The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-03-19

potatoes, if these articles are steamed or
scalded with hot water, and little bran
or meal sprinkled ON. The fodder viii
be greedily eaten If prepared In this way.
Novel Way to Test Seeds.
The Indiana Farmer says: "In por-
ton of Denmark, where one-fifth of the
land is cultivated to clover, the vitality
of the seed is tested by placing guam
tity ON knife blade, and heating it over
a lighted candle The good seed will
pop open and hop off, while the worth
less remains and carb0nizes on the blade.
MIR. Christopher Bagge, of Oakland, re-
minds us of this fact in response to an
inquiry for practical tests for seeds"
Spontaneous Combustion of Hay.
We frequently hear of confagrations
caused by the spontaneous combustion
of hay. The prevention in such cases is
simple and cheap. Combustion in hay
can arise only from one cause.-The damp
ness thereof. This may arise from the
condition of the hay when put into the
barn or warehouse insufficiently cured, or
by being wet by exposure to rain. The
precaution is liberal quantity of coarse
salt, sprinkled through the NOW, which
viii invariably prevent the heating which
causes combustion. The same method
will save hay put ON board a ship, par
tally wet. This experiment was tried
on board the ship Lancashire in 1S47
with perfect success. ss.-IrGveLer.
How to varnIsh.
Varnish should always be applied In q
warm room, as warm as person can work
In comfortably. At lever temperature
there Is always moisture in the air, an in
visible dew, which gives the varnish a
milky and cloudy appearance. This viii
happen even on fine summer day,
and the only preventive Is to employ arti-
fetal heat to produce a temperature of
at least seventy-five degrees. At this
temperature the moisture is not precipi-
tated until the alcohol of the varnish has
sufficiently evaporated to leave thin and
smooth film of shellac. The gloss and
durability are entirely dependent upon
this. The article to be Vanished should
be brought into the workshop few hours
before the work begins, SO that it may
get warm. The surface is smoothed,
washed, and rubbed dry with chamois
leather, or piece OF silk, and every
trace of dust, moisture and dirt removed
with a clean, soft brush, but no oil or
grease must be used. The varnish is
immersed too deeply In it, and thin
coating applied. It is well to begin in
the center or at the highest part, and
approach the edges with long, straight,
rapid and even strokes, and gentle
pressure. Care must be taken at the
corners and edges. The hlln of varnish
should be about as thick as sheet of
paper. When finished it should be ex-
posed to the suns rays or artificial heat,
and carefully protected against draft and
dust. Cold air or draft over the article
,sol. 1,,II
this happens, the only remedy is to apply
a second coating, and hold it near the
fire so as to dissolve the previous coat,
but not so near as to blister it,
Spontaneous Combustion In Hay.
There are doubtless many farmers who
have experienced sudden and destructive
conhagrations in their hay-lofts, which
could not be ascribed to any exterior
agency. Barns have been known to
burst into fame, almost without warning,
save perhaps a significant odor, for a
few days previously, around the places
where the hay was stored, and a summers
harvest is swept away in as many minutes
as it had taken days to gather it. These
pected conhagra6ons are generally unex-
accredited to tTamps who have made the
hay-loft their sleeping resort, but it is
now asserted that such calamities are fre-
quentAy due to the spontaneous cOmbuS-
ton of the hay, circumstance theoreti-
cally quite possible, but rarely consid-
cred. Abbe Moigno in Les Mondes, gives
the following as the theory of the phe-
nomenon Hay, when piled damp and
In too large masses, ferments and turns
dark. In decomposing, sufficient heat
is developed to be insupportable when
the hand is thrust into the mass, and
vapors begin to be emitted. When the
water is almost entirely evaporated, the
decomposition continues, and the hay
becomes carbonized little by little and
then the charred portion, like peat, peat
cinders mixed with charcoal, sulphurous
pyrites and Ignite, etc, becomes kind
of pyrophorus, by virtue of its great
porosity and of the large quantity of
matter exposed to high oxidation. Under
the influence of air in large amount, this
charcoal becomes concentrated on the
surface to such q degree that the mass
reaches a temperature which results in
its bursting into flames. The preyentives
for this danger are care that the hay in
the lofts is kept perfectly dry, that it is
well packed, and that 1t Is stored in
small heaps rather than in large masses.