10 farmers' and mechanics' journal. 



custom of getting upon the horse's back, in order to lighten its 

 task, unless something equally heavy can be taken from the hinder 

 part of the load and laid upon the shafts before. Absurd as this 

 may at first sight appear, it enables the horse by restoring the pro- 

 per bearing upon him, to go with greater ease, as I have myself 

 repeatedly witnessed. Nay, so true is this, that when a cart has 

 been dragged partly up the hill, and the horse has stuck fast una- 

 ble to proceed, 1 have seen the carter mount on its back, when it 

 immediately went forward, and reached the top of the eminence 

 without halting. In hopes that you will insert this in your Maga- 

 zine, and that I may live to see the evil remedied, 



I am, &LC. 3. J. 



[London Mechanics^ Magazine. 



[We have been informed, that a person in Turner, Me. once in- 

 vented a method by which the difiiculty above mentioned, was re- 

 medied ; but not being able to make it a self-acting or regulating 

 method, threw it by. Now it seems to us, that if it could be so 

 fixed as to change the position of the load, by starting some fasten- 

 ing or turning a small crank, it would be a useful contrivance. — 

 ^Ve should be happy to make known any thing of the kind which 

 may be sent us. There are also a diversity of opinions respecting 

 the comparative ease with which a horse travels in a four-wheeled 

 vehicle or one with two — Can any person decide the question ?] 



SAVE YOUR OLD BONES. 



[They are useful for many things, even after they have been 

 boiled for soap-grease, and all the oil and fatty matter is extracted 

 that the skill of man or woman aided by heat and potash can ob- 

 tain. In the first place, when pulverized Ihey make an excellent 

 manure. In the second place, when charred or burnt in vessels 

 closed from the air, they make what is sometimes called animal 

 charcoal, and sometimes what is called ivori/ black, — substances, 

 the particular uses of which we hope to have an opportunity of re- 

 lating hereafter. At present we will inform you of the French 

 method of making Bone Glue, which they consider as superior to 

 the ordinary glue made from the skins of animals.] 



« For the purpose of making this glue they use the refuse bone 

 of the table-knife maker, and the skulls of oxen, from which the 

 teeth have been extracted. These materials are soaked for about 

 a \yeek in water, rendered very sour by the addition of a little 

 Spirit of Salt, {Muriatic acid,) in which they become quite flexible, 

 and may be bent with ease. Being taken out of the acid, boiling 



