2Q0 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



venience, small portable mills, operated by hand, or horse power, as 

 occasion requires, have been provided. The accompanying cut rep 

 resents one kind that has been highly commended. The grinding 

 surfaces are made of iron, and when they are too much worn for use 

 new ones can be substituted in their place. The mill is strong and 

 durable. With horse-power applied, four bushels of fine meal can 

 be made in an hour ; and a greater quantity of coarse. And, what 

 is very important, the mill is not liable to get out of repair. 



HARDENING OF TIMBER. The Venetians are famous for 

 the soundness of their ships, which do not rot as those of other nations, 

 but will endure much longer than the others. Tachenlus tells us, 

 that the whole secret of this consists in the manner of their hardening 

 their timber intended for this service ; and that this is done by sink- 

 ing it in water while green, arid leaving it there many years. This 

 prevents the alkali, or that salt which furnishes the alkali in burning, 

 from exhaling afterwards ; and by this means the timber becomes al- 

 almost as incorruptible as stone. It is evident that the exhaling of 

 this salt, and the rotting of wood, have some very great connection 

 with one another, since the more sound any piece of timber is, the 

 more salt it proportionably yields ; and the wood which is rotten is 

 found on trial to contain no salt at all. 



HARROW. 



HARROW. Next to the plough, the harrow may be said to be 

 the oldest agricultural implement. It is represented on the most 



