1825.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



253 



From the Edinburgh Scotsman. 



IRON RAIL ROADS, AND THE STEAM COACH. 



When the steam coach is brought fully into 

 use, practice will teach iis many things respect- 

 ing it, of which theory leaves us ignorant. With 



the facilities for rapid motion for which it will 

 afforJ, however, we think we are not too san- 

 guine, in expecting to see the present extreme 

 rate of travelling doubled. We shall then be 

 carried at the rate of 100 miles a day, with all 

 the ease we now f njoy in the steam boats, but 

 without the annoyance of sea sickness, or the 

 danger of being burned or drowned. It is impos- 

 sible to anticipate the efTecls of such an extraor- 

 dinary facility of communication, when gener- 

 ally introduced. From Calais to Petersburg, or 

 Constantinople for instance, would be but a jour- 

 ney of 5 days ; and the tour of Europe might be 

 accomplished in a shorter time than our grand- 

 fathers took to travel to London and home again. 

 The Americans with their characteristic ardour 

 for improvements, are now collecting inform 

 ation about railways and locomotive machines 

 in England. And to them these inventions will 

 prove of inestimable value. Some persons doubt 

 for instance, whether it is possible to keep so 

 vast a territory as theirs united under one Gov- 

 ernment. But it is forgotten, that extent of the 

 territory is a bar to political union, only as il 

 renders communications slow and difficult, and 

 that with the rapid and easy menns of intercourse 

 ■which the railway atTords, Neiv York, New Or- 

 leans, and Columliia river, though distant res- 

 pectively from two thousand to three thousand 

 miles, will he politically and morally nearer to 

 one another than London and Edinburgh were 

 a centurj' ago. Free government- in ancient limes 

 were necessarily small, because they depended 

 on union of sentiment, in the mass ofthe people ; 

 and one citizen would not then know the opin- 

 ion of another at thirty miles distance. But the 

 post, the press, and the stage coach, have made 

 it easier to unite tuenty millions of men in a 

 common cause in our days, than it was to unite 

 the tiftieth part of the number in the days of 

 Philip of Macedon. And with the means of com- 

 munication we are likely soon to possess, we 

 think, the one hundred and fifty millions who 

 ^vill inhabit JS'orlh America, next century, will 

 be more completely one people, than the inhabit- 

 ants of France or Britain at this &,\y. It is pleas- 

 ing indeed to think, that at the moment when 

 the gigantic republics of the new world are start- 

 ing into existence, the inventive genius of man 

 is creating new moral and mechanical powers 

 to cement, and bind their vast and distant mem- 

 bers together, and to give the human race the 

 benefits of a more extended and perfect civili- 

 zation. But we ought not to overlook the ad- 

 ditional security which an opulent and highly 

 improved country will in future derive from the 

 facility of its internal means of communication. 

 Were a foreign enemy, fur instance, to invade 

 England, 500 steam wagons could convey 60,- 

 000 armed men in one d.\y to the point assailed ; 

 and within one week, it would be easy by the 

 Same means, to collect two or three hundred 

 thousand men to one spot, all quite fresh and fit 

 for action. 



The Legislature of Pennsylvania has ^ranted .in an- 

 nuity of $8000 for tour years to the Pennsyh-ania In- 

 stitution lor the Deaf acd Dumb. 



APPLB BHEAD. 



A very light, pleasant bread is tnnde in France 

 by a mixture of apples and flour, in liie propor- 

 tion of one pound ofthe former to two ofthe 

 latter. The usual quantity of yeast is empio} e;l 

 as in making common bread, and is beat with 

 flour and warm pulp of the apples after they 

 have boiled, and the dougli is then considered 

 as set ; it is then put up in a proper vessel, is 

 allowed to rise for eight or twelve hours, ami 

 then baked into long loaves. Very little water 

 is requisite ; none, generally, if the apples are 

 very fresh. 



Communicated for Ihe ^dmerican Farmer, 



Bemeily for Sore Eyes. — Dissolve an ounce of 

 salf-petre in a quart of water, with which fill a 

 wine glass and invert over the eyes, .(each) for 

 about a minute every morning. Wash the eyes 

 with the same, weakened with the addition of 

 more water. This is said to cure weak and in- 

 flamed eyes. 



! Jinother. — Boil half an ounce ofCammomile 

 flowers in a pint of new milk, and wash the eyes 

 three or four times a daj'. 



Jinother. — Open the eyes over the steam of 

 boiling spirits of turpentine. 



To prevent a Lock Jaw — from the foot's hcing 

 pierced with a rusty nail. — Immerse the foot in 

 strong ley of wood ashes, (warm) or apply cloths 

 wetted in the ley to the wounded part. 



Cement ttsed for Steam Apparatus — given by 

 xMessrs Pearson and Co. Gas-Light makers, of 

 Liverpool : — 



b cwt. Boreings, 

 2| lbs. Sal. Ammoniac, 

 1^ lbs. Sulphur. 

 To every cwt. of Boreings add 8 ounces of Sal. 

 Ammoniac and 4 ounces of Sulphur, making only 

 one cwt. at a time. 



BUTT;:I1 EXPEDITIOrSLY MADE BY FREEZING MILIC. 



Sir : By the aid of frost, I find it much easier 

 to convert milk into butter in the winter, than 

 by any process whatever during the summer 

 season. The milk, when taken from the cow, 

 is immediately strained into earthen pans ami 

 set in the coldest part ofthe house ; as soon as 

 the frost begins to operate, a separation takes 

 place ; the cream rises in a thick paste to the 

 top, and leaves the milk without a particle of 

 cream, frozen in the pan. The cream is not so 

 hard but that it can be easily scraped off with a 

 spoon, down to the solid ice ; it is then set 

 aside until a sufficient quantity is collected for 

 churning, when it is warmed just so much, as 

 to thaw the cream sufficiently to put it into the 

 churn ; I have never known it to require more 

 than five minutes to convert such cream into 

 butter, after Ihe churning had commenced. 



All the hu!ter consumed in my family the last 

 winter, has been m.Tde in this way, and I think 

 I never had finer. I ought to state, that I think 

 this method injurious to the cream for certain 

 purposes ; such, for instance, as vvhipsyllabubs, 

 as my domestics found after the cream was mix- 

 ed with other ingredients, the least agitation 

 brought it into butter. 



E. HERSEY DERBY. 



Salem, Mass. May 7, 1 824. 



Signs of a poor Parmer.— H^ grazes his mow- 

 in? land late in the Spring. Some of his cow« 

 arc much past their prime. He neglects to keep 

 the dung ami ground from the sills of bis build- 

 ings. He sons and plants his land till it is ex- 

 hausted before he thinks of manuring. He keeps 

 too much stock, and many of them are unruly. 

 He has a place for nothing, and nothing in its 

 [ilace. If he wants a gimblet, a chisel, or a ham- 

 mer, he cannot find it. He seldom does any thing 

 in stormy ^veather, or in an evening. You will 

 ol'trn perha|is hoar of his being in the bar-room, 

 talking of hard times. Although he has been on 

 a piece of land twenty years, ask liim for grafted 

 apples, and ho will tell you that he could not 

 raise them, for he never had any luck. Kis in- 

 dolence and carelessness subject him to many 

 accidents. Ho loses cider for want of a hoop • 

 his plough breaks in his hurry to get in his seed 

 in season because it was not housed, and m har- 

 vest time, when he is at work on a distant part 

 of his farm, the hogs break into his garden, for 

 want of a small re[>air in his fence. He always 

 feels in a hurry, yet in his busiest day he will 

 stop and talk till he has wearied your patience. 

 He is seldom neat in his person, and generally 

 late at public worship. His children are late at 

 school, and their books are torn and dirty. He 

 has no enterprise, and is sure to have no money, 

 or if he must have it, makes great sacrifice to 

 get it ; and as he is slack in his payments, and 

 buys altogether on credit, he purchases every 

 thing at a dear rate. You will see the smoke 

 come out of his chimney long after daylight in 

 winter. His horse stable is not daily cleansed, 

 nor his horse curried. Boards, shingles, and 

 clapboards are to be seen off his buildings, month 

 after month, without bein,g replaced, and his 

 windows are full of rags. He feeds his hogs and 

 horses with whole grain. II his lambs die, or the 

 wool comes off his sheep, he does not think it is 

 for want of care or food. He is generally a great 

 borrower, attd seldom returns the thing borrow- 

 ed, lie is a poor husband, a poor father, a poor 

 neighbour, a poor citizen, and a poor christian. 



Scalds or burns. — A writer in an Ohio paper 

 states that a scald era burn may be rendered al- 

 most harmless by an immediate application of 

 green apple scrapings, in the form of a poultice. 

 The apples should be kept cool and moist by 

 occasional additions of cider. 



To give lustre to silver. — Dissolve a quantity 

 of alum in water, so as to make a pretty strong 

 brine, which must be skimmed very carefully j 

 add some soap to it and when you wish to use it, 

 dip a piece of linen rag in it, and rub over the 

 plate. 



^i .utbslitulefor Bells. — A patent, it is said, has been 

 recently taken out at Washington for an instrument 

 wliich will save three quarters or four fifths of the ex- 

 pence for bells now in common use. It was invented 

 sn Illinois. It is a simple triangular plate of cast steel, 

 hung up by one corner. Three hammers of different 

 sizts an; placed near the centre, which strike the base 

 by means of turning a crank. Sounds are produced 

 every way as loud k. pleasant as from the common belU. 



The Secretary of the Navy has recommended the 

 construction of two Dry Docks ; one to be located at 

 C'harlestown, (.Mass) and the other at Gosport, (Vir) 

 The probable expense of the construction of both is 

 estimated at about $700,000. 



