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MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL 
WHEELER’S HORSE POWER, THRESHER AND SEPARATOR. 
For particulars relative to capacity, price, &:c., of these Machines, and where they can be obtained, see advertisement in this number of the New-Yorker 
J&uljanit Slits ^ Idiiitt 
SCIENTIFIC MEMOEANDA. 
The relative value of hard and soft wa¬ 
ter, is as three to two in favor of the latter. 
In washing, if it would cost eight shillings 
to wash with soft water, it would cost twelve 
shillings to use hard water, that is, in using 
common soap. 
A metre is a French measure for 3,281 
English feet. 
Homer mentions brass money as existing 
1184 B. C. The invention of it is inscribed 
to the Lydians. Money was used in Rome 
oV8 B. C. Iron money was used in Sparta 
and tin money was used in Britain when 
under the Romans. 
Every mass of alloyed gold is supposed 
to be divided into 24 parts; therefore when 
v.'e say 20 carats fine, we know there are 4 
parts of alloy in it The English standard 
of gold for watch cases is 18 carats of fine 
gold and 6 of copper or silver. 
A lunar day is 24 hours and 48 minutes; 
a sidereal day is 3 minutes 56 seconds less 
than the solar day. 
A circle contains 360 degrees, a degree 
60 minutes, a minute 60 seconds. A right 
angle contains 90 degrees. In France the 
circle is decimally divided into 400 degrees, 
a degree 100 minutes, a minute 100 sec¬ 
onds. 
A circle is 3 1-7 times its diameter, or 
more accurately, 3,1416 times. Multiply 
the diameter of a circle by 3 1-7, and the 
result is nearly its circumference. As 7 is 
to 22, so is the diameter to the circumfe¬ 
rence—is a good common rule. 
All coals are sold by weight in London; 
no measure is allowed. This is the same as 
in the United States. 
Bread in London is sold by the pound, 
and bakers are prohibited from selling in 
any other way. 
The cylindric foot (that is, a cylinder 1 
foot long and 1 foot in diameter) contains 
1357T7 cubic inches. 
A ball one foot in diameter contains 904-, 
78 cubic inches. 
There are 640 acres in one square mile, 
and there are 43,560 square feet in one 
acre. 
The facial angle is formed by a line 
drawn parallel to the bottom of the nose, 
with another drawn from the level of the 
upper jaw to the ridge of the frontal bone. 
In the European it is from 75 to 85°, in 
the negro 70°. 
The circulating blood of an ordinary man 
is 28 pounds; the brain weighs 3-|- poimds. 
The skeleton weighs about 14 lbs. 
better for that.) Make up your loaves, and 
place them in pans for baking; in a short 
time they will be light enough for the oven. 
The weather has a little to do with it; if 
cold then keep it in a warm place. 
Bread got up after the above rule, in my 
house, has called out the praises of a great 
many as the best bread they ever saw, and 
many have been instructed accordingly.— 
Wife says, I ought too add—put in enough 
salt into the potatoes to make them palata¬ 
ble, and this will salt the bread sufficiently. 
Yours, E. H. 
The mere substitution of one metal for 
another in a particular manufacture, if the 
new article is better, more useful or cheap¬ 
er than the old, is patentable. The making 
of the first earthen teapot as a substitute for 
a silver one, or vice versa, would be the le¬ 
gal subject of a patent, according to Curtis, 
but as Lord Abinger wittily sets it forth 
“ it would be a very extraordinary thing to 
say, that because all mankind have been ac¬ 
customed to eat soup with a spoon, a man 
could take out a patent because he says, you 
might eat peas with a spoon.” 
Judge Buller resolves the whole subject 
into the following dictum. “ If there be 
any thing material and new which is an im~ 
provement of the trade, that will be suffi¬ 
cient to support a patent.” —Scientific Am. 
j A CHAPTER ON BREAD-MAKING. 
^ Mr. Moore — Dear Sir: As your valua- 
) ble paper has contained some articles on mak- 
^ ing bread, I thought I would send you a 
: recipe, which, if followed, wall make as 
^ good bread as I want. But first let me tell 
. your good readers how to make the right 
> kind of yeast. This is the way my wife 
) has followed for a good many years, and at 
LIST OF PATENTS 
ISSUEP FROM THE UKITEU STATES PATENT OFFICE 
For the week ending July 23, 1850. 
To C. F. Brown, of Warren, R. I., for improved 
steering apparatus. 
To F. M. Butler, of New York, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in truss pads. 
To Wm. L. Chase, of Boston, Mass., for im¬ 
provement in fastening the shoes of hill-side plows. 
To Alex. Dickerson, of Newark, N. J., for im¬ 
provements in the method of making wrought iron 
directly from the ore. 
To J. E. Heath, of Warren, Ohio, for improve¬ 
ment in machines for raking and binding grain. 
To A. N. Henderson, of Buffalo, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in the application of electro-chemical 
printing in colors for taking ayes and noes. 
DESIG.VS. 
To J. H. Conklin A. W. Jones, of New 
York, N. Y., (Assignors to J. McGregor, Jr., of 
Wilton, N. Y.,) for design for stoves. 
To J. E. Owens, Jacob Ebert & E. G. Dyer, of 
Hamilton, Ohio, for design for stoves. 
To Amos Paul, of South New Market, N. H., 
for design for portable grates. 
present makes quite a “ commercial opera¬ 
tion ” of it by supplying the destitute. 
First she takes a tioo quart pan full of 
hops to about three quarts of water, and 
boils them, until the strength of the hops 
is fairly extracted; then strains out the wa¬ 
ter and adds sufficient flour to make a thick 
batter; then sets it by to cool. When near¬ 
ly cold add a sufficient quantity of yeast, 
(about 3 yeast cakes if on hand, or soft yeast 
will do)—then set it by for the night; in 
the morning this will be light. You then 
take Indian meal and make a large dish-ket¬ 
tle full of what we call “ hasty-pudding,” 
and when this is nearly cool, put the yeast 
as prepared into it, and stir it well. Set it 
by until this foments well, then stir in meal 
until it becomes thick enough to roll out 
like “ short-cake dough,” about ■§• of an inch 
thick; then with a biscuit cutter you cut 
them out and spread on a smooth board, 
and dry them in the shade, turning them 
over occasionally. When fairly dry, put in¬ 
to a bag and hang them up for use. • I 
have knoAvn this kind of yeast perfectly 
good when six months old, and my wife 
has the credit of “ beating the beater ” in 
making good bread. 
And now for the bread making. For a 
batch of three loaves, take about ten com¬ 
mon sized potatoes; peal (or pare) them, 
cut them into slices, and boil them well; 
pour off the water, and then mash them 
fine with a fork. Then with cold water and 
flour you make a batter; tliis will cool it 
sufficient to add the yeast, (which should 
be one of the above cakes, broke up fine, 
and dissolved in a little cold water.) When 
it is well stirred together, set it by over 
night; in the morning, take your flour and 
sift it, (this gets out all lumps,) and then 
pour in your batter, {if light enough,) and 
then knead up your dough, being careful 
to work the fiour in sloiv, (it will be the 
PRESERVING FRUITS, 
The Horticulturist contains the folloAving 
mode of preserving fruits Avhich may be of 
use to housekeepers: — 
“ Send to your tinsmith and get a suffi¬ 
cient number of tin canisters, very careful¬ 
ly and tightly made. They should be of 
uniform size; and the shape preferred here 
is seven inches high by five in diameter— 
uniform cylinders. 
Select the fairest fruit—peaches, straw¬ 
berries, or Avhat you please. It should be 
just ripe, but not past the mature stage.— 
Fill the canisters, place the tin lids on their 
tops, and solder them very carefully. On¬ 
ly a small hole, the size of a pin should be 
left for the escape of air. 
The next point is to drive the air out of 
the canisters of fruit, to prevent its decay. 
In order to do this, take a broad boiler-pan, 
Avith a flat bottom, place the canisters in it 
and fill it Avith boiling Avater Avithin about 
three-fourths of an inch of the tops of the 
canisters. The boiler being over a gentle 
fire, the Avater should now be made to boil. 
This will drive the air in each canister 
through the small hole left in the top, as 
soon as the temperature approaches 208; 
and in order to know precisely Avhen it is 
all expelled, you must drop a foAv drops of 
Avater upon this hole. When the bubbles 
of air cease rising through these drops of 
water, the air is all expelled, and then you 
may pass a dry cloth over the hole, and let 
a drop of solder fall upon it. This seals the 
canister up hermetically, so that the fruit 
will remain unchanged for a couple of years 
or longer. The immersion of the cans in 
the boiling Avater does not impart the slight¬ 
est taste of their having been cooked to the 
fruit 
The canisters of fruit should be left in a 
cool place. When Avanted for use, unsol¬ 
der the tops Avitli a hot iron, and the fresh 
fruit is ready,—having been perfectly pre¬ 
served without the aid of sugar or brandy. 
Yours, W.” 
The idle call is a heaAy tax, Avhere time 
is counted gold. 
j NEW LIFE PRESERVING MATTRESSES. 
A series of experiments have been made 
in the river Clyde, Scotland, Avith mattresses 
Avhich have been recently patented in that 
country by a Mr. R W. Laurie, of Glasgow, 
as “Life Preservers.” They are made of 
water-proof materials, not on the principle 
of air-tight tubes or cushions, Avhich are lia 
ble to be destroyed by the smallest punc¬ 
ture, but on the principle of air cushions and 
buoyant materials combined, for although a 
rent or puncture should be made, the mat¬ 
tresses Avill still float. They are made of a 
series of tubes of vulcanized india rubber 
stuffed Avith granulated cork, to prevent 
them from collapsing and from external in¬ 
jury. The Avay in Avhich the mattresses 
Avere made Avas to have three or four Avater- 
proof tubes filled Avith air and partially stuff¬ 
ed with small pieces of cork. These air 
pipes are connected together, and stuffed 
around the sides and over the top and bot¬ 
tom Avith layers of cotton avooI, (which is 
almost water-proof,) and over the whole is 
a covering of vulcanized india rubber, gutta 
percha, or any Avater-proof material. On 
the sides are attached strong cords to hold 
on. The surface is quite smooth, and it is 
as easy to recline on one of them as on a 
hair mattress. The invention is applicable 
to footstools, pilloAvs and other kinds of fur¬ 
niture belonging to steamboats or sailing 
vessels. We commend this invention to our 
steamboat and ship companies. Such kinds 
of life-preserving apparatus should be used 
on ail sailing vessels. Captain Seely of this 
city has an apparatus of his OAvn invention 
similar to this, which we haA'e seen tested 
as a life-preserving raft, and boat, with per¬ 
fect success. — Scientific American. 
PATENTABLE SUBJECTS. 
A MERE change of form is not justly re¬ 
garded as the subject of a patent, neither is 
the simple application of an old thing to do 
something new. Still the question, “What 
amount of invention is essential to support 
a patent ?” is hedged round Avith some ob¬ 
scurity. “ The thing to be patented,” says 
Judge Story, “ must be neto — the party 
must have found out, created, or construct¬ 
ed some art, machine, Ac., or improvement 
on some art or machine which had not been 
preA’iously knoAvn by any other person. It 
makes no matter Avhether the thing be com¬ 
plicated or simple, whether the result of la¬ 
borious study, or by an instantaneous flash 
of the mind, the laAv looks to the fact, not 
the process by Avhich it was accomplished. 
The first question to be asked, in cases of 
this nature is whether the thing has been 
done before. In the case of a machine, 
whether it has been substantially construct¬ 
ed before; or an improvement, Avhether it is 
a neAv combination and has ever been ap¬ 
plied to such a machine before. If it is 
new, if it is useful, if it has not been known 
or used before, it constitutes an invention 
within the very terms of the act, and with¬ 
in the very sense and intendment of the 
legislature. I am utterly at a loss to give 
any other interpretation to the act.” These 
are the Avords of a great jurist on this sub¬ 
ject, and they are clear as a sunbeam, yet 
after all he leaves room for the discussion 
of a very important point, viz., “ Avhether it 
is substantially a new combination,” or only 
a colorable evasion. 
The gentle transfution of mind into mind 
is the secret of sympathy. It is never un¬ 
derstood, but ever felt; and where it is al¬ 
lowed to.exert its power, it fills and extends 
intelectual life far beyond the measure of 
ordinary conception. 
Counteraction— a balancing of nature 
for the prevention of excess, whether in 
morals or mechanics. 
