i\EW ENGLAND FARMER. 



the statement ofvour commilteo, they may 

 e asked if they ciespair of the society and tlie 

 )je(t of its institnlion ? We answer at once 

 y 110 means. \\c look npon tlie art ofai^ricul- 

 ire, as the first employment of the human race 

 their state of primeval innocence. Their 

 ccupation in the garden of paradise was "■ to 

 11 and to dress it.'" We look upon it as that 

 ursuit otall others hest adapted lo our country 

 government. If the estmiales, which we 

 ive made upon the best evidence, are not eii- 

 relv erroneous, we have shewn it to be an 

 mployment, that yields its most liberal reward, 

 farmers do not accumulate such fortunes as 

 e money letter, by his 10, 12 or 20 per cent, 

 av jew out of his unfortunate nois:hl)ors, it is 

 tit liecause his per cent, is not as great — hut be- 

 tuse the usurer has acquired that habit of econ- 

 my in fractious and fragments, which makes 

 e estate. 



Still your committee believe the science of 



riculture, while it is pleasant and profitable, 



be one ot the most complicated and least un- 



erstood of any to which the attention of man 



as been directed. 



In this country particularly, there has been 



3 occasion for its study. In our new lands, 



\e fire opened our fields, the husbandman was 



illed upon for little, save the seed — and took 



s crop asking no questions why or where- 



■e. 



While every other, the simplest art or trade 

 ns its instructors, every profe.«sion its tutors 

 id lecturers, neither our schools, academics, 

 colleges, have ever placed a book on this 

 ience upon tlie long catalogue of their studies. 

 he consequence is, agriculture is pursued by 

 iherance to customs and to traditions handed 

 )wn from a period in our country and a state 

 societv, which makes them in many respects 

 ifited to the present time. 

 Your committee are no advocates cl specula- 

 te innovations, merely for their 'lovelty, but 

 ey would not with the obstinacy <if the Scotch- 

 an continue to go to mill with their corn in 

 lie end of the bag, balanced by a rock in the 

 her, merely because it was the practice of 

 leir ancestors. And it is with pleasure your 

 immittee can state, thai a spirit of rational 

 iprovement isgraduall.t, although slowly mak- 

 g progress in the community. Our literary 

 stitutions, many of them seem to have discov- 

 ■ed that the great " art of all arts"' is not un- 

 lorthy of their attention. Gentlemen of learn- 

 \g and scientific research have " taken hold of 

 le plough," with a resolution that will not eas- 

 f be turned back. The nature of our different 

 Jils — their adaptation to different crops — the 

 roperties of manures, and the comparative ad- 

 antages of different modes of cultivation, be- 

 in to be understood, and their importance to 

 3 felt. Let these considerations then cheer us 

 mid the partial discouragements that at present 

 irround us. Our own interest — the interests 

 four fellow men — of our country, demand a 

 erseverance in our efforts. They will ulti- 

 lately be crowned with success. 



ICHABOD BARTLETT, 

 BENJAMIN PILSBURY, 

 Oct. 15, 1823. JOSEPH W. MARCH. 



LONDON, Oct. lb.— Velocity of Sound 

 deasure of Distances. — The Philosophical Ti-ui^- 

 ctions of the present year contain an able paper 



as a 

 rans 



Irom J. Goldinham, Esq. F. R. S. on the velocity 

 with which sound travels under various circum- 

 stances. The paper is far too voluminous (or 

 our columns; and we shall merely stair, that the 

 observations wore made by noticing the inter- 

 vals between ihcfla.ih and the report of two 

 twenty four pounders, at known distances from 

 the observer, who was stationed at the Madras 

 Observatory. The results of his numerous ex- 

 periments confirm those of previous observers, 

 that the mean velocity of sound is about 1142 

 feet per second. 



We have long been of opinion that the veloc- 

 ity of sound might he rendered available for 

 measuring distances for a variety of purposes, 

 such as estimating the distance between ships, 

 or any given objects at sea ; and with stjU great- 

 er accuracy for measuring distances on land, 

 which might be accomplished in the following 

 manner : — Suppose it be desirable to deter- 

 mine the distance of a ship from a battery, or 

 other station on shore provided with cannon. 

 With a fort, where a mo. .ling and evening 

 gun are fired, the object can be attained with- 

 out any concert with the shore, by an obser- 

 ver on board the ship being provided with a 

 tolerably good seconds' watch, and noticing 

 (he interval between the flash of the gun and 

 the report. This may be done to the fraction 

 of a second, by counting the beats of a watch 

 during the interval. Now as the ordinary 

 seconds' watch makes about 25 beats in 10 

 seconds, the distance may be very nearly esti- 

 mated by allowing 45G 8 or 457 feet for the 

 beat of a watch. Thus 40 beats, or 16 seconds, 

 would give a distance or 6091 3'ards; or about 

 60 yards short of 2^ miles. Althoiigh the 

 flash of a gun is not visible at any considera- 

 ble distance by day light, yet on a clear day 

 the smoke issuing from a large piece of ord- 

 nance is almost as instantaneous as that of the 

 tiash, and by attentive observation it would 

 give almost equally accurate results. 



In the department of Military Engineering, 

 this method of determining distances would lie 

 extremely valuable; as it might be applied in 

 many instances where actual measurement 

 would be quite impractible ; such as across a 

 river or ravine, or in case of the occupation 

 of the intermediate ground by an enemy. 



In Civil Engineering and Land Surveying, it 

 might also be applied with considerable advan- 

 tages, in the following manner : — Two persons 

 being stationed on elevated ground within sight 

 of each, one being provided with a strong 

 fowling piece, (or rather a blunderbuss for 

 greater edect) and the other with an ordinary 

 seconds' watch. — The interval between the 

 flash and the report, as before mentioned, is to 

 be carefully noted by the observer; who for 

 the sake o( greater accuracy, might be assisled 

 by a third person, in order to mark the instant 

 of the discharge. It might also be preferaole 

 to choose the dawn of day for the operations in 

 order to render the flash from the fire arms 

 more distinctly visible. By repeating the ex- 

 periment a few times, and taking the mean of 

 the observations, a fuilicient degree of accuracy 

 would be attainable by this method for any of 

 the ordinary purposes of land surveying. It 

 is proper to remark that, should the wind set 

 towards the observer, at the time, from five to 

 ten feet per second should be added to the es- 

 timated distance. If, oa the contrary the wind 



139 



blows from the observer, the same amount is 

 to be subtracted from the distance, as estimated 

 at the rate of 1112 feet per second. 



The distance ot a thunder cloud from an 

 observer might also l)c very nearly cslitna- 

 ted, by noticing the interval between the elec- 

 tric discharge and tlic thunder. This, how- 

 ever, would be a meic point of curiosity, 

 while in the former cases (and others which 

 might be named) this mode of measuring dis- 

 tances would be at once economical, and suf- 

 ficiently accurate for general purposes. 



From the Boston Evening: Intellig-encer. 

 Ih/drostatic Press. — We have seen a machine 

 of tliis description, made in this city l)y Mr. 

 Eben A. Lester, which, as far as we can judge, is 

 quite perfect in its mechanical construction. We 

 are not aware that the Il^'drostatic Press has of- 

 ten been manufactured in this country ; but we 

 are confident from the information we have ob- 

 tained that none superior to this has often been 

 received from G. Britain. The power of the 

 machine extends to a pressure of 150 tons ; it is 

 generally employed, at from 63 to 100 Ions, 

 which is sufficient for all common purposes. The 

 use of these presses, we believe, has generally 

 superseded that of the improved screw press, 

 in England ; and upon the slightest inspection, 

 it is evident they possess the most manifest ad- 

 vantages over all others. A screw is one of the 

 mechanical powers most impeded in its opera- 

 tion by friction ; but in the Hydraulic [Ili/dros- 

 tatic] Press the eflect of the screw is jiroduced 

 by forcing water, with a forcing pump, under a 

 metalic cylinder, confined in a cylindrical tube 

 of great strength, by which it is raised, against a 

 fixed iron pl.uio above ; and the power of pres- 

 sure which may be given is only limited bv the 

 strength of the machinery ilsoir. It iaz-loaV (hat 

 in such a machine there can be but little friction ; 

 hence one source of the advantage it possesses 

 over the screw press. A person with a mode- 

 rale exertion of his own strength applied to the 

 handle of the forcing pnin[i, can produce a pres- 

 sure of 100 tons by merely injecting a small 

 quantity equal to a common tuml)ler within the 

 hollow iron cylinder below. The Hydraulic 

 [Hydrostatic] Press exhibits one of the most in- 

 teresting instances of curious experiments appli- 

 ed to the common purposes of life, that can be 

 found among the multiplied examples of ingen- 

 ious machinery. 



From the Duuifries Courier. 

 Voracity of the Cod Fish. — A short time ago 

 a cod-fish, of the rock species, was caught in the 

 bay of Luce, and dissected by a correspond- 

 ent, on whose accuracy we can rely. In the 

 stomach of this aquatic glutton there were found 

 no fewer than seven lobsters, besides fragments 

 of smaller fish. One of the lobsters weighed 

 15 ounces, and three of them, which were tak- 

 en out alive, looked as fresh and fair as if they 

 had never" crossed the craig" of the voracious 

 cod. The gastric juice of the cod must of 

 course be extremely powerful ; but if the largest 

 lobster had used his fore finger and thunib to 

 as good purpose as vrehave seen divers of his kind 

 do, he might have easily, we think have sprung a 

 leak under the lower fin of his devourer, and, by 

 a trifling exertion of muscular power, piloted 

 bis way back to father Ocean. 



