NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



21 



ility. Perhaps six or eight inches would be 

 e right width for the boards, ami the posts 



uld be sawed about (our or live inches square, 

 ter getting your posts and boards together 

 ild your fence crooked, or in the manner ot' 

 .'irginia fence," (so called.) The posts need 

 t stand more than two. feet each way from a 

 aight line, allowing your boards to be Ibui- 

 ;n teet long. In this way you will entirely 

 event the necessity of inserting your posts in 

 B ground, and yf\iv fence will be abimdantly 

 m and permanent. Instead of placing the 

 ds of your posts upon the ground, I would 

 commend inserting beneath each post a thin 

 t slone. This will prevent any decay to which 

 ;y might be otherwise exposed, by coming in 

 itact with the surface of the ground. Fence 

 this description will undoubtedly endure twen- 

 five or thirty years — three times the period 

 it the ordinary board-fence will last, when the 

 ;t3 are put into the ground. It can also be 



de I suspect, with less expense of timber than 

 y mode now prevalent. 



m the Somerset Journal, a paper printed at Norridge- 



wock, Maine. 

 Coffee. — There are now growing, in full 

 •om, in gardens in this town, a number of fine 

 ^FEE PLANTS. The Seeds from which these 

 uts sprang were raised in this place the last 

 son, trom a seed which w.as accidentally found 

 ong some raisins. Seventy kernels were 

 iduced from one seed last year, perfectly ripe ; 

 1 we should judge that on a plant in the gar- 

 > of Mr. Manly, there will be considerably 

 ;r a hundred. The coffee lipens and comes 

 maturitj' in about the same time that Indian 

 n does. If one plant will come to maturity 

 I yield in this manner, why will not any quaa- 



From the United States Gazette. 



An Agricultural Society has been formed at 



Iney (Botany Bay) which promises much ad- 



itage to the territory. The interior of New 



r Hand will ripen the orange, the lemon, the 



I re, that invaluable grain maize or corn, and 



I ilar bounties of nature. Some idea may be 



I ned of the increasing number of respectable 



I onists, from the circumstance of eighty gen- 



I nen having sat down at the tirst dinner of the 



.iety, when upwards of 1500/. were subscrib- 



Ito carry into elTect the purposes of the asso- 

 tion. An advertisement in one of the Syd- 

 ' papers invites masters of vessels to pick or- 

 es, for their sea stores, from the stores of a 

 ler, at 6d per dozen. The same pa()er stales 

 t a house at Sydney is now selling tobacco 

 y equalling the best American. Those cultiva- 

 i of the vine, who have selected proper situ- 

 )ns, have every propect of being amply re- 

 nerated. A sample of wine made there rs- 

 red a silver medal from the Society of Arts, 

 e wool of their sheep is said to be uucom- 

 nly fine. 



ieatfrom Friction of a Solid and Fluid. — It 

 y be remarked that the rapid rotation of the 

 le mills, which complete the attenuation ol 

 liquid mixture for paper before it passes to 

 tub, produces in it a very sensible heat, not 

 tU due to the elevation of the temperature of 

 wheel itself by the friction of its axis, for 

 annot be perceived by touching that part, 



but it is attributable to the blow ol the fans of 

 the wheels on the mixture, which they strike 

 with much rapidity and violence. This is the 

 fust instance knoivn to us, says M. Pictet, editor 

 of the Iribiiothequc Universclle., of heat [iroduced 

 by friction of a solid against a liquid. — Ibid. 



M. Huorne do Pommeuse, member of the 

 Chamber of Deputies, has published a compari- 

 son between the British and French Canals, in 

 which he acknowledges, that his principal ob- 

 ject in the first half of the published half vol- 

 ume, dedicated to English labors, is to stimulate 

 the emulation of his compatriots, and to make 

 them co-operate with government in the exist- 

 ing circumstances, where France has much to 

 create, in this department. The editors of the 

 Bibliotheque Univcrseltt, in their account of this 

 work, pleasantly observe, that the author's hope 

 reminds them of a reply made to them in Tus- 

 cany, by a minister of state of great experience, 

 to whom they extolled certain improvements 

 elsewhere introduced, and which seemed to 

 them capable of being introduced into his coun- 

 try : "Alas!" said he, "diseases communicate 

 from people to people ; but health, you know, 

 is not contagious." — Ibid. 



CanalJVaviga'ion. — The tread-wheel has been 

 applied by M. Van Heythuysen to the propell- 

 ing barges on canals. The object is to obviate 

 tlie use of horses. The apparatus is made light 

 and separable from the barge, and it is found 

 that two men can propel a barge by it, at the 

 rate of five miles an hour. The saving of ex- 

 pense of horses and track-roads promises to m ike 

 this application of human power very valuable. 

 —Ibid. 



CURE FOa DYSENTERY. 



Messrs. Editors — The following receipt is an 

 infallible reuriedy ler the Cholera Morbus, or 

 Dysentery ; and I think you would do well to 

 make it known. 



Take six cents worth of Isinglass, and simmer 

 it down in about hall' a pint of water, on a slow 

 fire, till it is all dissolved, and when done, add 

 a little milk and sugar to make it palatable. 

 Give the patient half a cup full immediately, 

 and a spoon full every hour afterwards. Many, 

 1 can assure the public, have found it a sove- 

 reign remedy and a radical cure. I have never 

 known it to fail in any one instance. — Ibid. 



ON SPRINGS OF WATER. 



An abundant spring need never be expect- 

 ed in any country that is covered to a great 

 depth with sand, without any stratum of clay to 

 force it upwards, as is the case in the deserts of 

 Arabia, and immeasurable plains of Lybia. Nei- 

 ther are we to expect abundant springs in any 

 soil that consists of an uniform bed of clay from 

 the surface to a great depth; for, it must al- 

 ways be in some porous stratum that the water 

 flows in abundance and it can be made to flow 

 horizontally in that only, when it is supported 

 by a stratum of clay, or other substance that is 

 equally impermeable by water. Hence the ra- 

 tionale of that rule so universally established in 

 digging for wells, that if you begin with sand or 

 srravel, &,c. you need seldom hope to find water, 

 till you come to clay ; and if you begin with 

 clay, you can hope for none in abundauce, till 

 you meet with sand, gravel or rock. 



From the liollows Falls Intcllijenccr. 

 A root of Rye (the product of a Binglo grain) 

 has been shown to us, which had one hundred 

 and seven stalks. It was iVom thi- farm of Capl. 

 Wilson, in Saxton's village. We regret that 

 Capt. \V. cut the ears from the stalks before if 

 was exhibited; because it prevents our speak- 

 ing with certainty either of the quality of quan- 

 tity of the grain. The stalks are, however, 

 large ; and this surely denotes that there was 

 at least, an average result of grain. And it may 

 not be an unfair inference, to say, that the re- 

 markable thriftiness of the root indicates a more 

 than ordinary productiveness. 



Timber, by the process of charring, or burn- 

 ing the surface, may be preserved for an indef- 

 inite time, even though exposed to damp, or 

 buried in the earth. The utility of charring 

 timber used for posts or water works, is so evi- 

 dent, that we are surprised it is not more gen- 

 erally attended to. The most wonderful proof 

 of the indestructibility of charcoal timber is giv- 

 en in Watson's Chemical Essays, where we are 

 informed " that the beams of the Theatre of 

 Herculaneum were covered with charcoal, by 

 the burning lava which overflowed that city ; 

 and during the lapse of 1,900 years, they have 

 remained as entire as if they had been formed 

 but yesterday. This property was well known 

 to the ancients, as the famous temple of Eph- 

 esus was built on piles charred to preserve 

 them from decay ; and some years ago, piles 

 were found in the Thames, charred, in a per- 

 fect state of preservation, in the very spot 

 were Tacitus relates that the Britons drove in 

 piles, to prevent the attack of the fleet of Ju- 

 lius Cajsar." 



Steel. — The Society of Encouragement at Par- 

 is has decreed a gold medal to M. Pradier, who 

 has brought his steel instruments to the highest 

 degree of perfection. He has discovered the 

 valuable art of rendering steel very hard, and 

 at the same time elastic. His steel blades can 

 be bent double, and are yet so hard as to cut 

 iron, without any injury whatever to the edge, 

 however fine and thin it may be. This experi- 

 ment was many times repeated by M. Pradier, in 

 presence of the committee, and always with 

 success. 



Professor Gmelin, is said to have discovered? 

 in clink-stone lava, ammonia, which is disen- 

 gaged by distillation. 



For Watch Makers. — Oil used for diminishing 

 friction in delicate machinery, should be free 

 from all acid and mucilage. The following is 

 the process for procuring it in its most pure 

 state. Put into a mattrass or glass flask a por- 

 tion of any fine oil, with seven or eight times 

 its weight of alcohol, and heat the mixture al- 

 most to boiling; decant the clear upper stra- 

 tum of fluid, and suffer it to cool; a solid por- 

 tion of fatty matter separates, which is to be 

 removed, and then the alcoholic solution evap- 

 orated in a retort or bason, until reduced to 

 one fifth its bulk. The fluid part of the oil 

 will be deposited. It should be colourless and 

 tasteless, almost free from smell, having the 

 consistence of white olive oil, and not easilj 

 congealable. 



