354 



JNEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



The Body of the Mill. — A piece of pine plank, 

 M, is suspended from the cross-j^irt of a frame, E, 

 by an iron bolt, I, furnished at its lower end with 

 a large head, and a washer, and secured by a 

 key, at the upper end, admittino; of an easy cir- 

 cular motion of M, around the bolt. This motion 

 is coincident with that of a swivel on the pis- 

 ton-rod. Tlie rudder, or vane, will necessarily 

 throw the wheel at all times into the wind. The 

 axle. A, is suspended from the body by two straps 

 of iron, through which it passes at L, N, where it 

 is cylindrical without regard to perspective and 

 proportion, but will perhaps illustrate the subject 

 suflBciently. 



A breeze which merely agitates the leaves of 

 the trees will set the machinery in operation. A 

 reservoir of some six or eight hogshead was kept 

 nearly filled, and when, in windy weather, a sur- 

 plus of water was raised, it was returned to the 

 well by a waste-pipe. In the hands of an in- 

 genious mechanic it might, no doubt,be greatly im- 

 proved. Iron, in some of its parts, might be 

 substituted for wood. 



A well, suitably located, will furnish water for 

 an ordinary garden, and without labor, by aid of 

 this mill. IIow much it would improve our flow 

 ers, fruits and esculent vegetables, cannot be esti 

 mated, but it would surely effect a revolution in our 

 present modes of gardening here in the West, 

 where we suffer much every season from drought. 

 Public tanks, inns, tanneries, and thousands of 

 prairie farms, require its aid. 



In all this, gentle reader, there is no Quixotism. 

 Its feasibility has been amply tested. 



J. P. KiRTLAND. 



Cleveland, Ohio. 



In connexion with the above we copy the fol- 

 lowing appropriate remarks from the Genesee Far- 

 mer. There are farms all over New England where 

 their proprietors have been pumping water by 

 hand for large stocks of cattle for a hundred years, 

 when the expenditure of a few dollars in some 

 such contrivance as we have given above, would 

 have furnished an ample supply. 



Agricultur.\l Mechanics. 



Mechanical science and arts are doing more for 

 the advancement of agriculture in the United 

 States than all other agencies combined, so far as 

 immediate results are attained. Ultimately, chem- 

 istry, physiology, meteorology, geology, and other 

 departments of the natural sciences, will confer 

 benefits on all industrial pursuits far transcending 

 any mere mechanical advantages. Indeed, the 

 most valuable mechanical powers, even now, are 

 more the fruits of an intellectual culture than of 

 original genius ; and the successful study of natu- 

 ral phenomena precedes nearly all important in- 

 ventions and discoveries. Operations that have 

 been practiced thousands of years, like those of 

 plowing, weaving, grinding grain, and pumping or 

 lifting water by wind, are seen from an entirely 

 new point of view by the man of science ; and he 

 is able to suggest improvements that never could 

 have occurred to a mind not illuminated by the 

 numerous and brilliant lights kindled by modern 

 researches into the laws of matter. 



We have been led into this train of thought and 

 remark by perusing in the Horticulturist , the val- 



uable article on the "Application of Wind as a 

 Power for Raising Water," from the pen of Prof. 

 KiRTLAND, of Cleveland, to which the reader's at- 

 tention is invitedin this number. By keeping the 

 wheel always in the direct current, if it had any 

 force, the flanges would catch it, and turn the 

 wheel, as a current water-wheel is turned. Such 

 a wheel with the necessary shaft and crank may 

 be made of iron for a few dollars ; and every one 

 can understand from the illustration furnished by 

 Prof. KiRTLAND, that this simple apparatus will 

 work successfully whenever the atmosphere has 

 any active motion. ThesS current wheels (they 

 are in no sense mills) and pumps, if manuflictured 

 in a large way, might be sold at prices which 

 would enable every farmer to have a score of them 

 for irrigation, and for the distribution of liquified 

 manui'e, if he saw fit to make the mechanical 

 power *f the winds create wealth for himself and 

 mankind. 



With durable and cheap machinery, vast quan- 

 tities of water may be elevated to any desirable 

 height on every farm, for agricultural purposes ; 

 and the thanks of the farming community are due 

 to Prof. KiRTLAND for his very intelligible illustra- 

 tion of a simple and useful wheel and crank to be 

 put in motion by wind. The water that falls up- 

 on every square foot of ground in a field is equal, 

 on an average, in this country, to 200 lbs. a year; 

 and so much of this as descends deep into the 

 earth and reappears in wells and springs, always 

 contains both the vegetable and mineral food of 

 plants (dissolved out of the soil in passing through 

 it) in greater or smaller quantities. In rare in- 

 stances such water is poisoned by an excess of 

 acids, or acid salts. — Genesee Farmer. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MUCK. 



I like to see the fixrmev returning home from his 

 day's toil, with his team loaded with muck or rich 

 sod. It gives almost sure evidence of thrift. Yet 

 there are some people who become muck-mad. 

 They seem to hold the highway, as both private 

 and public property, in a manner that 1 am un- 

 willing to acknowledge their claim. The high- 

 way is public, so far as the unobstructed right of 

 pass- way is concerned, and private, to the extent 

 that one may set out fruit or shade trees, or plant 

 potatoes against his premises, provided he does 

 not encumber the public travel. These muck- 

 mongers do not stop here. They go about plow- 

 ing up the highway, and digging their pitfalls not 

 only against their own fsirms, but their neighbors. 



Mr 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE NEW INSECT. 

 Brown : — We are visited here by a multi- 



tude of canker worms, and they are destroying our 

 fruit at a great rate ; we think the trees will suffer 

 for the want of leaves. The course I have taken 

 to drive them away is to throw sand through the 

 tops of the trees with a shovel, when they will 

 come down like a shower. This should be done 

 a number of times, and I think will prove benefi- 

 cial. To prevent their going back, I have wound 

 a piece of birch around the tree and covered it with 

 a compound made of tar, lamp-oil and spirits of 

 turpentine, and they will fiot pass over it. 

 York County, Me. b. m. 



