Vol, VII.— No. 48. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



879 



made in the handle of the scythe, near the blade, 

 in such a manner that one semi-circle intersects 

 the other. 



" By this metliod of mowing wheat, the stand- 

 ing corn is always at the left hand. The mower 

 mows it inward, bearing the corn he cuts on his 

 scythe, till it come to that which is standing, 

 against which it gently leans. After every mower 

 follows a gatherer, who being provided with a 

 hook or stick, about two feet long, gathers up the 

 corn, makes it into a gavel, and lays it gently on 

 the ground. This iiiust be done with spirit, as 

 .•mother mower immediately follows." — Complete 

 Farmer. 



As reaping is slow and laborious work, it would 

 be right for our countrymen to learn this method 

 of mowing their wheat ; which will undoubted]}' 



answer also for other sorts of grain Deane's A'. 



E. Fanner. 



THE BRATTLEBOROUGH PRESS. 



Tills new power press has now been in con- 

 stant operation for a considerable time, and the 

 rapidity with which it throws off the. work, while 

 at the same time it e.iiecutes it in the most beauti- 

 ful manner, would seem incredible were we not 

 eye witnesses of its operation. It is the second 

 one which has been constructed on the same plan, 

 but it contains many important improvements, 

 which render it now perhaps the most perfect ma- 

 chine of the kind in existence. The first one has 

 been in operation nearly a year and has worked 

 extremely well, but this one has not only surpris- 

 ed but delighted us by the regularity as well as 

 the rapidity of its motion. 



It works two forms at a time, which are inked 

 by the same apparatus, the impression being given 

 by two platens, one at each end. Two girls are 

 required to put on and lay off the sheets, which is 

 all the labor required. The ordinary rate at 

 which it runs is three tokens an hour, although on 

 newspapers or other common workjijleen sheets a 

 minute may be thrown off; indeed it has been 

 run at the rate of eighteen a minute, though this 

 is more sheets than can be handled for any length 

 of time. In fact we see not how any more can 

 be done on a press of any construction, for there 

 is no delay in any part, the sheets may be put on 

 as fast as they can be handled. If we mistake 

 not the great Napier press cannot do much more 

 than this docs, with twice the number of hands. 



The length of the machine is about eight feet, 

 and the whole does not occupy many more square 

 feet of loom than the common press ; the ma- 

 chinery which is exceedingly compact, is all con- 

 tained between the ribs and the floor. The work- 

 manship does great credit to the ingenious manu- 

 facturer, M|- E. H. Thomas, of this place. The 

 price will be very moderate, and such as to bring 

 it within the reach of nearly all who require one. 

 The proprietors are now manufacturing them for 

 sale, and any communications addressed to Messrs 

 Holbrook &. Fessenden, will meet with prompt at- 

 tention. We earnestly recommend it to the no- 

 tice of all who are interested in printing, as the 

 most perfect machine of the kind of which we 

 have ever heard.- — Brattleborough, (Vt.j Messen- 

 ger. 



Locusts in Virginia. — The Staunton paper 

 states, that myriads of Locusts now swarm through 

 this neighborhood. The woods resound with their 

 doleful cry. 



FARMERS AND MERCHANTS. 



In these times of depression and dullness, we 

 know of no class of men who have so little to 

 complain of as those who cultivate the earth. — 

 We have heard it said occasionally that the farm- 

 ers are in debt, that their produce does not find a 

 ready and a profitable market, and that others 

 have lands that are worn out and unproductive, 

 and it is about as easy to state the cause. If lands 

 are properly managed they cannot wear out. — 

 Deep ploughing and liberal manuring will keep 

 them forever productive. 



In Boston market jjeas have not been sold for 

 less than thirty-three cents the peck, and many 

 have been sold at seventy-five cents. The low- 

 est of these prices is three hundred per cent, more 

 than the cost. Lettuce sells at two and three 

 cents the head, of very small size ; radishes six 

 cents the dozen ; spinach, turnip tops, and beet 

 tops, vegetables used for boiling, some of them 

 pulled as mere cumberers of the groimd, are sold 

 for about their weight in cents. Turnips about 

 the size of a nine-penny piece, twelve and a half 

 cents the dozen. Can any one pretend that with 

 such price.'^, the raising of vegetables is not a prof- 

 itable business ? 



We published in our paper recently an adver- 

 tisement for a Clerk, " wanted in a wholesale 

 store, who is willing to devote most of his time 

 every day to writing, /or a small salary" with the 

 customary direction " ap|)ly at this office." On 

 the first day afYer the publication, seventy-eight per- 

 sons applied, and on the second about half that 

 number. Besides, we received two or three let- 

 ters from distant places, the writers of which were 

 anxious to obtain the clerkship. 



The reader may smile at the sujiposed incon- 

 gruity of the facts that we have thrown together, 

 and wonder what application we intend to make 

 of them. It is no more than this : that when 

 business is so dull in Boston that seventy or eighty 

 able-bodied men apply in one day for a place 

 where constant employment is demanded for a 

 very small salary, and vegetables sell in the mar- 

 ket for five hundred times the cost of production, 

 it would be well for some of these persons to re- 

 tire a few miles into the country and cultivate the 

 earth. We would also impress on the minds of 

 farmers, the folly of permitting their sons to come 

 into Boston for the |iur()0se of learning to measure 

 muslin and molasses, to weigh teas and sugars, 

 and to write pufl's for the theatres and concerts, 

 whilst they can employ them in raising peas and 

 potatoes, which will yield more profit on a single 

 summer's work than can be gained in a store in 

 half a dozen. 



There is, in truth, no condition nf life so envia- 

 ble as the farmer's. All the absolute necessaries 

 of life he can produce directly by the labor of bis 

 hands, ami most of the luxuries can be purchased 

 with the produce of his farm. If we are met with 

 the declaration that the lands are worn out and 

 refuse to repay the husbandman for his toil, we 

 deny the proposition. Massachusetts is capable 

 of sujjporting three times, and probably ten times 

 her present population. Land worn out and bar- 

 ren ! It is all yet in its infancy, and requires only 

 the hand of industry guided by intelligence, to en- 

 able it to yield its thirty, fifty, and even a hundred 

 fold. — Boston Courier. 



Gooseberry Bushes. — A gentleman, who has for 

 seven years protected his gooseberry bushes from 

 the disease, or insect, which is so destructive to 

 this fine fruit, informs us, that the disease (which 

 he thinks is an insect) originates in a peculiar kind 

 of moss, which is observable in spots on the stock 

 and branches of the bush, and that whenever he 

 finds it on them, he immediately cuts off the limb. 

 He has left with us several pieces of the bush 

 with the moss on them, in which he entertains no 

 doubt the egg of the insect is deposited. Since 

 he began cutting off these infected limbs, he has 

 had abundance of fine gooseberries, which he 

 could seldom obtain before. It would be well to 

 try the experiment at least. — Am. Farmer. 



Brown Bread. — Some time ago, we published 

 an account of a certain lady's method of making 

 rye coffee, by keeping her rye moist and warm, 

 till the saccharine fermentations had begun ; 

 which account has gone the rounds of the papers 

 rather extensively, credited to the " Mauio Farm- 

 er," &c. A writer in the Vermont Journal, hav- 

 ing read it, and observed " that wetting up Jonny- 

 cake, over night, very much improved its sweet- 

 nes.s," had some brown bread " wet up " over 

 night, with less " emptins," (i. e. emptyings — silb- 

 auili, of the beer barrel, — we need not ask Dr 

 Mitchell for the etymology,) than usual. The re- 

 sult of tlie experiment was much to the satisfac- 

 tion of himself and family. We wish those con- 

 cerned would think of it ; for certainly no article 

 of food in common use, so generally falls short of 

 what it may be, and sometimes is, as brown bread. 

 — Vermont Chronicle. 



Foul and Musty Casks. — It is a fact that butter 

 tubs, which have become foul by use, can be easi- 

 ly cleansed by filling them with any kind of meal 

 or bran and water, and permit to stand till fer- 

 mentation takes place — casks which have from 

 any cause become filthy, may be cleansed in this 

 way. And, inasnuich as this mixture, after hav- 

 ing performed this operation, becomes more suita- 

 ble food for swine, than before, there is no expense 

 attending it. — Vt. Journ. 



Harvesting Grain. — Professor Schoen, of Ger- 

 many, says, " every description of bread corn, 

 when intended for seed, should attain complete 

 maturity before it is reaped ; but on the contrary 

 when corn is to be converted into flour, it should 

 be cut tight or nine days before it is fully ripe." — 

 " Ex|)erience," says he, " has proved, that such 

 grains as from maturity detach themselves from 

 the ears, always produce the finest plants, from 

 being larger, and more perfect in their conforma- 

 tion. The proper time for reaping corn, destined 

 for the mill, is when the grains being pressed be- 

 tween the fingers yield to it, and become a vis- 

 cous mass." In some parts of Bohemia, and Hun- 

 gary, this practice has become a profound secret, 

 because the flour so obtained was very much 

 sought after, and always brought a higher price 

 than the best flour from ripe corn. 



Saltpetre ia said to be effectual in killing the 

 wire worm. 



Prog>-ess of Temperance. — A New York paper 

 says, " we were told by one of our most respect- 

 able distillers, that his sales of rum for the last 

 si.Y weeks had not equalled the business of two 

 days, a year ago." The general abstinence from 

 the use of spirits will do much toward the resto- 

 ration of better times. 



