1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



449 



PERKINS' COEN HUSKER. 



"VVe have long since ceased to entertain any 

 very strong doubts that husking corn, or any 

 other work, may not eventually be assisted — if 

 not entirely accomplished — by the aid of machi- 

 nery. But as relates to most of the operations on 

 the farm, we look u^on that oi husking to be among 

 those presenting many difficulties to be overcome. 

 There is no trouble in separating the ear from 

 the stalk, but in most cases it leaves it with so 

 many manipulations to be performed afterwards, 

 that it is doubtful whether anything has yet been 

 gained by the use of machinery in this item of 

 farm labor. 



Within the last twelve months we have looked 

 at half a dozen different contrivances for husk- 

 ing, with considerable interest, but have found 

 nothing among them all, not fairly liable to pret- 

 ty serious objections. 



The machine which is figured above, we have 

 only seen in operation in a very limited degree, 

 and cannot now, therefore, do more in present- 

 ing it to our readers than to allow its inventor to 

 speak for himself. He says : 



"This machine will husk corn of any size, on 

 the stalk, just as cut from the ground. 



The operator, seated on the machine, holds, 

 with the left hand, the ear under the cutters, and 

 with the mallet, A, in the right hand, striking the 

 short lever, I!, downwards, cuts the ear close to 

 the first row of kernels, (the cutters being in con- 

 tact or close together when they descend,) then 

 striking the long lever, C, outioard, the ear is 

 pushed entirely out of the husk, being but two 

 motions — first, downward, second, outward. 



It husks as fast as the stalks are placed under 



the cutters ; and from 50 to 100 per cent, more 

 corn can be husked per day, with this machine, 

 than by hand, and all severe and painful hand- 

 labor entirely avoided. 



The iron work is of wrought iron, and the ma- 

 chine is warranted not to break by fair usage. 



Size of machine. — Height, 16 inches; length, 

 28 inches ; width, 9 inches ; and weight 17 lbs." 



It is made by J. Perkins & Co., West Kil- 

 ingly. Conn., and sold, singly, for $5,50. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 



EVAPORATION. 



It has been very generally considered that the 

 evaporation of any fluid is a cooling process — that 

 is, that vapor always takes heat from, and con- 

 sequently leaves cooler, the body which generates 

 it ; but is this so in reality ? Let us examine for 

 a moment the experiments usually cited in con- 

 firmation of this theory; the first of which is, the 

 placing of alcohol on the hand and letting it 

 evaporate by the natural warmth of the body. In 

 this experiment, it is true that the hand will feel 

 cold, but does not this prove that a certain por- 

 tion of caloric has left the hand and united with 

 the alcohol, making it in fact tcarmer, instead o* 

 colder ? The second experiment cited is that o^ 

 the Spanish alcarrazas, which consists in placing 

 water in a porous earthen jar, either in the sun 

 or in a warm, dry atmosphere, where evaporation 

 will take place with great rapidity ? By this 

 means water, it is said, may be cooled to quite a 

 low degree of temperature. I am not prepared now 

 to say that this may not be so, but yet it is a ques- 

 tion of some doubt, as the reader will see, by 

 attention to the result of the following experi- 

 ment, which was performed a short time since by 



