NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



135 



mammoth presses. When ready for company, we 

 shall announce the same, when the public will have 

 a better chance of understanding the wonder than 

 any written description can possibly enable them to 

 do at present." — N. Y. Farmer and Mechanic 



PAINTING. 



The Dutch, who are celebrated as a people for 

 their industrious and economical habits, have a 

 maxim, it is said, that "painting is no expense." 

 This, doubtless, is true. A coat of paint on wood- 

 work, exposed to the atmosphere, tends greatly to 

 preserve it, and as paint, when of good quality and 

 well put on, lasts unimpared for years, the extra 

 durability it confers upon the substance it is de- 

 signed to protect, goes, no doubt, a great way to- 

 ward defraying the expense. Ail houses should 

 be painted. White is the best color, especially in 

 hot climates; all dark colors having a strong ten- 

 dency to absorb caloric, or the matter of heat, and 

 by so doing to render houses much hotter than when 

 painted with pure white, which reflects it. One 

 story houses which have had their roofs painted 

 with coal tar, or some other paint of a dark color, 

 are generally insufferably hot. 



The out-buildings on a farm ought, for econo- 

 my's sake if nothing more, to be painted. Any 

 structure that has cost money, ought to be pre- 

 served by every means and application possible to 

 be bestowed. Whitewashing the walls of sheds, 

 and fences gives a very neat and tasty appearance 

 to an establishment, while the wash retains its 

 brilliancy, but as soon as that is gone, the aspect 

 is unpleasant. If a farmer possesses the means, 

 by far the most judicious method is to bestow a 

 good finish, and protect by a coat of paint. Dura- 

 bility is a prime quality in farm buildings, and they 

 who expend their money in furnishing good struc- 

 tures at first, escape the heavy expenditures which 

 cheap edifices entail on their owners, for annual re- 

 pairs. 



Paint applied to the farming utensils, such as 

 ploughs, wheels, carts, &c., well repays the cost; 

 it preserves the wood, and a well painted, neat 

 looking instrument, is always used with much 

 greater care and circumspection than one that is 

 not. The cost is a mere trifle, and scarcely wor- 

 thy of being taken into account, if we contemplate 

 the utility of the process. — Germantoion Telegraph. 



Remarks. — We dissent from that part of the 

 above article recommending white as the best 

 color for houses, and our readers have generally 

 seen our views on this subject which were pub- 

 lished recently. — Ed. N. E. Farmer. 



NEV/ SSLF-CENTBRING AND SBLF-RE- 

 LEASING LATHE. 



Mr. Thomas R. Bailey, of Lockport, N. Y.,has 

 made a very valuable improvement in lathes for 

 concentric turning, such as for broom handles, &c., 

 for which measures have been taken to secure a 

 patent. The live spindle has a sliding cone mouth 

 into which the rough material is placed, and the 

 slide spindle has also a cone mouth in a line with 

 the other. The rough material is placed within 

 these cone mouths, and must be centered, as the 

 spindles always bear a fixed relation to one another, 



and the cone mouths guide the rough material to 

 lie in a true central line with both spindles. When 

 the slide has run its length, it strikes a cam upon 

 the frame, and the broom handle, or whatever it 

 may be that is turned, is thrown out from the spin- 

 dles, and drops down. The turning tool can be 

 guided by a fixed side pattern to turn out many 

 different irregular forms. This lathe is easily at- 

 tended and is very simple. It is a good, new, and 

 useful improvement. — Scientijic American. 



Caries' department. 



SOUPS. 



The delicate and proper blending of savors is the 

 chief art of good soup making. Be sure and skim 

 the grease off the soup when it first boils, or it wull 

 not become clear. Throw a little salt to bring up 

 the skum. Remove all the grease. Be sure and 

 simmer softly, and never let a soup boil hard. Put 

 the meat into cold water, and let it grow warm 

 slowly. This dissolves the gelatine, allows the 

 albamen to disengage, and the scum to rise, and 

 diffuses the savory part of the meat. But if the 

 soup is over a hot fire the albumen coagulates and 

 hardens the meat, prevents the water from pene- 

 trating, and the savory part from disengaging it- 

 self. Thus the broth will be without flavor, and 

 the meat tough. Allow two table spoonfulls of 

 salt to four quarts of soup, where there are many 

 vegetables, and one and a half where there are few. 

 Be sure not to leave any fat floating on the surface. 

 A quart of water, or a little less, to a pound of 

 meat, is a good rule. Soup made of uncooked meat 

 is as good the second day, if heated to the boiling 

 point. If more water is needed, use boiling hot 

 water, as cold or lukewarm spoils the soup. It is 

 thought that potato water is unhealthy, and there- 

 fore do not boil potatoes in soup, but boil elsewhere, 

 and add them when nearly cooked. The water in 

 which poultry or fresh meat is boiled should be 

 saved for gravies or soup the next day. If you do 

 not need it, give it to the poor. Keep the vessel 

 tight in which you boil soup, that the flavor be not 

 lost. Never leave soup in metal pots, as sometimes 

 a family is thus poisoned. Thickened soups require 

 more seasoning, nearly double the quantity used for 

 thin soups. 



Poisonous Vessels. — Vessels of copper often 

 give rise to poisoning. Though the metal under- 

 goes but little change in a dry atmosphere, it is 

 rusted if moisture be present, and its surface be- 

 comes covered with a green substance — carbonate 

 or the protoxide of copper, a poisonous compound. 

 It has sometimes happened, tliat a mother has, for 

 want of knowledge, poisoned her family. Sour- 

 krout, when permitted to stand sometime in a cop- 

 per vessel, has produced death in a icw hours. 

 Cooks sometimes permit pickles to remain in cop- 

 per vessels, that they may acquire a rich green col- 

 or, which they do by absorbing poison. Families 

 have often been thrown into disease by eating such 

 dainties, and may have died in some instances, with- 

 out suspecting the cause. Dr. Thompson. 



0^ He shall be immortal who liveth till he be 

 stoned by one without fault. 



