No. 2.-VOL. 4. AGRICULTURE. The Cottager's Manual, AMERICAN FARMER-BALTIMORE, 5th APRIL, 1892. FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES THROUGHOUT EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR. (health,-but if the substance be blackish, accom- Delay not every morning to brush off the snow panied with a putrid smell-the Bee is evident! from the hives, which may have fallen during the in a diseased state. If, further, some blackisi ight. Cottagers in general entertain the idea that spots, resembling small linseed, be perceptible on snow keeps their hives warm;-supposing this to the stool, in a state of desiccation, it may then be the case, it would be no benefit to them, but considered as certain that the Bees are in an unhe injury sustained by a hive, from the snow wholesome state. No time should then be lost inelting on it, is irreparable. To the president, vice presidents, the treasurer, administering to them some food, in which an exFEBRUARY. and members of the British Apiarian Society, tra quantity of salt has been mixed, with a glass This may be called the first month in the year, who, by their laudable endeavors, have encoura-of port wine; but should that not be within the in which the labor of the Bee commences. The ged the culture of the Bee, amongst the cotta-reach of the cottager, some diluted brandy will be crocus, the furze, and the sallow are in bloom, and gers, this manual is dedicated, with feelings of equally efficacious, and a little salt may be sprink-tempt the Bee on the first indication of genial the most profound respect, by their secretary. led amongst the Bees. This malady of the Bees weather, to resume its labors. It must, however, arises frequently from the honey being deposited be taken into consideration, that the flowers which in old and infected combs, which, turning acid, are now in bloom, yield little or no honey; the The Bees will be found more or less active this occasions that disagreement in the digestive or- Bees are, in a certain degree, roused from the month, according to the openness of the season. gans, which ends at last in the dysentery. Ano-torpor of the winter, and the consumption of the Should the Bees be seen on a fine day flying abroad ther cause is the old and musty bee-bread which food in the hive becomes considerable. In the in great numbers, and making a humming noise, is the usual concomitant of old combs. Nature common hive it is only a very skilful person, who you may rest assured that your hives are in good has indeed wisely taught the Bee to provide against can ascertain the actual existence, or the quantity health, and the less they are molested the better. the bad effects of putrid bee-bread, by the part-of food in the hive, by occular examination; some At all events, should any accident occur which ren-cular art which the Bee displays in filling a cell idea may indeed be formed by the weight, but in ders it necessary to inspect the inside of the hive; only half full of bee-bread, and the other half with an old hive, it is in general a very fallacious cribe sure and choose a fine dry day for the purpose, honey-thus in some degree providing against anterion, on account of the superfluity of bee-bread, for humidity destroys more hives than cold.* admission of air to the bee-bread, but the honey it- which is universally found in hives of two or three [CONTINUED.] JANUARY. Be particular in brushing off the snow from the self becomes in time contaminated with the dele-years' standing. Thus many persons are deceived hives never allow it to dissolve upon them-for it terious nature of the bee-bread long kept in the into a false security, in regard to the internal state will penetrate to the interior and spoil the combs, cells, and unless due vigilance be used on the part of their hives, and ruin is then the consequence. and the Bees will forsake the hive. of the apiarian, the destruction of his hives will be On the other hand, in the Huish Hive, an almost An opportunity must be taken of a fine day to the result. It is very difficult to prescribe any exact estimate may be formed of the quantity of inspect the hives, and in those cases where the method by which the combs can be renewed in the honey, by inspecting it at the top; and if a numBees are in the common hive, it should be turned common hive, and by which it would be divested ber of cells are seen sealed up, it may be safely up and the stool well cleaned. A renovation of air of the infectious bee-bread; how is a person, not determined that the Bees are not in actual want in the interior of the hive, will be of great bene-over skilled in the operative departments of the of food; let me, however, strenuously advise every fit to the Bees, for as there are no evaporators in science, and perhaps not skilled at all, to penetrate one to take the advantage of a fine day, and adthe common hive as there are in the Huish Hive, to the top of a common hive, to divest it of a piece minister a plate full of syrup to every hive. Be the foul air which has been gathering during the of infected comb?-how is he to ascertain in what not deterred by the ridiculous idea, that feeding winter, has not been able to find a vent, and be- particular part of the hive the infected combs ac- Bees makes them lazy. I have always found the comes at last highly prejudicial to the Bees; were tually exist? And perhaps, after having cut out one contrary to be the case, and if a little port wine the hives to remain an hour turned up, and the comb, he may find himself in the situation of the be incorporated with the food at the commenceBees wholly exposed, it would rather be an ad- dentist who, through ignorance, has extracted the ment of the season, the dysentery may be preventvantage than an injury. I am inclined to believe sound tooth for the unsound one.-Thus the com-ed, which, in all cases, is better than a cure. A that the dysentery amongst Bees is caused more mon hive presents those insuperable difficulties to partial feeding of the Bees in this month will acby the respiration of the foul air generated during the proper management of Bees, that I am not celerate the swarms, by exhilarating the Queen to the winter, than from any other cause, although it so much surprised at the smallness of the success begin the laying of her eggs at an earlier period be certain that it can be brought on by unwhole- which the cottagers have in this, to them, most than she otherwise would have done. some and infected food. interesting branch of profit; but my surprise is The stools must this month be cleaned from all The state of health of the Bees can in some de- great that they have any success at all. They the dirt which may have accumulated, and the gree be ascertained by the symptoms of anger cannot be supposed to possess an intuitive know-bottom sprinkled with salt. A hive may be kept which they display on lifting up the hive. If a ledge of the niceties of the science, and all the in good health by a liberal distribution of salt, and rustling noise be heard amongst them, and a sud-skill which they do possess, appears to have been no food should be administered to Bees without a den jerking of the wings, as if attempting to fly, inherited from their grandmothers and great-due proportion of it. * it may be concluded that the community are in grandmothers, who wisely concluded, that if they The entrance to the hive may, this month, be a good health. The odour which issues from the placed their hives in a garden-they had nothing little enlarged, and in the middle of the day, when hive immediately on raising it, is also a criterion more to do than to watch their swarms, and then the sun shines bright, both the tin sliders may be by which to judge of the health of the Bees. It is, to suffocate them-and should any disaster befall drawn up; for as the Bees, supposing them to be however, difficult to describe the distinctive quali- their hives-their want of management and skill in a healthy state, will now take their periodical ties of this odour, and the only sure method for was the last thing which entered into their heads; flight, a contracted entrance is highly prejudicial the inexperienced apiarian is to draw the compa- their son or daughter had seen a witch riding to them. It is certain that many hives are annurison between the odour of a diseased hive, and through the air on a broomstick, and the Bees ally lost, from a total negligence or inattention to that of a sound one. That of a diseased hive par- had certainly been killed by the indignant hecate. enlarging or diminishing the entrance of the hive, takes strongly of the smell of putrified objects, How different is the method of management in according to the existing circumstances of the case. but not of an animal nature,-that of a sound hive the Huish Hive: the infected combs may be ex-Indeed most people are not aware of, or are acturesembles the smell of heated wax, partaking, at amined and extracted; every part of the hive ally ignorant of the advantages resulting from a the same time, of the fragrance of honey. But one may be most minutely inspected-every comb may due attention to this apparently trifling point of of the surest criteria to discover the healthy state be taken out, the old ones rejected, and the sound apiarian science; but I am certain, that a person of the Bees, is to catch two or three and to kill ones replaced in their original position. them; if the substance in the stomach of the Bee be of a yellowish color, divested of a fœtid smell, * I should wish to see established in this country, but partaking of that of honey, the Bee may be con- the Bee Gardens similar to those in the Austrian sidered, as far as the dysentery goes, to be in good Empire, which are under the management of a skilful Apiarian, and which are open to all classes of people, but particularly the peasants. Par has only to attend minutely to the state of two hives, one of which has been managed with a due regard to the entrance, and the other with at tal neglect of it, to be thoroughly convinced of the justness of the advice which is now given. In the I wish it to be established as a principle, that ticular days are aphointed on which a person lec- * I wish it to be distinctly understood, that in no cold of this climate can be prejudicial to Bees. tures on the management of Bees, and thus a sem-speaking of contracting or enlarging the entrance Indeed I rather consider it to be beneficial to them. inary is formed in which the cottager is taught the to the hive, Isuppose that the proprietor has in use The greater the cold-the greater the torpor of the minutiae of the science, and all the most difficult the tin entrances which are attached to my hives, but Bees and the greater the torpor, the less the con-branches of the art. An Austrian in Germany is in those cases where the tin entrances which are not sumption of honey by the Bees, and this is no trifthus as proverbially noted for his excellence in the used, the hole made by the mortar or clay forming Ling advantage in a climate, the summer of which management of ees, as a Scot in England, in the the substitute, must be increased or diminished aðis not always congenial to the collection of honey. management of a garden. cording to the circumstances of the case. MARCH. fickle climate of England, the temperature of the In the feeding of the weaker hives, particular ON THE USE OF JUNIPER RAILS. day in the month of February, may be warm and care must be taken this month to avoid all robbe- STEVENSON'S POINT, Perquimans County, V. C. genial, and the following morning may see the ry from stranger Bees. At this season the best March 7th, 1822. earth covered with snow; in this case, the skilful period for feeding is the evening, and on the fol- Dear Sir-It is my misfortune, perhaps, to be bee-master will lose no time in confining his Bees lowing morning to take away the surplus food, and without timbered land convenient, to this farm, altogether, by letting down both the perforated restore it again in the evening. The sense of which has reduced me to the necessity of purchassliders but how is this to be effected with mortar smell is so acute in the Bee, that it immediately ing where I can get timber more conveniently, and or clay? The entrance must be either complete-scents the food which may be placed in a hive, called my attention particularly to my fences. A ly closed, which is highly detrimental to the Bees, and an attack upon it is generally the conse-good fence or hedge I look upon as important, or so much of the entrance must be left open as quence. comparatively speaking, to an agriculturist, as a to permit the egress of the Bees, in which case This month the tin sliders may be drawn away strongly walled city to the besieged, or a faithful the death of hundreds will be the consequence. from the entrance, and the Bees may have the centinel to an army, in an enemy's country. Should the situation of the apiary not offer the advantage of its full extent; providing at the same This winter I have met with an opportunity of indispensable requisite of water, the bee-mas-time against those casualties, from which the api-purchasing about ten thousand ten feet juniper ter must now begin to take care that troughs of ary is never exempt, but in the regulation of which, rails; which has enabled me to give my fencing water be placed in the vicinity of the hives. It the prudence and skill of the proprietor must be a thorough examination and repair, in which I will, however, sometimes happen, that the water put to the test, according as the circumstances have become so completely reconciled with my placed on the preceding night, will be found, at arise. purchase of rails, that, for the future, I now think, this season of the year, frozen in the morning; this This is a good month for the purchase of stock I shall purchase none but of that description. The water should be immediately removed, as melted hives-as they have weathered all the casualties former owner of this farm was induced, about ice is highly injurious to the Bees. of the winter, and little fear need now be enter-twenty-five or six years since, to try the "post and tained of famine. railed" fence, with double ditches, and for that The beginning of this month is the proper time for extracting from the Huish Hive, any infected as it accelerates the hatching of the eggs, and pro-tions, as I am informed, inasmuch as the hogs The warmer the hives are now kept, the better, purpose procured a quantity of juniper rails. The fence upon that plan, not answering his expectacombs which may be perceptible in it; the method motes the prolific nature of the Queen. Some of which is so fully and minutely detailed in the broke through or undermined it, he pulled it down, young Bees may now be perceived in the hives, "Instructions for the Use and Management of the and they are told by being of a greyish color, and and used the rails in the ordinary way. Now, sir, Huish Hive," that a description of it here, would be considered superfluous. Some Queens, how-old Bees will be seen cleaning them with their are seen running about in front of the hive-the to my surprise, at this time, after a use of twentyfive years, at least twenty of which, this farm has ever, being more early than others in laying their been rented or leased out, I find these rails nearproboscis, and in a few minutes they will take their eggs, some judgment is necessary in regard to fight into the fields. ly as sound and firm as they must have been the those combs, in which she may have deposited the day they were put in use! Many have the bark few eggs of the season-the Queen does not run on them, apparently as fresh as ever, and but few from comb to comb to deposit her eggs, but havin a state of decay! And to this, sir, permit me to ing commenced the laying in one comb, she proadd, that I am informed, there are rails of this deceeds from cell to cell, until every one contains an scription, in an adjoining county to this, which have egg-and she generally begins in the middle of a been in use for sixty years, and are yet faithful, comb. In taking out a comb, therefore, particuthough venerable, centinels! The intelligent farlar attention must be paid to discover if any eggs mer will, at once, perceive the many advantages have been deposited in the cells, and if any be SIR-I have taken the liberty of enclosing you derived from a fence of this kind: there is the exfound, the comb should be returned, and not med- the result of an experiment, made in the use of pense of annual repairs, the saving of timber, more dled with again until the close of the season, when Candles: one of which was made with a wooden valuable for other purposes, and now in some parts it should be taken away altogether. wick, the other in the usual way, with cotton. The of our country becoming very scarce, the saving Some hives may be found this month in a very candles were made at the same time, moulded in of labor, which can, in other ways, be advantageweak and languid state, which no food can exhila- the same sized moulds, of exact equal weight, both ously employed, and the great ease with which rate, nor the utmost art of the proprietor excite set on fire at the same moment, and placed upon these fences can be removed, &c. &c. Further to vigilance and activity. The Bees will dwin-the same table. That which was made with a comment is deemed altogether unnecessary. dle away by degrees, until the hive becomes whol-wooden wick, lasted seven hours-the other five; Ten feet juniper rails are purchased in the ly abandoned. This is an infallible sign of the affording equal light. county of Tyrell, delivered on the water, as I am barrenness of the Queen, or that the hive is whol- The size of the candles were about six to the informed, for twelve dollars and fifty cents per ly divested of any fecundated eggs of the preced-pound; the wood used was a part of a cypress thousand-they are "bulky," and stow badly, coning season-in this case, the proprietor should im-shingle, and prepared after the following manner, sequently a vessel will carry but few, and the mediately proceed to join the Bees to the weakest to wit: The wood was split to the size of rye distance only of about twenty miles, is from eighfreight is high. The price of such rails here, a stock hive in the apiary. If the Bees be in a Huish straw, and made round, so that the coat of cotton, They are light and (To be continued.) FROM A SUBSCRIBER AND CORRESPONDENT. To the Editor. Loudoun County, Va. Hive, the operation is very simple. Take off the which was applied, might be more easily put on by teen to twenty-five dollars. straw cover, and the folding wooden top of the rolling the stick upon a card which contained the easily blown down, and should only be put up with hive to which the Bees are to be joined, and place cotton, which had been previously well carded. upright stakes, pinned at the top, and the panthe other hive on the bars; then procure some dry The stick was then rolled upon a table, to cause nels only sufficiently crooked to keep them from leaves or tobacco, and give the Bees of both hives the cotton to adhere closely, and then was about washing down by the side of each other-the a slight fumigation-plaster the uppermost hive the size of a common quill-it was then placed in stakes should be set about two feet in the ground, well round the bottom, so that no Bee can get out, the mould and the tallow poured in. The stick one hole answering for both; for which I have except through the entrance of the lower hive. must be somewhat longer than the mould, as the substituted the largest rails, leaving the whole Some little fighting may take place, but in a few candle must be drawn with pincers. length, in order to use them again when they may days the massacre of one of the Queen Bees will Agreeably to the foregoing experiment, a pound rot off, which I am informed will be in about five have taken place, and the united assembly will of candles will last forty-two hours, when they years. Twelve hundred juniper ten feet rails, such then begin to work as one family. Should the Bees would only last thirty, made after the usual way, as I have purchased, will make a fence of one hunbe in a common hive, the operation is more diffi- One pound of raw cotton is sufficient (with the dred pannels, ten rails, or five feet high; over cult, and is attended with those obstructions which wooden wick) for 160lbs. of candles. Another which, I venture to say, the most mischievous deter many persons from attempting it. The top great advantage in using the wooden wick, is, that creature, cannot leap, and reaching two hundred of the hive to which the Bees are to be joined must the candle will not fall in warm weather, nor will and eighty strides or yards. I have no doubt but be cut off, and the combs laid bare; this, however, it be so easily affected by the air. that the cypress will answer equally well. I is no easy task, as the combs are all attached to If you think proper to give the above to the I am, sir, your constant reader, and very humble servant, JON'A. H. JACOCKS. *My fence, upon this plan, stood the late September storm, and was the only fence on the plantation that was not laid prostrate. The rails are called ten feet, but are about ten and an half-the smallest are selected and put at the bottom, others wise pigs might find their way through. TO THE EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN FARMER. March 9th, 1822. consumed, and their monthly gain. They were kept together-and, Live weight of the Sow, Sept.9, Jan. 9, 1819, The Barrow weighed 116 lbs. Mar.9, Feb. 9, AMERICAN FARMER. Leaving a profit, when thus highly and expen- as well as in my own, as far as I know, indepes Dear Sir-Being desirous of determining the charge nothing for fuel or attendance, as the ma- had priority. The subject is an agricultural insively fed, of nearly eight dollars per head. I pently of each other. I know not with whom it exact quantity of food necessary to keep a pig in a nure more than pays that expense. At the pre- strument to stir and loosen the ground, deeper constantly thriving state; and the actual expense sent price of pork, 7 cents, there would be a small than the deepest ploughing, so as to keep the ve of feeding him, I selected two that had been wean-loss, if fed thus extravagantly; which, however, getable mould still above. ed three months, and having weighed them, im- is unnecessary, and only tried as an experiment. The idea of such an operation has been for years mediately began giving them as much as they The same quantity of pork may be easily raised in my mind, but dormant there, in consequence of would eat, carefully noting the quantity of food at two-thirds the expense. Some time since you desired to be informed of strained me from the immediate practice of agripursuits which gave me full employment and rea mode of preserving vegetables during the win- culture, until the end of the 6th month of last ter-as I have, in the course of ten or twelve years year, when I wrote to Gideon Davis, of Georgepast, laid up and kept perfectly well, between town, a letter of which the following is an exthirty and forty thousand bushels of carrots, man- tract:-" I think there is still wanting in good gel wurtzel, ruta baga, &c. without putting them husbandry, an instrument such as I have not yet in cellars; I am able to describe a method which seen in use. My idea is as follows:-in breaking all may practise, under an assurance of perfect up ground which has been long neglected, I would safety. In the autumn, when gathering my vegetables, follow the first plough, and to stir the ground in have an instrument somewhat like a coulter, to a trench is dug, about six or eight inches deep, the bottom of the same furrow (without bringing four feet wide, and ten or twelve feet long: into it up) six or eight inches deeper, the next furrow this they are carefully piled about 18 inches high, of the breaking-up plough to be turned over on and then gradually drawn up, so as to form a slop- this loosened earth, and the coulter again to foling roof, having the highest point about three feet low and so on through the field. I would have the from the bottom. Upon them a covering of straw first plough to make a deep furrow, notwithabout three inches thick, is laid, and as much earth standing I would stir the ground still deeper. I thrown on, as will keep the straw from blowing am bent on making this experiment, at least-and away. As the season advances we add more earth, I wish thou wouldst turn thy thoughts toward so as finally to leave it fourteen or fifteen inches such a culture and such an instrument." thick. Such a trench will hold one hundred bushels, which is the quantity I always put in, as they can just put into my hands, with permission to use at My friend and neighbor, Roger Brooke, has soon be removed into the barn for use, in winter; my discretion, the following copy of a paper which and, by always having the pits of equal size, I am he drew up sometime last autumn, and sent, adenabled, from time to time, to ascertain the exact dressed to the editor of the American Farmer, to amount of vegetables I have on hand, by merely be published anonymously. It must have miscounting the heaps I yesterday opened one of carried, as it has not appeared in print. I have swedish turnips; they were perfectly dry, as yel-prevailed on him to allow me to connect with it low as gold, and not a decayed one in the pit. the real name of the author. They keep through April, in this manner. It may be necessary to say, I always chuse a spot, which " Our agricultural implements generally, and has a small descent; that the rains may not settle" ploughs particularly, have lately been much in the bottom of the trench, and that I particularimproved, and deep ploughing has been adoptly avoid covering too deep at first. By not attend-" lack one implement from the operation of which "ed by almost all good farmers. We however, ing to the latter directions, I have known large it is believed we should derive many important pits of vegetables entirely rotten, within a month" advantages. I mean a proper instrument to folof putting them up. Loss, Bead weight, 310 Loss, 51 lbs. Sow ditto 151 Gain 35 lbs. 106 lbs. do. 137 ditto 170 19 do. 166 Apr. 9, ditto 202 32 do. 205 May 9, ditto 231 29 do. 231 June 9, ditto 256 25 do. 253 22. July 9, ditto 274 18 do. 280 Aug.9, ditto 291 17 do. 293 ditto 307 16 Oct. 9, ditto 337 30 do. 361 do. 331 26. 12 qts. carrots and 2 of meal. Same food. 38. 8 qts. much water added as was necessary to make the mass cool and palatable. Live weight of the Barrow, October 9th, 1819, at the moment of slaughtering, was 337 lbs. The vegetables were boiled and the meal being coarsely ground in a domestic mill, was boiled with them, and as Dead weight, when neatly dressed, . 290 Difference between living and dead the two, ninety-eight pounds, or about The weight of I am now daily using cabbages, for my stock, in" fine order, preserved according to Cobbet's plan, by placing the heads downward upon straw, and scattering among the stumps leaves and coarse meadow hay. This is the easiest and best mode" I have ever known of keeping them for winter or" spring use. With great respect, and every good wish for Your obedient servant, A MASSACHUSETTS FARMER. P. S. I ought to have stated that when putting up ruta baga, the root with the earth adhering to them ought to be carefully trimmed off, otherwise so much dirt will cause a fermentation and one seventh. growth in the heap, and be likely to spoil a great The months of July and August were extremely part of the vegetables. hot, and I had no cool pen unoccupied, to put these animals in, which I believe was the reason of their gaining so little in weight. The barrow particu- Remarks on the great importance of DEEP Jarly seemed to suffer from the heat, and somewhat to lose his appetite. They were always full fed, and always fat enough for the butcher. know the great length of roots which are throwa an operation will be readily seen by all whɔ out by most vegetables, wherever they find "sufficient depth of loose earth. I have for years had thoughts of putting in practice something of the kind, but not knowing exactly what "would best perform the desired operation, ad"ded to a disposition too apt to delay the per"formance of what I know to be right-I have view to be no difficult thing to construct something adapted to the purpose, yet I think it of neglected it: Although it may appear at firs: consequence enough to claim the attention of the "Maryland Agricultural Society, and worthy of a "handsome premium, for the one that will, with a given power, break the whole width of the "furrow to the greatest depth. Should it not be "deemed worthy of consideration to the society, I TILTH; and our want of a suitable instrument to accomplish it without burying the SOIL. SANDY SPRING, Md. 3d Mo. 13th, 1822. When an individual in a community conceives $ 8 an idea or possesses a knowledge of any operation 12 60 which he thinks would be an improvement of 23 87 general practice, and its use a public benefit, to communicate it, if not a duty, is at least not cenDOLLS. 44 47 surable. The idea which I am about to offer for 60 the consideration of my fellow citizens, and which Difference 15 53 ginated in the minds of several of my neighbors" vented.” I believe will be found to be an improvement, ori-" something suitable to perform it, will be in I sold this pork, 600 lbs. at 10 cts. A. A neighbor of ours, a good practical farmer, (into any part of the slope GC, it would bring a-when a very full color is intended, is four ounces Joseph Delaplane, has, since last fall, made trial way either dust,or a clod nearly as hard as a sun-of alum and two of tartar to each pound weight of a machine of three coulters, to loosen the dried brick; the earth in the made bank remain-of woollen. The alum should be first dissolved, ground in the bottom of the furrow, and, I believe, ed always friable, and some moisture was always then the tartar by small quantities at a time; thinks well of the operation. Roger Brooke is visible a small distance beneath the surface. The for an effervescence takes place, which may throw now using a machine consisting of two coulters, earth of which this bank was composed, was not the liquor out of the boiler." and in a few days I expect to have a similar one. productive until loosened to a considerable depth. This proportion of mordant is too large for We propose to communicate, hereafter, the re- No doubt the intelligent readers of the Ameri-wool dying, one-fifth, or one-sixth of alum is sufsults. can Farmer have often observed similar facts-the ficient, and the tartar, should never exceed the The benefit we may reasonably expect from a inferences, I think, are obvious. ratio of one-third of the alum. An effervescence more extensive range for the roots of the plants cannot be produced unless the water contain some we cultivate, is considerable, yet it is not the only carbonate, which is generally carbonate of lime. one. A much greater quantity of water will be P. 6. "If the water meant to be employed, be imbibed and retained to mitigate the severe effoul or hard, and not fit for washing, or curdles fects of a following dry season, and the most fersoap, it is not fit for dying bright colors. This tile part of the soil (that on the surface) will re ISAAC BRIGGS. From the N. Y. Statesman. Woollen Manufacture. My last paper contained a criticism on an opi-defect may be remedied by boiling bran, &c. in main in its proper place instead of being carried nion given by Dr. Cooper on the woad vat. It is it; but no bright color can be obtained from foul away by what is called washing, which is more my intention to point out other errors in his work or hard water.' exhausting to the soil than any crop whatever on dying, not with a view of injuring that work in It is a fact well known by the best English dycan be, and for which there is no preventive so public estimation, for I consider it the best of its ers, that water holding the carbonate of lime in effectual as loosening the earth to a sufficient kind; but to show those who may consult it for solution, which is not fit for washing, and will curdepth. This will be quite obvious if we consider practical purposes, that it contains many receipts dle soap, is the best for dying bright colors, the mode of cultivation, too common, which leaves and opinions very injurious to their interest, and such as scarlet, buff, orange, &c. &c. Foul waa super stratum from three to six inches deep of to the rising manufactories of the country. I pur-ter is never used for bright colors, nor can it be loose soil, lying on a compact, impervious bed of chased the work in the year 1817, and made mar-remedied by using any glutinous substance. clay-a quantity of rain often falls sufficient to ginal notes during the first day's perusal, of thirty- The property of water has more to do with render this soil nearly fluid, the water cannot sud- two practical and scientific errors. dying, than is generally imagined. This subdenly penetrate into the solid pan below, but car- Dying is an art purely chemical, in which the play ject would afford an extensive essay; but my obries off the best of the surface. If the earth were of affinities are often very complicated. If che-servations must necessarily be confined to a stateloosened to the depth of about fifteen inches, few mists would become dyers, or dyers chemists a ment of a few facts, which I hope will throw some rains would be so copious as not to be imbibed and great deal of light might be thrown on this myste-light on the subject. rious business; but in the arts, the general rea- The dyers in the county of Gloucester, are lie quietly as in a sponge. In concluding this little sketch on deep stirring, soner is a novice, and it is the experienced prac-more celebrated for coloring scarlet and black I will state a fact which came under my observa- titioner alone who can be expected to explain the than those of any other county in England.— tion last summer-it was calculated to speak to principles of his art. Bancroft made a number of Some particular places in France are also celean attentive mind an impressive language, more experiments on minuter quantities, and drew ge-(brated for the same colors. The water in the powerful than volumes of mere theory. In the neral conclusions from them; but when he made county of Gloucester is highly impregnated with spring of last year, near James River, a canal was a trial on a large scale at Goodwin's dye-house, carbonate of lime; so much so, that twigs laid in made, passing through a piece of ground which he found that his favorite hypothesis was altoge-the streams will soon become thickly encrusted had been formerly in cultivation; but, for some ther erroneous. with it; and a violent effervescence is produced, years past, had remained in the state, in which it Many of the receipts collected by Dr. Cooper, when a mordant containing an excess of acid is was when the canal was commenced, turned out, are from old French authors, now become obso-thrown into the boiling dye liquors. In all acneglected and unproductive. The direction of lete, and are much too complicated and expen-counts I have read from French authors on dying the canal is east and west, along a hill side facing sive, for the trade of the present day. There is a similar effervescence takes place, where they the south. The following diagram will show a also a fashion in the hue of standing colors, which are celebrated for the same colors. I have ascross-section, giving a view of the declivity of the those receipts will not resemble. The most pro- certained from my own experience, that no two ground, and the dimensions and position of the minent errors, as might be expected, are those streams situated at any considerable distance from which the doctor has marked as his own. each other will produce the same shade of color, Having made these general remarks, I shall from a like proportion of the same materials. proceed to collect extracts, and show wherein There is also a sensible difference, in the effect they are erroneous. It will be understood that produced by water from the same stream, when my observations refer only to the coloring of wool-used at places distant from each other. len. bank: DE B G H P. 30. "The brightness of the color is also improved by sulphuring." There is a locality in the practice of dying, arising from the variable properties of water, which accounts for the various receipts given by different writers, to produce the same color. I knew a dyer who commenced business in one P. 32. If the wool be intended for any fine and The line ABC represents the natural surface bright colors, it will be better for being either of the ground in a direction across the canal; the sulphured, or exposed for a day to the action of county and failed; he then removed to an adline DE, the towing path 10 feet wide; the line the sulphureous acid." joining county, and became highly celebrated. FG, the bottom of the canal 28 feet wide. The Woollen cloth that has been sulphured, which After maintaining his reputation undiminished figure BFGC represents a section of the excava-is seldom done, excepting for uniform white, will for thirty years, he returned to the county he had tion; and ADEB, a section of the bank. DH, the never take any other color well afterwards; nor originally left, where he again lost his creditdepth of the made bank is five or six feet. Al-will a dyer who understands his business, under-nor could he there maintain the reputation of a though this canal was made in the spring, it re-take to color such goods at his own risk. common dyer. mained clear of water until autumn. During the P. 60. "The more perfectly the indigo is de- When water is more or less impregnated with spring abundance of rain fell, but the summer oxyded the better; this is known by the uniform limestone, the effects produced by the mordants was remarkably dry. Now the precious fact, to green color of the liquor in the blue vat.” on coloring matter will be very different, than in which I have alluded, is, the little vegetation that When indigo is perfectly de-oxydized, it will water containing none, which will be evident had appeared on the unbroken surface above C become white, and no art can make it re-absorb from the most cursory view of the subject. When and below A was nearly destroyed by the ex-oxygen; consequently, no color can be obtained any mordant containing an excess of acid, as tremely dry season-the slope GC was entirely from it. The liquor of a blue vat when examin-super-tartrate of pot-ash, is thrown into water destitute of vegetation, during the whole sum-ed by a workman, is usually thrown out of some holding common limestone in solution, the exmer-yet the slope AD, having the same south small vessel, which is elevated above the vat; cess of acid will combine with the lime, and a exposure, and the top of the bank, were set and the color, when viewed by transmitted light, new mordant will be formed; (tartrate of lime ;) with a luxuriant growth of large and vigorous should be of a fine olive green, and highly vivid. but this is not the extent of the effect producedplants, such as are commonly seen in the richest Now, so far from this being a state of perfect de-that portion of the lime, which remains after the soils Stramonium or Jamestown-weed, Poke, oxydizement, it is removed many shades from excess of acid has been neutralized, will decomLambsquarter, &c. these flourished during the even the minimum of oxydation. pose a portion of the tartrate of pot-ash, and the whole of the dry season, and did not seem to be P. 5. "The common mordants or saline sub-mordants remaining in the liquor, will be tareven diminished in vigor. If a tool were stricken stances in the preparation liquor, for woollens, trate of lime, tartrate of pot-ash and pot-ash. If |