88 



&l)e jTqrmcr'g ittcmtl)I» Visitor. 



of deep cultivation is understood, it seems to be 

 very little practised.] 



Saturday, lUlh. Crossed the river at Havre de 

 Grace and lodged at the head of Elk. 



Sunday, 13. * Dined at Chester, where I was 

 met by Generals Mifflin and Knox and Varnum, 

 Cols. Humphreys and Minges, and Majors Jack- 

 son and Nicholas. * * On my arrival (at the 

 city) a peal was rung; and Mr. Robert Morris 

 and his lady again pressing me to lodge with 

 them, I had my baggage moved, and took up my 

 quarters at their bouse, after paying my respects 

 to the President of the Slate, Dr. Franklin. 



Monday, 14. Only the members of Virginia 

 and Pennsylvania appeared. 



Tuesday, 15. Single members from N. Caro- 

 lina, Delaware and Jersey only came. 



Wednesday, 16. Only two state representatives 

 came in. 



Thursday, 17lh. Mr. Pinkney and Mr. Rut- 

 ledge formed an additional representation for 

 South Carolina. 



Friday, 18th. State of New York first repre- 

 sented. 



Friday, '25th. Quorum of States first met: — 

 "the body was organized, and 1 was called to 

 the chair by a unanimous vote." 



Monday, 28lh. Two Slates more, viz. Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut, now being first repre- 

 sented, made nine on the floor — proceeded to 

 the establishment of rules for the Convention. 



[June 10. Washington's diary details one ex- 

 periment with Plaster of Paris on Mr. Jones' 

 farm : 5i bushels to the acre used on loam very 

 slightly mixed with ising-glass: its effect very 

 obvious. It had been said that the late Chancel- 

 lor Livingston first introduced Plaster of Paris 

 into this country in 1780, since which time it has 

 worked wonders iu adding to the production of 

 the cultivated lands, especially all along the val- 

 ley of the North or Hudson river in New York. 

 A gentleman eight years ago informed us that 

 the use of plaster in the county of Dutchess had 

 then quite recently doubled the agricultural pro- 

 duct of that county. The usual price of farms 

 in the interior of that county is now from sixty 

 to one hundred dollars the acre, showing agri- 

 culture there to be a better pursuit than in- most 

 other districts of this country. It is not com- 

 mon, we believe, to use plaster more than at the 

 rate of one bushel to the acre. When used in 

 Pennsylvania nearly sixty years ago, according 

 to Washington's private journal, five and a half 

 bushels to the acre were applied. On some 

 grounds it is affirmed that one hundred pounds 

 of plaster will produce two thousand pounds of 

 hay. So various are the effects of this stimulant 

 that many farmers are dubious as to the value of 

 its use: some men are confident that it is of no 

 use whatever. A neighbor of ours declares that 

 he would not give a cent for any amount of plas- 

 ter upon his land: yet we are showing him ex- 

 cellent clover pasturage along side of his own 

 plains land where at least a ton of hay to the 

 acre might be mowed in the middle of Juue — all 

 brought out by the use of a small quantity of the 

 article with no other manure ; and this on land 

 so sterile as to yield no feed in its natural state 

 belter thau sorrel ! — Ed. Visitor.] 



Monday, oOth [July, 1787.] In company with 

 Mr. Gouverneur Morris went into the neighbor- 

 hood of Valley Forge to a Widow Moore's, a fish- 

 ing, at whose house we lodged. 



Tuesday, 31s/. Before breakfast I rode to the 

 Valley Forge and over the whole Cantonment 

 and works of the American army in the winter 

 of 1777-8; and, on my return to the Widow 

 Moore's, found Mr. and Mrs. Robert Morris. 

 Spent the day there fishing, &c. and lodged at 

 the same place. 



Tuesday, Aug. 1. Returned at 11 o'clock with 

 the above company to Philadelphia. 



In this tour I understood that the usual time of 

 sowins buck-wheat M as from the 10th to the 



201,1 of July; that the ground ought to he twice] the Ram, and from which lead pipe, about one- 

 ploughed, and at least as often harrowed, and fifth of the size of the larger one, extends up the 



the grain harrowed in ; that it is considered as 

 an uncertain crop — liable lo injury (while in the 

 blossom) by a hot sun, and very apt to [carys ?] 

 by frost in autumn : that it is excellent tbod for 

 horses (to puff them up) milch cattle, sheep and 

 hogs, also for fatting beeves and the feed of colts 

 when they are weaned. That two quarts ol 

 buck-wheat meal and half a peck of potatoes at 

 first, the quantity (to be reduced as the fatting 

 creature tails oft' iu stomach, or in other words 

 increases in fit) given three times a day, is fully 

 sufficient. That the buck wheat ground into 

 meal and given in wash is most excellent to lay 

 on fat for hogs (to be hardened with corn ;) and 

 that this meal and potatoes, given raw, but wash- 

 ed and cut small, is excellent for the weaning of 

 colts ; and that the quantity to the acie is on the 

 average 25 bushels. About three pecks of seed 

 is sufficient for an acre of ground. 



Tuesday, 4th (Sept. 1787.) Dined ami drank 

 tea at home after visiting a machine at Dr. 

 Franklin's for smoothing clothes instead of iron- 

 ing of them after washing, which appears to 

 answer exceedingly well for every species of 

 shirt that has not plats and folds. 



*###■# 



Saturday, 15th. Finish d the business of the 

 Convention all to signing the proceedings, to do 

 which the House sat till six o'clock. 



* # # # # 



Monday, 17th. Mel in Convention and signed 

 the proceedings — all except Governor Randolph, 

 Col. Mason and Mr. Gerry. Dined all together 

 at the City Tavern, and returned to my lodgings. 



Tuesday, 18th. Finished what private business 

 I hail to do this forenoon — dined at one o'clock 

 at Mr. Morris's, and sat off afterwards in compa- 

 ny with Mr. Blair, who took a seat in my chariot 

 with me on my return home. Reached Chester, 

 where we lodged. 



Wednesday, 19th. * * Baited at Wilmington 

 — dined at Christiana bridge, and lodged at the 

 head of Elk. At the bridge near here I narrow- 

 ly escapeil an ugly accident to my chariot and 

 horses. One fell through, and another with the 

 chariot was on the point of following, but by 

 exertions was saved. 



* * * « # 



Saturday, 22d Breakfasted at Bladensburgh 

 — passed through George Town— dined at Alex- 

 andria, and reached home by sunset, after bein" 

 absent 4 months and 14 days. 



From Sunday, Sept. 33rf, lo Thursday, JYov. 15, 

 excepting a short visit of two days at Abingdon, 

 Washington's journal every fair day shows him 

 visiting his plantations. The journal closes as 

 follows : 



" Went to Alexandria loan election of Senator 

 for this district. Mr. Thomas West of Fairfax 

 and Mr. Pope of Prince William being the can- 

 didates, I gave my vote for the first and imme- 

 diately, as the weather promised to be getting 

 worse. 



"The last of the potatoes fromDogue run came 

 home to-day, viz. 1134 bushels, w -hereof 57} were 

 red, and 5GA while. These came out of the cut 

 on the left of the road leading from the gate to 

 the houses, and with those of the other cut make 

 1201 of red, and 1I3J of white— in all, 234| 

 bushels from every four rows between the corn 

 rows." 



[This amount of potatoes would be considered 

 a great quantity for the largest planter or farmer 

 as early as the year 1787.] 



Hydraulic Ram. 

 The inconveniences under which the Hospital 

 for the Insane in this town has eyer labored, by 

 reason of an inadequate supply of soft water, 

 has lately been entirely overcome, and at tr'fling 

 expense, by the use of a self-acting water ma- 

 chine, called the Hydraulic Ram. The stream 

 known as Bow brook passes through the Hospital 

 grounds, but is some GO to 100 feet lower than 

 the roof of the Asylum building. This stream 

 has been dammed, and a reservoir of about two 

 acres formed upon the laud of the establishment. 

 From the dam a pipe of several inches bore is 

 laid about 200 feet down the channel of the 

 brook. At the lower terminus of this pipe is 



hill and to the Asylum buildings. The action vt' 

 the Ram is produced by the force of the descend- 

 ing column in the large bored pipe. It is con- 

 structed of iron, brass and copper. It has an air 

 chamber similar to that in a common fire engine, 

 through the action of which the water flows in 

 a continuous stream, instead ol' in jets. The 

 machine is very simple; as regular in its motion 

 as the human heart, and makes no complaint un- 

 der its incessant labor of forcing up the hill the 

 volume of water necessary for such an establish- 

 ment. 



A small pipe, laid at the time the Hospital was 

 erected, from an eminence about a third of a 

 mile west, has, with the exception of a very deep 

 well, been the sole reliance of the establishment. 

 The fountain whence this water is obtained is 

 sufficiently elevated to force the stream into the 

 Hospital attic; and as the Ram will supply most 

 copiously the kitchen, wash-room and barn, the 

 old supply can all flow into the upper wards of 

 the Hospital. 



The Hydraulic Ram, as first used, was the in- 

 vention of an English watch-maker, named 

 VVhitehurst, in 1772. His invention was impro- 

 ved hy a French paper-maker, by name Mont- 

 golfier, the inventor, in 1782, in conjunction with 

 his brother, of the balloon. The one just laid 

 down at the Asylum was constructed by Mr. 

 Abiel Chandler, of this town, one of the most 

 scientific ami ingenious mechanics in New 

 Hampshire. The very moderate, sum for which 

 Mr. Chandler will manufacture them, and their 

 adaptedness for purposes of irrigation, or to raise 

 water from streams up considerable ascents to 

 dwelling houses and shops, will doubtless bring 

 them into frequent use in our State. The one 

 at the Hospital is supposed to he the first set in 

 motion in this part of New Hampshire, if not in 

 l he Stale.— jY. H. Statesman. 



A stream of small dimensions, with the aitl of 

 the Hydraulic Ram, may be made to do the work 

 of many of the old fashioned grist mills, raising 

 the water to be used far above its common level. 

 We saw at the farm of Mr. Blair, six miles out 

 of Washington city, this instrument in operation 

 near the head of the Silver Spring which gives 

 name to his plantation, moving an iron wheel of 

 some twenty-five feet iu diameter. This wheel was 

 the motive power which performed the opera 

 tions of grinding grain into meal, chopping hay 

 and slraw for horse and catlle feed, and various 

 other operations connected with the farm man- 

 agement: a power of this kind might easily be 

 constructed for sawing lumber and various other 

 mechanical operations. 



It should be a matter of congratulation that 

 a self-taught mechanic of our own town, 

 so ingenious and talented as Mr. Chandler, 

 should well succeed in the first construction of 

 the kind in this neighborhood. We see no rea- 

 son why, at aji expense far less than the cost of 

 the improvement, every family in the village may 

 not, with the Hospital Asylum, be supplied with 

 an abundance of that article so necessary to the 

 health of the whole community. 



In the prevalence of autumnal fevers, we have 

 observed that they generally come when the 

 springs of many wells give out and others are 

 very low — when there is no longer abundance of 

 water. Since the gr^at supply of water aiven 

 by the aqueduct which conveys the entire Croton 

 river into the city of New York, enabling the 

 inhabitants to keep every thing clean, there is a 

 visible diminution in the number of deaths, and 

 improvement of health of the lower classes. 

 This great work cost the city several millions, and 

 was not completed until the lapse of many years. 

 Boston is now making a similar improvement, 

 which, at first creating a city debt, will in a few 

 years become a source of city revenue. Every 

 village and hamlet should have its full supply of 

 pure water.— Ed. former's M. Visitor. 



