MOOSE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER! AN AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
71 
irtjmris anlr (iarton. 
HOW MANY AND WHAT VARIETIES OF APPLES 
ARE WORTH CULTIVATING? 
Eds. Rural :—The apple is the staple fruit 
of Western New York, and the trees are 
known by their fruit. In respect to the vari¬ 
eties that are productive and thence profita¬ 
ble to cultivate, farmers who have trees that 
have been not less than fifteen years in bearing, 
are better judges than are fruit-fanciers and 
nurserymen. It is the vocation of these last 
to produce what will sell, and to sell what they 
produce, and on the long run their recommen¬ 
dations will often be found unreliable and 
worthless. It has been discovered within the 
last ten years that a man may have a large 
orchard of numerous varieties and yet have to 
buy his apples, if he has any. 
Of the product of a considerable orchard 
planted twenty years since, selected with refer¬ 
ence to quality and succession of fruit, em¬ 
bracing many varieties, then, as now, held in 
greatest repute, and having good soil and rea¬ 
sonable care, it has been found for the last sev¬ 
eral years that the apples I have had to sell 
and to keep have consisted mostly, indeed 
almost wholly, of the three following varieties, 
namely, the Rhode Island Greening, Roxbury 
Russet, and Red Baldwin. These have been 
thirty-two, twenty-five, and fifteen years in 
bearing, respectively, and have not failed to 
yield abundant crops of good fruit, either an¬ 
nually or biennially, being varieties of extra¬ 
ordinary vigor and vitality. Upon some 
inquiry it is found that the above is the expe¬ 
rience of others with slight exceptions. 
The question here is not what trees will pro¬ 
duce while the soil and wood are fresh and 
young, (the trees and fruit afterwards becom¬ 
ing worthless or defunct,) but what they will 
do on the long run, and whether they will pay 
cost ? If there are six varieties of apples that 
are worth cultivating in Western New York, 
what are they ? The loss that lias resulted to 
community from planting trees that are un¬ 
productive and worthless is incalculable. But 
the object herein is not to enlarge or assume, 
but rather to solicit for the public benefit the 
experience of farmers in regard to trees plant¬ 
ed in the limestone or wheat region of New 
York, and that have been in bearing not less 
than fifteen years. 
Tested as above, a large red and white ap¬ 
ple, called the Twenty Ounce apple, has ob¬ 
tained a good reputation in this section—the 
tree being productive, vigorous and thrifty, 
and like the first named varieties, it requires 
very little pruning. John McVean. 
Wheatland, N. Y., Fob. 19, 1S55. 
HINTS AND GLEANINGS. 
The Rambo Apple.— A Wyoming County 
correspondent dissents from Mr. Watts’ “Notes 
on Apples,” copied from the Horticulturist in 
the Rural of Feb. 17, in regard to the Rambo. 
He says he has cultivated it some twenty years, 
and finds that it not only deserves a place 
among the best of apples, but among the best 
of annual bearers. Its only fault with him is 
in its being so profuse a bearer as to require 
careful pruning and cultivation to make it 
grow to good size. The “ Fruit Garden” also 
describes it as “ very productive.” 
Apples for Western N. Y.—“ A. B. R„” 
of Castile, N. Y., a fruit grower of long ex¬ 
perience, sends us the following as his list of 
good apples, made not only with reference to 
quality of fruit, but with regard to bearing 
qualities and adaptation to locality: 
“For Western New York, the White June- 
ating, Yellow Bough, Early Strawberry, Red 
Astrachan, Hawley, Gravenstein, Rambo, Rib- 
ston Pippin, Autumn Strawberry, Bailey Sweet, 
Peck's Pleasant, Rhode Island Greening, Bald¬ 
win, Northern Spy, English Russet, and Rox¬ 
bury Russet will be found to produce not only 
a succession of first rate good fruit, but also 
to be productive and profitable bearers suited 
to the climate.” 
yellow ground; stalk three-fourths of tin inch 
long, rather slender, flesh yellowish white, 
crisp, juicy, sub-acid and spicy flavor. The 
tree is a vigorous, rapid grower, with curved 
erect branches, and forms a regular open head; 
bears abundantly. Season from November 
to March.” 
T allman SweetSng. —In planting orchards 
too little attention is given to sweet apples.— 
A due proportion, say one-fourth, of the trees 
should be of sweet valieties. They are more 
valuable than sour apples for cider or to feed 
to stock, and good ones will always meet a 
ready sale, and at a good price, in the market. 
The Tallman Sweeting is not a first-rate 
eating apple, but is excellent for cooking, and 
is always fair looking and smooth and very 
productive. Barry describes it as follows:— 
“ Medium size, pale whitish yellow, slightly 
tinged with red ; flesh firm, rich and very 
sweet; excellent for cooking ; tree vigorous, 
upright and very productive.—November to 
April.” 
Cherry Trees. —• Inquiry. — A Ferinton 
subscriber says, “ I have seven or eight very 
largo and thrifty red cherry trees, formerly 
great bearers, but for the last half dozen years 
the quantity of fruit has been very limited.— 
Every spring they blossom full, but the fruit 
either drops off or does not set. What little 
there is, is very wormy. Will some of your 
correspondents propose a remedy ?” We think 
very likely the trees have become exhausted 
from long bearing and imperfect or neglected 
cultivation. 
Baldwin Apple.— This tine apple is one of 
the very best winter varieties, either for mar¬ 
ket, or tor the table. It is large, fine looking, 
very productive and of first flavor. It is a 
native of Massachusetts and is considered one 
of the best winter apples throughout the New 
England States and New York, but does not 
succeed in some of the Western States, which 
is probably attributable to some defect in the 
soil. 
“ Large, roundish, with more or less of a 
rounded taper towards the apex ; shaded and 
striped with yellowish red and crimson, on a 
The Peach Crop of 1855.—I fear the 
peach crop is entirely destroyed in this section 
of country. It is said that peach buds are 
killed when the thermometer indicates 12 or 14 
degrees below zero. If this is so, the entire 
crop is destroyed—the thermometer here went 
24 degrees below zero on the 6th inst. I have 
examined the buds of a number of varieties 
to-day, and find them universally killed. Each 
individual can examine his trees and decide 
the fact for himself. If he finds the germ— 
the internal part of the blow-bud3—black or 
brown, he may be certain they are dead, but if 
green, alive, as this is their natural color.— 
Stephen H. Ainsworth, West Bloomfield, N. 
Y., Feb. 12,1855. 
HINTS ON WINTER PRUNING. 
During this (February) and the succeeding 
month, the fruit trees should be examined, and 
whatever pruning is necessary, got through 
with. Dead or decaying branches should in¬ 
variably be cut out low enough to secure live 
branches, and if the limb be a large one, it is 
better to trim it off after the saw with a sharp 
knife or hatchet. The saw is but a poor prun¬ 
ing instrument at best, without trimming after 
it, especially on the outside of the wound, as it 
will scarcely ever heal over, whereas, if the 
branches are cut with a sharp instrument, and 
the tree healthy, the surrounding bark will 
soon cover the wound, and thus avert decay. 
The object in pruning varies with the different 
sorts of fruit. 
Apples and pears, when allowed full scope, 
require thinning merely of weak and cross 
branches, and all spray cut clean out in the 
body of the tree. Dwarf and espalier trees 
require somewhat different pruning, but most 
of which should be performed in the summer, 
all that is required at this season being to 
shorten-in the unproductive shoots of establish¬ 
ed trees within two or three inches of their 
length, taking care to preserve the fruit-buds, 
which are readily known by their round and 
plump form. 
Peach trees are much benefited by pruning, 
as, if commenced while young, the tree will al¬ 
ways remain bushy and “ close,” while, if left 
to itself, it will become in a short time an ugly 
straggling tree, with a few bearing shoots at 
the top. Cut out all weak spindly growth, 
except where wanted to fill up a vacancy, and 
shorten-in the leading shoot of each branch.— 
We prefer doing this to shortening the branch¬ 
es we intend to leave. If the tree is inclined 
to be crowded, a third of the young wood may 
be taken out with advantage. It is better to 
leave the pruning of peach trees till all danger 
of excessive cold is past, as the fruit-buds in 
extreme cases are killed by frost, and where 
this occurs, pruning must be done accordingly. 
The native grape vines that have remained 
uncovered and unpruned, may be done at any 
time. The fruit will come much finer and suf¬ 
fer less from mildew and other pests, if ample 
space is left for the development of the foliage. 
Under no pruning should the branches be near¬ 
er each other after they are done, than eigh¬ 
teen inches—three feet is better. 
Currants and gooseberries should also be 
pruned ; established trees of the red and white 
currants require the young wood well pruned 
back ; and gooseberries, the last year's wood 
thinned considerably, leaving young wood 
enough to be free from crowding during the 
summer. 
The black currant is much neglected in this 
country. To grow it to perfection requires a 
moist soil, very rich ; in pruning, it only re¬ 
quires the branches thiuned, and occasionally 
the older ones taken out—E. Sanders, in the 
Cidtivator. 
CULTURE OF CRANBERRY VINES. 
burnt to get the weeds and grass out. They 
may be set in fall and spring, as early as the 
ground will admit until the middle of May.— 
Moss, tan, or anything to retain the moisture, 
would be beneficial around the plant after 
transplanting ; a little sand around the plant 
fall and spring, will tend to keep the weeds out. 
Planted in drills as you plant strawberry, 
cabbage and other plants, one and a half to 
two feet apart. At two feet apart each way, 
it will take 10,000 plants to the acre. Hoe 
them slightly at first, until the roots become 
clinched, and afterwards no other cultivation 
is needed, unless to keep out weeds and grass. 
The plants may be expected to run together 
and cover the whole ground in two or three 
years. Tney can be gathered with a cranberry 
rake made for the purpose, to be procured at 
the agricultural stores.—F. Trowbridge, in 
N. E. Farmer. 
MISSISSIPPI SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 
LIST OF PATENTS 
Issued from the United States Patent Office for the weetc 
ending February 13, 1855. 
Vitality of Garden Seeds. —Most seeds 
will vegetate when more than a year old, if 
they were gathered at right seasons, and prop¬ 
erly preserved. Parsnip seeds quite often fail, 
but we have used those two and three years old, 
when they came up well. Garden seeds should 
be gathered a little previous to full ripeness, 
and a good way is to cut up the plants—the 
best parsnip, carrot and onion, for instance— 
and hang them in sheltered places for a week 
or two, when the seeds will become plump and 
perfect. Then they should be rubbed out, and 
placed in boxes or bags, and their names and 
date of raising legibly marked upon them. If 
not all used the first year, you will then know 
their age. Seeds thus put up should be placed 
in some dry place, of as equal temperature as 
is convenient—such as a closet in the centre of 
the house, or in chests in the attic, chamber, or 
workshop, where they would be quite likely to 
remain good for many years.— N. E. Farmer. 
Tiih Bell variety or Egg shape Ls mostly 
cultivated in New England, and usually bears 
good crops as they grow wild — but when 
transplanted and cultivated, the berries are 
large and abundant, and bears large crops 
often after two or three years, from one hun¬ 
dred and fifty to two hundred and fifty bushels 
per acre—are hardy, and can be cultivated in 
any part of the United States. 
The soil best adapted is such as will keep 
moist through the dry season ; they have been 
raised on land high enough to produce corn 
and potatoes with a wet substratum under the 
soil, or a clay and loam. They will not suc¬ 
ceed well on dry, sandy, or land liable to bake 
or become hard in dry weather—but they will 
produce an abundant crop on poor swampy 
land that will not produce any other valuable 
crop, or any wet land after being drained.— 
Dry ground should be plowed and harrowed 
smooth; in a swamp wliere a plow will not 
work, the turf or bog may be peeled off or 
\mtstk foiwmg. 
RECIPES FOR COOKING. 
Eds. Rural :—We find the recipes valua¬ 
ble,—the one telling how to keep sausages, I 
think you would do well to print again, it is 
the nicest way we ever tried. We also made 
some lard candles for an experiment, and they 
are nice, but yellow, as if they were colored. 
I send you the following which have been test¬ 
ed in our cooking. * 
Apple Fritters.— Let the water or milk 
boil; thicken in the flour ; beat and stir in an 
egg ; slice in apples. Eat with sauce. 
Lemon Pie.— Heat the lemons; press out 
the juice; to the juice of two lemons add l}6 
cups of sugar, 3 of water; roll three soda 
crackers fine, and mix. 
Egg Pudding. —Ten eggs—save six whites 
for the sauce ; 1 oz. butter, or a cup of cream ; 
3 table-spoons of flour ; a little salt; 1 lb. of 
white sugar. Beat with the whites of the eggs, 
and pour over the pudding when nearly cool. 
James Allen, of Frease’s Store, Ohio, Improvement in 
clover hollers. 
Wm. H. Allen, Lowell, improvement in machines for 
chopping meat and other substancas 
Hiram Berdam, New York, improvement in life boats. 
Tlios. D. Aylsworth, Frankfort, N. Y., improvement in 
hop frames. 
H. Clark, Newport, Fla., improvement in cotton gins. 
E. B. Clement, Barnet, Vt., improvement in churns. 
George Daniels, Philadelphia, improvement in thra-;h- 
ers and cleaners of grain. 
John Dick, New York, improvement in stays for arti¬ 
cles of dress. 
Henry T. Dexter, Zanesville, improvement in wharf 
boats. 
G. Estorly, Heart Prairie, Wis., improvement in plows. 
Jamos Esterly, Albany, improved magazine smoke con¬ 
suming pipe. 
Phineas Emmons, New York, Improvement in cracker 
machines. 
H. W. Evans, Philadelphia, improved spirit levels. 
Ashael Fairchild, Ashland, Ohio, improvement in steam 
boiler chimnies. 
Wm. Fuzzard, Newark, Improvement in machinery for 
felting hat bodies. 
John W. Haggard and George Bull, Bloomington, III., 
improvement in rotary plows. 
A onzo Hitchcock, Chicago, improvement in weather 
strips for doors. 
Geo. H. and Benj. H. Horn, Brooklyn, improvemout In 
sewing machines. 
Frod’k Howes, Yarmouth Port, Mass., improvement in 
ships’ standing rigging. 
Wm. 8. Maclaurin, New York, method of teaching pen¬ 
manship. 
Matthew II. Merriam, Chelsea, Mass., and J. B. Crosby, 
Stoneham, Mass., improvement in leather splitting ma¬ 
chine. 
Robert J. Morrison, Richmond, Va., assignor to himse’f 
and Edwin A. Morrison, Lawrencevhie, Va., improve¬ 
ment in grass harvesters. 
Josiah H. Noyes, Abington, Mass., improvement in 
lamp extinguishers. 
Jefferson Parker, Louisville, improvement in machines 
for slaughtering hogs. 
S. N. and Wm. F. Stillman, Loonardsville, N. Y., im¬ 
provement in garden rakes. 
Wm. D. Titus and Robert W. Fenwick, Brooklyn, im¬ 
provement in bridle bits. 
Ira Reynolds, Republic, Ohio, improvement in plows. 
John Tremper, Philadelphia, improvement in steam 
valves. 
J. N. Williams, Dubuque, improvement in head sup¬ 
porters for ral road cars. 
FURNACES- 
Mediterranean Wheat.— Of the bread- 
making qualities of this grain, Mrs. Swiss- 
iielm speaks as follows: 
The agricultural journals are discussing the 
value of this wheat as compared with other 
varieties. Our experience and observations 
have led us to believe that bread made from 
flour of Mediterranean wheat does not keep so 
well as that made from any other of our com 
mon varieties. We have never seen it good 
the third day after baking ; and when stale, 
the toast or pudding made with it is not so 
nice as that made with the bread of other 
wheat that was no better than it when both 
were fresh. We have repeatedly noticed that 
when it came out of the oven, and for twenty- 
four hours after, it was excellent. After that, 
it began to lose flavor, was not quite so spon¬ 
gy, so that when dry it assumed a kind of 
gristly hardness, and when wetted was clammy. 
We have been assured that this arose from the 
flour being ground too fine, that Mediterra¬ 
nean would not bear to be so closely ground 
as any other wheat, and this may be the sole 
cause; but we do uot believe any other wheat 
can bo made into bread like that we have 
eaten from old “ red chaff.” The flour of oth¬ 
er wheat is generally of a bluish-white, while 
the red-chaff has a salmon tinge, and in mak¬ 
ing cakes will save one egg in the dozen, both 
for color and taste .—Saturday Visitor. 
To Clarify Maple Sugar.— The season is 
coming on when the manufacture of maple 
sugar will commence ; and for the information 
of those who like to make a good article, we 
commend the method which an intelligent 
Vermont farmer practices for the purpose of 
removing the coloring matter of the sap, and 
which renders the sugar nearly as white as 
common crushed sugar. His method is to fil¬ 
trate all his sap before boiling, through a hop¬ 
per or box of sand, which, he says, takes out, 
not only all the dirt, but all the stains derived 
from leaves, tubs, crumbs of bark, and all 
other coloring matter that can prevent the 
sugar- from being pure white.— Mich. Farmer. 
A Good Salve.— A friend who has tried it 
gives us the following recipe :—Boil hemlock 
bark until you obtain its strength, then strain 
the liquor and evaporate down to the consis¬ 
tency of molasses ; to this add an equal part of 
lard. This is valuable for chapped hands, 
lips, Arc. 
The Cleveland Herald, condemning the man¬ 
ner of constructing hot air furnaces, from 
which frequent fires occur, says : 
A brick arch is turned over the iron heater, 
and the space between the iron and the brick 
arch constitutes the hot air-chamber. Outside 
of this hot air-chamber, is a chamber which re¬ 
ceives the cold air ; the air descending, enters 
the hot air-chamber at the bottom of the fur¬ 
nace. This outer, or cold air-chamber, is 
usually made by carrying up the outside brick 
wall to the floor of the room above. The fire 
sometimes takes in the joist immediately over 
this cold air-chamber, notwithstanding the un¬ 
der side of these joists over the whole furnace 
is sheathed with tin. 
It is well known that by closing all the reg¬ 
isters the hot air is forced backward into the 
cold air-chamber, and often out through the 
cold air pipe which feeds the furnace. This 
method, therefore, of building furnaces is a 
dangerous oue, and every “ cold snap” may be 
expected to bring disastrous consequences. A 
second arch should be turned over the outer 
air-chamber, and a clear space of two feet for 
circulation of air be left between this arch and 
the floor above. In that case the whole outer 
portion of the furnace is easy of access and 
defects can be seen and repaired. 
Two other things as connected with furnaces 
are wrong. Registers should always be set in 
soap-stone. In many instances in this city 
the iron registers are set in the floor without 
the intervention of any non-conductor of heat, 
and the infrequency of cold continuous days 
in this climate, only has saved us from confla¬ 
grations produced by the floor taking fire from 
heated registers. Sad experience in colder 
climates has taught a lesson in this respect 
which we should improve. 
Again, the cold air duct or feeder should not 
be, as it is in most instances, made of wood, 
and for the reason given above, that in shut¬ 
ting off the heat by closing the registers, the 
hot air is forced back through this wooden 
pipe. Houses can be made more secure against 
tire by using properly constructed furnaces 
than in any other way of heating, but it is a 
fact that many, we believe most, of the furna¬ 
ces are insecure. 
Although the Mississippi in its course be¬ 
tween Minnesota and the Gulf laves the banks 
of nine prosperous and mighty States, yet to a 
territory of the Union, almost without capital 
but certainly not without energy, perseverance 
and mechanical skill, appertains the honor of 
first “bridging” this noble stream with a 
magnificent structure, equaling in beauty, 
strength and durability any suspension bridge 
in the country. 
The work consists of a wire suspension 
bridge of one span 630 feet, and seventeen feet 
width of roadway, connecting the western 
bank of the Mississippi River with N icollett 
Island, about 100 yards above the first break 
of its waters into rapids above the fal’s. 4he 
roadway ot the bridge is laid down with white 
pine plank, spiked longitudinally, and break¬ 
ing joints with the floor beams. In order to 
diminish the vibratory motion in this platform, 
a truss is placed on either side, consisting of 
heavy pieces of timber. The roadway is sup¬ 
ported by the cable with suspending cables, 
made into skeins of such lengtn as to- corres¬ 
pond with the curvature of the main cables— 
the suspenders consist each of sixteen strands 
No. 10 hard drawn wire. The skeins are fas¬ 
tened under the beams by a small casting. 
The main eables, two on each side of the 
bridge, have the same vertical deflection ; they 
are composed of two thousand strands No. 10 
hard-drawn wire. The cables are closely 
wrapped their enti e length with no 15 anneal¬ 
ed wire. All of the wire is prepared to resist 
corrosion, by being immersed in linseed oil at 
about half its boiling temperature. 
The cables are supported by wooden towers, 
built in the most durable manner, the timbers 
of which they are constructed being held to¬ 
gether by heavy castings. The masonry upon 
which the towers rest is 15 Jeet in height.— 
The lower part of the towers are designed to 
serve as toll-houses. 
The anchorage for the cables is obtained by 
drilling through a structui e ot limestone rocks 
10 feet in thickness, and passing links of 1% 
inch square iron through them, into cast-iron 
plates, weighing in the aggregate some six 
tons. To the upper series of links passing 
through the rocks there will be placed a bar 
of 3 inch round iron, and this retains in posi¬ 
tion a second series of links, and a third series 
is in like manner attached to these. To these 
the thimbles of the cables will be connected.— 
All of this iron is embedded in cement. The 
whole weight of the material suspended, exclu¬ 
sive of cables, is 183,130 pounds—the greatest 
load which can be brought to bear upon the 
platform, the architect assumes at thirty-four 
horse coaches, weighing 246,000 pounds—thus 
the weight of all the suspended matter, exclu¬ 
sive of the main cables, would be 427,120 
pounds. 
The general appeajance of the bridge is 
light, graceful, and in the highest degree orna¬ 
mental. 
RAILROAD GRADES. 
To Prevent Iron from Rusting. —Warm 
your iron till you cannot bear your hand on it 
ivithout pain to yourself. Then rub it with 
neiv and clean white wax. Put it again to the 
fire, till it has soaked in the wax. When doue, 
rub it over with a piece of serge. This pre¬ 
vents the iron from rusting afterward. 
On the railroad betiveen Turin and Genoa, 
experiments near Gleni, where there is an 
ascent of 1 in 28)^, have proved most satisfac¬ 
tory. With two locomotives attached togeth¬ 
er, drawing a train of six carriages loaded with 
sand, which weighed altogether about 56 tons, 
and each locomotive weighing about 22 tons, 
including the coal and water, a speed of 19 
English miles an hour Avas easily accomplished, 
although, from the length of the tunnel and 
the dampness of the atmosphere, the rails were 
excessively greasy and slippery. The engines 
used were built by Messrs. Stephenson, after 
plans sent by the Piedmontese engineers, and 
as this is at present the steepest ascent on any 
railroad in Europe, the result reflects the 
highest praise on all concerned, particularly 
considering the signal failure of the former en¬ 
gine, “ la Bavaria,” for Avhich the Austrian 
government paid so highly for crossing the 
Simmering, and Avhich can hardly force its own 
weight of 60 tons up an incline of 1 in 40.” 
We do not knoAv whether the Piedmontese 
engineers were Italians or French ; if the for¬ 
mer, they deserve double praise, because they 
have not had any experience whatever in the 
construction of locomoth'es .—London Times. 
Blue Ridge Tunnel. —We gather the fol- 
loAving facts relative to this work from the 
Charlottesville Jeffersonian : 
The east side of the mountain has been tun 
nelled 1,400 feet through hard rock, and the 
west side has been penetrated to the distance 
of 1,550 feet, leaving but 1,300 feet now to be 
cut through. Some portion of the tunnel is 
arched Avith brick, and there is a two horse¬ 
power engine stationed there to carry off the 
water which drips through the top. The in¬ 
termediate tunnel, 800 feet long, is cut to the 
distance of 300 feet. Where the tunnel has 
been cut, supporters of timber have been 
placed. This tunnel is the most dangerous 
work on the mountain, as the rock crumbles 
on being exposed to the air, and tons of it at 
a time tumble in upon the workmen. The 
whole work of tunnelling the mountain will be 
completed by August, 1856, if it is not stop¬ 
ped for want of money, of which there is said 
to be some danger. 
Gunpowder.— Some of the effects of ign.'< 
ted gunpowder are wonderful. When gun¬ 
powder is heaped up in the open air and in 
flamed, there is no report, and but little effect 
is produced. A small quantity open and ig¬ 
nited in a room, forces the air outwards, so as 
to blow out the windows; but the same quan¬ 
tity confined within a bomb, within the same 
room, and ignited, tears in pieces and sets on 
fire the whole house. Count Rumford loaded 
a mortar with one-twentieth of an ounce of 
poAvder, and placed upon it a twenty-four 
pound cannon ; he then closed up every open¬ 
ing as completely as possible, and fired the 
charge, burst the mortar with a tremenduous 
explosion, and lifted up its enormous weight 
Tr» onPYriOpImmit ( Vat-i n-f 
fined twenty-eight grains of powder in a cylin¬ 
drical space, which it just filled, and upon be¬ 
ing fired, it tore asunder a piece of iron which 
which Avould have resisted a strain of four hun¬ 
dred thousannd pounds .—Liverpool Standard 
Bullet Extractor. — An English paper 
states that a new instrument for extracting 
bullets from Avouuds has been introduced in the 
Crimea, where so many bullet wounds have 
occurred. The instrument consists of a small 
tube to which is attached an air pump.— 
When the end of the tube is placed in the 
wound against the bullet the air is extracted 
by the pump, and the bullet adhering to the 
end of the tube is drawn out. 
Hickory Nut Oil.—A New Light. —The 
Toledo (Ohio) Republican says:—Hickory nut 
oil, considered equal to the best lard or sperm 
oil for burning and machinery, is manufactured 
by Mr. Warren Estabrook, of Dayton. 4 he 
nut oil remains in a fluid state at very low 
temperature, and it does not “gum” like the 
ordinary qualities of oil. It is used in very 
delicate machinery, and when properly refined 
could be used by watchmakers. The pignut 
is preferred in the manufacture, on account of 
its thin shell, and greater abundance of oily 
material. Mr. Estabrook believes that oil 
manufactured from the ordinary shell-bark and 
large sweet hickory nut, Avould come into gen¬ 
eral use for the table. 
Coal in Locomotives.— TEe Newark Mer¬ 
cury of February 21, says :—A locomotive 
engine arranged to burn coal was tried on the 
New Jersey Railroad on Monday. The ex¬ 
periment gave full eatis r action, and it avos 
thought that the use of coal would be advan¬ 
tageous in saving fuel, prevention of sparks, 
and a steady fire, when placed upon a first-class 
engine. 
