MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AN!) FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
(Srtjrarfr aitfo dbrkn. 
FACTS IN HORTICULTURE. 
At the meeting of Fruit Growers, during 
the late State Fair at Elmira, a very ea«y- 
mindsd cultivator requested permission to de¬ 
tail a little of hia practice in Strawberry 
cultivation, the result of which from some un¬ 
accountable fatality had not proved satisfac¬ 
tory. He had heard of tan bark being an 
unfailing manure for strawberries, and was 
determined to try it; he set out several beds 
of strawberry plants and covered them with 
about four inches of tan bark. lie was much 
disappointed to find that no fruit was pro¬ 
duced except a few around the edges of the 
bed; now he should like that some of those 
present would endeavor to account for this, a3 
it was beyond his comprehension. 
The unanimous opinion was, even with 
those who were friendly to tan bark, that he 
had put it on a “ little too thick." 
The strawberry, above all other fruits, has 
been cropped to death by several rural Arith¬ 
meticians. IIovey's Seedling and Burr’s 
Pine were made to produce such amounts, as 
far more than fulfilled the most hopeful ex¬ 
pectations of their worthy originators. We 
seldom read of the acres of strawberries, 
wh'ch are cultivated in the common routine 
of the market gardener, producing more than 
an average crop. And too many of these are 
eo much below the average as Ecarcely to ren¬ 
der their cultivation remunerative, when the 
great labor and expense attending their mar 
keting is taken into consideration. We hope, 
during the next strawberry season, to be able 
to recognise some of the benefits which we 
should hope to result from all the strawberry 
talk we have had, books and pamphlets, re¬ 
ports and Conventions. 
Another Fact. —At the same meetirg, 
while the subject of Pear cultivation was un¬ 
der discussion, an amateur who had obtained 
a number of trees at one of the Rochester 
Nurseries, expressed it as his opinion that the 
Rochester trees were not suited to his locality ; 
he had taken especial pains to dig deep holes 
for the roots and had filed them with abund¬ 
ance of the very best manure before planting, 
and had watered them well. Not one of his 
trees grew. This was discouraging, and he 
had resolved to try trees from some other sec¬ 
tion next time. 
A member of the firm of which the trees 
were purchased, defended the Rochester trees, 
and was supported by another Rochester gen¬ 
tleman, who fully coincided with the trees in 
their wise decision not to grow in such a muck 
hole as they had been plurged in. 
Many other interesting facts were brought 
to light during the course of the sittings. So 
novel were some of the details of practice sub¬ 
mitted for consideration, that a great amount 
of amusement was afforded to the “ old hands 1 ' 
present, who almost despaired of beirg able, 
during the short time afforded them, to en¬ 
lighten the novices upon the mode of proceed ir g 
necessary to ensure the growth and Iruitful- 
ncss of their trees. Much valuable infor¬ 
mation was nevertheless supplied, and doubt¬ 
less several individuals left Elmira, havirg 
seen a greater variety of fruit, and much finer 
specimens—with a few hints from their culti- 
va'ors upon the method of producing such— 
which fully compensated them for their jour¬ 
ney, however rough or long. 
Many ef the men who visit our State Fairs 
should, on their return to their farms, dec’de 
upon experimentirg a little in matters so 
closely related to their interests as fruit cul¬ 
ture. 
We find that too many of ocr experiinen 
talists are holders of mere patches of ground, 
ard that the produce of certain crops are com¬ 
puted relatively, per acre—from the product 
of a few square feet, pe r haps. Thus it is that 
enormous results are figurtd up, which are in 
no wise warranted in practice as means and 
appliances may be resorted to when a few rods 
are under cultivation, which cannot be carried 
out on an acre. 
BLIGHT IN 'JHE PEAR TREE. 
The most prevalent and fatal enemy to the 
pear tree is the bb'ght. Familiar as the dis¬ 
ease is to all who have had any experience in 
the cultivation of this fruit, its cau^e is a 
mystery, attempted to be accounted for by 
pomologists in about as many different ways 
as there are men who discuss the subject.— 
Some call it fire blight, and ascribe it to the 
effects of a scorchirg sun ; some say it is the 
ravages of an insect, while others pronounce 
it the results, of cold and frost. Notwith¬ 
standing all that has been said and written 
apou the subject, fruit-cuiturists were as wide 
apart in their views at the meetings of the 
various Horticultural Societies during the 
past summer, as they have been at any pre¬ 
vious period. Like the blight in the potato, 
its cause seems to be an enduring mystery, its 
workings only being manifest in its effects. 
The true way, it seems to us, to deal with 
this subject, is for those persons whose trees 
are visited with the disease, to note carefully 
all the circumstances attending its develop¬ 
ment, and then, by an extensive publication 
and comparison of these notes, endeavor to 
ascertain from them under what combination 
of circumstances the disease develops itself, 
or seems to be especially fatal. 
We pass in our daily walks a small fruit 
garden, in which, among other thiBgs, were 
two beautiful dwarf pear, and several quinae 
trees. The latter, daring the past season, were 
overloaded with a splendid Grop of orange 
quinces, of a remarkable size considering the 
excessive bearing ; but interspersed amid the 
green branches were a great number of dead 
boughs. They were blighted during the 
present season, and the withered leaves were 
still adhering to the stems. In the centre of 
the garden was a Louise Bonne-de Jersey pear 
tree, whose limbs bent to the ground under 
its load of fruit. No appearance of blight 
was to be seen upon this tree, but not two 
rods distant from it stood another, which at 
the beginning of autumn had not a green lea 1, 
left. There were hanging upon its branches 
half grown pears, which had turned yellow 
and shriveled amid masses of leaves that look¬ 
ed as if the whole tree-top had been subjected 
to a scorching fire. Taking this garden alone 
to judge from, in connection with the remark¬ 
able wetness of the summer and the unprece¬ 
dented cold of last winter, we might naturally 
conclude that the disease was dependent either 
upon the one cr the other of these circumstan 
ces, or upon both. Bat we have cn record 
from our personal experience, manifestations of 
the disease quite as fatal under entirely differ¬ 
ent circumstances, which will be made the 
subject of another short chapter. 
Good Grape Vines —About twelve years 
ago, I bought fifty fruit trees, and two Isa¬ 
bella grape vines, ard I have had more bush¬ 
els of fruit from those two vines than from 
all my trees. Last year I had over 20 bush 
els of grapes.— a. w. 
— Good grape vines but very poor fruit 
trees if they do not produce more than 20 
bushels per year, at that age.— Eds. 
SQUASHES AND CABBAGES. 
i - 
From an address before a Farmer’s Club in 
Maine, we take the following : 
One of the advantages we are to derive 
from this Society is the classification it will 
affjrd us of different vegetables. Take, for 
example, the Squash. Now to a person but 
little acquainted with the subject, the number 
of varieties would appear to be almost infi¬ 
nite, but a little attention will inform us that 
they may all be arranged in three natural 
classes : 
First, the Summer or Gourd Squashes.— 
These are distinguished by a hard rind, a dry, 
sporgy, whitish pulp, and small, thin se?ds 
when ripe, consequently ihey are suitable for 
the table only in an immature s ate. The 
variety known as the Canada squash may be 
easily raised in sufficient, quantity for an ordi¬ 
nary family in two or three hills, by digging 
a large c .vity, filling it wi h well composted 
manure, placing around it four bricks, and 
over them a square of glass, and you may 
have squashes early in July. 
The second class includes the Pumpkins 
aud crook-recked squafhes. You may easily 
recognize this class by its rough and deep 
leaves, the stem five furrowed, taperirg at one 
eDd,—the fruit of an orange coior within, a 
CTcnfer scar at the blossom end, and large 
thin seeJs. 
The third c’ass irc’udes the Va’paraiso and 
Marrow squashes. These have a large rough 
leaf, not Inbe:d, unless hybridized, s’em short 
and thick, tlesh orange colored, a small tuber¬ 
cle at the blossom end, and large plump seedi. 
Now wi’h these characters we are at once 
enabled to classify all the varieties of the fam¬ 
ily, detect cases of hybridization and supply 
our garden with what we wan . I might 
here add that the whole squa-h family was uot 
known till the discovery of America. The 
same remarks would apply to the almost in¬ 
numerable varieties of the bean amorg us, 
which would enable us to reject many kinds 
in order to give p ! ace to better or es. 
For the waDt of such knowledge thousands 
of persons who cultivate a garden w uld as 
readily eet out a hundred plauts of the early 
York Cabbage as auy for wiuter use. Ttey 
hardly stop to inquire whether they wouid 
keep till winter. While on this point let me 
say a word on the varieties of the cabbage for 
cultivation. There is the large drum ho ad, 
which I presume all know. This is a w.nter 
cabbage. There is next the Savoy with its 
curly, crispy looki: g leaves, which is good 
for early wiuter, and lastly, the early York, 
which you will recognize by its smooth leaves 
! and baid appearance. This is only suitable 
I for fall use. The Savoy is unquestionably 
our most valuable cabbage, but it should be 
plauted as early as possible lathe sprii g if we 
wt^h to secure a large head. A small box 
set in a window the first of April, and sowed 
with cabbage seed will furnish a tine supply of 
plants to be transplanted the 20th of May.— 
Oxfoid Democrat. 
Weeds vs Flowers —Does it not seem a 
piece of impertinence to seize on a piece of 
grouud, and vehemently uproot and destroy 
everything that nature inclines to place there, 
and insist on the growth of something which 
apparently she cares very little about ? Who 
does not see that mignonette, larkspurs aud 
cypress vines, are not nature’s pets,—she ex¬ 
presses herself with a tar more hearty energy 
in burdock, pigweed, and smartweed 1 These 
are her thiifty children ; our so-called flowers 
are her step-sons, penuriousiy and grudgingly 
brought up.— Mrs. II. B. Stowe. 
RIPENING OF PEARS. 
No fact in fruit culture is now more clearly 
established than that pears are better perfected 
by being picked when they have stopped 
growing, and ripened by beiDg placed in a 
dark closet or drawer in the house. Some 
varieties of pears pronounced inferior, if not 
worthless, as ripened on the tree, are found to 
be altogether another fruit when ripened in 
the house, so different and superior as not to 
be recognized as the same varieties. Exten¬ 
sive cultivators have large closets fitted with 
numerous shelves for the sole purpose. 
At a late meeting of the New York Horti¬ 
cultural Society, Austin Pianey exhibited a 
di3h of finely ripened Bartlett pears, all of 
them remarkable for a very brilliant red 
cheek. He remarked that when gathered, tie 
red color of those specimens was scarcely per¬ 
ceptible, and that it wa3 mainly owing to ma¬ 
turing them in the dark. P. Barry had found 
the Bartlett, even when gathered before fully 
grown, to ripen well in the dark, and to ac¬ 
quire a flavor fully equal to that attained by 
specimens gathered iater. He had found 
shallow boxes, containing not more than three 
layers of fruit, very convenient for this pur 
pose. The temperature should be 56° to 60° 
for securing the best quality ; if warmer, they 
would mature sooner, but at the expense of 
flavor. He regarded the subject as one of 
great importance, inasmuch as the flavor of 
winter pears depends still more upon the 
ripening process. II. E. Hooker had found 
that caution was needed that the fruit doe 3 
not receive a taint from the wood of the box 
or drawer in such close confinement, and that 
open shelves would be better. 
A Hint to be Attended to Now.—Those 
who desire fresh Parsley and Thyme through 
the winter, have only to put rough boards 
edgewise around a small b d of each, fastened 
at the corners with a nail or two, and then 
cover up with boards. They should slant 
sufficiently to carry eff the water. On moist, 
mild days, also when there is a br’ght sun¬ 
shine some of the covering shou’d be removed. 
We have followed this practice for many 
years, and have always had an abundance of 
green thyme and pars'ey, the entire winter 
and spring.— Ger. Telegraph. 
Mulching Fruit Trees —A correspondent 
of the Horticulturist planted 150 trees in an 
orchard in very good but rather dry soil. All 
were planted with equal care, but a third of 
them were mulched cr the surface of the 
ground when planted covered with six inches 
of litter. Those thus treated all lived ; but 
fifteen of these cot mulched died in the hot, 
dry weather of midsummer. It is not stated 
that the soil was kept clean and mellow 
around them; which will of;en save the life 
of trees, when they-would die of neglect. 
Keeping Grapes in Winter.—I have 
packed grapes in various ways — in cotton 
batting, in cotton wadding, with the stems 
tied with twine, and with paper between the 
layers — and have arrived at the conclusion 
that none of these things are necessary, unless 
the grapes are put into tight boxes. If so 
packed, there must be some dry substance to 
absorb the moisture, (always passing eff more 
or less until the fruit becomes perfectly dry,) 
otherwise it will mildew and rot the grapes 
The fruit keeps the best, I think, to let it 
hang on the vines a3 late as it can and not 
freeze,—pick in a dry day, place it in shallow 
boxes, not more than two clusters deep ; keep 
it in as cool a place as you can and not let it 
freeze, and where there is sufficient circulation 
of air to carry off the moisture. I hive kept 
them in this way until April, and though 
towards the last they were indented like 
raisins, they still retained their delicious 
flavor.—A. W., West Bloomfield, N. Y. 
Seasoning Sausages.— The Rural has 
given line upon line and precept upon precept 
in relation to many other things; but the art 
of making good sausages. Such as are above 
suspicion has, 1 think, been overlooked. Most 
persons season them by guess. The following 
proportions always make an excellent article : 
To eighty pounds of meat, add two pounds 
of fine salt, one pint of pulverized s ge, six 
ounces of pepper, warm without water, mix 
thoroughly, and make into cakes, cr pack 
into crocks, and cover with melted lard. It 
keeps well in crocks and is convenient to cut 
out as wanted for use.—F armer.s Daughter, 
Newark, N. Y. 
HOW TO M AKE N O-MATTERS. 
This is an article of food which has for 
many years been confined to the descendants 
of a sirgle family of this town. Its excellence 
will commend it to the attention of these 
housewives who wish to make a good disp'ay 
of culinary skill upon their table, at the same 
time having a due regard to economy. The 
lady who furnishes the rec : pe has given fre¬ 
quent opportunities of tas.i .g their delicious 
flavor ; and if any are inquisitive, perhaps 
she might be induced to infirm them how the 
cakes ch ained their homely name. 
To three teacupfuls of buttermilk add three 
tablespoonfuls of rich cream and a small 
quantity of sugar. Stir in tloar until it is of 
a consistency of paste for dough nuts. Roll 
out size of a large breakfast plate, and fry in 
lard to a rich brown color. 
As each cake comes from the fire, cover 
with apple sauce made from tan apples sweet¬ 
ened to taste, and spiced with nutmeg or cin¬ 
namon, and continue the process till the plate 
is well heaped .—Oxford Democrat. 
LIST OF PATENTS. 
hiwd from the United States Patent Office for the week 
Hiding Nov. 13, 1855— each leaving that dote. 
(}. W. Bi-hop, Brooklyn, improvement in marble saw¬ 
ing machines. 
Ansel W. Porter, Litt’o Falls, N. Y , improvement in 
hanging carnage bodies. 
Hiram Abbott, Wakeman, O., improved method of 
upsetting tire, &o. 
Chas. Rice, Boston, and S. II Wborf, Roxbury. Mass., 
improvement in lasting and applying soles to shoes. 
Sylvanus Sawyer, Fitchburgh, Mass., compound pro¬ 
jectile. 
Job Brown, Lawn Ridge, Ill., improvement in weigh¬ 
ing attachment for faucet8. 
J. C. D..y, Ilackettstown, N. J., improved ring and 
gudgeons for bottle fastenings. 
John Fouser, Philadelphia, improvement in support¬ 
ing jacks. 
L. B Fisher, Branch Co., Mich., improvement in mar¬ 
ble sawing. 
Thaddeus Fowler, Waterbury, Conn., new method of 
separating pins 
John R. Hathaway, Millbury, Mass., improved rotary 
engines. 
Eli Horton, Windsor Locks, Conn., improved lathe 
chuck. 
W. B Kimball, Peterborough, N. II., improved mar¬ 
ble sawing machine. 
Jem Pierre Moiiierre Lyons, France, improved meth¬ 
od of cutting bootand shoe uppers. Patented in Fiance 
Aug. 10. 
V. P. Corbett, New York, excluding dust from rail¬ 
road cars. 
R .nscm Cook, Shelburne Falls, Mass , new method of 
boring implements 
Samuel Krauser and Christian Ritter, Reading, Pa , 
improved water meter. 
Win. C Chipman, Sandwich, Mass., improvement in 
marble sawing 
Michael Bomberger. Hummelstown, Pa., new method 
of nang ng w ndow »bade3. 
R. L. Nelson, Ocala, Florida, self-fcaihering adjusting 
tide wheel. 
T B Markill'e, Winchester, Ill., improvement in corn 
planters. 
Jo o,h Morre, Woonsocket, R. I., improvement in 
throstle machines. 
E. D Curtis, Mt. Morris, N. Y., improvement in seed¬ 
ing macb nes. 
Corne.ius R. Wortenoyke. New York, raising ice from 
river j , &c. 
Nath S. Sixton, Riverhead, N. Y., improved machines 
for addirg numbers. 
Barclay A. Sai'erthwait, Lima, O., new method of 
preparing artificial teeth. 
Tnos Cbope, Detroit, Mich., improvement in attach¬ 
ing sh ifts to ax'63. 
D. W. C. Sanford, Cincinnati, O., improvement in re¬ 
frigerators. 
Loren J. Wicks, Pate-son, N. J., improvement in 
straw cutters. 
H. N. Sherman, Birmingham, Conn., new method of 
forming heads on bedstead screws. 
Alfred E. Sornh, BrocxviLe, N. Y., improvement in 
securing shafts to axles. 
Geo. VV. Hubbard, M ddleton, Coen., improvement in 
marh'esawi 1 g machines. 
Ch;s. H. Johnsou, Boston, improvement in Argand 
gas tu ters. 
RuiOlphus Kinsley, Lynchburgh, Va., improved to¬ 
bacco pre-jtes. 
James A Woodbury, Winchester, Mass., improvement 
in p'aning machines.' 
Chas. F. Warren, Malden, Mass., improvement in mar¬ 
ble tawing machines. 
Samuel Wctberill, Bethlehem, Pa., improved process¬ 
es for making z nc white. 
Reuben W. Oliver, East Aurora, N. Y., improvement 
in road scraper. 
THE VERMONT W15MI1IL, 
We gave scire time since, in the eo’umcs 
cf tie Rural, a description of a windmill at 
werk ii this city, having attached an automa¬ 
tic arrangement for furling and unfarlirg the 
sails. We give above the illustration of 
another self-acting windmill, the arrangement 
of which for adaptirg the wings to the force 
of the braze, is cna diff-rent principle, and 
is both beautiful in theory and effective in 
action. It is irgenioug, simple, aud a most 
perfect regulator of its own motion: spreads 
a wide sail to a light breeze, and a small sur¬ 
face to a heavy one. An accelerated motion 
is checked by the action of the mill itself as 
readily as the steam-ergine is checked by tie 
actio a of Watt’s centrifugal governor. 
The radical feature in wb'ch this mactrne 
differs from others is simply th’s : It governs 
the obliquity of its own fans, k, to the wind 
by mears of the centrifugal force of those 
fans. Each is furnished with a helical or 
spiral slot and pin, made fast in the arm, as 
seen at i, fig. 2. In case of acceleration, the 
tendency of the fans is to overcome a suitable 
coiled spring, or a weighted lever, and to 
move farther out on their respective arms, and 
in so doing the spiral groove, cr slot, slides 
on the pin ar.d turns the fan more and more 
edgewise to the wil d, presenting less surface. 
When the velocity of the wheel is diminished, 
the spring or we’ght immediately draws the 
fans in an opposite direction, and the same 
slot and pin turn them more to the wind, 
always adjusting itself to the necessities of 
the occasion. 
This mill is without doubt an economical 
and convenient power, both for the workshop 
and the farm, and these wishing to employ it, 
will gain farther information by referring to 
an advertisement in this paper. 
Folding Machine. —The Cleveland Her¬ 
ald 3*\s it has added to its pointing establish¬ 
ment a folding machine -which will fold papers 
at the rate of twenty-five hundred per hour, 
and if will well fed will do its work more 
perfectly than it can be done with human 
Lauda. 
WHAT STEAM DOES. 
When steam applied its infant shoulders 
to lift the kettle-cover before the eyes of 
YV att, how limited its expectant use*, even to 
the wildest hopes of that fortunate thinker 1 
Now, behold the giant of the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury, how he is compelled to tug and strain 
the tireless sinews of his strength, in countless 
fields of usefulness and labor ! 
See how bravely he bears us through the 
storm. Insensible to cold and careksa of 
sleep, behold the snow that blockades our 
path fly before him in the dim star-light.— 
With mouth full of fire and nostrils expanded 
with smoke, hear him laugh defiantly at the 
solstitial rays, beneath which every laborer 
would melt. See him furrow the billowy 
brine for millions of miles, and interchange 
the growth of different zones. He spans the 
seas with bridges. He enters the factory, and 
seizing its central crank, he plies its compli¬ 
cated machinery with inconceivable velocity 
and power. He weaves our garments and 
carves our furniture. He multiplies our 
thoughts in book and newspapers, and impels 
them through the world. He bores his way 
through rock and mountain, and leaves an 
avenue for the flow of commerce. He grinds 
the grain of continents, and carries it to meet 
the necessities of man. He clenches the 
tough quartz, ard crushing it in his iron fist, 
compels it to surrender the golden treasure it 
so tightly held. 
He lifts and excavates ; he flames, and saws, 
and hammers, and with infinite and etherial 
delicacy, he points the finest needle, and draws 
the metadic thread. No labor is too und’g- 
nified for him to perform—no task too heavy 
for him to accomplish. He delights in noise, 
and dirt, and soot, and smoke. He is not 
afraid of his dainty fingers. Wherever work 
is to be done, there is his home. Whenever a 
difficult job is placed before him, his iron 
mucks fairly thrill with joy. See how, in a 
few years of his wonderful activity, whole for¬ 
ests have gone down his throat, leaves, boughs 
and mighty trunks. And who shall say that 
this laborious Titan has yet got himself fully 
in harness ? What we have seen him do, is 
mere preparatory service—the first trial of his 
boyish strength, before commencing the seri¬ 
ous business of his life. To search out new 
modes of toil, will famish employment for 
man, perchance, while the world endures.— 
Hon. Geo. P. Marsh. 
FRESH WATER FOR MARINE BOILERS. 
James Biden of Gosport, Erg., has obtain¬ 
ed a patent for feedirg fresh water to marine 
steam boilers, which water he obtains by the 
condensation of the steam after it has been 
employed in the cylinders of ihe ergines — 
This he carries into effect as follows: He 
leads a pipe from the cylinders into the water 
outside of the ship at one side, and after car¬ 
rying it round the stem of the vessel, he causes 
it to enter the vessel at the other side, ard 
open into a reservoir in the hold of the ship. 
A pipe opens from the reservoir to the atmos¬ 
phere, to allow aDy uncondensed steam to 
pass eff. As the s eam from the cylinders 
passes through the water of the ccean outside 
of the ship, it becomes condensed, and the 
fresh water thus produced flows into the reser¬ 
voir, from which it is pumped into the brilers. 
This invention is really an outside condenser 
—the ccean being made the gracd cooler — 
The condenser pipe must be set on an incline 
to allow the condensed water to flow into the 
reservoir. An e> gineer in this city proposed 
to us some years since, a method of effitainirg 
the same result in an iron steamer, making 
the lower part of the hull a huge surface con¬ 
denser. The plan of Mr. Biden we ihink, is 
preferable, as he can u=e any number of p-’pes 
to accomplish tie perfect condensation of the 
steam. Each pipe should be provided with a 
cock, so as to be shut off if damaged, from 
communication with the cylinders. 
Ruggles’ Rotary Shears— A new tool, 
known by the above designation, has been 
lately introduced for cutticg sheet metals, and 
which is made in sizes adapted to the thin 
tinned sheets or to the half-inch bciler-plate. 
One straight and one circular cutter are em¬ 
ployed, tbe latter beirg revolved ard slowly 
moved fcrwaid by the aid of a belt acting on 
a pully at one extremity of the machine.— 
The knives or cutters of this machine are so 
set that their edges do not come completely 
iuto contact, but only sufficiently neaUto en¬ 
sure the separation ef the sheet. It is found 
in praciice with the ordiaary lever shears 
that the cat invariably precedes the point of 
absolute contact of the kives, while it fa Is 
behind the point where the latter begin to 
press upon the metal. All shears compel the 
particles to elide psst each other in the act of 
separation, and it is found that the cohesion 
of metal is destroyed as soon as it fairly com¬ 
mences thus to elide, so that an absolute con¬ 
tact of the cut+irg eeges in Ruggles’ shears 
wouffi be worse than useless, in practice the 
edges are set at a distance equal to half the 
thickness of the metal to be cut, aid the 
sheets are divided with a degree of accuracy 
aid of smoothness unsurpassed by any system 
yet devised.— N. Y. Tnbuue. 
Working Brass bv Machinery—A rare 
specimen of American genius, is a machine at 
present in operation near the State Dam, in 
tois city, which is used for working sheet and 
wire brass. It cuts from a sheet of metal a 
square piece, which be ug run through lever 
wheels, and uider punches, appears in an in¬ 
stant a perfect hinge, and this with scarcely 
a.iy labor whatever on the part of ihe person 
superintending it. The hinges are perfect in 
shape, formed with mathematical precision, 
and free from those inaccuracies of surface 
which distinguish those made in the old mecli¬ 
ed. There is another machine in operation at 
the same place, which takes a piece- of iron or 
| brass, and fashions it into perfect hot-pointed 
I screws with wonderful, rapidity. Both thes 9 
: machines were invented by a practical ma- 
1 chanic.— Troy Whig. 
