1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Ill 



house, and the blocks are pushed along with a 

 staff to one of the doors, where it is received into 

 an iron cradle and hoisted up to the requisite 

 height, when a spring, which has prevented the 

 block from fallingoff, strikes a projection and be- 

 ing forced down, the ice slides into the house, and 

 is there received by persons who push it. into its 

 place with a staff. From the commencement of 

 the process to the end, ihe ice is never touched 

 with the hands. The average weight of each 

 block is about 400 pounds, and being all cut of (he 

 same form and proportions, they are packed much 

 more closely in the ice house, or in Ihe hold of a 

 vessel, than when cut out as formerly, with an 

 axe, in a negligent manner. 



Extract from Uio Genesee Fanner. 

 FERTILIZING PROPERTIES OF LIME. 



When the writer of this article went, in the 

 days of his boyhood, to reside in one of the south- 

 ern counties of Pennsylvania, the land upon which 

 he lived had been purchased at the common price 

 in the neighborhood, £4 Pennsylvania currency, 

 per acre. A short distance to the north-west lay 

 the great limestone valley, that extends, with some 

 abrupt terminations, from New York to Virginia. 

 The serpentine ridge which bounds this valley on 

 the south-east, was considered by the inhabitants 

 as the limits of the grain country; and although 

 the land adjoining it south-eastward was a good 

 sandy loam, it was thought that it would produce 

 nothing but grass, and the land in the valley was 

 then estimated at an average price of £, 15, or $40 

 per acre. In a few years, however, the farmers 

 began to haul lime from the valley, and make 

 liberal applications of it on the land south of the 

 ridge. They have continued this process with 

 increasing industry for forty years, with increasing 

 success, and the consequence has -been that, the 

 valley, which was thought abundantly calcareous 

 without the application of lime, has remained 

 stationary in value, with some fluctuations during 

 the late war, while the land upon which lime has 

 been liberally applied, has advanced from £4 

 to 80 and $100 per acre, and from the abun- 

 dance of its crops fully justifies the purchaser. 



From the Cultivator. 

 THE OSIER WILLOW. 



The osier willow is worthy a place on every 

 farm, because it takes up but little ground, requires 

 very little care, and furnishes the best materials 

 for baskets, which are indispensable to the farmer. 

 This, like all the willows, is readily propagated by 

 cuttings. Where it has taken good root, its shoots 

 in good ground, grow from lour to eight feet in a 

 season. These shoots should betaken off every 

 winter, unless very large willows are wanted, and 

 the number is thereby annually increased. The 

 art of fabricating baskets from them is easily ac- 

 quired, and may be practised in evenings and 

 stormy days in the winter without cost. For ordi- 

 nary baskets the osier is used with the bark on; 

 but for neat house baskets they are peeled. The 

 best way to divest them of the bark, is to cut, sort 

 and tie the osiers in small bundles, say early in 

 March, and place the bundles in a pool of stag- 



nant water: and at the season the leaf buds are 

 bursting, the bark will readily strip off'. 



The osiers may then be laid up to be used when 

 leisure will permit. A well made osier basket is 

 worth three or lour made of splits. We have 

 them which have been in wear lor years, and are 

 yet good. To give them firmness and durability 

 a good rim and ribs, of oak, hickory or other sub- 

 stantial wood, are necessary. 



From the Journal of Commerce. 

 TEMPERANCE OIV RAIL ROADS. 



In building the three rail roads from Boston to 

 Providence, Worcester, and Lowell, total absti- 

 nence has been the rule with regard to the use of 

 ardent spirits; and it is now the rule for all those 

 who manage the engines and cars on the roads. 

 In building the roads some of the contractors from 

 the first, refused to furnish their men with spirit, 

 or permit them to bring it on the ground. It was 

 soon perceived that those contractors avoided all 

 difficulty with their men; that their men did more 

 work; and that although most of the laborers were 

 Irish, the territories of the temperance contractors 

 were so much more comfortable, that they were 

 most popular, and could always select the best 

 hands. The board of directors became so fully 

 convinced of the advantages of temperance, that 

 they made it a condition with the contractors that 

 they should give the men no intoxicating liquor. 

 Coffee and tea were substituted, and cold water. 



On all these roads perfect order and decorum 

 have been preserved. Not even the civil authori- 

 ties have been called on to preserve the peace. 

 On other roads where the same description of la- 

 borers have been employed there have been re- 

 peated murders, endless fights, often with deadly 

 weapons, and the whole territory around has been 

 rendered insecure. The civil authorities have 

 been set at defiance. The military forces, after 

 being harassed by marchings and watching^, 

 have been unable to restore order, and nothing 

 short of the potent finger of a Catholic priest held 

 up before the men, has been sufficient to restrain 

 their infuriated passions. We have no doubt that 

 the difference between the peacefulness of the 

 east, and the riots of the south, is to be attributed 

 chiefly to the difference in the use of intoxicating 

 liquor. 



COMMENTS ON FARMERS' REGISTER, No. 10. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



The 10th No. of the Farmer's Register fully 

 sustains the character for utility, so well merited 

 by its predecessors; but it contains many opinions 

 and (acts, of which very different views may be 

 taken from such as are presented to us by the wri- 

 ters themselves. Of these 1 will take the liberty 

 to offer a lew, as I have done in regard to the pre- 

 ceding number. 



The excellent article on "-.")airy Management" 

 although containing many directions applicable to 

 all parts of Virginia where such things as cows, 

 deserving the name of "milch-cows," are kept at 

 all; yet has several that will long — if not forever — 

 prove impracticable for any beneficial purpose. — 

 For instance, the author recommends not only to 

 milk the cows three times a day, but "to have the 



