1, the materials cost nothing, whereas any iron machinery is expensive.
2, here is no waste, for iron may be employed to more important purposes.
3, this is capable of being raised higher or lower according as the height of the fire may require, which an iron trivet cannot.
4, the iron trivet is troublesome to move about, which this machine does not require.
5, when the trivet happens to lose one of its feet, it is no longer of any use.
6, the circular part of the iron trivet must be proportioned to the size of the kettle it is to support, but this machine will hold any sized kettle.
The fields in this part of the country are excellent, being extensive and level, the soil consisting of sandy and argillaceous earth. The crops are abundant, provided the corn be not injured by frost, as it had
been the preceding year. Owing to this misfortune, I found bread made of spruce fir bark at present in general use. The Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) is very seldom used, on account of its bitterness[44].
Flax is scarcely ever cultivated here.
In the evening I strolled out from the post-house at Bumoen towards the sea side in search of natural productions. The brooks close to the shore swarmed with innumerable little oval Notonectæ (Boat-flies), no bigger than nits (N. minutissima);