1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



167 



•would tempt the shepherds to stint their sheep, 

 •which it is believed, would weaken their constitu- 

 tions, and deteriorate their wool. The shepherd 

 places fifty or sixty flat stones at the distance of 

 about five paces apart, strews salt upon each, leads 

 the sheep slowly among them, and every one is 

 allowed to eat it at pleasure. But when they are 

 feeding on limestone lands, they eat no salt ; and 

 if they meet with a spot of mixed formation, they 

 are said to partake of it iu j)roportion as the soil is 

 mingled with clay. — f fool- Grower. 



OBSTRUCTIONS IN WATER PIPES. 



To remove obstructions in water pipes. Lead 

 pipes, conveying water from springs, especially if 

 small, often become obstructed. We give several 

 methods which we have successfully employed to 

 clear them, without the necessity of resorting to an 

 air-pump. 



As water is nearly incompressible, if a tube is 

 full, pressure upon the water at the end will be 

 felt through its whole extent. By applying the 

 finger forcibly to the end when it is full, the power 

 "will be communicated through the whole length, 

 and slight obstructions may thus often be started 

 from their places. 



When this fails, if the end of the tube can be 

 reached, we apply the mouth and blow as hard as 

 ■we can. If the tube is full of water, and there is 

 a perfect stoppage in any place, we cannot blow in 

 at all; the water will not move; but if it is only 

 some loose substance, its position being changed, it 

 •will often flow out. 



Our next resort is to a piston made of hickory, 

 •with tow or cloth securely fastened on the end, just 

 large enough to fill the tube. Very great power 

 may be exerted with this, by moving it briskly 

 back and forth, in the end of the tube. We should 

 prefer the lower end or outlet of the tube for these 

 o])erations, as a slight backward pressure ■will more 

 readily start an obstruction from its place. 



Another way still. Take a tube several feet in 

 length and fit it on tight in an upright position, to 

 the end of the aqueduct pipe. By the aid of a tun- 

 nel pour water into this tube, and as the pressure 

 of the water is in pro])ortion to its height, and 

 not quantity, a few quarts will exert great force. 

 Obstacles that would only be removed a few inches 

 by any of the other methods, may be washed out 

 entirely by pourin» water in this way from the up- 

 per end. If the two tubes are of the same size, 

 the end of one may be hammered or shaved off so 

 as to enter the other at a short distance. The 

 johit may be made sufficiently tight with a little tal- 

 low or grafting wax and tow. 



Frost. — 7?i Sink-spouts and other tubes, which 

 are nearly perpendicular, ice may be thawed, when 

 you cannot easily reach it with hot water, by put- 

 ting in a little fine salt. In a few days it will work 

 its way through several feet of ice, settling in the 

 water as the ice melts. We have thus thawed the 

 ice in an aqueduct, in very extreme weather, by 

 putting salt into the ventilating or air pipe. 



Another method. When the tube is large, the 

 following is the most rapid plan. Take a tube small 

 enough to go inside of the one to be thawed, and 

 hold it upright with the lower end on the top of the 

 ice. Pour hot water into the smaller tube, and as 

 it runs out at the lower end, it will rapidly thaw 

 away the ice before it. — The Homestead. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



Tor- DRESSING. 



I do not recollect reading anything in the Far- 

 mer especially to the point, of the a])])lication of 

 stable manure as a top-dre-sing for mowing lands, 

 and I, for one, lack information. 



If I let the manure made during the winter lie 

 until fall, I lose the use of it one >ear, and a good 

 deal more, probably, l)y evaporation. If I apply 

 in the spring in a crude state, I undoubtedly lose 

 much, and if I ur.dertake to compost during the 

 winter, although the manure is in a cellar, it freezes 

 when the mercury is thirty below, and the muck 

 for composting freezes too, so that the material 

 cannot be well mixed. And then, too, to apply 

 early in the spring interferes with the usual spring 

 work, and the mowings are too. soft to cart over. 

 After about the 20th of May, there is usually more 

 leisure to attend to it, but then the grass being con- 

 siderably grown, is it not an injury to it to tram])le 

 it and cover it with manure ? If applied at this 

 time, unless very thoroughly mixed with muck, 

 and pulverized, much of it wastes by drying, and ia 

 brought back again to the barn in haying time. 

 And as to its being composted, with the hurry of 

 the spring work there is but little time, after the 

 frost is out so that the manure can be easily worked, 

 to compost it, before the first of June. 



Whatehj, 1857. 



Remarks. — The best mode of top-dressing is to 

 keep the manure fine that is made after planting, 

 compost it thoroughly, and apply it in the autumn. 

 Some apply it as soon as the grass is cut — others 

 later. But top-dressing is of little value, except 

 on naturally moist lands, and on such, we have no 

 doubt, all things considered, the autumn is the best 

 time to apply it. 



SOILING CATTLE — BONES. 



Being a constant reader of your valuable paper, 

 I should be pleased to see in its columns some sug- 

 gestions relating to the soiling of cattle. I would 

 ask what plants will produce the earliest fodder, 

 and what other plants are best for the purpose of 

 soiling ? Why would not such a method of sum- 

 mering cattle be most advantageous to many on 

 the Cape, that are farmers on a small scale, and 

 have but small and stinted pastures "? 



Will you tell me how bones can best be applied 

 to land in a region where there is no mill to grind 

 them? A. D. M. 



Hyannis, Cape Cod, 1857. 



Remarks. — Soiling is an interesting question to 

 most of us in Eastern Massachusetts, and we hope 

 some one having experience will reply. 



Bones may best be dissolved by the use of sul- 

 phuric acid ; the acid itself being a good manure. 

 See monthly Farmer for 1853, pp. 274 and 551 ; 

 also for 1854, pp. 186, 299. 



sugar cane seed. 

 To A. E. P., Springfield, T/.— Nourse & Co., 

 13 Commercial Street, Boston, -will furnish the Su- 

 gar Cane seed in any quantity you may desire; for 

 ten or one hundred acres. The retail price is $1,00 

 per pound. See advertisement in this paper. 



