Coal Furnaces for Warming Houses* 
Will you inform Hie which arc the most approved 
coal furnaces for warming apartments, and the amount 
of coal they consume ? w. n. 
There are several approved furnaces, but we can 
only speak from experience in favor of Richardson & 
Boynton’s, of New-York. The part which the fire 
reaches being of cast-iron, they are quite durable. 
The one we have experimented upon the present win¬ 
ter, has a fire-chamber about one foot in diameter, and 
ten inches high; the whole furnace is enclosed in a 
case of galvanized iron, forming a cylinder two feet in 
diameter, and five feet high. During the present mild 
winter it has consumed only 21 hundred pounds of 
Scranton coal per month, or scarcely over a ton, and 
it has warmed three apartments day and night. By 
closing the draft, it easily keeps fire twelve hours, and 
might, probably, by very slow combustion, retain fire 
for twenty-four hours. In severe winters, it would 
probably consume a ton and a half of coal per 
month, or even more. The amount would be modified 
by the character of the house, and the windinesss of 
the locality. Our experiment was performed in a well 
built wooden house, with the walls filled in with brick, 
and the situation quite exposed. The cost of the fur¬ 
nace was $35 ; register $12; and setting up and pipe 
added enough to make it altogether about $55. It is 
not separated from the rest of the cellar in which it is 
placed, but as this was formerly too cold, the warmth 
imparted is just sufficient to give the desired tempera¬ 
ture. In most instances, however, it would be best to 
place it in a separate apartment. 
We know of no distinct experiments performed with 
this furnace of other sizes, to determine the amount of 
coal required. 
As feeding the fire of such a furnace occurs many 
times a day, it should be done in the easiest manner. 
We find the best way is to take a common iron scoop or 
grain shovel, and have the sides or edges bent upwards 
a few inches, by a common blacksmith, so that it may 
just enter the door to the fire chamber, and also the 
door below, to clean out the ash-pit. A similar shovel 
thickly perforated with holes, forms a very convenient 
ash-sifter, admitting of use in the ash-pit itself. 
Draining Swamp Land* 
Messrs. Editors —I have an 8 acre lot of low land, 
which I have bogged and cut an open ditch around the 
outside, and also once in 6 rods through it lengthwise. 
The upper surface is black muck without any grit or 
sand in it, and very light when dry, 8 inches thick ; 
then clear peat 6 or 8 inches thick, consisting of fibrous 
roots, &c., holding water like a sponge ; then 8 inches 
of peat and a light slate colored sand mixed together, 
underlaid by what seems to be a hard-pan. but when 
loosened up becomes a quicksand if mixed with water. 
Now what I want to know is, what to do with the land 
in its present state. It has been plowed twice about 
6 inches deep, and I have taken off a light crop of 
buckwheat, oats and corn, with no manure. Shall I 
plow up the peat below the black muck, and mix with 
the muck; or is it best to plow it shallow, and lay 
down to grass? What is the best manure to buy for 
such land, and can I cultivate it so as to make it pay ? 
N. E. Chaffee. Ellington, Ct. 
The first thing to do is to underdrain it deeply and 
thoroughly—we question if drains 6 rods apart will 
accomplish the desired result; our correspondent may 
determine this point by observation. We can perceive - 
no advantage in plowing up the “peat” intotne muck, 
both being the same thing essentially. If the sand or 
hard-pan could be thrown up to the surface, it would 
no doubt prove beneficial—could not this be done while 
performing a more thorough underdrainage ? The ex¬ 
periment may be easily performed on a small scale. 
No manure will be of use while the ground remains 
soaked with water—when rendered dry enough, we 
would recommend a moderate dressing of lime and 
ashes, if easy to be obtained, (say 20 to 50 bushels per 
acre at a time,) and yard manure. By this time, such 
land would probably produce fine crops of timothy or 
red-top grass, broom corn, or Indian corn, if the latter 
is an early sort, so as to escape the frosts to which muck 
lands are so liable. 
- p- • 0-0 - 
Cultivating Plants wliile tlie Dew is on. 
Messrs. Editors —At least fifteen years ago, I no¬ 
ticed a plot of cabbages, of which the large firm heads 
I could not account for from anything apparent in the 
soil. On asking the owner how he made from such a 
soil so fine and uniform a crop, I found his only secret 
was that “he hoed them while the dew was on.” He 
thought that in this way he watered them, but of course 
the good resulted more from the ammonia than the 
moisture of the dew. 
I adopted the practice the year following, and with 
the result was so well satisfied, that I have since con¬ 
tinued and recommended it to others. In my “Garden¬ 
ing for the South,” published two years since, you will 
find (page 163) “ they (the cabbage tribe,) especially 
like to have the soil about them, thoroughly worked 
while the dew is on them. There will be a very great 
difference in the growth ot two plots of cabbages, 
treated in other respects alike, one of which shall be 
hoed at sunrise and the other at midday ; the growth of 
the former will surprisingly exceed that of the latter.” 
A story in point some time since went the rounds of 
the agricultural press, of which the substance follows: 
A small plot of ground was divided equally between^ 
the hired lad of a farmer and his son, the proceeds of 
its culture to be their own. They planted it with 
corn, and a bet was made by them as to which should 
make the best crop. At harvest the son came out some 
quarts behind. He could not understand the reason, 
as he had hoed his twice a week until laid by, while he 
had not seen the hired lad cultivate his plot at all, and 
yet the latter had gained the wager. It turned out 
the winner’s crop had been hoed quite as frequently, 
but before his rival was up in the morning. Provi¬ 
dence, it seems, follows the hoe of the early riser with 
a special and increased reward. 
But there are exceptions. Cultivating while the dew 
is on, manifestly benefits such gross feeders as cabbage 
and corn, but there are plants very impatient of being 
disturbed while wet. The common garden snap and 
running beans are examples ; and if worked "while wet, 
even with dew, the pores of the leaves seem to become 
stopped, and the whole plant is apt to rust and become 
greatly injured. Whether the Lima beans and other 
legumes are as impatient of being hoed in the dew, I 
have not ascertained. Experiments should, however, 
be tried the coming season on all hoed crops. Wm. N. 
White. Athens , Ga. 
