nn 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



From the Floridian. 



XATIVE ATT GALLS. 



Messrs. Editor?, 



It may perhaps be gratifying to your readers 

 lo learn, that among the abundant veg;etable 

 productions ot' West Florida, Iha Qnercus Cer- 

 ris or Oriental Oak stands in the first class. It 

 owes its importance principally to the produc- 

 tion of Nut (ialls. They have hitherto been 

 imported from the Mediterranean at a great 

 expense, and tiieir importance in manufactures 

 is well known. They are the production of an 

 insect of an lii/incnoj)itrous ^)ccicr'. The Cijnops 

 Qucrcifolu, who de[iosit their eggs on the leaves 

 and tender branches of the tree ; an excrescence 

 is soon I'ortned around the eg?, which enlarges 

 to a ball the .size of a bullet, enclosing the egg; 

 which in process of time is hatched, and the 

 enibr^'o olten undergoing several changes, finally 

 eats its way out of its prison. This excrescence 

 is the iVut Gall ; and those found in Florida arc 

 equal in every respect to those imported from 

 the Levant. 



This tree seldom attains the hei»ht often feel. 

 and grows prmcipally in low and wet situations, 

 and the galls cover the branches in great profu- 

 sion. The writer of this gathered in the space 

 of a few snoments several pounds. When it is 

 taken into consideration the importance of this 

 production in Dying and Medicine, their present 

 high price (from 50 to gGO per cwt.) and their 

 not being indigenous in any other part of the l^ 

 S. we know of nothing that would so well repay 

 the enterprize of any of our citizens, as collect- 

 ing and sending them to the northward for sale. 

 4 Friend to Domestic Industry. 



From the Amherst (N. 11.) Calliiet. 

 Tlio Committee of the Hillsborough Agricul- 

 fural Society appointed to view the tield pro- 

 ducts of competitors, performed the duty as- 

 signed them in the present week, agreeably to 

 the new regulation of the Society, substituted 

 in the place of the greatest croiis, viz. "The 

 premiums are to be awarded by a viewing com- 

 mittee from actual inspection of the crops 

 growing in the liclds, and they will take into 

 consideration not only the crops, but the soil, 

 situation, former and present method and ex- 

 pense of culture, and the general husbandry of 

 the farm." The gentlemen composing the 

 committee who attended to the duty of their 

 appointment, were Kev. H. Moore, P. Wood- 

 bury, E'<(i. Capt. Wm. Riddle, C'apt. E. Abbot, 

 Joseph Cochmn, Esq. Mr. Phillip Brown, and 

 Mr. Porter Kimball. This conmiittee appears to 

 have been judiciously chosen ; being all men of 

 practical farming knowledge. They passed 

 through this and the noighl)oring towns on 

 Wednesday, and were accompanied by a number 

 of gentleman in viewing the farms entered for 

 competition. They proceeded in their bu.sincss 

 with precision and expedition, and evinced 

 judgment and skill suited to the undertaking. 

 TliL' committee expressed themselves highly 

 pleased with their employment, and the highest 

 •mcomiums on llie reception and generous treat- 

 ment they every where met with on their tour 

 of observation — the people generally appear- 

 ing greatly pleased with the change of the sys- 

 tem of granting premiums on agricullural pro- 

 ■iucts. The committee entertain no doubt that 

 premiums awarded in this manner will produce 

 'he hajipiost re-ul(-. It i= hoped that this c.-i- 



periment \vM excite the farmers of the county 

 to a lively sense of the importance of promoting 

 the general interests of the Society as immedi- 

 ately connecled with their own and the general 

 wcllare of the community — That hereafter the 

 Society may be enabled to offer premiums for 

 the best managed farms, taking into consideration 

 the soil and situation, the ability of the owner 

 to make improvements, and the system on which 

 he manages — and that the competitors may be 

 greallv increi-ed. 



i\EW ENGLAND 1-AKMEK. 



BOSTOjV.— SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1822. 



We would beg leave to direct the attention of our 

 readers to the piece with which this day's paper com- 

 mence?, which we think rational, philosophical, and 

 calculated to be useful. Future favors of a similar na- 

 ture from the same haud are respectfully solicited. 



COOKL\G FOOD FOR CATTLE. 

 {Concluded from page 31.) 

 In the conslriictiou and management of " root 

 steamers," (as they are called by the Complete Gra- 

 zier,) there are some things worth attention, which we 

 have yet to notice. " If water be heated in a close 

 vessel no steam will he formed ; if the steam escape by 

 a small hole there will be lesa foraied than if the whole 

 surface of the water were uncovered."* It follows 

 that, other things being equal, shallow vessels, or ves- 

 sels about half full, exposing large surfaces of the wa- 

 ter in proportion to its quantity, from wiiich the steam 

 may ascend, will afford the most steam wilh a given 

 quantity of iitat applied. 



Allowing that one gallon of water will produce 1200 

 gallons of f team, it would be easy to calculate the ex- 

 act q'lantity of water necessary to boil in order to fjll 

 with steam the vessels in which the food is cooked, 

 were it not that the following circumstances are to be 

 taken into consideration. Steam will be condensed 

 with greater or less rapidity in proportion to the tem- 

 perature of the atmosphere, and the temperature, the 

 solidity, the dryness or wetness of the feed which it 

 operates upon. Besides if the whole apparatus is made 

 perfectly tight, a safely ralrc will become necessary, 

 through which some of the steam will make its escape ; 

 and the exact quantity of the fugitive steam cannot be 

 calculated. If the vessel in which the food is prepar- 

 ed is either open at top (as is common when a fit e pail 

 kettle and a hogshtad placed over it is used,) or is 

 covered only by a thick coarse cloth (as recommemled 

 by the Complete Gr.azier,) a considerable quantily of 

 steam will be wasted. But though, perhaps, no pre- 

 cise data can be given for generating or gradualiug the 

 exact quantity of steam necessary for given purposes, 

 as relates to cooking food for cattle, we believe there 

 is commonly more water boiled, and of course more 

 fuel used in steaming solid food than is necessary. 

 Accurate experiments on this subject, and their results 

 carefully recorded, would undoubtedly prove useful. 



Steam may likewise be very profitably used in pre- 

 paring liquid messes for cattle, as well as in warming 

 vats for dyers, tanners, paper-makers, itc. &c. Many 

 attempts have been made to heat liquids by stiani in- 

 troduced into them, which have generally failed, in 

 consequence of its not being known, or not adverted to 

 by those who have attempted the process, that fluids 

 are non-cundaclnrs of heat., and consequently that heat 

 cannot be made to descend in them. It is therefore 

 necessary that the tube, which conveys the hot steam, 



jVichohon^s Chcmisfry. 



should open into the lovesl part of the vessel, ^\luch 

 contains the liquid to be heated. We shall abridge 

 from Count Uumfjrd's Essays such directions as w ill 

 enable any workm.iu of ordinary sagacity to effect this 

 purpose. 



To succeed in he.ating liquids by steam, it is neces- 

 sary, not only that the steam should enter the liquid at 

 the bottom of the vessel which contains it, but also 

 that it sliould enter coming from abovi. The steam 

 tube should be in a vertical position, and the steam 

 should descend through it pre vious to its entering the 

 vessel, and mixing with the liquid which it is to heat ; 

 otherwi-se this liquid will be' in danger of being forced 

 back into the boiler by this opening : for the hot steam 

 being stiddt nly comiensed on coming into contact wilh 

 the cold liquid, a vacuum will necessarily be formed 

 in the end of the tube ; into which vacuum, the liquid 

 in the vessel, pressed by the whole weight of the in- 

 cumbent atmosphere, will rush with great force, and 

 with a loud noise ; but if this tube be placed in a ver- 

 tical position, and if it be made to rise to the height of 

 six or seven feet, the liquid, which is thus forced into 

 its lower end will not have time to rise to that height 

 before it is met by steam and obliged to rctuin back 

 into the vessel. There will be no dilBculty in arrang- 

 ing the apparatus in such a manner as efl'ectually to 

 previ nt the liquid to be heated from being forced back 

 into the steam-boiler ; anel when this is done, and som.c 

 other necessary precautions to prevent accidents are 

 take n, steam may be employed with great advantage 

 for healing liquids ; and for keeping them hot, in a va- 

 riety of cases, in whicli fire, applied immediately to 

 the bottoms of the containing vessels is now used. The 

 boilers intended to be heated in this manner may be 

 placed in any part of a room, at any distance from the 

 fire, and in situations in which they may be approached 

 freely on every side. They may be surrounded with • 

 wood, or constructed entirely with wood. The tubes 

 by which the steam is brought from the principal boil- 

 er (which tubes may be conveniently sii pended just 

 below the ceiling of the room) may in like manner, be 

 covered, so as almost entirely to prevent all loss of heal 

 by the surfaces of them ; and this to whatever distance 

 they may be made to extend. 



In suspending these steam tubes, care must, howev- 

 er, be taken to lay them in a situation not perfectli/ 

 horizontal under (be ceiling, but to incline them a 

 small angle, making them rise gradually from their 

 junction with the top of a large vertical steam-tube, 

 connecting them with the steam boiler, (JUite to their 

 furthest extremities ; for, when these tubes are so plac- 

 ed, it is evident that all the water formed in them, in 

 consequence of the condensation of the steam in its 

 passage thiough them, will run backwards, and fall 

 into the beiiler, instead of accumulating iu them, and 

 obstructing the passage of the steam, which it would 

 not fall to do were there any considerable bends or 

 waviugs, upwards and dowiiwards, in these tubes, or 

 of running forward and descending wilh steam into the 

 vessels containing the liquids to be heated, which 

 would happen if the tubes inclined rfo7."»ler/)Y/.p, instead 

 of inclining upwards, as they recede from the boiler. 



Tlio steam tube may eithc-r descend within the ves- 

 sel to which it belongs or on the outside of it, as shall 

 be found most convenient. If it comes down on the 

 outside of the vessel, it must enter it at its bottom, by 

 a short horizontal bend ; and its junction with the bot- 

 tom of the vessel must be well secured to prevent 

 leakage. 



When several steam tubes, belonging to diflVrenl 

 containing vessels, are connected with the same Iiori- 

 zontal steam conductor, the upper end of each of thesi 

 tubes, instead of bting simply attached .by solderinj 



