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board, with handles to direct the plow when moving. The colter, or cutter, is so named from a Latin word, which signifies a knife. It is fixed in the beam, with its point directed downwards and forward. This cuts the earth before the plow. In plowing land covered with stubble, leaves, or other rubbish, it is sometimes apt to be clogged. This evil may be avoided, by fixing the colter forward, and directing the point a little backward.

55. The share signifies also a cutter, being of the same origin as shear. It is a broad, thick piece of iron, of a triangular form, wrought to a thin edge on one side. This cuts the earth at the bottom of the furrow, and raises the slice a little. Then the rising earth reaches the mold-board, which is curving, and as the slice rises, it is, by this board, turned over and laid in a line. The depth of the furrow is regulated by the length of the chain by which it is drawn, or by other contrivance. A short chain raises the fore end of the plow, and a long one lets it down. A plow has generally two handles; but in light, clear land, one is sufficient. A plow may also have two mold-boards, which will turn two slices, one each way, at the same time.

56. A harrow, or drag, to break the clods of plowed land, and make a level surface, may be of different shapes and sizes. The common forms are a square, or three-cornered. The teeth may be larger or smaller, according to the ground to be harrowed. The sythe, the cradle, the rake, the hoe, the shovel, the spade, and the fork, or pitch-fork, need not be described. A heavy roller, of timber or stone, is often used to advantage, especially on light land. A smooth surface of land retains water longer than that which is uneven; and a roller may sometimes be useful, in covering the roots of young plants, and in killing worms.

57. On the subject of carts and wagons, little need be said. The principal point is, to determine which is best, a broad or narrow felly. The broad felly sinks less into soft ground, and is generally considered to be less injurious to roads, than narrow fellies. In some countries, broad fellies are required by law, particularly for the purpose of preserving well-made roads.

58. On the subject of roads and bridges, it may be observed, that firm, solid work, is always to be preferred to slight work. Slight work is cheaper at the first, but often dearer in the end. It would be a great improvement of the highways, to have arched stone bridges over all small streams; and these should be raised above all possible danger from sudden floods. The farmers in our towns cannot, at once, make all such bridges ag the roads require. But true policy would suggest, that such valuable works should be carried on progressively, beginning with one bridge in a year, or one in two years, if large and expensive; and thus proceeding, till all the streams in the township are thus bridged, with solid work.

CHAPTER IV.

OF THE MATERIALS OF CLOTHING, FOOD, AND UTENSILS. 59. The warmest substance for clothing is fur. The reason is, that fur is the best non-conductor of heat; that is, it retains the heat of the body better than any other substance. But the fur of wild animals cannot be obtained in sufficient quantities to be used as common clothing. The skins of wild beasts are used by savages; but in civilized society, other materials are

necessary.

60. The substance next to fur, in retaining heat, is wool. This is essential in cold climates; and the benevolent Creator has made the sheep, an animal easily tamed and fed, in northern climates, for supplying men with this article. The process of making wool into cloth is well understood.

61. Next to wool, in preserving warmth, is cotton. This is a soft, downy substance, produced on a shrub, or small tree, in an oval or roundish capsule or pod. This pod contains also the seeds. When the substance is taken from the pods, the seeds are separated from it by a mill. The mill generally used in this country, was invented by Eli Whitney; and such is the saving of labor by this machine, that its use, in a few years after its invention, increased the production of cotton in the United States ten fold.

62. There are different varieties of the cotton-plant, all growing in warm or temperate climates only, for hard frost destroys it. Thus the Creator has given to mankind the means of clothing, in the greatest abundance. The processes of combing, spinning, and weaving cotton, are carried on by mills, in such a manner, as to save a great part of the labor formerly required.

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63. Another substance used for clothing, is flax. plant well known. The part of the plant used, is the skin, or harl. To obtain this, the stalks of the plant are rotted on the ground or in the water, so that the substance or woody part of the plant is easily broken. For this purpose, a brake is used, and the shives or fragments are beaten out by a large wooden knife or swingle. The coarse part is then separated from the fine by a hatchel. The coarse part, or tow, is of little value; but the fine part is spun and woven into cloth. This is linen cloth; and being a good conductor of heat, it is not so warm clothing as cloth of wool and cotton, but is well adapted for clothing in warm climates and seasons.

64. Another substance used for garments, is silk. This is the produce of a worm, which proceeds from an egg, on the opening of the spring, feeds on the leaf of the white mulberry, and near the close of its existence, winds itself in a ball, called a

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Cocoon, and dies. The threads composing this hollow ball, are drawn out and twisted into silk, which is manufactured into a fine, soft, beautiful cloth, or into stockings. This cloth constitutes the most elegant apparel. The silk-worm and the mulberry may be cultivated in this country to any extent, and the manufacture will hereafter be an important item in the labors of this country.

65. Leather is made from the skins of various animals, chiefly from animals of the bovine or ox kind. But the skins of horses, sheep, goats, and other animals, are also tanned into leather for various uses. These substances supply us with shoes, boots, harnesses, saddles, bridles, and many other instruments of use. Such is the consumption of leather in the United States, that vast numbers of raw hides are annually imported from South America, where immense forests abound with cattle in a wild state.

66. Hemp is another article of which cloth is made. Hemp grows well on the rich lands in the United States; but most of that which we use, is imported from Russia. The skin of this plant is the substance used, and the process of rotting and dressing it is nearly the same as that of flax. It makes a coarser cloth than flax, but very strong and durable. It is used chiefly for sails of shipping; but cotton begins now to be used for the same purpose. Hemp makes very durable cloth, and hence is very much used for sheets of a coarse kind, and table-cloths.

67. The materials used chiefly for instruments of agriculture, are iron and wood. Iron is a metal of more consequence to mankind than gold and silver. This metal is found chiefly in the bowels of the earth; though sometimes in sand at the bottom of ponds, or in boggy land. It is found in ore, which consists of iron combined with some other substance. This ore is first melted in the intense heat of a furnace,-a heat made by ignited coal, blown by a large bellows. The melted iron is led into molds of dry earth, to give it shape, and in this manner are formed cannon, mortars, balls, and all kinds of vessels for culinary use, and all kinds of wheels for machinery in manufactories. That which is designed to be wrought into instruments, is cast in lumps, called pigs, which are afterwards wrought in forges, and formed for various uses; being first heated to redness, and then shaped by a huge hammer, moved by waterpower.

68. Of this metal are formed the colters and shares of plows, boxes for wheels, axes, hammers, saws, sythes, sickles, chains, knives, forks, nails, pots, kettles, pans, grates for fires, tongs and shovels, spades, augers, gimblets, screws, the tire of carts, wagons, and other carriages, the wheels of machinery, swords and gun-barrels, and a multitude of other utensils and instru

ments. For the edges of cutting instruments, and others, steel is used. This is iron, hardened by a particular process.

69. Many utensils are made of other metals, and of various mixtures of metals. In the first settlement of this country, people ate their food from wooden trenchers; they afterwards used plates, platters, or dishes, basins, cups, porrengers, and spoons, made of pewter, which is a composition, chiefly of lead and tin. But this composition being soft and easily melted, it has fallen into disuse; and brass, tin, and earthen ware, have taken its place.

70. Lead is a metal found in the earth in a state of ore. It abounds in some of the western states, particularly in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. It is a soft, though heavy metal, and is used for musket and pistol bullets, shot, sheets for covering, in various ways; and especially for white lead, called an oxyd of lead, used in white paint.

71. One of the most useful metals is tin. This is found in the earth, and it comes to us chiefly from Cornwall, in England, where are the most remarkable tin mines now known. It generally comes spread on iron plates, which are wrought into a great variety of utensils, cups, dippers, pails, milk-pans, vessels for roasting or baking meat, and many other purposes. article is light, cheap, easily kept clean, and not very liable to rust, or oxydize. Tin is also united with lead, and a small portion of copper, antimony, and bismuth, and formed into vessels, under the names of block-tin and brittania.

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72. Brass is a composition of copper and zink. This article is used for vessels of various kinds, large and small kettles and basins. It is also much used for hand-irons, the furniture of harness, knobs of locks, candle-sticks, and other utensils.

73. Bell-metal is a composition of copper and tin, with a small portion of brass or zink. Type-metal is a compound of lead and antimony, with a small portion of copper or brass.

74. Copper is a metal of extensive use. It is found in great abundance in the earth. It is very ductile and malleable; that is, it may be drawn out in threads, or beaten into plates. It is used for boilers, large kettles, tea-kettles, and especially in sheets, for covering the bottoms of ships, and for bolts to fasten them. It is the most sonorous of all the metals, and hence forms a material part of bell-metal. It is liable to rust, or oxydize; and if exposed long to the air, it is covered with a coat of green matter, or oxyd. It is poisonous, and when taken into the body, operates as a violent emetic. Of copper is formed also a small coin; the smallest in the United States is called a cent.

75. White lead, or ceruse, is made from the metal. It is formed by union with vinegar. The lead is cast into very thin sheets,

coiled loosely, and these are placed in a vessel, and set in a bed of tan, or horse-manure, and covered with a plate of lead. The vapor of the vinegar, in a few weeks, unites with the lead, and forms a crust on the surface of the plates. This is white lead, which, being mixed with lintseed oil, is used for a white paint for houses.

76. Coal is of different kinds. What is called charcoal, is the substance of wood, from which all fluid, or volatile matter, has been expelled by heat. This is done by burning wood in piles under turf, by which the wood is ignited, and the sap or volatile matter is expelled without flame. This species of coal makes a strong heat, and is used by smiths for heating or melting metals, and for many culinary purposes.

77. Mineral coal is that which is found in the earth. The principal kinds are the bituminous and the anthracite or hard coal. The bituminous coal is found in vast abundance in England, and is almost the only fuel in the kingdom. This ignites or takes fire readily, and makes a strong heat, but not so intense as the anthracite. This species of coal abounds also in some parts of the United States. It is very abundant in Virginia, and on the banks of the Ohio, and prodigious quantities are consumed in the factories of Pittsburgh.

78. Anthracite is a much harder coal than the bituminous. It is found in inexhaustible abundance on the banks of the Susquehannah and Lehigh rivers, in Pennsylvania, constituting mines richer than those of gold or silver. This coal is now becoming of extensive use, for warming our dwellings, and in manufactories. It ignites slowly, usually by means of charcoal, burns slowly with intense heat, makes a slight crepitation when first exposed to fire, but throws off no ignited particles, and of course may be safely left at night.

79. Gold and silver are the most valuable metals, as far as price is concerned, though less necessary, and therefore less useful, than iron. Gold is usually found in minute particles, in the earth, or among sands at the bottom of small streams. Gold and silver are seldom found in large masses. They are therefore comparatively scarce, and this makes them more valuable. Hence they are called the precious metals. The mines of gold and silver in South America, have for ages furnished almost all the world with these metals. Lately, gold is found in North Carolina and in Georgia.

80. Gold and silver are used for various household vessels, and the rich use such vessels in great numbers. Silver for spoons, and small utensils, is used also by the yeomanry of this country. Gold is much used for gilding, it being capable of extension, in leaf or threads, to an astonishing degree. Silver is used for plating iron, in a variety of articles. Both gold

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