Vol. X.— Nn. 16. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



12^ 



AMERICAN INVENTIONS. 



The aiiiiexeil article is from tlie New York 

 Evening Post. It appear.s tliat the yearly average 

 of iniprovemetits in tlie arts, &c, in the United 

 States, entered in the Patent Oflice, is about one 

 hundri'd and sixtysix. 



We have before us a record of all the iniprove- 

 raenls in tlie arts, mechanics and manufactures in- 

 vented in the United StJites and entered in the 

 Patent Office since tlie year 1793, when the first 

 patent law was passed. It is contained in a docu- 

 ment transmitted last winter to Congress by the 

 Secretary of State, and comprises a list of no less 

 than GOOO inventions, tlio product of American 

 ingenuity in the course of 36 years. During that 

 period, (lie plough has been made to undergo li>4 

 improvements. 119 threshing machines have 

 been invented. The great problem, the extraction 

 of butter from cream without fatigue to the opera- 

 tor, has been solved in 80 ways by the inventors 

 of SO churns ; and the laundress has been allowed 

 her choice out of 125 washing machines. 123 

 tnachines have been invented for making nails; 

 the number of new spinning machines exceeds 

 100 : the number of improvements in the loom is 

 73, and in the manufacture of hats 43. The num- 

 ber of steam engines exceeds 100, that of stoves 

 nearly the same. There have been 42 new ways 

 contrived for manufacturing combs, in which we 

 presume is included the late ingenious invention 

 of cutting them by a single operation, into all sorts 

 of figures, 3 new machines for paring apples have 

 been invented and 3 gridirons. Pencil cases, 

 ramrods, razors and suspenders, have each been 

 subject to various improvetiients. An invention 

 has been patented under the name of ' dog pow- 

 er :' another termed an ' elevator of pots and ket- 

 tles' and a third destined for a useful domestic pur- 

 pose under the sonorous Greek name of' Hacmaga- 

 lactophorus.' 



Gas .Lights from water. — An English paper in- 

 forms us that a highly interesting discovery is 

 about to come before the public, resulting from 

 the experiments of Professor Donovan, and Mr 

 Lowe, of Bricklane Gas works. Letters patent 

 have been obtained for the invention ; the subject 

 is very much talked of, and the question generally 

 asked is, how is the gas made .-' At present no 

 satisfactojy information respecting the process can 

 be given ; but we understand the hydrogen gas, 

 obtained by the decomposition of water, is charg- 

 ed with an illuminating principle by passing 

 througli some liquid procured during the distilla- 

 tion of pit coal, in the ordinary process of gas 

 making. The requisite apparatus is much more 

 simple than that used at present. The new gas is 

 very superior in illuminating power, and may be 

 obtained at a much lower price. If such be the 

 nature of the process, and if no serious difficulty 

 arise when tried on a large scale, it is evident the 

 invention will be considered almost invaluable. — 

 Boston Medical Journal. 



Steam Carriage. — An ingenious mechanic 

 (Goulding-) has completed a steam carnage, which 

 made its first appearance, by way of ex|)eriment, 

 at Dedham, last Wednesday. We learn from the 

 Dedham Patriot ' at 10 o'clock it moved with 

 rapid facility from the workshop, and ascended a 

 rise of about 45 degrees for fifteen rods with per- 

 fect ease ; then proceeded about half a mile on a 

 level route, and returned.' ■ 



IVasliiiii^lnn FdiiiHij. — 'I'lie lamented Col. War- 

 ick was the last of the military Secretaries a.sso- 

 ciated with Harrison, Hanson and Jonathan Trum- 

 bull in the war of the Revolution. 



Ofthe Aids du-Camp, Col. John Trumbull (Aid 

 before Boston, in 1775,) alone survives the long 

 and honored list of Mifflin, Reed, Johnson, Bland, 

 Taylor, Grayson, Smith, Fitzgerald, Meade, Pinck- 

 ney, Hamilton, Laurens, Humphries, Cobb, Tilg- 

 ham, &c,&c. Trumbull, with the venerated La- 

 fajetle, from the ' time honored' remains of the 

 maay and the worthy who were attached to the 

 personal "suite of the Commander-in-Chiefiii the 

 days of trial. 



Oi the officers of t!ie Guard, Cofax, Gibbs, 

 Grimes, Nicholas, &c, all are stricken from the 

 muster roll of Life — probably not a single soldier 

 ofthe Body Guard now answers to his name. 



Of the household of the first President of the 

 Unted States, comprising from 1789 to 97, the 

 Sec-elaries Lear, Humphries, Jackson, Lewis, Nel- 

 son, Craik, Dandridge, all are gone ! The two 

 adoncd children, Mr Custis, of Arlington, and 

 Mrs jcwis, of Wood Lawn, are all that exist of 

 Wasiington's family at the outset of the present 

 Govunment. Not a servant of that period is 

 livin;, although one, a very aged female, still 

 lives who was at the camp of Morristown, 1777, 

 and llie Valley Forge, 1777-8. Such is the un- 

 spariig scythe of time ! 



Tie Clara Polder, containing 12 or 13 of the 

 fines, farms in the country, from 100 to 500 acres 

 each was lately totally inundated by the tide, 

 ihroigh the opening which the Dutch have made 

 in th; sea-dike to the east of the Capitalen-Dam. 

 The Jamage is incalculable. One thousand five 

 hundi'Ml acres of the finest land in Europe, the 

 harvest in the barns, the crop of potatoes, the 

 loss of which ruins above 100 families; the plan- 

 tations, the buildings are all destroyed. The laud 

 will produce nothing for many years, and enor- 

 mous expense will be necessary to stop a breach 

 made between two creeks, and which will be 

 widened and deepened in a frightful manner. — 

 London paper. 



King's properly — Louis-Phillippe is the richest 

 sovereign in Europe ; his private revenue 

 amounts to ten millions of francs a year, — about 

 four hundred thousand pounds sterling. Next to 

 him, comes the li^lector of Hesse Cassel, who en- 

 joys a revenue of seven millions of francs ; the 

 ex-King of the Belgians is supposed to have come 

 third on the list. No just estimate can be formed 

 of the fortunes of absolute kings. The Grand 

 Sultan, Ferdinand of Spain, and Don Miguel, may 

 be considered the wealthiest of monarchs, since 

 the whole of the riches of their subjects is at their 

 mercy. 



Botanic Garden at Calcutta. — This establish- 

 ment has been placed upon a footing surpassing 

 anything of the kind known in Europe. The 

 spot of ground is no less than five miles in circum- 

 ference, and upwards of three hundred gardeners 

 and laborers are employed in the charge of it ; the 

 superintendence of it is under the care of Dr 

 Wallich, a pupil of the celebrated Horneman of 

 Co|ienhagen. 



On Sunday morning, the Robert Fulton, locomo- 

 tive engine, arrived at Schenectady from Albany, 

 in forty minutes, with a train of eight cars, con- 

 taining 147 passengers and their baggage. 



HINTS AND RECIPES IN DOMESTIC AF- 

 EAIRS. 



Enjoyment is not found so much in luxurious as 

 in simple dishes. Fried apples are better and 

 more wholesome than expensive preserves. 



Tortoise shell and horn combs last much longer 

 for having oil rubbed into them once in a while. 



A large stone, put in the middle of a barrel of 

 meal, is a good .thing to keep it cool. 



Lamps will have a less disagreeable smell, if 

 you dip your wick-yarn in strong hot vinegar, and 

 dry it. 



New England rum, constantly used to wash the 

 hair, keeps it very clean, and free from disease, 

 and promotes its growth a great deal more than 

 Macassar oil. Brandy is very strengthening to 

 the roots of the hair; but it has a hot, drying 

 tendency, which N. E. rum has not. 



Woollens should be washed in very hot suds, 

 and not rinsed. Lukewarm water shrinks them. 

 Suet and lard keep better in tin than in earthen. 



Suet keeps good all the year round, if chopped ■ 

 and packed down in a stone jar, covered with 

 molasses. 



Legs of mutton are very good, cured in the 

 same way as ham. Six pounds of salt, eight 

 ounces of salt-petre, and five pints of molasses, 

 will make pickle enough for one hundred weight. 

 Small legs should be kept in pickle twelve or 

 fifteen days ; if large, four or five weeks are not 

 too much. They should be hung up a day or 

 two to dry before they are smoked. 



A pailful of ley, with a piece of copperas half 

 as big as a hen's egg boiled in it, will color a fine 

 nankin color, which will never wash out. This 

 is very useful for the linipgs of bed-quilts, com- 

 Ibrters, tStc, 



Baked beans are a very simple dish, yet few 

 cook them well. They should be put in cold wa- 

 ter, and hung over the fire, the night before they 

 are baked. In the morning, they should be put 

 in a colander, and rinsed two or three times; then 

 again placed in a kettle, with the pork you intend 

 to bake, covered with water, and kept scalding hot 

 for an hour or more. A pound of pork is quite 

 enough for a quart of beans, and this is a large 

 dinner for a common family. The rind of pork 

 should be slashed. 



Cider cake is very good, to be baked in small 

 loaves. One pound and a half of flour, half a 

 pound of sugar, a quarter of a pound of butter, 

 half a pint of ciiler, one teaspoonful of pearlash; 

 spice to your taste. Bake till it turns easily in the 

 pans, I should think about half an hour. 



To make Rice Bread. — Boil a pint of rice soft ; 

 add a pint of leaven ; then three quarts of flour ; 

 put it to rise in a tin or earthen vessel until it has 

 risen sufficiently ; divide it into three parts ; then 

 bake it as other bread, and you will have three 

 large loaves. 



The editor ofthe Gloucester (Mass.) Telegraph 

 trims up his notice of a very respectable military 

 review, in his neighborhood, in the following 

 happy manner: — ' It was a bitter cold day,' and 

 it was really comfortable to see several of the 

 officers and soldiers on duty, clothed in their 

 "Tom and Jerrys." — One company contained nine 

 men, seven of whom were of the same name ; 

 another mustered eleven, and the officers, and so 

 on.' 



