314 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[April 2S, 



To the Editar of the Baliimore American. 

 Gentlemen — Having in my last communication 

 given a description of the construction and form 

 of a railroad, I shall now proceed to lay before 

 my fellow citizens a detail of the mode in 

 which the wagons are drawn upon its surface, 

 together with the manner in which the load to 

 be conveyed is di^posnd of. 



During a great number of year*, horses were 

 alone used in England, and, indeed, in many 

 parts of that country still continue to be, for the 

 purpose of draught upon railways. But since 

 the invention of moveable steam engines, they 

 have been preferred to horses both on account 

 of the greater power which they possess, and 

 the saving of expense. It wasl'ormerly custom- 

 ary to place the whole load in one wagon, thus 

 causing an immense weight to rest on any one 

 point of the rail road, consequently it was ne- 

 cessary to make the rails of great thickness, to 

 support the burden. To remedy this it was 

 thought advisable to divide the load and place 

 it on several smaller wagons instead of one 

 larger, for -instance, a wagon carrying ten tons, 

 would be a dead weight to that amount on any 

 given point, but by dividing the burthen, and 

 putting it to five smaller wagons chained to- 

 gether, the weight on any point of the rail would 

 only be two Ions. 



To illustrate the immense increase of power 

 attending the use of railways, 1 will copy an ex- 

 tract from a statement made by the manager of 

 the Penrhyn Slate Works, in Carnarvonshire, 

 in a communicalion addressed fo the Society of 

 Arts and Sciences. Alter staling the lenglii ot 

 the road to be 6j miles, and that it was divided 

 into five stages as he terms them, he proceeds 

 to remark. "On (his railway two hor^^es draw 

 twenty-four wagons, one stage six linips a day 

 and carry twenty-four Ions each journ.-'y, which 

 is 140 ions per day. This cpiantily used lo em- 

 ploy 1 44 carts and 400 horses, so that ten horses 

 will by means of tlie railway do the work of 

 400." 



In another inst.mce it \va3 ascerlained that an 

 ordinary sized horse of the value of about 20/. 

 sterling, or jg90 could in a descent of one foot in 

 the hundred, draw with ease upwards of 30 tons, 

 ,and with great exertion 4 J Ions. The usual cal- 

 culation, I believe, is that in a little descent or 

 level a horse can draw 12 or 1 4 lon», and in an 

 ascent in equal degree with the descent, can draw 

 4 tons. 



Believing that a diagram of a rail way, to- 

 gether with the steam and other wagons upon it, 

 would lend lo render Ihe sulijerl more easily un- 

 derslood, I have caused one to be engraved. It 

 will be observed in referring to this diag-ram in- 

 serted above, that the steam engine has 6 wheels, 

 fourof which, the two foremost and Ihe tivo hind- 

 most, have grooves lo fit ihe rail like those of 

 Ihe wagons inleniled to carry the merchandise, 

 and rest upon the smoolh rail, an! :hat the two 

 middle which .ire cog wheels, play into the co£;s 

 of the rail, which are somewhat nearer to the 

 surface of Ihe earth than the smoolh edsje. The 

 four wheels which run ujion the smooth surfices 

 support Ihe whole weight of ihe steam engine, 

 of course the ■aiddle or cog wheels are not press- 

 ed upon, and being put into motion by the iiia- 

 cliinery of the engine, serve to propel ihe wag- 

 ons in the same manner as the wheels of ste.im 

 boats act. It ni,\j be asked whether the power 



of the moveable engine will be sufficient to 

 work the load over hills; to this 1 ansiver that 

 it is amply sufficient for ordinary ascents, but 

 Ihat when a hill of great height and steepness 

 is to be surmounted, it will be necessary to have 

 a stationary engine at the top of the eminence, 

 which, by means of chains can draw the loaded 

 wagons up the acclivity. Those of my fellow 

 citizens who feel an interest in Ihis subject, 

 which in my estimation is of vital importance to 

 our country generally, and lo our city in particu- 

 lar, will have an opportunity of seeing a mo'lel 

 of a rail way with wagons, by visiting the Ex- 

 change News Room, where one is now deposi- 

 ted. 1 shall new close this commiinicalioB by 

 giving the reference to the subjoined diagram, 

 and shall reserve for future es^^ays the statement 

 of Ihe velocity with which goods may be tians- 

 ported, together with the cost which will at- 

 tend the formation of a rail way between Balti- 

 more and York Haven ; and also the peculiar 

 reasons which present themselves at this tine 

 to induce us to step forward with alacrity and 

 ensure to ourselves not only the benefits arising 

 from the produce which descends the Susque- 

 hannah, but also the return trade of the country 

 watered by Ihat noble river and its branches. 



CLINTON. 



From Ihe London Courier. 



The publick generally are but very liltie 

 aware of ihe uses to which rail reads are about 

 lo be applied ; the following informr.lion, there- 

 fore, will, we trust, be acceptable to our readers. 



Hitherto, rail roads have been use^ for very 

 limitsyl purposes, and whenever they are spokei) 

 of, it is in connexion with the Coal Pits anl 

 Stone Quarries; but they are now about to be 

 applied for the purpose of conveying merchan- 

 dize over very extended lines of country ; and 

 thus they are becoming an object of great na- 

 tional interest. 



Kail roads, as hitherto worked by horses, pos- 

 sess very little, if any advantage over CanaKi ; 

 but rail roads, worked by the locomotive sle.iin 

 engine, have so decided a superiority, bolli as 

 regards lime and expense, that there can be no 

 question but they will be gencially adopted 

 whenever a new line ofconveyance has hecnine 

 necessary, either from an increase of trade, or 

 from the exorbitant demand of canal proprietors. 



By the locomotive engine, fifty tons of" goods 

 may be conveyed by a ten horse power engine 

 on a level road, at the rale of six miles an ho jr 

 and lighter weights at a proportionable increase 

 of speed ; carriages for the conveyance of pas- 

 sengers at the rate of 12 or 14 miles per hour. 

 For canals it is necessary to have a dead level, 

 but not so for railroads ; an engine willwoik 

 goods over an elevation of one eighth of an inch 

 lo the yard. Where the ascent or descent is 

 rapid, and cannot be counteracted by digging and 

 embankments, recourse must be had to perma- 

 nent engines and inclined planes, just as recourse 

 is had to locks for canals, but hero agam tlie 

 rail road system has Ihe advantage; the inclin- 

 ed plain causes no delay, while locking creates 

 a great deal. 



Two ads of P.irliamenI have already been ob- 

 tained, namely, the Slockton and Darlington act, 

 and Ihe rdorelon act. On these lines, which ex-! 

 ceed thirty miles each, it is intended lo adopt! 

 Ihe locomotive engine, and tliej will both be! 

 very soon roads for the coaveyauce of goodj. | 



I There are also three or four other rait road 

 projected. Two years ago, several gentlemen 

 in Liverpool and Manchester subscribed lo ob- 

 tain a survey of a line between those two towns. 



' It was accomplished and found practicable. — 

 From various causes the projection of the plan 



j was delayed ; but a few months since it was un- 

 dertaken with great spirit. A deputation from 

 both towns was appointed to inspect the rail 



j roads and locomotive engines of the north; Ihev 

 inspected Ihe Stockton and Darlinglon line, and 

 inquired minutely into its costs: they witnessed 

 the engines working on the Helton rail way, 

 near Sunderland, and made a most favourable 

 report. Its length is 33 miles, and thegrealest 

 ascent or descent is only l-16th of an inch to a 

 yard. The distance by the high roads is 3G 

 miles, and by ihe canals and river 50 miles. — • 

 The shares appropriated to Liverpool and Man- 

 chester have all been disposed of. Application 

 lor an act will be soon made to Parliament. 

 The cost is estimated at about 300,000/. Their 

 engineer has also laid down a line between Bir-. 

 miiigham and Liverpool, of which report speaks 

 must faTOurably ; and Ihe Birmingham commit- 

 tee will also go to Parliament next session. 



It is intended to meet the Peak Forest and 

 Croinford Canal by means of a rail road ; a rail- 

 road is also spoken of at Stroud, and Ihe high 

 Sheriff of Northumberland has convened a coun- 

 ty meeting fo invite Ihe expediency of eslablish- 

 ing one between New Casile and Carlisle. 



OHiazs^AZ. coiaivEusTicATXosrs. 



TO THE LDITOr. OF THE SEW E.NULAND FARMER. 



Saiigtis, -iih month 20, 1S25. 

 Fr.iEXD Fessexec.\. — .'\s the season for plant- 

 ing Indian Corn is fast appro:'ching. I hope ihat 

 jihou will permit me lo make known throir^li 

 [the medium of ihy useful public-ifion, the un- 

 [ fortun.ite result of an expeiimeiit which i made 

 ,lhe last yeir, lor the purpose of preventing 

 others from doing likewise. Thou wilt doulil- 

 , less recollect publishing about one year since a 

 now method of planting Indian corn, said fo be 

 , discovered and put in practice by iwo brothers iu 

 j N.York with great success. This statement hav- 

 |ing accidentally fallen into my hands, and hav- 

 jing no doubts of its . correctness!, i immediately 

 determined to hazard an exiierimenf. Accor- 

 dingly 1 selected a suilat le piece of ground 

 which i |)long!ied and harrowed, and harroived 

 and ploughed, until it was in very jirime tilth, 

 then made ample «lral'ts on Ihe manure heap, 

 Iha! the corn about to be committed lo Ihe earth 

 might not perish for lack of' food. After pro- 

 curing a machine and pulling every thing in 

 order, on the 14lh of blU month, 1 planted the 

 corn (strictly following the direrticns given,) 

 with high raised expectations, if not of making 

 my fortune at least of' bettering if. In due sea- 

 son thai Corn came up, and for a considerable 

 time it did promise much. Seme of Ihe Fiieods 

 who vi>>ted me about this time were struck 

 with asloni-bment to see the marked diflerence 

 between this corn and some other adjoining, 

 planted in the "good old way." 1 boasfingly 

 told ihem it was owing lo the new and improv'^ 

 ed manner of planting, which was more conge- 

 nial lo the habits of corn. — Friend Editor, I have 

 some fears that thy patience will be exhausted, 

 and yet 1 indulge a hope that thou wilt permit 



