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fences strong and in good condition. All the fields | wheat, in the midst of which three or four men and under cultivation were portions of the prairie fenced two horses were at work threshing. By the aid of a in. In the centre of a large field of fifty acres and patent threshing-machine, they were getting out wheat upwards, I perceived an immense circular stack of at the rate of about one hundred bushels in a day.

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This farmer, so different from many others, was

These machines are of vast importance to the | and in different parts of the eastern and middle producers of grain, and an immense saving of labour. states." The engraving represents one of them. It is constructed upon the endless-chain rotary principle.-reaping the grateful rewards of industry, temperance, "The revolving band or floor, upon which the horse or horses stand, is constructed with two wroughtiron chains, made similar to those used in cardingmachines, fitting on a common cog-wheel forward, and running over a smooth pulley behind, with slats of wood of a convenient length and thickness attached to each flat link of the chains by bolts and nuts. This floor is supported by anti-friction or surface rollers, never before applied to horse powers of any kind.

"The thresher is on the spike principle, and is constructed as follows:-The cylinder is cast-iron, with a wheel in each end; and is cast in one complete piece, sixteen inches in diameter, and from sixteen to thirty in length; the teeth are wroughtiron, and confined in their respective places by nuts, so as to be easily replaced in case of accident; the concave is likewise cast-iron. The whole machine occupies the space of four and a half by nine and a half feet, and weighs about one thousand pounds; it can be made for any number of horses with comparatively little expense. They are manufactured at Waterford and Buffalo, N. Y., Zanesville, Ohio,

and undivided attention to the one business he professed to pursue. Let others profit by his example. I would fain enlarge upon the advantages of travelling upon horseback, and the benefits of abstaining from intoxicating liquors along the road; I would fain expatiate upon the glorious prospects of the western states; unfold their beauties, their antiquities, their wealth, their capacities, and their vastness; and picture to you the thronging millions that shall inhabit there, ere many years shall pass away. But we ended our ramblings westward upon the Connecticut Fire Lands, and here patient reader we must wind up our narrative. Our ways henceforth diverge.

fool; but it has been said, that herein lies the di The wise man has his follies, no less than the ference; the follies of the fool are known to the world, but are hidden from himself; the follies of the wise are known to himself, but hidden from the world. A harmless hilarity, and a buoyant cheerand we are never more deceived, than when we fulness are not infrequent concomitants of genius; mistake gravity for greatness, solemnity for science, and pomposity for erudition.

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By evaporation and condensation, the clouds are fications. Electricity and heat are the chief agents raised from the earth to their stations in the atmo- in these processes. spherick regions, and formed into their several modi- Clouds are distinguished into seven kinds of

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CLOUDS.

modifications, having different densities, different | These are the characteristicks. There are three pridegrees or kinds of electricity, and different forms. mary modifications, the cirrus, cumulus and stratus.

Small clouds of this sort are sometimes seen in

two considered intermediate, cirrocumulus and cirrostratus; one which is compound, the cumulostra- the intervals of showers, moving rapidly about the tus; and the nimbus, which immediately precedes the fall of rain, also a compound cloud.

heavens in a very compact shape, and are thence familiarly called water-wagons, though they are not rainy clouds.

The cirrus is the cloud which is supposed to have the least density, and generally is in the higher at- The stratus is always near the earth, holding the mosphere. It has a greater variety of form, extent lowest station among the clouds, and usually restand direction than any other; sometimes being ing on the earth. It appears about sunset, respread out over the sky like a white thin veil of maining through the night and disappears in the gauze, sometimes drawn out in long fibres or morning. Probably when it attains much elevation threads, which diverging to various points in all it becomes transformed to a cumulus. Fogs and directions, have some resemblance to the tail of a mists are for the most part placed in this class, horse, and are so called; sometimes they stretch though some are cirrostrati. Nor are all strati out in long straight lines. They are also very fogs. But they sometimes rise a small distance changing in their forms, and I have observed a very from the earth, forming the black, irregular and difrapid change of a comoid cirrus, which appeared low in the atmosphere, into a cirrostratus.

From these rapid changes it has been called the Proteus of the skies. It, however, is seen sometimes for several days unchanged. After a continuance of clear weather, it is frequently the first cloud seen. It is supposed that the cirrus under every form, is a conductor of electricity. So says Mr. Forster. Its very texture, he says, is indicative of its office. The long parallel and elevated lines he supposes to be equalizing the electricity of portions of air remote from each other; and the detached comoid cirri, equalizing their own with that of the air surrounding them. The cirrus is also interposed between two other clouds, doing the same office to them. And it is the opinion of the same writer, founded on long observation, that a cirrus ceasing so to act, ceases to be a cirrus, and is either evaporated or passed into other modifications.When the weather is dry, the cirrus is fibrous, when damp, compact, and in a more wet atmosphere, its edges lose their distinctness, and it spreads to more gradual terminations, appearing charged with water. These are frequently soon followed by rain.

The cumulus is a collection of vapour into a hemispherical shape having a flat base and summit, variously convex. It is commonly a dense cloud, formed in the lower atmosphere, and moving along in the current of wind which is next to the earth. The cumuli are of different forms and dimensions, according to the peculiarities in the atmosphere producing them. Sometimes they are very regular hemispherical masses, at others they appear like a range of mountains, resembling much the cumulo; stratus. Before rain, they increase rapidly, descend lower in the atmosphere, and become fleecy and irregular in their appearance, their surfaces breaking up at the same time, and presenting large protuberances. In fair weather they form soon after sunrise, obtain their greatest size in the middle of the day, and subside toward evening. The variation of its figure according to different states of weather, favours the supposition that electricity may determine its form.

The sun's rays warming the surface of the earth, and by radiation the air above it, converts water on the surface to vapour, which rises through the rarefied region, till arriving at that point where the air is sufficiently cool and dense to suspend it and condense it, it is formed into a cloudy and visible body. This is the origin of the cumulus, and with some variations in process, is probably the forming principle of all primary clouds.

fuse looking cloud which is seen nearest to the earth. But in a short time they are changed to cumulus, or perhaps in a peculiar atmosphere may go to form or feed a nimbus. The stratus is found to be electrified positively, and in general to be highly charged.

The definition of the cirrocumulus is the more dense small clouds of rotund form, and collected as in a flock.

After the cirrus has ceased to conduct, it frequently is changed into cirrocumulus. It loses the cirriform structure, descends in the atmosphere, and is formed into a collected body of rotund small clouds closely arranged in horizontal order. A very picturesque and beautiful appearance. Sometimes this cloud is transformed to cirrus; sometimes evaporates, and at others passes into the compound modifications. It is not always uniform, differing in the size and distance of its nubeculæ. It is frequent in summer, in the intervals of showers, and before an increase of temperature, of which its prevalence is considered a prognostick: and it is, therefore, supposed that the cloud may receive its modification from a warm upper current which is afterwards propagated in the inferiour region of atmosphere.

These are the clouds mentioned by the farmer's boy

"Far yet above these wafted clouds, are seen,
In a remoter sky, still more serene,
Others detached in ranges through the air,
Spotless as snow, and countless as they're fair
Scattered immensely wide, from east to west,
The beauteous semblance of a flock at rest."

When this appears in small shapes, dense and compact, and closely stowed together, accompanied with the cumulostratus, it is considered a sure indication of an approaching storm, which being highly charged with electricity, it tends to promote when it is thus brought into conjunction or vicinity with a rainy cloud.

The figure of the cirrostratus is very various ; sometimes it is in dense longitudinal streaks, sometimes mottled like the back of a mackerel, and called mackerel clouds, sometimes like the close fibres of à compact body, as of muscles or of smooth wood, sometimes spread over the sky like a sheet, resembling the spread cirrus but more dense. This cloud is remarkable for exhibiting a great variety of beautiful colours. This happens generally when the sun is near the horizon. They have been always considered precursors of rain and stormy weather. Virgil says, the yellow in the morning indicates storm, the blue denotes rain, the red, east wind, and

the last mixed with the mottled cloud, wind and nogei zu He) showers. It is in the thin, extended sheets of this et mo cloud, before its greater condensation, that the haloaded fun is painted.

The cumulostratus, is defined a dense irregular cloud, overhanging on all sides a plane base. It is formed usually from a cumulus which increases upwards, and losing its hemispherical figure is broken into uneven folds, and combining with other clouds produces the present modification. They frequently remain a long time, some of them intersected with cirri or cirrostrati, and form very picturesque skies; at other times are rapidly combined into nimbus. This cloud varies much in appearance and form, sometimes running in long ranges like a chain of mountains; some of the single clouds look like a disjointed, over-hanging cliff. In this modification. the cloud is nearly ripened for a storm.

The nimbus is the last stage of vaporization and is defined a cloud or collection of clouds pouring

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rain.

An observer of the clouds may be induced by such increase of them as to obscure the sky to expect rain, and he will be frequently deceived in this expectation. The reason is, that no cloud effuses rain, till it has passed into this modification, which is distinct, and may be easily known, though by reason of its irregularity not easily described. It appears usually in huge, heavy, dark, and moist looking masses. I believe this cloud only has the power of refraction, in such degree as to paint the rainbow, though the cumulostratus and cirrostratus show very beautiful and varied colours. This power of refraction is another distinguished feature of the clouds, according to which, the halo, or luminous ring, the corona or luminous disk, and the parhelia or images of the sun and moon are produced, and the iris or rainbow.

Bodies of clouds sometimes are seen which cannot be referred to any of the modifications. But they generally do not long remain indeterminate. There is, however, a cloud frequently covering the sky in chilly unwholesome weather which appears to partake of the attributes of each of the two intermediate modifications; of a thin texture like cirrostratus, but rounded in form like cirrocumulus. It is probably the former. Before storms, it is the case that clouds frequently put off their individuality and run together in a general mass, before they are formed into nimbus.-

MAHOGANY.

The common mahogany (called by botanists swietenia mahagoni) is one of the most majestick trees of the whole world. There are trees of greater height than the mahogany; but in Cuba and Honduras this tree, during a growth of two centuries, expands to such a gigantick trunk, throws out such massive arms, and spreads the shade of its shining green leaves over such a vast surface, that even the proudest oaks of our forests appear insignificant in comparison with it. A single log, such as is brought to this country from Honduras, not unfrequently weighs

six or seven tuns.

When we consider the enormous size of a trunk of mahogany, and further learn that the most valua

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ble timber grows in the most inaccessible stations, it must be evident that a great portion of the price of this timber must be made up of the cost of the labour required for transporting it from its native forests to the place of its embarkation.

The season for cutting the mahogany usually com mences about the month of August. The gangs of labourers employed in this work consist of from twenty to fifty each, but few exceed the latter number. They are composed of slaves and free persons, without any comparative distinction of rank, and it very frequently occurs that the conductor of such work, here styled the captain, is a slave. Each gang has also one person belonging to it termed the huntsman. He is generally selected from the most intelligent of his fellows, and his chief occupation is to search the woods, or, as it is called, the bush, to find labour for the whole. Accordingly about the beginning of August, the huntsman is despatched on his important mission. He cuts his way through the thickest of the woods to some elevated situation, and climbs the tallest tree he finds, from which he minutely surveys the surrounding country. At this season the leaves of the mahogany tree are invariably of a yellow-reddish hue, and an eye accustomed to this kind of exercise, can, at a great distance, discern the places where the wood is most abundant. He now descends, and to such places his steps are directed; and, without compass, or other guide than what observation has imprinted on his recollection, he never fails to reach the exact point at which he aims. On some occasions no ordinary stratagem is necessary to be resorted to, by the huntsman, to prevent others from availing themselves of the advantage of his discoveries: for, if his steps be traced by those who may be engaged in the same pursuit,

which is a very common thing, all his ingenuity | cording to their length; and it often occurs, that must be exerted to beguile them from the true scent. while some are but long enough for one log, others, In this, however, he is not always successful, being on the contrary, will admit of four or five being cut followed by those who are entirely aware of all the from the same trunk or stem. The chief guide for arts he may use, and whose eyes are so quick dividing the trees into logs is the necessity for that the lightest turn of a leaf, or the faintest impres-equalizing the loads the cattle have to draw. Consion of the foot, is unerringly perceived. The sequently, as the tree increases in thickness, the logs treasure being, however, reached by one party or are reduced in length. This, however, does not alanother, the next operation is the felling of a suf- together obviate the irregularity of the loads, and a ficient number of the trees to employ the gang during supply of oxen are constantly kept in readiness to the season. The mahogany tree is commonly cut add to the usual number, according to the weight of about ten or twelve feet from the ground, a stage be- the log. This becomes unavoidable, from the very ing erected for the axe-man employed in levelling great difference of size of the mahogany trees, the it. The trunk of the tree, from the dimensions of logs taken from one tree being about three hundred the wood it furnishes, is deemed the most valuable; cubick feet, while those from the next may be as but, for ornamental purposes, the limbs, or branches, many thousand. The largest log ever cut in Honare generally preferred. duras was of the following dimensions :-Length, A sufficient number of trees being felled to oc- seventeen feet; breadth, fifty-seven inches; depth, cupy the gang during the season, they commence sixty-four inches; measuring five thousand one huncutting the roads upon which they are to be trans-dred and sixty-eight superficial feet, or fifteen tuns ported. This may be fairly estimated at two thirds of the labour and expense of mahogany cutting.Each mahogany work forms in itself a small village on the bank of a river, the choice of situation being always regulated by the proximity of such river to the mahogany intended as the object of future operations.

weight.

The sawing being now completed, the logs. are reduced, by means of the axe, from the round or natural form, into the square. The month of March is now reached, when all the preparation before described, is, or ought to be, completed; when the dry season or time of drawing down the logs from the place of their growth, commences. This process can only be carried on in the months of April and May; the ground, during all the rest of the year, being too soft to admit of a heavily laden truck to pass over it without sinking. It is now necessary that not a moment should be lost in drawing out the wood to the river.

After completing the establishment of a sufficient number of huts for the accommodation of the workmen, a main road is opened from the settlement, in a direction as near as possible to the centre of the body of trees so felled, into which branch-roads are to run being yet a mass of dense forest, both of high trees and underwood. The labourers commence by clearing away the underwood with cutlasses. This A gang of forty men is generally capable of worklabour is usually performed by task-work, of one ing six trucks. Each truck requires seven pair of hundred yards, each man, per day. The under- oxen and two drivers; sixteen to cut food for the wood being removed, the larger trees are then cut cattle, and twelve to load or put the logs on the cardown by the axe, as even with the ground as possi- riages. From the intense heat of the sun, the cattle, ble, the task being also at this work one hundred especially, would be unable to work during its influyards per day to each labourer. The hard woods ence; and, consequently, the loading and carriage growing here, on failure of the axe, are removed by of the timber is performed in the night. The logs the application of fire. The trunks of these trees, are placed upon the trucks by means of a temporary although many of them are valuable, such as bullet-platform laid from the edge of the track to a sufficient tree, ironwood, redwood, and sapodilla, are thrown distance upon the ground, so as to make an inclined away as useless, unless they happen to be adjacent to some creek or small river, which may intersect the road. In that case they are applied to the construction of bridges, which are frequently of considerable size, and require great labour to make them of sufficient strength to bear such immense loads as are brought over them.

plane, upon which the log is gradually pushed up by bodily labour, without any further mechanical aid.

The operations of loading and carrying are thus principally performed during the hours of darkness. The torches employed are pieces of wood split from the trunk of the pitch-pine. The river-side is generally reached by the wearied drivers and cattle before the sun is at its highest power; and the logs, marked with the owner's initials, are thrown into the river.

If the mahogany trees are much dispersed or scattered, the labour and extent of road-cutting, is, of course, greatly increased. It not unfrequently occurs that miles of road and many bridges are made About the end of May the periodical rains again to a single tree, that may ultimately yield but one commence; the torrents of water discharged from log. When roads are cleared of brush-wood, they the clouds are so great as to render the roads imstill require the labour of hoes, pick-axes, and passable in the course of a few hours, when all sledge-hammers to level down the hillocks, to break trucking ceases. About the middle of June the rivthe rocks, and to cut such of the remaining stumps ers are swollen to an immense height. The logs as might impede the wheels that are hereafter to pass then float down a distance of two hundred miles, over them. being followed by the gang in pitpans (a kind of flatbottomed canoe), to disengage them from the branches of the overhanging trees, until they are stopped by a boom placed in some situation convenient to the mouth of the river. Each gang then separates its own cutting, by the marks on the ends of the logs

The roads being now in a state of readiness, which may generally be effected by the month of December, the cross-cutting, as it is technically called, commences. This is merely dividing crosswise, by means of saws, each mahogany tree into logs, ac

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