SPIRIT OF THE MONTHLIES. 339 



In the experiments of Earl Spencer, of those cows whose period 

 exceeded 286 days, the number of females was only 90, while the 

 number of males was 150. Now, in my experiments, of those cows 

 that exceeded 286 days, the number of females was 7, while that 

 of the males was 12. The number of female calves produced un- 

 der 28;} days was 24, while that of the males was 31. In most 

 cases, therefore, 283 or 288 days may be assumed as the usual 

 period for gestation, and not 270 days, as staled in Youatt's work 

 on cattle. 



My experiments were not confined to any particular breed or 

 variety of cattle : they consisted of durhains, dtvons, herefords, 

 ayrshires, and grades ; and 1 think these results, though derived 

 from the observations of one person only, will be found equally ap- 

 plicable ; at any rate, we should be pleased to hear the results of 

 others. C. N. Bement. 



American Hotel, Albany, July, 1845. 



[From the same.] 



SELF-ACTING PUMP. 



Luther Tucker, Esq. — It is with much pleasure that I comply 

 with the request of a gentleman connected with your journal (Mr. 

 Howard), in furnishing a few statements in regard to a new self- 

 acting pump which I have lately set in operation, and which, I think, 

 promises to be of some value to the public ; and to no portion of it 

 more so than to agriculturists. Notwithstanding the multitude of 

 ingenious contrivances which have hitherto been devised for ob- 

 taining v*ater for economical and ornamental purposes, the most 

 valuable is the old and simple plan of bringing it from some neigh- 

 boring spring or water-course which flows upon a higher level than 

 that on which the supply is needed. This method, although fre- 

 quently attended with considerable expense, is almost universally 

 adopted where it is practicable, in preference to the best constructed 

 pumps for raising water from a lower level to a higher. The situa- 

 tions, however, where this plan can be adopted, are not numerous, 

 except in mountainous regions. Buildings occupied as dwellings, 

 or otherwise, except in such places, are generally located on high 

 ground, where water cannot be procured by an aqueduct or conduit 

 pipe. In such places it is universall)^ obtained from wells situated 

 on such high ground, and in innumerable instances in the immediate 

 vicinity of ravines and small vallies deeper than those wells. In such 

 cases it is obvious that a syphon might be led from the bottom of a 

 well over into the low ground, tiie current through which syphon 

 would afford a mechanical power, which, if it could be economically 

 applied, would be sufficient to raise a steady and perpetual supply 

 of water upon the elevated level where it was wanted. 



VOL. II. — NO. II. V 



