NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



239 



Jioked with roots and apples, and other similar 

 tides, and have lost them myself, till I found 

 le remedy below. 



When an animal is choked, take a quart of 

 ater, a little more than milk warm, and put 

 it a good \'M-ge spoonful of soft soap, and stir 

 well, and turn it down the creature's throat, 

 )oui one third at a time. 1 never knew it fail 

 making them throw it up. It causes the 

 iroat to be slippery, and the root is then ea- 

 ly dislodged. " W. LITTLE. 



,=- 



3 THE EOITOP, OF THE SEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Agriculture is as tiiuch interested on the im- 

 rovenient of Machinery as the breed of Cattle, 

 irticularly mills, and other labor saving wa- 

 'X powers. 



I have been, through life, acquainted with 

 illls ; made in.iny observations and experi- 

 lent?, being frequently employed to project 

 111 draught them for practical millwrights, 

 et with a very essential part of correct mill- 

 riting, with all my study and observations, I 

 n yet ignorant, or in otlier words, incompe- 

 :nt to calculate ; that is, to calculate correct- 

 • the number of cubic feet of water that will 

 in in a mill race of any given time, dimensions, 

 id descent per rod. 



Or, suppose I had a mill race dug with gco- 

 letrical exactness, twenty rods long, with a 

 11 or descent of one inch in each rod, two feet 

 ide in the bottom and sis feet on the top, and 

 iree feet deep at the upper end — how many 

 ibic feet of water would such a race discharge 



ii minute, or any given time ? 



Or in other words, suppose that on such a 

 ice I had three water wheels, one requiring 

 n cubic feet of water in a given time, the 

 hers six and four feet in the same time — how 

 !ep must the water be turned into that race 



supply the one, two or three wheels ? 



These are questions that in the prime of life 

 never could tind correct rules to answer; and 

 om many experiments on a long large mill 

 ice I fully proved that the deeper the water 

 I the race the swifter it ran — that it ran swift- 

 f on the top than on the bottom — that it ran 

 Tifter in the middle than near the sides ; that 

 imputed to fViction. 



We know that the whole power of water is 

 le specific gravitij. That the particles of water 

 I. globular, and its velocity is occasioned by 

 Miag down an inclined plane, similar to what 

 lusket balls would do ; that a cubic foot of wa- 

 !r weighs G'J^ lbs. Therefore by the rules of 

 ilgebra there appears more given equations 

 i.in unknown quantities, and by that rule we 

 le limited for an answer. Yet from near tifty 

 .11= study, I have been unable to discover a 

 jirect rule for such calculations. 



1 now use the freedom to appeal to the learn- 

 il and ingenious gentlemen who have been en- 

 is^i'd in canals in the Eastern States, to publish 

 ijcli a desired theorem in thy useful pa])er. 

 ill 1 in return, life and health permitting, I may 

 erhaps publish a theorem of equal value. 

 I U well known to most people that there is a 

 eilain circular motion in which a bucket of 

 cater may be swung bottom upwards, and none 

 rop out ; that is, a certain motion in nature 

 /herein the centrifugal force balances gravita- 

 ' It is the same motion in the laws of 

 i'lon that retains the planets in their or- 

 : - — a law so absolute that every particle ol 



matter on our globe is obedient to it ; and tlial 

 is the true motion for every wheel in a mill, 

 and the stone also to run so that the centrifu- 

 gal force may balance the friction on the gud- 

 geons, and prevent what millwrights call back- 

 lacing. 



My theorem, which is in algebraic expres- 

 sions, may perhaps bo made intelligible in 

 arithmetic, and I will publish it in return for 

 the one that 1 have requested. 



SAMUEL PRESTON. 



Stockport, Pa. Feb. 1823. 



REMARKS BY THE EDITOR. 



Our correspondent has, in the above, given us some 

 iileas relative to one of the most dilficnlt and perplex- 

 ing; branches of mathematical and mechanical philoso- 

 pliy. 'I'he theory of the motion of rivers and canals, 

 the doctrines of hydraulics, hydrostatics, and the ap- 

 plication of water power to tnru the nutchinery of 

 mills, is bnt little understood, in comparison to the ad- 

 vances wliich have been made in other sciences of less 

 importance. " Wc liave,^' says I'rofessor Uobinson, 

 ^* merely skimmed over a few common notions concern- 

 ing the motions of water ; and malheDiaticians of the 

 first order seem to have contented themselves with 

 such views as allowed Ihem to entertain themselves 

 %vith clejant applications of calculus. This, however, 

 has not been their fault. They rarely had an opportu- 

 nity of doing more for want of a knowledge of facts. 

 They have made excellent use of the few which has 

 been given them ; but it required much labor, great 

 variety of opportunity, and o;reat expense, to learn the 

 rauUiplicity of things whicif are combined even in the 

 simplest cases of water in motion. Although the first 

 geniuses in Europe have, for this century past, turned 

 much of their attention to this subject, we are almost 

 ignorant of the general laws which may be observed in 

 motions of fluids. Who can pretend to say wliat is 

 the velocity of a river of which you tell him the 

 bfeadth, the depth, and the declivity ? AVho can say 

 what swell will be produced in different parts of its 

 course, if a dam or weir of given dimensions be made 

 in it, or a bridge thrown across it ? or how much its 

 waters will be raised by turning another'stream into it, 

 or sunk, by talcing off a branch to drive a mill '::^'^' 

 This eminent writer confesses that he knows of no train 

 of reasoning, by which he can connect the general laws 

 of hydrostatics with the phenomena of the uniform mo- 

 tion of the water of a river or open stream, which can 

 derive its motion only from the slope of its surface, and 

 the modifications of this motion, or its velocity only 

 from the width and depth of the stream. There are 

 circumstances, he observes, in substance, which distin- 

 guish a portion of a river from a vessel of the same 

 size and shape, in which the water is at rest. In both, 

 gravity is the sole cause of pressure ; but there must 

 be some circumstance, peculiar to running waters, 

 which modifies the exertion of the active principle, and 

 which, when discovered, must be the basis of hydrau- 

 lics. 



The velocities of water issuing from orifices at vari- 

 ous depths below the surface, are in the square roots ol 

 those depths ; but this rule, owing to causes not fully 

 explained, will not apply to running streams. Th«' 

 motion in rivers or channels is obstructed by inequali- 

 ties, which give to the contiguous filaments of the 

 stream transverse motions, which thwart and impede 

 the regular progress of the rest of the strca.m. These 

 obstructions are most effectual in the beginning of tin 

 course of the stream, because the stream being small, 

 has more oulsOie, or a larger proportion of the pai- 

 ticles of water, in reference to the whole mass, is ex- 

 posed to friction against the sides, or banks, of the 

 stream and its bottom. The particles of a liquid 

 move with less friction among themselves, than when 

 in contact with a solid body, although the surface 

 of the latter he as smooth as art can make it. 



From the above premises, we believe it would follow 

 that by doubling the quantity of running water in any 

 given trough, pipe or channel, which shall be discharg- 

 ed at the lower extremity adjutage, or out let, in any 

 given time, we more than double the power of sucli 

 water to drive any kind of machinery. If rauuing wa- 



* See Encyclopedi* Brittanica, Art. River. 



Icr, \\hiel» would cover tiu: bottom ol a tiunk or fioom 

 of any given dimensions, inclined in a given angle, one 

 foot deep, would drive to advantage one pair of mill 

 stones of four feet in diameter, by letting in water suf- 

 ficient to cover the same floom two feel deep, at least 

 three p.airs of similar mill-stones might be driven. What 

 millwrights call the head and fall would be incv-ascd 

 one foot, ov nearly doubled, if the plane on which the 

 wafer run was not much inclined, and the friction 

 against the bottom would be but very little, perhaps 

 not any greater. But as we said before, this is a reri/ 

 abstruse subject, and requires more ti;ue and thought 

 than we can at present bestow upon it. 



\V'e have seen an excellent treatise on the subject of 

 ^^■atcT Mills, by Mr. Smcaton, an Knglishmsn, a cele- 

 brated Kngineer, and the person who superintt'nd*d 

 the building of the Eddystone Light House. ^Vo have 

 deferred our notice of Mr. I'reston's communicatiun for 

 some time, with a hope of finding that work, which we 

 believe would solve some of his doubts; but have not 

 yet been able to put our hands upon it. We shall 

 make some farther search, and if we should not suc- 

 ceed in obtaining it, shall endeavor to slate, from re- 

 collection of long standing, some of the maxims it con- 

 tains ; particularly those which relate (o the jioiter of 

 small streams to Inrn machinery; the vwde hy uht-.li 

 such povcr is best obtained ; and the relntire velocity to 

 be attended to between the water-wheel which gives mo- 

 tion to mill-stones., and the viill-stones, in order to ob- 

 tain the greatest pou'tr from the stream. 



From the Republican Advocate. 



Great Crops in Hartford County last season — -.nith 



their mode of culture. 



BAnrny. — .loseph Watson, Jr. raised in Hart- 

 ford I\Ieadow on one acre of land sixty-three 

 and a half bushels of barley. The land was 

 seldom overflowed. In 1820 it was well ma- 

 nured, planted with corn, and in the fall eighty 

 bushels of corn were taken from the acre. In 

 1821 it was manured with about fifty loads of 

 manure and four bushels of plaister and some 

 ashes, and again planted with corn. 1st .April, 

 1822, it Wits ploughed and soon after dragged, 

 and on the 12th of April, it was again jjlough- 

 ed, and sowed on the 15th to barley, four bush- 

 els to the acre, well harrowed and slocked with 

 herds grass and clover. The barley was mow- 

 ed the 25th of July and threshed the first of 

 January. 



Potatoes. — The above named gentleman also 

 raised on one acre of meadow land, 503 bush- 

 els and 3 quarters. The land was set to To- 

 bacco in 1821, it was ploughed eight inches 

 deep, and on the 26th May, it was furrowed out 

 and planted in continued rows, three feet and 

 eight inclies apart, and manured in the rows 

 with thirty loads barn yard manure, ten loads 

 from the hog stye, and three bushels of plais- 

 ter ; thirty bushels of potatoes were planted on 

 the acre and hoed twice with the horse hoe, 

 and dug them the latter part of October. 



Flax. — 3Ir. George S. Spencer raised from 

 one half acre of land, 1 i>9 pounds of well dres- 

 sed FUx, and six bushels and twenty two quarts 

 clean seed. In the fall of 1821, the land was 

 sowed with wheat, having been jireviously ma- 

 nured wiih fifteen loads ol yard manure. The 

 winter killed a good part of the wheat. In the 

 -pring of 1822, the land was ploughed — it be- 

 ing very mellow, the soil a sandy loam — then 

 dressed with a harrow, and sowed one bushel 

 cif the Long Island seed, then harrowed it in, 

 'julled the flax in July, and dressed the same in 

 January and February, 1823. 



A letter received from a black man in Hayti, who 

 emigrated there from Rhode Island some time since, 

 peaks in high terms of the prospects in Uiat island 

 for settlers, 



