558 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



which, if they have not afforded profit, have sup- 

 plied me with a (lind of umuseir.eiit, and probably 

 eoine litlle increape ()ri<novvIe(li.M\ 



The Schoolmasteu Abroad. 



DRY MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Very few things? are more nscrul in house-keep- 

 ing than eurh articles. Yet, I believe, it may 

 truly be said, that very lew W any lainilies are 

 provided with more than one or two of them : 

 say, a hall-bushel, which rarely agrees with the 

 standard, and sonieihing called a quart-can, to- 

 gether, perhaps, vviih one which is supposed to 

 coniain a pint. These last, however, are always 

 of the wine measure size. Consequently, every 

 one who receives any dry article measured by 

 them — meal or flour, (or instance — loses very nearly 

 ten cubic inches in every quart which he pur- 

 chases, there being that dilference between the 

 wet and the dry measure quart. But this is not 

 ihe worst of it ; lor 1 believe that almost all, 

 probably all the measures we make lor ourselves, 

 (if indeed we make any,) of a smaller size than 

 the hall-bushel, such as the peck and hall-peck 

 measures used in our mills, are graduated by the 

 tin quart- cans which we |)urchase from the tin- 

 shops, and never think of examining so as to as- 

 certain what they coniain. I know not wiiat is 

 the cause of tliis carelessness and neglect, unless il 

 be, that most house-keepers are either too lazy, or 

 loo Ignorant ol'common arithmetic 1o direct the mak- 

 ing of their own measures, especially in a round 

 form, and so leave themselves entirely vvilhoui 

 any. But be this as it may, I have thought that 

 1 ni'ght perhaps render an acceptable service to 

 some of our agricultural brethren, fis well as to 

 others, by furnishing them with the dimensions of 

 boxes nearly square, which would coniain the lol- 

 lowing quantities: a bushel, half bushel, peck, 

 half-peck or gallon, half-gallon and quart — barrel 

 (of 5 bushels) and half-barrel. All these can easi- 

 ly be made by any common carpenter, who can 

 use the ordinary tools of his vocation, and can pro- 

 cure a small quantity of very well seasoned plank of 

 some wood which is least liable to shrink and to 

 swell. 



You, my good sir, and many others know, that 

 no measure of capacity can be made with abso- 

 lute accuracy, for reasons wiih which il is need- 

 less here to trouble your readers in general, and I 

 shall therefore omit them. But the fractions in 

 the measures here given, are quite near enough 

 for all common purposes, as all of them come 

 within a very few parts of a cubic inch of con- 

 taining the exact quaniiiies which each is designed 

 to coniain. None are in use of greater accuracy. 



Dmensions. 



A box 16 in. by 16.8-tenths and 8 in. deep will con- 

 tain a standard bushel or 2150 cub. in. 4-tenihs. 



A box 12 in. by 11.2-tenihs and 8 in. deep will con- 

 tain a half-bushel or 1075 cub. in. 2 tenihs. 



A box 8 in. by 8.4-tenth3 and 8 in. deep will con- 

 tain one peck or 537 cub. in. G- tenths. 



A box 8 in. by 8 and 4.2-tenih3 deep will contain 

 half a peck or 268 cub. in. S-tenlhs. 



A box 5 in. by 5.6-tenlhs and 4 in. deep will con- 

 lain half a gallon or 131 cub. in. 4-icnths. 



A box 4 in. by 4 and 4 2-tenths in. deep will con- 

 tain one quart or 67 cub. in. 2-tenlhg. 

 A box 24 in. by 16 and 28 deep will contain a 



barrel or 10752 cub, in. 

 A box 24 in. by 16 and 14 deep will contain half a 

 barrel or 5376 cub. in. 



If those who may wish to use the foregoing 

 measures, which are not to be found in any book 

 thai 1 have ever seen, will only copy them in their 

 pocket-books, (should their memories be too short 

 to retain ihem,) they may always be prepared 

 with plain directions for making them, without 

 the trouble of referring to your Register. I ven- 

 ture to give this admonition, because I know, 

 by long experience, that many of us will rather 

 go without any inlbrmation we may want, than 

 walk a few steps after a book in which we are 

 cprtain it can be found. Such is the vis inerticB — 

 the highly culpable mental torpor of thousands 

 among us, who will tnake no effort to correct this 

 shameful fault, although daily sensible of its ex- 

 istence, and very frequently suffiering, not only 

 inconvenience, but considerable injury from its in- 

 fluence. But I must Ibrbear to moralize larther 

 on such a subject, lest some of your critical read- 

 ers may accuse me of " travelling out of the re- 

 cord" farther than need be. I will therefore con- 

 clude with renewed assurances that I shall ever 

 remain yours, very sincerely, 



JaxMES M. Garnett. 



From the Carolina Planter. 

 ON PREPARATION OF MANURE. 



Fairfield., Sept. 1st, 1840. 

 To those planters who are desirous of pursuing 

 the sysiem of manuring systematically, perhaps 

 a few hints thrown out at ibis time may prove emi- 

 lienily useful. The period at which I usually 

 commence making manure lor the ensuing year 

 IS immediately after the planting of my cotton. 

 There generally occur some days of leisure, be- 

 tween the planiing and the working of the crop, 

 ivhich I devote to the raking of leaves and haul- 

 ing and depositing them in my stables and covv- 

 lots. The leaves which are deposited in the spring 

 will be thoroughly trodden ami rolled by the sum- 

 mer, and as soon as the crop is laid by, my hands 

 and wagons ara airain employed in making a se- 

 cond de[)os!te of loaves in the lots. I\Jy stables at 

 this time are cleaned out, and the dung spread 

 over the lot which is around the stables. This se- 

 cond deposite becomes pretty well decomposed lo- 

 wanls Christmas, wlien the planter is irenerally 

 near or quite throuiih with his cotton picking, my 

 third and laf-t (lepo>i'e of leaves takes place at this 

 time, and the stable dung again spread over the 

 compost. Their ilitfercnt layers of leaves and 

 duuij are thcroughly intermixed by penning my 

 caiile on them, and the whole mass becomes fit (or 

 use by the first of February ; at which time, if the 

 grounds are in order, I commence hauling out my 

 manure. The first step in a system of manuring 

 is to become sensible of its ailvantat'es by actual 

 experiment, a(ter which its preparation and appli- 

 cation become as much a matter of course, as the 

 planting of the crop. So palpably beneficial are its 

 etfecie, that I have never yet had an overseer, who 

 has not entered with spirit and alacrity into the 



