48 



NEW ENGLAND FARINIER. 



Jan. 



cause of too much food. Grain-growers are ad- 

 vised to ship their supplies abroad, and at such 

 prices as they can get. The same paper describes 

 the "First Woolen Factory in California," just 

 completed in San Francisco. The factory is one 

 hundred and twent3'-five feet long, fifty feet wide, 

 and two stories high, and "in all its arrangements 

 for working-power is equal in excellence to any 

 factory in the Atlantic States." The machinery, 

 and the operatives of such establishments will 

 make a better market for the farmers' surplus than 

 can be furnished by the exporting merchant. 



USEFUL OBSERVATIONS. 



He that has eyes to see, may perceive an immense 

 amount of useful knowledge scattered all along his 

 pathway through life, and if notes or memoranda 

 were made of such observations, and sent to such 

 papers as the Arfiscoi, thousands would be grate- 

 ful for the instruction. 



As an example, see how few machinists know 

 the proper method of adjusting leather belting. 

 The common method is to place the flesh side of 

 the leather upon the pulleys ; for what reason we 

 know not, unless it is supposed to look neater, or 

 to increase its traction. 



But in cither case a great mistake is the result, 

 and leather belting sliould never be so worked. 



Always place the tlesh side of the belt outward, 

 because it is the strongest, and should not be 

 worn away upon the pulleys. It is estimated, by 

 those who have tried the experiment,that the belt- 

 ing thus run will last twice as long, and perform 

 quite as efficiently. 



Another example we might give, which thous- 

 ands of workmen, who use the necessary article of 

 glue, may think valuable. All that is necessary to 

 keep glue sweet and free from that offensive smell 

 which good glue will acquire when left to stand, 

 from time to time, in the pot, is to use a stirrer 

 of zinc in ])lace of Avood, or to keep a small piece 

 of zinc in the bottom of the pot, or, when steam 

 is used for heating it, to make the pot of zinc. 



Millions of such items can be given by men of 

 observation, and we shall take great pleasure in 

 re-writing them, giving the punctuation, etc., as 

 well as publishing them, if we are furnished with 

 the facts. 



Books and papers are sometimes very instruc- 

 tive, but few of these give this kind of informa- 

 tion, and this is what artisans most desii'e. — Cin- 

 cinnati Artisan. 



A CoAV SucKTJNG Lambs. — A cow belonging to 

 Mr. Thomas Hislop, of" West Oxford, calved last 

 spring. Iler calf was taken from her at five weeks 

 old. A fortnight afterwards an ewe died, leaving 

 three lambs. As there M'as danger of the lambs al- 

 so dying, the owner took one of them, and held it 

 to the cow's teats. Next morning on going to milk 

 the cows, all three lambs were found sucking the 

 cow. Another lamb was placed with the cow, and 

 she has suckled all four ever since. They follow 

 her wherever she goes, and she protects them from 

 dogs and other animals that attempt to molest 

 them, s^iowing the same affection for them as if 

 they were her own progeny. 



PEAT, MUCK, AND COMMERCIAL MA- 

 NURES. 



We have before us a copy of the reports made to 

 the Connecticut State Agricultural Society, in 

 1857-8, by Prof. Samuel W. Johnson, Chemist 

 to the Society, and Professor of Analytical and 

 Agricultural Chemistry in Yale College. We have 

 been greatly interested in these excellent reports. 

 The analyses of various fertilizers, made by a per- 

 son of eminent ability for the task, and who un- 

 doubtedly stands beyond the influences sometimes 

 thrown over the analytical chemist, must be of 

 considerable importance to our progressive far- 

 mers. The Essays on Manures are critical and 

 exact, noticing nearly all the forms in Avhich ma- 

 nures are used in this country. That which treats 

 of Peat and Muck is of special value, as oiu' peo- 

 ple do not yet properly appreciate muck as a ma- 

 nure, and so long as this material is so abundant 

 and accessible, it is important that its true value 

 should be every where known. Below are some 

 of the heads discussed in the Essay : What is 

 Peat ? The condition under which Peat is formed. 

 The different kinds of Peat. The chemical com- 

 position of Peat. 



After these Prof. Johnson notices the charac- 

 acters that adapt peat to agricultural purposes — 



1. Its remarkable power of absorbing and re- 

 taining water, both as a liquid and as vapor : 



2. Its power of absorbing ammonia : 



3. Its action in modifying the decay of organic 

 (that is animal and i^egefable) bodies : 



4. Its effect in promoting the disintegration and 

 solution of mineral matters, (that is, the stony mat- 

 ters of the soil :) and 



5. Its influence on the temperature of the soil. 

 When these points are well understood, most 



farmers will have the means at command of greatly 

 increasing the productive power of their soils. 

 Prof. Johnson has our sincere thanks for this new 

 acquisition to our knowledge in regard to manures. 



Agriculture in Tuscant. — The correspondent 

 of the Neioark Advertiser gives the following ac- 

 count of the mode of gathering the harvest in Cen- 

 tral Italy : 



To-day — in this nineteenth century ! — one sees 

 here sunbaked women and girls, cutting, or hack- 

 ing, rather, the grain with ill-shaped, twelve-inch 

 sickles, and beating it out, sheaf by sheaf, on a 

 stone, with the hand, aided only by a rough stick. 

 Threshing instruments are almost unknown in 

 Tuscany : and then, what a winnowing, without 

 machines, follows the reaping ! It is done in this 

 wise : The grain heaped up on the ground in one 

 place, is thrown by shovelfuls through the air to 

 another place, the wind being winnower, and sup- 

 posed to blow away the chaff as it passes. One 

 watches this behind-the-times operation with his 

 teeth on edge M'ith the sense of gritty bread, and 

 the prospect of eating his "peck of dirt" in Italy 

 before him. 



