54 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ill acLiptod to the work required to be performed, to 

 be used r.ny where, except in places and under cir- 

 cumstances where those better adapted and con- 

 structed cannot be obtained. Many of the old-fash- 

 ioned implements are still in use on our farms — 

 particularly ploughs, dung-forks, and hoes ; and with 

 these unwieldy and almost xmwiddaMe abortions, 

 hired men and boys are frequently required to per- 

 form as much work, and to finish it off as neatly, as 

 though they Vt'cre provided with the most proper 

 tools. Parmcrs generally arc too remiss on this point. 

 They are too apt to look at the cost of the tools, not at 

 the useless expenditure of strength on the part of the 

 operative in wielding them — that is no business of 

 theirs, they think ; but this is a fallacy. I have seen 

 men in the hay-iicld, sweating and blowing, and, like 

 fat John FalstaiT, 



" Larding the lean earth," 



exerting to the utmost every muscle, to satisfy the 

 expectations and realize the demands, often exorbi- 

 tant, of a parsimonious employer, who, with good 

 tools, would have performed twice the amount of 

 labor in the same period, without exhaustion and 

 with comparative case. The work also woiild have 

 been done effectually, which is a matter of prime im- 

 portance, though, by many, too often neglected and 

 overlooked. The present abundance and cheapness 

 of farming tools, of good quality, render it easy for 

 every one who is so disposed, to obviate this great 

 and long- existing evil. 



A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

 Bold Eagle Farm, Dec. 12, 1849. 

 — Germantown Telegraph, 



SUGAR MAKING-SHEET IRON EVAPORA- 

 TORS. 



Mr. Bateham : Many of the readers of the Ohio 

 Cultivator depend on making their family supply of 

 sugar from the Sugar Maple Tree, (Acer Sacchari- 

 num,) and in the process of manufacture they con- 

 tinue to use the cast iron kettle for boiling down or 

 evaporating the saj), apparently not knowing that 

 there is a better way. I will therefore give a descrip- 

 tion of the construction and use of the sheet iron 

 evaporator, which is cheaper and better : it is much 

 quicker and easier heated, with less cost of fuel in 

 boiling, and does not crust or burn around the top to 

 the injury of the sugar, as is the case with the cast 

 iron kettle. 



Construction. — The size of the evaporators is four 

 or five feet long, two and a half feet wide, and nine 

 inches deep ; the bottom and ends of good, heavy 

 sheet iron, and the sides one and a half inch plank. 

 The sheet iron must be as much longer than the ves- 

 sel as twice its depth, (eighteen inches,) so as to turn 

 up and form the two ends, as high as the plank sides. 

 The iron should be as thick as can be easily pierced 

 with a steel pimch. Let the bottom corners of the 

 plank be a little rounded, to suit the bend of the iron. 

 Now turn the planks bottom edge upwards, and place 

 a strip of slippery elm bark on the edge to make a 

 more perfect joint, then nail on the sheet iron firmly, 

 as a shoemaker pegs on the sole of a shoe — punch- 

 ing the holes about one inch apart, within haK an 

 inch of each edge of the plank, alternately. 



These evaporators should be placed on arches made 

 of brick, and put away in a dry place as soon as done 

 using. AVith ordinary careful usage, so as to avoid 

 burning and rusting, they will be found very dura- 

 ble. Rcspectfvxilv, kc, 



WILLIAM WILLIAMS. 



Genoa, Del.kware Co., Ohio, Dec. 1819. 



— Ohio Cultivator. 



BARTLETT'S DOUBLE PLOUGH. 



The sound practical judgment and eminent success 

 with which the farming operations of Senator Web- 

 ster have been carried on, at his place in Marshficld, 

 have become proverbial, and as a consequence thereof, 

 his opinions in relation to practical agricultural mat- 

 ters are entitled to great consideration. It therefore 

 gives us pleasure to find, by the letter we copy below, 

 that his opinion coincides with that which Vvc have 

 heretofore expressed, in relation to an implement, the 

 introduction of which is destined to fix an era in the 

 progress of American Agriculture. — Mass. Spij. 



Letter from Hon. Daniel Webster, on the Double Vhugh, 

 Maushfield, Dec. 8, 1849. 



William O. Bartlett, Esq. : Dear ^ir — In June 

 last, an experiment was tried on this farm with one 

 of your Double Ploughs, on a piece of land intended 

 for turnips, somewhat rocky, with a hard sward, not 

 having been ploughed for many years, and many 

 bunches of bushes growing upon it. 



The plough appeared to work well, and Mr. Wright, 

 who has been our principal farmer for many years, 

 was greatly pleased with it. The furrows were as 

 well laid, as I thought, as they could have been by 

 any single plough. 



Mr. Taylor, who lives on my farm in New Hamp- 

 shire, wishes me to send him a Double Plough. His 

 land is level, rather a rich loam, and entirely free 

 from stones. He thinks that with a Double Plough 

 and a pair of horses, with a light hand to hold, he 

 could quite easily plough three acres a day, for many 

 days in succession. 



It struck me, when seeing the plough in operation, 

 that one part steadied the other, and made the work 

 smooth and even. The saving of labor, in the use of 

 the Double Plough, is too ajiparent to need remark. 



I might add, that my turnips were never more 

 cheaply cultivated, and never yielded so good a crop. 

 With much respect, 



Your ob't servant, 



DANIEL WEBSTER. 



BONES AND ACID. 



To those who dissolve bones in sulphuric acid, I 

 bog to communicate a method I have now, for the 

 second season, adopted with success, whereby I make 

 very short work of an otherwise troublesome job. 

 Under cover, either in a manure barn or cart shed, I 

 make a clay basin, or trough, twenty feet by ten, with 

 edges twenty inches wide and as high, into which, 

 having previously thrown one hundred bushels of 

 half inch bones, and having damped them, I pour 

 from the carboys seventeen hundred pounds of acid, 

 the contents of each carboy being marked by the 

 maker, I have not the trouble of weighing. As soon 

 as the requisite quantity of acid is poured into the 

 trough, two men, with common iron road scrapers, or 

 long iron rakes, commence stirring, continuing so to 

 do until effervescence subsides, two hours completing 

 the work. I leave the mass for ten days, when, by 

 the addition of sufficient water, I bring the whole to 

 the consistence of a thick gruel, cinder dust being 

 then added, as usual. — Plough, Loom, and Anvil. 



Pithy Hixts. — Snuff on the nocks and backs of 

 calves and young cattle, will do more good than in 

 the nose of any maiden lady or dandy bachelor ; and 

 brimstone, bought for the hogs, will not prove that 

 the itch has got into the house. Cards on the cattle 

 make them look as much better as children with their 

 hair combed. A clean barn is a hint to the woman 

 who takes care of tlie kitchen. Good milking stools 

 save much washing in the house. A scraper on the 

 door-step saves brooms and dust. 



