No. 1. 



Preserving Wood by Lime Water, SfC. 



17 



Father. -^Yes^ and althounfh you must have 

 noticed thediiferenceof time requisite to turn 

 an acre when the land is long-, compared with 

 the time consumed when it is sliort, neither 

 you or any one else could easily believe the 

 difference to be so great as it really is. Here 

 is a table, showing that diiference, and a most 

 interesting one it is. 



PLOUGHING. 



When the ridges are no more than 78 yards 

 long, four hours and thirty-nine minutes are 

 spent in turnings in a journey of eight hours ! 

 whereas, when the ridges are 274 yards long, 

 one hour and nineteen minutes are sufficient 

 in the same length of time. 



Frank. — Indeed, no one would have calcu- 

 lated the amazing difference, and the next 

 time we hear of ploughing against time, I 

 shall not fail to inquire the length of the 

 ridges. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Anti-Septic Effects of liiiiie Water. 



The Mechanics' Magazine having just ar- 

 rived from England, I extract from it the 

 following letter on the preserving of wood by 

 lime water. The Cabinet already contains 

 some information on this subject, but perhaps, 

 it would be well to show that the experience 

 in England agrees with that of our own coun 

 try. The most likely way, in my opinion, to 

 bring it into general use, would be for some 

 industrious person to take out a patent for it, 

 and sell out, state, county, and township, as 

 well as individual rights, to use the process 

 — say charge each and every farmer five dol- 

 lars for the privilege of steeping his pots in 

 lime water, and it would soon become uni- 

 versal ; some would pay the fee, and others 

 would make a merit of evading the pretended 



patent right. The old folks would affirm 

 that there was nothing new about it, that 

 they knew it before the patentee was born, 

 though they had omitted to try it themselves, 

 and the young ones would shrewdly suspect 

 that it did not differ much in principle from 

 the well known practice of white-washing. 

 _ Z. 



Preserving Wood 'by l4ime Water. 



Sir, — I some years ago called the attention 

 of the readers of your instructive periodical 

 to Sir Charles Steward Menteith's, (of Close- 

 burn, Dumfrieshire,) simple unpatented me- 

 thod of preserving timber ; I think it so valu- 

 able a process that it cannot be too often pub- 

 lished. It is as follow.', after cutting the tim- 

 ber to the size it will be wanted, it is steeped 

 in a pond of lime and water for a fortnight, or 

 more or less time, according to the size of the 

 wood. Sir Charles has now some farm build- 

 ings on his estate, the timber of the roofs of 

 which is the common young Scotch fir, but 

 having undergone the lime toater process, it 

 is as sound, after a lapse of forty years, as the 

 day it was put up; the same timber, under 

 ordinary circumstances, and in similar situa- 

 tions, would rot in from three to seven years. 

 The carpenters find, in working the wood 

 thus treated, that the edges of their plane- 

 irons soon become dull, on examination, it is 

 found that the acid contained in the wood is 

 chrystallized by combining with the alkali 

 of the lime. 



Yours faithfully, 



Arthur Trevelyan. 



Wallington, Newcastle, Tvne, ) 

 7th of May, lV39. j 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Bar EI- Yards a ltd Manure. 



There is no branch of agriculture so much 

 entitled to the consideration of the farmer as 

 that of the accumulation and preparation of 

 the food of vegetable.s. All are aware that 

 the principal source of vegetation is that of 

 putrescent matter; consequently, their atten- 

 tion is naturally directed to the collection of 

 as much vegetable and animal substances as 

 possible. Barn-yards are appropriate reci- 

 pients for such accumulation. South expo- 

 sures are the most desirable locations. The 

 direct iiifluence of the sun greatly promotes 

 decomposition. The bottoms of barn-yards 

 should be level, and so enclosed that the ex- 

 tracts from the manure produced by rains, 

 should be retained as much as possible. The 

 bottom of the yard should have a covering of 

 loose earth, of some inciies, which is desig'ned 

 as an absorbent to retain the extractive mat- 



