No. 9. 



Lightning. — Expeditious T7i reshing. 



299 



the equal pressure of the atmosphere was dis- 

 covered ages ago, but no philosopher ever 

 dreamt of applying the principle to the pur- 

 pose referred to, plain and simple as the lec- 

 turer considered it; but the discovery was 

 reserved for a woman, and was connmunicated 

 in a dream ! 



The result was the total ruin of the whole 

 family : Watts himself, considering that there 

 would be no end to his riches, which came 

 pouring in upon him by hundreds and thou- 

 sands, gave himself up to the wildest and 

 most ruinous speculations, entrusting his 

 whole concerns to a man who robbed him of 

 every thing he could strip him of; and when 

 called upon for the payment of a large de- 

 mand, which he could not meet, went and 

 sold his patent right for a song, unknown to 

 a single member of his family ! His valuable 

 wife, overcome by adverse circumstances, 

 died of a broken heart, himself soon following 

 to an untimely grave, leaving his family sur- 

 rounded by difficulties, from whence, as I 

 said, one of his sons was breaking away by 

 emigration, when I met him at Bristol. — " Sic 

 transit gloria rnundi." 



Your subscriber, 



J. B. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Lig;htnius> 



As much damage has been sustained from 

 lightning, and a diversity of opinion prevails 

 as to the best means of guarding against it, 

 I am pleased to find that you are recording 

 in the Cabinet some important facts touching 

 the subject; and I hope you will collect such 

 further data as will bring us to a better un- 

 derstanding of the matter. I will stale a 

 case vthich happened some years ago under 

 my own observation, and also the circum- 

 stances therewith connected; the case was 

 communicated to the Society of Natural Sci- 

 ences of Philadelphia, but I believe it was 

 never published. When I removed to my 

 present dwelling, I found tvv'o lightning rods 

 affixed to the house ; one placed at each end 

 and about forty-two feet apart, north and 

 south; each rod descending about two feet 

 below the surface of the ground, and ascend- 

 ing perpendicularly to the square of the 

 building, there branching east and west, and 

 terminating about four feet above the tops of 

 tlie chimneys, and the points sixteen feet 

 asunder. The rods were of common nail 

 iron, linked together, and fastened to the wall 

 with hooks driven in, a poor contrivance, in- 

 deed ; but I once saw such an one attached 

 to an academy not very far from Philadel- 

 phia, with the lower section fallen off. 



Ailer a long drought a thuader-gust ap- 



peared and rapidly approached from the north- 

 west, and it soon commenced raining, when 

 I moved from the front of the house (east 

 side), where I had been standing, and took 

 my seat in the entry ; a sudden flash of light- 

 ning, as if a gun had been fired, induced me 

 instantly to spring to the front door, when 

 another similar flash took place; I felt no 

 shock, but the lawn before the house appear- 

 ed in a blaze, and casting my eyes towards a 

 tree which stood in a north-east direction, I 

 observed some twigs and leaves strewed 

 across the carriage-way, and that the tree had 

 been struck ; in about five or ten minutes 

 (time not now exactly recollected) the rain 

 ceased, and I went to examine the tree, — it 

 was split on the south-east side, from a fork in 

 the upper part, down to a hook (about five feet 

 above the ground) with a chain two feet and 

 a half long hanging to it ; the lightning then 

 passed along the chain to its lower end, where 

 it entered the tree again and split it from 

 thence to the ground ; on feeling the cliain I 

 found it so heated that I could scarcely hold 

 it. After examining this tree I observed that 

 another of the same species (Athenian pop- 

 lar), which stood in a south-east direction 

 from the house, with a similar chain, was 

 struck precisely in the same manner. These 

 trees stood exactly the same distance from a 

 rod, and each thirty-eight feet from the near- 

 est point; they were both higher than the 

 rods. 



Immediately after the above occurrence, I 

 had the old rods taken down and new ones 

 put up; the latter of five-eighths round iron 

 above ground, and one inch thick below ; they 

 go into the ground about five feet, at an an- 

 gle of forty-five degrees from the house, sur- 

 rounded by charcoal, and pass about eight 

 feet above the comb, with platina points. 



When I was going to put up rods about my 

 out-buildings, which are extensive, I consult- 

 ed some of my scientific friends; they freely 

 gave their opinions, but I could gain very lit- 

 tle information founded on matter of fact. 

 James Worth. 



Sharon, Bucks County, March 2i!ii, 1841. 



Expeditious Threshing. 



Mr. Everlv, of Northiews, made a bet of 

 £5, with Mr. R. Leach, of Blackforrington, 

 that he would, within the short space of one 

 hour, in his threshing machine, thresh one 

 hundred bushels of oats and bind the straw 

 into bundles: the performance was witnessed 

 by almost all the farmers in the neighbour- 

 hood, and, extraordinary to relate, within 

 forty-seven minutes, Mr. Everly threshed 

 133i bushels and bound the straw into 240 

 bundles — a fact unparalleled in the annals of 

 agricultural labour. — Exeter Post. 



