1825. J 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



13S 



tatoes 30— IJvi- OO — Appip'. llio Iroulilo ol'pick- 

 ing Ihein up— Hay 9 'o glO.OO por loo- Corn 

 50 ci.,, — 'I'liis town HlVords a good mnrket for all 

 kinds of prixluce, i)robalily a? good as Hartford. 

 Tiierp '"i '" addition to what our fanner? sell, 

 aboiil if, 1 500.00 paid yearly to tho citizens ol 

 Suffielil, a town equidistant from Jlartford and 

 SpringlJeldj for the article of hay. 



Yours truly, F. BREWER. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW EXGI.A.\D FARMER. 



SUGAR BEET. 



Ahthuen, Oct. 2C, 1825. 1 



gi,i — Havios; purchased some sugar beet seed, ! 

 at the ollice of the New England Farmer last ; 

 spring, raised by John PRiNCF.,Esq. [ now lake the 

 liberty to inform you of the ivcight of some oi 

 the roots, which, if you think worthy of notice, 

 you can l)ublisli. | 



1 sowed the seed the Hh of June, on n very, 

 dry gravelly soil, after carting at the rale of CO, 

 carl loads to the acre of soil from low land, upon ' 

 the same, and ploughing it twice, it being gra's ; 

 land. Our uncommon pressure of business pre- 

 vented me from paying them much attention. | 



The season was so very dry that it injured 

 them considerably. 



Al this date 1 ^veighed 2 of them, one of which 

 girted 254^ inches and weighed Ib^ lbs. with the 

 lops and i2j lbs. wiliiout. 



The other weighed 12^ lbs. without the tops. 

 I have a number vvhich 1 should judge would 

 weigh 8 and lOlbs. 



Yours, S:c. BEN OSGOOD. 



N. B. There was carted upon the land about 

 ,20 loads lo (be acre of manure from tbo hog 

 yard besidesthe soil above mentioned. B. O. 



TO TKK F.DnOR OF THE XBW ENGLAND rARjSER. 



SMOKY CriIMAT.VS. 



Norfolk Count u, jVov. 1, 1.825. 

 )\b- r.niToR — At this season of the year, when our fire 

 sides sre bcconiing the scenes of our greatest comfort, .■> 

 smoky house, and consequently a Ecoldinj wife and cry- 

 ing cliildrcn, are intolerable evils, ■which if you can't 

 point out some remedy for, we must drop your paper and 

 go to tlie torrid zone. 



Our bouse is situated on high ground, near the sea ; 

 it has a chimney with five (lues, ncitlier of wliich car- 

 ries smoke worth a clam sliell. VVc have had mason 

 after mason, we have raised it and lowered it, — we have 

 arched at top, — altered and reallered every fire place 

 in the house a dozen times, — and we have even gone 

 so far as to advise with the Minister and Doctor of the 

 parish on the subject, but all won't do; smoke it will, 

 and my wife, one of the best tempered women alive. 

 keeps continually dinging in my ear " Sam, you must 

 get somebody to fix it." I told her the other night, 

 with tears in my eyes, that I would apply to you for 

 advice and follow it to a straw. Now, my good sir, if 

 jou can relieve a distressed family by your counsel you 

 will do a good job for humanity, and ever after receive 

 the prayers, for your wealth and weal, of "those who 

 are ready lo perish." SAM. 



By the Editor. — We are very solicitous (o 

 assist friend " Sam," wlio appears to be hard 

 pressed by one of the "Miseries of Human 

 Life," not the least vexatious in the catuloa;ue, 

 and needs all the consolation to be oblained 



from pvmpiilhy and sound advice. " P.-'.m" has' 

 described his snfl'erings with so nuich humour 

 that he c;ui hardly be heart-broken, though he 

 may be a litlle harassed. The blaze of his 

 wit is too powerful lo iie smolb.ered in the 

 smoke of his tenement ; but, periiaps, the for- 

 mer will burn still brigiiler if wo can point out 

 the means of purifying the dingy atmosphere 

 wtiirh renders his tiro side so uncomturiablc. 



The causes which prevent chimneys Irom 

 conducting smoke with the requisite facility are 

 numerous, and have been treated in detail by 

 Dr. Franklin, Count Rumford, and many olher 

 writers. We shall avail ourselves of their 

 labours, and sometimes of their words in point- 

 mg out the most common impediments vvliich 

 obstruct the ascent of smoke in chimneys, and 

 the manner of removing such o!)Stacles. 



The air contained in the flue of a chimne3', 

 being healed by ihe fire below it, becomes 

 lighter than the cooler air liy which it is sur- 

 rounded and overlaid. The lieaied air must 

 Iheraforo rise, and escaping from tlie top of the 

 chimney, its place is supplied by the flowing 

 in of fresh air, which passing over the fire, be- 

 comes heated in turn, and thus a constant cur- 

 rent is formed in the flue, which carries the 

 smoke from the burning materials. Unless Ihe 

 smoke is delivered or developed in air \vhich 

 lias an ascending current, it will no! be carried 

 away, bnt spread through the room. Smoke 

 i-, in its own nature, but little lighter, and in some 

 circumstances it becomes heavier than common 

 j atmospheric air. This may be shewn by a sim- 

 ple experiment. Having lit a jiipe of tobacco, 

 I plunge the stem to the lioltom of a decanter 

 ' hall filled with coUl water, then putting a cloth 

 over the bowl, blow through it, and make the 

 ; smoke doscend in the stem of Ihe pipe, from the 

 end of wliich it will rise in bubbles through Ihe 

 ivater, .and being thus cooled, will not after- 

 wards rise lo go through the neck of the de- 

 canter, but will remain spreading itself, and 

 resting on the surface of Ihe waler. In this 

 ca=e, therefore, smoke is heavier than air. But 

 when smoke, together with Ihe air with which 

 it is mingled is rarefied by heal, it is always 

 1 lighter than the cooler air in its vicinity, and 

 j of course its tendency is to ascend. 

 I Chimneys in new buildings frequently smoke 

 I for want of air to supply the current, which 

 should constantly ascend the flue. This is the 

 case when the room is tight, and no passage is 

 t left open for the air lo enter, excejil the key 

 hole, and even that, perhaps, closed liy a lillle 

 dropping shiilter. No air can then be had to 

 supply i\ hat is called the draught of the chim- 

 ney. The fire will burn but dimly, and the 

 smoke ivill be diffused through the a(iartmenl. 

 Those, therefore, who slop every crevice in a 

 room to prevent the admission of fresh air, and 

 yet would have their chimney carry smoke, re- 

 quire inconsistencies and expect impossibilities. 

 The remedy in this case is to admit more air, 

 with us little inconvenience as possible, if the 

 door or window be left much open, it causes a 

 cold draught of air lo the lire place. " Various 

 have been the contrivances," says Rees' Cyclo- 

 pedia, '' to avoid this, such as bringing in fresh 

 air through pipes in the jambs of the chimney, 

 which [lointing upwards, should blow the smoke 

 up Ihe funnel ; opening a pass.ige in Ihe funnel 

 above to let in air for Ihe same purpose ; but 

 ilhese produce an effect contrary to that intend- 



ed, for as it is Ihe cnnsfant cnrrcnl of air p.iss- 

 ing from Ihe room through the opening of Ihe 

 chimney into the flue, which prevents llie smoke 

 coming out into tin; room, if Ihe funnel is sup- 

 plied by other means with the air it wants, and 

 especially if that air be cold, the force of the 

 current is diminished, and the smoke in its ef- 

 forts to enter Ihc room finds le£!S resistance. 



The wanted air must then indispensably be 

 admitted into Ihe room lo supply what goes 

 olT through'the opening of the chimney, and it 

 is advisable to make Ihe a))crture for this pur- 

 pose as near the ceiling as possible, because 

 the healed air will naturally ascend and occupy 

 the highest part of the room, thus causing i\ 

 great diifprence of climale at different heights, 

 a ilelect which will be in some measure obvi- 

 ated by the admission of cold air near the ceil- 

 ing, which <lescending, will beat down and min- 

 gle the air more elTcftually. 



A correspondent of the New England Farmer, 

 whose communicalion we published vol.11, pagfe 

 134, has given a mode of " making the chimney 

 of a very close room carry off the smote, by ad- 

 milting the external air ihrovgh a heated passage.'' 

 This he effected " by cutting a passage through 

 the brick wall behind the stone back opposite 

 the fire, for admitting the external air into a 

 space left between the stone hack and brick 

 wall covered at the lop, and the following re- 

 sult was {irodnced. 



" A strong current of heated air is constantly 

 entering Ihe room, the temperature of which 

 depends on Ihe (piantity of fire at Ihe time. The 

 passage cut through Ihe brick wall is about two 

 inches square and Ihe inconvenience of smoke 

 in Ihe room is almost entirely removed." 



In the last American edition of Willich's Do- 

 mestic Encyclopedia, published in Philadelphia, 

 1821, under the head "Chimney," is the fol- 

 lowing piii.igraph, by Thomas Cooper, Esq. 

 iNl. D. Ihe able Editor of that edition. 



'■'■ Method of building Chimneys that zvill not 

 smoke. — Contract the space immediately over 

 the fire, so that you may be sure of the air be- 

 ing well heated there : this will ensure a current 

 upwards. All chimneys should be carefully 

 built, and every joint well filled with mortar, 

 so as to prevent communication in case of the 

 chimney catching fire." 



If the air is healed at the lower opening of 

 the flue of the chimney it becomes specifically 

 lighter than the air of Ihe room and until some 

 great impediment exists it must rise and carry 

 the smoke wilh it. In other words, if the throat 

 of the chimney is heated a little above Ihe 

 mantel ihe smoke can hardly fail to ascend. 

 But in order to efTect this it may sometimes be 

 necessary to lower the mantel so that the op- 

 eniner into the chimney may be brought nearer 

 the tire. A piece of sheet iron or tin fastened 

 on and extending somewhat lower than the man- 

 tel will commonly answer this purpose. By 

 lowering the mantel, howevei, we lose heat in 

 proportion to the increase of the draught; and 

 it is an expedient, which should not be adopt- 

 ed, if any other remedy (o Ihe evil can be can- 

 be conveniently applied. 



Chimneys often smoke in consequence of Ihe 

 shortness of their funnels. The difference of 

 Ihe vveight of the heated air within, and the 

 cooler air without Ihe funnel, is the cause of 

 Ihe ascent of smoke. If the funnel be short the 

 difference will be small, and the draught will 



