LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE.-NO. 2 . 
177 
number of others thrive there better than any¬ 
where else. 
The soils suitable for the maintenance of the 
various kinds of vegetable productions may be 
brought under the five following heads: 1. Primi¬ 
tive soils. These' affect vegetables mechanically, 
according to their different degrees of moVeability 
or tenacity. In coarse, sandy surfaces, plants 
spring up easily, and are as easily blown about 
and destroyed. In fine, dry, sandy soils, plants, 
with very delicate roots, prosper; a similar earth, 
but moist in the growing season, is suited to bulbs. 
2. Mixed or secondary soils include not only pri¬ 
mitive earths, but vegetable matters ; not only the 
medium through which perfect plants obtain their 
food, but that food itself. 3. Aquatic soils are 
such as are either wholly or partially inundated 
with water, and are fitted to produce such plants 
only as are called aquatic. 4. Earthy soils are 
such as emerge above the water and constitute the 
surface of the habitable globe, that is everywhere 
covered with vegetable productions. 5. Vegetable 
soils are such as are formed of vegetating or de¬ 
cayed plants themselves, to some of which the 
seeds of certain other plants are found to adhere, as 
being the only soil fitted to their germination and 
development. 
Light is a body which has very considerable in¬ 
fluence on the structure of vegetables, and some 
also on their habitation. The fungi can live and 
grow with little or no light, while green plants re¬ 
quire light, though of different degrees of intensity. 
Some require shady places, and hence the vegetable 
inhabitants of caves, and the plants which grow in 
the shade of forests ; others, and by far the greater 
number, require the direct action of the sun, and 
grow in exposed situations. L. T. Talbot. 
LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE.—No. 2. 
Moving heavy Rocks .—Everybody knows, that is 
acquainted with digging heavy rocks, that a com¬ 
mon iron bar is too short to afford lever power suf¬ 
ficient to break them up from their earthy beds ; 
and the common heavy wooden lever will not bite 
so as to hold its grip, especially if the rock at the 
point is hard and smooth, and withal a little round¬ 
ish. This trouble is easily prevented, and the 
process is as follo'ws :—Take a good stick of tim¬ 
ber of a length and size to your liking, and after 
giving it the proper shape, let your blacksmith take 
a wide bar of iron and weld on to one side of one 
end of it, and the whole width of the bar, a nar¬ 
row piece of good steel; let him then turn it 
over on his anvil, and with a very sharp chisel, 
trim the end so as to leave the side on which the 
steel was laid, quite sharp. This sharp edge is 
then turned up a little, say about three-eighths of an 
inch, like a tooth-key. This end is then finished, all 
but the hardening part, which your blacksmith will 
please to remember after finishing the other part. 
The next thing is to cut off a piece of your bar 
some eight inches or more in length, and draw 
down the end not steeled quite thin. You may 
then have three or more holes punched, of a size 
that will receive some small bolts, of strength suf¬ 
ficient to hold this piece on one side of the end of 
your wooden lever. Three-eighths of an inch in 
diameter for these bolts will be about right. These 
bolts ought to have large heads on the under side, 
and be settled into the wood, so that your lever 
shall be smooth and fair; and the same precaution 
must be used on the upper side where they rivet 
down on the iron; and for this purpose it would 
be well to have the holes in the iron a little the 
largest on the upper side, so that the bolt would 
rivet down even with the surface. It is now to 
have a temper to the biting edge, then firmly fas¬ 
tened to your lever, and it is ready for use. You 
will remember, also, that such an instrument is 
worth preserving as much as your plow or harrow; 
you will therefore use it carefully, taking care of 
it when not in use ; and one thus fitted and taken 
care of, will last for years, and will hang to a rock 
like a tooth-key to a rebellious grinder. 
There is another small contrivance I have some¬ 
times seen used in turning over heavy rocks with 
cattle, which works well. Instead of hooking your 
chain directly into the ring or staple of the yoke, 
you fasten it to the axle between two cart-wheels 
(the cart body being first taken off) and your cattle 
draw by the tongue attached to these wheels. It 
is to be remembered that the wheels are backed 
nearly astride of the rock, so that the chain pulls 
very different from what it does as usually fastened. 
This plan is of service only in turning over flattish 
rocks. If the rock is round or square, nothing 
would be gained; or if flat, if it stands nearly per¬ 
pendicular, the result is the same. 
Shocking Corn. — There is a practice getting 
much in fashion, in this vicinity, of shocking corn, 
which I like; and as it is very simple, any one can 
prove it to his own satisfaction. It is simply 
this,—take a smooth pole about ten feet long, and 
with an inch and a half auger bore two holes near 
one end, and put in two legs about three feet in 
length, standing astride like two of the legs of a 
saw-horse. These legs hold up one end of the 
pole, while the other rests on the ground. You 
may then bore with the same auger, or a smallei 
one will do as well, some five or six holes, begin¬ 
ning about three feet from these legs, at a foot 
apart or just as you find convenient. These last 
holes must be bored so that when a smooth rod is 
pushed through one, it lies horizontally, and it 
forms right angles with the pole through which it 
passes. The horizontal cross-rod may be about 
three feet' long; and when made and placed in 
one of these holes, your instrument is done. Now 
for its use. Instead of binding the prostrate corn, 
you take it up in your arms and set it firmly against 
your pole in one of the angles formed by the cross¬ 
rod ; and as there are four angles, this process is re¬ 
peated until the shock is formed. The top is then 
turned down as usual, and bound with a corn-stalk 
or anything more convenient. Your three foot rod 
is now drawn out, and then the ten-foot pole, and 
leaves the shock erect without any other ceremony. 
Salt and Tar. —As every farmer usually has 
these articles, it may be well for him to know their 
value. My experience has taught me the follow¬ 
ing lessons; and first, salt and tar will cure wens 
or tumors on cattle. I once had an ox that had a 
tumor on his neck, a few inches back of his jaw, 
and apparently attached to his windpipe. Some¬ 
times he appeared to breathe with some difficulty > 
and the wen had increased to the size of a goose egg 
