^{}c faxmcx's itlontl)li) lltgitor. 



151 



Jiei-e tlie ihiokness of tlie sand may be > to li 

 'mch. It will improve tlie moie, iind \n-\ns llie 

 orfranio nialterfi lo giiecdier llect>ln|>o^?ition, 



On fields rich in liiiiiiiiti, where rye is grown, 

 eaiida (juarter ofan inrli tirn^k, may al?o he strew- 

 ed to great advantage in winter, on frozen soil ; it 

 will also tend to prevent the freezing of the crops 

 dnring spring. As het'ore stated, the sand may he 

 used in the slalile as litter, before ap|ilying it. 



Wlien sand is used in large quantities, its ef- 

 fects are lasting, nidess on marshy soil it sinks 

 so deep as (o he beyond the rcaeb of the roots ; 

 in this case it will even act no longer physically; 

 60 that the Bpreading of it must he repealeil. 

 Clayey and chalky soils, on the other hand, will 

 be constantly improved by large rjuaiititics of 

 Band, as the water caiuiot then carry off any of it. 

 Prof. Sprangel. 



Driving Sheep. — I have been in the practice 

 of purchasing and driving sheep from one jior- 

 tion of this Slate to the other, lor several years, 

 and it may be usef'id to some of your readers to 

 iniderstand my method of conveying them in the 

 cheapest, safest and best manner. 



We start them on the road as early as light ap- 

 pears in the eastern horizon, with an assistant 

 before them to prevent their rajdd progress, and 

 many imforeseen accidents which they are ex- 

 posed to. It will take the most of one day to 

 break Ihem ijito a proper line of march. On the 

 first day they will push forward several miles be- 

 fore they incline to eat. As soon as tliey will, let 

 them commence feeding on the road side. The 

 man (iaward will take care that they progress 

 but little faster than they usnally do when graz- 

 ing in their pasture. They will soon learn to 

 run by one another two or tliree rods, then stop 

 to ieed ; the forward colutnn will frequently form 

 a line in front, as they feed in more jierfect order 

 than many of our fiood-wood companies do un- 

 der nfilitary disci(iliue. By this even manage- 

 ment from day to day, they will keep full and not 

 be fiitigned. We generally let them rest a-while 

 nt mid-day, and secure tliehi in a small yard about 

 simdown, without any expense. They are ready 

 and convenient for (h'AV onward course early the 

 next morning. 



I have thus managed from GOO to 1,000 many 

 times on several days jomney ; they do not ap- 

 jiear fatigued, lint look full through the day. Our 

 flocks do not fall away in flesh, hut nlien gain on 

 their journey. This method must look reasona- 

 ble to those who are acquainted with the uatiuv 

 of the sheep; while feeding about thin jiastures 

 they are always on the move ; the most active 

 are forward, and they are not more indiued to 

 feed in the night than a drove of turkeys. 



To urge tliem along in the winter when there 

 is snow on the ground, one jiersou nmst take a 

 few and drive on a-head, those behind will fidlow 

 on ; hut to get them along without fatigue, they 

 nnist be allowed to string along the t>eaten path 

 for a reasoiudile distance. 



The she[)herd-dog must he a valnnble animal 

 to a flock master, in any situation, and it is a won- 

 der that we have none of them in this sheepish 

 stale; in an especial ^naluler when there are so 

 many wortiiless animals reared anions us. If any 

 of your readers have an exta one to spare, 1 

 would give in exchange a valuable merino ram 

 for it ; botli parties coultl thus be mutually bene- 

 fitted. — .>hn. JJs;. Solomon W. .Iewett. 



IVeijhridgc, VI. 



An excellent mode for preventing young fruit 

 trees from becoming hide Imnnd and mossy, and 

 i\>v promoting their health and growth, is to lake 

 a bucket of soft soap, and ajiply it vvilh a brush 

 or ohl cloth to the triuiks from top lo bottom ; 

 this cleanses the bark, ami destroys the worms 

 or the eggs of insects, ami the soap heconnng 

 ilissolved by rains descends to the roots, and 

 causes the tree to grow vigorously. 



Commerce of Cincimuiti. — We gather from some 

 statisti(ts in the Cincinnati (,'hronicle, that the fol- 

 lowing products of the bog were exported from 

 this city during the first six months of ]84'I: — 

 Lard, kegs, a^O,^?^ ; I'ork, barrels l:ll,r.(i!) ; Lard 

 Oil, barrels, 1,007. 'I'lie total value of this trade 

 nt New Orleans exceeded a million and a half ol 

 dollars. The value of the domestic produce 

 shipped from Cincinnati m the six monlliB of 

 1844, also exceeds three millions of dollars. 



Texas contains three huiMked and eighteen 

 Ihunsand square miles, which is full as large as 

 the Stales of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, 

 AlalrAinn, Mississippi and Louisiana coiuhirie<l. 

 Theae Slates have now a popidation of about 

 four millions. — which number Texas will reach 

 in less then ten years- 



Great Sale of Wool from one Estate. — The cele- 

 brated farm of R. II. Rose, at Silver Lake, Penn. 

 maintains ten thousaml sheep. A few days since, 

 the [iropriiUor sold at one time, to a manufactur- 

 er at Ithaca, three thousand hales of wool each 

 weighing from one hundred and fifty to one hun- 

 dred and eighty pounds, at ihirty-one eenls per 

 pound. 



A good farmer is generally a good friend, an 

 affectionate husband, an excellent liither and an 

 honest man ; and it is an established axiom, that 

 a well tilled farm denotes the supervision of an 

 enlightened mind. 



Grooming. 



Of this, much need not be said to the agricul- 

 tmist, since custoih, and apparently without ill 

 etiect, has alloted so little of the comb and brush 

 10 the farmer's horse. The animal that is work- 

 ed all day and Inrned out at night requires liltle 

 more lo he done to him than to have the dirt 

 brushed off his limbs. Regular grooming, by 

 lendering his skin more sensible lo the nl- 

 teration of temperature and the inclemency of 

 ihe weather, would he prejudicial. The horse 

 that is altogether turned oul, needs no groonnng. 

 The dandruff, or scurf, which accumulates at the 

 roots of the hair, is a provision of nature to de- 

 fend him from the wind and the cold. 



It is to the stable horse, highly fed and little or 

 irregularly worked, that grooming is of so much 

 conse<|ueuce. Good rubbing with the brush or 

 the currycomb, opens the pores of Ihe skin, 

 circidates the blood to the extremities of the 

 body, produces free and lieallhy perspiration 

 and stands in the room of exercise. No horse 

 will carry a fine coat without unnatural heat or 

 dressing. They both effect the same purpose; 

 they both increase the insensible perspiration : 

 but the first does it at the expense of health and 

 strength, while the second,at the same time that it 

 produces a glow on the skin, and a determina- 

 tion of blood to it, rouses all the energies of the 

 frame. It would he well for the proprietor of the 

 horse if he were to insist — and to see that his or- 

 ders are really obeyed — that the fine coat in 

 which he and his groom so nnich delight, is pro- 

 duced by honest rubbing, and not by a heated 

 stable and thick clothing, and most of all, not by 

 stinndating or injuritius spices. The horse should 

 he regularly dressed everyday, in addition to the 

 grooming that is necessary after work. 



When the weather will permit the horse to be 

 taken out, he should never be groomed in the 

 stable unless he is an animal of peculiar value, 

 or placed for a time under peculiar circimistances. 

 Without dwelling on the want of cleanliness, 

 when the scurf and dust that are brushed from 

 the horse, lodge in his mimger, and mingle with 

 his fiiod, experience leaches, that if the cold is 

 not too great, the animal is braced and invigora- 

 ted to a degree that cannot be attained in the sta- 

 ble, fioin being dressed in the open air. There 

 is no necessity, however, for halfthe punishment 

 which many a groom inflicts iqjnn the horse in 

 the act of dressing; and particularly on one 

 wlinse skin is thin and sensible. The currycond) 

 should at limes he lighlly applied. With many 

 horses its use may be almost|ilispensed with ; and 

 liven the brush needs not to be so hard, nor the 

 |ioints of ihe bristles so irregidar as they often 

 are. A soli brush, with a httle more weight of 

 die InnnI, will he equally effectual, and a great 

 deal more pleasant to the horse. A hair cloth, 

 uhile it will sehloui irritate and tease, will be al- 

 most sufficient with horses that have a thin skin 

 iiid that have mn been neglected. Afierall, it is 

 no slight task to dress a horse as it ought to be 

 ihme. It occupies no liltle time, and demands 

 considerable patience, as well as dexterity. It 

 will be readily ascertained whether a horse has 

 lieen wcdl ilressed, by rubbing him with one of 

 die lingers. A greasy slain will detect the idle- 

 ness of the groom. When, however, the horse 

 IS changing his coat, both currycomb and brush 

 should bo used as lighlly as possible. 



Whoever would be convinced of the benefit of 



friction upon the horse's skin, and to the horse 

 generally, needs only to observe the effects pro- 

 duced by well hand-rnhbing the legs of a tired 

 horse. While every enlargement subsides and 

 the painful stiffness disappears, and the legs at- 

 tain their natural warmth, and become fine, the 

 animal is evidently and rapidly reviving ; be at- 

 taeks his food with appetite, and then quietly fiea 

 down to rest.- — Sorralt. 



Conversion or Lard into Oil and Stear- 

 INE. — There are in Cincinnati not less than thir- 

 teen factories, in full operation, making from 300 

 to 2,500 barrels each in a reason, or 100,000 gal- 

 lons. The oil sells at sixty cents u gallon by the 

 barrel), and seventy-five cents by retail. The 

 stearine made by one establishment amounts to 

 750,000 pounds per annum, two-thirds of which 

 (the summer) is suitable for making candles. 

 This stearine sells for seven cents per pound, 

 which is used for ordinary jmrposes, is equal to 

 the best leat'-lard, and sells for six cents per lb., 

 when well put up in kegs for shipping. 



From the Wewburyport, iVIass., Herald. 

 Bristol Brick— A remarkable Fact. 

 Some of our citizens have no doubt noticed 

 boxes of bricks of precisely the same character 

 of the imported Bristol brick, pa.ssing through 

 town occasionally, on their way to Boston and the 

 south. We had the curiosity the other day to 

 trace back these brick to the source whence they 

 came. It is said that the only other place in the 

 world in which these bricks have been made, is '' 



Bristol, in England. A small vein of the sand M 

 was many years ago found near Liverpool, but it fl 

 was soon all worked up and exhausted. Some- ^ 

 where about the year 1820, an Englishman who 

 had been concerned either as an owner or op- 

 erative in the works at Bristol, came over to 

 this country, thinking that he might discover 

 something which would enable him to share the 

 monopoly of the trade with the Bristol manufac- 

 turers. He travelled in the United States five 

 years, making diligent enquiry and investigation, 

 without being able to discover the object of ids 

 search. Just as he was ready to return, disap- 

 pointed, while standing in the doorway of a store 

 in Boston, a cart full of sand stopped at the door. 

 He immediately went to it and putting his hand 

 into the sand pronounced unhesitatingly that it 

 was the very article for which he had been so 

 long searching. He ascertained that it came from 

 the land of Elihu French, of South Hampton, N. 

 H., and at once repaired to the spot. Here he 

 found a little over an acre of the sand, reachiii" 

 to a much greater depth than at Bristol, and the 

 sand being in good demand among founders, the 

 owner had been in the habit of supplying sever- 

 al founderies with it. He attempted to purchase 

 the land, and failing in this, offered to go into 

 partnership with the owner of it, in ihemanufac- 

 lure. But with true New Hampshire pertinaci- 

 ty, Mr. French turned a deaf ear to all proposi- 

 tions. He was opposed to all partnerships, all 

 innovations, and all magnificent speculations, 

 would have nothing to do with them, but if the 

 Englishmjm would go to work and make some 

 bricks for him, he would pay him a good price 

 for his labor. Accordingly the Englishman man- 

 ufactured a considerable quantity and received 

 his pay, the Yankee looking on the work and 

 probably supposing ha had learned the art. But 

 after the Englishman, having given up all hope 

 of purchpsing, had departed, Mr F. found he had 

 not learned the secret of the manufiicture: he could 

 not make a single brick. The work was then sus- 

 pended until two years afterwards, when the 

 same man came over from England again, in the 

 hope of bringing the Yankee to terms. But he 

 found him as obstinate as ever, and after ascer- 

 taining that he could do nothing with the owner 

 of the land, very good naturcdiy imparted to him 

 the secret of the manufacture for a bonus of 

 $1,500. This was in J8'27, and from that time to 

 the present, Mr. French has been constantly en- 

 gaged in the manufacture, doing most of the la- 

 bor himself, and hiring but very little. Of course 

 the quantity made has been very limited, but the 

 demand has been steadily increasing, and he in- 

 tends to made 100,000 biicks this year. 



The bricks made by Mr. French are every way 

 equal to the imported British article, and by some 

 are esteemed sujierior. They command the same 

 price as the imported, and are readily taken by 



