NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



163 



arisen, but have not disappeared, are the small-pox, 

 the measles, perhaps all other specific contagions, and 

 syphilis. Though the exact period cannot be ascer- 

 tained, there was a time when none of these were 

 known here. The diseases which have prevailed 

 with various degrees of frequency and fatality at dif- 

 ferent periods, arc plague, dysentery, internal fever, 

 typhus fever, small-pox, syphilis, scurvy, and rickets. 

 The first plague was in 430, the last in which it was 

 epidemic here, was in 1665. It was named in the 

 bills of mortaUty as late as 1769. Internal fever, 

 scurvy, dysentery, and rickets have declined of late 

 years. Scarlet fever, consumption, gout, dropsj', 

 palsy, and all nervous diseases, have uicreased. — 

 Du7icans Essays and Miscellanea. 



illccljamcs' Pcpavtmcnt, ^rts, Ut. 



Acoustic Apparatus to enable the Deaf to 

 HEAR IX Church. — At the Elder Street Chapel, 

 Edinburgh, Scotland, there is erected a contrivance 

 for deaf persons to hear, which is well worthy atten- 

 tion. In front of the book-board, and projecting 

 semieircularly from it to the extent of about nine 

 inches, is a deep, tapering cup or horn of gutta 

 percha, tlie upper edges of which arc in the plan of 

 a book-board, the longest diameter of its orifice being 

 about eighteen inches. This is covered with cloth 

 uniform with the pulpit, the drapery of which is 

 arranged around it, so that the eye detects nothing 

 but an elegantly curved outline, in place of a straight 

 and box-looking front to the pulpit. The lower end 

 of this corniforra cup tapers into a gutta percha tube 

 of about two inches in diameter, which is carried 

 down within the pulpit frame ; and to that main 

 trunk are attached smaller pipes, which are laid out 

 to the required pews, where a flexible tube with an 

 ear-piece is connected, by means of which the deaf 

 spectator becomes a hearer, even the very deaf, who 

 did not hear one Avord, or the echo of one sound, 

 before, and is enabled to follow the speaker through 

 his whole discourse, as plain as if he spoke into the 

 conversational trumpet. — Scientific American. 



Fire Arms differently charged. — Balls which 

 fit accurately the bore of a j^iece, liave the greatest 

 eft'cct, as they do not come out so readily, but give 

 time for the greater quantity of powder to ignite. 



When the powder is rammed violently down, its 

 effect is no greater, but somewhat less, than when 

 barely pressed down witli the ball upon it. 



Gunpowder around a ball diminishes its effect, as 

 it expands in all directions, and when it is upon the 

 top of a ball it must in some measure act counter to 

 its progress. 



By taking a ball and putting a little powder under, 

 and considerable before it, its effects may bo almost 

 nullifi(>d, and yet there will be considerable noise 

 when the gun is discharged. 



Mahogany Stain. — 1. Pure Socotrinc aloes, one 

 ounce ; dragon's blood, one half ounce ; rectified spirit, 

 one pint ; dissolve, and apply two or three coats to 

 the surface of the wood ; finish ofi" with oil or wax 

 tinged with alkanet. 



2. Wash over the wood with strong aquafortis, and 

 when dry apply a coat of the above varnish ; polish 

 at last. 



3. Logwood, two ounces ; madder, eight ounces ; 

 fustic, one ounce ; water, one gallon ; boil two hours, 



and apply it to the wood several times, boiling hot ; 

 when dry, slightly brush it over with a solution of 

 peailash one ounce, in water one quart ; dry and 

 polish as before. 



LEACHED ASHES AS A MANURE. 



The value of leached ashes on dry soils, and in dry 

 seasons, as a manure for grain and grass lands, haa 

 been conclusively shown, in this and other countries, 

 by carefully conducted experiments. Yet, as it seems 

 useful and necessary to "keep before the people" 

 such facts as are not fully understood and considered, 

 we give some observations drawn from experiments 

 heretofore published, for fear that this subject, in the 

 hurry of the season, might otherwise be neglected 

 and forgotten. 



The German agriculturist, Albert, of Roszlan, 

 gives a circumstantial account of an experiment 

 commenced in 1827, and continued for five years. A 

 dry, sandy soil, which had lain in grass for eight 

 years, was dressed with leached ashes, at the rate of 

 sixty-six bushels per acre. The sod was first care- 

 fully turned under, then the ashes hauled on and 

 spread, and covered with a plough about two inches 

 deep ; remaining in this condition six or seven weeks 

 it was again ploughed three inches deep, so as to 

 bring up the ashes, and sowed to buckwheat. A 

 portion of the field, to which no ashes were applied, 

 was treated in the same manner, so that the differ- 

 ence might be noted. 



.The cost of the application was $6 2o per acre. 

 The increased product of the first year was at the 

 rate of five and a half bushels of buckwheat, with 

 four hundred and seventy pounds of straw, estimated 

 at $1 05. The increased product of the second year, 

 when sown with rye, was six bushels per acre, with. 

 six hundred pounds of straw, estimated at §5 25. 

 The increased product of the third year, when in 

 oats, Avas ten and a half bushels, with five hundred 

 and fifty pounds of straw, estimated at .|j3 62^. The 

 fourth year, the increased product, when in pastur- 

 age, was estimated at $3 00 per acre. The fifth 

 year it was again sown to rye, and the increased 

 product was four and a lialf bushels, with four hun- 

 dred and seventy pounds straw, estimated at .^l 06 

 per acre. The value of the increased product is 

 $20 00 ; and we have no reason to sujjpose their 

 effects were exhausted when the experiments were 

 concluded. The estimates were made by Mr. Wag- 

 ner, the translator, from the prices paid at the time 

 in this country, as also was the cost of the ashes and 

 labor. 



Unleached ashes produce a more powerful effect, 

 and hence a less quantity is required. In the Albanj' 

 Cultivator for 1842, the result of an cxporimeat is 

 given, on an old meadow, mowed nearly half a cen- 

 tury — of clay soil, stocked wiih all kinds of grass, 

 where strong ashes wore applied, at the rate of 

 thirty-two bushels per acre, j)roducing an increased 

 product of nearly one fourth of a ton, while the 

 same quantity of air-slaked lime produced no ben- 

 eficial result ; and two bushels of clear, dry cow- 

 dung increased the product only one hundred and 

 four pounds, and the same quantity of horse manure 

 but sixteen jiounds per acre. 



In the first of these experiments, four thousand 

 four hundred and twenty-two pounds of leached 

 ashes were ai)plicd, producing, in five years, an in- 

 crease of four thousand three hundred and forty-one 

 pounds of grain and straw, besides ptusturage equiv- 

 alent to at least a ton of liay. In the second, about 

 one ton of ashes increased the proJuct, in one year, 

 one fourth that amount of hay; and in favorable 

 seasons, we cannot doubt but that its effect would 



