182 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



four ounces of fresh butter, one tablespoonful of 

 finely pulverised sage, one of rue, and one of soot, 

 and gave each fowl a pill of this, about the size oi' 

 a cranberry, once a day for three or four days; and 

 within two weeks they had all recovered." 



We would also remark, that the same disease 

 was among our Polish chickens the whole of the 

 past winter and in early spring, by which we lost 

 several valuable fowls; also, that during the last 

 six or nine months we have lost, evidently by the 

 same disease, as it exhibited all its symptoms, full 

 one-half of our stock of fancy pigeons. We shall 

 try the remedies presented, should there again be 

 occasion. — Germantowii Telegraph. 



PRUNING STONB FHUIT TRSSS. 



It has been but a few years since the cultivators 

 of fruit have been in the habit of pruning peach 

 trees at the extremities of the branches, instead of 

 cutting olF limbs at the trunk. This system of short- 

 ening-in, as it is called, is gaining ground, and it 

 is a great improvement. The reasons for this mode 

 of pruning aie evident on examination. Most kinds 

 of stone fruit grow rapidly, and bear the greater 

 part of their fruit on new wood, which is, of course, 

 near the ends of the limbs. In this way a tree 

 spreads over much land, and has naked branches 

 near the trunk; and pruning at the trunk causes the 

 gum to ooze out, which sometimes endangers the 

 health of the tree. 



On the contrary, by pruning at the ends of the 

 branches, the tree is confined to a small space, the 

 wounds have no unfavorable effect, or only affect 

 the twigs, and not the trunk, and much new wood 

 is produced for the production of fruit. 



Great Agricltltural Movement in Growing 

 Flax in England. — A company comprising many 

 of the leading nobility and land owners, is seeking 

 from government a royal charter to give encour- 

 agement to agriculturists and farmers to bring into 

 immediate cultivation at least one hundred thou- 

 sand acres of land, for the production of flax straw; 

 which substance the promoters of the charter have, 

 (by new and peculiar processes never hitherto 

 adopted,) the power to convert into a fit state to 

 hold competition with the best flax imported from 

 foreign nations, without the aid of steeping, kiln- 

 drying, nor mill scutching. The machinery by 

 which the fibre is separated from the stalk, without 

 steeping, is of a very simple and inexpensive kind, 

 requiring no previous knowledge to work it. The 

 unsteeped flax is uniform in strength, and free from 

 stains, so that all after processes of manufacturing 

 and bleaching may be conducted with a facility and 

 exactness not hitherto attainable. 

 Gazette. 



Agricultural 



Skill in Farming. — Skill adds more to the 

 profits of farming than hard work. In the article 

 of butter, for instance, the same outlay is required, 

 or nearly the same, to make a hundred pounds of 

 poor butter, as would be required to make a hun- 

 dred pounds of that which is good. But, when 

 the articles are marketed, there may be $5 or $6 of 

 clear extra profit in the pocket of the skilful dairy- 

 man. The importance of scientific farming is 

 realized by those who have found such benefit as is 

 noted above in every department of their labor. 



Illccl)auic3' Drpartment, ^its, ^c. 



STONE WARS PIPES FOR WATER. 



Eds. O. Cult.: — It is fair to presume that it is 

 entirely within the scope of the objects of your pa- 

 per to notice the various improvements of our time, 

 even though they may not relate directly to the 

 cultivation of the soil, or the raising of stock. The 

 northern and eastern portions of the Union being 

 mountainous or rolling, are happily furnished with 

 running brooks or fountains in the hill sides, by 

 which nearly every tract of one hundred acres is 

 supplied with water. Not so, however, with Ohio 

 and the western States. Here, that great deside- 

 ratum, WATER, must, in numerous instances, be 

 procured by cisterns or from springs or fountains, 

 from which it must be conducted, often times, a 

 considerable distance, to a convenient point for use 

 at a dwelling, or for farm purposes The cheapest 

 and best method of conducting water has been a 

 subject of much discussion, and will probably en- 

 gross the attention of scientific men for a long time 

 to come. Iron and lead have been generally used, 

 notwithstanding the objections to the use of either 

 of these materials. The first is expensive, and lia- 

 ble to corrode. The latter is also expensive, es- 

 pecially if a large size is used; and is said to be in- 

 jurious to health. Hence it is very desirable to 

 find some material to which none of these objec- 

 tions can be made. This I am strongly inclined to 

 believe has been done by Messrs. Hill, Foster & 

 Co., of Middlebury, Summit Co., by reviving the 

 use of Stone Ware. These gentlemen now man- 

 ufacture quite largely a vei-y superior article of 

 pipes, from clay which is found in that vicinity. 1 

 piocured about six thousand feet of three and a half 

 inch pipe, which was well laid by Mr. Charles 

 Loudon, of this town, and the water has been pass- 

 ing through it since November last, without any 

 appearance of discharge at the joints, or bursting of 

 the pipes. This pipe is made in pieces two feet 

 long; well glass glazed inside and sctlt glazed out- 

 side. The inside is very smooth, resembling the 

 inside of a fine stone pitcher, presenting no obstruc- 

 tion to the free course of the water. The joints are 

 cemented with water lime cement, which, on an ex- 

 amination a few days ago, was found, even at this 

 early day, to be nearly as hard as common free- 

 stone. The fountain from which the water is tak- 

 en is forty-five feet above the place of discharge at 

 iny house, and the surface of the ground over 

 which the pipes pass is quite undulating. Atone 

 point on the line we cross a ravine where the pipes 

 are seventy-six feet below the fountain. At this 

 point, if any where, we anticipated difficulty in 

 making them tight, or perhaps in the bursting of 

 pipe; but after five months' use no defect has been 

 discovered. The water, though very excellent at 

 the fountain, is believed to be improved by passing 

 through the pipes, which are laid two feet below 

 the surface; which' proves quite sufficient to pre- 

 vent injury from frosts. I have great confidence 

 that this material for conduits will prove exceed- 

 ingly useful; and think the experiment I have 

 made has been eminently successful. The manu- 

 facturers have put into my hands a certificate of six 

 gentlemen, who state that they tested the strength of 

 three inch pipe, and found it would bear a perpen- 

 dicular column of water nine hundred and forty- 

 fT.ir f??t h'gh ir?''"'"/ hreakinfj-. A second piece 



