256 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



To release these implements and diffuse their 

 usefiilnoi-s, to }ilac-e the best tools within the reach 

 of ewrv tanner, is the ohjoct of this Association. 



The charge li.-it is founded on business principles. 

 Tools will not Ije let unless both parties are bene- 

 fited. As nil persons may be aided, we invite 

 them to extend the usefulness of this system by 

 adopting its methods. 



Rules. 



1. Lenders will exact care in the management of 

 tools. 



2. Hirers must pay for damage occasioned by 

 carelessness; and damage shall be taken &spri)na- 



fade evidence of earelessuess. 



3. The time upon which a charge is based shall 

 he estimated from the taking of the tool until the 

 same is returned. Any part of a day shall for this 

 purpose be regarded as a whole day, except as 

 hereinafter provided. 



4. Tools will not be let for a single day for a less 

 sum than five cents. 



5. Terms are strictly cash. 



G. In all eases of disagreement between a hirer 

 and the owner concerning a tool, the arbitrators of 

 this Association shall decide, and their decision 

 shall be final. 



7. No member of this Association shall in any 

 case allow his implements to be used on any other 

 terms than those stated in the charge list of the 

 Association, excc])t it lie fur the purposes of charity. 



8. All jicrsons taking tools from any member of 

 this Association shall ije governed by these rules. 



To indicate the rate of charge we copy a few ar- 

 ticles from the long list given, with the rates per 

 . day, as we suppose, though that fact is not distinctly 

 stated. 



A bit, hand and cranberry rake, hay fork, ham- 

 mer, &c., 5 cents ; an axe, beetle and wedge, chains, 

 flails, ladders, wheel-jack, &c., 10 cents; bitting 

 harness, barley fork and hand saws, 15 cents ; gar- 

 . den cultivator, dung fork, scythes, 20 cents; churn 

 . drills, gravel screen, root-pullers, one-horse hay 

 ^ wagon, one-horse plough, sleds, scrapers, tackle 

 . and fall, ^c., 25 cents; corn sheller, hand cider- 

 ; mill, &c., 30 cents; ime-horse cart, two-horse hay 

 > wagon, two-horse plough, &c., 40 cents; two-horse 

 . carts, cradle, held seed sower, &c., 50 cents ; fan 

 I mills, rail-way horse power, &c., 75 cents; power 

 ! bay-cutter, two-horse ploughs, circular saw, potato 

 I planter, &c., Iffl ; stump puller, $1.50; grain drill, 

 . $.-2 ; mowing machine, oO cents per hour ; hay press, 

 ;.f3 per day. 



. Insolvule Matter.— In criticising, some years 

 : ago, an analysis that some professed chemist had 



made of limestone, in which a portion of the in- 

 , gredients were set down as "insoluble matter," 



Prof. S. W. Johnson said, "such exhibitions of 

 , professional folly may do for fifty years ago, 1)ut 

 1 in this part of the nineteenth century we recognize 

 I no such substance as 'insoluble matter' in our no- 

 , mcnclature. In this same insoluble matter may be 

 , hid the very pabulum of vegetable life." 



CorswoMJ AND Mkuino Shekp. — Mr. J. Harris, 

 . of Rochester, N. Y., bought last year Michigan 

 V Merino ewes that cost about .f 2.50 each, and athor- 

 , oBshl«-ed Cotswold ram. In his Walks and Talks, 

 > -vrltten March 21, for the American AgriculiaiUl, 



he says that thus far, from twenty-six ewes he has 

 had thirty-four lambs. Some farmers have thought 

 that a cross between the large coarse wool sheep, 

 either Leicester or Cotswold, was too violent, if not 

 unnatural. But Mr. Harris believes that such is 

 not the case, and says he docs not desire better 

 luck than he has had with these ewes and Iambs, 

 though he has fed no roots. He thinks the butch- 

 ers will be willing to pay a good price for his lambs 

 in May. Mr. Harris adds : — 



"An English farmer who is staying with me, and 

 who formerly kept some 300 breedinL' long-wooled 

 ewes, was at first quite disposed to laugh at my 

 Merinoes. But he is now quite converted. It is 

 really amusing to hear him talk so enthusiastically 

 about the motherly qualities and milk-producing 

 capacity of these little Mei-ino ewes." 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



HOW TO CLEANSE A FOIL WELL. — WILL CAUSTIC 

 LIME DISSOLVE BONES ? 



Last summer a small well that supplied water to 

 my buildings, dried up, and remained dry during 

 the fall and winter. Early this spring I found 

 there was some water in it, but on putthig in a pole 

 to ascertain its depth, I stiiTcd up a strong smell 

 which proved that a skunk was or had been in the 

 well. Indeed so offensive was the smell that no 

 one could hold his head for a moment over the 

 well. I did not know what to do to purify the wa- 

 ter, the surfiice of which I could see was covered 

 with a bluish scum, and the scent was thus exceed- 

 ingly disagreeable. By the advice of one neighbor 

 I started to the village for some plaster of Paris to 

 put into the well. Tlie man who sells plaster also 

 sells lime of his own burning, and he said lime was 

 altogether the best for my purpose. I therefore 

 took some of his lime, warm from the kiln, and like 

 the man with his wife's bonnet, who was afraid the 

 fiisliion would change before he got it into her 

 hands, I hurried home with my steaming lime, 

 fearing it would cool, and immediately put a peck 

 or more of it still warm into the well, which caused 

 a fine commotion in the water. It remained undis- 

 turbed four days, when finding that all the smell 

 had ))een removed, the water was pumped and 

 dipped out, and the bottom of the well thoroughly 

 scraped and cleaned by a small boy, — the well not 

 being large enough for the admission of a man. 

 The boy said he did not notice any smell at all in 

 the well, but on exposing the mud to the air I 

 th(night there was a perceittible odor. The water 

 pumped out was so limy as to make our hands sore 

 in handling it. I have thus learned a lesson in re- 

 lation to purifying wells, which may be of some 

 practical value to others as ignorant as I was on the 

 subject. Several of my neighbors said it would 

 take months to cleanse it. 



But I wish to leam one thing more. Did the 

 lime destroy the bones as well as tne flesh of the 

 animal Mhich I suppose blundered into the well and 

 caused the impurity I have described ? We found 

 some hair, but noticed no other animal remains. 

 Did the lime decompose the bones ? t. s. f. 



Felchville, Vt.,1871. 



IIemakks. — The question with which our corres- 

 pondent closes his letter has been subnntted to an 

 experienced cliemist who replies as follows : — 



"When bones are treated with a dilute alkali (as 

 potassa) the cementing material of the bone (gela- 

 tin) is dissolved out, and the bone crumbles to 

 l)o"'(1cr. I hr-v.'" nn do"bt tint the sitip effect 

 would be produced by eausnc lime. I should sup- 



