46 farmers' and mechanics' journal. 



ZVEISC'Z:-' liANEOUS. 



NEW PROCESS FOR MAKING STEEL. 

 BY CHARLES MACKINTOSH, ESQ. GLASGOW. 



J There are few individuals of the present age who have done so 

 much for the advancement of the useful arts, and for the promo- 

 tion of the manufactures of his country, as the eminent individual 

 whose new process we are about to describe. In the patent by 

 which he has secured the privilege of this invention, he claims, as 

 the principle of his process, the impregnation of iron at a high tem- 

 perature with carbon in a gaseous form. The gas which he em- 

 ploys as the most economical and convenient for this purpose is, 

 that evolved from coal under distillation. The iron is enclosed in 

 a crucible, or melting pot, of the usual materials, and placed in the 

 furnace, and when it is raised to a very high degree of temperature, 

 a jet, or current of the gas, is thrown into the crucible through a 

 suitable aperture and tube provided for this purpose. In the cover 

 of the crucible, there is made another aperture to permit the es- 

 cape of that part of the gas which is not absorbed by the iron. 



[^Edinburgh Journal of Science. 



METHOD OF IMPROVING SOAP. 

 BY MR. WILLIAM POPE. 



This process, for which a patent has been obtained, is as follows : 

 A hundred weight of good soap is sliced into thin pieces, and mixed 

 with seven pounds of marl of the purest kind, two ounces of pot- 

 ash, and a sufficient quantity of water to reduce the whole into a 

 fluid state. The soap being thoroughly dissolved, the materials 

 are stirred together, and when of the consistency of cream they are 

 boiled, and then poured out into suitable moulds for making it into 

 cakes. This process greatly improves the soap, by destroying the 

 effects of the caustic alkali upon the skin, and it also renders it 

 soft and smooth. \_JSfewton''s Journal of the Arts. 



ON A FRENCH LUTING USED IN PROPAGATING FRUIT TREES, 

 ^ ' BY GRAFTING THEM. 



The best luting wherewithal to cover the newly grafted scions, 

 is composed of equal quantities of train oil and rosin, prepared in 

 the following- manner : — First, melt the rosin in an earthern vessel, 

 and then pour in the oil ; mix them well ; to be applied when 

 cold, with a painter's brush. The composition is used in the 

 north-west part of France (Bretagne) with general success, it 

 has this advantage, that it never cracks, nor admits rain or wind to 

 the grafts, which is the usual cause of their failing. It is more.ex- 

 peditiously put on thaii ihe common clay covering, and looks much 

 neater; but what renders it more useful is, that the grafts covered 

 with the composition seldom fail. Scions laid under earth, or 

 steeped in water for a few days, grow better than those taken fresh 

 from the parent tree. [New MontJdy Magazine. 



