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“T,.„„.'...... . ..*- 
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MOORE’S RURAL 
NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FA MILY NEW SPAPER. 
167 
#rt|ai1) hixxj 
A FARMER’S GARDEN. 
take cake of youe things. 
It is of no use to make a garden, plant beds, 
set out trees, bushes, flowering plants,, &c, 
and then suffer the interest in these things to 
abate after the first excitement in procuring 
them’has passed off. Many err, egregiously, 
in this way. They saw, last 5 ear. handsome 
“ces tecLs fruit, or Wautiful flowers m 
some person’s garden or yard, and resolved to 
have the same sort this jear for their own. 
MULCHING WITH WOOD SHAVINGS. 
There has been a great change within a 
few years among our farmers in regard to the 
—-« I sss- as 
described 
their behalf, fco, 
choice Apple trees 
“ „ rfrp * the attention of all the ticed in a Nursery catalogue 
1 de?cribed which bad 
supply of garden vegetables. It speaks very 
poorly for the farmer’s economy, even thou h 
his fields be tolerably well tilled, to see the 
garden fence broken down, and the plot over¬ 
grown with grass and weeds. No one can 
an interest in 
they send off for some 
or dwarf Pear trees, or 
hardT Grepe" Vines, or flowering shrubbery, 
and when they arrive, laudable pains are ta¬ 
ken to prepare the soil well and set them out 
in good shape. For the first year perhaps 
they will be properly attended^ to. lhe 
estimate, until he has tried it the value even ^ be kept loose and free from weeds, 
„ _n t _* nnltivafp.d warden. -*- ne b from hisrh 'winds 
of a small but well cultivated garden 
constant rotation of fresh and delicious vege 
and the plants protected from high 
ranging cattle and vagrant boys. Put nature 
S affords for tlietable, aud U» amount Suffer and HUfles perhaps 
it saves of the more substantia, proves, to = Wore f™ aBSed ^ 
^“nothing of the higher cousiderations of | 
comfort and health are among its numerous 
A correspondent of the N. E. Farmer 
states that, having a few fruit trees set on a 
barren knoll, which, although they had yearly 
received a liberal mulching with grass, assum¬ 
ed the appearanee of premature decay, an in 
fact had already taken the down hill course, 
he resolved to try the effect of mulching with 
shavings. Around each tree he put two bar¬ 
rels of shavings, within a circle of eight feet 
or no -1 in diameter, leaving a small space between the 
shavings and the trees to be filled with fresh 
earth. To keep the shavings snug, a thin 
coat of grass was spread over the whole. 
To fully test the experiment, a part of tne 
trees were treated the same as they had former¬ 
ly been. After the lapse of one year, (which 
was last year,) those trees mulched with sha 
vino-s, put out vigorous shoots, and their daik 
green foliage could be easily distinguished 
from the others at a distance. 
Last year he used upwards of a hundred 
barrels, which has proved equally beneficial to 
the trees, while the first that were mulched 
continued to thrive even beyond expectation. 
ttjrarat %xte, 
manufacture of metallic waee. 
LIST OF PATENTS 
Issued from the United Sides Patent Office for the week 
advantages. 
It has usually been the case, _ 
things perhaps exists to- 
bestowed upon the gar- 
excitement abated ; the trees are neglected 
the earth around them becomes swarded and 
bound; the lice, caterpillars and vermin are 
ending Mag 8, 1856. 
Philip Bacon, Simsbury, Conn., improved tape fuze. 
Geo. W. Brown, Galesburg, II!., improvement in seed 
P 'Alex^C. Blount, Mount Pleasant, Ala., improvement 
in preparing turpentine for distillation. 
Jno. T. Brucn, New York, improvement m stone and 
™ iiextcrTf.’ Chamberlain, West Roxbury, Mass., im¬ 
provement in lamps for burning fluid. 
Robert Crichton, Buchanan, Pa., improvement in ma¬ 
chines for making bolts. 
Thos. Daugherty, Erie, Pa., improvement 
Cr William Fowler, New York, for faucet. 
D. H. Fox and John Fink, Reading, Pa 
in railroad car ventilators. 
Benjamin Hardinge, New York, improvement in ap- 
paratus for dissolving silica. . . 
Benjamin Hardinge, New York, improvement in facing 
beds, for grinding artificial granite. &c. 
Simon Ingersoll, Greenwich, Conn ™ 
m A°Lcmpeke, Pleasant Mount, Pa., mode of checking 
wind mills. . ,, 
Henry Link, Little Falls, improved propeller 
T. N. Lupton, Winchester, Va., improvement in gra 
ha j V H. t0 Manney, Rockford, 111 .,', improvement in grain 
improvement 
machine for saw- 
and the allowed to take possession; the snows have 
same state of 
day, that the care 
den as in inverse ratio to the size of the occu 
pant's premises and his pecuniary ability. 11 
a man owns but half an acre of ground or less, 
he makes it tell essentially in the way of vege¬ 
tables and fruits ; while he who boasts the pos¬ 
session of a hundred or more acres, plows and 
^ a/ J. H. Manney, iyockiuiu, ° 
.mnestic fotitratg. SSsr *'mZ 
broken down a limb or two ; the high winds 
-, have given the tree a lurch and halt turned 
its roots out; the patience of the owner is ex¬ 
hausted, and he concludes his original outlay 
was a waste, and the flourishing accounts he 
once read, were a humbug. So he blames the 
newspaper, the catalogue, the nurse^men, and 
Kt wants 
of nature, aud Ms shrubbery' cannot stand re- 
sows 
broad fields and not unfrequently lets be llioa against her laws. The fruit never ap 
His wife through £ Ara . 01 . if it does, it is not what was expect- 
bles to the 
made°to satisfy the cravings of half a dozen 
hungry field hands. 
Such things as pie plant, lettuce, and as¬ 
paragus are only read about, not seen ; w 1 e 
her humble neighbor of the half acre lias an 
abundant supply of all these things. In mi - 
summer the farmer’s women folks make in¬ 
roads into the fields for peas and green corn, 
while the other has far better articles and a 
greater variety immediately at band. 
The range of kitchen vegetables, an abun¬ 
dance of which can be raised upon a half acre, 
or even less, is far too large to be enumerated 
here ; but the seed store will furnish the seed, 
and a little labor with the hoe and rake, after 
a thorough plowing and manuring, will fit the 
ground for its reception. The various kinds 
of roots, peas, beans, and corn, cucumbers, 
cabbages, and tomatoes, and dozens’ of other 
guides for hemming cording. 
Wm. Paule, Alexandria, improvement in vcnti.atin 0 
ra Lyman C E. S payne, Yazoo City, improvement in window 
“cSirt Richards, Cunningham, Mass., improvement in 
On the approach of warn weather, Hghlly | 
M. M* and J. C. Rhodes, Taunton, Mass., machine for 
KEEPING FUES IN SUMMEK. 
flip P-arden run to waste, jaia oy pears ; or n it uuca, « — - ;■ 
it had been 
on which enormous drafts are stinted, neglecte is worth 
takin- care of; and it is so ordered in this 
workfthat without care we can have nothing. 
Young trees should have a rich me low soil ; 
thev should be supported by a stake, the 
tney niuui “n;„ a + OI i t’m- some 1 
whip, comb and brush your furs till they are 
perfectly free from dust, sprinkle them with a 
little spirits of any kind, and wrap them in 
clean linen. Put them in a light box or 
drawer, and keep them from. the air as much 
as possible. In this situation they may re¬ 
main ten cr fifteen days, when they ought 
to he examined, and the whipping, comb¬ 
ine and brushing repeated. _ 
The insects most destructive to furs, are, 
first, the black bug which infests smoked 
meats, &c. It appears and deposits eggs ear- 
W in lhe spring. This kind of moth does not 
eat the fur, but preys altogether on * e ^ 
Next, the small asli colored miller, which pro- 
duces the moth that destroys all kinds of 
woolen stuffs, and may be seen hovering about 
the candle on a summer evening. I his kind 
loatheringucko.^ improveme nt in sash supporter. 
Josfali J Sherman. Albany, improvement in proces.es 
%C P A^r^wY^»rnt in apparatus 
"cfarVstoVnTMasI^mproUm^nt in fire 
and ought 
the mite, which 
ground should be cultivated for some years 
r “0 “ • ‘ he t iS d?ied partlcukrly preys u^Kra end destroys the furs, 
sboMdbfrivrf, aud tie cattle and boys *£ o^tloV m „st guarded agamst,„a!so 
should be kept away from them. With tha 
care, all one’s original expectations will be ie 
SSd in due time. So of pear trees-so of 
cherry—-so of plum-so of grape vmes-so 
. r-_currants, and indeed of every 
the orchard or garden. 'lake 
Thos. 
yr regu 
Jno; Stowoll, 
af Andrew J. Suffern, Suffern, improved machine for 
r °Ed n en r c! r T 0a vener S and Oscar Nesmith, Hamilton, Va., 
im S e B e Turne P r”cuyahoga Falls, 0., improvement in 
Sm joei n Webster, Brooklyn, improvement in silvering 
! °Henf y g Whtoey, Jr., Cambridge, Mass., improved ink 
log by its own weight, 
I observed an article in your last week s 
number, in reference to a paper read by I Jr. 
W. H. Smith of this city, (Fhila.) before the 
Royal Academy of Sciences in England m re¬ 
ference to the utility of converting the slag 
of iron furnaces into things useful and orna¬ 
mental. Having had business transactions 
with him in this city, in the way of encour¬ 
aging his invention before he left for Europe, 
I & thought it might not be uninteresting to 
vonr readers to know how he succeeded with 
his experiments while here. After securing 
his patents he commenced operations at Lon- 
shohocken, Mont’y Co., Pa., by undertaking 
, to convert the slag of a laige anthracite lur- 
b00t 1 nace at that place, into paving tile, glass-ware, 
&c For this purpose he built annealing 
ovens aud fixed other necessary fixtures, to 
carry on the business. These, till after havmg 
been cast and annealed, were taken to Phila¬ 
delphia. They were then ground smooth on 
the one surface and were ready for use. 1 
had a foot-way laid with them in this city, the 
only one ever laid by him, which has been in 
use for about two and a half years, and an¬ 
swers a pretty good purpose. The great dith- 
culty that he met with was, that a great 
many of them broke in annealing, and many 
others had fire flaws in them, making them 
unfit for use. This material, as manufactured 
by Mr. Smith, was too brittle, partaking too 
much of the character of brsttle glass. The 
desideratum seemed to be something that 
would make it less brittle. I saw some beau¬ 
tiful colored glass-ware made by him ot tms 
material; it was too expensive to be Drought 
into practical use. If the difficulty of the tire 
cracks aud the brittleness of the material, 
could be overcome by some of our men of ge¬ 
nius then this material would become of in¬ 
calculable benefit to the world. It takes a 
much higher polish than marble and is much 
handsomer, it would make a most splendid 
article for mantels, table tops, &c. E. R- 
Norney, in Scientific American. 
George B. Woodruff and Jame, N. Palmer, New Haven, 
C Tm H P ^ 0 bn m NewYo g rk. asflgnlrm Frederick Renter, 
same place 
the mite W men are very numerous. They go RWe”starch Company,’' improvement m apparatus 1UMU ^ - , - , , 
lonear like dust. They subsist upon and de- for m«mufacturing ^rch Beaumont! K ew Orleans, ieiy v0ice and tongue. It spread tnowled e 
sbrojTtoe fibrous menobrane which attaches JgSrlPray, Nathaniel M. Harris,®, c. | fftr ^ wide . The people are heard m the 
INFLUENCE OF .INVENTIONS. 
Discovery has been the great means of im¬ 
provement. The mariner’s compass led to ma- 
nv blessiDgs, including the addition of this 
continent to the known world. Steam yielded 
its countless benefits. It has brought our 
States in close association and sympatny. 
Printing, “ the greatest of the arts,” gave so- 
thiDg else in 
the fur to the skin. Hence the practice of ^y“\^V“Sptace, Improvement in artlft- 
BuntiDg and airing furs is highly prejudicial J»» 
for as insects fly-about m the air, it no+ ^ - • - 
affords them an opportunity of getting 
George E. Kirk, and Law- | h^ories—the hourly record of all that 
done, felt, or thought, throughout the globe. 
• ’ e library of -- nc ’*' — 
cheapened 
it not only Ci j 0 hn Taggart, Roxbury, as-ignor to hirn^f an^Nche^ ^ ne ’ WS paper is the library of the poorest.— 
gSiSSiSS SSSiHig 
ryman or newspaper 
—Rural Intelligencer 
LIMA BEANS. 
_ _ . This is an important crop, and must be 
things of similar character, will pay for culti- ^ Q accordingly. Plant in slightly 
g - - * - nf 1 elevated hills, 3 feet apart each way, and but 
inst covering the seed, five or six m each hill. 
'Three will be enough when up ; put m the 
sticks at the time of planting ; they may be 8 
or 12 feet high. A patch ot the beans should 
he sown on some odd warm corner when if 
the cold wet weather should have destroyed 
those sown where they are to grow which it 
often does, these can be transplanted to sup- 
vation in dollars, for every expenditure of j elevated Hills, 3 feet apart each way,.and but 
dimes But the mere question of dollars and 
cents is unworthy of account, when compared 
with the other advantages to be derived from 
a good garden. The innocent indulgence of 
the appetite, the promotion of health and 
strength, the cultitation of taste for the orna¬ 
mental, which even the layiDg out of a vege¬ 
table garden will not fail to promote, are 
some of these higher advantages. 
The question may very reasonably be asked 
spoils the color and destroys the life and beau¬ 
ty of the fur. . 
Coarse furs—such as bear and buffalo skins 
_ ma y be preserved by beating them well in 
the spring, and heading them up in an air 
tight spirit cask, which had been recently 
emptied. Especial care must always be taken 
to have furs, woolens, &c., clean and free from 
insects when they are put up for the season— 
and no means are adequate to the preservation 
of furs that are badly dressed and not cleansed 
of the natural grease .—A 1 roy Furrier. 
GKINDING BY WILD POIVEB. 
ply the deficiencies 
80 Another way to grow them is, to flank the 
walks 18 inches from the edge, six fee be- 
A nice Jelly or Sponge Cake. —One tea- 
CU p 0 f SU gar, three eggs well beaten to a foam, 
and thus save a second | ^ teaspoou f u l 0 f cream tartar, and half tea- 
spoonful soda. This will make paste enough 
for two baking plates full, for jelly cake, or 
one plain cake, which should of course be 
why it happens that the garden of the farmer ^ po le, along the course of all or made i ' th;c i iC r. For jelly cake bake thin on 
7s so frequently neglected, while the plot of part 0 f the walks. If the poles are kept^per- platC3) and while the cake is hot, spread the 
the poor 
uenuy n o‘ > homes tead Fectly uniform, in height, and far enough in * f j yei . it and then roll the cake into a kind 
mechanic or the im , V ^ ihpm from gettmar out of L, r nn ;i AVRpn -wanted for use, cut 
of the tradesman is made to yield so abund¬ 
antly ? The reason is, undoubtedly, this — 
With the former, the garden is merely a sec¬ 
ondary consideration, and perhaps not so 
much as that; while with the latter, it is his 
profit and delight. Every inch of land is 
brought into requisition, and he watches every 
tiny°seed as it vegetates and develops itself in¬ 
to a broad-leafed plant. If he laments at all, 
it is over -the narrow bound, that hedge, in 
out-door labors, and the comfort of his family. 
The garden of the farmer is sowed and plant¬ 
ed at odd spells, too late or too early, when it 
will not interfere with field labors. It is hoed 
and weeded (if hoed and weeded at all) at 
times when it is too stormy to work out-doors, 
or it is set as a stent anterior to a holiday, and 
consequently wretchedly done. 
A greater reform than has yet taken place 
in the farming community is needed, and must 
be effected. Agricultural papers have done 
much to bring about such a reform, but their 
mission in this field is not yet ended. Y\e 
will stake our reputation on this, that any in¬ 
dustrious and intelligent farmer, who has nev 
er taken the pains to cultivate an excellent 
kitchen garden, will never be without one al¬ 
ter he has tried the experiment for a single 
the ground to secure them from getting 
the perpendicular, when nicely covered they 
have a very pretty effect, and tend to destroy made aud pa i at able jelly 
the monotony, generally observable in a kitch- tMg recipe f or plain cake, 
en 
out ° f I Q 6 f’cyilnd rical coil. When wanted for use, cut 
it across, in slices. Yon w ill find this a quick 
- • ' ’ ' " cake. If you use 
add such spices as 
this recipe for pi air 
not obtain milk at all times, for making up 
pastry. —Sun Bonnet, in Ohio Cultivator. 
eu garden, andff interspersed with a few poles like best to the above. < This is particu- 
nf the scarlet runner bean, make the whole | ar ]y convenient for people in cities, who can- 
look quite lively and cheerful. This bean does .- - " r 
not pod freely in the hot months of this cli¬ 
mate, but after the fall rains commence, they 
begin to come in abundance, and will continue 
to do so until cut down by irost If picked 
voung, they form an excellent substitute for 
the bush beans, and will thus be^ useful as an 
ornament during summer, and aftord an excel¬ 
lent vegetable for the fall. l or our own eat- 
in <r we prefer them to the bush bean, but this 
is doubtless owing to custom; it bearing much 
freer all summer in an English climate, than 
in this, is in that country what the Lima is 
in this, a vegetable seen in every garden. 
The seed can be obtained ot any of the 
principal seedsmen. 
season. 
Singular FACT.-Dr. White the Postmas¬ 
ter at Union Star, Ky., in a letter to the Lou¬ 
isville Courier, notices a singular tact. In 
that section, throughout every peach orchard, 
there has been a greater bloom than or seve¬ 
ral years past, and upon examining the blos¬ 
soms a singular phenomenon is observable.— 
in some orchards, for every blossom examined 
there has been found inside the cups from one 
to as many as seven well formed peaches, and a 
large majority of blossoms have three cups m 
them. This has never been observed in that 
part of Kentucky before. 
The ‘-Old Stuyvesant Fear Tree,” in Fourth 
avenue near Thirtieth street, New York, is 
now in full bloom. The buds are as Hnct an 
good looking as if their venerable parent now 
some two hundred and thirteen years old, had 
i just come to her blossoming years. 
When to Cut Asparagus. —Asparagus 
should never be cut until the stems have had 
sufficient exposure to the atmosphere to be¬ 
come green. When cut earlier, the fibious 
woody matter of the white or bleached part is 
not only tasteless, but absolutely uneatable — 
The true asparagus flavor, as well as the ten¬ 
derness which constitutes the glory of this veg¬ 
etable, are both lost, when it is served up in 
the bleached condition referred to. bo loDg 
as the crowns are not expanded, and the stems 
are not fibrous and tough, but break like a 
snap-short beau, asparagus is fit for the ta¬ 
ble If it is desired to preserve the fresh 
oreen color of the plant when served at table, 
a very small quantity of saleratus added to 
the water in which it is to be broiled, will ac¬ 
complish the object. 
To Boil Rice— Rice is one of those vege¬ 
tables which is easily injured by poor cook¬ 
ing Rice should be carefully looked over, 
and thoroughly washed in two or three waters. 
The kernels will then have a pearly lustre. It 
should be put into boilrng water, into which 
a little salt has been thrown, and allowed to 
boil fifteen or seventeen minutes. I he water 
should be drained off—and the kettle set back 
from the violent heat of the fire—when it has 
steamed in this way about fifteen minutes, it 
will be perfectly soft, of snowy whiteness, and 
each kernel will retain its individuality, and 
not be lost in one solid mass ot paste. 
A pint of rice may be boiled m three quarts 
of water. 
-Take one- 
How to make Good Bread 
fourth as much of sour milk, with saleratus to 
sweeten or neutralize it, as you wish to make 
a loaf; three-fourths warm water; a table¬ 
spoonful of salt; stir in Indian meal till it is 
quite thick ; put in a pau and bake for four 
hours, to a light brown. It the crust gets 
too hard it will be materially bettered by 
steamiDg it in slices before serving it on table. 
Our corn bread is too often spoiled by raising 
it with yeast, which destroys its sweetness, 
and by too little bakmg, which makes ft less 
wholesome and palatable .—Dollar Newspaper. 
Profit of Orchards. —A distinguished ag¬ 
riculturist, who has one hundred apple trees, 
and intends to set out as many more, says 
that if apples will sell at twenty-five cents per 
bushel, they are his most profitable crop -and 
if they will not sell, they are the cheapest food 
he can raise for all kinds ot animals. 
Early attention to weeding toe garden will 
do-much to forward the growth ot plants, as 
well as prove a great saving iulabor hereafter. 
Weeds should never be allowed over three 
days’ life in any garden. 
Sugar p IE .—The Ohio Cultivator has this 
recipe for a pie -.—Cover your pan with good 
paste, spread over it a layer ot sweet butter, 
then sugar enough to cover the bottom ; then 
pour in half a pint of rich cream, in which a 
table-spoonful flour has been first stirred, and 
it is ready for the oven. 
Tea at Half Price.— Laysel, a French 
chemist, asserts that if tea is ground like 
coffee, before hot water is poured upon it, it 
will yield nearly double the amount ol its ex- 
liilirating qualities. 
During the past few months the attention 
of our citizens has been drawn to an anoma¬ 
lous kind of a building in the vicinity of the 
Western Freight Depot, near the junction o 
the Erie and Genesee Valley canals. A tow¬ 
er rises above the roof to the height of 70 feet 
from the ground, and is surmounted by a dome. 
The Rochester University is in the immediate 
vicinity, and, while some men asserted that the 
building was designed for astronomical purpo¬ 
ses, anti was to be filled with telescopes, and 
transits, and clocks, others maintained it was 
„ Fresnel light established by a beneficent gov¬ 
ernment, to aid in the intricate navigation of 
the Erie canal. _ . 
To settle these questions in our own mind, 
aud to enlighten the world at large, “ one of 
us” visited the building last week, and ascer¬ 
tained that a windmill has recently been put 
upon the tower intended to drive two run of 
stone. The huge wrngs are on a radius of 28 
feet, by 7 feet wide ; and they are thrown into 
the wind by a neat little independent windmill 
on the opposite side of the revolving dome, 
and placed at right-aDgles to the main wheel. 
If the wind veers so as to strike this side mill, ] 
of course it sets it revolving ; which, by a 
system of cogs and endless screws, wheels the 
dome around until the small mill presents 
knife edges to the wind, in which position the 
large wings are broadside on and domg their 
^ The sails are furled and unfurled, while toe 
mill is in motion, by a beautiful mechanical 
I arrangement capable of movement, either by 
| hand or by a governor attached to the mill, 
so as to adapt itself at all times to the force 
of the wind and the amount of machinery at¬ 
tached. This furling machinery cannot be in¬ 
telligibly described on paper without the aid 
of cuts ; but it is easily understood by any one 
of ordinary mechanical abilities, on inspection. 
The mill is nearly ready for operation, and 
we may look for a new power to come in where 
water and steam have heretofore in our city had 
it all their own way. Mr. Gillard is proprie¬ 
tor of the new mill, and the furling apparatus 
and other improvements on the wind power, is 
a patented invention by Mr. Vice, the master 
mechanic. A model of the machine was on 
the ground at our County F air last fall, but 
arrived too late for regular entry for a prize. 
tures reach all mankind. _ 
The genius of mechanics has supplied the 
greatest wants of both rich and poor. The 
ancients were not acquainted with the sweet 
associations of the fireside, for their houses had 
do chimneys. The companionship of the clock 
cheers and guides the humblest, not as m the 
year 807, when the King of Persia presented 
one moved by water to Charlemagne, or 1 ope 
Paul sent one to King Pepin of France, m 
756. The invention of clocks belongs to the 
Saracens, but they are not now what was said 
of the instrument made by Richard de M al- 
Unaford, in the fourteenth century—miracles, 
“not only of genius, but ° f excellmg knowl¬ 
edge” All Eurupe responds to the tick ot 
Yankee manufacture. The daily laborer has 
comfortable home than sovereigns 
could'boastrfold-Beckett’s splendid style^of 
living A. D. 1160, was described in this, that 
his sumptuous apartments were every day m 
the winter strewn with clean straw and hay. 
J. T. Brady. 
THE SPEED OF KAILWAY CARS. 
Many of the accidents which happen to pei- 
sons attempting to cross railroads are the re- 
suit of ignorance of the_ veloctyjf fte^ron 
interesting 
horse when fairly under way. A writer in the 
New Spring for Gates. —Dr. Peck, men¬ 
tioned an experiment he had tried successfully 
iu applying a cheap spring to iron gates, that 
i 3 far preferable to any other, or to a chain 
and weight. Take a piece of India-rubber, 
ei°bt inches long, two inches wide, and one 
inch thick, and fasten it by staples to the bach 
of the gate and post, and when the gate opens 
it bends up, but the disposition to straighten 
is so great that it will push the gate to, and 
never fails to work, summer or winter. 
Hartford Courant gives some _ . 
facts which it may be well to bear in mind . 
u pt «eems almost incredible that as we glide 
smoothly along, the elegantly furnished car 
moves nearly twice its own length in a second 
of time—about seventy-four feet. _ At this ve¬ 
locity v e ff n( I that the locomotive driving- 
wheels, six feet in diameter, make four revolu¬ 
tions per second. It is no idle piston rod tha- 
traverses the cylinder thus eight times per 
second. 
If a man with a horse and carriage upon an 
unimportant public road in a country town 
should approach and cross the track at the 
speed of six miles per hour, which, would 
be crossing rapidly, an express train approach- 
i puor at the moment would move toward him 
two hundred and fifty-seven feet while he was 
in the act of crossing a distance barely suffi¬ 
cient to clear the horse and vehicle. It the 
horse was moving at a rate no faster than a 
walk as the track is usually crossed, the train 
would move toward him while in the act cf 
crossing, more than five hundred feet I his 
fact accounts for the many accidents at such 
points. The person driving thinks he may 
cross because the train is a tew reds distant. 
How compares the highest speed ol the 
train with the velocity of sound ? When the 
whistle is opened at the eighty red “whistle 
post ” the train will advance near, one hun- 
dred feet before the sound ol the whistle trav¬ 
erses the distance to and is heard at the crossing. 
The velocity exceeds the flight of many of our 
birds Dr. J. L. Comstock, the well-known 
author of several philosophical works, inform¬ 
ed the writer that he was recently passing 
through Western New York, when the train 
actually ran down and killed a common hawk. 
The train was stopped, and the game, so rare¬ 
ly captured, was secured. 
Every now aud then a new motive power 
is heralded abroad with promises of its super¬ 
seding those now in use ; but all such prom¬ 
ises and hopes have thus far proved fallacious. 
_ _ 
