DOE? WAXES. IN RUNNING THROUGH LEADEN PIPES BECOME UNFIT FOR USE ? 
215 
butter was madeIt is presumed it must have 
been inserted through inadvertence on the part of 
the persons preparing the notices. But from what¬ 
ever reason it was inserted, its effect has been, be¬ 
yond all question, to prevent persons from offering 
proposals, who otherwise might have done so. 
Inquiries have been made at the rooms of the soci¬ 
ety for information as to Irish rose butter , but 
no person in this section of the state could give 
any information on the subject, and from the cor¬ 
respondence from Ireland, it seems equally difficult 
to give any account of it in Ireland itself. A letter 
from Cork, where the butter for the British navy 
is purchased and inspected in open market, says: 
“ The term c rose butter' we know not the deriva¬ 
tion of.’ 7 u There is only one description shipped 
here, and all is brought in for inspection to a pub¬ 
lic market in this city. 77 
A correspondence was opened with Brown, 
Shipley & Co., of Liverpool, an extensive mercan¬ 
tile house engaged in the American trade, and let¬ 
ters have been received from them on the subject of 
Irish rose butter , and of the method of manu¬ 
facturing butter for the British navy. This is 
manufactured chiefly in the counties of Cork, Lim¬ 
erick, and Kerry, in Ireland. 
Extract of a letter received by the firm above re¬ 
ferred to, from Clonmel, Ireland, dated July, 1847, 
answering their inquiry about Irish butter ;~“We 
are this morning in receipt of your favor of 29th 
ult., and in reply, we give you all the information 
we can, as to how butter is manufactured in this 
neighborhood. Our best makers have large, airy, 
cool dairies, and churn twice or three times a week, 
which depends on the heat of the weather. Cau¬ 
tion must be used not to allow the cream to be too 
long in the tubs and pans, or until it gets sour, as 
the butter will then be inferior and what is termed 
cheesy. The buttermilk must be well washed out 
of the butter, and when salted, be packed firm 
into the firkin. These, -with great cleanliness, are 
the principal things to be looked after in the man¬ 
ufacture, otherwise your butter will not keep its 
quality. The quantity of fine salt is 3 lbs. to the 
firkin, containing about 65 lbs. The butter in this dis¬ 
trict is made expressly for the London and north of 
England markets; in the former, at certain periods 
of the year, it takes precedence of the Dutch. We 
never heard of rose butter , but we know one of 
the Waterford houses brands the best quality he 
ships with a rose. The navy is supplied with 
butter exclusively from Cork, where a larger quan¬ 
tity of salt is used in the manufacture, and where 
it is made up expressly for foreign exportation.”— 
Transactions , for 1847. 
Spent Tan Bark may be Employed as a Ma¬ 
nure. —This substance can easily be dried and 
converted into charcoal, in a similar manner as re¬ 
commended for charring peat. It may then be 
mixed with night soil, answering both the purpose 
of drying and rendering it fit for carriage, at the 
same time absorbing all the ammonia, &c. It may 
also be mixed with urine, or with animal manure of 
any kind for similar purposes. Tan bark, in an 
uncharred state, is of no immediate value as a ma¬ 
nure, in consequence of the gallic and other acids 
it contains. 
DOES WATER IN RUNNING THROUGH LEAD¬ 
EN PIPES BECOME POISONOUS AND UNFIT 
FOR USE I 
In the March number of the Agriculturist, page 
101, it is stated on the authority of the “ Christian 
Citizen, 77 that several persons of Worcester, Mass., 
have suffered, during the past year, from the use 
of water pumped from wells through leaden pipes. 
I notice also that lead pipe is advertised for sale in 
your May and June numbers for hydrants, pumps, 
&c. As I am desirous to put up a water ram on 
my place, I wish to know whether there is any 
mode of preparing lead pipe, by covering, or other¬ 
wise, so as to render it secure from the danger 
referred to above. R. 
Merrimack Co., N. H. June 2d, 1848. 
The poisonous nature of lead, when imbibed by 
man, or animals, is too well known to require a 
lengthened description here. For it has been 
proved, by direct experiment, that pure water, con¬ 
taining much atmospheric air, carbonic acid, and 
some other foreign substances, has the power of 
corroding it and dissolves the newly-formed oxide, 
and that, the longer water thus contaminated, re¬ 
mains in contact with the lead, more especially if 
the air has free access, the more Lead will be dis¬ 
solved, and the water, of course, will become more 
poisonous. The leaves of trees, and in fact, any 
other organic matter, in a state of decay, have a 
tendency, more or less, to induce the same effect. 
But river, well, or spring water, containing, in solu¬ 
tion, - 3 oT(foth part of phosphate of soda, or iodide 
of potassium, exerts no such influence. The pipes, 
in contact with such water, gradually become 
lined with a superficial film of an insoluble salt of 
lead, which adheres tenaciously, and no further 
change takes place. Many other neutral salts act 
in a similar manner, among which are the car¬ 
bonates, phosphates, sulphates, chlorides, and 
iodides; their power being in proportion to the 
relative insolubility of the compound which their 
acid is capable of forming with lead. Hence, ordi¬ 
nary water, which abounds in mineral salts, may 
be safely conducted through leaden pipes; but 
distilled and rain water, or water that contains 
scarcely any saline matter, such as often occurs in 
wells, springs, streams, and lakes, in a purely gran¬ 
ite region, speedily corrode and dissolve a portion 
of lead whenever brought into contact with it. In 
all such cases, leaden pumps, cisterns, and pipes 
should be coated with tin, inside and out, which 
will render them perfectly secure from injurious 
effects. 
We should have observed, that the poison of lead 
differs very materially from most other substances 
called poisonous. It is not what is denominated an 
active poison, and is not accompanied by any par¬ 
ticular symptoms, except when introduced into the 
system in considerable quantities. On the contrary, 
the salts of lead may be ranked among those insi¬ 
dious substances, which are taken without any pe¬ 
culiarity of taste or smell, but which, when gradu¬ 
ally introduced into the system, by minute quanti¬ 
ties at a time, will eventually produce paralysis, 
swollen fingers and wrists, followed by that dread¬ 
ful disease, termed the “painters’ cholic,” and finally 
premature death. 
