No. 10. 



Cutting Timber. — Bee-Hive. — Delairare Hogs. 



329 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Cutting and Seasoning Timber. 



Sir, — The lime has again arrived, when 

 a fair experiment might be made, with a view 

 to ascertain the proper season at which to cut 

 timber, and to render it in a great measure 

 indestructible, by submitting it to the action 

 of fire, for the purpose of driving off its juices, 

 thus exposing it to the external pressure of 

 the atmosphere, by which the sap- vessels are 

 broken down and the fibres of the wood are 

 brought into close contact, so as to be ren- 

 dered water, air, and worm-proof, according 

 to the theory entertained at page 318, vol. 4, 

 of the Cabinet. It is presumed, that to ob- 

 tain all the advantages to be derived from 

 such a process, it must be put into operation 

 as soon as the timber is cut and deprived of 

 its bark ; for if it be delayed, the gradual 

 evaporation of the sap might go on, and the 

 cells become drained of a portion of their 

 contents, when the pressure of the atmo- 

 sphere, being in proportion to the vacuum 

 created by the internal evaporation, will be 

 reduced in just so much as these juices have 

 already passed away without the aid of cook- 

 ing ; and thus these cells might be left in 

 their perfect form, (in other words, they 

 would not be broken up and crushed by boil- 

 ing and pressure,) so as afterwards to permit 

 the readmission of air and moisture, by which 

 the destruction of the wood would be accele- 

 rated, and at length become powder-post. 



With this view, the writer is prepared to 

 carry out a set of experiments on the differ- 

 ent varieties of woods ; and would propose 

 that others of your readers would go into the 

 examination of the subject by actual experi- 

 ment, rendering a true and faithful descrip- 

 tion of their modes of practice and the re- 

 sults, for publication in the Cabinet, together 

 with specimens of the timber operated upon, 

 to be deposited at the office for examination. 

 The advantages arising from charring the 

 bottoms of posts to be placed in the ground, 

 are to be sought for in this theory, and not 

 from the supposition that it is the thin coat- 

 ing of charcoal that the timber receives dur- 

 ing the operation ; the sap-vessels are broken 

 up, and the volume of the wood is condensed 

 by the pressure of the atmosphere, and ren- 

 dered more compact and impervious to air 

 and moisture — the great causes of decom- 

 position. John Deacon. 



New Jersey, May 3, 1841. 



The desire to live without labour and in 

 luxury, is one of our greatest sins: it fills our 

 courts, the jails, and poor-houses; it demoral- 

 izes our youth, and brings the aged with sor- 

 row to the grave. 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Cabinet. 

 Weeks's Vermont Bee-Hive. 



Having seen in your last number some no- 

 tice of the " Vermont Observing Hive," I 

 cheerfully ofl^er my testimony in favour of the 

 simplicity and utility of that valuable hive. 



I received one from the inventor in the 

 summer of 1839, but too late to use it that 

 season, and loaned it to a friend last spring, 

 who made the first trial with great success. 

 A fine swarm of bees entered it readily, and 

 in two weeks had filled half the body of the 

 hive with comb, and the drawers with the 

 purest and richest honey I ever saw. These 

 were emptied and replaced, speedily filled 

 again, and exhibited both here and in Balti- 

 more, to the admiration of all beholders. 



I am now having a hive constructed for a 

 lady in the vicinity of that city, who has 

 bought an individual right, and will make the 

 merits of the invention more generally known. 

 The ingenious proprietor deserves encourage- 

 ment here, commensurate with the fame he 

 has already obtained in his own New Eng- 

 land. Your subscriber, 



VVm. H. Tilghman. 



Easton, Md., April 20, 1841. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Delaware County Hogs. 



Friend, — As the Farmers' Cabinet is de- 

 sio-ned to be a register of animals of extraor- 

 dinary size and beauty, I send thee the weight 

 of a hog, fed and slaughtered by George 

 Baker, on the 22d day of February, weigh- 

 ing, after being neatly butchered, 879 lbs. 

 And of one also, raised, fed, and slaughtered 

 by Philip S. Bishop, of Edgmont township, 

 Delaware county, on the 24th day of March, 

 weighing 966^ lbs. after being neatly dressed. 

 These hogs were both of the same litter, and 

 were pigged in September, A. D. 1838. They 

 were of the pure white, Delaware county 

 breed, and made no pretensions whatever to 

 an alliance with the boasted Berkshires of 

 other places. They were also fed against a 

 hog that was slaughtered in March of last 

 year, at the Black-Horse tavern, in Mid- 

 dletown township, Delaware county, which 

 weighed 929^ lbs. after being neatly dressed 

 for market. Thine, respectfully, 



Homer Eachus. 



Edgmont, April 2, 1841. 



The period of gestation is the same in the 

 horse and ass, namely, eleven months each : 

 in the camel, twelve months; in the elephant, 

 two years; in the lion, five months; in the 

 dog and cat, two months ; in the cow, nine 

 months ; and in sheep, five months. 



