410 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



on enough of it so that it will not dry up but form 

 a mass and rot. Do not try to grow too much 

 wood. If the trees are set out this spring, rem.em- 

 ber that their roots have not got firm hold of the 

 earth yet, and that their ability to feed the branches 

 is Hmited. Therefore, cut down to meet the abil- 

 ity of the roots, in their new location. With intel- 

 ligent care, you can save all your trees, and soon 

 put them beyond harm's way. By all means do 

 not be afraid of manure, in almost any form. 



PHILOSOPHY IN COURT. 



The New York Post relates the following of 

 Uriah A. Boyden, a civil engineer of Boston, who 

 recently offered $500 in two prizes to the students 

 of Harvard College who Eittained the greatest skill 

 in mathematics, which prizes afe to be awarded 

 this week : 



This gentleman was concerned in a suit last year, 

 brought by him in the Supreme Court of Massa- 

 chusetts, against the Atlantic Cotton Mills, of Law- 

 fence, which was of a very interesting character, 

 but has never, so far as we are aware, come before 

 the public. Mr. Boyden had agreed to make a tur- 

 bine water-wheel for the Atlantic Mills, which 

 ehould save or "utilize," as it is termed, seventy-six 

 per cent, of the water-power; if he succeeded in 

 saving that per centage, he was to have $2000, if 

 not, he was to have nothing ; and for every one 

 per cent, above that, he was to receive $350. Mr. 

 Boyden went to work and produced a wheel which 

 saved, as he affirmed, ninety-six per cent. The 

 labor involved in this result may be imagined, from 

 the fact that Mr. Boyden spent more than $5000 

 in the mere mathematical calculations. The com- 

 pany had provided no sufficient means of testing 

 the question practically, and as the per centage 

 claimed by Mr. Boyden was altogether unprece- 

 dented, they contested the claim. 



The case went into court. No jury on the globe 

 could comprehend the question, and the learned 

 bench found itself entirely at fault. The case was 

 accordingly referred to three well chosen parties : 

 Judge Joel Parker, of Cambridge, Professor Ben- 

 junin Pierce, the mathematician, and James B. 

 Francis, of Lowell, the agent of the united compa- 

 nies of Lowell, in the management of the common 

 water power. Professor Parker furnished the law, 

 Mr. Francis, the practical acquaintance with hy- 

 draulics, and Professor Pierce the mathematical 

 knowledge. That learned geometer had to dive 

 deep and study long be'ore the problem was set- 

 tled. But settled it was, at last, and in Mr. Boy- 

 den's favor, to whom the referees awarded the sum 

 of eighteen thousand seven hundred dollars. Mr. 

 Boyden had previously constructed turbine wheels 

 that utilized respectively the extraordinary amounts 

 of eighty-nine and ninety per cent. ; the last wheel 

 utilizing ninety-six per cent., exceeds anything of 

 the kind that was ever made. The wheel is one 

 hundred and four and three-quarter inches in diam 

 eter. 



For the Nete England Farmer. 



UPLAND CULTURE OF CRANBERRIES. 



Dear Sir : — As it always makes me feel in an 

 obliging mood to be kindly spoken of, especially by 

 one so chary of flattery as yourself, I will endeavor 

 to tell your Rutland correspondent what I have 

 seen of the upland culture of the cranberry, in the 

 town of South Danvers, where I have my home. 

 Mr. Needham has a field containing three-quarters 

 of an acre, divided into beds or patches, so that he 

 can conveniently pass among them. When I last 

 saw them, the vines were completely matted togeth- 

 er, covering the ground. The last season there 

 grew on this bed more than one hundred bushels, 

 which sold readily for four dollars a bushel. For 

 several years, I have used in my family fruit from 

 this bed, and consider them worth at least fifty per 

 cent, more than the best of cranberries, gathered 

 on our open wet meadows. Mr. N. obtained his 

 plants from the neighboring peat meadows, and set 

 them out as you would strawberries, and found no 

 difficulty in rooting the plants. They need no fer- 

 tilizer, nothing but water; the cranberry is a dear 

 lover of cold water, and grows best with no weeds 

 or grasses near it. It is ambitious of a complete 

 monopoly of the ground, and will obtain it in the 

 course of three years. Mr. N. spread pulverized 

 mud from the meadow among his vines, for the 

 double purpose of keeping down grasses and weeds, 

 and for absorbing and retaining moisture like a 

 sponge. Mr. N. looks carefully to whatever he 

 undertakes to take care of, and consequently suifer- 

 ed no worms or other interlopers to be among his 

 beds, and found his account in being vigilant. 



Ju}ie 27, 1857. Essex. 



Great Wool Grower. — The Manchester Mirror 

 eays that Mr. Abraham Melvin, of Weare, N. B., 

 recently, sold 25,000 pounds of Spanish Merino wool 

 to parties in Boston for 60 cents a pound, amount 

 ing to $15,000. The wool was his own raising, and 

 part of a three years' stock. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ABOUT MAPLE SUGAR. 



I made from 27 large maple trees that stood in 

 open land, the present season, 328 pounds of sugar; 

 it took about 8 quarts of sap to a pound of sugar. 



The inquiry is made in the JVeic Ensrland Far- 

 mer, hov/ to make sugar with less than 2h cords of 

 wood to the 100 pounds of sugar. I will tell you 

 my mode of procedure. First, I have a stove 3;^ 

 feet long, 2 j w-ide. I have a pan 8 inches deep, 

 and just big enough to fill the top of the stove. It 

 will be necessary to have but one door in one end, 

 and a flue hole in the other, for a pipe, which must 

 run out some 3 feet from the stove, and then turn 

 up with an elbow, some 8 feet, to give a draft ; by 

 so doing it will take about half a cord of dry wood 

 to make 100 pounds of sugar. You can boil in 

 about 40 or 50 pailsful of sap in 10 hours, and it is 

 but litfle trouble to tend it, for it will not run over 

 when it boils fast, for it boils all over the bottom. 



Piltsford, Vt, 1857. Josiah Leoxard. 



Manufacture of Peppermint. — The Lyons 

 (Wayne Co.) Republican states that H. G. Hotch- 

 kiss, of that village, is the greatest producer of pep- 

 ermint in the world. He has from 200 to 300 acres 

 under cultivation, one hundred and fifty acres ot 

 which can be overflowed with water to the depth 

 of six or ten inches, at pleasure. This process en- 

 ables him to continue to grow the crop upon the 

 same soil for a series of years, and protect the young 

 shoots in winter, by a watery covering. Between 



