AVOYLLE FERRY, on Red River, La. Į To the Editor of the American Railroad Journal. SIR,-You herewith receive the meteorological table for the month of April, 1834, regularly entered. I regret to see in the Railroad Journal, vol. 3, No. 12, that you have not received my letter of 3d January last. I now inclose you a copy of that; also, extracts from 6th December last: as they were both sent by the same mail I presume they shared the same fate. Copies of the meteorological tables for November and December are also inclosed. Most respectfully, your obedient servant, P. G. V. On the Dip and Declination of the Needle. By three hours and a half. the philosophy of a question, not to decide on the probable result in a mercantile point of view, of any invention or engine which might be brought forward, and in explaining the principles of Captain Ericsson's invention, he trusted that he should not be held responsible for the correctness of the various propositions which he would have to make; at the same time, he was bound to state that, prior to the construction of the engine, one part of the invention was submitted to his opinion, and he had reported favorably; and this was the possibility of transferring the heat contained in a current of air passing in one direction to another current of air passing in an opposite di. rection (separated only by metallic surfaces); but how far this might be usefully and economically employed in obtaining an engine of power, it was not for him to determine; this question would be brought to a fair test when an engine of 50 horse power, now constructing, shall be set to work. Dr. Faraday then described the manner of transferring heat from one current of air to another by working mo. dels, and afterwards, by the aid of working diagrams, he explained the construction of Captain Ericsson's engine. Our having given a full account of this engine at page 42 of the present volume,* will render it unnecessary again to describe the principles on which this invention is proposed to work. Dr. Faraday having explained the various bearings of the question, concluded by observing that he was We are informed that the speed of the loco-bound, in justice to his own character, to make motive, on several trips during the present a remark, which he regretted the more that it week, has been a mile in two minutes. The was possible and probable, had he been able to distance on which the cars are now running see Captain Ericsson prior to his entering into is about 20 miles, and is traversed by the loco-this explanation, he would have been able to motive both ways, including all stoppages, in remove a doubt and difficulty which he (Dr. Faraday) must confess he could not clear up to The responsible department of engineer is his satisfaction; this had been prevented by ably sustained by Mr. Lawson, an English gen- the serious illness of Capt. Ericsson. What tleman, under whose superintendence the lo- he referred to was, that he could not clearly comotive has been put in operation, and by see how the difference of pressure, stated by whom it is now conducted. It may be deemed the inventor to exist, could be maintained in fortunate that the Company were able to pro-the different parts of the apparatus. cure the services of a gentleman to fill this essential station, who combines both the mechanical and practical knowledge of the art. INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.-The following are the subjects which have been under discussion at the Tuesday evening meetings: "What are the advantages to be derived from the application of undulating railroads?" in which many of our best and most talented After a full discussion (lasting two evenings), with a general expression, that there were no men took part, this question was dismissed It has been suggested to us that persons should be cautioned from travelling on the track of the railroad. Indeed, from personal observation, we are convinced that such travelling is attended with considerable inconvenience, if not actual danger; horses become frightened when passing the locomotive, and sometimes quite unmanageable.-[North Ala-advantages to be derived, but, on the contrary, bamian.] a decided loss. "Heating power of coal and other kinds of fuel: Have any experiments been made, or data collected, from which can be calculated the number of cubic feet of atmospheric air which one pound of good Newcastle coal will raise 1° of Fahrenheit?" Avoylle Ferry, May 7, 1834. DEAR SIR,-The application of a manufacturer of compasses, in Birmingham, (Railroad Journal, Vol. III, No. 11, calling for information of the dip and declination of the needle, and its variations, I think a very important inquiry. In my letter to you, (I think in November, 1832, Delaware and Raritan Canal.-We learn that the no copy before me,) I made a similar request, water has been let into the Delaware and Raritan which was, no doubt, overlooked, or thought Canal, and that in a few weeks it will be in full operachimerical. I now wish to add to the manu- tion. On Tuesday evening last, the Directors made facturer's inquiry, that the latitude and longi-up a party, and took an excursion a few miles upon tude of the different places be given, and say town of New Brunswick, and communicates with the its waters. The Canal commences in front of the take the variation from June to December in Delaware at Bordentown. It is about 43 miles long, each year, throughout America, and bring them 75 feet wide, and 7 feet deep. It has two tow paths, together in a few years that long sought prob- and is so constructed as to admit the passage of lem will be settled. With the observations and sloops of 50 to 100 tons burden, affording a complete actual experiments of Capt. Ross, of the varia- and safe water communication between the two "Velocity of currents of air: Is there any tion of the Magnetic Needle, every practical cities of New York and Philadelphia, greatly facili-instrument for measuring correctly the veloci surveyor in the United States can, at any time, tating the conveyance of merchandize, and producing ty of air in motion; and if so, upon what pringive the variation of the needle, and mariners a very considerable saving in the amount of insur. at all times and places wherever they may happen to be. I have made these hasty remarks since closing my letter of to-day, to give you some idea of my opinions, that you may, if you choose, make some remarks from them. Your friend and servant, P. G. V. ance. By an inscription on a marble tablet which is insert. ed in the stone work of the lock at the city of New Brunswick, it appears that the Canal was commenced has 14 locks-13 are 24 by 110 feet, the other is in January, 1831, and completed in May, 1834. It still larger. The feeder which supplies the Western division, is 24 miles long.-[Jour. Com.] information, but nothing final has been deterThis subject has called forward considerable mined on; but so far as we are able to judge, Tredgold's calculations may be depended on for their correctness. ciple does its action depend?" Mr. Barwise explained an instrument constructed by him for this purpose, and promised to construct one for the institution. The following are the subjects which stand next for discussion: 66 application of it-how and when it ought to be 'Grouting masonry and brickwork: The used-the materials for it." 66 Proceedings of the Royal Institution, London, "Lock gates and sluices: With any late improvements in the materials or construction." "Steam: Any substitute for it-Ericsson's caloric engine." We ask the attention of those of our readers who have the means and the inclination to investigate the subject of the above communi. Dr. Faraday gave a conversation on Ericscation. The result of their inquiries, when at- son's Caloric Engine. He commenced by tained, will always find a place in the Journal stating that he felt himself placed in a position and Mechanics' Magazine. P. G. V. will please a subject on which such difference of opinion of considerable difficulty, in bringing forward accept our thanks especially for his duplicates.llexisted; yet the object of this institution wasiii., of this Journal. *For notices of this engine, see pages 147 and 194, vol View of a Cotton Scutching and Lapping Engine, on the most improved plan, the first one||same piece with the body of the pin, the ininvented, by N. SNODGRASS, of Glasgow, in 1806. [Communicated by the Inventor for the convenience attending its slipping is effectuMechanics' Magazine and Register of Inventions and Improvements.]; EXPLANATION. 1, 1, Feeding table, with cotton weighed and spread upon it. 2,2, Scutcher cylinders, 11 inches diameter, to run 1500 revolutions per minute, with covers of iron. 3, 3, Wire gauze cylinders, with covers, to spread the cotton, and let off the air generated by the scutcher cylinders. 4, 4, Feeding cloths and moving wooden rollers, to carry the cotton under the wire cylinders from scutcher to scutcher. 5, 5, Two cast iron rollers, 4 inches diameter, 6, Cotton roller, for the carding engine. 10, 10, A view of one side of the cast iron 11, 11, Triangle ribbed hecks, for extracting the gins, &c. from the cotton, and allowed in Europe to be an important part of the scutching engine. 12, 12, Air apertures, for letting the generated air escape through the gauze wire covered cylinders. Awwwwww This represents the cotton in process. New-York, May 14, 1834. TO THE EDITOR: I 10. 10 ally prevented. This is the minute improvement in a minute article, the accomplishment of which has cost the patentees several years of attentive application, and the expenditure of a large capital, according to their own statement, which, when the extent and character of the machinery employed are considered, there can be no reason to doubt. At the same time, it must be taken in connection with this improvement, that the patent pin is altogether produced by machinery, instead of partly by hand processes. "The Patent Solid-headed Pin Works" are situated about a mile from Stroud, on the Bath and Birmingham road. The principal building consists of five floors, each of them one hundred feet in length, and completely filled with machinery. A large iron water-wheel, on which a stream acts with a power equal to that of forty horses, gives motion to all the mechanical apparatus, which is so inge. niously constructed as to perform every essential operation for converting a coil of wire into the perfect pin with scarcely any noise and little apparent effort. Upon the old system, this comparatively insignificant article had to go through fifteen or sixteen hands before it was finished; but this curious machine effects the whole without manual assistance, or any extraneous aid whatever; for the wire being placed on a reel, and the machine set in motion, all the mechanical combinations, so numerous and dissimilar in their movements, are simultaneously performing their various functions with a rapidity and precision truly surprising. While one portion of the apparatus is drawing out and straightening the wire, and cutting it off at the required length, another combination is pointing and polishing the pin, and another compressing a portion of the wire into dies to form a perfect and neat round solid head. The various movements are completely at command, and susceptible of instant alteration and adjustment to pins of any length, and heads of any form, while the machine is working at its ordinary speed. Each machine operates on four most perfect manner, doing as much work, wires at once, and from forty to fifty pins and better, with one person, than if more are with facility produced in a minute by The section plan annexed is drawn on a were employed, which is the case with those each of the 100 machines which are comnecessarily small scale, to suit the limits of cotton factories I have been permitted to pleted, and in constant operation at the magazines, and is only calculated to suit the examine in this country. Also, from twenty- works. As a more particular detail of the understanding of the first rate cotton ma-eight years' experience, I decidedly recom-process would not be well understood withchine makers, such as Mr. Rodgers, &c. at mend, in no case, to make the scutcher cy-out engravings, we shall only further state Paterson. The plan shows all the essential linders more than twelve inches in diameter, that the works, with the present number of working parts: the various complicated move-and only with two blades. In the mean time, ments, &c. will be easily arranged by these I am, Sir, yours, &c., gentlemen, and almost impossible to be exhibited in yours, or any other similar publication. All that I have to observe, in ad Sir, A few weeks ago took the liberty of sending you a plan (not mine) for blasting iron ore furnaces with hot air,* suc. cessfully in use in Scotland, whereby thirty-three per cent. of fuel is said to be saved; also, a plan of mine for heating factories on the best principles, by steam: in hopes these might benefit this rising country. From the same motive, I again send you another plan of a scutching (batting) machine, for opening, cleaning, and, in one operation, preparing it to be applied to the carding engines; the first one invented by me, in Messrs. G. Houston & Co.'s large spinning factories in the town of Johnstone, Scotland, in 1806, and successfully introduced to the spinning trade in Britain, and, I believe, never before in any publication. machines, are capable of producing upwards of two tons of pins weekly, or, stating the amount numerically, 3,240,000 pins daily, 19,440,000 weekly, supposing all the machines to be in operation twelve hours daily. NEIL SNODGRASS, 87 Pearl st. THE NEW PIN.-There are few things dition to the explanation accompanying the which more strikingly exemplify the high It is stated that altogether twenty millions of drawing, for the practical working of the ma-point of civilization to which this country pins are daily manufactured in this country chine, in cotton factories, is, that this ma- has attained than the amount of capital con- for home consumption and for the foreign chine should be made the same breadth of tinually expended, the inventive talent ex-market.-[Penny Magazine.] the carding engines, so that the finished lap, ercised, and the powerful agencies employed, may No. 6, would suit on applying it. Also, the as the remedy of exceedingly small evils, A new locomotive of great power and masfirst feeding cloth, Nos. 1, 1, should be divided and the attainment of equally minute objects terly machinery has been constructed for the Newcastle and Frenchtown Railroad, by Mr. into such parts as the manager of the work of convenience. This remark cannot per- E. A. G. Young, of Norfolk. The Beacon think proper, then causing the person haps find a better illustration than in "The states that on the first trial of the engine, notthat attends the machine to weigh a certain New Pin with an Immoveable Solid Head." withstanding the stiffness of the machinery, weight of cotton, and carefully spread that The defect in the old pin, which it is the and without any headway being given to it, it weight on each of these parts, which has the object of the present improvement to reme- ascended the inclined plane at Frenchtown, effect of enabling the small scutching cylin-dy, is that the head of the pin being sepa-(the grade of which is 42 feet to the mile,) with ders to open the cotton more regularly; and,rately spun and then put on, was liable to be load of 554 tons, at the rate of 12 miles per finally, finish the lap, for carding, in the detached by the pressure of the thumb. The hour.—[Balt. American.] principle of the improvement consists in this: that the head being formed of the * Which will be inserted shortly.-[ED. M. M.] The receipts of the Charleston rail-road for the month of May amounted to $18,300-passage money $10,070-freight $8230. ILLUMINATED PRINTING.-In many of the old in a nervous patient, the doctor's knock at the steep them in a strong solution of oak or chesprinted books, the initial letters, and occasion-door will quicken the pulse some 15 or 20 beats nut bark,-the tannin combines with the gelaally other parts, were printed in red. This was in a minute. This fact did not escape the no- tine, and forms, between the fibres of the hemp, done by two workings at press, and was antice of the sagacious Celsus, who says, "The a solid net work, which adds great strength to imitation of the earlier fashion of illuminating pulse will be altered by the approach of the phy-the cords. Any bark which contains tannin manuscripts. The practice is still followed in sician, and the anxiety of the patient doubting may be employed in making a decoction; so some almanacs, the saints' days and holy-days what his opinion of the case may be. For this bones, parings of skin, remains of fish, &c. being "red-letter days." Some ingenious con- reason, a skilful physician will not feel the and generally all substances containing gelatrivances have been devised for working in va- pulse as soon as he comes; but he will first sit tine, may be used in making a gelatinous solurious colors; and a few years since, a curious down with a cheerful countenance, and ask how tion. Fishermen, who often throw away on book was written and published on the subject the patient is,-soothing him, if he be timorous, the shore gelatinous fish, may use them for by Mr. Savage. Still more recently, printing by the kindness of his conversation, and after. this purpose.-[Jour. des Connais. Usuelles.] in gold and other metals has been practised. wards applying his hand to the patient's arm." This is done by printing with a sort of size,|-(De Medica, lib. iii. cap. 7.*) EFFECT OF OIL ON WATER.-The following and afterwards applying the metal leaf. Some Granting, however, that these sources of er- is a secret worth knowing: In rough weather very handsome specimens of this have been ror are avoided, the quickness of the pulse will they (the fishermen of the Bosphorus) spread a produced by Messrs. Howlett and Brimmer, afford most important information. If in a few drops of oil on the surface, which permits of London; but, of course, the process is too person, for example, whose pulse is usually 72, them to see clearly to a great depth. I was costly and too tedious ever to enter into com- the beats rise in number to 98, some alarming aware that oil would calm the surface of the petition with common printing, or to be used for disease is certainly present; or, on the other sea; but until recently I did not know that it other than purposes of luxury. hand, should it have permanently sunk to 50, it rendered objects more distinct beneath the suris but too probable that the source of the circu-face. A trinket of some value had been dropped VALUABLE DISCOVERY IN THE FINE ARTS.-lation, the heart itself, is laboring under incura-out of one of the upper windows of our palace Mr. Mudie, well known as an able literary com- ble disease, or that some other of the great into the Bosphorus, which at this place was piler, has brought out a popular work on "the springs of life is irremediably injured. 10 or 12 feet deep. It was so small that dragfeathered tribes of the British Island," in which, Supposing, again, the pulse to be 72, each ging for it would have been perfectly useless, amongst other attractive features, the vignettes beat ought to occur at an interval of five-sixths and it was accordingly given up for lost, when on the title pages are novelties, being the first of a second; but should any deviation from one of the servants proposed to drop a little oil successful specimen (says Mr. Mudie) of what this rhythm be perceived, the pulse is then said on the surface. This was acceded to, with, may be called Polycromatic printing, or print- to be irregular. The varieties of irregularity however, but faint hopes of success. To our ing in many colors from wooden blocks. are infinite; but there is one so remarkable as astonishment, the trinket immediately appear"By this method," he adds, "every shade of to deserve particular mention. It will happened in sight, and was eventually recovered.color, every breath of tint, every delicacy of sometimes that the interval between the two [Dr. Dekay.] hatching, and every degree of evanescence in beats is so much longer than was expected, among the outline, can be obtained"; and fifty thousand that it would seem that one beat had been omit- SPONGE. This well known marine profac similes of a painting may be produced with ted in this case the pulse is said to be an in-duction has been in use from very early perfect uniformity and at moderate expense. termittent one. When the action of the heart times, and naturalists were long embarrassed The advantages to books, of which a large is irregular, the beat of the pulse is so likewise; whether to assign it a place in the animal or number is to be sold, will be very great, not but it will occasionally happen that the latter vegetable kingdom. Most authorities now only as removing the cost of tinging by hand, irregularity takes place without the former one, which is the same for the last thousand as the from some morbid cause existing between the agree in putting the sponges in the lowest There are about fifty first, but by making the copies more alike and heart and the wrist. It is hardly necessary to scale of animal life. more durable, and rising more above the reach observe, that, in all doubtful cases, the physician different species of sponges, of which nine of the ignoble pecus of imitators. In these examines the pulsation of the heart as well as or ten belong to this country. They are vignettes, Mr. Baxter had no colored copy but that of the wrist,-just as the diligent student, found in the Mediterranean and those seas the birds, which are from nature. I made him discontented with the narrow limits of prov-in warm and temperate latitudes, diminishing work from mere scratches in outline, in order cial information, repairs to the metropolis to in number and becoming of inferior quality to test his metal; and I feel confident that the pursue his scientific inquiries. public will agree with me in thinking it sterl on the approach to cold regions. They adThe strength or feebleness of the pulse, its ing. In carrying this very beautiful branch hardness or softness, and innumerable other here to rocks in places the least exposed to of the typographical art successfully into effect, qualities, might be discussed here; but, from the action of currents and waves, which the Mr. B. has, I believe, completed what was the the great difficulty attending any examination ebbing tide does not leave uncovered. The last project of the great Bewick, but which of these points, and the technical niceties in- best sponges known to us are those which that truly original and admirable genius did volved in any thing more than a bare mention of come from the Archipelago, where they not live to accomplish." them, we omit them. There is one point, how-abound near many of the islands, whose inever, which it would be unpardonable to pass habitants may be said to subsist by the THE PULSE.-Every one knows that over in silence: sometimes no pulsation can At the the numerous inquiries and examinations be felt at the usual part of the wrist. This sponge-fishery, if we may so call it. which precede the prescription of a careful may proceed from so great a languor of the cir- Cyclades, for instance, sponge-diving forms physician, the state of the pulse is never omit- culation, that it is imperceptible at the extremi. the chief employinent of the population. The ted; yet, as it is probable that few of our read.ties; or from the radial artery (the one usually sea is at all times extremely clear, and the ers are acquainted with the reasons for this felt) being ossified; or from an irregular distri- experienced divers are capable of distin inquiry, or, what is the same thing, with the bution of the arteries of the fore-arm. guishing from the surface the points to which facts to be learned from it, we think it may not the sponge is attached below, when an un. be uninteresting if we enumerate some of the TO INCREASE THE STRENGTH AND FIRMNESS practised eye could but dimly discern the more prominent ones. It is almost unnecessary to premise that by of oak has been employed for scarcely any stone attached to a rope, and this the diver Each boat is furnished with a large the pulse is meant the beat of an artery, and other purpose than that of the tanner, and yet seizes in his hand on plunging head foremost that the one commonly chosen for examination it is applicable to a great variety of uses. If is the radial artery, which beats at the wrist. thread, cords, nets, coarse linen, &c. be steeped from the stern. He does this in order to inThe first point generally attended to is the in it, they acquire greater firmness and dura-crease the velocity of his descent; thus econumber of the beats; and since in this, as in bility. Fishermen have long resorted to this.nomizing his stock of breath, as well as to faall other medical questions, it is necessary to be Nothing is more apt to spoil than skins, and cilitate his ascent when exhausted at the acquainted with the state of health, in order to yet this preserves them. It is the same with bottom, being then quickly hauled up by his recognize any deviation from it, we must men hempen and linen cloth: they contain much companions. Few men can remain longer tion the ordinary frequency of the pulse at dif-gummy and resinous matter, which, with tan- than about two minutes below; and, as the ferent ages. In the new-born infant, it is from. nin, forms an envelope, and thus adds to their 130 to 140 in a minute; but decreases in fre- durability. Linen ought not to steep more process of detaching the sponge is very te quency as life advances; so that, in a middle- than eight or ten days in this solution: it ac- dious, three, and sometimes four divers de. uged adult in perfect health, it is from 72 to 75. quires a very brown color. When this color scend successively to secure a particularly In the decline of life, it is slower than this, and fades, the operation may be repeated. fine specimen. falls to about 60. It is obvious that if we could The best sponge is that which is the palest suppose a practitioner ignorant of these plain and lightest, has small holes, and is soft to facts, he would be liable to make the most abthe touch. surd blunders, and might imagine a boy of ten By the old physicians, sponge to be laboring under some grievous disease, bewas regarded as a cure for a long list of cause his pulse had not the slow sobriety of his much less the beauty, of the eight books on Medicine bequeath The lapse of eighteen centuries has not destroyed the utility, maladies; this last is now much abridged, grandfather's. A more likely error is to mis-ed by Celsus to posterity; they are unrivalled for perspicuous though burned sponge, in which form only take the influence of some temporary cause for of the Augustan age, and is worthy of the times in which he elegance and laconic good sense. Celsus is one of the writers it is used, still has a place in the materia the effect of a more permanent disease: thus, flourished, medica.-[Penny Magazine.] OF THREAD AND COARSE CLOTH.-The lixivium The best method of preserving nets and cordage is the following: Dissolve two pounds of Flemish glue in fifteen gallons of water, dip the nets, &c. into this solution, and then bottom. Cultivation of the Sugar Maple and manner of procuring the Seed. Clarendon, Jan. 25th, 1834. S. H. 359 A far PRESERVATION OF SKINS.-J. Stegard, tanner||any land or clime. My occupation now is farm-work at reasonable rate, they must pay as at Tyman, in Hungary, completely preserves ing. As to the manner of procuring seed: they go along. A farmer sells his pork, butter, raw hides from putrefaction, and restores send you about one-fourth part of the winter cheese, grain, &c. from January to April. The those that are tainted, by applying to them, store of a buck or wood-land mouse, which was cost of producing all these was paid, (or ought with a brush, a layer of pyroligneous acid. deposited in a living hollow beach tree, 15 to have been,) the summer and autumn beThey absorb it very speedily, and it occasions inches diameter; the whole of his store, being fore. no injury nor diminution of their value.-about one bushel, one half beach nuts, with a should he be able to convert their fleeces im[Receuil Industrielle.] His sheep are sheared in May, and few other seeds, all shelled, and neatly put up mediately into money, (which he cannot alfor winter provision, and a nest within, lined ways do,) still the whole expense of producing AGRICULTURE, &c. with down, the residence of the family. A this wool, excepting about two months spring NOTHING MADE IN VAIN.— boy found another store-house the same day, pasturing, was paid the year before, a considreceived the following communication, accom- are skillful in such kind of hunting. In this along after a fashion, with little or no capital, -We have this week half a bushel of maple seeds, with others. Boys which was 25th of December last, containing erable portion of it the August before. panied with a quantity of seeds, as referred to, way seed stores might be furnished with them because it is done by thousands every year. for which we return the donor our thanks. from the maple forests of the west, in quanti-Some may inquire how this can be possible if It cannot be denied that a farmer can get From the date, we have no doubt but they ties sufficient to plant out territories and king- the foregoing statement be correct. were intended to have reached us earlier. The doms. The buck mouse enters his habita-mer without capital, in the first place, will not discovery of this way of procuring maple seeds tion through a smooth hole an inch or less in perhaps hire more than half as much labor as is not only a matter of curiosity, but of econo- diameter, into the hollow of the tree, sometimes his farm requires; of course all his work is my; as we venture to say that it would have nearer and sometimes further from the ground. slighted, and all done out of season, and half required the labor of one man at least one At the commencement of cold weather and crops is the consequence. When the time arweek, to have taken the shells from a quantity snow, the red squirrel visits the place daily, rives for paying his laborers, perhaps he will of seeds equal to those sent to us. endeavor to have them planted, and will here- through, to rob the mouse of his store. We shall after give the result.-[Goodsell's Genesee this recent gnawing around the hole, and by part, and put off paying the remainder until and endeavors with much chattering to gnaw get some things out of the store for them on Farmer.] By trust, or borrow a little money to pay them in mouse may be discovered. This little animal, credit, otherwise he must force the sale of tracking in the snow, the habitation of the winter or spring, to the no small injury of his Mr. Goodsell,--Every one is delighted to see hollows of the branches and trunks of that to make out the pay. In the next place he also deposits vast quantities of elm seeds, in some of his scanty produce at a reduced price, our native forests thickly planted by the hand stately tree. of nature with this valuable and beautifultree; enemies sleep, except the owl, he is busily em credit, and pays a price accordingly, say twenty valuable, because for cabinet work some va-ployed during the fall months, in running up to thirty per cent. more than the cash price. In the night season, when all his buys of the store-keeper wholly on a long rieties of this wood are superior to that brought and down the tree, and laying up his winter His dealings with the blacksmith, shoemaker, from distant climes; first rate for fire wood, store. and as good for the manufacture of sugar as the quently occupied afterwards by the honey bee. fashion. The habitation of the mouse is fre- and mechanics in general, are after the same cane plant. And who does not regret the de- Whenever the maple bears seeds, the mouse, ally pinched for the want of a little money, struction of the ax-man amongst them. Occu-in maple forests, is sure to have a proportion of incessantly harrassed by duns, and once in a pying the best soil, they are usually the first them for his food. And thus he passes his life continuvictims. But he who destroys should endeavor to produce anew. No native tree can be more while is appalled by a tap upon the shoulder, easily cultivated than this, the seed being though gentle it may be, of the practised hand abundant and easily procured. It grows rapid-tor: Among the many causes assigned for ill money for which he has never received any CAPITAL REQUISITE IN FARMING.-Mr. Edi-latter, and his co-worker the lawyer, a sum of of a constable. And for this he must pay the ly from the seed in open cultivated grounds, success in agricultural pursuits, of which equivalent. attaining the height of six feet in three years, farmers are often reminded, there is one but about--no, properly speaking, he never brings and in twelve years the stems will measure rarely adverted to, and I suspect by many far- the year about. He is forever toiling to bring from six to nine inches diameter. I send you mers has never been considered at all. And up the arrangements of the last year. Time And thus he brings the year a quantity of seed as a specimen; they are that is the absolute necessity of a loose capi- has got the start of him by one year, and he in ready prepared for sowing, and are divested of tal to enable a farmer to cultivate his farm to vain attempts to overtake it. the shell and wings; in their natural state, be-any advantage. The amount of this capital ing connected together in pairs, they are usual-should be nearly equal to the entire annual proly called maple keys. About a peck is suffi-duct of his farm, after deducting his annual cient for seeding three acres of ground. Nature gain, if there be any. would seem to dictate the fall of the year to be the proper time for sowing the seed in their natural form, as the effects of the frost would be to soften the shell. At this season they are scattered abroad by the winds in infinite profusion. But divested of the shell and sown in the spring they will grow as surely as peas, and make their appearance at the time the forest trees put forth. They should be sown, or rather scattered upon the furrows of dry land, and harrowed in, and grass seed should be sown for future pasture. Hogs, calves, sheep, horses, &c., may be pastured among them, but no cattle, till they are out of danger. third The Now if the farmer himself is both able and either fall or spring, they should be willing to perform the labor of one good hired $770 taken where too thick, and transplanted in hand, it will be equal to about 200 dollars of vacancies. One thousand may commence grow this sum, leaving 570 dollars the least amount ing upon an acre. prising farmer, who wishes for the future pros- through the year, without being pinched or gaging his farm, it is the hiring of money to In twelve years, an enter- of loose capital that will suffice to carry him perity of our country, as well as to enhance obliged to slight his work. The amount of work that farm. Though he ought in this If any thing will excuse a farmer for mortthe present value of his lands, would walk wool, flax and provisions, reserved for the con- case to be very certain that he is possessed of five miles barefooted before sunrise in the sumption of the family from year to year, is so much resolution and discretion, as to be in month of June, to view the "sugar bush" of included in this sum. our climate, in full foliage, situated near the residence of the owner, sheltering his fruit wish to be clearly understood, I will proceed a to this use only, it is not so very hazardous a As this is a subject of importance, and as I raised to any other use; so long as it is applied no danger of ever appropriating money so trees and habitation from storms, and the re-little further. Farmers who live so far from plan. Before a mortgage can press heavily sort of the songsters of the air. the grove might be collected for the barn-yard.nient to get the produce of their farms to market at the worst he has only to return to his forThe leaves of market as to find it impossible, or inconve- upon his farm, the money can be repaid, and At the age of twenty-five years, the trees might before winter (and these constitute a very large mer method of farming by the halves, and be tapped. I was bred upon a farm, in a deep majority), it will be seen at once, must incur without either satisfaction or profit. I do not valley of the mountains, on the eastern border the entire expense of working their farms and wish to be understood as recommending to of this state, and have witnessed the growth providing for their families for the year, be- farmers the practice of raising money on mortof the sugar maple in groves from the seed, and fore they realize any thing worth naming from gage. It is better with rare exceptions, where also standing singly in fields, where they have the produce of their farms. Their hired hands money must be raised, to sell off a portion of stood for more than half a century, presenting must be paid in autumn, if not sooner, and if the farm, and preserve the remainder free from a more beautiful appearance than the trees of they expect to get store goods and mechanics'incumbrance.--H. W.-[N. England Farmer year, up, to be Deduct suppose annual profit milk, butter, grain, potatoes, Leaving to be expended in living $150 SO more profitable than large ones; this in the abstract is not true. Though it is doubtless It is a common remark that small farms are themselves by enlarging their farms without an true that multitudes of farmers greatly injure $1000 adequate increase of capital. How often do we see farmers who have in the course of years accumulated a little money from small farms, barely enough to enable them to cultivate their present farms to the best advantage, invest the whole of this very capital in more land. Thus making an increase of capital necessary by 230 the very act which deprives them of the little they already possessed. Could farmers who are without a loose capital be persuaded to pursue a precisely contrary course to this, to possess as will raise a sufficient loose capital to enable them to cultivate the remainder in a wit, sell off so much of the land they already proper manner, it would increase both their profits and comfort. A Cheap Method of making Fence of a Du-and add to it, by means of a quill, a drop or two ||funnels, and it will rise up as it does in a piece rable Character. By L. M. T. [From the of pure water; if distilled water can be had, so of lump sugar into the dry soil, as may be seen New-York Farmer.] much the better. Weigh the whole a second through the glass. The more rapidly the waIf the ground be inclined in a direction time, which will now be a few grains above ter is seen to rise, the better will be the texture opposite to that of the fence, begin by turn- the scale, leaving in the weights of the dried ten. Take out the weight of the water from of the soils.[Professor Rennie.] ing three or four furrows with a side-hill soil, and suspend the beam, so that the scale e WHITE MULBERRY.-Experience and obserplough down hill; let them be thrown by the may rest on the lid of the tin vessel, the water vation have demonstrated that the shade of spade up the hill; plough three or four more in which it is still kept boiling; then with a mulberry trees is not injurio us to the growth on the same ground, and let them be thrown stop-watch note the exact time which the added of grass, grain, or any other vegetable. This above the others; the ground will then pre-water takes to evaporate, as will be shown by is an important discovery, and argues powersent this shapethe beam of the balance becoming level. Mr. fully in favor of the means of raising silk. Johnson found, that soils requiring less than I would advise, with humble cleference, that twenty-five, or more than fifty minutes, to eva-every farmer procure mulberry seed, form a porate the added water, and bring the balance nursery, transform all his fences into mulberry to a level, were always proportionally unpro- hedges, and plant standard mulberry trees ductive; the first, from having too much flinty along all those hedges half a rod distant from sand, and consequently too few interstices to each other. A farm of a hundred acres, fenced allow the water to escape. as above advised, would in a few y ears yield Rich soil, treated in this way, required thirty-from the fences a crop worth several hundred two minutes to bring the beam to a level; chalk, dollars! These fences would be as cheap as twenty-nine minutes; poor flinty soil, twenty- any other a farmer could erect, would require three minutes; and gypsum, only eighteen mi- no repairs, no renewal, so that all the produce Pick up your paving stones, if you have arising from the leaves would be a clear, profit. no better, or quarry about half as many as tonshire, containing, in 1000 parts, more than in this country, one pound of reeled silk, juA very fertile soil from Ormiston, Hadding-One hundred pounds of leaves would pro 'uce, are requisite to make an ordinary 3 feet half of finely-divided materials, among which |diciously fed, worth from four to seven dollars wall, and place them against the bank formed were eleven parts of limestone soil, and nine-the price being governed by the good or bad until you have a fence four feet high, and parts of vegetable principles, when dried in a reeling. A single tree will produce from thirty from nine to fifteen inches thick, and what similar way, gained eighteen grains in an hour, to sixty pounds of leaves, depending on the is better, one which will not fall down, and by exposure to moist air, at the heat of sixty-growth of the tree, soil, &c.-[Village Record.] which has been tested by the writer of this eight degrees Fahrenheit; while 1000 parts of article to resist the frost, when all other three grains in the same time. a barren soil, from Bagshot Heath, gained only methods of making stone walls have failed. Mr. Johnson farther found that one hundred The bank must incline one foot in the parts of burnt clay, when exposed in a dry four, or four and a half, of height. This state for three hours to air saturated with moisfence is made at less expense by one-half ture at sixty-eight degrees, took up twenty-nine of stone, and one-third of ordinary wall in parts of water; that gypsum, in similar circumthe price of laying. If designed to stop four parts. stances, took up only nine parts, and chalk only sheep, it must be staked and sided in this shape The same fence can be made on level ground, and has been by myself, when it will present nearly the above profile, staked and sided, and is effective against both sheep and cattle. L. M. T. Hoosick, Rensselaer co., March 21, 1834. 1 On Hussey's Reaping Machine. By CYRUS H. M'CORMICK. To the Editor of the Mechanics' Magazine, and Register of Inventions and Improvements. cutter for the purpose of preventing the grain from partaking of its motion, is a part of the principle of my machine, and was invented by me, and operated on wheat and oats in July, 1831. This can be attested to the entire satisfaction of the public and Mr. Hussey, as it was witnessed by many persons: consequently, I would warn all persons against the use of the aforesaid principle, as I regard and treat the use of it, in any way, as an infringement of my right. ROCKBRIDGE, Va., May 20, 1834. DEAR SIR,-Having seen in the April number of your " Mechanics' Magazine," a cut and description of a reaping machine, said to have been invented by Mr. Obed Hussey, of Ohio, Another method of testing the texture of soils last summer, I would ask the favor of you to is by taking what is termed their specific gra- inform Mr. Hussey, and the public, through vity; that is, comparing what they weigh in your columns, that that principle, viz., cutting, air with what they weigh in water. Sufficient grain by means of a toothed instrument, reaccuracy for practical purposes may be obtained ceiving a rotatory motion from a crank, with by drying two different soils, at an equal dis- the iron teeth projecting before the edge of the tance from a fire, or in an oven, at the same time, and then weighing in the air a pound of each in a thin bladder with a few holes near its top, or neck. When the weight has thus been obtained in the air, the bladder may be put into water, letting it sink low enough to permit the water to enter through the holes in the neck, in order to mix with the dried specimen of the soil. The weight in water, divided by the difference of the two weights, will be the specific gravity, pacity of the soil to take up and retain water. and the less this is, the greater will be the caSince the first experiment was made of the Muschenbroek thus found rich garden mould to performance of my machine, I have, for the mube 1630 compared to 1000 of water, and Fabro-tual interests of the public and myself, been ni found a barren sand to be 2210 compared to laboring to bring it to as much perfection as 1000 of water. the principle admitted of, before offering it to Or fill a wide necked pint or quart bottle half the public. I now expect to be able, in a very full with water, and add the soil to be tried till short time, to give such an account of its simthe water rises to the brim. Then if the bottle plicity, utility and durability, as will give genecan contain one pound of water, and gains half ral, if not universal satisfaction. The revolving a pound additional when filled in this way, half reel, as I conceive, constitutes a very important,. with water and half with soil, the soil thus tried in fact, indispensable part of my machine, will be twice as heavy as water, and its specific which has the effect, in all cases, whether the gravity will be two. If it only gain a quarter grain be tangled or leaning, unless below an of a pound, its specific gravity will only be one. angle of 45° to the ground, to bring it back to M. Giobert ascertained that a pound of fertile the cutter, and deliver it on the apron when soil contained, of flinty sand, about 4,400 grains, cut. Very respectrully, yours, &c., of clay about 600 grains, of lime about 400, besides seventy of water, and about twenty-five grains of inflamniable materials, chiefly carbon. of this Journal. On a comparative trial of a barren soil, M. Giobert found that a pound weight contained about EXPORTS FROM NEW-ORLEANS.--The Govera, is a small lamp; b, a stool, with a hole in 600 grains of clay, about 400 grains of lime, and nor of Louisiana, in his late message to the Lethe seat for receiving c, a shallow tin vessel, little or no inflammable materials. Mr. Gri- gislature, estimates the exports of New-Orleans closely covered, but having a pipe, d, for the senthwaite directs an equal portion of two soils, for the year 1931, at $31,700,000, as follows: escape of steam; h is a pair of accurate scales, perfectly dry, to be introduced into two tall Cotton 450,000 bales at $55 $31,640,000 such as are used by apothecaries and goldsmiths. glasses, in the midst of each of which a glass Tobacco 30,000 hhds. at $10 In order to employ this apparatus, put a small funnel has been previously placed. The soils Sugar 70,000 hhds. at $65 quantity of the soil to be tried upon the top of are to be put in so as to retain, as nearly as Molasses 3,500,000 gallons at 20 cts. the tin vessel, in which water is kept briskly possible, their natural state when in the ground, And for western produce. boiling for about half an hour, so as to thorough- and are consequently not to be too much press- from the sum of which he deducts $22,000,000 ly dry the soil by expelling its moisture. Take ed down. When this has been done, water is for home consumption-leaving the aggregate ten grains accurately weighed of this dried soil, to be poured very gradually into each of thellas above. TESTS OF THE TEXTURE OF SOILS.-One of the best methods of ascertaining the capability of any soil to take up and retain moisture is that described by Mr. C. Johnson, for which pur. pose he employs the following apparatus. CYRUS H. M'CORMICK. *For description and cut of this machine, see page 228 1,200,000 4,550,000 700,000 5,500,000 |