51 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Mr. Samuel Fry, and we find it in the " Farmer 

 and Mechanic," whose Editor, Mr. Samuel Fleet, 

 135 Nassau Street, New York, could probably 

 furnish further particulars. The following is 

 the inventors description : 



"A Ji represents the frame of the press. B 

 the upper head which is hung on hinges, so 

 that it may be removed to admit the material to 

 be compressed. C, a shaft carrying a spree 

 wheel D, through which motion is transmitted 

 to it, and also a number of fusees a, the use of 

 which will be hereafter described. K, a shaft 

 carrying a pinion 1, which gears into the spree 

 wheel and a ratchet wheel c, for retaining the 

 power. When the press is worked by manual 

 labor a winch is placed upon the end of this 

 lattter shaft. E E E E the arms of the togle 

 joint levers, of which two or more pairs may be 

 used, having their fulcrums at the ends and their 

 joints in the centre. When the press works 

 upwards, as in the modification here shown, the 

 lower fulcrums are stationary and the upper ful- 

 crums are fastened to the follower or platen 

 on which the material to be pressed is placed. 

 From the lower fulcrums strong bands of iron, 

 e, extend up and pass on the head, B, of the 

 press. These bands sustain the whole power of 

 the press and prevent the two fixed points from 

 receding from each other ; they also form the 

 hinges and fastenings of the head. F F, chains 

 which are fastened by one end to the fusees, a, 

 and by the other Up the joints, H } of the levers. 



"At the commencement of the operation the 

 platen is elevated but little above the shaft C, 

 and the joints are extended as far from the shaft 

 as the chains will allow ; by winding the chains 

 on the fusees the joints are made to approach 

 the shaft and the platen is drawn upward with 

 a force constantly increasing until the levers are 

 brought to a perpendicular position." 



MORTAR FOR CELLAR FLOORS— USEFUL 

 HINTS. 



Sir, — The frost and the drought have pre- 

 vailed here to the complete prevention of any 

 successful agricultural experiments. In the ab- 

 sence of these, I send you an account of a very 

 successful experiment in making a cellar floor. 

 In England, I have seen a great number of 

 " plaster" floors, but never saw one equal to the 

 one in my cellar not only for hardness and du- 

 rability, but for cost of materials. It is without 

 a single crack, and as hard as a stone. It was 

 made in the following manner : — When the 

 plastering of my house was finished I found a 

 quantity of refuse lime, which had not slaked 

 soon enough for them, thrown out of the box, 

 and after lying there a few weeks, had all be- 

 come slaked, except a few lumps of unburnt 



limestone ; the largest of these I threw out. I 

 then cast the lime into a large box or " mortar 

 bed,' adding a little water, and worked it well 

 with the tools the plasterers had left. The sand 

 I used for plastering was collected from the roads, 

 and consequently contained much small stone. 

 The plasterers, of course riddled it so that I had 

 several loads of these small stones, &c, lying 

 near the "mortar bed." I threw this into the 

 bed and mixed it with the lime; proportion, se- 

 ven or eight parts to one of lime. I am aware 

 that those who know nothing of the chemical 

 affinity of lime for carbonic acid and silex, would 

 think of improving their floor by adding a larger 

 proportion of lime, especially if they had plenty 

 of it at hand. This would ruin their floor ; put 

 it on the land, or let it lie a nuisance sooner than 

 spoil the floor with it. 



Make the mortar stiff enough to bear wheel- 

 ing in a barrow, lay it about three inches thick, 

 making it the whole thickness as you proceed, 

 beginning at the side opposite the door, and 

 with a corn-hoe held with the handle perpendi- 

 cular, hit it on the top gently, so as to level the 

 surface, < nd unite each barrowful with the last 

 laid. 



My cellar floor has been laid six or eight 

 years, and when newly washed the small stones 

 may be seen (worn off level) as close to each 

 other as they would be in a bucket of water, 

 and as firm as shells in a block of marble. — Ex- 

 change paper. 



SHEEP. 



By fishing in the sea of "stuff," with which 

 our agricultural papers are filled, we are some- 

 times enabled to catch up a sensible practical 

 article like the following, taken from the " North 

 Carolina Farmer," a paper lately started at Ra- 

 leigh, which we would most heartily commend 

 to the attention of our Southern friends. A 

 thorough knowledge of the sheep business would 

 be as good as fifty thousand dollars to any man 

 in Western Virginia. 



Mr. Lemay ; Sir, — I have seen one or two 

 articles in your new paper on the subject of 

 raising wool in this State. I have no practical 

 knowledge of wool raising in so warm a climate 

 as North Carolina enjoys, especially in the East- 

 ern part of the State. There are impediments 

 in every department of husbandry to retard en- 

 terprise ; but I feel sure that wool raising has 

 as few drawbacks as most branches of employ- 

 ment. The hindrances may be summed up as 

 follow, v\z: 



1. Climate and food. 



2. The diseases of sheep. 



3. Necessary protection to sheep. 



