330 
AMKRICAN AGrRICTXLTURIST. 
[September, 
Railways of the World. 
Interesting Figures.— According to statistics recent¬ 
ly published at the beginning of 1877, there were 181,002 
miles of railway in the world, distributed as follows: 
United States.74,095 miles. Egypt. 
Canada. 4,200 miles.. Rest of Africa . 
Argentine Repu’c 990 miles. ! n 
Peru. 970 miles. 
Brazil. 836 miles. 
Rest of America. 2,329 miles. , 
Total in America. 83,420 miles. 
Total In Africa 
In Australia.... 
Sundry. 
975 miles. 
544 miles. 
1,519 miles. 
1,924 miles. 
20 miles. 
overseer, but let your work show that you have 
been busy in the absence of your overseer. Let us 
try to have it said of the men ‘ Only see the amount 
of work done for the number of men.’ Also, so 
conduct yourselves, that I can say to the proprietor, 
‘ We have a choioo lot of men.’ This I can do with a 
good will, if you do so conduct yourselves ; if not, 
I cannot, and you will lose your jobs. So all this, 
you see, is for your own interests, and if you will not 
study your own interests, I cannot be expected to.” 
Germany.17,181 miles. 
Great Britain.1 >,79 i miles. 
France.13,492 miles. 
Russia.11.555 miles. 
Austria.10.852 miles 
Italy. 4,815 miles. 
Turkey. 960 miles. 
Rest of Europe...13,781 miles. 
Total in Europe.. 89,430 miles. 
India. 6,527 miles. 
Rest of Asia.1,162 miles. 
Total in Asia . 7,689 miles. 
Total in World . . 184,002 miles. 
[Estimating for the increase 
since the above tables were 
made up, the present length 
of constructed railroads is 
believed to be 205,000 miles; 
and adding for double tracks, 
switches, stations, etc., the 
total length of track is esti¬ 
mated at over 256,000 miles.] 
The total cost is given at $16,313,500,000, of which 
$10,386,000,000 is allotted to the 89,430 miles in Europe, 
($116,135 per mile); and $5,927,500,090 for the 94,592 
miles in the rest, of the world. In last month’s American 
Agriculturist we gave the cost of the railroads in the 
United States as $4,568,597,243. ($61,659 per mile), which 
leaves $1,358 902,752 for the cost of the 11.152 miles out¬ 
side of Europe and the United States, (or about $122,000 
permile). Theaverage cost of all the World's Railroads is 
about $83,700 per mile. The total value of the Real and 
Personal Property of the United States, for 1870, was 
$30,068,518,507, or less than twice the cost of the railroads 
of the world_It will be seen that 74 / 184 . or two-fifths 
of the railways of the world are in the United States.... 
It is only 53 years since the first railroad was opened to 
traffic (the Stockton and Darlington in England, Sept. 27, 
1825 1 ; and only 28 years a :o (in 1850) there were only 
18.600 miles of railroad any where. There were, there¬ 
fore, 165,402 out of the 184,002 miles built during 26 years, 
or 6,323 miles a year, or over 29 miles for each working 
day. Reckoning an average of 25 pounds of iron to the 
foot of iron rail, the 256,000 miles of track requires 
67,584 million pounds of iron (67,584,000,000 lbs.); or to 
help the conception, say 1,535 pounds for every man, 
woman, and child, in the United Slates (reckoning them 
at 44 millions, i Yet this amount would make little im¬ 
pression upon the vast stores of iron provided in the 
bowels of the earth, or in a small coating of its surface. 
(The specific gravity of iron is about 8, making 
the weight of a solid foot 500 lbs. The 67,584,- 
000,000 lbs. of railroad iron would make 135,168,000 
solid feet of iron, or a mass about 514 feet every way). 
....What will be the figures, when the rest of North 
America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the 
larger ocean Islands are supplied with the railroads that 
can be profitably built and used.... As all railways have 
ties about 7 feet long, and averaging, say one to every 2J 
feet, some of our arithmetical readers may find amuse¬ 
ment in estimating the amount of timber required, the 
amount of ground to grow it. the necessary amount to 
be constantly growing, if the ties require a renewal once 
in seven years, on the average, with no new railroads. 
A Farm Order with the Right “Ring.” 
A New York gentleman, carrying on extensive 
business, owns a large farm, to which be goes with 
his family during the summer. There are many 
workmen employed, who are under the immediate 
care and direction of the Head Farmer, or Superin¬ 
tendent. Our friend finds among his files, the fol¬ 
lowing order issued by the Superintendent, on 
March 23d, last. It has the right ring—is firm, but 
conciliatory and stimulating—of a kind that a gen¬ 
eral would issue to men going into battle; and 
were not these meu going into a real battle ? With 
such a leader, and imbued with the spirit of the 
order, they will conquer themselves and their bad 
habits, and the results will show a balance on the 
right side when the season’s work is summed up. 
We solicited a copy of the “ Order,” and here it is : 
“Now, we are going to start on full time, and 
perhaps for the season ; that will depend upon cir¬ 
cumstances. In the first place, I want every man 
to take good care of tools, and keep them in their 
places when not in use. Next, be on hand promptly 
to commence work. Next, he always sure that it 
is time to quit, before leaving your work. Never 
stand listening to somebody telling yarns in work¬ 
ing hours. Despise tattlers ; let us have peace, and 
with that industry. Never be found watching the 
Repairing Water Pipes. 
When water pipes are bui-st by the frost, it is 
easy to repair them in the following manner. The 
break is usually as seen at a, and is caused by the 
expansion of the water in the pipe when freezing. 
In repairing such a break in a lead pipe, first bring 
the edges near together by hammering, then scrape 
the surface around the broken part, and solder it; or 
the piece may be cut out, and a new piece inserted. 
But for iron pipes, and for lead pipes, when it is 
not convenient to solder them, a different plan may 
be followed. A strip of stout canvass soaked in a 
melted cement, made of pitch and brick dunt, 
is wrapped around the pipe, as shown at 6, until 
the injured part is covered, or a piece of sheet 
rubber may be used as at c, taking care that the 
edges do not meet over the break. If the broken 
edges of the pipe are sharp and likely to cut the cov¬ 
ering, file them down. After the wrapping is placed, 
it is “ served ’’ over with copper wire or tarred 
hemp as illustrated at d. A “serving ” mallet is 
used for this purpose; it is made of a piece of 
wood hollowed to fit the pipe, and with a hole 
bored through from the center of the hollowed 
part to the top of the handle. The wire or hemp is 
passed through the hole, and as the mallet is made 
MENDING BURSTED PIPES. 
to rotate around the pipe it lays the cord or wire in 
an even coil upon it. The wrapping may be laid 
tightly by pressing upon it as it enters tbe handle 
of the mallet, or by twisting it once around the 
same as it comes from the ball. When it is firmly 
bound, the end may be fastened in any secure 
manner, and the whole covered with a coating of 
the pitch and brick dust. These directions will 
apply to all sorts of pipes where the pressure is 
not very great; otherwise the wrapping will need 
to be made stronger to resist the greater pressure. 
Report on Insects Injurious to the Cot¬ 
ton Plant. —The Commissioner of Agriculture has 
appointed Prof. J. H. Comstock, of Cornell Uni¬ 
versity, and Prof. A. R. Grote, of Buffalo, N. Y., 
special agents to carry on observations and experi¬ 
ments in connection with insects injurious to the 
cotton plant. These gentlemen, together with sev¬ 
eral other local observers, who have been appointed 
in different parts of the cotton belt, will act under 
the direction of Prof. Riley, the Entomologist of 
the Department, who has prepared a circular letter 
of inquiry to be sent to correspondents throughout 
the South. From this we learn that it is the inten¬ 
tion of the Department to make an exhaustive 
report on the insects injurious to the great staple, 
and do for the South what the United States Ento¬ 
mological Commission has already done for the 
West. Such a report, strange to say, has never yet 
been made, and under Prof. Riley’s charge, we 
have every confidence that it will prove, like his 
other similar work, full, thorough, and reliable. 
A Home-made Wind-mill 
“ W. B. W.,” Mendon, Ill., sends a description 
of a home-made wind-mill. The manner of making 
it is as follows : Procure some 2-inch oak boards ; 
saw out a disk (a, fig. 1,) about 16 or 18 inches in 
diameter; make a square hole in the center 2x2 
inches; bolt the arms to this as shown. These 
must he of good, hard wood, about feet long 
by 2 x 2 inches thick, for an 8-foot wheel. Chamfer 
off one side, and screw on the crosspieces, 6, b; 
upper one 14 inches long, lower one S inches long. 
These must be put on at an angle, so as to set the 
wings diagonally to the wind. To these nail thin 
pine weather-boards, allowing the ends to extend a 
Fig. 1.—WIND-MILL ANB PUMP. 
little beyond the outer cross piece. After the 
wings are all bolted on to the center piece, bore a 
small hole through the end of each arm, and pass 
a stout wire through and around the entire wheel, 
taking a hitch around a nail driven in the end of 
each arm. For the standard or tower, saw out two 
wheels or disks of wood, making a hole four inches 
in diameter in each. Place these four feet apart, 
and nail stout slats all around, making a drum open 
at both ends, (this is shown at c, in fig. 1); four 
inches from the top of this, at d, place a collar, 
nailing it on securely. Now take a board five feet 
long, 1)4 foot wide, and two inches thick (fig. 2); 
make a hole in this to fit over the end of the drum 
on the collar; put another collar on top of this; 
fasten it securely, and we have the turn-table. 
To one end of this board put on boxing for the 
wind-mill shaft (see fig. 2). The shaft for the mill 
should be of hardwood, shaved or trimmed round, 
with smooth bearings left for it to work in ; but 
squared at the end, and fastened in the hole in the 
center of the wheel. To one end of the shaft at¬ 
tach a crank so as to give a 4-incli stroke (e, fig. 2); 
to this attach the pump-rod, which passes down 
through the drum, as shown by the dotted lines. 
For the vane, take a 2 x 4-inch scantling seven feet 
long; mortise the cross pieces as shown in fig. 1; 
make a frame, and cover with stout canvass or 
sheet iron. To stop the mill in case of a storm, 
turn the vane around at a right angle to the wheel, 
as shown by dotted lines in fig. 2. This greatly 
lessens the wind-resisting power. The whole appa¬ 
ratus may be held up on a tower by nailiug the ends 
of supports to the drum ; or by making a small, 
Fig. 2.— SHAFT, CRANK, TURN-TABLE, AND VANE. 
square-topped tower, and letting the drum down 
through a hole. Make a swivel in the connecting 
rod to the pump, to prevent twisting of the pitman. 
