1860. 



NEAV ENGLAND FARMEIl. 



569 



reached sixteen miles an hour. But M'ith what 

 ease, precision and comfort the old god carries us 

 along ! O, that Watt and Fulton, and a host of 

 those worthies, were here to witness the result of 

 their genius ! 



The trial having been successful, up-hill and 

 down, as a locomotive for speed with moderate 

 loads, it will prove equally so as a power to take 

 our products to market, pump water, thresh and 

 grind our grain, turn the grind-stone or cider- 

 mill, or press the pomace, saw the wood and tim- 

 ber, or exhume rocks and stumps from their an- 

 cient beds ! When all this is done, there will be 

 an unexpended energj' remaining, which may be 

 transferred by a flexible pipe to a fifty-bushel feed 

 box, where the fodder for twenty-four hours may 

 be cooked in thirty or forty minutes, for as many 

 head of cattle ! In summer, with slow and state- 

 ly march, we may see it moving a ten-foot cutter- 

 bar, and prostrating and spreading the grass at 

 the rate of two acres an hour, accompanied only 

 by a small boy to guide it round the corners ! 



There are, undoubtedly, many other ways in 

 which this young Prometheus may be used which 

 we have not the penetration to foreshadow, and 

 which will secure to us the lasting gratitude of all 

 the laboring quadruped race ! 



We believe that a power something like this 

 will yet be devised — that it will be cheap, the 

 first cost being less than is paid every week in 

 the city of Boston for a single horse, — that when 

 at work the expense for fuel and lubrication will 

 be but a trifle more than that of sustaining a 

 working horse, and that when still it will neither 

 eat, drink, catch cold and have a "distemper," 

 nor break its legs by falling down "through the 

 trap." 



There cannot be a doubt that when old Prome- 

 theus stole the fire from heaven, he intended it 

 expressly to heat water and make steam for far- 

 mers, as well as other people. Let us, then, be 

 grateful for the blaze, and touch up the kindlings 

 under a useful machine bearing the name of Pro- 

 metheus ! 



Keeping Horses' Legs axd Feet ix Okder. 

 — If I were asked to account for my horses' legs 

 and feet being in better order than those of ray 

 neighbor, I should attribute it to the following 

 circumstances : First, that they are all shod with 

 few nails, so placed in the shoe as to permit the 

 foot to expand every time they move ; second, 

 that they all live in boxes instead of stalls, and 

 can move whenever they jilease ; third, that they 

 have two hours daily walking exercise when they 

 are not at work ; and fourth, that I have not a 

 head-stall or track-chain in my stall. These four 

 circumstances comprehend the whole mystery of 

 keeping horse's legs fine, and their feet in sound 

 worki!ig condition up to a good old age. — Miles 

 on tlie Horse's Foot. 



VABIETIES OF BAEIjEY. 



Very little barley has been cultivated in this 

 vicinity till recently. The variety grown here is 

 that of the two rowed, having a long beard, and a 

 gritty hull enveloping the grains. But everybody 

 knows all about this and similar kinds of barley. 

 But two or three years since, there was introduced 

 into this country from Italy, through the agency 

 of the Patent Office, a variety of hulless barley — 

 some of the heads are two, and others six rowed, 

 but it is long bearded. I sowed a small quantity 

 on good land in May, 1859. It proved to be a 

 short, weak-strawed affair, but yielded tolerably 

 well. This year sowed it on a good loamy soil": 

 the same short, weak-strawed barley resulted ; the 

 yield not great, raising but little over a bushel. I 

 carried a bushel to mill, had it ground and bolted, 

 the flour of which is as white, and makes as good 

 bread as some of our poorer qualities of spring 

 wheat. For "iiippers" we prefer it to buckwheat. 

 Upon the vv-hole, I am rather sorry that I disposed 

 of this "Tuscany barley" in such a summary way. 

 I have also grovrn a small patch of the Nepaul 

 variety ; this has neither hull or beard. It was 

 sown too late, and was somewhat injured by the 

 midge. If it shall prove a productive and other- 

 wise valuable variety, it will become a great fa- 

 vorite among barley growers, unless they, like 

 Young America, prefer a long beard to none. — 

 Levi Bartlett, Warner, N. H., in Country Gen- 

 tleman. 



Leaves in Hot-beds.— From an article m- the- 

 Homestead on "Leaves as Mulch and Manure," 

 we copy the following paragraph, which may in- 

 terest those who have not access to proper ma- 

 nure for hot-beds : 



"The use of leaves in hot-beds is one not to 

 be overlooked. Laid in hot-bed pits, from which 

 the residue of last year's soil and manure has been 

 removed to the de])th of twelve or fourteen inch- 

 es, well covered, they v.ill remain fresh, and but 

 little frozen till time to get the hot-bed ready. 

 Then a moderate quantity of potash water or wood 

 ashes, mingled with the whole mass, will start a 

 uniform and continuous heat." 



Cinders for Pigs.— J. J. Mechi, of Tiptree 

 Hall, Eng., has been publishing his experience in 

 fattening swine, and, among other things, he has 

 learned the fact "that pigs are very fond of coal 

 ashes or cinders, and that you can hardly fat pigs 

 properly on boarded floors, without giving them 

 a moderate supply daily, or occasionally." He 

 says : — "In the absence of coal ashes, burned cla ■ 

 or brick dust is a good substitute. If you do nc; 

 supply ashes they will gnaw or eat the brick walls 

 of their sheds. I leave to science to explain the 

 cause of this want. It is notorious that coal deal- 

 ers, where pigs have access to the coals, are gen- 

 erally successful pig-feeders. Those who find 

 that their pigs, when shut up, do not progress fa- 

 vorably, will do well to try this plan ; a neighbor 

 of mine found that a score of fat pigs consumed 

 quite a basket of burned clay ashes" daily. We 

 know that there is an abundance of alkali in 

 ashes." 



