132 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



is 1 lb. of corrosive sublimate to 5 gallons ol' water 

 ■ — but individuals who have tried it, say 1 lb. to 10 

 gallons of water. Pine plank are saturated in 48 

 hours. An oak stick, 40 feet long and 1 foot square, 

 requires three \veeks — during which time it be- 

 comes effectually seasoned, and will not contract 

 or shrink, even on exposure to the highest tempe- 

 rature of a tropical climate. The corrosive subli- 

 mate has a strong affinity lor the albumen or vege- 

 table juices generally called sap, combines instan- 

 taneously with it, and forms a new chemical com- 

 pound which is solid, insoluble, and will not at- 

 tract moisture. The efiicacy of this invention hafi 

 been tested in the most extraordinary manner. 

 Pieces of the timber prepared with a solution of 

 the sublimate, and unprepared pieces, the latter 

 well seasoned, were placed m the ^'Rotten Pit,'''' 

 at the King's Dock Yark, Woolwich, in 1828. 

 In 1831, the writer of this was present when they 

 were withdrawn. The prepared timber was per- 

 fectly sound — the unprepared, although of the best 

 English oak, was a mass of rot and decayed ve- 

 getable matter. 



The prepared sticks were left on the ground in 

 the open air six months, and then again placed in 

 the Rotten Pit, with other pieces of well seasoned 

 timber. At the end of two years, the prepared 

 timber was found quite sound — the seasoned very 

 rotten. 



The Rotten Pit, at Woolwich Yard, is a cave 

 under ground, 80 feet long by 20 feet, and built by 

 order of government, for the purpose of testing 

 the efficacy of the various proposed nostrums lor 

 preserving timber. The pit is lined, top, bottom 

 and sides, with vegetable matter in the worst pos- 

 sible stage of corruption — very damp and lull of 

 carbonic acid gas — it is a perfect hot-bed — a can- 

 dle will not burn it in a minute, so foul is the air 

 of this subterraneous chamber. In fiict, no limber, 

 although thoroughly salted, docked, or seasoned, 

 will resist three months the powerful decomposing 

 qualities of the Rotten Pit. The specimens were 

 placed on the bottom of the pit, and half buried in 

 the putrid vegetable matter with which the cave 

 is kept supplied. This experiment seemed so con- 

 clusive, that Government immediately paid the 

 inventor £ 10,000, and advised him to take out a 

 patent. He was ordered to .construct tanks at all 

 the Dock Yards, and the government timber was 

 immediately prepared in the above manner. Pre- 

 vious to this, individuals had fitted tanks, and two 

 Avhalemen were built entirely of timber and plank 

 prepared with the solution. House builders are 

 also using it very generally in London. The 

 sleepers, or foundations for railways — staves for 

 oil casks, canvass, rope, and all vegetable matter, 

 may be ])reserved by its use. It is found that a 

 cubic foot of oak, will absorb three pints of the 

 liquid, which will cost at the present price of quick- 

 ailver, T^ cents per cubic foot; a mere trifle com- 

 pared with the immense advantage of having a 

 material not liable to be destroyed by rot, worms, 

 or insects of any kind. Tiie objection urged 

 against this material, is its poisonous nature. JBut 

 it has been proved, by careful experiment, that 

 corrosive sublimate, when it combines with the 

 sap of wood, forms a compound perfectly insoluble, 

 and (juite innocent — in liict, a complete chemical 

 change takes |)lace in the poisonous nature of the 

 niixture by this combination. 



The writer has seen experiments tried upon 



canvass and rope, which were immersed in the so- 

 lution, and placed four months in a dunghill : the 

 unprepared pieces were destroyed — while the tex- 

 ture of the prepared specimens was not weakened 

 in the slightest degree. Any one can try this by 

 using the above proportions. 



Satisfactory accounts have been received by 

 Messrs. B. Rotch and M. Enderb\', of London, 

 from the captains of the whale ships constructed 

 at their instance, of timber prepared as above — 

 testifying that the crew were remarkably healthy, 

 although they slept actually in conlact with the 

 ceilmg plank thus prepared, through all chmates 

 and changes of temperature. 



It is well known to practical men that salt is not 

 an effectual preservative — as many ships, salted on 

 the stocks, have been found rotten the first voyage 

 — one instance, the Enterprise of Nantucket. The 

 Golconda, of New-Bedford, has had a new wind- 

 lass three voyages in succession, and the lower 

 masts of ships very quickly decay. These parts 

 of a ship it is impossible to salt. In the British 

 navy, the use of salt has been discontinued, as it 

 is found to corrode the iron rapidly, and it also 

 keeps a ship in a very damp state. 



From the Cultivator. 

 PRESERVING BUTTER. 



Believing that butter may be kept sweet and 

 good in our climate, almost any length of time, if 

 |)roperly mantactured, and well taken care of, in 

 order to test the validity of this opinion, we had 

 two pots put down, in June, and the other in Au- 

 gust, 1834, more than twenty months ago; and on 

 jjrobing them with a tryer, while penning this ar- 

 ticle, the butter is Ibundpertectly sweet, and seems 

 to retain most of its original fiavor and fi-eshness. 

 We design to send both pots to Boston next fall, 

 with a view of having its mode of manulacture, 

 and method of preservation, judged of by the but- 

 ter tasters of that notable city. 



In the manufacturing process, no water is permitted 

 to come in contact with the cream or butter — because 

 it is believed that water, and particularly soft wa- 

 ter, dissipates much of the fine davor that gives to 

 butter its high value. The Orange county dairy 

 women say, " give us good hard water, and we 

 will make good butter" — tor the reason, probably, 

 that it abstracts less of the aroma from the butter 

 than soft water. The temperature of the cream 

 may be regulated by cold or hot water put into a 

 tub, in which the churn may be plunged. If the 

 cream is clean, it needs no washing; and if the 

 butter is dirty, water will never clean it. 



Nothing but good well pulverized salt is used in 

 preserving the butter; this is a/Z mixed, and all dis- 

 solved, in the mass, before the butter has its sec- 

 ond, thorough and final working with the butter 

 ladle, and which is not finished till all the butter- 

 milk is expelled. 



To avoid all taint from the butter vessels, and 

 the better to exclude it from the air, which soon 

 injures it, the butter is packed close in clean stone 

 jars, and when nearly filled, is covered with a 

 strong brine, rendered pure by previous boiling, 

 skimming and settling. In twenty months this 

 brine has been twice renewed, on the appearance 

 of a film upon the surface of the old pickle. To 

 preserve butler, air and vvater, and heat above 65 



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