1025.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



227 



Srlccticns 



Viom files of English pajicr? received at the office of the 

 jS'ew England r'armtT. , 



Pedeslrianism.- -U:i:ic Crampton, giooni lo 

 Ca()tain Re?c<)tt, i(artc<l on the morninjr oCj 

 Monday se'nniglil, to go on foot from Aylesbury | 

 10 Osforil Street, in fivfi hours and twelve min- 1 

 utes, for a stake of 500 sovereigns. Bellina: ' 

 even, but the man for choice. The pedestrian j 

 performed the first eierht miles in four minutes 

 within an hour, and the 16 were done in seven 

 minutes within two hours. The :i2 miles were 

 accomplished in four hours and three minutes, 

 and the pedestrian halted and refreshed at Ux- 

 brid^e, and won the match very easy with four 

 minutes to spare. The distance was rallier 

 better than forty miles. 



Bcavis, the Plymouth pedestrian, has com- 

 pleteil his task of walking fit'ty miles a day for 

 Twenty days, to the great surprise of the natives, 

 and inexpressible joy of the backers, the 

 Kniirhls of the Cleaver. — London Times. 



A Great Match.— Mr Lipscomb, the eques- 

 trian, who last month rode eight lior.ses 02 

 miles in four hours and a half, for 200 sovereigns, 

 started at Hyde-park-corner, e,>riy on Saturday 

 morning, the 6th Dec. logo 90 miles in five 

 hours upon eight horses. It ivas a heavy liet- 

 ting match, at six to four on time, but it was a 

 propitious day for the undertaking. The stakes 

 were 500 sovereigns, and the ground was to the 

 64 mile stone on the Bath road, and 28 miles 

 hack, a mile on the London side Reading. The 

 first horse went 12 miles in 38 minutes 14 sec- 

 onds; the second horse did nine miles in 29 

 minutes 33 seconds; the third horse went to 

 Twyford, Berks, 13 miles in 41 minutes 27 sec- 

 onds; the fourih liorse performed 12 mile's in 

 37 minutes 29 seconds; the 5th, 13 miles in 41 

 minutes 57 seconds; the sixth, 8 miles in 28 

 minutes 14 seconds; the seventh did 13milesin 

 44 minutes 37 seconds ; the last horse, and the 

 fastest of the eight, had only to perform 10 

 miles in 33 minutes 29 seconds, and he did it 

 cleverly in 32 minutes, winning by six niiiiutes 

 and the seconds. — Farmer^ Journal. 



potinds, at (he rate of 88 ton? per Scottish acrc( 

 without the top, lbs. or GO tons per Scottish 

 acre, or 50 tons yer Etiglish acre Three of 

 the largest turnips have been sent to our office, 

 tluy weigh, without the tops 28^ Ihs. and 24 lbs. 



Glasi^ow Clironicle. 



Suscdish Turnips. — We lately mentioned Mr. 

 Drnistoun's excellent crop of Swedish turnips, 

 cultivated according to the method ofCobbolt. 

 Ill a field almost adjoining, there is a crop still 

 better, which were raised by Mr VVm. Warnock, 

 in the usual way. The distance between the 

 drills is 28 inches, and the plants are nearly 1 1 

 inches asunder, or twenty in 18 feet. They 

 were sown on (he 28lh of May, and were 

 thinned with the hoe aUd parted and set up with 

 the plough, according to the ordinary practice. 

 It was meant to leave them 10 inches asunder ; 

 hut this method does not admit of the same ex- 

 actness as transplanting. The Scotch acre woidd 

 therefore, con(ain 26.356 plants, and the En- 

 glish 20,740. The field in question, consisting 

 of about half an acre, was examined on Satur- 

 day, and the average weight of each turnip, 

 with the top, was found to be 4j lbs. at the rate 

 of 50 tons per Scottish acre, or 39 tons 17 cwt. 

 [ler English acre. Without the top the root 

 weighed 3lbs. 10 oz. at the rate of 42„- tons per 

 Scottish acre, or 39j tons per English acre. — 

 This crop i5,lherel'oie, one fourth larger than 

 Mr. Dennistouirs. — Glasgow Chronicle. 



S.nilhjield Club Cattle 57iot£'. — Some of the 

 prize caltle in the present exhibition at Saddler's 

 Yard, Goswell Street, are estimateil, by good 

 judges, at two hundred and forty, and by others 

 at two hundred and fil'ty stone. [A stone of 

 beef in London is eight pounds, and of course 

 these cattle were estimated by some at 1920, 

 and by others at 2000 pounds, not equal in weight 

 to some of our American oxen.] Several artists 

 are daily employed in taking likenesses of those 

 that are considered the most perfect in all their 

 points. Amongst the useful inventions, the 

 portable corn mill, and the dial weighing ma- 

 chine of Mr Marriott attracted much attention, 

 and were much approveil of. — London Times. 



Great Crops. — Mr John Ronald, Tltwood, on 

 the estate of Sir John Maxwell, has a field of 

 red-topped turnips, in drills, 28 inches asunder, 

 and the plants, in consequence of deficiencies, 

 at 18 inches distance. They were sown at the 

 beginning of June, and after thinning, were re- 

 peatedly dressed with the plough. The average 

 weight of the turnip, including the top, is 12^ 



Jl Caution. — The mo«t common mode of cheat- 

 ing, by means of false weights, is to have the 

 balances so constructed, that when both scales 

 are empty they shall both hang even, but at the 

 same time have one arm of the balance longer 

 than the other ; then although the weights used 

 ma}' be just, yet by being put into the scale sus- 

 pended from the short arm, much less than e- 

 qual weight will bring this balance even. The 

 best mode of detecting this deceit is to weigh 

 the articles alternately in both scales, when the 

 difference in the results will be immediately 

 manifest. — Farmer^s Journal. 



Fromthe Philosepkical Journal. 



ON BLASTING ROCKS. 



The principal danger attendant upon bl«sting, 

 does not cor.sist in stemming upon (he charge 

 of powder, but in the subsequent operation of 

 drawing the iron rod, called the pricker, which 

 makes the channel for the priming straw ; for 

 it frequently hap\)ens that the friction of the 

 lowest part of the pricker against the rock fires 

 the powder, and an explosion is produced which 

 places the life of the workman in the utmost 

 danger. 



To obviate this danger, Mr. Fisher, of Dal- 

 tnn, proposes an im(>rovement, 'which consists 

 in the use of acoyiper rod, or pricker ins'ead of 

 one of iron. Upwards of three years have 

 elapsed since this improvement was adopted in 

 a very extensive work, where accidents were 

 frequent before, and as no accidental explosion 

 has since taken place at the end of stemming, 

 Mr. F. considers the invention as most infalli- 

 ble. 



Mr. Fisher (binks that the use of sand in 

 blasting is preferable in deep holes ; but that it 

 is more liable to be blown out than stemming. 



He also considers it as (ho most »dvantageoi:s 

 mode of working in driving levels, and blasting 

 in firm rock, to use strong cliarges of powder, 

 (ha( the stone may be sufficicully broken bv the 

 explosion to he removed without ranch assist- 

 ance from the hammer, the pick, or the lever. 

 The following article suggest.s another im- 

 I'ortant improvement in blasting rocks. 



Jiccomt of a method of increasing the effects of 

 guvjioii'der ; showing also the neces.nty of certain 

 precautions in loading firearms. From the Jour- 

 nal des Sciences, et des Arts. 



We have been informed by Mr. Humbold, 

 counsellor of the mines to the king of Prussia, 

 (bat (he efl'ects of gunpowder in mines, &c. 

 have been found to be very much increased by 

 leaving a considerable space between the poiv- 

 der and the wadding. lie also informs us, (hat 

 the person who made this discovery was led lo 

 it by the consideration of a fact well known, 

 but which cannot he too often published • 

 namely, that a musket, fowling-piece, &c. is 

 very apt lo burst, if the wad is not rammed down 

 close to the powder.* 



Without undertaking to show how far these 

 circumst.-Mices are analagous lo each other, we 

 think it mav not be amiss to mention two other 

 facts of a nature similar to (be above. 



First, If a bomb or shell is only half filled 

 with gun powder, it breaks into a great number 

 of pieces : whereas, if it is quite filled, it mere- 

 ly separates into two or three jiieces, which 

 are thrown lo a very great distance. 



Secondly, If a trunk of a tree is charged with 

 giinpowdt'r for the purpose of splitting it, and 

 the tvadding is rammed down very hard upon 

 the powder, in (ba( case, the wadding is only 

 driven out, and the tree remains entire ; but if, 

 instead of jamming the wadding close to the 

 powder, a certain space is lelt between tlicn>, 

 the effects of the [>owder are then such as to 

 tear the tree asunder. 



* Hence it is otvious, (iiat in loadinjf a screw-barrel 

 pistol, care should be taken that the cavity for the pow- 

 der be entirely filled ^vith it, so as to leave no space 

 between the powder and ball. 



To Detect .ddulteration in Bread — The follow- 

 ing simple experiment (o ascertain whether 

 bread be made of proper materials, is within the 

 reach of every one : — Heat a knife, and plunge 

 i( into the loaf If the blade, when drawn out, 

 a[)pear bright, and not incrusted with a white, 

 chalky substance, it is a proof (hat it is (ree from 

 some of the pernicious ingredients generally 

 used by bakers in the adulteration of bread. 



Small Pot. — We have no patience with, and little 

 pity lor any one who, at this period of the world, ii 

 afflicted with small pox. There is no fact more true, 

 or more universally known, than that the simple procesi 

 of vaccination is a sure and unfailing^ preventive of that 

 loathsome and fatal malady. It is as certain as that the 

 sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, and 

 the external and internal senses must be as depraved 

 lo deny the one as the other. There is no more excuse 

 in our days, for a man's dying of small pox, than for hip 

 deliberatily suffering himself to he frozen to death in 

 this land of wood, coal, and comfort : — the one u a« 

 much suicide-as the other. — Med, Int. 



A pig but ten months old, raised by Mr Elijah Sweet- 

 land, of Hartford. Con. was killed lately, which, whea 

 dressed, weighed 422 lbs ! 



