348 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 13, 1839. 



^=©32i2]S<S'^a.1[£"3ri^Si 



[From Traiisainion3 of the Essex Agricultural Society fur I834.J 

 ON AGRICCLTURAI, IMPLEMEIVTS. 

 The Coniinittee on tlie extiriiiiiatioii of Agri- 

 cultural Iiiipleinents, of a new iovtutioi) or im- 

 provement, beg leave to report : — 



Tliat no new invention was oflercd for preniinm 

 and but one improvement, wliicli ivas a lever af- 

 fixed to the cutter of the N. York cast iron side 

 hill plough, so as to bring it more truly to the use 

 of the coulter, on both sides, than any one fixed 

 in the centre of the beam could. This improve- 

 ment is a simple, but in the minds of tlie Com- 

 mittee, a useful one, and they therefore award to 

 Mr John FoUansbee, of West Newbury, a gratuity 

 of two dollars. 



Moses Colman, Esq. sent for exhibition his 

 horse rake, made by the shakers of Canterbury, 

 of beautiful construction, every tooth shielded 

 with iron, and a most complete instrument, which 

 has been proved by two years' use. 



The field for improvement, though much culti- 

 vated within the last fifteen or twenty years, is 

 still open for the ingenuity of man to exercise his 

 skill in abridging manual labor, and thereby re- 

 ducing the greatest item of expense attendant on 

 the i>ractical farmer. 



The jdough, for which more than a hundred 

 patents have been obtained, since the proimilga- 

 tion of that glorious document, the declaration of 

 Independence, has, by late improvements, arrived 

 to such perfection, tliat could our oxen, like Ba- 

 laam's ass, be endowed with the power of speech, 

 they would shout, Howard forever, or, in the more 

 quaint language of the late political times, " Huzza 

 for Howanl," the man who has relieved our necks 

 of half their burden, and aided the harrow in its 

 duties. 



The thresliing mills have experienced great im- 

 provements. The Pennsylvania revolving horse 

 rake is also an implement of great utility, and it 

 still remains for man to apply the horse power to 

 the cutting and sjireading, as well as raking of 

 hay. Improvement in the art of corn shelling, so 

 as to combine the separation of the corn from the 

 cob, and the complete cleansing of the corn for 

 use, still remains a desideratum for the ingenuity 

 of man to supply. 



With tlic hope that these suggestions may stim- 

 ulate inventive minds to action, to supply these 

 deficiencies, we most cordially offer our grateful 

 thanks to ;;1! those laborers in tliis most useful 

 field, wlio, by their invention have abridged labor, 

 and thereby benefited their country 

 Hector Cokfin, j 

 Daniel Putnam, > Commillce. 

 Moses N 



COKFIN, j 



Putnam, > 

 "iJewell. ) 



As it has been one of the objects of tlie Essi2x 

 Agricultural Society to encourage domestic Man- 

 ufactures — an important branch of which is color- 

 ing, an art more or less practised in most farmers' 

 fanulies — an art for some beautiful specimens of 

 which gratuities from the funds of the Society 

 have been given — an art which will be still more 

 needed should the culture and manufacture of 

 silk among us be successfully prosecuted to imy 

 considerable extent — the committee of publication, 

 believing that it will be interesting to a large por- 

 tion of the readers of this pamphlet, have procur- 

 ed the following essay to be prepared : 



ON COLORING. 



The art Of fixing on cloths beautiful colors, al- 

 though not one of the most necessary, has been 

 made by the fashions, taste, and pride of men, in 

 all ages and nations, one of the most valued of 

 inventions. It is altogether a chemical art. Its 

 theory is now well understood, and is in a high de- 

 o-ree interesting to every studious mind, useful to 

 all engaged in manuilicturing, or in buying, sell- 

 ing, or consuming colored fabrics. It is, there- 

 fore worthy the attention of all our readers. 



Colors, to be permanent, must be combined with 

 the fibres of the silk, wool, cotton or linen of 

 which the cloth is composed. To understand 

 how this can be effected, we must acquaint our- 

 selves with the laws of chemical affinity. Affinity 

 is nothing more than the disposition or tendency 

 which two or more substances have to unite and 

 form a new compound, differing greatly insomeof 

 its qualities from the simple subtances of which 

 it is cotnposed ; one substance is therefore said to 

 have an affinity for another when on being 

 brought in contact it unites with and assumes new 

 appcanmce and qualities. For example, if iron 

 and sul))huric acid (oil of vitriol) be brought to- 

 gether they gradually unite and form sidphate of 

 iron (green vitriol or copperas) but the sulphuric 

 acid has a stronger affinity for lime than it has 

 for iron ; if, therefore, lime he brought into con- 

 tact with sulphate of iron, the sulphuric acid 

 quits the iron, seizes on the lime, and forms the 

 sulphate of lime (plaster of Paris). Substances 

 used in dyeing possess an affinity for the fibres of 

 the cloth and when dissolved in water or some 

 other liquid, and brought into contact, they unite, 

 and change either the color of the fibres, or so 

 change their qualities, as to dispose thein to unite 

 with other coloring matter for which before they 

 had no affinity. 



The art of dyeing then consists in combining a 

 certain coloring matter with the fibres of the cloth. 

 This process cannot be well performed unless the 

 dye-stuff be dissolved in some liquid, and the par- 

 ticles so separated that their attraction for each 

 other becomes weaker than the attraction for 

 them exerted by the cloth. When the cloth is 

 ilippcd into this solution, it attracts the coloring 

 matter, and from its stronger affinity takes it from 

 the solvent and fixes it upon itself. The facility 

 with which cloth imbibes a dye, depends on two 

 circumstances, namely, the affinity between the 

 cloth and the dye stuff, and the affinity between 

 the dye-stuff and its solvent. It is of importance 

 to preserve a due proportion between these two 

 affinities, as upon that proportion imich of the 

 accuracy of dyeing depends. If the affinity be- 

 tween the coloring matter and the cloth be too 

 great, comi)ared with the affinity between the col- 

 oring matter and the solvent, the cloth will lake 

 the dyo too rapidly, and it will be scarcely possi- 

 ble to prevent its color from being unequal. On 

 the other hand, if the affinity between the coloring 

 matter and the solvent be too great, compared with 

 that between the coloring matter and the cloth, it 

 will either not take the color at all, or take it very 

 fiiintly. Wool has the strongest affinity for most 

 coloring matter, silk the next strongest, cotton a 

 nuich weaker affinity, and linen the weakest of all. 

 In order, therefore, to dye cotton or linen, the dye- 

 stuff should, in many cases, be dissolved in a 

 liquid for which it has a weaker affinity than for 

 the solvent employed in dyeing wool or silk. Thus 

 we may use iron dissolved in sulphuric acid to 



dye wool, but for cotton and linen it is better dis- 

 solved in vinegar. Was it possible to obtain a 

 sufficient variety of coloring matters having a 

 strong affinity for cloth, the ait of dyeing would 

 be exceedingly simple and easy. But this is by 

 no means the case ; if we except the indigo, the 

 dyer is scarcely possessed of a dye-stuff which 

 yields of itself a good color, sufficiently perma- 

 nent to deserve the name of dye. To obviate 

 this difficulty, some substance must be etnployed 

 which has a strong affinity both for the cloth and 

 the coloring matter. Substances employed for 

 this purpose, are called mordants. Those chiefly 

 used are earth, or metals, in the form of salts or 

 in solution, tan, and oil. One of the most fre- 

 quently used is alum. This salt is composed of 

 pure clay (alumina) dissolved in sulphuric acid. 

 Into a solution of alum the cloth is dipped, the 

 fibre of the cloth having a stronger affinity for 

 the clay than the sulphuric acid has, unites per- 

 manently with it. It is then taken out, washed 

 and dried, and will be found a good deal heavier 

 than before, although the color remains the same, 

 the clay, which now forms a part of it, being per- 

 fectly white. The cloth may now be dyed by 

 dipping it in a solution of any coloring matter for 

 which the clay has a strong affinity. The clay 

 and coloring matter may be united ])revious to the 

 immersion of the cloth, and the fibres will still 

 unite themselves with the compound, but not so 

 equally and permanently as when dipped into each 

 of the solutions separately. But the sulphuric 

 acid has rather too strong an affinity for the clay 

 to yield it readily even to wool. Most dyers, 

 therefore, add to the solution of alum a quantity 

 of tartar. Tartar is composed of potash and an 

 acid found in grapes and some other vegetables, 

 called tartaric acid. When solutions of alum and 

 tartar are mixed, the sulphuric acid quits the clay 

 and seizes on the potash, dislodging at the same 

 time tartaric acid, which seizes in turn on the clay 

 just abandoned by the sulphuric acid. The tar- 

 taric acid, having a weaker affinity for the clay 

 than the sulphuric acid possesses, yields it more 

 readily to the clotli. Another purpose is also gain- 

 ed : the sulphuric acid remains combined with 

 the potash, and this corrosive substance is thereby 

 prevented from injuring the texture of the cloth, 

 For cotton and linen, which have a weaker affinity 

 to clay than wool or silk, another process becomes 

 necessary. Lead or lime dissolved in acetic 

 acid (vinegar) is poured into the solution of ahmi. 

 A solution of sugar of lead is frequently used 

 The suli>huric acid quits the clay and seizes on th 

 lead or lime, both of which united with this acidj 

 form insoluble powders, which fall to the bottoraj 

 and the acetic acid unites with the clay, for which 

 it possesses only a weak affinity, and readily yields 

 it to the cotton or linen immersed in it. 

 [To be continued.] 



PRUNING ORCHARDS. | 



In a conversation the other day with our friend 

 Paine Wingate, who has nuich experience in or? 

 charding, he observed that much damage was an- 

 nually done to the orchards in Maine by the bar- 

 barous manner in which they are too often pruned 

 by hacking them with an axe and leaving a man.- 

 gled stub projecting above the limb. The conse- 

 quence is, that the wound never heals— water get! 

 in, the wood decays— and a cavity is made whicl 

 finally destroys the branch entirely, or brings it inti 

 an unhealthy state and makes an unsightly appear 



