1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



385 



m^:^^^-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



GAPvDEN AND FIRE El-JGIIfE. 

 In our last volume there is a short notice of en- 

 gines by a gentleman too modest to allov/ us to 

 use his name, but who is thoroughly versed in the 

 ^abject on which ho speaks, and -which we think 

 of sufEcient importance to luring into tl\e present 

 volume, and accompany it witli an engraving. Of 

 course, if the engine is efficient at a fire it will 

 ansv.er all tlie purposes desired of it for a garden : 

 its size being so small as to maV-*^ jr nnvfiiblc any- 

 where. 



Mr. Editor : — In a late nusni/er ui your paper, 

 in a notice of a garden engine, yoa say "It will 

 throw water to the height of forty I'eer, and to the 

 distance of seventy feet horiy.ont;illy. It may, 

 therefore, be found uf use in extingnisihing fires in 

 buildings."' That remark is in accordance with 

 the general belief of the use of such engines for ex- 

 tinguishing fires. I have no doubt liut that if any 

 twelve of your customers who live a mile from a 

 large fire engine, should puvchas:; a small one, 

 and their building should take fire, they would at 

 least eleven of them, run for the large one at the 

 village, and never once think of trying their own, 

 or if they thouglit of it, would give it up as a fool- 

 ish idea. A more mistaken idea than this of fire 

 engines, never entered the mind of man. Fire does 

 not wait while we run for engines, but increases 

 in arithmetical progfession, and thewforc if the 

 •jngine you have discribed, Avill not put it out when 

 first discuvercd, the largest in the world cannot, 

 if we have to run but half a mile and it then has 

 to be drawn to the fire. I want to see a better 

 description of the new Hitchcockenginc. I know 

 its power, and I tell you it is to create an entire 

 ehange in our fire departments. Hundreds of towns 

 in the State cannot afford to purchase a large one, 

 vvho could liave half a dozen of these ; and three 

 of these at proper distances, are lietter than a large 

 one, because so much sooner brought to work. 

 Again, many towns who have tlie large one should 

 purchase small ones for the "outsiders," who pay 

 their part of the expense while they are wholly 

 unprotected. But enough for this time. If you 



please, I will again trouble you upon this impor- 

 tant subject, and now only say that any of your 

 friends who purchase the engine for garden pur- 

 poses, will have a most useful and effectual fire en- 

 gine. B. 

 Waicrtown, 1853. 



For the Acw Enirlaml Farmer. 



jaONTHLY FAEMEE FOE JULY. 



For the first time, my Farintr jilays tlie truant, 

 this month. Whether, like some hired-men, it 

 kept the Fourth a little too hard, whetlier is 

 went as a delegate to some Platform-convention 

 on the inalienable right of periodicals to the pur- 

 suit of happiness, or whether it took a fancy to 

 pioneer awhile in Nebraska, concerns me little to 

 know ; Imt after waiting some twenty-odd days, 

 and getting for an answer at the post office, "No, 

 it hasn't come," until tired of it, I finally went to 

 Boston, yesterday, and got m}- paper fresri from 

 the printing office. — Item. One advantage of a 

 farm near the city, is, that when one's agricultural 

 paper fails, he can go the publishers and get an- 

 other with little trouble. 



It is pleasant to see by a glance at the contents 

 of t!iis number, that the Fanner is not neglected, 

 althougli at this season, the fields make so large 

 demands on both thought and efl'ort ; — the labora 

 of the editor being lighteiud and encouraged, 

 this month, by the contribution of between tliir- 

 ty and forty original articles, which discuss a 

 great variety of topics. A bare enumeration of 

 the titles of a lew of these articles will indicate 

 the extent of our loss, had we been unable to re- 

 place this single number. 



Butter. — A string of proverbs for making "But- 

 ter ;" a cut and description of a dog-power for 

 "Churning;" and a complaint that '"the butter 

 wont come." In our boyliood, wo once saw an 

 old lady thrust a heated jioker into a churning 

 that wouldn't come, with tlie remark, "It iiiayhii 

 bewitched." 



Cultivation. — The "Calendar for July" gives 

 hints on a variety of subjects ; the "Double Plow" 

 is recommendetl 1)}' "!']. J.," of Lebanon, N. II.; 

 and tlie writer of "Homing" says, "wo seldom now 



