Vol. VI II.- 



.46. 



AND HORTICULi URAF. JOURNAL 



3f)3 



mid other powerful articles, generally called horse 

 medicines, had better be avoided unless in extreme 

 cases. Aloes are the dessicated juice of a plant, 

 look somewhat like rosin, if of a good quality is 

 very friable, and lias a strong and pleasant bitter 

 smell ; the best comes from the Island of Succo- 

 trina. There is a coarser and impure kind from Bar- 

 badoes; it is found in general in the druggists' shops 

 in Boston,and sold by them in lumps at a low price 

 for its real worth. I will conclude this communi- 

 cation with the receipt of a simple and cheap em- 

 brocation, such as found in, and which I copy ver- 

 batim from a valuable small volume published 

 .some years ago in London, by Philip Astley, (i 

 man of great experience in all matters relating to 

 horses. 



For strains, wrenches, and winclgalls from the knee 

 to the hoof. 

 ' The following simple and cheap embrocation 

 will be found serviceable in curing all those casu- 

 alties. 



' Take of oil of turpentine, double distilled vin- 

 egar, and spirits of wine, each a gill ; but observe 

 to mix first with the turpentine alone, the whites 

 of two eggs in order the better to dissolve them ; 

 blend the whole together, and rub the part affect- 

 ed with it, night and morning, using a flannel 

 wrapper to keep it warm ; so efficacious is this 

 medicine, that there is scarcely a strain, or bruise 

 but it will cure, if the bone is not injured ; but 

 should the bone be hurt, it is necessary then to 

 foment the part with such common herbs as are 

 used on such occasions ; this must be done before 

 you embrocate the part ; the best manner is to 

 take a 2)iece of double canvas, using a stick to 

 each end, then steep a piece of flannel in the fo- 

 mentation, and having wrung it rather dry, by the 

 aid of the canvas and sticks, apply it as hot to 

 the strain, &e, as the horse can possibly bear it, 

 covering it with a horse cloth. Having repeated 

 this application several times, let the part be nib- 

 bed entirely dry, and then bathed with the embro- 

 cation twice every day, for three days together, 

 then once a day ; and thus discontinue it, in pro- 

 portion as the disease disappears. The fomenta- 

 tion may be used as often as you think proper, in 

 all cases where the bone lias received any injury ; 

 but when the sinews, muscles, and nerves are on- 

 ly strained, the embrocation may be found suffi- 

 cient ; care must be taken that you do not use it 

 more than six times successively, lest it should 

 ' bring off some of the hair.' 



This embrocation I have generally kept ready 

 for use many years, and for want of double distill- 

 ed vinegar have found strong cider vinegar, old 

 and clear, to answer the purpose ; it has been used 

 by myself, and occasionally by neighbors with 

 much satisfaction. The results of experience in 

 matters relating to agriculture, however trifling in- 

 dividually they may appear, collectively will form 

 in time, a valuable volume for the Farmer ; this 

 volume, Mr Editor, under your fostering care, is 

 fast thriving in the pages of the JVew England 

 Farmer, and it is an encouragement for your friends 

 to offer their mite occasionally. 



With much esteem, yours &.c. 

 Weston, June 1, 1830. J. M. G. 



THOStAs G. Fessenden, Esq., 



Editor of the New England Farmer, 



\i Death to Caterpillars, &c. — The conductor of 

 the Gardener's Magazine says, ' We can affirm 

 from almost daily experience, that strong lime wa- 



ter will kill every kind of cnter[)illar, and even ' 

 worms, snails, lizards, liogs, toads, snakes, and 

 fishes.' 



MAKING BUTTER. 

 Mr Thomas G. Fesse.vden — 



Sir — Having lately obtained a patent for a new 

 invented Churn, which reduces tlie labor of mak- 

 ing Butter to a mere pastime for a stripliuL', and 

 relieves our country lasses from the tormenting 

 fears of the dreadful task, I am desirous (tlirougii 

 your assistance) of communicating to the public 

 the principle of the machine, and do not know that 

 I can do it in a more concise maiiiu'r than by giv- 

 ing yon ihe specification as forwarded to the' Pa- 

 lent Office to obtain the grant. 



The new invented Churn is of nn oblong form, 

 standing upon its own bottom, twentyfour inches 

 long, twentyfour inches high, and twelve inches 

 wide, with two cog wheels o:i the outside, one of 

 ten inches diameter, running upon a shaft which 

 supports and turns a wheel of dashers, four in 

 number, within the Churn ; at the opposite end of 

 this shaft is a large fly wheel, as a. momentum or 

 impetus to the dash wheel, which may be remov- 

 ed to the end of the small wheel shaft that runs 

 through the churn. The small cog wheel is of 5 

 inches diameter, runs upon its own shaft, and 

 connects itself with the large cog wheel, has a 

 winch or crank on its shaft eight inches in length, 

 which in turning moves the large wheel, that turns 

 the dashers within the churn, and the fly wheel 

 facilitates the operation. 



The advantage of this chinn over all others 

 now in use, is the introduction of a double lever 

 po^ver on the shaft that turns the dashers ; it is 

 well known to all dairy women that when the 

 cream is brought to a state for sepirating, and the 

 butter collecting and combining into a body, that 

 the labor of churning increases and constitutesthe 

 most fatiguing part of the operation, but from the 

 effect of thi.-j artificial power, (a lever aeting upon 

 a lever) a force required in making other churns, 

 is greatly reduced, and affords a lad of 12 years 

 old the jjower of making 30 lbs. of bmter with as 

 much speed, and less labor than any method as 

 yet known or used. It i.<; a general observation 

 that butter made in our State is very inferior to 

 that made in other States, and no reason can be 

 assigned but the want of carr-, knowledge, and 

 attention, in working out the "aitter milk and all 

 impure air it may contain. Ovr materials are most 

 certainly equal, if not superior to our neighbors', 

 and if an excitement to competition could be in- 

 troduced into our daily market by giving an extra- 

 ordinary price for good butter, it might jirove a 

 great stimulation to care and attention in manu- 

 facturing an article, so generally esteemed and so 

 much used in families, besides adding a name 

 equal if not superior to the southern states, for 

 Old Massachusetts' unexcelled butler. I will in my 

 next, (with your permission) forward you some ob- 

 servations on the making of butter, and instruc- 

 tions for using the patented churn, for new inven- 

 tions are often condemned for the want of know- 

 ledge in using them. I may be very trouble- 

 some to you, my good sir, and the public, in long, 

 and perhaps tedious disquisitions on making of 

 butter, but a certain pride for my mother State, 

 urges a necessity (if possible) of proving to the 

 world that Old Massachusetts, will not be rivalled 

 by any of the Southern States. My intentions 

 are this summer, to have many experiments made 

 to arrive at (if possible) the desired object of ma- 



king butter equal, if not superior to any yet otter- 

 ed atom' market. If I should happily succeed in 

 obtaining this end tlirough your means, the pub- 

 lic must feel more indebted to you for this luxury 

 than any one else. 



Accept of my nsleem, friendship, and regard. 

 Your obd't humble serv't. 



Princeton, May 23, 1830. JOHN ERVING. 



Oat Meal. — Loudon, in giving some notices of 

 the agriculture of Angus, in Scotland, says, ' Much 

 ridicule has been thrown on the Scotch, on ac- 

 count of their use of oat nie.".l. This has been re- 

 presented as inflaming the blood, and producing 

 their favorite disease called the Scotch fiddle, and 

 other cutaneous eruptions. i?ut oat meal is as 

 much used in some districts of F.ngland, as in any 

 part of Scotland ; and cutaneous eruptions are 

 much n'lore frequent in some of those districts 

 than they are here, where they are seldom or ever 

 heard of The disorder ought rather be ascribed 

 to dirty linen or clothing than to oat meal or any 

 species of food. Oat meal, when it is sufficiently 

 dilated with any sort of liquid, is known to be a 

 laxative, aperient, wholesome, and at the same 

 time a strengthening food for those engaged in 

 hard labor. Engineers who superintend the ex- 

 cavation of canals have assured the reporter that 

 those laborers who lived entirely on oat meal and 

 milk, did a third more work than those who used 

 butcher's meat, beer and spirits. All of the for- 

 mer saved money, while many of the latter in- 

 volved tbemseives in debt. As this sort of work 

 is done by the piece it affords a fair comparison, 

 not only of the wholesomeness of oat meal in pro- 

 moting health, but its power in supplying labor. 



To obtain good Timber. — Bark the tree before it 

 is cut down. By this means the alburnum is con- 

 verted into wood. — Loudon. It is the sap in the 

 alburnum, or white wood, which causes timber ra- 

 pidly to decay. The sap contains saccharine mat- 

 ter, acids, and mucilage, which foment with heat, 

 and bring on a decomposition of the wood. By 

 the process recommended, the moisture is exhaust- 

 ed without fomentation, and the pores of the al- 

 burnum contract and harden. Soaking boards and 

 timber in water renders the sap more thin, so that 

 when taken out and exposed to the sun, it is more 

 readily expelled. In the process of charring, the 

 moisture is expelled ; and not only this, but the 

 coal [carbon] protects the timber from moisture, 

 air, and heat, the great agents in the process of 

 putrefaction. Charred wood is said to have been 

 taken out of the ground at Constantinople, in a 

 sound state, which had lain there seven hundred 

 years. 



Mustard Seed. — The common white and brown 

 Mustard Seed, which grows with very little culti- 

 vation, and is easily gathered and cleaned by those 

 who have clean floors for threshing wheat or flax 

 seed, will always bring from three to four dollars 

 per bushel, being in great demand for medical and 

 culinaiy purposes. An acre of good land will pro- 

 duce from 15 to 20 bushels. The principal rea- 

 son why the preference has been hitherto given to 

 the Euro))ean seed, is the superior manner in 

 which it has been cleaned. 



JVative Stqck.^-Mr Ellis Hall of Raynham, has a 

 Bull Calf, twelve months old, which weighs seven 

 hundred and ten lbs. 



