flljc .farmer's iHcmtljhj Visitor. 



77 



Tunneling Ihe Iloosic Mountain. 

 Tlie project of passing through Iloosic Moun- 

 tain, near Adams, Berkshire county, Massachu- 

 setts, by n tunnel four miles long, and thus se- 

 curing an almost level railroad from Greenfield 

 on llie Connecticut river to Troy, N. Y., (one of 

 the most billy and apparently impracticable sec- 

 tions to lie found in New England,) has excited 

 ridicule in some quarters, and admiration in 

 others. I( was remarked the other day, that with 

 sufficient time and labor, such a tunnel is practi- 

 cable; hut on the other hand, its construction 

 would he attended with immense difficulties. — 

 This will he seen by the following extract from 

 Brande's Encyclopedia, and the subsequent 

 comments of the Bennington (Vt.) Gazette : 



"The establishment of railway communica- 

 tion in this country has given rise to some stu- 

 pendous undertakings in the way of Tunneling. 

 One of the most remarkable, perhaps the most 

 remarkable of all, is the Box Tunnel on the 

 Great Western Rail ray, an account of which is 

 given in the Companion to the British Almanac 

 for 1642, and the Railway Times for July 10, 

 1841. This Tunnel pierces Box Hill between 

 Chippenham and Bath, part of which is 400 feet 

 above the level of the railway. It is 9680 feet 

 lung. ■'>!• feet high and 35 feet wide to the outside 

 of the brick-work. 



"The shafts for making and ventilating it are 

 13 in number, and vary in depth from 80 to 30(i 

 feet. The excavation amounted to 414.000 cubic 

 yards, Jbe brick-work and masonry to more than 

 54,000; the number of bricks used was 30,000,- 

 000. A ton of gun-powder, and a ton of candles 

 were consumed every week for two years and a 

 halt; and UU0 men and 250 horses, were kept 

 constantly employed. For a considerable dis- 

 tance the Tunnel passes through freestone rock, 

 from the fissures of which there was at limes an 

 immense influx of water, whereby on one occa- 

 sion the works were interrupted for a period of 

 nine months; on a subsequent occasion, alter an 

 irruption, water was for sometime discharged by 

 the engine at the rate of 32,000 hogsheads a day. 

 This Tunnel occurs on an inclined plane of 1 in 

 100." 



The Gazette then asks: 



If a Tunnel from 80 to 30(i feet under ground, 

 and one mile and thirteen sixteenths long, in 

 England requires 13 shafts or wells to ventilate 

 it, how many wells or shafts would he required 

 to ventilate a tunnel 1600 feel under ground, at 

 Hoosic Mountain, and tour miles long ? Wlial 

 would he the cost of one shajl from the top ol 

 Iloosic Mountain to the level of the Tunnel. 



If the Box of the Tunnel in England required 

 to he 3D feet high and 35 Hide, what would he 

 the required size of a Tunnel at Iloosic Moun- 

 tain four times as deep under ground, and more 

 than twice as long as the box Tunnel? 



How many springs and brooks would probably 

 be found in tunneling a mountain 2<i00 feet 

 high ? 



In answer we would say that 3G shafts would 

 he required in a Tunnel four miles long; these 

 shafts would cost on an average §50,000 each, or 

 $1,1/5,000. 



To support life, and procure air sufficient for 

 respiration in the middle of a Tunnel tour miles 

 long, llie size of the Tunnel should be 4(1 feel 

 square at least, and then the chances would he 

 that the gases escaping from the fires would 

 produce sutl'ucation. 



Four miles of Tunnel 45 feet square, make 

 1,584,000 cubic yards; this, if made through 

 primary rock as at Adams, will (-.1st §10 the 

 cubic yard, or over $15,000,000. The lime 

 to do this work would be 10 to 15 years, per- 

 haps 20 years. 



A good route for a railroad track can be found 

 up tlie Green Mountain from Troy, on a grade of 

 45 feet to the mile, and no Tunnel; this road 

 would cost say §3,000.000. k would be built 

 and fully* pay for itself, before the Adams tunnel 

 would be done. 



At a grade of 45 feet to the mile, one engine 

 will draw more than three engines on the West- 

 ern road over 83 feet grades — cosl of Road from 

 Troy to Boston would be about $0,000,000. 



Western Road cost about s 12,000,000. 

 Freight on Boston and Troy Road can be car- 

 ried for one-third what is charged on the West- 

 ern Road. Why then should we wait to build a 

 Tunnel ? 



Whoever cuts through tlie rock at the base of 

 Hoosic Mountain, will find it some harder than 

 cutting through the free stone rock in England. 

 Dimensions of different Tunnels in England: 



Yards. Height Width 



in feet, in feet. 



Boi Tunnel, Great West- 

 ern—length, 3227 39 25 

 Wapping to Erlge Hill, 

 Liverpoul and Man- 

 chester, 2200 lfl 22 

 lame street, 1700 19 25 

 Kdsby, London and Bir- 

 mingham, 3420 27 23J 

 Primrose Hdl, do. 1250 23 22 

 Canterbury and Whites 



stable, 880 12 21 



Leicester and Swaurring- 

 ton, 1760 13£ 10J 



Apple Culture and Trade. 



In conversation with an active and intelligent 

 gentleman from Massachusetts a few weeks since 

 who is engaged in the apple trade, we learned 

 some facts which may not only lie interesting, 

 but of practical utility lo our readers. The gen- 

 tleman purchases his apples at Rochester, N. Y., 

 at one dollar a barrel. They are brought by ca- 

 nal to Albany, and thence by ship to Boston, at 

 the expense of 87£ cents per barrel for transpor- 

 tation. The favorite apple is the Spilzbergen, 

 which is preferred to all Others, both lor the pro- 

 ductiveness of the tree and the flavor of the 

 fruit. When the apples are brought to Boston, 

 they are taken in the same barrels to a neighbor- 

 ing town, win re they are kept in cold cellars, 

 and from thence removed by railroads to the 

 large towns where they are wanted, and sold at 

 $3 00 per barrel in the fall and early part of the 

 winter. The gentleman *e\\s five thousand bar- 

 rels a year. Since Thanksgiving he bad sold 

 two hundred barrels in our own town of Concord, 

 from which mice five thousand barrels ought to 

 be sent every year to other markets. The quan- 

 tity he sells m Manchester and Lowell is very 

 large— sometimes 200 barrels a week. Think of 

 this, farmers of New Hampshire ; 5000 barrels 

 of apples brought every year by a single individ- 

 ual, a brothel" Yankee of no more wit than \ our- 

 selves, all the long way from Western New York, 

 by canal, ship and railroad, a distance of about 

 six hundred miles in the circuitous route pursu- 

 ed, and then sold at your door at a great profit! 

 And yet New Hampshire is the Paradise of the 

 apple tree. With true Yankee good sense the 

 gentleman urges all farmers to set out new trees 

 and trim them up and manure their old ones, as 

 the supply will not equal the demand in the days 

 of those now living. He slated that a firmer in 

 Newbury, Mass., bad an old orchard, which, be- 

 ing neglected and the soil exhausted, yielded 

 about 25 barrels of apples, lie dug about the 

 roots of the trees, and manured them, according 

 to the Scripture record; and instead of 25 bar- 

 rels he now gathers three hundred from the same 

 trees, and the fruit greatly improved in size and 

 flavor. Another farmer in the same vicinity 

 raises annually 1200 barrels. And what may he 

 done in New Hampshire, is seen in what the 

 gentleman informed us Mr. Robinson, of Chester, 

 has already done. He is about seventy years old, 

 and devotes himself in his old age to the pleasant 

 task of taking care of his orchard, a young and 

 thrifty one. from which he gathered the present 

 year eleven hundred bushels of Baldwins, which in 

 size, flavor and preservation, exceeded any our 

 informant had seen. Oilier farmers in tin' same 

 town exhibit commendable enterprise in the 

 same direction. The secret of preserving apples 

 through the winter and spring into mid-sumiuer, 

 is keeping them in coal cellars, the temperature 

 of which is regulated and adapted to tlie wants 

 of the fruit. — Congregational Journal. 



Tail Sickness. — The tails of cattle sometimes 

 increase in length to an inordinate degree. There 

 is a popular belief that this elongation of ihe tail 

 injuriously affects ibe animal's health. Youalt, 

 Hick, and some other veterinarians, ridicule the 

 idea of any disease being brought on by this 

 cause. They admit, however, that letting blood 



by cutting off the tail, may in some cases afford 

 relief to animals suffering from diseases brought 

 on in various ways; hut they bold that the same 

 benefit would follow from taking the same quan- 

 tity of blood from any other part. We presume 

 that Ihe amputation of an inch of the tail, has but 

 little effect in any way, excepting that suggested 

 by the writers referred lo. Formerly it was the 

 belief that the palsy in cattle was caused by " lail 

 sickness," and superstitious people in some in- 

 stances resorted to a charm to effect a cure. A 

 piece of turf on which the animal had trodden 

 was bung on a stake, accompanied by incanta- 

 tions, and a " black cat"' was made to pass three 

 limes around the cow's body, "over the back and 

 under the belly."' If the cat snuggled and scratch- 

 ed smartly, sbe generally got away by the lime 

 she bad been round three limes, and the necro- 

 mancers were convinced that the bewitching 

 devil had passed into her. — llbawj Cultivator. 



Six Reasons for Planting an Orchard. 



1. Would you leave an inheritance lo your chil- 

 dren? -plant an orchard. No other investment 

 of money and labor will, in the long run, pay so 

 mil. = " J 



2. Would you make home pleasant— the abode 

 of social virtues?— plant an orchard. Nothing 

 better promotes among neighbors a feeling of 

 kindness and good will, than a treat of good fruit 

 offeu repeated. 



3. Would you remove from your children the 

 strongest temptation to steal?— plant an orchard. 

 If children cannot obtain fruit at home., Ihey are 

 apt to steal it; and when they have learned to 

 steal fruit, they are in a very fair way to learn lo 

 sieal horses. 



4. Would you cultivate a constant feelintr of 

 thankfulness towards the great Giver of all gooil ? 

 — plant an orchard. By having constantly be- 

 fore you one of Ibe greatest blessings given to 

 man, yen must be hardened indeed if you are 

 not influenced by a spirit of humility and thank- 

 fulness. 



5. Would you have your children love their 

 home— respect their parents while living, and 

 venerate their memory when dead — in all their 

 wandering look hack upon the home of their 

 youth as a sacred spot — an oasis in the great 

 wilderness of the world ?— plant an orchard. 



0. In short, if you wish to avail yourself of the 

 blessings of a bountiful Providence, which are 

 within your reach, you must plant an orchard. 

 And when you do it sec that you plant good fruit. 

 Don't plant crab apple trees, nor wild plumbs, 

 nor Indian peaches. The best are the cheapest. 



From Ihe Allinny Cultivator. 



Cultivation of the Apple. 

 Having been practically acquainted with the 

 apple tree for more than thirty years, and being 

 anxious to see this tree more successfully culti- 

 vated, I am constrained lo give publicity to my 

 observations, experience and mode of culture, 

 hoping that some may be instructed, and the at- 

 teiiiion of others awakened to this interesting 



subject. 



The apple tree is the most valuable fruit tree 

 that grows in this pari of' ibe world— is naturally 

 very long lived, very productive, and easily culti- 

 vated, requiring but little more attention every 

 year than a hill of corn; and yet, strange as it is, 

 there are not half enough good apples produced 

 lor family use. 



Trees may be procured of ihe nurserymen, or 

 be raised on your own premises. If the latter 

 course is taken, procure as many seeds as you 

 want from the kind of apples you wish to pro- 

 duce. They will not all of them produce the 

 sami kinds— a lew will be tin- same or similar, 

 and others new varieties; nearly all will be very 

 good, if tin; R eeds wne of good kinds. Plant 

 you seeds as soon in ihe spring as the frost is mil, 

 in good mellow ground, about a quarter ol' an 

 inch deep, in rows about two feet apart, and 

 Bboill six inches apart in ibe rows. Keep the 

 •ground mellow ami clean, and in about three 

 years they will do to set in their abiding place, 

 or lo graft. 



Trees of natural growth generally last the long- 

 est. In the selections of tlie kinds you prefer to 

 graft, do not disregard those that are uniformly 

 good bearers, and prefer grafts from young 

 healthy trees. Cut the last year's growth w'nh an 



