NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



4ied rvtry Saturday, by THOMAS W. SHEl'AKI), lio;;iM!j' liuildiiis:, t'ongrfss Street, Boston ; at »;',', all lur aim. in advanci', or $.;,(JU at ihe close ol' llie j, ar. 



Vol. I. 



BOSTON. S4.TUKDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1822. 



No. 17. 



FOR THE NEW E.\(.I.A.\D FAR.Ml.B. [ 



O.V THE COKSTRCCTIO^' OF GATES. 

 It' larmers were to calculate tlie time employ- [ 

 ■.! ill takint; doivn and putting up bars, compar-| 

 I vitli that of opening and shutting gates, they 

 \ uld, on principles of economy, substitute the 

 atu>r lor the I'ormer; at least wherever they 

 lave frequent occasion to pass. And there arc | 

 ew farmers, who could not make tlieir own ! 

 jates in the leisure of wint<'r. A great propur- 

 lion of gates are not so well constructed as they 

 atiight be. The most common fault is the fixing 

 of the brace to run Irom the top of the hiitti 

 piece of the gate, sloping towards the fore end. 

 Such gates always sag, and their fore ends sci-a])e 

 the ground. Reverse the position of the brace. 1 

 and then, if the gate be well made of seasoned 

 stutT, it will never sag. The Ibllowing skelcb 

 of such a gate, with the notes subjoined, will 

 render farther description unnecessary. 



A FARMER. 



FARM GATE 



The Har-tree 3i inches thick, and 4i or 5 

 inches wide. 



The brace 2i inclies wide and 2 inches thiftk. 



The upper bar 7 inches wide. 



The three next bars, 6 inches wide. 



The lower bar 7 inches wide. 



The gate may be hung with hinges, or hooks 

 and eye.s, or with one hook aud eye at top, and 

 a gudgeon at the bottom of the har-tree. to turn 

 In a hole, drilled into a hard stone, to be scl 

 cjiose to the foot of the gate pest. In the latter 

 case the lower end of the har-tree should be 

 rounded and receive a ring or narrow band to 

 prevent its splitting. 



The brace, besides the rive:s, (one through 

 each bar) should further be fas.ened to the bars 

 by nails from the other side. 



The brace, with its rivets and shoulders, ren- 

 ders it impossible for the uppsr bars to sag ; 

 and the two perpendicular pieces of board k. B. 

 being riveted and nailed to the lower bars, ef- 

 fectually support them. 



Full inch boards, even of while pine, will be 

 strong enough for the bars; althoigh hard wood 

 or spruce would be preferable. If made of oak, 

 inch boards would be amply suffident. 



The brace and bar-tree shouU be of white 

 oak, or hard pine. 



ON THE USES OF THE COJIMCN NETTLE. 



If we mistake not a patent has been granted 

 in the United States for the excbsive right of 

 making cloth of the nettle. Its u:es, however, 

 appear to have been well known m Europe for 

 many years past. Dr. Anderson :ays (Recrca- 



lii'iis, vol. Ill, p. 149 ;) '• Some poor women, 

 lishcrinen's wives near Leitli, in Scotland, gath- 

 ered some nettles, steeped them in water like 

 tiux, dressed it, and spun it into coarse yarn, of 

 which a kind of canvas was made. As their 

 liusbamls were in the j)ractice of dredging oys- 

 ters, and sending them to Glasgow in canvas 

 bags, some bags for this purpose were made of 

 the nettle canvas, which was found to answer 

 the purpose much better than that made from 

 henip, as it was much lonjer before it rotted. 

 It should be steeped and dressed in the same 

 way as flax, but it requires to lie longer in wa- 

 ter before it be fit to be dressed. It is harder 

 to the touch than cloth made of hemp or flax.''- 



J 'r. Anderson, however, doubted whether it 

 could be made profitable to cultivate this plant 

 for use. lie obsQrved that '' unless it he upon 

 a very rich soil, il is a dwarfish plant ; it would 

 therefore be more ditiicult to obtain it in qmm- 

 lil'u's. than either llax or hemp."' Dr. Ander- 

 son thought, likewise, that the steeping of it 

 would require a great degree of accuracy. 



The medical virtues of the nettle are thus 

 described in an English magazine : " In the 

 form of a strong decoction or infusion taken in 

 the quantity of a pound a day it is a most valua- 

 ble strengthencr of general or partial relaxa- 

 tion. In that of a weak decoction or infusion. 

 It proves an admirable deobstruent in impurities 

 of the blood, and in obstructions of the vessels. 

 And in that of expressed juices, taken by spoon- 

 l"als as the exigency of the case "requires, it is 

 the most powerful styptic I'or internal bleedings 

 known. Externally applied as a fomentation or 

 poidtice, it amazingly discusses inflammation 

 and resolves swellings. In the common sore 

 throat, thus applied, and internally as a gargle,' 

 dependence may be safely put on this common 

 plant."' 



It is said that the Russians obtain a green dye 

 from the leaves, and a yellow dye from the 

 roots of the nettle. 



ACORNS FOOD FOR S'iVINE. 

 The hogs that are fed upon the acorns that 

 they gather in the woods of Germany and Po- 

 land, are reckoned to yield the linest bacon of 

 any in Euro[)e ; and it is to this that most peo- 

 ple ascribe the superior excellence of ^Vestldla- 

 !ia hams. So says Dr. Anderson, and farmers 

 who live in the neighborhood of oak forests 

 might easily make experiments which would 

 decide whether acorns are equal to Indian corn, 

 (which we doubt) or what proportionate value 

 ihey bear to Indian corn. In Virginia sweet 

 apples and peaches, we have been told, arc 

 used for feeding swine. 



CLEARING OF LANDS. 

 But little need be said on this subject ; as he 

 who has to undertake the clearing new lands 

 will acqure more knowledge, from practice, of 

 the best methods of subduing our heavy forests, 

 than from any essay on the subject. He will 

 tjnd that the essential point is to put his shoul- 

 der to the wheel, and persevere undauntedly ; 

 aud in a few years he will find his exertions 



amply conipeiisaled, by the pleasing scenes ami 

 profitable improvements which shall have been 

 made around his dwelling. 



When new Settlers first go into the woods, 

 they have to spend much valuable time in hunt- 

 ing up their oxen and milch cows, which, for 

 want of an enclosed |)aslure, have to run in the 

 woods ; and to remedy this, as soon as possible, 

 we \*ould propose the following : — .\liout the 

 ihst of June, take a suitable piece of ground, 

 cut out the bushes, and all the small growth of 

 timber which shall be under a certain size, sav 

 a foot over at the but ; pile all the brush round 

 those trees which are left standing. In a drv 

 time, in the month of August, set lire to them, 

 aud the lircs will kill the trees left standing: 

 then pile and burn what lies on the ground, 

 which is soon done, and in due season harrow- 

 in a crop of wheat or rye, and in the following 

 spring sow the ground over with herdsgrass. 

 The crop of wheat or rye, sown in this way, 

 will be nearly as good as if the timber were all 

 taken off; and the year following the ground 

 will afford the requisite supjily of pasture and 

 hay. When the limbs of the standing trees 

 begin to rot and fall oif, cut the whole down 

 and let them lie there ; as the pasture w ill not 

 be injured, but rather eventually beuelltteil, by 

 the trees lying and rotting upon it.. This meth- 

 od of killing trees by tire is, however, only re- 

 commended where they are such as cannot be 

 killed by girdlir.g ; such as beach, maple, bass- 

 wood, &c. 



New Settlers, who will take this method of 

 providing a supply of pasture and hay, will find 

 tlieir {(ccount in two ways: It is turning the 

 ground* to .mmediate profit, with the least possi- 

 ble espense : and the surplus of hay and pasture 

 will command an extra price ; as those articles 

 are always scarce, during the commencement of 

 new settlements. — Fanners'' Assistant. 



Improrcment in the Dasher of the Common Chiiru. 



This dasher turns on the handle, by being 

 fixed to it by a pivot. It consists merely of two 

 cross pieces, suppose three inches square, put 

 together, by being let into each other, in such 

 a manner as to lorm tour wings, which are cut 

 beveling on each side, at an angle of forty-five 

 degrees, so that they stand diagonally ; the 

 whole being very similar to the wings of the 

 little wind-mills (so called) which are set up on 

 poles, to be turned by the wind. 



As this dasher goes down in the cream, it turns 

 one way, on its pivot in the lower end of the 

 handle, and as it comes up, it turns the other 

 way ; and this produces an agitation of the cream 

 better calculated for producing the butter, than 

 any method ever yet known. It is so effica- 

 cious in its operation, that the churning must 

 be performed moderately, or the butter will 

 come too soon, and be su'etied, as it is technically 

 called by some. 



Mr. Fisher, the inventor of this dasher, ob- 

 tained a premium in England for his discovery. 

 The churning with this dasher is not attended 

 with that splashing of the milk, so troublesome 

 in the churn of the common dasher. — ibid. 



i 



