THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



187 



destroyed in spots six inches square, has thus 

 had its original color perfectly restored. 



The whiteness of ivory handled knives may 

 be restored by rubbing- them with fine sandpaper 

 or emery. 



The oftener carpets are shaken, the longer 

 they last, as the particles of dirt and sand which 

 collect upon them grind the threads. Sweeping 

 them also wears therm 



Dry wood will produce on a moderate esti- 

 mate, twice as much heat as the same amount 

 of green wood ; and saves much trouble in 

 kindling fires on cold mornings. To prevent its 

 burning away too rapidly, the sticks should be 

 large. To suppose that green wood will actu- 

 ally cause more heat in burning than dry, is as 

 absurd as to suppose a vessel of hot water will 

 freeze sooner than a cold one. — Cultivator, 





GEARING HORSES. 











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In the various occupations of the farm we 

 make use every day of the result of scientific 

 inquiry, frequently without noticing the where- 

 fore of the peculiar process we adopt, and fre- 

 quently losing all the benefit of the scientific 

 principle from ignorance or forgetfulness. In as 

 simple a matter as the gearing of horses there 

 is an important principle of mechanics to be 

 noticed, without an observance of which it is 

 impossible to get a team to work to the greatest 

 advantage and ease. 



The annexed cut represents an ordinary dou- 

 ble-tree ; and our object here is to illustrate the 

 importance of constructing it so that the point 

 at which the tree is fastened to the load shall 

 be considerably behind the point at which the 

 horses are fastened to the tree. The horses are 

 here hitched at a and b, and the tree draws the 

 load at c, considerably behind a line which 

 would pass from a to b. The advantage of this 

 construction is this : as soon as one of the 

 horses goes ahead of the other, his part of the 

 lever the double-tree forms, becomes the shortest, 

 and the other, working to far greater advantage 

 by a longer lever, is soon able to come up, or 

 if still lagging behind is able with even inferior 

 strength to fully divide the draught with the 

 other. Suppose the horse at b starts ahead and 

 draws his part of the double-tree forward to d; 

 a, at the other end then of course falls back to 

 e, and the line d, e, will represent the position of 

 the double-tree. In this position, the fulcrum 

 being still the same at c, and the horses still 



drawing straight ahead, it will be seen that the 

 right hand horse will have a lever rather longer 

 than before — perpendicular to the line of draught 

 and at which he works to the greatest advan- 

 tage ; whereas the left hand horse, has a lever 

 at which he exerts part of his force in pulling 

 lengthwise with the wood, the real mechanical 

 length of which is only c } f nearly a third shorter 

 than that of the other horse. 



Important as this principle is in constructing 

 double trees and working two horses abreast, it 

 is far more important in single-trees and the 

 working of one horse. If the horse pulled like 

 the ox, by some point of his body on which the 

 load bore in all gaits with an equal pressure, it 

 would not be necessary to give his single-tree 

 any swing, or adjust the lever power in the 

 manner above illustrated. But a horse by his 

 gait in harness is continually advancing one 

 side ahead of the other as he moves his shoul- 

 ders. When a horse plants one of his fore feet 

 the exertion to draw the trace on that side is 

 comparatively nothing. He merely leans him- 

 self forward, and his weight, the exertion of his 

 hind legs as well as the fore leg planted, all aid 

 in facilitating- the steady pressure the shoulder 

 of that leg makes against the load. It is when 

 his fore foot rises to be advanced another step 

 that he is taxed the worst ; and he must then 

 by the muscles of one shoulder alone move the 

 whole load the distance he advances his shoul- 

 der, unless the single-tree is given a swing. By 

 reference now to the above cut and a recollec- 



