398 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



1 post cut up 

 Staples 



$0 42 



The gate I use is as follows : A frame with a hor- 

 izontal or diagonal bar across it. Holes are bored 

 two inches apart through tlie three bars of the gate, 

 large enough to receive the wires. The wires are 

 placed vertical, and are cut of such a length that 

 each wire runs from the bottom of the gate up 

 through the top bar, curves about two inches above 

 the top bar, returns down tlirough one of the holes, 

 and projects through the bottom bar from one to two 

 inches. The stuff used for a gate twelve feet long 

 is three by four ; the stuff used for one of foiir feet 

 is two by three. The cost of making the first men- 

 tioned gate, irrespective of materials, is fifty cents ; 

 that of the other is twenty-five cents. 



BENJAMIN NOTT. 



EocK Hill, Bethlehem, Sept. 20, 1850. 

 — Albany Cultivator. 



TO COLOR PINE TO IMITATE BLACK 

 WALNUT. 



The pine should be perfectly free from knots, (as 

 they will not color,) and a strong solution of hot 

 logwood rubbed carefully all over the pine, and then 

 it is allowed to dry. Another coat may be given, or 

 a number, according to the shade wanted. After the 

 logwood is dried, a solution of copperas should be 

 applied in the same way as the logwood, which will 

 make the color quite black. 



It would be better to have a large vessel of strong 

 logwood liquor, in which to steep the pine for a few 

 days, such as an old molasses cask ; after which the 

 copperas should be applied, as before stated, with a 

 sponge. The copperas is dissolved with warm water. 

 The logwood must be boiled for three hours in a ves- 

 sel. It requires to be very strong, but there is no 

 rule that wc know of for the quantity ; any body, by 

 the directions given, cannot fail in striking the mark. 

 Ramrods for guns are dyed in this way, canes, &c. 

 It is applied to all light-colored woods, as well as 

 pine. If coi)peras cannot be got handily, a few scraps 

 of ii-on steeped in vinegar for a few days will answer 

 just as well. — Scientific American. 



POWDER. 



At periods too remote to be ascertained with pre- 

 cision, explosive mixtures were used. Of these 

 gunpowder is best known. Others have passed 

 away, while demands for this have been swelling at 

 a fearful rate — fearful, since it has long been dedi- 

 cated to destructive purposes, for which it is held of 

 paramount necessity. The scourge of our race, it 

 might have been a chief good; a precious gift of sci- 

 ence, it has been prostituted to a purpose the most 

 Avicked that man could commit, or evil spirits suggest. 



So common and cheap as powder is, it is difficult 

 to realize the value of a device that locks up the 

 strength of giants in a few quiescent grains, and re- 

 leases it at pleasure ; a power that instantaneously 

 dilates into a space two thousand times greater than 

 it slept in. Instead of projecting missiles of death, 

 it might, if properly employed, extend and refine 

 every enjoyment of life. Had a tithe of the treasure 

 and thought expended, during the last three or four 

 centuries, on extciuling the rage and effect of fire- 

 arms, been devoted to the application of powder as 

 the mover of machinery, society would probably 

 Lave been equally advanced as it is, Lf even steam 



had not been subdued. Strange as the opinion may 

 appear, gunpowder and its affinities have in their ele- 

 ments that. which is calculated to contribute as great 

 good to man. as they have heretofore engendered 

 evil. — Eu'bank. 



CORNS ON THE TOES. 



These annoying excrescences are produced by long- 

 continued pressure and friction on the parts upon 

 which they occur. The skin is rubbed and irritated 

 by the boot or shoe on one side, and is in immediate 

 contact with the hard bone on the other side, and 

 has no means of escape-; and the consequence is, that 

 the epidermis acqviires an increased thickness and 

 hardness. Sometimes corns are formed between the 

 toes. Here a particular point of the skin presses 

 against the head of an opposite bone, gets inflamed, 

 and becomes the seat of a corn, which is usually 

 small and soft, and occasionally secretes a niinute 

 quantity of fluid. Now and then an ulcer is pro- 

 duced, and the bone itself is diseased, and the case 

 becomes a serious one. We will not, however, de- 

 tain the reader with further description of a trouble 

 with which he may be quite familiar, but will rather 

 suggest the best means for its amelioration or re- 

 moval. A very loose shoe or a very snug one is bad. 

 Wear a boot or shoe moderately tight. Daily ablu- 

 tion with soft water and a liberal quantity of soap 

 should be practised, and the parts aff'ected should be 

 kept covered with a piece of nice cotton wool. The 

 above is the safest, neatest, and best Avay of treat- 

 ing the difficulty in question in all ordinary ca.ses. 

 This I know by experience. — Canadian Agriculturist. 



SHOES. 



The shoes of the horses should be of equal thick- 

 ness throughout, with a flat ground surface, as those 

 with high heels, which asinine smiths make in imi- 

 tation of their own, are dangerously absurd. The 

 toe, which ought to be raised, is thus lowered, and 

 Nature's plan reversed, who elevates the point in 

 order to avoid obstructions. The web should be 

 wide, and of the same width throughout, instead of 

 being pinched in, because Yulcan operator " likes 

 to see the shoe well set off" at the heels." This is 

 both unphilosophical and detrimental ; it deceives 

 the eye of man, and injures the foot of the horse. 

 " The outer edge of the foot rests on the inner edge 

 of the shoe, and the remaining width of the web 

 projects beyond the hoof; " so that the master who 

 thinks his horse has a good open foot, only has to be 

 proud of a bad, open shoe, which both conceals de- 

 formities underneath, and " invites with open arms a 

 bad road to come and do its worst." The heels are 

 made bare just where the navicular joint is most ex- 

 posed ; and if that be inflamed, what must the agony 

 be when the unprotected foot treads on a sharp flint ? 

 The horse "falls suddenly lame," or " drops as if he 

 had been shot," "phrases in much too common use 

 to require explanation ; " and small is the pity which 

 the suffering animal meets with from man ; who, 

 having destroyed the use of his victim's feet, abuses 

 him because he cannot go ; and imputes " groggi- 

 ness " to him as a crime, as if he were in liquor like 

 a groom, and not in agony. — Miles, Veterinary Sur- 

 geon. 



There are some people who do not appear to know 

 how to think well of any human being. 



