The material is then to be put into bags, and pressed moderately, under a press of any suitable kind, which will cause the elain to flow out in a great state of purity, there not being contained within it any appreciable portion of the stearin; this pressure is to be continued until the stearin is as dry as it can be made in this way.

The masses of the solid material thus obtained, are to be remelted, and in this state to be poured into boxes, or pans, of a capacity of ten or twelve gallons, and allowed to form lumps, which I denominate blocks; these when removed from the vessels, are piled, or stacked, up for a week or ten days, more or less; the room containing it should be at a temperature of nearly 80°, which will cause a sweating, or oozing, from the blocks, and they will improve in quality; the blocks are then to be rolled in cloths, or put into bags, and these placed between plates, and submitted to very heavy pressure by means of an hydraulic press. After this pressure it is brought again into the form of blocks, and these are to be cut up by means of revolving, or other knives, or cutters. The pieces thus obtained, are to be put into bags, and subjected to the action of hot water or steam, in a press, until it becomes hard enough to be manufactured into candles, or put up for other purposes to which it may be desired to apply it.

The manner of subjecting it to the action of heated water, or of steam, is to place the bags containing the stearin, in a box, or chest, into which heated water, or steam, may be introduced, but not to such extent as to fuse the stearin. A follower is then to be placed against the bags contained in the box or chest, and moderate pressure made upon them; the material will now be found to have acquired all the required hardness, and to possess a wax-like consistence, such as would generally cause it to be mistaken for wax.

I am aware that alcohol has been used for the purpose of separating elain and stearin from each other in analytical chymistry; but the lard, or other fatty matter consisting of these substances, has, in this case, been dissolved in the heated alcohol, and the whole has been suffered to cool together; this process would be altogether inapplicable to manufacturing purposes, as the cost would exceed the value of the product. In my manufacturing process, instead of dissolving the lard in alcohol, I add a small proportionate quantity of the latter to the former, the whole of which is driven off at an early period of the ebullition; but by its presence, or catalyticality, disposes the elain and stearin to separate from each other, which they do, after long boiling and subsequent cooling. I do not, therefore, claim the use of alcohol in separating elain and stearin from each other, by dissolving the fatty matter in heated alcohol, and by subsequently cooling the solution; but what I do claim as my invention, and wish to secure by letters patent, is the within described method of effectively promoting their separation, by incorporating alcohol or highly rectified spirits with the lard in small proportionate quantities, say one gallon, more or less, of such alcohol or spirit to eighty gallons of lard, and then boiling the mixture for several hours, by which boiling, the whole of the alcohol will be driven off, but will have left the elain and stearin with a disposition to separate from each other, on subsequent cooling, as herein indicated and made known: JOHN H. SMITH.

Witness:

T. H. PATTERSON.

H. S. FITCH.

No. 12.

ERIE (PENNSYLVANIA), January 11, 1843.

DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 1st ultimo, making inquiries in relation to the culture, use, and comparative value of rapeseed in this section of country, came to hand by due course of mail.

From the best information I have been able to obtain, I reply to your interrogatories, as follows:

1st. Rape seed is raised in this section.

2d. Rich ground will produce from 25 to 40 bushels per acre.
3d. Ten quarts of oil may be obtained from a bushel of seed.
4th. Oil cake is worth per bushel about the same as oats.

5th. The oil is used in burning, and in the manufacture of woollen oilcloth, &c., and is worth from seventy-five cents to one dollar per gallon.

6th. The seed should be sown about the 25th September, three pints to the acre. The ground should be well cultivated, and such as does not heave up; harvest in June following. It should be cut with the sickle when the stock is yellow, before it becomes dead ripe, to prevent a waste of seed. Let it lie in swath about eight days in dry weather, until the seed becomes black and shells easily. It is then put into a wagon, with a cloth in it, to prevent a waste of the seed. Take it to a barn with a tight floor, and thresh the seed; to be spread about four inches thick, and turned every 1 day for eight days, to prevent moulding. Then it is ready for the manufacture of oil. After the oil is pressed, it must be clarified by chymical process, the same as other oil.

7th. It will not answer for painting.

8th. The stem is of no use, except for manure.

9th. Cake answers well for hogs, but better for sheep.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. HENRY L.- ELLSWORTH,

A. SCOTT, P. M.

Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

No. 13.

Mode of fencing and ditching, &c.

A good embankment, three feet high, with a ditch, furnishing a drain for surplus water, is made with astonishing rapidity. The embankment affords a foundation for a short post to hold two or three rails, which is found sufficient either to enclose or exclude cattle. The machine to make the embankment need not cost over two dollars, including labor and materials. It may be constructed by any farmer with the help of an axe and auger. It seems almost incredible that two planks 12 feet long, united at an angle of 18 or 20 degrees, can throw up dirt with such facility. The wedge and inclined plane seem united, and the only difficulty is, to ascertain at what angle dirt will slide. The angle abovementioned will answer in most soils. If the angle should prove too obtuse, the brace in the rear might be so formed as to graduate the scraper as desired. If the planks

1

are extended in length, the height of the embankment may be increased, or the dirt thrown further from the furrow, if the object is to turnpike the soil or to grade it for rails; and it appears that the machine will greatly lessen the expense of making roads on lands where large roots form no ob stacle to the common plough, which precedes this scraper. To expedite turning at the end of the furrow, a bent lever (a crooked joint will answer), affixed about the centre, will raise the machine so as to turn on a point, and much friction may be saved by tacking to the land side a few inches of plank at the front and rear, or by excavating the land side in the middle, if made from a solid stick. The land side should be one-fifth shorter than the wide plank or mould board, and a narrow strip of boiler or tire iron, can be fixed at the bottom of the mould board. To keep the, land side from slipping a small plate of iron may be attached to the under side, at the rear, operating like tire most approved plough.

A plough and scraper might be combined, but the same strength in two teams will be more desirable. When land is dear, the objection might arise that too much is wasted. This, however, will have no weight in the west, where land is plenty. Indeed, some in Europe have urged the benefit of sloping embankments, as they increase the surface for grazing, which is an admitted fact, the sides of a hill being greater than its base. An excavation is made on both sides of the embankment. The ditch is eighteen inches only, and the embankment eighteen inches above the common surface, making an elevation from the bottom of the ditch, perpendicularly, of three feet, and giving a slope at 40 degrees, of about four feet-the slope, in some soils, must not be over 30 degrees, which will depend upon the soil. Less than this would expose the bank to crumble by the frost, and more would make the acclivity so small as to permit cattle to ascend it. Nor is the improvement in making the embankment alone worthy of special notice. The posts are bored with despatch by one or more augers propelled by hand or horse power. The augers are two and a half inches, and these, by two apertures, make a mortise of five by two and a half; but the second hole is bored so as to cut the circumference of the first, to lessen the chip between the two, which is easily removed by a chisel or hatchet. The rails are sharpened by a circular saw, by cutting one side so that when two rails are brought together, they just fit the mortise. The lap of the rails is about six inches, and makes a neat appearance; additional strength is given by pinning the upper rail. If rails are cut twelve feet three inches, four hundred and forty panels will make a mile of fence.. This will determine the number of posts which are inserted in a furrow when the fence is to be made six inches deep, before the ditch is commenced; this will save all excavation for posts by hand; aud, when the embankment is formed, the posts will be two feet in the ground.

If the team can travel twelve miles per day, this will give six passages on each side of the embankment, and completes one mile in extent in a day. I will give an estimate of fencing different quantities of land. The size and shape of the tract materially affects the cost per acre.

2 teams, $2 50 each, one day (one with plough and one with

scraper)

1,320 rails sharpened and delivered, at Mr. Robinson's estimate,

two cents

440 posts, bored complete, three cents

$5.00

26 40 13 60

1

1 section, 640 acres, 4 miles, cost $250 00, which is per acre

$0 39

do 320 do 3

do

187 50,

When roads or unoccupied land do not adjoin, the expense will be reduced, since adjoining proprietors are bound to pay if they improve one half the value of the fence.

This estimate is made for common prairie land, which is not more than three miles from timber, and where the timber is good for splitting, and not over ten dollars per acre, and where the labor of mauling rails do not exceed seventy five cents per hundred.

A sketch of the ditch, fence, rails, scraper, and augers, is given. Augers with sliding cutters are decidedly preferable. See plate 1, figures 1 to 9. A very simple machine for boring posts may be seen by referring to figure 13, plate II. It may be constructed by an ordinary laborer. Between the uprights the post to be bored is fastened. The auger is changed by raising the piece of scantling, which holds down the same, and runs between two pieces of scantling fastened at one end by a hinge of leather or iron, and at the other by a pin. The holes are made to accommodate the wishes of the fence maker, as to the number and distance of the rails. A 24-inch auger is recommended, as this, with two holes, will make a mortise 5 by 24 inches. Any ordinary auger will answer if a crank is affixed to the same.. The simplicity and utility of this machine will recommend itself.