1S60. 



NEW ENGLAND FARI^IER. 



391 



"WIND POWBB FOR GRINDING CORN. 



Having suffered much inconvenience in getting 

 corn ground at a distant mill, and being dissatis- 

 fied Vv'ith the corn, and cob, and grist mills, ad- 

 vertised, I fell back on my own resources, and 

 after some preliminary experiments, I fixed a mill 

 as follows. It is successful : 



I cut ofi" a post oak 11 feet from the ground, 

 and made a (i inch tenon, 5 inches diameter on 

 top ; split out a puncheon 7 feet wide, 5 inches 

 thick ; 3 feet from one end I morticed a hole to 

 fit tenon on tree, and mounted it to its place ; 18 

 inches from centre of tenon, on each side nailed 

 pieces 4 feet long, G inches wide, 2 inches thick, 

 fore and aft the tree and parallel to it ; a piece 

 of the same dimensions fixed on to lower ends 

 of the same, horizontal and parallel to puncheon, 

 on both sides, and reaching aft to end of do., 

 braces from each end of puncheon to meet these 

 at the lower end of perpendiculars on both sides, 

 completes a firm and strong frame which revolves 

 on tenon ; transverse pieces on each side the 

 tree, fore and aft, bind the sides together, and if 

 they project a little, form a support for a plank 

 to stand on. 



Now for the shaft. A piece of pine 7 feet long, 

 hewed to 8 inches square, and the corners taken 

 off, an iron band on the end for the hub, divide 

 the circumference into six, the number of arms, 

 which gives a distance of 60 degrees, and four 

 inches from the band, mortice three holes 2 inch- 

 es square, through the hub ; then cut out a neck 

 5 inches diameter, and 5 inches long. Get two 

 pair of friction wheels, such as are used for a 

 grindstone ; screw one pair clown to front end of 

 puncheon, and the other at after end of shaft, for 

 the shaft to run on ; nail a collar on the end of 

 puncheon to fit loosely on to neck of shaft, just 

 in front of friction wheels — it is not to bear any 

 weight, but merely to keep the shaft from jump- 

 ing' off. Of course, the after wheels have a neck 

 of the same dimensions. The mill is bolted on 

 to a short post, fixed on to after end of puncheon 

 at right angles to it ; the axle of the mill is re- 

 ceived into a square hole in a plate screwed on 

 to end of shaft. As the mill requires to reach 

 somewhat over the puncheon to obtain firm sup- 

 port, the shaft must be fixed accordingly ; a hole 

 through the puncheon conducts the meal, in a 

 sleeve, from the spout of the mill to a barrel or 

 bag placed on the stage beneath. 



Thus, it is is easily seen that the whole power 

 of the wind acts on the grinding surface of the 

 mill fJlredhj. Three pieces of well seasoned scant- 

 ling 2x2 inches, well balanced and fitted into 

 mortice holes, making 6 arms 8 feet long from 

 centre to hub. Strong domestic, 5-4 wide, and 

 5 yards long, making a square, which, cut cross 

 cornered, will make the two sails and a sleeve to 

 each to fit the arms ; which may thus be put on 

 and off" readily. The edges should be strongly 

 hemmed and drawn somewhat tight, so as not to 

 flap ; the corner tied to the next arm by stout 

 string. This will be found power sufficient 

 to grind in a light wind ; if the wind is strong, 

 three sails only need be spread. 



AVith such a wind-mill I have ground meal for 

 the house — have fed five horses and six hogs on 

 meal too. 



T consider the saving of feerlinf^ horses equal 



to one-third — certainly one-fourth. A wood hop- 

 per to contain one bushel of corn can be attach- 

 ed ; then the farmer can wedge his mill in the 

 right position and go on with his work, having 

 the satisfaction of hearing his corn crack half a 

 mile off! If we had an improved steel mill to 

 the common hand mill it would be an advantage. 

 One to stand like a clock, for instance, and to 

 screw down to puncheon. — Southern Cultivator. 



Usefulness of Soot. — This article is often 

 wasted, being thrown into the ash-heap, or 

 dumped on the ground at the back door, and no 

 use made of it. i3oth science and experience show 

 that it is a valuable manure. If used as a top- 

 dressing to grass, it produces a marked effect. 

 When sown broadcast, some of its anmionia be- 

 comes volatilized, and is wasted in the atmos- 

 phere. Therefore, it should be mixed with wa- 

 ter, and applied as liquid manure. Twelve quarts 

 of soot to a hogshead of water make a pow^erful 

 fertilizer. 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



MATRIMONY SANS PATRIMONY. 



"I am a clerk, with eight hundred dollars sala- 

 ry, and yet my wife expects me to dress her in 

 first-class style. What would you advise me to 

 do — leave her ?" These words I unintentionally 

 overheard in a public conveyance. I went home, 

 pondering them over. "Leave her !" Were you 

 not to blame, sir, in selecting a foolish, frivolous 

 wife, and expecting her to confine her desires as 

 a sensible woman ought, and Avould, within the 

 limits of your small salary ? Have you, yourself, 

 no "first-class" expenses, in the way of rides, 

 drinks and cigars, which it might be well for you 

 to consider while talking to her of retrenchment ? 

 Did it ever occur to you, that under all that friv- 

 olity, which you admired in the maid, but deplore 

 and condemn in the wife, there may be, after all, 

 enough of the true woman, to appreciate and 

 sympathize with a kind, loving statement of the 

 case, in its parental, as well as marital relations ? 

 Did it ever occur to you, that if you require no 

 more from her in the way of self-denial, than you 

 are willing to endure yourself — in short, if you 

 were just in this matter, as all husbands are not 

 — it might bring a pair of loving arms about your 

 neck, that would be a talisman amid future toil, 

 and a pledge of co-operation in it, that would give 

 wings to effort ? And should it not bo so imme- 

 diately —should you encounter tears and frowns 

 — would you not do well to remember the hun- 

 dreds of wives of drunken husbands, who, through 

 the length and breadth of the land, are thinking 

 — not of "leaving" them, but how, day by day, 

 they shall more patiently bear their burden, toil- 

 ing with their own feeble hands, in a woman's re- 

 stricted sphere of eflbrt, to make up their deficien- 

 cies, closing their ears resolutely to any recital of 

 a husband's failings, nor asking advice of aught 

 save their own faithful, wifely hearts, "what course 

 they shall pursue ?" 



And to all young men, whether "clerks" or 

 otherwise, we would s»y, if you marry a humming- 

 bird, don't expect that marriaffo will instantly con- 



