486 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 

 EXHIBITION. 



The annual exhibition of the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society opened in the Public Garden 

 on Tuesday, and continued till Thursday night. 

 The display took place under Wright's mammoth 

 tent, and was probably the finest exhibition of 

 fruits and vegetables ever witnessed in this country. 

 The collection of pears was one of the most re- 

 markable sights in the pomological line we ever 

 beheld. Marshall P. Wilder, of Dorchester, had 

 260 varieties ; R. Manning, of Salem, 167 ; S. 

 Walker, of Roxbury, 137 ; Hovey & Co., 150 ; B. 

 V. French, of Braintree, 100. The last named 

 gentleman also had 180 varieties of apples. There 

 were likewise many noble specimens of peaches, 

 plums, grapes, &c. The display of vegetables was 

 also very attractive. Mrs. S. W. Cole, of Chelsea, 

 exhibited 50 varieties of seedling potatoes, which 

 attracted much attention. Mammoth squashes, 

 melons, beets, parsnips, potatoes, cabbages, &c, 

 were in abundance. The floral collection was not 

 very extensive, but included many rare and choice 

 flowers, and the bouquets and flower-pieces with 

 which the tables were decorated, added much to 

 the beauty of the scene. The members of the 

 Horticultural Society could not but have felt proud 

 of their exhibition, and all who witnessed the dis- 

 play must henceforth cherish a deeper respect for 

 the noble art to whose advancement the Society is 

 devoted. 



filenames' Department, TUts, &c. 



INGENIOUS PIECE OP MECHANISM. 



A small machine of recent invention has been 

 lately put in operation in this city, for the manu- 

 facture of wire chain, such as is used on fluid 

 lamps, to fasten the extinguishers to the tubes. — 

 There have been, heretofore, machines for cutting 

 and forming the links, and the merit of this inven- 

 tion consists in uniting these machines so as to 

 work in connection, and in the addition of an en- 

 tirely new and original contrivance for locking and 

 setting the links together, thus forming a contin- 

 uous chain within the machine. This latter pro- 

 cess was formerly performed by hand. 



The machinery is exceedingly complicated, and 

 the casual observer would perceive nothing in the 

 collection of geers, cams, wheels, &c, before him 

 that indicated an adaptation of parts or unanimi- 

 ty of purpose. When in motion it is even more 

 difficult to form the slightest conception of the 

 object of its construction. It appears like a mass 

 of springs, knives, rollers and followers, all flying 

 with utmost rapidity, and so intricately arranged 

 that even an experienced eye is somewhat baffled 

 to detect any concert in the action of the parts. 

 The wire enters, and then we see the accuracy and 

 precision of the inventor's calculations. It is 

 clipped the requisite length, it is then passed on 

 and formed ; one end is set up closely, the other 

 remaining open like a hook, then passing on it is 

 hooked on the end of the chain, closely followed 



by another, and another, with such rapidity as to 

 astonish the observer and make him doubt the re- 

 ality of the scene before him. This highly ingenious 

 machine is so compact as to be contained in a case 

 no larger than a lady's work-box, which case has 

 two apertures, one for the admission of the wire, 

 the other for the passage of the chain, which is 

 made, when the machine is at its highest speed, at 

 the rate of a yard per minute, but its ordinary 

 working rate is about thirty yards per hour. There 

 are about 150 links in one yard, and it is easy to 

 conceive of the skill and ingenuity of the inventor, 

 and the nicety of adjustment in the machine, when 

 it is stated that the machine will run for days and 

 weeks without mal forming one link or causing a 

 single break in the machine. As yet the machine 

 is kept secret, none having been allowed to see it 

 but a few friends of the inventor ; and no patent 

 has yet been obtained, though one will doubtless 

 be taken out at some future day. — Boston Jmirnal. 



ANOTHER INVENTION FOR VENTILA- 

 TING RAIL-ROAD CARS. 



The New Haven Courier gives the following de- 

 scription of another invention designed to promote 

 the comfort of passengers travelling by rail-road : 



" The invention is a very simple one, and con- 

 sists merely in a connection formed between all 

 the cars by enclosing the platforms, so that the 

 external air, with the dust, smoke and cinders, 

 are entirely excluded from the usual ways of in- 

 gress. The front of the baggage car is open, but 

 protected from the smoke of the locomotive by a 

 screen. The air rushes in through the front of 

 the car, and circulates freely through the whole 

 length of the train, keeping up at all times a gen- 

 tle motion of the air, without the possibility of 

 annoyance from dust, Sec. The passengers on the 

 train were all delighted with its operation. It has 

 this advantage over Mr. Paine's recently invented 

 ventilator, that when the air is at rest, the pas- 

 sengers have the free use of the ordinary means of 

 ventilation by doors and windows, and thus the 

 intolerable heat is avoided, while there is no fear 

 of the admission of smoke, which forces itself into 

 Paine's ventilators when passing under bridges, or 

 on a wet day, when the wind is dead a-head, and 

 rolls it along the roof." 



OIL TEST. 



We were invited a few days since to examine a 

 curious machine, called an Oil Test. The inventor 

 claims that by this instrument he can determine 

 precisely the quality of any description of oil. That 

 it will sbow precisely the different degrees of tena- 

 city, and in what manner different oils lessen fric- 

 tion, or in other words, what the lubricating quali- 

 ties of any oils may be. Thus if one kind of oil 

 submitted to this test shows a tenacity of twenty, 

 as indicated by the machine ; and another is found 

 to he forty, it is very evident that one of these oils 

 contains twice as much superfluous matter as the 

 other ; and also that the tenacity of the former is 

 but one half of the latter, and considerably lessens 

 friction in the same proportion. 



This invention is now in the possession of and 

 made only by Mr. Daniel A. Craig, an industrious 

 and ingenious machinist, who has taken steps to 

 secure a patent right for it, when he will imme- 



