No. 2. 



Pressing Hay. — Plank Fences. 



51 



of lime contained in the cement, which may 

 be pumped out, when the next will be soft. 

 The advantajres of having cisterns con- 

 structed as above described, must be appa- 

 rent to the most casual observer. When 

 done in a workmanlike manner, and with 

 proper materials, they will be as durable as 

 though formed of solid rock, and tlie inside 

 presents a surface as free from filth as any 

 stone vessel used for culinary or household 

 purposes. Different families will of course 

 require different sizes, and the amount of 

 material necessary to construct them, varies 

 accordingly; the one described, containing- 

 somethino;- like 45 hoirsheads, the other 

 about 20." The builder, ^!Mr. Richard Swart- 

 wout, of SchuylervilJe, N. Y., has often, to 

 save expense, been ordered to plaster the 

 cement directly on to the earth as shaped 

 with the shovel, and covering- with plank or 

 large stone as before. But the mode is evi- 

 dently objectionable, as, if accidentally ex- 

 posed to the frost, the sides will crack and 

 become leaky. Brick cisterns laid up witji 

 common mortar, are also liable to crumble 

 in time, and prove defective. In either 

 case, however, the top should be sunk below 

 the surface and covered with gravel suffi- 

 ciently deep to prevent the action of the 

 frost on any part of the masonry. If any of 

 your readers choose to construct tlieir cis- 

 terns according to the above directions, 

 taking care to secure an experienced work- 

 man and good rhaterials, they will find 

 doubtless, should^iey live so long, that the 

 lapse of half a century, will not affect their 

 usefulness or impair their durability. 



J. Chace. 



Hoosick Falls, June, 1844. 



Pressing Hay. 



Rail-roads and canals make many things 

 portable to distant markets, that otherwise 

 would not pay. Large towns, for instance, 

 cannot be supplied with hay by wagons, 

 with profit to the farmer, at a distance be- 

 yond 15 or 20 miles — but by packing and 

 sending by rail-roads and steam-boats, and 

 sail-botits, it may be sent any distance. 

 Milk, again, that could only be sent by or- 

 dinary conveyance from a few miles around 

 large cities, is now sent from 100 miles 

 around New York. 



The following information about packing- 

 hay, w-as some time since kindly communi- 

 cated to mo by Doctor G. B. Smith, of Bal- 

 timore, a man of uncommonly strong and 

 inquisitive mind, who is ever ready to ex- 

 hibit his lights v»'hen called on — while .some 

 men, esteemed wise, hide theirs under a 

 bushel, or have none to bide, I. S. S. 



I will answer your questions according to 

 their purport: 



1. Size and weight of bundles 6f hay, as 

 sold in, this market, 4 feet 4 inches long, 30 

 inches deep, 30 inches wide, average weio-ht 

 350 lbs. Some weigh 360 lbs., some loO 

 lbs., and all intermediate weights. 



2. Cost of apparatus for pressing haj%^ 

 from $125 to $5350. There is no fixed price, 

 and no one here that I can find, who makes 

 a business of erecting them. A well built 

 tobacco press, it is supposed would answer 

 for a hay press. 



3. Pressed hay in bundles, comes from 

 the North, (New York, &c.,) and also from 

 this neiglibourhood. Mr. Fenby himself, 

 has a hay press, and puts up a large portion, 

 if not all he sells. 



4. The difference in price between the 

 hay loose and v\ hen pressed, is supposed to 

 be about 1*1 per ton ; but it mdst be evident 

 that pressed hay is worth no more to the 

 consumer than loose hay. Pressing is only 

 an advantage to the producer, as it enables 

 him to get it to market cheaper than he can 

 loose ha}^ It certainly adds nothing to the 

 qualities of the hay to press it into bales. 

 Ordinarv wagon hay, is selling in our streets 

 now, (2oth o~f January, 1843,) at S9 to $11 

 per ton. Fenby asks for his pressed hay, 

 $12 per ton. But I presume that Fenby's 

 pressed hay is better than ordinary ha}-, or 

 he could not expect to get so great a differ- 

 ence of price for it. In estimating weight, 

 a bundle of hay is equal to five barrels. 



5. Freight of hay to Kew Orleans, de- 

 pends entirely upon your meeting with ves- 

 sels going out empty or nearly so. In such 

 cases fitly cents a bale will be taken. In 

 other cases the freight would be higher than 

 the hay would be worth. I am told that 

 hay is cheaper now in New Orleans, than 

 here.^ — Marlboron"h Gazelle. 



From the Marlborough Gazette, 



Plank Fences. 



Heart Yellow-pine cheaper than Hemlock. 



There are many memoranda like the one 

 subjoined, which are torn up or thrown 

 away, that might be useful in themselves, 

 or lead to useful thoughts and reflections, if 

 committed to the columns of an Agricultu- 

 ral paper. Every day I receive letters, from 

 which useful extracts might be made, if I 

 had time to do it; but alas, how often, (aye, 

 every day.) we have occasion to wish for a 

 double set of all our faculties, to do half 

 that we would wisli to achieve, in the course 

 of a short life, which, short as it is, is one 



