228 TRAXSACTIOXS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



United States, and well known as a medicinal plant, the root being a sure 

 cure for worms in children. I have never heard of its being cultivated, 

 but think it might be. I think it belongs to the same family as the plant 

 known as boneset, and grows in similar soil and situations. 



Dr. Church. — No, the boneset is Eupatorium, and the Indian hemp 

 Apocynum cannabinum. It is so common that the value of its fiber might 

 be easily tested next summer. 



Prof. Mapes. — This plant is found growing in all parts of our country. 

 The fiber is coarse, and a very great percentage is lost in dressing it. 



A COXTENIENT HOG-Sc ALDER. 



Mr. G. Haines, of Medford, N. J., sends us the following description of a 

 very convenient and economitjjil hog-scalder, well known in Burlington 

 and Monmouth counties, and little or none used anywhere else: 



" It is made of cedar or white pine plank, two inches thick, with dimensions 

 about as follows: Two feet four inches wide at bottom, two feet ten inches at 

 top, two feet three inches high, six feet three inches long, and clamped well 

 with iron to prevent leaking from being frequently wet and dry. A copper 

 pipe about ten inches in diameter, and nearly the length of the trough, is 

 fastened near the bottom, at one side, with one end opening out of tha 

 trough. At this opening is placed a sheet iron door, containing a smaller 

 one for draft of air, like an ordinary stove door. On the other end of the 

 pipe a double elbow, five inches in diameter, is placed, connecting with a 

 return pipe of same size (five inches), which has its exit hole at the same 

 end and near the door. A pipe such as is used for stoves conducts the 

 smoke from the exit hole to eight or ten feet from the ground. A light 

 rack is placed about two inches above the copper pipe, to prevent the hogs 

 from touching it. Said rack is fastened to its place with a button, so that 

 it may be taken out easily for the purpose of cleaning the trough. A light 

 cover to prevent evaporation, and a small skid for rolling heavy hogs in 

 the trough, accompany each scalder. This description may be vague, but 

 it is as plain as I can make it with so few words. 



"A lighter and less expensive trough is sometimes made, with a single 

 copper pipe, having a door at one end, and exit hole for stove pipe at the 

 other. It may take a little more fuel, but the difierence is not appreciable. 

 Light, dry, flashy fuel is the best; it should be cut tine and about a foot long. 



" These scalders, with the appurtenances, cost from about forty to fifty 

 dollars. I never heard of one costing more than the latter sum. We 

 think they are as much ahead of the old way of heating water in kettles 

 hung over a trench, or by hot stones, as that is preferable to covering the 

 hogs with leaves and singing them. If a man has but two or three hogs 

 to kill, I believe the custom is invariably to go and hire a scalder. Two 

 men can load one on a wagon, and I never heard of but one price — fifty 

 cents per day. Two moderate wheelbarrow loads of wood, I think, would 

 be plenty for scalding thirty or forty hogs. When the water is once hot 

 enough, very little is sufficient to keep it just at the right temperature, I 

 am acquainted with scalders which have been in use twenty years, and are 

 now as efficient as ever, though most of the old ones were hired enough in 

 two years to pay for them," 



