The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1866-04-25

newly invented harpoon contains =
pound of powder, with ten second fuse.
and is instant death to whale.
Two London telegraphers claim to have
contrived printing telegraph, by which,
with one wire, 800 words a minute can be
printed.
An Australian paper describes the fossil
remains Of bird found in that country,
which, when alive and in full feather, must
have stood twenty five feet high.
THE great bridge across the Ohio river
is said to be nearly completed II Is two
thousand feet long. and one of the spans,
measuring over one thousand feet, is said
to be the largest in the world.
ASTRONOMERS have discovered that the
moon is drawing gradually nearer to the
earth, by about an inch every year. They
have also discovered that the day is about
one-hundreth Of second longer now than
it was two thousand years ago.
How long horse can live without food
is decided by experiments recently made in
France. 1t was ascertained, by cruel
means, that horse will live for twenty i've
days without solid food, merely drinking
water. He may live seventeen days with
out eating food or drinking. He can live
five days when consuming solid food with
out drinking. After taking solid aliment
for the space of ten day 8, but with an in
sufficient quantity Of drink, the stomach is
worn out. The above facts show the i'm
portance of water in the sustenance Of the
horse. A horse which had been deprived
Of water for three days, drank eleven GAL
Ions in the space Of three minutes.
PLowING WITHOUT DEAD FuRRows.-Dead
burrows are nuisance, especially in .
meadow, where mower will not work we'll,
not yet horserake. To pillow field with
out leaving dead burrows, commence in the
oqntre of the field, so when it is finished the
Vile field will form one land. For .
square field find point equally distant ON
three sides, and plough along till you como
to q corresponding point, then return. Oc-
casionally the sides should be measured, to
see that the distance from the outer edge 10
being kept equal. In this way field of
almost any shape, let it be three cornered.
diamond shaped, or even FIVE sided, can be
ploughed in one land, leaving not furrow.
but making a nice, smooth, evenly ploughed
surface, and leaves no badly ploughed head
lands nor trodden ploughed ground
.4mericon Agricultural.
CURING HAY.-LlME.-It has been af.
frmed by eminent agriculturists that hay
could be safely deposited in the NOW in .
sem; green state, and come out green, fra
grant and exceedingly palatable 10 stock.
By sitting upon each load from four to six
quarts of air Stacked lime. The philosophy
of it lies in the chemical fact that lime is
powerful absorbent Rev. E. Willis, Of this
city, tested this process last season. 1t will
be remembered that the weather was most
unproptious for making hay. Finding that
it would be impossible to save his hay by
out door exposure, he carted it into his barn
in heavy, green condition. He sifled the
lime upon it, and it cured handsomely, and
came out this spring as inviting % flowers
I pressed in herbarium. His horses and
stock devour it greedily, and prefer it to
| the best sun cured hay.
This is valuable chip" Of knowledge
for farmers. Necessity often compels hay
makers to choose between tho alternatives
Of leaving out in drenching rain, a few
loads of half cured hay, thereby spelling it.
or hurrying it into the barn with "righ,
smart chance" Of its heating and moulding
Lime will absorb all the vegetable moisture
and save the hay while salt gathers mois.
ture. and fails in many cases TO preserve It.
Persons DESTROYS to inspect this hay can do
so By calling on Mr.. Willis and learn more
fully his experiment.-Rochford Register.
SAVING MANURE.-We have recently re-
turned from a country tour. We found a
most astonishing waste of manure, in one
Of the best farmed parts of the State, in all
respects but ,hst. The stable-manure wei
all saved, and judiciously treated; plas.e,
was distributed in the stables and cattle.
pens; and the compost was judiciously
made. But on one farm we observed q
swampy farm going to waste; in another
the masses of leaves blown into the brook
and pond from the woodland were left 10
decay; and in all we observed that the SOAP
suds were thrown out on washing day
everywhere except on the manure-heap,
and the chamber slops deposited in the
privy, instead of liquid manure tank. In
but one place did we see cistern, and
while the ralnwater from the house was
generally collected in barrels for laundry
use, and to breed mosquitoes, that from the
barn and stable was merely poured into the
surrounding ground, and finally made its
way into the uncemented barn cellar.
Rags, scraps of paper, bones and similar
odds and ends of great value, ornamented
the backwards, or were thrown over hill
sides. One almost gets tired about preach
ing about this matter. There are some
farmers too smart to let all this valuable
matter 60 to waste; but there are many
who are not. So it will be, we suppose,
until the end of the chapter.-Nev Fork
4 Courier