&l)c .farmer's ittcmtljlij Visitor. 



163 



The Sufferings, Perseverance and Triumph of 

 Genius. 



There is at present In England an American 

 who went to that country to endeavor to interest 

 the capitalists in a new bridge which he has con- 

 structed. His name is Remington, and he is a 

 native of Virginia, An account of his progress 

 is given by himself, in a letter to Dixon II. Lewis, 

 and is published in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. 

 When he arrived in England in January, 1847, 

 he wtis without money, and spent the first live 

 months in vainly looking for somebody with en- 

 terprise enough to encourage his plan, living all 

 the time on less than three pence per day. He 

 slept upon straw, for which he paid a halfpenny 

 per night. His limbs became distorted with 

 rheumatism, and he was literally covered with 

 rags and vermin, consorting as he had to do, 

 with the lowest beggars in London. Still he did 

 not despair. The incidents of the succeeding 

 three months he does not relate. His sufferings 

 were so greafthat his head tinned grey. He had 

 to pay usurers £10 to obtain a shilling for ad- 

 mittance to the Koyal Zoological Gardens, where 

 lie succeeded, after much mortification, in get- 

 ting the ghost of a model made of the bridge. 

 The model, although a had one, astonished every 

 body. Every engineer of celebrity in London 

 was called in to decide whether it was practica- 

 ble to throw it across the lake. Four or five of 

 them, at the final decision, declared that the 

 model was passing strange, hut that it could not 

 be carried to a much greater length than the 

 length of the model. This was the point of lite 

 or death with the inventor. He says: 



"I was standing amidst men of the supposed 

 greatest talent as civil engineers that the world 

 could produce, and the point decided against 

 me. This one time alone were my whole ener- 

 gies ever aroused. I never talked before — 1 was 

 haggard and faint for want of food — my spirits 

 sunk in sorrow in view of my mournful pros- 

 pects — clothes I had none — yet, standing over 

 this model, did I battle with those men. Every 

 word 1 uttered came from my inmost soul, and 

 was big with truth— every argument carried con- 

 viction. The effect on these men was like ma- 

 gic — indeed, they must have been devils not to 

 have believed under the circumstances. / suc- 

 ceeded. My agreement with the proprietor was, 

 that I should superintend the construction of the 

 bridge without any pay whatever, but during the 

 time of the building I might sleep in the Gar- 

 dens, and if the bridge should succeed, it should 

 be called ' Remington's Bridge.' I lodged in an 

 old lions cage, not strong enough for a lion, but 

 by putting some straw on the floor, hell me very 

 well, and indeed was a greater luxury than I had 

 for many months. The carpenters that worked 

 on the bridge sometimes gave ine a part of their 

 dinner. On this I lived and was comparatively 

 happy. It was a little novel, however, to see a 

 man in rags directing gentlemanly looking liead 

 carpenters. The bridge triumphed, and the cost 

 was £8, and was the greatest hit ever made in 

 London. The money made by it was astonish- 

 ingly great, thousands and tens of thousands 

 crossing it, paying toll, besides being the great- 

 est attraction to the Gardens. Not a publication 

 in London but what has written largely upon it, 

 although 1 have never received a penny, nor ever 

 will for building the bridge." 



The success of his invention gave him, how- 

 ever, celebrity, and he says it also gave him credit 

 with a tailor. 



" I got a suit of clothes and some shirts — a 

 clean shirt. Any shirt was great, hut a clean 

 shirt — O God, what a luxury! Thousands of 

 cards were left for me at the Gardens, and men 

 came to see the bridge from all parts of the 

 kingdom. I first built the mill, which is the 

 most popular patent ever taken in England. The 

 coffee pot, and many other small patents, take 

 exceedingly well. The drainage of Tixall Mea- 

 dows is the greatest triumph I have yet had in 

 England. The carriage bridge for Earl Talbot 

 is a most majestic and wonderfully beautiful 

 thing. Dukes, marquises, eaiis. lords, &c, and 

 their ladies, are coming to see it from all parts. 

 I have now more orders for bridges from the 

 aristocracy than I can execute in ten years, if 1 

 would do them. Indeed I have been so much 

 among the aristocracy of late, that what with 

 high living, heing so sudden a transition from 



starving, I have been compelled to go through a 

 course of medicine, and am just now convales- 

 cent. Of course, any thing once built precludes 

 (he possibility of taking a patent in England, 

 but its merits and value are beyond all calcula- 

 tion. 



" A permanent, beautiful and steady bridge 

 may be thrown across a river half a mile wide 

 out of the reach of floods, and without anything 

 touching the water, at a most inconsiderable ex- 

 pense. The American patent is well secured at 

 home I know. I shall continue to build a few 

 more bridges of larger and larger spans, and one 

 of them a railroad bridge, in order that I may 

 perfect myself in them so as to commence fair 

 when 1 reach America. 1 have a great many 

 more accounts of my exploits since I came to 

 Stafford, hut must defer sending them until next 

 time. I beg you will write me, for now, since a 

 correspondence is opened, I shall be able to tell 

 you something about England. I know it well. 

 I have dined with earls, and from that down — 

 down — down to where the knives, forks ami 

 plates are chained to the table for fear they 

 should be stolen." 



Such is the history of genius triumphing over 

 difficulties enough to appal the stoutest hearts. — 

 Philadelphia Ledger. 



Bamford's Improved Stocking Frame. 



Mr. Win. Bam ford, of Ipswich, Mass. has re- 

 cently patented a valuable improvement in the 

 Stocking Frame, consisting in the application 

 and use of a conductor to each of the plain-stitch 

 and rib-stitch needles, in such manner as to ena- 

 ble any one to carry on the process of knitting 

 either plain or ribbed work, without the use of 

 needles with beards or points, and a presser or 

 pressers, such as are generally used in the com- 

 mon plain and ribbed, hand or power looms. 

 His improvement is also applicable to what are 

 denominated warp net machines, whether au- 

 tomatic or moved by hand, and will perform one- 

 third more work than any hand frame worked in 

 the ordinary way with pressers. Mr. B. has ex- 

 pended a large amount in this invention, and per- 

 formed the constant labor of nearly three years 

 in bringing it to its present state of perfection. 



The first application of the invention was in 

 connection with a new warp Frame and after- 

 wards a common plain stocking frame. The in- 

 ventor then applied ihe " rib," and succeeded in 

 making ribbed work with the same motions that 

 made plain work. This improvement, with a 

 little expense, can be appended to every kind of 

 stocking and warp frame now in use and save 

 the presser motion, which has always been the 

 most difficult and destructive one to every kind 

 of frame. 



This machine is capable of making one-third 

 more plain work, and double the quantity of rib- 

 bed over one stocking frame that works with 

 pressers. Mr. B.'s ribbed machine can be built at 

 two-thirds the expense of the old Derby rib ma- 

 chine, which in fact is entirely superseded by 

 this improvement, wdiich saves two presser and 

 one heel paddle motion in every bout or course, in 

 which it must come into general use. — Farmer 

 and Mechanic. 



Grapes from Seed. — The Boston Cultivator 

 gives the following as the best mode of raising 

 grapes from seed. The writer says he has about 

 five hundred plants raised from twenty different 

 kinds of grapes. "Save the seeds when the 

 grapes are ripe ; mark them, as it is desirable to 

 trace the pedigree of a new fruit. Late in the 

 fall, sow them in a rather light mellow soil, like 

 a good garden, covering them about two-thirds 

 of an inch deep. If sowing be delayed till 

 spring,, put the seeds into loam in the fall, or 

 early in winter, and bury ill earth, or place in the 

 cellar, and keep gently moist which is best done 

 by putting them in a tight stone or earthen ves- 

 sel, covering the earth with damp moss or cloth, 

 and placing in a close box or chest. It is less 

 trouble to sow in the fall, especially where one 

 has various kinds." 



Drink and Disease. — It is remarkable, says 

 Dr. Darwin, that .all the diseases from drinking 

 spirituous liquors are liable to become heredita- 

 ry, even to the third generation, and gradually 

 to increase until the family becomes extinct. 



Large Cattle. 



The following are the weights and dimensions 

 of the most remarkable of the titt cattle exhibited 

 at the late Suite show at Buffalo : 



J. and F. A. Alherger, of Buffalo, exhibited 

 Jwo oxen, called Empire State and Queen City. 

 The former measured in girth, behind the fore 

 legs, 9 feet 34 inches; and his length from 

 shoulder to end of rump was 7 feet 3 inches; 

 the latter measured in girth, 9 feet, and in length 

 7 feet 7 inches. The aggregate weight of the 

 two was 5,784 pounds. 



Two oxen shown by Lyman Brainard, girthed, 

 each, 8 feet 10 inches— length, 6 feet 7 inches- 

 weight of the two, 4,800 pounds. 



Two oxen shown by L. Doty, measured in 

 girth, 8 feet 6 inches, and 8 feet 3 inches ; in 

 length 7 feet 7 inches, and 6 feet 3 inches- 

 weight of the two, 4,670 pounds. 



An ox shown by Edward Munson, girthed 9 

 feet— length, 7 feet 84 inches— weight, 3,100 

 pounds. 



The following were the live weight of cuttle 

 four years old : 



A pair shown by E. Sheldon, 4,295 lbs. 

 A pair shown by B. Humphrey, 4,0"I7J 



A pair shown by John Burns, 3,8874 

 One ox shown by Henry Dixon, 2,200 

 One ox shown by E. Munson, 2,100 



A pair of steers, three years old, shown by J. 

 S. Wadsworth, weighed 3,390 pounds; and a 

 two-year old steer, shown by the same gentle- 

 man, weighed 1,497 pounds. 



A fat cow, seven years old. shown by R. Had- 

 field, weighed 1,742 pounds ; and one five years 

 old, shown by Robeit Fowler, weighed 2,030 

 pounds. One five years old, shown by Allen 

 Ayrault, weighed 1,652 pounds. One six years 

 old, shown by Norman Kibbe, weighed 1,645. 

 (This was only grass-fed. She was a cross of 

 the Durham and Devon, and a very fine animal.) 



R. I. Canfield, New Milford, Ct., exhibited a 

 pair of cattle four years old, at the late show at 

 Litchfield, which weighed 4,600 pounds. 



It may be interesting to compare these cattle 

 with others of large size which have formerly 

 attracted attention. The celebrated Durham or, 

 bred by Chas. Colling, in 1796, measured, at ten 

 years old, as follows: girth, behind the should- 

 ers, 10 feet; breadth at the shoulders 2 feet 7 

 inches, across the hips 2 feet 7 inches. We have 

 no means of ascertaining his live weight at that 

 time; but Fie Was slaughtered the following year, 

 in consequence of an accident, and though he 

 was thought to have lost considerably in weight, 

 his four quarters weighed 2,322 pounds, his tal- 

 low 156 pounds, and his hide 142 pounds — milk- 

 ing a total dressed weight of 2,620 pounds. 



The oxen, Maximus and Magnus, bred by Col. 

 Chapin, Springfield, Mass., exhibited at the show 

 of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, in 

 1817 — (the cattle being six and a half years old) 

 — measured as follows: Marimus, girth 9 feet; 

 breadth across the hips 2 feet 6 inches — across 

 ihe shoulders 2 leet 74 inches. Magnus, girth 9 

 feet; breadth across the hips 2 feet 6 inches — 

 across the shoulders 2 feet 54 inches. We v i«- 

 never seen any account of the live weig 

 these cattle, and only know the dressed weigi*. 

 of the smaller one, which was 2000. 



The famous Broughton heifer, Peach, bred by 

 Sir Charles R. Tempest — which won the gold 

 medal of the Sniithfield Club, in 1843 — was four 

 years and ten months old, and gave the following 

 dressed weight : four quarters, 1,770 pounds, tal- 

 low, 228 pounds, hide, 120 pounds— total, 2,118 

 pounds. — Albany Cultivator. 



Laboring Communities. 

 Hon. Harvey Baldwin, in his address before 

 the Onondaga County Agricultural Society, made 

 some good remarks in reference to the effects of 

 industry, as compared with indolence, on the 

 character and prosperity of communities. He 

 came to the conclusion that as "a general princi- 

 ple, that community which is required to toil the 

 most constantly, to economise the most closely 

 and live most frugally, will be found to be phy- 

 sically, morally and intellectually in the best 

 condition." He made some comparisons in il- 

 lustration of the principle: " Look for example 



