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1844.] THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT’S JOURNAL. 103 a business, requiring an apprenticeship of practice and reading to be master of. But such perfect mastery is not required in the Irish farmer; let him be taught the primers of the business on the soil where he lives, by men fully competent to teach and direct him, let these agriculturists be men of intelligence, capable of understanding the composition and management of the various soils they will meet with; they must be fully conversant with green cropping. Rotation, house feeding, and soiling, the ingredients and application of manures, draining, sub-soiling, and irrigation; the management of dairies, and milch cows; and let them be located one in every parish where such services are required, paid out of the county cess by the grand juries, at or near the rate of £100 per annum, and be directly under the surveillance of a committee of gentlemen in each parish, and of the district inspectors appointed by the government board before referred to. The cost will be for the whole country about £250,000 per annum, to be continued for seven years; or in the whole £1,750,000, by which time there will be sufficient knowledge obtained by the people, for dispensing with their further services. To assist in meeting this sum, the police might be reduced in a few years, although at first it would be unwise to do so; but as the people increase in comfort, there will be less crime, and less need of such large forces to prevent it. The advantage to the tenant would be, increased comfort, increased confidence with his landlord, and a prospect of continuous prosperity and eventual independence. To the landlord the advantage would be equally great, certainty of his income, peace and prosperity on his estate, in which he will be a sharer, from the tie that would then exist between the proprietor and occupier, and the increased value of his property, from the improved condition of the tenantry. There is no interference with the rights of property in this; the benefits of proprietorship are increased. The necessity of supplying the information proposed, is shown by the adoption of the means, to an insignificant extent, certainly, by the agricultural societies. They have done much good, but not sufficient for the object in view, (viz.,) elevating generally the condition of occupiers of small farms; nor can it be done by such means, the instruction must be more general and more explicit, than the agriculturist has time and opportunity of giving. Let me insist upon it, that all the tenants require is instruction, you may teach them reading, writing, arithmetic, and even the higher branches of education; but it is all useless as applied to the tenantry of this country, if they are not taught agriculture. It is this by which they are to subsist, by which landlords are to receive their incomes, by which Ireland is to prosper, and therefore this instruction should be provided by Government in the direct manner I have ventured to suggest. Increasing the franchise will not provide food; the equali zation of churches will not grow potatoes; nor will the Repeal of the Union fatten cattle. But these effects are expected by a Repeal. Reduction of rents are not generally necessary, nor would it be adequate to the wants of the people, and would be a decided injury to landlords. Instead of reductions of 10s. per acre, which in most cases would be 30 per cent., teach them to swell their 3/. produce into 51., not by increase of prices, for that cannot be controlled, but by increased production. Remember, that potatoes and milk are their only fare, that with this they are contented, if they have sufficient; that their wants are few, and yet unsupplied; their privations many, and unre lieved ; that a starving people may be made easily to rebel, perhaps be as easily subdued ; that people in such circumstances deserve pity as much as punishment for many crimes; that immediate suffering, present distress, dread of the future, and remembrance of the past, have caused the rapid progress of the Repeal movement, and that you, Sir, with the English people, are alone able to relieve their dis tresses, to supply their wants, and this can be done by increasing the demand for labour, by supplying the practical information they require in the business of agriculture : then will plenty succeed poverty, hap piness displace misery, and Ireland become a great and prosperous portion of the kingdom, a helpmate for England, and a blessing to our country in the over ruling hands of God. Your very obedient servant, J. B n, C.E. Parsonstonn, Feb. 26, 1844. An attempt is to be made this session to extend the patent law from four teen to twenty-one years. It is indeed to be regretted that, whereas the copyright of authors dates from publication, when profit is supposed imme diately to commence, the copyright of inventors expires too frequently before a profit can he realised. SUPPLY OF WATER TO BOILERS. Sir—In your Journal for last month tlrnre is a plan mentioned for supplying high pressure boilers with water, which I think might be effected in a more simple manner, thus:— Let a b c be a small tank, placed bv the side of the boiler, half above and half below the proper water level; let a, b, be ordinary slide valves connecting the tank with the boiler, c a valve connecting the tank with a reservoir placed above the level of the tank. The action will be as follows :—The valves a, b, being shut, and c open, the tank will fill with water; then c being shut, a and 6 opened, the water will run out of the tank down to the level of the water in the boiler ; the valves being again reversed, the same operation will be repeated, the steam in the tank being condensed by the admission of the cold water. If the valves be connected with the engine, so as to be reversed at proper intervals, a self-acting and self-regulating feeder will be ob tained ; for it is evident the water in the boiler can never rise above the top of the tank, and if the water falls too low, a whole tank full will be admitted instead of half, thus quickly restoring the balance. The valve b should be large, and the communication with the boiler not left open longer than necessary, in order to prevent the water in the tank becoming heated by the condensation of steam; a board floating loosely in the tank would prevent the steam coming in contact with the water. An apparatus of this kind placed on the top of a locomotive would enable the boiler to be supplied by hand while the engine was standing. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, Henry Carr. Folkestone, February 8, 1844. MAXTON’S LONG SLIDE VALVE FOR CONDENSING ENGINES. By Mr. John Maxton, Engineer. The advantages of this valve are,—that it may be used without a steam-chest, while it has all the advantages of a long slide valve in shortening the passages to the cylinder, it works with much less fric tion than the common long slide-valve, the pressure being equalized, and is much less expensive, and easier upheld, than the packed valve. in fig. 1, the piston is represented as descending in the cylinder, the vacuum being formed under the piston by the passage A through the valve towards the condenser, the steam being admitted above the
