FARMERS' REGISTER— BURNING GYPSUM. 



623 



understood and Avell considered, it would produce 

 many valuable improvements in agriculture, it 

 would save the innocent and helpless domestic an- 

 imals from a dreadful mass of sulfering, and it 

 would save the earth, from that empoverishment, 

 hy which posterity are subjected to oppressive la- 

 bors and hardships lor its renovation, which an 

 enlightened regard to their own true interests, on 

 the part of their ancestors, would have rendered 

 Avholly unnecessary. As the rearhigof hogs ought 

 probablv, in the present state of East Tennessee, 

 to fomi a prominent item, of her agricultural pur- 

 suits, we propose frooj time to time, presenting to 

 our renders the most valuable articles on the sub- 

 ject, which may be within our reach, and we ear- 

 nestly request those who may have made any val- 

 uable experiments, to furnish usv,'ilha detailed ac- 

 count of them, and of their results. Our own ex- 

 perience authorises us confidently to assure our 

 readers, that regular salting is no less beneficial 

 to hogs than to other stock, and that to spread the 

 salt on ashes in the salt trough, is a mode well cal- 

 culated to preserve the health of the animals. 



From the Tennessee Farmer. 



OiV BUnxiA'G GYPSU3I. 



A subscriber propounds to us the following ques- 

 tions: 



1st, Will the burning of plaster answer in lieu 

 of grinding? 



2nd. If so, how should the process be conduc- 

 ted? 



We should be glad to receive replies to the above 

 inquiries from any of those who have made the 

 experiment. In the mean time we would advise 

 our correspondent to make an experiment on a 

 .small scale. We have heard of burnt plaster 

 being used with advantage near Abingdon, Virgi- 

 nia. We once endeavored to make an experiment 

 but found it difficult to burn the plaster on a log 

 Jieap so as that it would slack. The practice of 

 burning, nay even of kiln drying to facilitate the 

 grinding, is condemned by others as very injurious 

 to the piaster — we should therefore be loth to try it 

 on a large scale. 



From the Farmers' Series of the Library of Useful Kiiowleilgo. 

 ON DRAUGHT. 



It will be necessary first, to explain and define 

 clearly some terms which will occur frequently in 

 the course of this paper, and especially the word 

 'draught,' which is the title itself of the treatise. 



This word is used in such a very general and 

 vague sense, that it would be difficult, if not im- 

 possible, to give an explanation which should ap- 

 ])ly equally to all its different meanings. 



In the expression draught by animal power, it 

 would seem to mean the action itself of drawing, 

 while, on the other hand, it is irequently used to 

 signify the amount of power employed, also the 

 degree of resistance, as when we say the draught 

 of a horse, or the draught of a carriage. Draught 

 power is also an expression used. We shall, 

 however, in the course of this treatise, confine our 

 use of the word to the two meanings — draught, 

 the action of dragging — and draught, the resist- 

 ance tO' the power employed to drag any given 

 weight. 



Force of traction is another expression requiring 

 explanation; but here we must enter into more de- 

 tail, and shall give at once a practical illustration 

 of our meanmg. 



A force is most conveniently measured by the 

 weight which it would be capable of raising; but 

 it is not therefore necessarily applied vertically, in 

 which direction weight or gravity acts. 



If a weight of 100 lbs. be suspended to a rope, 

 it is clearly exerting upon this rope a force of 100 

 lbs.; but if the rope be passed over a pully void of 

 Iriction, and continued horizontally, or in any 

 other direction, and then attached to some fixed 

 point, the weight still acts u{;on all parts of this 

 rope, and consequently upon the point to which it 

 is fixed, with a Ibrce equal to 100 lbs. and so in- 

 verse!}", if a horse be pulling at a rope with a 

 Ibrce which if the rope were passed over a pully, 

 would raise 100 lbs., the force of traction of the 

 horse is in this case 100 lbs. Spring steelyards be- 

 ing now commonly in use, we may be permitted 

 to refer to them as affording another clear exem- 

 plification of our meaning. In pulling at a steel- 

 yard of this description, whether the force be ex- 

 erted horizontally or vertically, the index will of 

 coui'se, show the same amount; and, consequent- 

 ly, if the strength of the horse be measured by at- 

 taching the traces to one of these steelyards, the 

 number of pounds indicated on the dial will be 

 the exact measure ol' the strain the horse exerts, 

 and the amount of straiii is called his 'force of 

 traction.' 



Having fixed as nearly as possible the meaning 

 of these terms, which will Irequently occur in the 

 course of our progress, we shall proceed to the 

 division of the subject. 



It is evident that there are three distinct agents 

 and points of consideration in the operation of 

 draught, which are quite independent of each 

 other. They are — first, the moving power and 

 the mode of applying it; secondly, the vehicle for 

 conveying the weight to be moved; thirdly, the 

 canal, road, or railway, or what may be generally 

 termed the channel of conveyance. 



All these individually influence the amount of 

 draught, and require separate consideration; but 

 the mode of combining these different agents has 

 also a material effect upon the result: consequently, 

 thev must be considered in relation to each other; 

 and todbtain the maximum useful efTect, whh the 

 greatest economy, in the employment of any 

 given power, it is evidenilj' necessary that these 

 different agents should not only each be the best 

 adapted to its purpose, and perfect to the greatest 

 possible degree, but also that they should all be 

 combined to the greatest advantage. 



We siiall proceed at once, then, to examine the 

 different agents now employed, the modes of ap- 

 plying them, and the proportionate effects pro- 

 duced. 



And, first, Avith regard to the species of moving 

 power; — 



This may be of two kinds, animal and mechan- 

 ical. 



By animal power we mean the direct applica- 

 tion "of the strength of any animal to dragging or 

 pulling, as in the simple case of a horse dragging 

 a cart. By mechanical, the application of any 

 poAver through the intervention of^ machineiy; the 

 source of power in this latter case luay, laowever, 



