342 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



UOW TO SOLDER. 



3In. Editor : — Having once answered an in- 

 quiry, made through the New Enr/land Fanitrr, 

 for which I received many thanks, I am induced 

 to say a word in answer to "P. 1.," "How shall 

 I solder?"' I have been in the same predicament 

 with him. Having to join a pipe full of water, 

 which could not be excluded, I cut off the end, 

 seamed it out somewhat larger than for an or- 

 dinary joining to solder, and filled my splice with 

 considerable^ lap ; 1 then took a strip of new cot- 

 ton cloth, dipped it in hot grafting wax, wound 

 it round tlie joint, and, before it had time to cool, 

 confined it with a strong twine. It has answered 

 perfectly since. Yours truly, 



Lancaster, June i. Be.njamix Willard. 



ABOUT POTATOES. 



If I had leisure, I would give you an article 

 on potatoes, and, if you wish, will do so here- 

 after, detailing some "well-conducted experi- 

 ments" in reference to an article in your last 

 number, signed "S. P.," which he closes by say- 

 ing. "Are there any experiments to prove it? If 

 not, let us discard theory and determine the 

 facts." I can at this time only state a few 

 "fiicts." One is, that there are certain fixed 

 principles or laws of nature, that, if known and 

 regarded, will secure uniform results, invariably, 

 under the same circumstances. 



Failures are easily explained by one acquainted 

 with these laws, on learning the management in 

 a particular case. Large potatoes may give small 

 returns simply because of over-seedinc/. Half the 

 seed, even of small ones, may do as well, for the 

 same reason that, with a given amount of feed, 

 six small pigs would make as much pork as 

 twelve larger, finer animals, limited to the same 

 amount oi feed and room. Had the Connecticut 

 neighbor, "S. P.," cut off the cluster of eyes at 

 one end of his large potatoes, and the feeble eyes 

 at tlie opposite stem end, and planted only three 

 or four central eyes, both gentleman would have 

 learned something by experiment. I once told a 

 curious, quizzing man, how he could raise pota- 

 toes with four fincjers, like a man's hand. Two 

 years after I passed his house (in Vermont,) and 

 he was sorting a lot of potatoes, among which 

 lie found more tlian a peck of fac similes. 



I will add, my convictions are that flavor, 

 color, size and time of ripening potatoes, are 

 equally and certainly suhject to these principles 

 and governed by these laws. And the same I 

 deem reliable in grain and fruits, if we raise the 

 unmingled seed. Benjamin Willard. 



Lancaster, June 4, 1855. 



about soldering pipes. 



In reply to "Prof. Tinker's" inquiry in tlie 

 Farmer, a few weeks since, please inform him 

 that by cutting his pipe smooth at the end, and 

 crowding in six inches of a candle, softened on 

 the outside by a !iot copper, and then pouring in 

 melted tallow, he may stop the water perfectly 

 tight, and then perform the work desired. After 

 the soMering is complete, the candle may 1)e re- 

 moved hy pouring on hot Avater. There should 

 be a space of six inclies between the tallow and 

 the place to be soldered. Tiiis reply is from ac- 

 tual practice and not dead theory. 



Vt., May 23. Tinker Porter. 



For tlie New Ens;land Farmer. 



ARTICLES IN SEASON. 



In the Farmer, for Feljruary 3, there is an ar- 

 ticle from a correspondent, who complains that 

 you do not insert the articles you receive till two 

 months after the season of operation is over. 

 The remarks I am about to make have reference 

 to the jNIonthly Farmer. Let us reason together, 

 and see if your correspondent has any cause for 

 complaint in this matter. This being a season of 

 the year when there is not so much to do as there 

 will be two months hence, it is a favorable time 

 for the farmer or gardener to study out improved 

 plans in plowing, sowing, harvesting, or im- 

 jiroved modes of feeding oxen, cows, j^igs or 

 poultry. He tries his plans, and notes the result, 

 and not being a selfish man, he commits it to 

 paper while it is fresh in his mind, and, as soon 

 as he has a leisure moment, prepares it for pub- 

 lication in the New Enf/Iand Farmer, or some 

 other agricultural journal, for the benefit of his 

 fellow-men. It will be seen by this that an ar- 

 ticle cannot a.'p'peiiv till it has been prored ; then, 

 if it is two months too late, it is, at the same 

 time, ten months too soon ! Ilenee the value of 

 an agricultural paper in book form — it being 

 supplied with a complete index of all the subjects 

 ti'eated upon, likewise a list of the correspond- 

 ents' names, so the reader has no trouble in find- 

 ing any article at any time. I have been a sub- 

 scriber to the present New Ene/land Farmer ever 

 since it was published, and if I could not replace 

 them with others, I would not part with them 

 for four times what they cost me. 



The writer of the article referred to above, 

 does not seem to like the idea of reviovving the 

 previous number. I cannot see any objection to 

 this ; I like it. Yours, Hunter. 



Whiiinsville, Mass., Feb. 8, 1855. 



For the Neiv Enifland Farmer. 



THE WEATHEE AND THE CROPS IN 



NORTHERN VERMONT. 

 ^Ir. Editor : — May was free from rain ; vege- 

 tation was kept upon "short allowance" all 

 through the month, and her kindest friends be- 

 gan to despair of her success. Many a counte- 

 nance was o'ercast with gloom. The forebodings 

 in regard to the drougiit were very serious and 

 plentiful ; but June came, and with it gentle, 

 gentle and most welcome rain. Never did it 

 cheer the heart of the husbandman more ; in 

 fact it cheered everybody, for the merchant, me- 

 chanic, manuflicturer and professional man now 

 see clearly the great importance of the farmer, 

 and of good crops, for without them business of 

 all kinds languishes, and the grass is made to 

 grow in our thoroughfares. Since June came in, 

 it has rained with us every single day, and it now 

 continues its gentle and welcome visits to the 

 previously parched earth. I am not of the faalt- 

 tlnding or never-to-be-satisfied kind ; still if it 

 continues much longer, we, like Macduff, shall 

 cry "Hold, hold, enough !" Still a wise Provi- 

 dence orders all these things aright, and in his 

 hands are we resigned to place the matter. The 

 ground needed a most powerful i"ain, a thing it 

 has not had for a year or more, and now we have 

 it. Our long empty cisterns, wells, brooks and 



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