Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/ploughloomanvil82phil ^ PUBLISHED AT ROOM 19, NASSAU BANK^BUILDING, BEEKMA?^ STREET. 1856. JOHN A. GKAY, PRINTEU. 16 & 18 Jacob .^tioet. SO s ITsTDEX TO VOLUME VIII. From July, 1855, to June, 1856. The Im to items under 'English Patents will be found in a separate Alphabet, fol- lowing this. I Agriculture is King, 468. " of Indiana Co., Penn., 209. " of Maine, 554. " Irish, 695. Agricultural College, Md., 636. " Bureau, 674. " Crops, Profits of, 670. " Implements, 591. " Journals, 325. *' Products and Prices, 449. " Society of New-Hampshire, .917 " " " U. States, 301, 348, 889, 895, 531. Agricultural Statistics of the United Kingdom, 4.55. Aluminum, 875. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 169. American Institute, I'air of, etc., 168, 227, 8.")4. " Institute, Discussions of, 60S. " Manufacturers, 641. " Pomological Society, 609. " Patents, List of, (see " Lists, etc.") Americans, Premiums to, in Paris Exhibition, 413. Ames's Universal Square, 2.3S. > Analysis of Soils, Method of, l9. i Ancient Saw-mill, 308. I Anecdote of a Sheep, 876. j Angora Goat, the, 715 Animals, Fattening, '272. Annual Address, Extract from an, 64'.». ! Apple, the Baldwin, 88. / Art of Painting, The, 286. Artificial Stone, 172. Atlantic, Rain on the, 686. Auricula, the, 337. Australia and America as Wool-growing coun- tries, 330. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, G.jI. " in Watches and Jewelry, Trade of, 570. Batso Farm and Agricultural Co., 648. Baldwin Apple, The, 88. Barley, 222. Beet Grafting, 225. " Sugar, -275, 536. Bees and Quails, 637. Blackberry, New Rochelle, 155. Blind Hinge and Fastening, Patent, 304. " Man, An accomplished, 374. i Blanketing Cows, 378. Boardman& Gray's Pianos, 48. Boiler Punches, 309. " Explosions, Cause of, 687. Bonellis's Locomotive Electric Telegmph, 252. Books, New, 61, 125, 189, 253, 317, 878, 442, 509, 571, 638, 699. Boston, Industry of, 508. " Routes to, 316. Brackett's Vineyard, Mr., 658. Brake, Improved Car, 312. Breading, Observations on in-and-in, 1G5. Bridge, A large Suspension-, G95. British Oil and Oil of Spike, 172. Brittania Ware, Manufacture of, 286. Broad-cast and Tooth Grain-Drills, 550. Bronze Castings, Grand, ."i57. Broom Corn, 063. Buckwheat, Memoir on the Production of, 97, 159. Burring machine, Parkhurst's, 693. Butter Making, 409, 676. ; Cahoon's Seeding Rhubarb, 276. IT) California Wheat Crop, 18. Calves, Mode of Raising, 31. Camels, The, 753. Camel Expedition, The, 875. Canada West, Industry of, 646. Cane, Northern Substitute for Sugar, 93. Cannel Coal and its Products, 654. Cans, Arthur's self-sealing, 243. Car Break Blocks, 678. " Sash Fastener, 305. Care of China and Glass, 423. Carpets on floors. To fix, 097. Carriage Shaft Building, 428. Carrots for Feeding Poultry, 334. Casting, Grand Bronze, 557. Cattle, the best, 526. " , Short-horn vs. Long-horn, etc., 274. Carrying Ship, The largest, 037. Census of Clinton, Mass., 76. " returns of Massachusetts, 316. Century Plant, Large, 378. Cheat in Fertilizers, 94. Cheese making, Method of, 696. Chinese Potato, 545, 608. City of St. Paul,Min., r,21. Civilization, Progress of, 37. Cloud Engine, Storm's, 421. Coal burning Boilers, 551. " Region, The Lackawanna, 262. « of the Ohio Valley, -378. " in Pennsylvania, 091. Coke on the Hudson River Railroad, Trial of, 7:j1 . College, Ohio Agricultural, 283. Color Painting, Hints on, 283. Colors, Printing in, 184. Colts at weaning, Physic to, 377. Commerce is King, 321,465. " of the United States, 9. " with Africa, 753. Company of Inventors, 107, 430. Compressible Life-boat, 690. Condition of Labor, 193. Corn Crop in Tenne.ssee,471. " and its Fodder, 536. " its Culture, Varieties, and Properties, 23. " the great staple, 95. " Cheap compost for, 34. " Wheat, etc.. Cost of raising, 36, 217. " Extraordinary yield of, 793. " Experiments in Growing Indian, 729. Cottage, An Ornamented, 7-34. Cotton, The cost of raising, •SS9. " in Algeria, Cultivation of, 20. " Varieties of, 145. " Gins, 470. " growing. The Policy of, 270. " Manufacture in the South, 189. " Press, Improved, 370. Country Houses, 200. Country-Seat on the Hudson, 16. Coupling Gear for Railway Carriages, 289. Cow relieved by Surgery, 670. I " How much should she eat, 687. ' Crop, The Wheat, 89. " What constitutes a profitable, 385. Crops, Comparative Value of, 410. " Profits of, 670. " Southern, 459. . " Good Southern, 059. 5906M IV. Index. Cultivation of Cotton in Algeria, 20. " of Wheat, 39,326. Culture of the Strawberry, 3S, 225. " Thorough, 19. ■" of Fruit, CJa. " " Native Grapes, 65S. " " Corn, 23, 36. « " Figs, 157. " " Lemons, 157, 3T4. " " Fruit, 39, 77. •" " Oranges, 156. " " Osage Orange, 802. " " Potatoes, 730. " " Sirawberries, 3S, 225. " " AVheat, 36, 326. Currants, 155. Cyperm Esculentu"', a new esculent ia this coun- try, 416. Dead Spindle, Harvey's, 234. Description of the Persia, 553. Dentistry, Dr. Castle's, 509. Different kinds of Fowls, 525. Difficulty of judging between first-rate Animals, 407. Dioscorea Batatas, 8, 545, 607. Docking of Horses, 340. Doul)le Giant Mill, 311. Draining heavy Soils, 93. Drills, broad-cast and tooth Grain, 550. Dry Broth, 406. Dubuque and Pacific Railroad, 6S7. Dwarf Peirs, 223. Economy in Farming, 134. Education, 518. " of Farmers, 14S. Effect of the Atmosphere on Marble, 68S. Electricity, Weaving by, 375. Emory & Brothers, Pianofortes, 629. Enamels, 750. Engine, Storm's Cloud, 421. English Patents, Recent, (see index of do.) E.itomologv, (see '• lasects, etc.,") 72, 136, 202. England, Mineral Wealth of, 570. English and French Agriculture, Statistics of, 655. Eruptions, Volcanic, 50t. Erie Railroad, 102, 249, 372. Everett's Speech, Mr., 389. E.Khibitioti at Parii, Premiums to Americans, 413. Exports of Flour, 329. Extensive Lumber Business, 208. Experiments with Potatoes, 507. Extraordinary yield of corn, 693. Factory, Large knitting, 59. Failure of Nesmyih's monster gun, 376. Fair of Americia Institute, 296. Fairs, State, 319. Fall and Spring ploughing, 216. Farina, 85. Farm Cottage, Plan of a, 71. " Fir-it Premium, 469. Farmers, How to improve poor, 540. " need. What, 264. " liy Adoption, 89. Farming, Magnificent, 63. Fattening Animal«, 272. " Swine, Profit of, 87. Feeding, Mode of, 637. Felly sawing, 244. Female jocliies, 316. Fertilizers, Cheat in, 94. First Water-power in Silk Manufacture, 235. Fire-regulators, for steam-boilers, 714. Fish, Propagation of, 527, 733. Fisheries, Gloucester and Marblehead, Mass., 691. Fisheries, The lake, 636. " The whale, 69S. Flock renovator, 242. Flour, Exports of, 329. Forest Tree< of Nichols. Tioga Co., N.Y., and their Use.s. 83, 206, 402, 713. Foretelling the weather, 692. Formation and Anatomy of Horses, 292. Founder, etc., in Horses, 475. Fountain Pen, Prince's Protean, 117, 180. Fowler's Manufacturing Co.'s Power-presses, 309. France, Railroads in, 250. Frazer's portable Saw-mill, 306. Fruits of Ohio, List of, 405. Fund, the Skinner monument and, 568. Furnace, A smokeless, 261. Garden, Liquid Manure for the, 339. Gate, A good farm, 737. Gathering and Preservation of Fruits, 77. Georgia Wine, Native, 408. " and her railroads, 696. Glass, Care of China and, 423. Gloucester, Mass., ludustry of, 229. Good field of Hops, etc., 218. Gold in A'ermont, 875. " from Quartz, New mode of separating, CO. Grafting Beets, 225. Grain crop of Illinois, 637. " and Grass Seed Header and Harvester, 32. Grand Bronze Casting, 5.57. Great National Exhibition of Stock, 167. " Telegraph Enterprize, 85. Grittiness of Pears, 85. Growing Wheat, 537. Grubs and Cutworms, Trapping of, 85. Grass crop, Value of the, 374. Guano, Mexican, 27. " The propiir use of, 888. " for cotton, 636. " " grassland, 696. " Salt and, 697. " sprinklers, 243. Gutta percha, Remarkable properties of, 870. Gwynne's centrifugal pump, 119. Halliday's Wiud Engine, 237. Harvey'.-" Dead tpindle, 234. Hayfork Improved, 53. Handwriting, MacLaurin, 693. Havre de Grace, its wild ducks, 692. Hay and cotton press, Manny's portable, 87-0. Hedges, Osage Orange, 302. Hemp, 33fi. Hints on Color-painting, 233. Hollyhock Paper, 113. Hops, a good field of, 218. " ia Lamoille Co , Vt., 605. Horses, Formation and Anatomy of, 292. " Influenza in, 666, 739. " Remarks on Founder in their Feet, and Shoeing, 475. Horticultural, 152, 302, 339. " Society, Mass., Reports of, 617. Human Physiology, 157. Illinois, Grain crop of, 637. Immense railroad bar, 369. Import of dry goods at New-York, 637. Imports into New-York, 692. Important railroad project, 697. Improved loom, Talbot's, 131. " water-wheel, Foirmaii'?, 244. " pisinoforte action, Morton's, 311. " brake, Paige's, 312. " railroad axles, 683. " plane iron, 695. " washljoard, 728. " steering apparatus, 112. " road measure, 118. " harness, saddles and trees, 175. " flock cutter, 2M. " balance water-gate, 4.31. Improvement in carriages, 690, " ' scrrw propellers, 115. " " latching locks, 555. Indiana Co., Pa., its agriculture, etc., 209. Industrial exhibition at Boston, 357. statistic3,230, 233, 417.523. Insects injurious to vegetation, 202, 266, 383, 408, 480, 531, 7' 7. Int-^rnal heat of the earth, 690. Invention for preserving meats, 440. Inventions at Oryst-il Palace, Eng. Court of, 345. " Promotion of, 44. Inve ntors. Company of, 107. Index. Irish and sweet patoto, 478. Iron boats for Panama Bay, 3T8. " in Liberia, 690. " rigging for sliips, 6S9. " yards for ships, 50S. Japan or Chinese Potato, 545, 607, 603. Joy at a friend's fall, 6S7. Keeping Turnips, etc., in Winter, -tlG. Knitting factory, A large, 59. Lackawanna Coil Region, 262. Lake of Pitch, A, 265. Lamoille Co., Vt., Fair in, 354. " " Hopsio, 005. Langdon, Address of Hon. C. C, 649. Larch for Timber, The, 207. Largest carrying ship, The, 6'!7. Latcbing Loclis, Improvement in, 555. Lemons, Culture of, 374. Letter-indicating Telegraph, 360. Light, by decomposition of water, A new, 60. Light-house, Revolving, 695. Lime, Shelby Co., 401. Liquid Manure for the Garden, 839. Lists of new American Patents, 63,126, 195, 255, 319, 3S2, 446, 510, 574, 639. List of Fruits oi Ohio, 405. " " Verbenas. Living picture of conservatism, 721. Locomotive expenses and statistics, 124. Locust, Natural History of the, 37. " The Seventeen-Year, 205. "London," locomotive, above Niagara, The, 121., Lonicera fragrantissima, 154. Louisiana, The Sugar Growth in, 335. Lowndes's Patent Pen and Pencil-case, 2-35. Machinery and Metals in the Paris Exhibition, 437. Machine for mixing mortar, Magnificent Farming, 68. Maine, Agriculture in, 5r>4. Mammota Sunflower, 224. Manipulation of steel and iron, 683. Manna sugar, 569. Manufacture of watches, 373, 506. Manufactures of Marblehead, Mass., 637. Manufactures of South Carolina, 11. Mauures, their appropriate Uses, 149,412, 467. " for the Garden, Liquid, .339. Materials used in the Arts, 481. Marble, Effect of the atmosphere on, 6SS. " and marble sawing, 749. Blaryland Agricultural College, 636. Massachusetts census returns, 316. Mechanical Industry, Progress of,_291. Slemoir on Buckwheat, 97, 159. Meteorology for Farmers, 197. " Statistics, 581,712. Mexican Guano, 27. Microscopic Photographs, 251. Mineral and Artificial Manures, 412. " wealth of England, 570. Minni6 and Sharp's rifles, 183, 635. Mining of Gold. 1. Miscellany, 59, 188, 249, 316, 372, 506, 56S, 635, 686. Model Mill, 429. Monster gun, the, 687. Musical Instruments for Churches, 753. Native Georgia Wine, 408. National book establishment in Austria, 373. Naumkeag Mill, Salem, Mass., 228. Nerium Splendens,Dwai'f blooming plants of, 302. New Building Materials, 177. " " Bricks, 493. " books, (see Books.) " esculent in this country, 416. " Hampshire Agricultural Society, 517. " music, 126, 190, 254, 319, 331, 445, 510, 573. " seed-sower, 548. " York and Erie Railroad, 102, 249, 872. " " Central " 249. " Jersey, Zinc ore in, 696. " light. A, 60. " silver, 189. " enterprise in Salem, Mass., (iron ship,) 251. New expansive valve motion, 568. " rifle. The, 638, 692. " method of propelling steamboats, 6S9. " surveying instrument, 689. " material for paper-making, 690. North Carolina, its capacities, etc., 396. Northern and Southern Industry, 129. Notes from the Far West, (Wis.,) 211. Nutmeg Tree in California, 303. Ohio Agricultural College, 283. " , List of Fruits in, 405. Okra, 698. Opera in New-York, 817. Osage Orange, 26, 302. Paint for Houses, 30. Painting, The Art of, 286. Panoramic Views and Paintings, 105. Patent Blind Hinge and Fastening, 304. " revolving-hammer Pistol, 800. " Thread, Johnson's, 310. Patents, English, (see Index on a subsequent page.) Patents granted, number of, 185,695. Paper manufacture, American, 121. " bag manufactory, 569. " plant in Wisconsin, The, 571. Passumpsic railroad, 639. Patterns, To transfer, 60. Peach-tree borer. Defence against, 691. Pennsylvania, Coal in, 691. Peat Coal as a Smelting Fuel, 110. Pella, Iowa, its Industry, etc., 398. Persia, Description of the, 558. Piano-forte, Emory k Brothers, 629. " Improved, (Driggs',) 745. Photographs, microscopic, 251. " Neipce's process, 252. Photography, Progress of, 689. Plan of a Farm Cottage, 71. Plantation labor. Economy of, 722. Plantations in the South, 462. Plating metals. New process for, 689. Pneumatic battery, 694. Poague's Water Pipes, 459. Policy of the South, The true, 450. Ponies, horses, etc., 342. Poor Farms, How to improve, .540. " Farmers cannot afford. What, 263. " Farming Expensive, 86. Portmonnaies, (Zurn & Rantfle,) 56S. Portrait of Charles I., (Velasquez,) 508. Porter's Stone-dressing Machine. 430. Potato, the Sweet and the Irish, 12,473. Potatoes, Experiment with, 507, 730. Preservation of Milk, 108. Press, Manny's portable hay and cotton, 370. " A powerful, 311. Prince's Protean Pen, 117, 180, 754. Printing in colors, 184. Problems and Tables, 199. Process for rendering porous substances water- proof, 377. Productions, Southern, 45S. Products of the Dairy in New-York, 533. Profit of raising sweet potatoes, 217, 399, 410, 472. Profits of farming, 597, 661. " " fattening swine, 87. Propagation of Fish, 527, Pruning Trees, 88. Questions proposed by the Royal Society in Den- mark, 727. Railroad, The Erie, 249, 372. " New-York Central, 249. Railroads in New-Jersey, 652. " " New-York, 714. Railway, A great, 693. " signals, 624. Rain on the Atlantic, 686. Raspberry, The, 543. " Antwerp, 152. " Catawssia, 153. Remarkable watch, 691. Remarks on founder, etc., 475. VI. Index. R evolTing fire-arms, (Colt's,) 621. " hammer pistol, 300. Ringbone in horses, 50. Road measure. Improved. US. Rock blasting, 109. Rose, New Isabella Gray, 803. Route from New- York to Pittsburgh, 685. Rubber cleanine, 426. Saddle Trees, 241. Safifron, 28. Saleratus unwholesome, 183. Salt and Guano, 6)7. " Manufacture nf, 1S5.5, 569. Save your Seeds, 49. Saw-mill, Ancient, 308. " Portable, 3(i6. Saxe-Gothea Conspicua, 483. Screw-propellers, Improvement in, 115. Scythe-making, 488. Season, Crop:*, Prices, etc., 29. Seed-sower, New, 548. Self-acting Car-coupling, 56. Self-sealing cans, Arthur's, 243. Seventeen-year Locusts, 205. Shelby County Lime, 401. Shoeing Horses, 475. Short-horns vs. Long-horns, 274. Ship-building in United States, 188. " in New- York, 507. Silver, a new kind of, 189. " Substitute for, 251. Slide valves. Improved, (Fisher's,) 751. Smith's tour of Europe, 105. Society of Arts, Exnibition in Paris of, 178. Soils, When and How prepared for Crops, 534. South, The True Policy of the, 385, 456. " Carolina, Manufactures of, 11. Southern Picture, 4")9. " Fruit, 156. " and Northern Industry, 257. Sowing turnips, 687. Speech, Mr. Everett's, .389. " Mr. McMichael's, 583. Spinnfr, Continuous woolen, 182. Springfield, Mass., Valuation of, 252. Stars and stripes, 711. State Fairs in 1855, 53, 219, 278. Statistics, Industrial, 230, 283. " of Steamboats, 179. " of Kentucky and Tennessee, 135. " of the United Kingdom, .Agricultural, 455. Statistics of London, 715. " of English and French agriculture, 635. Steam boilers. Fire regulators for, 714. " fire engine, 747. " carriage Projects, 47, 424. " tonnage of the United States, 188. Steel, Composition and formation of, 748. Stem Dressing Machine, 430. Storm's Cloud Engine, 421. Strawberries, The Culture of, 225. Steamer Sebastopol, 6<5. Suspension bridge, A large, 695. I Sugar-beet, The, 536. " cane, Northern substitute for the, 93. Summer, keeping Purs in, 53. Swine, Profit in fattening, 87. Tables turned, The, 694. Terra aqueous machine, 694. Telegraph Enterprise, Great, 65. " Letter-indicating, 860. Temperature of the Sea, 226. Tennessee, Wheat-trade from, 215. Testing of Cannon, 58. Things to be done, 164. Theatrical, 317. Toads, 269. Tobacco statistics, 709. Tour of Europe (Smith's,) 817. Trains, Useful invention for replacing, 812. Travel, Facilities for Western, 636. Tree, still growing, A girdled, 27. Trees, Pruning, 38. True Prosperity, 193. Turbine Wheel, Vandewater's, 55. Turnips, etc., in Winter, To keep, 416. Type punches, 692. Universal lathe chuck, United States Agricultural Society, 301, 895, 51S, 724. Useful invention for replacing trains, 312. " " to prevent trains fi-om running oflf the track,. 313. Varieties of Cotton, 145. Various uses of Manures, 412. Valuation of Springfield, Mass.,2.')2. " " Worcester, Mass., 251. Valve motion. New expansive, 568. Verbena, The, 732. Verd Antique in Vermont, 312, 425. Volcanic Eruptions, 501. Water a Fertilizer, 716. Water-melon, The juice of the, 696. " wheel, percussion and reaction, 243. " gate, Improved balance, 431. " pipes, Poague's, 459. Washington monument. Colossal, 506. Watches, machine-made, 120. Wax Bleaching, 746. Weights and Measures, 199. Wealth of the Atlantic cities, 697. Weaving by electricity, 375. What a poor farmer cannot afford, 263. " constitutes a profitable Crop, 385. " Farmers need, 264. Wheat Crop, The, 89. " Cost of raising, 36, 217. " Cultivation of, 826, 537. " trade from Tennessee, 215. Whale fishery, The, 698. Wind-engine, Halliday's, 237. Wine making in California, 155. Wisconsin, The paper plant in, 571. Woodland, 162. Wool and Woolens, 705. Wool growing countries, 880. Zinc ore in New-Jersey, 696. Index. vii. INDEX TO ENGLISH PATENTS Alloy, New metallic, 680. Beet sugar. Manufacture of, 124. Carriage shafts, 59. Engine, Water-power, 59. Fish for manufacture of soap. Use of parts of, 803. Flax and plantain fibre for paper making, 246. Hydrostatic engine, 185. " railway brake, 122, 185. Impressions of flowers on glass, permanent, 815. Improved cement, as a plaster and for moulding, 244. Improved pavement, roofing, footway, etc., 247. " composition for ships' bottoms, 264. " mode of obtaining alcohol, 866. " metre for water, etc.,86S. " process for coating metals, 433, 688. " apparatus for distiUavion of coal, etc., 438. Improved soap, called Saponitoline, 435. " process in photograpliy, 435. " material for construction of machin- ery, 439. Improved method of preventing the alteration of bank-bills, 441. Improved construction of spurs, 497. " manufactui-e of bearings for axles or shafts, 493. Improved implement for digging turnips, etc., 567. Improved composition for fixing lithographs and engravings on paper, 682. Improved gun-lock, 679. Impiovement in machinery for cutting metals, 864. Improvement in producing raised figures on me- tallic surfaces, pottery, glass, etc., 365. Improvement in the composition of colors for printing and dyeing, 365. Improvement in the manufacture of ornamental fabrics for decorating walls, etc., 866. Improvement in weaving elastic fabrics, 86S. " " the manufacture of varnish, 432. " " " " " soap, 4.32. " applicable to machinery for print- ing fabrics, 434. Improvement in preparing loaf sugar, 434. " " preserving animal and vegetable matter, 486. Improvement in combing wool, etc., 488. " " the manufacture of iron and Steel, 438. Improvement in the manufacture of plain and ornamental woven fabrics, 496. Improvement in the manufacture of ornamental paper and paper bands, 499. Improvement in metallic pistons, 500. " " files, 562. " " railway signals, by electricity, 563. Improvement in electric telegraph instruments, 565. Improvement in the arrangement of electric telegraphs, 566. Improvement in photography, 631. " " masts and spars, 633. " " constructing propellers, 688. « " " railway wheels,63B. " " the preservation of vegetable substances, 684. Improvement in marine steam engines, 679. " " dyeing cloth, 680. " " in preparing pulp, etc., 681. '• " in apparatus for copying letters, 6S2. Improvement in the manufacture of tyres, 682. " " the construction of harrows, 682. " " the manufacture of ordnance shells, etc., 683. Impi-ovement in gun-barrels and pipes, 683. " " coati£ig wrought iron, 688. " " Improvement in dyeing hides, 684. Iron ship-building, 814. Lightning, protection of the Westminster palace Irom, 122. Match cigars, 59. Maynard's combined threshing and dressing ma- chine, 247. New liquid for preventing sea-sickness, 369. " mode of separating certain vegetable fibres from mixed fabrics, 495. New mode of transmitting telegraphic messages across water, 566. Ornamenting wood, 59. Kail bar rolling, Modern, 248. Railway braHe, Miles's hydreatatic, 122. Ranced oil. Purifying, 124. Shafts, Carriage, 59. Smokeless furnace, 58. Soap, Use of certain parts of fish in manufacture of, 368. Steel tubes wi thout welding, New mode of cast- ing, 314. Steering gear, Robinson's screw and side lever, 246. Three-wheel Brougham, Scott's elastic action, 123. Water-power engine, 59. Wench for ship-building, Logan's portable, 124. Clje plaufll), t!je f oont, anli i\)t ^mll Vol. VIII. JANUARY, 1856. No. 7. "WHAT CONSTITUTES A PROFITABLE CROP ? SOUTHERN POLICY. This is a question which lies at the foundation of all judicious manage ment. It seems also to be a very simple one. We wish our farmers and planters in every section of country would keep proper farm accounts. The labor of it is but small, and the value of it would be great. Let the time spent upon each lot of ground, the manures used upon it, the crops gathered, with the market value of those the prices of which are well known, and the estimated value of those others used as feed, such as corn-stalks, etc., all have their place in the f;irm record-book ; and this would of itself suggest many important changes in the management of many a farm. But let us recur to our inquiry, What constitutes a profitable crop ? There seems to be a very indefinite idea on this subject, particularly among some Southern writers and orators. Were it not for this it might seem superfluous to say that profit, applied to crops, can always be ascer- iained by the Profit and Loss account of the producer. No matter how many others may be profited by it — no matter how many ships are loaded with it, nor how many companies get rich in the various uses they make of it — their profit and loss account is a different affair, and tests the value of a very different process. One might enrich and work over a dry sand-bank till he could make a good crop of corn upon it, and selling that one crop to his neighbor B. for one-tenth its actual cost, he, neighbor B., might make a very handsome profit on a second sale. This would not make that crop of corn a profitable one. This is plain, even to a child. Now we ask whether, independently of all collateral matters, such as in- creased value of lands, advantages of a home market, etc., etc., which would result from a diversity of pursuits, the cotton crop of this country is a paying crop, in comparison with many other agricultural products, raised both at the North and South ? In our last issue we set forth the facts of the case as far as we had the means at hand. We there found that the prevailing price of cotton for many years, at the seaboard, is eight cents a pound ; and from all the statements there set forth, from cotton growers and statistical tables, we found that it actually costs nearly, if not quite, that amount. But take another view. The whole quantity of land cultivated with this crop is estimated at 5,000,000 acres, and if the gross value of the crop is $100,000,000, the gross product of an acre is $20. Can that be called successful husdandry which obtains by a year's toil only this pittance ? It is practically true that every dollar expended in judicious cultiration VOL. VIIL 25 386 WHAT CONSTITUTES A PEOFITABLE CROP. and improvement of lands, yields a still greater per cent, in retm-n. The poorest Land, and land to which Mttle attention is given, yields the smallest per centage in return. Now laying aside all other considerations, and regard- ing only the one fact, that almost the entire laboring population of the cotton regions is devoted exclusively to the culture of this crop, might we not infer that such lands were in the best condition, and that they repay the care be- stowed upon them with rich and abundant products ? The supposition is no sooner made than " twenty dollars an acre" stares you in the face. Lands are sadly neglected at the North. Much land is used for conve- nience or otherwise in raising small and unremunerating crops. But who there, would be satisfied with a gross income of twenty dollars to each culti- vated acre ? On many capital farms, of a hundred acres or more, the quan- tity of cultivated land is often less than an eighth or a tenth of the total area. To cultivate properly any land, and to almost any crop, requires an outlay of ten or fifteen dollars. At the highest of these, the profit would be but five dollars an acre, and this pittance must pay all the family expenses and the interest of the capital. That same land, if in good condition, might bring a hundred dollars per acre, under the hammer, and if five dollars is the extent of the profit, the owner therein receives interest on his capital, at five per cent., with nothing for tools, stock, waste, repairs, losses, etc., and the land is annually becoming less and less able to produce. Is that skillful agriculture ? At the North and West the profit actually earned out of the land is earned by only a portion of the working population. In the New-England and Middle States, only about two-thirds the adult males are engaged in agricul- tural labor. In the Southern States nine-tenths are thus employed, and many females. A large corps of laborers at the North and West are engaged in more lucrative trades than the farmer, while they create a market for what the farmer can sell. Let all those give themselves to agricultural pursuits at home, the quantity of products would be very greatly increased, though the market value might be at a lower rate than it is now.' Had the South such a reserve force, with abundance of stock, what a difi"erence there would be in her financial statistics ! There are lands at the North devoted to the culture of various crops, not remunerative, as wheat for example, in which the returns are only some ten or twelve bushels per acre. And yet on those lands the value of the annual harvest will no doubt exceed the sum of twenty dollars per acre. This may be near the average of some agricultural products at the North, as laid down by staticians who are not familiar with the facts belonging to the sub- ject, but are far from being accurate records. Lauds devoted to given crops, as corn, grains, grass, etc., change so constantly at the North, that a discreet man might well be in doubt how to make out his record, even in his own neighborhood. No man can make correct estimates even for a county, with- out long and laborious investigation. Such difficulties do not present them- selves in the cotton-growing States, with few and limited exceptions. The same lands are used, year afcer year, and almost the whole land is devoted (in more than one sense of the word) to the culture of " king" cotton. Hence statistical estimates in that matter are probably very near the truth. Profits increase in a much greater ratio than crops. The difference be- tween the profits of a crop of wheat, twelve bushels to the acre, pnd a crop twenty-four or forty-eight bushc-ls, is much more than one hundred or four hundred per cent. Between the two crops of twelve and forty-eight bushels, the profits of the latter will, perhaps, be ten times the greater. Suppose WHAT CONSTITUTES A PROFITABLE CROP. 887 wheat is worth $1 a bushel ; with the first crop the cost is, say $10 ; the profit will be $2. In the other case the cost may amount to $20. The value of crop is $48 ; profit, $28, or fourteen fold. There is another view in which the importance to the South of a variety in agricultural crops assumes, in our own view, even gigantic proportions. A short supply of cotton raises the price of the article. Suppose, instead of the usual supply of two and a half millions of bales, only one and a half millions were grown. Very nearly the same value must be received for this diminished quantity that is now received for the whole. It might be that more would be received. Besides, these two-fifths of the land, before devoted to cotton, will now be cultivated with other crops, and thus the entire pro- ceeds of some 2,000,000 acres of land, producing, at the rate only of the cotton lands, a gross sum of some $40,000,000 annually, without a day's additional labor, or any material increase of expense. This would be annual net gain, while the lands would be improved by the change. There is another record in the census tables which, if there is any mean- ing in its title, confirm our views as heretofore expressed, and authorizes even more unfavorable conclusions as to the profits of this crop. Table ISS shows that in all "the slaveholding States" there is raised 101.03 lbs. of cotton " to each person." That is to say, the great crop which overshadows every other crop grown, at 8 cents the average price for a series of years, pays a gross annual sum of $8.0924 to each person. Should it cost only 6 cents, the ^'rq;?^ of this chief crop could be only $2.0924 to "each per- son. But it uses up, in a double sense, 1,000,000 acres. If this is within gun-shot of the truth, the South surely ought not to support the spindles of the north and of England at rates so ruinous to themselves. That same land, properly managed, ought to earn a net profit of $20 to $40 per acre, and would do so if the system we advocate were properly carried out. Some months ago we gave it as our belief that some other crop might be profitably grown instead of wheat in many sections of country where that is a favorite growth. Let us look at this. The census returns are our only data in these matters, in respect to nearly the whole country. A few States have made up their own census, and it is probable that these are more reliable than those under the direction of the general government. A reference to this source of information gives us the following general result, with certain crops, for all the States : Products. Acres. Value. Indian Corn, - - bushels 592,071,104, 31,000,000 $296,035,552 Wheat, ..." 100,485,944 11,000,000 100,485,944 Oats, - - " 146,584,179 7,500,000 43,975,253 Irish Potatoes, - - " 65,797,896 1,000,000 26,319,158 Sweet " - - " 38,268,148 750,000 19,134,074 Hay, - - - tons 13,838,642 13,000,000 96,870,494 This gives us, also, the following : Per Acre. Value, Indian Corn, bushels 19.03, $0 50 per bush. Wheat, " 9.13, 1 00 « Oats, " 19.53, 0 30 » Irish Potatoes, '* 65.08, 0 40 " Sweet Potatoes, " 51.00, 0 50 " Hay, tons 1 7 00 per ton. 888 WHAT CONSTITUTES A PROFITABLE CROP. These returns, no doubt, are only approximations to the truth, and in some crops scarcely so much as that, notwithstanding the laborious study of our friend Mr. De Bow, with all his well-known talent and indefatigable industry, in searching for the truth out of a mass of inconsistent and irreconcilable figures. But, unfortunately, this is, in most States, our only source of gen- eral information. These figures do not give us a very flattering account of the profits of agriculturists. But in many instances, sections of this territory do not ap- pear to reach even these results. Thus Alabama raises but five bushels of wheat to the acre, and fifteen bushels of Indian corn. We do not be- lieve that the wheat or the corn, at this rate, pays the cost of cultivation. Georgia raises 5 bushels of wheat and 7 of rye. These cannot pay their actual cost. Kentucky raises 8 bushels of wheat to the acre, N. Carolina 7, S. Carolifla 8, Tennessee V, and Virginia 1 ; none of which can pay the cost of growing it. South Carolina raises but 11 bushels of Indian corn to the acre, and but 12 bushels of oats. Florida raises but 250 pounds of cotton to the acre, or only half the average crop ; Tennessee but 300 pounds, and S. Carolina but 350 pounds. We have just seen that a crop of 500 pounds is scarcely remunerative. Now compare these results with some of the more favorable products in other States. Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania are returned in the census as producing 15 bushels of wheat per acre, and Massachusetts 16 bushels. But we all know of numerous instances in which 30 and 40 bushels per acre are grown. Illinois and Indiana grow 30 bushels of corn, Missouri 34, Ohio 36, and Connecticut 40 bushels, as reported in the census. But cases are not un- frequent in which from 80 to 100 bushels are raised per acre, and sometimes 110 are obtained. How can our land owners be content which such paltry returns for such immense outlays, when the way is so plain to increase their gains five and ten-fold. If wheat can be produced in a given territory at these lowest rates only, let something else be cultivated. Lands will produce something that will pay ; and if there should be found some poor, forsaken territory that cannot give the careful tiller a better return for his investments than some that we have here pointed out, let them be abandoned, and more favorable locations be selected. Let them lie fallow a few years, as if they did not exist ; and most probably, in a large majority of cases, the natural growth that will spring up will prove beyond dispute that these lands were not as utterly sterile as they were supposed to be, and that the grand mistake was in the treatment of it. To Preserve Sweet Corn. — Gather the corn just as it begins to harden boil as for the table ; cut the kernels carefully from the cob ; spread them to dry on a sheet or clean floor, and keep them thus till well dried ; then pre- serve them in a dry, cold and even temperature till needed for use. Soak the corn a few hours, and boil till properly softened, and serve them to your tJttte. MR. Everett's speech. 389 MR. EVERETT'S SPEECH, AT THE BANQUET OF THE U, S. AGEICtJLTUUAI. SOCIETY AT BOSTON. Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen : — My most excellent friend, who has just taken his seat, was good enough to remark that he was waiting with impatience for me to speak. Far different was my feeling while he was speaking. I listened not only with patience, but with satisfaction and delight, as I am sure you all did. If he spoke of the embarrassment under which he rose to address such an assembly — an embarrassment which all, however accus- tomed to public speaking, cannot but feel — how much greater must be my embarrassment. He had to contend only with the difficulties natural to the occasion, and with having to follow the most eloquent gentleman from Phila- delphia. I have to contend with all that difficulty, and with that of following not only that gentleman, who delighted us all so much, but my most eloquent friend who has ju«t taken his seat. And where two such gentlemen have passed over the ground, the one with his wide-sweeping reaper, and the other with his keen trenchant scythe, what is there left for a poor gleaner like myself, that comes after them ? "With respect to the kind manner, sir, in which you have been so good as to introduce my name to this company, it is plain that I have nothing to respond, but to imitate the example of the worthy clergyman upon the Connecticut river, who, when some inquisitive friend, from a distant part of the country, asked him somewhat indiscreetly whether there was much true piety among his flock, he said, "Nothing to boast of." If this were a geological instead of an agricultural society, and if it were your province not to dig the surface but to bore into the depths of the earth, it would not be surprising if in some of your excavations, you should strike upon such a fossil as myself. But when I look around upon your exhibition — the straining course — the crowded bustling ring — the motion, the life, the fire — the immense crowds of ardent youth and emulous manhood, assembled from almost every part of the country, actors or spectators of the scene — I feel that it is hardly the place for quiet old-fashioned folks, accustomed to quiet old-fashioned ways. I feel somewhat like the Doge of Genoa, whom the imperious mandate of Louis XIV. had compelled to come to Versailles, and who, afi.er surveying and admiring its marvels, exclaimed that he won- dered at everything he saw, and most of all at finding himself there. Since, however, sir, with that delicate consideration toward your " elder brethren," which I so lately had occasion to acknowledge at Dorchester, you are willing to trust yourself by the side of such a specimen of paleontology as myself, I have much pleasure in assuring you that I have witnessed, with the highest satisfaction, the proof afforded by this grand exhibition, that the agriculture of our country, with all the interests cftnnected with it, is in a state of active improvement. In all things, sir, though I approve a judicious conservatism, it is not merely for itself, but as the basis of a safe progress. I own, sir, there are some old things, both in nature, and art, and society, that I like for themselves. I all but worship the grand old hills, the old rivers that roll between them, the fine old trees bending with the weight of centuries. I reverence an old homestead, an old burying-ground, the good men of olden times. I lov^e old friends, good old books, and I don't absQ- S90 MR. Everett's speech. lutely dislike a drop of good old wine for tne stomach's sake, provided it is taken from an original package. But these tastes are all consistent with, nay, in my judgment, they are favorable to a genial growth, progression, and improvement, such as is rapidly taking place in the agriculture of the country. In a word I have always been, and am now, for both stability and progress ; learning from a rather antiquated, but not yet wholly discredited authority, " to prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good." I know, sir, that the modern rule is " try all things, and hold fast to nothing." I believe I shall adhere to the old reading a little longer. But, sir, to come to more practical, and you will probably think, more appropriate topics, I will endeavor to show you that I em no enemy to new discoveries in agriculture, or anything else. So far from it, I am going to communicate to you a new discovery of my own, which, if I do not greatly overrate its importance, is as novel as brilliant, and as auspicious of great results as the celebrated discovery of Dr. Franklin ; not the identity of the electric fluid and lightning, I don't refer to that, but his other famous dis- covery ; that, in the latitude of Paris, the sun rises several hours before noon ; that he begins to shine as soon as he rises ; and that the solar ray is a cheaper light for the inhabitants of large cities than the candles and oil which they are in the habit of preferring to it. T say, sir, my discovery is somewhat of the same kind ; and I really think full as important. I have been upon the track of it for several years ; ever since the glitter of a few metalic particles in the gravel washed out of Capt. Sutter's mill-race first led to the discovery of the gold diggings of California ; which for some time past have been pouring into the country fifty or sixty millions of dollars annually. My discovery, sir, is nothing short of this, that we have no need to go or send to California for gold, inasmuch as we have gold diggings on this side of the continent, much more productive, and consequently much more valu- able than theirs. I do not, of course, refer to the mines of North Carolina or Georgia, which have been worked with some success for several years, but which compared with California are of no great moment. I refer to a much broader vein of auriferous earth, which runs wholly through the States on this side of the Eocky Mountains, which we have been working uncon- sciously for many years, without recognizing its transcendent importance, and which is actually estimated will yield the present year ten or fifteen times as much as the California diggings ; taking their produce at sixty millions of dollars. Then, sir, this gold of ours not only exceeds the California in the annual yield of the diggings, but in several other respects. It certainly requires labor, but not nearly as much labor to get it out. Our diggings may be depended on with far greater confidence for the average yield on a given superficies. A certain quantity of moisture is no doubt necessary with us, as with them, but you are not required, as you are in the placers of California, to stand up to your middle in water all day, rocking a cradle filled with gravel and gold dust. The cradles we rock are filled with something better. Another signal advantage of our gold over the California gold is, that after being pulverized and moistened, and subjected to the action of moderate heat, it becomes a grateful and nutritious article of food ; whereas no man — not the long-eared King of Phrygia himself — could masticate a thimblefull of the California dust, cold or hot, to save him from starvation. Then, sir, we get our Atlantij gold on good deal more favorable terms than we get the 'California. It is probable, nay it is certain, that for every million of dollars' MR. Everett's speech. 391 wortli of dust that we receive from San Francisco, we send out a full million's worth in produce, in manufactures, in notions generally, and in freight ; but the gold which is raised from the diggings this side, yields, with good man- agement, a vast increase on the outlay — some thirty fold, some sixty, some a hundred. But besides all this, there are two discriminating circumstances of a most peculiar character, in which our gold differs from that of California, greatly to the advantage of ours. The first is this : On the Sacramento and Feather rivers, throughout the placers, in all the wet diggings and the dry diggings, and in all the deposits of auriferous quartz, you can get but one solitary exhaustive crop from one locality ; and in getting that you spoil it for any further use. The soil is dug over, worked over, washed over, ground over, sifted over — in short turned into an abomi- nation of desolation, which all the guano of the Chincha Islands would not restore to fertility. You can never get from it a second yield of gold, nor anything else, unless probably a crop of muUen or stramonium. The Atlan- tic diggings, on the contrary, with good management, v/ill yield a fresh crop of the gold every four years, and remain in the interval in condition for a succession of several other good things of nearly equal value. The other discrimating circumstance is of a still more astonishing nature. The grains of the California gold are dead, inorganic masses. How they got into the gravel ; between what mountain mill- stones, whirled by elemen- tal storm winds on the bosom of oceanic torrents, the auriferous ledges were ground to powder ; by what Titanic hands the coveted grains were sown broadcast in ihQ placers, human science can but faintly conjecture. We only know that those grains have within them no principle of growth or repro- duction, and that when that crop was to be put in, Chaos must have broken up the soil. How different the grains of our Atlantic gold, sown by the prudent hand of man, in the kindly alternation of seed-time and harvest ; each curiously, mysteriously organized ; hard, horny, seeming lifeless on the outside, but wrapping up in the interior a seminal germ, a living principle. Drop a grain of California gold into the ground, and there it will lie un- changed to the end of time, the clods on which it falls not more cold and lifeless. Drop a grain of our gold, of our blessed gold, into the ground, and lo! a mystery. In a few days it softens, it swells, it shoots upwards, it is a living thing. It is yellow itself, but it sends up a delicate spire, which comes peeping, emerald green, through the soil ; it expands to a vigorous stalk, revels in the air and sunshine, it arrays itself more glorious than Solomon in its broad, fluttering, leafy robes, whose sound, as the west wind whispers through them, falls as pleasantly on the husbandman's ear as the rustle of his sweetheart's garment ; still towers aloft, spins its verdant skeins of vege- table floss, displays its dancing tassels, surcharged with fertilizing dust, and at last ripens into two or three magnificent batons like this, [an ear of Indian corn,] each of which is studded with hundreds of grains of gold, every one possessing the same wonderful properties as the parent grain, every one in- stinct with the same marvellous reproductive powers. There are seven hun- dred and twenty grains on the ear which I hold in my hand. And now I say, sir, of this transcendant gold of ours, the yield this year will be at least ten or fifteen times that of California. But it will be argued perhaps, sir, in behalf of the California gold by some miserly old fogy, who thinks there is no music in the world equal to the chink of his guineas, that though one crop only of gold can be gathered from the same spot, yet once gathered it lasts to the end of time ; while (he will maintain) our vegetable gold is produced only to be consumed, and 392 MR. Everett's speech. when consumed is gone forever. 33 ut this, Mr. President, would be a most eregious error both ways. It is true the California gold will last forever un- changed, if its owner chooses ; but while it so lasts, it is of no use ; no, not as much as its value in pig-iron which makes the best of ballast ; whereas gold, while it is gold, is good for little or nothing. You can neither eat it, nor drink it, nor smoke it. You can neither wear it, nor burn it as fuel, nor build a house with it ; it is really useless till you exchange it for cocsumable perishable goods ; and the more plentiful it is, the less its exchangeable value. Far different the case with our Atlantic gold ; it does not perish when consumed, but by a nobler alchymy than that of Paracelsus is trans- muted in consumption to a higher life. " Perish in consumption" did the old miser say ? Thou fool, that that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. The burning pen of inspiration, ranging heaven and earth for a similitude to convey to our poor minds some not inadequate idea of the mighty doctrine of the Resurrection, can find no symbol so expressive as " bare grain, it may chance of wheat or some other grain," To-day a senseless plant, to-morrow it is human bone and muscle, vein and artery, sinew and nerve ; beating pulse, heaving lungs, toiling ah, sometimes over- toiling brain. Last June it sucked from the cold breast of the earth the watery nourishment of its distending sap-vessels ; and now it clothes the manly form with warm cordial flesh, quivers and thrills with the five-fold mystery of sense, purveys and ministers to the higher mysteries of thought. Heaped up in your granaries this week, the next it will strike in the stalwart arm, and glow in the blushing cheek, and flash in the beaming eye ; till we learn at last to realize that the slender stalk which we have seen bending in the corn-field under the yellow burden of harvest, is indeed the "staff' of life" which, since the world began, has supported the toiling and struggling myriads of humanity on the mighty pilgrimage of being. Yes, sir, to drop the allegory and speak without a figure, it is this noble agriculture for the promotion of which this great company is assembled from so many parts of the Union, which feeds the human race and all the humbler orders of animated nature dependent on man. With the exception of what is yielded by the fisheries and the chase (a limited though certainly not an in- significant source of supply) agriculture is the steward which spreads the daily table of mankind. Twenty seven millions of human beings, by accu- rate computation, awoke this very morning in the United States, all requir- ing their " daily bread," whether they had the grace to pray for it or not, and under Providence all looking to the agriculture of the country for that daily bread, and the food of the domestic animals depending on them; a demand perhaps as great as their own. Mr. President, it is the daily duty of you farmers to satisfy this gigantic appetite ; to fill the mouths of these hungry millions — of these starving millions I might say, for if by any catas- trophe the supply were cut off for a few days, the life of the country— human and brute — would be extinct. How nobly this great duty is performed by the agriculture of the country, I need not say at this board. The wheat crop of the United States, the present year, is variously estimated at from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five millions of bushels ; the oat crop at four hundred millions of bushels ; the Indian corn, our precious vegetable gold, at one thousand millions of bushels ! Of the other cereal and of the legumious crops I have seen no estimate. Even the humble article of bay,-— this poor timothy, herds' grass and red top, which, not rising to the dignity^ of the food of man, serves only for the subsistence of the mute partners of his toil — VIRGINIA AND THE WEST. 89S the hay crop of the United States is probably but little, if any, inferior to the whole crop of cotton, which the glowing imagination of the South some- times regards as the great bond which binds the civilized nations of the earth together. • I meant to have said a few words, sir, on the nature of this institution, and its relations to our common country, as a bond of Union. (Cries of " go on, go on.") I have lost my voice and strength, and my good friend who has treated that topic never yet left anything to be said by those who come after him I will only, in sitting down, take occasion to express the great interest I feel in the operations of this institution. I see that it is doing, and I have no doubt that it will yet do infinite good. I beg, in taking my seat, sir, to tender you my most fervent wishes and hopes for its increased and permanent prosperity and usefulness. VIRGINIA AND THE WEST— ITS INDUSTRY, ETC. The message of Gov. Johnson, of Virginia, furnishes much statistical information, and from it we make the following abstract : "The Central Railroad, which is but the prolongation eastward of the Covington and Ohio road, is in a state of forwardness, and will doubtless be completed within the period prescribed for finishing the Covington road. The same may be said in reference to the Richmond and York River Road ; the last connecting link between the Great West and the capes of Virginia. " The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad is rapidly approaching completion at the Tennessee line, where it will connect with a net work of improve- ments, terminating respectively at Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, and Little Rock in Arkansas. Add to these improvements, the Great Water Line of the James River and Kanawha Company, now extending continuously 200 miles. " The Richmond and Danville Railroad is rapidly approaching completion to the town of Danville, its southern terminus, and before the end of the year will probably be in use throughout its whole extent." We take the following passages, entire, from the Governor's Message. " If the interest of our people required this improvement, (the Covington and Ohio Railroad) in 1800, when the combined population of Norfolk, Richmond, and Petersburg, the three largest cities in the State, was less than 1*7,000, and the revenue of the State less than half a million, how must the demand have augmented now, when the population of those cities has increased to 70,000, and the revenue to two and a half millions. If called for when Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Michi- gan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, had scarcely emerged from their primeval state, what must be the comparative demand now, when the above-named States have become the most productive in the Union. In six of these States, including the western portion of Virginia and Pennsylvania, there was raised in 1849 within a fraction of three hundred and fifty millions of bushels of corn. And according to the ratio of increase during the last ten years, we may safely estimate the crop of 1860, within the above region, at 364 VIRGINIA AND THE WEST. five hundred and fifty millions of bushels, which is about two-thirds of the entire quantity raised in the United States. Of this enormous crop, it is fair to suppose that one hundred and fifty millions can be spared for exportation, an'3 will seek a transit through the several thoroughfares terminating on the seaboard, provided the foreign demand shall justify such exportation. And in order to determine how far we should rely upon such demand, let us examine for a moment what can be gathered from an estimate of trade in that article for some years past. By reference to statistics, believed to be rehable, it will be found that the exports of corn and corn meal from this country at different periods, have been as follows : In 1837, 951,276 bushels. 1846, 3,326,068 " 1849, 15,283,054 " 1850, 7,892,302 " 1851, 4,444,921 " 1854, 20,000,000 " "The above statement shows conclusively that the foreign demand is rapidly iocreasing, and that notwithstanding the fi\lling off immediately after the famine in a portion of Europe, the exports for the year 1854 amounted to 20,000,000 bushels, establishing the fact, that it is the cheapest and best bread within their reach, and that its use, at no distant day, will extend throughout all western Europe. In that country it is not grown except to a limited extent. Consequently, the supply must be from the United States, and is destined to form a staple article, equal if not exceeding that of cotton in amount. " I have said nothing of the extensive production of wheat, oats, hemp, and tobacco, all of which admit of transportation, and yield a fair profit to the producer. The census of 1850 shows that the region of country above named produced upwards of fifty millions of bushels of wheat in 1849, and that Kentucky alone exported fifty-five millions of pounds of tobacco. This immense and almost incalculable amount of trade must find its way to a foreign market through some of the great leading thoroughfares now in operation or in progress of construction. The next inquiry is, can Virginia compete successfully for this trade and travel ? The ready answer is, yes. Her Atlantic ports are nearer the center of these western and south-western granaries than any other on the coast ; her roads of easier grades ; her climate more genial, and the scenery more picturesque and inviting, while her ports and harbors are more spacious and safe, and the egress to the ocean more convenient and direct than from any other that could compete with her. '' It is a self-evident proposition that the production of a country intended for market will be conveyed by the cheapest and most direct line ; and as the communication with the European markets will be shorter through the ports of Virginia than any other, it is but reasonable to infer that the trade of the South and West will necessarily pass through this channel when these improvements shall have been completed. And yet, for want of them, the census of 1850 shows that there was received, during that year, in the city of New-York, from Western States, 984,434 barrels of flour, 3,344,647 bushels of wheat, 2,608,967 bushels of corn, 146,836 barrels of provisions, besides a corresponding quantity of ashes, stores, wool, butter, cheese, lard, etc., a large portion of which is forced upon a route more than one hundred miles longer than that terminating on the Capes of the Chesapeake, and UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 395 much of which must of necessity return by way of the Capes in its regular transit to a foreigu market, being a palpable innovation upon the established rules of traffic, tiie end and object of which is gain to the operator. The foregoing statistics have reference to the section of country bordering on and northwest of the Ohio river ; but it should be remembered that at the mouth of the Big Sandy River Virginia shakes hands with her daughter Kentucky, who has long been importuning her tardy mother for permission to pass her rich treasures through the ancestral domain to the Chesapeake, and from thence, by a direct transit, to the different_ rnartsof the world. Kentucky proposes also to make common cause with Virginia in the comple- tion of improvements now in progress, by which a direct communication will be formed between Norfolk, Petersburg, Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Alexandria, in Virginia, and Maysville, Lexington, and Louisville, in_ her own State, and extending from thence, by way of Memphis, on the Missis- sippi river, to the distant southwest. The system in progress is equally magnificent in plan and importance ; and when completed, in connection with a direct communication with foreign cities and depots, will impart renewed vigor and activity to all branches of business, greatly enhance the value of our lands, build up our cities, and make Virginia conspicuous among the most flourishing in the category of States. UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. Let all who can, give their attendance at the meeting announced below. It cannot fail to be highly interesting and important. The Fourth Annual Meeting of the United States Agricultural Society will be held at Washington, D. C, on Wednesday, January 9, 1856. Business of importance will come before the meeting. Reports from its officers will be submitted, and a new election be made, in which it is desir- able that every State and Territory should be represented. Lectures and interesting discussions are expected on subjects pertaining to the objects of the Association, by distinguished scientific and practical agri- culturists. The transactions of 1855, containing a full account of the late exhibition at Boston, will be distributed to such members as are present. The various agricultural societies of the country are respectfully requested to send delegates to this meeting ; and all gentlemen who are interested in the welfare of American Agriculture, who would promote a more cordial spirit of intercourse between the different sections of our land, and who would elevate this most important pursuit to a position of greater usefulness and honor, are also invited to be present on this occasion. W. S. King, Secretary. Marshall P. Wilder, President. December, 1855. 396 CAPACITIES AND COMMERCE OF NORTH-CAROLINA. NORTH CAEOLINA, ITS CAPACITIES AND ITS CONDITION. We have read with much pleasure the following statements of the condi- tion of the lands and of general industry in North Carolina, in the address of Hon. Thos. Ruffin before the State Agricultural Society. We wish there were many more such energetic and efficient advocates of this cause in every part of the country. We take the following from the address of Mr. Ruffin as published in the Carolina Cultivator : " The profits and the comforts of agriculture depend mainly on climate, soil, labor, and the facilities for disposing of surplus production. The two first, climate and soil, should be congenial to products requisite for the sus- tenance of the husbandman himself, and in demand for others who cannot produce for themselves. In both points North Carolina is highly blessed. In her position on the globe she occupies that temperate and happy mean, which is conducive to health and the vigorous exertion of the faculties and energies of body and mind, in employments tending more than all others to the hospitalities and charities of life and the other virtues of the heart, and which constitutes a climate, that, in unison with her fertile soil, yields abun- dantly to the diligent tiller nearly all the necessaries and many of the luxuries required by man. We do not work barely to maintain life ; but, beyond that, to realize gains that may be employed in the addition of other things productive of the elevation and refinement of civilized man. Our winters, by their duration and rigor, do not confine us long within doors, nor cause us to consume the productions of our labor during the other parts of the year ; but we are able to prosecute our field operations and comfortably pursue our productive employments throughout the four seasons. Though not of such extent of latitude as thereby to create much variety of chmate, and consequently of production, yet the dimensions of North Carolina, east and west, supply that deficiency in a remarkable degree. The proximity to the ocean of her eastern coast, and the difl:erence in elevation between that and the mountains of the west, with the gradations in the intermediate re- gions, produce a diversity of genial climate which gives to North Carohna, in herself, the advantages of many countries conjointly. By nature, too, her soil was as diversified and as excellent as her climate. The rich alluvial of the east, the extended and extremely fertile valleys of the many long streams — the Roanoke, the Tar, the Neuse, the Cape Fear, the Yadkin and Pedee, the Cntawba, and other rivers, which appear upon our map, besides those of smaller streams, almost numberless, all, at a moderate expense of care and labor, return large yields of nearly every grain and other production fit for food. Rice, maize, wheat, rye, barley, oats, the pea, the potato of each kind, besides an endless variety of other sorts, vegetables, and fruits, are fourd abundantly therein ; while higher up the country, in addition, the grasses grow so readily and luxuriantly as to afford not little plots on the moist bot- tom sof brooks, but extensive pastures and magnificent meadows to the moun- tain tops. Then, there are the great articles of cotton and tobacco, so ex- tensively used and in such great and increasing demand — to one or the other of which the greater part of the State is eminently suited. Of fruits, melons of every kind and of the best qualities, apples, peaches, pears, cherries, nec- tarines and apricots flourish almost everywhere, as do also the smaller, but m:)&t valuable kin Is, as the strawberry, the raspberry, the gooseberry, cur- CAPACITIES AND COMMERCE OF NORTH-CAROLINA. 397 rants, and, above all, our native grapes, the sweet and proli6c Scuppernong and the rich Catawba, which mature well, besides some of foreign origin. When to these are added the fish, with which our eastern waters abound through the year, but are alive in the spring — our naval stores and lumber, our marls, our minerals, gold, silver, copper, and especially the extensive and rich deposits of iron ore, and the coals, one may confidently ask, is there any other country which contains or produces more or a greater diversity of things to sustain life or to bring money ? And then let me inquire of you, North Caro- linians, what better country do you want than your own ? I hold it is good enough — too good, I am tempted to say, for sinful man. It requires only to be dressed and tilled to give nearly all we want on earth, and much for our fellow-man less happily situated. There may at some time be a stint below our usual abundance ; but we need never fear a famine here while we work. Indeed, that calamity can hardly befall a country where maize — which we call Indian corn — grows to perfection. There is no record of a dearth, ap- proaching famine, where the principal crop was maize, as it is here. Our chmate and soil are so congenial to the other cereals, that a failure of that crop from an unpropitious season is necessarily perceived in time to provide the others, or some of them, as a substitute. " If not to the lowest, certainly to a very low condition, much of the land in the State had been brought ; and the time came, when, if improvement was ever to be made, it would be commenced. I use the expression, ' the time came,' instead of ' has come,' because it is a joyful fact, that some per- sons in various parts of the State, many in some parts, have improved, and continue to improve their lands and increase their crops — profiting much therefrom in their fortunes and setting the rest of us examples by which we ought also to profit. We have all heard for some years past, that the era of improvement had begun in the great and wealthy county of Edge- combe ; and I learn from unquestionable sources, that the intelligent and enterprising planters of that county have been reward-^d by signal success. I do not propose to enter into a detail of their system further than to say, that it consists chiefly in draining by ditches and embankments, making and applying composts, the use of guano and plaster of Paris, and the field-pea as an ameliorating crop, as well as food for stock. I advise every one, how- ever, who has the opportunity, by minute inquiries to obtain from those who have put this system into use, detailed information respecting it ; and I feel no hesitation in preferring a request to the planters of Edgecombe, as public- spirited gentlemen, to communicate through our agricultural periodicals the history of their improvements, and their experiments — as well those in which they failed as those in which they succeeded, with all other matters which may be useful to their brethren in other sections. To Preserve Sweet Potatoes. — Dig them carefully, before they are injured by the frost ; place them in barrels without bruising their skins, and let the barrels stand upon their ends to prevent their rolling. Keep them as cool as is safe, (guarding them from thefrost,) and at an equal temperament. A little dirt will be no injury, and may serve as a slight protection both from injury and from frost. 398 PELLA, IOWA — ITS INDUSTRY ETC. PELLA, IOWA— ITS INDUSTRY, ETC. A LATE number of the Gazette^ published at this thriving place, (and a very good paper it is,) contains an article from which we gather the following facts : Green hides can be purchased there at three cents a pound, and dry hides at six cents, while in this city they are worth from 15 to 25 cents. Bark costs 75 cents to a dollar a cord. Leather is as high as at the East. That used in Iowa is^imported from St. Louis, Burlington, Keokuk, Cincinnati, etc. * In Keokuk prices range as follows : Red sole leather, 25 to 26 cents. Oak, Cincinnati, - - - - • 25 " 31 " Harness, 30 *' Upper, 26 " 36 " Hence the manufacture of leather in these places must pay a great profit, all the requisites for tanneries are easy of access. Lard is worth 7 to 10 cents, Steariae candles 30 cents, lard oil a dollar per gallon. Tallow averages 10 cents, and mould candles 20 cents. Soap grease say 2 cents, and soap from 12 to 15 cents, finer much higher. There are stone quarries, brick kilns, and steam saw-mills, but building materials are scarce. Lime and sand are abundant. "All that is required is pressure of one part lime with from ten to twelve parts sand, and they dry and harden in the sun. Cost of machine, with transportation, two hundred and fifty dollars. Cost of patent right for county, say two hundred dollars. Two men and a horse required to work it, and machine averages, say fifteen hundred brick a day, each brick from three to four times as large as a common brick, and ready to put together with a cement composed of lime and water. They will make a handsomer, more durable, and cheaper house than any now built. " Steam Grist Mills. — There are a large number of our citizens who are already aroused respecting this enterprise, who know its importance, utitity, and profit, and who would gladly engage in it, if they had the means. We learn that Messrs. Grafe & Henckler intend to erect a mill of this description in this place ; but we candidly think the field is large enough for two. Wo live in a well settled farming region, and if such mills are built, they will encourage the growth of grain, and the demand for both home consumption and exportation is sufficient to support and give constant employment to at least two large-sized grist-mills. And it will be certainly to the advantage of the farmer, as ' competition is the life of trade.' " Iron Foundry. — It is well known that there are large beds of iron ore, of superior quality, in this vicinity, with abundance of coal, wood and water in the same vicinity, so that such an enterprise can be successfully put into operation here. Of course such an enterprise would begin with minor cast- ings of such things as are in universal demand. But we think it would not require a great stretch of imagination to conceive that such an enterprise would gradually enlarge until railroad iron, steam engines, and locomotives would form an important part, and disting^uishing feature. Then it would give constant and profitable occupation to numerous workmen, and add materially to our present wealth and prosperity. We long to see some enterprising individual take hold of this work. PELLA, IOWA — ITS INDUSTRY, ETC. 399 " Glass Factory. — The risk of breakage is so great on transportation of glass that it forms an important item ia its cost to the consumer. All this would be obviated if we had a glass factory here. Abundance of fine sand exists in this vicinity, and potash can be readily procured from the surround- ing country. " Potash Factory. — Potash is now worth here about 20 cents a pound. It could be made with profit at 12 cents, and the market would be excellent if we could get soap and glass factories. *' Chair Factory. — This useful article of furniture is now about entirely imported from the river and Cincinnati! The cost of transportation would alone form a handsome profit to the manufacturer. The same remark will apply to sash and door factories. " Carding Machines. — Iowa is one of the best States in which to raise sheep in the Union. Wool is worth here from 40 to 50 cents a pound, and yarn from one dollar to one dollar and a quarter a pound. From 50 to 75 cents a pound is pretty good profit." We give the above statements and commend them to the attention of our mechanics, etc., who are in the market, that they may carefully view this field. It ofiers strong inducements for young men of enterprise, and we hope to see this section rapidly occupied with every form of industry. God speed our friends in the far West. THE COST OF RAISING COTTON. [We avail ourselves of the following very satisfactory testimony in cor- roboration of our own estimates of the value to the planter of the latter crop, by one who evidently knows how to estimate the expenses of agricul- tural products. We hope our Southern friends — whom we count by many hundreds — will give them the attention they deserve.] — Ed. P. L. & A. Messrs. Editors : — Knowing, from the regular perusal of your paper, that you do not desire to circulate erroneous information, I take the liberty of correcting a very incorrect statement which appeared in your tri-weekly issue of the 28th ultimo, in a communication headed "The Gulf States of our Union and the Valley of the Mississippi." The misstatement, doubtless an unintentional one, occurs in the following paragraph : " The cost of raising cotton is four cents a pound ; one bale of five hun- dred pounds to the acre is considered a fair crop. A twenty-acre field yield- ing twenty bales, or ten thousand pounds, at eight cents a pound, only yields a profit of four hundred dollars." [See our leading article.] The true state of the case can best be reached by taking the case of an improved plantation of the most available size and with a proper number of slaves upon it, and making the estimates from that basis. This is a most favorable way of making the estimate to exhibit the largest profit ; for it is well known to every experienced planter — and how dearly some have pur- chased their experience ! — that the expenses incident to the opening and im- proving of a plantation for several years after the undertaking is begun, eat up all the profits and often leave a load of debt behind, sometimes forcing a sale of the whole property, which thus leaves the lands of the original pro- 400 THE COST OF RAISING COTTON. prietor to fall into those of some wiser man who has eschewed the toil and hazard of opening a new place. A plantation of sixteen hundred acres, one thousand of which is cleared land, and has the necessary cabins and other buildings necessary for carrying on a place of that size, is worth from forty to sixty dollars per acre, accord- ing to locality. Estimating its value at the lowest rate, say $40 per acre, and it makes $64,000. To work this place to advantage — that is, to culii- vate seven hundred and fifty acres in cotton and two hundred and fifty in corn, peas, potatoes, etc., — will require a force of V5 effective hands, which, with the young and old, who do nof go to the field to work, who would or- dinarily be united to the 75 hands, would constitute about 130 or 140 slaves on the place, who, at an average $G00 a piece, would be worth about $75,000 ; 50 mules worth $130 each, would make $6,400 more; 100 head of cattle may be estimated at $1,200 ; 300 bogs may be estimated at $700 ; 12 yoke of oxen at $600; wagons, farming utensils, furniture, blacksmith and carpenter's tools, and all the other necessaries, including gin-stands, mill, etc., may be estimated (and it is an under estimate) at $2,000 ; so that any one, by simply adding these different amounts, will see that the entire value of such a place as I have supposed will be about $150,000 ; and this upon the supposition that the place is worked without a steam-engine to gin the cotton with. Such a place, with favorable seasons, will make ten bales to the hand, or about one bale to the acre, and sometimes when everything is prosperous, an early spring and a late dry fall, as many as twelve bales to the hand, and in some very extraordinary instances even as high as fifteen bales have been gathered. But on an average of ten seasons every experienced planter will agree that eight bales to the hand is an outside estimate, making a crop of about six huudred bales ; and taking 8 cents as the average price per pound, which for swamp cotton is again a full estimate, and the gross income for a single bale of 400 pounds, which is the well known uniform weight, will be $32, and the whole crop $19,000, exclusive of the cost of shipping, and soiling the crop, which amounts to at least $2 50 per bale in every case, and where the place is distant from market nearer twice that ; leaving say a net income of about $18,000. From this must now be deducted the cost of cultivating the place, overseer's wages, feeding, clothing, and doctoring the negroes, supplying wear and tear of tools, and losses of mules and stock, altogether, on a place of the size I have named, not falling short of $6,000, many planters estimating their expense at $100 to the hand, which would make $7,500. Taking it at the former sum and we have the net profits of such a place as I have described amount to $12,000, being just about an interest of 8 per cent, on the value of the capital invested. This, Messrs. Editors, I believe a fair statement of the profits of the cotton planter; and you can now see how it comports with the fancy sketch of your correspodent. If I have exaggerated at all it has been in giving too favorable an aspect to the side of A Planter. VicKSBURGH, July, 1855. [National Intelligencer. COMMEECE OF THE COUNTRY. 401 SHELBY COUNTY (Ala,,) LIME. [We are always glad to announce sucli statements as the following, which we find in the Alabama Planter. — Ed. P. L. & A.] " We received yesterday a specimen of the lime manufactured by the Shelby County Lime-Kiln Company, (situated some sixty miles above Salem) under the management of Mr. Robert Hall. Those interested in the article can see it by calling at this office. " The company, we learn, has a large capital, and is getting ready to furnish one thousand bushels of lime per day. It is manufactured from blue limestone, which, we believe, is considered the best stone for the purpose. The supply of material is inexhaustible. " Several barrels of the article have been brought to this city for trial, and some of our most experienced builders pronounce it superior to the Thomaston lime. Others are about to put it to test, and their opinions we shall, doubtless, have presently. " The specimen at this office is extremely fine, and worthy of the attention of dealers and builders. " There is only now one drawback to the enlarged operations of the com- pany, and that is the uncertainty of communication with this city. The confident belief is that if the supplies can be got here it will drive all other limes from the market. And this, after all, is the chief obstacle to the de- velopment of the immense wealth of the interior ; and is another reason why our citizens should give their attention more generally to the subject of internal improvements. With a certain communication, either by river or railroad, with the seat of our mineral wealth, within a few years we should have numerous companies of wealthy men diverting their capital from cotton to these mines of wealth which, in many cases, are now almost worthless. The result would be good both for town and country. It would draw us more closely together, and save to our people hundreds of thousands of dol- lars which now go to enrich places which have no interest or sympathy in common with us. " If the rivers do not cheat us this season, however, the company will find means enough to send hither large quantities of this lime. We wish it all the success which it seems to merit." Commerce op the Country. — The Washington papers contain official documents giving in detail the exports of domestic merchandise from the United States to foreign ports for the year ending on the 30th June last. The total exports of breadstuffs amounted to ^21,557,854; of provisions, $15,138,277. Making a total of breadstuffs and provisions of $36,696,131, against $65,901,240 of the same in 1854 ; showing a decrease in 1855 of $29,205,109. TOBACCO EXPORT, JANUARY SO, 1S55. Treas. Year. Hogsheads. Value. 1855 150.213 $14,712,468 1854 126,107 10,016,046 Increase 24,106 $4,666,422 26 402 FOEEST TKEES OF NICHOLS. France is the largest importer of our tobacco, taking 40,866 hogsheads Great Britain takes 24,303, Bremen, 38,053, Holland, 17,124; the balance is distributed among the different Continental States. The following is a comparative export of the great staples : 1855 1854 Value. Value. Cotton, $88,143,844 $93,596,220 Bread and provisions, 36,696,131 65,901,240 Tobacco, 14,712,468 10,016,046 Rice, 1,717,953 2,634,127 Total 1141,270,396 $172,147,635 Of the 1,203,540 bbls. of flour exported in 1855, New-Orleans exported 345,743 bbls. Of the 294,440 bbls. pork, New-Orleans sent oflf 168,311 bbls. She sent off 43,312 hogsheads of bacon, of 38,186,989 lbs., the entire amount exported from the country ; 791,635 kegs of lard, of 39,025,492 lbs. "We exported 1,270,264 bales of cotton, and 64,100 hhds of tobacco. FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. FOREST TREES OF NICHOLS, TIOGA CO., N. Y., AND THEIR USES. OAETANKA VJKSCA AMERICANA, OE CHESTNUT. The chestnut is found in this vicinity growing on the river and creek flats, also on the highest hills, in nearly all situations. Trees on the flats are gen- erally bushy, like the apple-tree, and seldom over 40 feet high, and two feet in diameter. They have generally grown since the land was first cleared, while on the tops of the highest hills they are from 70 to 90 feet high, and from 2 to 5| feet in diameter. A number of old trees on a high ridge near here will average 3 feet and occasionally one near 6 feet. Leaves oblong lanceolated, accuminate, mucronately serrate, smooth on both sides, ribs to leaves fifteen on each side, stems to leaf about three- fourths of an inch long, leaves from 8 to 12 inches long, and 2 to 3 inches wide. Sterile aments about 6 inches long ; the numerous flowers, white or cream color, and show to a great advantage a mile or more, emitting a sick- ish sweet odor that can be smelt a long way. The chestnut was in full bloom this year thQ 18th of July, and is frequently in bloom the lOth of July. We generally think it the best time to sow buckwheat when the chestnut is in full bloom. Fertile involucres or burs solitary or several in a cluster, like apples, scaly when grown large, frequently two inches in diameter, nearly round, and cov- ered with slender compound rigid prickles, which are one-fourth of an inch long, hard and stiff" when ripe, making it difficult to handle. These burs are a beautiful green, till within a few weeks of being ripe, when they turn a brownish drab. Each bur generally incloses three nuts ; one or two are often abortive. Nuts varying in form according to the number in an invol- ucre or bur. When there are two, each will be compressed on the inside ; INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 403 and when three are perfected, the middle one wiU be flattened on each side. The chestnut flowers here from the 8th to the 18th. Fruit ripe in the latter part of October, generally not till after a hard frost. The chestnut is the most valuable tree we have in this vicinity. It splits very readily into posts or rails ; and when green chops very easily. A man that understands the business will often split from three to five hundred rails in a day. The timber is light and stiff when seasoned. The rails last from thirty to forty years, and posts in the ground from twelve to sixteen years, and perhaps much longer. The chestnut after being cut down sprouts very much. The sprouts frequently grow five feet in a year, and by letting them stand, there will be a large growth of timber in a few years. If the land is to be kept clear, the sprouts are easily knocked off. Sprouting for successive years generally kills the stump, when it rots out in fifteen or twenty years, unless very large. But the chestnut stump comes out early in comparison with the durability of the timber. Stump machines are getting so common here, that stumps of all kinds of timber are readily pulled when green. As yet, chestnut timber has been used only for fencing in this vicinity, with the exception of sills, plates, etc., for frames. The nuts that grow on chestnut trees in some years are quite abundant, and are worth from $2 50 to $3 per bush. Robert Howell. Nichols, Dec. 13. INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. HEMiPTERA. (Continued.) We proceed with the description of insects of this order, and next describe the CocciD^ or Bark Lice. — They have thread-like or tapering antenna, longer than the head ; females wingless, but furnished with beaks ; males with wings, which lie horizontally on the top of the back, and are not fur- nished with beaks, (suckers.) Feet with only one joint, terminated with a hingle claw ; skin firm and hard ; two slender threads at the extremity of the body in both sexes. The females are without piercers. They are about one-tenth of an inch long, and of an oval shape. These insects live chiefly in the barks of the stems of plants, though sometimes found on the leaves and roots. In their early stage the head is concealed beneath the shell of the body, and the beak seems to issue from the breast. The legs, six in number, are very short, and invisible from above. The females scarcely undergo any change except an increase in size, though the males pass through a complete transformation ere they arrive at their perfect state. They are found early in the spring, in a torpid state, adhering close to the surface of the bark, with the head upwards, and an attempt to remove these insects generally crushes them, when a dark-colored fluid issues from the body. At a later season, if lifted from the bark by a knife-blade, numerous eggs will be discovered, and the insect appears to be dead and dried up. On the approach of warm weather, the young escape 404 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. through the lower end of this shield, and move about with considerable activity. These insects form the Genus Coccus. They present various aspects in regard to their covering. The Coccus cacti, or cocheneille of commerce, is covered with a mealy powder. So also is the Coccus Adonidum, or mealy hug of our green-houses. Some are hairy or woolly, and many others are naked and dark-colored. The young are generally white, or nearly so. They draw their sustenance from the bark, and plants often suflfer severely from the loss of sap exuding through the punctures thus made. In process of time they fasten themselves by threads to the bark, and undergo a transformation. If these shields are raised, the rudiments of wings, antennae, etc., appear. This is their pupa or chrysalis state. The larger insects are the females, who remain immovable. After pairing, the females increase in size. The eggs, which are numerous, pass under the body of the insect, which gradually dries up as already stated. The bark-louse of the apple-tree produces two or more broods in a season. The females survive the winter and lay their eggs in the spring. The males die in autumn. Young apple-trees suffer from the attacks of these lice. The eggs of these insects are very numerous, 30 or 40 being often found under a single shield. They are white and oblong, like snake's eggs. They begin to hatch, in the Northern States, about the 2.5th of May. Chickadees and Wrens, and some other birds, are the natural enemies of these lice, and devour great numbers of them. Ichneumon flies of very small size also destroy them. Soap-suds mixed with lime is a useful application. The lime should be added in such quantities as to make a thick whitewash. This should be applied with a brush, so as to fill all the crevices, cracks, etc., existing in the bark. It should be applied in June. There are other kinds of lice found on these trees, of a different species, one o£ which is nearly the shape of an oyster-shell, which are dormant in winter. The female is minute, wrinkled at the sides, flattened above, of a reddish color. She undergoes no change. The male completes its trans- formation about the middle of July. The perfect male is scarcely more than a point, but under a microscope appears furnished with whitish wings, long antennae, six legs with their joints, and two bristles, terminating the tail. The young lice are pale yellowish-brown, oval, and appear like scales. They move about for a while, and then become stationary, and after pairing lay their eggs. The Cotton louse sucks the sap from the leaf and tender shoots of the plant, by which the vigor of the plant is wasted, and the leaves curl up, turn yellow, wither and die. It is of a green color, about a tenth of an inch in length. Two slender tubes, growing from the abdomen, secrete the " honey- dew," which attracts multitudes of ants. The young insects appear during the summer, and the depredations of the insects continue till November. It is impossible to describe all the numerous species of the louse, and a microscopic examination would scarcely enable one not having great ex- perience to distinguish them. Nor is this ability requisite for the agricul- turist, as the same means are efficient alike for the entire order. The minute classifications are important only to the student of natural history. LIST OF FRUITS FOR OHIO. 405 LIST OF FRUITS FOR OHIO. Taken from the published report of the Ohio Pomological Society and the State Agricultural Convention at Columbus. The object of the meeting was stated by Dr. Warder to agree upon a list of apples to be recommended for general cultivation throughout the State of Ohio. On motion, it was agreed to take up the several kinds of apples in the order of their season, as summer, fall and winter varieties. Early Harvest was reported as good in all parts of the State — not a pro- fuse bearer, but fair in most localities ; does best in rich or well manured soil. Highly approved wherever known. Recommended unanimously. Early Strawberry. — Highly approved in south and center of the State, also in north-west and north-east. Not much known in some of the northern counties, but does well wherever known. Recommended unanimously. Large Yellow Bough or Sweet Bough. — Gen Worthington has grown this extensively for many years in Ross County, and approves it very highly. Was reported good in all parts of the State. Not a great bearer. Dr. Warder proposed to recommend it only for limited cultivation. Recom- mended with one dissent. American Summer Pearmain. — Proposed by Dr. Jones, and highly re- commended by all who know it, but passed as not sufficiently known. Golden Sweet. — Generally known in different parts of the State, and highly recommended, especially for baking, for apple butter, and for stock. Recom- mended with one dissent. Maiden's Blush. — Commended by numerous gentlemen, especially for its fine looks and for market. Some like it for cooking and for the table ; does well in all parts of the State — is larger and of less flavor south than north. Recommended with several dissents. Fall Pippin or Golden Pippin. — Well known and highly approved in all parts of the State. Keeps best and has best flavor at the north, but is largest at the south. Recommended with one dissent. Cooper. — Dr. Hempsted said he believed the history of this apple had not yet been fully stated. The grafts were brought from Boston to Marietta by Mr. Adams, of Zanesville, who called it a French Apple, the original trees having been imported, as he believed, from France. All present who knew the apple called it first-rate ; but some gentlemen thought it not sufficiently known to warrant its recommendation for general cultivation, especially in the northern part of the State. Recommended with one dissent. Rambo. — Was pronounced first-rate, especially in central parts of the State. Dr. Warder said it was good at the south, but ripens early, becomes dry, and does not keep as well as at the north. Recommended unanimously. American Golden Busset. — Gens. Worthington and Green said it was first-rate when in perfection, but with them it soon perishes, and is not gen- erally of fair and healthy growth. Mr. Steele finds it first-rate, good size and trees healthy, considers it the best of winter apples for the table. Other gentlemen said it was not of attractive appearance, and not good for market ; though persons who knew it would buy it. Dr. Cone said trees were not healthy with him. Dr. Warder considers it first-rate — tree of slender growth. Recommended unanimously. * Yellow Belljtoiver. — Much approved in most parts of th« State ; not so 406 DRY BEOTH. large and handsome at the north as in central Ohio. Recommended with several dissents. White Bellfiower or Ortley. — Mr. Ernst and others from southern Ohio approve it highly ; and all agree that it \i a good apple, and adapted to most parts of the State. Recommended with several dissents. Newtown Spitzenherg. — Very highly approved at Cincinnati, and also in other parts of the State wherever known, for table and for market. Recom- mended. Winesap. — Well known and everywhere approved. Recommended unani- mously. Taltnan Sweeting. — Recommended and several others as very excellent for baking, and as a great bearer, profitable for stock. Passed, as not suffi- ciently known. Roxhury Russet. — Condemned by many as uncertain, and liable to speck and rot. Passed as not worthy of general commendation. Newtown Pippin. — Highly commended generally, but Gen. Worthington and several others found it to speck with them. On sandy soils not gener- ally good, also on beech clay soils at the north. Professor Mather thought it was good only on limestone soils. Gen. Worthington thought this and ' some other old kinds are losing their health and vitality. Recommended with several dissents. Rawles' Janette or Geneting. — Dr. Warder said this was the winter apple of southern Ohio, Kentucky, etc., but he was afraid it was not generally known through the State, especially in the north. Several gentlemen from different parts of the State said they knew it, and approved it highly. Re- commended unanimously. Winter Sweet Paradise. — Specimens presented by Mr. Brush, who com- mended it very highly, especially for baking ; read Downing's description. Has been grown by Wm. Merion, near Columbus, for ten or twelve years. Said to have come from Pennsylvania. Mr. Bateham thought it was iden- tical with the Wells Sweeting, of Rochester, N. Y. All agreed that it was a first-rate sweet apple. Recommended for general trial. Broadwell Sweet was highly commended by Mr. Ernst and others from Cincinnati, near which city it originated. EUott's description was read, and his commendation seconded. Recommended for general trial. Belmont or Gate. — Mr. Bumrickhouse said this apple was considered in- dispensable in his region ; thinks the tree rather tender. Gentlemen from central and northern Ohio spoke of it as very excellent, and deserving gen- eral cultivation. Recommended for general cultivation in northern half of the State. FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANYIL. DRY BEOTH. Dry broth is a very useful and nutritious article. It is very common in Russia, and in other countries amid huge forests where game is scarce and fuel of great price. In traveling in that country, I came to a place where this broth was manufactured", and remained there three days for the purpose of learn- ing the process. It is as follows : JUDGING FIRST-RATE ANIMALS. 407 Take half of an ox, half of a sheep, entire, ten fowls, ten partridges, and cut all these into small pieces. Place it in a copper boiler well tinned, and pour six quarts of water to one pound of flesh. Cook this in the open air or in a basement over a moderate fire, skim it carefully, and after the soup is well cooked add some vegetables, &c., that is to say, celery, pork, parsley cut fine, and cook the whole ten hours or more, or until the soluble portions of the flesh are dissolved. Then strain the liquor through a colander. Place the residue under a press and pour what flows from it into the soup. The residue of the flesh is comparatively tasteless, and may be given to dogs, swine, &c. The soup which has been strained, is again poured into the boiler, and made to boil moderately. It should be taken from the fire at such time as, when poured off and allowed to cool, it will become a compact mass, resem- bling chocolate. This moment must be determined by repeated trials. The soup should then be poured into vessels of tin or potter's ware, and suffered to remain several days. The mass is then placed in the sun or in a dry room, until it shall become dry soup. Dry soup is prepared of different sizes, of one, three, six or twelve pounds, and is sold by weight. It should be observed that in its composition there is no salt, nor spice. Salt has a tendency to soften and moisten it, and any spice does not suit all persons alike. Besides, the broth, being administered as soup and dissolved, would not be suitable for the sick. This dry broth forms a very convenient kind of food for those traveling on foot or through uninhabited districts. The Russians who make the voyage from Moscow to Kiachta, over the steppes of Siberia, scarcely use any other kind of food. A vessel holding six or eight ounces of boiling water, into which is thrown a half pound or more, according t« the number of guests, seasoned with salt and pork, and with garlic if to their taste, poured upon biscuits, furnishes a nutritious, whole- some and pleasant repast. For sailors it is useful as a preventive of the scurvy. (When wrecked, should each man secure a few pounds of it they might thereby save themselves from starvation and death.) In long jour- neys over prairies and desert countries, it is of very great value. This broth might be prepared with the beef and mutton, without the ad- dition of other things. But it would not be so pleasant to the taste, nor command so high a price. Sanewski Felix. [Translated from the French manuscript b^ the Editor.} THE DIFFICULTY OF JUDGING BETWEEN FIRST-RATE ANIMALS. The following, from the Mark Lane Express^ may be read with profit by those aciing as judges at our public fairs. The recommendation in the last paragraph may be useful to State Societies : " Sir: — Allow me to offer a few remarks on this subject, as applicable to the approaching meetings of our leading agricultural societies, now close at hand. " The difficulties which are often experienced by the most competent 408 NATIVE GEORGIA WINE. judges, in deciding between two really first-rate animals of a first-rate sort, are greater than the majority of people who have never acted in the capacity of judges have any idea of. I am happy to say that at the meetings of the Royal Society such cases frequently do occur, and, I hope, always will, and with the wish that what I here assert may tend to assist judges on their laborious duties, I am induced to trouble you with these remarks. " I will take an instance of two first-rate short-horned bulls, neither of them having a faulty point. Judge A. says, ' What a superb back No. 1 has !' B. says, ' But look at that depth of carcase in No. 2 !' * But the length of quarter in No. 1 !' continues A. ; and in return B. draws attention to the silky texture of the skin of No. 2. The question is here put to Judge C. who should decide the case ; but he has to balance, in his mind, whether a superior back is more to be considered than extraordinary depth of carcase ; and again, is a first-rate quality of hide equivalent to an unusual length of quarter ? And thus points, without having some definite value attached to them, might be compared one against the another ad infinitum^ without ever coming to a satisfactory conclusion. " Now, what I wish to see is, a definite value affixed to every point in the perfect animal, and when such cases of nicety as I allude to do occur, let the judges take point by point, and compare value in numbers, and then the animal commanding the highest amount would be the one selected. If the perfect animal were 50, the component parts might be something as follows : Bull. Sheep. Boar. General Appearance, 8 12 20 Back, (length and width,) - 8 10 8 Chest, 6 4 5 "With of hips and loin, - 5 4 5 Depth, (rotundity of carcase,) - 5 5 4 Quarters, - 5 3 • 3 Head, 4 4 9 Hide, (or wool,) - - - - - 4 5 2 Bone, 3 3 2 Shortness of legs, - . . - 2 1 2 50 50 50 " This table is merely on a rougb scale ; but I think if the committee of the Royal Society would devote one of their meetings to the consideration of the subject, their time would not be wasted ; and a scale made under their direction, similar to the above, would be received by the agricultural public as an authentic data to refer to. " Hoping that these remarks may draw the attention of our great stock- breeders to the subject, I remain yours, etc., X. X." NATIVE GEORGIA WINE. The cultivation of the grape has received of late some attention from our Southern friends. We are exceedingly glad to be able to add this to the variety of products for which extensive tracts of land are well adapted. A late number of the Augusta Chronicle contains a statement on this subject BUTTER MAKING. 409 which we copy, that some at least of our many Southern readers may try the experiment for themselves. We also wish to avail ourselves of so favorable an opportunity to commend the enterprise which of late is so manifest in many of the Southern States. There is no reason why every useful mechanical and manufactured product of the North and West should not be also pro- duced at the South. But for our extract : "Oq Monday, the 12th inst., quite a large party of gentlemen of this city and its vicinity assembled at the store of Messrs. Dawson & Skinner for the purpose of sampling some native wines made by Mr. Charles Axt, at his vineyards in Wilkes county, Georgia. The wine offered was the pure juice of the Catawba grape, only about eight weeks from the press, and of the quality known as " still Catawba." It was very impartially tested, side by side with several other brands, from some of the most noted Ohio vintners, and the best judges present unanimously pronounced it superior in aroma and purity of flavor to any native samples yet presented to their notice, and predicted for it the highest degree of excellence, when it shall have attained the proper age. " The business of grape-growing and wine-making may now be considered most auspiciously started in Georgia and the South ; and it only remains fo* those who prefer the pure and wholesome juice of the grape to the vilely adulterated mixtures of commerce, and who wish to aid in the successful development of a most important and promising enterprise, to give the matter their countenance and support at the outset ; and thus secure to the South, in a few years, an entirely new source of large income and profit." BUTTER MAKING.— SWEET CREAM. A WRITER in the Ohio Farmer, discussing the propriety of allowing cream to turn sour before it is churned, says : " K milk be churned as soon as drawn from the cow, and butter be separated, the buttermilk will be found to contain acid, though it may not taste very sour. Whether this lactic acid is a cause or an effect of the separation of the butter, has not been satisfactorily settled ; but that it is always present after butter has been churned is a well ascertained fact, and this fact all scientific books in the dairy assert. Johnson, Ballantyne, Ayton and Traill, all teach that " butter made from sweet cream is less in quantity and requires more labor to produce it, and is therefore unprofitable." We do not quite agree with this. We cannot imagine why the presence of a minute portion of lactic acid should be presumed without evidence to promote the gathering of the butter. That should be proved ere it is^ put forth. We know that nice tests often discover the presence of lactic acid in new milk, and we have good reason for believing that the process of churn- ing, by which the temperature of portions of the milk must be somewhat affected, should tend to increase the amount of acid. We are not satisfied that the presence of lactic acid is either the cause or the effect of the sepa- ration of the butter. Nor does the fact that sweet cream requires longer churning than sour cream, if it be a fact, show that it is less economical. The quickest process is not always the best. Besides, our scientific men are not 410 VALUE OF CROPS. the best authority on such questions. We should much prefer the opinions of judicious dairymaids. We have facts, from such sources, which we would offset against a host of mere chemists, though ever so '' scientific." Ask the dairymen and women of Orange county, so widely distinguished for its good butter, and the information they would give would not strengthen the doubts which this writer suggests. We do not believe that the presence or the absence of lactic acid can have any effect on the " quantity" of butter. The butter is there confined in sacks, and lactic acid cannot increase it, nor can butter produce lactic acid. Science cannot begin to give a reason why it should be supposed to do so. Facts show that the best butter, the butter that with a given amount of wash- ing will retain its sweetness the longest, is from sweet cream. But we doubt whether sweet cream requires more labor to "produce" but- ter than sour cream. Each little sack must be broken, and its contents gath- ered. We can see how the presence of very sour milk might hasten the process of gathering or collecting the butter, after it has " come ;" but this is not what the chemists mean to say ; and whatever they mean, their opinion is of no more value than that of any mere professor of science, who may be fond of his own theory. Such questions are for actual practical churners to determine, who use various kinds of churns and various qualities of milk and of cream, and so far as our experience, which is not small, and our inquiries, which have been extensive, can elucidate this question, the conviction is full and complete, in our minds, that it is desirable to have sweet cream for butter that is to be kept a long time. Sour milk does not of necessity make sour butter, but the presence of sour particles in the butter made from sour cream cannot be certainly avoided by almost any amount of washing, and there may be enough present, after very frequent washings, to convert the whole, ere long, into a rancid mass. Hence we go for sweet cream. • FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF CROPS. Mr. Editor : — We have kept an account the past season of the cost of cultivating different crops, thinking it may be interesting to some of your readers. We make the statement as brief as possible. Rye -\ bushel sowed Sept. 16, 1854, on corn stubble. Quantity of land, half acre : Seed and Cultivation, $3 38 Seven bush. Rye, - - - - ^ ^875 Leaving as profit to land, $5 3*7 Wheat sowed April 24th, 1855, where corn had grown the previous year. Seed, 1 bush.; land, one acre; injured by weevil and worms. Seed and cultivation, interest, taxes, etc., - - $12 50 12 bush, of wheat at $2 25, 27 00 Profit to land, ^9 50 VALUE OF CEOPS. 411 Corn No. 1, ploughed Nov., 1854, 8 inches deep, a sod, manured 25 loads of compost and manure on the furrow, and in the spring, and harrowed well, had been in grass from 6 to 15 years; land, 183 rods. Whole expense of oultivation, interest on land, taxes, etc., |35 09 60 bush, shelled corn at $1 25, - - - - Vo 00 Top stalks and butts, and 12 bush, small corn on the ear, 23 00 Profit to land, $62 91 No. 2, about | in clover the previous year, had been mowed twice, and winter killed, i under the plough for 3 years, with a rotation of crops with- out manure. 16 loads of corn-manure spread broad- cast and ploughed 8 inches deep in May, 1854 ; land, 126 rods. Whole expense of cultivating, interest, etc., - - 12*7 65 55 bush, of shelled corn 68 75 Top stalks, etc., and ten baskets of small corn, - - 20 00 Left to land, $61 20 Remarks. — Corn planted from May 16th to 23d, 3 feet by 2|-, 3 stalks in a hill. A cultivator was passed between the rows 4 time.s ; 4 bush, of plaster were applied soon after it come up to both pieces, and hoed twice. Stalks topped from Sept. 4th to 13th, and well secured ; harvested from Sept. 25th to Oct. 16 th. Potatoes No. 1, in pasture, perhaps for 20 years; ploughed in Nov. 1854, 6 inches dee^ land, 128 rods; harrowed well in the spring; seed, 4 bush., one piece in a hill ; hills, 2 by 3 feet, cultivated and hoed once, and once manured. Two bushels of plaster applied before hoeing. Whole expense, interest, etc., - - - - $18 40 100 bush, potatoes at 40 ct.s, - - - - 40 00 Left to land, $21 60 No. 2, a piece of moist, cold land ; in all applied 6 loads of coarse manure broad-cast, and ploughed 4 inches deep ; then applied 5 loads of earth from a spot where an old house had stood, and harrowed well, and planted 1^ bushels of the Oregon potatoes, May 28th, applied 1 peck of plaster in the hill, hills 2 by 3 feet, 1 piece in a hill. Cultivated and hoed twice ; quan- tity of land, 34 rods. Whole expense, etc., $9 50 40 bush, potatoes, 16 00 To land, $6 60 This crop was injured by frost; potatoes no more than three-fourths grown, but a variety we believe free from, under all situations a late potato, requiring a long season and high manuring. I have cultivated them three years. Remarks. — You will readily see at a glance the crop that pays best, and that will furnish the largest amount of fodder, for manure for succeeding crops. Our estimate of the value of small corn and fodder is lower than it ought to be in comparison to the price of hay, worth from $18 to $20 per ton in town. 412 ARTIFICIAL AND MINERAL MANURES. We charge nothing for manure in the yard, only the labor of drawing it, being what the land is entitled to. No. 1 and 2 of corn is increased in value for the four succeeding crops perhaps 20 per cent., and probably No. 2 of potatoes. No. 1 of potatoes is not increased in value, but probably will bear a fair crop of corn next season, and then will be stocked with clover and to pasture again. We have charged the dififerent crops one dollar per day board, included labor performed mostly by myself. Epping, N. H., December 12, 1855. D. L. Harvey. VARIOUS USES OF ARTIFICIAL AND MINERAL MANURES. At the suggestion of a subscriber, in our last number, we described the various modes of applying guano to the soil. We propose to extend these suggestions to other mineral and artificial manures. 1. POUDRETTE AND NIGHT SOIL. Night soil should always be mixed with powdered charcoal, or pulverized peat, or with lime or gypsum, to overcome the odor and retain the gases. It may then be mingled freely in composts, and applied to the soil, scattered broadcast, or in hills, like any other manure. But the concentrated poudrette should not be in contact with the seed in large quantities. If poudrette is applied in the hills, only a tablespoonful should be placed on a hill, and this not in a pile but scattered, either before or after the seed is dropt. Potatoes will bear a more liberal allowance ihm corn. For melons, cucumbers, squashes, etc., a large hole should be dug two or three feet in diameter, and poudrette be scattered freely, and thoroughly mingled with the soil, which should be made mellow for a foot or more in depth. The seed may then be placed in a circle around the hole. For cabbages, a handful may be applied to each root. For carrots, beets, etc., the poudrette may be mixed with the seed before it is sown, and both dropt in the earth together. For a crop of oats, rye, etc., twenty or thirty bushels may be spread over an acre, and harrowed in before the grain is sown ; or it may be ploughed in, or it may be broadcast afterwards as on grass lands. On grass land it may be scattered broadcast, at the rate of thirty bushels per acre, more or less, and this should be done just before a shower. It may applied to grape vines, trees, etc., by scattering a half peck or more over the roots, and cover- ing and mixing it by the spade, etc. It is better to use poudrette in connection with farm-yard manure or guano, rather than alone. It " stimulates" for a time very highly, but is not so durable in its effects. Hence it is better for the land, to use it in connection with other manures. It may also produce an abundance of leaf and stem, and afterwards fail to secure fruit and grain. Night soil requires the same management as poudrette ; though exposure to a bad odor may sometimes require more caution in the application of it. GYPSUM OR PLASTER OF PARIS. This is more generally applied in the hill, for hilled crops. A table- spoonful or so may be placed in a hill. Prof. Johnston says that if it be mingled with common salt, when applied to clover, beans, peas, etc., it will EXHIBITION AT PARIS. 413 be much more efficient ; but we have not seen it so applied. The salt m ay- be one half the weight of the plaster. Gypsum may be dissolved in water ; 50 gallons of water will dissolve a pound, and applied in this form to any crop. Gypsum is however more generally efficient on clover and other grasses, peas, beans, etc., than it is with grains, turnips, or other green crops. It is also more useful on light and dry soils than on clay. It is well, als o, to alternate the use of this with animal manures. When sown with grain, or a bulk equal to that of the grain, 200 or 300 pounds to the acre may be thus applied. For corn, potatoes, peas and beans, etc., in the hills and to grass lands, five or six bushels per acre may be properly used. Gypsum is very useful also if mixed with barn-yard manure, whether it be daily or frequently sprinkled over it, or mixed with it when it is turned over, preparatory to using it. It is also useful when sprinkled over the floors of stables, in fixing gasses, as well as by its own action as a fertilizer. This is perhaps as important as any other form of applying it. Fish, Flesh, and other matters like these, consisting of very concentrated manures, should be mixed with six or eight times their weight of earth or other compost. A liberal proportion of powdered charcoal is advantageous. Cover a dead animal with powdered peat, muck, leaf mould, and the like, and the result is a very efficient manure. Dry gypsum will also be very use- ful in confining the gases and preventing a bad odor. Charcoal is of equal value. A little quicklime is also useful. Fish should never be spread over the ground and left uncovered. They produce evils of various kinds, and their fertilizing properties are wasted. They should be placed in layers, and covered with dry mould or muck, with charcoal or peat, if at hand, and thus alternating, be suffered to remain till thoroughly decomposed. It may then be used broadcast or in hills. In clay soils, fish may be ploughed under. The clay has power to retain the gaseous elements. From six to ten thousand of the smaller fish, like Menhaden, may be ploughed into an acre. Sometimes, on such soils, entire fish are applied in the hill. One fish, with a little wood ashes, or yard ma- nure, or two or three fishes applied alone, may be buried in a hill of corn. The effects of fish when used alone are but temporary. Their influence is more permanent when used in connection with charcoal, ashes, guano, gypsum, etc. EXHIBITION AT PARIS— PREMIUMS AWARDED TO AMERICAN'S. This great exhibition has been closed. The public ceremonies were had on the 15th of November. The Emperor made a speech, which appears from the reports of it to have been chiefly political. After the entry of the Emperor and his chief officers, ministers of State, the imperial household, the imperial commission, etc., an enormous orchestra seated in the gallery over the throne, composed of 1,300 persons, under the direction of Berloiz, then executed Vlmperiale, a cantata composed for the circumstance by Berloiz. After its conclusion, the Prince Napoleon stepped in front of the throne, and read a long address to their Majesties, which was heard by no one but those in the immediate neighborhood. Upon its con- 414 EXHIBITION AT PARIS. elusion, the Emperor arose, and in a loud and clear voice made an address wliich was heard in the remotest part of the immense building. After the speech, those persons who had drawn the Grand Medal of Honor passed before the Emperor at the foot of the throne and received from his hands their medal. A majority of them also received the decora- tion of the Legion of Honor. After the conclusion of this part of the ceremony, their Majesties and suits came down from the jilatform and passed around the large aisle in the building, where the objects which had gained the grand medal had been placed. The United States has drawn a fair proportion of medals. Three Americans were decorated with the Legion of Honor at the Prince Napoleon's, viz. : Mr. Valentine, Chairman of the American Commission ; Mr. Marshall Woods, of Rhode Island, Juryman on Fine Arts Department, and Mr. Vattemare, (for services in American Department.) COMPLETE LIST OF RECOMPEN>SES AWARDED TO AMERICANS AT THE GREAT EXHIBITION. Decorations. W. J. Valentine, Chairman of the American Commission. Marshall Woods, Juryman on Fine Arts. Alexander Vattemare, for services in American department. Grand Medal of Honor, (gold.) Charles Goodyear, vulcanized India rubber. C. H. McCormick, reaper. Medal of Honor, (gold.) Bache & Kline. Lieut. Maury. J. A. Pitts, Buffalo, threshing-machine. Medals of the First Class, (silver.) AUston. Mauny. Tousley & Read. Manchester Print Worts. Thomas Blachard, timber-bending process. Samuel Colt, revolvers. Merriam, Brewer & Co., cotton goods, Boston. W. Seabrook, cotton goods. A. W. Ladd & Co., Boston, square piano. A. Mirmont, New- York, musical instruments. Singer & Co., New- York, sewing machines. D. King, Albany, model of river steamer. United States Navy Department, for collection of ship models, etc. M. Richmond, Boston, iron-cutting machine. M. Stewart, New-York, . Hamilton, cotton and wool fabrics. Medal of Second Class, {bronze.) J. Bart. Webb. Wright. Ir^i Jewell, foreman of Mr. Wright. EXHIBITION AT PARIS. 415 Wethered & Brothers. Grover, Baker & Co. Garside. Gurney. Eawdon, Wright & Co. F. Toppan & Carpenter. Boisselerie Americaine. R. C. Elliott, South Carolina, Sea Island cotton. H. S. King, South Carolina, Sea Island cotton. M. Mickell, South Carolinf^, Sea Island cotton. G. Gemunder, New-York, violins. T. Seymour, New- York, sewing-machine. Wheeler & Wilson, New- York, sewing-machine. Fowler & Preterree, Paris, dentistry. Ringuet-Leprince, Marcoite & Co., New- York, sculptured walnut dressing- oase. Hiram Tucker, Boston, artificial marble. Z. Thompson, Vermont. J. Harraday, New- York, clothes-cutting machine. Sanborn & Carter. WoUe Brothers, Bethlehem, Pa., machine for manufacturing paper sacs. Honorable Mention. Valentine & Wheelock. Vergennes Scales Manufacturing Company Kline. Engel. HolliDgsworth. G. T. King. Lindworth. Del pit, Madame. Richard & Co. McLees. Meade Brothers. Hotchkiss. Jannecy. N. W. Kingsley, New- York, artificial teeth. Nicoll. J. Ross, New- York, artificial teeth. Russell. Schortose. Jones, White & McCurdy, artificial teetb. N. Day. T. Maskell, La., sliding keel for ships. Nathan Thompson, Jr., New- York, life-preserving seat and safety boat. L. Lacharme, California, specimens of California gold. Pioche, Bayerque & Co., California gold specimens. Backus & Peaslee, New- York, rag-washing machines. B. Moore. Th. Hodgkin. Schmitz & Jarosson, New-York, machine for printing cloth. Nelson Barlow, New-York, planing machine. Storms Brothers, New-York, preparation and conservation of alimentary substances. 416 A NEW ESCULENT IN THIS COUNTRY. FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT PAINTING. Medal of the Second Class. G. P. A. Healy, Boston, portrait. Medal of the Third Class, T. P. Rossiter, New- York, pictures. Mr. May, New- York, pictures. KEEPING TURNIPS. ETC, IN WINTER. The way I keep my turnips, parsnips, and vegetable oysters in the winter, so as to have them available for use at any time, and to preserve their good qualities from frost or exposure to the atmosphere, may be new to most of the readers of your excellent paper — hence this communication. As late in the fall as is prudent to wait, I take my old barrel, and put a good layer of dry leaves on the bottom, then put a layer of turnips or parsnips, then another course of leaves, and so alternating, being careful to put in a good supply of leaves between the roots and the barrel, and also between each course of vegetables. Turnips properly put up in this way will not be corJcy, will keep good all winter, and can be got at any time. Parsnips put up in this manner will be better in the winter and in the spring than if left in the ground as is the common practice ; besides, you are not obliged to wait till the frost is out of the ground before you can have a mess. Your barrel of turnips should be kept in as cool a place as possible and still avoid freezing, as they grow unless kept dry and cool. The wind will blow the leaves into heaps soon, when they should be gathered ready for use. Will some one put up sweet potatoes this way and report the result? — Moored Rural New-Yorher, A NEW ESCULENT IN THIS COUNTRY. In May last I received from the Agricultural Division of the Patent Office, the " Chufas or Earth Almonds," known to botanists under the name of " Cyperus Esculentus," with the following notices of the same : It grows spontaneously in the light, humid soils of Spain, and iscuUivated in Germany and the south of France. If planted in May or June they are ready to be harvested in October. They resemble in taste a delicious chest- nut or cocoanut, and like them may be eaten raw or cooked. They are chiefly employed for making an orgeat, (orchata de chufus) a delightful, refreshing drink, much used in Spain, Cuba, and other hot climates where it is known. When mashed to a flour, which is white, sweet, and very agreeable to the taste, it imparts to water the richness and color of milk. At Almacero and Albargo considerable attention is paid to the cultivation of this plant, eight acres of land yielding a profit of $3,500 in five months. INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. 417 I planted the tubers or bulbs according to directions accompanying them. They are now growing vigorously, and very easily cultivated, requiring no special care, and I have no doubt will be as productive as any vegetable grown in this climate. I hope to have seed enough to plant some two acres of ground next season. It is worthy of cultivation as an ornamental plant. — J. V. McCuLLouGH, Horticulturist. INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. BiRMiKGiiAM, Cr. — Birmingham Irou Foundry. S. Bassett, President. Employ 50 hands on average ; make castings, turbine wheels, trip-hammers, etc. Henry Whipple and Moses Hawkins, foremen. Tack Factory of SheltonCo. 'E. N. Shelton, President. Use 42 machines ; make tacks of all kinds and sizes. N. H. Sherman, foreman. Also make bolts and nuts, employing 13 hands in this department. Plane Factory of L. De Forest. Turn out $20,000 worth goods annually ; make bench and moulding planes. Turning Factory of Geo. W. Shelton. Employ 30 hands on average ; turn out 130,000 worth yearly; do plain and fancy wood turning. Messrs. Shelton & Osborn, Agents for " Cast Cast-steel Company." Ansonia, Ct. — Farrel Foundry Co., F. Farrell, Agent. Employ 50 hands on average; turn out $80,000 worth yearly; do work for rolling and rub- ber and paper mills ; foundry connected. M. P. Wilson and E. Butterworth forem.en. Make S. ing that hard soap has been used ;) if otherwise, it will remain in a gelatinous state." An Impkoved Process for Producing Photographic Pictures. — This invention consists, first, in employing a textile or woven fabric instead of paper as the surface on which the picture is to be produced. This tissue or woven fabric must be prepared to receive the ordinary chemical agents used in photographic operations, — and it will be found that it possesses many advantages over paper. For instance — a more even surface may be obtaiued than when papt-r is employed ; and the liabiliry to tear 436 ENGLISH PATENTS. or become injured while being subjected to the Hquid chemical agents, is much diminished. In operating upon fine linen cloth, or any other kind of fabric which is capable of being rendered transparent, the inventor first cuts the fabric into pieces of suitable size, and coats them with a paste made of rice-flour, which must be allowed to dry perfectly before submitting the fabric to the subsequent operation. He then takes about six parts of virgin wax, two parts of Venice turpentine, and two parts of the best linseed oil, and having melted the wax in a vessel coated inside with silver, adds thereto the turpentine and oil — taking care to incorporate these substances well together. The fabric is then immersed in this mixture, which is maintained at a moderate temperature ; a gelatine, rendered insoluble in fixative baths, may be used for this purpose. The required positive photographic pictures are obtained in the ordinary manner, and fixed in baths of ammoniacal hyposulphites, according to the eflect desired to be obtained. In order to remove any alkaline salts which may remain afcer the ordinary washings, and would, if left, be injurious to the durability of the picture, the patentee immerses it for about ten minutes in a vessel containing pure alcohol, which possesses the property of depriving it of any injurious mat- ters— and, after being washed in hot water, the picture is ready for the reception of color, as hereafter described. Excellent results are said to be obtained by treating ordinary photographic pictures in the following manner : Having obtained a positive upon a sheet of paper rendered sensitive by nitrate of silver, and perfectly fixed it by means of baths of ammoniacal hyposulphites, it is treated with boiling water, alcohol, and a solution of potass, for the purpose of neutralizing or removing any chemical or other impurities which may have been introduced in the sizing of the paper, and which would afiect the durability of the picture. The paper is then treated with starch of greater or less consistency, according to the degree of transparency desired, and passed through a vessel coated with silver, and containing melted white virgin wax or purified mutton fat. The excess of wax or fat is next removed by placing the picture between sheets of blotting paper, and passing a hot iron over it. The pictures having been thus prepared and rendered transparent, suitable colors are applied thereto by hand, in the usual way of coloring portraits or pictures — with thi^ difference, that they are laid on the back of the transparent fabric. Tbe colors applied should be oil colors of superior quality. When the colors are dry, the picture is attached by glue to a flat and even surftice. If it be desired to give greater brightness and eflect to the picture, mastic varnish or suitable purifled gelatine is applied to its surface. By the above-described process a very superior picture will be produced, combining the truthfulness of photography with the artistic eflect of a painting. Improvements in Preserving Animal and Vegetable Matters. — This invention relates to means for discharging the atmospheric air from vessels constructed to receive animal or vegetable matters, for the purpose of preserving them. To this end, the patentee employs the vapors of alcohol, or other liquids which vaporize at a lower temperature than boiling water, in the manner following : He employs, by preference, as the holding or retaining means for the animal or vegetable matters to be preserved, cases or vessels of tin or tin-plate, such as have heretofore been employed when preserving animal ENGLISH PATENTS. 437 or vegetable matters ; except that, according to one method of carrying out his improvements, be applies to the lid or cover of each case a short piece of tin or other soft metal pipe, for the purpose hereafter explained. The vessels or cases being thus prepared, the animal or vegetable matters to be preserved are introduced thereto in a raw state, and, by preference, sus- pended in a case or vessel by thread or otherwise. The closing lid or cover is next applied or soldered, so as to make the case air-tight, except through the small pipe. A small quantity of alcohol or other liquid, capable of vaporizing at a temperature below that at which water alone vaporizes, is forced into the case through this small metal pipe, — and the case is then placed in a bath of hot water, or otherwise subjected to heat sufficient to vaporize the alcohol or other liquid employed. The vapor, thus generated, will have the effect of driving out the atmospheric air contained therein through the pipe by which the alcohol was introduced thereto. By the application of a light to the outer end of this pipe, when the whole of the atmospheric air has been expelled, a steady blue flame will be obtained from the ignition of the vapor, which will then alone escape. When this is the case, and it may be thus judged that the whole of the vapor is spent, the pipe is closed by compression, and soldered to keep it air-tight. Another method is to form each vessel with two of such small pipes, and in place of applying the alcohol or other liquid to be vaporized in the case with the matters to be preserved, it is placed in a separate vessel or boiler, to which suitable heat is applied, to generate the vapor and raise the pres- sure to a few pounds (say about fifteen pounds) to the square inch. From this boiler a pipe conducts the vapor generated to the vessels or cases to be treated. This pipe is provided with a tap for closing the same when desired, and a piece of prepared, or what is commonly called vulcanized. India- rubber tubing, so as readily to connect this pipe of communication with one of the small pipes in a vessel or case containing animal or vegetable matters to be preserved ; but other connecting means may be employed. "When a connection is obtained between the boiler in which the vapor is being gen- erated, and the case containing the matters to be preserved, the vapor will drive off the atmospheric air from the case by the second small pipe. By the application to this second pipe of a light, the absence of atmospheric air in the case will be ascertained, as when employing the former method, by a steady bluish flame being obtained. The supply of vapor to the case is then to be stopped, and both pipes closed by pinching and soldering. In carrying out this second method, the patentee sometimes forms the second or escape pipe from the vessel or case containing the matters to be preserved, sufficiently long to be bent over and dipped into another vessel ; and when the vapor has expelled the atmospheric air, as explained, the end of this second pipe is dipped into a vessel containing liquid gravy, or gelatine or other matter, which, from being somewhat heated, is for the time in a fluid state. At the time of applying the second pipe to the gravy, gelatine, or other fluid, the supply of vapor to the case is cut off, — when, by the con- densation of that vapor, a vacuum or partial vacuum will be created in the case, and the liquid gravy, gelatine, or other matter will flow in by the second pipe to aid (by covering the matters to be preserved) in excluding the atmospheric air. This method will be found very beneficial when treat- ing cooked meats — as boiled beef, for instance — as well as in the preservation of soups and other liquids. The patentee claims the employment of alcohol, or other liquids which vaporize at a low temperature — that is, below that of boiling water — as a 438 ENGLISH PATENTS. means for discharging the atmospheric air from vessels or cases containing animal or vegetable matters to be preserved. An Improvement in Combing Wool and othe(i Fibres. — This in- vention is applicable to the carrying comb of a machine, in which a circular or endless comb is employed, as is now very commonly the case. The im- provement consists in applying a curved or bent plate (of a corresponding radius with the circular or endless comb) to push the wool or fibre on the car- rying coinb in a curved form towards the circular or endless comb, so that the wool or other fibre may be deposited equally in the circular or endless comb. The patentee remarks that as the nature of wool-combing machines to which his invention is applicable, — viz., those called Liester and Donis- thrope's patent machines — is well known, it will only be necessary to ex- plain the manner of applying a bent plate to the carrying comb of such machines. The carrying comb, he says, is, as heretofore, moved to take a tuft of wool from the nippers, and is then moved to the circular comb, and caused to deliver such tuft of wool into the teeth of the circular comb ; and the only change made in the working of these parts is, that by means of the curved plate appUed to the side of the carrying comb next the cir- cular comb, the tuft of wool, immediately after it has been taken by the carrying comb, is, by the bent plate, moved into a curved line across the carrying comb, — such curved line corresponding with the curvature of the circular comb. The curved plate is carried by a stem, which enters the rod on which the comb is mounted, which for this purpose is made hollow ; and the curved plate is, by a spiral spring acting on its stem, constantly drawn inwards. The curved plate is to be movedi outwards by any suitable me- chanism, immediately after the tuft of wool has been taken by the carrying comb from the nippers ; and the curved plate is immediately afterwards to be released and withdrawn by the spring, so that the curved plate may be out of the way when the tuft of wool is delivered from the carrying comb into the circular comb. Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel. — This in- vention is applicable to the reduction or smelting of the ores of iron, to the smeltiug and puddling of pig or plate-iron, and to the manufacture of bar, plate, rod, and sheet-iron, and iron intended to be afterwards converted into steel. For the purposes of this invention the patentee employs a close furnace, instead of the open furnaces hitherto employed in such manufacture ; and to the furnace valves are adapted, for regulating the heat required for smelt- ing the ores therein ; and the smoke and gases from the furnace are em- ployed for drying purposes (such as the drying of the fuel,) by conducting off the same through a pipe inserted into the side of the furnace near the top thereof. In connection with the closed furnace the patentee employs air chambers, in combination with either hot or cold blast, for the purpose of creating the necessary draught in the furnace, instead of employing a machaiiical blast only when such furnaces are used for " roasting" or " tor- refying" the ores of iron ; and when the furnace is not required to be used for this purpose, but only for the smelting of the ores of iron, the air cham- bers may be closed by dampers, suitably placed and connected therewith. The fuel employed for the reduction or smelting of the ores of iron, and the manufacture of bar, plate, rod, and sheet iron, and steel, is peat or vegetable ENGLISH PATENTS. 4^# carbon ; either peat in its natural state, or compressed peat, or prepared peat, formed by mixing together about equal proportions of peat and small anthracite coal, and compressing the same together iuto a solid mass by means of mechanical pressure ; or a compound of the refuse turf or peat fuel, here- tofore considered as waste, dissolved in a pit into a pulp, and then moulded into " peats" or blocks. The Application of a new or Improved Material or Substance TO the Construction of certain parts of Machinery". — This invention relates, firstly, to the employment of an efficient substitute for the wood and metal ordinarily used in certain moving parts of machinery ; which substi- tute, besides possessing persistent qualities equal to those substances when similarly applied, will, from its lightness and strength (without being subject to crack like wood,) and capability of being moulded into any required shape, otfer to the mechanical engineer advantages superior to metal or wood. It is well known, that in constructing the spindles of roving and spinning machinery, and other parts connected therewith, it is desirable to ranke them as light as is consistent with strength and durability, in order to obtain great speed with the least possible wear and tear expenditure of motive power. For this purpose the inventor proposes to apply to such use a composition of recent introduction into the arts, and consisting of a preparation of India- rubber and sulphur, with or without shellac, or of gutta-percha and sulphur, subjected to a high degree of heat, and thereby converted into a hard and persistent substance. In constructing spindles according to this invention, it may be found desirable to cast or mould the Avarve or pulley with the spindle; and to reduce the elasticity, or rather to give any required amount of rigidity to the spindle, a core of iron or steel wire may be introduced into the mould, and caused to unite with the plastic material. In manufacturing the feeding, drawing, and other rollers of preparing and spinning machinery, the rollers are cast in suitable moulds (with tluted or plain peripheries, — a metal rod, which is to form the axle of the roller, being introduced as a core into the mould. The employment of this hard compound in the manufacture of shuttles (for looms) will be found to offer many advantages, from the facility with which the ends may be tipped with metal, and the cop or bobbin holder may be attached. These pieces are to be introduced with the compound, in a plastic state, into the shuttle-mould, and a union of the compound with the metal will be readily efi'ected by pressure. Where great lightness with durability, without the liability of cracking, is desirable, as in the manufacture of bobbins or other such articles, this may be obtained by introducing into the above-mentioned ingredients of the com- pound, while yet in course of manufacture, cork-dust or chips, sawdust, cotton waste, or other vegetable fibre, in the proportion, say, of about one part, by weight, more or less, to two parts, by weight, of the other combined ingredients. The articles, when moulded to the required shape, are submitted to about 300° Fahr, for about six hours, after having been packed under pressure in moulds or iron boxes, in a bed of fine jjlaster or soapstoiie, ground to an impalpable powder. In making the plastic material 1ro., for improvement in bag looms. John A. Krake, of Alden, N. Y., for improvement in the method of hanging the screens of winnowing machines. Joseph Kleeman, of the city of Meissen, Ger- many, for improvement in the preparation of um- brella sticks, &c., of rattan. Alfred Krupp, of Esssn, Prussia, for improve- ment in cannon. Patented in France, December ! (5,1847. John S. Lewis, of Athol, Mass., for improvement in the mode of cutting the uppers of boots. Leonard S. Maring of Fall River, Mass., for im- provement in attaching casters to trunks. Jean Pierre Molliere, of Lyons, France, for im- provement in machines for rasping and dressing the heels and soles of boots and shoes. Patented in France, January 5, 1855. Jean Louis Rolland, of Paris, France, for im- provement in ovens for baking bread and other ailments. Patented in France, June 80, 1S51. George W. Stedham, of Vienna, N. J., for im- provement in sewing machines. Cyrus A. Swett, of Boston, Mass., for improved printing press. Samuel E. Tomkins, of New-York, for improve- ment in metalic saddle trees for harness. Nathaniel Waterman, of Boston, Mass., for im- provement in feet-warmers. Wm. Bennett, of Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to the Union Indian Rubber Lamp Company, of New- York, for improvement in fluid lamps. Design. — James 0. Morse, of New-York, and J. W. Adams, of Lexington, Kentucky, for design for steam tube and hot air covers. Thomas Batty, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for improve- ment in suspending ship yards. Erastus B. Bigelow, of Boston, Mass., for im- provement in cutting pile fabrics. E. W. BuUord, of Hardwick, Mass., for improved mode of hanging window sashes. Daniel Campbell, of Washington, D. C, for im- provement in military saddles. Thomas A. Chandler, of Rockford, 111., for im- provement in making plow mould boards. John A. Cole, of Washington, D. C, for improve- ment in machines for sawing out tapering blocks of marble. Alonzo R. Dinsmoor, and Levi J. Bartlett, of Salisbury, N. H., for improved instrument fur chamfering the edges of shoe soles, &c. Thomas A. Elden, of Westbrook, Jle., and Wm. Thorn, of HoUisten, Mass., for improvement in the arrangement of flues and dampers of cooking ap- paratus. Joseph T. England of Baltimore, Md., for im- provement in railroad car coupling. Peter Fairbain, of Leeds, and Ji:'in Hargrave, of Kirkstall, in the county of York, for improve- ment in wool-combing machine*. Patented in England, Nov. 6, 1852. Henry Forncrook, of Elbridge, N. Y., for im- provement in feet warmers. Joseph Francis, of New- York, for impravemcnt in military wagons. Samuel H. Gilman, of New-Orleans, La., for im- provement in bagasse furnaces. Samuel Hamilton jr., of Tolland, Mrss., for im- proved burglar's alarm. Jesse W. Hatch, of Rochester, N. Y., for improve- ment in the machine for cutting out boot and shof soles. Horace L. Hervey, of Quincy, 111., for improved burglar's alarm. George A. Howe, of Worcester, Ma.;."., for im- provment in hand cotton pickers. Matthias Keller, of Philadelphia, Pa., for im- provement in cutting the fronts and back of vio- lins. Edward N. Kent, of New-York, for improvement in amalgamators. Edward Kershaw, of Boston, Mass., far improve- ment in locks. Hosea Lindsay, of AshviUe, N. C, for improve- ment in pumps. Timothy Bailey, Ballston Spa, improvement in knitting machines. Alexander Earns, Ashtabula, improvement in mop heads. 448 LIST OF PATENTS. Thos. R. MarkiUic, of Winchester, 111., for im- provement in spoke machines. G. M. Moore and J. Newton, of Watertown, Ct., for improvement in machines for scouring knives. J. H. Pomery, of Bloomington, 111., for improve- ment in locks. Isaac Rehn, of Philadelphia, Pa., for improved photographic bath. James H. Sampson, of Grafton, Mas.s., for im- provement in boot trees. Charles Schinz, of Camden, N. J., for self-regu- jating hot blast for furnaces. Nathan Simons, of Providence, R. I., for im- provement in cloth stretching rollers. John Tremper, of Philadelphia, Pa., for im- proved means of connection between regulator valve and governor's stem. Daniel E. True, of Lake Village, N. II., for im- proved blind fastener. Levi Van Hoeson, of New-Haven, Ct., for im- provement in machines for paring and slicing ap- ples. Richard Vose, of New- York, for improvement in quartz crushing machines. Moses D. Wells, of Morgantowu, Va., for im- provement in hand seed sowers. R. C. Wrenn, of Covington, Ky., for improve- ment in machines for preparing cot/ton seed for planting. John H. Gatiss, of FranklinviUe, Pa., assignor to Abraham Edwards, of Towanda, Pa., for im- provement in water wheels. John Taggart, of Roxbury, Mass., assignor to himself, and Vernon Brown, of Boston, Mass., for jmproved macliines for channeling stone. Charles C. Tolman, of Shelburne Falls, Mass., assignor to James Sargent and Dan P. Tucker, of same place., for gimblet. Major B. Clarke, of Newman, Ga., for improve- ment in machinery for opening and feeding cotton to the gin. Israel Amiss, of Philadelphia, Pa., for improved application of embossed veneers. James Baxendale, of Providence, R. I., for im- provement in machinery for folding and measur- ing cloth. Henry E. Chapman, of Albany, N. Y., for im- provement in boot and shoe peg cutters. Charles T. Close, of New-York, N. Y., for im- proved fountain ink-stand. Josephus Echols, of Columbus, Ga., for improve- ment in water gauges for steam boilers. John S. Gallaher, Jr., and John W. Smith, of Washington, D. C, for improvement in gas ap- paratus. P. G. Gardiner, of New-York, N. Y., for im- provement in railroad car springs. Gottlieb Graessle, of Hamilton, 0., for improve- ment in tile roofing. Sheldon S. Hartshorn, of Allensville, Ind., for improvement in buckles. Jno. K. Harris, of Orange, Conn., for improve- ment in macliines for raking and loading hay. Benj. Ilinkley, of Troy, N. Y., for improvement in bedsteads. F. A. Jewett, of Abington, Mass., for improve- ment in the mode of attaching extinguishers to lamps. Henry C. Jones, of Newark, N. J., for improve- ment in locks for freight cars. James J. Johnson, of Alleghany City, Pa., for improvement in corn-shellers. Gilbert D. Jones, of Jersey City, N. J., for im- provement in sand-paper making machines. Jean Pierre MoUiere, of Lyons, France, for im- provement in machines for cutting out, punching and stamping the soles and heels of boots and shoes. Patented in France, July 22, 1853. Robert Prince, of Lowell, Mass., and Ambrose Lovis, of Boston, Mass., for improvement in pro- cesses for calico printings. Geo. T. Pearsall, of Apalachin, N. Y., for im- provement in sawing marble, etc., in taper form. Joel W. Pettis, of Hillsdale, Mich., for improve- ment in packing pistons for steam-engines. Atchison Queal, of Plymouth, N. Y., for impact water wheel. Shepherd W. Reed, of Berkshire, N. Y., for im- provement in carriage hubs. Charles Rice, of Boston, Mass., and Sylvanus H. Whorf, of Roxbury, Mass., for improvement in machines for cutting articles from leather. Isaac M. Singer, of New-York, N. Y., for im- proved machine for carving wood, etc. Jeremiah P. Smith, of Hummelstowu, Pa., for improvement in corn-shellers. E. D. Leavitir, Jr., of Lowell, Mass., for improve- ment in slide valve for steam engines. Francis Taylor, of New-York, N. Y., for im- proved piano-forte action. Guilliame Henri Talbot, of Boston, Mass., for improvement in auger handles. Patented in Eng- land, Aug. 25, 1855. Amasa S. Thompson, of Albion, Pa., for im- provement in cutting cloaks. Daniel Treadwell, of London, England, for im- proved manufacture of cannon. Wm. M. Welling, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for im- provement in devices for bleaching ivory. Edward Weissenborn, of New-York, N. Y., for improvement in chain-making machines. C. D. Wright, of Port Atkinson, Wis., for im- provement in rotary pumps. John S. Martin, of Boston, Mass., for improve- ment in mosquito curtains. Amos D. Highfield, of Philadelphia, assignor to himself and Wm. H. Harrison, of the same place, for method of adjusting circular saws obliquely to their shafts. Jno. W. Haggard and Geo. Bull, of Bloomington' 111., assignors to Bull, Haggard and Newsteter, of same place, for improvement in harvester rakes. Wm. W. Wade, of Springfield, Mass., assignor to Wade and Burnham, of same place, for im- provement in variable cut-off gear for steam en- gines. Daniel Moore, assignor to Geo. S. Cameron, o Charleston, S. C, James H. McWilliams, of New- York, N. Y., and Daniel Moore, aforesaid, for im- proved machine for rubbing types. lie-issues. — Jos. Guild, of Cincinnati, Ohio, fo'' improvement in mortising machines ; Patented Nov. SO, 1852. Samuel Rockafellow, of Coatsville, Pa., for im- provement in reaping and mowing machines. Patented July 3, 1850. Desiffit^. — Conrad Harris and Paul W. Zoiner, of Cincinnati, 0., for design for parlor stoves to burn wood. Conrad Harris and Paul W. Zoiner, of Cincin- nati, 0., for design for parlor stoves to burn coal. Conrad Harris and Paul W. Zoiner, of Cincin- nati, 0., for designs for six-plate box stoves. Conrad Han-is and Paul W. Zoiner, of Cincin- nati, O., for designs for cooking stoves. Jonathan C. Brown, of Bristol, Conn., for de- sign for clock frames. Enoch Woolman, of DamaskTille, 0., for design for strap hinges. f Ije |l0tt(jl), i\)t |00m, anil il)t Jlnnil. Vol. VIII. FEBRUARY, 1856. No. 8. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND PRICES. The cause of the present high, prices has been a subject of discussion in many quarters and by various interests. As many different conclusions have been drawn as the various prejudices or sympathies or whims of the writer would suggest. We do not purpose to assume the position of a disputant with any of these, except so far as the elucidation of the truth on this sub- ject may place us in that position. We shall chiefly confiue ourself to facts that cannot be well controverted. If the statements are not reliable, and can be shown to be incorrect, we shall be happy to furnish facilities for mak- ing kaown the mistake as extensively as possible. We rely chiefly on the returns of the census. Our opinion of the cor- rectness of these, so far as they are made up of thousands of details, often " contradictory and irreconcilable," our readers well know. So far as large and comparatively permanent operations are involved, we should not hesitate to abide by their authority. The returns with which we are here interested are partly of each of these classes. Certain statements in relation to the production of grain crops in some of the States we cannot doubt are erroneous. For example : By the census of 1840, Kentucky produced more than 4,800,000 bushels of wheat, while by that of 1850 she grew only 2,142,000. Could there have been so much dif- ference in the growth of wheat in these years ? By the census of 1840 Ohio raised 16^ millions, and by that of 1850 only 14^ millions of bushels. Maine, by the former, grew 848,666 bushels, and by that of 1850 only 296,259 bushels of wheat. In some other States we find differences that cannot be regarded as probable. They may, however, be essentially correct, and the presumption no doubt is that, on the whole, the errors nearly bal- ance each other, so as to give a sum total that is comparatively reliable. We only add a single suggestion, before we exhibit our tables of the pro- duction of the chief articles of food. The community that does not pro- duce more than it consumes is not prosperous. It must deteriorate. We have recently presented statements of the products of several States, per acre, and the inference is inevitable, from the facts elicited, that some sections of the country are actually and essentially impoverished by such cultivation. We now purpose to give a more extensive view in regard to the edible pro- ducts of this country. Such statements will furnish a basis for important conclusions in reference to very grave discussions which are often presented to the public in periodicals and in speeches. VOL. VIII. 29 450 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND PRICES. It is often said that present high prices are the result of an actual defi- ciency in the production of food. "The crops are not grown," and of course cannot be furui.-hed. We shall see how much propriety there is in this sup- position. With this intent, we first present a comparative view ot the num- ber of bushels of the chief crops of the kind described raised in the Uuited States, as given in the returns of the census of 1840 and of 1850, and also of the amount of some others of the principal crops of the country : 1840. 1850. Corn, 37'7,531,875 592,0*71,104 Wheat, 84,823,272 100,485,944 Rye, 18,643,567 14,188,813 Buckwheat, 7,291,743 8,956,912 Barley, 4,161,504 5,167,015 Oats, 123,071,341 146,584,179 Total, bushels, 615,525,302 867,453,967 Potatoes, 108,298,060 104,066,044 Hay, tons, 10,248,108 13,838,642 Total No. of neat Cattle, . 14,971,586 18,378,907 " " Sheep,. 19,311,374 21,723,220 Bales of Cotton, 1,976,198 2,445,793 In estimating tbe relative sufficiency of these crops, as returned in 1840 and 1850, it must be borne in mind that during this period the population increased in the ratio of 35.87 per cent. A comparison of these columns shows t at there is an immense increase in the amount of Indian corn, being an excess of about 57 per cent., and a decrease in the quantity of rye and of potatoes. Of the general accuracy of these returns we have no doubt. But now we must descend to a few par- ticulars, and learn other results that may have an important bearmg in all these discussions. We add also a statement of the production of the same crop in the dif- ferent territorial divisions of the United States : Indian Corn or Maize. Increase of population 1840. 1850. from 1840 to 1850. New-England, . . . . 6,992,909 10,175,856 22.07 Middle States, . . .. 39,946,213 60,413,948 29.44 Southern " . . . . 94,998,255 117,572,608 18.58 S. Western" , .. 89,893,973 122,637,135 47.89 Western, " . . ..145,700,525 377,531,875 280,864,368 54.43 591,603,915 The tables which follow show the different quantities of grains raised in the six States most productive of the several kinds, by the census of 1840 and of 1850, the amount of the crop of 1840 to each person, and the in- crease of population in each State durmg that time. These tables will show how the production compares with tbe increased numbers to be fed. The amount allowed by Tucker and otbers for the support of our popu- lation, including that required for seed and for domestic animals, is as fol- lows: 85 bushels of corn, 28 bushels of wheat, and 25 bushels of other grains, to a family of five persons. These furnish the means for judging of the deficiency or surplus in any given State-: AGKICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND PRICES. 451 CORK. Amount of crop of 1840 Increase of pop- 1840. 1850. to each person. ulation. Illinois, 22,634,211 57,646,984 47i 78.81 Kentucky,.. 39,047,120 58,672,591 50 25.98 Missouri,... 17,332,524 36,214,537 4^ 77.75 Indiana, 28,155,887 52,964,363 41 44.11 Tennessee,.. 44,986,188 52,276,223 54 20.92 Ohio,-- .. 33,668,144 59,078,695 22 30.33 185,824,074 316,853,393 , WHEAT. Ohio, 16,571,661 14,487,351 11 30.33 Pennsylvania,. 13,213,077 15,367,691 7-J 34.09 Indiana, 4,049,375 6,214,458 6 44.11 New- York, 12,286,418 13,121,498 5 27.52 niinois, 3,335,393 9,414,595 7 78.81 Virginia, 10,109,716 11,212,616 8 14.67 59,565,640 69,818,189 OATS. 1840. 1850. Increase of population. New-Yorb 20,675,847 26,552,814 27.52 Pennsylvania, 20,641,819 21,538,156 34.09 Ohio, 14,393,103 13,472,742 30.33 Virginia, 13,451,062 10,179,144 14.67 niinois, 4,988,008 10,087,241 78.81 Kentucky, 7,155,974 8,201,311 25.98 81,-305,813 90,031,408 IRISH AND SWEET POTATOES. New-York, 30,123,614 15,403,997 27.52 Georgia, 1,291,366 7,217,807 31.07 Pennsylvania, 9,535,663 6,032,904 34.09 Alabama, 1,708,356 5,721,205 30.62 N. Carolina, 2,609,239 .5,716,027 15.35 Ohio, 5,805,021 5,245,760 30.33 Mississippi, 1,630,100 5,003,277 61.46 52,703,359 50,336,977 HAY (tons.) Vermont, 836,739 866,153 7.59 New-York, 3,127,647 3,728,797 27.52 Pennsylvania, 1,311,643 1,842,970 34.09 Maine, 691,358 765,889 16.22 Ohio, 1,022,037 1,443' 142 30.33 Massachusetts, 569,395 661,847 34.81 7,558,219 9,288,598 Taliing the usual estimate, already stated, for the supply of the entire population of the country, we fiad an excess of 196,109,229 bushels of com and 16,700,674 bushels of other grains, and a deficiency of 12,393,356 bushels of potafoes. Hence it is obvious that much more than sufficient is grown for the food of the country. For this allowance appropriates not only the necessary amount of seed and a due proportion for domestic animals, but also one-sixteenth of the crop for exportation. Now what amount has 452 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND PRICES. been exported, and what has been destroyed in the still ? We are under no special obligation to inquire into these matter.-*, sofar as the question of short supply is concerned ; for this is a matter of choice and not of necessity and were half the country dying of famine, distillers would buy and convert into these noxious beverages as much as they could with a decent profit, without regard to any other consideraiion. Some distillers and some export- ers might be restrained by humane considerations, but we think this number in either class would be a very small proportion of the whole. We have already shown that food enough is raised to supply all the peo- ple. The crops of the present year are much larger than in 1850. Since the preceding was written we have seen the following estimate of the crops of 1855, by Mr. D. Jay Browne, the experienced and accomplished Superintendent of the Agricultural Bureau at Washington. No one has better facilities than he, and no one will be likely to be more accurate. He regards these estimates rather within than over the truth, both as to quantity and value : VEGETABLE PRODUCTS OF 1855. Valuation. Total value. Indian com, 600,000,000 bushels, at 60 cts, $360,300,000 Wheat r. . . 165,000,000 bushels, at $1.50, 247,500,000 Rye 14,000,000 bushels, at $1.00, 14,000,000 Barley 6,600,000 bushels, at 90 cts., 5,940,000 Oats 170,000,000 bushels, at 40 cts, 68,000,000 Buckwheat 10,000,000 bushels, at 50 cts, 5,000,000 Potatoes (all sorts) 110,000,000 bushels, at 37 cts., 41,250,000 Flaxseed 58,000 bushels, at $1.25, 72,500 Beans aud peas 9,500,000 bushels, at $2.00, 10,000,000 Clover and grass seed 1,000,000 bushels, at $3.00, 3,000,000 Rice 250,000,000 pounds, at 4 cts., 19,000,000 Sugar (cane) 505,000,000 pounds, at 7 cts., 35,350,000 Sugar (maple) 34,000,000 pounds, at 8 cts., 2,720,000 Molasses 14,000,000 gallons, at 30 cts., 4,200,000 Wine 2,500,000 gallons, at $1.00, 2,500,000 Hops 3,500,000 pounds, at 15 cts., 525,000 Orchard products 25,000,000 Garden products 50,000,000 Tobacco 190,000,000 pounds, at 10 cts., 19,000,000 Cotton 1,700,000,000 pounds, at 8 cts., 136,000,000 Hemp 34,500 tons, at $100, 3,450,000 Flax 800,000 pounds, at 10 cts., 80,000 Hay and fodder 16,000,000 tons, at $10, 160,000,000 Pasturage 143,000,000 DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS. Valuation. Total value. Homed cattle 21,000,000, at $20 each, $420,000,000 Horses, asses and mules 5,100,000, at $60 each, 306,600,000 Sheep 23,500,000, at $2 each, 47,000,000 Swine 32,000,000, at $5 each, 160,000,000 Poultry 20,000,000 Slaughtered animals 200,000,000 Butter and cheese 500,000,000 pounds, at 15 cts., 75,000,000 Milk (exclusive of that used for butter and cheese 1,000,000,000 gallons, at 10 cts., 100,000,000 Wool 60,0(10,000 pounds, at 35 cts., 21,000,000 Beeswax and honey 16,000,000 pounds, at 15 cts., 2,400,000 Silk cocoons 5,000 pounds, at $1, 5,000 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND PRICES. 453 A deficiency of supply is not, then, the cause of extravagant prices. We must look a little farther for this cause. With this view let us make the following inquiry : When will a raercbant export our domestic productions ? The answer, as already intimated, is, When he can buy at prices which, with the cost of freight, insurance, commissions, exchanges, &c., &e., will give him a hand- some net profit. In other words, the price abroad, compared with the price at home, determines this. But piices " at home" are not uniform. When corn is worth a dollar in New-York it is worth only half a dollar, perhaps, in Tennessee or North Carolina, and so on. Under such circumstances the cost of transportation is a controlling item, both as to price and as to its direction. The quantity exported will be afi'ected by the amount of these various items of cost, and not merely by the amount in the country. It is nonsense to pretend that there is not an excess of all kinds of provision except potatoes ; and this deficiency is the result of disease, and not the consequence of any peculiar condition of the markets of the world. Besides, the people have become accustomed to substitutes for this crop, so that the want of this is not sensibly felt. This view shows the importance of our railroads and other internal cooamunica- tions which tend to equalize prices even in distant parts of the country. Nor is it true that foreign crops are less than the average, but the reverse. The crop of (Jreat Britain will be found on another page. The grain crop of France is snflRcient not only for their own population, but for nn additional population of 600,000. An estimate we have lately seen is 8| bushels of wheat to each inhabitant. In Germany and other countries there is no un- usual scarcity. Hence we might infer that there is not an excessive amount of exporta- tion now going on, except so far as prices are afi'ected by the Eastern War, The year 1854 was somewhat remarkable for the amount of wheat exported. Official returns give us the following amount of exports of this grain : 1851 - - - 13,948,499 bushels. 1852 - - - 18,680,686 " 1853 - - - 18,958,993 " 1854 - - - 27,000,000 " This excessive exportation no doubt affected in some degree the price of flour and wheat through the past year. But with the supposed product of 1855, even that amount of wheat may be exported, v/ithout leaving a shoit supply at home. But there is another part to this story. We ai-e so much accustomed to the use of various kinds of grain that if wheat or any other crop is exces- sively high, substitutes can be easily found quite satisfactory to the most fas- tidious. How various are the modes of preparing the Hour of maize ; and he who cannot relish these kinds of food, when properly prepared, must have a very singular taste. This substitution diminishes the demand and afiects the price. But we again repeat, in this connection, that there has not been a lack of wheat during the year 1855, and that so large quantities have been in the control of speculators that they have had very hard work to satisfy the peo- ple that the country was in a starving condition, so as to secure such exorbi- tant prices. In this connection we may refer to the record for evidence that our m,r- 454 AGRICULTUEAL PliODUCTS AND PRICES, ckant princes are somewhat reckless in the extent of their speculations, ven- turing very great risks in the hope of a fortunate turn of the wheel ; and the presumption is that ere long the tide must turn against them, or — the only aiternaiive — importations must cease for a time. Since the warehouse system went into operation, the amount of goods in the several warehouses has been constantly increasing — a conclusive proof that importations are ex- cessive. More goods are imported than the market requires. The importer is not obliged to pay the duties, which amount to many millions, till they are removed from the warehouse, but he does lose the interest of his money. Thus the following are the amounts in warehouses in certain years : 1849 1850 1851 1852 - - - - $47,970,658 - - - - 57,052,157 - - - - 67,516,888 - - - - 70,901,028 1853 1854 - - - - 96,916080 - - - - 105,762,014 Our exports of domestic goods and manufactures have also increased, but not to ihe extent of the increase of imports here indicated. Our conclusion from this extensive view is that prices are high from the wild spirit of speculation. Under ordinary circumstances this might not be possible. But the *' famine" not quite forgotten, the Crimean war, the •' drought," " half a crop," &c., &c., a terrible array of horrid things have been made to play upon the intelligence of the people, who knew that all these things did really exist somewhere, and to some extent, and they were led to believe the whole story. But even under all this pressure it has been in the power of any commu- nity to buy at very reduced rates, simply by excusing one or two middle men from playing their part in this great game on the credulity of the people. Have not unions furnished their members with flour at greatly reduced prices ? Have not pioducers every day of the year sold at rates quite as low as in the average of the last ten years ? We know that this is true. To undertake, therefore, to refer the efi'ects of all this reckless trade to European wars, or droughts, or any other natural cause, is only to play into the hands of monopolists and gamblers. The game is a great one, involving millions. It is for the people to say when it shall terminate. To Present Trees from Splitting. — For preventing forked trees from splitting under weight of fruit, Isaac Lewis, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, has given us his plan. " My plan," he writes, " which I have followed for thirty years, is this : When I find a forked tree that is likely to split, I look for a small limb on each fork, and clean them of leaves and lateral branches for most of their length. I then carefully bring them together, and wind them round each other. In twelve months they will have united, and in two years the ends can be cut off. The brace will grow as fast as any other part of the tree, and is a perfect security from splitting. I have them now of all sizes, and I scarcely^^ever knew one to fail to grow." AG. STATISTICS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 455 AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. The following table, which we compile from the Belfast (Ireland) Mer- cantile Journal and Statistical Register, is an estimate of the extent of land in the United Kingdom under the principal dd^cription of crops in 18o0-'54. It exhibits the acres in crop, total produce, produce under deduction of seed, and total value of crops : ENGLAND. Crop. Acres in crop. Wheat 3,000,000 Barley 1,000,000 Oats and Rye 2,000,000 Beans and Peas 500,000 Potatoes, turnips, rape, 2,500,000 Clover 1,300,000 Fallow 800,000 Hops 50,000 Gardens 250,000 Total produce. Qaarters. 11,250,000 5,400,000 9,000,000 1,875,000 Produce under deduction of seed. Quarters. 9,642,857 4,628,572 7,714,286 1,607,143 Total value. £20,695,428 6,248,572 7,714,286 2,250,000 26,000,000 780,000 3,750,000 Total 11,400,000 27,525,000 SCOTLAND. 850,000 1,187,500 450,000 1,800,000 1,200,000 6,000,000 50,000 150,000 23,592,858 £67,439,826 18 Wheat Barley Oats Beans and peas Fallow Potatoes Turnips Clover Flax Gardens 947,917 1,500,000 5,000,000 125,000 100,000 200,000 450,000 450,000 5,000 35,000 .£2,038,021 11 1,950,000 0 5,000,000 0 175,000 0 7,700,000 0 75,000 525,000 Total. 3,290,000 9,087,500 IRELAND. 7,572,917 £17,463,021 IJ Wheat. . Barley. . Oats Potatoes Fallow . . Flax. . . . Gardens. 400,000 320,000 2,200,000 1,400,000 300,000 140,000 25,000 1,200,000 1,000,000 £2,000,000 {» 1,120,000 11,000,000 933,334 9,165,667 1,119,999 12 9,166,667 It 11,200,000 9 2,100,000 0 300,000 0 Total. 4,785,000 13,320,000 11,100,001 £25,886,666 12 Grand total 19,475,000 49,932,500 42,265,776 £110,788,974 16 1. Consumed by Man. — Wheat, 15,500,000 quarters; oats, rye, and maslin, (a mi.xtiire of rye and wheat), 10,050,000 quarters ; barley for malt- ing, fjod, etc., 6,000,000 quarters ; beans and peas as meal, 700,000 quarters; total quarters, 32,850,000. 2. Consumed by the Lower Animals. — Corn, princip.ally oats, u-'ed in the feeding of horses and other animals, in distillation, manufactories, etc., 16, -320, 000 quarters; total consumed by man and the lower animal?, etc., 49,200,000 quarters. It is seen from the former estimate that the corn produced in the United 456 TRUE POLICY OF THE SOUTH. Kingdom, applicable to consumption, amounts to only 42,205,770 quarters. But to this has to be added foreign corn annually entered for consumption at an average of the seven years ending with 1852, viz. : wheat and wheat flour, 4,231,185 quarters; barley, 870,780 quarters; oats and oat-meal, 1,102,540 quarters; rye, 99,510 quarters ; peas and beans, 505,759 quarters; total quaners, 6,929,780 ; total consumption, 49,196,556 quarters. — Mer- chants' Magazine. THE TRUE POLICY OF THE SOUTH. [The sentiments we expressed in our last issue, as in former numbers, are powerfully sustained by the following extract from the Austin (Texas) Slate Gazette^ and which is copied into De Bow'' s Review. We cannot see how the South can be ignorant of their possibilities, or knowing them, neglect them much longer. — Ed. P. L. & A.] "In our issues of the past two weeks we endeavored to show that the population and wealth of the Northern States have resulted from their manufactures and internal improvements, and that the comparative weak- ness of the South has resulted from the want of them. We believe that our readers who have read those articles have come to our conclusions upon the subject. Who believes that the State of Massachusetts would have, on the small extent of 7,500 square miles, one million of population ; that her real estate would, in 1850, have been valued at $349,129,932, but for her manufactures, which, at that time, gave employment to 162,928 of her peo- ple, and her railroads penetrating into every part and portion of the State? In consequence of the demand for the necessaries of life, created by this ag- gregation of people, engaged in manufacturing, internal improvements, and the various pursuits incidental to and d«-perident upon them, the Massachu- setts farmer will spend three hundred dollars in removing the rock and stones from a single acre of land in order to cultivate it, and finds it a pro- fitable investment. Reasoning, from cause to effect, of the future by the past, it will be easy to demonstrate the consequences of an extensive system of manufactures and internal improvements in the South, not only upun our own section of the Union, but upon the North and also upon Europe. As in the Northern States, manufacturing towns and villages would spring up on all our streams capable of running a mill; employment would be given to millions of operatives, cities would grow up at the termini of our railroads, and every depot would become a considerable town or village ; hundreds of other occupations and pursuits would result, giving profitable employment. These things would auain act upou the agricultural interests of the country, by aft'urding a demand for the necessaries of life, and a home market for our great staples, and the facilities for cheap and rapid trans- portation ; the products of the farmer and the value of real estate would be immensely increased. Our commerce would undergo a perfect revolution. We now export the raw material, which is manufactured in New-England and Europe, and enters into the clothing of a large proportion of the world. We would TRUE POLICY OF THE SOUTH. 457 then export the manufactured fabric, having in our own hands a complete monopoly. We uowfurnisb two-thirds of the exports of the United States, and have permitted northern capitahsts, factors, and brokers, to suViject us to tribute, in forcing those exports through their hands, instead of allowing them to pursue a direct and natural course. Our exports form the basis of two-thirds of the imports of the Union, which are landed in northern cities, and enriching them at our expense. We would, then, by exporting the manufactured article, and manufacturing a large amount of what we now import, redeem ourselves from our present vassalage and thraldom. The millions now paid by the importing merchant by way of tariff, and which is repaid to him with a per cent, by the Southern consumer, would be cut off, and cease to be an everlasting drain upon the currency of the South. The tide of European emigration would be diverted from the North to the South, and the millions of money and thousands of operatives now an- nually arriving there would be invested and employed here. Let the South but adopt a system of manufactures and internal improve- ments to the extent which her interests require, her danger demands, and her ability is able to accomplish, and in a few years Northern fanaticism and abolitionism may rave, gnash thtir teeth, and howl in vain. The effects upon the North would be equally striking. The South can manufacture cheaper than the North, as we design to show hereafter. We would then produce those articles of home consumption which she now sends us. Southern manufactures would be able to enter the markets of the world, and undersell those of New-England and Great Britain ; and that fact once demonstrated, the increase of our production would be commensu- rate with the wants of the world. The millions which the Nortti annually receives from the South would be cut off. She would no longer be able to levy tribute upon us. The whole revenues of our government now paid by the Southern con- sumer, but collected and disbursed at the North, would be levied more justly and distributed more equally. Let northern folly, bigotry, and intolerance drive the foreign emigrant, the naturalized citizen, and the Roman Catholic from amongst them, it is the true policy of the South to receive them, granting them all the privileges extended to them by the Constituiion and laws of our country. They will swell our population and increase our ability to defend ourselves against abo- litionism and free soihsm, which are but the correlatives of Northern Know- Nothingism. The effects upon Europe, and particularly upon Great Britain, would be equally striking. Our Northern manufacturers are now able to enter into the markets of the world, and undersell those of Great Britain. The South- ern manufacturer could do it with more ease. In time, instead of shipping three millions of bales of cotton to Europe to supply her manufactures, as would ship that amount of fabrics. Our facilities for manufacturing cheaper would enable us to undersell and monopolize the market; this would draw the European operatives here, who could not be as profitably employed there. The consequences to European, and particularly to British manufac- turers, can easily be perceived ; they would be crippled, if not prostrated." 458 SOUTHERN" PRODUCTIONS. FOR THK PLOUGH, TUB LOUM, AND THE ANVIt. SOUTHERN PRODUCTIONS. Cotton Patch, Dec. 21, 1855. Dear Sir : — With many thanl>s for your kind notice of me on page 259 in your leader for November, which I have only this night cut the leaves and hastily glanced over, I beg to say a little. I do not like comparisons. I less love that tpirit that leads to bring one portion of our country antagonistic to the other. Some one said long ago, " Comparisons are odious." Certainly thpy lead to unkind feelings. What matters it if the little State of Rhode Island does make more than South Carolina? I veiy much query wbeiher anybody in that dear old State sleeps les3 or eats le?s if knowinsf or not knowino- this to be true. My own opmion is, that no country does wisely when it relies upon any one article, or even is bound to trade at any one point. I therefore advocate some diversity, and urge manufactures as a part of our business. Had I to choose agriculture for my brethren of this State, or manufactures, or trading, I should unquestionably, without a moment's hesitation, caoose agriculture. I speak, nor write, nor act as will please the mass; I give my opinions not intending offense, but I know many will shrug the shoulder. I hope that agriculture will ever be the leading business in the South. I hope before otber pursuits become paramount that my day will have been long past. If the South would diversify labor to a greater extent, we would cer- tainly be more independent. As to the matter of dollars and cents, it comes not into my calculation, farther than as secondary, in providing necessaries, comforts, luxuries in a small way and improvement in its best phase. But, sir, I advocate fostering our own mechanics and artizans, schoolmasters and preachers, make a part of our clothing, and shoes, and hats, and so on to the end of the chapter, even if it includes making " rolling-pins" and "axe-handles," raising mules, etc. Should we only do this to an extent of 33i, we will thus be able to withstand pressures and not bo driven to the wail. If I make -I or f of the poik I need, I can pick ray time to buy the balance, and thus with all else. I contend every country should do this to a greater or less extent. My friends — many of them — have held it unwise to thus enter into competition with those who buy our cotton. They say, if we make everything we want, no one will buy our cotton. Very true, perhaps, but we cannot make all we want ; we must have a great deal after we have done all we can. But, another matter as regards these comparisons. Admit that ray land does not p oduce a per acre yield as it did in 1835, does it prove anj thing in favor of increased cost of production ? Suppose sorae calculator makes cost of production to be 8 cenis a j)ouud, does even that prove we are getting beautifully smaller day by day ? Cotton costs me 8 cents and I sell at 8 cents, and pay cost of seJiing, a part at 7 cents and so on, — figures lie not, — yet property is being rapidly accumulated all around me by cotton planting alone. Let us loi k at the figures and facts. In 1830 to 1835, a crop of 15 bales per hand never entered into th« heart of man to hope fur. I kr ow the rich lands of the cotton region. Eight and ten bales was a matter of doubt, many living within 20 or 30 miles of the " Swamp" did not believe it. IMow SOUTHERN PICTURE. we can turn out our 10, 12, 15 and 18 bale planters. Suppose my lands make only now an average of 1000, whereas in 1830 they made 1500, what does it prove ? In 1830, I planted 6 and seldom 8 acres, worked as hard, aye, harder, than now with my 10 to 12. A full crop then was 6 or 7 bales, now I do not regard 8 bales a full crop, and more corn made too. Again, my friend. Dr. M. or Dr. B. or Col. D., etc., who make 1000 to 2000 bales, they make at 8 cents and sell at 7, losing 4 to 8 or 10,000 per year, yet with proceeds of crop invest 10 or 20 or 30 or 40,000 per year. I have cyphered up the cost of raising a hog or a colt, and lo ! the hog or colt would eat its head off every year. I have cyphered up the cost of raising a negro from babydom up to 21 years, and find doctor's bills — thf-y are longer and sharper than musquitoes — and clothing, and nursing, and feeding will eat up a dozen babies ; but when I see my woman seamstress — who has been with me since my boyhood, and count up hpr children, worth in cash say $3000, with her service for some thirty years,* I come to the conclusion that I am a badly broke man, even with enough around me. It matters not to me what Rhode Island, or Illinois, orConntcticut, or anywhere else makes. I only ask of one and of all to let us be. I hope for them as muoh hap- piness as I know I enjoy. I am a Southerner by birth and attachment. " I would not live elsewhere," yet I have n^ de?ire to injure, or see injured, an}' part of our country. If we are not fo rich, we are as content. Yours, as an American, P. Errata 27th page, 4th line from bottom, — on an old settled plantation. Last line in paragraph before last — long shaves. Commission merchants charge 10 per cent. interest — 7tV for accepting, and 2^ for advancing ; they pay 6 or 7 perhaps — this is long, rough and tough shaving, but all ©or own fault. Note. — The object we have in view in setting before one section o^ country what is done in another, in the way of valuable products, is for the purpose of showing that there is a better way. If asecionof a hundred square miles makes more money than another of a thousand, the best way th^t we know of to bring up tbe Iritti^r to proper effort is to show them how much batter others do than they, while they can do as well as anybody. We have yet to learn why this is not a legitimate and effective kind of argument. — Ed. P. L. & A. SOUTHERN PICTURE— CROPS— POAGUE'S WATER PIPES. Neau Brownsburg, Rockbridge Co., Va., | 25th December, 1855. ) To THE Editor of the Plough, the Loom and the Anvil : Dear Sir : — The numbers of your valuable agricultural journal for October and November did not come to hand, and I supposed it to be discontinued.* The December number reached me a few days since, and I now suppose it to be maladministration in the post-office, as our Post-Master General has been often, no doubt, imposed on, and many good post-masters have been turned out for daring to think for theraselvts and vote like freemen, and * A few of my first years, when she was 1*7 to 25, she was a field-hand, and made her 6 bales. 460 SOUTHERN PICTURE. their places filled by men incompetent to discharge the duties of the office. The consequence is confusion, and great irregularity in our mail receipts. I could state a strong case of this kind, where eight or ten individuals suc- ceeded in turning out a most reputable, gentlemanly man, for no other rea- son than that he voted with the American party, when nineteen-twentieths of the community petitioned that he should be continued in office, after it was known a secret clique were plotting his removal. But enough of this. We are reaping the fruits of maladministration in the distracted proceedings of the members elect to our present Congress. Permit me to present to you the compliments of the sea«^on, and to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New- Year ! If the weather is with you as it is with us, it is gloomy enough. We have had no snow up to this day, wnth but little cold weather. The 23d of December was almost as balmy as May, the mercury standing 53" at daylight. Yesterday was cloudy and rainy, and to-day no better. It is now noon, and raining fast, with some fog. There has been but little feeding of stock cattle. Sheep require no attention, further than soiling. The season for killing pork and beef for our next year's home consumption has nearly gone round, and with our corned-meat houses well stored, and with a general good supply of money, if not all the comforts of life, we may at the close of another year render up to the Father of our spirits, and the Giver of every good gifr, ih'i homage of grateful and thankful heart?, for the many blessings which God in his good- ness has vouchsafed unto us as a nation and a people. True, a small portion of our State has been sorely afflicted, but has it not shown and brought forth the sympathies and alms of a great and good people throughout the length and breadth of our land ? May God be praised for his goodness unto us for the past year, for his blessings have been many ! This is a high day with our servants. They are as joyous and happy in preparing their Christmas dinner as if they had corn to sell. Could your fanatical zealots see their shining happy faces and white teeth, as they pass around the merry joke and Christmas song, they would be more sparing in their calumnies against the South ; and I will venture my reputation on it, a better fed, better clothed, and, as a general thing, a more contented work- ing population than our servants are, does not exist in the United States, or anywhere else, than is to be found in the valley of Virginia. The corn crop of the season has been very good, and almost every farmer has a surplus. There will be many fine beeves fed in our valley this winter. The crop of wheat was short, and is pretty well ground out. The quality was good, but in many places did not reach half a crop. The oats and rye crops were not abundant, but will be quite ample for home consumption. Pork was not plenty, but was well fatted, and will be of fine quality. All culinary vegetables plenty. Apples a fair crop, but fell ofi" early, and inchne to rot. I made a fine crop of corn this year from a piece of up-land of medium quality. It was a clover bog of three years standing, the clover pastured ofi"; the soil a sandy loam ; the land was ploughed in the winter ; the ground was harrowed in April, laid out four feet wide, and planted two to three grains in the hill, two feet apart. (It would have Leen better to have had one stalk at a place, nine inches apart.) The stand was pretty good, but in some places was too thick. As soon as the corn was well up, a coulter was run next the plants, to the depth often inches. The cultivators followed the coulter, giving the field two dressings ; and a part of field was gone over the third time with cultivators. The wet season now set in, and two-thirds of the SOUTHERN PICTURE. 461 field received no further work than going over twice with the cultivators. The field (about twenty acres) averaged about fifty bushels per acre. This was a fine crop for the labor bestowed on it, the corn being ten to twelve feet high. I will now give you some account of a cheap, and, as I conceive, most excellent water-pipe, introduced in our County a few years since by I. B. & W. F. Poague, of Rockbridge Co., Va. I had the water conveyed to my house last spring, a distance of four hun- dred yards. The ditch was cleaned out by my hands in April, at a depth of two feet, where rock did not interfere. I procured one hundred bushels of cement, which was furnished by Messrs. Poague at the kilns for twenty cents per bushel ; transportation by my team worth about twelve cents per bushel. Messrs. Poague's hands commenced work on Monday, and in four days the pipe was laid, four hands laying one hundred feet each day. The pipe was moulded in the ditch, and is composed of one-half hydraulic cement and one-half pure sand. About half bushel of each is mixed together by two men, and as soon as properly worked, is laid down in the mould with trowels. If the weather is warm, and the water used from a branch, it will set in ten to twenty minutes. The rod, seven feet long, is turned in the cement before it sets, to keep it from sticking, and as soon as the mortar becomes hard is drawn out, the moulds uncased, and removed for another joint. My spring-house adjoins my house, and we have not to go out of doors to get water in bad weather, but go from the kitchen, under a covered way five feet, into the spting-house. Here the water falls about two feet into hydrau- lic cement troughs, built across one end and one side of my spring-house, the depth of water being six inches where it enters, and ten inches where it discharges through the wall into a beautiful basin or pool, holding six or seven hundred gallons ; thence passing across my yard in a ditch into my orchard. Messrs. Poague's bill for troughs and four hundred feet pipes, 1|- inch calibre, was ^100. Cost of spring-house $125 ; and I have what I would not be deprived of for $1000. Messrs. Poague having sent me one of their handbills, T enclose it to you, and entirely concur in what is therein stated. Your obedient servant, &c., Henry B. Jones. Sanitary Effects of Charcoal. — As an illustration of the sanitary powers of charcoal, and the extraordinary energy with which it acts upon the gases, thus furnishing a new power for removing the agents of disease, etc.. Dr. Stenhouse has exhibited in London a machine showing extraordinary deodorizing and disinfective powers. An atmosphere rendered highly offen- sive by putrefactive decomposition going on within the chamber in which it is confined, is drawn through charcoal filters, by means of a rotating fan machine, and is passed into an apartment adjoining. Although this air is disgustingly foetid, it flows out into the room perfectly free from smell. This experiment, though it exhibits no new property of the charcoal, places the i'-dct in a strong light, and may lead to most important usefulness. — Horti^ culttirist. * Our friend's name will be one of the last we shall voluntarily " discontinue," and if any number is not received, he, and others also, are requested to make it known to us. We can generally supply them forthwith. — Ed. P. L. A. 462 PLANTATIONS AT THE SOUTH. FOR THE PLOUGH, TIIK LOOM, AND THK ANVIL. PLANTATIONS IN THE SOUTH. [The writer begins by some suggestions in reference to the " M. D." of the tourist author of " Inside View of Slavery," and considers it very properly of little value in such a connection, and then proceeds to speak of the actual condition of the industry of the Sjuih, as follows.] , Miss., Dec. 24, 1855. As to " inferior tools," " rotation," or the culture pursued, we ask tlie thoughtful readers of the Northern States, if we could not point to farms even in the great and improving States of New-York or Massachusetts where there is the very worst sort of economy pursued. There are men who realize more money to capital than in most portions of our land who have poor implements and know nothing of rotation. They laugh at " modern improvements." Is this not so everywhere ? We in the South do not man- age as economically, as wisely, on the whole, as do our Northern brethren, we acknowledge. We would have the South as liberal in good implements, as generous in feeding her soil, as she is kind and hospitable to her visitors. We dare not put in any plea of abatement when our dear native land is in fault. All thinking people will know that the time must come when we must attend to our planting matters more systematically, artisticady and scientifically. It is necessity forces men to labor, to improve. We are, by the fiat of the Most High, to earn our bread by the sweat (f our brow ; yet when land will produce such by but little sweat, depend on it man will not sweat much. When Iravehng west, some twenty years ago, we saw so many of the population in bed in the coolest part of the hou-es, that we thought it "dreadful sickly," and spoke of it. Our journey was in June and July, and we were told that the people were only taking a comfortable nap in the hot weather. There is felt the same necessity of economy, toil and manage- ment in many portions of the South that is said to be in former days among the island planters of the Gulf. The day of action, of progress, is even now — not at hand, nor near at hand. Many are forced to attend to drains, horizontalizing, ditching, manuring, rotation, etc. And when the spirit is up as in New-York and Massachusetts, you will see deeds as worthy of the South as at Chepultepec, Cerro Gordo, Buena Vi^ta, in the Halls cf Con- gress, or elsewhere. We do not compare our talent, or riches, or worth, or anything with any other people. We complain of none. There are some of us here whose great grand-sires, (or, perhaps, as in ore case, g. g. g. grand-sire,) came from Wales, or England, or Ireland, or France, and settled iti the South, but there are many here from the North and East and West and abroad, as well as the South, and we soon fall into the same way. All that we clinim, being of similar origin, is, — give us the same objc'Cts, and we can evince talent and energy and zeal. The time has been when savans held that tlie South would depreciate wool, color of skin, intellect and so on ; but that day is past The South has sent out proof to the contrary. Send a practical man to a well-ordered cotton or sugar or rice plantation, give him time to examine the internal economy, and let him examine the best. Go West and examine the best hemp farms and stock farms. Then visit AGRICULTURE IS KING. 4$^ the best at the East or North, and you will see not much difference after all. To-day we can show you white sinjjle hyacinths, tea-roses, ppirea, etc., in bloom, cotton leaves green, and our mules not yet housed for the winter. An M.D., who would be traveling through in the cars, or otherwise, would pro- nounce it b^d economy, because horses in Dutchess Co., N.Y., must be paired on the 24lh of December. Our houses have no preparation for winters, they are for summer. If the South could be entreated to arouse herself we would entreat ; if she could be abused to it, we would abuse, though we had to aflBx two rattles to our P. [We are disposed to add a word to the preceding expressions of opinion by our valued correspondent. We are quite certain he is right when he says, " it is necessity that forces men to labor to improve." But we doubt not our friend also would have added, had his object led his thoughts in that di- rection, that when present necessity does not urge us to etl'ort, the offer of valuable profits will be efficient in exciting us to labor diligently and wisely. Give the North or the South a convenient and ready market for her agricultural products, and those products will be raised. The best and only way of introducing wholesome improvements is to satisfy the landowner that those products will pay for the exertion and the expense. Hence the necessity of variety of employment, that all kinds of producers may find, near at hand, consumers who will buy. It; is in vain to preach modern im- provements to those who cannot produce without great effort and at the same time know cot what they could do with their products, or what they would sell for, when ready for the market. — Ed. P. L. & A.] FOR TBS PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND TUS ANVIL. AGRICULTURE IS KING. TO THE EDlTOn: In your periodical for December last is an article, the first in that number, with the title ''Commerce is King," — a title to which, with all due deference to other opinions, it must be allowed by many it has no claim. This idea, like many others, is a sort of modern adage, which the history of the past and present proves to be false. That commerce has its advantages we are willing to admit, but that it ever has been, or can be the basis, the pristine cause of national pros- perity, is a fallacious im.pression. It may with greater propriety be termed the handmaid, the attendant upon agriculture, for tbe disposal or removal of a surplus produce. Wise legislators have given it their protection. It is the only means by which a nation can repair the waste and ruin of war. Yea, far better that a whole fleet should rot in the harbors than our acres of land should lay unbroken and unsown. In reviewing the history of ancient nations, it is evident, their most prosperous periods were when agriculture was carried to its highest pitch of improvement. We wonder at the vastness of the area of space enclosed within the walls of Ninevah and Babylon ; but; it should be understood, the ground thus not occupied by buildings was tilled, whereby the annual pro- 464 AGRICULTUEE IS KING. duce could sustain the inhabitants when besieged by an outward foe; its rulers being well aware that the strength of ramparts and walls was useless if the means of sustenance could not be obtained. The fruitful valley of the Nile was the source of the greatness and the wealth of Egypt; nor is it strange that this people, with no divine relation, should regard this river the chief among their divinities. During the long civil wars of Rome, agriculture was neglected. For a time, the victories of the arms of the republic brought the fruits of their con- quests into Italy, which for a time prevented the evils of neglected husbandry being felt. But when Augustus was peaceably settled upon the imperial throne, and Virgil was known at court, the poet was requested by Macaanas to write a work upon agriculture, that his melodious numbers might rouse- the spirit and enkindle a taste for rural occupation. The result was the production of the Georgics, in four books, entitled, " The Cultivation of Lands, Raising Vines and Trees, Rearing Cattle, and the Manfigement of Trees." It is said, that soon after the publication of this work, the improve- ment of the lands in Italy was such as fully to repay the labors of the poet, and met the highest expectation of the government. Again, when God promised a country to the desceudents of Abraham, it was not to be a land of ships, commerce, merchandise and metals, but a land Howing with milk and honey ; and the happiness of the people is portrayed by the phrase, " Every man under his vine and under his fig-tree." When that kingdom was in its zenith under Salomon, the royal table for one day's supply only was thirty measures of fine flour, sixty measures of meal,, ten fat oxen, and twenty ethers taken from the pastures, one hundred sheep» besides harts and roebucks, fallow deer and fatted fowl. This abundance demonstrating the richness of the soil, as the source whence their prosperity flowed. The panic sometimes felt in European States plainly shows what branch of industry sits as king. Let a battle be lost, a city consumed by fire, pestilence desolate a section of the country, — the money-market becomes stringent. These are but short evils in comparison with the failure of an harvest ; for the common but good adage will ever hold good — "Stop the plough and you starve the world." The stability and security of governments often depend more upon the^ yield of the soil than upon all the laws and edicts of rulers. The bloody acts of the French Revolution were hastened by the dearness and scarcity of bread. France had at that period her shops and her commerce, and her manufactures then as now^ were unrivaled ; but all failed to arrest the storm of crime and murder, as long as the agricultural products fell short of a 8ufl3cient supply. We used to hear a great deal of the corn-laws of England, the object of which was to give the farmer a remunerating price for the crops he raised ;. and although the policy might be a mistaken one, it arose from the conviction that if the farmer could not live no other branch of the community could prosper ; thus awarding to agriculture the legal appellation of king, not as a name of empty pageantry, but one by divine right. But while thus elevating agriculture, we are every way willing to allow to commerce every means of usefulness to which it is entitled. Tyre, Sidon and Venice are names immortalized by it. Their once-active and widely-ex- tended commerce, and latterly the discoveries and trading pursuits of Spain and Portugal in the l7th century, for a while gave a sort of spasmodic ele- vation to these countries, but inasmuch as the tillage and improvement of the- COMMERCE IS KING. 465 soil was not the basis of their prosperity, their high station among the na- tions was brief and transient. The great and useful idea advocated by your periodical, viz., that where the article is produced it should be manufactured, is an obvious truth ; arid yet how unwilliog communities are practically to act upon it. The South has often been reproached for her slow progress, compared with that of the Northern States ; yet would the grower of cotton pursue the same plan a neighboring farmer did near me, that reproach would soon cease. This wise tiller of the soil finding the price of wool low took his fleece to the manufac- turer near by and had it made into cloth, and thus realized a much belter market than if he had sold the raw material. la the words commerce, ships, princely merchants, there is a bewitching, false idea that captivates the mind. Napoleon said he must have ships, colonies and commerce, but failed in them all. Had he turned bis active and mighty genius to the internal prosperity of France, and permitted agri- culture rather than war to be king, he might perhaps even to this day have swayed the scepter of the French nation. It is these false ideas by which such numbers of our youth are influenced to speculate in trade and commerce rather than follow the less esteemed, more slow, but safer and more useful method of gaining a competency with pur- suits of agriculture. There is a false scale of respectability often appHed by the merchant, who is doing business upon a large scale, with borrowed capital. His appearance and standing in society, his capacious rooms for business, his large and imposing stock, all elevate him in the eyes of the community. Yet the indivitual who earns his bread by the sweat of his biow, who buys of this merchant a single article and pays for the same, is often in reality the owner of more dollars. It is not a rare thing for young men to commence business as merchants with no capital of their own, do a great business for a time, and then fail, — oflfering to their creditors a few cents upon the dollar. Such persons lose nothing because they never had anything ; but others, deceived by a false appeai-Hnce, trusted ihem, and became the sufiereis. Communities, like individuals, should endeavor to do their work at home. An extensive exportation never enriches a nation unless an equally valuable return is brought home, especially when ihe same article has to be sent back with all the expense of freight, manufacture, etc. But by bringing the hands to us, the farmer is benetiited by the increase in the number of the con- sumers of their produce. The manufacturer is also placed in a position to add to this wealth, and both parties mutually depending upon each other, the whole community is bound together. R. S. Fulton, Wis. FOB THB PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIU "COMMERCE IS KING." Who makes it king? The Farmer. Who feeds and clothes the world? The Farmer. Who are the subjects of the commercial king ? The Farmers. In whose power does it lie to dethrone this king ? The Farmer's. We constitute ourselves one of the "jury of doctors" called for in the 30 ^^^ COMMERCE IS KING. December number, not to give the pathology and diagnosis of the " ruinous evil," but we will prognosticate a cure, and propose a remedy, so that the sufferers may be relieved. The remedy consists in a revolution, and a new declaration of independ- ence, to be signed by every farmer in the Union. Let there be formed, without delay, an Agricultural Society in every County in each State, and State societies, composed of delegates from the County Societies. When these are formed, let there be a general assembly, composed of a delegate from each State society. Let the general assembly enact laws to govern each and all, and fix a standard permanent value on each staple production ; the value to be reasonable, and at the same time remunerative. For instance, wheat 11.25 per bushel; corn 60 cts. ; wool from 30 to 60 cts., as to quality ; cotton 10 to 15, etc. Let the general assembly also cause reports to be made by each State Society, these reports to contain accurate statistics of the amount of each staple raised in every State. This scheme may at first sight appear visionary, but we thinfe we can meet every objection, except such as may be brought by the courtiers of the commercial king. For example, they will say that it will prevent their pockeiing all the profits made on farmers' produce; but we do not care a straw if it does. It is high time that the farmers were waking from their Rip Van Winkle sleep; it is high time their eyes were opened and their energies taxed, to overthrow the monster who has fattened to such huge proportions on the profits of their toil. Is it not absurd and cowardly for the farmers to allow merchants, who depend on them for their food and living, to set the price on their produce, and at the same time fix the value of their own merchandise ? Why not trade fairly ; at least allow the farmer to price his own commodities ? Or, if they will not allow them to do it, we say, Farmers, charge a just price, and starve them into subjection. Yes, it is in the farmers' power, if they will unite in one harmonious whole, to control those merchants and manu- facturers who are doing all in their power to crush them to the earth. See the effort being made by the manufacturers to annihilate the tariff on wools. The " wool grower" asks, " What is to be done ?" We say, Let a new party of American patriots be formed, to be composed of the honest farmers and mechanics, and let their motto be. Union and our own rights. Let them crush the factions and isms of the dsy ; let them elect such men to Congress as will bind themselves to protect American industry, whether me- chanical or agricultural. Our country will never be superlatively prosperous until a high tariff is imposed on all foreign articles. We are independent of England and the rest of the world ; therefore let us make our own iron and cloths, and pro- tect them, so that the foreign cannot compete with the domesiic ; and we will guarantee that the farmers will thrive, the mechanics will thrive, and we will permit the merchants and manufacturers to thrive too, although they want to rob us of everything we raise. Ic is to our interest, to let them thrive, for the more we have to feed and clothe, the more profitable our manly calling. What would the farmer do with Lis surplus wheat and corn, if all were farmers? We want as many mechanics as we can get; the more the better. What if we do have to p^y more for manufactured articles ! Whv, we can afford to, if we have a pocket full of " rocks !" Farmers 1 wake up, and keep awake. Do not let this plan fail for the MANURES. 467 want of energy. Do not read, and then forget, but go to work. Now is the time. Form societies as fast as you can ; make your resolutions, and let it DO longer be said that you are blind and asleep, and slaves of the rest of mankind. This is a charitable plan, as well as a plan to secure your own rights ; for it will prevent that monopoly which starves the poor. If merchants wish to speculate on our grnin, let them do so in foreign lands, but cot in this. We request other agricultural journals to copy this for the bentfit of their patrons, and that the ball may be kept in motion. Respectfully, etc, G. W. Varnom Wayne, Lafayette Co., Wis., Dec. 22, 1855, Note. — The object of the writer of the above is most praiseworthy, and his plan worth careful attention. The formation of unions, in counties or other convenient districts, who shall advance a given sura on all marketable products not perishable, and who should sell them only at limited prices, would be a very efficient antagonism to the system of private speculation now so efficiently and extensively carried on by middle men, all of whose profits ought to go into the liands of the producer. Merchants and manufacturers are very much, we suppose, like " other men, secur- ing all the profits they can honestly get, whether the producer is paid or not. They have regard too often for half only "of the maxim "live and let live." We cannot doubt that some plan may be devised which shall secure a much larger share ot the profits now actually made by traders, for the benefit of the producers. — Ed. P. L. & A. MANURES— THEIR APPRROPRIATE USES, ETC. Manure is indispensable to the farmer, to ameliorate the soil and increase its profits. But he should understand the nature of the manure wbi h he uses, and have due regard to the quality of the land to which it is applied. Manures vary in character, as bone-cliarcoal, lime, clay, ashes, poudrette, &c. Manures are divisible into two classes; coolmg and feitilizing, and heating and fertilizing. The first includes the excrements of neat cattle and shet-p ; the second those of the horse, the goat, the hog and domestic birds. Arranging manures according to their heat, beginning with those ol the highest temper ature and descending, we have the dung of pigeons, hens, turkeys, ducks, geese; then that of ihe hog, goat, horse, mule, ass, and neat cattle. These ought to be used on light soils, and for pulses and the like, as cabbages, &c. Argillaceous soils require mixed matjurt-s, as those wiih that of the horse, but they should be well made. Sandy soils need the dung of cattle mixed with that of the horse. That of the mule or the ass is not suiied for such, nor that of birds. It is not well to mix the dung of hogs with that of other animals, as it tends to propagate nettles ; but this should be reserved for marshy lands. It tends to dry them and renders them productive. 1. Manures may be pi'epared by the farmer in the following manner: — The dung of cattle and the horse may be carried during the winter into a field and laid in a heap ; and if near large villages he may also bring horses unfit for use, and dead horses, and if still living they may be killed upon the heap by cutting their throats, their blood being soaked in the heap. After they are skinned, they should be cut in pieces, and being placed on the pile, be covered ^^ith it, or with straw, &c. The heap may remain thus till it is •i68 MANURES. ■wanted. Thus prepared, not more than a third part will be required, of what would be necessary when used in the common way. This is not an ex- pensive process ; any sort of dead animals, cattle &c., might be used in a similar manner. This manure is suited for sandy and gravelly soils, and ren- ders tbera productive of rye and oats. 2. Bone- Charcoal. It is well-known that when the bones of animals are burned in a heap, the result is bone-charcoal, but thus produced it could not be employed to enrich the earth. It is necessary that it should first pass through the hands of the refiner of sugar, v/ho requires it, and it then be- comes very valuable to the farmer. But he must be careful not to place it in grounds designed fur potatoes the same season, since, according to my experience, by its remarkable absorbent properties, and its resistance of de- composition, it retards the growth of the tubers and tends to produce the disease called the potato cholera. lu France, where great use is made of it, and it has an extensive commerce, as in Brittany, I have seen several vessels from Riga every year arriving, loaded only with this bone-charcoal. 3. Marl is a kind of soil, composed essentially of lime mingled with clay or santj. It is used for sandy, or low or marshy grounds ; but for the first (sandy) it is necessary to choose marl which is composed of lime or clay. For there are two kinds of marl, one composed of lime mixed with sand, and the other with clay. 4. Ashes, This is used to enrich prairie ground and all moist or wet soils, which it tends to make dry and suited for vegetation. 5. Human Excrements. These are more rich in nutiicious properties than other kinds, but it is not convenient to use them in their ordinary slate. The vegetation produced by them, used in that manner, is apt to retain their odor, and they have a bad taste. Hence in France it is the custom to reduce tham to the form of Poudrette. The manipulation of this is laborious and disa- greeable. I have assisted, near Paris, beyond the faubourg of St. Denis in this labor, and am able to give an accurate description of it. At a distance of 500 yards from the road leadmg from Paris to Brussells, is a spot devoted to this work. Carts which convey the excrements from privies drop them into a pit dug in the earth ; water is then poured upon them and they are thoroughly stirred. Those who perform this service are clothed from head to foot in India rubber, without any openings except for respiration, and for seeiUi^ and hearing. Thus muffled, they walk into this putrid matter and mix it with their hands and feet. This service is very laborious, and the man who is employed in it is allowed occasionally a glass of brandy. "When the mass is properly worked, it is suffered to remain at rest, and the water is drawn off". From this wet mass, small quantities are separated, and are dried in the sun or by the fire, and is afterwards converted into powder, is done up in papers and is called poudrette. A Kilogramme costs four francs ; and, according to the nature of the soil, serves for one, two, three, or four acres. It is necessary to add that it is not proper to mix with these matters any other liquid except urine, since other impurities are injurious in their effects ; and contractors for this work, in such case, demand pay for their service, while, if the contents are free from other impurities, they do the work gratis. Among other means used to enrich the soil, in Poland the following is practised. Upon good land, suitable for wheat and far from their dwellings, to diminish the expense of transporting manures, the ground is ploughed and sowed with buckwheat, and when this is in flower, the plough is passed " FIEST premium" FARM, 469 through it and buries it. lu the autumn the ground is cultivated in the usual manner. Saniewski Felix. [Translated from the French manuscript, by the editor of the P. L. & A.] THE "FIRST PREMIUM" FARM. The Committee on Farm Management awarded $50 in plate to Wm. P. Ottley, of Phelps, Ontario Co., for ihe best managed farm. But two appli- cations were made for this premium, though we think there are many farms which would have stood an equal chance with those which were presented. The soil of Mr. Ottley's farm is a gravelly loam, and muck with a tincture of clay, the subsoil about the same, lighter colored and porous. Limestone scarce, the rocks found are granite and quartz. The farm contains 100 acres, 85 in cultivation. Mr. 0. considers ploughing in clover the best means of en- riching his ground. A three years' lay turned under in June for wheat, or the 1st of May with barnyard manure, for the corn crop succeeds well. He ploughs from seven to ten inches deep. Deep ploughing in his case has a good effect in giving great room for the roots of plants, in its action as an underdrain, in preventing the ttFects of drouth, in making the land easier to work after it, with other advantages too numerous to mention. Some ex- periments showing this, and also the difference between shallow and deep ploughing, were made by Mr. O., and we may refer to them hereafter. In regard to subsoil ploughing, he says the effects were entirely satisfactory after the first year, when the crop was lighter than usual, from the poverty of subsoil before due exposure to atmospheric influence. Manure receives considerable attention on the farm, of Mr. Ottley. His straw, corn-stalks, and hay is all fed out in the stables and yards, where his cattle are kept through the foddering season. The straw serves for litter, and having an abundance, also about Co head of horses, cattle and sheep, he makes about 200 loads of manure annually. This he draws out in a green state to his corn field, (usually planting 12 acres,) putting from 30 to 40 loads per acre, according to its value. It is dropped in similar heaps about one rod apart, and generally as fast as it can be ploughed in. He has a manure cellar, but keeps a part under cover, and finds it a decided benefit. For barley he thinks rotted manure an essential application ; it is of such quick growth that it receives little benefit from long manure. Mr. Ottley has from seventy to seventy-five acres annually under tillage. His fields contain about twelve acres each, and the different crops follow in rotation and culture as follows : For corn he takes a three-year lay of clover, covers it with manure, and breaks up immediately before planting with a double plough, eight inches deep, harrows with a light harrow to avoid breaking the turf, then drills three and a half feet in rows, dropping one kernel at eight inches in a row together with ashes and plaster ; and then rolls the whole field. As soon as the corn is up, he passes through with the one horse cultivator, continues to cultivate until the middle of June, — product usually 50 bushels per acre. Usually plants one acre of potatoes in the same lot. One potato 470 COTTON GINS. in each hill, spht; plant as early as possible, — product light, owiog to pre- valent disease. Barley follows corn. He drills in two and a half bushels per acre, in April if possible, ploughing in the spring — product from 25 to 50 bushels per acre. Oats are also sown after corn, three bushels seed, product 75 bushels per acre. Wheat is sown after barley, two bushels per acre, drilled in the first Sep- tember. Plows the stubble eight to ten inches deep, with double plough, ia two rod lands ; harrows fiae immediately before sowing, product fro(Q 25 to 35 bushels per acre. Seeds down to clover and timothy in September, soon after sowing, and uses for meadow or pasture till its turn in the rotation, usually three years, when it is taken up "as above described. Mr. O. has been particular in growing and saving seeds for growing. He has improved white Soules wheat, starting it from a handful, and saving tbe first ripened for seed, so as to shorten the time of maturing from six to eight days, he has made like experiments, with like resulis, in barley, oats and corn. His grains and roots were all trained up in this way, and he thuiks it essential that seeds of all kinds should be saved from the first ripening and largest ears. His profits for 1854 are $1oi, or $8 87^ per acre for the im- proved land. His total receipts amount to nearly $2000. His principal at- lentioa is given to grain growing, which he makes a profitable business, as these figures show. A regular account is kept, together with a memorandum of farm matter. Mr. 0. says he can state the annua! expense of improving his farm, and the income of it, and at the end of the year can strike a balance of debt and credit. We join with him in thinking the practice very much conducive to close observation and careful farming ; one which in the end would very much improve our system, as well as better our fortunes. It is little more than gue^s work to farm without some guide — without some means of knowing what crops pay at the end of the year, and what prove a losing speculation. — Rural New-Yorker. COTTON GINS Messrs. Editors : — In a recent number of the Scientific American, P^ ge 49, in tbe article" Saw Cotton Gin," your correspondent has fallen into some errors, I think. I have been engaged for the last twenty-five years in manu- facturing the saw gin, and in all that lime have watched closely the opera- tion of my own machines, and others, on the fiber of cotton, with the view of improvement wherever it could be done. I make this f-tatement fur those who may ditfer with me in regard to the operation of the gin. It is hardly possible to overrate the importance of this machine. The saw ijin, as it came from the hand of Whitney, admitted of but few improvements, and though many have been attempted, they have mainly aimed at (and accom- plished) the making a fairer article of cotton, but always at the expense of the fiber. In proof of this there is in Georgia a gin which was made in Whitney's time, and under bis patent, — it has iron saws, and very coarse teeth, but the cotton ginned by it brings from one to two cents per lb. more than from the best improved gins. CORISr CROP IN TENNESSEE. 471 Your correspondent, Mr. Du Bois, is right in saying that no two saws catch the same fiber, but I cannot think he has investigated closely when he decides that the saws never break the cotton. Let Mr. Du Bois examine samples under a magnifyirg glass, from diflferent gins, and he will change his views ; let him examine carefully the fiber or the seed, and he will find but a very little difference in the length, and none quite short. But the best proof that the saw cuts cotton, is Fultz's improved feeder, which he says sep- arates the long from the short cotton, thus making two qualiiie*, the long being delivered at the end where it enters, and ihe short at the other, show- ing conclusively that the cotton which is first taken from the seed is but little cut, while that which runs the gauntlet of fifty saws, comes out a low quality. I have no hesitation in saying that there is no machine which ap- proaches to a saw that can clean the upland cotton without injury to the fiber, to say nothing of the Sea-Island cotton, which has a much finer and more tender fiber ; indeed, the only perfect operation in giniung cotton is the roller principle ; therefore, whoever will invent a roller gin that can com- pete in speed with the saw gin, will increase the value of the upland crop ten per cent, or ten millions of dollars annually, to say nothing of the advan- tage to the inventor. — H. Clark, in Scientific American. ^New-Port, Fla., Dec. 4ih, 1855. FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM AND THE ANVIL. CORN CROP IN TENNESSEE— EFFECT OF DROUGHT. A BENiFiCENT Provideuce has awarded to Eastern Tennessee one of the most abundant crops of Indian corn, just now gathered, probably ever known to have been made in the district. Your readers will remember the com- plaints made in your journal of the drought in 1854 and '5. The anoma- lous droughty so-called, and indeed the continuous dry weather did seem out of rule. It was truly disastrous to grasses. Root crops and vegetation generally seemed to suffer; but the fail of 1854 being one so dry and so favorable for field work, our farmers ploughed up their fallows early in the fall for spring planting, which by the freezes of winter were mellowed into a light mould. The corn was early planned, the weather favorable, and it grew rapidly off, stood well, and the drought had, it seemed, the balancing pro- perty to restrain the too rapid growth of the vegetable part, but kept it in equilibrio, so that the cereal should be bountifully supplied with growing matter. Farmers had observed that too much stalk and blade is not best for a good ear, and this drought may have had a good rather than a bad effect in the growing of the corn crop of 1855. One thing I am quite certain of — that the drought has mellowed and pulverized our soils, and consequently enriched them. For example, allow me to state for the eye of my farming friends elsewhere, that I had an old meadow piece of land which I thought had become so poor it would not bring grass, having in 1841 tiled in corn, without raising scarcely enough to till a bushel sack to the acre. In Sep- tember, 1854, I ploughed it up, and again in April, 1855, and planted in corn the distance four feet each way, with two stalks in the hill, and which was ploughed over only three times and laid by. The yield from six acres 472 COMPARATIVE VALUE OF CROPS. of this old, poor, worn-out field was net less than sixty bushels to the acre, besides about thirty-four horse loads of the best of pumpkins, planted inter- mixed with the corn ; and I believe, from the appearance of the soil now, it will bring me as good a crop at any such year hereafter, the whole resuscita- tion of luy old field being attributable to the drought, and the faciJiiies for out-door work it aftbrded. This old meadow field is imbedded on a stiff clay subsoil, no doubt at all former times full of water. The evaporation from thu surface by the rays of the sun created a vacuum of water in the soil, which drew its proper moisture from the probable strata of water in the sub- soil. This circulation of water in the earth is the reverse of that which takea place in wet weather. It cannot, however, be the water only which is thus drawn to the soil by the sun, which gives life and vigor to the crop, but also all those enriching substances contained in solution. These qualities are often salts of lime, magnesia of potash, soda, &c., and, indeed, whatever the particular subsoil or under-strata of earth may contain. Professor Higgins, State Ag- ricultural Chemist of Maryland, on this subject says : " The water in leaving the surface of the soil is evaporated, and leaves be- hind the mineral salts, which I will here enumerate, viz.; lime, as air-slacked lime, or bone-eartl], sulphate of lime or plaster of Paris ; carbonate of potash and soda, with silicate of potash and soda ; and also chloride of sodium, or common salt — all indispensable to the growth and production of plants which are used for food." Which proves conclusively the beneficial results of drought, and indeed our own observation must teach us that the general abundant crop of 1855 could not of right be attributable to frequent showers. Thus the mystery may be somewhat solved. Farmers are sometimes known to complain of the weather, but a Divine benignity always overlooks and orders all things for their good as a final restilt. A. L. B. Mill Bend, Tenn., Jan. 4, 185G. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF CROPS. [In our January number, page 410, we published the statements of Mr. Harvey as to the cost of sundry crops. In the second crop described, therb was a discrepancy in the figures, which on discovery he corrected in the fol- lowing letter, which was not received till after that sheet was printed. This correction was made as follows. — Ed. P. L, & A.] Epping, Dec. IT, 1855. Dear Sir: — Yours of the 16th is duly received. I made a mistake in the first draft in relation to the statement of that wheat, and did not include the interest on land, or taxes. It should read thus : Whole expense of cash, interest, etc., - - $12 50 12 bush, wheat at 13s. 6d. 27 00 Profit to land $14 50 Potatoes, No. 2. Three years ago I received a few from Andover, Mass., with the assurance that they would not rot. I had but little faith iu the statement, but for these three years they have been entirely sound when SWEET AND IRISH POTATO. 473 others have rotted. They are a late potato, and remain hard for a year. They are not of the first quality for the table, as yet. We put them on this piece of land on purpose to try them, to see if they would rot with high manuring and a moist, dark-colored soil. Yours, etc., M. P. Parish, Esq. D. L. Harvey. THE SWEET AND THE IRISH POTATO. Sweet Potato — Batatus Edulis. — The esteem in which the sweet po tato is held may be estimated by the extent to which it is produced, 4,742,000 bushels, worth more than two millions and a quarter of dollars, being the crop of Mississippi of 1840. In the production of this esculent, Mississippi ranks fourth among the States of the Union ; Georgia, North Carolma, and Alabama only excelling her. Five varieties are cultivated with us, which will be mentioned in the order of their excellence, as generally estimated. First in quality, as in extent of cultivation, stands the Yam, which, if surpassed by some in average size, is approached by but one in delicacy of flavor. Its shape is oval or roundish, with a smooth exterior and yellowish tint. It is as prohfic as any other, and keeps remarkably well. The next in place is the Spanish, or white potato ; it is long and crooked, with large veins or nerves running lengthwise on the exterior, by which it is universally characterized. Another characteristic which distinguishes it from all others, is an aptitude of the flesh, or meat, if I may so desigaate it, when cooked, to divide or separate in layers or flakes lengthwise, the fiber at the same time being destitute of any stringy property. Early in the season it is rather too milky to suit the taste of many, but when thoroughly cured, it becomes very sweet and rich, difiering somewhat in flavor from the yam. It grows to a large size, and singularly enough, notwithstanding its excellence, it seems to be greatly neglected of late, and is not now often met with. The Bermuda potato has a deep crimson or purple skin ; but the interior is very white. In form it is more cylindrical than the yam, somewhat elong- ated, and is regarded by some as the largest and most prolific variety. Its flavor, however, is coarse and flat. The Pi.ed is the earliest variety introduced here. It was forraorly very gen- erally cultivated ; it is inferior to the foregoing in size, and not now very much in use. It is rather dry and mealy, and is best early in the season, when newly dug, and it is perhaps the earliest to mature. The Poplar Root, which somewhat resembles the yam in outward appear- ance, but not generally so round, with a smooth skin, and the color rather a deeper yellow, was introduced ten or fifteen years since with high commenda- tions. It proved a watery, insipid kind, however, and is now generally ban- ished. Up to the period of 1810 or 1815, the yam potato was rarely seen ; the old red and white Spanish being altogether cultivated — the former much the more extensively. The Bermuda is the most recent introduction. 474 SWEET AND IRISH POTATO. All the varieties of the sweet potato succeed best in a loose sandy s^oil, although the yam is said to flourish in the prairies of the eastern counties. I have seen one of that variety raised near Macon, which weighed ten pounds. The proper time for planting is about the 1st of April, and the most approved mode of raising the yam is to spread the small roots or potato plantings on a rich bed about the first of March, covering them with three or four inches of loose rich soil. When the sprouts make their appearance above the surface, they are drawn aad set out in newly-made ridges after or during a rain. These beds continue to throw out a succession of sprouts, which may be planted every favorable season as late as the first of August, and if well worked, and the weather be not too dry, will make good potatoes. It is said the red potato does not succeed .=o well when planted in this way. At some seasons the sweet potato is sufficiently matured for early use by the first of September ; but it is attended with great waste to cojmmence on them so soon, as it is tboucrht the tubers grow more in October after the vine begins to decline than before. The best time for digiring potatoes is the first good dry mild weather suc- ceeding the first frost that kills the vines. They are then better ripened, freer from water or sap, and consequently keep belter. They should not be suffered to remain undug until the ground freezes, as they will become frost- bitten and rot. The most approved mode of preserving the sweet potato is to place them in piles or he^ips of about twenty-five bushels each, on raised ground, with a flooring of corn stalks and straw, the sides being lined with the same ma- terial, the whole covered with three or four inches of earth or sod, a small aperture being left, near the apex of the cone for the escape of the moisture which passes off from the potato when undergoing the sweat, which always takes place soon after they are placed in bulk. Put up properly in this way they will keep perfectly sound and sweet until June or even later. The potato patch affords a good gleaning to the fattening hogs, which are usually turned upon it, and find in the small tubers, cut and waste potatoes, a favorite food on which they thrive rapidly, and is a good preparation for after feeding on corn in the close pen. Some planters put in a large crop of sweet potatoes for this purpose, and when corn is scarce give no other food. The meat is said, however, to be less firm, and the lard more oily than that of the corn-fattened hog. The Irish Potato. — Solanum Tuberosum. — The Irish potato is not ex- tensively cuUivated, and seldom beyond the limits of the garden. Two varieties — the Meshanic and the Purple Eye — are those which seem to be the most approved, the red being rarely planted, under the common belief that the white varieties succeed the best. For what we do plant we are defjeudeot every year almost entirely on those brought down the Missis- sippi from the Western States. A course embracing the planting, cultivation, and after treatment, which has been tested many years, may be confidently recommended as one at ended with much success. Id suitable weather soon af er the first of January, on the even, clean, but unbroken surface of the ground appropiiated for the purpose, place the cut- tings with the tye upwards, three inches apart, in rows two feet distant from eacti other. Cover well with light rich vegetable compost. AVell-rotted coin- REMARKS ON FOUNDER, ETC. 475 blades, s^trav?, or leaves from the woods, are well suited for this purpose. Draw over this a moderate ridge of earth. As sooa as the tops show themselves generally above the surface an inch or two high, ridge up with eaitb, again covering the top entirely, and repeat this in ten days or so, when tkie tops appear the second time. This will give a ridge of suflBcient size, and com- pletes the cultivation. About the middle of April the potatoes are fit for use, and are to be dug daily as required. About the first of June, especially if the season be dry, the tops begin to fail and gradually die ; the grass and weeds which spring up between the rows must not afterwards by any means be removed ; otherwise, when de- prived of the shade afforded by the top, the potato will become partially scorched or baked in the ground by the intense summer heat, which makes them watery and causes them to rot. Protected by the grass and weeds, they remain fresh and sound, and will keep in excellent condition until frost. It is generally cocceded that the Irish potato cannot in our climate be kept through the summer out of the ground. For this reason, and poss-essiog no value for stock, together with the preference which most Southerners give to the sweet potato, it is not more cultivated. The crop of 1849 was about 260,000 bushels. There is a considerable consumption of the Irish potato in our cities and towns convenient to the river, which are obtained from the Western States at a price much below what they can be produced for here. — Wuilen^ Ag- ricultural Report of Mississippi. REMARKS ON FOUNDER, AND THE FOOT OF HORSES AND SHOEING. miEFACED BY SOJIE OBSERTATIONS ON THE KEPRIMT OF STEWART's TREATISE ON STABLE ECONOMY. DT CAPTAIN EALSTOS, GI!AD. KOV!.. VET. COLLEGE, AND MEMIi. EOYL. COL. VKT. SURGEOSS, ETC. It is gratifying to note the reissue of this treatise of Professor Siewart, for it is a very useful veterinary text-book, either for horse owners or ama- teur.e, grooms or stable helpers. It little boots to be hypercritical on hyper- criticism, and the writer is not disposed either to much carp or cavil at the matter or manner of its American editor's adaptations, or those additions he has made to this adoption from British veterinary literature. The addi- tions, h jwever, are but meagre, and add little that is new ; and, as to im- proved adaptations, the book must speak for itself. One or two of the com- ments, or notes, are calculated to perplex, as for instance where " Founder" is spoken of. The note appended, here, denies the author's professional view, establishes nothing in its room, and is expressed in somewhat oracular phrase. On the subject of " Founder" the writer proposes to submit a few remarks, the result of no inconsiderable experience ; but, first, he wishes to premise a i^vt general reflections, farther, upon this reprint of " Stable Economy." With all respect for the intelligent zeal of the gentleman who has edited 476 REMARKS ON FOUNDER, ETC. this American reprint, the writer ventures to think that the book was one which could very well have stood alone, on its original merits ; and tbis so much the more, inasmuch as additions to and emendations of a professional treatise would ordinarily require to come from professional hands. It is true the subject is "Stable Economy"; but the teaching of this had been based on and derived from trained and experienced attainments in veterinary science. Again, the animadversions of the preface, upon Professor Stewart's lack of chemical knowledge, could have been spared. This question in no way was involved; and, moreover, any inferences of chemistry, throughout the volume, have been made in a popular or practical vein. The editor is per- haps a profound chemist, and, still, it may be no lees true that chemical research sometimes refines in its conclusions too far. As this gentle- man has predicated, " sugar" is abundant of " carbon," and deficient of " ni- trogen," and nitrogenous aliment seems to be denoted for forming muscle. But this elementary question was hardly germane to the experiment with sugar referred to by Prof. Stewart; ?nd m ire, it would be difficult to gainsay the fact th-^t the negroes on Southern plantations are found to thrive most, and to prove most vigorous, during the period of their hardest labor, at the harvesting and boiling of the sugar crop. In raising and feeding stock, likewise, the value of sugar, as an article of food, has become well and economically known to agriculturists. Still, it is not intended, nor can this rebut the more accurate chemistry of the editor; only, sometimef^, one is inclined to exclaim of animadversions, " Here is too litile bread to all this sack !" However, the wish to be acknowledged to know besets us all ; and let us only tell what we really know, and no more than we do know, and we shall instruct and benefit each other. Violations of this rule have been the fertile parents of no end of errors, equally in science and fact. Those opportunities of practical information relating to horses and stable economy, by which the editor appears to have so well availed, merit every respectful consideration ; yet it is all a long way oft' from attaining to be the veterinarian. Neither natural talent, however aided by general education, nor the best and shrewdest observation of fact and incident, or of daily in- tercourse with horses, can confer veterinary knowledge, though assuredly yielding valuable adjunctives. If the theory of any science must be of un- certain value, until tested by application or practice, equally and more so are practices halt and blind — unreliable — until cognate of and grafted on due and proper theory. Only combined principles and practices, each in harmony with the other, can fix laws and establish confidence, in a manner to found a claim to be installed in the temple of science. Any one may take up and foster crude opinions, or follow up certain practices, and plausibly term these medical or surgical ; but wheth<^r this be in relation to man or horses, it is far more than likely that both opinions and practices may come under a similar category, and the one be erroneous, while the other is hurtful. To become a veterinarian, and entitled to decide on veterinary facts and exigen- cies, demands a studious and systematised acquaintance with those laws and influences that regulate animal life and structure, and well discriminated investigation of healthy and morbid conditions. A French axiom may not be inapt, and is certainly expressive : " Qui ditDocteur, ne dit pas xm homme Docte, raais un homme qui devroit etre Docte," or, " to say doctor, is not always to say a learned man, but who ought always to be a learned man." On an occasion where a young veterinarian was giving evidence in a law case, arising out of lameness of a horse, the opposite evidence wr.s that of an old farrier, erudite in veterinary medicine because he had long shod REMARKS ON FOUNDER, ETC. 477 horses. The judge having summed up on the side of the veterinarian, the jury found accordingly, and greatly to the amazement of old Vulcan. He vowed the verdict was unfair, was a mistake ; — what could that young fellow, bred in a college, know ? But he — himself — he knew all about horses ; had been about them all his life ; was born a horse doctor, for his father had been a horse doctor, and his grandfather a horse doctor before him ! Neither judge nor jury, however, had any faith in this heritage of veterinary wisdom. The editor, in his preface, expresses a strong impression of the diflference of management required for horses, in consequence of the difference of climate and food of the two countries. The writer from what he has seen of both countries, is unable to recognize any marked difference. The m()re perfected care and stable disciplme, and the improved shoeing of horses in Britain, would be attended with high advantages if introduced here. As to food, except that the British animal never partakes of Indian corn or f *dder, there are small differences otherwise. The greater dryness of the climate is much in favor of the horses of this country. In fact, America is qualified to produce the finest horses of the world ; for while her varieties of soil fit ber ibr either raising the heavy draft horse or the fleet courser, from the dryness of atmosphere she is peculiarly adapted for raising the latter. In this respect she possesses those advantages which have mainly conferred on the desert Arab his fine form, compacted tissues, speed, and unrivaled hardihood. What this country now esigently wants is a sufficient supply of the right kind of blood sire horses. The mongrels now supplying in every district the place of pure lineaged, or thorough -bred stud horses,are fast deteriorating those other mixed or general breeds, so invaluable to every nation ; and this will soon utterly root out the fine foundations laid by the early introduction of English turf horses. That due attention to obtaining the blood horse, of fine form and undoubted purity of race, is so utterly neglected, is a deplorable reflection. Recurring to importations firstly, and gradually, thereafter, raising a supply of this class of horse, for his especial stud purposes, can alone provide a sure remedy; and farmers' clubs and agricul- tural associations would act wisely by uniting to import a well selected stud horse, or horses, for their own respective districts. It would be an invest- ment which would pay twenty-fold over the employment of an equal fund in any other direction, and would prove an individual, state, and national boon. The writer would have much satisfaction in aiding any such move- ment, by his experience, or advising, or cooperating. In regard to the effects of dryness of climate, there is an attendant draw- back to shod or stabled horses, which inattention renders serious. In a horse's so artificial state, the horny covering of the foot — the hoof — is apt to become altogether too dry, hard, and inelastic. This evil is augmented by extreme dryness of atmosphere ; and the confinement of that needful, but baneful defense, the shoe, greatly aggravates the mischief. Here it is that plank floors, as being bad conductors of heat, are objt^ctionable. But for this, plank flooring (at least for the stalls,) when judiciously arranged for carrying off the urine, etc., is excellent. And if the hoofs are skillfully prepared for the shoe, and the latter is good in form and properly adjusted, and if, at the same time, proper stable care is resorted to, for the purpose of keeping the horn of the fore-feet cool and supple, — then, neither plank floors, stabled life, nor shoeing, need impair the feet, or produce chronic foot lame- ness. There are, however, more horses suffering from foot lameness in New- York, than in any other part of the globe among three-fold the same aggre- 478 REMARKS ON FOUNDER, ETC. gate number of horses. It is chronic foot lameness, and the miserable form, and fitting of the shoes, that occasion the terrible falls and injuries to horses, daily seen on Broadway. The Russ pavement is very smooth, but still, souud horses, in proper shoes, will never fall on it in the manner now daily done by hundreds. These allusiuns to the hoofs and shoes lead to a reference to the editor's objection to hoof-ointments. The judicious use of an eligible kind of an oiotment for the hoofs, the writer contends, is serviceable. The best is perhaps equal parts of tar and tallow, melted together, and kept for use in ajar. A thin brushinaj of this over the soles, bars, frogs, and walls, once a week, and for strong feet twice a week, is recommended. On the other days, the fore-feet should be stopped with pads of tow, kept moist, and a spongeful of water should be frequently squeezed over the hoofs. When a horse is to be taken to be re shod, the tar dressing should be invariably applied over night, and the shoeing smith can then use his drawing-knife in a proper manner, and prepare the hoofs for the shoes as this ought to be done ; that is if this operative, who has so much to do with the best value and utility of every horse at work, be in possession of the right knowledge and skill, but which is indeed a rare event. I now speak of Foun^ler. It is necessary first to ascertain what may- be meant by a term, which is a truly absurd one, derived from the horse- doctoring school. Some speak of chest founder, and some of two kinds of foot founder. The former idea is the product of ignorance, which assumes an etiect for a cause. The .shrunken state of the pectoral muscles, the wired- iu shoulders, and contracted cavity of the front of the thorax or chest, which are supposed to constitute the disease, are all, and in every case, effects from long protracted pain in the fore-feet — chronic foot lameness. A horse suffering from this so universal curse of stabling and shoeing, to wit,y contraction, coffin-joint lameness, navicular-joint disease, etc., ceases to go free in his action, and bend his knees ; does not exert his muscular forces, or give them their full and rounded play; and goes near, or toeing the ground, and short in gait in every way. He may not drop at all in-his step, unless the feeling is only in one foot, which is not usually the case ; and, hence, does not seem lame to the unpractised eye. The consequence of this is, in not a few cases, that the unexerted muscles, outside and inside the shoulders, fall away ; the circulation through the lungs being decreased, the expansion of these organs becomes proportionally diminished, and the chest, at the brisket, falls in ; and, in time, the fore-quarters altogether acquire that wasted look to which the sapient term " che^t founder" has been applied. In this country it is also called " sweeny," an Irish piece of euphony. By some, again, the contracted hoof, and attendant chronic foot lameness, have been termed founder. But what is more ordinarily so termed is the permanent result of a very acute disease, viz., " fever in the feet," or more properly " laminitis." It was to the altered condition of the feet, which frequently follows an attack of laminitis, that the term founder appears to have been originally used ; and when the veterinarian adopts the phrase, it is in this peculiar sense. In the cases indicated, the animal tresds with the toe of the hoof turned up ; the horn of the sole is flat or purai.?eJ, and re- sembling in appearance the outside of an oyster shell; and in front of the hoof seems as if caved in. It was to laminitis and its sequelae, founder, that Professor Stewart was adverting, where the editor so curtly differs in opinion. Reference was made to only one phase of laminitis, and its conse- quences, founder, viz., whore the occasion of the fever might have been indiges- REMARKS ON FOUNDER, ETC. 479 tion of food, and a gorged stomach. This is not a frequent cause ; but if in- flammatory action is going on in the coats of ihe stomach, and there is hkewise Jocal congestion from the orgau being gorged with food, a revulsion of inflammation to the highly vascular laminated structure of the hoofs is, medically speaking, a probable enough result. Any one acquainted with the anatomy of the foot and the specific dis- ease which occasions its lapse to the peculiar condition designated founder, would readily comprehend the professor's limited remark, as applicable to his then subject; but which was otherwise hurried and loose. It may not be amiss to seize the present opportunity, and present a brief description of the laminated structure of the foot, together with this acute fever to which the same is liable, and its so frequent consequence, founder. The external surface of the horse's foot, or, as more usually termed, the coffin-bone, is covered with a half muscular half membranous structure, de- nominated the sensitive or elastic laminae. This presents a serits of leaf- like edges, something like the plaits on the surface of some paper lamp- shades, but far more minute and numerous. This structure is very vascular, and it circulates an extraordinary amount of arterial blood. On the inner surface of the horny coveimg of the foot — the hoof — there is a reverse series of plaits, of a half horny half ligamentous texture, resembling the inner side of a mushroom. These plaits, on the outer or convex surface of the coffin-bone, are interlaced or locked with those lining the inner or concave surface of the hoof; and on this union, or combination, every horstt's weight and action is wholly suspended and hinged. There are about five hundred of these elastic plaits or laminae to each foot, and they may be likened to minute coach-springs. From the numerous blood vessels and nervous sensibility of this structure, and the extraordinary ten- sion it is subjected to in long continued exertion, it is very apt to undergo in- flammatory attacks. The sraallness of hoof of so large an animal renders any greater influx of blood or inflammatory tendency very dangerous in so confined a cavity, and this is much increased by hard and unyielding states of the horn, and the binding of its iron defense, or shoe. Laminitis, or fever of the feet, is a violent inflammatory attack of the laminae; usually of the fore-feet, but sometimes all round. This usually runs an acute course of from twenty to forty hours, terminating either by resolution (cure), suppuration, or death. Suppuration is a very common result. When this ensues, the union between the sensitive laminae and those of the inner surface of the hoof is dissolved, or relaxes, and the coffin-bone being no longer fully suspended, sinks down on the horny sole. If the violence of the fever now abates, and the animal should survive, lymph is efi"used between the laminated plaits, and they are retained together ; but no lunger elastic. The coffin-bone remains resting on the horny sole, and the hoof presents all the appearances described above. This is what has been termed Founder. The causes of laminitis are most usually long- con tinned exertion, followed by muscular exhaustion, and attended by excessive excitement of the heart and arterial system. As already observed, in reference to affections of the stomach, it is not unfrequently the result of revulsion or translation of iijflammatory action from other organs; or what, in medical language, is technically called " metastasis." The writer has seen it supervene from infl-immations of the bowels or lungs, and on occasions from influenzal fever, when this has run high, and threatened to center in the lungs. It is a disease which requires instant and the most active treatment. John C. Ralston. 480 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. LEPIDOPTERA. We now come to this, the fourth natural order of insects. It comprises caterpillars, butterflies, moths, etc., and forms a very numerous and destruc- tive agency. No insects do so much injury as catterpillars. They multiply with great rapidity, and are exceedingly voracious. Each female li^ys from two hundred to five hundred eggs. There are several hundred varieties, and all subsist on vegetable food. Caterpillars difler greatly in form, but certain characteristics are common to most of them. The name Lepidoptera means scaly wiugs, and under a magnifier the floury appearance of these membranes appear to be scales like those of fishes. They are more or less cylindrical, with twelve rings, and from ten to sixteen legs. They have a shelly head. The first three pairs of legs are shelly, jointed, and armed with a claw. The other legs are without joints, but furnished at their extremities with minute hooks. They have six small eyes on each side of the head, two short anten- na3, and strong jaws or nippers. The insect spins its web through a littlo conical tube in the middle of the lower lip. The substance of the web is contained in fluid form in two bags within their bodies. Some caterpillars are solitary in their habits, and others herd together in great numbers. Some live sheltered on the stems of plants, others on the leaves, concealed by webs or by rolling up the leaf; others live in the ground, issuing from it only for food. Caterpillars change their skins three or four times while they are growing. Previous to their first transformation they cease eating, and spin a cocoon about themselves, or envelop themselves with bits of leaves, grains of earth or of wood. Some suspend themselves by their web, remaining uacuvcred. Others go through their transformations under ground. Escaping from this covering they become a pupa or chrysalis, and are apparently without heads or limbs. But traces of a head, antennae, wings, legs, etc., may be discovered pressed closely to the body. In this state they take no food, and remain perfectly at rest. After a while the chrysalis begins to contract, and is rent, jand a head, antennas and body of a butterfly or moth issue; and ere long the insect acquires strength and power of flight, etc. Their butterfly life is very short. Flitting from flower to flower, they pair, lay their eggs, and become a prey to other insects or die a natural death. Lepidoptera arc arranged in three classes, called butterflies, hawk-moths, and moths. These terms correspond to the genera Papilio, Sjnnx and Fhnlcena of Linnaeus. The following characteristics distinguish these genera. The butterfly has threadlike antennte, knotted at the end ; the fore- wings of a part, and all the wings of others are elevated perpendicularly and turned back to back, when at rest. Their legs are sixteen in number, and on the hind-legs are two little spurs. They fly only by day. The wings of the true butterfly are upright when at rest ; the skippers carry their fore-wings up- right, the hind-wings being nearly horizontal when at re?t. Skippers fly but a short distance at a time, with a jerking motion. They frequent grassy places, low bushes and thickets. Hawk-moths (Sphinges) have their antenna; thickened in the middle, tapering at each end, and often booked. The wings are narrow in propor- MATEEIAIjS USED IN THE ARTS. 481 tion to their length, having a bunch of hairs on the shoulder of each hind- wing. All the wings are inclined like a roof, when at rest, the upper ones covering the lower. On the hind-legs are two pair of spurs. Some fly by day, most of them in the morning and evening twilight. The hawk-moth is so called from their habit of hovering in the air while taking their food. They are sometimes called sphinges, or sphinxes, from a fancied resemblance to the Egyptian sphinx. They support themselves by their four or six hmd-legs, elevate the forepart of the body, and remain in that position for hours. When they reach the winged state, they are some- times called humming-bird moths, from the noise which they make in flying. In the moth (phala3n;e) the antennae are neither knobbed at the end nor thickened in the middle, but taper from the base to the extremity, sometimes naked and sometimes feathered on each side. The wings are confined to- gether by bristles and hooks, the first pair covering the hind-wings, and sloping when at rest. Two pairs of spurs are attached to the hind legs. They fly mostly by night. They are sometimes called millers, and include those pests of the house called moths. They vary very much in size, form, color, and structure. The owl-moth expands eleven inches ; others are very minute, especially those with gilded wings. It is impossible even to enumerate the entire list of species of these insects which are found in this country. We must therefore attempt only a concise description of certain insects of peculiar interest, and some of those which infest particular plants ; and even this can be done only in a very imperfect manner. FOR THB PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL OF THE MATERIALS USED IN THE ARTS. I. FROM THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. There are various kinds of wood used in the arts, consisting of the woody portion of the trunks of trees, which are formed by layers of a hard sub- stance, strengthened by tubular cells between, for the purpose of conveying the sap, which is the life of the tree, through its branches. The outer layers are more open, and consequently they are more perishable than the inner layers, which are harder, and are called the heart-wood. The bark of the tree is used for tanning leather, for coloring, etc. Oak is the most valuable for timber, and consists in something like twenty species in the United States and Canada. The Uve oak of the South {Quer- cus Virens) is prized in ship-building beyond any other timber, for dura- bility and strength. The white oak, (Quercus alba,) is used for ship-build- ing also, and for mill work, house frames and machinery where strength is required ; for wagons, parts of carriages, ploughs, and various other imple- ments of agriculture. The yellow oak, {Quercus tinctoria,) is considered n-ext to the white for durability and strength. The bark of this furnishes the quercitron used for coloring. The other kinds of oak — red oak, black oak, gray oak, swamp oak, post oak, and chestnut oak, and various other species, are considered valuable for the arts. Hickory. — There are several kinds. The pignut, {Juglans porcina) is 31 482 MATERIALS USED IN THE AETS. considered the best for axe and hammer handles, and all other handles re- quiring fetreogth, for cogs or teeth for wheels, for wagon and cart-axles, as the gruin is close and smooth. The red heart, {Juglans laeiniata,) the shell bark, {Juglans squamosa,) are more open grained ; consequently are not so ofood ia the arts, as it decays in the weather very soon. Ash. — White ash, (^Fraxinus Americana^ and some other species, are very useful in the arts, the wood being strong and elastic, tough and light, durable and permanent in its dimensions ; is commonly used for carriages, wagons, and various kinds of machinery, and of great use for oars, hand- spikes, blocks, etc., for vessels. 'Ehyi, [Ulmus Americana,) is of great value for cart and wagon hubs (naves,) as it is tough and not apt to crack or split. Wild Cherry, [Prunus Virginia,) is of a deep color ; is very useful in cabinet work. Being stained with a strong alkali renders it almost as dark as mahogany. Chestnut, [Castanea vesca B,) is a large tree of rapid growth, coarse grained and porous, very liable to warp, easy to split. It is used for light timber, for house-frames, such as stud, rafters, and sometimes for sills of buildings. It is very durable in the weather, is valuable for fences and for posts. It should be set top downwards for posts, as it then lasts much longer. It is also charred for charcoal. Beech, {Fagus ferruginea,) is one of our best kinds of wood. It is very hard and smooth, is used for planes and moulding tools, chisel handles, and various uses where hardness and smoothness is required. It is not very durable in the weather. Basswood, [Tilia Americana^ is a very fine grained wood, soft and light,^ and flexible. It is used by cabinet makers and carriage makers for pannels, etc., for which its flexibility makes it well suited. Tulip Tree, (Liriodendron tulipifera.) This wood generally goes by the name of lohite wood, and sometimes by the name of poplar. It is fine grained and smooth, but not durable in the weather. It is very apt to warp. It is mostly used for furniture and wagon bodies, and frequently for joiner work inside of a house. It paints very handsomely. Maple. — Rock maple, {^Acer Saccharinum^ also several other species, are hard, smooth, and compact. It is used for gun-stocks, bedsteads, and vari- ous kinds of machinery. The curled maple and birdseye make beautiful furniture by staining it with diluted svilphuric acid and a coating of varnish. It makes excellent fuel when dry. The sap of rock maple boiled down makes sugar. Birch. — The white birch, (Betula papyracea,) is similar to maple, only harder. The Indians make their canoes out of the bark of this tree. The lesser white birch, {B. p)opulifolia,) is a tree of but little value, except to make charcoal. The bark of the black birch, {B. lenta,) is very aromatic ; the wood is very firm and compact, of a dark color, of much value for furni- ture, for screws, and sometimes for joiners' planes. It is very strong. The yellow birch, [B. lutea) is very similar to the black except in color. Black Walnut, {Juglans nigra,) is valuable for many uses. Its heart is very dark, resembling the color of the violet, and is frequently used for fur- niture and for finishing the inside of churches. It is very durable when ex- posed to the weather. It is very tenacious, and when perfectly seasoned is not liable to crack and warp. Hornbeam. — There are several species of trees in the United States, under the names of peperage, sweet gum, and horn-beam.. Their wood is very smooth SAXE-GOTH^A CONSPICUA. 483 grained, and very remarkable for the interweaving of the fibers, v?hich renders it almost impossible to split the logs. It is sometimes used for the naves of wheels, hatters' blocks, and implements requiring lateral tenacity. ESTABAN. SAXE-GOTH^A COXSPICUA. This remarkable plant, to which his Royal Highness Prince Albert has been pleased to permit one of his titles to be given, and which will probably rank among the most highly valued of our hardy evergreen trees, is a native of the mountains of Patagonia, where it was found by Mr. William Lobb, forming a beautiful tree 30 feet high. In the nursery of Messrs. Veitch, of Exeter, it has lived in the open air four years without shelter, and has all the appearance of bein^' well adapted to the climate of England. The country in which it grows is, indeed, more stormy and cold than any part of Great Britain, as is stiown by the following account of it, given by Mr. Lobb JQ one of his letters to Messrs. Veitch : "During my absence I visited a great part of Chiloe, most of the islands m the Archipelago, and the coast of Patagonia for about 140 miles. I went up the Corcobado, Caylin, Alman, Comau, Reloncavi, and other places on the coast, frequently making excursions from the level of the sea to the line of perpetual snow. These bays generally run to the base of the central ridge of the Andes, and the rivers take their rise much further back in the interior. The whole country, from the Andes to the sea, is formed of a succession of ridges of mountains gradually rising from the sea to the central ridge. The whole is thickly wooded from the base to the snow line. Ascending the Andes of Comau, I observed from the water to a considerable elevation the forest is composed of a variety of trees, and a sort of cane so thickly matted together that it formed almost an impenetrable jungle. Farther up, among the melting snows, vegetation becomes so much stunted in growth, that the trees, seen below 100 feet high and 8 feet in diameter, only attain the height of 6 inches. " On reaching the summit no vegetation exists — nothing but scattered bar- O JTi O ren rocks which appear to rise among the snow, which is 30 feet in depth, and frozen so hard that on walking over it the foot makes but a slight im- pression. " To the east, as far as the eye can command, it appears perfectly level. To the south, one sees the central ridge of the Andes stretching along for an immense distance, and covered with perpetual snow. To the west, the whole of the islands, from the Guaytecas to the extent of the Archipelago, is evenly and distinctly to be seen. " A little below this elevation the scenery is also singular and grand. Rocky precipices stand like perpendicular walls from 200 to 300 feet in height, over which roll the waters from the melting snows, which appear to the eye like lines of silver. Sometimes these waters rush down with such force that rocks of many tons in weight are precipitated from their lofty stations to the depth of 2000 feet. In the forest below everything appears calm and tranquil ; scarcely the sound of an animal is heard ; sometimes a few butter- 484 SAXE-GOTH.EA COKSPICUA. Fig. A. BRANCil OF SAXE-GOTH^A CONSFICUA. flies and beetles meet the eye, but not a house or a human being is seen. On the sandy tracts near the river, the lion or puma is frequently to be met with ; but this animal is perfectly harmless if not attacked." $^i It is from this -wild and uninhabited country that many of the fine plants raised by Messrs. Veitch were obtained, and among them the Saxe-Gothcca, S AXE-GOTH^ A CONSPICUA. •±8i Podocarpus nuhigena, Fitz Roya Patagonica, and Libocedrus ietragona. Of these lie writes thus : " The two last {Fitz-Roya and Libocedrus) I never saw below the snow line. The former inhabits the rocky precipices, and the latter the swampy places between the mountains. The first grows to an enormous size, par- ticularly about the winter snow line, where I have seen trees upwards of 100 feet high, and more than eight feet in diameter. It may be traced from this elevation to the perpetual snows, where it is not more than 4 inches in height. With these grow the Yews [Saxe-Gothoea and Podocarpus nubi- gena,) which are beautiful evergreen trees, and, as well as the others, afford excellent timber." Fig. B. FRUCTIFICATION OF SAXE-GOTH^A. Saxe-Gothtca may be descril ed as a genus with the male flowers of a Podocarp, the females of a Dammar, the fruit of a Juniper, the seed of a 486 SAXE-GOTHiEA CONSPICUA. Dacrydium, and tlie habit of a Yew. Its fleshy fruit, composed of consoli- dated scales, enclosing nut-like seed, and forming what is technically called a Galbulus, places it near Juniperus, from which it more especially differs in not being peltate, nor its fruit composed of a single whorl of perfect scales, and its ovule having two integuments intead of one. In the last respect it approaches Podocarpus, and especially Dacrydium ; but the exterior integu- ment of the seed is a ragged abortive membrane, enveloping the base only of the seed, instead of a well-defined cup. In a memorandum in my pos- session, by Sir William Hooker, I find the distinguished botanist comparing SaxeGothaja to a Podocarp with the flowers in a cone — a view which he was probably led to take by the condition of the ovule, and which may be regarded as the most philosophical mode of understanding the nature of this singular genus ; to which Nageia may be said to be a slight approach, and which is not distinguishable by habit from a Podocarp. In its systematic relations Saxe-Gotheea possesses great interest, forming as it does a direct transition from the one-flowered Taxads to the true im- bricated Conifers, without, however, breaking down the boundary between those orders, as I understand them, but rathef confirming the propriety of limiting the Coniferous orders to those genera which really bear cones in- stead of single naked seeds. In the language of some naturalists, Saxe- Gotb?ea would be called an osculant genus between Taxads and Conifers. The leaves of this plant have altogether the size and general appearance of the English Yew (yaaras baccata) ; but they are glaucous underneath, except the midrib and two narrow stripes within the edges, which are a pale- green. The male flowers consist of spikes appearing at the ends of the branches, in a raceme more or less elongated. These spikes (tig. B, 1) grow from within a few concave acute scales, which form a kind of involucre at the base. Each male is a solitary membraneous anther, with a lanceolate, acuminate, reflexed appendage, and a pair of parallel cells opening longitu- dinally. The female flowers form a small, roundish, pedunculated, terminal, scaly imbricated cone (fig. B, 3.) The scales are fleshy, firm, lanceolate, and contracted at their base, where they unite into a solid center. All appear to be fertile, and to bear in a niche in the middle, where the contraction is a single inverted ovule (fig. B, 4.) The ovule is globular, with two integu- ments beyond the nucleus ; the outer integument is loose and thin, and wraps round the ovule in such a way that its two edges cannot meet on the underside of the ovule ;* the second integument is firm and fleshy ; the nucleus is flask-shaped, and protrudes a fungous circular expansion through the foramen. The fruit (fig. B, 5) is formed by the consolidation of the free scales of the cone into a solid fleshy mass of a depressed form and very ir- regular surface, owing to many of the scales being abortive, and crushed by those whose seeds are able to swell ; while the ends of the whole retain their original form somewhat, are free, rather spiny, and constitute so many tough, sharp tubercles. The seed (fig. B, G) is a p>ile-brown, shining, ovate, brittle nut, with two very s'ight eievated lines, and a large irregular hilium; — " s ' ~~~~~~" ■ * Since this was written, Sir W. Hooker has placed in my hands a sketch of th© anatomy of the female flowers of Saxe-Goth.nea, by Mr. B. Clark, who describes the ovule thus: "Its ovule has the same structure as that of Gnetum, as described by Mr. Griffith, viz. : it has three integuments ; the internal protrudes, and forms a soit of stigma, not so obvious as in Gnetum ; the external has constantly a fissure on its posterior, or rather inferior surface, which, however, does not close as in Gnetum when the ovule advances in growth, nor yet becomes succulent. Mr. Griffith describes the fissure in the external integument of Gnetum as constantly posterior; and if the ovules of the strobilus were erect, they would agree with Gnetum in this particular." MACHINERY AND METALS AT PARIS EXHIBITION. 487 at the base it is invested with a short, thin, ragged membrane, which is the outer integument to its final condition. The nucleus lies half free in the in- terior, the fungous apex having shriveled up and disappeared. Explanation of the Cuts. — A, a branch with male and female flower- natural size ; B, various details of the fructifications, more or less magnified ; 1, a spike of male flowers; 2, a male or anther part; 3, a twig and youno- cone; 4, a scale seen from the inside with the inverted ovule, showincr the fungous foramen protruding beyond the primine (outer integument) ; 5, a ripe fruit ; 6, a seed showing the two slight elevations upon the surface, and the remains of the ragged primine at the base. — Journal London Hor- ticultural Society. Machinery and Metals at the Paris Exhibition. — An American iron- master in Paris informs us that the French made a great display of steam- engines, iron planing machines, large tools, marine propellers, etc., and that they were mostly defective — curious, but not like American machinery, which is simple. Some of them were monstrosities. For instance, their fine- finished steam engines were badly proportioned, with a small and large C} Un- der to do what one would accomplish better than two. Strange to say, their propeller eogines are geared, even those used in the 100 gun war- steamers. The same is true of British engines for the same class of vessels. They say that direct action engines have such large journals that the wear of the boxes is too great, and they find it better to gear them. At the same time they admit that there is often a total smash of their cog-wheels. The show of metals in the Exposition was very extensive. They were wonders in the way of the sizes of masses, bars and sheets of iron. The English seemed to excel here the other Euruprtans. Yet some French sam- ples were very interesting and nearly equal to the Eaglish. I saw bars of railroad iron from 80 to 90 feet long, sheets 30 feet long, 6 feet wide, and half an inch thick. Some of the Prussian works in cast steel were wonder- ful. One mass weighed 11,000 pounds. In coals there was no show worthy of an American's attention. The samples were poor ;;nd thin. There is no coal in Europe that will compare with ours. Ttiere were few ores like our magnetic varieties on exhibition. Ah ! if we Americans only appreciated the elements of a national superioiity, over all the people of the world, which God has niauted in our soil our cHmate, deep in our earth, and in our running waters, if we only used them with a wise national economy, how wealthy and how powerful we would be. By-the-by, have I said that neither the English nor tiie French can, hs far as I have observed, teach us anything in the great business of making iron ? — Albany Eve. Jour. An Enormous Room. — The largest reading lOom in the world is now nearlj completed, in the British Museum. It s circular, 140 feet in diam- eter, and 140 feet in height. The tables will ai c mmodate nearly four hun- dred readers. The wrought iron book-cases will contain 102,000 volumes. The cost of the room will be about $300,000. 488 SCYTHE MAKING. FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. SCYTHE MAKING. BY DANIEL JAY SPRAGUE, However luucli the advancement of mechanical arts may be indebted to the increase of knowledge which characterizes our age, and to ita newly de- veloped skill, invention, and application, it is not much less indebted to the comparatively modern institution of Division of Labor. Every department of business whicii calls forth human industry, whether mechanical or professional, is subject to this improvement. We do not ex- pect lo see the same person officiating both in the capacity of clergyman and lawypr, or astronomer and geologist, philosopher and mechanic, no more ia the mechanical than in the mental world, should a single individual be ex- pected to fulfill the duties of all departments. One studies the laws of me- chanics, another the application ; one forms the surgeon's knife, another puts the same in use. This is so common and so much in accordance with ones own sense of propriety and economy, that we do not observe in these arrangements of professions, studies, and employments, a division of labor. Yet its existence is none the less true. The field of knowledge is so rich and boundless that we should esteem a man beside himself did he think to make any profession especially bis own and yet to become an adept in every other. Life is too short and art too long for man to make himself master of all the avenues of knowledge. Did he consider this a necessary preparation for the duties of life, he would find his three score years and ten to have passed away long before he was fitted for the arena of action. I knew of a gentleman who had graduated at two American colleges, and had for several years studied botany in this and foreign countries ; yet, notwithstanding he was one of the first scholars of the age, said he did not consider himself competent to take the entire professorship of a single species of bulbous plants. By division of labor the time which is lost in learning an entire department of manufacture is lessened, and the amount of productive labor which a man in his life may effect much increased. Division of labor advances the quality of that which is produced, since continued attention to one department gives greater perfection in that de- partment. It also, by confining ones attention to a single portion of manu- facture, leads to new inventions to shorten the process, and save time, labor, and expense. As in philosophical investigations, if one individual gives his whole mind and attention for years to a single department he attains a greater degree of knowledge, delves to a deeper, profounder depth, and brings from the more obscure veins richer thoughts than he who but skims the surface, or turns his mind now to this and now to that study ; so in mechanics let a pei^son give his attention to one operation, and he will not only perform that more perfectly, but will also suggest some method to shorten the time, or some invention by which machines shall perform the labor of the hands, and thus, perhaps, will open a new field of employment to other individuals. The adoption of the principles of division of labor has been for years past con- SCYTHE MAKING. 489 tinually on the increase. The pin, the needle, the lock, and the loom, though formerly each was produced by the labor of a single individual, must now pass through its score or more hands before they are finished and prepared for use. Thus, by an instrumentality which at first thought may appear compara- tively trivial, great results in the mechanical arts are with ease acccomplished, and each new invention or operation becomes a fresh testimonial that ours is an age of progress. I have been led to these remarks on division of labor by recently noticing a practical application of the principles to the manufacture of scythes, by A. V. Blanchard, of Palmer, Mass. A partial description of the manufac- tory I will attempt to give : The first process in scythe makinof is called the welding process ; it con- sists of two pieces of steel, each of which is about three-fourths of an inch wide and three inches long, the one of cast-steel, for the back, to stiffen and give strength ; the other of German steel for the edge. These are placed side by side, and folded in a piece of iron six inches in length and two in width ; thus making the metal which constitutes one scythe to be a mass about three inches in length, two in width, and one and a half thick, weigh- ing less than a pound. Since a mass of these dimensions would be inconvenient and almost im- possible to shape under the triphammer, which is the only kind used in forging the scythe, it is not cut from the bar of iron in which the steel is folded till it has first been drawn to about two feet in length, and is then in such a shape as can be conveniently handled. This little rod of iron and steel is then passed in an exceedingly rough state to a second class of hands called the jointers. It is their duty to smooth it in a degree from the indentations of the first process under a lighter hammer and draw to about three feet in length, leaving the whole thickness equal to the back of the instrument when finished. By the folding of the steel in the iron a twofold advantage is gained, viz., the steel and iron are more readily incorporated in one mass, and the steel is brought into the center of the scythe where it is needed, having the iron oe both sides to give it shape and strength. Thus along the edge of the whole rod may be distinctly seen, by the difference of the metal, the steel inclosed by the iron. The upper corner of the rod is then cut off, making it slightly pointed, when it is ready for the third process called plaiting. This consists in drawing to a proper thinness the web, as it is called, which includes all except the back, and in shaping the back giving to it the form and curvature of the instrument, first suggestive of what is being constructed. There must here be exercised no little skill to properly reduce the thickness of the metal and yet preserve the just relations throughout, since it might easily be distorted so that the steel would be almost entirely exposed, or separated from the iron, and consequently one part of the instrument might cut well and another part possess little of the cutting qualities. When a proper thinness is attained the fitters curve the blade, which is the fourth process of manufacture, and it is ready for the next class of hands. After plaiting and fitting, the back is set up. This is done by a singularly- contrived double hammer. It is so formed that the weightier part of the hammer, having its configurations reciprocal to those of the anvil, as it falls gives the particular inclination desired to the middle portion between the edge and the back, while another part, by the elevation of the fir.st and by the motion of the beam to which the hammer is attached is drawn up, as it 490 SCYTHE MAKING. were, against the anvil, and tlius turns up the baclc nearly at a right angle. By this means, from a flat bar of steel, that which seems to be the most dif- ficult pait in the construction of the scytlie is accomplished by a single blow. This process in tlie manufacture is called, from the large share v/hich it per- forms, the finishing process, since it nearly finishes the shape of the part be- tween the heel and point. These yet remain straight. The sixth process consists in finishing the point, twisting it up or down, as needs be, so that it shall be straight with the edge, and also in turning the heel and claw, by which it is fastened to the snath. The name of the man- ufacturer and the kind of scjthe is then stamped on by the action of a sin- gle die. The scythe is now forged, and the shape complete. Several attempts have been made to diminish the amount of labor and shorten the time required for the construction, but as yet none have proved successful. A gentleman is now studying to invent a machine by which these results shall be accomplished. His success or failure remains yet to be demonstrated. The next process is hardening and tempering. In common usage these words have the same signification, whereas in reality their meaning is quite different. The hardening is efiected by heating the scythe to a red heat, and then suddenly cooHng by dropping into water. This makes the metal ex- tremely hard and brittle. It is like glass, which, though much harder than our cutlery, has notwithstanding little of the cutting qualities. Therefore were they prepared for use in this condition, they would be of little value. They must, be tempered, or, as the word itself denotes, toughened, so that the edge will not so easily break out. After hardening, and before tempering, I noticed that the workman pound- ed the edge and broke from each scythe a small piece near the heel and point. The object of this, he said, was to see the steel and examine its quality, I learned also that the fineness of all steel depends not alone on the ore of which it was made, but upon the hammering and proper working of the metal. A good workman may obtain from poor ore as good and perhaps better metal than a poor workman can from the very best. In mantifacturiijg well-wrought steel, it is first "heated to v,bat is called white heat, and then hammered till cold. It is then heated a little more than red, and hammered till cold. Afterward it is heated again to a still lower degree, a cherry red or pink heat, and then hanamered as before till cold ; the number of different heats and hammerings giving to the metal its finer or coarser qualit)\ Thus, thouarht I, not unfrequently is it with man- kind— the best metal is that which has been the most pounded. The process of hardening may be performed at any time, and requires comparatively but little skill ; but tempering requires not only a good degree of knowledge of the art, for such it may be styled, but also much skill and experience, and is best accomplished in the night-time or in a dark room. Scythes are tempered by drawing them back and forth over a hot fiie till ihe steel assumes a certain reddish tinge, readily discerned by the workman, : hough it cannot bp easily described. They are then permitted gradually to cool, which fixes the temper a little lower than when first taken from the tire. The hardening process leaves the temper too high ; the second heating- draws down or lowers it. Color is not the only test of temper, but it may be ascertained in many other way's. Sometimes they are heated to such a degree that when spit upon it will roll oft' like oil, without noise ; or, when a drop of water is let tall upon it, there will be given a peculiar snapping sound. Another method SCYTHE MAKING. 491 is to heat to such a degree that oil, when poured on them, will just blaze. There are several other different modes, each perhaps peculiar to each me- chanic. The Damascus sword-blades, which have a world-wide celebrity for their temper or toughness, were tempered by heating them to a cherry red heat, and then were taken into the open air and swung around till cold. The quaUty of the s'.eel, however, was also superior to that of the present day. It is related that the method in which this peculiar temper was first learned was, like very many other discoveries, entirely by accident. An old commander, who had lost his sword in battle, went to the manu- facturer, and in great haste ordered another to be immediately made. It was no sooner forged than he seized it, while yet hot, and mounting his steed, continually flourished the sword over his head till cold. It was after- wards found to possess a temper superior to any before made, and conse- quently suggested this mode of tempering, which subsequently became of very general use throughout that country. There are many different kinds of temper, each tool requiring one of its own. To razors and surgical instruments is given the highest, to the axe and chisel a lower, and to springs the lowest. Scythes require a temper nearly as high as that of a razor, but the quality of the steel is inferior ; conse- quently to obtain an even temper through the entire length of so long a cutting instrument is a labor demanding much care, and workmen of supe- rior skill. Scythes also need a different edge from that of a razor. To the latter is given as smooth an edge as possible, while to the former^ is given a rough edge somewhat like that of a sickle. A fine smooth edge is not suit- able for a scythe, since it soon becomes so gummed by the juices from the grass that it cannot cut. It is, however, requisite for all the finer cutlery, and for this reason, together with the fact that they contain but little metal, and are liable to become distorted if thrown into water, some are both hard- ened and tempered in oil. A proper temper effects the ease and smoothness with which an instrument cuts. There are two cutting utensils, says the farmer, of which I wish the best quality, namely, a scythe and a razor, for to use a poor one of either kind well-nigh takes a man's life. The one draws the sweat, and the other draws the tears. After the shaping and tempering of the scythe is linished, the next opera- tion is to grind ihem. Each scythe is ground three times. They are first rough ground, as the workman terms it, which consists in bringing them to an edge; next they are ground across the edge, the object of which is to straighten it; lastly they are smooth ground, which exposes the ste^d about a quarter ©f an inch in width, the entire length of the instrument, and leaves- them nearly to an edge, but not sharp enough to cut with careful handling. How many times, when a boy, have we sweated over the little rickety grind- stone, and wished scythes might be bought at the stores sharp as razors. Often, too, have we looked at this exposed portion of the steel and remarked how large a proportion of the scythe was nothing but iron, then we moral- ized for a time on the deceitfulness of mankind, and finally summed up our little-satisfactory discourse with the not altogether pleasing inference that there were cheats in all trades but ours. After grinding, ftie scythes are rinsed in lime-water to prevent rusting be- fore they are fioished. The stones used in grinding are of numenfe size, weighing from fony to fifty thousand pounds, and require six or eight men to hang them. When new, the stones just coming from the quarry are ex- 492 SCYTHE MAKIN-G. ceedingly rough, and therefore are turned off till smooth, after which the edge is filled with grooves about an eighth of an inch deep, crossing each other in every direction, the object of which is to make them wear away the steel more rapidly. When in use, these stones make nearly one hundred and eighty revolutions a minute. They are put in motion and brought to rest very gradually, since from the weight to be moved and the sreat momentum they acquire, there is danger of bursting. The strength of new stones is tested before they are used by putting them in rapid motion and leaving them for several hours. With the greatest care and best regulations, stone will sometimes burst and fatal results follow, though the occurrence is by no means as frequent as formerly. This doubtless results in some degree from the exercise of greater care, also from the use of green instead of dry timber in fastening them to the axis, and improvements in the mode of fastening. The grinding is the most unhealthy part of the manufactory of scythes. It is unhealthy because minute particles, worn from the stones and the steel, are thrown off into the air, which in the vicinity of the operator becomes saturated, as it were, with it, and in breathing they are inhaled and deposited upon the lungs. These particles are deposited so rapidly that it is estimated a man who constantly follows the business would not live more than from four to seven years. Indeed in some sections there is a disease which is called the grind-stone consumption. On the lungs of persons who have died of this disease have been found pieces of grit from the stones as large as a walnut. Many means have beeo tried, by applying bandages to the mouth and nostrils, and otherwise, to prevent the ingress of these particles, but with little advantage. In giinding a man is required to have his wliole weight upon the scythe, and it is thus liable to become twisted ; therefore they are next examined and straightened, after which they are ready for the subsequent process of polishing. This is done with the common emery-wheel, which is a wooden wheel prepared for the purpose by spreading upon it a coating of glue which is thickened with emery — a dark colored sand — and made to revolve at the rate of two thousand revolutions a minute. Emery is one of the varieties of corundum, obtained for the most par from Europe, though an inferior quality has been obtained from our own country. It is found in Saxony, in a mountain called Ocbsenkopf, near Schneeberg, and also in the islands of the Greek Archipelago. After polishing, the scythes are painted or oiled, to prevent rusting, put up in dozen bundles, wrapped first in paper and then in straw and are prepared for market. In this manufactory are annually produced about two thousand dozen of scythes, making use of about thirty tons of iron and one of steel. This iron is all obtained from Norway or Russia, it being thought superior to the American article. For a time the Salisbury, Conn., iron was used, and considered equal to the imported, but in later years it has become inferior by the mixture of other ore. It is much to be regretted that, while the mines of the United States contain an abundance of superior ore our citizens should be com2:)elled to patronize that of foreign countries, simply because of fhe frauds and de- ceits of money-catching producers at home. In this establishment is annually consumed in carrying on its operations nearly ten thousand bushels of charcoal and fifty tons of anthracite coal NEW BUILDING BRICKS. 493 The wind for the five or six forges is supplied through a pipe little more than two inches in diameter, by a simple blow-wheel of only twenty inches driven by water so as to make sixteen hundred revolutions in a minute. Empioy- ment is here furnished to fifteen or twenty men, each of whom is paid by the dozen for the amount of labor performed. The welders, platers, and temperers each receive twenty-five cents a dozen, and can finish ten dozen a day, making their daily wages two dollars and a half. The grinders receive the same wages per dozen, but usually cannot finish so large a number as those in other departments. Upon the whole the receipts of these workmen are even better than those of not a few professional men, and the inducements presented to the mechanic iu our country are in a sense superior to those of the scholar. I have drawn at some length, this sketch, illustrative of the principles of division of labor and their application, believing that the time thus spent in the study of the practical to be of infinitely more value than that of mere abstract theories. It is one thing to know that an article is produced and fitly prepared for use, but quite another to know how it was produced and rendered thus perfect. Of the latter kind of knowledge our Avorld has far more need than the former. NEW BUILDING BRICKS. A PATENT has been secured by Mr. Edgar Conkling, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for a new form of brick. Several plans have been devised of late for securing strength to brick structures. Bricks of the ordinary form have, of necessity, a considerable space between them, filled by mortar, and yet exposed to the weather, and severely acted upon by rains and frosts. These bricks are so constructed, with apertures in the interior of the wall, though upon the sur- face of the brick, that the mortar is thoroughly defended from the force of storms, while it also gives an increased strength to the wall in resisting lateral 494 ENGLISH PATENTS. pressure. The wall thus built is perfectly solid, while the bricks are laid close to each other, and yet are firmly bound together by a sufficient quantity of mortar. Models of these bricks may be seen at this office. In the annexed engravings, fig. 1 shows the form of the improved bricks separately; fig. 2 exhibits their appearance when laid in a wall; fig. 3 is a section of wall. The inner edges of these bricks, B, are made a little concave. The sur- faces are formed with cavities, c, the back parts of whicla are the deepest as at d. With these exceptions the surfaces are made flat in the usual manner, and come in contact like ordinary bricks. In laying a wall the top surface of each coui-se is to be washed over, by means of a whitewash brush, with a thin coat of grouting or cement, or covered with a thin stratum of slush mortar. Grouting is then poured into the interstices, which in consequence of the openings formed by the cavities in the brick, has abundant opportu- nity to circulate among them, and forms the strongest kind of binding. In putting up huuse fronts, no pointing is required to be done, and no discolor- ation of the surface is occasioned. No more lime is required in laying these bricks than the ordinary form, as Mr. Conklmg informs us, while there may be a saving in the mortar. These bricks make a strong wall. It is conceded by some masons that a 12 inch grouted wall is equal to one of 16 inches mortar laid. We are told also that there is no difiiculty either in the molding, pressing: or burning of these improved bricks, and no increase of expense. If the usual care is taken in sorting out from the kilns, the proper proportion of biicks that are sufficiently true and even for fronts will generally be found. We commend this invention to the attention of builders, and shall be happy to aid them in making experiments with them to their satisfaction. We shall probably have more to say of these bricks hereafter. ENGLISH PATENTS. An Improved Mode of Preventing the Alteration of Bank Bills FROM one Denomination to Another. — One of the most common methods of counterfeiting bank notes or bills consists in erasing the figures which in- dicate the denomination of the note, by rubbing with the hand or otherwise, and reprinting or pasting upon the surface so prepared, other figures indicating a higher denomination. Thus, the word or figure " five" may be erased, and upon the surface which it occupied "fifty" or " one hundred" may be printed. Alterations of this description easily deceive the public, as, when well executed, they can be detected only by the initiated, and upon very close examination. To render this species of alteration impossible, by afibrd'ng to the initiated a ready means of easily detecting it if practised, is the object of the present invention, which consists, in so imprinting into the body of the paper, the character or words which indicate the denomination of the note or bill, that it can only be erased by the total destruction of the paper, and cannot be replaced or imitated even if it were found possible to erase it. This is ac- complished, either by a process analogous to that which is known in the maniifacuire of paper as " water-lining," or by printing the paper as it is manufactured, with the required character? or figures, by a peculiar process, ENGLISH PATENTS. 495 which causes the color to penetrate entirely through the body of the bill or note, so that it cannot be removed without destroying the texture of the paper itself. During the process of manufacturing the paper, and while yet in a soft pulpy state, it is imprinted with characters or letters indicating the denomi- nation of the bill, " five" for a five pound note, '"ten" for a ten pound note, and so on, for notes of other denominations. This may be accomplished in various ways, as follows : First, by water-lining in the ordinary way, with wire secured to the vellum, so arranged as to impress the required characters upon the paper ; or the same effect may be produced by means of types, slightly raised upon the surface of a cylinder, which is caused to bear upon the web of paper while it is still soft and impressible, and thus indent the required characters into the body of the paper, — the velocity of the surface of the cylinder being exactly equal to that of the web of paper as it passes through the machine. To render the characters thus produced ipore ap- parent and striking, they may be imprinted upon the sofc pulpy paper in colore, and in such a manner as will insure the color sinking deep into and entirely penetrating the body of the paper. This is readily accomplished by means of a cyfinder, similar to that above described, having upon its surface points set close to each other in lines forming the desired figures, and suffi- ciently elevated to penetrate the paper whilst it is yet in a soft pulpy state. These points are charged with ink of the required color, which is transferred (as the cyUnder revolves) to the paper, into the body of which it penetrates. The holes made by the points are instantly closed by the pressure rollers, to which the paper is afterwards subjected, and the coloring is thus caused to penetrate entirely through the note, and consequently cannot be removed for the fraudulent purpose before mentioned. New mode of separating certain vegetable fibres from mixed FABRICS FOR VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES. — This invention, which has refer- ence to the treatment of fabrics composed partly of animal and partly of vegetable fibres, as, for example, any fabrics containing woolen or silken filaments in connection with flax or cotton, has for its object to utilize the refuse of such fabrics, by separating the vegetable fibre therefrom in such manner that either the vegetable fibre or the animal fibre may be obtained in an integral or solid state, or a state of solution ; or the nitrogen of the animal fibre may be evolved for any manufacturing purposes for which the fibres or nitrogen respectively have hitherto been or may be found service- able. To this end the patentee avails himself of the properties of caustic alkalis and alkaline earths, on the one hand, for decomposing the animal matter in the fabrics without aft'ecting the vegetable fibre, and of the property of acids, on the other hand, with which, by the assistance of heat, a dis- organization of the vegetable, without injury to the animal fibre, is affected. To separate the vegetable fibre, in an integral condition, from the mixed fabrics, by dissolving the animal matter, the fabric is simply boiled for a sufficient time in a solution of caustic alkali or alkaline earth ; soda or lime is preferred for this purpose ; but any other alkali or alkaline earth may be substituted with efficacy. To separate the nitrogen of the animal fibre in the fabrics in a form avail- able for manufacturing purposes, the material to be operated upon is placed in a close vessel of the kind ordinarily used in the manufacture of ammonia, together with such a quantity of alkali or alkaline earth as may be found sufficient to eff"ect the decomposition of the animal matter. Heat is then 496 ENGLISH PATENTS. applied to the mixture ia any convenient manner, but preferably by passing steam, at a bigh pressure, through the whole mass of fabrics ; and the ammoniacal vapor which is evolved by this process is condensed by passing it into an acid, and thus forming a sort of ammonia ; or by passing it into water, and thus forming an ammoniacal liquor, from which the nitrogen may be readily separated. In order to separate the animal matter from the fabrics in the form of a solid, the materials to be operated upon are placed, together with the alkaH or alkaline earth, in an open vessel, and heated to about 180<^ Fahr. The resulting liquor is drawn ott" and treated with a stream of carbonic acid, or with a sufficient quantity of any other acid, to neutralize the alkali or alkaline earth. By the above process, the animal matter contained in the fabrics will be precipitated in the form of a fine pov?der, which may be collected in a filter and dried for use. The quantities of alkalis or alkaline earth neces- sary to eflect the decomposition or solution of wool, will vary with the sam- ple of rags to be operated on, because some rags contain more animal matter than others : but when the ordinary stufi"-goods are employed, it may be said, in a general way, that from three to four cwts. of soda, or from six to seven cwts. of lime, will be required for the treatment of every ton of goods. When alkalis, in preference to alkaline earths, are employed for the treatment of the mixed fabrics, the said alkalis may be recovered for the purpose of obviating waste, by the i:)roces3 of evaporating the refuse liquor to dryness, and heating the sediment to a red heat, or by boiling the liquors with fat, so as to form the well-known compound soap. When the animal matters in the fabrics are required to be preserved intact, the separation is effected by ■wetting the material with a solution of an acid — being either a vegetable acid (which the patentee prefers using,) as tartaric or oxalic acid — or a min- eral acid, as sulphuric, muriatic, or nitric acid, and heating the wetted mix- ture in a suitable chamber, by means of a jet of steam, or in any other suit- able method, to the temperature of 300'' Fahr. ; by which process the vegetable fibre will, in a very short time, become disorganized and rotten, so that the animal fibre may readily be separated by any suitable mechanical contrivance ; as, for instance, when the said animal fibre is woolen, the wool may be combed out by means of a carding machine, which will refuse the vegetable matter as dust. Improvements in the Manufacture of Plain and Ornamental woven Fabrics. — This invention consists in constructing plain and ornamental woven fabrics with a warp or weft, or both warp and weft, composed of yarns or threads twisted in contrary directions, that is, — some of such yarns or threads being twisted in one direction, and the others of such yarns or threads in the contrary direction ; and in giving to all or some of such yarns or threads more than the usual amount of twist ; so that when moisture is ap- plied to the fabrics, the action of such moisture on the yarns, twisted in manner aforesaid, may cause the same to curl, snarl, or shrink, and thereby produce fabrics similar to crape. Except in twisting the yarns or threads in manner aforesaid, thf-y are spun and prepared in the usual way. In carrying out their invention the patentees prefer to make use of a loom with a drop-box of the ordinary construction. When the weft of the cloth only is intended to consist of threads twisted in contrary directions, a warp made of yarn spun as usual is put into the loom, and two shuttles are re- quired, each containing weft with sufficient twist — so that when moistened the twist shall cause the weft to shrink, snarl, or curl. The weft in one of ENGLISH PATENTS. 497 the shuttles is twisted to the right hand, and that in the other to the left hand. In weaving such a cloth, it is preferred that two shoots of weft, twisted to the right hand, should be put into the cloth, and then two shoots of the wefc twisted to the left hand, and so on alternately until the piece of fabric is completed. When the fabric is taken out of the loom it is in ap- pearance like muslin, or any other plain fabric ; but on the application of moisture, the curling or snarling of the weft causes the fabric to shrink or contract in width, and to assume an uneven surface, somewhat similar to that of crape. Modifications in the weaving of such cloth may be adopted ac- cording to the quality and the object for which the fabric may be required ; thus, the proportions of the yarns or threads twisted in opposite directions may be varied, and three shuttles may be used ; one containing ordinary weft yarns or threads, and the other two containing weft yarns or threads twisted in contrary directions, and with more than the usual amount of twist, as above described. In weaving with three shuttles, the three shuttles may be thrown across the shed in any required succession, for the purpose of producing the desired effect. For instance, two picks may be given with the ordinary weft, then two with the right hand twisted weft, and then two with the left hand twisted weft. The warp of a cloth may also be composed of yarns or threads twisted in contrary directions in any desired proportion — the whole or some of them having more than the usual amount of twist. The weft of such a cloth may be composed of ordinary yarns or threads, and woven in the usual manner ; or the weft may be composed of any of the combinations of yarns or threads hereinbefore described. When fabrics have been woven according to this invention, they may be bleached, dyed, or printed in the ordinary manner, and the uneven surface craping or crimping is then produced by the action of the moisture which is necessarily imparted during either of the said processes ; but if the yarns or threads of which the improved fabrics are woven have been previously bleached, dyed, or printed, it is evident that the uneven surface craping or crimping must then be produced by the direct application of moisture. It may be desirable to stretch or distend the fabric, in order to obtain a plain surface for printing upon, and to keep the fabric stretched or distended until the colors printed upon it are dry. The uneven surface may then be produced by the application of moisture ; by which means an ornamental fabric of a chene description is obtained. All or some of the warp or weft threads, or of both the warp and weft threads., may be colored or parti-colored before they are woven. The process of printing may also be performed on the un- even surface of the fabric. Fabrics may be woven, having a loose or floating back, or with black-lashed threads, and a crape face produced in the manner before described. The invention may be used in producing fabrics of cotton, silk, wool, worsted, or other fibrous material, or any combination of any two or more of such materials. The patentees claim constructing the warp or weft, or both warp and weft, of woven textile fabrics, whether plain or ornamented, of yarns or threads twisted in contrary directions — the whole or part of such yarns or threads having more than the usual amount of twist for the purpose of producing fabrics having craped or crimped surfaces, in the manner described. An Improved Constkuction of Spurs. — The object of this invention is so to construct spurs as to permit of their being fitted on to boot heels of 32 498 ENGLISH PATENTS. various diameters. For this purpose the clasp of the spur is constructed of two arras, which are jointed to a central-threaded stem that carries the rowel of the spur. Bj the pressure on the inner ends of the arms of a nut or button which works upon the thread on this stem, the span of the arms is contracted, and the firm attachment of the spur to the heel of the boot is effected. Improvements in the Treatment of Rags and other Goods formed PARTLY OF Wool and partly of Vegetable Fibres, in order to separate the Vegetable Fibres from them, and obtain the Wool IN its pure state. — This invention applies to tissues or other fabrics (whether rags or pieces of new goods) composed partly of wool and partly of vegetable fibres, and consists in a mode of removing the vegetable from the woolen fibres, and thereby obtaining this latter in a suitable state for manufacturing purposes ; the same, consequently, offers an easy mode for removing the threads from rags with which the seams, button-holes, or other parts have been sewn. The rags or other goods, after the same have been cleaned to a certain extent, by any of the known means, are put into an acid bath (whether cold or suitably heated,) containing one hundred parts (by measure) of water ; from four to five parts of common sulphuric acid of commerce ; and about one part of alcohol ; and in this bath they are left as long as required for disintegrating sufficiently the vegetable fibres. The goods are then removed from the acid bath ; after which, the greatest part of the liquid is pressed out, and the goods are dried by any suitable means — care being taken to spread them out as evenly as possible. When dried, they are submitted to a beating engine, or other contrivance, for removing the woolen fibres from the partly-decomposed vegetable fibres that might still adhere to them ; after which the wool is to be thoroughly washed in water, or in a weak alkaline or soap bath, in order to deprive it of acid ; it is then again dried, and in this state will be ready to be prepared for spinning or other manufacturing purposes. The patentee claims the mode of submitting tissues or other fabrics com- posed partly of woolen and partly of vegetable fibres, to a bath of diluted sulphuric acid, to which a small portion of alcohol is added ; by the action of which bath, and cf the processes above described, the vegetable fibres are readily removed from the wool, and leave this latter in a state fit for being again employed for spinning or other manufacturing purposes. An Improved Manufacture of bearings for Carriage Axles and Shafts of Machinery in General. — This invention relates to the manu- facture of bearings from leather, to be used in place of brasses and other metallic bearing surfaces : the object being to render the bearing surfaces of blummer blocks and axle-boxes more durable and less costly than hereto- fore. In carrying out this invention, ox or cow hides are preferred, either tanned, tawed, or otherwise prepared ; and for one class of bearing, the hides are cut up into pieces of suitable size for lapping half, or nearly half, round the journals to which they are to be applied. These pieces are compressed in half round moulds to bring them severally to shape ; and the required thickness of bearing is obtained by cementing two, three, or more thicknesses of leather together, piling them in layers one above the other, and then submitting the combined thicknesses of leather to pressure in a suitably- shaped mould for the purpose of solidifying the same. These bearing sur- faces may be backed or cased with metal. ENGLISH PATENTS. 499 Improvements in the Construction of Anchors. — This invention consists in forming the shank of the improved anchor of two plates of iron or other metal, kept apart throughout the whole or a portion only of their length, by means of a filling-piece of wood or other suitable material, or by means of suitable enlarged portions of the plates themselves. The shank is united to the arms either by a forelocked pin or pins, or by clinched-bolts or by screw-bolts, according as the arms are intended to be moveable about a center or otherwise. When the filling-piece is used, a metal collar is made to embrace the two plates and the fiUing-piece, which forms the shank, for the purpose of combining thera more effectually at their junction with the arms, which may be made flat and of an uniform thickness, or of any other desired form. Improvements in the Manufacture of Ornamental Paper and Paper Bands. — This invention relates, first, to the manufacture of paper, showing the pattern of a reticulated or woven fabric upon it. This orna- mental appearance is obtained either by the introduction of lace, or other open woven fabric, into the body of the paper, during the process of manu- facture, or by subjecting colored paper, either pulp-dyed or surface-colored, or enamelled, to great pressure between metallic-plates or rollers, while a piece of lace, or other fabric, of the pattern desired to be imparted to the paper, lies in contact therewith ; whereby an indentation of the threads is produced on the surface of the paper. The paper ornamented by the introduction of the open textile fabric during its manufacture, is also greatly strengthened thereby, and rendered particu- larly applicable to the manufacture of bands for wrapping up lace or other articles ; its application to which manufacture forms the second part of the invention. The web of bobbin-net or other open textile fabric, is introduced into the substance of paper, at the time of its manufacture from the pulp, in the fol- lowing manner : A web of net, of any suitable width, and of any required or convenient length, having been obtained, it is wound upon a reel or cylin- der, mounted near the paper-making machine, as hereafter described. The description of paper-making machine employed, is that known as the cylinder or air-paper machine, which was the subject of Letters Patent formerly granted to John Dickinson. The second part of the invention relates to the production of various pat- terns, in imitation of lace and other textile fabrics, upon colored papers, whether pulp-dyed, surface-colored, or enamelled. For this purpose, the lace or other fabric, the pattern of which is required to be reproduced upon paper, is cut into pieces of a size rather larger than the sheets of colored paper to be operated upon, and stretched upon open frames, and satur ted with size or animal glue, which will enable them better to withstand the pressure to which they are to be subjected ; when dry, they are cut to the size of the colored paper and applied to the surface of the same, and sub- jected to great pressure between flat or cylindrical metallic surfaces, as is commonly practiced in glazing or milling papers ; and, in consequence, those parts of the paper which are in contact with the filaments of the lace or other ornamental textile fabric, are exposed to a greater pressure than those parts where no such filaments intervene between the pressing surfaces, and the coloring matter upon them becomes more condensed, and is consequently rendered darker ; so that the pattern of the lace or other ornamental textile fabric is produced in a darker shade of the color with which the paper is 500 THE RAIL-BIRD. tinted ; and if the paper be held up to the light, these darker portions, which constitute the pattern, will (owing to their being more condensed) appear less opaque than the ground color. In thus ornamenting enamelled or surface- colored papers, it is preferred to apply the lace or ornamental textile fabric to the side of the paper which has no't been colored. Improvements in Metallic Pistons. — These improvements consist in a method by which the piston-rings of metallic pistons can be tightened up whenever required, without the labor of taking off the cylinder cover and junk-ring of the piston ; at the same time insuring equal pressure upon each spring or other power required to force out the piston-rings during the pro- cess of tightening; to this end a plug is fitted into a round hole in the center of the piston, and grooved with the same number of grooves as there are springs in the piston. These grooves are not cut parallel with the outside of the plug, but deep at one end and run out to nothing at the other — forming an inclined plane or wedge ; the bolts, v/hich are connected to the springs, rest in these grooves. When the piston is first inserted, they are placed in the deepest part of the groove or bottom of the incline. Through .the plug a screv? is inserted, having a conical collar, which is fitted and ground into the inside of the junk-ring of the piston ; a square head to the screw going through and extending about one-and-a-half inches outside of the junk-ring. In the center of the cylinder cover a hole is made for the insertion of a box spanner, which fits the head of the screw that extends out of the junk-ring. When the piston requires tightening up, the plug in the center of the piston is caused, by the spanner, to retire inwards, and the bolts attached to the springs are forced to a greater distance from the center of the piston, by the inclined grooves in the plug; thus tightening up the springs. In vertical engines, or other machines where the piston is accessible only from the top, a center-screw and plug cannot be placed, but four or more scre-\vs, (according to the number of springs in the piston,) working in wedges, are inserted for tightening the rings, upon the same principle. THE RAIL-BIRD.— ITS MIGRATIONS. Much discussion has been elicited of late through the medium of the newspaper press in Virginia and elsewhere, in regard to the appearance and disappearance of the Sora, Ortlan, or Rail-bird, to and from the marshes and flats that line the rivers which empty their waters into the Atlantic. Those birds are quite numerous in the months of August and September. As far back as 1822, myself and several other youths conceived it rare sport to push one another about in small skifts, waist-deep in water, among the reeds on the flats of the Delaware, at high water, to shoot rail, as we called them there. They were an easy prey, even to juvenile marksmen. On dark, cloudy days we found them much fleeter on the wing, requiring more skill in shooting them than on a clear day with bright sunshine. As late as the year 1840 I found sufiicient inducement for many days to follow rail shooting until the 5th of October, at which time they nearly dis- appeared from our flats, save a few that doubtless had been wounded by the legion of sportsmen constantly seeking their destruction. MISCELLANEOUS. 501 A few days after the above period I started on a guuning and fishing ex- carsion, near a hundred miles down the peninsula or eastern shore of Mary- land, on the marshes and flats of the streams that empty their waters into the Chesapeake, south of the gunning locality of the Delaware. I was there somewhat surprised to find the rail quite plenty, but for a few days only. After remaining there for a week they were as scarce and hard to find as they were when I left the Delaware. They take to flight in the night, as they cannot see by daylight. I have heard their cheerful voice in flocks over my head in the night, winging their way southward, no doubt alightiog as they approach a suitable place, or as day light appears, obstructing tbeir vision. Ttiey keep down where it is some- what dark, among the grass and reeds, hunting food, and their continuance in a place is governed by the quantity and quality of food, and the non-appear- ance of frost, which they appear to dislike and flee from. Now there is no doubt that if I had continued my journey into the Caro- linas, after their disapj^iearance from the Chesapeake, I should have found them there, — migrating still further south as the frost approaches them, till they get beyond the reach of it, where they breed, and where their young are grown. They commence their annual migrations northward in the night, passing from marsh to marsh along the rivers, and from river to river and bay to bay, reaching the middle States about the 1st of August. Thomas Champion. VOLCANIC ERUPTION OF MAUXA LOA, IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. [The account of this eruption is too intensely interesting to be passed in silence. We extract liberal portions of a letter from Hilo, published in the American Journal of the Arts and Sciences, from an eye witness, Rev. Mr. Coan. He says :j " For sixty-five days the great summit furnace on Mauna Loa has been in awful blast. Floods of burning desolation have swept wildly and widely over the top and down the sides of the mountain. The threatening stream has overcome every obstacle, winding its fiery way from its high source to the bases of ' the everlasting hills,' spreading in a molten sea over the plains — penetrating ancient forests — driving the bellowing herds, the wild goats and the aflrighted birds before its lurid glare — consuming all vegetable life with its sulphurous breath, and leaving nothing but blackness and ruin in its track. On the 12th of July I wrote you on the state of old Kilauea, and on the 2'7th of Sept., I announced to our mutual friend, Mr. Lyman, the fact and the state of our present eruption. Having made my quarterly pastoral tour, I started on the second instant for the scene and the source of the eruption which is the theme of this letter. Our party consisted of Lawrence M'Cully, ■Esq., a graduate of Yale and our present acting magistrate, four natives and myself. Taking the channel of the Wailuku (the stream which enters Hilo bay) as our track, we advanced with much toil through the thicket along its 502 MISCELLANEOUS. banks, about twelve miles, the first day. Here we rested at the roots of a large tree during the night. The next day we proceeded about twelve miles farther, for the most part along the bed of the stream, the water being low. During both of these days volcanic smoke had filled the forest and given the rays of the sun a yellow and baleful hue. At night, when the shades gathered over those deep solitudes, unbroken except by the bellowing of the untamed bull, the barking of the wild dog, the grunt of the forest boar, the wing and the note of the restless bird, the chirping of the insect, the falling of a time-worn tree, the gurgling of the rill and the wild roar of the cataract, we made our little bed of ferns under the trunk of a prostrate tree, and here, for the first time, we found that the molten stream had passed us by, many miles, on its way toward Hilo. But as its track was several miles to the left of us, and as the jungle here was nearly impenetrable, we proceeded the next day up the stream, and at half- past one p. M., found ourselves fairly out of the forest, having been a little more than two and a half days in accomplishing this part of the tour. I cannot stop to describe the beautiful and romantic scenery along our winding valley gorge, the cascades, basins, caves, and natural bridges of this wild and solitary stream. Nor can I speak of the velvet mosses, luxuriant creepers hanging in festoons, the ancient forest trees and other tropical glories which were mirrored in its limpid waters. We needed an artist and a natur- alist to fix the glowing panorama, and to describe its flora and fauna. Wild cattle, dogs and hogs of the mountains have penetrated these forests and have appeared, of late, on the very confines of improvement within five miles of our bay. But to proceed. When we emerged from the upper skirts of the woods on the third day, a dense fog obstructed our view of all distant objects. We encamped early in a cave, but during the night the stars came out and we could see the play of the volcanic fires from the summit to the base of the mountain and far down in the forest toward Hilo. The next morning, Fri- day, we left our cavern early, and at half-past seven, a.m. came to the smoul- dering lava-stream. From this time to ten a.m., we walked on the right border of the stream, when we crossed over to the opposite side. This occu- pied us an hour and a quarter, and we judged the stream to be three miles wide at this point, which, however, was one of its '■'■narrows.'''' In some places it spread out into wide lakes and seas, apparently from five to eight miles broad, inclosing, as is usually the case, Uttle islands not flooded by the fusion. Passing up the southern verge of the stream we found many trees felled by the igneous current, and lying crisped and half charred upon the stifi"ened and smoking lava. All this day we passed up the stream, sometimes on it and sometimes along its margin, as the one or the other track was the easier or the more direct. At night we slept upon the lava, above the line of vegetation, with the heavens for our canopy and the stars for our lamps. From this high watch-tower we could see the brilliant fire-works far above and far below us, as the dazzling fusion rushed down its burning duct, revealed here and there by an opening through its rocky roof, serving as a vent for the 2fases. Early on Saturday, the 6 th, we were ascending our rugged pathway amidst steam and smoke and heat which almost blinded and scathed us. At ten, we came to open orifices down which we looked into the fiery river which rushed furiously benenth our feet. Up to this we had come to no open lake or stream of active fusion. We had seen, in the night, many lights like street lamps glowing along the slope of the mountain at consid- MISCELLANEOUS. erable distances from each other, while the stream made its way in a subter- ranean channel, traced onl}^ by these vents. From 10 a.m. and onward, these fiery vents were frequent, some of them measuring ten, twenty, fifty or one hundred feet in diameter. In one place only we saw the river uncovered for thirty rods and rushing down a dechvity of from 10° to 25°. The scene was awful, the momentum incredible, the fusion perfect, (a white heat), and the velocity forty miles an hour. The banks on each side of this stream were red-hot, jagged and overhanging, adorned with burning stalactites and festooned with immense quantities of filamentose, or capiltary glass, called " Pele's hair." From this point to the summit crater all was inexpressibly interesting. Valve after valve opened as we went up, out of which issued " fire and smoke and brimstone," and down which we looked as into the caverns of Pluto. The gases were so pungent that we had to use the greatest caution, approaching a stream oi an orifice on the windward side and watching every change or gyration of the breeze. Sometimes whirlwinds would sweep along, loaded with deadly gases, and threatening the unwary traveler. After a hot and weary struggle over smoking masses of jagged scoria and slag, thrown in wild confusion into hills, cones and ridges, and spread out over vast fields, we came at 1 p.m. to the terminal or summit cratei*. This we found to be a low, elongated cone, or rather a series of cones, standing over a great fissure in the mountain. Mounting to the crest of the highest cone, we expected to look down into a great sea of raging lava«, but instead of this the throat of the crater at the depth one hundred feet was clogged with scoria, cinders and ashe?, through which the smoke and gases rushed up furiously from seams and holes. One orifice within this cone was about twenty feet in diameter, and was constantly sending up a dense column of blue and white smoke which rolled off" in masses and spread over all that part of the mountain, darkening the sun and obscuring every object a few rods distant. So toppling was the crest of this cone, so great the heat, and so deadly the gases, that we could find no position where we could look down the throat or orifice ; and could we have done so, it is not probable that we should have seen the deep fountain below us, as the lavas were forced up its horrid chimney from the burning bowels of the earth. I have no doubt that the point at which the igneous river flowed off in its lateral duct was at least five hundred, perhaps a thousand feet below us. The summit cone which we ascended was about, one hundred feet high, say five hundred feet long and three hundred broad at base. Several other cones below us were of the same form and general character, presenting the appearance of smoking tumuli along the upper slope of the mountain. As you descend the mountain these cones become lower and less frequent, but here they are the rims or j^igged jaws of those orifices through which we look into that subterranean tube of angry fusion which hurries with such feaiful speed down the side of the mountain. The molten stream first appears some ten miles below the fountain crater,and as we viewed it rushing out from beneath the black rocks, and, in the twink- ling of an eye, diving again into its fiery den, it produced indescribable feel- ings of awe and dread. This summit crater I estimate at twelve thousand feet elevation ; the prin- cipal stream (there are many lesser and lateral ones) including all its wind- ings, sixty miles long; average breadth, three miles; depth, from three to three hundred feet, according to the surface over which it flowed. Late on Saturday afternoon we came a short distance down the mountain, when we encamped on the naked rocks until Monday. 504 MISCELLANEOUS, Unwittingly we passed the last watering place in our ascent on Friday morning, at seven o'clock, and having only one quart in our canteen, this was our whole supply until 9 a.m. on Monday. There being six of us, we were soon reduced to a single spoonfull each, and this only at our meals. Our food being dry and hard, we suffered not a little for want of nature's bever- age. The dew which fell upon our garments, our food-buckets and the rocks around us congealed and became frost or thin scales of ice, and from our oil- cloth, spread for the purpose, we collected a few spoonsfull of the latter, while our parched lips readily kissed the rocks to obtain a httle moisture from the frost. There was snow on another part of the mountain, far below us, but it was not in our track. The fires had melted all in this region. The present eruption is between those of 1843 and 1852, and from our high tower we could see them both and trace their windings. Early on Monday we decamped and set our faces for Kilauea, distant some thirty-five miles, hoping by a forced march to reach it at night. At eight A.M., we passed the seat of the grand eruption of 1852, and traveled for miles in its cinders. A little steam only issues from that cone whose awful throat, in 1852, sent up a column of glowing fusion to the height of a thousand feet. At the base of this cone, on the opposite side, the ground was thickly powdered with a hoar frost, and so intense was our thirst that our whole party lay down together and eagerly licked it from the rocks and sand. At nine we found water, for which we gave heartfelt thanks to our great Shepherd. At one p.m., a dense fog obscured our track, our guide lost his way, and we were obliged to encamp. Early on Tuesday morning we were astir, wandering through jungle and over rough fields of scorie, when fortunately at half-past nine we found the only track which could lead us out of this cruel labyrinth. At half-past one p.m., we reached old Kilauea, where we regaled ourselves on Ohelo berries, water, and such stores as were lefc in our larder. The next day we explored KiJauea, made some measurements, collected specimens, etc., and on Thursday, the 11th inst., we reached Hilo, having been absent ten days. KUauea is still very active, though not as intensely so as in months past. On the mountain and in Kilauea I took the angles of several lava streams, one of 49*^, another of 60°, and two of 80° each. Several streams on the mountain flowed down banks of scoria twenty-five and thirty feet high. The fusion was complete — the streams cooled in a perfect state. I also saw thin strata, say one inch thick or less, which had flowed down the face of perpendicular rocks, adhering to the rocks like paste, and thus cooHng. Will you say that I spoil my demonstration by j)^oving too much, when I assert that I saw more than on place where the fasion flowed on an angle of 95° — like the Indian's tree which grew so bolt upright that it " leaned the other way," — thus flowing down a rock or bank until it came to where said rock retreated, it would follow the inward curve in a thin layer like molasses, adhering to the rock and thus cooling. It is therefore a fact capable of entire demoDstration that our Hawaiian lavas flow freely down every slope, from an angle of 30' to a perpendicular — in the latter case in a very thin layer of course. At one point we saw the great igneous river flowing like oil down an angle of 35°, and in another place it leaped a preci- pice, forming a brilliant cascade. MISCELLANEOUS. 505 But I lack time and space to tell you half which we saw, and heard, and felt. Hilo is now in a state of solemn and thoughtful suspense. The great summit fountain is still playing with fearful energy, and the devouring stream rushes madly down towards us. It is now about ten miles distant — nearly through the woods, following the right bank of the Wailuku, and heading directly for our bay. Some are planning, some packing, many running to and fro, and all talking and conjecturing. Never was Hilo in such a state before. And all is hushed and solemn. Oct. 22. — I have retained this letter until the present time, to watch the progress of the lava stream and to report more definitely ; and I am happy I happy to say that as yet our fears have not been realized. The great sum- mit crater still pours out its burning floods with unabated energy, and the atmosphere of the island is still loaded with smoke ; everything looks dingy, often baleful. The stream of fusion still glows and groans in the forest be- tween us and Mauna Loa ; but its intensity seems a little abated and its pro- gress retarded. Probably it is partially obstructed or diverted in its subter- ranean passage, while the basins, ravines, gorges, etc., it fills in the woods, together with the great forest which it must consume, render its progress very slow. Consequently the apprehensions of our people are much abated. There has been nothing like panic from the beginning, either among foreigners or natives ; but there was an anxious look, an inquiring tone, a serious con- cern among ail classes. These have greatly subsided ; not that the fire is extinct, or that it is not nearer than it was two weeks ago ; but simply that its progress for the last week has been almost imperceptible. Still it may come when least expected. Should it succeed in pushing through the woods it will then flow down on an angle of from 1° to 2^ with little to obstruct it ; or, should it dive into subterranean chambers, it may burst out unexpect- edly near our shores. It is now seventy-two days since the eruption commenced, and, as re- marked before, the fountain is in full force. The matter disgorged is of the same general character as in former eruptions. We saw nothing new. Among the salts, sulphur and sulphate of lime, are the most abundant. They are scattered freely at several points along the line of flow. There are now about a dozen open lakes of raging lavas in Kilauea, ex- tending in two semi-circular-lines from the great fountain lake — Halemau- mau — along the eastern and western sides of the crater, and evidently forming vents tc igneous subterranean canals which are carrying the incan- descent floods from this great active vent to the northern parts of the crater, sometimes overflowing this region and sometimes heaving up the ponderous superincumbent strata, like the surface of an agitated ocean. The great dome over Halemaumau is swept away, and a raised and jagged rim from 20 to 60 feet high, now encircles it. The fusion may be 100 feet below. The movement of the streams northward is distinctly seen through the valves or vents mentioned above. The great central plateau of 200 feet elevation as mentioned in my last letter, is now nearly covered with fresh lava from the overflowing of its flery zone — or of that half which surrounds it, and to which the recent action has been confined. This belt or lava zone has been raised from 100 to 200 feet since April ; 1st, by uplifting forces; 2d, by suc- cessive overflowings. The commencement of this eruption is mentioned in an earlier letter from 506 iriSCELLANEOUS. Mr. Coan, addressed to Rev. C. S. Lyman, of this place. It is dated Hilo, Sept. 27, 1855. He sajs : " On the evening of the 11th of August, a small point, glowing like Sirius, was seen at the height of 12,000 feet on the northwestern slope of Mauna Loa. This radiant point rapidly expanded, throwing off corruscations of Hght until it looked like a full orbed sun." The sequel is described in the letter above. The Colossal Washington Monument for America. — The London Builder gives the following account of an important step in the progress of this work : The casting of the horse for this monument at Munich, is one of the great feats of modern foundry, as fifteen tons of bronze had to be melted and kept in a state of fluidity. For several days and nights previously a large fire was at these huge masses, which required to be stirred at times. When the bronze was liquified, an ultimate assay was made in a small trial cast ; and to heighten the color .=ome more copper was added. Successively all the chambers through which the metal had to flow in the form were cleared of the coal with which they had been kept warm, and the master examined all the air spiricles and the issues of the metal ; the props of the tubes were then placed and every man had his duty and place assigned to him. Finally, the master, amid the intense expectation of the many art amateurs present, pronounced the words, " In the name of God," and then three mighty strokes opened the fiery gulf, out of which the glowing metal flowed in a circuit to the large form. The sight was magnificent, and in the little sea of fire stood the master, and gave his commands about the succes- sive opening of the props. Hot vapor poured from the air spiracles ; in the conduits, the metal boiled in waves ; still no decision yet, as the influx of the bronze in the very veins of the figure could be but slow. At once flaming showers jumped out of the air conduits, and the master proclaimed the caj-t to have succeeded. A loud cheer followed, when the master approached Mr. Crawford, the artist of the Washington Monument, to congratulate him on this success. Another cheer was given to M. de Miller, the chief of the royal foundry of Munich, who has personally conducted the work. Manufacture of Watches. — A watch is no longer, as it was formerly, an object of luxury, destined exclusively for the rich ; it has become an article of the first necessity for every class in society, and as, together with the increased perfection of this article, its value has in the same time con- siderably diminished, it is evident that a common watch, which will exactly indicate the time of the day, is actually, by its low price, within the reach of almost every individual, who will likewise feel anxious to possess one. For this reason, and in proportion as commercial and maritime relations are extended and emancipated from the trammels in which the great central marts of commerce have involved them, so will distant nations become civil- ized; and it may be fairly anticipated that the art of watch-making will form part of the great current of improvement. The number of watches manufactured annually in Neufchatel may be cal- culated from 100,000 to 120,000, of which about 35,000 are in gold, and the rest in silver. MISCELLANEOUS. 507 Now supposing the first on an average to be worth $30, and the others $4, it would represent a capital of $1,390,000, without taking into consider- ation the sale of clocks and instruments for watch-making, the amount of which is very large. The United States of America consume the largest quantity of those watches. With the exception of gold and silver for the manufacture of the watch-cases, the other materials for the construction of the works of mechan- ism of the Neufchatel watches are of little value, consisting merely of a little brass or steel. The steel is imported from England, and is reckoned the best that can be procured ; the brass is furnished by France. With respect to gold and silver the inhabitants of Neufchatel have had for a long time no other resource but to melt current money, until they re- ceived gold from England, which the Enghsh merchants receive from Cali- fornia, The number of workmen who are employed in watch making is estimated at from 18,000 to 20,000, but it is difficult to arrive at the exact number, as the population employed carry on the business in their own houses. The spirit of adventure is very strong among the inhabitants of the Jura Mountains. A great many of them have traveled into very remote coun- tries, whence some have returned with considerable fortunes. — Merchant''s Magazine. Ship Building in New-York. — The New- York Courier S inquirer submits its annual statement of the business done in ship building at that port, which shows that the past has been a year of depression in the ship yards unexampled within a generation. Amongst the causes assigned for this are the European war, the falling ofi" in the California and Australian trade, and the overbuilding in the last few years. Many master ship-builders had become bankrupt, owing not so much to the increased wages demanded by their workmen, as by the forfeitures to which they were subject in not getting their work completed in time, from the men not continuing steadily at their work. The following is a comparative return of the new ships launched in the present and past years : No. Total Ton. No. Total Ton. Steamships, 19 24,600 4 11,100 Other steam ve 5sels, 23 5,967 4 2,200 Ships, 30 39,380 G 9,130 Barques, V 3,600 7 3,376 Brigs, 8 2.551 3 1,275 Schooners, etc., 21 5,292 13 3,786 Total, 108 81,390 37 29,867 There are also now on the stocks 1 7 vessels of all sorts, with an aggregate tonnage of 21,720 tons. Experiments avith Potatoes. — The question being often asked, which variety of potatoes is most profitable for field cultivation, on the 16th of last May I planted a field with eight kinds, in eight successive plats, the rows running through each successive plat — soil rather thin, manured alike lightly in the hill — crop moderate. On October 10th, dug twelve bills of each kind, counted and weighed. The following is the result : 508 MISCELLANEOUS. Peachblow — 180 tubers, weight 25 pounds — seed small, 2 tubers to each hill. California — 10-i tubers, weight 24 pounds — seed large, cut in 6 to 8 pieces, 2 to each hill. Torries — 138 tubers, weight 23| pounds — ^seed large, cut in 8 pieces, 2 to each hill. Black Mercers — 220 tubers, weight 20 pounds — seed small, 2 to each hill. English Whites — 15G tubers, weight 18i pounds — seed small, 2 to each hill. Merinos— 100 tubers, weight 17 pounds — seeds large and cut. Pinkeyes — 116 tubers, weight 16^ pounds — seed small, 2 to each hill. Lilacs — 125 tubers, weight 16 pounds — seed small, 2 to each hill. This is the result of one trial ; other trials may produce different results, that is, lead to further experiments. — A. Yeomans, in Country Gentleman. laoN Yards for Ships. — Some novelties are observable in the fitting out of the Australian Black Ball ship Schomberg. Her 'tween decks are fitted up with iron berths throughout, which have a pretty and light appear- ance. Her iron tanks are fit to carry either water or provisions, and while they are able to bear any weight placed upon them, they act as permanent ballasts for the ship. The foreyard of the vessel is a hollow iron tube, made of quarter inch plates. It is 96 feet in length, 23 inches at the slings ! greatest circumference, 6 ^ feet. It weighs 4 tons — a wooden spar same size would weigh 8^ tons — an important advantage in favor of the iron yard, especially when its durability is also taken into consideration. The first cost is a little more than wood. — Liverpool Mail. Portrait of Charles I, by Velasques. — We have seldom been more favorably disappointed than we were on visiting this picture. It is undoubt- edly an original. No copyist could make such a representation on canvass. It bears all the tests' of a close or distinct view, of inversion and of the magni- fier. The last, the magnifier, brings out its excellencies in a most wonderful manner. The eyes are eyes, the hair is hair, and the fiesh is flesh. We have seen many of the works of the old masters, but we have never seen a portrait which bore more unequivocal and unquestionable evidence of the hand of a great master than does this. The proprietor is a gentleman not only of courteous manners but thoroughly versed in the history and condition of this department of art. Products of the Industry of Boston. — The returns to the Secretary of State of the products of the Industry of Boston, for the year ending June 1, 1855, as compiled for the Boston Almanac, shows that iron, exclu- sive of that for nails, was manufactured to the value of $1,525,000; steam engines and boilert=, $1,835,000 ; iron railing, iron fences, safes, etc., $562,500 ; glass-ware, $1,190,000; piano-fortes and other musical instruments, $1,984,700; watches, gold and silver ware, and jewelry, $617,000 ; saddles, trunks, harnesses, etc., $757,200; brushes, $225,000; upholstery, $1,550,800 ; sails, of American fabric, $431,172 ; sugar refined, $2,000,000; chair and cabinet ware, $1,068,800 ; tin ware, $416,500; linseed oil $500,000; cam- phene and burning fluid, $500,000 ; flour, $S70,000 ; boots and shoes, $193,000; building stone, $323,000; marble prepared, $311,000 ; horses, (4,800), $761,625 ; cows, (132), $5,405 ; casks, $i58,600; distilled liquors, $2,495,000; beer, $238,000 ; tricti..n matches, $50,000; bakerie?, $935,000 ; clothing, eight million Jive hundred thousand dollars/ NEW BOOKS. 509 Dentistry, — We have had occasion to notice several specimens of work- manship of this description, by Dr. A C. Castle, of 296 Fourth street, opposite Washington Square. He has great experience and practical skil 1, and there is no dentist for whose fidelity we should be more ready to indorse than his. Services of this kind are so difficult, and often expensive, and for a life-time, that it is of the greatest importance that they should be done well. NEW BOOKS Our Cousin Veronica, or Scenes and Adventures over the Blue Ridge. By Mary Elizabeth Wormley. New-York : Buace & Brother. 12mo. $1 25. The author of " Amabel" has already the very highest of recommendations. This book is a fit companion for its predecessor. It is less highly wrought, but by no means dull or tame. The scene is principally in Virginia, partly in England. The descrip- tions are graphic and natural, and the story is capital. Miss Wormley must be set down, unquestionably, among the most gifted writers of fiction. A Tear Book of Agriculture ; or, the Annual Agricultural Progress and Discovery for 1855 and 1856. By David H. Wells. 1856. Philadelphia : Childs & Peterson. 400 pages, 8vo. This book is just what we anticipated on its announcement — a concise, clear state- ment and pescriptiou of the various improvements in agriculture and its kindred sci- ences during the year, fully and well illustrated. It should be on every farmer's table, and carefully studied, for it is a work of great practical value. Woodworth's Youth's Cabinet and Uncle Frank's Dollar Magazine. Edited by Francis C. Woodworth, assisted by " Francis Forrester" and "Aunt Sue." The external appearance of this popular magazine is much in its favor. It is well printed on good paper, well stitched, etc. This encourages us to look inside, for we do like to see books well printed, especially those for children and youth. It aids in forming a good taste and neat habits. Mr. Woodworth is just the man to publish a journal of this sort. He has just the right bumps for it ; and as he gives much time and careful attention to it, always interests his readers. He is well sustained also by assistants, and those who wish for a youth's magazine cannot do better than to order this forthwith. $1 a year; 4 copies, $3 50; 5 copies, $4; 8 copies, $6. 118 Nassau st. Sense and Sensibility. A Novel. By Miss Austen, author of Pride and Prejudice, etc. New- York : Bunce & Brother. 1856. 309 pages. A novel of no Uttle interest, of the fashion published in our youthful days, by a j^leas- ant writer. Camp Fires of the Red Men ; or, a Hundred Years Ago. By R. Orton. Illustrated by Walcutt. New-York: J. C. Derby. 1855. In this volume Mr. Orton takes some of the exciting scenes of Indian life in the last century to form the web of a curious romance. Those who are fond of this style of excitement will be entertained by it. It is well written and well executed. Lanmere. By Mrs. Julia C. Dorr, author of " Farmingdale." New- York : Mason Brothers. 1856. 447 pages. Those familiar with " Farmingdale" are notj^disappointed in this work. They ex- 510 LIST OF PATENTS. pected a good book, and they have one of the very best stories we have ever seen. Little Bessie is brim full of interest, nothing exaggerated or disproportioned, but nat- ural to the life. Mrs. AUison vexes us, while she is perfectly consistent throughout, and unhappily represents too many of great pretension. Debbyis worth her weight in gold, while several other characters are drawn with great ability. The plot is intricate and ingenious, yet almost developes itself, and the work cannot fail to be read very extensivelj\ Jackson and New-Orleans ; an Authentic Narrative of Memorable Achievements of the American Army under Gen. Jackson before New-Orleans in the winter of 1814: and 15. By Alexander Walker. New-York; J. C. Derby. 1856. 411 pages. The campaigns of Gen. Jackson are brilliant specimens of generalship ; and the Battle of New-Orleans is prominent over all others. This effort to extend the knowledge of this chapter of our history cannot fail to interest a multitude of readers, and will assist. in disseminating a true understanding of the events of this period through the commu- nity. The volume is well executed. NEW USIC, Wm. Hall & Son have the following choice pieces among their extensive recent pub- lications, viz. : "The Dreams of Youth." Ballad by W. J. Robson. Composed by J. W. Cherry. Simple and very pretty. "Florence Vane" — ballad. Composed by W. Vincent Wallace. Good of course, and not difficult. Quadrilles for the piano-forte. Composed by Alphonse Leduc. These include "Fall of Sevastopol," "Battle of Inkerman," " Expedition to the Sea of AzofF," "Bat- tle of Schernaya," and " Capture of the MalakoflF." Good, and characteristic, but re- quiring a strong hand to do them justice. List of Patents Issued FROM TERMINATION OF PREVIOUS LIST TO JAN, Erastus Bigelow, Boston, improvement in looms for weaving pile fabrics. Jonatlian L. Bootii, Cuyahoga Falls, O., im- provement in grain-cleaning machines. T. C. Bush, New-London, Conn., improved saw set. Wm. E. Cooper, Dunkirk, improved nozzle for exhaust pipes of locomotives. Frederic W. Capen, Newton, Mass., for improve- ment in paddle wheels. Joseph C. Day, Hackettstown, N. J., improve- ment in tire-arms. Spencer B. Driggs, Detroit, improvement in piano-fortes; dated December 11, 1855; patented in England, November 1, 1855. John Gourlay, Ogdensbui-g, for adjustable crank- brace for augers. Henry C. Green, Clarence, Wisconsin, improved automatic feed motion for saw-miUs. A. M George, New- York, for improvement in spike machines. H. B. Horton, Akron, 0., machine for register- ing music. Wm. W. Johnson, Clifford, Pa., machine for planing felloes. Eber Jones, Troy, improvement in mould foi" casting bells. S. B. McCorkle, Greenville, Tenn., for improva- ment in machines for stuffing horse collars. LIST OF PATENTS. 511 Thomas Daaforth, Roxbury, for improvement in ■window shades. Isaac Davis, Mechanicsbuvg, Ohio, for improve- ment in machinery for whipping hair. Sorauus Dunham, North Bridgewater, Mass., for improved method of hanging saws. Henry F. and Louis A. Gossin.Thibodeaux, La., for improvement in steam boiler furnaces. John Griffen, Safe Harbor, Pa., for improved manufacture of wrouglit iron cannon. Bishop J. Harris, Auburn, Pa., for improved mode of dressing mill-stones for scouring and hulling bnckwheat. Reuben Hurd, Spring Hill, 111., for improvement in seeding machines. Jno. P. Hale, Kanawha Court House, Va., for improvement in apparatus for making salt. Benj. Hill, Rochester, for Improvement in pad- dle-wheels. Westel W. Hurlbut, Boonville, for improved method of hanging circular saws. Alexander Lightheiser, Reading, for improvement in machines for mincing meat. Wm. H. Merrill, of Taunton, for improvement in hoisting blocks. Charles Miller, Carroll Township, Pa., for im- provement in hulling machines. Henry M. Parkhurst, Perth Amboy, for improve- ment in proportional dividers. Adolphe Pecoul, Marseilles, France, for com- bined log and sounding line. Newell A. Prince, Brooldyn, for improvement in fountain pens. Ezra Ripley, Troy, for improvement in mills for grinding grain, &c. James Roljb, Lewiston, Pa., for improvement in corn-shellers. John P. Rollins, Boston, for improved extension bit. E. K. Root,Hartford, Conn., for improvement in revolving fire-arms. Geo. W. Smith, Mauch CImnk, for improvement in looms for weaving wire. Gilbert Smith, Buttermilk Falls, for improve- ment in breach-loading fii-e-arms. Thos. B. Stout, Keyport, N. J., for improvement in corn and cob mills. Ancil Stickney, Concord, N. H., for improve- ment in hand seed planters. Isaac D. Wheelock, Maysville, Wis., for improve- ment in sad iron heaters. Wm. Wilber, New-Orleans, for improvement in hydraulic oil presses. Charles H. Butterfleld, Nashua, assignor to Amory Houghton, Boston, for improvement in guards for lanterns. Charles Evans, Charleston, Mass., assignor to himself and George K. Goodwin, Roxbury, Mass., for imi^rovement in revolving grates. Issued from the United States Patent (M5ce, for the week ending Jan. 1, 1856 each bearing that date. Philo Brown, Waterbury, Coon., for improve- ment in furnace for soldering. Nathan Chapman, Mystic River, Conn., for im- proved chain for power press. James Cochrane, New-York, for improved me- thod of operating and lubricating slide valves. Richard M. Cole, Reading, Pa., for improvement in brick presses. Geo. W. Cooper, Ogeechee, Ga., for improvement in ploughs. Jean Pierre Molliere, Lyons, France, for im- provement in machines for polishing and burnish- ing the edges of soles and heels of boots and shoes ; dated Dec. 11, 1855 ; patented in France, Jan. 5, 1855. Jean Pierre Molliere, Lyons, France, for im- provement in machines for mounting the "up- pers " of boots and shoes on lasts ; dated Dec. 18, 1855 ; patented in France, August 19, 1S54. Oldin Nichols, LoweU, and Amni M. George, Nashua, for improvement in stone-dressing ma- chines. Daniel Parish, New-York, for improvement in instruments for modifying focal length of the eye Isaac N. Parker, Lewiston, Me., for improve- ment in mill spindle steps. Samuel Pelton, New- Windsor, Md., for improve- ment in horse powers. George B. Pullinger, Philadelphia, for improve- ment in automatic gate for raili-oad crossings. John P. Robinson, Mattawan, for plane for fin- ishing grooves in patterns, &c. Joel Tiffany and Milo Harris, Painesville, Ohio, for shingle machine. Thomas F. Thornton, Buffalo, for improvement in organ melodeons. Hubert Schonacker, Detroit, for improved piano- fortes. Julius E. Schwabe, New- York, for improvement in treating Galena or lead ore. Eliphalet S. Scripture, Green Point, N. Y., for improvement in attaching hubs to axles. Isaac Searles, Newark, for improvement in felt- ing hat bodies. Isaac Spaulding, Saratoga Springs, for improved saw set. Samuel Shattuc, Henrietta, O., impi-oved horse collar. Isaac N. Singer, N. Y., improvement in sewing machines. Jos. Weis, Bordentown, for improvement In suck, ers for ptmips. Thomas Bowles, New-York, assignor to Robert M. Patrick, of same place, for improvement in locks. Jeremiah Burnite, Puseyville, Pa., assignor to himself and James Clark, of same place, for im- proved arrangements and combinations of ma- chinery for regulating velocity of wind wheels. John Healy, Bolton-le-Moors, England, assignor to James Bishop, New-Brunswick, N. J., for im- provement in woven fabrics ; dated Dec. 18, 1855 ; patented in England, Nov. 17, 1846. Joseph B. Lancaster, administrator of John R. Lancaster, deceased, of Tampa, Florida, for im- provement in cooking stoves. Elijah Richmond, Abington, Mass., assignor to Ira Noyes, of same place, for improvement in lamp extinguishers. Lewis C. Ashley, Troy, for improvement in can- dy mould apparatus. Joseph Buhler, M.D., of New-York, for improve- ment in the pipes of a vapor bath. Joseph Buhler, M.D., New-York, for improve- ment in the combination of injecting syringes, Benijah J. Burnett, New-York, iraiirovement in cranes. George Byingtou, Rochester, for improvement in time indicators. Robert L. Currey, Philadelphia, improvement in double-acting steam brake. Thomas Crane, Fort Atkinson, for improvement in rotary pumps. 512 LIST OF PATENTS. Lebbeus Barnes, Islip Township, N. Y., for im- pTovement in liarvesters. Clias. E. Brown, New-Yorls, N. Y., for improved mode of liangiug double doors. Samuel W. Brown, Lowell, Mass., for improve- ment in constx'ucting the bottoms of ships and other vessels. Reuben Brady, New- York, N. Y., for improved machine for sheet metal bending. Irah Chase, Jr., Boston, Mass., for improvement in coal scuttle covers. Geo. St. Clarice, East Washington, N. H., for improvement in bee-hives. Edgar ConUling, Cincinnati, O., for improve- ment in the form of building bricks. Dominique Emile Coutaret, Boston, Mass., for improvement in disinfecting fecal matter, Thos. Davidson, Jr., Kensington, Pa., for im- provement in street paving machines. Jacob Erdle, West Broomfleld, N. Y., for im- provement in filing saws. Morris Falkeman, New-York, N. Y., Morris Pol- lak and Solomon Weiner, Hoboken, N. J., for im- proved watch key. L. H. Gibbs, Troy, New- York, for improvement in breech-loading fire-arms. Chas. Hammond, Philadelphia, Pa., for improve- ment in attaching liammer heads to shafts. James Harrison, Jr., Milwaukie, Wis., for im- provement in padlocks. Samuel R. Jones, Baltimore, Md., for improve- ment in peg-cutters for boots and shoes. Geo. L. Jenks, Providence, R. I., for improve- ment in machinery for making weavers' harness. Jos. Johnson, New-Orleans, La., for improve- ment in manufacture of hats. John F. Manahan, Lowell, Mass., for improved mode of burning wet fuel. Hiram B. Musgrave, Cincinnati, Ohio, for im- provement in gas cooking stoves. Wm. C. Pancost, Geneva Township, Ohio, for improvement in cheese presses. Chas. Phillips, Detroit, Mich., for improved ma- chine for loading dirt cars. Randal Pratt, Marple Township, Pa., for im- provement in horse hay-rakes. J. J. Savage, New-York, N. Y., for improvement jn excavating machines. Christopher D. Scropyan, New-Haven, Conn., for method of preventing bank notes, Ac, from being counterfeited. Gustavus Stone, Beloit, Wis., for improvement in blades of mowing machines. Wm. Stoddard, Lowell, Mass., for morti.sing ma- chine. Abraham Straub, Milton, Pa., for improvement in machines for sawing marble obelisks. John G. Snyder, Wheatfield, Pa., for improve- ment in seeding machines. Abner Whitely, Springfield, Ohio, for improve- ment in candlesticks. Wm. E. Wyche, Brookville, N. C, for improve- ment in cultivating ploughs. Geo. W. N. Yost, Port Gibson, Miss., for im- provement in corn harvesters. James H. Merrill, Baltimore, Md., for improve- ment in fire-arms. Henry Pease, Brockport, N. Y., assignor to him- self and James Roby, of same place, for improve- ment in mowing machines. John Reily, Hart Prairie, Wis., assignor to Tal- bot C. Doneman, Ottowa, Wis., John Heath, Sulli- van, Wis., and John Reily, aforesaid, forimprove- , ment in harvesters. John J. Crocker, Utica, for improvement in safety guard for railroad cars. Benjamin Fenn, of Hartford, Ohio, for wind- mill. Geo. P. Gordon, New-York, for improved print- ing press. Benj. Groomes, Cumberland township. Pa., for improvement in repeating fire-arms. Elgah Holmes, Lynn, Mass., for spoke shave. Walter Hunt, New-York, for improvement in shirt collars. Waterman B. Johnson, Sandwich, N. H., for improvement in machines for pegging boots and shoes. Moses W. S. Kendall, Cincinnati, for improve- ment in smoke houses. Phineas L. Slayton, Madison, Ind., for improve- ment in sewing machines. Daniel Leibee, Middletown, Ohio, for improved gold amalgamator. Charles N. Lewis, Seneca Falls, for improved pumps. Orson E. Mallory, Castile, N. Y., for improved machine for making eave troughs. John H. Manny, Brockford, Illinois, for im- provement in liarvesters. Thomas K. Markillie, Winchester, 111., for im- proved bed for lath sawing machines. Joseph Marsh, Rochester, for improved sash" lock. James Neal and Charles W. Emery, Boston, fo*" pumps. I. J. Oldis, Wheeler, N. Y., for improved pad' lock. Jos. Peevy, Passadumbeag, Me., for improvement in hay and cotton presses. Charles Robinson and Charles T. Chester, New- York, for improvement in automatic electrical cir- cuit breakers. Thomas Stub))lefield, Columbus, Ga., for improve- ment in steam boiler alarms. John C. Smith, Camden, N. J., for improvement in repeating magazine fire-arms. Ira F. Thompson, New- York, for improvement in velocimeters for vessels. Geo. W. N. Yost, of Port Gibson, for improve- ment in grain binders for harvesters. Andrew H. Ward, Jr., Boston, for improvement in compositions for treating wool. Hiram C. Wight, Worcester, for improved ar- rangement of feed rollers for planing machines. Geo. Williamson, Brooklyn, for hydro-pneuma- tic pump for diving bells. Joshua Turner, Jr., Charlestown, Mass., assig- nor to Warren Covell, Dedham, Mass., for im- provement in the manufacture of leather shoe bindings. Cullen Whipple, Providence, assignor to the New-England screw company, of same place, for improvement in screw machines. Philo Marsh, South Adams, Mass., assignor to himself, and Shuljael W. Howland, South Acton, Mass., fn- improvement in treating oils. George A. Clarke, Philadelphia, assignor to Wm- Clarke of same place, for improvement in har- vester raking apparatus. RE-ISStTES. Samuel Hurlbert, Ogdensburg, N. Y., for im- provement in plows. Patented Sept. 20, 1853. Patented in Canada, Sept. 20, 1852. Benj. F. Avery, Louisville, Ky., for improve" ment in plows. N. Aubin, Albany, N. Y., for improvement in making illuminating gas. i)t Jlnoil. Vol. VIII. MARCH, 1856. No. 9. UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. FOURTH ANNUAL MBETINO. The Society met at Wa'^Iiington in the Smithsonian Building at 10 oVock on Wednesday morning, January 9th. Hon. Marshal P. Wildt-r, of Massachusetts, the President, called the Society to order. Delegates presented their credentials from the Agricultural Soci- eties of eighteen Sttites and Territories. Between sixty and seventy delegates were presen^. President Wilder then rose and delivered his annual address. He closed with an announcement ot' his inteniion to retire from the post of President. B. B. French, Esq., Treasurer of the Society, made the following report: Immediately on bis election he had an interview with Wra. Selden, Esq., the former Treasurer, who handed over to him the books and papers of his office, and informed him that the only money in his hands was on deposit in the Bank of Selden, Withers & Co., then in the hands of Trustees, and con- sequently the funds were unavailable. The sum on deposit is $2,149 42. To secure to the Society the ultimate payment of the sum on deposit, Mr. Selden has placed in my hands, under the direction of the Society, three one-thousand dollar bonds of the "Allisonia Manufacturing Company," in Tennessee, as collateral securitf, for which I gave him a receipt, approved by the Executive Comraii.tee of the Society. Tne Trustees of Selden, Withers & Co., have as yet made no dividend, although it is under.4ood that they now have a considerable sum of money on hand subject to dividend, which but for a claim set up by the United States to be preferred over all other creditors, would be divided. The only money that has come into my hands, except that received in Boston, amounts to $37 90. During the five days of the Boston Exhibition I received as Treasurer $31,808 58. The amount paid out in premiums was $10,205 98. The otherexpensas amounted to $8,773 76 ; which, wiih the premiums, amounted to $19,069 74. Necessity compelling me to return to Washington, I passed over to the Poesident all (he money in ray hands, who paid tbe remaining bills, amounting to $16,280 78, for which he has returned me vouchers. [n addition to the moneys paid over to tbe President by me, he received on account of sales, etc., $5,363 94, which, added to the sura received by me, makes an aggregate of $37,172 54 ; and, after deducting all the money VOL. VIII. 33 614 U. S. AGEICULTURAL SOCIETY. paid out, leaves a balance of $1,822 12, which the President has paid over to me. The entire available means now in my hands are $1,868 02. I submit herewith my accounts current and all the vouchers. I am informed by the President that there is still against the Society some bills fur printing, and perhaps a few others, and there are premiums to the amount of $^00 still unpaid, which, by the terms of the printed conditions, are forfeited, and probably will never be demanded. The principal portion of the money in the Treasurer's hands is now on deposit in the "New-England Bank," Boston. On motion, B. Perley Poore, of Massachusetts, D. Jay Browne, of the Patent-OfSce, and C, H. McCormick, of Illinois, were appointed Auditing Committee of the Treasurer's accounts. On motion of Anthony Kimball, Esq., the President appointed a Nomi- nating Committee, consisting of one from each State and Territory repre- sented. The President read a letter from Mayor Cenrad, of Philadelphia, inclosing- resolutions of the City Council, and requesting that the next annual exhibi- tion of the Society be held in that city. The proposition was accepted, and referred to the Executive Committee for the proper arrangement. Dii-cussion then ensued upon the expediency of holding exhibitions in those cities which would contribute the most to the treasury of the Society. The Presidect read a series of resolutions from the Illinois Legislature, asking appropriations from Congress for agricultural purposes. After discu--sion these resolutions were referred to a select committee, con- sisting of Professor Henry, J. B. D. DeBow, Esq., and A. H. Bjington, with authority to lay the subject before Congress. D. Jay Browne, Esq., of the Patent-OflSce, then read the following paper : ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE HORSE IN THE UNITED STATES. The Atlas Staiique de la Production des Chevaux gives some interesting details respecting the method of the "Admini.stration" for obtaining the most correct information with regard to the number and quality of the vari- ous races of horses to be found in France. The Society or Administration for breeding this animal has divided that country into twenty-seven districts, which comprise two breeding establishments, twenty-four depots for stallions, and one for army horses. In order to arrive at an exact estimate of the equine population, persons especially chosen for the purpose were employed in 1850 to visit every stable, village, and canton in each arrondisemeut and department. The result of this census of horses demonstrates with sufficient clearness the progress and utility of these establishments. The advantages thev afford in improving the breeds generally, as well as in giving increased value to the animals in a commercial point of view, are already appreciated by the French, and naturally lead to the suggestion of adopting a similar systeru in the United States for the improvement of the horses in our army, as well as for other purposes. If a depot for stallions of approved breeds were established by Government in each State and Territory in the Union for public use, free of charge, incalculable benefit would doubtless accrue to the country, and in less than ten years the improvement and increased value of the horse would be immense. The question arises, how shall this change be brought about f Where U. S. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETr. 515 are the horses to be obtained ? At whose expense ? And by whom shall it be accomplished ? It has been suggested that it would very properly come under the direction of the War Department, with the view of providing for the future wants of the army, and that an adequate appropriation should be made by Congress for that purpose. With equal propriety it has been asserted that it could be done by the States themselves through their Agricultural Societies, Boards of Agriculture, etc. The breeding horses of one or both sexes could be imported in sufficient numbers and varieties from various parts of Europe, Northern Africa, and South America. In the selection of breeds, as to their adaptation to the economy, uses, and climate of the different sections of our country, it would require much inveitigation, practical knowledge, science, and discrimination. Whether such an enterprise can ever be brought about remains only for the public to dfcide. The work referred to in the commencement was laid on the Secretary's table for inspection. On motion the paper just read was ordered to be printed in the Secretary's transactions. Capt. Van Vleit, United States Army, read a paper upon the Rocky Mountain Sheep. Prof. Baird, of the Smithson Institution, exhibited specimens of the horns, hoofs, head, and hair of the Rocky Mountain sheep, and urged several rea- sons why the animal should be domesticated, stating that an appropriation of from llOO to $200 would indues some hunters about Fort Laramie to persevere in their efforts until several pairs of these animals could be ob- tained, which would be sufficient to warrant an attempt at their domesti- cation. Mr. D. Jay Browne spoke of the attempt to domesticate the buffalo and cross the breed with that of the tame cattle, and went into some details showing the doubtful success of the attempt. He moved to refer the whole subjecr. to the Executive Committee. Mr, B. P. Poore gave a description of an attempt his father made to do- mesticate imported sheep of a fiue breed among the hills of Georgia. The result of the experiment was that most of the sheep died, and the shepherds "whD had been brought over to take care of them insisted that the reason of their death was that the country was too wild for them. Mr. Poore thought that if this country was too wild for the European sheep, it must be the very place in which the experiment of domesticating the mountain sheep would meet with the greatest success. The paper of Capt. Van Vleit was ordered to be published, and Prof. Baird was requested to furnish a copy of his remarks on the subject for publication. The project of the domestication of the Rocky Mountain sheep was re- ferred to the Executive Committee. D. Jay Browne, Esq., gave an account of a plan submitted to the Com- missioner of Patents by a gentleman from Ohio to import for distribution large quantities of a superior kind Mediterranean wheat. This proposition could not be entertained, as the appropriation of Congress for that purpose had been exhausted. Mr. Browne therefore laid it before the Society, with the hope that some plan might be devised by which wheat might be imported by the Society and distributed all over the country in small quantities as an experimsnt, a report of the results to be forwarded to the Society. A. Kimmel, Esq., thought that no subject was more important at this time 616 U. S. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. than improvement in the quality of seed wheat and the selection of that kind that would yield the largest supply. The following resolutions were offered : Wliereas it has been represented that the wheat seed, procured from the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, when cultivated in various sections of the United States, matures several days earlier than the ordinary varitties in use, and that said wheat not only proves to be more prolific in its yield, for the first few years at least, but possesses other valuable proper- ties : Therefore, be it Resolved, That the Executive Committee be empowered to import such quantities and varieties of said wheat as they may deem expedient, to be placed in proper hands for experiment, at least one bushel in a place, in every State and Territory, making it obligatory on the part of each experi- mentor to duly report to this Society tbe'i-esult. Resolved, That said Committee be empowered, if thought expedient, to issue proposals for the importation of a cargo of wheat se't-d for the use of agricultural societies or individuals, on such terras or conditions as they may see fit to prescribe. Mr. Kimmel enumerated the different kinds of foreign wheat of fine quality, and the porls at which tbey could be obtainf d with the greatest care and of the best quality. For a fiictor to travel to all these places would involve too much expense; and yet the different kinds of wheat could not be obtained at any other place. He thertfure suggested that efforts be made to obtain these different kinds through the American Consuls residing in the countries in which the several kinds grow. In th^ course of his remarks he described an attempt he had made to domesticate a kind from a part of Europe ten degrees further north than the place in America where it was planted. The result was that in the course of a few years it had the same appearance as native wheat. Mr. Browne thought wheat should be brought from a warmer climate than that of the place where it was planted. After some further discussion on this point by Mr. Kimmel, the whole su>ject was referred to the Executive Committee, and Mr. Browne was re- quested to reduce to writing the plan he had suGra:ested for the use of the committee. The same request was made of Mr. Kimmel. Prof. Jo3. Henry laid upon the Secretary's table a very large crystal of rock salt, which had been sent to hitn ffom Salt Lnke City. Its chief value was the power of transmitting all kinds of light like a prism. The speci- men was received, and the Professor requested to reduce his remarks on the subject to writing, and hand them to the Secretary for publication. The President then read a letter from Salt Lake City upon the capabilities of the surrounding soil, which letter was also ordered to be printed. KEArER Cass. — Tn the great reaper trial of McCormick against Manny, in the U. S. Circuit Court at V\'ashington, Judge McLean has delivered the opinion of the Court in favor of Miiniy, and refused the injunction sought by McCormick for infringement of his patent. N. H. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 517 NEW-HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY— A GOOD MOVEMENT. The State Society of New-Harapstire has commenced a capital plan of asking important questions of a selected correspondent in every town. In ibis, though thoy but follow tbe usage of the Patent-Office, they modify the inquiry to suit the latitude. The follf^wing is a list of the interrogatorits : 1. Are farmers in your town improving their farms, and their own social condition ? 2. If so, in what respects, and by what agencies ? 3. If not, what prevents? n. 1. What amount of woodland is there in the town ? 2. In what ratio is it diminishing ? III. 1. How much swamp land, in town, has been reclaimed within five years ? 2. At what cost per acre ? IV. 1. What is the condition of pasture land ? 2. What measures are adopted for the improvement of such land ? V. 1. What price, per month, is paid for farm labor through the year?] 2. Wliat during the summer and autumn — say for six months? 3. What per day, in haying and harvesting ? 4. What per week, for domestic help ? 5. Is it easy to obtain such help ? 6. If not, why ? 7. Is Ameri'jan or foreign help employed? 8. What proportion of each ? VT. 1 . Is much attention given to the breeding of stock ? 2. Who are some of the best stock-breeders in town ? 3. Give f^uch hints as may occur, in relation to the breeding of stock of all kinds ? VII. 1. What breeds of neat cattle are most common? 2. What are best for labor ? 3. What for beef? 4. What for milk? 5. What breed combines the most desirable qualities, and is most profit- able? 6. What crosses are most preferred ? VIII. 1. What breeds of sheep are kept? 2. What is their value per head ? 3. Dow much wool do they yield annually? 4. What breed is most valuable ? IX. 1. What breeds of swine are most common? 2. Which is preferred, and why ? 3. Can pork be raised with profit ? 518 EDUCATION. FOR THK PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. EDUCATION. ~ "Foreign commerce requires capital, and wealth gives power. Theorize as we will about the matter ; it is so, and will be so. When wealth is con- ti'olled by a few, the few control the many. Wealth secures, or may se- cure, education ; and knowledge is power. Nor is this all ; "/or being edu- cated they are naturally the associates of the members of the learned pro- fessions, and there is a common sympathy between them growing out of this state of things. Here is reason enough for the influence exerted in many communities by th^se classes." — P., L. <$) A. p. 322. ■ " The mission" of an agricultural paper is essentially to aid in educating the masses ; not education as is too commonly comprehended in that term, for the mass deem being taught the elemeutaries, to be education. Could the writer believe " the mission" of an agricultural paper to be the mere in- crease of a crop, how to fatten a hog or a beef, to increase quantity or quality of wool — to make money ; or comparisons between members of a family who should have a common hope, a common good at heart, he would at once cease the labors of a quarter of a century, break his pen, demolish his ink- stand, aud turn over this missionary work to Wall street and the Shylocks whose whole study in life is cent per cent. The merchant who owns a large capital, educated in head, and heart, and hands, who had a pious and devoted mother to pour into his infant heart " love to God and love to man" is bound to wield an influence little short of a king, and thus would show forth that " commerce is king." But unfor- tunately for the cause of true human progress, acquisition of property is re- garded as the beaux ideal ; the economy, the close tiading, aud the shaving of the millionaire is the picture set before young men ; the education, if any, the comprehensive mmd, far-seeing eye of these men are taken into count ; the thousands who fell by the wayside whilst struggling to mount up to the height of Croesus are not seen, but those only who have amassed are pointed to, and the young disciple of Mammon is bid God-speed. , r If mothers were thoroughly educated, if pai'ents and guardians would point to youth the bright examples who have secured the prize, we would soon have better days. Mothers having the care of the infant heart when it can be molded to high and holy aspirations should be eminently fitted to their task ; by a thorough drilling, even as thorough as if they were to fill the sphere that God has alloted to man, because they prepare the material for the work. Parents and guardians who manage youth would do their duty better to put an example before their young charges — our future men — whom by following they could not err. For instance, Mr. ■ , who at his home is a kind father, husband, friend, neighbor, one who spends his evenings with his family or in study ; one who is ready to aid the needy, has a heart open to the wants of our race, one who is faithful in the discharge of all duties whether to God, his country, or himself. Such an example may not all suit of his accumulating vast property, but it will be more certain. If every business man would resolve, on setting out in life, to do his whole duty, we would have ninety-nine out of every hundred zvcll doing in the world, instead of one to accumulate a Girard estate, and ninety-nine to fall by the wayside. The great point is, lay a foundation broad, strong and THE SPIRIT OF SPECULATION. 519/ deep, by educating woman. Leave all the mere show and glitter to such of our race, whether those who have beards or not, who prefer such to the de- velopment of our race. With such a foundation, America may build a reputation that will be a lever to move the world. Labor as you will to educate man, and make of woman a mere machine to stitch silk and lace upon, a mere automaton to be wound up at the pleasure of a man, and to rattle away on wood, metal and ivory some times, and you can never place man in his proper position. The female sex educated for companions, associates, would so soften the harshness of man's nature that you would soon see more influence from education than for these hundred years past altogether. With respect, your fellow-citizen from the Southward. THE SPIRIT OF SPECULATION— HOW TO CHECK IT. The more we look into the subject, the more enormous appears to us the wild and reckless spirit of speculation. It seems to pervade every depart- ment of trade. A recent exchange from the South asserts that speculators are controlling the prices of sugar in their fiist market. They buy up large quantities and withdraw most of it from the market, and then raise a hue and cry of scarcity, accomplishing their object throughout, as other gamblers do, by falsehood and fraud. Another mode in which those men operate is set forth in the following paragraph, which occurs in a memorial of the sugar dealers of New-Orleans , under the date of Nov., 1855 : " Our market," say they, "is at all times liable to be influenced by com- binaiions, got up in other cities as well as in New-Orleans. Mr. Champpnier has informed us, in his circular of the 16th inst., that in New-York, on the 3d inst., Refiners * were scarcely in the market at all ; some of them having lately sold refined sugars at the cost price of raw, and in same instances less.' " Refiners do not make such sales without an object. Being made at that particular juncture, it is not unfair to suppose they were made for the pur- pose of influencing the market, to depress the price of raw sugar, of which they now have to purchase so largely. Had the crop been a large one they would no doubt have succeeded. But no system of misrepresentation can blind people to the diminution of the present crop. Speculators were prompt in taking all the sugars ofiered by those refiners, and prices went up again." We are perfectly aware of the great difficulty of defending the public against such depredators. The enactment of special statutes to meet such necessities, is both hazardous and unpopular. But we are not quite sure that common law does not give us means of defense well worth attention. Difierent modes of operation have received appropriate names, while the end and aim may be the same. Thus : Under the common law, Forestalling the market is an indictable offense. It consists " in bujing or in contracting for any merchandise or victual coming in the way to market ; or dissuading persons from bringing their goods or provisions there ; or persuading them to enhance the price, when there ; aii^ of which practices make the market dearer to the fair trader." Another form of a similar offence is Regrating, which is defined to be " the 620 THE SPIRIT OF SPECULATION. buying of corn or other dead victual, in any market, and selling again in the same market, or within four railea of the place." The gist of this offense consists in an intent to speculate on the price of food. Nor does it require any actual corrupt motive beyond this increase of price, by the mere pur- chase for making money and re-selling in the same market ; indeed the rea- son assigned by Blackstooe, why such purchase and re-sa'e is unlawful is be- cau'^e " every successive seller must have a successive profit." But a third form of carrying on trade unlawfully describes more exactly that very form which is so extensively practised in this country at the pre- sent time. It is called Eogrossing. This is described to be " the getting into one's possession or buying up large quantities of corn, or other dead vic- tual with intent to sell them again." " This," says Blackstone, " must of course be injurious to the public^ by putting it in the power of one or two rich men to raise the price of provisions at their own discretion." This offense differs from monopHes, a fourth form of offense, inasmuch as monopolies extend to all branches of trade. The penalty for violating the laws in these several modes, was by discre- tionary fine and imprisonment as a misdemeanor. Nor is it marvellous that our ancestors should enact such laws. There is work enough for all without being obliged to filch from the pockets of the poor, as does every such speculator. Such middle men as enter into this business in the mannerdescribed, ousiht to be regarded as dishonest, fradulent, disreputable, like any other gamblers. They are gamblers. They do no- thing to increase the value of the merchandise. They merely get possess- ion, and oblige others, who might buy as well as they, and without their help, to pay them an exorbitant commission for doing what benefits no one. Why can not our butchets buy of the drovers without the interference of middle men? Why cannot our grocers buy flour without supporting ex- pensive e>tablishments for the benefit of those who buy only to make a greit profit by selling to the grocer? Why is a class of men tolerated who make a great hue and cry through the country of "high prices and short supplies," merely to bring in a surplus and buy it up at a low rate, because there is a more liberal supply, and then keep out of the maiket those same supplies, except as they can sell them at the same excessive prices, while the poor go hungry ? We know not the suffering that results from this single operation, and the community are fleeced out of thousands and tens of thousands of dollars to feed luxuriou>ly these lazy middle men, who will not earn an honest liv- ing. JSHne-tenlhs of all the middle men of this city might be dispensed with, and the community suffer nothiug, but save rnuch. PoMEROY, Onio. — Within the past year, over 10,000,000 bushels of coal, 1,000,000 bushels of salt, and manu''aciured iron to the value of $150,000, Lave been shi[)ped from Pomeroy and towns adj-icent, to points below. The value (if these mineral products is over 81,000,000, to say nothing of the agricultural productions. — Mtigs Co. Telegraph. CITY OF ST. PAUL. 521 THE CITY OF ST. PAUL. A CORRESPONDENT of the Chicago Democrat furnishes that paper an inter- esting account of this thriving city. Tlie city of St. Paul (not St. Paul's) is built on a series of tables or benches wiiich run parallel with the river, the one rising above the other to a height of from forty to sixty feet, and extending probably two miles along the river, running back about the same distance. In early limes the place went under the name of '• Pig's Eye ;" but a missionary came here and built a small church dedicated to St. Paul, and from that the city has been named. This "church," a little Itg house, is still standing, and was pointed out to me yesterday by Judge Tullis of this city. There it stands, a rude, rough log house, wliere first the red man of these regions heard preached the tidings of salvation. This is called the " nucleus" uf St. Paul, and I ob- served that not a few chunks had been cut out of the logs by relic hunters who have visited this rewion. The town plan of St. Paul was laid out in 1847, up to which time it could only claim to be a wilderness. In 1850 the population amounted to 1035, since which time it has rapidly increased, till now it numbers upwards of 7000. The business, however, transacted at St. Paul, is far greater in pro- portion than its population would justify. Situated as at present it virtually is, at the head of navigation, St. Paul is not only the Territorial capital, but the commercial center of Minnesota Territory. Everything for the back or upper country must of necessity pass through it, and that of itself gives it an advantage over any other city or town site in the Territory. True, there may and doubtless will be other large cities in Minnesota, but St. Paul has the lead at present, and there is no reason why it should not keep it. There are several fair looking buildings in St. Paid, consideiing its age. The capitol is an imposing structure, built of brick manufactured here. There is also a well built hotel — the Winlow Housa — which has a com- manding appearance. The majority of the houses, however, are built of wood. There are three grist mills in operation, capable of turning out 1,500 bushels a day. There are also six or seven saw mills, all of which at present are running night and day. The Forwarding and Commission business is very extensive, and likely to continue increasing. At present there are about a dozen houses devoted almost exclusively to it, who jointly do a yearly business amounting proba- bly to half a million of dollars. St. Paul has seven churches — First and Second Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic, German, Methodist and Scandinavian — all of whom have stated pastors, with good congregations. The erections are not by any means extravagant or graceful in thtir appearance, but for a young city they are tolerably fair. The Catholics intend t) commence a splendid Cathedral next year, one of their clergymen being at the present time in Europe col- lecting money for that purpose. In educational matters, St. Paul is pretty fairly advanced. They have a charter for a college, to be called "The University of St. Paul," the prepara- tory department of which will commence soon. Besides this, there is the Baldwin school, founded by a gentleman of that name in Philadelphia. It was incorporated and commenced operations early in June, 1853. The '522 RAILROADS AND THE WEST. Female Department alone has 100 pupils. There are also three district schools, all of which I believe are well patronized. Real estate is not so high proportionately as it is farther up the river. Property in the best business street may be had at from $90 to $125 per foot, and good residence lots may be had at from $500 to $1000, and before the boundary of the city limits is approached, they may be got at $150 or thereabouts. Within the last month more than $200,000 worth of property has changed hands. There are some nice little bargains made here occa- sionally by real estate operators. St. Paul, as your readers are probably aware, is virtually at the head of navigation on the Mississippi. When the river is properly cleared of rocks above St. Paul, vessels will be able in high water to reach St. Anthony ; but at all times navigation will be such a matter of uncertainty, that the latter place must, in my opinion, content itself to be the second or third city in the Territory. Whenever railroads get started here, then some other place may possibly rise up and complete with St. Paul; but even that is not likely. The people of St. Paul are a reading people, if we were to judge from the number of newspapers published here. There are in this city four daily and five weekly papers; one having just been started in the German lan- guage. What Railroads are doing for the West. — The official returns of the new census of Illinois have just been received. The entire population is over 1,300,000, which is a gain of about 50 per cent, upon the census of 1850. By comparing the increase through the several decades and semi- decades since the census has been taken, it will be seen that the gain has been much larger during the last five years than any former period : From 1810 to 1820 the increase was - - - 42,923 " 1820 to 1830 " " . - . 102.234 " 1830 to 1835 " « . . - 114,982 " 1835 to 1840 " " ... 204,756 " 1840 to 1845 " «... 185,942 " 1845 to 1850 " " ... 189,345 " 1850 to 1855 " "... 448,781 The railroad system has been developed in Illinois within the last five years, and one of the fruits, we see, has been to double the population. Add to this the improved society, the multiplied educational and moral in- fluences, such as the newspapers, cheaD books, etc., which follow population, and take advantage of all cheap methods of communication, and then one may begin to appreciate the advantages of the modern railway system as an engine of civihzation. — Exchange. Use of Railroads. — The Beloit Journal says that during the past week, red and white winter wheat sold in that village for $1 87 and $1 88. It adds : *' We have conversed with men who say in r>«loit in years gone by , ajmshel of wheat exchanged for a pound of saleratus ! Where now are th e croakers who say that ' railroads do not benefit the farmer V " INDUSTEIAL STATISTICS. 523 INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. Essex County, Massachusetts. — ^This is the most densely populated county in the State, except Suffolk, and this results from the variety of their pursuits. Ttie Newburyport Herald publishes the following statements in reference to certain forms of industry. The Boot and Shoe Business — The following table shows the state of this interest in the several towns of this county : Towns. No. of males No. of females No. of pairs manu- Value of mana- employed. employed. factured. factures. Araesbury, 54 40 52,820 29,136 Andover, 76 34 80,736 55,787 Beverly, 511 300 288,600 171,000 Boxford, 50 47 61,550 52,550 Bradford, 12 11 20,075 1,000 Danvers, 1300 1500 1,330,000 1,000,000 Essex, 15 7 4,850 7,470 Georgetown, 356 239 339,540 336,320 Gloucester, 89 110 24,100 21,376 Groveland, 261 193 161,414 152,039 Hamilton, 93 56 23,000 8,200 Haverhill, 4087 2257 4,332,015 2,782,930 Ipswich, 78 60 42,000' 69,000 Lawrence, 31 30 24,183 24,925 Lynn, 4545 11,021 9,275,593 4,165,529 Lynnfield, 41 39 33,000 31,200 Manchester, 1 2 2,500 1,200 Marblehead, 1080 1485 2,835,724 1,020,373 Methueu, 280 210 304,500 300,500 Middleton, 165 140 180,000 117,000 Nahant, Newbury, Newburyport, 361 268 428,400 398,600 N. Andover, 60 25 50,000 36,000 Rockport, 17 14,900 8,000 Rowley, 209 114 164,800 195,600 Salem, 128 148 139,250 96,000 Salisbury, 33 48 18,164 15,019 Saugus, 152 120 134,000 96,000 S. Danvers, 562 481 747,600 597,259- Swampscott, 76 141 20,600 49,300 Topsiield, 105 121 98,350 90,260 Wenham, 46 20 29,200 20,000 W. Newbury, 231 138 275,200 21,540,664 231,138 15,105 19,895 $12,180,810 It will be seen from the above that the census returns more than 35,000 workers upon boots and shoes, manufacturing over 21,000,000 pairs, at a value exceeding $12,000 annually ; and as large as that seems, it is not up to the facts. The census was taken in summer, when many of the shoe- makers were fishing or farming who were enumerated^ as fishermen and farmers. The city of Newburyport would have given a hundred more in January than June; and Marblebead would have made a greater ditference, and so would Beverly, of the fishing towns, to say nothing of the agricul- tural. Two of the towns, it will be seen, have not been enumerated; one of them is Newbury, where probably there are two hundred males and females 524 DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOWLS. because they did not manufacture for themselves in the town. Tbe valuation, too, we believe is much below the mirk ; everybody knows that valuation has to do with taxation, and they never state above but often below the actual worth. Carriage Ma.nufacturing in West Amesbury. — There are twenty establishments in West Araesbury for the manufacturing of caniages, that have an invested capital of a quarter of a million dollars and give constant employment to 280 hands. That business has within a few years built up one of the most thrifty villages there to be found in the country ; and the turning out of $300,000 value in chaises, carriages, etc., places it first in that manufacture. Nearly all the tanning and currying is done in Salem and Danvers, the comb-making in West Newbury, ihe sbipbuilding in Newburyport, the con- struction of small vessels at Essex, the cod fishery in Beverly and Marble- head, the Afiican trade in Salem, the freighting sliips in Newburyjort, and mackerel catching from Gloucester. Peojile of the same butinesi^, modes of life and habits of thought, congregate together. Shipbuilding. — Newburyport employs a large number of men in thia form of trade. The statistics given are as follows : Men employed, 270 ; daily wa^es average 81 50 ; about 35 men are em- ployed in the joiner woik, who receive $1 To per day ; 33 caulkeis get $1 50 per day ; 33 smiths average $1 50 ; ship's painters, about 20 hands, get $1 33 per day. DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOWLS. The following statemen's are frr m extensive raisers of poultry, and are worthy of the consideration of all intertsted in the subject: The Dorkivg fowl, which some still attempt to bring forward as the best, has been found to be tender, and unfit for a general barn-yard fowl. The Polands, and Black SjJomsh are the same— good layers, but unfit for the table, when compared with some other breeds, and their young so tender as to be very troublesome to rait-e them. The Cuoles or BoUon Greys are ex- cellent layers; but owing to their small size can never be anything but a jancy fowl. ''•Cochin China''' fowls are a humbug. There is no such breed, and those that were said to have been imported from Cochin China came from the city of Shanghai in China, Thty are a S!ianohai fowl, with smooth legs. There are but few Shanghai fowls now existing in this country in a pure state ; but those that have short legs, plump bodies, short tails, and weigh, hens, 8 lbs., and cocks 10 lbs., are a valuable fowl. Cinnamon colored hens, and red cocks are marks of genuine stock. There are some beautiful black Shanghais that are quite as valuable as those of a ciiiuamon color. The white Shanghais are a good fowl, but not as hardy as those of other colors. Tbe Chttagong fowl is a gr«at, unsightly bird ; cocks of a mixed hue of black and white, hens grey, mottled, brown, etc. Indeed, it is difficult to find iwo fowls of the same color of this breed, and they have been crossed so extensively with the 13rahma ard other fowls, that the ori- ginal stcck is mostly merged in some other breed. This is the reason why 60 many ill shaped, long-legged "^ro/m* a" fowls are in the market, which in DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOWLS. 525 fact are gererally one-half, or three fourths Chittagongs. The pure Brahma fowl, we believe, has no superior in the world, in all that constitutes a hardy fowl, one of great size, yet not too largo, with short legs, compact bodies, and great prolificoess in eggs. This is our experience with them, after a trial of four years." — Rural American. A correspondent of the Hartford (Conn.) Courant says : "Fur several years past I have kept a few hens, and. have, during the time, tried several varieties. I now have two varieties which are certainly superior to any other kind of which I have any personal knowledge ; one is the Brahma Pootra — a large, handsome fowl — most excellent layers and easy lo raise ; and the other is a white China fowl, or white Shani^liai, as some call them. This variety I value very highly, and do not believe, all things considered, that they can be surpassed, in everything that goes to make a handsome and profitable hen, by any other variety in America. I have had this kind in my possession for fourteen months, and they have laid every month during the time except when setting; and after hatching they would commence laying by the lime the chickens were two or three weeks old. The flesh of these fowls is excellent, being much superior to ihe common Shanghais ; their bodies are full and plump as a partridge. '• I have kept during the year ending Oct. 15th, 1855, from twelve to six- teen hens, of different varieties, from which I have had over 1700 egg*. " I paid out during the year for food, $45. The eggs come to 843. leaving me for profit between 80 and 90 chickens, valued at from 25 to 15 cents each, which shows that there is some profit to be derived from the business, although kept shut up as mine have been. " Feed. — Their food should be corn, or corn and oats, kept where they can have access to it all limes ; also fresh water daily. When cooped up they should have pulverized oyster shells and gravel, where ihey can obtain ihein when they require, and occasionally fresh meat ; with the meat, bones and other scrapings from the table ; and two or three «,imes a week they should have raw veget^ibles, chopped fine, such as cabbage, onions, turnips, carro's, etc. ; and in simiraer a daily supply of grass. It will be found ben- eficial to feed once a day with meal, wet up with warm water, especially in the winter season. It is useless to expect a large supply of eggs unless you feed well. "Vbrmin. — The greatest nuisance to contend with, and which is the cause of more failures in the management of poultry than all other causes combined, are the vermin or hen lice that infest their loosts in warm weather. It is useless to expect profit or pleasure while these pests are allowed to increase. I have succeeded in keeping the roosts comparatively clear of them by once or twice a week smearing the roosts with a mixture of poor oil and spirits of turpentine. The nests should be cleared out quite often and kept clean, and a box of ashes or dry sand kept where the hens can roll in it. Use these means, and we can warrant comparative immunity from the vermin. The Roup is often very fatal to poultry, more particularly where they are kept in large numbers, often 25 per cent, of the flock dying of this dis- ease. It is very similar to malignant erysipelas, with congestion of the lungs in the human subject, the wind-pi po closing up, causing suffocation. The only effectual remedy we know of is, on the first appearance of ihe dis- ease, to close all the doors and windows of the poultry house at night, when the fowls are on the roost, then burn within the building a few corn cobs, the sjnoke from which will fill the building, causing a constant snulliug or sneez- 526 THE BEST CATTLE. ing, which affords relief. Smoke from corn cobs is recommended for chronic laryngitis in the humnn subject, and cases are given of persons being cured by being in the smoke watching its effects upon their poultry." THE BEST CATTLE. The following extracts are from the correspondents of the Report of the Patent- Oflace fur 1854. Mr. Lane, of Connecticut : — "I have considerable experience in raising both the imported and common breeds ; and 1 think a given amount of food will produce more meat in the Durham than in the common animal, or •any other." Mr. Mondy, of Vermillion, Illinois : — " We have the Durhams in consid- erable numbers, and pure bl:od. In my opinion, a cross of three-quarters Durham and one-quarter ordinary blood makes the best stock. Our com- mon stock is best for the Dairy." Mr. Boone, of Lebanon, Iowa : — " Crosses of the Durham with the com- mon cattle have proved advantageous for beef, milk and labor. S. D. Martir., Pine Grove, Kentucky : — "The Short-horned cattle are the best for milk and beef of any I have ever had. I have owned several cows, each of which would give over thirty quarts of milk a day, having an aver- age of ten per cent of cream. I always employ oxen on my farm, and have worked those of every breed we have among us. The Herefords are excel- lent workers and pull evenly. But they are harder to break in, and are apt to be more vicious than the IShort-horned. I prefer the Stiort-horns for oxen for the following reasons : — they are genile and docile, easily broken in and managed, strong and true in pulhng, are not vicious among other stock, and when they have been worked five or six years are easily fitted for the butcher, who will pay a good price for them." Mr. Fuller, of Winthrop, Maine : — " We have imported Durham, Here- ford and Ayreshire, but grade Durhams have been the most used among us, and have given the best satisfaction for milk, flesh and labor." Mr. Weston, of Bloomfield, Maine: — "The Herefords, Durhams and Ayreshire have been introduced, and their crosses upon our common stock have succeeded well. Hereford cows are the best milkers of the imported breeds ; but our ordinary cows are as good milkers as any. Mr. Potter, of Manchester, New-Hampshire: — "In the valley of the Merrimack pure Devons are more generally bred than any other blooded stock ; but I am inclined to the opinion that they are becoming of less re- pute than formerly. In our hilly, mountainous region, their size forbids their making suitable oxen for work, and for being profitable for the shambles. So that aside from their capacity as milkers, which is a mooted point, their usefulness fur labor, and their value for beef, the Devons must fall behind several other breeds." Mr. Rouse, Paris Hill, New- York : — " Crosses between the Durham and our common stock are thought by many to make the best milkers; while others think a cross with the Devons fully equal, if not preferable. Cases are by no means rare in which cows of what is usually termed the ' native PROPAGATION OF FISH. 527 breed ' are fou ad equally as good milkers as any among the various kinds of imported stock. This remark may not be equally true, however, in regard to their aptness to take on fat," Mr. Collins, of Sodus, New-York : — We prefer the Devons to any other breed; they are hardy and easily kept. The oxen are quick, active and docile, and the cows are excellent milkers, averaging two pounds of butter a day, each, with good feed." Mr. Franklin, of Cuba, Ohio: — "The first crosses of the- Durhams with our common stock are considered best for beef." Mr. Smoot, Boone Court-House, Va. : — " I am of opinion that the Durhams crossed with the 'scrub cattle ' are far better for this mountainous region than the full-blooded." Mr. Wharton, Egypt, Texas : — " A. few Durhams bulla were brought into this vicinity from the Western States. Bat, from the abundance of food, they soon became so large and strong as to be dangerous to our breeds, and were consequently shot." PROPAGATION OF FISH; WITn A DESCRIPTION OF THE CURIOUS OCEAN FISH-POND OF LOGAN, ON THE WEST COAST OF SCOTLAND. BT CAPTAIN KALSTOtf. Mr. Editor : — It is noticeable of fish that, although very polific of them- selves, they would seem to be very unprolific of subject-matter, generally, whether as regards your own columns, or those of any others, your com- peers. And yet, in relation to rural economics, the cultivation, so to speak, of some kinds of piscatory products can be rendered of no unworthy or unprofitable consideration. The artificial raising offish, in ponds and streams, has come to attract much attention in Europe, and it may be in some m- stances, also, in this country, though unknown to the writer. The highly utilitarian objects which the subject embraces, have received new and sug- gestive features of interest, from the discovery of ready and sure means for the propagation and improvement of the finny tribes, and their multiplication at, well nigh, any one's will and pleasure. This is by collecting, at the proper time and season, the spawn of any desired kind of fish — say of salmon, trout, etc., — and then netting some males of the same species, from whom the fluid of the milt, or the seminal emission, is to be gently squeezed upon the col- lected spawn, which is thereupon to be deposited in a protected place, — tank, pond, or stream, — under circumstances favorable to the development of the ova, and until the fry shall have become fitted to be turned into the still or running waters, intended to be stocked, as the case may be. In France extensive and successful experiments have been made; and to some extent likewise in England. It was in Scotland, however, some twenty years ago, or so, that the germ of this idea had a practical origin, arising out of the circumstance that the salmon were fast diminishing and disappearing -from many of those rivers where once they had so valuably abounded. It had long been an uncertain and disputed question how and where this noble 628 PROPAGATION OF FISH, fish was bred, and what was its appearance and character previous to its being known and distinguished as the Salmon, on its first return up the streams from the sea, under its piscatorial cognomen of (Scotticc) "grilse," (Hiber- nice) "gillaroo," and (Anglice) "a first year run fish." There was a small fish which swarmed in the salmon rivers of North Britain — the "Tweed," the •' Tay," etc., — called the " Par." It weighed from two or three, to six or seven ounce?, and was a beautiful little species, resembling a trout, but hav- ing a single row of golden-red spots, evenly studded along each silvery side. As it was lively in the stream, and a delicious morsel on the table, it was angled for by man and boy at all points, and taken in vast numbers. The writer, when an urchin, placed at the grammar-school of an ancient town, situated on the banks of the beautiful Tweed, has caught in that river from ten to twelve dozen of Par with the fly-rod, day after day ; and his twen- ty-nine school confreres were no less active in plying the murderous war- fare. Nor he, nor they, nor any one divined that this little fish was assuredly the young salmon, and that every one which should have escaped to the Sea would, in all likelihood, have returned again up stream, in a few months, a noble " grilse," of from four to nine lbs. of weigtit. It is remarkable how undeviatingly these fish return to those streams in which they have been spawned, and the manner in which they will stem currents and ascend falls of water to do so is extraordinary. The forest or chase, lake or mere law.^, of the olden times of England and Europe, were terribly and utjustly strained enactments against the rights of the many for the erjoyment of the few. Even the British game-laws of the present time retain objectional features. But the absence of all restrictive laws — no protection of those ferae naturae which are termed " game" — is a flagrant oversight and error, causing hurtful deprivation and loss to any and every community. In how many districts and regions, already, of this country, has not that magnificent quarry — the deer — disappeared from hill and forest, as has the winged and other smaller game from field and woodland, while trout of any worthy size aie scant, or none, in so many streams ? As regards the Par, the poaching havoc, once wont with it, has been largely stayed. Random guesses and surmises of its being the fry of the salmon had long been rife enough, but unattended by assured conviction or knowledge of the fact, until the Duke of Athol caused fome experiments to be made in the Tay, which resuked in conclusive evidence. After being- taken with the net, numbers of Par were marked, and then again freed in the river; and in a fQw months afterwards many of the marked fish were caught, on their return up stream from the sea, grown to be " grilles," or young salmon. This experiment was tried on such a scale, and this fur several seasons, as to present proofs beyond doubt or cavil by even the most skeptical. Following upon this was, first, the protection of the young fry from former unlimited destruction ; and, next, the discovery and resort to artificial incuba- tion, as a means to pre-erve the spawn itself from its numerous sources of waste and accident. Out of all this has gradually been developed tl;e now eminently practical and successful artificial cultivation of fish, so to call it. The description of one expeiiment, made in the Tay, at Perth, ia Scotland, will best elucidate what has and can be accomplished in this way. Three hundred boxes were laid down, in twenty-five parallel rows, each box paitly (i led with clean gravel and pebbles. On the 23d Dec, 1853, 300,000 ova were deposited in these boxes. In June, 1854, the fry were admitted into the prepared pond, their average size being about, one and a quarter inch in length. From their admission they were fed, daily, with boiled liver^ PROPAGATION OF FISH, 529 rubbed small by the hand. By the spring of 1855 they had increased in size to three or four inches. In May they had begun to put on the migra- tory dress, or appearance, and on the 19Lh of that month the sluice com- municating with the river was opened, and every facility given the piscatory brood to dt'part. None, however, manifested any disposition to iirsue forth initil the 24ch, when the larger or more mature of the smelts, after holding themselves detached from the others for several days, wentoif in a body, A series of similar emigrations took place, until full half the fry had left the pond and descended the sluice into the Tay, It had long been a subject of controversy whether the fry of the salmon assumed the migratory dress in the second or third year of iheir existence, and this favorable opportunity to decide the question was not overlooked. In order to test the matter in the most eflFeclive manner, it was determined to mark a portion of the smelts in such a way as that they might easily be dislioguisbed when returning as grilse. A temporary tank was constructed at th« junction of the sluice with the Tay, and as the shoals fuccessively left the pond, about one in every hundred was marked by the abscission of the second dorsal fin, A greater number were marked on the 29lh of May than on any other day, in all about 1200 or 1300, The result proved equally satisfactory and curious. Within two months of their liberation twenty-twa of the young fish so marked were recaptured, on their returning migration up the river, and proved the fact of their becoming grilse in the second year, as well as their rapid growth during their short sojourn in salt water. Those first taken weighed five, to five and a half pounds, increasing progressively to seven or eight pounds; whilst one taken on the 31st of July weighed nine and a half poiiuds. The wound caused by the process of marking was found to be covered by the skin, and in some there was a coating of scales over the part, Tiiis experiment demonstrates the practicability of thus rearing sal- mon, of marketable value, within twenty months from the deposition of the ova or spawn. An incidental description of another mode of rearing fi?h — sea fi>h — may nof, perhaps, be an unacceptable anecdote. An old brother officer of the writer, Colonel McDouall, late in command of the second regiment of Life Guards, is possessed of an estate called " Logan," situated in the Rhinns of Galloway, Wigtonshire, Scotland. It is about half way between Port- patrick and the mull of Galloway, and extends about a mile and a half down to that point of the Atlantic sea-board. Here Colonel McDouall has formed a fish pond, which is perhaps unique as an adjunct to a gentleman's residence, and some ac:ount of it may interest piscatorial readers, and lovers of natural history generally. This pond was originally a small, rocky basin of the coast, with which the tea communicated by means of a natural tunnel; but as the bottom was very little below the medium sea level, it was nearly dry at low water. It occurred to Colonel McDouall that, by increasing the size and depth of this basin, he might, at all times and seasons of the year, have a constant supply of sea-fi^h ; and he blasted and quarried the rocks, both at the bottom aad sides, until he had formed a circular excavation of about fitly feet in diameter, and of depth to give about eight feet of water at low tides, to that Hsb in the pond should always have an ample allowance of their na- tive element. At flood, the water risei six feet in the pond, or to about four- teen teet in depth, in all, affording a fresh supply with every tide. There is a high wall, built on the upper edge of the rock, around the pond, to prevent poaching in this unusual "game preserve;" and a grating is fixed at the 34 630 PROPAGATION OF FISH. entrance from the tunnel, so as to bar the escape of the fish. Beneath high water mark the sea-weed clings to the rocks, sjiving them an aspect as pic- turesque as natural. A cottage, in which the female keeper and her son resiHe, adjoins the pond. When the writer first visited this ocean-pond, the keeper unlocked a door, and he was advancing forward, when the appearance of a large eagle — the Osprey, or sea eagle — startled him, for its glaring eyes and ouistretched pinions seemed actually to menace the visitant. But the startled arrest of step is only an involuntary tribute to the skill of the artist who has stuffed this air- cleaving fisher of the deep. The door opens on a small landing-place, at the top of a flight of steps, which lead to the water's edge, where there is a plat- form of rock, about two inches above the level of the water ; and, below the ledge of which there is another ledge, some twelve inches or so under water. No sooner is any one's advance descried on the top of the stairs, than a general commotion ensues among the fish, and they rush towards the platform's edge, pushing and jostling io their eagerness to get to the place where they are usually fed, just as barn-door fowls do at the sight of the person who feeds them. A quantity of muscles, scalded for the purpose of getting them more easily from the shell, had been provided to feed the fish. On this kind of food the Cod, and other varieties kept in the pond, thrive amaz- ingly ; and after being a few weeks thus " stall-fed," so to term it, they greatly excel in flavor and juiciness their untamed brethren of the open sea. A muscle being held between the fingers, about two inches below the surface of the water, a cod of about ten pounds weight took it, having won the race by about a head from three or four more of its mates of similar dimensions, all of which rushed for the prize at the same time. It required some nerve to prevent oneself from jerking back the hand at the moment the cod, with widely-extended jaws, took the bait. Several attempts to get hold of one of the larger fish failed; but a capture of one of four or five pounds was made, ■which, after being raised out of the water, and leisurely inspected, was re- turned to his native element, at which he seemed not a little pl-ased. It was, again and again, unsuccessfully tried to get hold of one large fellow of twelve or thirteen pounds ; but from his size and strength, he always got off; and though unable to throw dust in one's eyes, he revenged himself with such a whisk of his tail as sent the salt water flying. Alter taking a short run, he always returned to the ledge, nothing daunted by the several attempts to seize him. The keeper took one of the largest, about ten pounds weight, in her lap, and stroked and petted it, saying, " poor fellow, poor fel- low," just as if it had been a child ; and she opened its mouth and put in a muscle, which it swallowed with apparent gusto — at least a wriggle of the tail might be so interpreted — and she then put her prisoner back again. Sev- eral gradations of tameness was observable among the fish ; some were quite tame, and came close up to the ledge; while another class kept pacad- ing from right to left, ki^eping about two or three yards oft', but readily partaking of some food thrown to them : and a third class kept aloof alto- gether. Others kept secluded from sight, in the nooks and corners at the bottom of the pond, and these were perhaps the "Johnny Newcombes" of the place. It is a curious physiological fact — fishiological, if it better please — that fish which remain long in this pond always become blind; and this was ascribed to insuflicient shelter from the heat and glare of the sun, ov\ing to the shallowness of the water, when compared to the depths of their ocean haunts. In this state they are fed by hand, being unable to compete for INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION, 531 food with those -whose sight is unimpaired. One large blind fellow called "Jack" was a great pet, and upon the keeper calling his name, he appeared to both hear and understand, for he came forward slowl)', and when she held a muscle to his mouth, swallowed it. At the time spoken of there were only three kinds of fish in the pond, viz , cod, flounder, and another small species; but salmon and other kinds are frequently preserved. The manner in which the stock is kept up is this : The son of the keeper goes out to sea in a boat having a tub, or well, and when he catches any fish that he thinks will do, he preserves them in the well, from whence he trani?fers them to the pond ; where in due time — from a month to six weeks — they become tame. A curious scene occurred on one occasion when a mackerel was put in ; there was a general chase after the unfortunate stranger, which only saved itself from being devoured by the larger and more ferocious of the denizens of the pond by running itself on a> ledge of the rock. John C. I-Ialston. INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. Lepidoptera. — We proceed to describe several individual species of the Papilio, (Butterfly,) of which the characteristics were given in our last num- ber. Papilio asterias, (of Cramer.) These insects are sometimes called Parsley Worms because they are fond of that plant, being ofien found on it, and also on the carrot, parsnip, celery, etc., in our gardens, and on those of the hem- lock tribe of a wild growth. They appear in the Eastern States in the month of June. When first hatched they are only one-tenth of an inch in length, and are black, except a white band across their middle and a second on the tail. Tbeir backs are covered with small projecting points. But at every successive moulting they change their appearance. The points, bands, and spots, (from which the points spring.) disappear, the skin becomes smooth, green, pale on the sides, and whitish beneath. They also have a pair of horns, (scent organs,) soft, orange colored, and divided from near its origin, like the letter Y. About the 20th of July they come to their full size — one and a half inches long, and are covered with alternate bands of black and yellow spots. When they are full grown, they spin a little web, which they attach to the surface on which they rest, and entangle the hooks of their hindmost feet in it ; and then, fastening themselves still further by a loop, into which they pass their heads, within twenty-four houis the caterpillar becomes & chrysalis, of a pale green or ash-gray color, with two short ear-like projec- tions above the head, and slight prominence on its back. Remaining in this state fvoiix nine to fifteen days — (cold and wet weather prolonging the term,) the skin of the chrysalis bursts open, and a butterfly issues from it, of a black color, with a double row of yellow dots on the back. A band of yel- low spots extends across the wings, and yellow spots also occur on its hind margin. The hind- wings are tailed. Seven blue spots occur behind the band across their wings, and near the hinder angle an eye-like spot of a yellow color. The female has fewer yellow spots than the male. The wings 532 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. of these buttei flies expand from tliree to four inches. In the month nf July they are seen in great numbers in flower garden^ especially on the PJilox, (sweet scented.) and lay their eggs in July and August on this and other plants, placing them singly on the leaves and stems. They are soon ha'ched, and the caterpillars come to full s-ize in September or early in October, suspend themselves, as before described — remiiiiing so during the winter, and are transformed in May or June of the following year. The most etftctual mode of destroying ihese caterpillars is by gathering and <;rushing them. Vanessa antiopa, (Linnajus ) This butterfly has wings of a purplish brown above, with a broad bufi'-yellow margin, and a row of pale blue spots near their inner edge. It is torpid during the winter, and comes out very early in the spring, confining itself to warnl and sheltered spots. The cater- pillars of this species are found on the poplar, willow, elm, and other eaily- budding trees. They are black and rough, with small white dots and a row of red dots on the top of the back. On each segment except the fiist, a'O six or seven black, stift' and branching spines. Ttiey are about one and ihiee- quarter inches long. They have been trroneously suj postd to be venomous. They are very numerous. The chrvsalis is of a dark brown c->lor, with large, tawny Rpols on the back. The c^irysalis becomes a butterfly after ten or eleven days. In Au- gust a second brood is produced. Vanessa interroyadonis, (Fabricius,) Semicolon Butterfly. This first ap- pears in May at the North, with second and third broods in August and September. The name is suggested by a fancied resemblance of a spot of pale gold color, on the middld of the undernide of the hind- wings, to the mark which designates a question, but it more nearly resembles a semicolon. The upper side of the wings is a tawny orange, with bi'own spots on ihe hinder part, and black spots in the middle. The biod-wings of the male, except their base, are generally black above, and i u>ty red, or brown, beneaih ; the edges and the tails are glossed wiih reddi^h white. The caterpillar is brown, variegated with pale yellow, or vi:e versa, wiiji a yellowish line on each side of the body. Head, a rust red, with two black, branched spines. The spines of the body are pale yellow or brown, and tipped with black. It expands two and a half inches or more. The chrysalis is ashen brown, head deeply no ched, with two conical ears, a nose-like prominence on the thorax, and eight silvery spots on the back. The chrysalis period lasts from eleven to fourteen dajs. These chrysalis have an enemy wiihin them in the form of little mag- gots, which become four-winged flies, which make their escape by pierc ng holes through the sides of the chrysalis. They lay their eggs in ihe body of the caterpillar. Great numbers of them are destroyed in this manner. Vanessa comma. Comma Buttei fly. This ini-ect is so named by Dr. Harris, who believed that the American buttei fly differs materially from the Europem, with which it has been confounded. Tne hinder wings of this butterfly are not so deeply indented as those of the European afier whom it has been named. The caterpillar lives upon the hop, and resembles the preceding. The chrysalis is a brownish gray, variegated with pale brown and furnished with golden spots. The butterfly fiist appears in May, with successive broods in the summer and fall. It expands from two to two and a half inches. PRODUCTS OF THE DAIRY. 533 PRODUCTS OF THE DAIRY IN NEW-YORK. \ OtJR attention has been called to the omissions of the last census, in respect to ihe products of the dairy in this Scate, and to erroneous inferences that min;ht be drawn from actual iact^. It appears that in the State census of 1845 about a million cows were returned, and that the product of one-third was converted into cheese, the whole amount of which was 37,000 000 lbs., or about, 110 lbs. to each cow. The other two-ihirds were used for the pro- duction of butter, the amount of which was 80,000,000 lbs., or about 116 lbs. to each cow. The number of cows returned in the census of 1850 was less than the number given in the State census by 60,000. Assuming these returns as correct, the inference would be that the dairy products of this State were fallinor off, and the interest becoming less im- portant. But look again, and discover that the product of each cow is much greater by the latter than bv the former census, that of 1850 increases the amount of butter 264,361 lbs., wnd of cheese 12,991,437 lbs. Ilence the legitimate inference f.om these figures would be that the quality of the cows was improving, and the interest made more valuable, with less cost of keep- ing. The value of this increase of products, with a diminished number of cows, was, at the market prices, $1,202,580 27. But the figures of the census are not correct. It is true that dairymen have greatly increased the value of their cows. In Herkimer county the average of cheese per cow is said to have been 226 lbs., and of butter 350 lbs. per cow ; and one dairy had given an average for three years of 680 lbs. per cow. We have repeatedly s-tated that the most abundant milkers would not make the most butter, nor the best butter cows necessarily produce the greatfst amount of cheese. These are points too much overlooked, but yet beginning to receive more general attention. From the Report of the State Society, from which these facts are gathered, we learn that in Oneida county, some years since, a bull «f the Holderness breed was introduced, whose calves generally proved to be extraordinary milkers. One of these, giving from 25 to 32 quarts a day, was kept with a small cow of the Mohawk breed, giving only 12 to 14 quarts. The milk of both was mixed together, and churned wiih very unsaii.-factory results. The milk of the two was then kept separate. The nnlk of the Mohawk produced the best quality of butter, nearly equal in quantity to that of the mixed milk of both cjws, while it was impossible to make good butter from the Qolderness. This cow was then placed among those u^ed for the cheese dairy, and proved vaUuhle. Such results wou'd be brought out, beyond controversy, if experiments like that here described were made by our farmers. No two cows, perhaps, pro- duce milk exactly alike, though among many cf ihem the ditference may be unimportant. "Who will give us farther tests of this description ? Artistic Colokino. — With what colors would you paint a ttorm at sea ? The wind blew and the waves rose. How should a stcret be painted ? Iq violet. How would you pairit an absent-minded liierary fiiend ? In a brown study. Of what shade of white are snow-flakes ? Flake-white. How would you paint the melancholy natives of Beilin ? In Prussian blue. 5^4 SOILS. SOILS— WHAT, AND HOW PREPARED FOR CROPS. High authorities teach us that soils consist of the disintegrated particles of rocks. There is little practical importance in discussing the accuracy of this opinion, but it may be well enough, in passing, to inquire whether it is quite certain, afcer all, that this is not one of those stereotyped errors that truly scientific men have handed down from generation to generation. It may be true ; but we are pretty sure that no one has ever proved it so. On the other hand, strong presumptive evidence to the contrary is obvious on all hands. The earth being designed for the growth of plants, why should it have been necessary that every particle of it should first exist as pnrt of solid rocks ? Besides, what changes of any known rock will produce several varie- ties, such as some of the clays ? We can conceive, indeed, of the changes neces-sary to produce such results, but we can scarcely believe that our soils have all gone through such steps ere they assumed their present condition. Take, for instance, pure pipe clay. Pure silicious rock must first have been, disintegrated and dissolved, contemporaneously with precisely the same pro- cess with some aluminous rock, from which everything but alumina has been separated by elective affinity or otherwise, and, being quite free, the two are brought at the right moment into contact with each other, and been at least semi-crystalized. No otner process occurs to us so simple as this. No rock consisting of clay, so far as we know, has ever been met with. So of othec soils. The theory may be true, but it does not command our ready belief, nor has it claim for unqualified respect. Why may not the elements have, been di-turbed during ilie process of crystalization, and the cohesion, being thus broken, the cooling or hardening process have resulted in a loose granu- lar substance, essentially as found at the present day ? Has every particle of earth been through a grinding and fining process, so vigorous, so protracted as to reduce it to the exceeding minuteness which characterizes several kinds of soil ? Besides, the immense amount of animal matter which has from cen- tury to century become a part of the superficial soil, by its numberless com- binations with the mineral matters with which it has come in contact, must have very materially aifected a large portion of the world's surfcice. Hence, if the position is true, with this exception, which is usually expressed, the exception is almost extensive enough to form the rule. The soils of a given region are not of necessity of the same character with the rocks which belong to it. Tn all alluvial regions, for example, the soil may have been brought from very distant places, and hence the rocks of that region are no criterion of the elements of the soil. Even in mountainous diivtricts the soil may have been formed, to some extent, by such processes, ere the surface was heaved up into those lofty eminences. We know not how else to explain the fact that such diflferences exist between the rocks and the soil, even in its natural state. The rule, however, is otherwise. Generally soils and rocks each indicate something of the nature of the other. Soils are fertile or barren, as they contain the elements existing in plants in a soluble state, or are destitute of one or more of them. Those elements may abound in it, but if they are in an insoluble state the soil is still oarren. Soils of the same chemical constituents vary in respect to fertility ac- SOILS. 5S5 cording to the fineness of their particles. This not only aflFects its solubil- ity, but its capillary action. Next in importance to fineness of particle is a due degree of lightness or density. Repeated ploughing causes the particles to lie lightly and to favor evaporation. Hence, if too wet, the effect of such culture is favorable, if naturally dry, it may be either good or bad, accord- ing as the character of the sub-soil is porous or impervious to water. If the latter, both should be thoroughly opened or neither. We are not con- vinced that repeated ploughing has a very powerful influence in fining a soil. " Rocks" are not so easily acted upon. We incline rather to_ attribute the benffieial efl'ects of frequent ploughing and the like to chemical agen- cies, facilities for increased energy being given by the mere change of its physical condition. We all know that some manures act in both these ways. The mere absence of moisture may render fertile soils unproductive. Wiihout moisture, solution, and of course germination, is impossible. The carbonic acid of the atmosphere serves as a solvent to sundry ele- ments that are not acted upon by water, and reduces them to a condition in which they may be dissolved by water. This is the explanation of some of the effects produced by certain mineral manures, and also by suffering lands to lie idle or fallow. The chemical agencies so inherent in the liquid and gaseous substances which abound in the earth and air, are so efficient that, whenever allowed to work wiihout interruption, their effects are quite obvious. Color, too, has an influence upon the fertility of soils — the darker shades absorbing a much greater amount of heat than the lighter. This has a double iufluence, the temperature having an intimate connection with the germination of seeds and the growth of plants, and also modifying the amount of moisture (another important agent) held in the soil. On the ether hand, light colored soils retain the heat of the sun longer than the daik soils, as a bright tin coflee-pot retains the heat longer thiin when it is blackened by a coat of japan. This fact is turned to a practical account by gardeners, in giving to the walls and fences at the foot of which they cultivate or on which they train tender plants, one or the other color, according to the specific effect they wish to produce. If they desire to concentrate the power of the sun to the great- est extent while it is above the horizon upon any such spot, they would paint everything white. If they would retain the heat of the sun to temper the chill of the night, these walls should be black. These few suggestions may furnish a key to the general system of agri- culture. To furnish elements that are wanting, and to render other elements, as yet usefess, efiicient, manures are applied. The elements that are wanting must be in the manure, or the manure must produce them by a chemical action on the soil. To regulate the amount of moisture, and to secure some other physical advantages, a good system of ploughing must be adopted. Nearly all the culture subsequent to sowing and plantmg is but the perfec- tion or continuance of the same plan, accommodated to the change in the condition of the crops. The nature of the manures which should be applied, and the extent of culture that may be expedient, will vary with the crop and the conditions of the soil from which it is to be obtained. A large share of the instruction contained in the books, is but the car- rying out of these suggestions in detail, and with a variety of crops. Un- der such instruction no one would apply plaster to wet clay, for plaster doea not contain the elements of which clay is deficient, nor is there anything in 536 THE SUGAR BEET. clay from wLich this substance can form them. But it is otherwise witfi sandy soils. The elfect of plaster is favorable, because it furnishes useful elements, and also by its power of absorbirg moistute and hoklinirit widiiii reach of the plant. Barn yard manures contain the elements of plants more generally than any other fertilizer, and are thereRre more universally effi- cient. FOR TlIK PtOUOII, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. CORN— AND ITS FODDER. Messrs Editors : — In pursuance of a promise made to the late John S. Skinner, Esq., I made the following experiment on corn and its fodder with ray best attention in the summer and autumn of 1852. Having mislaid the memorandum of the results, I have been hindered from presenting them at an earlier day. Stalks and their fodder below the ear per acre, 1502 pounds ; stalks and their fodder above the ear, 814 pounds; husks, 407 pounds; cobs, G58 pounds; corn, 47 bushels. The varifty of corn planted was of the medium size, generally produced in the Middle and Southern S ates. The wcglit was ascertained in the dry state. Results, however, would be as variant as the varieties planted, and the growth of the corn under the influence of diflerent seasons. If the wishes of my old iriend shall subserve any u-eful purpose, I shall feel myself amply compensated for the trouble of making tlie experiment. Respectfully your.-, D. W. Naill. Sams Creek, Md., Jan. IS, 1856. FOB TOE PLODGn, THE LOOM, AND TUD ANVIL. THE SUGAR BEET. Mr. Editor: — Some years since the sugar beet was highly rpcommendeo for its saccharine properties and its great productiveness, and*its extensive cultivation in France for sugar. It occurred to me that it m'ght be excellent to raise for stock. I was at no small pains and cost to get some seed direct from France, known to be raised there from the genuine sugar beet. I sowed a pound on a well prepared field, which grew most luxuriantly, but was greatly disappointed on pulling them to find moat of the tops had fallen oft*, and that full two-thirds of the solid part was ahove (/round — some were knee- high! This part of course was tough, woody, and had little juice. Had I then known enough to have pulled them while growing, leaves and roots together, it would have furnished first rate feed for my cows. As it was, the crop paid well, though minus the leaves. I have since produced a very dif- ferent aniole, by selectinir, at disx . . It appears that the number of farms in Maine is 77,016 — comprising 2,039,596 acres of improved land, and 2,515,797 acres of unimproved. The number of farms in New-Hampshire is but 47,408 ; in Vermont, 43,312; in Massachusetts, 55,082; Connecticut, 31,756; Rhode Island, 8,398. In 1850 there were bred in Maine 41,721 horses, 133,556 milch cows, 83,933 working oxen, 125,890 other cattle, 451,577 sheep, and 54,588 gwine — the aggregate value of which stock is about ten millions of dollars. Of crops in that year, there were raised 296,259 bushels of wheat, (a little more than a quarter of what had been raised when not troubled with he weevil,) 101,916 bushels of rye, 1,750,056 bushels of corn, 218,107 IMPROVEMENT IN LOCKS. bushels of oats, 1,364,034 pounds of wool, 205,521 bushels of peas and beans, 3,436,000 bushels of potatoes, 151,731 bushels of barley, 104,632 bushels of buckwheat. The orchards produced a value of $342,865, as shown by the deficient returns of the census — the market gardens $122,387. There were 9,243,811 pounds of butter made, and 2,434,454 pounds of cheese. Of hay 755,889 tons were cut, and 18,000 bushels of diflferent grass seeds raised. There was also raised 40,000 pounds of hops, 18,000 pounds of flax, 580 bushels of flax seed, and 252 pounds of silk cocoons. 94,000 pounds of maple sugar, 3000 gallons of molasses, and 19,000 pounds of honey and beeswax manufactured. The home manufactures were worth $500,000 — and the value of slaugh- tered animals was more than $1,500,000. The Bangor Courier says that the census returns give but an approxima- tion of the total amount and value of their agricultural productions. Of dairy product?, the 133,556 milch cows produce an average of 69 pounds of butter to the cow. There are seven States which exceed this, viz. : Michigan, 70 pounds to a cow ; New-Hamj^shire, 73 ; Connecticut, 75 ; Pennsylvania, 75 ; New-Jersey, 79 ; Vermont, 83 ; New- York, 85. The amount of cheese made is 18 pounds to a cow — seven States do better — Connecticut taking the lead, at 62 pounds to a cow. In the number of working oxen only four States in the Union go beyond Maine. These are : New- York, Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri. " In the quality of cattle we challenge the Union." IMPROVEMENT IN LATCHING LOCKS. 556 IMPKOVEMENT IN LOCKS. The accompany ing engravings are illustrative of the improved Latching Lock patented in this country by Mr. Edmund Field, of Greenwich, Ct., July 3, 1855, and in Europe April, 1855. In common door locks, the latch and locking bolt act independently, the latch serving for convenience by day, and the bolt and key for security by night. The principal feature of novelty in the present invention consists in an in- genious method of combining the latch and lock, so that by the act of turning the tey, the latch is made to unite its strength with the bolt, and thus increase the security of the lock ; when the key is turned in the reverse direction, the latch assumes its ordinary uses. These, and other important advantages hereafter described, are obtained without any increase over the price of ordinary locks, and without complication of parts. They may be manufactured even at less cost than ordinary locks. Fig. 1 shows a mortise lock, in- tended for use on the sliding doors of freight cars, ship door.*, churches, banks, arsenals, windows, and ■wherever a strong, safe, and conve- nient fastening is wanted. A is the shell of the lock, which is made in the usual manner; A' is portion of the shell removed so as to ex- hibit the interior parts ; B face plate by which the lock is fastened into the mortise ; B' catch plate to be fastened to the jamb ; C locking bolt which slides in and out in the usual manner ; C tum- bler behind the locking bolt ; D, latch pivoted at F, and furnished at its inner end with a friction wheel, ~E. When the bolt, C, is locked, as shown in fig. 1, the latch, D, is fastened down, and holds firmly in catch-piece, B.' Turn key H in direction of the arrow, and bolt C withdraws, and frees the latch. The latch is operated by the key, which presses upon friction wheel, E, and lifts the latch, as shown by the dotted lines, F; the bolt, C, also lifts with the catcih, the stop pin, J, serving for its pivot. There is but one spring, G, in this lock ; it serves the double purpose of pressing down the bolt, latch, and the tumber. I is a cup attached to the exterior of the lock, and in- tended as a shield for the key. After the lock has been placed in its mor- tise, a hole is bored for the cup, which is let in so as to be flush with the side of the door. The key, H, it will be observed is quite small, and does not project beyond the edge of the cup, so that the door, wiih the key re- maining in the lock, may be shoved clear up into its recesses. One of the features of the improvement consists in operating the latch by means of the key, thus dispensing with a knob ; for this purpose the lock is so arranged BRONZE CASTING. 557 that the key cannot drop or be taken out except when the locking bolt is thrust forward, and the latch fastened down ; in other words the lock must be locked before the key can be removed. Large heavy doors should always be made either to slide or roll, for they last longer, remain in good order, and aft'ord better security than hinged doors ; the latter will sag, sooner or later, and become inconvenient. For sliding and rolling doors of every kind, the lock we have described seems admirable adapted. The outer end of the latch is made with double shoulders, which affords additional strength. Fig. 2 shows another form of lock, in which the same general principles are involved as those contained in the preceding device. The chief differ- ence is that the bolt. A, and latch, B, are operated iudependently, although both combine, in the act of locking, to increase the security. The latch turns on the pivot, C, and is operated by the knob, D', the shaft of which D, and lifting piece, E, are arranged in the common manner. When the bolt is thrown back the latch becomes freed, and may be lilted by turning the knob, its posidon when thus raised being indicated by the dotted lines ; it will be seen that the lock bolt also lifts with the catch, the pin, F, serving as its pivot. Two springs are used in this lock, one of which presses on the tumbler behind the bolt, the other acting on the bolt, and the bolt pressing down the forward end of the latch. Locks of this description are intended for parlor doors. We have described the above locks as being specially adapted to the securing of sliding doors, but they may ba aho applied with equal facility to hinged doors of every description. The invention appears to be one of real utility, and calculated to supply a very general want. For further ia- formatiou address the inventor, Portchester PostOffice, N. Y. GRAND BRONZE CASTING. The Springfield Republican notices the colossal statue of Washington modelled by H. K. Brown, in process of casting at the great foundry of the " Ames Company" in Cbicopee. The successful termination of their work is now announced. It has been cast in fragments, and that one just finished is the largest and most difiicult of the whole, namely, the entire body of the horse. As the preparation of the mould has required considerable time, and great care, and as many hazards attend the execution of such a work, the hour appointed for the trial was one of no small interest to the contractors and those employed upon it. About one hundred persons had gathered from the neighboring shops to witness the scene, wholly unprepared, however, for what followed. Soon after the hot metal began to flow into the mould, and in all directions. The workmen who ttood upon and around it were enveloped in a shower of liquid fire, which burned their hands and faces, and s-et fire to their gar- ments, while the spectators fled in terror from the building. Mr. Ames, "who was near by, ran in at this moment, and was so appalled at the sight that he wished to have the work abandoned. But the foreman of the shop, Mr. Langdon, anticipating some trouble, had agreed with his workmen not 658 DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSIA. to give up the object of their long endeavors if a desperate effort could save it. With courage that deserves great praise, they persevered and filled the mould, escaping with only slight injuries. The contractors may well congratulate themselves over their work, for it is the first and only achievement of the kind made in this country, and perhaps nowhere else but in Munich, Bavaria, could so large a piece of bronze statuary be cast. DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSIA. The following description of the new Cunard steamship Persia, whose ar- rival we announce elsewhere, is from the Liverpool Courier, and will be read with interest : The dimensions of the ship are as follows : Length between perpendiculars, - - 360 feet. Length over all, - - - - - 390 feet. Breadth of hull, 45 feet. Breadth over paddle-boxes, - - - 71 feet. Depth, 32 feet. Gross tonnage, 3000 tons. Space for engines, ... - 1221 tons. The Persia is rigged as a bark, (not ship rig, as stated in most of the papers,) and she will have suflacient spread of canvas to enable her to cross the Atlantic -with her sails alone, should necessity require it, which may be judged of from the fact that her main yard is 76 feet long. The vessel sits very slightly on the water, and her symmetry is to be seen in the fact that she looks smaller than she really is when alone, her great proportions only appearing when taken in detail, or when compared with other standards. The Persia has an elliptical stern, neatly gilt, and a half length female figure- head representing a Persian maiden, with musical instruments and other articles of female occupation. The paddle-boxes are slightly gilt, and in the center of each is a bold carving, representing a lion springing from between two palm trees. The Persia is the first iron steamship built for the British and North American Royal Mail Steam packet company, her Majesty's government having hitherto required wooden vessels in case they should be wanted for war purposes. The keel of the Persia is 13 inches deep and A\ inches thick, scarfed in lengths of 35 feet, and a rabbit in the keel for the garboard streak to fay into. The sternpost is 13 inches broad and 5 inches thick. The rudder stock is 8 inches in diameter. The framing of the ship is of angle iron, placed nominally to the stem, at intervals of 18 inches from center to center midships, and 20 inches from center to center about five feet before and abaft the engine-room bulkhead. Amidships these ribs are 10 inches deep, with double angle iron riveted to each edge, so as to present in section the appear- ance of a letter H placed sideways, thus, ^ . The Persia is divided into seven water-tight compartments; and a novelty has been introduced mto her framing forward which, in the bow compartment, is laid diagonally, with DESCRIPTITN OF THE PERSIA. i559 a view of bearing a collision, should it ever occur, in the strongest arrange- ment of the structure. The vessel is plated in and out alternately, in ac- cordance with the present custom of building iron ships. Tfie keel-plates are l^'g- of an inch in thickness; at the bottom of the ship the plates are || of an inch in thickness ; from this section to the load water-line they are | of an inch ; and above this they are {^ of an inch in thickness. The plates round the gunwale are | of an inch in thickness. Everything that care and skill could devise to make the Persia a safe ship has been done by Mr. Napier. Iq the water-tight compartment, for example, provision h.as been made, much the same in principle as that adopted by Mr. J. Scott Russell's ship the Great Eastern, namely, the formation of a substan- tial double ship. The goods carried by the Persia are to be stowed in water- tight compartments, each about 12 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 20 feet deep, wbich form a species of tanks, sufficient in themselves to float a considerable weight. The next point to consider is the motive power of the ship, which consists of two side-lever engines, which were constructed by Mr. Napier. We have no standard of computing engine power to which all will agree, hence there is a diiference in expresi>ing the power of a steamboat, which Mr. Napier thus applies to the Persia : "According to the strict Government rule of ad- measurement her power is equal to that of 900 horses ; according to the plan laid down in the Earl of Hard wick's bill, her power is equal to that of 1200 horses; and according to James Watt's old-established rule of 33,000 ft. lbs. to the horse, she is expected to work up to the pith of between 4000 and 5000 horses." As a standard, we adopt the Earl of Hardwick's bill. Let us look, however, at some of the dimensions of the Persia's en- gines, and other particulars, which are as follows : Diameter of cyhnders, - - - - 100 inches. Length of stroke, 10 feet. Diameter of paddle-wheels, - - - - 40 feet. Length of floats, - 10 feet. Depths of floats, - - - - . - 3 feet. Number of boilers, ----- 8 Number of furnaces, - - - - - 40 Pressure on boilers, ----- 20 pounds. Length of engine-room, - - - . 115 feet. Breadth of engine-room, - - - - 45 feet. Capacity of coal- bunkers, ... 1400 tons. Estimate consumption of coal, - - - 4^ tons per hour. The boilers, which are tubular, are placed in two groups, fore and aft, and they are fired amidships. It may also be stated that the ship has been so planned that the weight borne will repose on lines parallel to the keel. The coal-bunkers are placed beyond the boilers, at each extremity of the engine- room. Each boiler has five furnaces, and they are so independent that any one of them can be shut ofi", should it not be required. In one particular the Persia differs from the Arabia, the steamer which came last on the line, namely, having smaller boilers, but a greater number of them, so as to enable the engineer to follow up the stroke of the engine with a longer pressure of steam. There are, besides, two donkey boilers and engines, for pumping the feed water into the boilers ; and in connection with them are eight refrigera- tors for abstracting the waste heat from the brine as it is blown from the boilers, to heat the feed water. 560 DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSIA, Nothing can be conceived more striking than the working of the engines. The Scotch papers, in speaking of them, use the terms " wonder," " venera- tion," " awe" and, indeed, the sight is marvelous. There was a little noise from the engines on the trial trip, as it is usual on these occasions to work them loosely, but when they are screwed up, which they will be for sea, there will be no noise whatever beyond the low singing of the exhausted cylinders. Such ponderous machinery does not elsewhere exist, and to stand in the engine-room and look up at the mighty shafts, cranks, and rods, moving with silent, steady, and solemn, but powerful ease, is a sight which must attract even the most IhoughtleES observer, and produce respect for the intellect and practical skill of the men who produced them. From the engine room to the cabin is a short transition. Here are ac- commodations for 260 passengers, who will sleep in berths on one deck. There is a passage all round the ship below the main deck, so that no pas- senger will need to come on deck to get to or from his berth. On the same deck is an elegant cabin for gentlemen who desire to sit in the center o^ the ship, and adjoining it is the ladies' cabin, which is a gorgeous room, uphol- stered in a style fit for a queen, and adorned with choice paintings from the pencil of Mr. D. M'Calman, of Glasgow, whose groups of flowers also deco- rate the main saloon. This cabin is paneled with bird's eye maple, and it is heated by steam, as are also all other parts of the ship. The heij^ht between decks in this part of the ship is eight feet six inches, and the berths are amply lighted and ventilated. The berths are supplied with the usual conveniences ; and it may be mentioned that there are no less than twenty water-closets in various parts of the lower deck. On the upper deck are the main and fore saloons, the officers beiths, and other accommodations. At the extreme after-end of the ship is a large smoking-room, with cabins for the captain and chief officer, from which they can see the entire working of the ship. Next to these is the main saloon, which is 60 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 8 feet high. This saloon will dine about 170 persons. It is paneled in bird's- eye maple, with twisted pilasters, and neatly gilt frieze and ceiling. The up- holstery is red velvet, with red satin window curtains, embroidered in gold. The panels are filled with floral paintings similar to the ladies cabin. Elegantly framed mirrors are placed at the fore end of the saloon, as in the other vessels of the line ; but at the afcer-end a diSerence has been made by the intro- duction of two beautiful book-cases, and massive folding-doors which open into the smoking-room. The skylight is filled with stained glass, the promi- nent features being a Persian and a Persian woman, in their native costume. Forward of the saloon are the kitchen and pantry, each of which has an area of 300 feet; the floors of which are beautifully laid with tiles. The fore saloon, and the various store-rooms and officers' apartments, are also placed on the main deck ; while the crew are accommodated in the topgallant forecastle. We might enumerate the conveniences of the Persia to any extent, and speak of her baker's and her butcher's shops, her joiner's and carpenter's workshops, her surgery, ice-houses, lamp houses, bath-room, and similar arrangements. But it is not necessary to dwell upon these points, as the Persia carries within herself appliances of comfort excelling the first hotels in the country, and she possesses saloons whicb have not unfitly been com- pared to the apartments of a baronial residence. But perhaps an allusion to one part of her outfit will be more striking than mere description. The Persia, fitted out on the same scale as the other vessels of the line, will re- quire 400 counterpanes, 1200 blankets, 1600 sheets, 800 pillow-slips, 4600 * DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSIA. 561 towels, and 400 tablecloths; all of which, or nearly so, would come into requisition on a current voyage. The summit of the saloons and officera messrooms forms a hurricane deck^ ■well railed, on which there is an uninterrupted promenade 370 feet in length, and of proportionate width. This deck will form the passengers' promenade, and it will be very seldom that it cannot be used as a dry and comfortable place for walking. The Persia has two sets of double-steering wheels, so that she can be steered either aft or araidt^hips, as circumstances may require. The crew of the ship will be made up as follows: Engineers Department — Engineer?, 8 ; (iremen, 54. Stewards Department — Cooks, 8, stewards, 36. Sailing Department — Officers, 6 ; able-bodied seamen, 54 ; doctor, 1 \ purser, 1 ; carpenter 1 ; joiner, 1. Total, 170. The Persia will accommodate 260 passengers, and carry 1200 tons of measurement goods, and 1400 tons of coal, at a draft of 22 feet, the weight of heiself, cargo, and stores being then 5400 tons. SPEED OF THE PERSIA ON HER TRIAL TRIP. The distances run by the ship on her trial trip from Greenock to Liver- pool were as follows : Knots. From Cloch Lighthouse to Ailsa Craig, ----- 43 to Corseill Point, . - - . 15 to Mull of Galloway, . - - - 27 to Point of Ayre, ... - 22 to Bell Buoy, 68 Total, 175 which is eq'ial to 203 statute miles, so that the vessel steamed 16 knots, or 19 statute miles per hour, which was the actual speed through the water. It might be supposed that this high rate of speed would have been danger- ous, but engineers will understand how distant that fear was when we state that ihe preparation of tallow and white lead usually put on the bright work of ihe engines of sea-going steamets was as hard at the end of the voyage as at the beginning. The slightest heating of the engines would have instantly melted it away wherever it was near a bearing. The Cunard Line, ns it is popularly designated, commenced operations in 1840, with the view of connecting the Eastern and Western hemispheres by the periodical sailings of steamers. The first vessel dispatched was the Unicorn, Cftpt. Douglas, which sailed from Liverpool on the 16th May, 1840, as a pioneer, for Halifax and Boston, with 25 passengers. The Unicorn was a cotnpnra'i\'ely small steamer, and when she got out she was placed on the line frum Picton to Quebec, as an auxiliary steamer. The Britannia was the first steamer built for the ocean line, and she was dispatched on the 4ih July, 1840, for the same ports, to which she carried 63 passengers. Substantially, this Company has enlarged the size and power of its steamers six titnts since the Unicorn went out, as follows : First, the Biitannia, Acadia, Caledonia, Columbia. Second, the Hiberuia, Cambria. Third, the America, Europa, Niagara, Canada. Fourth, the Asia, Africa. 36 562 ENGLISH PATENTS. Fifth, La Plata, Arabia. Sixth, the Persia. These vessels may be classified thus : The four first of 1200 tons and 440 horse power each. The Hibernia and Cambria, of 1500 tons and GOO horse power each. The America, and the vessels named with her, 1840 tons and 100 horso power each. The Asia and Africa, 2250 tons, and 800 horse power each. La Plata and Arabia, 2,203 tons and 1000 horse power each. The Persia, 3600 tons and 1200 horse power. But perhaps the clearest way of putting the size of this vessel is to com- pare her side by side with other vessels of the Hne in length, power and tonnage, and to include in the same comparison some other well known steamers. Britannia, - - . . Cambria, America, . - . . Asia, - - - _ . Arabia, - - . - . Persia, - - - . . Atlantic, (Collins line,) - Great Britain, - - - - Himalaya, - . - - Of the above ships, the Britannia, the Acadia, the Caledonia, and Hibernia were sold a few years ago — some of them going into the hands of the Spanish Government, where they still remain. The Columbia was lost in July, 1843. The La Plata was sold to replace the ill-fated Amazon, which was burned three or four years ago on the Spanish coast. Length. Register. Nom'l power. Feet. Tons. Horses. 200 1200 400 217 1600 600 250 1840 700 300 2250 800 320 2393 1000 390 3600 1200 287 2280 800 330 3500 500 350 3500 700 English Patents. Improvement in Files. By Hiram Powers, sculptor, Florence. — This invention consists in forming perforations or throats to the fin-feather or other cutting surfaces of rasps or files, for the purpose of enabling them to clear themselves of the material cut away by them, and to prevent their filling or choking, or allowing the particles to pass through the perforations or throats. The improved rasp or file resembles somewhat the ordinary grater in appearance, though entirely diflferent in its operation and efiect. The perforations in the plate of which the instrument is formed, may be round oblong, oval, or angular; and the cutting-edges which partially sur- round each perforation or throat, may be either curved, straight, or pointed, plain or serrated, as the different purposes to which it is to be applied may require. The cutting-edges do not entirely surround the perforations, but are raised on one side of them only, and are inclined at such an angle as to cut to the best advantage, and at the same time to throw the pai'ticles removed by them into and through the perforations or throats. ENGLISH PATENTS. 56^ The files or rasps may have cutting-edges raised on one or both edges, as may be found best, and they may be made of any desired form — whether flat, curved, angular, or hollow ; or they may be made in rods or bands, and applied to cylinders or wheels, and in these various forms may be employed for reducing fruit and roots to pulp or dust; and also for reducing the surfaces of wood, stone, ivory, bone, metals, and other substances, and generally for all purposes where the comminution of substances is required. As the form of cutting-edges, and their position relative to the perforations or throats, which allow the particles to escape and pass through or by tbe body of the instrument, render filling and clogging almost impossible; this file can be used upon lead, zinc, copper, and tin, or other adhesive substances, as well as upon the harder metals, the perforations serving the same purpose that the throat of a common hand-plane serves in cleaning the file from the shavings removed by it. Improvements in giving Signals on Eailwats by Electricity, and IN Instruments and Apparatus Connected Therewith. By Edward Tyer, Dalston. — The first part of this invention relates to improvements in apparatus which are to be so fixed at any required point upon a railway that the wheels of an engine or train, or other moving body, passing over such apparatus, shall impart motion to certain instruments called " connectors," whereby electric currents or circuits are closed, broken, reversed, or coupled up, which electric currents actuating or operating upon other eltctro-magnetic instruments (included in the same circuit) shall serve to point out, register, or otherwise record the position of any engine or train that may be passing or has passed over such apparatus. In order to transmit signals from one part of the line to any other part, it will be necessary to place suitable instruments (in conjunction with the spring lever) in such a position, that whenever a downward motion is given to it by the wheels of a moving engine or train, such motion shall be imparted to the instrument in connection therewith, and the electric current will thereby be set in motion. The current from the voltaic battery can at once pass along the wires, which being in connection with one or more electro-magnetic indicating instruments, fixed at one or more distant stations upon the railway, signals can be transmitted from the place where this apparatus is fixed, to the dis- tant instruments in connection, and thereby indicate the passage of a train over the place where this connector and spring lever is fixed. In order to prevent any stones, dirt, or mud from interfering with the cor- rect action of this form of connector, the whole may be inclosed in a suitable case provided with a stuflBng box for the axle of the lever to pass through. Another method of closing, breaking, or coupling up electric circuits or currents, which can be sometimes used with considerable advantage, is to place a small elastic bag, partially filled with mercury, under the spring lever before described ; a tube, closed at one end, and having one or more wires passing into this closed end, is caused to dip into the mercury contained in the elastic bag ; the whole is then rendered air tight with cement or by any other suitable means ; and the wires, so entering the tube, form part of the electric circuit. The use and action of this instrument is as follows : So long as the lever fixed in close proximity to the rail remains in a quiescent posi- tion, the mercury in the lower part of the elastic bag does not come into metallic contact with the wires in the upper part of the tube ; but whenever the spring lever is depressed, the air in the bag forces the mercury up the 564 ENGLISH PATENTS. tub?, which, coming into contact with the wires at the upper end, immedi- ately completes the circuit, and the required signal is given to tlie distant station. By combining one or more of these tubes in the same bng, or by using any number of bags and tubes, any arrangement of connector can be constructed, as the nature of the case may require, in order to dose, break, reserve, or couple up electric circuits or currents. Instead of having the tube closed at one end it is pre'erred to have a bulb or cylinder at the upper end, so as to receive any supeifluous amount of tlie compre^^sed air. The second part of the invention relates to the adjustment of connectors with one or more of the rails of a railway iu any required part thereof, in Kuch a manner that the weight of a passing engine or tram, in cau-ing a small d. flection of the rail from its natural position, shall bring the connector into aclion. The third part of this invention consists in the application of magneto- electric machines in c unbination with the before-described spring leveis, in such a manner that whenever the wheels of an engine or train pass over any of these contrivances, the downward motion imparled thereto shall be ren- dered available to set in motion the cjils of a magneto-electric machine; and, as is well known, during the brief period such coils are iu motion, cur- rents of electricity are induced in those coil'^, which electricity, by suitable insulated conducting wires, may be transmitted to any required point or place, and if there are any electro magnetic instalments included in the same circuit that this induced eltctricty is traversing, such instruments will be operated upon or set in motion, and any required si'rnal can be given. The fourth part of the invention relates to certain improvements in the electro-raajjnelic instruments termed " indicators," which are for the pur- pose of indicating the position of an engine or train upon any part of the line. The pointer is caused to assume one of two distinct positions, for the pur- pose of indicating two distinct s'gnals; and the pointer having assumed one of such two positions, remains fixed there until operated upon a second time by another electric current. The improvement consists in thus obtaining two distinct and permanent beats or deflt-ctions of the pointer, and diti'ers from the plans usually employed for giving or receiving signals, inasmuch as that in the latter case the magnetic pointer is generally made to assume a vertical position, and the deflections, either to tlie right or to the lefr, are caused by the influence of electric currents passing in close proximity to such magnetic needle of the telegraphic instruments; but so soon as the electric current ceases to flow, then the needle or magnet again returns to its vertical position, and points to zero. Now this kind of instrument is not applicable to the plans adopted, and which have been previously described, fur closing, breaking, or coupling up the electric current, because it will at once be mani- fest that during the rapid passage of the wheels of a train over the conne;:tor and spiiug lever, the vibrations of a magnetic pointer, if placed in a vertical position, would be too rapid and uncertain, and, not being permanent, they might, during the instant they were taking place, escape the attention of the signal man in charge. In order to obviate those difficulties, the patentee constructs the magnetic needles or pointers of bis instruments so that their centers of suspension are below iheir centers of gravity ; consequently, if suitable stops are placed for the needles to rest against, the needles will always remain against either of these stops, and never point to the vertical, and a permanent deflection will be obtained. The fifth part of the invention consists of improvements in the arrange- ENGLISH PATENTS. 565 ments of electro-magnetic apparatus, for the purpose of calling into action local batteries ; the ol>j-ct beiii^r to enable any great resistance to be over- come, and also to perform any electro-magnetic effect that requires consider- able force. Jt is well known that a current of electricity in passing along a wire of any great length, has to overcome the resistance offered by such wire, and the tlecno motive force actually available is very much weakened thereby, and in some cases is not sufficient to accomplish the desired amount of work. Now, in order to obviate these difficulties, it has been the practice to use various arrangements of apparatus to call into action local batteries, and thereby to obtain any amount of electro-magnelic force that may be desired. It sometimes happens that in giving signals on railways by the instruments and connec ors before described, a local battery is found very advantageous. The sixth part of the invention relates to improvements in those instru- ments used fur the |)urpose of reversing or changing the direction of electrical current;!, and termed " pole-changers" or " commutators." They are used for giving signals on railways, in order to transmit a signal to an approach- ing eng ne or train from any part of the railway ; so that whenever the train arrives at; certa n points upon the line where an apparatus, hereinafter to be described, is fixed, the electrical current being turned on (or reversed in direction, as the case may require), such engine or train shall receive the signal from these pole changers or reversers. The seventh part of the invention relates to improvements in giving sig- nals from any point or place upon a railway to an engine or train in motion, and vice versa, from an engineer train in motion to any other point or place upon the railway. This is accomplished by fixing upon the line, at any required distances, metal bars, having inclined planes at each end, so adjusted that if two springs or other levers be placed in an inverted position upon an engine or carnage, the levers will, on the engine or carriage coming up to the points where these metal bars are fixed, strike the lower end of the inclined planes of the metal bars, and, gliding up them, form metallic con- tact with t-uch bars; and these being in coiumuuication with a voltaic bat- tery, the electric current will have a tendency to pass from the bars to the metal spring levers fixed upon the engine or carriage ; and if an insulaced wire were carried from the spring levers to any electro-magnetic instrument, likewise fixed upon the engine or carriage, such instrument would be operated upon by ihe electricity flowing from the bars in communication with the voltaic battery, and every time the engineer cariiage glided over these metal bars, a signal could be given to and received from an engine or carriage and a station, or the vice versa. The eighth part of the invention relates to improvements in electro-mag- netic insuuraents, to be fixed upon a locomotive ergine, either to sound a whistle or to turn the " regulator" of such locomotive, and bring the train to a standstill. Improvements in Electric Telegraph Instruments. By John Sandys, St. LukeV. — This inveniion consists in a peculiar combination of parts into an instiument .••uitable for communicating by electiicity. For this purpose a curved or bent magnetic needle is used, which moves on a suitable axis. This needle is hung on its axis in such manner as to bring its poles on either side of the cod or one pole of the sofc metal interior of an electro-magnet ; hence, when a current of electricity is passed in one or other direction, the poles of the magnetic needle will be attracted or repelled accordingly, and the pointer fixed to the axis will be moved in one or other direction. The 566 ENGLISH PATENTS. magnetic needle has a projection, which, by stops, prevents the magnetic needles being moved too far in either direction. It is preferred, in constructing the electro-magnet, that the soft metal interior should be composed of a bundle or cluster of soft wires in place of a solid piece of soft metal. A Mode of Transmitting Telegraphic Messages across bodies op Water. By James Bowman Lindsay, Dundee. — This invention consists in a mode of transmitting telegraphic messages or communications, by means of electricity or magnetism, through and across water, without submarine cables, water being made available as the connecting and conducting medium for the electric fluid. On the shore from whicb a message is to be sent, a battery and telegraph are set up, to which are attached two or more wires terminating in metal balls, tubes, or plates placed in the water, or in moist ground adjacent to the water, at a certain distance apart, according to the width of the water across which the message is to be transmitted, (the distance between the two balls, plates, or tubes connected with one battery, to be greater than across the water, or to the balls, plates, or tubes of the opposite battery when practicable). At the opposite side of the water, or that to which the message is to be con- veyed, two other similar metal balls, plates, or tubes are placed, the same being either immersed in the water or in the earth, as above stated. These balls, tubes, or plates have wires also attached to them, which lead to and are in connection with another similar battery, with which the needle or other suitable indicator or telegraphic instrument is put into connection, and messages are then transmitted in the usual way. As regards the power or primary agent employed for transmitting tele- graphic messages, the patentee remarks that it may be either voltaic, galvanic, or magnetic electricity, and the battery for evolving the same such as is used for telegraphic purposes. And with respect to the telegraph or instrument for transmitting messages, he proposes to employ any of the instruments in known use which are most eflBcient for that purpose, observing that the needle or indicator may be arranged or disposed in the instrument, either in a ver- tical or in a horizontal position, and the coil of wire necessary to the move- ment of the needle may also be increased or diminished, according to cir- cumstances. In any suitable part of the course of the wire or wires, a coil of wire is arranged in connection with the needle or indicator of the telegraph, as a medium of communication between the needle or indicator and the battery, in the manner usually practised. The patentee remarks that he does not confine himself 'to the use of plates or balls of metal immersed in the water, as the same result may be obtained by inserting metal, charcoal, or other suitable terminal poles in the earth, communicating with the water by the moisture which the earth contains. It is important also, to the proper performance of the above mode of trans- mitting messages, that the distance between the terminal poles on one side of the water be greater than the distance between the plates or other terminators situated respectively on opposite sides of the water, otherwise the circuit will not be complete, and the current will therefore fail to operate upon the needle of the receiving telegraph. Improvements in the Arrangement of Electric Telegraphs. By John Henry Johnson, Lincoln's-inn-fields. — This invention relates to the construction of portable electric telegraph apparatus, which may be placed ENGLISH PATENTS. 567' in connection, when desired, with any part of the line wires of a railway- telegraph, or employed in mines, manufactories, private houses, public or government offices, and colleges. The improvements consist in so arrang- ing the whole of the apparatus necessary for receiving and transmitting intel- ligence, that it may be contained in a box or case, which may be carried about with facility. Without confining himself to details, the following is the arrangement pre- ferred by the inventor : A battery of eighteen or more elements is contained in the bottom of a shallow mahogany or other box, fitted with suitable han- dles, for the facihty of transport. On the top of this box is fixed a small wooden case, opening by a hinge-joint, containing an alarum, manipulator, and receiver. The hinged portion of this case, which opens back, contains a nautical compass, two coils of wire, and a lightning conductor. The battery, which is of sulphate of copper, is (for the purpose of transport) necessarily of a diSerent construction to the ordinary batteries. In place of using water in a liquid state, sand, moistened with water for the zinc, and with sulphate of copper for the porous cells, is employed. When the apparatus is required for use, the hinged cover is turned back, and the operator attaches the end of the wire from one of the two coils to a rod or chain, which is then suspended from, or otherwise connected to, the line wires of a railway or other telegraph. The circuit is then established by connecting the wire of the second coil or bobbin to a conductor (either wire or earth). The operator then works the handle of the manipulator, bringing it over a contact point, and observes, from the deviation of the magnetic needle in the compass, whether the current is passing ; whereupon he may transmit and receive messages to or from any desired station on the line with as great certainty and facility as by the fixed apparatus at present in use. Improved Implement for Digging Turnips, etc. By Wm. Lister, near Kichmond. — This invention relates to a novel construction of imple- ment which will facilitate the operation of removing turnips and other bul- bous roots from the ground in which they are growing. For this purpose the patentee mounts in a suitable frame (which runs on wheels and is dravm by animal power) adjustable blades, which will enter the ground and make a horizontal cut therein, somewhat below the bulb of the turnips, thereby removing the tails of the turnips, and loosening their hold in the ground. In operating with this implement, the blades are caused to enter the ground at a depth that will just clear the bulb of the turnip ; and this level is re. tained as nearly as possible during the operation of tailing. The action o the implement will be not only to cut ofi" the tails, but also to raise the bulb slightly out of the ground, and render it unnecessary for the laborer to use any great muscular exertion in gathering up the turnips. It will be under- stood that this implement may be applied to facilitate the gathering up of mangold-wurzel and other roots, if thought desirable. The patentee claims the construction of implement as above described, which, although possessing some of the characteristics of the horse hoe, is capable of performing work essentially difierent from that for which it is designed. 668 MISCELLANEOUS. Miscellaneous. TO THE FRIENDS OF COL. J, S. SKINNER. The Skinner Monument. — Our readers will remember one or two occa- sions in which the plan of a monument to Mr. Skinner and a fund for his widow, has been laid before them, and appeals made on behalf of the object. Circulars were also sent to a large number of individuals, requesting donations. This was done at a season when the finances of the country were in a most embarrassed condition, and perhaps this is the reason why the call was sa coldly received. We should be exceedingly sorry to believe that there were not thousands of his personal friends and others who were familiar with his valuable services in behalf of the industry of this country, who would freely give their five dodars each in behalf of such a cause. But the efforts hitherto made reveal a sad deficiency, the whole amount received scarcely exceeding the expenses incident to the effort; and those, with a half score of exceptions, are only donations of two dollars, which payment was off — for the almighty dollar. Aye, sir, there are such every- where. Grow a fruit-tree! a rose-bush! a dahlia! have a comfortable house ! — " all, all is vanity," — no, sir, these cost dollars. Improvement costs money and time, the profit is not immediate. Upon this place we use about 500 lbs. of nais yearly, of course plank, and of course labor. The value of property is enhanced, at least in the comforts provided for man and beast. Lumber account for plank alone was over llOO in 1855. And so it has been. Again, Mr. A. cuts logs, rives four foot boards, puts up his log-cabin, and there lives till he is worth $50,000 or $100,000. Dr. B,, having lived in a city for say only a year or so, feels as if he must live while he breathes, when he buys a piece of land, builds at say only $1,000. He lives accord- ingly. Both these persons start in life as a babe, the same year ; marry the same year. A, in twenty-five years, owns $150,000, and his house and fur- niture worth $500. B has perhaps $20,000, and his house, etc., though plain, is worth $3,000 or $4,000 ; his books alone will pay for the house and fixings of the other. A is the talented man ; no man owes him a dol- lar, and when he moves nobody puts a black cloth on arm or hat. Whereas B, the imprudent one, is always called on for a small loan for a few days or weeks, and often sees no interest. He has troops of well-wishers. As for myself, I prefer to provide well for my household, on principle, but not to be its slave. I can enjoy a beautiful span of horses, though not my own, but I cannot admire a colossal fortune, made as it is sometimes. I can enjoy the society of a reading man, but never the company of a money- making man, — such I mean as cannot aid a friend without looking to deeds and rents — such as never becomes intimate lest it would create a soit of compulsion to hslp. As to one country making more than others, this must ever be. Just so of individuals. Within my memory at least, one portion was ahead, now another, and in thirty more years another will wear the golden crown. Make intellect or education the king, not dollars. Any aristocracy but money. I prefer, though a plebeian, the aristocracy of family. As to ray country, there are more educated men of our wealthiest than in any country I ever knew, very many of them being the architects of their own fortunes. I dare not name a few of the doctors and lawyers and grad- uates, that are five hundred to twenty hundred bale planters, and many of AGRICULTUKAL IMPLEMENTS. 591 whom I know are gentlemen of noble bearing. But still this class of men belong not to what are understood by money -making men. They make money, not by nigh cuts. Stimulate men to inform their minds, to feed their land, take due and proper care of everything in their trust, from a sense of duty to God, their country, their fellow men, and themselves. Place anytaing before " because you will make money." The spirit of making money has become so pre- valent, that one can hardly get a man to stand still long enough to direct him to your oflSce. — Why, sir, I am afraid mj old wife will catch the com- plaint, and the paper I write upon will be toasted. Perhaps others think so now. "Why, sir, I know the man who teaches his toddling boys " stick in that cutting, it will sell next fall for two bits." The consequence is, the young man inquires how rich is Miss Seraphine, or Miss Angelina, etc. ; or he re- ceives fifty cents at the door of a spunky young Miss of seventeen — the cost of examination, in a clerk's office, of her father's will, — he wanted to see what she was worth. If " the love of money is the root of all evil," that root is spreading ; but I hope never to reach it. P. AGKICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS— LIVING TABLEAU. Those who assert that little improvement has been witnessed iu the art of agriculture within the last twenty-five years must be quite unacquainted with the great number of new inventions designed to give increased facility to agricultural operations. It is true that this period is eminent for progress in almost every department of manufactures and of handicraft. But a very cursory view of the list of patents will show very concltisively that genius has not been unmindful of the tillers of the soil. The attempt to meet their wants in these respects has occupied a great deal of time and has demanded continuous effort, and it has not been unsuccecsful. A single one of the many threshing-machines is a boon of great value. But array the whole list of modern implements — improved ploughs, planters, drills, corn-shellers, mowers, reapers, threshers, feed-cutters, etc., what an exhbition they would make ! It would be an occasion of very great interest if our ITEited States Agri- cultural Societies could ftel justified in departi n gfrom the exact sphere they designed to occupy if they could collect these great machines, to the exclu- sion of all other inventions, at their next show in Philadelphia. Though opportunity could not be afforded for examining them all at work, they might be seen in motion, and a tolerable judgment be formed of their probar ble action in the field. The object would not be so much to test the com- parative merits of the different inventions as to show how much has been done for the agriculturist by the inventive genius of our own age. We could portray a vision illustrating this point, which, without a large draft upon one's fancy, might afford full scope for the best efforts of the painter. We will contribute our humble mite by presenting the following Grand Tableau. With the first rosy light of morning the world of living ariraals, including every variety of age and condition, present themselves befora the goddess of 592 AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. agriculture. The whole human race, male and female, alike dependent with inferior species, stand in the immense throng, waiting upon the husbandmen, her servants, while they produce and prepare for these millions their daily- sustenance. Among the multitudes of men and animals, all alike dependent upon the success of this one petition, are the great generals who have been borne in triumph at the head of their victorious armies, and none are louder in their supplications for immediate relief. Kings come down from their thrones and join with the poorest in their realm asking for their daily bread. Men of science and men of letters all do homage alike to the lord of the harvest. Fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, magistrates and people, rulers and subjects, all occupy common ground at this hour, and on this one point, alone, perhaps, of all the subjects ever presented to the consideration of the whole world, there is no dissenting voice. Not one is silent, for even the sick and dying supplicate for their friends. All, at this hour, confess themselves the dependents of him who plants and nurtures and gathers the fruits of the earth. The bondmen labor on in their ardu- ous work. The severity of the task compels many of them, one by one, overcome bv weariness, to give up their task, and all labor " in the sweat of their brow." But ere long Genius, who had stood for a while looking upon the busy scene before him, with his eye upturned to heaven as if giving thanks that hence had descended upon him the inspiration which qualified him for so beneficent a service, steps forward attended by a throng of intelligent artists, each delighted to perform his own appropriate work. With a smile of satisfaction at the scene which is about to be opened, he invites them to pro- ceed. Each is at once eager to present an offering, the result of his inven- tive skill, the use of which will alleviate the burden of those whose lot it is to provide for these immense numbers. The grateful laborers express their great obligations for so useful implements, while the waiting throng, in their turn, offer their tribute of gratitude for so timely and so valuable a service. All alike rejoice in the possession of those means which tend to the mutual good of all concerned, and aid even the poor and the friendless to a partici- pation in the bounties of their common Father. Though our picture is imaginative in form, it is real in its substance. The cultivators of the soil owe a debt of gratitude to the inventive spirit of the age, the magnitude of which they cannot easily comprehend, and it is well that every suitable opportunity should be made an occasion for illustrating the connection between these various pursuits, and the benefits bestowed by each upon the rest, and for deepening and widening the common sympathy which ought to pervade the entire circle of industrial pursuits. Prunes. — Prunes have been very successfully cultivated in Pennsylvania. Among the economists in Beaver county, they have been grafted on plums. Mr. Pfeiffer, of Indiana, raised prune trees in large numbers, and sold them at exorbitant prices, some as high as $5 and $10, He had some of the fruit at the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Fair, held at Pittsburg, which sold readily at 50c. a quart. EXPERIMENTS IN FARMING. 593. EXPERIMENTS IN FARMING. Experience is one of the best teachers and of logicians. Hence we value reliable statements of what has been done, with the conditions attending it. The following statements from the Hampshire County (Mass.) Reports, will be read with interest. EXPERIMENTS BY ALBERT MONTAGUE. " I present, for consideration, a statement of the effect of subsoil ploughing upon three pieces of land of similiar soil, and in about the same state of cul- tivation. I ploughed the land seven to eight inches deep and subsoiled six to seven inches. No. 1 was a piece upon which a crop of corn was taken last year. It con- tained one acre. One half of it was subsoiled. The whole piece was equally manured and treated alike for a number of years. Upon this piece I sowed oats and grass seed, and could see no difference in the piece from the time the oats came up until harvested. But, now, the clover upon the subsoiled part is a little the largest, enough to be noticed by persons who pass by the lot. No. 2 was a piece of green sward, containing two acres. One -half to three-fourth of an acre, through the center, was subsoiled. Upon the whole I spread compost manure and harrowed it in. I spread as evenly as I could over the whole piece ; then planted it to broom-corn, using a few ashes in the hill. The piece was cultivated ahke through the season, but the broom- corn upon the part subsoiled, was longer, of a better color through the season, and, I judge, wilp^yield from one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds of brush to the acre, more than that upon each side of it, and the seed is much better. No. 3 was a piece subsoiled three years since, and planted to corn. Same quantity of manure was used, and it was managed alike through the season, and the corn crop was no better upon the subsoiled, than upon the part not subsoiled. I sowed grass seed at the last hoeing. I have mowed it for two years past, and each crop of grass has been much the best upon the part sub- soiled, being I think near a ton more to the acre. MANURE EXERIMENTS BY ALBERT MONTAGUE. No. 1. I purchased last spring, superphosphate, poudrette and guano, for the purpose of testing their comparative value with each other and with barn- yard manure. Upon one acre of my best land, I spread eight loads of well rotted ma- nure and harrowed in ; then, planted to broom-corn, using $1 44 worth of poudrette in the hill upon one-half of it, and $2 41 worth of superphosphate upon the other half, dropping both poudrettefand superphospate at the time of planting, using Woodward's Planter, At the first and second hoeing, the corn, where I used the superphospate, was the most promising ; and at har- vesting, I should judge, would yield from fifty to one hundred pounds more broom-brush. No. 2. Upon a piece of green sward, soil rather cold and heavy, I spread fifteen loads of compost to the acre ; then, planted to Indian corn, using su- perphospate upon one-half, and good wood ashes upon the other half, put- ting quantities of equal value upon each. The corn upon the superphosphate 38 594 EXPERIMENTS IN FARMING. part came up first, grew tht fastest, ripened ten days earlier, and will yield ten bushels of corn more than the ashed part. Nearly the same result I found, by experimerting with superphosphate and ashes upon a piece of light, sandy soil. I think the relative difference was about the same, although the piece of corn was much lighter. No. 3. was with guano and barn-yard manure. I measured one and a half acres of good meadow land, that had been well manured and well cultivated for a long time. Upon one-half of it, I spread and ploughed in eight loads ot good yard manure, for which I paid eight dollars. On the other half, being in the center of the piece, I spread guano at the same cost, as the yard manure (i. e. ., at the first cost — the expense of applying the guano was but little, compared with that of the yard manure). I harrowed in the guano. Then, I planted to broom-corn, using a little superphosphate in the hill upon the whole. The piece was managed alike, during the whole season, after the different manures were applied. Many persons, who have passed, have asked why the middle of this piece looked so much the best. I referred them to the guano. The crop is not yet harvested, but good judges have said there would be two hundred pounds more of broom-brush and a greater ex- cess of seed upon the guanoed half. No. 4. Believing broom-corn stalks of some value, if ploughed in green, I cut some stalks from a part of a piece, immediately after I had taken off the crop, and placed the stalks in furrows nice and smooth — one hand plowing, while another took care of the stalks. I sowed the piece to oats the follow- ing spring, and upon the part where I ploughed in stalks, the oats were one- third heavier, than where none were ploughed in. I obtained eight dollars worth of oats on one acre for the labor of getting rid of my broom-corn stalks in this way. And as to the removing the stalks, it did not cost me one dollar more than to have gathered and burned them in the spring. EXPERIMENTS BY J. EDWARDS PORTER, The land on which my trial of guano was made, is situated in Hadley, on the plain. The soil is a sandy loam, — has been frequently cropped with rye — the crop* of 1854 yielding: only five bushels to the acre. Some four years ago, wishing to try the effects guano upon this land, I purchased and carefully composted the guano with seven parts of earth ; applied it to the hill, at the rate of one hundred pounds to the acre, and planted it to corn. At the first hoeing, I was surprised at the healthy appearance of the crop. It continued to grow vigorously, outstripping for a few weeks the corn upon my best land. But a change came, and my corn assumed a sickly appear- ance. I found that my homoeopathic dose of guano, in its haste to produce stalks, had exhausted all its force and there was no virtue left for ears. My crop was a failure. So I concluded that, if I had treated my poor, sandy land more liberally with guano, I should have been amply repaid at harvest, I have since practised on this conclusion, and have had my reward. I have applied four hundred pounds of Peruvian guano to the acre, broadcast, and ploughed the whole under, to the depth of six inches. At one harvest, I gathered from three acres of this poor, sandy plain, three hundred and six bushels of corn in the ear, and realized a net profit of $92. In a report of the Massachusetts Society Transactions (which contains the preceding) Mr. Francis De Witt makes the following suggestions, in refer- ence to MODES OF FARMING. 596 IMPROVED FARMING TOOLS Among the many good results growing out of the formation of agricultu- ral societies, is the rapid improvement in farming tools. In no department of industry are improvements progressing so rapidly, as in agriculture. The fact is noted in the Patent-Office Reports, " that the greatest number of pa- tents applied for and issued, of any one class, are connected with agriculture, and the fewest are those to be used in war ;" it is said the proportion is nearly as ten to one. This probably in part arises from the fact that im- provements can be made; that agricultural societies stimulate such improve- ments ; and partly because labor-saving tools are necessary, owing to the scarcity of farm laborers and the high price of labor. It is hoped another good may be the result of these exhibitions of skill and industry. Our young men, who in years past, have been disposed to forsake the old homstead, and the tilling of the ground for positions and occupations in cities and large towns, with i^ future prospect of a little more cash, but far less independence, may be enabled to see that there is a scope for the mind, in the science as well as art of farming ; and, by the use of the improved and labor-saving ma- chines, the farm work is not all mere drudgery. At the same time, there is more real enjoyment of the gifts of a bountiful Providence than can be obtain- ed in the usual employments of the dense population of a city. The farmer and mechanic are so closely connected in interest, and so dependent upon each other, that it is desirable they should, on an occasion like this, meet on com- mon ground, and together enjoy that interchange that is necessary for mutual improvement. We hope the fairs of this society will increase in interest in this essential department of agriculture. MODES OF FARMING. We are well aware that no two good farmers agree exactly in all their ideas of good farming, and yet there is a principle, the guaranty of success, which runs through all their diverse systems. We are always amused and sometimes instructed by the discussions of the farmers in the State House in Boston. They evidently go upon the principle "semper paratus," which in this case, libera'ly translated, 7nay mean " take no pains to prepare." Hence all manner of positions are taken on almost all branches of the business, and maintained by suggestions that oc-our to them at the moment. The following statements are worthy of attention. They are taken from a report of a recent meeting, in the Ploughman : CULTIVATION OF CORN — MODE OF FEEDING. Hon. R. S. Fay, of Lynn, said he had satisfied himself that corn was a hungry feeder. He makes his land rich. He turns the grass over in autumn, then ploughs once or twice in the spring, puts on twelve cords of manure to the acre and ploughs or harrows it in. ^ He made no hills, kept the land flat after planting in rows three feet and six inches apart. Not much use was made of the hoe. Not more than ten or fifteen days were allowed to intervene without passing a light cultivator between. This saved labor and left the land cleaner. 596 MODES OP FARMING. Barn-yard ruaoure was ploughed in green in the fall. It was composted in the spring. This supplies the wants of the crop to a full degree. Has no doubt that a hundred pounds of plaster with some leached or unleashed ashes, applied at planting, or after it came up, was beneficial. He cuts the corn to the ground as soon as the kernel is glazed. It is placed in small shooks and stands till sufficiently dry. The sap is thus stopped and dried in the stalk. Thinks more saccharine matter is thus se- cured. The fodder is salted. It is all cut fine before feeding out. A little meal is added. A jet of steam is let on for twenty-four or forty-eight hours. It was the main food of his cattle for two months. He sees no cattle that are kept better. They leave none. The entire crop is utilized. Not a piece was lost. In China there was a kind of corn valuable for sugar. The inquiry was whether it could be made useful here for corn-fodder ? DE BUKG'S phosphate. Hon. Amasa Walker, of Brookfield, said the corn crop was not suffi- ciently valued. The use of it for green fodder was incressing. It came just at the time our pastures were short, and it was just the thing wanted. The culture of it was becoming common. He used last year De Burg's " Phosphate of Lime" with great success on various crops. There was a great difference where it was used through the season. Its effect was not so striking on potatoes. He used it also on grass lands with a clay substratum. It was natural mowing land, that he did not plough up. When the grain was cut the crop was twenty-five to thirty-three per cent, more where this phosphate was used. On the second crop the increase was still greater. It was a thing about which there might be much deception. It might often be adulterated. But it would be for the interest of the man- tifacturer to keep up the quality. A handful in the bill was safe and simple. In planting with guano all his corn was killed, although five times the bulk of dirt was mixed with it, and the men were directed to cover it with dirt before putting the corn in. PROFITS OF CORN. Mr. CooLEY, of Conway, finds corn his most profitable crop. He plants same land two years in succession. He manures both seasons. The second year he ploughs in twenty-five loads to the acre, and puts eight loads of com- post in the hill and raises seventy bushels to the acre. A strict account was kept, and the cost of his corn was forty-eight cents per bushel. Half the m-dnure only was charged to the corn. The labor was reckoned at one dollar per day. His corn weighs sixty-four pounds to the bushel in January when thoroughly dry. CORN MAKES THE BEST BUTTER AND CHEESE. Mr. Osgood, of South Reading, said it had been his business to travel in Massachusetts and New-Hampshire buying butter and cheese. He found the best butter and the best cheese was produced by those farmers who re- sorted to the use of corn fodder. Their cattle also looked better. He used the Southern white, large flat corn, and planted from the 6th to 13th of June, in a light sandy soil, on which white beans had been raised. In the drills he placed manure made with night-soil and coal a=hes from COTTON GINS. 597 hard coal. His friend Mr. Sanger, of Danvers, had first used hard coal ashes in this mixture with great success. His cows increased their amount of milk when he commenced feeding with green corn fodder. They increased for the first four days constantly. There was no trouble with their decreasing afterwards while they had plenty of corn. His cows came nearly up to the best week in July. PROFITS OF FARMING. We present below the crops produced by farmers in different parts of Massachusetts, as reported in the transactions of the Agricultural Society of the last year, and intend to follow up this exhibition, not of possible but of actual products, by good farmers, on all kinds of soil, that others may see how far short they come of the profits within their own ability. We have presented such statements from time to time, and we hope to find that the number of those who are just to themselves and to their chosen pursuit will be multipled year by year. Interest on the value of the land is included in the estimate of expenses. Harvey Dodge, Worcester Co., Mass., farm 93i acres, of which 10 acres were waste, 10 of woodland and 22 of pasture. Cost of cultivation, $1299. Products, $2102 50. Profit, $803 50. J. C. Merriam, Worcester Co. Farm 60 acres 38 rods, of which 9 acres are woodland, 4 are swamps and 21 pasture. Annual expenses, $446 06. Products, $1147 84. Profit, $698 78. Austin Smith & Sons, Franklin Co. Farm 64 acres. Annual expense, $1955 60. Products, $3944 90. Profit, $1989 30. R. Wales Smith, Hampshire Co. Farm 85 acres, of which 39 are pasture and 16 woodland. Annual cost, $759 75. Products, $1324 11. Profits, $564 36. Dr. Morten, Norfolk Co., reports a profit of $97 52 on a half acre of potatoes, of $14 57 on a half acre of fodder corn, and of $62 02 on a half acre of carrots. fOR THK PLOUGH, THE LOOM AND THE ANVIL. COTTON GINS. Miss., Feb. 23, 1856. To Mr. H. Clarke, Newport, Fla. : Dear Sir: — On 470-471 pp. of this work, (current volume) will be found an article of yours from the Scientijic Farmer, upon the subject of "Cotton Gins." I am no mechanic, but being the son of one, I am perhaps drawn to the subject of mechanism. Your article upon this matter is like the sound of the horn or the bark of a pack of hounds to an old courser, and should I 598 SHEEP IN VIRGINIA. show the old fogy, I beg you will not think it is done in unkindness. As a planter, I am deeply interested, but really more so as an improving man, as a citizen. Mr. Fultz, to whom you allude, was kind enough to draw ray attention to his improvement, before he received a patent, sent me specimens and asked my opinion. I have " stood up to" many gin stands, make it a point to try all I can, I mean io feed the stand myself, and strange as it may seem, I delight in it. I have turned out a ba'e per day, more than any ginner ever averages. I beg to differ with you as to gin stands, saw-gins, being as yet perfect. I have used five different gin-stands, the first made by a Carolina workman, a young man who served his time with McCreight of Winnsboro, S. C, and made me the best cotton, large teeth. All I have seen will nap or twist if cotton be wet. This is caused by the teeth getting full of lint and pressed in so as not to be separated by the brush ; some will nap owing perhaps to teeth being so pointed as to be forced into cotton, or the brush wants velocity, or bristles not enough. My idea is, to gin 3 to 5 bales, without giving velocity would be to make longer saws and have teeth small and square, give the brush velocity suffi- cient to cle r each tooth so that no cotton pass through the grates the second time. My reasons — Some 15 years ago I took a sample from my gin stand ; some of the seed cotton also, ginned this upon a spinning jenny ; sent both samples to a merchant, he offered some 2 or 3 cents more for the last, and begged the opportunity to buy. Thus the ginning made an increase value of at least 2 cents. I have known an improvement by substituting the best Russia bristles with a httle more speed to brush. I have also im- proved, by making the driver or saw cylinder near two inches larger, so as to increase speed of brush. I am satisfied that shorter teeth will be less liable to nap, and less motion of saw will break fevper fibres. I do not suppose that 1 have offered a new idea, yet these statements may suggest one to you or others. Yours with respect, P. SHEEP IN THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. [We have received from a valued correspondent, Mr. S. F. Christian, of Augusta, Va., a copy of his premium essay on the subject of wool-growing. He is not only familiar with the subject but, what is far more rare, he appreci- ates the difficulties which are imposed by lack of judgment in the owners of sheep, and points out the remedy which should be applied. We give this essay entire, and commend it to all interested in this subject. — Ed. P. L. & A.| Having given my personal consideration and attention, during the last ten years, to wool-growing as an incident of agriculture, I submit a short, prac- tical essay, treating of my experience and practice in sheep husbandry ia the Valley of Virginia. The Valley possesses important natural advantages for the production of fine wool and mutton. The soil is based principally upon limestone and blue. slate, with sufficient admixture of sand to produce in perfection all the cereals and the various grasses best suited to the sustenance and development of stock. The climate is favorable, obtaining a happy medium of tempera- ture throughout the year, and the purest water gushes in copious streams from a thousand hills. The face of the country being well diversified with SHEEP IN VIRGINIA. 699 rolling hills and winding vales, with craggy cliflFs and mountain sides, with frequent intervals of forest and field and meadow, presents just that condi- tion most congenial to the habits and nature of the sheep. In establishing a flock for this locality — wool being the primary object, guided by some experience with Bakeweli, Cotswold, Saxon, and Spanish merinos, I preferred the last as best adapted in character and constitution for improvement and profit, under the circumstances of this country. Accord- ingly, I selected in three different States at the North thirty head of Paular and Guadaloupe merino ; choosing them from three distinct fanuilies, and since carefully numbering and registering them and their descendants, after the suggestion in Morrell's American Shepherd, page 279. Selecting one hundred and fifty of the finest ewes from the common creeds of the country, I put with them a fine Cotswold ram, and with the ewes from this cross I put a merino ram ; and with all the subsequent female pro- geny continued to put full blood merinos. The Cotswold ram, in the first generation, was used to give form and size ; though now, for that purpose the Oxford Down (a new breed) would be pre- ferable as having a form still more symmetrical, and a fleece approximating nearer in quality to the merino. All the buck lambs from these several crosses were, as wethers, at the age of two years, fatted and sold for the shambles. About the last week in October my rams are put with the ewes in- the proportion of three rams to one hundred ewes, and remain together until about the middle of December following. They are then separated, therams and wethers forming one flock, the breeding ewes another, and a third is composed of the young ewes which were taken from their dams during the preceding August. On the approach of wiater the several flocks are put in fields, inclosing each a portion of woodland. The forest trees furnish for our climate a sufficient and also the most acct^ptable shelter to the sheep; to test this I have had good sheds prepared in the fields, but the sheep leaving the sheds mvariably sought shelter among the trees from every approaching storm of sleet or snow. The box rack is the most convenient and economical for feeding. Hay, corn-fodder, and oat-straw, furnish their winter food, and the foddering season usually lasts for four months. Green food occasionally through the winter is of very great advantage. Indeed, could a sufficient supply in any way be obtained for the whole yeat\ it would be far better than any other. In this climate some grain might be sowed with this object. In North Mississippi for several years I kept a flock of Saxon merinos grazing almost the entire winter upon fields of rye, sown in the standing corn and cotton at the last working of the crops. The sheep throve remarkably well, and were wintered with far less trouble and expense than if kept on dry food, and the wool was manifestly finer in fiber and softer to the touch. Of this latter particular I ■was fully assured by having preserved samples of wool for successive years from several sheep when wintered on green food to compare with samples from the same and similar sheep when fed exclusively on dry food. M, R. Cockrill, Esq., of Tennessee, from whose celebrated flock my sheep had been obtained, also experimented in this matter with similar results. In the Valley of Virginia, where showers are frequent, and dews and frosts heavy, sheep may do without other water, though they always thrive best and build up better constitutions when having free access to fresh running water. The lambs are dropped through the month of April. About the first week in May is the time in whick they should be penned, docked and 600 SHEEP IN VIRGINIA. castrated. This is best done in the mode recommended in Morrell's Ameri- can Shepherd, p. 1*74. The wool I have washed upon the sheep's back about the 20th of May, or as soon thereafter as the weather and water become suflSciently warm. The most convenient plan with me is to drive the flock to a neighboricg mill- pond, to be washed in the " trunk" which conveys the water to the mill. From a pen built against the trunk, the sheep are taken by a person stand- ing beside the trunk, and plunged in the water till washed ; then being passed up stream to another hand, the wool is rinsed and the sheep given over to the herdsman, who takes them to a clean grass sod, where their fleeces will not be soiled. Three good hands may thus wash about four hun- dred sheep in one day. After four days of dry weather, the shearing may be commenced. The fleeces should be rolled up separately, inside out, and packed for marketing in sacks holding each about twenty-five fleeces. At this time I examine the sheep very closely in order to mark and turn out for fattening, all the runts, and those in any way inferior for breeders. Thus the flock is soon and permanently improved. The common course, however, with many farmers in this region, is to keep all their sheep together throughout the year, and when mutton is wanted for the table in the spring, to select the fattest and best formed, which is usually the youngest and best of the ewes ; thus leaving the ill-formed and lean kind for the propagation of their flock. Nor is it wonderful, physiologically considered, that in a few years they discover that their flock is " running out," and find it necessary to buy up a new stock for a fresh start. Hence, too, the common fallacy that sheep will not do well if kept long on the same farm. In grazing through the summer, I very frequently change the sheep from field to field ; otherwise, the grass becomes tainted and they will not relish or improve upon it. They should be salted twice a week upon the i^round ; a litlle wood ash mixed with the salt is very beneficial. Sheep thrive best upon a variety of herbage, and eat much vegetation that large cattle refuse. Their manure is very valuable as a fertilizer. It is a common complaint that sheep injure pasture land by grazing too close. Sheep are constituted by nature to graze closer than cattle, and if kept too long upon the same pasture field will of course injure it ; they have only to be removed before the grass is cropped too close. The custom with too many farmers is to graze a field with cattle and horses until these can no longer crop enough to support life ; then to turn in the sheep, who are thus forced for a living to nip it to the roots, to the serious injury of the proprie- tor's pasture, and their own disparagement. If sheep were fairly treated and judiciously managed, they will actually improve land more and injure it less than other stock ; a fair experiment will so demonstrate. For several years by grazing both cattle and sheep, I have had opportu- nity to compare the relative profits. On a fair account kept with each for my own satisfaction, it appeared that the sheep yield about 25 per cent, more profit upon the capital invested than did the cattle — and this without includ- ing a large proportional sum from the sale of select rams for breeders. The average price obtained for my wool during the three last preceding seasons, is forty-nine cents per pound for that sold in Virginia. The average weight of fleece in the entire flock of thorough-bred merinos is something over five pounds per head, washed upon the sheep. The expense of keeping the Spanish merino is astonishingly little. Sheep are the only domestic animals that yield both food and clothing. Their flesh is very easy of digestion, wholesome and nutricious, and is uni- INSECTS INJUEIOUS TO VEGETATION. 601 versally esteemed by epicures. Their wool is an article of prime necessity, used by all classes both by day and by night. The demand for home con- sumption far exceeds the supply, and many millions of pounds are brought from abroad, while no other country possesses greater facilities for sheep hus- bandry than our own Valley of Virgmia. INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. LEPIDOPTERA CONTINtJED. Hesperiad^, Skippers. — The English name was given to these insects from their habit of flying short distances only. "When they alight they keep the wings expanded, the fore-wings being partially raised. Other butterflies close their wings when they are not in use. This is a more obvious distinction than any difi"erences in their ojganization. Their caterpillars are somewhat spindle shaped, tapering towards each extremity, without spines, naktd, or downy only, with a large head and smail neck. Their habits are solitary, concealing themselves often when about to undergo transformation within folded leaves or fragments of stubble. Their chry- salids are conical, or tapering at one end, and rounded or pointed at the other, not angular nor ornamented with spots, but ofien covered with a blue white powder. HA.WKMOTHS, Sphinges. — These form the .second of the three genera into which the Lepidoptera were arranged by Linnaeus. The name was sug- gested by a fancied resemblance to the Epytian sphinx. They support them- selves by their four or six hind- legs, elevating the fore part of their body, and retain this position for hours together. The true sphinges make a sound ni flying resembling that of a humming- bird, and hence are sometimes called humming-bird moths. They are also called hawk-moths, from their habit of hovering in the air while taking their food. They may be seen, morning and evening, flying very swiftly from flower to flower. Their wings are long, narrow, and pointed, their bodies thick and robust. They have long tongues with which they extract the honey from blossoms while on the wing. Some sphinges fly only in the daytime, and when the sun shines brightly. Such are the Sesice, which are partial to the phlox. These insects appear in July and August. Their form, size, color, and fan-like tails, and their manner of tak- ing their food, cause them to be mistaken, sometimes, for humming-birds. Aegeridce, Acgerians. — These insects resemble wasps or bees in form and color. They fly by day, but usually alight while taking their food. Nor are they so swift of flight as the preceding. Their wings are narrow and mostly transparent ; they have a brush or tufts at the end of the body, which they can spread out in the form of a fan. They fly only during the day. They derive their nourishment, while in the caterpillar state, from the wood and pith of plants, keeping themselves concealed within their stems and roots. Hence they are called borers. These caterpillars are whitish, soft, and slightly downy, have sixteen feet, are destitute of any thorn ,^or prominence on the last segment of their body. Their cocoons are oblong- oval, composed of fragments of wood and bark, cemented together. The 602 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. chrysalids are of a shining bay color, and their different segments are armed with transverse rows of short teeth. Some of this genus are fond of the ash ; others, as the Aegeria Cucurbitce, prefer the cucumber, squash, etc, which in August are often destroyed by this insect. It begins its operations near the ground, and perforates the stem, devouring it as they proceed. Its chrysalis is formed in the earth, and appears in the next summer a winged insect, with a body of orange color, spotted with black, its hind-legs fringed, with long orange-colored and black hairs. The hind-wings are transparent, the fore-wings expand an inch or an inch and a half. It lays its eggs in the vines near the roots. This insect may be seen flying about during the last half of July and to the middle of August. The Aegeria exitiosa is the insect which has proved so destructive to the peach tree. The eggs are deposited in the summer upon the trunk of the tree, near the roots. The borers, when hatched, penetrate into the bark and devour the inner bark and sap wood. Tbeir presence is marked by the cast- ings and gum which issue from their holes in the tree. "When a year old, they make their cocoons under the bark, or about the roots, and come forth as wingtd insects, and lay their eggs as before. Their last transformation is from July to October. The winged insect is slender, steel-blue color, four- winged, slightly resembling a wasp or ichneumon fly. The two sexes difier in appearance. The male is smaller than the female. Head, with band at base, both above and below a pale yellow ; eyes, black brown ; antennae ciliated on the inner side, black, with a tinge of blue. All his wings are transparent and are bordered and veined with steel blue. The feelers, shoulder covers, edges of the collar and of the abdominal rings, are pale yellow. It expands about an inch. The body of the female is dark steel blue, with a tinge of purple, antennae destitute of fringe. The fore-wings are blue, opaque ; hind-wings transparent, bordered and veined like those of the male ; and the middle of the abdomen is encircled by a broad, orange-colored belt. It expands an inch and a half or more. Dr. Harris recommends the fol- lowing mode of defence against this insect, which has proved successful heretofore : " Remove the earth around the base of the tree, crush and destroy the cocoons and borers which may be found in it and under the bark, cover the wounded parts with the common clay composition, and surround the trunk with a strip of sheathing paper eight or nine inches wide, which should extend two inches below the surface of the soil, and be secured with strings of matting above. Fresh mortar should then be placed around the root, so as to confine the paper and prevent access beneath it, and the remain- ing cavity may be filled with new and unexhausted loam. This should be done in June. In the winter the strings may be removed, and in the spring search for more borers, and renew the same protecting applications as before." One means of preventing the ravages of this insect, as described by Say, is as follows : — Examine the trees early in July ; take a bricklayer's trowel, and opening the ground around the trunk, the lodgement of the insect will be at once discovered by the appearance of gum, and it can readily be destroyed. One person can thus examine a hundred trees in a half day, and very few insects, if any, will escape. But more effectually to destroy them, early in August take some swingling tow, or a similar thing, six inches or more in width, tie close around the body of the tree, the under edge to be a little covered with earth, so as to prevent any passage beneath. About the middle of September remove the bandage, and give the whole tree a INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 603 covering of soft-soap or lime-wash or tobacco. Or if the bandage described is dispensed with, use a bandage of tobacco leaves or steins from the first of August to November. Great advantage has also been derived from the use of anthracite cinders. Open a basin around the trunk of the tree and fill it with the cinders. See also Mr. Skinner's American Farmer, vol. 6, pp. 14, 37, 334, 401. The egg of the peach borer is oblong-oval, dull yellow, and so small as to be scarcely visible by the naked eye. The larva is of a white color, the head being reddish brown. In the pupa state each segment has a brush or tuft of spines, except the three terminal ones, which have a single row of spines only. The pupa state continues from about the 10th of July till the end of the month or the beginning of August. The Aegeria tupeliformis infests the leaves of the currant bush. The habits of this genus resemble those of the peach borer. The moth is a blue black color; wings transparent, veined, with a copper-colored band across the tips of the anterior pair ; the under side of the feelers, the collar, the edges of the shoulder covers, and three narrow rings of the ab- domen are golden yellow. The Aegeria Pyri, of Dr. Harris, attacks the pear tree. Its wings expand more than half an inch, are transparent, veined, bordered and fringed with purple black, and across the tips of the fore-wings is a broad, dark band, glossed with coppery tints. The prevailing color of the upper side of the body is purple black, and of the under side golden yellow ; so, also, the edges of the collar, of the shoulder covers, of the fan-shaped brush at the tail are yellow, and a broad yellow band crosses the middle of the abdomen, preceded by two narrow bands of the same color. The Smerinthi are sluggish in their movements, fly during the night only, take no food, apparently, while in the winged state, and have short tongues. Their fore-wings are generally scalloped on the outer edge. Their caterpillars are rough, or granulated, with a stout thorn on the tail ; a tri- angular head, the apex of the triangle corresponding to the crown. This insect is not very common. The Olaucopidians mostly fly by day, and alight while feeding. This genus is distinguished from other spinges by their antennae, which, in the males at least, and sometimes in both sexes, are pectinated as it is termed, that is, are furnished on each side with slender, parallel branches, like the teeth of a comb or the plume of a feather. They devour the leaves of plants. Their cocoons are formed of coarse silk. The caterpillars are green, with black bands, and slightly hairy. They are gregarious, but disperse when about to undergo their transformations. These insects answer to the Procris Vitis or P. Ampelophaga of Europe, which have proved very destructive to the grape vine. Quinque Maculatus. — This is called the Five-spotted sphinx, from five round, orange-colored spots found on each side of the body. It is about five inches across the wings, of gray color, variegated with blackish bands or lines. Its tongue can be extended five or six inches, and when not in use is coiled up like a watch-spring, and is almost concealed between two feelers. It closely resembles the Carolina sphinx. The larva of this butterfly is the large green caterpillar, known as the potato worm. It has a thorn upon its tail, and whitish, oblique stripes on its sides. Tnis insect devours the leaves of the potato. After it has attained its full size of about three inches or more, when it has the thickness of a man's finger, which is in August, it descends to the earth and buries itself beneath 604 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. the surface. After a few days it becomes a chrysalis, of a bright brown color, its long and slender tongue-case bending over so as to touch the breast only at one end, resembling the handle of a pitcher. It remains in the ground below the reach of frost during the winter. The season following it bursts its chrysalis covering, and the moth escapes above ground. It rests upon some plant till evening, and then flies in search of food. Another species of sphinx infests the elm. It is separated as a distinct group by Dr. Harris, called Eratomia quadricornis, from its having four horns on the fore part of the back. They are three and a half inches iu length, of a pale green color, with seven oblique white lines on each side of the body, aud a row of little notches like saw teeth on the back. Their four horns are also notched. There is a long, stiff spine on their hinder extremity. Near the end of August they descend from the trees, and soon enter the earth to become chrysalids. Passing the winter within the ground, they come forth in the following June, and may be seen in considerable numbers on the trunks of trees and on fences. Their wings then open nearly five inches, are of a light brown color, variegated with dark brown and white. On the hinder part of the body are five longitudinal lines of a dark brown color. Another caterpillar, which is very destructive to the leaves of the grape vine, is called by Dr. Harris Philampelus. " When young they have a long and slender tail, recurved over the back like that of the dog ; but this, after one or two changes of the skin, disappears, and nothing remains of it but a smooth, eye like raised spot on the top of the last segment of the body. Some of these caterpillars are green, others brown, and the sides of their body are ornamented by six cream-colored spots, of a broad oval shape in the species which produces the Satellitia of Linnteus, but narrow, oval and scalloped on that which is transformed into the species called Achemon by Drury. They have the power of withdrawing the head and first three seg- ments of the body within the fourth segment, which gives them a short and blunt appearance." They attain the length of three inches or more, are thick in proportion, and are voracious. The come to their growth in August, descend into the earth to undergo transformation, ascend, in the winged or moth state, in June and July. "The Satellitia hawkmoth expands from four to five inches, is of light olive color, variegated with patches of dark olive. The Achemon expands from three to four inches, is a reddish ash color, with two triangular patches of deep brown on the thorax, and two square ones on each ibre- wing. The hind-wings are pink, a deeper red spot near the middle, and a broad, ash-colored border behind." Another sphinx, very destructive to the grape vine, is smaller than the pre- ceding, which not only devour the leaves, but nip off" the young fruit. They are naked and fleshy like the Achemon and Satellitia, a pale green color, but sometimes brown, a row of orange-colored spots on the back, six or seven oblique lines on each side, and a short spine or horn on the hinder extremity ; head very small. The fourth and fifth segments are large and swollen, while the anterior segments taper abruptly towards the head. The fore part of the body presents a resemblance to the head and snout of a hog, and hence it has been named the Chaerocampa or hog-caterpillar. It is found on vines and creepers in July and August. It undergoes its transformations on the surface of the ground, concealed under leaves and rubbish, which it draws around it, and appears a winged insect the following summer in July. PROSPECT FOR FRUIT. 605 The caterpillars of the spinges have sixteen legs, joined in pairs, beneath the first, second, third, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and last segments of the body. The last segment is furnished with a horn or tubercle. When at rest they keep the fore part of their body elevated. FOa THE PLOUGH, THB LOOM, AHD THS ANVIL. HOPS IN LAMOILLE COUNTY. Mr. Editor : — The year has again rolled round. It rather becomes ray duty to remark somewhat on the hops reared in Lamoille county last season. The weather was about as much too wet last season as it was too dry in 1844 ; the frequent rains caused the hop to rust. At the time the strobiles were nearly grown, and quite tender, we had frequent winds, that agitated the vines and bruised the tender buds or cones, which assumed a reddish- brown color, which was injurious to the sale of the hops ; in consequence of which many went second sort. The hops will hardly average $5 00 per hundred. There being many new yards, there have been a few more raised in the county than last year. In Hydepark, in 1855, 75 tons, the amount realized $40,000, and $100,000 in the county ; this year the growers in Hydepark will receive about $7,500, and the county about $20,000 ; not enough to cover the expense of picking and bailing. Many have contracted debts on the expectation of realizing an abundant crop and fair prices for their hops. The fall of hops has caused a great dearth of money, and much financial distress. Ariel Hunton. Hydepark, Vt., March 12, 1856. FOK tas. PLOUGH, THE LOOM, i.ND THE ANVIL. PROSPECT FOR FRUIT, ETC. Baldwinsville, N. Y., March 22, 1856. Mr. Editor : — In consequence of the circulation of reports that the fruit- buds (which I presume is true) are generally killed in the West, people East are apprehensive that they may possibly be dead with us. This, however, is not true, for I find that peach-buds in almost every instance are alive. Some few are black, but generally they are green, and look fine. The con- clusion is, therefore, that we shall hare a fine crop of this kind of fruit in Jersey and New-York. It has been about eighteen or twenty degrees colder in the West this season than here, — cause not Jcnown. In years gone by this, I believe, has not generally been the case. I never experienced more searching or more intensely cold weather than I found in the State of In- diana this winter. The air was amazingly cold — so cold that it was not safe for an inliv'd'ia! tn fnc^^ the wind any great length of time. This was on 606 PROSPECT FOR FRUIT. the 10th of February. After arriving home I found a material change in the state of the weather as well as in the atmosphere. I have always no- ticed that the air, during the winter season in the West, was more severe and searching than with us. I cannot account for this, unless, indeed, it be in consequence of the immense bodies of water which the western people are blessed with. The prairies may have something to do with the severity of the winds. It is very true that it is not safe for an adventurer to make his way across those large prairies during the prevalence of very cold weather ; for instances are quite common in which travelers and others have ^-ozen to death in making their tours over them. I am very confident of another fact with reference to the West, and that is, the country is not so sure for fruit as it is in this eastern world. This, unquestionably, is the effect of the changeableness of the climate, sudden thaws and sudden frosts out of the season, and sudden atmospheric changes through the year. These things cause the western country to be a poor locality for raising fruit successfully during a series of successive years. Yet, Mr. Editor, I have seen as fine apples in the West as I ever saw in any country, both large and fair. Now, I do not believe that the western people will be blessed with many apples or a great quantity of other fruit this com- ing season. In many parts of the West, say from Cleveland to St. Paul, and in fact we can say this of many other localities in the West, the thermometer has indicated a temperature at from 25° to 31° below zero! This is singular, but nevertheless it is true. While it has been thus cold in the West, the thermometer has been down only about 10° or 12° below zero in the State of New-York and other places in the East. Why is this, Mr. Editor? Will you explain ? On the banks of the Mississippi snow has not at all been unusual this winter far below Cairo and within the confines of Tennessee. In many of the Western States the snow has been fifteen inches deep, and I am not certain but its depth may be set down at twenty inches. For many long years the people have not been so abundantly supplied with snow as they have been during the winter of 1856. For instance, to speak about our own country, snow has been measured to the depth of three ftet and a half in Oswego Co., N.Y., this season ! This depth was found in the woods where the snow was protected from the influence of the wind. Railroads have been blocked up, business has been delayed, men have been greatly in- commoded by the quantity of snow ; mails have been impeded, and people have been forced to keep within doors, all in consequence of immense deposits of snow, not only on railroads but on other traveled thoroughfares. From these considerations, Mr. Editor, I conclude we shall have a late spring, though it is to be hoped a fruitful season. It will take some time to produce a change on the ground so that it will really be fit for cultivation. And there is another thing, farmers, by reason of the general fall in the price of provisions, will not plant nor sow nor raise as much gram and vegetables as they did in the year 1855. The ''one-acre-more'' system, as carried out last season, has seemingly filled the whole country with a sur- plus of most kinds of food. Hay is at reasonable prices, or at least has been, and so we may say of many other kinds of provender. But the farmer, notwithstandisg this state of things, ought not to relax his efforts, but should raise all the products he can, tor there are now as many people to eat and feed as there were a year ago. " Wars and rumors of war" do not increase nor diminish the amount of food consumed by the people. This is very evident. Very respectfully, W. Tappak. DIOSCOREA BATATAS. 607 FOR THB PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THB ANVIL. . DIOSCOREA BATATAS. I HAVE noticed sundry remarks made by persons at the Farmers' Club, and several fquibs in newspapers, regarding the Chinese potato, with the object of underrating its merits. Not one of these remarks has emanated from a man well informed on the subject, or who could give any authority for his effete arguments. Jealousy and spleen have had much to do with these misstatements. It will be borne in mind that Professor Decaisne stated in the Revue Horticole for 1854, that the Dioscorea Batatas, which was received from China only in 1850, is an entirely distinct species from the Dioxcorea Japa- nica, (Japan potato,) which had been obtained many years previous ; and it is the former which he has found to be highly commended in- the Chi- nese agricultural works, and of which they have in that country more than fifty varieties, more or less valuable. In the Revue Horticole hr 1855 he has most fully confirmed his previous position, and has given us engrav- ings showing the very distinct characters cf the two plants, although to a casual observer of these two trailing plants the distinction might not be apparent. These statements of Professor Decaisne are of the highest importance, as we already find that the two species are being disseminated confusedly, a circumstance calculated to lead to many future disappointments, as the one is so very superior in lis qualities to the other, which has hitherto been cultivated only as an object of curiosity. It would be worthy any one's at- tention to examine pages 69 to 74 of the Revue Horticole for the ample delineations of the two plants, with his caution against the apparent con- fusion that exists in France — a confusion which has now been extended to our own country by the importation of both these species. It appears that Monsieur de Montigny, French consul at Shanghai, in accordance with in- structions from the French government to seek out the most appropriate substitute for the common potato, which had become so subject to the rot and other maladies, instituted a thorough investigation of the qualities of the numerous varieties of the Dioscorea Batatas ; and after the fullest re- search he transmitted to the Museum of Agriculture at Paris the Imperial Rice-white variety, as far surpassing all others in general excellence, re- markable for the snow-white color of its flesh, and for yielding a beautiful, pure white flour. Being determined to start on the surest ground in my experiments, I took such measures through ray Paris correspondents as would insure to me the obtaining of the highly approved variety I have referred to. The result has been most successful. The roots when dug were remarkable for their beauty, and for their pure white flesh, of a delicately farinacious flavor. In view of these facts it is scarcely necessary to add that our importers should exercise the greatest ^caution and scrutiny in making their selections, and that purchasers of imported roots should de- mand an inspection of the invoice, as a proof of their being the genuine Dioscorea Batatas {of Decaisne^) and not the spurious species. W. R. PrIxVce. 608 AM. INSTITUTE. AMERICAN INSTITUTE. farmers' club meeting of march 4, 1856. The Secretary, Henry Meigs, Esq., read extracts translated by him from the Journal de la Societe Tmjjeriale et Centrale d' Horticulture. Napoleon III., Protecteur. Paris, December, 1855. Mons. Capp, Chief Gardener of the Useful Plants in the Museum of Natural History, in the name of Professor Decaisne, presented magnificent tubers of the Dioscorea Batatas, (Chinese yam.) The small pieces of this Dioscorea were planted in April, 1854, and are now of considerable size, and weigh 500 to 1000 grammes, (l^i to 35 ounces,) and ramify much. Messrs. Chevel, of Montigny, said that they had tasted this Dioscorea last week, and that the flavor rendered them excellent. Mons. J. Dumas, un the contrary, said that he had tasted some that were fade, (insipid,) and looked like mucilage. Some members said that perhaps they were not sufficiently matured. Mons. Bourgeois said that he had the last year received some of the tubers, which were different in figure from the rest, and that instead of being round they were flattened. Mods. Remont, of Versailles, presented several specimens of his first crop of the Dioscorea or Ignome. They were raised from the bulbilles, (little bulbs) ; some were grown on new land in the environs of Dax, department of Landes. Others, near Versailles, in rich and well manured soil, produced an inferior crop to the former. Mons. Ptemont stated that he bad tried panification (bread-making) by adding 20 per cent, of this Dioscorea to wheat flour, and that the bread was excellent. He hopes that 35 per cent, of this root may be added to flour with advantage. Planted in April, a hectare (two and a half acres) may yield 65,000 killogrammes of the tubers — about thirty-five tons to an acre. (This would be 780 bushels per acre.) Mons. Payen said, that if we can obtain 40,000 killogrammes per hectare, it would be an immense advantage gained for agriculture. He desires of Mons. Remont to dry some of the Iguames and a'^certain their proportion of starch. He observed that it was a remarkable circumstance in this elongated root, that the starch was far more abundant near its upper ex- tremity than at its base ; that those cultivated in Algeria were more full of starch than any grown in France, and that like difterences are found in the starch of the common potatoes, which vary from 14 to 27 per cent, of starch. Professor Decaisne said, that during the last year some of the tubers pro- duced 17 to 18 per cent, of starch. Mons. Guerin-Menneville said that Mons. de Montigny Las sent from China bulbilles of several varieties of the Dioscorea. Messrs. Decaisne and Remont pointed out a singularity in the cultivation of this plant, quite remarkable, which is that they hate dung ! The Chinese never use it in cultivating the Dioscorea ! As to the difficulty of getting out the crop, their depth in the ground being so cousiderable, Muns. Bourgeois said, a plough cau be made as well buited to plough them out as the plough used for carrots. AM. POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 609 Mons. Remont says, he intends to try the cultivation of this new root in six of the departments of France. Messrs. Bossin and Louesse presented Dioscorea tubers grown from the bulbilles (little bulbs,) and others from the cuttings of the root. Professor Decaisne presented small tubers of the Dioscorea Batatas, and also of the Dioscorea Aroides, received direct from China. The first are long roots with truncated ends ; the latter are probably the Colorasse, (spe- cies of Arum.) THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. SIXTH SESSION. In conformity with a resolution passed at the last meeting of this Na- tional Association, the Sixth Sessio7i will be held in Corinthian Hall, in the city of Rochester, New- York, commencing on "Wednesday, the twenty- fourth day of September next, at 10 o'clock A.M., and will continue for several days. Among the objects of this meeting are the following : To bring together the most distinguished Pomologists of our land, and, by a free interchange of experience, to collect and difl'use such researches and discoveries as have been recently made in the science of Pomology — to hear the Reports of the various State Committees and other district associations — to revise and enlarge the Society's catalogue of Fruits — to assist in determining the synonymes by which the same fruit is known in America or Europe — to ascertain the relative value of varieties in different parts of our country — what are suitable for peculiar localities — what new sorts give promise of being worthy of dissemination — and, especially, what are adapted to general cultivation. The remarkable and gratifying progress which has been attained, of late years, in this branch of rural industry, is, in no small degree, attributable to the establishment and salutary influences of Horticultural and Pomological Societies. It is, therefore, desirable that every state and territory of the Union should be represented in this convention, so that the advantages re- sulting from the meeting may be generally and widely diffused. Held, as it will be, at a convenient point between the Eastern States and the Western, easily accessible from the South, and also from the Canadas, it is anticipated that the attendance will be larger than on any former occasion, and the beneficial results to the American farmer and gardener proportionally in- creased. All Pomological, Horticultural, Agricultural, and other kindred associa- tions of the United States, and of the British Provinces, are requested to send such number of delegates as they may deem expedient ; and nursery- men, and all other persons interested in the cultivation of fruit, are invited to be present, and to participate in the deliberations of the convention. In order to increase as much as possible the utility of the occasion, and to facilitate business, members and delegates are requested to forward speci- mens of fruits grown in their respective districts, and esteemed worthy of notice ; also, papers descriptive of their mode of cultivation — of diseases 39 610 ^ WOOL-GKOWING. and insects injurious to veg*-talion — of remedies for the same, and also to communicate whatever may aid in promoting the objects of the raeeiing. Eacb contributor is requt-sied to make out a complete list of his specimens, and present the same with his fruit, that a report of all the vaiieties entered may be submitted to the meeting as soon as practicable after its organiz-ition. Packages of fruits and communications may be addressed as follows: "For the American Pomoloyical Societv, care of W. A. Reynold:", Esq., Chairman Com. of Arrangnmen's. Rochester, N. Y." Delegations will please forward ceniticates of their appoiatment, either to the abovp, or to the undersigned at Bo>ton, -■'^ Gentlemen desirous of becoming members of the Society, and of receiving its Transact'ons, may do so by rf-miiting to ihe Treasurer, Thomas P. Jamt-s, Esq., Philadelphia, Penn., the admission fee of two dollars, for biennial, or twenty dollars for life membership. Makshal P. Wilder, Fres. H. W. S. Cleveland, Sec. Boston, Mass., March 15, 1856. ON WOOL. GROWING. To THE President, Vice-President, and Members of the Wool-Geowers* Asso- ciation OF Western New-York. Gentlemen : — I have received a copy of your circular, announcing the intention to hold your second annual Fair at "Penn Yan, Yates County," on the 27Lh, 2Sth and 29lh days of May next. Nothing could afford mo more pleasure than to attend that meeting, but fearing that I shall be prevented by want of health, I wJI comply with your request to aid in promoting the objects of the Association. I can send for your inspection 1st. A general collection of Foreign Fleece, in which you will find choice specimens from almost every country in the world which has any pretensions to sheep breeding. 2d. Particular specimens of all the best wools of Saxony, presented to m& by the King of that fine wool-growing country. 3d. Specimens of the fine wool of Piussia and Prussian Silesia, sent to noe by the King of Prussia. 4tb. Specimens of some of the most valuable fabrics manufactured from either wool alone or wool mixed with hair, silk, cotton, or other materials. The only condition I wish to m;ike is, that you will bear the expenses of the conveyance to Penn Yan and back, and see that they receive no injury ■while there. To these specimens, if you conclude to have them, I beg leave to call your particular attention, for many reasons. In the first place, to point out to you an error into which your committee of arrangement have, inadvertently, fallen, in retaining the unscientific names of "long and middle- wooled shfcp," which were adopted in England before the specific difiierences between "sheep's /iGtV" and "sheep's wooV^ were pointed out by me ; and which, since that time, have been disused by the learned in that country. I shall present you with a copy of my Trichologia Mammalium, in the front of which you will see drawings of the three species of Men, with spe- cimens of their pile, by which you will perceive that the heads of the two first are covered with hair, and that of the third with wool. WOOL-GEOWING. 611 I also bespeak your attention to page 153, where you will find diawinsr, of two species of sheep, with specimens of the hair and wool of each respectively. I shall next claim your notice to page 8, where I have endeavored to point out the differences between hair and wool, and to page 184, where the most important property of sheep's wool, viz., that oi felting and Jailing^ «nd the most important property of sheep's hair, viz., that of not shrinking, are point- ed out. These distinctions being well understood, you will be able to ap- preciate the importance of the specimens of fleece contained in ibe above collections, and be better prepared for judging what breeds of sheep should be introduced and propagated in your State. It is with no small degree of pleasure that I find, from numerous letters received from Europe, (where my work has been circulated,) that the po^ition I have been so long and so ardently laboring to maintain, viz., tbat " it is INDISPENSABLY NECESSARY TO SUCCESSFUL SHEEP-BREEDING NOT ONLY TO COMMENCE WITH A PURE BREED, BUT SCRUPULOUSLY TO AVOID THE CROSSING OF TWO SPECIES," is uuivcrsally admitted to be correct ; but it is any thing but flattering to notice that the respectable committee of arrangements of your highly respectable Association have passed it by unnoticed. In their pro- gramme not only is there no allusion whatever made to the all-important subject of purity of breed ; but premiums have been ofi"ered for hybrids. The earliest authentic account we have of the breeding of the Merino comes from Spain. In the language of that country the word, as applied to sbeep, means '' moving from pasture to pasture," from the practice there prevailing of driving the flocks, semi-annually, (V.-m one part of the kingdom to another, in search of their natural food. From Spain this invaluable stock was intro- duced into many parts of Germany and France.* In Saxony, Prussia, Prussian Silesia, &c., they were bred separately from the native sbeep of those countries, which is the reason why their fleece is so highly valued ; but in France they were mixed with the common sheep of tbat country, and con- sequently what are termed " French Merinos,^'' and which of late have ob- tained a pseudo renown in the United States, are hybrids — nothing but hy- brids. That, upon a subject so important to the wool-growers of the United States, there may be left no room for cavil, I ask permission to introduce, here, a few passages from a French author. Monsieur Roche Lubin, in a work entitled " Manuel de L'eleveur de BStes a Laine," published in Paris in 1854, thus expresses himself in regard to the French races of sheep. " The Merino Race, — Body cylindrical, thick and short ; head large and square; forehead almost straight ; eye bright ; horns almost always spiral; neck short, large and often furnished with a dew-lap ; the breast ample, shoulders round ; back horizontal and flat ; extremities short and strong ; testicles large, pendent, and separated by a furrow; fleece weighing, gener- ally, about four kilogrammes ; the strands of wool zigzag, tenacious, elastic, strong and soft. At this time a great portion of this wool is fit for carding. Lastly, the merino and the hybrid merinos furnish 56 in the hundred of net meat. This race has formed in Franca four principal sub-races, viz : (1.) The Rambouillet Race. — They are very vigorous, and produce a fleece, in the yolk, of eight or nine kilogrammes. The fleeca is longer, thicker, and less [jarreuse] than that of the pure race ; and the flesh weighs more ; they are * In 1786. 612 WOOL-GROWING. much esteemed by the cultivators of the North. (2d.) The race of Naz. — They are smaller than the preceding race, their fleece is generally superfine, and it extends over the whole body ; they have large horns, but they are ■without the dew-lap ; for butcher's meat they are inferior to the Rambouillet race. (3d.) The race of Perpignan, the origin of which was formed by Gilbert,) is comprised by M. de Gasparin in " the inferior race;" in fact it is distinguished from the other classes by the denomination of the " short and thick race ;" the length of the extremities are almost destitute of wool, and the absence of horns and dew-laps. (4th.) The Race of Mauchamp. — This race, for which we are indebted to an honorablft cultivator of the department of Aisne, M. Graux, is rather a new type of Merino thau a sub-race. The fleece is straight, smooth, silky, resembling in form the long English fleece, but infinitely softer and finer ; it sells at 8 francs the kilogramme. These sheep, although well fed, furnish but little meat. Generally the raising of Merinos is difficult, as well from the care necessary to be taken of them as from the food they require ; they are more diposed to diseases than the native races ; they are less prolific ; the ewes pro- ducing fewer lambs than those of the country, ^nd they are not such good milkers. Thus the pure Merino race, which cannot maintain itself in all its qualities, except by appropriate treatment and by well-understood attentions, is fit only for crossing and perfecting our races. It has been proved that hy- brids are less troublesome and that they produce as much wool and meat as the pure blood ; also, this species, in the actual state of our agriculture, is the most productive of wool-producing animals. Berry, Beauce, Perche, Picardie, Normandie, Bresse, and moreover the province de I'Ain, furnish numerous examples ; but it must be observed that the perfecting of the races of these countries has been favored by improvements introduced into French agricul- ture. It is also necessary to remark that, in order to hope for the improve- ment of the races of Brittany, of Poiton, of Sain, of Lemoirsin, of Quercy, of Auvergne, of Haute-Loire, of Loire, of Dauphiny, etc., (races which amount to the enormous number of thirteen or fourteen millions individuals, furnishing little meat and wool of medium quality,) it is indispensable that the cultivators of these provinces perfectionate, previously, their forage cul- ture ; thus to be able better to maintain the sheepfold. The Race of Laezac. — This race, which multiplies itself in a remarka- ble manner, is of a very ancient Spanish origin ; it originated on the Larzca, a vast calcareous district situated between the confines of the provinces of Aveyron and Herault. Notwithstanding the modifications which it has sufiered, the race has al- ways recommended itself by the shape of the bead, by its size, by its long structure, by the regular form of its body, by the size of its teats, by its oily and zigzag fleece, and by its great fitness for the production of milk, which is generally used for the making of the Roquefort cheese, which is produced at the present time to the amount of 1,200,000 kilogrammes. The form of the udder is well developed ; I have applied the monkey system to this race, of which hereafter I will publish results. Since the extension of artificial mead- ows every lamb of this precious race produces annually to its owner the mod- erate profit net of 20 francs; now by the assistance of a better regimen and perfect drainage ought we not to try to improve our woolen goods by the in- troduction of the long-wooled sheep without the fear of injuring the essential quality of an excellent milkage. Already from notes taken by two distin- guished agriculturists. Mm. Rodat d'Olemps and Randon-du-Landre, I feel myself auihorized to foretell that with the crossings of the rams of New-Kent WOOL-GROWING, 613 our own sheep, without becoming worse milkers, have furnished a fleece more abundant and of double value." After reading the foregoing extract we presume that no person will deny that the so-called ^'■French Merinos'^ are nothing but hybrids. In regard to the laws of hybridism the following quotation will be all that is necessary : " The law of hybridity, as a test of species, is now better understood than it was in the days when Linnasus and BufFon wrote. The latter supposed that all animals that would produce offspring among each other, were of one species ; thus he reduced all the mammalia to about thirty-eight families. Rudolpiii, Hamilton Smith, Dr. Morton, and others, believed that many op- posite species would produce a prolific offspring, which would propagate in- ter se, and hence they supposed that the varieties of our domesticated ani- mals, and even some among wild species, were the products of two distinct species. That different species of tamed animals placed with each other in confinement will produce offspring is a fact known for centuries, hut that they ever have jJi'oduced or can perpetuate a race, we deny, and call for the proofs. All that have hitherto been given are quite unsatisfactory and cannot be sustained. We but recently ascertained that Dr. Morton had collected nearly all his cases of hybridity, published in Silliman's Journal, from Rudolphi. We are indebted to the kindness of some unknown friend in Germany for the book. We find, however, that in addition to its being full of errors that have since been exploded, Rudolphi collected his information from va- rious scraps that had from time to time appeared in print, and some from doubtful sources, without having made a single personal observation on the subject. But if even every fact he stated should be authenticated, it would merely amount to this — that some hybrids, wUen mated to a full blood of one or other of the original species, will produce ; but that hybrids will NOT BREED WITH HYBRIDS — hcDce 710 ncto racc is propagated. Our theory is, that in a wild state these associations seldom or never occur. When they do occur among animals placed under constraint, the offspring is either sterile. like the mule, or it must resort, not to a hybrid, but to one or the other of the original species. Dr. Morton was only able to produce two examples among wild breeds to show that hybrids had propagated races. When we proved to him that they were not hybrids but true sptcies, the one described by Yarrell, and the other by Gould, of England, he admitted the mistake, and in this Journal publicly corrected the error. In domesticated animals hybridity occurs, but kg family of hybrids can inter-se propagate a RACE — thus proving that God alone is the creator of species." — Dr. Back- man in the Southern Medical Journal. I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, Philadelphia. P. A. Browne. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. — We have prepared an article in refer- ence to the peculiar attractions possessed by this road for all lovers of fine scenery, as well as for those who are disposed to patronize especial liberality and tfiiciency in the management of railroads. But our printer notifies us that our pages are full, and we are obliged to defer a more extended notice till another month. The Pennsylvania Railroad, we had also designed to notice, in a similar manner. But this too must also be postponed till our May number. 614: FEEDING CATTLE. FEEDING CATTLE. It is one of the standing questions of the day, in many communities, Will it pay to fatten cattle ? aod what does it cost to raise or fatten pork, etc? Prices vary so much in the same State, that one man's experience can be no test of another's ability, except in relation to quantities consumed. The value of the feed consumed must be calculated by each man for himself. All experience is useful in the matter of the feed used, and hence we give below the experience of a Western (Ohio) drover, Mr. Sears, of Litchfield, Ohio. He writes like a man of good judgment (in the Ohio Farmer.) and we copy from that paper his statement of his own debit and credit for the years 1853 and 1854. He modestly says of himself: — "I do not consider* myself an extensive operator because I fed sixty head of cattle. My object was to turn my hay and grain to the best advantage." In many sections of the country, if no profit is received from cattle-raising except to get a fair price for hay, it may still be a grand operation to carry on this business ex- tensively. But for the figures : DEBIT. 1853 — Dec. 1st — To 60 head of cattle — average weight, 1,050 lbs. ; whole weight 63,000 lbs., at 3 cts. per lb. - $1,890 To one-half bush, corn per head, for 136 days, making 4,080 bush., at 20 cts. 816 To 15 lbs. of hay per head, for 136 days, making 61 1-5 tons, at %5 per ton, 306 To pasturing 60 head for eight weeks, at 18 3-4 cts. per week, 90 Cost of cattle, S3,102 CREDIT. By 60 head of cattle — average weight 1,300 lbs. ; making 78,000 lbs., at 4 cts., $3,120 To balance in pocket, for extra labor, and no stabling, - - $18 DEBIT. 1854 Dec. 1st — To 60 head of cattle, average weight 1,025 lbs., making 01,500 lbs., at 3 cts, To ^ qts.of corn meal per head, for 130 days, making 8921 bush., at 50 cents per bush., making - To 20 lbs. hay per head, for 136 days, making 81| tons, at $5 per ton, To pasturing 8 weeks, at 18f cents, Total, CREDIT. 15y GO head ^of cattle, weighing 1,400 lbs. each, making 84,000 lbs., at 4t^- cents per lb,, . . - - To lalancG in 'pocket for ex.ra labor, ground ficd, and stabling, - ^990 75 - |1,845 00 446 25 408 00 90 00 - S2,789 25 $3,780 00 OSIER WILLOW. 615 FOR THE PLODGn, THE LOOM AND THE ANVIL. THE OSIER CULTURE ;— PROFITS, AND MACHINE FOR PEELING. Mr. Editor: — In the spring of 1849 we procured a few plants of the Osier willow, with many other varieties of foreign trees, with a design of testing their adaptation to our soil and climate. Many of the less hardy kinds died the following winter. The Osier proved perfectly healthy the following spring. Being convinced that it would flourish in this climate, in the spring of 1851 we procuied a few hundred cuttings, and stuck them in rows three feet apart, and about seven inches apart in the row. The soil had been cultivated to corn the season previous ; but it was rather moist, being a deep loam which never suffered fiom drouth. We set 500 cuttings in five rows. Tlie rows were sixty feet in length, were well hoed the first summer, and they grew from two lo four feet in height. Cut them to within three inches ot the ground the next springr, and cultivate them in May. The second season they will average from four to seven feet in height. We cut them fgain, and the toird time, and they grew eight feet, and on the fourth nine feet. Last summer a few grew ttm fee', and the whole would average from seven to nine feet. In the fall of 1854 I cut and weighed one row, sixty inches by three, and it weighed when green 180 lbs., which was at the rate of twenty-one tons lo the acre. We peeled a portion of them to ascertain what per cent, they would shrink by peeling and dry- ing, and we judged they sbraok two-thirds, (or 67 per cent.,) which would leave seven tons of peeled willow to the acre. This, at five cents a pound, would be $700 for the product of one acre. W^e have not applied any manure to the land, neither have we hoed them since May of the second year. The ground is perfectly shaded, and grass or weeds cannot grow. I judge the presenr. crop greater than the one of 1854, but have not cut them yet. This willow is very slim, free from limbs or knots, and very tough. I can tie a knot in it as well as in twine, without breaking it. I have never seen any willow plantation which flourished better than ours, and judging from reports from various parts of the world, we may compete with any part of it in growing it for manufacturing purposes. Our variety is known as Salix viminalis, and I think it the best variety for baskets. I have never seen any other variety as tough, and so per- fectly free fcom branches, and as small in proportion to its length. My attention was called to the sut j?ct of growing willows for baskets in 1852, by reading an article in the Patent-office report on the cultivation of Oilers, in which the writer says that, "from the best information he can obtain, there are from four to five million dollars worth of willows annually imported into this country from France and Germany." He also informs us that the average price paid for it was from llOO to $140 per ton ; that it cost about $30 per ton to peel it; and that the demand was greater than the supply. A curjespondent of the Massachusetts Ploughman, in June 1853, spoke very highly of Americans engaging in the willow growing, and all the objection he presented was the cost of peeling. In a conversation with S. W. Jewett, Esq., of Weybridge, Vt., after he had examined the resources of Europe, he assured im that there was no 616 COPPER SMELTING. danger of over supplying the market ; that it had not been done in Europe, and there was no danger of its being over supplied here. Peeling formerly was done by hand, which greatly increased the expense, but recently Mr. Geo. J. Colby, of Janesville, Vt., has invented a machine for peeling, which greatly reduces the expense, a representation of which I send you ; also his description of the machine, which you can lay before the readers of your valuable journal if you think it for their benefit. We can supply persons wishing to purchase cuttings this spring, and Mr. Geo. J. Colby, of Janesville, will furnish them for the extreme low rates of $2 00 per thousand when 50,000 are ordered at one time, and in smaller quantities at a moderate advance from the' wholesale prices. Braintree, Vt., March 12, 1856. Lewis H. Spear. COPPER SMELTING. The Commercial Gazette of Cleveland, 0., (an excellent paper,) contains the following : Some months since we published some statistics in reference to Copper smelting, which have been copied by a number of commercial and scientific journals, making some valuable additions to the statement. We now republish the substance of our previous remarks, with such val- uable improvements and additions as the article has gathered in going the rounds. " There are copper smelting works in the United States, situated at Cleve- land, 0., Pittsburg, Pa., Baltimore, Md,, Detroit, Mich., Boston, Mass., and one in Georgia (the name of the latter place we have not obtained.) At these works the quantity produced last year about 13,000 tons ; or the fifth- eenth part of that smelted in the valley of Swansea. The Lake Superior ores are smelted at Detroit, Pittsburg, and Cleveland, and are said to yield a great quantity of silver, which makes the smelting of them profitable. This business has been steadily and rapidly increasing during the past ten years, and it must increaseuntil the United States becomes the great copper smelt- ing country. Two things only are required for this, an abundance of good ores, or native metal, and plenty of cheap coal. The native metal and ores are found ininexhaustless quantities, and our coal fields are the largest on the wlobe. As there is no coal in the Lake Superior region, ore will have to bo exported thence to the nearest navigable point where coal can be obtained cheapest. An improvement in smelting copper ores is said to have lately been introduced into the "Eureka Mining Co.," Georgia, by which from a small furnace, using about five cords wood per day, two tons of pig copper iiontaining 60 per cent of pure metal, are obtained from ores containing only 14 per cent of metal. East Tennesee is a great copper region ; no less than 14,191 tons of rough ore being mined there last year. About two-thirds of the copper used in our country is the product of our mines; the remaining third is imported chiefiy in pigs from Cbili. HARDWARE DEALERS. 617 CIRCULAR OF N. Y. HARDWARE DEALERS. The jobbers of New- York engaged in the hardware business have issued a circular, the importance of which, in its ultimate consequences, we fear they have not sufficiently considered. It is very severely criticised in the Hard- waremarH s Newspaper, with what justice may be judged only by a careful view of the entire subject of home manufacture in its various relations. We have not time, in this number, to go extensively into this matter, as we should like to do, but we are persuaded that it is hasty, (however long the time since it was first contemplated,) ill-judged, and calculated seriously to injure the manufacture of such wares in our country. The circular is below, to which we annex some of the comments of the journal already named, with some additional suggestions of our own. "circular. "At a meeting of the Hardware Dealers' Board of Trade, of the city of New- York, it was unanimously Resolved. ' That in ordering goods from the Manufacturers of American Hardware, we will, as far as practicable, have the name and residence of the manufacturers left oflF, both from the articles and labels, or if it be desirable to have the maker's name thereon, that we will in all cases request that the maker's residence be left off, both from the article and label.' * '■'■Resolved, That we will give our patronage in preference to such persons or manufacturers as favor our views, and who decline or discontinue to inter- fere with the regular course of trade.' " This circular is thus treated by the editor of the Hardwareman^s NewS' paper. " The design of these resolutions is of course transparent, and needs neither argument nor illustration. It is simply this : This body aims at the entire control of the hardware manufactures of the country, and therefore insists that American hardware goods shall be made anonymously, and sold exclusively through them, and they endeavor to enforce this object by the threat contained in their second resolution, that they will withhold their 'patronage' from manufacturers who decline acquiescence in their views. " The first part of the plan, then, by which these forty-seven dealers design to secure to themselves the monopoly of the sale of American manufactured hardware, is to have the makers name left off the articles he manufactures. Let us see what would be the practical operation of this, in its effect upon the quality of American goods. " The identification of the manufacturer with the article produced has two effects. It is a stimulus to the maker, to secure a reputation for, and a con- fidence in, the goods which he manufactures ; and it is, at the same time, a guaranty to the merchant, of the quality of the articles he purchases. The ambition for distinction in the superiority and excellence of his productions, is perhaps the strongest, as it is most honorable, incentive to a manufacturer to improve the quality of his wares. He knows that the estabhshment ofi character for himself, is the surest and the shortest method of making his business at once permanent and profitable ; and in its earlier stages, if he be a discreet and far-seeing man, he is more desirous to earn a reputation than to make money — knowing that if he does so, his goods will continually se - cure a larger demand and better prices than those of doubtful or unknown not to say inferior, character. "Why have we county and State organizations 618 HARDWARE DEAIERS. for the exhibition of industrial skill, if it be not to excite an bonoiable emu- lation amongst manufacturers ? Why was it that four times within five years past the artizans of the world entered into a contest of friendly rivalry, in the various exhibitions of the industry of all nations, which have been held, if the ambition to excel was not a powerful incitement to improvement in the breast of the manufacturer? But if the hardware nianufacturers of the United States would have the '■patronage' o{ the forty-seven jobbers of New- York, they must ignore their own individuality, send out their goods avony- mously, and furnish an article which, however excellent, can bring them no credit, and establish for them no reputation. Suppose (which is impossible) they meanly and foolishly submitted to this impi-rious dictation, what would be the effect upon the quality of the goods produced ? Can any orie doubt that it would be to depreciate and lower it? The effort would tlien naturally be to make goods at as low a price as possible, to meet the views of the jobbers in whose hands they should place themselves; and, as they had no reputation to sustain, they would not hesitate doing so by sacrificing the quality. Thus would the geoeral character of American goods be low- ered in the market, and, in the same decree, would the reputation of im- ported goods be raised — until by a gradual but certain process, American manufactures would be run into the ground, American industry choked out, and American energy cramped and paralyzed. And this result is the very object aimed at by this measure. Nune know better than the forty-seven signers of this document, that the progress of American manufrictures is destructive to their business, and that their only hope of perpetuating the Jobbing Trade is by fettering and hindering domestic, and encouraging and promoting foreign manufactures. The first part of their plan, then, is to have American hardware sent into the market without the maker's name, by which tbey hope to accomplish these two results: First, to keep other mer- chants ignorant of the names and localities of manufacturers ; and, secondly, to secure the depreciation of home maniifnclured goods, by having them sent into the market anonymously, and thertfore without ttie guaranty of the personal responsibility of the producer. " But the second part of their plan is, to cr erce makers into obedience to their wi hes, by the threat to withhold their 'patronage' in c^se of their non-compliance. We don't like to use the language which suggests itself to us at this insolent proposition to the independent manufacturers of the East- ern and Atlantic St^ites ; but we confess we are pleased that the matter is now pl'.ced upon a plain and stra'ght footng. We hope the forty se/en jobbers will adhere to their resolution, and we have no doubt that many men who have too much and too long succumhfd to them, will, under this insult- ing provocation, give them a manly defiance, and follow the example of their more successful brethren, who have already sought a legitimate and permanent business with the true merchants of the country, and are now en- tirely independent of these Eistern Middlemen." We fully agree with the editor in some of the important points he has raised, but there are other considerations also that may have had an influ- ence in securing the passage of these resolutions. In certain parts of the community there is a foolish, vain hankering after imported goods. If two new bonnets, or hats for men or women, or two pairs of hoots, or two pieces of broadcloth, were laid side by side, each hav- ing exactly the same merits in all respects, one being labelled Paris and the other as American, most probably the Paris stamp would be selected by the first purchaser. Such a proof of merit miglic indeed effect the sale of an inferior article at the price of the better of American origin. HARDWAEE DEALERS. 619 Hardware goods are no doubt affected by this same silly, childish, v foppish coticeit — a conceit that often taxes our patience not a little. The ironwares manufactured by our own skillful artists would perhaps sell better olttitnes if an unprincipled sale-'man could only call them English, just im- poited, or even wipe out all evidpnce to the contrary. But it is true, no doubt, that -New-York jobbers are in fact interested in keeping down American manufactures. Ttie reason is obvious. Country retailers can trade directly with the manufacturer, and thus the services of these Middlemen be dispensed with, while the importer is a necessary link between the foreign maker and the retailer. How far this motive enters into this movement can only be judged by those who know the men and their principles. Nor would the name be so useful as a means of connecting the retailer and manufacturer, if the residence were not stamped. The inference is cer- tainly very obvious, if it is not just, that this consideration was not over- looked, when they indicate in their circular that the omission of the maker's residence is of still more const-quence than that of his name. The latter is essential. Why is this point made by the^e gentlemen? But there is something more involved here than the amount of income of some fifty firms. This resolution bears directly upon the great subject of American manufactures, and its irifluence, undeuiably, we think, is unfavora- ble to their success, and indeed so far as it has any influence, ruinous. Its tendency is to ignore even the existence of this branch of American industry. It is a virtual announcement that manufacturers, if they do live and breathe and act, must do so under cover, or at least in a shadow. Tbey may work, indeed, but the best and most directed evidence that they do is to be blotted out of existence. This is singular ground for a true son of America to oc- cupy. Jonathan has been accustomed to hoist his flag at mast head, and to proclaim to alt the world that he himself stands on the deck and is ready to receive company and answer all civil questions. Hh does so in the presence of all nations, the strongest as well as the weakest. But this circular threatens — we know not what, if any of these men raise their blue buniin in sight of other people. If it is replied to this that it is not the stamp of American which is ob- jected to, but ihe name and exact location of the maker, then we say this is as bad, and far more mean, for it would then be obvious that the whole object was to secure the trade to themselves, forbidding all direct communi- cation between the maker and the country retailer, it would thus become a security against purchases by the retailer from the manufacturer, which should exclude the agency of ih^-se middlemen. These gentlemen will be very slow to admit any such despicable motive as this. But we cannot con- ceive of any other tban one of those we have here suggested. That the omission of the maker's name would tend to a deterioration of the quality of the wares, is also peifectly obvious. Hence it is b^^yond ques- tion a movement productive of absolute evil, and it becomes its deftjuders t-o state what good they hope to effect in offset. But this suggests another thought. The second resolution says that they will not give their patronage to those "who decline to comply to their de- maud or will discontinue to interfere with the regular course of trade." This, of course, refers to the demand made in the first resolution, and it is strange to us that these sagacious and clear-sighted men did not perceeive that it was themselves who are " interfering with the regular course of trade." Is it not always the case that the makers of good wares 620 STATISTICS OF COD FISHERY. append their names to their packages ? Does not this custom prevail from the manufacturer of pills to the makers of steam engines ? How absurd, how ridiculous it would seem for the owners of steamboats to say " we will patronize no machinist who stamps his name on his engines ? Why our boot-makers, hat-makers, and the whole array of producers, one would think, would rise up in throngs like ghosts in a churchyard, and cry out at such an assumption, and would feel in their hearts that some very singular and unworthy motive must have suggested such folly. But we can- not enlarge. We think this circular was hastily, thoughtlessly adopted, and will be most disastrous in its results, if carried out in practice. We may re- fer again to this subject. STATISTICS OF THE COD FISHERY AT PROVINCETOWN, MASS. Total number of vessels employed 84, with an aggregate tonnage of 7605 tons, manned by nearly 800 seaman, and possessing an aggregate value including outfits of $275,000. Compared with the previous year, this return exhibits a diminution of three vessels, with the same amount of tonnage employed ; over the year of 1853 it shows an addition of two vessels and 527 tons, and over the year 1852, an increase of nineteen vessels and 2375 tons in the aggregate. The average value of the vessels employed has also constantly increased, by annually substituting larger and more costly vessels for those of an inferior size. The largest vessel engaged in fishing the past season was a schooner of 131 tons. The importations of 1855 consist as follows : Of codfish, 76,914 quintals, and of cod oil, 806 barrels, which fall short of 1854 about one-eight, and of those of 1853 about one-third, while they exceed those of 1852 nearly one-sixth. The heaviest importations were in 1854, when nearly every vessel returned with a full fare. But owing to the constantly increasing scarcity of fish, our importations do not keep pace with our increasing ton- nage. This fact will be perceived by comparing the yearly imports with the yearly tonnage employed. Thus in 1855 were caught to each ton of shipping engaged, nine quintals and thirty-six pounds of codfish, against ten quintals and fifty-eight pounds in 1854; ten quintals and forty-two pounds in 1853, and eleven quintals and fifty-seven pounds in 1852. The obvious tendency of such a decline is to limit the annual impcrt of each vessel in a like proportion. Vessels, therefore, which formerly brought in 1000 quintals of fish in a voyage of four months, are now able to obtain only seven-eights as many during the entire season. The price of fish for the tew past years has steadily augmented, the aver- age price in 1855 being $3 52 per quintal, against $3 24 in 1854, and $3 22 in 1853. The price of cod oil has likewise increased of late, the average price during the past year being 68 cents per gallon. From the scarcity of fish, before alluded to, and an increased demand in the market, the present price must be upheld. The value of importations are as follows : Codfish, $249,617 28 " Oil, 1'7,276 08 Total value of import, ... - $266,893 36 EEVOLVING FIRE-ARMS. 621 The amount of " bounty" obtained by the fishermen collectively the past year was $27,363,90, against an equal amount in 1854, $25,946 in 1858, and $20,434 in 1852. During the past year 84,000 bushels of salt were expended, against 98,000 in 1854. The average length of the fishing voyages the past season was 4 months and 15 days. The population of Provincetown in 1850 was 3,157. REVOLVING FIRE-ARMS— COLT'S PATENT. Our readers must not suppose, from the caption just penned, that we are under the influence of a high war fever ; we are as peaceable as any lamb, and regard discretion as much the better part of valor. We have as good a defense against suspicion of any murderous intent as had the Friend who took part in the discussion of the merits of Colt's pistols before the Institu- tion of Civil Engineers in England. After several military gentlemen and others had highly commended the merits of this patent as a most efiicient weapon both of attack and defense, and one which had proved itself worthy of confidence in not a few instances in actual war, a Friend remarked that he thought " all weapons might be dispensed with, except for protection against wild beasts." So we may suggest that without regard to their use in war, or in circumstances of peculiar personal exposure, it is of very great importance to have fire-arms which shall be easily managed, safe in handling, and sure and exacE in discharge. Sd far an we can discover, all these re- quisites are especially descriptive of Colt's revolvers. The idea of a revolving breech is not a modern one. A match-lock gun in the Tower of London is probably the invention of the 15th century. It has four chambers, mounted on an arbor parallel with the barrel and welded to it. Another specimen, in the same collection, is furnished with a Pyrites wheel lock, and one priming pan is common to the six chambers of the revolving breech. In the " Musee d'Artillerie," at Paris, are two specimens of match-lock guns, with revolving breeches, each having eight chambers, rotated by the hand, the cover of the priming magazines requiring to be pushed back by the finger before firing. Another ancient form of this weapon, brought to England from India, closely resembles that first mentioned. The breech has five chambers, each having a priming pan with a swing cover. Tbere is also, in Paris, another gun with eight chambers, difiering in the arrangement of the touch-holes from the preceding, having one main priming tube extending from the pan to the rear of the revolving chambers, with eight correspondiug tubes extending from the rear to within a short distance of the front end, where an orifice is pierced into each chamber for the pur- pose of ignitingthe charge immediately behind the bullet, obliging the charge to burn backwards towards the breech. This belongs to the seventeenth century. Other inventions much more recent are well known, which possess more 622 REVOLVING FIRE-ARMS. or less merit, but compared with the contrivances of our own times are, of course, exceedingly defective. Among the first American inventions of revolving fire-arms was a rotating breach with a flint lock, patented by Eiisha H. Collier, in 1818, and one contrived by a Mr. Wheeler, of Boston, and patented by Cornelius Cooledge in 1819. The first invention of Mr. Colt was in 1830. Various improve- ments have since been made in their construction, and they are now admitted to be the most efiective, for actual service, of all the ingenious inventions of the day. These arras were used in the Florida war with great success. The Indians' as is well known, are very expert in the use of firearms, and could meet and resist the attack of white men with great vigor. But when they saw that their enemies could discbarge their weapons six times without re-loading, they were persuaded that the white men had some valuable secret, some "medicine" far beyond their attainment, and they were induced to surrender. Col. Chas. May says "ten men with Cull's pistols in their belts, and who uoderstand their use, can go anywhere and keep ofi" almost any force. I should not hesitate, with ten men, armed with these pistols, to go anywhere across the plains." Mfijor Thompson, inspector of fire-arms for the U. S. army says: "After much tiring and examination, the Board of Ordinance adopted Col. Colt's pistol for the service as ihe best weapon presented for their consideration." The reputation of this invention is as great abroad as in this country. It is adopted by a portion, at least, of the British army, and is in very extensive use all over the world. There are other pistols which possess particular merits to as great an extent as these. For mere pastime and for personal protection under ordinary circumstances they may be equally serviceable, We described one in a late number of our journal. But for quickness of loading, in an actual engagement, and facility of managing, and for accuracy in firing, probably no invention approaches this. At least, we have seen none. Mr. Colt has an establishment at Hartford, Conn., for the manufacture of these arms. Four-fifths of the woik is done by machinery. So extensive and so complete are these works, that two hundred and fifty pistols have been finished per day, or fifteen hundred arms per week, by less than five hundred work-people. Col. Colt has also a similar establishment at Thames Bank, near Vauxhall Bridge, London, in a builoirg which was occupied in making the mouldings, etc., for the new palace at Westminister. Newton's London Journal says : The Great Exhibition of 1851 made Europe first acquainted with the re- peating arm, known in the United States as " Colt's Revolver." At that time, the impoitation, for sale, of fire-arras, of foreign make, was strictly prohib- ited ; and although the revolver obtained some favor from military men, yet it was not allowed to be purchased, even by officers ordered on foreign ser- vice, without a special permit from the Treasury. At a later period in the year 1851, the Cafi'res having proved exceedmgly trohlesome to the Govern- ment, some three hundred of these weapons were sent to the Cape of Good Hope, to test tbeir efficiency on the savage tribes in the interior. Ttiis pur- chase was, at the best, but small encouragement; yet it determined Colonel Colt to establish an armory in this country, by the outlay of many thousand pounds, for the manufacture, not of fire-arms generally, but exclusively of a weapon which had its reputation to win in Europe, — and that against no U. S. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 623" mean competition. What a contrast this daring course — ia respect of a weapon, for which, as yet, there was no demand — presents to that pursued by the trade in London and JBirraingham, we shall see in the sequel, when we revert to the Re[iort of the Select Committee, appointed in 1854, "to con- sider the cheapest, most expeditious, and most tffioient mode of providing sninll arms for Her Majesty's service." '• The factory at Thames Bank is, as we understand, but small, in compari- son with the Colonel's works at Hartford, Connecticut, U. S. ; but, accord- ing to our notions, it presents very respe<;tabl« dimecsions ; and as an illus- tration of automat'c manufacture, notwithstand'ng the newness of the sys- tem, it is scarcely to be surpassed by any brant h of trade with which we are acquainted. The machinery may be divided under four c'asses, viz., — that of forging, turning, boring, and milling. The latter three are comprised for the most part on the ground and first flocirs of the factory, which is a substantial brick budding measuring some 350 feet in lengih, and containing three floors besides the basement. The basement of this building is occu- pied with planing machines and other heavy mechanism employed in con- structing new tools, effecting repairs, &c. ; and in the top floor or loft, the assemblino- of the work is etfected, and the final touches are given by skilled workmen to the diff"erent parts of the arm. An extensive range of sheds in the factory yard is devoted to the use of the carpenters and smiths. The number of hands employed in the woiks, reckoning men, women, and boys, somewhat exceeds two hundred. They are divided into groups, and were at first supervised by Americnn workmen fro:m Hartford, who, being paid by contract (each item of the pistol having a determined value,) were thus personally interested in the speed of production : but these po-.ts are now chiefly occupied bv the most diligent and steady of the English workmen who first made acquaintance with machinery at the factory'.' The U. S. Agricultural Society, — The Executive Committee of the U. S. Agricultural Socie'y had a meeting in Philadelphia last we-k. The Philadelphia Ledger says of it : " Colonel Wdder, the efficient and distinguished chief of the Association, presided. The object of the meeting was to arrange certain preliminaries for the next annual exhibition, which has been fixed to take place in this city on the 7th of October, and which it is proposed t) conduct on a sc de of un- exampled liberality and splendor. It was decided to embrace, as ohj^^cts of the exhibition, horses and horned cattle, swine and sheep, agricultural im- plements, cereal and vegetable products, poultry, and native fruits and wines. "A grand banquet, in which laiiies wdl participate, was also settled as part of the programme; and it. was agreed to appropriate $12,000 or $15,000 in premiums." The people of that city are arranojiog for an exhibition which will eclipse that held in Boston last fall. Tney have subscribed $15,000 as a guaranty fund, and appointed a committee of arrangements of forty persons, embrac- ing some of the leading men of the different professions. We do not see how they can exceed io the exc-llency of arrangements the show in Boston, except they will secure fair weather for each day. This would be a feature of immense value. 624 RAILWAY SIGNALS. RAILWAY SIGNALS. FIG,I, SAFETYSIGNAL i\:,K'».'i;jN'plays are positive, and can be made to assume any size of 40 626 RAILWAY SIGNALS. shape desirable, and can be elevated to any height the nature of the locality may require. The engine-driver, accordingly, is informed of the true condi- tion of the track at a safe distance from the bridge or switch, and that too nG.2. DANGER SIGNAL notwitbstand the intervention of a curve or other obstacle between the train and the place of danger. " In point of economy the Railway Protective Signal takes precedence of all other?, since it can be erected at a slight expense, and requiies no altera- tion iu the structure to which it is ajplied, while the cost of keeping it in re- pair ir« alrogether trivial. " The crowning merit, however, of the invention consists in its absolute in- dependence of human control and the impossibility of showing an incorrect RAILWAY SIGNALS. 627 signal by means of it. If the draw be unlocked or open, or the switch in an unsafe position for the passage of a train, th« signal naan has no power to ex- hibit a wrong s-ignal, whereby the safety of the train might be endangered. "The practical utility of Mr. Spafford's invention has been demoiistrated by experience. During the past eighteen months it has been in constant use on nine drawbridges on the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail- road, and all wbo are acquainted with its practical operation, from the Pres- ident of the Company to the engine-drivers, roncur in expressing their un- qualified approbation of its merits and unhesitating confidence iu the infalli- bility of the signals it displays. " The record of railroad casualties, for the brief period of seven years, pre- sents a lamentable exhibition of the disastrous consequences attendent on the use of signals operated by the agency of human power. " From this cause alone, within thai time, no less than four hundred lives have been destroyed, and an equal number of persons injured by accidents at draw-bridges, switches, and railroad crossings. The amount of damages paid by the various companies, on whose lines these disasters occurred, as com- pensation to the victims and their legal representatives, exceeds the sum of three millions of dollars, the Norwalk catastrophe alone haviuj/ cost the New- Haven Company nearly four hundred thousand dollars. '1 he decrease in business, occasioned by the loss of public confidence arising from a sense of insecurity and danger, as evidenced by such frightful calamities, must have diminished the earnings of these respective companies to an amount equal to the pecuniary damages sustained by them. " It is gratifying to observe that the duty (if Railroad Companies to adopt every practicable measure for attaining safety at draw-bridges is about to be enforced by legislative enactments. The matter has already attracted the attention of the Legislatures of Massachusetts and New-Jersey, and it may confidently be expected that the discussion of the subject, and the adoption of stringent laws, will not only lessen the danger of railroad of traveling, but will also tend to restore confidence in railroad property by preventing the occurrence of those deplorable catastrophies which cause such unspeakable misery to the unfortunate victims and their friends, and the liability to which renders railroad securities of such precarious value. " In no way can this desirable object be so readily effected as by compell- ing Railroad Companies to establish a reliable system of signals, certain in their operation, and "wholly independent of human control. " The diagrams show the application and working of the Signal in detail, when attached to a pivot draw. It can, however, with equal facility, be used in connection with any other form of draw, the only change necessary being in the arrangement of the Stop Lock. "The same letteis in different diagrams refe'r to the same parts of the Signal. " The principal parts are the Signal Boards, A. A. ; the Signal Frame, B. B. ; the Sliding Frame, C. C. ; the Lantern CHrriage, and Lanteis, D. ; the jointed Levers, E. E. ; the Guides, F. F. ; the Connecting Rod, G, ; the Signal Board and Stop Lock Lever, H.; the Stop Lock, I.; and the Latch Lever, K. "The Signal Boards, A. A., are painted red on one face and white on tha reverse, and the Lanterns are so placed that when the white face <'f the Board is exposed, the white Lantern is seen above the Board, and when the red face of the Board is exposed, the red Lantern is seen below. The Boards are hinged to the Signal Frame, B. B., at a distance equal to their width from the top of the 628 RAILWAY SIGNALS. frame, and coriiiected with the Slidins: Frame, C. C, which moves vertically in the grooved corners of the Signal Frame, by the jointed Levers, E. E., one Lever to each Board. The Sliding Frame, CO., is attached to the Signal Board and Stop Lock Lever, H., by the Connecting Rod, G., while from the B Fig. 3 shows a top view of the Signal and Lanterns. TOPVIEW Fig, 4. An elevation of tbe Sliding Frame. FIG.4. SLIDING.FRAM^ Fig. 5. The relative position of the Lanterns. r:^ .=J < FIG.5. LANTERNS under side of the Levers, the Stop Lock, I, passes into the Pier su'-h a dis- tance that, when raised, it leaves a space between its point and the Pier suf- ficient to admit the thickness of the curved arm of the Latch Lever, K. Against this Stop Lock, when down, rests the extremity of the curved arm of the Latch Lever, connected with the Latches at the point marked L, thereby preventing any movement of them until the Stop Lock is raised, which is shown at once by the Boards and Lanterns above. EMERY AND BROTHERS. 629 " Fig. 2 shows tbe same Draw, turned at right angles to its first position. To effect ih's, the Latches must first be drawn back, as follows : The long arm of the Signal Board and Stop Lock Lever is raised until the point of the Stop Lock comes above the Pier sufficiemly to admit the curved arm of the Latch Line. In raising this arm of the Signal Board and Stop Lock Lever the opposite arm is depressed, which, by means of the Connecting Rod pulls down the Sliding Frame, and this, acting upon the jointed Levers, causes the lower side of the Signal Boards to describe a semi-circle, thus exposing the red side of the Boards and the red Lantern. Then by throwing back the Latch Lever, its curved arm passes under the foot of the Stop Lock, the Draw is unlocked and can bo turned off. " It will be seen that after the Draw is once moved, the Stop Lock cannot be lowered, even if the Latches be thrown out, on account of its point coming against the top of the Pier, and that after the Draw is returned to place, it must first be latched before the Stop Lock can be lowered and the signal of safety shown." Emery & Brothers. — Among the many inventors who have done noble service to the cause of agriculture by improvements in machinery, are the ingenious and efiicient firm whose name stands at our caption. Their man- ufactory is at Albany, and is very extensive. It is equally distinguished for the admirable facilities which they have contrived in conducting their opera- tions, as for the conveniences and the labor-saving which they have devised for the farmer. We are not a little surprised at the show which they make on paper in the advertisement of their machines, which is found at the end of this number. They commenced operations in 1848, and tkey already in- clude on their schedule of implements which they manufacture, most of the irnportant machinery now employed in agricultural operations. Nor is the display a mere show on paper. We are satisfied that some of their machines are the very t)e.4 of their kind. With some we are not familiar. But they deserve the encouragement of the community for their industry and effi- 630 PEELING WILLOWS. ciency as well as for their valuable inventions. Nor is this a desert merely, for they are receiving what they have worthily earned, the confidence and the patronage of a large number of the agricultural community. To them and others who are devoted to similar pursuit?, the world is more indebted than to scores of scientific men, who have designed contrivances good for nothing but for pampering the appetites, or the waste and destruction of human life, or to scores of great generals who have inspired a whole people with the spirit of war and then otfered them up, in hecatombs, on the altar which themselves had constructed. We commend the implements of Emery & Brothera to the notice of our patrons. COLBY'S MACHINE FOR PEELING WILLOWS. fast as the first ones. This machine consists of a frame about eight feet long and two and a half high, upon one end of which are hung two rollers, each seven inches in diameter, and of any required length from one, two or four feet, as upon the length of the rollers ( depends the amount of work that ihe " machine is able to perform. One of these rollers is made of India rubber and the other of wood or iron. They are so hung that ihey roll together one over the other so as to draw the wil- low through between them, and at the same time have an endwise or vibrating motion of an inch on each one in con- trary direction so as to rub the bark loose from the willows as they are passing through. This vibrating motion is very quick, given by a lever attached to one end of each roller with a fulcrum in the center between them, and operated by a crank under the machine as 5-hown by the figure. One of the rollers being of India rubber will allow different sized willows to pass through at the same time, and no willow however large or small can pass through without being rubbed, and the pressure of the rubber is not sutBcient to break or irjure the willow while it will rub the bark loose if the willow is in proper condition to peel. On the other end of the frame are hung two rollers like the first, only they have no vibrating motion and are both made of India rub- ber, and are geared as to run about eight About six inches forward of thtse are hung ENGLISH PATENTS. 631 two other rollers each three inches in diameter, one or both made of India rubber and running together with the same speed and in the same way (ex- cept the vibrating raoiion) as the first ones. Tbe-e three sets of rollers and the machinery necessary to set them in motion constitute the whole ma- chine. Ttie willow, after passing through the first rollers, as described, are carried to the second or small rollers, by a belt running over the table between them, and the thick end, which is already clean, passing through them is seized by the larger rollers runoing very fast and stripped througli the small ones and thrown out clean, while the small rollers hold the loose bark which then rolls through and drops in a pile by itself. Such is the simple working ©f this labor-saving raachioo; it does its work perfectly and rapidly, to the entire satisfaction of every one who has seen it work. The amount of work which it IS capable of performing depends only upon the length of the rollers and the speed at which it is driven. English Patents. Improvements in Photography. By Alexander Rollason, of Birmingham. — This invention consists of improvements in transferring to paper, linen, cardboard, bone, ivory, wood, metal, or stone, the film of collodion or albu- men used in collodiotype or albumenized plates, by which a photograph may be removed from the glass or plate on which it may have been pro- duced ; or the plain film may be transferred on to certain of the substances above named, and a new base or medium produced for the photographic pictures. The patentee first proceeds in the manner in which ordinary collodiotype photographs are produced ; thus : — Having thoroughly cleansed the glass plate either with spirits of wine, naphtha, water, or tripoli, and finnlly buffed it with a charcoal butf leather, which will have a slightly greasy surface (and is therefore the better for the purpose,) he covers the glass with iodized collodion, or any other similar and suitable tilmy material, on which a pho- tograph can be taken ; and after submitting it to any of the well-known pro- cesses for rendering the film sensitive, such as immersion in a bath of nitrate of silver, he places it in the camera, and takes a picture, which has then to be developed in the ordinary m^inner, viz., by washing with a solution of iron m nitric or glacial acetic acid, and afterwards fixed with a solution of cyanide of potassium or hyposulphate of soda: having been well washed, it is allowed to dry (if necessary, applying a gentle artificial heat) Should the collodion be of a very adhesive quality, it is sometimes essential, before drying the picture, to immerse it for two or three seconds in a bath of very dilute nitric acid. The picture thus taken is subject to the improved process for removing or transferring the film from the glass. Having first ascertained that it is per- fectly dry, ihe inventor proceeds to color it (if intended to be colored) at the back or on the film itself, in the following manner, employing oil, or varnish, or well-sized water colors : — The picture is tinted according to taste ; and, when dry, the whole is covered wnh any colored varnish, according to the general tint wished to be produced. If it is not desired to color the picture 682 ENGLISH PATENTS. whilst on the glass, it is covered at once with varnish, the components of which are asphaltum or Brunswick black dissolved in miaeral naphtha to about the consistency of cream. Its tone may be varied by the introduction of warmer or cooler color, according to taste, when the varnish is sufficiently dry, which may be proved by the linger detecting no stickiness. It is not desirable to let it dry beyond this point, lest it should crack ; but, in case further operations should be suspended for a time, to avoid cracking, the varnish must be coated with a thin solution of shellac, which will prevent further hardening of the varnish. The next proceeding is to remove the film from the glass, and having prepared a mucilage — composed, by prefer- ence, of gum-arabic and honey, in the proportion of two-thirds of the for- mer to one-third of the latter — the patentee covers the varnish with this mucilage ; (in case it be paper employed for the transfer, it may be neces- sary to damp it first, and then coat it with the same mucilage) after which he attaches the paper or other flexible material to the back of the picture. An even adhesion of the surfaces is effected by clamping the edge between two pieces of wood jointed together, and rolling out the air bubbles with a simple apparatus, consisting of a piece of thick India rubber tubing slipped tightly over an ordinary ruler. When the transfer is to be taken upon wood, stone, or other non-flexible substance, care must be taken that the surface be perfectly smooth ; and the air bubbles may be excluded by applying one end of the picture first and gradually sliding it on. When the mucilage is dry enough — which may be ascertained by raising or bending back one cor- ner of the picture, upon which, if sufiiciently dry, the film should begin to separate itself from the glass — the time has arrived for completing its re- moval. By means of a feather, a few drops of water or spirits of wine are now introduced between the edge of the picture and the glass, and, at the same time, the separation is gradually effected. The transfer is now complete ; and when it is desired to color it or get rid of the irridescence that will be perceptible upon it, a little magilp, or varnish, or oil, or any other softening matter that will not injure the dtlicate surface, is rubbed over it with a pellet of cotton wool so as to leave a slight stickiness, to which the dry colors known as "mansions," and many other dry colors, will adhere ; and, in some instances, omitting this last operation, water, oil, or varnish colors may be employed. The picture is now complete. By the same means the transfer from a plate or glass of a plain film of collodion or albumen on to any suitable base, such as a sheet of paper, or linen, wood, or ivory, may be effected. Improved Composition for fixing Lithographs and engravings oir Canvas, after being transposed or reproduced by a printing press. By Louis Adolphe Ferninand Besnard, of Paris. — This invention consists in transferring and fixing, by means of a composition on canvas or cloth duly prepared, all kinds of lithographic representations and engravings, without removing any particles of the paper on which they were made. In a vessel specially adapted for this purpose and capable of bearing heat, about a quart of soft water with a spoonful of linseed is placed : this is heated to ebullition for a few minutes, and is then withdrawn and strained, and the product is passed into another vessel. In half a glass of the water prepared as above, 400 grams (troy) of white moist sugar, are dissolved and strained through fine linen, — and to this is added the quart of water pre- pared as above described. Into a quart of water, maintained in a state of ebullition in a sand bath, ENGLISH PATENTS. 633 800 grains troy, of wliite gelatine are thrown while stirring with a wooden spatula. In about three minutes the liquid is withdrawn from the fire and passed through a strainer. The solution, thus prepared, is mixed with the linseed water and saccharine solution, and the whole is placed again on the fire. When ebullition commences, the inventor stirs with a camel-hair brush, which he withdraws saturated with the liquid, and passes quickly and lightly over the lithograph or engraving (which has been previously trans- ferred to the canvas to be painted by means of transfer paper, with is en- tirely removed) up and down, across, and to and fro ; thus leaving the draw- ing completely freed from the smallest particle of paper. This application of the above solution by the camel-hair brush fixes instantly the drawing to the canvas. The drying of the canvas occupies more or less time acording to temperature. It is next coated with varnish by means of a fish-tail brush, and the canvas is ready for painting by the ordinary methods. The patentee claims the preparation of a composition and process of trans- ferring and fixing lithographic images and engravings on cloth or canvas. Improvements in the Masts and Spars of Ships and Vessels. By John Robb, and Laurence Hill, both of Greenock. — In carrying out their invention the patentees build the lower part of the mast of iron, from the " step " to the upper deck, or to a short distance above the upper deck ; and the upper part of the mast, from or near the deck, they construct in any of the ways usually adopted in the construction of a wooden mast, and fix it in the upper end of the lower or iron portion. Masts so constructed can be cut away with the usual facility, and, if cut or carried away, they can be more easily replaced than common masts, or than masts constructed wholly of iron, or having iron plates running throughout the entire length. The form of the iron part of the mast is that of a hollow iron tube, which form facilitates the fixing of the wooden part into it. It may either be built into and form part of the vessel, which plan is preferred, or it may be constructed as a separate piece, and fixed in the usual way of fixing masts in vessels. The spars of ships the patentees also make, in part, of hollow iron tubing, say five or six feet in length, for a spar of about forty feet long, but longer or shorter for otber lengths of spars ; and the remaining portions or ends of the spar, they form by inserting into each end of the hollow iron tube a piece of wood of the same construction as the corresponding portion of a wooden spar made in the usual manner. Improvements for constructing Propellers, &c. By George Peacock, of Gracechurch street. — This invention consists in making each blade of a propeller of an open frame of wrought-iron, and covering such frame with sheet-iron, by which means great strength may be obtained wiih compara- tive lightness of structure. The form of the propeller-blades may be varied, but it is preferred that the outline of the open frame should correspond with that of a bee's wing ; and, in applying the sheet-iron to such frames, the same is formed hollow in front, and convex on the back surface, and para- bolic in its curvature. Improvements on the Construction of Railway Wheels. By Alfred Krupp, of Essen, Prussia. — This invention consists in forming railway wheels by a combination of a solid cast iron disc, whether corrugated or otherwise, or plain, with or without ribs, with a wrought-iron or wrought or rolled steel tyre affixed thereto, by shrinking pressure, or bolts and nuts, or by any other suitable method. 634 ENGLISH PATENTS. The wheel is constructed of two distinct parts ; namely, first, the interior of the wheel, including tbe nave; and second, the tyre. These parts are united by bolts and nuts, or by the ordinary process of shrinking. The in- terior part of the wlieel and nave are formed of solid cast-iron : the portion surrounding the nave is provided with radial corrugations (or of an undula- tory form.) which diminish in depth towards the nra. The rim is furnished on each side with a flange; the inner one being of a greater depth than the outer, in order to receive the bolts necessary to secure it to the tyre; or the central portion of the wheel may be cast with a numl)er of radial ribs, of a greater width at the nave and diminishiog towards the outer edge. In all cases the central portion should be cast of sutBcient dimensions to allow of being turned in tbe lathe, to form smooth and even surfaces at the periphery and at the nave, for securely fixing the tyre and axle. Fur locomotive wheels, the radial corrugations or ribs should be increased proportionably in number and depth to ihe size of the wheel. The tyres for these wheels may be of wrought iron, or of wrought or rolled steel, and attached to the rims or flanges of tbe central and solid portion of the wheel, either in a hot state by fchrinking, or in a cold state by means of a hydraulic press, or by bolts and nuts, or by any other approved method. Tbe patentee claims constructing railway wheels by a combination of a solid cast-iron disc with a wrougbt-iron or wrought or rolled steel tyre, affixed thereto by shrinking, by bolts and nuts, or by any other known suitable means. Improvements in the Preservation of Vegetable Substances. By Francois Joseph Anger, of Stamford street, Blackl'riars. — This invention con- sists in preserving poiatoes and other vegetable substances, by means of a process which effects a change in the nature of the farinaceous matter con- tained in the vegetables operated on, and prevents decay or decompos-ition taking place. The agent employed for the purpose of this invention is an extract from fermented grain called diastasis, which is mixed with warm water. This solution is heated to a degree sufficient for decomposing the farinaceous matter of the potato or other vegetable, which is then placed therein and allowed to remain until perfectly imbued with the solution and the farinaceous parts are decomposed. The vegetables are then removed from the solution, and placed in drying-rooms until thoroughly dried. When thus prepared, tbe potato or other vegetable is not susceptible to the decompobiog iijfluence of the atmosphere. Tbe patentee remarks, that cer- tain neutraliz-rd acids or cbemical salts can be used instead of diastasis, and the employment of them would effect the purpose, but not so well as the diastasis. Silver Meual to the Amoskeag Gompanv. — The Amoskeag Mills, David Gillis, Esq., agent, have received an elegant silver medal of tbe first cla^s for their superior display of sheetings, ticking*, flannels, and denims, at the World's Exhibition at Paris last year. This company received the prize at the World's fair at London for the same class of goods. These two prizes indicate beyond question that the American products cannot be equalled, in Bome instances, by the rich manufactories of the old world. — Manchester Mirror. MISCELLANEOUS. 635 Miscellaneous. Shabpe's Rifle. — This recently -invented weapon, if it possesses one-bal of tbe power and capacity claimed for it by its proprietor, is destined soon to supersede every other weapon for warlike purposes now in existence. It is the most efficacious and terrible fire-arm in existence. The small carbine now used by the United States mounted men, throws a ball with a deadly accu- racy one-quarter of a mile, and can be fired ten times per minute. It is not complicated in structure, is easily cleaned, and suffers no injury from wet weather. Mr. Sharpe is now preparing models for four new species of his weapon, namely : A small pocket pistol, calculated to throw a minnie ball one hun- dred yards; a rifle suitable for f.joimen, with a range of one mile; and a large gun to throw a two-ounce ball or a small shell, one mile and a half, or as far as a man aud horse can be seen to advantage. With this latter wea- pon, Mr. Sharpe declares he can set on fire a house or a ship at a distance of nearly two miles, and prevent the use of field artillery by killing the horses before ihe guns are brought within a good range. This rifle, in the hands of a good marksmen, is equal to ten muskets, bayonets and all ; for, place a man six rods distant with a musket and bay- onet, and before he can bring the bayonet into use, the rifle can be loaded and discharged ten times. They carry balls with great precision and force. Mr. Sharpe intends these rifles to become a national weapon, and should Congress, hy using a little liberality, purchase the patent, the country would be possessed of a means of warfare unequaled in the world. — Alton Courier. SrATisTics OF English and French Agriculture. — Some interesting statistics relative to the Agriculture of France and England were given in a lecture delivered a few dii\s since in Cornwall, by M. R. de la Trehonnais. In England, out of 50,000,000 acres cultivated, 10,000,000 are sown to wheat or other cereal crops, while in France 50,000,000 were cultivated for that purpose. The average growth of wheat per acre in England is 4 quar- ters, aud in France only 1| quarters ; whil^ the produce of English land is about £-3 4s. per acre, and that of French £l 12s. per acre. The number of sheep grown in each country is about 35,000,000, and the wool produced about 60,000 tons; but, owing to the difference in the average, there is something less than Ij sheep per acre in England, and only about one-third of a sheep per acre in France. In France there are annually slaughtered 4,000,000 of cattle, the average weight of each being two cwt. ; while in England there is not half the number slaughtered, but the average weight is five cwt. — London Times. The Steamer Sedastopol. — A new steamer, intended to run in the Up- per Lake trade, has just been completed in the ship-yard of L. Moses, in Cleveland. She bears the appropriate name of Sebastopol. For strength and capacity, says the Plaindealer, she is not surpassed by any craft in that trade on the lakes. Her engine was manufactured at the Cuyahoga Works, has 32-inch cvlinder, 11 feet stroke of piston, and is rated at 800 horse power. The wheals are thirty feet in diameter. She is about 830 tons ca- pacity, and, with all her machinery, draws but four and a half feet of water, 636 MISCELLANEOUS. and with full cargo will not exceed eight and a half feet draught. No light- ing over shoal water, or the St. Clair FJats can be apprehended. She cost about $60,000. The Lake Fisheries. — The number of barrels caught annually is stated as follows : Lake Superior, 3000 bbls. ; Lake Michigan, 15,000 ; Lake Huron, 15,000 ; Lake Erie, 3000 ; making in all 35,000. To which is added De- troit River, white fish, VOOO ; making a total of 42,000 bbls. These are sold at an average price of $11 per barrel — the aggregate amount of sales being $462,000, or nearly half a million dollars. Probably one-sixth of all the fish caught in Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior, are trout — the remainder being white fish. la some of the rivers that flow into the Lakes, enormous quantities of pickerel are caught, reaching a total, with bass, mullet, etc., of about 10,000 barrels, selling for $85,000. It appears that there are thirty-three varieties of fish in and about the Lakes, many of which might be artificially and successfully propagated. Maryland Agricultural College. — Mr. Sothoron has reported a bill in the Senate to establis^h and erdow an Agricultural College in the State of Maryland. It provides that when the stockholders shall have secured sub- scriptions for two thousand shares of twenty-five dollars each to the stock of said college they shall be entitled to draw from the States Treasury the annual sum of $6,000, which is to be appropriated as a perpetual endow- ment for the payment of the salaries of protVssors, &c. James T. Earle, John O. Wharton, Nicholas B. Worthington, Charles B. Calvert, George W. Hughes, Walter W. W. Bowie, Ramsey McHenry and J. Carroll Walsh, Esqrs., are named as the commissioners to obtain subscriptions. The Gov- ernor of the State is to be president ex-officio, and the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Delegates, and the Comptroller of the treas- ury, for the time being permanent trustees. Increased Facilities for Western Travel. — Three years ago I came from Cleveland, by the road, with my family and conveyances, and we were nearly three weeks on the way. Now, we can make the trip by railroad in eighteen hours. We are 145 miles from St. Louis, and a year ago it required several days of hard travel for man and beast to reach that city. Now, two trains of wide, comfortable cars, pass daily over a very good six foot railroad, in which the man of business or pleasure can read the morning paper, or look out upon the broad and beautiful prairie, or take a nap in his easy seat without fear of the horse tiring, or it becoming necessary to pry out of the mud. A daily line of first-class steamers now ply between Cairo and New-Or- leans. Passengers from the South, for the East, take the Illinois Central road at Cairo, to the crossing of the O. & M. R. R. ; thence here to Indian- apolis, Cleveland, New- York, Boston, Philadelphia, &c., &e. From Cairo to New-Orleans navigation is never obstructed by freezing, while the Mississippi and Ohio, above Cairo, are frequently frozen entirely over. Such is the case at this time, and but for the railroads travel between the North and South would be suspended. — Cor. 0. Far. Guano for Cotton. — We have seen a letter of a late date from Dr. Cloud, of the Cotton Planter, in which he says, " My guano has astonished MISCELLANEOUS. 637 the natives. On sixty acres of land, with six dollars' worth of guano to the acre, I have made 100,000 pounds seed cotton and fifteen bales yet to pick." The Doctor's plantation is in Macon county, and consists mostly of level pine-land, with a clay subsoil. We want no better proof of the benefi- cial results of guano. In this case, less than 200 pounds to the acre, com- bined wiih land plaster, have produced, upon what is considered poor land, more than the average yield of the best prairie and river-botton lands. A great deal of similar land is to be found in Mobile and Baldwia counties, which, by the employment of a hberal dressing of guano alone, or guano and land plaster combined, would produce fine crops of corn, oats, rye, wheat, cotton and garden vegetables. — Ala. Planter. Bees and Quails. — The Rev. A. H. Milburn in a lecture on the West says : " Two remarkable facts are to be noted in respect to the advancement of the whites. The first is that the quail, unknown to the Indian, makes its first ap- pearance— from whence no man knows — when the white man plows and plants his fields, affording an abundance of delicious food to the pioneer. The second fact is that the honey-bee is not found in the country while in the possession of the Indians. It keeps just in the advance of the advancing wave of civilization. When the Indians see the swarms of these new visitors, their wise men sadly acknowledge that it is time for them to abandon their pleasant hunting-grounds and the graves of their fathers, and seek new homes." Mode of Feeding. — An English farmer says, " Good sheds, rfry beds, small yards or boxes, regularity in feeding small quantities at a time, are the great essentials in feeding all animals, and strict attention to these principles would save an immense quantity of valuable food." • Largest Carrying Ship. — The keel of a ship was recently laid at the ship- yard of Wm. H. Webb, in New-York, intended to be the largest carrying ship ever built. She is to be of 2500 tons, 240 feet long, 4G feet beam, and 30 feet hold, and is estimated to carry over 7000 bales of cotton. Import of Dry-Goods at New- York. — For the first ten months of 1852 the estimated value on imported dry- goods at this port was $53,000,000; for the corresponding period of 1853, $82,000,000; of 1854, $76,000,000; and of 1855, $57,000,000. The falling off during the past year was doubt- less consequent on the excess of importations for previous years. Joy at a Friend's Fall. — A wag having been told that the price of bread had fallen — exclaimed : " This is the first time that I ever rejoiced at the fall of my best friend." Manufactures in Marbleiiead, Mass. — Marblehead annually manufac- tures some 300,000 pairs of boots and shoes, that are valued at over a mil- lion of dollars. They have 2,565 persons — 1,080 males and 1,485 females, employed in the business. They have found it for their advantage to have fewer fishing vessels and more shoe fehops. Grain Crop of Illinois. — The Chicago Press estimates the grain crop of Illinois for 1855 as follows: 180,000,000 bushels of Indian corn; 20,000,000 bushels of wheat, and 50,000,000 of oats, barley and rye. 638 NEW BOOKS. NEW BOOKS. Edith Hale. A Village Story, By Thrace Salmon. Phillips & Sampson, Boston. 1856. This is a pleasing and simple story of a young girl. Some of the scenes are very amusing, and others are very sorrowful. It is a very good book. WoLFSDEN ; An Authentic Account of Things then and thereunto pertaining, as they are and have been. By J. B. Phillips & Sampson, Boston. This is a New-England story, describing the fortunes of several of the " Wolfsden- ers," but principally of Alek, who, sadly disappointed at finding that his lady love prefers another, leaves his home to seek his fortune. The Quarto Shakspeare. Illustrated. Martin k Johnson, 2*7 Beekman street, New- York. Thirty-eight numbers of this splendid edition have now been issued. We can hardly commend the publishers too highly for the almost absolute perfection of style in which they have executed this great work. The engravings are of the highest style of art. Thirty-eight of equal merit can scarcely be found in any American pub- lication, and they, and the paper and letter-press are all in good keeping. The last will soon be published. Price 25 cents a single number. Most of the later numbers are double. The Kings of Rome. The Republic of Rome. By F. W. Ricord. With illustra- tions. New-York : A. S. Barnes & Co. 1856. These two small volumes give us a concise history of the periods to which they belong. The first is, of course, to a great degree fabulous, but it is all we have. Both are well arranged and well written, and should be in every juvenile library. Both are illustrated with good wood engravings. The Catholic. Letters addressed by a Jurist to a Young Kinsman proposing to join the Church of Rome. By E. H. Derby. Boston : John P. Jcwett & Co. 12mo, 293 pages. These letters are written with very great ability. The argument of the writer is sustained by the early fathers, Scripture, history, and books of travels. It is admira- bly written, and the whole is executed with remarkable taste. Life of Schamyl, and Narrative of the Circassian War of Independence against Russia. By J. Milton Mackie, author of " Cosas de Espaiia." Boston : John P. Jewett k Co. New-York: Sheldon, Lamport & Blakeman. 12mo, 300 pages. Schamyl, the hero of this narrative, and a hero in the Circassian war, was born in 1797 and after the death of Hamsad Bey, became his successor as Imam, and is inti- mately connected, of course, wiih the intensely interesting events of that remarkable war. The work has the interest of a novel, is well written, and no doubt reliable. Ernest LiNwooD. A Novel. By Caroline Lee Hentz. Boston : John P. Jewett & Co. 1856. Mrs. Hentz was a very beautiful and a very powerful writer. We say was, for we regret to say that she died the very day this book was published. She excelled in the humorous style, and she equally excelled in the pathetic and in the passionate. The volume before us furnishes abundant proof of this. No female writer in this country deserves a higher place in the esteem of the public than she, as no other was more ardently beloved or more highly honored by those who personally knew her. For it is not merely as an author that she was preeminent. As a woman, by her elegance of manner, her rare powers in conversation, her well-proportioned intellect, and her LIST OF PATENTS. 689 character throughout as a woman, a wife, and a mother, Mrs. Hentz, the individual, was as distinguished as Mrs. Hentz the author. This volume is remarkable for variety in the character of its scenes, all alike wel conceived and admirably managed. And through the wkole there is a tone of deep reli gious feeling, not ostentatiously paraded nor exhibited for effect, but pervading the whole book, and flowing out of the writer's inmost soul. Would that we had a mul- titude of just such noble women. The volume is for sale in New-York by Sheldon, Lamport & Blakeman. List of Patents Issued FROM TERMINATION OF PREVIOUS LIST TO MAECU 4. Edward F. Berry, of Hudson, N. H., for im- provement in machines for sowing seed broad- cast. Sherburne C. Blodgett, of Philadelphia, Pa., for improvemeiit in forks. Henry A. Brown and James Wiley, of Brooklyn, N. y., for improved fountain pen. Wallis and George Bull, of Tonawanda, Pa., for Improvement in machines for sawing marble. Abner Burnham, of Albany, N. Y., for improve- ment in cooking stoves. Georere H. Corliss and Elisha Harris, of Provi- dence, U. I., for improvement in rolling metal. George H. Corliss and Elisha Harris, of Provi- dence, K. I., for improvement in forging thimble,-i. John B. Cornell, of New-York, N. Y., for im- provement in vault covers. Mircus M. Cass and Lawson R. Bigelow, of Wat- kins, N. Y.,for improved grapple for raising stone. Seth P. Chapin, of New-York, N. Y., for im- provement in suwing guides. Stephen Gorsuch, of Altoona, Pa., for improve- ment in seeding machines. John Johnson, of Troy, N. Y.,for improvement in power looms. Francis Jos. Klein, of New- York, N. Y., for flexible pen-holder. Abraham, Ezra, and Chas. Marquiss, of Monti- cello, III., and Chas. Emerson, of Decatur, III., for improvement in the mode of draining ploughs. James B. Mell, of Riceboro, Ga., for improve- ment in ploughs. John II. Palmer, of Elmira, N. Y., for machine for tenoning window blinds. Micheal Phelan, of New- York, N. Y., for im- provement in billiard and table cushions. Charles S. Pitman, of Swampscott, Mass., for improved mode of applying shafts to axles. Rensselaer Reynolds, of Stockport, N. Y., for improvement in temples for looms. P. Roesler, of New- York, N. Y., for improvement In the construction of pessaries. Jos. Smith, of Sunbury, 0., for improvement in hubs for carriages. James P. Siarret, of New-York, N. Y., for ma- chine for printing from engraved plates. Philip Scrag and W. J. Von Lammerhueber, of Washington, D. C, for Improvement in machines for eawing marble in obelisk form. Masa B. Southwick, of the Parish of St. Hilaire, Canada, for improvemenS in machines for prepar- ing vegetables for preservation. Patented in Eng- land September 15, 1853. Russel Wildman, of Charlestown, Mass., for improvement in furnaces for heating slugs for the use of hatters, tailors, and others. George W. Livermore, of Cambridgeport, Mass., assignor to the Livermore Manufacturing Com- pany, of Boston, Mass., for improved stave ma- chine. Hamilton L. Smith, of Gambler, Ohio, assignor to William Neff and Peter Neff, Jr., of Cincinnati, Ohio, for photographic pictures on japanned sur- faces. Ite-Issues. — Wm. Apperly, of New-York, N. Y., for ticket registers for railroad cars, etc. Patented May 1, 1S55. John H. Manny, of Rockford, 111., assignor to Peter H. Watson, of Washington, D. C, for im- provement in harvesting machines. Patented October 17, 1854. Antedated June 15, 1854. Wm. Bell, Boston, improved machine for de- positing coal in cellars. Andrew Blaikie and Walter Clark, St. Clair, Michigan, improved pitman. Henry J. Brunner, Nazareth, improved machine for edging wall paper. Becj. P. Bundy, Walton, N. Y., improvement in wagons. Nathan T. Coffin, Knightstown, Ind., improved mill saw. Richard Cross, Attleboro', combined knife and pencil case. Ari and Asahel Davis, Lowell, dove-tailing ma chine. Othniel W. Edson, Troy, improvement in ma- chinery for making shirt collars. John U. Fiester, Winchester, Ohio, improvement in churns. Alfred C. Garrett, Rosbury, improved box for carriage hubs. Stacy A. Garrison and Daniel C. Morey, Chelsea, Mass., improved coupling for the joints of fel- loes. Stephen J. Gold, New-Haven, improved air-cock for steam-heating apparatus. Peter C. Guion, Cincinnati, improvement in girders for bridges. Horace L. Hervey, Quincy, improvement in the arched trussed bridge. 640 LIST OF PATENTS. Chas. T. James, Providence, improvement in projectiles. Edward N. Kent, New-Yoric, improved machine for separating gold and otlier precious metals from foreign substances. Wm. M. Kimball, Rochester, improvement in lamps. James T. King, New-York, improvement in do- mestic steam generators. Jolin H. B. Latrobe, Howard county, Md., im- provement in percussion locks for fire-arms. Wm. Lincoln, Oalcland, Mass., process of paint- ing or varnishing woven wire. Nathan Martz, Briar Creek Township, Pa., im- provement in horse-rakes. James S. McCurdy, New- York, improvement in binding guides. A. R. Moen, New- York, improved mode of con- ■itrueting walls and floors of cellars. T. J. W. Robertson, New-York, improvement in sewing machines. Wm. F. Shaw, Boston, improved apparatus far heating by gas. David G. Smith, Carbondale, improved door spring. James Temple, Birmingham, Pa., boring ma- chine. Ira F. Thompson, Westerly, improvement in velocimeters for vessels. Hemaa Whipple, South Shaftsbury, Vt., im- provement in instruments for measuring the lengths of braces in carpentry. Russell Wildman, Charlestown, improvement in machines for hardening hats. Jos. Wood, Jersey City, improved method for excluding dust from railroad cars. John Wriglit, Harmar, 0., improvement in bending sheet metal. Wm. E. Wyche, Brookville, N. C, improvement In cultivating plows. Jacob M. Webb, SomerviUe, Tenn., improve- ment in coffee pots. John S. Barden, New-Haven, assignor to him- self and Aaron W. Rockwood, hydraulic meter. John Goodyear, Jr., and Thos. J. Berry, Phila- delphia, assignees to themselves and Wm. M. Foster, Carlisle, Pa., improved roach trap. Chauncey H. Guard, Brownsville, N. Y., assig- nor to John A. Scroggs and C. H. Guard, same place, improved wheelwright machine. John Sheitltin, Washington, D. C, assignor to himself and Oliver A. Dailey, same place, improv- ed arrangement of means for operating the valves of steam engines. Wm. P. Wood, Washington, D. C, assignor to himself and John S. Gallagher, Jr., same place, improved sawing machine. W. W. Albro, of Binghampton, N. J., for im- proved apparatus for cooking with quick lime. Timothy Alden, of New-York, N. Y., for ma- chine for sweeping streets. Christian Amazeon, of New-Castle, N. H., for improvement in machines for sawing marble in taper form. James W. Beebee, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for im- provement in manufacturing hats. Wm. M. Bonivill, of Camden, Del., for improve- ment in corn harvesters. J. M. Burke, of Danville, N. Y., for improved skein for axle-arms. James J. Cadenhead, of Macon county, Ala., for improvement in ploughs. Ransom Clifford, of Lowell, Mas3., for Improved sbiDgle machine. Robert Cornelius, of Philadelphia, Pa., for Im - proved arrangement of steam tubing for regulaf ing the heating of buildings. Isaac Davis, of Groton, N. Y., for improved hinge for shutters. Owen Dorsey, of Howard county, Md., for im- provement in harvester rakes. Eton Dunbar, of Philadelphia, Pa., for self-act- ing farm gates. Wm. E. Everett, of New -York, N.Y., for improv- ed lubricator. Geo. Fetter, of Philadelphia, Pa., for improve- provement in boot crimps. Luther B. Fisher, of Coldwater, Mich., for im- provement in sheep shears. Daniel Fitzgeral, of New-York, N. Y., for Im- provement in portable houses. B. F. Peering, of Philadelphia, Pa., for improve- ment in supplementary grating for stoves, fur- naces, etc. F. R. Ford, of Ophir, Cal., for improvement in rifle boxes. James Greenhalgh, Sr., of Waterford, Mass., for improvement in power looms. George C. Jenks, of Boston, Mass., for Improv- ed guard for coal holes. Charles H. Johnson, of Boston, Mass., for im- provement in the apparatus for heating build- ings by the combination of, and burning gas, air ■ and steam. James Kelly, of Sag Harbor, N. Y., for improve- ment in stoves and furnaces for railroad cars and other purposes. Ebenezer Maters, of Morgantown, Va., for im- proved bench planes. George T. McLauthlin, of Boston, Mass., for improvement in railroad car seats. John T. Ogden, of Boston, Mass., for improve- ment in handle for vise. Eugene J. Post, of Vienna, N. J., for improve- ment in scythe rifles. Alphonse Quantin, of Philadelphia, Pa., for im- proved method of bottling fluids under gaseous pressure. Prentice Sargent, of Newburyport, Mass., for improvement in lamps for burning rosin oil. George Schuh & Phineas L. Slay ton, of Madison, Ind., for improvement in machines for pegging boots and shoes. Horace B. Simonds, of West Hartford, Vt., for improved mode of attaching hubs to axles. Hiram Smith, of Norwalk, 0., for improvement in air escapes for pumps. Aaron & Thomas S. Smith, of Troy, 111., for im- provement in gang plows. Jeremiah P. Smith, of Hummelstown, Pa., for improvement in corn shellers. Abrahafu Steers, of Medina, 0., for improve- ment in tanning apparatus. Vinzenzo Squarza, of New- York, N. Y., for im- provement in candle dipping machines. Daniel and George Tallcot, of Oswego, N. Y., for improvement in ships' capstans. Wm. B. Tilton, of New-York, N. Y., for im- provement in guitars. Andrew L. Whiteley, of St. Louis, Mo., for im" proved method of adjusting circular saws. Sylvanus H. Whorf, of Roxbury, Mass., and Charles Rice, of Boston, Mass., for improvement in the application of soles to boots and shoes by means of pressure and gutta percha or other cement. George Woodward, of Brunswick, Me., for im- provement in heading bolts. f Ije |l0aiil), tlje 1*00111, aiili i\)t ^m\l Vol. VIII. MAY, 1856. No. 11. AMERICAN MANUFACTURES. We took occasion ia our last number to present our views in relation to the movement of the New-York jobbers of iron-ware. We are persuaded that our position is the only one tenable by any man who pretends to advocate the encour- agement of home industry. If our ODly object is to heap up money in our own coffers by importations from abroad, or if it is proposed to do so by swind- ling in any of the fashionable modes of amassing wealth, now so common, which have no regard for the common welfare, or for the progress of the nation in power and wealth, then this movement might be satisfactory. But to say to the intelligent and skillful mechanics of ihis great country " you shall not affix your name, and above all, your location, on any of the products of your hands" — is the coolest piece of brazen impudence we ever saw in print over respectable signatures. And even now we can scarcely believe it the work of those whose names are signed as approving the movement. But our object is not now to repeat what we then wrote. The longer we reflect upon this movement, the more induced we are to use stronger terms of dis-ipprobation in reference to it. It is, however, a much more pleasing duty to turn to our own skillful artists and manufacturers, and to show forth the very honorable position they have secured among their fellow-producers the world over. "Who reads an American book?" is a taunt, the malignity of which is forgotten in the utter contempt which universally attaches itself to one who indulges in such foolish language. As a matter of fact it is probably the few Americans, of the type of those who contrived this vain attempt to gov- ern our intelligent manufacturers, and who led more worthy men to adopt it, without considering what it involved, it is probably these men who never " read an American book," nor any other ; but who live only to fatten on the spoils of all whom they can fleece. W^e are sorry that so many highly respe;jtable men have been drawn into such a net by such men. The same taunt used to be thrown off, very flippantly, in reference to American manufactures, and the generation of those who prize a thing chiefly because it is foreign, is not yet extinct. We wish some foreign operator would take these persons under their care for a while and mend not only their manners, which often are sadly in fault, but their intellects and their tastes, teaching them the true mode of determining merit, and the way in which even themselves can become useful and honored members of community. But if we allow ourself to dwell on this matter we may be tempted to write what we should regret. We are sure it is safe ground on which we enter. There are but few departments in mechanic art, in which we do not occupy an eminent position. VOL. VIII. 41 642 AMERICAN MANUFACTURES. In some of the more expensive and merely ornamental, we are content to follow. It is well, perhaps, here Gvly to inritate. French milliners are pro- bably gifted by nature, with the faculty of painting butterflies and scenting roses and orange flowers more "charmingly," than our own more matter of- fact, utilitarian wives and daughters. We doubt whether any body, but these and their few kindred that, by accident, were born under some other firmament, would ever attempt the highest flights in those curious realms. Let them have full scope. But the'moment you enter upon real life, upon the catalogue of those pur- suits that dignify and improre, you find our own country among the fore- most. From Collins through the whole fleet of structures of all names and sizes, that float on the water, down to the smallest bark canoe, we at least, when we regard actual achievements, have no cause to be ashamed of ourselves. If we turn to what we ought to have done, and might have done, with pro- per encouragement and protection, we may find occasion for self reproach and censure. If we look to our Lowells and Lawrence?, and Manchesters, another immense vista opens, which in any community would inspiie pride and satisfaction. Go through Pennsylvania, and note her mighty products, that provide so abimdantly for the comforts of our entire people for the larger half of year, and visit her furnaces and forges, and kindred forms of industry, and if you are not amazed at what hasj)een done, it will only be because you wonder more at the folly Avhich has 'refused to them that kind of patronage which would have placed the products of ihat great State far above and beyond those of any like region in the globe. But life is made up chiefly of little things, and the arts that do so much to make men happy and efiicient are mainly much less imposing in their forms. We are not certain that a learned and very discreet friend ot ours, was not right, when, some twenty years ago, ho remarked to us that the invention of friction matches had done more for domestic comfort than any other invention of the age. It is true, undoubtedly, that some of the most unpretending and unattractive contrivances which daily come into use in every family, are emi- nently among the essentials of an intelligent, progressive community. Hence it is that the man who contrives an improved cooking utensil, an improved range or stove, a new and useful and safe light, better pots and kettles, improved wares, whether of clay, or iron, or wood, tasteful or useful furni- ture, &c., &c., tells directly upon the comforts of millions, and adds essen- tially to the happiness of a whole people. "W hat a change has been wrought out in the habits of nations by the invention of a metallic pen ! So humble a matter as an envelope, how it has changed old wajs, and brought about new forms and fashions. But we intended only write an introduction to something else, while it will prove far more pretentious, in volume, than that to which it was designed to lead. We hope it may not, however, be destitute of interest, and may deepen the conviction of the reader as to the importance of the policy we contend for, towards various industrial pursuits. Leaving the path into which we have been beguiled, by the inspiration of the moment, we desire to turn the attention of our readers to the progress that we have made in certain departments of useful industry. rOCXiET AND TABLE CUTLERY — NEW YORK KNIFE COMPANY. Those who have not examined these useful implements are by no means aware of the perfection to which this art has been advanced in this country. AMERICAN MANUFACTURES. B-iS^ With all implements, in the manufacture of which each piece demands a largre amount of individual labor, that machinery cannot do, the cheap labor of Europe has heretofore affected very materially the success of American artists. So in cutlery, it has not been found possible to afford the jobber so great a profit on these goods as he is able to obtain upon imported articles. Hence their influence has not been in favor of domestic manufacture, but they all favor the sale of foreign cutlery. But go into almost any respectable store where these articles are for sal6> and among the handsomest and finest of the entire stock, are American knives. Tljey are made in various places, and of various qualities. We are not able to give the location of many of these. We remember some years ago to have seen some fine pieces of table-cutlery from an establishment in or near Green- field, Mass. But our memory docs not enable us to speak definitely in rela" tion to them. We are, however, enabled to state with entire assurance, in relation to the wares of THE KEW YORK KNIFE COMPANY, MATTEAWAN, in this State. Some specimens of their manufactures were lately shown usf which would compare favorably with the very best English knives, and in answer to our inquiries, we learn the following facts : The construction of this company is peculiar, and affords a satisfactory as- surance that they must be successful. Every member of the company, or stockholder, is a skillful artizan, and nearly or quite every artizan is a stock- holder. They are all Englishmen who have wrought in the best shops in Sheffield. They are men wiih families, having a permanent home in their adopted country, and are surrounded with every inducement to do all that industry and art can do, to insure success. That success they appear already to have achieved. The company was formed by those enterprising men, on a very liberal foundation, but without cash. Scarcely five hundred dollars could be raised from the whole number. But by saving one-half their earnings, for two or three years, they have created a large capital, and are free from embarrass- ment Companies or individuals who will achieve such triumphs, are sure of suc- cess. It is indeed, as we have stated, already achieved. It is a prosperous company, a company deserving the patronage of our entire American people, as well for what they are themselves, as for the character of their work. They do honor to their adopted country. May no shadow ever darken their pros- pects. We are informed that every blade which they manufacture is stamped •'New- York Knife Co., Matteawan." May all our retailers and purchasers learn the exact position (in Duchess county) of that locality. They employ forty seven hands, mostly men, and have a capital of about $20,000. They use an engine of 12 horse power. They produce about $3000 worth of cut- lery per month. Ttiey have been organized about four years. The posiiion of importers, as already explained, towards these artists, de- prives the company of the benefit of their influence, and hence they are ob- liged to find a market for themselves. This they do without difficulty. Theif agencies cost no more than the jobber would demand for his commission and wherever they exhibit their goods they make ready sales. We have also seen and examined the goods of another of these nuraefou* centers of wealth and industry, which our importers and jobbers would like to exterminate, and which are scattered all over our country. We refer to ih^ 644 AMERICAN MANUFACTURES. BRUSH FACTORY, LAKSIXGBUUG, N. Y. This is carried on by Messrs. Cross & Hoyt, whose warehouse is in Pear! St., in this city. The commencement and progress of this establishment, like that just described, is so illustrative of enterprise and perseverance, that we present it to our readers with some detail : They commenced business in the year 183.5 in a very small way, being all apprentices in the same shop, and subsequently journeymen, for some three years ; and afterwards formed a co partnership consistina: of James Cross, John Moss, and Joseph Hoyt, under the style of Cross, Moss & Co. Th^y hired a small shop and commenced in a small way, (doing ihe most of their work themselves,) in which they continued for a year or two. Mr. Cross then purchased a house and lot aod built a small shop on the rear part of the lot, the village being laid out in streets and alleys; the said shop was in dimensions 25 by 13 feet, two stories high, in which they did their work for some tmie. Some of the old establishments at that time having been in business for several years, and being jealous of thtra, prophecied an existence of just six months. But the evil prophecied did not occur. Now they have an establinhraent only second in the country. Their factory building is 100 feet by 24, with two wings attached 50 by 18 feet — all three stories high, with cellar, wash-house, and bleach-house. They have a ste^m-engine of about fifteen-horse power, which moves machinery with which they d > much of their work, such as sawing, boring, etc., etc. They use all kinds of wood in the business, as Rose, Satin, Mahogany, Maple, Birch, and Oak, The fancy woods come from South America and Brazil. Of Bristles, they use more than 30 different kinds, varying in price from 35 cents per lb. to $3 50, according to quality. Those come mostly from Russia, and are the best in the world ; some from Prussia, Poland, Germany, and France. There is also a large quantity packed at the West ; at Cincin- nati, Louisville, and other places. They now keep about 30 men employed in the shop, and 25 boys, and some 80 women and girls. The men do the sawing, boring, p'aneing, etc. The boys do what is called drawing, that is, putting the bristles in the hole=. This is fcfi'ected by doubling wire and drawing it into the hole. They do the coarse work ; the women draw the fine work, such as hair and hat brushes, etc., — taking the work to their houses, while the boys and men work in the shop. The coarse work is all drawn in, one knot at a time, and is cut otF, every row, as it is drawn, by large shears made for the purpose, which are screwed down on the bench, with blades 10 to 12 inches long and 3 mches wide. They cut it ofi" generally with one cut, having a guage secured on one blade by which the whole brush is cut at the same length. They can turn out $150,000 or $200,000 a year, but the business will not yet admit of do- inc so much. Their sales however are increasing constantly. Their varieties of work consist of the following kinds, viz. : Hair, Clothes, Tooth, Nail, Shaving, Shoe, Scrubbing, and Horse Brushes ; also. White- wash, Pain, Sash, Varnish, flat and oval Graining Brushes ; a's \ Mark- ing and Dust Brushes of every style and price. They make more than 250 kinds of styles of hair brushes alone. Enterprise such as we have here described, deserves success. All these artizans are now reaping the fruits of persevering toil and industry under darker skies. We trust a constant sunshine will henceforth lightou their way to a happy and prosperous old age. SENECA FALLS. 645 SENECA FALLS, N. Y. [condensed from hardwareman's newspaper.] This village affords a remarkable illustration of the beneficial influence of manufrictures upon the public interests, as well as of the wealth and comfort and independence which are attainable through the same channel, to indivi- duals, by the exercise of perseverance, entrgy and industry. It is most con- spicuous for its success in the manufacture of iron. 1. Boat Building. — Although, from temporary causes, this business is not now in active progress, yet it has been a most important and profitable one to the village — having given a great deal of employment, and produced a great deal of wealth. I have heard that. the boats built at Seneca Falls are accounted the best on the canal ; and, with the characteristic energy of the inhabitants, I presume they will not abandon so valuable a branch of manu- factures, but will engage heartily and vigorously in the improved style of boats which are now in requisition. But whatever may be the future of this branch of industry, it is certain that in the past it has largely contributed to the substantial advancement of the village. 2. Woolen Mills. — One very extensive, the other smaller. 3. Sash and Blind Factories, of which there are two — one being the largest, and perhaps the best appointed in the United States. 4. Grist Mills. — The tremendous water power existing here is largely used for the manufacture of flour. There are eight mill^, having sixty run of stones ! The vast consumption of wheat by these concerns is chitfly supplied by the west over the canal. 5. Hay and Manure Forks, of Ilines' Patent Wire, are largely manu- factured by Messrs. Gould, Heuion & Co. This enterprising firm have lately considerably increased their capacity of production, and are now in a posi - tion to execute very large orders. 6. But the leading manufacture of the place is of Iron, and chiefly con- sists of the article of Pumps, although some other goods are manufactured to a great extent. There are here three extensive Pump Factories, beside two Foundries and Machine Shops. There are employed in these factories four and five hundred hands, and the value of the goods they produce is not lesg than half a million of dollars annually. They melt from 16 to 20 tons of iron per day — which, it is to be remembered, it mt stly run into light and fine castings — and show every symptom of increasing their production. In 1849, Messrs, Cowing & Co., produced about 60 pumps a week. In 1855 they produced about 600 pumps a week ; and now they can make at about the of rate 175 per day, or 1,045 pumps per week ! Nor is their trade confined to Cistern Pumps, Their Deep Well and Force Pumps are amongst the very best and most perfect in the world. They are also manufacturing a very cheap and efficient Fire Engine, of which last year they made and sold 30 ; and they have recently gone very exten- sively into the manufacture of Thimble Skeins and Pipe Buxes, the demand for which is now becoming so wide spread and extensive. They employ constantly over one hundred men, keejj in constant use about 30 lathes, melt every week nearly 30 tons of iron, and one ton of brass and copper, besides the large quantity of wrought, which they use in the mounting of their pumps. Such i.s tlie result of fifttfm y^>ars' manufacturing to this village, as yet 8f>. (546 INDUSTRY OP CANADA WEST. little known or spoken of. What would it be if it were left entirely depend- ent on "agricultural resources?" its population driven for employment to other places — its merchants bankrupt — its mighty water power unemployed! It would add another to the many proofs which New-York even now fur- nishes, that agriculture alone is not sufficient to employ the power, elevate the condition, and produce the wealth of a nation. THE INDUSTRY OF CANADA WEST. The following lucid statements were sent to this office months since by our valued friend and correspondent, Mr. Robert Howell. But as it required copying before it could be placed in the hands of a compositor, it was given out for that purpose, and by accident was not returned till very recently. We now publish it, with the exception of statements regarding the tariff in Can- ada, which we believe have been changed since this was written. Ed. p. L. & A. FOR THE PLOUOn, THK LOOM, AND THB ANVIL. TftE traveler on the public road from Hamilton, C. W., to Brantford, will notice the large amount of pine timber in almost every direction. This pine ia generally of large size, and of good quality. The steam mill is seen here and there sending up its cloud of smoke, especially on the government road from Paris to Hamilton. Water-power is scarce in these sections, streams beinof few and small. The price at Gault for common pine lumber is 813 per thousand feet, although I was assured by a large lumberman that his would average from 30 to 35 thousand or a hundred thousand of common. Such lumber would command $20 at Port Deposite. A great amount of i umber has been wasted here. Large extent of dry woods is seen in every direction. The revenues and expenditure of the upper and lower provinces of Canada, from the parlimentary documents were as follows : The gross revenues in 1841, was :G343,829 12s. lid.; the expenditure for the same year was £■291,393 lis. 7f d.; la 1845, gross revenue, £703,447 3s. 8f . ; expenditure, £1,013,170 16s. 9J. ; revenue 1851, £842,184 5s. 2d., and expenditure for the same year only, £634,666 6-s. 8d. ; the imports from Great Britain in iSoO, were £2,407,989 4s.; in 185l,£3,012,033 2s. 6d. ; from Br. N. Ame- rican colonies, 1850, £96,404 19s. Od. ; and in 1851 £109,242 16s. Id. The Imports ^rom British W. Indies, 1850, £1.112 19s. 3d. ; in 1851, £3,400 7*.4d.; from the United States in 1850, £1,648,715 2s. 5d. ; in 1851, £2,091,441 6s. 3d.; from other foreign countries in 1850, £91,303 ISs. 4d. aud in 1851, £142,574 Os. 5d. Total Imports 1850, £4,245,517 3s. 6d. ; in 1851, £5,358,695 12s. 7d. The Exports of Canada in 1850, to Great Ikitain, £1,521,279 15s. 3(1.; in 1851, £1,921,900 Os. 4d. ; to Br. N. A. Colonies in 1850, £202.194 9s. 3d. ; in 1851, £259,379 12s. 7d. ; to Br. W. Indies in 1850, £2,094 0^ Od. ; in 1851, £978 Os. Od.; to the United States in 1850, £1,237,789 l7s. lid. ; in 1851, £1,017,880 3s. 3.1. ; to other foreign countries in 1850, £27.070 Os. 4d.; in 1851, £41,036 is. 7d. Total Exvorts in 1850, £2,990,128 Os. 9d. ; in 1851, £3,241,180 3s. 9d. JOINT STOCK COMPANIES IN MASS. $47 According to oflBcial report, Canada West contains 31,745,535 acres. By the census of 1852 it numbered 952,004 inhabitants. The province produces an annual amount as follows : Wheat, 12,692,852 bush. Potatoes, 4,987,175 bush Barley, 02,575 " Other Roots, 229,121 " Oats, 11,193,844 « Butter, 15,978,315 lbs. Buckwheat, 631,384 " Cheese, 2,226,770 « Maize, 1,606,513 « Hay, 081,082 tons. Peas, 2,891,503 " Number of Horses i, 203,300 Rye, 479,651 " Neat Cattle, 745,894 Turnips, 3,041,942 " Sheep, 908,022 . Swine, 484,241 Canada West raises three times t'be quantity of wheat raised by all the rest of British America ; of barley, her produce falls short of that of C^inada East by a few thousand bushels of oats. Canada West produces as much as all the rast of British America, of maize, peas and rye Canada W. produces more of each than all the rest of the provinces, of buckwheat, Canada W. produces a few thousand bushels more than Canada K, and a few thousand less than New-Brunswick. Canada East produces more hay than Canada West, but the Eastern province produces more potatoes and twice as many turnips than all the rest of British America, while of butter it (C. W.) pro- duces more than all the other provinces by several millions of pounds, and of cheese, she produces more than three times as much as the rest of the British provinces. She raises many more neat cattle, sheep and swine, than all of the other provinces, but fewer horses than Canada East. JOINT STOCK COMPANIES IN MASSACHUSETTS. The Secretary of State reports that there are filed at his office the returns of ninety-three joint stock companies organized under the General Corpora- tion law of Massachusetts. The total capital stock of these companies i- $5,698,700, and the amount paid in is $3,340,307 70. The company hav- ing the la-gest capital is the Lawrence Machine Shop, $750,000, which, at the time the return was made, had but $320,000 triken up, the shares being $50 each. The North American Patent Boot and Shoe Company (of whose location no report is given) has a capital of 1300,000, but none of it has been paid in. There are seven companies with a capital of $200,000 each, but in the case of the TremontOd Company, Boston, none of the capital is reported as paid in. The Cheshire Glass Company, Cheshire, has $60,000 out of $200,000 paid in, and the Union Iron Works, North Adams, $81,000. The others are the Merrimac Lumber Company, Lowel! ; Boston Oil Company. Boston ; North American Verd Antique Company, (since dissolved) ; and S. P. Ruggles Power Press Company; whose capital is all paid up. The list of corporations includes a great variety of business, such as the American Book and Paper Folding Company, ]3oston, ($36,000 paid in) ; American Grist Mill Company, Boston, ($25,000 paid in) ; Leather Sphtting Company, ($4,500 out of $50,000 paid in) ; Machine Stamp Company, ($7,500 out of $25,000 paid in) ; Rattan Company, Fitchburg, ($31,200 648 BATSO AGRICULTURAL COMPANY. paid in.) Then Lhere is a Soda Fountain Company, at Haverhill ; Stereotype Company, at Boston; Whip Company, ao West6eld ; Iron Companies, Acid, Manufacturing Companies, Carpet, Earthenware, Flax, Papier Mache, Sugar Refining, Shoe, Coal (at'Bristol), Glass, Piano Forte, Rubber (at Edgeworth), Tanning, Foundry and Machine, Straw, Gas Light, Tool, Chair, Comb, Wire Fence, Shovel, Marble, Jewelry, Steam Drill, Persian Sherbet (in Boston with $12,000 paid in out of |32,000), Woolen, Patent Leather, Leather Splitting Cutlery, Tacks, Glass Engraving. Brick and Ice do. The capital stock of thirteen Companies is under $10,000 each, the lowest being $5,000. The Comb Company at Holliston, has a capital of $50,000, or 500 shares at $100 each, all paid in. The Boston Flax Mills, at Braintree, has a capital of $50,000, all paid in. The Boston and Salem Ice Company, located at Lynnfiekl, has $34,946 20 paid in out of $50,000 capital. Of the very large capital engaged in the manufacture of Piano Fortes ia this State, but $40,000 is invested under this law, viz, by Brown & Allen's Piano Forte Company, Boston. BATSTO FARM AND AGRICULTURAL COMPANY. A HOME FOP. ALL. The Company announces the following plan. It certainly commends itself to the notice of those of small means living in or near Philadelphia. This Company has purchased a large tract of land, wilhin one hour's ride of Philadelphia and adjoining the Weymouth Farm and Agricultural Com- pany's land, comprising about thirty thousand acres, known as the " Batsto Tract," and situated in Atlantic county. New Jersey, between MuUica river (which is navigable five or six miles along its northern boundary for vessels of seven feet draft,) and the Camden and Atlantic Railroad ; the former aflfording an outlet to New-York, the latter to Philadelphia, two markets that would absorb all the produce which this fine tract could raise. " The tract is divided into twenty acres each ; each farm fronting on a main road thirty feet wide, at an average value of ten dollars per acre, which is payable in weekly instalments of one dollar. " One share will entitle the holder to a farm of twenty acres, besides a gratuitv of four town lots, twenty feet front by one hundred feet deep, two m the Camden and Atlantic Railroad and two at the junction of the Air Line Railroad and MuUica river. " Half shares will entitle the holder to a farm of ten acres, besides a gra- tuity of two town lots as aforesaid. " The timber and wood will be moved from the tract, (except what the stockholders may desire to purchase,) the roads and streets opened, and the deeds made out and delivered, without any expense to the stockholders, which wdl enable them, immediately after the distribution to commence working their farms, and at the same time atlbrd them ingress and egress to and from them over good roads. " Hence it will be seen that what would be equivalent to a merely nominal rent of f fly-two dollars a year for twenty acres of land, for four years, would pay the purchase money, and entitle the holder to a deed in fee ; whereas, if EXTRACT OF ANNUAL ADDRESS. he should lease the land for four years, at the end of that time, he would have pnid four times the amount in rent, and have no more right to the land than when he commenced. "The 'Air Line Railroad' from New-York to Cape May, which is now located and under contract, and wbich forms a junction with the Camden and Atlant c Railroad on this property, being the shortest route from Phila- delphia to Cape May by twenty miles, will give this tract a railroad front of twenty miles, increasing immeasurably the mducements to embark in this enterprise." EXTRACT OF THE ANNUAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE ALABAMA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, DELIVERED BT HON. C. C. LANGDON, OF MOBILE. I beg, however, to tell the representatives of the people, that something must be done. I proclaim it here, in their presence, at the very door of the capitol, and in the presence of this vast and enlightened auditory, some- thing must be done for the advancement of our Siate. She is lagging be- hind, far, far behind, all her sisters in the march of improvement, and every moment of inaction is placing her farther and still farther backward. Geor- gia, noble, enterprising Georgia, justly styled the " Empire State of the South," is tapping our eastern borders at points with her railroads — yea, even pene- trating our center — and drawing from us products and trade that should and would, were the right policy to prevail, find their way to the commercial emporium of our own iState. Savannah and Charleston are reaping the rich fruits of the wise and liberal policy of Georgia and South Carolina, in a largely increased and rapidly increas-ing population, and the rapid accumula tion of wealth, while our own cities are neglected and suffered to decay, and our great works of internal improvement are permitted to struggle with ad- versity, to languish, to die. And yet, those in authority, with the strangest and most unaccountable indifference, sit quietly by and view the scene of ruin before them, without thinking of a change of policy, without one efibrt to save the State from the ruin that impends. And why is it so? Ah, say you, all this sounds very well, but the State is in debt, and, until that burden is removed, it would be bad policy for the State to appropriate money, loan its credit, or extend aid in any form, to any enterprise, however meritorious it may be. The State debt is the barrier to all improvement. The State debt/ Why, gentlemen legislators, do you expect to pay that debt by driving trade and commerce ouc of the State ? by closing up all the avenues of prosperity, and permitting the State to go to decay and ruin ? by depriving your people of the means of employment, and forcing men out of the State? What cousiitutes a State ? Is it not men? 'Tis man, laboring man, with his stalwart arm and stout heart, and a soul inspired with that energy and strength which a consciousness of his position as a freeman can alone impart — man, proud, free, intelligent, laboring man — this, it is, that constitutes a Slate, gives it its strenjith, its power, its wealth, its renown. Adopt that policy, then, which shall till your State with men. Thousands of acres of land now lie within your borders in a state of nature, uncuhvat- 650 EAILROAD , MANAGEMENT. ed, simply for the want of facilities for the transportation of its products to market. Build your railroads, and these lands will be brought into cultiva- tion, and be covered with men. There are thousands of acres, again uncultiva- ted, though convenient to market, simply because not adapted to the cultiva- tion of cotton, under the mistaken impression, that no other agricultural product can be cultivated to advantage. Dispel this illusion, convert these wilder- nesses into gardens, and orchards, and fields of waving grain, and they will become a nursery for men. Mines of wealth lie imbedded in the earth, and all that is wanted to draw it forth from its hiding place, is men, with the will and the energ'y to do. You have facilities for manufacturiog equal to any State in the Union — water power, the raw material, whether of cotton, wood or iron, and the men to labor. Would you then pay your State debt ? Adopt that policy that will bring your waste lands into cultivation, and de- velop your vast resources. Build your own ships, your steamboats, your lo- comotives, your railroad cars, and your engines. Your forests will furnish you with the best of timber, and the earth on which you tread, with the iron and the coal. Push forward your railroads. Connect North and South Alabama — the waters of the Tennessee with those of the Gulf — and bind the two sections together with iron bands. The capital of your State must be united with your commercial emporium by railroad ; and that magnificent enterprise, which is to connect the great West with your own beautiful city on the Gulf, must be urged onward to a speedy completion. These great works completed, and Alabama will enter upon a new career of exibtence. [This is excellent, in matter and manner. A few living energetic men like Mr. Langdon, have the power, if they would tut exercise it, to regenerate a State, even though it were the most inefficient in the Union. Ed. p. L. & A. FACTS IN RAILROAD MANAGEMENT. The following facts regarding eight of the principal railroads of Massa- chusetts are developed by the reports to the Legislature, and furnished by a nonstockholder : 1. The cost of passenger transportation is 1.062 cents per passenger per mile. 2. The cost of merchandise transportation is 3.095 cents per ton per mile. 3. In passenger transportation $41 98 per cent of the receipts therefrom are absorbed in expenses. 4. In merchandise transportation $89 52 per cent of the receipts there- from are absorbed in expenses. 5. The expenses of railroads are almost invariably determined by the weight carried over the rails. For instance: The Eastern road, u]ion which passenger traffic predominates, is operated at an expense of $3,C7U per mile of the length of the road ; whilst the Lowell, upon which merchandise traffic predominates, is operated at an expense of $12,478. 6. The cost of renewal of iron upon railroads is an infallible index of the magnitude of expenses. For the preceding reas6np, the cost of that item on Eastern road is but $390 per mile of the length of the road, while upon the Western it is $1,390. BALTIMORE AND OHIO KA1LK0A1>. 651 7. Of the expenses of railroads, thirty per cent, are absorbed in mainte- nance of way, or road bed ; twenty per cent, in fuel and oil ; twenty per cent, in repair of engines, tenders and cars ; ten per cent, in special freight expenses, and the remainder in passenger, incidental and miscellaneous expenses. 8. The weight of the engines, tenders and cars upon passenger trains is nine fold greater than the weight of the passengers. 9. The weight of the engines, tenders and cars upon freight trains, is scarcely one-fold greater than the weight of the merchandise. 10. For cheapness, railroads cannot conapete with canals, in transportation of heavy descriptions of merchandise ; the cost of carrying merchandise upon the Erie canal ranges from two to sixteen miles per ton per mile ; whikt upon several of the principal railways of New- York and Massachusetts tho cost of carrying merchandise ranges from thirteen to sixty-five miles per ton per mile. — Boston Post. BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. [A CORRESPONDENT of the Cincinnati Commercial g\ves a very%]l descrip- tion of scenery, etc., along this route, from which we collate the following as worthy the notice of all travelers who can select their own routes. We hope, ere long, to testify more entirely from our own personal experience,] THE EOAD OVER THE MOUNTAINS. This road is of the most substantial construction, is equipped with an in- calculable armament of cars and locomotives, of all sizes and descriptions, for every purpose, and is managed with consummate energy and tact. The scenery along the route is often exceedingly beautiful, occasionally grand, and at times approaches sublimity. The Blue Ridge summits are in the dis- tance. The chasm where the Potomac rent the mountains, at Harper's Ferry, presents to the passer by (or through, rather) on the flying car, a scene of startling grandeur. Among the mountains the road curves often, and it sometimes seems won- derful that the engineers happened to find that particular path along the rocky steeps which could be made the high road for the mighty horses of iron and stupendous caravans that follow tbem inevitably over the granite deserts. At Kingwood tunnel, which is near a mile long, situated two hundred and eighty miles from Baltimore, may be seen, I think, the grandest display of railroad equipments in the world. The tunnel is being arched, and is not serviceable at this time, but will be finished in a few weeks, and over the ridge towering five hundred feet above ttie tunnel that pierces its heart of rock, the trains are taken with all their loads of passengers and freight, with but httle loss of time; and a drowsy passenger would only be disturbed into a consciousness of wondering why the train seemed to run first one way and then another — to be capering forward and back on heavy grades. The facts in the case are hard to explain, but are about these. /Two tremendous mastodon locomotives, besides which the engines that rattle along the levels seem play-things, are attached to the train, one at each end, 652 KATIiliOAI'S IN XKU'-TKUSEY, an dthe track to be followed is called a " Y," from the peculiar Z'gzacr which is made. The train is rushed along the first side of the "Y" down into the point of (he angle, and along the tail of the letter until it can be switched oflf so as to run backward up to the other prong of the letter, until any further progress in that direction is impossible, to be again switched on still another line of track. In this zigzag way the summit is passed, and so also is the ■'e C5nt made. Somewhere about the western end of the tunnel, the mail train from Bal- timore bound west, and the express train from Wheeling to Baltimore, meet in the night, and a half dozen ponderous freight trains are at the same time toiling along the steeps, each with two engines, great coal burners, the jets of flame from which shed a broad ghastly light over the wild scenery. Ttiere are at times a score of these prodigious mountain engines in sight or within hearing, and this herd of iron mammoths of the mountains seem like Titans, rejoicing over the conquest of a chaos. Their signal- whistles, booming out questions and responses, sending their echoes roaring around the dismal pre- (Mpices, and piny slopes, hint of the emotions of humanity in their medola- rtons — seemed to be toned as human voices, solemn and deep in relentless resolution, plaintive in the distress of doubf, or shrill and thrilling with exul- tation. Their voice is that of the giants of this iron age, speaking from steep f.o steep, while, "every mountain finds a tongue" to call loud lor help, we may imagine, against their fiery and grim conquerors, the wheels of victori- ous cars roll triumphant over their rude breasts. When passing this place at night, which most passengers do, the glare of the locomotive fires revtals profound abysses beside and beneath the track. Far down may be seen the dim tops of pines and cedars, standing like ghosts in the fnow-whitened and tlinty gulfs. And perhaps on the other side of the car, at the same moment, are jigged and toppling cliflfs, so lofty that the eye can hardly trace the out- line of their black peaks in the skies. Yet the extreme peril of these wild places exist only in appearance. The road has been hewn in the living rock, graven with iron, where it will endure forever. The trussel work and bridges are constructed with the utmost soli- dity, and at night, guards, carrying large lanterns, are placed at short inter- vals along the track, to give warning of the imminence of danger, or the as- surance that "all's well." The path subdued by civilization over the mountain is, however, but little more than sufficiently broad to make railr. ad facilities good. At the point where the passengers get thtir supplies in ihe mountainous regions, they are often feasted on venison killed by the roadside. RAILROADS IN NEW-JERSEY. It is marvellous to note the rapid extension of railroads. Several States are chequered with them, running in a'l directions. A recent number of the Iron Horse, a small but ably-managed s-heet, published in Paterson. contains an account of the roads of the State, from which we condense the following : Paterson and Hudson River Railroad. — From Paterson, to Bergen Hill, where it unites with the Erie road. Length, 13^ miles, cost, $030,000. Paterson and Ramopo Railroad. — From the Junction to the New-York RAILROADS IN NEW-JERSEY. 653 State line, near Sufferns, oa the Eri« road. Length, 16 mile?. Capital paid* $248,225. Debt 8100,000. The Erie Co. pay for it $260,500 a year. New-Jersey Raitroad. — From Jersey city to New-Brunswick. Length, 33 miles ; capital paid in, $3,482,850 ; debts $690,000 ; value of property onj^hand, $4,30-9,422 ; pay dividends of 10 per cent. ; number of passengers last year, 2,164,471, besides commuters; tax paid to State, $33,450. Camden and Amboy Railroad. — From Camden to South Aruboy, 63 miles, and there connecting with this city by boats. A branch readies from New-Brunswick to Trenton, 26 miles, reaching Philadelphia by the Philadel- phia and Trenton road. A branch extends from Bordentown, 6 milfS. The Camden and Amboy road owns most of the stock of the Philadelphia and Trenton, the Belvidere, Delaware and some others, and also the Delaware and Raritan Canal, 43 miles long, 50 feet wide, and Y feet de»'p. The company pays 10 cents duty on each passenger, and also a duty on freight. The amount paid last year was $55,562 ; the canal )ielr corn and cotton. The following account is given of a crop raised in another " District* known as "Dark Corner," which we cannot locate; quantity of land not given. Gross proceeds of crop were as follows : Cotton, 34,240 pounds sold for - - $3,147 30 Corn, 2000 bushels which, together with peas, shucks fodder, &c., worth - - 2,000 00 Potatoes, 300 bushels - - - - 100 00 Wheat, 100 " 150 00 Oats, 600 " 300 00 Cotton seed, 2,300 bushels 345 00 Poik, 700 lbs. net 500 00 Total products $6,002 36 Gross per hand $550 19. I worked twelve hands, eight head of horses and mules together, and used no guano. Deduct from the above amount of - - - $0,602 36 For feed of eight head of wok stock, $000 00 For feed and clothes for hands, - 720 00 For smithing and iron, - - - 36 00 Dr.'s bill for these hands, - - 00 00 Interest on land, negroes and mules, 1,250 00 Total expenses, $2,606 00 Net amount of crop, ... - $3,996 36 Net amount per hand, $333 03 FliOFITS OF FARMING. 661 This is in the region of the Dark Corner, where land rates horn three to eight dollars per acre. I broke up ray cotton and corn land botli with a long scooter or bull-tongua plough, as you may please to call it. My cotton-land was laid off from thirty to thTrty-six inches according to quality, bedded with a turning plough. I run round my cotton with a turning-plough, board side next the cotton, and fol- lowed with the hoes chopping it out ; afcer which I replaced the bed to the the cotton as quick as possible, and every working after I endeavored to put a little more dirt to the plant, and by so doing your cotton will be well forrned and mature early. On the other hand if you work your cotton by taking the bed away (as is the case with some) and not replacing it, you may pro- duce a large weed with but few forms and these very late. PROFITS OF FARMING. We continue our statements on this subject, gathered from different sorces. Wo first give an extract from the Country Gentleman, in reference to AGRICULTURE IN VERMONT, From 13 acres harvested in Oct. last, 1600 bushels in the ear of sound corn, and 24 of soft corn. Though but little of it has yet been shelled, it is fair to count it at 800 bushels exclusive of the soft, which cannot be shelled. Value of corn, 800 bushels, delivered at railroad station, 3 miles, at $1 121 $900 00 Value of corn, soft, 24 bushels at 25 cts. - - - 3 00 Value of 28 cart-loads of pumpkins at 75 cts. per load, - 21 00 Value of stalks for winter feed of stock at $3 per acre, 39 00 Total $963 00 Expense, (including delivery of the corn at depot,) - - 305 30 Profits, $597 70 Within a fraction of $48 98 per acre for taxes on and use of land. From fifteen and a half acres of oats were threshed by horse- power, in November last, 1006 bushels delivered at railroad station, as above at 50 cents per bushel, - - - $503 00 Fifteen and a half tons straw, worth at barn $6 per ton, - 93 00 $596 00 Whole cost of production, with delivery at depot, $14 07 per acre, $218 09 Profits, $377 91 or $24 38 per acre. The land on which these crops were grown is valued at $100 per acre, which is about the price they command when oflfered for sale. A farm of one to three hundred acres, in many localities in Vermont, with good buildings and stone fences, surrounded with permanent roads and bridges, churches, school-houses, and the like, can be bought at a price that — counting 662 PROFITS OF FARMING. all these improvements and advantages to the farmer — will hardly leave the soil at $1 25 cents per acre. The next statement is of a lot of land in Epping, N. H. — This statement was not made on account of any peculi- arity about it, but to show the proper manner of keeping farm accounts. The crop was grown in 1855. Lot No. 11 in field A. containing about 1^ acres. Soil on this lot is vari- able, part being a deep yellow loam, having a large proportion of mineral elements in its composition, the balance a dark-colored moist soil. Preparation. — In Oct., 1843, 24 loads of yard compost were spread on the dry part of the lot, and the sod turned under with a Michigan double plough, 9 inches deep. May, 1855, 12 loads of manure were harrowed in. Planted with corn, guano compost put in the hill ; produced a good crop. Oct., 1854, cross-ploughed the lot. April 1856, for ploughing, - - - $3 00 For sowing, harrowing, and rolling 4^ days, - 3 37 For seed wheat, 1^ busheli", - - - 3 37 Harvesting and threshing, - - - - 7 92 Interest and taxes on land, - - - 4 85 $21 51 Contra, by 19 bushels of wheat, $2 25 per bushel, 42 75 Lot straw, 8 00 Value of crop $50 75 Cost of growing, - - - - - 25 61 Cost per bushel, - - - - - 71 Leaving a profit of $29 24 The variety of wheat grown is known as the Gilman. Also a patch of peas were grown on this lot, producing an abundance of green and \ bushel of dry peas, for which I have not credited the whole crop. Lot No. 13, in fi-ld A, contains about ^ of an acre. Soil is a fine dark-colored lo^rn, very mellow. Preparation. — Plowed and planted similar to No. 11. May 3, 1855, for ploughing, - - - $2 00 Harrowing and sowing, - - - - 1 00 1 bushel seed wheat, - - - - 2 25 ' Harvesting and threshing - - - - 4 50 Interest and taxes on land, - - - 3 00 Contra by 11 bushels wheat Lot of straw, . . _ - Value of crop, - - - - - Cost growing, - - - . Profit of crop, $16 00 Cost per bushel, ----- 70 The above crop was injured by worms, thining it early in the season. $12 75 - $24 75 4 00 - $28 75 12 75 BROOM CORN. 663 The wheat grown on this lot is known as the White Flint wheat, yielding beautiful white flour. The straw grows large and appe>irs hardy ; heads of the same length do not produce as much wheat as those of other varieties; the berries do not set thick on the head, but grow at some distance apart, giving them a loose or open appearance. FOR THE PLOUGH, THB LOOJI AKD THB ANVIL. BROOM CORN, SORGUM SACCHARATUM. For many years this very useful plant was almost exclusively a "Yankee Notion." It is an exotic, brought from the East Indies, yet seems wtll adapted to our climate. For near a half a century its culture was confined mainly to a few towns in Old Hampsbire County, on Connecticut river. It is now cultivated in some parts of New-Jersey, in the Mohawk Valley in New-York, and in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In New-England, where the farmers are always ready to engage in the cultivation of what will pay best. Broom Corn is still confined to the Connecticut Valley, and mostly to some ten or twelve towns in Massachusetts. The Corn Broom has now become an indispensible article in most civil- ized American families. The unwieldy " splinter broom, which our grand- mother were wont to elaborate, by dint of patience and perseverance, from ash, maple and hickory, have yielded to the force of the adage, " a new broom sweeps clean." Soil and Climate. — This plant will grow and mature in any part of the temperate region where the soil is adapted to it. But it seems to do best between 38 and 43 degrees North. Below, it grows too rank, and the brush is coarse. Above, it does not mature and the seed is of no value. The soil should be a deej>, rich, sandy loam. It should be ploughed deep, manured highly, and reduced to a fine tilth and planted early. The roots, unlike those of the Indian corr, cluster together, in form somewhat like the distaft", and run directly downward. The plant, in its infancy, is very small and feeble ; and seems for the first month, to struggle hard for life. It requires a longer season than Indian corn. Hence the importance of having land naturally warm, that it may be planted early and ripened before the frosts of autumn. Cultivation. — It should be planted thicker than Indian corn. Let the rows be of sufficient width to allow a horse to pass betv/een them, say three feet, and the hills in the row two feet apart, with an average of ten stalks in each bill. A better way is to use the planter, and leave a kernel every three inches. Planted in this manner, the labor of weeding is much less, and the quality of the brush better. In seeding a liberal allowance should be made for insects and vermin. They often lay claim to the whole, and are seldom satisfied with lessihan one-half. It has been supposed necessary to manure in the hill, and that till very recently has been the universal practice. A better way has been found out. I would not manure the hill for any crop. However light the dressing, let it be spread broad-cast over the whole surface. If the proper pabulum of plants is in the soil, the roots will find and appropriate it. To thrust ashoveil- 664 BROOM CORN. full of manure underneath a hill of corn, and leave the ground about with- out manure, is much like stuffing a starved horse with oats on the morning of a hard day's journey, and leaving him to fast the rest of the day. Better feed him well for some days previous, and during the working day, let him have his ordinary feed. So of manuring, let it not be done solely for the crop, but partly for the land. The farmer who pursues the former course will always till a sterile soil, and himself be poor. During the first six or eight weeks, constant care must be bestowed upon this crop. The earth should be frequently stirred, and all weeds carefully excluded. Not less than four times hoeing will answer, and much care thould be used at the second or third hoeing to reduce the number of stalks within the limit mentioned above. Harvesting. — This should be deferred until the seed is hard, if the season will allow. But if a frost come prematurely, and blight your prospects, the brush should be cut immediately. The common mode of gathering the brush is by tabling, as it is called. The stalks of two contiguous rows are broken down and made to fall diagonally across each other, so as to form a sort of table, on which the brush is spread to dry. Cutting and spreading the brush is suitable work for children. So long as the weather remains good, the brush should be permitted to remain, being occasionally turned. But upon the approach of a storm let it be housed. It is damaged by rain no less than cured hay. The next step in the process is to bind the brush in bundles, averaging about fifteen pounds, and placing them on end, with the buts down, under cover, where the air can h-vve free access to it. "When thoroughly dried, the seed is scraped off and the brush is ready for use. Another mode of gathering is to cut the stalks near the ground, and lay them longitudinally between the rows, disposing of the product of two rows in one furrow, and spreading the brush upon the stalks. When it is intended to plough and sow after harvest, this course must be pursued. In this case, the stalks may be buried with the plough. In the other, they are usually cut and burned upon the ground. PiiOFirs. — Seven hundred pounds of brush is about an average yield per acre. One thousand pounds is not uncommon. Land that is in a suitable condition to produce seventy-five bushels of Indian corn, will, under ordinary circumstances, yield a thousand pounds of broom brush. Brush is now selling for ten cents per pound. It ranges from four to twelve cents per pound, averaging about six. The seed is an important item in the product. It is not a certain crop, being liable to be spoiled by early frosts. The seed may be killed without materially injuring the brush. But when the season is favorable it is not unu- sual to get ten bushels of seed to every hundred pounds of brush. Thus the seed, in a good season, is fully equal in quantity to the crop of oats which the same ground would produce ; and for most purposes of stock- feeding it is considered equally valuable. The whole product may be summed up thus: ■TOO )b?. brush at 6 cts. $42 00 70 bushels seed at 42 cts, .... 29 40 7140 But 1000 lbs. at 10 cts. 100 00 And 100 bush, seed at 50 cts. .... 50 00 $150 00 More than this has, in some instances, been realized. FOREST TREES OF NICHOLS. 665 It is generally believed that, in case the seed ripens, it is a better crop at 5 (;ts. per lb. for the brush, than Indian corn at 83 cts, per bush., which is about the average price in this region. It is thought to exhaust the land less than most other crops. I know of fields that have been planted with broom-corn more than twenty seasons in succession without deterioration in the product. R. B. H. Amherst, Mass, March 20, 1856. KOB THB PLOUGH, THE LOOM AND THB ANVIL. FOREST TREES OF NICHOLS, TIOGA CO., N. Y., AND THEIR USE. THE "WHITE PINE CONTINUED. The price of pine boards down the Susquehanna river for a few years back has ranged from $9 to $14: per thousand — that is, for common cutting lum- ber or common boards, as some would term it, — the difi"erent sizes of pannel ranging from $18 to $40 per thousand. A considerable amount of square timber has been taken from this vicinity. I am not acquainted with this business, but the value of timber often varies much. Some years it is very high. Last year it was so low as to be a losing business. The timber is got out or hewed on four sides, and each stick is from forty to seventy feet long, and often over two feet at the butt end. The age of the pine is variously estimated. It is quite difRcult to count the rings of a large pine. As far as ascertained, the oldest pioes in this vicinity range from 250 to 300 years. It is said that a pine waf? cut down some years ago in the town of Soutbport, Chemung Co., N.Y., that was over 700 years old. In the year 1841, I cut down a few pines that were of the second growth, or had grown since the land was partly cleared, that were from twelve to 6fteen inches in diameter and from twenty-eight to thirty years old, and about thirty-five feet high, — being low and full of limbs like an apple tree. A pine growing in thick wood, that is twelve inches in dia- meter, is often sixty years old and fifty feet high. A large pine has always an old appearance, being nearly covered with two or three varieties of moss from the ground upwards for several feet, and even on the limbs is found a long, shaggy, gray moss. The wind blowing through pine boughs makes a sighing or humming noise, not unlke a swarm of bees flying over. A large portion of this vicinity is covered with pine stumps; but a great propDrtion of ihera have been pulled within twelve years, and many are now pulled yearly. With Hall's cylinder machine, I have helped pull one hun- dred pine stumps in a day, the stumps being of a small size and on a diluvial formation, while on hill land, with a good lot of stumps, we puiled from forty-five to fifcy-five per day, and on low creek flats, with large stumps, only from fifteen to twenty per day. The piice of this machine is about $400. The Hook and Lever stump-machine is getting much in use in this vicinity, and is thought by some to be equal to the Hall machine, and to be more easily worked. The cost of this machine is from $120 to $200, according to the amount of iron used. Generally all pine stumps with good roots are used for fence in tbi-> vicinity. I have about a mile and a half of stump fence, and it wants but iicile atten- 666 INFLUENZA OF HORSES. tion from one year to another, and will last an age or more. The pine stumps are hard to root out. Sixty years do not efFdCt much in this way. Nichols, April 14, 1856. Robert Howell. INFLUENZA OF HORSES. BY CAPTAIN EALSTON. The perusal of "Thoughts upon the Prevailing Disease among Horses," in the March number of the American Veterinary Journal, together with a preceding article, upon "iDfluenza," in the number for January, has induced these observations. The writer feels constrained, as a Veterinarian, to com- mence by remarking that it may be deemed his herein views had better been submitted to the professional journal which has called them forth. But with every respect for any journal devoted to the veterinary art, and this in no diminishtd degree for one which he favorably estimates, as a pioneei'-ef- fort towards highly desiderated objects, in relation to eventual veterinary progress in this country, still he has preferred the privilege of the pages of the " P. L. and A.," inasmuch that professional readers as yet are scant, and it is therefore of advantage to promote and extend discussion, through the more generally circulated and read (abd cousin-german) pa- ges of an agiicultural serial, in manner whereby it is hoped that veterinary subjects may come more and more under the recognition of those whom it is most to be desired should be aroused into intelligent consideration of their importance. It may not be amiss to furthermore add, — and this is ventured under a truly earnest wish that the journal, which has been fii-st on the field of American veterinary culture, should strike its roots deep, grow, and successfully flourish — that over-much of school science, at the outset, may not prove favorable, on so new and uutilled ground ? Siill the higher scientific tone is to be respected ; and, if the editors of the American Veter- inary Journal always shall draw for information or seek exponants of the im- portant art which they represent, through such sources as those of "The Ve- terinarian," (British,) and the writings of the late William Percival, and of his father, (formerly at the head of ihe veterinary staff of the Royal Artillery and Ordnance Corps,) there is no veterinarian but will indorse the tenets and the teachings. In 1852, the writer sought to attract some notice to the influenza of horses, through the medium of the " Spirit of the Times^^ and what is here submitted will be a somewhat modified reproduction of the same views. In the A. V. Journal, " Influenza," it is said, passes in stable language under the familiar terra of horse ail, pink-eye, etc. The writer demurs as to pink-eye ; for he opines that thereby is meant a peculiar chronic-oplhalmic aff"ection of the conpinctival lifsues (or mem- ranous linings of the eye-lids and white of the eye,) the consequence of standing in darksome and ill-ventilated stables, and where the disengage- ment of amoniacal gasses assail the eyes and act as a specific local poison to those organs, resuhing in corneal opacity, cataract, &c. Such conditions of badly-arranged and ill-kept stables injuriously affect all the vital organs of animals subjected thereto, and pariicuUrly predispose to pneumonic affec- tions, and not unseldom beget farcy or glanders. INFLUENZA OF HORSES. 667 But in connection with influenza, itself, he also demurs as to those "typhus" and "typhoid" complicities introduced, in manner seen in the " Thoughts upon the Prevailing Disease among Horse?" Far be it that any new light from science, or investigation, should be excluded from respectful attention or inquiry ; but we may define and refine too far, and thus perplex. In the old term of " Influenza Maligna" the same idea may be f aid to be pre- dicated; and the writer proposes to waive those new aspects, and treat of In- fluenza simplex and lofluenza maligna, their causes, symptoms, and also their more ready treatment in horse-owners' own hands. The first alluded to form of this aflfeciion is variously named cattarrhal fever, epidemic cattarrh, influenza, and (in the racing stables) distemper. Young horses are generally most liable to and prove least able to contend with or surmount its eff"ects. It ordinarily commences with a rigor, or slight shivering fit. This premonitory, or incipient indication, is very rarely ob- served or attended to. If, however, it should be noticed at the outset, it may be of much importance ; since recourse to prompt and judicious treat- ment might then arrest the further progress of the attack. We will con- sider this commencing or initiatory stage of the disorder. In inflammatory affections, whether of the lungs, bowels, tidney^, or other organs; or in the early or acute stages of local injuries — as wounds, strains, &c. — the resort by uninformed farriers and stable-helpers is almost invaria- bly to stimulant applications, internal or external, as the case may be. Now, at the proper time and place, stimulant and discutient remedies are valuable therapheutical agents ; but to administer them in the acute stages of inflam- mation of the lungs, bowels, &c., or to apply blistering unguents, or imitative oils, or tinctures, in cases of recent injuries or strains, is treatment as perni- cious as it is ignorant. It is like pouring alcohol or gunpowder on flame, to extinguish it. After inflammatory action is abated, and when the general tone of organs, or local action of part's, has been left in a depressed or unrein- vigorate state, then the cordial or the tonic, the blister or the caustic, may become most estimable curative adjarants. Otherwise, the so constant and irreflec'iive recourse to stimulants, at the wrong time and place, has done and does incrlculable mischief, in quasi, veterinary practice. This is a gross medical and surgical error, which has killed animals by thousands annually, and which converts casual and curable injuries into incurable lameness and permanent blemishes. But ignorant assumption meets with perilous trust and confidence where human health and life are concerned ; and if so in relation to ourselves, can better be expected for our domestic animals ! Quacks and nostrum- venders flourish ; for the want of sufficient knowledge on the part of those ailing— and in earnest and anxious quest of relief, leads to reliance on the sordid vaunts of unscru- pulous ignorance. In other things than those of health, individuals will properly require to have some avouchment — to understand the grounds and have reasonable proof of capacity or trust-worthiness — before rendering be- lief or reliance; but in what is of so paramount moment as competent medical or surgical treatment when sick, the reverse of this is the too frequent rule. It is not "damnant,'^ but " credant, quod non intelligunt ;" for just in proportion to his outrageous averments, and the impossible qualities imputed to his nostrums, is often the blind-fold dependence placed in the empiric. As regards animals — let us say horses — thei/ cannot, in words express the causes or seat of their ails, or complain bow maltreatment may be injuring or torturing them. Yet, while the verbal expression is denied, they have a mute, but most eloquent language of their own, and one alto- 668 INFLUENZA OP HOESES. gether undeceptive, if the right observation, tact and skill be in attendance — qualifications each and all essential in the veterinary surgeon. The maladies of animal life are not so complicated as those of human life ; but they run their course more rapidly and deterrainately. Hence, with the former the art of the practitioner — the mendendi scientia — is required to be more promptly and shrewdly unerring ; else, irrespective of what ought to be done being left not done, the opportunity to do anything eflfectively may alto- gether be lost. This, however, all matters but little with your genuine " horse doctors ;" for with the the professors of that school of practice the Quid dem ? Quid non dem T' is a modest self-ioterrogatory, having no place. "With them no adequate standard of general education, on which has beerj based one more especially professional, so as to guarantee some scientific at- tainments iu anatomy, physiology, pathology, and the art of healing, is in any manner or degree needful for recognizing the symptoms, seat, causes, and remedial treatment of the diseases of animals ! The foregoing has, however, traveled somewhat out of the record concern- Dg stimulants. The object, however, was to decry the abuse of these before adventuring on a recommendation of their use, in one of the rare exceptional cases. ]f an influenzal attack be recognized in its premonitory, or very c^rly stage — that is shortly from, or a iew hours after the horse has been cer- tainly well, and when the drooping attitude, languid, yet quickened pulse, and general appearance of a "cold," but without cough or muscous dis- charge ; in fact when presenting those symptoms which betoken a disturbed or oppressed constitutional, or febrile crisis, without indications of organic in- flammation or let^ion ; then, and just at this time, if two or it may be three quarts of blood be drawn from one of the jugulars, to relieve the heart and lungs, and thereupon proper stimuli bo administered, a sanitary reiiclion mav be superinduced, and the revulsive nervo-vascular disturbance, which developes in the mucous membranes, and prostrates the physical energies so rapidly, so as greatly to complicate the alter treatment, may be ar/ested, or materially controlled. The best and safest of the difi"usible stimuli for use, in these cases, is nitrous ether, or sweet spirits of nitre. Say, that 2 oz. of nitrous ether be taken, and 2 drachms of infusion of camomile ; add these to -^ a pint of milk-warm water, and let this dose be given twice a-day. A bottle is often used for giving fluid medicine; but it is inappropriate and unsafe An ox-born makes a serviceable instrument. Sever an inch or two oS the small end, and plug it; and then cut the wide end slantingly, so as to form a sloped open end. Put the diink into the horn, and an assistant having quietly opened the horse's mouth, and gently grasped his tongue so as thereby to draw it a little out on one side, — at the same time, with the other band, elevating his head and muzzle a little let the open end be inserted, on the other side, and over the back part of the tongue, and the contents be softly poured down, gulp by gulp. Every action and move- ment should be made with the greatest gentleness, not only because the horse's throat may be sore, and swallowing painful, (besides the natural dis- taste for the medicine and the constraint,) but because less resistance or struggle will ensue, and there will be no risk of ii juring the mouth or tongue. At all times, the more unwilling or violent horses are. the greater the occasion for gentleness, otherwise an operator will be more baffled, and the draught be got uvt-r with so much irritation as to do more harm than good. In all operations and restraints, as in all lessons or instructions with horses, patience and gentle handling must ever be a sine qua non to succeeding well ; and th(^ shyer or more intractable any animal may be found, the lireat^r the occasion INFLUENZA OF HORSES. 669 for his being soothed, and given time, and gone about gently. High couraged and valuable horses — often those the most so — are must of all apt to be rendered sulky or stubborn, and every way of inferior value, by hasty treat- ment and unfair curbing, constraint, or puoishraent. Animals cannot, by language, be made to know or understand what it is sought they should obey or do ; and as training, &c., to them are acts of a character at once disa- greeable and unaccountable, so favorable or kindly srubmis^^ion can only be mduced or expected from quiet and gentle, but firm proceedings, and every- thing that is alarming, or has a coercive aspect, ought to be studiously avoid- ed or concealed. As relates to such cases of influenza as has been referred to, besides the nitrous ether draught, f of a pint of sound ale, sweetened with two tea- spoonfuls of molasses, and having 2 drachms of the best ground ginger stirred in, may be mixed with a pint of milk warm water, and given alternaiely witli the other. The patient should be placed in a moderately warm, well- ventilated loose box if possible ; in any case well clothed, and where there are no currents of cold air. He should be bedded up to his hocks in short dry straw ; and leg-bandages of flannel may be usefully emp'oyed. The foid should be small potions of sweet bay ; barley or malt ma-hes; a handful or two of oats ; and for drink thin water gruel. If in two, or as may almost be said, one day, the attack does not seem to be arrested, and if raucous dis- charge from the nasal membranes supervene, then the complaint is estab- ished, and will run its course. In the latter case, the treatment is not very diS'erent; but the progress of the disease has now to be carefully watched. The m.ucous, serous, and sero- mucous tissues seem to be especially attacked. Their nervous tone seems to be altogether deranged, and their secretions correspondingly. In fact, all the membranous system seems to sympathizp, accompanied by flying neu- ralgic twinges. The worst and most difEcult symptom, however, is the extraordinary weakness and prostration of all the energies which rapidly attend the mucous discharge. This and the indisposition to food, together with the pulse running high and the breathing oppressed, complicates the case ; for it is unsafe to abstract blood, and still the case must not be lost from congestion of the lungs and heart. If food be entirely rejected, pretty thick, smooth oat-meal gruel, sweetened with a spoonful or two of molasses, and with 1 drachm of nitre dissolved in the -I gallon should be horned over 4f r 5 times a day. Enemas of the same kind should be thrown up. Bran may ba stirred in the water, and poured off clear, and in this 1 drachm of nitre and a table spoonful of honey may be dissolved to the pailful. If the sub- maxillary glands are tumefied and painful, some blistering linamc-nt should be rubbed in between the jaws and along the course of the throat. But the practitioner's or owner's best treatment is limited chiefly to moderate warmth, pure air, a well bedded-up loose box, offering small quantities of tempting food, (or if need be horning over gruel and exhibiting enemas,) and giving weak nitro bran-water. If the patient begins to breathe less op- pressed; his pulse fuller and not so quick; the membranes lining the nose more natural in color; in a word, if the symptoms altogether indicate decreasing febrile action, everything is to be hoped. The leading object is thereupon to support the strength — by means of gruel, and small malt mashes frequently oflfered. An oxymel may be beneficially used twice a dav in :| of a pint of honey, mix a small spoonful of brandy, and the same of vine- gar ; stir into it a table-spoonful of linseed-meal and ^ of a pint of sound ale ; and incorporate the whole in two pints of boiling water. Horn over one-half for each draught, when cold. These remarks having run a suflScient length for the present month, the 670 AGRICULTURAL CROPS. •writer defers bis observations on Influenza Maligna until tbe next month. It may not be amiss to here observe thst tbe present suggested treatment is intended to be of a scope adapted to cases io any horse-owner's own bands, and when these are disposed, in a lesser degree, to complications and adverse results. In -dny such latter or more serious cases, the aid of professional ad- vice is indispensable; and bleeding, counter irritants or blisters, rowels or setons and such internal remedies as tatarged antimony, digitatis, hellebore, calomel, opium, croton oil, etc., may come to be demanded, according to symptoms, and the patients condition. J. C. R. Grad. Roy. Vet. Con.,Memb. Roy. Coll. V. S. &o. [The above was designed for our last issue, but was received too late. The subject will be further discussed ia our next number. — Ed. P. L. & A.] COW RELIEVED BY SURGERY. The following case of sur^fery is reported in tbe Ploughman. The oper- ation was performed by Dr. Tbayer of West Newton, Mass., upon a favorite cow of Mr. Geo. E. Allen. The case was stoppage, caused by the genera- tion of gas in the stomach from eating too many rotten apples. He says : " Finding all my efforts to remove the difiBculty, unavailing, and she grow- ing worse rapidly, I called in the doctor above mentioned, who very quickly decided that nothing but tapping would save her, and with my consent he made an incision directly into the Rumen, or first stomach, just in front of the hip upon the left side; and introducing a small tube, such an escape of gas took place as would astonish even our modern politicians. But the re- sult was all we could desire, the swelling went down at once, and the cow was worth forty dollars more than before the operation. Those who wit- nessed the ca?e, and some were old farmers, pronounced the operation entirely new to them." AGRICULTURAL CROPS. PROFITS OF FARMING. A RECENT number of the journal of the N. Y. State Society mentions the following crops raised in different parts of this State. How can it be that farmers are content with less than half a possible crop and one-tenth the possible profits? Mr. R. R. Hart, of Oneida, raised 70 bushels of shelled corn to the acre. Mr. Wm. Johnson, near Geneva, raised 38,671 lbs. of ehelkd corn on nine acres, equal to 76f |- bushels per acre. Twenty-two cows on Mr. J. S. Hilbert's farm, Chemting Co., produced 4116 lbs. of butter. Included were two three-year old heifers. This butter sold at 27 to 37 cts. per lb. The average yield per cow ia 187 lbs. each, or counting them as 20 cow.«, it would give 205 lbs. each. In Tioga county the yield of rye is about 20 bushels per acre, some fields producing 28 bushels. The average yield of barley is 25 bushels per acre? INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. 671 That of Indian corn, 28 bushels per acre, while some fields produced 60 bushels. Buckwheat produced 15 bushels per acre. Oats average 35 bushels, some land producing 60 bushels. Hay, average, 1^ tons per acre, and some fields produced 2^ tons per acre. Potatoes about 50 bushels per acre. INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. Bridgewater, Mass. — Population in 1850, 2'700 ; in 1855, 3363; in- crease in five years, 575. Four Rolling and Nail Mills ; 1000 tons iron manufactured and not made into nails, valued at $80,000; 52 nail machines, 62,500 casks nails manu- factured, valued at $250,000 ; capital, $77,000, 207 men employed. Two Forges, 70 tons manufactured, value of bar iron, etc., $10,500 ; capital, $7000, 20 employed. One furnace, 600 tons casting, value, $40,000 ; capital, $18,000, 30 employed. Two paper manufactories ; 270 tons stock used; 210 tons paper manu- factuied, valued at $30,000; capital, $18,000, 20 employed. Two establishments for manufacture of coaches, wagons, etc., value of articles manufactured, $5,800; $2000, 7 employed. One soap manufactory, 25,120 gallons manufactured, valued at $2,540; $1,500 capital, 4 employed. One tin manufactory, value tin ware $500; 2 employed. One cotton establishment, value of manufactures, $14,000, $30,000 capi- tal, 40 employed. 600 pairs boots and 166,000 pairs shoes manufactured, valued at $125,700 ; 55 males and 35 females employed. 3,000,000 bricks manufactured, valued at $12,000 ; 30 employed. 63,600 bushels charcoal, valued at $4000 ; 20 employed. 90.000 ft. lumber prepared for market, valued at $7,600, 30 employed. 2217 cords firewood, valued at $6,651, 30 employed. 259 horses, valued at $16,472; 151 oxen over 3 years old, and 18 steers under 3, valued $7,557 ; 44 milch cows, and 51 heifers, valued at $14,288. 25,830 lbs. butter valued at $6,459 ; 6679 lbs. cheese, $834 ; 130 lbs. honey, $26. 283 acres Indian corn, 20 bush, per acre, valued at $8,136. 1^ acres of wheat, 16 bush, per acre, $48. 57 acres of rye, 11 bush, per acre, $857. 3^ acres of barley, 24 bush, per acre, $80. 129 acres oats, 23 bush, per acre, $1,809. 1 acre onions, 380 bush. $190. 4A acres turrfps, 325 bush, per acre, $450. 1^ acres carrots, 416 bush, per acre, $62. I acre beets, $42. 1540 acres English mowing, 1128 tons, $20,304. 414 tons swale hay, $4,140. 9299 apple trees, $902. 1180 pear trees, $128. 14 acres cranberries, $520. 1 shingle and box board manufactory, capital $3000 ; men employed, 12. Value of machines manufactured, $4000, men employed, 5. — Ploughman. 672 RESPONSIBILITY OF WOME!<". FOR TUB PLODGn, TUB LOOM, AND IHB ANVIL. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WOMEN FOR THE HEALTH OF THEIR OFFSPRING. Mr. Editor : — A medical writer has remarked that " Perfect health in civilized society is unknown; it exists only as an ideality." This startling truth, which any one of observailon cannot dispute, leads to the inquiry, Who is in fault ? A full and impartial answer would require us to examine the duties of both sexes. At present, however, we shall only consider the man- ner in which woman discharges her high responsibilities as mother of the race. From reports published by Miss Beecher and others, we learn that our towns do not average one heaUhy woman. Nevertheless, he who teaches that the sex are in fault for their bodily infirmities, is often rej^arded as blasphem- ing ; for has not Providence seen fit to afflict them ! ! Thus by making Supreme Power the scspe-goat, tbey piously relieve themselves of all respon- sibility for their own sufferings and those which they inflict upon the race. When we consider that about every third woman has a diseased spine, that at least every fifth one is scrofulous, consumptive, or possessed of some other disease transmissable to her offspring; and making no estimate of general debility and various weaknesses, that not one in a hundred can boast of having no deformed bones, we are led to ask, what kind of a Providence is that who thus delights in disfiguring his noblest work ? Providence estab- lishes laws — those who violate them suffer the penalty. If we look from effects to their causes, we can trace to the habits and customs of women many of the evils which have vitiated the human family. It cannot be expected that infirm parents, groaning under a load of disease, will give to the world an iron race. It should not be expected that women who shut themselves in from the inspiring air and sunlight of heaven, confining their labors entirely to the house or living in indolent luxury, will "stamp their race with signa- tures of majestic grace," or transmit to the world offspring possessed of sound mental and physical organizations. As reasonably may we look for pure sparkling waters to flow from a malignant morass. There are those of the sex that have observed and reflected much, who know and acknowledge that women are in fault, criminally so, for scores of the complaints from which the race suffer. With such lies the weighty duty of commencing a reform, which shall restore to the human constitution some of its pristine tone. At the present time few of our girls reach the age of twenty in a sound condition. Large numbers marry and become mothers, — give to the world a suffering offspring, and themselves drag out lives of pain. So it will ever be until education and fashions accord better with the dictates of nature, until parents observe the laws of health themselves and require them to be observed in the treatment cf their children. Take a fair girl of seventeen or eighteen, who has been so fortunate as to inherit no disease and to pass through the periods of infancy and school with no other misfortune than to come out rather delicate^ teach her by example to submit to fashions, however opposed to the dictates of sound sense and the demands of sound health they may be, encircle her waist with whalebones and steel ; load her hips with skirts, corded, quilted, hooped and starched, tied tensely around the person to keep them in position ; have her adopt the sedentary habits of thousands of our women, and then in a few years look at the wonoan you have recreated from the noble girl. KESPOXSIBILITY OF WOMEN. 678 Her whole body is in an abnormal state. Weakness and disease prey upon a forra, which, had a reasonable course been pursued, would have been bounding with health. Thus it is that Providence sends afflictions ! ! Were they not invited ? If women would rejoice in the fulness of life, if they would give to the world an ofTspring beautiful and noble, let them make the laws of health the great study of life, and the instruction of their children therein one of their great duties. Let them throw aside whalebones and steel, and make easy but elegant cos- tumes. Let them untie the strings which are doing a work as fatal as the hangman's cord. Let every garment be suspended from the shoulders. Let ever}'- limb have scope for action. Let them spend several hours per diem in the invigorating air which God has adapted for their lungs. Teachers are grossly in fault for not bringing these things forcibly before their pupils, both in practice and in theory. The long processionci formed to take exercise in measured pace, for half an hour in the twenty-four, leave no vivid impression upon the pupil except a remembrance of the stupidity of the performance. Let scholars ^eeZ the pleasure of living at least three hours per diem in the open air, and they will readily comprehend when instructed- that it is an agreeable duty to do so. The health of morals and intellect sympathizes with that of the body. If the latter becomes prostrate the former may become enfeebled. It would therefore seem appropriate for our eloquent divines to inculcate, occasionally, lessons upon the important subject of health and the responsibilities of every intelligent being. The effect would doubtless be as beneficial to the human fitmily as homilies upon natural depravity or original sin. June Isle. N'oTE BY THE Editor. — Theabove topic is one of immense importance, which ought not to be considered out of place in any journal, moral, scientific, or political, for sound minds can only be looked for in sound bodies, and perma- nent defects in one lead to the ruin of all our social and political institutions. We were not aware that abnormal organizations were so common as they are represented by our correspondent, but we are quite certain that reform in this matter is imperatively demanded, and that we have yet to endure a large part of the penalty for our sin in these matters. From this there is no escape. There is no pardoning power. The law is inexorable. We commend this matter to the serious attention of cur readers. Wo only add that natural law has herein provided against the permanance of a1! assumed superiority in the wealthy classes. They are obliged to resort to external appendages, to costly dresses and extravagant modes of living and peculiar habits of life, in order to distinguish themselves from their neighbors. These very habits ruin both mind and body in about two generations, and not nnly reduce them to the ordinary level in personal attractiveness, &c., but to objects of pity, demanding the sympathies even of the poor. A " millionaire" once said to us, *' I would give you every dollar I am worth for your legs." So the wheel turns. Let not those who are getting up exhibit so much folly as their predecessors. Yet we are sorry to say we think they furnish too much evidence that they are becoming the silliest of all fools who have preceded them. 42 674 AGRICULTURAL BUREAU. AN AGRICULTURAL BUREAU. WASHiNaxoN, April 4, 1856. The following very interesting letter, addressed to the Agricultural Com- mittee in the House of Representatives, exhibits the scope, objects and opera- tions of a bureau of the Government, yet in its infancy, but which is fast be- coming one of the most practically useful and important. United States Patent Office, March 31, 1856. Agreeably to request, herewith I furnish you with some of the principal reasons why Congress should increase the agricultural appropriations here- after to be expended by this office with some of the benefits to the country which have already resulted from the appropriations made years past. One of the prime objects of these appropriations has been the introduction of new and useful vegetable products hitherto unknown in the United States, and the increase and dissemination of those of superior qualities which had already been cultivated or otherwise known. Measures have been taken to procure from every quarter of the globe, such seeds, plants, roots and cut- tings as would be likely to succeed in any part of the country, and placing them in the hands of persons who were the most likely to test their adapta- tion to our climate and soil. As a matter of course, many of the experiments thus made unavoidably proved abortive ; but in numerous cases, they were attended with the most signal success, and a single product, in the opmion of competent judges, has added millions to our resources. For instance, a va- riety of wheat known as the " Mediterranean," which was brought to this country a few years ago, has proved highly productive, hardy and maturing several days earlier than other varieties, thereby escaping the ravages of in- sects and rust, besides being sooner ready for market. "Within the last year no less than seventeen varities of wheat have been introduced from distant parts of the globe, and distributed in various sections of the Union, most of which promise to ba attended with good success. The" Indian mixed" or "Dourah corn," of African origin, has also been introduced, and it constitutes a valuable crop in the South. The "Japan pea," unsurpassed by all the others in its yield, believed to be of Eastern origin has been cultivated in various parts of the country with re- markable results. The " Chinese yam," originally from China, but more recently from France, which promises to serve as an excellent substitute both for the sweet and common potato, has been sufficiently tested to prove its value in the Southern as well as in the Middle States. The " chufa" or " earth a mond," a small tuberous esculent, from the south of Spain, which has naturalized itself to our soil and climate, has proved pro- lific in its yield when grown in light sandy soils, as well as those which are rich, and bids fair to become a valuable forage crop for cattle and swine. At least thirty varieties of turnip seed, including the best cultivated in England, as well as on the continent in Europe, have been imported and dis- seminated in every State and Territory of the Union. The benefits are al- ready apparent. Similar experiments are now being instituted with all the leading varieties of grasses, cabbages and peas of Europe, the results of which will soon be made known. Among the forage crops it may be mentioned that the Chinese sugar cane (So gho Suche}, anew gramineous plant, of Chinese origin, but more recently AGRICULTURAL BUREAU. 675 from France, has been introduced and has proved itself well adapted to the geographical range of Indian corn. The amount of fodder which it will pro- duce to the acre is estimated to be twenty-five tons ; the stalks of which are filled with a rich saccharine juice, the whole plant being devoured with avidi- ty by cattle, horses and swine. It is of easy cultivation, being similar to that of maize or broom corn ; and if the seeds are sown early in May in the Middle States, two crops of fodder can be raised from the same roots in the season — one about the first of August, and the other in October. Another valuable forage crop, the " German millet" {Mohn de Hongrie) has been introduced from France, which is very productive, of quick growth, resists drought, and flourishes well in dry soils. Among the cuttings of fruits trees and vines which have been introduced may be mentioned the "Prune d'Ageu," the "Prune Sainte Catharine," and the " Vigne Corinth." The two former have been grafted on the common plum in all the States north of Pennsylvania, and on the mountainous dis- tricts of that State, Maryland and Virginia. From the success which has attended this experiment, there is every reason to hope that there will soon be produced sufiicient dried prunes in those regions to supply the wants of the whole Union. Among the seeds of indigenous growth, which have been selected and distributed, in reference to their superior qualities, as well as to their probable adaptedness to certain par/illels and localities, and which have proved highly productive, there may be noted several varieties of Indian corn. Among these are the " Improved King Philip," or brown corn obtained from an island in a lake in New-Hampshire, which was extensively distribu- ted in all the States north of New-Jersey, and the mountainous districts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The result has been that it matured in less than ninety days from the time of planting, (about the middle of June,) and yielded, in one instance 134 bushels of shelled corn to the acre. An- other superior variety, from New-Mexico, the " New-Mexico White Flint," has been distributed, which appears to be adapted to the entire corn region south of Massachusetts. For ordinary use, either green or dry, its quality of excellence is unsurpassed. Among the products which it has been proposed to introduce from abroad, with a view of making special experiments, to be conducted by agricultural societies or by individuals in the several States and Territories of the Union, may be named considerable quantities of all the best varities of wheat and of other cereals of the globe. In addition to these there might be imported the seeds, roots or cuttings of all the principal economical plants and trees known, and experimented upon in a similar manner. In connection with the subject I would suggest the expediency of Congress making the annual appropriations for the purpose of agriculture sufficiently early in the season to order most of the seeds to be grown the approaching season, so that they may be received in time for distribution by the first of January or before. For it has been found by experience that when large orders for seeds have been made after the month of April or May, it was im- practicable for the seedsman to furnish an adequate supply without procur- ing them from various sources and this too often requiring several months. Hence most of the seeds would arrive too late for the southern and middle sections of the Union ; or if they were attempted to be kept over till the next fall they would be either devoured by vermin or insects or rendered worthless by age. Another feature connected with these appropriations which appears to need 676 BUTTER MAKING. simplification or reform, is some more feasible and equitable plan of disposing- of these seeds than had been adopted heretofore. I would therefore, suggest that, instead of distributing of them promiscu- ously, through members of Congress, societies or individuals, who may apply directly for them at the Patent Office, suitable arrangements be made by said members for them to be sent, in bundles not exceeding four pounds weight, franked by the Commissioner of Patents, to the State, Territorial and county agricultural societies, or to the Secretaries of States or Territories or County Clerks, where there are no such societies, to be distributed by mail or other- wise, to proper individuals residing in each State, Territory or county, for trial or special experiment, with a request that each recipient shall report the result for the use of the Patent Office. To insure the free and speedy transport of each small packet of cuttings or seeds, an appropriate stamp might be placed upon it, bearing the imprint of the name of the member of Congress or Territorial delegate in whose district or territory any such society may be located, or in which any Secretary of State or Territory, or County Clerk may reside. The apportionment of the packets sent to the State societies might bear a stamp containing the name of the Senators of each of the States respectively. This change can only be effected by an amendment in the postal law, and necessarily would come before the Committee on Post Offices. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, D, J. Brown. Hon. David P. Holloway, Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, House Representatives, United States. BUTTER MAKING Editor Ohio Farmer. — Dear Sir : — In the 43d number of the current volume of the Ohio Farmer, I observe an inquiry from Mr. Alden, on the subject of making butter from sweet cream. He affirms that " Agricultural books and journals tell us that butter cannot be made from sweet cream." And then declares that the life-long practice of his mother contradicts the teaching of the " books" on this subject. There is, perhaps no branch of do- mestic economy the theory of which is so little understood by those who practice it as the art of butter making. The first truth to be learned on this subject is, that butter is not made by churning ! All the butter that can, by any process, be procured from cream or milk, exists in the milk when drawn from the cow, and the business of the dairy-man is to ascertain how it can be most perfectly separated from the other proximate elements of the milk with the least labor, and carry with it the fewest impurities, or substances other than butter. In newly-drawn milk the butter exists in the form of ex- ceedingly minute globules, each wrapped in a very delicate membrane of cheesy matter (casein) and floating promiscuously through the fluid. If the milk be suffered to stand at rest for a few hours, butter being lighter than milk, the globules find their place at the surface acccording to the laws of gravitation. If the new milk be heated to 180^ and suffered to cool, the globules, swelled by the heating, their envelopes thickened by accumulating cheesy matter from the milk, will rise to the surface more rapidly and form a heavier and thicker coat of cream which, on being churned will yield STONE FOR PAVING. 677 more pounds not indeed of butter, but of a compound of butter, casein and. sugar of milk, which has a very rich flavor when fresh, but soon become ran- cid and unfit for the table. But to the question of Mr. Alden. Churning is but the breaking of these globules, that the particles of butter may cohere together and form a mass more or less solid. This at first would seem to be a mere mechanical action, but connected with it, or least accompanying it, are chemical changes, whose invariable presence leads us to infer that they constitute an essential part of the process. These are, first, an elevation of temperature, frequently amounting to 10", if the "butter comes" rapidly. And, second, the formation of lactic acid ; for if milk be churned as soon as drawn from the cow, and butter be separated, the butter-milk will be found to contain acid, though it may not taste very sour. Whether this lac- tic acid is a cause or an effect of the separation of the butter, has not been satisfactorily settled, but that it is always present after butter has been churned, is a well ascertained fact, and this fact, all scientific books on the dairy assert. Johnson, Ballaatyne, Ayton and Traill all teach that " butter made from sweet cream is less in quantity, and require more labor to produce it, and is there- fore unprofitable." In this they admit that it may be thus made. But that sugar of milk is converted into a lactic acid, when butter is churned, is a well ascertained fact. — Ohio Farmer. A NEW STONE FOR STREET PAVING. A GOOD article for pavement is one of the most pressing demands now madeujion the government of this and other commercial cities. The safety of persons and animals, and economy, in a matter involving so much expense, and where so much is at hazard which money cannot buy, cannot fail to engage the attention of all conversant with such matters. Various inventions have been made and tried, with various success. New projects are constantly started, having more or less claim to consideration. Among other claim- ants, we invite attention to a new stone, not hitherto used for this purpose, found in large quantities, we are informed, in Dutchess County. Our atten- tion has been called to it by Messrs. Bell & McEntee, of Kingston, proprietors of the ledge, we believe. It is a peculiar style of granite, nearly white from the abundance of its quartz, in a mountain, forming one of the ranges of the Catskills, and is known there, as the Esopus stone. It is used extensively for mill stones, and while it is difficult to reduce it to powder it is still more difficult and apparently impossible to reduce it to a polish. Hence it pro- raises, to be both durable and safe for horses. These stones are taken frequently on high ascents, and the roads leading to them are in many places bedded with this stone ; forming inclined plains of several rods each, in length. In drawing heavy loads over these beds it lias been a subject of remark among the quarryraen that a " horse would pull his shoes off" sooner than slip." Heavy loads have been daily drawn over these nature-made pavements, and man has had only to observe, to determine what should be done in a city so sadly situated in regard to its- streets as New- York. 678 CAli BiiEAK BLOCKS. BARREL MAKING MACHINE. We had an opportunity, a few days since, of witnessing the operation of an ingenious machine owned by the Livermore Manufacturing Company, for making barrels and tight casks. The machine is in operation at Alcott's Mills, Broadway, Cambridgeport, Mass., and is worth a visit from those in- terested in such matters. The strips of wood which are to be made into staves having been first heated, are passed through a machine containing nu- merous rollers, under which they receive the requisite hend, both lengthwise and traversely. They are then put into another machine, where by an inge- nious movement they are cut at both ends, grooved, and planed at the sides, so that they are turned out perfect staves of uniform length and width, all being precisely of the same shape, in all respects. Sixteen of these make a barrel. There is a separate machine for cutting out the round heads of the barrels. The machine which bends the staves turns out enough for 600 barrels in a day. Four of the other machines, in operation at the same time keep pace with it in completing them. The work is expeditiously and easily done. It is claimed that the barrels thus made are fifteen per cent, stronger than those made by hand ; and the staves being precisely uniform, the business of putting them together becomes very simple. The stock is sea- soned before passing throuj;h the machine, and the barrels are thus made perfectly tight and not liable to shrinkage. The apparatus deserves the at- tention of dealers in flour and provisions. The number of barrels used in this country is immense — it is stated that not less than fifty million in a year are required for the ordinary demands of business. Under these circumstances, a machine which abridges the labor of manu- facture and improves the quality of the article, becomes especially valuable. — Exchange. PAIGE'S ADJUSTABLE CAR BREAK BLOCKS. J=zx The frequent pressure of the break upon the periphery of the wheel neces- sarily produces a rapid waste of material, whether it be iron, or wood, and leather. Each of those substances have been used, and perhaps each has some advantage over the others. But the cheapest material, of course, is wood, and ENGLISH PATENTS. 679 if the block can be so arranged as to allow of frequent change at a trifling cost, then the great object in view is, so far, already realized. But if any plan can be devised by which a partial adjustment of the same material can be secured, the material itself being also cheap, then there would seem to be no further room for improvement, for, as already stated, wear is inevitable. So far as we can percieve, this has been done by the inventor named at our caption. A wooden block is brought into contact with the surface of the wheel, and is so arranged, in a socket, that it can be adjusted, by the rise of screws, or to any desired position. As it is worn away by friction, the block is placed in the socket nearer to the wheel, until its material is almost entirely destroyed. Two stout plates of iron confine a hard plank of suitable width, which may be adjusted by bolts, at any desired distance from the wheel. All that is neces- sary to effect this change is to loosen the bolts, driving the block forward in the socket and then re-tighten it by turning the screws or bolts. This block has been in use on the Hudson River Railroad about six months, and but three out of the eight blocks have required any change, and these three required attention only because the spring which forces the block from the wheel was too weak. Other railroads have the same block in use as an experiment, and with all it is highly successful. The whole arrangement is readily seen by a glance at the annexed engraving. The beams now in use may be employed in attaching these blocks with very little expense, no change being necessary except the fitting of the ends to the socket. The agent for this patent is C. Diosmore, of the " Railroad Guide." English Patents. An improved construction of Gun-lock. By John Coney, of Newhall, Hill, Birmingham. — The object of this invention is to simplify the construc- tion of gun and pistol locks, and also, at the same time, to provide a simple means for preventing the premature discharge of fire-arms. In carrying out his invention the patentee connects the seer with the hammer, so that they shall move together under the action of the main spring. Ttie seer is provided with retaining notches for half-cock and whoie-cock, which notches catch against the V-edge of a bearing pin projecting from the inner face of the lock-plate, and thereby hold the hammer at the required position. The trigger is so arranged with respect to the seer (upon which it acts to discharge the piece,) that when the lock is at half-cock, the trigger will be out of reach of the seer, and therefore, if accidentally pulled, will not act upon the lock. This advantage is obtained by reason of the seer, through its direct connection with the hammer, being caused to travel with the hammer. Improvements in Marine Steam-Engines. By James Biden, of Gos- port, Hampshire. — This invention consists in feeding the boilers of marine steam-engines with fresh water, obtained by the condensation of steam after having been employed in the steam-cyliuders. The manner of carrying this object into effect is as follows : — Pipes leading from the cylinders are 680 ENGLISH PATENTS. passed into the water outside of the ship at one side thereof, and carried round from the stern to the other side of the ship. They then enter and open into a reservoir in the hold or other convenient part of the ship. This reservoir is formed with two compartments, one above the other, and the pipes communicate with the lower one thereof. The upper compartment is kept filled with fresh water, and it communicates with the lower compart- ment by means of a ball-cock or fioat-valve ; and the lower compartment communicates, by means of a pipe, with the atmosphere, to allow any un- condensed steam to blow off. As the steam from the cylinders passes througli the before-mentioned pipes it becomes condensed, and the fresh water, pro- duced by such condensation, will flow into the lower compartment of the re- servoir, whence it may be pumped, as required, into the boilers. A pipe also leads from the steam-chest to the condensing-pipes, so that when tho engine is not at work, any excess of steam may be condensed and conducte'ithin the hull ; through which channel the pipes for conducting the steam from the cylinders are made to pass. A New Metallic Alloy. By Frangois Joseph Anger, of Stamford street. — In conjunction with the metals ordinarily used in the manufacture of copper alloys the patentee mixes certain compound substances which are not in the metallic state, but which, during the process of the manufacture, become elementary, and paitly enter into the composition of the alloy, and impart to it properties which it otherwise would not possess — being remarkable in its resemblance to gold, not changing color by use, — and being dense, malleable, ductile, homogeneous, and sonorous, to a marked degree. The following is the process : — In a crucible the patentee fir.4 melts 100 parts of good copper, and, while in a perfect state of fusion, he adds 17 parts of zinc, 6 parts of magnesite, or substance of a like nature, though perhaps difltering in name, 3.60 parts of ammonia or salt of ammonia, 1.80 parts of quick-lime or other calx, and 9 parts of crude tartar. The crucible is then covered, and the whole allowed to come to a complete state of fusion ; when it may be poured into moulds of the necessary shape, or into ingots or bars, to be afterwards shaped for articles of use. If the metal be required of a more tenacious character, tin may be substituted for zinc. According to the ductility or shade of color of the metal which may be required, the propor- tions of zinc, tin, magnesite, ammonia or salts, quick-lime, and crude tartar, are varied. An Improvement in Dyeing Cloth. By Thomas Richardson, of Leeds. — The main object of this invention is to produce a permanent black dye in woolen cloths, and at a less cost than the best black dyes are at };resent ob- tained. For this purpose the patentee mordants the cloth with bichromate of potash, and then submits them to a bath composed of sulphate of indigo and other suitable dyeing materials. In order to prepare, say, six ends of cloth, he pours into a vesssel of the ordinary kind used by dyers, any requisite quantity of water, and adds there- to four pounds of bichromate of potash, three pounds of r^d argol (bitai- ENGLISH PATENTS. 681 trate of potash.) and six pounds of commercial sulphuric acid. The contents of the Vessel are heated to the boiling point, and the woolen cloth is placed therein and boiled for one hour, it being turned over by means of a winch to keep it even. The cloth is removed from the vessel, and hung over a horse- tree to drain away the superfluous liquor ; after which the cloth is ready to undergo the dyeing operation. The dyeing liquor is prepared in a second vessel, similar to that used in the first operation. For this purpose the vessel is filled with water ; and one hundred pounds of logwood, four pounds of camwood or other red wood, two pounds of fustic, four pounds of the sulphate of indigo, and three pounds of sulphuric acid are added thereto. This mixture is heated to about 200° Fahr. and the cloth is then entered ; the liquor being kept to boiling point for about one hour and twenty minutes. During this time (which will in general suffice for completing the dyeing operation) the cloth is turned over frequently by means of a winch to insure the thorough expo- sure of the whole body of the fabric to the dyeing liquor. It is next re- moved from the dye vessel, and rinsed in a washing machine along with a little fuller's earth. With a smaller proportion of bichromate of potash and logwood than is given above, a blue color, resembling indigo dyed blue, may be obtained. When a full black is required, it will be found an improvement to use a little acetate of lead. Improvement in Pbeparing Pulp or Pulpous Material, applicable IN' the Manufacture of Paper, and for other useful purposes. Bt Francis Burke, of Woodlands, Montserrat, British West Indies. — This in- vention consists of a mode of reducing vegetable substances to a state of pulpj. applicable to the manufacture of paper and for other useful purposes. The object of the inventor is to convert the fibres of vegetables into pulp, without having recourse to the process of separating the fibrous matter from the other component parts of vegetable substances ; and to effect this object, he adopts means for simultaneously or in one process reducing the fibres to pulp, and separating the pulp from the gummy and other vegetable matters with which they are combined. The vegetable substances to which the pro- cess is applicable are the plants known as the plantain, the banana, and the aloe, and any other vegetable substances containing fibrous matters from which the other matters contained therein can be separated by water, whilit undergoing the operation hereinafter described. Wheu necessary, the vegetable maiter to be operated upon is first cut, crushed, or bruised, for the purpose of reducing it to such a state of division as will permitof its introduction into a mill to be ground. If the vegetable be plantain, banana, aloe, or any other similar vegetable substance in a green state, it is preferred to crush it between rollers, so as to deprive it of its fluid matters. To reduce the vegetable matters to pieces of a convenient size, a chafl- cutter, saw, or other convenient means may be used, according to the nature of the material. The material thus prepared, is ground in a mill made of a pair of plain stones, similar to those of an ordinary flour mill, with the eye of the runner or upper stone somewhat enlarged, so as to facilitate the admis- sion of the material. Either the upper or the lower stone of the mill may be made the runner ; but it is most convenient to have the upper stone the runner, and motion may be given to it in the same way as in ordinary flour mills. The material to be ground is fed simultaneously with a stream of water into the eye of the 632 ENGLISH PATENTS. mill ; the supply of water being sufficient to convert the vegetable material when round into a flaid pulp. The water used may be either hot or cold, but cold water is preferred and when necessary, any chemical agent may be dissolved in it to facilitate the separation of the fibres from the other vegetable matters with which they may be mixed. The vegetable fibres, as they are ground to a pulp, are thrown out at the periphery of the stones, round which a trough is placed to receive it ; from whence it runs into suitable sieves, by which the fibrous pulp is se- parated from the water, which passes away carrying with it the soluble mat- ters, and also many minutely-divided insoluble or non-fibrous matters which may have been separated from the fibrous matters by the action of the mill. The pulp of vegetable fibres, thus prepared, may, if desired, be bleached and otherwise treated in like manner as pulp prepared or obtained in any other manner, and may also be used or applied in the manufacture of paper, mill- board, or papier mache, or for any other purpose for which it may be ap- plicable The pulp, thus prepared, may be compressed into forms or masses, so as to be stored for use, or more conveniently transported to a place of manufacture. Improvements in Apparatus for Copying Letters and other Docu- ments. By Alexander Robert Terry, of Adelphi-Terrace. — The object of this invention is to combine apparatus with the cover of a book (composed of suitable paper) in such manner that the act of closing the book shall be the means of copying a letter or letters or other written documents inserted between the leaves of such book. For this purpose, a metal frame is applied to each lid of a book, and when the book is closed they are connected to- gether by links, which are attached to one frame, and hook on to projections on the frame of the other lid. By this means the two frames are drawn thightly together, and the papers between the covers is compressed so as to yield copies as efi'ectually as when a copying-press is used. Improvements in the Manufacture of Tyres for Wheels. By Herbert Mountford, of Derby — This invention has for its object improve- ments in the manufacture of the tyres for wheels, in order to adapt the wheels to run at different times on hard land and soft, as circumstances may require. For this purpose the tyre for the wheel is rolled, on its exterior surface, with a projecting longitudinal rib, which may be square or rounding; so that when the wheel is on a hard road, or surface, the tyre will run on its longi- tudinal rib ; but when on soft land, the rib will penetrate, and the whole breadth of the tyre will rest on the land. The various forms of tyre, according to this invention, are made by grooved rollers, employing wrought-iron or steel, or wrought-iron and steel combined, or an any other metal. Improvement in the Construction of Harrows. By Edward Ham- mond Bentall, of Heybridge. — This invention relates to the fixiog of the tines or teeth of harrows in their sockets in such a manner that they will be prevented from working loose. To this end, square or rectangular socket holes are punched in the beams to receive the squared or angular part of the stem of the harrow-teeth or tines : and through the cross bars round holes are punched, through which the threaded end of the tine projects to receive a nut, as usual. When the nut is screwed up tight, it is secured in its place by riveting or otherwise securing to the bar an abutting piece, which will ENGLISH PATENTS. 683 fit close against one side of the nut, and thereby prevent it from turning on the tine ; and the tine itself being prevented from turning on its centre by fitting into the square or rectangular socket in the beam. Improvements in the Manufactare of Ordnance Shells and other Hollow Vessels. By Richard Peters, of Union-street Borough. — This invention consists in the employment of a hollow mould, made in two or more parts, into which the metal or other material to be moulded, is poured through a pipe, which descends about midway into the mould, — and impart- ing to the mould, after a sufficient amount of metal or other substance in a fluid or a semi-fluid state has been poured therein, two centrifugal motions at right angles or nearly so to each other. The centrifugal force acting in all directions, distributes the contents of the mould evenly all round the inside thereof; while the internal pipe acts as a vent for the escape of air and gases, and prevents any considerable quantity of material (if any) being forced there- from. On stopping the two motions and opening the mould, the hollow article will drop out perfectly formed. When making a shell, a ferrule, threaded on \U inside, is set round the internal pipe and being incorporated with the shell, it will be ready for receiving a fuse threaded with a correspond- ing screw. Improvement in the Manufacture of Gun-Barels, Pipes, and Tubes. Bv Samuel Pearson, of Woolwich. — This invention refers to the manufac- ture of twisted barrels and pipes. According to the method of forming such barrels as now practised, a strip of metal is wound spirally round a centre, — the edges of the strip forming butt or scarf joints, which are found in prac- tice to be faulty. Now this improvement consists in forming barrels and pipes of two V-shaped strips of metal, which are wound spirally round a cen- tre ; the base of the V in one strip being placed nearest the centre, while the apex or narrow part of the upper V-shaped pitce is placed downward, or nearest the centre ; whereby the spaces between the first strip will be filled up, and after being rolled and welded in the usual manner, or otherwise finished, will form a perfectly tight and solid barrel or pipe. Improvement in Coating Wrought Iron. By Edmund Morewood, and George Rogers, of Enfield. — In the manufacture of japanners' ware, painted work, and for a great variety of purposes, very large quantities of tin plate, and sheets of iron coated with alloys of tin, or zinc, are used, and in coating these and also other forms of wrought-iron. it has been usual to dip the iron into the melted coating metal, by which the iron has become coated with a larger proportion of tin or of its alloy, or of zinc, than is required for japanned ware, painted work, and a great variety of other purposes. Hence, the cost is unnecessarily increased, and the iron, by being dipped into the melted metal, is more or less injured in its toughness, and is rendered less flat and even on its surfaces. In some cases it has been the practice previous to dipping sheets, plates, and other forms of wrought iron into melted tin or zinc — to deposit upon them a thin coating of tin from a solution of that metal ; and such deposited coating of tin on wrought-iron, the patentees have found sufficient when protected, as herein described, for japan-ware, painted work, and for a variety of other purposes. The present invention consists in giving to sheets, plates, or other forms of wrought-iron, a coating of tin from a solution (omitting the dipping in melted tin or its alloy, or zinc), and in afterwards applying a non metallic 684 ENGLISH PATENTS. coating or coatings of a material or compound which is repellent of moisture, and which may be used at so low a temperature as to leave the iron as nearly as possible with its original form and toughness. For this coating the patentees prefer a resinous or such like matter as will not interfere with but rather aid the process of soldering the iron, when it may be desired to do so. Sheets, plates, or other forms of wrought-iron having been coated by a de- position of tin from a solution (which, separately, is not claimed) are to be washed with water (for which purpose, a stream of running water, either hot or cold, should be used), in order to free them as much as possible from the solution of tin or other matter which they may have taken up. When well washed, the pieces of wrought-iron are coated with varnish or japan. The preparation preferred, is about two-thirds rosin, and one-third grease or tallow — keeping the temperature of the mixture at about 240^^ Fahr., or at such a point, that on withdrawing the metal from the hot mix- ture, the moisture will have been boiled oti' from the surfcices, and a thin coating of the mixture will be found to cover the metal. This thin coating is reduced by rubbing the metal in hot bran or sawdust, placed in a pan, and kept heated with boiling water underneath, or by other suitable arrange- ms^nts. Or the inventors dry the soluiion tinned articles in an oven or over a coke fire) or otherwise, immediately after washing, and then, instead of coating them by dipping into the before-mentioned melted mixture of rosin and grease, they dip them int ) a solution of rosin and tallow dissolved in coal of naphtha in the proportion of two ounces of tallow and ten ounces of rosin to one gallon of coal naphtha, at the ordinary temperature of the at- mosphere; and after allowing the aitic'es to stand in order to dry, they im- merse them in the solution of shellac and rosin, hereafter mentioned. The sheets, plates, or other articles coated with rosin and tallow are dipped into a solution of shellac, or shellac and rosin, in the proportion of three-fourths shellac to one-fourth rosin, dissolved in wood naphtha or alchohol, say about three quarters of a pound of shellac and one quarter of a pound of rosin in two gallons of wood spirit or strong alcohol, of fifty to sixty degrees above English proof; by which means, a coating which will be moi.^^ture repellent, is obtained. By thus coating sheets, plates, and other forms of wrought-iron with tin from a solution, and afterwards protecting or preserving the same by a moisture-repellent coating or coalings of the above-described character, a manufacture is produced highly usesul for a great variety of purposes — the sheets and plates, nearly, if not entirely, retaining their flatness and the iron its toughness and the sheets or plates admit of being bended or shaped; and such coated metal is valuable for a great variety of useful purposes. Improvements in Dveing or Coloring the Hides and Skins op Ani- mals. By Isaie Lippman, of Rue Gei ftVoy Saint Hiliare, Paris. — This inven- tion consists, in the first place, in submitting hides and skins to the process of dyeing before they are tanned. According to the plans now in use the skins or hides are usually tanned first, and then dyed or colored afterwards ; but by reversing these processes, tlic patentee has discovered that considerable advantages are obtained. By dyeing the skins before tanning them, processes and materials which are cheaper and better than those usually adopted, may be employed ; a more permanent color will also be obtained than when the skins are subjected to the ordinary process, and will even resist the action of acids. There is also considerable economy in the labor incidental to the pro- ROUTE TO riTTSBURGH. 6S5 cess, and the skins or hides, when prepared according to the improved plnn, are more supple and softer than when the ordinary process is employed. _ The second improvement relates to a mode of dyeing the skins or hidos so as to present a variegated or marbled appearance. This is effected by simply crumpling the skins up, and tightly securing them in this state while they are submitted to the action of the coloring matter in the dyeing vat. The result will be, that the coloring matter wdl only penetrate and act on certain parts of the skins, leaving certain other parts unaffected, and upon unfolding the skin it will present a mottled appearance. This operation may be repeated two, three, or more times in different colored dyes, the skins being of course unfolded and crumpled up again previous to every opera- tion, so that fresh surfaces may be presented. This mode of mottling or orna- menting skins may be employed either before or after the skins or hides have been tanned. The third head of the invention relates to a method of imparling a metal- lic lustre to skins or hides. For this purpose, the skins are submitted to the action of certain dyeing materials which have the property of communicating this appearance thereto. The dye-wood which is found most suitable for this purpose is logwood (known in France as bois de camjoeche ;) but other va- rieties of dye-woods may be employed under certaia circumstances. When the skins have been submitted for a suitable length of time to the operation of the dye, they are afterwards subjected to the action of chemical salts (by preference alkaline salts), which will cause the metallic appearance to conae out on the surface of the skin or hide. The patentee claims, "First, — submitting hides or skins to the process of dyeing before being tanned. Second, the method herein described, or any mere modification thereof, of imparting to skins or hides a moi.tled appear- ance. Third, — the method herein described, or any mere modification there- of, of imparting to the surface of hides and skins a metallic lustre." ROUTE FROM NE^Y-YORK TO PITTSBURGn. CAMDEN AND AMBOT RAILROAD, PENNSYLVANIA CENTRAL RAILROAD, READING RAILROAD, SUSQUEHANNA AND DAUPHIN RAILROAD, We propose describing sundry routes from this city to distant points, as occasion may offer, as a sort of general guide to the traveler. The route from New- York to the Great West, by the Camden and Amboy railroad to Philadelphia, thence to Pittsburgh by the Pa. Central, is one of the most picturesque and romantic in the Eastern portion of the Union. Commencing at this city, we take the steamer for Amboy, and passing through the bay of New- York, we obtain a fine view of Castle Garden, Gov- ernor's Island, the bay, and the city, and are regaled with the fresh sea-breeze. Passing New-Brighton on Staten Island we enter the Kills, and are soon at Amboy, Here the cars are taken for Camden, and passing through the south- ern portion of New-Jersey, we arrive at Philadelphia in five hours from start- ing. This road is under the superintendence of W, H. Galsmer, Erovement in the construction of envelopes. Wm. Murer, of New-York, for improvement in locks. Earl Parker and Wm. Reynolds, ofinEast Hart- ford, Conn., for Automatic thermohydro-elaio pheumatic valve. Andrew Patterson, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for im- provement in door locks. Sanford S. Perry, of the county of Charles City, Va., for improvement in charring wood. H. H. Smith, of Cincinnati, 0., for improved governor valve for steam engines. P. H. Wait, of Sandy Hill, N. Y., for improve- ment in the felt guide of paper of machines. Edward Whiteley, of Boston, M.-.ss., for imrove- ment in boilers for cooking by steam. Anson Walcott, of East Bloomfield, N. Y., for improved method of treating surface springs. Edwin Young, of Philadelphia, Pa., for improved slate frame. Wm. W. Cotton, of New-York, N. Y., for ma- chine for making envelopes. Jacob W. Goodwin and Moses C. Hawkins, of Edinborough, Pa., for improved method of regu lating pumps, by ivind wheels, John D. Heaton, of Dixon, 111., for improved ar- rangement of valves for hydraulic engines. Chas. Harrison, of New-York, N. Y'., for basin cocks. Jesse Lincoln, of Uniontown, Pa., for improve- ment in machines for sowing seed broad cast. E. P. Lacey, of Rochester, N. Y., for improve- ment in corn planters. Michael Nickermann, of Pittsburg, Pa., for chuck for lathes. Robert G. Pine, Sing Sing, N. Y^., for improved machine for polishing buckles. Martin Snow, of North Bridgewater, Mass., for improved spoke shave. Edward J. Updegraff, of York, Pa., for improved machine for bending wood. Jno. Demarest, of Mott Haven, N. Y'., asigno'' to "The J. L. Mott Iron Works," of same plac'- for improved core bar for pipe moulding. Royal Hatch, of Stafford, Vt., assignor to Henry C. Hatch, of same place, for improvement in wash boards. Julius Bevin, of Unadilla Forks, N. Y., assignor to himself and Samuel N, Stillman of same place, for improvement in boxes for axles. R. M. Evans, of Laconia, N. II., assignor to him- self and Chas. S. Gale, of same place, for improve- ment in railroad car brake. Thomas Priestly, of Saxonville, Mass., assignor to Daniel Holden, of same i)lace, for improvement in oil cans. John Sawyer, of Fitchburgh, Mass., assignor to himself and Thomas Hale, of same place, for im- proved apparatus for heating and ventilating buildings. Wm. H. Low, of Albany, N. Y., for machines for making envelopes. John P. Sherwood, of Fort Edward, N. Y., for improvement in nail plate feeding machines. Alva B. Taylor, of Newark, N. J., for improve- ment in machinery for making hat bodies. William P. Thomas, of Ilillsboro, Ind., for im- provement in harness for slioeing horses. Isaac Van Bunschoten, of New-York, N. Y., for improvement in Argand lamps for burning rosin oil. Israel W. Ward, of Birmingham, Pa., for im- proved adjustment in boring machines. Ante- dated Feb. 16,1856. Hiram AY ells, of Florence, Mass., for improved method of suspending circular saw spindles. Geo. Wellraan, of Lowell, Mass., for improve- ment in stripping top flats of carding machines. Patented in England November 25, 1353. Liman Wight, of Benton, Pa., for improvement in spinning wheels. James II. Wilson, Jr., of Nashville, Tenn., for safety apparatus to be applied to harnesses and thrills of vehicles. tjjc |)l0iig!), tijc f 00111, anil tl)e ^m\l Vol. Vm. JUNE, 185G. No. 12. WOOL AND WOOLENS. We invite tbe attentioa of the public to the present and prospective con- dition of our woolen manufactures, and the multitude of interests that are clustered around that great center. But, like one who enters a strange city, in which inviting avenues, extending in diverse directions, tempt bim to wander, so we scarcely know what view we ought to present to our readers. One of the great evils of sectional or party divisions aud the ascendancy of one or other clique or clan inevitably produces, is the esss-ntia! change in the meaning of words. " The country is prosperous" is made to mean any- thing or nothing, according to circumstances. la New-York, it m-^aiis ihat importers are doing an extensive busmess, that their country customers yet bold out pretty well, and that the stocks held or represented here are rising, and whether by fraudulent representations or otherwise is of no concern. The readers of our morning papers run over the " money article," and if that speaks favorably, their anxie'ies are all quieted and they have no fear of anything. We found it almost impossible, recently, to convince a friend of intelligence and of extensive means who has done a large and profitable business, that the country was not in a very flourishing condition, financially, although he admitted that his own business was not producing any profit to him or to any body. He referred us to the " money article" of a sheet of this city as evidence, even against his own personal experience, and that experience intimately allied to the commerce of the country. But how is this ? What is the kind of testimony that is reliable on this point ? Let us look at it. Opening our volume of post-offices and post routes, we find a very large map of the United States. The various mail routes are designated by ct-riain line^ which traverse its area in all directions. At the first glance we also notice that at short intervals small circles are drawn, which are sometimes very near each other, and not unfreqnently are intersected by each other. Sometimes they are more remote. These circ'es are so numerous as to give a distinct character to the appearance of the sheet. No one can overlook it. Now, suppose that each of these circles represents the existence of a rftging and fatal epidemic, can that territory be called healthy ? Suppose it should be understood that within those mysuc circles the pioperty ot the people had been, all at once, utterly consumed by desolating fires, are these no evidence of general disaster ? If, within each one of those circles, it had been discovered that stout re- sistance was made, boldly and openly and defiantly, to the government of the country, would any man say, in his senses, that the civil institutions of this nation were in a very peaceful and prosperous condition ? VOL. VIII. 43 706 AYOOL AND WOOLENS. These circles are situated, without exception, almost, araotig the most active, enterprising, and hopeful sections of the country. Whatever is re- presented, therefore, within and by those enclosed areas, deserves serious at- tention. Their prosperity, or their distress, must, in some form, be very sen- sibly felt through the country. As to the time when the public wdl appreci>«te the truth thus set forth, there may be some uncertainty. But it cannot be always ignored or forgotten. Now, tbese circles may well represent the manufactures of wool and woolen goods in this country. Do our readers know, will they believe, that scarcely one, if one, of all the woolen mills in this country is, or for months has been, in operation ? Do ihey know that this capital is idle, that the costly buildings erected for such use are going to decay, their operatives with- out employment {or gone to Kansas to grow their ownfood^ or avenge them- selves)— all the thousands of various trades depend*-nt upon these establish- ments for their markets, deprived of the power to sell their own products? Politicians sometimes find that the evils they selfishly produce in the com- munity come home to roost within their own private enclosures. These manufactories are scattered over tweniy-four diflPerent States of the Union. In number they exceed fifteen hundred. Nearly forty thousand operatives are thus thrown out of employment, and scarcely less than eighty or a hundred thousand more of parents, women, children, &c., by the same means, are deprived of the sources whence they have solely derived their support. All this while foreigners are establishing themselves in our counting- houses, importing foreign goods, and sometimes, under fraudulent invoices, cheating the people out of a large portion of the trifling duties the law demands from them, while in our cities avenues are built up with gorgeous palaces, and piincely fortunes are amassed — all for love of liberty and free trade ! and the people love to have it so ! ! and our hardware importers, who would control and pervert all the business of the country for their own bene- fit, more fortunate than Judas of old, find among those born and reared under our own institutions, and with whom they may be delighted to asso- ciate, both sympathizing hearts and helping hands. But we must stay our zeal. We have as little personal interest in this matter as most of our readers, and if the people assent to this suicidal course, the results should be met submissively. We must content ourself now by giving to our readers the following able and lucid presentation of this subject, by one of the best minds in the country, and one who has been for a very long period personally conntcted with it, and is practically familiar with the facts and the workings of the policy which has prevailed. Mr. Jarvis, while Consul in Spain, was personally concerned in the first introduction of Merino sheep into this country, has been from that time to the present among the most extensive owners of these sheep, and is abund- antly able to speat, as with authority, in relation to it. Would that he, and such as he, had the control of this interest, shaping its policy in accordance with the demands of honest truth and the public weal. This letter of Mr. Jarvis first appeared in one of our city papers. Ed. P. L. & A. WOOLS AND WOOLENS. Dear Sm : — I was happy to receive a letter from you upon a subject which I have had so much at heart for over fifty years. WOOL AND WOOLENS. 707 After being in Portugal, Spain, and in England, between the years 1798 and 1802, that which most astonished me in the two first countries was the great neglect of agricultural, mec^ianical, manufacturing, and commercial industry, and the general poverty which prevaded the mass of the people in a country possessing an excellent stiil and one of the finest climates m the world ; whereas, on going to Etigland, I found everybody busy, the land highly cultivated, all branches of mechanical and raanufijctuiing industry in the greatest activity — that nation then possessing the largest commercial marine in the world, and her ports crowded with shipping. , "When I compared this state of prosperity and affluence with the slate in ■which English history represented her to be five hundred ye^irs before, with- out manufactures and without commerce, dependent on the Brabant slii()ping to carry her surplus wool and other productions to Flnnders, and sending it back to England in cloths, to their g>eat benefit and impoverishment of Eng- land, the contrast was so great that I could hardly give credit to her own historians, as to the truth of what they asserted. But an exnmination into her cominercial history satisfied me of the fact. England was then as depen- dent on Flanders for the few manufacturing comforts which she obtained, as the Brazls and Spanish South America have been upon their mother coun- tries, for the European goods which they received through those respective channels. But the teachings of history appear to have pruducfd very little effect upon us. "We are now vuluotanly pursuing the same policy toward England, which five hundred years ago sbe pursued toward the Flemings, and wiih the s^me result. With our variety of climate, and virtriu soil, bv this injudicious policy, we have got into debt to Great Britain to the amount of some two hundred and fifty or three hundred millions of dol'ars, with out- goings against us of fifteen to eighteen millions of dollars a ye^ir in the shape of interest. By way ofeconomzhig our resources, so as to enable us to pay oflF the principal — for pay-day must come — we have recently more than doubled the imports of those woolen manufactures which we could have made at home. A new way to p?iy old debts ! In relation to wool, I have fron] the outset been opposed (o any, or at jea>st a heavy duty on this article ; but I am compelled to acknowledge that the most serious opposition I have met with on this point has been from my bro- ther wool-growers. They seem to think that a low or no duty will cause this country to be flooded with foreign wool. "With the low price of our lands and the moderate expense of sheep hus- bandry compared with any other agricultural pursuit, I have never felt anv fear that the American wool-grower would be injured by importation. MV doubt of success originated in the want of due protection for our manufactui'- ing industry. Manufacturing labor in England did not and does not cost half what it does in the United States ; their machinery of every kind has been brought to the greatest perfection ; their skill in usino; it has also been perfected, and the average interest of their capital is not more than half ours, and hence the danger to our success must originate in this source. Once place our manufacturers in a condition not to be prostrated by the competi- tion of those of England, and they would afibrd a ready and remunerat- ing market to the wool-growers. Now it must be obvious in this immense, extended country, more than half of it adapted to the wool-growing busines?, where land can be bought for less than the price of the atmual rental in England, and most of other countries in Europe, we cannot be in any serious danger from the competition of foreign wools. It might as well be urcred that we Bboukl lay a duty on foreign raw cotton, for fear of competing with "08 WOOL AND WOOLENS. that of our own growth. To lay a high duty on wool, and neglect to lay a a duty on foreign manufactures, which would protect our own from rivalry, would be literally realizing the fable of killing the goose which laid us the golden eggs. Everybody knows, who is acquainted with the subject, that the labor of the operatives, the cost of the dye-stuflFs, the expense of the wear and tear of machinery and buildings, and the interest on capital, constitute two- thirds of the value of most woolen fabrics ; then to lay a higher duty on the raw material than we do on the manufactured article would be directly legis- lating for the good of the foreigner to our own disadvantage. It might do very well for the legislation of a Colonial Parliament ; but for an independent nation which means to emancipate herself from the leading-strings of her former mother country, it is suicidal. There certainly has been a great deal more stress laid on this subject of foreign wool than it was entitled to. Had Congress favored us with a steady legislation calculated to promote manufacturing industry since 1816 — when the double duties ended by the limitation of the act — there would not at this time be any question upon the propriety or impropriety of a duty on foreign wool ; for we ourselves should have, raised amply enough for the supply of our own consumption. We have done it in cotton and everythiig else we have turned our attention to, and we should have done it in sheep — whose fleece affords us our most comfortable clothing, and his carcase our most wholesome food — had proper encouragement been afforded to this useful branch of industry. From the variety of views which have been entertained in Congress in regard to a protective duty, it is pretty certain the friends of manufacturing industry, cannot obtain what they want, and, for one, what I say they ought to have. Mr. Guthrie appears to be a man of sense, and he has probably recommended the only course of legislation which can now be carried into effect for the benefit of both manufacturers and wool-growers. As a general rule, when manufacturing industry is to be promoted, which comes in competition with foreign, it appears to me obvious that the raw ma- terial— dye-stuffs and drugs — which are employed in forming the fabric, must be obtained at as low prices as the foreign manufacturers obtain them, so as to enable home goods to be thrown into the market as low, or lower, than foreign. But if a duty is laid here on the raw wool and drugs and dye-stuff necessary to perfect the fabric, and no duties are laid on those articles in foreign countries whence we derive our supplies, it is clear that the value of the goods made here must be enhanced to the anaount of ihe duties so laid ; and if a proportional duty is not laid on the foreign manufactures which come in com- petition with ours, the American goods must go into the market at. a higher cost than do the foreign, and their sale be prevented ; and thus, instead of Congress legislating to encourage our own industry, it will be legislating practically to promote the industry of foreign nations to our injury. This opinion I give as a party directly interested, being one of the largest holders of fine wool sheep in the United States. But in a government of the })eople, formed by themselves for their own benefit, we cannot suppose that any tariff can be made by their Representa- tives which shall altogether neglect or overlook the interests of the peiiple, and, of course the industrial interests of the country will receive that atten- tion which their importance imperatively demands. Among other subjects which require attention is the rigid enforcement of our Eevenue laws. Such rules and regulations ought to be introduced as will secure the collection of our lawful n-ivenue. Legal proof has been given that great frauds have been practised in our Custom House at New- York, to the great loss of the reve- TOBACCO STATISTICS. 709 nue and to the injury of our manufacturing industry, by enabling the foreign agent to undersell our own fabrics in our own markets. To prevent this evil, stringent measures ought to be rigidly enforced. As we have no Botany Bay, and hanging is out of fashion, the goods, wares, and merchan- dise attempted to befraudently introduced, ought to be con6scatecl, and the culprit and his abettors ought to be condemned, at least, to ten years in the State Prison. "With respect and esteem, Wm. Jarvis. TOBACCO STATISTICS. We give place in our columns this morning to an interesting and valuable report which was yesterday transmitted to Congress from the Statistical Office, in the State Department, in pursuance of a resolution offered by Mr. Faulkner, of Virginia, in the House of Representatives on the iVth inst. Not the least interesting feature in this Report is the evidence it exhibits of the utility and public advantage of such a bureau as that from which it has emanated, as well as of the promptness with which such information can be supplied to Congress and the country. The document itself contains valuable information, presented in a compen- dious form and well classified arrangement: Statement " respecting the Tariff Duties, Restrictions, Prohibitions, and custom-house regulations, applicable to american tobacco IN THE Principle Commercial Countries of Europe." Bremen levies a tariff duty of | of 1 per cent. Import duty is levied at the rate given on the invoice value, with the addition of freight and insur- ance charges. All foreign vessels (Americans excepted) must be entered at this port by a licensed ship-broker, the exemption in favor of American ves- sels having been conceded by the Bremen Senate in 1852. Great Britain levies a duty of 72c. per lb., and 5 per cent, additional. Tobacco, snuff and cigars are prohibited to be inoported into Great Britain, unless in vessels of not less than 120 tons burden, and into ports approved by the Commissioners of Customs. These ports are London, Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, Lancaster, Cowes, Falmouth, Whitehaven, Plymouth, New Castle, Southampton, Preston and Swansea, in England ; Aberdeen, Leith, and Greenock, in Scotland ; and Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Limerick, Lon- donderry, Newry, Sligo, Waterford, Wexford and Drogheda, in Ireland. Duties alike Irom all countries and in all bottoms. France — Tobacco a Government monopoly. By the terms of the treaty of June 24, 1822, American produce, if imported direct to France, in United States bottoms, is admitted on the payment of the same duties as apply to similar importations, in other countries out of Europe, in French vessels. The origin of the merchandise must, however, be duly authenticated and certified by the collector at the port of exportation and by the French Consul. Ame- rican tobacco is purchased by the Commissioners of the Regie for the Govern- ment fiictories, and is admitted either in French or American vessels free of duty. In foreign vessels the duty is $1 8G per 100 kilogrammes, (221 lb3.) The monopoly was established in 1810 by Imperial decree. Holland levies a duty of 28c. per 221 lbs. If imported direct from the 710 TOBACCO STATISTICS. Unite! States, admitted oa the same terms, whether in American or national vessels. Spain — Tobacco is a Government monopoly. Adrait'ed at the port of Malaga in American vessels, at a duty of 20e., and in Spanish at a duly of I5c. per lb. The privilege of the tobacco monopoly in Spain is rented to individuHJs, and yields a revenue of about $4,000,000 per annum. Belgium levies a duty of $1 86 per 221 lbs. In the direct trade between the United States and Belgium the vessels of both nations are equalized by treaty. In the indirect or trinngular trade there are discriminations, though frequently appended by Belgium. Sardinia — a Government monopoly. The annual revenue cannot be cal- culated as the Italian States are grouped in official returns of commerce. Austria — a Government monopoly. "When imported by permission of the Government the duty is $4 85 per 110 lbs., besides 91 c. per lb. for a license to import. Sweden levies a duty of 5 5-6 per lb. The duty is over 100 per cent., and importations from the United States are diminishing annual 1}^ Norway levies a duty of 4^c. per lb. O.vingto a difference in tlie weights and measures in use in Norway, the duty is about 33-3 per cent, less than in Sweden. Portugal — a Government monopoly. The raw article, for the factories of the Governmect, is derived chiefly froin Brazil, about half a million lb?, per •mnum being received from the United States. Statement exhibiting the quantities of American Tobacco exported from the United States into the countries designated, with the amounts of duties j^aid thereon during the commercial year 1855 : COUNTRIES. QUANTITIES. DUTIES PAID. Pounds. Hremen 38,053,000 $16,652. OreatBritaiu 24,203,000 $18,297,468. France 40,866,000 Average annual revenue from monopol/ $16,000,000. Holland 11,124,000 $21,695,000. Spain 7,524,000 Average annual revenue from mouopolj $4,000,000. Belgium 4,010,000 $33,749. Sardinia 3,311,000 No data from which to ascertain amount of revenue derived from monopoh'. Austria 2,945,000 $129,805, besides an annual profit'to the Regie of about $7,500,000. Sweden & Norway. . . 1,713,000 $88,505. Portugal 336,000 No data from which to ascertain the share of the monopoly revenue which this quantity bears ; the whole amount is about $2,250,- OUO. Note. — The total receipts from custom duties in France for one year (18-18), accord- ing to official returns, were 146,000,000 franci?, of which 86,000,000 were derived from tobacco, nearly all grown in the United States. The Austrian Empire contains 3(3,514,397 inhabitants. The annual yield (average) of tobacco in Austria is estimated at 79,000,000 poundv*. The unly places where the plant is permitted to be grown are Hungary, Galicia, the Tyrol and Venice. In Hungary it is the leading staple, the annual cn^p reaching as high as 08,000,000 pounds. Of this one-third is sold to the Austrian Regie, one- third to foreign countries, and the remaining one thiid is consumed at home. The average annual importation from the United States is from two and a half to three million pouuds?. The Regie clears a TOBACCO STATISTICS. 711 profit often cents on each pound of raw tobacco, and the annual revenue to the Government is |7,5U0,000. In the States composing the Zollverein the annual crop of tobacco is esti- mated at 55,000,000 pounds. The revenue derived from American tobacco is about $1,800,000 per annum. Belgium produces annually about 1,300,000 pounds of tobacco, and im- ports from 9,000,000 to 11,000,000 pounds. Holland produces from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 pounds, and imports an- nually from 30,000,000 to 35,000,000 pounds. The tobacco factories in this country are stated to give employment to " one million operativts." Bremen imports annually from 35,000,000 to 50,000,000 pounds of to- bacco, most of which is manufactured in that city and re-exported to foreign markets. Hamburg imports only from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 pounds annually, most of which, after being manufactured, is re-exported. The annual tobacco crop of Russia is about 25,000,000 pounds. The annual consumption of tobacco in Spain is about 9,000,000 pounds, one-third of which is imported for the Government factories from the United States. In Portugal the culture of tobacco is prohibited by law. The quantity of American unmanufactured tobacco annually imported into the principal commercial countries of Europe may be thus stated : For each inhabitant of Great Britain 14 ounces ; for each inhabitant of France 10 ounces; for each inhabitant of Belgium 2^ pounds ; for each inhabitant of Holland 2f pounds ; for each inhabitant of the Hanse Towns 5 pounds ; for each inhabitaut of Hanover 3i pounds ; for each inhabitant of Mecklen- burg-Schwerin and MecklenburgStrelitz 2 pounds; for each inhabitant of the States of the Zoliverein 1 pound ; for each inhabitant of Russia ^ ounce ; for each inhabitant of Austria 1 ounce ; for each inhabitant of Spain 3 ounces ; atd for each inhabitant of Portugal 1|- ounce. The aggregate quan- tity of tobacco annually raided in these countries (exclusive of their colonies) is about 210,000,000 pound?. The aggregate quantity of tobacco raised in the United States in 1850 was 199,752,515 pounds.* The average annual quantity of Ancerican tobacco imported into Great Britain during a period of three years (1851-'52-'53) was 24,543.334 pounds, on which there was levied an average annual duty of 118,554,760. The average annual quantity imported into France during the same period was 14,690,000 pounds; into Holland 18,660,000 pounds, on which the average annual amount of duty was $24,915 ; into Belgium 4,824,000, on which the average annual amount of duty was $40,600 ; and into the Hanse Towns 38,637,667 pounds, on which was paid an average annual amount of $12,643 dl.— National Intelligencer. * Census of 1850. The Stars and Stripes. — A correspondent of the N. Y. Courier and Enquirer cnWs attention to the fact that our National Flag is made of foreign bunting ; the flags of the capitols of the United States, of the arsenals, forts, ships-of war, of peace, army, taverns, even those of the Native American meetings, all are of foreign manufacture, and should a war come, if the fl>fg did not rise in victory, it would in price. 712 METEOROLOGICAL. METEOROLOGICAL. THE WINTER SEASON IN INDIANA CO., PA. Newman's-Mills, Indiana Co., Pa., April 28, 18o6. Mr. M. p. Parish : Very Dear Sir : — The last winter, liie the past summer, has been a very remarkable one here, as well as elsewhere. It set in fairly and squarely just about Christmas, and from that time on it snowed, and blowed, and froze, and snowed, and blowed, and froze, and snowed, and blowed, and froze, for about six or seven weeks before it showed any signs or disposition to re- lax its awful grasp. One would suppose that it would make the very jaws of winter itself ache, holding on so long. It relaxed a little, and but a little. The first part of March, and in fact on till about the 20th, it was rough and tumble. The lion seemed to shake his mane most terribly. The snow was so deep and dry and drifted that it was almost impossible to get about. I suppose that it must have cost the people here more than twice as much to get their timber for rafus hauled to the river as it does usually. About the 20th of March we had a few soft and pleasant days, which settled the snow some; then it set in again and the old lion shook his tail as smartly as he had done his mane. After he had shaken himself to apparent satisfaction, he became more quiet, and seemed to rest a bit. The snow is now nearly all gone — ^just a little left to see how it looks. The streams have been very high and much longer than usual, though there has not been much rain. The men folks are nearly all away down the Susquehanna with their lumber, on their way to market, and till they return, if they do so, all the women are widows, or afraid they may turn up to be. The last fdii was so wet that not much winter grain was sowed, but what was sowed looks very well, after being covered so deeply with its white robe for so lorg a time, nearly four months, except where it was covered with deep or high drifts ; there it seems to look as though it had been a little too long under cover ; had opened its eyes upon the waking world ft little too late in the day for its own highest good. I hear much complaint among my neighbors in regard to their potatoes being frozen to death, so also in regard to their plum and peach trees. Well, such being the sober fact, I reckon the late frosts, if we should be unlucky enough to have any, won't kill the blossoms on the peach trees, and as for the plums, why the curculio may sting away at them to their heart's content without molestation, or Mr. Matthew's or any body else's infallible remedy to put them out of the way. During the past few days it has been quite warm, and the apple trees begin to show, or try to, that they have stood the westers better than their neighbors the plums and peaches. I hope Messrs. Apples will bo able to bring forth abundantly their luscious fruits to perfection, to bless man and beast. Give me the fruits and the vegetables good in quantity and quality, and you, Mr. Editor, or any body else that wants them, can have the flesh- pots and all their contents. Away with flesh-i)ots and their contents, and iet men, and women, and children, made in the image of God, live like men, women, and cl'.ildren, upon the health-givingr, health-preserving, and health- restoring fruits and veaetables, as they come from the lap of old mother earth, and not like hienas, wolves or cannibals upon their less-intelligent fellow-crea- tures. Away with your flesh-pots, there is disease and death in them, and no prophet to salt them out. FOREST TREES OF NICHOLS. 713 The tornado that passed through here on the evening of the 12th in8t«» did much damage. It came very suddenly, very powerfully, and was gone* but very ruin seemed to mark its path, and to so mark it, that it will stay marked awhile I guess. On last Monday and Tuesday, the 21st and 22d, we had quite a fall of snow, which robed the ground for three or four days. Since it disappeared the weather up to this time, has been very pleasant and spring- like, and so may it continue. May our Heavenly Father bless us all with plenty, health, peace, and happiness. Yours truly, D. M. FOR THE PI.OUGn, THE LOOM, AND THE^ANTIL. FORESr TREES OF NICHOLS, TIOGA CO., N.Y., AND THEIR USES. PINUS RESINOSA. RED PINE OR NORWAY PINE. Of the Norway pine I know but little, having seen only five or six trees, growing with white pine and hemlock on a hill-side near one corner of my farm. These are the only ones of that species in this vicinity. Trees from seventy to ninety or more feet high, and from eighteen to twenty-four inches in diameter, very straight and smooth, and tapering but little, from the ground up sixty feet ; limbs few and scattering and near the top. The bark is of a brighter red than any other species of pine, and quite smooth, more so than any other; wood of a reddish color, and very full of pitch ; it is hard and durable. Dr. Torrey says the leaves are in pairs, shorter than the cones, five or six inches long, of a dark green color. Again he says. Leaves shorter than the cones, and cones, he says, about two inches long — a mistake some- where. As far as I have ascertained, the cones are two inches long and sharp pointed, nearly the shape of an egg. Scales dilated in the middle, unarmed, that is without spines. Dr. Torrey in his valuable Botany says the timber is used for decks and masts for vessels. PINUS RIGIDA PITCH PINE. The pitch pine is found in this town in almost all situations, generally on tbe sides of hills and tops of high hills, and very frequently on diluvial formations along streams, where it is called pine plain land. It is from thirty- five to fifcy feet high — generally about forty-five feet, and from twelve to twenty inches in diameter, with numerous branches, often extending nearly down to the ground ; frequently a low, bushy, rough tree, with a thick, dark- colored, rough bark. Leaves in threes generally, and about three inches long, being very short and stifi"; cones, egg-shaped, and about two inches long, frequently the end coming to a sharp point, in clusters of threes and fours, the scales terminating in a short, acute, reflexed point. The pitch pine is of but little value except for firewood, it being full of pitch, and trees under one foot in diameter are nearly all sap, or white in color, the middle or sound heart being of a reddish color. In consequence of the large amount of sap-wood, the stumps, in a few years, rot when out of the ground. Flowers in May ; fruit in September. PINUS MITIS YELLOW PINE. There are but a few of the yellow pine lefc in this town. They were never very abundant, and are only found on hills. The trees are from 714: KAILROADS OF NEW-YORK. seventy to ninety feet high, and from eighteen to twenty-four inches in dia- meter, with a regular pyramidal head ; bark quite smooth and light colored. It is often a beautiful tree. Leaves elongated, slender, usually in pairs, but often in threes, channeled, the sheaths two and a half to five inches long, dark green, cones small, scales slightly prominent, with a small slender mucre pointing outward, and about two inches long, the prickel at the ex- tremity of the scale very slender. — (Torrey.) The timber of the yellow pine is very valuable, being stifi' and solid, and working smooth ; it is used for floor- boards, bedsteads, oxyokes, etc. The yellow pine, like similar spe- cies, has very thick sap-wood, and its tnots are full of pitch, and as hard as a bone. The knots are often found after the tree has decayed partly buried in the ground, and they will in all probability last for hundreds of years. The stump and roots remaining under ground have often been collected and burned for the piocuiing of tar. Robert Howell. Nichols, Mav 13, 1856. RAILROADS OF NEW-YORK. The subjoined statistics are compiled from the reports of the several Railroad Companies of this Siate for the last year, made to the Railroad Commissioners : STATISTICS OF TWENTY-EIGHT RAILROADS. Length of 28 roads in miles 2,398 Number of passengers carried during the year - 9,628,983 Aveiage number per day ----- 26.386 Number of miles traveled by all passengers - - 44^,747,789 Average number of miles traveled by each pas- senger -...-.- 46^ Number of miles run by locomotives - - - 11,563,816 Passengers killed (1 in 1,203,624)- ... 8 " injured (1 in 385,159) - - - 35 Number of locomotives owned by 28 Companies - 695 Number of Passenger cars owned bv 28 Companies, 817 Number of Freight, Baggage and Platform do. - 9,309 Number of tons freight transported during the year, 3,347,239 Number of Bridges 1,087 Length of Bridges in miles - . - - 32 Tons coal used ------- 5,335 Cords wood used ------ 811,567 Gallons oil used 247,963 Earnings for the year $19,040,986 Fire Regulator for Steam Boilers. By Wm. S. Gale, of New-York City. — Tliis improvement relates to a method of regulating thedtaft damper of sream boilers, so as to increase or diminish the fire according to the pres- sure of the steam. When the pressure exceeds a given weight the appara- tus shuts the damper and slacks down the fire; and when there is not steam enough the damper is opened so as to quicken the fire. ANGORA GOAT. 715 STATISTICS OF LONDON. London covers at present a space of 122 square miles. It contains 327,391 houses, and 2,362,236 inhabitants, the aunual increase of the popula-X' tioa beinoj upwards of 40,000. The length of all the different streets is 1750 njiles. The paving of thera cost £14,000,000, and the yearly cost of keeping the pavements in repair is £1,800,000. London has now 1900 miles of gas pipes, and the same length of water pipes. The introduction of gas cost £3,000,000. There are 360,000 burners in the city, which consume every night 13,000,000 cubic feet of gas, valued at £500,000, or two millions and a half of dollars. The bankers of London have under their control a capital of £64.000,000, and the d fferent Insurance Companies have a cash capital of £10,000,000, and £78,000,000 in negotiable paper. The tnx on houses amounts yearly to £12,500,000. The furniture of these bouses is insured to the amount of £166,000,000. Twenty thousand per- sons are constantly employed in keeping the docks in lepair. / London consumes yearly 277,000 oxen, 300,000 calves, 1,480,000 sheep, \\^^ and 34,000 hogs, worth, all together, £8,000,000. London consumes tvery year 1,600,000 quarters of wheat, 65,000 pipes of wine, 2,000,000 gallons of brandy, 43.200,000 gallons of porter and ale, 19,215,000 gallons of water, and 3,000,000 tons of coal. It has 350 charity associat'ons, which distribute every year £1,805,635 to the poor, which sum when increased by private charities will amount io £3,000,000. The city, from theshowinp; of its official documents, has 143,064 persons who have no visible means of support. Among these are 4,000 vagabonds, who cost the city £50,000 a year to support them. There are besides in Locdon 110 professionhl house- breakers, 107 street thieves, 40 robbers, 783 pickpockets, 3675 ordinary thieves, 11 horse thieves, 140 dog thieves, 3 forgers, 28 counterfei'ers, and 317 individuals who live directly by the profits of this illicit trade, 141 swindlers, 182 people who speculate on charity with false documents, 363 receivers of stolen goods, &c , &c. ; in all 162,000 crimina!^' who are known to the police, and who steal every year to the amount of £42,000. — Evenimi Post. THE ANGORA GOAT At a recent meeting of the Farmers' CluH, in this city, the Serre'^ary read some interi^sting translated extracts from the " Bulletin Manuel de la Society Imperiale Zjol-'glque D'Acclimaiion," Paris, 1856, as follows : I went to Cheragas to examine the flock of Angora goats confided to the care of one of our oldest and most ab'e cohmists. We found twelve females and one buck. The buck, and ten of the she-goats are of the perfectly pure race, their long silky fleeces undubititg, entirely white, shone brilliantly in the sunshine. T»vo of them ha.d their fleeces as white as ihe rest, but much shorter and less silky. They seemed to have come from a mixture of breeds. The flock ia ia a very satisfactory condition. They are lively, alert, and 716 WATER A FERTILIZER.. in very good health, but rather too plump for the race of goat^ However it is easy to see that in exterior they, to a certain degree, resemble sheep. They graze all day, sometimes in tbe plain, sometimes among brushwood, in company with a number of she-goals from this country and some from Malta. At night each Angora goat sleeps in a little separate stable for itself, on abundance of well-kept litter. Their fleeces are usually neat, but in their rambles they are apt to encoun- ter hooks from some leguminous plants, caiterpillars, so that some of the fleece are torn oflf in getting them out. These are injurious to the fleece. These Angora goats are very rustic, they are less delicate and less susceptible in regard to their nourishment than goats of any other sort. They crop grass and browse on bushes of all sorts, eat leaves of the mastic, of climbing plants, tilarias, olives, &c. The reproductiveness of this little flock is not less satisfactory. Desiring to know the result of mixing breeds, I had two fine Maltese goais led to the Angora buck. I think the favorable season for shearing is towards the end of April, as with our sheep, pretty nearly. The other extracts had reference to the eduction (taming) of partridges, to the domestication of the ostrich in Algeria, and various other curious mat- ters. FOB THE PLOUGH, TDK LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. WATER A FERTILIZER. Mr. Editor : — T send you below an extract from my " Notes of Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry," which, though written some years ago, may prove suggestive to some of your former readers. Perhaps every one of you, living as most of you do, in this rolling lime- stone country, has observed how rapidly land may be improved by being cultivated for a few years as watered meadow. This mode of ftrtility has often been attributed solely to the organic matter carried down, and spread over the soil by the water, with the increased growth of roots, and the ac- cumulation of rotted grass left by the watered crop. It is true in many cases, that valuable organic matter is thus either produced in the soil, or transported by the running water from one place to another, and rendered an available source of ftrtility ; but there is another part performed by this water, which should not be left out of view. As water percolates the strata of the earth, it dissolves and carries out a variety of mineral substances which are useful to almost all soils that have been long under cultivation. Among these are the carbonates, sulphates and chlorides of lime, potassa and soda. The elements contained in these are nearly all essential in some form or other to the fertility of a soil. An ex- cess, too, of any fertilizer, above what may seem sufficient to meet tbe imme- diate wants of the growing crop, is generally desirable, so that all the root- lets, which spread themselves through the soil in search of nourishment, may be able readily to find a supply. Waters in lime-stone regions are generally charged abundantly with car- bonate of lime in solution ; and also contain more or less of valuable sulphates and chlorides. Phosporic acid, too, in some form of combinstion, is found INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 717 in small quantities in many of these waters. Running water, besides these valuable ingredients, often contains silica in a soluble form. For grass and the stocks of grain this is a most important element of nutrition. From analyses of a variety of waters, from difterent parts of this State, I have come to the conclusion that there are few springs to be found, which do not hold in solution, salts which would be valuable, if applied to almost any soil. The water of some springs may contain matter injurious to soils. Such would be the case wnth a water containing proto-sulphate of Iron in considerable quantity. But such springs are rare. The benefic then, arising from watering meadows, is not to be attributed solely to the supply of moisture thus furnit^hed to the roots of the grass. This moisture carries with it valuable nourishment — food as well as drink — and thus performs a secondary office of no inconsiderable importance. Fields contiguous to streams may have water conveyed to them in ditches, and spread over a large proportion of their surface. The water thus having a broad surface exposed to the influence of the sun and air, is rapidly evapo- rated ; but the mineral matter held in solution, being involatile, is left behind to enrich the soil. If the water is supplied in quantities just sufficient to spread over the whole surface, yet so as to be entirely taken up by absorption and evaporation, the mineral matter contained in it will all be communicated to the soil and the growing crop. Then whatever portions are not appropriated at once will be left for future use. Thus we see how water may in many cases be made a valuable source of fertility. The cost of watering would frequently be less in proportion to the benefit derived, than would be the application of the same quantity and qualify of fertilizers in any other way. The summer season is most favorable to this kind of irrigation, as evaporation then goes on most rapidly, causing the most abun- dant precipitation of mineral residuum. J. L. Campbell. WashinctTON College, Va., April, 185G. INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. LEriDOPTERA. Through the action of some sprite, not over-truthful, our readers were led to regard the account of this general division of our subject as " concluded'' in our last issue ; but we are not at liberty to dismiss so important a matter quite so hastily. We have been compelled to omit even the names of many insects injurious to our forest trees, chiefly confining ourselves to those which •were destructive to the vegetation found in our orchards and gardens, and around our houses. A more thorough course would fill a volume. And though we have been long occupied in this meagre sketch, on a very limited plan, we are yet far from the end of our task. More space must still be occupied by that very important order " Lepidoptera." The moths thus far described devour the leaves of plants, and are of course more or less exposed to view : but some are concealed in roots and m stems, devouring the wood and pith, like the Aegerians among the Sphinges. The Locust tree is peculiarly subject to the attack of some of these, one is a small reddish catterpillar, perhaps belonging to the Aegerians, or the Bombices ; a larger insect, which is a grub, is the Clytus F ictus, already described 718 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. among the beetlc-p. A third is still larger, is a true catterpillar, reddish above and wliite beneath, two and a half ii)chps or more in length, and nearly as large as the end of the little finger. It, bores into the tree obliquely, lines the passage witb a web, spins a cocoon around itself, and thus assumes the chrysalis form. It comes out, after tratisformation, a winged moih of a gray color, fore-wings thickly covered with dusky lines and irregular spotr», the shoulderjcovers edged with black on tlie inside. It expands about three inche?. It was named by Professor Pt-ck, Cossus Robinice, and by Mr. Newman it is called the Xyleutes, or the Carpenter. It is the Bornhy and Cossus of Europe. Tbe moth comes forth about the middle of July. The male is much darker than the female, and has a large oker-yeilow spot on the hind-wing% near the posterior margin. These moths give out a peculiar fcmell and hence are called goat-moths by some European writers. Notodvnirje — These insects infest various kind of fruit trees, toward the end of summer, and also our rose-bushes and hedges. At the South, they are said to breed t«ice a year, the first broi d appearing in May or early in June. The young catterpillars are yellowish brown, paler on the sides, and are striped longitudinally with slender black lines. On the fourth ring is a hump. Along the back are several short black prickles. The bead is red. Tbe hinder extremity tapers, and is always elevated when the insect is not crawl- ing. When full grown they measure an inch and a quarter or more in length. Sometimes they entirely cover the small twigs and the ends of branches. The early bi'oods leave the trees by the middle of August, all of the same brood descending at the same time. They disappear in the uight, concealing themselves under leaves or in the earth. Another kind of insect, highly injurious to apple or other fiuit trees, late in summer, be'ongs to the genius Pygcera. The head is large ar,d black, body cylindrical with a spot on the tip of the first ring, legs dull orange-j»-llow, back traversed by a black stripe, and the sides striped wish black and yt-llow. When at rest both extremities are raised, the body being bent atd resting on the four interm^diate pair of legs. They begin at the ends of the branches, eating all the leaves as they ad- vance toward the trunk. They all quit (he tree at the samn time, by n^ght, dcFcending into the earih three or four inches, and become chrysalids without making cocoons. The moths come out in July. They expand twoinchts or more ; are of a light brown color, the head ^nd a large square spot on the thorax daik clesnut-brown. On the fore-wings are four or five transverse lines. Near the middle of them are one or two spots, and near the tip is a short oblique line. NuctvcB ; Owlet Moths. — These form the second tribe, and are named from their habit of flying, chiefly by night. They frequent the maplt^. elm, chest- nut, &c., is greenish-yellow above, head, t-.il, belly and feetblMck, body cov- ered wiih long and soft yellow hairs. On the fourth and sixih rings are tufts of I'lack hairs and a pencil on the eleventh. It forms its cocoon iu the chinks of the bark, on fences, &c. Nonagriadoe ; Nonagrians. — These catterpillars are naked, smooth, long, slender, tapering at each extremity, of a )eHdi.-h or greenish lint, with an oval, dark-colored, horny spot on the first and last rings. One of these Nona- grians is known as the Spindle- Worm. It often devours the spindle of the In- dian corn. The leaves wither, and may be easily separated from the stalk. A small hole may be found in the side of the stalk, near the ground, pene- trating to its center, which is perforated upwards and downwards, by this caterpillar. It grows to an inch or more iu length, and to the thickness of INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 719 a goose-quill. It is smooth, rouncli^h, naked, yellowi>h, the head and the tip of the first and last rings black. It also attacks the Dahlia. The chrysalis is slen- der, of a mahogany-brown color, the anterior edgts of four of its rings roughen- ed with little rings and four short spines or hooks, turned upwards, on the hinder extremity of the body. The fore-wings are rusty rejectin view. Cotton calls for all the time of those engaged in it ; corn about one-third, and wheat and hay very little. Let a crop for thirty hands with twenty good ploughs be set down something as follows : loO acres in cotton to yield 100 bales, at $40. is - - $4,000 500 acres in corn, to yield 35 bnshels, is $18,000 ; deduct for home use $6,000 — $12,000 ; at 50 cents, - - 6.000 200 acres in wheat to yield 30 bushels, say at 25 cents, - 5.000 200 acres in cultivated hay — 3 tons, say 2 tons at $20, - - 8,000 $23,000 30 workers at $500 dollars each would be - - - 15,000 $8,000 " Such a crop can be attended without difficulty, as there is but about 20 acres to the hand that calls for cultivation. Ttie small grain will b-) ploughed for and put in \n the fall and not in crop time. The cutting in May will be the work of the reaper, and the cleaning out can Wir-ll wait tbe laying by of the corn for atiy call on manual labor. The hay crop is to be ploughed in 724 U. S. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, April, in advance of the busy time, and the mowing and saving will be ia August after it, and the labor principally on the machine. Ttie price for hay is not too high if you are convenient to market, and if not put it down at ten dollars the ton. It is a very valuable crop, properly made, and much superior to that which springs up in June after laying by the corn. With a good hay crop in, I should not waste much time in the fodder field." JOURNAL OF THE U. S. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. Part T. of the Journal of the fourth annual meeting of this Society hss been sent us by its accomplished President, Mr. Wilder. It was "edited" by Mr. King, the Secretary. It is full of very valuable matter. For our present issue we have marked certain portions of it as of peculiar impor- tance, and publish them under separate titles below. We begin with THE IMPORTANCE OF METEOPvOLOGT TO FARMERS. This topic was treated by Prof. Page as follows : — " A year ago last May, the water of our wells and deep springs began to fail, and has continued to diminish up to the latter part of tbe past month. During the whole of that time not a rain has occurred which has penetrated tbe earth beyond the wants r,f vegetation. My observations have not been systematic, but I have watched the perpendicular sides of deep excavations, and have repeatedly dug into the earth and measured the depth of springs, and am satisfied that dur- ing that time no rain has percolatsd the earth so as to reach the deep springs. Consequently all the water we have been drawing up from the earth for more than a year and a half, feW previous to that time. The farmers and garden- ers in my neighborhood have suffered great privation, distress, and losses from this state of things. They have deepened their wells and dug new ones, and still the water has given out, and many have been obliged to cart water for a long distance. Of all this we have no published report. It is for the philosopher to generalize from accumulated data, but the farmer wants to be informed every day of what is going on and to judge for him- self. The barometer is not of much immediate use to him, but he must have the hygrometer, the rain-guage, the thermometer, and the wind-guage. I need not stop to explain the importance of noticing the velocity of the wind in connexion with temperatures, for every farmer and gardener knows this practically. The ways are many and various in which these observations will benefit the farmer. For instance, I ask who can raise here a California potato or a California onion ? And who can tell why they cannot be raised out of California ? I have been trying for two years to raise them here and have failed. I have planted California potatoes ten inches in length and three in diameter in rich soil, medium soil, poor soil, and in all have obtained pota- toes not much larger than nutmegs ; and so with their onions ; and so it is with all their gigantic vegetables. They degenerate immediately when planted here. Is it due to any peculiar chemical constitution of California soil ? I think not. It can hardly be supposed that similar soil does not exist elsewhere ; and the fact that all their vegetable productions are mon- strous, is an argument against any peculiarity of soils. I am inclined to think that the causes are chiefly atmospheric ; and, as we can imitate climate as well as soils, it might be of great value to our farmers and gardeners if they U. S. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 725 could be furnished with information upon this subject ; for it would be a great acquisition if we could raise such vegetables here. " In coDclusiou permit me to say that, in carrying out a?iy system of obser- vations for the benefit of agriculture, we should not lose sight of the impor- tance of publishing daily reports, in such manner as to be widely circulated. ' KNTOMOLOGT. The practical value of a knowledge of this science, was thus illustrated by Mr. Glover. Several years ago, when I first settled on the Hudson, and was almost en- tirely unacquainted with either horticulture or entomology, I wished to raise my own parsnip seed, having been the previous year very much disappointed with non-germinition of some purchased in a store, where it had probably laid on the shelf unnoticed for several years. Accordingly the best roots were procured; these grew, flowered, and finally seeded, when several catter- pillars made their appearance in the umbels, wbich they webbed together so as to form a shelter and then leisurely devoured the footstalks and seed, thus destroying my hopes of a crop. I endeavored, but in vain, to raise some of these caterpillars, to satisfy myself what sort of a moth would be produced, as they all died in confinement or produced distorted and deformed chrysalids upon the surface of the earth. Finally, 'I determined to examine underneath tbe plants in the ground to see if I could find any chrysalids there ; but none were to hi seen. At last I examined the stalk again more carefully, and ac- cidentally discovered several small perforations along the sides. This stalk wasimmediaiety split open by means of a garden-knife, when, lo and behold, the large hollow of the stem was found to be entirely filled with caterpillars and chrysalids, snugly ensconced each in its own peculiar slight silken web. The discovery thus accidentally made induced me to burn all the hollow stalks left, and hundreds perished in the flames. I have merely mentioned these two facts to prove how it is, by a proper study of the natural instincts of almost any insect, some means may eventually be discovered to destroy it in some of the many ch -nges it undergoes. Of some, the eggs may be plainly discovered on the trees when the leaf is fallen. Take, for instance, the tussock moth, which issometirafes so injurious to fruit and shade trees. The female of this moth Inys her eggs in a frotby matter on the top of a cocoon, sometimes placed on the branches, trunks, or enclosures, and occasionally under the ts throughout the plantation ; and if these were poisoned, it mii/ht possibly prove the saving of thousands of bales of cotton annually, although I must confess that our lively and useful little friend, the honey-bee, might also be killed by the poison at the same time ; but 1 think that, in the case of cotton versus honey, cotton would gain the verdict. The cotton-catterpiliar in its mot,h->tate will also suck certain sub- stances with its tongue or probo-cis, and it now only remains to find out what ii. is particularly fund of as food, and then discover also some quick and SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS PROPOSED. 727r eflScient poison. Several other insect*, beetles, night-moths, the cutworm- moths, and several others, might possibly also be destroyed in a similar man- ner if this is found to answer. Last J ear I made several experiments with cobalt, strjchnioe, and arspnic, which are not of consequence enouuh to be reported, as, although several succeeded, I must own others again failed in a most singular manner. However, as the subject has once been started, it would be well for several able and scientific men in d fFerent parts of the country to make experiments and then report them for the good of their fel- low-sutierers. QUESTIONS PROPOSED BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF SCIENCE EJ DENMARK. Philadelphia, May 10th, 1856. To THE Editor of the Plough, the Loom and the Anvil : Dear Sir : — I send you, herewith, a liberal tratisUtioa of a circular letter recently received from the Royal Society nf Science of Denmark. I presume it would please them to have it published in the United States, and I know no better medium to the reading Americans than jour jjurnal. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, P. A. Browne. QUESTIONS PROPOSED, IN THE TEAU 1855, BY THE ROTAX SOCIETY OF SCIENCE IW DENMARK. 1. By the Class of Mathematics. The general properties of new imaginary quHiitities are to be considered, which Galois introduced into the theory of numbers, in such a maimer that iheir nature and qualifies may be ciimpared ; such as are obtained from the consideration of what are called hnrmonies, with the nature of imagmary algebraic quantities occuning in the theory of equations. 2. By the Class of Natural Philosophy. Since no answer has been given to the question proposed by the Society in the year 1853. it is again propounded. As marine Sponges or Sj)ongozoa are not yet so accurately known that we can s-ay for cerlaia with what other organic existences tht-y are chiefly connected, the Society desires these new org^nisms to be embraced in the investigation. Therefore, it ofTers its medal of gold to the person who shall satisfactorily examine one specifS, or more, of those Sponges wliich exist in the ocean, hs well in reference to their natural history as their siructure and physiology. It is likewise of importance in this investigation that the oiiyin and development of the diff-rent species be separately considered. The essay may be illustrated by diagrams and necessary preparations ; also speci- mens of each s-pecies may be furnished. The prize is the golden medal of the Society, and 100 Imperials. 3. By the Class in Philosophy. An historico-critical narrative is desired of the principal instructors who have obtained some celebrity ."-ince the Reformation to the present time. The hot vapors of water are i.f constant use in the various art?, whereas the hot vapors of alcohol, ether and sulphuretted carbon are not yet, as far i 728 SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS PROPOSED. as known, applied to the arts, although it cannot be doubted that great advantage m=iy be derived from the skillful use of such vapors. In order to encourage experiments, on this subject, the Society offers a pnze of 200 Imperials for the essay which shows the best manner of applying the hot vapors of alcohol, ether, and sulphuretted carbon. Specimens must accompany the Essay, and also an estimate of the cost of preparation. 1. Numerous experiments having been made in reference to the manner in which roasted Coffee affects the human system, it has been ascertained that the volatile oil formed is of very great importance. Now since it hap- pens that in parching the roots of the Leon. Tarax. or the Cich. Intyb ,* if they are parched and prepared with sufficient care, oils of a similar effect are pro- duced, the common opinion prevails that if these were substituted for Coffee, they would produce effects similar to roasted Coffee. Thertfore, the Society requests that it be shown, by recent and extensive experiments, what is the real value of these substitutes, and also the best manner of preparing and preserving them. The Society offers a prize of 200 Imperials to the person who will pro- duce the best technical and chemico-physiological examination of Cich. and Leon. 2. The oxides of metals have been discovered in many plants, not only iron and mangnese, but also copper. f It has been lately shown that other metals also — for instance, lead, tin, zinc, nickle, and cobalt — exist in plants, and can be seen in their ashes. Now, since it has not yet been shown what portions of these substances are of use in the development of plants, the So- ciety desires that any one of the common trees of our forests, for instance, the oak, may be carefully examined with reference to its particles of metal, and in such a manner that it may be ascertained, by comparing with each other the different portions of the tree, as the wood, bark, leaves, and fruit, what quantity of metal exists in each part. The nature of the soil in which the tree grows must always be regarded. The prize is 200 Imperials. The Essays may be written in Latin, French, English, German, Swedish, or Danish. They are to be known not by the name of the writer, but by any mark which may designate his name and residence. Members of tho Society, and persons living in Denmark, are not allowed to be competitors for the prizes. The person who shall give a satisfactory answer to the questions proposed shall receive a gold medal valued at 50 Danish ducats, * Leontodon Taraxacum or Cichorium Intybus. f I have rendered " oes" copper instead of brass, because the latter metal is not found in nature. " Cuprum" is the proper word for copper. Improved Washboard. By Royal Hatch, Assignor to H. C. Hatch, of Strafford, V^t. — The washboard is composed of beaded rounds ])laoed to- gether lengthwise in a frame, the beads of one round fitting into the spaces between the beads of the next round, so that a perfect corrugated surface is obtained for the clothes to be rubbed over. The water will pass through the rounds, but the suds will bo retained, spattering will be prevented, &o. GROWING INDIAN CORN. 729 EXPERIMENTS IN GROWING INDIAN CORN. At the late meeting of the Oneida County Agricultural Society a pre- mium of $1 5 was :i warded to Mr. H. H. Eastman, of Marshall, for a series of experiineuis with different manures in the culture of Indian corn. The fol' lowing statement was furnished the Society by Mr. Eastman: Weight of Different kinds Manures how Quantity of produce in Rate per of manures used. applied. manures used. the ear. acre. Lbs. Oz. Bush. Lbs. No manure 30 8 62 50 Compost* In hill. Half shovelful. 48 82 68 •' Top hill. " 25 43 15 Quicklime In hill. Half handful. 38 8 57 68 " Top hill. " 30 52 50 Gypsum In hill. " 36 62 16 " Top hill. " 33 67 03 Ashes In hill. Small handful. 30 12 53 10 " Top hill. " 38 8 66 38 Equal parts lime, gypsum and ashes In hill. " 32 4 55 52 " Top hill. " 35 8 61 25 Guanof In hill. Tablespoonful. 20 34 40 " Top hill. " 33 8 57 63 Guano and Superphos- phate of lime:!: In hill. Do. of each. 51 4 88 41 Top hill. " 37 63 67 Superphosphate of limcgln hill. Tablespoonful. 37 8 64 57 Lime Top hill. " 45 77 56 Equal parts poudrette, superpbosphiite of lime & guano il In hill. " 43 74 23 " Top hill. " 33 8 57 63 Poudrette In hill. Handful. 41 12 72 11 Night soil composted.. In hill. Double handful. 33 4 57 33 Hog niHiiure " " 49 84 49 Uniermeuied horse ma- nure " Half shovelful. 39 12 68 49 Top hill. " 28 48 28 Hen manure In hill. Handful. 48 82 68 Caib. of lime " " 42 72 42 No manure 32 65 22 * Composted 4 muck, 4 hog manure, 1 lime and 1 ashes. •)■ Intermixed with soil. Seed injured. X Sii(ierphos[)h;ite on seed ; Guano on outer edge of hilla. § In coiitac^ with the seed. I Intermixed with tiie soil. Tne ahoVH expeniuent consists of 28 rows, and 40 hills in each row. The ground w^s g>een sward, plowed early in the spring, about 5 icches deep, harrowed ihoioughly, and marked out into rows two wajs at 8 angles, 3 feet ai)art each way. Planted the 12th of May with a "white flint" variety of corn. Ti.e cultivation of the growing crop consisted mostly in the use of the culiivator, which was run through between the rows four times alternately in difleretit directions — with one slight hoeirg only with the hand hoe. Sod, gravelly loam. I calculate the cost of cultivation, not in- cluding cost of mamire nor interest of land, at about $13 per acre. The corn stood upon th^- lull till killed by the frost, when it was husked, each row separately, and weighed in the ear, allowing 70 pounds to the bushel. 730 CULTURE OF POTATOES. CULTURE OF POTATOES. An interesting discussion on ttis sulject was had at a late meeting of the American Institute in this city. The experience of different persons seems to lead them to opposite conclu-ions on this, as on many other topics. Our readers will remember a very different course from that here recommended, was advised by a practical writer, who gave his experience on the speedy raisiriof of potatoes, which was published in one of our recent issues. In tbe recent debate, Mr. Sears, of the Phalanx, New-Jersey, said they had experimented largely on the best manner of preveniing potatoes from rotting, and found that they kept best when taken immerliaiely from the field as soon as dug, and put in slatted bios in a cellar, where the air could circulate through the pile, but no light ever came to them. He never ob- served any dift'erence in their keeping, whether put up wet or dry. Their potatoes grew in dry land, the soil of which did not adhere much to the tubers. Prof Nash, of Amherst, Mass., had long been satisfied that potatoes never should be exposed to the light. Many farmers are in the praciice of sunning their potatoes all day after they are dug. It is a bad practice — no matter how damp they are, or how much dirt adheres to them. My father used to raise large crops of potatoes, and his method was to have them put in carts as fast as dug and hauled to the house, and dumped into a shute that led down to the bin in the cellar. In the spring the potatoes under the chute were found buried in earth, and were always the soundest and best, and yet had always been in damp soil. They were often found as fresh in May, as they were when dug in October. Probably the true economy of growing: potatoes is to plant them in light land on inverted turf, and only calculate upon a light crop. They are certainly less liable to rot in such land than in richer soil. I would plant them in four-inch furrows and cover them with a harrow, and ju&t as the plants begin to look out, give them another harrowing, and afterward, hoe once, but raise no hills. A good after-dress'ng may be made by mixing four bushels of ashes, one bushel of plaster, and half a bushel of salt, and give twelve to twenty bushels to the acre. Judge Meigs. — If the soil is wet I would hill; if dry, level culture will do. A Connecticut farmer said he planted a piece of under-drained swamp, one half in ridges and one half flat, and that the first produced a good crop, while the flat culture was a decided failure. Robert L. Pell. — Col. Muir, of Scotland, has produced potatoes from clay foity feet below the surface. This contradicts the idea of the potato being indigenous solely to America. PuoF. Nasii. — Forty years ago the people of Deerfield, Mass., adopted the level system of potato culture, because experience taught them it was far preferable ; yet so slow are farmers to adopt new systems, that the plan has not spread out fifteen miles from the original starting point. I do fully believe that the loss in hilling corn and potatoes in Massachusetts during the 225 years that it has been practiced, both in loss of labor and produc- tiveness, would make a sum sufficient to purchase the whole State, both real and personal property. Robert L. Pell. — I planted potatoes on a drained swamp, and found COKE ON HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD. 731 that the rows over the drains were far superior to the others. From further experiment I became satisfied that the ttiVct was produced by tbe circulation of air through the drains and the soil. I raised 425 bu&hels per acre; I used no manure, because the soil was that of a bog-swamp. I afterward put 200 bushels of lime per acre, and then hauled out and ustd the muck, and found it as good as manure. Mr. Lowe said that raw muck put upon sandj land makes good manure for potatoes. So does spent tan bark. TRIAL OF COKE ON THE HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD. A TRIAL of two samples of coke, one English, tbe other American, has been recently made on this road. Tbe object in making it was to ascertain whether it would be expedient to purchase a lot of English coke, which was offered at a very low price. The engine used for the experimenc was a com- mon wood-burner. The coke burned freely, and made steam well ; but in a very short time the fire-bars were melted by the English coke. This was owing to the clinkering, clogging of the grate, and consequent unequal and blow-pipe action of the draft, which, while the whole fire was not very pow- erful, produced in parts such intense heat as to melt the bars. The American coke was free from clinker, and burned freely without foul- ing the grate or leaving anything upon it or apparently injuring it. There was no design to ascert;iin the amount of water vaporized, and no notes were kept from which tbe relative economy of coke and wood can be deteimined. All that is provtd is, that a common wood burner can work well with coke, if it be of such quality as will not foul the grate. The difficulty of melting fire-bars is an old one ; the early engines on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway used sometimes to have a new set of bars dtstroyed in a single trip. But since companies have taken mea- sures to obtain coke of a suitable quality there has been very little trouble. The obvious conclusion in this case is, that the Engli?h coke tried was very different from that now commonly used on English roads ; and yet, had it now been tried for the first time, and without the concurrent trial of a better quality, we should probably have been assured, as the result of it, that coke could never be used in locomotives. But since it can be used, without the expense of altering fire-boxes, ■we conceive it to be a duty to the traveling public to adopt it, as a means to get rid of the smoke and spaiks of wood, and aUo a great part of the noise which is made by the striking of the steam against the cone, and other parts of the spark-arrester. This contrivance sends out the smoke in a direction nearly horizontal, and insures to it the best chance of finding its way into the cars. But from a straight and unobstructed chimney the smok>3 is projected upwards clear of the train, and it is only when there is wind blowing against contiguous embankments, or other objects to dis- turb its course, that the smoke touches a train. Even if the cost of coke should be greater than that of wood — instead of less, which is most likely — this company would probably find it profitable for passenger trains ; because the sparks, which compose the greater part of 732 THE VERBEITA. the solid impurities of the air which they supply to their passengers, are so injurious to ladies' dresses, that many prefer to go by steamboats, who would go by rail if this nuisance were removed. This is our argument. — Railroad Advocate. THE VERBEXA. This is a beautiful flower almost in perpetual bloom, and presenting every variety of color. The Country Gentleman gives the following article and list : Search the whole list of plants — and there name is legion — and there is none, taken all in all, that can at present dispute the palm with the Verbena as a summer flower for bedding purposes. So varied are they in color, somewhat so in habit also, that a large fpace could be planted exclusively with them and yet present anything but a' monotonous appearance. Indeed so in- dispensable are they in the arranging of very extensive geometric flower gardens, that they always form a large proportion of the entire plants used. No other plant of the herbaceous character, is so nicely adapted to supply this demand with so little trouble. Secure a few dozen pots in the fall, of a healthy character, and by the time they are wanted to plant out in the spring, with proper conveniencies, which need be nothing more than a very small greenhouse and abundance of pits, thousands of the best plants may be ob- tained. Any one who remembers the original imported kind, Melindress, a very rich scarlet, from Buenos Ayres, and considers for a moment, that the numberless different tints and shades now to be met with, counted by hun- dreds in Florists' catalogues, have sprung directly from that, can have no better illustration of the sportive character of certain plants when raised from seed, and which only need a little care in the selecting of the seed to be im- proved. Even if sown out of doors, and treated as an annual, it will flower in August and continue till entirely destroyed by hard frost. Any ordinary good garden soil will grow them to perfection, providing it is rich enough, and if too stiff and retentive in its nature use plenty of street dirt, good sharp sand and decayed leaves, while if the soil is already very sandy, thoroughly rotten manure should be used very plentifully. To keep in a flourishing con- dition all summer, they require abundance of room, so that as the branches extend themselves they can find nourishment by the roots that strike into the soil from almost every joint. If planted less than a yard asunder they soon fill the entire space, after which the flowers will not come so freely. Where land is plenty and a large space of it to plant, four or six feet asunder is not any too much, as many of the strong growing kinds will extend over a space of six or eight feet during the season. In a plant like this, sporting into so many difterent varities, and raised from seed by so many florists, almost every locality having one or more, who is raising and distributing those of his own naming, it is difficult to give a selection of kinds obtainable, and suita- ble to all, but the following list are known and tried kinds, and if nota^ good as some of the new ones advertised by the different florists, they can all be depended on as first-rate. Auricula, lavender blue, white eye. Black Warrior, dark indigo purple. PROPAGATION OF FISH. 733 Blue Bonnet, dpep blue, shading to purple. Indispensable, (Beck,) very rich crimson. Defiance, the best scarlet. Fair American, large white, strong grower. Henry Clay, rich ruby, maroon center. Jenny Dean, bright cherry, pink center. Mad. Lemounier, fine satin rose, white stripe. Mad. Sevigne, dark plum purple. Mazeppa, rosy lilac and purple. Phenomena, intense scarlet crimson. St. Margaretts, rosy scarlet, violet center. Thalia, pure white very fine. Uncle Tom, very dark maroon. Visceta, rich crimson maroon, free bloomer. Beauty Supreme, satin rose. Beauty of Astoria, light pink, shaded, red. Clotilda, lilac and purple, very showy. Fadette, bluish white scarlet eye. Fair Maid of Perth, bluish, cherry eye. Gen. Scott, blood-red or crimson. Gem, (Bauch,) bluish pink, shading to pink in center. Heroine, deep lilac blue. Imphigene, lilac and rosy purple. Lord of the Isles, fine deep rose. Mad. Clonet, rosy crimson, shading dark in center. Macrantha, rose white, rose purple center. P. B. Mead, rich shaded piuk. Painted Lady, white crimson center. Queen of Whites, good white. ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF FISH. At a recent meeting of the Boston Society of !N'atural History, Dr. H. R. Storer, at the request of the President, briefly stated some of the well-known facts relative to the artificial propagation of fish. The operation of obtaining the ova and milt is very simple, consisting merely in pressing the body of the fish, from the head towards the tail, and collecting the spawn in water, in a common vessel. The contents of the vessel should be put in motion occasionally, to prevent the collection of parasitical growths upon the eggs. Freezing, or even complete dessication of the eggs does not always necessarily destroy them ; so that some kinds of eggs may be trans- mitted from one place to another in the dry state, and ready to be matured. Dr. Algernon Coolidge, of Boston, has estimated the cost of raising one mil- lion of trout to be less than two hundred dollars. • Dr. Storer referred to the extirpation from this Commonwealth entirely of salmon and almost entirely of trout, and to the constant demand for these fish in the markets at exhorbitant rates ; to the comparatively small supply of salt water fish, wholly insuflScient, if proper efl:brts were made to extend the country and Western trade; and to the excellence of many species 734 ORNAMENTED COTTAGE. ot fish, now unsaleable because not generally known, as the whiting, turbot,