60 
the cultivator- 
fee, 
putrid substance, as was the case with some grown in 
my garden, in 1844. 
Hall, Cooperstown, Jan. 6, 1846. 
BURRALLS CORN-SHELLER AND SEPARATOR-— (Pig. 16.) 
We saw this machine in operation for a few minutes, 
the other day, and formed a favorable opinion of it; 
but as we have not had a sufficient opportunity of 
examining it, we offer the following communication 
descriptive of its operation:— 
When will wonders cease? Do not stare, gentle 
readers, for it is even so. Mr. T. D. Burrall, of Gene¬ 
va, has made an improvement in the simple implement 
of a corn-sheller, which “takes the rag off” of all its 
predecessors. It cannot be beat. Why, just look at the 
above cut. See how simple it is—all iron—strong and 
substantial, and what is more, it cannot be easily be put 
out of order. Durable too—last a man’s life time. 
Why, there is nothing of it—a mere pocket edition. 
Still its operation is wonderful: it strips the kernel 
clean from the cob, without breaking either the corn or 
the cob, and what is more, it not only separates the 
corn from the cob, but the cob from the corn, and de- 
posites the corn at the bottom in a half-bushel, fit for 
market or the mill, and the cob through a “knot hole” 
or orifice on he back side, near the top, thereby saving 
the trouble of “cleaning up,” as with other machines. 
Take it in your kitchen and it is fine fun for the boys 
to shell from twenty to thirty bushels of corn in an eve¬ 
ning. The “ gude ” wife will have no reason to com¬ 
plain of dirt or a “ muss” on the floor. 
To be serious, Mr. Burrall has really presented us 
with a most efficient and useful machine, leaving the 
shovel, frying-pan handle, and all other machines far 
in the back ground. The principle of the sheller is 
not new, but the improvement consists in the case or 
shell which encloses the operating parts, and the com¬ 
plete separation of the corn from the cob. It requires 
but little power, and is capable of shelling from 10 to 
12 bushels per hour. 
Arrangements have been made for their extensive 
manufacture in this city, and a few are now on sale at 
the Agricultural Warehouse of Messrs. E. Comstock 
& Co., No. 23 Dean-st. Retail price, $10. 
C. N. Bement. 
BemenVs Am. Hotel, Albany, Jan., 1846. 
Cure for bke-stings, &c. —Liquid ammonia is 
found to neutralize the poison of bee-stings, and the 
bites of poisonous insects, and to afford more immediate 
and effectual relief than any other remedy. 
The above is a cut of a good horse-hoe or cultivator 
for working among corn, potatoes, and turneps in their 
early stages, and we should suppose would be excel¬ 
lent for tobacco and cotton. The legs are wrought 
iron, and the feet are laid with steel. Cultivators made 
of cast iron answer very well for very light soils, but 
are poorly adapted to those which require loosening 
and pulverizing. A tool like that above delineated, if 
well constructed may be made to penetrate the soil as 
deeply as is required by any crop, and it will at the 
same time so cut up the weeds as to effectually destroy 
them. 
CONNECTICUT IRON WORKS 
The valley of the Housatonic abounds m iron ore, 
which gives employment to many furnaces for smelting 
it, and for various other establishments for the manu¬ 
facture of different descriptions of iron articles. It 
was at Salisbury in Connecticut, we believe, that the 
first iron was made in this country. The first Ameri¬ 
can cannon were also madehere in the time of the Rev¬ 
olution; and ever since that time the town has been no¬ 
ted for its iron manufacture. The iron here produced 
is of a quality superior, for many purposes, to that made 
in any other part of the country. 
At this time there are in Salisbury four blast furnaces 
and four forges. A brief description of one of these, 
which the writer had an opportunity of visiting not long 
since, may furnish some idea of the immense value of 
the iron business in this vicinity. 
The iron works of Oliver Ames & Co., are situated 
in Falls Village, in Salisbury. They were erected and are 
carried on under the supervision of Mr. H. Ames, a son 
of the senior partner. These works cost $80,000, and 
are devoted mostly to making heavy articles of wrought 
or hammered iron. The original material used is pig 
iron, of which twelve hundred tons are used annually,— 
producing eight hundred tons after it is manufactured, and 
receiving from the process an increased value of eight 
cents per pound from the pig. The business is chiefly 
making tire for locomotive wheels, heavy shafts for 
steam-boats, and filling government contracts for vari¬ 
ous articles, such as chain cables, irons for field car¬ 
riages, &c. Fifty men are constantly employed, and 
from three hundred to five hundred dollars worth of 
work are turned off daily. 
The tires of the locomotive wheels, weigh from four 
hundred to eight hundred pounds each, and a ton of iron 
is used daily for this purpose. Steam-boat shafts are 
frequently made weighing seven thousand pounds each. 
Ore is worth two and a half dollars per ton at the 
bed, and three to three and a half dollars delivered at 
the furnaces. Pig iron is worth forty to fifty dollars 
per ton. Messrs. Ames use annually two thousand cords 
of wood, worth two dollars per cord, forty thousand 
bushels charcoal, worth six cents per bushel, and seven 
hundred tons bituminous and anathracite coal, worth ten 
dollars per ton. Their men are paid from one dollar to 
three dollars per day. 
At Furnace village, which is also in Salisbury, we 
called at Mr. Alex. H. Holley’s cutlery manufactory, 
but not finding Mr- H. at home, we were unable to learn 
many porticulars concerning the establishment. It was 
the ancestors of Mr. Holley who made at this place the 
cannon before alluded to, in the Revolution. 
