Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1866-05-11
Farm implements and Gachincry.

During the last half century, few sub
iects have more engaged the attention of
thinking, practical men, than Improvements
IN tdrm implements and machinery. This
attention is encouraged by the nature of our
government and institutions, which tend to
develope individual genius and enterprise,
instead of perpleXiug and retardng them.
GENIUS is not hampered by arbitrary rules
and censorship, to break out here and there
like torrent, but finds vent in all direct
ions, and thus every department ofindustry
is benefited 1t is seen in works of art,
where great natural obstacles are to be
overcome. How strikingly has this been il
lustrated III hundreds OF instances during
the late war On such an extended coast as
ours, with its numerous bays and inlets, and
the mouths of rivers which are extended
CULTS OF themselves. or territory stretching
thousands of miles from sea to sea, what
could have been done to save the nation
from ACKNOWLEDGMENT and anarchy, without
the aid of steam and the machinery which it
propels
This potent power is not pressed into
mans service to do mighty work alone to
outride wind and storm, and transport us
on our Journeys of business or pleasure with
the swittness of the flight of bird,-but is
employed in every work of art, and stimu-
lates and facilitates every industrial pursuit.
Wind and water are iickle agents compared
with it. 1t is II leading motor in the manu-
facturc Of nearly every article that we wear
makes our shoes, knits our stockings, and
weaves our coats, hats and bonnets. 1t is
adapted to tasks the most Herculean or the
most delicate or minute it bores hole 20
or more feet in diameter into the solid rock
in Hoosac mountain, or urges the finest
needle through gOssamer-like cambric in the
sewing room As a heating power, its value
is beyond computation. 1t warns the stu
dent in his closet and the minister in the
pulpit, and gives dwelling and church Il
grateful summer temperature. In many OF
the arts it is used to soften and subdue the
rigidity of various substances so that they
can be fashioned to any desired shape, or sc
that certain oils, gums or juices may be eX-
tracted from them. Steam gives form tC
ship timber, shafts of carriages, scythe.
snaiths, oX-bows, plough-handles and ma
chimes used upon the farm. Steam is useful
in extracting oils from flax, cotton and 9th
er seeds; in distilling alcohol from various
grains, aud in heating carding, combing and
pressing machines in cotton and woollen
manufactures. 1t is greatly instrumental
in finishing many fabrics of our apparel, by
imparting to them Il softness, elasticity and
Il considerable degree of heat, combined witt
pressure.
1t was once thought extraordinary if {
traveller made three or four passages across
the Atlantic in a lifetime, but by the aid o.
steam, he does it as many times in a single
year and the day is not distant when thi'
power will enable us to sit or lie and sleep
in comfortably furnished rooms, with oul
families about us, and pass quietly from the
Atlantic to the Pacific shores, in the course
of few days and nights. Goals says Dl
Lardner, ''are by it made to spin, weave, dye
print, and dress silks, cottons, woollens anc
other cloths to make paper, and print
books upon it when made 10 convert corr
into flour to express oils from the olive
and wine from the grape to draw up metals
from the bowels of the earth TO pound anC
smelt, to melt and mould it; to transpor
these manifold products ofits own labor t.
the doors ofthose for whose convenience they
are produced to carry persons and things
over the waters of rivers, lakes, seas anC
oceans, in opposition alike to the natural diff
ficultes OF wind and water to carry tn,
wind-bound ship out of port, to place her OF
the open deep, ready to commence her voy
age to transport over the surface of the Sc;
and the land persons and information fron
! country to country, with speed as mucl
exceeding the ordinary wind, as the ordina
ry wind exceeds that of a pedestrian
man working eight hours on treadmill viii
, raise a million and half of pounds to tn
: height of one foot. A well conducted stean
engine will perform the same labor with a
expenditure of a pound and half of Goa