No. 2. 



Pin Making. — The Guano Trade. 



69 



a small stream in artificial channels, more 

 than a mile. Lands that did not yield half 

 a ton to the acre, were thus made at once 

 to yield two tons ; by which means I added 

 to my crop six or eight tons.", E. Wilbur, 

 formerly of Yates county, N. Y., while a 

 resident of that county, watered, artificially, 

 a very dry and unproductive seven acre lot, 

 by means of side channels from a stream 

 which passed through the centre. About 

 one day's work was needed in arranging 

 and ploughing these furrows. " The efi^ect 

 was such," said he, " that it paid me a hun- 

 dred fold for the seven acres, after the first 

 year. It produced for several years, while 

 I owned it, from two and a half to three 

 tons of hay to the acre ; and the man I sold 

 it to, told me last year that he hardly ever 

 saw such grass — there was hardly room on 

 the ground to make the hay after it was 

 mowed." 



In the vicinity of Philadelphia irrigation 

 has been occasionally practised. Permanent 

 meadows are selected on the two facing 

 slopes towards a stream, from which the 

 water is diverted by successive parallel 

 channels, carried as high up the sides of 

 the valley as the head of the water will ad- 

 mit. Two and a half tons of hay to the 

 acre, are a common crop on lands thus 

 treated. 



A brother of the writer, by spreading a 

 small stream over the surface of his meadow, 

 tripled at least the product from the land. 

 A successful farmer of western New York, 

 by allowing the wash or liquid manure from 

 a barn on elevated ground to spread over 

 about five acres of meadow, cut from a part 

 of it no less than five tons of dried hay. Dr. 

 Kirtland, of Cleveland, says that during the 

 past parching season, a field was made to 

 produce two tons of hay to the acre, by 

 turning on it the wash of the yards and 

 road, and the water from two small springs. 

 He also states that an intelligent farmer 

 purchased a farm consisting mostly of barren 

 side hills, and dry, sterile, sandy flats. " He 

 discovered, with the eye of an engineer, 

 that a stream of some size might be turned 

 from a deep glen, by means of a dam, and 

 conducted upon one side of the glen, so as 

 to be accumulated upon the back part of the 

 farm. From this point it discharges at plea- 

 sure, upon different fields, in different direc- 

 tions. It is an interesting spectacle to view 

 his different dams and canals, and to see the 

 brook discharging from level to level, divid- 

 ing and subdividing, over many acres, spread' 

 ing fertility through all its varied meander 

 ings. At this time the farm sustains a flock 

 of 500 or 600 of the best Merino sheep. 



Twenty years since, it would not have fed 

 a twentieth part of that number. 



Accidental instances often exhibit strong- 

 ly the advantages of watering. In a meadow 

 belonging to the writer, a part of the land 

 was occasionally overflowed by a large 

 stream ; another portion, of similar soil, was 

 left dry. The watered portion was usually 

 double and sometimes triple in product; and 

 so clear was the line of demarcation between 

 these portions, that high-water mark could 

 be distinctly traced by the difference in 

 growth, at any time before cutting the hay. 

 Meadows on the lower side of the Erie 

 canal in Niagara county, were noticed last 

 summer, when water had escaped from the 

 canal, to be at least double in growth in 

 consequence ; and a farmer who allows the 

 wash from the public road, during all rains, 

 to pass upon his adjacent meadow, cuts an- 

 nually two and a half tons of hay to the 

 acre. — N. Y. Agricultural Transactions. 



Pin Making. — A Pin Manufactory has 

 been started at Cabotville. Benedict & 

 Ball have in successful operation three ma- 

 chines of their own invention for making 

 the solid head pin, and one machine for 

 sticking them on paper. They now make 

 240 pins a minute in each machine, and 

 calculate, when they have perfected some 

 parts of their machine, to make 300 pins a 

 minute, or with three machines 54,000 per 

 hour. Their sticking machine has caused 

 them some considerable labour to perfect. 

 They now stick 1200 pins per minute, the 

 roll of paper rolling out to any length that 

 may be desired, with a wider margin every 

 ten rows, where it should be divided into the 

 common paper. 



The Guano Trade. — It appears from a 

 statistical document on Guano, published by 

 the Peruvian government, that in the year 



1841, the. first year of commerce in this 

 manure, there were 6,125 tons exported from 

 the coast of Peru in twenty-three ships. In 

 the following years the exportation was con- 

 siderably augmented. Thus, from the year 



1842, to the month of February of the past 

 year, 106 vessels left Peru with about 32,000 

 tons; of which 2,522 were exported to France 

 in eight French vessels, 300 to the United 

 States, and 300 to Italy and Austria. The 

 rest, nearly nine-tenths, took the direction 

 of EnMand. 



We have an abundant season for for fruit. 

 Of peaches there has been an overflow. 

 About the first week in this month, prices 

 were extremely low. 



