No. 3. 



Tlie Drummond Light. 



93 



put upright standards about five feet apart, 

 with cross pieces to support the scajToldingf. 

 The first cross pieces to be four feet from 

 the floor ; the next two feet hig-her, and so 

 on to the top. On these cross pieces lay 

 small poles about six feet long- and two 

 inches thick, four or five inches apart. On 

 these scaffolds the madder is to be spread 

 nine inches thick. A floor is laid at the 

 jjottom to keep all dry and clean. When 

 the kiln is filled, take six or eig-ht small 

 kettles or hand furnaces, and place them 

 four or five feet apart on the floor, — first se- 

 curing it from fire with bricks or stones — 

 and make fires in them with charcoal, being 

 careful not to make any of the fires so large 

 as to scorch the madder over them. A per- 

 son must be in constant attendance to watch 

 and replenish the fires. The heat will as- 

 cend through the whole, and in ten or 

 twelve hours it will be all sufficiently dried. 



Breaking and grinding. — Immediately 

 after being dried, the madder must be taken 

 to the barn and thrashed with flails, or broken 

 by machinery, — a corn-cracker or something 

 .of the kind — so that it will feed in a com- 

 mon grist-mill. If it is not broken and 

 ground immediately, it will gather damp- 

 ness so as to prevent its being ground. Any 

 common grist-mill can grind madder pro- 

 perly. When ground finely it is fit fo!r use, 

 and may be packed in barrels like flour for 

 market. 



Amount and value of product, <^~c. — Mr. 

 Swift measured oft' a part of his ground and 

 carefully weighed the product when dried, 

 which he found to be over two thousand 

 pounds per acre, notwithstanding the sea- 

 sons were mostly very dry and unfavour- 

 able. With iiis present knowledge of the 

 business, he is confident that he can obtain 

 at least 3000 pounds per acre, which is said 

 to be more than is of\en obtained in Ger- 

 many. The whole amount of labour he 

 estimates at from 80 to 100 days work per 

 acre. The value of the crop, at the usual 

 wholesale price — about 15 cents per pound — 

 is from 300 to 400 dollars. In foreign coun- 

 tries it is customary to make several quali- 

 ties of the madder, which is done by sorting 

 the roots; but as only one quality is required 

 for the western market, Mr. Swift makes 

 but one, and that is found superior to most 

 of the imported, and finds a ready sale. 



If any person desires instruction for 

 making several qualities of madder, or fur 

 ther information respecting any other point, 

 it may be obtained by addressing, (post paid) 

 Joseph Swilt, Birmingham, Erie co., Ohio. 

 M. B. Bateham 



Cattle should have plenty of good water 



The Diummoud Light. 



This brilliant and splendid means of illu- 

 mination has recently attracted public atten- 

 tion to a considerable extent, and a great 

 deal of curiosity has been expressed by those 

 not familiar with its use, as to its mode of 

 production and utility for ordinary purposes. 

 The light is produced by a small cylinder of 

 quick lime heated to whiteness by means of 

 the oxyhydrogen blow-pipe, an instrument 

 which was invented by Dr. Hare, Professor 

 of Chemistry, in the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, and wiiich as applied to many pur- 

 poses in the Chemist's Laboratory is found 

 to be a most useful and ingenious contriv- 

 ance. 



This blow-pipe is a very simple instru- 

 ment, by which two streams, one of oxygen, 

 and the other of hydrogen gas, are made to 

 terminate in a common jet. Hydrogen being 

 a very combustible gas, and o.xygen the most 

 active supporter of combustion, the one being 

 inflamed in the other as they issue from a 

 common orifice, occasions the most intense 

 heat yet produced. In this flame, a small 

 piece of lime is placed, which immediately 

 becomes intensely incandescent, and evolves 

 a light so bright as to be painful to the eyes, 

 when looked at for a few minutes, wliile it 

 illuminates every thing upon which it shines 

 to a degree scarcely surpassed by tiie light 

 of the sun. 



The Drummond Light, though by no 

 means the most unportanl use to which Dr. 

 Hare's Compound Blow-pipe is applied, is 

 capable of several useful applications. It 

 was first employed, for practical purposes, 

 by Lieutenant Drummond, in the Trigono- 

 metrical Survey of Ireland, and hence it 

 has received — very improperly, as some 

 think — its present name: for whatever cre- 

 dit may be attached to Lieutenant Drum- 

 mond for its first application, the honour of 

 its invention is certainly due to Professor 

 Hare. It has been within a few years suc- 

 cessfully applied upon the coast in light- 

 hoiTses, for which it is particularly suited by 

 its intensely brilliant and star-light appear- 

 ance. It has also been applied with great 

 success in the oxyhydrogen niicro.-cope, 

 which has attracted great attention, as re- 

 cently exhibited by Dr. Lardner and others 

 in this city. 



One of the chief objections to this light 

 for the illumination of houses and public 

 halls, is its painful and injurious efiect upon 

 the eyes; this, however, may be obv;ated by 

 placing it near the ceiling and in such a 

 position as to throw its rays into all parts of 

 the room, without being in the direct line 

 of vision. Another difficulty is its expense, 



