402 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



extra in milk, butter and cheese, the season, and 

 adds to her o\vn vahie and all other animals $5 to 

 $10 each, showing the difference between poor and 

 good feed. "Why so much neglect of the pasture, 



feet fell into the box at the foot of the plane. Some- 

 times several grades are made. The most perfect 

 are caught in one trough, the slightly imperfect in 

 the next, a little nearer the plane, and so on to those 



while the sca^oW is an ol)ject of such solicitude. | almost shapeless particles which must go back to 

 The i)asture should make the beef and growth of | the kettle to be re-melted. The shot are then pol- 



the young cattle ; then why is it not the farmer's 

 important revenue ? 



ished, as pins are, in a revolving barrel ; in which 

 also a little black lead is placed, to give them the 



While the allies are farming out the destruction ' peculiar finish they have when sold. I did not in^ 



of Sel)asto])ol with an 0])en waste-gate of blood and 

 treasure, the New England farmer may be more 

 honoral)ly and profitably engaged in subduing his 

 tough old j)asture lands, which will give him jjlea- 

 sui-e and revenue in the end. 11. Poor. 



HOW SHOT ARE MADE. 



[The New York correspondent of the Congrega- 

 tio7ialist gives the follo^^ng information on tliis 

 subject :] 



On one of the hottest days last week, as I was 

 passing up Water Street on the shaded side, I no- 

 ticed a gust of hot air from a store I was jmssing, 

 which struck my cheek with the bui-ning force of a 

 sirocco. Curious to ascertain its origin, I entered 

 the store and drew near the hatchwa}', from whence 

 it seemed to proceed. Down from the stories above 

 came poming a shower of silver drops, which dis- 

 appeared in the vapor from the apartment beneath. 

 The gentleman who was stan'^ling near, jierceiving 



tend so lengthy a descri])tion when I began, al- 

 though it may interest the juvenile portion of your 

 readers, but to speali of the process of manufacture 

 peculiar to the place I visited in Water Street. — 

 There, the melted drops instead of falling from a 

 high tower, or through a deep shaft, simply came 

 from the hatchway of a four story building, used as 

 a store, the shot being made and sold under the 

 same roof The necessity of the long space is ob- 

 Aiated by forcing u]) against the falling shower a 

 volume of air from a huge bellows worked by a 

 small steam engme. This current of air so retards 

 their descent that the shot are as perfect, in falling 

 from the fourth floor of the store, as if they made 

 an miobstructed journey of 200 feet. 



For the New Enslavd Farmer. 



IMPORTANCE OF SOWING GOOD SEED. 



Mr. Editor : — I have been a reader of agricul- 

 tural pajjers for the last twenty years, and I like the 

 my curiosity, thrust a stick beneath the white drops j A^ejf) England Farmer about as well as any of 

 and drew it forth covered with melted lead. It was them, 

 a manufactory of shot. The first method of mak- lama practical farmer, on a small scale. Now 



ing round shot, was by abrasion ; a number of small 

 rough chips or particles of lead were shaken to- 

 gether in a bag or box until they were worn into a 

 spherical shape ; or, from a sheet of lead, small cu- 

 bical bits were separated with a punch, and ground 

 between two flat stones, until they were rounded, 

 as a pill is made between the palms of the hand. — 

 The next process was by casting in a mould, as bvd- 

 lets are now made, but this, besides lieing slow and 

 tedious, did not make the shot as perfect as desired. 

 The latter method is by granulation, and hitherto 

 this has been only practicable at the top of a high 

 tower, or over a shaft sunk in the centre, so as to 

 provide a vertical descent of 150 to 200 feet. The 

 process is simply as follows : The lead is mixed 

 with a little arsenic in a pot placed over a furnace. 

 When it becomes melted it is poured by means of 

 a ladle into a colander, — a vessel made lilve a sieve 

 with holes in the bottom — which hangs over the 

 space through which the shot are to fall. To pre- 

 vent the lead passing through these holes too rapid- 



it is generally agreed that liberal manuring and 

 frequent stirring of the soil are essential to good 

 farming. I tliink that good seed is also essential. 

 I have read of large potatoes and small potatoes, 

 and have seen them and planted them ; but in re- 

 lation to their relative value for seed the wise disa- 

 gree. In fact there is but Httle difl'erence. 



Not so, however, ^^ith the grains ; the best should 

 be selected for seed to secure a continuation of good 

 crops. A half-centm-y ago, our most successful 

 farmers were in the practice of selecting their seed 

 at harvest time ; the rye, barley and oats were 

 winnowed on the barn-floor, and the seed for the 

 coming year was taken from the head of the heap, 

 because the grain was heavier, as they said, while 

 those who took their seed from the tail of the heap, 

 had to come to their wiser neighbors every few 

 years for seed, saying "that their seed had run 

 out." There was one man in particular, who select- 

 ed his seed corn in his field, and at harvest time, 

 haAing regard to the earliest ripe and the most per- 



ly, a layer of dross taken from the surface of the | feet ears. Another man came to reside in his 

 molten metal is spread coarsely over them. Through neighborhood and procured seed corn of this man, 



the bottom of the colander the drops tall in a con- 

 tinuous shower, and after their long descent are re- 

 ceived into a huge basin of water. This gives them 

 their rounded form, almost all of the drops being 

 perfect sjjheres. They are separated into their sev- 

 eral sizes by shifting, after being thoroughly dried 



and adopted his manner of selecting it, which he 

 continued with good success, so that in unfavora- 

 ble seasons, when corn in many fields failed to ri- 

 pen, and many procured seed from the North, this 

 man continued to raise good crops from his own 

 seed, and remarked that the good would perpetu- 



A few, of course, from contact with others, and var-;ate itself if properly nourished and cared for. 

 ious similar accidents, will be imperfect. How shall] The same may be said in relation to garden veg- 

 they be separated from the mass .^ An inclined etables. If proper attention were paid to these- 

 plane covered with iron is fastened with its lower lection of seeds, we should not hear the complaints 



edge in a box. Down this plane the shot are care 

 lessly rolled in a thin stream. Those perfectly 

 round acquire so much velocity that they bound oif 

 into a receiver at a little distance, while the imper-, 



that we often do, that "the beans are late and all at 

 the top of the poles," and the cucumbers all run to 

 vines, or that the seed has "run out." E. S. 



Somerset, Mass. 



