vol.. XIV. NO. 30. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



3[)9 



there will he a fair profit. VVIieut, burlcy, onts, 

 and peas, or even oats alone, are all profitable. 

 By neglecting the above, we do not raise our own 

 bread, when we ought to raise hundreds of barrels 

 of flour for market ; and it can bo done with 

 profit. Try your arithmetic again some leisure 

 evening. 



We withhold more than is meet. Many do not 

 take an ^i^ricultural paper. This I mention last, 

 though not least. Knowledge is power. 



A Voter and a Farmer. 



PREVENTrVB AGAIKST DRY ROT. 



We have been favored by an intelligent ship 

 master with the following communication relating 

 to recent successful experiments in England in the 

 means of preserving ship timber against premature 

 decav, which cannot fail to be of ])ractical interest 

 and value to many of our readers — A'eio Bedford 

 Mercury. 



Mr Lin'dsey : — If you think the following de- 

 scription of the method of preserving timber from 

 rot, insects and worms, now universally adopted 

 in England, is of importance to the public, you 

 will confer a favor by giving it an insertion. 



The writer of this is personally acquainted with 

 the ingenious inventor — has attended the lectures 

 in London on the subject, and is satisfied of the 

 eflScacy of his plan. 



The material employed by the inventor is Cor- 

 Tosive Sublimate, long known as a great preserva- 

 tive of animal substances from decay. The timber 

 to be prepared ;iiust be placed in a tank or vessel, 

 from 40 to 80 feet long, 4 or 5 feet deep, and about 

 the same width. A solution of the corrosive 

 sublimate is then thrown upon it until covered ; 

 the proportion, according to the inventor, is 1 lb. 

 of corrosive sublimate to 5 gallons of water — 

 but individuals who have tried it, say 1 lb. to 10 

 gallons of water. Pine plank are saturated in 48 

 hours. An oak stick, 40 feet long and one foot 

 square, requires three weeks — during which 

 time it becomes effectually seasoned, and will not 

 contract or shrink even on exposure to the highest 

 temperature of a tropical climate. The corrosive 

 sublimate has a strong affinity for the albumen or 

 vegetable juices generally called sap, combines 

 instantaneously with il, and forms anew chemical 

 compound which is solid, insoluble, and will not 

 attract moisture. The efficacy of this invention 

 has been tested in the most extraordinary manner. 

 Pieces of the timber prepared with a solution of 

 the sublimate, and unprepared pieces, the latter 

 ■well seasoned, were placed in the " Rotten Pit" 

 at the King's Dock Yard, Woolwich, in 1828. In 

 1831, the writer of th:s was jiresent when they 

 were withdrawn. The prepared timber was per- 

 fectly sound — the unprepared, although of the 

 best English oak, was a mass of rot and decayed 

 vegetable matter. 



The prepared sticks were left on the ground in 

 the open air six months, and then again placed in 

 the Rotten Pit with other pieces of well-seasoned 

 timber. At the end of two years, the prepared 

 timber was found quite sound — the seasoned very 

 rotten. 



The Rotten Pit at Woolwich Yard is a cave 

 under ground, 80 feet long by 20 feet, and built 

 by order of government, for the purpose of testing 

 the efficacy of the various proposed nostrums for 

 preserving timber. The pit is lined, top, bottom 

 and sides, with vegetable matter in the worst pos- 



sible stage of corruption —very damp and full of 

 carbonic acid gas — it is u perfect hot-bed — a 

 candle will not burn in it a minute, so foul is the 

 air of this subterranean chamber. In fact, no 

 timber, although thoroughly salted, docked, or 

 seasoned, will resist three months the powerful 

 decomposing qualities of the Rotten Pit. The 

 specimens were placed on the bottom of the pit, 

 and half buried in the putrid vegetable' matter 

 with which the cave is kept supplied. This 

 experiment seemed so conclusive, that Govern- 

 ment inmiediately paid the inventor £10,000, and 

 advised him to take out a patent. He was ordered 

 to construct tanks at all the Dock Yards, and the 

 government timber was immediately prepared in 

 the above manner. Previous to this, individuals 

 had fitted tanks, and two whalemen were built 

 entirely of timber and plank prepared with the 

 solution. House builders are also using it very 

 generally in London. The sleepers, or founda- 

 tions for railways — staves for oil casks, canvass, 

 rope, and all vegetable matter may be preserved 

 by its use. It is found that a cubic foot of oak, 

 will absorb three pints of the liquid, which will 

 cost at the present price of quicksilver, 7 1-2 cents 

 per cubic foot. A mere trifle compared with the 

 immense advantage of having a material not liable 

 to be destroyed by I'ot, worms, or insects of any 

 kind. The object'on urged against this material 

 is, its poisonous nature. But it has been proved 

 by careful experiment, that corrosive sublimate, 

 when it combines with the sap of -wood, forms a 

 compound perfectly insoluble, and quite innocent 

 — in fact a complete chemical change takes place 

 in the poisonous nature of the mixture by this 

 combination. 



The writer has seen experiments tried tipon 

 canvass and rope, which was immersed in the 

 solution, and placed four months in a dunghill — 

 the unprepared pieces were destroyed — while 

 the textm-e of the prepared specimens was not 

 weakened in the slightest degree — any one can 

 try this by using the above proportions. 



Satisfactory accounts have been received by 

 Messrs B. Rotch and M. Enderby, of London, 

 from the captains of the whale shi|is constructed 

 at their instance, of timber prepared as above — 

 testifying that the crew were remarkably healthy, 

 although they slept actually in contact with the 

 ceiling plank thus prepared, through all climates 

 and changes of temperature. 



It is well known to practical men that salt is not 

 an effectual preservative — as many ships salted 

 on the stocks have been found i-otten the first 

 voyage — one instance, the Enterprise of Nan- 

 tucket. The Golcouda, of New Bedford, has had 

 a new windlass three voyages in succession, and 

 the lower masts of ships very quickly decay. 

 These parts of a ship it is impossible to salt. In 

 tho British navy the use of salt has been discon- 

 tinued, as it is found to corrode the iron rajjidly, 

 and it also keeps a ship in a very damp state. 



Remedy for the Crodp. — The Medical and 

 Surgical Journa) of March last, contains a com- 

 'jiunicatiou from Dr J. D. Fisher, of this city, 

 describing a new and successful mode of treating 

 that alarming disease of childhood, the croup, 

 which ought to be generally known. The pre- 

 scription is simple, and easily applied, and it must 

 be evident that if it should not afford eft'eclual 

 relief to the sufferer, it will not increase the dis- 

 order. In tlie absence of a regular physician, this 



application may in some cases prove of immense 

 benefit. The following is the statement by Dr 

 Fisher: — 



" I was called, at five oV'Inck last evening, to a 

 child which was laboring nmlera severe attack of 

 the croup, consequent upon a sudden disappear- 

 ance of tho eruption of measles. The croupy 

 symptoms appeared suddenly, and had existed 

 one hour before I was called. The child, on my 

 arrival, was in extreme agony, struggling and 

 gasping for breath ; and I thought the little sufferer 

 was in danger of immediate sufibcation. Tho 

 first means I employed was the application of very 

 hot, almost boiling, water to the throat and upper 

 part of the chest, by means of large sponges. — 

 These applications I repeated every two minutee, 

 and immediately the skin became coated and very 

 red, and in the course of a qi;arter of an hour the 

 little girl breathed much easier, and her croupy 

 cough and respiration became less shrill and tubu- 

 lar, and much modifial. Soon after making the 

 first applications of the sponges to the throat, I 

 wrapped the child in a woollen blanket wrung out 

 in hot water, as a substitute for a warm bath, and 

 gave it twenty drops of the wine of antimony, in a 

 little sweetened water, which she swallowed with 

 difficulty. I persevered in the applcations of the 

 hot moist sponges for an hour, when the child was 

 so much relieved that I ventured to leave it for 

 half an hour — ordering the remedy to be contin- 

 ued. On my return, I found the patient breathed 

 with comparative freedom, its respiration and 

 cough less sonorous and shrill, and its pulse softer 

 and more natural. I recommended the applica- 

 tions to be continued until the child should be 

 decidedly relieved, and prescriiied six drops of 

 antimonial wine to be given every hour in a little 

 water. The mother of the child informed nie, 

 this morning, that she continued to apply the hot 

 water remedy for five hours, but not so often as I 

 applied them — that the child continued to im- 

 prove, and fell asleep soon after I left it. This 

 morning she is bright and playful, and asks for 

 food. The respiration is quite easy — pulse sofl 

 and natural ; bough humid and loose; its sounds 

 having lost the shrill croupy character. 



I was induced to employ the above remedy, in 

 consequence of having lately read in a foreign 

 journal that it had been suggested and employed 

 by a German physician with decided anrl uniform 

 success. As the remedy is simple, and is at ready 

 command, and as its applicaiion in the present 

 case was attended with such decided and imme- 

 diate happy effects, I would, with a good deal of 

 confidence, advise mothers and nurses in similar 

 cases to apply it early and perseveringly until 

 medical aid can be obtained. The sponges should 

 be gently squeezed before they are applied, .so that 

 the water shall not ooze from them, and should 

 be gradually compressed during the time they are 

 applied, so as to continue the temperature up to 

 the highest degree that can be sustained by the 

 patient. Should sponges not be at hand, napkins 

 wrung out in the boiling water may serve as good 

 substitutes." 



Dr Doddridge once asked his little daughter, 

 about six years old, what made every body love 

 her ? She replied, " I don't know indeed, papa, 

 unless it is because 1 love every body." 



Be as wise as you can, says Johnson ; cheerful 

 to others, but look well after your own virtue and 

 knowledge. 



