MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
) monizing with the beautiful in the surround- 
) ing scenery. These things perhaps carry to 
( the mind of the unitiated, an idea of a great- 
) ly enhanced expense; but such is not by any 
? necessity tho fact in regard to them. The 
( change is made by an alteration of a very 
S few particulars. One is the overhanging 
) cave with its attendant bracket, which now 
( is thought essential in almost evory house 
( of any pretentions, where the innovator has 
; penetrated. Another is tho stylo of the 
c veranda, with its supports. These, instead 
s of the huge and unsightly columns so am- 
) bitiously coveted in former years, consist 
r now of simple standards of somo neat and 
) lightly wrought patterns. Another is tho 
) style of tho windows with their frames; an- 
| other is tho frequent and expressive use of 
> gable's breaking up tho monotony and fur- 
) nishing occasion for moro or less of orna- 
> ment. when it can best bo used ; another, is 
| tho change of color. From tho uniform 
> and glaring white, wo have traveled thro’ 
> a sea of dingy browns and hideous brindles, 
| till we have at least got among quiet nou- 
> tral heus, which all aro bound to love as 
soon as we come to know them. That tho 
subject will now take care of itself, with the 
hold it has on the public mind, wo have no 
doubt. 
The Merino, a distinct species of Sheep. 
The JVool Grower and Stock Register 
for January, has ‘ A few Words on Sheep 
Breeding” from Mr. Peters, which we com¬ 
mend to tho attention of every farmer in¬ 
terested in tho subject: 
There is a great diverisity of opinion on the 
subject of stock breeding, and the practice of 
sheep breeders is as various as their opinions. It 
has been my endeavor through the W ool Grower 
to get up a system in this country that would 
eventuate to the good of all. As a people we are 
too pfbne to depend upon our own notions, with¬ 
out searching to find whether they are right or 
wrong. And there being no concert of action 
among ourselves we are more often wrong than 
right. 
I have always contended that the Merino sheep 
is a distinct species, and that it has existed for 
more than two thousand years, as a fine wooled 
sheep, possessing certain distinct characteristics 
which do not exist in any other breed, and cannot 
be transmitted to any other by any length of 
breeding which is like to be followed in this or 
any other country. Attempts have been made at 
different periods, and in various countries, to 
improve native flocks by an yffusiow of the Merino 
blood, but there is no record to show that there 
has ever been a permanent and valuable improve¬ 
ment made. On the contrary, the result of all 
such attempts has becif*disappointment. And 
any man who has well and carefully studied the 
habits and characters of the Merino and its history, 
cannot well be deceived in the sheep when shown 
to him. 
Incalculable mischief has been done in this 
country by an attempt to improve Merinos by 
crossing with other breeds. The mischief will be 
more apparent years lienee than now. And the 
time will come when the few who are now breast¬ 
ing the popular delusion and keeping their flocks 
pure and uncoutaminated, will reap a rich reward, 
not only in the sale of their sheep, but in the 
thanks of the country. I am very glad that there 
are a few men who arc above all mercenary con¬ 
siderations, and who have the heart to practice 
what their good sense teaches them is natural, 
even at a present loss. 
There can be no real and permanent improve¬ 
ment made in crossing the Merino with the French 
Merino, or with any other breeds. If you wish 
to prosper -with your sheep, keep the breeds as 
pure as possible, and keep breeding from and to 
the best. If the French Merino be a valuable 
breed, keep it pufq; do not cross it with any other. 
That it is a pure Merino is not claimed by any 
person who knows the sheep and its history. 
That it may be a most useful sheep for this 
country time must determine. It is not for me to 
say aught on the subject. What I most wish to 
urge upon sheep breeders, is the very great impor¬ 
tance of keeping their breeds separate. If you 
have good Merinos, keep them so by careful 
breeding. If you have good French Merinos, 
keep them pure ; do not mix them. If you put 
the breeds together you will get a breed partaking 
of the bad qualities of each,—a hybrid which will 
depart wider and wider from the good points of 
each breed by each remove. 
The importance of pure blood is felt now all 
over the Union ; and any man who can show a 
clean pedigree from the Humphrey or Jarvis 
importations, would find a ready sale for all his 
sheep at very high prices. I very much doubt 
whether there be any such in the Union. There 
may be purer blood in some localities than others, 
but there is none that has not been mingled with 
sonic other than pure Merino. The Saxon cross 
when the blood was pure, was not so detrimental 
as where the cross has been made out of the race; 
for the Saxon is a Merino, and crossing does not 
contaminate the blood by introducing coarse or 
native blood along with it. 
The next few- years arc to be of great impor¬ 
tance in sheep breeding, and I am most anxious 
that progress should be made in perfecting our 
best breeds in the manner which I have herein 
indicated. p. 
Carbon. —Carbonaceous matter in somo 
form is nocossary in all soils. In somo it < 
arises from tho decay of groon crops: for tho ; 
result is carbon, (charcoal) as thoroughly as if 
burnod in a close vessel. Part of the results 
of decaying manures exist in soils as carbon. 
Old charcoal hoarths, charcoal dust from 
locomotives, and all other sources, are valu- i 
able to supply this desideratum to the soil. ■ 
►Soils aro retentive of manures, only from ; 
the presence of carbon or alumina.— Work- : 
ing Farmer. 
drtjmrfr mxh fekn. 
PLUMS FOE GENERAL CULTIVATION. 
The American Pomological Convention 
at their last annual session in Philadelphia, 
held somo interesting discussions on tho 
different varieties of fruit and their adapta¬ 
tion to different sections of the country. 
Wo have already named the pears, and now 
give a list of tho plums recommended for 
general cultivation. 
Tho “ McLaughlin” plum was highly ro- 
commended by several gentlemen from 
Maine, as almost an improvement on the 
“Green Gage;” being larger in size, easily 
raised, and a thrifty and regular grower. It 
is. however, not as delicate and fine flavor¬ 
ed, and was left on tho list of plums that 
promise well. 
“ Prince’s Yellow Gage,” an early, large, 
sweet, but not juicy plum was recommended 
for general cultivation, as also “ Lawrence’s 
Favorite” a plum of excellent flavor, the 
trees good bearers and growers. Tho 
“ Early Morocco” was mentioned as a very 
large plum, and a New York gentleman re¬ 
commended tho “Imperial Ottoman,” the 
“Hudson Gage,” “Coo’s lato Red,” and tho 
“Blue Imperatrice.” 
In the revised list of “Fruits worthy of 
general cultivation” we find in addition to 
tho above tho “ Bleecker’s,” “ Frost,” “Pur¬ 
ple” and “Green Gages” and the “ Jefferson,” 
tho “ Washington,” and tho “Purple Favo¬ 
rite.” 
NOTES FOE JANUARY. 
The Horticulturist can do something in 
January and what he can do, he should do 
early as possible. Have you protected 
half-hardy plants, and shut out mice and 
rabbits ? If not, it may not yet be too late; 
the sun kills, not the frost, that is only tho 
proximate cause of death—the sudden thaw¬ 
ing being the acting and immediate cause ; 
and mice and rabbits will not gnaw trees, 
and eat plants as long as they can get bet¬ 
ter food. 
Of all out door protection to tender 
plants and shrubs, evergreen boughs of the 
resinous conifers, are tho safest and tho 
best, because they neither heat nor mold 
nor smother the plants by packing too close¬ 
ly, nor afford an agreeable shelter to ver¬ 
min. Plants must have air, as well as 
animals. Dry loaves aro also a tolerable 
protection, but perhaps dry rotten wood is 
bettor, and swamp inoss bettor than either. 
Prairie grass of tho coarser kinds, may be 
thrown over all,to keop out the rain, whoro 
broad boards, or barrels, tubs, or boxes are 
not at hand. 
A fruit tree, whoso fruit buds aro apt to 
winter kill, can bo protected by a very thin 
screen of long straw, or mats, or boards, &c. 
Try it with your apricots, nectarines, and 
peaches—rest assured it will do, if timely, 
and perhaps yet. Leave an occasional 
shock of corn, or place a few ears, under 
hay or straw in the garden, nursery, and 
orchard, and you will have all the mice at 
command; but there is no need of your 
feeding them all winter, and wo need not 
tell you how to treat them, when snug in 
their dry warm quarters. 
Rabbits travel miles, and a rabbit-tight 
board or picket fenco is the surest protec¬ 
tion, but if you keep a dog, teach him to 
hunt them. Boys, as well as dogs, like this 
sport, and rabbits aro nice wholesome food. 
A cono of earth, piled around the stem of 
an orchard tree, is a good protection often¬ 
times. and the early removealin the fall, of 
grass and weeds, and litter, is positively a 
necessity, where mice and rabbits aro plen¬ 
tiful—they both like the bark of fruit trees, 
and tho stems and evergreen foligao of 
many plants. 
Get out and clean and label any seeds 
you may have gathered and left in tho 
rough. Look at your dahlia tubers, if in 
tho root house or cellar, and cut away any 
portion of the tuber that has began to rot. 
Remember that tho new shoots of the dah¬ 
lia come from tho crown or point of junc¬ 
tion between the neck of the tuber itself.— 
Dahlia roots should be kept as dry as con 
sistent, and at an even temperature, if pos¬ 
sible, and always above the freezing point. 
...Take cuttings of hardy shrubs whenever 
you can get them, and choico scions too, 
though it is best to cut them in mild woath- 
er, to avoid injuring the parent treo, or 
shrub. Bury your cuttings in dry earth, in 
tho cellar, or pack them in a closo box, with 
damp (not wot,) moss from tho swamp, or 
i.i sawdust. 
Be very careful to tie up firmly, aud la¬ 
bel instantly and plainly, every lot of scions 
as they aro cut, and you will thus avoid 
mistakes and disappointments. Nursery¬ 
men in particular, cannot bo too careful in 
this connection ; a groat share of tho mis¬ 
nomers, so common among us, have grown 
out of negligence, and carelessness in label¬ 
ing and securing scions, though every nur¬ 
seryman ought to bo able to toll nearly 
overy variety by tho wood and foliage, and 
general habit of growth. But as very few 
are sufficiently educated and observing for 
this, great exactness must bo observed in 
cutting, securing, labeling, and working, 
and growing varieties in tho nursery.— 
Prairie Farmer. 
There is a plant in tho Island of Sumatra, 
tho circumference of whoso fully expanded 
flower is nino feet; its nectarium is calcula¬ 
te hold nine pints; tho pistils areas large 
as a cow’ shorns; and tho whole weight of 
tho blossom is computed to bo fifteen 
pounds! 
PRESERVATION OF LIFE IN SEEDS. 
The preservation of life in seeds and oth¬ 
er organisms, when in a state of passive vi¬ 
tality, is a good instance of this power to 
resist the action of physical agents. Dr. 
Bindley says, in his “Introduction of Bota¬ 
ny,” I have at this moment threo plants or 
raspberries before me which havo been rais- 
od in tho garden of tho Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, from seeds taken from the stomach of 
a man, whoso skeleton was found thirty feet 
below the surface of tho earth, at the bot¬ 
tom of a barrow which was opened near 
Dorchester. He had been buried with some 
coins of tho Emperor Hadrain, and it is 
therefore probable that the seeds were six¬ 
teen orseventeen hundred years old. How 
vigorous must be that vital energy by which 
they could resist tho process of digestion in 
the stomach of the man, as well as entomb¬ 
ment in tho earth for so many ages, and 
preserve their germinating power unimpair¬ 
ed.— Anonymous. 
The Jardin des Plantes at Paris is at 
present the object of great attraction; there 
is a very remarkable phenomenon of vege¬ 
tation in its rich conservatory. On the 
fourteenth of October, a bamboo put forth 
a stem, which has already reached tho 
enormous height of nineteen feet, having 
grown seven or eight inches each day du¬ 
ring a month. What is also equally ad¬ 
mired by tho numerous visitors who fre¬ 
quent the garden, is a superb carica pa¬ 
paya, laden with fruit, of which some has 
arrived at maturity; and a plumeria, cover¬ 
ed with blossoms, which will flower toward 
the end of tho winter. 
Tan-bark. —I see in the November num¬ 
ber of your valuable Review, an article 
from “Veritas,” adverse to tho use of “ Old 
Tan” upon strawberry beds. Veritas gives 
his experience. Permit mo to give you 
mine. Throe years since I put out my 
plants, twelve by eighteen inches, and cov¬ 
ered tho intermediate spaces to the depth 
of two or three inches, with old tan-bark.— 
They have borne finely since, and have re¬ 
quired no work, except pulling off the run¬ 
ners, for tho reason that neither grass nor 
weeds penetrate the tan. The runners 
readily strike root through this substance. 
— Western Horticultural Review. 
When shrubs or dwarf fruit trees, pro¬ 
duce an abundance of foliage, but no flow¬ 
ers or fruit, either move them to a poorer 
soil, or cut through some of tho principal 
roots. 
ante -AllS. fa. 
To Preserve Beef. —A correspondent 
says, “ I give you here a recipe for preserv¬ 
ing beef almost fresh for several months 
time. Take one quart of salt, one quart of 
good brown sugar, half an ounce of salt¬ 
petre and mix it well. With this rub well 
100 lbs of beef—let it stand in the tub ten 
days, then cover it with cold water and set 
it in a cool place. You will have a fresh 
and sweet article, as I have proved by re¬ 
peated and successful trials.” 
Gum Arabic Starch. —Get two ounces of 
fine white gum arabic, and pound it to pow¬ 
der. Next put it into a pitcher, and pour 
on it a pint or more of boiling water (accord¬ 
ing to the degree of strength you desire.) 
and then having covered it let it set all 
night. In the morning, pour it carefully 
from the dregs into a clean bottle, cork it, 
and keep it for use. A tablespoonful of 
gum water stirred into a pint of starch that 
has been made in the usual manner, will 
give to lawns (either white or printed) a 
look of newness to which nothing else can 
restore them after washing. It is also good 
(much diluted) for thin white muslin and 
bobbinet. 
To Mend Broken Earthenware. —Mois¬ 
ten each edge with white paint, (white lead.) 
press it firmly together and fasten it with a 
cord. Lot it remain in a dry place a month, 
when it may bo used. I have a tureen that 
I hare used for more than a year with va¬ 
rious kinds of hot liquids and meats for the 
table, which, to all appearance is as sound 
as ever and tho seam just as delicate; 
whereas the cement hawked about by ped¬ 
lars makes a dirty looking seam, and will 
not stand tho test of hot water. 
To Make Crisp Paste for Tarts. —Take 
one pound of fine flour, mixed with one 
ounce of loaf sugar beat and sifted ; make 
into a stiff paste with boiling cream, and 
three ounces of butter in it, work it well 
and roll it very thin. When you havo made 
your tarts, boat the white of an egg a little, 
rub it over them with a feather, sift a littlo 
refined sugar over them, and bako them in a 
moderate oven. 
Economy of Carpets. —To preserve ex¬ 
pensive carpets, it is well to completely cov¬ 
er the floor beneath them with drugget, or 
coarse matting, which is a much better plan 
than to spread a layer of straw between the 
floor and carpet; the straw (besides the diffi¬ 
culty of spreading it perfectly smooth and 
even) accumulating much dust, that works 
up through the carpet. 
Recipe to make Indelible Ink. —Two 
drachms of caustic dissolved in two table 
spoons full of water, ono tea spoon full of 
brandy, half a tea spoon full of brown su¬ 
gar ; wet the cloth large enough for writing 
with strong poarlash water, and dry with a 
hot flat iron, then apply the writing and dry 
with the same. 
LIST OF PATENT CLAIMS 
ISSUED FROM THE UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE 
For the week ending January 4, 1853. 
James P. Arnold, of Louisville, Ky., for im¬ 
provement in machines for heckling flax and 
hemp. 
Jno. T. Bruen and James G. Wilson, of Has¬ 
tings, N. Y., for improvement in machines for 
sawing stone. 
James J. Clark, of Philadelphia, Pa., for im¬ 
provement in self-winding telegraph registers. 
Jno. D. Dale, of Philadelphia, Pa., for im¬ 
provement in machines for planing moldings. 
Geo. Feaga and Geo. W. Feaga, of Frederick, 
Md., for improvement in grain Washers. 
Jno. S. Gallaher, Jr., or Washington, D. C., for 
improvement in crutches. 
Jno. C. Bidwell and Jno. Hall, of Pittsburgh, 
Pa., Executors of Samuel Hall, deceased, for im¬ 
provement in hill-side plows. 
Richd. Hollings, of Boston, Mass., for improve¬ 
ment in hose pipes. 
Benj. F. Jenkins and Luke L. Knight, of Barre, 
Mass., for improvement in lathes for turning ir¬ 
regular forms. 
Merritt Peckham and Lucius 0. Palmer, of Uti¬ 
ca, N. Y., for improvements in ore washers. 
Francis C. Schaffer, of Biooklyn, NT. Y., for im¬ 
provement in potato diggers. 
Win. Watson, of Chicago, Ill., for improve¬ 
ment in tonguing and grooving machines. 
Jeptha A. Wilkinson, of Fireplace, N. Y., for 
improvement in printing presses. Patented in 
England, Sept, 23, 1842. 
Rudolph Kreter, of New York, N. Y., Assignor 
to Robert Nunns and Jno. Clark, of same place, 
for improvement in covering piano-forte ham¬ 
mers. 
Walter Hunt, of New-York, Assignor to Chas. 
T. Kipp, of same place, for improvement in bot¬ 
tle stoppers. 
For the week ending January 11, 1853. 
Thomas Baylis and Daniel Williams, of Te- 
cumseh, Mich., for improvement in rakes to har¬ 
vesters. 
Mathew Chapin, of New York, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in lathes for turning interior and ex¬ 
terior surfaces. 
Moses G. Farmer, of Salem, Mass., for improve¬ 
ment in porous cells for galvanic batteries. 
Pinckney Frost, of Springfield, Vt., for improve¬ 
ment in scythe fastenings. 
Ammi M. George, of Nashua, N. H., for improve¬ 
ment in mode of operating circular saws. 
John L. Gilliland, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in fire polishing glass. 
Peter P. R. Hayden, of New York, N. Y., for 
improvement in buckles. 
Silas A. Hedges of Lancaster, Ohio, for improve¬ 
ment in manure spreaders. 
Wm. ManD, of Philadelphia, Pa., for improve¬ 
ment in manufacturing copying paper. Ante¬ 
dated July 11, 1844. 
Andrew Mayer, of Philadelphia, Pa., for im¬ 
provement in screw-cutting dies. 
Richard Montgomery, of New York, N. Y., for 
improved method of connecting the sheets of shut 
flue and water space steam boilers. 
Dan. Pease, Jr., of Floyd, N. Y., for improve¬ 
ment in smut machines. 
_ _ _ 
THE CALORIC SHIP ERICSSON. 
The introduction of a new motive power 
into the economy of life is an event of far 
more importance to tho world, than any 
political incident, however startling, or how¬ 
ever vast the interests it may seem to in¬ 
volve. Changes of dynasties,—the trans¬ 
formation of civil governments,—the rear- ! 
ing or razing of empires, are transitory and 
trifling in the interests they affect,'com¬ 
pared to the discovery of a now Power, and 
its successful introduction, as an ally and an 
agent in that great war which it is the mis¬ 
sion of Man evermore to wage with Nature. 
Wo look, therefore, upon the result of the 
experimental trip with tho caloric ship 
Ericsson, as announcing a more important 
fact than has been brought beforo the world 
since the discovery of Steam; — the fact, 
namely, that the trial was entirely satisfac¬ 
tory.—tho experiment perfectly successful, 
and that Heated Air stands by the side of 
Evaporated fr ater, among the active forces 
by which man is hereafter to subdue nature 
to his uses and his will. 
If this were the expression of an opinion 
upon a scientific subject, it might justly be 
deemed arrogant and worthless. Compar¬ 
atively few men aro competent to pronounce 
such judgments upon such topics; and those 
are the very men who would do it with 
cautious hesitation. But our task is simply 
to record a fact —as patent and unmistake- 
able as the rising of the sun; and that fact 
involves the whole case. When Fulton saw 
the wdioel of his small ship turned around 
by steam, he knew, and all who saw it with 
him knew, that Steam as a ship-propelling 
power was established. How costly it would 
prove, how fast it would drive a vessel, how 
dangerous it might be—these wore minor 
considerations to bo settled afterwards.— 
Tho fact of its power, and of its applica¬ 
bility to the work of driving ships, w-as the 
great fact just then of paramount impor¬ 
tance to tho world. Heated Air has passed 
through that same ordeal—and has achieved 
at least an equal triumph. Forty or fifty 
gentlemen — intelligent, disinterested, un¬ 
prejudiced— were invited on board tho 
Ericsson — not to give scientific opinions, 
nor to pronounce judgment upon scientific 
theories; but to look at an engine driven 
by Heated Air, and to observe as a matter 
of fact, whether it went or not. And it did 
most unquestionably go! That immense 
ship was driven against wind and tido, by 
machinery far from complete or perfect in 
its construction, at a steady rate of ten 
miles an hour; and without referring at all 
to any thing farther, in that fact alone the 
principle finds its eompleto and triumphant 
vindication. The uso of Caloric as a pro¬ 
pelling power is no longer a theory—no 
longer an experiment; it is a fixed fact. 
And yet that fact, transcendant as it is, 
includes but a small part of tho advantages 
and merits of tho invention. Unless we 
aro very greatly deceived, there can bo no 
doubt whatever, that heated air thus ap¬ 
plied, will bo found far cheaper, and infinite¬ 
ly safer, than steam. On board tho Erics¬ 
son the air is heated to a temperaturo of 
4 d 0 degrees, giving a working power of 
twelve pounds to the square inch. This 
degree of heat is maintained by tho use of 
six tons of coal a day — without unduly 
heating tho metal of the cylinders or fur¬ 
naces—leaving the fireman’s room, amply 
ventilated as it is, cool and comfortable; 
and with cylinders fourteen feet in diame¬ 
ter, giving a power equal to that of the 
largest and swiftest steamer afloat. Capt. 
Ericsson, therefore, proposes never to seek 
a higher degree of heat;—but the power of 
the engine can be infinitely augmented by 
increasing the dimensions of the cylender — 
the power being in proportion to the square 
of tho cylinder’s diameter. It has been 
pronounced impossible to construct a cylin¬ 
der 14 feet across:—but as it has been done, 
tho objection loses weight : and Messrs. 
Hogg & Delamater, the builders of these 
engines, declare their readiness to make, 
and to warrant, as many as may be ordered 
twenty feet in diameter. Any desirable in¬ 
crease of power, therefore, may readily bo 
attained by the easy process of increasing 
the size of the cylinder : and that is done 
at comparatively slight cost without great¬ 
ly inreasing the space occupied, and at a 
very trifling addition to the working ex¬ 
penses. 
There aro very many persons whoso in¬ 
terests will be injuriously affected by the 
introduction of this new agent. It is natu¬ 
ral that they should be reluctant to believe 
in its feasibility; that they should bo fertile 
in objections, distrustful of evidence, and 
obstinate in unbelief. But they cannot al¬ 
ter the fact. And they will most effectually 
protect at once their interests and their 
reputation, by adjusting themselves to the 
new Power and the changes it must effect, 
rather than by quarreling with it. and dis¬ 
puting its existence. Caloric Ships will 
very soon tako larger cargoes, at less freight, 
with lower rates of insurance, than Steam¬ 
ers; and that process once commenced, the 
invetable result will be close at hand. For 
one thing alone, if there were no other to 
recommend it, every man living should 
hail the advent of this now power, with sin¬ 
cere rejoicing. It is free from danger. — 
Explosions are impossible. No human life 
can be lost through its agency. It is as 
harmless as the air we breathe. In this 
fact, aside from its economical advantages, 
the world may find abundant reason to wel¬ 
come its introduction as ono of the greatest 
boons ever conferred on the human race.— 
JY. Y. Times. 
STEAM FIRE ENGINE. 
The Cincinnati Steam Fire Engine, which 
we havo spoken of before, was publicly tried 
again in that city on the 1st inst., and tho 
best fire engine in the city was brought out, 
strongly manned, to compete with it. In 
ten minutes the steam was up and tho en¬ 
gine in operation. The firemen went to 
work with tho ordinary engino, confident of 
beating the new fangled affair. The signal 
was given—puff! puff! went the steam” en¬ 
gine, and away spirted the water. The fire¬ 
man bore down and up in quick succession, 
and strained every nerve, but gave up ex¬ 
hausted. The steam engine continued un¬ 
ceasingly for half an hour to throw a vast 
body in a solid stream of two hundred and 
twenty-four feet. It then threw two streams 
of water for half an hour longer, to show 
its power to keep up steam ; and finally to 
prove that fire may be extinguished in con¬ 
fined places by steam alone, without delug¬ 
ing a building with water, a section of India 
rubber hose was attached to the boilor, and 
steam passed off through it. It sent forth 
a vast volume of steam, sufficient to satu¬ 
rate tho air and penetrate into every crev¬ 
ice where fire could possibly lodge, com¬ 
pletely extinguishing fire. Tho machine ran 
up hill, down hill, and was perfectly man¬ 
ageable in overy respect. A few engines of 
this kind in Philadelphia, with half a dozen 
men to attend them, would do as much ser¬ 
vice as our sixty fire engines and hoses, with 
six or eight thousand firemen to attend 
them. So thinks tho Public Ledger, and ice 
have not a doubt of the fact. 
IMPROVED WRENCH. 
Measures to secure a patont for the above 
have been taken by George B. Read, of New 
York City. All mechanics have had too 
much practical exporienco of the difficulty 
of keeping adjustable wrenches properly 
fixed, so that they may not slip around the 
nut instead of firmly grasping it. The in- 
vontor has hit upon a happy device to at¬ 
tain this desideratum by the following plan. 
One jaw which is attached to the wrench 
stock by a pivot has a recess through it, in 
which slides tho shank of the other jaw, 
which is therefore adjustable, and its shank 
is provided with a rack into which catches 
a pawl attached to the stock and hold in po¬ 
sition by a spring. By this construction, as 
the handle of tho wrench is turned, the two 
jaws are forced against the sides of the nut, 
more especially grasping tho outer corners 
of it, the failure to do which is the cause of 
the slipping so common in other wrenches. 
—Scientific American. 
Richter enumerates 600 distinct species 
of disease in tho eye. 
