1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



193 



We have not tested all the mowers in the mar- 1 

 ket, and are, therefore, not able to say which is 

 absolutely the best machine ; but we feel perfectly 

 free to ad\'ise any farmer wishing to employ a ' 

 machine, to purchase the Buckeye, and are quite ! 

 sure that he will find his money profitably invest 

 ed. See advertisement in weekly Farmer. 



Fur the Sere England Farmer. 

 USE OP THE BAKOMETER. 



The usefulness of the barometer can never be 

 doubted by the mariner, and there is no doubt of 

 its having been the means of saving both lives and 

 property in many instances ; but that it is an in- ] 

 fallible foreteller of the weather, or even an indi- ■ 

 cator by which an unpracticed person can judge \ 

 of the probability of storm or sunshine, is by no ; 

 means the case. Yet, as a navigator, I would never | 

 go without one. As a farmer, I should look to ! 

 one more as the means of a scientific amusement, 

 than for any practical benefit. The usefulness of 

 either kind, mercurial, Aneroid, or others, is much j 

 the same, and must be studied for a considerable I 

 while before being able to form any judgment of 

 the weather from its indications ; thus, with the ' 

 wind at X. W., and fine weather preceding a X. ! 

 E. wind and storm, the barometer will usually rise : 

 till it begins to rain, and often for some time af- 1 

 ter. 



I remember once, in ende^oring to make New 

 York harbor with a north wind and fine day, ba- 

 rometer high, it hauled to N. E. and came on a ' 

 violent storm so much so we wei'e glad to haul off \ 

 shore under close reefs, yet the barometer contin- \ 

 ued to rise till the highest of the storm, and con- I 

 tinned so till the storm was over ; but I considered ; 

 that a very unusual circumstance. Another illus- j 

 tration may show how much good reason I have i 

 for valuing its warnings. It was in the Indian , 

 Ocean, on a voyage to Australia, in a fine barque, ! 

 with nine cabin passengers, of which two were la- j 

 dies. And here let me remark that as the barom- | 

 eter usually falls for a southerly wind, and rises { 

 with a northerly wind in north latitude, the re- [ 

 verse is the case when we cross the line to south [ 

 latitude, there the barometer rising with the south 

 and falling with the north wind. The barometer 

 had been falling for several days with an increas- 1 

 ing northerly wind and storm, while we were forced 

 to gradually shorten sail till we had come down to i 

 a close reefed fore topsail, under which we scud, 1 

 while, as the novelists describe it, "the sea ran ' 

 mountains high." The wind came in fitiful gusts ' 

 with rain, and in squalls blew most fearfully. The ; 

 barometer had now fallen to a point much lower ; 

 than I had ever witnessed, and where it only 

 reaches during the most severe gales or hurricanes. , 

 Toward noon it began to moderate, the clouds 

 broke, and by twelve, our dinner hour, it was near- 

 ly calm, while the sun shone from a cloudless but 

 rather a hazy sky. I was on the point of making 

 sail several times, but as the barometer showed | 

 no signs of rising I waited ; while our barque ! 

 rolled and tossed about on the hea^•y sea that had i 

 risen, in a way that made it rather difficult to keep 

 ones feet. 



On going down to dinner, though there was 

 every appearance that the storm was over, I ob- 

 served the barometer had fallen still lower, and 



then I felt sure that it meant something serious. 

 Swallowing a mouthful, I left the passengers to 

 finish their dinners while I went on deck and or- 

 dered extra gaskets, or fastenings, on all the sails, 

 braces hauled well taut, and everything made as 

 secure as possible. The sky was yet clear, and but 

 a hght air from the west, to which point it had 

 gradually veered, scarce sufficient to fill out our 

 close reefed fore topsail ; but twenty momenta 

 scarce elapsed after my coming on deck, and while 

 we were yet busy making all secure, when a dense 

 fog-like bank arose from the west, coming more 

 and more rapidly, until in a few minutes it reached 

 us, and in five minutes it was blowing a perfect 

 hurricane. What had seemed like fog on its first 

 appearance, proved to be the spray which the wind 

 caught from the crest of the seas as it swept along 

 in its resistless fury. Our staunch vessel, for she 

 was new and strong, trembled hke an overbur- 

 dened steed, sometimes seeming almost drowned 

 (if I maj' so call it.) with the seas which rolled in 

 on both sides, for we were now running in the 

 trough of the sea, then again rising to the top and 

 darting along like a startled deer. 



The decks were continually filled with water, 

 and we were obliged to cut away some of the bul- 

 warks to let it off. Everything movable on deck 

 was washed overboard. The harness cask, two- 

 thirds full of beef and pork, broke from its lash- 

 ings and floated out over the rail. One man was 

 taken off his feet and washed about decks and 

 finally left on his back on the iron railing round 

 the poop, from which he fortunately canted in- 

 board. 



I was obliged to take the helm myself, as the 

 glass over the compass was so continually covered 

 by salt spray as to be invisible. The windows of 

 the cabin were all closed with shutters. One pas- 

 senger, a young man who had faced many a storm 

 at sea before, came on deck and sat on the sky- 

 light before me, but I urged him to go below, for 

 fear he might be washed overboard. For four 

 hours I stood at the helm, daring to trust no one 

 else ; during which time the air was so filled with 

 spray that it was almost as d:irk as night ; then the 

 sea became more regular, but rolled up in huge 

 waves over our stern threatening to come down on 

 us and sweep everything before it ; but fortunate- 

 ly our good vessel rose safely above them all. At 

 5 P. M., the gale moderated slightly, and I ven- 

 tured to go below to see how my passengers fared. 

 I found some in tears, some with their Bible, and 

 some had been praying. They were much relieved 

 when I told them the worst was over, and I could 

 see they breathed freer. Each one was anxious 

 to prove that they were less frightened than the 

 others, and while one averred that another had 

 been crying, this one accused the other of tremb- 

 ling so as to shake him off the chest on which they 

 were both sitting ; but all agreed that it was pleas- 

 ant to see a piece of blue sky once more, though 

 it continued to blow a heavy gale for three days 

 afterwards. 



Then I felt, the barometer, by warning me not 

 to make sail, had been the means of saving my 

 sails and spars, possibly our lives. While in Mel- 

 bourne several vessels came in, more or less dam- 

 aged in this same gale, some having lost spars and 

 sails, and one with decks swept entirely, bulwarks 

 and sails all gone. 



The service of a barometer, on such an occasion. 



