92 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OCTOHER 3, 1S3.1. 



From the Troy Press. 

 A STEAMBOAT ON A NEW PLAN. 



Mr. Burden of this city, already favorably 

 known to tlje public as a most ingenious mechanic, 

 and the author of an important invention, whereby 

 he has secured a fortune to himself, and conferred 

 a great benefit upon the country — we mean his 

 patent wrought spike machine — has undertaken no 

 less a task than that of effecting an entire overturn 

 in the construction of steamboats and steam navi- 

 gation. He is now constructing a steamboat, on a 

 plan peculiarly his own, to run twenty-live miles 

 the hour, and to make a trip from Albany to New 

 York and back by day-light. 



Twenty-five miles an hour ! a trip to New York 

 and back by day-light!! "six hours out, and six 

 hours in," sounds incredible, visionary, Quixotic! 

 But for all that, the inventor reckons upon such a 

 result with the confidence of mathematical demon- 

 stration. And Mr. Burden is a man whose char- 

 acter for sound judgment and mechanical skill has 

 been triumphantly and practically established both 

 in this country and in Britain. If, independent 

 of the proof afforded by actual and successful ex- 

 periment, the designs of any man are entitled to 

 respect, certainly Mr. Burden's are. 



It is not, however, in respect to spe ed only, which 

 is to constitute the chief excellence of Mr. Burden's 

 boat, but in regard to materials, weight, cheap- 

 ness of construction, and the power necessary to 

 propel it, it is designed to effect a saving of 50 

 per cent, over the most approved models now in 

 use. 



The plan is this : Mr. Burden has constructed 

 two trunks, which, for want of a better similitude, 

 we shall compare to two huge sea-serpents. They 

 are constructed of staves, except instead of hoops 

 on the outside, they are drawn together from the 

 inside by iron rods, having a head at one end and 

 screws cut at the other. These at regular inter- 

 vals pass from the outside of the trunk through 

 each stave, and through a stout iron in the centre, 

 and are then drawn up and secured fast by a nut. 

 The staves are of pine timber, four inches thick, 

 and from 30 to 80 feet in length. These two 

 trunks are to be placed side by side, sixteen feet 

 apart at the centre, and suitably and efficiently 

 connected together by transverse timbers, upon 

 which the deck is to be laid and the machinery 

 placed. It is designed to propel the boat with one 

 wheel only, which is to be placed between the 

 trunks at the centre. The buckets will be sixteen 

 feet long, and the diameter of the wheel consider- 

 ably greater than in common boats. The engine 

 will be horizontal, like that of the Novelty ; and is 

 designed ordinarily to exert a seventy-five horse 

 power, but is so constructed that greater may be 

 had if necessary. Mr. Burden, however, does not 

 calculate that more will be required. 



The trunks were constructed at Merritt's Mills, 

 below the city, and were launched, or rather rolled 

 into the Hudson yesterday. We had the pleasure 

 of seeing one of them deposited in the watery ele- 

 ment. The other was launched before we arrived. 

 It is designed immediately to frame them together 

 and lay the deck. This done, the machinery will 

 be applied, and the invention tested by actual ex- 

 periment. It is proper, however, to say that an 

 experiment has already been made with a boat of 

 smaller dimensions, and trunks eighty feet long, 

 the success of which, in the opinion of Mr. Bur- 

 den, justifies the present undertaking, and is the 

 basis of his entire confidence in its success. 



It is difficult to convey, through the medium of 

 a newspaper merely, a distinct idea of such a novel 

 design as this — not only with regard to the form 

 and fashion of the boat, but to explain intelligibly 

 the principles of the science of mechanics and hy- 

 drostatics which it is designed to take advantage of 

 in order to obtain success. The reader who is 

 conscious of this difficulty will bear it in mind, in 

 justice to Mr. Burden. 



It must be evident that trunks constructed of 

 pine plank or staves, four inches thick, having no 

 timbers, and fastened and drawn together by the 

 power of the screw from within, must be exceed- 

 ingly light and buoyant ; and it is considered, that 

 acting upon the principle of the arch, they possess 

 adequate strength. The actual power of the 

 trunks to overcome the resistance that will he pre- 

 sented can perhaps only be determined by experi- 

 ment ; hut in regard to buoyancy, that point is 

 ascertained. We apprehend they do not exceed 

 in draught the number of inches anticipated. 



Mr. Burden has undertaken a great enterprise — 

 if he succeeds he will have his reward — but ex- 

 periment alone can determine that point. His 

 boat, three hundred feet in length, with an average 

 width of about forty feet, will look more like a 

 floating, perhaps we should say, flying island, than 

 any thing that has yet been witnessed in the line 

 of water craft. 



seconds and refuse. If hops he killed scantily, 

 care should be taken to shovel over the heap once 

 a day for a few days, and occasionally to examine 

 them down at the bottom. In 1832, hops picked 

 the second week, i. e. after the 10th of September, 

 were belter than those of the first week. Hops 

 may be bad, also, from dirty picking, and various 

 other causes. In brief, take care not to pick too 

 early nor dry too much. Stephen Peabody. 



Milford, 'August 15, 1S33. 



From the Amherst Cabinet. 

 TO YOUNG HOP GROWERS. 



The most common fault with hops at the time 

 of inspection, is their want of strength. In most 

 cases, when hops are marked down by the inspec- 

 tor, the difficulty lies not so much in a bad flavor, 

 as in the want of a sufficient quantity of that aro- 

 matic fragrance peculiar to this vegetable, and 

 which is a sure sign of strength and excellence. 

 Hops deficient in strength are, when rubbed in the 

 hand, generally accompanied with a dry, chaffy 

 appearance. The volatile oil, which appears to 

 be the last thing that enters the ovary, [or fruit,] 

 and which yields the fine flavor, and without which 

 the hop is good for nothing, is not there in any 

 considerable quantity. This deficiency in oil, and 

 consequent deficiency in strength and smell, may 

 arise from three causes. The first is picking too 

 early, and before the hop is matured or ripe. 

 Hops picked as soon as they are grown are worth 

 nothing. At that stage, instead of the fruit being 

 saturated with its own volatile oil, as the first sort 

 of hops must be, that oil is only beginning to be 

 elaborated from the sap. The second cause of 

 want of strength arises from over drying. Hops 

 that are perfectly dry and mature, and when pick- 

 ed from the poles are of the first quality, are some- 

 times dried to seconds or refuse. I am satisfied 

 of this, for I have seen the operation performed in 

 my own hophouse more than once. I have seen 

 good hops dried until the oil was chiefly expelled, 

 and they would rub into chaff and yield but little 

 fragrance. This may be done without burning 

 them, or a change of color. The third cause of 

 weak hops may sometimes, though I think rarely, 

 arise from nature. I suw a few bales last year 

 grown by some of our most judicious and experi- 

 enced planters, which were feeble ; yet, in all 

 probability, were picked at the right time and 

 cured in the best style. If in some few cases the 

 deficiency of strength arises from causes beyond 

 the control of man, yet generally the planter need 

 not look beyond himself for the groundwork of 



USES OP DOGS. 



At London, within these few years, the use of 

 dogs in dragging light vehicles has become very 

 general ; and though their strength is rarely em- 

 ployed in combination, as is the case with the Es- 

 quimaux sledge-dogs, their energy makes them 

 capable of moving very considerable weights. 

 There is scarcely a baker, in the more populous 

 parts of London, who has not his travelling shop 

 upon wheels drawn by one or two stout mastiff's 

 or bull-dogs. But the venders of cats' meat ap- 

 pear to have derived the largest benefit from this 

 application of animal powers. The passenger 

 through the narrow streets and lanes of London 

 is often amused by the scenes between the con- 

 sumer of the commodity and those who bring it 

 to the houses. At the well known cry of the 

 dealer, the cats of a whole district are in activity, 

 anxiously peeping out of the doors for the expect- 

 ed meal, and sometimes fearlessly approaching the 

 cart, without apprehension of their supposed ene- 

 my who draws it. 



The dogs attached to these carts appear to have 

 no disposition to molest the impatient groups of 

 cats who gather around them. The habit of con- 

 sidering cats and dogs as natural enemies has 

 tended to the production of a great deal of cruelty. 

 It is true that dogs will, by instinct, pursue any 

 thing which flies from them ; and puppies will 

 thus run after, and frequently kill chickens. But 

 dogs, by chastisement, may be made to compre- 

 hend that nothing domestic must be molested. 

 Beckford, a writer on hunting, alludes to the cir- 

 cimstance of buck hounds playing with a deer on 

 a lawn, within an hour or two after a chase from 

 tli3 same species. There is at present a tame doe, 

 in the streets of London, belonging to some per- 

 son near St. Clement's Churchyard, which the 

 passing dogs never affront ; and we have seen 

 sane years ago, at Goodwood, the seat of the Duke 

 of Richmond, a pack of fox hounds on their way 

 to cover, go close to a fox chained at the outer 

 gate of their kennel, without taking the slightest 

 notice of him. 



This at any rate, shows that dogs have their in- 

 stil cts under subjection to the commands of their 

 friend and master, man. 



CANADA THISTLE. 



Notwithstanding the patriotic and praisewor- 

 thy eS'orts of some of our agriculturists, this de- 

 testible weed is increasing, in some sections of the 

 country at least, with alarming rapidity. It need 

 not be so ; if not exterminated itself, it need not 

 be allowed thus to exterminate every other vege- 

 table. Its progress at least may be arrested. It 

 spread! entirely from the seeds, and continual cut- 

 ting will of course prevent those from reaching 

 maturity ; the same operation will also in time de- 

 stroy tie plant from the root. — Detroit Courier. 



