48 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
i 
reservoir to my stock yards, in lead tubes of half inch 
calibre, which afforded a supply until late in the fall, 
when it ceased running. Had logs of one and a quarter 
inch bore been used in the place of lead tubes, I am 
confident it would have continued to run freely. 
Water pipes, and more particularly leaden tubes, are 
liable to be obstructed by the deposition of sand in the 
lower parts of the tube, and by the collection of air in 
the upper parts of the bendings. This is a serious evil, 
and may take place in all pipes, which have an undu¬ 
lating course, or more vertical curves than one. When 
air is thus confined in the pipes, the water will not rise to 
the same height at the discharging end, as at the foun¬ 
tain head. The air being the lighter fluid, tends to oc¬ 
cupy the highest part of the bendings. Any pressure 
applied at the fountain head tends to push the air a lit¬ 
tle beyond the highest part, so as to make it occupy a 
portion of the descending side of the curve. 
The preventive of this evil consists in avoiding verti¬ 
cal curves, and in laying the pipe, if possible, with an 
uninterrupted slope, or at least with only one slope, in 
each direction. When this is done, the air will escape 
at one or both ends of the pipe. 
My object in communicating the above, is to aid those 
who may be situated as I was—to answer repeated in¬ 
quiries by letter, and to announce that by applying to 
Messrs. Goey and Ireland of Watervliet, three miles 
north of Albany, who own the patent, that they may 
have an apparatus erected at a moderate expense. Mine 
cost me about one hundred and fifty dollars, and I con¬ 
sider my farm worth, at least, one thousand dollars more 
in consequence of it; in fact, two thousand dollars 
would not tempt me to abandon it. 
Should any gentleman deem it of sufficient importance 
to call on me, I will take great pleasure in exhibiting 
the machinery, and giving all the information I possess 
in regard to the name. 
CALEB N. BEMENT. 
Three-Hills Farm, Jan. 7, 1340. 
Sore Mouth in Sheep. 
Messrs. Gaylord and Tucker— Being something in 
the line of sheep farming, and feeling that farmers are 
under mutual obligations to communicate to each other 
whatever comes within their knowledge of the diseases, 
and cure of distempers, that may make their appea¬ 
rance in our flocks, I take the liberty of communicating 
what was to me a new disease among sheep. Sometime 
in January, 1339, a number of my sheep were attacked 
with a sore mouth. It generally commenced in one 
corner of the mouth and spread over both lips, and the 
lips swelled to the thickness of a man's hand. I exa¬ 
mined all the books and periodicals that I could find, 
but found no description of such a disease. I found 
one man who told me that his father had a flock simi¬ 
larly attacked, but could find no relief, and lost the most 
of his flock. My flock, on that farm, consisted of about 
300, and in the space of three weeks, about forty died 
with the distemper, and not one had recovered. By 
this time at least one half .of the remainder of the flock 
were attacked. It occurred to me that tar would be as 
likely as any thing to give relief. I accordingly had my 
sheep all brought together ; and filled their mouths, and 
daubed on to their lips all that could be made to stick ; 
and to my surprise it effected an immediate cure. I 
lost but two or three after this, and these were nearly 
dead when I made the application. In a very few days, 
every sheep was well. The swelling went down, and 
after a few days the lips healed, and became perfectly 
clean. JABEZ BURROWS. 
Chautauque, January 14, 1840. 
[Fig. 31.] 
[Fig. 28.] 
C 
□□ 
Plan of Piggery. 
Messrs. Editors —Accompanying this, you have a 
plan and explanation of a piggery constructed last fall, 
which I conceive to be, so far as it goes, as perfect as it 
can be made. It will accommodate sixteen breeding 
sows with a litter of pigs each, and afford them ample 
room in doors an l out, and have each one separate, and 
unmolested by any thing else ; and all within a compass 
of less than fifty feet, and when not required for sows 
heavy in pig, or with pigs, it will comfortably accom¬ 
modate three times this number. It can be indefinitely 
enlarged with entire convenience, by adding to either 
end in a continuous range, thus affording all the addi¬ 
tional yard room required. A valuable addition to this 
would be a cellar to hold roots, which might be easily 
constructed under the pens adjoining the furnace and 
vats, taking care to have it properly guarded against 
leakage into it from the pens above, by tight plank or 
board floors sloped so as to carry off the water. The 
steaming arrangement is unexceptionable. Sixty bush¬ 
els of roots can be steamed in three hours, and at a 
more moderate expense for fuel than one could hardly 
conceive of. Corn or any grain in the circular vat can 
be cooked effectually, without the trouble and expense 
of going to mill, at a small expenditure of time and 
fuel. 
The expense, roughly estimated, is—frame, covering 
with double board, so as to be perfectly tight, shinarling, 
partitions, eave-troughs, doors, windows, feeding trouarhs 
with swing doors, &c. &c. &c... $250 
Boiler complete,with steam pipe,..... 40 
Setting ditto, with materials,. 25 
Two vats,.. 20 
One cistern,. 20 
Pump for ditto.,... 10 
Total,.$365 
[Fig. 23.]—End view of piggery, 60 feet long, 20 
feet wide, and 8| feet posts, alike at both ends. 
a a, 2 twelve light windows, 7 by 9. 
bb,2 doors, 4 feet wide and 7 feet long. 
[Fig. 29.]—Side view of piggery. 
c c c, 5 wiado'Ws, 15 light, 7 by 9 ; on south side ; five 
boards ditto, to slide on north side. 
ddd, 8 doors, 2 feet by 4$, on south and north side 
for ingress and egress of pigs to the yards. 
[Fig. 30.]—Ground plan. 
e ee, ground plan of frame. 
fff, plank partitions—same to be added on south 
side when required. . _ „ , 
g g g, 16 troughs, with door hung to girt 2\ feet above 
with staple to fasten on both sides, so as to feed and 
clear trough free from pig interlerence. 
h h, passage way 4 feet wide running whole length 
and giving access to every trough and pen. 
Hi, 3 doors 4 feet wide and 7 feet high, 
i, furnace and boiler. _ e 
k, oblong box, for steaming roots, 4 feet wide, 3$ teet 
high, and 7 feet long inside, secured by 4 joice curbs 
with keys, and holds about 60 bushels, and heated by 
steam taken through a lead pipe, from boiler j adjoin- 
mg. 
%l, circular tub, 3£ feet diameter by 4 feet high inside, 
standing on top of steam vat and used for boiling corn, 
&tc. by means of a copper pipe entering at the side near 
the bottom, and running to top inside, then turning and 
delivering the steam at the bottom. Food can be cook- 
ed in only one of these vats at a time. 
m, cistern 9 feet square and 6 feet deep—holds up¬ 
wards of 100 bbls. of water, and over it is stove room. 
[ Fig. 31.]—Furnace and boiler—end view. 
n, iron door hung in cast iron frame 16 by 14 inches 
through, which the fuel is put in, and the fire passes the 
length of the furnace 6 feet, and returns the whole 
length through the pockets o o, by the side and contigu¬ 
ous to the boiler, and passes by the chimney built di¬ 
rectly over the end. 
p, boiler, made of thin boiler iron 20 inches diame¬ 
ter, and 5£ feet long, with 3 small cocks r r r, to show 
the quantity of water. It has two large brass cocks on 
top to receive water and deliver steam, also a safety 
valve. 
q q, brick work arouud boiler, built on stone founda¬ 
tion. 
s, hand hob, to clean boiler whenever it becomes fouL 
Respectfully your obedient servant, 
P. B. ALLEN. 
The Extirpation of Weeds. 
It may be doubted if any branch of agriculture, is 
more indifferently conducted in this land, than the ex¬ 
tirpation of weeds. In the corn field and in the po¬ 
tato patch, indeed, the hoe may perform its part tolera¬ 
bly well; and in the summer fallow, the plow turns over 
and smothers many of these noxious incumbrances; hut 
traces of that vigilance which should mark their first 
encroachment, and of that perseverance which should 
return to its task till the work ol destruction is comple¬ 
ted—are too rare amongst us. How many honorable 
exceptions to this charge of negligence, can be found 
on a hundred adjoining farms? We put this question 
without rigidly insisting on the rule, that good farm¬ 
ers suffer nothing to grow but their crops.” 
Let a careful observer traverse the country in sum- 
mer, and he will find in many places, the St. John’s 
Wort extending its yellow bloom over the fields and 
meadows without one effort to check its progress. Here 
the wild teasel is slowly advancing without interruption 
from the road side into the pastures; and theie the su.- 
phur blossoms of the field mustard amongst the oats 
and barley, show it already in possession, far and wide. 
The quitch grass, the dock, the ox-eye daisy, the horse- 
thistle, the mullein, the milk weed, the yarrow, and others 
of less importance,—if they do not, like a neighbor s 
| pigs and geese, devour the pasture, at least they occupy 
’ the space where grass ought to grow, and rob it of the 
I nutriment which ought to increase its growth. We me 
mistaken, if more loss is not sustained from vegetable, 
than from animal, intruders. 
The above list is long, but we have not yet done. 
The burdoc, the tory weed, and the cockle bur, are most 
injurious to wool; and the stein kraut, (red root, or pi¬ 
geon weed,) and biennial chamomile seem to poison the 
growing wheat. The two last of those weeds come in 
so slyly, or rather without observation, that the farmer 
is sometimes taken by surprise when he beholds the 
ruin of his crop. 
There is one weed, however, so formidable, that all 
others, bad as they are, seem to shrink into insignifi¬ 
cance before it. This is the Canada thistle —“ the curs¬ 
ed thistle” of England, and if any plant can deserve such 
a name, this is the one. It is in a fair way to cost us 
more than the Florida war—but description would be 
useless to those who have marked its progress in spread¬ 
ing over the fields, or whose fingers have been pricked 
by it when securing their crops. 
The Canada thistle effected a lodgment in this town, 
more than 35 years ago; but its progress within the 
last five years has been more rapid than at any former 
period. Fields that had not been previously encumber¬ 
ed with it, have had of late so many new seedlings, 
that the land is rendered almost unfit to be sown with 
wheat; and without much perseverance it will be en¬ 
tirely so in a few years. . 
In pastures and meadows, indeed, the progress of this 
thistle is comparatively slow, being checked by the 
