FILTRATION UPWARDS, ETC. 
180 
FORK vs. BACON—QUERIES—MANUFACTURED 
ARTICLES FOR THE SOUTH. 
I beg of some one of your correspondents, who 
are in the habit of being particular, to give through 
your journal, some information relative to pork 
and bacon. Suppose a hog weighing 300 lbs. be 
cut up, as is usual, with the spare rib and back 
bone taken out, and the feet taken for souse, what 
amount of bacon ought I to have 1 If pork, when 
killed and dressed, be worth cash 3| cents per 
pound, what ought the bacon made from it to sell 
at, so as to pay expenses of smoking, or, calculat¬ 
ing the spare rib and back bone to be worth, say 2 
cents per pound 1 In putting up a surplus of pork, is 
it advisable to make the sides into lard, if it be 
worth some time of the year as much as hams 1 
What amount of lard ought 100 lbs. of good corn- 
fed pork, (sides,) make % 
While I am asking questions, I beg to broach 
another matter, though this greasy subject is quite 
as important. Your readers, north, may know, 
that we of the south, use a large quantity of flax 
thread in making up of negro clothing, cotton 
sacks, &c. This thread is sometimes bleached 
until the strength is nearly exhausted, and it is 
very uneven. It costs from $1 to $1.25 per pound. 
I ask, cannot a stronger cotton thread be made, 
giving us more yards of thread, and at the same 
cost, or less ? (a) I tried to estimate the number of 
threads in a pound, by counting the skeins; but 
they varied so much that I found it quite trouble¬ 
some. I found 148 threads in the ninth of a 
pound, which measured 61 inches, and in length 
by the pound, 2,257 yards. This cost here $1. 
Each spool of thread is warranted to carry 200 
yards. Thus, a dozen spools will certainly make 
the number of yards in a pound of flax thread, and 
the spools sell at 62| cents per dozen. If the thread 
were put up in hanks, I judge that 2,200 yards 
could not cost here, profits and all, 50 cents per 
pound. We require a longer and stouter thread 
than comes out on spools, say Coates 1 thread, No. 
2, (on one end,) is not large enough. We use, 
No. 2 needles, J. Hill & Son’s “ sharps.” I think 
that the right kind of cotton thread would sell 
readily, and throw out of market the flax thread. 
We used to make sewing thread; but that univer¬ 
sal Yankee nation has made our wives and ser¬ 
vants forget all work, and they ought to give us 
the kind of article we need. 
We want, also, an article of socks, (half hose,) 
to wear in the country and with boots, either 
colored or unbleached. The thread should be spun 
almost as large as for Lowells No. 2. The object 
is, to have a stout article, as the socks so made 
and sent off to us, would not last that long, if they 
were not protected from the air. I really cannot 
see the reason why a strong thick pair of socks 
cannot be made and sent here for 15 to 20 cents a 
pair, as well as a yard of Lowell at 10 cents. 
There is some little sewing, but the less quantity 
of spinning, weaving, and the less quantity of 
cotton, with its freight, &c., would go much to 
counterbalance. 
And lastly, the next time you go to Shoedom, 
do beg the proprietors to send a pair of shoes out 
of every box, that will last a man to get home, if 
he rides. I have had a pair of shoes for my farm 
work last me a year. They cost me $2.50; 
but usually coarse shoes will not last much over 
one month, and I have known them wear out clean 
in two weeks. Not being able to get shoes of the 
above kind, I had a pair made, cash price $4 only, 
and the kind we call brogans. A Querist. 
(a) Thread can be made from cotton that will be 
stronger than rotten flax, but not one fourth so 
strong as sound flax. 
FILTRATION UPWARDS. 
In most countries of the globe, as well as at 
sea, it frequently happens that people have to resort 
to the use of water obtained from the clouds, in 
cisterns or otherwise, or from muddy streams or 
ponds, which is often turbid, ropy, or fetid, and 
consequently unfit for cooking, washing, or to 
drink, before it is filtered, or strained. 
An apparatus, that appears to possess the ad¬ 
vantages of being easily and cheaply cleaned, when 
foul, and which will filter water, in moderate 
quantities, in a perfect manner, may be formed by 
the arrangement represented in the diagram below. 
Fig. 46. Ascensive Filter. 
Explanation. —The letter a, denotes the tub or 
box for receiving the water to be filtered, and com¬ 
municates with the lower part of the apparatus by 
means of a gutta-percha or tin tube ; 6, d, an up¬ 
right cylinder, divided at c, by a stratum of charcoal 
and clean sand, six inches thick, enclosed between 
two linen or cotton strainers stretched over hoops; 
e, a cock for drawing off the filtrated water for 
use; /, another cock for discharging the sediment 
from the lower chamber when foul. By pouring 
water into the tub a, it will descend through the 
tube into the lower part of the cylinder b, and 
then percolate upwards through the charcoal and 
strainers at c, into the upper chamber cZ, in which 
state it will be perfectly limpid and pure. 
