Queries and Answers. 60.9 



extraordinary produce of the cow or tree cabbage ; and being very desirous 

 to get rich in a little time, I set about calculating how many cows I could 

 keep upon it, on my farm, which contains near 100 acres; and I found 

 I could keep from 10,000 to 12,000. I also calculated that these cows 

 would give sufficient milk to supply Manchester and Liverpool with this 

 fluid, and perhaps a few other towns in the neighbourhood; at least, if it 

 fell short, I could adopt the Scotch and also the London plan of mixing 

 a little water with it. Having made these calculations, and finding the 

 great profits arising from the cultivation of this vegetable, I determined 

 to give up my old jog-trot habits, and to dash into money-getting at once. 

 Fearing some other farmer would take the hint before me, I, without fur- 

 ther delay, set off to Liverpool, and contracted with all the milkmen in the 

 town to supply them with all the milk they could sell, at a farthing a quart 

 less than they could get it from the farmer at present. I then did the 

 same at Manchester. Now, I calculated that in two years my cabbages 

 would get too tall to get the produce of them without the help of ladders : 

 I therefore determined to adopt the following plan : — to renew one half of 

 my farm every year with fresh plants ; consequently, I should have about 

 160,000 cabbage stumps to take up every year. Now, your Magazine said 

 that the stumps of these cabbages would make excellent rafters for build- 

 ings ; I therefore contracted with the house-carpenters in Manchester and 

 Liverpool to supply them with 160,000 rafters every year, at Is. each, and 

 found that I should thus make 8000/. each year of my cabbage stumps. 

 I then contracted with these carpenters to build me cow-houses for 12,000 

 cows ; one half to be paid in ready money, and the other half in cabbage 

 stumps at the above price. Last year I got my cow-houses built, and my 

 land fallowed, manured, and planted, ready to overflow the land with milk. 

 But alas ! alas ! how must I describe my disappointment, when I find, by 

 experience, that these cabbages will produce no more food, from an acre, 

 than red clover; a plant which I had a little time before despised and 

 driven from my farm ! I am now a ruined man, beset with duns on every 

 side; while the milksellers and carpenters declare that they are deter- 

 mined to make me fulfil my contracts with them, of supplying the former 

 with milk, and the latter with cabbage stumps. 



Now, Sir, I wish to know whether I cannot recover damages, either of 

 you or the author of those articles on this ruin-creating plant. But 

 whether I can do this or not, I hope you will publish this in your Magazine, 

 as a warning to all such simple fools as myself, who believe all which is 

 written on farming and gardening. I forgot to tell you, in its proper place, 

 that I at last sold my cow-houses, for one fourth of their cost, to a gen- 

 tleman who has converted them into cottages, and who has given the 

 place the name of Cabbage Town. I am, Sir, your's, &c. — A disappointed 

 Lancashire Farmer. Cabbage Town, May 1. 1832. 



Art. IV. Queries and Answers. 



HEATING Water by the Sun's Rays. — I have tried the experiment you 

 alluded to (Vol. III. p. 101.), of heating water by the sun's rays, through 

 a circulation produced by a siphon. My siphon {fig. 122.) was blackened 

 at the ball side, and white at the other. The ball was six times the diame- 

 ter of the tube, which was about 1 in. in diameter. It was applied to heat 

 a tub, containing a plant of Nelumbium speciosum, in a dry stove. The 

 tub contained, exclusive of the earth, about 10 gallons of water ; and dur- 

 ing the hottest days of last month it never increased the temperature of 

 the water more than 7° above that of a similar vessel placed in the same 

 part of the stove, but without a siphon. The siphon had the full sun on 



Vol. VIII. — No. 4-0. r r 



