The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-07-30
THE CONDITIoy m rup wPor

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Thes Tribune extractsfrom long communication
few facts touching the condition of the farming
interests OF the West. After descanting upon the
insane rush into debtinto trade-into all sorts of
eXtravagance-and the general failure of crops for
two years, the writer says:
Thus opened the present season. There is moth
ing IN the country to convert for the payment of
debts from which money can be realized. The
stock OF cattle and horses still remain, and wtbe
saved by the rich growth of grass, nothing like
grain of any kind being left in the country for
stock, and scarcely enough to sustain the inhabi-
tants.
"The middle of the year is now reached, and
never was there year of such arduous and I'M
finching toll in this or any other country. Al.
though the early spring was rainy, and the ground
foul from two years of weeds and dearth and
rain, still the farmers of the West, undaunted by
all this difficulty and Encouragement, have work
ed early and late, through rain in the beginning
and heat in the later spring, determined, if labor
would produce crops, that they would have them.
Added to this, the insufficiency of food which was
almost universal in a region where usually it is
abundant. In the majority of families in the
try the only food has been corn bread and milk,
without even the ordinary vegetable products,
which last year amounted to nothing. Potatoes,
commonly the cheapest edible, have been worth
from four to ten times their former value, and no
product of this country, has all been sold or con-
sumed, so that it has been brought back from
the markets, to be sold to the producer again
at figures above the reach of the great mass.
molasses, which are the staple articles upon the
table of the western farmers have almost entirely
been foregone by the farming community. Indeed,
it is with difficulty that the people have passed
through such priyatons of the necessaries of life
what shall be thought of the teams that have passed
through all the work of the breaking up the hard
ened soil without grain of any kind, subssting en-
tlrey upon hay and grass? And following imme-
diately after came the corn-tng, which consists
in blowing the entire crop from three to five times
through each way; and still this has all been DONE
and done well; but the horses have come out of it
more like shadows than like animals In this part
of the country not team in two hundred has had
its regular allowance of grain, while other teams
have been so fortunate to have half dozen ears
OF corn per day. Our country has seen hard times
in previous years, but never so but that food for
man and beast has been abundant.
''The country never appeared in a more prosperous
condition than at the present. the wheat harvests
are coming in beautifully, and Of the best quality
the rust which threatened in sections has a
fected only the blade leaving the stock clean. The
corn crop never promised a more favorable YIELD
in fact, the whole aspect of the country is changed
from famine to plenty. What is more favorable
still, the people are in their minds more
and have gone to work in earnest; speculation is at
an end, and every man is combining himself to his
legitimate business-the farmer in his field, and the
business man to his trade every anxious to pay
rather than to make debts. The strictest economy
has been practsed and is still the most fashionable
accomplishment"
LIST OF WONDERS.
Among the thousands of marvellous inventions
which American genius has produced, within the
last few years, the following compiled in an alb
stract from the Patent Office Report. Read them
over, and then say you can that there is nothing
under the
The report explains the principle of the ceebra-
ted Hobb lock. Its applicability depends upon a
secondary or false set of tumblers, which prevent
instruments used in picking from reaching the real
ones. Moreover, the lock is powder proof and
m no loaded thpou nb no RaI-h Id fro Of
till the burglar is tired Of his fruitless work,
or fears that the explosions will bring to view
his experiments more witnesses than he desires.
Doors and shutters have been patented that
not be broken through with either pick or sledge-
hammer. The burglars Occupations gone
harpoon is described which makes the whale
kill himself The more he pulls the line, the deeper
goes the harpoon.
An ice-making machine has been patented, which
is worked by a steam-engine. In an experimental
trial, it froZe several bottles of sherry and produ-
ced blocks Office the size of a cubic foot when the
thermometer was up to eighty degrees. 1t is calcu
lated that for every ton of coal put into the fur
mace, it will make ton of ice.
From Dr. Dales examiners report, we gather
some idea of the value of patents. A man who had
made slight Improvement in straw cutters, took
a model of his machine through the Western
States, and after tour of eight months, returned
with forty thousand dollars Another man had a
machine to thrash and clean grain which in fifteen
months, he sold for sixty thousand dollars. These
telegraph, the planning machine, and India rubber
patents, are worth millions each.
Examiner Lanes report describes new electrical
inventions. Among these is electrical whal-
ing apparatus, by which the whale is literally
shocked to DEATH Another is an electromagnetic
ic alarm, which rings bells and displays signals in
case o. fire and burglars. Another is an electric
clock, which wakes you up, tells you what time
it is, and lights lamp for you at any hour you
please.
There is a Sound gatherer,' a sort of huge ear
trumpet, to be placed in front of "a locomotive,
bringing to the engineers ears all the noise ahead
perfectly distinct notwithstanding the noise of the
train.
There is an invention that picks up pins from
a confused heap, turns them around with their
heads up, and sticks them in papers in regular
rows. .'
Another goes through the whole process of cigar
making, taking in leaves and turning out finished
cigars.
One machine cuts cheese another scours knives
and forks; another rocks the cradle; and seven or
eight take in washing and ironing.
There is parlor chair patented that cannot be
tipped back on two legs, and a railway chair that
can be tipped back in any position without any legs
at all.
Another patent is for machine that counts pas
sengers in an omnibus and takes their fares When
a very fat gentleman gets in, it counts two and
charges double.
There are variety of guns patented that load
themselves; fishing line that adjusts its own bait
and rat trap that throws away the rat, and
then bats itself and stands in the corner for an
other.
There is machine also, by which man prints,
instead of writes his thoughts. 1t is PLAYED like
piano-forte. And speaking of pianos, it is estmat-
ed that nine thousand are made every year in the
United States, giving constant employment to one
thousand nine hundred persons, and costing over
two millions of dollars.
THE SUCcEssIoN.-A recent article in the Pitts
burg Post, bringing forward the name of the
D,ac II