THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



85 



laghtning Rods. Inquiry. 



"Editors of the Coi.tivator— Can you give 

 your readers any information as to the best nietli- 

 ods of preparing and putting up rods, as conduc- 

 tors on our buildings ? There is scarcely a year in 

 which great damage of property, and not unfre- 

 quently loss of life, is occasioned by lightning. I 

 think farmers should have their barns protected as 

 well as their houses, asc.rpcrience shows that they 

 are the most liable to destruction, at the time their 

 contents are the most valuable, that is immediately 

 after harvest. L. 1 . r. 



Yorh Co. Pa:' 



In erecting rods for the protection of buildings 

 from the effects of lightning, a few things most al- 

 ways be kept in mind, in order to ensure efficiency 

 and consequent safety. As the point of erection, 

 the most e.xposed and'elevated part of the building 

 should be chosen. If a dwelling house, the chim- 

 ney is the point that will require protection ; if 

 there are several of them, the most elevated one, 

 the one most exposed to the 



affords protection to five or six times the diameter I to the 4th of June, prevented a portion of the seed 

 of its height ; that is, a rod standing six feet above | from vegetating ; and the brown cut worni, which 



a building, will protect the building for thirty feet 

 around it. Instances have been known, however, 

 in which a chimney having a column of heated va- 

 por rising from it, has been struck, when within 

 the limits usually considered safe, in a protected 

 building. In such cases, the result must be ascri- 

 bed to the height, and conducting power of the 

 vapor. The foot of the conductor should gradual- 

 ly recede from the vi-alls of the building, and enter 

 the earth to such a depth as to reach moist earth, 

 and if the bottom of the rod is pointed, or split 

 and parted different ways in the earth, the passing 

 off of the fluid will be facilitated. No paint should 

 ever be allowed on a conductor. — The CulHvater. 



storm.^ ; as the westerly one ; or if but one has a 

 fire in it, that one will be found most liable to be 

 •struck by lightning, and will of course more re- 

 quire protection. Numberless recorded eases prove 

 that all heated currents of vapor, whether rising 

 from a chimney, or the masses of hay or grain in a 

 barn, are excellent conductors of the electric fluid, 

 and are to be considered as such in all arrange- 

 ments for protection. 



The materials to be used as the conducting me- 

 dium or rod, is another point that should be atten- 

 ded to. Iron is the most generally used for this 

 purpose, but copper is preferable, as it possesses 

 greater conducting power?, is not liable to rust or 

 fusion, and, being tougher, is not broken to frag- 

 ments by an electric discharge, as iron sometimes 

 is. The greater cheapness of iron, however, will 

 probably continue its use, and when well put up, 

 it gives all reasonable security. No iron rod should 

 be used of a less diameter than three-fourths of an 

 inch, and an inch rod is still better ; as it must be 

 remembered that the surface only has any effect in 

 conducting electricity, and, therefore, the larger 

 the surface over which it passes, the less intense 

 its action, and the le.is danger of breaking or fu- 

 sion. A small quantity of metal, if of the right 

 kind, and a large surface given to it, will make a 

 better conducto'r, than a larger quantity in an im- 

 proper form. Thus, a copper ribbon, two inches 

 wide, and of the proper length, will be superior to 

 a copper wire of the same weight, as the process 

 of rolling and flattening it, gives a much larger 

 surface ; and the same remark will be true in re- 

 gard to iron. A number of small iron or copper 

 wires, twisted into a rod, is better than a solid rod 

 of the same weight, for the same reason ; that is, 

 a greater surface is exposed by the small wire than 

 by the solid one, and this would be the best man- 

 ner of constructing rods, were it not to be appre- 

 hended, that heavy discharges passing over wires 

 would fuse and destroy thein. Such have been re- 

 oommcnded for ship conductors, as they would be 

 entire, and flexible, and perhaps it would be found 

 tliat the distribution of the fluid over such an ex- 

 tent of surface as such a rod would afford, would 

 prevent the danger of fusion in any case. 



In preparing tlie rod, the most essential thing is 

 the making of°tlie elevated points. These should 

 be several in number, slightly diverging from the 

 main rod, and the sharp points gilded or tipped 

 with silver, so as to prevent their rusting, and los- 

 ing, in a great degree, their conducting power. 

 Perhaps the easiest mode of pointing them, is to 

 make points of large silver wire an inch in length, 

 turning a screw on one end, and insert this into an 

 opening drilled in the tapered end ofeach branch 

 of the "conductor, to receive it. If wire of the 

 proper size is not convenient, they may be made by 

 cutting them from a half dollar, and hammering 

 them into the right form. If the rod is made in 

 pieces they should never be put up by turning hooks 

 on the ends, and connecting them in that way ; as 

 interruption to the fluid in its descent is frequently 

 attended with bad consequences. The several pie- 

 cesshouldbe put together with screws, the con- 

 necting piece receiving the ends of two rods, and 

 bein" as near the size of the conductor as strength 

 and security will admit. The rod should never be 

 secured tu the building by metal staples or fasten- 

 ings; or if such are necessary, the connection be- 

 tween the rod and these should be broken by "i-ces 

 of glass, which is a non-conductor. Wood 



Danger of new Theories. 



It is a good maxim, "let well enough alone" — a 

 better,' to " never change a certainty for an uncer- 

 tainty." Men curious in making experiments are 

 general course of I frequently losers. Every new theory found on pa 



tlie 



best for fastenings 

 cept from necessity 



and should only be used, ex- 

 It is not enough that the rod 

 aUract and receive the discharge; it must also 

 conduct it to the earth, or no adequi^te security is 

 afforded. 



It has been estimated that a rod properly made, 



per should not be hastily adopted without caution. 

 In the business of fanning we consider that infor- 

 mation much more valuable that comes from 

 men who have had a long experience, than from 

 the mere book farmer who can draw out a plausible 

 theory from his own imagination. Here is the 

 danger to a young farmer, or to the old man of any 

 other occupation who has recently taken up that 

 business, that he looks too much to agricultural 

 theories and speculations found in the publications 

 of the day. We are satisfied that there are many 

 usages in other climates and different soils from 

 ours, that will not answer for us. There are many 

 new kinds of production that have succeeded well 

 in other countries that should be carefully tried on 

 a small scale before they shall be extensively adop- 

 ted. 



We have abstained, ever since the commence- 

 ment of the Monthly Visitor, from ministering to 

 the passion for the Mulberry cultivation and the 

 Silk culture : we even took an early stand against 

 the Morns Multicaulis, much to the dissatisfaction 

 of some of our agricultural cotemporaries ; and in 

 doing this, we think we have, negatively,done this 

 north section of the Union some service. We have 

 not hitherto urged tlie apparently more feasible 

 method of procuring our own sugar from the cul- 

 tivation of the beet, because we are not yet satisfi- 

 ed of the certainty that it will succeed— although 

 we think there is no danger that the farmer will 

 raise too much of the French sugar beet to feed out 

 to his stock of cattle. Both the silk and the beet 

 sugar business may be introduced hereafter ; but 

 until our farmers can raise bread enough for our 

 own consumption, they may as well continue their 

 cultivation as it is, as to leave off raising Indian 

 corn, rve, wheat and potatoes to turn their fields 

 into mulberry orchards, or plant them exclusively 

 with the sugar beet. 



When we procured the small Canada corn three 

 or four years ago, we were told that the crop might 

 be much increased by planting in drills with the 

 rows near together — say not over three feet. It 

 will be remembered that the stalk of this Canada 

 corn, which grows and ripens nearly a month short 

 of the larger sized corn, is extremely diminutive, 

 and of course does not sluit out the sun. Yet be- 

 fore the fall we were convinced that we should 

 have had more corn if we had planted one third 

 less. 



The Brown corn is of larger stalk than the Can- 

 ada corn, ripening as soon as the earliest within a 

 week. Last year we had a fine crop of this corn 

 in our best manured land where the soil was near- 

 ly seventy-live parts in a Iiundred of clear river 

 sand; and the hills were only three feet one way 

 by twenty inches to two feet the other. It will be 

 recollected that there was an uncommon degree of 

 wetness after the 10th of June last summer; and 

 from this circumstance we were fortunate in plac- 

 ing the hills nearer on this ground. 



Partly consulting our own experience and partly 

 the statement of Mr. Brown upon the Winnipisse- 

 ogee island in the preparation of his ground where 

 he raised more than one Iiundred bushels of corn 

 to the acre, we have this year planted our corn four 

 stalks to the hill, and measured the rows one way a 

 distance of about three feet, with guessing an ir- 

 reo-ular position of the hill at about two feet dis- 

 tance the other way. Our land has been better 

 prepaved than it ever was before : we have put from 

 thirty to forty Ptout oxcart loads of manure to the 

 acre ; four acres of land have been prepared with 

 manure spread and ploughed under and manure in 

 the hill. Here we have been unexpectedly unfor- 

 tunate : it is the first time of trying manure in the 

 hill, which is done with considerable additional la- 

 bor. The dry weather from the 14th of May to 



we had been accustomed to meet only in the sward 

 land, has changed his position to the old ground 

 which had been broken up three years, where ruta 

 bagagrcw last year and corn the year before. We 

 have endeavored to make up the deficiency by re- 

 planting ; and we intend to supply still further de- 

 ficiencies where vacant hills have been made by 

 the worm, from plantinjrat the second time hoeing 

 a quick growing bean furnished us by our friend 

 Col. Wood of Henniker, which he says will have 

 ample lime to ripen. 



In the sward land, ploughed full ten inches deep 

 •and the sod all turned out of siglitby one of Prou- 

 ty's ploughs, on which the manure has been exclu- 

 sively spread, and apart harrowed in and the more 

 strawy manure ploughed under to the depth of four 

 or five inches without disturbing the sward — we 

 think we shall best succeed with our crop of corn. 

 The land was broken up about the first of May, 

 after the grass had sprung, instead of breaking it 

 up in the previous fall as we had before done ; and, 

 as we think a consequence of this, the cut worm, 

 contrary to our expectation, had not at the time of 

 first hoeing scarcely disturbed a single hill. 



Our apprehension now is, that wc have planted 

 the hills of corn on the abundantly manured ground 

 too near eacli other. At the second hoeing we in- 

 tend in all cases to reduce the stalks to three in 

 each hill, and even if we reduce them to two, we 

 are not sure that it will be for the disadvantage of 



our crop. 



Going into the field of our neighbor who has his 

 cornfield upon the pine plain of the intervale upon 

 the east side, and who h'as only manured his land 

 sparingly in the hill, we found he had not much 

 beyond half our number of iiills on the same 

 ground. His ground was very early and was plan- 

 ted at least a week sooner than ours: his corn was 

 of good color and was seemingly more than a week 

 in advance of the growth of ours. The old gen- 

 tleman numbers more years than we do, and ha.3 

 had ten times our experience in the farming busi- 

 ness. As wc grow older we think more and more 

 favorably of the saying—" Old men for council." 

 He says — and there must be some allowance for 

 his land being lighter and having less manure — 

 that he has invariably raised more corn with the 

 hills farthest distant ; that one year while he lived 

 in Deerfield — where the land is of more stamina 

 than the pine plains— by mistake in his absence his 

 sons planted the hills of his corn field full four feet 

 apart, which he at first regretted ; but that at har- 

 vestiniT he hail more bushels of corn on this ground 

 than he ever had on any other land. 



We are inore and more inclined to the opinion 

 that the long experience of our old farmers in 

 most things is better to be followed as an example 

 than the adoption of new theories, which appear 

 very well until tliey are tried. As an illustration 

 of the ideas we would enforce, we copy the fol- 

 lowing communication from Mr. Skinner's excel- 

 lent ao-ricultural journal published at Baltimore ■. 



From the Aiuerican Farmer. 

 Scalding Seals. — Mr. Editor: — I was "not long 

 since conversing with a very agreeable neighbor of 

 yours; a gentleman of very general inlormation 

 and a very pleasant way of communicating wl^at 

 he knows. — The conversation turned as many have 

 done of late on root crops.— I was lamenting that 

 it was rather lato, as I apprehended, for sowing or 

 planting the sugar beet. " Not at all," said he, 

 "only be sure to accelerate the germination of the 

 seed, that you pour on boiling water." — Boiling wa- 

 ter ! exclaimed I. — " Yes," said he, "boiling wa- 

 ter." Well, Sir, I considered my authority so 

 good, he being a practical farmer, and as I well 

 linevv eminently successful with root crops — bear- 

 iniJ- off, if I mistake not, some of your premiums 

 of the old Maryland Agricultural Society, that I 

 made no further scruple, but went home and had 

 nry genuine imported white beet seed put into a tub 

 and boiling water poured on them ; they were then 

 rolled in lime and dirt, so as to prepare them very 

 nicely for planting. The ground was in beautiful 

 order — even the line was stretched to have the 

 work neatly done, and I was enjoying in advance 

 tlie well earned approbation of your friend Mr. 

 RonaUlson, the great promoter of root culture. 

 True, from none of my coUaborateurs could I ex- 

 tort even a nod of approbation of the scalding pro- 

 cess. The negro woman, a faithful and obliging 

 creature, asked if I did not mean tcarm water. — 

 And there was old Isaac Stevens, of Annapolis, — 

 Major Gwinn's old body servant, with all his expe- 

 rience of half a century as a gardener— even he 

 had never heard of boiling water on beet seed ! 

 By the by, as we worked on together, I asked 

 Isaac if Col. Maynadier, for whom I have ever en- 



