1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



45b 



For the Neir England Farmer. 



A NEW BUILDING MATERIAL. 



We have just been shown a n(>w l)uiklinL!^ materi- 

 al, which promises, from its exceeding cheapness, 

 beauty and a])parent durabihty, to supplant entirel}- 

 the use of stone, bricli or wood. 



This article is the invention of Mr. Ambrose 

 FoSTKR, of Portland, AVis., and by him jjatented. 

 It may properly be termed artijicial sandstone, be- 

 ing composed of eleven parts common sand to one 

 part dry sLiked lime, wliich being thoroughly min- 

 gled together, witliout the use of water, and sub- 

 jected to a pressm-e of a hundred tons to the square 

 foot (a pressure readily obtained by machinery) 

 produces a beautiful stone, with polished surfaces, 

 which exposure to the atmosphere hardens, and 

 soon it becomes equal to granite for strength and 

 solidity, only becoming harder and more stone-like 

 by the action of the weather. These blocks may be 

 made of any desired size and shape, from that of 

 the common brick to a foot square, or may be 

 formed triangular for corners of buikUngs, or curved 

 for chimneys and other purposes. Each block is 

 pressed with a space for dead air, thereby render- 

 ing all walls made by them, both dry and warm. 

 No lathing or plastering is needed, the walls being 

 perfectly smooth on either side, upon which paint 

 or paper may be laid, and present a better appear- 

 ance than when laid upon plastering. 



The press in which this matei'ial is to be manu- 

 factured, will be so small and Hght that it may 

 readily be taken to any spot wliere it is desired to 

 erect a I)uilding — bringing the sand from the near- 

 est bank, and the Hmc from the nearest kiln, and 

 making any quantity of blocks desired, thus sa\ing 

 the exj)ense of handhng and carting. 



Tills article has been subjected to the severest 

 tests and examinations by the most thorough, sci- 

 entific and practical men, chemists and architects of 

 New York cit)', and elsewhere, and pronounced by 

 them to be a perfectly safe and most valuable sub- 

 stitute for stone and brick. 



Of the cheapness of the material, none can 

 doubt when they remember how abundant sand is 

 evervM-here, and lime almost equally so. Of its du- 

 rability and capability of resisting all external influ- 

 ences, there seems no doubt ; this, however, will be 

 further determined i)y unerring experiments ; which 

 if successful, will render it one of the greatest in- 

 ventions of the age. 



Any information in regard to this article can be 

 had from Messrs. J. H. 13uck ^ Co., of Lebanon, 

 N. IL, who are the manufacturers of the presses 

 for making it; which we understand they will soon 

 be in readiness to send to any ])art of the United 

 States. They are also agents tor the sale of patent 

 rights for the States of Maine, New Hampshire, 

 Vermont and Massacluisctts. 



We can hardly conceive of a lietter lioon to man- 

 kind, in a temporal view, thin t]u> discovery of a 

 very cheap and inexhaustible material for construct- 

 ing their buildings, their houses, their homes ; the 

 possession of which gives to life its chiefest jdeasurc 

 and sweetest enjoyment. A home, for all — that is 

 a home in its most thrilling acceptation, and vice and 

 crime will have few devotees. K. i. 



Lebanon, JV. H., 1H;55. 



Remarks. — Please send us a sjiecimcn of the 

 manufoctured material. 



IMPROVEMENTS. 



The investment of capital in permanent imjjrove- 

 ments, is much more common in England than in 

 this coimtry. In the Mark-Lane Express of Apiil 

 10th, there is a report of a speech by Mr. Mechi 

 of Tiptree Hall, in whieh that gentleman is repre- 

 sented to have smd, that he had, on a farm of one 

 hundred and seventy acres, nearly or quite two 

 miles of iron pipe, for the distribution of liquid 

 manures. The apparatus for applying this manure, 

 including a steam-engine, tanks, iron pipes and gut- 

 ta percha hose, cost him about twenty-one dollars 

 per acre. This investment he considers a profita- 

 ble one — yielding him larger returns than the same 

 amount of capital invested in pubUc funds. He 

 considers the application of liquid manure to lands 

 of all description, much more economical than tlaat 

 of the solid excrements of animals. By this process 

 of manurial irrigation, the excreta of the ani- 

 mals produced to-day, were conveyed into the tanks 

 to-morrow, conveyed immediately to the land, and 

 the soil saturated with it to the de])th reqiured ; 

 whereas, when the solid matters were applied, the 

 cost of transportation, spreading, etc., not only 

 proved a matter of considerable expense, but there 

 was also much time lost, oftentimes, in waitmg for 

 rain to wash the fertilizing particles into the soil, 

 and then when it came, the quantity was not suffi- 

 cient to carry them to the required depth. The 

 actual cost of apj^lying the urine and other liquid 

 matters made in his establishments — an equal dis- 

 tribution over all his fields being secured — did not 

 exceed three cents per ton ! His estimate of the 

 actual augmentation of produce, in consequence of 

 this irrigating process, is that it amounts to more 

 than double the outlay — or about one hundred per 

 cent. Now why is it that our farmers who are by 

 no means deficient in enter])r!se in other matters, do 

 not imitate their English friends in this great mat- 

 ter ? Why do they, in ^'iew of such focts and ex- 

 amples as these set before them in the speech of 

 Mr. Mechi, still bUndly persist in suffering the an- 

 nual waste of the most valuable portions of their 

 manure, and this, too, while they are actually stun- 

 ning us A\ith their dolorous and ceaseless complaints 

 against short crops and exhausted soils. Farmers 

 should refiect upon this subject. It is one of the 

 verj- first imjiorUince, and we trust will no longer 

 be treated with neglect. 



A Fact in Manuring. — \ person carrying some 

 orange trees from China to the Prince of Wales is- 

 land, when they had many hundred fruit on them, 

 exjiected a good. crop the next year, but was utter- 

 Iv disapj)ointed : they ])rodueed but few. A Chi- 

 nese, settled in the island, told him if he would have 

 his trees bear, he nuist treat them as they were ac- 

 customed to in China ; and he described the follow- 

 ing process for jiroviding manure — ''.V cistern, so 

 lined and covered as to be air-tight, is half-filled 

 with animal matter, and to jjrcvcnt bursting from 



