NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



109 



have omitted all mention of evergreens, for screens 

 and hedges, and perhaps we may have a talk on 

 that subject, when the thermometer rises above 

 zero, should any such good time come. 



Your friend, H. F. French 



Exeter, Feb. 4, 1852. 



P. S. As a protection while a hedge is growing, 

 or to strengthen the weaker kinds of hedges, two or 

 three No. 9 wires may be drawn through them, 

 attached to strong posts of wood or stone, at each 

 end, with an occasional post of tire iron, between, 

 set in stone blocks even with the ground. This 

 is not expensive, and will stop any cattle, and the 

 wires will not be seen. 



AGRICULTURAL. 



"Nathan, where is the shovel? Here I've been 

 hunting long enough to do my work twice over, 

 and can't find the shovel." 



The farmer was wroth. 



"I don't know where 'tis, father ; summers 

 about, I suppose." 



The two joined in the search. 



"Nathan, you have left the shovel where you 

 have worked, I know. Why don't you always put 

 the tools in their places ? ' ' 



"Where is the place for the shovel, I should 

 like to know, father?" 



He could'nt tell. It had no place. Sometimes 

 it was laid in the wagon, and occasionally ac- 

 companied that vehicle when harnessed in a hurry. 

 Sometimes it was hung up with the harness, to 

 fall down when not wanted, or get covered up 

 when it was. A great deal of shoe-leather had 

 come to naught by that shovel. It had at times 

 more than the obliviousness of Sir John Franklin, 

 and defied discovery. So it was with all theother 

 tools. They would seem to vanish at times, and 

 then come to light rusty as old anchors. 



The farmer's barn was crowded. He had no 

 "spare room" there. There were several in his 

 dwelling. But the barn was always crammed — it 

 was a kind of mammoth sausage — stuffed every 

 year. So there was no room for a special apart- 

 ment for the tools. In his imagination he never 

 saw his hoes hung on a long cleat, his chains all 

 regular in a row, his rakes and his long forks over- 

 head ; certainly he was never anxious for such a 

 convenient room. 



Why? 



His father never had a tool-house, and his father 

 was called a good farmer. 



So he was, then — in his day — but there are bet- 

 ter husbandmen now, let me say, and I desire to 

 shock no one's veneration. 



Did they find the shovel ? No ! they might as 

 well have searched for the philosopher's stone, 

 seemingly. Nathan started for Mr. Goodman's to 

 borrow one. Their work must be done, and bor- 

 row he must. 



"I don't know as you can find one in my tool- 

 house," replied Mr. Goodman. 



_ Nathan noticed that he bore down on some of 

 his words like a man on a plowbeam. Didn't he 

 mean something ? Nathan went to the tool-room 

 thoughtfully. A door on wheels opened with a 

 slight push, and there were Goodman's tools — 

 enough, Nathan thought, to equip a company of 

 Sappers and Miners ! Hatchets, axes, saws, tree- 

 scrapers, grafting tools, hoes, diggers, shovels, 



spades, pick-axes, crow-bars ; plows, harrows, 

 cultivators, seed-sowers ; sieves, trowels, rakes, 

 pitch-forks, flails, chains, yokes, muzzles, ropes, 

 crow-twine, baskets, measures, — all were there, 

 neatly and compactly arranged. It was Good- 

 man's ark — to save him from the deluge of un- 

 thrift ! — Here every night the tools were brought 

 in and wiped clean and hung up in their places. 

 The next morning a job could be commenced at 

 once. Goodman knew. He partitioned off a large 

 room in his new barn for tools. It was central 

 and easy of access. It was a pleasant place for a 

 visitor ; the tools were the best of their kind. 

 Every new shovel or rake, or fork, before used, 

 was well oiled with linseed oil, which left the wood 

 smooth and impervious to water. Goodman fre- 

 quently says, 'I had rather have the few hundred 

 dollars I have spent for tools so invested than the 

 same in railroad stock. It pays better." 



Now there is no patent on Goodman's plan, and 

 I hope many will go into it : — the more "success- 

 ful nutations' the better. — b. — Concord, Mass., 

 Feb. 3, 1852. — Commonwealth. 



OIL FROM ROSIN. 



The idea of producing oil from a substance like 

 rosin, seems at first strange ; and before chemis- 

 try had disclosed to us the compound nature of 

 bodies, would have been deemed nearly as chimer- 

 ical as that of the transmutation of metals, held 

 by the old alchemists. But the thing is done. A 

 few days since, we were invited by Mr. L. May- 

 nard, one of the directors of the Boston Oil Com- 

 pany, to visit their works at South Boston. The 

 business of this company is the manufacture of oil 

 from rosin, which was commenced in June, 1851. 

 Three distinct articles are obtained from the raw 

 material, viz. : spirits of turpentine, oil and pitch 

 — the latter the residuum at the close of the pro- 

 cess. The oil, which is the primary object, con- 

 sists of three kinds, which are variously adapted 

 to machinery, currying leather, and the prepara- 

 tion of paints. We are assured that all these are 

 of superior quality for their respective purposes ; 

 that leather for which the oil was used in the cur- 

 rying process, has been made into boots and shoes 

 and found to do as good service as that produced 

 by the old mode ; that for harnesses, and all the 

 ordinary applications of oil to leather, is un- 

 surpassed ; that the kind prepared for machinery 

 is preferred to the best sperm oil — the cost of the 

 former being only eighty-five cents per gallon, 

 while that of the latter is one dollar and thirty 

 cents. A certificate has been given by Wm. M. 

 Ellis, Chief Engineer of the U. S. Navy Yard at 

 Washington, stating that he has subjected this oil 

 to the most careful tests, and that he finds it fully 

 equal, if not superior, to the best oils that have 

 been used in that yard — viz. : winter-strained 

 sperm, and pure neat's foot oil. He_ states that on 

 bearings or journals running at high velocities, 

 "there is not the slightest appearance of the 

 formation of gum, and the oil appears to be better 

 diffused and to remain much longer on the bear- 

 ings than the sperm oil." Mr. Souther, of South 

 Boston, gives similar testimony, and states that 

 one application daily of the "Boston Oil," keeps 

 his machinery in better order than two applica- 

 tions of sperm oil. 



It is a beautiful article, without any disagreea- 

 ble taste or smell. The process of manufacturing 



