duced with entire success into the light-houses on Lake Erie. An objection has been made against lard oil, that it is not capable of being preserved in a liquid state in cold weather; but by a process similar to that by which the winter sperm is prepared; lard oil can be inade which will not chill at 30° Fahrenheit.

The importance of this application of lard can scarcely yet be realized. Vast quantities of the oil can be manufactured at the west. Indeed, there is hardly any assignable limit to the power of production of the article, so that, while the demand continues, the business may be conducted profitably. The immense herds of swine which can be suffered to range over the lands adapted to them, and gather their food from mast as well the surplus of corn, wheat, potatoes, &c., on which they may be sustained, admit of the manufacture being carried on to almost any extent.

The proportion of lard to the whole hog is about 60 per cent., after taking out the hams and shoulders or taking out the hams only; the estimate for hogs of the best breeds, and so fed as to produce the greatest quantity of fat, is 70 per cent. As the object is not in this case to make pork for food, the objection against those species of nuts, and other modes of feeding which render the animal more gross and oily, is obviated; and it has been proposed to feed out oil cake to swine, to increase the proportion of oil.

An important letter, in relation to the manufacture of lard oil, &c., will be found, together with Mr. Morfit's account, before mentioned, in the Appendix Nos. 8 and 10, the necessity of the publication of which is every day becoming more and more apparent from the continual demand on the Patent Office for copies of the mode of extracting the oil from lard. The specification of one manufacturer who has patented his process has also been added for the same reason, as numerous copies are continually requested (Appendix No. 11).

By a new process of steaming (a very simple method, a description of which will be found in the letter of Mr. Stafford, beforementioned, in the Appendix No. 10), it appears that the whole of the lard or oily matter in the hog, or of tallow in cattle, may be obtained; while the danger of burning (common in other modes) is avoided, the consumption of fuel lessened, and the degree of pressure required not so great as otherwise. It will be recollected that, while conducting the manufacture of lard, the other parts of the animal, as the hams and shoulders, may be turned to profit. Beside these, also, the hides may be tanned by a cheap process; and the bones, which are worth half a cent per pound, may be calcined and made into animal carbon, for which they are said to be worth, in this calcined state, two and a half cents per pound.

The cul

Oil is likewise made of the SUNFLOWER-35 gallons to an acre. tivation of the CASTOR BEAN continues to be carried on with increasing success for the manufacture of castor oil, which may also be turned into stearin and oil for burning. A single firm in St. Louis has worked up 18,500 bushels of beans in four months, producing 17,750 gallons of oil, and it is stated that 800 barrels have been sold at $50 the barrel. This oil, likewise, admits of being prepared for machinery, soap, &c., and it is much more soluble in alcohol than lard. A new experiment, too, as to the introduction of RAPE SEED, for the same purpose, promises much success, as it is found that rich ground will produce from 25 to 40 bushels to the acre. Ten quarts of oil may be obtained from a bushel of the seed. Oil cake is worth, per bushel, about the same as oats. This oil sells for from 75 cents to $1 the

gallon. For further details, as to this experiment, reference may be made to the letter of the postmaster at Erie, Pennsylvania-Appendix No. 12.

A more beautiful article of lard is now also manufactured, which is of the purest white, and much harder than the ordinary kind, and which thus possesses additional advantages for exportation, as it will bear being sent to the warmer climates, and can be prepared by a rapid process which costs not over half a cent the pound. The details of this will be found in Mr. Stafford's letter previously referred to in Appendix No. 10.

These various articles just mentioned, have been brought together, as they are of a kindred character, and constitute a branch of business which is probably destined to become a most important one in our country. It may be well, indeed, to look at this subject a little more closely, and in detail to ascertain the means we have of future production, as this lard is one of the articles on which the duty in England and France are so low as to bear exportation. In the first place: What are the materials of manufacture at home? The live animals can be raised at little comparative expense; and this business, as we have before said, can be carried on to almost any extent. Few persons, who have not taken the trouble of calculation, are aware of the results of an examination into this subject. It would be thought strange, were the assertion made, that the export of oil, pork, and lard, were the market opened to us, might be equal to that of our heaviest staples-even to that of cotton; but it is believed that it can be strictly demonstrated that not only this is true, but that it might reach in value beyond all the exports from this country the past year. The calculation is an easy one: Pork can be raised in all the States; and wherever there exists mast and wild vegetable roots, the expense is very trifling; for, it will be remarked, that for the purpose of making oil, it is immaterial how great is the degree of oleaginous food, which is given to swine. Beech, oak, hickory, and walnut, all furnish excellent food. Corn, too, may be raised on the prairies at $3 per acre, standing in the field, where the swine are turned in to feed; making the cost 6 cents per bushel-allowing (which is a fair estimate) 50 bushels to the acre. If any one doubt the practicability of this, it will only be necessary to consider the fact, that one man can attend to 40 acres, which, beginning early in the season, he can plough with horses at the rate of 2 acres per day, plant with the cornplanter from 5 to 10 acres a day, and then till it with the cultivator. At $3 per acre, the supposition beforementioned, this would make his receipt for the 3 or 4 months employed $120 or $30 to $35 a month, for, wages, expenses, &c. As a further means of keeping the swine, rye may be sown on the ploughed sod to furnish winter food; and, by taking them off in the spring, a crop of rye may be raised, making a good sustenance for the swinethey being turned in to feed upon it standing after it is ripe. It has likewise been found, that since the animals scatter some of the grains on the field, the same piece of ground will yield 2 or 3 seasons without any extra ploughing. It may also be remarked, in passing, that rye pastures are found to be excellent for wintering cattle without injury to the crop of grain, if the stock is taken off early in the spring.

Such, then, are the facilities for raising swine. We can, however, carry the calculation further. The number of swine reported in the census for 1839 is over 26,300,000. There is reason to believe that the number has very greatly increased in many of the western States since that time. Thus, it is stated, that, in Michigan, in 1837, when the State census was taken, the umber of hogs reported was 109,096; in 1839, by the United States census,

1

was reported the number 342,920, being an increase in only two years of 232,535, or more than 100,000 in a year. It is supposed, by a writer who appears to be well acquainted with the products of that State, that in 1841 there were not less than 700,000 swine in that State; according to which ratio there would probably be now over 1,000,000. The whole number in the United States, therefore, estimated simply at an increase of 5 per cent. the year, would now exceed 30,000,000. Taking this, therefore, as a fair estimate, and allowing that one half of them should be fatted to average 300 lbs., and for the purpose of lard they would need to weigh 300 or 400 lbs., we should have the following results, viz: 15,000,000 hogs, weighing 4,500,000,000 lbs. Deducting the two hams, which might be estimated at 20 lbs. each, allowing also a loss of one third in curing, is equal to 400,000,000 lbs., and trying up the remainder, equal to 39,000,000 lbs., on which 60 per cent. of lard might be obtained, gives 2,340,000,000 lbs. of lard; and since 8 lbs. of lard equals a gallon of oil and stearin combined, this amounts to 292,500,000 gallons, which is equal to 9,285,714 barrels. This is more than 25 times the amount of sperm and whale oil annually brought into the United States, including also palm and olive oils. Allowing 40 lbs. for the two hams, as we have seen, gives 400,000,000 lbs. Estimating now the lard oil and stearin combined at 50 cents per gallon and the hams at 6 cents per lb., we have the enormous sum total of $170,250,000. This would probably equal over three times the export value of cotton at the present low price or perhaps even the whole crop for this year; as the whole crop for 1842, according to the best estimate which a careful examination enables us to make, amounts to 683,333,231 lbs., which at 63 cents per lb., is $44,416,650. This, too, is nearly double the whole value of our exports, as appears from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury.

It is, indeed, admitted that we have not and probably may not for a long time, if ever, have so large a quantity of lard and hams for exportation; but the supposition is only made to slow the capabilities of the country in this respect. There is not the slightest difficulty, were the effort made, in doubling the number of swine in the United States, so that the whole surplus above the present number could be thus used for the manufacture of lard and oil. Besides, the articles mentioned in the case supposed above do not require salt, and may be preserved with great ease, as well as allow the animals to be killed earlier, so as to secure a full market; and the former is a consideration of no small importance, especially in portions of the country where salt is high. It will be found more profitable at present, at the price of lard and oil abroad, to use the whole hog for this purpose, the hams and sides excepted. It should be mentioned, too, here, that in the above calculation no account has been taken of a variety of article which are worth something, and which might aid to defray the expense of the preparation of the lard and hams. Thus, as to the hides, they may be taken off with the hair at about the same expense as by scalding, and may be tanned at $5 per dozen, or preserved by sprinkling the fresh hides, spread out smooth, with salt, laying one over another, flesh sides together, until there are fifty or sixty together. They can then remain in this state until cured, and may be rolled up and transported to any market. The leather of these hides, when tanned, is used not only for saddles, collars, trunks, but also for binding books-a substitute for Russia leather-and many other purposes. The bristles will pay in part for preparing the hides for the market. Hides, when well cured, will bring, it is said, from $15 to $50

per dozen. Hams, too, are said to be better when cured without skins, as the gum of the skin injures the taste of the meat and retards the salting operation.

It may be remarked here, also, that a demand for oil and candles from lard will of course greatly advance the price of pork for consumption, and thus, while a new staple is created, an old one is greatly improved. An increase of only one cent per pound on swine slaughtered in the United States, will make an aggregate in value of at least $30,000,000. This sum would not, indeed, actually be realized in cash, as little pork, comparatively, is now sent to market, but is consumed by the family where it is raised. That country which produces beef and pork to most advantage, and especially if wheat is also added, must excel in agricultural profits.

FOREIGN MARKET.

In looking at the details just given, evidently proving the immense resources our country possesses in these products, as they may properly be termed, of her soil, the question naturally arises: Is there any demand for them abroad? It can be shown, it is believed, that this demand is greater than has been supposed, and that it seems likely to increase. A part of the bearings of this subject will be brought up in connexion with another portion of these remarks; but it may be well here to observe that from New Orleans the export of lard for the year 1841 and 1842 to foreign ports was 172,260 kegs, while that to the ports of the United States was over 260,000 kegs.

To Cnba, whose exports to the United States have much exceeded her imports from this country, as appears from the report of the commercial relations of the United States by the Secretary of State, there were shipped, during the year 1838, 5,484,028 lbs., valued at $368,146, at a duty of four cents per lb. The desire to obtain lard from abroad has induced England to admit it into her ports at less than half a cent per lb. duty when taken in American vessels, or when taken through the Canadas at less than one eighth of one cent per pound. The duty in France is a little more than two cents per pound, to her colonies not more than one half a cent per pound; when sent to the Netherlands and Belgium, one mill per pound; in Texas it is free; in Venezuela, four cents per pound. Large quantities of the olive oil, for which lard can be substituted, are used for making soap. In Marseilles, it is stated on good authority, that no less than 17,000 lbs. are thus used daily.

IMPROVED MODE OF FENCING.

While the cultivation of timber land will be hastened by the new method, heretofore described, of making pot and pearl ashes, where the preservation of wood is not an object of interest, an improved mode of fencing the prairies gives great facilities for converting what has been hitherto deemed almost waste land to immediate use; and when it is considered that, as appears by an estimate made at the Land Office, there are in four States and two Territories, 39,000,000 of acres of pratie lands, via: in Illinois 11,000,000 acres, in Indiana 3,000,000, m Misout 9,000,000, in Arkansas 4,000,000, in Wisconsin and Towa, restricted to surveyed lands alone, each 5,000,000 acres, some of which are quite remote from titsber, it must be matter of congratulation, especially to those States, as also to the United

States, still holding portions, to know that such lands can now be enclosed with one fourth the expense of a Virginia fence. Where a section of 640 acres is enclosed, it may be done at a cost not exceeding forty cents per acre, where the labor and materials are all purchased. The fence now recommended is composed of a ditch and embankment of three feet high, or a fence three feet high on the top of the embankment. The hedge fence, so much commended in Europe, will not answer for the prairies, as the weeds grow up with the hedge, and thus furnish much fuel to consume the hedge in its earlier growth, or even in its more matured condition; and this will be the case until general cultivation protects the prairie from annual fires. The ditch, too, of itself alone, is a poor defence against the effect of frost, and the attacks of cattle. A combination of the two seems to offer all the advantages of both, as the soil is drained by the ditch, and the same forms in part the fence, thus saving much timber.

It requires 26,500 rails to enclose a section of land with the Virginia panel equal to eight rails, stake and rider, whereas, it takes only three rails for a panel on the plan of the ditch and embankment; nor is this all, the rails on the embankment need not be over one half the size of those in a Virginia or worm fence. The great saving will be apparent when we reflect that four panels of Virginia fence are equal in distance only to three panels of fence made straight. Three rails on the embankment are sufficient. Hence, nine rails on the latter plan are equal to forty on the former one; and when the difference in the size is taken into consideration, the proportion will not be over four and a half to forty, making a saving in timber, in carting, and hauling, &c., almost incredible. In the success of such a plan the United States are deeply interested; for it must add millions of dollars to the Treasury, besides enhancing the value of land now likely to remain a long time without improvement, and saving from destruction the vast quantities of timber which the enclosure of the prairie- in the ordinary mode of fencing, would require. This plan, having been made the subject of great attention, and found to answer the purpose, can be safely recommended The machinery to accomplish all that is described will not exceed $10, and may be constructed by ordinary workmen. Drawings of the plough and scraper, and the machinery of its construction, with a description in full of the manner of making the fence, will be found in Appendix No. 13. A model, also, of full size, of both the fence as standing and the various machinery, may be seen at the Patent Office. A letter from a gentleman at the west (see Appendix No. 14) fully sustains the above opinion of its practicability.

MODE OF CONSTRUCTING HOUSES.

Another improvement relating to a cheap mode of constructing houses where timber is scarce, which shall be at once durable and comfortable, as it has a most important bearing on the vast unoccupied lands of the several States and the nation, may not be inappropriately mentioned. Its full advantages may be appreciated by an examination of the plan, which will be found in a detailed statement, for which see Appendix No. 15. Many who have been made acquainted with this method have deemed it most desirable to have it published for the benefit of the country at large.

RAILROADS.

Connected with this general subject likewise, an allusion may be here made to a plan of constructing cheap rails with a wooden track for horses.