FRUIT IN DEMAND, 
The comparative failure of the fruit crop the 
past season, and present scarcity of good varie¬ 
ties of apples in this and other fruit-growing 
regions, has created an unusual demand and 
extremely high prices. The price of ap¬ 
ples has been ascending for several weeks in 
our market, until the most inferior quality is 
worth 75 cts. per bushel, while good varieties 
readily command from $1 to $1 25 per bushel, 
and from $3 to $4 per barrel. The principal 
demand hereabouts, is for shipment to Canada, 
—Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, &c .,—and choice 
varieties are much sought for this purpose.— 
Those of our readers who are so fortunate as to 
have a surplus of unsold or uncontracted fruit 
on hand, will find no difficulty in disposing of 
the same at such prices as must, or ought to be, 
highly profitable and satisfactory. 
People will ere long become convinced that 
fruit growing pats, at all times, in Western New 
York ; and that, if properly cared for and mar¬ 
keted, the fruit crop often is the most profitable 
one that can be produced. Choice apples, pears, 
grapes, &c., almost invariably command highly 
remunerative prices in this and other markets 
—though speculators and middle generally 
manage to obtain the lion’s share of the profits. 
When will farmers appreciate the importance 
and advantages of carefully gathering, preserv¬ 
ing and marketing, as well as producing good 
fruit ? 
;WIN TON 
COMBINATION PORTABLE SAW-MILL 
FARMING AND HORTICULTURE, 
PEAR TREE BLIGHT—A REMEDY. 
Happening in the garden of a neighbor, re¬ 
cently, my especial attention was called to a 
dwarf pear tree. “That tree,” said he, “was 
last summer apparently in the last stages of the 
blight.” He took common bar soap, and rub¬ 
bed is all over the body and main branches until 
a good coating was obtained. Soon after the 
foliage and appearance of the tree indicated re¬ 
turning vitality, and, in his opinion, the tree 
was now entirely cured of the blight by that 
means. Upon examination of the tree, it ap¬ 
peared healthy and thrifty, except the footprints 
left by the disease. 
Subsequently, in conversation with my learn¬ 
ed and distinguished legal friend and horticul¬ 
turist, Hon. B. Davis Noxon, LL. D., comment¬ 
ing upon the above facts, he remarked, that in 
planting some pear trees about a year since, 
previously to the setting of them out he coated 
them all over well with soft soap, and as yet 
had discovered no indications of the blight— 
though at the time of setting out, the trees (and 
especially the Bartletts,) showed strong appear¬ 
ances of the disease. My own Bartletts, in the 
same neighborhood, were quite ruined the year 
uy uurniug me small nanct-wHeel near the rag- 
wheel, thus enabling the sawyer to change the 
feed at any time as desired, whether the saw is 
in motion or not. 
When the saw has cut the full length of the 
log, a stop piece fastened to the carriage disen¬ 
gages the clutch, which gives motion to the 
cones, and by bearing on the lever in front of the 
rag-wheel a rapid reverse motion is given to the 
carriage, for the purpose of giging back. All 
these different movements are effected by the 
most simple, substantial and convenient ar¬ 
rangement that practical ingenuity could con¬ 
ceive. 
The carriage runs upon small friction wheels, 
four inches in diameter and placed two feet apart. 
Thus it moves with less shake and noise, less 
friction, and consequently requiring less power 
than in the old way. 
Any upright saw may be used with this mill. 
The one represented in the engraving, and such 
a3 we send with the mill, is a cast steel saw, 
twelve inches wide, and seven feet long, suffi¬ 
cient for all logs under 3j,4 feet in diameter.— 
Business calling me to the “rural districts’ 
of Saratoga county last week, my attention was 
directed to a beautiful farm we were passing, 
and the mode of management by the proprietor. 
My attention was particularly called to its 
principal orchard, the trees of which were ap¬ 
parently of sixty years standing, and also to a 
small orchard of nine hundred trees, recently 
set out, whose appearance indicated unusual 
thrift. As we passed along two yoke of oxen 
and carts and men were busily engaged draw¬ 
ing to the young orchard the sediment and 
muck, and the washings of the road, from the 
ditch beside it—the whole indicating that one 
man at least intended to reap in time four-fold 
more than is customary by the common mode 
of Horticultural Husbandry. And not only did 
the general appearance of the farm so indicate, 
but I was assured that it was only a branch of 
his whole system of farming. Well the fact 
called forth the thought. Why don’t all farmers 
and horticulturists pursue a similar policy in 
this particular, as all have like means ? In¬ 
stead of having a sample of a few poor, stinted 
trees, so cultivate them that a half a dozen 
trees would make better returns than a whole 
orchard cultivated as trees too often are by men 
who claim to be intelligent farmers, whose or¬ 
chards look like fields of corn cultivated upon 
the policy that one portion didn’t need hoeing 
and as to fcto otLor portion, it "wouldn’t do any 
good if it was hoed. The trees of such men, if 
ever of any account, like ihe American Colo¬ 
nies, grow by neglect, and not with the care or 
cultivation of the proprietor. S. N. Holmes. 
Syracuse, Nov., 1856. 
COMBINATION PORTABLE SAW-MILL. 
In many sections where the Rural circulates 
the machinery herewith illustrated and de¬ 
scribed—a good Portable Steam Saw-Mill — 
has long been a desideratum, and the information 
imparted will not only attract the attention, but 
perhaps ultimately prove beneficial, to various 
readers interested in such matters. The mill 
represented combines several valuable improve¬ 
ments, and has been thoroughly and practically 
tested. The mill, motive power, <fcc., are thus 
described by the manufacturers : 
“ As will be seen from the engraving, the 
lower part of the mill is composed of a single 
frame, the timbers of which are about eight 
inches square, either of oak, or other hard wood, 
securely fastened together with strong iron 
bolts. This frame work is 7 feet long, 7 feet 
deep below the bed pieces, and 5 feet wide.— 
The main shaft is 3 % inches in diameter, and 
LIST OF PATENTS, 
Issued from the United States Patent OSce for the 
weeS ending Nov. 11, 1850. 
Gustavus Fincken, Brooklyn, sugar draining apparatus. 
Geo. I 1 . Foote, Buffalo, improvement in machine for 
harvesting grain. 
Wni. L. Gallaudet, New York, improved spring holder 
for slate blinds. 
John C. Harris, Savannah, improvement in water gauges 
for steam boilers. 
Samuel L. Harris, Massachusetts, and Henry B. Osgood, 
Dorchester, improved method of regulating the draught of 
house furnaces. 
August Hengstenberg, Muscatine, Iowa, candle mould 
machine. 
Moses G. Hubbard, Penn Yan, improvement of cutting 
apparatus of grain and grass harvesters. 
G. IV. Hyatt, Auburn, improvement in forks for hand¬ 
ling heated plates. 
Rudolph Kneeht, New York, improved method of venti^ 
latmg ships, &c. 1 
Hen>-y Kruse, New Orleans, improvement in wagons. I 
hydrants LawSOn ’ St ' Ij0uis, > improved waste valves foil 
George D. Lund, Yonkers, improved method of hanging 
reciprocating saws. K K 
James W. Martin, Philadelphia, improved method of 
preparing rattan for umbrellas. 
iCharles Miller, New York, improvement in cutting tiles. 
dyers'' 1116 * An d°vor, N. H , improvement in cloth 
Edwin M. Murphy, Lexington, Ill., medical respirator. 
Ephraim L Pratt, Philadelphia, improvement in ma¬ 
chines for slicing apples. 
Ira Reynolds, Republic, O, improvement in washing 
machine. b 
T. Sault, Seymour, Conn., process for cleaning India 
rubber. ° 
Gustave Scharffe, New York, improvement in breech 
loading firearms. 
, J ° hn R. Sees, New York, arrangement of means for 
heating feedwater of locomotive engines. 
The extreme cold of last winter, followed by 
the severe drouth of the past summer, has 
shown the importance of guarding fruit trees 
with mulch, straw or something of the kind 
spread several inches thick over the ground 
under the trees. Especially should young trees 
be thus protected. There are many advantages 
in it. It protects from the frosts of winter and 
the drouths of summer. It preserves the tem¬ 
perature of the climate iu the soil about the 
roots, more nearly through the whole year. It 
enriches the soil, and it is possible it may pro¬ 
tect the soil from some insects. The past year 
may have been a discouraging one to many 
fruit growers, especially those who have just 
commenced with ardent hopes. But they must 
remember that such years do not come often, 
and so must try again. They must remember, 
also, that the most of them have done nothing 
to protect their young trees from the calamities 
that have befallen them. Let them be of good 
cheer, anil put out their orchards over the 
country, remembering to profit by the past, and j 
hoping for the future.— Ex. 
DWARF PEARS.—WINTER TREATMENT. 
We have no doubt that more than half the 
failures to grow dwarf pears may be traced to the 
bark louse and scale. The simple fact is, that 
cleanliness is quite as essential to health in a 
tree as in man. A plant will no more thrive 
covered with lice and dirt than will a human 
being. We find the opinion to be quite com¬ 
mon, that the scale is killed by the winter’s 
cold ; but this is a great error. 
Now for the remedy. W 
THE ENGINE, 
the driving pully 22 inches in diameter and 
3 inch face. The pitman wheel is of solid iron 
and is three feet in diameter. 
The pitman is of iron four feet long, and is 
connected with the saw by an oscillating 
The length of stroke is twenty-two inches, and 
it usually runs at the rate of about three hun¬ 
dred strokes in a minute. 
The new arrangement at the upper end of the 
saw, upon which a patent was granted in July 
last, consists of a slide made to be lowered or 
raised to suit the size of the log. The saw is 
guided at the lower end of this slide bv means 
of two simple springs, and the upper end of the 
saw is fastened to two metalic blocks, which 
play up and down in the grooves, as seen in the 
engraving. The whole arrangement about the 
saw, both at the top and the bottom, is so per¬ 
fect that the saw glidi s up and down with its won¬ 
derful speed, almost as quietly and easily as 
though it were running in nothing but oil. It 
„ cross 
head. This arrangement of the slides and cross 
head, for which specifications have been enter¬ 
ed for a patent, is entirely new, and is the only 
plan we have ever seen, by which the saw could 
be made to play up and down with the desired 
rapidity without grating and heating. It se¬ 
cures a uniform bearing on all parts, without 
regard to the position of the saw, and when the 
saw is once fastened at the bottom, it never has 
to be altered to suit any alteration in the rake, 
and even though it should not hang plumb, the 
e prefer a weak so¬ 
lution of whale-oil soap, or a pretty strong one 
of soft soap. The solution is best applied by a 
long, narrow brush; if this canuot be bad, a 
common scrubbing brush will do; and it must 
be used with some vigor. As soon as the leaves 
have fallen, go over all your trees in order,and 
such as are in the least affected with scale 
should be well scrubbed ; from the others re¬ 
move all caterpillars’ nests, and everything else 
that can harbor an insect. 
We would recommend, however, that all the 
trees bo treated with the above solution as a 
part of the regular routine of cultivation.— 
They will be greatly benefited by it; and 
thousands of insects, knits and eggs, many of 
them quite invisible to the naked eye, will 
then be destroyed. Clean the ground around 
the trees from grass and weeds, and loosen it 
up with a fork. If you have a good supply of 
manure, spr-ead on two or three inches of it, 
and fork it in. If, however, you are not well 
supplied, do not .apply it till spring, when half 
the above quantity may be forked in at once. 
Your trees will now need no further special 
attention till the season of pruning arrives, 
when we shall recur to the subject again.— 
oawu ireiss ana jacoo lirosins, Belleville, II!., improve¬ 
ment in machine for cutring vegetables. 
Alvin Bullock, Busti, N. Y., improvement in harvesters. 
Ephraim L. Pratt, Philadelphia, assignor to Leonard 
Harrington, Worcester, Mass., improvement in machines 
for paring apples, potatoes, &c. 
John F. Willey, Fredonia, assignor to Benj F. Merrill 
and Thos. Pnillips, Cassadaga, and Jno. F. Willey, afore¬ 
said, improvement in excavators. 
Henry Bessemer, London, England, improvement in the 
Feb* 12^1856 ° f ir ° D ^ Steel ‘ Pttteuted in Ea S Iai id, 
CULTURE OF THE CRANBERRY. 
Mr. Charles A. Snow, of Orrington, has pre¬ 
sented us with a box of the finest cranberries 
we ever saw. For the past three years he has 
been experimenting in the cultivation of this 
fruit on a patch of bog near his house, and he 
has succeeded in bringing them to a higher 
state of perfection than those raised on the fa¬ 
mous fields of Massachusetts. The muck is 
about two feet thick where the berries are rais¬ 
ed, and a piece containing four square rods 
yielded him full ten bushels. He first scrapes 
off the moss, <fcc., from the surface and scrapes 
out a small place with a spade, into which he 
puts the plant, and he has no further trouble 
with them. In two or three years the bushes 
run together so that it impedes the growth of 
the berry, when be passes over the ground with 
a spade and takes up alternate spadefuls and 
sets them out iu some other place or throws 
them aside. Mr. S. thinks that in time; by at¬ 
tention to cultivating them, he will raise still 
bettor cranberries than those he now harvests. 
He estimates that several hundred bushels may 
be raised on an acre. We see no reason why 
the culture of cranberries may not be made 
profitable business in Maine, as there is no dan¬ 
ger of overstocking the market, for every year 
adds to the consumption, and they are not rais¬ 
ed at all in the South nor in Europe, as we have 
been informed. We hope others may be in¬ 
duced to try the experiment .—Bangor Courier. 
A\ elding Sheet Iron.— Mr. Bertram, an En¬ 
glish engineer, has invented a process of firmly 
joining together slabs of sheet iron work for the 
purpose of making boilers, building ships, erect¬ 
ing bridges, <fcc., without the use of rivets. The 
novel method of welding the iron, instead of 
joining it by the rough means hitherto in use— 
that of riveting—is accomplished by fusing the 
two edges of the places to be adheved, and 
striking them simultaneously ou both slides.— 
By this means the structure is rendered materi¬ 
ally tighter and much stronger. It has been 
hitherto considered impossible to make an\m- 
limited surface of iron, and have it of reliaMe 
strength. jtt 
Liquid India Rubber.—I ndia rubber cut^fl 
thiu strips and immersed iu spirits ot 
in a eh so v, *st 1 and kepi warm, will^K|i£f 
a:nd m that sta.o can uc put ou wi''^^E k|h§w| 
forming a -.valor proof c >:V.n-g ibr 
which it may be applied. It has ihe oHBflf 
"".'mu-, ot ,■ e. i-m- 1 — -t: \:m SBi| 
Covering for Plants.— We have never found 
green horse manure, which some use under the b’m.'J.. " 
mistaken idea that it is warm all winter, so 
good for covering flowers and other plants that 
need winter protection, as leaves, straw, or 
other dry clean haulm. The manure attracts guide pieces will adjus 
and retains moisture, which freezes upon the very important object i 
plants and injures them. The object of cover- old arrangement, any i 
ing is to keep the plants dry, and from the sun iug of the saw, causes , 
and air. Hemlock boughs are the best things quent destruction of mi 
for this purpose. But straw, cornhusks, &c., The feed arrangeme 
will answer a good purpose, especially if boards plain cones, connected 
are laid over them so as to shed the water from small belt, and also o 
the crowns of the plants .—Rural Intelligencer, band which is male to 
the boiler. 
has been the study of mechanics for years, to 
produce something that would do away with 
the necessity of straining a saw in an upright 
mill, and we believe that object has never been 
'ully attained until the discovery of the present 
plan. We have thus endeavored to explain the 
above machine, which for reasons obvious to all 
who have read the description, we shall here¬ 
after call the ‘ Combination Mill,' and we cou- 
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