895 

1851 

1i2,:h15,317 

9,219,251 

29,472,752 

2,1709-27 

10.524,331 

481,66 

21,296,49b 

4,6H0,206 

6,057,973 

185'' 

87,955,73-2 

10,031,283 

42,674,115 

2,470,029 

11,869,143 

453,010 

19,987,430 

4,991,184 

5,265,699 

1853 

1,09456,404 

11,319,319 

27,486,875 

1,657,656 

14,783,394 

461,016 

22,721,660 

4,996,014 

8,416,878 

544 


BOUND-HOOFS. 


Commerce  of  (he  U.  States  loith  several  Foreign  JVations,  1790-1853, 


1790 

1795 
1800 
1805 
1810 
18-21 
1830 
18-10 
1850 
1853 


Great  BritaiB  and  de- 
pendencieB. 


Imports.     Exuorts, 


30,972,215 

4-2,577,590 


29,277.938 
26,804,984 
39,I30.9'2I 
85,117,477 
113,219,200 


9,246,5fi2 
9,218,540 
27.310,289 
2.5,047,3ri6 
10,555,488 
20,522,-272 
31,ij47,881 
70,420,846 
88,388,675 
145.553,624 


France  and  depen- 
dencies. 


Imports.     Exports, 


20.288. 
9,044, 


5  900 
8,240 
17,908. 
27,036, 
33,525 


West  Indies 
generally. 


Netherlands   and 
dependencies, 


Imps.  Exp'ts.    Imports.   Export.* 


4,668.902 
12,653.635'  85,186 

5,163  833,  26,937 
21. 072.7471 
137,630 

6.474.718 
11.806,238 
22,.349,154 
20,183,094 
27,044,479 


3.727 


9,417 


l,.543  348i  3,699,615 

115.631   7,132,6-2' 
.3496  947 

369,931 

560,513 

247,121 


PT,934 
98,125 


2,934.272 
1  3i6.765 
2.3-26  896 
2,732,561) 
2594,619 


47,240 
2,884,817 
5,669,016 
17,835,216 
174,078 
7.6,-8.336 
4,562,437 
4.540.085 
357 1.607 
2,979,332 


Hanse  Tovnis. 


Imports.  Exports 


1.663 
4,998 


990, 
1  873 
2,521, 

8,7h7, 
13,843 


1790 
1795 
1800 
1805 
1810 
1821 
1830 


Russia. 


China. 


Imports.  Exports.  Imports.  Exports 


1,168,715 
1,524,995 


1,852,199 

1.621,8991 
1840  2,.')72,427!l, 
1850]  1.51 1.5721 
18531,278,5012. 


66,221' 

71,372' 
975.698: 
628  894 
416,575 
,169,481 
861,941 
,456,653 


1,144, 
4,613, 


3,111 

3.878 
6,640 
6,593 
10,573 


1031,023,242 

463|l. 047,385 

322.075 

319.479 

4,290,560 

742,193 

1,009,968 

1,605.217 

3,736,892 


Spain  and  depen- 
dencies. 


Imports.   Exports 


3,942,445 
16,071,918 


9,653,728 
8.373,681 
14,019.647 
15,864,748 
26,030,320 


1,989. 
4,714. 

15.660. 

12,672, 

14,941. 
7,218 
6  049, 
7,017, 
9,931, 

11,847. 


Mexico. 


Imports.  Exports 


.,235,241 
,175,001 
',135,366 
1,167,9,-5 


4.a37,4,-8 
•2,515,.341 
2,0I2,R27 
3,558,824 


Colombia,  C.  Amer- 
ica, Brazil,  Argen- 
tine, Conf.  and  Chili. 


Imports.    Exports. 


5,528  856 
9,093,688 
16,553,496 
23,280,079 


4,756,347 

5,891,478 
8,12.i,H25 
8,577,131 


HOOF-BOUND. 

Dr.  Dadd  gives  the  following  directions  for  this  disease:  "In  all  cases, 
we  must  endeavor  to  give  the  frog  a  bearing  on  the  ground  ;  and,  in  order 
to  do  this,  the  shoe  ought  to  be  renooved.  A  dry,  brittle,  and  contracted 
hoof  may  be  improved  by  repeated  poulticing  with  soft-soap  and  rye-meal, 
applied  cold.  So  soon  as  the  hoof  softens,  let  it  be  dressed,  night  and  morn- 
ing, with  turpentine,  linseed  oil,  and  powdered  charcoal,  equal  parts.  Yet, 
after  all,  a  run  of  grass  in  a  soft  pasture,  the  animal  having  nothing  more 
than  tips  on  his  feet,  is  the  best  treatment,  A  very  popular  notion  exists, 
that  cow  manure  has  a  wonderful  effect  on  a  contracted  hoof;  but  it  is  the 
candid  opinion  of  the  author,  and  no  doubt  the  reader  will  coincide,  that  filth 
and  dirt  of  every  kind  are  unfavorable  to  healthy  action.  Such  a  remedy, 
aside  from  its  objection  on  the  score  of  decency,  savors  too  much  of  by-gone 
days,  when  live  eels  were  sent  on  an  errand  down  horses'  throats  to  unravel 
their  intestines.  If  any  benefit  belongs  to  such  an  objectionable  application, 
it  is  due  to  the  property  it  possesses  of  retaining  moisture  ;  therefore,  cold  poul- 
ti3e3  and  water  are  far  superior.  Clay  and  moist  earth,  placed  in  the  stall 
for  the  horse  to  stand  on,  are  far  inferior  to  stuffing  of  wet  oakum,  which  can 
be  removed  at  pleasure.  In  order  to  keep  it  in  contact  with  the  sole,  we  have 
only  to  insinuate  two  strips  of  wood  between  the  sole  and  shoe ;  one  running 
lengthwise  and  the  other  crosswise  of  the  foot.  It  affords  considerable  pres- 
sure to  the  foot,  is  cooling  and  cleanly,  and  is  far  superior  to  the  above 
articles." 


BIOGRAPHY   OF  EMINENT  MEN.  545 


BIOGRAPHY     OF     EMINENT     MEN 

ERASTUS    BRIGHAM    BIGELOW. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  was  born  April  2cl,  1814,  in  West  Boylston,  a 
small  town  of  Massacliusetts,  seven  miles  north  of  Worcester.  His  father 
had  a  little  farm,  to  the  toils  of  which  he  added,  with  Yankee  versatility,  the 
business  of  a  wheelwright  and  that  of  a  chair-maker.  The  boy  was  sent,  of 
course,  to  the  district  school.  At  the  age  of  eight  he  asked  his  master  to 
put  him  into  arithmetic  and  writing,  but  he  was  pronounced  too  young  for 
these  high  branches.  He  was  not,  however,  to  be  headed  off  so.  He  took 
up  Pike's  Arithmetic  at  home,  performed,  unassisted,  every  question  as  far  as 
the  Rule  of  Three,  and  made  a  fair  record  of  the  whole.  Who  does  not  see 
in  this  a  promising  outset? 

But  his  school  and  his  arithmetic  engrossed  only  a  fraction  of  his  time. 
His  boyish  activities  showed  early  a  mechanical  tendency.  With  minute 
fence  of  regular  post  and  rail  he  inclosed  a  few  yards  of  ground.  This  was 
?us  little  farm.  There  might  be  seen  a  plough,  a  cart,  a  wagon  complete  in 
every  part,  with  other  implements  of  husbandry,  all  of  his  own  making,  and 
of  a  size  to  match.  His  live  stock  was  a  litter  of  kittens.  To  carry  out  his 
idea,  he  must  set  them  to  work :  a  yoke  was  made,  and  two  of  these  small 
steers  were  attached  to  the  cart.  Finding  that  they  insisted  on  pulling  back- 
ward, he  turned  their  heads  toward  the  cart.  The  wheels  now  went  forward, 
but  the  team  could  not  be  guided  ;  the  experiment  consequently  failed. 

Not  content  with  being  a  farmer  and  a  wheelwright,  he  went  into  the 
chair  line.  Having  made  a  chair-back,  he  so  finiiied  it  with  paint  and  bronze 
and  gold,  that  folks  looked  on  with  wonder,  and  predicted  that  the  boy  was 
destined  to  become  a  great  painter. 

He  contrived  to  get  a  violin,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  could  execute 
with  facility  the  then  popular  airs  of  "  Bounding  Billows,"  and  "  Away  with 
Melancholy."  This  was  a  new  phase.  His  career,  evidently,  was  to  be  a 
musical  one.  Kind  neighbors  even  suggested  that  he  might  hope  ere  long- 
to  find  high  and  profitable  employment  in  the  orchestra  of  the  Boston  Mu- 
seum, consisting  at  that  time,  if  we  remember  rightly,  of  a  fiddle  and  a  hand- 
organ. 

John  Temple,  a  neighbor  of  Mr.  Bigelow,  was  a  substantial  farmer.  He 
had  noticed  the  lad's  capacity,  and  sometimes  jokingly  asked  him  to  come 
and  live  with  him,  and  learn  his  occupation.  Erastus  regarded  this  proposi- 
tion as  a  business  matter.  With  him,  an  offer  was  an  offer.  Accordingly, 
one  Monday  morning  in  early  spring,  this  boy  of  ten  years  presented  himself 
at  Mr.  Temple's  door  and  demanded  employment.  It  was  given  him,  with 
no  expectation  that  he  would  continue  through  the  day.  He  worked  on, 
however,  and  at  the  end  of  the  week  suggested  to  Mr.  T.  that  it  would  be 
proper  to  come  to  some  understanding  in  regard  to  wages.  On  being  asked 
his  terms,  he  offered  to  work  six  months  on  condition  of  receiving  at  the 
dose,  a  cosset  lamb  called  "Dolly,"  to  which  he  had  taken  a  strong  liking. 
The  moderate  demand  was  of  course  acceeded  to.  But  scarcely  had  a  month 
elapsed  ere  a  difficulty  arose.  Dolly  could  not  live  without  eating,  and  how 
was  he  to  provide  for  her  ?  His  fellow  laborers  discovered  the  cause  of  his 
anxiety,  and  teasingly  aggravated  it.     At  length  he  proposed  and  effected 


546  BIOGRAPHY   OF   EMINENT   MEN. 

an  alteration  in  the  contract.  He  relinquished  his  claim  to  Dolly,  and  Mr. 
T.  acjreed  to  furnish,  instead,  a  pair  of  cow-hide  boots,  and  sheepVgray  cloth 
sufficient  for  a  suit  of  clothes.  The  agreement  was  fully  carried  out  on  both 
sides.  At  the  close  ol"  the  period,  an  offer  of  four  dollars  a  month  for  the 
ensuing  summer  was  made  and  accepted.  The  kind-hearted  man,  at  parting, 
gave  the  young  farmer  a  silver  dollar. 

During  the  next  two  years  he  continued  to  work  for  Mr.  Temple  in  the 
summer,  and  to  attend  school  in  winter.  The  farmer  urged  him  to  stay  till 
he  should  be  of  age,  and  he  offered  to  do  so  if,  at  the  close  of  the  term,  he 
could  receive  in  compensation  a  small  outlying  farm  belonging  to  his  em- 
ployer. Fortunately,  this  offer  was  declined.  It  was  an  escape  not  unlike 
that  of  Daniel  Webster  from  the  clerkship  of  the  county  court. 

In  1827,  Mr.  Bigelow  removed  to  another  part  of  the  town,  and  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  cotton  yarn.  Erastus  was  set  to  work  in  the  mill.  So 
long  as  he  found  anything  to  study  in  the  machinery  and  its  working,  he 
was  interested  ;  the  occupation  then  became  distasteful.  While  employed 
in  this  drudgery  of  tending  spindles,  he  was  busy  in  framing  plans  for  the 
future.  Ilis  grand  desire  was  to  obtain  a  liberal  education.  As  his  parents, 
from  their  limited  circumstances,  could  not  encourage  him  in  this,  he  began 
to  consider  in  what  way  he  might  accomplish  the  object  himself.  He  already 
knew  how  to  earn  and  to  save.  He  had  not  only  clothed  himself  by  his  toil, 
but  to  his  first  silver  dollar  had  added  several  more.  Like  Goldsmith,  he  now 
turned  his  musical  talents  to  account.  In  a  community  where  critical  con- 
noisseurship  was  unknown,  he  passed  for  an  accomplished  performer.  At  all 
balls  and  dancing  parties  for  many  miles  around  his  services  were  in  request. 
After  a  long  day  of  spinning,  how  tedious  must  have  been  a  whole  night  of 
fiddling!  Often,  doubtless,  his  eyelids  grew  heavy  and  his  arm  a-weary. 
Who  can  think  of  the  motive  which  nerved  that  arm,  without  respect  for  the 
young  violinist  ? 

x\bout  this  time  he  made  his  first  invention.  It  was  a  hand-loom  for 
weaving  suspender  webbing.  It  accomplished  the  object ;  but  as  the  busi- 
ness would  not  justify  the  employment  of  an^operative,  he  abandoned  it,  after 
realizing  from  it  a  few  dollars.  His  next  invention  was  of  more  importance. 
A  ball  of  cotton  cord,  known  in  the  market  by  the  name  of  "  piping  cord," 
had  been  brought  into  the  house  for  domestic  use.  On  examination,  he 
found  it  to  be  of  yarn  hke  that  which  he  was  spinning  every  day.  On  in- 
quiry, he  learned  that  it  was  made  by  hand,  in  the  ordinary  rope-walk.  He 
was  sure  that  it  could  be  formed  more  expeditiously  and  cheaply  by  auto- 
matic machinery.  In  a  few  weeks  he  had  matured  the  plan  of  a  machine, 
and  within  two  months  he  had  it  in  successful  operation.  It  worked  well — 
earning  for  the  youthful  inventor  In  the  course  of  a  year  about  one  hundred 
dollars.  At  length  the  article  fell  greatly  in  price,  and  the  working  of  the 
machinery  was  abandoned. 

These  first  developments  of  a  peculiar  genius  were  evidently  called  forth 
by  his  burning  desire  for  an  education.  They  were  temporary  expedients  to 
enable  him  to  pay  his  way.  It  should  not  be  foigotten  that  they  were  the 
achievements  of  a  lad  only  fourteen  years  of  age.  Having  now  by  his  in- 
dustry and  ingenuity  acquired  a  small  fund,  he  obtained  parental  consent  to 
attend  a  neighboring  academy,  at  his  own  expense.  This  was  in  1830. 
Here  he  entered  on  the  study  of  Latin.  His  teacher  was  pleased,  and  wrote 
to  the  father,  recommending  a  collegiate  course  for  the  boy.  ]3ut  to  the 
cautious  parent,  a  trade  seemed  safer  and  better.  As  the  son  preferred  not 
to  engage  again  in  the  dull  employment  of  the  spinning  mill,  the  matter  was 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   EMINENT   MEN.  547 

compromised,  aad  he  was  told  that  he  might  go  to  Boston  and  become  a  com- 
mission merchant,  if  he  could. 

To  Boston  accordingly  he  went.  He  carried  no  letters — knew  no  one. 
After  a  few  inquiries  from  door  to  door,  he  found  employment  in  the  whole- 
sale and  retail  dry-goods  establishment  of  S.  F.  Morse  &  Co.  The  firm  was 
highly  respectable,  and  the  place  was  deemed  a  good  one.  But  the  charm 
of  novelty  was  soon  over,  and  then  the  occupation  of  measuring  and  selling 
ribbons  and  calicoes  seemed  petty  and  monotonous.  He  felt,  he  knew,  that 
he  was  made  for  something  beyond  that.  The  idea  of  a  college  course  still 
haunted  him.  On  one  occasion  he  walked  out  to  Cambridge,  and  had  a  talk 
with  President  Quincy.  It  only  served  to  show  that  there  was  no  chance  yet 
for  him. 

About  this  time  a  teacher  of  stenography  came  to  Boston  and  gave  les- 
sons in  the  art.  He  drew  much  attention  and  formed  Urge  classes.  Our 
young  clerk  shared  in  the  general  interest,  but  the  cost  of  a  course  (ten  dol- 
lars,) was  beyond  his  means.  So  he  got  some  books  and  taught  himself. 
He  was  surprised  to  find  the  art  so  simple,  In  a  few  days  he  could  write 
with  ease  in  short-hand.  A  new  thought  struck  him.  If  he  could  learn 
stenography  in  this  way  so  quickly  and  easily,  why  should  not  others — why 
should  not  many  avail  themselves  of  the  useful,  labor-saving  process  ?  The 
rareness  of  the  acquirement  must  be  owing  to  the  expense.  He  would  ob- 
viate that.  He  would  write  a  book  on  short-hand,  illustrated  by  plates,  and 
filled  with  rules  and  examples.  Energetic  and  industrious — to  resolve,  with 
him,  was  to  act.  In  a  short  time  his  work — "  The  self-taught  Stenographer" 
— was  ready  for  the  press.  To  prosecute  this  new  enterprise,  he  relinquished 
his  post  behind  the  counter,  much  to  the  regret  of  his  parents,  who  naturally 
questioned  the  expediency  of  the  step,  and  to  that  of  his  employers,  too, 
whom  he  had  fully  satisfied. 

Having  printed  a  small  edition  of  his  work  he  became  his  own  bookseller, 
and  in  ten  days  sold  seventy-five  dollars'  worth  in  Boston  alone.  This  greatly 
encouraged  him.  Forgetting  that  Boston  was  peculiar  and  prepared  ground, 
he  regarded  his  sales  there  as  an  exponent  of  the  national  demand,  and  im- 
mediately ordered  a  large  impression  of  the  work.  To  meet  the  extensive 
business  now  opening  upon  him  he  took  a  partner,  a  medical  student,  who 
was  anxious  to  see  a  little  of  the  world  before  he  settled  down  as  a  profes- 
sional drudge.  The  young  doctor  was  to  pay  the  entire  cost  of  printing,  to 
share  equally  in  the  labor  and  expense  of  distribution  and  sale,  and  to  re- 
ceive one-half  of  the  profits.  These  hopeful  adventurers  set  out  at  once  upon 
their  commercial  travels.  They  visited  the  most  inviting  portions  of  New- 
England,  New-York,  New-Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania.  Here  the  cholera, 
then  on  its  first  terrible  march  through  America,  put  a  stop  to  their  journey- 
ings.  They  went  home,  having  made  about  a  hundred  dollars.  Four  hun- 
dred dollars  were  still  due  the  printer,  a  large  part  of  the  edition  was  yet  on 
hand,  and  all  the  best  ground  had  been  canvassed.  It  looked  decidedly 
dark.  Young  Bigelosv  without  hesitation  released  his  discouraged  partner 
from  the  pecuniary  obligation. 

Behold  him  now  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  His  little  educational  fund  has 
vanished,  all  his  schemes  have  failed,  and  he  is  four  hundred  dollars  in  debt. 
His  father,  in  the  meantime,  had  been  extending  and  diversifying  his  busi- 
ness. He  had  formed  a  partnership  with  the  celebrated  "  John  Smith,"  and 
a  new  mill  had  been  erected  for  their  operations.  As  the  old  mill  now  stood 
idle,  Erastus  thought  that  he  might  turn  it  to  some  account.  In  this  project 
he  found  a  person  willing  to  join  him.     John  Munroe  was  the  name  of  h.h 


548  BIOGRAPHY    OF   EMINENT   MEN. 


second  associate.  Their  business  was  the  manufacture  of  twine.  It  was  be- 
ginning to  be  moderately  successful,  when  a  disagreement  between  Smith  and 
his  partner  put  a  stop  to  the  operations  of  the  younger  firm. 

Bigelow  &  Munroe  then  undertook  to  run  a  cotton  factory  in  Wareham, 
a  place  in  the  eastern  part  of  Massachusetts.  At  the  end  of  nine  months 
this  arrangement  terminated  in  a  loss.  As  author  and  as  manufacturer,  he 
was  now  obligated  to  the  extent  of  fourteen  hundred  dollars.  In  Massachu- 
setts his  way  seemed  completely  hedged  up.  But  Massachusetts  is  not  the 
only  place  in  the  world.  Soon  after  this  we  find  our  hero  in  the  city  of  New- 
York,  taking  lessons  in  penmanship  of  the  renowned  Professor  Bristow. 
His  improvement  astonishes  even  himself.  A  dozen  exercises  have  trans- 
formed a  poor  writer  into  an  accomphshed  penman.  Then,  for  some  time,  he 
supported  himself  by  teaching  the  art.  Newark,  and  several  other  large 
towns  in  New-Jei-sey  and  on  the  North  River,  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  his  in- 
structions. He  was  not  the  person  to  be  content  with  such  a  life.  Indeed, 
he  soon  became  deeply  dissatisfied  with  that  and  with  himself.  An  import- 
ant period  of  his  existence  was  passing  away  in  desultory  and  unprofitable 
efforts.  He  was  conscious  of  powers  that  needed  discipline  only  to  insure 
him  success.  His  literary  aspirations  returned  in  full  force.  But,  alas !  what 
could  he  do  ' 

In  this  state  of  mind  he  returned  home.  His  parents  received  him  kindly, 
but  could  not  suppress  their  anxiety  concerning  his  future.  In  that  humble 
family  council  many  plans  were  started  and  rejected.  At  length,  with  unan- 
imous approval,  the  youth  resolves  to  become  a  physician.  After  a  winter 
passed  in  classical  studies  at  Leicester  Academy,  he  entered  his  name  as  a 
student  in  medicine.  This  study  he  prosecuted  with  diligence  for  more  than 
a  year,  being  much  interested  in  the  science,  but  constantly  annoyed  by  a 
sense  of  his  imperfect  literary  preparation.  Even  then,  could  he  but  find  the 
means,  he  would  go  back,  to  start  anew  and  aright.  Again  the  stimulus 
of  this  early  and  strong  desire  put  him  on  the  look-out  for  some  source  of 
pecuniary  gain.  With  his  mind  in  this  state,  he  happened,  while  on  a  visit, 
to  sleep  under  a  knotted  or  Marseilles  quilt.  Years  before  he  had  seen  sim- 
ilar fabrics  woven  by  the  slow  and  costly  process  of  the  hand-loom.  Why — 
lie  now  asked  himself — could  not  a  power-loom  be  made  to  weave  them  ?  It 
was  not  until  a  year  afterwards  that  he  set  himself  in  earnest  to  solve  this 
problem.  Having  suspended,  for  a  time,  his  medical  studies,  he  matured  the 
plan  of  a  loom.  With  some  pecuniary  aid  he  was  enabled  to  construct  the 
machine,  which  worked  to  the  satisfaction  of  all. 

But  to  prosecute  the  enterprise,  capital  must  be  had.  In  quest  of  this  he 
went  to  Boston.  A  sample  of  the  fabric  was  shown  to  Messrs,  Freeman, 
Cobb  &  Co.,  who  were  large  importers  of  the  article.  Satisfied  that  it  must 
succeed,  they  entered  at  once  into  an  agreement,  contracting  to  pay  ail  ex- 
penses thus  far  incurred,  to  be  at  the  cost  of  patents  for  this  country  and  for 
England,  and  to  erect  and  furnish  a  mill  that  should  meet  all  probable  de- 
mands of  the  market.  In  consideration  of  this  contribution,  the  inventor 
was  to  receive,  free  of  expense  to  himself,  one-quarter  of  the  profits.  A 
brighter  day  had,  at  length  dawned  on  the  struggling  youth.  He  had 
reached  the  position  so  long  sought.  He  could  now  secure  a  thorough  edu- 
cation. Accordingly  he  renewed  his  studies  under  the  care  of  a  clergyman, 
who  was  in  the  habit  of  fitting  young  men  for  college.  Must  we  state  tha; 
even  this  fair  prospect  was  soon  clouded  ?  Freeman,  Cobb  &  Co.  failed  in 
business.  The  period  was  one  of  commercial  depression,  and  was,  therefore, 
no  time  to  raise  capital  for  new  enterprises.    To  increase  his  embarrassments, 


BIOGRAP'bY   OF   EMINENT   MEN.  549 


his  father  had  been  unsuccessful  in  bis  affairs,  and  was  now  in  declining 
health.  His  own  position  and  his  sense  of  filial  duty,  left  him  no  alternative. 
The  sternly-exacting  present  must  be  provided  for.  Postponing  to  an  indefi- 
nite future  his  half-realized  schemes  and  hopes,  he  once  more  relinquished  his 
classical  studies. 

While,  to  meet  the  exigency,  he  was  earnestly  considering  the  question  of 
"  ways  and  means,"  an  incident  of  travel  recurred  to  his  memory.  In  his 
stenographic  journeying  he  had  accidentally  witnessed  the  process  of  weav- 
ino-  coach-lace.  At  the  time,  he  had  felt  no  interest  in  the  matter — had 
taken  no  note  of  the  details.  He  only  remembered  that  hand-looms  were 
employed.  With  this  recollection,  the  idea  of  a  power-loom  immediately 
presented  itself.  Two  days'  study  convinced  him  that  the  thing  could  be 
done.  But  another  point  must  also  be  settled  :  would  it  pay  1  He  was 
wholly  unacquainted  with  the  character  and  extent  of  the  coach-lace  business. 
Hiring  of  a  neighboring  farmer  his  work-horse  and  old  yellow-bodied  chaise, 
he  starts,  with  characteristic  promptness,  on  a  tour  of  inquiry.  The  carriage 
makers  of  Worcester,  Grafton,  Framingham,  Medway,  and  Dedham,  were 
successively  visited  and  interrogated.  The  result  was  a  general  reference  to 
Messrs.  Fairbanks,  Loring  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  venders  of  the  article,  with  whom 
these  mechanics  all  dealt.  Into  Boston  accordingly  went  the  yellow  chaise. 
Messrs.  Fairbanks  &  Co.  settled  every  doubt.  A  coach-lace  power-lpom.  they 
said,  would  certainly  do  well ;  but  the  thing  had  been  often  considered  by 
the  principal  lace-makers,  and  pronounced  an  impossibility.  They  expressed 
a  wish  to  join  with  him  in  case  of  his  succeeding — though,  as  they  afterwards 
confessed,  without  the  slightest  faith  in  the  project. 

Mr.  Bigelow  went  home,  and  with  no  other  guide  or  help  than  a  piece  of 
coach-lace  set  himself  to  the  accompHshment  of  a  task,  which,  up  to  that 
time  had  been  deemed  impossible.  Spurred  on  by  necessity,  and  encouraged 
by  a  confident  hope  of  success,  his  mind  became  intensely  active.  To  others, 
indeed,  he  seemed  to  have  grown  suddenly  stupid.  When  spoken  to,  he 
appeared  to  listen,  and  yet  showed  by  his  silence  or  inapposite  reply,  that  he 
had  not  understood  a  word.  One  evening  he  was  asked  to  show  a  visitor  the 
way  out.  To  the  surprise  of  the  latter,  he  took  an  unlighted  candle,  marched 
silently  before  him  through  a  long,  dark  entry,  and  gravely  bowed  him  from 
the  door.  During  this  period  of  mental  abstraction,  he  took  no  note  of 
time.  He  sat  in  the  family  circle  with  as  little  share  in  the  conversation  as 
if  he  had  been  deaf  and  dumb.  All  hints  about  bed-time  were  thrown  away 
upon  him,  and  the  unmoved  candle-stick,  whose  taper  had  expired  m  its 
socket,  usually  showed  in  the  morning  that  he  must  have  gone  oflF  to  his  rest, 
at  some  late  hour,  in  the  dark. 

The  fruits  of  this  extraordinary  application  soon  appeared.  Within  six 
weeks  from  the  time  of  its  first  conception,  he  had  a  power-loom  in  success- 
ful operation.  Let  any  one  examine  this  beautiful  and  complicate  piece  of 
mechanism,  in  which  iron  seems  to  act  hke  an  intelligence,  and  exhibits  a 
dexterity  which  human  fingers  scarcely  surpass.  Let  him  consider  that  this 
machine  involved  all  the  essential  principles  of  a  far  more  important  one — 
the  Brussels  carpet  loom;  that  the  inventor  was  a  young  man  not  twenty- 
three  years  old,  who  had  never  even  looked  into  a  treatise  on  mechanics  ; 
and  finally,  that  all  this  was  accomplished  in  the  brief  space  of  forty  days  ; 
and  he  will,  at  least,  allow  that  the  history  of  useful  art  exhibits  few  such 
instances  of  mental  and  executive  eflSciency. 

Thus  far  we  have  traced,  with  some  particularity,  the  ardent  aspirings,  the 
varied  etforts,  the  successive  struggles  and  disappointments  of  a  poor  but 


550  BIOGRAPHY   OF   EMINENT  MEN. 


persevering  j'outh.  It  shows  what  may  be  accomplished  by  high  aims,  a 
fixed  purpose,  and  resolute  industry.  It  will  appeal  to  the  warm  sympa- 
thies of  those  who  love  to  contemplate  the  development  of  mind  and  char- 
acter under  a  discipHne  of  hardship.  We  have  followed  a  rivulet  from  its 
mountain  spring.  Obstacle  after  obstacle  has  opposed  its  progress.  But 
above,  or  round,  or  through  them  all,  it  has  still  forced  its  way.  In  one 
bright  flash  it  has  just  leaped  over  the  last  wall  of  rock.  It  becomes  a  deep, 
broad  river  :  its  banks  widen  out  and  wave  with  fertihty.  But  we  must  not 
be  disappointed,  if  we  miss,  henceforth,  the  picturesqueness  of  its  upper 
course. 

The  complete  success  of  the  coach-lace  loom  brought  the  inventor  at  once 
into  notice.  Fairbanks,  Loring  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  John  Wright,  of  Worces- 
ter, Israel  Langley,  of  Shirley,  together  with  the  inventor  and  his  brother 
Horatio,  united  for  the  purpose  of  building  and  running  the  looms.  This 
association  afterwards  became  the  "Clinton  Company."  Mr.  B.  was  now  in  a 
condition  to  carry  out  his  early  and  long-cherished,  though  often  frustrated 
wish  in  regard  to  education.  But  the  time  for  that  scheme  had,  he  felt, 
gone  by.  He  had  become  better  acquainted  with  the  nature  and  measure 
of  his  own  capacities.  He  saw  opening  before  him  a  career  of  activity,  suc- 
cess, and  usefulness.  To  this,  accordingly,  he  resolved  to  devote  his  future 
life. 

Soon  after  the  Clinton  Company  began  its  operations  in  Lancaster,  the 
affairs  of  Freeman,  Cobb  &  Co.,  had  becorne  so  far  adjusted  as  to  liberate 
from  its  legal  embarrassment  the  counterpane  loom.  One  of  the  firm  im- 
mediately contracted  with  the  inventor  on  terms  highly  favorable  to  the 
latter,  for  a  number  of  the  looms.  But  Mr.  Bigelow  happening  soon  after  to 
be  in  New- York,  saw  there  a  new  and  different  species  of  counterpane  then 
just  introduced  from  England.  An  examination  of  this  fabric  convinced  him 
not  only  that  it  would  be  more  marketable  than  the  knotted  counterpane, 
but  that  it  could  be  made  at  less  cost.  With  a  disinterestedness  hardly  less 
rare  than  his  ingenuity,  he  advised  Mr.  Roberts  to  give  up  the  contract,  and 
thus  ]^j  aside  entirely  the  very  curious  and  perfectly  successful  loom  already 
made.  He  at  the  same  time  agreed  to  invent  a  power  loom  for  weaving  this 
new  fabric.  Within  six  months  from  that  time  he  had  such  a  loom  in  suc- 
cessful operation.  A  small  mill  in  Lancaster  was  filled  with  the  machinery, 
and  the  business,  steadily  prosperous,  has  remunerated  the  inventor,  and  en- 
riched, others. 

After  starting  the  coach-lace  and  counterpane  establishments,  Mr.  Bigelow 
took  up  the  question  of  weaving  the  ingrain  or  Kidderminster  carpet  by 
means  of  power-looms.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to  produce  a  fabric  in  which 
the  figures  should  match,  which  should  have  a  smooth,  even  face  and  perfect 
selvedge,  and  do  this  with  a  rapidity  so  much  beyond  that  of  the  hand- 
loom  as  to  make  it  an  object.  The  hand-loom  weaver  can,  to  some  extent, 
meet  these  conditions  by  the  exercise  of  his  judgment.  If  the  shuttle  has 
not  fully  done  its  work,  he  can  give  the  weft-thread  a  pull  with  his  fingers. 
If,  on  measuring,  he  finds  that  the  figure  is  getting  to  be  too  long,  or  too 
short,  he  remedies  the  fault  by  putting  either  more  or  less  force  to  the  lathe, 
as  he  beats  up.  If  he  perceives  that  the  surface  of  the  cloth  is  becoming- 
rough,  he  regulates  the  tension  of  the  warps.  By  the  exercise  of  constant 
vigilance,  skill,  and  judgment,  he  can  cq^proxhnate  to  the  production  of  a 
complete  and  regular  fabric.  But  how  shall  these  properties  be  imparted  to 
inert  matter  ?  How  shall  iron  be  taught  to  observe,  to  judge,  and  to  vary  its 
action  with  such  modifications  as  the  case  may  require  ? 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   EMINENT   MEN.  561 


To  the  achievemeut  of  this  seeming  impracticability  our  iuveutor  now 
addressed  his  extraordiuary  powers  of  analysis  and  concentration.  A  short 
study  assured  him  that  the  idea  was  feasible.  On  the  strength  of  this  con- 
viction— before  he  had  made  a  model  or  even  complete  drawings  of  the  ma- 
cliine — he  entered  into  a  written  contract  with  a  company  in  Lowell,  to 
furnish  them  with  power-looms  for  making  ingrain  carpets.  His  first  loom 
for  two-ply  carpets  was  set  up  within  a  year.  In  the  matching  of  its  figures, 
in  evenness  of  surface,  and  in  the  regularity  of  its  selvedges,  its  product  far 
surpassed  that  of  any  hand-loom.  Its  average  daily  work  was  from  ten  to 
twelve  yards  ;  that  of  the  hand-loom  is  about  eight  yards. 

He  must,  he  could,  do  better  than  that.  A  second  loom,  with  various 
modifications  and  improvements  was  ere  long  produced.  By  this  the  daily 
product  was  raised  to  eighteen  yards.  Still  he  was  not  satisfied.  A  third 
machine,  with  essential  variations,  at  length  appeared.  This  loom  made, 
with  perfect  ease,  from  twenty-five  to  twenty-seven  yards  a  day.  The  others, 
of  course,  like  his  first  counterpane  loom,  were  thrown  aside.  This  loom 
was  started  in  the  summer  of  1841.  In  the  autumn  he  went  to  England. 
During  this  short  visit  the  manufactures  of  that  country  naturally  drew  his 
special  regard.  He  at  once  saw  that,  in  some  important  particulars,  the 
English  manufactures  were  in  advance  of  ours.  His  opinion  to  this  effect, 
frankly  expressed  on  his  return  to  Lowell,  was  received  at  first  with  mur- 
murs of  surprise  and  incredulity.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  the 
practical  adoption  of  his  suggestions  showed  that  they  had  taken  full  eftect. 
In  1842  the  several  manufacturing  corporations  of  Lowell  paid  a  deserved 
tribute  to  Mr.  Bigelow's  knowledge  and  skill,  by  creating  a  new  office,  with 
a  liberal  salary,  and  appointing  him  to  fill  it.  His  duties  were  to  make  im- 
provements and  suggestions,  and,  generally,  to  advise  and  consult  with  the 
agents  of  the  respective  companies.  In  this  capacity  he  brought  forward 
some  important  improvements,  which  were  adopted  by  all  the  cotton  mills  of 
Lowell.  Finding  his  new  office  too  general  in  its  character  and  duties  to  give 
results  satisfactory  to  himself,  he  resigned  at  the  end  of  eighteen  months,  and 
with  his  retirement  the  office  itself  expired.  During  this  period  he  built, 
for  the  Lowell  Company,  a  mill  to  receive  his  power-looms ;  and  thus  started 
the  first  successful  power-loom  carpet  fiictory  recorded  in  the  annals  of  manu- 
facture. 

Before  quitting  his  post  at  Lowell,  Mr.  Bigelow  had  projected  a  new  manu- 
iiicturing  establishment  at  Lancaster  for  the  weaving  of  ginghams.  A  com- 
pany was  formed  ;  the  required  capital  was  promptly  subscribed,  and  the 
projector  was  charged  with  the  execution  of  the  design.  At  the  same  time 
the  Lowell  Company  resolved  to  build  a  large  mill  for  the  reception  of  their 
carpet  power-looms,  and  Mr.  Bigelow  was  commissioned  to  design  and  erect 
it.  Both  of  these  mills  are  of  vast  size,  and  in  character  perfectly  unique. 
The  one  last  named,  with  its  two  hundred  iron  looms,  is,  in  fact,  a  grand 
carpet  machine — the  mill  and  its  furniture  being  so  combined,  adjusted,  and 
adapted,  as  to  produce  the  most  harmonious  action  and  the  highest  results. 
The  Lancaster  mill  is  even  more  remarkable.  Its  connected  structures,  cover- 
ing more  than  four  acres  of  ground,  are  filled  with  machinery  and  apparatus 
of  the  most  perfect  character,  much  of  which  was  invented  or  adapted,  and 
all  of  which  was  arranged  and  adjusted  by  Mr.  Bigelow.  Of  this  mill,  the 
editor  of  the  Merchants''  Magazine  says  :  "It  is  deservedly  rated  as  the  most 
perfect  establishment  in  the  United  States."  Of  the  dye-house  connected 
with  it,  he  speaks  as  "  probably  the  most  perfect  in  the  world  ;"  adding, 
"  that  the  entire  arrangement  is  of  the  most  perfect  description,  and  in  its 


552  BIOGRAPHY   OF  EMINENT   AIEX. 

■  ^      _— 

vast  completeness  stands  a  splendid  monument  to  the  genius  and  masterly 
power  of  the  mind  of  its  projector."  These  immense  structures,  with  their 
numerous  and  various  and  complicated  machines,  many  of  which  were  new. 
and  nearly  all  of  which  were  newly  modified  or  adjusted,  were  carried  on 
simultaneously — the  working  plans  for  the  buildings  and  the  machinery  beini;; 
furnished  as  fast  as  the  work  advanced.  These  plans,  once  matured  and  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  workmen,  were  scarcely  in  a  single  instance  changed ; 
and  the  loss  in  this  way  was  exceedingly  small — a  striking  proof  of  Mr. 
Bigelow's  business  talent,  his  constructive  abilities,  and  far-reaching  mental 
vision.  Contemporaneously  with  these  labors,  he  superintended  important 
enlargements  of  the  Counterpane  Works,  and  of  those  belonging  to  the 
Coach-lace  Company.  Nor  was  this  all.  During  the  three  years  thus  occu- 
pied, he  made  nine  distinct,  important,  and  patented  inventions.  It  would 
have  been  strange  if,  under  a  mental  pressure  so  constant  and  intense,  hi.s 
health  had  not  given  way.  Justly  alarmed,  at  length,  he  fled  from  the  toil 
and  care  which  would  soon  have  ended  all.  A  voyage  to  Europe,  with  his 
family,  and  a  continental  journey,  completely  restored  him. 

On  his  return  in  1848,  he  proceeded  to  develop  and  complete  the  Brussels 
Carpet  Loom.  The  basis  of  this  machine  was  indeed  contained  in  the  loom 
for  coach-lace.  But  farther  invention  was  needed  to  adapt  it  to  the  weaving 
of  wider  fabrics,  to  the  making  of  figures  that  match,  and  to  the  formation 
of  velvet-pile.  This  was  fully  accomplished.  His  power-looms  weave  rapidly 
and  perfectly  the  Brussels  and  the  Wilton,  the  tapestry  and  velvet  tapestry 
carpets.  They  are  competent,  in  fact,  to  every  kind  of  looped  and  velvet-pik- 
fabric  known  in  the  market. 

In  September,  1851,  Mr.  Bigelow  took  with  him  to  England  specimens  of 
his  Brussels  carpet.  Their  appearance  at  the  E.vhibition,  though  late,  drew 
much  attention,  and  largely  increased  the  favor  with  which  the  British  public 
had  already  begun  to  look  on  the  so  long  despised  American  Department. 
The  juries  having  then  closed  their  labors,  no  prize  could  be  awarded  to  these 
fabrics.  But  in  a  supplement  to  the  Report  on  Class  XIX,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  The  specimens  of  Brussels  carpeting  exhibited  by  Mr.  Bigelow  are  woven 
by  a  power-loom,  invented  and  patented  by  him,  and  are  better  and  more 
perfectly  woven  than  any  hand-loom  goods  that  have  come  under  the  notice 
of  the  jury.  This,  however,  is  a  very  small  part  of  their  merit,  or  rather  of 
that  of  Mr.  Bigelow,  who  has  completely  triumphed  over  the  numerous  ob- 
stacles that  presented  themselves,  and  succeeded  in  substituting  steam-power 
for  manual  labor  in  the  manufacture  of  five-frame  Brussels  carpets.  Several 
patents  have  been  taken  out  by  difterent  inventors  in  this  country  for  efiect- 
ing  the  same  object ;  but  as  yet  none  of  them  has  been  brought  into  suc- 
cessful or  extensive  operation,  and  the  honor  of  this  achievement — one  of 
great  practical  difficulty,  as  well  as  of  great  commercial  value,  must  be 
awarded  to  a  native  of  the  United  States." 

The  shrewd  and  practical  manufacturers  of  England  were  quick  to  see  and 
prompt  to  acknowledge  the  value  of  the  new  machinery.  An  arrangement 
Avas  immediately  made  with  Messrs.  Crossly  &  Sons,  for  placing  the  looms  in 
their  immense  carpet  manufactory  at  Halifax.  Subsequently  these  gentlemen 
purchased,  and  now  hold,  the  patent-right  for  the  United  Kingdom. 

Previously  to  the  introduction  of  Mr.  Bigelow's  inventions,  power-looms 
had  scarcely  been  used  for  anv  but  the  plainest  and  simplest  fabrics.  These 
improvements  cover  the  whole  higher  range  of  textile  art.  If  we  except 
such  regal   luxuries  as  the  pictured  tapestries  of  the  Gobelins,  there  is  no 


BIOGRAPHY  OF  EMINENT   MEN.  65e 


complex,  or  useful,  or  beautiful  texture  produced  by  skill  and  patience  in  the 
band-loom,  to  wbicb  bis  macbinery  bas  not  been,  or  may  not  be,  adapted. 
As  compared  witb  tbe  plainer  and  more  prosaic  processes,  tbis  almost  magi- 
cal mecbanism,  and  its  results  of  endless  and  beautiful  variety,  may  be  called, 
not  unaptly,  tbe  poetry  of  tbe  loom.  Witb  sucb  means  at  their  command, 
and  aided  by  tbe  untiring  arm  of  falling  or  of  expanding  water,  our  modern 
Penelopes  are  producing  webs  tbat  rival  tbe  fabled  labors  of  Aracbne,  witb 
a  rapidity  which  Pallas  migbt  bave  envied. 

To  appreciate  the  difficulties  of  tbis  achievement,  and  tbe  greatness  of  the 
success,  one  must  keep  in  view  the  nature  and  demands  of  the  weaving  art. 
Eacb  different  fibre  wbicb  it  uses  bas  its  own  peculiar  properties,  and  whether 
it  be  cotton,  or  wool,  or  llax,  or  silk,  tbe  macbinery  must  be  adapted  to 
*bose  pecuharities.  The  number  of  fabrics  which  differ  essentially  m  their 
t-xture  is  almost  countless.  To  these  considerations  must  be  added  the 
constantly  recurring  changes  in  figure  and  in  color  required  to  meet  a  fickle 
taste  and  ever-varying  demand.  He  must  be  a  good  arithmetician  who  can 
calculate  tbe  combinations  required  to  produce  by  automatic  machinery  the 
numerous  dissimilar  fabrics  which  fill  up  tbe  long  interval  between  plain 
cloth  and  a  Wilton  carpet.  More  than  all,  perhaps,  it  deserves  to  be  con- 
sidered, that  a  power-loom  for  weaving  tissues  of  the  higher  class,  must  bave 
not  only  many  and  complex  mechanical  movements,  but,  to  a  certain  extent, 
also  the  capacity  of  self-adaptation— an  ability,  in  fact,  to  meet  exigencies  as 

they  arise.  .  ^         e       t 

The  extent  of  Mr.  Bigelow's  contributions  to  inventive  art  has  otten_  been 
misapprehended.  Many  think  of  him  as  the  inventor  of  a  single  machine— 
the  carpet  power-loom— and  suppose  tbis  to  be  all.  It  is  a  great  mistake. 
The  numerous  and  complex  requirements  of  the  textile  art  were  not  to  be 
met  bv  a  single  invention.  Accordingly,  Mr.  Bigelow  has,  in  this  connec- 
tion, twenty-two  United  States  patents.  Each  of  these  is  a  distinct  but  ne- 
cessary part  in  a  closely-connected  series  of  improvements,  by  means  of  which, 
under  appropriate  modifications,  every  variety  of  fabric  may  be  wrought  by 
power-looms.  i      •    i 

It  is  difficult,  by  mere  description,  to  impart  a  clear  idea  ot  mechanical 
movements.  All  that  we  shall  here  attempt  will,  we  trust,  be  intel  igible  to 
any  one  who  bas  ever  seen  a  loom  in  action.  Tbe  figure  on  coach  lace  is 
formed  by  raising  on  tbe  surface  of  the  ground-cloth,  a  pile  similar  to  that 
of  the  Brussels  carpet.  It  is  made  by  looping  the  warps  over  fine  wires 
wbicb  are  inserted  under  such  of  them  as  bave  been  selected  by  the  Jacquarcl 
to  form  tbe  fio-ure.  These  warps  are  then  woven  into  the  body  of  tbe  cloth. 
The  wires  are°now  withdrawn,  to  be  reinserted.  In  tbe  Bigelow  loom  this 
finger-work  is  executed  by  automatic  pincers.  There  is  something  wonder- 
•  fully  cunning  in  tbe  movement  of  these  nippers.  Seizing  tbe  end  ot  the 
wire,  tbev  draw  it  out  from  the  loops,  carry  it  back  towards  tbe  lathe,  thrust^ 
it  into  what  is  called  tbe  open  shed,  and  there  drop  it.  Tbe  warp-threads, 
which  had  been  drawn  apart,  are  now  closed,  and  immediately  reopened  tor 
the  passage  of  the  shuttle,  which  carries  the  woof  to  tie  and  bind  the  loops. 
The  pincers  having  dropped  their  wire,  return  to  take  another.  As  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  have  a  number  of  these  wires,  and  as  they  lie  close  together,  a 
difficulty  arose.  It  was  clearly  impossible  to  make  tbe  pincers  so  narrow, 
and  so  exact  in  their  discrimination,  as  to  seize  the  proper  wn-e,  and  not  nio- 
'lestits  neiffbbors.  Tbis  was  avoided  by  a  mechanical  contrivance  on  the 
other  side  li  the  loom,  which,  just  at  the  rigbt  moment,  gives  a  little  push 
to  iust  tbe  ricrbt  wire,  and  thus  puts  it  in  just  tbe  rigbt  place  for  the  waiting 


554  BIOGRAPHY   OP  EMINENT   MEN. 


pincers.  The  curious  meclianism  by  which  these  little  rods  are  withdrawn 
and  replaced,  must  work,  it  is  evident,  in  perfect  harmony  with  that  which 
forms  the  figure. 

The  loom  for  Brussels  and  tapestry  carpeting  is  the  coach-lace  loom  full 
grown.  Nothing  short  of  actual  inspection  can  give  any  just  idea  of  its 
wonderful  capacities  and  life-like  action.  Wires  three  feet  or  more  in  length 
are  here  inserted  and  withdrawn  with  a  precision  and  quickness  which  no 
manual  dexterity  ever  attained.  Let  us  watch  the  operation.  First,  mark 
that  intruding  knife  or  wedge,  which,  as  it  rises,  separates  from  its  compan- 
ion the  wire  next  to  be  taken,  and  guides  the  pusher,  which  shoves  it  along 
towards  the  pincers.  The  pincers  now  walk  up,  grasp  the  wire,  and  draw  it 
entirely  out.  While  this  is  doing,  another  set  of  nippers,  hanging  down 
like  two  human  hands,  come  forward,  descend,  and  catch  the  wire  at  the 
moment  when  the  drawing  pincers  drop  their  prey.  No  sooner  have  they 
seized  the  wire  than  they  retreat  to  their  original  position,  beneath  which  a 
small,  angular  trough  has  just  arrived.  The  fingers  relax,  and  the  wire 
drops  into  the  trough,  which  immediately  returns.  Last  of  all,  a  triangular 
pusher  rushing  through  the  trough  sends  the  rod  into  the  open  shed.  Note, 
also,  the  double  action  of  the  withdrawing  pincers,  which,  while  they  attend 
to  their  own  special  mission,  perform,  also,  sergeant's  duty,  by  constantly 
bringing  into  line  the  straggling  wires.  Those  bird-like,  three-fingered  claws, 
which  dart  back  and  forth  with  such  rapidity,  are  busy  in  plaiting  the  sel- 
vedge, and  their  work  is  perfect.  These,  too,  are  "  contrived  a  double  debt 
to'pay,"  for,  whenever  their  thread  breaks,  they  instantly  stop  the  loom.  In 
this  loom,  and  that  for  coach-lace,  the  mechanical  contrivance  for  weighting 
the  warp-threads  is  the  same,  being  one  of  the  most  ingenious,  as  well  as 
most  important,  of  Mr.  Bigelow's  improvements. 

What  is  this  remarkable  process  which  we  call  invention  ?  How  does  the 
brain  act  while  devising  its  wonders  of  mechanic  skill  ?  These  are  questions 
of  interest  to  inquiring  minds,  and  may  well  puzzle  those  to  whom  even  the 
witnessed  action  of  complicate  mechanism  is  a  mystery  impenetrable.  By 
some  it  is  supposed  to  be  a  sort  of  hybrid  process — a  result  in  which  chance 
and  calculation  are  about  equally  concerned.  Accident  has,  doubtless,  at 
tinies,  had  something  to  do  with'it.  The  slightest  incident  may  start  the 
tram  of  thought  which  shall  lead  to  some  great  discovery  or  invention. 
But  in  that  train  of  thought  there  is  nothing  random  or  accidental.  The 
mathematical  element  must,  of  necessity,  figure  largely.  Yet  in  the  mental 
series  it  is  not  first  in  order,  nor  is  it,  in  fact,  more  essential  than  another 
faculty  seldom  associated  with  our  ideas  of  machinery.  The  great  mechani- 
cal^ inventor  is,  perhaps,  the  only  person  who  compels  the  Mathematics  to 
wait  upon  the  Imagination.  This  power,  and  this  alone,  can  supply  him 
with  the  means  of  accomplishing  his  purposes.  For  the  effectual  use  of. 
these  means  he  depends  on  the  science  of  number  and  quantity.  That  this 
substantially  was  the  process  in  those  inventions  to  which  our  attention  has 
now  been  turned,  appears  from  the  following  answer  of  Mr.  Bigelow  to  an 
inquiry  on  that  point : 

"I  am  not  sure  that  I  can  convey  to  your  mind  a  satisfactory  idea  of  the 
mventive  process  in  my  own  case.  One  thing  is  certain,  it  is  not  chance. 
Neither  does  it  depend,  to  any  great  extent,  on  suggestive  circumstances. 
These  may  present  the  objects,  but  they  are  no  guide  to  the  invention  itself. 
The  falling  apple  only  suggested  to  Newton  a  subject  of  inquiry.  All  that 
we  know  of  the  law  of  gravitation  had  to  be  reasoned  out  afterward. 
My  first  step  toward  an  invention  has  always  been  to  get  a  clear  idea  of 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   EMINENT   MEN.  0D5 

the  object  aimed  at.  I  learn  its  requirements  as  a  -whole,  and  also  as  com- 
posed of  separate  parts.  If,  for  example,  that  object  be  the  weaving  of  coach- 
lace,  I  ascertain  the  character  of  the  several  motions  required,  and  the  rela- 
tions which  these  must  sustain  to  each  other  in  order  to  efiect  a  combined 
result.  Secondly,  I  devise  means  to  produce  these  motions  ;  and,  thirdly, 
I  combine  these  means,  and  reduce  them  to  a  state  of  harmonious  co-opera- 
tion. 

To  carry  an  invention  through  its  first  and  second  stages  is  comparatively 
easy.  The  first  is  simply  an  investigation  of  f;\cts  ;  the  second,  as  far  as  I 
can  trace  the  operations  of  my  own  mind,  comes  through  the  exercise  of  the 
imagination.  I  am  never  at  a  loss  for  means,  in  the  sense  above  explained. 
On  the  contrary,  my  chief  difticulty  is  to  select  from  the  variety  always  at 
command  those  which  are  most  appropriate.  To  make  this  choice  of  the 
elementary  means,  and  to  combine  them  in  unity  and  harmony — to  conduct, 
that  is,  an  invention  though  its  last  or  practical  stage,  constitutes  the  chief 
labor. 

In  making  this  Tchoice  of  the  elementary  parts,  one  must  reason  from 
what  is  known  to  what  is  not  so — keeping  in  mind,  at  the  same  time,  the 
necessary  combinations,  examining  each  element,  not  only  in  reference  to  its 
pecuhar  function,  but  to  its  fitness,  also,  for  becoming  a  part  of  the  whole. 
Each  portion  must  be  thus  examined  and  re-examined,  modified  and  re- 
modified,  until  harmony  and  unity  are  fully  established.  From  the  severity 
of  this  labor  many  inventors  shrink,  and  this  is  the  main  reason  why  some 
very  ingenious  men  fail  to  obtain  satisfactory  results.  In  my  own  case,  the 
labor  has  not  ended  with  the  perfection  of  my  looms  ;  other  machines,  pre- 
paratory and  auxiliar,  were  necessary  to  give  full  efl'ect  to  the  inventions. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact,  complex  inventions  have  not,  as  a  general  thing, 
come  at  once  into  use.  In  many  cases  this  has  been  because  they  were  not 
immediately  brought  into  harmony  with  other  things.  In  a  state  of  natural 
progress,  things  move  on  together,  and  become  mutually  adjusted.  An  im- 
portant invention  often  disturbs  these  adjustments,  and  cannot  be  made  to 
work  efficiently  until  other  inventions  and  new  arrangements  have  brought 
all  the  related  processes  in  accordance  with  it.  This  arduous  duty  I  have 
endeavored  to  perform  for  all  my  looms.  Lee's  hand  stocking-loom  was 
invented  several  years  before  it  was  reduced  to  practice,  and  even  this  was 
not  eflected  by  the  inventor.  The  comparatively  simple  power-loom  for 
weaving  plain  cloth  was  of  very  slow  growth.  A  long  time  elapsed  before 
its  organization  was  so  far  harmonized  as  to  work  at  all,  and,  for  several  years 
afterward,  successive  improvements  only  gave  to  it  a  moderate  speed.  Its 
capacity,  in  this  respect,  has  actually  been  doubled  within  the  last  fifteen 
years.  If  my  own  more  complex  machines,  for  the  production  of  figured 
fabrics,  have  attained  at  once  to  a  high  state  of  perfection,  I  attribute  it,  in 
part,  to  the  fact  that  my  attention  has  also  been  given  to  those  processes 
which  are  subordinate,  preparatory,  and  collateral,  and  that  these  have  been  ' 
made  to  accord  with  the  main  invention.  That  this  claim  of  success  is  not 
extravagant  will  appear,  I  think,  when  it  is  considered  that  the  cost  of  weav- 
ing coach-lace  was,  at  one  stride,  reduced  from  twenty-two  cents  to  three 
cents  a  yard,  and  that  of  Brussels  carpet  from  thirty  cents  to  four  cents.  Of 
the  fabric  last  named,  my  power-loom,  under  the  easy  tending  of  a  single  girl, 
produces  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  yards  daily,  and  this  of  the  best  quality. 
That  mechanical  possibilities  do  not  reach  much  farther  in  this  direction, 
will  be  conceded,  probably,  by  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  peculiar  char- 
acter of  the  process. 


556  'BIOGRAPHY   OF    EMINENT   MEN. 

I  find  no  difficulty  in  effecting  that  concentration  of  thought  which  is  so 
necessary  in  pursuits  like  mine.  Indeed,  it  is  not  easy  for  me  to  withdraw 
my  mind  from  any  subject  in  which  it  has  once  become  interested,  until  its 
general  bearings  at  least  are  fully  ascertained.  I  always  mature  in  my  mind 
the  general  plan  of  an  invention  before  attempting  to  execute  it,  resorting 
occasionally  to  sketches  on  paper  for  the  more  intricate  parts.  A  draughts- 
man prepares  the  working  drawings  from  sketches  furnished  by  me,  which 
indicate  in  figures  the  proportion  of  the  parts.  I  never  make  anything  with 
my  own  hands.     I  do  not  like  even  drawing  to  a  scale." 

It  has  become  almost  a  proverbial  remark  that  great  inventors  seldom 
reap  the  fruit  of  their  ingenious  toil.  This  has  happened,  not  merely  from 
the  fact  referred  to  above,  that  they  had  failed  to  perfect  their  inventions  by 
meeting,  as  they  ought,  the  new  demands  which  their  own  improvements  had 
created,  but,  also,  because  they  have  too  frequently  been  inventors  on^y.  Ab- 
sorbed in  their  own  pleasing  projects,  neglecting  to  avail  themselves  of  what 
they  have  actually  accomplished,  in  their  ardent  zeal  to  achieve  something 
greater,  they  leave  their  rights  unsecured,  or  sufter  them  to  slip  out  of  their 
hands.  They  labor,  and  other  men — far  inferior  men — enter  into  their  la- 
bors. To  this  rule,  if  it  be  one,  Mr.  Bigelow  is  a  striking  exception.  He  is 
no  dreaming  genius,  who  needs  a  guardian  to  protect  his  rights  and  manage 
his  affairs.  He  is  as  much  at  home  in  matters  of  business  as  among  the 
wheels  and  levers  of  his  looms.  Several  of  his  most  important  contracts, 
drawn  wholly  by  himself,  have  commanded  the  admiration  of  acute  lawyers. 
More  than  once  his  patents  have  been  invaded  ;  but,  in  every  case,  the 
offenders  have  yielded,  either  to  his  prudent  firmness,  or  to  the  strong  arm  of 
law.  In  a  single  instance — and  then  through  the  negligence  of  a  legal  agent 
— he  failed  to  obtain  protection,  in  the  English  patent  office,  for  some  im- 
portant principles.     It  was  a  serious  injury. 

In  the  ingrain-carpet  power-looms  of  the  great  mills  at  Lowell,  about 
thirteen  hundred  thousand  yards  are  made  annually.  The  same  fabric  is 
woven  in  large  quantities  by  companies  at  Tariffville  and  Thorn psonville, 
Ct.,  whose  power-looms  are  worked  under  license  from  the  Lowell  Company. 
Messrs.  Higgins  &  Co.  are  using  the  Bigelow  looms  for  tapestry  and  velvet- 
tapestry  carpets,  in  their  establishment  in  New-York.  Another  Company, 
in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  is  weaving  the  same  article  under  license  from  Mr.  Bigelow. 
At  Humphreysville,  Ct,  several  looms  are  now  employed  in  the  manufacture 
of  silk  brocatelle.  Mr.  B.  adapted  and  constructed  the  machinery  for  this 
beautiful  fabric  in  1851.  Goods  for  which  the  hand-loom  artisans  of  Lyons 
get  three  francs  a  yard,  are  made  here  at  a  cost  for  labor  of  fifteen  cents  a 
yard.  The  agent,  Mr.  Humaston,  is  entitled  to  much  praise  for  the  skill  and 
perseverance  with  which  he  has  brought  these  works  into  successful  opera- 
tion. 

In  1849,  Clinton  was  made  a  township  by  legislative  act.  In  183*7,  when 
the  brothers  Bigelow  went  to  this  spot,  that  they  might  use  one  of  its  brooks 
in  operating  the  coach-lace  loom,  it  was  the  least  cultivated  and  least  valued 
part  of  the  old  and  beautiful  town  of  Lancaster.  At  that  time  it  contained 
some  two  hundred  inhabitants  ;  it  has  now  about  four  thousand.  There  may 
be  seen  the  great  gingham  mill,  already  named,  producing  annually  nearly 
five  millions  of  yards ;  the  counterpane  mill,  which  turns  out  yearly  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  goods  ;  the  establishment  of  the 
Chnton  Company,  where  two  million  yards  of  coach-lace,  tweeds,  (fee,  are 
woven  ;  and  that  of  the  Bigelow  Carpet  Company,  belonging  to  the  two 
Bigelows,  and  to  H.  P.  Fairbanks,  of  Boston,  the  daily  results  of  which  are 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   EMINENT   MEN.  OOV 

a  thousand  yards  of  Brussels  and  Wilton  carpeting.  The  amount  made  by 
this  single  establishment,  now  only  three  years  old,  is  equal  to  the  entire 
importation  of  Brussels  carpet  from  England,  at  the  time  when  the  works 
were  started.  Though  these  looms  run  night  and  day,  they  are  inadequate 
to  the  constant  demand. 

We  have  seen,  with  admiration,  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean,  many  a  village 
and  city  which  owed  their  prosperity,  if  not  their  existence,  to  the  genius  of 
modern  manufacture.  But,  to  us,  there  is  a  charm  in  Clinton,  which  belongs 
to  no  other  place  of  the  kind.  As,  from  those  gentle,  woody  heights,  we 
have  surveyed  its  monuments  of  ingenuity,  wealth,  and  enterprise — its  nu- 
merous evidences  of  industry  and  thrift — its  pleasant  homes  of  competence 
and  content — its  institutions  for  learning  and  social  improvement,  and  its 
neat  temples  reared  for  God — all  of  it  the  magical  creation  of  a  few  short 
years — the  spectacle  certainly  lost  none  of  its  interest,  because  we  could  trace 
it  directly  to  the  efforts  of  a  single  mind.  Clinton,  with  all  its  actual  and 
its  prospective  importance,  was  assuredly  predestinated  in  that  abode  of  hon- 
orable poverty,  those  hours  of  toil  and  vigil,  and  that  filial  love,  which  gave 
birth  to  the  coach-lace  loom.  Happy  he  who  may  thus  behold  around  him 
the  good  which  he  has  done !  While  scattering  "  plenty  o'er  a  smiling  land,'" 
he  plants,  also,  in  good  ground,  the  blessed  seeds  of  individual  and  domestic 
happiness,  of  social  progress,  of  education,  and  morals,  and  religion. 

It  would  be  a  great  injustice  to  omit  in  this  reference  to  Clinton,  one,  who 
deserves  to  be  called  its  twin  founder — Horatio  N.  Bigelow.  At  the  very 
outset,  while  success  was  yet  uncertain,  when  he  was  himself  poor  and  strug- 
gling, he  gave  pecuniary  aid  to  his  brother  in  the  patenting  and  building  of 
his  inventions.  All  the  mills  in  Clinton  were  started  by  him,  and  two  of 
them  are  still  under  his  management.  To  his  skill,  industry,  and  business 
talent,  much  of  their  success  is  undoubtedly  due.  It  is  not  easy  to  estimate 
the  advantage  derived  by  thejnventor  from  so  able  and  so  faithful  an  ex- 
ecution of  his  plans. 

Mr.  Bigelow's  father,  for  whose  sustenance  and  comfort  he  gave  up  his 
own  cherished  schemes,  and  devoted  himself  to  invention,  after  aiding  his  son 
in  building  the  coach-lace  loom,  died,  much  to  the  son's  regret,  just  before 
its  success  was  made  certain.  His  mother,  not  yet  very  far  advanced,  lives 
to  share  the  prosperity  and  affection  of  her  sons.*  He  has  been  twice  mar- 
ried. His  first  wife  died  early,  leaving  an  infant  child.  This  boy,  of  much 
promise,  survived  his  mother  hardly  seven  years.  His  present  wife  is  a 
daughter  of  the  late  Col,  David  Means,  of  Amherst,  N.  H,  They  have  one 
child — a  daughter. 

Mr.  B.  is  a  man  of  middling  stature,  and  slightly  inclined  to  roundness. 
The  lineaments  of  his  face  and  head  are  such  as  one  might  look  for  after 
hearing  his  story. 

The  individual,  whose  well-directed  labors  have  not  only  gained  for  him- 
self reputation  and  fortune,  but  furnish  employment  and  support  to  many 
thousand  persons,  while  they  save  annually  for  his  native  land  millions  of 
dollars,  is  still  under  forty  years  of  age.  AVith  such  power  of  intellectual 
analysis  and  combination,  such  energy  and  persistency  of  purpose,  he  cannot 
yet  have  discharged  the  debt  which  he  owes  to  his  country  and  to  mankind. 
That  he  still  intends  to  devote  himself  to  the  advancement  of  industrial  art, 
in  all  its  interests,  moral  and  material,  we  have  the  best  reason  to  believe. 

*  This  estimable  lady  died  a  few  weeks  since,  at  the  house  of  her  son,  in  Boston. 


558  COMPOSITION   FOR   ROOFS,    FLAGCHNGS,    ETC. 


WELCH  ANHYDROUS  COMPOSITION  FOR  ROOFS,  FLAGGINGS,  FRONTS,  &c. 

Whatever  may  be  the  firmness  of  the  foundation,  the  massiveness  or  sym- 
metry of  the  walls,  and  the  elegance  and  tastefulness  of  external  or  internal 
finish,  a  building  without  a  permanent  water-proof  and  fire-proof  roof,  is  an 
imperfect  and  defective  structure.  It  is  destitute  of  one  of  the  most  essential 
qualities  of  a  comfortable,  safe,  or  durable  edifice.  Hence,  a  good  roofino- 
material  has  long  been  regarded  as  a  very  important  and  valuable  matter. 
Ingenuity  has  been  taxed  to  invent  some  substantial,  reliable,  and  economical 
means  of  protecting  persons  and  property  from  the  annoyance,  injury,  and 
perils,  which  are  every  where  experienced  from  imperfect  roofs. 

In  Europe,  tiles  are  used  ;  but  they  are  expensive  and  unreliable.  In  our 
own  country,  shingles,  slate,  tin,  zinc,  copper,  lead,  brass,  iron,  and  paper 
covered  with  tar  and  gravel,  all  have  their  advocates,  and  yet  none  of  them 
exactly  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  case  for  which  they  are  demanded.  Shin- 
gles are  unsafe,  and  too  often  insecure.  Slate  is  expensive,  and  inaccessible 
to  the  great  mass  of  our  people.  Tin  requires  great  expense  of  painting,  and 
is  constantly  exposed  to  corrosion,  and,  besides  this,  it  is  difficult  to  repair, 
and  often,  being  too  long  neglected,  till  the  roof  leaks  like  a  sieve,  is  beyond 
the  cure  of  solder  and  patching,  and  is,  therefore,  useless. 

This  article  is  rarely  used  for  roofs  in  Great  Britain,  or  on  the  continent  of 
Europe.  Tarred  and  gravelled  paper,  which  have  been  so  extensively  used  in 
various  parts  of  the  country,  after  a  thorough  experiment,  have  gone  into  almost 
universal  disrepute.  All  these  adaptations  for  roofs  have  objections  more  or 
less  serious,  either  on  account  of  the  cost,  security,  combustibility,  perishable- 
ness,  or  failure  in  other  respects,  to  answer  their  intended  design. 

The  Anhydrous  Composition,  at  the  head  of  this  article,  seems  to  meet  all 
the  exigencies  of  the  case  so  much  better  than  any  other  material,  that  if 
half  that  is  claimed  for  it  is  proved,  it  must  eventually  supersede  all  other 
materials  now  employed  for  such  purposes.  Those  who  are  conversant  with 
this  composition  claim  for  it  as  an  effective  and  invaluable  resistant  of  water  ; 
and,  hence,  a  roof  made  of  it  can  never  leak.  Being  incombustible,  it  can 
not  take  fire.  Such  is  its  nature,  that  it  can  never  wear  out  or  decay.  It  is 
a  non-conductor  of  heat  and  cold,  and,  hence,  tends  to  secure  a  cool  temper- 
ature to  upper  rooms  in  the  heat  of  summer,  and  a  moderate  temperature  in 
winter.  As  the  materials  that  compose  it  are  found  in  great  abundance  in 
every  state  of  the  Union,  it  is  universally  accessible.  It  is  cheaper  than  any 
other  permanent  roof.  It  may  be  put  on  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  is 
equally  adapted  to  all  climates,  and  to  every  temperature,  both  of  cold  and 
hot ;  both  wet  and  dr}'.  It  may  be  manufactured  by  fixtures  of  very  trifling 
expense,  in  every  city  and  principal  district  of  tlie  land.  These  excellent 
qualities  of  this  article  may  be  regarded  as  facts  established  both  by  experi- 
ment and  the  ordeal  of  scientific  analysis.  If  broken  by  violence,  or  other 
cause,  it  is  easily  repaired.  On  all  other  points,  this  composifion  solicits  the 
careful  and  thorough  scrutiny  of  the  public. 

It  may  be  applied  to  roofs  perfectly  flat,  or  in  situations  where  the  water 
may  remain  on  them  for  any  length  of  time,  as  the  water  will  never  pene- 
trate the  composition.  Sods  of  grass  may  be  placed  on  it,  and  seeds  planted 
and  cultivated  in  the  soil,  and  yet  the  dampness  will  not  penetrate  the  roof. 
It  is  readily  applied,  also,  to  leaky  roofs  in  any  situation,  whether  covered  with 
tin,  shingles,  sand,  or  other  materials,  without  removing  the  old  material ; 


WATER-POWEE    ON   THE   POTOMAC.  659 


nor  do  roofs  thus  treated  require  any  outlay  for  paint,  or  other  substances, 
with  which  to  keep  it  in  good  order.  Gutters  as  well  as  roofs  are  treated 
with  this  composition.  It  is  also  useful  for  damp  walls,  to  secure  dryness  , 
and  in  the  construction  of  vaults  under  sidewalks,  in  cemeteries  and  cellars  , 
and  to  repair  them  when  injured  by  the  dripping  of  water.  If  used  under 
sidewalks,  and  in  other  similar  conditions,  it  prevents  the  percolation  of 
water  and  its  pernicious  consequences. 

It  is  also  well  fitted  for  deafening  floors,  and  thus  preventing  injury  to 
plastering  by  leakage  of  water  through  them. 

This  Anhydrous  Composition,  with  a  little  variation  of  material,  and  differ- 
ent preparation,  may  be  made  into  a  plaster,  and  apphed  to  the  outside  of 
the  walls  of  brick  and  wooden  buildings,  in  imitation  of  granite,  brown  stone, 
or  any  description  of  marble,  white  or  clouded. 

This  is  claiming  a  great  deal  for  any  material,  applied  for  such  purposes, 
and  it  may,  liereafLer,  be  found  that  we  are  in  error  in  respect  to  it.  But  we 
present  the  claims  of  those  interested  in  it,  {with  some,  abatement,)  and  so 
far  as  evidence  is  furnished  to  us  personally,  that  these  claims  are  well 
founded  from  the  evidence  furnished  ns.  From  the  evidence  furnished  us 
we  are  induced  to  regard  this  a  very  valuable  material.  We  ought,  also' 
to  add  that  it  is  not  costly,  but  is  comparatively  cheap,  so  far  as  first  cost  is 
concerned. 


THE  WATER  POWER  ON  THE  POTOMAC. 

We  have  recently  received  a  pamphlet  containing  a  minute  description  of 
the  Water-Power  of  "  The  Great  Falls  Manufacturing  Company"  on  the  Po- 
tomac, opposite  Washington  and  Georgetown,  The  legislature  of  Virginia 
has  incorporated  the  town  of  Potoiuac,  at  the  Great  Falls,  The  surface  of 
the  territory  thus  incorporated  is  undulating,  and  abounds  with  springs  of 
the  purest  water,  and  the  adjacent  country  is  very  beautiful.  This  town  of 
Potomac  is,  from  Georgetown,  fourteen  miles  ;  from  Washington  C!ity,  fifteen, 
and  from  Alexandria  about  twenty  miles.  It  includes  quarries  of  building 
stones,  clay  for  bricks,  and  an  al)uiidance  of  timbers.  Lime  and  cement  aro 
easily  procured. 

The  Water-Power  is  immense;  the  fall  being  nearly  eighty  feet.  A  wing 
dam  is  also  contemplated,  raising  it  five  feet  more.  The  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany was  incorporated  in  May,  1852,  for  h  period  of  thirty  years,  and  with  a 
capital  of  one  million  of  dollars.  The  privileges  granted  them,  besides  those 
named,  are  of  very  great  value.  Among  these  is  a  charter  from  the  state  of 
Maryland,  authorizing  a  toll  bridge  across  the  Potomac,  uniting  the  town 
with  the  Ohio  and  Chesapeake  -Canal,  and  from  Virginia,  for  a  railroad  to 
intersect  with  the  Orange  and  Alexandria  railroad. 

The  area  of  the  water  way,  at"  Little  Falls,  is  2,040  square  feet;  the  su- 
perficial velocity,  68  feet  per  minute  ;  the  true  jnean  velocity  is  56  feet ;  and. 
hence,  the  quantity  running  is  114,240  cubic  feet  per  minute.  The  property 
has  been  surveyed  ;  the  head-gates,  guard-walls  and  dam,  have  been  located 
by  skillful  engineers,  John  and  Stewart  Chase,  of  Mass.,  and  Asa  Jackson,  of 
Leesburg,  Va.  Extensive  maps  are  iiUached  to  the  description,  and  the 
whole  is  ready  for  any  enterprising  manufacturers,  or  capitalists,  who  will 
unite  in  the  improvement  of  this  tremendous  water-power,  Mr.  Hall  Neilson, 
of  Washington,  D.  C,  is  President  of  the  Company. 


660 


THE   STKENGTH   OF  BEAMS. 


THE     STRENGTH     OF     BEAMS. 

Ik  tlie  paper  under  this  heading,  iu  tlie  January  number  of  this  Journal,  it 
was  found  that  the  furmuhx  for  ihe  strength  of  beams  was 

in  which  W=  the  breaking  weight  of  the  beam  ;  —  />  =  its  breadth  ;  d  =<= 
its  depth ;  ^  =  its  length,  and  C  =  a  constant  quantity  deduced  from  expe- 
riment. This  formula  is  applicable  when  the  load  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  the 
beam.  If  the  strength  of  the  beam  is  just  suflScient  to  sustain  it  when  in  the 
Fig.  4.  middle,  it  will  be  more  than  enough 

when  at  any  other  point.  For  if 
W  (Fig.  4)  be  the  greatest  weight 
that  a  beam  of  uniform  section 
will  support  in  the  middle,  D,  then 
the  greatest  W,  which  it  will  sup- 
port at  any  other  point,  P,  will  be 
found  by  the  proportion. 

A  P  X  P  B  :  A  D  X  D  B  ::  W  :  W 

W  ==  W  (^  P  ><  ^  ^) 
(A  P  X  P  B) 

Therefore,  a  beam  of  uniform  section  throughout,  to  be  used  for  sustaining  a 
movable  weight,  as  a  bridge  does  a  carriage,  is  unnecessarily  strong  at  all 
other  points,  when  it  is  of  just  sufficient  strength  at  the  centre.  Indeed,  this 
is  evident  at  first  sight ;  for  it  is  obvious  that  the  leverage  exerted  by  the 
weight,  W,  acting  at  the  distances  D  A  and  D  B  from  the  abutments,  is 
greater  than  that  exerted  by  the  same  weight  acting  at  the  distances  A  P 
and  P  B. 

Theoretically,  then,  the  area  of  the  section  of  the  beam  should  continually 
diminish  from  the  centre  toward  each  end,  in  the  ratio  of  the  rectangles  of 
the  segments ;  that  is,  the  section  at  the  point  P  should  be  less  than  the 
section  at  the  point  D,  in  the  proportion  that  A  P  X  P  B  is  less  than 
A  D  X  r>  B  ;  so  that  at  the  abutments  the  beam  Avould  have  tapered  to  a 
point. 

But  here  we  come  to  the  broad  distinction  existing  between  the  strain 
and  the  simple  weight  of  the  load,  between  the  tendency  toward  the  fracture 
of  the  beam  and  the  pressure  upon  the  abutments.  The  load  has  a  two-fold 
effect,  the  former  of  which  alone  we  have  been  considering.  The  one  is  the 
simple  action  of  the  weight  itself,  while  the  other  is  the  action  of  the  weight 
in  conjunction  with  the  leverage.  Thus,  suppose  50  lbs.  to  be  suspended 
from  the  end  of  a  beam  10  feet  long,  the  strain  exerted  will  be  50  x  10  === 
500  lbs.,  while  the  tocif/ht  which  the  abutment  is  called  upon  to  sustain  is 
only  50  lbs.  The  strai/t,  from  a  constant  load,  varies,  of  course,  as  its  dis- 
tance from  the  abutment,  while  the  weight  remains  constant  for  any  distance. 
And  the  cross  section  of  the  beam  must  be  of  sufficient  area  to  support  this 
weight;  therefore,  it  cannot  taper  to  a  point,  as  the  equation  would  seem  to 
indicate.  Ilowever,  as  the  weight  is  generally  so  small  in  proportion  to  the 
strain,  it  is  scientifically  proper  that  a  beam,  intended  for  the  support  of 


THE   STRENGTH   OF   BEAMS..  561 


movable  loads,  should  be  smaller  at  the  end  than  in  the  middle  ;  and  this  is 
generally  or  often  the  case  with  bridge  chords,  &c. 

We  have  hitherto  supposed  that  the  weight  of  the  beam  itself  was  no- 
thing ;  but,  practically,  we  will  hardly  find  this  supposition  a  correct  one. 
The  weight  of  the  beam  is  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  and  many  times  is 
a  most  important  element  in  the  calculation.  Thus,  the  greatest  load  that 
can  ever  in  practice  be  placed  upon  the  Britannia  Tubular  Bridge,  over 
Menai  straits,  would  be  a  train  of  locomotive  engines,  extending  from  end  to 
end,  and  would  weigh  about  1,500  tons.  But  the  weight  of  the  bridge  itself 
is  nearly  11,000  tons. 

The  effect  of  this  weight  is,  of  course,  similar  to  that  of  a  load  equally 
distributed  throughout  the  entire  length  of  the  beam,  and  is  to  be  estimated 
as  such.  The  weight  of  each  half  of  the  beam  may  be  supposed  to  be  col- 
lected at  its  centre  of  gravity,  i.  e.,  half  way  between  the  abutment  and  the 
centre  of  the  beam,  or  at  a  distance  of  ^  Z  from  the  abutment.  Designating 
the  weight  of  the  half  beam  by  w,  the  expression  for  the  strain  will  be 

10  X  -^  I  =  —    That  is,  the  strain  resulting  from  the  weight  of  the  half 

4 
beam  is  equal  to  one-fourth  the  product  of  the  length  of  the  beam  into  its 
weight. 

Suppose  the  weight,  w,  to  be  accumulated  at  the  middle  of  the  beam.  It 
would  then  act  with  the  leverage,  ^  I,  instead  of  ^l,  as  before,  and  the  ex- 
pression for  the  strain  will  become Therefore,  a  beam  will   sustain  a 

twice  heavier  load  when  equally  distributed  than  when  accumulated  at  the 
centre. 

This  may  be  illustrated  somewhat  more  practically  by  means  of  a  dia- 
gram, and  as  it  shows  the  prime  importance  of  taking  the  leverage  into  ac- 
count in  questions  of  this  kind,  it  may  be  well  so  to  explain  it. 

Fig.  5.  Let  A  B  (Fig.  5)  be 

a  beam,  resting  upon 
the  supports,  A  and  B, 
at  the  ends.  Let  D  C 
and  C  E  be  weights, 
resting  upon  chocks  at 
D,  C,  and  E.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  the  effect  is  the  same  as  though  they  were  equally  distributed  over 
the  whole  length  of  the  beam.  One-half  of  the  weight  D  C,  is  sustained 
at  D,  and  the  other  half  at  C,  and  the  like  is  true  of  the  weight  C  E.  ^  But 
the  parts  sustained  at  D  and  E,  immediately  over  the  abutments,  act  without 
leverage,  and  consequently  exert  no  fracturing  strain.  The  parts  sustained 
at  C  act  with  a  leverage,  A  C,  or  its  equal,  C  B,  and,  therefore,  they  alone 
tend  toward  fracture.  But  the  weight  sustained  at  C  is  only  half  the  entire 
weight.  The  other  half  rests  upon  D  and  E  ;  therefore  the  beam  Avill  sup- 
port a  w^eight,  if  equally  di?tributed,  equal  to  twice  that  which  it  can  sustain 
if  accumulated  at  the  middle.  .  _    . 

The  weight  of  a  single  beam,  as  compared  with  the  load  which,  in  struc- 
tures of  various  kinds,  it  is  called  on  to  sustain,  is  generally  of  trivial  moment, 
and  may,  in  many  instances,  be  safely  omitted  in  the  calculation.  But  in 
large  "  built  beams,"  such  as  bridges  and  trusses  of  any  description,  it  is  of 
great  importance,  and  must  be  carefully  prepared  for.  In  cases  like  this,  an 
estimate  must  first  be  made  of  the  dimensions  of  the  frame  necessary  for  the 
33 


662  THE  STRENGTH   OF  BEAMS. 

support  of  its  own  weight,  and  then  afterward  those  dimensions  must  be 
motlified,  so  as  to  sustain,  in  addition,  the  load  about  to  be  imposed. 

To  illustrate  the  mode  of  doing  this,  let  us  take  one  or  two  examples. 

An  example  given  in  the  previous  article  was — What  is  the  breaking 
weight  of  a  beam  of  oak,  10  inches  broad,  12  inches  deep,  and  14  feet  long? 
The  answer  was  found  to  be  14,331  lbs.  This,  of  course,  includes  the  weight 
of  the  beam  itself.  We  wish  to  find  how  much  weight  can  be  placed  upon 
the  beam  in  addition  to  its  own  weight.  Oak  weighs  about  36  lbs.  per  cubic 
foot.  The  weight  of  the  beam  then  will  be  about  420  lbs.  This  weight 
being  equally  distributed,  is  equivalent  to  210  lbs.  placed  at  the  centre.  The 
breaking  weight  proper  then,  that  is,  the  weight  of  the  imposed  load,  will  be 
14,331  —  210  =  14,121  lbs.,  or  28,242  lbs.  equally  distributed. 

Take  another  example. 

Seasoned  pitch-pine  weighs  about  30  lbs.  per  cubic  foot.  What  must  be 
the  length  of  a  stick  of  this  material,  12  inches  square,  that  the  breaking- 
weight,  suspended  from  the  middle,  exclusive  of  its  own  weight,  may  be 

h  d  ^ 
10,000  lbs?     In  the  equation,  W  ^ C  as  applied  to  this  case,  all  the 

quantities  are  known,  except  Wand  I;  the  first  of  which  is  the  entire  weight, 
and  the  other,  the  length  of  the  stick  in  feet.  Since  the  sectional  area  of  the 
beam  is  a  square  foot,  there  will  be  as  many  cubic  feet  in  its  bulk  as  there 
are  linear  feet  in  its  length  ;  and  each  one  of  these  weighing  30  lbs.,  the 
weight  of  the  beam  will  be  represented  by  30  I.  But  this  weight,  30  I,  is 
equally  distributed  ;  its  effect  is  therefore  equivalent  to  15  Z,  suspended  from 
the  middle.  The  entire  breaking-weight  of  the  beam,  therefore,  will  be 
10,000  -f  15  Z.     By  the  table  given  in  the  previous  number,  we  find  C  == 

1,632.  And  substituting  these  values  in  the  equation  W  =  C,  we  have 

10,000  -f  15  /  =  ll><ill  1632  =  ^^^^  ><  ^^^^ 
12  ;  \2l 

235008 


~         I 
15^  +  10,000^  =  235008 

Z*  X  606,66  Z=  15667.2   a   quadratic   equation,   which, 
being  solved,  gives 

;  =  22.7  ft. 
In  like  manner,  the  equation  may  be  solved  for  any  other  of  the  dimen- 
sions ;  as  for  instance,  to  find  W,  we  have 

W  -f  15  X  22.7  =  ^1^^  =10352.8 
22.7 

W  =  10352.8  —  15  X  22.7  =  10,012.3  lbs.,  which 
IB  within  a  fraction  of  the  value  of  W,  as  first  given. 

For  trussed  bridges,  trussed  frames,  and  such  built  beams,  a  shorter  way 
may  be  adopted. 

Suppose  a  truss  supported  at  each  end,  and  loaded  in  the  middle  ;  or  what 
is  the  same  thing,  for  our  purpose,  supported  at  one  end,  and  loaded  at  the 
other.  Let  the  imposed  weight  be  represented  by  W,  and  the  weight  of  the 
truss  itself  by  w.  Let  h  be  the  height  of  the  truss,  and  I  its  length.  It  is 
required  to  find  the  ultimate  strength  of  each  of  the  two  chords,  upper  and 
lower  ==  S. 


THE   STRENGTH   OF   BEAMS.  563 

The  effect  of  the  load,  W,  acting  at  the  distance,  /,  is  represented  by  W  I. 
The  effect  of  the  weight,  w,  acting  at  the  distance,  \  I,  (its  centre  of  gravity) 

is  represented  by  —     The  sum  of  the  two  is  W  Z  +  — 

It  A 

The  effect  of  the  strength  or  resistance,  S,  of  the  upper  chord,  acting  at 
the  distance,  ^  A,  from  the  neutral  axis,  is  represented  by  S  X  ^^  ;  and  that 
Qf  the  lower  chord  is  the  same.  The  sum  of  the  two  (S  X  i  ^)  +  (S  X  i  ^i) 
=S  A,  which  "will  be  equivalent  to  the  straining  force  of  the  entire  load — 
that  is, 

S  A  ==  W  ^  +  —  :    whence 
2 

(     2A        )  _ 
It  should  be  remarked  that  Z,  as  here  employed,  represents  the  length  of 
the  truss  supported  at  one  end  and  loaded  at  the  other.     If  the  equation  be 
used  with  reference  to  a  truss  supported  at  both  ends  and  loaded  in  the  mid- 
dle, I  must  be  halved,  and  the  equation  will  become 

S  ==  /(2  W  +  w) 
(       4A       ) 

To  apply  this  equation,  suppose  we  wish  to  ascertain  the  strength  and  size 
of  chord  necessary  for  a  truss  bridge  of  180  feet  span,  and  weighing  240,000 
!bs.,  and  to  bear  an  imposed  load  of  4,000  lbs.  per  lineal  foot,  (which  is  more 
than  twice  as  much  as  any  ordinary  bridge  is  ever  required  to  sustain.)  The 
whole  imposed  load  on  the  bridge  will  be  720,000  lbs.,  of  which  each  truss 
will  support  one  half,  or  360,000  lbs.,  and  each  half  truss  180,000  lbs.  (By 
each  half  truss,  is  meant  that  part  between  one  of  the  abutments  and  the 
middle  of  the  truss.)  In  this  case,  then,  W  =  180,000  and  w  =  240,000. 
Let  A  =  18  ft.  while  ^=180  ft.  Substituting  these  quantities  in  the 
equation  above,  we  have 

S  =  180  (360,000  +  240,000)  _  ^^^  ^ 

(  72  )  ' 

S  =  1,499,999  lbs.— say  1,500,000  lbs. 

Assuming  8,000  lbs.  per  .square  inch  of  sectional  area  as  the  breaking 
weight  of  the  chords,  we  have  187.5  square  inches  as  the  necessary  area  of 
section  of  each  chord  at  the  middle. 

The  same  equation  can  be  solved  for  any  one  of  the  quantities  contained 
in  it,  when  the  rest  are  known. 

The  legitimate  strain  created  by  a  movable  load,  such  as  a  train  of  cars 
passing  over  a  bridge,  is  to  be  estimated  like  all  other  similar  strains.  It  is 
greatest  when  the  load  is  at  the  middle,  and  diminishes  as  it  approaches 
either  end,  in  the  proportion  above  stated.  The  effect  of  the  load  at  each 
point  in  its  progress  can  be  easily  found  from  the  formulae  before  given. 
The  vibration  necessarily  attending  the  passage  of  such  a  burden  as  a  heavy 
train  of  cars,  is  to  be  estimated  on  other  principles,  that  do  not  come  within 
,the  scope  of  the  present  purpose.  Provision  is  generally  made  against  such 
vibration  by  a  system  of  stiffening  and  bracing.  Therefore,  the  truss  for  a 
bridge  is  necessarily  somewhat  more  complicated  than  that  for  the  support 
of  a  roof,  or  any  similar  stationary  permanent  load. 

Let  us  find,  from  the  dimensions  of  the  beam,  and  the  breaking  weight  as 
data,  some  formula  which  may  serve  as  an  expression  for  the  strain  per 
square  inch  of  sectional  arefi. 


56i 


TilE   STRENGTH  OF   BEAMS. 


Fig.  6. 


ii 


be,   therefore,   ~ ,  which  is  equivalent 


to 


2d' 


If  W  (Fig.  6)  be  the 
breaking  weight  at  the  cen- 
tre, then  the  load  supported 
by  the  half  beam,  B  E,  will 
be  ^  W.  The  length  of 
the  whole  beam,  D  B,  is  /, 
and  that  of  the  half  beam, 
B  E,  is  -^  /.  The  leverage 
is  equal  to  this  length,  di- 
vided by  the  depth,  A  B 
=  f?  of  the  beam,  and  will 

The  product  of  this  lererage 


into  the  weight,  ^  W,  will  represent  the  entire  strain  on  the  cros^  section, 

— ;  X  ^  W  ==  — ■  ,  which,  divided  bv  b  d,  the  expression  for  the  sectional 
2d       ^  Ad  '  .        '  r 

area,  will  be  the  strain  per  square  iuch  ;  and  the  formula  will  be 

Wl 


n 


—  that  is 


Ahd^ 

the  strain,  per  square  inch,  equals  the  product  of  the  length  of  the  beam  into 

the  entire  weight  lequired  to  break  it  at  the  centre,  divided  by  four  times  the 

product  of  the  sectional  area  aod  depth — all  the  dimensions  being  of  the 

same  denomination,  i.  e.,  all  ii>  inches,  or  all  in  feet. 

Take  the  example  first  given.     A  beam  of  oak,  14  feet  long,  10  inchei'* 

thick,  and  12  inches  deep,  just  breaks  under  a  weight  at  the  centre — including 

its  own — of  14,331  lbs.     What  is  the  strain  per  square  inch  of  section? 

XT        14,331  X  (14  X  12)        2407608        ,.^  ,  .  ,   • 

H  =  — ^^ ~J  = =  418  —  which  is 

4  X  10  X  12'  5760 

one-fourth  of  the  number  given  as  the  value  of  the  constant  C  for  this  mate- 
rial. Indeed,  we  might  have  reached  the  same  result  from  the  equation 
itself.     For,  substituting  for   W  its  value,   as  given  in   the  formula 

7       7   3 

W  =  — -  C,  and,  reducing,  we  find  H  =  ^  C. 

This  is  applicable  for  single,  unassisted  beams.     But  it  is  evident  that  a 

disposition  of  several  beams  may  be  made,  such  that  one  may  assist  and 

support  the  other.     Such  is  the  case  in  an  ordinary  truss.     It  may,  perhaps, 

♦  be  well  to  explain  the  principles  on  which  the  simple  but  effectual  frame  is 

constructed  : 

Fig.  7.  A  A  (Fig.  7)  and  B 

B  are  the  chords,  c  c 
c"  &c.,  are  the  ties,  and 
d  d'  and  d"  are  the 
braces.  Suppose  a  load 
to  be  suspended  from 
the  lower  chord,  A  A. 
It  is  communicated  by 
the  tie,  c,  to  the  upper 
chord,  B  B,  where  it  is 
divided  and  transferred 
each  way  down  the 
brae..'?,  cZ  and  c/,  back. to  the  chonl,  A  A;  here  it  is  again   carried  to  the 


PHOTOGRAPHY.  565 


upper  chord  by  the  ties,  c  and  c\  whence  it  is  again  sent  down  by  the  braces, 
d'  and  d\  and  so  on,  until  it  reaches  the  abutments  at  each  end.  Thus,  the 
principle  of  the  truss  is  simply  that  of  distribution.  Strain  is  not  allowed  to 
concentrate  itself  at  any  one  poi#t,  but  is  continually  shifted  and  scattered. 
Hence  it  is  obvious,  that  the  standard  for  the  strength  of  truss  chords  must 
be  very  much  higher  than  that  for  mere  unassisted  similar  beams ;  and  the 
beam  which,  single,  Avould  support  one  thousand  pounds,  may  sufter  with 
safety  the  imposition  of  a  far  heavier  load,  if  forming  the  chord  of  a,  judi- 
ciously constructed  truss.  Hence  there  is  no  necessary  contradiction  in_  the 
assumption  previously  made  of  the  strength,  per  square  inch,  of  a  bridge 
chord  at  8000  lbs.  The  beam  itself  is,  of  course,  no  stronger,  or  more 
capable  of  endurance,  but  it  is  so  disposed,  that  the  load  placed  upon  it  is 
shifted  and  thrown  off.  C.  E. 

p.  s, — In  my  article  in  the  January  number  occur  two  or  three  misprint«, 
which  rather  interfere  with  a  correct  understanding  of  the  text.  On  page 
412,  the  words,  "  that  of,"  in  the  twenty-ninth  line  from  the  top,  should  be 
omitted.  In  the  thirtieth  line,  for  "  E.  W.,"  read  "  4  W."  In  the  thirty- 
first  and  thirty-second  lines,  for  "a;,"  between  ".f/,"  and  "P,"  and,  also,  be- 
tween"/  E,"  and  "  W,"  read  "  X ,"  the  sign  of  multiplication.  In  the  thirty- 
fourth  line  strike  out  the  word  "  the,"  before  "  P  ;"  and  in  the  thirty-fifth 
line,  insert  "  inversely,"  between  "  varies"  and  "  as,"  and,  also,  between 
"is"  and  "as." 


PHOTOGRAPHY. 


This  art  is  now  attracting  much  attention  from  the  public,  in  virtue,  not  only 
of  the  rare  beauty  of  its  results,  but,  of  its  diverse  and  infinite  applicability  to 
the  reproduction  of  every  variety  of  object.  Following  appropriately  in  the 
wake  of  the  daguerreotype  art,  it  has  opened  a  new  field,  and  awakened  a 
new  interest  in  its  growth  and  perpetuity.  The  first  public  dawning  of  the 
daguerreotypic  art  was  obscured  by  the  clouds  of  prejudice  and  ignorance  on 
the  one  hand,  and  distrust  and  jealousy  on  the  part  of  artists.  It,  however, 
made  its  way,  and,  under  the  guidance  of  men  of  taste,  skill,  and  energy,  has 
at  length  become  a  recognized  and  leading  feature  in  the  world-of  art.^ 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  some  of  our  readers  to  detail  the  distinction 
between  the  daguerreotypic  and  photographic  processes.  The  daguerreo- 
type, as  is  well  known,  is  produced  by  the  action  of  light  upon  a  preparation 
of  chemicals  upon  the  surface  of  a  highly-polished,  metallic  plate.  The  re- 
versal of  the  object  daguerreotyped  is  a  necessity  of  this  process.  _  The  pro- 
duction of  photographs,  though  similar,  differs  in  the  respect  that  impression 
is  first  taken  upon  a  plain  surface,  and  from  thence  transferred  by  the  action 
of  light,  to  chemically  prepared  paper,  the  transfer  again  reversing  the  im- 
pression, and  thus  bringing  it  back  to  its  original  position.  The  effect  upon 
the  glass  being  durable,  the  number  of  impressions  may  be  multiplied  to_  an 
indefinite  extent,  at  a  comparatively  nominal  expense.  This  feature  is  a 
specially  important  one,  as  it  affords  to  clubs,  associations,  or  persons  desirous 
of  possessing  themselves  of  portraits  of  any  distinguished  individual,  ample 
facilities  for  doing  so.  So  much  for  the  modus  operandi  of  the  art.  Its  ad- 
vantages, in  point  of  merit,  over  the  daguerreotype,  are  briefly  these :  A 
more  delicate  softness  of  tint  and  transparency  of  shadow,  and  an  entire  free- 


566  WHITE   aoLDEN   FLINT   WHEAT. 

dom  from  the  reflected  glare  of  the  metallic  plates.  These,  together  with 
certain  technical  advantages,  familiar  only  to  the  artist,  and  the  faculty  of  re- 
duplication, constitute  its  chief  claims  to  pne-eminence.  Its  applicability  to 
architectural  views,  scenery,  mechanism,  or  any  object  requiring  clearness, yet 
delicacy  of  outline,  is  also  a  prominent  feature  of  excellence. 

We  look  forward,  and  not  far  in  the  future,  to  the  time  when  the  traveller's 
paraphernalia  will  be  incomplete  without  a  photographic  apparatus.  Of 
course  the  result  of  this  wide  practice  of  the  art  will  be  not  only  to  familiarise 
us  with  the  architectural  and  scenic  features  of  countries,  of  which  we  can 
now  know  but  little  through  the  medium  of  verbal  or  engraved  descriptions, 
but  to  impel  the  artist  to  a  more  earnest  study,  and  a  more  correct  realiza- 
tion of  the  importance  of  truth  in  art.  For,  with  the  perfection  of  photo- 
graphic perspectives,  the  correct  and  delicate  shading  of  its  fairy  pencil, 
challenging  their  study,  and  provoking  their  emulation,  artists  can  not  fail 
to  approach  nearer  to  the  ultimate  standard  of  excellence — truth. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  great  capacity  for  good  which  the  art  pos- 
sesses, it  embodies  in  no  less  a  degree  the  elements  which  may  be  turned 
against  the  interests  of  art  with  fatal  power.  Its  assumption  by  men  whose 
sole  object  is  gain,  and  its  consequent  degradation,  render  it  a  convenient 
vehicle  for  the  dissemination  and  perpetuation  of  crude  and  uncultured  ideas 
of  art.  Unlike  the  daguerreotype,  its  susceptibility  of  being  colored,  either 
in  oil  or  water  colors,  enhances  and  aggravates  the  danger.  For,  if  the  in- 
ferior execution,  the  degraded  pandering  to  a  ridiculous  taste  for  high  colors 
is  more  generally  sought,  who  can  doubt  but  it  will  be  readily  obtained  ;  or 
who  can  doubt  that  the  result  of  such  a  condition  of  the  photographic  art, 
would  entail  a  serious  injury  upon  the  cherished  interests  of  public  taste,  and 
a  fostering  of  the  love  for  objects  of  the  beautiful. 

The  studio  of  Mr.  Brady,  of  this  city,  furnishes  many  fine  specimens  of  the 
daguerreian  art,  and  this  encourage  us  to  hope  that  his  attempts  to  perfect 
this  new  discovery  will  not  be  in  vain.  Indeed,  he  has  already  produced 
some  excellent  pictures.  If  he  develops  its  wonderful  capabilities,  and  ren- 
ders it  an  aid  to  the  sister  arts,  and  a  universal  teacher  of  the  true  and  the 
beautiful,  he  will  add  another  to  the  many  laurels  he  has  already  won. 


White  Golden  Flint  Wheat. — A  sample  of  this  superior  wheat  was 
exhibited  by  William  Stavely,  Esq.,  at  the  recent  fair  in  Bucks  county,  and 
attracted  unusual  attention  and  commendation.  The  grains  were  about 
twice  the  size  of  the  ordinary  white  wheat,  round  and  plump;  while  the 
color  was  about  the  same  as  the  old,  and  with  the  millers,  a  favorite  variety. 
Mr.  Stavely  informs  us  that  he  sowed  two  bushels  on  an  acre  last  fall,  which 
produced  about  twenty-five  bushels  last  harvest.  The  ground  upon  which  it 
grew,  he  does  not  think  the  best,  and  is  of  opinion  that  it  would  have  pro- 
duced about  the  same  amount  of  Mediterranean  wheat.  As  an  evidence  of 
the  estimation  in  which  he  holds  it,  we  may  add  that  he  has  put  the  whole 
twenty-five  bushels  in  the  ground  for  next  year's  crop. — Farm  Journal. 

Aldernev  Cattle. — P.  T.  Barnum  has  imported  two  cows  and  a  bull  of 
the  Alderney  breed.  They  came  from  London  in  the  ship  Splendid,  and 
are  intended  for  his  farm  in  Bridgeport,  Ct. 


MACHINE   FOR  MAKING  CHAIN   LINKS. 


667 


MACHINE    FOR    MAKING    CHAIN    LINKS. 


The  annexed  engravings  are  views  of  an  improved  machine  for  making 
chain  links,  and  were  sent  to  us  by  Mr.  Arcalous  WyckofF,  Columbus,  Ohio, 
to  whom  a  patent  was  granted  on  the  14th  of  last  February. 

Figure  1  is  a  side  elevation  of  the  machine;  figure  2  is  a  detached  view, 
exhibiting  on  the  under  side  the  cutter  and  bender  of  the  wire  in  its  horizon- 
tal movement ;  figure  3  is  a  detached  view  of  a  portion  of  figure  1,  to  show 
the  action  of  the  vertical  bender,  sleeve,  and  lever,  giving  the  middle  bend  of 
the  link.     Similar  letters  refer  to  like  parts  on  the  three  figures. 

This  improvement  in  machines  for  making  chains  consists  in  giving  the 
grip  and  middle  bend  of  the  Unk,  cutting  the  wire  the  requisite  length,  and 
bending  both  ends  of  it  simultaneously,  and,  by  an  automatic  movement,  de- 
livering the  formed  link  ready  for  joining  in  a  continuous  chain. 

In  figure  1,  a;  x  represent  a  solid  table.  A  is  the  pulley  to  which  the 
power  is  applied,  carrying  on  its  shaft  a  pinion,  B,  giving  motion  to  the 
driving  wheel,  C,  on  shaft,  C  ;  D  and  E  are  cams  on  the  horizontal  shaft,  C, 
for  operating  the  bars,  O  and  N ;  F  is  a  large  cam  also  on  the  shaft,  C, 
which,  striking  against  the  end  of  the  bar,  carrying  rack,  H,  gives  an  inter- 
mittent motion  to  the  pinion,  K,  placed  on  a  vertical  shaft,  which  also  carries 
a  bevel  pinion  (placed  under  K  for  giving  motion  to  L,  carrying  a^sleeve,)  on 
the  outer  end  of  which  is  a  bending  arm,  which,  in  its  semi-revolution,  forms 
one  eye  of  the  link  ;  M  is  a  pinion  (driven  by  K)  which  is  placed  on  a  verti- 
cal shaft,  and  also  carrying  a  sleeve,  on  the  end  of  which  is  secured  the  knife 
or  die,/,  for  cutting  the  wire  into  suitable  lengths,  and,  likewise,  for  bending 


568  LARGE   apples: 


the  other  eye  of  each  link ;  0  is  a  bar  moved  by  cam  E,  it  operates  a  lever, 
R,  for  giving  the  middle  bend  to  the  link,  and  holding  or  clamping  the  wire 
while  being  cut  by/  and  stationary  die,  ^,  also  retaining  it  until  the  link  is 
formed  ;  N  is  a  bar  moved  by  cam,  D,  operating  the  pinion,  M,  by  striking 
a  stud  while  the  wire  is  cutting ;  P  is  a  gauge  (operated  on  by  a  set  screw,) 
for  graduating  the  pressure  of  the  angular  end  of  the  slide  bar,  0,  on  the 
lever,  R,  in  giving  the  middle  bend  and  grip  to  the  link  t  Y  is  a  sliding  bar 
for  closing  the  opening,  8,  figure  2,  through  which  the  wire  is  fed ;  it  is 
pressed  by  the  back  of  the  cutter, /J  which  contracts  the  helical  spring,  10, 
on  the  shank  of  Y  ;  this  spring  re-acts  the  moment  the  pressure  is  removed, 
and  the  bar,  Y,  is  forced  back,  and  closes  the  opening,  8,  while  the  eyes  of 
the  link  are  forming  ;  T  T  are  small,  flat  springs,  having  stub  bolts  or  pins 
working  in  inclined  grooves  in  the  ends  of  the  sleeves  or  pinions,  M  and  L  ; 
they  are  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  off  the  link  formed  on  the  mandrels,  c 
and  b.  The  mandrel,  h,  is  the  one  around  which  the  end  of  the  wire  is  carried 
horizontally  by  the  die,/  in  forming  one  eye  ;  c  is  the  mandrel  around  which 
the  wire  is  carried  vertically  by  the  bender  on  the  sleeve  of  L,  simultaneously 
with  the  formation  of  the  other  eye  on  &  /  G  is  a  cam  secured  on  the  side  of 
cam  F,  and^in  its  revolutions,  operating  on  lever,  I,  draws  back  the  rack,  H, 
giving  a  -reverse  movement  to  all  the  pinions  except  B,  the  rod,  Y,  being 
moved  by  the  back  of  the  die,/,"  permits  the  wire  to  be  fed  in  opening  8. 

The  operation  is  as  follows  : — A  wire  being  introduced  in  opening  8,  and 
held  at  a  slight  angle,  is  forced  against  the  adjustable  stop,  12,  passing 
through  a  guide  near  to  that  side  ;  the  angular  projection,  4,  on  lever,  R,  is 
brought  to  bear  diagonally  on  the  wire,  and,  forcing  it  up  between  the  pins, 
c  and  h,  by  means  of  cam,  E,  operating  on  bar,  O,  and  forcing  the  angular 
projection  thereon  under  the  lever,  R,  raises  it,  and  thus  gives  the  middle 
bend  to  the  wire,  and  securely  clamping  it  between  the  pins,  and  against  the 
plates.  The  die,/j  is  now  moved  by  the  semi-revolution  of  pinion,  M,  acted 
on  by  bar,  N,  and  cam,  D,  and  cuts  off  the  wire  rod  the  requisite  length  for 
a  link,  at  the  same  time  carrying  it  horizontally  around  the  pin  or  mandrel, 
b,  while  the  bender  on  the  sleeve  of  pinion,  L,  simultaneously  carries  the 
other  end  round  the  pin,  c ;  L  receiving  its  motion  from  the  miter  wheel 
under  K,  said  wheel  being  actuated  by  the  sliding  rack,  H,  and  cam,  F,  and 
completes  the  link.  The  springs,  T  T,  are  now  forced  outwards  by  the  pins 
working  in  incMned  grooves  on  the  ends  of  the  sleeves,  and  thus  slide  the  eyes 
off  the  pins  or  mandrels,  c  and  b,  and  the  link  drops  from  the  machine  ready 
for  joining,  which  may  be  done  by  closing  the  eyes  by  hand,  but  much  more 
perfectly  by  machinery. 

This  machine,  now  in  operation  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  makes  about  sixty 
links  per  minute,  or  fifteen  hundred  pounds  per  day,  and  bends  them  ready 
for  use. 


Large  Apples. — Thomas  Pritchard,  Esq.,  of  this  city,  has  shown  us  the 
finest  specimens  of  apples  we  have  ever  seen  in  any  country ;  many  of  them 
measured  fifteen  and  sixteen  inches  in  circumference,  and  weighed  twenty- 
eight  and  twenty-nine  ounces.  Fifteen  or  sixteen  fill  a  half-bushel  measure. 
These  apples  were  raised  by  Nathan  Robinson  of  this  county,  on  trees  only 
three  years'  growth. —  Oregonian. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


569- 


MACHINE  FOR  CHOPPING  BRUSH. 

A  CORRESPONDENT  of  the  New-Eiigland  Farmer  gives  the  following 
account  of  an  invention  of  Mr.  Daniels,  of  Vermont,  (of  Woodstock,  we  sup- 
pose, the  inventor  of  one  of  the  best  of  hay-cutters,)  which  he  saw  in  opera- 
tion on  the  farm  of  Col.  Stanley,  of  Methuen.  AVe  do  not  quite  compre- 
hend its  form,  but  its  efficiency  seems  very  evident.     The  writer  says : 

Messrs.  Eeitors  :  In  passinof  through  Methuen,  a  few  weeks  since,  I  had 
occasion  to  call  on  Col.  Charles  E.  Stanley,  of  that  town,  when  I  was  shown 
by  that  gentleman  a  machine,  or  rather,  cutter,  belonging  to  him,  to  whicli 
horse-power  is  applied,  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  limbs  and  brush  at  the 
door.  It  is  called  "  Daniel's  Patent,"  of  Vermont,  being  very  much  on  the 
principle  of  some  hay-cutters,  only  on  a  much  larger  scale.  Two  huge 
knives,  about  eighteen  inches  long,  one-half  .inch  thick,  and  four  and  a  halt 
in  width,  are  strongly  fastened  on  the  shaft  roll.  A  good  feed  roll  is  also 
applied.  Hard  wood  limbs,  without  trimming,  that  are  not  more  than  three 
inches,  or  pine  that  are  not  more  than  four  and  one-half  inches  through  at 
the  butt,  are  cut  with  ease.  By  changing  the  gearing,  they  can  be  cut  any 
length  desired,  from  four  and  one-half  to  one  fourth  of  an  inch  in  length. 
When  green  pine  limbs  are  cut  two  inches  long  and  spread  upon  a  floornot 
more  than  ten  inches  in  depth,  they  will  dry  so  as  to  burn  well  in  a  week. 

Col.  Stanley  says  he  can  cut  limbs  and  brush  to  the  above  degree  of  fine- 
ness faster  than  a  smart  man,  with  a  good  yoke  of  oxen,  can  haul  and  diimp 
them  from  one-fourth  of  a  mile  distant.  The. advantage  of  cutting  it  so 
fine  is,  that  it  brings  much  scraggy  and  otherwise  worthless  brush,  up  to 
more  than  the  value  of  its  weight  in  solid  wood,  which,  in  these  times  of 
scarcity  and  high  prices  of  fuel,  is  an  object  of  too  much  importance  to  be 
overlooked.  Col.  Stanley's  neighbors  bring  brush  to  him  to  be  cut  on  equal 
shares.     As  near  as  I-  could  judge,  the  machine  will  do  the  work  of  forty 

men.  „., 

The  reason  that  the  chips  dry  so  quick,  is,  that  they  are  not  cut  square  ott, 

but  obliquely,  one  side  being  concave,  and  the  other  convex ;  consequently  they 

are  shattered  to  such  a  degree,  that  the  air  is  admitted  entirely  t^^o^|J^^^|"^' 

and  the  drying  process  imediately  commences. 
Danvers,  Jan.  16,  1855. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 

The  Orangx  Water-Melon.— Mr.  Peabody,  editor  of  the  Soil  of  the 
South,  Columbus,  Ga.,  has  lately  introduced  a  new  kind  of  water-melon, 
and  which, from  its  singular  properties,  he  calls  the  orange  water-melon.  P>y 
cutting  the  rind,  as  you  peel  an  orange,  the  entire  skin  may  be  taken  oft, 
leaving  the  pulp  unbroken,  which,  with  a  little  care,  may  be  divided  as  you 
would  an  orange.  The  flavor  is  said  to  be  rery  fine,  and  it  has  proved 
itself  perfectly  hardy  in  this  State.  Mr.  P.  will,  on  receipt  of  a  dollar,  for- 
ward pre-paid  packages  of  the  seed. 

GrAS  Lime. — Who  has  tried  gas  lime  as  a  manure,  and  what  was  the  result  ? 
An  answer  to  the  above  would  be  of  service  to  many  persons.  ^  Who  of  our 
agricultural  chemists  can  give  its  virtues,  and  the  method  of  using  it  ? 


670  MISCELLANEOUS. 


Illinois. — Inexhaustible  coal  mines  are  found  in  the  south  part  of  tho 
State.  Also  lead,  porcelain-clay,  white  and  gray  marble,  saltpetre,  salt 
marshes,  Epsom  salts,  and  pure  alum.  Shortly  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, a  continuous  line  of  440  miles,  will  connect  this  region  with  Galena. 

A  fine  quarry  of  slate  is  being  opened  hnU  a  mile  from  the  Railroad 
Depot  in  Northfield,  upon  the  Land  of  B.  F.  Woodworth.  It  is  very  acces- 
sible, and,  we  doubt  not,  of  excellent  quality  for  roofing.  Some  think,  from 
the  dip  and  range,  that  it  belongs  to  the  same  quarry  with  the  slate  west  of 
the  mountain.     Who  knows  the  riches  of  our  State  ? 

Steam  Guk  in  England. — A  London  correspondent  of  the  Hew- York 
Spirit  of  the  Times  says,  that  among  the  many  interesting  experiments  that 
are  daily  performed  in  England,  is  Perkins'  Steam  Gun,  which  just  now  is 
attracting  great  attention.  The  gun  is  fixed,  and  the  experiments  are  made, 
driving  out  balls  at  the  rate  of  300  to  400  a  minute.  Mr.  Perkins  has 
offered  to  the  English  Government  to  erect  a  single  steam  gun  that  shall  take 
Sebastopol,  or  any  other  Russian  stronghold,  at  a  distance  of  five  miles.  He 
proposes  to  send  a  ball  of  one  ton  weight  that  distance,  and  with  much 
greater  efiect  than  with  powder  at  one-fifth  that  distance.  It  is  in  contempla- 
tion, I  believe,  by  government,  to  give  orders  for  the  manufacture  of  this  gun, 
in  order  that  the  experiments  may  be  tried. 

Earthquakes  and  Electricity. — The  Boston  Traveller  says,  that  during 
the  forenoon  of  the  8th  instant,  when  shocks  of  earthquakes  were  felt  in 
Maine,  New-Brunswick  avd  Nova  Scotia,  telegraphic  lines  in  different  sections 
of  the  country  were  more  or  less  disturbed  by  extraneous  electric  currents, 
similar  to  those  that  uniformly  accompany  manifestations  of  the  Aurora  Bo- 
realis ;  but  the  disturbance  was  slight,  compared  with  that  which  accom- 
panied the  eruption  of  Manna  Loa,  a  volcano  on  one  of  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
in  February,  1852,  at  which  time  every  telegraph  line  throughout  the  country, 
from  Halifax  to  New-Orleans,  and  from  New- York  to  St.  Louis,  was  rendered 
completely  inoperative. 

Improvements  in  Puddling  Iron. — James  Nasmyth,  of  Patricroft,  near 
Manchester,  England,  has  recently  patented  an  improved  operation  in  iron 
manufacture,  by  subjecting  the  molten  metal  in  the  puddling  or  refining  fur- 
nace to  the  action  of  a  current  of  steam,  introduced  at  its  lower  portion, 
diffusing  upwards,  and  thus  mechanically  agitating  the  liquid  metal,  and  ex- 
posing fresh  surface  to  the  oxygen  of  the  furnace  atmosphere,  which  chemi- 
cally combines  with  the  carbon  and  sulphur  contained  in  the  iron,  and  deprives 
it  of  those  impurities.  The  hydrogen  set  free  is  thus  in  a  state  to  combine 
with  any  excess  of  sulphur,  whether  present  in  the  iron,  or  as  a  product  of 
the  combustion  of  the  fuel. — Mining  Journal. 

Durham  Cattle  For  Sale. — James  W  Pearse,  of  Lancaster,  is  now 
in  Marion  county,  with  a  lot  of  superior  Short-horn  Cattle  for  sale.  Several 
of  them  took  premiums  at  the  recent  Fairfield  show,  and  several  of  the  best 
breeders  of  that  region  certify  as  to  their  purity  of  blood  and  fine   points. 

We  see  by  tho  Zanesville  papers  that  Jones,  of  the  "Stacey  House,"  pur- 
chased of  Mr.  Pearse  a  thorough-bred  heifer ;  and  Thos.  Hall,  of  Wayne  Town- 
ship, Muskingum  county,  another.  Mr.  Pearse  will  be  recognized  as  the 
owner  of  the  celebrated  "C/ay  Trustee,"  md  also  "/*nnc«  ffal" 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


571 


Sizes  of  Shoes.— The  Lynn  Directory,  for  1851,  says  a  size  is  the  length 
of  one  "barley-corn,"  or  one-third  of  an  inch.  A  size  stick  is  thus  formed  : 
Take  a  rule  or  piece  of  pine-wood,  thirteen  inches  in  length,  and  divide  it  into 
thirty-nine  equal  parts  of  one-third  of  an  inch  each.  The  first  thirteen  are 
left  blank,  and  counted  nothing.  The  second  thirteen  are  called  niens 
and  women's  sizes ;  each  marked  from  one  to  thirteen.  Thus,  nine  inches  is 
a  man's  size,  No.  1 ;  ten  inches  is  No.  4  ;  eleven  inches,  No.  Y  ;  twelve  inches, 
No.  10. 

The  Great  Bell  of  Vienna  weighs  34,400  pounds,  and  a  small  family 
could  live  conveniently  under  the  immense  structure.  Eight  men  are  re- 
quired to  ring  it,  as  the  clapper  alone  weighs  1,400  pounds.  In  the  room 
with  the  clock  is  stationed  a  roan  to  watch  for  the  breaking  out  of  fires  in 
the  city  and  suburbs.  He  takes  the  angle  by  means  of  a  fine  telescope,  and 
on  a  chart,  prepared  for  the  purpose,  finds  the  street  and  house ;  and  the 
alarm  is  then  given. 

Gold  Mines.— The  Petersburg  Intelligencer  gives  a  list  embracing  fifteen 
of  the  most  important  gold  mines  of  the  State,  the  aggregate  value  of  which 
is  estimated  at  $1,700,000.  Of  these,  five  are  not  worked  for  want  of 
capital,  and  four,  valued  at  $575,000,  are  owned  by  English  companies.  The 
great  drawback  of  gold  mining  in  Virginia  is  the  want  of  adequate  ma- 
chinery— or,  in  other  words,  the  mines  are  not  rich  enough  to  be  profitably 
worked  by  the  ordinary  methods. 

Deformed  Roots. — English  farmers  are  much  troubled  with  deformed 
roots,  in  their  culture  of  carrots,  parsnips,  and  other  root  crops.  They  form 
what  are  called  fingers  and  toes,  instead  of  the  conical  and  regular  shapes 
usual  in  successful  root-growing.  On  a  large  scale  this  becomes  a  serious 
evil.  A  great  amount  of  discussion  has  been  bad  in  their  papers  as  to  the 
cause  of  this  difiiculty,  and  the  remedy  for  it. 

A  late  writer  in  the  Agricultural  Gazette  states  that  the  difficulty  is  in  the 
seed-growing,  and  not  in  the  root  culture.  His  remedy  is  to  cut  out  the 
central  umbel,  in  seed-growing,  and  thus  distribute  the  sap  into  ^he  lateral 
ones,  when  a  healthy  seed -is  produced.  In  this  way,  "fingers  and  toes" 
never  disturb  him.  In  using  the  seed  of  the  central  and  large  umbels, he 
always  gets  the  deformed  roots. — Prairie  Farmer. 

Tradesmen  and  Laborers. — If  any  of  our  readers  can  furnish  employ- 
ment for  good  workmen  in  any  branch  of  industry,  we  shall  be  glad  to  send 
to  them  men  who  are  well  recommended.  Hundreds  of  good  men  are  still 
unemployed. 

The  Sketch  of  E.  B.  Bigelow,  Esq. — The  Biographical  sketch  of  this 
gentlemen,  found  in  this  number,  is  taken,  with  consent  of  the  author,  Nehe 
miah  Cleveland,  Esq.,  from  the  pages  of  the  Merchants''  Magazine. 

Tennessee. — The  coal  mines  at  the  Bluffs,  seventy-five  miles  from  Mem- 
phis, (recently  discovered)  yield  the  best  quality  of  coal,  and  are  apparently 
'nexhaustible. 


672  NEW   ENGLISH   PATENTS. 


NEW     ENGLISH     PATENTS. 

Mining  Engines  and  Machinery.  A  Barclay,  Kilmarnock.  Patent 
dated  March  2,  1854. — A  portion  of  the  improvements  comprehended  in 
this  patent  relate  to  the  so  arranging  the  winding  engines  of  coal  and  other 
mines,  that  they  may  be  more  safely  managed  than  at  present,  whilst  all 
chance  of  "over-winding"  and  injury  to  the  mining  mechanism  may  be 
avoided.  These  improvements  are  effected  by  adapting  the  ordinary  and 
well-known  "  link  motion"  to  the  hand-gear  of  the  engine,  so  that  the  attend- 
ant can  easily  stop  and  reverse  his  engine  at  the  exact  moment  required  in 
the  action  of  winding.  To  do  this,  the  engine-man  has  only  to  work  a  hand- 
lever  up  or  down  ;  and  this  lever  being  suitably  connected  with  the  "link- 
motion,"  correspondingly  affects  the  portion  of  such  motion,  and  thereby 
either  stops  or  reverses  the  engine,  as  is  at  present  done  in  locomotive  and 
marine  engines.  By  such  a  system  of  gearing,  the  motion  is  entirely 
unbroken,  and  the  attendant  has  always  a  safe  and  perfect  command  over  his 
engine ;  and  to  add  still  further  to  the  safe  working  of  the  system,  a  self-act- 
ing movement  is  contrived  to  come  into  play  at  the  precise  moment  required, 
for  the  purpose  of  stopping  or  reversing  the  engine,  in  case  the  engine-man 
should  be  careless  or  absent  at  the  proper  time.  For  this  purpose  a  tumbler 
is  so  connnected  with  the  engine  or  winding  mechanism,  that  it  shall  be 
slowly  wound  up,  or  elevated  to  its  falling  centre,  at  the  time  that  the  motion 
of  the  engine  is  to  be  changed.     Thus,  as  this  tumbler  falls  over,  it  acts 

'  through  suitable  connections  upon  the  reversing  or  stopping-link,  and  effects 
the  intended  movement.  Various  means  may  be  adopted  for  securing  the 
self-acting  effect,  disengaging  pins  or  stops  being  so  set  as  to  actuate  the  link- 
movement  at  the  proper  time. 

As  adapted  to  direct-acting  horizontal  cylinder  winding  and  pumping 
engines,  for  instance  a  small  shaft  passes  away  back  from  the  main-shaft  to 
the  steam-cylinder,  at  which  end  this  small  shaft  carries  a  worm  in  gear  with 
a  worm-wheel  set  on  a  horizontal  stud.  This  wheel  has  a  ring-groove  in  its 
side  to  receive  adjustable  stud-pins,  which  are  set  at  the  proper  distances  in 

■  the  wheel,  so  as  to  act  upon  the  adjusting  lever  of  the  valve-link  motion. 
Provision  is  also  made,  by  a  separate  adjusting  slide  or  bolt,  for  allowing  the 
engine-man  to  set  the  engine  to  go  constantly  in  one  direction,  as  when  used 
for  pumping.  When  so  set,  the  adjustable-pins  of  the  worm  wheel  no  longer 
affect  the  engine,  so  as  to  set  the  valves  for  back  or  forward  actions,  or  the 
up  and  down  winding.  Should  the  engine  accidently  run  slightly  beyond 
the  intended  point,  an  eccentric  piece  on  the  stud-spindle  carrying  the  worm- 
wheel  acts  upon  a  sliding  piece  carried  round  by  the  wheel,  and  this  move- 
ment, acting  upon  the  under  side  of  the  valve-link  lever,  sets  this  lever  to  its 
central  position,  so  as  to  prevent  the  return  of  the  engine.  These  gearing 
details  are  obviously  capable  of  being  modified  in  various  ways,  and  the 
arrangements  are  suitable  for  beam  or  other  kinds  of  engines.  To  prevent 
accidents  from  the  main  gearing  getting  disengaged,  a  friction-brake  appa- 
ratus is  provided,  to  stop  the  engine's  movement.  Thus,  should  the  wheels 
fly  out  of  gear — owing,  for  instance,  to  the  attendant's  leaving  out  the  fast- 
ening-key when  changing  from  pumping  to  winding — this  friction-strap  will 
be  brought  into  play  to  prevent  the  engine  from  running  away.  The  brake- 
pulley  is  set  upon  the  shaft,  which  is  liable  to  slip  back,  and  being  loosely 
ercifcled   by  a  friction-strap,  the  lateral  traverse,  owing  to  the  disengage- 


NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS.  57^ 

ment,  makes  the  pulley  press  itself  hard  against  the  interior  of  the  strap. 
This  strap  encircles  three  fourths  of  the  wheel,  and  is  workable  as  well  from 
both  its  ends.  These  two  opposite  ends  are  each  connected  to  one  of  the  two 
opposite  cages,  that  is,  the  ascending  and  descending  cages.  For  instance, 
when  one  of  the  cages  arrives  at  its  proper  stopping  point,  it  acts  upon  a  pin  or 
stop  in  connection  with  one  end  of  the  friction-strap,  and  draws  the  strap  tight 
around  the  pulley  in  the  direction  of  the  revolution  of  the  pulley  at  the  time 
being.  Hence,  whichever  way  the  engine  is  running,  the  friction-strap  has  a 
tendency  to  be  forced  down  into  frictional  contact  by  the  pully  movement 
when  once  started.  The  engine-man  can  also  work  such  friction-brake  by  a 
separate  hand  or  foot-gear  movement. 

Revolver  Fire-Arms.  J.  H.  Johnson,  47  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  Glas- 
gow.— The  invention  of  M.  Lefaucheux,  of  Paris,  which  is  the  subject  of  this 
patent,  relates  to  the  class  of  fire-arms  termed  "  revolvers,"  and  consists  chiefly 
of  an  improved  construction  of  revolving  chamber  cylinder,  and  of  a  new 
arrangement  of  breech,  to  facilitate  the  loading  of  the  weapon.  The  revolv- 
ing piece  is  a  cylinder,  with  six  or  any  other  convenient  number  of  cylindrical 
or  slightly  conical  holes  bored  through  it,  to  form  the  charge-chambers. 
An  additional  hole  is  bored  centrally  through  the  cylinder,  for  the  passage 
of  the  spindle  upon  which  it  turns,  and  to  which  the  barrel  of  the  weapon  is 
attached.  The  charge- chambers  are  each  notched  through  to  the  outside  of 
the  cylinder  at  their  back  edges,  to  suit  the  particular  description  of  cartridge 
employed,  this  cartridge  being  made  up  with  the  percussion  appliance  attached 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  enter  and  project  through  the  notch  of  the  charge- 
chamber.  The  breech  o-f  the  weapon  is  hemispherical  in  shape,  and  is  formed 
with  a  vertical  groove,  in  which  the  hammer  works,  the  hammer  rising  up 
centrally  from  the  stock.  The  face  of  the  breech-piece  is  perfectly  smooth 
and  flat,  as  is  also  the  end  of  the  charge-cylinder  in  contact  with  it.  A  chan- 
nel is  formed  in  the  breech  on  one  side,  through  which  the  cartridges  are 
introduced  into  the  charge-chambers  as  these  are  brought  round  in  succession, 
and  a  filling-uj)  piece  is  hinged  to  the  breech  to  close  the  channel  when  the 
chambers  are  not  being  charged,  a  spring-catch  being  provided  to  keep  the 
filling-up  piece  closed  when  necessary.  In  a  slide,  on  one  side  of  the  barrel, 
and  in  a  line  with  the  charging-channel  in  the  breech-piece,  is  a  rod  for 
forcing  out  the  cartridges,  if  required,  without  exploding  them,  or  for  remov- 
ing any  matter  left  in  the  charge-chambers  after  a  discharge.  This  rod  is 
prevented,  by  a  blade  spring,  from  falling  out  or  moving,  unless  the  hand 
is  applied.  The  rotation  of  the  charge-cylinder  is  effected  in  the  usual  way, 
by  the  action  of  a  catch  in  connection  with  the  hammer,  upon  a  ratchet 
formed  upon  the  cylinder,  and  the  cylinder  is  retained  accurately  in  position 
during  each  discharge  by  means  of  a  catch,  also  acted  upon  by  the  ham- 
mer, and  made  to  enter  a  notch  in  the  cylinder-face  after  each  rotative  move- 
ment. 

Journal  Bearings.  A.  Barclay,  Kilmarnock. — With  a  view  of  econo- 
mizing the  oil  used  in  lubricating  the  journal  bearings  of  horizontal  shafts, 
by  enabling  it  to  be  repeatedly  reiised,  Mr.  Barclay  has  designed  the  improve- 
ments forming  the  subject  of  the  present  patent,  and  which,  by  preventing 
the  too  rapid  escape  of  the  lubricating  oil  from  between  the  rubbing  surfjices, 
also  renders  the  lubrication  of  the  shaft  much  more  efScient.  In  carrying  out 
this  invention,  according  to  one  modification,  the  shaft  is  formed  with  a  project- 
ing collar  upon  it,  of  the  length  of  the  intended  bearing,  and  the  brasses  are 


574  GENERAL  AGENCY. 


formed  to  suit  this  modification.  Each  brass  extends  considerably  past  eacli 
edge  of  the  collar,  and  is  slightly  turned  out  or  recessed,  so  that  the  angles  of 
the  collar  shall  be  slightly  overlapped  by  the  brass.  Beyond  this  overlap  on 
each  side,  the  extension  of  the  brass  is  hollowed  out  internally,  to  form  an 
annular  cup  for  the  reception  of  oil,  and  these  edge-cup  pieces  are  well 
overhung,  and  brought  close  to  the  plain  part  of  the  shaft  to  prevent  the 
entry  of  dirt.  The  inner  face  of  the  upper  brass  is^inclined  upwards  from 
each  side  towards  the  centre,  instead  of  being  square  across  as  usual ;  and 
the  result  is,  that  the  oil  supplied  from  the  top,  in  the  usual  way,  is  well 
spread  over  the  frictional  surfaces,  and,  flowing  down,  it  is  caught  by  the 
annular  cups  of  the  brasses,  and  retained  therein  for  continued  use ;  or  the 
same  effect  may  be  obtained  by  beveling  the  inner  edge  or  edges  of  the 
inner  brass  alone,  the  upper* brass  being  made  square  across,  as  usual.  The 
continued  use  of  the  oil  is  effected  by  the  action  of  the  bearing  collar  on  the 
shaft,  for,  as  this  revolves,  its  edges  gather  films  of  oil  from  the  annular  cups, 
and  bring  up  the  oil  so  collected  to  the  top  brass.  Here  the  revolving  collar 
edges  apply  the  oil  to  the  corresponding  edges  of  the  upper  brass,  and,  owing 
to  the  duplex  interior  incline  thereon,  the  oii  is  thence  conveyed  towards  the 
centre  of  the  bearing,  whence  it  is  well  distributed  over  the  whole  rubbing 
surfaces.  Instead  of  a  plain  collar  projection,  other  forms  of  journals  may  be 
employed  with  the  same  result,  or  a  cuuple  of  rings  may  be  set  fast  on  the 
shaft,  so  as  to  carry  up  the  oil  in  a  similar  manner. 


New  Music. — Wm.  Hall  <fe  Son. — We  would  again  remind  our  readers 
of  the  fine  opportunity  now  offered  of  buying  music  very  cheaply.  Among 
the  publications  offered  at  reduced  prices,  we  present  the  following  reprints, 
and  new  pieces,  with  the  reduced  prices :  Leonora,  a  polka ;  Indiana,  a 
brilliant  waltz;  Olga  Mazurka,  by  A.  Goria;  "I  Wandered  on  the  Sea-beat 
Shore,"  by  J.  W.  Cherry;  "Cheer,  Boys,  Cheer,"  by  Henry  Russell;  each 
of  which  contains  five  pages,  and  each  is  sold  at  fifteen  cents.  "  Swinging, 
Swinging,  All  Day  Long;"  or.  Song  of  the  Old  Hall  Clock,  is  a  very  pretty 
solo  and  chorus,  by  Wuitzel,  copyright,  at  twenty-five  cents,  nett,  five  pages. 


Gejteral  Agency. — The  publisher  of  Tlie  Plough,  the  Loom,  and  the  Anvil, 
believing  it  in  his  power  to  be  of  essential  service  to  the  readers  of  that  journal, 
in  the  purchase  or  sale  of  various  articles,  and  the  transaction  of  various  kinds  of 
business,  would  announce  to  them  that  he  is  ready  to  execute  any  such  commis- 
sion which  he  may  receive,  including  the  purchase  of  books  of  any  description; 
implements  connected  with  agricultural,  manufacturing,  or  mechanical  opera- 
tions; artificial  manures;  farm  and  garden  seeds,  etc.,  etc.  One  of  the  gentle- 
men connected  with  the  journal  is  a  proficient  in  music,  and  experienced  in  the 
selection  of  piano-fortes,  flutes,  etc.,  and  will  execute  orders  in  that  department. 

He  will  also  act  as  agent  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  Real  Estate. 

|W°Particular  attention  to  business  connected  with  the  Patent-OfBce. 

Letters  of  inquiry  on  these  matters  will  be  promptly  attended  to. 

School-Teachers.  —  Having  had  occasion  to  furnish  teachers  for  some 
of  our  Southern  friends,  we  have  been  fortimate  enough  to  learn  of  several 
young  ladies  who  are  admirably  well  qualified  for  families  or  schools,  and  if  any 
are  in  need  of  such,  a  letter  addressed  to  us  will  receive  immediate  answer.  We 
shall  not  fear  to  guarantee  that  any  reasonable  expectations  will  be  fully  met. 
Some  of  them  are  desirous  of  going  South. 


LIST   OF   PATENTS. 


» 

675 


List     of     Patents     Issued 

FROM  JAN.  2,    TO    FEB.  6,    1855 


Thos.  n.  Barlow,  Lexington,  improvement  in 
Are -arms. 

Jarvis  Case,  Springfield,  Ohio,  improvement  in 
seed-planters. 

John  S.  Barden,  New-IIaven,  for  water  metre. 

Jotham  S.  Conant,  New-York,  improvement  in 
sewing  machines. 

Wm.  C.  Hooper,  of  Pittsburgh,  for  bench  plane. 

Edward  H.  Graham,  Biddeford,  Me.,  improve- 
ment in  fire-arms. 

John  H.  Allen,  Bidleford,  Me.,  improvement  in 
temples  for  looms. 

John  S.  Addison,  New-York,  improved  gold 
washer  and  amalgamator. 

Alfred  C.  C.irrait,  Hanover,  Mass.,  improvements 
in  plugs  lor  lubrical}ug  axles. 

Michael  D.  Dyott,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
lamp  shades. 

John  C.  Kline,  Pittsburgh,  improvement  in  door- 
latch  locks. 

Arnton  Smith,  Macoupin  county,  III.,  improve- 
ment in  plows. 

Samuel  H.  Robinson,  Baltimore,  improvement 
in  lime  kilns. 

Geo.  M.  Ramsey,  Newark,  for  moulding  machine. 

Alonzo  D.  Perry,  Newark,  improvement  in  fire- 
arms. 

Lucius  Paige,  Cavendish,  Vt.,  improvement  in 
brake  blocks  for  railroad  cars. 

Jno.  L.  McPherson,  New  Vienna,  0.,  improve- 
meui  in  scale. 

Hezekiah  B.  Smith,  Lowell,  improvement  in 
sewing  machine. 

C.  B.  Morse,  Rhinebeck,  for  moulding  machine. 

Elisba  P.  Beckwith,  New-Londou,  improvement 
in  spring  balances. 

Abijah  R.  Tewksbury,  Boston,  for  improved 
steering  apparatus. 

Parley  Hutchins,  Norwich,  Mass.,  improved 
handlruck. 

0.  B.  Judd,  Little  Falls,  improvement  in  grain 
and  grass  harvesters. 

John  A.  Pitts,  Buffalo,  improvement  in  straw 
cutters. 

R.  L.  Hawes,  Worcester,  for  machine  for  making 
boxes  of  paper. 

Elijah  Morgan,  Morgantown,  Va.,  improvement 
in  6ted  planters. 

John  F.  Masscher,  Philadelphia,  for  stereoscopic 
medallion. 

Hezekiah  Conant,  Hartford,  improvement  in 
moulds  lor  casting  projectiles. 

John  Sutton,  New-York,  lubricator  for  steam 
engi  nes. 

Stephen  L.  Stockstill,  and  Pater  H.  Hume? 
Brandt,  0.,  improvement  in  seed  planters.  ' 

Gustavus  Wissenborn,  New- York,  improved  ar- 
rangement of  filtering  apparatus  to  prevent  incrust- 
atiou  iu  steam  boilers. 

John  T.  Willmarlh,  Northbridge,  Mass,  im- 
proved dies  for  making  bolts. 


Wendell  Wright,  New-York,  improvement  in 
mode  of  connecting  pipes  for  steam  boilers. 

Ambrose  Poster,  Portland,  Wisconsin,  and  Eli- 
zabeth A.  Messinger,  administratrix,  and  Wm. 
Spencer,  adminisirator  of  John  A.  Wessing^r' 
deceased,  of  Milwaukie,  Wisconsin,  assignors' 
through  saia  administratrix,  and  administrator  to 
Ambrose  Foster,  aforesaid,  improved  building 
block. 

Wm.  Leighton,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  assignor  to 
the  New-England  Glass  Company,  of  same  place 
improvements  indoor  A  nobs.  ' 

Wm.  M.  Bonwill,  Camden,  Del.,  improvement  in 
hernial  trusses. 

Wm.  Shaw,  Boston,  improved  gas  heater. 

Solomon  G.  Booth,  New-York,  inaprovement  in 
rollers  for  corrugating  sheet  metal. 

George  A.  Brown,  Widdletown,  R.  L,  for  hay- 
making  machine. 

Henry  J.  Braaer,  Nazareth,  for  improved  instru- 
ment for  cutting  out  stone. 

Dexter  A.  Chamberlain,  and  John  Hartshorn, 
Boston,  improvement  in  rollers  for  curtain?. 

George  R.  Comstock,  Manhelm,  New-York,  im- 
provement in  carriage  seats. 

George  R.  Comstock,  Manhelm,  New-York,  im- 
provement in  carriage  seats. 

George  R.  Comstock,  Manhelm,  New- York,  im- 
provement in  carriages. 

James  Eccles,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
looms. 

Henry  A.  Frost,  Worcester,  improvement  in 
means  for  holdmg  window-blinds. 

Louis  Francis  Groebl,  Ph  ladelphia,  for  improved 
marquetry. 

Michael  Greenbaum,  Chicago,  for  improved  hot 
air  furnaces. 

Wm.  H.  Harn,  Carlisle,  Pa.,  improved  mill  for 
cutting  and  grindiag  vegetables. 
Wm.  Ives,  Buffalo,  for  book  brace. 

Samuel  G.  Jones,  Fitzwater  Town,  Pa.,  improve- 
ment in  lifting  jacks. 

Charles  Meitam,  New- York,  improvement  in 
rolling  iron  shutters. 

Daniel  Newton,  Southamton,  Conn.,  improve- 
ment in  metal  folding  machines. 

Horace  W.  Peaslee,  Maiden  Bridge,  New- York 
improvrment  in  machine  for  washing  paper  stock.' 
Patented  in  E  igland,  September  20,  1854. 

Albert  W.  Roberts,  Hartford,  Conn.,  improve- 
ment in  fire  engines. 

E.  K.  Root,  Hartford,  for  improved  compound 
rifling  machines. 

Eloy  Schmiiz,  New-York,  for  improved  appara- 
tus for  supplying  furnaces  with  pulverized  metal. 

R.  P.  Benton,  Rochester,  improvement  in  feed- 
ing morticing  machines. 

Isaac  J.  Cole,  Clermont,  for  improved  compound 
crowbar. 

Abel  W.  Streeter,  Shelburne  Palls,  Mass.,  im- 
provement in  fastening  centre  bits. 

John  Sutton,  New-York,  for  lubrication  of  steam 
maahiuery 


576 


LIST   OF   PATENTS. 


Lewis  Hoover,  Jersey  City,  improvement  in  lan- 
terns. 

Henry  Blakeley,  New-York,  improvemeut  in 
iron  window  blinds. 

Geo.  Copelaud,  Lewiston,  Me.,  improvemenl  in 
looms. 

[saae  Williams,  and  Isaac  W.  Bausman,  Alle- 
ghany county.  Pa.,  improvement,  in  cotton  seed 
planters. 

Samuel  Huffman,  Charleston,  Illinois,  assignor 
to  himself  and  Dennis  0'Hara,  Washington,  U.  C. , 
improvement  in  repeating  cannon. 

Edmond  Morris,  Burlington,  N.  J.,  improve- 
ment in  buckets  for  chain  pumps. 

Leopold  and  Joseph  Thomas,  Alleghany  City,  for 
match  machine. 

John  U.  VVallis,  Dansville,  New- York,  improve- 
ment in  paddle  wheels. 

Geo.  F.  Wood,  Ulysses,  New-York,  improve- 
ment iu  oscillating  engines. 

John  M.  Bull,  Sidney,  O.,  improvement  inhand- 
rails  for  stairs. 

Newell  A.  Prince,  Brooklyn,  improved  fountain 
pen, 

I,  J.  W.  Adams,  Sharptown,  Md.,  improved  im- 
plements for  boring  wells. 

Wm.  Adamson,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
clarifying  glue. 

Abel  H.  Baxtlett,  Kings  Bridge,  for  hot  air  fur- 
nace. 

B.  F.  Rabbitt,  New- York,  for  car  ventilator. 

John  Blackwood,  Franklin  Co.,  Ohio,  improve- 
ment in  seed  planters. 

Jacob  Brown,  Lawn  Bridge,  111.,  improvement  in 
seed  planters. 

Dexter  H.  Chamberlain,  and  John  Hartshorn, 
Boston,  fountain  brush. 

Alfred  Doe,  Concord,  Improvement  in  plows. 

Jas.  Eaton,  Townsend  Harbor,  Mass.,  improve- 
ment in  dies  for  cap-tube  machines. 

George  Fowler,  Northford,  Ct.,  for  double-acting 
force  pump. 

Hezekiah  Griswold,  Hartford,  improvement  in 
the  yoke  of  shirts. 

Jonathan  Ilibbs,  Tullytown,  Pa.,  improvement 
in  clover  hullers. 

Alex.  Hall,  Lloydsville,  Ohio,  improvement  in 
■piano  fortes. 

John  Hobbs,  Hallowell,  improvement  in  rain 
staff  screws  for  ship  carpenters. 

Washburn  Race,  and  Birdsill  Holly,  Seneca 
Falls,  improvement  in  carriage  wheels. 

R.  Jennings,  Deep  River,  Ct.,  improvement  in 
augers. 

Wm.  H.  McNamee, Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
locking  spindle  door  latches. 

Sidq^y  S.  Middlebrook,  Jas.  E.  Blakslee,  and 
Charles  F.  Blakslee,  Newton,  Ct.,  improvement  in 
machinery  for  felting  hat  bodies. 

J.  B.  Nichols,  Lynn,  improvement  in  sewing 
machines. 

Aaron  Palmer,  Brockport,  improvemfrt  in  the 
construction  of  the  frame  of  grass  harvesters. 

Elijah  F.  Parker,  Proctorsville,  Vt.  improvement 
in  lantern  frames. 

Jesse  Eeed,  Marshfield,  improvement  in  cable 
stoppers. 

Henry  Rogers,  Ferrisburgh,  Vt.,  improved  force- 
;iump. 

David  Russell,  Drewersburg,  Ind.,  improvement 
in  harvester  cutters. 

Alex.  O.  H.  P.  Sehom,  Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  im- 
provement in  portable  fire-amis. 

Thaddeus  Selleck,  Greenwich,  Ct.,  improvement 
in  methods  of  working  Franklinite  ore. 

John  Skelley,  Brooklyn,  improvement  in  carriage 
■wheels. 

Geo.  L.  Squir,  Chicopee  Falls,  improvement  in 
straw  cutters. 

Joseph  Stockdale,  Ypsilanti,  improvement  in 
cultivator  teeth. 

Jonathan  G.  Trotter,  Newark,  N.  J.,  improve- 
ment in  the  construction  of  furnaces  for  zinc  white. 


Henry  G.  Tyler,  aad  John  Helm,  New-Bruns- 
wick, N.  J.,  improvement  iu  processes  for  making 
india-rubber  cloth. 

Elisha  Waters,  Troy,  improvement  in  cylindri- 
cal boxes. 

Salem  Wilder,  Lynn,  improvement  in  wasing 
thread  in  sewing  machines. 

Pinney  Youngs,  Milwaukie,  Wis.,  improvement 
in  sewing  machines. 

James  S.  Ewbank,  New- York,  assignor  to  Wm. 
Everdell  Jr.,  of  same  place,  improvement  in  spurs. 

Edwin  A.  Morrison,  LawrenceviUe,  Va.,  assignor 
to  himself  and  Robt.  J.  Morrison,  Richmond,  Va., 
improvement  in  delivering  apparatus  of  grain  har- 
vesters. 

George  A.  Meacham,  New- York,  for  ■window 
washer. 

John  Bean,  and  Benj,  Wright,  Hudson,  Mich., 
improvement  in  smut  machines. 

W.  C.  &  J.  S.  Burnham,  New- York,  improve- 
ments in  double-acting  force-pumps. 

John  H.  Bloodgood,  New- York,  improvement  in 
manufacturing  seamless  felt  goods. 

David  N.  B.  Coffin,  Jr.,  Lyim,  improved  da- 
guerreotype holder. 

Nelson  B.  Carpenter,  and  John  Powers,  New- 
York,  improved  lifiing  jacks  for  moving  rail  bare. 

Richard  Deering,  Sr.,  Louisville,  for  current  wa- 
ter-wheels. 

Geo.  W.  Geisendorff,  Indianapolis,  and  Jacob  C. 
Geisendorff,  Cincinnati,  O.,  improvement  in  axle 
box  rollers. 

John  S.  Griffiths,  Huntington,  Pa.,  improved 
corn  and  cob  crusher. 

F.  B.  Bant,  and  Ellis  Nordyke,  Richmond,  Indj, 
improved  wire  cloth  bolt. 

Birdsill  Holly,  Seneca  Falls,  improvement  in 
elliptical  rotary  pump. 

Daniel  Haldeman,  Morgantown,  Va.,  improved 
burglar's  alarm. 

Alpheus  Kimball,  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  improved 
machine  for  repairing  roads. 

S.  E.  Peltee,  Foxborough,  Mass.,  improvement 
in  pressing  hats  and  bonnets. 

Robt.  A.  Smith,  and  John  Hartman,  Jr.,  Phila- 
delphia, improved  street-sweeping  machine. 

Wm.  Mt.  Storm,  New- York,  improvement  in 
steam  generators. 

Joel  Weigle,Swan  Station,  Pa.,  improved  crush- 
ing and  grinding  mill. 

Wm.  B.  Carpenter,  New-Y'ork,  improvement  iu 
the  combined  chair  and  crib  for  children. 

John  Cochrane,  Baltimore,  improvement  in  lo- 
comotive trucks. 

V,  P.  Corbet,  Corbetsville,  New- York,  improve- 
ment in  constructing  ships  and  other  vessels. 

Thomas  Champion,  Washington,  improvement 
in  making  steam  boilers. 

Henry  Glynn ,  Baltimore,  improvement  in  manu- 
faeture  of  paper  pulp. 

James  A.  Gray,  Albany,  improved  sounding- 
board  for  piano  fortes. 

James  H.  Mayilole,  and  Albert  W.  Morse,  Eaton, 
N.  Y.,  improvement  in  grass  harvesters. 

Isaac  M.  Singer,  New-York,  improvement  in 
sewing  machines. 

James  A.  Taylor,  Alden,  New-York,  improve- 
meut in  mop-heads. 

Isaiah  M.  Williams,  Blanchester,  0.,  improve- 
ment in  butter  workers. 

Cyrenus  Wheeler,  Jr.,  Venice,  New-York,  im- 
provement in  grain  and  grass  harvesters. 

L.  W.  Fiske,  Louisville,  improvement  in  com- 
positions for  bleaching  and  stuffing  leather. 

L.  W.  Fiske,  Louisville,  improvement  in  work- 
ing lime  vats  and  tanneries. 

Hazen  Webster,  Ogdensburg,  improvemeiu  in 
churns. 

Geo;  B.  Ketcham,  Bedford,  Ind.,  improvement 
in  mechanism  for  retaining  cars  upon  the  track. 

J.  G.  McFarlane,  Perry  Co.,  Pa.,  improvement  u 
seed  planters.    Patented,  March  14, 1S54. 


Clje  II0119I),  tlie  inm,  anli  tf)f  ^nuil. 


Vol.  VII.  APRIL,  1856.  No.  10. 


MANA.GEMENT  OF  FAIRS— SYSTEMS  OF    PREMIUMS— WHO  DESERVE 

THEM? 

We  gave  our  views  on  this  subject  at  some  length,  in  our  February  num- 
ber, but  rather  in  general  than  in  detail.  The  subject  of  premiums  was 
discussed,  and,  in  reference  to  the  policy  of  the  plan  now  generally  adopted, 
it  was  contended  that  premiums  are  not  for  the  particular  benefit  of  those 
who  obtain  them,  but  that  they  are  oifered  for  the  sake  of  their  influence  in 
securing  a  good  exhibition.  We  now  would  very  modestly  suggest  the  ex- 
pediency of  a  thorough  change  in  this  system  of  premiums. 

But,  before  we  enter  farther  upon  the  subject,  we  must  insist  on  this: 
That  a  plan  which  is  the  best  here  or  there,  may  not  be  the  best  plan,  or 
even  a  good  plan,  everywhere.  We  are,  by  far,  too  much  inclined  to  be 
imitators.  This  tendency  often  is  good  ;  sometimes  ii  is  ruinous.  It  may 
have  been  well,  hitherto,  to  adopt  the  present  system  of  premiums,  but  we 
have  little  doubt  that  there  are  sections  of  country  where  a  change  of  sys- 
tem would  operate  beneficially.  It  may  be  that  such  sections  are  numerous 
and  extensive. 

We  have  shown,  we  think,  that  the  premium  was  originally  proposed  as 
an  inducement  to  those  whose  example  was  worth  something,  to  attend  our 
fairs  with  the  products  of  their  industry.  Perhaps  those  who  were  in  ad- 
vance of  their  neighbors,  in  their  style  of  farming,  etc.,  and  who  would  not 
expect  to  gain  anything  important  at  such  gatherings,  needed  this  almost 
absolute  guaranty  that  they  should  make  something  out  of  such  attendance. 
Men  are  selfish,  even  the  best  of  them.  But  even  selfishness  exhibits  itself 
in  different  forms,  and  may  be  controlled  by  other  propensities,  good  or  bad. 
Men  are  fond  of  showing  the  products  of  their  own  skill.  How  many  there 
are  whose  ''  geese  are  all  swans,"  who  think  no  other  person  ever  succeeded 
in  this,  that,  and  the  other,  quite  so  well  as  themselves.  This  is  a  weakness. 
But  there  a.re  forms,  variations,  and  modifications  of  this  passion,  sgme  of 
which  are  highly  useful  to  others,  and  are  destitute  of  any  trace  of  wrong. 
I'hese  propensities  may  sometimes  very  properly  be  encouraged. 

What  is  it,  under  the  present  system,  which  draws  exhibitors  to  the  fair  ? 
Sometimes  it  is  the  least  commendable  form  of  this  conceit;  the  mere  love 
©f  self-laudation.  They  did  not  adopt  any  improved  mode  of  cultivation,  but, 
by  some  fortunate  concurrence  of  favorable  circumstances,  the  crop  turns  out 
much  better  than  the  average,  and  the  result  is,  an  exhibition  of  it.     The 

VOL.  VII.  34 


578  MANAGEMENT  OF   FAIRS. 


chance  for  a  little  money,  in  the  shape  of  a  premium,  is  also  worth  some- 
thing, and,  on  the  whole,  the  decision  is  in  favor  of  the  show. 

Others  make  a  calculation  beforehand.  They  say,  "here  is  good  soil. 
Now  I  will  do  my  best — expend  a  little  extra  money  in  guano  and  super- 
phosphates, and  get  it  all  back,  and  more,  too,  in  the  value  of  the  crop  and 
the  premiuna."  This  is  better — it  is  good — positively  commendable  ;  but 
it  is  not  the  best. 
^  The  best  and  most  worthy  motive  is,  to  become  acquainted  with,  and  to 
disseminate,  the  true  principles  of  crop-growing  ;  to  develop  the  science  of 
farming;  to  make  for  one's  self,  and  for  others,  substantial,  permanent  pro- 
gress in  agriculture.  A  large  crop  a  single  year  is  no  proof  of  good  farming. 
But  large  cro^s  for  successive  years,  leaving  the  land  in  still  better  condition 
for  the  year  to  come,  this  is  the  true  application  of  science  to  agriculture.  ■ 

What  hinders  the  attendance  of  nine  out  of  ten  of  those  who  produce 
what  is  worthy  of  notoriety,  and  who  yet  absent  themselves  from  our  fairs  ? 
We  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  it  is  the  expense  which  would  thereby  be  incurred. 
"  It  will  not  pay,"  is  the  common  form  of  expression.  But  this  does  not 
mean  "  it  will  not  put  money  in  my  pocket ;"  but  it  does  mean  "  it  will 
take  money  out ;"  and  more  money  than  the  amount  of  gratification  it  will 
secure  is  worth,  or  more  than  I  can  afford.  If  this  is  so,  what  is  the  plain, 
the  obvious  mode  of  overcoming  this  objection  ?  Manifestly,  to  say  to  such, 
"  It  shall  not  cost  you  a  mill." 

Here,  then,  you  have  our  proposed  modification  of  the  system  of  premiums. 
Say  to  all  within  your  "jurisdiction,"  whoever  will  present  anything  on  such 
occasions,  which  the  committee  shall  deem  worthy  of  exhibition,  shall  have 
all  his  necessary  expenses  paid  to  him  on  the  spot :  or  his  expenses  on  the 
ground  shall  be  paid  by  the  society,  without  cost  to  the  exhibitor,  in  the 
time  and  manner  they  may  have  previously  arranged,  but  his  expenses  in 
arriving  and  returning  shall  be  paid  at  the  close  of  the  fair. 

A  similar  plan  might  be  adopted  in  reference  to  still  more  useful  opei'a- 
tions.  We  refer  to  the  proper  management  and  accurate  record  of  useful 
experiments  on  a  farm.  Suppose,  for  example,  the  proper  authorities  should 
seasonably  announce  that  all  exj^eriments,  as  to  the  most  efficient  mode  of 
rendering  sandy  soils,  similar  to  those  prevailing  on  Long  Island,  or  those  in 
Georgia,  fertile  and  productive  for  crops  of  wheat,  or  other  given  product, 
of  the  details  of  which,  with  all  its  proper  antecedents,  a  minute  diary  shall 
be  kept,  as  prescribed,  duly  authenticated,  shall  be  entitled  to  so  much,  or  to 
a  reasonable  premium,  how  much  more  instructive  those  operations  would  be. 

The  experiments  now  given  to  the  public,  even  by  skillful  farmers,  are  of 
little  value  to  science.  So  much  is  omitted  that  the  importance  of  the  facts 
stated  can  not  be  properly  estimated.  By  well  known  mathematical  rules, 
if  three  quantities,  bearing  certain  relations  to  each  other,  are  given,  a  fourth 
can  be  found.  But  these  experiments  would  have  us  determine  a  result, 
hitherto  unknown,  by  scarcely  giving  us  one  exact  known  quantity.  They 
tell  us  that  the  land  was  a  "  rich  loam,"  or  clayey,  or  peaty,  and  that  they 
put  on  certain  manures.  But  they  give  us  no  analysis  of  the  soil ;  no  care- 
ful record  of  previous  crops  and  former  cultivations.  Perhaps  the  application 
now  made  rendered  soluble  some  fertilizer,  applied  years  ago,  but  in  an  in- 
soluble form.  Perhaps  the  very  rocks  have  contributed  valuable  elements. 
We  have  seen  many  instances  of  that  kind,  when  not  a  spade  or  hoe  had 
been  applied.  The  magnesian  rock,  or  argillaceous  slate,  or  the  feldspar,  or 
something  else,  was  doing  much  more  than  was  dreamed  of;  or,  perhaps, 
some  phosphate,  hitherto  insoluble,  was  now  rendered  efiicient :  some  lime- 


MANAGEMENT   OF   FAIRS.  679 

stone  decomposed  ;  some — no  matter  what,  so  long  as,  whatever  it  is,  small' 
or  great,  all  is  unknown.  There  may  have  been  no  such  agencies,  but  we  do 
not  know  that  it  is  so.  To  farm  by  such  science,  with  scarcely  one  known 
quantity,  is  to  tax  the  farmer  with  problems  which  the  mathematician 
would  never  attempt  to  work  out.  One  might  as  w&ll  write  a  correct 
biography  of  a  man,  when  he  has  only  had  an  imperfect  account  of  his  ap- 
pearance and  deportment,  for  a  few  days  only,  from  one  not  familiar  with 
the  character  of  the  subject  to  be  described.  Such,  too  often,  is  the  actual 
condition  of  our  farmers  in  their  daily  toils  by  which  they  gather  all  their 
income. 

We  have  not  wrought  out  the  prominent  idea  here  urged  by  an  effort  of 
our  inventive  faculties  in  our  own  sanctum.  The  thought  is  suggested  by 
other  operations  that  have  proved  eminently  successful.  For  example. 
What  kind  of  lotteries  are  most  eagerly  sought  for  by  the  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple ?  They  are  those  which  have,  or  profess  to  have,  as  many  small  prizes 
as  there  are  tickets.  Those  "  gift  enterprizes,"  all  offer  something  to  every 
number — there  are  no  blanks — and  they  are  eagerly  sought  after,  whenever 
the  people  have  confidence  in  the  operators.  We  do  not  know  of  an  ex- 
ception among  them  all.  In  these,  we  admit,  was  the  additional  hope,  the 
one  chance  in  a  thousand  or  more,  of  getting  something  great.  But  the 
features  which  made  those  people  who  never  buy  in  other  lotteries  willing  to 
incur  this  "  risk,"  was  that  feature  in  it  which  secured  them,  as  they  supposed, 
from  loss  in  any  event.  It  is  not  the  lottery  alone  which  can  array  such 
efficient  motives  before  the  minds  of  men.  There  is  no  magic  power  in  the 
lottery  to  urge  men  to  action.  The  same  controlling  agency  can  as  well  be 
applied  to  a  cattle  show,  or  exhibition  of  crops,  or  of  machinery  ;  or,  rather,  we 
would  say,  it  can  not  rightfully  be  overlooked,  whenever  we  would  determine 
the  best  method  to  excite  the  general  attention  of  a  community,  especially 
when  they  do  not  properly  appreciate  the  more  substantial  benefits  which 
may  be  thereby  secured. 

Modifications  of  this  plan  might  sometimes  be  desirable.  If  practicable,  a 
moderate  list  of  premiums,  as  now  offered,  might  be  retained  ;  or  even  the 
entire  list,  if  there  is  money  enough,  but  only  in  subordination  to  the  other 
mode  of  expenditure,  and  to  be  paid  aftei-  all  such  bills  are  satisfied.  The 
balance  might  then  be  divided,  on  some  certain  graduated  scale,  among 
the  most  deserving  contributors.  "  Honorable  mention,"  and  the  like,  might 
also  form  a  part  of  the  system,  as  at  present. 

But  what  inducement  has  my  neighbor.  A.,  to  offer  anything  at  our  fair, 
when  he  has  already  been  assured  that  neighbor  B.  has  produced,  and  will 
exhibit,  something  better  ?     Neighbor  C.  is  in  the  same  condition.     Hence, 

B.  and  C.  both  stay  at  home,  and  A.  only  exhibits  ;  and,  as  nobody  but  A. 
exhibits,  therefore  nobody  goes  to  see  the  exhibition.     But,  if  A.  and  B.  and 

C,  etc.,  were  going  to  exhibit,  and  made  some  little  noise  about  it,  they  ■ 
would  awaken  a  general  desire  among  the  people  to  attend,  and  our  fairs 
would  be  thronged. 

WHO    DESERVES    THE    PREMIUM  ? 

We  need  not  say,  that  it  might  happen  that  B.  or  C,  whose  products  are 
less  valuable  than  A.'s,  are  both  better  entitled  to  a  premium  than  he.  Is 
he  the  best  farmer,  who,  in  a  single  season,  forces  out  of  his  grounds  the 
greatest  cxo^l  Br  no  means.  A.'s  grounds  are  in  good  condition.  He 
bought  them  recently  of  one  who  took  proper  care  of  them,  and  all  he  has 
done  is  just  to  plant  his  seed,  and,  without  especial  skill  or  extra  labor,  let 


580  MANAGEMENT   OF   FAIRS. 

his  crop  grow.  And  he  finds  in  the  fall,  taking  the  affidavit  of  his  hired 
man  as  evidence,  that  he  has  grown  one  hundred  and  twenty  bushels  of  com 
to  the  acre.  Any  fool  might  have  done  the  same.  Or,  perhaps,  he  has 
been  lavi?H  in  his  expenditures  on  a  given  lot,  doing  what  no  one  but  a  very 
rich  man  can  do.  But  B.  owns  a  farm  consisting  almost  exclusively  of  sand. 
Still  he  is  resolved  to  make  a  good  soil,  and  hence  he  collects  his  leaves,  and 
his  turfs,  and  his  clay,  and  his  Hme  and  ashes,  and  mixing  all  these  with 
the  strong  products  of  his  hog-pen,  and  with  his  manure-heap,  and  carrying 
out  a  thorough  system  of  ploughing,  and  mixing,  and  a  judicious  growth  of 
crops,  on  land  that  had  produced  only  eight  or  ten  bushels  of  wheat,  or 
twenty  or  thirty  of  corn,  he  has  grown  forty  or  fifty  of  wheat,  and  eighty  or 
ninety  bushels  of  good  corn.  Who  best  deserves  a  premium  for  these  crops  ? 
Who  is  entitled  to  the  highest  reward  for  good  farming,  from  those  who 
would  reform  our  agriculture? 

Is  it  said  "  we  have  ofi"ered  a  premium  for  the  greatest  crop  ?'"  Indeed  I 
Do  you  give  premiums,  and  "  the  highest  premiums,"  for  unwise,  unscientific 
farming — for  farming  that  costs,  in  the  end,  more  than  the  value  of  the  crops 
— for  farming  in  which,  if  your  hired  man  persisted,  you  would  discharge 
him? 

Some  exhibitors  buy  their'land  already  prepared  for  them,  and  thus  se- 
cure "  the  best  crop."  But  why  pay  a  man  for  buying  a  good  farm,  or  why 
reward  a  man  for  planting  corn  on  good  land,  when  he  has  it  at  command, 
while  he  does  not  exhibit  any  skill  in  his  calling.  Of  course,  if  he  has  good 
land,  he  will  use  it;  and,  if  he  uses  it  at  all,  we  might  almost  say,  he  will  not 
fail  of  a  good  crop.  But  reformers  should  not  give  honor  to  a  man  for  mal- 
practice. No  reward  should  be  given  for  that,  which,  in  its  production,  does 
not  furnish  evidence  of  peculiar  skill,  and  is  not  worthy,  eminently  worthy 
OF  IMITATION.  If  A.  has,  for  a  series  of  years,  kept  his  land  in  good  trim,  so 
as  always  to  produce  good  crops,  reward  him  for  it,  if  you  will ;  but  we  in- 
sist that  no  "premium"  should  be  paid  for  anything  that  is  not,  all  things 
considered,  worthy  of  especial  commendation.  One  may  be  willing  to  pay 
expenses  for  a  pleasing  addition  to  a  show,  which  otherwise  may  fail  to 
attract  general  attention,  when  he  would  not  be  willing,  as  an  agriculturist 
of  skill  and  discernment,  to  declare  that /or  such  a  production^  \h%  grower  is 
entitled  to  be  singled  out  from  all  other  competitors,  and  receive  a  pre- 
mium, or  be  honored  by  a  proclamation  of  "  well  done,"  to  the  neglect  of  a 
score  of  others,  more  industrious,  and  better  informed,  and,  in  the  end,  more 
successful,  than  he. 

We  have  just  laid  down  an  exchange  which  illustrates  our  ideas  on  this 
branch  of  the  subject.  The  editor  says,  in  substance,  that  he  has  taken  pains 
to  get  "  the  cream"  of  the  doings  of  the  agricultural  societies,  in  his  state, 
(Vermont,)  and  then  "  making  a  report  in  part,"  he  proceeds  to-  give  a 
statement  of  a  few  of  the  sums  paid  as  premiums  to  sundry  exhibitors,  and 
attempts  nothing  else.  If  this  is  "  the  cream,"  we  .don't  care  for  the  skim 
milk.  But  this  is  not  the  cream,  nor  even  the  skim  milk.  It  is  only  the 
old  horse  'that  brought  the  milk  to  market.  He  wholly  misapprehends  bis 
business  as  a  teacher  of  good  systems  of  agricultural  labor  and  production, 
who  teaches  such  doctrines.  The  premiums  are  the  bait  to  draw  pub- 
lic attention.  The  mode  of  cultivation  is  the  prize  to  be  won ;  and,  if  the 
matter  is  so  managed,  that  this  is  not  worthy  of  attention,  then  the  whole 
concern  is  not  worth  a  straw,  and  such  societies  may  as  well  disband.  ^ 

W^e  do  not  think  it  well  to  honor  with  a  medal,  or  its  value  in  coin,  the 
mere  production  of  an  extraordinary  growth.     If  one  has,  by  skill,  produced 


FLAX.  581 

a  soil  capable  of  honestly  sustaining  a  wonderful  crop,  HONOR  HIM.  Be- 
stow upon  hioa  that  meed  of  praise  of  which  kings  may  not  be  worthy. 
Hence,  we  would  not  offer  a  premium  for  that  cultivation  that  happens  to 
produce  the  greatest  number  of  bushels,  without  reference  to  the  antecedents. 
That  same  state  of  Vermont,  in  the  county  of  AVindsor,  recently  presented  a 
case  bearing  directly  on  this  point.  Two  competitors  for  the  prize,  for  the 
greatest  crop  of  corn,  reported  exactly  the  same  quantity  per  acre.  Which 
shall  have  the  "  first  prize  ?"  To  us  the  problem  is  perfectly  simple — he  who 
contended  most  skillfully  against  obstacles  and  embarrassments.  But  that 
point  does  not  appear  even  to  have  entered  into  the  minds  of  that  committee. 
We  know  not  where  to  stop  in  writing  on  this  subject.  We  commend 
these  thoughts  to  all  our  agricultural  societies.  They  have  done  like  other 
societies  long  enough.  We  are  fully  persuaded  that  our  annual  shows  are 
not  managed  as  they  should  be  ;  that,  besides  the  personal  favoritism  some- 
times exhibited,  there  is  great  want  of  judgment  displayed  in  assigning  pre- 
miums, and  in  awarding  them  ;  there  is  a  great  want  of  preparatory  labor  on 
the  part  of  managers,  in  taking  suitable  measures  to  secure  a  good  show, 
which  is  a  most  crying  sin ;  and  there  is  a  great,  even  a  fatal,  want  of  means 
to  make  the  good  secured  useful  to  the  community.  Here,  inviting  dis- 
cussion on  this  whole  subject,  we  pause  for  the  present. 


FLAX. 

We  have  often  commended  this  growth  to  the  attention  of  farmers,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  them  the  views  of  different  writers,  more  or  less 
familiar  with  the  subject,  we  take  from  the  Valley  Farmer  the  following 
article,  which  we  regard  as  worthy  of  careful  attention.  After  commending 
this  crop  as  one  promising  large  and  certain  profits,  the  writer  proceeds  thus  : 

"The  usual  practice  is  to  raise  on  the  same  piece  of  land,  a  crop  of  wheat 
one  year,  and  the  next  year  flax ;  sowing  the  flax  early,  so  as  to  have  it  out 
of  the  way  for  the  early  wheat  sowing,  and  after  the  wheat  is  taken  off",  the 
stubble  and  a  good  stock  of  clover  is  turned  under  by  a  fall  ploughing. 
There  are  farmers  that  have  pursued  this  course  for  twenty  years,  without 
exhausting  the  soil,  and  always  reaping  profitable  harvests  every  year,  avoid- 
ing the  loss  of  every  alternate  year  in  summer  fallowing,  as  is  usual  with 
most  farmers.  The  flax  crop,  when-  sown  thin,  as  is  the  practice  when  rais- 
ing it  for  the  seed,  leaves  the  land  in  fine  condition  for  almost  any  other 
crop — a  fact  which  is  not  generally  known  or  appreciated. 

It  is  a  very  common  practice  to  sow  barley  and  flax  together,  as  they  ma- 
ture and  are  harvested  at  the  same  time,  and  can  be  thrashed  together,  and 
the  two  very  easily  separated  with  suitable  screens  in  the  fan.  This  practice 
is  meeting  with  much  favor,  and  is  said  to  be  a  very  profitable  method  of 
cultivating  both  barley  and  flax-seed.  Indeed,  some  farmers  assert  that  the 
yield  of  flax-seed  is  not  diminished  by  the  growth  of  the  barley,  nor  is  the 
yield  of  the  barley  less  on  account  of  the  flax-seed.  But  we  give  these 
items,  more  for  the  expectation  that  every  farmer  will  make  tests  for  himself, 
than  that  he  will  take  the  statements  as  settled  facts  for  all  kinds  of  farms  in 
all  localities.  But  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  the  farmers  through- 
out the  entire  West — the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  can 
make  the  cultivation  of  flax-seed  a  very  profitable  Crop,  not  second  in  value 


582  FLAX. 

to  wheat,  corn,  or  any  other — the  seed  always  commanding  ready  sale  for 
cash,  at  high  prices.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  demand  for  flax-seed 
has  increased  for  the  last  year  from  one  to  two  hundred  per  cent.  The 
"Latourette  Oil  Works,"  of  this  city,  completed  and  in  operation  the  last 
year,  are  capable  of  consuming  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  thou- 
sand bushels  per  annum.  '  The  proprietors  of  these  works  are  offering  to  con- 
tract largely,  and  offering  every  inducement  to  farmers  to  turn  their  attention 
more  generally  to  the  cultivation  of  flax-seed.  The  Collier  Lead  and  Oil 
Works,  of  this  city  (H.  T.  Blow,)  also  consumes  about  as  large  a  quantity  of 
flax-seed  annually.  In  addition  to  this,  there  have  been  several  oil  mills 
erected  this  past  year,  within  the  range  of  country  trading  with  this  city. 
We  subjoin  some  practical  directions. 

NATURE    OF   THE    SOIL. 

Almost  any  kind  of  soil  will  grow  flax-seed  successfully,  especially  such  as 
are  adapted  to  wheat.  If  sown  on  rich  bottom  lands,  you  get  a  luxuriant 
growth  of  straw,  but  not  so  much  seed  as  when  sown  on  upland.  Clay, 
hardpan,  or  sandy  lands,  are  better  for  a  good  yield  of  seed,  though  rich 
loam,  or  prairie  lands  are  good,  especially  if  they  are  rolling  and  well  drained. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  selection  with  a  view  to  a  good  crop  of  seed 
is  quite  different  from  one  for  a  good  crop  of  fibre — the  one  requiring  a 
harder,  dryer  soil ;  while  the  other  should  have  a  low,  rich,  moist  land.  A 
dry  season  is  favorable  to  a  crop  of  seed,  while  a  wet  season  is  almost  indis- 
pensable to  a  good  crop  of  the  fibre. 

PREPARATION    OF    THE    GROUND. 

The  ground  for  flax-seed  should  be  ploughed  the  fall  before,  and  again  in 
the  spring,  and  finally  pulverised  with  a  heavy  drag.  Thorough  deep  plough- 
ing and  pulverising  the  earth,  as  far  as  possible,  should  never  be  neglected. 
The  seed  should  be  sown  broadcast,  and  should  have  as  light  a  covering  of 
earth  as  possible,  and,  to  this  end,  a  brush  should  be  used  instead  of  a  drag, 
so  as  not  to  cover  the  seed  too  deep.  The  field  should  be  laid  off"  in  furrows 
or  lands,  and  trenches  run  with  the  plow  to  carry  off"  the  surplus  water. 

TIME    OF    SOWING. 

It  may  be  sown  as  early  in  the  spring  as  can  be  done  with  safety  against 
frost.  Many  persons  pay  no  attention  to  frost,  and  sow  quite  early.  Some 
even  sow  it  on  the  snow  in  February  or  March,  as  about  nineteen  cases  in 
twenty  the  frost  does  not  injure  it;  but  there  is  a  particular  stage  of  the 
growth  of  the  young  sprout,  when,  if  the  frost  takes  it,  it  will  perish,  which 
gives  the  preference  to  ordinary  spring  sowing.  If  not  sown  till  rather  late 
in  the  spring,  it  frequently  does  not  get  suflficient  growth  before  dry  vreather 
overtakes  it.  Therefore,  sow  late  enough  to  avoid  frost,  and  early  enough 
to  secure  early  spring  rains. 

KIND    OF    SEED. 

Particular  attention  should  be  taken  to  get  large,  full,  and  well-matured 
seed  for  sowing.  Where  the  crop  has  been  very  thick  on  the  ground,  the 
stalk  is  pale  and  weakly,  and  does  not  afford  sufficient  maturity  for  the  berry, 
and  seed  from  such  a  crop  should  always  be  avoided.  The  best  plan  is  to 
have  one  corner  of  a  field  sown  on  purpose  to  get  seed  for  sowing  tbe  next 
year  ;  and  on  this  corner,  the  less  seed  you  can  get  evenly  scattered  over  the 


FLAX.  583 

ground,  the  more  vigorous  and  matured  will  be  the  stalks  and  the  seed. 
There  are  different  varieties  of  flax-seed,  and  some  are  preferable  to  others 
for  their  seed  yielding  and  oil  producing  qualities.  But  it  is  so  diflficult  to 
get  any  pure  species,  it  is,  perhaps,  better  to  disregard  varieties,  and  select 
seed  for  its  apparent  goodness.  Always  sow  pure  flax-seed,  without  any 
mixture  of  foreign  seeds.  Too  much  care  cannot  be  taken  on  this  point. 
Be  particular  to  riddle  out  all  yellow  grass,  cockle,  mustard  rape,  or  other 
seeds,  and  starting  with  a  pure  seed,  you  will  have  no  difficulty  with  foul 
stuff",  and  will  always  have  the  greatest  yield  per  acre,  and  obtain  the  highest 
price  when  you  market  your  seed. 

QUANTITY    OF    SEED. 

Much  difference  of  opinion  exists  in  regard  to  the  quantity  of  seed  to  be 
sown  per  acre,  but  the  probability  is,  that  the  quantity  should  be  varied 
according  to  the  condition  of  the  ground,  season,  &c.  The  most  successful 
raisers  practice  very  light  sowing,  some  even  as  low  as  eight  quarts  per  acre  ; 
but  a  fair  average  quantity,  for  all  farms  and  all  circumstances  is,  say  from 
twelve  to  twenty  quarts,  when  the  crop  is  cultivated  exclusively  for  the  seed 
— thus  securing  plenty  of  room  for  the  stalks  to  stand  upon  the  ground  and 
spread  out  their  branches,  and  give  the  sun  access  to  their  roots,  and  securing 
strength  of  earth  for  nourishment  and  maturity  of  the  stalk.  When  sown 
thin,  the  stalk  branches  nearly  down  to  the  ground,  and  each  branch  is  loaded 
with  bowls.  When  sown  thick,  the  stalks  are  spindling  and  weak,  and 
often  have  but  a  single  berry  on  the  top,  and,  perhaps,  no  seed  at  all,  besides 
exhausting  the  soil  to  a  wonderful  rate.  A.  piece  of  ground  that  has  been 
burthened  with  a  thick  mass  of  flax  fibre,  is  good  for  nothing  for  years  after. 
When  sown  thin  for  the  seed,  the  fibre  is  very  short  and  coarse  ;  and  in  the 
new  linen  process,  as  well  as  for  the  paper  mills,  is  quite  equal  to  the  fine 
fibre.  In  Ireland,  where  the  finest  linen  is  produced,  it  is  not  uncommon  to 
see  as  much  as  twelve  bushels  of  seed  sown  to  the  acre,  so  that  the  stalks  are 
little  above  fine  threads,  growing  up  through  each  other  in  a  dense  mass,  and 
producing  no  seed  at  all.  In  Russia,  the  German  States,  and  other  portions 
of  Europe,  and  in  India,  the  quantity  sown  is  regulated  more  to  a  view  of 
both  seed  and  fibre,  and  the  quantity  ranges  from  1:|-  to  2f  bushels  per  acre. 

TIME    OF    HARVESTING. 

Flax-seed  should  be  cut  before  it  is  ripe,  when  the  boils  are  beginning  to 
pass  from  the  yellow  to  the  brown  color,  and  it  is  better  to  let  it  lie  a  few 
hours  if  the  weather  is  dry,  before  binding  it  up,  so  that  the  seed  can  fill  and 
ripen  from  the  nutriment  remaining  in  the  stalk.  If  it  is  left  standing  till  it 
is  quite  ripe,  a  large  proportion  of  the  seed  will  be  lost  in  gathering  the  crop. 

MANNER    or    GATHERING. 

The  crop  can  be  cut  with  the  cradle,  or  in  any  of  the  usual  modes.  After 
laying  in  the  swath  a  few  hours,  it  should  be  bound  up  in  bundles  and  put 
in  stack,  or  barn,  secure  from  the  weather.  Some  farmers  mow  the  crop  the 
same  as  hay,  and  handle  it  in  bulk ;  but  the  best  way  is  to  cradle,  rake,  and 
bind  in  bundles. 

THRESHING — TIME    AND    MODE. 

It  should  be  threshed  as  early  in  the  fall  as  possible,  and  in  a  time  of  dry- 
weather,  for  if  it  lies  too  long,  the  seed  is  apt  to  adhere  to  the  shell,  and  is-. 
more  difficult  to  thresh  and  clean  up,  and  for  the  same  reason,  it  should  not 
be  threshed  in  damp  weather. 


584  FLAX  MANUFACTURE, 


CLEANING    UP    AND    MARKETING. 

The  seed  should  be  cleaned  up  on  a  barn  floor,  and  in  still  weather. 
When  it  is  cleaned  up  in  the  field,  or  when  the  wind  is  driving  dust  about, 
the  dust  and  dirt  gets  in  with  the  seed,  and  a  great  deal  adheres  to  the  seed, 
in  spite  of  all  efforts  to  clean  it  with  the  fan,  causing  it  to  look  dull  and 
dusty,  and  the  oil  makers  will  not  buy  it  as  prime  seed.  When  it  is  cleaned 
up  and  ready  for  the  market,  it  should  be  put  into  new,  strong  bags;  for 
there  is  no  other  seed,  or  grain,  that  will  creep  out  of  so  small  a  hole,  or  that 
is  so  likely  to  burst  the  bag.  If  the  seed  is  2:)lun]p  and  clean,  and  your  half- 
bushel  is  correct,  you  will  find  ihat  it  will  more  than  hold  out  by  weight. 
The  standard  weight  of  a  bushel  is  fifty-six  pounds,  and  you  will  find  that 


prime  seed  will  go  sixty  pounds." 


THE    FLAX    MANUFACTURE. 

The  effect  of  the  present  European  war  on  this  great  branch  of  agricultu- 
ral products,  was  discussed  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  society  for  the  pro- 
motion and  encouragement  of  the  growth  of  flax  in  Ireland.  The  views 
there  presented  ought  to  have  an  interest  in  the  minds  of  our  farmers.  We 
copy  the  following  paragraph,  in  relation  to  this  subject,  from  The  Practical 
Mechanic's  Journal, 

"  The  proceedings  of  the  meeting  just  held  at  Belfast,  under  the  presidency 
of  the  Marquis  of  Donegal,  hold  a  conspicuous  position  in  the  more  import- 
ant affairs  of  the  day,  embracing  the  several  heads  of  the  effects  of  the  war 
on  our  flax  culture,  and  the  proceedings  taken  by  the  committee  thereon — 
the  Irish  flax  crop  of  1854,  the  operations  of  the  year,  mai'kets  in  new  dis- 
tricts, saving  of  seed,  the  recently  patented  systems  of  steeping,  unsteeped 
flax  fibre,  conversion  of  flax  tow  into  wool,  scutching  machines,  new  scutch 
mills  erected,  new  varieties  of  flax,  intercourse  with  foreigners,  exports  of 
Irisb  flax  and  tow,  and  a  special  report  by  the  "  Belgian  Instructor"  on  the 
growth  of  hemp.  The  question  as  to  the  effects  of  the  Russian  war  on  this 
trade,  necessarily  assumes  a  seiious  aspect,  when  it  is  remembered  that  out 
<yf  an  imported  aggregate  of  80,000  tons  of  flax,  nearly  60,000  comes  from 
Eussia,  whilst  some  three-fourths  of  the  seed  sown  in  Ireland  also  comes  from 
Riga.  Prussia  has,  however,  so  far  acted  as  an  outlet  of  this  Russian  pro- 
duce, so  that  we  have  not  yet  felt  any  change.  Still,  for  '•  profit  and  loss" 
reasons  on  the  part  of  the  Irish  farmers,  the  amount  sown  for  the  present  year 
in  Ireland,  is  only  150,972  acres  against  174,579  in  1853  ;  but  as  the  yield 
in  1853  was  inferior,  it  is  believed  that  the  marketable  fibre  this  year  will  be 
equal  to  the  last  crop.  Its  value  is  taken  at  about  £2,000,000.  The  saved 
seed  is  of  much  greater  amount  than  formerly  ;  a  single  landed  proprietor  in 
Cork  having  the  produce  of  2,400  acres,  whilst  a  firm  in  Derry  holds  2,000 
barrels.  Fourteen  steeping  establishments  are  now  in  operation  in  Ireland, 
carrying  out  the  modern  patented  methods  of  treatment.  In  some,  a  portion 
of  the  flax  is  steeped  in  open  air  tanks,  but  all  of  them  press  the  flax  straw 
between  rollers  after  its  removal  from  the  steep,  and  from  this  reason  the 
fibre  shows  a  marked  improvement.  The  importance  of  the  retteiy  system, 
as  enabling  the  grower  to  sell  his  flax  crop  without  getting  involved  in  the 
processes  of  steeping,  drying,  and  scutching,  is  evinced  in  the  fact,  that  large 


FLAX  MANUFACTURE.  585 


retteries  are  now  at  work  in  England,  Scotland,  France,  Belgium,  Holland, 
Austria,  Prussia,  and  Bavaria.  The  present  unmechanical  process  of  scutch- 
ing seeais  to  be  now  gaining  some  improvement,  for  the  attention  of  very 
many  inventors  has  been  drawn  to  the  subject.  The  government  returns 
show  the  number  of  scutching  mills  in  Ireland,  in  1853,  to  have  been  1,056, 
with  5,871  stocks  ;  there  having  been  in  1852  but  956  mills,  with  5,871 
stocks.  The  Belgian  Instructor  reports  thus  on  the  growth  of  hemp : — 
'  From  personal  observation,  I  have  arrived  at  the  opinion  that  hemp  can 
only  be  beneficially  grown  in  Ireland  in  the  following  manner :  It  should  be 
sown  after  potatoes,  the  field  being  thoroughly  cleansed  while  digging  that 
root.  The  hemp  crop  can  be  followed  by  a  flax  crop,  as  practised  in  Bel- 
gium. The  hemp  should  receive  some  artificial  manure — such  as  guano,  or 
rape-cake  dust — at  the  sowing  period,  to  create  a  quick  stimulus  to  the  young 
plant,  the  manure  to  be  applied  with  the  seed.  The  seed  should  not  be 
sown  either  broadcast  or  in  drills,  but  with  the  usual  corn-sowing  machine, 
and  covered,  crossways,  with  the  roller ;  or,  still  better,  ploughed  in,  in  the 
same  way  as  wheat,  along  with  the  artificial  manure,  so  that  the  crop  will  be 
in  drills  of  three  to  four  inches  apart.  As  only  140  plants,  at  the  most,  per 
square  yard  are  required,  and  each  pint  contains  10,570  seeds,  it  follows  that 
thirty-two  quarts  would  be  a  suflScient  quantity  of  seed  per  statute  acre  ;  but 
I  would  recommend  an  increase  of  one  fourth  of  that  quantity  for  the  follow- 
ing reasons  :  Experience  has  shown  me  clearly,  that,  although  the  female 
plant  is  the  most  vigorous  at  the  ripening  period,  the  male  plant  will  take  the 
lead  until  it  arrives  in  blossom  ;  that  the  male  forms  about  a  fourth  of  the 
whole  crop,  and  possess  little  fibre,  and  that  of  inferior  quality,  reaching  ma- 
turity fully  four  weeks  before  the  female.  By  pulling  the  whole  crop  at  the 
ripening  period  of  the  female,  the  male  plant  becomes  valueless.  By  taking 
a  medium — that  is,  two  weeks  after  the  ripening  of  the  male,  and  two  weeks 
before  that  of  the  female — the  valuable  seed  is  sacrificed,  and  the  straw 
steeps  unevenly,  with  a  mixed  fibre  of  inferior  quality.  To  obviate  these 
evils,  a  very  simple  plan  may  be  adopted.  By  sowing  the  crop  in  drills,  as 
described  above,  a  fourth  of  the  plants  can  be  easily  removed  ;  and  as  the 
mail  takes  the  lead,  by  simply  pulling  the  most  advanced  plants  at  the  time 
the  crop  is  six  to  twelve  inches  high,  it  will  turn  out  an  almost  female 
crop,  securing  the  greatest  yield  in  both  seed  and  fibre,  witliout  any  after 
trouble  in  the  treatment  between  the  plants  of  each  sex.  The  expetiments 
have  also  convinced  me  of  the  possibility  of  taking  ofi"  the  seed  by  the  ordi- 
nary thrashing  machine,  provided  an  even  crop  be  obtained  ;  and  that  the 
hemp  straw  can  be  scutched  in  the  common  flax  scutching  mill,  by  simply 
having  the  diameter  of  the  beaters,  to  which  the  wipers  are  attached,  enlarged, 
and  the  stock  brought  to  an  equal  elevation,  which  can  be  done  by  excavat- 
ing the  ground  where  the  stocks  have  to  be  uted  for  hemp  scutching,  though 
attached  to  the  same  revolvino-  shaft.'  " 


Sulphate  of  Lead  as  a  Substitute  for  Oxide  of  Tin  in  Making 
Enamel. — Albert  Ungerer,  of  Pforzheim,  states  that  if  sulphate  of  lead, 
which,  as  our  readers  know,  is  a  substance  produced  as  a  secondary  product 
in  many  manufactures,  be  added  to  flint  glass,  to  the  extent  of  about  25  per 
cent.,  a  beautiful  enamel  glass  will  be  obtained,  which,  although  very  heavy, 
becomes  much  more  fluid  on  being  melted  than  the  tin  enamel, — Polytech- 
nische  Journal. 


586 


AGRICULTUEAL   CAPACITIES   OF  TEXAS, 


AGRICULTURAL    CAPACITIES     OF    TEXAS. 

The  March  number  oi  De  Bow's  Review  contains  an  account  of  progress 
in  this  state,  which  is  truly  remarkable  :, 

"  The  following  table  shows  the  pr^.ncipal  items  of  taxation,  their  value, 
etc.,  for  each  of  the  eight  years,  ending  jvith  1853  : 


Years. 


1846  .. 
1847... 
1848... 
1849... 
1850... 
1851 . . . 
1852... 
1853 . . . 


Land. 


No.  acres 
asaessficl. 


31,967,4811 
30.440,'>IO 
32.160. ^4 

32,890,887 
3-'.640,4no 
37.7.31.774 
37.838,79^ 
39,175.858 


Value. 


Negroes. 


No. 
ass'd. 


517.776,101  31,099 
17,326  994  39,251 
20,777,412  40,610 
20.874,641  43.534 
21,807.670  49,197 
31,415,604  59,959 
33, 1 16,77v' 68,77.1 
39.259,412  78,713 


Value. 


$10,142,198 
12,174,593 
13.398,47(i 
14,658,837 
17,776,500 
26.246  668 
28  628,990 
35,946,473 


Ad. 
valo. 


Horses  and  cattle. 


No.  as- 
sessed. 


411,100 

448,971 
.581,251 
631  649 
750,35-2 
901.794 
41511,020,842 
456,1,164,463 


324 
3101 
323 

837| 
361 
404 


Value. 


Other  property. 


Money  at 
interest, 
goods  in 
•tore,  &c. 


$2  929,372  $3,543,501 
3,392,7f'4|  4663,131 
4,174,475!  5.461,666 
5419,015!  5,847.616 
5,222.270  6,675, 17.'^ 
6.638,115!  7,639  797 
7.977,999.  11,030,423 

10,217,499  13,734  530 


Agjiregate 
taxable, 
property. 


$34,891,175 
37.562..505 
4<.812,537 
46,241, .589 
51.814.515 
69.739,.581 
80,754,094 
99.155,114 


This  is  a  most  extraordinary  result  when  we  look  back  twenty  years  to  the 
meeting  at  Niblo's  Garden,  where  the  Hon,  Daniel  Webster  addressed  a  large 
meeting  in  relation  to  that  then  unknown  region.  The  speculation  in  those 
lands,  then  set  on  foot  by  Messrs.  Swartwout,  Curtis,  and  others,  filled  the 
country  with  Texas  land  scrip,  all  of  which,  we  believe,  was  considered  ulti- 
mately valueless.  Nevertheless,  that  great  country,  in  spite  of  disrepute, 
bankruptcy,  frauds,  violence,  war,  and  repudiation,  was  inoculated  with  the 
American  element  of  progi-ess,  and  we  find  her  wealth  tripled  in  eight  years, 
and  those  lands  which  General  Hamilton,  in  1840,  vainly  sought  to  pledge 
for  a  loan  ia  France,  at  $3  per  acre,  have  risen,  in  eight  years,  from  $55  to 
llOO  per  acre.  The  cattle  have  increased  in  number  700,000,  but  are 
assessed  at  the  low  rate  of  $7,78  per  head,  having  apparently  not  increased 
in  assessed  value  ;  at  that  rate,  the  aggregate  value  has  risen  $7,300,000 
among  a  population  of  154,431  white. 

Texas  is,  beyond  all  comparison,  the  best  grazing  country  in  the  United 
States,  To  a  stock-raiser  in  the  north,  his  herd  are  a  dead  expense  for  at 
least  one-half  of  the  year.  Hay  and  grain  must  be  accumulated  for  their 
sustenance,  and  stables,  more  or  less  expensive,  must  be  prepared  for  their 
protection  during  the  winter  months.  Not  so  in  Texas.  Men  whose  cattle 
mimber  thousands  of  head,  are  at  no  great  expense  for  feeding  them.  The 
only  expense  attending  the  raising  of  cattle  in  Texas  is  that  of  salting  them 
occasionally  to  prevent  their  becoming  too  wild,  and  herding  them  during 
the  season  of  branding,  and  during  the  prevalence  of  severe  "  noj'thers.'' 
Nature,  all-bountiful  and  propitious,  spreads  out  upon  the  prairies  her  carpet 
of  perennial  greenness,  and  there  they  roam,  lowing  and  feeding,  fat  and 
sleek.  The  increase  of  stock  is  very  rapid,  not  less  than  thirty  per  cent, 
yearly.  A  cow  and  a  calf  will  sell  at  from  $8  to  $15,  good  oxen  from  $30 
to  $60  a  pair,  and  a  whole  herd  together  will  average  $5  a  head.  To  a  man 
virho  has  but  small  means,  there  can  be  no  more  certain  road  to  wealth  than 
that  of  stock-raising  in  Texas.  Before  the  lapse  of  ten  years  the  increase 
alone  would  amount  to  five  hundred  head  annually,  if  he  had  made  his  pur- 
chases judiciously  at  the  commencement.  Horses,  mules,  sheep,  and  swine, 
are  all  raised  with  equal  facility.     The  average  expense  of  fetting  a  hog  till 


LINES   OF  EAILROAD.  587 


it  weighs  from  two  to  three  hundred  pounds  is  about  two  bushels  of  corn,  all 
the  rest  being  effected  by  means  of  the  pecans,  and  other  food,  which  the 
country  produces  spontaneously. 

The  number  of  slaves  given  in  the  census  for  1850  was  58,161  ;  number 
assessed  in  that  year  was  49,191;  since  when  they  have  increased  70  per 
cent.,  with  an  increase  of  the  price  per  head.  Since  1846,  it  appears,  under 
a  supply  of  47,000  slaves,  the  assessed  value  has  advanced  from  |324  to 
$456  per  head ;  money  at  interest,  it  appears,  has  increased  $10,200,000,  or 
three  hundred  per  cent.,  and  it  may  be  borne  in  mind  there  are  no  banks  m 
Texas. 

Certainly  such  a  State  as  that  ought  to  do  something  towards  meeting,  m 
full,  the  obligations  that  she  found  takers  for  in  the  days  of  her  adversity.  If 
there  were  those  whose  hopes  for  Texas  outlived  the  news  of  the  Alamo,  they 
may  yet  outlive  the  days  of  Texan  dishonor." 


LIKES   OF   RAILROAD   CONNECTING  BOSTON   AND   NEW -YORK   WITH 

THE  WEST. 

Commencing  at  Boston,  and  following  the  line  of  the  Western  Railroad 
of  Massachusetts  to  Albany,  thence  by  the  New- York  Central  Road  to  Buffa- 
lo, thence  by  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad  to  Cleveland,  thence  by  the  lines  of 
railway  passing  by  Bellefontaine  to  Indianapolis,  and  thence  to  Terre  Haute, 
we  shall  have  an  aggregate  of  one  thousand  and  thirty-four  miles  of  railroad 
in  actual  operation,  crowded  with  business  through  the  entire  distance. 

If  we  begin  at  Neiv-York,  and  pass  over  the  Hudson  River  Railroad  to 
Albany,  and  thence  follow  the  line  above  described,  we  shall  find  a  distance 
of  nine  hundred  and  seventy-eight  miles  of  completed  railroads  ;  or  if  from 
New-York,  we  follow  the  New-York  and  Erie  Railroad  to  Dunkirk,  and 
there  intercept  the  above  described  line,  we  shall  find  a  distance  of  nine  hun- 
dred and  fifty-five  miles  of  railroads  in  daily  operation. 

If  we  start  from  Philadelphia,  and  pass  by  the  Pennsylvania  _  Central 
Railroad  to  Pittsburg,  and  thence  by  the  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  Railroad  to 
its  intersection  at  Crestline  with  the  fine  from  Cleveland  to  Indianapolis,  we 
shall  find  a  line  of  railroad  eight  hundred  and  eighteen  miles  in  length  to 
Terre  Haute,  in  actual  operation. 

If  we  start  from  Baltimore,  and  go  by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
to  Wheeling,  and  thence  by  the  Central  Ohio  Railroad  to  Columbus,  thence 
by  the  line  to  Xenia  and  the  Indiana  Central  Railroad  to  Indianapolis,  and 
thence  to  Terre  Haute,  we  have  a  line  of  seven  hundred  and  seventy  miles 
now  in  actual  operation. 

If  we  start  from  Cincinnati,  and  proceed  by  the  railroad  via  Lawrence- 
burg  to  Indianapolis,  and  thence  to  Terre  Haute,  we  have  a  hue  of  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-two  miles  of  railroad  in  operation. 

Combining  these  different  lines,  and  omitting  such  portions  of  them  as  are 
common  to  two  or  more  of  the  lines  above  named,  we  shall  find  an  aggregate 
of  tioo  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-one  miles  of  railroad  now  comple- 
ted, and  in  daily  and  constant  operation  between  Terre  Haute  and  the  cities 
of  the  East. 

Of  the  lines  not  completed,  but  now  under  construction,  the  Wabash  Val- 
ley Railroad  will  unite  with  our  line  at  Paris,  in  Edgar  County,  one  hundred 


588  LINES   OF   RAILEOAD. 

and  fifty  miles  from  Alton,  and  passing  to  the  valley  of  the  Wabash,  will 
proceed  by  Lafayette,  Logansport,  and  Fort  Wayne,  to  Toledo,  where  it  will 
unite  witb  the  navigation  of  Lake  Erie,  and  form  the  shortest  connection  be- 
tween St.  Louis  and  the  Lake  that  is  practicable.  It  will  be  about  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy  miles  in  length,  from  Paris  to  Toledo,  and  will  passthrougli 
the  most  important  section  of  the  State  of  Indiana. 

At  Toledo,  it  will  unite  with  the  Cleveland  and  Toledo  Railroad,  and  se- 
cure, in  the  direction  of  Cleveland  and  thence  to  the'  East,  the  connections 
that  will  entitle  it  to  be  considered  one  of  the  great  thoroughfares  of  the 
business  between  the  East  and  West.  Nearly  five  millions  of  dollars  have 
already  been  expended  upon  this  line,  and  nearly  one-half  of  the  whole  will 
be  in  operation  by  July  of  the  present  year. 

It  will  l>e  remembered  that  the  junction  of  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi 
Rivers  takes  place  opposite  the  city  of  Alton,  and,  consequently,  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Missouri  is  favorably  carried  on  from  this  point. 

I  subjoin  a  recapitulation  of  the  distances  by  Railroad,  above  referred  to, 
for  convenience  of  reference. 

Boston  to  Terre  Haute,  1,034  miles.  Miles. 

Boston  to  Albany,  by  Western  Railroad,  &c., 200 

Albany  to  Bufialo,  by  New-York  Central  Railroad,        -         -         -  298 

Buffalo  to  Cleveland,  by  Lake  Shore  Roads,    -         -         -         -         -  183 

Cjeveland  to  Indianapolis,  by  Bellefontaine  Lines,         -         -         -  281 

Indianapolis  to  Terre  Haute,          - 72 

Total,  ----- 1,034 

New-York  to  Terre  Haute,  hy  New-York  Central  Railroad,  978  miles. 

Miles. 

New- York  to  Albany,  by  Hudson  River  Railroad,     -         -         -         -     144 

Albany  to  Indianapolis,  as  above,         - 762 

Indianapolis  to  Terre  Haute, 72 

Total, -         978 

New-York  to  Terre  Haute,  by  New-York  and  Erie  Railroad,  955  miles. 

Milks. 

New- York  to  Dunkirk, 460 

Dunkirk  to  Cleveland,        .--.__._         142 
Cleveland  to  Terre  Haute, 353 

Total,   -         -         -         - 955 

Philadelphia  to  Terre  Haute,  818  miles.  Milbs. 

Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh,  by  Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad,  -         -  353 

Pittsburgh  to  Crestline,  by  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad,           -  187 

Crestline  to  Indianapolis,  by  Bellefontaine  Lines,       -         -         -         -  206 

Indianapolis  to  Terre  Haute,  by  Terre  Haute  and  Richmond  Railroad,  72 

Total,       -         - 818 

Baltimore  to  Terre  Haute,  775  miles.  Milks. 

Baltimore  to  Wheeling,  by  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  -  -  -  380 
Wheeling  to  Columbus,  by  Ohio  Central  Railroad,         .         -         -         141 

Columbus  to  Indianapolis,  by  Indiana  Central  Railroad,  &c.,      -  -     182 

Indianapolis  to  Terre  Haute, 72 

Total, 775 


EAILWAYS  IN  KUSSIA.  689 


Cincinnati  to  Terre  Haute,  182  miles.  Milbs. 

Cincinnati  and  Indianapolis  Railroad,      -         -         -         -         -         -110 

Indianapolis  to  Terra  Haute, 72 

Total,       -         T 182 

The  above  are  the  lines  of  railway  completed  and  in  operation,  and  include, 
of  distinct  lines,  2,991  miles. 

LINES    UNDER    CONSTRUCTION. 

Miles. 

Wabash  Valley  Railroad,  Paris  to  Toledo, "  270 

Cleveland  and  Toledo  Railroad,  via  Sandusky,  completed,      -         -  107 

Cleveland  and  Toledo  Railroad,  via  Norwalk,  completed,  -         -         -  112 

Illinois  Central  Railroad,  main  hne,  completed,     -         -         -         i  454 

Illinois  Central  Railroad,  Chicago  Branch, 173 

Connecting  lines  in  progress,  -         -         -         -         -         -1,116 

Which,  added  to  the  aggregate  above,  make  a  total  oi  four  thousand, 
one  hundred  and  seven  7niles  of  railroads,  connecting  St.  Louis  with  the 
Atlantic  cities. 


RAILWAYS    IN    RUSSIA. 

The  carriage  allotted  for  my  special  use  was  about  ten  feet  square  ;  it  was 
furnished  with  two  sofas  and  chairs,  a  small  card  table,  and  two  side  tables. 
On  the  sofas  I  could  have  reclined  at  full  length — a  convenience  very  desi- 
rable, and  generally  denied  us  on  English  railways — both  [sofas  and  chairs 
had  air  cushions,  and  were  very  comfortable.  I  looked  into  several  first  and 
second  class  carriages,  and  they  all  appeared  nicely  fitted  up,  although  not 
like  the  one  assigned  to  me  ;  the  second  class  carriages  had  cushions  superior 
to  those  of  the  first  class  on  English  railways,  and  afforded  plenty  of  room 
to  each  individual,  allowing  of  his  sitting  without  cramping  his  knees  upon 
those  of  the  person  opposite  to  him.  We  left  Moscow  at  1 1  o'clock  precise- 
ly— Mr.  Sherman,  my  servant,  and  myself,  occupying  this  litte  room  to  our- 
selves ;  our  baggage  was  stowed  away  in  another  carriage.  I  was  pleased 
to  perceive  that  there  was  no  unnecessary  hurry  in  the  railway  movements 
such  as  those  which  annoy  the  English  traveler  ;  plenty  of  time  was  allowed 
at  every  station  to  the  passengers  to  take  their  meals,  and  in  each  there  Avas 
all  that  could  be  required  in  the  way  of  refreshments.  The  time  allowed 
for  the  train  to  pass  from  one  station  to  another  is  carefully  fixed  for  the  dri- 
ver, who  dare  not  arrive  a  minute  sooner  or  later ;  so  that,  in  some  cases,  we 
had  to  go  very  slowly,  in  order  not  to  arrive  before  the  time.  This,  however, 
is  not  unpleasant,  as  people  on  the  continent  do  not  give  away  to  that  ner- 
vous hurry  which  fidgets  us  and  shortens  our  lives.  Who  in  England  has 
time  to  look  around  him  ?  Rich  and  poor  seem  to  be  urged  along  by  an 
impetus  which  prevents  their  thinking  of  anything  except  their  next  ap- 
pointment, and  as  soon  as  that  is  kept,  their  thoughts  fly  to  the  next. — 
English  Prisoners  in  Russia. 


590      CHEMICAL  EFFECTS  OF  CERTAIN  FERTILIZERS. 


FOn    THE    PLOLOII,  THE    LOOM,  AND   THE    ANVIL. 

CHEMICAL   EFFECTS    OF    CERTAIN   FERTILIZERS   ON  THE  POTATO. 

BY  PROF.  J.  L.  CAMPBELL,  OF  "WASHINGTON  COLLEGE,  VIRGINIA. 

In  tlae  spring  of  1852,  I  applied  to  a  part  of  a  small  lot  of  potatoes  a  mix- 
ture of  wood  ashes,  gypsum,  and  common  salt,  using  them  in  the  proportion 
of  four  bushels  of  recently  leached  ashes,  one  bushel  of  ground  gypsum,  and 
half  a  gallon  of  salt.  The  application  was  made  soon  after  the  tops  began 
to  malce  their  appearance  above  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  mixture 
was  aj^lied  to  a  part  only  of  the  lot,  while,  in  other  respects,  the  whole  was 
treated  alike.  That  part  to  which  the  application  was  made,  produced  not 
only  a  more  abundant  crop  than  the  other,  but,  also,  potatoes  of  much  supe- 
rior quality. 

This  led  me  to  try  a  similar  treatment  of  the  greater  portion  of  my  little 
crop  in  1853.  The  fertilizing  preparation  was  in  this  case  varied,  by  using 
double  the  quantity  of  salt  previously  used.  By  way  of  further  experiment, 
too,  the  mode  of  applying  it  was  somewhat  varied.  To  one  part  it  was  ap- 
plied at  the  time  of  planting  directly  upon  the  tubers  ;  to  another  part,  after 
the  tops  appeared  above  ground.  The  result  this  year  was  more  satisfactory, 
in  the  soundness,  quantity,  and  flavor  of  the  potatoes,  than  it  had  been  the 
year  before,  although  the  season  was  far  from  being  favorable.  There  was, 
however,  no  perceptible  difference  between  those  having  the  fertilizers  appHed 
at  the  time  of  planting,  and  those  having  them  subsequently  applied  upon 
the  surface  of  the  ground. 

Such  was  the  influence  of  the  ashes,  plaster,  and  salt,  that  I  resolved  to 
subject  to  chemical  examination  specimens  cultivated  both  with  and  without 
the  use  of  these  manures.  This  has  been  done  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  a 
fair  comparison  of  results. 

Two  small  plots  of  ground,  alike  in  character  and  fertility,  were  prepared 
last  spring  (1854)  for  potatoes.  The  soil  was  broken  up  early,  and  exposed 
to' the  action  of  frost.  At  planting  time — the  latter  part  of  April — it  was 
stirred,  and  laid  off  in  trenches  four  inches  deep,  and  two-and-a-half  feet 
apart.  In  the  bottom  of  these  the  tubers  were  drilled,  at  the  distance  of  six 
or  eight  inches  apart.  The  trenches  were  then  filled  up  with  a  mixture  of 
broken  straw  and  stable  manure.  JJp  to  this  point  both  portions  of  ground 
were  treated  precisely  alike. 

The  mixture  of  ashes,  gypsum,  and  salt,  was  now  scattered  along  the 
trenches  on  the  manure  in  one  of  the  plots  of  ground,  while  it  was  entirely 
withheld  from  the  other.  The  quantity  applied  was  at  the  rate  of  about 
twelve  bushels  to  the  acre.  The  whole  was  then  covered  with  the  soil. 
The  subsequent  culture  consisted  in  keeping  the  ground  clear  of  weeds,  and 
in  drawing  a  little  earth  to  the  tops  in  the  early  part  of  their  growth — the 
same  mode  of  treatment  being  applied  to  both  divisions.  The  resulting 
crop  was  about  as  four  to  one  in  fiivor  of  that  portion  to  which  the  mineral 
fertilizers  were  applied. 

It  is  deemed  unnecessary  to  give  further  details  as  to  mode  of  culture,  re- 
sults in  quantity,  etc.,  as  the  object  in  view  was  a  chemical  investigation. 
The  conclusions  reached  by  this  investigation  will,  doubtless,  possess  some 
interest  in  the  mind  of  the  intelligent  agriculturist,  and  will,  I  hope,  lead 
directly  to  more  extended  and  more  accurate  practical  experiments. 


CHEMICAL   EFFECTS   OF   CERTAIN   FERTILIZERS. 


591 


Specimens  of  the  tubers  from  both  portions  of  ground  have  been  examined  : 

1.  With  respect  to  the  relative  quantities  of  solid,  nutritious  matter  found 
in  each  ;  and,  2.  With  respect  to  the  influence  of  the  mineral  fertilizer 
upon  the  relative  piroioortions  of  some  of  the  elements  in  the  ashes. 

For  the  sake  of  brevity,  let  the  specimen  cuUivated  with  the  ashes,  plaster, 
and  salt,  be  designated  by  the  letter  A,  and  that  cultivated  with  the  organic 
manures  alone  by  B. — The  kind  of  potato  planted  is  tbat  known  here  as  the 
Long  Bed. 

The  specimen,  A,  carefully  cleaned,  cut  into  thin  slices,  and  dried  at  212,° 
(F)  lost  77.5  per  centum  of  its  weight,  while  B,  treated  in  the  same  way, 
lost  82.2  per  centum.  Thus  A  was  found  to  contain  nearly  5  per  cent, 
more  of  solid,  nutritions  matter  ;  that  is,  of  starch,  gum,  etc.,  which  give  the 
potato  its  value  as  an  article  of  food. 

The  solid  part  of  A,  when  thoroughly  dried  and  burned,  gave  4.15  per 
cent  of  ashes,  while  B,  under  like  circumstances,  gave  4  per  cent. 

When  subjected  to  analysis,  the  ashes  of  the  specimens,  A  and  B,  were 
found  to  vary  considerably  in  the  proportions  of  some  of  their  elements. 
They  were  examined  especially  with  respect  to  the  relative  quantities  of 
potassa,  soda,  sulphuric  acid,  and  chlorine,  contained  in  each.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  ivood  ashes  afibrd,  even  after  ordinary  lixiviation,  consid- 
erable quantities  of  potassa,  together  with  several  other  valuable  fertilizing 
substances,  such  as  lime,  phosphoric  acid,  etc.  Gypsum  is  composed  of 
lime  and  sulphuric  acid,  iDoth  of  which  are  found  in  the  ashes  of  the  potato. 
Common  salt  (chloride  of  sodium)  is  an  abundant  source  of  chlorine  and 
sodium,  the  metallic  base  of  soda. 

Without  pretending  to  give  any  part  of  the  process  of  analysis,  I  will 
simply  sum  up  the  results  in  a  condensed  form.  The  following  table  will 
give  a  comparative  view  of  both  specimens,  together  with  similar  results  as 
given  in  Norton's  Scientific  Agriculture.  The  columns  marked  A  and  B* 
give  the  results  of  an  analysis  of  the  two  specimens  under  consideration. 
The  third  column  gives  the  proportions  of  the  same  elements  from  Norton. 


A. 

B.     Norton. 

50.91 

49.75|  51.50 

3.49 

65 

a  trace 

9.60 

6.27 

7.10 

3.30 

1.98 

2.70 

67.30 

58.65 

61.30 

100  grains  of  Ashes  gave 
Potassa,     -         -         - 
Soda,     -         -         - 
Sulphuric  Acid,  - 
Chlorine, 


From  the  relative  quahties  of  nutritive  matter  found  in  the  two  specimens 
differently  cultivated,  we  may  infer,  that  the  presence  of  the  inorganic  ferti- 
lizers rendered  the  growth  of  the  organic  part  of  the  tubers  more  perfect, 
and  thus  improved  both  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  crop. 

We  may  also  infer  from  the  above  table,  that  the  inorganic  part,  or  ashes 
of  the  potato,  may  be  considerably  modified  in  composition  by  an  abundant 
supply  of  certain  elements  of  fertility,  not  generally  existing  (except  in  limi- 
ted quantities)  in  soils  that  have  been  long  under  cultivation. 

It  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  table,  that  potassa  constitutes  about 
one-half  of  the  weight  of  potato  ashes  ;  hence  the  value  of  wood-ashes  as  a 
manure  for  this  crop.  While  soda  does  not  seem  to  be  essential  to  the 
mature  growth  of  the  tubers,  it  is  taken  up  by  them  when  present  in  the 
soil.     I  presume  it  is  taken  up  chiefly  as  chloride  of  sodium  ;  and,  in  this 


562  HORSE-SHOEING. 


form,  doubtless,  it  does  much  to  promote  the  healthful  and  vigorous  growth 
of  the  plant. 

Chlorine  is  always  present  in  the  potato,  and,  hence,  may  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  elements  in  the  soil  designed  by  the  Creator  to  aid  in  giving  it 
full  maturity. 

The  sulphuric  acid  of  plants  is,  doubtless,  generally  combined  with  some 
one  or  more  bases  forming  salts  ;  probably  sulphates  of  lime  and  potassa 
may  exist  together  in  the  same  plant.  The  presence  of  gypsum,  in  excess, 
not  only  furnishes  an  abundance  of  sulphuric  acid  and  lime,  but  serves,  also, 
to  "fix  the  ammonia"  of  the  organic  manure  used,  of  the  soil,  or  of  the 
atmosphe.e.     This  may  be  regarded  as  a  secondary  function  of  gypsum. 

Wood-ashes,  too,  may  be  regarded  as  doing  more  than  simply  providing 
a  supply  of  potash.  They  contain  a  very  appreciable  quantity  of  soluble 
silica.  This  gives  strength  and  a  healthful  growth  to  the  stalks,  and,  hence, 
tends  to  prevent  some  diseases,  having  their  origin  near  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  often  extending  downward  to  the  tubers.  Ashes  also  furnish 
small  portions  of  phosphates  ;  but,  as  phosphoric  acid  is  found  in  no  incon- 
siderable quantity  in  the  ashes  of  the  potato,  I  would  recommend  the  addi- 
tion of  bones,  in  some  form,  to  the  other  fertilizers  used,  especially  on  soils 
that  have  been  frequently  planted  with  Indian  corn  and  wheat.  Burnt  bones 
are  readily  reduced  to  powder  by  beating  or  grinding  ;  though  they  are 
more  valuable,  and  their  action  more  efficient,  if  dissolved  in  sulphuric  acid. 

The  advantages  of  applying  soluble  fertilizers,  in  such  a  way  that  they 
will  be  gradually  carried  to  the  roots  of  the  growing  plant  by  the  rain,  are 
too  obvious  to  require  even  a  passing  remark. 


HORSE-SHOEING. 

If  to  write  anything  worth  reading,  requires  that  one  should  be  practically 
acquainted  with  the  subject,  and  understand  what  the  conditions  of  the  case 
demand,  then,  what  we  write  under  this  title  may  be  passed  over  as  worth- 
less. We  do  not  know  what  is  the  proper  treatment  of  the  case  under  our 
notice  ;  and,  what  is  still  worse,  is,  we  do  not  know  of  any  who  are  much 
above  us  in  this  respect.  Nevertheless,  what  we  do  know,  we  are  inclined  to 
state. 

We  know  that  horse-shoeing  is  a  very  important  service,  on  which  not 
only  the  value  of  the  horse  is  often  dependent,  but  even  the  life  of  his  rider. 
We  know,  also,  that  skill  in  all  the  arts  does  not  come  by  nature  ;  that  ap- 
prenticeship in  all  its  essentials  is  absolutely  indispensable  in  them.  We  also 
know  that  our  town  and  village  blacksmiths,  to  a  very  considerable  extent, 
are  practitioners  in  tliis  department,  without  any  especial  training  for  it. 
They  learned  what  they  know  of  some  boss,  who  was  very  popular  in  his 
own  community,  perhaps,  for  his  general  proficiency  in  the  art  which  he 
practiced,  but  who  acquired  his  theories,  if  nothing  more,  from  some  master, 
who,  perhaps,  commenced  this  work  when  he  was  ignorant  of  it  as  his  ap- 
prentice ;  because  he  failed  in  some  other  employment,  and  had  a  natural 
tact  for  it ;  and  so  the  list  goes  on — "  an  unbroken  succession" — from  one  who 
never  spent  an  hour  in  the  proper  investigation  of  the  subject.  Hence,  we 
are  not  surprised  to  read  that  "  American  horses  fail  in  the  feet  oftener  than 
those  of  other  countries." 


HORSE-SHOEING.  593 


In  some  of  our  cities,  our  pavements  are  disgraceful  in  the  eyes  o 
sible  horses.  Broadway  might  very  accurately  be  defined,  "a  street  arranged 
so  as  to  require'  of  all  horses  the  greatest  possible  eifort  to  preserve  their 
standing."  We  seldom  walk  to  our  place  of  business,  less  than  a  mile  and 
a  half,  without  seeing  one  or  more  instances  of  slipping ;  and  often,  when  a 
complete  fall  is  avoided,  we  notice  many  horses  whose  cramped  motions  re- 
semble those  of  a  smoothly-shod  boy,  who  is  taking  his  first  lessons  in  walk- 
ing on  ice. 

But  as  we  pretend  to  no  especial  skill  here,  we  give  place  to  a  writer  in  the 
iV.  Y.  Courier^  who  seems  to  understand  at  least  something  on  this  subject, 
and  "  has  had  an  experience  of  twenty  years  in  the  British  cavalry,"  though 
in  what  capacity  we  are  not  informed,  and  whose  suggestions -may  be  useful 
to  those  who  have  some  personal  responsibility  in  reference  to  this  subject. 
He  writes  as  follows : 

"  Of  winter  or  summer  states  of  roadways,  and  the  slipping,  stumbling,  and 
faUing  of  horses,  the  writer  cannot  here  more  than  observe  that  it  is  these 
which  dictate  how  the  hoofs  should  be  prepared  and  the  shoes  adapted.  The 
business  of  the  farrier,  as  well  of  the  hostler,  should  all  be  managed  in  direct 
reference  to  them.  An  animal  requires,  in  all  states  of  the  streets  and  roads, 
foot-freedom  and  foothold  ;  and,  in  slippery  states,  extra  care  must  be  taken 
that  a  good  foothold  is  secured.  All  shoes  and  shoeing,  however — and  this 
fundamental  rule  should  never  be  lost  sight  of — must  be  subject  to  the  na- 
tural and  elastic  conditions  of  the  foot,  so  as  not  in  any  manner  to  impede  or 
injure  these.  In  states  of  nature,  and  when  galloping  at  hberty  over  all  kinds 
of  ground,  soft  and  hard,  rough  and  smooth,  the  horse  has  three  sources  of  good 
and  sufficient  foothold.  The  first  is  the  concave  form  of  the  under  surface  of 
the  hoof;  the  second  is  the  expansibility  of  the  hoof,  which  opens  at  the  heels 
and  quarters,  and  spreads  at  the  base,  under  the  super-weight  and  momentum 
of  motion ;  and  the  third  is  the  consequent  and  very  effective  stay  derived 
from  the  action  of  the  wedge-hke  frog  on  the  surface  or  ground. 

Let  any  mechanic  examine  the  structure  of  the  horse's  foot,  and  he  Avould 
at  once  discover  and  pronounce  it  to  be  an  organ  whose  construction  and  pro- 
cesses were  admirable,  and  well  adapted  it  to  be  at  once  an  expansive  as  well 
as  a  protective  covering  for  the  motive  and  sensitive  joints  and  tissues  con- 
tained within.  He  would  furtber  see  and  add  that,  if  in  circumstances  of  an 
altered  or  domesticated  state,  an  additional  or  artificial  protection  against  tefir 
or  wear  should  be  required,  that  this — whether  of  iron  or  aught  else — must 
be  so  applied  and  adjusted  as  not  to  interfere  with,  or  limit,  the  expansive 
properties  of  the  hoof,  on  the  penalty  of  fatal  mischief. 

Let  us  now  inquire  into  facts.  How  are  the  shoes  of  horses — ^this  addi- 
tional protection — apphed  ?  Are  their  form  and  adjustments  well  and  rightly 
suited  to  their  end  and  purpose?  No  ;  for,  first,  the  hoofs  grow  deep,  dry, 
hard,  and  inelastic ;  second,  the  shoes  promote  this  state,  and  further  bind 
and  debar  expansion ;  third,  instead  of  being  concave  to  the  ground,  so  as  to 
correspond  to  the  concave  form  of  the  under  surface  of  the  hoof,  the  form  of 
the  shoes  are  the  reverse,  and  may  be,  therefore,  likened  to  a  skate,  nailed  on 
in  a  manner  to  fix  the  parts;  fourth,  the  frog  is  squeezed  and  diminished,  and 
is  altogether  disabled  from  usefully  exercising  its  truly  valuable  functions. 

In  order  to  remedy  one  part  of  the  evil, — slipping  and  falling — arising 
from  such  shoes  and  shoeing,  recourse  is  had  to  toe-pieces  and  caulkings. 
These  aggravate  the  general  mischief ;  for  already  ill-adjusted  bearings  of 
the  hoofs  and  shoes  are  straining  the  joints  and  ligaments,  and  this  eflfect  of 
high  caulking  greatly  tends  to  increase,  as  will  be  visible,  if  we  observe '  the 

35 


594  POTATO   CULTURE. 


manner  in  which  one  caulking  first  takes  the  ground,  and  then  how  the  ani- 
mal's weight  twists  toward  one  on  the  other.  Concussions  and  injuries  to 
the  foot,  pasterns,  and  fetlocks,  and  wrenches  of  the  hock?,  are  continual 
results.  One  kind  of  evil,  substituted  as  the  remedy  for  another,  does  not 
abate  the  first.  It  is  only  a  superadded  evil.  From  all  these  causes  flow 
the  almost  universal  prevalence  of  contracted,  impaired,  and  unsound  condi- 
tions of  the  feet  of  horses  ;  the  fore-feet  in  particular,  which  are  more  under 
the  centre  of  weight  and  motion. 

Tos-pieces  should  never  be  used.  Properly  formed  shoes  never  require 
them.  As  a  general  rule,  caulkings  on  the  fore-shoes  should  seldom  be  re- 
sorted to.  When  icy  states  of  the  streets  or  roads  seem  to  exact  them,  a  low 
caulk  on  the  outer  heel  of  each  shoe,  only,  should  be  used,  and  the  web  of 
the  inner  heel  should  be  drawn  narrow  and  thick,  in  proportion  to  the  height 
of  the  caulk,  so  as  to  give  an  even  and  true  bearing  under  the  centre  of  the 
animal's  weight.  The  same  rule  should  apply  to  the  under  heel  of  the  hind- 
shoes  ;  but  a  low  caulk  on  the  outer  heel  of  each  shoe,  behind,  is  always 
recommendable.  The  main  and  true  defence,  however,  against  toeing,  trip- 
ping, and  stumbling,  is  ever  to  be  sought  in  shoes  and  shoeing,  mechanically 
and  physiologically  adapted  to  preserve  natural  and  healthy  forms  and  con- 
ditions of  the  hoofs  and  feet," 


THE    POTATO    CULTURE. 

Various  expedients  have  been  tried,  with  more  or  less  success,  to  prevent 
the  potato-rot,  but  we  have  not  been  forward  in  devising  or  commending 
plans  for  selecting  special  soils,  or  using  certain  precautions,  from  the  fact, 
that  we  have  had  but  little  confidence  in  their  success.  Sometimes  judicious 
management  has  lessened  the  rate  or  extent  of  decay  ;  but  when  a  crop  is  once 
infected,  or  in  that  condition  which  is  so  called,  alleviation  is  the  only  thing, 
in  our  judgment,  that  can  be  done.  It  is  like  one  far  gone  in  consumption. 
The  philosophy  which  brought  us  to  this  result,  be  it  true  or  false,  is  as 
follows : 

The  tuber  is  not  the  organ  on  which  vegetation  seems  to  rely,  as  her  main 
dependence,  in  sustaining  her  succession  of  growths,  but  is  only  a  duplicate 
process,  which  is  capable,  to  a  limited  extent,  of  increasing  the  production  of 
the  species.  At  the  same  time,  in  its  native  condition,  the  plant  never  for- 
gets its  seeds.  These  are  always  the  true  reliance,  and,  we  believe,  the  only 
true  reliance  for  the  propagation  of  plants. 

Analogy  is  also  with  us  in  this  doctrine.  How  do  we  secure  a  permanent 
succession  of  tuberose  plants  for  our  flower-gardens  ?  We  always  rely  on 
the  product  of  seeds.  We  pot  and  repot  tubers,  but  we  always  expect  them 
to  deteriorate,  and  have  occasion  nearly,  or  quite  every  year,  to  resort  to  new 
importations,  or  to  the  product  of  our  own  sowing.  These  importations,  if 
honestly  conducted,  are  the  products  of  the  seed,  and  not  of  the  division  of 
the  tubers.  We  do  not  know  why  a  greater  permanency  should  be  expected 
of  the  tubers  of  a  potato  than  of  a  hyacinth.  We  have  carefully  watched 
this  matter,  not  desiring  to  express  an  opinion  too  hastily,  though  we  give  it 
now  as  an  opinion  only,  while  it  seems  to  us  based  on  sound  piinciples  in 
philosophy. 


INDIAN"   CORN — ZEA   MAYS.  595 

If  we  are  right,  the  true  method  for  every  farmer  to  adopt  is  to  prepare  his 
grounds  in  the  best  possible  manner,  plant  the  best  potatoes  he  can  procure, 
and  give  them  his  best  attention,  while  he  secures  a  good  growth,  and  ripens 
the  seeds  in  the  best  manner,  planting  them  in  a  soil  equally  well  prepared 
for  them,  and  waits  for  his  crop  of  seedlings.  This  should  be  done,  to  some 
extent,  every  year. 


INDIAN    CORN  — ZEA    MAYS. 

We  regard  this  crop  not  only  as  tbe  most  valuable  raised  in  this  country, 
on  account  of  its  immense  amount,  but  as  the  most  important  to  the  producer. 
It  grows  in  various  temperatures,  varying  from  "  40°  south  latitude  to  45° 
north  latitude,"  and  will  flourish  even  at  the  elevation  of  several  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea.  New  species  are  occasionally  introduced,  which  bear 
greater  degrees  of  cold  than  those  hitherto  cultivated.  This,  probably,  is 
dependent,  at  least  to  a  great  extent,  upon  its  becoming  acclimated,  or  to 
adapting  itself  to  the  climate  in  which  it  is  raised. 

The  entire  product  of  corn  in  the  United  States,  by  the  census  of  1850, 
as  quoted  on  p.  326,  of  this  volume,  was  592,0*78,804  bushels.  De  Bow 
estimates  this  as  amounting,  in  value,  to  1296,035,552,  as  seen  on  p.  327. 

The  chemical  composition  of  corn  varies  with  different  species  and  diflfer- 
ent  latitudes.  Sweet  corn  contains  more  of  the  phosphates.  Southern  and 
"  Oregon"  corn  contains  more  starch  than  Northern ;  Rice  and  Pop  corn 
have  it  in  the  least  proportion.  Rice  corn  contains  the  greatest  quantity  of 
oil.  Pop  corn  contains  its  oil  in  small  cells,  and,  by  heat,  this  oil  is  decom- 
posed, and  assumes  a  gaseous  form,  by  which  process  the  cells  are  burst,  and 
the  result,  when  produced  suddenly,  turns  the  grain  completely  inside  out. 

The  Tuscarora  corn  is  deficient  in  oil,  and,  hence,  is  not  so  useful  in  fatten- 
ing animals,  though  it  may  make  excellent  bread.  All  corn  contains  gluten 
in  so  limited  a  quantity,  that  it  does  not  "  rise"  like  the  flour  of  wheat,  on 
the  application  of  yeast.  Yellow  corn  has  ~  less  bran  than  white  corn  ;  it 
is  heavier,  also. 

MODE      OF      CULTURE. 

Good  crops  of  corn  can  be  grown  in  almost  every  kind  of  soil,  by  proper 
cultivation.  But,  judging  from  the  rich  crops  produced  in  some  parts  of 
Ohio,  that  best  suited  to  the  growth  of  corn  is  an  alluvial  deposit,  rich  in 
vegetable  matter,  not  stinted  in  its  amount  of  moisture.  It  should  be  deep 
and  mellow,  allowing  the  roots  to  extend  themselves  freely  in  all  directions. 

Corn  will  not. vegetate  at  a  low  temperature,  and,  hence,  the  condition  of 
the  season  can  not  be  overlooked  by  the  judicious  farmer.  Some  seeds  will 
remain  uninjured,  if  they  do  not  actually  vegetate,  in  a  cold  soil.  Corn 
requires  a  temperature  of  at  least  50°  or  55*.  If  reduced  below  this,  there 
is  a  tendency  to  decay. 

The  ground  being  well  ploughed  and  pulverized,  the  hills  should  be  pre- 
pared at  a  distance  of  three  or  three  and  a  half  feet  apart.  The  manure 
may  be  broadcast,  or  placed  on  the  hills.  An  excellent  manure  for  the  hill 
is  made  by  mixing  one-fifth  of  hen  manure,  one-fifth  of  plaster,  and  three - 
fifths  of  ashes,  of  which,  after  it  is  well  mingled,  and  has  been  left  to  ferment, 
a  spoonful  may  be  thrown  into  each  hill.     If  manure  is  used  broadcast,  a 


596  FOOT-ROT. 


spoonful  of  gypsum  in  each  hill,  in  most  soils,  is  found  very  profitable.  If 
barn-yard  manure  is  not  at  hand,  the  artificial  preparations  to  which  we  have 
so  often  referred,  should  be  put  in  requisition.  Decayed  vegetable  matter  is 
most  desirable,  and,  after  this,  the  various  bone  mixtures.  Soaking  the  seed 
before  planting  hastens  its  germination.  Covering  the  seed  with  tar,  and 
then,  for  convenience  in  planting,  rolling  it  in  ashes  or  lime,  will  preserve 
it  from  the  attacks  of  crows  or  insects. 

When  the  corn  appears  above  ground,  an  occasional  sprinkling  of  ashes 
is  useful,  which  may  be  applied  at  the  hoeing. 

Hilling  corn  is  not  recommended.  All  such  elevations  are  unfavorable  to 
the  influence  of  rains.  Use  a  hoe,  or  a  cultivator,  or  both,  keeping  down  all 
weeds,  and  making  the  soil  soft  and  porous. 

CORN      FOR      FODDER. 

Corn  is  often  planted  for  use  as  feed ;  and  we  doubt  not  that  farmers 
would  find  it  for  their  interest  to  make  a  more  free  use  of  this  excellent  feed. 
Few  products  of  the  farm  are  more  nutritious  or  more  convenient.  A  single 
acre  will  ordinarily  produce  five  or  six  tons,  and  will  keep  four  cows  for 
three  months.  But  a  much  greater  result  has  been  sometimes  obtained.  In 
1845,  in  Massachusetts,  over  thirty-one  tons  of  green  stalks  were  grown  upon 
an  acre.  The  product  of  two  acres  and  thirty-tv/o  rods  was  estimated  as 
equivalent  to  fifteen  tons  of  the  best  of  hay.  On  this  lot,  ten  bushels  of  corn 
were  sown.  When  it  is  to  be  used  in  this  way,  it  should  be  sown  in  drills, 
two  and  a  half  or  three  feet  apart,  sowing  from  three  to  four  bushels  to  the 
acre.  After  sowing,  the  ground  should  be  harrowed.  The  Stowell  &  West 
corn  should  be  used.  G-ood  feed  may  thus  be  obtained  by  the  end  of  June. 
The  stalks  should  be  suffered  to  wilt  before  feeding.  If  they  are  to  be  dried, 
or  kept  for  winter,  they  should  be  cut  in  the  tassel,  and  a  little  sprinkling  of 
salt  is  recommended.  This  tends  to  prevent  them  from  moulding,  and  is 
also  agreeable  to  the  cattle. 

The  stalks  may  be  prepared  by  various  processes.  Sometimes  they  are 
cut  before  the  corn  is  ripe.  This  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  feed,  and  it  saves 
the  cost  of  the  corn.  Sometimes  they  are  left  till  after  the  corn  is  gathered, 
when  they  are  cut  up  from  the  roots.  Which  is  best,  on  the  whole,  is  yet  a 
question.  We  are  disposed  to  think  that,  by  the  use  of  some  well-arranged 
cutters,  the  entire  stalk  may  be  consumed  for  feed.  Every  part  of  it  is  highly 
nutritious,  and  we  see  not  why  the  whole  may  not  be  so  prepared,  as  to  be 
eagerly  eaten  by  different  kinds  of  stock. 


Foot-rot. — ^The  Coimtry  Gentleman  states  that  the  following  remedy 
for  the  foot-rot  in  sheep  has  been  used  with  great  success  by  H.  Howland, 
of  Aurora,  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  for  the  last  thirty  years  : 

"Mix  flour  of  sulphur  with  the  salt  given  to  the  sheep,  in  a  proportion 
just  sufficient  to  discolor  perceptibly  the  salt,  or  about  one-eighth  part.  Sul- 
phur may  be  had  at  a  wholesale  price  at  a  cost  of  not  over  two  cents. 
Where  local  applications  are  necessary,  we  should  much  prefer  a  solution  of 
chloride  of  Ume  to  any  other  application.'' 


UNITED   STATES  AGRICULTURAL   SOCIETY.  597 


UNITED    STATES    AGRICULTURAL    SOCIETY. 

The  third  annual  session  of  this  society  commenced  February  21st,  1855, 
in  the  "East  Room"  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  Twenty-six  States  were 
represented  by  accredited  delegates  from  state  and  county  societies,  and  there 
was  also  a  large  number  of  individual  members  of  the  society. 

The  Hon.  M.  P.  Wilder,  of  Mass.,  President  of  the  Society,  on  taking  the  . 
chair,  delivered  a  pertinent  address,  in  which  he  recapitulated  the  operations 
of  the  society  during  the  past  year,  including  the  cattle  show  at  Springfield, 
Ohio,     The  address  was  received  with  applause,  and  has  been  printed  for 
distribution  in  pamphlet  form. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  King,  of  New- York,  a  committee  of  one  from  eacli 
state  represented  was  chosen  by  the  President,  to  nominate  a  board  of  officers 
for  the  ensuing  year. 

A  letter  was  read  from  Col.  Selden,  resigning  his  office  as  treasurer,  and, 
accompanied  by  securities  for  the  funds  of  the  society  deposited  in  the  bank, 
was  referred  to  Messrs.  Wager,  of  New-York,  Calvert  of  Maryland,  and 
Worthington,  of  Ohio.  They  subsequently  reported,  complimenting  Col. 
Selden  for  his  integrity,  and  expressing  confidence  that  the  funds  are  secure. 

Resolutions  were  offered  by  Messrs.  Holcomb,  of  Delaware,  and  Kemmel, 
of  Maryland,  which  were  sustained  by  Messrs.  Calvert,  Peck,  and  Kennedy, 
of  Maryland,  King,  of  New- York,  and  Jones,  of  Delaware,  and  then  laid  on 
the  table  for  future  discussion. 

Messrs.  Wager,  of  New-York,  Kennedy,  of  Pennsylvania,  Proctor,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, Steadman,  of  Ohio,  and  Jones,  of  Delaware,  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  receive  and  report  on  amendments  to  the  constitution. 

Mr.  Calvert,  of  Maryland,  offered  a  resolution  recommending  political 
action  on  the  part  of  agriculturists,  and  supported  it  by  able  remarks. 

He  was  followed  by  Messrs,  French,  of  New-Hampshire,  Dyer,  of  Conn., 
and  Kennedy  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table  for 
future  discussion. 

Mr.  Jones,  of  Delaware,  presented  a  memorial,  showing  the  effect  of  legis- 
lation upon  agriculture,  and  embracing  a  mass  of  historical  facts. 

After  having  been  read,  it  was,  on  motion  of  Mr.  King,  of  New- York, 
placed  on  the  files  of  the  society. 

Mr.  Clenson,  of  Maryland,  introduced  a  resolution  recommending  agricul- 
tural education. 

An  informal  discussion  of  the  potato  rot,  deep  ploughing,  and  other  mat- 
ters of  great  agricultural  interest,  followed,  in  which  a  large  number  of 
gentlemen  participated.  Many  facts  of  importance  were  elicited,  as  gentle- 
men from  various  sections  related  their  "  experience,"  and  the  debate  was  con- 
tinued until  four  o'clock. 

In  the  evening,  the  Society  were  favored  by  a  lecture  from  their  Vice-Pre- 
sident from  Virginia,  the  venerable  George  Washington  Parke  Custis.  His 
eloquent  narrative  of  the  illustrious  "  Farmer  of  Mount  Vernon"  was  listened 
to  with  marked  attention,  by  a  large  audience,  and  was  warmly  applauded. 

After  the  lecture,  a  large  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  introduced 
by  the  President  to  the  orator. 

After  the  lecture,  the  officers  and  committees  were  unexpectedly  enter- 
tained at  the  National  Hotel,  by  Col.  C.  B.  Calvert,  the  proprietor  of  "  Rivers- 
dale."  A  sumptuous  repast  graced  the  festive  board,  and  the  festivities  were 
prolonged  until  a  late  hour. 


598 


UNITED   STATES  AG-RICULTURAL   SOCIETY. 


ECOND      DAT 


This  morning  the  Society  met  at  ten  o'clock,  and,  after  the  report  of  Mr.        , 
King,  of  New- York,  chairman  of  the  nominating  committee,  elected  the 
following 

OFFICERS     FOR     186  5. 


PRESIDENT. 

Marshall  P.  Wilder,  of  Massachusetts. 


John  D.  Lang,  Maine., 
H.  F.  French,  N.  H., 
Fred.  Holbrook,  Vt., 

B.  V.  French,  Mass., 

Jos.  J.  Cooke,  Rhode  Island, 
John  T.  Andrew,  Conn., 
Henry  "Wager,  New-York, 
Isaac  Cornell,  New-Jersey, 
Isaac  Newton,  Pa., 

C.  H.  Holcomb,  Delaware, 
H.  G.  S.  Key,  Md., 

G.  W.  P.  Custis,  Va., 
Henry  K.  Burgwyn,  N.  C, 
James  Hopkinson,  S.  C, 

D.  A.  Reese,  Ga., 
A.  P.  Hatch,  Ala., 
A.  G.  Brown,  Miss., 
J.  D.  B.  DeBow,  La., 
Gen.  Whitfield,  Kansas, 


VICE-PEESIDENTS. 


Ji  T.  "Worthington,  Ohio, 

B.  Gratz,  Ky., 

M.  P.  Gentry,  Tenn., 

Jos.  Orr,  Ind., 

J.  A.  Kinnicutt,  111., 

Thos.  Allen,  Mo., 

T.  B.  Flournoy,  Ark., 

J.  C.  Holmes,  Mich., 

Jackson  Morton,  Fla.. 

T.  G.  Rusk,  Texas, 

J.  W.  Grimes,  Iowa, 

B.  0.  Eastham,  Wis., 

J.  M.  Horner,  Cal., 

Jos.  H.  Bradley,  D.  C, 

S.  M.  Baird,  New-Mexico, 

H.  H.  Sibley,  Minn., 

Joseph  Lane,  Oregon, 

J.  L.  Hayes,  Utah, 

Mr.  Gliddings,  Nebraska. 


EXKCUTIVE   COMMITTE. 


John  A.  King,  New-York, 
C.  B.  Calvert,  Md., 
A.  L.  Elwyn,  Penn., 
J.  Wentworth,  111., 


B.  Perley  Poore,  Mass., 
A.  Watts,  Ohio., 
John  Jones,  Del. 


SECRETARY. 

William  S.  King,  Boston,  Massachusetts. 


TREASURER. 


B.  B.  French,  Washington,  D.  C. 

On  a  report  of  the  Executive  Committee,  Dr.  Elwin,  of  Pennsylvania, 
Henry  Wager,  of  New- York,  Dr.  W.  T.  G.  Morton,  of  Massachusetts,  Col. 
Anthony  Kirarael,  of  Md.,  and  Chas.  L.  Flint,  of  Massachusetts,  were  ap- 
pointed delegates  to  attend  the  coming  Industrial  Exhibition  at  Paris. 

After  the  election,  the  discussion  upon  the  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  C.  P. 
Holcomb,  of  Delaware,  on  the  "Reciprocity  Treaty"  as  injurious  to  the 
agricultural  interests  of  the  Republic,  took  place.  Messrs.  Holcomb,  Peck, 
King,  and  Jones  participated  in  the  discussion. 

This  evening  the  Hon  G.  P.  Marsh  lectured  on  "Notices  of  the  Rural 
Economy  of  Continental  Europe." 

thirdday. 

After  the  election  yesterday,  the  Society  discussed  a  resolution  offered  the 
day  previous  by  Mr.  C.  B.  Holcomb,  of  Delaware,  denouncing  the  "  R^ciprft- 
city  Treaty"  as  injurious  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  public,  Messrs. 
Holcombj  Peck,  King,  Waters,  Elwyn,  Kennedy,  Steadman,  Cowley,  and 


UNITED   STATES  AGRICULTURAL   SOCIETY.  599 


other  gentlemen   participating.     The   resolution,  as   finally  amended   and 
passed,  reads : 

Resolved,  That  we  object  to  the  doctrine  of  free  trade  for  agriculture  and 
protection  for  other  interests. 

Col.  Calvert,  of  Maryland,  offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions, 
which  he  supported  in  an  able  and  earnest  manner,  deprecating  all  applica- 
tions to  Congress,  and  urging  action  on  the  part  of  agriculturists,  as  calcu- 
lated to  coinmand  success. 

The  resolutions,  after  having  been  discussed  by  Messrs.  Kennedy,  of  Penn., 
Jones,  of  Delaware,  and  King,  of  New- York,  were  carried : 

Whereas,  The  prosperity  of  a  country  is  in  proportion  to  the  improvement 
of  its  agriculture,  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  agriculture  should  be  the  first  interest  considered  in  legis- 
lating for  the  general  welfare,  and  that  such  legislation  should  be  had  as 
will  foster  and  protect  this  interest,  which  is  paramount  to  all  others. 

Resolved,  That  the  time  has  arrived  for  the  agriculturists  of  the  whole 
country  to  meet  in  convention,  and  determine  for  themselves  what  legislation 
is  necessary  for  their  protection. 

Resolved,  That  such  a  convention,  to  be  composed  of  delegates  fiom  each 
State  of  the  Union,  be  earnestly  recommended  by  this  society,  in  order  that 
an  agricultural  platform  may  be  established,  which  will  meet  the  views  of, 
and  be  sustained  by  the  whole  body  of  agriculturists  as  a  profession. 

Mr.  Wagner,  of  New-York,  submitted  a  report  on  the  proposed  amend- 
ments to  the  constitution,  which  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  Fay  and  Waters, 
of  Massachusetts,  Cooke,  of  Rhode  Island,  King,  of  New-York,  Hamilton, 
of  New-Jersey,  Calvert,  of  Maryland,  and  Worthington,  of  Ohio. 

The  constitution  Avas  so  amended  as  to  have  the  payment  of  ten  dollars 
constitute  life-membership,  and  to  change  the  time  for  holding  the  annual 
meeting  to  the  second  Wednesday  of  January. 

Various  reports  were  read  ;  among  them,  one  on  the  Chess  in  Wheat,  from 
the  Smithsonian  Institute ;  on  Agricultural  History,  by  B.  P.  Poore ;  on 
Mr.  Glover's  Collection,  by  Mr.  Peck;  and  on  Western  Fruits,  by  Dr. 
Warden. 

Mr.  Peck,  of  Maryland,  reported  that  the  committee  appointed  to  urge 
upon  Congress  the  purchase  of  Mr.  Glover's  collection  of  modelled  fruits,  had 
had  an  interview  with  the  proper  committee  of  Congress,  and  received  assur- 
ances that  the  matter  would  receive  their  attention. 

A  communication  from  Professor  Henry  was  read,  detailing  experiments 
on  the  culture  of  the  "  Oregon  pea,"  made  under  the  direction  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  at  the  request  of  the  society.  The  results  at  Savannah 
proved  it  worthless  for  that  region. 

A  paper  on  "Alderney  Cattle,"  by  Dr.  W.  J.  G.  Morton,  was  read  and 
referred.     Also,  a  paper  on  the  "  Potato  Oat,"  from  New-York. 

Dr.  Warden,  of  Cincinnati,  exhibited  over  thirty  different  varieties  of 
Western  apples,  which  he  descanted  upon  with  his  wonted  accuracy. 

The  invitation  was  received  and  accepted  inviting  the  Society  to  visit  the 
Metropolitan  Mechanics'  Institute  to-day  at  eleven  o'clock.  Invitations  to 
the  office  of  the  Coast  Survey  and  the  agriculture  room  at  the  Patent  Ofiice, 
were  also  accepted. 

After  some  remarks  by  Mr.  Custis,  giving  his  experience  in  growing  wheat 
in  Virginia,  the  Society  adjourned  until  seven  o'clock,  when  the  Hon.  G.  P. 


eoo 


UNITED   STATES  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Marsh  had  been  invited  to  address  them  on  the  Rural  Economy  of  Conti- 
nental Europe. 

The  lecture  was  hstened  to  with  great  interest,  embodying,  as  it  did,  a 
great  amount  of  original  information,  and  its  publication  will  constitute  a 
valuable  addition  to  agricultural  literature. 

Dr.  Warden  followed,  with  an  eloquent  lecture  on  hedges,  replete  with 
practical  information. 

Friday  Morning,  March  2. 

The  Society  met  at  ten  o'clock,  and  passed  an  hour  in  familiar  conversa- 
tion on  agricultural  subjects. 

After  a  discussion  on  the  appointment  of  Commissioners  to  the  Industrial 
Exhibition  at  Paris,  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Poore,  of  Massachusetts,  it  was  unanimously. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society  be 
presented  to  the  Regents  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  for  the  facilities 
afforded  in  holding  this  session.  The  utility  of  this  Institution,  in  thus  serv- 
ing as  a  nucleus,  around  which  all  useful  associations  can  rally,  at  the  capital 
of  our  Republic,  shows  the  wisdom  of  the  course  pursued  by  the  present 
Regents. 

Col.  Kimmel,  of  Maryland,  read  a  curious  extract  from  the  Maryland 
Gazette,  of  September  8th,  1784,  showing  that  "cattle  shows"  were  estab- 
lished at  Baltimore  in  that  year. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Waters,  of  Massachusetts,  it  was  unanimously 
Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Society  be  proffered  to  Hon.  George  P. 
Marsh,  for  the  very  beautifully  written  and  exceedingly  interesting  lecture  he 
was  so  good  as  to  present  to  us  last  evening,  and  that  Professor  Henry  be 
requested  to  wait  on  him  and  request  a  copy  for  publication. 
On  motion  of  Mr.  Calvert  of  Maryland,  it  was  unanim^isly 
Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Society  be  presented  to  Dr.  Warden,  for 
his  interesting  lecture  on  the  cultivation  of  hedges,  and  that  he  be  requested. 
to  present  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication  in  the  transactions  of  the 
Society. 

At  eleven  o'clock,  in  accordance  with  their  acceptance  of  the  invitation, 
the  Society  adjourned  to  visit  the  exhibition  of  the  "Metropolitan  Mechanics' 
Institute." 

After  visiting  the  Exhibition  yesterday,  the  Society  returned  to  the  "  East 
Room,"  and,  on  motion  of  Mr.  King,  of  New  York,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Society  be  presented  to  the  officers  of  the 
Metropolitan  Mechanics'  Institute,  for  their  polite  invitation  to  attend  their 
exhibition,  which  they  have  visited  and  examined  with  great  pleasure. 

After  some  debate,  in  which  a  strong  desire  for  concerted  action  on  the 
part  of  American  Agriculturists  was  manifested,  it  was,  on  motion  of  Col. 
Calvert,  of  Maryland, 

Resolved,  That  the  first  Friday  after  the  next  annual  meeting  of  this  So- 
ciety, be  fixed  for  the  assembhng  of  the  Agricultural  Convention,  and  that 
the  press  be  requested  to  urge  the  importance  of  the  subject. 

Resolutions  were  passed  complimenting  the  agricultural  press,  and  urgjflg 
its  conductors  to  consider  political  economy,  and  urge  united  action  on  such 
matters  connected  with  it  as  their  judgment  may  suggest. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Taylor,  it  was 


THE   SPIDER.  601 


Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  National  Agricultural  Society  be  ten- 
dered to  the  Hon.  Mr.  Morton,  of  the  United  States  Senate,  for  his  able 
Report  upon  the  subject  of  an  Agricultural  Department. 

Resolutions  were  passed  complimentary  to  President  Wilder ;  to  the  Re- 
gents of  the  Srai'ihsonian  Institution  ;  to  Lieutenant  Maury,  (for  an  invitation 
to  visit  the  Observatory  ;)  to  Mr.  King,  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  ;  and  to 
Mr.  Poore,  of  the  executive  committee.  ^ 

Adjourning,  after  three  days'  session,  in  which,  agriculturists  from  twenty- 
six  States  participated  with  great  harmony  of  feeling,  the  members  of  the 
Society  felt  encouraged  by  this  renewed  and  increased  manifestation  of  the 
great  interest  of  the  Republic  to  assert  its  position.  h 

In  the  evening  many  of  the  officers  and  members  called  upon  Mr.  Clayton, 
to  thank  him  for  his  speech  of  the  previous  evening. 


THE      SPIDER. 

Why  hate  and  shudder  at  spiders  ?  Because  they  entangle  flies  and  kill 
them  ?  That  should  entitle  them  to  our  gratitude,  for  flies,  being  troublesome 
and  injurious  to  man,  any  other  insect  that  destroys  them  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered our  ally,  and  taken  into  friendship.  Are  they  not  beautiful  ?  The 
other  day  we  observed  one  in  the  field.  He  was  larger  than  a  double-eagle 
and  as  bright  and  yellow,  having  colors  more  striking,  indeed,  because  har- 
moniously variegated. 

Few  ladies  could  outvie  him  in  personal  ornaments,  whicb,  in  his  case, 
were  not  of  recent  purchase,  but  came  to  him  by  inheritance  in  the  line  of 
an  ancient  family.  He  had  constructed  one  of  his  wonderful  palaces  of 
regular  dimensions  and  great  size ;  but,  either  seeing,  as  the  New-York  archi- 
tects sometimes  fail  to  do,  that  its  foundations  were  insecure,  or  else  disliking 
the  neighborhood,  as  nice  people  do  rum-holes,  blacksmith's  and  currier's 
shops,  French  boarding-houses  and  American  piggeries — for  these,  or  some 
other  good  reasons,  he  made  up  liis  mind  to  remove  his  residence. 

Now,  as  he  had  been  at  immense  expense  in  building  his  capacious  house, 
like  the  Crystal  Palace  proprietors  of  New-York,  and  out  of  his  own  bowels 
too,  which  they  did  not — for  speculators  and  brokers  are  not  supposed  to 
have  any,  purses  being  a  complete  substitute — having  been  at  so  much  cost, 
he  did  not  like  to  go  away  and  leave  bis  domicil  behind  him.  For  his  stock 
of  materials  for  such  structures  is  limited,  as  well  as  the  funds  of  the  opera- 
tors in  the  Fancies.  Nature,  it  is  said,  only  supplies  the  spider  family  with 
a  certain  quantity  at  first,  which,  if  they  are  extravagant  in  spending,  they 
will  have  afterwards  to  make  up  by  knitting,  Schuylerizing  or  stealing — the 
difference  between  which  methods,  we  can  not  tarry  to  record,  and  might 
not  be  able  to  do  so,  was  ever  so  much  time  allowed  us.  In  short,  our  spi- 
der resolved,  as  the  palace  proprietors,  who  may  have  taken  the  hint  from 
him,  are  said  to  have  determined  on — he  resolved  to  take  his  splendid  dwell- 
ing down. 

So  one  morning  he  began  in  earnest  to  pull  down,  and,  as  far  as  we  could 
judge,  at  the  point  where  he  had  ended  in  putting  it  up  ;  that  is,  the  last 
timbers  he  had  placed  in  the  building  were  the  first  to  be  removed.  Pa- 
tiently and  carefully  he  worked,  taking  off"  filament  by  filament  of  those  long 
beams  and  braces,  which  seemed  single  to  the  naked  eye,  but  yet  were  dou- 


602  THE  BAREFOOTED   PRINTER-BOY. 


bled  and  trebled  and  quadrupled  to  afford  sufficient  strength  for  so  large  a 
work.  For  tliis  creature,  it  must  be  obsex'ved,  li^s  discovered  no  iron  or  other 
new  material  to  weave  into  his  productions,  but  is  obliged  to  labor  with  just 
the  same  raw  material  as  when  he  spun  his  web  upon  the  grape  vines  of 
Mrs.  Eve.  So  if  he  wants  augmented  strength  in  any  portion  of  his  work, 
he  can  only  attain  it  by  putting  several  timbers  together. 

By  degrees,  we  could  see,  as  he  wrought,  the  main  pillars  and  string- 
pieces  lessening  in  size,  and  at  length  disappearing  one  by  one,  till  finally, 
the  whole  habitation  was  invisible.  What  had  become  of" it?  We  kept  a 
sharp  look-out  at  this  juncture,  for  it  was  evidently  the  crisis  of  the  enter- 
prise. At  last  w*saw  the  spider  hoist  a  pack  upon  his  back  in  the  shape  of 
a  ball,  and  commence  his  journey.  It  was  his  house,  which  he  was  thus 
transporting  to  erect  in  a  more  favorable  locality.  Like  a  snail,  he  was  thus 
carrying  it  upon  his  back,  though,  unlike  that  animal,  he  had  the  rough 
stock  of  another  in  his  belly,  should  this  tenement  of  his  be  dissolved  by  the 
hurricane,  flood,  or  fire.  The  beautiful,  industrious  and  provident  creature 
ran  along  as  nimble  as  ^Eneas,  with  his  father,  Anchises,  on  his  shoulders, 
though  under  the  burden  of  all  his  worldly  goods.  He  made  for  a  large 
tree,  where,  notwithstanding  all  our  vigilance,  he  forever  disappeared.  We 
sent  after  him  a  sincere  wish,  that  he  might  obtain  an  eligible  lot  iip-toivrif 
whither  he  was  going,  on  easy  terms. — Newark  Advertiser. 


THE  BAREFOOTED  PRINTER-BOY. 

The  Pittsburgh  Morning  Ariel,  under  this  caption,  gives  a  short  story  of 
a  distinguished  citizen  of  Pennsylvania,  as  follows  : 

Some  thirty  years  ago,  a  barefooted  boy  floated  down  the  Susquehannah 
river  on  an  humble  raft,  and  arrived  at  Harri^burg,  Pa.  He  came  from  the 
North,  and  belonged  to  a  large  family,  with  all  his  worldly  goods  tied  up  in 
a  little  pocket-handkerchief.  He  sought  and  obtained  employment  in  a 
printing  office  as  an  apprentice.  From  an  apprentice  to  a  journeyman,  from 
a  journeyman  to  a  reporter,  then  to  an  editor,  the  barefooted  printer  boy 
worked  his  way  against  obstacles  which  the  struggling  poor  only  know.  The 
persevering  follower  in  Franklin's  steps  began  to  realize  the  fruits  of  his 
patient  toil  and  privation.  The  young  aspirant  became  Printer  to  the  State, 
and  by  frugal  management  was  soon  enabled  to  accomplish  the  object  dearest 
to  his  heart — the  establishment  of  his  mother  in  a  home  above* want — in  the 
possession  of  every  comfort  she  could  desire. 

His  brothers  were  next  his  care,  and.  like  Napoleon,  he  had  a  strong  arm 
with  which  to  aid  them — an  indomitable  perseverance  that  nothing  could  long 
sucessfuUy  obstruct.  In  a  few  years,  they  too,  with  his  sisters,  were  inde- 
pendent of  the  world  ;  the  once  barefooted  printer  boy  was  in  possession  of 
affluence,  surrounded  by  a  young  and  affectionate  family.  He  did  not  stop 
here.  He  was  the  friend  of  the  friendless,  the  patron  of  merit,  and  the  en- 
courager  of  industry.  He  rose  in  honor  and  in  office,  until  the  poor  bare- 
footed boy,  who  entered  a  printing  office  in  Harrisburgh,  hungry  and  v/eary, 
laid  down  his  little  bundle  on  a  pile  of  wet  paper  and  asked  to  become  a 
printer's  apprentice,  was  elected  Senator  in  Congress  !  That  man  is  Simon 
Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania. 


SHEEP  AND   WOOL.  603 


SHEEP     AND     WOOL. 

The  annexed  table,  showing  the  number  of  sheep  and  pounds  of  wool  pro- 
duced in  each  of  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union,  according  to  the 
Census  of  1850,  has  been  published  in  many  of  the  papers.  We  have  added, 
in  another  column,  at  the  right  hand,  the  average  yield  of  a  sheep  in  pounds 
and  hundreths : 

Av. 
3,09 
2,88 
3,70 
3,10 
2,92 
2,85 
2,91 
2,33 
2,45 
2,10 
2,69 
2,28 
1,63 
1,76 
1,76 
0,99 
1,76 
1,83 
0,99 
1,45 
2,00 
1,68 
1,68 
2,13 
2,56 
2,73 
2,32 
2,53 
2,28 
2,49 
1,02 
0,31 
1,00 
1,27 
2,82 
0,08 

21,571,306  52,417,287  2,42 

It  appears  that  the  average  is  higher,  by  six-tenths  of  a  pound,  in  Ver- 
mont, than  in  any  other  State.  Massachusetts  comes  next,  and  then  Maine. 
These  are  the  only  States  where  it  exceeds  three  pounds.  In  New-Mexico 
and  Cahfornia,  probably,  the  sheep  are  raised  for  mutton  and  peltry,  and  few 


States. 

Sheep. 

Lbs.  Wool. 

Maine, 

440,953 

1,362,986 

New-Hampshire, 

384,656 

1,108,470 

Vermont, 

919,992 

3,410,993 

Massachusetts, 

188,651 

585,136 

Ehode  Island, 

44,296 

129,692 

Connecticut, 

174,181 

497,454 

New- York, 

3,454,241 

10,070,301 

New-Jersey, 

160,488 

375,386 

Pennsylvania, 

1,822,356 

4,481,570 

Delaware, 

27,503 

57,768 

Maryland, 

177,902 

480,226 

Dist.  of  Columbia, 

150 

525 

Virginia, 

1,311,004 

2,860,765 

North  Carolina, 

595,249 

970,738 

South  Carolina, 

281,754 

487,223 

Georgia, 

560,435 

990,019 

Florida, 

23,311 

23,247 

Alabama, 

371,800 

659,118 

Mississippi, 

304,929 

659,619 

Louisiana, 

110,333 

109,897 

Texas, 

90,098 

131,373 

Arkansas, 

91,256 

182,595 

Tennessee, 

811,537 

1,363,378 

Kentucky, 

1,070,303 

2,283,685 

Ohio, 

3,937,086 

10,111,288 

Michigan, 

746,435 

2,043,283 

Indiana, 

1,122,484 

2,610,287 

Illinois, 

894,043 

2,150,113 

Missouri, 

756,309 

1,615,860 

Iowa, 

149,960 

373,898 

Wisconsin, 

124,893 

253,963 

California, 

17,574 

5,520 

Minnesota  Territory,             80 

85 

Oregon  Territory, 

15,382 

28,686 

Utah  Territory, 

3,262 

9,222 

New-Mexico, 

377,271 

30,901 

604:  AGRICULTURE   AN^D   EDUCATION  IN  TENNESSEE. 

of  them  are  sheared  ;  for  though  we  find  a  very  regular  diminution  in  the 
weight  of  fleeces  as  we  proceed  southward,  it  is  not  credible  that  fleeces  actu- 
ally sheared,  should  average  only  about  five  ounces  in  California,  and  only 
about  an  ounce  and  a  quarter  in  New-Mexico. 

The  weight  of  fleeces  in  Vermont  is  not  owing  wholly  to  the  latitude  or 
temperature  ;  for  if  it  were,  New-Hampshire  and  Maine  ought  to  yield  heavier 
fleeces  still.  It  is,  doubtless,  in  part,  caused  by  the  quality  of  the  pasturage, 
air,  and  water,  of  the  Gi'een  Mountain  range ;  an  advantage  in  which  Massa- 
chusetts partakes.  Another,  and  a  principal  cause  is,  the  superiority  of  the 
breeds  raised  here.  Almost  all  the  sheep  there  are  descended  from  the  best 
flocks  in  Spain  ;  and  it  has  been  long  since  ascertained  that,  with  decent 
treatment,  they  do  not  deteriorate  in  Vermont.  Not  improbably,  most  parts 
of  the  Alleghany  range  may  be  found  nearly  or  quite  as  well  adapted  to  the 
same  breeds. 

The  fleeces  in  Vermont  are  very  nearly  20  per  cent,  heavier  than  those  in 
any  other  State,  and  62  per  cent,  heavier  than  the  average  of  the  whole 
United  States.  The  profit  of  wool-growing,  compared  with  lighter  fleeces  of 
equal  fineness,  is  about  in  the  same  pi'oportion  ;  for  the  rearing  and  support 
of  a  poor  sheep  is  as  costly  as  of  a  good  one.  But,  besides  this,  the  fleeces 
are  much  finer  than  the  average  of  the  whole  country,  and  bring  a  higher 
price  per  pound.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  why  the  Vermont  farmers  go  into 
the  business  so  much  more  generally  and  extensively  than  those  of  any  other 
State.  It  is  plain,  too,  what  farmers  of  other  States  must  do,  if  they  would 
reap  the  same  profits  from  this  business. 

There  are  towns  in  New-Hampshire,  where  sheep  of  the  same  breeds  yield 
the  same  profits  ;  and  so  in  some  other  States.  It  is  probable,  however,  that 
in  this  staple  the  Northern  States  will  always  retain  some  advantage  over 
the  Southern,  and  the  mountains  over  the  plains. — Boston  Traveller. 


AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETIES  AND  EDUCATION  IN  TENNESSEE. 

In  an  address  delivered  by  Governor  A.  V.  Brown,  before  the  "Agricultu- 
ral College  and  Mechanics'  Institute,"  established  by  the  State,  for  the  im- 
provement of  that  people,  the  following  passage  occurs  : 

"  In  no  portion  of  the  State  would  the  results  of  that  success  be  more 
striking  and  gratifying  thsn  in  East  Tennessee.  For  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury you  have  been  mountain-bound,  and  consequently  excluded,  save  at  vast 
expense,  from  the  great  market  places  of  the  world.  Deprived  by  the  fiat  of 
nature  of  the  usual  stimulus  to  action,  you  have  put  forth  no  great  agricul- 
tural or  mechanical  exertion.  Your  houses  were  not  promptly  and  neatly 
repaired  ;  ypur  orchards  were  left  unpruned  and  neglected  ;  your  best  grass 
and  meadow-lands  were  unreclaimed ;  your  fields  were  cultivated  with  a  slo- 
venly indifierence,  both  as  it  regards  durability  and  production.  Indeed,  the 
whole  aspect  of  your  country  was  that  of  a  dissatisfied  and  desponding  peo- 
ple, ready  to  seize  the  first  opportunity  to  sell  out  and  be  oflT  to  some  new 
and  more  favored  land.  But  now  how  changed  the  scene  !  The  genius  of 
internal  improvement  has  waved  his  magic  wand  over  you,  and  house,  and 
field,  and  orchard,  all  the  splendid  exhibitions  of  this  day's  fair,  proclaim  you 
a  contented,  happy,  and  prosperous  people.     The  traveler  pauses  and  tells 


THE   GREATEST   GRAIN   PORT  IN   THE   WORLD.  605 


you  in  vain  of  the  rich  prairies  of  Texas,  or  the  deep  alluvion  of  the  Arkan- 
sas. Even  his  gorgeous  description  of  the  diamond-studded  and  gold-glitter- 
ing California  can  extort  from  yom  nothing  more  than  the  reply,  '  East  Ten- 
nessee is  good  enough  for  me.'  And  so  it  is,  my  countrymen.  After  years 
of  travel  and  observation,  I  cordially  endorse  the  sentiment,  that  East  Ten- 
.nessee  is  good  enough  for  you — good  enough  for  any  body.  Where,  upon 
this  continent,  can  you  gaze  upon  a  more  varied  and  lovely  landscape  than 
now  spreads  out  before  you  !  Hill  and  dale,  forest  and  field,  torrents  gushino- 
from  the  mountain  side,  and  streamlets  gently  flowing  through  valleys  fra- 
grant with  flowers  of  perpetual  bloom  !  Further  ofi"  in  the  distance,  we  be- 
hold mountains  in  which  lie  imbedded,  in  close  proximity,  the  largest  supply 
of  coal  and  iron  ore  that  the  whole  Appalachian  chain  can  boast.  In  the  oppo- 
site direction,  but  in  full  view,  lies  another  range  of  mountains,  from  whose  bo- 
som are  daily  borne  inexhaustible  treasures  of  copper,  and  other  valuable 
minerals.  Between  these  mountains  lie  a  succession  of  luxuriant  valleys, 
irrigated  by  streams  of  unrivalled  purity,  and  capable  of  sustaining  in  elegance 
and  plenty  tenfold  their  present  population.  Into  these  valleys  the  iron  horse 
is  already  making  his  resistless  way,  and  -waking  to  his  fiery  tread  the  slum- 
bering echoes  of  six  thousand  years.  When  to  these  mere  geographical  ad- 
vantages we  add  the  charms  and  attractiuns  of  a  population  of  whom  it  may 
be  well  said,  without  poetic  hcense, 

'  Where  Man  is  brave,  and  Women  true, 
And  free  as  mountain  air,' 

who  would  exchange  his  own  native  or  adopted  East  Tennessee  for  any  other 
land  on  the  globe  !"  * 


THE  GREATEST  GRAIN  PORT  IN  THE  WORLD. 

The  Democratic  Press,  printed  in  Chicago,  claims  that  that  city  is  the 
greatest  grain  port  in  the  world,  and  proceeds  to  give  the  evidence  which 
supports  such  a  claim.  The  exports  from  European  parts  are  given  at  an 
average  of  several  years  : 

"  Those  of  St.  Louis  for  the  year  1853,  those  for  Chicago  and  Milwaukie 
for  the  current  year,  and  those  for  New- York  are,  for  the  past  eleven  months, 
of  the  same, year.  With  these  explanations,  it  invites  attention  to  the  fol- 
lowing table : 

Wheat,  In.  Corn,  Oats,  Rye,             Total, 

bush.  bush.  and  I3arley.             bush. 

Odessa, 5,600,000  1,400,000  7,040,000 

Galatz  and  Ibrelia,     -     2,400,000  5,600,000  320,000  8,320,000 

Dantzig, 6,080,000  1,328,000  4,405,000 

St.  Petersburg,     -     -  all  kinds.  7,290,000 

Archangel,     -     -     -     -  «  2,528,000 

Riga, "  4,000,000 

St.  Louis, 3,082,000  918,384  1,081,078  5,081,168 

Milwaukie,  -     -     -     .     2,723,574  181,937  841,630  3,747,161 

New-York,     -     -     .     -  5,802,452  3,627,883  9,430,335 

Chicago,       -     -     .     -     2,996,924  6,745,588  4,834,216  13,786,727 

By  comparing  the  exports  of  the  diflferent  places  mentioned  in  the  above 


606  POST  OAK  GLADE  LAND. 

table,"  says  the  Press,  "  it  v?ill  be  seen  that  the  grain  exports  of  Chicago 
exceeded  those  of  New- York  by  4,296,293  bushels  ;  those  of  St.  Louis  by 
more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent.  Turning  to  the  great  granaries 
of  Europe,  Chicago  nearly  doubles  St.  Petersburg,  the  largest,  and  exceeds 
Galatz  and  Ibrelia  combined  5, 406, '727  bushels. 

Twenty  years  ago,  Chicago,  as  well  as  most  of  the  country  from  whence 
she  now  draws  her  immense  supplies  of  breadstuffs,  imported  both  flour  and 
wheat  for  home  consumption  ;  now,  she  is  the  largest  primary  grain  depot 
in  the  world,  and  she  leads  all  other  ports  in  the  world,  also,  in  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  her  beef  exports  !  We  say  the  largest  primary  grain  depot 
in  the  world,  because  it  can  not  be  denied  that  New- York,  Liverpool,  and 
some  other  great  commercial  centres,  receive  more  breadstuffs  than  Chicago 
does  in  the  course  of  the  year,  but  none  of  them  will  compare  with  her,  as 
we  have  shown  above,  in  the  amount  collected  from  the  hands  of  the  pro- 
ducers. 

What  a  practical  illustration  the  above  facts  afford  as  to  the  wonderful, 
the  scarcely  credible,  progress  of  the  west — what  an  index  it  furnishes  to  the 
fertility  of  her  soil,  and  to  the  industrious  and  enterprising  character  of  our 
people — what  a  prophecy  of  the  destiny  that  awaits  her,  when  every  foot 
of  her  long  stretches  of  prairie,  and  her  rich  valleys,  shall  have  been  reduced 
to  a  thoroughly  scientific  tillage !" 


POST    OAK    GLADE    LAND. 


A  farmer  in  Texas  wishes  to  know  "  whether  or  not  there  is  any  method  of 
reclaiming  what  we  call  'Post  Oak  Glade,'  which  is  a  wet  land  of  whitish 
or  ashy  color,  most  of  the  growth  being  Post  Oak,  with  a  few  scattering 
Pines."  He  further  says  :  "  Such  lands  are  apt  to  bake  after  heavy  rains." 
A  writer  replies  (in  the  Southern  Cultivator)  as  follows :  "  I  take  it,  this 
quality  of  land  is  better  adapted  to  cotton  than  any  other  crop.  I  suppose  it 
has  too  many  silicates  already  without  the  use  of  hme. 

Will  'A  Subscriber'  try  ten  acres  on  my  plan  ?  It  will  cost  him  nothing. 
Bed  up  the  land  in  the  spring,  five  inches  deep,  and  that  is  very  deep,  (though 
I  do  not  suppose  he  will  think  it  deep  until  he  puts  the  rule  to  it,)  elevating 
his  bed  as  high  as  a  "  dagon"  plow  of  this  depth  will  do  ;  plant  on  the  top 
of  the  bed,  covering  shallow.  In  this  country,  I  would  not  plant  his  land 
before  the  first  of  May ;  with  him,  I  advise  him  to  plant  at  least  one  month 
after  other  planters.  In  cultivation,  never  go  more  than  one  and  a  half 
inches  below  the  surface,  and,  in  the  latter  part  of  cultivation,  below  one 
inch  from  the  surface;  cultivate  either  with  a  cultivator  or  with  a  sweep, 
cutting  as  deep  at  the  outside  of  the  wings  as  the  point. 

I  am  mistaken,  if  'A  Subscriber'  will  justly  pursue  this  plan,  if  he  does 
not  gather  from  1000  to  3000  pounds  per  acre.  I  am  also  mistaken,  from 
his  description  of  his  '  Post  Oak  Glade  Land  in  Texas,'  if  it  is  not  the  very 
best  cotton  land  in  Texas.  If  I  am  right  in  the  character  of  his  land,  it  is  a 
cold  land,  one  on  which,  by  ordinary  culture,  a  good  stand  of  cotton  can  not 
be  obtained.  *A  Subscriber'  must  not  plant  this  land  until  hot  weather  has 
set  in,  and  then  only  by  elevating  the  plant  above  the  level,  and  as  far  above 
as  he  can,  with  five  inches  depth  of  bedding." 


BOa   MEADOWS   EECLAIMED.  -  607 


BOG    MEADOWS    RECLAIMED. 

The  following  account  of  a  reclaimed  bog  describes  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful experiments  we  remember  to  have  noticed.  We  find  it  in  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  Middlesex  County  Society,  (Ms.,)  in  the  statement  of  Mr.  Asa 
G.  Sheldon,  of  Wilmington,  who  is  one  of  the  enterprising  farmers  in  that 
region.     Mr.  Sheldon's  statement  is  as  follows : 

'•  The  swamp  land  I  offered  for  premium,  in  1843,  was  blueberry  swamp, 
with  tome  few  maples  and  white  pine;  value  not  more  than  ten  dollais  per 
acre.  I  first  dug  a  ditch  through  the  centre  of  it,  about  forty  rods  in  length, 
which  cost  sixty  cents  per  rod,  making  twenty  dollars.  Then  I  cut  off  the 
wood  and  brush,  which  barely  paid  for  cutting.  In  the  fall,  the  manure  was 
taken  from  the  slaughter-yard  and  barn-cellar,  teamed  to  a  side-hill  near  tbe 
swamp,  mixed  one  load  of  strong  manure  with  three  loads  of  blue  clayey 
gravel.  This  was  done  in  September.  In  the  winter,  when  tbe  swamp  was 
frozen,  this  was  teamed  on,  tipped  up  in  loads,  and  tben  covered  with  sand. 
In  April,  1844,  it  was  all  overhauled.  In  May,  I  commenced  digging  over 
the  swamp,  and  planting  potatoes,  putting  a  small  shovel  full  of  this  compost  in 
a  hill.  I  found  the  depth  of  mud  to  vary  from  eighteen  inches  to  nine  feet. 
Where  I  found  the  mud  deep  and  good  digging,  I  dug  five  or  six  feet  deep, 
filling  the  holes  with  blackberry  roots,  small  stumps,  and  hassocks,  within 
eighteen  inches  of  the  top,  then  covering  it  over  with  mud  from  the  next 
hole,  planting  potatoes  on  the  same.  The  clearing  and  planting  were  both 
done  at  once.  The  piece  managed  in  this  way  was  not  less  than  two  acres. 
A  man  would  clear  and  plant  from  four  to  six  square  rods  per  day.  Wages, 
at  that  time,  were  a  dollar  a  day.  Cost  of  clearing  and  planting,  thirty-two 
dollars  per  acre.  Cost  of  ditch,  ten  dollars  per  acre,  making,  in  all,  forty-two 
dollars  per  acre.  The  crop  of  potatoes  was  not  less  than  two  hundred 
bushels  per  acre. 

Grass-seed  was  sown  on  the  ground  when  the  potatoes  were  dug,  and  the 
ground  raked  over.  In  1845-6-7-8  and  9,  making  five  years,  it  produced 
as  good  a  crop  of  English  hay  as  I  ever  raised  upon  any  ground,  without 
any  manure  except  what  was  put  on  the  first  crop  of  potatoes.  In  1850,  the 
cro])  of  grass  began  to  fail,  and  some  wild  grass  came  in.  In  September, 
1850,  I  plowed  it  by  hitching  the  plow  behind  a  pair  of  wheels,  so  that  the 
oxen  could  walk  on  the  grass.  In  the  winter,  when  it  was  frozen,  I  teamed 
on  manure,  all  kinds  being  mixed,  about  four  cords  to  the  acre.  I  planted  it 
in  1851  with  potatoes ;  the  crop  was  from  three  to  five  hundred  bushels  to 
the  acre.  Finding  this  much  more  profitable  than  hay,  I  have  managed  it 
in  the  same  way  until  the  present  time.  When  the  potatoes  have  been  dug 
early,  before  they  got  their  full  growth,  I  have  not  obtained  so  large  a  crop. 
When  they  have  been  allowed  to  remain  in  the  ground,  they  have  never 
failed  of  yielding  three  times  as  much  as  the  upland. 

The  present  season  I  invited  the  town  clerk,  with  a  number  of  other  gentle- 
men, to  witness  the  measurement  of  the  ground,  and  the  digging  and  mea- 
surement of  the  potatoes.  From  this,  which  I  enclose,  you  w'ill  see  that  the 
crop  can  not  be  valued  at  less  than  three  hundred  dollars  per  acre,  many 
having  now  been  sold  for  more  than  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  bushel." 

Wilmington,  Oct.  2,  1854.  - 


60S  IMPROVED  STEREOSCOPE. 


IMPROVED    STEREOSCOPE. 
J3  B 


The  above  ia  a  perspective  view  of  Masclier's  Stereoscope  Medallion,  for 
which  a  patent  was  granted  January  16th,  1855.  It  is  represented  as  open, 
or  as  it  is  used  for  viewing  the  two  stereoscopic  daguerreotypes,  or  other 
photographic  pictures,  which,  by  its  optical  arrangement,  are  made  to  appear 
as  one,  and  that  not  a  mere  flat  representatien,  but  a  form  standing  up  out 
of  the  substance  on  which  it  is  drawn  like  a  substantial,  living  thing. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  engraving  at  the  head  of  this  article: 
C  is  the  main  central  rim  of  a  locket ;  B  B  are  two  lids  with  daguerreotype 
pictures,  E  E,  on  them  ;  these  lids  are  hinged  on  each  sid'e  of  the  rim,  C. 
A  A  are  two  supplementary  lids,  each  containing  a  lens,  D  D.  These  are 
also  hinged  to  rim  C,  as  shown,  but  are  fitted  to  fold  within  the  picture  lids, 
B  B,  and  are  arranged  in  such  relation  to  the  same,  that,  upon  being  opened 
and  properly  adjusted,  the  lenses,  D  D,  will  stand  opposite  to  the  pictures, 
and  convert  the  medallion  into  a  stereoscope,  by  which  a  person  looking 
through  the  glasses,  D  D,  will  see  but  one  picture,  solid  and  life-like.  The 
patentee  has  applied  double  convex  lenses  to  these  medallions,  the  sides  of 
which  are  of  unequal  convexity,  (as  one  to  six,)  according  to  Brewster,  so  that 
the  picture  is  rendered  very  cleai'.  A  medallion  of  this  character  can  also 
be  used  for  a  microscope  and  sua-glass. 

This  property  of  the  stereoscope,  of  converting  two  flat  pictures  into  one 
raised,  substantial,  life-like  statue,  appears,  as  yet,  to  be  but  little  understood, 
and,  consequently,  but  little  appreciated  by  the  public ;  and  we  can  assure 
our  readers,  that  they  can  form  no  adequate  conception  of  the  beauty  of  this 
invention,  until  they  have,  with  their  own  eyes,  looked  through  the  two  lenses, 
at  the  two  portraits  opposite  them.  The  resulting  picture  looks  no  more 
like  either  of  its  component  pictures  than  a  circle  does  like  a  globe.  The 
medallion  is  made  of  gold,  and  when  folded  up,  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish 
it  from  the  locket  commonly  worn.  When  closed,  it  measures  one  and  three 
quarters  inch  diameter,  and  three-eighths  of  an  inch  thick.  The  engraving 
represents  a  No.  9  medallion,  which  the  inventor  sells  for  $12  each,  but  he 
has  applied  the  same  principle  to  No.  7  and  8,  some  of  which,  he  informs  us, 
he  will  shortly  have  on  sale,  at  $10  and  111  each,  respectively. 

This  medallion,  with  pictures,  together  with  a  handsome  morocco  case,  in 
which  it  can  be  very  safely  kept,  when  not  in  use,  weighs  only  three  ounces, 
•onsequently  it  is  admirably  suited  to  send  by  mail  to  distant  fiiends  or 
relatives. 


IMPROVED  STEREOSCOPE.  609 

'lliis  locket  exhibits  tlie  most  extraordinary  adaptation  of  means  to  ends 
that  we  have  ever  witnessed.  Every  particle  of  room  is  occupied,  and  is  a 
most  striking  contrast  to  Prof.  Wheatstone's  first,  and  even  to  the  most  perfect 
foreign  stereoscopes  which  are  sometimes  imported,  Theirs  are  boxes  occupy- 
ing one-half  of  a  cubic  foot,  this,  one-half  inch  ;  the  best  imported  ones  magnify 
very  little,  whereas  this  magnifies  four  times.  Even  the  stereoscopic  daguer- 
reotype case,  for  which  this  same  inventor  also  obtained  a  patent  in  1853,  is 
much  superior  with  respect  to  portability,  magnifying  power,  easy  manage- 
ment, durability,  and  cheapness,  to  the  best  imported  ones,  but  this  last  in- 
vention is  an  improvement  upon  that.  Mr.  Mascher  has  turned  the  tables 
upon  the  Europeans,  for  he  informs  us  that  he  exports  large  quantities  to 
England,  France,  and  the  Spanish  jiossessions. 

We  see  by  the  report  of  the  judges  of  the  Metropolitan  Mechanics'  Insti- 
tute, at  Washington,  that  they  entertain  the  same  favorable  opinions  of  this 
invention  that  we  do,  for  they  have  awarded  to  it  the  First  Premium.  A 
similar  acknowledgement  was  also  made  by  the  Franklin  Institute  of  Phila- 
delphia, last  December,  to  the  stereoscopic  daguerreotype  case,  for  they 
awarded  to  it  the  first  premium,  besides  recommending  the  inventor  to  the 
Committee  on  Arts  and  Sciences,  with  a  view  to  a  still  more  favorable  report, 
a  recommendation  and  award  extended  to  no  other  depositor. 

More  information  can  be  obtained  by  letter,  by  addressing  I.  F.  Mascher, 
No.  408  North  Second  Street,  Philadelphia. 

For  the  benefit  of  daguerreotypists  who  are  not  familiar  with  this  beautiful 
invention,  we  add  the  following  directions,  commending  this  style  of  preserv- 
ing the  very  image  of  one's  friends,  to  all  who  can  afford  this  choice  luxury. 
For,  we  repeat  it,  the  difference  between  this  style  of  representation  and  the 
common  daguerreotype,  is  greater  than  between  a  common  painting, and  a 
correct  statue ;  for  in  this  is  the  appearance  of  life. 

Directions  to  take  and  put  up  Pictures. 

"  Prepare  two  plates,  of  such  size  that  the  two,  when  pasted  together,  will 
fit  the  size  of  case  intended,  ready  for  the  camera,  in  the  usual  manner,  and 
if  you  have  two  cameras  of  the  same  size  and  quality,  set  them  about  two 
feet  apart,  and  at  equal  distance  from  the  person  or  subject  intended  to  be 
taken.  Draw  the  focus  correctly  in  each,  and  take  both  pictures  at  the  same 
instant  of  time,  finish  them  in  the  usual  manner,  and  you  will  find  that  they 
are  not  exactly  alike,  but  each  picture  looks  to  opposite  sides  of  the  plates, 
which  is  owing  to  the  angle  at  which  they  are  taken.  Cut  the  plates  so  that 
they  will  fit  the  size-border  intended,  and  paste  them  together  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  both  pictures  look  to  the  middle  of  the  plates,  taking  care  that  both 
pair  of  eyes  are  parallel  with  the  sides  of  the  glass  and  border.  For  this 
purpose  you  must  have  a  parallel  ruler,  which  you  can  jJurchase  at  the  opti- 
cian's for  37^  cents.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  pictures  be  parallel, 
for  if  they  are  not,  you  will  invariably  see  two  indistinct  pictures. 

Some  artists  turn  out  pictures  in  which  one  picture  is  at  least  one  quarter 
of  an  inch  lower  down  than  the  other.  How  is  it  possible  to  see  such  pic- 
tures correctly  ? 

If  you  have  only  one  camera,  prepare  your  two  plates  as  above,  adjust  the 
'  focus  properly,  and  take  one  picture.  Let  the  subject  sit  perfectly  still  until 
you  move  the  camera  about  two  feet  either  to  the  right  or  left,  re-adjust  the 
focus,  and  take  the  second.     Finish  and  put  them  up  as  above. 

Again,  you  can  have  a  camera-stand  made,  having  the  table  of  which,  say 
36 


610  CULTURE  OF  THE  ORANGE. 

two-and-a-half  feet  long,  and  as  wide  as  your  camera  is  long,  say  ten  inclies. 
Provide  this  table  with  one  set  of  stops  at  each  end  Tor  your  camera  to  slide 
against.  Now,  previous  to  taking  the  picture,  adjust  the  table  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  camera  will  be  perfectly  in  focus  at  each  end  of  the  table. 
Make  a  slide  for  your  plate-holder,  with  an  opening  in,  so  that  it  will  expose 
half  of  the  plate  to  the  action  of  the  camera.  The  camera  is  to  be  laid  upon 
one  of  its  sides,  and  both  pictures  are  taken  on  one  plate. 

Lay  the  camera  on  one  end  of  the  table,  and  take  one  picture  ;  put  on  the 
cap,  and  quickly  move  the  camera  over  to  the  other  end  of  the  table  against 
the  other  stops  ;  move  the  slide  in  the  holder,  in  the  same  direction  you 
moved  the  camera,  and  the  other  half  of  the  plate  will  be  exposed;  take  off 
the  cap,  and  take  the  other  picture.  This  plan  is  in  successful  operation,  and 
is  yery  convenient  and  good,  but,  it  is  believed,  not  so  perfect  as  taking  them 
(pictures)  with  two  cameras. 

Lastly,  you  can  take  both  pictures  at  one  time,  on  one  plate  with  an  ordi- 
nary camera,  by  means  of  two  reflectors.  Pictures  have  been  taken  this  way 
that  are  very  good.  This  plan  is  very  good,  cheap,  and  convenient.  For 
full  description  of  which,  see  page  348,  vol.  XVL  SiUiinan''s  Journal^ 


FOR    THE    PLOUGH,    THE    LOOM,    AND   THE   ANVIL. 

CULTURE     OF     THE     ORANGE. 

Messrs.  Editors: — In  your  valuable  journal  I  have  never  seen  mention 
of  fruit-growing  in  Louisiana.  Have  you  no  correspondent  in  this  fair  spot 
of  our  Union  ?  Or  are  the  Louisianians  so  absorbed  in  sugar-making,  than 
they  have  no  time  to  devote  to  this  beautiful  occupation  ?  There  have  been 
very  fine  peaches  ind  pears  raised  in  Louisiana;  and  I  am  sure  that  if  one 
would  wish  to  write  upon  the  subject,  he  would  find  enough  to  make  quite 
an  interesting  article  for  your  paper.  There  is  a  fruit  which  I  will  introduce 
to  your  notice,  and  to  the  journal  also.  Would  that  I  could  make  you  more 
nearly  acquainted  with  its  sweet  and  delicious  properties  and  qualities,  than 
by  a  mere  article  in  the  paper !  A  rich,  juicy,  delicious  Louisiana  orange  is 
what  no  editor,  but  New-Orleans  editors,  often  enjoy. 

The  portion  of  Louisiana  best  adapted  to  orange  growing  is  the  Parish  of 
Plaquemines,  situated  on  each  side  of  the  Mississippi  River,  below  New- 
Orleans.  There  are  several  fine  orange  groves  in  this  parish  ;  one  in  particu- 
lar, consisting  of  three  thousand  trees.  It  is  called  "  Eisayons ;"  the  motto 
on  the  button  of  the  U.  S.  Engineers — meaning  "  let  us  try."  It  was  planted 
by  an  engineer  officer,  and  is  now  owned  by  his  heirs.  Fifteen  hundred  of 
these  trees  are  nine  years  old ;  the  rest  are,  some  eight,  some  six  years  old. 
Ten  years  is  generally  the  time  for  a  tree  to  mature.  After  this  period  they 
are  the  most  profitable  crop  a  man  can  raise ;  for  a  tree  will  produce  from 
fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  oranges,  which  bring  at  his  door  |15  a 
thousand  sometimes  ;  never  Icss  than  ^10.  If  you  will  count  up  the  thou- 
sands from  the  Essayons  Grove  at  that  rate,  you  will  see  that  it  will  be  quite 
a  small  fortune  after  a  while. 

The  orange,  as  well  as  the  lemon  and  citron,  never  sheds  a  leaf  of  its 
foliage.  Every  year  adds  new  branches  and  new  leaves.  The  same  branch 
will  not  bear  two  successive  years.     A  tree,  in  the  course  of  one  year,  will 


CHALK.  611 

sometimes,  if  luxuriant  in  its  growth,  put  forth  nine  or  ten  branches,  five  or 
six  feet  in  length.  The  tree  will  mostly  make  wood  till  it  is  ten  years  old  ; 
after  that  it  seems  to  reserve  all  its  energies  for  the  formation  of  the  fruit. 
The  seed  is  first  planted  in  a  nursery,  then  transplanted,  at  the  age  of  one  or 
two  years,  on  the  spot  where  it  is  destined  to  grow.  The  trees  are  put  twenty 
feet  apart  each  way.  Some  plant  them  at  fifteen  ;  but  the  best  way  is  to 
give  them  ample  room  for  the  roots  to  run.  The  roots  are  not  more  than 
three  inches  from  the  smface  of  the  ground,  with  the  exception  of  the  tap-root. 
The  plan  now  is  not  to  trim  at  all,  if  possible.  A  tree  left  to  its  own  natural 
disposition,  will  make  a  most  beautiful,  symmetrical  production.  They  re- 
quire no  manure,  but  the  virgin  soil  of  Louisiana  seems  to  suit  them  admira- 
bly.    They  will  get  scrubby  in  old  soils. 

Thei-e  are  some  of  the  diseases  which  attack  orange-trees  -which  are  quite 
unmanageable.  I  will  mention  two  very  frequent  ones.  The  lice  is  a  small, 
blue  insect,  which  covers  the  tree,  bark,  leaves  and  all.  They  will  feed  upon 
the  leaves,  and,  in  n  few  mouths,  disrobe  an  orchard  of  four  or  five  hundred 
trees,  leaving  them  as  bare  as  your  hand.  The  tree, -at  the  end  of  a  year  or 
so,  will  recuperate,  and  again  put  forth  its  leaves,  and  boar  its  wonted  trea- 
sures, but  not  in  so  great  abundance.  Another,  and  apparently  irremediable- 
trouble,  is  a  kind  of  dry  rot  which  attacks  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  at  its  base, 
just  where  the  root  begins.  It  is  at  first  a  small  spot,  not  mwe  than  a  quar- 
ter of  an  inch  large,  but  soon  runs  in  a  ring  all  round  the  base  of  the  trunk, 
which  brings  a  speedy  death  to  the  tree.  The  only  remedy  is  to  dig  up  the 
invalid  by  the  roots,  and  consign  it  to  the  embrace  of  the  Father  of" Waters, 
putting  in  its  stead  a  healthy  tree,  that  will  repay  your  care  and  labor. 

If  any  of  your  subscribers  can  give  us  through  your  paper  a  remedy  for 
these  evils,  he  will  benefit  a  goodly  interest  in  Louisiana.  The  Louisiana 
orange  is  much  superior  to  the  Havana  or  Sicily,  for  the  reason  that  these 
have  to  be  plucked  green  to  be  sent  here,  while  ours  are  given  us  in  all  their 
full,  rich,  native  growth,  and  sweetness. 

The  best  time  to  plant  orange  trees  is  in  March,  from  the  15th  to  the  last* 
before  that  it  is  generally  too  cold.  Anything  which  will  improve  the  culture 
of  the  orange  will  be  quite  acceptable  in  your  columns  to  at  least  one  of  your 
subscribers.        ■  Respectfully  yours,  A.  S. 


Native  Coffee.— The  Calaveras  Chronicle,  Cal.,  says  that  wild  coffee  is 
found  in  abundance  in  that  neighborhood,  similar  to  the  plant  cultivated  in 
Mexico,  South  and  Central  America.  The  berries  resemble  those  of  the 
genuine  coffee  plant. 

Chalk. — A  specimen  of  this  calcareous  earth  was  shown  us  this  week  by 
A._G.  Lawrence,  Esq.,  of  Campo  Seco.  It  forms  the  base  of  a  hill  in  that 
vicinity,  the  surface  of  wbich  is  a  volcanic  drift,  containing  a  very  rich  gold 
deposite,  which  pays  from  |3  to  $10  a  cart  load.  The  chalk  hill  has  not 
been  penetrated  to  any  considerable  depth,  but  it  is  likely  that  underneath 
this  deposite  gold  will  be  found.  A  curious  phenomenon  may  be  observed 
at  this  hill — one  part  of  it  is  composed' of  chalk,  while  the  other  is  the  usual 
red  clay  formation,  the  line  of  demarkatiou  being  plainfy  visible. — Cah 
Chronicle. 


612  COLORS  OF  HANGINGS,    FURNITURE,   ETC. 


COLORS    OF    HANGINGS,    FUENITURE,    ETC. 

We  have  been  exceedingly  pleased  with  aa  article  upon  "  Color  in  Nature 
and  Art,"  written  by  one  who  proves  himself  well  qualified  for  the  task,  in 
a  recent  number  of  JBlackwood.  We  have  hitherto  acted  on  the  belief  that 
cultivation  of  this  sort  is  of  great  importance — scarcely  less  than  the  cultiva- 
tion ordinarily  discussed  in  agricultural  journals.  For  lack  of  acquirements 
of  this  sort,  so  many  of  our  wealthy  families  are  as  utterly  destitute  of  good 
taste  in  their  household  arrangements,  as  they  can  well  be.  Many  a  poor 
man's  hovel,  in  rural  districts,  or  in  the  city  even,  exhibits  far  greater  profi- 
ciency in  these  matters.  Even  our  upholsterers  have  learned  nothing,  and 
generally  know  nothing,  about  them.  All  they  can  do  is  to  imitate  their 
predecessors,  who  were  just  as  ignorant  as  themselves,  or  to  imitate  some- 
body whom  they  accidentally  met  with,  who  did  so-and-so,  and,  it  may  be,( 
under  totally  different  circumstances.  Hence,  we  see  what  we  see  in  our 
gorgeous  mansions — a  genuine  Indian  display  of  brilliant  colors,  exhibiting 
about  as  much  science  and  skill  as  we  should  find  in  a  medium  Crow  Indian. 
Some  of  these  natives,  as  our  own  eyes  have  had  the  evidence,  have,  by  intu- 
ition, a  far  more  cultivated  taste.  But  our  object  is  only  to  present  an  ex- 
tract, and  commend  it  to  general  attention.  After  discussing  sundry  relative 
topics,  the  writer  proceeds  thus  : 

"  In  coming  to  the  furniture  of  our  dwellings,  it  must  be  confessed  that,  so 
innumerable  are  the  possible  combinations  of  color,  it  is  impossible  to  lay 
down  many  laws  of  general  application.  In  large  rooms,  bright,  contrasting' 
colors  may  be  employed  ;  whereas,  in  small  rooms,  the  harmony  should  be 
not  of  contrast,  but  of  analogy ;  in  other  words,  the  furniture  of  small  rooms 
should  in  general  have  but  one  predominant  color,  and  the  contrasts  exhibi- 
ted be  only  those  of  tone.  On  this  principle,  hangings  with  varied  and 
brilliant  colors,  representing  flowers,  birds,  human  figures,  landscapes,  etc., 
may  be  employed  in  the  decorating  of  large  rooms  ;  whereas,  chintzes  are 
only  suitable  to  small  rooms,  such  as  cabinets,  boudoirs,  etc.  In  bed-rooms, 
the  window-curtains  and  those  of  the  bed  should  be  similar  ;  and  if  there  be 
a  divan,  it  may  be  similar  also  ;  for  we  may  remark,  that  it  is  conformable 
with  the  object  of  boudoirs,  and  similar  places,  to  diminish  their  extent  to 
the  eye,  by  employing  only  one  material  for  the  hangings  and  chairs,  instead 
of  seeking  to  fix  the  eye  upon  many  separate  objects. 

Of  hangings — and  our  remarks  are  almost  equally  applicable  to  the  gene- 
ral tone  of  a  room — we  may  say  that,  in  consequence  of  an  apartment  never 
being  too  Jight,  since  we  can  diminish  the  day-light  by  means  of  blinds  and 
curtains,  it  is  best  that  the  hangings  be  of  a  light  and  not  of  a  dark  color,  so 
that  they  may  reflect  light  rather  than  absorb  it.  Dark  hangings,  therefore, 
are  proscribed,  whatever  be  their  color.  Red  curtains  are  to  be  met  with 
very  frequently  in  this  country  ;  yet  it  must  be  said  that  red  and  violet,  even  in 
their  light  tones,  ought  to  be  proscribed,  because  they  are  exceedingly  unfa- 
vorable to  the  color  of  the  skin.  Orange  can  never  be  much  employed,  it 
fatigues  the  eye  so  much  by  its  intensity ;  and,  indeed,  among  the  simple 
colors  there  is  scarcely  any  which  are  advantageous,  except  yellow,  and  the 
light  tones  of  green  and  blue.  Yellow  is  hvely,  and  combines  well  with  ma- 
hogany furniture,  but  not  generally  with  gilding.  Light-green  is  favorable, 
both  to  gilding  and  to  mahogany,  and  also  to  complexions,  Avhetber  pale  or 
rosy.     Light-blue  is  less  favorable  than  green  to  rosy  com|)lexions,  especially 


COLOES  OF   HANGINGS,    FURNITURE,    ETC.  613 


in  day-light;  it  is  particularly  favorable  to  gilding,  associates  better  than 
green  with  yellow  or  orange-colored  woods,  and  does  not  injure  mahogany. 
White  hangings,  or  hangings  of  a  light  gray,  either  normal,^  or  tinged  with 
green,  blue,  or  yellow,  uniform,  or  with  velvet  patterns  similar  in  color  to 
the  ground,  are  also  good  for  use. 

In  regard  to  the  draping  of  floors,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  for  a 
carpet  to  produce  the  best  possible  effect,  it  is  not  endugh  that  it  is  of  the 
best  manufacture,  and  of  excellent  colors  and  pattern ;  it  is  also  requisite  that 
its  pattern  be  in  harmony  with  the  size,  and  its  colors  with  the  decorations  of 
the  room.  It  is  important  for  manufacturers  to  know  how  to  produce  car- 
pets which  will  suit  well  with  many  different  styles  of  room  furniture  ;  and, 
in  our  opinion,  the  best  mode  of  attaining  this  end  is,  to  make  the  light  and 
bright  coloring  commence  from  the  centre  of  the  carpet;  for  it  is  there  (that 
is  to  say,  in  the  part  most  distant  from  the  chairs,  hangings,  etc.)  that  we  can 
employ  vivid  and  strongly-contrasted  colors  without  inconvenience.  And  if 
we  surround  this  bright  central  portion  with  an  interval  of  subdued  coloring, 
we  shall  be  able  to  give  to  the  framing  colors  (those  around  the  margin  of 
the  carpet)  a  great  appearance  of  brilliance,  without  injuring  the  color  of  the 
chairs  and  hangings.  With  respect  to  the  carpets  of  small  or  moderately- 
sized  rooms,  we  may  lay  down  the  rule,  that  the  more  numerous  and  vivid 
the  colors  of  the  furniture,  the  more  simple  should  be  the  carpet,  alike  in 
color  and  pattern — an  assortment  of  green  and  black  having,  in  very  many 
cases,  a  good  effect.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  furniture  is  of  a  single  color, 
or  if  its  contrasts  consist  only  of  different  tones  of  the  same  color,  we  may, 
without  detriment,  employ  a  carpet  of  brilliant  colors,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
establish  a  harmony  of  contrast  between  them  and  the  dominant  hue  of  the 
furniture.  But  if  the  furniture  is  of  mahogany,  and  we  wish  to  bring  out  its 
peculiar  color,  then  we  must  not  have  either  red,  orange,  or  scarlet,  as  a 
dominant  color  in  the  covering  of  the  floor. 

The  covering  of  chairs  may  present  either  a  harmony  of  contrast  or  a  har- 
mony of  analogy  with  the  hangings,  according  as  the  room  is  large  or  small ; 
and  a  good  effect  may  be  produced  by  bordering  the  stuff  at  the  parts ^  con- 
tiguous to  the  wood  with  the  same  color  as  the  hangings,  but  of  a  higher 
tone.  Nothing,  we  may  add,  contributes  so  much  to  enhance  the  beauty  of 
a  stuff  intended  for  chairs,  'sofas,  etc.,  as  the  selection  6f  the  wood  to  which  it 
is  attached  ;  and,  reciprocally,  nothing  contributes  so  much  to  augment  the 
beauty  of  the  wood,  as  the  color  of  the  stuff"  in  juxtaposition  with  it.  In 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  coloring  which  we  laid  down  in  a  preceding 
part  of  this  article,  it  is  evident  that  we  must  assort  rose  or  red-colored  woods, 
such  as  mahogany,  with  green  stuffs  ;  yellow  woods,  such  as  citron,  ash-root, 
maple,  satin-wood,  etc.,  with  violet  or  blue  stuffs  ;  while  red  woods  likewise 
do  well  with  blue-grays,  and  yellow  woods  with  green-grays.  But  in  all 
these  assortments,  if  we  would  obtain  the  best  possible  effects,  it  is  necessary 
to  rake  into  consideration  the  contrast  resulting  from  height  of  tone;  for  a 
dark  blue  or  violet  stuff  will  not  accord  so  well  with  a  yqjlow  wood  ns  a  light 
tone  of  these  colors  does ;  and  hence,  also,  yellow  does  not  assort  so  well 
with  mahogany  as  with  a  v/ood  of  the  same  color,  but  lighter.  There  is  no 
wood  more  generally  used  by  us  than  mahogany,  and  no  covering  for  sofas 
and  chairs  more  common  than  a  crimson  woolen  stuff;  and  in  this  we  are 
influenced  not  so  much  by  any  idea  of  harmony,  as  by  the  two-fold  motive 
of  the  stability  of  the  crimson  color,  and  the  beauty  of  the  mahogany.  In 
assorting  these,  we  will  often  do  well  to  separate  the  stuff  from  the  wood  by 
a  cord  or  narrow  galloon  of  yellow,  or  of  golden-yellovp,  with  gilt  nails  ;  or, 


614  CULTIVATION   OF  THE  TOMATO. 

better  still,  a  narrow  galloon  of  green  or  black,  according  as  we  wisli  the 
border  to  be  more  or  less  prominent.  The  red  woods  always  lose  a  portion 
of  their  beauty  when  in  juxtaposition  with  red  stuffs.  And  hence  it  is  that 
we  can  never  ally  mahogany  to  vivid  reds,  such  as  cherry-color  ;  and  more 
particularly  to  orange-reds,  such  as  scarlet,  nacarat,  and  aurora  ;  for  these 
colors  are  so  bright  that,  in  taking  away  from  this  wood  its  peculiar  tint,  it 
becomes  no  better  than  oak  or  walnut.  Ebony  and  walnut  can  be  allied  with 
brown  tones,  also  with  certain  shades  of  green  and  violet." 


CULTIVATION    OF    THE    TOMATO. 

This  most  delicious  fruit  deserves  better  cultivation  than  it  often  receives. 
We  find  the  following  in  the  March  Horticulturist,  and  commend  it  to  the 
notice  of  our  readers : 

"  Let  every  one  who  has  a  tomato  plot, — and  who  that  has  a  garden  has 
not, — notice  the  plants  when  in  full  bearing — and  one  or  more  will  diow 
more  excellence  than  the  others — pick  from  the  very  best  the  most  desirable 
fruit,  and  save  them  for  seed.  Kepeat  this  each  season,  always  having  an 
eye  to  form,  color,  productiveness,  flavor,  and  size ;  and  if  no  improvement 
takes  place,  then  consider  the  writer  an  ignoramus.  I  have  followed  the 
above  plan  for  several  years,  and  the  result  is  quite  satisfactory ;  and  so  it 
will  be  to  others  if  adopted.  Let  this  be  more  generally  done  by  private 
groweis  ;  let  them  raise  their  standard  of  excellence,  and  the  awarders  of 
prizes  at  the  public  exhibitions  follow  suit,  and  the  large  growers  for  market 
will  soon  be  forced  to  take  a  better  sample  to  the  city,  instead  of  the  thick- 
skinned,  hollow  subjects,  which  are  too  often  seen  on  the  huckster's  stall,  and 
which  "  bounce"  like  a  foot-ball.  We  shall  then  have  weight  and  quality, 
in  return  for  good  money. 

GENERAL     CROP. 

To  get  the  general  summer  supply,  and  likewise  as  early  as  possible  in  the 
open  ground,  it  is  advisable  to  have  strong  and  healthy  plants  ready  to  be 
turned  out  in  a  warm  aspect,  so  soon  as  all  danger  of  frost  is  over  ;  or  where 
there  is  the  convenience  of  glass  box-fi-ames,  a  portion  may  be  planted  therein 
two  or  three  weeks  earlier,  some  at  the  distance  apart  that  it  is  intended  they 
should  remain.  A  good  start  is  a  great  advantage,  and  fine  plants  will  fur- 
nish fruit  much  earlier,  and  in  more  abundance  through  the  summei-,  than 
those  which  are  weak  and  stunted  to  begin  with  ;  consequently,  the  little 
extra  trouble  I'equired  is  more  than  repaid  The  common  plan  of  sowing  on 
a  hot-bed,  and  leaving  the  plants  to  crowd  each  other  up  till  planting  time, 
and  then  removini^,  almost  without  roots,  only  partakes  of  the  "penny-wise 
and  dollar-foolish"  action  that  is  too  often  practiced,  and  always  ends  in  keep- 
ing the  per  centage  profits  small.  Yet  we  see  persons,  who  ought  to  know 
better,  still  drawing  along  in  the  old  way;  and  when  thing  go  wrong,  bla- 
ming everything  but  their  own  want  of  observation  and  foresight.  All  kitchen 
vegetables,  without  exception,  are  of  the  best  quality  when  well  grown,  and 
nothing  deteriorates  this  quality  more  than  starving  the  young  plants  in  the 
seed-bed.  Do  not  ha  in  too  great  hurry  to  begin,  but,'when  started,  take 
care  that  there  is  no  check  until  ready  for  use,  is  advice  that  all  vegetable 


CULTIVATION   OF   THE  TOMATO.  615 


growers  ought  continually  to  act  up -to.  In  the  present  instance,  the  seed 
may  be  sown  about  the  middle  of  February,  on  the  surface  of  a  gentle  hot- 
bed, upon  which  is  three  or  four  inches  of  good  friable  mold,  and  covered 
over  with  a  box-frame  ;  or  in  boxes  in  a  hot-house,  where  a  temperature  of 
50°  to  SS''  by  night  is  obtained.  When  the  plants  are  two  or  three  inches 
hio-h,  transplant  either  into  another  or  the  same  bed,  or  into  boxes  about  six 
inches  apart.  Where  the  required  supply  is  not  large,  they  may  be  put  up 
sino-lyinto  pint  pots;  and,  after  planting,  give  a  light  watering  to  settle  the 
soil  around  the  roots.  Admit  all  the  lighi  possible,  and,  in  mild  days,  let  in 
a  o-ood  supply  of  fresh  air,  but  avoid  cold  winds  and  frost ;  the  object  being 
to  keep  a  moderate  temperature,  without  checking  the  progress  of  growth, 
and  yet  not  so  warm  as  to  draw  plants  up  weak.  As  the  weather  milds  oflf, 
the  glasses  may,  in  fine  days,  be  entirely  removed.  Pots  or  boxes  are  only 
necessary  when  the  hot-house  is  used ;  and,  in  the  former  case,  when  they 
become  filled  with  roots,  the  plants  ought  to  be  moved  into  those  of  a  larger 
— say  two  quarts.  By  the  first  week  in  April,  both  may  be  removed  into  a 
cold  frame,  and  kept  close  for  a  day  or  two  ;  after  which  air  should  be  freely 
admitted  during  warm  days,  and  gradually  increased,  until  the  glasses  are 
entirely  pushed  down,  but  be  careful  to  cover  at  night  when  frost  is  appre- 
hended. 

It  is  often  amusing,  and  sometimes  even  annoying,  at  the  beginning  of 
summer,  to  see  our  neighboring  cottagers  scouring  over  the  country  in  search 
of  tomato  plants.  Almost  everybody  who  has  a  patch  of  ground  wants 
them,  and,  in  many  cases,  they  are  not  to  be  had  "  for  love  or  money  ;"  yet 
they  have  the  means  at  command  to  raise  for  themselves  ;  every  house  has 
its  window,  and  the  only  space  required,  is  enough  room  for  a  box  two  feet 
long,  by  six  inches  wide,  and  four  inches  deep,  and  anybody  of  ordinary  in- 
genuity can  fix  a  little  glass  frame  over  this,  to  counteract  the  dry  atmosphere 
of  a  dwelling-room  ;  such  a  simple  contrivance  will  accommodate  as  many 
plants  as  will  be  required,  and  be  less  expense,  than  the  loss  of  time  and  shoe- 
leather  that  is  expended  in  troubling  other  persons,  who,  too  often,  have  only 
time  and  convenience  for  their  own  stock. 

Almost  any  kind  of  soil  will  answer  for  the  tomato ;  but  it  prospers  the 
best,  and  produces  fruit  of  a  finer  quality,  in  a  well-drained,  tolerably-fei  tile, 
but  not  over-rich  loose  mold.  So  soon  as  all  danger  of  frost  is  past,  begin  to 
plant  out ;  loosen  up  the  soil  well,  dig  holes  four  feet  apart,  six  inches  deep, 
and  as  many  across  ;  lift  each  plant  with  a  ball  of  earth ;  do  not  keep  the 
roots  exposed  longer  than  is  necessary,  and,  in  fixing  the  plants  in  the  holes, 
let  them  be  placed  about  the  same  depth  as  they  were  previously  ;  cover  up, 
and  press  the  soil  somewhat  around  the  neck,  and  lift  a  little  extra  up  to 
it,  which  will  encourage  fresh  roots  and  strengthen  the  plant.  If  the  weather 
be  dry,  give  a  good  soaking  of  water  ;  and  so  far  all  is  finished. 

A  few  words  may  be  said  about  training.  The  most  common  mode  is  to 
spread  out  the  branches,  and  let  them  trail  along  the  ground,  in  which  case, 
if  cleanliness  be  cared  for,  there  ought  to  be  a  covering  of  marsh  hay  or 
straw  placed  over  the  surface.  Sometimes  brush-wood  is  laid  flat,  and  the 
branches  allowed  to  lay  over  the  top  of  it,  which  elevates  the  fi  uit  above  the 
soil,  and  prevents  it  from  rotting,  if  the  season  should  happen  to  be  wet ;  but 
there  is  no  other  advantage  in  the  method,  and  it  is  inconvenient  when  gath- 
ering. The  neatest  and  cleanest  plan,  and  one  which  may  be  adopted  in  all 
private  establishments,  is  to  sink  poles  in  an  upright  position  along  each  row, 
leaving  the  tops  five  feet  above  ground,  (if  placed  four  yards  apart,  it  will  bu 
close  enough,)  and  fasten  wires  horizontally  to  them,  which  will  form  a  cheap 


616  cuLTiVATio:sr  of  the  tomato. 


trellis  to  train  upon.  As  the  branclies  elongate,  they  may  be  tied  loosely  to 
these  wires,  and  a  kind  of  hedge-row  is  formed  with  very  little  labor — -the 
fruit  is  free  to  the  action  of  air  and  light,  and  is  unquestionably  of  much 
better  flavor. 

SUCCESSION      CROP. 

Notwithstanding  the  extreme  fruitfulness  of  the  tomato,  it  often  happens 
that  the  earliest  planting  becomes  exhausted  before  the  end  of  summer,  and 
only  produces  a  decreased  quantity  of  inferior  fruit,  when  a  succession  be- 
comes useful.  In  this  case,  it  is  only  necessary  to  sow  in  the  open  ground 
about  the  middle  of  April,  and  transplant  as  recommended  above.  The 
plants  from  this  stock  will  continue  to  yield  with  certainty  until  cut  down  by 
frost,  and,  if  covered  over  at  night,  may  be  kept  bearing  longer  than  if  un- 
protected. 

GROWING     TUROUGII     WINTER. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  growing  and  fruiting  the  tomato  through  the  win- 
ter and  spring  months,  where  such  is  desired.  Indeed,  no  fruit-bearing  plant 
is  more  easy  to  manage  thus  artificially,  with  the  possession  of  a  suitable 
structure.  A  close  and  sheltered  glazed  pit  is  the  best  and  most  economical, 
although  a  moderately  warm  plant-house  is  nearly  equally  convenient ;  but 
there  must  be  a  full  exposure  to  the  sun,  or  the  blossoms  will  not  fertilize. 
The  seed  may  be  sown  the  last  week  in  August,  and  when  large  enough  for 
transplanting,  remove  the  plants  into  the  house,  having  previously  prepared 
for  their  reception.  A  suitable  provision  may  be  made  by  fixing  boards,  with 
the  sides  upright,  along  the  inside  front  of  the  house,  and  three  feet  from  it ; 
fill  in  one  foot  deep  with  good,  fresh  mold,  and  place  the  plants  three 
feet  assunder  in  the  bed  so  formed.  If  this  arrangement  can  not  be  adopted 
on  account  of  some  peculiarity  in  the  house,  large  boxes,  filled  with  rich 
earth,  will  ansv\rer  the  purpose  to  almost  equal  advantage.  As  the  plants 
continue  to  grow  upward,  train  them  near  the  glass,  in  the  same  way  as  a 
grape-vine,  only  allow  the  side  shoots  to  spread  out,  so  as  to  cover  the  whole 
surface  so  far  as  they  extend.  This  rr^ay  be  done  very  simply  by  stretching 
copper  wires  horizontally  along  on  the  under  side  of  the  roof,  and  eight  inches 
from  it.  After  planting,  give  plenty  of  air  till  cold  nights  come  on,  when  a 
little  fire-heat  is  necessary.  The  most  suitable  temperature  through  the  night 
is  from  55'^  to  60";  and  this  ought  to  be  maintained  pretty  regularly.  In 
the  day-time,  it  may  be  allowed,  with  sun-heat,  to  rise  to  75*^  or  80°,  always 
admitting  air  on  every  suitable  opportunity.  In  cloudy  or  foggy  weather,  it 
is  well  to  keep  close,  or  to  give  air  very  carefully,  as  the  plants,  if  exposed  to 
too  much  damp  and  cold,  are  subject  to  be  attacked  by  a  black  mildew,  which 
destroys  the  leaves  and  weakens  the  blossoms,  rendering  them  abortive.  If 
such  should  occur,  sprinkle  a  little  sulphur  upon  the  coolest  parts  of  the  heat- 
ing apparatus,  and  give  a  trifle  more  heat  for  a  few  days,  when  the  pest  will 
disappear.  As  the  blossoms  continue  to  expand,  go  over  the  whole  once  a 
day,  when  the  sun  shines,  and  give  them  a  sudden  but  light  flirt  with  the 
finger,  which  will  liberate  the  pollen,  and  greatly  assist  impregnation,  and 
nip  out  the  end  of  each  shoot,  a  leaf  or  two  above  the  flo>%ers,  to  help  the 
embryo  fruit  to  swell.  I  have  never  been  troubled  with  insects  in  furcing  this 
fruit,  but  if  red  spider  (acarus)  should  jippear,  the  sul|ihur  will  destroy  it; 
and  green  or  black  fly  {apJm)  may  be  got  lid  of  by  fumigating  with  tobacco. 
No  fu  tber  care  is  requisite  than  occasionally  removing  superfluous  or  weak 
branclies,  withered  leaves,  and  such  like;  and  the  cro]),  with  attention, Avill 
continue  to  produce  from  Christmas  until  those  in  the  open  ground  are  ready 
for  use." 


EIPE   GRAPES  IN   DECEMBER.  617 


RIPE    GRAPES     IN    DECEMBER. 

In  accordance  witli  your  request,  I  herewith  give  you  the  7nodus  operandi 
of  growing  grapes  under  glass,  to  ripen  them  by  the  December  sun.  My 
former  practice,  to  ripen  grapes  about  the  first  of  April,  was  the  same  as 
practised  by  others,  say  warming  the  roots  by  hot  manure  in  the  middle  of 
November,  and  continuing  the  heat  in  the  border,  by  fresh  supplies  of  ma- 
nure, until  the  grapes  ripened.  I  noticed  the  roots  are  injured  from  this 
practice,  and  the  expense  is  very  great,  not  only  for  the  manure,  but  also  for 
the  labor  of  looking  after  the  border  and  replenishing  it.  Not  being  satis- 
fied, I  concluded  to  try  the  following  plan,  which  has  proved  quite  successful, 
and  gives  me  the  grapes  earlier. 

We  will  suppose  the  vines  were  started  in  November  of  last  year,  (1853.) 
To  get  them  in  this  state,  their  habits  have  been  changed  from  the  natural 
time  of  starting.  Now  we  will  encroach  still  further,  and  start  them  in 
August,  say  the  first.  You  will  find  no  delay  in  the  pushing  of  the  bud 
after  pruning,  as  the  roots  are  warmed  by  the  summer  sun,  and  there  is  no 
danger  of  killing  the  young  rootlets  from  hot  manure.  The  progress  of  the 
vines  will  surprise  you  :  in  a  week  they  will  require  tieing  up  to  the  rafters, 
and  very  soon  after  you  will  be  assured  of  a  good  crop  of  grapes  from  the 
fragrance  of  the  bloom. 

It  is  now  of  the  utmost  importance  to  attend  in  season  to  keep  the  heat 
in  the  border  which  the  sun  has  so  generously  supplied,  and  a  plan  suggested 
itself  to  me  from  the  practice  of  keeping  ourselves  warm  by  a  blanket,  of 
which  I  have  manufactured  some  600  pairs  a  day  for  the  past  ten  years.  It 
is  therefore  very  natural  that  I  should  have  thought  of  a  blanket  to  cover 
the  border  to  keep  the  heat  in ;  but  it  would  require  a  great  many  woollen 
blankets  to  cover  a  border  one  hundred  feet  long  and  forty  feet  wide,  and  a 
great  many  thicknesses  to  give  sufiicient  protection.  However,  we  have  the 
principle  in  the  thought,  and  now  for  the  practice.  Instead  of  the  woollen 
blankets,  I  substituted  two  tons  of  meadow  hay,  very  dry ;  this  covered  the 
border  about  one  foot  in  thickness,  and  in  order  to  keep  it  dry,  I  placed  upon 
the  top  of  it  about  six  inches  of  wool  waste  and  manure,  to  absorb  the  rain, 
imtil  the  frost  should  make  it  a  more  perfect  protection.  This  has  answered 
the  purpose ;  the  heat  has  passed  from  the  border  about  three  degrees  a 
week  from  the  first  of  December,  at  which  time  it  was  GO"^,  and  the  fmit  has 
ripened  perfectly.  It  was  generally  supposed  by  grape-growers  that  I  should 
fail  in  color  and  flavor,  as  well  as  size,  from  want  of  sun  in  December ;  but 
my  experiment  proves  that  plenty  of  pure  air  is  quite  as  important. 

My  mode  of  ventilating  is  entirely  new,  and  appears  tavorable  to  the 
growth  of  the  grape.  The  warming  apparatus  inside  of 'the  house  is  simply 
a  stove  at  each  end ;  consequently,  the  ventilation  is  complete,  as  the  heavy, 
bad  air  is  constantly  rushing  to  the  stoves  and  passing  out  of  the  tunnels. 
I  do  not,  in  speaking  of  this  mode  of  ventilation,  recommend  stoves  for 
heating  in  preference  to  the  common  furnace  and  hot-water  pipes,  but  refer 
only  to  the  principle  of  ventilation,  which  can  be  apjjlied  to  the  common 
furnace  by  conducting  the  air  from  the  house  to  supply  the  coal  instead  of 
the  outside  air.  This  plan  would  as  effectually  draw  off  the  bad  air  as  my 
stoves. — Correspondent  Iloveifs  Magazine. 


618  THE   PRACTICAL   SCIENCE   OF  CANDLE-MAKING. 


THE    PRACTICAL    SCIENCE    OF    CANDLE-MAKING. 

The  Belmont  Candle  Factory — in  that  curious  London  district,  Vauxhall 
— presents  a  famous  example  of  applied  clieniical  science.  Rather  more  than 
forty  years  ago,  Chevreul,  the  French  chemist,  announced  to  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  the  important  fact,  that  fatty  bodies  are  of  a  compound  kind. 
He  it  was  who  first  pointed  out  that  fat  is  not  a  simple  organic  substance,  but 
a  salt  formed  of  animal  acid,  (margaric  acid,)  combined  with  an  animal  base, 
in  such  a  state  as  to  be  severable,  the  acid  then  being  obtained  separately. 
This  discovery — the  essential  base  of  the  inodern  art  of  candle-making,  the 
fatty  acid  set  free  from  the  less  inflammable  base,  being  wonderfullj'^  improved 
as  regards  its  burning  properties — led  to  the  vast  extension,  in  this  country, 
of  the  stearic  candle  manufacture,  so  ably  represented  by  what  is  so  well 
known  as  "Price's  Patent  Candle  Company;"  and  it  is  to  the  obtainment  of 
this  acid  in  a  pure  hard  state,  and  at  the  cheapest  possible  manufactming  cost, 
that  the  candlemaker's  chemist  has  since  given  his  almost  undivided  atten- 
tion. 

This  point  gained,  CheVreul,  still  pursuing  his  subject,  came  upon  another 
fatty  acid — oleic  acid — originally  developed  in  lard.  Putting  these  purely 
scientific  researches  into  the  workman's  hands,  as  in  all  such  transitions,  was 
a  task  of  great  difficulty,  and  it  was  not  until  a  very  few  years  ago  that  these 
discoveries,  in  fact,  assumed  a  really  practical  and  commercially  valuable 
form. 

Acting  upon  Chevreul's  suggestion,  M.  de  Mill}',  a  Parisian  candle-maker, 
set  to  work  to  disengage  the  acids  from  their  base,  "glycerine,"  by  boiling 
the  raw  materinl,  tallow,  with  thin  cream  of  lime,  on  the  principle  of  what 
is  now  termed  "  lime  saponification."  The  glycerine  dissolved  in  the  water, 
the  fatty  acids  combining  with  the  lime.  Sulphuric  acid  is  then  used  for 
destroying  this  combination ;  the  acid  seizing  on  the  lime,  and  setting  free 
the  fotty  acids,  pressure  being  finally  employed  to  obtain  the  solid  mass. 

Thus  far  the  French  led  the  way  in  this  curious  manufjicture  ;  but,  in  1829, 
our  countrymen  stepped  in.  At  that  date,  Mr.  James  Suames  patented  a 
plan  for  separating  the  solid  and  liquid  parts  of  cocoa-nut  oil,  and  this  pro- 
cess subspquently  become  the  property  of  Messrs.  Price,  who  were  induced 
to  establish  large  cocoa-nut  kernel  crushing  mills  in  Ceylon,  to  keep  up  their 
supply  of  the  now  necessary  qocoa-nut  oil.  Large  plantations  of  cocoa-nut 
trees  were  made  in  Ceylon  ;  and  of  these,  now  coming  into  bearing,  Messrs. 
Price  possess  above  1,000  acres.  The  oil  is  obtained  from  the  fruit  by  drying 
the  kernel,  and  then  crushing  it  under  edge-stones — the  reduced  mass  being 
subjected  to  cold  pressure,  for  obtaining  the  best  portion  of  the  valuable  oil, 
and  afterwards  to  hot  pressure  for  getting  out  the  wliole  attainable  oleaginous 
matter. 

The  solid  matter  resulting  from  this  pressure,  or  the  cocoa-nut  stearine,  was, 
in  itself,  a  step  in  advance  of  the  tallow  product;  but  the  candles  now  known 
as  "composite,"' so  independent  of  snuffers,  were  yet  undiscovered.  In  1840, 
Mr.  J.  P.  Wilson,  anxious  to  produce  economical  self-snuffing  candles,  for  the 
particular  purpose  of  the  illuminations  on  her  Majesty's  marriage,  found  that 
cocoa-nut  stearine,  mixed  with  the  newly-discovered  stearic  acid,  produced 
candles  burning  with  a  good  light,  with  the  great  advantage  of  requiring  no 
snuffing  attendance.    They  are  the  candles  made  on  this  general  principle  that 


THE   PRACTICAL   SCIENCE   OF   CANDLE-MAKING.  619 


we  now  find  in  every  grocer's  shop,  and  in  every  dwelling-liouse,  whose  dark- 
ness is  as  yet  undispelled  by  the  brilliancy  of  gas. 

Latin-  chemical  discovery — for  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  whole  rou- 
tine has  been  the  result  of  a  continued  chain^  of  the  elegancies  of  chemical 
research — led  to  the  distillation  of  fats,  previously  acted  upon  by  sulphuric 
acid,  or  by  nitrous  gases.  The  raw  material  now  used  is  palm  oil,  and  in  the 
existinty  refinement  of  the  process,  six  tons  of  palm  oil  are  subjected  to  the 
action  of  Cf  cwts.  of  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  at  a  temperature  of  350*' 
Fahr.  Under  this  treatment  the  glycerine  is  decomposed,  sailphurous  acid 
gas  is  evolved  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  the  fat  is  changed  into  a  mixture 
of  fat  acids,  dark  in  color,  and  possessing  an  elevated  melting  point.  The 
product  is  washed,  and  it  is  then  deposited  in  a  still,  from  which  the  air  is 
excluded  by  the  agency  of  stearine. 

In  its  original  condition,  palm  oil  is  of  a  bright  orange  red  tint,  as  thick 
as  butter.  After  the  acidulous  treatment  and  the  washing,  it  is  changed  to  a 
hard  black  mass.  The  distillation  separates  this  into  the  pure  acids,  brought 
over  in  the  form  of  vapor,  and  the  charred  refuse  matter  left  behind  in  the 
still.  The  distilled  mass  may  be  used  for  making  cheaper  classes  of  candles ; 
or  by  being  subjected  to  severe  pressure,  cold  and  then  hot,  it  is  brought  into 
the  condition  necessary  for  making  the  Belmont  sperm  caudles.. 

The  cotton  used  as  the  wick  is  plaited,  and  then  dipped  in  a  solution  of 
borax.  It  is  this  plaiting  which  gives  the  wick  the  slight  curvature  at  the 
flame,  and  the  preparatio'n  with  borax  renders  the  cotton  somewhat  less  com- 
bustible, except  at  the  point  which  we  find  is  always  bent  over  to  the  edge  of 
the  flame,  where  it  is' in  contact  with  the  air,  and  is  consumed.  The  mould- 
ing of  the  fatty  matter,  or  the  disposition  of  the  combustible  mass  round  the 
wick,  is  efi"ected  in  a  frame,  which  has  attached  to  it  a  box,  with  a  wick  bob- 
bin for  each  mould,  the  movement  being  so  coutrived,  that  the  action  which 
expels  one  set  of  moulded  candles,  draws  oft"  enough  wick  for  the  succeeding 
operation.  Of  course,  each  candle  is  moulded  upon  the  free  end  of  the  wick 
length,  and  the  severance  is  eflected  by  the  agency  of  a  traversing  knife. 
Forceps  are  employed  to  hold  each  wick  over  the  centre  of  its  mould,  the 
axis  of  the  tv/o  being  made  to  coincide  with  accuracy.  In  this  condition,  the 
mould  is  run  through  a  steam-heated  chamber  to  warm  it,  the  required  tem- 
perature being  reached  by  the  time  the  mould  arrives  at  the  filler.  The  filled 
mould  then  passes  onwards,  and,  when  cool  enough  to  admit  of  the  with- 
drawal of  the  forceps  without  injury  to  the  moulded  mass,  the  superfluous 
fat  is  removed,  prior  to  the  mould  being  emptied.  All  these  motions  are 
performed  by  means  of  guide  railways — a  clockwork  precision  being  observed 
throughout  the  operation.  Each  apparatus  contains  200  moulds,  each  mould 
having  18  inch  bobbins,  which,  when  full,  hold  60  yards  of  wick. 

Chemistry  has  done  more  for  the  candle  manufticture  than  mechanics. 
Much  ye!  remains  to  be  done  in  the  ma«ipulatory  processes,  for  at  present, 
some  wicks  w  ill  get  out  of  the  candle's  centre,  whilst  the  bottoms  occasionally 
turn  out  to  be  hollow.  Hence,  the  very  best  candles  are  yet  made  by  the 
old  hand  system. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  present  year,  Mr.  G.  F.  Wilson,  the  managing 
director  of  the  works,  introduced  castor  oil  as  a  new  and  economical  material 
for  this  manufacture.  Castor  oil,  when  treated  with  hyponitric,  nitrous,  or 
sulphurous  acid,  solidifies,  and  furnishes  what  is  called  ''palmine."  This  pal- 
mine,  when  used  after  being  pressed,  is  well  suited  for  hardening  tallow,  as 
well  as  for  mixing  with  wax.  In  making  composite  candles  with  it,  it  is 
mixed  with  an  equal  amount  of  hard  fat  acid. 


620  TELEGRAPH  ROUND  THE  GLOBE. 

In  1852,  the  Belmont  works  employed  somewhere  about  1,000  hands, 
turning  out  U2)wards  of  100  tons  of  candles  a  week,  of  a  value  of  £7,000  or 
£8,000.  Since  that  time,  the  works  have  been  surprisingly  increased,  the 
number  of  the  employed  being  2,000,  working  upon  a  capital  of  £700,000. 
They  cover  two  acres  of  ground,  besides  further  space  at  the  Battersea  off- 
shoots. 

But  this  extension  was  not  equal  to  the  necessities  of  demand,  and  an  en- 
ormous branch  from  the  parent  undertaking  has  been  just  now  got  to  work 
near  Liverpool.  The  new  works  are  named  from  Bromborough  i'ool,  at  which 
point  on  the  Mersey  they  are  placed.  Here  the  vast  area  of  3f  acres  is 
actually  roofed  in  with  corrugated  iron;  fourteen  steam  boilers  being  fitted 
up  to  supply  the  great  steam-heating  power  required  in  works  of  this  kind. 

These  Avorks,  like  their  progenitors  in  London,  are  perfect  models  of  good 
arrangement  and  management,  and  they  approach  about  as  near  to  the  per- 
fection of  combined  industrial  operation  as  any  existing  example  of  the  great 
factory  system  of  modern  times. — Pract.  Mech.  Journal^  Gla!>gow. 


TELEGRAPH  ROUND  THE  GLOBE. 


[The  following  paragraphs  have  been  or  are  going  "  the  rounds"  of  the 
press.  We  have  not  published  or  noticed  them,  because  we  see,  or  think 
we  see,  in  them  unmistakable  evidence  of  humbug.  Still,  as  we  believe  the 
thing  is  not  only  practicable,  but  will  be,  in  fact,  accomplished  in  a  few  years, 
on  some  more  feasible  route,  we  take  this  method  of  attracting  the  attention 
of  the  public  to  its  claims. — Eds.  P.  L,  &  A.] 

J.  P.  Shaffner,  Esq.,  the  editor  of  the  American  Telegraphic  Magazine, 
has  just  returned  from  his  expedition  to  Europe,  where  he  has  been  making 
arrangements  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  telegraph  around  the  world. 
One  object  of  his  visit  was  to  negotiate  with  the  Danish  Government  for  the 
exclusive  right  to  lay  a  line  over  Greenland,  Iceland,  the  Faroe  Isles,  and 
Denmark,  for  the  terra  of  one  hundred  years ;  and  the  acquisition  of  similar 
rights  over  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Russia. 

The  scheme  is  a  bold  one,  and  large  enough  for  any  capacity.  The  route 
proposed  is  definitely  traced,  and  seems  quite  practicable.  From  Labrador  to 
Greenland  is  about  five  hundred  miles.  From  the  point  of  landing,  the  line 
is  to  extend  underground  around  Cape  Farewell  to  a  point  on  the  east  coast 
of  Greenland,  favorable  for  a  submarine  connection  with  Iceland,  A  subter- 
ranean line  across  the  eastern  coast  of  that  island  will  connect  with  a  subma- 
rine wire  running  to  the  Faroe  Ides,  and  thence  to  Norway.  I^y'this  route 
there  will  be  no  submarine  section  of  more  than  five  hundred  miles.  Trea- 
ties with  the  Emperor  of  Russia  contemplate  the  extension  of  the  line  from 
Stockholm,  in  Sweden,  to  St.  Petersburg.  .     . 

^  Mr.  Shaffner  proposes  to  run  his  line  to  Moscow,  and  thence  into  Asia, 
piercing  Chinese  Tartary,  extending  to  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk,  and  by  the  way  of 
Karaschatka  reaching  Cooke's  Inlet  in  North-America.  From  this  point  the 
line  will  be  run  along  the  Pacific  coast  to  Oregon,  and  south  to  S  in  Fran- 
cisco, Cilifornirt,  etc.,  etc.  The  earth  will  thus  be  girdled  wiih  one  continu- 
ous and  unbroken  flame  of  electric  light. 

In  the  submarine  department  of  this  work,  Mr.  Shaffner  has  associated 


PEOPERTIES   OF   CHARCOAL.  621 

with  bim  Mr.  John  W.  Brett,  who  has  been  the  projector  and  successful  con- 
structor of  the  vast  ranges  of  submarine  and  subterranean  lines  of  the  old 
world. 

In  these  negotiations,  Mr.  Shaffner  has  been  singularly  fortunate.  He  has 
succeeded  where  the  most  skillful  diplomats  might  have  failed.  He  says  that 
he  had  one  great  element  of  strength  ;  that  was,  he  was  an  American.  His 
Majesty  the  King  of  Denmark  intimated  to  him  that  he  would  not  have' con- 
sidered the  proposition  had  it  come  from  a  citizen  of  any  other  nation ;  but 
he  informed  Mr.  Shaffner  that  he  granted  the  patents  under  the  belief  that 
there  would  be  no  obstacles  in  nature  that  could  be  a  barrier  against  the 
genius  and  enterprise  of  his  countrymen. 


PROPERTIES    OF    CHARCOAL. 

The  following  is  an  interesting  article,  by  J.  Stenhouse,  F.  R.  S.,  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  London : — 

"  My  attention  was  particularly  drawn  to  the  importance  of  charcoal  as  a 
disinfecting  agent,  by  my  friend,  John  Turnbull,  Esq.,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
the  well-known  extensive  chemical  manufacturer,  Mr.  Turnbull,  about  nine 
months  ago,  placed  the  bodies  of  two  dogs  in  a  wooden  box,  on  a  layer  of 
charcoal  powder  a  few  inches  in  depth,  and  covered  them  over  with  a  quan- 
tity of  the  same  material.  Though  the  box  was  quite  open,  and  kept  in  his 
laboratory,  no  effluvium  was  ever  perceptible  ;  and,  on  examining  the  bodies  of 
the  animals,  at  the  end  of  six  months,  scarcely  anything  remained  of  them 
except  the  bones.  Mr.  Turnbull  sent  me  a  portion  of  the  charcoal  powder 
which  had  been  most  closely  in  contact  with  the  bodies  of  the  dogs  ;  I  sub- 
mitted it  for  examination  to  one  of  my  pupils,  Mr.  Turnbull,  who  found  it 
contained  comparatively  little  ammonia,  not  a  trace  of  sulphurated  hydrogen, 
but  very  appreciable  quantities  of  nitric  and  sulphuric  acids,  with  acid  phos- 
phate of  lime. 

Mr.  Turnbull  subsequently,  about  three  months  ago,  buried  two  rats  in  about 
two  inches  of  charcoal  powder,  and,  a  few  days  afterwards,  the  body  of  a 
full-grown  cat  Avas  similarly  treated.  Though  the  bodies  of  these  animals 
are  now  in  a  highly  putrid  state,  not  the  slightest  odor  is  perceptible  in  the 
laboratory. 

From  this  short  statement  of  facts,  the  utility  of  charcoal  powder  as  a 
means  of  preventing  noxioifs  effluvia  from  church-yards,  and  from  dead  bodies 
in  other  situations,  such  as  on  board  a  ship,  is  sufficiently  evident.  Covering 
a  church-yard  to  the  depth  of  from  two  to  three  inches,  with  coarsely  pow- 
dered charcoal,  would  prevent  any  putrid  exhalations  ever  finding  their  way 
into  the  atmosphere.  Charcoal  powder,  also,  greatly  favors  the  rapid  decom- 
position of  the  dead  bodies  with  which  it  is  in  contact,  so  that,  inf  the  course 
of  six  or  eight  months,  little  is  left  except  the  bones. 

fi«;In  all  the  modern  systems  of  chemistry,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  last  edi- 
tion of  Turner''s  Elements,  charcoal  is  described  as  possessing  antiseptic  pro- 
perties, while  the  very  reverse  is  the  fact.  Common  salt,  nitre,  corrosive 
sublimate,  arsenious  acid,  alcohol,  camphor,  creosote,  and  most  essential  oils, 
are  certainly  antiseptic  substances,  and,  therefore,  retard  the  decay  of  .animal 
and  vegetable  matters.  Charcoal,  on  the  contrary,  as  we  have  just  seen, 
greatly  facilitates  the  oxydation,  and,  consequently,  the  decomposition,  of  any 
organic  substances  with  which  it  is  in  contact.  It  is,  therefore,  the  very  op- 
posite of  an  antiseptic." 


622  THE   SUBMARINE   TELEGRAPH. 


THE    SUBMARINE    TELEGRAPH. 

At  a  late  meeting  of  the  Britisli  Association,  at  Liverpool,  Mr.  J.  W.  Brett 
read  a  paper  on  "The  Origin  of  the  Submarine  Telegraph,  and  its  Extension 
to  India  and  America."  The  author  gave  an  account  of  the  difficulties  en- 
countered in  establishing  the  first  submarine  telegraph,  which  has  now  been 
successfully  working  for  three  years  between  France  and  England;  and  stated 
that  he  had  established  the  submarine  telegraph  between  England  and  Bel- 
gium with  equal  success,  which  had  been  in  operation  since  the  first  of  May, 
1853.  He  then  explained  some  of  the  difficulties  he  had  encountered  in 
laying  down  the  two  submarine  lines  in  the  Mediterranean  in  July  last — 
especially  in  passing  a  depth  exceeding,  by  100  fathoms,  what  had  previously 
been  ascertained  to  exist  on  the  route  between  Piedmont  and  Corsica.  The 
depths  encountered  between  England  and  France,  and  England  and  Belgium, 
did  not  exceed  attheir  maximum  30  fathoms;  whereas,  the  submarine  cable 
was  laid  down  in  the  Mediterranean  at  a  depth  of  350  fathoms,  exceeding 
about  eight  times  that  of  the  English  Channel.  It  was  the  general  impres- 
sion that  the  submarine  cable  would  part  by  the  great  strain  it  would  encoun- 
ter in  passing  these  great  depths;  for  which  reason  he  was  strongly  advised, 
and  more  particularly  by  one  of  the  most  able  and  experienced  officers  of 
the  Sardinian  Government,  who  accompanied  and  aided  the  undertaking,  to 
make  a  detour  of  about  eight  miles  by  the  islands  of  Gorgona  and  Caprija, 
where  the  soundings  vrere  known  not  to  exceed  100  fathoms ;  but  the  great 
point  to  be  considered  was,  whether  he  would  not  incur  the  risk  of  a  total 
loss  of  the  cable  by  not  doing  so.  The  prudence  of  these  arrangements,  Mr. 
Brett  said  he  fully  admitted ;  but  that  it  was  a  question  he  was  determined 
to  solve  at  once — for  as  this  telegraph  was  not  a  telegraph  to  Corsica,  but 
part  of  a  line  to  India,  to  be  shortly  completed  to  Africa,  where  still  greater 
depths  must  be  encountered,  it  was  necessary  to  test  the  fact.  He  then  ex- 
plained the  difficulties  they  encountered  in  paying  it  out,  when,  after  the  line 
had  been  paid  out,  as  he  believes,  along  the  top  of  a  submarine  mountain 
for  some  miles,  at  a  depth  varying  from  180  to  200  fathoms,  it  suddenly,  as 
he  believes,  came  to  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  making  a  total  of  350  fathoms 
(exceeding  by  about  100  fathoms  any  depth  marked  in  the  various  charts  on 
this  route,)  where  it  ran  out  with  frightful  velocity ;  and  had  the  cable  been 
less  strong,  the  whole  must,  of  necessity,  have  been  lost ;  and  they  were  com- 
pelled, nevertheless,  to  anchor  by  the  electric  cable  all  night,  to  restore  the 
injury  that  had  occurred;  but  he  felicitated  himself  upon  the  experience  thus 
gained  from  his  determination  in  taking  the  deepest  route,  as  it  had  led  to 
many  valuable  suggestions  necessary  to  successful  operations  in  great  depths  ; 
and  the  able  Commander,  the  Marquis  Ricci,  who  up  to  this  time  had  been 
in  doubt  of  iR  success,  then  admitted  that  this  kind  of  cable  contained  such 
remarkable  elements  of  strength  in  its  form  and  combination,  that  he  be- 
lieved only  certain  improvements  to  be  necessary  (on  which  we  had  been  con- 
sulting,) to  successfully  lay  it  down  even  in  the  greater  depths  of  the 
Atlantic.  Mr.  Brett,  in  conclusion,  explained  his  reasons  for  selecting  this 
line  to  India  via  Egypt,  in  preference  to  the  line  by  the  Italian  peninsula, 
which  would  ever  be  impeded  by  the  jealousies  and  restrictions  of  the  petty 
States ;  whereas,  to  the  shores  of  Africa,  the  Mediterranean  telegraph  passed 
through  only  the  States  of  France  and  Sardinia,  who  had  enccmraged  it  by 
liberal  guarantees,  and  admitted  that  all  communications,  in  whatever  Ian- 


FOREIGN   EXTRACTS.  623 


guage,  should  pass  unrestricted  through  their  States.  From  Africa  he  stated 
he  had  two  pL'ins  in  contemplation  for  its  extension  to  Egypt — one,  a  lino 
dropped  in  the  Mediterranean  in  the  shallow  line  near  the  coast,  and  another 
buried  in  the  sand  along  the  shore — both  of  which  he  was  satisfied  might  be 
laid  secure  from  derangement  of  any  kind.  He  then  referred  to  the  proposed 
telegraph  to  America,  and  of  the  depth  on  the  proposed  line,  as  recently 
ascertained  by  Lieut.  Maury,  of  the  United  States,  with  some  estimates  of  the 
weight  and  cost ;  and  stated  that  a  return  of  £100  to  £150  per  day  would 
give  a  fair  interest  on  the  necessary  capital ;  that  his  plan  comprised  several 
lines  of  communication  ;  and  that  he  entirely  deprecated  the  idea  of  a  single 
line  of  communication,  which  he  beheved  could  not  be  done. 


FOREIGN     EXTRACTS. 


How  Smoke  is  Made  in  London. — Statistical  facts  tell  us  that  there  are 
upwards  of  3,000,000  tons  of  coals  yearly  borne  into  London,  by  sea  and 
railway,  and  that  somewhere  about  one-third  of  this  amount  is  there  con- 
sumed in  furthering  the  ends  of  mauufacfr.ring  industry.  Now,  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact,  established  by  practice,  that  by  the  better  consumption  of  smoke, 
and  obtaining  more  perfect  comustion,  20  per  cent,  of  fuel  is  saved  ;  hence  20 
per  cent,  on  1,000,000  tons  amounts  to  200,000  tons  of  coal  saved  annually 
to  the  nation,  and  that,  at  an  average  cost  of  £l  per  ton,  is  £200,000  saved 
to  the  metropolitan  proprietors  of  furnaces  and  manufactories,  which  would 
otherwise  pass  off  in  smoke,  contaminating  the  atmosphere.  According  to 
this  calculation,  it  may  be  taken  as  a  twofold  and  total  saving  to  the  nation, 
of  £400,000  per  annum  ;  and  that  without  regarding  it  in  a  sanitary  point 
of  view,  for  as  already  the  improved  appearance  of  the  London  atmosphere 
is  distinctly  observable,  it  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  the  injury  inflicted  upon 
the  public  health,  or  the  pecuniary  loss  we  sustain  in  the  apparently  trivial 
matters  of  soap,  and  wear  and' tear  of  linen,  by  the  deposit  of  the  large 
amount  of  carb®naceous  matter  always  present  in  the  atmosphere,  inasmuch 
as  smoke  cooled  is  soot,  but  when  heated  to  G00°  Fahrenheit,  becomes  highly 
inflammable  gas,  and  is  consumed ;  therefore,  every  wreath  of  smoke  that 
curls  up  a  chimney  is  fuel  wasted. 

Copper  Mines,  South  Africa. — There  is  a  likelihood  of  copper-mining 
being  carried  on  near  the  north-western  limits  of  the  colony,  at  a  place  called 
Nemaqualand,  on  a  large  scale.  The  ore  is  said  to  be  very  rich  in  metal, 
and  has  realized  from  £40  to  £60  a  ton.  It  is  so  easily  worked  that  three 
men  can  quarry  and  prepare  a  ton  a  day,  worth  nearly  £40,  In  is  said  that 
it  can  be  raised  and  sent  to  England  at  a  cost  of  £13  a  ton.  The  quantity 
of  metal  varies  from  £45  to  £15  per  cwt.  Several  companies  have  been 
formed  to  carry  on  mining  operations,  and  some  correspondence  has  been 
published  between  the  Colonial  Governor  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  as  to 
the  terms  on  which  grants  would  be  made  of  the  lands  underneath  which 
the  ore  lies  embedded.  The  great  difficulty  seems  to  be  as  to  roads.  Hon- 
deklip  Bay,  forty  miles  off",  is  the  nearest  point  of  export,  and  hundreds  of 
tons  of  ore  have  been  J^brought  to  the  surface,  waiting  for  removal,  which 
cannot  be  effected  at  any  price.  A  railroad  has  been  contemplated,  but  the 
necessary  funds  are  not  at  present  forthcoming. 


624  AMERICAN   PATENTS. 


Gas  in  the  North  American  States. — Coals  are  obtained  in  large  quan- 
tities from  Britain  and  from  Canada  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  gas  in 
towns  along  the  seaboard  of  North  America,  South  of  New- York,  the  oolitic 
coal-field  of  Virginia  sends  a  portion  of  the  supply ;  and  in  the  states  west 
of  the  Alleghanies,  the  nearest  coal-field  yields  the  whole  required.  In  New- 
York,  two  companies  supply  the  public  with  gas,  and  manufactured  last 
year  300,000,000  of  cubic  feet.  At  Philadelphia,  the  municipal  corporation 
are  the  only  manufacturers.  Last  year  they  made  about  232,000,000  of 
cubic  feet.  Gas  is  a  good  deal  dearer  in  the  United  States  than  in  Britain. 
In  London,  the  average  price  is  4s.  per  1000  cubic  feet.  The  lowest  price  in 
America  is  at  Philadelphia,  where  two  dollars  are  charged  for  1000  feet,  that 
is  to  saj^,  more  than  100  per  cent,  higher.  In  Liverpool  the  price  is  a  little 
higher  than  in  London,  the  price  at  the  former  town  being  4s.  6d.  per  1000 
feet.  The  laborers  employed  at  the  gas-works  receive  from  one  to  two  dol- 
lars a  day,  according  to  their  skill  and  the  demand  for  their  labor.  Some 
new  gas-works,  lately  built  at  Philadelphia,  are  said  to  be  of  excellent  con- 
struction and  arrangement.  They  comprise  a  telescope  gas-holder,  IGO  feet 
in  diameter,  and  90  feet  in  height,  with  twelve  guide  towers  made  of  cast- 
iron  and  stone,  in  an  ornamental  form. 


AMERICAN    PATENTS. 

Improvement  in  Machinery  for  Combing  Wool.  Charles  G.  Sar- 
gent, of  Lawell,  Mass.  Dated,  August  15, 1854. — In  this  machine,  the  wool 
is  pulled  out  from  the  main  lot,  and  stapled  in  small  successive  portions  be- 
fore the  operation  of  combing  commences,  by  which  means  the  fibres  are 
drawn  out  and  laid  lengthwise,  which  much  facilitates  the  subsequent  opera- 
tion of  combing.  It  also  causes  the  pincers  or  nippers,  which  draw  out  and 
staple  the  wool,  to  revolve  continuously,  any  suitable  number  of  them  being 
brought  up  in  succession  to  the  feed-rolls,  by  which  means  the  various  ope- 
rations of  the  combing  process  are  caused  to  proceed  simultaneously  upon 
different  poitions  of  material,  without  the  necessity,  which  has  heretofore  ex- 
isted, of  performing  them  one  at  a  time,  all  the  others  being  for  the  time 
interrupted.  It  is  evident  that  the  withdrawing  of  the  separate  portions  from 
the  feeding-rollers  must  be  an  intermittent  operation,  and  it  has  been  the  ob- 
ject of  the  inventor  to  make  this  intermittent  movement  approach  as  nearly 
as  possible  to  a  continuous  one,  as  the  material  is  to  be  delivered  from  the 
machine  continuously  in  an  unbroken  sliver. 

Improvement  in  Fire-Arms.  Eli  Whitney,  of  Whitneyville,  Conn. 
Dated,  August  1,  1854. — Mr.  Whitney  claims  the  method  of  constructing 
the  sear  and  lock-bolt  in  one  piece,  combined  with  the  method  of  operating 
the  same  by  the  trigger  and  spring,  so  that  the  sear  can  not  release  the  ham- 
mer, except  when  the  chambered  breech  v.'ill  be  firmly  locked  in  its  proper 
position  when  constructed,  combined,  and  operated ;  also,  the  combination  of 
the  trigger  with  the  spring  and  the  lock-bolt,  (when  the  lock-bolt  is  of  the 
same  piece  as  the  sear,)  for  locking  the  chambered  breech,  and  discharging 
the  pistol,  when  constructed  and  combined,  substantially  as  herein  described  ; 
also,  the  combination  of  the  three  springs  (when  they  are  all  secured  with 
one  screw),  with  the  catch-lever,  trigger,  and  the  lock-bolt  and  sear,  when  the 
whole  is  constructed,  arranged,  and  combined,  substantially  as  described. 


AMERICAISr  PATENTS.  625 


Lubricating  Material.  William  Little,  of  the  Strand,  County  of 
Middlesex,  England.  Dated,  August  1,  1854.  Patented  in  England,  July 
14,  1853. — To  100  parts  tallow,  melted  in  a  cauldron,  add  235  parts  of  a 
solution  of  ten  or  eleven  deg.  B.  of  caustic  soda  in  water.  This  mixture  is 
boiled  until  saponification  takes  place,  when  ninety  parts  more  of  water  are 
added,  and  the  whole  again  boiled  until  the  ingredients  are  thoroughly  com- 
bined. To  this  add  a  potash  soapy  compound,  prepared  by  seventy  parts  of 
a  solution  of  caustic  potash,  equal  to  eight  or  ten  degrees  B.,  boiled  with 
thirty  parts  of  a  fish  or  vegetable  oil,  until  saponified.  These  two  compounds 
being  thoroughly  mixed  by  boiling,  are  poured  into  a  vessel  containing  150 
parts  of  the  greasy  oil  distilled  from  the  crude  oil  of  coal,  and  the  whole 
well  mixed  by  stirring,  until  it  acquires  a  thick  consistence.  This  compound 
is  to  be  used  for  the  journals  of  railway  carriages,  etc.  For  ordinary  machi- 
nery, mix  two  parts  of  the  greasy  oil  with  one  part  of  the  above  mentioned 
soapy  compound,  add  eight  parts  of  water. 

Improvement  in  Tubular  Bridges.  Eden  A.  Baldwin,  of  Elmira, 
N.  Y.  Dated,  August  8,  1854. — This  invention  consists  in  constructing  a 
tube  of  sufficient  diameter  for  the  passage  of  a  railway  train,  using  planks,  or 
other  suitable  timbers,  placed  longitudinally  and  dowelled  together,  and  the 
•whole  firmly  bound  with  strong  iron  rods  or  hoops.  For  this  purpose  may 
be  used  oak  plank,  two  or  three  inches  thick,  as  the  size  or  strength  of  the 
bridge  may  require,  and  of  uniform  width.  The  hoops  or  bands  to  be  made 
of  1 J  or  1^  inch  iron  rods,  which  are  first  made  of  the  necessary  form  and 
size,  and  set  up  at  the  distance  of  five  feet  apart.  The  planks  are  then  laid 
in  them,  beginning  at  the  bottom  and  proceeding  on  each  side  until  they 
meet  at  the  top,  taking  care  that  the  ends  shall  break  joints.  The  joints  are 
all  formed  on  an  exact  radical  angle,  on  the  principle  of  an  arch,  and  each 
plank  is  dowelled  to  the  next  one  with  strong  wooden  pins,  one  foot  apart. 
Then  the  bands  are  tightened. 

Improvement  in  Cotton  Presses.  Nathan  Chapman,  of  Mystic  River, 
Conn.  Dated,  August  8,  1854. — The  nature  of  this  invention  consists  in 
having  the  hubs  of  the  toothed  wheels,  on  which  the  chains  which  raise  the 
follower  work,  formed  with  recesses  in  them  to  receive  the  ends  of  the  chains 
when  wound  up,  and  thereby  cause  said  chains  to  exert  a  pressure  inside  of 
the  bearings  of  said  wheels,  and  retain  the  follower  in  its  elevated  or  raised 
position,  without  any  device  being  employed  for  that  purpose.  ' 

Improved  Machine  for  Uniting  Plates  of  Metal  of  Unequal 
Thickness.  Jeremiah  Carhart,  of  New- York,  N.  Y.  Dated,  August  1, 
1854. — This  invention  is  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  two  plates  or  pieces  of 
metal,  of  unequal  thickness,  by  placing  them  together  between  a  punch  and 
die,  with  the  thicker  piece  next  the  punch,  and  the  thinner  one  next  the  die, 
and  then,  by  pressure  applied  to  the  punch,  forcing  a  portion  of  the  thicker 
plate  through  the  thinner  one. 

Improvement  in  Manufacturing  Pigments  from  Iron  Ore.  Joseph 
H.  Davis,  of  Morristown,  N.  J.  Dated,  August  8,  1854. — Take  pulverized 
hematite,  or  oxide  of  iron,  place  it  in  a  reverberatory  furnace  or  cylinder,  heat 
it  to  about  1000  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  then  introduce  steam  from  about 
the  same  quantity  of  water  as  ore  is  used.  The  steam  is  decomposed,  and, 
in  proportion  to  the  time  in  which  the  ore  is  exposed  to  the  steam,  different 
colors  can  be  produced,  from  that  of  the  yellow  ochre  to  black. 

37 


626  AMERICAJf   PATENTS. 


Method  of  Coating  Iron  with  Brass  or  Copper.  Hugh  Byrgess, 
of  Kentish  Town,  England.  Patented  in  England,  Feb.  17,  1853  ;  in  the 
United  States,  July,  1854. — The  articles  to  be  coated  with  copper,  or  alloys 
of  copper,  are  to  be  first  well  cleaned  in  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  as  is  well  un« 
derstood  ;  they  are  then  to  be  carefully  washed  in  a  dilute  solution  of  chlo- 
ride of  zinc.  The  strength  of  the  solution  is  made  by  adding  about  five 
parts  of  water  to  a  saturated  solution  of  the  chloride,  formed  by  dissolving 
zinc  in  hydrochloric  acid,  till  action  has  ceased.  Also  the  other  soluble  salts 
of  zinc  and  tin  may  be  used,  and  oxide  of  zinc  deposited  on  the  article  to  be 
coated,  by  holding  it  in  the  fumes  of  zinc  during  combustion.  Oxides  of 
zinc,  made  into  a  very  thin  cream  Avith  water,  'and  applied  to  the  iron  article, 
carbonates  of  zinc  treated  in  the  same  way,  are  all  applicable  for  the  process 
herein  described,  or,  in  place  of  zinc,  cadmium  may  be  used  in  like  manner. 
The  article,  after  having  been  well  dried,  when  any  of  the  above  solutions 
have  been  used,  may  be  heated  to  about  250  degrees,  and  may  be  plunged 
into  melted  copper. 

A  mixture  of  about  two  per  cent,  of  zinc  and  one  per  cent,  of  tin  to  ninety- 
seven  parts  of  copper,  answers  the  purpose  better  than  copper  alone. 

"I  claim  the  coating  of  iron  sheets,  bars,  bolts,  and  other  forms  of  iron 
with  copper  or  brass,  by  a  combination  of  processes  as  follows :  by  first 
cleaning,  then  coating  them  over  with  a  solution  of  cadmium  or  zinc,  drying 
and  dipping  them  into  a  bath  of  melted  copper  or  brass,  and  raising  them 
out  of  the  bath  into  an  atmosphere  of  steam  and  carbonic  acid,  flowing  in 
streams  or  in  jets,  substantially  in  the  manner  described." 

Improvement  in  Eadiators.  John  Gemmill,  of  Mercer,  Pa.  Dated, 
August  8,  1854. — This  invention  is  designed  to  prevent  the  great  loss  of 
heat  which  is  occasioned  by  the  ordinary  construction  of  stove-pipes,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  passage  of  the  current  through  the  pipe,  in  obedience  to  the 
known  laws  of  heat,  without  producing  the  amount  of  radiation  which  a  more 
favorable  construction  would  afford  ;  it  consists  in  placing  upon  the  stove,  in 
the  situation  usually  occupied  by  the  first  two  joints  of  pipe,  a  radiator  of 
the  form  of  two  frustrums  of  cones  joined  at  their  bases,  and  in  suspending 
within  this  case  a  deflector  and  regulator,  consisting  of  an  inverted  cone  and 
right  frustrums,  united  at  their  bases,  said  deflector  and  regulator  being  lined 
with  some  non-conducting  substance,  and  movable  vertically. 

Improvement  in  Air-Heating  Stoves.  Nathaniel  A.  Boynton,  of  New- 
York,  N.  Y.  Dated,  August  8,  1854. — The  fire-chamber  is  spherical,  so 
formed  as  to  cause  the  blaze  and  heat  to  be  thrown  off"  from  the  wc-od  bunieo 
therein  at  the  sides,  and  thus  to  radiate  the  heat  at  the  outside  of  tlie  fire 
chamber,  and  next  to  the  body  of  air  surrounding  it.  By  forming  the  fire> 
chamber  in  one  piece,  all  leakage  of  gas  is  avoided,  and  the  construction 
greatly  simplified,  while,  from  its  form,  great  facility  is  given  for  unequal  ex- 
pansion and  contraction,  without  injury. 

Improved  Tires  for  Carriage-Wheels.  George  Souther,  of  South 
Boston,  Mass.  Dated,  August  1,  1854. — This- invention  consists  in  applying 
elastic  tires  to  carriage-wheels.  The  tire  of  the  wheel  is  made  with  two  j)ro- 
jecting  flanges  all  around,  having  a  space  between  them  for  the  einstic  lire. 
An  entire  ring  of  vulcanized  rubber  is  then  stretched  over  the  tire.  Fur  a 
pleasure  buggy,  make  the  tire  of  wrought  iron  1^  inch  wide,  the  flaig^s  y^g- 
inch  deep  inside,  and  y\  inch  outside  ;  the  space  between  the  two  flanges  is 
about  1  inch,  and  the  elastic  strip  is  1  inch  wide  and  f  thick. 


AMEEICAN   PATENTS.  627 


Irresistible  Horse-Bit. — A  patent  has  just  been  issued  to  Messrs. 
Titus  (fe  Fen  wick,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y,,  for  a  very  ingenious  and  useful  con- 
trivance for  stopping  runaway  horses,  and  placing  the  most  fractious  and 
powerful  horse  under  the  immediate  control  of  all  classes  of  riders  and  dri- 
vers, even  to  the  most  delicate  female. 

The  nature  of  the  invention  consists  in  closing  a  horse's  nostrils,  so  as  to 
check  respiration,  and  bring  him  to  a  stand-still,  by  means  of  pressure  ap- 
plied through  ornamental,  padded  levers,  attached  to  the  ends  of  the  bit-bar, 
and  so  arranged  on  the  sides  of  the  horse's  nose,  and  attached  to  a  rein,  that, 
when  the  driver  or  rider  pulls  hard  upon  the  rein,  they  are  caused  to  move 
laterally  toward  each  other  like  the  jaws  of  a  clamp,  and  close  the  horse's 
nostrils  sufficiently  to  stop  his  breathing,  and  bring  him  to  a  stand-still.  As 
soon  as  the  driver  lets  the  rein  slack,  the  pads  fly  off,  and  allow  the  horse  to 
breathe  freely. 

This  bit  is  intended  to  take  the  place  of  the  ordinary  kind,  and  presents  a 
handsome  appearance  when  on  the  horse. 

Improved  Arrangement  for  Lathe  Chuck.  L.  A.  Dole,  of  Salem, 
Ohio.  Dated,  July  25,  1854. — -The  first  part  of  this  invention  relates  to  the 
means  employed  for  making  the  hole  which  passes  through  the  hub,  per- 
fectly true,  and  the  second  part  relates  to  the  means  employed  for  forming 
the  shoulders  in  the  same,  after  the  central  bore  has  been  made  true. 

This  invention  consists  in  the  employment  of  a  self-centreing  lathe  chuck, 
consisting  of  a  scroll  screw  and  sliding  holding  jaws,  in  combination  with  a 
mandrel  or  screw  passing  through  its  centre,  and  having  a  cutter  secured  to 
its  extremity,  for  the  purpose  of  boring  hubs  perfectly  true,  said  screw  being 
fed,  while  boring,  by  a  female  nut  attached  to  the  barrel  through  which  the 
screw  or  mandrel  works.  And,  also,  it  consists  in  so  constructing  and 
arranging  the  feed  nut,  and  combining  it  with  a  guage  plate  arranged  on  the 
mandrel,  that  it  will  be  caused  to  adjust  itself  at  the  moment  the  shoulder 
of  the  hub  has  been  cut  of  the  required  depth,  and  then  be  capable  of  turn- 
ing with  the  screw,  and  allowing  the  cutter  to  square  off  the  shoulder. 

Improvements  in  Compositions  for  Bleaching  and  Stuffing  Leather. 
— A.  patent  has  been  granted  to  L.  Woodbury  Fiske,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  for 
improvements  in  bleaching  and  stuffing  leather.  This  improvement  includes 
two  modes  of  bleaching,  warm  and  cold.  A  large  per  cent,  is  saved  in  cost 
for  producing,  while  the  weight  and  fairness  is  enhanced.  By  chemical 
means  an  increased  amount  of  "  stuffing"  is  applied,  and  the  surface  coating 
of  tallow  that  remains  after  drying,  which  by  the  old  mode  is  "  set  off,"  is 
entirely  forced  into  the  body  of  the  hide  or  skin,  leaving  the  grain  fibres  free 
from  "  stuffing,"  which  impairs  the  color,  and  the  leather  is  produced  with 
increased  fairness  and  pliability. 

Improvement  in  working  Liming  Vats  in  Tanneries. — A  second  patent 
has  also  been  granted  to  Mr.  Fiske,  for  improvements  in  tanning.  The  object 
of  this  improvement  is  to  render  the  process  of  "  liming,"  as  now  generally 
practised  by  tanners,  as  well  as  Mr.  Fiske's  own  unhairing  soak,  more  rapid, 
efficacious,  and  economical,  to  cause  the  hides  and  skins  to  come  from  the 
vats  more  "plump,"  fair,  and  free  from  lime  in  the  pores  than  has  been  the 
case  hitherto,  at  the  same  time  preventing  the  formation  of  the  pellicle  on 
the  surface  of  the  liquid  in  the  vats,  the  deposite  of  carbonate  of  lime  and 
consequent  loss  of  strength,  and  the  labor  and  expense  of  frequent  change  » 
in  lime  thereby  induced. 


628  NEW  ENGLISH   PATENTS. 

Improvements  in  Fire-Arms.  Joseph  C.  Day,  of  Hackettstown,  N,  J- 
Dated,  August  8,  1854. — This  invention  relates,  firstly,  to  a  certain  method 
of  constructing  the  barrel,  and  connecting  it  with  the  stock  and  breech,  folfr 
the  purpose  of  allowing  it  to  swing,  and  present  the  rear  end  of  the  bore  for 
the  reception  of  the  charge ;  secondly,  to  certain  means  of  making  a  secure 
and  perfect  connection  between  the  rear  of  the  chamber  and  a  fixed  breech  ; 
thirdly,  to  a  certain  arrangement  whereby  the  caps  are  caused  to  be  supplied 
from  a  magazine  in  the  stock  to  the  nipple  as  required,  by  the  movements  of 
the  hammer  in  cocking  and  discharging  the  piece. 

Improvement  in  Sofa  Bedsteads.  Stanislas  Millet,  of  New- York, 
N.  Y.  Dated,  August  8,  1854. — Mr.  Millet  claims,  in  combination  with  a 
spring-bottom,  such  as  represented,  the  attaching  of  the  sagging-bottom  to 
the  hinged  head  and  foot-board,  so  that  said  sagging-bottom  shall  be  strained 
over  the  spring-bottom,  when  the  head  and  foot-pieces  are  dropped  to  form 
a  bed,  and  serve  the  purpose  of  a  lining  between  the  mattress  and  the  springs, 
when  used  as  a  sofa  or  lounge,  substantially  as  described. 

Improvement  in  Railroad  Car  Windows.  George  Spencer,  of  Utica, 
N,  Y.  Dated,  August  15,  1854. — This  invention  consists  in  combining  with 
the  side  of  a  car,  a  revolving  window,  formed  of  two  separate  circular  sashes, 
connected  by  hinges,  so  that  one  sash  may  be  opened  to  its  full  extent,  and 
having  a  small  part  of  the  circle  cut  off,  so  that,  by  revolving  it  upon  its  cen 
tre,  a  small  opening  may  be  made  at  the  forward  part  of  the  window,  which- 
ever way  the  car  may  be  moving,  the  residue  of  the  window  remaining  at 
the  same  time  covered. 


NEW    ENGLISH    PATENTS. 

Ornamentation  of  Pottery  and  Glass.  Messrs.  Bale  &  Lucas, 
Stafibrdshire.  Patent  dated  Nov.  1,  1853. — This  invention  relates  partly  to 
the  production  of  various  ornamental  eflfects  and  patterns  upon  the  surfaces  of 
articles  made  of  pottery,  glass,  slate,  etc.,  especially  those  made  of  brick,  tile, 
slabs,  etc.,  of  pottery,  glass,  enamelled  and  glazed  iron,  etc.,  and  also  to  other 
architectural  fittings.  The  improvements  are  applied  in  that  part  of  the  pot- 
tery manufacture  known  as  "  ground-laying."  Another  part  of  the  invention 
relates  to  the  imitating  of  marbled  and  partly  colored  work  upon  the  mate- 
rials above  named,  and  also  to  printing  ornamental  patterns  upon  stone,  slate, 
marble,  etc.  The  new  processes,  so  far  as  relate  to  the  ground-laying,  will  be 
better  understood  by  a  short  description  of  the  modes  at  present  generally 
employed  in  the  manufacture.  The  outline  of  the  intended  pattern  is  first 
drawn  on  and  pricked  through  tissue-paper,  through  which  fine  charcoal  is 
rubbed  or  pounced  upon  the  ware,  leaving  thereon  a  black  outline.  The 
parts  intended  to  be  white,  or  different  from  the  ground,  are  then  penciled  in 
with  a  composition  or  "  wat^r  stencil,"  made  of  rose-pink,  sugar,  and  water. 
After  this  the  piece  is  oiled  and  bossed  with  a  dabber,  to  lay  the  oil  on  evenly. 
Upon  this  the  required  color,  ground  very  fine,  is  dusted.  After  being  dried, 
the  piece  is  well  washed  in  clear  water.  The  stencil,  being  soluble,  comes 
off,  and  the  color  is  left  on,  forming  the  pattern.  It  is  then  cleaned,  diied, 
and  fired  in  the  kiln.  A  variation  in  forming  the  outline  is  often  used,  by 
printing  it  instead  of  tracing  or  pouncing  in,  and  transferring  such  printed 


NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS.  629 

outline  to  the  surface  of  the  article,  in  the  usual  way  of  pottery  transferring. 
In  such  case  the  outline  is  fired,  after  which  the  stenciling,  oiling,  grounding, 
etc.,  are  repeated  as  before.  In  all  cases,  however,  the  outline  only  of  the 
pattern  is  made  merely  to  guide  the  stenciling,  and  in  these  processes  every 
fresh  coat  of  color  requires  a  re-stenciling  and  repetition  of  the  process. 

The  improved  modes  of  ground-laying,  or  what  may,  by  way  of  distinction, 
be  termed  "printed  stencil  ground-laying,"  consist  of  fully  engraving  the 
entire  pattern,  in  place  of  engraving  the.  outline  only  of  the  pattern  on  the 
copper.  The  brick  or  other  article  to  be  ornamented  is  sized  with  a  mixture 
of  Canada  balsam  and  turpentine.  An  impression  from  the  engraved  plate  is 
then  taken  in  the  usual  way  upon  tissue-paper,  the  composition  or  stencil  used 
being  particularly  adapted  for  printing  purposes.  It  consists  of  about  three 
j)aits  of  rose-pink,  two  parts  of  whiting,  two  parts  of  fine-ground  flint,  one 
part  of  lamp-black,  one  half  part  of  sugar-of-lead,  and  two  parts  of  resin,  well 
mixed  with  printers'  oil.  The  impression  is  then  transferred  to  the  sized  sur- 
face in  the  ordinary  way  of  potters'  transferring.  After  remaining  a  short 
time,  it  is  washed  with  soft  soap  and  potash,  to  bring  away  the  superfluous 
paper  and  size.  In  order  to  receive  the  ground,  it  is  then  oiled  with  Canada 
balsSm  and  linseed  oil,  but  without  the  usual  bossing,  after  which  the  ground 
color  is  brushed,  dusted,  or  laid  on  in  any  convenient  manner.  It  is  now 
ready  to  be  fired  with  the  "stencil  on,"  which  is  loosened  by  the  heat,  and, 
on  coming  out  of  the  kiln,  the  stencil  is  readily  rubbed  ofl:'  with  fine  sand  and. 
water,  leaving  the  color  and  pattern  on  the  article,  beautifully  sharp  and  de- 
li ued,  and  clean  at  the  edges.  Another  part  of  the  invention  is  the  converse 
of  the  above,  and  is  specially  adapted  for  fine,  delicate  work.  The  entire 
pattern  is  engraved  as  before,  and  the  brick  or  other  article  to  be  ornamented 
is  then  oiled  over  with  Canada  balsam  and  linseed  oil,  and  is  dusted  over 
with  the  color  which  is  intended  as  the  ground.  An  impression  in  stencil  is 
then  taken  on  tissue-paper  from  the  engraved  plate,  and  is  transferred  to  the 
moist  surface  of  the  article  prepared  as  above.  The  printed  stencil  is  then 
irarefully  peeled  off",  and  brings  away  with  it  the  color  from  all  the  parts  of 
the  article  with  which  the  printed  stencil  has  come  in  contact,  the  other  por- 
tions not  touched  by  the  print  forming  the  pattern. 

When  gilding  is  required,  ground  gold  is  dusted  on  instead  of  the  ordi- 
nary color.  The  pattern  is  then  printed  as  before  in  stencil,  and  transferred 
to  the  surface  of  the  article  upon  the  gold ;  after  which  the  article  is  washed 
with  soft  soap  and  potash,  in  order  to  bring  away  the  superfluous  gold  and 
tlie  oil  from  those  parts  not  desired  to  be  gilt.  The  article  is  then  fired  with 
the  stencil  on,  which  on  coming  out  of  the  kiln  is  rubbed  off",  and  leaves  the 
gilt  pattern  under  it  firmly  adhering  to  the  ware. 

The  great  feature  of  difference  between  the  old  and  new  modes  is,  that 
instead  of  having  to  draw  the  outline,  and  to  pencil  and  stencil  in  by  hand, 
the  pattern  is  "  printed"  complete  in  stencil.  The  advantages  gained  are  not 
only  the  obtainment  of  more  beautiful  work  of  any  breadth  or  fineness,  (which 
is  done  at  a  cheaper  rate  than  the  modes  at  present  in  use,)  but  delicate  ela- 
l>orate  patterns,  at  present  entirely  unable  to  be  attained,  are  easy  and  eco- 
nomical of  execution.  In  addition,  there  are  many  other  advantages,  such  as 
saving  the  cost  and  firing  of  the  outline ;  doing  away  with  its  ragged  edges  ; 
the  trouble  of  bossing  after  oiling ;  the  cost  of  cleaning  and  picking  out  the 
pattern ;  after  washing  off,  being  able  to  lay  on  as  much  color  at  one  coat  as 
required  two  and  three  applications  in  the  old  modes,  and  re-stenciling ;  and 
lastly,  in  being  able  to  gild  at  the  same  time  at  a  reduced  cost. 

la  carrying  out  the  invention  upon  articles  where  heat  is  not  required,  and 


630  NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS. 

upon  other  substances,  as  stone,  slate,  wood,  etc.,  wliicli  will  only  bear  a  slight 
temperature,  some  slight  deviations  will  be  necessary  from  the  processes 
above  described ;  and  in  ornamenting  glass  or  other  transparent  substances, 
the  process  found  most  expedient  is  this :  The  pattern  is  engraved  as  before, 
and  an  impression  is  printed  in  black  or  any  opaque  color,  and  transferred 
generally  to  the  back  of  the  piece.  The  paper  is  then  washed  off,  after  which 
it  is  oiled  to  receive  the  ground  color,  which  is  brushed  or  dusted  through 
perforated  paper  or  oiled  silk,  or  any  other  suitable  medium.  The  piece  is 
then  sized  with  a  solution  of  isinglass  and  water,  and,  whilst  wet,  gold-leaf  is 
applied,  and  is  seen  through,  on  the  front  side  where  there  is  no  color.  It  is 
then  finished  by  painting  it  over  with  any  desired  color.  When  applied  to 
walls,  floors,  or  anywhere  which  is  likely  to  be  damp,  a  coating  of  gutta  per- 
cha  or  other  water-proof  substance  is  applied  to  protect  it.  By  this  means 
most  beautiful  effects  can  be  produced  for  walls  and  floors  ;  especially  as  land- 
scapes, fruit,  figures,  and  gilding  can  be  represented,  and  saved  from  injury 
and  wear  by  being  done  at  the  back. 

In  ornamenting  opaque  bodies  not  necessary  to  be  fired,  this  last  process  is 
slightly  varied.  The  piece  is  first  sized  with,  isinglass  and  water,  and  the 
gold  applied  as  before ;  it  is  then  dried  a  little  and  varnished,  and  afterward 
hardened  to  set  the  varnish ;  the  print  is  then  transferred  to  it,  and  the  paper 
wasTied  off,  after  which  it  is  oiled  and  the  color  applied  as  before,  and  the 
whole  is  afterward  varnished.  Another  simple  mode  of  ornamentation  adapted 
for  chimney-pieces,  pillars,  etc.,  of  stone,  slate,  wood,  etc.,  is  as  follows  :  The 
article  having  been  first  cleaned  and  dressed,  is  "painted  over  with  the  desired 
color ;  an  impression  is  taken  from  an  engraved  plate  of  the  pattern  desired, 
in  any  ordinary  way  of  printing,  and  transferred  to  the  surface  of  the  article 
to  be  ornamented.  The  paper  is  afterward  washed  off",  leaving  the  pattern,  as 
marble,  etc.,  behind,  which  may  afterward  be  varnished  so  as  to  keep  it 
clean. 

It  will  be  evident,  that  the  several  modes  described  are  admirably  adapted, 
not  only  for  general  architectural  purposes,  as  bricks,  tiles,  slabs,  baths,  chim- 
ney-pieces, doors,  furniture,  etc.,  but  are  capable  of  being  applied  to  a  variety 
of  useful  fittings,  as  tables,  panels,  pilasters,  mouldings,  ceilings,  etc.,  either 
made  of  the  materials  themselves,  or  forming  a  species  of  inlaying  and  ve- 
neering. Bricks,  blocks,  pillars,  and  similar  articles,  too  heavy  and  costly  to 
be  made  entirely  of  glass,  may  be  beautifully  decorated  by  ornamenting  the 
glass  in  the  manner  described,  and  then  using  it  as  a  veneer. 

Preservation  of  Iron  by  STA.NNo-PLtrMBATiNG. — The  Rev.  N.  Callan, 
of  Maynooth  College,  the  author  of  numerous  improvements  in  practical  sci- 
ence, has  suggested  and  is  now  introducing  a  most  important  system  of  pre- 
serving iron  from  corrosion  and  general  decay.  He  uses  an  alloy  of  tin  and 
lead,  or  tin,  lead,  zinc,  and  antimony,  recommending  that  the  alloy  should 
contain  at  least  as  much  lead  as  tin,  but  not  more  than  V  or  8  parts  of  lead 
to  1  of  tin.  The  iron  is  treated  with  such  a  composition,  just  as  iron  is 
usually  coated  with  tin.  In  a  series  of  experiments  on  the  decomposition  of 
water  by  the  galvanic  battery,  the  patentee  found  that  concentrated  nitric 
acid  acted  far  more  powerfully  on  lead  than  on  iron  coated  with  an  alloy  of 
lead  and  tin,  in  which  the  quantity  of  lead  varied  from  3  or  4  to  *?  or  8  times 
the  quantity  of  tin;  and  that  the  greater  the  proportion  of  lead  contained  in 
the  alloy,  the  less  it  was  acted  on  by  nitric  acid.  H'e  afterward  made  a  vari- 
ety of  experiments  in  order  to  compare  the  action  of  strong  nitric,  su]j)liuric, 
and  muriatic  acid,  as  well  as  of  diluted  sulphuric  and  muriatic  acid,  on  lead 


NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS.  631 


and  galvanized  iron,  with  their  action  on  iron  coated  with  an  alloy  of  lead  and 
tin,  in  which  the  quantity  of  lead  was  about  equal  to,  or  from  two  to  seven  or 
eight  times  as  great  as  that  of  tin ;  and  from  these  experiments  he  concluded 
that  iron  coated  with  any  of  these  alloys  is  far  less  oxidable  and  less  liable  to 
corrosion  than  lead,  and  infinitely  less  so  than  galvanized  iron,  the  zinc  coat- 
ing of  which  is  rapidly  dissolved  by  the  acids,  even  when  they  are  greatly 
diluted  with  water.     Hence,  iron  coated  with  an  alloy  of  lead  and  tin,  in 
which  the  proportion  of  tin  is  small,  will  answer  for  all  the  purposes  for  which 
sheet-lead,  leaden  pipes,  and  galvanized  iron  are  employed.     The  mixture  of 
a  small  quantity  of  zinc  with  the  alloy  of  lead  and  tin,  with  which  iron  is 
coated,  hardens  the  coating,  but  diminishes  its  power  of  resisting  corrosion. 
However,  a  coating  of  lead,  tin,  and  zinc  is  far  less  oxidable  than  the  zinc 
coating  of  galvanized  iron.     The  addition  of  a  little  antimony,  which  is  a 
cheap  metal,  hardens  the  coating,  and  increases  its  power  of  resisting  oxida- 
tion and  corrosion.     Stanno-plumbated  iron  may  answer  better  than  galva- 
nized iron  for  the  rope  of  iron  wire  by  which  the  conducting^  wire  of  the  sub- 
marine telegraph  is  protected,  because  the  former  will  resist  the  corrosive 
action  of  the  sea- water  better  than  the  latter.    In  a  work  published  last  year, 
Pouillet,  lately  professor  in  the  Sorbonne,  says  that  sea-water  corrodes  galva- 
nized iron.     In  his  interesting  little  book  on  the  electric  telegraph,  Mr.  High- 
ton  states  that  he  saw,  in  the  neighborhood  of  large  towns,  galvanized  iron 
wires,  an  eighth  of  an  inch  thick,  reduced,  in  less  than  two  years,  to  the  thick- 
ness of  a  sewing  needle,  by  the  sulphurous  vapors  arising  from  the  coals  con- 
sumed.    It  is  very  probable  that  these  vapors  would  exert  no  action  on 
stanno-plumbated  iron.      Stanno-plumbated  iron  is  far  preferable  to  lead, 
because  it  is  much  cheaper,  much  more  durable,  and  much  less  affected  by 
changes  of  temperature.     It  has  also  great  advantages  over  galvanized  iron. 
It  may  be  employed  for  all  purposes  for  which  the  latter  is  used ;  it  is  much 
more  easily  worked  and  repaired,  because  it  is  far  more  easily  soldered  ;  and 
it  will  answer  for  a  great  variety  of  uses,  in  which  it  may  be  exposed  to  the 
action  of  various  corroding  substance-,  such  as  acids,  etc. ;  but  for  these  uses 
galvanized  iron  is  totally  unfit,  because  the  zinc  coating  is  incapable  of  resist- 
ing the  action  of  any  acid.     Stanno-plumbated  iron,  particularly  if  the  coat- 
ing contains  a  small  quantity  of  antimony,  will  probably  answer  better  than 
lead  for  vitriol  chambers.     It  may  sometimes  be  used  instead  of  copper  for 
the  sheathing  of  ships,  and  bolts  and  nails  of  coated  iron  may  be  sometimes 
employed  instead  of  copper  bolts  and  nails.     It  may  also  be  used  for  some  of 
the  purposes  for  which  enamelled  iron  is  employed,  such  as  the  enamelled 
cast-iron  cisterns  and  pipes  used  in  water-closets.     At  the  last  meeting  of  the 
British  Association  at  Hull,  Dr.  Gladstone  stated  that  owners  of  iron-built 
ships  object  to  sugar  cargoes,  because  the  saccharine  juices  that  exude  from    * 
the  casks  corrode  the  metal.     If  the  iron  of  which  the  ships  are  made  were 
coated  on  the  inside  with  an  alloy  of  lead  and  tin,  containing  five  or  six  tinies 
as  much  lead  as  tin,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  corrosion  of  the  ships 
would  be  prevented.     A  small  piece  of  an  alloy  of  lead  and  tin,  in  which  the 
quantity  of  lead  was  about  five  times  as  great  as  that  of  tin,  was  left  in  sugar 
dissolved  in  water  for  more  than  three  months.     After  that  period  the  alloy 
came  out  as  bright  as  when  it  was  put  into  the  solution.     Coating  the  iron 
on  the  outside  would  protect  it  against  the  action  of  the  sea-water ;  and  would 
be  particularly  useful  for  vessels  intended  for  the  West-India  islands,  where,  it 
is  said,  the  sea-water  soon  corrodes  the  iron.     Stanno-plumbated  iron  is  not 
more  expensive  than  galvanized  iron.     First,  because  the  coating  of  lead  and 
tin  need  not  be  half  as  thick  as  the  zinc  coating,  and  therefore  the  quantity 


>632 


NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS. 


of  the  alloy  used  ia  coating  a  given  surface  of  iron  will  bo  far  less  than  the 
quantity  of  zinc  employed  in  galvanizing  the  same  surface.  Secondly,  be- 
cause spelter  is  very  volatile,  and  therefore  the  waste  of  zinc  in  a  molten  state 
is  much  greater  than  that  of  the  alloy  of  lead  and  tin.  Thirdly,  a  greater 
degree  of  heat  is  required  to  keep  zinc  in  a  state  of  fusion,  than  to  melt  lead 
and  tin.  Lastly,  since  the  proportion  of  tin  need  not  be  more  than  the 
seventh  or  eighth  of  that  of  lead,  the  alloy  is  very  little  dearer  than  zinc. 
From  these  reasons,  it  is  clear  that  stanno-plumbated  iron  must  be  at  least  as 
cheap  as  galvanized  iron. 

Professor  Airet's  Pendulum  Test  of  the  Earth's  Mass. — The  follows 
ing  letter  from  Professor  Airey  to  Mr.  James  Mather,  of  South  Shields,  enters 
somewhat  into  the  details  of  the  pendulum  experiment  in  the  Harton  Col- 
liery, on  which  we  wrote  last  month :  "  It  will  be,  I  am  sure,  a  matter  of 
satisfaction  to  you  to  know,  that  the  results  of  the  computations  of  the  pen- 
dulum vibrations  gives  the  highest  confidence  in  the  certainty  of  the  results 
to  be  deduced  from  them.  The  comparison  of  the  rates  of  the  pendulum, 
before  and  after  their  interchanges,  shows  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  their 
having  undergone  any  mechanical  change  whatever,  and  almost  positive  evi- 
dence against  their  having  undergone  any  change,  amounting  in  its  efiects 
on  their  vibrations  to  l-20th  part  of  a  vibration  in  a  day.  The  immediate 
result  of  the  computations  is  this.  Supposing  that  a  clock  was  adjusted  to 
go  true  time  at  the  top  of  the  mine,  it  would  gain  2^  seconds  per  day  at  the 
bottom.  Or  it  may  be  stated  thus — that  gravity  is  greater  at  the  bottom  of 
the  mine  than  at  the  top  by  1-19190  part.  To  go  a  little  further  into  the 
interpretation.  If  there  had  been  no  coal  measure,  or  rocks  of  any  kind,  be- 
tween the  top  and  the  bottom,  but  merely  an  imaginary  stand  to  support  the 
pendulums,  the  gravity  at  the  top  would  have  been  less  than  at  the  bottom 
by  1-8400  part  nearly.  But  it  is  less  by  only  1-19200  part.  And  what  is 
the  cause  of  this  difference  ?  It  is  the  attraction  of  the  shell  of  matter,  the 
thickness  of  which  is  included  between  the  top  and  the  bottom  of  the  mine. 
The  attraction  of  that  shell,  therefore,  is  the  ditference  between  the  two  num- 
bers which  I  have  given,  or  is  1-14900  part  of  gravity  nearly.  But  if  that 
shell  had  been  as  dense  as  the  earth  generally,  its  attraction  would  have 
been  1-5G00  part  of  the  gravity  nearly.  Therefore,  the  earth  generally  is 
more  dense  in  the  proportion  of  149  to  56,  nearly.  You  will  remark  that 
all  these  numbers  are  rough,  and  that  to  make  their  results  available  some 
small  corrections  are  required  (to  which  I  have  not  alluded,)  and  some  know- 
ledge of  the  density  of  the  difterent  beds,  &c.,  which  I  do  not  po?sess  at 
present." 

Manufacture  of  Caoutciiouc.  J.  H,  Johnson,  London  and  Glasgow. 
— This  French  invention,  which  has  been  patented  in  England  on  behalf  of 
MAI.  Guibal  &  Cumenge,  relates  to  the  recovery  and  utilization  of  the  volatile 
ingredients  used  in  dissolving  caoutchouc  in  the  process  of  manufacturing  it, 
instead  of  allowing  these  ingredients  to  be  lost  by  evaporation.  This  great 
saving  is  effected  by  placing  the  soft  caoutchouc  upon  traversing  cloths  in 
closed  chambers,  provided  at  the  top  with  a  means  of  condensing  the  vapors, 
and  carrying  off  the  products,  the  material  being  heated  by  suitable  apparatus 
beneath  the  traversing  cloth.  The  caoutchouc,  as  it  leaves  the  spreading 
rollers,  is  traversed  over  a  horizontal  table,  consisting  of  upper  and  lowei-  cast- 
iron  plates,  with  an  intervening  place  for  the  introduction  of  steam,  hot  water, 
or  heated  air.  This  table  is  covered  in  by  a  roofing  of  metal  plates,  set  at 
convenient  angles,  the  chamber  being  closed  v  in  at  each  end  by  triangular 


MISCELLANY. 


metal  plates,  placed  vertically.  The  roof  is  covered  with  felt,  which  is  kept 
constantly  saturated  with  cold  water,  su2:>plied  by  a  duct  above,  and  which  is 
again  collected  by  gutters  running  along  the  lower  edges  of  the  roof-plates. 
The  vapor  rising  from  the  material  is  condensed  upon  the  under  sides  of  the 
roof-plates,  and,  trickling  down,  is  collected  in  suitable  gutters  ;  these  gutters 
being  carried  completely  round  the  chamber,  and  across  the  end-plates,  so  as 
to  prevent  any  of  the  products  of  condensation  from  falling  upon  the  caout- 
chouc beneath.  The  gutters  communicate  with  suitable  receptacles,  into 
which  the  condensed  matter  passes ;  and  this  matter  can  be  used  over  again 
repeatedly  in  the  manufacture  of  the  caoutchuc,  thereby  considerably  reduc- 
ing the  cost. 


MISCELLANY. 


A  Puzzled  Pig. — One  of  our  western  farmers,  being  very  much  annoyed 
last  summer  by  his  best  sow  breaking  into  the  corn-field,' search  was  insti- 
tuted in  vain  for  a  hole  in  the  rail  fence.  Failing  to  find  any,  an  attempt 
was  next  made  to  drive  out  the  animal  by  the  same  way  of  her  entrance  ; 
but  of  course  without  success.  The  owner  then  resolved  to  watch  her  pro- 
ceedings ;  and  posting  himself  at  night  in  a  fence-corner,  he  saw  her  enter 
at  one  end  of  a  hollow  log,  outside  the  field,  and  emerge  at  the  other  end, 
within  the  enclosure.  "  Eureka,^''  cried  he,  "  I  have  you  now,  old  lady  1" 
Accordingly,  he  proceeded,  after  turning  her  out  once  more,  to  so  arrange 
the  log  (it  being  very  crooked)  that  both  ends  opened  on  the  outside  of  the 
field.  The  next  day  the  animal  was  observed  to  enter  at  her  accustomed 
place,  and  shortly  emerge  again.  "Her  astonishment,"  says  our  informant, 
"  at  finding  herself  in  the  same  field  whence  she  had  started,  is  too  ludicrous 
to  be  described  !  She  looked  this  way  and  then  that,  grunted  her  dissatis- 
faction, and  finally  returned  to  the  original  starting  place  ;  and,  after  a  de- 
liberate survey  of  mattei's,  to  satisfy  herself  that  it  was  all  right,  she  again 
entered  the  log.  On  emerging  once  more  on  the  wrong  side,  she  evinced 
even  more  surprise  than  before,  and,  turning  about,  retraced  the  log  in  an 
opposite  direction.  Finding  this  efibrt  likewise  in  vain,  after  looking  long 
and  attentively  at  the  position  of  things,  with  a  short,  angry  grunt  of  disap- 
pointment, and  perhaps  fear,  she  turned  short  round,  and  started  off  on  a 
brisk  run  ;  nor  could  either  coaxing  or  driving  ever  after  induce  her  to  visit 
that  part  of  the  field."  She  seemed  to  have  a  "  superstition"  concerning  the 
spot. — Knickerbocker. 

Fire-flies. — In  tropical  climes,  various  luminous  insects  are  attached  to 
female  head-dresses.  They  are  used  also  as  lamps.  I  have  read  fine  print 
in  a  dark  room  by  the  light  of  two  small  Long  Island  fire-flies  in  a  tumbler. 
But  man  was  not  the  first  to  rob  these  living  gems  of  their  liberty  and  ra- 
diance. There  are  birds  that  seize  and  suspend  them  as  chandeliers  for  their 
dwellings.  The  bottle-nested  sparrow,  or  baya,  is  one  of  the  kidnappers. 
Its  nest  is  closely  woven  like  cloth  in  the  figure  of  a  large,  inverted  bottle, 
with  the  entrance  at  the  orifice  of  the  neck.  The  interior  is  divided  by  par- 
titions into  two  or  three  chambers,  one  over  the  other.  These  are  profoundly 
dark  until  lit  up  with  fire-flies  caught  alive,  and  mercilessly  fixed  to  the  walls 
or  ceiling  with  pieces  of  wet  clay  or  cow-dung  for  sconces. — From  "  The 
World  a  Workshop" 


634 


MISCELLANY. 


Bknefit  of  Railroads  to  Farmers. — We  find  in  the  report  of  the 
Michigan  Central  Raih-oad  for  1853,  the  following  list  of  farm  products 
carried  upon  that  road  last  year  : 


Apples,  bbls.     .  .         .25,912 

Barley,  bush.  .         .         24,426 

Beans,  bush.      .  .         .       1,064 

Bran,  etc.,  tons,  .         .           1,090 

Beef,  bbls.         .  .         .       6,872 

Butter,  tons,  .         .             206 

Tork,  bbls.         .  .         .     11,673 

Pork,  in  hhds,  tons,  .           2,104 

Wheat,  bush.     .  .         .  807,707 

Corn,  bush.    .  .         .       200,931 

Cheese,  tons,     .  .         ,          140 

Cranberries,  bbls.  .         .           1,036 

Dried  fruit,  tons,  .         .           339 

Flour,  bbls.    .  .         .       416.863 


Grass  and  Clover  Seed,  tons,       394 

Salt,  bbls.           .  .         .     13,936 

Wool,  tons,  .         .  .               693 

Cattle,  alive,     .  .         .       4,012 

Garden  roots,  tons,  .           1,045 

Hams,  etc.,  tons,  .         .          323 

Hides,  tons,            .  .               224 

Oats,  bush.         .  .  -       .115,295 

Plaster,  tons,          .  .           2,013 

Pelts,  etc.,  tons,  .         .           212 

Horses,          .         .  .              584 
Sheep,      ....      12,432 

Lumber,  feet,         .  .  12,377,534 


At  a  rough  estimate,  this  would  make  upwards  of  80,000  such  loads  as  a 
common  road  wagon  in  Michigan  usually  takes  to  market,  drawn  by  two 
horses,  at  an  average,  going  and  coming,  of  twenty-five  miles  a  day,  and 
would  probably  average  six  days  for  each  load  ;  say  four  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  days,  or  the  labor  of  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifteen  men 
and  teams  every  day  for  one  year,  to  say  nothing  of  back  loads  and  trans- 
portation of  live  stock. — Louisville  Journal. 

Bending  Ship  Timber. — All  the  immense  labor  hitherto  spent  in  round- 
ing timber  to  suit  ships,  and  houses,  and  machines,  and  furniture,  and  what- 
ever other  things  require  timber  so  curved,  is  now  to  be  dispensed  with  by 
machines  which  can  take  the  stateliest  and  straightest  oak,  and  bend  it  like 
a  Titan-bow,  for  the  use  of  the  proudest  man-of-war,  or  the  loftiest  cathedral, 
and  this,  too,  adding  strength  and  durability  to  the  wood  1  The  first  experi- 
ment has  just  been  made  on  timbers  sixteen  feet  in  length,  eight  inches  by 
ten,  bent  to  as  short  a  curve  as  can  be  used  in  ship-building.  This  machine 
is  a  large  one,  designed  for  ship  timber,  but  there  is  another  also  ready  for 
furniture,  and  both  have  just  commenced  operations.  The  place  of  action  is 
Greenpoint,  where  there  is  a  large  foundry  for  making  the  machines,  and 
large  steam-vessels  for  steaming  the  timber,  with  other  requirements  in- 
cluded in  the  process.  Henceforward  all  the  delicate  curves  of  steamers, 
frigates,  or  yachts,  will  be  of  solid  timber,  fashioned  by  this  extraordinary 
innovation.  So,  too,  the  most  ponderous  rafters,  such  as  bend  in  lofty  ara- 
besques over  chapel  or  hall,  may  be  composed  of  unbroken  trees  of  the  forest, 
yielding  under  this  new  and  wonderful  power  of  man.  So,  too,  all  the 
curvilinear  beauties  may  be  detailed  by  the  same  means.  The  statistics  of 
the  value  of  such  a  discovery  are  beyond  the  conception  of  the  uninitiated. 
All  the  immense  shipping  and  building  interests  of  the  civilized  world  are 
included  in  this  discovery. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

« 

Agriculture  in  France. — A  letter  writer  for  the  Bepuhlic  says  :  "  A 
trip  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  from  the  northern  to  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  France,  justifies  me  in  the  expression  of  my  opinion  that  sun  does 
not  shed  its  rays  on  so  fair  a  land,  or  one  so  thoroughly  cultivated.  The 
whole  country  is  literally  a  garden.  Every  square  foot,  from  the  raouutain- 
toj)  to  the  lowest  ravine,  is  made  to  produce  something,  if  it  be  susceptible 


MISCELLANY.  635 


of  it.  Their  mode  of  planting  or  sowing  their  crops,  whether  on  plain  or 
hill  side,  produces  the  finest  effect  on  the  appearance  of  the  landscape.  The 
place  allotted  for  each  crop  is  laid  out  in  squares,  or  parallelograms,  with 
mathematical  precision,  and,  whether  large  or  small,  the  best  garden  could 
not  be  divided  with  greater  accuracy.  As  there  are  no  fences  or  hedges,  and 
as  the  diflferent  crops  are  in  various  stages  of  maturity,  you  can  imagine  the 
variety  of  hues  that  meet  the  eye,  and  the  magnificence  of  the  panorama 
that  stretches  out  in  every  direction  as  far  as  the  vision  can  penetrate.  I 
am  sorry  to  add  in  this  connection  that  seven-eighths  of  the  agricultural 
labor  is  performed  by  females,  while  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  stalwart 
men  in  uniform  are  idling  away  their  time  in  the  barracks  of  the  cities  and 
villages.  In  the  absence  of  fences,  cattle,  secured  by  ropes,  are  driven  about 
their  pasturage  by  females ;  and  sheep  are  confined  within  the  required 
limits  by  boys,  assisted  by  a  shepherd's  dog." 

Premium  Pianos. — We  see  by  the  official  report  of  the  late  Fair  of  the 
Metropolitan  Mechanics'  Institute,  held  in  Washington,  that  Messrs.  Stein- 
way  &  Sons  were  awarded  the  highest  premium  for  their  Serai-grand  Piano, 
(which  is,  indeed,  a  perfect  grand,  in  a  square  form,)  and,  also,  the  first  pre- 
mium for  a  7:^  octave  circular  scale  piano. 

These  instruments  attracted  much  attention  at  the  Fair,  and  public  senti- 
ment seemed  to  be  in  advance  of  the  committee  in  awarding  the  premiums. 
And  so  universally  were  they  liked,  that  Mr.  S.  sold  not  only  those  on  exhi- 
bition, but  received  orders  for  several  others.  They  are  unsurpassed  for 
strength,  delicacy  of  touch,  power,  and  sweetness  of  tone. 

Opening  of  the  Panama  Railroad. — This  gratifying  event  took  place 
on  the  20th  ult.,  and  the  celebration  was  ^participated  in  by  a  large  party  of 
officers,  stockholders,  and  invited  guests,  who  were  received  with  great  de- 
monstrations of  rejoicing  at  Aspinwall,  Panama,  and  the  intermediate  points. 
The  transit  was  made  in  four  and  a  half  hours,  and  the  management  of  the 
road  and  machinery  gave  abundant  satisfaction.  Henceforth,  the  tedious, 
expensive,  and  laborious  passage  of  the  isthmus,  between  the  two  oceans, 
which  occupied  days,  will  now  be  accompHshed  in  a  few  hours. 

Prince  Barnum. — Phineas  T.  Barnum  is  surely  the  greatest  man  out. 
He  has  stuffed  with  soap,  or  other  soft  material,  or  covered  with  wool,  (per- 
haps from  the  woolly  horse,)  the  eyes  of  several  ladies  of  this  city,  who  are 
announced  to  act  as  a  committee  on  babies,  at  the  Museum,  on  some  future 
day.  Surely  it  must  require  the  exercise  of  some  power  which  few  men 
possess  to  induce  ladies  so  far  to  forget  what  is  due  their  sex  as  to  occupy 
such  a  position. 

A  New  Ancesthetic  Agent. — Professor  Dugas,  in  the  Medical  College 
of  Georgia,  a  few  days  since,  had  to  extirpate  a  large  tumor  on  the  back 
weighing  about  ten  pounds.  He  surrounded  the  base  of  the  tumor  with  the 
freezing  mixture  for  four  or  five  minutes,  which  so  obtunded  the  sensibiHty 
of  the  parts  that  the  operation  was  performed  with  comparatively  little  pain. 

Fruit  Trees. — It  is  a  theory  among  fruit  growers  that  the  peach  is  de- 
stroyed by  cold,  when  the  thermometer  reaches  10  degrees  below  zero,  and 
that  this  tree  cannot  live  when  the' temperature  is  at  that  point ;  but  an  ex- 
amination of  the  trees,  in  the  western  part  of  this  state,  fails  to  show  that 
any  injury  has  yet  been  received. — Rochester  Adv. 


636  MISCELLANY. 


Progress  ix  Arkansas. — 

■The  State  of  Arkansas  has  just  completed  a 

census  of  the  State  for  1854. 

The  following  is  the  result  as  compared  with 

1850: 

1824. 

1850. 

Population,      -         -         - 

253,117 

209,887 

Whites,    '    -         -         .         . 

119,224 

162,189 

Slaves,     -         -         .         - 

60,279 

47,100 

Free  colored. 

614 

608 

Acres  land  cultivated. 

857,180 

781,530 

Bales  of  cotton  produced. 

160,779 

65,344 

Corn,  bushels,  1853, 

-    11,536,969 

8,893,939 

Wheat,         do. 

332,535 

199,639 

Oats,             do. 

-     .     -         -         -       1,040,506 

656,283 

It  appears  from  this  that  the  increase  was  as  follows,  viz : 

Increase  of  population, 

-       21 

Increase  of  whites,     - 

20 

Increase  of  slaves, 

-      27 

Increase  of  lands  cultivated, 

10 

Increase  of  cotton  produced. 

-     150 

Increase  of  wheat  produced, 

130 

Increase  of  oats  produced,     - 

-       50 

Increase  of  com  produced, 

60 

Manufacture  of  Nkedles.^ — The  number  of  procesBcs  through  which  a 
needle  goes  in  its  manufacture  is  as  follows  :  1,  wire  received  ;  2,  weighed  ; 
3,  gauged  ;  4,  cut ;  5,  rubbed  ;  6,  counted  ;  7,  pointed  ;  8,  washed  ;  9,  cut 
back ;  10,  pointed  at  the  other  end  ;  11,  examined ;  12,  counted ;  13,  washed ; 
14,  weighed;  15,  annealed;  16,  stamped;  17,  pressed;  18,  spitted;  19, 
piled;  20,  broken  ;'  21,  heads  piled;  22,  oil  burnt  off;  23,  soft-straightened; 
24,  evened;  25,  counted;  26,  hardened;  27,  evened;  28,  stropped;  29, 
tempered;  30,  weighed ;  31,  examined;  32,  picked  for  crooks;  33,  hard- 
straightened;  34,  counted;  35,  scoured  with  seven  emeries,  washed  and 
evened  between  each;  36,  washed  and  dried  ;  37,  weighed  ;  38,  evened  ;  39, 
headed;  40,  weighed;  41,  ground  at  the  point;  42,  weighed  ;  43,  scoured 
with  one  emery,  and  glazed  ;  44,  weighed  ;  45,  washed  and  dried  ;  46, 
weighed ;  47,  evened ;  48,  headed  ;  49,  picked  for  waste  set ;  50,  weighed 
by  count ;  51,  set;  52,  examined  ;  53,  weighed  for  drillers  ;  54,  blued  ;  55, 
drilled  ;  56,  rubbed ;  57,  weighed  from  drilling  ;  58,  examined  ;  59,  rounded 
by  finishing  ;  60,  finished  once  ;  61,  rubbed  ;  62,  finished  again ;  63,  rubbed ; 
64,  examined  ;  65,  counted  in  25's  ;  66,  papered ;  67,  labelled  ;  68,  tied  up  ; 
69,  collected  ;  70,  packed  up. 

Warm  Feed. — A  correspondent  of  the  N.  E.  Farmer  gives  the  following 
fact  relative  to  the  management  of  one  of  his  cows,  and  its  result :  "I  will 
give  your  readers  my  mode  of  feeding  one  of  my  cows.  I  purchased  her 
last  November,  when  she  gave  four  quarts  of  milk  a  day.  I  commenced 
feeding  her  with  cut  hay,  two  quarts  of  shorts,  and  a  few  carrots,  wet  with 
cold  water,  twice  a  day  for  one  month.  At  the  end  of  that  time  she  had  not 
increased  in  her  milk  at  all.  I  then  commenced  wetting  the  same  amount  of 
feed  with  boiling  water,  and,  at  the  end  of  the  second  month,  she  gave  reg- 
ularly fiix  quarts  per  day,  which  I  thought  a  fair  gain.  Where  a  person 
needs  considerable  milk,  and  keeps  but  one  cow,  I  would  recommend  a  trial 
of  this  mode  of  feeding." 


NEW  BOOKS.  687 


A  SINGLE  pound  of  flaxen  thread,  intended  for  tlie  finest  specimens  of 
French  lace,  is  valued  at  six  hundred  dollars,  and  the  length  of  the  thread 
is  about  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  miles.  One  pound  of  this  thread  is 
more  valuable  than  two  pounds  of  gold. 

The  Lawton  Blackberry. — We  have  had  many  enquiries  in  regard  to 
this  fine  fruit,  a  full  description  of  which  was  given  in  our  October  number, 
p.  210.  We  have  asked  the  opinion  of  many  of  our  friends  who  fruited  it 
last  year,  and,  without  exception,  they  speak  of  it  as  well  deserving  the  en- 
comiums given  it.    J.  B.  Lawton's  office  is  at  54  Wall  street,  N.  Y. 

Lewis  House,  Binghamton,  N.  Y. — Some  of  our  friends  have  found  a 
temporary  home  in  this  well  known  hotel,  now  kept  by  Messrs.  Davis  &  Mor- 
ris, and  report  it  as  a  very  pleasant,  and,  in  all  respects,  satisfactory  place  for 
the  traveler.  It  is  only  a  minute's  time  from  the  depot,  with  a  good  walk,  the 
whole  distance.     Patronize  the  deserving. 

^j^^  We  commend  the  experiments  of  Prof.  Campbell,  p.  690,  to  the 
attention  of  all  agriculturists. 


General  Agency. — The  publisher  of  The  PloiigTi,  the  Loom,  and  the  Anvil, 
believing  it  in  his  power  to  be  of  essential  service  to  the  readers  of  that  journal, 
in  the  purchase  or  sale  of  various  articles,  and  the  transaction  of  various  kinds  of 
business,  would  announce  to  them  that  he  is  ready  to  execute  any  such  commis- 
sion which  he  may  receive,  including  the  purchase  of  books  of  any  description ; 
implements  connected  with  agricultural,  manufacturing,  or  mechanical  opera- 
tions; artificial  manures;  farm  and  garden  seeds,  etc.,  etc.  One  of  the  gentle- 
men connected  with  the  journal  is  a  proficient  in  music,  and  experienced  in  the 
selection  of  piano-fortes,  flutes,  etc.,  and  wifl  execute  orders  in  that  department. 

He  will  also  act  as  agent  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  Real  Estate. 

([^"Particular  attention  to  business  connected  with  the  Pateut-Oflace. 

Letters  of  inquiry  on  these  matters  will  be  promptly  attended  to. 

School-Teacheks.  —  Having  had  occasion  to  furnish  teachers  for  some, 
of  our  Southern  friends,  we  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  learn  of  several 
young  ladies  who  are  admirably  well  qualified  for  families  or  schools,  and  if  any 
are  in  need  of  such,  a  letter  addressed  to  us  will  receive  immediate  answer.  We 
shall  not  fear  to  guarantee  that  any  reasonable  expectations  wiU  be  fully  met. 
Some  of  them  are  desirous  of  going  South. 


NEW     BOOKS 


Hahper's  Gazetteee  of  the  World. 

All  the  numbers  of  this  ponderous  work  are  now  pubHslied,  and  taken  together- 
they  embody  a  vast  deal  of  information  in  a  very  email  compass.  Large  and  well- 
drawn  maps  also  illustrate  the  text.  The  whole  execution  of  the  work  is  in  excel- 
lent style.  It  is  impossible  that  perfect  accuracy  should  be  attained  in  all  these 
descriptions.  The  longer  articles  exhibit  evidence  of  great  care  and  extensive  re- 
search. Under  some  of  the  minor  titles  we  have  detected  a  few  errors  that  are 
worthy  of  correction,  on  the  part  of  purchasers  as  well  as  future  publishers.  The 
following  now  occur  to  us  : 

Windham,  Essex  County,  Mass.     There  is  no  such  town,  nor  never  was. 

Rowley,  Essex  County,  Mass.,  does  not  contain  any  academy, 

Dummer  Academy,  in  Newbury,  parish  of  Byfield,  is  less  than  half  a  mile  from 
the  northern  boundary. 

Woodstock,  Windsor  County,  Vt.,  does  not  contain  any  academy,  but  an  excellent 
public  school.    Nor  does  it  lie  "  on"  nor  within  less  than  eight  miles  of  "'the  Ver- 


638  NEW  BOOKS. 


mont  Central  Railroad."  Windsor,  in  same  couoty,  contains  a  large  gun  factory, 
omitted  in  tbe  description,  the  business  of  whicli  is  worth  moro  to  the  town  than  all 
the  mills  actually  mentioned.  Nor  is  Windsor  a  '"capital"  of  the  county,  unless  a 
single  session,  annually,  of  the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States  makes  it  such, 
while  all  the  count}'  buildings  and   county  office  are  at  Woodstock. 

In  Newburyport,  Essex  County,  Mass.,  thtre  is  a  monument  erected  in  a  church  to 
the  memory  of  Whitetield,  some  twtiity  feet  from  tl>e  pul|iit,  while  the  I'oues  of 
the  venerable  man  lie  in  a  tomb  under  tho  pulpit.  Such  wou'd  not  be  the  idea  from 
the  language  used  by  the  compiler.  The  church  is  the  First  Presbyterian, in  Federal 
street. 


Compendium  of  Hygiene;  compiled  for  the  use  of  the  Winsted  Hygienic  Association. 
By  Lucius  Mills,  Physician  to  the  Association.  West  Winsted,  Conn.  1855.  For 
sale  by  Fowlers  &  AVells. 

We  have  here  a  small  manual,  190  pages,  designed  more  for  the  nurse  thah  the  ' 
physician  ;  and  the  author  wisely,  we  think,  recommends  the  substitution  of  the 
former  for  the  latter,  in  many  cases  whore  hitherto  the  doctor  is  sfMit  f  >r.  At  least, 
he  thinks  this  preferable,  unless  the  physician  is  in  reality  a  skillful  man.  We  must 
confess  that  we  have  seen  and  known  too  much  of  medical  students  to  look  upon  the 
large  majority  of  them  otherwise  than  with  entire  contempt,  while  the  few  we  honor 
as  among  the  most  deserving  and  the  most  useful  of  men.  A.  skillful  physician  and 
a  good  man,  in  one  person,  has  our  heartiest  sympathies  and  our  profound  res(>eet. 

This  manual  instructs  us  wisely,  no  doubt,  in  the  proper  use  of  food,  diet,  bathing, 
exercise,  &c.,  as  a  proper  substitute,  often,  for  medicine,  in  many  of  the  diseases  to 
which  we  are  exposed,  and  also  gives  directions  for  the  treatment  of  wounds,  poisons, 
&c.  The  author  is  a  rational  hydropathist.  He  is  not  inclined  to  drench  us  to  death 
in  attempting  to  cure  every  disease  by  the  one  process,  but  commends  the  use  of 
different  baths  in  a  variety  of  cases.  Recipes  for  gruel,  farina,  sago,  rice,  &c.,  &c., 
for  the  sick  room,  are  also  inserted.  An  "  Addendum  "  directs  us  fully  and  judi- 
ciously, we  think,  in  the  cure  of  dyspepsia,  by  the  "  motorpathic  "  treatment.  This 
is  in  a  separate  pamplet.  We  have  no  doubt  the  author  has  done  his  community 
and  others  a  very  good  service  in  these  pages. 


Botany  of  the  Southern  States.  In  two  parts,  <fec.  By  Prof.  John  Darby,  A.M. 
New-York:  A.  S.  Barnes  <fe  Co.;  Cincinnati,  W.  H.  l>erby;  Savannah,  John  M. 
Cooper.     1855,     12mo.     612  pages. 

We  have  examined  this  volume  with  much  satisfaction.  It  is  well  arranged  ;  the 
topics  are  well  treated,  and  it  is  throughout  what  it  should  be.  The  former  part  of 
the  volume  (164  pages)  is  occupied  with  the  elements  of  the  science,  and  physiology ; 
this  is  followed  by  the  Linnean  system  and  the  "  Dichotomous  Analysis ;"  and  then 
comes,  commencing  page  200,  Descriptive  Botany.  A  Glossary,  and  Indices  finish 
the  volu'ne.  If  we  must  find  fault  with  any  thing,  it  must  be  the  phrase,  "Dichoto- 
mous Analysis,"  as  a  new  word  and  unnecessary,  though  expressive.  The  term  used 
by  Wood,  for  the  same  thing,  is  "  Synopsis  of  the  Natural  System."  This  is  the  fact. 
It  is  also  "dichotomous;"  since,  we  ever  have  a  choice  between  two  dissinailars 
till  we  ai-e  brought  to  the  natural  order.  We  conmiended  Wood  very  highly,  as 
vastly  superior  to  any  thing  before  published.  He  must  now  divide  the  honors  with 
Mr.  Darby.  This  last  book  is  to  the  South  what  Wood  professes  to  be  for  the  whole. 
How  full  Mr.  Wood  is  in  the  Southern  Flora,  we  have  had  no  means  of  ascertaining. 
He  is  filU  for  northern  latitudes.  Mr.  Darby  describes  tho  Flora  from  lat.  80°  to  35'^, 
"including  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  parts  of  North  Carolina,  Floriila  and 
Mississippi."    The  book  is  eminently  wortiiy  of  extensive  patronage  t!iroughout. 


Messrs.  Long  &  Brother,  Publishers,  121  Nassau  street,  New- York,  have  in  press, 
an  Autobiography  of  an  Orphan  Girl.  By  Alice  Grey.  A  tale,  of  real  life,  whose 
characters  still  play  their  part  on  the  world's  stage. 

The  Slave  of  the  Lamp.  By  Mrs.  North,  a  well-known  author;  and  The  Watch- 
M.\N,  illustrated  by  living  characters — more  anon.     Price,  $1  each. 


LIST   OF  PATENTS  ISSUED. 


689 


The  Gardener's  Text  Book,  containing  practical  directions  for  the  formation  and 
management  of  the  kitchen  garden,  and  for  the  culture  and  domestic  use  of  its 
vegetables,  fruits,  and  medicinal  herbs.  By  Peter  Adam  Schenck,  formerly  gar- 
dener to  Edward  C.  Williams,  Esq.  Boston :  John  P.  Jewett  &  Co. ;  Cleveland, 
Jewett,  Proctor  &  Worthington.     4th  1000. 

We  have  before  commended  this  work.  It  gives  us  full  instructions  in  the  location, 
arrangements,  and  cultivation  of  the  garden ;  and  the  tools  adapted  to  such  service 
as  is  required,  and  the  mode  of  using  them.  The  proper  culture  and  use  of  the 
various  roots,  medical  herbs  and  other  vegetables  is  fully  set  forth.  The  whole  can 
not  fail  to  be  highly  useful. 


Kate  Atlesford ;  a  story  of  the  Refugees.     By  Chas.  J.   Peterson.     Philadelphia: 
112  Chestnut  street;  Boston,  Phillips,  Sampson  &  Co.;  New- York,  J.  C.  Derby. 

An  "  advance  copy  "  of  this  came  to  hand  too  late  for  a  general  reading.  It  claims 
to  be  a  historical  novel  of  superior  merit.  We  notice  from  the  titles  of  the  chap- 
ters, that  it  contains  many  exciting  scenes  of  shipwreck,  fire  in  the  woods,  abduction, 
pursuit,  rescue,  &c.,  and  ends  with  a  "  wedding  in  1780." 

P.  S. — A  friend  who  has  read  this  commends  it  highly. 


First  Lessons  in  Geography.    By  James  Monteith.    New-York :  A.  L.  Barnes. 

This  little  book  is  National  Geographical  Series,  No.  1.  It  is  well  suited  for  its 
object,  as  given  in  the  title,  and  is  very  handsomely  executed.  It  contains,  as  it 
should,  many  very  good  illustrations,  maps,  «fec. 


List     of     Patents     Issued 

FROM  FEB,  7,  TO  FEB.  21,  1855. 


James  Allen,  of  Frease's  Store,  Ohio,  improve- 
ment in  clover  huUers. 

Wm.  H.  Allen,  Lowell,  improvement  in  ma- 
chines for  chopping  meat  and  other  substances. 

Hiram  Berdam,  New-Tork,  improvement  in 
life  boats. 

Thomas  D.  Aylsworth,  Frankfort,  New-Yorl:,  im- 
provement in  hop  frames. 

H.  Clark,  Newport,  Fla.,  improvement  in  cotton 
gins. 

E.  B.  Clement,  Barnet,  Vt.,  improvement  in 
churns. 

George  Daniels,  Philadelphia,  improvement  m 
the  threshers  and  cleaners  of  grain. 

John  Dick,  New- York,  improvement  in  stays 
for  articles  of  dress. 

Ili'nry  T.  Dexter,  Zanesville,  improvement  in 
wharf  boats. 

G.  Esterly,  Heart  Prairie,  Wis.,  improvement 
in  ploughs. 

James  Esterly,  Albany,  improved  magazine 
emiike  consuming  pipe. 

Phiiieas  Emmons,  New-York,  improvement  in 
cracker  machines. 

H.  W.  Evans,  Philadelphia,  improved  spirit 
levels. 

Asahel  Faircbilcl,  Ashland,  Ohio,  improvement 
in  sleam  boiler  chimney. 

Wm.  Fuzzard,  Newark,  improvement  in  ma- 
chinery f<jr  felting  hat  bodies. 


John  W,  Haggard  and  George  Bull,  Blooming- 
ton,  111.,  improvement  in  rotary  ploughs. 

Alonzo  Hitchcock,  Cliicago,  improvement  in 
weather  sti-ips  for  doors. 

George  H.  and  Benjamin  H.  Horn,  Brooklyn,  im- 
provement in  sewing  machines. 

Fred.  Howes,  Yarmouth  Port,  Mass.,  improve- 
ment in  ships'  standing  rigging. 

Wm.  S.  Maclaurin, New- York,  method  of  teach- 
ing penmanship, 

Matthew  H,  Merriam,  Chelsea,  Mass.,  and  J.  B. 
Crosby,  Stoneham,  Mass.,  improvement  in  leather 
splitting  machine. 

Robert  J.  Morrison,  Richmond,  Va.,  assignor  to 
himself  and  Edwin  A.  Morrison,  Lawrenceville, 
improvement  in  grass  harvesters. 

Josiah  H.  Noyes,  Abington,  Mass.,  improvement 
in  lamp  extinguishers, 

Jefferson  Parker,  Louisville,  improvement  in 
machines  for  slaughtering  hogs. 

S.  N,  and  Wm.  F.  Stillman,  Leonardsville,  N.  Y., 
improvement  in  garden  rakes, 

Wm.  D.  Titus  and  Robert  W.  Fenwick,  Brook- 
lyn, improvement  in  bridle  bits, 

Ira  Reynolds,  Republic,  Ohio,  improvement  in 
ploughs. 

John  Tremper,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in 
steam  valves. 

J.  N.  Williams,  Dubuque,  improvement  in  head 
sppporters  for  railroad  oars. 


640 


LIST  OF   PATENTS   ISSUED. 


A.  B.  Childs  and  H.  W.  Dickenson,  Rochester, 
N.  y.,.  for  method  of  feeding  paper  to  printiog 
presses  by  machinery. 

E.  A.  Forhush,  Ashland,  Mass.,  improved  sew- 
ing machine. 

Fredericli  Denzier,  N.  Y.  city,  new  form  of  bank 
lock. 

G.  B.  Clarke,  Leonardaville,  N.  Y.,  chimney 
safe. 

Geo,  Blanchard,  Washington,  D.  C,  life-saving 
raft. 

Levi  Bissell,  N.  Y.  city,  improved  metallic 
spring. 

J.  H.  Bennett,  Bennington,  Vt.,  straw  cutter. 
C.  E.  Barnes,  Oswego,  N.  Y.,  mill  stone  dress 
for  hulling  rice. 

Yarnall  Baily,  West  Chester,  Pa.,  fluid  burners. 
S.  H.  Noble,  Westfleld,  Mass.,  screw  wrenches. 
J.  S.  Keith  and  J.  Brooks,  Canton,  Mass.,  bullet 
moulds. 

G.  P.  Ketchum,  Bedford,  Ind.,  new  method  of 
driving  pairs  of  reciprocating  saws. 

Gustavus  Hammer,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  pump 
valves. 

C.  C.  Hall,  Portland,  Me.,  manufacturing  paper 
from  resinous  barks. 

Daniel  ilaldcman,  Morgantown,  Va.,  improved 
harrow. 

Joel  Hastings,  James  Kamsey  and  H.  G.  Cham- 
berlain, St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  machine  for  cutting 
tenons. 

Joseph  G.  Goshon  and  S.  M.  Eby,  Shirleysburg, 
Pa.,  maize  leaves  as  a  substitute  for  tobacco. 

Samuel  Wetherill,  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  mode  of 
manufacturing  zinc  white. 

Carriangton  Wilson,  N.  Y.  city,  improved  griddle. 
Thos.   Tripp,  Sandy  Creek,  N.  Y.,  improved 
water  ■wheel. 

G.  N.  Todd,  Dundair,  Pa.,  self-regulating  water 
gates. 

'Samuel  Taggarf,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  new  me- 
thod of  feeding  flour  bolts. 

Wm.  Stephens,  Richmond,  Ind.,  slide  rest  for 
engine  lathes. 

Sauuel  R.  Smith  and  Elijah  Cowels,  Hadley, 
Mass.,  machine  for  cutting  wood  into  slivers. 

Wm.  Sage,  Durham,  Conn.,  air  heater. 

W.  C.  Sanford,  Meriden,  Conn.,  improvements 
in  skates. 

J.  A.  Robinson,  Poplin,  N.  11.,  hand  cultivator. 

Jacob  Pierson,  Alexandria,  Va.,  machine  for 
manufacturing  hoops. 

J.  T.  Ogden,  assignor  to  himself  and  Thomas 
Goddard,  Boston,  Mass.,  carriage  windows. 

C.  W.  Brown,  Boston,  Mass.,  assignor,  to  G.  W. 
Banker,  Watertown,  Mass.,  and  G.  O,  Carpenter, 
South  Reading,  Mass.,  for  improved  paint  mill. 

Henry  S.  Ackerly,  Now- York,  improvement  in 
piano  forte  frames. 

J.  Bale,  of  Buffalo,  improvement  in  hotel  annun- 
ciators. 

James  B.  Blake,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  improve- 
ment in  gas  cooking-stoves. 

S.  R.  Bryant,  of  New;York,  improved  anchor 
tripper. 

Henry  V.  Corbett,  Buffalo,  improved  mode  of 
raising  sunken  vessels, 

Wm.  B.  Emery,  of  Alb.any,  method  of  adjusting 
cylinders  in  boring  machines. 

Wm.  B.  Emery,  Albany,  method  of  adjusting 
Bluff  in  planing  machines. 

Ammi  M.  George,  Nashua,  improvement  in  ma- 
chines for  maiing  chain  links. 


Daniel  B.  Nell,  Mount  Gilead,  Ohio,  improT»- 
meni  in  repeating  single  barreled  firearms. 

Amos  Nudd,  Exeter,  N.  If.,  flre-engines. 

Obadiah  Merland,  Boston,  improvement  in  roll- 
ers and  dryers,  for  paper-making. 

Chas.  Miller,  N.  w-York,  improvement  in  ma- 
chines for  making  butt  hinges, 

Chas.  Morris,  New-Haven,  improved  machine 
for  shecoring  leather  straps. 

Zadoc  Pangborn,  Algonac,  Mich.,  improvement 
in  the  construction  of  vessels. 

F,  Peale,  Philadelphia,  improvement  in  pro- 
pellers. 

Robert  Romaine,  Montreal,  improvement  in 
seed-planters.  Patented  in  England,  May  10, 
1853. 

George  S.  G.  Spencer,  Boston,  improv^ftnent  in 
hot  air  furnaces. 

Wm.  Steele,  Wheeling,  turning  machine. 

Joseph  Stevenson,  Wheeling,  Philadelphia,  bed 
boat  or  life  preserver. 

John  StuU,  Philadelphia,  improved  stereoscope 
case. 

Wm.  L.  Young,  Muscatine,  lovs^a,  machine  for 
cutting  barrel  heads. 

Lewis  Teese  &  Son,  San  Francisco,  improvement 
in  forks  for  gold  diggers.  Ante-dated  November 
22, 1854. 

Jeremiah  P  Smith,  Hummelstown,  Pa.,  im- 
provement in  corn  shellers. 

Hiram  Hawley,  Rome,  N.  Y,,  mandrel  for  hold- 
ing carriage  hul)s,  &c. 

D.  W.  Hughes,  New-London,  Mo.,  improvement 
in  hemp  brakes. 

Wm.  V.  Gee,  New-Haven,  assignor  to  the  At- 
water  and  Bristol  Manufacturing  Company  of 
same  place,  improvement  in  looms. 

Alex.  Kirkwood,  Jackson  Co.,  Miss.,  method  of 
pumping  water  out  of  vessels. 

Asa  Landphere,  Albion,  Pa.,  and  Samuel  Rem- 
ingtun,  Ilion,  N.  Y.,  spoke  machine. 

Peter  Lear,  Boston,  improved  method  of  ar- 
ranging and  operating  submerged  horizontal  pad- 
dle wheels. 

Chas.  Leavitt,  Quincy,  improvement  in  port- 
able grain  mills. 

Martin  H.  Mansfield,  Ashland,  Ohio,  improve 
ment  in  hulling  and  cleaning  clover  seed. 

F.  Russell,  Boston,  improvement  in  mowing 
machines. 

Thomas  C.  Ball,  Walpole,  improvement  in  screw 
jacks. 

Andrew  J.  Burnhai-t,  Schoolcraft,  Mich.,  im- 
provement in  seed  planters. 

David  Russell,  Drewsburg,  Ind.,  improvement 
in  spado  ploughs. 

Jno.  Haslam,  New- York,  and  Jas.  Haslam, 
Scarsdale,  (solo  heirs  of  Joseph  Haslam,  deceased) 
improvement  in  covering  thread  with  wool  or 
silk. 

Daniel  W.  Mcsser,  Boston,  assignor  to  himself, 
R.  B.  Fitts,  and  Albert  James,  of  the  same  place, 
improved  hand  stamp. 

Horatio  N.  Gambrill,  and  Singleton  F.  Burgee, 
of  IVoodbury  Mills,  Md.,  improvement  in  carding 
machines.  Patented  in  England,  August  22, 
1854. 

Jehu  Hollingsworth,  and  Ralph  S.  Mershon, 
T^anesville,  improvement  in  firearms.  Patented  in 
England,  August  1, 1854. 

Ralph  S.  Mershon,  and  Jehu  Hollingsworth, 
Zanesvilie,  improvement  in  repeating  firearms. 
Patented  in  England,  August  1, 1854, 


Clie  110119!)^  t\jt  im%  flnb  tijf  Jlnuil. 


Vol.  VII.  MAY,  1855.  No.  11. 


AMERICAN     INDUSTRY. 

PRODUCTS    SECTIONAL VARIETY    AMPLE COMMERCE    INDISPENSABLE. 

The  wide  extent  and  variety  of  surface  of  tlie  territory  of  the  United 
States  not  only  permits  but  demands  a  very  considerable  variety  in  their 
agricultural  products.  It  is  true  that,  with  few  exceptions,  the  same  vegeta- 
bles may  be  grown  for  our  own  tables  in  almost  every  state  ;  but  it  is  also 
true  that,  for  profitable  culture  on  an  extensive  scale,  different  sections  of  the 
country,  so  various  in  soil  and  climate,  require  us  to  rely  on  those  products 
which  are  best  suited  to  the  conditions  presented.  It  is  not  caprice,  nor 
fancy,  nor  fogyism,  that  in  this  sense,  and  to  this  extent,  limits  the  farmers  of 
one  section  to  the  production  of  cotton  or  of  rice,  and  of  another  to  sugar, 
and  a  third  to  cereals,  etc.  On  one  or  another  of  these  crops  every  farmer 
must  rely  as  his  chief  dependence,  however  he  may  be  disposed  to  indulge 
in  variety,  or  to  enter  upon  "improved  systems."  Regard  should  be  had,  to 
some  extent,  to  the  practice,  now  so  popular  on  paper,  of  rotation  in  crops  ; 
but  even  in  this,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  adhering  to  the  letter  in  utter  dis- 
regard of  the  spirit,  and  to  tjie  injury  of  the  farmer,  if  not  of  the  farm. 

Nor  is  this  limitation  in  the  number  of  profitable  crops,  in  our  view,  en- 
tirely unfortunate  and  an  evil.  We  have  often  advocated  the  doctrine,  that 
every  community  should  be,  as  far  as  possible,  independent  of  all  others. 
This  doctrine  is  based  on  two  elementary  ideas,  to  wit :  first,  that  it  is  haz- 
ardous, in  time  of  war,  to  be  dependent  on  an  enemy ;  and  the  second,  and 
the  greater,  this  independence  obviates  the  necessity  of  expensive  carriers. 
But  neither  of  these  reasons  applies  with  much  force  to  parts  of  the  same 
country.  They  have,  and  ought  to  have,  a  sense  of  mutual  dependence. 
Such  is,  in  fact,  the  case,  to  a  very  great  extent.  Statistical  tables  of  the 
various  products  of  this  country  furnish  full  illustrations  and  abundant  evi- 
dence on  this  subject.  Thus:  of  108  millions  of  bushels  of  potatoes  raised 
in  the  states,  by  the  census  of  1840,  Maine  and  New- York  raised  40  miUions; 
of  14  millions  tons  of  hay,  worth  about  197,000,000,  New-York,  Ohio,  and 
Pennsylvania  raised  more  than  five  miUions  ;  of  84  millions  bushels  of  wheat, 
New- York.  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Virginia  raised  more  than  52  millions; 
of  123  millions  bushels  of  oats,  those  four  great  states  raised  over  68  mill- 
ions ;  of  about  4|-  millions  of  dollars  invested  in  fisheries,  Massachusetts  owns 
3^.    By  the   last  census,  more  than  two-thirds  the  entire  crop  of  wool, 

VOL.  vu.  38 


642  AMERICAN   INDUSTRY. 

valued  at  near  10  millions,  were  produced  in  New-York  and  Ohio  ;  of  butter, 
the  entire  product  being  50  millions  of  dollars,  or  313  millions  of  lbs.,  New- 
York  produced  about  80  millions  of  lbs. ;  of  cotton  and  woolen  manufactures, 
which  together  amount  to  the  sum  of  105  millions  of  dollars,  Massachusetts 
alone  produces  more  than  38 J  millions,  and  New-England  more  than  08 
millions  ;  of  tobacco,  the  crop  being  about  200  millions  lbs.,  Kentucky  and 
Virginia  produce  111  millions;  of  215  millions  lbs.  of  rice,  South  Carolina 
produces  about  100  millions;  of  the  cotton  crop,  valued  at  98^  millions  of 
dollars,  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi  raised  more  than  two-thirds,  the 
entire  crop  being  confined  to  six  of  the  Southern  and  South-western  states. 

Eight  diflerent  states  produce  the  greatest  amount  of  one  or  more  crops, 
or  products,  viz  :  Massachusetts,  New- York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  Tennessee,  and  Ohio,  while  four  others  must  bo  added  to  the  list, 
if  we  include  the  second  highest,  viz  :  New-Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  Ken- 
tucky, and  Texas ;  and  of  each  of  these  pi'oducts,  the  total  value  is  over 
$10,000,000.  This  precedence  in  the  amount  of  production  among  the  states,  it 
will  be  perceived,  belongs  to  the  most  widely  separated  portions  of  our  country. 

Says  Mr.  Tucker,  in  his  valuable  work,  Progress  of  the  United  States  : 
"  Two-thirds  of  the  mining  labor  is  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States.  The 
Southern  States  stand  foremost  in  agricultural  labor,  though  they  hold  but 
the  third  rank  in  population.  The  Middle  States  employ  the  least  labor  in 
agriculture,  in  proportion  to  their  numbers.  In  commerce,  however,  they 
employ  the  most,  and  next  to  them  the  New-England  States.  The  same  two 
divisions  take  the  lead  in  manufactures,  they  contributing  nearly  two-thirds 
the  labor  employed  in  this  branch  of  industry.  Three-fourths  the  seamen 
are  furnished  by  New-England." 

By  the  census  of  1840,  according  to  Mr.  Tucker,  the  following  was  the  geo- 
graphical position  of  the  several  industrial  interests  : 


Ocean 

Inter. 

Learned 

Mining. 

Agrlcul. 

Commerce. 

Manuf. 

Navig. 

Navig. 

Profess. 

N.  E.  States, 

5.3 

11.1 

15.1 

23.0 

75.3 

5.8 

10.9 

Middle  States, 

40.7 

21.7 

42.0 

42.2 

17.3 

53.2 

37.0 

Southern  " 

21.1 

24.8 

11. 

11.1 

3.5 

5.0 

12.1 

S.  West.   " 

1.0 

18.5 

12.3 

4.8 

3. 

12.5 

9.8 

N.V^est.  " 

25.3 

23.9 

19. 

18,3 

.9 

22.9 

23.0 

100.         100.  100.         100.         100.    •     100.         100. 

The  entire  value  of  the  annual  agricultural  and  manufactured  products,  in 
he  same  geographical  divisions,  was  as  follows  :  "^ 

Agriculture.  Manufactures. 

New-England  States,  $74,749,889  $82,784,185 

Middle         "  213,028,100  100,101,132 

Southern      "     (ex.  Florida,)         139,083,014  15,040,324 

S.  Western"  110,789,390  11,028,717 

N.  Western"     (ex.  Wis.  &  Iowa.)  112,904,907  30,821,800 

The  entire  value  of  annual  produHs,  in  these  divisions,  by  the  census  of 
0 ,  was  as  follows  : 

New-England  States,      -      -       -  $187,057,294 
Middle  "        -    >    -       -.        390,558,303 

Southern  «  ...     175,321,830 

S.  Western         «...         138,007,378 
N.  Western        "  -       -       -     170,987,925 


AMERICAN   INDUSTRY. 


64c 


By  the  census  of  1850,  the  value  of  the  agricultural  products  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  was  as  follows  :         , 

Indian  Corn  was  estimated  at      -         -         -     $296,036,552 

Wheat, 100,485,944 

Cotton, -         -         98,603,720 

Hay, 96,870,494 

Butter, 50,135,248 

Potatoes, 45,453,232 

Oats, 43,975,253 

Wool, 15,755,087 

Tobacco, 13,982,686 

Sugar,  (cane,) 12,378,850 

Other  vegetable  products,  with  milk  not  included 

in  butter  and  cheese,      -         -         -         .       106,774,794 

Making  a  grand  total  of      -         -  $879,847,140 

[Note. — lathis  table  we  do  not  include  live  stock,  slaughtered  an'raals 
orchard  products,  manures,  etc.,  which  are  of  immense  amount,  though  very- 
difficult  to  estimate.  The  total  is  estimated  at  over  1,326  millions  of  dol- 
lars.] 

But  a  more  extended  view,  while  it  confirms  the  statement  we  would 
illustrate,  may  also  be  of  interest  in  various  ways.  Hence,  we  have  pre- 
pared, at  considerable  labor,  from  the  volume  of  the  Census  Returns  recently 
published  by  Mr.  De  Bow,  the  following  table,  which  specifies  the  relative 
position  of  each  state,  in  respect  to  all  the  productions  which  are  reported  as 
exceeding  110,000,000.     Those  numbered  1,  are  the  highest,  and  so  on  : 

TABL'E   SHOWING   THE   RELATIVE   PRODUCTION   OP   VARIOUS   INDUSTRIAL   PRODUCTS. 


State  and  ratio  to  total 
population. 

o 
O 

!S 
cS 

■3 

c 

53 
O 

O 

S 

O 

2 

■s  . 

re  t*^ 

S  3 

■  a 
S  '^ 
IS 

w 

■?  3 

a>  2 
en  o 

o 
o 

o 
o 

O 

6-1 

cS 
3 

m 
o 

a 
a 

O 

'A 

Connecticut, 

1.60 

27 

25 

9 

21 

16 

22 

9 

8 

5 

3 

2 

Maine, 

2.51 

28 

20 

5 

19 

10 

15 

7 

12 

7 

10 

3 

Massachusetts, 

4.29 

23 

27 

6 

23 

12 

21 

6 

1 

1 

1 

New-Hampshire, 

1.37 

29 

23 

8 

24 

15 

16 

5 

14 

2 

6 

9 

Rhode  Island, 

.64 

30 

30 

20 

27 

28 

19 

3 

5 

8 

Vermont, 

1.35 

24 

18 

4 

17 

16 

18 

4 

3 

7 

New-York, 

13.36 

13 

3 

1 

1 

1 

10 

1 

22 

2 

6 

2 

4 

New-Jersey, 

2.11 

18 

14 

10 

13 

9 

24 

8 

13 

11 

Pennsylvania, 

9.97 

12 

1 

2 

2 

2 

14 

2 

20 

4 

11 

4 

4 

Delaware, 

.39 

2-2 

19 

23 

26 

27 

24 

19 

14 

Maryland, 

2..51 

15 

8 

15 

18 

21 

25 

18 

15 

3 

9 

Virginia, 

6,1.3 

7 

4 

11 

13 

4 

7 

.3 

15 

7 

5 

1 

10 

9 

6 

North  Carolina, 

3.7.5 

10 

12 

9 

16 

10 

20 

4 

20 

'  3 

16 

6 

12 

5 

South  Carolina, 

2,88 

14 

17 

4 

26 

16 

23 

12 

27 

5 

13 

Georgia, 

3.91 

8 

16 

2 

24 

11 

19 

6 

25 

1 

15 

13 

4 

8 

Florida, 

.38 

25 

28 

10 

30 

30 

30 

30 

12 

10 

3 

Texas, 

.92 

20 

26 

8 

28 

28 

24 

19 

29 

9 

2 

11 

Alabama, 

3.23 

9 

21 

1 

22 

14 

18 

5 

23 

2 

Mississippi, 

2.61 

11 

24 

3 

27 

22 

17 

22 

4 

Louisiana, 

2.33 

16 

29 

6 

25 

29 

29 

23 

2S 

8 

1 

Arkansas, 

.90 

17 

22 

7 

29 

26 

26 

14 

26 

11 

Tennessee, 

4  32 

5 

13 

5 

21 

7 

11 

1 

16 

6 

11 

4 

15 

Missouri, 

2  94 

6 

IQ 

17 

9 

13 

8 

17 

14 

10 

5 

Kentucky, 

4.24 

2 

11 

12 

18 

6 

8 

2 

13 

10 

7 

2 

Ohio, 

8.54 

1 

2 

3 

3 

3 

7 

3 

17 

1 

7 

8 

10 

Indiana, 

4.26 

4 

6 

13 

12 

8 

4 

9 

12 

16 

6 

9 

Illinois, 

3.67 

3 

5 

7 

5 

5 

11 

10 

18 

6 

12 

Michigan, 

1.71 

21 

7 

11 

15 

15 

17 

11 

23 

9 

7 

Wisconsin, 

1.32 

26 

9 

14 

12 

12 

14 

12 

Iowa, 

.83 

19. 

15 

19 

20 

20 

20 

21 

21 

644 


AMERICAN   INDUSTRY. 


Such  a  table,  however,  does  not  show  the  exact  relation  of  the  different 
states  in  respect  to  the  vakie  of  their  producfjons.  The  first  half  dozen  may 
produce  more  than  all  the  rest,  or  there  may  be  a  large  amount  produced  in 
nearly  the  whole  number.  Hence,  we  have  prepared  another  table,  in  which 
the  quantity  of  each  of  the  products  above  described  is  appropriated  to  the 
several  geographical  sections  of  the  United  States,  generally  known  as  New- 
England,  Middle  States,  Southern,  South- Western,  and  North- Western  States. 
As  these  divisions  are  not  perhaps  familiar  to  all,  we  name  them  in  order : 
1.  Maine,  New-Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Ver- 
mont ;  2.  New- York,  New-Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland  ;  3.  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  *  Texas  ;  4.  Alabama,  Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Tennessee;  and,  5.  Missouri,  Kentucky,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa.  For  convenience  as  a  general 
reference,  though  not  important  in  the  use  we  make  of  it,  we  have  placed 
over  each  division  the  population,  the  square  miles  of  territory,  and  the  pro 
portional  population,  the  whole  being  100.  A  few  territories  of  little  value 
in  this  connection,  are  not  included  in  either  of  the  tables  here  presented. 


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*  Texas  is  classed  among  the  South- "Western  States  in  the  census.    We  inadver- 
tently placed  it  among  the  Southern. 


AMERICAN    INDUSTEY.  •        645 

The  examination  thus  made  shows  us,  also,  that  there  is  no  one  crop  or 
product  which,  in  amount,  so  greatly  exceeds  others  as  to  be  of  right  regarded 
as  the  especial  source  of  national  wealth.  If  there  are  such  products,  to  any 
extent  worthy  of  such  distinction,  it  belongs  to  the  class  of  grains,  which  are 
not  only  so  necessary  to  every  community,  but  which  are  also  very  imposing 
in  their  amount — the  value  of  this  crop  being  more  than  600  millions  of  dol- 
lars annually.  And  among  all  these  varieties,  Indian  corn  is  nearly  one-half 
the  gross  amount  in  value ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  as  if  to  prevent  all  sec- 
tional jealousy,  there  is  no  crop  which  is  so  extensively  cultivated  among  the 
different  states  as  this.  Sixteen  states  raise,  each  of  them,  over  ten  millions 
of  bushels  annually  ;  and  there  are  but  three  states  in  all  that  do  not  raise 
more  than  a  million  bushels. 

We  do  not  regard  our  cotton  crop  as  an  exception  to  the  statements  we 
have  made.  It  is  of  immense  value,  in  its  direct  and  indirect  results,  as  we 
shall  see  clearly  in  the  sequel.  But  in  the  value  of  the  crop  itself,  taking  the 
census  as  authority,  it  is  exceeded  both  by  Indian  corn  and  wheat,  and  is 
nearly  equalled  by  the  hay  crop.  True,  it  moves  a  multitude  of  spindles  ; 
and  the  clatter  of  its  looms,  if  heard  in  one  grand,  industrial  chorus,  would 
shut  out  from  our  hearing  the  very  thunder,  and  the  roar  of  our  Niagara 
would  be  silenced  in  its  presence.  It  builds  ships,  employs  many  sailors, 
clothes  millions  of  people,  rears  cities,  and  is  potent  in  directing  the  move- 
ments of  commerce  in  this  and  other  countries.  Whoever  speaks  lightly  of 
the  importance  of  this  crop,  in  its  financial  relations,  is  a  madman  or  a  fool. 
But  we  shall  still  insist,  and  the  sequel  will  illustrate  the  position,  that  a  wise 
Providence  has  built  up  this  vast  republic,  so  distant  in  its  geographical  ex- 
tremes, and  so  various  in  its  possible  developments,  yet  so  related  and  so 
combined  and  interwoven  in  its  wants,  its  products,  and  its  interests,  and  so 
mutually  dependent  and  mutually  sustaining,  that  it  would  seem  to  require 
more  than  the  wild  frenzy  of  a  madman,  or  the  reckless  abandonment  of  a 
fanatic,  to  break  it  in  pieces.  We  should  deem  no  force  competent  to  over- 
come all  these  natural  bands,  cemented  as  they  are  by  treasure  and  by  blood — 
blood  shed  in  the  common  defence,  and  the  blood  of  families  intermingled, 
and  now  beating  in  living  hearts  ;  and,  we  verily  believe,  that  no  arm  but 
that  of  an  avenging  God  will  ever  bring  this  fair  heritage  to  desolation. 
That  bale  of  cotton,  picked  by  single  hands,  ginned  and  conveyed  by  rail- 
road and  steamer,  dropping  coins  of  gold  all  along  its  way,  is  spun  and  wo- 
ven into  fabrics  that  are  found  in  every  village  shop  in  Christendom.  No  less 
really  do  those  threads  run  through  the  very  woof  and  web  of  our  social 
organism.  Perhaps  the  wool  of  some  Western  or  some  New-England  flock 
is  taken  for  the  filling  of  which  this  cotton  forms  the  warp.  If  it  be  so,  these 
two  products  of  distant  states  are  not  more  intimately  connected,  in  all  future 
time,  than  the  distant  states,  so  dissimilar  in  almost  every  physical  feature, 
from  which  these  materials  are  brought. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  value  of  a  crop  or  product  which  determines  its  finan- 
cial importance  in  a  national  view,  nor  yet  in  the  leger  of  the  producer.  It 
may  have  cost  all  it  will  bring,  though  its  market  price  is  estimated  by  tens 
of  millions.  The  amount  of  its  "transactions"  in  the  price  current  maybe 
comparatively  small,  and  yet  it  may  be  highly  remunerative.  Some  fertile 
lands  are  so  cultivated  as  to  be  even  a  source  of  expense.  Some  soils  of 
moderate  value  in  the  market  are  made  to  pay  very  handsome  dividends. 

There  are  sections  of  country  where  wheat  "  will  not  pay."  Sheep  and 
wool  are  of  doubtful  value  as  an  income  in  large  sections  of  country.  In 
such  cases,  these  crops,  though  they  may  swell  the  column  of  "  aggregates," 


646  AMERICAN    INDUSTRY. 


are  of  no  great  pecuniary  beneBt  to  anybody.  We  have  recently  seen  the 
statement,  by  one  evidently  familiar  with  the  subject,  though  he  may  be  in 
error  in  his  calculations,  that  the  entire  cotton  crop  costs  the  planter  eight 
cents  a  pound.  If  so,  the  planter  is  enriching  factors  and  manufacturers 
at  his  own  private  expense,  and  he  is  bound,  in  justice  to  himself,  to  keep  his 
accounts  with  great  care. 

But  other  considerations  of  great  importance  belong-  to  this  view  of  our 
subject.  Some  crops  pass  directly  from  the  producer  to  the  consumer,  though 
perhaps  burdened  with  sundry  commissions  and  charges.  They  are  conveyed, 
and  only  conveyed,  and  then  consumed. 

We  have  been  trying  to  persuade  those  who  supply  our  markets,  that  the 
neglect  of  attending  to  these  matters  is  the  cause,  and,  we  think,  in  many 
cases,  the  sole  cause  of  their  poverty.  One  can  not  alibrd  to  produce  scarcely 
any  thing  at  half  the  "  market  price,"  If  he  does,  he  must  ever  be  a  pro- 
ducer, and  never  rest  from  his  labor,  nor  ever  be  able  to  save  any  portion 
of  the  avails  of  his  labor  for  the  supply  of  his  future  wants. 

Some  products  pass  into  second  hands,  where,  by  the  exercise  of  skill  and 
labor,  their  value  is  greatly  enhanced.  Perhaps  the  second  profits  are  greater 
than  the  first.  A  moderate  illustration  of  this  occurs  in  wheat.  The  flour- 
mills  of  this  country  employ  some  38,000  men,  either  as  millers  or  as  mill- 
wrights. A  much  greater  secondary  profit  arises  from  the  manufacture  of 
wool.  The  annual  wool  crop  of  this  country,  as  we  have  seen,  amounts  to 
about  $16,000,000.  Wool  is  also  imported  to  the  amount  of  about 
$2,000,000.  But  the  woolen  manufactures  of  this  country  amount  to  more 
than  $43,000,000.  Nearly  forty  thousand  hands  are  employed,  permanently, 
while  the  capital  invested  in  this  manufacture  exceeds  $28,000,000. 

But  a  far  more  notable  illustration  is  seen  in  the  cotton  crop.  The  value 
of  this  crop  is  less  than  a  hundred  millions,  and  of  this  about  ninety  millions 
value  is  exported,  while  very  little  raw  material  is  brought  into  the  country. 
Yet  the  value  of  our  cotton  manufactures  is  about  $62,000,000.  This  gives 
employment  to  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  men  and  women,  while  over 
$75,000,000  capital  is  invested  in  it.  The  manufacture  of  wool,  again,  con- 
sumes some  46,000  tons  of  coal,  and  that  of  cotton  some  120,000,  the  pro- 
duction ^f  which  furnishes  support  to  other  thousands.  So,  too,  the  iron  trade 
— the  value  of  which  is  about  $60,000,000  annually — consumes  one-and-a- 
quarter  millions  of  tons  of  coal,  and  more  than  seventy  millions  bushels  of 
charcoal — another  valuable  source  of  remunerative  industry. 

A  large  part  of  the  cotton  crop,  as  we  have  just  stated,  is  sent  abroad. 
This  service  furnishes  employment,  in  addition  to  a  large  force  employed  in 
inland  navigation,  to  800,000  tons  of  shipping,  and  to  40,000  seamen.  In 
previous  numbers,  we  have  discussed,  in  various  forms,  the  public  and  private 
bearings  of  such  labor  and  charges.  Items  of  cost,  adding  nothii  g  to  the 
value  of  the  raw  material,  are  not,  in  general,  regarded  with  much  tavor  by 
producers,  and  yet  they  are,  of  course,  sometimes  absolutely  necessary.  They 
are,  however,  entered  on  the  profit  and  loss  account,  and,  by  their  exact 
amount,  diminish  the  balance  of  the  credit  side,  if  they  do  not  sometimes  de- 
stroy it.  But  cotton  is  not  alone  here.  It  is  but  lately  that  we  have  read 
that  the  short  crop  of  wheat  has  most  essentially  diminished  the  business  of 
our  canals,  and  left  thousands  of  boatmen  without  employment. 

It  may  be  the  payment  of  such  charges,  however,  that  swells  the  value  of 
these  crops  to  such  enormous  sums.  We  remember  the  time,  and  so  can  some 
much  younger  than  we,  when  coin  was  worth  scarcely  ten  cents  a  bushel  in 
Ohio.     It  may  be  so  now  in  some  dark  corner.     But  this  was  the  result  of 


AMERICAN  INDUSTRY.  647 


enormous  expenses  for  freight,  etc.,  before  railroads  were  so  frequent.  Now, 
when  the  market  is  open,  when  there  is  rapid  communication  between  sellers 
and  purchasers,  taxes  of  this  sort  are  paid,  and  still  the  nett  price  of  the  crop 
is  more  than  quadrupled. 

If  we  should,  therefore,  conclude,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  all  these 
charges  were  really  a  loss,  a  burden,  our  logic  would  be  in  fault.  It  would 
be  just  as  rational  to  say  that  the  cost  of  the  harvest  is  a  loss. 

When  these  commissions,  charges  of  freight,  brokerage,  etc.,  are  the  ne- 
cessary means  of  producing  high  prices,  they  ought  to  be  paid  cheerfully,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Ohio  farmer.  But  if  they  are  not  necessary;  if  arrange- 
ments can  be  made  for  commanding  present  prices,  and  yet  for  dispensing 
with  some  of  the  immense  outlays  demanded  by  the  present  usagjs  of  trade, 
then  these  charges  are  not  only  a  tax,  but  a  useless  tax,  to  their  full  amount. 
Hence,  it  is  proper,  in  all  such  cases,  to  enquire  who  pays  these  charges,  the 
producer  or  the  purchaser.  Let  us  use  a  familiar  .illustration.  A  merchant 
sells  goods  to  A.  for  $50,  agreeing  to  deliver  them.  He  sends  them  by 
packet  or  by  steam.  The  owner  of  the  packet  is  a  gainer  by  this  transaction, 
but  the  charge  comes  out  of  the  $50,  and  it  appears  on  the  profit  and  loss 
account.  But  suppose  he  sells  for  $45  in  the  warehouse  ?  No  such  entry  is 
then  made  in  the  profit  and  loss  account,  and  yet  the  balance  is  just  what  it 
was  before.  The  goods,  in  fact,  are  still  charged  with  the  freight,  and  he 
neither  gains  nor  loses  by  the  change.  But  suppose  he  finds  a  new  custo- 
mer, B.,  and  sells,  when  delivered,  for  IVS,  the  freight  being  $10.  He  makes 
a  profit  of  $20  by  this  change.  The  ten  dollars  are  not  a  loss,  but  a  source 
of  profit.  And,  yet,  if  you  talk  about  that  merchandise  as  estimated  at 
$75,  or  $75,000,000,  it  is  obvious  that  ere  the  real  value  of  it  is  ascertained, 
all  these  charges  must  be  deducted.  If  our  corn  crop  was  not  wanted  at 
home,  but  must  needs  be  exported  for  a  market ;  if  it  should  cost  all  our 
shipping  to  do  this  service,  and  em.ploy  all  our  seamen,  it  would  do  much 
towards  making  this  immense  crop  of  no  real  value  to  the  producer,  and  to 
the  country  it  would  be  valuable  just  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  men  it 
would  support,  and  the  capital  it  would  profitably  employ. 

Were  a  home  market  erected  for  our  cotton ;  were  those  forests  of  British 
spindles  to  be  transported  to  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  we  might  retain  in 
our  own  neighborhood  all  the  benefits  of  this  trade,  which  now  do  so  much 
to  build  up  and  perpetuate  the  enormous  power  of  our  island  rival.  T  h 
profits  of  the  foreign  capitalist,  the  foreign  manufacturer,  the  foreign  artisan' 
the  foreign  spinner,  and  weaver,  and  colorer,  would  all  be  secured  by  our  own 
citizens,  and,  perhaps,  within  sight  of  the  growing  crop.  True,  the  manufac- 
tured goods  must  then  be  exported,  and  thus  the  shipping  interest  would 
still  be  needed  as  now  ;  but  the  grower  of  food  and  clothing  would  find  his 
market  wonderfully  increased,  and  builders  of  houses,  and  owners  of  house- 
lots,  and  brick-makers,  and  lumber-men,  masons,  paper-hangers,  tailors,  shoe- 
makers, etc.,  etc. — a  great  multitude,  would  throng  those  shores,  an  untold 
capital  would  find  a  profitable  investment,  and  barren  wastes  would  echo,  with- 
out interruption,  the  hum  of  prosperous  and  happy  families  ;  manufactures  of 
all  kinds  would  be  greatly  increased ;  the  South  and  South-west  would  be 
dotted  all  over  with  cities,  ever  growing,  and,  day  and  night,  the  hum  of 
profitable  industry  would  not  cease  ;  and,  by-and-by,  the  splendid  mansions 
of  those  made  rich  by  this  change,  and  who  retired  from  the  strife  after 
wealth,  satisfied  with  its  results,  would  adorn  suburbs  of  those  cities  and  our 
rural  districts  and  society  would  be  enriched  by  the  refinements  and  elegancies 
which  wealth  and  industry  only  can  procure. 


648  STATE  PATRONAGE   OF  AGRICULTURE. 


STATE    PATRONAGE     OF    AGRICULTURE. 

The  following  action  of  the  Maine  Legislature  is  commendable.  It  exerts 
a  double  influence,  modifying  the  character  and  arrangement  of  the  courses 
of  lectures  on  chemistry  and  vegetable  physiology,  thereby  securing  more 
attention  to  these  departments,  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  students,  while  the 
liberal  endowment,  conditionally  offered,  provides  for  the  instruction  of  an 
entire  class  of  young  men,  (and  old  ones,  too,  if  they  will,)  thus  far  without 
valuable  facilities  of  imprcvement  in  these  hitherto  neglected  sciences. 

The  third  section,  however,  is  entirely  too  general.  The  obligation  to 
analyze  all  soils,  manures,  plants,  and  seeds,  sent  by  any  farmer  of  the  State, 
might  require  the  constant  employment  of  a  dozen  experienced  chemists. 
Had  it  been  confined  to  the  "  Board  of  Agriculture,"  who  may  be  supposed 
to  be  reasonable  men,  no  special  danger  of  that  sort  might  be  apprehended. 
An  Act  to  endow  the  Chemical  Professorships  of  Bowdoin  and  Waierville 

Colleges,  on  certain  conditions. 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  Legislature 

assembled,  as  follows  : 

Section  1.  The  State  Treasurer  is  hereby  authorised  and  directed  to 
transfer  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  in  six  per  cent.  State  Stock,  to 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Bowdoin  College,  and  the  like  sum  of  thirty  thou- 
sand dollars,  in  six  per  cent.  State  Stock,  to  the  Board  of  trustees  of  Water- 
ville  College,  to  be  held  in  trust  by  them  respectively,  as  endowments  of  the 
Chemical  Professorships  in  these  Colleges,  of  which  they  are  Trustees,  when- 
ever said  Board  of  Trustees  shall  severally  certify  to  the  State  Treasurer, 
through  their  Secretaries,  under  oath,  that  they  have  enlarged  the  duties  and 
means  of  instruction  under  said  professorships,  so  as  to  embrace  Agricul- 
tural Chemistry  and  Vegetable  Physiology ;  and  that  they  will  comply  with 
the  requisitions  hereinafter  specified. 

Sec.  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  Board  of  Trustees,  to  cause  instruc- 
tion to  be  given  without  fee,  to  all  persons,  inhabitants  of  this  State,  not 
undergraduates  in  a  regular  college  course  of  instruction,  who  may  resort  to 
said  institutions  as  students  under  the  Professorships  of  Chemistry  only  ;  they 
having  the  same  privileges  of  the  several  libraries  and  on  the  same  terms, 
and  being  subject  to  the  same  college  laws,  rules,  and  regulations  as  other 
students,  so  fav  as  they  may  be  applicable  to  their  position  in  said  institu- 
tions ;  and  such  students  may  attend,  without  charge,  all  the  lectures  in  said 
colleges,  under  such  restrictions  as  may  be  imposed  by  said  Boards  of  Trus- 
tees, and  sanctioned  by  the  Board  of  Agriculture. 

Skc.  3.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Professors  of  Chemistry  in  each  of 
these  colleges,  to  analyze  or  cause  to  be  analyzed,  as  speedily  as  may  be,  all 
soils,  manures,  plants,  and  seeds,  sent  to  said  colleges  for  this  purpose,  by  the 
farmers  of  this  State  or  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  without  charge  to  the  ap- 
plicant, and  report  the  result  to  him,  with  such  suggestions  as  he  may  deem 
necessary  in  the  premises ;  and  annually,  on  or  before  the  first  Wednesday 
in  January,  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  a  full  state- 
ment of  his  doings,  with  such  other  matter  as  he  may  deem  suitable. 

Sec.  4.  A  committee  of  three  from  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  elected  at 
its  annual  meeting,  shall  constitute  an  examining  committee,  to  visit,  from 
time  to  time,  the  Chemical  departments  of  said  Colleges,  to  witness  their 


FAIRS — THEIR  BENEFITS,    ETC.  649 


instructions  and  doings,  with  special  reference  to  the  interests  of  Agricultural 
Science ;  and  annually,  on  or  before  the  first  Wednesday  in  January,  report 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  a  statement,  so  far  as  they  are 
able,  of  the  doing,  conditions,  and  prospects  of  these  departments. 


FOR   THE    FLODQH,   THE    LOOM,    AND    THE    ANVIL. 

FAIRS  — THEIR    BENEFITS,     ETC. 

Messrs.  Editors  : — In  the  January  number  of  your  journal,  an  article  of 
mine  was  published  on  "  Fair  Benefits,"  to  which  a  lengthy  editorial  is  ap- 
pended, giving  a  wide  expansion  to  the  subject.  And  first,  the  editor  goes  on 
to  say  that  fairs  are  not  designed  for  the  especial  benefit  of  those  who  receive 
premiums,  but  for  the  masses,  or  the  people  at  large.  Of  course  this  policy 
is  correct;  and  it  was  my  object  to  sustain  the  same  doctrine  and  principles 
in  my  article.  The  premiums,  of  course,  are  one  of  the  leading  causes,  and 
a  part  and  parcel  of  the  whole  system  by  which  fairs  are  sustained.  And, 
although  the  competition  for  premiums  is  open  to  all,  but  a  small  number  of 
exhibitors  can  obtain  what  are  called  "first  prizes,"  yet  a  larger  number  will 
obtain  many  of  the  grade  premiums.  The  writer  then  goes  on  to  suppose  a 
case  where  all  articles  were  to  be  shut  up  from  the  sight  of  the  visitors,  ex- 
cept those  which  had  received  a  premium.  How  many  tickets  could  then 
be  sold,  etc.  ?  Probably  seven-eighths  of  all  the  exhibitors  at  our  fairs,  offer 
their  articles  for  premiums,  while  one-eighth  may  offer  them  simply  for  ex- 
hibition and  sale.  In  many  instances,  the  premiums  are  of  no  particular 
consequence  except  to  bring  the  articles  before  the  pubhc.  In  many  cases, 
exhibitors  of  machines,  etc.,  have  no  eye  on  the  premiums  at  all,  but  wish  to 
bring  them  before  the  public  for  examination,  and  a  future  market.  We  do 
not  see  the  force  of  the  editor's  argument,  when  he  says,  in  substance,  that  if 
all  the  articles  on  which  premiums  have  been  awarded  were  removed  or  de- 
stroyed, our  fairs  would  suffer  but  little,  as  the  loss  would  be  hardly  noticed 
by  the  public,  since  about  as  good  a  show  would  be  left  without  the  prerni- 
um  articles,  as  with,  etc.  Then  he  asks  again,  "  For  whose  benefit  are  fairs 
instituted  ?  Are  they  for  those  who  exhibit  especially,  etc.  ?"  But,  as  we 
have  said  before,  the  premiums  are  a  part  and  parcel  of  the  whole  system, 
and  so  combined,  that  you  can  not  well  have  one  without  the  other  attached. 
It  may  be  true,  a  good  or  tolerable  exhibition  of  articles  may  be  had  outside 
of  the  premium  articles.  But  what  brings  such  articles  to  the  exhibition  ? 
It  may  be  safe  to  say  that  seven-eighths  of  such  articles  were  entered  for 
premium,  in  the  first  place,  but  failed  to  obtain  such  notice  at  the  hands  of 
the  comraitteee,  although,  in  many  cases,  they  were  equal  to  any  on  the 
ground.  So,  then,  to  say  that  as  good  an  exhibition  can  be  had  without  the 
premium  articles  as  with,  is,  we  claim,  saying  that  which  is  not  strictly  true. 
Because,  if  you  break  up  the  system  and  order  of  the  exhibition,  then,  unless 
fairs  can  be  sustained  on  some  principle  entirely  free  from  selfishness,  where 
every  body  will  do  all  things  and  furnish  all  things  for  the  exhibition,  free 
gratis,  can  we  expect  to  see  free  fairs  sustained  by  the  people  ?  Our  experi- 
ence has  shown  us  that  farmers  should  not  be  so  anxious  to  show  their  corn 
or  animals  for  the  sake  of  saying  that  no  better  were  to  be  seen  in  the  country 
than  theirs.  But  that  such  animals  and  such  corn  were  the  best  they  had, 
and  they  brought  them  to  the  exhibition  for  the  sake  of  making  a  good  show, 


650  FAIRS — THEIR   BENEFITS,   ETC. 

and  drawing  a  premium,  if  they  could,  by  fair  means  ;  and  this^dea  is  a  just 
one.  We  never  went  on  the  principle  that  if  no  crops  or  animals  were  better 
than  those  tbat  had  already  obtained  the  first  premium,  no  premiums 
should  thereafter  be  oftered,  unless  some  things  superior  to  those  could  be 
produced  ;  for  we  have  not  as  yet  reached  that  point  of  excellence  in  produc- 
tions or  management.  The  idea  is,  forjudges  to  give  premiums  for  the  best 
articles  shown  on  the  ground,  although  there  may  be  articles  of  double  the 
value  in  the  county  or  state  of  the  same  kind.  Yet  they  are  not  on  the 
ground,  and  so  the  judges  must  do  the  best  they  can  with  the  articles  before 
them.  But  the  writer  says,  in  substance,  that  the  ultimate  aim  of  all  shows 
is  to  affect  the  masses  of  the  people  through  the  senses.  So  say  we ;  but 
how  to  come  at  that  point  in  the  most  practical  way  is  the  question.  Though 
the  writer  seems  to  think  that  if  reading  an  account  of  the  show  at  home  was 
all  that  was  necessary,  then  a  few  "  itinerant  committees,"  appointed  and 
paid  for  by  the  State,  would  be  the  best  thing  to  meet  this  demand.  For 
our  own  part,  we  have  but  little  faith  in  these  "State  Agents"  to  accomplish 
much  good  in  that  way.  In  most  cases,  they  would  have  a  stronger  look  for 
the  "  dollars  "  than  for  agricultural  improvement.  But  the  writer  then  goes 
on  to  ask,  whether  it  is  best  to  tax  the  people  with  such  an  assessment  as 
will  hinder  them  from  seeing  the  show,  and  thinks  such  a  plan  is  unwise — 
whether  the  tickets  should  be  a  sixpence,  a  shilling,  or  a  quarter — he  does 
not  stop  to  ask,  etc.  Now,  our  idea  is,  as  we  said  in  our  former  article,  that 
the  people  should  bear  their  share  of  this  tax,  because,  in  principle,  it  is  a  one 
per  cent,  tax  to  a  ninety-nine  per  cent,  profit ;  and  who  is  better  able  to  p.ay 
this  tax  and  receive  this  profit  than  the  people  are  themselves. 

It  is  very  well  known  that  the  masses  of  people  at  large  do  not  value  a 
small  tax  of  the  above  description  when  they  become  interested  in  the  exhibi- 
tion ;  and  in  reality  thay  feel  disposed  to  learn  something  from  it.  Of 
course,  it  is  understood  that  the  farmers,  who  feel  more  interested  in  the 
support  of  these  exhibitions  than  do  the  people  in  general,  will  do  more  to- 
wards their  support.  And,  in  fact,  the  greater  part,  or  the  whole  of  the 
management  must  be  sustained  by  the  farmers  at  large  ;  still  the  people 
should  be  willing  to  do  their  share.  The  writer  goes  on  to  ask  at  whose 
expense  the  temperance  reform  is  sustained,  and  claims  that  those  who 
totally  abstain  are  the  ones  to  be  depended  on  to  sustain  this  reform,  although 
they  may  not  need  it  themselves.  Then,  again,  he  asks  who  sustains  all  the 
"  isms"  of  the  day — why  it  is  those  who  feel  interested  in  their  support, 
&c.  And,  of  course,  as  he  s^ys  the  agricultural  reform  belongs  to  this  class, 
the  farmers  must  be  depended  on  to  support  it.  Now,  we  beg  leave  to  say 
that  neither  the  agricultural  reform  nor  the  temperance  reform  are  "isms," 
any  more  than  they  are  "humbugs,"  as  we  understand  it  in  the  sense  that 
word  is  made  use  of.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  both  of  these  reforms  are 
living,  acting  principles  in  themselves,  in  which  the  whole  people  should  be 
actively  interested.  And  why  so?  Because  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
in  the  country  is  benefited,  by  such  reforms  and  improvements.  Then,  on 
this  principle,  we  say  it  is  not  those  who  feel  the  importance  of  the  reform 
who  should  be  depended  on  to  sustain  it ;  because  it  is  the  whole  people  at 
large  who  get  the  benefit  of  these  reforms.  If  this  be  the  case,  on  what 
principle  is  it  that  a  few  individuals  should  have  the  burden  and  sustjiin  these 
reforms,  while  the  masses  receive  the  benefits  of  them  ?  But  the  writer  goes 
on  to  say  that  he  has  been  quite  celebrated  in  his  day  for  his  advocacy  of 
Protection  to  American  Industry,  (fee.  jWe  are  glad  to  learn  that,  for  there 
is  need  enough  of  it  in  these  days.     We  have  known  men  who  were  great 


EOBUST   HEALTH.  651 

advocates  of  this  same  doctrine,  who,  when  they  wanted  a  new  coat,  would 
pass  by  the  American  cloth,  and  nothing  short  of  the  best  French  would 
answer  their  purpose.  We  presume,  however,  that  this  writer  does  not  be- 
long to  this  class  of  "  Protectionists,"  but  goes  in  for  practice  as  well  as 
preaching.  His  plan  of  an  Industrial  Protection  is  a  new  one,  and  it  may 
be  all  well  enough  ;  and  we  should  be  glad  to  have  such  a  system  of  industry 
brought  about,  if  it  could  be  done  ;  but  it  is  much  easier  to  lay  out  a  plan, 
on  paper  than  it  is  to  carry  it  out  and  make  it  work  in  practice.  The  doc- 
trine may  be  all  well  enough,  but  the  next  thing  is  to  carry  it  out  and  make 
it  work  in  practice.  When  this  writer  can  succeed  in  drawing  out  any  of 
the  State  or  Government  funds,  to  be  used  after  his  plan,  we  should  be  glad 
to  be  informed  of  it.  We  have  learned,  after  a  few  years  of  trial,  that  go- 
vernment aid  was  the  most  "  lame  stick"  to  lean  upon  that  you  could  pos- 
sibly name;  and  so  we  have  come  to  place  no  dependence  whatever  on 
their  talk.  But  we  have  much  more  confidence  in  individual  efi'ort,  carried 
out  and  acted  upon  in  concert  with  the  people  at  large,  for  improvements  of 
this  character.  And  when  you  can  succeed  in  getting  the  people  waked  up 
to  the  importance  of  protecting  industry  as  a  principle,  these  plans  can  be 
brought  about  by  the  people  at  large.  If  you  can  get  government  aid  in 
any  wise  it  will  be  all  well  enough,  but  we,  for  one,  can  not  place  any  con- 
fidence in  their  help.  Yours,  truly, 

L.  DURAND. 
Berhy,  Ct.,  March,  1855. 


FOR     THE     PLOUGH,    THS     LOOM,    AND     THE    ANVIL. 

ARE    ROBUST    HEALTH   AND     GOOD    BUSINESS    HABITS    INCOMPATI- 
BLE   WITH    THE    GREATEST    REFINEMENT? 

This  may  seem  to  be  a  singular  question  to  propound ;  but  if  we  are  to 
judge  from  what  we  see  and  hear,  there  are  difierent  opinions  on  the  subject, 
and  I  would  be  glad  to  see  some  more  able  pen  than  mine  brought  to  its 
discussion. 

I  feel  deeply  on  this  subject,  and  well  I  may,  for  some  of  my  best  friends 
fill  early  graves  because,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  customs  of  society  demand  in 
females  too  great  a  delicacy;  and  it  is  to  females  more  particularly  that  I 
would  apply  the  subject.  By  all  means,  treat  our  sisters  and  female  friends 
tenderly  and  kindly.  But  is  it  kindness  to  deprive  them  of  all  opportunity 
to  qualify  themselves  physically  to  endure  the  hards-hips  of  life  ?  Shall 
we  be  so  tender  of  our  wives  and  daughters,  as  to  deprive  them  of  the  luxury 
of  a  ramble  in  the  bright  green  fields,  with  glowing  cheek  and  bounding ' 
pulse?  I  would  that  every  wo^an  in  the  land  were  as  perfect  in  form  as 
Powers' Greek  Slave ;  but  if  the  customs  and  practices  of  the  present  day 
continue,  we  shall  be  compelled  to  look  among  slaves  and  menials  for  models. 
I  write  this  for  the  farmers  of  the  land,  and  those  who  may  become  their 
companions ;  for  if  others  can  enjoy  the  society  and  companionship  of  the 
feeble  and  deformed,  we  can  not.  Our  duties  and  pleasures  have  too  much 
of  real  life  in  them  to  admit  of  that,  to  say  nothing  of  the  efiect  upon  our 
posterity,  which  is  a  matter  of  vast  importance,  too  great  to  be  entered  upon 
in  this  communication.  It  may  be  said  that  to  be  intellectual,  we  must  be 
exempt  from  labor,  and,  therefore,  delicately  constituted.  This  does  not 
agree  with  my  observation,  where  labor  and  study  have  been  harmoniously 


652     WHY  ARE  NOT   SOUTHERN   CROPS  MORE   PRODUCTIVE? 

combined,  and  good  habits  Lave  done  their  part  to  strengthen  and  invigorate 
the  constitution.  IIovv  great  a  proportion  of  those  whose  minds  are  cultiva- 
ted at  the  expense  of  physical  culture  are  lost  to  the  world,  because  they 
have  not  constitution  to  enable  them  to  use  the  knowledge  they  possess,  but 
they  linger  awhile  in  feebleness  and  pain,  a  burthen  to  themselves,  a  sorrow 
to  their  friends,  and  then  drop  into  a  premature  grave.  The  remedy  is,  to 
a  great  extent,  in  our  own  hands.  Let  a  correct  stfuidard  of  physical  beauty 
be  established  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  Nature,  and  the  same  pains  be 
taken  with  the  human  form  divine  that  is  taken  with  the  precious  jewel  it 
contains,  and  they  will  help  to  adorn  and  improve  each  other.  W. 


WHY  ARE  NOT  SOUTHERN  CROPS  MORE  PRODUCTIVE  ? 

"The  records  show  that  he  (the  producer  of  cotton,  tobacco,  etc,)  waR  really 
paid  for  his  exports  in  foreign  goods,  and  that  duties  have  been  paid  upon 
these  to  an  an, mint  over  a  billion  of  dollars;  and  this  enormous  sum  the  producer 
must  have  paid  when  he  had  to  surrender  a  part  of  the  value  of  his  imports  to 
government  as  he  entered  them.  There  is  but  one  way  in  which  he  could  have  es- 
caped, and  that  is  by  selling  the  part  left  for  as  much  as  the  whole  was  worth  before, 
and,  by  thus  raising  the  price,  throw  the  whole  tax  upon  the  consumer.  But,  in  this 
case,  the  South  must  have  paid  a  still  greater  share  of  the  duties  than  before  ;  for  not 
only  is  she  a  much  larger  consumer  of  foreign  merchandise  than  the  North,  but  if  the 
price  of  the  imported  article  is  raised,  so  must  be  the  price  of  the  similar  article  of 
domestic  manufacture ;  and  thf;  South  would  pay  three  or  four  times  as  much  iu  this 
shape  to  tlie  northern  manufacturer,  as  she  would  to  government  in  the  form  of  duties. 
It  id  true  that  the  increased  price  of  domestic  goods  would  also  be  paid  by  the 
northern  consumer;  but  with  this  important  difference,  that  what  was  paid  would  be 
spent  among  themselves,  and  so  in  a  manner  returned  to  their  pockets,  as  the  facto- 
ries are  scattered  through  their  country,  while  to  the  South  it  would  be  a  dead  lose." 
— De  Bow's  Reuuin,  Ajnil,  1855,  p.  433. 

Some  theorists  are  so  wedded  to  their  own  notions,  and  so  fixed  in  their 
"  principles,"  that  they  can  not  see  what  even  their  interest  would  prompt 
them  to  regard  with  favor.  They  see  that  evils  exist,  which  are  felt  some- 
times to  be  severe,  but  they  will  not  admit  that  this  state  of  things  is  the 
result  of  those  conditions  in  which  they  almost  alone  differ  from  others, 
among  whom  these  evils  are  not,  found.  Nor  will  they  heed  the  coun- 
sel of  those  who  would  urge  them  to  modify  those  conditions,  and  make  a 
practical  test  of  the  correctness  of  those  theories.  Now  and  then,  however, 
the  truth  incidentally  creeps  out,  and  it  would  seem  that,  after  all,  there  was 
an  appreciation  not  only  of  the  truth,  but  of  the  importance  of  such  counsel. 
Among  many  examples  of  this  sort,  we  would  refer  to  the  closing  sentence 
of  the  foregoing  extract:  "  But  with  this  important  difference,  that  what 
■was  paid  would  be  spent  among  themselves,  and  so  in  a  manner  returned  to 
their  pockets,  as  their  factories  are  scattered  through  their  countiy."  This 
admission  is  incidentally  made  in  this  passage;  and  though  the  learned  and 
accomplished  editor  of  that  review  might  even  add  his  powerful  influence  in 
favor  of  what  we  regard  as  the  only  wise  course  to  pursue,  yet  our  Southern 
friends  generally  do  practically  deny  it,  and  limit  themselves  to  the  produc- 
tion of  a  few  staples,  which  are  now  sold  only  as  raw  material  in  a  foreign 
market,  and  thus  they  voluntarily  assume  the  very  "burdens"  of  which  they 
BO  grievously  complain,  and  cast  upon  others  the  reproach  of  inflicting  upon 
them  evils,  of  which  they,  in  fact,  have  essentially  the  control. 


WHY  AEE  NOT  SOUTHERN   CROPS  MORE   PRODUCTIVE?      653 

This  admission  contains  a  great  truth,  a  controlling  truth,  on  which  depends, 
in  our  judgment,  to  a  very  great  extent,  the  whole  question  of  profit  and  loss. 
Hence,  if  we  are  correct,  it  is  a  truth  that  no  individual  and  no  commnnity 
can  neglect  with  impunity. 

The  question  of  loss  and  gain,  in  any  business,  depends  on  a  proper  regard 
for  certain  matters  which  are  treated  by  the  many  as  of  little  importance. 
We  well  remember  the  advice  of  an  experienced  friend  when  we  were  about 
engaging  in  a  certain  enterprise.  "  Now,  remember,"^ said  he,  "your  profits 
will  not  be  made  from  what  you  earn,  but  from  what  you  save."  These 
words  should  be  written  in  letters  of  gold  in  every  counting-house  and  in 
every  shop.  Generally,  if  you  caution  a  young  man  about  his  liberal  indul- 
gence and  large  expenses,  he  will  tell  you — "Oh,  I  earn  enough  ;  I  have  a 
good  income."  It  is  of  little  consequence  what  a  man  or  a  community  earns, 
unless  he  or  they  will  contrive  to  keep  a  portion  of  it.  That  is  the  difficult 
point  in  all  financial  operations.  Many  a  young  man  gets  rich  on  his  hun- 
dreds, while  many  hundreds  become  bankrupt  on  their  thousands.  And,  very 
often,  the  issue  depends  not  so  much  on  setting  aside  a  portion  of  the  re- 
ceipts, with  the  intention  of  saving  it,  as  of  avoiding  certain  expenses,  or  pre- 
venting small  wastes  and  losses. 

Now,  whether  supposed  facts  and  reasonings  can  be  brought  forward  to 
the  contrary,  we  add  our  testimony  in  confirmation  of  the  doctrine  incidentally 
presented  in  this  quotation.  The  Northern  States  flourish  with  their  indefi- 
nite variety  of  trades  and  occupations,  simply  by  the  practice  of  the  truth 
here  hinted  at.  Illustrations  of  it  are  not  witnessed  in  "  factories  "  alone. 
Hundreds  of  miles  of  raih'oads  have  been  built,  without  the  least  expectation 
of  profit  in  the  shape  of  dividends,  but  exclusively  for  secondary  and  inci- 
dental benefits.  Their  money,  as  already  invested,  earns  them  at  least  lawful 
interest ;  but  these  wise  and  prudent  me'n,  men  of  forethought  and  foresight 
too,  prefer  to  bury  it  in  the  railroad,  Avith  the  expectation  of  little  or  no  di- 
rect returns.  What  is  their  motive  ?  Perhaps  unproductive  farms  are  thereby 
converted  into  house-lots.  Perhaps  a  wide  territory  is  thereby  opened  for 
tVade.  And  factories  are  built.  Why  ?  Because  such  stocks  always  pay  well  ? 
Far  from  it.  They  will  sometimes  pay  largely.  Sometimes  they  sink  im- 
mense sums.  But  they  make  a  new  market  at  any  rate.  The  factory  village 
furnishes  a  market  for  almost  anything  a  farmer  can  raise,  a  mechanic  con- 
struct, or  a  merchant  import.  What  else  is  needful,  then,  for  either  of  these 
producers,  but  sufficient  numbers  of  just  such  customers. 

We  do  not  intend  to  be  understood  that  these  secondary  considerations 
generally  or  often  control  the  action  of  city  capitalists,  when  they  subscribe 
for  factory  stocks.     But  such  considerations  have  very  often  induced  the  less 
wealthy  farmer  and  mechanic  to  invest  their  smaller  savings  in  such  es-  . 
tablishments,  and. they  have  grown  rich  by  such  indirect  means. 

We  have  before  alluded  to  the  pine  barrens,  we  so  well  remember,  on  and 
near  which  the  thriving  city  of  Manchester  now  stands  ;  and  to  the  110,000 
now  received,  annually,  for  milk  by  the  farmers  of  the  adjoining  little  town 
of  Goflfstown,  the  land  of  which,  in  our  boyhood,  was  as  worthless  as  any 
other  land  in  that  whole  region.  Those  farmers,  could  they  have  found  the 
means,  might  almost  have  built  those  mills  for  nothing,  without  loss. 

And  why  do  not  our  Soutliern  friends  see  all  this  in  reference  to  their  own 
territory  ?  Is  there  any  reason  why  the  same  results  would  not  follow  among 
them  as  at  the  North  ?  But  the  writer  of  the  foregoing  extract  would  make 
very  prominent  the  fact,  which  i?,  no  doubt,  true,  in  some  sense,  that  the 
Southern  States  are  burdened  with  severe  "  duties."     "  A  billion  of  dollars  " 


654:     WHY  ABE  NOT  SOUTHERN    CROPS   MORE   PRODUCTIVE? 

has  been  paid.  Well,  all  this  is  optional  with  thena.  Individuals  may  not 
be  able  to  rid  themselves  of  this  ''  burden,''  if  it  be  one,  but  combinations  of 
men  may.  Is  it  asked,  How  ?  The  "  one  way,"  the  writer  describes,  in  our 
judgment,  is  wholly  impracticable.  The  way  we  have  often  pointed  out  is  a  mat- 
ter of  PRACTICAL  DEMONSTRATION.  The  writer  of  this  paragraph  substantially 
admits  it  in  his  closing  sentence.  If  this  is  not  so,  the  "  difference,"  he  de- 
scribes, would  not  be  "  important "  in  the  view  which  he  has  taken. 

These  "  duties,"  and,  of  course,  all  the  incidental  charges,  for  they  are 
alike  "  a  burden,"  which  are  attendant  upon  exportation,  whether  of  one 
sort  or  another,  are  represented  in  this  passage  as  "  burdens  "  upon  the  pro- 
ducer. True,  he  says,  "  in  our  belief,  the  duties  are  paid  partly  by  the  pro- 
ducer, and  partly  by  the  consumer."  But  he  still  reasons  as  if  all  were  paid 
by  the  producer.  "Southern  burdens  and  Northern  profits."  Writers  on 
the  great  subject  of  "Political  Economy"  are,  perhaps,  tempted  sometimes 
to  mystify  the  facts,  and  misapply  acknowledged  principles,  and,  therefore, 
fail  to  convince  each  other.  But  we  would  trust  any  one  of  the  thousand 
"given  cases,"  belonging  to  this  chapter  of  Political  Economy,  to  the  decision 
of  a  jury  of  ordinary  intelligence,  if  the  facts  could  be  clearly  presented,  and 
its  party  bearing  kept  out  of  view.  Perhaps  exceptions  may  occur  to  the 
general  rule,  in  this  department  of  science,  as  in  every  other.  But  take  a 
case  by  way  of  example. 

The  people  of  Ohio,  at  one  time,  were  obliged  to  sell  their  corn  at  ten  cents 
a  bushel.  But,  by-and-by,  communications  were  opened.  Railroads  were 
constructed.  Those  fertile  lands  were  brought  into  close  proximity  with  a 
ready  market,  and  now  that  corn  commands  a  dollar.  But  the  railroad  re- 
quires a  "  duty  "  of  twenty  cents,  or  two  hundred  per  cent,  on  the  original 
value  of  the  crop.  How  enormous  1  How  excessively  tyrannical !  Such 
oppression  who  can  endure !  And  yet  this  very  oppressive  system'  has  con- 
verted their  ten  cents  into  eighty  cents  net;  or,  in  other  words,  has  increased 
the  net  value  of  the  entire  crop  eight-fold.  This  tax  is  no  "  burden  "  upon 
any  body.  No  one  sutlers  to  the  amount  of  a  f^irthing  for  it.  The  producer 
is  profited ;  the  consumer  pays  the  duty  and  the  eight  hundred  per  cent,, 
and  still  is  profited.  The  carrier  is  well  paid  for  his  service,  and  none  even 
finds  fault.  "  Oh,  yes  !  We  req uire  the  lailroad  to  carry  our  corn  '  free.'  " 
The  fully  of  the  pretended  claim  is  too  apparent  almost  to  allow  it  room  on 
the  page.  And  yet  this  is  clearly  a  tax,  an  assessment,  a  "  duty  ;"  and  when 
used  in  connection  with  our  canals,  etc.,  these  payments  are  sometimes  ofli- 
cially  described  as  "  duties."  Duties,  then,  are  not  always  "  burdens,"  nor 
"imposed,"  in  any  unfavorable  or  undesirable  sense,  by  any  one.  Tiiey  may  be 
of  great  benefit,  and,  in  some  aspects  of  the  question,  may  be  very  important, 
in  this  connection,  to  the  cotton  growers  of  the  South.  Whether  they  are 
oppressive  or  not  is  the  question  to  be  settled.  But,  after  all,  we  think  there 
is  a  way,  and  "  a  more  excellent  way,"  of  getting  rid  of  this  "burden,"  if  it 
be  such,  than  by  changing  the  revenue  laws  in  the  manner  our  Southern 
friends,  many  of  them,  would  propose. 

We  have  already  shown  that,  if  a  given  investment  can  be  made  to  pay 
good  dividends,  that  investment  should  be  pronounced  successful,  whether 
it  be  by  direct  or  indirect  processes;  and  we  have  referred  to  the  manjier  in 
which  "the  North"  sustains  herself  under  thg  same  revenue  laws,  and  the 
closing  sentence  of  our  quotation  brings  it  out  beyond  the  possibility  of  mis- 
apprehension. And  how  do  "the  North"  sustain  themselves,  and  become 
rich,  under  that  same  revenue  system  ?  It  is  by  encouraging  a  diversity  of 
employments.     So  says  this  able  writer.     So  say  we.     It  is  true,  and  just 


WHY   ARE   NOT   SOUTHERN"   CROPS   MORE   PRODUCTIVE?    655 

about  the  whole  truth.  It  is  tlieir  "  factory "  system — their  facilities  for 
trades  of  all  kinds.  "  There  is  no  friendship  in  trade,"  says  the  proverb  ; 
but  it  is  fake.  No  bigger  lie  was  ever  uttered  by  fraudulent  huckster.  It 
is  true  that  there  is  no  friendship  in  many  traders.  But  when  this  is  asserted 
as  a  fundamental  principle  of  trade,  it  is  false  from  A  to  Zed.  Wholesome, 
prosperous  trade  demands,  imperatively  demands,  a  regard  for  the  precept, 
"live  and  let  live."  This  is  the  basis  of  all  honorable  traffic.  Man  is 
not  an  isolated  being.  His  interests  are  interwoven  with  the  interests  of  his 
associates,  his  "  neighbors."  He  must  recognize  his  fellows.  He  must  have 
a  prosperous  community  to  deal  with,  if  he  would  prosper,  permanently, 
himself.  What  can  a  merchant  do  with  bankrupt  customers  ?  What  can  far- 
mers and  mechanics  do,  if  bound  to  deal  with  the  moneyless  and  the  starving  ? 
Under  the  name  of  trade,  one  may,  for  a  while,  plunder  and  rob,  as  too  many 
have  done  with  our  Indians,  and  in  the  East  India  trade.  But  this  is  not 
worthy  the  name  of  trade.  No.  "  Live  and  let  live  "  is  not  a  gospel  pre- 
cept alone.  It  is  cut  into  the  very  walls  of  our  social  structure.  It  must  be 
so,  because  the  structure  is  social.  This  great  truth  is  taught  and  proclaimed 
aloud  in  every  thriving  city  and  village.  The  commentary  on  its  negation 
has  been  heard,  not  from  any  choice  or  intent,  but  yet  not  without  emphasis,  in 
our  own  mjdst,  in  the  months  past,  and  its  voices  are  not  all  silent  yet.  This 
truth  is  proclaimed  in  every  crowded  mart,  and  its  still,  small  voice  is  heard 
in  the  hospitalities  and  friendly  greeting  so  characteristic  of  rural  districts 
both  north  and  south. 

Call  in,  then,  the  various  crafts.  .  Give  them  room  even  among  your  cotton 
fields.  "  But  who  will  employ  them  V  Why,  you  will  employ  them,  and 
they  -will  employ  each  other,  through  the  whole  chapter.  Does  not  the 
blacksmith  need  shoes,  and  the  shoemaker  clothes  ? 

But  one  department  of  this  effort  is  pre-eminently  important.  Just  trans- 
port those  forests  of  spindles  now  bristling  through  that  island  yonder  ;  or, 
more  properly,  let  machinists  be  assembled,  from  all  quarters,  on  your  own 
borders,  and  let  them  there  erect  their  shops,  and  forge  out  those  magic  forms, 
more  potent  than  any  divining  rods,  and  let  other  mechanics  erect  your  fac- 
tories, and  then  fill  them  with  machinery.  Let  your  ingenious  artisans  invent 
improvements,  and  let  other  thousands  take  your  own  bales,  and  transform 
them  into  various  fabrics.  Let  this  be  done  till  you  find  a  use  for  a  large 
part  of  ybjj^'fi^p,  and  then  what  do  you  think  would  be  the  price  of  raw 
cotton  la' t'iverpool  ?      .■    . 

The  price  would  then  be  regulated  on  this  side  the  water.  The  large 
accumjjj^tions  of  any  product  at  a  market,  determine  the  price  of  that  pro- 
duct the  world  over.  England  how  has  all  this  crop  to  herself,  and  controls 
its  price,  for  the  simple.reason  that  no  body  else  can  buy  it.  Create  a  capacity 
to  buy,  or  oonsume,  in  this  country,  and  just  so  far  you  regulate  and  control 
its  market  value. 

The  manufactured  article  must  still  be  exported.  Few  ships  and  few  sea- 
men would  lose  their  employment.  But^ffijeanwhile,  you  have  immensely 
increased  your  profits,  in  various  ways,  so  that  you  can  really  afford  to  sell 
the  manufactured  goods  at  less  price  even  than  they  now  are  sold  for.  Why  ? 
Because  real  estate  owners  would  realize  double,  and  trebfe,  and  even  ten-fold 
their  present  receipts  for  their  lands.  Large  demands  would  be  created  at 
once  for  house-lots,  for  corporation  purposes,  and  for  all  kinds  of  mechanics. 
Another  large  pqrtion  would  be  required  for  the  use  of  those  who  would  feed 
the  additional  population,  and  for  the  support  of  their  own  fcimilies,  and  so 
the  story  would  go  6n,  after  the  fashion  of  "  The  houss  that  Jack  built." 


656     WHY  ARE  NOT  SOUTHERN   CROPS   MORE  PRODUCTIVE? 

There  might  even  be  some  "  dogs  that  loornj  the  cat,"  and  other  unpleasant 
incidents,  but  these  would  be  comparatively  but  trifles. 

We  happen  to  have  on  our  table  an  account  of  just  such  an  operation  in 
the  State  of  Connecticut.  In  1G84,  the  territory  of  Mattatuck  was  sold 
"for  divers  good  causes  and  39  pounds."  It  was  supposed  capable  of  sus- 
taining THIRTY  FAMILIES.  On  this  tract,  the  thriving  village  of  Waterbury 
now  stands.  We  passed  the  night  there  some  three  years  ago,  in  a  hotel 
which  cost,  when  unfurnished,  840,000,  and  a  still  more  costly  hotel  was  then 
nearly  completed.   The  following  is  "  The  Grand  List"  of  that  town  for  1854,: 

DESCRIPTION     OF     PROPERTY. 

Dwelling  Houses, 11,150,265.00 

14,922  Acres  of  Land,     -         -         -         .  396,3  53.00 

Stores, 65,300.00 

Mills  and  Manufactories, 33,450.00 

Horses  and  Mules,      -         .         -         -         -  28,185  00 

Neat  Cattle, .-         -     28,772.00 

Sheep,  Swine,  and  Poultry,  -         ...  349.00 

Coaches,  Carriages,  and  Pleasure  Wagons,         -     10,959.00 
Farming  Utensils  and  Mechanics'  Tools,         -  25.00 

Clocks,  Watches,  and  Jewelry,  -         -         -         -     10,977.00 

Piano  Fortes,  &c,, 6,130.00 

Furniture  and  Libraries, 10,850.00 

Bank  and  Insurance  Stock,  -         -         -         -        169,717.00 
Bridge,  Turnpike,  and  Plank-Road  Stock,  -  600.00 

Manufacturing  Stock,  ...  -  2,584,787.00 
State  and  other  Stocks,  -  .  -  .  -  5,600.00 
Railroad  and  oflier  Bonds,  .  -  -  .  7,690.00 
Amount  employed  in  Trade  and  Merchandising,  182,997.00 
Amount  employed  in  Mechanical  and  Manufac- 
turing operations,  -  _  .  .  _  63,375.00 
Investment  in  Vessels  and  Commerce,  -         -  300.00 

Money  at  Interest, 268,005.00 

Money  on  hand, 1,330.00 

All  other  Taxable  Property,     -         .         -         -       2,2fiiy>,0 
Additions  by  Board  of  Relief,       -         -         -  '^eMOO 

Amount,     ^5,033,109.00 
Deduct  indebtedness,  &c.,  100,938.00 

$4,932,171.00 
Increase  over  previous  year,  |660,377. 
Amount  of  Assessment,  at  3  per  cent.,     -         -     147,966.13 
1893  Polls,  at  ten  dollars  each,  -         -         -  18,930.00 

935  Military  Subjects,  at  fifty  cents  each,  -  467.50 

Taxable  amount  for  1854,  $167,362.63 

Certified  by 

Israel  Holmes,  2d,  Town  Clerk. 

One  would  think  this  profit  enough  for  one  generation,  and  nearly  all  this 
is  the  work  of  those  now  living.  There  are  in  this  town  five  fulling-mills, 
three  woolen  factories,  three  cotton  factories,  two  tanneries,  two  rolling-mills, 
a  machine  shop,  two  iron  foundries,  ten  button  factories,  a  pin  factory,  hook 


CLIMATE.  657 


and  eye  factory,  india-rubber  goods  factory,  five  grist-mills,  sixteen  saw-mills, 
and  last,  though  not  least,  twentt-thkee  schools. 

Now,  if  the  Southern  States  would,  in  the  words  of  our  extract,  have  all 
their  outlays  "  in  a  manner  returned  to  their  pockets,"  and  be  rid  of  the 
"  burdens  "  of  which  they  complain,  let  them  do  as  those  do  whom  they  in- 
tended by  those  words  to  describe. 

It  is  all  very  well  to  sit  in  the  lap  of  wealth,  and  the  free  enjoyment  of 
literary  and  social  privileges,  and  of  personal  refinement,  and  to  treat  the 
"  evils  "  incident  to  progress  such  as  we  have  described  as  nuisances  that  can 
not  and  will  not  be  endured.  But  such  a  course  is  not  in  good  taste,  at  least, 
when  one  is  mourning  over  financial  burdens,  and  deterioration  of  property, 
and  heavy  expenses,  and  the  like.  These  incidentals,  as  they  might  be 
termed,  are  found  in  groups.  Mechanical  industry  occasions  Qne  set,  inacti- 
vity and  luxurious  ease  another  set.  They  never  get  mixed  up,  except  in 
some  great  financial  crisis,  which  overturns  and  disappoints  every  body.  We 
do  not  blame  nor  reproach  the  South  even  for  boasting  over  their  freedom 
from  numerous  evils  that  exist  at  the  North.  We  should  delight  in  the  same 
quiet  and  refinement  which  characterises  much  of  Southern  life.  We  fully 
appreciate  the  high  breeding,  the  refinements,  and  last,  not  least,  the  hospi- 
tahties  of  those  States.  But  we  can  find  all  this,  too,  at  the  North.  And  as 
long  as  purses  are  finite  things,  and  often  seem  very  shallow,  especially  when 
used  too  familiarly,  we  learn  to  look  upon  all  forms  of  labor,  and  even  dust, 
and  noise,  and  coarse  manners,  (if  the  intention  is  kind,)  and  the  thousand 
elements  that  go  to  make  up  industrial  life,  in  its  various  aspects  and  attend- 
ants, as  of  little  consequence  compared  with  the  immense  good  which  results, 
in  various  ways,  from  every  form  of  industrj',  and  among  all  the  people. 


CLIMATE. 

An  erroneous  idea  generally  prevails  respecting  climate,  as  affecting  per- 
sonal comfort.  The  dwellers  in  the  sunny  South  pity  the  New-Englanders, 
because  doomed  to  shiver  in  so  cold  a  climate.  They,  in  turn,  bless  their 
stars  that  they  are  not  wading  in  the  snows  of  Newfoundland. 

I  have  been  led,  by  observation  and  experience,  to  doubt  whether  the  peo- 
ple of  any  one  country  have  much,  if  any  advantage,  in  the  matter  of  climate, 
over  others. 

Our  ideas  of  pleasure  and  pain  are  intimately  connected  with,  if  not  based 
upon  the  principle  of  contrast.  In  our  idea  of  temperature,  >ve  have  less 
regard  to  the  actual  than  to  the  comparative  degree  of  warmth. 

In  the  report  of  one  of  the  exploring  expeditions  in  the  northern  seas,  it 
is  said  that,  on  a  certain  occasion,  the  crew  were  greatly  elated  with  signs  of 
a  thaw,  the  mercury  having  risen  to  40°  below  zero.  Iljiving  been  subject 
to  a  much  intenser  degree  of  cold,  they  felt,  as  did  the  boy,  whose  father 
had  administered  to  him  a  severe  flugellation,  "  greatly  refreshed." 

It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  people  ^f  Maine  suffer  more  from 
cold  than  do  they  of  Virginia. 

Touching  the  weather,  it  is  much  as  it  is  with  the  tariff — all  that  the 
people  want  is  to  have  the  line  of  governmental  policy  settled — to  know  what 
can  be  depended  upon.  So  of  the  weather.  The  down-easter,  knowing  that 
39 


658  STATISTICS   OF   MUSCULAR  POWER. 

from  the  middle  of  November  to  the  middle  of  April  the  ground  is  to  be 
covered  with  snow,  and  uninterrupted  cold  weather  is  to  prevail,  he  wraps 
his  fur  coat  about  him,  inflates  his  lungs,  braces  up  his  nerves,  and  thinks  no 
more  of  the  cold  than  the  "  rugged  liussian  bear." 

The  dweller  in  the  Old  Dominion,  on  the  other  hand,  regarding  warm 
weather  as  the  rule,  and  cold  as  the  exception,  makes  no  provision  for  the 
latter.  But  when  the  northern  blasts  come,  as  come  they  will,  he  wraps  bis 
fig-leaf  coat  about  him,  and  seeks  shelter  within  the  enclosure  of  his  airy 
mansion,  so  constructed  as  to  exclude  heat  rather  than  cold. 

Then  there  is  another  consideration  which  greatly  favors  the  dwellers  in 
cold  latitudes.  While  the  earth  is  covered  with  snow,  there  is  but  little 
evaporation.  The  atmosphere  is  consequently  dry,  and  storms  are  unfre- 
quent.  Where  there  is  no  snow,  it  is  far  otherwise.  The  whole  surface 
being  covered  with  water,  evaporation  is  rapid,  and  the  atmosphere  is  sur- 
charged with  vapor,  and  the  peculiar  chillings  which  characterize  a  March 
wind  in  New-England,  prevail  during  the  winter  months. 

Agriculturally,  the  snowy  region  has  many  advantages.  It  is  better  for 
the  soil  to  be  covered  during  the  winter  months.  That  there  is  any  virtue 
in  the  remark,  "  snow  is  the  poor  man's  manure,"  1  don't  believe'  But  cer- 
tain it  is,  that  grasses  and  grains  are  benefited  by  being  thus  protected. 

Snow  is  an  imperfect  conductor  of  caloric,  consequently  the  surface  being 
protected  from  the  cold  of  mid-winter,  the  heat  from  within  dissolves  the 
frost,  and  when  the  snow  disappears  in  spring,  the  frost  is  go6e  from  the  soil. 
It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  the  grass  growing  before  the  snow  is  off.  Fields 
are  ready  for  plowing  soon  after  they  are  bare ;  so  that  stock  will  live,  and 
seed  may  be  gotten  into  the  ground  nearly  as  soon  in  Vermont  as  in  Con- 
necticut. Then,  for  doing  business,  the  snowy  regions  have  greatly  the  ad- 
vantage. Lumbering  is  with  great  difficulty  carried  on  where  there  is  no 
snow.  The  lumber  lands  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  would  be  worth  twice  as 
much  as  they  now  are  with  northern  winters  for  the  removal  of  the  lumber. 

But  I  will  say  no  more  lest  1  get  up  an  emigration  fever  towards  Green- 
land. R.  B.  H. 


Statistics  of  Muscular  Power. — Man  has  the  power  of  imitating 
every  motion  but  that  of  flight.  To  effect  this  he  has,  in  maturity  and  health, 
60  bones  in  his  head,  60  in  his  thighs  and  legs,  62  in  his  arms  and  hands, 
and  67  in  his  trunk.  He  has  also  434  muscles.  His  heart  makes  64  pul- 
sations in  a  minute;  and,  therefore,  3,740  in  an  hour,  92,160  in  a  day. 
There  are,  also,  three  complete  circulations  of  his  blood  in  the  short  space  of 
an  hour.  In  respect  to  the  comparative  speed  of  animated  beings,  and  of 
impelled  bodies,  it  may  be  remarked  that  size  and  construction  seem  to  have 
little  influence,  nor  has  comparative  strength,  though  one  body  giving  any 
quantity  of  motion  to  another  is  said  to  lose  so  much  of  its  own.  The  sloth 
is  by  no  means  a  small  animal,  and  yet  it  can  travel  only  fifty  paces  a  day; 
a  worm  crawls  only  five  inches  in  fifty  seconds,  but  a  lady-bird  can  fly  twenty 
million  times  its  own  length  in  less  than  an  hour.  An  elk  can  run  a  mile  and 
a  half  in  seven  minutes  ;  an  antelope,  a  mile  in  a  minute  ;  the  wild  mule 
ofTartaryhas  a  speed  even  greater  than  that;  an  eagle  can  fly  eighteen 
leagues  in  an  hour ;  a  Canary  falcon  can  even  reach  250  leagues  in  the  short 
space  of  sixteen  hours.  A  violent  wind  travels  sixty  miles  in  an  hour; 
sound,  1,142  English  feet  in  a  second. 


THE   INTERNAL  TRANSPORTATION  AND  TRAVEL.  659 


THE  INTERNAL  TRANSPORTATION  AND  TRAVEL— ITS  MAGNITUDE  AS 

AN  INTEREST. 

J'ew  persons,  who  have  not  taken  the  trouble  to  examine  the  statistics,  and 
to  submit  the  subject  to  the  scrutiny  of  figures,  have  a  correct  appreciation 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  interest  engaged  in  conducting  the  internal  trade 
and  travel  of  tais  wide-spread  nation.  We  have  heard  much  talk  of  the  cot- 
tori  interest,  the  sugar  interest,  the  fanning  interest,  the  manufacturing 
interest,  and  various  other  interests,  but  they  are  all  small  compared  with  this 
vast  and  rapidly-augmenting  transportation  interest.  It  is  the  growth  of 
comparatively  few  years,  but  it  has  attained  herculean  proportions.  If  we 
begin  the  comparison  by  ascertaining  the  investment  of  capital,  we  find  in- 
ternal transportation  about,  if  not  at  the  head  of  the  list.  We  estimate  the 
capital  invested  in  this  department  of  industry  at  one  thousand  millions  of 
dollars.     It  is  divided  thus : 

Railroads  and  their  machinery,   -         -         -     1600,000,000 

Canals, 100,000,000 

Steamboats, "70,000,000 

Vessels  in  the  coasting  trade,  -         -         -  130,000,000 

Turnpikes,  stages,  wagons,  and  canal  boats,  -       100,000,000 

$1,000,000,000 
The  value  of  all  the  improved  farms  in  the  cotton-growing  States  of  Loui- 
siana, Texas,  Arkansas,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  Flo- 
rida, and  Tennessee,  in  the  year  1850,  amounted  to  about  $512,000,000. 
The  capital  invested  in  growing  cotton  is  therefore  much  less  than  that  in- 
vested in  internal  transportation.  It  will  be  perceived  that  we  do  not  include 
in  the  comparison  the  value  of  the  slaves  employed  in  producing  the  cotton. 
By  a  similar  course  of  calculation,  it  may  be  shown  that  the  capital  invested 
in  the  agents  of  transportation  exceeds  that  of  any  one  interest  of  production 
taken  separately.  The  fact  is,  that  it  is  nearly  one-third  the  whole  value  of 
all  the  farms  in  the  United  States  ;  the  aggregate  value  of  all  the  farms  in 
the  Union  being  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars. 

The  gross  annual  product  of  all  the  agencies  for  internal  transportation  we 
estimate  at  $120,000,000,  which  exceeds  the  whole  cotton  crop  of  last  year 
by  about  twenty  millions  of  dollars.  It  is  more  than  double  the  annual  pro- 
duct of  gold  in  California,  it  is  nearly  double  the  value  of  all  our  agricultural 
exports  tor  the  last  year,  and  ten  times  the  amount  of  exports  of  manufac- 
tured articles. 

One  of  the  great  advantages  conferred  on  the  country  by  this  vast  interest 
is  the  employment  it  aflbrds  to  productive  industry  in  the  constant  and  in- 
creasing demand  created  for  machinery  of  transport.  Thus,  on  the  fifteen 
thousand  miles  of  railroad  now  in  operation,  there  are  in  use  six  thousand 
locomotives,  and  fifteen  hundred  steam  engines  are  in  use  on  boats. 
The  engines  on  boats  cost  -  -  -  -  $12,000,000 
The  locomotives  cost         -         -         -         -  54,000,000 

Total,    -         -         -         -         -     $66,000,000 
It  will  require  for  renewals  each  year — 
Locomotives,        -_._._.         qqq 
Locomotives  for  increase  of  business,  -         -         -       60 

Total  locomotives  to  be  built  per  year,    -        -        -         660 


660  TASTE   IN   RURAL   HOMES — ITS  INFLUENCE. 

These  locomotives  will  cost  $5,940,000.  It  will  require  165  new  engines 
every  year  for  steamboats,  which  will  cost  81,320,000,  making  together 
$7,200,000  as  the  amount  of  the  annual  demand  for  steamboat  engines  and 
locomotives. 

There  are  on  the  fifteen  thousand  miles  of  railroad  about  one  million,  seven 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  tons  of  iron  rails,  etc.  "We  estimate  that 
these  rails  must  be  renewed  in  fifteen  years.  There  will  be  required  then 
115,000  tons  of  railroad  iron  each  year  for  renewals,  which,  at  $60  per  ton, 
makes  $6,900,000. 

We  also  estimate  that  there  will,  for  the  next  twenty  years,  be  1200  miles 
of  railroad  constructed  each  year,  that  will  require  annually  1,380,000  tons 
of  iron  rails,  costing  88,580,000,  an.l  400  locomotives  that  will  cost  $3,600,000. 
These  sums  make  an  aggregate  of  $20,040,000,  that  must  be  expended  each 
year  merely  for  the  renewal  and  repairs  of  iron  rails  and  engines  required  to 
effect  the  transportation  of  produce,  and  the  travel  of  passengers  on  railroads 
and  steamboats.  This  is  entirely  exclusive  of  the  ordinary  repairs  on  tl'* 
hulls  of  the  steamers,  and  the  wood  and  earth  work  of  the  railroads,  whi  eh 
annually  amounts  to  a  very  large  sum. — Louisville  Journal. 


FOR  THE   PLOUGH,   THE  LOOM,,  AND  THE   ANVIL. 

TASTE    IN    RURAL    HOMES  — ITS    INFLUENCE. 

Messrs.  Editors  : — Home  is  the  spot  where  our  warmest  affections  center. 
What  place  is  more  endeared  to  u'^,  or  to  what  do  oiir  thoughts  more  often 
revert,  amid  the  bustle  and  hurry  of  life,  or  even  amid  the  infirmities  of  age, 
than  the  place  of  our  childish  sports.  The  influence  which  home  exerts  upon 
character  and  circumstances  in  every  period  of  life  is  great.  It  often  gives 
shape  to  our  character,  and  materially  increases  or  diminishes  our  happiness. 
Home  influences,  that  are  exerted  in  childhood,  frequently  give  direction  to 
all  subsequent  life.  Among  men  we  find  very  different  views  respecting  the 
beauties  of  nature  and  of  art,  and,  consequently,  we  see  a  great  diversity  in 
their  j)ractice.  One  has  but  little  appreciation  of  beauty,  The  tasteful  cot- 
tage, ornamented  with  walks,  and  flowers,  and  shrubbery,  hardly  secures  a 
passing  glance.  Utility  is  his  watch-word.  Gold  glitters  in  his  eyes,  and 
all  the  refinements  of  social  life  are  sacrificed  for  its  accumulation.  He  may 
have  a  dwelling,  convenient  in  size  perhaps,  but  destitute,  both  externally 
and  internally,  of  almost  every  thing  that  can  gratify  a  refined  taste.  There 
it  stands,  like  a  pyramid  in  the  desert,  vfithout  a  tree  to  ward  off  the  rays  of 
the  sun,  or  to  break  the  force  of  the  storm  ;  without  a  shrub  or  flower  to 
please  the  eye.  The  thistle  and  the  noxious  weed  adorn  the  door-yard, 
if  there  be  one,  and  often  the  dwarf  elder,  and  the  brier,  take  the  i)lace  of 
the  rose,  the  snowdrop,  and  the  honeysuckle.  And  if  the  swinish  multitude 
are  not  actually  permitted  to  revel  around  the  door,  the  sty  may  be  in  close 
proximity,  and  its  exhilarating  odors  may  compensate  for  the  absence  of  the 
rose  and  the  sweet-brier.  The  neat,  gravel  walk,  with  its  shrubbery  and 
flowers,  are  too  expensive.  They  bring  no  gold  to  fill  his  coffers,  and,  there- 
fore, possess  no  attractions. 

And  the  interior  of  such  a  dwelling  is  too  often  a  counterpart  to  its  exte- 
rior. For  the  sake  of  gain,  convenience  for  performing  domestic  business 
may,  to  some  extent,  be  consulted,  but  taste  and  elegance  are  utter  strangers. 


TASTE   m  EUEAL  HOMES — ITS  INFLUENCE.  661 


The  naked  walls,  without  paint  or  paper,  glare  out  upon  the  visitor;  the 
floor,  uncarpeted,  exhibits  but  little  neatness,  and  the  furniture  is  in  keeping  ; 
the  centre-table,  covered  with  books  and  periodicals,  of  a  character  calculated 
to  improve  the  understanding,  correct  the  judgment,  and  form  the  taste,  is 
not  there.  A  few  antiquated  books,  of  ancestral  inheritance,  a  borrowed 
novel,  with  the  county  paper,  compose  the  literature  of  their  rising  family. 
All  things  look  to  the  great  object  of  the  occupants — the  acquisition  of 
money.  The  little  elegances  and  conveniences  that  render  home  delightful 
are  too  expensive.  They  can  not  have  them,  though  their  interest,  from 
hundreds,  and,  perhaps,  thousands  of  dollars,  secured  by  bond  or  mortgage, 
is  annually  increased  by  a  large  per-centage. 

What  a  contrast  is  this  to  the  neatly  constructed  cottage,  tastefully  adorned 
by  the  hands  of  art.  Seen  in  the  distance,  it  looks  out  from  the  graceful 
shade  of  the  elm  or  the  maple  ;  and  thus  situated,  its  symmetrical  structure, 
neatly  painted,  with  its  green  blinds,  catches  the  eye,  and  calls  forth  the 
admiration  of  the  passing  traveler.  It  gives  beauty  to  the  landscape  around. 
It  is  tiot  a  spot  "  where  distance  lends  enchantment"  merely,  for  a  nearer 
survey  serves  only  to  heighten  the  emotions  already  excited  in  the  mind. 
The  minuter  shades  of  beauty  unite  their  attractions  with  those  more  ex- 
tended, and  the  result  is,  a  keener  relish  is  excited.  The  avenue,  tastefully 
adorned  with  flowers  of  varied  beauty ;  the  lawn,  interspersed  with  shrubs 
and  evergreens  ;  and  the  portico,  where  the  honeysuckle  ^d  the  climbing 
rose  are  trained  gracefully  over  tbe  light  trelHs — all  contribute  to  inspire 
kindly  feelings. 

Enter  the  cottage,  and  we  find  the  interior  in  keeping  with  the  appearance 
without.  Neatness  and  order  meet  the  eye  in  every  department.  Happiness 
appears  to  have  fixed  her  residence  here.  The  books  of  the  well-stored 
library,  and  the  most  useful  periodicals  of  the  day,  occupy  the  leisure  mo- 
ments of  its  inmates,  while  often  the  sweet  tones  of  musical  instruments,  with 
the  sweeter  tones  of  a  human  voice,  soothe  the  agitated  feelings,  and  soften 
the  rugged  asperities  of  life. 

Such  contrasts  are  every  where  apparent  in  our  rural  districts.  There  are 
those  who  despise  every  thing  like  beauty  or  rural  taste.  They  look  upon  it 
as  the  ofispring  of  weak  and  effeminate  minds,  and  their  dwellings  are  in 
striking  coincidence  with  their  sentiments.  They  may,  perhaps,  see  beauty 
in  the  golden  harvest,  because  it  promises  to  increase  their  wealth ;  or  they 
may  admire  their  flocks  and  herds  for  the  same  reason.  But  the  tasteful 
and  the  ornamental  they  leave  for  the  ignorant  dupe  to  admire — despising 
the  beauties  that  God  hath  scattered  around  us  in  so  rich  abundance. 

The  question  is  often  asked  with  a  sneer,  to  what  profit  is  all  this  array  of 
flowers,  and  shrubs,  and  walks,  and  shade-trees  ?  Thei/  can  eat,  and  drink, 
and  sleep  quietly  without  them.  And  so  can  the  brute  ;  and  the  swine,  or 
the  ox,  if  they  could  gain  access  to  such  a  scene,  would  soon  render  it  all 
deformity  and  desolation  again.  But,  still,  these  things  exert  a  mighty  in- 
fluence upon  men.  They  give  rise  to  actions  and  states  of  mind  that  go  far, 
not  only  to  shape  our  present  and  futtire  condition,  but  to  influence  the  com- 
munity. Silently  they  tell  upon  society.  As  the  mind  acts  on  every  thing 
around  it,  so  a  reflex  influence  is  exerted  upon  it,  which  gives  shape  and 
coloring  to  future  Hfe.  What,  then,  is  the  influence  that  a  correct  taste, 
manifested  in  connection  with  the  endeared  spot  called  home,  will  exert  ? 
Objects  that  act  upon  the  mind,  tend  to  bring  it  into  sympathy  with  them. 
They  impart,  in  some  degree,  their  own  character  ;  they  leave  the  impress  of 
themselves.     Where  all  is  deformity  and  disorder  without  and  within  a 


662  TASTE  IN   RURAL  HOMES — ITS  INFLUENCE. 

dwelling,  no  wonder  if  we  see  character  and  actions  corresponding  ;  no  won- 
der if  we  bear  the  profane  oath,  the  vulgar  jeer,  and  witness  manners  that  are 
rude  and  coarse.  All  the  objects  around  tend  to  foster  these,  rather  than  to 
elevate  or  refine  the  feelings.  In  the  absence  of  all  that  is  chaste  and  beau- 
tiful, we  must  expect  coarseness  and  vulgarity.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
objects  around  them  to  restrain  the  ungovernable  passions  of  our  nature,  or 
to  soften  the  asperities  of  an  uncultivated  mind. 

But  the  beauties  created  by  a  refined  taste,  tend  to  produce  the  opposite 
of  all  this.  True,  the  depravity  of  our  natures  may  influence  a  person  to 
break  through  all  restraint,  and  to  set  at  defiance  every  influence.  But  this 
does  not  disprove  the  legitimate  eftect  of  the  influence  in  question.  The 
beautiful  will  impart  its  character  as  well  as  the  rude  ;  and,  under  its  power, 
what  is  coarse  and  vulgar  will  be  held  in  check,  and  the  delicate  and  refined 
be  invigorated.  In  the  calm  moments  of  reflection,  the  mind  perceives  that 
the  brutal  iind  angry  passions  are  intruders  amid  scenes  sacred  to  refine- 
ment ;  that  coarseness  and  vulgarity  are  rendered  more  hideous  and  de- 
formed when  surrounded  by  the  beautiful  and  sublime.  You  may  often 
judge  the  character  of  the  inmates  of  a  cottage  by  the  scenery  around. 
Where  neatness,  and  order,  and  taste  reign  without,  you  may  expect  refine- 
ment and  intelligence  within.  Even  the  child  that  meets  you  will  exhibit  a 
disposition  moulded  by  the  influences  around  him,  and  the  stranger  may  ex- 
pect civility  ancj  a  hospitable  welcome  within.  "  The  manners  of  the 
roughest  clown  will  be  somewhat  subdued,  as  he  enters  the  threshold  erected 
And  furnished  by  a  refined  taste." 

It  may  be  said,  that  the  time  spent  in  adorning  our  homes,  and  thus  ren- 
dering them  pleasant,  tends  to  foster  habits  of  idleness,  and  to  the  neglect  of 
more  important  business.  But  such  assertions  are  generally  false.  A  culti- 
vated taste  is  more  generally  the  ally  of  industry.  Do  we  .find  the  inmates 
of  a  tastefully-adorned  cottage  among  the  idle,  or  the  profligate ;  among 
tavern-haunters  and  gamblers,  or  the  inmates  of  a  poor-house  ?  The  reverse 
is  true.  And  if  the  idle  and  intemperate  would  spend  the  time  they  squan- 
der, and  the  money  they  worse  than  waste,  in  pampering  their  appetites  and 
lusts,  in  efforts  to  render  their  homes  attractive  and  happy,  they  might  bless 
their  families  with  many  comforts,  and  many  sources  of  pleasure  of  which 
they  are  now  destitute,  and  these  would  bind  them  more  closely  in  aflfoc- 
tion,  and  make  them  and  the  community  happier.  Or  lot  the  avari- 
cious raiser  spend  but  a  part  of  the  interest  of  his  wealth  in  thus  cultivating 
in  the  minds  of  his  offspring  a  correct  feeling  and  taste,  he  might  do  society 
a  favor,  and,  perhaps,  save  his  children  from  forming  tastes  and  habits  that 
shall  only  fit  them  to  curse  his  memory,  and  squander  his  hard-earned  trea- 
sures, when  he  shall  be  silent  in  the  grave.  The  man  of  cultivated  taste 
employs  his  leisure  moments  in  adorning  his  dwelling,  and  thus  secures  his 
object  without  encroaching  upon  the  time  demanded  for  more  substantial 
employment ;  while  the  fault-finder  employs  these  moments  in  sleep,  or  idle- 
ness, or  gossip  with  kindred  minds,  or  in  slandering  the  neighbor  whom  he 
envies ;  and  thus,  while  his  business  thrives,  his  cottage  and  garden  assume 
an  air  of  neatness  and  comfort.  His  children,  instead  of  being  j^ft  to  patrol 
the  streets  in  search  of  company  or  mischief,  listening  to  the  vulgar  ribaldry 
and  pfofaneness  of  uneducated  minds,  or  mingling  in  the  angry  broils  that 
disturb  the  quiet,  are  taught  to  find  enjoyment  amid  the  beauties  with  which 
they  are  surrounded,  or  to  engage  in  the  active  labor  of  adorning  their  home, 
and  rendering  it  happy.  The  trees  and  flowers,  cultivated  with  their  own 
hands,  become  as  it  were  the  companions  of  theii'  childhood,  and  an  attach- 


THE  IMPORTANCE   OF   FARM   REGISTERS.  663 

ment  is  thus  often  formed  for  home,  that  saves  them  from  the  vortex  of  dissi- 
pation, and  checks  the  roving,  restless  disposition  often  exhibited  in  youth. 
A  taste  is  thus  formed,  and  habits  of  industry,  that  are  the  precursors  of  suc- 
cess in  future.  It  costs  but  little  time  or  money  to  make  a  rural  home  in- 
viting. I  do  not  argue  for  expensive  and  costly  adornments.  Many  are  the 
flowers  and  shrubs,  indigenous  to  cur  native  soil,  that  surpass  in  beauty  many 
exotics.  And  these  may  be  easily  transferred  to  ornament  our  residence. 
Where  other  circumstances  are  in  equal  ratio,  it  is  believed  that  the  man  of 
taste  will  be  the  most  prosperous  and  happy  man.  And  the  family  brought 
up  under  such  an  influence,  will  be  the  most  orderly,  useful,  and  industrious 
members  of  society.  A  writer  has  well  remarked,  "  when  I  see  the  new 
married  couple  with  no  object  about  them  tasteful,  by  a  kind  of  instinct,  I 
mark  them  out  for  ultimate  poverty." 

Let  a  correct  taste  be  diftused  through  the  community,  and  what  a  trans- 
formation would  the  landscape  present.  The  unsightly  deformities  of  nature 
would  be  concealed,  or  moulded  into  shape.  The  hill-top  would  be  leveled, 
or  crowned  with  beauty  ;  the  morass  be  changed  into  the  luxuriant  meadow, 
and  the  unsightly  avenue  shaped  to  romantic  beauty.  And  who  would  say 
that  society  would  not  be  happier  ?  In  what  neighborhood  would  you  wish 
to  fix  your  residence ;  where  there  is  an  absence  of  all  that  can  delight  the 
eye,  where  all  was  deformity  and  disorder,  or  amid  the  abodes  of  refinement 
and  taste,  however  lowly. 

What,  then,  is  the  duty  of  parents  in  relation  to  this  subject  ?  Children 
are  generally  pleased  with  the  beautiful  in  nature ;  and  in  the  forming 
period  of  life,  it  needs  but  little  effort  to  give  a  right  direction  in  this  re- 
spect to  their  feelings  and  pui-suits.  The  effort  of  the  parent  seems  only 
secondingnature  in  her  struggles  for  development.  But  such  I  deem  is  not 
the  part  of  wisdom.  Among  other  preventives  against  vice  and  dissipation, 
against  idleness  and  profligacy,  against  boorishness  and  vulgarity  of  manners, 
let  the  parent  early  inculcate  in  the  mind  of  his  child  a  love  of  the  beautiful 
and  sublime.  Let  him  train  him  up  to  habits  of  order,  neatness,  and  indus- 
try, and  early  cultivate  the  feeling  that  he  must  lay  the  world  under  obliga- 
tion to  him,  because  he  render  the  little  world  about  him,  the  sphere  in 
which  he  moves,  more  happy,  more  fertile,  and  more  beautiful. 

HORTENSIO. 


FOR   THE  PLOUGH,  THE   LOOM,  AND  THE  ANVIL, 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  FARM  REGISTERS  AND  FARM  ACCOUNTS. 

Messrs.  Editors  : — Perhaps  there  is  nothing  of  so  much  importance,  that 
is  so  much  neglected  by  the  farmer,  as  the  practice  of  keeping  a  diary,  or 
farm  register,  and  a  strict  account  of  all  his  receipts  and  expenditures.  How 
many  farmers  are  there  within  the  circle  of  your  acquaintance,  who  can  tell 
how  much  money  they  have  received  during  the  year,  and  for  what ;  whether 
the  profits,  if  any,  have  been  derived  from  their  corn,  hay,  or  wheat,  from 
their  horses,  cattle,  or  hogs,  and  upon  which  they  have  sustained  a  loss ; 
■whether  their  crops  have  been  worked  in  due  season,  and  with  a  judicious 
economy  in  every  particular ;  how  much  corn,  or  its  equivalent,  it  will  take 
to  produce  a  pound  of  beef  or  pork,  and  what  method  of  feeding  will  give 
the  greatest  return.     I  fear  that,  upon  examination,  the  number  found  who 


664:  TAKE  CARE   OF   YOUR  FRUIT. 

could  answer  these  questions  correctly  would  be  few  indeed.  And  why  is  it 
so?  One  reason  is,  the  careless  and  shiftless  manner  in  which  farmers  gene- 
rally manage  every  thing  connected  with  farm  work.  What  would  )ou  say 
of  the  merchant  who  followed  his  business  in  such  a  manner,  some  branches 
of  his  business  being  attended  with  a  certain  loss,  and  unknown  to  him, 
solely  because  he  neglected  to  keep  a  strict  account  upon  each  branch  ?  You 
would  say,  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  sell  out,  sooner  or  later,  to  save  the 
sheriff  the  trouble.  But  the  merchant,  even  in  our  small  county  towns, 
deems  it  indispensable  to  success  in  business  to  keep  an  accurate  account  of 
every  transaction.  Then  let  the  farmer  adopt  such  a  course.  Let  him  keep 
an  accurate  account  of  his  receipts  and  expenditures,  profit  and  loss,  upon 
each  item,  and  every  branch  of  his  business,  or  with  every  field.  Let  him 
carry  a  small  book  in  his  pocket,  and  daily  note  down  the  various  items  of 
work  for  each  day,  together  with  such  practical  suggestions  as  may  occur  to 
his  mind ;  and,  my  word  for  it,  he  will  find  himself  much  the  gainer  in  a 
pecuniary  point  of  view,  while  he  secures,  also,  much  gratification  and  plea- 
sure in  a  review  of  his  labor  from  year  to  year.  The  farmer  would  then 
know  at  a  glance  from  what  c/ops,  what  class  of  animals,  and  what  course  of 
management,  he  receives  the  greatest  profits,  and  on  what  he  sustains  loss. 
"Would  not  this  be  a  knowledge  of  the  greatest  benefit  in  determining  his 
course  for  the  future  ?  Let  this  practice  become  general,  and  the  benefits 
arising  from  it  would  soon  be  made  manifest  in  the  improved  condition  of 
the  farming  community.  They  would  be  seen  in  the  greater  interest  which 
would  be  awakened  in  those  who  now  follow  in  the  same  old,  beaten  paths 
which  their  fathers  trod,  and  who  keep  no  accounts  except  such  as  they  record 
with  chalk.  We  should  then  see  a  desire  on  the  part  of  farmers  to  possess 
a  "  little  farm,  well  tilled,"  rather  than  to  add  acre  upon  acre  to  their 
already  large  estate,  which  has  been  rendered  unproductive  by  shallow  plow- 
ing, scanty  manuring,  and  a  hurried  cultivation.  We  should  then  see  agri- 
culture taking  that  stand  which  its  merits  demand.  J.  W.  A. 
2fo.  Neva-Saiem,  Mass. 


TAKE  CARE  OF  YOUR  FRUIT. 

Now  is  the  time — and  the  caution  would  have  been  better  a  month 
earlier — to  look  to  your  trees.  The  enemy  is  upon  you  who  is  as  deadly  as 
the  Philistines.  If  you  find  him  and  secure  him,  well ;  if  not,  you  will  pro- 
bably have  occasion  to  regret  the  failure  hereafter. 

Prof.  Mapes  gives  directions  to  pour  boiling  water  on  the  lower  part  of  the 
trunk  of  peach  trees,  a  quantity  sufficient  to  cook  the  worm,  doing  no  harm 
to  the  tree.  Three  gallons  of  boiling  water,  he  says,  may  be  used  around 
each  tree. 

In  manuring  trees,  apply  the  manure,  not  around  the  trunk,  but  nearly 
under  the  extremities  of  the  branches.  The  roots  extend  about  as  for  under 
ground,  generally,  as  do  the  branches  above  it,  though,  of  course,  the  ratio  is 
not  exact  nor  uniform,  but  modified  by  the  soils,  moisture,  &c,*,  as  well  as  by 
the  nature  of  the  tree. 

We  have  before  stated  that  it  is  our  belief  that  peach  trees  do  better  if  not 
transplanted,  but  allowed  to  stand  where  they  came  up.  We  have  Known 
such  trees,  and  only  such,  bear  fruit  well  for  more  than  twenty  years. 
Others  attach  no  importance  to  this  fact.  But  we  should  like  to  hear  of 
transplanted  peach  trees  bearing  good  croj^s  for  that  length  of  time.  Such 
ave  not  come  under  our  observation.  . 


FARMING  IN   EAST  TENNESSEE.  665 


FOR  THE  PLOCGH,  THE  LOOM,  AND  THE  ANYIL. 

FARMING  IN  FAST  TENNESSEE-GOOD  CORN-BREAD. 

Dear  Editors  : — After  a  drought  of  over  twelve  months,  a  fine,  seasona- 
ble rain  has  this  week  fallen.  All  nature  is  now  enlivened,  invigorated,  and 
revived.  Wheat,  clover,  timothy,  and  grazing  grounds,  are  spreading  their 
lovely  green  mats  to  the  eye,  promising  a  rich  harvest.  Our  farmers  have 
had  every  possible  advantage  during  the  winter,  to  early  pitch  a  crop  this 
spring ;  and  most  of  us  are  at  least  one  month  in  advance  of  our  usual  time 
of  readiness  for  planting.  Many  are  done  ploughing,  and  are  waiting  the 
proper  time  to  plant.  The  drought  has  been  anomalous  ;  and  many  of  our 
old  weather-astrologers  say  that  the  rainy  season  will  now  pay  all  it  owes 
us.  But,  in  the  face  of  this  prophecy,  our  hope  is,  that  such  will  be  the 
order  of  providence,  that  an  abundance  of  the  good  things  of  the  land  will  be 
gathered  in  due  time ;  for  the  effect  of  the  drought  has  been  upon  the  soil 
to  mellow  and  pulverize  it.  The  dry  winter,  which  has  been  cold,  has  done 
much  in  this  important  particular  ;  and,  indeed,  something  very  uncommon 
or  unnatural  must  take  place,  or  a  beautiful  crop  of  all  kinds  must  result. 
But  temjjus  omnia  revelat.  Then,  if  time  reveals  all  things,  without  time,  all 
things  cannot  be  revealed.  So,  time  only  can  reveal  the  certainty  of  our 
coming  crop-season.  But  when  I  set  down  to  write,  I  thought  to  have  been 
able  to  draft  something  worthy  of  your  columns  ;  but  it  is  said, 

-some  in  spite 


Of  their  blundering,  will  ignorance  write." 

So  it  is  with  me  ;  but,  then,  an  excuse  prompts  me  that 

"A  little  nonsense  DOW  and  then. 
Is  relished  by  the  beet  of  men." 

So,  if  I  can  hope  to  entertain  you  personally  for  a  moment,  I  shall  be  amply 
requited,  without  humiUatlng  your  very  valuable  periodical  with  its  publica- 
tion. And,  now,  if  your  kindness  will  in  any  way  justify  the  preliminary,  I 
will  take  up  my  experience  in  furnishing  your  many  agricultural  readers  with 
what  I  believe  to  be  indispensable  in  furnishing  for  the  table  a  good,  palata- 
ble, nice,  luxurious  necessary  for  that  department — to  wit:  Corn-Bread. 
This  article  of  food  stands  in  the  West  at  least  at  the  head  of  our  hst  of  ne- 
cessaries ;  and  it  is  but  little  trouble  to  make  it,  likewise  a  luxury.  I  have, 
as  your  readers  no  doubt  all  have,  before  now,  seen  the  paper  account  of  what 
I  may  say,  and  I  can  only  insist  upon  a  trial ;  and  if,  upon  a  trial,  the  value 
of  the  method  is  not  acknowledged,  then  it  will  be  that  I  shall  be  for  once 
deceived.  Your  readers  all  know  that  to  have  good,  palatable  food  on  the 
table,  the  art  and  mystery  lies  not  altogether  in  the  cookery.  This  is  merely 
one  part  of  the  business,  that  must  be  well  understood,  and  properly  attended 
to  ;  and,  generally,  our  good  housewives  are  adepts  in  this  method  without 
our  aid.  Then  it  is  the  business  of  the  male  department  to  see  that  the 
article  for  cookery  is  furnished  in  the  pantry,  clean,  swett,  and  nice,  unmixed 
with  any  foreign  matter,  and  prepared  in  the  proper  manner.  Well,  what 
of  corn-bread  ?  Some,  I  know,  prefer  old  Virginia  ash-cakes,  as  we  are 
pleased  to  call  them,  and  do  not  intend  invidiousness  when  we  apply  the 
term  either,  for  they  are  good.  So  are  our  johnny-cakes,  hoe-cakes,  dod- 
gers, etc.  The  peculiar  manner  of  baking  to  taste,  I  do  not  wish  to  talk 
about ;  but  the  way  and  manner  of  furnishing  the  meal  for  the  cook  is  the 


666  NASCENT   MANURES. 


object  of  my  writing ;  and  this,  as  I  said,  is  the  result  of  a  trial  upon  my 
former  reading.  And  what  is  the  secret  ?  It  is  this  :  Gather  the  corn  ia 
the  fall,  of  course,  when  it  become  ripe,  and  put  up  dry  in  the  shuck — shuck 
and  shell  as  needed  to  grind  for  use — and  by  this  means  alone  you  will  se- 
cure bread  with  all  the  glutinous,  saccharine  qualities  of  new  corn-bread,  at 
all  seasons  of  the  year.  I  suppose  it  need  not  be  insisted  that  new  corn-bread 
is  nicer  and  more  palatable  than  old,  for  this  is  not  debatable.  The  shuck, 
if  drj',  serves  as  a  preserver  of  the  corn  in  its  native,  sweet  state.  Shuck  it, 
and  no  apartment  will  keep  it  in  like  condition.  The  atmosphere  seems  to 
extract  from  the  grain  the  qualities  alluded  to,  and  leave  it  dry,  brittle, 
and  tasteless,  when  made  into  meal  and  baked.  I  hope,  and,  in  charity,  ex- 
pect, that  no  one  will  trifle  with  this  simple  suggestion  of  mine,  until  hesliall, 
as  I  have  done,  found  his  opinion  on  actual  experiment;  for,  in  my  acquaint- 
ance, our  farmers  generally,  and  almost  universally,  shuck  their  corn,  and 
crib  it  in  the  ear  in  bulk,  after  being  so  shucked.  This,  for  stock-feeding, 
can  yet  be  done,  but  fur  table  use,  it  should  not  be  so  done.  Will  any  of 
your  readers,  who  have  not,  try  the  plan  and  report ;  and,  in  the  event  of 
disagreement,  suggest  some  other  and  better  mode  of  harvesting  and  pre- 
serving corn  for  bread.  The  one  now  used  is  certainly  admitted  by  all  as 
objectionable,  in  many  particulars,  which  I  need  not  take  time  to  enumerate. 
Very  respectfully,  A.  L.  B. 

MiU  Bend,  Ten.,  March  15,  1855. 


NASCENT     MANURES. 

This  matter  of  mineral  and  vegetable  manures,  their  real  value,  proper 
use,  etc.,  can  scarcely  be  overrated  in  its  importance. 

We  find  a  le;irned  essay  on  this  subject  from  Dr.  Stewart,  of  Baltimore, 
in  the  Americo'.i  Farmer ;  and  though  Ave  are  not  quite  ready  to  endorse 
all  the  opinions  of  learned  chemists  on  this  subject,  we  think  the  following 
very  valuable.  The  appropriation  of  simple  gases,  which  these  gentlemen 
deny,  is  not  yet  disproved  in  our  judgment;  but  we  hSpe  soon  to  have  the 
whole  story  from  them,  or  one  amply  qualified  to  treat  the  subject,  namely, 
the  writer  of  the  following  : 

"  Reasoning  from  analogy,  all  manures  must  be  presented  to  the  plant  in 
the  nascent  state,  in  order  to  their  assimilation ;  but  a  safer  proposition,  per- 
haps, would  be,  that  many  elements  of  plants,  while  they  exist  in  their  nor- 
mal or  natural  condition,  are  as  perfectly  unassimilable,  or  as  incapable  of 
affording  nourishment  to  them,  as  they  are  to  animals. 

A  hundred  illustrations  of  this  law  will  at  once  occur  to  every  intelligent 
mind  ;  and  the  facility  with  v?hicli  even  inorganic  compounds  unite  while  in 
the  nascent  form,  is  familiar  to  all.  Every  molecule  of  matter,  whether 
composed  of  compound,  or  simple  atoms,  seems  to  have  a  form  of  its  own, 
and  until  it  has  assumed  this  form,  or  state  of  aggregation,  it  is  in  the  nascent 
state,  or  in  an  allotropic  condition.  ' 

While  in  this  nascent  state,  its  tendency  to  unite  with  other  bodies  which 
have  an  affinity  for  it,  is  wonderfully  increased ;  indeed,  it  is  often  the  only 
condition  in  which  two  substances  will  combine.  The  celebrated  Faraday 
attached  so  much  importance  to  this  nascent,  as  contrasted  with  the  normal 
condition,  that  a  few  months  since  he  expressed  the  opinion  that  ozone  is 
merely  oxygen  in  the  nascent,  or  allotropic  condition. 


NASCENT   MANURES.  667 


Lime  and  magnesia,  when  recently  slacked,  are  capable  of  uniting  more 
freely  with  other  substances ;  if,  however,  the  slacked  lime  or  magnesia  is 
kept  for  a  long  time,  even  although  perfectly  excluded  from  the  air,  it  will 
gradually  assume  the  form  of  granules,  and  subsequently  these  molecules 
will  form  crystals,  or  the  lowest  order  of  organisms ;  and  these  organisms 
seem  to  possess  a  degree  of  resistance  to  external  force  analogous  to  the 
resistance  of  the  higher  organisms ;  indeed,  the  more  perfect  crystals  of  the 
same  substance,  and  in  the  same  solution,  will  grow  and  become  more  per- 
fect, at  the  expense  of  those  which  are  irregular.  Upon  this  principle,  the 
imperfect  crystals  may  be  said  to  be  approximating  to  the  allotropic  condition, 
or  nascent  state,  while  the  perfect  crystal  is  in  the  normal  condition. 

It  may  be  said  that  extent  of  surface  is  one  of  the  causes  of  this,  and  a 
better  illustration  is  sand,  or  quartz,  which  is, perfectly  insoluble  in  its  natural 
or  normal  condition,  however  fine  the  powder,  even  in  some  of  the  strongest 
acids.  But  sand  or  silica  is  frequently  found  in  the  nascent  condition,  and 
then  it  dissolves  readily  m  water;  moreover,  it  can  be  kept  in  this  condition 
for  years ;  but  if  heated  to  the  temperature  of  260°  it  assumes  its  normal 
condition,  and  becomes  perfectly  insoluble  even  in  acids  ;  whereas  before,  it 
would  dissolve  in  acids,  alkalies,  or  pure  water. 

Lime  and  magnfsia,  while  in  the  caustic  state,  are  capable  of  converting 
sand  into  soluble  silica ;  and  this  is  perhaps  one  of  the  good  effects  of  liming, 
especially  when  we  consider  the  remarkable  influence  that  soluble  sihca 
exerts  in  absorbing  ammonia  from  the  atmosphere,  and  also  from  ammoui- 
acal  manures.  We  may  also  account  thus  for  the  crumbling  of  stable  walls, 
the  moist  condition  of  old  walls,  and  especially  those  that  are  exposed  to  am- 
moniacal  exhalations.  Moreover,  we  have  a  plausible  mode  of  accounting 
for  nitre  beds,  and  the  remarkable  value  of  old  plaster ;  also  the  purifying 
influence  of  '  white-waging,'  if  it  is  done  with  caustic  hme,  and  not  with 
whiting  or  carbonate  of  hme.  Lime,  while  caustic  and  moist,  in  contact  with 
sand,  converts  a  small  part  of  the  surface  of  the  grains  of  sand  from  the  in- 
soluble to  the  soluble  silica;  and  this  is  the  reason  why  caustic  lime  is  neces- 
sary to  the  formation  of  good  mortar,  as  it  is  not  (as  is  almost  universally 
supposed)  a  mere  mechanical  mixture  of  hme  and  sand,  neither  is  it  grains 
of  sand  cemented  together  by  the  induration  of  lime,  but  the  actual  solution 
of  the  surface  of  the  grains  of  sand  produces  a  still  more  intimate  union. 

Well,  this  soluble  silica  gradually  absorbs  from  the  atmosphere  the  ammo- 
nia, for  wLich  it  has  a  remarkable  affinity  ;  and  as  ammonia  is  the  vehicle  of 
poisonous  exhalations  of  disease,  as  well  as  the  perfume  of  flowers,  these 
exhalations  are  so  concentrated  upon  the  walls  of  hospitals,  that  it  sometimes 
becomes  necessary  to  remove  the  plastering,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  Erysipelas 
and  other  diseases. 

Nearly,  or  quite  all  of  the  nitric  acid  of  commerce,  was  no  doubt  originally 
derived  from  ammonia,  in  the  order  above  referred  to ;  for,  if  my  theory,  as 
above  stated,  is  admitted,  then,  every  authority  will  sustain  me  in  saying  that 
old  plaster  contains  ammonia,  and  this  ammonia  is  converted  into  nitric  acid 
on  the  waU.  Salts  of  nitric  acid  can  be  seen  by  any  one  on  the  surface  of 
old  walls.  Moreover,,  the  leachings  of  old  walls  have  frequently  been  used 
in  the  manufacture  of  gunpowder,  and  old  plaster  always  enters  into  toe 
composition  of  artificial  nitre  beds. 

It  will  be  readily  admitted  that  silica  can  never  enter  the  rootlet  of  a  plant, 
however  fine  the  powder,  unless  it  is  in  solution,  and  that  the  finest  powder 
of  sand  or  silica  differs  as  much  in  solubility  from  nascent  silica,  as  sand  dif- 
fers from  sugar.     The  importance,  then,  of  soluble  silica  to  grasses  and 


668  NASCENT   MANURES. 


wheat,  and  especially  to  corn  ;  and,  indeed,  its  value  as  manure  has  loner 
been  recosfnised  ;  (see  Liebig's  Chemistry,  Am.  Ed,  1841,  p.  200.) 

It  was  tirst  supposed  that  potash  was  the  vehicle  for  its  conveyance  to 
every  part  of  the  plant;  but  the  modern  idea  is,  that  ammonia  is  the  main 
instrument  of  its  conveyance ;  certain  it  is,  that  it  loses  its  base  at  the  instant 
of  its  deposition  on  the  stem  ;  and  if  potash  were  the  base,  then  it  would  be 
necessary  that  the  potash  be  carried  back  agaia  to  the  earth,  and  the  plant 
would  be  constantly  embarrassed  by  the  excrementitious  matter ;  whereas, 
the  ammonia  being  volatile,  evaporates,  and  leaves  the  glassy  coating,  or  ele- 
ment of  strength,  on  the  surface  of  the  stem.  Thus,  it  is  found  that  more 
ammonia  is  actually  exhaled  from  plants  than  we  ever  give  them  in  the  form 
of  manure ;  and  it  is  strongly  suspected  that  soluble  silica  is  really  the  ma- 
nure, while  ammonia  is  merely  the  vehicle  for  the  conveyance  of  soluble 
silica  through  the  plant. 

When  the  carcass  of  an  animal  falls  in  a  field,  the  luxuriant  grass  or  grain 
'  falls,'  on  account  of  the  absence  of  the  relative  amount  of  soluble  silica,  or 
the  excess  of  ammonia  uses  up  at  once  all  of  this  necessary  element  that  is 
available. 

Two  years  since,  I  manured  two  lauds  in  the  centre  of  my  oats  field,  the 
one  with  Peruvian  Guano,  and  the  other  with  soluble  silica,  leaving  a  land 
unmauured  between.  The  proportion  of  straw  on  the  guanoed  land  was 
very  much  increased ;  but  last  summer,  the  same  field  was  in  wheat,  and  a 
corresponding  diminution  in  the  proportion  of  straw  waa^^ noticed  on  the  land 
that  had  been  guanoed  two  years  since ;  and  what  is  more  remarkable,  the 
lands  on  each  side  of  the  guanoed  land,  averaged  746  lbs.  more  of  wheat 
straw  per  acre,  although  no  manure  of  any  kind  had  been  applied  to  either 
since  it  was  in  oats.  Whereas,  the  silicated  land  not  only  produced  more 
straw  than  either  of  its  unmanured  neighbors,  but  also  excelled  the  guanoed 
land  in  wheat  nearly  three  bushels  per  acre,  and  ripened  earlier  than  any 
other  part  of  the  field. 

The  difference  between  the  silicated  land  and  the  unmanured,  averaged 
1906  lbs.,  while  it  also  produced  nine  and  one  tenth  bushels  of  wheat  more 
than  the  adjoining  unmanured  lands. 

A  land  of  ray  oats  field  of  last  summer,  exhibited  the  same  increase  in 
the  weight  of  the  straw,  although  no  silicates  have  been  applied  since  it  was 
in  corn  two  years  since. 

But  the  most  remarkable  result  was  obtained  in  my  corn  field  of  this 
year,  where  the' corn  on  the  silicated  portion  averaged  93  lbs.  per  shock, 
while  the  part  unmanured  only  weighed  42  lbs.  per  shock  ;  each  shock 
represented  64  hills  of  corn,  and  the  average  of  31  shocks  was  taken.  This 
manure  was  applied  in  my  presence,  and  I  jiersonally  gathered  ami  weighed 
the  produce  of  each  separate  shock  in  the  field,  with  my  own  hands;  there- 
fore, I  can  vouch  for  the  correctness  of  the  results.  And  now,  can  we  not 
account  for  the  well  known  and  remarkable  officHcy  of  dissolved  bones  on 
this  principle,  when  compared  with  normal  phMsphate  of  lime,  whether  it  be 
in  the  form  of  bone-ash,  ground  bones,  or  phosphatic  guano  ? 

Bones  have  been  used  with  profit,  at  the  rate  of -^20  to  $60  per  acre;  and 
it  has  been  repeatedly  demonstrated  that  one  bushel  of  dissolved  bones,  for 
immediate  effect,  is  equal  to  five  times  as  much  ground  bones  ;  in  other 
words,  that  one  pound  of  nascent  or  soluble  phosphate  of  lime,  is  worth  more 
than  five  pounds  of  normal  or  natural  phosphate  of  lime,  or  bone  earth.  It 
will  be  admitted  that  every  acre  of  land  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  containa 
from  one-tenth  of  one,  to  four  per  cent,  of  lime  and  magnssia ;  and  of  only 


NASCENT   MANURES.  669 


one-tenth  of  one  per  cent,  at  the  depth  of  cultivation,  even  then,  each  acre 
must  contain  1500  to  2000  lbs.  of  lime  and  magnesia.  Now,  it  is  manifest 
if  10,  or  even  30  bushels  of  dissolved  bones  v?ere  applied  to  an  acre,  the  first 
rain  would  convert  all  of  the  free  phosphoric  acid,  or  bi-phosphates  that  they 
contain,  into  neutral  nascent  sub-phosphates  ;  and  it  is  therefore  nascent  sub- 
phosphate  of  time  that  is  taken  up  and  assimilated  by  the  plant.  Thus,  we 
are  enabled  to  account  for  the  wonderful  effects  of  what  are  called  in  com- 
merce, bi-phosphates,  which  really  contain  very  little  free  phosphoric  acid,  but 
all  of  the  phosphoric  acid  exists  as  natural  nascent  phosphate  of  lime. 

The  fact  is,  that  dissolved  bones  are  unmanageable  as  a  manure  in  this 
country,  [in  England,  bi-phosphates  are  applied  in  solution,]  until  reduced 
from  a  fluid  to  the  form  of  a  powder,  by  the  means  of  ivory  black,  guano, 
or  some  less  valuable  diluent;  and  the  universal  distribution  of  carbonates  of 
lime,  etc.,  in  these,  converts  nearly  all  of  the  bi-phosphates  into  neutral 
nascent  phosphates  or  sub-phosphates.  During  the  past  summer  I  have  been 
experimenting  on  two  separate  fields,  with  four  of  .these  compounds,  two  of 
which  were  made  in  New- York,  and  two  in  Baltimore.  The  most  remark- 
able results  were  obained  from  experiments  made  upon  a  few  hills  of  corn. 
But  I  will  confine  my  statement  to  two  series,  where  whole  rows  of  shocks 
were  compared  with  contiguous  unmanured  rows  ;  the  average  of  23  shocks, 
each  shock  representing  64  hills,  exhibited  a  difference  of  about  25  per 
cent.;  or  the  manured  weighed  56  lbs.,  while  the  unmanured  weighed  42 
lbs.  per  shock ;  and  these  manures  were  applied  in  my  presence,  at  the  rate 
of  ten  bushels  per  acre  broadcast ;  and  I  gathered  and  weighed  the  corn  in 
the  field  myself. 

Now,  it  is  most  probable  that  no  atom  of  free  phosphoric  acid,  or  bi-phos- 
phate  of  lime,  ever  enters  the  rootlet  of  a  plant  without  destroying  it ;  and, 
having  proved  that  a  solution  of  bones  would  necessarily  become  precipitated 
in  contact  with  any  soil,  we  are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  this  -precipitate 
or  nascent  sub-phosphate  is  the  valuable  manure  ;  and  we  take  it  for  granted 
that  it  will  preserve  the  nascent  form  for  some  time  in  moist  situations,  as 
we  know  that  moist  oxide  of  iron  will  continue  to  preserve  this  form,  as  the 
antidote  for  arsenic,  for  weeks  together.  Ultimately,  however,  it  also  loses 
the  nascent  and  assumes  the  normal  form,  and  becomes  so  insoluble,  that  five 
times  the  dose  is  required,  in  order  to  afford  the  soluble  material  for  the 
same  proportion  of  arsenic.  Thus  it  is  with  phosphatic  guanoes  and  bone 
dust;  none  of  them  are  absolutely  insoluble  in  pure  water,  and  when  thus 
dissolved  as  sub-phosphates,  they  are  converted  into  the  nascent  form,  and 
more  readily  re-dissolved  than  before  their  solution. 

The  contact  of  a  piece  of  wood  or  string  has  been  known  to  hasten  the 
solubility  of  the  most  insoluble  substances  ;  for  instance,  the  inner  part  of 
the  metaUic  worm  of  a  still,  opposite  a  wooden  support  has  been  known  to 
dissolve  in  the  distilled  water  passing  through  it,  and  the  same  remark  is 
made  with  regard  to  hydrant  pipes ;  the  normal  condition  of  insoluble  bodies 
is  then  disturbed,  and  the  allotropic  or  nascent  condition  produced,  by  con- 
tact with  vegetable  substances  in  a  state  of  change  ;  this,  then,  may  account 
for  the  influence  of  organic  manures,  and  indicates  the  philosophy  of  the 
modern  plan  of  manuring  in  Europe,  which  is  by  hauhng  out  the  manure 
on  the  field,  load  by  load,  as  it  is  generated,  instead  of  permitting  it  to  fer- 
ment in  heaps  in  the  stable-yard.  Now,  query,  would  it  not  be  still  better 
'to  stratify  it  with  powder  of  feldspar,  phosphorite,  or  phosphatic  guano,  and 
concentrate  this  disturbing  force  of  fermentation  upon  the  elements,  which, 
when  reduced  to  the  nascent  state,  are  worth  more  than  the  one  or  two  per 
cent,  of  alkalies,  etc.,  in  the  manure  itself. 


670  CATTLE  AlfD  THE  PROSPECTS. 

It  is  still  a  question  with  physiologists  whether  nitrogen  is  ever  assimilated 
by  plants,  much  less  by  animals,  in  its  normal  condition  ;  and  it  is  a  curious 
fact,  that  both  the  plant  and  animal  may  starve  when  fed  on  carbonaceous 
food  exclusively,  although  both  are  bathed  in  an  atmosphere  containing  four- 
fifths  of  nitrogen,  which  is  perfectly  useless  to  both,  because  not  presented  in 
the  nascent  form.  David  Stewart,  M.  D., 

Chemist  of  Maryland  State  Ag.  Soc'y- 

Baltimore,  Jan.  2ith,  1865. 


FOR  TIIE  PLOUGH,  THE  LOOM,  AND  TUE  ANVIt. 

CATTLE    AND    THE    PROSPECTS. 

Messrs.  Editors  : — In  this  section  of  the  country,  I  am  confident  that 
beef-cattle  and  milch-cows  will  be  high  for. the  coming  season.  Hay  is,  and 
has  been,  very  high  with  us.  All  the  straw,  and  rough  fodder  of  every  kind, 
has  been  gathered  up  for  the  cattle  and  horses.  Straw,  even,  has  demanded, 
and  still  demands,  a  high  price  throughout  this  section  of  country.  In 
former  years,  we  never  used  to  think  of  selling  straw  at  a  high  price,  unless 
in  the  bundle  ;  and  now  it  readily  commands  $7  per  ton  ;  hay,  at  from  $12 
to  $16  and  $20  ;  and  corn-fodder  at  a  like  rate.  Scarcity  causes  this  great 
demand.  Men  have  large  numbers  of  cattle  on  hand,  and  must  have  some- 
thing to  keep  them  through  the  winter;  and,  rather  than  let  them  starve, 
they  are  willing  to  pay  high  prices  for  their  stores.  Will  this  not  tend,  then, 
to  make  beef  high  ?  Certainly  ;  though  it  is  high  enough  now.  Good,  fat, 
working  oxen,  weighing  from  thirty-four  to  thirty-six  hundred,  have  sold 
here  lately  for  $200  per  pair — showing  that  our  home  market  is  about  as 
good  as  your  city  markets.  I  think  that  the  present  and  prospective  demand 
for  beef  is,  and  will  be,  good,  considering  that  the  forces  in  the  Crimea  will 
have  to  be  fed — not  only  the  English  and  French  troops,  but  also  the  Rus- 
sian. Some  of  our  own  markets  have  not  been  very  well  supplied  with  beef 
during  the  last  year.  This  is  not  strange,  when  we  consider  that,  for  the  last 
year  or  two,  there  has  not  been  much  feed  for  cattle  to  fatten  on  ;  hence  the 
complaint  that  the  New-York  market  is  over-burdened  with  poor  beef.  I 
do  not  see  that  the  prospect  is  likely  to  be  any  better  for  the  year  to  come. 
Cattle,  in  difierent  parts  of  the  country,  are  now  in  a  poor  condition,  and  it 
will  take  some  time  for  them  to  get  fat ;  and,  more  than  that,  they  are  not 
very  numerous  any  where  in  the  United  States.  Butter  is  high,  and  beef  is 
high.  What  is  the  cause  of  it  ?  Scarcity  of  the  articles.  The  milch-cows 
have  been  either  "  dried  up,"  or  sold  in  consequence  of  poor  feed.  Beef- 
cattle  have  been  mostly  picked  up,  though  there  are  yet  thousands  of  them 
left,  with  thousands  of  hungry  people  to  eat  them.  Just  about  here,  I  can 
not  say  that  we  have  many  fat  cattle  to  sell,  nor  a  great  number  of  milch- 
cows,  though  we  think  that  our  country  is  a  very  fair  cattle  region,  com- 
paring favorably  with  most  other^ counties. 

liaising  cattle  is  good  business,  but  producing  hay  is  a  better  business,  at 
present  prices.  A  cow,  or  an  ox,  will  almost  consume  hay  enough,  during  a 
long  winter,  to  buy  its  own  body.  Farmers  could  not  get  along  were  it  not 
for  the  fact  that  they  "  work  in  "  a  great  deal  of  coarse  stores,  including  corn- 
Btalks,  straw,  etc.  Butter,  it  is  true,  is  high ;  but  all  the  cattle  kind  do  not 
give  milk,  but  store  away  fodder,  for  which  the  farmer,  many  times,  does 


PLOUGHING — AMOUNT  OF   TRAVEL.  671 

not  receive  an  equivalent.  Should  we  all  raise  hay  and  no  cattle,  the  result 
would  be,  no  market  for  our  fodder. 

From  private  Western  cori-espondence,  I  learn  that  cattle  are  suffering  for 
want  of  food  in  many  parts  of  Ohio.  This  is  to  be  regretted,  since  that  state 
is  a  great  cheese  and  butter-producing  country.  I  am  of  opinion  that  beef 
and  butter  will  be  high  for  the  coming  season,  though  I  may  be  wide  of  a 
correct  calculation. 

The  prospects  of  the  farmer,  otherwise  considered  for  the  coming  year,  are, 
indeed,  quite  flattering — that  is,  if  he  can  raise  any  thing  to  sell.  His  mis- 
take last  season  was,  that,  in  many  instances,  he  had  nothing  to  dispose  of — 
no  wheat,  not  many  oats,  nor  a  great  supply  of  corn  and  potatoes. 

The  peach-buds  here  seem  to  be  dead.  I  should  think  that  they  bad  re- 
ceived their  death-blow.  The  inside  of  the  bud  is  black,  with  no  indications 
of  life.  Some  of  the  last  year's  shoots  bear  evidence  of  having  been  badly 
bitten  by  the  frost.    Thermometer  stood  here  at  from  25''  to  31-^°  below  zero. 

Very  respectfully,  W.  Tappan. 

Baldwinsville,  N.  Y.,  March  20,  1855.  j 


PLOUGHING  — AMOUNT    OF    TRAVEL. 

The  amount  of  work  required  on  a  given  surface  varies,  of  course,  with  the 
condition  of  the  soil.  Certain  parts  of  the  work  may,  however,  be  accurately 
calculated.  The  number  of  furrows,  of  a  given  width,  the  length  of  fur- 
row traveled  within  given  dimensions,  etc.,  can  be  told  by  an  ordinary  school- 
boy. In  the  Soil  of  the  South,  a  table  is  given,  showing  the  space  traveled 
in  ploughing  an  acre,  with  a  given  width  for  the  furrow.  These  calculations 
are  approximations  to  the  truth,  but  not  quite  accurate.  In  ploughing  a  field 
600  feet  square,  more  than  500  feet  must  be  "  traveled"  in  by  the  team,  or 
even  by  the  ploughman.  The  team  must  travel  at  least  ten  feet  at  each 
end,  beyond  the  termination  of  the  furrow.  Taking  this  estimate  as  accurate, 
and  supposing  the  field  to  be  square,  (for,  with  the  shape  of  the  field,  the 
number  of  furrows,  and  the  "space  traveled,"  will  be  materially  changed,) 
and  the  breadth  of  the  furrow  seven  inches,  the  distance  traveled  by  the  team 
in  ploughing  one  acre  will  be  about  ]5f  miles,  instead  of  14i,  as  iti  the  ta- 
ble. With  a  "furrow  slice  14  inches,"  the  travel  will  not  be,  of  course, 
"seven  miles,"  as  given  in  the  table,  but  something  more  than  1-^,  and  so 
on.  The  calculations,  thus  corrected,  may  be  of  some  interest.  The  table 
as  given  by  our  Southern  friends  is  as  foUov^s : 

Breadth  of  furrow  slice,         Space  traveled  in  ploughing  an  acre. 

14i  miles. 

12^      " 

11        « 

9  " 

8i  " 

U  " 
By  this  rate  of  calculation,  a  furrow  once  in 

2^  feet,  3|  miles. 

3      «  2^     " 


1  inches. 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

672  HORTICULTURAL. 


HORTIOULTU  R  AL. 

The  Vegetable  Garden. — The  earlier  kiuda  of  vegetables  ouglit  to  be 
iu  tbe  ground  by  this  time  ;  and  fimcy  seeds  have  been  started  in  boxes,  or 
under  glass.  The  warm  weather  of  early  May  invites  you  to  give  them 
room  in  the  ground. 

Currants  and  gooseberries,  if  they  were  not  pruned  in  the  fall,  as  it  is  well 
to  do,  should  not  be  neglected  now  for  a  day.  Dig  up  all  the  sods,  grasses, 
etc.,  which  are  about  their  roots,  and  give  them  a  slight  dressing  of  manure, 

Melons  should  be  sown.  Soak  the  seeds  a  few  hours  in  water ;  dig  a  large 
hole  two  feet  deep,  and  three  feet  in  diameter  ;  fill  it  with  good,  rich  loam 
and  fermented  manure,  and  in  this,  when  finely  pulverized,  place  your  seeds 
at  proper  distances,  allowing  for  some  to  come  up  feebly,  or  to  be  destroyed. 
Then  you  will  have  melons.  If  a  cold  storm  is  likely  to  injure  them,  shelter 
them  with  some  kind  of  covering. 

Gardeners  tell  us  that  melons  are  exceptions  to  the  general  rule,  since  their 
seeds,  more  than  one  year  old,  produce  better  fruit,  and  run  less  to  vines 
than  fresher  seeds  do. 

The  Flower  Garden. — Perhaps  this  is  not  yet  laid  out.  If  so,  let  us  sug- 
gest that  there  are  two  styles,  as  we  may  call  them,  in  one  of  which,  the 
whole  plat  is  divided  into  beds  of  various  forms  and  sizes,  separated  by  walks, 
of  greater  or  less  width  ;  and  the  other,  where  the  surface  is  chiefly  covered 
with  grass,  on  which  various  figures  are  cut,  the  grass  and  sods  being  re- 
moved from  them,  leaving  them,  after  proper  cultivation,  in  a  suitable  condi- 
tion for  flowers.  These  may  be  of  various  shapes,  and  forms,  and  sizes, 
including  borders  along  the  walks,  circles,  ellipses,  triangles,  etc.,  with  mounds 
of  various  sizes,  &nd  shapes,  and  heights,  and  shrubs  and  evergreens  duly 
interspersed,  according  to  the  extent  of  the  grounds,  and  the  character  of  the 
surface.  The  latter  style,  generally  speaking,  is  more  to  our  taste  than  the 
former.     There  is  more  of  variety  in  it. 

If  the  flower  garden  is  designed  to  make  a  show  from  the  wiiidows,  the 
walks,  beds,  etc,  should  run  in  a  line  parallel  to  them.  Having  a  side  view, 
the  various  rows  of  flowers  will  all  be  visible,  while  the  naked  ground  will  be 
more  sheltered  from  view. 

Planting,  Etc. — Dahlia-roots,  and  the  like,  may  now  bo  safely  placed  in 
the  ground.  Give  them  a  light  loam,  partly  vegetable,  not  too  rich,  other- 
wise you  will  grow  large  plants  rather  than  flowers. 

Very  soon  it  will  be  time  for  the  smaller  seeds.  Prepare  your  grounds  by 
deep  spading,  removing  all  the  stones  and  laibbish.  Transplant  such  peren- 
nials as  require  it,  dividing  those  roots  that  are  connected  together. 

Plant  the  larger  and  hardier  seeds,  but  not  too  deeply.  Generally,  half  an 
inch  of  depth  is  quite  enough  for  the  largest. 

When  the  apple-blossoms  begin  to  appear,  sow  the  smaller  seeds.  These 
should  only  have  a  little  sprinkling  of  very  fine  earth  sifted  over  them. 

If  you  attempt  to  cultiuate  that  splendid  plant  the  Cypress  vine,  Ipomoea 
Quamodit,  in  which  nineteen  out  of  twenty  fixil,  first  throw  the  seeds  into 
scalding  hot  water,  or  "hot  milk,"  and  let  them  lie  till  the  liquid  is  cold, 
or,  in  other  words,  for  several  hours  ;  then  bury  them  half  an  inch  in  good 
soil,  and  keep  them  alike  from  chills  and  from  drought.  The  seeds  may  be 
planted  in  circles  from  one  to  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter,  at  a  distance  of 


ON  THE  CULTURE  OP  THE  PELARGONIUM.       673 

six  to  nine  inches  apart.  They  should  be  trained  on  twine,  fastened  to  short 
stakes  in  the  circumference  of  the  (jircle,  and  led  to  the  top  of  a  central  stake 
about  six  feet  high ;  or  they  may  be  trained  over  a  trellis,  forming  a  screen. 
If  confident  of  a  vigorous  growth,  the  seeds  may  be  a  foot  or  so  apart.  But 
be  sure  to  plant  the  seeds  as  early  as  the  weather  will  permit. 

Sweet  peas  may  be  planted  in  a  similar  manner. 

Dahlias. — W.  C.  Wilsoi^,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore,  who  has  always  one  of  the 
best  private  collections  of  Dahlias  in  ximerica,  writes  the  Horticulturist ^ 
(and  Mr.  Wilson  is  high  authority)  as  follows : 

"The  following  were  the  best  dahlias  in  this  latitude  last  season,  and  some 
of  them  were  fine  the  previous  vear: 

1.  Reine  des  Beiges.  7.' Victorie.  .     13.  Miss  Ward. 

2.  Mrs.  Hansard.  8.  Cote  d'  Or.  14.  Duchess  of  Kent. 

3.  Emperor  Maroc.  Q.  Jonas.  15.  Gen.  Fauchier. 

4.  Eiegantissima.  10.  Elizabeth.  16.  Unanimity. 

5.  Diamant.  11.  Miss  Wayland.  17.  Flora  Mclvor. 

6.  Hyppolite.  12.  Madam  Zahler.         18.  Forget  me  not. 
These  were  the  best  of  120  varieties.     The  first  five  are  unequalled  as 

fancy  flowers  ;  the  6th,  7th,  and  8th,  are  splendid  self-colored.     The  7th  is 
remarkable  for  its  full  and  perfect  form  ;  color,  a  rich  crimson  maroon." 

How  TO  Sprout  Osage  Orange  Seed. — The  following  plan  for  sprout- 
ing Osage  Orange  seed  may  be  of  use,  as  many  are  unsuccessful  for  want  of 
the  proper  knowledge.  In  the  first  place,  having-  procured  bright,  plump 
seed,  of  last  year's  growth,  if  possible,  put  them  in  a  tight  vessel,  and  pour 
on  them  boiling  water,  until  they  are  covered.  Cover  up,  and  let  them 
stand  until  milk-warm — keeping  them  at  this  temperature,  or  warmer,  until 
they  begin  to  burst  and  sprout.  Keep  a  wet  cloth  on  top  of  the  vessel,  to 
prevent  the  seed  from  becoming  dry.  An  occasional  wetting  with  warm, 
water  will  be  necessary.  A  few  days  after  the  sprouts  begin  to  make  their 
appearance,  the  seed  should  be  planted  out  in  beds  previously  prepared.  If 
the  seed  is  good  and  properly  treated,  they  will  sprout  in  about  two  weeks. 


ON  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE  PELARGONIUM. 

BY   B.   MUNN,    LANDSCAPE    GARDEKER,    NEW-YORK. 

I  HAVE  seen  no  really  fine  geraniums  in  this  country.  The  reason  is  obvi- 
ous, and  is  this :  the  plants  are  not  got  into  a  fit  state  for  blooming  suffi- 
ciently early,  and  they  are  forced  into  bloom  by  the  rapid  increase  of 
temperature  before  they  have  made  and  matured  their  proper  growth.  The 
consequence  of  this  is,  straggling  plants  and  small  flowers. 

Let  me  recommend  some  amateurs  of  the  flower  to  try  the  following  plan  : 
At  this  time  (early  in  February)  many  have  their  geraniums  in  small  pots, 
in  which  they  were  placed  when  cut  down  last  fall.  Repot  them  at  once 
into  pots  eight  or  nine  inches  across,  which  is  large  enough  to  grow  a  pelar- 
gonium in  perfection,  although  they  may  be  produced  larger  in  great  pots. 
The  compost  for  them— one-half  old  hot-bed  manure,  one-half  good  loam, 
with  a  small  portion  of  sand  if  the  loam  is  stiff.  Put  one  piece  of  broken 
pot  over  the  drain  hole,  and  then,  for  drainage,  put  about  an  inch,  or  rather 
more,  in  depth  of  lumps  of  stiff  loam  as  large  as  walnuts.  This  is  a  valuable 
resource  to  the  roots  by-and-by.    Then  put  in  the  compost,  and  pot  the  plant 


674        ON  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE  PELARGONIUM. 

without  breaking  the  ball  of  roots,  and  press  down  the  compost  round  the 
sides  of  the  put,  moderately  hard,  with  a  potting  stick.  Water  them  through, 
and  put  tht-m  near  the  glass  in  a  house  kept  at  about  50".  Give  but  little 
water  until  the  roots  have  reached  the  sides  of  the  pot — they  will  soon  be 
seen  at  the  drain-hole  on  turning  up  the  pot.  Then  increase  the  temperature 
very  slightly,  and  syringe  the  plants  every  day.  As  they  grow,  s-tiil  keep 
them  near  the  glass,  and  pull  the  shoots  down  horizontally  toward  the  edges 
of  the  pots  all  around,  and  secure  them  to  sticks.  By  di'grees,  they  may, 
most  of  them,  be  brought  down  nearly  to  touch  the  edge.  The  growth  will 
in  another  month  he  rapid,  and  the  shoots  and  leaves  will  increase  much  in 
size.  By  the  end  of  March,  or  early  in  April,  the  folicige  will  be  of  huge  size, 
and  hang  over  and  conceal. much  of  the  pot,  and  the  plant  will  be  filled  up 
in  the  centre  by  growth,  which  the  admission  of  light  there  (by  the  con- 
tinued perseverance  in  tying  out)  has  encouraged.  Then  the  plant  is  formed 
— its  growth  vigorous,  and  it  is  fit  to  bloom.  But  this  growth  will  require 
to  be  matured,  and  to  secure  perfection  in  the  bloom,  the  vigor  of  wood- 
growth  must  be  stopped.  To  effect  that  object,  withhold  water.  Lay  the 
syringe  aside,  for  the  present,  altogether.  Let  the  plants  positively  droop  in 
the  leaf,  from  want  of  water,  for  a  few  hours,  but  not  longer,  or  you  will  lose 
much  of  the  lower  leaves,  which  will  turn  yellow.  Some  judgment  is  re- 
quired in  this  operation,  but  it  is  soon  gained  by  short  experience.  AVhen 
this  check  has  been  given,  supply  the  plants  with  water,  but  in  small  quanti- 
ties, comparatively,  for  a  week,  giving  it  at  tlie  root  and  not  with  the  syringe. 
The  plants  will  immediately  "knot"  for  bloom;  and  then,  but  not  before, 
(still  keeping  them  near  the  glass,)  give  them  manure-water  twice  a  week, 
and  plain  water  daily,  if  required,  for  as  soon  as  the  ends  of  the  shoots  indi- 
cate by  their  thickness  that  the  bloom-buds  are  forming,  tho  supply  of  water 
must  again  be  liberal  as  it  was  at  first.  The  old-fasliioned  manure-water, 
made  by  stirring  up  a  spade  full  of  old  hot-bed  iu  a  pail  of  water,  /  know 
will  answer,  and  you  know  the  strength  ;  but  with  guano,  and  its  adultera- 
tions, you  may  not  know,  and  7nay  spoil  your  pkuts,  although  it  is  very  good 
when  properly  used.  The  above  manure-water  should  be  used  clear,  and 
diluted  with  water  till  it  is  about  the  color  that  a  cru!<t  of  burnt  bread,  two 
inches  square,  will  give  to  a  glass  of  water  in  which  it  has  stood  five  minutes. 
The  next  object  is  to  encourage  the  growth  of  the  bloom,  branches,  and  buds, 
but  not  the  foliage,  which  is  best  eff"ected  by  giving  water  at  the  root, 
syringing  only  now  and  then  to  keep  ofi'  dust,  etc.,  (for  if  the  syringe  is  much 
used  in  this  state,  the  plants  get  straggling,)  and  by  giving  all  the  air  possible. 
When  the  flower-buds  are  just  opening,  some  shade  on  the  glass  is  necessary. 
Open  canvass,  or  close,  coarse  netting,  is  the  best  thing  I  know  of,  because  it 
does  not  altofjether  shut  out  the  sun's  rays. 

I  am  aware  that  muck  must  depend  on  locality  and  time  of  year,  .Vs  to  how 
far  the  above  directions  can  be  cairied  out.  An  experienced  hand  will  do  best 
to  pot  in  December  for  the  first  set  of  plants,  and  in  January  for  those  to  fol- 
low, because  he  can  then  stop  the  shoots  (which,  by-the-by,  he  should  do,  and  let 
the  plants  break  just  enough  to  show  the  eyes  in  the  small  pots  hefore  pot- 
ting.) and  by  this  means  he  will  have  his  plants  much  larger.  But  it  requires 
some  experience  for  this  very  early  work  to  be  done  well.  The  pri/icijjie, 
howevt  r,  that  I  wish  to  point  out  is  this  :  that  in  this  country,  the  European 
system,  as  to  time,  must  be  varied,  and  the  plants  must  be  got  to  tlieir  full 
size,  as  to  wood  and  foliage,  before  the  time  of  spring,  when  the  increase  of 
the  sun's  power  will  necessarily  force  them  into  immediate  bloom,  without 
giving  time  for  their  bloom-branches  and  buds  to  be  properly  develoj.ed  be- 
fore the  flowers  expand. — Horticulturist. 


THE   PLUMBAGO   LARPENT^. 


675 


THE     PLUMBAGO     LARPENTiE. 

[lady  larpknt's  leadwort,  or  plumbago.] 

In  184G,  Mr.  Fortune  found  this  beautiful  jilant  on  the  ruined  ramparts  of 
Shangliai,  in  China. 

All  who  have  seen  it  describe  it  as  one  of  the  most  charming  blue  flowery 
plants  now  known  for  bedding  out  in  masses,  as  we  do  the  verbena,  petunia, 
etc.     The  plnmbago  capensis  is  a  well  known,  useful  plant  for  bedding  out, 

but  it  seems  to  be  the  opinion 
of  cultivators  that  this  new  one 
entirely  supersedes  it.  It  will 
undoubtedly  prove  much  bet- 
ter adapted  to  our  climate,  and 
answer  bedding  purposes  bet- 
ter, from  its  compact  and  bushy 
habit.  It  is  described  as  hav- 
ing obovate,  pointed  leaves, 
finely  serrated  and  firinged  with 
hairs  on  the  margin,  as  will  b« 
seen  by  the  cut.  The  flowers 
are  produced  in  terminal  clus- 
ters, and  are  clear,  deep  blue,  or 
intense  violet  color,  with  a  tint 
of  red  in  the  throat,  increased 
by  cuttings  of  the  young  wood. 
An  idea  maybe  foimed  of  the 
profusion  of  its  blossoms  from 
the  fact  that  a  single  plant  has 
borne  4,000  blcssoms. 

The  London  Horticultural 
Magazine  says  :  "  The  plum- 
bagos flourish  in  any  light, 
porous,  turfy  soil,  but  in  none 
better  than  where  sandy  loam 
preponderates.  The  present 
species  must  be  particularly 
well  drained,  and  not  too  freely 
watered.  It  may  be  propaga- 
ted by  cuttings  planted  in  sand, 
and  set  in  a  naild  hot-bed ;  these  cuttings  should,  as  in  the  case  of  other 
bedding  plants,  be  planted  in  the  latter  part  of  the  summer,  and  kept  over 
the  winter  in  green-houses  or  dry  frames  until  the  following  spring. 

For  pot  culture  it  will,  doubtless,  prove  a  very  desirable  subject.  It  must, 
in  this  case,  be  regularly  shifted  into  pots  containing  a  compost  in  which 
turfy  loaiu  preponderates,  not  using  very  large  pots,  and  having  these  drained 
in  an  efficient  manner.  The  plants-  should,  while  young,_be  well  stopped 
back,  the  point  of  the  shoots  being  removed  as  soon  as  practicable,  after  they 
reach  from  two  to  three  inches  long.  This  is  to  be  continued  until  a  good^ 
round  head  of  branches  is  produced,  and  the  plant  should  then  be  allowed  to 
arrow  on  for  flowering." 


plumbago    LARPENTiE., 


676 


PAECH-TKEES   KILLED  BY   THE   COLD. 


THE     NEMOPHILA. 

The  Nemophila  insignis  is  one  of  the 
prettiest  of  all  dwarf  annuals  for  the  border, 
or  for  masses  on  a  lawn.  Its  foliage  is 
delicate  and  fine,  and  its  flowers  of  a  beau- 
tiful blue.  It  blooms  in  great  profusion, 
and  a  long  time.  We  extract  the  following 
notice  from  the  Horticultural  Mar/azine 
(English),  There  is  another  new  and  rare 
one,  maculata,  of  a  fine,  dark  violet,  with  a 
white  spot  in  the  margin  of  the  petal, 
worthy  a  place  among  the  select  annuals  : 
"This  is  a  showy  annual  of  a  dwarf 
growth,  which  soon  displays  abundance  of 
small,  blue  flowers,  a  little  cupped,  having 
a  pure  white  eye,  and  deeply-cut  leaves. 
Its  seeds  may  be  sown  at  different  seasons, 
a  few  in  April,  and  a  few  at  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember ;  for  if  the  winter  be  not  very  sharp, 
they  will  bloom  very  early  in  spying,  and 
those  sown  in  the  spring  will  come  into 
flower  by  the  time  the  autumn-sown  ones 
decline.  The  young  plants  will  bear  re- 
moval, but  I  prefer  sowing  them  where  they 
are  to  bloom  ;  there  is,  however,  no  harm 
in  planting  out  the  few  that  you  take  up 
from  a  patch  when  they  have  been  sown 
too  thickly;  and  some  gardeners  mate 
them  regularly  potted  plants,  and,  therefore, 
sow  all  in  one  place,  and  pot  off  or  plant  out  at  pleasure.  They  are  very 
beautiful  till  they  begin  to  straggle  along  the  ground,  when,  although  they 
still  keep  flowering  a  little,  I  should  advise  you  to  pull  them  up  to  make 
room  for  something  better." 

For  this  and  the  preceding  engraving  and  the  descriptions,  we  are  indebted 
to  the  Genesee  Farmer. 


KEMOPHILA. 


PEACU-TREES    KILLED    BY    THE    COLD. 

Messrs.  Editors  : — Having  lately  noticed  several  quotations  in  the  new^s- 
papers  in  regard  to  the  extreme  cold  winter  having  killed  not  only  the 
peach-buds,  but  the  trees  also — in  cutting  the  limbs  from  one  thousand  trees, 
Mr.  Schenk  found  no  exception — all  had  perished. 

A  similar  report  was  current  in  the  spring  of  1835,  that  the  hard  winter 
bad  killed  all  the  young  and  thrifty  peach-trees. 

The  nursery  trees  were  certainly  killed,  not  by  the  winter,  bnt  by  an  early, 
sudden,  autumnal  frost;  before  the  sap  had  descended,  or  the  trees  were 
prepared  for  such  a  sudden  transition. 

Nurserymen  who  have  been  inoculating  their  trees  late  in  the  M],  will, 
no  doubt,  appreciate  my  remarks,  as  they  have  found  to  their  mortification,  day 


CINCINNATI   HORTICULTURAL   SOCIETY.  677 

after  day,  the  bark  and  sap  setting  more  and  more,  till  they  could  not  per- 
form the  operation  successfully  any  longer.  In  the  fall  of  1834,  there  came 
an  early,  sudden  frost ;  soon  after  which,  my  father,  Samuel  Champion,  was 
trimming  in  his  nursery,  when  he  discovered  that  the  sap  and  inner  bark  was 
of  a  dark  yellow  color,  which  somewhat  alarmed  him.  In  the  spring  follow- 
ing, his  fears  were  too  well  realized.  This  and  many  other  whole  nurseries 
had  perished  from  that  early  frost  while  the  sap  was  circulating. 

But  more  fully  to  prove  the  fallacy  of  an  extremely  cold  winter  killing  the 
peach-trees,  every  flirmer  or  wood-chopper  in  the  northern,  middle,  or  west- 
ern States  knows  that  large  forest-trees  are  frozen  through  with  ice  to  their 
center  by  the  frost  of  ordinary  winters  ;  and  if  the  cold  was  five  times  greater, 
it  would  do  no  more  than  freeze  to  solid  ice.  This  does  no  harm  to  the 
peach-trees  after  the  sap  has  gradually  and  naturally  set.  More  than  forty 
years  ago,  peach-trees  generally  lived  to  the  age  of  twenty,  and  some  of  them 
thirty  years  old,  in  full  bearing,  healthy,  and  vigorous ;  but  the  trees  now 
taken  from  the  nurseries  in  the  northern  and  middle  states,  seldom  bear  more 
than  three  or  four  crops,  and  some  of  them  not  more  than  one,  whilst  others 
never  bear  any. 

In  the  future,  I  may  indicate  the  means  by  which  this  most  delicious  fruit 
may  be  restored  to  its  original  size,  flavor,  and  quantity — the  trees  to  live 
and  bear  fruit  for  twenty  years  and  upward. 

Thomas  Champion, 

Waihington,  D.  C,  April  14,  1855. 


CINCINNATI  HORTICULTURAL  SOCIETY. 

The  List  of  Premiums  for  1855,  issued  by  this  very  efficient  Society,  is 
received,  with  their  rules  and  regulations.  These  do  not  essentially  vary,  so 
far  as  we  have  discovered,  from  the  rules  of  other  societies,  save  in  this,  that 
Competition  for  the  Prizes  is  open  to  all  cultivators  of  the  Western 
States,  and  without  payment  of  a  fee.  "All  articles  not  donated  to  the 
Society  must  be  marked  '  Reserved.'  " 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  officers  and  committees  of  the  Society : 

officers  and  committees  of  the  CINCINNATI  HORTICULTURAL  SOCIETY. 

President, — Dr.  S.  Mosher. 

Vice-Presidents. — George  Graham,  A.  H.  Ernst,  John  P.  Foote. 

Council.— M.  Mc Williams,  A.  Worthington,  L.  Eehfuss,  J.  ^.  Green, 
G.  Sleath,  P.  S.  Bush,  S.  W.  Pomeroy. 

Secretary,  Treasurbr,  and  Librarian. — C.  C.  Pomeroy. 

Corresponding  Secretary. — J.  A.  Warder. 

Fruit  Committee. — J.  A.  Warder,  M.  Mc  Williams,  S.  S.  Jackson,  J.  K. 
Green,  P.  S.  Bush. 

Tlower  Committee. — J.  P.  Foote,  Theo.  Pfau,  S.  W.  Pomeroy,  D.  Mc- 
Ayoy,  Geo.  Gi-aham.  , 

VaGiTABLE  Committee.— G.  Sleath,  D.  Foster,  A.  Worthington,  C.  Pink- 
enstein,  P.  Considine. 


678  MORE   COAL   DISCOVERED   ON   THE   PACiriC. 


PLU  M-TllEES. 

A  coRRKspoNDENT  of  the  Couutry  Gentleman  says:  " I  attribute  ray 
success  mainly  to  an  hereditary  strain  of  Yankee  principle,  proflucing  a 
strong  propensity  to  use  a  jack-knife.  My  trees  are  uioptly  grafted  on  to 
suckers  of  the  native  or  wild  plum,  near  or  at  the  surface  of  the  ground. 
The  scions  take  well  in  such  stocks,  and  grow  strong,  frequently  froni  four  to 
seven  feet  in  a  season.  In  the  spring  of  the  first  year,  I  cut  back  to  two  or 
two  and  a  half  feet,  and  each  spring  following,  from  ^  to  f  of  the  last  year's 
growth.  This  causes  them  to  grow  stocky,  with  low,  bushy  heads,  and  to 
set  thickly  Avith  fruit  spurs.  I  have  trees  in  different  varieties  of  soil  ;  some 
in  cultivated,  some  in  grass  land.  All  do  well.  I  manure  with  what  is  most 
convenient,  without  regard  to  kind  or  quality,  long  or  short,  stable  or  hog 
manure,  ashes,  old  lime,  soap-suds,  fish-brine,  chip  manure,  or  whatever  ii* 
at  hand,  plowed  in  or  for  top  dressing. 

The  great  enemy  of  the  plum-tree  is  the  black-knot.  Now  comes  the 
grand  question — Black-knot,  what  is  it  ?  Is  it  a  disease,  or  the  work  of  an 
insect?  I  will  endeavor  to  answer  these  questions  according  to  my  observa- 
tions^ I  consider  it  to  be  the  work  of  an  insect,  with  which  I  have  no  per- 
sonal acquaintance  except  in  the  maggot  state. 

From  frequent  observation  combined  with  practice,  I  find  that  June  is  the 
time  to  look  for  the  enemy.  There  are  no  black  knots  then,  of  this  year's 
growth,  but  simply  swellings  upon  the  branches.  Nqw  use  your  jack-knife, 
and  you  are  sure  of  your  foe.  When  these  swellings  first  commence,  so  as 
easily  to  be  found,  the  insect  is  of  the  exact  color  of  the  excrescence,  and  so 
small  as  usually  to  escape  detection.  Nevertheless  he  is  there.  From  the 
middle  of  June  to  the  first  of  July,  they  are  easily  found,  generally  two  in  a 
knot,  varying  from  J^  to  |  of  an  inch  in  length — the  largest  in  the  mean 
time  are  leaving  their  cells.  I  have  found  them  near  by,  sheltered  by  the 
rough  bark,  covering  themselves  with  a  thin,  silk-like  w^eb.  To  all  who  wish 
to  raise  plums,  (and  who  does  not  ?)  I  would  say,  here  lies  the  secret.  Cut 
green  knots  instead  of  black  ones.  By  following  this  practice,  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  very  fine  trees — not  a  black  knot  is  ever  seen  on  them.  A 
swelling  is  occasionally  found,  but  it  is  taken  in  time  to  secure  the  maggot. 
By  this  means,  the  insects  are  reduced  to  that  degree  that  my  trees  never 
suflfer  thereby.  I  have  trees  from  four  to  six  years  from  the  graft,  from 
eight  to  ten  feet  high,  with  large,  spreading  heads,  bearing  the  first  season 
from  one  to  more  than  two  bushels  per  tree,  of  most  splendid  fruit,  as  many 
a  satiated  appetite  can  testify." 


More  Coal  Discovered  on  the  Pacific. — Santa  Anna,  it  is  stated, 
availed  himself  of  his  recent  march  to  Acapulco  to  test  the  accuracy  of  the 
reports  that  the  mountains  of  Guerrero  contain  extensive  coal  mines.  The 
result  of  his  investigation  satisfied  him  that  there  are  almost  inexhaustible 
sujiplies  of  this  valuable  article,  which  can  be  obtained  in  any  quantity  at 
Acapulco,  at  a  cost  considerably  less  than  the  freight  on  that  now  carried 
there  from  England  and  the  Atlantic  States  for  the  use  of^our  steamers. 
Santa  Anna  has  "also  satisfied  himself  that  the  undeveloped  precious  mineral 
wealth  of  Mexico  is  immeasurably  greater  than  has  ever  heretofore  been 
supposed ;  and  it  is  his  desire  and  purpose  to  adopt  measures  to  make  these 
treasures  available. — Dcseret  News. 


JBUTTER-MAKING.  679 


BUTTER-MAKING. 

[Odr  attention  lias  recently  been  called  to  a  very  valuable  and  eminently 
practical  Prize  Essay,  read  before  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England. 
We  published  several  articles  on  this  subject,  in  our  last  volume,  and  are 
happy  to  find  our  own  views  confirmed  by  the  very  careful  and  scientific 
experiments,  the  results  of  which  are  given  in  the  report  described.  We  beg 
leave  to  invite  the  attention  of  all  our  farmers  to  the  following  portion  of  this 
subject,  being  all  that  relates  to  their  particular  business.  The  exper- 
iments were  conducted  by  Professor  Traill  and  the  late  Dr.  Bullock. 
Their  accuracy  was  subsequently  tested  by  the  writer  of  this  essay,  and  his 
results,  with  one  exception,  "agreed  remarkably  with  those  made  by  the 
gentlemen  named."] 

One  series  consisted  of  the  comparative  quantity  of  butter  yielded  by  the 
following : 

1.  Sweet  cream  churned  alone. 

2.  Sweet  milk  and  its  cream  churned  together. 

3.  Sour  cream  churned  alone. 

4.  Sour  milk  and  its  cream  churned  together. 
6.  Scalded  or  Devonshire  cream  churned  alone. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  the  milk  of  four  cows  was  drawn  in  the  same  vessel, 
passed  through  a  strainer,  and  then  divided  into  five  portions  of  six  English 
pints  each,  which  were  placed  in  similar  basins  of  earthenware,  in  a  place, 
the  temperatiu'e  of  which  ranged  from  55*^  to  60°  Fcihr. 

Monday,  25th. — The  temperature  of  the  air  was  very  hot,  1G°  ;  but  that 
of  the  milk-house,  by  constant  evaporation  of  water,  was  kept  about  GO''. 

Tuesday,  26th. — Thirty-nine  hours  after  the  milk  had  been  drawn  from  the 
cows  it  was  removed  from  below  the  cream  of  No.  1  and  No.  3,  by  a  sypSon  ; 
the  cream  from  No.  1,  and  the  milk  and  cream  from  No.  2,  were  immedi- 
ately churned  in  glass  vesself. 

No.  1. — Sweet  cream  churned  alone.  From  previous  trials  it  was  found 
that  the  addition  of  cold  water  to  thick  cream  facilitated  the  separation  of 
the  butter  ;  half  a  pint  of  water  was  added  to  the  cream,  the  temperature  of 
the  mixture  at  the  commencement  of  churning  was  G2°.  In  fifteen  minutes 
butter  appeared  in  grains;  the  churning  was  continued  for  twelve  minutes 
longer,  or  twenty-seven  minutes  in  all,  when  the  temperature  was  found  at 
70°.  The  butter  was  collected,  but  from  the  warmth  of  the  weather  was 
very  soft.  It  was  put  into  cold  water  until  the  next  day,  when  it  was  worked 
and  washed  in  the  usual  way,  and  weighed  1386  grains.  It  was  of  a  good 
color,  and  perfectly  well  flavored.  ,  j» 

No.  2. — Sweet  milk  and  its  cream  churned  together.  The  mixture  of 
sweet  milk  and  cream  was  churned  at  the  same  time ;  though  cold  water 
was  added  after  one  and  a  half  hour's  churning  no  butter  was  seen.  The 
churning  was  continued  three  hours  without  obtaining  butter. 

No.  3. — Sour  cream  churned  alone.  On  Thursday,  the  28th  May,  the 
cream  of  No.  3,  which  had  been  separated  on  Tuesday,  and  placed  in  the 
milk-house,  was  now  slightly  acid,  and  was  churned  after  half  a  pint  of  cold 
water  hail  been  added  to  it.  In  twelve  minutes  butter  appeared;  and  in 
eight  minutes  more  united  into  one  mass.  Daring  the  churning  the  tempe- 
rature of  the  cream  had  risen  from  54^  to  63''.  The  butter  was  well  washed 
and  worked,  and  weighed  175,6.5  grains.     The  color  and  taste  were  good. 


680  BUTTER-MAKING. 

No.  4. — Sour  milk  and  its  cream  churned  together.  On  the  same  day, 
28th  May,  the  milk  and  cream  churned  together,  and  half  a  pint  of  cold 
water  was  added.  It  was  full  fifty-seven  minutes  before  any  butter  appeared, 
and  before  the  churning  appeared  to  be  completed  one  hour  and  fifty 
minutes  had  elapsed ;  showing  clearly  that  more  time  is  required  to  chiirn 
milk  and  cream  together  than  to  obtain  the  butter  from  cream  alone.  The 
butter  was  diflfused  in  small  grains,  and  when  washed  and  worked  as  long  as 
any  color  was  communicated  to  the  water,  it  weighed  1968  grains.  Color 
paler  than  the  last,  but  of  good  flavor. 

No.  5. — Clouted  cream  churned  alone.  On  Tuesday,  the  26th,  the  milk 
and  cream  of  No.  6,  were  placed  in  a  vessel  of  warm  v/ater  until  the  tem- 
perature of  the  milk  rose  to  156°,  a  Devonshire  dairy-maid  assisting  in  the 
operation.  The  milk  was  drawn  from  below  the  cream  by  a  syphon,  the 
latter  being  kept  cool  until  the  following  day,  when  it  was  churned. 

It  was  ascertained  that  by  churning  the  milk  of  Nos.  1  and  3,  a  few  more 
grains  of  butter  could  be  obtained  on  some  occasions,  but  on  no  occasion 
from  No.  5,  so  completely  does  the  scalding  process  separate  the  butyraceous 
matter  from  the  milk.  The  butter  of  No.  5,  when  well  worked  and  washed, 
weighed  1998  grains.     It  had  a  rich  yellow  color,  and  tasted  agreeably. 

Similar  experiments  were  repeated,  the  result  of  which  was,  that  the  largest 
amount  of  butter  was  produced  by  the  Devonshi*re  method  ;  the  next  in 
quantity  by  churning  the  milk  and  cream  together  when  a  little  acescent ; 
the  third  in  quantity  was  afforded  by  cream  kept  till  it  was  slightly  sour. 
The  smallest  quantity  was  obtained  from  sweet  cream  ;  but  on  no  occasion 
was  butter  obtained  by  churning  sweet  milk  alone. 

In  order  to  decide  on  the  keeping  qualities  of  the  butter  obtained  by  the 
four  processes  previously  detailed,  samples  were  exposed  to  the  free  action  of 
the  atmosphere.  , 

No.  1  was  always  found  to  remain  longer  without  any  rancid  taste  than 
the*other  kinds. 

Nos.  3  and  4  were  nearly  on  an  equality — if  any  difference,  it  was  in  favor 
of  No.  3. 

No.  5  became  rancid  more  quickly  than  No.  3  and  No.  4. 

When  salted  for  keeping,  rancidity  appeared  in  about  the  same  order, 
commencing  in  No.  5,  or  the  butter /rom  scalded  cream;  next  in  No  4,  from 
some  milk  and  cream  ;  then  in  No.  3,  or  sour  cream  ;  and  lastly,  in  No.  1, 
obtained  from  sweet  cream.  The  rancidity  was  supposed  to  arise  from  vary- 
ing proportions  of  casein  ;  and  on  instituting  experiments  to  ascertain  this 
fact,  it  was  found  that  casein  assisted  in  preserving  its  freshness. 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  effects  of  overchurning,  the  cream  of  six  pints  of 
milk  was  separated  by  a  syphon,  and  churned  in  a  glass  vessel.  The  butter 
was  formed  in  about  half  an  hour  ;  but  the  churning  was  continued  for  half 
an  hour  longfr,  when  the  buttei"  had  lost  its  fine,  yellowish,  waxy  appeflrance, 
and  had  become  pale  and  soft,  while  very  little  liquid  remained  in  the  churn. 
This  butter  could  not  be  washed  and  worked  until  it  had  remained  some 
hours  in  cold  water,  being  so  exceedingly  soft  v.hen  taken'out  of  the  churn. 
After  washing  it  was  pnle,  rather  soft,  and  weighed  2566  grains,  which  was 
evidently  beyond  the  due  quantity,  when  compared  with  the  other  experi- 
ments on  the  same  quantity  of  milk,  which  gave  the  following  results  : 

No.  1.  The  sweet  cream  overchurned  yielded  2566  grrins. 

No.  3.  The  acid  cream  duly  churned  yielded  2187.5  grains. 

No.  4.  The  acid  milk  and  its  cream  duly  churned  yielded  2397.5  grains. 

No.  5.  Scalded  cream  duly  churned  yielded  2671. 


COTTON  AND   ITS   CULTUEE.  681 

The  butter  of  No.  1  tasted  insipid,  never  became  firm,  and  soon  turned 
rancid.  It  was  found  to  yield  a  very  unusual  quantity  both  of  casein  and 
watery  fluid,  which  could  only  be  separated  by  melting  the  butter. 

It  is  a  common  opinion  in  some  districts,  that  by  adding  hot  water  to  the 
churn,  more  butter  is  obtained  than  by  using  cold  water.  Experiments  made 
for  the  express  purpose  did  not  show  that  the  weight  increased  very  much, 
and  it  was  attended  with  a  perceptible  deterioration  in  quality,  giving  it 
generally  the  appearance  of  overchurning. 

The  results  of  the  experiments  above  detailed  are —  ' 

1st.  That  the  addition  of  some  cold  water,  during  churning,  facilitates  the 
process,  or  the  separation  of  the  butter,  especially  when  the  cream  is  thick 
and  the  weather  hot. 

2d.  That  cream  alone  is  more  easily  cburned  than  a  mixture  of  cream  and 
milk. 

3d.  That  butter  produced  from  sweet  cream  has  the  finest  flavor  when 
fresh,  and  appears  to  remain  the  longest  period  without  becoming  rancid. 

4th.  That  scalded  cream,  or  the  Devonshire  method,  yields  the  largest 
quantity  of  butter;  but  if  intended  to  be  salted,  is  most  liable  to  acquire  a 
rancid  flavor  by  keeping. 

5th.  That  churning  the  milk  and  cream  together,  after  they  become 
slightly  acid,  is  the  most  economical  process  for  districts  where  butter-milk 
can  not  be  sold  ;  whilst,  at  the  same  time,  it  yields  a  large  amount  of  excel- 
lent butter. 


COTTON    AND    ITS    CULTURE. 

A  CORRESPONDENT  writes  to  the  Farmer  avd  Planter  as  follows  :  "We 
never  could  see  the  sense  of  throwing  up,  wiih  great  care,  a  high  bed  for 
cotton,  and  immediately  set  all  hands  to  work  to  tear  it  down.  We  have 
tried  various  expedients,  but  never  found  out  how  to  plant  cotton  until  last 
spring.  For  this  we  acknowledge  our  indebtedness  to  Capt.  Thomas  Byrd, 
of  Greenwood,  from  whom  we  received  an  implement  for  smoothing  and 
opening  the  cotton  bed,  which  does  its  work  to  perfection — a  cover  adapted 
precisely  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  the  opening,  leaving  your  beds  nicely 
smoothed  over,  and  ready  for  the  reception  of  the  seed,  and  a  scraper  to  do 
the  first  working — decidedly  the  best  implements  we  have  ever  seen.  This 
forms  a  complete  set  of  implements,  adapted  to  cotton-culture,  simple  and 
cheap,  which  any  good  blacksmith  and  plough-stocker  can  make  easily.  If 
Novice  will  try  Capt.  Byrd's  implements,  and  not  agree  with  us,  we  will 
acknowledge  the  corn,  and  pay  for  them.  Let  us  be  understood,  we  are  not 
puffing  an  implement  manufacturer,  but  off"ering  an  acknowledment  due  to  a 
public-spirited  planter  who  took  the  pains  to  set  us  right.  By  the  way,  while 
talking,  we  may  as  well  say  that  the  best  variety  of  cotton  we  have  ever 
planted  is  the  "  Calhoun  Cotton.''  Where  it  originated,  we  are  not  able  to  say. 
Capt.  Byrd  kindly  sent  us  half  a  bushel  of  seed,  from  which  we  have  picked 
511  pounds  of  very  beautiful  cotton.  The  overseer  counted  seventy  bolls  on 
one  stalk  not  over  knee  high.  It  is  no  humbug,  for  we  have  selected  our 
seed  for  years  from  fancy  stalks,  and  being  side  by  side,  we  have  been  com- 
pelled reluctantly  to  give  it  up.  We  trust  that  even  Broomsedge  may  be 
allowed  to  puff  a  home-made  article.  Before  closing,  we  must  dissent,  how- 
ever, from  Novice's  declaration.  Twelve  hundred  pounds  cotton  per  acre  on 
common  land — stand  or  no  stand — it  is  no  common  land  that  will  average 
seventy  bolls  of  matured  cotton  per  stalk." 


682  .DECOMPOSITION   OF    WATER    OR  STEAM   BY  HEAT. 


DECOMPOSITION   OF  WATER   OR   STEAM   BY    HEAT. 

Wo  take  the  followinor  extract  from  an  exclianffe  : 

••  But  wliatever  may  be  thouglitof  these,  or  of  the  many'other  more  scien- 
tilic;illy  accurate,  although,  perhMp>,  less  practical  experiments,  there  is  little 
doubt  but  that  water  is  sometimes  burned,  and  burned  economically,  when 
mixed  in  small  quantities  with  carbonaceous  matter.  Mr.  Moses  Tliompson, 
of  liinghampton,  N.  Y.,  has  lately  patented,  and  is  now,  with  considerable 
success,  introducing  a  furnace  for  the  burning  of  very  wet  fuel,  which  appears 
likely  to  affect  the  mode  of  conducting  some  of  our  less  important  steam-gen- 
erating processes,  and  promises  ultimately  to  succeed  in  sugar  boiling,  than 
which,  perhaps,  few  discoveries  are  more  desirable.  Mr.  Thompson  has  suc- 
ceeded in  burning  wet  tan,  direct  from  the  vats  of  some  of  our  larj,est  tanne- 
ries, and  in  generating  therefrom  an  intensely  white  heat,  sufficient  to  melt 
cast  or  wrought  iron  in  a  very  few  minutes.  In  fact,  the  high  temperature 
generated  and  maintained  in  the  furnaces,  and  the  means  adopted  to  attain 
this  result,  form  the  main  distinguishing  features  of  the  invention.  One  great 
error  in  previous  attempts  to  burn  wet  fuel,  has  consisted  in  admitting  more 
rather  than  less  air  to  the  wet  fuel.  Mr.  Thompson  constructs  his  grates 
somewhat  in  the  ordinary  manner,  but  with  greatly  diminished  spaces  be- 
tween the  bars,  depending  for  a  large  portion  of  the  oxygpn  on  that  set  free 
by  the  decomposition  of  the  water.  The  process  completely  consumes  the 
fuel  without  the  production  of  smoke,  but  this  is  accomplished  only  by  having 
two  or  more  furnaces  in  connection,  and  supplying  fresh  fuel  to  one  only  at 
a  time.  The  necessary  high  temperature  is  maintained  by  having  the  furnaces 
at  some  little  distance  from  the  boiler,  and  thickly  casing  them  with  fire-brick 
and  other  non-conducting  materials,  allowing  the  flame  and  intensely-heated 
gases  to  flow  from  the  two  furnaces  into  contact  with  the  boiler  after  mixing 
together.  The  furnaces  are  ovens  of  brick,  somewhat  analogous  in  form,  but 
mure  in  temperature,  to  air  or  puddling  furnaces  for  melting  metals.  The 
fuel  is  supplied  through  a  cavity  in  the  top  of  each  furnace,  and  is  allowed  to 
pile  itselt  up  in  a  cone,  with  no  regard  to  equal  distribution  over  the  surface 
of  the  grate.  The  flame  passes  off"  nearly  horizontally  into  a  mixing  cham- 
ber, and  thence  to  the  boilers,  under  and  through  which  it  is  allowed  to  flow 
in  a  manner  similar  to  that  usually  employed  in  utilizing  the  waste  heat  from 
the  iron  manufacture.  One  furnace  only  being  supplied  with  fresh  fuel  at  a 
time,  the  steam  escaping  is  sure  to  find  in  the  mixing  chamber,  which  is 
merely  a  place  of  junction  of  the  flue  passages,  a  sufficiently  high  temperature 
to  decompose  it.  The  grand  features  of  the  invention  consist,  firstly,  in  care- 
fully cherishing  the  heat  of  the  furnace  to  induce  the  production  of  an  in- 
tensely high  temperature  ;  secondly,  in  mixing  the  gases  from  fresh  fuel  with 
those  from  fuel  previou-^ly  well  heated  ;  and,  thirdly,  in  admitting  a  very 
limited  supply  of  air.  The  degree  of  temperature  attained  is  not,  of  course, 
ascertainable,  even  approximately,  witho.ut  careful  and  expensive  experiment ; 
but  the  fact  tliat  all  metals  introduced  into  the  flue  passages  disappear  very 
rapidly,  and  that  the  fire-brick  roofs  of  the  furnaces  have  an  inconvenient 
habit  of  fusing  and  running  down  in  vitreous  streams,  if  proper  precautions 
are  not  adopted,  argues  the  existence  of  as  high  a  temperature  as  any  ordi- 
narily employed  in  the  arts.  The  fuel  principally  employed  in  these  furnaces 
thus  far  is  wet  tan,  oak  tan  being  more  suitable  than  hemlock  tan,  because 
of  its  greater  coherence  when  partially  consumed.     The  process  of  combustion 


THE   HOUSE.  683 


repders  the  mass  highly  porous,  like  honeycomb,  the  fire  percolating  it  from 
beneath  in  countless  streams,  which,  in  case  of  oak  tan,  increase  in  size  until 
the  whole  is  consumed,  whilst  with  hemlock  the  mass  is  continually  crumbling 
down  and  stopping  the  passages.  Several  experiments  have  been  lately  made 
on  the  sugar  plantations  of  Louisiana,  in  burning  the  megass,  or  crushed 
cane,  direct  from  the  rolls  of  the  sugar  mill.  The  only  difficulty  at  present 
apprehended  by  the  inventor  relates  entirely  to  the  mode  of  feeding  this 
bulky  and  trashy  material.  Several  eminent  sugar  planters  in  the  vicinity 
of  New-Orleans,  express  their  high  hopes  of  its  greatly  increasing  the  efficiency 
of  this  species  of  fuel." 


TIIEHORSE. 

[A  LECTURE  upon  the  horse,  by  Mr.  Zadoc  Pratt,  has  been  extensively  pub- 
lished ;  and  in  the  former  volumes  of  this  journal,  numerous  articles  are 
found  containing  much  information  in  reference  to  this  noble  animal.  The 
view  taken  by  Mr.  Pratt  is,  however,  so  unlike  the  track  generally  pursued, 
that  we  have  made  the  following  abstract  from  this  lecture  for  the  benefit  of 
our  readers. — Eds.  P.  L.  &  A.] 

"  And  nov/  let  me  give  you  my  idea  of  a  good  horse.  He  should  be  about 
fifteen-and-a-half  hands  high;  the  head  light,  and  clean  made;  wide  be- 
tween the  nostrils,  and  the  nostrils  themselves  large,  transparent,  and  open  ; 
broad  in  the  forehead;  eyes,  prominent,  clear,  and  sparkling;  ears,  small, 
and  neatly  set  on  ;  neck,  rather  short,  and  well  set  up  ;  large  arm  or  should- 
er, well  thrown  back,  and  high  ;  withers,  arched  and  high  ;  legs,  fine,  flat, 
thin,  and  small  boned  ;  body,  round,  and  rather  light,  though  sufficiently 
large  to  afford  substance  when  it  is  needed  ;  full  chest,  affording  ample  play 
for  the  lungs ;  back,  short,  with  the  hind-quarters  set  on  rather  obliquely. 
Any  one  possessing  a  horse  of  this  make  and  appearance,  and  weighing 
eleven  or  twelve  hundred  pounds,  may  rest  assured  that  they  have  a  horse  of 
all  work,  and  a  bargain  which  is  well  worth  getting  hold  of. 

I  will  now  call  your  attention  to  different  varieties  of  horses  in  foreign 
countries,  and  in  our  own. 

The  Egyptian  horse  is  generally  known  by  the  name  of  the  African  barb. 
He  exceeds  the  Arabian  in  stature,  and  is  principally  remarkable  for  the  fullness 
and  height  of  his  shoulders,  and  the  drooping  of  his  haunches.  The  most 
remarkable  of  his  tribe  are  the  celebrated  "  drinkers  of  the  wind."  They  are 
wiry  and  fleshless,  and  shaped  something  like  the  grey  hound.  It  is  related 
of  one  of  these  horses,  that  he  once  performed  a  journey  of  sixty  miles,  in  the 
hottest  period  of  a  burning  African  day,  without  the  rider's  drawing  bridle, 
or  allowing  him  to  relax  his  speed  a  single  instant,  until  the  journey  was 
completed.  The  little  African  kingdom  of  Donkala  is  celebrated  for  a  breed 
of  horses  of  large  size,  which  some  have  considered  the  handsomest  in  the 
world.  Every  attempt  to  introduce  them  into  any  other  country  has  failed, 
however.  The  celebrated  Egyptian  horses  were  also  ridden  by  the  prophet 
Mahomet  and  his  four  companions,  on  the  memorable  flight  from  Mecca,  in 
the  year  622,  and  now  known  as  the  Hegira. 

The  Arabian  horses  are  small,  only  averaging  thirteen  and  fourteen  hands 
high,  rather  inclined  to  be  lean,  and,  in  traveling,  they  rise  higher  from  the 


684:  THE  HORSE. 


ground  than  any  other  blood  horses,  and  gather  more  quickly.  Thoy  are 
generally  of  a  dappled  grey,  or  dark  brown  color,  with  a  short,  black  tail  and 
mane.  They  usually  run  wild,  and,  in  that  condition,  they  possess  the  great- 
est mildness  and  generosity  of  disposition.  After  they  are  domesticated,  they 
are  played  with  by  the  children,  have  the  most  favored  corner  of  the  tent, 
and  occupy  a  deservedly  high  place  in  the  affections  of  the  family.  This 
affection  seems  to  be  returned  with  more  than  ordinary  sagacity,  for  it  is 
authenticated  that,  the  master  being  in  danger,  the  horse  has  put  forth  every 
power  to  the  utmost,  and  so  strained  his  endurance  that,  on  reaching  a  place 
of  safety,  he  has  instantly  yielded  his  life.  They  are  usually  cjtptured  by 
snares  hidden  in  the  sand,  by  which  the  feet  become  entangled,  and  the 
terrified  animal,  falling  to  the  ground,  is  made  an  easy  prey.  Their  amazing 
speed  renders  this  the  only  method  by  which  they  can  be  taken.    ' 

The  Persian  horses  resemble  those  of  Arabia  in  general  appearance,  though 
somewhat  larger.  They  are  esteemed  less  highly  than  the  Arabian,  though 
I  think  they  have  some  points  of  superiority. 

The  horses  of  Tartary  are  exceedingly  swift,  even  outstripping  the  antelope  ; 
though  here  their  resemblance  to  favorite  breeds  ceases  entirely.  They  are 
large  and  very  heavy-headed,  very  low  in  the  shoulder,  awkwardly  made, 
and  very  ill-looking.  When  feeding,  one  of  their  number  is  placed  on  an 
eminence  as  sentinel,  and  on  the  approach  of  danger  he  starts  off,  the  rest 
following  like  the  wind.  The  fabled  flight  of  Mazeppa,  lashed  to  the  back 
of  a  wild  horse,  is  supposed  to  be  among  the  wild  herds  of  Tartary. 

In  Turkey,  horses  are  held  in  the  highest  esteem,  which  they  well  deserve, 
being  of  the  most  docile  and  affectionate  disposition.  They  are  the  result  of 
a  cross  between  the  African  and  Arabian,  and  are  full  of  tire  and  life,  with  a 
light  make,  splendid  head,  and  great  powers  of  endurance.  The  tail  of  the 
horse  is  considered  an  emblem  of  dignity  in  Turkey,  from  the  fact  that  a 
Turkish  array  once  lost  its  standard  in  battle,  when  the  leader,  to  inspire  the 
drooping  courage  of  his  men,  cut  off  the  tail  of  a  horse,  hoisted  it  on  the  end 
of  a  spear,  and  rallied  his  forces  to  victory.  As  a  reward,  he  received  mili- 
tary promotion,  the  emblem  of  which  was  a  horse's  tail.  The  rank  of  the 
owner  is  known  by  the  number  of  tails  he  is  allowed,  the  highest  being  three, 
and  the  officers  are  called  "pachas  of  three  tails." 

The  genuine  East  Indian  horse  is  of  small  value,  owing  to  the  unsuitable 
climate,  which  seems  to  be  highly  unfavorable  to  his  improvement,  and  the 
pure  native-breed  is  small,  ugly,  and  ill-made,  being  equally  deficient  in  form, 
spirit,  and  endurance.  By  judicious  and  repeated  crossings,  and  the  utmost 
care  in  obtaining  healthy  stock,  a  species  of  horse  has  been  introduced  into 
the  country  which  will  compare  favorably  with  any  other.  The  greatest  and 
most  continued  pains  are  necessary,  however,  or  they  will  soon  degenerate. 

The  European  horses  will  next  engage  our  attention^  One  of  the  most 
beautiful  is  the  Spanish,  or  Andalusian,  which  originated  from  the  Barbary 
horse,  the  only  fault  being  that  the  head  is  large  in  proportion  to  the  body ; 
the  mane  is  thick,  long,  and  graceful ;  the  ears  long,  and  the  eyes  very  ani- 
mated. The  Italian  horses  are  very  large  and  finely  shaped  ;  they  were  once 
highly  esteemed,  but  are  now  principally  used  for  carriage  horses  and  for 
heavy  cavalry.  Danish  and  Swedish  horses  are  stout  and  well  built,  but  slow 
and  inelegant.  The  Dutch  and  German  horse  is  preferred  throughout  Eu- 
rope as  a  draught  horse.  The  Russian  horse  is  large  limbed  and  powerful, 
with  long,  stiff  hair,  standing  out  from  the  body,  and  is  not  very  highly 
esteemed.  The  French  horses  differ  much  according  to  the  portion  of  the 
country  from  whence  they  come  ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  English 
and  American,  to  which  I  shall  now  invite  your  attention. 


THE  HOKSE.  '  685 


The  native  English  horse.-^,  even  in  the  seventeenth  century,  were  very  small, 
though  serviceable,  and  only  commanding  low  prices. 

After  that  time,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  breed  of  horses  most  in  de- 
mand was  the  Spanish  Jennet,  and  they  were  imported  for  all  purposes  of 
pageantry  or  war.  The  aristocracy  had  their  coaches  drawn  by  the  gray 
Flemish  mares,  which  were  thought  to  trot  with  peculiar  grace,  and  which 
endured  better  than  others  the  labor  of  drawing  the  lumbering  and  heavy 
vehicles  of  that  period  over  the  then  rugged  and  unpaved  streets  of  London. 
The  very  common  proverb  of  "  the  gray  mare  is  the  better  horse,"  applied  to 
those  families  where  the  wife  is  supposed  to  rule  the  bouse,  is  said  to  have 
arisen  from  the  great  preference  given  to  the  gray  Flemish  mare  over  the  best 
horses  of  England.  The  celebrated  English  hunter  is  supposed  to  have  de- 
rived its  origin  from  a  cross  between  the  race-horse  and  some  heavy  Spanish ' 
chargers,  brought  into  England  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Third,  and  they 
have  ever  since  formed  a  distinct  class. 

With  regard  to  the  horses  of  America,  we  learn  that  large  numbers  were 
brought  over  by  the  early  Spanish  and  English  discoverers.  The  first  were 
imported  by  Columbus,  on  his  second  voyage,  in  1493.  The  first  brought 
to  any  territory  now  belonging  to  the  United  States,  were  landed  in  Florida, 
in  1527,  by  Cabaca  de  Vaca.  They  were  allowed  to  run  loose  during  the 
dissensions  that  followed,  and  multiplied  to  an  almost  incredible  extent, 
especially  in  South  America 

The  wild  horses  found  in  North  America,  when  the  West  was  first  explored, 
were  more  hardy  ;  they  were  of  Spanish  extraction,  and  had  been  brought 
into  use  by  the  natives  to  a  great  extent,  though  many  v/ild  herds  of  immense 
numbers  still  roam  freely  over  the  prairies  of  our  western  territories. 

The  race  of  horses  which  originated  those  now  used  in  this  country,  and 
in  Canada,  were  imported  from  various  nations. 

In  1609,  one  horse  and  six  mares  were  brought  to  Virginia  from  England. 
In  1825,  a  few  Dutch  horses  from  Holland  were  imported  into  New-Nether- 
lands, now  the  State  of  New- York.  In  1604,  M.  L.  Escabot  brought  the 
first  horse  into  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia,  then  known  by  the  Indian  name  of 
Acadia.  The  first  horse  brought  into  Massachusetts  was  from  England,  and 
was  imported  by  Francis  Higginson,  in  1629.  In  1678,  they  existed  in  con- 
siderable numbers  in  Louisiana.  The  Indians  on  Red  River,  in  Texas,  used 
them  in  1690.  The  early  French  settlers  in  Illinois  had  them  inconsiderable 
numbers  in  1750. 

The  same  vessels  brought  over  the  first  importations  of  cattle,  sheep,  and 
swine,  and  they  have  increased  so  as  to  form  a  most  astonishing  portion  of 
the  wealth  of  the  country. 

The  West  Indian  horses  may  properly  be  classed  with  those  of  America, 
and  they  generally  exhibit  the  characterising  marks  of  the  nation  to  which 
the  island  belongs. 

The  Canadian  horses  are  of  French  origin,  and  to  this  stock  we  are  indebted 
for  most  of  the  trotting  horses  of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  marked  pecu- 
liarity of  the  Canadian  horse  that  he  always  trots,  as  the  Arabian  horse 
always  canters.  Other  breeds  exhibit  all  the  peculiarities  of  movement,,  in- 
cluding the  trot,  canter,  and  amble,  but  the  Arabian  horse  never  trots,  and 
the  Canadian  rarely  canters.  Beside  the  trotting  horse,  we  are  indebted  to 
Canada  for  many  of  the  most  serviceable  specimens  of  the  cart  and  dray 
horse,  of  their  size,  and  in  the  northern  part  of  this  State,  in  Vermont,  and 
other  sections  on  the  Canada  line,  they  ara  met  with  in  great  abundance." 


686  CORN,    RYE,    AND   INDIAN-BREAD. 


CORN,     RYE,    AND    INDIAN -BREAD. 

We  have  been  rosolved  into  a  committee  for  a  special  report  on  this  very 
important  branch  of  the  great  culinary  art,  and  if  our  readers  do  not  under- 
stand and  act  discreetly  in  reference  to  it  hereafter,  it  is  not  our  fault. 

We  profess  to  speak,  in  the  following  passages,  ex  cathedra,  and  if  others 
do  not  succeed  in  their  earlier  experiments,  they  must  try  again  : 

CORN-BREAD    AS    MADE    AT    GREEN's,    CIIAMBERS-ST.,    N.  Y. 

Take  1  pints  yellow  corn-meal,  3  pints  wheat  flour,  and  mix  them  well  to- 
gether; then  6  egg'^,  well  broken,  2  cups  melted  butter,  and  a  httle  salt  and 
sugar  to  suit  the  taste.  Put  this  mass  together,  and  mix  with  milk  to  make 
a  batter  about  the  consistency  or  stiffness  of  paste  prepared  for  drop-cake. 
Then  dissolve  three  teaspoons-full  of  cream  of  tartar,  and  the  same  of  soda; 
pour  it  upon  the  mass,  stir  it  in  thoroughly,  and  dip  it  at  once  into  pans,  and 
bake  in  a  hot  oven. 

corx-bread  as  made  at  crooks',  cii  \tham-st.,  n.  t. 

Take  1  quart  of  milk,  3  eggs,  beaten,  butter  half  the  size  of  an  egg,  cream 
tartar,  1  tea^poonful,  salt  and  sweeten  to  your  taste.  To  this  add  corn-meal 
to  make  a  paste  about  the  consistency  of  giiddle-cakes  ;  put  in  pan  immedi- 
ately, and  bake  in  a  hof  oven. 

BOSTON    BROWN-BREAD. 

To  make  this  article,  take  of  best  yellow  corn-uieal  two  parts  ;  of  unbolted 
rye-meal  (the  rye  should  be  screened  before  grinding)  one  part ;  partially 
wet  and  mix  the  corn-meal  with  hot  water,  then  add  the  rye  and  the  yeast, 
(hop-yeast,  one  pint  to  nine  quarts  of  meal,)  and  thoroughly  mix  with  more 
warm  water,  if  necessary,  to  make  a  mass  neither  hard  nor  soft,  but  stiff 
enough  to  be  transferred  with  care  by  the  hand  from  the  kneading-trough  to 
the  pan  ;  then  let  it  stand  till  it  begins  to  show  signs  of  rising  ;  put  it  into  the 
pans,  and  let  it  stand  a  few  minutes  if  it  is  not  "rising"  too  fast,  then  put 
it  to  bake;  if  in  a  brick  oven,  six  hours  will  be  none  too  many ;  if  in  a  com- 
mon stove  or  range,  care  must  be  had  not  to  burn,  and  bake  from  three  to 
six  hours  according  to  size  of  loaf.  The  heat  should  be  moderate  after  the 
first  two  hours,  but  steady  ;  keep  up  a  scalding  heat  after  the  outside  is 
brovt-ned  properly. 

Many  people  use  three  quarts  or  pounds  of  rye-meal  to  five  quarts  or 
pounds  of  corn-meal,  which,  we  think,  are  the  best  proportions  for  pure,  New- 
England  "  rye  and  Indian."  S.  D.  Ostrander,  Boston  brown-bread  baker,  of 
this  city,  378  Bleecker  street,  uses  2  parts  rye  to  4  of  corn-meal,  and  hop- 
yeast,  adding  a  little  molasses  to  a  part  to  suit  the  taste  of  customers.  Too 
much  molassts  is  worse  than  none  for  most  people. 

But  we  next  give  the  receipt  which  we  would  set  forth  as  making  a  better 
article  than  all  the  brown-bread  ever  baked  in  the  city  of  Boston,  where,  of 
course,  bakers  only  imitate  the  "  real  original"  article  made  by  the  house- 
wives of  Yankeeland.  It  will  be  perceived  that  we  still  bold  on  upon 
milk,  and  ihough  a  large  proportion  of  this  bread  is  mixed  with  water  only, 
we  go  for  this  liquid  as  a  valuable  improvement; 


STEREOSCOPES. 


687 


REAL    NEW-ENGLAND    BROWN-BREAD. 


Take  equal  proportions  of  sifted  rye  and  Indian  meal,  mix  them  well  together  ; 
add  half  a  tea-cup-full  of  molasses,  and  two  gills  of  good  yeast,  to  about  three 
quarts  of  the  mixed  meal.  Wet  this  with  good,  new  milk  sufficient  to  make 
a  dough  that  can  easily  be  worked,  even  with  one  hand.  For  economy's 
sake,  milk  that  has  stood  twelve  hours,  and  from  which  the  cream  has  been 
taken,  may  be  a  substitute  for  the  new  milk  ;  or  water  which  has  been  pressed 
from  boiled  squash,  or  in  which  squash  has  been  boiled,  is  a  substitute  much 
better  than  pure  water.  But  warm  water  is  more  C(vaimonly  used.  ^  The  in- 
gredients should  be  thoroughly  mixed,  and  stand,  in  cold  weather,  for  twelve 
hours  ;  in  warm  weather  two  hours  may  be  sufficient  before  baking. 

If  baked  in  a  brick  oven,  a  three-quart  loaf  should  stand  in  the  oven  all 
night.  The  same  quantity  in  thive^  baking-pans  will  bake  in  about  three 
hours. 

Serve  this  warm  from  the  oven,  with  good,  sweet  butter,  and  we  could  fast 
upon  it  every  morning  for  breakfast,  from  January  to  December. 


STEREOSCOPES  — MR.     MASCHER'S    PATENT. 

We  took  occasion,  last  month,  to  notice  the  new  form  of  stereoscopes,  pa- 
tented by  Mr.  Mascher,  of  Philadelphia,  by  means  of  which  daguerreotyned 
persons  are  made  to  appear  in  a  most  wonderfully  life-like  form.  We 
have  since  seen  another  form,  designed  for  views  of  natural  scenery.  This  is 
as  neat  and  compact  as  those  before  described,  being  scarcely  thicker  than  a 
common  leather  daguerreotjq^e-case,  and,  perhaps,  double  the  size  of  those 
for  one-quarter  pictures.  The  effects  on  representations  of  natural  scenery 
are  equally  beautiful  as  in  the  case  of  the  living  form.  Buildings,  tree's,  hills, 
and  other  material  objects,  stand  out  in  the  boldness,  and  grandeur,  and  dis- 
tinctness of  reality.  These  pictures  are  photographic,  and  may  be  had  either 
on  paper  or  on  glass.  Those  on  paper  are  very  tine.  Among  these  we  have 
seen  are  the  Girard  College,  in  Philadelphia,  High  Bridge,  near  New-York,  the 
Capitol  at  Washington,  part  of  the  White  House,  Niagara  Falls,  the  Sus- 
pension Bridge,  Wa-?hington's  Tomb,  the  Coliseum,  etc.  These  are  only  83 
a  dozen.  Others  are  taken  on  glass,  and  are  absolutely  superb.  The  Capi- 
tol at  Washington,  for  example,  looms  up  before  you  in  all  its  massive  pro- 
portions, with  all  its  ornamentations,  its  roughnesses,  etc.,  hke  the  real 
structure.  These  are  $18  a  dozen.  Paper,  on  glass,  so  as  to  be  transparent, 
at  $6  a  dozen,  are  very  fine — nearly  equal  to  the  best.  The  stereoscopic  case 
itself  is  only  $2,50.  Those  who  love  elegant  luxuries,  and  those  who  would 
patronize  real  genius,  in  these  its  most  useful  discoveries  and  inventions,  should 
order,  then,  the  most  beautiful  of  all  optical  instruments.  We  wnsh  our 
finances  wouLl  all^w  us  an  entire  set  of  those  on  glass.  These  have  a  fine 
effect  in  the  evening,  before  a  bright  lamp,  or  ga-light.  In  using  the  paper 
photographs,  the  light  should  fall  brightly  on  thn  picture. 

Many  of  our  realers  may  have  seen  similar  renilts,  in  a  less  elegaut  form, 
by  means  of  glass  lenses  in  a  large  case,  in  connection  with  coarse  engravings, 
or  as'thev  are  arranged  in  Barnum's  Museum,  round  the  sides  of  the  room. 
Those  are  either  paintings  or  engravings.  ^  Saddler's  co^raoramas,  that  are  so 


688  MErEOROLOGICAL. 


very  beautiful,  and  excited  so  long  and  so  widely  the  attention  of  citizens  and 
strangers,  in  his  rooms  on  Broadway,  are  produced  by  similar  processes, 
^ough  his  pictures  are  vastly  finer  than  those  in  the  Museum.  In  this  little 
case,  which,  with  the  series  of  pictures,  a  gentleman  could  carry  in  his  coat- 
pocket,  one  may  have  a  set  of  cosmoramas  on  his  own  parlor-table,  and  if  he 
loves  beauty,  they  will  not  lie  there  forgotten  or  uncared  for.  Every  caller 
will  be  invited  to  look  at  them  ;  and  at  a  party,  when  material  for  conversa- 
tion runs  loAV,  scandal  being  used  up  and  worn  threadbare,  these  little  repre- 
sentations of  the  grand,  or  great,  or  beautiful  scenes,  made  interesting  by 
historic  incident,  or  by  a  personal  visit,  in  times  gone  by,  will  be  regarded 
with  peculiar  satisfaction. 

Do  not  forget  Mr.  John  F.  Mascher,  408  North  Second  street,  Philadelphia. 

A  notion  of  this  invention  was  given  in  the  March  number  of  SilUmaii's 
Journal. 

We  will  order  and  forward  to  any  subscriber  who  wishes  them  the  style 
he  may  select. 


rou    THE   rLOca:i,  ths   loom,   and   tub  anvil. 
METEOROLOGICAL. 

Messrs.  Editors  : — I  have  seen  some  notices  on  the  above  subject  in  your 
periodical,_and  thinking  a  few  remarks  on  the  weather  the  last  season  might 
be  interesting  to  some  of  the  readers  of  your  wide-furrowed  Plow,  I  subjoin 
a  few  facts : 

The  summer  of  1854  was  extremely  dry — a  great  and  wide-spread  dearth 
of  all  the  products  of  the  earth  :  the  corn  did  not  ear,  the  oats  Tlid  not  fill, 
and  many  fields  were  mowed  for  fodder  ;  the  grass  did  not  seed,  the  hay  was 
short  of  nourishment,  and  takes  one-third  more  to  winter  the  stock  than 
usual. 

Hay  will  command  any  price  demanded — $20  per  ton  [$5  a  usual  price, 
we  suppose. — Eds,]  is  paid,  and  cattle  starving.  All  edibles  for  man  or  beast 
are  scarce  and  dear.  I  have  kept  tables,  and  noted  the  range  of  the  mercury 
in  the  thermometer  for  some  twenty  years.  Once  in  this  time,  previous  to 
the  6th  last  September,  the  mercury  is  recorded  100"^ ;  that  day,  Gth  Sep- 
tember, at  12  o'clock,  the  mercury  rose  to  104^  above  zero.  Professor  Z. 
Thompson,  of  Burlington,  was  at  my  study.  I  requested  him  to  step  out  and 
look  at  it,  which  he  did,  and  hung  one  he  had  with  him  by  the  side  of  mine ; 
that  soon  rose  to  104,'='  and  both  to  106°  at  1  o'clock;  barometer,  28,50.'* 
About  4  o'clock,  P.  M.,  we  had  a  shower  with  thunder  and  high  wind,  which 
prostrated  many  fruit-trees,  fences,  and  some  buildings. 

The  winter  has  been  moderate  for  our  high  latitude,  except  a  few  cold  days. 
The  20th  December,  the  mercury  fell  to  So^*  below  zero,  as  cold  within  one  de- 
gree as  it  has  been  in  this  locality  for  twenty  years.  December  22d,  the 
mercury  stood  at  26^  ;  23d,  at  30«  below  zero;  25th,  at  sunrise,  it  stood 
at  34"  above  zero,  and  would  range  as  high  as  88°  at  sunrise  occasionally.  On 
the  morning  of  the  Gth  of  February,  1855,  the  mercury  was  26'=',  noon,  18'\ 
sunset,  24"  ;  the  most  tedious  day  last  winter — a  stinging  N.  W.  wind. 
Wednesday,  the  Yth,  at  sunrise,  the  mercury  stood  at  38"  below  zero— the 
coldest  morning  for  twenty  years,  or  since  I  kept  a  thermometer.  In  many 
localities  in  the  state  it  stood  at  40"  below  zero.     The  9th  of  February,  the 


NEW   AMERICAN   PATENTS. 


mercury  rose  to  11°  above  zero.  April  2d,  high,  south  wind,  snow,  and 
wind  all  day  ;  and,  until  noon,  the  3d,  the  roads  were  blocked  up  with  snow 
worse  than  at  any  other  time  through  the  winter.  Blue-birds  made  their 
appearance  the  4th  of  April,  and  robins  the  5th  of  April,  1854.  Both  birds 
were  seen  by  me  on  the  6th.  The  Louisville  river  cleared  of  ice,  last  year, 
the  13th;  this  year,  the  lYth.  Shower,  with  thunder,  the  18th,  at  sunset. 
Plowing  was  commenced  the  19th  ;  last  year,  the  20th. 

At  this  time,  the  weather  is  rather  favorable — snow  mostly  gone  on  low 
lands  ;  the  mountains  and  hills  mostly  covered.  Rain  is  needed  to  start  the 
grass.  Ariel  Hunton. 

Hyde  Park,  April  22d,  1855. 


NEW  AMEEICAU  PATENTS. 


MORRIS'S  IMPROVED  BUCKET  FOR  CHAIN-PUMPS. 

The  annexed  engravings  illustrate  an  improvement  in  the  bucket  for  the 
common  chain-pump,  patented  by  Edmund  Morris,  of  Trenton,  N,- J.,  Janu- 
ary 3,  1855,  This  bucket  makes  an  entire  change  in  the  chain-pump,  alter- 
ing it  from  a  mere  lift- pump,  which 
loses  its  water  the  moment  you 
cease  to  turn  the  crank,  into  a  suc- 
tion pump,  that  retains  the  water, 
and  which  a  single  turn  of  the  crank 
v/ill  cause  to  discharge  at  the  noz- 
zle. Its  construction  is  extremely 
J  simple,  while  its  cost  is  probably  no 
more  than  the  ordinary  iron  disk, 
as,  no  matter  how  deep  the  well, 
only  two  of  these  buckets  are  re- 
quired to  be  in  the  log  at  the  same 
time,  while  the  iron  disks  occur 
every  few  mches.  These  numerous  disks  being  dispensed  with,  the  chain  is, 
therefore,  much  lighter. 

Figure  2  is  an  iron  casting,  having  a  shank  at  A,  at  each  end,  by  which 
to  rivet  it  to  the  chain.  It  is  supplied  with  two  flanches,  C  C,  of  equal  di- 
ameter, and  these  flanches  are  connected  by  a  cone,  B.  A  ring  (1^  inches 
in  outside  diameter)  of  India  rubber,  D,  figure  1,  is  stretched  over  one  of  the 
flanches  on  to  the  cone,  and  fills  up  the  space  between  them,  or  very  nearly 
so,  as  seen  in  figure  1.  This  figure  represents  the  bucket  complete.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  the  inside  of  the  flanches,  where  they  join  the  cone, 
are  hollowed  out,  so  that  the  ring,  when  compressed  by  the  passage  up  the 
pump  log,  can  partially  contract  itself  into  this  hollow  space,  from  which  it 
escapes  as  soon  as  the  bucket  emerges  from  the  log,  and  recovers  its  original 
elasticity.  The  bucket  also,  when  ascending  the  log,  will  force  the  ring  down 
to  the  base  or  thickest  part  of  the  cone,  thus  causing  a  very  trifling  amount 
of  expansion  of  its  diameter,  or  just  enough  to  make  a  perfect  air-tight  fit, 
and  a  consequent  vacuum,  like  the  piston  of  a  syringe.  As  the  upper  bucket 
escapes  from  the  log,  another  one  should  enter  at  the  bottom.    Water  is  the 


690 


NEW  AMERICAN   PATENTS. 


lubricator  for  gum,  as  oil  is  for  metal ;  tliere  is,  consequently,  a  very  small 
amount  of  friction. 

These  buckets  possess  the  merit  of  not  wearing  out  the  log,  nor  themselves. 
They  will  last  many  years,  and  should  the  ring:?,  from  any  cause,  require  re- 
newing, a  new  set  can  be  put  on  in  five  minutes.  All  the  old  pumps  now 
in  use  can  have  the  old  buckets  replaced  witli  these,  the  same  gearing  an- 
swering in  both  cases.  The  bucket  which  is  to  receive  the  ring  cau  be  cast 
at  any  country  foundry,  and  the  patentee  can  furnish  the  rings  at  a  very 
small  price.  No  change  of  weather  affects  the  elasticity  of  the  rings,  as  the 
gum  is  vulcanized  expressly  for  the  purpose.  It  would  be  difficult  to  con- 
struct a  pump  which  works  more  accurately. 

Particulars  may  be  learned  by  addressing  the  patentee. 


NEW     SEWING-MACHINE. 


"We  present  our  readers  with  a  representation  of  a  novelty  in  the  line  of 
sewing-machines.  This  is  entirely  different  from  those  so  widely  known  and 
so  extensively  used.  The  inventor  is  F.  R.  Robinson.  It  has  since  been  in 
the  hands  of  Howard  &  Davis,  the  well-known  clock  and  gold-balance  manu- 
facturers, and  in  their  establishment,  under  the  supervision  of  S.  R.  Roper,  a 
new  needle  and  some  other  improvements  have. been  added.  The  motion  is 
all  communicated  by  a  cam  on  the  shaft,  to  which  is  attached  the  balance- 
wheel,  as  shown  in  the  cut.  By  the  revolution  of  the  cam,  the  two  arms,  di- 
verging from  a  common  axis,  are  elevated  and  depressed.  At  the  extremity 
of  each  arm  are  placed  the  needles.  The  needles  are  a  curiosity  in  them- 
Belves,  being  hollow,  and  in  each  is  a  piston.  As  the  under  arm  comes  up, 
a  shoulder  on  the  piston  of  that  needle  meets  a  stop ;  the  needle  then  has 
passed  through  the  cloth — the  eye  of  the  needle  is  opened  by  the  stoppage 
of  the  piston,  and  then  receives  the  thread;  as  the  arm  retires,  the  eye  is 


NEW  AMERICAN  PATENTS.  691 

closed,  and  the  thread  is  carried  down  through  the  cloth — the  thread  ren- 
ders through  the  needle's  eye  loosely,  and  is  left  ready  to  be  received  by  the 
upper  needle  in  its  descent,  when  it  is  again  taken  through  the  cloth  in  an 
upward  direction  by  the  ascending  arm.  Thus  the  thread  is  passed 
through  and  through  the  cloth,  and  the  stitch  is  formed  the  same  as  by  hand. 
The  needles  on  the  ends  of  the  arms  are  adjustable  (by  a  set-screw)  from 
right  to  left,  and  vice  versa,  so  that  any  size  of  stitch  may  be  obtained  that 
is  desired,  either  a  back  or  forward-stitch.  In  fact,  any  through-stitch  that 
is  taken  by  hand  is  produced  on  this  machine ;  even  the  whip,  or  over-and- 
over-stitch.  The  sewing,  by  this  invention,  has  no  under  thread  by  shuttle 
or  spool.  A  single  thread  is  only  used.  The  sewing  can  not  be  distinguished 
from  the  best  of  hand  production,  except  by  its  mechanical  accuracy.  By  a 
very  simple  arrangement,  any  required  degree  of  tension  is  obtained  ;  and  by 
the  turning  of  a  screw,  the  seam  can  be  fastened  off,  just  as  by  a  woman,  at 
the  beginning  and  ending.  This  is  the  only  machine  which  makes  the  same 
stich  that  is  made  by  the  seamstress  with  her  needle. 

As  a  specimen  of  ingenuity  and  workmanship,  we  think  them  well  worthy 
of  examination ;  and  those  who  want  the  best  work  with  the  least  labor  had 
Better  look  into  them,  and  see  for  themselves. 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  circular  issued  by  the  patentees  : 

"  This  new  sewing-machine  is  respectfully  recommended  to  public  notice, 
and  an  examination  of  its  work  and  merits  solicited. 

This  machine  actually  sews,  threading  its  oion  needle,  and  the  single  thread, 
passing  through  the  cloth  each  time,  forms  the  stitches  the  same  as  hy  hand, 
(without  loop  or  chain,)  but  with  that  regularity,  precision  and  rapidity, 
attainable  only  by  machinery. 

With  very  slight  changes  in  the  position  of  the  needles,  (by  the  turning 
of  a  screw,)  each  machine  will  produce  any  and  every  variety  of  through- 
stitch  that  can  be  made  by  hand,  and  with  any  required  degree  of  tension. 
The  seam  i?,  fastened  at  each  end  as  readily  as  in  hand  sewing. 

It  is  applicable  for  sewing  on  any  fabric;  requires  no  special  manufacture 
of  silk  or  thread,  the  same  kind  and  the  same  quantity  being  used  as  needed 
for  the  same  stitch  by  hand,  and  no  ripping  or  unraveling  of  the  work. 

The  gain  in  the  use  of  this  machine  over  hand  work  is  not  less  than  six 
TIMES  in  quantity  ;  v/hile  in  quality  it  can  not  be  approached. 

They  are  manufactured  with  the  greatest  care  and  accuracy,  very  easily 
operated  and  understood,  and  can  be  used  with  less  expense,  and  with  less 
requirements  for  repairs,  than  any  other  machine  now  before  the  public. 

Tailors,  clothing  dealers,  habit  and  mantilla  makers,  ladies'  boot 
and  SHOE  manufacturers,  and  all  interested  in  obtaining  the  perfection  of 
sewing  by  machinery,  are  particularly  invited  to  examine  this  new  and  ino-e- 
nious  invention. 

The  advantage  it  possesses  over  all  other  machines,  in  the  ability  of  vary- 
ing the  stitch  according  to  the  work  required,  will  sufficiently  recommend  it 
as  the  best  for  family  use. 

Ample  printed  directions  and  extra  needles  are  sent  with  each  machine 
and  they  are  securely  packed  for  transportation  to  any  part  of  the  country. 

They  are  all  set  up  and  ready  for  use  as  soon  as  taken  from  the  box. 

Price  ^150.     Orders  should  state  for  what  kinds  of  work  they  are  desired 
that  suitable  needles  may  be  furnished," 


692 


NEW  AMERICAN  PATENTS. 


AMES'S  POLYGRAPH  NEW  WRITING  MACHINE. 

We  have  seen  a  machine,  recently  patented  by  Mr.  Nathan  Ames,  a  lawyer, 
of  Saugus,  Mass.,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  write,  at  one  and  the  same  time, 
two  copies  of  any  document,  and  with  about  the  same  ease  and  rapidity  with 
which  a  single  one  could  be  written  in  the  usual  manner.  Any  kind  of  paper 
may  be  used,  which  can  be  written  upon  by  a  common  pen,  and  with  the 
saiiie  ink  that  is  used  in  the  ordinary  mode  of  writing.  One  is  not  an  im- 
pression from  the  other,  but  both  copies  are  alike,  written  by  separate  pens, 
and  each  one  is  a  perfect  fac-simile  of  the  other,  the  hair  lines,  heavy  strokes, 
<kc.,  being  the  same  in  both ;  and  both  as  much  under  the  control  of  the 
writer,  and  exhibiting  all  the  elegances  of  penmanship,  as  by  the  use  of  a 
st»el  or  quill  pen.  If  this  is  not  an  immense  stride  in  useful  inventions, 
applicable  to  common  business  affairs,  we  are  very  much  in  error.  No  law- 
yer who  has  contracts  or  bonds  to  write,  of  which  duplicates  are  required, 
will  be  without  one  for  a  week,  after  he  knows  the  "ubilities  of  this  instru- 
ment.    It  would  pay  for  itself  in  its  first  fifty  pages. 

Below,  we  present  a  diagram  of  this  invention.  A  and  A',  in  figure  1, 
are  two  parallel  surfaces,  either  of  the  size  of  letter  paper,  or  foolscap,  or 
other  desired  form  and  dimensions,  and  about  one  inch  and  a  half  apart. 


I^etween  A'  and  the  bottom  of  the  machine  is  also  a  space  of  about  an  inch 
and  a  half.  These  plates  may  be  of  wood,  metal,  or  glass.  In  the  machines 
now  in  operation,  plate  glass  is  used,  as  it  is  perfectly  smooth,  uniform,  and 
not  liable  to  warp.  They  are  kept  in  position  by  end  and  bottom  pieces,  (as 
represented  in  the  engraving,)  which  may  be  of  wood  or  any  other  material. 
'lnt«)  the  right  hand  side  of  one  of  the  end  pieces,  a  rod,  E,  about  nine 
inches  long,  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  and  bent  as  represented  in  the 
engraving,  is  inserted,  so  that  it  swings  horizontally  and  freely  upon  its  point 


NEW   AMERICAN   PATENTS. 


693 


of  insertion.  To  the  end  of  this  is  also  hinged  another  smaller  or  lighter 
ro.d  or  wire,  G,  as  represented  in  the  engraving,  which  also  swings  horizon- 
tally upon  its  point  of  connection  with  the  rod,  E.  To  the  end  of  the  rod, 
G,  is  also  hinged  another  rod,  I,  which,  at  a  few  inches  from  its  point  of  con- 
nection with  the  rod,  G,  divides  itself  into  two  parallel  prongs,  J  J,  about  an 
inch  and  a  half  apart.  At  the  ends  of  these  prongs,  and  at  right  angles 
with  them,  two  pens,  0  0,  are  inserted.  These  are  so  adjusted  as  that  their 
points  are  precisely  the  same  distance  apart  as  the  upper  surfaces  of  the  two 
parallel  plates.  From  the  diagram,  it  is  evident  that  each  pen  will  have  pre- 
cisely the  same  motion.  If,  then,  a  sheet  of  paper  be  placed  on  each  plate, 
the  writing  which  is  done  upon  the  upper  surface  will  be  exactly  reproduced 
upon  the  lower.  The  elasticity  of  the  wires  is  such  that  the  slightest  pres- 
sure will  bring  the  pens  down  upon  the  paper.  By  an  arrangement  of  the 
inkstands,  D  D,  upon  one  of  the  end  pieces,  both  pens  can  be  inked  at  the 
same  time.  To  hold  the  paper  firmly,  a  metal  ferule  or  strap,  B,  is  laid  at 
one  end,  and  held  by  slight  springs  at  the  ends,  a  little  above  the  plate. 
The  paper  being  placed  beneath,  the  bar  is  pressed  down  upon  it,  and  held 
fast  by  the  button,  C.  The  lower  sheet  is  held  in  like  manner  by  a  wooden 
bar,  H,  which,  by  means  of  rods  and  spiral  springs,  is  pushed  down  simul- 
taneously with  the  upper  strap,  B.  The  whole  arrangement  and  operation 
will  be  comprehended  at  a  glance. 

The  pens  are  inserted  through  a  split  in  the  ends  of  the  prongs,  R  R,  and 
held  fast  by  little  rings  or  collars  on  the  prongs.  They  can  be  changed  or 
adjusted  in  a  moment.  Any  pens  will  answer,  but  fountain  pens  are  prefer- 
able, on  account  of  the  greater  quantity  of  ink  they  hold.  The  pen  handle 
is  secured  to  the  upper  prong  by  two  loops  of  wire,  forming  a  universal  joint, 
(in  mechanical  eflfect  exactly  like  the  ball  and  socket  joint,) 


It  is  obvious  that  by  increasing  the  number  of  prongs,  and  the  number  of 
•writing  surfaces,  the  number  of  copies  can  be  increased  at  will. 

Figure  2  represents  an  apparatus  in  which  the  writing  is  all  done  upon  the 


694  NEW  AMERICAN   PATENTS. 

same  surface,  instead  of  being  done  upon  parallel  surfaces.  Small  wires' 
B  B,  bent  at  right  angles  at  the  ends,  L  L,  and  there  inserted  into  the  writ- 
ing surfiice  or  bed  plate,  so  as  to  swing  freely  in  their  sockets,  are  also  bent 
in  the  opposite  direction,  and  at  right  angles  at  the  other  ends.  These  other 
extremities  are  connected  together  b}''  a  wire,  C,  the  same  length  as  the  dis- 
tance between  the  points,  L  L.  To  these  extremities  also  are  hinged  two 
other  wires,  D  D,  which,  at  their  further  ends,  are  also  bent  upwards  at  right 
angles,  as  represented  in  the  engraving.  These  upward  bends  of  the  wires 
are  passed  through  small  holes  in  a  light  hollow  steel  rod,  E  E  E.  To  this 
rod  are  attached  the  jjens,  P  P,  in  the  same  manner  as  described  in  figure  1. 
All  these  wires  swing  horizontally  with  the  greatest  ease,  and  with  no  per- 
ceptible friction.  The  wires,  B  B  and  D  D,  may  be  about  six  or  nine  inches 
in  length,  according  to  the  size  of  the  machine;  the  rod,  E  E  E,  of  any 
length  required.  The  pens  must  be  as  far  apart  as  the  vndih  of  the  sheets 
to  be  written  on.  The  pen  handle  is  attached  to  the  bar  in  the  same  manner 
as  in  figure  1. 

When  not  being  written  with,  the  spring  of  the  wires,  D  D,  will  lift  the 
points  of  the  pens  a  little  above  the  surface  upon  which  the  paper  is  placed. 
The  slightest  pressure  brings  them  down  upon  the  paper.  The  same  arrange- 
ment for  holding  the  paper  is  used  as  in  figure  1.  The  inkstands,  1 1,  are 
the  same  distance  apart  as  the  pens,  w^hich  will  thus  be  inked  simultaneously. 
From  the  engraving,  it  will  be  seen  that  a  third  pen  might  be  inserted  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  bar,  E  E  E,  so  as  to  make  three  copies  at  once.  This  is 
entirely  practicable ;  but  usually,  two  copies  are  sufficient ;  and  instead  of  a 
third  pen,  a  small  screw  rod  there,  is  found  to  be  useful  in  regulating  the 
pens,  so  as  to  insure  their  always  touching  the  paper  together.  In  this  ma- 
chine, as  in  the  other,  a  writing  surface  of  plate  glass  is  found  to  be  the  best. 
With  both,  one  of  the  copies  can  be  taken  in  a  book,  by  inserting  the  right 
hand  side  of  the  open  volume  into  the  space  beneath  the  glass,  and  turning 
the  next  sheet  down  upon  it. 

In  either  apparatus,  the  whole  actual  mechanism  consists  of  the  wires  and 
the  sockets  upon  which  they  swing.  The  rest  is  made  up  of  the  pens,  the 
inkstands,  the  writing  surfaces,  and  the  arrangement  for  copying  in  a  book. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  any  contrivance  to  accomplish  the  desired 
end,  wherein  there  would  be  less  friction,  or  greater  ease  of  movement. 

This  apparatus  may  also  be  applied  to  the  multiplication  of  copies  of  plans 
and  drawings  of  various  sorts,  in  a  much  better  style  than  is  possible  with 
coppying-presses.  Old  plans,  nearly  worn  out,  may  thus  be  renewed.  It  may 
be  made  in  a  very  economical  manner,  or  finished  as  an  ornamental  piece  of 
furniture  for  a  parlor  or  library.  It  may  be  so  compact  as  to  be  carried  very 
conveniently  in  one's  trunk,  as  he  travels.  For  reporters  it  saves  half,  or 
more  of  the  labor  and  the  time,  which  is  to  them  a  matter  of  great  im- 
portance. The  cost  is  considerably  less  than  of  a  good  letter-copying  press. 
We  should  judge  that  it  can  not  exceed  ten  to  fifteen  dollars. 

Harvey  Brown,  Esq.,  No.  121  Nassau  street,-  has  the  disposal  of  the  ■ 
rights,  and  the  sale  of  machines,  or  the  orders  may  be  sent  to  this  office. 
We  do  not  hesitate  to  recommend  this  invention  as  one  of  great  value. 
It  is  not  liable  to  get  out  of  order.  From  the  experiments  we  have  made, 
we  prefer  the  first  form.  Perhaps  a  longer  trial  would  change  our  opinion. 
It  occupies  less  surface  on  a  table,  but  perhaps  the  lower  pen  does  not  so  ex- 
actly exhibit  the  variations  of  pressure  applied  by  the  hand,  to  the  upper,  as 
*  we  witness  in  the  use  of  the  second  form. 


NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS.  695 

Prince's  Protean  Fountain  Pen,  Patented  1855. — We  are  now  writ- 
ing with  an  instrument  bearing  this  appellation.  It  is  a  capital  invention. 
We  do  not  know,  from  experiment,  how  long  it  can  be  used  without  being 
"  dipped  into  the  ink,''  and  probably  may  not  acquire  such  knowledge  very 
soon.  We  have,  thus  far,  in  fact,  written  only  three  or  four  pages  of  letter 
sheet,  at  one  sitting  ;  but  we  are  told  that  this  pattern  will  write  "six  hours" 
without  replenishing  the  ink.  It  will  write  long  enough,  at  any  rate,  and  for 
aught  we  can  discover,  it  works  admirably.  We  have  been  among  the  faith- 
less in  respect  to  such  an  invention,  but  must  confess  ourself  highly  gratified, 
so  far,  with  its  action.  The  contrivance  for  regulating  the  flow  of  ink  is  very 
simple  and  very  ingenious.  A  well  finished  gold  pen  is  applied  to  the  handle, 
which,  being  hollow,  is  the  fountain,  and  is  of  a  material  (Goodyear's  Patent) 
not  acted  upon  unfavorably  by  the  ink.  It  requires  a  "fluid"  free  from  sedi- 
ment ;  and  with  this  proviso,  any  of  the  various  inks  may  be  used  with  it. 
The  electric  Spring  of  the  pen,  in  writing,  acts  upon  a  metallic  spring,  which 
causes  a  greater  or  less  rapid  flow  of  the  ink.  Hence,  this  flow  is  propor- 
tioned accordmg  to  the  quantity  required  by  the  style  of  the  hand  employed. 
The  common  size  costs  |3.     Oti&ee,  8  Appleton's  Buildings,  348  Broadway. 

Oil-Socket  and  Screw-Plug. — Alfred  C.  Garratt,  M.  D.,  of  Hanover, 
Mass.,  has  recently  invented  an  oil-socket  and  screw-plug  for  lubricating  car- 
riage-wheels, which  is  highly  spoken  of.  By  means  of  this  simple  apparatus, 
inserted  in  the  hub  of  any  carriage,  cart  or  artillery,  the  axle  can  be  cleaned 
and  oih'd  without  removing  the  wheel. 

Dr.  Garratt  has  secured  a  patent  for  his  invention  for  this  country  and 
Europe.  He  is  now  negotiating  with  our  government  to  have  it  applied  to 
artillery  and  all  public  vehicles. 

It  is  stated  that  by  means  of  this  apparatus,  the  wheels  of  the  heaviest 
ordnance,  by  land  or  on  ship-board,  could  be  oiled,  without  the  labor  of  re- 
moving them,  and  also  with  the  saving,  in  all  cases,  of  oil  now  wasted  when 
poured  upon  the  naked  axle. 


NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS. 


INGRAM'S  CAST-STliEL  RIFLE  BARRELS  AND  BULLET  MOULDS. 

The  use  of  round  shot  is  altogether  a  delusion.  It  is,  indeed,  such  a  gross 
misconception,  as  could  never  have  arisen  but  for  an  excess  of  apathy  and 
inattention  to  the  suhie-ct,  and  its  very  obvious  requirements.  The  spherical 
form  of  projectiles  presents  difficulties  and  defects  throughout  both  the  raau' 
ufacture  and  use  of  the  shot.  Spheres  are  by  no  means  nice  things  to  cast. 
The  greate-t  care  of  the  moulder  will  not  always  insure  accuracy  of  shape, 
as  the  conditions  necessary  for  a  successful  reproduction  of  the  pattern's  con- 
tour are  wholly  wanting.  Then,  when  the  naked  shot  is  fired  from  the  gun, 
whatever  irregularities  there  may  be  in  its  form  exercise  a  most  powerfully- 
deranging  influence  upon  the  aim.  And  even  if  the  shot  were  truly  spheri- 
cal, it,  does  not  follow  that  a  true,  even  traverse  would  be  obtained,  as  the 
explosive  action  does  not  necessarily  give  a  perfectly  central  driving  pressure. 
Hence,  in  addition  to  the  severe  battering  of  the  gun's  bore,  we  have  the 


696  NEW   ENGLISH  PATENTS, 

total  derancfement  of  the  aim  which  ensues  from  the  last  rebound  of  the  shot 
at  the  muzzle. 

The  cjlindroconoid  obviates  all  this.  It  is  easy  to  cast  with  accuracy, 
and  its  elongated  form  affords  it  a  good  guide  along  the  bore,  rendering  it 
independent  of  all  irregularities  of  shape,  and  any  side  action  of  the  explosion. 
The  substitution  of  the  cylindro-conoid  for  the  sphere  has  the  additional  ad- 
vantage, that  it  provides  an  easy  means  of  getting  at  the  proper  weight  for  a 
given  size  of  shot.  The  regulations  of  the  Ordnance  as  to  the  weight  of  their 
spherical  shot  are  excessively  stringent,  so  much  so,  that  few  founders  can 
meet  their  requirements.  Now,  it  is  obvious  that  the  sphere,  being  a  form 
with  which  no  liberties  can  be  taken,  the  adjustment  of  the  shot's  weight 
must  be  through  the  specific  gravity  of  the  iron  alone ;  and  as  the  density  of 
the  metal  varies,  to  some  extent,  in  every  locality,  difficulties  on  this  point 
will  always  be  oppressive.  But  whatever  form  we  choose  for  the  shot,  we 
•must  resort  to  clothing,  both  as  a  protection  for  the  bore,  and  a  means  of  in- 
creasing the  accuracy  of  the  flight,  and  the  effective  length  of  range.  This 
clothing  is  possible  under  various  forms.  A  cup-piece  of  leather'or  cheap 
pasteboard  may  be  pasted  upon  one  end  of  the  shot  for  this  purpose.  If  at 
the  rear  end  of  the  shot  this  cup-piece,  which  would  also  be  a  wadding,  would 
leave  the  shot  on  quitting  the  muzzle,  so  as  to  offer  no  impediment  to  the 
flight.  If  at  the  front  end,  provision  must  be  made  for  the  easy  separation 
of  the  clothing-cap ;  and  this  may  be  done  by  dividing  the  cup-piece  into 
sections,  which  are  merely  held  together  by  some  slight  tie,  or  connection, 
sufficient  to  retain  the  cap  in  form  until  the  gun  is  charged.  When  the  shot 
emerges  from  the  muzzle,  the  pieces  of  the  eap  separate  and  fly  oft". 

Mr.  Kennedy,  who  intends  to  adopt  some  such  contrivance  as  this,  has 
been  most  successful  in  making  effective  shot  on  his  "guide-winged"  prin- 
ciple. A  shot  of  this  kind,  made  lately  at  Kilmarnock,  to  fit  a  10-incli  gun, 
is  30  inches  long  from  base  to  apex,  and  it  weighs  314  pounds.  The  thick- 
ness of  the  metallic  shell  is  1|-  inch,  and  it  is  bored  out  to  a  length  of  24 
inches,  the  remaining  6  inches  of  the  conoidal  part  being  solid.  The  guide 
or  rifle-wings  are  angled,  or  inclined,  to  the  shot's  axis,  to  a  sufficient  extent, 
to  give  one  turn  in  50  feet  of  flight.  This  extent  of  rifle  action  is  ample  for 
the  purpose;  most  rifle-makers  have  erred  by  giving  too  much  turn,  to  the 
great  increase  of  the  atmospheric  resistance. 


SLATER  AND  TALL'S  WOOD-WORKING  MACHINERY. 

Mr.  Thomas  Slater,  the  optician,  well  known  for  his  valuable  inventions 
in  connection  with  the  mechanical  arrangements  of  the  electric  light,  and 
Mr.  Joseph  Tall,  a  tool-maker  of  acknowledged  ability,  have  recently  com; 
bined  their  endeavors  for  the  improvement  of  the  wood-worker's  tools,  with 
the  most  satisfactory  result.  The  particular  subject  which  they  have  taken 
in  hand  is  the  manufacture  of  joiners'  and  carpenters'  planes,  by  the  aid  of 
set  machinery,  in  such  way  that  peculiar  accuracy  in  the  work  is  secured,  in 
conjunction  with  great  rapidity  of  production. 

Messrs.  Slater  and  Tail's  invention  comprehends,  firstly,  an  arrangement 
of  machinery  for  cutting  the  parallel  sides  of  the  blocks  out  of  which  the 
planes  are  to  be  formed  ;  and,  secondly,  machinery  for  mortising  the  angular 
cavity  into  which  the  plane  iron  is  fitted. 


NEW   ENGLISH   PATENTS. 


697 


Fig.  1  of  our  engravings  is  a  side  elevation,  and  fig.  2  is  a  plan  of  the 
machine  for  cutting'the  parallel  sides  of  the  blocks  out  of  which  the  planes 
are  to  be  fornaed. 


The  working  parts  of  this  maeliine  are  supported  by  the  cast-iron  bed,  A, 
similar  to  an  ordinary  lathe-bed,  and  upon  this  bed  is  situated  the  transverse 
slide-rest,  b,  which  carries  the  rough  blank,  c,  between  the  two  revolving  cir- 
cular cutters,  D.  These  cutters  are  composed  of  a  number  of  steel  segments, 
with  serrated  or  toothed  edges,  bolted  on  to  metal  discs,  e.  The  edges  of  the 
cutters  next  the  block  are  slightly  dished,  or  inclined  inwards,  for  the  purpose 
of  forming  a  smooth  cut,  free  from  marks.  The  holding  discs,  e,  are  screwed, 
or  otherwise  secured  upon  the  ends  of  the  respective  spindles,  f,  which  work 
on  the  headstocks,  g,  standing  up  from  the  bed,  A.  These  spindles  may  be 
driven  by  belts,  and  are  fitted  with  suitable  fast  and  loose  driving-pulleys. 
The  block,  c,  out  of  which  the  plane  is  to  be  made,  is  secured  firmly  upon 
the  slide-rest  by  the  screw-clamps  or  brackets,  i,  and  is  traversed  forward  be- 
tween and  against  the  two  circular  cutters  by  turning  the  hand-wheel,  J,  on 


the  front  end  of  the  horizontal  screw  spindle,  k,  which  spindle  revolves  in 
collar  bearings  at  each  end  of  the  slide-rest  frame.  The  distance  between 
the  cutters  is  varied  according  to  circumstances,  by  adjusting  the  headstocks 


698  NEW  ENGLISH   PATENTS. 


on  the  bed,  A,  iu  the  manner  adopted  in  ordinary  lathes.  The  sides  of  the 
block  having  thus  been  cut  perfectly  smooth  and.  parallel,  it  is  taken  out  of 
the  clamps,  and  turned  so  as  to  present  the  other  two  uncut  sides  to  the  action 
of  the  cutters,  the  slide-rest  in  the  meantime  having  been  brought  back  again 
to  its  original  position,  in  readiness  for  the  second  traverse  of  the  block.  The 
four  sides  of  the  block  having  thus  been  cut  perfectly  smooth  and  parallel,  it 
may  be  removed  to  one  of  the  mortising  machines,  for  the  purpose  of  having 
the  angular  cavity  for  the  iron  cut  therein.  These  circular  cutters  are  obvi- 
ously applicable  for  grooving  moulding-planes. 


Thistle  Paper. ^    Lord  Berriedale,  London.      Patent  dated  July  8, 
1854. — Whilst  India  and  other  tropical  regions  have  been  traversed  in  search 
of  a  plant  to  be  used  in  place  of  rags  in  the  paper  manufacture.  Lord  Berrie- 
dale has  turned  his  attention  nearer  home,  and  has  selected   the  common 
thistle  as  the  most  suitable  plant  for  his  purpose.     His   invention   relates  to 
the  application  and  use  of  the  common  thistle,  or   Carduus,  as  it  is  termed, 
according  to  the  botanical  classification  of  Linnaaus,  in  the  manufacture  or 
production  of  pulpy  material  from  which  paper  is  to  be  made,  as  well  as  in 
the  manufacture  of  a  fibrous  material  for  textile  pu'poses.     All  the  varieties 
of  the  thistle  plant  are  applicable  for  the  purposes  of  this  invention,  but  more 
particularly  the  large  Scottish  thistle,  which  grows  luxuriantly  in  many  parts 
of  the  British  islands,  attaining  a  great  height  and  thickness  of  stem.     Such 
thistles  furnish,  in  each  plant,  a  large  amount  of  long  fibre  of  greit  tenacity, 
and  which,  when  duly  prepared,  is  most  excellently  suited  for  the  preparation 
of  a  powerfully  cohering  paper  pulp,  as  well  as  for  use  in  textile  manufactures. 
^  In  adapting  the  thistle  to  the  manufacture  of  paper  pulp,  the  plant  is  used 
either  in  a  green  or  dried  state.     If  employed  in  its  natural  green  condition, 
it  is  cut  or  gathered,  and  at  once  beaten  or  broken  up  by  any  suitable  me- 
chanism, such  as  is  used  in  the  primary  treatment  of  the  flax  plant,  so  as  to 
disintegrate  the  fibrous  or  ligneous  matter.     During  this  breaking  treatment, 
the  mucilaginous  and  aqueous  matter  present  is  washed  clear  away,  either  by 
pure  water,  or  by  an  acidulous  solution,  or  by  any  other  economical   and 
effective  cleansing  agent.     When  the  thistle  stems  are  thus  fully  reduced  or 
disintegrated,  the  resultant  fibrous  mass  is  worked  up  or  macerated  in  the 
usual  manner,  for  the  production  of  a  pulp  suitable  for  the  use  of  the  paper. 
maker.     This  pulp  may  be  used  iu  the  manufacture  of  paper,  either  unmixed, 
or  commingled  with  other  materials  already  in  use  for  making  paper.     The 
routine  of  manufacture  into  paper  of  the  pulp  is  similar  to  that  pursued  with 
the  ordinary  rag  pulp,  or  it  may  be  varied  as  the  properties  of  the  thistle 
may  suggest.     The  thistle  fibre  being  strong,  the  paper  made  from  it  is  of 
great  tenacity,  the  fibres  cohering  well  together  in  the  paper  machine,  and 
being  worked  up  with  very  little  loss  from  washing  away.     The  fibres  are 
also  of  good  color ;  hence,  paper  of  a  fmr  color  may  be  made  from  them  with- 
out bleaching,  and  if  bleaching  is  resorted  to,  a  very  good  white  color  is  ob- 
tained at  a  slight  expense.     The  mucilaginous  or  gummy  matter  dislodged 
frona  the  fibres  may  be  collected  and  applied  in  the  manufacture  of  gum  or 
glutinous  matter,  or  it  may  be  otherwise  rendered  commercially  valuable,  so 
as  still  further  to  economise  the  thistle  manufacture.     In  applying  the  thistle 
plant  to  the  manufacture  of  textile  materials,  the  fibres  are  primarily  pre- 


MISCELLANEOUS.  699 


pared  in  the  mariner  already  described,  and  then  subsequently  treated  ac- 
cording to  the  existing  textile  processes — such,  for  instance,  as  are  adopted  in 
the  flax  manufacture,  the  thistle  fibre  being  closely  allied  to  the  fibre  from 
the  flax  plant,  as  regards  its  general  characteristics.  Being  strong  and  of 
good  staple,  the  thistle  fibre  is  particularly  well  suited  for  the  spinning  and 
weaving  processes. 


MISCELLANY 


Hurd's  Hair  Restorer  ! — Judging  from  the  numerous  certificates  of 
well-known  persons,  attesting  the  eflicacy  of  this  article  in  not  only  keeping 
the  head  clean,  and  preventing  the  hair  falling  off",  but  in  actually  producing 
a  new  growth  of  hair  on  bald  heads — even  in  some  cases  after  several  years 
of  baldness,  we  can  but  believe  that  it  possesses  restorative  properties 
scarcely  found  elsewhere,  and  think  that  persons  wishing  to  preserve  their 
hair,  or  produce  a  new  growth,  would  look  in  vain  for  a  better  article  for  that 
purpose. 

Why  do  Teeth  Decay  ? — In  a  short  paragraph  on  this  subject,  our  friends 
of  the  Scientific  American  say  :  "It  is  our  opinion  that  if  more  coarse,  hard 
biscuit  were  eaten  in  early  life,  to  exercise  the  teeth,  they  would  be  less 
liable  to  early  decay."  We  think  so  too,  beause  such  an  application  of  force 
would  eject  them  from  their  sockets  before  they  had  "  much  of  a  chance"  to 
"  decay."  But  the  idea  of  exercidng  teeth  is  as  novel  to  us  as  would  be  the 
exercise  of  toe  and  finger  nails.  We  don't  think  that  is  quite  up  to  the 
proper  standard  of  a  "scientific"  oracle. 

OziER  Willow. — The  first  person  who  attempted  to  cultivate  this  profita- 
ble crop,  systematically  and  successfully,  in  this  country,  it  is  said,  is  Mr.  John 
Reed,  of  Staten  Island.  At  this  time.  Dr.  C.  W.  Grant,  of  Nevvburgh,  N.  Y., 
is,  perhaps,  the  most  extensive  cultivator.  He  grows  nearly  a  hundred 
varieties. 

Georgia  Marble. — Two  specimens  of  marble — one  of  beautiful  white 
color,  almost  translucent,  of  a  very  fine  grain,  and  susceptible  of  very  high 
polish  ;  the  other  variegated,  and  exceedingly  beautiful — have  been  disco- 
vered in  Cassville,  Georgia. 


NEW    BOOKS. 


"Westward,  Ho  I     Thu;  Voyages  and  Adventures  of  Sib  Amtas  Leigh  Knight.     By 
CharliJS  KiNGSLEY.     Boston  :  Ticknor  &  Fields,  1855. 

Kingsley,  who  is  the  author  of  "  Alton  Locke,"  «fec.,  has  here  opened  a  new  vein 
for  himself,  to  the  working  of  which  he  has  bronght  all  the  skill  he  has  manifested 
on  other  occasions.  It  is,  so  far  as  we  know,  a  vein  untouched  by  any  other  hand. 
It  brings  before  us  the  country  life  of  the  middling  classes  in  England,  in  the  age  of 
Elizabeth,  when  the  knight  errantry  of  the  past  was  dying  away,  or  rather  was 
breathing  its  own  spirit  of  daring  and  adventure  into  the  more  practical  life  which 
was  dawning  upon  mankind.  We  are  introduced  liere  to  Raleigh,  not  as  the  coui't- 
ier,  but  as  the  general  and  voynger,  to  Edmund  Spencer,  Drake,  Frobisher,  Haw- 
kins, and  many  others  whose  names  the  world  will  not  willingly  let  die.  The  scene 
changes  from  England  to  the  wilds  of  South  America,  with  an  interlude  in  Ireland, 
and  after  adventures,  many  and  wonderful,  closes  with  the  events  attending  the  de- 
struction of  the  Spanish  Armada — a  grand  finale.  The  least  successful  part  of  the 
work  is  the  love-story,  which,  of  course,  accompanies  the  grander  acts,  yet  this,  too, 
is  not  without  interest. 


700  NEW  BOOKS. 


The  Complete  Works  of  Shakspeare,  including  his  Playp,  Poems,  and  Life,  from  the 
Origin  il  Text,  carefully  collated  and  compared  with  the  editions  of  Knight,  Hal- 
lowell,  and  Collier.  With  Historical  Introductions  and  Notes,  explanatory  and 
critical.     Illustrated,  <tc.     Published  by  Martin  &  Johnson,  91  Walker-st ,  N.  Y. 

A  new  edition  of  Shatspeare  may,  to  some  of  ourreadei's,  appear  unnecessary  ;  but 
we  tliiiik  otherwise,  and  for  several  reasons.  Among  these  reasons  are  the  fact 
that  every  new  edition  probably  multiplies  his  readers;  and  another,  still  more  im- 
portant, which  is  applicable  not  to  all,  but  to  this,  we  have  as  yet  no  elegant  Ameri- 
can edition  of  this  great  writer.  Shakspeares,  indeed,  we  have,  in  one  volume,  with 
type  to  ruin  thou-ands  of  eyes,  and  in  more  than  one,  in  which  the  defects  are  only  the 
more  conspicuous.  This  edition  is  in  quarto  form,  and  it  is  an  elegant  edition.  IThe 
whole  execution  is  elegant,  whether  paper,  or  printing,  or  engravings.  There  will 
be  about  foi'ty  numbers,  each  25  cents,  and  each  having  a  handsome  illustration. 

No.  1  has  an  engraved  title-page,  and  an  elegant  portrait  of  Shakspeare,  surrounded 
by  scenes  and  characters  illustiating  his  plays.  In  the  2d,  is  a  full-length  poi  trait  of 
Forrest  as  "Hamlet,"  a  good  likeness.  In  the  3d,  a  scene  from  "Much  Ado  About 
Nothing."  In  the  4th,  likenesses  of  Charlotte  and  Susan  Oushman,  as  in  "  Komeo  and 
Juliet,"  Act.  3,  Scenes.  In  the  5th.  Anne  I'age  and  Slender,  &o.  The  engravings 
are  executed  in  a  very  superior  manner,  and  the  publishers  deserve  an  extensive  pa- 
tronage. Specimen  numbers  will  be  sent  to  order,  if  31  cents  and  postage  is  enclosed 
to  us  or  the  publishers. 


Practical  Landscape  Gardening,  with  Reference  to  the  Improvement  of  Rural  Res- 
idences, giving  the  General  Principles  of  the  Art,  with  full  Directions  for  Planting 
Shade  Trees,  Shrubbery,  and  Flowers,  and  Laying  Out  Grounds.  By  G.  M.  Kebn. 
Cincinnati:  Moore,  Wilstach,  Keys  &  Co.,  1855.     328  pp.     Price,  $1,50. 

_  The  title  of  this  book  explains  its  purpose,  and  that  purpose  is  ably  and  fully  car- 
ried out.  The  first  part  is  an  exposition  of  the  theory  and  practical  operations  of 
landscape  gardening  as  an  art  of  design  and  taste.  The  second  explains  its  adapta- 
tion to  pleisure  grounds,  the  farm,  cemeteries,  ete.  Directions  for  the  kitchen  gar- 
den are  added.  Twenty-two  illustrations  are  given.  Mr.  Kern  shows  that  his  supe- 
rior advantages  for  acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  this  subject  have  not  been 
neglected.  This  volume  is  full,  thoroutih,  judicious,  and  well  worthy  the  notice  of  all 
owners  of  rural  dwellings.     It  is  for  sale  by  C.  M.  Saxton. 


De  Bow's  Review  vor  April. — This  number  contains  the  usual  amount  of  current 
information,  under  the  heads  of  "  Literary  and  Miscellaneous,"  "  Agriculture  and 
Horticulture,"  "  Home  and  Foreign  Commerce,"  "  Mining,  Manufactures,  and  Inter- 
nal Improvements,"  and  "Education."  Among  the  articles  are  "The  South  and  the 
Union  ;"  "  Practical  Effects  of  Emancipation,"  by  D  J.  McCord,  of  South  Carolina  ; 
"Selection  of  Seed  in  Agriculture,"  by  J.  W.  Scott,  of  Ohio  ;  "Public  Dtbts  and  Se- 
curities;" "Sugar  Trade  of  the  United  States;"  "Southern  Convention  of  New  Or- 
leans;" 'CKmmon  Schools  and  Universities,  North  and  South,"  &e.,  etc.  The  editor 
is  a^ain  devoting  his  entire  energies  to  the  work,  and  urges  prompt  remittances  from 
Bubscribers,  as  well  as  an  increase  of  their  number.  He  c,an  supply  the  back  numbers 
of  any  sei  ic?  from  the  beginning,  or  a  digest  of  the  whole  work,  in  three  octavo  vol- 
umes, for  $6,  postage  free.  Address,  New-Orleans  and  Washington  City.  It  is  a 
favorable  season  to  subscribe. 


Put.vam's  Monthly. — TliI^  popular  magazine  is  now  published  by  Messrs.  Dix  & 
Edward,  who  have  become  the  proprietors,  with  anew  editorial  department.  A  card 
from  Mr.Putnatri  assures  us  that  "in  all  departments  of  elegant  literature,  criticism, 
popular  instruction  and  amusement,  the  new  management  bas  already  secured  the 
promise  of  most  hearty  co-operation  from  the  best  writers ;"  and  he  adds — '■  We  have 
no  he.sitation  in  assuring  the  readers  and  contributors  of  the  magazine,  that  they 
may  rely  with  entire  confidence  upon  the  future  character  of  the  work,  and  that  the 
onlj'  change  Avill  be  for  the  better.  It  will  continue  to  have  our  own  active  co-ope- 
ration, and  all  orders  for  the  trade  will  be  supplied  by  us  as  heretofore."  OPice,  as 
before  10  Park  Place. 


NEW   BOOKS.  701 


Merrie  England.  Travels,  Descriptions,  Tales,  and  Historial  Sketches.  By  Grace 
Greenwood.  Twelve  Illustrations  by  Devereux,  and  Vignette.  Boston:  Tick- 
nor  &  Fields,  1855.     261  pp. 

Grace  Greenwood  needs  no  commendation  from  us.  This  handsome  volume  is 
honorable  to  tlie  publishers,  and  is  worlbj'^  the  eminent  author.  The  selection  of 
topics  is  excellent.  These  are,  Stratford  upon  the  Avon,  Newstead  Abbey,  Sherwood 
Forest,  Nottingham  Castle,  Warwick  Castle,  Lincoln  Cathedral,  and  York  Minster; 
Kenilwor.th  Castle,  London  and  the  Tower,  Westminster  Abbey,  and  the  new  Palace 
of  Westminster.  Under  the  Tower,  we  have  Ladies  Jane  aud  Catherine  Grey  and 
Arabella  Stuart. 


The  Flower  Garden  ;  or,  Breck's  Book  of  Flowers.     By  Joseph  Brece.     Second 
thousand.    Boston:  John  P.  Jewett  &  Co.,  1851. 

Mr.  Breek  is  a  gentleman  of  education  and  large  experience.  He  formerly  edited  the 
New-England  Farmer,  and  the  Horticultural  Register.  He  is,  also,  and  for  many 
years  has  been,  one  of  the  prominent  members  and  an  otBcer  of  the  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Society.  We  regard  his  opinions  aa  worthy  of  especial  attention, 
while  his  years  of  careful  observation  and  constant  practice  entitle  him  to  the  respect 
of  the  wisest  and  most  successful.  We  commend  this  book  especially  to  those  for 
whom  it  was  more  especially  designed,  the  amateur  and  the  unpractised. 


The  Practical  Fruit,  Flower,  and  Vegetable  Gardener's  Companion,  witb  a  Calen- 
dar. By  Patrick  Neill,  L.  L.  D.,  F.  R.  S.  E,  etc. ;  adapted  to  the  United  States 
from  the  Fourth  Edition.  Revised  and  Improved  by  the  Author.  Edited  by  G. 
Emerson,  M.  D.,  Editor  of  Johnson's  Farmers'  Encyclopedia.  With  Notes  and  Ad- 
ditions, by  R.  G.  Pardee  ;  with  elegant  Illustrations.  New- York :  C.  M.  Saxton  & 
Co.,  1855.     402  pp. 

This  is  a  good  book,  with  well  executed  engravings.  We  have  not  had  time  for  a 
thorough  examination,  but  a  partial  reading  has  given  us  a  very  favorable  opinion  of 
its  merits.     We  shall  notice  it  further  hereafter. 


The  American  Fruit  Book.  By  S.  W.  Cole.  Boston :  John  P.  Jewett  &  Co.,  1854. 
Twentieth  thousand. 

This  little  manual,  of  288  pages,  contains  muJtum  in  parvo — viz:  directions  for 
raising,  propagating,  and  managing;  fruit-trees,  shrubs  and  plants,  and  a  description 
of  the  best  varieties  of  fruit,  with  numerous  engravings.  On  these  subjects,  Mr.  Cole 
was  excellent  authority,  and  he  condensed  into  this  little  volume  the  results  of  many 
years'  experiments  and  observation.  Its  extensive  sale  shows  the  estimation  in  which 
it  is  properly  held  by  the  public. 

Sabbath-Morning  Readings  on  the  Old  Testament.  By  Rev.  John  Gumming,  D.D., 
F.  R.  S.  E.,  etc.  The  Book  of  Leviticus.  Boston:  John  P.  Jewett  &  Go.,  1855. 
341  pp. 

The  works  of  this  eminent  author,  who  has  no  equal  in  this  department,  have 
passed  more  than  once  under  our  notice,  and  with  our  unqualified  approbation.  This 
volume  is  worthy  of  the  previous  issues.  No  work  within  our  knowledge  can  take 
the  place  occupied  by  this  series. 


The  Daily  Life;  or.  Precepts  and  Prescriptions  for   Christian   Living.      By  Rev 
John  Gumming,  etc.     John  P.  Jewett  &  Co.,  Boston.     279  pp. 

This  volume,  by  the  author  of  the  preceding,  is  intended  for  "those  who  are  busy 
by  day,  and  very  weary  at  eventide," — a  very  numerous  class, — for  whom  "  we  re- 
quire, not  arid  dogmas,  however  orthodox,  but  warm  joys, sustaining  strength,  cheer- 
ing hopes,  and  inspiring  expectations;  we  need,  also,  direction,  guidance,  encourage- 
ment." How  well  this  idea  is  carried  out,  those  familiar  with  this  learned  author 
need  not  be  informed. 


702 


LIST   OF   PATENTS   ISSUED. 


The  Pkactical  Land-Drainer;  a  Treatise  on  Draining  Land,  etc.  Numerously  Tllus- 
traieJ.  By  J.  Munn,  Landscape  Gardener.  New- York :  C.  M.  Saxton  &  Co.,  1855. 
18G  |.p. 

This  13  a  good  treatise  on  a  most  important  subject.  Mr.  Munu  is  well  versed  in 
tliis  department,  and  has  produced  a  book  worthy  of  general  attention.  The  direc- 
tions are  full  and  generally  judicious,  and  quite  sufficient  as  a  guide  to  any  farmer. 
Our  readers  may  notice  other  references  to  this  volume  in  this  6r  in  future" numbers. 


Thk  Daily  Monitor  ;  being  a  portion  of  the  Scripture,  an  Anecdote,  and  a  Verse  of 
a  Hymn,  for  every  day  of  the  year.  By  Rev.  John  Allen.  With  an  Introduction, 
by  ilev.  E.  N.  Kirk.     Boston :  John  P.  Jewett  &  Co.,  1855.     219  pp. 

This  little  volume  is  handsomely  printed,  and  the  plan  is  well  carried  out.  The 
introduction,  of  only  five  pages,  is  worth  the  price  of  the  book. 

All  these  publications  of  Jewett  and  Co.  are  in  tlie  usual  excellent  style  of  that 
efficient  house. 


A  Boy's  Adventures  in  the  Wilds  of  Australia  ;  or,  Herbert's  Note  Book.     By 
WiLLi.^M  Howitt.     With  Illustrations.     Boston:  Ticknortfe Fields,  1855.     359pp. 

Our  young  author  says,  on  his  first  page,  "things  are  very  fond  of  fl\ing  in  this 
country,  The  squirrels  fly  ;  the  grasshoppers  fly  ;  the  mice  fly ;  and  I  see  all  sorts 
of  seeds  flying  at  a  great  rate.  I  shall,  therefore,  let  my  thoughts  and  observations 
fly  on  paper  to  old  England,  for  it  is  an  old  proverb  that  'at  Rome  you  must  do  as 
the  Romans  do.' "    This  light,  pleasant  style  is  characteristic  of  the  volume. 


NEW    MUSIC. 

Horace  Waters,  333  Broadway,  whose  advertisement  of  Pianos,  &e.,  has  been 
published  in  this  journal,  continues  his  publications  of  music  as  usual.  Among  the 
latest  are  "  Light  and  Shade,"  by  Oscar  Oomettant,  "LeTrefle  Waltz,  Polka,  and 
Schotti'ih  ;"  and  among  the  vocal  pieces,  "  The  Fireman's  Heart  is  Bold  and  Free,"  a 
very  taking  song;  "Twilight  is  Chasing  the  Last  Beams  of  Day,"  simple  and  pretty; 
"Oae  Day  Out,"  a  sea  song;  "Mary's  Beauty,"  "Our  Boys,"  <fee. 

Wm.  Hall  &  Son  issue  among  their  new  pieces,  "  The  Miner's  Tribute  Waltz,"  by 
J.  A.  Fowler;  "Rigoletto,"  Opera  de  Verdi;  ballad,  "La  Donna  e  Mobile,"  by  W, 
V.  Wallace;  and  among  the  vocal  pieces,  "Music  Murmurings  in  the  Trees,"  by 
Wallace,  adapted  by  Jarvis,  song  and  quartette,  very  beautiful,  25  cents;  "Hazel 
Dell,"  by  WurtzeC  with  variations  by  Wm.  lucho,  rather  difficult,  but  very  good ; 
"The  Wild  Tiadatton,"  ballad,  by  Chas.  Jarvis,  very  pretty  and  simple* 


List     of     Patents     Issued 

FROM  FKB.  27,  TO  APRIL  3,   1855. 


Geo.  C.  Allen,  of  Key  West,  for  improvemeTit 
in  machines  for  cleaning  sisal  hemp  and  stripping 
seed  from  lircom  corn. 

John  Allen,  of  New-York,  for  improvement  in 
life  boats. 

J.  J.  Anderson,  of  Beaver,  Penn.,  for  improve- 
ment in  cook  stoves. 

Tl.irmon  W.  Ballard,  of  Burlington,  Vf.,  for  im- 
provement in  springs  for  wagons. 

Wm.  n^iUauf,  and  Fred.  Wurth,  of  Cincinnati, 
for  improvement  in  guards  lor  door  locks. 


E.  C.  Benyard,  of  Philadelphia,  for  safe  catch 
for  br  ■ust-pins,  &c. 

Nehemiah  B.  Chase,  and  Chauncey  W.  Saund- 
ers, of  Wiikinsoiiville,  Mass.,  for  improvement  in 
hand  cultivators. 

Charles  Orum.  of  Hudson,  for  improvement  in 
proces-es  for  making  bread. 

Bene  Charks  Demolon,  and  George  Alexander 
Charles  Thurmeyssen,  of  Paris.  France,  for  im- 
provement in  tr^atiiig  fish  for  manure  and  oil. 

Julias  C  Dickey,  of  ^^aratogIl  Springs,  for  im- 
provement in  harness  saddle-trees. 


LIST   OF  PATENTS  ISSUED. 


708 


p.  A.  GloasoD,  of  Rome,  N.  Y.,  for  macWne  for 
cutting  mitre  and  other  joints. 

Robert  B.  Gorsuch,  of  N.  Y.,  for  direct  double- 
acting  hydraulic  steam  punap. 

G-uy  H.  Hubhard,  of  Shelburne  Falls,  Mass.,  for 
improved  auger  handle  fastening. 

Marcus  F.  Hydp,  of  Burlington,  N.  J.,  for  im- 
provement in  soda  water  apparatus. 

Geo.  Martz,  of  Pottsville,  for  improvement  in 
coal  screen. 

Sam.  W.  Powell,  of  Tuscarora  Valley,  Penn., 
for  improved  mill  for  grinding  and  bolting  sumac. 

Jesse  Reed,  of  Marshfield,  Mass.,  for  improve- 
ments in  steering  apparatus. 

Newton  D.  Robins,  of  Edinburgh,  Ind,,  for  im- 
provement in  the  combination  of  an  air  chamber 
water  cooler  and  force  pump  in  soda  fountains. 

Edward  Rice,  of  Canandaigua,  for  improvement 
in  railroad  car  coupling. 

John  W.  Smith,  and  John  S.  Gallagher,  Jr.,  of 
Washington,  for  improved  fire-place. 

John  Ptainthorp,  of  Bufialo,  for  improvement  in 
D  achines  for  making  candles. 

Linus  Stewart,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  for  im- 
provement in  the  mode  of  constructing  saw  plates 
and  setting  teeth  therein. 

Wm.  L.  Whittaker,  of  Cumberland,  Maryland, 
for  improvement  in  machines  for  stuffing  horse 
collars. 

John  Williams,  for  improved  arrangement  of 
exhaust  pipss  in  locomotive  engines. 

William  VV.  Willis,  of  Orange,  Mass.,  for  im- 
proved mode  of  extracting  slumps. 

Virgil  Woodcock,  of  Swanzey ,  New-Hampshire, 
for  improvement  in  the  arrangement  of  desks  in 
school-rooms. 

Dexter  n.  Chamberlain,  of  West  Roxbury,  as- 
signor CO  Henry  Woodward,  of  Boston,  Mass,  f  >r 
improvement  in  apparatus  for  purifying  illumin- 
ating gas. 

John  II.  Manney,  of  Rockford,  111,  and  Henry 
Marcellus,  of  Amsterdam,  N.V".,  for  improvements 
in  grain  and  grass  harvesters. 

Wm.  E.  Arnold,  Rochester,  improved  sash 
fastener. 

Theophilus  A.  Ashburner,  Philadelphia,  im- 
prorement  in  bottle  stopper  fastenings. 

James  M.  •!'  tturn,  New-York,  for  polishing  ap- 
paratus for  watchmakers'  lathes. 

Alanson  Brown,  Rochester,  improvement  in 
machines  for  Turning,  boring,  and  slotting  metals. 

Ze  Butt,  of  Lincolnion,  North  Carolina,  im- 
provment  in  self-loading  carts. 

C.  M.  Eakin,  West  Philadelphia,  improvement 
in  excluding  dirt  from  grooved  railroad  rails. 

Ebner  Foster,  Fairton,  N.  ,  improvement  in 
hoop  jacks  for  sailing  vessels. 

Niblo  T.  Greene,  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  improve- 
ment in  cut  of  valves  for  steam  engines. 

H.  Ludington  and  S.  R.  Supton,  Addison,  Pa., 
imrovement  in  seed  planters, 

J.  W.  Heard,  Providence,  improvement  in  gas 
I  egulators. 

Joseph  Hyde,  New- York,  improvement  in  screw 
wrenches. 

Louis  Koch,  New-York,  for  machines  for  mak- 
ing paper  boxes. 

Geo.  Leach,  Oswego,  improved  grain  cleaner. 

Wm.  W.  GuiwitSjRodgersville,  N.  Y.,  improve- 
ment in  sleighs. 

Robert  C.  Miiuck,  Harrisonbu  g,  Pa.,  improved 
ditching  machine. 

Andrew  Mayer,  Philadelphia,  improved  valves 
for  gas  burners. 


Jas.  McCracken,  Bloomfleld,  N.  Y.,  improved 
evaporating  apparatus. 

Hiram  Moore,  Charloslon,  Mich ,  for  method  of 
operating  pumps  by  wind. 

Elijah  Morgan,  Morgantown,  Va.,  improvement 
in  washing  machines. 

Edw.  P.  Overdeer,  Chattanoga,  Tenn.,improve- 
ment'in  fire-extinguishing  compositions. 

Frederick  C.  Rider,  Providence,  improvement  in 
lamps. 

Jesse  Russell,  Elkton,  Ky.,  improvement  in 
brick-kilns. 

Christopher  Walter,  Bridgeport,  improvements 
in  ordnance. 

Henry  Lawrence,  New- York,  improved  safety 
ferry  bridge. 

Frederick  W.  Urann,  of  Sazonville,  Mass.,  im- 
provement in  curtain  rollers. 

Edward  Vaughn,  Alliance,  O.,  improvement  in 
stump  machines. 

Wm.  Warwick,  Birmingham,  Pa.,  improvement 
in  door  locks. 

Geo  W.  Wheatly,  Harrodsburg,  Ky.,  improve- 
ment in  eaves  gutters  for  houses. 

Rollin  White,  Hartford,  improvement  in  breach- 
loading  fire-arms. 

John  .C.  Schooley,  Cincinnati,  improvement  in 
process  of  curing  meats. 

Jas.  Smith,  Mendon,  N,  Y.,  improvement  in  the 
manufaoiure  of  stone  paste  boards. 

Fred.  S.  Stoddard,  Litchfield,  Conn.,  improve- 
ment in  machinery  for  spinning  wool. 

James  H  Sutton,  Honesdale,  Pa., improvement 
in  air  heating  furnace. 

Isaac  P.  Trimble,  Livingston,  N.  Y.,  improved 
apparatus  for  operating  ventilators. 

Chas.  Cunningham,  Nashua,  assignor  to  John 
C.  Pedrick,  Boston,  improvement  in  benzole  vapor 
apparatus. 

Samuel  A.  Knox,  Worcester,  assignor  to  Rug- 
gles,  Nourse.  Mason  &  Co.,  of  same  place,  im- 
provement in  cultivators. 

Abel  Barker,  Honesdale,  Pa.,  for  improved  ro- 
tary pump. 

C.  F.  Bauersfeld,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  for  clam;, 
and  mouth  piece  for  luipber-jointing  machine. 

E.  A.  Big'elow,  Chickopee,  Mass.,  new  mode  of 
pr«'paring  woolen  roving;  same,  improvement  in 
spinning  wool. 

Ransom  Cook,  Shelburne  FsHs, Mass.,  improved 
machines  for  turning  the  lips  of  augers. 

Andrew  Dietz  and  Y.  G.  Dunham,  of  Raritan, 
N.  J  ,  improved  grass  and  grain  harvesters.  Ante- 
dated January  2d,  1855. 

Levi.  B.  Darling,  Providence,  R.  L,  impr.^ved 
processes  for  refining  jewelers'  scraps. 

W.  R.  Elliot,  Plattsburgh,  N.  Y.,  combination 
of  speed  and  resistance  governors. 

L.  W.  Ferris,  Owcgo,  N.  Y ,  for  improvement 
in  chairs. 

H.  A.  Frost,  Worcpster,  Mass., improved  mode  of 
supporting  table  leaves. 

H.  D.  Ganse,  Freehold,  N.  J.,  improved  culti- 
vator. 

L.  D.  Qilman,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  iraproved  screw 
wrenches. 

Warner  Groat,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  mode  of  packing 
journal  boxes. 

W.  H.  Guild  end  W.  F.  Garrison,  Brooklyn,  N. 
Y.,  improvement  in  operating  valves  in  direct- 
acting  steam  engines. 

David  S.  Harris,  Coventry,  R,  L,  improvement 
in  loom?. 


704 


LIST  OF  PATENTS   ISSUED. 


R.  G.  Holmes  and  VV.  H.  Butler,  New- York,  f.  r 
a  new  fire-proof  filling  for  safes. 

Thaddeus  Hyatt,  N.  Y.  city  for  illuminating 
vault  coverf.r 

Wm.  S.  Irish,  Middlcbury,  Ohio.,  improvement 
in  loom!). 

Y.  S.  Kirk  and  W.  II.  Elliott,  Plattsburgh,  N.Y., 
Improved  grate  bar. 

Crias  Kimble,  Pcnfleld,  N.  Y.,  improved  tool  for 
boring  hubs  \o  receive  boxes. 

S.  B  Knight.  North  ProTidence,  R.  I.,  improved 
method  of  chalking  lines.  I 

Charles  Leavitt,  Quincy,  111.,  improved  shingle 
machine. 

Th«s.  Linj,  Shelby,  Ohio,  a  self-adjustahlo  or 
anchoriug  pump. 

John  McNeill,  N.  Y.  city,  improved  charcoal 
furnace. 

Hiram  Moore,  Climax,  Mich.,  improved  seed 
planter. 

G.  W.  Palmer,  Boston,  RIass.,  improved  bill 
holder. 

David  Sholl,  Cincinnati,  improved  coffins. 

W.  S.  Smith,  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  improvemrnt 
in  current  wheel.s 

II.  G.  Tyer  and  John  Helm,  New-Brunswick,  N. 
J.,  improvement  in  the  manufacture  of  boots  and 
shoes. 

M.  Ward,  Owego,  N,  Y.,  for  improved  seed 
planter. 

R.  P.  Vanhorn,  Jackson  Town,  O  ,  improved 
cultivators. 

Joseph  Walker,  Dover,  Eng.,  improvement  in 
hulling  cotton  seeds.  Patented  in  England,  July 
20,1854. 

VVm.  P.  Zane,  Woolwich,  N.  J.,  improved  culti- 
vators for  sweet  potatoes. 

Abraham  Qesner,  Williamsburg,  N.  Y.,  assignor 
to  'The  Asphalte  Mining  and  Kerosene  Gas  Co.,' 
for  processes  for  making  Kerosene. 

Smith  Gardner,  N.  Y.  city,  assignor  to  Edward 
Kellogg,  of  Eroolilyn,  N.  Y.,  improvement  in  ths 
manuiacture  of  zinc  white. 

R.  M.  Wade,  Wadesville,  Va.,  improved  lubri- 
cator. 

Henry  W.  Adams,  Ne^-York,  improvement  ia 
factitious  oils. 

James  P.  Arnold,  Louisville,  improvoraent  in 
presses. 

Richard  Baker,  Newark,  improvement  in  the 
msnufacture  of  white  lead  by  precipitation. 

Abel  Baker,  Honcsdale,  method  of  lubricating 
pistons  of  air  pumps. 

Chester  B.  and  Eenj.  S.  Borden  &  Aaron  R. 
McLean,  of  West  Dresden,  N.  Y.,  improvement 
in  seed  planters. 

Louis  Bollman,  N.  Y.,  improvement  in  con- 
densers in  steam  engines. 

Thos.  Brown,  London,  England,  improvement 
In  sbipV  riding  bits. 

Levi  M.  Dehart,  Reading,  Pa.,  adjustable  pad- 
dle wheel.* 

Richard  V.  DeQuinon,  Brooltlyn,  improvement 
in  anchors. 

S5ara.  W.  Frost,  Boston,  improved  safety  port 
for  c.(\n\  holes. 

Thomas  Goodrun,  Providence,  R.  L,  improve- 
meui  in  valves  for  steam  engines. 

Robert  B.  Oorsuch,  New-York,  dirccl  acting 
hyraulic  steam  pump. 

Smiih  Groom,  Troy,  improved  hose  coupling. 
Thomas  J.  H.ui,  Tawakana  IliUs,  Texas,  im- 
provement in  p'.ow?. 


G 1  stavus  Hammer,  Cincinnati,  O.,  improved 
viilv.  lor  wind  musical  instruments. 

Luther  Ilnughton.Philadelphia,  improved  mode 
of  loading  rifled  cannon. 

Barton,  H.  Jenks,  Bridgeburg,  Pa.,  improve- 
ment in  looms.    Ante-dated  January  8,  1855. 

Benjamin  F.  Joslyn,  Worcester,  for  double- 
acting  pump. 

Wm.  J.  Keeney  and  James  R.  Tarbox,  Switzer 
land  Co.,  Ind.,  improvement  in  rakes  and  hay 
elevators. 

Geo.  Martz,  Pottsvillc,  Pa.,  improved  apparatus 
for  hoisting  and  dumping  coal  cars. 

Ebenezer  Mathers  and  Wra.  D.  Seigfried,  Mor- 
cantown,  Va.,  apparatus  for  feeding  paper  to 
hand  printing  presses. 

James  B.  Mell,  Riceboro',  Ga.,  improvement  in 
cotton  gius. 

Henry  Mellish,  Walpole,  improvement  in  lan- 
cets. 

F.  H.  Moore,  Boston,  improvement  ia  coal  hole 
covers. 

Rollin  White,  Hartford,  Conn.,  improvement  iu 
breech-loading  fire-arms. 

Thomas  Moore,  Fair  Haven,  Vt.,  improved 
stove-pipe  tube. 

Andrew  Murtaugh,  N.  Y.,  improvement  iu  pul- 
leys lor  dumb  waiters, 

Ives    W.  McGaftj',  Syracuse,  improved  seed 

planter. 

Fred.  A.  Peterson,  N.  Y.,  flro-proof  ceiling. 
Stephen  R.  Eoscoe,  of  Carlisle,  N.  Y ,  fire  escape 
ladder. 

Alpheus  D.  Smith,  Meredith,  N.  Y.,  improve- 
ment in  railroad  ear  seats. 

Arcalous  Wyckoff,  Columbus,  0.,  chain  pumpg. 

Charles  and  Anna  C.  Wilhelm,  Philadelphia, 
improved  protector  in  lamp  shades. 

C.  Gustav  Maeller,  Charleston,  improvement 
in  bank  locks. 

Rollin  White,  Hartford,  improvement  iu  re- 
peating fire-arms. 

Rollin  White,  Hartford,  improved  repeating 
fire-arms. 

Noah  Warlick,  Lafayette,  Ala.,  improvement  in 

plows. 

C.  Williams,  Jackson,  Tenn.,  improved  excavat- 
ing machine. 

E^Dos  Woodruff,  Elizabethtown,  N.  J.,  mechan- 
ism by  which  approaching  vehicles  open  and  close 
gates. 

Francis L.  Smitbson,  Mecklenburgh  county,  Va., 
improvement  in  cultivators. 

Hiram  Strait,  Covinaton,  Ky.,  improved  ar- 
rangement of  means  for  freeing  steam  boilers 
from  sediment. 

Geo.  n.  Soule,  of  Jersey  City,  improved  breeeh- 
loading  fire-arms. 

Wm.  Stoddard,  Hincham,  Mass.,  improvement 
in  folding  beadsteads. 

Bcnj.amin  T.  Trimmer,  Parma,  N.  Y.,  improved 
grain  "cleaner. 

Geo.  W.  Edgcnmb,  Lima,  Ind.,  improvement 
in  washing  machines. 

Charles  Clareni,  N.  Y.,  ossicnor  to  himself  and 
Geo.  P.  Field,  improvement  in  harrows. 

Ozro  A.  Crane  and  Henry  J.  Lewis,  Green  Point. 
N.  Y.,  assignor  to  Ozro  J.  Crane,  aforesaid,  im- 
provement in  scrapers  for  removing  dirt  from 
boots  and  shoes. 

John  Hartshorn  and  Dexter  H.  Chamberlain, 
Boston,  [issijinor  to  John  Hartshorn,  aforesaid,  im- 
provement in  fixtures  for  curtain  rollers. 


€\)t  prriigl),  il)e  f  aorn,  anli  tl)e  Jlnuil. 


Vol.  VII.  JUNE,  1855.  No,  12. 


AMERICAN  INDUSTRY.— VARIETY   OF   PURSUITS. 

[In  our  last  number  we  gave  a  partial  view  of  this  subject,  illustrated  ,by 
statistical  tables.  Before  we  go  further  on  the  exhibition  of  our  own 
opinions,  we  are  very  happy  to  present,  in  this  connection,  a  few  extracts 
from  an  admirable  address  recently  given  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  before  the 
South  Carolina  Institute,  by  Hon.  James  L.  Orr.] 

The  meagre  supply  of  mechanical  industry  is  a  serious  impediment  to  our 
prosperity.  We  should  possess  it  in  such  abundance  as  to  have  every  want 
supplied  in  that  department  by  mechanics  residing  among  us,  unless,  from 
some  adventitious  cause,  it  can  be  more  cheaply  procured  elsewhere  ;  -and 
this  distribution  of  labor  is  as  necessary  to  advance  agriculture  as  other 
branches  of  industry.  Do  we  now  possess  it  ?  Who  can  answer  affirma- 
tively ?  In  1850,  the  artisans  and  mechanics  numbered  9,993,  whilst  all 
other  occupations  amounted  to  58,556,  showing  that  less  than  one-sixth  of 
our  white  population  are  engaged  in  this  extensive  branch  of  industry,  and 
if  the  labor  of  our  slaves  be  taken  into  the  estimate,  it  may  safely  be  assumed 
that  less  than  one-fifteenth  of  all  the  labor  in  this  State  is  thus  employed. 
In  New- York,  the  artisans  and  mechanics  number  252,747,  and  all  other 
occupations  635,933,  giving  nearly  one-third  of  her  population  to  the  me- 
chanic arts.  And  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  New- York  is  a  great  agricul- 
tural State.  In  Maryland,  there  are  38,010  artists  and  mechanics,  and  all 
other  employments  number  only  88,866,  showing  that  one-third  of  her  en- 
tire white  population  are  pursuing  the  mechanic  arts.  There  is  another 
comparison  which  the  late  census  suggests.  Maryland's  population  is  583,- 
034,  whilst  that  of  South  Carolina  is  688,507.  The  improved  lands  in 
Maryland  are '2,797,905  acres,  in  South  Carolina  4,072,651  acres;  the  un- 
improved lands  in  Maryland  are  1,836,445  acres,  and  in  South  Carolina 
12,145,049  acres;  and  yet  the  remarkable  fact  is  exhibited  that  the  cash 
valuation  of  the  improved  lands  in  Maryland  is  greater  than  in  South  Caro- 
lina, although  the  quantity  is  less  by  nearly  one-half.  The  valuation  in  the 
former  is  $87,178,545,  and  in  the  latter  $86,568,038.  This  indicates  a  high 
state  of  agricultural  prosperity  in  Maryland,  which  may  well  be  emulated. 
What  is  in  the  soil  or  agricultural  productions  there,  so  superior  to  South 
Carolina?  There  is  a  more  judicious  distribution  of  labor  there,  and  her 
large  city,  Baltimore,  has  appreciate:!  the  value  of  lands  by  furnishing  a  ready  > 
cash  market  for  agricultural  produots  grown  on  them.  It  is  the  labor  and 
VOL.  VII.  42 


706  AMERICAN   INDUSTRY. 


enterprise  of  Baltimore  mechanics  that  has  swelled  her  area  and  wealth  in  a 
few  years  from  a  small  town  to  a  majestic  city. 

In  1790,  the  population  of  Baltimore  was  13,503,  and  Charleston  16,359  ; 
in  1850,  Baltimore  had  grown  to  169,054,  and  Charleston  to  42,985.  At 
the  period  when  tjiis  comparison  commences,  the  exports  of  Charleston  were 
more  varied  and  valuable  ;  the  commerce  she  enjoyed  more  enriching  ;  the 
interior  country  supporting  her  more  fertile  and  extensive ;  her  geographical 
position  more  favorable  by  reason  of  freedom  from  the  competition  of  other 
cities ;  in  all  these  respects  Charleston  had  the  advantage  of  Baltimore. 
Now  their  situations  have  changed,  and  Baltimore  quadruples  the  population 
of  our  favorite  city,  and  her  commerce,  tonnage  and  prosperity  have  gone  on 
increasing  in  the  same  wondrous  manner  as  her  population. 

Why  is  it  so  ?  Let  a  stranger  visit  the  two  cities  and  he  will  assign  yot^ 
the  reasons.  He' will  first  tell  you  that  no  great  city  can  be  built  up  simply 
by  exporting  great  staples.  She  must  give  employment  to  other  labor  and 
pursuits  than  to  commission  merchants.  She  must  have  her  artisans  and 
mechanics.  He  v/ill  see  in  Baltimore  extensive  ship-yards  enclosing  her  har- 
bor, hundreds  of  ship  carpenters  actively  employed  in  constructing  new  boats 
and  vessels,  and  in  repairing  old  and  crazy  hulks  ;  and  perhaps  whil-^t-admir- 
ing  the  active  industry  of  thef  scene  around,  he  will  discover  a  vessel  sailing 
into  port  with  ship-lumber  from  Charleston.  Baltimore  ship  carpenters  are 
to  realize  all  the  profits  arising  from  working  the  lumber.  If  a  Charleston 
merchant  desires  to  purchase  a  vessel  for  the  foreign  or  coasting  trade,  lie 
sends  to  Baltimore  and  pays  the  $50,000  demanded  for  it,  when  his  own 
city  has  received,  for  every  stick  of  timber  in  it,  but  110,000.  To  whose 
support  and  gain  does  the  difierence  of  $40,000  go  ?  How  many  ship  car- 
penters would  be  employed  a  whole  year  on  such  a  sum  ?  What  activity 
would  be  infused  in  every  branch  of  business  in  your  city  if  twenty  such 
vessels  were  annually  constructed  in  your  own  harbor  ?  What  would  be  the 
increased  sales  and  profits  of  your  retail  traders,  your  grocers,  your  inn- 
keepers, and  provision  dealers.  Why  not  do  your  own  ship-building  by  your 
own  carpenters  ?  There  is  no  natural  barrier  in  your  way.  The  season  of 
your  epidemic  disease,  should  it  return  unfortunately  every  year,  is  shorter 
than  the  rigors  of  an  inhospitable  winter  at  Kittery,  Portland,  Boston,  or 
New- York,  when  labor  is  almost  entirely  suspended  by  their  workmen.  The 
lumber  they  use  is  taken  from  your  wharves.  AVhy  not  put  the  labor  on  it 
before  committing  it  to  the  strifes  of  ocean,  and,  build  up  and  enrich  your 
own  mechanics?  The  stranger  will  see  in  Baltimore  thousands  of  mechanics 
at  their  forges,  furnaces,  and  founderies,  in  their  shot  towers,  marble  and 
stone  yards,  shops,  and  machine  shops.  Nearly  every  square  supports  its 
tall  chimney,  with  the  black  smoke  issuing  from  the  furnace  of  an  engine 
driving  machinery  at  its  base.  How  many  smoke  stacks  would  the  stranger 
count  in  Charleston?  How  many  engines,  propelling  machinery,  would  he 
be  able  to  enumerate  ?  Was  not  the  steam  engine  some  years  back  a  malam 
prohibitum  within  the  corporate  limits  of  this  city  ?  How  many  carpenters 
at  your  ship  yards,  mechanics  at  your  forges  and  founderies,  and  machinists 
at  your  work-shops,  would  he  count?  These  hints  furnish  some  of  the  pro- 
minent reasons  why  Baltimore  has  outstripped  Charleston,  and  indicate 
means  of  speedily  and  permanently  promoting  her  languishing  prosperity. 
^■'  *  ^  *  *  *  *  ^v 

It  is  unnecessary  that  I  should  point  out  other  branches  of  mechanical  in- 
dustry ;  the  examples  given  establish  your  greatest  want ;  and  until  artisans 


AMERICAIS'   INDUSTRY,  707 

aod  mechanics  crowd  your  city,  I  fear  that  your  hopes  of  a  greatly  enhanced 
prosperity  are  illusory.      *  *  ^  *  *  * 

We  must  have  architects  and  educated  mechanics  to  improve  the  style  of 
our  buildings  ;  and  iron-founders,  marble  yards,  and  stone-cutters  to  beautify 
and  ornament  the  dwelling  places  of  the  dead. 

The  State  is  in  want  of  additional  manufactories,  and  I  use  the  word  in  its 
comprehensive  sense — to  work  by  machinery,  into  forms  convenient  for  use, 
all  kinds  of  I'aw  materials.  Columbia  is  admirably  located  for  a  great  manu- 
facturing town.  Water,  the  cheapest  of  all  motors  yet  discovered,  is  furnished 
in  the  greatest  abundance  near  the  city,  over  the  shoaly  beds  of  the  Broad 
Saluda  and  Congaree  rivers.  An  unlimited  amount  of  machinery  could  be 
propelled,  and  a  great  variety  of  works  and  fabrics  produced.  It  is  easy  of 
access  by  the  railroads  converging  within  its  limits,  and  is  placed  thereby 
within  a  few  hours  of  every  description  of  raw  material  furnished  by  the 
State.  Nearly  all  the  upper  districts  are  likewise  prodigally  supplied  with 
water-power.  The  streams  have  their  sources  in  the  mountains,  and  are  fed 
by  bold,  unfailing  springs,  yielding  in  their  channels  a  uniform  regular  cur- 
rent, exposed  neither  to  congelation  in  the  winter  nor  to  evaporation  or  ab- 
sorption in  the  summer.  This  secures  us  a  striking  and  important  natural 
advantage  over  the  {Northern  and  Eastern  States,  for  the  severity  of  their 
winters  freeze  the  streams  and  ice-bind  their  wheels  so  as  to  suspend  for  seve- 
ral months  the  working  of  all  machinery  driven  by  water,  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, curtails  profit  by  suspending  all  labor  depending  upon  such  agency, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  stockholder.  Our  operations  may  be  continued  the 
yeai'  through  without  any  such  interruption  ,or  drawback  on  the  profits  of  the 
investment.  The  extraordinary  low  price  at  which  water-power  may  be  pur- 
chased, being  really  little  beyond  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  land  usually  an- 
nexed to  it,  should  induce  enterprise  and  capital  to  cover  the  base  of  every 
shoal  in  South  Carolina  with  machinery  for  the  extensive  and  economical 
manufacture  of  all  useful  fabrics  and  implements. 

The  transportation  to  market  of  the  raw  material  is  just  as  expensive  as 
an  equal  amount  of  the  manufactured  fabric,  but  the  pound  of  the  latter 
brings  into  the  country  three  times  the  amount  of  cash  brought  in  by  the 
former.  Why  may  we  not  embark  extensively  in  this  branch  of  industry, 
with  the  positive  assurance  of  our  ability  to  undersell  all  competitors  in  these 
articles  in  every  market  ? 

Other ,  experiments  in  manufacturing  have  crowned  the  hopes  of  their 
authors  with  gratifying  success,  and  have  illustrated  genius  and  capacity  of  a 
high  order  in  our  mechanics.  Paper  mills  in  various  localities  have  been 
erected,  and  their  fabrics  reflect  credit  upon  the  operative(&,  and  establish  the 
triumph  of  the  experiment.  Much  of  the  letter  and  cap  paper  used  in  the 
State,  and  most  of  the  paper  for  the  newspaper  press  in  this  and  other 
Southern  States,  is  manufactured  in  South  Carolina  mills,  and  at  a  fairly  re- 
munerative profit  to  owners  and  stockholders.  "^'  ^'"  ''' 

Your  founderies  here  and  in  the  interior  are  beginning  to  compete  with 
older  establishments  in  otlier  States.  Let  tliem  make  a  character  by  the 
elegance  and  durability  of  their  works,  increase  their  force  and  capital,  press 
the  enterprise  with  becoming  energy,  and  they  will  be  munificently  appre- 
ciated by  a  discriminating  public. 

There  is  one  branch  of  mechanical  manufacture  which,  from  its  rapid  ad- 
vance and  high  perfection,  is  entitled  to  the  special  laudation  of  every  friend 
of  improvement.  Thousands  of  dollars,  annually  expended,  a  few  years 
back,  in  New-Jersey,  New-Yoi'k,  and   Connecticut,  for  carriages  and  other 


708  AMERICAN    INDUSTRY. 


wheeled  vehicles,  are  now  expended  in  our  midst  to  pay  domestic  mechanics 
for  the  same  work  executed  in  their  shops.  Many  of  the  towns  in  the  State 
can  bear  testimony  to  the  stream  of  prosperity  turned  in  upon  them,  by  the 
establishment  of  such  manufactories  in  their  midst.  If  you  doubt  the  skill 
of  the  mechanics  engaged  in  this  branch,  look  at  the  specimens  on  exhibi- 
tion hr:re.  Will  they  suffer  in  a  comparison  with  any  model  vehicles  from 
any  foreign  shop,  in  the  elegance  of  iinish,  skill  and  fidelity  in  construction, 
durability  of  material,  symmetry  of  model,  or  economy  of  cost?  May  I  not 
(TO  farther,  and  challenge  any  foreign  shop  to  produce  a  specimen  equal  to 
some  now  on  exhibition  here  j 

The  ranltiplication  of  carriage  manufactories  in  the  State  has  not  only  dif- 
fused life  and  activity  into  many  other  departments  of  industry,  but  has  put 
wealth  into  the  pockets  of  the  j^roprietors,  and  has  added  to  the  comforts 
and  pleasures  of  the  people,  *  '^  *  ^'  * 

We  want  manufactories  and  machine  shops.  They  co-exist  together.  Wo 
want  enterprising,  intelligent,  inventive  mechanics.  We  want  them  to  in- 
crease until  their  labor  will  furnish  us  every  machine  and  fabric  for  man's 
use  that  can  be  as  cheaply  matured  here  as  elsewhere.  How  are  these  wants 
to  be  supplied  ?  Let  our  citizens  cease  to  expatriate  themselves  from  the 
bosom  and  kind  affections  of  our  common  mother,  and  devote  themselves  to 
the  grateful  task  of  fostering  and  warming  the  condition  in  which  she  now 
languishes.  Let  them  not  deceive  themselves  by  the  delusive  hopes  of  sud- 
den wealth  in  ne\y  and  distant  lands,  and  let  them  resolve  that  when  "life's 
fitful  fever"  is  over,  that  their  bones  shall  repose  side  by  side  with  their 
fathers,  beneath  the  native  soil.  Take  it  all  in  all,  we  have  the  best  country 
which  I  have  seen  in  the  broad  expanse  of  this  great  confederacy.  Let  us 
be  content  to  occupy,  and  improve,  and  develop  it.  Providence  has  blessed 
us  with  every  variety  of  soil  and  surface,  climate,  production  and  resources, 
with  no  stinted  hand.  Let  us  do  something  worthy  the  munificence  we  en- 
joy, and  bequeath  to  our  children  a  heritage  and  country  greater  than  we 
received  from  our  fathers.  ''•  *  *  *  % 

The  idea  was  once  prevalent  with  wrong-headed  people  that  manual  and 
mechanical  labor  was  inconsistent  with  intelligence,  gentility,  and  dignity  of 
character.  Most  happily  such  an  absurd  sentiment  is  exploded  in  the  minds 
of  all  sensible  men  and  women.  Ijabor  is  the  tax  upon  all  animated  exist- 
ence for  its  preservation.  The  ant,  the  reptile,  the  beasts  of  the  fields  and 
the  fowls  of  the  air,  all  toil  for  food.  Man,  the  master  of  them  all,  endowed 
with  intellect,  and  created  with  appetites  and  desires  to  exercise  and  develop 
his  capacious  faculties,  is  bound  also  to  labor,  and  to  labor  by  the  omnipotent 
fiat  of  Jehovah.  Wken  our  common  progenitor  was  expelled  from  the  green 
bowers  of  Eden,  it  was  under  an  angered,  though  just  sentence,  that  "  in  the 
sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground." 
Henceforward  the  spontaneous  productions  of  the  earth  failed  to  sustain  man. 
Can  labor  be  disreputable  since  its  requirements  are  universal  and  its  neces- 
sities of  Divine  origin  ?  •  » 

The  progress  of  civilization  is  constantly  multiplying  and  expanding  the 
demands  upon  labor,  and  the  judicious  means  for  increasing  its  products, 
have  engaged  the  best  men  in  •every  age.  Men  are  entitled  to  that  respect 
and  consideration  from  the  community,  which  their  moral  worth,  intelligence, 
and  usefulness  justly  inspire,  without  regard  to  the  occupation  pursued.  The 
•lawyer  and  physician  labor ;  and  oftentimes  the  fo3lid  air  of  a  dark  dungeon, 
or  the  nauseating  odor  of  a  sick  room,  is  more  repugnant  to  the  senses  and 
sensibilities  than  any  which  the  forge  or  machine  shop  emits.     The  educat'3d 


AMEKICAN   INDUSTRY,  709 


youth  -who  masters  one  or  more  branches  of  the  mechanic  arts,  by  study  and 
ajjplication,  has  a  personal  independence,  and  a  prospect  for  the  future,  to  be 
envied  by  the  brother  who  has  chosen  a  learned  profession.  That  is  an  erro- 
neous public  opinion  which  gives  to  professional  men  rank  and  position  of 
social  and  intellectual  superiority  over  other  occupations.  "  The  exclusive 
business  of  professional  men  is  intellectual,  and  if  they  evince  superior 
attainqaent  within  the  hne  of  their  employment,  it  is  no,  more  than  they 
should  accomplish.  But  to  test  the  amount  of  intellect  required  in  different 
occupations,  which  would  require  the  most  comprehensive  understanding,  the 
machinist  who  eould  construct  a  steam  engine,  and  adjust  all  its  nice  parts, 
and  apply  its  power  to  spinning  and  weaving,  or  the  lawyer  who  could  com- 
prehend the  rule  in  Shelly's  case,  and  expound  the  statute  de  donis  ? 

We  are  exceedingly  gratified  in  being  a*ble  to  present  so  powerful  an  en- 
dorser of  our  favorite  doctrine,  and  that  he  hails  from  a  state  that  has  been 
regarded,  perhaps  not  without  good  reason,  as  being  far  from  orthodox  on 
this  subject. 

In  resuming  our  own  train  of  thought,  in  this  connexion,  allow  us  to  en- 
quire what  it  is  which  gives  value  to  any  estate  ?  We  answer,  industry, 
and  industry  alone.  In  nations  and  communities  that  are  thoroughly  indo- 
lent, having  no  regular  occupation,  all  property  is  of  but  little  value.  Could 
a  community  be  found  absolutely  without  occupation,  property  there  could 
have  no  value.  Look  at  our  aborigines.  We  will  not  ask  what  was  the  casli 
value,  but  what  was  the  actual  value  of  those  wilds,  or  of  the  productions  of 
those  wilds,  where  they  roamed  for  their  prey  ?  It  was  no  more  than  that 
of  the  few  acres  which  now  produce  an  amount  equal  to  that  which  they 
appropriated  to  their  use.  The  gradual  increase  of  industry,  as  they  opened 
a  new  source  of  income  by  trading  with  white  men,  in  equal  ratio  added  to 
the  actual  present  value  of  those  extensive  territories,  and  the  possible  extent 
to  which  this  traffic  might  extend,  and  the  new  uses  of  it,  which  change  of 
circumstances  would  obviously  bring  into  being,  occasioned  an  entirely  new 
valuation,  both  of  the  land  and  its  products,  vegetable  and  animal,  and  mine- 
ral. 

On  the  other  hand,  why  is  it  that  that  small  tract,  covered  by  a  single 
building,  in  State  street,  in  Boston,  of  which  we  recently  made  mention,  can 
command  such  an  enormous  price  per  acre,  estimated  not  by  thousands  but 
by  millions  ?  Why  is  it  that  scores  of  acres  of  land  on  Broadway  are  worth, 
in  the  market,  as  much  hard  currency  as  would  be  required  to  cover  it  all 
over  ?  It  is  only,  only  on  account  of  the  extent  and  variety  of  industry 
carried  on  in  this  busy  city.  Diminish  the  amount  of  this  industry,  so  that 
it  shall  not  exceed  that  of  an  ordinary  country  village,  and,  by  the  same  pro- 
cess, you  diminish  the  value  of  estates  here  to  the  standard  of  the  estates  of 
the  country  village.-  If  it  were  possible  in  any  country  village  to  create  and 
sustain  the  same  amount  of  industry  as  is  found  in  New-York,  or  other  large 
city,  which  has  plenty  of  land  around  it,  as  has  the  country  village,  so  that 
the  competition  of  land  can  become  equal  in  the  two  places,  you  would 
thereby  raise  the  prices  of  all  kitds  of  estates  and  products,  in  the  village,  to 
city  prices.  It  is  English  Industry,  wisely  directed,  that  has  brought  into 
being,  on  a  portion  of  that  small  island,  an  amount  of  Avealth  and  of  power 
before  unheard  of. 

We  hope  our  readers  will  ponder  on  these  facts,  and  give  the  subject  the 
practical  attention  it  deserves.     Meanwhile,  we  continue  our  tables  of  sta- 


710  AMERICAN"  INDUSTRY. 


listics,  each  one  having  a  testimony  to  give,  to  which  wise  men  will  not  refuse 
to  listen  : 

In  Mr.  Corwin's  Annual  Report,  he  estimates 

"Western  River  Commerce  at        -         -        .-     |339,502,'744 
Lake  and  River  Commerce  at  -         -  653,976,202 

Mr.  Walker,  in  184*7,  estimated  the  whole  annual  products  of  the  country 
at  $3,000,000,000. 

In  the  recent  volume  of  the  census  of  1850,  published  by  Mr.  De  Bow, 
the  value  of  the  Coasting  trade,  in  1852,  was  estimated  at  $314,473,458,  and 
that  of  the  Foreign  trade  at  $12,119,877,  illustrating  and  proving  the  truth 
of  the  doctrine  we  recently  urged,  under  the  title,  "  Commerce  is  King." 

In  reports  made  to  the  Treasury  department,  in  1853,  the  commerce  of  the 
principal  commercial  States  is  estimated  as  follows  : 

Massachusetts, $16,895,304 

New-York, 66,030,355 

Pennsylvania,        ------  6,255,229 

Maryland, 7,768,224 

Virginia, 3,302,561 

South  Carolina,"^         -         -         -         -         -  15,400,408 

Georgia, 7,371,883 

Alabama,           -..-..  16,786,913 

Louisiana, 67,768,724 

The  census  of  1850  also  furnishes  the  data  of  the  following  tables  : 

CASH  VALUE  OF  FARMS  AND  PLANTATIONS. 


New-England, 

- 

_ 

$372,348,543 

Middle  States,    - 

- 

- 

780,842 

729 

Southern      " 

- 

_ 

485,351,555 

S.  Western  »     - 

. 

_ 

307,992, 

713 

N.  Western  " 

- 

- 

906,582, 

447 

VALUE  OF  "  FARMS,  PLANTATION? 

,  ETC., 

'  IN  EACH  STATE, 

TO  EACH  INHABITANT. 

Alabama,      -         -         -         - 

$83 

Mississippi, 

. 

- 

$90 

Arkansas, 

73 

Missouri, 

- 

- 

93 

Connecticut,           -         -         - 

196 

New-Hampshii 

e, 

- 

173 

Delaware,          -         .         . 

206 

New-Jersey, 

- 

246 

Florida,         -         -         .         . 

72 

New-York, 

- 

- 

179 

Georgia,  -         -         -          - 

106 

North  Carolina 

" 

- 

78 

Illinois,         -         -         -         - 

113 

Ohio, 

- 

206 

Indiana,    -         -         -         - 

138 

Pennsylvania, 

- 

- 

176 

Iowa,  -         -         -         -         - 

87 

Rhode  Island, 

- 

- 

116 

Kentucky,          .         .         . 

158 

South  Carolina 

- 

- 

123 

Louisiana,     -         -         J         . 

146 

Tennessee, 

- 

- 

96 

Maine,      .... 

94 

Texas, 

- 

- 

79 

Maryland,     -         -         .         . 

149 

Vermont, 

- 

. 

202 

Massachusetts,  - 

110 

Virginia, 

- 

- 

152 

Michigan,'     -         -         .         . 

130 

Wisconsin, 

- 

- 

93 

AMEEICAN"  INDUSUEY.  711 


Mr.  Tucker  calculated,  from  the  census  of  1840,  that  the  value  of  agricul- 
tural products,  I'ER  ACRE,  was  as  follows  : 

New-England,       -         - $1,'76 

Middle  States, 1,84 

Southern      "  (except  Florida,)         -         -         -         .  1,03 

S.  Western  " -  VO 

N.  Western  "  (except  Wisconsin  and  Iowa,)     -         -  50 

The  same  census  returns  (of  1850)  furnish  the  data  of  the  following,  by 
the  "  true  valuation,"  with  the  proportionate  amount  to  each  inhabitant  :- 

AMOUNT    OF    REAL    AND    PERSONAL    ESTATE. 


States. 

"  True  Valuation." 

Tot.  Pop. 

Share  to  eacli 
Inhabitant. 

Alabama, 

228,204,332 

771,623 

$596 

Arkansas, 

39,841,025 

209,897 

190     1 

Connecticut, 

155,707,980 

370,792 

419 

Delaware, 

18,855,863 

91,532 

206 

Florida, 

23,198,734 

87,445 

268 

Georgia, 

335,425,714 

906,185 

369 

lUinois, 

156,265,006 

851,470 

184 

Indiana, 

202,650,264 

988,416 

205 

Iowa, 

23,714,638 

192,214 

118 

Kentucky, 

301,628,456 

982,405 

307 

Louisiana, 

233,998,764 

517,762 

451 

Maine, 

122,777,571 

583,169 

211 

Maryland, 

219,217,364 

583,034 

376 

Massachusetts, 

573,342,286 

994,514 

577 

Michigan, 

59,787,255 

397,654 

150 

Mississippi, 

228,951,130 

606,526 

361 

Missouri, 

137,247,707 

682,044 

201 

New-Hampshire, 

103,652,835 

317,976 

323 

New-Jersey, 

153,151,619 

489,555 

313 

New-York, 

1,080,309,216 

3,097,394 

317 

North  Carohna, 

226.800,472 

869,039 

261 

Ohio, 

505,726,120 

1,980,329 

255 

Pennsylvania, 

729,144,998 

2,311,786 

315   • 

Rhode  Island, 

80,508,794 

147,545 

546 

South  Carolina, 

288,257,694 

668,507 

431 

Tennessee, 

207,454,704 

1,002,717 

207 

Texas, 

55,362,340 

212,592 

260 

Vermont, 

92,205,049 

314,120 

294 

Virginia, 

391,646,438 

1,421,661 

279 

Wisconsin, 

42,056,595 

305,391 

138 

In  the  above  table,  the  general  average  is  $305  nearly. 
x\verage  for  New-England,     395 
Middle  States,    305^ 
Southern      "      31  If 
S.  Western  "301 
N.  Western"      194f 

In  presenting  the  table,  pa'ge  643,  in  our  May  number,  we  suggested  that 
"  it  did  not  show  the  exact  relation  of  the  different  States  in  respect  to  the 


712 


AMERICAN   INDUSTRY. 


value  of  their  productions."  "We  shall  presently  see  this  very  clearly.  Not 
only  this,  but  there  is  a  possibility  that  the  state  producing  the  greatest 
quantity  of  a  given  article  may  still  have  so  large  a  population  as  to  be  forced 
to  buy  of  another  not  producing  half  so  much.  That  state  is  in  the  best 
economical  position,  of  course,  -where  the  ratio  of  production  to  the  population 
is  the  greatest.  '  Such  an  examination  changes  rfery  essentially  the  order  of 
the  States,  giving  the  first  rank  to  some  of  those  which  are  but  medium 
States  in  respect  to  gross  quantity. 

We  have  had  time  to  compute  this  relative  order,  only  with  a  few  of  the 
States,  in  relation  to  four  of  the  most  valuable  productions,  and  below  give 
the  result  of  our  calculations.  We  place  them  first  in  the  order  indicated  in 
the  table  in  our  May  number  ;  that  is,  in  the  ratio  of  actual  production.  The 
second  column  is  arranged  according  to  the  average  quantity  produced  to 
each  inhabitant : 


INDIAN       CORN. 

1. 

Ohio. 

1.  Ilhnois,           G8  bushels  to  each  inhabitant. 

2. 

Kentucky. 

2.  Kentucky,      03 

3. 

Illinois. 

3.  Indiana,          54 

4. 

Indiana. 

4.  Missouri,         53 

5. 

Tennessee. 

5.  Tennessee,      52 

6. 

Missouri. 

6.  Ohio,               30 

W  HEAT. 

1. 

Pennsylvania. 

1.  Illinois,             11  bushels  to  each  inhabitant. 

2. 

Ohio. 

2.  Virginia,             8 

(( 

(1 

(( 

3. 

New-York. 

3.  Ohio,                  7 

u 

CI 

u 

4. 

Virginia. 

4.  Pennsylvania,    7 

u 

a 

u 

5. 

Illinois. 

5.  Indiana,              6 

li 

a 

(( 

6. 

Indiana. 

6.  New- York,        4 

HAY. 

u 

(( 

u 

1. 

New- York. 

1.  Vermont,         2.1 

tons 

to 

each 

inhabitant. 

2. 

Pennsylvania. 

2.  Maine,              1.3 

(( 

(f 

(( 

3. 

Ohio. 

3.  New- York,      1.2 

(( 

a 

(( 

4. 

Vermont. 

4.  Pennsylvania    .8 

u 

u 

u  , 

5. 

Maine. 

5.  Ohio,                 .V 

u 

a 

it 

6. 

Massachusetts. 

6.  Massachusetts  .6 

BUTTER. 

a 

(1 

(( 

]. 

New- York. 

1.  Vermont,         39 

lbs. 

to 

each 

inhabitant. 

2. 

Pennsylvania. 

2.  New- York,      26 

(( 

<i 

(f 

3. 

Ohio. 

3.  Ohio,                17 

(( 

u 

(( 

4. 

Indiana. 

4.  Pennsylvania,  17 

u 

u 

u 

5. 

Illinois. 

5.  Illinois,             15 

(( 

<.(. 

ii 

6. 

Vermont.* 

6.  Indiana,            13 

u 

u 

u 

There  is  still  another  distinction  that  might  properly  be  made  were  it  prac- 
ticable, viz  :  a  comparison  of  the  jarzVes  or  market  value  of  the  product  under 
examination,  in  dift'erent  States.     This   could  only  be  reached  by  approxi- 


"=  Printed  IG  instead  of  C,  in  p.  643— the  mistake  of  the  printer. 


« 

KISLICHY.  718 


:ng,  mining,  and  mecha>'ic  arts. 

. 

Amt.  to  each  Inliabitaut. 

^274,740,063 

1.02 

471,975,751 

.74 

63,635,005 

.13 

26,323,276 

.09 

186,602,868 

.29 

mation,  and  the  results  thus  attained  would  not,  perhaps,  be  more  satisfactory, 
on  the  whole,  than  those,  we  have  attained  in  the  foregoing  calculations. 
These  are  certain,  so  far  as  rehancc  can  be  placed  upon  the  returns  of  the 
census. 

In  the  census  of  1850,  we  have  the  data  for  the  following  table  of  the 

ACTUAL  PRODUCT  OF  MANUFACTURING 

New-England,   - 

Middle  States, 
Southern      " 
S.  Western  " 
N.  Western  "      - 

Thjs  examination,  through  v/hich  we  have  passed,  shows  very  conclusively 
the  beneficial  effects  of  "  diversity  in  industrial  pursuits."  The  proportion  of 
persons  engaged  in  the  various  kinds  of  employment  will  vary,  in  such  com- 
munities, with  the  demands  of  the  times.  What  is  most  profitable  will  tend 
to  an  increase  of  competition,  until  it  becomes  crowded,  and,  in  its  turn,  it 
will  then  furnish  hands  for  some  other,  offering  greater  present  inducements. 
Some  losses  will  necessarily  happen  to  individuals,  but  the  community,  on  the 
whole,  are  benefited.  With  the  high  prices,  which  may  have  disappeared, 
there  is  no  actual  destruction  of  i^roperty,  as  by  a  fire  or  storm.  Specula- 
tions, if  ever  so  unfortunate  in  relation  to  one  individual,  may  be  the  making 
of  another.  But,  all  the  while,  the  actual  property,  the  material,  remains 
unchanged. 

Some  states  fall  far  behind  others  in  the  amount  of  agricultural  products, 
but  if  the  people  of  those  states  are  extensively  engaged  in  other  pursuits,  we 
are  furnished  not  only  with  the  reason,  but  we  also  find  immense  values  of 
other  kinds,  the  result  of  commercial  or  mechanical  industry.  But  if  they 
produce  large  agricultural  crops,  and,  at  the  same  time,  carry  on  extensive 
business,  in  other  departments,  we  are  assured  that  they  are  in  a  highly  pros- 
perous condition. 


FOR   THE   PLOUGH,  THB    LOOM,  AND   THE   ANVIL, 

K  I  S  L  I  C  H  T . 

The  farmer,  who  needs  a  wholesome  and  refreshing  drink  during  the  labors 
and  the  heat  of  summer,  may  take  an  interest  in  trying  a  beverage,  composed 
of  the  following,  which  we  commend  as  wholesome  and  refreshing : 

2  lbs.  of  the  flour  of  wheat, 

3  lbs.  of  malt  reduced  to  flour, 
3  lbs.  of  flour  of  buckwheat. 

Pour  fifty  quarts  of  boiling  water  upon  the  mixture,  and  then  add  half  a 
pound  of  the  leaven  of  beer,  or  two  pounds  of  the  leaven  of  bread. 

On  the  following  day,  stir  the  whole  thoroughly,  and  add  another  fifty 
quarts  of  luke-warm  water,  when  the  fermentation  is  completed.  '■ 

This  drink  is  healthful  and  refreshing,  but  it  will  very  soon  turn  sour. 

[We  think  the  quantity  of  water  stated  here  must  be  too  great. — Ed.] 


7U 


DENWOOD. 


D    E    N   W   O  iO    D  , 

THE    RESIDENCE    OF    JOHN    J.    SMITH,   ESQ.,    GERMANTOWX,    PA.,    NEAR 
PHILADELPHIA. 

The  private  residence  of  which  we  give  a  drawing,  presents  some  peculi- 
arities of  construction  and  interior  division,  which  we  have  thought  might 
prove  a  useful  study  to  those  who  are  about  to  build. 

It  is  a  complete  rus  in  urbe  ;  the  kitchen  being  in  the  village,  and  the 
opposite  or  piazza  side,  facing  the  northeast,  for  summer  afternoon  shade, 
overlooks  the  country,  with  a  fine  belt  of  trees  within  a  suitable  distance. 
The  amount  of  ground  attached  is  two  acres,  but  we  observed  that  it  is  filled 
with  the  most  valuable  hardy  trees  and  shrubs, 'imported  and  domestic. 
Among  the  former  will  be  found  a  collection  of  Hollies  and  Rhododendrons 
— two  important  but  much  neglected  families  of  plants. 


r  |.i?    ij    \i   II  ^  i;,|i:^-^ii^  |.|   ||  ^  \i 


DENVyOOD FRONT    ELEVATION. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  the  eye  in  looking  at  this  house  is  the  circular 
hoods  in  the  attic  story — a  contrivance  which  gives  height  to  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  rooms,  and  has  externally  a  good  effect.  The  attics  are,  in 
fact,  as  good  rooms  as  need  be  asked — superior  to  any  we  have  seen  in 
dwellings  of  the  same  elevation.  A  front  portico,  and  two  projecting  bay 
windows,  make  not  only  a  cheerful  entrance,  but  add  materially  to  the  size 
of  the  drawing  and  dining  rooms.  The  portico,  as  well  as  the  interior  hall, 
are  paved  with  tesselated  tiles,  made  by  Minton  &  Co.,  Stoke-upon-Trent, 
England,  which  are  now  becoming  so  much  appreciated,  and  which  can  not 
be  too  much  known. 

The  interior  of  the  house  is  divided  in  a  different  manner  from  most  dwell- 
ings, as  will  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  ground  plan.  The  hall  is  carried 
only  to  the  depth  of  the" drawing-room,  where,  by  an   ornamental  ground 


DENWOOD. 


715 


glass  door,  it  opens  upon  a  neat  library  having  a  bay  window  sliglitly  en- 
riched at  the  top  with  colored  glass,  so  that  the  view  through  the  library 
door,  and  the  bay  windows  beyond,  produces  an  efTect  like  that  of  an  ora- 
tory. The  book-cases  on  one  side  are  recessed  out  of  the  butler's  pantry,  so 
as  to  occupy  no  space  from  the  room.  The  two  doors  in  the  octagon  corners 
are  filled  with  book-backs,  bound  on  blocks  to  form  a  perfect  representation, 
and  to  furnish  the  room — a  plan  much  practiced  in  Europe.  These  doors 
open  respectively  into  the  butler's  pantry  and  the  private  office  beyond  the 
drawing-room.  Three  good  and  useful  rooms  are  thus  obtained.  The  pan- 
try is  a  low  story ;  above  it  is  the  bath-room,  etc.,  and  above  that  a  conve- 
nient chamber ;  making  three  stories  in  the  part  of  the  house  nearest  the 
kitchen.  The  dining  room,  on  the  left  of  the  hall,  enlarged  by  the  front  pro- 
jecting window,  and  a  handsome  bay  window  at  the  side,  is  large  and  con- 
venient. Behind  the  fire-place  are  closets  beyond  the  walls  of  the  house,  and 
entered  respectively  from  the  side  bay  window  and  the  dining-room.  They 
are  of  a  comfortable  temperature  in  the  coldest  weather,  being  behind  the 
chimney.  The  staircase  has  been  thrown  out  of  sight  in  the  passage  from 
the  hall  to  the  kitchen,  and,  being  uninclosed,  has  a  light  and  airy  appear- 
ance. 

The  whole  house  is  tempered  by  a  furnace,  made  to  warm  all  the  rooms 
if  required,  as  well  as  the  hall.  In  every  way  advantage  has  been  taken  of 
space,  which  is  saved  wherever  it  was  possible.     As  examples,  we  noticed 


PLAN    OF    PRINCIPAL    FLOOR. 


Explanation.— 1.  Entrance  Hall.    2,  Butler's  Pantry. 
6,  Piazza.    7,  Kitchen,  with  summer  do.  attached. 


3,  Dining-room.    4,  Library.    5,  Private  Office. 
8,  Drawing-room.    9,  Pantry.    10,  Closet. 


that  under  the  chamber  windows  drawers  are  let  into  the  stone  walls,  for 
shoes,  etc.  ;  in  the  library  is  a  concealed  umbrella  closet ;  and  between  the 
book-cases  a  long  closet  in  the  pilaster  for  drawings,  or  spy-glasses,  etc. 
Both  hydrant  and  rain  water  are  plentifully  supplied  to  the  house  and  grounds, 


716  PRINCIPLES   OF   AGRICULTURE. 

in  wbicli  are  also  two  pumps,  a  gardener's  lodge,  convenierit  ptablcs  and 
coach-house,  etc.,  etc. 

The  spot  on  which  this  house  is  erected  was,  two  years  ago,  a  stable-yard  ; 
The  visitor  will  be  struck  with  the  transformation  that  has  been  already 
effected.  When  Mr.  Smith's  numerous  fruit  and  ornamental  trees  have  had 
a  few  years'  more  growth,  we  hope  to  visit  it  again,  and  have  no  doubt  of 
being  able  to  call  it  one  of  the  handsomest  and  most  convenient  places  in 
Pennsylvania,  where,  by  the  way,  much  good  taste  is  growing  apparent. 

The  house  was  designed  by  an  English  architect  to  combine  all  the  com- 
forts collected  in  a  compass  of  42  by '36  feet;  the  design  was  carried  out  and 
improved  by  Thomas  U.  Walter,  Esq.,  the  architect  of  Girard  College,  and 
now  superintendent  of  the  Capitol  extension  at  Washington. — Hortkulturht. 


PRINCIPLES    OF     AGRICULTURE. 

A.  PAPER  was  recently  read  before  the  Farmers'  Club  of  New- York,  by  Dr. 
R.  L.  Waterbury,  which  seems  to  have  conflicted  with  the  views  of  Messrs. 
Mapes,  Waring  &  Co.,  who  undertook  to  answer  it.  On  reading  the  report 
of  their  remarks,  Dr.  W,  found  it  necessary  to  disclaim  the  views  attributed 
to  him,  and,  in  doing  so,  gives  the  purport  of  the  paper  read  by  him  as  fol- 
lows : 

That,  without  the  use  of  any  foreign  fertilizer,  produce  enough  may  be  sold 
off  from  a  farm,  in  most  portions  of  the  Union,  to  pay  the  expense  of  con- 
ducting it;  and  yet,  by  judicious  management,  the  soil  may  be  annually  im- 
proving in  condition ; 

That  this  can  be  effected  easiest  in  those  portions  of  the  Union  where  the 
value  of  land  is  the  least,  and  where,  consequently,  the  farms  are  largest,  and 
the  longest  rotations  o-fccrops  can  be  profitably  resorted  to  ; 

That  no  system  of  farming  is  deserving  of  our  attention  that  does  not  re- 
cognize the  necessity  of  farm  exports ;  / 

_  That  a  State  may,  to  some  extent,  export  agricultural  products,  without 
diminishing  in  capability  to  produce  them  ; 

That  an  inspection  of  the  census  returns  on  the  United  States  and  of  the 
Starte  of  New-York  shows  that  the  amount  of  crops  of  this  State  has  increased 
for  the  last  ten  years  much  faster  than  the  area  of  improved  lands  in  the 
State,  and  that,' consequently,  the  lands  can  not  be  "running  out;" 

That  the  processes  of  Nature,  to  which  we  owe  the  present  alluvial  condi- 
tion of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  are  still  at  work,  atid  that  land  left  entirely 
to  itself  will,  by  the  action  of  water  and  vegetation   improve  in  fertility  ; 

That  the  process  of  tillage  alone  may  be  made  to  accelerate  this  improve- 
ment, and  help  to  provide  for  the  necessary  waste  of  marketing  ; 

That  rain  penetrates  the  porous  parts  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  percolates 
through  them  until  it  comes  to  impervious  strata,  and  that  it  runs  along  this 
impervious  strata  until  it  finds  egress  as  springs,  and  that  spring  water  is  im- 
pregnated, more  or  less,  with  saline  substances  ; 

That  the  evaporation  which  is  continually  going  on  of  the  water  from  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  leaves  the  saline  matter  in  the  surface,  as  but  a  small 
part  of  the  water  that  falls  as  rain  ever  reaches  the  sea  ; 

That  the  mineral  springs  of  Saratoga,  and  other  localities,  are  exaggerated 


LAWS   OF  HEALTH.  717 

illustrations  of  this  process,  and  the  more  fertile  condition  of  valleys  is  to  be, 
in  part,  referred  to  tlie  same  cause ; 

That,  in  the  present  thinly  populated  condition  of  our  Continent,  the  true 
purpose  of  American  agriculture,  at  this  time,  is  to  wisely  direct  these  na- 
tural forces,  rather  than  apply  pinches  of  guano,  and  tea-spoonfuls  of  super- 
phosphates to  individual  plants,  although  such  applications  may  pay  on  some 
farms,  and  probably  do  pay  well  on  all  market  gardening  operations. 

The  objection  to  soil  analysis  is  this : 

The  difference  between  the  early  soil  of  Virginia  and  the  same  soil  in 
its  present  condition  has  been  made  by  the  loss  of  1,200  lbs.  of  alkalies  to 
the  acre.  But  this  1,200  lbs.  forms  not  quite  three  ten-thousandths  (000.27) 
of  the  soil  to  the  depth  of  a  foot. 

The  idea  that  any  amount  of  variation,  within  such  infinitesimal  limits,  can 
be  measured  and  defined  by  quantitative  analysis  is  absurd.  Top-dressing 
of  the  saine  amount  would,  in  the  same  way,  fail  of  being  detected. 

That  directions  given  by  agricultural  chemists  have  led  to  successful  re- 
sults is  undoubtedly  true  ;  but  these  directions  have  been  founded  rather 
upon  experience  and  observation  than  upon  chemical  analysis. 

R.  L.  "Waterbury. — Country  Gentleman. 


FOR    THE    PLOUGH,    THB     LOOM,    AND    THE    ANVIL. 

LAWS    OF    HEALTH. 

Messrs.  Editors  : — One  of  the  most  common  and  yet  one  of  the  most 
important  mistakes  of  which  mankind  are  guilty,  generally  through  igno- 
rance, are  in  relation  to  the  laws  of  general  health.  We  live  and  violate 
these  laws  almost  every  day  of  our  lives  ;  and  yet  wonder  why  we  do  not 
feel  as  v^ell  as  we  might  and  ought  to.  The  great  wonder  is  that  many  of 
us  have  any  health  at  all,  considering  the  manner  we  live.  It  would  seem 
that  the  most  common  ideas  of  comfort  and  health  are  understood,  namely  : 
the  clothing  for  the  body  suitably  for  the  season  ;  the  securing  of  dry  feet,  etc. 
Still  many  are  greatly  in  fault  even  in  these  respects.  But  a  more  common 
fault  is  in  the  amount  and  kinds  of  food  which  are  taken  into  the  stomach. 
We  are  no  advocates  for  cheap  nor  mean  food,  nor  for  a  pure  vegetable  diet ; 
yet  we  believe  that  a  due  proportion  of  light  food  at  our  meals  is  the  best 
for  all  classes.  It  is  a  rule  in  our  country,  that  those  classes  which  love  or 
use  much  bodily  exercise,  as  farmers,  mechanics,  manufacturers,  etc.,  must 
have  meats  or  animal  food  three  times  a  day,  inore  or  le?s.  This  plan  of 
living  we  believe  to  be  a  great  mistake,  even  for  the  working  man,  and  much 
more  so  for  the  man  of  in-doors,  or  light  labor  and  sedentary  habits.  A  diet 
of  one  hearty  meal  (dinner)  of  animal  food,  with  a  breakfast  of  shad,  or  other 
fish,  with  a  cup  of  cofi'ee,  and  a  dish  of  tea  at  night,  with  a  slice  of  bread 
and  butter  and  a  cake,  will  give  more  comfort  and  good  health  to  a  man  than 
a  larger  amount  of  flesh  or  hearty  food.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the 
hard  laboring  man,  as  the  farmer  or  mechanic,  can  live  on  as  light  food,  or 
on  the  same  amount  of  food,  as  the  in-door,  or  sedentary  man.  But  what  we 
mean  to  say  is,  that  one-third  less  of  animal  food,  and  two-thirds  more  of 
"light  or  vegetable  food,  would  be  much  better  for  the  hardest  working  man, 
both  for  comfort  and  general  health.     Of  course  the  general  rule  is  to  stop 


718  LAWS   OF    HEALTH. 

eatiiiii"  when  you  have  enough,  lint  it'  we  were  to  stop  while  we  have  some 
appetite  left,  it  would  be  better  for  us  than  to  surfeit  the  stomach  as  we  often 
do.  Severe  exercise  or  hard  labor  directly  after  eating  a  hearty,  meat  dinner 
is  injurious.  Children  from  infancy  should  be  taught  to  eat  as  little 
food  as  may  be,  and  still  have  them  satisfied.  Some  mothers  seem  to  go  on 
the  plan  of  "stuffing"  their  children  to  keep  them  quiet — a  practice  which 
will  lead  to  gluttonous  habits  when  they  grow  up.  As  to  the  amount  of  food 
necessary  for  a  meal,  a  great  deal  depends  on  habit.  In  fact,  we  are  creatures 
of  habit  in  this  respect,  like  others.  Then,  again,  some  constitutions  may  re- 
quire more  food  than  others.  One  great  thing  should  be  remembered, 
namely:  system,  and  order,  and  regularity  in . meals — an  essential  point  in 
securing  good  health.  Another  great  point  is  a  proper  amount  of  exercise 
for  the  body.  All  out-door  laboring  men,  with  many  in-door  mechanics,  get 
enough  of  this  exercise  for  the  body  while  about  their  daily  business.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  men,  like  merchants  and  other  business  men,  in  the  town 
and  city,  do  not  get  this  exercise.  The  consequence  is,  or  will  be  in  a  course 
of  years,  if  inclined  to  flesh  up,  that,  bj'^  and  by,  dropsy  and  gout  will  make 
their  appearance.  Such  men  should  make  it  a  point  to  walk  several  miles 
every  day.  Riding  on  horseback  is  good  ;  but  what  is  still  better,  would  be 
hard  labor  in  the  garden,  or  on  the  farm,  where  all  the  muscles  of  the  body 
could  be  brought  into  action.  We  do  not  stop,  now,  to  say  whether  a 
morning  walk,  a  mid-day  or  an  evening  jaunt,  are  preferable  as  to  health. 
But  what  we  claim  is,  that  the  denizens  of  the  town  and  city  should  have 
exercise  at  some  rate  in  the  course  of  the  twenty-four  hours. 

We  know  a  man  in  a  neighboring  city  who  has  made  it  a  point  for  years 
to  take  a  "  morning  walk  "  of  a  mile  before  breakfast,  rain  or  shine,  snow  or 
mud,  invariably  every  morning.  He  says  that  his  constitution  is  invigorated 
and  strengthened,  and  his  appetite  sharpened  by  the  plan,  of  which  we  have 
no  doubt.  All  constitutions  might  not  stand  this  test,  but  his  does  at 
least.  We  learn  that  in  the  country,  the  early  morning  air,  in  a  clear  morn- 
ino',  is  healthful  and  invigorating  to  the  constitution — sleepy  denizens  of  cities 
who  call  it  poisonous — to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding.  A  large  amount 
of  exercise  or  labor  before  breakfast,  might  not  be  advisable;  but  a  moderate 
degree  of  it  is  healthful  and  bracing  to  the  system.  Of  course  the  city  deni- 
zen had  much  rather -take  his  "morning  nap"  than  a  "morning  walk." 
And  whv  ?  Because  the  city  people  have  a  universal  habit  of  turning  night 
into  day,  and  day  into  night.  We  doubt  much  whether  one-half  of  the 
adult  population  of  our  large  cities  ever  see  the  bed-chamber  before  twelve 
o'clock  at  night,  while  a  large  portion  of  them,  like  the  drunken  dandy  poet 
in  Broad,way,  will  hear  the  bell  toll  out  full  "  seventeen  o'clock,"  before  they 
are  abed.  Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  they  want  their  "  morning  nap"  in- 
stead of  a  "  morning  walk"  for  health  and  comfort  ?  The  truth  is,  the  body 
must  have  about  so  much  rest  in  the  way  of  sleep  ;  if  it  can  not  have  it  in 
'darkness  it  must  have  it  by  daylight.  But  does  this  make  out  a  case  that 
the  "  morning  nap"  is  more  healthful  than  the  morning  air?  By  no  means. 
AVe  learn  that  in  the  city,  as  customs  are,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  retire  to 
bed  early,  or  even  at  a  reasonable  hour.  Then,  again,  many  kinds  of  busi- 
ness in  the  city  require  a  good  part  of  the  night  to  carry  them  on,  like  the 
printinf'-  of  the  daily  papers,  etc.  Thus,  all- conspire  to  turn  night  into  day, 
and  day  into  night.  But,  then,  a  reform  is  necessary  to  the  masses  in  this 
respect  of  keeping  late  hours,  and  then  "  sleeping  it  out"  by  daylight.  AVe 
do  not  know  why  a  "  morning  walk"  in  the  city  can  not  be  made  as  agree- 
able in  the  city  as  the  country — -saving  the  difference  between  the  purity  of 


VALUE   OF   LAND.  719 


the  air  in  the  country  and  that  of  the  city.  Of  course  all  having  damps  aud 
fogs,  in  spring  and  fall  especially,  in  the  night,  both  in  city  and  country, 
should  be  avoided  and  guarded  against.  So,  too,  the  exhalations  and  mi- 
asmas arising  from  the  decay  of  vegetable  matter  in  and  near  swamps, 
peat,  mud,  etc.,  should  be  avoided.  But,  then,  outside  of  these  objections,  a 
good,  clear  atmosphere  is  always  healthful,  invigorating,  and  bracing  to  the 
system,  whether  that  be  in  the  morning,  at  mid-day,  or  evening,  If  this  be 
so,  no  person  in  health  need  fear  of  taking  his  out-door  walk  or  exercise  in 
any  part  of  the  day  or  evening.  That  class  of  the  population  which  stand 
in  most  need  of  out-door  exercise  is,  we  think,  the  female  portion  of  it,  espe- 
cially in  the  country  and  villages ;  for  we  believe  it  to  be  true,  in  general, 
that  the  female  community  of  the  city  take  more  open,  out-door  exercise  than 
they  dc>  in  the  country  or  village.  AVhich  of  the  two  portions  spend  their 
time  to  the  best  advantage  throughout  the  day  -we  shall  not  attempt  to  de- 
cide. In  times  of  prevailing  epidemics,  like  the  cholera,  dysentery,  etc.,  then 
the  evening  air  should  be  avoided,  and  other  exposures  which  might  help ,  to 
bring  on  disease.  We  are  satisiied  that  more  people  die  for  the  want  of  ex- 
ercise in  the  open  air  than  there  are  that  die  from  inhaling  morning  air  into 
the  system  ;  and  that  we  should  all  get  along  much  better  if  we  studied  the 
laws  of  health  more  and  practiced  after  them.  What  the  system  wants  is  a 
systematic  course  of  life — to  live  every  day  alike,  as  nearly  as  we  can,  when 
we  are  made  certain  that  the  system  is  a  healthful  one.  We  think  that 
many  diseases  might  be  kept  off  the  system  by  taking  this  course.  Of  course 
we  do  not  mean  that  a  person  should  go  entirely  on  an  eraptj-  stomach,  as 
this  would  be  unsafe.  But  to  eat  moderately  of  light  food,  in  case  of  pre- 
vailing epidemics,  or  ill-health  and  severe  colds,  we  believe  is  advisable.  To 
force  food  down  when  there  is  no  appetite  for  it  is  a  poor  plan.  It  is  better 
to  wait  till  the  natural  appetite  comes  of  itself.  The  amount  of  sleep  required 
in  twenty-four  hours  for  a  healthful  body  of  course  will  range  according  to 
constitutions  ;  some  require  more  than  others.  Seven'  hours  of  sleep  are 
enough  for  many,  while  others  claim  that  they  want  from  nine  to  twelve 
hours  sleep,  and  they  practice  accordingly.  Still,  we  beheve  habit  to  be  the 
great  rule  in  this  matter  as  a  general  thing.  All  children  and  young  persons 
appear  to  want  more  sleep  than  adults  or  older  people.  Hence,  as  people 
grow  older,  they  seem  to  require  less  sleep ;  and  a  disposition  to  wakefulness 
through  certain  parts  of  the  night  is  very  common.  All  kuov/  the  effect 
which  is  produced  on  the  mind  by  care  and  trouble,  often  creating  fatal  dis- 
eases. "Lunatics"  get  little  or  no  sleep.  Night  and  darkness  appear  to 
increase  the  power  of  their  disease.  It  is  has  been  said  by  those  skilled  on 
this  subject,  that  no  person  would  ever  become  insane  who  can  secure  their 
regular  sleep.  This  shows  how  necessary  regularity  of  habits  is  in  order  to 
preserve  good  health.  Yours,  &c.,  L.  Durand. 

Derby,  Conn.,  3fai/ 8,   1855. 


Value  of  Land. — A  statement,  has  recently  been  made,  and  generally 
copied  into  the  newspapers  as  extraordinary,  that  a  piece  of  land  has  been 
sold  in  London  at  the  rate  of  two  million  dollars  an  acre.  There  is  land  in 
Boston  worth  double  that  price.  The  owner  of  the  lot  at  the  corner  of 
State  and  Exchange  streets,  occupied'  by  Gilbert  &  Sons,  refused  eighty  dol- 
lars per  foot,  which  is  at  the  rate  of  $3,484,800  an  acre. — Traveller. 


'720  PE0FIT3   OF   FAEMING. 


TROFITS    OF    FARMING. 

In  New-England,  this  is  a  very  fruitful  topic  of  discussion  in  farmers'  clubs 
and  debating  societies.  Facts  are  the  best  evidence  on  the  subject,  and  of 
these,  those  matters  of  experiment  undertaken  with  specific  reference  to  the 
value  of  the  crop,  will  generally  be  regarded  as  most  worthy  of  attention, 
since  such  are  likely  to  be  conducted  most  carefully. 

The  IIampshice  Co.  Agricultural  SociEXi-,  in  Western  Massachusetts, 
presents  the  following  as  the  results  of  sundiy  experiments : 

R.  Wales  Smith  says,  that  on  his  farm  of  eighty-five  acres  he  tills  about 
fifty  acres  in  nine  years ;  has  twenty  heads  of  cattle  in  winter ;  fattens  and 
sells  one-third  of  them  in  the  spring.  He  sells  his  dairy  products.  Ilis  ro- 
tation is  corn,  oats,  and  grass.  He  says,  "  During  the  present  year,  I  have 
cultivated  six  acres  in  corn  and  potatoes,  and  four  acres  in  oats,  and  mowed 
twenty  acres.  The  labor  has  been  wholly  performed  by  myself,  except  for 
sixteen  days  in  the  hay  season,  when  I  hired  a  man  to  assist  me. 

PRODUCTS. 

30  tons  of  hay,  at  $12,50*  -"  -  -  -  -  $375,00 
5  acres  of  grass,  sold  at  $11,50,  ....         57,50 

250  bushels  of  corn,  at  $1,     -----  250,00 

150  "  of  oats,  at  6 2|- cents,  -  -  -  .  93,75 
Pasturage  of  13  horned  cattle,  26  weeks,  at  33|  cents,  112,66 
25  bushels  of  potatoes,  at  50  cents,  .  .  .  .  12,50 
20  "  of  apples,  at  50  cents,  -  .  .  .  io,00 
527  pounds  of  cheese,  at  10  cents,  -         .         .         .     52,70 

250  pounds  of  butter,  at  20  cents,       -         .         .         .         50,00 

10  tons  of  corn  fodder,  at  |5, 50,00 

2  tons  of  oat  straw,  at  $5, 10,00 

250  loads  of  compost  manure,         --.'..  250,00 


$1324,11 


EXPENDITURES. 


My  own  labor,  225  days,  - $225,00 

Hired  man,  16  days,  in  hay-time, 20,00 

Grass-seed,       ---...-.  qqO 

Seed-corn,  1  bushel,     ----...       j^qO 

Seed-oats,  10  bushels,  at  62|-  cents,     -         -         -         .  6,25 

Seed-potatoes,  2  bushels,  at  50  cents,      .         .         .         .       i^oo 

1000  pounds  of  plaster, 4^50 

75  bushels  of  oyster-shell  lime,       -    ■     -         -         -         -     12,00 

250  loads  of  compost  manure, 250,00 

Interest  on  69  acres,  tillage  and  mowing,  at  $50,     -         -  207,00 
Taxes, 27,00 

'     -  $759,75 


Net  profit, ,  $564,36 

Hadley,  Oct.  4,  1854." 


PEOFITS   OF   FARMING.      '  7zl 

In  a  report  on  their  wheat  crop,  Messrs.  D.  D.  &  J.  Whittemore,  Jr.,  say, 
"  Our  crop  of  wheat  was  raised  in  Sunderland  on  one  acre  and  forty-one  rods 
of  ground.  In  1851,  the  piece  was  sown  with  barley,  and  seeded  with  clover. 
About  the  12th  of  September,  we  ploughed  in  the  second  crop  of  clover,  and 
sowed  two  varieties  of  wheat,  viz  :  bald  and  bearded  white  flint — one  bushel 
of  the  first,  and  one  and  a  half  bushels  of  the  last,  and  harrowed  well.  Early 
in  the  spring,  we  sowed  three  bushels  of  salt,  two  and  a  half  bushels  of  plas- 
ter, and  five  barrels  of  slacked  oyster-shell  lime.  Our  wheat  suffered  from 
the  severe  winter,  and  from  the  drought  in  summer.  We  judged  that  forty 
per  cent,  was  winter  killed.  We  harvested  in  July,  and  for  want  of  barn 
room,  had  it  threshed  immediately  by  hand ;  consequently  we  lost  a  large 
per  cent,  by  its  being  left  in  the  straw.  The  quantity  thus  lost  was  estimated 
at  from  three  to  five  bushels.  Of  the  bearded,  we  had  nineteen  bushels,  and 
of  the  bald  six  bushels,  or  twenty-five  bushels  of  wheat,  perfectly  free  from 
rye  and  all  foul  seeds. 


VALUE      OF      CROP. 

25  bushels  of  wheat  sold  for         -         -         -         -         -     |62,50 
Value  of  straw,        -         -         .         -         -         -         -  7,00 

169,50 

EXPENSES. 

Ploughing,  sowing,  and  harrowing,         -         -         -         -  $3, 75 

Seed- wheat,     -         - 3,37 

Lime,  plaster,  salt,         -         -         -         -      ,   -         -         -  5^35 

Harvesting  and  threshing,          .         .         .         -         .  8,00 

Interest  on  land,           _.-----  5^00 

$25,47 

Net  profit,  - $44,03 

Sunderland,  Nov.  8,  1854." 


In  a  report  on  corn,  Austin  L.'  Clark  says,  of  an  acre  of  pasture  land,  not 
ploughed  within  the  memory  of  the  oldest  inhabitant,  "  In  May,  I  ploughed 
it  about  six  inches  deep,  turning  in  ten  loads  of  barn-yard  manure.  I  then 
harrowed  in  eight  loads  of  compost  manure.  On  the  26th  of  May,  it  was 
planted.  Eight  bushels  of  leached  ashes  were  dropped  in  the  hill.  The  corn 
was  hoed  twice.  The  hills  were  not  raised,  and  were  three  feet  apart  each 
way.  The  soil  was  a  clayey  loam.  On  the  14th  of  September,  the  cro])  was 
harvested. 


VALUE      OF      CROP. 

I 

75  bushels  of  corn,  at  $1, $75,00 

4895  pounds  of  fodder,  at  |6  per  ton,         -         -         -  17,47 

4|- bushels  of  soft  corn, 1,12 

19  0"^ 
,43 


722  j  PROFITS   OF  FARMING. 

EXPENSES. 

18  loads  manure,         -         - 818,00 

8  bushels  leached  ashes,           - 80 

Ploughing,  harrowing,  and  hauling  manure,  -         -         -  6,00 

Planting  and  seed,          -.-...-  1^25 

Hoeing  and  ashing,    -------  3,50 

Cutting  and  stacking, 2,00 

Carting  and  husking, 6,00 

Interest  on  land, 5,00 

842,55 

Net  gain, $48,04 

Sunderland,  Oct.  25,  1854." 

Mr.  Chester  Cowles  reports  his  crops  as  follows,  the  quantity  of  land  being 
three  acres : 

VALUE      OF      CROP. 

180  bushels,  at  $100, $180,00 

8  baskets  of  soft  corn, 2,00 

Corn  fodder,  estimated 18,00" 


8.200,00 


EXPENSES 


45  loads  of  manure,    - $45,00 

Manure  and  spreading,    - 1*7,00 

Planting  and  seed, 4,00 

Hoeing  and  cultivating,  -         -         -         -         -         -  23,00 

Cutting  and  stacking,          ...---  7,00 

Carting  and  husking, 15,00 

Interest  on  land, 18,00 

$129,00 

Net  gain, $71,00 

Amherst,  Nov.  14,  1854. 

George  Dickenson  cultivated  rye  on  land  of  second  quality.  In  the  spring 
of  1853,  it  was  ploughed  from  seven  to  eight  inches  deep.  Twelve  loads  of 
manure  were  applied  to  ths  acre  au'I  harrowed  in.  Corn  was  then  planted 
and  thoroughly  cultivated.  The  corn  was  cut  up,  the  second  week  in  Sep- 
tember, and  yielded  at  harvest  fifty  bushels  per  acre.  The  ground  was  again 
ploughed  from  eight  to  ten  inches  deep,  and  sown  with  a  bushel  and  a  half 
of  white  rye,  per  acre,  at  seventy-five  cents  per  bushel.  The  crop  was  har- 
vested the  13th  and  14th  of  July. 

VALUE      OF      CROP. 

65^  bushels  of  56  pounds, $"76,63 

3^  tons  of  straw, 19,50 

$96,13 


SUSPENDERS.  723 


EXP 

E  N  S  E  8  . 

Ploughing  and  sowing, 
3  bushels  of  rye. 
Harvesting  and  housing, 
Threshing  and  cleaning,     - 
Interest  and  taxes, 



$3,00 

2,25 

5,00 

'       6,00 

■     15,00 

$31,25 

Net  profit, 
Eadley,  November,  1854, 



$64,88 

On  two  acres,  Mr.  Cowles  estimates  a  crop  of  rye  as  follows : 

VALUE 

OF     CROP. 

50  bushels,  at  |1,25, 
Straw,  by  estimate, 

-       ■    - 

$62,50 
15,48 

$77,98 


EXPENSES. 


-  Seed, $2,25 

Ploughing,  harrowing,  and  sowing,     -         -         -         -  3,50 

Harvesting  and  threshing,     ------     12,00 

$25,75 

Net  profit,  -         -         -    .     -         -         -       $52,23 

Albert  Montague,  of  Sunderland,  makes  the  following  estimate  of  an  oat 
crop : 

VALUE      OF      CROP. 

60i  bushels  of  oats,    -.-----     $30,25 
H  tons  of  straw,     -------  9,00 


$39,25 


EXPENSES 


Ploughing  and  sowing, 

Seed,       ----         

Harvesting  and  threshing,     ------ 

Interest  on  land, -         - 

$13,00 

Net  profit,  ■*       ..-.--       $26,25 
Sunderland,  Nov.  1,  1854. 


Suspenders. — The  New-Haven  Palladium  says  the  manufacture  of  woven 
suspenders  in  the  United  States  was  commenced  about  the  year  1840,  at 
Middletown,  Mass.,  with  a  capital  of  $40,000.  There  are  at  present  six  fac- 
tories in  the  country,  five  of  which  are  in  the  State  of  Connecticut,  and  one 
at  East  Hampton,  Mass.  The  capital  employed  in  the  business  is  half  a  mil- 
lion of  dollars. 


724  THE   IMPROVEMENT   OF   HONEY. 


THE    IMPROVEMENT    OF    HONEY. 

[Orrv  Polish  friend,  alluded  to  upon  another  page  of  this  number,  has 
given  us  the  following  results  of  his  own  experience  in  this  branch  of  indus- 
try ;  and  it  being  written  in  French,  as  was  the  other,  we  have  thus  translated 
it  into  English.— Eds.  P.  L.  &  A.] 

FOR    THK    PLOUGH,    THE    LOOM,    AND    THE    ANVIL. 

Mr.  Editor: — The  State  of  New- York  produces  honey  which  I  have 
carefully  examined.  It  is  a  fluid,  of  light  weight,  and  the  wax  is  yellow. 
To  improve  the  quality  of  it,  I  make  the  following  suggestions  : 

Tiie  honey  of  wild  bees  inhabiting  the  forest  is  dark  colored,  and  its  wax 
is  yellow.  The  honey  of  bees  feeding  in  orchards  is  clearer,  and  the  wax  is  more 
yellow,  but  sometimes  these  cells  are  very  white,  and  the  honey  which  they 
contain  is  very  white.  In  my  country,  Poland,  I  attended  extensively  to  the 
production  of  honey  ;  and  I  perceived  that  bees  placed  in  my  orchard  gave 
me  a  crop  of  honey  clearer,  and  the  wax  of  it  white.  The  honey  which  was 
separated  from  the  wax  by  draining  was  found  wbite,  compact,  and  resem- 
bling sugar  to  such  a  degree  as  to  be  cut  with  a  knife.  The  wax  was  very 
white.  The  following  year,  the  honey  was  of  an  inferior  quality,  as  well  as 
the  wax.     The  third  year,  the  honey  was  improved. 

1  then  made  an  investigation  of  the  subject.  I  examined  the  habits  of  the 
bees,  and  came  at  length  to  the  solution  of  the  enigma  which  had  occupied 
my  attention  for  three  years.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  apiary,  I  had  a  field  in 
which  I  sowed  buckwheat.  While  this  was  in  flower,  I  perceived  that  the 
bees  constantly  frequented  this  field,  and  that  they  labored  with  remarkable 
diligence,  and  their  product  was  very  large.  The  honey  of  this  year  was 
improved  in  quality  and  in  quantity. 

The  next  year,  I  made  an  experiment.  While  the  buckwheat  was  in 
flower,  I  removed  their  hives  upon  the  borders  of  the  field.  I  noted  carefully 
the  diligence  of  the  bees.  What  was  remarkable,  and  after  the  flowers  dis- 
appeared, my  curiosity  led  me  to  open  the  hives,  and  I  was  greatly  aston- 
ished to  find  the  comb  full,  and  constructed  of  white  wax,  while  the  honev 
was  also  white.  That  which  I  separated  from  the  comb  by  draining  and  a 
gentle  heat,  and  placed  in. pots,  formed  a  compact  mass  analogous  to  sugar, 
so  much  £0,  that  it  might  be  cut  with  a  knife. 

I  left  two  hives  without  disturbing  the  honey  ;  and  at  the  approach  of  au- 
tumn, I  again  collected  the  product.  The  portions  from  which  the  honey 
had  been  removed  after  the  flowering  of  the  buckwheat,  had  been  refilled 
with  wax  and  honey,  but  of  an  inferior  quality  ;  those  of  the  young  repub- 
lics from  which  the  honey  and  comb  had  been  removed,  had  been  again 
firied  ;  but  the  two  hives  which  had  remained  untouched,  had  been  deprived 
of  their  honey,  and  presented  the  aspect  of  empty  and  dry  cells, 

I  was  satisfied  that  the  excessive  abundance  of  honey  had  induced  idleness 
in  the  bees,  who  fed  upon  their  superfluity,  and,  refusing  to  labor,  quietly 
consumed  the  product  of  their  past  toil. 

Having  this  experience,  after  the  season  of  the  flowering  of  the  buckwheat,  I 
gathered  my  crop»entirely,  and  at  the  commencement  of  the  winter,  I  inspected 
my  hives,  removed  the  super-abundance,  and  if  the  season  was  not  favorable, 
I  supplied  those  hives  which  were  not  in  good  condition. 

By  this  means,  I  learned  that  the  flowers  of  buckwheat  presented  the  best 
material  for  honey  and  for  comb,  which  they  supplied  both  in  abundance 


BREEDS   OF   CATTLE.  725 


and  of  superior  quality.  Hence,  I  have  since  continued  the  practice  above 
described  ;  and  I  advise  farmers  who  give  any  attention  to  this  product,  to 
give  proper  consideration  to  my  experiments. 

It  should  be  added,  that  this  gathering  of  the  sweets  of  the  flowers  of  the 
buckwheat  does  not  at  all  diminish  the  quantity  of  grain,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, its  effect  is  favorable,  and  even  increases  the  amount  of  flour. 

During  my  residence  in  France,  in  Sologne,  a  country  situated  on  the 

banks  of  the  Loire,  in  the  departments  of  the  Loire  and  Cher  and  T ■, 

in  Mayenne,  and  in  Bretagne,  I  repeated  the  same  experiments  v/ith  the 
same  success  ;  and  to-day,  the  French  apothecaries  make  use  of  this  same 
white  honey,  which,  in  common,  is  called  the  honey  of  Orleans,  and  which 
commands  a  price  one-third  higher  than  that  of  ordinary  honey. 


BREEDS     OF     CATTLE, 

At  a  late  discussion  on  cattle,  at  Albany,  B.  P.  Johnson,  Secretary  of  the 
New-York  State  Agricultural  Society,  is  reported  by  the  Country  Gentleman 
to  have  said : 

The  West  Highland  is  a  small,  black,  shaggy  animal,  perfectly  hardy,  and 
runs  out  in  the  winter.  The  beef  is  of  extra  quality,  superior  to  any  other  in 
the  London  market.  A  higher  price  per  stone  is  paid  for  them  than  any 
other.  In  Norfolk  they  are  the  most  prevalent,  and  are  considered  the  most 
profitable  breed  of  cattle.  Mr.  Colman  speaks  of  them  as  of  extra  fine  pro- 
portions, being  a  perfect  parallelogram.  A  gentleman  from  Western  Virginia 
who  thought  that  State  had  the  best  cattle  in  the  world,  and  that  he  should 
find  nothing  in  England  to  equal  them,  went  with  him  (Mr.  Johnson)  to 
Smithfield  market,  and  when  he  saw  the  black  cattle  from  Scotland,  he  ex- 
claimed, in  perfect  astonishment,  "  I  give  it  up.  I  have  never  seen  any  thing 
equal  to  this."  They  would  be  admirably  adapted  to  Vermont,  and  other  New- 
Enojland  States,  and  to  the  northern  countries  of  our  own  State.  A  few  have 
been  imported  into  Canada.  The  Short-horns  stand  pre-eminent  for  early 
maturity,  and  great  aptness  to  fatten,  with  a  fine,  mellow  skin — which  is  ab- 
solutely necessary  for  fine  fattening  quaUties.  Will  mature  from  six  to  nine 
months  earlier  than  any  other  breed.  Had  known  a  herd  of  Short-horn 
grades,  of  the  same  age  as  a  herd  of  native  cattle,  fed  under  the  same  circum- 
stances, bring  fifteen  dollars  a  head  more  in  the  New-York  market. 

Herefords  are  a  very  superior  breed,  though  not  very  extensively  intro- 
duced here  yet.  Has  visited  England,  and  never  saw  finer  cattle.  Feeders 
uniformly  told  him  they  could  make  more  on  them  than  on  Short-horns. 
Not  so  the  breeders^  however. 

Devons,  in  quality  of  meat,  are  next  to  the  West  Highland.  For  beef, 
milk,  and  the  yoke,  they  are,  and  always  will  be,  a  most  popular  breed.  The 
celebrated  red  cattle  of  New-England  have  been  thought  to  be  Devons.  They 
are  more  like  the  Sussex,  a  little  larger  and  coarser  breed  than  the  North 
Devon.  They  are  a  very  valuable  breed  for  milk,  working-oxen,  etc.,  and 
there  is  no  breed  of  cattle  better  for  crossing  with  the  Short-horn.  It  is  to 
these  breeds  we  must  look  for  improvement.  Breeders  must  aim  at  de- 
veloping the  parts  of  cattle  which  command  the  highest  price. 


726  COKN  STATISTICS  IN  FRANCE. 


HOW    TO   JUDGE   A    HORSE. 

A  CORRESPONDENT  of  the  Prairie  Farmer,  contrary  to  old  maxims;  un- 
dertakes to  judge  the  character  of  a  horse  by  outward  appearance,  and  offers 
the  following  suggestions  as  the  result  of  close  observation  and  long  experi- 
ence: 

If  the  color  be  light  sorrel  or  chestnut,  his  feet,  legs,  and  face  white,  these 
are  marks  of  kindness. 

If  he  is  broad  and  full  between  the  eyes,  he  may  be  depended  on  as  a 
horse  of  good  sense,  and  capable  of  being  trained  to  almost  any  thing. 

As  respects  such  horses,  the  more  kindly  you  treat  them,  the  better  you. 
will  be  treated  in  return.  Nor  will  a  horse  of  this  description  stand  the  whip 
if  well  fed. 

If  you  want  a  safe  horse,  avoid  one  that  is  dish-faced  ;  he  may  be  so  far 
gentle  as  not  to  scare,  but  he  will  have  too  much  go-ahead  in  him  to  be  safe 
for  every  body. 

If  you  want  a  fool,  but  a  horse  of  great  bottom,  get  a  deep  bay,  with  not 
a  white  hair  about  him ;  if  his  face  is  a  little  dished,  so  much  the  worse. 
Let  no  man  ride  such  a  horse  who  is  not  an  adept  in  riding — they  are  tricky 
and  unsafe. 

If  you  want  one  that  will  never  give  out,  never  buy  a  large,  overgrown 
one.     A  black  horse  can  not  stand  heat,  nor  a  white  one  the  cold. 

If  you  want  a  gentle  horse,  get  one  with  more  or  less  white  about  him, 
the  more  the  better.  Many  suppose  that  the  parti-colored  horses  belonging 
to  circuses,  shows,  etc.,  are  selected  for  their  oddity,  but  the  selections  thus 
made  are  on- account  of  great  docility  and  gentleness. 


CORN    STATISTICS    IN    FRANCE. 

[In  our  February  number,  we  published  a  short  extract  from  Le  Steele, 
with  this  title.  "We  have  since  received  a  reply  from  a  Polish  gentleman, 
now  residing  in  this  city,  written  in  the  French  language,  which  we  have 
translated,  and  here  present  to  our  readers. — Eds.  P.  L.  &  A.] 

FOR  THE  PLOUGH,  THE  LOOM,  AND  THE  ANVIL. 

t 

Mr.  Editor  : — In  your  journal,-  "  The  Plough,  the  Loom,  and  the  Anvil," 
for  February,  1855,  page  482,  you  give  the  Corn  Statistics  of  France  from 
Le  Siecle.  That  those  statistics  are  erroneous,  you  will  be  convinced  after 
having  examined  those  deposited  in  the  archives  of  the  French  Minister  of 
Commerce  and  of  Agriculture  for  the  preceding  twenty  years.  [See  the  table.] 
This  table  shows  that,  during  these  twenty  years,  agriculture  has  made  great 
progress.  The  crop  of  wheat  has  more  than  doubled;  that  of  rye  has  nearly 
doubled ;  mixed  grain  has  increased  fifty  per  cent.,  and  barley  still  more. 
Millet  and  maize  remain  nearly  the  same,  as  also  the  buckwheat,  except  that 
in  certain  years  it  has  increased,  not  from  a  more  extensive  cultivation,  but 
because  the  season  was  peculiarly  favorable  to  its  growth. 

Since  the  year  1835,  agriculture  has  made  great  progress  in  France.   Much 


CORN   STATISTICS   IN   FRANCE. 


72- 


heath  land  has  been  made  productive  with  the  aid  of  manure,  lime,  dead  an- 
imals, and  poudrette — the  animal  manures  being  made  more  effective  by 
mixture  with  blood,  and  the  flesh  of  horses  no  longer  fit  for  service. 

It  is  computed  that  France,  since  1835,  has  increased  her  crops  by  one- 
third,  except  the  millet,  and  maize,  and  the  buckwheat,  which  have  remained 
without  much  variation. 

When  Le  Siecle  supposes  that  the  crop  of  rice,  harvested  in  France, 
amounts  to  $26,000,000  hectolitres,  it  is  in  error.  The  whole  of  ihis  crop  is 
consumed  in  France ;  but  it  is  not  a  common  article  of  food,  except  in  the 
cafes  and  the  restaurants,  where  rice  is  eaten  with  milk  and  with  fat,  (gros.^ 
In  private  houses  it  is  used  sparingly,  as  in  soup,  with  onions,  with  cabbage, 
and  with  crumbs  of  bread.  This  rice  is  grown  in  France,  and  is  imported  from 
the  colonies,  from  Italy,  and  from  the  Carolinas.  One-fourth  of  the  buck- 
wheat is  fed  to  animals  ;  the  last  is  sowed  with  millet  and  maize  ;  and  the 
consumption  of  these  two  products  is  rare  in  France,  except  in  the  country, 
and  it  is  only  in  the  season  of  harvest  that  it  is  served  to  laborers.  The 
population  of  France,  which  is  about  35,000,000,  is  fed  chiefly  with  white 
bread  and  mixed  bread,  the  last  being  composed  of  the  flour  of  mixed  grain, 
or  of  rye  mixed  with  wheat  of  the  worst  quality. 

Bread  of  pure  rye  is  found  only  in  Paris,  and  in  some  of  the  large  cities. 
It  is  a  fancy  bread,  dearer  than  that  taxed  by  the  police,  though  exempt 
from  any  tax.  The  Frenchman  every  where  uses  bread,  and  at  least  he  re- 
quires, when  he  labors,  three  pounds  of  bread  in  his  soup,  with  his  wine,  or 
with  his  meat;  but  to  eat  alone  a  pound  of  bread  suffices.  An  ounce  of 
flesh  or  of  lard  is  required  for  a  meal,  and  a  very  little  bread  with  cheese,  but 
a  very  small  quantity  suffices  with  apples,  and  other  fruits,  grapes,  and  also 
with  potatoes.  This  last  named  article,  potatoes,  is  consumed  in  great 
quantities,  they  being  pared,  fried,  and  salted.  Bread  is  an  essential,  while 
the  potato  is  a  luxury  to  the  French. 

NUMBER    OF    HECTOLITRES    OF    CERTAIN    CROPS    GROWN    IN    FRANCE. 


NoMBRES  d'  Hectolitres 
recolt'es  sur  la  totalit'e   des   terres  cnsemendes.   en 


i 

Mixed  Grain. 

a 
0 

<5 

Wheat. 

(Wheat  &  Bar- 
ley.) 

« 

Barley. 

Oats. 

Maize  &  Millet. 

Buckwheat. 

1815 

39,460,791 

8,732,132 

19,678,.595 

12,999,751 

5,630,930 

5.314,542 

1816 

43,316,694 

9,303,887 

20,943,5i6 

13,810,347 

4.153,310 

3,638,934 

1817 

47,984,044 

9,731,194 

22,422,370 

16,508,993 

5,850,338 

6,499,778 

1813 

52,697,927 

10,438,583 

24,734,120 

13,186,458 

6,101,.552  A 
9,123,313  ' 

3,363,098 

1819 

59,841,150 

12,405,588 

80,904,225 

16,634,424 

6,646.330 

1820 

44,847,720 

9,228,580 

25,400,471 

19,:<79,157 

5,786  988 

7,745;  108 

1821 

58  219,268 

11,394,360 

30,284,961 

17,710,319, 

5,047,168 

7,987,309 

1822 

50,856,707 

10,108,887 

27,059,535 

14,065,328 

6.044,119 

8,371.676 

1823 

58,676,862 

11,075,194 

29  913,341 

17,509,312 

6,657,.^il0 

6,544,211 

1824 

61,788,97-2 

11,271,909 

29,923,148 

17,010,859 

5,906,815 

7,361,851 

1825 

61,033,177 

11,3.51,398 

26,722,151 

14,485,070 

6,519,946 

6.126,734 

1826 

59,631,917 

11,111,492 

29,834,465 

15,293,582 

7,140,888 

7,408,492 

1827 

56,785,944 

11,226,696 

27,565,282 

15,721,223 

5,047,391 

6,979.888 

1838 

58,823,512 

10,936,692 

29,935,521 

16,126  902 

6,278,525 

9.839,216 

1829 

64,285,521 

11,680,380 

32,652,568 

15,095,755 

6,590,604 

7,949,859 

1830 

52,782,008 

9,917,241 

26,876,157 

19,901,710 

7,330,701 

7.46H,080 

1831 

56,429,694 

10,621,675 

27,546,613 

18,119,023 

7,490,343 

10.205,348 

1832 

80,089,016 

13,697,190 

37,996,755 

18,517,252 

4,036,637 

6,151,293 

1833 

66,073,141 

11,435,433 

34,291,532 

15,907,119 

7.239,083 

5.922084 

1834 

61.981,226 

11,289,972 

29,41«,982 

17.474,857 

8,412,945 

10,166;666 

1835 

71,697,484 

12,281,020 

32,996,950 

18,184,316 

6,951,179 

5,175.933 

728  WHAT  FOOD   WILL   PEODUCE   THE   MOST  WOOL. 


WHAT   FOOD   WILL  PRODUCE   THE  MOST  WOOL. 

Peas,  beans,  vetches,  etc.,  are  useful  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  the  t)lood, 
by  furnishing  it  with  largo  supplies  of  albumen,  which  is  its  principal  con- 
stituent. It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  analysis  of  flesh  and  blood  the 
relative  proportions  of  their  constituents  are  nearly  identical ;  consequently, 
whatever  food  contains  nitrogen,  and  the  greatest  amount  of  albumen,  is  best 
adapted  Ho  the  development  of  flesh  or  muscle,  and  is  therefore  the  most  nu- 
tritious. Wheat,  rye,  barley,  and  buckwheat,  contain  large  quantities  of 
albumen,  especially  the  first  two ;  while  oats,  it  will  have  been  seen,  contains 
ten  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  its  organic  elements  of  albumen,  and  peas  and 
beans  no  less  than  twenty-nine  per  cent.  What  conclusion,  then,  is  to  be 
drawn  from  this  ?  The  chemical  composition  of  horns,  hoofs,  hair,  ivool,  and 
even  feathers,  is  substantially  the  same ;  their  organic  elements  are  coagu- 
lated albumen  and  gelatin,  and  their  inorganic,  silica,  carbonate,  and  phos- 
phate of  lime,  and  the  oxides  of  iron  and  maganese.  Hence  it  will  readily 
appear  that  food  given  to  the  sheep  which  will  supply  the  greatest  pro- 
portion of  albumen,  in  the  same  ratio  will  increase  the  wool  secretions,  and, 
consequently,  be  productive  of  the  most  wool,  2>>'0vided,  however,  they  also  hold 
in  suitable  combination  the  inorganic  substances  of  wool ^  without  which  they 
^psimilate  mostly  for  the  formation  of  flesh  or  fat.  This  may  be  exemplified 
thus  :  a  soil  may  be  highly  productive  of  corn,  as  well  as  a  few  of  the  cereal 
grains,  yet  for  the  production  of  wheat  it  may  lack  the  proper  proportion  of 
the  phosphate  and  carbonate  of  lime,  and,  consequently,  the  berry  will  not 
only  be  deficient  in  quantity  but  quality. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  results  of  the  experiments  of  the  distin- 
guished agriculturist,  De  Raumer,  on  the  efiects  produced  by  an  equal  quan- 
tity of  several  substances  in  increasing  the  flesh,  tallow,  and  wool  of  sheep  : 


Increase 

Produced 

Produce 

weight  of  living  animal. 

wool. 

tallow. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

,000  lbs.  potatoes,  raw,  with  salt,   - 

-     46J 

H 

12i 

do. 

"         do.               without  salt. 

44 

H 

11^ 

do. 

"   mangel  wurtzel,  raw, 

-     38^ 

5i 

6^ 

do. 

"    wheat,         -         -         - 

-       155 

14 

591 

do. 

"   oats,       -         -         -         - 

-  146 

10 

42^ 

do. 

"   barley,        -         -         . 

-       13G 

Hi 

60 

do. 

"   peas,      -         -         -         . 

-  134 

\\\ 

41 

do. 

"•rye,  with  salt, 

-       133 

14 

35 

do. 

"   rye,  without  salt. 

-     90 

12i 

43 

do. 

"   meal,  wet,  - 

-       129 

13i 

l^i 

do. 

"   buckwheat,     - 

-  120 

10 

33 

These  results  are  said  to  agree  with  those  of  De  Dombale,  and  with  those 
of  a  number  of  other  agriculturists. 

It  will  be  perc-eived  by  the  above  table  that  wheat  produces  the  greatesi 
increase  in  the  flesh  of  the  sheep,  though  but  little  greater  than  oats  ;  that^^ms, 
wheat,  and  rye,  produce  the  greatest  increase  of  wool;  and  that  iaWey  and 
xoheat  cause  the  greatest  increase  of  tallow.  That,  as  an  average,  grain  gen- 
erally gives  about  three  times  the  increase  in  the  flesh,  that  roots  do  when  in 
equal  weight ;  that  grain  produces  about  twice  as  much  wool  as  is  caused  by 

equal  weight  of  roots,  and  several  times  the  amount  of  tallow. 


ON    LINEN.  729 


The  legitimate  conclusion  from  the  foregoing  is,  that  the  flock-master, 
whose  object  is  wool  only,  must  rely  on  good  hay  and  some  straw,  whose 
constituents  are  admirably  adapted  for  the  growth  and  perfection  of  wool, 
with  a  moderate  allowance,  daily,  of  ground  peas  and  oats,  and  some  potatoes 
as  green  food,  for  the  greatest  amount  of  wool ;  and  those  gross  substances, 
oil-cake,  corn-meal,  ruta  bagas,  may  be  turned  over  to  the  producers  of  fat 
mutton.     This  will  presently  be  adverted  to  again. — MorrelVs  Shepherd. 


FOR  THE  PLOUGH,  THE  LOOM,  AND  THE  ANVIL. 

OF    LINEN. 


Mr.  Editor  : — I  have  heard  much  said  of  a  want  of  linen  in  the  United 
States,  and  of  its  high  price,  and  of  the  want  of  success  in  the  cultivation  of 
this  plant  in  this  part  of  the  world.  The  soil  for  the  cultivation  of  flax  is  no 
where  better  than  in  Vermont.  It  is  good,  also,  in  New- York,  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, in  D^'laware,  and  in  Maryland.  13ut  has  any  one  examined  the  causes 
of  the  failure  of  this  crop,  xmd  the  necessities  for  this  particular  growth  ?  Of 
this,  I  have  doubts. 

For  this  reason,  permit  me  to  present  the  following  for  your  consideration. 
The  universal  complaint  is  that  flax  does  not  succeed,  and  all  the  fault  is  laid 
to  the  charge  of  our  mother  who  feeds  us,  the  earth,  which,  in  this  country, 
is  unfavorable  to  its  cultivation. 

We  believe  the  causes  which  prevent  the  success  of  this  particular  brancb 
of  cultivation  to  be — 1.  The  want  of  good  seed  ;  2.  The  bad  selection  of 
soils  ;  3.  The  bad  manipulation  of  the  fibre. 

The  seed,  which  comes  from  Riga,  (Russia,)  can  not  meet  the  expectations 
of  the  farmer.  And  why?  The  supplies  of  the  large  magazines  of  Riga  are 
furnished  either  by  the  extensive  proprietors  of  the  soil,  or  by  the  tiade  of 
Jevvs  who  buy  in  small  quantities,  and  resell  to  the  merchants  of  Riga. 
Those  who  are  engaged  in  this  traflic  are  mostly  Jews. 

The  proprietors,  persuaded  of  the  good  quality  of  their  merchandise,  bold 
it  firm,  and  sell  at  a  very  high  rate,  while  the  merchant  holds  on  to  his  own 
price,  believing  he  has  a  good  article.  The  Jews  buy  the  flaxseed  of  the 
same  proprietors,  with  little  regard  to  their  quality,  but  are  content,  since 
they  can  buy  and  sell  at  a  good  profit  to  the  merchants  at  Riga,  who  can 
thus  supply  the  wants  of  commerce  at  a  small  profit. 

But  perhaps  you  will  reply,  but  the  grain  is  as  good  and  as  heavy  as  any 
other,  so  that  agents,  ignorant  of  any  thing  better,  are  induced  to  buy.  But 
not  knowing  the  fraud,  they  deceive  themselves,  and,  in  their  turn,  they  de- 
ceive others.  In  appearance,  there  is  no  difference  in  the  quality.  Thus,  the 
Jews  who  carry  on  the  small  commerce  in  flaxseed,  buy  it  of  bad  quality  and 
small  size,  boil  it,  and  give  to  it  a  lustre  the  appearance  of  that  of  the  best 
quality.  Thus  improved  in  its  appearance,  they  offer  it  in  the  market. 
Being  purchased  for  the  sake  of  the  seed,  it  will  not  reproduce  enougb  to 
make  painters'  oil.  It  disappoints  the  manufacturer ;  and  the  cause  of  its 
deterioration  is  imputed  to  the  effects  of  the  sea.  But  it  is  true,  that  as  the 
boiled  egg  will  not  produce  a  chicken,  so  boiled  flaxseed  will  not  produce  a 
stalk.  This  flaxseed  is  known  in  North  America  under  the  name  of  Swedish. 
Poland  produces  much  flax,  but  of  an  inferior  quality,  on  account  of  the 
use  of  seed  grown  in  Litbaine  being  mixed  with  good  seed,  which  attracts 


730  A  NEW   COTTON   GIN. 


the  aqueous  particles  from  it,  renders  it  more  slender,  (maigne,)  and  the 
stalk  smaller  and  weaker,  and  less  fibrous.  But  some  agriculturists  in  this 
country,  and  among  others  the  undersigned,  were  persuaded  of  the  inferior 
quality  of  Polish  flax  when  compared  with  that  of  Lypse,  in  the  northern, part 
of  Hungary,  which  is  long,  white,  and  string. 

After  having  learned  the  method  of  manipulation  of  the  fibres,  in  those 
places,  I  procured  seed  from  that  country — to  wit,  from  Knieson,  a  city  situa- 
ted in  the  county  of  Lypse.  I  sowed  it,  and  obtained  flax  white  and  a  yard 
in  length  ;  and  we  had  grain , which  produced  more  than  twice  the  quantity  of 
oil  produced  from  Swedish  flax  ;  and  so  great  an  improvement  was  made  in 
this  branch  of  industry,  that  we  even  rivalled  the  flax  of  Austria. 

The  American  Consul,  at  Trieste  might  procure  flaxseed  at  Knieson,  or 
Lubownia.  The  families  from  which  it  might  be  obtained,  without  fear  of 
fraud,  are  those  of  Kawecki,  Kigzyk,  Ongorko. 

This  is  the  counsel  we  would  give  to  the  farmers  of  this  country — that 
they  should  procure  seed  of  this  plant  that  will  not  disappoint  their  expecta- 
tions. They  may  thus  do  a  good  service  not  only  to  themselves,  but  to  the 
country,  and  rid  themselves  of  the  payment  of  a  large  duty  on  flax  to  which 
they  are  now  subject. 

During  ray  sojourn  of  twenty  years  in  France,  in  the  department  of  Ma- 
yenne,  I  discovered  that  the  crop  of  flax  was  mean  and  of  bad  quality.  I 
made  known  my  opinions  to  M.  Desjardin,  councillor  of  the  department,  and 
he  followed  my  advice,  and  procured  seed  from  Lypse,  abandoning  the  use 
of  Swedish  flaxseed,  and  the  improvement  was  decisive.  If  the  vines  of 
Tokay  can  be  imported  into  New- York,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  can  be  no 
difliculty  in  importing  the  flaxseed. 

A  single  word  upon  its  cultivation.  The  spot  for  this  growth  should  be 
selected  upon  the  southern  border  of  a  stream.  A  black  soil,  without  ma- 
nure, is  the  most  favorable  to  its  growth — such  as  is  suited  to  the  growth  of 
clover.  In  places  remote  from  a  stream,  the  land  selected  should  be  moist 
and  well  cultivated. 

After  the  flax  is  gathered,  the  stalks  should  be  dried ;  and  after  the  seed  is 
separated,  they  should  be  exposed  for  a  fortnight  to  the  dews,  or  they  may  be 
plunged  in  water  for  three  days  or  more,  and  then  dried,  according  to  circum- 
stances, either  by  the  sun  or  in  heated  ovens.  '  After  this,  the  usual  manipu- 
lation follows.  Saniewski  Felix. 

[The  above  was  sent  us  in' French,  and  we  have  translated  it  into  English. 
The  subject  is  of  great  importance,  and  these  suggestions  may  prove  to  be 
eminently  worthy  of  practical  regard. — Eds.  P.  L.'  &  A.] 


A  New  Cotton  Gin. — S.  R.  Parkhurst,  of  this  city,  has  succeeded  in  per- 
fecting, to  his  entire  satisfaction,  we  believe,  the  American  cylinder  cotton  gin. 

The  steel  cylinder  cotton  gin  as  now  made  by  Mr.  P.  only  needs  to  be 
oiled,  and  the  hopper  filled,  and  the  cotton  kept  back  in  the  lint  room.  The 
feeding  apparatus  adapts  itself  to  the  motion  of  the  machine,  and  will  supply 
the  cotton  as  fast  as  wanted  from  the  hopper.  Cotton  ginned  by  this  ma- 
chine shows  a  much  better  staple  than  if  done  by  the  old  machine,  and  is 
said  to  be  worth  about  one  cent  in  the  pound  more  than  if  ginned  by  the 
saw-gin,  while  it  does  its  work  much  faster,  and  with  less  labor. 


GUANO   FOR  SUGAR-CANE.  731 


PEAS  AND  SWEET  POTATOES  FOR  FATTENING  HOGS. 

Mr.  Nathan  Winslow,  of  Perquimons  county,  fattens  his  hogs  for  slaugh- 
ter and  sale,  as  well  as  for  his  own  consumption,  almost  entirely  on  peas  and 
sweet  potatoes.  From  the  1st  to  the  15th  of  September,  the  hogs  are  turned 
on  a  pea-field.  At  the  same  time,  a  small  portion  of  the  sweet  potato  ground 
is  fenced  off.  The  wood-land'is  close  at  hand,  and  the  hogs  are  turned  therein 
every  day.  This  is  done  because  he  deems  it  better  for  the  health  of  the 
hogs.  Every  night,  alternately,  the  hogs  are  turned  into  the  pea-field  and 
the  potatoes— new  portions  of  the  latter  being  brought  in  as  the  first  enclosed^ 
are  exhausted.  Thus  kept  on  peas  and  potatoes  alone,  (for  he  supposes  they 
get  very  little  from  the  woods,)  the  hogs  become  very  fat.  For  change  of 
food,  and  late  in  the  fattening,  swill  is  added  to  the  food,  made  of  turnips, 
boiled  with  a  little  corn-meal,  and  seasoned  with  salt.  Mr.  Winslow  is  con- 
fident that  all  the  corn  consumed  during  the  whole  time  of  fattening  does 
not  exceed  the  average  of  a  peck  for  each  hog  ;  therefore,  the  Aattening  is  due, 
in  a  very  slight  degree,  to  corn,  and  almost  entirely  to  the  peas  and  potatoes. 
Peas  alone  will  fatten  very  considerably,  but  not  enough  to  make  good  pork. 
But  with  potatoes,  the  hogs  are  not  only  made  very  fat,  but  their  fat  is 
even^  more  firm  and  white  than  of  hogs  fattened  on  corn.  After  cold  weather 
requires  that  potatoes  should  be  dug,  they  are  boiled  before  being  fed  to  the 
hogs.  Mr.  Winslow  is  a  very  large  and  successful  raiser  of  hogs,  and  seller 
of  pork.  I  learn  from  others  that  his  pork,  fattened  as  above  stated,  is 
deemed  the  best  in  the  markets. — Southern  Planter. 


GUANO    FOR    SUGAR-CANE. 

We  recently  met  with  Col.  John  S.  Preston,  of  Columbia,  South  Cai-olina, 
returning  from  his  sugar  plantation  on  the  Mississippi  Eiver.  In  speaking  of 
guano  as  a  fertilizer.  Col.  Preston  informs  us  that  it  was  a  very  profitable 
fertilizer  for  sugar-cane.  He  used  it  first  in  1853  on  a  field  of  fifty  acres  ; 
theland  was  much  worn.  He  took  twenty-four  acres  of  the  field  for  the  ex- 
periment, upon  which  he  applied  the  guano,  by  putting  on  200  pounds  per 
acre ;  on  the  balance  of  the  field,  the  same  quality  of  land,  he  applied  no 
guano,  cultivating  each  portion  in  the  same  manner.  The  guanoed  portion 
produced  900  pounds  of  sugar  more  per  acre  than  the  other,  which,  at  4^ 
cents  per  pound  for  the  sugar,  gave  an  actual  money  profit  of  $40  per  acre, 
for  the  five  dollars'  worth  of  guano  used.  The  next  year,  1854,  the  field  was 
still  cultivated  in  cane  from  ratoons.  It  was  remarked  by  every  one  who  saw 
it,  that  the  guanoed  portion  (24  acres)  was  the  finest  ratooned  cane  in  the 
country.  The  result  of  the  crop,  the  second  year,  from  the  guanoed  portion, 
was  greatly  superior  to  the  other— the  difference  more  than  sufficient  to  pay 
for  the  guano  used. 

Last  year,  Col.  Preston  used  50  tons  on  500  acres  of  cane  ;  the  result, 
though  not  so  great,  from  the  extreme  dryness  of  the  season,  was  entirely 
satisfactory,  increasing  the  crop  on  the  500  acres  to  the  extent  of  upwards  of 
400  pounds  of  sugar  per  acre  ;  and  he  confidently  expects  the  increase  on 
the  crop  of  ratooned  cane  this  year,  from  the  same  500  acres,  to  pay  back 
the  |2,500,  the  cost  of  the  guano,  with  interest.     He  is  using  the  same  quan- 


732  PRACTICAL   AGRICULTURE. 

tity,  50  tons,  this  year.  Col.  Preston  remarked  this  fact,  in  connection  with 
the  u^e  of  guano  as  a  fertilizer  in  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane,  that  it 
produced  the  finest  effect  upon  their  most  exhausted  lands.  Col.  Preston  has 
promised  us,  for  the  columns  of  the  "  Cotton  Planter,"  the  particulars  of 
these  interesting  experiments,  which  we  hope  to  be  able  to  lay  before  our 
readers  some  time  this  spring. — American  Cotton  Planter. 


PRACTICAL    AGRICULTURE. 

Give  us  special  directions — more  practical  directions  ;  give  us  regular  rules 
for  the  production  of  the  various  crops,  so  that  we  can  raise  our  annual  pro- 
ducts by  them,  as  a  carpenter  builds  a  house  by  his  plan.  Such,  we  suppose, 
is  what  many  people  expect  of  a  "first  class"  agricultural  paper;  and  just 
so  far  as  any  file  of  weeklies  or  of  monthlies  comes  short  of  this,  just  so  far  short 
it  comes  of  its  obligations.  Are  we  right  in  thus  describing  at  least  the  secret 
hopes  of  many  readers  of  those  useful  journals,  if  not  their  actual  expectations  ? 

If  so,  we  are  perfectly  willing,  for  one,  at  once  and  for  all,  directly  and 
explicilly,  to  extinguish  those  hopes,  and  annihilate  those  expectations,  so  far 
as  the  expression  of  our  views,  and  opinions,  or  expectations,  may  produce 
such  a  result ;  for  we  have  no  sort  of  confidence  in  any  such  plan  of  opera- 
tions, and  the  louder  any  co-laborer  should  proclaim  this  as  his  definite  object 
and  expectation,  just  so  far  our  own  conviction  of  his  unfitness  for  his  place 
would  be  increased,  and  we  should  look  upon  him  in  the  same  degree  as 
a  charlatan.  We  are  well  aware  that  some  of  our  ablest  journals  have  now 
and  then  been  so  unwise  as  to  give  countenance  to  this  notion.  They  have' 
permitted  themselves  to  go  quite  too  far  in  holding  up  the  idea  that  scientific 
farming  might  be  reduced  to  such  plain  and  practical  rules,  that  an  ignora- 
mus might  refer  to  them  to  learn  v>'hat  to  do  next,  just  as  he  would  to  the 
calendar  pages  of  his  almanac  to  know  the  day  of  the  month.  One  who 
talks  on  quite  a  high  key  about  this  noble  science,  has  more  than  once  inti- 
mated that  when  we  have  advanced  a  little  further  with  our  model  farms,  we 
shall  know  just  how  much  corn  it  takes  to  make  a  pound  of  pork  ;  and  others 
may  have  erred  (and  ourself  among  the  rest,)  in  not  being  sufficiently  guarded 
on  this  vital  point. 

But  why  can  we  not  reduce  practical  agiiculture  to  a  few  simple  rules,  by 
which  all  farmers  can  be  guided,  and  thereby  become  rich  ?  One  good  and 
sufficient  reason  is,  that  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the  condition  of  the 
land,  the  elements  of  which  it  is  composed,  or  which  may  be  wanting,  the 
comparative  value  of  the  same  crop  at  different  places,  or  of  diff'erent  crops, 
and  of  manures,  operating  differently  on  different  soils,  or  in  different  seasons, 
and  the  indefinite  cost  of  fitting  the  soil  for  one  or  another  kind  of  growth — 
all  these  and  other  particulars  are  so  various,  so  changing,  and  so  wholly  un- 
known to  the  conductor  of  a  journal,  that  specific  instructions,  requiting  no 
skill,  nosqiencein  their  application,  are  nothing  less  than  an  absolute  impossi- 
bility. Indeed,  it  requires  but  little  less  skill  to  apply  than  to  construct  the 
laws  of  agriculture,  though  the  kind  of  knowledge  required  for  the  different 
positions  of  teachers  and  of  learners  may  be  somewhat  diverse.  For  example. 
The  teacher  may  contrive  sundry  important  experiments,  in  reference  to  the 
cultivation  of  a  given  crop,  and  to  do  this  wisely  requires  a  previous  fitness  in 
the  experimenter.     But  when  all  this  is  completed,  it  requires  a  knowledge  of 


PRACTICAL   AGRICULTURE.  733 

soils  iu  the  farmer  who  would  successfully  apply  the  principles  taught  by 
those  experiments. 

Another  may  carefully  test  the  fattening  qualities  of  certain  kinds  of  feed, 
in  relation  to  his  own  animals.  But  it  is  not  certain  that  other  animals,  long- 
accustomed  to  a  different  diet,  or  those  of  a  different  organization,  would  uni- 
formly exhibit  exactly  the  same  phenomena  under  the  same  treatment. 
Again,  where  land  commands  a  large  price,  certain  kinds  of  cultivation  will 
be  profitable,  Avhen  they  would  be  ruinous  if  applied  on  any  low  priced  lands. 
Where  land  can  almost  be  had  for  clearing  it,  "high  farming"  is  not  the 
most  productive,  nor  would  the  rules  of  scientific  management,  as  generally 
understood,  be  properly  applicable.     Extreme  cases  generally  form  exceptions. 

Having  thus  shown  our  meaning,  we  have  only  to  answer  affirmatively 
the  question,  what  is  the  teacher  of  agricultural  science  to  do  ?  And  we  an- 
swer, he  is  chiefly  to  do  with  general  principles,  and  general  rules  of  practice, 
in  the  application  of  which  there  is  an  absolute  necessity  of  practical  skill  on 
the  part  of  the  learner.  No  book,  and  no  collection  of  books,  can  be  a  sub- 
stitute for  this  practical  skill.  They  will  furnish  valuable  aid  ;  they  will  di- 
rect the  attention  into  the  right  direction,  and  show  where  to  look  for  the 
cause  of  given  failures,  but  they  can  not  become  oracles,  and  he  who  makes 
them  such  will  find  himself,  not  unfrequently,  as  far  astray  as  if  he  had  fol- 
lowed an  ignis  fatuus.  The  book  may  be  right;  the  application  of  it  may 
be  wron.g 

Hence  it  is  that  we  de^l  so  much  in  principles,  and  so  little  in  practical  de- 
tails, iu  regard  to  specific  modes  and  processes.  If  we  can  give  to  our  readers 
a  proper  conviction  of  their  own  wants,  and  of  the  principles  by  which  they 
must  be  governed  in  their  practical  operations  ;  if  we  can  induce  them  to  be 
in  earnest  in  becoming  good  farmers,  we  shall  do  a  great  work.  To  do  any 
thing  else,  with  many,  is  utterly  useless.  If  there  is  one  who  exhibits  a  prac- 
tical contempt  for  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  science  of  manures,  for 
example,  how  foolish  it  is  to  discuss, /or  his  sake,  the  comparative  advantages 
of  drills  and  sowing  broadcast ;  of  guano  and  poudrette,  etc.,  etc.  He  will 
heed  none  of  your  advice ;  but  call  you  a  fool,  and  a  mere  book-farmer,  if 
you  advise  any  thing  contrary  to  his  own  past  practices. 

There  are  those  who  will  be  benefited  by  any  one  solitary  fact  in  the  expe- 
rience of  a  farmer.  Being  systematic  in  their  views  and  their  thoughts,  they 
know  at  once  what  to  do  with  every  statement  of  fact,  properly  authenticated, 
which  is  brought  to  their  attention,  and  they  work  it  into  their  system  just  as 
orderly  and  skillfully  as  a  seamstress  uses  up  the  parts  of  a  garment,  or  the 
thread  with  which  she  unites  those  parts.  These  details  are  all  useful  to 
them,  and  chiefly  to  them  alone. 

Probably  an  opinion  the  reverse  of  this  would  be  given,  at  first  thought, 
by  many.  They  would  say  the  mere  statement  of  fact  is  within  the  compre- 
hension of  the  ignorant,  while  the  scientific  man  alone  can  comprehend  prin- 
ciples and  theories.  But,  after  reflection,  we  are  sure  that  all  will  agree  with 
us.  Who  appreciates  the  fact  that  a  given  medicine  produced  certain 
symptoms,  in  a  given  case,  but  he  who  understands  both  the  medicine  and 
the  disease.  To  receive  the  fact  as  true,  merely,  without  reference  to  the 
lesson  it  teaches,  is  useful  to  no  one.  Such  a  reception  of  truth  is  unworthy 
the  name  of  knowledge. 

But  any  child  can  understand  a  plain  description  of  the  various  chemical 
attractions  and  combinations,  and,  in  the  light  of  such  instruction,  can  see  as 
at  a  glance,  the  bearing  of  any  given  fact ;  and  they  can  take  an  interest  in 
such  teachings,  and  will  grow  wiser  under  such  instructors. 


734  HORTICULTURAL. 


HORTICULTURAL. 

"  I  have  laid  great  stress  upon  possessing  a  heap  of  compost,  ready  to  ap- 
ply to  roots  and  shrubs  every  spring  and  autumn.  Wherever  the  soil  is 
good,  the  flowers  will  bloom  handsomely ;  and  no  lady  will  be  disappointed 
of  that  pleasure,  if  a  compost  heap  forms  one  essential,  in  a  hidden  corner  of 
the  flower-garden.  If  you  raise  your  perennials  from  seed,  sow  it  when  the 
ground  has  become  thoroughly  warmed,  in  a  bed  of  light  earth,  in  the  open 
ground.  Let  the  bed  be  in  a  genial,  warm  situation,  and  divide  it  into  small 
compartmeats ;  a  compartment  for  each  sort  of  seed. 

Sow  the  seed  thin,  and  rake  or  break  the  earth  over  them  finely.  Let  the 
larger  seed  be  sown  half  an  inch  deep,  and  the  smaller  seed  a  quarter  of  an 
inch.  Water  the  beds  in  dry  weather  often,  with  a  watering-pot,  not  a  jug. 
The  rose  of  the  watering-pot  distributes  the  water  equally  among  the  seed- 
lings ;  whereas,  water  dashed  upon  them  from  a  jug  falls  in  masses,  and 
forms  holes  in  the  light  earth,  besides  prostrating  the  delicate  seedling. 

About  the  end  of  May,  the  seedlings  will  be  fit  to  remove  into  another 
nursery-bed,  to  gain  strength  till  October ;  or  be  planted  at  once  where  they 
are  to  remain.  Put  the  plants  six  inches  apart,  and  water  them  moderately 
to  settle  the  earth  about  their  roots. 

But  itv  is  rarely  required  to  sow  seed  for  perennial  plants,  they  multiply  so 
vigorously  and  quickly  of  themselves  by  offsets,  and  cuttings  may  be  made 
of  the  flower-stalks  in  May  and  June  in  profusion. 

The  double  scarlet  lychnis,  and  those  plants  which  rise  with  firm  flower- 
stems,  make  excellent  cuttings,  and  grow  freely  when  planted  in  moist 
weather.     Double  rockets,  lychnidea,  and  many  others,  succeed  well. 

Carnation  and  pink  seedlings  must  be  taken  great  care  of  They  will  be 
ready  to  plant  out  about  the  middle  of  June ;  and  a^  innumerable  varieties 
spring  from  sowing  seed,  they  should  be  planted  carefully  in  a  bed  by  them- 
selves six  inches  asunder,  and  they  will  flower  the  following  year,  when  you 
can  choose  the  colors  you  most  approve.  Carnations  properly  rank  under  the 
head  of  biennials  ;  but  pinks  are  strictly  perennial  plants,  and  much  has  been 
written  upon  this  hardy  and  beautiful  flower.  It  comes  originally  from  a 
temperate  climate,  therefore  the  pink  loves  shade  ;  the  fervid  sunbeams  cause 
its  flowers  to  languish  and  droop.     You  may  give  them  an  eastern  aspect. 

Be  careful  to  watch  pinks  when  they  are  budding,  and  do  not  allow  two 
buds  to  grow  side  by  side.  Pinch  off  the  smaller  bud,  which  would  only 
weaken  its  companion.  Keep  the  plants  free  from  decayed  leaves,  and  gen- 
tly stir  the  earth  round  them  occasionally  with  your  small  trowel.  This  ope- 
ration refreshes  them.  Stake  them  neatly,  that  they  may  not  fall  prostrate 
after  rain. 

If  you  wish  to  preserve  any  particular  pink,  let  it  grow  in  a  pot,  or  upon 
a  raised  platform,  that  it  may  be  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  hares,  rabbits, 
or  poultry,  and  be  more  easily  sheltered  from  long  and  severe  frosts  or 
rains  in  winter,  and  from  the  dry  heats  in  summer,  either  of  which  destroys 
the  beauty  of  the  flower.  The  pots  can  be  sunk  in  the  ground  in  fine  weather. 
Do  not  hide  your  pinks  among  larger  flowers  ;  let  them  be  distinctly  seen. 
If  you  water  pinks  too  much,  their  roots  become  rotten  ;  and  if  you  suffer 
them  to  be  too  dry,  they  become  diseased.  Beware  of  extremes.  The  best 
rule  is  to  keep  them  just  moist.  A  fine  pink  should  not  have  sharp-pointed 
flower-leaves ;  they  should  be  round  and  even  at  their  edges,  and  the  colors 


PLUM  TREES.  735 


should  be  v/ell-clefined,  not  running  one  into  the  other.  The  flower  should 
be  large ;  it  should  possess  a  great  many  leaves,  and  form  a  sort  of  dome. 
Piping  and  slipping  is  the  most  expeditious  mode  of  propagating  plants  from 
any  selected  pink. 

Pansies,  violets,  etc.,  are  very  easily  propagated  by  parting  the  roots  when 
the  flowers  are  past.  Pansies  are  very  beautiful  flowers,  and  cuttings  of  their 
young  shoots  will  grow  very  freely  if  kept  moist  and  shaded  for  some  little 
time.  By  refreshing  the  soil  every  year,  you  insure  large  flowers.  Pansies 
and  violets  bloom  early  in  the  spring. 

Hepaticas  must  be  parted  like  violets.  They  appear  so  very  early  in  the 
year  that  no  garden  should  exist  without  these  gay  and  modest  flowers. 
The  leaves  appear  after  the  flower  has  passed  away.  , 

The  polyanthus  bloo*ms  among  the  early  tribe.  In  planting  this  flower,  be 
careful  to  insert  the  roots  deep  in  the  soil,  so  that  the  leaves  may  rest  upon 
it,  for  the  roots  are  produced  high  upon  the  stem,  and  those  roots  must  be 
enabled  to  shoot  into  the  soil.  The  polyanthus,  like  almost  every  other 
flower,  loves  a  good  soil  with  a  mixture  of  sand. 

In  dividing  these  fibrous-rooted,  perennial  plants,  take  only  the  strong 
ofisets,  with  plenty  of  fibres  attached  to  them. 

Polyanthuses,  auriculas,  double  daisies,  double  camomile,  London  pride, 
violets,  hepaticas,  thrift,  primroses,  gentianella,  etc.,  succeed  well,  taken  up 
and  divided  in  September,  for  they  will  all  have  done  flowering  by  that  time. 
Indeed,  all  perennial,  fibrous-rooted  plants  may  be  taken  up  in  October  to 
have  their  roots  parted,  and  the  soil  refreshed  round  them. 

Peonies,  and  all  knob-rooted  plants,  should  be  taken  up  in  October  to  part 
their  roots,  and  transplant  them  to  their  intended  positions. 

The  saxifrage  has  very  small  roots,  which  are  apt  to  be  lost  in  borders  if 
not  carefully  looked  after.  Like  the  anemone,  etc.,  sift  the  earth  well  for  them. 
Dahlias  require  a  word  or  two  upon  their  culture.  They  love  sand,  there- 
fore allow  them  plenty  of  it,  but  do  not  put  manure  to  their  roots,  which 
throws  them  into  luxuriant  leaf  and  stem,  to  the  deterioration  of  the  flower. 
Peat  mold  is  good,  if  you  can  obtain  it,  to  mix  with  the  sand,  as  it  assists  the 
flower  in  developing  stripes  and  spots.  Train  each  plant  upright,  upon  one 
stem  only,  and  give  it  a  strong  stake  to  support  its  weight,  which  soon  suc- 
cumbs under  gusts  of  wind.  Plant  them  in  open  and  airy  places.  When 
the  stems  become  black,  take  them  up,  separate  the  roots,  and  plunge  them 
into  a  box  of  ashes,  barley  chafi",  or  sand,  to  protect  them  through  the  winter. 
Plant  them  out  in  May."— ZacZi'es'  Floiuer  Gardener. 


Plum  Trees. — Plant  your  plum  trees  near  water,  and  inclining  so  as  to 
hang  over  the  water,  so  that  you  can  gather  the  plums  in  a  boat._  I  have  a 
hundred  of  them  o-rowing  on  my  farm  in  that  way,  around  an  artificial  lake, 
and  not  a  plum  h^s  dropped  from  them.  The  curculio  has  here  and  there 
made  its  segment  of  a  circle  on  the  skin,  and  then  thought  better  of  it,  for 
it  left  no  eo-g  in  the  incision,  observing,  no  doubt,  that  when  the  plum  fell  it 
would  be  into  the  water,  and  so  drown  the  progeny.  Our  plums  generally 
did  well  on  all  soils  south  of  the  Highlands  twenty  years  ago. 


736 


JAPAN    CElJAll. 


JAPAN    CEDAR. 

[crypto  MERIA     JAPONICA,] 

Amokg  t]i8  numerous  trees  and  plants  introduced  into  England  by  Mr. 
Fortune,  the  Collector  of  the  London  Horticultural  Society  in  China,  no  one, 
perhaps,  has  attracted  so  much  attention  as  the  Japan  Cedar.     It  is  nearly 
allied  to  the  Cyprus,  and  grows  to  the  height  of  100  feet  in  its  native  habi- 
tation   in    China 
and  Japan,  being 
a  great  favorite  for 
avenues,  and  val- 
uable for  timber. 
"Whenever   forest- 
culture  shall  com- 
mand   the    atten- 
tion which  it  de- 
serves in  this  coun- 
try, this  "  Queen 
of  Evergreen 
Trees,"  as  ,it  has 
been     called     by 
high  authority,  is 
hkely    to    be  ex- 
tensively   cultiva- 
ted on  account  of 
the  durability  and 
its 
fact 
has 
as 
jful 
em- 
ployed  in    China 
for  the  high  poles, 
"which   are    every 
where   placed    at 
the   dwellings    of 
mandarins  to  de- 
note   their    rank, 
■where  it  is  said  to 
last  for  ages. 

Only  a  few  trees 
of  the  Cnjptomc- 
ria  Jaijonicu  have 
as  yet  been  im- 
ported into  the  "United  States;  nor  are  they  likely  to  be  abundant  before 
they  have  attained  sufScient  age  to  yield  a  plenty  of  seeds.  The  first  seeds 
received  in  England  from  Mr.  Fortune  arrived  in  1844. 

Mr.  Barry  thus  commends  it :     "  While  in  England,  we  were  deliglUed  witli 
this  tree  wherever  we  saw  it,  in  the  open  ground  or  in  the  house. 


JAPAN    CEDAR. 


"We  think 


PEACH'TEEES.  787 


it  iiDquestionably  the  most  graceful  and  elegant  evergreen  tree  of  the  immense 
nuinher  cultivated  in  Europe.  It  has  proved  perfectly  hardy  in  England, 
and  its  growth  is  exceedingly  rapid,  equalling  the  Norway  Spruce.  We  saw 
an  elfgant  specimen  in  the  Chisvvick  garden,  nine  feet  high,  that  had  made 
four  fet-t  growth  last  season." 

A  sandy  loam,  mixed  with  some  peat  or  leaf  mold,  is  the  kind  of  soil  best 
adapted  to  the  Japan  Cedar.  Care  should  be  had  not  to  permit  a  wet  sub- 
soil to  damage  the  roots  by  stagnant  water.  Smith,  in  his  Landscape  Gar- 
dening^ pul)lished  in  Edinburgh  in  1852,  says  that  it  was  "  still  doubtful 
whether  the  Japan  Cedar  will  become  more  than  a  bush  in  this  country," 
meaning  Great  Britain.  The  climate  of  our  Central  and  Southern  States  is 
much  nearer  that  of  China,  and  more  likely  to  suit  the  Cryptomeria  than 
that  of  either  England  cr  Scotland. —  Genesee  Farmer. 


FOR  THE    PLOUGH,   THE  LOOM,   AKD   THE   ANVIL. 

PEACH-TREES  —  MR.     CHAMPION. 

Mrssrs.  Editors  : — 'Your  Washington  correspondent,  Mr.  Champion, 
thinks  that  our  peach-trees  were  not  killed  during  the  cold  weather  of  last 
winttr^r,  hut  attributes  their  destruction  to  the  frosts  of  the  last  fall,  or  to  a 
similar  cause.  The  sap  did  not  "  se^'  right,  he  thinks.  With  due  respect 
to  Mr.  C ,  I  dissent  from  his  views  on  the  subject.  He  says  when  the  sap  is 
in  circulation,  (and  it  may  be  seen  in  a  frozien  state  in  beech  and  maple  trees, 
in  winter,  whi^n  wood  choppers  are  cutting  down  timber,)  the  tree  can  not  be 
killed.  Now,  Mr.  Champion  must  know  that  the  sap  of  trees  does  not  flow 
in  the  center  of  the  trut)k,  but  within  the  liber^  or  inner-bark,  where  the  al- 
burnum is  deposited.  There  always  is  moisture  in  the  inside  of  trees,  but  no 
real  circulntion  of  sap,  as  I  apprehend. 

Again,  the  peach-tree  is  really  not  a  northern  plant,  but  seems,  indeed, 
to  flouri>h  best  in  a  moderately  warm  country  ;  like  Jersey  for  instance.  It 
does  not  seem  to  be  organized  to  withstand  the  severity  of  our  climate  at  all 
times,  particularly  when  the  thermometer  indicates  25°  or  30°  below  zero, 
as  it  did  last  winter.  Trees  which  I  hnve,  (Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  the 
central  part  of  the  State,)  that  were  buried  up  in  the  snow,  are  not  dead,  but 
will  live  and  do  well.  A  bud  which  I  saw  on  one  of  them  was  actually 
green,  and  would  have  doubtless  produced  a  young  peach  had  I  not  removed 
it.  Here  is  proof  conclusive  that  it  was  the  intense  cold  weather  of  last  De- 
cember or  January  that  killed  the  trees,  and  not  the  "sudden  frost"  in  the 
fall,  of  which  Mr.  Champion  speaks.  By  reading  St.  John's  geology,  you 
will  find  that  there  is  an  order  of  plants  in  the  northern  latitudes  constituted 
so  as  to  exist  in  cold  weather ;  and  immediately  on  the  mercury  rising  above 
the  freezing -|joint,  indicating  a  warmer  temperature,  the  plants  wither  and 
die !  Why  is  this  ?  Palpably  becau-^e  they  are  organized  to  live  in  cold 
countries,  in  Ireland  and  Nova  Z nubia;  while  it  seems  that  peach-trees  are 
created  with  organizations  suited  to  southern  parallels  of  latitude.  We  do 
not  raise  many  peaches  south  of  the  43d  degree  of  latitude.  In  New-Jersey, 
this  season,  peach-trees  are  represented  to  be  doing  well,  with  a  fair  prospect 
of  an  abundant  crop.  Then,  the  frost  in  the  fall  did  not  kill  the  trees.  Why 
44 


738  CULTUKE    OF   THE    GRAPE. 

not,  Mr.  Champion  ?  An  explanation  from  you  upon  this  point  would  be  ac- 
ceptably received. 

The  whole  truth  of  the  matter  seems  to  be  this  :  It  was  so  intensely  cold 
last  winter,  in  many  parts,  that  peach-trees  could  not  live  ;  they  had  to  yield 
to  the  severity  of  the  winter  frost,  and  not  to  the  "  fall  frost."  Many  pear- 
trees  are  dead,  and  also  fruit-trees  of  otlier  varieties. 

We  had  a  tree  on  our  farm  which  bore  peaches  for  more  than  forty  years, 
and  then  died  of  old  age.  The  tree  stood  on  a  sandy  knoll,  where  it  was 
exposed  to  sweeping  winds  and  cold  weather.  We  have  no  difficulty  in 
making  trees  live  and  bear  fruit  here  for  ten  or  even  twenty  years,  except 
the  cold  weather.  The  curl-leaf  we  can  get  along  with,  and  other  similar 
diseases,  but  the  cold  weather  is  too  much  for  us,  in  consequence  of  which 
we  shall  lose  many  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  trees  in  this  section. 

Very  respectfully,  W.  Tappan. 

-     Baldtoinsmlle,  N.  Y.,  May  10,  1855. 


CULTURE    OF    T^HE     GRAPE. 

All  well-prepared  vineyards  are  first  trenched  to  the  depth  of  two  feet,  at 
a  cost  varying  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  dollars  per  acre.  All  the  lower 
loose  stone  is  thrown  out  during  the  operation  of  trenching,  and  is  used  for 
constructing  the  walls  for  supporting^the  terraces  into  which  the  hill  side  is 
necessarily  thrown  in  order  to  facilitate  cultivation,  and  prevent  washing  or 
sliding  in  consequence  of  heavy  rains.  The  ground  is  then  laid  off  into  rows 
for  planting — the  rows  six  feet  apart,  and  the  vines  three  feet  ap^rt  in  the 
rows.  There  are  some  variations  from  this,  however,  but  these  distances  are 
those  usually  adopted.  It  gives  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty 
plants  to  the  acre.  It  is  considered  the  best  policy  to  plant  cuttings  at  once 
in  the  vineyard  where  they  are  to  remain,  instead  of  roots ;  as  the  great  dif- 
ference in  cost  is  not  compensated  for  by  the  difference  in  their  time  of  bear- 
ing. A  vine  does  better  that  is  suffered  to  grow  where  originally  planted, 
taking  for  granted  that  the  soil  has  been  properly  prepared  for  its  reception. 
Plant  two  cuttings  in  a  place  in  the  direction  of  the  slope  of  the  hill ;  one 
bud  only  above  ground,  the  lower  ends  some  distance  apart,  the  top  ends 
close  together;  if  one  dies,  you  have  one  left,;  if  both  live,  pull  up  one  to 
supply  the  vacancy  elsewhere.  Roots  one  year  old  are  worXh  twenty-five 
dollars  per  thousand. 

Nothing  need  be  done  the  first  season  except  to  keep  the  plants  free  from 
weeds,  and  the  ground  well  stirred.  No  standing  water  should  be  permitted 
to  gather  about  the  plants. 

The  second  year,  in  January  or  February,  or  as  much  earlier  as  you  please  ; 
in  fact,  any  time  after  the  plants  have  cast  their  leaves,  cut  them  back  to  two 
eyes ;  if  both  start,  break  out  the  weakest,  and  permit  but  one  to  grow.  The 
plants  will  need  only  the  same  sort  of  culture  as  the  first  year.  Keep  the 
soil  well  stirred,  and  free  of  weeds. 

The  summer  pruning  during  the  second  year,  consists  in  shortening  or 


CULTURE  Of   THE  GRAPE.  739 

breaking  the  ends  of  the  laterals,  which  grow  in  the  axilla  of  the  leaf.  Do 
not  break  them  out;  merely  shorten  them  by  breaking  or  bending  over  the 
end  of  the  lateral. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  third  year,  the  plants  must  be  cut  back  to 
theee  or  four  eyes,  in  order  to  ensure  the  growth  of  two ;  after  they  have 
fairly  started  break  all  off  except  the  two  strongest.  The  plants  must  be 
staked  this  year  as  soon  as  they  are  pruned,  and  as  they  progress  the  young 
shoots  must  be  carefully  tied  to  the  stake  with  bands  of  rye  straw  made  pli- 
able by  so  aking.  Treat  the  laterals  in  summer,  by  pruning  same  as  before  ad- 
vised. 

The  fourth  year,  (or  first  bearing  year)  the  vines  are  cut  back  thus  :  there 
being  two  main  shoots  or  canes  grown  the  past  year,  one — the  lowest  down 
— is  cut  back  to  three  or  four  eyes  ;  two  only  being  permitted  to  grow ;  the 
other  is  designed  to  bear  the  fruit  of  this  year,  and  is  cut  back  to  about  five 
feet  (supposing  it  to  have  grown  beyond  that.)  Some  persons  coil  this  cane 
into  a  bow  or  hoop  by  turning  the  upper  end  down  and  tying  it  to  the  stake 
with  basket  willow  twio;s.  Reason,  supposed  that  it  causes  a  more  equal  dif- 
fusion of  the  vigor  of  the  plant  to  all  the  grapes  borne  upon  it ;  it  being 
thought  that  the  shoot  at  the  extremity  of  the  cane  absorbs  too  great  a  shai^ 
of  the  juices  of  the  plant,  from  the  known  tendency  of  the  upper  shoot  to 
grow  more  vigorously  than  those  lower  down. 

The  summer  pruning  consists  in  treating  the  laterals  same  as  before  ad- 
vised, with  the  additional  labor  of  bending  so  as  to  break  the  end  of  the 
stem  (not  entirely  ofi",  however,)  upon  which  the  fruit  is  borne,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  two  joints  from  the  last  bunch  of  grapes.  Never  break  off  the 
leaves  of  the  vine  in  order  to  facilitate  the  ripening  of  the  fruit.  In  well 
located  vineyards  nothing  could  be  more  improper,  as  the  south  or  south- 
eastern slope  of  a  hill,  unshaded  by  woodland,  is  quite  warm  or  hot  enough 
to  make  it  desirable  that  the  vine  should  be  permitted  to  retain  all  the 
covering  with  which  nature  has  furnished  it.  It  destroys,  too,  or  diminishes 
the  vitality  and  health  of  the  plant.  The  object  which  is  attained  by  the 
functions  of  the  leaves  in  the  elaboration  of  the  sap,  is  of  course  arrested  ; 
the  whole  proceeding  is  wrong,  is  unnatural,  and  contrary  to  common  sense. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  fifth  year  the  entire  bow  or  shoot  which 
bore  the  fruit  the  previous  season  is  cut  off  as  low  down  as  possible.  This 
operation  would  leave,  of  course,  the  two  canes  which  have  been  produced 
from  the  short  shoot  the  year  before.  One  of  these  canes,  the  most  vigor- 
ous, is  to  be  left  (as  last  year)  to  bear  the  fruit  this  year,  while  the  other 
shoot  is  to  be  cut  back  to  several  eyes,  (leaving  only  two  to  grow,  however,) 
in  precisely  the  same  manner  as  advised  at  the  commencement  of  the  fourth 
year.  When  the  vines  get  to  be  seven  or  eight  years  old,  two  bearing  canes 
may  be  retained,  besides  the  little  spur  which  must  be  always  left,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  bearing  wood,  and  as  near  the  ground  as  possible,  to  produce  the 
canes  for  the  ensuing  year. 

This  method  embraces  the  whole  principal  of  vineyard  pruning,  as  gener- 
ally adopted.  There  are  other  methods,  such  as  spur  pruning,  trellis  pruning, 
etc.,  which  are  not,  however,  very  extensively  practiced. 

After  the  vines  are  pruned  and  tied,  the  next  duty  is  to  dig  or  loosen  the 
soil  of  the  vineyard.  The  proper  time  for  this  is  as  soon  as  the  ground  has 
become  free  from  the  frosts  of  winter,  and  the  spring  rains  have  ceased,  and 
left  the  earth  in  a  fit  state  for  gardening. — IIo7ne  Journal. 


740  THE   FACTORY   OF   ACIDS   FOR  THE   MINT. 


PEACHES. 

The  Avioter  has  proved  too  severe  for  this  fruit.  Not  only  have  the  fruit- 
buds  been  killed,  but  very  many  of  the  trees.  Indeed,  I  have  never  known 
the  peach  to  sutler  more  in  Massachusetts.  The  trees  v?hich  survive  seem  to 
have  escaped  so  as  by  fire.  There  will  hardly  be  peaches  enough  in  this 
region  to  keep  up  our  acquaintance  with  this  delicious  fruit. 

There  seems  much  to  discourage  the  peach-grower  in  this  climate.  He 
cannot  calculate  upon  a  crop  oftener  than  once  in  three  yeare ;  yet,  so  delici- 
ous is  the  fruit,  and  so  easily  is  the  tree  produced,  that  no  one  who  has 
sufficient  room  should  neglect  its  culture. 

Of  one  thing  I  am  satisfied.  A  quick  growth  should  be  avoided.  To 
this  end,  a  light  dry  soil,  with  a  gravelly  subsoil,  is  to  be  prepared.  Supply 
little  or  no  manure,  unless  it  be  ashes  to  keep  ofi"  the  borers,  and  a  light 
dressing  of  chip-dung  when  the  soil  is  very  poor.  Let  the  grass  grow  about 
the  tree,  and  the  closer  it  binds  it  the  better. 

In  my  garden  are  trees,  now  in  a  healthy  condition,  which  have  been  in 
bearing  twelve  years.  The  ground  about  these  trees  has  not  been  disturbed 
during  that  time  ;  nor  have  they  been  manured  at  all. 

In  the  cultivated  portion  of  the  same  garden  two  sets  of  peach  trees  have 
grown,  borne,  died,  and  been  removed  in  the  same  time.  Hence,  I  infer,  that 
in  the  culture  of  the  peach  in  this  climate  the  true  policy  is  the  "  let  alone" 
policy. 

The  prospect  for  apples  is  good.  The  blossoms  are  out  earlier,  by  at  least 
one  week,  than  the  average  for  the  last  fifty  years,  which  is  the  25th  of  May. 

In  Worcester  county,  and  further  east,  the  catterpillar  is  committing  its 
usual  ravages  among  the  apple  trees.     There  are  but  few  in  this  region. 

Grapes  and  grains  look  unusually  well  hereabouts.  The  season  fur  plant- 
ing has  been  good  ;  and  if  there  is  not  an  abundant  harvest  it  will  not  be 
because  farmers  slept  in  seed  time.  K.  B.  H. 

Amherst,  May  \^th,  1855. 


THE  FACTORY   OF  ACIDS  FOR  THE  MINT. 

In  the  process  of  I'efining  gold  for  coinage,  large  amounts  of  nitric  and  sul- 
phuric acid  are  required.  When  the  contract  was  made  in  Washington  for 
the  erection  of  a  Mint,  another  contract  was  made  for  a  supply  of  acids 
sufficient  for  a  coinage  of  $5,000,000.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was 
informed  that  the  demand  for  the  coinage  would  be  much  larger,  but  his 
confidenlial  advisers  asserted  the  contrary,  and  he  took  their  advice.  In  the 
spring  of  1854,  the  Mint  Acid  Factory  was  erected  near  the  Mission  Dolores. 
There  are  two  frame  buildings,  each  of  one  story,  one  about  ninety  feet  long, 
by  thirty-five  wide  ;  the  other  is  a  chamber  coated  with  lead,  one  hundred 
feet  long,  by  thirty  wide. 

The  sulphur  to  make  sulphuric  acid  or  oil  of  vitriol,  is  brought  from  the 
Island  of  Sicily  to  New-York,  in  vessels  laden  principally  with  fruit.  At 
New-Yurk  the  sulphur  is  re-shipped  for  this  port,  and  costs,  delivered  here, 
eighty  dollars  per  ton,  or  four  cents  per  pound  1  There  are  large  beds  of 
sulphur  in  California,  but  in  its  native  state  it  contains  forty  or  fifty  per  cent,  of 


THE   FACTORY   OF   ACIDS   FOR  THE   MINT.  741 

earthy  matter,  and  the  factory  cannot  use  it  if  it  contains  more  than  fifteen 
per  cent.  No  one  has  yet  undertaken  to  refine  it.  It  is  said  that  sulphur 
can  be  furnished  from  China  at  forty  doUars  per  ton.  There  is  a  villapje  on 
the  coast  north  of  Canton  occupied  entirely  in  the  mining  and  refining  of 
sulphur,  where  it  can  be  obtained  by  smuggling,  for  foreign  vessels  are  not 
allowed  to  trade  there.     A  cargo  from  China  is  now  expected. 

In  making  acid,  the  sulphur  is  burned  in  an  oven,  and  the  smoke  passes 
over  into  a  chamber  of  sheet  lead.  (Sulphuric  acid  does  not  dissolve  lead.) 
Then  steam  is  thrown  upon  the  fumes,  which  take  oxygen  from  the  air,  and 
the  sulphuric  acid  settles  upon  the  floor  of  the  chamber.  The  acid  is  then 
concentrated  by  means  of  evaporating  pans  and  a  worm,  and  drawn  into 
carboys.  The  factory  can  furnish  three  thousand  pounds  of  sulphuric  acid 
daily,  and  the  capacity  may  be  easily  increased.  At  the  present  the  demand 
is  not  equal  to  the  ability  to  supply.  The  main  point  in  making  sulphuric 
acid,  is  to  manage  so  that  each  pound  of  sulphur  shall  make  three  of  acid. 

The  chief  material  used  in  the  manufacture  of  nitric  acid,  or  aqua  fortis,  is 
nitrate  of  soda,  an  inferior  kind  of  nitre.  Our  supply  of  nitrate  of  soda  is 
obtained  from  Iquique,  in  the  southern  part  of  Peru,  where  there  is  an  ex- 
tensive mine  of  it.  It  costs  here  about  ninety  dollars  per  ton.  In  making 
the  acid,  the  nitrate  of  soda,  mixed  with  sulphuric  acid,  is  placed  in  an  iron 
boiler,  and  a  moderate  heat  is  applied.  The  soda  has  a  greater  affinity  for 
the  sulphuric  than  f(.)r  the  nitric  acid  :  and  therefore  it  drops  the  latter  and 
takes  up  with  the  former,  ijiaking  a  sulphate  of  soda  ;  and  the  nitric  acid  is 
driven  off  by  the  heat  through  a  pipe  into  stone  jars,  where  it  settles  in  a 
liquid  state.  This  process  leaves  it  mixed  with  some  muriatic  acid,  which, 
being  more  volatile  than  the  nitric,  is  driven  oflf  by  a  second  heating  in  large 
glass  retorts.  The  apparatus  for  the  manufacture  of  nitric  acid  is  entirely 
distinct  from  that  for  sulphuric  acid,  and  is  sufiicient  to  make  twenty-four 
hundred  pounds  daily.  At  present,  the  manufacture  of  nitric  acid  is  stopped 
for  the  want  of  nitrate  of  soda.  Provision  was  made  by  the  manufacturers 
to  supply  the  amount  contracted  for,  but  the  demand  for  the  mint  has  been 
so  much  greater  that  they  have  been  unable  to  meet  it.  A  vessel  has  been 
due  from  Iquique  for  some  two  weeks,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons  of 
soda. 

Muriatic  acid,  or  spirits  of  salt,  is  made  by  heating  common  salt  (muriate 
of  soda)  with  sulphuric  acid.  The  soda  having  a  greater  affinity  for  the  oil 
of  vitriol,  deserts  the  spirits  of  salt,  which  goes  oflF  in  steam  and  a  huff,  and 
cools  down  and  settles  in  a  liquid  form  in  stone  jars  to  which  it  is  led.  The 
other  acids  require  a  second  distillation  to  purify  them  ;  muriatic  acid  is 
sufficiently  pure,  after  the  first  process,  for  all  practical  purposes.  The  same 
boilers  and  receivers  are  used  for  making  nitric  and  muriatic  acid.  When  all 
are  in  use  for  making  nitric,  they  can  furnish  twenty-four  hundred  pounds  in 
a  day;  when  all  are  used  in  making  muriatic,  they  can  make  thirty-six  hun- 
dred pounds ;  if  equally  divided  between  the  two  acids,  they  can  supply 
eighteen  hundred  pounds  of  one,  and  twelve  hundred  of  the  other. 

Nitrate  of  soda  and  sulphur  are  to  be  obtained  here  only  by  sending  ves- 
sels to  great  distances,  under  special  charters.  This  difficulty  will  no  doubt 
be  obviated  within  a  few  years;  but,  concurring  with  a  demand  for  acids  to 
refine  at  the  rate  of  $20,000,000  a  year,  instead  of  $5,000,000,  as  contracted 
for,  it  has  now  almost  stopped  the  mint. 

There  has  been  another  difficulty  besides  the  want  of  nitre.  The  glass 
retorts  of  ten  or  twelve  gallons  each,  are  very  liable  to  breakage,  andthe 
supply  brought  from  the  east  was  sufficient  for  the  amount  of  acid  required 


742  STAMPED   ENVELOPES. 

by  contract ;  but  a  much  larger  amount  having  been  supplied,  the  retorts 
have  been  broken,  and  the  factory  must  send  to  Philadelphia  for  them. 
These  retorts  cost  at  Philadelphia  $3  each ;  the  freight  hither,  on  account  of 
their  bulk  and  fragile  character,  is  $9  each.  It  is  a  matter  of  surprise  that 
some  entei'prising  person  does  not  establish  a  glass  factory  in  San  Francisco. 
The  soda-ash,  an  important  material,  might  be  furnished  from  the  acid  fac- 
tory, and  doubtless  any  experienced  person  would,  at  some  place  on  our 
coast,  find  the  clean  white  sand  necessary  for  vitreous  manufactures.  The 
acid  factory  experiences  another  difficulty  in  its  want  of  stone  ware,  which 
can  be  had  only  at  a  great  expense  by  sending  to  the  Atlantic.  The  ordinary 
clay  is  not  sufficiently  close  to  prevent  the  acid  from  percolating,  and  it  is 
said  that  there  is  no  clay  fit  for  the  purpose  in  the  State. — California  Chroni- 
cle. 


STAMPED  ENVELOPES— MODE  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

An  account  is  given  in  the  Times,  at  considerable  length,  of  the  various 
stages  of  the  manufacture  of  tbds  article.  We  have  condensed  portions  of  it 
below,  as  a  subject  of  great  general  interest : 

The  paper  from  which  the  envelopes  are  manufactured  is  made  expressly 
for  this  purpose,  and  bears  the  water  mark,  "  P.  Q,  D. :  U.  S."  These  initials 
of  the  Post-Ofiice  Department,  United  States,  are  so  arranged  that  they 
appear  on  each  envelope  after  the  paper  is  cut.  The  paper  is  brought  in 
large  sheets  from  the  mifls,  packed  in  ca^es,  and  carefully  counted  and  marked 
in  divisions  of  fifty  sheets  each.  This  is  the  first  counting.  When  it  arrives 
at  the  factory,  it  is  examined  and  reckoned  again  to  ascertain  that  the  num- 
ber of  sheets  agrees  with  the  invoice.  This  is  the  second  counting.  It  is 
then  taken  to  the  cutting-room  in  the  basement  of  No.  167  Pearl-street.  In 
this  room  is  situated  the  ingenious  cutting-machine,  driven  by  steam-power. 
The  knife,  which  is  made  of  the  exact  size  and  shape  of  the  envelope  before 
it  is  folded,  is  placed  upon  a  file  of  four  hundred  sheets,  and  being  set  under 
the  lever  of  the  press,  is  made  to  pass  easily  through  the  whole  thickness  of 
paper,  producing,  in  about  three  seconds  of  time,  four  hundred  envelopes, 
cleanly  and  perfectly  cut,  ready  to  receive  the  stamp  preparatory  to  being 
folded.  The  sheets  thus  cut  are  counted  a  third  time,  and  conveyed  to  the 
stamping  or  embossing  room  on  the  first  floor.  Here  are  ten  or  twelve  in- 
geniously-constructed embossing  presses,  superintended  by  as  many  intelligent 
and  expert  young  women.  Each  press  stamps  with  a  perfect  and  beautiful 
impression,  as  near  as  we  could  judge,  about  sixty  envelopes  per  minute, 
after  which,  having  been  counted  a  fourth  time,  and  the  imperfect  impressions, 
if  any,  removed,  they  are  handed  to  another  class  of  young  women,  whose 
business  it  is  to  place  the  adhesive  self-sealing  preparation  on  the  outer  flap 
of  the  envelopes.  So  skillful  are  the  hands  in  this  department,  that  one  per- 
son is  able  to  prepare  and  dry  about  six  thousand  self-sealing  envelopes  per 
hour  !  After  this,  they  are  counted  the  fifth  time,  and  passed  to  the  folding 
department.  The  machines  employed  for  this  purpose  are  among  the  most 
ingenious  and  perfect  that  we  have  ever  witnessed.  Ten  or  twelve  of  these 
are  employed,  and,  like  the  stamping-presses,  each  is  managed  by  a  young 
woman.  The  press  moves  with  the  most  perfect  regularity.  The  sheets,  now 
cut  into  the  proper  shape,  stamped,  and  made  self-sealing,  are  brought  to  this 
instrument,  which  completes  the  process,  and,  in  an  instant  of  time,  prepares 


CHURCH  ARCHITECTURE.  743 

each  envelope  for  use.  A  feediooj-band  is  employed,  on  wliicli  the  flat  en- 
velope is  laid  ;  it  is  thus  carried  forward  to  an  apparatus  which  places  the 
adhesive  gum  on  the  side-flaps,  folds  the  envelope,  fastens  it,  and  drops  it 
into  a  tin  box  which  quietly  counts  off" its  contents  into  layers  of  twenty-fice 
each,  and  hands  them  over  to  be  counted  again,  bandaged  and  packed,  sub- 
ject to  the  order  of  the  Postmaster  General.  About  fifty  hands  are  con- 
stantly employed  in  this  department  alone;  and  we  understand  it  is  Mr. 
Nesbitt's  intention  to  manufacture,  in  addition  to  those  made  for  the  Govern- 
ment, a  supply  of  his  beautiful  article,  unstamped,  for  the  trade. 


CHURCH  ARCHITECTURE— TRINITY  CHAPEL. 

We  are  not  inclined  to  volunteer  a  defence  of  the  very  expensive  style  of 
church  architecture,  as  it  is  usually  managed  in  this  city.  What  the  rent 
of  pews  will  be  in  the  chapel  we  are  about  to  describe  we  do  not  know. 
That  corporation  have  the  means  for  building  very  costly  churches,  and 
keeping  them  rent  free,  without  a  dollar  of  individual  donation.  If  rich 
men  are  inclined  to  honor  God  by  thus  giving  a  few  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars to  such  purposes,  very  well.  We  will  commend  them  for  their  liberality  ; 
but  to  expend  thus  lavishly,  and  make  the  valuation  of  the  pews  and  the 
taxes  on  that  basis,  so  that  none  but  the  rich  can  afibrd  even  to  hire,  as  is 
often  done  in  this  city,  is  a  sin,  of  which  all  who  participate  in  it  must  repent 
before  they  can  enter  heaven  ;  for  it  has  its  beginning,  and  middle,  and.  end, 
in  pride. 

Let  the  rich  give  for  such  purposes,  and  furnish  pews  that  are  not  beyond 
the  reach  of  all  but  a  fortunate  few,  and  they  may  have  churches  that  will 
eclipse  the  splendor  of  Solomon's  Temple,  and  yet  offer  the  Lord's  Prayer  in 
perfect  simplicity  of  heart. 

We  find  the  following  description  of  the  new  Trinity  Chapel,  on  Twenty- 
fifth  Street,  between  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues,  in  the  Times : 

"This  imposing  structure  may  challenge  comparison  among  the  many 
Christian  temples  rapidly  rising  in  this  city,  for  its  characteristic  purity  of 
style  and  correctness  of  detail,  from  which  not  the  minutest  departure  has 
been  allowed. 

"  The  building  was  con-ecrated  a  few  days  ago,  and  the  following  brief 
notice  of  its  architectural  peculiarities  may  serve  to  mark  the  prodigious  in- 
crease of  elegant  and  most  expensive  structures  in  our  metropolis.  Though 
Trinity  Church  is  larger,  it  will  not  accommodate  a  greater  number  of  v.'or- 
shippers. 

"The  style  of  Trinity  Chnpel  is  early  Enghsh,  being  composed  of  nave, 
46  feet  by  126,  and  chancel,  30  feet  by  43.  The  side  walls  are  supported 
by  buttresses.  An  octangular  bell  turret  rises  from  the  northeast  angle  of 
the  church,  capped  with  a  pinnacle  ornamented  by  crochets  and  a  tinial. 
The  chancel  is  apsidal.  From  this  aspect  is  obtained  the  best  view  of  the 
building. 

"  The  font  is  simply  composed  with  four  large  buttresses  and  a  large  wheel 
window.  The  principal  entrance  has  deeply  splayed  jambs,  the  columns 
beiu')"  richly  ornamented  with  foliated  caps. 

"  On  entering,  the  visitor  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  elegant  propo'> 


744  BREECH-LOADING   CANNOX. 


tions  of  the  building  and  the  height  of  the  open  roof.  The  chancel  arch 
and  the  illuminated  timbers  of  the  roof  form  a  perfect  chef  d'ceuvre  of  arclii- 
tectural  effect.  The  walls  are  pierced  with  deep,  narrow  windows  of  stained 
glass,  and  those  in  the  chancel  are  filled  with  a  well-painted  Scriptural  illus- 
tration of  the  Transfiguration.  The  inside  walls  are  of  Caen  stone ;  the 
roof  is  supported  on  carved  stone  corbels,  and  illuminated  with  a  blue  ground 
dotted  with  gold  stars. 

"All  the  furniture  is  of  oak,  most  elaborately  carved.  The  chanc«l  is  sur- 
rounded by  canopies  over  seats  occupied  by  the  clergy.  The  altar  (which  is 
the  gem  of  the  church,)  is  elaborately  carved  and  richly  illuminated  with 
monograms  and  symbols.  The  font  is'  of  Caen  stone,  richly  carved  and  de- 
gant  in  design.  The  pulpit  is  gorgeously  illumina'ed  and  surmounted  l»y  a 
canopy  of  light  and  graceful  proportions,  the  fiuial  being  a  spear  and  croi^s 
indicative  of  religion  triumphant.  The  organ  is  situated  in  a  room  which 
communicates  with  the  chancel  and  nave  by  two  arches — one  to  each.  In 
the  arches  are  carved  screens.  This  position  of  the  instrument  is  not  modem, 
being  the  revival  of  a  better  practice  than  placing  it  at  the  west  end  in  a 
lofty  gallery. 

"The  floor  is  of  illuminated  tiles,  and  the  steps  of  the  chancel  are  of  mar- 
ble. Although  the  general  effect  is  pleasing,  because  there  is  no  incongruity  ; 
the  general  design  is  carried  into  all  the  minutrc  of  detail.  Nor  is  thvre 
anything  unreal — no  plaster  nor  artificial  and  temporary  exj.edient  to  produce 
effect.  Though  not  the  largest,  perhaps  it  forms  the  most  aristocratic  church 
interior  in  the  citj'. 

"Trinity  Chapel  (like  St.  Paul's  and  St.  John's)  is  sustained,  and  has  been 
erected  by  the  friends  of  the  Corporation.  The  design  is  that  of  Messrs. 
Upjohn  &  Co. ;  the  masonry  was  by  Mr.  Thomas  Williams ;  the  carpentry 
was  entrusted  to  Mr.  George  Riker;  the  illuminations  were  executed  hj  Mr. 
Ackeroyd  ;  and  the  stained  glass  by  Messrs.  Sharp  &  Steel.  Th(-  paintings 
in  the  chancel-window  are  from  a  design  by  Mr.  Robert  Weir,  of  West  Point. 
The  turret  holds  a  chime  of  three  bells,  cast  in  England." 


Brekch-Loading  Cannon. — We  saw  on  exhibition,  in  Wall  street,  in 
front  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  on  Tuesday,  a  large  cannon  of  mamincith 
dimensions,  and  apparently  of  tremendous  death-deahng  propensities. 

It  is  the  invention  of  John  P.  Sheukl,  a  German,  now  a  resident  of  Etst 
Boston,  Mass.,  where  the  invention  was  projected  and  completed,  under  the 
auspices  of  a  number  of  wealthy  citizens  in  Boston. 

The  cannon  is  about  six  feet  in  length,  and  weighs  in  the  vicinity  f)f  ]  300 
pounds.  Its  qualities  have  been  thoroughly  tested,  and  the  invention  pro- 
nounced one  of  the  most  important  of  the  19th  century,  so  fur  as  relates  to 
naval  vvarfaring,  for  which  this  instrument  is  peculiarly  adapted. 

At  a  recent  trial  of  this  gum,  it  is  stated  that  a  conical  ball  weighing  nine 
pounds,  was  thrown  a  distance  of  4  5-8  miles,  with  three  pounds  of  powder. 

One  great  advantage  this  cannon  has  over  the  ordinary  gun  consists  in  the 
fact  that  it  can  be  loaded  and  fired  fifteen  times  a  minute,  and  only  requires 
three  men  to  work  it,  while  the  guns  now  in  use  in  our  navy  want  ten  or 
twelve  men.  A  patent  for  the  manufacture  of  this  kind  of  cannon  has  l>een 
taken  out  for  the  United  States,  England,  France,  and  Belgium. — N.  Y. 
Pajyer, 


AMERICAN   AGRICULTURISTS   IN  PALESTINE. 


745 


DINING-ROOM    STOVE. 

We  call  the  f^ttention  of  our  readers  to  the  new  cooking-stoves  described 
upon  the  last  two  pages  on  the  cover  of  this  number.     Notwithstanding 

stoves  have  been  so  lung  and  in 
such  general  use,  and,  consequent- 
ly, have  had  such  an  aruount  of 
energy,  talent,  and  capital  employ- 
ed in  their  perfection,  after  a  care- 
ful examination  of  the  patentee's 
model,  his  claims  and  specifica- 
-"  tion,  we  must  confess  our  opinion 
of  this  stove  is  very  favorable. 
We  can  appreciate  views  as  to 
the  defects  of  other  patentees  ; 
and  we  can  not  see  why  his  im- 
provements do  not  produce  the 
advantages  which  he  claims.  The 
arrangement  for  the  dining-room 
stove,  i%presented  by  the  cut,  we 
also  highly  approve  fur  the  pur- 
poses designed.  It  is  arranged  on  the  same  general  plan  of  the  kitchen-stove, 
except  that  the  oven  is  made  single  instead  of  double,  and  is  brought  for- 
ward over  the  second  tier  of  boilers. 

It  is  a  stove  long  wanted  for  dining-room  purposes,  in  private  families,  in 
this  and  other  cities.  It  is  manufactured  by  James  Wager,  Troy,  N.  1 ., 
either  for  wood  or  coal. 


American  Agriculturists  in  Palestine.— The  New-York  Evening  Post 
publishes  an  interesting  account  from  a  new  class  of  missionary  laborers  in 
Palestine — a  company  of  Americans  who  have  emigrated  to  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Joppa,  and  commenced  an  agricultural  mission,  having  in  view  the 
general  improvement  of  the  country,  and  particularly  the  conversion,  eleva- 
tion, and  general  improvement  of  the  poor  Jews  of  Palestine.  This  company, 
after  leasing  a  small  tract  of  land  on  the  plain  Sharon,  an  elevated,  healthy, 
fertile  and  l)eautiful  region,  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  city  ol 
Jafla,  (the  ancient  Joppa)  have  finally  purchased  and  made  it  their  permanent 
abode,  and  have  commenced  agricultural  operations,  employing  the  poor 
Jews  to  assibt  them,  and  thus  affording  them  support  and  protection.  The 
sheiks,  who  were  at  first  suspicious  of  them,  and  demanded  tribute,  alter 
narrowly  watching  the  movements  of  the  Yankees  for  some  time,  have  at 
length  become  their  fast  friends;  and  the  Turkish  authorities  also  manifest 
great  interest  in  the  experiment  of  restoring  the  land  to  its  ancient  fertility 
The  success  of  this  enterprise  has  encouraged  the  formation  in  England  ot 
two  societies  on  a  similar  basis,  one  among  the  Jews  and  the  other  among 
the  Christians.  The  Christian  society  has  already  selected  the  site  of  its  mis- 
sion in  the  neighborhood  of  Cesarea,  which  lies  about  thirty-five  miles  to  the 
north  of  Jaffa,  a  heap  of  ruins  tenanted  by  jackals,  on  the  shore  of  the 
Mediterranean. 


746 


NEW  AMERICAN   PATENTS. 


NEW   AMERICAN    PATENTS 


ROBINSON'S  HAND  CULTIVATOR. 


The  above  engraving  is  a  perspective  view  of  an  improved  cultivator,  de- 
signed for  garden  or  field  cultivation,  and  particularly  adapted  to  drill  sown 
wheat  and  other  small  grains.  The  patentee  is  Jonathan  A.  Robinson,  of 
Fremont,  N.  H.  It  was  patented  on  the  20th  of  last  February.  The  ma- 
chine or  implement  consists  of  cutters  attached  to  the  two  ends  of  a  yoke,  of 
such  height  as  to  pass  over  the  tops  of  the  plants,  the  knives  being  adjusted 
to  run  as  near  the  plants  as  may  be  desired,  and  the  whole  being  made  to 
travel  on  wheels. 

A  is  a  yoke  or  bow,  to  the  lower  ends  of  whicli  are  secured  the  cutters,  B 
B,  each  being  allowed  to  swivel  around  the  point,  a,  the  nut,  b,  serving  to 
hold  them  secure  when  placed  in  the  required  position.  By  this  method  of 
adjusting  the  cutters,  they  are  made  to  cut  more  or  less  distant  from  the 
rows  of  plants. 

C  C  are  the  handles  for  guiding  the  machine.  They  carry  short  shafts, 
D,  on  which  are  the  wheels  ;  c  c  are  square-headed  pins  which  pass  through 
the  lower  ends  of  the  handles,  and  screw  into  the  end  of  the  yoke  bow.  This 
allows  the  bow  a  limited  motion  to  make  the  cutters  dip  more  or  less  be- 
neath the  surface ;  a  shows  another  square-headed  pin  which  passes  through 
a  slot  in  the  butt  of  the  handle,  (one  for  each  handle,)  and  also  screws  into 
the  yoke,  A,  the  length  of  its  slot.  The  yoke  is  by  these  pins  set  in  position 
for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  the  dip  of  the  cutters.  By  tightening  this  screw, 
the  cutters  are  held  in  place. 

A  device  is  employed  to  make  each  cutter  move  at  an  equal  distance  from 
the  row  of  grain,  or  whatever  the  crop  may  be;  _;'  is  the  guide-point,  and  is 
held  over  the  center  of  the  space  between  the  points  of  the  cutters  by  a  bent 
wire,//  which  is  attached  to  each  arm  of  the  yoke,  and  is  supported  by  a 
chain,  (/,  from  the  apex,  i,  of  the  yoke,  A.     This  guide-point  is  fur  the  pur- 


NEW   AMERICAlSr  PATENTS.  747 


pose  of  guiding  the  machine,  the  points  of  the  cutters  being  under  tbe  ground 
when  the  machine  is  in  operation.  The  machine  is  used  by  wheeling  it  for- 
ward Hke  a  barrow,  the  guide-point, j?,  being  kept  exactly  over  the  row.  Jt 
will  be  observed  that,  as  tbe  cutters  can  be  set  and  adjusted  to  any  distance 
'  from  the  plants,  the  weeds  and  grass  can  be  cut  up  very  near  the  rows. 

Mr.  Robinson  informs  us  that  he  has  hoed  small  carrots  with  this  machine, 
the  points  of  the  cutters  being  1^  inches  apart,  and  he  walked  right  along, 
hoeing  them  perfectly.  As  the  cutters  are  adjusted  to  cut  a  little  more  than 
half  way  to  the  adjoining  row,  the  work  is  done  thoroughly,  no  unhofd  space 
being  left  between  tli^  rows.  The  cutters  being  set  at  an  acute  angle,  they 
cut  the  weeds  easily.  They  can  also  be  adjusted  to  take  the  earth  away 
from,  or  carry  it  up  to  the  rows. 

More  information  may  be  obtained  by  letter,  addressed  to  the  patentee  and 
manufacturer,  at  Fremont,  N.  H. 


Improvement  in  Vehicles.  By  Abram  J.  Gipson,  of  Clinton,  Mass- 
Dated,  July  25,  1854. — This  invention  consists  in  the  combination  of  arch- 
springs  connected  and  bearing  from  axle  to  axle,  and  in  placing  the  foremost 
pair  of  wheels  forward  of  the  point  of  attachment  of  the  perch  and  axle,  by 
extending  the  axle  outwards,  and  then  giving  it  a  bent  form  forwards,  the 
required  length ;  thence  bending  the  axlei  outwards  again,  enough  to  admit 
of  placing  the  wheels  the  usual  distance  apart,  and  allowing  them  to  revolve. 
By  this  means,  the  foremost  wheels  are  brought  a  suflBcient  distance  from 
the  hindmost,  to  allow  of  entering  the  carriage  easily  and  readily, 
without  coming  in  contact  with  either  pair  of  wheels.  It  also  allows  of  bring- 
ing the  hindmost  wheels  forward  from  their  usual  position,  at  the  same  time 
preserving  the  same  facilities  for  entering  the  carringe.  By  this  arrangement 
the  vehicle  is  made  shorter,  and  turnsTn  less  space  than  what  a  straight  axle 
would  admit  of.  By  the  form  and  arrangement  of  springs,  which  support 
the  body  of  the  carriage,  the  amount  of  material  used  in  making  springs  is 
reduced. 

The  patentee  says,  "I  claim  giving  the  forward  axle  a  bent  form  in  com- 
biijation  with  arch-springs,  connected  and  bearing  from  axle  to  axle,  for  the 
purpose  and  in  the  manner  and  form  substantially  as  set  forth." 

Improvement  in  Horse-Shoes.  By  William  H.  Towers,  of  Philadel- 
phia. Dated,  July  25;  185-t. — This  invention  consists  in  attaching  to  the 
heels  of  the  shoe  curved  springs,  having  corks  formed  on  their  jflexible  ends, 
or  otherwise  made  rough  to  prevent  the  hoof  from  slipping  over  the  surface 
of  the  ground,  and  secured  firmly  in  spaces  on  the  under  surface  of  the  shoe 
by  screws,  or  other  means,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  an  elasticity  to  the 
heel,  Hud  by  enabling  it  to  slightly  yield  to  the  pressure  of  the  horse  when 
planting  his  feet,  legs,  and  other  sensitive  [)arts  of  the  horse,  heretofore  affected 
by  the  soliij  blow  given  when  ])!anting  the  feet,  and  also  enable  the  s[)rings 
and  corks  to  be  readily  removed,  and  others,  more  or  less  roughly  shod,  as 
"occasion  may  require,  substituted  in  their  places,  without  removing  the  shoe 
from  the  hoof. 

The  patentee  says,  "  I  claim  the  combination  of  the  steel  or  other  elastic 
springs,  having  corks  formed  on  their  flexible  ends,  and  capable  of  being  re- 
moved and  attached  with  facility  and  dispatch,  with  the  main  body  of  the 
shoe,  substantially  in  the  manner  and  for  the  purpose  set  forth." 


748 


NEW  AMERICAN   PATENTS. 


Improvement  in  Machines  for  Sticking  Card  Teeth.  By  G.  W. 
Coats  «nd  J.  Russell,  of  Springfield,  Ohio.  Dated,  August  1,  1854. — 
Tlie  patentees  say,  "  We  claim  the  mode  of  imparting  the  intermittent  mo- 
tion to  the  main  carriage,  fur  spacing  the  teeth  and" reversing  the  same,  by 
means  of  the  screw-leader  attached  to  the  main  carriage,  and  passing  through 
a  nut  mounted  in  suitable  boxes,  and  rotated  by  cog-gearing,  as  described, 
vvhen  this  is  combined  with  a  clutch,  operated  by  a  cam,  to  clutch  and  un- 
clutrh  the  wheel  which  receives  motion  from  the  wheel  or  wheels  on  the  main 
shaft,  and  imparts  the  required  and  measured  intermittent  motion  to  the  nut, 
substantially  as  and  for  the  purpose  s|)ecified.  We  also  claim,  in  combina- 
tion w'lth  the  mode  described  of  imparting  the  spacing  motion  to  the  main 
carnage,  the  employment  of  the  cams  on  the  main  carriage,  which,  at  the 
end  of  each  traverse  motion,  act  on  a  lever  connected  and  combined  with  and 
operating  the  clutch,  to  clutch  and  unclutch  the  wheel  which  receives  motion 
from  the  main  shaft,  to  operate  the  shifung-wheel  which  operates  the  double 
clutch  on  the  main  shaft,  substantially  as  and  for  the  purpose  specified.  We 
also  claim,  in  combination  with  the  mode  described  of  operating  the  main 
carriage,  the  mode  of  operating  the  second  carriage,  which  holds  \he  sheet  of 
leather,  to  determine  the  space  between  the  rows  of  teeth  by  means  of  the 
shifing-eam,  called  the  twilled  cam,  and  the  shifting-sector  cog-wheel,  Avhich, 
in  turn,  imparts  motion  by  the  cog-wheels  and  shaft  to  the  cog-wheel  through 
which  passes  the  feathered  slmft,  mounted  on  the  main  carriage,  and  which, 
in  turn,  imparts  the  required  motion  to  the  drums  for  lifting  the  second  car- 
nage at  the  end' of  each  complete  motion  of  the  main  carriage.  And  in  com- 
bination with  this,  we  also  claim  making  the  nut  on  the  screw-leader  in  two 
parts,  divided  by  a  plane  at  right  angles  to  the  axis,  when  the  two  parts  are 
attached  together  so  that  they  can  be  turned  on  each  other,  substantially  as 
described,  so  that  the  threads  can  be  set  to  any  wear  of  the  threads,  and 
thus  avoid  end  play,  as  described.  We  also  claim  making  the  arbors  of  the 
two  rollers  with  cylindrical  bosses,  to  determine  their  distance  apart,  in  com- 
bination with  the  mode  of  mounting  them  between  boxes,  and  without  in- 
terposed boxes,  the  said  arbors  being  prevented  from  having  end  play  by 
means  of  V  shaped  or  curved  fillets  on  the  arbors,  fitted  to  corresponding 
cavities  in  the  boxes,  substantially  as  and  for  the  purpose  specified.  We 
also  claim  mounting  the  bending  fingers  in  the  sliding  top-plate  independent 
of,  and  below  the  slide  or  carrier  of  the  former,  around  which  the  teeth  are 
bent,  the  said  carrier  being  provided  with  an  inclined  plane  or  cam,  acted 
upon^  by  a  like  inclined  plane  or  cam  on  the  top-plate  of  the  fingers,  sub- 
stantially as  described,  so  that,  as  the  fingers  are  drawn  back,  the  former 
shall  bo  lifted  up  preparatory  to  its  back  motion,  as  fully  set  forth." 

For  Self-Loading  and  Dumping  Carts.  By  Sanford  Stone,  of 
Kirkersville,  Ohio.  Dated,  August  1,  1854.— The  nature  of  this  in\ention 
consists  in  arranging  tlie  cart-body  with  a  scraper  on  its  fore  end,  and  so  as 
to  tilt  forward  to  the  ground,  for  the  purpose  of  scraping  up  the  earth  and 
loading  itself  immediately  from  the  ground  by  its  own  action  ;  secondly,  in 
employing  an  endless,  horizontal  belt  for  and  "in  the  place  of  the  bottom  of 
the  cart-body,  so  arranged  and  operated,  by  any  suitable  means,  that  it  will 
be  made  to  revolve  in  the  proper  direction  during  the  time  of  loading  and 
unloading  the  cart,  but  will  not  act  while  drawing  the  cart  from  place  to 
place,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  operation  of  loading  and  dumjnng; 
thirdly,  in  the  combined  arrangement  of  the  cart-body  with  the  fulcrum  on 
which  it  tilts,  at  a  suitable  distance  above  the  revolving  axle  of  the  cart,  of  a 


NEW  AMERICAN   PATENTS."^'  749 

driving  cog-wheel,  and  two  pinions  placed  upon  shafts,  by  which  the  endless 
belt  is  driven  in  such  a  manner  that  the  forward-  pinion  will  play  into  the 
cog-wheel  when  the  cart-body  is  tilted  forward  for  loading,  and  the  hind 
pinion  play  therein  when  tilted  backward  for  dum[)ing;  but  when  in  a  hori- 
zontal position  neither  pinion  will  be  geared  therewith  ;  fourthly,  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  rack  on  the  cart-body,  the  pinion  on  the  draught  frame 
playing  therein  ;  the  ratchet-wheel  on  the  pinion-shaft  and  the  two  spring- 
clinks  acting  on  opposite  sides  of  the  ratchet-wheel,  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
cart-body  may  be  tilted  either  way  to  any  position,  and  prevented  from 
moving  therefrom  in  either  direction. 

The  patentee  says,  "  I  claim,  hrst,  arranging  the  cart-body  with  a  scraper 
on  its  fore  end,  and  so  as  to  tilt  forward  to  the  ground,  for  the  purpose  of 
scraping  up  the  earth,  and  loading  itself  immediately  from  the  ground  by  its 
own  action.  I' also  claim  the  employment  of  an  endless,  horizontal  belt,  for 
and  in  the  place  of  the  bottom  of  the  cart-body,  so  arranged  and  operated, 
by  any  suitable  means,  that  it  will  be  made  to  revolve  in  the  proper  direction 
during  the  time  of  loading  and  unloading  the  cart,  but  will  not  act  while 
drawing  the  cart  from  place  to  place,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  opera- 
tions of  loading  and  dumping,  substantially  as  herein  set  forth,  I  also  claim 
the  combined  arrangement  of  the  cart-body,  with  the  fulcrum  or  centre  on 
which  it  tilts,  (at  a  suitable  distance  abov«  tlie  revolving  axle  of  the  cirt,) 
the  driving  cog-wheel  on  said  axle  and  two  pinions  placed  upon  the  f-liafts, 
by  which  the  endless  belt  is  driven  in  such  a  manner  that  the  forward  pinion 
■will  play  into  said  cog-wheel  when  the  cart-body  is  tilted  forward  for  load- 
ing, and  the  hind  pinion  play  therein  when  the  cart  is  tilted  backward  for 
dumping;  but  when  in  a  horizontal  position,  neither  pinion  will  be  geared 
therewith,  for  the  purpose  of  operating  the  endless  belt  when  and  only  when 
required,  substantially  as  herein  specitied.  I  also  claim  the  comliination  and 
arrangement  of  the  rack  on  the  cart-body,  the  pinion  on  the  draught-frame 
playing  therein,  the  ratchet-wheel  on  the  pinion-^haft,  and  the  two  clinks  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  ratchet-wheel,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  cart-body  may 
be  tilted  to  any  position,  and  immovably  held  there,  substantially  as  de- 
scribed." 

Improvements  in  (Revolving  Breech)  FiaE-AnMS.  By  Josiah  Ellis,  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Dated,  August  1,  1854. — This  improvement  consists  in  the 
use  of  a  vibrating  stud  in  the  trigger,  in  combination  with  a  hammer  with  a 
chamfered  or  bevelled  edge,  and  with  a  notch  near  the  extremity  of  its  toe, 
■which  is  aj^plicable  to  all  "kinds  of  repeating  fire-arms,  by  means  of  wli,(ih, 
by  simply  pulling  the  trigger,  the  hammer  is  raised  to  full  cock,  or  tired  at 
pleasure,  the  stud  yielding  laterally  to  allow  of  the  descent  of  the  hammer, 
and  recovering  its  position  on  the  toe  of  the  hammer  for  repeated  action. 

The  patentee  says,  "  I  claim,  first,  the  use  of  a  stud  in  the  trigg.^r,  vibra- 
ting laterally  in  combination  with  a  bevel-edged  hammer,  with  a  notch  at  its 
toe,  by  means  of  which,  by  simply  pulling  tlie  trigger,  the  hammer  is  raised, 
and  may  be  either  allowed  to  stand  at  full  cock,  or  fired  at  pleasure,  while 
the  trigger,  after  firing,  will  regain  its  position  for  repeated  action ;  second, 
the  use  of  a  double  spring,  or  spring  and  lever,  fjr  the  purpose  herein  before 
set  forth;  third,  the  mode  herein  before  der^cribed  of  locking  tlie  rotating 
breech  at  the  moment  of  firing,  by  means  of  the  locking-boll,  in  combination 
■with  the  cam  shoulder  on  the  trigger,  and  the  hexagonal  neck  of  the  rotating 
breech,  which,  nevertheless,  perm^it  the  breech  to  be  fully  rotated  by  hand,  or 
otherwise,  when  the  trigger  is  not  drawn  back." 


750  NEW  AMERICAN   PATENTS. 

Improvement  in  Machines  for  Moulding  Crackers.  By  Piiineas 
Emmons,  of  New- York,  N.-Y.  Dated,  August  1,  1854. — This  invention  con- 
sists in  arranging  a  set  of  feed-rollers,  Laving  semi-circular  channels,  trans- 
versely of  their  axes,  and  matching  together  so  as  to  form  or  cut  a  cylindrical 
strip  of  dough  as  it  passes  between  them,  in  combination  with  a  third  roller, 
made  like  the  foregoing,  a  little  lower  down  than  the  lower  feed-roller,  and 
in  front  of  it,  so  as  to  form  a  continuation  of  the  channel-way  for  the  cylin- 
drical strip  of  dough,  and  for  cutting  the  same  into  short  lengths,  suitable  for 
crackers,  by  means  of  a  series  of  cultei's  placed  in  its  channel-way,  and  opera- 
ting on  the  strip  of  dough  as  it  is  fed  through  the  rollers.  Also,  it  consists 
in  the  use  and  arrangement  of  a  pair  of  moulding-wheels,  having  in  their 
inner  faces  a  semi-circular,  concave,  annular  gioove,  the  said  wheels  being  so 
adjusted  on  their  axes  as  to  form  an  annular  core  at  the  junction  of  the  two 
semi-circular  grooves,  at  the  front  edge  of  the  wheels,  and  opening  obliquely 
backwards,  so  as  to  allow  the  ball  of  dough,  when  moulded  by  the  rotary 
action  of  the  wheels,  to  fall  from  the  machine ;  and,  also,  it  consists  in  the 
use  of  feed  and  guide-cords,  for  conveying  and  confining  the  dough  in  passing 
through  the  machine,  with  suitable  mechanical  devices  for  propelling  it. 

The  patentee  says,  "  I  claim  the  use  of  a  roller,  made  substantially  as  set 
forth,  with  cutters  in  its  channel,  in  combination  with  the  feed-rollers,  for 
forming  and  cutting  dough  into  suitable  shapes  for  making  crackers,  sub- 
stantially as  set  forth.  I  also  claim  as  new,  for  rolling  dough  in  ball,  the 
conical  or  nearly  disc  form  of  the  wheels,  whereby  they  are  made,  by  their 
oblique  position  on  their  axis,  to  combine  a  twisting  and  rolling  motion,  the 
rolling  motion  only  having  been  heretofore  employed  in  cyhndrical  grooved 
rollers." 

Improved  Mode  of  Constructing  Iron  Buildings.  By  Amos  J. 
Saxton,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Dated,  August  8,  1854. — The  patentee 
says,  "  I  claim,  first,  the  method,  mode,  manner,  or  process  of  connecting 
and  combining  all  the  different  points,  by  all  or  any  of  the  improved 
joints,  so  arranged  at  all  of  the  different /)om?5,  by  all  or  any  of  the  different 
joints,  at  the  sectional  points,  as  herein  set  forth  and  substantially  described. 
The  use  of  screws,  rivets,  bolts,  or  nails,  is  not  required  in  the  erection  of  iron 
frame  fire-proof,  or  other  buildings;  second,  I  claim  the  method,  mode,  or 
process  of  erecting  iron  fire-proof  and  other  buildings,  and  of  uniting  or  con- 
necting each  sTibstantial  part  to  each  other,  or  of  connecting  them  at  all  of 
the  sectional  points  by  the  different  joints,  as  described,  without  the  use  of 
screws,  rivets,  bolts  or  nails,  as  herein  set  forth,  and  substantially  described; 
third,  I  claim  the  method,  mode,  or  manner  of  so  arranging  and  combining 
the  different  points  of  the  columns,  posts  or  studs,  girders,  beams,  ashlers,  and 
interior  plates,  (or  any  of  the  sectional  parts  of  the  buildings,)  with  the  differ- 
ent joints,  so  combined  in  such  a  manner  as  when  the  different  points  are 
properly  united  and  combined  with  the  different  joints  in  all  of  the  sectional 
parts,  they  form  a  substantial  iron  frame  fire-proof  or  other  buildings,  as  sub- 
stantially described  in  all  of  the  different  combinations." 

Improvement  in  Lasting  Instruments.  By  Thomas  Dougherty,  of 
Erie,  Pa.  Dated,  August  1,  1854. — The  patentee  says,  "I  claim  so  con- 
structing the  machine  as  above  de.-cribed,  that  when  drawn  up,  I  have  ample 
room  for  putting  in  the  tacks  or  pegs,  and  havii  g  a  heel  which  serves  as  a 
fulcrum,  so  that  by  pressing  back  the  top  of  the  machine,  I  am  able  to  raise 
the  entire  jaw  clear  of  the  sole,  and  prevent  the  jaws  from  ruffling  up  the 
inner  sole." 


NEW  AMERICAN  PATENTS.  751 

Improvement  ix  Machines  for  Graduating  Carpenters'  Squares, 
By  N,  MiLLiNGTON  and  D.  J.  George,  of  Shaftsbury,  Vt.  Dated,  August 
8,  1854. — This  invention  consists  in  providing  twenty -four  or  more  gravers, 
about  four  inches  long,  firmly  set  in  metallic  handles,  about  twenty  inches 
long,  and  attached  to  a  rod  about  one- fourth  the  distance  from  the  front  end 
of  the  handles  ;  the  rear  ends  being  adjusted  by  screws  and  springs.  These 
handles  are  placed  side  by  side,  one  inch  from  centre  to  centre,  and  are 
attached  to  a  carriage  about  one  foot  wide,  and  two  feet  long,  which  slides 
laterally,  sufficient  to  make  the  longest  cross-mark  on  ways,  and  is  pressed 
forward  to  cut  the  marks  by  a  wheel  in  the  rear,  having  on  its  periphery  a 
succession  of  eight  cams,  (to  divide  the  inch  into  eighths,)  the  highest  point 
of  each  rising  to  the  same  plane,  but  differing  in  depth,  to  give  the  desired 
length  of  raarijs  to  each  of  the  several  divisions  of  the  inch.  The  square  table 
graduated  is  confined  to  the  front  rail  of  a  carriage  directly  under  the  points 
of  the  gravers,  which  is  moved  at  right  angles  from  the  motion  of  the  gra- 
vers by  an  inclined  plane ;  and  the  motion  of  the  two  carriages  so  arranged 
that,  as  often  as  the  square  is  pressed  forward  one-eighth  by  the  inclined 
plane,  each  of  the  gravers  cuts  at  the  proper  place  the  desired  cross-marks 
for  the  inch,  half,  quarter,  and  eighths,  and  as  there  are  twenty-four  gravers, 
each  graduating  one  inch,  the  whole  square  is  completed  whilst  the  square 
moves  longitudinally  but  a  single  inch. 

Improvement  in  Polishing-Wheels.  By  Benjamin  Webb,  of  Unadilla 
Forks,  N,  Y.  Dated,  July  25,  1854. — This  invention  consists  in  providing  a 
polishing-wheel,  the  periphery  of  which  is  formed  of  a  series  of  blocks,  each 
standing  upon  a  small  spiral  or  other  spring,  the  latter  resting  on  a  solid 
surface  of  the  central  portion  of  the  wheel ;  these  blocks,  forming  an  outward, 
circular  surface,  are  bound  by  a  leathern  strap,  on  which  the  emery  or  other 
polishing  substance  is  placed,  so  that  an  elastic  surface  is  formed  fur  grinding, 
by  means  of  which,  the  article  to  be  polished,  when  pressed  to  the  surface  of 
the  wheel,  comes  in  contact  with  a  larger  surface  than  it  otherwise  would, 
and  the  polishing  is  done  in  a  more  uniform  and  perfect  manner. 

The  patentee  says,  "  I  claim  the  forming  of  an  elastic  polishing-wheel,  to 
be  used  for  polishing  and  grinding,  by  the  use  of  a  series  of  springs  placed 
under  sections  of  the  surface  moving  vertically  from  the  centre,  and  inde- 
pendent of  each  other,  substantially  in  the  manner  and  for  the  purposes  de- 
scribed, the  whole  being  combined  and  arranged  substantially  as  above  set 
forth." 

Improvement  in  Warping  and  Dressing  Yarns.  By  Samuel  T. 
Thomas,  of  Lawrence,  Mass.,  and  Eliza  Ann  Everett,  administratrix  of 
Edward  Everett,  deceased,  late  of  Lawrence,  aforesaid.  Dated,  August  1, 
1854. — The  patentees  say,  "We  claim,  first,  warping  and  dressing  yarns 
directly  from  small  spools  or  bobbins,  instead  of  large  section  beams  hereto- 
fore used,  to  sectional  loom  beams,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  uniform  ten- 
sion in  the  yarns  wound  upon  the  loom  beam,  and  also  affording  greater 
fticilities  for  readily  producing  a  variety  in  the  stripe  of  the  fabric,  as  hereto- 
fore set  forth  ;  second,  is  claimed  our  improvement  in  the  fan  cylinder  for 
drying  the  yarns,  which  consists  in  a  cyhnder  composed  of  slats,  arranged  with 
spaces  between  them,  and  around  which  slats  the  yarns  are  made  to  pass, 
revolving  fans  being  arranged  within  the  said  cylinder,  and  revolving  inde- 
pendently of,  and  at  a  much  more  rapid  rate  than  said  slatted  cylinders, 
whereby  a  large  portion  of  the  yarns  are  kept  in  a  gentle  current  of  air,  and 
rapidly  dried,  as  above  described." 


752  XEW  AMERICAIT  PATENTS. 

Improvement  in  Buggies.  By  James  S.  McClexland,  of  Jefferson,  lod* 
Dated,  August  8,  1854. — This  invention  consists  in  arranging  the  body  of 
the  bugofy  upon  spring-couplings,  in  sets  or  pairs,  in  such  manner  as  that 
additional  pairs  or  sets  of  springs  shall  come  into  action  as  the  weight  is  in- 
creased on  the  body,  and  this,  in  combination  with  the  fastening  of  the  body 
forward  of  its  centre  to  one  set  of  springs,  and  in  rear  of  its  centre  to  another 
set  of  springs,  so  that  the  body  may  have  a  rocking  motion  in  the  direction 
of  its  traverse  corners,  and  yet  the  tendency  of  the  body  to  yield  in  one  point 
be  counteracted  by  its  lifting  the  spring  in  an  opposite  point. 

The  patentee  saj's,  "  I  claim  the  arranging  of  the  body  upon  spring-cou- 
plings in  such  manner  as  that  additional  pairs  or  sets  of  springs  shall  come 
into  action  as  the  weight  is  increased  on  the  body,  and  this,  in  combination 
with  the  fastening  of  the  body  forward  of  its  centre  to  one  set  of  springs,  and 
in  rear  of  its  centre  to  another  set  of  springs,  so  that  the  body  may  have  a 
rocking  motion  transversely,  and  the  tendency  of  the  body  to  yield  at  one 
point  be  counteracted  by  its  lifting  the  spring  in  another  point,  substantially 
as  described." 

Improvement  in  Machines  for  Turning  Irregular  Forms.  By  Aaron 
D.  Crane,  of  Newark,  N.  J.  Dated,  August  15,  1854. — The  nature  of  this 
invention  consists  in  cutting  or  turning  wOod  or  metal  with  regular  or  irregu- 
lar curved,  plain,  or  spiral  surfaces,  by  means  of  a  series  of  cutters  or  knives, 
so  adjusted  on  a  shaft  as  to  travel  in  a  longitudinal  direction  the  length  of  the 
materials  to  be  cut.  Said  shaft  being  adjusted  in  a  line  parallel  with  the 
axis  of  motion  of  the  said  materials,  and  said  cutters  and  materials  both  re- 
volving at  a  high  rate  of  speed  in  the  same  direction. 

Improved  Mode  of  Securing  Hubs  to  Axles.  By  Cook  Darling, 
of  Utica,  N.  Y.  Dated,  August  15,  1854. — This  improvement  consists  in 
providing  a  mechanical  arrangement  of  parts,  to  be  fastened  upon  the  outer 
end  of  the  wheel-hub,  by  which  a  pair  of  movable  guard-plates  are  made  to 
embrace  the  end  of  the  axle  as  it  extends  through  the  hub,  when  the  wheel 
is  put  on,  and  to  hold  the  wheel  and  prevent  it  from  coming  off,  unless  these 
guard-plates  (held  together  by  a  spring  in  a  box)  are  forced  apart  by  means 
of  a  key,  so  as  to  let  the  knob  which  is  formed  on  the  end  of  the  axle  pass 
between  them. 

Improved  Arrangement  of  Means  for  Working  and  Stopping 
Chain  Cables.  By  Thomas  Brown,  of  London,  England.  Patented  in 
England,  April  20,  1847.  Dated,  July  25, 1854. — "  I  claim  the  arrangement 
of  the  capstan,  the  removable  rollers,  and  the  sockets  for  said  rollers,  in  such 
a  manner,  and  having  such  relations  to  the  hawse-holes,  chain-locker,  deck- 
pipes,  and  under-lifting  stoppers,  that  a  chain  cable  can  be  continuously  hove 
in  by  means  of  said  capstan  and  rollers,  or  be  directly  run  out  of  the  lockers, 
without  any  previous  overhauling,  substantially  as  herein  set  forth.  I  also 
claim  the  arrangement  of  the  within  described  under-lifting  bow-stoppers  and 
after-stoppers,  by  which  more  cable  can  be  gradually  and  contrullably  given 
to  a  vessel,  whilst  riding  heavily  at  anchor,  substantially  as  herein  set  forth." 

Victoria  Bridge,  Montreal.  Extract  from  the  Report  of  Mr.  Robert 
Stephenson  on  the  Grand  Trtink  Railway  of  Canada. — Ilegarding  the  first 
point,  I  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  enter  on  a  discussion  of  the  different  opin- 
ions which  have  been  expressed  by  engineers  both  in  England  and  America, 
as  to  the  comparative  merits  of  different  classes  of  bridges,  and  more  espe- 
cially as  between  the  suspension  and  tubular  principles,  when  large  spans 


ROCKET  BULLET.  753 


become  a  matter  of  necessity.  It  is  known  to  me,  that  in  one  case  in  the 
United  States,  a  common  suspension  bridge  has  been  applied  to  railway  pur- 
poses ;  but  from  the  information  in  my  possession,  from  a  high  engineering 
authority  in  that  country,  the  work  alluded  to  can  scarcely  be  looked  upon 
as  a  permanent,  substantial,  and  safe  structure.  Its  flexibility,  I  was  informed, 
was  truly  alarming;  and,  although  another  structure  of  this  kind  is  in  pro- 
cess of  construction  near  Niagara,  in  which  great  skill  has  been  shown  in 
designing  means  for  neutralizing  this  tendency  to  flexibility,  I  am  of  opinion 
tbat  no  system  of  trussing,  applicable  to  a  platform  suspended  from  chains, 
will  prove  either  durable  or  efficient,  unless  it  be  carried  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  approach  in  dimensions  a  tube,  fit,  itself,  for  the  passage  of  railway  trains 
through  it.  Such  bridges  may  doubtless  be  successfully,  and  perhaps  with 
propriety,  adopted  in  some  situations  ;  but  I  am  convinced  that  even  in  such 
situations,  while  they  will,  in  first  cost,  fall  little  short  of  wrought-iron  tubes, 
they  will  be  more  expensive  to  maintain,  and  far  inferior  in  efiiciency  and 
safety.  I  can  not  hesitate,  therefore,  to  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  tubu- 
lar bridge,  similar  in  all  essential  particulars  to  that  of  the  Britannia  over 
the  Menai  Straits,  in  this  country  ;  and  it  must  be  observed,  that  the  essential 
features  being  the  same,  although  the  length  much  exceeds  that  of  the  work 
alluded  to,  none  of  the  difl3culties  which  surrounded  its  erection  will  be  in- 
volved in  the  present  instance.  In  the  Britannia,  the  two  larger  openings 
were  each  460  feet,  whereas,  in  the  proposed  Victoria  there  is  only  one  large 
opening  of  330  feet,  all  the  rest  being  240  feet.  In  the  construction  of  the 
latter,  there  is  also  evfery  facility  for  the  erection  of  scaffolding,  which  will 
admit  of  the  tubes  being  constructed  in  their  permanent  position,  thus  avoid- 
ing both  the  precarious  and  expensive  process  of  floating,  and  afterwards  hft- 
ing  the  tubes  to  the  final  level  by  hydraulic  pressure.  In  speaking  of  these 
facilities,  it  is  a  most  agreeable  and  satisfectory  duty  to  put  on  record  that 
the  government  engineering  department  has,  throughout  the  consideration  of 
this  important  question,  exhibited  the  most  friendly  spirit,  and  done  every 
thing  in  its  power  to  remove  several  onerous  conditions,  which  were  at  one 
time  spoken  of  as  necessary,  before  official  sanction  would  be  given  for  the 
construction  of  the  work. 


ROCKET   BULLET.— An  English  Invention. 

A  writer  in  a  foreign  journal  says  :  "  I  have  lately  made  some  practical 
trials  of  a  species  of  projectile,  which  I  have  termed  a  "  Rocket  Bullet,"  pos- 
sessing very  superior  powers  of  range;  indeed,  it  seems  to  be  capable  of  a 
longer  range  than  any  other  known  missile.  This  result  is  arrived  at  by 
preserving  the  initial  velocity  of  the  bullet  unimpaired,  or,  indeed,  even 
adding  to  its  rate  of  movement,  by  means  of  the  propulsive  aid  of  a  compo- 
sition contained  within  the  bullet,  reacting  in  the  manner  of  a  rocket;  at  any 
rate,  as  the  composition  is  fired  by  the  explosion  of  the  charge  of  the  piece, 
the  vacuum  produced  by  the  passage  of  the  bullet  through  the  air  is  at 
least  filled  up,  so  as  to  sustain  the  velocity,  if  it  does  not  positively  accelerate 
it  by  its  reactive  force, 

"  The  bullet  is  made  hollow,  cylindrical,  and  tapered  to  a  point  at  one  end, 

and  filled  with  a  rapidly-burning  composition,  which  is  rammed  tightly  into 

it.     This  cylindro-conoidal  ball  is  made  a  good  fit  to  the  barrel  of  the  piece, 

and  it  is  rammed  down  upon  the  powder  charge  without  the  use  of  any 

45 


754  WATER-PRESSURE   ENGINES. 


wadding.  To  prevent  the  explosion  of  tlie  charge  from  firing  too  much  of 
the  internal  composition,  the  part  nearest  the  mouth  of  the  ball  is  of  a  slower 
burning  character  than  the  rest. 

"The  ball  is  about  double  the  weight  of  a  spherical  projectile  of  the  same 
diameter.  It  is  obviously  most  suitable  for  heavy  ordnance,  where  long 
range  is  most  particularly  required.  To  give  great  accuracy  of  flight,  spiral 
grooves  may  be  formed  on  the  cylindrical  part,  the  ball  being  fired  from  a 
smooth  bore.  I  am  aware  that  a  rocket  has  been  proposed  to  be  fired  from 
cannon,  with  a  fuse  to  ignite  its  composition  when  at  its  greatest  elevation ; 
but  the  complexity  of  this  plan  has  led  to  its  failure." 


WATER    PRESSURE    ENGINES. 

There  is,  and  for  many  months  has  been,  a  water-pressure  engine  in  daily 
use  for  driving  the  press  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  respectable  of  the 
daily  newspapers  in  Boston.  This  city  is  supplied  with  fresh  water  by  an 
aqueduct  leading  from  Cochituate  Lake,  the  level  of  which  is  sufficiently  high 
to  supply  the  water  to  every  desirable  point  without  pumping ;  and  the 
quantity  is  sufiicient  for  all  the  necessities  and  luxuries  of  the  scrupulously 
cleanly  citizens,  leaving  still  a  considerable  excess  to  be  expended  in  fountains, 
and  for  other  purposes.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  proprietors  of  the 
Daily  Traveller,  having  ordered  a  new  and  fast  press  to  be  located  in  the 
densest  portion  of  the  city,  sought  for  a  suitable  prime  mover ;  and  their  in- 
quiries resulted  in  the  employment  of  Mr.  Samuel  Huse,  an  ingenious  and 
skilful  mechanic,  and  one  of  the  managers  of  the  Water  Works,  who  con- 
structed for  them  a  "  water-meter,"  or  rotary  water  engine,  of  sufficient  power 
to  impel  their  press  when  the  water  is  at  the  lowestf  the  arrangement  involv- 
ing but  a  reasonable  expenditure  for  water  rent.  The  machine  consists  of  a 
hollow  cylinder,  10  inches  deep,  and  16  inches  in  diameter,  inside  which  is  a 
cylinder  about  6  inches  in  diameter.  This  inner  cyHnder  has  flanges,  on 
which  are  four  valves,  or  folding  wings,  extending  from  one  end  to  the  other 
of  the  cylinder,  and  attached  to  the  flanges  by  hinges.  The  valves,  when 
folded,  are  shut  into  the  cylinder,  and  cover  a  little  more  than  half  its  surface. 
Upon  one  side  of  the  meter,  the  space  between  the  inside  of  the  hollow 
cylinder,  and  the  surface  of  the  central  moveable  cylinder,  is  filled  up  to  form 
an  abutment,  occupying  something  more  than  the  width  of  one  of  the 
valves.  This  abutment  is  made  to  fit  so  as  to  prevent  the  water  from  pass- 
ing. The  water  enters  the  meter  upon  one  side  of  this  abutment,  being  dis- 
charged into  a  sewer  from  the  other  side.  The  meter  is  set  so  that  the  force 
of  gravity  assists  in  opening  the  valves  as  they  successively  emerge  from  un- 
der the  abutment,  and  also  acts  in  closing  them  when  approaching  it  from 
the  opposite  side.  With  every  revolution,  a  given  quantity  of  water  passes 
through  the  meter,  a  quality  which,  in  fixct,  constitutes  its  sole  value  as  a 
water-meter.  The  number  of  revolutions  is,  of  course,  registered  by  suitable 
mechanism,  so  that  the  precise  amount  of  water  expended  in  driving  the 
engine,  which  is  estimated  to  work  with  about  three  horses'  power,  may  be 
exactly  ascertained.  This  engine  is  supplied  with  Cochituate  water  by  a  two 
inch  lead  pipe,  and  is  regulated  'by  hand  by  means  of  a  screw  valve.  It  is 
said  to  perform  very  satisfactorily,  and  to  give  a  tolerably  large  per  centage 
of  power,  in  proportion  to  the  fall  and  amount  of  water  consumed.  It  is 
believed  to  be  the  only  instance  of  the  permanent  and  regular  employment 
of  such  a  prime  mover  for  any  situation  of  importance. 


MISCELLANY.  765 


MISCELLANY. 

To  NoN- Subscribers. — Througli  tlie  medium  of  a  friend,  this  number 
will  be  forwarded  to  many  gentlemen,  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits,  who 
are  not  subscribers  to  the  work.  Should  they  wish  to  become  such,  by  for- 
warding their  6rders  and  address,  with  a  remittance,  as  advised  on  the  2d 
page  of  the  cover,  the  work  will  be  regularly  sent. 

The  Monument  to  J.  S.  Skinner,  and  Fund  for  his  "Widow,  progresses 
very  slowly ;  but  we  hope  that  better  times,  and  the  bright  skies  of  this  beau- 
tiful season,  will  open  the  hearts  and  hands  of  our  readers.  From  some  thou- 
sands of  circulars  issued,  we  have  received  only  about  one  hundred  replies. 
Will  the  reader  enclose  to  this  office  any  amount  he  may  be  induced  to  give 
for  this  noble  object,  before  it  passes  out  of  his  mind. 

John  S.  Caulkins,  69  Maiden-Lane. — We  have  lately  had  our  atten- 
tion drawn  to  the  umbrellas  and  parasols  manufactured  at  this  well-known 
establishment.  If  any  better  articles  are  made,  or  at  more  reasonable  prices, 
they  have  not  attracted  our  notice.  We  commend  them  to  our  readers,  who 
are  in  need  of  such  articles,  at  wholesale  or  retail. 

Industry  oe  Ware,  Mass. — The  Otis  Company  run  four  cotton  mills, 
employing  650  hands,  working  up  one  hundred  bales  of  cotton  per  week — 
requiring  20,000  spindles  and  600  looms,  and  making  about  6,500,000  yards 
of  cloth  per  annum.  The  Company  pays  out  about  $11,000  per  month  for 
help.  .  They  have  just  erected  a  large  brick  building  near  the  new  brick  mill, 
which  contains  the  cloth  room,  a  room  for  drying,  another  for  sizing,  and  an- 
other still  for  drying.  This  contains  a  large  machine  composed  of  cylinders, 
which  being  heated,  dry  the  yarn  as  it  passes  over  them. 

The  Otis  Company  purpose  soon  to  build  a  new  mill,  which  is  to  take  the 
place  of  the  two  old  ones.  This  is  to  be  a  model  mill,  with  improved  ma- 
chinery. 

Trade  in  Ware. — We  heard  a  good  business  man  say  this  week,  when  in 
Ware,  that  there  are  more  goods  sold  there  annually  than  in  any  other  town 
in  the  county.  Many  of  the  citizens  of  the  neighboring  towns  find-  a  market 
for  their  wool  and  produce  there,  and  conse'quently  do  most  of  their  trading 
there. 

Bonnet  Business. — L.  Demond'  does  a  large  business  here  in  the  manu- 
facturing of  straw  bonnets.  He  has  employed,  during  the  past  winter,  about 
120  persons.  Thus  is  a  large  amount  of  stock  brought  into  town,  which, 
after  being  made  ready  for  market,  is  sold,  thus  benefitting  both  the  employer, 
and  employees,  and  thereby  enhancing  the  business  of  the  village. 

Woolen  Mills. — Stephens  and  Gilbert  each  has  a  mill,  which,  when 
running  full,  requires  4000  lbs.  of  wool  per  week,  with  seven  sets  of  cards, 
giving  employment  to  110  hands.  These  two  factories,  according  to  esti- 
mate, consume  annually  more  than  200,000  lbs.  of  wool,  and  give  employment 
to  about  225  persons,  producing  about  750,000  yards  of  cloth. 

The  aforesaid  brief  statements  give  one  an  idea  of  the  amount  of  manu- 
facturing done  in  old  Ware. 


756  MISCELLANY. 


The  Ericsson's  Trial  Trip. — The  steamship  Ericsson  (formerly  Caloric) 
made  a  very  satisfactory  trial  trip  down  the  Bay  recently,  wi^h  her  owners 
and  a  number  of  invited  guests  on  board.  In  her  machinery  Capt.  Ericsson 
claims  to  have  made  an  important  improvement  on  that  in  general  use  in 
steamships.  The  boilers  of  the  Ericsson  are  filled  with  fresh  water,  which, 
by  the  aid  of  the  Captain's  improvement,  he  claims,  will  not  be  wasted  by 
use-,  and  that,  consequently,  she  may  carry  the  same  out  from  New-York  to 
5avre  and  return  without  diminution  other  than  what  might  result  from 
accidental  leakage.  In  addition,  she  has  apparatus  for  distilling  1000  gallons 
of  fresh  water  from  salt  a  day,  so  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  water  tanks  is 
saved  for  freight.  The  room  occupied  by  the  machinery  and  boilers  is  un- 
usually small,  and  the  necessary  consumption  of  fuel,  it  is  said,  greatly 
reduced  from  the  old  standard.  It  is  stated  that  her  furnaces  cannot  consume 
over  thirty  tons  a  day,  and  it  is  expected  the  Atlantic  voyage  will  be  made 
oa  a  ton  an  hour.  The  speed  of  the  ship  on  her  trial  trip  was  about  twelve 
miles  an  hour,  with  an  alleged  consumption  of  fuel  not  exceeding  three- 
fourths  of  this  quantity.  The  underwriters  rate  the  Ericsson  the  best  and 
strongest  built  vessel  in  the  United  States.  She  is  provided  with  four  large 
quarter-boats,  all  slung,  and  two  deck-boats,  all  of  them  Francis'  life-boats. 
In  addition,  she  carries  a  life-cart  mortar  and  lines,  which,  in  case  of  her  be- 
ing driven  upon  the  coast,  would  enable  her  at  once  to  communicate  with 
the  shore.  The  owners  of  the  Ericsson  intend  to  send  her  as  a  contribution 
of  American  skill  to  France. 

Railroads  in  Maine. — The  following  table,  condensed  from  the  State  of 
Maine,  shows  the  cost,  length,  and  business  of  the  railroads  of  the  State,  for 
1854: 

1854. 

Name. 
Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence,  - 
Androscoggin  and  Kennebec,    - 
Androscoggin,       ...         - 
Bangor  and  Piscataquis,    - 
Calais  and  Baring,        .         .         - 
Kennebec  and  Portland,  - 
Machiasport,         .... 
Portland,  Saco,  and  Portsmouth, 
York  and  Cumberland, 
Buckfield  Branch, 

404       13,'759,98S         1,066,352 
The  footings  for  the  two  years  just  past  stand  as  follows: 

18.33.  '  1854.     • 

Length,       ....  404  404 

Cost,       ....  $12,681,878  $13,759,988  $878,110  inc. 

No.  of  Passengers,      -         -  919,106  1,166,352  87,246    " 

Earnings— Passengers,    -  609,988  672,392  71,404    " 

«'           Freight,    -         -  411,495  587,388  75,893    " 

"          Miscellaneous,  52,235  41,019  11,218  dec- 

SuGAR  Trade  of  the  United  States. — The  total  receipts  of  foreign  un- 
refined sugar  into  the  United  States,  for  the  year  ending  December  81, 1854, 
were  165,924  tons  against  receipts  of  212,740  tons  in  1853,  and  the  quantity 
taken  for  consumption  in  1854  was  150,855  tons  against  200,610  tons  con- 
sumption in  1853,  196,558  tons  in  1852,  181,047  tons  in  1851,  and  143,015 
ia  1850,  being  a  decrease  in  the  consumption   of  1854,  as  compared  with 


No.  of 

Total 

Length. 

Cost. 

Passengers. 

Earnings. 

140 

$6,019,929 

185,105 

$470,647 

55 

2,196,334 

129,045 

178,353 

20 

343,317 

22,235 

29,396 

13 

178,233 

76,980 

44,889 

6 

277,780 

16,720 

31,640 

72i 

2,613,470 

268,992 

217,357 

n 

100,000 

7,200 

51 

1,315,976 

284,635 

272,330 

18 

765,018 

82,640 

30,712 

12 

MISCELLANY.  757 


1853,  of  49,756  tons,  or  over  24  per  cent,  while  the  total  consumption  of 
1854  (assuming  the  stock  of  domestic  1st  January  each  year  to  be  equal) 
was  385,298  tons,  against  372,989  tons  in  1853,  oran  increase  of  nearly  3|- 
per  cent. 

The  very  large  falling  off  in  the  quantity  of  foreign  taken  is  attributed 
chiefly  to  the  unprecedented  crop  of  Louisiana,  which  was  449,324  hhds., 
and  the  low  price  at  which  it  was  offered,  the  yield  being  by  far  the  largest 
ever  gathered  in  that  State,  though  produced  from  a  smaller  number  of  plant- 
ations, some  growers  having  abandoned  the  culture  of  the  cane  and  substi- 
tuted cotton,  the  returns  obtained  not  being  considered  remunerative. 

The  quantity  of  sugar  made  from  molasses  the  past  year  shows  a  consider- 
able diminution  when  compared  with  the  quantity  so  produced  in  1853.  It 
is  estimated  at  12,628  tons,  or  60,000  hhds.,  53,000  yielding  500  lbs.  each, 
and  3,000  of  concentrated  600  lbs.  each,  against  66,500  hhds.  (14,977  tons) 
in  1853  ;  the  estimate  given  is  believed  to  be  rather  over  than  under  the 
actual  amount.  This  falling  off  is  owing,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  low 
prices  that  hR\*t  ruled  for  raw  sugar,  and  the  high  rates  which  molasses  has 
commanded,  thus  diminishing  the  profits  and  production,  and  rendering  the 
business  unremunerative.  If  to  the  above  figures  we  now  add  the  yield  of 
the  maple  tree,  say  12,300  tons,  and  the  estimated  consumption  of  California 
and  Oregon,  4,700  tons,  would  give  a  total  comsumption  in  the  United  States 
of  414,931  tons. 

Splendid  Panorama. — The  Panorama  of  Mr.  J.  R.  Smith,  now  on  exhi- 
bition in  Broadway,  is  the  finest  work  of  that  description  we  have  ever  seen. 
The  views  of  the  principal  European  cities  are  admirable,  while  the  closing 
scene,  the  view  of  the  city  of  Sebastopol,  with  its  fortifications,  harbor,  and 
fleets,  the  latter  both  at  rest  and  in  action,  and  also  in  a  storm,  is  one  of  the 
most  capital  scenes  that  can  be  imagined.  "We  are  glad  to  find  that  he  is  so 
well  patronized. 

Joiixsoy,  Cox,  Lesley  &  Co.,  No.  376  Broadway,  are  Ageuts  for  Sadler's 
Stoves  advertised  on  the  last  two  pages  of  the  cover. 


General  Agency. — The  publisher  of  The  Plough,  the  Loom,  and  the  Anvil, 
believing  it  in  his  power  to  be  of  essential  service  to  the  readers  of  that  journal, 
in  the  purchase  or  sale  of  various  articles,  and  the  transaction  of  various  kinds  of 
business,  would  announce  to  them  that  he  is  ready  to  execute  any  such  commis- 
sion which  he  may  receive,  including  the  purchase  of  books  of  any  description ; 
implements  connected  with  agricultural,  manufacturing,  or  mechanical  opera- 
tions ;  artificial  manures ;  farm  and  garden  seeds,  etc.,  etc.  One  of  the  gentle- 
men connected  with  the  journal  is  a  proficient  in  music,  and  experienced  in  the 
selection  of  piano-fortes,  flutes,  etc.,  and  will  execute  orders  in  that  department. 

He  will  also  act  as  agent  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  Real  Estate. 

'Particular  attention  to  business  connected  with  the  Patent-Office. 


School-Teachers.  —  Having  had  occasion  to  furnish  teachers  for  some 
of  our  Southern  friends,  we  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  learn  of  several 
young  ladies  who  are  admirably  weU  qualified  for  families  or  schools,  and  if  any 
are  in  need  of  such,  a  letter  addressed  to  us  will  receive  immediate  answer.  We 
shall  not  fear  to  guarantee  that  any  reasonable  expectations  will  be  fully  met. 
Some  of  them  are  desirous  of  going  South. 

Letters  of  inquiry  on  these  matters  will  be  promptly  attended  to  if  addressed 
to  M.  P.  Parish,  or  to  the  Publisher  of  this  Journal,  9  Spruce  Street. 


758  NEW   BOOKS. 


NEW      BOQKS. 

The  Complete  Wouks  of  Shakspeaue,  kto.     Pablished  by  Martin   &  Johnson,  21 
Beekman  Street. 

We  described  this  elegant  quarto  edition  in  our  last  number,  -with  reference  to  the 
first  five  numbers.  We  refer  to  the  succeeding  numbers  only  to  say  that  each  is 
very  elegantly  illustrated.  The  sixth  and  succeeding  numbers,  give  a  representation 
of  Prince  Arthur  and  Hubert.  Mistress  Ford,  Mr.  Hackett  as  Falstaff,  (capital,)  Miss 
Julia  Dean  as  Beatrice,  Mr.  Davenport  as  Othello,  Mrs.  Mowatt  as  Rosalind,  Edmund 
Kean  as  Gloster,  Thomas  Hamblin  as  Coriolanus,  Mr.  Lester  as  Prince  of  Wales,  John 
Drew  as  Sir  Andrew  Agueeheek,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wood  as  Touchstone  and  Audrey, 
and  Macready  as  Shylock.  All  these  are  done  in  excellent  style.  Seventeen  num- 
bers are  received.  Specimen  numbers  will  be  sent  by  mail,  on  the  receipt  of  twenty- 
five  cents,  (not  thirty-one  as  before  stated,)  and  postage. 


TuE  RoBi\  Red-Bkeast:  a  new  Juvenile  Singing-Book,  containing  a  choice  collection 
of  Popular  Music,  Original  and  Selected,  arranged  for  one,  two,  three,  or  four 
voices,  mostly  with  Piano  Accompaniments;  also,  a  brief,  comprehensive  course  of 
Instructions  in  the'  Elementary  Principles  of  Vocal  Music.  For  the  use  of  Public 
and  Private  Schools,  Singing  Schools,  etc.  By  B.  A.  Russell  and  G.  W.  Sanders, 
Authors  of  the  "  Young  Vocalist,"  etc.  Chicago:  S.  C.  Griggs  &  Co.,  Ill  Lake 
Street.     New- York :  Ivison  &  Phinney. 

This  long  title  is  a  full  description  of  the  book.     Being  designed  for  the  use  of 
families  and  schools,  and  well  adapted  for  such  use,  it  must  have  an  extensive  sale. 


Harmony  of  the  Four  Gospels,  according  to  the  Common  Version.  Newly  arranged, 
with  Explanatory  Notes.  By  Edmund  Robinson,  D.D.,  LL.  D.,  Professor.  Boston : 
Crocker  &  Brewster,  185-i. 

The  reputation  of  the  learned  Professor  is  such  as  to  assure  the  public  that  this  is 
a  valuable  work.  It  is  useful  for  all,  whether  learned  or  unlearned.  Such  an  ar- 
rangement adds  much  to  the  interest  of  the  historical  parts  of  the  gospels,  with  all 
readers,  and  is  exactly  fitted  for  Sabbath  Schools  and  Bible  Classes. 


The  Englishwoman  in  Russia  :  Impressions  of  the  Society  and  Manners  of  the  Rus- 
sians at  Home.  By  a  Lady,  ten  years'  resident  in  that  country.  With  Illustra- 
tions.    New-York:  Charles  Scribner,  1855.     12mo,  316  pages. 

We  have  here  a  well-written  and  highly-entertaining  account  of  Russian  domestic 
life.  On  this  subject,  we  are  less  "  at  home  "  than  we  are  in  relation  to  any  country 
of  equal  importance  on  the  globe.  The  author  is  quite  too  modest  in  her  preface. 
She  deserves  a  very  prominent  place  among  the  successful  writers  on  foreign  countries . 


Israel   Potter;   His  Fifty  Years   of   Exile.    By  Herman   Melville,  Author   of 
"Typee,"  etc.     Third  Edition.     New- York:  G.  P.  Putnam  &  Co..  1855. 

This  first  appeared  In  Putnam's  Magazine,  and  the  readers  of  that  popular  journal 
need  not  be  told  that  it  is  capitally  done.  To  others,  we  say,  buy  it  at  the  earliest 
opportunity. 


Dickens'  Household  Words. 
Putnam's  Magazine. 

These  two  popular  journals  retain  their  high  position  fully,  under  the  management 
of  the  new  publishers,  Dix  &  Edwards,  10  Park  Place. 


LIST   OF  PATENTS. 


759 


List   of   Patents  Issued 

FROM  APRIL  3,  1855,  TO  MAT  1,  1855. 


Warren  Aldrich,  Lowell,  for  improved  lathe. 
John  Andrews,  Winchester,  Mass ,  improvement 
in  drills  for  artesian  wells. 
Nelson  Barlow,  Newark,  for  saw  teeth. 

Horace  Boardman,  Plattsburg,  improvement  on 
steam-boilers. 

Solomon  E.  Boilers,  Rochester,  Mass.,  improved 
machine  for  raising  and  transporting  stones. 

Lytnan  Brainard  and  Levi  Newton,  Attica,  N. 
Y.,  improvement  in  rotary  harrows. 

Byron  Boardman  and  Qeorire  G.  Sweete,  Nor- 
wich, Conn.,  improvement  in  machinery  for  wind- 
ing up  lines,  twist  or  cord. 

Stephen  M.  Cate  and  Edmund  Jordan,  Water- 
bury,  Conn.,  improved  arrangement  of  dies  and 
Btocks  for  ornamenting  metal  tubes. 

John  Chilcott  and  Robert  Snell,  Brooklyn,  im- 
provement in  boot  forms. 

Thomas  C.  Connolly,  Washington,  improve- 
ment in  machinee  for  recording  votes  in  legislative 
bodies. 

Jason  W.  Cory,  Crawfordsville,  Ind.,  improve- 
ment in  seed-planters. 

Josiah  J.  Ducher,  New-IIaven,  improvements 
in  locomotive  boilers, 

Wright  Duryea,  New- York,  for  card-exhibitor. 

Benjamin  E.  Eames,  South  Newry,  Me.,  im- 
provement in  portable  door  fastener. 

Salathel  Ellis,  New-Y'ork,  improvement  in  fra- 
ming for  building  concrete  walls. 

Henry  C.  Garvin  and  J.  H.  King,  Hagerstown, 
for  tool  for  boring  hubs. 

Moses  Thompson,  Henrico  Co  ,  Va.,  improve- 
ment 'nCiraaces  for  burning  wet  fuel. 

Charles  B.  Hutchinson,  Auburn,  for  mode  of 
guiding  reciprocating  sasvs. 

James  H.  Jones,  Scio,  N.  Y.,  improvement;  in 
railroad  car  coupling. 

Ferdinand  Klein,  Newark,  improvement  in  fire- 
arms. 

Alexander  B.  Latta,  Cincinnati,  improvement  in 
steam-generators. 

Walter  Lackey,  Worcester,  Mass.,  improvement 
in  straw-cutters. 

Robert  F.  R.  Lewis,  Annapolis,  for  spiral  wheel 
for  replacing  railroad  cars  upon  the  track. 

W.  Loughridge,  Weverton,  Md.,  improvement 
iu  graduating  the  tension  of  car-brakes. 

William  Loughridge,  Weverton,  Md.,  for  sta- 
tionary hydropneumatic  engine  for  extinguishing 
file. 

John  F.  Manahan,  Lowell,  improved  machinery 
for  boring  wells. 

Samuel  N.  Maxani,  Shelburne  Falls,  Mass.,  im- 
provement in  machine  for  paring  apples. 

A.  H.  Morell,  Harlem,  improvement  in  cultiva- 
tdrs. 

Benjamin  T.  Norris,  Lynn,  machine  for  mortising 
blinds. 

Samuel  P.  Parham,  Trenton,  N.  J.,  improved 
gas-regulator. 

J.  Rodefer,  Cincinnati,  improvement  in  bedstead 
fastenings.  iiliS 


Ira  Rose,  Akron,  0.,  improvement  in  straw- 
cutters. 

Charles  Rose,  Allentown,  Pa.,  improved  Vene- 
tian window-blinds. 

David  Russell,  Drewersburgh,  Ind.,  improve- 
ment in  straw-cutters. 

Samuel  T.  Sharp,  Danville,  Mo.,  improvement  in 
straw-cutters. 

David  M.  Smyth,  New-York,  improvement  in 
platform-balances. 

,    Thomas  C.  Simonton  and  Loren  J.  Wicks,  Pat- 
terson, N.  J.,  improvement  in  straw-cutters. 

Albert  S.  Southworth,  Boston,  plate-holder  for 
cameras. 

John  and  Thomas  Sweeney,  Birmingham,  Pa,, 
improvement  in  adjustable  friciiou-rollers. 

John  B.  Hall,  New- York,  apparatus  for  feeding 
paper  to  printing-presses. 

WiUiam  Thomas,  Hingham,  IMass.,  improve- 
ment iu  cabin-chairs. 

Isaac  E.  Trimble,  Baltimore,  improvement  ia 
wooden  splice-piece  for  railways. 

Hiram  Wells,  Florence,  Mass.,  device,  allowing 
circular  saw-spindlea  to  yield. 

C.  N.  White,  Concord,  N.  C,  improved  imple- 
ment for  boring  the  earth. 

David  E.  Paynter,  Philadelphia,  assignor  to 
Israel  M.  Bissell,  of  same  place,  improved  paint- 
mill. 

J.  M.  Slone,  Manchester,  N.  H.,  assignor  to  the 
Manchester  Locomotive  Works,  improvement  in 
lathes  for  turning  locomotive-drivers. 

Charles  T.  Appleton,Roxbury,  Mass.,bleaching- 
ap  par  at  us. 

W.  E.  Arnold,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  sash-fastener. 

H.  P.  M.  Birkbine,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  gasretorls. 

Marshall  Barnett  and  Charli-s  Vanderwoerd, 
Boston,  Mass.,  machines  for  punching  metals. 

Jeremiah  Oarhart,  New- York  City,  melodeons. 

Jarvis  Case,  Springfield,  Ohio,  grain  and  grass 
harvester. 

Alfred  Drake,  Philadelphia,  explosive-gas  en- 
gines. 

Nathan  Dresser,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  lubricating 
compounds. 

S.  B.  Ellithorp,  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  gas-generator  in 
a  parlor  stove. 

James  Emerson,  Worcester,  Mass.,  ship's  wind- 
lass. 

C.  W.  Finzel,  Bristol,  England,  process  for  melt- 
ing sugar. 

C.  H.  Fonde,  Mobile,  Ala.,  dredging-machine. 

E.  B.  Forbus,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  grain  and  grass 
harvester. 

W.  K.  Foster,  Bangor,  Maine,  moulds  for  casting 
pencil-sharpeners. 

De  Grasse  Fowler  and  George  Fowler,  Walling- 
ford.  Conn.,  machines  for'punching  metals. 

Isaac  Gallup,  Mystic  Bridge,  Conn.,  for  turning 
the  leaves  of  music-books. 

S.  W.  Hopkins,  assignor,  &c.,  &c.,  Providence, 
R.  I.,  stud  and  button-fastenings. 


760 


LIST   OF   PATENTS   ISSUED. 


Abraham  Masson,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  rotary- 
engine?. 

H.  K.  JlcClelland,  Eldersville,  Pa.,  fountain-pen. 

Francis  Peabody,  Salem,  Mass ,  hay-making 
machine. 

J.  B.  Shenck,  Ausonia,  Conn.,  shut-off  valve- 
gear. 

John  Simpson,  Atlantic,  Ga.,  horse-powers. 

Lewis  Smith,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  compensation- 
bearings. 

C.  A.  Thompson,  Adrian,  Mich.,  making  printers' 
ink. 

W.  II.  Tawers,  Philadelphia,  Pa  ,  pen-holder. 

J.  T.  Willmarth,  Northbridge,  Mass.,  dies  for 
bolt-forging  machines. 

T.  J.  Baldvpin,  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  paper-ruling 
machine. 

S.  P.  Brooks,  Suffolk,  Mass.,  piano-forte  action. 

W.  F.  Converse,  Harrison,  0.,  india-rubber 
springs. 

M.  R.  Griswold,  Watertown,  Conn,  arrange- 
ment of  I'ollers  for  making  metal  tubes. 

Pells  Manny,  Waddams  Grove,  111.,  hay-press. 

Andrew  Myers,  Philadelphia,  Pa:,  gas  cooking- 
stoves. 

C.  A.Nayes,  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  slide-rest  for  lathes. 

J.  T.  Pheatt,  Toledo,  0.,  life-preserving  doors. 

John  Stryker,  Six  Mile  Run,  N.  J.,  cultivators. 

Philo  Sylla,  Elgin,  111.,  grain  and  grass  har- 
vesters. 

John  J.  Thomas,  Hanayunk,  Pa  ,  rotary-engines. 

Chester  Van  Ham,  Springfield,  Mass.,  slide-rest 
for  lathes. 

William  H.  Webb,  Jr.,  Chelsea,  Mass.,  metallic 
hones. 

O.  W.  Bayley,  Manchester,  N.  H.,  furnace  for 
locomotives. 

Henry  Chalfield,  assignor  to,  &c.,  &c.,  Water- 
bury,  Conn.,  rakes. 

William  6  Faglesong,  assignor  to,  djc,  &c., 
Xenia,  O.,  folding-lops  for  carriages. 

William  D.  Jones,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  assign- 
or to  Henry  Winfield,  N.  Y.  City,  propellors. 

Rufus  Porter,  Washington,  D.  0.,  and  Jonathan 
D.  Bradley,  Brattleboro,  Vt.,  assignors  to  Jonathan 
D.  Bradley,  aforesaid,  and  George  Dennison,  N. 
Y.  City,  elastic  tube  pump. 

E.  Harry  Smith,  assignor,  &c.,  &c.,  N.  Y.  City, 
sewing-machine. 

George  Nelson,  assignor  to  himself  and  Nehe- 
miah  Hunt,  Boston,  Mass.,  cast-iron  pavements. 

Jearum  Atkins,  Chicago,  111.,  improvement  in 
platforms  of  grain-harvesters. 

J.  W.  Corey,  Crawfordsville,  Ind.,  spring  con- 
necting-rods for  washing-machines. 

Jonathan  Johnson  and  Joel  E.  Crane,  Lowell, 
Mass.,  improvement  in  stoves. 

Norman  C.  Harris,  Poultney,  Vt.,  manufacture 
of  slate-pencils. 

Palmer  Lancaster,  Burr  Oak,  Mich.,  implement 
for  shearing  sheep. 

Isaac  B.  Livingston  and  Miles  Waterhouse, 
Barnet,  Vt.,  new  method  of  feeding  paper  to  print- 
ing-presses. 

J.  G.  Melville  and  William  Brayshaw,  Wether- 
ville,  Md.,  mprovement  in  looms. 

William  Munroe,  Boston,  Mass.,  improved  piano- 
forte action. 

Thomas  Murgatroyd,  Jr.,  Smithville,  Canada 
West,  improvement  in  carriage-springs. 

Lucius  Page,  Cavendish,  Vt.,  combined  table 
and  writing-desk. 

L.  S.  Bobbins,  New-York  City,  machines  for 
polishing  stone. 

J.  H.  ThoQipson,  Patterson,  N.  Y.,  machines  for 
planing  metal. 


Abner  Whileley,  Springfield,  Ohio,  new  method 
of  attaching  wheels  to  harvesters. 

Abner  Whiteley,  Springfield, Ohio,  improvement 
in  harvesters. 

John  Comstock,  New-London,  Ct.,  assignor  to 
Peter  Naylor,  of  New- York  City,  improved  forge- 
hammers. 

R.  L.  Hawes,  Worcester,  Mass.,  assignor  to 
Robert  Reunie,  Lodi,  N.  J.,  machines  for  dressing 
lawns. 

W.  J.  Von  Kammerhueber,  Washington  City, 
D.  C,  projectiles. 

Abner  Whiteley,  Springfield,  Ohio,  arranging 
shafts  and  pulleys  at  an  angle. 

R.  M.  Wade,  Wadsville,  Va.,  lubricator. 

J.  Wilkinson,  Hopewell  Cotton  Works,  P.  O., 
Pa.,  self-loading  and  unloading  carts. 

John  E.  Wcotten,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  regulating 
the  discharge  of  exhaust  steam  in  locomotives. 

Nathan  Ames,  Saugus,  Mass.,  polishing  leather 
and  morocco. 

Elizabeth  A.  Stillman,  New-York  City,  furnace 
for  burning  bagasse. 

James  Temple,  Birmingham,  Pa.,  boring  fence- 
potts. 

E.  A.  Tubbs,  Hampton,  N.  H  ,  assignor  to,  &c., 
&c.,  sawing  fire-wood,  &c. 

William  Apperly,  Louisville,  Ky.,  ticket-register- 
for  railroad-cars. 

John  R.  Adams,  Port  Jarvi.s,  N.  Y.,  fire-engines 

William  Ashton,  Middletown,  Conn.,  bullet- 
moulds. 

H.  and  M.  Blake,  Hartford,  Vt.,  clothes  pin  ma- 
chine. 

Chauncey  Cowdry,  Orrin  Tolls,  and  C.  C.  Tolls, 
Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  wheelwrights'  boring  and  turning 
machine. 

Charles  Campel),  California  processes  for  purify- 
ing and  cleansing  wheat. 

John  Ilaw,  Deer  Park,  Mich.,  machine  for  bun- 
dling fleeces  of  wool. 

J.  B.  Hurt,  Nattoway  Co.,  Va.,  applying  electric 
wheel  to  water-power. 

Laroy  Litchfield,  Southbridge,  Mass.,  shuttles 
for  looms. 

Ezra  P.  Marble.  New  Worcester,  Mass.,  shuttles 
for  looms. 

Clement  Russell,  Massillon,  Ohio,  horse-powers. 

Presley  Raines,  London,  Ohio,  corn-planters. 

John  Schneider,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  alarm-attach- 
ment for  door-lochs. 

David  Russell,  Drewisburg,  Ind.,  window-sash 
supporter. 

John  A  Smith,  Clinton,  Mass.,  and  S.  E  Pettee, 
Foxborough,  Mass.,  making  paper  boxes  and 
envelopes. 

G.  E.  Davis,  Lowell,  Mass  ,  bench-plane  stock. 

Thomas  Firtli,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  alloys  for  jour- 
nal-boxes. 

James  Fleming,  Portsmouth,  Va.,  sawing  oflf 
piles  under  water. 

0.  L.  ILarsen  and  M.  E.  Brailey,  Norwalk,  Ohio 
farm-gates. 

T.  J.  Hall,  Tawakana  Hills,  Texas,  gang-plows. 

John  and  Jacob  Harishorn,  Boston,  Mass., 
spring-rollers  for  curtains. 

Warren  Holden,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  boot  and 
shoe  stretcher. 

H.  B.  Norton,  Northville,  Mich.,  boot-crimping 
machine. 

Eben.  Hoyt,  Chelsea,  Mass.,  projectile  for  fire- 
arms. 

Matthew  Spear,  Bowdoinham,  Me.,  mitre-box. 
S.  P.  Smith,  Half  Moon,  N.  Y.,  clamping-sasb. 
G.  W.  Stedman,  Vienna,  N.  J.,  sewing-machines. 

Jeremiah  Stever,  Bristol,  Conn.,  machines  for 
burnishing  metals. 

W.  R.  Thompson,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  furnaces  for 
heating  wrought-iron  wheels  for  forging. 


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