VALUABLE IMPROVEMENT FOR FASTENING CARRIAGE-HOUSE DOORS. 
217 
they are too broad at the extremity, the orifice 
is often so large that the cow cannot retain her 
milk after the bag begins to be full and heavy. 
The udder should be of nearly equal size be¬ 
fore and behind; or, if there be any difference, 
it should be broader and fuller before than be¬ 
hind. 
“The quantity of milk given by some of these 
cows is very great. It is by no means uncom¬ 
mon for them, in the beginning of the summer, 
to yield 30 quarts a day; there are rare instan¬ 
ces of there having given 36 quarts, but the av¬ 
erage may be estimated at 22 to 24 quarts.” 
VALUABLE IMPROVEMENT FOR FASTENING 
CARRIAGE-HOUSE DOORS. 
Mr. Joseph Sayre, a young farmer of Orange 
county, New York, is entitled to the credit of 
this invention ; one which entirely obviates all 
trouble of putting in and taking out a cross bar 
or upright post to hold the double doors. 
Carriage-Door Fastening.—Fig. 47. 
The improvement consists of a triangular 
frame, the upright of which should be in length 
equal to the width of one door, and the cap 
about the same length, with two braces. This 
frame is hinged, one end to the cap of the doors, 
and the other upon abeam, at right angles with¬ 
in the room, so that when in place, the upright 
occupies the position of the upper half of a post, 
to which the doors are hooked or fastened in 
any other way. From the inner corner of one 
door, a cord runs to a pulley in the centre of the 
cap, and along that to another pulley near the 
end, and then to the lower end of the upright; 
now, as the door opens, the cord draws the frame 
up to the cap, entirely out of the way; then 
throw the inner brace off the hook, and it holds 
the door open. As the door closes, the frame 
comes back to its place, and the doors are made 
fast, just as they would be to a post. 
FINE APPLES. 
We had the pleasure of a call, last May, from 
Mr. Albert Chapman, of Middlbury, Vt., who 
brought us specimens of some very fine apples 
raised by him; all of which were of a more 
spicy flavor and solid flesh of their kinds, than 
those raised in the richer soils of the west. 
Among these, were the “ Baldwin,” which at 
present bears the highest price in market, and 
is among the most profitable apples grown ; the 
“Roxbury russet,” also highly profitable; the 
“ sweet russet,” which we devoured with such 
gusto in the spring of the year, when a school 
boy, on holiday visits to our grandfather’s farm 
in Old Hampshire, Massachusetts. It is unac¬ 
countable to us why this delicious apple is not 
more cultivated in this vicinity. We have 
heard it objected that the skin was tough and 
the flesh shrivelly; nothing can be more untrue 
of these samples of Mr. Chapman’s. We know 
of no other sweet winter apple that keeps so well. 
We have often eaten them as late as July, more 
luscious to our taste than sugar plums. 
--- 
Absorbing Power of Peat and Charcoal.—■ 
Dr. Anderson, chemist to the Highland Agricul¬ 
tural Society of Scotland, has lately tried sev¬ 
eral experiments with peat, both raw and re¬ 
duced to charcoal, fie finds that the charcoal 
is a powerful deodoriser, (remover of smell,) 
but not an absorber of ammonia. The greatest 
amount of ammonia he found to have been tak¬ 
en up by filtering putrid urine through it, was 
-i- of one per cent. The peat itself, when dried 
at 212° F., was found to absorb 2 per cent, of 
ammonia, while still dry to the touch. After 
exposure to the air in a thin layer, for 15 days, 
it retained 1£ per cent. This shows the inval¬ 
uable properties of the raw article; and if the 
results of Dr. Anderson are correct, we must 
give up the use of peat charcoal, as an absorb¬ 
ent of ammonia. 
An Infallible Remedy for Rot in Potatoes. 
—So say several old practical farmers in this 
vicinity. “When you drop the seed, put one 
pint of slacked lime on it, in each hill, and then 
cover.” 
We beg leave to claim a patent right on the 
above, as we have repeatedly published it in 
the Agriculturist, and very few have yet prac¬ 
tised it. We suppose the reason was it got into 
a book , and from that moment became valueless. 
To Kill Lice on Poultry. —Boil onions sev¬ 
eral hours, thicken the water with meal, and 
feed to the poultry. 
