PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 229 



Prof. Mapes. — There is a cheap boiler made by Mr. Prindle, which is 

 preferable to the one described. Without the top it is like the farm boiler; 

 when the upper section is placed on this boiler it forms a steam-tight 

 boiler. It has a flexible tube which conveys the steam into hogsheads 

 standing near, in which the articles to be scalded are placed. The steam 

 can be convej-ed 100 feet, if required, through cheap wooden pipes laid 

 under ground. 



liev. Mr. Weaver, of Fordham. — In connection with this hog question I 

 should like to inquire what are the peculiar qualities of the Berkshire hogs, 

 which render them more valuable than other breeds. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — One of them is the extraordinary amount of lean 

 meat contained in the hams. They are also docile, easily fattened, mature 

 early, and are generally considered a profitable breed. 



Mr. Carpenter thought a cross — ^half Berkshire, half Suffolk — preferable 

 to either. 



Mr. Adrian Bergen. — The reason why we breed Berkshires is that they 

 make such large hams. 



The Chairman. — Some people prefer large hams very lean, but I prefer 

 a fat ham. 



Discussion about Horses — Force of Men and Horses Com- 

 pared. 



Mr. Solon Robinson opened the discussion by reading the following 

 extract from The Working Farmer: 



" Desagulier's Experimental Philosophy gives much information on the 

 subject. The horse draws with the greatest advantage when the line of 

 direction is level with his breast; in such a situation he is able to draw 

 200 pounds eight hours a day, walking about two miles and a half an hour. 

 This, of course, does not relate to the weight of the wagon, or load, but to 

 the amount of force he exerts upon the shafts. If the same horse be made 

 to draw 240 pounds, he can work but six hours, and cannot go so fast. On 

 a carriage, when friction alone is to be overcome, a middling horse will 

 draw 1,000 pounds. If a weight be suspended in a well by a rope passing 

 over a pulley, a horse will lift, when attached to this rope, but about 200 

 pounds. His feet cannot hold on to the ground with a force anything 

 equal to his own weight operating against his line of travel. 



" Five men are equal in strength to one horse, and can with as much 

 ease pull the horizontal beam of a mill occupjdng a circle of nineteen feet, 

 while three men will do it in a walk forty feet wide. . 



"A horse employs much less force when required to draw up hill; if the 

 hill be steep, three men will do more than the horse, each man climbing up 

 faster with a burden of 100 lbs. weight, than a horse that is loaded with 300 

 lbs. Tliis is due, of course, to the position of the parts of the body being 

 better adapted to climbing than those of the horse. In a horizontal direc- 

 tion the quadruped has the advantage over the biped. Thus a man weigh- 

 ing 140 lbs., and drawing a body along by means of a rope coming over 

 his shoulders, cannot draw above 27 lbs., or exert above one-seventh part of 

 the force of a horse employed for the same purpose. 



