The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-03-06
USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.

USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
SWEETS OF THE sAw.-The Ignite
which is plentiful in all sawdust NAV
be turned chemically, by treatment
with mineral acids, into good grape SUI
gar and the Manufacturer and Builder
suspects that it is from sawdust comes
the artificial sugar a French firm is said
to be able to sell for fourth of q cent
a pound.
TIE DAvY LAMP VULNERAB1E.-Th
sound-waye produced by the slightest
explosion of gunpowder In q mine is
shown to be capable of DESTROYING the
safety-property of a Davy lamp, and
causing it to Communicate its fire to In
fammable gases outside. So, at least,
says Mr.. Galloway, who should be good
authority. If such is the case it was to
a defect of Davy's immortal invention,
and not to the mere gunpowder flash
OF blasts, that so many recent explo-
slons OF fre-damp We're due.
AGE OF HoRsEs.-A new wrinkle"
about the age of horses is the discovery
OF an Illinois farmer, who determines
the age OF all animals over nine years
old by the following novel method ::
Alter the horse is nine years old a
wrinkle comes on the upper corner of
the lower lid, and each year thereafterhe
has one well-defined wrinkle for every
year ever nine. If, for instance, q horse
has three wrinkles, he is twelve, if he
has four, he is thirteen. Add the num-
Der OF wrinkles to nine and you will
get it.
HARNESS FOR OxEN.-Theyoke, as we
use 1t, does not in its best state place
the strain farther back than the base of
the neck. Notice where the hair is
neek-woTn on your cattle, and see if
you can convince yourself that the spot
was intended by nature to be subjected
to the strain put upon it. In Africa.
and elsewhere, the yoke is bound to
the base of the horns. This plan has
It's advantages as well as its disadvan-
tages. The yoke, in the first place, is
OF simple form, being merely a straight
piece of wood, and it may be lighter.
Tor It IS not awkwardly cut across the
grain. On the other hand, the cattle
cannot move their heads freely, nor can
tney use the pushing power of their
shoulders. We may, therefore, dismiss
bne plan as not practicable here. A
slmpie-contriYed harness, combined,
perhaps, for use before a two-wbeeled
cart, with light yoke, resting if posi-
bic on the shoulders, or upon collar.
would distribute the strain, and make
matters easier for man and beast.
A BUG ExTERMINAToR.-Hot alum
water is a recent suggestion as an in
seehclde. 1t will destroy red and black
ants, cockroaches, spiders, chintz bugs.
and all the crawling pests which infest
our houses. Take two pounds of alum
and dissolve it in three or four quarts
OF boiling water let it stand on the fire
until the alum disappears then app Y
1t with brush, while nearly boiling
hot, to every joint and creviee in your
closets, bed steads, pantry shelves, and
the like. Brush the creVices in the
floor of the skirting or mop boards. if
you suspect that they harbor vermin.
II, in withdrawing a ceiling, plenty of
alum is added to the lime, it will also
serve to keep insects at a distance.
Cockroaches will flee the paint which
has been washed In cool alum water.
Sugar barrels and boxes can be freed
from ants by drawing a wide chalk
mark just round the edge of the top of
thsm. The mark must be unbrolzen or
they will creep over it, but a continu-
Gus chalk line half an inch in width
viii set their depredations atnaught.
House PLANT.-A pretty adornment
for picture frames is German ivy. COM
mon trailing vine which grows with
great lrxuriance. All the old medicine
phlals which iDfest out-of- the-wav clos
cts, may be utilized for this purpose.
These should be filed with water and
hung behind the pictures, and a slip of
the ivy inserted. The vine is quite
hardy. We have seen q single slip, in
pint bottle, grow until il ran along
the entire length of a moderate-sized
room. We recently noted a wav to
raise oak trees in hyacintl glasses, it
being merely necessary to suspend the
acorn inside and little above the water.
sponge moistened, with fine seed
scattered IN its pores, soon becomes a
mass OF living verdure, though a pref
tier ornament, we think, can be made
OF large pine burr, similarly prepared
and hung, like the acorn, over water.
Fine grass seed is the best to use.
About as pretty vine as can be selected
Tor window dressing may be obtained
from the ordinary sweet potato. The
bulb need only be set in a hyacinth
glass, and it will soon send out shoots.
ENGLISH FARMING. farming in
England is the best in the world. The
farms are usually large, and the farmers
men of intelligence and of large capital
More attention is paid there than any
where else to the making of manure +;
grain is largely grown and the system
OF regular rotation of crops, to main
tain the fertility of the soil, is almost
universal. Over a large part of the
country the cash profit of farming is
secured by the sale of grain, but the
fertility of the land, the ability to pro-
duce grain, is kept up by the feeding
of heavy stock of cattle or sheep.
Which are kept mainly for the sake of
the manure they make, and which are
Largely fed on purchased food-in great
part oil-cake and Indian corn imported
from America. Such a complete system
could hardly be carried ont on so large
scale on many farms in this country,
for few of our farmers have the neoes-
sary capital but it is, after all, the
system toward which we shonld work.
and to which we must look for the per-
manent future of our agriculture. Our
farming can never be perfect, nor any
thing like it, until we shall have reached
the point of a constant improvement of
the soil. A constant deterioration has
been a necessary consequence of the
rapid spread of population over the
whole breadth of the land, but it must
before long be followed by wave of
better farming, which alone can euabIe
such a populationto be self-supporting.
ABUSE OF HORSES. -There is no moro
common and often merely thoupbtIess
abase of horses by their owners and
drivers. than the hah.t of kea,,ir,r. n.