20 



&l)c jTarmcr's iHontl)hj iHsttor. 



Horizontal and Vertical Drilling Machine. 



We were invited the other day, to witness the 

 operations of a machine of the above descrip- 

 tion, invented by Mr. Joseph J. Couch, a young 

 man residing in this city. The principles upon 

 which the machine is made to operate are very 

 simple. The frame in which the drill operates 

 is hung on two journals, or bearings, near the 

 centre of weight, in such a manner as to be ad- 

 justed in any position with great ease; and when 

 placed, it is made perfectly firm and rigid, by 

 means of suitable stays. The mechanism for 

 operating the drill is attached to two parallel 

 oaken bars, connected by cross stays, and con- 

 sists of two cross-heads connected together by 

 two round iron rods. In the larger of these 

 cross-heads is disposed an iron box, through 

 which the drill-shaft passes. This box is gov- 

 erned by a key, or wedge, so as either to gripe 

 the drill firmly, or let it play freely through it. 



This key is attached to a lever, which extends 

 over one of the oaken bars and connects with a 

 cam-block, which draws or drives the key, as 

 circumstances may require. At the end of the 

 drill-shaft farthest from the rock to be drilled, 

 is attached a third cross-head, for the purpose 

 of increasing the weight of the drill and keep- 

 ing it in the right direction. This last head 

 play3 freely on the two iron rods that connect 

 the other two cross-heads. The rotary motion 

 of the drill is effected by means of a small 

 rachet wheel near the largest cross-head, whose 

 pawl is connected with a cam on the opposite 

 bar to the one above mentioned. The cross- 

 heads and rods which hold the drill-shaft re- 

 ceive a backward and forward motion by means 

 of a crank, which is driven by a small engine 

 placed on the oaken bars at the end farthest 

 from the rock. 



In operating the machine, the drill is drawn 

 back from the rock, and then thrown towards 

 it by the crank ; and as it advances to the rock 

 the key which binds it is drawn, and allows the 

 drill to strike the rock with a full momentum, 

 without jarring the machine, and also admits of 

 that free concussion of the metal in the drill- 

 shaft, which is so important to its doing full 

 execution. The trial of this machine was most 

 satisfactory. It was placed in a horizontal po- 

 sition, and commenced operations upon a large 

 block of the hardest granite, with a drill four 

 inches in diameter. With this drill, it cut into 

 the rock at an average rate of twenty-two in- 

 ches per hour. It struck one hundred and 

 thirty blows per minute, without any urging; 

 and on being pressed, it gave from one hun- 

 dred and seventy-five to one hundred and eighty 

 blows per minute, or about three blows per 

 second. It was then tried with a three inch 

 drill, with equal success, drilling from twenty- 

 five to thirty inches per hour. This was done 

 on a horizontal, where the blow depends upon 

 the momentum given by the crank alone. In 

 a vertical and inclined position, where gravity 

 assists the momentum, the execution must have 

 been proportionally greater. 



One peculiarity of this machine is, that the 

 power of the Mows increases with the speed of 

 the machine, so that it not only strikes a greater 

 number flf blows when driven fast, but it strikes 

 them with greater force ; so l. l ?at its power in- 

 creases in a much greater ratio than its speed. 



The weight of the drill-shaft and cross-head 

 in the machine is two hundred pounds. It re- 

 quires the attendance of two men, and is capa- 

 ble of doing the work of seventy or eighty hands. 



This machine would be of great value in such 

 works as the proposed tunneling of the Hoosic 

 Mountain, on the Troy and Greenfield railroad, 

 as it is particularly adapted to that kind of labor. 

 Letters patent for this valuable invention are 

 now pending. Anyone interested in such works 

 can see the machine at W. Fowle's, No. 16 East 

 Orange street ; and it well deserves the attention 

 of railroad contractors and others engaged in 

 heavy work requiring much drilling, horizontal 

 or vertical. — Boston Traveller. 



Products of Main'. — The rpport of Commis- 

 sioner of Patents has the following statistics of 

 the State of Maine for 1848: 



Population 615,000 



Bushels Parley 290,000 



" Corn 3,000,000 



" Potatoes 9,000,000 



" Wheat 90,000 



Oats 2,000,000 



Rye 200,000 



Hay, tons 1,200,000 



This is much less than an average crop would 

 present, as the reward in part of our agricultural 

 industry. — Maine paper. 



Pure Mr for Bread.— Bread undergoes a great 

 change for twenty-four hours after it is baked, 

 and chemists have made estimates that during 

 this time it absorbs nutriment from the atmos- 

 phere equal to twenty per cent, of its value. 

 Whether these chemical calculations are correct 

 or not, it is evident that a great change takes 

 place in biead immediately after it is baked, and 

 this change is doubtless effected by absorption. 



From these remarks it is evident that as soon 

 as bread is taken from the oven, it should be set 

 in pure air. It should not be placed in a cellar, 

 nor in the passage to the cellar, nor in a closet 

 opening into a room much used by the family, 

 as from fires, and from perspiration and transpi- 

 ration of persons, the air becomes measurably 

 impure. — JVew England Farmer. 



From the New England Farmer. 

 Deep Tillage. 



Mr. Cole: All cultivators of the soil, I think, 

 will agree that it is better to have a deep, rich 

 soil, than a thin one. Crops on a deep sod are 

 not so easily injured, either hy drought or exces- 

 sive rains. In dry weather, there is a better cir- 

 culation of the moisture amongst the roots of 

 plants, and in wet, a free opportunity for the ex- 

 cess of water to soak down, and thus be reserved 

 for use in time of need. 



While all agree with me in my views thus far, 

 there is a great diversity of opinion in relation 

 to the propriety of deepening the thin soils; 

 some contending that the subsoil contains poison, 

 which, if brought up and mixed with the surface 

 soil, will surely blast all the hopes of the un- 

 lucky farmer, who shall be bold enough to at- 

 tempt it, and that it is not best to bring up a par- 

 ticle of the earth, in order to deepen the soil, 

 however thin it may be ; while others as strongly 

 advocate deep ploughing and deep tillage, bring- 

 ing up the subsoil, to be acted upon by the at- 

 mosphere, and at length forming a deep, free 

 soil, suitable for the production of abundant 

 crops. 



Having advocated, and practised upon the last 

 of these opinions for more than twenty-five 

 years, the object of this communication is. to 

 give some hints to farmers respecting deepening 

 the soil. 



The nature of the soil and the circumstances 

 of the cultivation should always be considered. 

 If the subsoil is clay, or very hard and tenacious, 

 the land should be ploughed in the fall, that the 

 frost may operate upon it; and if there be not 

 an abundance of manure, a smaller quantity 

 should be brought up; so that there may not be 

 sufficient to injure the growth of the crops the 

 first season, but rather to increase them. Grav- 

 elly ai?d sandy loams may he ploughed deeper 



at first. If lands are wet, all the good effects of 

 " deep tillage " cannot be attained until draining 

 is resorted to. My practice has been, and my 

 advice now is, to deepen gradually; but as I 

 have before stated, how fast, depends tqion cir- 

 cumstances. By all means, however, obtain a 

 deep rich soil wherever you intend to till. 



A gentleman, who has travelled through the 

 eastern and southern parts of this State consid- 

 erably, amongst farmers, and who is himself a 

 cultivator of the soil, remarked to me, a year or 

 two since, that he could pick out those farms 

 where deep ploughing had been the practice, 

 from the superiority of the crops, and that, upon 

 inquiry of the owners, he was seldom or never 

 mistaken in his opinions. 



Yours respectfully, 



S. M. STANLEY. 

 West Attleborough, Feb. I, 1819 



^ 



Signs of a Poor Farmer. 

 He grazes his mowing land late in spring. 

 Some of his cows are much past their prime. 

 He neglects to keep the dung and ground from 

 the sills of his buildings. He sows and plants 

 his land till it is exhausted, before he thinks of 

 manuring. He keeps too much stock, and many 

 of them are unruly. He has a place for nothing, 

 and nothing in its place. If he wants a chisel 

 or a hammer, he cannot find it. He seldom does 

 any thing ill stormy weather, or in an evening. 

 You will often, perhaps, hear of his being in the 

 bar-room, talking of" hard times. Although he has 

 been on a piece of land twenty years, ask him 

 for grafted apples, and he will tell you he could 

 not raise them, for he never had any luck. His 

 indolence and carelessness subject him to many 

 accidents. He loses cider for want of a hoop. 

 His plough breaks in his hurry to get in his seed 

 in season, because it was not housed; and in 

 harvest, when he is at work on a distant part of 

 his farm, the hogs break into his garden, for 

 want of a small repair in his fence. He always 

 feels in a hurry, yet in his busiest day he will 

 stop and talk till he has wearied your patience. 

 He is seldom neat in his person, and generally 

 late at public worship. His children are late at 

 school, and their books are torn and dirty. He 

 has no enterprise, and is sure to have no money ; 

 or, if he must have it, makes great sacrifices to 

 get it; and as he is slack in his payments, and 

 buys altogether on credit, he purchases every 

 thing at a dear rate. You will see the smoke 

 come out of his chimney long after daylight in 

 winter. His horse stable is not daily cleansed, 

 nor his horse curried. Boards, shingles, and 

 clapboards are to be seen off his buildings, month 

 after month, without being re-placed, and his 

 windows are full of rags. He feeds his hogs 

 and horses with whole grain. If the lambs die, 

 or the wool comes off* his sheep, he does not 

 think it is for want of care or food. He is gene- 

 rally a great borrower, and seldom returns the 

 thing borrowed. He is a poor husband, a poor 

 father, a poor neighbor, a poor citizen, and a 

 poor Christian. — Baltimore Farmer. 



Work! Work! — If you would be free, work. 

 When a man stops working, he in effect dies. 

 He starves in the midst of abundance ; for what 

 is dyspepsia but the worst sort of starvation ? 

 God may have cursed the ground, but be blessed 

 labor. He made man to subdue the earth. Yet 

 he is also the blessed Creator of sleep, of rest, 

 of recess, of mirth, hilarity, and fun. Enjoy su- 

 perfluity? Yes, but oidy in oneway — helping 

 the needy. Hoarding up a fortune to live in 

 idleness, is not enjoying superfluity, nor rest. It 

 is being miserable, and that no man litis a right 

 to be. He who works, and has enough to work 

 with, and is sure of enough to live on while 

 he works, enjoys the conditions of happiness. 

 Idleness is no less a crime in the rich than the 

 poor. 



