822 



Remarks on the Purchase of a Horse. 



Vol. XL 



river, where I learned they made very good 

 common bricks, well burned, which were 

 sold at a profit, at $2 50 to $3 per thousand, 

 at the different landings on the Hudson 

 river, in Haverstraw township. The ad- 

 vantage of making, drying and burning, is 

 very great over the Delaware mode, as the 

 market price fully proves. The New York 

 price is $2 50 to $3 per M. ; our price is $6 

 to $7 per M. A vast saving might therefore 

 be made, to the citizens of Pennsylvania, 

 Delaware and Maryland, by introducing the 

 New York method of making, drying and 

 burning common brick — well suited for build- 

 ing common houses, barns, walling wells, 

 paving, &c. The bricks are thoroughly 

 burned, and are not the soft, inferior, raw 

 brick we often get, unfit for building pur- 

 poses. Now as wood is getting scarce, and 

 high prices are paid for building materials, 

 which are often inferior and at best short 

 lived, it appears to me of great importance 

 to the farmers and others to have a supply 

 of cheap brick, as a substitute, for wooden 

 buildings. I call the attention of the agri- 

 culturist and the public to the cheap method 

 mentioned above. They use horses, or a 

 steam engine, to prepare the clay and mould 

 the bricks; steam is preferable on a large 

 scale. The off" bearer carries, I believe, six 

 bricks at a time, instead of one, as with us, 

 from the mould — they are laid on a yard un- 

 der roof; the roof can be raised at pleasure 

 to let in the sun to dry the bricks, and let 

 down again, in case of a shower of rain — so 

 they have no washed bricks at any time. In 

 mixing the clay for the mould, fine coal is 

 mixed with the clay, in proper proportion to 

 burn them thoroughly. The kilns are set 

 under the shed also, so that the labourers 

 can make and burn at any time, and be pro- 

 tected from rain. By using the screenings 

 of stone coal in the clay, it requires only 

 one-fourth as much wood as by the old me- 

 thod, and the wood used is chesnut or poplar, 

 of little value for fuel in most places. The 

 kilns are generally fired on Monday, and are 

 done burning before Saturday, in all cases, 

 60 that the sabbath may be kept by brick 

 burners in all cases, as it should be by all 

 the citizens of our common country. 



If a farmer desires to build a house of 

 brick, and have it dry, let him strip the 

 walls, and lath and plaster as in a frame 

 house, and he has a cheap, durable, neat, 

 dry house, that will last for ages, and do 

 credit to the intelligence and foresight of 

 the age, and render important benefits to 

 the rising generation — as wooden buildings 

 ought to be placed along side of wooden 

 ploughs, the old hand rakes, and the old 

 stages. 



All barns might and ought to be built of 

 brick or stone, instead of wood, as the mate- 

 rials for building barns are getting scarce 

 and high, and ought to be preserved for in- 

 side work, and other indispensable necessi- 

 ties. Brick is as cheap as wood in many 

 cases, and much more so, if we include the 

 durability and the intrinsic value to the farm- 

 er. I hope to sec the improved method of 

 making and burning brick introduced into 

 Delaware, in order that the farmer may have 

 a cheap, durable material, for houses and 

 barns, and the old wooden building be sup- 

 plied by permanent brick ones, and covered 

 with slate, a lasting material, and better 

 than tin, wood, or any other material. 



Henry Cazier. 



Mount Vernon Farm, Del., 

 April 19th, 1847. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Remarks on the Purchase of a Horse. 



The following directions, &c., were first 

 published in England as part of a prize es.say. 

 I copy from Skinner's Farmers' Library, and 

 think they may be valuable to the readers of 

 the Cabinet. When the farmer wishes to 

 purchase a horse, and is obliged to go into 

 the market or to auction to do it, he hardly 

 runs a greater risk in any purchase he 

 makes: and he would do well either tho- 

 roughly to acquaint himself in the matter, 

 or take a friend with him who is at home 

 when handling the horse. This conies from 

 one who has suffered from his own ignorance. 

 Equus Caballus. 



" Having selected a horse whose make and 

 shape please us, our next consideration is his 

 soundness; for, though the horse dealer may 

 declare that he is as sound as a bell, we are 

 to take the phrase as one having various 

 meanings, and not be deterred from examin- 

 ing him, and narrowly, too, on that account. 

 Sight, wind, and limh, must be the upper- 

 most objects of inquiry; for nine hundred 

 horses out of a thousand are defective in one 

 of these particulars. First, then, examine 

 his eyes, and do this before he comes out of 

 the stable. Having placed him so that the 

 light may fall upon the eyes but in one di- 

 rection, see that they are of the same size, 

 and equally full; that the haws are not pro- 

 minent, and that one does not project more 

 than the other ; that the eyes are perfectly 

 clear and transparent; and that the pupils, 

 or apples of the eyes, are exactly alike in 

 size as well as colour. A sunken eye, or 

 one over which the lids are partly closed — a 

 projecting haw — an opaque or semi-opaque 



