230 General Notices. 



is described to have yielded 120 bushels of ears, giving more than 20 quarts of 

 corn per bushel when shelled. This is at the rate of 75 bushels of shelled corn 

 per acre ! The growth of the plant, we are told, is exceedingly luxuriant. 

 Whilst upon this subject, we would impress upon some of our experimenting 

 friends the desirableness of trying what they can do upon our former sug- 

 gestion of growing a closely planted crop of Indian corn stalks for soiling. 

 We have written to our American correspondent for some seeds of the 

 Chinese Tree Corn, and will hand it over with great pleasure to the most 

 successful experimentalist in raising green corn. (New Farmer's Journal.) — 

 W. H. B. 



Brinsden's Self-acting River-Valve, a recent invention, promises to be bene- 

 ficial in a great variety of cases, more especially in Scotland. It "is intended 

 to prevent the injury that the owners of property adjacent to weirs annually 

 sustain from the overflow of rivers, by which their lands are materially dete- 

 riorated, and movable property liable to be destroyed. The self-acting 

 river-valve is so constructed, that a portion of the weir is removed at such 

 times as the excess of water above it requires removal, and it again closes 

 when the head-water has abated to the level at which it is required, viz. the top 

 of the weir. The extent of the aperture made is regulated by the size of the 

 river, varying from 20 ft. to 50 ft., and its depth by the water below it at winter 

 level. It is not for new weirs alone, that may be in course of erection, the 

 river-valve is intended ; its principal use is in adding to the old weirs a means 

 of carrying off the excess of water above that required by the mill adjoining it. 

 Its great value lies in being self-acting, as the river itself, when above the 

 height it should be, opens the valve, and the absence of water above that 

 level enables the river again to close it. Another advantage it possesses is 

 the simplicity of its action, the only wear that it sustains being upon a wrought- 

 iron column, thereby requiring in a number of years but little attention or 

 reparation ; and a third claim it has to public favour is the comparatively 

 trifling cost of it, when the yearly enhanced value of the property it protects 

 is taken into consideration." — J. B. Ballinasloe, County Galway, January, 

 1842. 



The neiv French Tile (p. 143). — I am glad to learn that you are putting 

 the square tiles in the way of being made known. Our machine tile-makers 

 here say they see no difficulty in making and keeping them quite true ; and it 

 seems obvious, that if the French, with imperfect machines, have succeeded in 

 executing them, that our powerful machines, which are fitted to work the clay 

 in a stiffer state, should achieve the task with more certainty, and be able to 

 make a denser and smoother-surfaced article. I shall be extremely glad to 

 hear of your Worcester friend's success, and, if possible, to get a specimen of 

 his produce. — J. R. Edin., Jan. 17. 1842. 



Ainslie's Tile-making Machine. — I send you a copy of Ainslie's specification, 

 which does not work so well as , I am told, the machine itself does : it is 

 adopted by various parties in substitution for former ones, and tiles produced 

 by it gained the premium at the Berwick show. — Id. 



Charred Peat as Fuel. — Have you any acquaintance with Mr. C. Williams 

 of the Dublin Steam Packet Company, Liverpool? He mentioned a circum- 

 stance to me some time since which may have extensive influence in some 

 localities, viz. that in the course of his trials to manufacture peat char for the 

 canal steamers, he found, contrary to his expectation, that the soft spongy 

 turf was a far better material than the dense deep-seated peat. Might not 

 towers like lime-kilns be erected in peat mosses, and a profitable manufac- 

 tory of char be carried on ? A body of incandescent material being once 

 established, raw peat |being thrown on the top would, in the first place, have 

 its moisture dissipated, and would then become char, and in its turn serve to 

 prepare successive supplies. " Winning " peat in the usual way is a pre- 

 carious operation, and the carting it requires means which may be wanted 

 for other purposes; and the char would be less exposed to loss in wet seasons, 

 and would be easier transported. — Id. 



