THE FARMER AT HOME. 45! 



horses were covered with iron scales. At the ends of the pole, lances 

 were fastened, and at the sides and below were scythes. These 

 chariots were driven into the ranks of the enemy. The Greeks, he- 

 sides, used two-wheeled chariots, each containing two persons, one of 

 whom drove, while the other threw spears. The chariots were open 

 behind and had low wheels. The Romans used them early. From 

 the time of Roger Bacon (in the thirteenth century) to our days, many 

 trials of locomotive wagons have been made, of which the steam 

 wagon, lately brought to such perfection, is the most important. 

 The wind has also been frequently used to propel wagons. Simon 

 Stevin, of Bruges, invented a sailing wagon for twenty-eight persons, 

 which, on even ground, is said to have travelled fourteen Dutch 

 leagues in two hours ! Mr. Slater, an Englishman, travelled in a 

 sailing wagon from Alexandria to Bassora. 



Where wagons are used for husbandry, they should be wide and 

 low. Manures may be carried in this sort of wagon almost as well 

 as in carts. Broad wheels are improper for passing and repassing 

 upon tillage lands ; for, if in fallow, they press the land too much, 

 and make it so hard as to prevent its being ploughed till rain comes ; 

 but on grass lands broad wheels are proper for all uses, as they oper- 

 ate as rollers. Wagons are probably the best conveyances for heavy 

 loads of every kind to a distance ; but for home business, especially 

 harvest and other work, which requires to be speedily performed in 

 the field, carts, it is believed, will generally be found preferable. It 

 is important that wagons, whether for husbandry or on the highway, 

 should be as light as consistent with strength and durability. To 

 this end they should be made of the best materials, and with the best 

 workmanship. Where two or three hundred pounds are thus saved 

 in weight, it is apparent that so much additional can be transported 

 at each load. Wagons, like all other farm implements, when not in 

 use should be under cover ; and if well painted every year, it would 

 be economy. 



WALNUT TREE. A valuable tree, which, in its several varie- 

 ties, is a native of the United States of America. The walnut is 

 valuable for fuel, for timber and for fruit. Black walnut has been 

 often employed in the manufacture of household furniture ; but being 

 very brittle, it is at present partly superceded by mahogany and other 

 foreign timber. Nevertheless it is still highly prized by joiners and 

 cabinet-makers, for tables, gun-stocks, and other light articles ; as it 

 is beautifully veined, and admits of a fine polish. The black walnut 

 is also used in ship-joinery, in carriage-making, and for the interior 

 of churches. The fruit of the walnut tree is used at two periods of 

 its growth, namely, when green, for pickling, and in a ripe state, at 

 the dessert. According to Bartram, the Creek Indians store up the 

 shell bark hickory or walnuts, sometimes to the amount of an hundred 

 bushels to a family. They pound them to pieces, and then cast them 



