]NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUnLISIir.D CY JOHN' I5. UUSgELI^. P.OOKr.S- r,l'Il.lM:.OS, CO\G1U.ps STUF.KT, boston.— THOMAS a. KKSSr.AUEN. i:iM'l(H^ 



VO L. in. 



From TranHiutiuns ofihe Socul;/ of Arts, 



FILTERING MACHINE. 



This machine, the invention of Dr Traill, of 

 Liverpool, (Eng.) is conMdercd ex(reniel)' useful 

 for its simple roethoil of consi ruction. 



The ciotleil lines A iiml B iire divi.sion!! in 

 the cnsk, perforated ivilli hole?, and between 

 them is a bed of rougli snnd or peiibles, through 

 which the water filtfis itself, until it comes m 

 the space C, from u hence a passage or i>ipe J) 

 conveys to the cock. 



By this means a large qnantity of water may 

 he jiiirified in a sjiort time, and much belter 

 llinn it will he by the common Filtering Ma- 

 ■:hinc. 



©rtfitwal tComwuntcations. 



VI) THK liDITOR OF THE NEW EXGI.AND F.ARMER. 



Mrlkuen, (Mass.) Jan. 1, J £55. 



I\Ir Fessenden, — If the following remarks are 

 thought worthy a place in your valuable paper, 

 1 shall feel gratified at their insertion. . 



A Gentleman of this town, a i'ew days ago, 

 favoured me with the loan of the New England 

 Farmer, from its commencement to the present 

 time, as he had an idea that I should be gratifi- 

 ed with the perusal of Mr Prf.ston's observa- 

 tions on mills, &c. ; but more particularly be- 

 cause he thought Mr Preston had a method of 

 casting interest (vol. ii. p. 83) by Tables similar 

 to some I accidentally discovered about eight- 

 een months ago, and which 1 have pro.secuted 

 ever since. I have now about 120 Tables com- 

 pleted (each consisting of 9 proportional loga- 

 rithms, with a suitable index.) Among them is 

 one just like the Table mentioned bv Mr Pres- 

 ton.* The top line runs thus, 0.002739726 f- 

 and is found by dividing tmity by 36,"j. The 

 same will answer for reducing days to the deci- 

 mal of a year, i should be happy in i'urnishing 

 a few tables as specimens, which 1 think will 

 prove very useful to mechanics and others. 1 

 should be much pleased to see Mr Preston's 

 new science of Semi-Geometry illustrated by 

 diagrams. From what has been said on this 

 subject, I am inclined to think favourably of it. 

 H this is acceptable, perhaps I may at a iulure 

 lime make some observations on that subject. 



* See New England Farmer, vol. ii. page 83. 



FIJI DAY. JANUARY 7, 182:)? 



1 think Mr Pri'.ston could strengthen his ar- 

 gument, (vol. iii. page 1.50) that water-wheels 

 have a gaeater velocity in the night, by intro- 

 ducing well conducted experiments. There 

 seerns to be a hidden cause, that might well 

 employ the genius of a philosopher, if he were 

 certain of the (act, that it is no "aberration of 

 fancy." On the same page Mr P. says, — " a man 

 can c;irry a dry log of wood that will float him 

 across a river ; let the same log lay under water 

 ail winter, and it will sink like a stone ; — that 

 wood is lighter than water and must have ab- 

 sorbed more than its own bulk of that fluid,'' &.C. 

 As tills seemed rather paradoxical to me, fur 

 w ood to absorb more than its own bulk of wat- 

 er, merely by being surrounded by that fluid 

 for a time, I determined on trying the following 

 experiments; and 1 shall not ilecm my time ill- 

 spent, if ihey prove as satisfactory to your read- 

 ers asthe}' have been to me. 



Experimtnt 1. I boiled a piece of white pine 

 in water, in order to expel the air by expan- 

 simi, as I was pretty sure from experiments with 

 the air-[)ump, that it was the air which wood 

 contains that makes it ap[iearso light and gives 

 Ijuovaiicy to it on water. However. after it re- 

 mained in boiling water several minutes, 1 found 

 it (lid not sink much more than half its thickness 

 below the surface ofc^ild water, so 1 abandoned 

 it. 1 then took a piece of dry red oak, :! inch 

 wide and J inch thick, cut off Cne pieces 1 inch 

 long each ; one of them 1 boiled as above, and 

 found it sunk deeper than a dry piece, but did 

 not succeed in sinking it. I next placed the 

 boiled piece of oak with two dry pieces in a 

 vessel of water, under the receiver of an air- 

 ;)ump, and in a few minutes was enabled to ex- 

 tract air enough to sink the piece that had been 

 boiled; the other two remained obstinate, and 

 when I look the pressure of Ihe atmosphere from 

 the surface of the water again, I found that the 

 piece which had sunk would rise to ihe surface, 

 an evidence that air was still within it ; howev- 

 er, it was not long before the other two follow- 

 ed the same example and descended lo tiie bot- 

 tom, which is a sufficient proof to me that wood 

 of this kind at least, if not of many others, is 

 heavier than water when part of the air is re- 

 moved, and water takes up its place. The 4th 

 piece of wood I placed under cold water, to see 

 how long it would be before it would sink, it 

 being pressed a little below the surface, and 

 left free to fall ; it has been in that situation 

 more than a week, and does not seem inclined 

 to sink. 



The 5th piece 1 disposed of as follows, think- 

 ing that some person might wish to try the ex- 

 periments, who had not access to an air-pump, 

 and Knowing that a more perfect vacuum could 

 be formed by the condensation of steam, I took 

 a 2 ounce glass phial, put in as much hot water 

 as would cover the piece of wood, which I had 

 divided into four parts. I immersed the phial 

 in a vessel of boiling water, mouth upwards, and 

 when 1 found the steam rising, the jihial was 

 corked, and quickly turned cork downwards into 

 a tumbler, half tilled with hot water, which 

 prevented the air from getting into the phial. 



No. 24. 



When the steam condensed, as the cork was not 

 air-tiglil, the phial was soon half filled from the. 

 tumbler, by the pressure of the titmo^phere. I 

 repeated this two or three times, and left it to 

 cool, ivhen in about an hour one of the pieces 

 had sunk to the boltom, and 3 remained at the 

 surface. I let it stand, and in two hours from 

 that l^mc all four pieces of wood went to the 

 bottom. I kavp been thus parllcular, for the 

 instruction of such as have not the opportunity 

 of attending lectures, but have an inclination to 

 try such exjieriments. 



With due respect lo all friends of science, 

 Yours, iruly, T. CLAXTON 

 Civil Engineer. 



P. S. Since writing the above, it has occurred 

 lo me that the pieces of wood I had made use 

 of, lifid the grain in tlie direction of their length, 

 that it was more difficult to extract the air, on 

 account of what is called capillary attraction. 

 I therefore tried (bin pieces cut acrosi- the grain, 

 and soon found all kinds of wood to sink direct- 

 ly, (rotten wood and cork excepted). 



TO THK f^DlTDB. OF THE NEW E.VGT.AND FARMER. 



Sniilbjield, (il. /.) Jan. 2, 1825. 



.Mr Fessenden, — More than thirty years ago, 

 I had a belief that lo [>asture good grass land 

 was not the best mode of farming ; but had no 

 data on which to found my belief But, on a 

 small degree of reflection from year to year, my 

 fiith'iticreased, and more particularly after I 

 h'd .hr pleasure of readingsomo authors on the 

 sut'ject. I say the pleasure, for a pleasure it was, 

 and a pleasur<' it is, tor 1 read all that comes in 

 my way, notwithstanding all the complaints a- 

 gainst book-farming. By this time my faith and 

 works are nearly hand in hand. 1 think I have 

 a small degree of experience to found my belief 

 on, that where the land is proper for grass, and 

 Ibe farm rather small, it is not the best mode to 

 pasture mitch ; because, by mowing your grass 

 and feeding it out to your slock green, or partly 

 so, just as reason shall dictate, you will keep a 

 larger stock, over and above the expense, and 

 much increase your manure. This is founded 

 on experience. Working oxen and horses, more 

 jiarticularly, should have but little to do with 

 pastures. How often have I seen a boy sent off 

 ibr a horse in the month of June, perhaps half 

 a mile, to a pasture of 25 or 30 acres, part wood 

 land — two or three (more or less) men waiting 

 for Ihe boy and horse to plough out the corn ! 

 The boy returns, and cannot find the horse. This 

 seems not to be the best mode of farming. I 

 should advise to let the horse stand in the barn 

 when not in use. Let there be a good coat of 

 sand, loam, or turf under his feet. When this 

 is properly mixed with the stale and manure, 

 take it away and coat it anew. There will soon 

 be no lack of hay, and ihe horse will always be 

 ready tor work. This is proved by experience. 



Whoever intends to be a good farmer, must 

 attend closely to his business — not overlook little 

 things, and say. This is not worth saving, and 

 That is not worthy of notice. Let J'featness and 

 Economy be the motto. I have often seen my 

 brother farmers take several steps to pick up a 



