850 



FARMERS' REGISTER— SKINLESS OAT. 



Avay pull much, compared to the tongue oxen. 

 Home tarmers drive three yoke to one cart, but 

 there is nothing gained by it. A load of" grain 

 Avith us for one yoke of oxen is twenty bushels, 

 for two yoke thirty bushels; so the foremost yoke 

 of oxen are allowed to draw only half as much as 

 the tongue oxen; the third yoke of course would 

 draw only in proportion without allowing any thing 

 for the weight ol' the cart. They do well in hot 

 and dry weather 1o walk beflire and kick up the 

 dust, to suffocate those that are laboring behind, 

 and in the winter to i)ick their way and jerk those 

 behind to the right and left that are doing all the 

 work. One yoke well kept will do more work 

 than three poor ones, because they pull to a much 

 greater advantage. 



A marl cart bod}^, for four oxen, should be made 

 of light materials, and should be about six feet 

 long, four feet two inches wide behind, three feet 

 ten inches wide before, all outside measure, and 

 one loot deep in the clear, and without a tail-board. 

 Then when loaded it will hold about fifteen bushels. 

 The hooks and eyes should be three inches nearer 

 behind than before. For further fixtures respect- 

 ing this body, see a piece written by me, and pub- 

 lished in Vol. I, page 197, of the Farmers' Re- 

 gister. 



KDMUKD F. NOEL. 



EMMONS CHAIN-BAND HORSE-I'O WER. 



To Ihc Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Richmond, Va., Aug. 7, 1834. 



I have noticed in your Register of May last, an 

 inquiry respecting Emmons' chain band horse- 

 power, advertised on the cover of a previous num- 

 ber of your Register, by (the proprietors of the 

 patent right for Virginia) Messrs. Jabez Parker & 

 H. M. Smith of this city, and expressing a desire 

 to see a more detailed account of it from some 

 practical mechanic — of its applicability to a horse 

 mill, its cost, &c., as also an account of the ma- 

 chinery made at Mr. Jabez Parker's agricultural 

 machine shop. And considering myself a practical 

 mechanic, having served as an apprentice to, and 

 followed the machine making business for the last 

 twenty-eight years; and having travelled through, 

 and resided in the Northern and Western States, 

 and seen and witnessed the operation of the most 

 of the horse-powers and other machinery- now in 

 use; and having boarded for about four months 

 past opposite to Mr. Parker's shop, which I have 

 very frequently visited, and noticed particularly 

 the before mentioned horse-power, (which he oc- 

 casionally uses in giving motion to a grist mill, 

 thrashing machine and circular saw,) as well as 

 the other kinds of machines made and sold at his 

 shop; I therefore consider m3-self a competent 

 judge of them, and in the way of duty, as called 

 upon to answer the inquiry in your Register before 

 mentioned, and as a friend to improvement, and 

 to the agricultural comnmnity, I with pleasure 

 undertake to do so. 



I have not time to give a lengthy detailed account 

 of the chain-band horse-power, nor do I think it 

 necessary, but this much I will say, that the one 

 Mr. Parker has in use works very well; it is the 

 most simple in its construction; requires less horse 

 power to do the same work; is apparently more 

 durable, and less liable to get out of order, than 



any other kind of horse power that I have ever 

 seen. It performs the same work with less horse- 

 power or with more ease to the horses, than others, 

 because there is little or no friction, there being no 

 gear wheels — the motion being obtained fi-om the 

 chain-band Avinding from the whirl in the band 

 wheel shaft into the Ibrked ends of the levers from 

 which the horses draw, so that the whole strength 

 laid out by the horses, is immediately applied to 

 turning llie band wheel, whhout the usual loss 

 there is in geared horse-powers by friction. This 

 horse-power must, I think, be durable, as there is 

 but very little wear upon any part of it, except the 

 chain, and that, if it is kept out of the dirt and 

 oiled, will Avear a long time; and it being the same 

 kind of chain in common use upon plantations, it 

 is very easily mended or made anew by common 

 blacksmiths. 



Those horse-powers are light and portable, not 

 Aveiohing, I presume, over 800 to 1000 pounds, 

 but may be made stationary for the same cost of 

 portable ones, and their being but little cast iron 

 about them, they may be easily made in any part 

 of the country. They are well adapted to giving 

 motion to a small grist mill, thrashing machine, 

 cotton gin, and for all other purposes for which 

 horse-powers are used. Mr. Parker's price for 

 them, including a good leather band and all ne- 

 cessary fixtures, is ^100; but, I presume, they may 

 be built for much less, Avhere timber and labor are 

 low. 



JOEL EARNS, 



Of Cincinnati, Ohio. 



SKINLESS OAT, AND NUT BEARING PINE. 



To tlis Editor of llie Fanners' Register. 



Hickory Grove, Northampton County, ) 

 N. C. \st October, 1834. 3 



In a visit to the Virginia springs during the past 

 summer, I formed an acquaintance Avith a very 

 Avorthy gentleman (Mr. Arthur G. Rose) from 

 Charleston, S. C, in Avhom I discovered a con- 

 geniality of taste Avith myself in experimenting 

 upon the rare productions of nature. In our con- 

 versations on the subject, I learnt that he had pro- 

 cured some of the "skinless oats," and the "nut- 

 bearing pine," and he Avas kind enough to promise 

 me some of^ the seeds of both. On my return 

 home, a short time since, I Avas highly gratified to 

 find that they had safely arrived through my com- 

 mission merchants in Norfolk, to Avhose care I 

 requested Mr. Rose to consign them. I designed 

 sending you a few of them, but finding in the 

 August number of the Farmers' Register that a 

 correspondent had sent you some of the oats, I 

 shall herein send you six of the pine nuts, only. 

 The nuts grow in a bur resembling a large unripe 

 bur of our common pine, (except the color, Avhich 

 is the same as that of a perfectly ripe bur) — that 

 is, the scales between Avhicli the nuts are enve- 

 loped adhere closely together. From the hardness 

 of the nut I should infer, that it Avill take a con- 

 siderable time to vegetate. I design planting some 

 forthwith, both in the open ground and in a box, 

 and also in the same Avay, early in the spring. 

 Mr. Rose informs me by letter, that he has two 

 flourishing young trees from the seed, but does not 

 say Avhen'tiie seed Avere planted, or in Avhat man-_ 

 ner, or AA'hether the bur sent me grew on one of 



