134 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 



times a minute; and will revolve, working well, at 

 3000 in the same space of time. And lately. Riison 

 lias made t!i(Mii revolve 4000 limes. Now, let us 

 look at !hc still grealer improveirients of America. 

 Our spindles for spiiuiing cotton, which work on 

 the same principle as the spindles of the throwing 

 niachiiies of Piedmont, are made to revolve, 

 working well, at the rate of about 5000 times in 

 a minute. And the following important evidence 

 has been kindly furnished me by Jl)r. Hobbs, the 

 agent of the Waltham manufacturing compan}'. 

 Twenty years ago, the Waltham iactory put out 

 all their cotton yum to weave in private families; 

 and the price they then paid for weaving No. 14 

 cotton y:uTi, into cloth 37^ inches wide, was from 

 eight or ten cents a yard, which is I'ully equal to 

 the average price which the same goods have 

 sold lor the last five years. Now by improve- 

 ments in the pwoer looms, the cloth of the same 

 kind and quality is wove lor | of a cent a yard; 

 and a girl will tend two looms, and occasionally 

 three, and each loom will weave, of this same 

 quality of cloth, from forty to forty-five j'ards in a 

 day of twelve hours. The improvements in spin- 

 ning at these factories are even as great at this 

 day, and liir bclbre all other times and countries. 

 A girl now tends 246 spindles, which will spin 

 1,300,000 yards of No. 14 yarn in a day of twelve 

 hours, (ef|ual to about 733 miles) which is equal 

 to 1548 hanks, or 110 lbs. To do this twenty 

 years ago, in a day of twelve hours on hand rrxa- 

 chines, would have required 500 girls. Now, 

 not only in manufactures of cotton, but in many 

 other articles of manulacture we are able, quality 

 considered, to undersell not only Britain, but any 

 other nations, even in their own markets. 



It has been remarked by the Baron Charles 

 Dupin, who is deemed high authority for his sa- 

 gacity and distinguished researches into all sub- 

 jects connected with questions of commercial and 

 political interest, that in all the most important 

 branches of manufacture, a superiority the most 

 decided has been attained by those people with 

 whom labor bears a higher price than with their 

 rivals. He instances, In proof, the cotton manu- 

 factures of England, which are afforded both 

 cheaper and of better quality than by any other 

 people of Europe, although the price of la- 

 bor is dearer in Great Britain than in any other 

 country of the eastern world. Also, he instances 

 the manufacture of linens, in which the Dutch and 

 the Belgians surpass and undersell the Bretons, 

 although the price of labor is higher in Holland 

 and Belgium than in Brittany. Furthermore, he 

 has also shewn, that in the production of fine 

 woollens, France surpasses and undersells Spain, 

 although the price of labor is higher in France 

 than in the latter kingdom. 



The striking superiority in these instances; 

 is ascribed by him to higher aHainments in me- 

 chanical ingenuity and skill, and a more emi- 

 nent degree of commercial knowledge and enter- 

 prise. 



On a careful investigation, it will usually be 

 found that the apparent diflerence in the price of 

 labor between different countries is rather nomi- 

 nal than real; and in those countries where la- 

 bor is higher in regard to price, there the greatest 

 encouragement is always offered for the exercise 

 of the ingenuity of man, in curtailing and dimin- 

 ishing its amount in every possible mode. Sutli- 



cient and ample evidence of this imporanl fact is 

 taking place daily, and before our own eyes, and 

 in our own country. 



William Kekrick. 



Nonanium Hill, (il/ass.) March 17, 1837. 



From tlie Farmer's Series of the Library of Useful Knowledge. 

 BURNT CLAY. 



Thk burning of clay, for manure, is an inven- 

 tion which has been attributed to the Earl of Hal- 

 ifiix, and is supposed not to have been adopted in 

 England until about the year 1780; but it was 

 knov/n in this country at a far more distant peri- 

 od, and has been mentioned in some very old tracts 

 on agriculture, in one of which, published more 

 than a century ago, under the title of 'The Prac- 

 tical Farmer, or the Hertfordshire Flusbandman,' 

 the method of preparing and applying it to the 

 land is described in a manner which differs but little 

 from the present practice. In 'The Country Gen- 

 tleman's Companion,' printed in Jjondon in the 

 year 1732, there are also two engravings of kilns 

 for burning clay, with several letters from various 

 persons, stating that the plan had succeeded in 

 many places in both England and Scotland ; and 

 that, in experiments made in the latter country, it 

 had been found preferable to either lime or dung, 

 but too expensive. In the north of Ireland it has 

 also been carried on time out of mind, and in the 

 vicinity of the bogs, where fuel is accessible, the 

 the manure which it aflbrds is cheap and inex- 

 haustible, and the power of cropping is thus ex- 

 tended beyond what could otherwise be practica- 

 ble*. An essay has been written by Mr. Bur- 

 roughs, describing its good effects in very warm 

 terms: many other treatises have likewise been 

 published upon the subject; and the gold medal of 

 the Society of Arts was, not many years since, 

 awarded to Dr. Cartwright for his experiments. 



The practice, however, fell into considerable 

 disuse, until it was revived, in the year 1815, by 

 some letters in the 'Farmer's JMagazine,' and, 

 still more recently, by the account given by Gene- 

 ral Beatson of the process, and its consequences, on 

 his fiirm in Sussex, in which he describes the effi- 

 cacy of calcined clay, when compared with either 

 lime, dung, wood-ashes, or peat and dung, as 

 equal, and in some instances superior, to any of 

 those manures f. This has been followed by two 

 other publications, — one at Y^ork, and the otlier at 

 Ipswich f, — each nearly supporting the same prin- 

 ciple by arguments drawn from practical proofs: and 

 it seems to have been, in many cases, sanctioned 

 by the experience of extensive farmers, of which 

 we shall here state some instances. 



Experiments. 



A turnip-field was manured by Mr. Craig, of 

 Cally, in Gallowayshire, partly with rotten stable- 



* Curwen's Observations on tlie State of Ireland, 

 vol. i. p. 57. 



t See 'A New System of Cultivation, without lime, 

 dung, or summer fallows, as practised at Knowie Farm, 

 in the County of Sussex ;' by Major General Alexan- 

 der Beatson. Second Edition, p. 21. 



f 'Cheap manure, produced by the newly-discovered 

 Methods of Eurnin;;- Clay;' Anon. York. Second 

 Edition, 1822; and 'Practical Hints on Burning Clay,' 

 &.C.: by Charles Poppy. Ipswich, 1830. 



