246 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Feb. 20, 1829. 



erer was one of the minions of an overbearing, 

 all-grasping aristocracy. In those days a journey 

 of a hundred miles, from Connecticut river to tlie 

 town of Boston was considered as an enterprise 

 requiring a great deal of deliberation, a long time 

 for prepai-ation, and a. very serious draught on the 

 current coin of the village. Turnpikes, however, 

 became alniost as common, and in a degree as 

 beneficial as sunshine ; and, in consequence, the 

 distance from Connecticut riv r to Boston is di- 

 minished from tliree days' to one day's journey. 



Beneficial as turnpikes are, we believe it woidd 

 be easy to prove that the best in the United States 

 do not present greater improvements on the roads 

 existing immediately previous to their formation 

 than well constructed railways would afford when 

 compared with sucli turnpikes. To prove this we 

 will compai-o the facilities for transportation which 

 turnpikes afford with those whicli railways pre- 

 sent. It is stated by competent judges, conver- 

 sant with subjects of this nature, that on turn- 

 pikes, as they are usually constructed in the 

 United States, our liorses can rarely draw- more 

 than 14 cwt. each, the weight of the wagon in- 

 clusive. The wagon or other vehicle intended 

 and proper for a turnpike must be much heavier 

 and stronger, in proportion to the load, which it is 

 calculated to carry, than the car constructed for a 

 railway. We believe, therefore, that 10 cwt. for 

 each horse, exclusive of the weight of the carriage 

 is a full load on the common turnpikes of the 

 United States. On a rail road " the power of 

 steady exertion of a single horse has been esti- 

 mated to be equivalent to that required for moving 

 10 tons on a level rail road, including also all hi- 

 clinations not exceeding 26 feet in a mile. This 

 estimate supposes 2240 lbs. to the ton. If we ex- 

 clude a quarter for the weight of carriages, there 

 will remain 16,800 lbs. for the load. For greater 

 safety in the calculation we will suppose the load 

 for a single horse, exclusive of wagons, to be 

 16,000 Ihs. or 8 tons, by the statute of this Com- 

 monwealth. Two horses, therefore, with a single 

 driver would be suflicient to conduct several car- 

 riages conveying 16 tons on all the level and des- 

 cending parts of the road, and also on the parts 

 ascending,at a rate not exceeding 26 feet m a mile. 

 On the portions ascending above 26 feet in a mile, 

 if stationary powers are not provided, additional 

 horses will be required, except where the excess 

 is slight and for short distances. In a temporary 

 exertion, such as horses travelling with heavy 

 loads, on common roads, are always required to 

 make in passing hills, the power of the two horses 

 Woidd be competent to draw the sixteen tons over 

 ascents of 40 or 50 feet to a mile. But to save 

 the strength of the horses, and to maintain a con- 

 venient rate of speed, it would be expedient to pro- 

 vide additional horses, at least on all the portions 

 of any considerable extent, where the inclination 

 exceeds 26 or 30 feet. On the parts of the road 

 inclining from 26 to 52 feet, measuring 39 miles 

 between Boston and Albany, one additional horse 

 would be sufiicient. On the inclinations from 52 

 to 80 feet, two additional horses, or double the 

 number required on the level parts of the road 

 v/ould be necessary. The sections which have 

 this inclination between Boston and the New York 

 line, measure 43J miles, and for the remaining 

 portion of the road, from the State line to Albany 

 nearly 8J miles must be added, making 52 

 miles." It appears from the above and pther 

 Jataj which may be drawn from the " Report," 



that in order to transport 16 tons from Boston to 

 Albany, 28 horses, einployod one day each, equiv- 

 alent to 28 ilays' work of a single liorse, is all the 

 horse-labor required. Now on a turnpike of 198 

 miles it would require to convey 16 tons 32 horses, 

 which travelling at the rate of thirty miles a day 

 would be seven days nearly in traversing the 

 whole distance. There would then be needed 

 horse labor equal to 7X32 or 224 days' work of 

 a single horse. Therefore, the advantage in favor 

 of the railway compared with a turnpike over the 

 ground surveyed from Boston to Albany, in the 

 articles of horse-labor alone would be as 28 to 

 224 ; or precisely 8 to 1 in favor of the railway. 

 In other words one horse would transport as much 

 on the railway as 8 horses on the turnpike. Be- 

 sides all tliis 16 tons on a turnpike would require 

 for their transports at least 8 teams and 8 men to 

 conduct them ; but further details are not neces- 

 sary to prove the great superiority of railways as 

 at present constructed over turnpikes. 



Another argument in favor of railways may be 

 found in the facilities, which they present for still 

 further improvements in transport and travel. — 

 They open an extensive arena for the display of 

 those powers of invention for which our country- 

 men are so highly distinguished. The man who 

 first emplojed steam for mechanical purposes 

 could have no adequate idea of the extent and 

 richness of the field he had entered ; and so with 

 railways, simple as their invention may seem, it af- 

 fords facilities for sup{)]ying the wants of mankind, 

 and enlarging the empire of mind over mafter to 

 an extent beyond the ken of human prescience. — 

 Friction in railway carriages, will, probably, be al- 

 most annihilated, and steam, gas, or vapor engines 

 may give them a rapidity of motion which no 

 man's philosophy has hitherto dreamed of. The 

 railway presents a road which knows few impedi- 

 ments ; steam and the other agents before men- 

 tioned offer us strength which can acknowledge 

 no limits. Man may, hereafter, harness the ele- 

 ments to his rail road car, and to something like 

 the velocity of lightning add an approximation to 

 the power of an earthquake. 



The railway has its opponents, and every other 

 improvement from the plough to the steam engine 

 has also been opposed. If rain and sunshine de- 

 pended on human volition, there are those wlio 

 would limit them to their own farms, or at farthest 

 to the immediate vicinity of Boston. They argue 

 somewhat after this sort. If the common boun- 

 ties of heaven, to wliich we are indebted for seed 

 time and harvest, could be confined to a circle 

 whose centre should be Boston State house, and 

 radius extend but 8 or 10 miles into the country, 

 it would so far diminish the present glut of coun- 

 try produce in Boston market, that we gentlemen 

 cultivators might command as high a price for our 

 provisions as was given in olden time when Sen- 

 acherib laid siege to Samaria. 



of our current volume, may be done to advantage. 

 The gentleman would ho obliged by a statement 

 of the kind and quality of the sand, where it may 

 be had, and such details of the process as may be 

 requisite to insure its success. 



Hops imported from Van Dieman's Land are of 

 so superior quality as to have sold for 8 shillings a 

 pound. 



The quantity of flour inspected in Albany in 

 1828, was 39,450 barrels, being a decrease from 

 1827, of nearly 14,000 barrels. Fees $789. 



Use of Sand in propagating Trees, Shrubs, S,-c. — 

 A friend who is a practical and scientific horticul- 

 turist, wishes for further information relative to 

 propagating trees, shrubs, &c. by the use of sand, 

 which, according to an article, published page 202 



[The following is a valuable paper En.] 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



Mr Fessendeji — This is the second year since 

 I became a subscriber to your valuable paper, 

 which I have read with great interest, and have 

 received through your columns from my fellow 

 subscribers and yourself a great deal of useful in- 

 formation, but as yet have not thrown my niite 

 into the common stock. 



So barren sanJs imbibe die s!;owers, 

 Bui render neiUier fruii nor flowers — 

 Unplcaiiiniand ungrateful. 



I shall attempt to give a brief description of a 

 mode of constructing a conmion parlor and kitch- 

 en, which I have partly adopted with complete 

 success : in all situations, where the ground will 

 admit, I would have a cellar kitchen, about half 

 the story below ground. The fireplace should be 

 of SLifficicnt size to contain several clay furnaces,, 

 that the smoke and steam from them may ascend 

 the chimney. The chimney should have a valve 

 of iron in its throat which may be opened or shut 

 by means of a rod passing down the chimney ; 

 the lower end turned so that it may he kitched 

 over a nail. By this valve you can regulate the 

 draft of the chimney, as well as extinguish the 

 flames, if your chimney be on fire. In the winter, 

 I would use a cooking stove of the best construc- 

 tion, with a steam as well as smoke pipe ; for if 

 the steam from the boilers goes into the smoke 

 pipe, it will make it foul much sooner. Let these 

 pipes pass into a drum made either plain or orna- 

 mental as best suits the owner. From the drum 

 conduct it into the chinmey above the valve, which 

 should be always closed when the stove is in use ; 

 for no stove will draw as well if the jiipe enters a 

 large chimney open at the bottom. 



The drum should be pretty large and placed in 

 the common parlor immediately above the kitchen : 

 if the drum be large the room will be sufficiently 

 warm in the coldest weather without it being ne- 

 cessary to burn a stick of wood, excepting a suf- 

 ficiency in the stove below for warraing the kitch- 

 en. This is not only an econonjical but also a 

 safe way of warming a common parlor. The mis- 

 tress may leave the room without being apprehen- 

 sive of the fire falling or snapping out on the floor, 

 or the children falling in it and getting burned : 

 and if she goes from home, while there is a fire in 

 the kitchen, she has always a warm parlor to re- 

 turn to. 



There are other advantages in a kitchen thus 

 constructed,which it is unnecessary here to enume- 

 rate. Adjoining the end of the house next the kitch- 

 en I would have a shed which should cover the 

 well, and be sufficiently large for a kitchen in 

 summer, (if preferred) and a wood house in win- 

 ter. Under tlte floor of the shed I would have a 

 box or cistern, that would contain water enough 

 to last 24 hours. This may be pumped or drawn 

 full once a day and drawn out through a pipe or 

 leader into the cellar kitchen as wanted. If your 

 building site is on the declivity of a hill, you may 

 make a cheap cistern of lime and gravel on the 

 bank side ; into which the rain from your roofs 



