Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/ploughloomanvil81phil l^C^S J/Crv ^ flje flangl); tlje %m% anlt tlje ^miiL Vol. VIII. JULY, 1855. No. 1. THE MINING OF GOLD. The iramense cliange in the quantity of gold annually converted into coin, can not fail to have some material and permanent influence upon the money value of merchandise. The difference between ten and twenty millions of annual product, for a single year, is not of much account ; and this was the maximum variation in the first quarter of this century. But now the differ- ence is tenfold this amount, and this increase of annual product promises to be permanent. Let us loolc at this. The entire cpiantity of metallic coin in this country was estimated at from 69,000,000 to t;lG,000,000 ; and in 1821, from 818,000,000 to $20,000,000. From that time to 1841, it appears by the Custom-House returns, that the importation was $181,589,814, while 8138,085,922 were exported, leaving in the country $43,003,892. To this add the quantity in the country already, estimated, as above, at $19,000,000. Deduct the quantity annually used in the arts, supposed to be $500,000, and the quantity lost by wear, estimated at \ of one per cent, or, taking these two jtems as absorbing $1,000,000, add the product of domestic mines, esti- mated at $6,000,000, and the result gives, as the estimate of the amount of gold and silver in the country in 1841, equal to $57,503,892. This gives a decennial increase of 73 per cent. The average annual product of gold and silver coin in the world, for the first half of this century, is estimated at $60,000,000. Of this about one half is supposed to be used in various manufactures of wares, etc. California and Australia each now yields about $80,000,000 annually. Hence the annual product of gold and silver must now be about $200,000,000. If $60,000,000 was the annual product a few years since, one half only of this being kept in the currency of the worlJ, and the product is now as above stated, allowing even $50,000,000 to be used in manufactures, we shall have an annual increase of coin amounting to $120,000,000. It is true that the commerce of the world is greatly extended, but not in any ratio to compare with this. The world's population does not greatly increase from year to year, and the changes produced by the progress of civilization and refinement is, unhappily, very far behind any such proportion as is denoted by these figures. In our own largest cities, luxury, and dissi- pation and extravagance do increase at a fearful rate, but these are oply small 1^ excrescences, very limited pustules on the surface of the great body politic. » Our agricultural and mechanical population, as a whole, maintain the sim- "*", VOL. VIII. 1 ' - 590343 THE illNING OF GOLD. and, at the end of 1849, less than two years after the discovery, the 4000 digo^ers had increased to 50,000 Americans and 5000 foreigners. During the years 1848 and 1849, 840,000,000 -were obtained from the washings. California, with all its miners, exhibits, as yet, no symptoms of exhaustion. It still holds the first rank among the gold-producing countries of the globe. How much gold California has thus far produced will be seen from the fol- lowing table-, which shows the quantity of gold that has been deposited in the United States Mint, and all its branches, by California and all the other States, since the earliest discoveries of gold in North- America :* Years. Virginia. North Carolina. South Carolina. Georgia. Tennessee. Total for each year. 1804-'23 . , 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1887 1838 1889 1840 1841 1B42 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851....... 1852 1853 ■ '$V,500 24,000 26,000 34,000 104.000 62,000 60,400 62,000 52,100 55,000 57,600 38,995 25,736 42,163 48,148 40,595 86,783 55,538 . 67,736 57,886 129,382 65,991 69,052 83,626 52,200 . $47,000 5,000 17,000 20,000 21,000 46,000 134,000 204,000 294,000 4.58,000 475,000 880,000 263,500 148,100 116,900 i,899,505 ' 473,543 485,793 355,523 326,883 403,295 275,622 "$3,506 26,000 22,000 45,000 66,000 38,000 42,O0(' 55,200 29,400 '406,644 40,577 24,564 19,459 41,(if.2 126,982 99,317 $212,666 176,000 140,000 210,000 415,000 319,900 201,400 83,600 8,582',633 ' 257^663 236,349 209,587 157,213 90,542 58,896 iii666 1,000 7,000 8,000 100 800 50^440 ' 7,i6i 5,180 1,507 2,377 750 149 $47,000 5,000 17,000 20,000 21,000 46,000 140,000 466,000 £20,000 678,000 868,000 898,(l(J0 698,500 407,000 282,000 f 435,100 404,208 426,18.5 542,117 777,097 1,045,445 967,200 1,019,281 1,129,357 889,085 896,675 7,079,144 36,933,314 56,.i40,012 54,506,963 55,622,051 1354, 3 mo's 1,403,431 4,631 7,848,664 62,832 1,035,491 8,044 0,361,583 4,167 79,970 224.392,334 11,111,098 The following amounts are included in the total: ^/aSawm— $155,107 from 1837 to 1847; 1848, .$14,462; 1849, $10,700; 1850, $6538; 1851, $3962; 1852, $254; total, $191,023. iV^ra-l/fx/co— 1848, $682; 1849, $32,889 ; 1850, $5392 ; 1851,^800; 1852, $814; 1853, $3632; total, $44,299. Om/ow— 1853, $13,535; first three months of 1854, $445. California— ISiS, $45,301 ; 1849, $6,151,360; 1850, $36,273,097; 1851, $55,938,232; 1852, $53,794,700; 1853, $55,113,487 ; total, $207,316,177 ; first quarter of 1854, $11,031,479. There were also received, from miscellaneous sources, in the •whole period at the Mint, $48,161. * General Rafael Espiuosa, Governor of Lovrcr California, has recently discovered rich gold and silver mines near San Jos6, Lower California. One silver mine of immense richness is spoken of, the mouth of which was closely covered with decayed wood, showing that it had been worked at some remote period. Near the mine stands an old dilapidated house, the walls of which are ornamented with specimens of antique painting in Indian colors, and inside the walls is a huge tree, towering in solitary majesty. A coal mine of uncommon richness has recently been discovered this side of Cape St. Lucas. Tlio discoverer is takmg steps to secure it from the Mexican govern- ment, when he proposes to form a company for the purpose of workmg it. It is within eight days' sail of San Francisco, and near a good landing. THE MINING OF GOLD. From the preceding table it will be seen that up to the beginning of 1854 there had been deposited in the United States Mints the following amounts : From the Atlantic States, - - - - - - - $16,910,162 New-Mexico, Oregon, and various sources, - - - 105,995 CaUfornia, 207,316,177 224,392,334 The actual manifested shipments of gold from California fall short of the above two hundred and seven millions by -$3,500,000, which is the amount carried away by passengers in small and large sums. The following table, which we find in Mr. Whitney's Metallic Wealth of the United States, is an approximation to the grand total of the gold pro- duced by California up to the beginning of 1854, most of the items being from actual returrns : Deposited in United States Mint and branches up to Dec. 31, 1853, . - $207,316,177 Shipments to foreign ports in 1848, 1849, and 1850, (estimated,) _ - 10,000,000 Taken out of the country by foreign miners, chiefly Mexicans, in 1848 and 1849, (estimated,) 10,000,000 Shipped to Europe in 1851, 3,392,760 Shipped to South-American ports in 1851, 2,372,000 Shipped to Europe in 1852, 6,000,000 Shipped to South- America and Asiatic ports in 1854, ... 1,000,000 Shipped to England in 1853, 5,000,000 Shipped to other ports in 1853, 1,600,000 la cu-culation in California, in transitu, and otherwise absorbed, (estimated,) 13,319,063 1260,000,000 This enormous sum of gold was produced by the mines of California between 1848 and 1853, inclusive, as follows : lbs. Troy. In 1848, $5,000,000 representing of pure gold, - - - 20,150 1849, 20,000,000 " " ... 80,600 1850,45,000,000 " " ... 181,400 1851, 65,000,000 " " ... 262,000 1852, 62,500,000 " ' " ... 252,000 1853, 62,500,000 " " ... 252,000 ' $260,000,000 1,048,150 Having in the preceding pages given a brief sketcb of the gold regions of the United States and the amount of their production, we now proceed to glance at the principal gold regions of other countries : The gold mines of Russia are chiefly on the eastern slope of the Ural mountains, in the eastern part of Siberia, and in the Caucasus. The western slope of the Ural yields but little. Formerly, gold was found in the region about Archangel, but these mines have not been worked since the commence- ment of the present century. The gold mines of the Ural and of Eastern Siberia have acquired, during the last twelve or fifteen years, great import- ance. The mines of Eastern Siberia are by far superior to those in the Ural, the amount of gold found in the latter being to that of the former as'l to 6. The Ural gold region extends over a surface thus far unknown, new mines being constantly discovered. (Jold was first discovered in these mountains xa 1774, but the exploitation of the mines assumed no importance until 1819. The greatest amount of gold is obtained from the washings of the sands, the 6 THE MINIXG OF GOLD. yield of which is very small ordinarily, 128,000 parts of sand giving only one part firokl. From 1823 to 1839 the gold mines of the Ural mountains produced 432 Russian pounds weight of gold, equal to 389.92 pounds avoirdupois. The total value of the gold produced by all the mines of Russia from 1819 to 1848, inclusive, was 223,900,000 roubles of silver, equal to 1167,925,000. Their production in 1848 was 21,637,300 roubles of silver, equal to $16,227,975.* Up to 1850 the Ural gold washings have yielded only 932,270 pounds Troy of gold. The government first commenced their ex- ploitation in 1814. The Russian gold mines are thought now to be on the decline. In England and Ireland gold is found in many places in very small quantities. The Romans mined extensively for gold in Wales, but not with much success. In the reign of James V. several hundred men were employed in washing the sands of Dumfriesshire for gold, but w'ith what success we are not informed. Gold is still found in small quantities in the tin mines of Cornwall, where it has been observed for hundreds of years. Some years ago, a lump of gold weighing 22 ounces was found in the Wicklow mountains of Ireland, which created an immense excitement. A gold mining company was immediately formed, and a large capital wasted in endeavoring to find the lodes in which the j^recious metal originated. Previous to the year 1853 the entire amount of gold produced by Great Britain did not exceed four ounces per annum. Since 1853 the appearance in England of a work entitled, " The Gold Rocks of Great Britain and Ire- land^'' by John Calvert, filled with the most extraordinary stories of golden treasures existing in England, Ireland, and Scotland, has created an extraor- dinary excitement among the English on the subject ; but it does not appear that any of Mr. Calvert's golden dreams have as yet been realized. Great Britain is decidedly poor in gold mines. The same may be said of Germany. Some of its gold mines have been worked ever since the days of the Romans. The principal mines are in Transylvania, Hungary, Salzburg, Tyrol, Styria, and Bohemia. The entire production in 1820 was 2682 pounds ; in 1848, 5645 pounds, and the yield for 1854 is estimated at 6000 pounds. In France^ the sands of the Rhine continue to be washed for gold, but only on a small scale. Formerly the yield was very considerable. In 1846 the gold washings of France yielded only about $9000. There is no gold, in fact, found in France worth mentioning. The poorest spot in California is richer in gold than all France. Spain, in ancient time, if we may believe Diodorus, Pliny,f Strabo, and other ancient writers, was immensely rich in gold. It was found both in the solid rock and in the sands of the rivers — in those of the Tagus and Douro. In the time of Pliny, A.D. 23, Spain was the richest gold country known. Gallacia and the Asturias yielded 20,000 of gold annually. From Pliny's account of mining operations, it appears that in those remote times, 1800 years ago, not only were the ancients well versed in smelting, but that the arts of cupelling and amalgamating were fully understood and practised. * Etudes sur les Forces Produdives de la Russie, par M. L. de Tegoborski, vol. 1, pp. 278- 294. This work is official. f Metallis, plumbi, ferri, acris, argcnti, auri tota ferme Hispania scatet. — G. Plinii Secundi, Hist. Mundi, lib. iii. 4. THE MINING OF GOLD. Diodoriis and Pliny speak of tliese arts as being then of the most ancient origin. The gold mining operations of the ancients in Spain extended over a large surface, as may be seen at the present day. The places worked seem to have been thoroughly exhausted ; but Spain still contains gold in considerable quantities, though the amount produced is small. If Spanish industry at the present day was equal to that of the Romans, gold would undoubtedly be produced by them in large quantities. The sands of their rivers still pro- duce gold, but the washings are confined to the river Sil and Salor, which yield only about $8000 per annuna. Italy contains gold ; and mines which were worked in the time of Pliny still continue to yield gold. The sands of the Po still contain gold. The principal gold operations of Italy are at present carried on in Piednoont and Savoy. The gold mines of the province of Ossola, still worked, must have been very rich in ancient times; for Pliny informs us that the Ptoraan Senate forbid over 5000 slaves being employed in them lest the price of gold should be reduced by the large quantity produced. In 1829 these mines yielded only 250 pounds Troy. A French company has recently commenced working a gold mine near Genoa. In Central Asia gold is found in various localities. In 1851 the Ptussians established gold washings in the Caucasus. The sands of the rivers of this region wiere washed for gold long before the Christian era. Thibet. is also supposed to be rich in gold. The rivers of the western portion of that coun- try are especially referred to as abounding in auriferous sands. They are estimated to yield about 10,000 ounces annually. SotUhern Asia, that is, Asia south of the Himalayan chain of mountains, in ancient times yielded vast amounts of gold. By many the Ophir of So- lomon is thought to have been somewhere in Southern Asia. Gold is still found in many localities in India. The washings of the Burrampooter are estimated to yield from 30,000 to 40,000 ounces annually. Many of the streams of the Burman empire produce gold. Ava produces about 2000 pounds annually. The Malayan peninsula is represented as rich in gold. In China and Japan there is much gold, though we have no very reliable statistics of the amount of their production. The Japanese government forbids the exportation of gold. The gold-bearing formations of Siberia enter into China, but they are little worked by the Chinese, the government having suspended mining operations "in order to preserve the balance of cir- culation." This fact, whatever may be thought of Chinese political economy, shows that these mines are capable of producing abundantly. Borneo has extensive gold washings. About 5000 Chinese are engaged in the washings of the western coast; and according to Mr. Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak, the annual production is $5,000,000. The other East-India islands also produce considerable quantities of gold. Gold dust is very abundant in Sumatra, and is an article of considerable traffic. The whole product of Southern Asia, including the East-India islands, is estimated at from 25,Q00 to 30,000 pounds annually. Africa, according to the accounts of all travellers who have penetrated to the interior, is rich in gold. Owing to the climate chiefly, all attempts to en- gage in mining operations have proved disastrous. The gold washings of Nubia, Senegambia, and Bambuck are important. According to Russegger, who travelled through Nubia in 1838, the great chain of mountains which traverse the interior of Africa from ENE. to WSW., contains large amounts of gold of a remarkably yellow color, and of a very pure quality. The THE MINING OF GOLD. annual production of Africa at the present time is about 4000 pounds. The next El Dorado will probably be in Africa. Australia, as all know, is now second only to California as a gold-bearing country. The discovery of gold in Australia illustrates the value of geolo- gical science. Mr. Murchison, in examining the Australian cordillera, in the south-eastern corner of Australia, discovered such a remarkable resemblance between the geological position and mineralogical character of the rocks of the Australian and Uralian cordilleras, that he predicted the discovery of gold in Australia. Cornish miners immediately began to " prospect," and gold was discovered. Mr. Murchison, soon after his geological surveys, wrote to Earl Grey on the subject of encouraging the search for gold in Australia : but the Earl "took no steps whatever to promote the discovery of gold, on the ground that the production of this metal would interfere with sheep-growing /" We think that Earl Grey must have felt a little sheepish after reading the fol- lowing facetious remark in the Quarterly Review : " We were quite unpre- pared," says the Review, " for such pastoral predilection in the colonial office under Lord Grey's presidency. To realize Arcady in New South Wales, and convert convicts into Strephons, might be a very amiable conception, but would hardly justify the minister of a great commercial empire — and, above all, a zealot of Free Trade — in an attempt to cushion rich sources of mineral wealth opened in a colony under the watch of his intelligence."* While Earl Grey was dreaming of sheep-growing, a Mr. Smith applied to the government for a reward for the discovery of certain auriferous deposits, which he agreed to point out as soon as the reward was paid ; but while Mr. Smith was awaiting the movements of the government, a " returned Ca- lifornian," named Hargroves, found gold on the Macquairie river, a piece weighing 13 ounces having been dug up. Without asking for a reward, Hargroves informed the government of his discovery, and then there was a general rush for the second California. Earl Grey now forgot his sheep-growing, and the government began to stir in the matter, by laying claim to the gold region, granting licenses to dig for £l 105. per month. It also instituted a geological commission to explore the country. The Australian gold region extends over a space of at least nine degrees of latitude, and occupies a breadth of 50 miles or more. The discovery of gold in Australia was first announced in May, 1851. In December of that year 12,000 persons were digging for gold at the Mount ■ Alexander gold-field. A shepherd discovered a block of quartz lying upon the surface, from which 60 pounds of gold were taken. Nearly all the gold of Australia is obtained from washings, all of the quartz-mining companies, without exception, having failed. The quartz veins are found not to be rich in gold ; and investigations made in Loudon with regard to the quartz-gold mining companies of Alistralia, seem to indicate that they are mostly swindling concerns. The auriferous deposits of Australia are similar to those of California. The gold is remarkably fine, and contains from three to seven per cent of silver. The total amount of pure gold produced by Australia, since the first discovery up to the beginning of 185-1, is estimated by Mr. J. D. Whitney, after a careful examination of all the returns and estimates, to be as follows : Quarterly Eeview, XCL, 511. COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 9 lbs. Troy. 1851, (year of discovery.) 30,000 1852 - . - 830,000 1853', 210,000 Total since discovery, 570,000 Soidh-Americah&s, never been a great gold-producing country ; whilst its silver mines, ever since the discovery of America, have poured forth an un- pa.ralleled stream of wealth. la 1800, according to Humboldt, it produced 691,625 lbs. of silver, and only 33,524 lbs. of gold, of which 9900 lbs. came from Brazil. In 1850, South- America produced only 24,000 lbs. of gold. The countries yielding gold in South-America are New-Granada, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. The total amount produced by New-Granada since 1804 is estimated at $204,085,328. The principal mines are in the provinces of Antioquia and Veraguas. New-Granada produces annually about 13,276 lbs., and Brazil about 6000 lbs. The total amount of gold produced by New-Granada, from the earliest mining operations up to 1841, IS $376,500,000; and the total amount produced by Brazil up to 1845, is 3,576,192 lbs. Troy. Mexico yields gold in scarcely any other way than as a constituent of its argentiferous ores, which yield a very important per centage of gold. M. Duport estimates that per centage, for 1840, at one eighth in value. There is probably much gold in Mexico which will not be discovered until the Anglo-Americans get possession of that country — an event not far distant. Central-America, according to Mr. Squier, and other travellers, is rich in gold ; but we have no statistics on the subject. COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. The annexed statement exhibits the value of merchandise imported into the United States from each foreign country, and the value of merchandise exported from the United States to each foreign country, during the year ending June 30, 1854 : Russia, - - • , - Prussia, - . - - - Sweden and Norway, Swedish West-Indies, - - - Denmark, . . . _ Danish West-Indies, - - - Bremen, - - - - - Hamburg, - - - - - Holland, . . - - Dutch East-Indies, . - - Dutch West-Indies, - - - Dutch Guiana, - - - - Belgium, . - - - England, - - - - - Scotland, .... Foreign Domestic Imports. Exports. $1,544,235 $335,521 47,773 515,178 1,085,602 22,590 12,741 8,097 87,870 - 286,044 928,924 14,643,927 8,386,077 - 2,322,971 2,255,519 1,695,970 2,299,710 - 1,041,600 109,203 534,978 371,380 - 104,236 53,745 3,462,241 3,848,890 140,388,733 135,111.708 5,820,469 3,097,662 10 COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. Ireland, - - - _ _ Gibraltar, - - Malta, British East-Indies, British West-Indies, - - - British Honduras, - - - - British Guiana, - - - - Cape of Good-Hope, . . . British American Colonies, - Other British Colonies . - . Canada, - - - . . Australia, - - - _ - France on the Atlantic, France on the Mediterranean, - French Guiana, - - - - French West-Indies, . . . Spain on the Atlantic, - Spain on the Mediterranean, Teneriffe and other Canaries, Manila and other Philij^pine Islands, - Cuba, - - - - ' - Other Spanish West-Indies, Portugal, - - - - - Madeira, Fayal and Azores, - - - Cape de Verds, . . . _ Italy, - . . - . Sicily, .--_.- Sardinia, - - _ - _ Tuscany, - - _ . . Trieste and other Austrian ports, - Turkey, Levant, etc., . - - Hayti, Mexico, Central Republic of America, New-Granada, . - - . Venezuela, - - - - - Brazil, .-.-.. Oriental Republic of Uruguay, Arojentine Republic, . . - Chili, Peru, ------ Ecuador, ----- China, ------ Asia generally, - - - - Africa generally, - - - - South America generally, South Seas and Pacific Ocean, - Sandwich Islands, - - - Atlantic Ocean and uncertain places, - Total, Foreign Imports. Domestic Exports. 229,335 1,006,017 59,6'73 447,445 83,695 108,528 5,378,321 567,193 - 1,126,417 4,756,398 228,954 203,913 47,489 718,096, 448,903 292,628 - 2,206,021 4,693,771 4,344 - 6,721,539 10,510,373 214,202 2,999,635 - 32,892,021 29,749,466 2,889,372 1,218,786 29,618 100,148 161,085 551,525 358,504 1,390,348 1,579,074 1,212,368 39,598 19,613 2,265,282 27,852 - 17,164,339 3,228,116 2,850,353 990,886 243,592 127,150 30,007 47,708 21,584 10,030 8,985 30,037 971,718 1,586,327 959,300 246,151 85,676 188,305 1,152,717 11,735 741,919 . 1,697,319 803,114 219,496 - 2,357,222 1,880,187 3,463,190 1,091,870 - 2,360,422 250.539 1,478,520 855,254 - 3,072,649 1,131,604 14,110,387 4,046,857 457,179 450,855 2,144,9'71 658,720 - 3,332,167 1,942,330 1,005,406 ^651,707 57,534 10,506,329 1,293,925 60,730 1,385,568 1,716,924 235,693 47,241 10,103. 886,779 - 119,130 60 $301,494,094 $252,047,806 BUSINESS OF THE NEW- YORK CANALS. 11 The above statement of exports only includes domestic merchandise shipped to the places designated. The value of foreign mercbandise, during the year ending June 30, 1854, was $23,748,514. This makes the total exports for the year, $275,796,320. This includes $38,062,570, of gold and silver coin and bullion. The comparative table given above shows the extent of our foreign trade with each country. MANUFACTURES IN SOUTH-CAROLINA, From the census of 1850, it appears that the following is the condition of manufactures in that State : Capital employed, $5,166,865 Annual product, 7,072,513 Produced in families, 919,525 The number of hands employed was 7009. BUSINESS OF THE NEW- YORK CANALS. .From the Eeport of the late Auditor of this department, it appears that the whole amount of Tolls collected, the last season of navigation, upon the canals of this State, was $2,773,566.35. The following table exhibits the quantity and value of the agricultural pro- ductions, merchandise, etc., ascending and descending, within the same period : Products of the forest, " animals, - Vegetable food, _ _ - Other agricultural products, - Manufactures, - - - - Merchandise, - - - . Other articles, . . - Total, The whole number of barrels of flour arriving at tide-water, was 1,249,453. Bushels of wheat, 3,523,800. This wheat, turned into flour, at five bushels for each barrel, would amount to 704,760 barrels, giving a total of 1,954,213 barrels. The quantity of corn arriving at tide-water was 12,813,929 bushels. This makes a decrease in the revenue, as compared with 1853, of $491,152, and in tonnage of 81,991 tons. There was a decrease of flour and wheat amounting to 419,774 tons, and in corn and oats an increase of 270,231 tons. Tons. Value. 1,768,745 $14,384,785 78,684 11,666,296 903,735 38,331,500 10,420 1,983,068 258,021 9,795,420 406,022 123,107,863 740,235 10,954,380 4,165,862 $210,284,312 12 POTATOES. POTATOES. [Translated from the French manuscript hy the Editori] The production of potatoes, in the city and State of New- York, is of vital importance. This tuber, at this season, commands an enormous price, and during the whole winter, has cost more than any other article of food. Comparing the price of this article in Pennsylvania, we find it to be one tenth what is paid for it in New- York. The population of the city of New-York is more than half a million of inhabitants. It consists of Americans, descendants of the English, who, for their tables, demand beef and potatoes ; of Germans who sing, " Pota- toes are ruddy and fine, and also as white as alabaster, and are good for men, women, and children, and are the true plaster for the stomach;" the French, who make part of the population of the Empire City, re- peat in their country, " Long live mirth and the potato." Thus this nation, wiio are accustomed to use the potato in their own country, not only eat it with pleasure and delight, but wifeh greediness, and deprived of this production, they feel the want of it, and are discontented ; and although the potato is at an exorbitant price, they will procure it, instead of some other kind of food which would be more nutritious and at a more moderate price, as rice, semoulia, (paste baked of Hecker's farina,) farina, beans, pearl barley, etc. But custom makes law. Men prefer that to which they are accustomed from infancy, and perhaps there is another consideration which leads them to prefer the potato. Let us look at this. The population of New- York is composed, to a large extent, of workmen laboring in the ship-yards and in various manufactures. The women are not less busily employed, but labor in different shops, and thereby furnish their share of the family expenses. So the members of the family are all absent from their homes, the fire is extinguished, and all culi- nary processes cease. On their return in the evening the supper must be pre- pared speedily — hunger demands this. The fire is hastily kindled with coal or coke, or wood, and in an hour a supper of potatoes, beef steak, roast beef, or a chop is prepared, with coft'ee or tea with milk, which revives the strength of the laborers, restores their good humor, and makes them happy, secures for them a quiet rest, and prepares them for the labor of the succeeding day. But this is not all. That which remains of the evening repast serves for the morrow's dinner in the workshop or stoi'e, and for the noon repast of the children who remain at home, after having taken a moderate breakfast, and prevents the necessity of the loss of time and of labor, which would otherwise be required in its preparation. So potatoes are indispensable to the city laborer ; and the farmer, if he understands his own interests, will take espe- cial care to cultivate this tuber as a source of profit. But why is it that this article is so dear and at the same time so easily cultivated 1 This tuber originated in America, and was imported with great care into Europe, and when it had become common in Germany and in the countries of central Europe, France had not any knowledge of it. It was during the Seven Years' War that a French oflicer, named Parmenthier, who was taken prisoner in Prussia, was fed upon it, and was greatly pleased with it. When his liberty was restored to him and he returned to liis own coun- try, he carried a sack of potatoes with him, and presented them to the king, POTATOES. 13 and sought his assistance in introducing them as an article of food. I pass in silence over the difficulties which he met in this effort, but he has furnished his country with the means of feeding millions of Frenchmen, and at this day his name is pronounced with gratitude and with respect as a benefactor of the nation. But the potato is most productive in the west of Europe. Poland, after overcoming many difficulties, cultivates it extensively, so that it has become the principal article of food for its inhabitants, and a source of wealth to the producer. It is used in the manufacture of spirits, and through the influence of Pistorius, a Prussian, by means of apparatus of his invention, 'alcohol is distilled from it not inferior to that obtained from rye. It is remarkable that the potato, originating in America, is now cultivated more extensively in its adopted than in its native countiy, and that it should become of superior quality, more farinaceous, more nutritive. It is also more productive and less liable to decay, and richly rewards the labor of the pro- ducer. In ISTew-York a bushel of potatoes costs ten shillings. In Poland, in the country, four bushels can be purchased for one slylling and two cents ; and in the capital, at Warsaw, they cost one shilling ar bushel, and the price does not exceed more than three or four shillings even in a distressing famine. It is sufficient to say that a gallon of spirits, which is produced from potatoes, is sold for one shilling and two cents, and one can judge of the immense extent of the cultivation of this tuber, which yields four, six, and even ten thou- sand bushels to the producer. In France potatoes are cheap, and furnish the common food of children who attend school, and of laborers, who are in the habit of using them at their noon meal, fried in lard, and which is sold to speculators — a hundred being served together, which sufiice for one person. These are sold in Paris in the streets, cooked by steam, at one cent a pounxl, which the laborer eats with much pleasure. I would make a few suggestions in respect to the quality of the potatoes of Europe. The ordinary kind are more or less farinaceous, and are placed in the earth after the frost is out. These ripen by midsummer or in June. They are generally buried in sand. They are difficult to preserve, and great care is taken to keep them sound for seed. Another quality is ordinarily called "Michaelmas," because served in the month of June. The gathering of them is commenced in last of September. Another kind of potatoes is oblong, red and orange colored ; but these are a luxury, and served only on the tables of the rich. It is proper to say that America is not the only original country of the potato. Asia produces the same kind of product. The ocean also furnishes a growth analogous to this, under the name of banana ; and that which shows the eternal will of Providence to distinguish the races of men is this : the potato of the interior of Africa is as black as the skin of the negro, while it has the same savory, luscious taste as the American potato, which is yellow and sweet. We pass on now to the deterioration of this crop, and to the means neces- sary to prevent its complete destruction. For many years the potato has suf- fered from a disease which materially injures it and makes it unwholesome. This disease has been progressively developed in Poland, in Germany, in France, in Ireland, and at last in this, its native country. Some have called it cholera. In the interior of the tuber a sac is formed, which is filled with a blackish juice, which not only renders a part of the fruit unfit for consump- 14 POTATOES. tion, but is actually poisonous. Naturalists have sought eagerly to discover the nature and the cause of this disease. Some have supposed it to be occa- sioned by the prepared manures, and perhaps not without reason, since the hydrogen gas, which this manure contains, confioes the moisture in the fruit, and the great heat confines it in the interior of the tuber, and hinders the evaporation of the humid particles which it contains, and which remaining there, in a stagnant condition, at length attack it, and become the cause of the malady. Others suppose that the use of burnt bones is the cause. Others affirm that the ground being partially covered with stones, produces this effect, since they hinder the heat of the sun from penetrating the soil, and impede the necessary vegetation. There may be some reason in this, since the fruit, being deprived of heat, can not develop itself. But neither of these has regard to the primary causes of this disease, which we will explain as, in our own experiments, they have come under our observation. Providence has created man, and has given to him strength and vigor, as he has to all his creatures, for securing a succession of generations. The po- tato has been left to rely on a fictitious art for its reproduction ; that is to say, the planting of the tubers. But it deteriorates ; it has become weak, and has lost its vital forces, and^no person is yet found to aid in its regene- ration. Being always transplanted without being renewed, the potato has dimi- nished, has lost its vital force and vigor, and its old age has produced this disease, since it is deprived of the strong juice necessary to its proper growth. Its juices may be compared to the blood of animals, and the effects of disease are analogous. In Poland certain agricultuvists, among whom I was one, having perceived the loss of vigor in this tuber, and a general use being made of it in the manufacture of spirits, and the amount of this crop annually diminishing:, they sought for the cause. At length they became convinced that the nature of the potato had deteriorated, and thpy resolved to obtain the seed for the fol- lowing year, instead of planting the tuber, and they obtained a new growth, but smaller, and instead of being fjxrinaceous, it was glutinous and without sweetness, and their hopes were disappointed. But they would not cease their efforts, and they replanted tliese potatoes the following year. The next harvest exceeded^their expectations, the potatoes being large and farinaceous, and when used in the manufacture of spirits, they were much more product- ive. This method of renewing the crop was continued for six years. The result was entire success, and when the potato was generally attacked by this disease in Europe, which was considered as a form of cholera, their crop was liberal. Thus was it proved that this renewal of the seed was essentially beneficial. Tiie potato is originally from Mexico, and has been naturalized in Europe and in North America, but has continually been renewed by planting the tuber, and has thus lost its vital force, and is threatened with entire destruc- tion. One of the agriculturists of this country, Mr. Goodrich, has attempted the renewal of this crop from the seed which he obtained in Mexico, but he com- plains that the fruit does not meet his expet'tations. Let him console him- self, since we have seen that the same results happened to the farmers of Poland ; and if Mr. Goodrich replants the potatoes which he has tlius ob- tained in succeeding years, success will crown his efforts. The reason why the potato does not come to maturity the first season is, because the seed is obtained from a country almost tropical, and has not POTATOES. 15 power to develop itself as it should do. The fruit is not more than half ma- tured, and a second season is necessary for it in the temperate zone. A single season in the torrid zone is as efficacious, in the development of fruit, as two seasons at the north. Farmers should not abandon their experiments on account of the want of success in those of Mr. Goodrich, but continue their endeavors to save the potato from destruction. In cultivating the potato, it should be remembered that it is capricious in its nature. It should not be planted two successive years in the same soil. The land should be well manured before planting, and the manure v^ell rotted. The soil, if fertile, should not lack manure, and a gravelly soil requires it, but the latter produces a fruit more farinaceous and more savory. If planted soon after the ground is thawed, it will ripen by June, and then it should be harvested. They should then be placed in a heap, not too much elevated, and after several days they should be removed, separated from earth, and placed for the winter where they will be safe from the frost. The potato, when planted at the beginning of June or the end of May, ripens by the end of September. They should be harvested in dry wealher. As soon as the stem is out of the ground, it should be kept free from weeds, and as it increases in height, the root should be covered with earth. Any one may satisfy himself that cultivation with the plough is less bene- ficial than with the hoe, although cheaper for the farmer. The cutting off the flowers to concentrate the juice in the fruit, is not wise. It is true that the flower absorbs the juice and diminishes the vegetation of the fiuit, but the stem which remains absorbs bad air, hydrogen gas, and communicates it to other parts of the plant. Instead, therefore, of cutting off the flowers, it is better to bury them in the earth, and thus they are destroyed, and the stem dries with them. If it is desirable to have the potato less moist, for a new planting, or for sale in the spring, to preserve them from frost, a sort of cave may be built in an elevated and dry soil, with planks, and the potatoes placed in it, and they may be covered with boards and the dried moss or straw, and then with earth, making a kind of hillock. A layer of lime will absorb the water occa- sioned by a thaw. When thus prepared, the fruits that are placed in it will be kept as sound and fresh as they were at the harvest. If kept in these caves in the earth without boards, they will put out buds and lose their vital force. To obtain seed, choose a rich soil, not too highly manured ; plant in the month of April ; keep the young stems free of weeds ; give them free growth, and let the fruit ripen on the stem ; dry the seed in the shade, and preserve it in a dry and warm place. Potatoes, besides being a pleasant, wholesome, and useful article of food in the family of the farmer, will serve him also with nourishing feed for pigs. So, too, in the confection of this tuber, starch is produced equal to that made from wheat. The process is as follows : The potatoes are carefidly separated and well washed. They are then grated into a vessel of water, and then are pressed and left to deposit at the bottom the farinaceous parts. The water is then poured off", and the portions of the farina that have thus been separated are pressed out, cut, and are dried in the sun. This gives starch. This mass, being broken up and sifted, gives farina. At the beginning it is necessary to hasten the process, to guard against fermentation ; for starch, when left in v.'ater, will ferment. The farina of the potato can be mixed with other flour in the preparation of bread, and when so mingled it makes an excellent pudding with eggs ; and if we take 16 A COUNTRY SEAT ON THE HUDSON, the white of eggs and knead this farina with them, and paste will be formed, which, when coarsely grated and dried, make§ a transparent gruel. In cooking this, it is mixed with milk, and seasoned with sugar and cinna- mon ; or it may be mixed with water, with a due quantity of butter, and seasoned to your taste ; or, in a beef soup, it may supply the place of ver- micelli. Saniewski Felix. Mai/, 1855. A COUNTRY SEAT ON THE HUDSON. ND^nSON Sn. MESSINA — THE COUNTRY SEAT OF J, R. inVINGSTON, ESQ. WnOEVEn has not seen the country seats on the upper side of the Hud- son knows nothing of the finest specimens of rural residences in America. There are in the neighborhood of I3oston, many beautiful villas and cottages, designed in admirable taste and kept in the highest order, that are indeed admirable in every respect ; but they, like more solitary specimens of the same kind, in the environs of many of our cities, are only suburban residen- ces of a few acres. There are, in various parts of the country, many gentle- men's large seats, well laid out, with lawns, pleasure-grounds and gardens, in a simple and unpretending manner, highly creditable to the possessors. But nowhere in America are there to be found country residences, where nature has done so much to assist man in his attempts to create a beautiful home, as in what may bo called the upper terrace of the Hudson. This includes a hill of land on the eastern shore, extending from Ilyde Park to Hudson city, a distance of about 50 miles. The peculiar advantages of this part of the river are these : First, the finest mountain and river views in the country — the river being the Hudson, in its loveliest portion — sometimes two or three miles wide — indented in out- A COUNTRY SEAT ON THE HUDSON. 17 line, and varied by numerous islands ; the mountains being the Catskills — their highest summit 3000 feet high — near enough to give a character of grandeur to the scene, and distant enough to possess that blue haze of at- mospheric distance, which makes a mountain a kit of poetry, instead of a bare reality of rocks and trees in the landscape. Second, they have the advantage of having been held as country seats since the first settlement of the river — with much of the fine natural beauties of wood and water preserved, and heightened by the fostering spirit of taste, rather than despoiled by the ava- ricious spirit of the mere tiller of the soil. For almost the entire distance of this fifty miles, the east bank of the Hud- son is one line of country seats — varying in extent from 50 to 500 or 600 acres. Instead of having the same general features of interest and beauty, nothing is more striking to the picturesque tourist than the highly varied character of these places. Every mile seems to present new groupings of headland and foreground, some new combinations of wood, water and moun- tain— so that no one who has seen one or two places can imagine with cer- tainty what will be the aspect and picturesque character of the next residence. The enchanting beauty of the Hudson itself is varied and heightened, too, by its peculiar life and animation. Snowy sails, sometimes singly in calms, and sometimes floating along in the light breezes like troops of white swans ; swift steamers freighted with throngs of busy and curious people ; huge clus- ters of freight barges, loaded down with the produce of whole countries ; and finally, stealing along under the high wooded banks, the river railway, whose trains fly along between the commercial and political capitals of the State at the rate of thirty to fifty miles an hour — all of these give to these finest seats on the Hudson a completeness of interest which the traveller looks in vain for anywhere else in America. Among the finest of these residences, Montgomery Place, Blithewood, Ellerslie, Hyde Park and others, have been already described, and some of them illustrated in various other works of ours. Persons wishing to see the finest specimens of landscape gardening in the countrj'^, naturally go to these places, to study them as the best examples of the art, and there are few places, out of England, where the lover of embellished home scenery can find so much gratification and instruction. • About the centre of this upper terrace lies Messina, the seat of the late John R. Livingston, Esq., a sketch of which we present our readers this month. This house is one of the noblest in its proportions on the whole river, and is worth an examination as a specimen of a first-class mansion in the country. It was built by Mr. Livingston after his return from France, some years ago. He was so much pleased while there with the residence of Beaumaichais, near Paris, that he determined to model his home upon it. This accounts for the air of a French chateau, which we discover in some of its features. The design was, however, really drawn by an English architect, Brunei, the celebrated architect of the Thames tunnel — who came out to this country and erected two or three residences for different members of the Livingston family. The plan of the interior is spacious and elegant — the rooms large and finely proportioned, uniting some of the best features of both the English and French residences. Finely varied and extensive grounds surround the mansion at Messina. There is an abundance of foliage and fine old trees, the scenery is beautiful, and the neighborhood most picturesque and interesting. Though not at present in the high condition of some of the places we have just mentioned (owing to the want of personal interest, consequent upon the declining health 2 18 CALIFORNIA WHEAT CROP. of the late proprietor,) it could readily, in the hands of a person of taste and fortune, be restored to its former high keeping. As it is but rarely one of the first class residences is to be obtained, we believe we shall render a serv- ice to some of our numerous readers who are annually settling in the coun- try, by drawing their attention to a site that has long been considered oneofi the best in the Union. — Horticulturist. We are indebted to our friend Allen, of the Genesee Farmer, for this en- graving. CALIFORNIA WHEAT CROP. The wheat crop of the State for the present season has been a subject of much discussion. Our last files of San Francisco papers tell us that during the harvest, parties traversed the State for the express purpose of ascertaining the condition of things, and that the following is the result of their investi- gations as to the extent of the crop : Counties. Acres planted. Average. Wheat, bushe Marin, - 335 30 10,050 Sonoma, 16,353 23^ 380,207 Napa, - - 17,000 20 310,000 Solano, 6,214 25 155,350 Yolo, - - . - 9,980 25 249,500 Yuba, 3,655 22^ 82,237 Butte, - - 3,725 22^ 83.812 Placer, 1,545 20 30,900 Sacramento, - - 3,415 25 85,375 Calaveras, - 2,142 m 48,195 San Joaquin, - - 11,340 28^ 320,355 Stanislaus, - 4,295 14f 63,350 Mariposa, - 2,365 15 35,475 Tulare, 2,920 10 29,200 Contra Costa, - - 3,785 21f 81,377 Alameda, - 15,490 40 619,600 Santa Clara, - - 22,745 20 453,900 Santa Cruz, 6,530 50 326,500 Monterey, 745 40 29,800 San Francisco, 445 30 13,350 Total, - - 135,024 258-15 8,439,533 During the year 1853 the imports of flour into the State were 209,547 bbls. and 199,143 saclis ; for the year 1854 the imports were 150,420 bbls. and 67,349 sacks. Thus the breadstuff's trade of California has been com- pletely revolutionized, and but a comparatively short period can elapse before the importation of flour from other parts must cease. The crop of the pre- sent year is not so large as some exaggerated estimates early in the season made it, nor is the yield per acre so great ; but the progress made is remark- able, and shows the capacity of the State. THOROUGH CULTURE. 19 THOROUGH CULTURE— METHOD OF ANALYSIS. The expense of a careful and reliable analysis deters many from adopting that mode of ascertaining the condition of their soils. la the Norlliern Farmer we find the following directions for investigating this matter, which, after a few trials, will not be very troublesome to a man not specially versed in chemical manipulations. We copy it for the benefit of those who wish to try it, and also to* show to all who complain of prices, that a very accurate measurement of each element is not a matter to be disposed of in a few hours, and that it ought to be paid for accordingly. In order to get a knowledge of the quality of soil, the portion to be ana- lyzed should be taken from three or four inches below the surface, and should be placed in the sun or in a warm room, till it feels dry to the touch. Then weigh accurately 200 grains of it, and pass it through a common sieve, carefully weighing and noting down on paper what remains. What goes through this sieve, put into a fine wire or gauze sieve, weighing and noting as before. What passes through the last sieve, put into a glass tumbler and fill it nearly full of pure water, stir it for two or three minutes, and then let it rest for half a minute, pour off the water, retaining what has settled, and weight it. This will enable you to determine the texture of the soil and its productiveness. If a large portion goes through the two sieves, and remains suspended in the water, the soil will be productive. This a very important point for a man to understand, when he is purchasing a farm. Some of the most productive lands in our country are not so rich in vegetable and animal matter as other lands which are less productive, but they are of a finer text- ure, which enables them to exert a more thorough chemical action on sub- stances brought into contact with them, so that these are more readily ab- sorbed by the roots of the plants, ami aflford them more nourishment. In order to ascertain the ingredients of which a soil is composed, weigh 100 grains of it that have passed the second sieve as above described. Place this on a piece of white paper in an oven, or on a stove as hot as it can be made without scorching the paj^er. After this is dried thoroughly, weigh it again, and the loss of weight will show the amount of water it con- tained, and indicate its capability of retaining moisture, which is a property essential to its productiveness. To determine the amount of the Vf-getable and animal matter it contains, having noted the weight of the soil thus dried, place it on a sheet of platina and hold it over a hot fire, stirrino- with a metallic rod until no blackness appears in the mass. If it contains vegetable matter only, the gas emitted will smell like burning peat. If it contains animal matter, the smell will be like that burning feathers. The loss in weight will show the amount of animal and vegetable matter contained in the soil, that can be rendered useful as food for plants by the action of water, air, and heat. To ascertain the quantity of lime, put one quarter of a gill of muriatic acid with an equal quantity of water into a glass tumbler, and set it on the scale and balance it accurately. Then weigh 100 grains of the soil dried as above directed, and put it into the acid and water, and let it remain undisturbed until the effervescence has ceased, which may take two or three hours. Then see how many grains it will take to balance the scale. If it requires ninety-four grains, sixir grains of carbonic acid have escaped. Now, as lime contains about forty-three per cent of carbonic acid, the amount thus liberated shows that the soil contains merely seven and a half 20 CULTIVATION OF COTTON IN ALGERIA. per cent of lime ; and such a soil, if rich in vegetable and mineral matter, is regarded as the first quality wheat-land. Now, to ascertain whether iron exists in the soil, dip a piece of oak bark into the tumbler, and it will be colored red if there is iron in the earth. To determine the quantity, pour off the acid carefully and put into it the prussiate of potash until it no longer forms a blue precipitate ; let it settle, then drain it off, and heat the deposit which is oxyd of iron, to redness, and let it cool and weigh it. To ascertain the quantity of gypsum or plaster, put 100 grains of the dried earth into a crucible with one third the quantity of pulverized charcoal. Keep it in a red heat for half an hour more, filter it, and let it stand in an open glass dish for three or four days, and a white precipitate will be formed, which is plaster. Dry and weigh it to find the amount. These rules of analysis might be extended to the reduction of soils to their simple elements ; but as we proceed, the process becomes more and more intricate, and the results less useful to the farmer. What has already been said, will enable the farmer to form a general idea of the nature of the soil and its adapted- ness to procure crops. As I am not able to say all I wish in relation to deep ploughing and stirring the ground in dry weather, and the use of certain ma- nures, I shall reserve my remarks for a future article on these subjects. CULTIVATION OF COTTON IN ALGERIA. The Moniteur publishes a long report from the French Minister of War to the Emperor, on the cultivation of cotton in Algeria. It begins by saying that his Majesty, with the view of encouraging that cultivation, had deter- mined, by decrees of the 16th October, 1853, to give from his privy purse 200,000f. a year, for five years, to the planter who might produce the largest and best crop of cotton. It then states that this measure has already pro- duced excellent results, inasmuch as in the course of last year, notwith- standing the unfavorable state of the weather, " the plantation cotton plants had assumed a large development," and that " Europeans and natives zealously rivalled each other in its cultivation." The Minister proceeds to give a report from the jury charged to examine the specimens of cotton sent to com- pete for the prize. After stating that the Arabs in the time of the Turks had cultivated cotton on a very small scale on the Tell, and still continue to do so in the neighborhood of the Collo, and after discussing at some length the different modes of cultivation — this report says, that in 1853 the cotton plantation covered about 530 hectares (the hectare is 2\ acres) and that in 1854 they extended to 1720 hectares, exclusive of some made by the natives at Biskoa. In this total of 1720, the province of Algeria is down for 653 hectares, that of Oran 802, and that of Constantina for 265. Eleven planters had presented themselves as competitors for the Emperor's prize, the extent of their plantations being rather more than 316 hectares. M, Mas- queher, Jr,, colonist of Saint Denis du Zig, in the province of Oran, and Si-ali-ben-Mohammed, caid of the circle of Guelma, were considered the best ex cequo. In consequence, the jury proposed that the prize should be divided equally between MM. Masquelier and Si-Ali, and that in addition each shall receive a gold medal. The Minister recommends his M.ijesty to sanction this award, and the Moniteur announces that the Emperor has done so. ECONOMIC CULTIVATION. 21 We are inforraed that by order of the French Minister of War, 124 bales of cotton from Algeria, the produce of 1854, were sold publicly at Havre on the 12th of February, by Messrs Masquelier & Co. These cottons, gathered ill the provinces of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine, consist of 77 bales of long staple and 47 bales of short staple. The information forwarded to the French administration concerning these cottons (says the Monlteur) represents them as excellent in working quality, and beautiful to the sight. There is therefore no doubt of their being bought up by our cotton-spinners, who already gave such a welcome to the Alge- rine cottons of the last growth, with a view of showing their various uses in the raannfnctures at the Universal Exhibition. To help this useful manifestation, the War Department has taken measures for reserving a suitable place in the Algerine compartment of the Universal Exhibition for every article manufactured with Algerine cotton which our manufacturers may be willing to place at its disposal for this purpose. ECONOMIC CULTIVATION. We have repeatedly seated ourself With the intent of writing upon the best mode of cultivating the various crops, and almost as often have we actually had our attpntion turned to and written upon some other topic. The reason is this: No one, except the favored few who have all the means at command .needful in carrying out their plans of farm operations, can do half as well as they know liow to do. Their land is poor, and they have not the means of enriching it. Labor is dear, at least when measured by their means, and they can not afford to hire it, Tell a man that a pujse full of gold is only an inch beyond his utmost reach, and you do him no good but to excite feelings of discontent and envy, and even lead him to forego certain improvements which are within his reach, because they pay so little compared with what he is really anxious but unable to do. Poverty is a terrible burden, and nowhere is it felt more than among intelligent farmers. Notwithstanding these difficulties, we would now urge this class of farm- ers, first, to expend their labor and their fertilizers upon a much smaller quantity of land than is usually done. Instead of planting five acres of corn, plant two, or one even ; and plough and cultivate this small field to the entire neglect, if need be, of other acres. If those lie fallow, it will be useful to the soil, and at least no money will be wasted on them. We say to such farmers, in the second place, you can do more than you have done in the preparation of various composts. There are very few farm- ers who can not double and treble the quantity and value of those necessary means of restoring vigor to worn-out and barren soils. By diminishing the extent of surface under cultivation, and by proper industry in preparing com- posts, there is scarcely a farm in the country that can not be made to pro- duce its sixty, and seventy, and eighty bushels of corn to the acre. And even thougrh one acre only is brought up to this desirable condition, a series of years will suffice to bring the whole farm to a high state of cultivation. If only small fields are made thus productive, the hopes and courage of the farmer will be thereby excited, and he will stand up manfully among men, and tell of his success as well as they. 22 ECONOMIC CULTIVATION. We would NOT advise farmers ofL limited means to buy guano cor phos- phates at any thing like their present prices. Pay your poorer neighbor his six or eight shillings a day (if you can not exchange worlc with him) to help you collect leaves from the forest, mud from the meadow, carting the latter only after it is tolerably dry, peat or marl from the bog ; and if you can buy barn-yard manures, mix them with turfs, sods, roots, weeds, dirty straw, spoilt hay, chips that are unfit to burn ; and if you are conveniently situated for it, get sea-weeds from the sea-shore, oyster-shells, old bones, horns, etc., etc. Dead animals are of great value. The offal from a slaughter-house, worthless scraps of hides, bones, etc., etc., should be used only with large quantities of common soil, or of some other solvent. Not one in a hundred turns to the best account the contents of privies, hog-pens, soap-suds, and other kinds of waste. Pardon us for asking why will you tax yourselves so severely by neglect- ing any of these modes of improving your lands ? It may be only such neglect that keeps you in poverty ; and though you enter upon the work with many painful doubts in relation to the result, we will assure you against loss from any such operations, it" conducted with tolerable discretion. Now is the time to commence this system of operation for the next year. On every leisure day, let the time be occupied in these preparatory labors. Every hour thus spent is worth something, and will tend to fill your purse at the time of harvest. Almost all farmers sadly neglect their barn-yard manures. Were these properly cared for, their value, as a whole, would be more than doubled. Having thus suggested the means by which manures may be provided, the next inquiry is, how and where shall they be used ? Perhaps we are unable to give the information that many would desire, for reasons suggested in the last number. Perhaps you have an enclosure that for many years produced very large crops, and you just looked on and watched your opportunity to take from it the most you could get, returning nothing to it. It may be that it is sa situated that it is almost able to take care of itself, like much of the interval on the Connecticut, which is annually enriched by being over- flowed. If this is so, we should labor to hasten this process of improvement, and should do all in our power to get this soil back into the condition of a fertile field. When this is accomplished, take the next promising lot, leav- ing the more desperate cases to the last. When you plough your clayey grounds, fill in, without stint, a sandy compost. If the field is sandy, plough in a clay compost. This need not be a costly job, but generally is practica- ble for the poorest farmer. If you have a boggy meadow, a thorough ditch- ing will be a part of the process necessary in reclaiming it, while the mate- rial thus thrown out is exactly what some other soil most needs. Compen- sations are not found only in the structures of animals, but they occur in almost every farm the world over. Receipt for Making Liquid Opodeldoc. — Take two quarts of proof whiskey, or other proof spirits, warm it over coals, being careful to prevent a blaze. Dissolve in it a pint of soap ; when cold, put it in a bottle and one ounce of camphor. It is then ready for use. This is an excellent remedy for sprains or bruises, and should be kept by every owner of horses. — 7%>e- ^anoe Farmer. CORN — ITS CULTURE, ETC. 23 CORN— ITS CULTURE, VARIETIES, AND PROPERTIES. Different varieties are to be preferred for different uses, and under differ- ent circumstances. That best suited for the table will not be the best for general cultivation, nor is that which makes the best bread the most efficient in fattening animals. The principal varieties cultivated in the United States are given in the N. Y. State Agricultural Society's Report for 1853, from which we make the following abstract. THE YELLOW VARIETIES. 1. Golden Sioux or Northern Flint corn, derived from the Sioux Indians in Canada; 130 bushels have been raised to the acre. 2. King Philip or Eight-Rowed Yellow corn, named after the celebrated chief of the Wampanoags. A hardy plant, grows about 9 feet high, stalks small, ears 10 to 14 inches in length. 3. Canada ^corn or Eighteen-Rovved Yellow, smaller, earlier, and more solid than the preceding, contains more oil than any other variety, except the Rice corn and the Pop corn ; is highly valuable for fattening, and is grown in many gardens for early boiling or roasting. 4. Button corn ; first brought into notice in 1818, by Mr. Salmon Dutton, of Vermont ; ears from 8 to 12 inches long, 12 to 18 rows, large cob ; yields, with good culture, from 100 to 120 bushels per acre. 5. Southern Big Yellow Corn. The cob is thick and long, grains much wider than deep, and the rows unite with eacb other ; their sides fall off almost to a point. The grains contain less oil and more starch than the northern flint corn, comes to maturity late, yields abundantly ; much used for fattening. G. Southern Small Yellow Corn. Ears more slender, and shorter than the preceding ; grains smaller ; less productive, but ripens earher ; abounds in oil. ■WHITE CORN. 1. Rhode-Island White Flint Corn. Grains about the size and shape of the Tuscarora, abounds in a transparent, colorless oil, which may be easily seen through their clear, pellucid hulls. The farinaceous parts of the grain are white. The flour or meal is more substantial and less liable to ferment and become sour. 2. Southern Little White Flint Co^-n. The kernels are smaller than the preceding, and resemble them in shape, but are more firm and solid ; con- tain more oil, cob smaller in proportion to the size of the ears, but the yield is less abundant. 3. Dutton White Flint Corn. This does not differ materially from the Yellow Dutton, except in color. 4. Early Canadian White Flint Corn. Cultivated principally for boiling and roasting when green. 5. Tuscarora Corn. Obtained from the Tuscarora Indians in the State of New-York. Ears contain from twelve to sixteen rows, grains nearly as deep as broad, of a dead whitish color on the extreme end, composed entirely within of pure white dextrine and starch, except the germs. It contains nei- 24 ' CORN — ITS CULTURE, ETC. ther gluten nor oil. It is softer and better food for horses than the flinty- kinds, and is excellent for boiling when green. 6. White Flint Corn. Ears contain twelve rows, of rather wliite, round- ish, thick grains, which are filled with a snowy white flour, composed chiefly of starch, with neither ghxten nor oil. It is extensively mixed with buck- wheat, particularly in New-Jersey. Its properties resemble the preceding variety. 7. Virginia White Gourd-Seed Corn. Ears not very long, contain from twenty-four to thirty-six rows of very long and very narrow grains, so soft and open in texture that they will not bear transportation by sea, without being kiln-dried. Grains at the extreme end are almost flat, and grow so closely together from the cob to the surface that they produce a greater yield than any other variety in proportion to the size of the ears. They contain more starch, and less gluten and oil than those of the flint kinds, and from their softness are better feed for horses. When crossed with other grains, a small indention is seen in the ends of the grains when perfectly dry. It matures late. 8. Early sweet corn. One kind of this corn has a red cob, and another kind a white cob. Ears are short, usually contain eight rows ; grains, when mature, are of a light color, and become shrivelled. It contains a large pro- portion of the phosphates, considerable sugar and gum, and but little starch. It is extensively cultivated for culinary purposes. The Shakers prepare it by boiling and scalding when green, separating it from the cob, and kiln-drying for winter use. It is also preserved in cans hermetically sealed. 9. Rice Corn. A small variety, with small conical ears, the grains termi- nating in sharp points, which give it the appearance of a bur. It contains more oil, and less starch than any other kinds. Is excellent for poultry, from its oily nature. 10. Pearl Corn or Pop Corn. Ears -small, grains roimd, of various shades of color; contains more oil and less starch than any other variety. It forms an excellent dish when hulled and boiled. 11. Chinese Tree Corn. This was introduced by Grant Thorburn, " twelve or fifteen years ago," a kernel being found in a chest of tea. It is a pure white variety, ear about ten inches long, ten rows, grains very closely set, long and wedge form, well filled to the end of the cob, some of the grains slightly indented. The ears grow on the end of the branches. It is said to yield one fourth or one third more than the common varieties. It is better flavored when ground than other white corn, and is excellent for hominy, samp, etc. Generally two ears on a stalk, and often three. The varieties of corn are very numerous, though but few of them are extensively cultivated in this section of country. Sweet corn contains the greatest amount of the phosphates, and of course requires more of these elements in the soil. It, in fact, consumes nearly dou- ble the quantity consumed by some other varieties. It also contains more sugar and inore gum than the yellow corn, though it has only a small quan- tity of starch. Rico corn contains but little starch, while it yields the greatest quantity of oil. Southern corn contains more starch than the northern. Pop corn contains but little starch. According to Prof. Sali&bury, Ohio dent corn contains the greatest quan- tity of sugar and starch, and small 8-rowed corn, of gluten, and also of oil, and of albumen. Buell's Dutton corn contains the greatest proportion of CORN — ITS CULTUEE, ETC. 25 water. The same learned Professor found in the variety called Turkey wheat 5.32 p?r cent of oil. According to Goukl, if Square corn is worth fifty cents a bushel for fatten- ing properties, Flint corn shouM he estimated at 58 cents. The Tuscarora corn contains but very little oil, an important element fur producing fat, but of little worth in making bread. This variety is valuable in the raanufticture of starch. Gluten is essential in tbe production of muscle, and hence, for working animals, the Yellow Northern corn is • preferable to the Southern, which abounds more in starch. Of twenty-seven varieties examined by Prof. Salisbury, the Rhode-Island Sweet corn was found to be richest in albumen and oil, and must deficient in starch. Prof. Salisbury found the White Flint corn to consist as follows : Silica, - - - - 9.50 Potash, . - - - 23.92 Alkaline and earthy phos- Soda, - - - - 22.59 phates, - - - 35.5 Chlorine, - - 0.405 Lime, - - - - 0.16 Sulphuric acid, 4.385 Magnesia, - - - 2:41 Organic matter. 0.367 Prof. Shepherd gives the analysis of Southern corn as follows : Silica, - - - - 38.45 Carbonate of lime, - 2.60 Potash, - - - 19.51 " magnesia. 2.16 Phosphate of lime, - - lY.17 Sulphate of lime and magnesia, 0.79 " magnesia, 13.83 Silica mechanically formed. 1.70 " potash, - 2.24 Alumina and loss, 1.65 In making mush, yellow corn absorbs water more freely than the white, the difi"erence being about one in seven. The yellow meal gives less bran when sifced, than does the white, by about one twentieth. The yellow is harder, drier, keeps more easily, and weighs more per bushel than the white, and produces a greater quantity by weight to the acre. Sixteen gallons of oil are extracted from one hundred bushels of corn. By this process it loses in fattening capability, but, when used in bread, is more easily digested. Northern corn grows well at the South, but Southern corn will not gene- rally ripen well at the North. This is in accordance with the general rule of vegetation. Trees for ornament or for fruit may be profitably moved south- wardly, but seldom flourish if carried towards) the north. Corn should be planted at a depth of about one inch. An experiment is described as having been made in Connecticut, in which the corn was covered at a depth of three inches. It came up and grew well at first, but soon ceased to grow for a while. It was discovered that new roots had been formed near the surface, and all below these had peiished. Tbe more shal- low the covering the better, provided the grain is not thereby so exposed to the heat of the sun as to dry and harden, when it ought to swell and soften as a pre-requisite to germination. It will not vegetate at a higher tempera- ture than 110° Fahrenheit, nor below 55''. The soil should be deep and mellow. It may be sown or planted in con- nection with ashes, plaster, or prepared bones. It may be sown in drills or planted in hills. If intended for green fodder, drills are most expedient. If 26 THE OSAGE ORANGE. in hills, allow four stalks to each. If in drills, they may be single, double, or treble. If the first, they should be 3|- feet apart ; if double or treble, plant so as to form lines diagonally as well as longitudinally. Thus : or thus : ..... the rows being 6 inches apart, the plants 9 inches, and the centre of the drills 3 feet. If corn is planted in hills by securing regular rows in different directions, the cultivator may be run through in different directions, and hand labor thus be saved. If planted by hand, the rows may be marked off by a marker or a very coarse hay-rake, having the teeth at the distance required for the rows. If the stalks are to be taken into the account, it is found that the stalks of the small Northern corn contain more desirable and palatable food than the lai'ge Southern. On analysis, they render a larger proportion of sugir. In the fattening qualities of the various species, there is also a difference, although experiments on this point are not so numerous as to be received as authoritative. It is unquestionably true, however, that corn should be cooked, before it is given to animals. From some experiments it appears that three bushels of meal cooked are equal to four and a half of hard corn. This gives a result in value as follows : If fed raw, a bushel of corn, when made into pork, is worth only 38^ cents ; if cooked, it is worth 55 cents. But we have often expressed our belief that all such experiments should be "received with great caution. No one experiment of this sort can be relied upon for general application. Hundreds ought to be made and compared before any great confidence can be placed upon them. Corn is rich in phosphates, as already suggested, and hence it is that great caution is necessary in feeding it to animals, and especially to horses. These salts are chiefly appropriated by the bones and a too free use of them pro- duces disease in and about the joints. FOR THE PLOUGH, THE L00», AND THE AKVIL. THE OSAGE ORANGE. Mr. Editor: Almost everything that pertains to the interest of the farm- ing community is spoken of in your journal, such as the best mode of obtain- ing the largest and most profitable crops, the best kinds of cattle, swine, horses, and poultry, etc., the best kinds of ploughs, harrows, cultivators, and finally, all kinds of farming tools, the draining of swamp lands, etc. If I mistake not, your correspondents have never said a word about hedging with the osagc orange or any other mode of fencing without rails or boards. The great and general study of the prairie farmer is to contrive how to fence his land upon the large prairies. If some of your correspondents who have tried the osage, would give their mode of culture, and circulate it through your journal, it would be a great pleasure to many of us here in this prairie country. L. S. Sfencer. lA/nn, Warren Co., Iowa: MEXICAN GUANO. 27 FOR THB PLOUGH, THB LOOM, AND THE ANVIL, ( A GIRDLED TREE STILL GROWING. Mr. Editor : Will you, or some of your correspondents, give me an explanation of tlie following ? In my orchard is an apple-tree, the body of which is about three inches in diameter. Two years ago I took off most of the top, and inserted scions of other fruit. Last spring, 1854, I found the mice had girdled the stem, entirely removing the bark for at least five inches. I placed earth about the exposed portion, and left it to die. I find now. May, 1855, that the tree seems to be vigorous, that it made the usual quantity of wood last season, and that it promises to bear fruit this. The wood from which the baik was removed is dry, and apparently dead. No roots have shot out from the bark above. Nbw the query is, How does the tree obtain nourishment ? The sap does not pass up through the bark, nor through that portion of the wood called the sap, for it is dry and apparently lifeless. Can it pass through the heart of the stem ? If not, it must derive its nourishment solely from the atmos- phere, through the leaves. That it will continue to live, I do not expect ; but how has it lived and thrived thus far, that is the question ? Now, that I may give as much as I receive, suffer a word of exhortation about young trees. Now is the time especially to look after and care for your fiuit-trees. The caterpillars should be stirred up with a long pole, or some other instrument of torture, I go for persecuting the " varmints." I think intolerance may better be expended upon these pests than upon foreigners of our own species. He who has but few trees can easily keep them clean. He who has many can still better afford it. Young trees should be washed at least twice during the season. First, let the scraper pass around with his saw and pruning-knife, removing a'l moss, dead bark, suckers, and limbs which interlace or injure others. Then let a wash of soft soap and water, about one pint to a pailful, be applied with a sponge, and the work is done. A few dry ashes about the roots will annoy the insects, and promote the growth of the tree. R, B. H. MEXICAN GUANO. The opinions of Dr. Jackson and Dr. Hayes, of Massachusetts, given below in respect to the subject of our title, coincides exactly with what we have many times stated to friends who have made personal inquiry of us in rela- tion to it. The extract is taken from a Boston exchange : " Dr. A. A, Hayes, State Assayer, said the resources for suj^plying the waste incident to culture, are not abundant. We have not the seasonable rains of Englanrl, and can not draw our rules from the method. Lands do not run out. They have not time to recuperate the soil by me^ns of decom- posing rocks. The time is too short, unless we make up the supply by arti- ficial means. 28 SAFFRON. There is a new variety of guano found on the Bird Islands, on the Atlan- tic side of South America. The proportion of phosphate of lime in this is very large, 60 per cent of the whole. He had no confidence in the ammoniacal contents of Peruvian guano. This guano from the Atlantic side furnishes a much larger quantity of phos- phate than the Peruvian, No manure can compare with barn-yard manure, weight for weight, in equal states of dryness. This guano, used in compost, oifevs a resource long needed. It may be used by sowing it upon the snow and allowing it to find its place. Dr. C. T. Jackson, of Boston, said he had some practical knowledge of this new kind of guano. It is rich in phosphates. Some specimens contain am- monia. The action of manures is quickened by rendering them soluble; but if they are made soluble too suddenly they are washed away. ^ Nature disengages potash slowly from feldspar. We must learn a lesson from this. Leached ashes are about as good as guano. Ashes is what we know as once the saline matter of plants. Leached ashes operate almost as favorably as unleacbed ashes. There is a large proportion of phosphates and silicates in them. He was surprised to see fish neglected and thrown away in so many places. Dr. Hare had a method of dipping fish into a mixture of sulphuric acid and water. There was no smell from them, and when dry he would grind them up, and make a guano, without depending on the birds. He would put on guano both ways ; would plough in a part and harrow in a part. Barn-yard manure retains moisture. If the season is moist, the use of guano is of more avail. This may account for some of the discrepancy in the reports about the use of guano. He would join his ffiend. Dr. Hayes, in recommending this Mexican guano to be put in compost." FOR THE PLOron, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. SAFFRON. This article comes to us from the East. It is highly prized in Europe. I remember that, in my youth, saffron was very dear in Poland, a pound cost- ing ninety francs, or sixteen dollars. But industrious France engaged in this trade, and commenced the cultivation of this plant: and throughout the environs of Pithivier, in the department of Loirret, whence it was sent into Poland and was sold for that of the East, although it- had less strength, on account of the cheapness of the price for which it was sold. In 1834, in France, I examined the mode in which this wfis cultivated, and here note the results which I then obtained. Saffron is that portion of the corolla termed the ray, and is cultivated by transplanting the tuber. It requires an argillacious, marly soil, and shoiild be cultivated without being manured. The tubers are planted at a distance of ten fingers, and three fingers in depth. They produce a stem which after two months produces a flower, and of the ray petals of this flower the saftVon con- sists. The petals are plucked and are collected in a sieve, and then dried in THE SEASON, CROPS, PRICE OF PRODUCE, ETC. 29 the shade, as the rays of the sun dissipate their strength. After the saffron is gatherel, the stems are dug up without breaking thera. The vines are then cleaned and preserved for the next year. They should be kept in a dry and warm place where there is no odor. After the saffron is gathered, the flower and stems are cut off near the ground, and the plant is left to vegetate until the next year, without any other care than that of keeping it free from weeds ; and it will produce a crop in the second year, and even in the third, as good as in the first. Saffron should be planted in April, and the harvesting is in September. The land used for this plant, after three years, should be cultivated with other crops for six years. The petals of the flower should be dried by being spread upon a table covered with a white cloth. The saffron of Franca was sold in 1828 at forty francs, or eight dollars, a pound. In 1850, when the product was very much increased, it was not worth more than twenty-five francs, or five dollars, a pound. It is inferior to that from the East, but has the same properties. I have seen and examined the saffron produced in the State of New-York. It is deficient in sweetness and in odor, compared with the French. This difference is probably the result of a different kind of cultivation. Saniewski Felix. [The above was translated from the French manuscript by the editor.] FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL, THE SEASON CROPS, PRICE OF PRODUCE, ETC. Messrs. Editors : The winter commenced witb a heavy snow-storm on the 3d of December, which fell about two feet deep, and made beautiful sleigh- ing till the last days of the month. From about the 26th of December till the 12th of January, the ground was generally bare, when the snow again fell. February was the coldest, stormiest February since my memory. From my record I find, Feb. 6th, mercury down 22 degrees below zero, and the snow about two feet deep. March was an uncommonly cold, stormy month, and the first week in April nearly as cold as mid-winter. The weather moderated toward the middle, with uncommon hard showers. May came cold and wet, and remained so till about the 18th, when it became dry, and seriously dry, till the last of the month, with a frost about every other night, but not hard enough to do much damage. June came in cold, with a fine rain on the 2d and 3d ; and now, Jim e the 6th, there is au appearance of a great storm, with weather rather cold for this season. From the great amount of sleighing, the farmers and lumbermen had a fine chance to draw their produce to market, and to get in a larger stock of logs than any year for ten years previous. Every mill is crowded. The price of lumber down the Susquehanna is lower than last year, namely, $12 per thousand, or $2 lower than last year. Hemlock lumber from $3 to $4 lower, namely, from $5 to $6 per thousand. Shingles, good, Sl8 per thou- sand ; and square timber worth not enough to pay for running, although mare run than ever before in one year. Of the crops, wheat and rye are generally fine, so far. Rye is very promis- 80 PAINT FOR HOUSES. ing. Of winter wheat, there was but little sown, in consequence of the ravages of the wheat-fly last year. A few fields of oats and barley begin to appear, and look well ; but a majority of oats is only now up, in consequence of .the cold, dry weather last month. A large amount of oats sown. Corn is generally up, with the exception of a few fields on the high hills; and, considering the season, it appears well, and an unusually large quantity is planted. In consequence of the very high price of grain for the last year, there has been an uncommon amount of grain put in the ground. A few meadows and pastures are good, but many are injured by the late dry, cold weather, and a large amount of grass-seed did not come up last year. We find it is useless to sow clover, except in very dry ground, on the account of its freezing out in winter. I have reason to believe that cattle and produce are dearer and scarcer than before in twelve years. Wheat at $2.50, but no more for sale ; rye, $1.25 ; corn, from $1.25 to $1.50 ; oats, from Go to 70 cts ; potatoes, from 75 to 87 cts — have been $1, and now rising again ; hay, from |12 to $20 per ton ; butter, from 18 to 22 cts. per pound; common working oxen, per yoke, from $125 to $150, and common horses $150 per head ; cows, from $25 to $40 per head. R. Howell. Niclwls, Tioga Co., N. Y., June 6th, 1855. PAINT FOR HOUSES. We recently published a few directions on this subject, which seemed to us important. One who seems to be versed in the subject, as a practical painter, makes other suggestions, in the Indiana Farmer .^ which we are dis- posed to indorse. He says : " It is not easy matter for some painters who pretend to considerable experience in their art, to paint the interior of a house in a proper manner. White lead and oil, mixed as for outside use, will dry, it is true, and preserve the wood-work ; but before three months, the paint will become almost yellow, and have exactly the appearance of being smoked. This is not the case with external painting, because the light and air bleach the paint precisely as it does linen or cotton cloth when exposed in a similar way. To paint white in the interior of a house, very little linseed oil should be used, except what the white lead was at first ground in. Spirits of turpen- tine should be the principal fluid used to n ix the paint, Japan being added in small quantity as a dryer. The first coat, or " priming," should be mixed with linseed oil alone, being well rubbed down when dry, with sand paper. Two coats should afterwards be put on with the turpentine alone, the last coat being rather the thickest. To make a very handsome white finish, for parlors and other nice rooms, after putting the paint on very carefully, Gum Demar varnish should be put on over all. This makes a beautiful gloss, and keeps the paint of a brilliant white all the lime. Should the paint become dirty, it can be washed olf as easily as a pane of glass, using nothing but warm water, as strong soap destroys the varnish. Every house-builder desiring a permanent, brilliant white finl-h to his rooms, should use this varnish. It answers a very good purpose to mix it in with the last coat of paint, making a much handsomer MODE OF RAISING CALVES, 31 finish than when not used at all, but much the best way is to give the entire work a coat of the varnish after the painting is finished and partially dry. Kitchens should be painted a light slate or lead color, made by mixing a small quantity of lampblack with the white lead; particularly the doors, mantel-pieces, and wash-boards. The floors of porches and kitchens may be painted with the same material, or they will look pleasant and cheerful if yellow ochre is used, ground up with linseed oil and Japan. In putting on green paint, slate color should first be used as a priming, two coats of the green being added afterwards. Paris green makes the brightest color, and must be carefully ground in oil, adding Japan as a dryer. Chrome green makes the deepest and must permanent color, and white lead ia used to temper the paint to the proper hue. — Ohio Farmer and Horticulturist. MODE OF RAISING CALVES. We doubt very much whether any artificial process can be as successful as that designed by the Author of nature. Our wisdom is not wise enough, in our judgment, to criticise Omniscience. But sometimes, for specific purposes, the second-best mode is then and there desirable. We have made this sug- gestion elsewhere, in reference to the treatment of trees and other vegetable growths, and would apply it here to the subject of our title. Still we can conceive that in certain cases the advice of a correspondent of the Country Gentleman may be worthy of attention. He says : " Among all the various ways for raising calves, described by your correspond- ents, there seems to be none adapted to the wants of the cheese dairy-man. The farmer keeping thirty-two cows, should be able to raise some half-dozen calves annually from the best milkers in his herd, to supply the place of those failing from old age and casualities of various kindi, and to improve his dairy stock at a cost somewhere near the value of the animal when matured. The idea of raising stock to supply our wants by feeding calves for three or four months on new milk, either from the pail or at the teat, is to say the least, sim.j^ly abmrd. One gallon of milk makes a pound of cheese worth to the producer ten cents, or the same value if made into butter. A calf requires two gallons per day, equal to twenty cents. Three weeks' feed at this rate amounts to as much as the calf may be expected to bring at four months age. There is then a loss of twenty cents per day for the remaining two or three months that they are fed, amounting to a loss of at least eight dollars each the first season. In a butter dairy the skim or sour milk may be fed perhaps. Un- less there is some cheaper method to be practised, we can never render our city heef-eaters any relief. My method is as follows, and calves may and have been raised by it that were very far above the average, even of good lots, at four months. Take the calf from the cow at three days old, and learn it to diink ; it will learn far easier then, than at any time after; feed new milk twice a day for two weeks, and once a day one week longer. At two weeks begin feeding once a day, and in a week more twice a da)% porridge, made of three to four quarts of sweet whey and one pint of meal, of a mixture in nearly equal parts of oats, buckwheat, corn, and rye. Cook as if for one of the 82 GRAIN" AND GRASS SEED HEADER AND HARVESTER. human family. The cost of one quart of this meal, (daily mess for each) may bo three cents, which is all the value they consunie, the whey being of too little value to make any account of. Give this feed four months, and continue the whey a month longer, always with a good bite of grass, tender and sweet, and no fears need be entertained for the result. The first winter give warm shelter, good hay, and one pint of oats each, daily; and my word for it, you will never be ashamed to have a neighbor call and look at your young stock." GRAIN" AND GRASS SEED HEADER AND HARVESTER. We have seen a working model of this useful machine, invented by Mr. T. S. Steadman, of Holley, N. Y., in the possession of our neighbor of the Genesee Farmer^ and were exceedingly pleased with its operation. The en- graving well represents its appearance. "It is drawn by one horse, which walks outside of the part of the field in- tended to be harvested. Turning continually to the right, it cuts equally as well when turning a corner as when going straight ahead. The seed heads are gathered by the comb, cut off by the revolving knives, and by a self-rak- ing apparatus attached, thrown to the rear end of the box. By detaching the intermediate gearing wheel, it is immediately converted into a three-wheeled wagon and can be driven wherever wished. By pressing down one or both of the levers shown on the rear end of the box, one or both sides of the comb and cutter may be lowered or elevated at pleasure. The peculiarity of the machine is that it cuts and saves only the heads of the grain or seed, and by an extra pair of wheels, it can be applied to the gathering and harvesting of any kind of grain or grass seed. It will cut from eight to twelve acres per day with ease. All the bolts in tlie machine are in sight with but one ex- ception, and any common blacksmith or mechanic can repair it, if by acci- dent it should get out of order." IMPROVED IIJLY FORK. 33 IMPROVED HAY FORK. From the same source as the preceding, we have obtained an engraving of this eflScient implement, the description being taken from the American Farmer. In that journal Mr.- Edward Stabler, a correspondent, says : " We have had it in use several years, and, as now improved in the mode of discharging the hay, I consider it not only a labor-saving, but also a time- saving machine. " As originally made, (for the plan of which I was indebted to a friend in New-Jersey,) the rope was fastened to the ujiper end of the handle ; and although the hay was raised equally well, it was found tedious and laborious to work the trip cord ; and very difficult, if not impracticable, to discharge the hay when and where desired on the mow. In this way its operation was not at all satisfactory. " By attaching the rope to the handle, six or eight inches from the head piece, instead of the upper end, and passing it along the handle, under the trigger, at this point a slight jerk of the trip cord held by the man on the wagon, instantly changes the fulcrum — of course the position of the fork — and th.', hay falls. The trip cord also serves to pull back the foik to the wagon. " I am thus particular in describing both fixtures, as many inquiries have 34 CHEAP COMPOST FOR CORN. been made, and perhaps by some who use the original plan. A mere trifle in co.«t will add the improvement, and, as I think, nearly double its value. " The ' tackle ' is attached to the peak of the rafters, and directly over the centre of the hay mow ; the fall rope passes under and near the rafter, to a guide pulley fastened to the upper end of the door post, down by the side of the post to within a foot of the floor, and through another guide pulley; to this end of the rope is attached a swingle- tree, or hook, as may be most con- venient in working a horse or yoke of oxen. " If properly managed, the fork will readily raise froin*four to six hun/lred weight of hay at a time (while a hand fork is moving the tenth part of it, perhaps ;) and when high eneugh the horse stops. A band or two on the mow with forks, sway it backwards and forwards, to give an impulse in the desired direction, when the trip cord, by the strength of a finger, throws it instantly in a compact layer, as taken from the wagon. Considerably more hay can thus be mowed in a given space, with comparatively little manual labor, fewer hands, and in a third or fourth of the time. Very respectfully, Edward Stabler. " Head of tough scantling, 3^ by 4 inches, 3 feet 3 inches long, with bands at ends. "Handle 3-^ by 4 inches, 3 feet long, inserted at right angles, and braced with 3 iron plates -J by 1|- inches. " Steel prongs |- inches square at shoulder, set angularly in the head, and tapered to the point, 22 inches long clear of head, with screws and nuts at back end. *' As the handle does not raise vertically, the prongs should curve upwards considerably, so as to resist the hay. "The trigger is very simple — an iron pm ^ inch diameter, bent at right angles, one end driven into the handle, projecti||g an inch, and ranging down the handle about 2|- inches. A curved iron strap with an eye, and confined at the opposite side by a small staple, passes over the rope, and the other end bent parallel with the pin ; a small ring attached to the trip cord slips over both ; the tension of the rope while hoisting, eflfectually fastens it, until the cord pulls off the ring." CHEAP COMPOST FOR "CORN. Having received the credit for two years past, of having as good corn as any in our neighborhood, and attributing our success mainly to the use of a single handful of cheap compost, dropped in each hill before planting the corn, we give you a statement as to how we form it. Supposing a load to contain twenty-five bushels, we take two loads of muck manure from our hog-yard, one load of wood-ashes, and three bushels plaster Paris. Work the parts thoroughly together with a hoe or shovel. Our corn-ground having received a coating of manure before being ploughed, the harrow follows the plough lengthwise of the furrows until the surface is well pulverized. We mark one way fqi- the hills with the shallow furrow of the plough, and then draw a chain the other way, which shows the place for each bill. The compost gives the corn a good start, and the manure helps it out We have also, for the last two or three years past, soaked our seed-corn in a strong solution of tobaeco-water, and have not been troubled much with worms. Let it remain in the solution from twelve to twenty-four hours. — Country Gentleman. FAEINA. 35 TRAPPING GRUBS AND CUTWORMS. The following uovel method of getting rid of these occupants of a corn- field, was adopted by a correspondent of the Michigan Farmer : He planted his corn on a clover sod plowed in in spring. While planting he found plenty of the small grubs. The corn was planted about the 20th of May, and as soon as it came up they commenced their mischief. Knowing no reliable or certain way of saving the corn, he concluded to trap them. For this purpose he took a round stick three or four feet long, and about twoJnches in diameter, and, making one end sharp, and taking two rows at a time, he made from two to four holes, four or five inches deep, in or close by every hill. After fixing several rows in this way, he waited to see the result. On examination, he found that almost every hole had one' or more worms in it. In one hole he counted as many as six. He then went over the whole field in the same way, and the result was that hardly a hill of corn was destroyed after the holes were made, while his neighbor's corn just over the fence, which was on ground plowed very early, was more than half cut ofi' with the worms. " It might be supposed," says C. Q., " that when the fellows fell into the traps, they would bore into the side and escape ; but on watching them I found they would try to climb up the side, but the sides being smooth they always fell back again, when about twenty-four hours of sunshine and starvation would put an end to them. They usually commit their depredations in the night, and while crawling around to fiadjthe corn they tumble in." An additional recommendation of this method is, that the birds will not pull up the corn, when they find plenty of gruh already pro- vided for them. FARINA. The following account of the manufacture of Farina is from Warren's " Para on the Amazon." It should be remarked that the article so much in use in this country as an article of food, under the name of " Hecker's Farina," is not the Farina of South-America, but is manufactured from wheat : ^ " The vegetable (Jatreph amanihot) from which the farina is made, is, in its natural state, considered quite poisonous, and is entirely unfit for the pur- pose of nutrition. The means, therefore, by which its pernicious qualities are expelled, and the nutritious principle retained, must be always regarded as a most extraordinary and valuable discovery. The plant is a native of Brazil, and was known to the natives on their first intercourse with white men. No other vegetable, not even wheat, possesses an equal degree of nutriment, and, together with bananas and wild meat, constitutes the principal item of the native Brazilian's bill of fare. The farina is made from the root, which is first rasped with a piece of indented wood, until it is reduced to pulpy consistence. The juice is then eflfectually expressed in the following singular manner : Large circular baskets of plaited rushes are filled with the raspiiags of the mandioca root, and then suspended from the branches of the trees. By means of a considerable weight of stones fastened beneath, the rushes are drawn tightly together, and most of the COST OF RAISING WHEAT, CORN, ETC. liquid squeezed out. After this, the pulpy substance is exposed on skins to the- rays of the sun, for the purpose of evaporating all tbe remaining moisture. The juice being at length entirely expressed, the pulp is placed on large earthenware pans, and stirred over a hot fire until it granulates; it is then put up in baskets for use." COST OF RAISING WHEAT, CORN, ETC. The next volume of the New-York Agricultural Transactions will contain a detailed farm account of Mr. William Johnson, near Geneva, from which we gather the following interesting items in regard to the cost of raising different crops the last season. His statement is published in the Journal of the State Society for the present month, and shows very creditably the order and method of Mr. J.'s agricultural operations. The farm contains eight acres of tillable land divided into nine lots, num- bered from one upwards, and accurate account kept vi'ith each. The soil is a dry loam, with a clay subsoil, pretty uniform throughout the farm. Each crop is charged with the interest on the value of the land producing it, and with all the labor and material used in its production. Of wheat six acres was sown, the whole expense was $122.40 ; the product was 126 bushels or 21 bushels per acre ; this makes its cost per bushel a trifle over 97 cents. But deducting the value of the straw, estimated at $18, we make the cost of the wheat but 83 cents per bushel. It was sold at $1.81, leaving a fair margin for profit at either figures. But at the price of wheat for many years past the profit would have been little or nothing. Eight acres of barley cost $102.20 and produced 284 bushels, or 35^ bushels per acre. It cost very nearly 37 cents, and sold for $1.00 per bushel. This produced a greater per cent of profit than the wheat, as we believe it generally has, for a series of years. Ten acres of corn, on clover sod, cost $153.26. The product was 410 bushels of corn, and $60 worth of corn stalks. Mr. Johnson states the cost of raising the corn at 37^ cents per bushel, but if we deduct the value of the stalks from the whole expense, it makes the cost of the corn but 22f cents per bushel. We should be glad of some explanation from Mr. J. on this point, as the value of the stalks and straw may have been allowed to balance some part of the expenses not indicated. Ten cows are kept upon the farm, yielding an average of 210 pounds of butter each. Mr. J. estimates the product of each cow worth about $54, and the cost of keeping $26.85. It cost 12i cents per pound to make butter, on Elmwood farm, and we think it can not be sold for less anywhere with much profit. His pork, killed at 9^ months old, fed on milk and fattened with corn, costs 5 cents per pound. The balance over expenses on the whole farm, for last year was $953.42, Mr. Johnson practises the following system of rotation. First, corn, to which is applied all the unfermented manure he can get. The next spring it is sown with barley at the rate of 2i bushels of seed to the acre, then sown to wheat in the fall, with ,a top-dressing of fine manure, of about six loads to the acre. The following spring it is sown with eight quarts of clover-seed and four quarts of timothy, with one bushel of plaster per acre, when it is PROGRKSR OF CIVILIZATION. 37 allowed to remain three years in grass. The usual product is 55 bushels of corn, 30 of barley, and from 20 to 30 of wheat, per acre. The manure is all kept under cover, and a regular system of underdraining is being <}arriedout — Rural New-Yorker. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE LOCUST. The following information concerninof the habits of the seventeen-year locust, given by a writer in the Boston Advertiser, will be found interesting at the present time : " The locust's favorite resort is that of a copse of young and rather thin oak wood, where the soil is rather soft and light. They are first discovered in the ground near the surface, in the form of a large white grub or worm, and a quarter of an inch in diameter. Where or in what mode they pass through the chrysalis state, and become fully invested with wings aud other members, I do not know; but they are soon found in vast numbers, and in a full chorus of sonorous voices, among the branches of the small trees. They have a distinctly marked W found on the back. In this stage of their lives they do not seem to feed. • On opening one, the body appears to be a mere hollow shell, without any feeding or digesting organs. They continue in this state, I believe, about six weeks or two mouths. Shortly before their disappearance, many of the small twigs of the young oaks appear to be girdled and partially cut off, and hang suspended from the extremity of the branches. The leaves turn red as when touched by frost in autumn. On examination these twigs appear to be sawed about two thirds off and girdled, so that — the circulation of sap being cut off — it soon dies, and probably falls to the ground during the ensuing winter by the action of Avind, rain and snow. The general belief is that by a curious and remarkable instinct, the in- sect is led to r con- valescents. Saniewski Fklix. [Translated from the French Manuscript by the Editor.] To be continued in the next number. 44: PROMOTION OF INVENTIONS. PROMOTION OF INVENTIONS— ASSOCIATED INVENTORS. . Men do that for wliicli they have means. Capitalists buy to sell at an advance, and the possession of, capital directs their mental faculties to study the most safe, and lucrative investments. Whatever genius for literature, art, or science they may possess lies dormant; the mind being drawn by interest to find the way of using most profitably the instrument which is already in possession. Men without capital, if they believe they have genius, use their mental' powers to advance their fortunes. Hence it is that authors, artists, inventors, etc., seldom possess wealth until they have acquired it by their works. The mere possession of capital in early life, or even the expectation of it, diverts and "withholds the mind from patient study and labor, without which even the greatest genius can not attain the excellence that faculties not much above mediocrity can attain in communities where good instruction is offered them. And hence it is not to be expected that inventors will individually have means to establish their inventions. Their resource hitherto has been to seek the cooperation of capitalists. But capitalists, not having studied, are not able to see the capabilities of inventions, until they are in successful operation. Watt in vain, for many years, besieged the doors of capitalists, before Dr. Roebuck, a man of more science than capital, invested an inadequate sum in his enterprise, and suf- fered loss by it. After more delay, Boulton, a man of sufficient capital and extraordinary business talent, formed a copartnership with him, and expended fifty thousand pounds before one pound was returned. Fulton, for many years, appealed to capitalists, and "was derided by them before he got means to place a steamboat upon the Seine, "which was deemed a failure, and ten years more elapsed before he made a demonstration that could allay the apprehension of failure. Evans, Trevithisk, and many others, for half a cen- tury struggled to introduce the locomotive, and were deemed insane ; and they were not more unlucky than most inventors. '■ This glaring truth, that "wealth diverts the mind from science, and that therefore men of wealth are not likely to promote inventions, until they see "with their eyes what they can not see "with their brains — that they will accomplish the objects intended — this trite and established truth should admonish those who rely upon their intellectual powers, that they ought to unite, and aggregate their small means for the purpose of putting their inven- tions into operation, so far as to demonstrate their utility, to the satisfaction of capitalists, who certainly desire to promote whatever will yield large pro- fits, and are backAvard only because they can not by calculation find out the result of a machine not yet built. Capital governs, with what little science its owners have picked up. The bookseller is boss-author ; the shipping merchant is boss-engineer and naval architect, and smiles at "theorists" who decry the tub-like shape of his ships, and the lumbering complication of his engines ; and if he believed in improve- ment, he would not desire it until his present ships are worn out. And men of science, disregarding each other, bow to these blind idols. Will this con- tinue much longer? Is it not yet possible to organize a company of invent- ors, and of such liberal capitalists as may be disposed to promote inventions ? The reiily to these questions is stereotyped : " Inventors can't agree 1" This reply is not true. Inventors can agree as well as traders, or manufac- turers, or politicians. PROMOTION OF INVENTIONS. 45 We now propose to outline a plan, which, others may amend, for a Com- pany of Inveators and CapitaHsts. And this we do, not with the intention of doing more than naturally should be done by journalists who hnve pecu- liar facilities for aiding in the first steps of such a movement. What we intend is to collect the names, subscriptions, and opinions of those who are willing to join in such an effort, if it can be commenced with sufficient means. We therefore invite all who are so disposed to communicate with us by let- ter or j)ersonally. If we find the prospect encouraging, we shall wlUingly make our pages a medium of communication, without charge, until a com- pany has become able to do without such help. The Rooms are a burdensome expense to a new organization. But there are two institutes already established, and another building, which will allow the use of their rooms for such an object. The American Institute, the Me- chanics' Institute, aud the Cooper Institute intend to promote such objects to the best of their ability. There is therefore no occasion to apprehend an absorption of the means in the mere expenses of the organization. On this point we speak advisedly. A Fund is indispensable. This fund should be devoted to the practical demonstrations necessary to convince the public of the utility of inventions. Half the profits of it should remain in it, to increase it. The stockholders should voie per share, as in other companies. Inventors would ofter their plans and conditions. Each stockholder would be at liberty to appropriate his stock to any plan which he preferred. But if any stock should not be thus appropriated, the directors should appro- priate it. The company should receive a portion of the profits ; but such receipts should be credittd to those whose stock was invested in that particular inven- tion. We will illustrate our meaning by an example. Fulton brings in a draw- ing of a steamboat, with descriptions, calculations, etc., and sucli proof of its utility as he can adduce. He argues his case with the members individually, and with the directors. He peisuades them to appropriate ten liiousand dol- lars. But he wants twenty thousand. Evans brings in his plan of a loco- motive, and in the same way he gets a subscription ; and others do the same. But neither gets the amount he requires. Fulton proposes to the others to take their funds, with the consent of their subscribers, on condition that out of the first fruits of his invention he will put four times as much into theirs. They may deem this proposition preferable to waiting for more subscrip- tions ; if so, they will become stockholders in Fidton's enterprise, and aid in establishing his invention ; and he, if he obtain means, will in like manner aid them. Another example : Gurney proposes his plan of a steam-carriage, and invites others to improve upon it, and to contribute means to build it, on condition that, when it has become profitable, the directors shall appraise the contributions of each who has in any way promoted the general result, and shall divide the stock of the invention among them, in proportion to the value of what each has contributed. Hancock offers to construct a boiler, which Gurney accepts, though he secretly prefers his own. Symington offers a ratchet engine, as a sure means of avoiding the pitching aud rocking that a crank and connecting rod will produce : this Gurney politely declines. Smith, the wheelwright, offers a set of wheels, which are accepted. Norris will build the engines, and take half pay in stock ; and tweuty different per- sons will furnish money enough to do the rest. ' Gurney's carriage finally is 46 SAWING RED-HOT IRON. built, and runs at fifteen to thirty miles an hour. But cautious capitalists say, "Wait! he -will run into carriages, frighten horses, and there will be damages to pay. He will break down, blow up, and so forth. No, no! it won't pay ! We won't go into it ! Wait awhile !'" In this stage it is well to have an association of men who have suflBcient science to know that these fears of mere ignorance are groundless. Such men will maintain the invention until the bugbears are no longer formidable. When these irrational apprehensions are allayed, and the mere physical eye can see that the invention is profitable, a rush of pirates takes place and Gur- ney would be robbed and ruined if no force but his own were ready to defend him. But the united sympathy and interest of the members of the company would put the pirates handsomely through the courts ; and, as in the case of Watt and Boulton, they would have to pay three times the patent fees. At last the invention has become valuable in the market. The directors form a joint stock, giving to each as many shares as they deem him justly entitled to, after a consideration of the contributions and hazards. We need not spin out this thread. We will conclude by suggesting a few conditions : 1st. Each member to pay ten dollars per year, and as much more as he pleases ; to be credited seven per cent interest for pre-payment, and to forfeit fourteen per cent for delay of payment. 2d. Each member to vote on the amount credited to him on the books. 3d. x\s soon as a member has r^lOO in the fund, he may receive half the profits on his share ; the other half to be added to his share, besides the annual ]»ayment of $10. 4th. Each member may appropriate his share of the funds to such inven- tions as he prefers — the profit or loss to be his own ; but the directors to have control of the funds, so that they shall be returned with the stipulated profit. 5th. Funds not thus appropriated by inventors may be appropriated by the directors, on account of their owners. 6th. The directors, by a nine-tenths vote, may veto an appropriation of a member, if, in their opinion, the invention is unworthy of trial. This is a better guard than to exclude \h% invention from exhibition, because it is hazardous to say. that it may not receive such improvements as will make it worthy of trial. Such is the general idea, not wholly original, which we have of an organ- ization that shall in time be able to inspire confidence in capitalists, and until that time shall enable inventors to help each other. We have known invent- ors to work at low wages on their own machines, while their employers made fortunes by them. And if inventors are too indolent to avail themselves of the grea-t principle of association, such will often be their lot. They may fancy that they can contend with wealthy freebooters ; but one may as well attempt to beat an army with his fist. Sawing Red-IIot Iron. — Iron bars and shaftings are cut to length by a circular soft steel saw. The iron to be cut is heated red hot, and in that con- dition is presented to the saw, which rotates at high velocity, and is kept cool by causing its lower half to revolve through a trough containing cold water. A large bar of iron can tlius be cut through in a few seconds. STEAM-CARRIAGE PROJECTS. 47 STEAM-CARRIAGE PROJECTS. Among the numerous steam-carriage plans that were really good, there have been a few so absurd as to have excited prejudice against the inven- tion. Among these are two — one English, and one American-^both of which have been practically tried, to the full satisfaction, no doubt, of those who hate all who pretend to know more than their neighbors. Garvey, in his evidence before a Committee of the Commons, 1834, says : " Mr. King, who is a naval man, associated a steam-carriage with a vessel, and built one with ' two decks ;' two tiers of passengers above ; and engines in the ' hold,' between the wheels ; the weight was ten to fourteen tons. It was drawn into the road ; the steam escaped from the pipe into the ' hold ;' the engineer jumped off, and the wheel went over his head." A friend has recently given us a picture and description of " Gen. Scrapie's Prairie Steam-Car," cut from an " Extra Sun," and credited to the Scientific American. The date is not upon the piece of paper. It begins by saying : " There are few plans of enterprise, now in progress, to which more importance attaches, or which excites more interest, than that of navigating the extensive prairies by steam-power, and with carriages capa- ble of accommodating one hundred passengers, besides twelve to twenty tons of merchandise." It goes on : " Gen. Semple, now in the Senate at Wash- ington, some time during the last summer adopted the very rational conclu- sion, that the power of steam could be as efficiently applied to the propulsion of large carriages on prairies, as to other purposes ; and that whatever load might be drawn by 100 horses, might also be propelled by a 100 horse- power engine." * '•' " We have no particular instructions from the hon- orable inventor, with regard to the construction of the upper works ; but having the foundation and general plan, we have presented the plan which appears to us the most convenient for the purpose intended." The wheels are six feet high, and five wide. There are four drivers, whicli may be turned " by cranks or by gear-wheels attached to the ends of the cyUnders ; the latter mode will be preferable if a rotary engine is used, in which case the two gear-wheels on each side will be driven by an interme- diate wheel, which will take to both at the same time. Either plan is suffi- ciently simple ; and, on the whole, there is no doubt of the complete success of the enterprise." Taking the wheel as a measure, we find that the car is twenty feet wide, twenty-three high, and forty-seven long. It has a ladder to reach the first story, ' and stairs to the second. Within two years this oracle has approved another scheme to put a heavy locomotive on a plank roak. Now, these schemes have in them all the elements of failure, and not one element of success, if the opinions of the English steam-carriage men are correct. We have been told that General Semple spent $20,000 in an attempt to put this into execution. Whether he was induced by the assurance of the very Scientific American, that " on the whole there is no doubt of the com- plete success of the enterprise," we do not know. But when men of " science" give such assurance, and such machines are built, it is natural that those who witness the failure should have but little confidence in the self-styled men of science. Thus it is that quackery, or perhaps puffery for pay, destroys all confidence ; and the press can aid inventions only so far as it finds men 48 DOLCE CAMPANA PIANO ATTACHMENT. qualified to reason upon them — that is, only so far as it is read by theoretical or practical mechanics. Twenty-six years ago, the word "locomotive" was not applied to the en- gines on railways ; they were called steam-carriages. Steam-carriages, then, have succeeded on iron roads, and that so perfectly that there can be little doubt of their success on roads of a somewhat inferior quality. DOLCE CAMPANA ATTACHMENT TO BOARDMAN, GRAY & CO.'S PIANOS. This improvement of the piano- forte is claimed to be one of the greatest made for a long time ; and from what we have seen, and from the descriptions we have had of it, we should think this claim well founded, although we have had but a very limited opportunity of testing it for ourselves. The following is given as the best illustration of it, in connection with the small engraving which accom- panies it. The crooked bridge of a piano is connected with, and, as it were, part of, the sounding-board ; and the strings, passing over this bridge, and connected thereto, when put in motion give vibration to the sounding-board, and thus power and volume of tone to the piano. The Dolce Campana Attachment consists of a scries of weights, held in position in a frame, and is so placed' and secured in the piano, that these weights are held ovei* this crook'^d bridge ; immediately under them there are screws inserted., in the bridge for the weights to rest upon when the attach- ment is in use, and the pedal is so connected with the attachment that when pressed down, the weights (attachment) drop so as to rest on the screws, and thus on the sounding-board ; and when the foot is off the pedal, and the pedal lifted up, the Attachment rises off the sounding-board, and has no effect ; but when the pedal is pressed down, the weights, or attachment, rest on the sounding-board, controlling its vibrations, and the tone and power of the instrument; and the attachment thus being under the control of the pianist, he can produce the most beautiful effects at will. When the attach- ment is in use, it produces a delicate, soft, bell-like, silvery tone in the piano, truly enchanting ; and when we take into consideration that tho great power of tone of the piano is in the free and perfect vibration of the sounding-board, and that the sounding-board's vibration and tone are under the perfect con- trol of tho performer, so that he can let it sound full or graduate its tones to the music and effects wished for, it will at once be clear that the invention is a valuable one. By using it in connection Avith the harp, or soft and loud pedals, a great variety of effects and changes can be produced, like changing tho stops of an organ ; and by holding the loud pedal down, and striking full chords with the fingers, and then letting the att^ichmcnt off the bridge, a full and perfect swell is produced at the will of tho performer. The Dolce Cam- Dana Attachment is truly a legitimate and valuable improvement, tho most SAVE YOUR SUDS, 49 valuable one of modern times, to the piano-forte. Messrs. Boardman, Gray «k Co., of Albany, N.Y., are the inventors and patentees. It is applied only to their otherwise truly superior piano-forte. They have lately patented another valuable improvement, which consists in making the sounding-board of their pianos corrugated, so that each side is fluted, thus gaining a much greater surface, and securing firmness and stiffness without the necessity of cross-bracing, as in the ordinary sounding-board. This, and its peculiar form, secures it from a liability to crack or split, and it has been found on trial to give a much greater volume of tone, and the quality also is much improved. We take pleasure in calling attention to the advertisement of Messrs, Boardman, Gray & Co, ?0H THB PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AHB THE ANVIL, S A V E YOUR SUDS, "A PENNr saved is as good as a penny earned." In the form of soap-suds, there runs from the kitchen fertilizing matter enough to supply the family with garden vegetables. How can it be saved and applied ? Let me sug- gest. As often as washing day comes, let all the suds be cai-e fully saved, in a tub or receptacle kept expressly fur that purpose. After sunset, let it be applied to whatever in the garden needs it most. Cucumbers, squashes, and melons need frequent applications of it while small, and it will do them as much good as guano or superphosphate; having this advantage — it costs ■nothing, and is always at hand. Tomatoes, cabbages, beans, peas, corn, and potatoes, and even weeds, will all be grateful for small favors of this kind. Your grape vines should occasionally have a pailful ; the oftener and the stronger the better. By the way, vines need frequently looking after at this season. Useless shoots and suckers should be lopped oflf. Direction should be given to new branches ; ties should be examined and secured when neces- sary, and the ground should be kept loose about the roots, and free from weeds and grass. The removal of leaves for the admission of light to the fruit, I have no faith in. Let them have the covering which Nature de- signed, and they "will mature and ripen in due time. You need not fear making the ground too rich ; the grape is a voracious feeder. But" I am not done with suds. Every garden has, or should have, young fruit-trees. To these application should be made of strong suds frequently. It will destroy insects, remove moss and scurf, 2>romote the health and vigor of the bark and the growth of the tree. But this is not all. There should be a cess-pool, to which all the wash of the kitchen and other parts of the house should be conducted. Into this let there be dumjyed loam, muck, leaves, weeds, bones, old shoes, ashes, old plas- ter, and what not. If properly cared for, it will be found, at planting time, to contain sufficient for a liberal dressing for the whole garden, and that, too, of the very best of vegetable aliment. Try it, reader, and save yourself the trouble and expense of running about, in the spring, after manure for your garden. R. B. H. 4 50 . RINGBONE OCCUllKING IN HORSES. RINGBONE OCCURRING IN" HORSES. Ringbone is anotlier form of exostotic disease, the pathology or nature of which, not ditfering materially from those ah-eady considered — spavin and splint. Its location is the pastern-boQO. Most generally, the joint is involved, so that the final result is ayichijlosis (loss of raotion) in the joint formed by the OS suffrayinis and os coronce, (large and small pastern bones.) Nature of Rinybone. — The term Wft^6o«e is far behind the times as re- o-ards our present knowledge of nosology, (which signifies the doctrine of the names of diseases ;) yet to the unprofessional it is somewhat suggestive, and therefore may as well be retained. It signifies a circular eminence around the pastern-bone. The ring is formed by incrustation, or osseous deposit around the bone, or joint, as the case may be ; yet, in order to make out a case that comes strictly Avithin the meaning of the word — that is, as horse- men interpret it — there must exist complete anchylosis of the pastern- joint. Various osseous deposits are now and then thrown out on the pastern and coronet-bones, varying in shape, size, and seat ; they are often unaccom- panied by lameness, and, consequently, stable-men have named them '' ding-fasts,'" or something of the sort. They all, however, come under the disease known as exostosis. A pure case of ringbone — anchylosis — generally has an external origin : we find that an osseous deposit commences at the lower margin of the pas- tern, and upper part of the coronet-bones ; this spreads so as to involve both joint and ligaraentary tissue ; and if there be any predisposition, in the ani- mal, to ossifc diseases, the malady may spread, so as to involve fetlock, pastern, and coffin joints. Causes of Ringbone. — This disease, in many cases, is hereditary, trans- mitted, either directly or indirectly, through the sexual congress. I shall not contend that its direct origin is a settled point, but merely intimate, in sup- port of this opinion, that I have seen colts of only a few weeks' growth the subjects of this disease. I once bought an unweaned colt, and brought it up by hand, as the saying is. At the age of four months, I observed tumefac- tion on the pastern of both hind-legs, which ultimately resulted in stiflf joint. The little creature had never been subjected to any sort of labor or exercise to produce lameness, and therefore the disease must have originated at birth. Mr. Percival, whose opinion on veterinary matters is unquestioned, says that his attention to the hereditary origin of ringbone, was tirst aroused from a remark made by an extensive dealer in horses, in reply to a question put to him, how it happened, that but few ringbones were met with, compared to the number that attracted notice in times past. The reply was : " Because no breeder of horses, now-a-days, will send a mare to a horse having ring- })Qiies'' — a very good example for American horsemen to imitate; for a vast number of our best, as well as inferior horses, are the subjects of this infirm- ity. Of the indirect transmissibility of this disease we have ample proof. It lurks in breed just as scrofula and consumption do in the human subject. The author just quoted remarks that "a coarse or half-bred, fleshy or bony-legged horse, with short and upright pasterns, is the ordinary subject of this disease ; and there exist satisfactory reasons why we should expect him to be so. Tho pastern and coffin-bones constitute the nethermost parts EINGBONE OCCURRING IN HORSES. ^1 — the pedestals — of the columns of bones composing the limbs, and being so, they receive the entire weight and force transmitted from above. The pas- tern, being long and oblique iu position, receives the superincumbent vreight in such an indirect line that, bending towards the ground with the fetlock, nothing like jar or concussion follows. The very reverse of this, however, happens every time the foot of a limb, having a short upright pastern, comes to the ground. In such, instead of the weight descending obliquely upon the sessamoids, (two small bones at the posterior and inferior part of the fet- lock joint,) and the fetlock bending therewith, it descends directly, or nearly so, upon the pastern, making this bone entirely dependent on the bone beneath it — the coronet — for counteracting concussion ; and should any thing occur to diminish this, or to throw more weight on the bones beneath than they can counteract, jar of the whole apparatus ensues; and an effort of na- ture to streno-lhen the parts, by investing them with callus and ossification, is likely to be the ultimate result. For we would view ringbone, disease though it must assuredly bo called, as frequently, in young horses, a recourse of nature to strengthen weak parts — the bones being unequal to the exer- tions or efforts required of them." From the fact that horses of the above peculiar conformation are most subject to this malady ; and knowing, as we do, that defects and faults ac- quired become permanent in the race, all doubts as to indirect hereditary origin are set at rest. The direct causes of ringbone (and at times they are merely exciting) are ligamentary strains, brought about by over-work, extraordinary efforts of speed, pulling up suddenly, etc. In short, either sprain, injury, blow, or bruise, likely to produce inflammatory action in the region of the pastern- joint, may result in ringbone. Still, I contend that, aside from such causes, there must be lurking in the system of the subject a predisposition, denomi- nated by human practitioners idiosyncrasy — a weakness in bone, limb, or ligament — the result of errors in breeding, aggravated by a too early use of the muscular powers, and want of proper attention to food and stable man- agement. It appears, therefore, that there is no direct or spccijic cause for ringbone, and we can only regard as indirect those causes which, in a large mfijority of cases, are invariably present. Treatment of Ringbone — Preliminary Remarks. — It would be very inter- esting and funny to notice some of the methods of treating ringbone ; but the subject of this malady is a creature, whose mental and instinctive capa- cities combined far surpass those of any other animal, and, indeed, do not differ in kind from the mental nature of our species ; in degree, however, there is evidently some difference. He has also nerves to feel, is keenly sensible to pain ; and therefore such atrocities as we frequently see perpetrated upon this noble animal, even un- der the sanction of long usage, are neither interesting nor pleasant matters for contemplation. There is a common error abroad, and in some of the popular works on farriery the error is stereotyped, that '''• ringbone is fed by a bladder at the posterior part of the pastern,''^ which has just about as much to do with the disease as I had with the late victory achieved by the " Kaow-Nothings." This error, however, vrould not amount to much, only that it has led to the infliction of a cruel operation, without the least advantage. In short, it tends to make matters worse than they were before; for this bladder is in reality a bursal sac, the use of which is to secrete and contain a fluid called 52 EINGBONE OCCUERING IN HORSES. synovia, (known as joint-oil,) used for the purpose of lubricating tendons and their articulating surfaces, so as to prevent friction; therefore its extraction must be disadvantageous to the limb. it IS not enough, forsooth, for the poor brute to suffer this excruciating tor- )iient, which usually attends inflammation and ossification of the parts ; but he must, in'addition, submit to a species of cruelty unheard of in the annals ot human medicine, and for which veterinary science furnishes no authority. It has been my painful duty occasionally to take in charge subjects that have been most shamefully maltreated in this respect, and I have seen others that have been the subjects of cruelties that would make a Christian shudder to ihink of, (see "Modern Horse Doctor," p. 278 ;) and I do hope that the reader, if he be in any way interested in horses, will set his face against every species of barbarity practised on them, and endeavor to aid those who are now en- gaged in the work of reform. I feel assured that if the American people were better informed as to the nature and treatment of diseases occurring among live stock, these evils would cease to exist. But a new era is dawn- ing, America will, ere long, boast of her veterinary schools, and from them shall go forth a class of /the right kind of men, to illuminate the compara- tive darkness that now exists. Now as regards the treatment. The idea of curing ringbone is really ab- surd— nature never intended that it should be cured. The new growths, if I may so call them, and the changes that take place in the joint, are a part of nature's own handiwork, in view of strengthening a weak bone or joint; and therefore there is no need of cure. To attempt a cure can be regarded in no other light than forcing nature to turn a somerset ! Our object in the treatment is merely to aid nature, (that is all the assistance she requires of us.) All we have to do is to excuse the animal from work, aud apply reme- dies that are calculated to relieve pain and lessen lameness. We treat the disease, when first discovered, just as we should a recent spavin or splent, by cooling lotions, cold-water bandages, etc. If the parts are inactive, we apply the usual counter-irritants. In all cases, therefore, of ringbone, whether it have a pereosteal, bony, cartilaginous, fibrous, or synovial origin, rest, light diet, and the above means are most calculated to promote anchylosis of the joint, which is nature's cure. As regards the bony tumor, that is genei-ally nothing more than an eye- sore, and very seldom causes pain, (that is, after the new formations are com- pleted.) There is some stiffaess ever after to be observed, but that is not due to the tumor, but is the natural consequence of stiff joint. — Written for the Ohio Farmer, by Q. H. Dadd, Veterinary Surgeon, Boston, Mass. Gas for Fuel. — The Albany .^^Zas says that a mechanic is manufacturing furnaces for heating dwelling-houses, gas being used as a fuel. A room 15 feet square can be heated, it is said, at a cost of about one cent and a half an hour. This is just what Mr. Shaw, of Boston, has been doing successfully for •several months. KEEPING FURS IN SUMMER. 53 STATE FAIRS FOR 1855. Vermont, New-Hampshire, Canada-East, - Ohio, - New- York, Connecticut, - Maryland, Canada- West, - Indiana, lUinois, - New-Jersey, - Kentucky, North-Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia, Rutland, Sherbrooke, Columbus, Elmira, Hartford, Baltimore, Coburg, Inianapolis, Chicago, Camden, Paris, - Raleigh, Philadelphia, • Atalanta, Richmond, September 11 to 13. September 12 to 14. September 11 to 14. September IS to 21. October 2 to 5. October 9 to 11. October 30, October 9 to 12. October 17 to 19. September 25 to 28. October 16 to 18. September 10. KEEPING FURS IN SUMMER. A Troy farrier, in one of our exchanges, the name of which we have lost, thus directs as to the treatment of these valuable articles. About the 1st of April, or on the approach of warm weather, lightly whip, comb, and brush your furs till they are perfectly free from dust ,• sprinkle them with a little spirits of any kind, and wrap them in clean linen. Put them in a tight box or drawer, and keep them from the air as much as possible. la this situation they may remain ten or fifteen days, when they ought to be examined, and the whipping, combing, and brushing repeated. The insects most destructive to furs, are, first, the black bug which infests smoked meats, etc. It ap^^^ears and deposits eggs early in the spring. This kind of moth does not eat the fur, but preys altogether on the skin. Next the small ash-colored miller, which produces the moth that destroys all kinds of woollen stuffs, and may be seen hovering about the candle on a summer evening. This kind particularly preys upon and destroys the furs, and ought to be most guarded against ; also the mite, which is very numerous. They appear like dust, and are scarcely perceptible to the naked eye. They subsist upon and destroy the fibrous membrane which attaches the fur to the skin. Hence the practice of sunning and airing furs is highly prejudicial, for as insects fly about in the air, it not only afibrds them an opportunity of getting in and breeding, but the warmth of , the sun nourishes and supports them, and at the sama time spoils the color and destroys the life and beauty of the fur. Coarse furs — such as bear and buffalo skins — may be preserved by beating them well in the spring, and heading them up in an air-tight spirit-cask, which has been recently emptied. Especial care must alway-s be taken to have furs, woollens, etc., clean and free from insects when they are put up for the season — and no means are adequate to the preservation of furs that are badly dressed and not cleansed of the natural grease. 54 VAN DEWATER's turbine WATER WHEEL. i—^j-p-i VAN DE water's TURBINE WATER WHEEL. 55 VAN DEWATER'S TURBINE WATER WHEEL. Thk accompanying engraving is a vertical section of the water ■wheel of Henry Van Dewater, of tlie city of Albany, N. Y., embracing an improve- ment on his patent of October 1853, for which he has taken measures to secure a patent. The improvement consists, first, in the employment of a concave guide at the low-sr part of the casing underneath the wheel, in combination with a gate which surrounds it, to regulate the discharge of water from the casing or wheel. Second, in the employment of a peculiar gate and a series of shutes made and arranged to admit the requisite quantity of water to the wheel. Third, in surrounding the wheel with a chamber (filled with water) which, in connection with the peculiar form of the buckets, makes the water <3xert an upward pressure to relieve the bearing step of the weight of the wheel. A is the cylindrical casing of the wheel, which may be made of cast-iron. It is secured in its upright position by the rods, a a, to a flanch, B, under- neath the casing. This flanch is placed at the lower part of the guide or deflector, C, which is of a concave conical form, and projects upwards a suit- able distance within the casing, A. On the upper end of this guide is the step or bearing of the wheel shaft. This step is secured by an upright ledge, b. Within the lower part of the casing there is a rim or band, E, which forms a gate. This gate works snugly within the casing, and has four vertical rods, c c, (two shown,) attached to it at opposite points. The upper ends of these rods are connected to cross bars, F, to which vertical racks, d d, are attached ; these gear with the pinions, e e, at the end of a drum, G. 'vVithin the casing, A, and directly above the guide, C, is the wheel, H. It is fitted between lateral flanches,//, which thus form a chamber or recess, <■/, around the wheel. The top and bottom edges of the buckets are radial with the wheel, and the intermediate points are gradually curved, so as to leave the spaces between the upper edges of the buckets wider than the spaces between the lower ends ; ihe figure shows the form of the buckets. Directly above the wheel there is a fixed series of shutes or guides, i, which are placed directly over the buckets, h. The shutes are of a spiral form con- forming to that of the buckets, and at the mouth of each there is a slide, j, connected to a circular rim, I, which encompasses the shaft, D. These slides, j, form the gate above the wheel. J J are two vertical racks attached to the upper surface of the rim, I. Two pinions in a drum (not shown) gear into these racks. By turning the drum, these pinions operate the racks, J J, and thus raise or lower the slides, _;, according to the direction the drum is turned. By turning the drum, G, the pinions, e e, take into the racks, d d, and ele- vate or lower the lower gate, E. The water from the flurne flows into the upper part of the casing, and the slides, y, being open, it passes in and fills the entire casing, and is directed tangentially against the buckets of the wheel, the quantity being regulated by the guides and slides. As the spaces between the lower edges of the buckets are narrower than those between the upper ones, the water presses upward to a certain degree against the under surfaces of the buckets, and thus relieves the under step of the shaft, D, from top weight, thereby decreasing the friction. The surrounding water in the recess, (/, acts upon the wheel when at work. By regulating the gate, E, the unequal draft of partial vacuum upon the column of water descending from m SELF-ACTIING CAR-COUPLING. the bottom of the wheel is obviated. It will be observed that when the gate, E, is raised or lowered, there will be an equal space all around the deflecting guide, C, so that the draft is equalized at all points around the wheel. In the ordinary French turbine a valve is used for this purpose, but this causes uuequal draft, and is therefore inferior to the guide, C. These improvements on the Jonval French turbine wheel by Mr. Van De- water are obvious. His wheels have a high reputation for efficiency. Per- sons in various parts of our country using his wheels, testify to their high per centage of power and excellent construction. More information may be obtained by letter addressed to Mr. Van Dc- water. SELF-ACTING C AR- G 0 UPLING. -2?7.r The annexed engravings represent an improvement in railroad car cou- plings, for which a patent was granted to D. A. Hopkins, of Elmira, N. Y., on the 1st of August, last year. Fig. 1 is a perspective view, showing two coupling-boxes detached, and fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the centre of one coupling-box, and showing the coupling link in various positions ; also a coup!iiig-pin locked in the link and out of the link. Similar letters refer to like jiarts. The top and bottom bars or plates, A A, of each box are made of wrought iron, with their outer ends somewhat enlarged. The bars are riveted together by bolts, R R, and have a wooden block, B, between them. The draw-head, H, is made of cast iron, cast on the enlarged ends of the bars, A A, as shown in fig. 2, thus forming a draw-head strongly united to the wrought-iron bars. The mouth of each head, II, is wide, while the throat, at h h, is very narrow. L is the connecting or coupling link. C (G in fig. l) is a bolt passing into an opening in the wooden block, B ; its inner end abuts against a coiled spring, S. F is the head of this spring bolt ; it is allowed room in the open space to move back and forth. Its face is fluted with section grooves, to receive the end of the link L, and retain it in various positions, as shown m SELF-ACTING CAR-COUPLING. 57 y /L fig. 2. P is the coupling-pin. It will be observed that when the pin, P, is withdrawn, and the cars uncoupled, the spring bolt, C, will be forced forward in the box, and the pin, P, will then rest on its top as shown by the dotted lines, fig. 2, which represent the bolt and pin in this position. When it is desired to couple the two cars — by running back the front or bringing for- ward the rear one — the link, L, will enter the throat of the box, and push back the serrated head, F, of the spring bolt in the open space of the box, when the pin, P, will drop through the opening of the link, and thus couple the cars. Owing to the narrow throat of the head, H, and the form of the face of F, this self-acting coupling is perfectly adapted for cars of all heights, as shown by the various positions of the link, L, in dotted lines, fig. 2. This must be a very durable and strong draw-head, as the crushing force comes on the cast-iron head, H, while the tensile strain is sustained by the wrought- iron bars, A A, because the pin, P, passes through them as well as the shoul- der flange of the head, H. The mouth of the head, H, is so formed as to resist sudden and great shocks. This self-acting car-coupling has been in use for more than a year on the Canandaigua & Elraira Railroad, N. Y., and has been found perfectly prac- tical, superior to, and more economical than the ordinary kind. It has also been adopted by the New- York & Erie Ptailroad, whose superintendent regards it as the only coupling yet brought before him well adapted for all the varying conditions and circumstances of railroads. More information may be obtained by letter addressed to Mr. Hopkins, at at Messrs. Fowlers & Wells, No. 308 Broadway, this city : or W. P. Yates, Elmira, N. Y. Trap Rock Manufactures. — J. T. Chance, of Birmingham, Englapd, ba8 taken out a patent for fusing trap rock, and submitting it to severe pressure, while in that state, so as to make it into slabs, and other forms. oS ENGLISH PATENTS, ■ TESTING OP CANNON. A coRRESPONDENT.of the Charleston Standard writes thus respecting the manufacture and testing of cannon at Washington : (a-nns are cast in any shape that may be suggested by the process of inves- tigation, then fired to test iheir projectile force, then fired until they burst; and when the result has been attained, with every care to determine the causes and conditions of the experiment, sections of the broken metal are carefully drilled out from different parts of the piece, from the muzzle and the breech, and the inside and the outside, and each piece is subjected to a strain to test its tensile strength. To apply this strain, one end is fastened to a frame, and the other is taken hold of by machinery, and the power is so magnified that the iron is obliged to part. In the process of these experi- ments, one fact has become pretty well established which rather contradicts received opinion. It has been supposed that the cannon always cooling from without, and the outside contracting, therefore, around the inside still extended by heat, would become more brittle, but this, in such tests as have been used, would not seem to have been the case. A bar cut from the outside of the cannon, will generally part with about the same amount of extension as a bar cut from the inside, whether it be taken from a longitudinal or vertical section of the gun. Another fact of some importance, however, has been established. It is found that the strength of the gun may be much increased by taking the weight of metal from the muzzle and casting it around the breech. A gun, for instance, has been cast with a view to this experiment, which was much thinner at the muzzle than cannons usually are, but which was by so much the thicker at the breech, where the charge ex- plodes. It was tired some 1200 times, under every conceivable condition likely to insure explosion, and when it did burst, the fracture occurred at the breech, as is usually the case with cannons. ENGLISH PATENTS. Smokeless Furnace. — We have during the week inspected an entirely new arrangement of steam-boiler furnace in action on a twenty -five horse power boiler at the granaries and flour mills of Mr. Edward Gripper, Winchester wharf, Southwark. The principle of construction is that of mechanical motion applied to the bars, but diflferent to anything yet introduced. Every alternate bar is so connected with a cross-piece at each end as to form one entire movable frame, which is connected by gearing with the motive power. The motion given to it is angular ; first, the bars rise very slowly about an inch above the stationary ones ; they then move gradually in a lateral direction towards the bridge ; again sink in a vertical direction about an inch below the other bars, and then move laterally forward to their original position. What are termed the stationary bars are not fixed as usual, but hung in such a manner -as exactly to balance the vibrating frame with the load of fuel which it has to move, thus taking but little power from the engine to keep them in motion. The fuel is fed through a hopper and regulating in- MISCELLANEOUS. 59 clined plain, and the whole is self-acting, requiring bat little attention from the stoker. We were informed that this apparatus had been in constant use about six months, that no difficulties whatever arose from the mechanical motion; there was an entire absence of clinker, nearly perfect combustion of the fuel was eff'ected, and during our visit not a particle of smoke was visible from the chimney. Mr. Gripper estimates the saving of fuel alone at about 10 per cent, beside numerous other advantages. — Lo7idon B. B. Journal. Water-power Engine. — An hydraulic power engine which works by the pressure of a column of water, simplified and originated by Mr. James Sinclair, engineer, Stirling, has for some time been applied in several large printing-offices in Stirling, Dundee, and other towns in Scotland, having the advantage of a high service of water from the hills. The proprietors of the Scotsman, published in Edinburgh, have adopted this mode of power, with perfect success. The whole machine weighs 6cwts and occupies a horizon- tals pace of only 31 by 25 inches, and but 37 inches high. It consists of two oscillating cylinders, working similarly to a high-pressure steam-engine, the water being admitted through the axis on which they vibrate. It works smoothly, is perfectly safe, has great power for its size, and is per- fectly manageable ; there is no shock or recoil, and no danger of the pipes bursting. The column of water which the company allow, is 150 ft. high, which gives sufficient power to work off" 2000 impressions per hour. Wher- ever a supply of sufficient height can be obtained, these engines are well adapted to a great variety of purposes. Ornamenting Wood. — Thos. Clayton, of Oldham, England, has obtained a patent for transferring the designs of graining on choice wood, such as ma- hogany, rosewood, yew, etc., from engraved metallic heated rollers, or flat surfaces, to surfaces of common woods, such as pine, by which process he ob- tains a close imitation of choice and expensive woods. Carriage-Shafts. — H. A. Genetreau, of Paris, has obtained a patent in England for the application of whalebone, or of bamboo cane, to the con- struction of carriage-shafts. Match Cigars. — W. P. Surgey, of London, has taken out a patent for tipping cigars with an igniting composition which is fired by friction. MISCELLANEOUS. A Large Knitting Factory. — The village of Cohoes, on the lower falls of the Mohawk, N.Y., is one of the best for manufacturing purposes in our country, and has progressed rapidly within the past ten years. A new fac- tory for the manufacture of knit-fabrics, such as drawers, etc.. has recently been set in operation there, which is said to be the largest one of the kind in the world ; it is 395 feet long, 7o wide, and six stories high. It is designed to give employment to GOO operatives; the rooms are stated to be well ven- tilated, commodious, and cheerful. The name of the new factory is "The Mohawk River Mill." The machinery used embraces all of the most recent improvements. — Scientijic American. 60 MISCELLANEOUS. New Light. — The Cleveland Plaindealer says: "Last evening we wit- nessed the result of a series of experiments made by Dr. Taylor, the celebrated clairvoyant physician of this city — the actual production of a brilliant light, and of course an intense heat, by the decomposition of water. The apparatus for producing this astonishing effect is very simple, and has, as he alleges, been constructed entirely under the spiritual direction. It is imperfectly made, and yet serves to demonstrate the fact and the principle involved in the process. The light is exceedingly brilliant, equal to the best quality of gas, and superior in color, it being slightly of an orange tint, and producing not the least smoke. A caveat for the discovery has been filed in tlie Patent Office in Washington, by a gentleman of this city, who compared the appa- ratus with that of Paine, and the two are entirely unlike. Distinguished chemists who have examined this invention pronounce it a triumph. We do not feel competent to decide any questions that may happen to arise among scientific men ; but the result we have actually seen, and verily believe that no deception has been resorted to in producing it." Minds, when under excitement, however produced, may be directed into some new and useful channel. But the professed paternity of this professed discovery, does not lead us to place much confidence in it. New Mode of Separating Gold from Quartz. — Professor Benjamin Harding, of this city, has just patented a new process for separating all the gold from quartz, without the agency of amalgam, and which also entirely dispenses witli the heavy outlay heretofore incurred for massive crushers. It is assumed that by this new process every pxrticle of gold can be taken from the quartz. The agency by which, this wonderful result is attained, is of suck a nature as to be readily understood by scientific men ; and the benefits which are likely to flow from the discovery are too obvious to require remark. — iV. Y. Journal of Commerce. To Transfer Patterns, Etc. — The Liverpool Journal describes the fol- lowing process for transferring the forms of natural objects or the patterns on ribbons to paper: " Saturate common writing paper with porter, coffee mixed with sugar and cream, or the solution of achil. Place the object whose form is to be trans- ferred on the prepared paper, and expose them to the action of the sun's rays or those of a common fire. Various other solutions may be used for the same purpose, as bieliroraate of potash, yellow chromate of potash, etc. When figured satin ribbons are saturated with such solutions, and exposed to the sun's rays, the raised pat- terns are given in beautiful relief in a lighter tint of the same color as the ground. Fine Cherries. — AVe have been favored with a taste of some beautiful cherries, (seven in number,) large, plump, small stone, and well-flavored, from a young tree belonging to Mr. R. Ilayes, of Paterson, N. J. They grew in two bunches, and were its entire crop. When that tree grows larger, we should admire to refresh ourself under its shade. Umbrellas. — Calkins & Darrow, 42 Maiden Lane, have a very large assortment of umbrellas and parasols, and the reputation of their work is not inferior to that of any establishment in the city. Their piices are reason- able. New Patents. — We have failed to receive some engravings which we expected to publish in this number. Our next issue shall compensate for the limited amount of such articles in this month's number. NEW BOOKS. 61 NEW BOOKS. St. Petersburg ; its People, their Character and Institutions. By Edward Jerr- MANN. A. S. Barnes & Co., New- York. 1855. This very enterta'ming volume is translated from the German by Frederick Hardman. The author was long a resident in St. Petersburg, and lie gives his personal experiences with all classes from the Czar to the peasant, and describes their condition, socially, politically, and morally. Its views are pro rather than awii-PuUsaian.r^Ilead it by all means. Principles of Agricultural Chemistrt with Special Reference to the late Re- searches MADE IN England. By Justus Von Liebig. John Wiley, New- York. 1855. Dr. Liebig sustains his previous reputation in this new work, and brings his extensive observation and experiments to bear with great power oa his theory in relation to min- eral manures. It is translated by Prof. Gregory. Which: the Right or the Left? New- York: Garrett ;atiu^ the number of yea and nay balls, in machine for taking votes in legis^lative bodies. Jno. Taggarl and Julius S. Shailer, Roxbury, assignees of John Taggart, aforesaid, fluid metre. Benjamin S. Nicholson, administrator of John P. Niijholson, deceased, late of Davidsonville, Md., improvenieot in giain harvesters. Arad Woodworth 3d, of Boston, improvement in machinery lor spinning. M. G. Hubbard, New-York, improvement in springs for carriages. Geo. B. Ambler, Trumbull, Conn., improve- ment iu wooden saddle trees. Lucius B. Bradly, Watertown, Conn., improved rat-trap. Thomns G. Boone, Brooklyn, improvement in steam boilers. Leonard Campbell, Columbus, Miss., improve- ment iu cotton gins. Lewi.s VV. Colver, Louisville, improvement in seed planters. Robert Cushman, Pawtucket, improvement in £top motion of knitting machines. D. W Clark aud H. Gray, Bridgeport, Conn., improvement in carnage wheels. John Chase, Jr., Pequonoek, Conn., improve- ment in brick presses. Rufus K. CbanJler, Richmond, improvement in wristbands of bliirts. Daniel Drawbauga, Eberly Jlills, Pa., stave ma- chine. Michael B. Dyott, Philadelphia, improved warm* air furnace. Charles A. Durgin, New-York, improvement in sewing machines. Wrifiht Duiyea, New Y''ork, improvement in umbrellas. Marcus D. Du Bois, Newburgh, improvements in valve gear for oscillating engines. Henry Gross, Tiffin, Uliio, machine for cutting screws on bedstead rails. Henry Gross, Tiffin, Ohio, improvement in fire- arms. Jonathan Haines, Pekin, 111., improvement in grain harvesters. Chase B. Horton, Elmira, improvement of Lul- lers of buckwheat, J. W, Hooglaud, of Jersey City, tree-nail ma- chine. M. G. Hubbard, Now-York, improvement in carriage springs. Isaac Krebs, Winchester, Va,, improvement in ■whiffletrees. A, B. Latta, Cincinnati, improved carriage' foi steam fire-engines. % Charles B. Loveless, Boston, improved air-heal- ing cook stoves. Henry B Lum, Sandusky, improvement in farm gates. David Mathcw, Philadelphia, improvement in spark arresters. Robert J. Marcher, Salisbury Mills, N. Y., tool for grooving mouldings. Jacob Marshall, Reading, improvement in lubri- cating compounds. Jason C. Osgood, Troy, N. Y., improvement in submarine exca\atint; machines. Henry Pearce, Cincinnati, improvement in cord- age machinery. J. Reymen, Dubuque, improvement in fences. Thos. F Rowland, Jas. Stephens, aud Wm. H. MasoQ, Brooklyn, improved appaialus for drying grain. T. J. W. Robertson, New- York, improvement in sewing mnchines Edgar M. Stevens and Jos. B.Crosby, Boston, aud Jos. W. Pearson, Winchester, Mass., im- provement in seed planters. John Tucker, Norway, Me., improvement in ox yokes. Geo. Turner, Edinborough, Pa,, mandrel for cut- ting tapering sticks. John Tyler, West-Lebanon, N. H., curbs for water wheels. Jonathan Whipple, Jr , Milford, Mass., improv- ed self-acting nipper bl"ck. Leroy S. V\ bite, Chiciipee, and Lewis White, Hartford, Conn., improvement in telegraphic key apparatus. Caleb Winfgar, Union Springs, N. Y., method of closing and opening gate.s, elc. John H. Wygant, Hackeiisack, N. J., improve- ment in spikes. Linus Yale, Newport, N. Y., improvement in bank locks. Jonas B. Aiken, Franklin, N. H., assignor to Jonas B. Aiken and Herrick Aiken, Franklin, aforesaid, improvement in knitting mucliines. J. S. Baiden, New-Haven, assignor to Uliver Snow, and G. B. Farnam, Mendeu, Conn., water metre. F. S. Coburn, Ipswich, assignor to Rugsles, Noarse, Mason & Co., Worcester, Mass., im- provement in screw wrenches. Abrabam Gessner, Wiiiiainsburgh, assignor, throu^jb others, to the " North American Kero- sene Gas Light Company, '' improvement in burn- ing fluids. Lucien E. Hicks, Boston, assignor to himself and Geo. N. Davis, Boston, aforesaid, improvement in hose couplings. Joseph Bon.', Jr., Philadelphia, improvement in sewing machines. Thomas Arnold, Mobile, improvement in invalid bedsteads. John Avery, Lowell, Mas?., improvement in shuttle motion of looms. Charles F. Brown, Warren, R. I., improvement in cartridge. Samuel W. Brown, Lowell, improvement in gas regulators. E. Daniels, New-York, improvement in invalid bi'dstead-". E. VV. Goodale, Clinton, Mass., improved ma- chine lar making papt^r bugs. John Henderson, Horscneads, improvement in hub and axle faslenings. Wm. W. Hubbard and David Mathew, Phila- delphia, improvement m vapor engines. 64 LIST OF PATENTS. Thos. Foster Thornton, Buffalo, assignor to George A. Prince and TLomas Stephenson, Buf- fulo, aloresiiul, inipruvtd swell for rne.lodeons. lloinerHoliaiid, Wesifield, iMass, improvement in processes for treating auriferous and argenti- ferous sulpiiurets. Dean S. Howard. I.yonsdale, N.Y., water wheel. Joseph Hollely, Brooklyn, fluid faucet. Kdwai^G. IJyilc, Carnptown, N. J., improve- ment in roe construction of ear trumpets. John N. King, Muriay, N. Y., improvement in swing bridges. T. J. Kiiidleberger, Springfield, O., improve- ment in cider itii Is. Gabriel Leverich, Wellsburgh, N. Y., apparatus for paging boolis. William Laridsdell, Memphis, improvement in tmnyant propellers. George W. La Baw. Jersey City, mitre machine. William Maurer, New-Vork, improvement in door locks. Thos. S. Minnes.s, Meadville, Penn., improve- ment in seed planters. ': enry Mellish, Walpole, improved shoe for grain mills. Erasmus A. Pond, Rutland, Vt., improvement in pill-mal\ing michines. Silas S.Puinam,Boston,improvement in forging machines. Francis Peabody, Salem, improved grass har- vester. E. Truman Prentiss, Philadelphia, improve- ment in lubricating compounds. Henry A. iioseiitbul, New-York, improvement in uterine supporters. David Stoddard, Cincinnati, improvement in cut-off valves. Jacob C. .-clilough, Easton, Pa., improvement ill arrate bars for furnaces. Webster Shitibies, '1 liomaston. Me., assignor to himself and Edwiird li'Brien, of same place, improvement for retfing topsails. Isaac M. Singer, New-York, improvement in sewing machines. Darnel VV. cjiiell, Woousocket, improvement in looms. Alfred B. Seymour, Claverack, N. Y., improve- ment in machines for helically creasing sheet metal pipes. Kicbaid A. Ptr.itton, Philadelphia, improvement in chairs for dentists' use. Ohapin Street, Barre Centre, improvement in grain drills. Francis Fiizpatrick, Cincinnati, improvement iM straw cutters. J. B. Terry, Hartford, improvement in pin-stick- ing machines. Harvey Webster, and Alonzo Webster, Mont- jiclicr, impnivtriient in whilletrees. Will. D. Wilson, Kichmond, Va, improved corn grinder and cru.shcr. Milton U. V\liipple, Charlestovpn, Mass., im- provement ill prepiiring wood for paper pulp. E. D. Williams, Wilmington, Del., improvement ill vehich.s. Couriland Wilson, and Wm. Moore, Jr., Yard- 1','yvillc, Pa., improvement in mowing machines. .loseph Welsh, Philadelphia, improvement in looms. Sigismnnd Beer, New- York, a^signrr to Lewis IVuihtwanger and Sigitmund Beer, New-York, a oresaid, improvement in de-vulcanizing India rubber. Aildison Capron, of Atlloboro', assignor to him- Kf-if, Jo.«. S. Dennis, Somerville, and Hervey M. liictiHids, Atileboro', improvement in sewing ma- chines. Alfred Swinele, Boston, assignor to Elmer Tovvnsend, Boston, aforesaid, improvements in hand pfgeintr machines. Lucieii E. HickH, Boston, assignor to himself and Hitam D. Hall, Biverly, improvement in pads fur hernial trusseij. Francis Walle, Bethlehem, Pa., machine for making paper bags. Abiaham Gesner, Williamshurgb, assignor to ''the North American Kerosene Gas Light Co.," im|irovement in burning fluid compounUs. Leander R. Sireeter, Lowell, assignor to him- self and Ira Leonard, of same place, improvement in amalgamating the precious m tals. James Albro, LlizHbethiown, N. J., for im- provement in registering blocks for printing oil cloths. Lucien A. Butts, Cuba, N. Y., for improvement in seed planters. Daniel Biocher and Geo. M. Blocher, Cumber- land, for improvement iu burning brick. Ernest Uahr, Rochester, Ind , for improved ship ventilator. Thomas Champion, Washington, for improve- ment in feeding water to steam boilers. P. J. Coogan, Charleston, for improved arrange- ment of drains for sewers. Chas. H. Dana, West-Lebanon, N. H., for im- provement in seed-planters. Lewis VV. Clover, Louisville, for improvement in washing machines. William H. Degge.=, Washington, improvement in the soak pits of brick machines. William H. Degges, Washington, for improve- ment in brick machines. Andrew Dietz and John G. Dunham, Earitan, N. J., for improvement in reaping and mowing machines. Tiiomas Estiack, of Philadelphia, for improved mode of securing washboards to walls. William Fisher, Philadelphia, for method of composing music. Franklin J. French, Whittingham, Vt., for im- provement in boot jacks. Luther Hill, Stonehara, Mass., for improved machine for skiving hoot and shoe counters. M. G. liubbard, New-Vork, for improvement in grain and grass harvester.^. Lansing E. Hopkins, Brooklyn, forimprovement in the process of manuf;icturiiig hats. William R. Jackson, Baltimore, for improve- ment in floating cabins fur steam and other ves- sels. Edwin A. Jeffrey, Corning, N. Y., for double- acting pump. Harrison Loring, Boston, for improvement in apparatus for bleaching rags. William S. Loughborough, Rochester, for im- provement in fastenings for carpets. Samuel J. M'Dougall, Brooklyn, for improve- ment in hydro-carbon vapor apparatus. Daniel Minthorn, New- York, for improved brace for supporting garments. Silvanus Perkins, Pittsburgh, improvement in wagon wheels. Andrew Rankin, Newark, for improvement in the manufacture of hats. Samuel J.H. Smith, Boston, improved portfolio. George S. G. Spence, Boston, improved furnace for warming builijings. Joseph D. Spilkr, Concord, bench rest. Harlon H. Thayer, Sandwich, improvement in machine for kneading clay. O. B. Tomlinson, Athens, Pa., for improvement in the manufacture of ornamental felt cloth. Henry Webster, Beetown, Wis., for improve- ment in steam-engine regulators. Hiram Wheeler, Boston, improvement in gas regulators, Wm. C. Whipple and Wm. C. Bowe, Westville, Ct. for improved inelodeon. Wm. Whiteside and John Shin, Philadelphia, for improvement in looms. George W. Zcigler, TUiin, Ohio, for improve- ment in boot coupling machines. Wm. Darker, Jr., of West Philadelphia, assign- or to J. B. Thompson, Philadelphia, for improve- ment in ring-spinning frames. Anthony PuUak, Philadelphia, improvement in wrouglit-iron beam and girders. f l)e |l0iii|l), tl)e foant, fliiHlje ^m\l Vol. VIII. AUGUST, 1855. No. 2. GREAT TELEGRAPH ENTERPRISE. The sciences are mutual commentators on each other. Every, new dis- covery, in any department, tends to elucidate or correct previously-existing theories in some collateral science. So it is in the practical application of science or mechanics. Every step gained throws increased light over the horizon. The knowledge of forces, projectiles, etc., affects and modifies the forms and methods of promoting locomotion of merchandise and of persons. Improvements in this leads the way to railroads. These opened new trades, and greatly increased the traffic in merchandise already established. The telegraph is invented, and instantaneous communication is opened from the extremes of a continent, dispensing with much of the older forms of correspondence. But this is not the final result. There is no such thing as j?«a^ result in scientific attainments, or in their practical applications. The next movement is, continents are united, and already there is electric communication between London and the Crimea. Even this is not enough. Now the great ocean must be crossed by these eloquent wires. Man not only says to the ocean, bear up for us our rich freights, and to the winds send them to distant countries, but it now says to the wind we need not your aid in this work There is a power at our command, wrapt up and asleep in a cask of fresh water, far more serviceable than your fickle breezes. And to- day he is ready to say, even to the wide and pathless ocean, you can form no barrier to our constant and instantaneous communication with the other side of the flood. We can hear what is hourly transpiriag in the old world, notwithstanding the thunder of your mighty roar. Yofl cannot drown the small voice of the telegraph. But we are running wil/1. We pass at once to the simple narrative of what is done, or is doing, in tie great enterprise. For a year past notices have occasionally appeared i/i the papers of a com- pany formed in this city to carry a telegraph across tbfe ocean. But the pro- ject seemed so wild and visionary that few believed' it would be seriously attempted. The design was vast and grand, no dou(»t, but it was impracti- cable. Many even doubted the existence of such a company. They thought it all a hoax, and others, when assured of the fact, siook their heads and ut- tered wise rema'ks on the transparent folly of sinj^ng money to the bottom of the ocean. It was literally throwing it into tlv sea. We are at length enabled to remove all mystery from the matter, ^id to state on the best au- thority what plans have been formed, and how U' they are advanced toward accomplishment. A little more than one year ?go a few individuals formed the daring project of carrying into execution this dream of science — this VOL. VIII. 5 CS GREAT TELEGRAPH ENTERPRISE, scheme wliicb sanguine spirits had hoped for, but few believed possible. Their first step was to obtain a charter from Newfoundland. For this pur- pose three of their number were dispatched to St. John's, where, after weeks of negotiation with the Government, they succeeded in obtaining from the Province an exclusive charter for fifty years to build a telegraph to or across the island or the waters adjacent thereto or any of its dependencies. As Lab- rador is one of these, this charter virtually gives them the whole range of the continent. Further to encourage the enterprise, the Government agreed to pay £5000 towards constructing a bridle-path across the islands, which was necessary for the use of the telegraph, and to guarantee the interest on £50,000 for twenty years, and also to give fifty square miles of land, to be selected anywhere on the island — all this on its completion to St. John's, to which were to be added fifty more square miles of land if it should be carried across the Atlantic. They obtained also from Prince Edward's Island an exclusive charter for fifty years. This Province gave 1000 acres of land. At the same time, to complete their right of way, they purchased a charter which had been previ- ously obtained in New-Brunswick, and have since obtained one from Can- ada, with full liberty to cross their territory at any point that should be neces- sary. They also made a valuable agreement with Prof. Morse for the use of his patents and all renewals. This gentleman, who is the highest authority on the subject in the world, was sanguine of the success of the enterprise, and soon became personally connected with it. The Company was formally or- ganized in May, 1854, by the choice of Peter Cooper, Marshall O. Ptoberts, Cyrus W. Field, and Chandler White, Esqrs., as Directors. Peter Cooper was chosen President ; Moses Taylor, Treasurer, and Professor Morse, Elec- trician. From these names it will be seen that the business is in the hands of men who, to say the least, are not generally regarded as visionary, but as those who look far ahead and are apt to carry through what they have once begun. The Company immediately commenced operations. They at once J)ur- chased the steamer Victoria, and sent her to Newfoundland with an engineer . and assistants. A road was to be cut across the whole extent of the island, four hundred miles, through a wilderness seldom trodden by man. In this work about six hundred men were employed the whole of the season. It now appeared thtt the Government of Newfoundland, while granting a char- ter most liberal anl honorable to themselves, had yet acted wisely for the in- terests of their owr Province. A new spring was given to industry, treas- ures were found wlich before were not known to exist. Last summer the Company employed three mineralogists to explore the country, who discov- ered two mines of ccal, one of copper, one of lead, and also quarries of slate and alabaster, and v«ry valuable traces of ship-timber. This will develop rapidly the trade of tie island, which before has been confined almost wholly to its fisheries. So far all went well, The work was begun and advancing successfully. Less than a hundred m'les of submarine cable were needed to stretch across to Cape Breton, and whn this was laid and the line completed to St. John's, there would be direct tepgraphic communication east from New- York about twelve hundred miles. Ibis certainly was a long stride toward Europe. But now came the great difficilty. They had reached the rocks of Newfound- land, but there before then was the mighty ocean, raging wildly around those cliffs, as untamed as vhen Columbus first crossed the sea. To advance into these deep waters was the next and the perilous step. Proposals had GREAT TELEGRAPH ENTERPRISE. 67 been received from a European company to unite with thera iu the enter- prise, and in January last one of the directors sailed for England to complete the negotiat'ons. In this he was entirely successful. In London he formed a contract with the Transatlantic T«legraph Company, composed of English and French cap- italists, whereby the latter engaged to construct and lay down, at their own expense and risk, a submarine cable extending from Ireland to St. John's, Newfoundland, and to have it completed on or before the 22d day of Janu- ary, 1858. The two companies, European and American, each will own the line which it constructs, but their contract obliges thera to operate in connec- tion with each other, to the exclusion of all other lines, for the period of fifty years, which is the limit of the American company's charter. At the same time, a favorable contract was made for the submarine cable to connect Newfoundland with Cape Breton. This will be seventy-four miles long, and is to be ready on the last day of this month, when it will be ship- ped direct to Newfoundland. . The steamer Victoria sailed a few days since for St. John's, with Mr. Ellis, the chief engineer, and his. assistants. The company confidentially expect to have telegraphic communication established between New- York and St. John's in the course of this summer. All the nec- essary harbor and wharf accommodations have been secured at that port for the steamers which are expected to call there on their trips between Ameri- ca and Europe. St. John's is about two days nearer to England than Hali- fax. We have therefore every reason to believe that in three months the old world and the new will be within a week's hail of each other — and that within three years the two hemispheres will be in instantaneous communication. We are aware that some will read this with a smile of incredulity. All the contracts in the world will not convince them that such a work will ever be achieved. Though the bond be sealed, signed, and delivered, yet neither Englishmen nor Americans can do what is beyond all humafi power. To these evil prophets we may add a word to show that the enterprise is not so impossible as they are wont to believe. The first thing to be noted is the bed of the ocean along the track of the proposed route. Says Lieut. Maury : "There is at the bottom of the sea between Cape Race in Newfoundland and Cape Clear in Ireland, a remarkable steppe, which is already known as the Telegraphic plateau. The great circle distance between these two shore lines is 1600 miles, and the sea along this route is probably nowhere more than 10,000 feet deep." That is not too deep to be reached by the cable sunk in the waters, and yet deep enough to be out of the way of anchors and ice- bergs. This seems like a special provision of nature to favor this great work. A chain of uplands lies under the sea as if on purpose to bear up the chain of intelligence across the deep. On that broad plateau is to be laid this mighty coil — this serpent winding around the earth, and pressing it together in its folds. The bottom of the sea is found to be cot sharp rock nor preci- pice, but soft, shelly sand, into which the telegraphic line may sink and be- come imbedded for ages. Next as to the material employed. To speak of a ioire would convey a false idea. For though there are several small copper wires, these are encased in gutta-percha, and around thera is wound a coil of heavy wire, forming alto- gether a huge iron cable, strong enough to hold fast any ship-of-war in the world. We have at our office specimens of that used under the British Chan- nel and under the Mediterranean, The cable purchased for the line from Cape Breton to Newfoundland weighs over five tons to the mile, and that '<■ cross the Atlantic will be much stronger. 68 MAGNIFICENT FAETMING. But the most triumphant proof that this thing is possible, is the fact that it has been done. A telegraph lias been in operation four years from England to France. Others stretch to Belgium and Holland. The last steamer brought news that a line of 500 miles has just been laid under the Black Sea, by which the Crimea is brought into hourly communicaLion with Lon- don. Another is now being laid irom France to the Island of Sardinia, and thence across to Algeria. The man who has acliieved the greatest of these triumphs is Mr. John W. Brett, of London. This gentleman is now interested in the Transatlantic Telegraph Company, and undertakes to belt the ocean. With a full knowledge of the immense labor and cost, and of all hazards, he still dares to promise to bind the Atlantic, as he has already bound the Med- iterranean. Nor is the difficulty greatly increased by the length of the line. Doubts have been expressed whether an electric current could be sent such a distance. It was said it would not go more than five or six hundred miles, and projects were devised for carrying a telegraph around by way of Greenland and Ice- land. But these doubts are now set at rest by recent experiments of Prof. Faraday. He declares the thing perfectly practicable. The only drawback to his happiness in the discovery was that it would occupy an appreciable time in the passage. He seemed in this a Utile disappointed. When asked " how long it would take to pass from London to New-York ?" he answered, '• possibly one second." This is not quite as quick as we expected, but on the whole we think that will do ! MAGNIFICENTFARMING. The following very interesting account of the large and excellent farm of .John Sigerson & Brother, near St. Louis, is copied from the Valley Farmer. There are much larger farms in the Union, but none, perhaps, where there is so profitable a combination of diversified crops — and the enterprise and energy of the Sigersons are worthy of imitation. The Sigerson farm is situated south of the River de Peres, in what is known as the Carondelet Common Fields, and consists of one thousand acres, all under fence and nearly all in cultivation. When the commencement was made there, about ten years ago, the whole tract was covered with a stout growth of black jack, hickory, hazel, etc. The Gravois runs through the entire tract, diagonally from south-east to north-west, affording abundance of water for stock. The ground is quite undulatitig, and on it are found numer- ous sink-holes through which the water drains off by subterranean passages in the limestone ledge which underlies the whole section into the Mississippi river. The soil is a rich, sandy loam, very deep, upon a clay sub-soil, and on being worked becomes very friable, and is easily pulverized. It is admirably adapted to the growth of fruit, and also, corn, wheat, potatoes — in fact every- thing cultivated in this region. They have now an apple and peach orchard in bearing, of over IGO acres, embracing some 40,000 trees ; they have 5,000 pear trees in bearing, besides nectarines, apricots, cherries, plums, quinces, etc., in great niunbers. They have 200 acres of meadow, GO acres of wheat, the finest we have seen this season ; GO acres of oats ; 100 acrts devoted to the nursery, in which they MAGNIFICENT FARMING. 69 have this year planted about &ve bushpls of apple seeds, and thirty bushels of peach stones ; they have in it 50,000 budded peach tree,*, which will be ready for sale this fall; a larger quantity of apples; 300,000 grape cuttings ; 30,000 evergreens, besides large quantities of quinces, pears, etc., as well as ornamental and shade trees, roses, dahlias, and every variety of hardy and exotic flower and shrub. They have twenty-five acres of strawberries, from ■which they have daily gathered from one to two hundred gallons of straw- beii'ies for two weeks past. Besides supplying a large amount of food for the St. Louis market, the Messrs. Sigerson are intending this year to send large quantities to Chicago, Milwaukie, Galena and other cities north of us. By our railroad fncilities this can now be accomplished so as to contribute vastly to the comfort of our northern neighbors, and be a source of profit to the enterprising men engaged in it. They expect to have from twenty to thirty thousand bushels of peaches to dispose of this season. The force employed to carry on this vast concern, varies, according to the season, from thirty to fifty men. They have residing on their place about eight men who have families, to whom they furnish a comfortable home, a garden plat, fire-wood, pasturage for a cow, and pay them twenty dollars per month, the men boarding themselves. Single men are boarded by the pro- prietors, and paid from twelve to fifteen dollars per month. We were much interested in the appearance of the giant growth of wheat, in the midst of large trees ; in the natural blue grass pasture ; the nine mile? v-^ of Osage Orange hedge, most of it a perfect barrier to all kinds of intruders ; the magnificent evergreen hedge ; the luxuriant clover, and above all, the neatness and order characterizing the whole concern, in which respec^ a vast improvement has been made since our previous visits. Nor ought we to omit to mention the valuable stock belonging to the farm. We particularly noticed four two year's old heifers brought from Kentucky — animals that cannot easily be beaten, also a pair of mares heavy with foal, which were really splendid animals. We hoticed many other fine animals, which we cannot particularize. The Sigersons are firm believers in the efficacy of deep ploughing and thor- ough cultivation, and act upon the principle that whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well*; accordingly they put the plough down to its beam, and frequently put in the spade so as to pulverize fully two feet deep. The weeds are also, we notice, kept in subjection. The success of this enterprise, so highly creditable to the proprietors, and of which our city and State have just cause to be pround, has demonstrated one thing from which the people of both the north and the south should receive instruction. It is often said by over-zealous persons at the north, who know but little about the actual condition of things in the Slave States, that white laborers cannot live in a slave community ; that the tendenc}' of the institu- tion of slavery is to drive away all inteUigent free laborers, etc., etc. ; yet here is, in a Slave State, the largest farm in the Union, and one which is making more money for its owners than any other, operated entirely by free labor, there never having been a slave employed on the place, and a better, more respectable and intelligent set of men cannot be found employed in any place in the Union. One thing more we would notice in concluding our remarks upon this establishment, and that is over the entrance gate to the place, is placed a sign to the effect that no business visitors are admitted on the Sabbath. The Scripture says, " They that honor me I will honor." 70 MAGNIFICENT FARMING. Mr. n. F. French gives the following account in the New-England Farmer of the Farm of Mr. Darius Claggett : Good husbandr}' and energetic farming are not limited to New-England men. I yesterday accepted an invitation from a leading merchant of this city, Mr. Darius Claggett, to visit his farm on the Rock vi lie plank-road, about five miles from Washington. His family reside on the firm in sum- mer, and Mr. Claggett himself comes to his city business every day except Sunday and Friday. I have rarely seen a place which gave so decided evidence of good taste and good judgment, and withal, of such preserving faith in our good moiher earth, as this. Six years ago Mr. Claggett purchased three hundred acres of land, mostly covered with a small growth of yellovp pine, entirely unimproved. In this short period of time he has cleared and put under the plough one hun- dred and fifty acres, a large part of which is covered with a choice variety of fruit trees of all descriptions that the climate will produce. His trees ap- pear to be judiciously selected, carefully pruned and protected, and making a growth far beyond what I have ever seen at the North. He has already 2500 apple trees, 450 pears, 1600 peaches, 150 apricots, and as many plums. The apple trees are set forty feet apart, and the land among them planted with wheat in drills, with bare strips of a ^aw feet in width along the rows. They are making generally a better growth than we get in New-Hampshire. I saw upon them marks of our old enem}^, the borer, and far worse marks of the seventeen-year-locusts of 1852. According to the theory, they will not be here again until 1869, by which time our friend will, it is hoped, have been 2)aid by the fruit of his trees for all his labors. He said that when the locusts had possession of his trees, he could scrape from the body of a newly- set apple tree a pint of the insects at opce ! His pear trees, however, far excel his apples. Indeed, I have never seen so large a number of pears to- gether that appeared so healthy, as w^e say at home, so thrifty as these. I saw no signs of the sap-blight or winter-killing, but the trees seemed full of life, and many of them were full of fruit already set. The peach orchard is already set for a large crop. In 1853, Mr. C. sent to the market 700 baskets of peaches, and his crop this year will probably far exceed that quantity. He has this year in grass, about 20 acres, in wheat about the same, in corn about 40 acres, and in potatoes about 12 acres, besides lai^e tracts of vegetables and small fruits, among the rest two acres of strawberries. He manures all his crojis with Peruvian guano, 300 pounds to the acre, ploughed in, and thinks this will insure him abundant crops. Mr. Claggett has been for thirty years in his counting-room, and never owned a farm before. Indeed he informed me that he never saw a plough run in his life until he saw his own, on this farm. His labor is performed by a foreman, a native of the district, and six laborers, mostly Irish, with two yoke of oxen and three horses, a force by the way, entirely insufiicient to perform such mighty works on New England soil. I did not see the ioreman, but cannot hrlp suspecting that he is a farmer of the right stam]^. I have good faith in the success of any intelligent man who will read and inquire, and spend his money freely that he may produce satisfactory results in agricul- ture. Still it is a business not learned in a day, and I have no reason to doubt the correctness of our friend's remark, that " Farmer Claggett owes merchant Claggett a good deal of money," Such men, however, are public benefactors. They inspire others with faith in labor, and faith in the heritage which a good God has given us, and if they expend money in the experiments, they derive from them the rational satisfaction that they leave the earth better than they found it. PLAlSr OF A FARM COTTAGE. 71 PLAN OF A FARM COTTAGE. The rooms in this plan for a small fcirm-house are of the most common description, to wit : a parlor, a living-room or kitchen, a pantry, and a bed- room, on the first floor ; and three bed-rooms, with closets, on the second. Althouofh uncommon in its form and arrano-ement, this cottage is thought to be more than ordinarily convenient, as well as unique in expression. In this design the parlor is 1 3^ feet square, inside measure ; the kitchen, 13 J by 16^; the bed-room, which has a small closet, 13|- by 9 ; the pantry, 6|- by 8^; the hall or entrance, 7^ square ; the passage, 2 feet 8 inches wide, and the stairs 2 feet 3 inches. The bed-rooms in the second story are of the same size as the three lower ooms, and directly over them. The space over the pantry af- fords room for two good-sized closets. The parlor chimney ascends only to the chamber floor, and a pipe runs from it across the passage to the main chimney. The rear gable is of GROUND PLAN. the Same height as the two H, hall or entrance ; P, parlor ; L, living-room or kitchen ; f„-,_i nnaa Knt- flm rnnf ia Iacc B, hed-room: P. pantry, with shelves;/ principal chimney; ^"^""^ <^V^^' DUt lue lOOl lo iess A, parlor chimney. Steep, inasmuch as the back part is wider than the front parts. The wood-house should stand 20 feet in the rear of the building. The cost of materials and labor vary so much in different locations that it 72 ENTOMOLOGY, seem^ needless to attempt giving an estimate of the expense. It will vary, however, from $500 to $800, depending upon style of finish, cost of mate- rial, etc., and is therefore within the means of all. — Gen. Farmer. ENTOMOLOGY. The number of insects, worms, etc., which are either annoying to the per- son, or injurious to our crops, is very large. The former are the less important, a little skill only being necessary to protect us in a great measure from such annoyance ; or if wounded, appliances are at hand to diminish or eradicate the disease they may produce. But with our fruits and vegetable crops of many kinds, the proper treatment in the way of prevention is abso- lutely essential. Yet this is a branch of science about which our farmers and mechanics and professional men alike are eminently ignorant. Many are acquainted with flowers, both wild and exotic, and cultivate fruits extensively, who know nothing of the animals or insects that infest and destroy them. Cut-worms, wire-worms, etc., eat off the young corn, or devour its tender leaf; the borer pierces your apple or peach-tree, or plum-tree ;' while the caterpillar comes in throngs and devours all before it. The curculio destroys the young frijit; green lice, or aphides, cover the tender branches of choice roses, gera- niums, and other flowers, so that they wither and die. Nor will they suffer jour shrub-;, nor the leaves of-your trees to grow and flourish, if they obtain an undisturbed possession. , We purpose, in this and other essays, to throw a little light upon this sub- ject, and hope to give such illustrations of the more destructive species, and shall lead the laborer or amateur agriculturist to detect and know them, and apply such means for their destruction as are at hand. First, let us describe the general classes in which these animals are arranged. I. Coleoptera; or Beetles. These are insects with jaws, and two thick wing-covers meeting in a straight line on the top of the back, and two filmy wings, which are folded transversely. Their tran formation is complete. Their larva?,* called grubs, are generally provided with six true legs, and. sometimes with a terminal prop Jeg. More rarely they are without leg! The pupre have wings and legs distinct and unconfined. Of this order many species are useful, as they live upon caterpillars, jilant- * Larva; (singular larva) are insects in their first stage or infancy, formed directly from the e^jg. The word signifies a mask. It is applied to all insects that undergo a complete transformation, to all joung and-wiugless grasshoppers, and to all young insects before the wings begin to appear. A pupa is the second stage of in.-ect life. Those that undergo a partial transforma- tion retam their activity and ibeir appetite for food, and grow and acquire the rudiments of wings. Others, at this age, entirely lose their larva form, and take no food, but remain at rest, in a deathlike torpor. This is the pupa state. The pupa? from caterpillars are generally called chrysales or chrysalids, on account of their having shining spots upon them. Grubs, after their first transformation, are some- times called nymphs. In most young insects, or larv£e, the body consists of a head and a series of twelve rings or segments, the thorax not being distinctly separated from the binder parts of the body or abdomen, as in the adult form. ENTOMOLOGY. 78 lice, or other noxious insects. Such are the Water Lovers, Rove-beetles, Car- rion-beetles, Skin-beetles, Bone-beetles, various kinds of Dung-beetles, etc., which act as scavengers. Stag-beetles, Many Bark-beetles, and Spring-bee- tles live under the bark or in the interior of decayed trees, and are therefore harmless, if not positively useful in hastening a process which is inevitable, and the better, of course, tlie more rapid. II. Orthoptera. Thisi order includes Crickets, Cockroaches, Grasshoppers, etc. They have jaws, two thick opaque upper wings, overlapping a little on the back, and two larger thin wings which are folded in plaits like a fan. Their transformation is partial. The larvaj and pupa3 are active, but without wings. All of this order, except camel crickets, which prey on other insects, are injurious to our household goods or .to vegetation. III. Hemoptera. In this order are included Bags, Locusts, Plant-lice, etc. Tliese insects are provided with a horny beak for sucuon, four wings, tlie uppermost generally thick at the base, with thinner extremities, which lie flat and cross each other on the top of the back, or are of uniform thickness throughout, and slope at the sides like a roof. Their transformation is par- tial. The larvae and pupae are nearly like the adult insect, but without wings. IV. Neuroptera ; Dragon files, Lace Winged files, Ant-lions, Day-fiies, May-files, White Ants, etc. These are insects with jaws, four netted wings, of which the hinder are the largest, without stings or piercers. Their trans- formation is complete or partial. Larvaj and pupae are various. Of this order. Dragon flies (Libelluladse) prey upon gnats and mosquitoes; others devour aquatic insects. V. Lepidoptera ; Bufterfiles and Moths. These have a mouth with a spiral sucking tube, wings four-covered with branny scales. Transformation complete. The larvae are caterpillars, and have six free legs, and frum four to ten fleshy prop legs. Pupae, with the cases of the wings and of the legs indistinct and soldered to the breast] Some kinds of caterpillars are very troublesome in our houses, destroying woollens, furs, feathers, wax, etc., etc. ; but most of them live on vegetable food, and are destructive to buds, flowers, leaves, stems, fruit, seeds, pith, and roots of plants. VT. Hymenoptera ; Ants, Bees, Saw-files, Wasjjs, etc. This order con- sists of insects with jaws, wings 4-veined in most species, the hinder pair being shorter than the others, having a sting or piercer at the extremity of -the abdomen. Their transformation is complete.' The larv^ are mostly maggot-like or slug-like, but some are caterpillar-like. Their pupie have legs and wings uncon fined. VIl. Diptera ; Mosquitoes, Gnats, Files, etc. These insects have a horny or fleshy proboscis, two wings only, and two knobbed threads called balan- cers or poisers behind the wings. Their transformation is complete. The larvae are maggots without feet, and with breathing-holes generally in the hinder extremity of the body. Pupae mostly encased in the dried skin of the larva}, pometimes, however, naked, ia which case the wings and legs are visi- ble, and are more or less unconfined. Besides these seven orders, which are generally adopted by naturalists, are several smaller groups, not arranged in any order. There is not entire uni- formity, however, among learned writers on this subject. The flea tribe was placed among the bugs by Fabricius, and forms the order Aptera of Leach, Siphonaptera of Latreille, and Aphaniptera of Kirby. They are destitute of wings, and have four little scales pressing close against the body. Their 74 ENTOMOLOGY. mouth is fitted for suction, and with lancet-hke piercers for making punctures. They undergo a complete transformation. Their larvae are worm-like and without feet. Their pupc-e have their legs free. Besides these are many others, not generally classified in orders, of some of which we shall treat here- after. The number of species of insects is very large. Four thousand species of w'eevil have been scientifically described and named, but they are all arranged in 350 genera. Some have judged that there are six insects to every plant. Harris says that four to one is within bounds. The following extract from the recent work of Dr. Emmons illustrates the great importance of a general knowledge of this subject : "A thick foliage of a fine avenue of poplar was all at once attacked by an immense quantity of caterpillars of Borabax dispar. I thought of giving them the calosoma sxjcoiohanta for company ; as, like them, it passes its life upon the trees, feeding upon the caterpillars which it meets, and even de- posits its eggs in their nests, that its voracious progeny may procure nour- ishment more easily and in greater abundance. Well ! this insect multiplied itself with a rapidity truly astonishing; and the caterpillars disappeared, without those who were witnesses to the destruction having the least idea of .the causes which produced it. M. Boisgiraud then gives it as his opinion, that the neighborhood of the city of Toulouse is so little ravaged by the Mefolontha vulgaris which is so destructive in other parts of France, because the Caruhus aiiratus seizes and devours the Melolontha previous to the de- position of its eggs ; and that it is more fond of these than of any part of the insect. You see, then, that it is indispensable to study the manners and habits of destructive insects, that their instinct and address may be success- fully employed for the destruction of the species able to do us injury. Then in place of barbarously crushing the useful species which have the misfortune to be not always ornamented with the rich colors of the butterfly or the Biiprestis^ we will endeavor to protect them and propagate their race. We will find auxiliaries in them the more valuable, as they increase with our adversaries, and as they alone are able to rival the cunning of these ingenious enemies." The Melolontha here spoken of is a destructive family, called Melolonnadce or Melolonthians. Its popular name is the common Oock-choffer of Europe. The female lays its eggs, a hundred or more in number, in the earth, at a depth of five inches or more, and then ascends, and, like most in.^ects, soon perishes. The little white grubs hatch in fourteen days. They have six legs near the head, and a mouth provided with strong jaws. When at rest, they curl themselves in the form of a crescent. Tbey subsist on tender roots of various plants, and often commit the most deplorable ravages. During the summer they live near the surface ; but as winter approaches, they descend below the reach of frost, and remain torpid till spring. They then change their coats, and ascend to the suiface for food. After three or four summers, they cease eating, penetrate about two feet into the earth, and by peculiar motions they form an oval cavity, line it with a glutinous substance, and, throwing oflF their skin, become pupa3. In this state the legs, wing-cases, and antennse of the future beetle are visible through the transparent skin. In February this skin is rent, and in May the ))erfect beetle digs its way to the surface. These grubs are very destructive. They sometimes devour the roots of whole acres of grass, or of wheat or other grams. The May bugs, as they are called, pass the day among the trees, and at night fly about and, attracted by lights, enter houses, moving very irregularly, and hitting against objects entox:ology/ 75 that are in their way, and often fall to the ground. Hence the phrase, "as blind as a beetle." Amona the many species of the 6rst order, (Coleoptera.) The Scarabeeidae are distinguished by short moveable horns or antennas, ending with a knob, the projecting ridge of the forehead extending more or less over the face like the visor of a cap, beneath which the antennae are planted. Areoda Lanigera^ or woolly areoda, or Goldsmith Beetle. This is nine- tenths of an inch long, lemon-yellow above, glitters like burnished gold on the top of the head and thorax, under side of body copper colored and thickly covered with whitish wool. Legs brownish yellow, or brassy, shaded with green. Morning and evening after the middle of May, till the 20th of June, they "fly about, with a humming rustling noise, among the trees, the young leaves of which they devour. Pear trees are specially subject to their attacks, though they do not spare the elm, poplar, oak, hickory, and other trees. They remain, at rest during the day, secreted often between two or three leaves, which they draw together and confine by their claws. They cleave to the under side of the leaf. When the tree is shaken they fall to the ground, without attempting to fly. Our May beetle is of another species from the European. It is the Phyllophaga quercina of Knoch. It is a chestnut-brown, smooth, with fine punctures or dots. Each wing-case has two or three slightly elevated long itudinnl lines. The breast is covered with a yellowish .down. The knob of its antenna? contains only three leaf-like joints. Its average length is nine tenths of an inch. The grub is a white worm, with a brownish head, and, when fully grown, is nearly as thick as the little finger. A grub is frequently found under old dung-heaps, commonly called the muck-worm. This is the dung-beetle, and is called by Mr. Say, Scarabceus relictus. The Phyllophaga fraterna, or leaf-eater, is smaller and more slender. The punctures are less distinct, and the three elevated lines are scarcely visible. Its length is thirteen twentieths of an inch. Its habits, like those of the pre- ceding. It is seen in June and July. . The Phyllophaga hirticula is of a brown color, its punctures larger than in the preceding, and on each wing-cover are three longitudinal rows of short, yellowish hairs. Length, seven tenths of an inch. Seen in June and July. Phyllophaga Georgicana, or Georgian Leaf-eater. This species is bay-brown, entirely covered on the upper side with very short yellowish grey hairs, its length seven-tenths of an inch. Phyllophaga PilosicoUis (of Knoch) is a smaller chafer, ochre-yellow, with a very hairy thorax. It is often thrown out of the ground in early spring by the spade, but does not ascend voluntarily till the middle of May ; length half an inch. All these are found in nurseries, orchards, and gardens, and are injurious. Ojnalojjlia Vespertina (of Gyllenhal, and Sericea of Illiger,) attacks the leaves of the sweet-briar, on which they may be found in the evening, about the last of June, in greater numbers. They '• AVe would choose a very dry soil, somewhat elevated, facing the north, and complete- ly shaded from the sun by high ])larjtations of evergreen trj|^s. The dimensions are to be deter- mined by the quantity of fruit to be preserved. That of which we give the plan (6g. 2) is 15 feet long in the irisitle, 12 feet wide, and 9 feet high. This will give place to 8,000 fruits, allowing each one to occupy 4 inches square. It is sunk 2|- feet in the ground ; and if the ^ ''^- '■• . soil is very dry, it may be 3 feet. This enables us the more easily to guard the atmosphere against the external temperature. To prevent surface water from accumulating in the surrounding sjil and filtering into the fruit-room, the surface of the ground should descend from the walls, and these should be constructed of cement a foot above the soiL "This fruit- room is enclosed by two walls, (A and B,) leaving between them an open space (G) about 10 inches wide. This stratum of air inter- posed between the two walls is the surest means of protecting the interior from the exterior temperature. The two walls are each 12 inches thick, con- structed with a sort of mortar, or mud, made of clay and straw. This ma- terial is cheap, and on the whole a bad conductor of heat, and on this ac- count preferable to common masonary. The walls are pierced with six open- ings— three in the inside and three on the outside walls — the first similar and exactly opposite to the last. The openings for the outside wall are — " 1. The double door (D) ; the outside door opens out ; that of the inte- rior inward, and it opens in two parts, like a shutter. When the frosts are severe, the space between the two doors should be filled with straw. " 2. Two windows, (E,) about 20 inches square, placed on each side, and opening at 18 inches from the soil, and closed by a double sash, of which the one closes out and the other in. The space between the two sashes should also be carefully filled with straw at the commencement of winter. "The inside wall has a door (F) and two windows (C) ; but here the door is simple ; the windows are also closed with two sashes, the out&ide one sliding in a groove, and the other opening out. "As soon as the fruits are collected in the fruit-room, the joints and open- ings around the windows should be filled with paper, to prevent the air from the space between the walls entering the fruit-room. The four windows are only intended to admit air and light necessary to dry and ventilate the fruit- room before gathering in the fruit. We shall presently see that it is easy to get rid of the interior humidity produced by the presence of frtiits, without em ploying currents of air. " The ceiling, sustained by beams, is composed of a layer of moss, sustained by laths, and covered above and below with a layer of plaster; the whole GATHERING AND PRESERVATION OF FRUITS. 81 FIG. 3. being one foot thick. This mode of construction is necessary to exclude the influence of the exterior temperature. " The roof is thatched a foot thick with straw, and the dormer may be used for storing fodder in ; but the points of union between the dormer and the outer wall must be perfectly close. " The floor is of oak. Tbe walls, and even the ceiling, should have a cov- ering of boards. These precautions serve to maintain an equal temperature, to exclude exterior moisture, and to completely separate the atmosphere of the fruit-room from that without. "All the interior walls, from 18 inches of the floor to the ceiling, are fur- nished with board shelves, 2 feet wide, placed 10 inches apart. To facilitate the arrangement of the fruit, the upper shelves (A, fig. 3) are made to slope down- ward in front, at an angle of 45 degrees; [l^ and this decreases as they come down, un- til the lower ones within four or five feet of of the floor are horizontal. , " The tables or shelves are all made of B narrow strips about 4 inches wide; and to facilitate the circulation of air, about an inch of space is left between each strip. The shelves are fixed to the wall by brack- ets, sustained in front by upright posts (D) placed 4|- feet form each other. The cross- pieces (E) attached to the uprights, support horizontal laths (F), or oblique ones (G.) "In the center of the fruit-room we reserve a table (I, fig. 2,) 5 feet long and 2t]- feet wide, separated from the shelves by a space of 3 feet. This table serves to receive the fruit temporarily, and has a narrow molding round the edge to keep it from falling oflf. All the shelves have similar borders. " Such is the mode of construction we propose for a fruit-room, by the aid of which we can easily obtain many of the results which we have indicated as necessary — that is to say, it will enable us to maintain an equal tempera- ture of 45 to 50 deg. Fahrenheit above zero, and that the action of the light is prevented. As for the other necessary conditions, we shall presently point out the means to secure them. In certain circumstances, much of the ex- pense of a construction like the above might be avoided. If, for example, there was a subterranean cave or a grotto in a rock, a fruit-room might be established in either place, provided they be very dry. The interior fitting up would be the same. " As the fruits are brought into the fruit-room, they are deposited on the table, which is covered with a thin layer of dry moss. There they are as- sorted ; each variety is placed separate, and all unsound or bruised specimens are taken out. The sound fruits are left on the table two or three days, in order that they may part with some of their moisture. The shelves are then covered with a thin layer of dry moss or cotton, to prevent the fruits from being bruised by their own weight. We then proceed to wipe the fruits slightly with a piece of soft flannel, and arrange them in rows on the shelves leaving a space of a fourth of an inch between each, and keeping each var- iety separate, and placing similar varieties next each other. " The fruit-room may not only serve for the preservation of kernal fruits, 6 GATHERING AND PRESERVATION OP FRUITS. but for grapes. The Cha«selas varieties in particular keep well in this way. We proceed wiih them as follows ; Each bunch is ' cleared of all decaying or unsound berries, and fixed by ihe point ou a small wire hook formed like an § (fig. 4). Thus attached it is less liable to decay, as the berries have a tendency to separate from each other. The bunches are then hung by the other end of the S hook around one or two hoops (fig. 5) placed one above the other, and suspended from the ceiling of the room, and rendered moveable by two small puliies. " If it be desired to keep in this way a large quan- tity of grapes, space may be economized by substitut- ing for the hoops wooden frames (fig. 6), about 4 feet riG. 4. square. These frames are furnished with sirips of rods, separated from each other by a space of 3 or 4 inches, and having on one side small pins to suspend the crotchets of grapes on. These frames are also fixed 10 the ceiling so as to occupy all the surface, and, like the hoops, to move up and down as may be necessary. " The grape-growers of Thomery, who pre- serve a large quantity of grapes, content them- selves with placing bundles on wire frames, on which they probably spread a thin layer of very dry fern. " When all the fruits are thus arranged in the fruit-room, the doors and windows are left open during the day, unless in wet weather. FIG, 6. FIG. 6, Eight days' exposure to the air in this way will be necessary to deprive the fruits of their surplus moisture. After that, a dry and cold time is chosen to close hermetically all the openings. The doors must be opened no more, except when necessary to enter. "Until the present time we have employed no other means to remove moisture from the fruit-room but by creating currents of air more or less in- tense. This mode is attended with serious inconveniences for the preserva- tion of fruit. In the first place, it produces an equilibrium of temperature between the atmosphere of the fruit-room and the exterior, and this change is very injurious to the fruits. In the second place, a glare of light is instantly admitted to the fruits, and this is no less injurious than the change of tem- perature. In fine, this vicious method should not be practiced unless the exterior temperature is not below the freezing point, and the weather is dry. In the winter, however, the weather is generally the reverse of this, and the fruits have to be abandoned to a destructive moisture. FOREST TREES. 83 " To escape this difficulty, we advise the u^e of chloride of calcium. This has the property of absorbing so great a quantity of niuisture (about double its own weiyht) that it becomes liquified after being exposed for a certain time to a moist atmosphere. Fresh lime has the same property of absorbino- moisture ; but at the same time it absorbs the carbonic acid set free by the fruits, and it is important to save this gas, as it aids materially in jjreserving them. "To employ chloride of calcium, a sort of wooden box should be con- structed (A, fig. 7), lined with lead (F), about 18 inches wide and 4 inches r deep. It is raised about 18 inches from the floor, on a small table (B) havino- one of its sides (C) about li inches lower than the other. At the middle of the lowest side of the box a small mouth is fixed for the liquified chloride to run over into a stone jar (E) placed below it. The chloride is spread in the box in small porous particles, very dry, and about 3 inches thick ; and if the quantity employed be entirely liquided before the fruit is consumed, a fresh ^i(^- ^- supply may be added. About fifty pounds applied at three times is sufficient for a fruit-room such as is described above. The liquid which results from this operations should be cnrefully saved in the jar, and be kept covered until the following season. When the fruit-room is filled anew, the liquid may be put in a brass kettle and placed over the fire, where it will soon evaporate to perfect dryness, and may be em- ployed again in the same manner as before. " Such are the cases necessary to fill the conditions we have indicated for the preservation of fruits. The fruit-room should be visited at least once in eight days, to remove the fruits which begin to decay, set apart those which are ripe, remove the decaying berries from the grapes, and renew the chloride of calcium." FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANTIL. FOREST TREES OF NICHOLS, TIOGA CO., N. Y., AND THEIR USE. No. 1. Ulmus Americana — American Elm, White Elm. A large tree grow- ing only in the vicinity of streams, and seldom found on hills, and from 60 to 90 feet in height, and 2 to over 3 feet in diameter, whea old. The body uneven, frequently flat on two sides, while others are found with ridges pro- jecting out on one side and a groove on the other ; and frequently three or four such grooves and ridges. Bark on large trees deeply grooved and rough, of light gray color. Full of branches, that are often from 40 to 50 feet in length, with a regular taper from end to end. One tree near by me, with branches extending 35 or 40 feet in every direction, being the widest spread- ing tree that I have ever seen, with limbs bending over in a graceful manner on all sides. Frequently the body is covered with short, slim branches from 84 BLACK KNOTS IN PLUM TREES. the ground to the maia branches, giving the tree at a distance an appear- ance of being covered with a green running vine ; young sprouts frequently covered with pubescent leaves, smooth above, pubescent on the end or side, from 2 to 5 inches in length, and 2^ in breadth, with short stems, and from fifteen to 19 ribs on a side and doubly serrated, a notch being at every rib with a small one upon the large, frequently one side of the leaves longer than the other. Flowers appear before the leaves, and this year on the 24th of April, in great numbers, giving the tree a beautiful yellowish-grefu color in perfect clusters. Fruit, or seeds, about § of an inch in length an d;^ breadth, tuat is, the husk that contains the seed ; edges of the husk covered on all sides with a fringe about one-sixteenth of an inch in length, and being of an oval shape, when ripe they are carried away by the wind. The seeds are about the length of a flax-seed and a third wider ; seeds about all ripe, and are dropped by tije first of June. I have two large spreading elms near the edge of my corn-field that have produced thousands of seeds, that have veg- etated over a large part of the field. The first time hoeing the corn did not destroy them all, and on the 30th day of June they were two inches in length, and the largest had four leaves. This elm is useful in preserving the banks of streams ; the larger roots are frequently 70 or 80 feet in length. It makes good firewood, being as goodas hickoiy. It is more full of alkali than almost any other wood, as the soap-makers can well testify. No. 2. Ulmus Fulva — Slippery Elm, Red Elm. The Slippery Elm isget- ting quite scarce in this vicinity, and is found only on the lowest land. This tree here is found from forty to fifty feet in height, and from 12 to 15 inches in diameter ; the com.mon observer would not distinguish it from the other species of elm. Perhaps the leaves are a trifle larger, and the young sprouts more pubescent. The inside bark contains valuable inedical qualities, being mild mucilage, which is used for dysentery, coughs, colds, and externally as a poultice. Flowers in April. Fruit in May. 3. Ubnus Racemosa. — White Elm. With this elm I am not much acquaint- ed, but like the other species, it grows on low land near streams, and often attains a large size. One tree in this vicinity I should judge to be 100 feet in height and two feet in diameter, and VO feet without a branch. I think this species does not branch as much as the two preceding, or so low down. I have noticed a number near Rosebank, Canada West, that were over 100 feet high and 3 feet in diameter, and between 70 and 80 feet without a branch. The bark of this species is more deeply furrowed than the preceding. Flow- ers in April, and fruit in June. The wood is very tough, and is used here for making axe-handles and whip-stocks. R. Howell. Nichols, July 3, 1855. Black Knots in Plum Trees. — The following process has proved a cure for this troublesome disease in several experiments, and we commend it to our readers for a careful trial : v " Out out the diseased wood as thoroughly as possible, and then apply spir- its of turpentine. Oover the wound immediately after the application of the turpentine with grafting-wax." THE GRITTINESS OF PEARS. 85 THE GEITTINESS OF PEARS. Some of the very finest of our fruits are occasionally injured very materi- ally by a hard gritty texture, either extending entirely or partially through its substance. We have known for some years that this could be to some extent controlled by a judicious process of ripening. A friend of ours at the Horticultural Rooms in Boston, of whose method of preserving fruits we have before alluded, is also successfulin the prevention of the evil here described. But his efforts are directed ^to the specimens after they are plucked from the tree. In the last number of the Florist we find a process described which is well worthy of consideration. If it is as successful as is claimed for it, it will well pay the labor it requires. The article referred to is as follows : The grittiness of pears is the chief circumstance which diminishes their value at the dessert. Some are more subject to the affection than others; but all are occasionally deteriorated by it. The proximate cause is known to con- sist in the deposit of hard matter in certain cells of the flesh, analogous in all respects to that which gives its bony texture to the stone of plums, cherries, etc. In all these cases, the tissue is originally soft and pulpy, and if it were to remain so, the whole of a plum would be as perfectly eatable a s aberry of the grape. But in stone fruits gritty matter is gradually deposited within the pulpy cells of the lining of the flesh, as constantly and naturally, as phos- phate of lime in the gelatinous tissue of the bones of animals. In the pear, on the contrary, there is no special part set aside for the reception of the grit, which manifests itself accidentally here and there among the soft flesh, some- times in large and sometimes in small quantities. In fact, in the pear, the grittiness may be regarded as an unnatural secretion, induced by unknown causes, while in stone fruits it is part and parcel of their nature. We say induced by unknown causes, for we are not aware that any at- tempt has been made to show out of what circumstances the grittiness arises, or by what it is diminished or prevented. We are now, however, assured that it is entirely owing to the exposure of the pear fruit to too much cold. It appears that o~n the 16th of last November, Mr. A. Delaville, gardener at the Chateau de Fitz James, near Clermont, (Oise,) exhibited before the Im- perial Horticultural Society of Paris, some St. Germain pears, a part of which were covered with spots and full of grittiness, while the others were remark- able for their beauty, and wholly exempt from grittiness. We are assured that both samples came from the same tree, and that the only difference con- sisted in the fine ones having been protected, while the others had been ex- posed to the weather without any shelter. In fact, M. Delaville is of opinion that the external spots and the internal grittiness were wholly caused by the cold rain which had fallen on the fruit during its growth, and had arrested the free circulation of sap. With reference to this hypothesis, he remarks that the sorts which are most subject to spotting {tavelage) and grittiness, are those which have the finest skin, such as the St. Germain, Crasanne, Brown Beurre, and Winter Bonchretien. The eflfect of aspect also supports this view, it being notorious that the affections in question are most common with pears on open standards, or exposed to the east and south, the quarters whence (at Clermont) the cold- est rains always come. The manner in which M. Delaville protects his pears is thus described : — 86 POOR FARMING EXPENSIVE. As soon as the fruit is completely set, he encloses every cluster in a cornet of paper, fixed to the top of the stock by a piece of rush (bast.) This cornet must be large enough to cover all the upper part, so as to guard the fruit perfectly from the direct action of exterior agencies. If a tree is trained to a wall the same degree of protection is not necessary, because the wall affords a natural shelter on one side, but where pyramid or other openly-trained* trees have to be dealt with, the cornet must be very wide, and tbe small end placed upwards, so as to leave nothing uncovered except the bottom of the fruit stalk. These cornets remain in their places during the whole season, and are not disturbed till about a fortnight before gathering, at which time they are re- moved, in order to give the fruit color and to complete the ripening, "just as peaches and grapes are unleafed a short time before gathering them." M. Delaville concludes by assuring the public that by this sim|)le method his whole crop of pears is very fine, instead of a third or more being unmarketa- ble as is often the case. The eflFect of these precautions should certainly be tried here, now that pears are getting into the condition when paj^er cornets are first applied. — Gard. Ghron. POOR FARMING- EXPENSIVE. The truth is, poor farming is an expensive business. The cost exceeds the income. If from a very low grade of farming, which must of course be un- profitable, we ascend to a better condition of the art, we shall come to a point where there is neither loss nor gain ; the income equals the outgoes ; the ends meet, as they say. And this, if we understand these matters, is the • very condition in which nine-tenths of our farming now is. The farmer of a hundred acres puts on his farm in his own labor, in the labor of his wife and his children, in taxes, insurance, etc., $500. And he takes off in some marketable produce or for home consumption, ^500. " The ends meet;" and if there were no better way he need not complain ; for he is working his way through the world as quietly and as easily as most men ; for the development of high moral qualities he has the advantage of most others ; and what is more, he has the best possible means of training his children to those habits of industry and frugality which more than conspire to make them good men and women and worthy citizens. Let him not, therefore, complain. But if there is a better way, let him fall into it. We do not believe that farming is necessarily limited to the operation of putting on $500 and taking off 8500, and living by the operation, only because what is put on is mostly in the form of labor done by the family. If a farm will give $500, with the labor of one man, it will give a great deal more with the labor of two men ; and the excess will more than balance the wages and board of the second. Instead of putting on |500 and taking off $500, the better way is to put on $700 and take ofi" $900 ; and then to put on $900 and take off $1200. There is doubtless a limit beyond which the income could not be made to increase above the expenditures ; but very few of us are in danger of going beyond the limit. There is much more danger of falling short of it. Our standard is too low. Men are afraid to trust their land, lest it should not pay them. It is the best paymaster in the world. — The Farmer, hy J. A. Nash. THE PROFIT OF FATTENING SWINE. 87 THE PROFIT OF FATTENING SWINE. In the Monthly Farmer for April, 1854, there are statements over my sig- nature relative to the profit of fattening swine in New-England, together with hints as to the proper mode of conducting the business ; and in the following number for May, there is a shorter article, confirming the statements previ- ously made. Since writingthose articles, I have further investigated the sub- ject, in order to prove the soundness or otherwise of the views then presented. On the 2 1st of December, 1854, I bought four very leanshoats, weighing respectively, 63, 01, 60 and 58 lbs., or in all, 242 lbs., gross live weight. They were placed in warm apartments, consisting of a pen for making com- post, and an eating-room. The litter made by two horses was daily thrown into the compo^^t pen ; also, about every third week, a cord, or two loads of either muck or forest-mould was put into the pen ; and clean straw was add- ed, at suitable times, for bedding. The pigs were fed on meal made by grinding ears of corn, or on what is called corn and cob meal, and they were supplied with all the meal they would eat with a good appetite. Immedi- ately after feeding them at a given time, the meal for the next feeding was placed in the bucket, and boiling water was added, and also after awhile the wash of the kitchen, the whole standing in a warm place till the time for feeding, and the meal becoming thoroughly soaked and very much swollen. Whenever a grist of ears of com was to be carried to mill to be ground for the pigs, the same was accurately measured up in a basket, well known to hold the right quantity of ears, when even full, to make a bushel of shelled corn ; and the pigs were charged with each grist at the time it was measured. Entire accuracy was aimed at in keeping the account with the pigs, and I know of no chance for a slip in the accounting. The business was thus conducted till the 14th of the present month, when the pigs were sold to the butcher for eight cents per pound, dressed — he charging three dollars for slaughtering the four. Between the dates above named, the pigs consumed seventy-six bushels of corn on the ear, equal to thirty-eight bushels of shelled corn. During this time they manufactured eight cords, or sixteen loads of muck and mould into the first quality of com- post, mingling the raw materials well with the horse manure and straw for bedding. They may be accounte PANORAMIC VIEWS AND PAINTINGS. 105 is filled, and the iron, tlius confined in juxtaposition with the melted edge of the unmelted iron, gradually cools and becomes sohd. When the sand is removed, the new part is found to be one with the old, the welding and sup- plied part being perfect. The welding has been most frequently performed upon locomotive cylinders, one part of which has been broken off. It will readily be seen that one great difficulty to be overcome is the difference in the contraction of the new and old parts while they are cooling. This diffi- culty is greatly diminished, if not satisfactorily overcome, by heating the cold iron as much as may be done before the new metal is poured into the mould. By this means the shrinkage of the old and the added parts become equalized. Many damaged cylinders have been mended in this manner by Mr. F., and consequently much expense has been saved to the road. We are assured by Mr. Gregg, the able master-mechanic of the shop, under whose supervision some one hundred locomotives come, that the welding is perfect and hence satisfactory, though some cylinders have been damaged by having pieces broken out through the whole length, and some also having flanges broken off. Mr. F. has procured no patent right for the sole use of his discovery, yet this acknowledgment is his due — he being the discoverer of the mode of welding cast-iron. This discovery is abundantly sufficient to entitle him to be honored as the benefactor of mankind. The process by which it 'was reached partakes about as much of invention as of discovery. PANORAMIC VIEWS AND PAINTINGS. J. R smith's tour of EUROPE, " Who does not believe his own eyes ?" " What I see I know ;" and other expressions of like import, are heard almost every day. But such phrases do not embody the whole truth. What a man sees is fixed in his mind in definite foim. It is bounded by mathematical lines, and by well-defined surfaces. Half the people in the world do not know what they think they do. Ask for a definition of hundreds of words, without entering upon difii- cult abstractions, like virtue, kindness, etc., and though they are used perhaps every day in common conversation, you will fail to get correct answers. The definitions may be only imperfect and partial, or even positively in- correct. We have a system in our own mind in regard to visible illustrations. We would employ them in almost every branch of education for the young and for the old. Who would teach geometry without diagrams ? AVho would instruct in architecture without drawings and models, and even actual structures ? In our view such aids are almost equally essential in geography, history, etc. In botany it is absolutely impossible to teach or to learn merely by definition and explanation. Such studies alone are not worth a mill. The missionary enterprise, in our view, would be wonderfully benefited could the scenes witnessed by our missionaries be presented before the vision of the people who are called upon to sustain them. Give us such facilities for reaching the hearts of the people, through their eyes, and we need not fear to insure an increase in missionary contributions of one hundred per cent. We have made such statements often in private circles, and some- 106 PANORAMIC VIEWS AND PAINTINGS. times in public assemblies. We must have personal knowledge of the recipient of our charities ere our last coin is drawn from our pockets, and any arrangement which approximates towards this adds to the weight of the motive which operates upon us. In geography we have tested' the powers of the magic-lantern in giving interest to a branch of study in itself as an abstraction as dry as any art of the chemist could make it. So, too, in astronomy. And what would one know of chemistry without seeing experiments ? What is " a knowledge of geography ?" A readiness in giving latitudes and longitudes, with certain names of very uncertain forms of mountains, etc. ? Not at all. These are but the frame -work. We should know the forms, appearances, habits, manners, dress, opinions, etc., of the people. It is this, and this only, which is worth study. We would see the people, see their houses, their public buildings, etc., and extend this kind of instruction in the greatest possible degree. Views of cities, mountains, cataracts, etc., are interesting to all, learned and ignorant, young and old, and give a zest and a reality to less material topics. J. , R, Smith's Pamorama. We were led into the preceding train of remark by witnessing the views of various European cities, now on exhibition in this city. As a mere work of art, Mr. Smith's Panorama of European cities, etc., is the finest we have ever seen. Such effects could only be produced by a skillful hand. The per- spective, in which so many fail, is preserved throughout, with scarce an exception even in minor points. The coloring, shading, etc., are admirable. So, too, the selection of scenes presented is very judiciou'i. There is much meaning in a remark in a little descriptive pamphlet which Mr. Smith gave us, in which he says, " Leghorn is a line place, but not for a picture." He has presented us good pictures. We would not like to dispense with one of them, but with the young pupil of Master Squeers cry " more, more." We have capital views of Rowen, Paris, Brussels, Hamburg, Berlin, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, etc., with various castles, cathedrals, palaces, monuments, churches, etc., mountain scenery, views on the Rhine, volcanoes, and other natural objects ; every one of which is worthy of careful study, and which exhibit capital judgment in the artist. Besides this, we are satisfied' that the views are true to the reality. The single view of the great cathe- dral of Milan by night, lighted, and filled with people, is fidly worth the price of a ticket. So is the night view in Hamburg. So is the view of Heidel- berg castle. Several glaciers are included in the views of the Alps, which teach better than any geography can, the various forms and appearances which they assume. We know of no better method of giving interest to studies of this sort than by such representations. Had we a class in geogra- phy to instruct, we would take them to such an exhibition as this, even at our own cost. Even ordinary engravings are better than nothing. Well- made panoramic views are second in value only to an actual visit to those places, and almost all of us must confine our foreign tours to the halls where panoramas are exhibited. But we would say a word more of this work of Mr. Smith, as a work of art. We should like to know how all the capital illustrations of day and night, moonlight, the light of conflagrations, the twinkling of .stars, the spark- ling of crystals in caverns, etc., etc., can be represented in a style so splendid and so true to nature. Perhaps we can get admission to these secrets. If COMPANY OF INVENTORS. 107 / ' so, we will tell you, kind reader, all we are permitted to. The thunder and storms, and even the roar of the batteries before Sevastopol, belong to a hum- bler department of art, and are properly introduced into such representations rather to relieve the observer, and prevent weariness from a constant tax of eye-sight, than for their literal resemblance to the tempests of the outer world. Of the reliabilility of these representations we have evidence in the fact that the views were taken on the spot, and have been successfully ex- hibited in several European cities. The views of Sevastopol are taken from the drawings of the French engineers. The style of painting in a panorama is peculiar. A mere portrait-painter could not succeed in it. An artist quite skilled in common landscapes \yould need some experience in this particular branch of the art. The scene-painter, vfho so much increases the interest of dramatic representations, boasts an art peculiarly his own. It is unhke all other styles of representing nature, and most emphatically so when most true to nature. The artist who produces a good panorama, possesses an art scarcely less distinct from all others than does the dramatic painter. FOR THE PLC(UQH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVILc COMPANY OF INVENTORS. Sirs : — I gladly avail myself of the opportunity you offer, in your July number, to propose myself as a candidate for membership of a Company of Inventors, on the plan you propose, should the plan meet with such general favor as to bring together a number sufficient to be effective. Several attempts have been made to form associations of Inventors ; but none that I know of that proposed to make inventions help each other in the way you suggest. They were rather designed to obtain amendments of the patent laws ; and examine and certify as to the merits of inventions, so that capitalists might rest assured of the safety of investing money in them, and the inventions, thus endorsed and aided, might speedily become profitable to all concerned. I have little hope from attempts of this kind to amend the patent laws ; still less hope have I that examinations and reports will influence capitalists. Inventors themselves, generally, have been obliged to demonstrate the utility of their own inventions, before capitalists would engage in them ; and such will continue to be the only course until science is more generally taught tban it is at present. But a combination, by which the force of a number could be applied to one invention at a time, would excite hope, and induce inventors to make the advances needed, for the sake of having the like aid, sooner or later, and the profit they might reasonably expect from their own judicious choice of the inventions to which they could appropriate their funds. I would gladly avail myself not only of the capital which such a company might appropriate, but also of the talent that would probably be offered, on the conditions proposed, namely, that the profits resulting from such joint la- bor and hazard should be divided, by disinterested judges, among those who had contributed to the result. My improvement in the steam carriage, if it 108 - FALL RIVER ROUTE TO BOSTON". have the aid, instead of the rivahy of the inventive talent of the countiy, will, I am confident, produce money enough to enrich hundreds ; yet if left to the judgment of capitalists, it may be along time before it- is brought into use. I have always hoped to concentrate in one powerful company all the improve- ments that may be made in this invention, and to make it for the interest of every inventor to work with me, and not against me ; and I cordially invite such cooperation as you have proposed. The approaching fair of the American Institute at the Crystal Palace, will afford an opportunity to organize such a company. Meantime, I hope you will receive the names of many inventors, and many enterprising capitalists, as members of this proposed cpmpany. Yours respectfully, J. K. Fisher. PRESERVATION OF MILK. The following method of preserving milk for any length of time is found in the London New Monthly Magazine. It looks to us rather a dubious process, but we should like very much to have it tried, and the results re- ported to us. If successful, this is of very great value for ships at sea, and for all in warm climates. " Provide pint or quart bottles, which must be perfectly clean, sweet, and dry ; draw the milk from the cow into the bottles, and as they are filled, immediately cork them well up, and fasten the corks with pack-thread or wire ; then spread a little straw on the bottom of a boiler, on which place the bottles with straw between them, until the bottles contain a sufficient quantity. Fill it up with cold water ; heat the water, and, as soon as it begins to boil, draw the fire, and let the whole cool gradually. When quiet cold, take out the bottles and pack them in a cool place. " Some years since, there was a Swedish or Danish vessel at Liverpool, having milk on board, preserved in this manner. It had been carried twice to the West Indies, and back to Denmark, and been above eighteen months in the bottles ; nevertheless, it was as sweet as when taken from the cow." On this subject the editor of the Chemist, in the May number, remarks : " We lately tasted, at the Royal Institution, milk preserved by Mr. Mab- brun's process, and which had been presented by the Abbe Moigne to Mr. Barlow, who alluded to it in his lecture on preserved meats and vegetables. This milk was one year old, and was as sweet as when first drawn ; a con- siderable quantity of cream had collected in the necks of the bottles." Fall PavER Route to Boston. — We have again had occasion to send two ladies of our family, unattended, over this route. We never feel regret on account of such necessity, for we know thoy will be well cared for. A letter received from them, after stating sundry particulars, says : " You must puff this line handsomely, for they richly deserve it." Especial reference is made in it to the clerk, and we have ever found him prompt in business, careful in his es- pecial trusts, particularly attentive to those avIio make known their wants, gentlemanly and kind to all. Capt. Brayton is a model commander. The whole arrangement on board is judicious ; the tea-table superior to that of any other line, and the servants are attentive and courteous. EOCK BLASTING, 109 ROCK BLASTING The annexed figures are views of an an improved implement for blasting rocks, for which a patent was granted to Capt. C. F. Brown, of Warren, R. I., on the 11th of July last. Figure 1 is an external view of the implement, and figure 2 is a vertical section of the tube which contains the charge. Similar letters refer to like parts. This invention relates to a new and useful impleraement for blast- ing rocks, and consists in placing the powder or charge within a tube or case, between two heads provi- ded with suitable packing, and at- tached to a rod, by which arrange- ment the charge is prevented from " blowing out," or obtaining vent in the directicn of the line of the hole in which the tube and charge are, placed, and the whole effect of the charge is exerted against the sides of the tube or case. A represents a tube or case con- structed of sheet metal, j^aper, or other material ; B, figure 2, rep- resents a metal rod having a con- ical metal head, C, perma- nently attached to its lower end. The diameter of the base of the head B, corresponds to the diameter of the boro of the tube or case ; D is also a conical metal head, placed loosely upon the rod, B, in in an inverted position, the rod passing through a circular hole, c, which is made longitudinally through the center of said head, represented by dotted lines, figure 2. On the upper part of the rod, B, a screw thread, 6, is cut, and a nut, E, works thereon. F F are metalic rings which encompass the heads near their bases, and serve as packing ; G is a piece of fuse, the lower end of which is attached to the small end of the head, D, and the upper end is passed through an ap- 110 PEAT COAL AS A SMELTING FUEL. erture, c, in said head, and projects a suitable distance above the tube, A. The implement is used in the following manner : The rod, B, is inserted within the tube, A, the head resting upon tlie bottom of the tube. The necessary amount of powder is then poured within the tube ; the head, D, is placed down upon it, and secured at this point by tbe nut, E, which 'is screwed down against D. The space within the tube between the two heads, C D, is therefore filled with powder, and the tube is inserted within the hole which is drilled in the rock in the usual manner, the diameter of the hole corresponding to the diameter of the tube, A ; the fuse, G, is to be sufficiently long to reach the top of the hole. The powder being ignited by means of the fuse, the rings, F F, are. forced tightly between the beads and tbe tube, and effectually close the top and bottom of the tube, and as the powder, when ignited, will act with equal force against each of the heads, C D, it is evident .that no vent can be obtain- ed in a direction in line with the hole in the rock in which the tube or case is placed, or as commonly expressed, the charge cannot " blow out," and the whole effective force of the powder will be exerted against the sides of the tube, and the splitting of the rock rendered certain. The heads are made of conical form in order to deflect, and thereby diminish the force of the power exerted against them. The packing, F F, may be formed of rings similar to metallic packing of a piston for steam engines. Tde rod, B, should be, suf- ficiently thick to prevent breaking, and to resist the force of the power exert- ed against them. The above implement is eftective, and rocks may be blasted with much greater facility than by the ordinary mode, no tampering or pack- ing of clay being necessary to confine the powder within the hole. The im- plement may be used repeatedly, as it cannot be projected to any great dis- tance from the spot where used. The packing-rings, F F, may be entirely dispensed with by using a small quantity of sand, say sufficient to come near the top of the conical head, then pour in the powder on top of the sand, then insert the fuse, and pour a small amount of sand upon the p')wder as directed above, taking care that the fuse has entered the powder. Tne head, D, is placed down and secured by the nut as described above. Sand is better than the rings, and the implement should be washed after using. The readers of this journal may be assured of the excellence of the apparatus, as tested by repeated experiments, witnessed by many competent judges. Any further information may be obtained by addressing the in- ventor as above. PEAT COAL AS A SMELTING FUEL. The intrinsic excellence of the fuel producible from our waste peat bogs, induced us to write, so far back as 184G, that " we should one day be able to manufricture, if not coal, as at present dug from the bowels of the earth, at least a fuel equally useful for all the purposes to which the former is at pres- ent applied." Since this early date, it is true that nothing has been done on the large scale to render waste bog an, industrially valuable fuel; but abundant proof has been given of the truth of our original observation. The nine years' interval has witnessed the manufacture of a fine, hard, and rich fuel, far superior in many points to the best ])it coal, both as a smelting material, and as a fuel for numberless industrial pursuits. PEAT COAL AS A SMELTING FUEL. Ill To accomplish this, the work of many minds has been required, and many- varieties of rich carbonaceous material have been developed during the prose- cution of the search. .But amongst the most persevering and successful pro- moters of the pursuit, we have to rank the Messrs, Gvvynae, of Essex Wharf, London, who have originated and apparently perfected a system of making a solid carbonaceous fuel, and have, besides, satisfactorily applied it in the manufacture of iron. Dr. Letheby, of the London Hospital, has examined this fuel, and he re- ports most favorably upon it. The specific gravity of,the block on which he operated, was 1.14, its structure being very hard and dense. The actual stowage weight of a cubic foot was 71.24 pounds, whilst Newcastle coal is about 49.69 pounds only. One hundredparts of the fuel contain nine o^hy- groscopic moisture ; and they yield 55 of volatile matter, much of which is condeusible, and thirty-six parts of charcoal. The charcoal contains 3.8 of ash. In submitting one pound, or 7000 grains, of the fuel to distillation in an an iron retort, the resultant volatile products were conducted through a red- hot iron tube, in the hope that the paraffine of the tar would be decomposed and converted into a gaseous hydro-carbon of high illuminating power. The results of this treatment were 2520 grains of charcoal, 1320 of ammoniacal liquor, 360 of thick tar, and 2800 of combustible gas. This gas amounted to 6.25 cubic feet, and when burnt at the rate of five cubic feet per hour, from an argaud burner with fifteen holes, and a 7 inch chimney, it gave a light equal to that of seven sperm candles, each burning at the rate- of 120 grains per hour. One hundred parts of the prepared peat therefore furnish : — Of porous charcoal 36, ammoniacal liquor 18.86, thick tar containing paraflSne 5.14, and gas of an illuminating power of seven candles 40 parts. Dr. Letheby sums up his report in these terms : — " The amount of gas is very considerable, (a ton of the material furnishing as much as 14,000 cubic feet of gas,) and although the illuminating power is not very high, yet from the fact that much of the tar anclparaffine had actually been rendered gase- ous by their passage through a red-hot tube, there is every prospect that they might be still further decomposed, and converted into gases of high illu- minating power. The gas, when purified by passing through an alkaline mixture, was found to be entirely free from sulphur ; and in this respect it has great advantages over coal gas, for the products of its combustion are wholly harmless in respect of their action on inorganic matter, such as books, drapery, and other perishable fabrics; in its use as fuel, there is no opaque smoke evolved, no sulphurous acid is set free, the heat is quickly raised and quickly diffused, the ashes never clinker so as to choke the bars of the furnace, and that the peat does not contain any metallic sulphuret or other substance that is likely to produce spontaneous combustion. In short, it fulfils most of the conditions which are mentioned by Dr. Lyon Playfair and Sir H. De La Beche in their report as to the requisites for a good fuel." The Sheffield steel-makers cannot now get a proper supply of Swedish iron even at £38 a ton. We have no substitute for this costly material in our pit coal iron ; but we have a remedy in the employment of charred peat. Good British ore, smelted with peat fuel, would most undoubtedly rival the best productions of Sweden, and at a cost which puts comparison out of the ques- tion. Mr. Gwynne, indeed, boldly asserts that, with his ])rocess of smelting, he can supfily iron for the steel-makers at one-half of the price now paid to Swedish houses. The uniformity in the character of the iron produced by the peat smelting 112 IMPEOVED STEERING APPARATUS. is a great feature in its favor, aud besides this, the quality of the metal is fully equal to what bears so high a price as " charcoal iron." What greater inducements could we have for a trial of the peat system ? Mr. Summerhill of Sheffield, has tried charred peat in his charcoal fires, and he finds that, with one ton of the charred but uncompressed Flintshire fuel, he can produce upwards of 2h tons of "charcoal iron." This iron was made into tin-plate material, weight for weight ; charcoal from peat has a greater tendency to make iron " burrow," in comparison with the common system of treatment, and the product is extremely well suited for the wire-drawer. The blast pressure under which Mr. Summerhill worked in the case which we have adduced, was 2^ pounds. If we have so excellent a smelting material lying in abundance before us, we shall have ourselves seriously to blame if we neg- lecT-its very evident application. — Fract. Mech. Journal, London. IMPROVED STEERING APPARATUS. Figure 1. Figure 2. G This remarkably neat and compact steering apparatus, is the invention of Capt. Charles F. Brown, of Warren, of Rhode Island, who has taken meas- ures to secure a patent for the same. Figure 1 is an elevation of the apparatus, and figure 2 is a vertical section. HOLLYHOCK PAPER. 113 The neatness of the apparatus is observable at a glance ; it combines com- pactness with the great power of the screw and inclined-plane. The outside is composed of a hollow pillar, B, fig. 1, bolted to the deck. E is the horizon- tal wheel, with its handles, G G. This wheel is secured on a strong screw-rod F, which forms its axis. It passes freely through the collar of the hollow pillar, and works into a thread collar in a hollow tube or metal cylinder, J J. This cylinder is made with two feathers, H H, on its outside, to slide in two vertical grooves in the inside of the pillar, B, to guide the cylinder J J, stead- ily up and down, as it is made to slide thus when the screw is turned by the wheel. This cylinder, J J, has two spiral flanges, K K, extending on each side from top to bottom, on the interior, 0. The rudder post P, has a metal top, A, firmly secured to it, and made of a somewhat greater diameter than the post below. This head of the rudder post has two spiral grooves, L L, cut around it, into which the spiral flanges, K K, of the sliding cylinder fits. The head. A, of the rudder post has an interior hollow part, M, represented by the dotted lines, in which the screw-rod, F, turns, but does not touch. The screw acts only upon the thread of the collar of the sliding cylinder, J J, raising it and depressing it, as the wheel is turned, and when it is raising or falling, the flanges, K K, acting in the grooves, L P, of the head of the rud- der post, turns it with great power to steer the vessel. On fig. 1 there is a small slit, N, at the bottom of the hollow pillar, in which is a pointer F, attached to the rudder post, which turns so as to indicate the de- grees through which the rudder has moved. A dial can be secured before it, with the degrees marked out on it. This is a very beautiful arrangement of itself. For compactness and neatness, we have seen no steering apparatus, to equal it. It has been highly approved of by all nautical gentlemen who have seen it. More information may be obtained by letters post-paid, addressed to Capt. Brown, who is a gentleman of great mechanical ingenuity. HOLTHOCK PAPER. James Niven, Keir, Dunblane. — Patent dated November 10, 1854. Mr. Niven here puts forth the claims of one of the many plants which grow luxuriantly, and with little cultivation, in all parts of the British islands, as a cheap raw material in substitution of the rags used in the manufacture of pa- per. The present invention, in fact, relates to the application or employment and use of the plant commonly known as the Hollyhock, or Rose-Mallow — that is to say, the plant which, in the botanical classification of Linnaeus, is the Altha) Rosea Monodelphia Polyandria, and is comprehended under the natural order " Malvaceae,'* or of plants of the genera " Malva," — in the man- ufacture or production of pulpy material from which paper is to be made, as well -as in the' manufacture or production of fibrous materials for textile pur poses. The invention, as regards both these uses, applies to all the many varieties of the hollyhock plant, or the order "Malvacete," but more obviously and particularly to the ordinary large garden hollyhock. The stems of such plants furnish large quantities of long fiber of great tenacity, which fiber, when duly prepared, is most excellently suited for the preparation of a pow- 114 ~ HOLLYHOCK PAPER. erfully cohering paper pulp, as well as for use in textile manufactures. Being a perennial rooted plant, the roots are also largely available for the produc" tion of strong fiber. In adapting the stems of such plants to the manufac- ture or production of paper pulp, the plant is used either in a green or drie*^ condition ; it is preferred, however, to operate upon the stems immediately, or soon after the plants are cut or pulled in the ordinary manner of gathering and removing such plants. When the stems are removed from the earth, they are first of all steeped in water for a term of six or eight days, more or less, the practical duration of such steeping being regulated and governed by the actual resultant eflfect of the water ; that is to say, the steepij^gis contin- ued until the pure and valuable fiber will freely separate from t pre ligneous or woody portion of the stems. At this stage of the process of manufacture, the stems under treatment are removed from the water or " steep," and they are then submitted to the ac: tion of any suitable mechanical arrangement for the purpose of beating or breaking them up. This breaking up may be eflfected in the general man- ner commonly pursued in the primary breaking of the flax plant, so as to disintegrate the fibers and break off the woody or ligneous portions of the stem. It is not, however, essentially necessary to remove the ligneous por- tions, as it has been found that the whole of the stem is fitted for being re- duced to a pulp. During, or subsequent to this disintegrating process, the mucilaginous or gummy matter, with whatever aqueous matter is present in the stems, is washed clear away, either by pure water, or by an acdulous solu- tion, or by any other economical and effective cleansing agent. When the stems are thus fully reduced or disintegrated, the ligneous waste portions are removed, and the resultant fibrous mass is spread out in the open air, where the sun's rays can act upon it to bleach and dry. When so bleached and dried, the fiber may be stored away for subsequent use. In making paper from the fibers© prepared, the fibrous mass is bruised or broken down in any suitable mechanical apparatus, and it is then chopped or finely divided by any suitable cutting instrument. The reduced mass is then soaked in water, and worked up or macerated in the usual manner, as pursued in the ordinary manufacture of paper from rags, for the production of a pulpy mass suitable for the u£e of the paper-maker. The pulp so made is capable of being used in the manufacture of paper, either alone or unmixed, or it may be commin- gled with other materials already in use in the paper manufacture. When the pulp is obtained, the subsequent routine of its manufacture into paper is simi- lar to that pursued with the ordinary rag pulp, or it may be varied as the properties of the fiber may suggest. In the application of the hollyhock stems to the manufacture of textile ma- terials, the fibers prepared in the manner just described, are subsequently treat- ed according to the existing textile processes ; such processes, for instance, as are adopted in the flax manufacture. Being strong and of good staple, this fiber is particularly well suited for being prepared, spun, and woven into cloth. And it has been found, that the roots of the plants are also well adapt- ed for the production of a remarkably strong fiber. Hence, in manufactu- ring practice, so often as the crop of plants grown for the purpose requires . renewal, the roots are to be taken up and prepared for the obtainment of fiber, both for the manufacture of paper and for textile purposes. When taken from the ground, the roots are macerated and reduced, and the fiirinace- ous matter contained in them being removed, the resultant fiber is employed in the manner already pointed out, but more particularly for the manufacture of paper. — Pract. Mech, Journal, London. IMPROVEMENT IN SCREW PROPELLERS, 115 IMPEOVEMENT IN SCREW PROPELLERS. PATENT GRANTED JULY 12, 1855. Figure 1. The accompanying engravings are views of improvements in Screw Pro- pellers, invented by Capt. Charles F. Brown, of Warren, R. L, wlio has se- 116 IMPROVEMENT IK SCREW PROPELLERS. cured a patent for the same. Figure 1 is a perspective view, sliov?ing the propeller, rudder, and part of the frame of a vessel at the stern. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken through the axis of the propeller. The same letters of reference indicate like parts. This invention relates more particularly to that description of screw propellers which has its blades adjustable in the hub, for the purpose of altering the pitch of the screw, and for bringing the blades to a position to offer no material resistance to the progress of the ves- sel whea under sail. Another principle of the improvement consists in so operating one of the blades, that, when brought into a proper position, and the revolutions of the propreller stopped, it will act as a rudder, in case of the vessel's rudder being disabled, and it will therefore serve to steer the ves- sel when under sail. A A is the framing of the vessel, in which are the bearings of the propel- ler shaft, B. C is a hub on the shaft ; this shaft is bored from the front end nearly to the back end — the bored part extending through the hub ; in this bore is fitted a rod, a b, which is furnished at that part passing through the hub with a rack, d. The hub is also bored transversely, to receive the piv- ots, c c', of the propeller blades, D D' ; these pivots are not radial to the hub, but pass through it at equal distances from the axis on opposite sides to it. Each one of the pivots carries a small toothed pinion, e e, gearing into the rack, d, on the rod, a b. The hub is solid except where it is bored to receive FiGUKE 2, U LfLjO/V't^LTLri ^^W' s.^ ^ the rod and the pivots, and where it is slotted from the outside to the center bore, to allow the pinions to be inserted. The pinions are secured to the piv- ots, and the pivots are confined in the hub by the pinions or by other suita- ble means. If the rod, a b, be moved longitudinally, the rack, d, turns^ the pinions, c e, and by this means, the blades, D D,' are brought to any position either in line with or parallel to the axis of the screw, or at any pitch or^in- chnation in either direction, so as to make a right or left hand screw ; the pinions are geared with the rack so as to make each blade occupy the same position in relation to the axis of the shaft. The rod, a b, is moved by a person on the deck of the vessel, as follows : A vetrical shaft, F, is placed in suitable bearings near one side of the propel- ler shaft — its upper end reaching above the deck and carrying a wheel, G. Opposite the propeller shaft it carries a toothed pinion,/, which gears into a rack, <7 ; this rack is attached to a collar, h i, which fits to,_ but is capaple of moving longitudinally on the propeller shaft. This collar is prevented from turning on the shaft by flanges, », above and below the rack, which em- brace the pinion and keep the rack in gear. There is a recess in the collar, h, i, which divides it into two parts, and in this recess is fitted another collar, k, fitting to the shaft, B, so as to be capable of sliding on it, but this collar princes' protean pen. 117 is made to turn with the shaft by a pin, w, passing through it and the shaft, and through the rod, a 6 ; a slot in the shaft allows the pin to move longitu- dinally, by turning the wheel, G, the piniqn,/, is made to move the rack, g, loufritudinally ; and the collar, h i, moving with the rack actuates the col- lar, k, while the pin, m, moving with the said collar, actuates the rod, a b, and causes the rack to turn the pinions, e e ; this can be done either while the propeller is revolving or while it i^ stationary. A dial, O, is placed upon deck, and a pointer, p^ on the shaft. F, indicates the position of the blades. This i^^seen on deck, and is a very convenient arrangement for set- ting the blades. The rod, a b, so far as it has been described in its relation to the adjust- ment of the blades of the propeller, may be considered a single rod, but for the purpose of using the blade of the propeller as a rudder, it (the rod) is di- vided longitudinally into the two parts, a and 6, which are held together by a screw-bolt, n, at the front end when the propeller is in use. The part a of the rod carries that part of the rack which gears with the pinion, which is on pivot c of the blade, D, and the part b carries that part of the rack gearing with the pinion on the pivot c,' of blade D.' The blade, D, is the one which is intended to serve for a rudder ; and, for that reason, that portion a, of the rod is made larger than the other, and for another reason, viz., when the other blade is not in use, it is necessary for the pin, m, to work clear of the other part, b. The first thing to be done to. use the blade, D, for a rudder, is to bring the said blade, D, to a vertical position downwards, and this is done by stopping the engine in a proper position. The blade, D,' is then secured in its place above the other one by a set screw, q, which passes through the shaft, B, into a recess in the part b, of the rod. The screw-bolt, w, is then loosened from that part, a, of the rod, which is thus left free to be moved independ- ently of the other part, b, of the rod, thus enabling one of the blades to be used for a rudder in an emergency. The superiority of this mode of arranging and adjusting the blades, con- sists chiefly in the depth of bearing, or socket obtainetl for the pivots of the blades, by fitting them through the hub. The common arrangement is to make the pivots, c c, radial, and \o turn them by bevel gearing — that is, in arrangements of adjustable blades ; this prevents their being carried through, and requires the hub to be hollow to receive the gearing. This arrangement is therefore more compact, and far stronger, according to the dimensions of the parts. The steering improvement, in many cases, may be the means of saving a vessel, as in a case like the Helena Sloman. The sixth annual meeting of the American Association for the Ad- vancement OF Education will be held in the chapel of the New-York Uni versity on the 28th, (Tuesday,) 29th, 30th, and 31st of August, 1855. The Introductory Address will be given by Alexander Dallas Bache, LL.D., the retiring President. Princes' Protean Pen. — We again call attention to this new pen. It pleases us much. We seldom sit dowif to write an hour at a time without using it. We should be very sorry to be deprived of it. One form is for the pocket, and another is for the desk. The former may be carried in the pocket, full of ink, and without risk to a white vest. 118 IJIPEOVED ROAD MEASURE. IMPROVED ROAD MEASURE. The annexed figures represent a nejv odometer for measuring tlie distance which a carriage travels, invented by F. S. Coburn, of Ipswich, Mass., who has taken measures to secure a patent. Fig. 1 is a full sized edge view of the odometer. Fig. 2 is an inside view showing ^the toothed wheels. Fig. 3 is a view of the odometer weight, E, and fig. 4 is the dial of the odometer. This small instrument may be at- tached to a carriage in fifteen minutes. A cover shdes over the dial, which cannot be opened without a key. It is made to turn with the hub of the carriage. The cost is trifling, and the manufacture may be a source of con- siderable profit to the mechanic, and a great security to the keepers of stables and others. In the inside of this odometer, which is a small box, the weight, E, is suspended on a stud or small shaft, and it will be observed that it always hangs perpendicularly while the odometer revolves with the axle. Upon this principle bf action the whole of the wheels are operated. On the small stud on which E is hung, is the ratchet wheel in fig. 3, into which the ratchet, F, takes, which moves one notch every revolution, but the ratchet, F, by passing over the" teeth of the small wheel, fig. 3, when the carriage is backing, allows the weight to move freely, and consequently there is no reg- istering. The motion imparted in one direction by the weight to the shaft, Gr, moves the wheel, H, fig. 2, one tooth every revolution of the odometer, and every revolution of wheel, H, moves the wheel, I, (which should be set v.'ith its ratchet in a contrary direction,) one tooth, and this wheel, I, moves the one, J, which is the dial plate, apd an opening in the case, fig. 4, shows it with the miles marked out. The dial is divided so as to bo applied to wheels of different sizes. This odometer is small and neat ; the figures rep- resent one of full size which has been used repeatedly. It will be observed AMERICAN PATENTS. 119 that the wheels are simply moved on the clock-work principle of gearing to reduce the revolutions from the first to the last, which registers the miles ; the Avhole operations being dependent upon the suspended balance weight E. The instrument is neat and simple, and is very convenient. There are but few persons who go out with a carriage but would like to be able to tell the distance they have traveled when they return, and yet there is no way of doing this but by such an instrument. With turning to the one side and the other on a road — turning out and turning in on the track — the mile stones are no guides for indicating the distance traveled ; the odometer alone is the true tell-tale. An odometer is the same as the tell-tale on the steam- engine, without which no steamship) navigates the ocean. We hope such in- struments will soon come into more general use. More information about this one may be obtained by letter addressed to Mr. Coburn at Ipswich. AMERICAN PATENTS. Gwynne's Centrifugal Pump for Raising Sunk Ships. — The following letter from the owners of a ship sunk in the Missouri is good practical testi- mony to the value of this pump for the heavy work of raising vessels : " The Irontou struck a large submerged rock on the Missouri river, eighty-five miles above St. Louis, last month, and filled in about forty minutes, and sunk in about ten feet water. She was somewhat listed, and one guard and j^art of her deck was just out of water, while the other guard had some three or four feet of water over it. We sent one of our steam diving-bell boats (the '■Sub- marine, No. 6,) to the wreck, where she arrived on Sunday, at dark. The next morning, while part of her crew were adjusting the suction-hose, (twen- ty-one inches in diameter,) our carjDenters curbed off the hatches, and by 10 o'clock A. M., steam being up, we started the pump, and in less than ten minutes the water v/as so low that the suction-pipe took air, the water being- only seven or eight inches deep on her floor timbers. The pump kept the 120 AMERICAN PATENTS. water down until the carpenters succeeded in bulk-heading or partitioning oft' the break in her hull, and before dark the Tronton was safely floating. Steam was raised on her, and she was brought down to this city, where she has been docked. The pumping engine used on this occasion was one of your pattern, called B. No. 3 ; and some idea of its power may be inferred from the fact, that we did not stop the break at all in her hull before we pumped the water out of her. The dock showed thedamage to be crushing in her larboard knuckle for twenty feet. The planks were completely shat- tered for this distance, and about thirty inches in width ; and every timber, futtock, and her knuckle kelson in this space, were broken in. The tonnage of the Ironton is about one hundred and fifty tons. We estimated the dis- charge of the pump at about five hundred barrels per minute. The stream from it was ten inches deep, thirty-four inches wide, and ran at the rate of ten miles per hour, as we ascertained by a light paddle-wheel made for the purpose. — Eads & Nelson." ^ Machine-made Watches. — Some five years since, Messrs. Howard & Da- vis, in connection with Mr. A. L. Dennison, commenced abranch of this bus- iness in Roxbury, and though the most serious obstacles were in the way, they have persevered, slowly gaining knowledge by experience, and slowly attaining the object of their desires. The want of machinery, and the inex- perience of laborers, have been great drawbacks ; but they have gradually overcome these, and have now every convenience for the successful prosecu- tion of their business. Their estabhshment in Roxbury was so surrounded by dusty localities, that it was found impossible to obtain perfection in works which were liable to this inconvenience, and a location for a bililding was therefore selected in Waltham, which is most admirably adapted to the pur- pose. The building, occupying a third of an acre, is a curiosity in itself, for it is the first structure erected in this vicinity of the "gravel wall," or " con- crete material," which has been brought to public notice by Mr. O. S. Fow- ler. The concrete consists simply of limstones and sand, mixed as we do mor- tar, and then, by a simple process, piled up in layers, which becomes hard, and in the lapse of years is as solid as stone. The building, thus constructed at an expense of one-third of what it would cost to erect a brick edifice, and which is comparatively fire-proof, has stood the cold of the present severe winter, and established, beyond a doubt, its adaptability to ordinary uses. The manufactory at Waltham is a two-story building, built in the form of a square. Mr. Dennison, assisted by Mr. Stratton, superintends the works, and a twelve-horse engine furnishes the motive power for the machinery, heats the entire building, and carries from the river water into the reservoir, which supplies every part of the building with water. The different departments are separated, and each gang of mechanics has a distinct portion of the watch to manufacture. In one room the plate is cut, in another the jewels are re- duced to a proper size, while the second hands, minute hands, the jewel screws, the wheels, the springs, the cases, the engraving, and the polishing, re- quire each a distinct process, in which different classes of operatives are en- gaged. The operatives number at present about fifty, a quarter of whom are females, who are found well adapted to the business, and it is a fact worthy of note, that these American watches are the product of American operatives. In Locle, and other Swiss towns, where watches are made, the parts are man- ufactured in the cottages of the workmen, and are then carried to head-quar- ters, and put together ; little machinery is used ; here under one roof the watch is completed, by the aid of machinery, and less skilful hands. In a few months, when under full blast, at the strike of each hour, it is expected that AMERICAN PATENTS. 121 a watch will be finished, that is, twelve perday. The cost, of course depends upon the style of the cases ; those in gold will range, at retail, from 75 to 100 dols., and those in silver, from 30 to 40 dols. The Company intend manufacturing large quantities of watches of the hunting style. Parts of watches, screws, hands, wheels, are also neatly put up on cards, and are much sought after by the trade. The " London" Locomotive above Niagara. — The great subject of con- versation in the West just now, is the passage of the " London" locomotive over the gorge of Niagara, and the name of the great metropolis was never in prouder remembrance than when borne, as now upon the fabric that testi- fied almost man's highest exce)lence in bold art. The bridge settled just half aa inch when the locomotive was at the center, for the brave men who controlled the starting bar paused in the very mid-river. Thus arriving at the line ^here the state and the colony meet, the flags of the two nations were waved, the scarlet and the blue fluttering in the exultation of those who there did homage to the blended sovereignty. The bridge is built so that it rises arch-like in the center. The deflection was no greater than was anticipated. Thei'e are two tracks — indeed, three, on the bridge ; the 4-8|- of the New- York Central, the five feet of the Great Western, and by a fifth rail the New-Yoik and Erie (continued by the Canandaigua road) also can transport freight or humanity over. There were six passengers or persons on this boldest of all locomotives, and by a measure of justice seldom wrought out in bold enterprises, all were represented, as well the man who furnished the means as he who produced the skill necessary. There is a good omen in the fact, that the crossing was first done from the Canada side over to the Ameri- can, the sons of St. George will feel justified at grouping the two recol- lections, that, as an English steamer first made regular communication across the sea, it was an English locomotive that has first made this thrilling transit over the Gulf. Far away beneath, so f;ir that the heavy wave scarce shows its swelling, rushed the Niagara, and the shrill shriek of triumph the " Lon- don" sent forth as it passed over the chasm was heard beyond the cataract itself. The American Paper Manufacture. — There are in the United States 750 paper mills in actual operation, having 3000 engines, and producing in the year 270,000,000 pounds of pajDer, which is worth at 10 cents per pound, 827,000,000 dollars. To produce this quantity of paper 405,000,000 pounds of rags are required, 1^ pounds of rags being necessary to make one pound of paper. The value of these rags at 4 cents per pound is 10,200,000 dollars. The cost of labor is If cent upon each pound of paper manufactured, and is therefore 3,375,000 dollars. The cost of labor and rags united, is 19,575,000 dollars a year. The cost of manufacturing, aside from labor and rags, is 4,050,000 dollars, which makes the total cost 23,625,000 dollars of manufac- turing paper, worth 27,000,000 dollars. We import rags for this manufacture from 26 different countries, and the amount in 1853 was 22,766,000 lbs., worth 982,837 dollars. Italy is the greatest source of supply, being more than one-fifth of the whole amount, but the supply has been gradually falling off every year. From England we imported 2,666,005 pounds in 1853. The cost of imported rags has been as follows: — 1850, 3 61-100 cents ; 1851, 346-lOOcents; 1852, 3 42-100 cents ; 1853, 3 46-100 cents. Theconsump- tion of paper in the United States is equal to that of England artd France together. — Boston Post. 122 ENGLISH PATENTS. ENaLISH PATENTS. Protectiox of the Westmixster Palace from Lightning. — The Par- liamentary estimates for the year contain a charge of £2314 for securing the new houses of Parliament from lightning, backed by a very able report on the subject by Sir W. Snow Harris. That great authority on this import- ant subject very clearly and properly exposes thepopular error of attributing an attractive power to lightning-rods. It is proved by a most extensive in- duction of facts, and a large generalization In the application of metallic con- ductors, that metallic substances have not exclusively in themselves any more attractive influence for the agency of lightning'than other kinds of common naatter ; but that, on the contrary, by confining and restraining the electrical discharge within a very narrow limit, the application of a small rod, or wire of metal to a given portion of a building is in reality highly objectionable. Besides, the application of an ordinary lightning-rod is of a very partial char- acter. It has small electrical capacity, and is very often knocked to pieces by heavy discharges of lightning. Last June, Ealing church was struck by light- ning ; the small conductor attached to the tower was partially fused, and damage ensued. So again, in July, a church at Astbury was struck, and the small conductor fused in several places, the discharge dividing on the body of the church, and displacing and shivering several stones. In Her Majesty's navy, conductors of this description have been repeatedly knocked in pieces by lightning. To secure such a building as the new palace at Westminster against light- ning, Sir Snow Harris considers it requisite to complete the general conduct- ibility of the whole mass, and so bring it into that, passive or non -resisting state which it would assume in respect of the electrical discharge, supposing the whole were a complete mass of metal. By this means a discbarge of lightning, in striking upon any given point of the building, would have, through the instrumentality of capacious electrical conductors, unlimited room for expansion upon the surface of the earth in all directions, to which, by a law of nature, the discharge is determined. In fact, what is called lightning is the evidence of some occult power of nature, forcing a path through substan- ces which ofi'er greater or less resistance to its progress ; such, among the former, as atmospheric air, vitreous and resinous bodies, dry vegetable sub- stances, and such like. In the case of such bodies, a powerful evolution of light and heat attends its course, together with irresistible expansive and dis- ruptive force, by which the most solid and compact structures are rent asun- der ; whereas, in finding a path through substances which offer comparatively little resistance to its course, this explosive form of action, which we call lightning, becomes transformed into a harmless and unseen current. Hence the great protective influence of a capacious and general system of conduc- tion, such as that just adverted to, which does not restrict the discharge to a given partial and narrow path, but is so circumstanced that lightning, strik- ing anywhere upon buildings, cannot enter upon any circuit, of which the large capacious hues of conduction do not form a part. Miles' Hydrostatic Railway Brake. — The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway has just been the scene of an interesting trial of this invention under the auspices of several eminent railway authorities and men of science. The testing train left the Shrewsbury station at 12.30, arrived at the city at 2.40 ENGLISH PATENTS. 123 stopping at the usual stations on its way. The patent break alone was used during the journey, and upon the arrival of the train at this station, a num- ber of experiments were tried upon different portions of railway, princi- pally to ascertain the distance and time in which a train could be arrest- ed. Notwithstanding the usual drawbacks to working all new inventions, the train was easily stopped, when going forty miles per hour, in 300 yards, the usual distance with the ordinary brakes being about lY50 yards. Colonel Kennedy and other gentlemen, who tried these tests, expressed a strong opin- ion that, with the slight enlargement of the tender cyhnder, pointed out by Mr. Miles, a train would be stopped with ease in three yards to the mile ; that is to say, a train going forty miles an hour would stop in 120 yards. The experimental train left this city, with the usual mails and passengers, at 6.45, and arrived at Shrewsbury at 9.15, using the patent brake during its course, still proving itself most effective. The brakes themselves are upon the usual principle, but are placed upon every carriage, instead of on one or ,two only. A cylinder is fixed under the carriage, 4^ inches diameter and 3 inches stroke ; and in this cylinder is fitted a solid piston, the rod of which is attached to the lever of the brake. Into each side of the cylinder is screwed an iron tube, one inch in diameter, and terminating, at each end of the carriage with a joint of a novel character. When the carriages are connected, the tubes are made continuous by inserting into these joints a flexible tube between each carriage ; and when the engine is attached to the train, thatis also connected by a flexible tube, leading into tubes fixed in the bottom of the tender, which tubes are merely for the purpose of reducing the temperature of the water used in applying the brakes. The boiler is fitted with a stop-cock near the starting lever, and from this cock is a tube connected to the tubes in the tender. When a train is made up, and the engine attached, a cock inside the tender is opened, and the tubes throughout the train are allowed to fill themselves with water ; water being only compressable to the extent of one inch in 15,000, is always ready to be acted upon at the moment. At the present day, locomotives are worked at a pressure of from 100 to 150 lbs., per square inch ; but for example's sake, we will take the lowest figure, there- fore, with the cylinders before described, a power of 1500 lbs. is given to each Ijrake, no matter what may be the number of carriages in the train. The cylinder to work the tender brake is 4^ inches diameter, with a 6 inch stroke and gives a force of 3000 lbs. The mode of bringing the brakes into use is this : The engine driver shuts off his steam, opens the cock named in boiler, and in one second, the whole of the brakes are on the wheels, and are taken off" by the driver shutting the cock in the boiler, and opening the one in the tender. Scott's Elastic Action Three- Wheel Brougham.— -Mr. Michael Scott, G. E,, who has devoted considerable attention to the perfecting of the details of vehicular contrivances — more especially the parts relating to the springs and bearings — has submitted to us a plan of "three-wheel Brougham," of very suggestive character. This carriage is designed for affording superior facility of motion, with ease and accommodation to the occupants, and means of resisting the wear and tear of trafiic; It has two wheels behind, and a single central wheel in front, as high or even higher than the hind pair. This lightens the draught and simplifies the under frame-work. The driver's seat occupies the place usually assigned to the rumble, directly over the hind Avheels, so that the reins stretch over the body of the carriage, asjn the Han- som. This obviously leaves the front view quite open and free. In arrang- 124 ENGLISH PATENTS. }ug the details of the bearing actions, Mr. Scott uses a " semi-circular spring" the extreme end of which, together with the spring blocks, are wholly dis- connected— producing great elasticity. His " elastic nave, is also a further means of obtaining an easy action. The mortice beds, or the portions on which the inserted wooden spoke ends bear, are cushioned with India-rubber. India-rubber is also used for eucirchng the felloes of the wheel, either in strips as an independent tyre, or in small blocks or cushions between the wooden felloe and the ordinary metal tyre. The inventor has contrived to elasticate various other rigid parts of the carriage, even the axle itself, as well &s the shoes of the horses. The French Beet Sugar Manufacture. — There are now at work in France 208 beet sugar manufactories, being fewer by 95 than were in opera- tion last year at the same time. The quantity of sugar manufactured, including 7,8'70,605 kilogrammes, lying over since 1854, was 43,229,798 kilogrammes, or 30,921,340 less than last season ; and that sold for consumption, or de- posited in the Government bonded stores, 39,659,690 kilogrammes, being a falling off of 23,591,362 kilogrammes. PuRiFviNG Rancid Oil. — It has recently been discovered in France, that nitric ether, commonly known as " spirits of nitre," has a powerful effect in clearing and deodorising impure oils. A small quantity mixed with the crude oil carries oft' all the disagreeable odor, whilst, by subsequently warming the oil so treated, the spirituous ingredient is renewed, and the oil becomes sweet and limpid. A few drops of nitric ether added to the contents of an oil bot- tle, will act as a constant preventive to rancidity. Logan's Portable Winch for Shipbuilders. — This winch is constructed so that it can be fixed in any position, and may be adjusted with facility to the work to be performed. To this end the winch is formed with a sole plate of malleable iron, and is fitted upon an under sole plate, upon which it turns by means of a swivel joint. The under sole plate is formed with clamps, or bent ends, by which it can be hung upon any fixture, as the frames, plates, or other part of a ship, or of a boiler, or other structure. The whole appa- ratus can be carried by one man, and can be moved along the plates, or other part on which it is hung, at pleasure. The two sole plates are formed with regularly pitched holes, arranged so that those in one plate may be brought fairly opposite to those in the other. Thus, on the winch being adjusted, it can be fixed in position by means of pins passed through the holes in the two plates. This apparatus will be of great utility in the construction of iron ships, boilers, and all other structures in which heavy weights have to be lifted and moved about. Thus the winch can always be conveniently placed, and the tackle can be fixed immediately over the plate, frame, or other arti- cle to be lifted, whilst it is immaterial in what position the winch is fixed, as the swivel joint arrangement gives it the power of accurately adjusting itself to the work it has to perform. Locomotive Expenses and Statistics. — The total cost of locomotive power, including repairs, on the Caledonian Railway, is 8d. per train mile, and including the working repairs of waggon and carriage stock, 10-OSd. per train mile. The average number of engines in steam during the past half-year has been 90, and the number of train miles run, 8,532 per day. The average number of engines in working order has been 118, repairing 20, and renew- ing 7, together 145. The passenger trains averaged 7-19 carriages, and tho goods trains 22-65 waggons. NEW BOOKS. 125 NEW BOOKS. Sabbath Morning Readings on the Old Testament. Book of Leviticus. By Rev. John Gumming. Boston : John P. Jewett & Co. 1855. Our readers know the high estimate with Which -we regard the works of this learned divine. The volume before us is not exceeded in its interest by any of its predecessors. It is just the thing for Sunday-school teachers and Bible classes. Sabbath Evening Readings on the New Testament. St. Luke. By the same. This is a full, plain, practical exposition of the Gospel, as the former volumes we have described are of the Pentateuch. No Sabbath-school teacher should be without it. It is also just what is wanted in our " mutual classes," which, by the way, ought to be mul- tiplied a hundred fold. These books are for sale by Jewett & Proctor, Cincinnati ; and Sheldon, Lamport & Blakeman, New- York. The New- York Quarterly. July, 1855. Jas. G. Reed, Publisher. We seldom see this work, but what we have seen gives us a desire to see more. The articles in this number are well written, judicious, instructive and entertaining. What more is to be desired ? We commend it to the reading community as one which they should sustain for theitown sakes. It is devoted to Science, Philosophy, Literature and the interests of our united country, and is recommended by the most eminent literary gentlemen of New- York. Terms, $3 a year ; 4 copies, $10. Harpers' New Monthly for August Is on our table, in anticipation of its issue, and is elegantly executed and numerously illustrated. The topics are of unusual interest. DossTicKs. What he says. By Philander Doesticks, P. B. New- York : Edward Livermore. 1856. This republication of newspaper articles " claims nothing," says the " manufacturer," and " amounts to nothing;" "some are bad, some are worse." The author is essentially correct, though there are now and then genuine scintillations of wit, and many good strikes of true humor. But like " Hodge's razors, it was made to sell." Putnam's Monthly for August. This is a very good number. The contents are as follows : Turkish Wars of Former Times, My Lost Youth, The Bell Tower, Unknown "Tongues, (The Language of Animals,) About Babies, Life among the Mormons, The River Fisheries of North America, (The Artificial Propagation of Fish,) Cape Cod, First Friendship, Living in the Country, Sir John Suckling, Twice Married, (Continued,) Tlie Armies of Europe, Editorial Notes, etc, etc, American Literature and Reprints. Dix ack in dis- bursements $1360; while the same number of families in the slave States pay $1620, and receive only $270. The excess of $1350 goes to be distri- buted amongst the northern parishes. This is not all, for the hundred fam- ilies of the southern neighborhood are deprived of ths profits of using over $8000 of their own cotton, tobacco, grain, etc., in order to let the hundred northern families use over $5000 of it a whole year free of charge. When the two parishes join in war against a common foe, the southern must send five times as many soldiers, and pay five times as much of the expenses ; and yet when the conquest is over, it must suffer its partner to seize all the con- quests, and at the same time to kidnap its property and attack its domestic peace. Can insolence — can tyranny go further? Or can history show a more degraded community than the southern must be if it submits ?" In our number for May we entered upon an examination of certain state- ments made by this able writer in Be Boiv's Review. We then noted, for future comment, which has accidentally laid in our drawer till the present moment. We now propose to make it the basis of a few practical sugges- tions, and a perusal of it will show that if we speak plainly, we are not without precedent. We shall endeavor to be at least logical and courteous. VOL. VIII. 9 130 NORTHERISr AND SOUTHERN INDUSTRY. We have no doubt that a careful study of the subject, with the facts that are within the reach of most persons, would furnish them with abundant data tor a satisfactory solution of the problem here presented. A candid ex- amination of the statistics we have presented in this journal, would furnish all the material necessary in such investigation. It appears from this extract that for " every hundred families of six persons," that is, in, every community of 600 inhabitants, at the North, we shall find three persons fed from the public crib, while " there is no such family in the latter, (the South) if it be like the majority of the slave-holding communities of the same size." And why is there this difference ? A visit to any one of such communities would furnish a ready answer. That community of 600 souls at the North lives chiefly by some mechanic trade. Each man labors, not for the pro- duction of goods to be used by himself and family, but for those who are rem !te from him. The products of his labor are sent abroad. Perhaps he is 100 or 200 miles from navigable waters, and all his goods are sent to the seaboard. This requires easy and cheap communication, and such com- munication is, of course, secured. The nature of their business requires an extensive correspondence, quite as much so as that of the merchant. Hence they make efforts to secure a mail route, and to insure success in their application, they show that the correspondence of the community will loay the expense of a 2^ost-office and probably pay a profit to the government. Doing this, they secure their post-office. The communication being easy and cheap, the expense of the post route is comparatively small, and these facilities for an increased business produce their legitimate effects. Such communities arfe established " through New-England" upon the average, perhaps, in every ten miles or so, along post routes, and frequently are much nearer than this, and they are seldom far from a route previously established. Let us give a , striking illustration of this process, on a territory with which we are quite familiar. Worcester, Mass., and Providence, R. I., are two of the more important cities of the Eastern States, each containing a large population, and a large amount of wealth, and carrying on a very extensive busiaess, requiring a prompt and frequent conveyance of the mail. The traveled route between them lies in the valley of the Blaclistone river. And what are tlie features which could not fail to excite the wonder of a traveler for the first time passing over that route ? He would scarcely find himself out of sight of " a factory" for the whole distance. The suburbs of Providence are filled up with iron establishments of various sorts. Pawtucket, 4 miles from Providence, is a large " factory" village, and its smaller "factory" villages are scattered along a distance of some tkree miles. Lonsdale, " a factory village," is 7 miles from Providence. Woon- soeket, another very large " factory village," is 16 miles from Providence. Waterford, little else beside a "factory village," is 18 miles. Blackstone, another "factory" village, is scarcely a half mile from Waterford. Millville is 20 miles, Uxbridge 25, Whitinsville is 26, Northbridge is 31, Farnum's Village is 33, Saundersville, in Grafton, is 34, Sutton is 35, and Milbury is 37 miles from Providence, and each of them is a " factory village," and the' lasfc is but 6 miles from Worcester, around which "factories" cluster on every *de. The capital invested in these establishments is estimated by millions, ^ much of it is owned by the Superintendents living on the spot, and the is done to a great extent by-permanent residents in the village, who are '^y and prosperous, intelligent and moral class of the community in >y live, supporting the institutions of religion, and schools, and NORTHEEN AND SOUTHERN INDUSTRY. 131 lyceums, and probably reading 1000 pages, while a farming population of the same size would read 100. Why should not such communities have the facilities of a post-office? What "three" public functionaries are supported for (by ?) them, we cannot guess. We could conjure up a second. If the '■ix-gatherer is "around," he will be very sure not to overlook these " factory villages." The third we cannot guess. Now show us such communities at the South, who are refused such aid (?) from the general government. Comparatively few such villages are found there. Agriculture vetoes, beyond appeal or reversion, any considerable collection of people on small territories. Let the South establish her mechanical and manufacturing villages, and she too will have these and other favors from the " United States Treasury." Large plantations are eveu less favorable to such a state of things than are the small farms of the New- England States. Who does not see that such complaints as these, however aimed, are in fact, to be laid only at the door of the system which excludes denseness of population, which renders good roads or other ready communi- cation very difficult and expensive, if not impossible, and by necessity excludes every condition which would favor the extension of mails an'd .similar conveniences at the disposal of the general government ? The next topic of complaint is the comparative frequency of Light-houses, and it is perfectly obvious that this persistency in remaining a mere agricultural community, operates beyond the power of mere choice, in arranging this matter also. Light-houses are usually placed in harbors frequented by shipping, or on dangerous points along the coast near such harbors. So far as security along rocky shores is concerned, probably our " factory villages" do not exert a very great influence in increasing the number of these structures. This must go to the account of " Geological Formations." We do not now think of a more appropriate title under which to enter these expenditures. But as to the former, these little communities must take their share of responsibility. It is these which produce " merchandise." They bring into existence all the tools, and implements, and machines, and fabrics used by all sexes, of all classes, in all communities. Hence they affect very materially the amount ^f commerce, and they accordingly affect very considerably the size and the location of mercantile and commercial points or centers, and so far control the circumstances which occasion the necessity for such structures. It is not merely a favorable location on the sea that creates a commercial city. A convenient harbor is, in fact, a minor consideration. Look at Lon- don. It is not near the sea. Look at Venice, standing on the sea, and yet her glory is gone, so far as the extent of her commerce is concerned, and this is the result solely or chiefly of the springing up, the creation of a new com- merce by the energy and skill of the people of our own country — in other words, by Yankee enterprise. Look at New-Orleans, far from the sea, and difficult of access. Look all down our Atlantic coast, and it will not appear that our largest cities always have the superiority of others in this respect. Boston is more than 40 miles from the open sea. There must be material, and there must be individual energy, and with these, prosperous cities will increase and " Light-houses!' or other commercial facilities will be demanded, and will be secured. In the absence of these on the land, our pilots must give a wide berth to shoals and hidden rocks, just as a sparse population, awffy from great thoroughfares, must convey their own products a long dis- tance and at great expense, to find a gpod market. All this is the fault of no one; it is simply the inevitable law of nature, over which parliaments and legislatures can have but a very limited control. 132 NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN INDUSTRY. All the other distinctive differences, so earnestly set forth by this writer, result from the same and kindred causes. You cannot have the interest to expend where there is no principal, and equally true is it that where commer- cial pursuits are not fostered, where the social structure forbids extensive manufacturers, whether of wood or iron, or cotton or wool, then the facilities, the conveniences, the profits, the wealth, the energy of character and the success which variety of pursuit alone can produce, are not to be expected. Nor are those who do enjoy them to be censured because they are not uni- versal. The statistics which we have published show that in mere agricultural dis- tricts, agricultural products are not more productive of income, than they are in such a territory as we find in the Northern States. Thus, while in New-England the " manufacturing, mining, and mechanic arts" produce an income of $102 00 to each person, and at the South only $13, the agricul- tural products of the South, per acre, are only $1 03, while in New-England they are 81 76. This is stated by Mr. Tucker, and we do not doubt his ac- curacy. Our learned friend, De Bow, in the census of 1850, also brings us to the same conclusion. The average value of land, 2:)er acre^ in New-England, he estimates at $20 27, while in the Southern States he calls it $5 34, and this, too, in the older States of the Union. How can there be any diversity of opinion on this subject with such ad- mitted facts before us? And still the South ridicules the "factory" system of the North, and describes her operations in anything but flattering phrase- ology. True, they sometimes quote from some zealous writer living on Northern soil, though they often pervert and exaggerate ; but those who live in New-England know many of these statements to be either absolutely false, or true only in certain limited localities. In such cities as Lowell, Lawrence, and Manchester, the female operatives are " separated from family influences," .'ind parental watch ; but there is a substitute by no means inoperative in the esprit de corps, which expels from their social circle every one who brings reproach upon it by offending against good morals. They are chiefly the daughters of farmers, well brought up, and strictly moral from habit and from principle ; and many of them are well educated, competent to teach in schools, North or South, and thus in fact many do occupy one half the year, while they work in the factory the other half. But this state of things exists only in a few large cities. Where there is one Lowell, there are a dozen Waterfords and Lonsdales, villages chiefly consisting of tenements built by the owner of the mills, or by the farmers and mechanics of the neighborhood. On these places, the dweUing is hired by the head of the ftimily, while the children work in the mill. There no such separation of households is seen. Perhaps the father is also employed by the same parties. The house is rented in view of just this arrangement. The formt^r occupant abandons, either because he can do better elsewhere, or be- cause his children have married and he goes to live with them, or to the place of his fathers; and a new occupant is obtained for the dwelling, who can sup- ply the help needed by the mill owner. Such establishments are scattered all over New-England, and if Lowell were as bad as the most zealous of the en- emies of this system would make it, it would not even then be good evidence of what the great majority off ictory villages are in New-England. Besides, superintendents often exert a most powerful influence in favor of good morals, in these more unfavorable circumstances. We remember that in one of these large cities, one of them, in conversing with ourself on this subject, once said. XORTHERN AND SOUTHERN INDUSTRY. 133 " I will, give you $100 if you will tell me some new and innocent amusement, for our operatives after the hpurs of work." This remark shows the interest he felt in this direction, and with such men to manage the affairs of the company, there is comparatively little danger. The largest assembly we ever saw convened in the Sabbath-school was in that same Lowell, so slandered by this writer, and the school consisted chiefly of female operatives belonging to the mills. We can scarcely regard such remarks as we have alluded to, and which we have taken as our caijtion, as honestly made. There are evils inevitably re- sulting from the separation of family influences that are to be lamented, but sometimes such change is for the better. The daughter, who has been living in utter neglect or disregard of the institutions of religion, is thus brought under a better influence. We would not fear to hazard something on the statement, that a larger part of the entire mass of factory operatives in New- England, regularly and voluntarily attend Sabbath-schools than are to be found in any community of equal numbers and similar ages in the Southern States. If any one will give us the figui'es in any large district South, we will furnish them from the North, and bring this to a test. No, such evils are not eating out the vitals of New-England. They are safe, reasonably safe in the matter of good morals, and they are growing richer every year. When this is equally true of the South, we will listen to ar- guments which go to show that agriculture, as a sole occupation, is the chief end of man, and that all forms of mechanical industry are but sources of un- mixed evil. But we have not yet reached the climax, " for the 100 families of the Southern neighborhood are deprived of the profits of using over $8000 of their own cotton, tobacco, grain, etc., in order to let the 100 Northern families use over $5000 of it a whole year free of charge," Well, this is a hard case. The North ought to be ashamed of themselves, and as the good woman said of Napoleon Bonaparte, " ought to be talked to severely." But who lets them have this cotton and tobacco ? Is it surrendered at the point of the bayonet ? Oh no, it is all sent North by its owners, because they are not disposed to have any " factory villages," and think mechariic arts quite beneath them. , What " insolence" ! What " tyranny ? " Our Southern friends csmnot but see that this extract is only the eloquence of big and hard words. We defy any man to put the idea intended to be conveyed into cool, logical propositions, and to show its connections, without showing at the same time that the South, in this very condition of things, (so far as it is truly represented,) have their own chosen way — that the system of policy which produces these results, is adopted and cherished by Southern politicians, in spite of Northern resihtance, in opposition to Northern statesmen and Northern votes in Congress, and that they are the inevitable results of confining themselves so exclusively to agricultural pursuits. To talk about " insolence" and " tyranny" uncler such circumstances, is more than mere nonsense, it is downright impudence, and 'does much to alienate the feeUngs of the people in different sections of the country. We advise our Southern friends not to be duped by such idle pretences, nor to listen to those political advisers who live by inculcating such doctrines. Let them advertise in our pages for masons, and carpenters, and blacksmiths, and brick-makers, and machinists, and spinners, and weavers, md so on to the end of the chapter, and build their own mills, and man- ufacture " their own cotton and tobacco," and make handsome profits by the process, and raise the price of land on every mill stream, and far and wide 134 ECONOMY IN FARMING. set into movemeut the whole system of raechanical industry, and our friend De Bow will then be crowded with the statistics of comparatively high prices, and profitable investments, and renewed la^ds, and reviving cities, and extended commerce. Let them defend and " protect" and cherish these efforts in their infancy, and then they will have the use of their own money and their neighbors' too, if they have any who refuse to go with them in these industrial pursuits. Let them use fewer harsh words, c )mplain less, and accomplish more, and our word for it, they will grow rich and power- ful, and in every such " community of 100 families" (if not too widely scattered) they too will have one or more "^famihes supported directly from the United States Treasury," and with this additional gratification, that they do not enjoy these privileges at the expense of others. We would use a more moderate and truthful form of expression than is contained near the close of our extract, and say that the history of those States will never show a com- paratively prosperous and an advancing community, as long as present systems and theories prevail. FOR THB PLOUGH, TUB LOOM, AND THE ANVIL, ECOKOMY IN FARMING. Mr. Editor : — I observe in the July issue of your valuable journal, an article on economic cultivation, which ought to be set in letters of gold. No farmer of common observation but will admit its truth, but still there is that early training, those scenes of our boyhood, the veneration for our fathers who cultivated the same fields — these cling to us in our after lives. But all things are changeable, and soswith the soil ; it behooves us to look about us when we can see the lee shore in the distance, and hear the low sound of the breakers as they dash on the shore. The present high price of labor and diminished crops M'ill hardly balance the sheet. We have known men the past season not able to cut more than three hundred of hay per day. Value of hay, $2 50. Labor, $1 15. Profit to the land of 75 cents on one day's work. You may say this will do very well, but, brotlfer farmers we will show you another picture. By another system of cultivation a man will cut and house one ton of hay per day ; estimate labor, |1 75 ; value of hay, $15 ; leaving a profit to land of $13 25 ; difference between the two systems, $\2 50, So much is the difference in two day's labor. But this is only a small item in a former's book. There are other crops as important as hay. We take for instance, Indian corn. Many farmers make no more than twenty or twenty-five bushels per acre, and some, we are sorry to say, do not do that. The cost of working the crop, the land, etc., as labor is now, will not fall much short of $20, Estimate price of corn at $1 per bushel : $25. Fodder, $5, making $30, leaving $10 to the land. In the making of this crop, the value of the land i^ diminished rather than increased for succeeding crops. Fifty bushels of corn can be made with ease by good cultivation at the North per acre. Cost of cultivation, land, elc, $32, Corn, $50, Fodder $10. Leaving |28 as profit to the land. A difference between thel' two STATISTICS FOR TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY. 135 systems of $18 on one acre of land. This is quite a return for an extra out- lay of $12. Now these are stubborn facts that will surely look the farmer in the face at the end of each year ; but these are only two of the leaks in the farmer's ship. ^lany suppose that a farmer's thrift is told by the number of his half-fed animals about his yards. A grand mistake. Our motto should be, in this respect, more profit on one full fed animal than two half fed, which will be found by balancing accounts. The earth is formed of atoms. So by taking care of small things, we make a large pile in the end. The droppings of a single ox once, is a matter you might say, of small consequence, but if repeated six times in twenty -four hours we get 1990 in a year, quite a pile. This being carefully composted * with sods by the way-side, or mud from the swamp, rich in vegetable mat- ter, and being combined with gasses, will produce four ears of corn for each dropping, making 7960 fears of corn at 230 ears per bushel, or 34|- bushels of shelled corn, and the land left in better condition for succeeding crops. But perhaps, after all that may be said, that the waste of manure, and the injudicious application of the same to the soil, is the largest leak in the farmer's ship, and would fend in a failure in most other pursuits. A few days' extra labor in dull weather in the collection of turf, mud, and in fact, the waste of all things that are lying waste about almost all farms, would add largely to the amount of our stock of manure, and cover our fields iwith a bountiful harvest. This crop, judiciously spent, will place us in a situation to make another equally as good. Now, the greatest thing we want is to make one good crop, and after, if it is well spent, we can keep along. Our theory is, that the change of one plant will produce another. EppiKra, Auff. 6th. D. L. Harvey. STATISTICS FOR TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY. Tennessee has an ' area of 18,984,022 acres of land. Kentucky, 22,340,748 acres. Tennessee cultivates, 5,360,220 acres, and Kentucky, 11,268,270 — more than double what Tennessee cultivates. Tennessee has a white population of 829,210; slaves, 183,059 : Kentucky, white population 779,828 ; slaves, 182,025 — each State a population of twenty to the square mile. It is conceded by all who are posted up in statistics, that Tennessee stands at the head of the list in the great staple of these United States, to wit: Indian corn — Ohio second, .and Kentucky third. The products of each State for one year, stands for Tennessee thus — cotton bales, 194,532; tobacco, 20,148,923 lbs.; rice, 258,854 Ib.^. ; oats, 7,7i)3,- 086 bushels; Avheat, 1,619,386 bushels; potatoes, 3,855,560 bushels; peas and beans, 369,321 bushels; value of farming implements, etc., $5,360,220. Live stock — mules 75,303 head ; horses, 370,636 ; cattle, 750,765 ; swine, 3,114,111. Kentucky stands as follows: cotton bales, 728 ; tobacco, 55,501,196 lbs.; rice, 5,688 lbs.; oats, 8,201,311 bushels; whfat, ^,140,822 bushels; potatoes, -2,490,671 bushels; peas and beans, 262,574 bushels; value of farming implements, etc., $5,169,037. Live stock — mules, 65,609 head: horses, 315,682 ; cattle, 753,312 ; swine, 2,861,163. 136 ENTOMOLOGY. Manufacturing establishments for Tennessee — cotton goods, 53 ; woolen, 4; iron, 81 ; tanneries, 394,. Home manufactory, ^SjlSTjYlO. For Kentucky — cotton goods, 8; woollen, 25; iron, 45; tanneries, 275. Home manufactory, 12,456,838. Tennesse has produced two Presidents, eleven Representatives in Congress, and nine hundred and twenty-five old pensioners. Kentucky, — Presidents, nine Representatives in Congress, and six hundred and fourteen old pension- ers. More than other States can show except New-York and Pennsylvania. Total valuation of all live stock in the aggregate— Tennessee, $29,978,016 ; Kentucky, $29,591,387. Capital invested in making whisky— Tennessee, $66,125 ; Kentucky, "",900.— 6r«Je^i;e. EiSTTOMGLOGT "We continue our exhibition of this very important branch of science, and propose to present engravings of the more destructive kinds of insects. It ought to be observed that we base our statements principally upon the work of Dr. Harris, although we have consulted many others, found in the Astor Library and elsewhere. We take from them such suggestions as we deem valuable. ■ The following genera belong to the same order as those exhibited in our August number, viz. : COLEOPTERA. Osmodermia Scabia. Rough Osmodermia is a: large insect, body broad, oval, thorax nearly round, color purplish black, and in the males of cop- pery luster. Head is punctured, concave on the top; the edge of the broad vizor in the males is turned up. Wing-cases thickly punctured, under side of body smooth, legs short and stout. They have a strong odor of Russia leather. Females are larger than the males, and are destitute of the coppery lustre, and are nearly an inch in length. During the day, these beetles secrete themselves in the crevices or hollows of trees, and are especially fond of cherry and apple trees. Their larvae live in the hollows of these trees, feeding on the diseased wood. The grubs are fleshy, whitish, with a reddish hard-shelled head, and resemble the grubs of the common dor-beetle. In the fall, it forms an oval cell of the fragments of wood, cemented together, and comes forth in Jidy in the form of a beetle. BuPRESTjs Femorata (of Fabricius) is of a greenish black color above, with a brassy polish, very distinct in the two large transverse, impressed spots on each Aving-cover. The thorax has no smooth elevated lines upon it. Front pair of thighs is toothed beneath. Length, four-tenths to half an inch or more. Appears last of May to the middle of July. It especially fre- quents white oak trees, but is found in an(J under the bark of the peach. The ^rub bores into the trunks of these trees. The ELATERiDyE ; or Elators, or Spring Beetles, are related to the pre- ceding. They are well known by the faculty which they have of throwing them'^elves upward with a jerk when laid on their backs, by an abrupt in- flection of the anterior portion of the body. The body is of a hard consist- ence, usually rather narrow and tapering behind. The head is sunk to the ENTOMOLOGY. 137 eyes in the fore part of the thorax, Antenna3 of moderate size, and more or less notched on the inside like a saw. Thorax broad at base as the wing- covers, usually rounded before, the hinder angles sharp and prominent. The scutel of moderate size, legs rather short and slender, feet five jointed. The grubs of the Elaters live upon wood and roots, and some devour the roots of herbaceous plants. Some of them are long, slender, worm-like, re- sembling the common meal worm, nearly cylindrical, with a hard and smooth skin, buff or brownish yellow, the head and tail being a little darker. Each of the first three rings is provided with a pair of short legs. They have a shoKt prop-leg behind to support the body. Others of this class are propor- tionally broader, not cylindrical but flattened, with a deep notch at the ex- tremity of the last ring, the sides of which are furnished with sharp teeth. These are mostly wood- eaters. In England these are called wire-worms, but they are not the American wire- worn, which is a species of lulus. The English wire-worm has but six feet, while the American has many. In Europe, to get rid of these insects, they strow sliced potatoes or turnips along the field, which are collected every morning, with the insects, which greedily come to feed upon them. After their last transformation Elaters appear on trees, and fences, and on flowers, and on the tender leaves of plants. They .creep slowly, and, when touched with the hand, generally fall to the ground. They fly by night and by day. The Genus Elater (of Linnaeus) has been latterly sub-divided into smaller groups. Elater Ocularius (of L.) now called Alaus, is the largest of our spring beetles, and measures from one and one-fourth inches to one and three-fourths in length. Color black, thorax oblong square, nearly one-third the length of the whole body, covered above with a whitish powder, and with a large oval velvet black spot, like an eye, on each side of the middle. AVing-covers marked with slender, longitudinal, impressed hnes, and spangled with numer- ous white dots. Under side of body and legs covered with a mealy white powder. It is found in trees, fences, and buildings, in June and July. It undergoes its transformations in the trunks of trees. The grubs are reddish yellow, proportionally broader than the other kinds, and much flattened. All the beetles named above belong to the general tribe of Leaf-horned Beetles, so called on account of the leaf-like joints with which, the end of their antennae is provided. We now come to a class called SERRICOR^^, or Saw-horned, from the ap- pearance of the tips of the joints of their antenna?, which project, more or less, on the inside, somewhat resembling the teeth of a saw. Buprestis Diverca ; (or, Divaricata of Say,) when in the grub state attacks the cherry and peach trees. The beetles are copper-colored, sometimes brassy above, and thickly covered with minute punctures ; thorax, slightly furrowed in the middle. Wing covers fiaely marked with numerous fine irregular impressed lines, and small, oblong square, elevated black spots. They taper behind. Middle of the breast furrowed. Males have a little tooth on the under side of the shanks of the intermediate legs. Length seven-tenths to nine-tenths of an inch. They are found on the cherry and peach trees from June to August inclusive. Elater Cmereus (of Weber) now called Melanotus, or Ash-colored Elater. It is six-tenths of an inch in length, dark brown, covered with short gray 138 ENTOMOLOGY. hairs, thorax convex, wing-covers marked with lines of punctures, resemblino; stitches. Their claws resemble little combs, thorax short and rounded be- fore, and body tapers behind. It is found on fences, trunks of trees, and in paths, in April and May. They pass the winter under the bark of trees. The grub lives on wood. * Elater Communis, (of Schonherr,) now Melanotus, is very common, resem- bles preceding, but smaller, seldom exceeding a half an inch in length, lighter colored than the preceding, thorax a little longer, less convex, and having a slfender longitudinal farrow in the middle. Appears in April, May, and June. The transformed beetle may be found under the bark of ti^es, in autumn, where they pass the winter. Elater Ajnessifroas, (of Say,) now Ludius, so named from the vizor being pressed downwards over the lip. Body is slender and almost cyhndrical, deep chestnut brown color, appearing gray from the many short yellow hairs which cover it. Thorax of moderate length, not much narrowed be- fore, convex above, hinder angles very long and sharp pointed, and, in certain lights, of a brassy hue. Wing-covers finely punctured, with slender longi- tudinal lines impressed on them. Claws not toothed beneath. Length, four-tenths or five-tenths of an inch ; females larger. Elater Obesus, (of Say,) now Agriotes, is a short, thick beetle, dark brown, covered with dirty, yellowish hair, which, on the wing-covers, is arranged in stripes. Head and thorax thickly punctured, wing-covers punctured in rows. Length three-tenths of an inch. It is seen in April, May, and June, among the roots of grass, underneath boards and rails which lie on the ground, and on fences. KoUar says : " This beetle is especially injurious to oats, causing the leaves to become dry and fall off. It destroys whole fields of corn by attacking the roots. The larvjfi are slender, linear, fleet, shining, smooth, slightly hairy and brown. The last ring of the body terminates in a toothed forceps. It re- sembles the meal worm. We now reach the Weevil tribe, of v/hich there are many kinds. They are distinguished from the preceding and from other insects by having the forepart of the head prolonged into a broad muzzle, or a snout, more slender, in the end of which is the opentng of the mouth. Their name is suggested by this feature, viz, : Rhynchophorid^ ; or Snout-bearers. They are of small size ; antenna^ are on the muzzle or snout, knotted at the end, feelers very small, and gen- erally concealed in the mouth. The abdomen is often of au oval form, wider than the thorax. Legs short, and the soles of the feet short and flattened. They live upon bark, stems, leaves, buds, flowers, and fruit, and are often very destructive. They fly by day ; though some kinds have very short wings, and are unable to fly. They walk slowly, and when alarmed, they turn back their auteunaj, fold up their legs, and fall from the plant. They use their snout in eating and in boring. Their grubs are short, fleshy, whitish, and without legs. The head is covered with a hard shell, rings of their bodies very convex, or hunched. Jaws strong and bony. Most of them are transformed within the vegetable on which they feed, though some of them enter the ground, and there undergo th^ change which converts them into beetles. Seed peas are often found with holes in them, the work of these insects; and perhaps the insect is still to be seen within the substance of the pea in spring in the form of a small oval beetle, one-tenth of an inch or more in length, rusty black, with a white spot on the hinder part of the thorax, and several dots behind the ENTOMOLOGY. 139 middle of each wing-cover, and a white spot, resembling a T in form, on the expiised extremity of the body. It is the Bnichus Pisi, of Linnreus, and is familiarly known as the Pea-bug. The larvse feed upon the pea in its soft state. The grub is changed to a pupae in the autumn, and daring the winter becomes a beetle, and bores a passage sufficiently large for its egress. In laying the egg, the beetle pierces the pulp of the pea, leaving a small puncture, the place of which is rendered visible by its discoloration, the spot on the pod corresponding to that on the pea. Bruchid^ is the name of the Weevil tribe. Various plans are proposed in checking the ravages of this insect. One is, by keeping seed peas in a tight vessel, more than one year, before .planting them. Another, immersing them in hot water before planting. Late plant- ing has been found etfectual. ^ The crow, blackbird, and the oriole devour them, splitting open the pea for this purpose. CuRCULioNiD.E, or the Curculio tribe, is extensive and highly destructive, attacking fruit and forest trees, and making great havoc. Of the latter kind, we shall treat hereafter. The falling of unripe plums, cherries, apples, etc., is caused by the grub of these insects. Mhynchcenus, (now Conotrachelus,) Nenuphar ; or Plum Weevil. This is the Eh. Argula, of Fabricius. Their color is dark brown, variegated with white, yellow, and black spots ; thorax vmeven. They are found as early as 30th of March, and continue through the season of fruiting. They are from three- twentieths to one-fifth of an inch in length, exclusive of their curved snout, which is larger than their thorax, and when they are at rest is bent under their breast. Color dark brown, variegated with white, yellow, and black spots ; thorax uneven. Several short ridges may be seen on their wing-cover, those on the middle of the back forming two considerable humps of a black color, behind which there is a wide band of ochre yellow and white. Their thighs have two dttle teeth on the under side. As soon as the plum is set, they pierce it with th«ir snout, lay an egg in the puncture, and thus go from plum to plum over the tree. The irritation produced by these punctures makes the young fruit gummy and diseased, and it falls off before it is ripe. When disturbed or shaken from the tree it resembles a bud in its general appearance, especially when feigning death, as it does when it is alarmed. The grub, which is a small, yellowish, footless white maggot, leaves the fallen fruit, enters the earth, changes into a pupa, and in the first brood comes to the sur- face again, in about three weeks, in beetle form, to propagate its species and destroy more fruit. It has not been decided whether the latest generation of the weevil remains in the ground all winter in the grub or in the pupa state. Dr. E. S. Sanborn, of Andover, Mass., asterts that the grubs, after having en- tered the earth, return to the surface in about six weeks as perfect weevils, which must remain hidden in crevices until sprino-. Some of the remedies recommended for preventing the ravages of these insects are absurd, such as tying cotton around the trees in order to prevent them from ascending, since they are furnished with wings, and fly from tree to tree with the greatest ease. Among the remedies at present in use, one is to cover the fruit with a coating of white-wash, mixed with a little glue, applied by means of a syringe ; another is to spread a sheet upon the ground under the tree, and then jar the principal branches suddenly, with a mallet red with cloth, so as not to bruise the bark, when the perfect insects will nto the sheet and feign death, and may be gathered and destroyed. 140 ENTOMOLOGY. ^ / Hogs are sometimes turned into plum orchards, where, by eating the fallen and diseased fruit, they materially lessen the evil Coops of chickens placed under the trees, and the branches ofien shaken, the insects fall, and are eagerly seized and devoured. All fellen fruit should be gathered up sev- eral times in the course of the season and burnt, or given to hogs, or des- troyed in some other way. By so doing, thousands of the grubs which have not yet left the plums are destroyed. Peaches, nectarines, cherries, and even apples, pears, and quinces, it is said, are attacked by this insect. The large warts of a black color, as if charred, seen on many plum trees, are supposed to be pr^ duced by the punctures of these beetles, and to be the residence of the grub. The most efficient security against these insects is the shaking of the trees every morning and evening while they remain in beetle form. When thus disturbed, they fold their legs and fail, and may be caught in a sheet, and, being properly confined, thrown into the fire. All the fruit that is pierced should be gathered as soon as it falls,. and after being boiled may be fed to swine. The diseased limbs should be treated with a knife, and the diseased parts be burned, early in the season. Calandra, (now Sitophilus,) Oryzm, or the Curculio Oryzae, of Linnoeus, is a small insect resembling the wheat weevil, about one-tenth of an inch in length, exclusive of the snout, having two large red spots on each wing-cover. This weevil lays its eggs on the rice in the fields as soon as the grain begins to swell. The parent bores a hole into the grain, drops a single egg^ and thus goes from grain to grain. When the grub is grown, it bores a hole through the grain, artfully stopping it with the flour of the rice, and are iu the winter changed to pupa3. The following spring they become beetles and come out of the grain. These beetles can be removed from the rice by winnowing and sifting the grain in the spring. Another beetle has been very destructive to pear trees. The leaves and branches of the tree suddenly wither and die ere mid-summer. These efiects have been traced by some scientific gentlemen to the depredations of a small beetle, only one-tenth of an inch in length, according to Dr. Harris incor- rectly named by Prof Peck, Scolytus Pyri. Its color is deep brown, antennae and legs paler, thorax short, convex, rounded, and rough before. Wing-covers minutely punctured in rows, and they slope oflf very suddenly and obliquely behind. Shanks widened and flattened towards the end, set with a few tee^h externally, and end with a short hook. Joints of the feet slender and entire. The only r-'medy consists in cutting off the limb helow the disease, and be- fore the insect makes it escape. This should be attended to in the month of June. Saperda Bioittata. The larva of this beetle is the apple tree borer, whose ravages have been so extensive through New-England and the Middle States. The upper side of the body is marked ,by two white stripes, between three of a light brown color, the face, antennse, legs, and under side of the body being white. Length one-half to three-fourths of an inch. It deposits its eggs in June or July, being laid upon the bark near the root during the night. During the day it rests among the leaves. It attacks the apples, the quince, and several fruit trees. The larvro are fleshy whitish grubs, nearly cylindrical, and tapering from the first ring to the end of the body. Head small, Jiairy, brown. The first ring is much larger than the others. The ENTOMOLOGY. 141 next are very short, and all these are covered with punctures and very minute hairs. The 4th and on to the 10th are furnished with two fleshy warts. No legs can be seen. The larva state continu-es two or three years. The final chano-e takes place within the wood, and near the bark, about the first of June, and the beetle gnaws through the surface and escapes in the night. Several remedial operations are practised. Thrusting in a wire, and thus destroying the insect, has been long practised. Sometimes the grub is cut out with a knife or gouge. Saperda (now Oberia) Tripunctata, of Fab. This insect attacks, the tall blackberry and raspberry. It differs from the preceding in having a larger head in proportion, in being cylindrical in the middle, and thickened a little at each end. The beetles are very slender, of cylindrical form, black, ex- cept the forepart of the breast and the top of the thorax, which are rusty yellow; and generally on the middle of the thorax are two black elevated spots, and there is a third dot on the hinder edge close to the scutel. Length of the beetle from three-tenths to half an inch. Its trans- formations are completed in July, and it lays its eggs early in August on the stems of the shrub, near a leaf or twig. The grub burrows directly into the pith, and consumes it for several inches, producing the death of the stem. Phyllophagous, or Leaf-eating Beetles, are numerous, but are compara- tively harmless, and are so easy of access that their destruction is not so difficult. They generally are without a snout, with short legs, and broad- cushioned feet, eyes nearly round and promment. Body in some oblong, and in others oval, broad, and very convex. Of these the Hispa Rosea (of AVeber) frequent apple trees. They are of a deep tawny or reddish yellow color, marked with deep red lines and spots. They appear late in May and early in June. Cassida aurichalcea (of Fab.) is of a brilliant brassy or golden luster, but blackish beneath, with legs of a dull yellow, and is found on the stalks of the sweet potato and the convolvulus, appearing in May and June. The larvas are broad, ovhI, flattened, dark-colored grubs, with a fring of stiff prickles round the thin edges of the body, and have a long, forked tail, which is turned over the back. They become purple early in July, and soon after are transformed to beetles, which are broad oval, and about one-fifth of an inch in length. Galeruca rittata, or criocetris vittata of Fabricius, the striped Galeruca, or cucumber bug. This insect is well known by its ravages upon melon and cucumber vines in May, and early in June. Several broods are produced during the summer. Color : light yellow, head black, a black stripe on each wing-cover, inner edge of which is also black, the abdomen, part of forelegs, knees and feet of the other legs, are black. Length, less than one-fifth of an inch. Among the preventives that have been tried, with more or less success, are sprinkling the vines with tobacco and red pepper, watering them with a solu- tion of Glauber's salts, or of tobacco, or elder, or walnut leaves, or of hops. The use of charcoal dust is highly recommended, and also of Scotch snuff and sulphur. Lighted pine knots, or staves of tar-barrels, stuck in the ground rounds the hills, in the night, attract them and thus destroy them. A cov- ering of millenet, stretched over a frame, is the surest. The Genus Haltica, one of the Halticadce, contains a small, black, jump- ing insect, very injurious to cucumbers in their early growth. The body is oval and very convex above, thorax, short ; head, broad ; autennte, slender, about half the length of the body, and implanted near the middle of the fore- head ; the hindmost thighs are very thick; surface of the body smooth, and often brilliantly colored. 142 YEAK-BO.OK OF AGRICULTUKE. , 1 These beetles eat the leaves of vegetables, preferriug plants of the cabbage, turnip, mustard, radish, and other cruciferous pla,uts. The Turnip Fly is one of the Halticas. Two ounces of sulphur mixed with a pound of turnip seed has sometimes proved a security against this insect. Hahica x>uhescens, or the Cucumber flee-beetle, is one-sixteenth of an inch long, black, with clay-yellow antenuge and legs ; body above covered with punctures, arranged in rows on the wing covers, with, a deep transverse fur- row across the hinder part of the thorax. Haltica st/iolafa, or the Wavy-striped flee beetle, may be seen in great abundance on the horse-radish, mustard, turnip, etc., in May. Haltica chalyhea (of Iliger) frequents grape vines, the buds and leaves of which it destroys. It is a greenish-blue color, underside dark green, antennae and feet a dull black, about three-twentieths of an inch long. It appears in April and early in May. A second brood is found late in July. Lime dusted over the plants when the dew is on them is useful in destroy- ing them ; also, all^aline solutions, or a pound of hard soap in twelve gallons of water, applied twice a day, with a watering pot. Kollar recommends an infusion of wormwood. The following is also recommended, which is also said to be good on rose- bushes : Get 4 lbs. quassia chips and pour four gallons of boiling water over them in a barrel. Cover to keep in steam, and stand 12 hours ; then fill the bar- rel and water daily. Cantharidid^. — The Cantharides, or Blistering beetles, form a distinct class. They are distinguished from the preceding beetles by their feet, the hindmost pair having only four joints, while the first and middle pair are five-jointed. Of these CantJiaris vittata, or Striped Cantharis, has obtained the name of the Potd.^0 Fly. It is a dull tawny yellow, or light yellowish red color above, with two black spots on the head, and two black stripes on the thorax and each of the wing covers. The underside of the body, the legs, and antennre, are black ilud covered with a grayish down. Length, about half an inch. In the Middle States it is very common. Cantharis cinerea, or Ash-colored Cantharis, is often found on potato vines about 20th June and after. Its form is more slender than the preceding. A black Cantharis is also sometimes seen in potato-fields. It is the Lytta atrata of Fabricius. Other blistering beetles occur, but are not especially injurious to fruits or flowers. They may be destroyed by being caught and immersed in scalding water, and then sold to the apothecary. Year-Book of Agriculture. — We publish in our advertising sheet the prospectus of the Year-Book of Agriculture, to be issued by Messrs. Childs & Peterson, 124 Arch street, Philadelphia. We have no other information on the subject than is furnished by this prospectus, and a printed circular which accompanied it ; but the plan is certainly very capital, and carried out, as we are justified in ex'pecting it will be, it ought to receive the attention of every agriculturist. We recommend the work to the examination of all our readers. FOREST TREES OF NICnOLS. 143 FOIJ TlIS TLOUGn, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. FOREST TREES OF NICHOLS, N. T,, AND VICINITY. Acer Bubrum. — Red Maple, or Soft Maple. — No. 1. — The Eed Maple is^ found here, from the lowest creek flats to the tops of the highest hills, several hundred feet above the stre'am ; and from sixty to seventy-five feet high, some- times two feet or more in diameter, but generally less. The wood is close grained, of a reddish color. Sometimes the variety called Curled Maple oc- curs, in which the wood is winding or twisting, which renders it very hard to split. I have frequently been fifteen or twenty minutes spliting a log of tirevvood that would not have taken more than five minutes if it had been straight grained. By a close attention to tbe grain of the wood, when cut- ting down the tree, this can be remedied. The wood of this tree is very val- uable for fuel, and for mechanical purposes it is best to saw into scantlings, four and a half inches square, and is worth now |8 per thousand — has been generally about $10. The leaves of this maple are from five to six inches in length, and near that in width, and frequently not half that size ; and from three to five lobed, and serrated, or notched on the edges ; of a beautiful green color on the up- per side, and a whitish pubescence on the under. These leaves turn up be- fore a storm, and show the white side in a beautiful manner. Stems to the leaves from tv^o to six inches in length, and of a reddish color ; the young .sprouts are of the same color. Flowers this year were in full bloom on the 24th of April, and fruit ripe on the l7th of June, contrary to the opinion of our venerable botanist Dr. J. Torrey. He says fruit ripe in September. Flowers red, and in great numbers, this year appearing a number o^' days before the leaves, giving the trees a beautiful appearance ; flowers and fruit on stem about two inches in length, fruit of a reddish color in clusters, two ^eeds always attached together, base to base, with a wing on one side, near one inch in length. The Eed Maple makes a beautiful shade tree, and is set out along a num- ber of public highways. The branches incline toward the body of the tree in a beautiful manner. The wood of the Red Maple, like the other species !,f maples, if left exposed to weather, soon decays, and the stumps from \]xe -mailer class of trees sprout very much two or three years. Cutting the sprouts either in the longest days or later part of August will destroy them, and the stumps in eight or ten years will rot out. The young of Red Maple has a dark smooth bark; the old tree deep furrowed and rough. Acer Saccharinum. — Sugar Maple, Hard Maple. — No. 2. — This tree grows in this vicinity on the creek flats, also on the high hills in all elevations and situations, from sixty to eighty feet high, and two feet, rarely three feet, ill diameter. Bark of a light color, and quite rough when full grown. Wood yellowish white and very hard, generally quite knotty after getting up twenty or thirty feet. The wood of this tree is of the best quality for i'uel and for mechanical and cabinet- ware, especially when it is in the form of Curled or Birdseye Maple. It is then used for the front of chairs, bureaus, etc. The lumber from the' Sugar Maple is worth here about $10 per thous- and ; rare kinds much more. From the sap of this tree, the common Maple sugar is made. The sap is drawn oflf by cutting a slanting box five or six inches long and two feet deep, about two feet from the ground, and insert a t 144 FOREST TREES OF NICHOLS. spile in the lower corner of the box. Another method is to bore in near the ground with a three-quarter inch auger in which a spile is inserted. The sugar IS made by boiling the sap in kettles. A good-aized tree will make from ten to twelve pounds of sugar in a year. On account of the low price of cane sugar, there has been but little Maple sugar made in this vicinity for the last ten years, and it is worth nov/ from ten to fifteen cents a pound. The season of sugar making is generally from the 20th of February to the 15th of April This is one of the most beautiful shade trees we have in this vicinity ; and is generally planted by the side of all the public highways and yards. The branches generally grow so as to form a p^ rauiid, and are generally loaded with the most beautiful leaves. The Sugar Maple is quite a slow grower, and its extreme hardness makes it bad to cut into firewood, especially if cut down sei^eral months before it is made into wood. In clearing new land of this kind of trees, it is often the case that they fall across one another, when they are burned into, and so worked into short lengths without much labor. In burning a new fallow the fire will often continue in a large tree of this kind fifteen or twenty days. Its leaves are truncated, and somewhat cordate at the base, a beautiful green on the upper side, and whitish on the under, three to five lobed; lobes with a slender acumiaation, leaves from four to five inches long and a trifle more wide, especially across the lobes. Stems to the leaves from two to six inches long. Flowers appearing this year on the 1st of May of a beautiful yellowish green color. I judge the fruit will be ripe about the first of September. The fruit is of the same shade as the Red Maple, and about one-third larger. Stems to the fruit are about two and a half inches long. Acer Pennsylvanicum. — Moose Wood, Striped Maple. — No. 3. — This small Maple, like the others, is found on high and low land, and is quite scarce. It is seldom more than twenty-five high, and from four to five inches in diameter. The bark is smooth, of a dark green color, with sometimes a a black stripe, with the ends of the branches with white stripes, giving the tree a beautiful ap2)earance. Leaves five to seven inches long, and from four to five inches wide, fre- quently near twice that size ; three lobed, with end of the leaves running to 3 sharp point, edge of the leaves finely notched. Flowers appear about the 1st May, and fruit ripe about the 1st of September, Flowers much larger than either the Sugar or Red Maple, and of a beautiful green color. Fruit in clusters, on long stems ; from eight to fourteen on a stem ; yields a sweet sap almost equal to the Hard Maple. Acer Spicatum. — Mountain Maple. — No. 4. — This Maple is a shrub or small tree, growing from four to sixteen feet high, and from two to three inches in diameter. The bark of a light color. In this vicinity it is found growing only along small streams and is shady places. Leaves from three to four inches long, and about that wide. Many of them not half that size ; the larger leaves, three lobed, and the smaller with no lobes ; edge of leaves deeply notched. Flowers appeared this year about the 15th of June, on long stems, from thirty to fifty on a ste'm, of a white color. Fruit leddish, much smaller than any of the other species, wings at a more obtuse augle than the other species, and a half inch long. Trees this year loaded with fruit when not five feet high. Nichols, July 30, 185-5. R. Howell. VARIETIES OF COTTON. 145 VARIETIES OF COTTOiN". The different kinds of cotton which are imported and used in Great Britain have been examined under the microscope by Dr. Ure and by Mr. E. Wilson. To their observations we are indebted for the following meas- urements. In examining a sample of cotton, it is usual to take a portion of it between the forefinger and thumb, and laying the portions as they are successfully drawn out back again on and parallel to the filaments from which they have been drawn out ; and repeating this process several times, small tufts are formed, in which the respective lengths of staple may be observed. The fibres of cotton, when drawn out from the mass in which they appear entangled, display so many irregular twists as to give them a jointed appear- ance, and, as Mr. E. Wilson observes, " in this state they resemble a string of oval beads, pointed at each extremity, and connected by their points." The entire fibre appears to taper finely to both ends, that which' is adherent to the seed being somewhat the thickest. Under the microscope the fibre is observed to be continuous, moderately twisted, flat, ribbon-hke, clear, and transparent in the middle, and obaque towards each margin. The finer and more uniform the fibre, and more inclined to twist, the better is it suited for spinning into fine yarn. But if the fibres are short, broad, and formed of flimsy ribbons, they are less suited for machine spinning, though they may yet, as before mentioned, be twisted into thread by the delicate fingers of the Hindoo. The value of cotton depends on the length, strength, and fitness, as well as on the softness and equality of the fibre. But these essential qualities are modified by color and cleanliness, that is, freedom from knots and impurities, so that there may be less waste in spinning. Formerly color had great in- fluence, but now the great distinction is into long-stapled and short-stapled. The difterent kinds of cotton difler from each other not only in the above properties, but also in considerable dift'erences in quality between different samples of the same kind of cotton. " The finest quality of Sea Island is sometimes worth three times as much as the common quality of the same class. The variation of quality in most of the other denominations is from 20 to 25 per cent., and in none of them is more than 50 per cent." These are sometimes divided into three or four qualities, as ordinary, middling, fair, and fine. At other times these are still further sub-divided, as into inferior, ordinary, middling, good-middling, middling-fair, fair, good-fair, fine, or good and fine. '■ Except the better qualties of Sea Islands there is no sort of cot- ton which is now confined it its use to any peculiar or exclusive purpose. By mixing different sorts together, and by careful management in preparing the mixture for spinning, the manufacturers can now make a substitute for almost any particular kind of cotton, except the very best. It is only requisite to add, that the long-stapled cottons are generally used for the twist or warp, and the short-stapled for the weft." Sea Island, or long-stapled cotton, the most highly esteemed of the cot- tons, is remarkable for the length and fineness of its fibre, as for its silky softness. Among white cottons it is distinguished by a slight yellowish tinge of color. This kind sells in England from eighteen pence to two shillings, and has sold as high as five and seven shillings a pound. The quantity is limited, from the peculiarity of physical circumstances required for its pro- 10 146 VARIETIES OF COTTON. duction. The fibres are equable, about 1|- in length, and examined under the microscope, about airVo^ti of an inch in diameter, formed of flattened cylinders transparent in the middle, obaque towards the margin, and more or less twisted. Dr. Ure has observed some kinds crimped transversely with irregular bandages, and some with flimsy ribbons and warts which adhere to the sides of the filaments, called neps by spinners. Mr. Wilson describes the Sea Island as thick and narrow, but looking the finest of all as seen with the naked eye. This kind is employed for spinning the finest yarns. Upland, or short-staple cotton, under which names are now usually in- cluded the produce of the interior of Georgia and Carolina, as well as of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. It used to be, and is some- times still called Bowed^ from the cotton of Georgia having been formerly cleaned with the Indian cotton-bow. Though shorter in the staple and un- equal, this is white in color, much esteemed, and forms the bulk of the cot- ton of commerce. The staple is one inch to one and a quarter inches in length. The best kinds are fit for spinning as high as No. 50, some higher ; the shorter kinds are worked up into No. 30, and other coarser yarns ; but mixed with g9od Egyptian or with Pernambuco cotton, even these can be spun into higher numbers. Under the microscope, the fibres appear less twisted than others, some as cylindric fibres with many twists, of the width of about XX 0 0 til of ^^ iiich ; thin and broad. Egyptian. — The best Egyptian cotton ranks next to Sea Island in quality and length of staple, though it is not usually so well cleaned. It was only about the year 1821 that the Pasha began the cultivation, by importing seed from America and the Mediterranean and from Brazil. These different kinds may, therefore, be met with in cultivation there, though the Sea Island yields the best kind of cotton, called Mako, which is used here like that kind for the finest yarns. It has a staple of 1^ to If inches in length, from __i__.th to -ooVo^^ of an inch in breadth, uniform, spiro-cylindrical, thin and broad. Some excellent cotton has been sent from Port Natal ; that from the island of Bourbon used formerly to be much esteemed. Some has also come from the west coast of Africa. West Indian. — The West Indies supplied England with the largest quan- tity of cotton in the eighteenth century ; but the cultivation was neglected when sugar became more profitable, and the imports have greatly fallen off". But the cotton is long-stapled, silky, and may be produced of a quality equal to Sea Island. Bourbon cotton is the same species that is cultivated in the West Indies. The cotton of Porto Rico was at one time considered to be the best; that of St. Domingo has been spun into No. 100 yarn ; and some of the finest cotton ever grown was in Tobago by Mr. Robly, between 1789 and 1792. The cottons of Barbadoes, Guadaloupe, and Jamaica, were also highly esteemed. Bryan Edwards (Hist, of the AVest Indies, 1793,) mentions a green-seeded cotton, from which the cotton can only be separated by hand. Inferior kinds, or shorter-stapled cottons, may, therefore, be imported from these islands. Dr. Ure describes the St. Domingo cotton as composed of narrow twisted ribbons, from yuVotli to T2Votli of an inch, with a few flat- tened cylinders and some spiry fibres. South American Cotton. — In the year 1780, Mr. Bryan Edwards states that" the finest grained and most perfectly cleaned cotton which was brought to the English market was, he believed, that of the Dutch plantations of Berbice, Dcmerara, and Surinam, and of the island of Cayenne ;" and that these cottons sold at that time for two shillings a pound. The first importa- tions of cotton are stated to have first takc-n place from Maranham in the VARIETIES OF COTTO]Sr. 147 year 1781. The Pernarabnco was soon afterwards sent, of so fine and su]ie- rior a quality as to be highly esteemed, and its price ranked next to the Sea Island. The staple is long and fine, generally well cleaned, glossy, some with a yellowish tinge ; spins into a stout yarn, and is esteemed by hosiers. It continues to be imported into England from all these places, as well as from Bahio, Maceio, Para, also from Peru ; inferior qualities from Carthagena. The fibre is in length about l^V to li of an inch ; is cylindrico-spiral, about , 5V0 ^^ *<^ 2 oV 0-^^ of an inch in diameter ; some with a few twisted ribbons and warty excrescences on the sides of the filaments. East Indian Cotton. — Considerable, though varying quantities of cotton, we have seen, are imported from India. It varies a great deal as obtained from different districts ; is esteemed for its color, though all is short-stapled, and generelly sent in a dirty state to market. In those of this country it is known by the name of Surats, Madras and Bengal, while the name Surats is often used as a general term for Indian cottons. Some of this cotton is of good quality and fit for general purposes, while the great mass is only bought when American cotton is dear. The cottons of Surat, of Broach, and of Berar are all included under the name of Surats, forming the kinds which are most esteemed here. The cottons of Cutch, of Candeish, etc., are like- wise exported from Bombay, whence also England obtains the cotton of Coompta, which is produced in the southern Mahrattaern country and in the most southern part of Berar. These are also cottons naturally of good qual- ity. Under the head of Madras, the cottons of Salem, Coimbatore and Tin- nivelly are included, which rank higher than the cottons of Bellary, Guntoor, and the ceded districts. Bengal cottons include those from the northwest provinces, from Bundlecund, as well as what is imported from Nagpore and Berar. The latter kinds are of the same, quality as are exported from Bom- bay ; but they are generally used up by the weavers of the upper parts of the Bengal presidency. Some Bourbon cotton is also exported, from Madras, the produce chiefly of the southern provinces of the peninsula ; though es- teemed, it is inferior to the original Bourbon. The Indian cottons, under the microscope, appear less spiry ; a few flattened cylinders, with many flimsy ribbons and warty excrescences, varying in diameter from gju-th to ToV 0 th of an inch ; some are jsVo^^ ^^ o oV 0^^ °^ ^^ ^^^^- ^^ length dif- fering from Hths to lyV^^ ^^ ^^ inch. Mediterranean Cottons. — Much cotton is cultivated in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. It is generally the produce of the In- dian species of plant, though American seeds have been introduced into some other places as well as into Egypt. These are cultivated in Asia Minor, in parts of Greece and the islands ; generally known as Levant, some as Smyrna cottons. The Italian cottons are produced in Sicily, in Calabria, near Naples, and in Malta. The cottons of Sicily, of Calabria, and of Cas- tellamare, are the best, and are probably the produce of an American species. A Nankin cotton is cultivated in Malta, and used there. Most of these cot- tons are employed for native manufacturers in the countries where they are grown, or are exported for the use of the manufacturers of the continent. They are seldom brought to Great Britain, except when the price of cotton is very high. Though we have noticed the appearance of the filament of cotton under the microscope, it is to be observed that the fingers of practised brokers have a delicacy of touch that enables them to judge most correctly of the fineness and length of staple, and some will pronounce, even in the dark, on the value of cotton. But the difierent varieties might yet be subjected with 148 ' EDUCATION OF FARMERS. benefit to further microscopical examination, to ascertain the effects of the different processes of culture, in the several soils and climates of different countries, on the length, breadth, and smoothness of the fibre. — De Bow's Review. FOB THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL, EDUCATION OF FARMERS. The notions are becoming obsolete that the cultivation of the mind an d the cultivation of the soil are antagonistic, and that education is due only to "the professions." It belongs to our strong-minded farmers to Tirork a* still greater reform in their midst. As improvements are made in agriculture, it becomes neces- sary, if a farmer would take respectable rank in his class, that he should be intelligent upon subjects relating to his department of industry; for the be- lief is becoming more popular every day, that the farmer who has his mind weU stored is pretty sure to have his barns well stored also. This belief, per- haps, more than any other cause, has aided in carrying the weekly and monthly periodical to the country fireside, and made sale for thousands of volumes on agricultural science. As a thirst for knowledge increases with its gratification, study and re- search in one department of science naturally creates a desire to extend the range. If farmers will encourage such desires in their children, mental cul- ture and refinement will be found to adorn the social circle in the country as well as in the city. Indeed, there is no class more favorably circum- stanced than the agricultural, for enjoying the true pleasures which general intelligence affords. With homes of taste where they might enjoy their hours of repose, with companionship that elevates and refines, the sons of the farmer would not think their dignity and respectability increased by be- ing permitted to stand behind a city counter measuring laces and silk?. It is quite common for complaints to be uttered, that country people do not hold the position which they ought; that they are looked down upon by other classes. For this farmers are themselves responsible to a great extent. Let them manifest as much zeal and care upon the improvement of their families as they do upon their blooded stock; let not the poetry of life be all crushed by sweat and toil ; let them give liberal patronage to literary and scientific institutions ; then will the wealth which an intelligent understand- ing of the principles of agriculture brings, and the power which knowledge Q-ives, place the farming class where no derogatory comparisons can, with truth, be offered. The discoveries of the last few years have elevated agriculture almost into the rank of exact sciences. Certain conditions being given, the intelligent farmer knows precisely what to do in order to accomplish desired results. — Proofs of the advantages which such enjoy may be deduced from the many letters which are daily published, written from various parts of the country, asking for information concerning the treatment of lands etc. Did the writers of many of these letters possess, in connection with their practical skilly MANURES, 149 a knowledge of the organized sciences and their handmaid, Chemistry, they would be capable of giving the information sought instead of asking it. The great principle upon wliich scientific agriculture is based, is this : " not a particle of matter can be created, not a particle can be lost." It is on this principle that manures are applied to soil, that crops are varied, that old and exhausted lands are renovated. But the economical and intelligent husbandman has no exhausted fields. He knows the elements of plants to be few, and the stimulants he can gene- rally command, to a great extent, from his own resources. In studjing the lav/3 of chemical and vital philosophy, he has wide scope for observation, and for controling the processes of decomposition and recomposition to the accomplishment of specific ends. From Spring to Autumn, from Autumn - or Spring, his broad acres are his laboratory and observatory. He sees in the death and decay of one season, elements for the beauty, brightness, and wealth of the next. In -this country there is no position too high for the aspirations of the in- telligent and successful farmer. Has he by his own toil subdued the land, and by his acquaintance with nature's laws reaped golden harvests, he finds himself secure in the possession of two means for controlling men. First, that willingness, " to know his work and do it," which Carl^le says is the mission, of every man, and which forms a strong link of brotherhood with those who are delving. Second, he possesses wealth which has a charm to open a passage to the hearts of a certain class. If, added to these, he has that intelligence which commands the respect of cultivated persons, he pos- sesses perhaps greater power than any other man for gratifying an honorable ambition. The people regard him as their own, they look up to him, and are willing to crown him with the wreath of honor. June Isle. M A]Sr UEES. HOV?" THEY ACT HOW TO BE APPLIED. Writers on this subject are in the habit of classifying manures under dif- ferent titles, as stimulants, fertilizers, etc. There is, however, an objection to this, because such an arrangement seems to give the impression that the earth is, like the human body, acted upon through nerves which excite or which produce stupor in the system, as one or another application is made, and again through other organisms which actually yield new elements, suited for the actual transformations needful, in order to assimilate its substance to the plants, actually to unite or annex these prepared elements to the structure of the plant. The views of any writer, in reference to these matters, are mere theories, often crude and inconsistent, or often are nothing better than hypothesis or mere supposition. Certain facts, however, are pretty well ascertained, and under this class we may place the following : 1. Some kinds of manure act indirectly by producing chemical changes in the soil with which it comes in contact. Tiiey may dissolve or render solu- ble what was before insoluble, and thus render fertile what was useless. 150 MANURES. 2. Some applications may produce a reverse action, and by transmitting into insoluble combinations what was before soluble, produce barrenness, 3. Some applications produce a change only on the physical condition of the soil, acting precisely as the spade does ; namely, causing the earth to become porous, or pulverulent and light, in contradistinction to a consolidated, adhe- sive mass. If the ground is in the latter condition, neither the roots nor the rain can find their way into it. Like hardened clay, it resists the effect of the one and sheds the other. 4. A given element, necessary for certain chemical or vital actions, may bo wanting, and the fertility of a soil may be increased by the proper ad- dition of this deficiency. But when we begin to classify different manures, among the^e different agencies, we are far from actual demonstration. In a hundred experiments, we may find ninety corroborating our favorite theory. The other five are ab- solutely and irreconcilably inconsistent Avith it. The received process, in such case, is to announce that our theory is confirmed by numerons experi- ments, and to treat the results of the other five as some mistake, or as tainted with error or imperfection in its management. All knowledge is useful. Each branch of science is indispensable in its place. But it is not unfrequently dragged out of its place, and made to ap- pear more as a clown or " fool" than the declarations of true wisdom. All farmers would find great benefit in a thorough practical knowledge of chemistry ; but all farmers never will be chemists any more than they will be physicians or lawyers. It requires as long study and as thorough practice to be a truly skillful and practical chemist, as it does to be a good physician or a good lawyer. We may talk about this incur public addresses, and write about it in our journals, but no Methusaleh will ever live long enough to see such a diffusion of knowledge actually accomplished. Our lands are just about as much diseased as our bodies are. As stated elsewhere in this number, there are scores that have some physical ailment, generally or frequently fastened upon them in the primary school, while others are inherited from their parents, where there is one strong, vigorous, well- developed system, without any weak spot in it. No one expects that all will become skilled in prescribing for all the ills that "flesh is heir to," and why should they drpam of any such reform in respect to the " theory and practice" of agriculture? We hope to cure these bodily ills, but only by im- proving our school benches, and our habits in childhood and youth, and by having wise teachers and wise committees and trustees, while it will be the part of the children to obey. The process must be analogous to this, in re- claiming our waste lands. Animals fed on food which is destitute of certain elements, will exhibit corresponding diseases in their own bodies. The same phenomenon is uni- versally witnessed in plants which grow sickly and feeble for want of one or more of those elements. The land is barren, the crop fails, and the season is lost, perhaps, for the want of a few j^ounds of phosphorus per acre, or a very small supply of nitrogen. Thus we lay down such general statements as we have given at starting, and prescribe, in general terms, that for close, compact lands, the plough, the cultivator, and the harrow must be vigorously applied ; that in heavy, moist soils some compost of an opposite character must be thoroughly mingled ; and when we have formed a list of such rules of moderate length, we have gone to our utmost limit. No milleuiuin of our anticipation will ever produce i^irned men without persevering laborious study, nor allow one to be dili- MANURES. ' 151 gent for a whole day in out-door labor, and then do a day's work in the li- brary at its close. It is only the few wonderfully apt minds of those who are not eminent for the amount of work accomplished in their own calling, that seem to furnish exceptions. We therefore must content ourself and our readers by an endeavor to give general principles, with a few appropriate directions, when the conditions of the case are obvious, and leave the rest to the agricultural chemist, who, if properly trained, may give specific directions in each case, presented to him, precisely after the manner of a family physician. Certain facts are well established. If by tight shoes we produce corns on the foot, one essential part of any remedy must consist in removing this pres- sure. So if our farmers have exhausted their soils by repeated crops, while the harvests removed have not been supplied in some other form, the land must deteriorate. And one essential point must not be overlooked ; to wit, this process inust he sto2)2)ed. No plan can be successfur in endeavors to do this, which does not carefully regard this fact. The farmer must know what he has removed, and what he has returned. Probably few have manured their lands to an amount equal to what has been removed in the accidentals of the crop, so to speak — such as the straw of various grains, the stalks of corn, the tops of potatoes, etc. Now a good crop of grain cannot be grown without a healthy, vigorous straw ; unless this growth is liberally provided, the crop must be a comparative faili^. Barn- yard manures, next to the straw itself, are the best application for such a pur- pose. If deficient in anything, it must be in the silex, and this is abundant on almost all soils, though it may be in a condition to render it useless to the plant. Hence, silex in soluble form, or an application that shall render it soluble in water, in such cases will not be out of place. Rest, however, is generally sufficient for this purpose. Natural agents act of themselves if let alone, and a year or two of rest will prove of great value to all soils exhausted by frequent croj^s. A change in the nature of the successive crops, that is, judicious rotation, is another efficient mode of restoring the fertility of such soils. In liquid manures, as urine, etc., these elements are already in solution, and hence act more rapidly when applied than solid manures. IBut for the same reason they are less efficient in renewing worn out soils, their efficacy being chiefly exhausted during the growth of the first crop. The value of all manures is in proportion to the amount of useful elements which they contain, in soluble form. The following arrangement shows the elements which are most likely to be deficient, and which must therefore be provided by the successful farmer.' 1. Nitrogen. — This is as important for plants as for animals, and whether it is obtained from tbe soil or ihe atmosphere, it is perfectly clear that this and all other matters which go to make up a " fertile soil," as generally un- derstood, must be placed within the reach of the plant. This supply of ni- trogen maT/ be always appropriated from the ammonia which is in the air or in the soil, as chemists claim, but this does not enable the plant to dispense with the element in the soil. It must be furnished in some form. ~ 2. Phosphorus. — This is another essenti'al element, which ought never to be omitted. It exists in barn-yard manures, and all animal excrements. Still, an additional supply from guano, bones, etc., in many cases will prove highly useful. Especially is this the case where the cereals have been grown, for those crops consume the phosphorus much more rapidly than many other crops. 152 HOKTICULTUKAL. 3. Sulphur is another element which is often used up by successive crops. This is furnished in gypsum, which is a compound of sulphuric acid and lime, and is therefore the sulphate of lime. Look over the various tables of analysis, note what crops contain this element in the greatest proportion, and if such crops have been or are to be grown on a given soil, it is at least safe to use this fertilizer freely. 4. The several alkalis may come next in order. An examination of dif- ferent analyses will show which of these is most abundant ia a given growth, and your knowledge of the crops raised will enable you to judge whether either of these is likely to be deficient. Three per cent, of hme should exist on all soils. It is always safe to apply them all, as an excess of alkali is not one of the evils ordinarily requiring caution in the preparation of soils. The alkalis may be supplied from bones, ashes, lime, gypsum, etc. 5. Carbon is present in all c»ops, and is always useful in every kind of soil, and though it is supposed to be appropriated by the plant from the atmos- phere, it must form a part of every good soil, and though injurious when supplied so freely as to render the atmosphere of the plant essentially impure to the exclusion of Oxygen, etc., there is liitle actual danger of such excess. Charcoal dust, powdered peat, etc., contain this element in a very convenient form. 6. Iron may exist in excess in soils, but this occurs only in limited territories. The m#de in which these manures should be applied depends on their na- ture ar^d the specific object in view. When lands are to be improved, all manures should be composted, or at least ploughed in and thoroughly mixed and incorporated with the soil. If the increase of a growing crop is the aim , of the farmer, he may sprinkle them on the surface, and mix in with the harrow, etc , if the nature of the crop permits such operations, or he may use liquid manures as irrigants. Small portions used in the hill at the time of planting, act on the next crop chiefly, and if used freely wall, in some limited degree, improve the general character of the soil. Where stocks are small, and the supply of barn-yard manure limited, various composts, as found on many pages of our journal should be mainly relied upon. HORTICULTURAL. Aktwerp Raspberries. — The Poughkeepsie (N. Y.) Eagle gives a very good account of the details and extent of one branch of " Fruit Cul- ture" thus : But few persons are aware of the extent and importance of this compara- tively new branch of Agricultural, or rather Horticultural business. The most extensive operations in this part of the country, are carried on at Milton, Ulster county, although the fruit is largely cultivated in this country. There are now about 100 acres of Raspberries in bearing, in the immediate vicinity of Milton, and immense quantities of plants are being set out every year. A few days ago we visited the Raspberry plantation of Nathaniel Hallock, at Milton, in order to learn the modus operandi of the culture. Mr. Hal- lock's being one of the principal plantations. HORTICULTURAL. 153 The pickers were in the fields -with tbeir baskets between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning, as soon as the dew was off the pknts, as the berries do not keep so well when picked wet. In a short time the pickers began to bring in the baskets of berries. These baskets hold about a pint, and are very neat looking, being made of willow, and much superior to the baskets in whieh strawberries are sold, in fact the berries would hardly sell if sent to New-York in strawberry baskets. There were about fifty pickers at work — men, women and children — the women being the most expert pickers, of course. One person was employed constantly, and a part of the time several per- sons, packing the baskets. The baskets, as soon as picked and examined, are packed into boxes of different sizes, according to the crop of thnt day. The object of putting them into boxes is to insure their safe transit to the market, and in order j;o do this the packer has to work carefully to fit the baskets in so that each one braces the other ; when the boxes are filled to the top, the lid is closed and locked, and the boxes are ready for shipment. The season lasts about six weeks, and this peiiod is one continual round of business ; the berries being sent off to New- York every night except Satur- day, (there being no sale for them on Sdnday.) The berries were all picked about six o'clock, and after supper they were conveyed to the landing, the baskets making two very heavy two horse loads, and as we could calculate the steamboat took off about 60,000 baskets that night, making about 20 tons of berries, exclusive of the weight of boxes and baskets. The baskets are imported from France by hundreds of .thousands every year, and although such quantities are manufactured every year, the supply is inadequate to the demand, the latter exceeding the former by about one-half. The culture of the plants requires the services of a largo number of people. The pickers constitute a small army, there being from five to ten, and often more required for each acre, according to the time in the season, which was at its height this year about the second week in July. The manufacture of the boxes in which the baskets of berries are packed is no small item, and the steamboats that carry this extra freight are obliged to employ extra men to handle it. This business, though at first view it seems small, gives employment to, and distributes its gains among thousands of persons. From the Milton landing, the average daily export is 10,000 baskets, and the retail price in New- York, averages about ten cents per basket, thus the product of 100 acres, amount to 81,000 per day, or 842,000 per season. We can call to mind no other crop which produces as much per acre, or which gives employment to so many. Catawissa Raspberry. — The Catawissa raspberry originated in the grave- yard of a little Quaker meeting-house in the village of Catawissa, Columbia county, Pa.- The. fruit is of medium size, inferior to many of the new popu- lar varieties, but is sufficiently large for all economical purposes. Its color is dark red purple when ripe, and is of a-very high flavor. It bears most 154 HORTICULTUKAL. abundantly after the young wood, on which it produces its best fruit, attains a height of four or five feet; usually begins to ripen early in August, and even sooner. The fruit is produced on branches continually pushing out from all parts, successively appearing in various stages of growth, from the blossom to perfect maturity ; and often there may be counted more than fifty berries on a branch. As the fruit of each branch successively ripens, the later ones gradually diminish in size; but there is no suspension of blooming or fruiting, before the plant is checked by frost. If protected in doors, it undoubtedly would produce during the winter months. One great advan- tage of this over other varieties of the raspberry is, that if the stocks should be accidentally broken off, or should be killed by winter frost, it is all the better for the crop. Another advantage is, that from the small space of a few yards well cultivated, a daily dessert for a small family would always be at hand for from three to four months of the year. 0'^ lONICERA FRAGRATISSIMA. This is a sub-evergreen hardy shrub. Flowers whitish, very sweet scented. Native of China, Belongs to Caprifoils. Introduced by the Horticultural Society. HORTICULTURAL. 155 This is one of the plants obtained from China by Mr. Fortune, while in the service of the Horticultural Society, but has not flowered in the Chiswick Garden, where it has been merely known as a perfectly hardy " Caprifolium." In January, 1853, it blossomed in the garden of the Marquis of Salisbury, at Hatfield, whence Mr. William Ingram, the gardener there, sent us speci- mens, with the following note, on the 13th of April : " The plant which aftbrds me these flowers has been^ in bloom since January. It occupies an east wall, and has enjoyed no particular advantages of soil or treatment. The flowers appear with the earliest development of the leaves ; and although not large or otherwise striking in appearance, com- pensate for any deficiency by their exceeding fragrance, combining the rich- ness of the perfume of orange blossoms with the delicious sweetness of the honeysuckle." Its evergreen foliage distinguishes it from all the previously-known species of the Chamfficerasus division of the genus. — Paxioii's Flower Garden. THE NEW-ROCHELLE BLACKBERRY. We have just received a specimen of the fruit of the New-Rochelle blackberry, for which we are indebted to the politeness of Messrs. George Seymour & Co., of South Norwalk, Ct. The berries were slightly bruised in transportation, some forty miles on the railroad ; but we assure our readers, nevertheless, that they afibrded us a very fine treat. Mr. Woodwortb, our neighbor of Woodworth's Youtli's Cabinet, who has just paid a visit to the nursery of Messrs. Seymour & Co., assures us that this blackberry is all that has been claimed for it. He counted upwards of 800 berries onone stalk, many of them of gigantic size, and all much larger than the common variety. Messrs. Seymour & Co. have several acres devoted to the cultivation of the plants, though they have no hope of being able to supply the demand for the next season. . We are well assured that there is no humbug in this black- berry. Currants. — A writer in the Horticulturist speaks of the fine currants of the market gardens near London, which are grown in the following manner : They are planted in rows twenty or thirty feet apart, and three or four feet apart in the rows ; the ground which is naturally good is highly ma- nured, and cropped between with vegetables. When the plants commence bearing, they are pruned very hard ; the greater part of the young wood is thinned out, and what is allowed to remain is shortened back to three or four inches. By this means- the trees are always kept short, never attaining a greater height than two or three feet. These strong manured and well pruned trees produce magnificent fruit, and in great abundance, well remu- nerating the market gardener for his trouble. Wine Making is getting to be a profitable business in Lower California, where the vineyards are extensive. One proprietor last year had twenty five thousand bottles of wine from his vineyard, and this year he expects a greater yield. 156 SOUTHERN FRUITS. SOUTHERN FRUIT. THE ORANGE, LIME, LEMOX, AND FIG OF FLORIDA. The Orange. — This tree, at one time furnished the leading export of Florida, Previous to the great frost in 1835, it is said that there were over two millions shipped annually from St. Augustine alone. The orange of Florida is very large and fine flavored, and commands the highest price of any in the market, having been sold in the grove as high as $10 per thou- sand. It has been remarked that the fruits of the tropic, generally, grow to the greatest perfection near its verge. This is certainly true in regard to the orange and banana, which, in the northermost Bahama islands, are much superior to those of Cuba, St. Domingo, and localities still nearer to the equator. From the shores of the Atlantic to the Miss^issippi, the great frost of 1835 completely ruined the orange groves. The effect was probably no- where so severely felt as in Florida, where they furnished the staple crop of the country. The effect upon the city of St. Augustine,v which was one vast orange bower, is thus described by Williams : " All kinds of fruit trees were killed to the ground, and many of these never again started from the roots. The wild groves suffered equally with cultivated ones. The orange had become the staple of our commerce, sev- eral millions being annually exported. , Numerous groves had just been planted, and extensive nurseries could scarcely supply the demand for young trees. " Some of the groves the previous autumn had brought their owners one, two, and three thousand dollars ; and the increasing demand for the fruit opened prospects of mines of wealth to the inhabitants ; 'Then came a froat, a chilling frost ;' some of the orange groves estimated to be worth $10,000, were at once rendered worthless. A portion of the population of St. Augustine, who had been accustomed to look to their Orange groves for the purchase of luxuries and of necessities, were left suddenly without resource. The town of St. Augustine, that heretofore appeared like a rustic village, its white houses peeping from the clustering boughs, and golden fruit of its favorite tree, be- neath whose shade the foreign invalid cooled his fevered limbs, and imbibed health from the forest tree, how is she fallen ! Dry, unsightly poles, with rugged bark, stick up around her dwellings, and where the mocking bird delighted to build her nest and tune her lovely songs, owls now hoot at night, and sterile wiuds whistle through the leafless branches. Never was a place more desolate." Years passed on. A new growth had, in a measure, redeemed this deso- lation, when a new calamity was experienced, not as sudden, but eveatually as destructive as the frost. This was the visitation of the " insect," sgainst whose ravages nothing was found to avail. Grove after grove became blighted, yet, as some localities were spared for several years, it was hoped the destruction would not be universal. The insect first made its appearance at Mandarine, a flourishing village on the banks of the St. John's. It was thought by some to have been imported on a couple of trees brought from China and planted here. Like the weevil in the northern and southern wheat fields, nothing can stay its progress until it has run its appointed cycle, and HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY. 167 will probably disappear as mysteriously as it came. Twice, during the last hundred years, has the orange in the Mediterranean and South Europe iJeen sirailiarly attacked. And the hope that here, as in Europe, the insect will pass away, still continues to cheer the Florida orange grower, and he awaits the happy moment to renew his operations with renewed vigor. Au orange grove of common sized trees will produce from 500 to 2500 oranges per tree, worth $5 and $25 per tree. One hundred trees or more can be planted upon an acre. Very little labor is required to keep a grove in condition. The sour orange, which grows spontaneously all over the peninsubi, may be budded with the sweet orange, and will bear in three years. In maay places the banks of lakes and streams are lined with wild groves of orange, some of them great in extent. These do not seem to regard the insect to any great extent, and continue to hang their golden clusters amid the green. On the upper waters of the St. John's, and also on the Atlantic coast near New-Smyrna, fine oranges are now produced ; those from the groves of Mr. Shelden and Mr. Speer being of peculiarly large sizo and delicious flavor. L<-mous and limes grow very thickly in Florida, and are abundant in a wild state. The Sicily lemon, transplanted in Florida, is much improved I'rom the original ; the writer of this has seen a specimen which measured eleven inches in circumference. The fig attains perfection in Florida. There are several varieties of this fruit; those of a dark purple color and about the size of a hen's egg, being preferred for the dessert. A branch cut from a bearing tree, and merely stuck in the ground, will produce fruit in two years. No attempt has been made to preserve dried figs in Florida, but it is evident that some method to do this could be devised, in which case New-Smyrna might rival the Asiatic Smyrna in her export of the delicious fruit. The hawey is a miniature fig, growing upon a large beautiful tree in south- ern Florida. The fruit is above the size of a hazel nut, and grows from the limb of a tree without any apparent blossom. It is of a dark brown color, and resembhng the fig in taste. The pereiminon is a delicious fruit, when fully ripe. In fact, when it is in perfectiun, there are few tropical fruits that can rival it in richness ; when green it has a fragrant astringency, only equalled oy the prickly-ash or the wild turnip. The natives of Florida used the dried persimmon extensively as an article of food, and we read in the lists of stores and provisions fur- nished by them to the old Spanish expeditions of cakes of dried persimmon. — Abstract from Soil of the South. * HUMAN" PHYSIOLOGY. [We have long thought it would be useftd and desirable to present correct views, at length, on this m'ost important subject. We have just received the following excellent essay on one branch of the subject, which we give below as an introduction, inviting our valued correspondent, from whom we shall al- ways be happy to hear, and others who take an interest on this subject, to give their views in careful detail on any of its numerous departments. All are profitable, and appropriate discussion is never without a good result. — Ed.] 158 HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY. THE TREATMENT OF CHILDREN. Poor children! My heart aches when I look at the little things ! If you would know why, just take your stand where you can have a fair view as they come streaming out from the various departments of the public schools. How many do you see that are fat, rosy, and substantial-looking ? How many can you select that have neither sunken, sickly-looking eyes, deformed bones, or the sallow complexion unnatural to childhood ? Were I to offer to adopt all the sound and natural children you could se- lect from that mass of three or four hundred, I should not apprehend any risk of imposing a great burden upon myself. Poor children ! I wish I could read their mothers a lecture, which would ring in their ears until there was a complete reform in babydom. A mother's pride in her children is proverbial. Is it not strange, then, that she does not make childhood her first and most earnest study? Is it not passing strange that she should rear children without continuous and earnest thought and re- search upon the proper means for securing the highest degree of health and beauty ? In this matter, as in many others, that is an inexcusable weakness which leads us to walk in the old paths, for no better reason than because they are the same which our fathers and mothers trod. Remonstrances with a mo- ther upon the treatment of her child are often answered with the very foolish reason, that her mother pursued the same course in raising a family. Poor children ? My heart aches for them, that they have not mothers who will think for themselves. Through ignorant kindness or culpable thoughtlessness, many feed their children, from the age of three or four months, on meats, pastry, or whatever they themselves eat, washed down by tea and coffee. The children may thrive for a time, and be pointed out by the mistaken mothers to those who advocate " milk for babes." Such, probably, was the babyhood of ninety-nine hundredths of those un- fortunate children that were just seen issuing from the public school. With- out any regard to the indications of nature, the infant system was stimulated by those things that are with difficulty digested even by the adult stomach. Poor children ! Not only were they overfed, but from the time they were first put into the hands of the nurse, they have been tortured by their dress, as though they must thus do penance for mother Eve's transgression. Who can sit, a calm looker-on at, a baby's toilette-making — the lifting up and lay- ing down — the turning over and twisting around — the girthing and band- aging— the pinning and pulling — the powdering and dosing — the laying on of garment over garment with rule, but without reason ? So true it is that " the child is father of the man," I fear for future gener- ations, unless there be a reform in habyclom. The treatment followed in a majority of cases vitiates the system at an early age, inducing scrofulous dis- eases, premature developments, and tendency to insanity. The whole system is an unnatural and diseased condition. Years may pass, and the child may even grow to maturity without suffering from severe sickness. But when it comes to assume the responsibility of rearing offspring — what a progeny — dwarfed, mentally and physically — an embodiment of disease, born to endure life, not to enjoy it. Better would it be for our race were a Spartan severity enforced, than thus to people the earth. So long as parents exercise authority over their children in other matters, MEMOIR ON BUCKWHEAT. 159 they ought to do so intelligently in the important items of food and clothing. To the age often years, the child's food may be of the simplest character, yet nutritious enough to supply all the wants of the body. Milk, bread, ripe fruits, and vegetables certainly offer sufficient variety, and promote a healthy appetite without resorting to meats, tea, coffee, etc. At whatever age stronger food is allowed, it should be taken in moderate quantities at the noon meal. The number who are induced to mark out a path and follow it is small, because the majority are willing to blindly do as their predecessors di4. But perhaps there is no subject of more universal importance to the race than the proper treatment of children — no subject which should be more constantly brought before the minds of the people — none more worthy for employing the eloquence of philanthrophic physiologists. June Isle. FOR TUK PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. MEMOIR ON THE PRODUCTION OF BUCKWHEAT. [concluded.] It now remains to indicate sundry preparations of Buckwheat, which we extract from the '71st page of my Memoir before referred to. " Semoule. 1st. Prepared with milk, with water, and with broth. "The Semoule is .put into the boiling liquid, in due proportion, and then is frequently stirred with a sp.oon, while it is boiled over a moderate fire for half an hour. Two ounces will suffice for a litre. The water should be salt- ed to one's taste. In eating this, add a little fresh butter. 2d. If you mix four ounces of Semoule in a litre of water, you will obtain a thfckened mass, which being placed gently on a plate, and allowed to cool, will become firm. It may be cut with a knife, and being served in a soup-plate with the ad- dition of a little broth, answers as a substitute for bread. 3d. This thickened semoule, fried in a frying-pan with butter, is an agreeable dessert. 4th. Four ounces of semoule, corked with milk and cooled, the yolks of a few eggs and little sugar and raisins, make an excellent cake. (It much re- sembles cake prepared with rice. It should be cooked in a copper pan, with a hberal proportion of butter, covered, and to make a crust, a little fire may be placed on the cover.) Each one may mingle v/ith this as he j^leases, dried prunes, orange peel, raisins, cinnamon, or the water of orange flowers. oth. "The same semoule, with a little butter added to the water, and with salt and minced parseley, makes a good dessert." Instead of the parseley, sugar, cinnamon, or the water of orange flowers may be substituted. 6th. Semoule thickened with hot w^ater, with the addition of fresh butter, makes a dish which, eaten with the sauce of ragout, may be a substitute for bread." Gruau. — [From page 73 of the same Memoir.] 7th. The course meal, gruau, is prepared in the same manner which we have indicated in the 1st, 2d, 3d, and Gth of the above paragraphs, in treat- ing of Semoule, with this difference, that twice the quantity of gruau should be used as is prescribed of the semoule ; that is, four ounces for two, etc. 8th, A ragout of mutton being cooked in a sauce, well clarified, and well 160 MEMOIR OX BUCK\YHEAT, seasoned, gruau being tlien added io due proportion ; the mass stirred briskly and often, over a moderate fire, tlie result is an excellent ragout, a la Caliph of Bagdad. 9th. To make cake, the gruau, cooked in water with salt and butter, is placed in a copper pan or in a baker's oven. 10th. Mix half a pound of gruau with a litre of water, salt it, let it stand in a cold place, cover it, and send it to the baker. When cooked, cover it freely with butter, and you obtain a dessert a le the Emperor of Russia. It is improved by the ad- dition of butter in the pot before it is cooked. The gruau of Buckwheat serves also for the confection of excellent pud- dings. They may be prepared as follows : — Upon a half pound of gruau, pour a little boiling watar, mixed with a pound of the liver of veal, of mutton, or of pork, and mix it with the meal. Pour over this a pound of melted fat, season with salt, pepper, pimento, etc., to taste, when this mixture is brought to a proper consistence, neither too thin nor too thick, and when cooked for ^half an hour in boihng water, it forms an excellent pudding, A very delicate pudding is made with the setnoule of Buckwheat as fol- lows : — Take one pound of scalded semoule, two pounds of liver, one pound of fat, four ounces of raisins, two ounces of pounded sugar, season with salt, pepper, etc., in proper quantities, mix, etc., and you have a confection highly prized in Poland and Germany. I now proceed to point out certain uses for the farina of this plant. It may be supposed that it is impossible to make good bread of this farina, but this is an error, though it cannot be thus used unmixed. It would be heavy, and soon become dry. But it should be mixed with that of wheat or of rye. We have made experiments in this in presence of the agricultural commis- sioners of Remorantin, that is, the department of Loire and Cher, in France, and the result was as follows : Exlract fom the Ruiiort of tlte Ar;riciiltural Commission of Remorantin, Session 20th JanuarT/, 1838. •'• The commission v?as conveyed to the manufactory of Mr. Saniewski. He had there pr.n'ided for the fabrication in our presence, of thirty pounds of the farina of buckwheat, which was delivered to M. Lacroix, a baker of reputation, at Remorantin, for the purpose of being manufactured into bread ht exper- iment. " Session of 22d January, 1838. — The progress of manufacturer of the trial bread was gone through with in the presence of the commissioner, in the bakery of Mr. Lacroix, in the proportions indicated in the table following : Pounds of Farina of Xt). of composition. 1st 2d - 3d - 4th - Buckwheat. 3 - '- 4 2 - - 4 - Wheat. Rye. 3 - 0 - 2 - - 0 0 - 2 - 0 - - 2 T. tal of composition. 6 - G 4 - G - 13 5 4 22 RESULTS OBTAINED IN BREAD. Qualities. Poun 1st, - 2d, '- - 3d, - 4ih, - ds weight after G.12 - '7.2 ■ 6.10 - n.u baldng. Weight 24 hours - G.l G.2 - 4,9 7. after. This operation leads us to the foil owing observations . MEMOIR ON BUCKWHEAT. 161 The season was cold, and it was difficult to obtain a good fermentation. The bread termed No. 1 was delivered imperfect, and gave a product inferior in quality to that which it was hoped would be obtained from that mixture, and which had been presented us bj' M. Saniewski. (It should be observed that I had presented bread made at my house, for the use of my family, whicb was of excellent quality. We had used bread made from buckwheat mixed wiih wheat or rje, but my wife kneaded it in a warm apartment, and shel- tered from the cold, which was excessive at the bakery. I add that it is necessary to make use of leaven for the proper fermentation of the farina of buckwheat.) There is but one kind of black, compact bread, made by the people of France, from buckwheat, and still it is often very inferior, as the buckwheat is ground with the hull, and is not properly cleaned, but good farina of buck- wheat can be employed in other forms besides that of the buckwheat cakes in general use in the United States, as follows : 1. Small Cukes. — Knead this farina with tepid water, with salt in due proportion. The mass must not be too thick, but be well wrought. Take small portions of this mass in a spoon and immerse it in boiling water, so as not to diminish its heat, and allow them to remain till they rise to the sur- face. Then take them from the water and place them upon a dish , and dip them into cold water, and eat them with fresh butter. Warmed and fried, they are an agreeable food, which may be a substitute for bread. Remark. — I have learned that when fried in pork fat, with onions, they form an excellent dish. 14. When these small cakes have been taken from the boiling water and passed into the cold water, (see 13,) take some diluted broth and season it with butter or lard fried with onions, heat it and pour it iipon the cakes, and you have a very nutritive dish, which is everywhere used by the people of the country. The soup is used as a substitute for bread. Thus, too, this soup may be prepared with milk, immersing the cakes in boiling milk, and diluting it afterwards with water. Agciin, when the water is boiling, without taking it from the fire, drop the farina into it, and leave the mass to boil from fifteen to twenty-five min- utes. Pour ofi" the superfluous water, and with a wooden spoon knead the paste which is formed, until the farina which is not cooked takes the form of paste. Then take it in a spoon dipped into butter or fat, dividing the paste iuto small pieces, fry them in pork fat, and you have an excellent dish, which in Poland is called Parka, or This farina used with the farina of wheat in the proportion of three to five, serves for the making of spiced cakes, and gives an agreeable flavor. The straw of buckwheat is good, mixed with the straw of oats, of barley, or of hay, as feed for cattle or for sheep in time of scarcity, but should be seasoned with salt, and should be fed to them after they have had a little salt water. Buckwheat is also good for bees, and forms honey of the best quality. The wax made from it is hard and white. Saniewski Felix, Polish Refugee. KISLICHV. We gave a recipe for making this European (German) drink, in a recent number, from M. Saniewski, remarking that we thought the quantity of water much too great. We have since discovered that a mistake was made by one 11 162 AVOODLANDS. of us in transcribing thefiirures in the printed memoir, to which reference has been made above. It reads thuf< : 10 pounds of the faiiua of wheat, 3 " malt, made tine, 3 " of the farina of buckwheat, 50 quarts of boiling water. Then add half a pound of brewer's yeast or 2 pounds of baker's yeast. Tbo next day stir the vxhole mass, and add 50 quarts more of water when the fer- mentation is finished. WOODLAND TffE decrease in the quantity of valuable timber in this country has been often alluded to in our journals, and much is done in the way of securing new growths. But much more oughi to be done, and much that would pay handsomely for the cost. We publish an exirict from the Reports of the Massachusetts Ai^iicultura! Society of 1854, which is the result of extensive iiiquiry and cartful observa- tion. It is as follows : '' A class of lands has been already mentioned, with a query whether it would not be true economy to make woodland of them, subjecting others less exhausted td cultivation in their stead. Many thousand acres of poor and wurn-out lands mny be found in the eastern part of the State and else- where, which, for all practical purposes of cultivation, may be con^idered as worthless, the net prohts from tliem not being vvortli estimating. Such lands as 1 have intimated, have already been plai.ted with pitchpine to a consid- erable extent; and as many acres have been visited for the purpose of examin- ing the progress of the experiments, it is proper here to state the methods which have been pursued with success. " The pitch-pine is adapted to a light sandy soil, or to one which has been exhausted by continued cropping. On such a soil it wdl do well, even in the early part of its growth, if no attention at all be ptiid to it; whereas, if it stands on rich land, wiih a deep mould and lull of organic matter, the grasses and weeds too often check its early gowth, if indeed they do not entirely destroy it. " Xhe seed of the pine may often be purchased at about one dollar a quart. It is usually gathered in October by taking the new cones from the trees, before they have been opened by the frost, so as to allow their seed to fall. These cones should be kept free from moisture, and dried in the sun, or by artificial lieat. When dry, the seeds become loof-ened and drop from the Cones, or they may be tbreshed out. They are cleaned by rubbing and winnowing. In Europe it is generally considered better to sow thukly in. beds; when about three years old the trees are transplanted. I his course is not generally pursued here on account of the labor of transplanting, though if the soil were worth any thing for pasturage during these two or three years, it would probably be advii-able to adopt it. The seed may be sown either in autumn or in early spring. Many use tbe lioe for making the holes, and drop the seed by hand ; others jdough furrows six feet apai t and drop the seeds in the bottom of the furrows from one to two feet apart. PROPAGATING FROM SUCKERS. 163 This requires too much time and labor if the plantation is to be very large. A simple machine has been contrived for dropping tbe seed at the proper distancf', by which a man with a horse raay plant five or six acres in a day, which is quite as much as he could plough with furrows at the distance of six feet in the same length of time. This machine costs from three and a half to live dollars. "About a quart of seed is generally allowed to four acres. If it be of good quality, this is commonly found to be a sufficient quantity. Probably, however, planting a little thicker would secure a more perfect exemption from any difficulty arising fiora accident or bad seed. " The transplanting of young white pines may be effected with safety at almost any season of the year, provided, in taking them up, the bark of the roots is not strained and broken or loosened. The roots may be cut off with much greater safety than their bark can be broken. By careful attention to this precaution more than a thousand younyr white pines were transplanted by a farmer in Bristol county with the loss of only one or two. " Among other very valuable trees may be mentioned the yellow locust, on sandy land, both on account of its intrinsic- value as wood, and the benefit to dry pasture lands. The Scotch larch has also been planted to consider- able extent, and for rapidity of growth, value for timber and beauty, is one of the most desirable additions to the farm. The silver polar on light soils and exposed situations, is also of great value, as are also the white bu-ch, the chestnut, and, as an ornament unsurpassed, the graceful elm." FOR THE PLOUGH, TIIK LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. PROPAGATING FROM SUCKERS. It is hardly supposable that nurserymen would palm off" upon their custom- ers suckers for healthy tiees. But notwithstanding nil th it has been written Upon the subject, the budding or grafting and transplanting- of suckers is a common practice. It seems to me proper, therefore, that line upon line and prect'pt should be given touching this matter. No fact is beiter estabii^hed than that a healthy, long-lived tree cannot be produced from a shoot or sucker. Tbe cherry, plum, ap[)le and pear tree will often send up from iheir roots thrifty and healihy-looking sprouts. These are seized by the unexperienced cultivator as a cheap and expeditious mole of multiylying his stock of trees. He will learn when too late that the sucker is the offspring of disea-e. No healthy tree produces them. They may grow vigorously for a while, and yield some fruit. But their career will be short, and their greatest yield will be of disappointment. Trees raised from suckers may be known by the pro- fusion of sprouts which they generally send up. They are also dwaifish ia appearance ; and put forth an excessive number of fruit buds everv spring. Very little of ihe fiuit, however, will ripen. It will wither and decay upon the trees in all stages, from the blossom to maturity. Finally, such trees will die suildenly without any apparent cause ; leaving to the proprietor no other reason for regret than that their demise had not occurred at an earlier date. I give the results of my own experience on this subjrjct, corroborated by ob- 164 THINGS TO BE DONE. servation and the testimony of others ; and I would say to all arborists that the experiment of raising fruit from suckers is no less futile than that of raising poultry from chalk eggs. R. R. H. FOR THE PLOUGH, THE tOOM, AND THE AliTIL. THINGS TO BE DONE. Apples which fall prematurely should be promptly gathered and i-eiDoved. The pigs v\ill be glad of them, and they will do them no harm. These wind- falls are filled with insects which have already doije mischief enough. If un- molested they will burrow in the soil and prepare for the depredations of the ensuing season. The eneioies of cultivated fruit are already legion ; and it would seem as though they keep pace with the improvements in culture and the multiplica- tion of varieties. If we would hav« good fruit we must not relax our efforts, but persevere, and prosecute the varments even unto death. To this end it becomes us to secure what assistance we can command. The most efficient aids are the birds. "Were there enough of them I doubt not they would do the whole wo^-k. Let them be protected and encouraged. The Legislature of Massachusetts did wisely at its last session in making it a penal offense to kill robins and some other birds. What better than barbar- ism is it to break up the nests of such birds, and even shoot them in wanton sport. And how superlatively nigardly to refuse them a few currants or cherries. It is but few they want after having labored faithfully all the sea- son to protect the garden, tind make home pleasant with their cheerftd music. I, too, would treat toads Wn^Xy. Why not? They are great workers, de- vour multitudes of insects, are quiet and unobtrusive in their manners, and do no harm. True, Milton says, Satan approached the ear of Eve, in position " squat hke a toad." But that was no fault of the toad. True merit is alv/ays humble. Empty heads arq always erect, while those filled with grain are bowed down. Sycophantic fools, who would sell what of soul they have, and allow themselves to be trodden upon if done by the heel of oflncial greatness, are called " Toadies." But this is slander. The toad is a gentleman com- pared with such. He catches his own flies. He neither fawns nor will be fawned upon ; and further, he is said to have something valuable in his head. Weeds should not be permiited to go to seed in or about the garden or cultivated fields. Noxious weeds, like sins, are wonderfully prolific. There needs but few stocks to seed a large field. To spend the whole summer in labor to subdue the weeds, and then allow enough to mature on the borders to stock the grounds for the coming season, when a few minutes' work, or hours at most, would remove them all, seems very much like litching mint and annis, and omitting weightier matters. I no more believe that weeds can be killed out, and cultivation become clean^ than I believe that absolute perfection is attainable in this life. Yet, as in the latter, it is our duty to labor at the attainment of so desirable an object. So, in the former, we should aim at extermination, and accomplish all we can. IN-AND-IN BREEDING. 165 Scions which were set in the spring should now be looked after. A vio-or- ous growth of suckers will be found to have shot out. These should all be removed, except where the scions have failed. In such cases they should be spared to keep the limb in atiealthy condition for subsequent gratling. The wax should be examined, and if necessary more should be ap|>lied, and all the cracks ftnd crevices should be stopped. Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. If worth one's while to graft a tree, it will pay to care for it when grafted. The secret of failure in fruit growing, in most cases, is want of continued care, and the tree may have been judiciously selected and properly planted, but then it is neglected. The budding and grafting may have been well per- formed and then no more care bestowed. What wonder that no fruit is ob- tained, that fruit-growing is reganled as a thriftless business ? Let the corn plant receive no better attention, and what would be the result ? Would not the planter conclude that corn growing don't pay ? R, R, H. OBSERVATIOiSrS ON IN-AND-IN BREEDING. Not having the honor to belong to the veterinary profession, I do not reg- ularly read your very able periodical, though my attention has lately been called by a friend to an article in the number for May last, on the subject of " Animal Physiology, and Breeding Farm Stock," in which the writer most strongly reprobates the practice of in-and-in breeding. It so happens that I am well acquainted with Mr. Barford, of Northamptionshire, who is men- tioned by name therein; and having some opportunities of seeing his man- agement of his sheep, and his practice with regard to in-and-in breeding, I take the liberty of troubling you with a few lines in reply to Mr. Lance's paper. That gentleman has adduced several instances, or rather related several anecdotes,'' as the data on which he founds the argument, that consanguinity in blood among parents leads to degeneracy in the offspring." But, to me, they by no means satisfactorily prove his position. His long quotation from Mr. Lawrence's lectures about the Angola sheep makes rather for than against the practice of in-and-in breeding, as it clearly recognizes the possi- bility of retaining varieties of animals by ^^ preservinff the race pure" by se- lecting for propagation the animals most conspicuous for size, or any other property we may fix on. In this way we may gain sheep valuable for the fleece, or the carcass, large or small, with thick or thin legs ; just sucli, in short, as we choose. The other instances he mentions, as of Hallers, " two noble females," of Mr. Marsh, of Ryton, having produced an "appalling malformation" in the produce of a son with his mother, and others, only prove, what I presume Mr. Lance will at once admit, viz., the truth of the old adage that " like begets like," and that where any imperfections, moral or physical, exist in the parent, they will most likely reappear in the offspring, whetLier bred in-and-in or not. As a set-off to one of Mr. Lance's instances, I may mention that Bake «^ ell found that good qualities were also transmissible, and in as great a degree as evil ones. And it is rather sino-alar that he founded the observation in 166 IN-AND-IN BREEDING. the results of an experiment (among others) exactly similar to that of Mr. Marsh, having found that a sow of his never bred so g)od p'g-i as when put to her own son. And allow me to a-k Mr. Lance whi-ther '' the def rmilies of mind and body," which, according to Mr. Lawrenc^^, f^P'ing up so plenti- fully in our large cities, cannot be amply accounted for by the intemperate habits, the vicious indulgences, the vitiated atmosphere, the unhealthy occu- pations, the undrained and unventilated habitations in which so many of our urban population live and have their being, with ut having recourse to "the want of selections and exclusions" to which he has alluded ? Fur it must be borne in mind that, in agricultural districts, the same " want of selections and exclusions" exists as in the cities, without, as Mr. Lance n^u^t admit, anything like the amount of mental and bodily deformity which ."degrades the race" in the towns. And supposing, for the sake of argument, that the state of many of the royal houses in Europe be such as Mr. Lawrence imjlies, may it not be possible that many generations of luxurious indulijence and unrestrained passions, which, perhaps, are inseparable from their exalted posi- tion, may not, by their continued though gradual eflect on the constitution, sufficiently account for it, without attributing it wholly to the fact of their being restricted to some ten or twenty families in the choice of husbands and wives ? But to return to sheep-breeding. I gather, from what Mr. Lance implies rather than from what he says, that he imagines Mr. Barford allocs the most promiscuous and iudiscwminate in- tercourse among his flock. There cannot be a greater mistake. The most continued vigilance is exercised to prevent the propagation of any defect, should they appear, and, to use Mr. Lance's own words, " it is only the best that are allowed to continue the race." In this I presume Mr. Barford only follows the example of every other breeder; and not to do so, would at once stamp a man with the most ridiculous imbecility. If the cousins, of whom Mr. Lauce has spoken, if the white breed of fowls ia Hampshire, if Mr. Marsh's hogs, if the "silly" sheep in Wiltshire, in fact, if the subjects of any of the in breeding experiments he mentions, had any "deficieney of nervous energy," and "weakness of malformation," in short,, any defect whatever, it is evident to the narrowest mind that the nearer the aflinities, and the longer they are bred so, the more decided these defects become. But it must be absurd to attribute them to the bare fact of in-and- in breeding. Mr. Lance must prove that all cross-bred animals are free from all defects, before he can say that. In fact, I should regard failure in in-and- ia breeding experiments as the most irrefragable evidence of defect in the parent or parents, and nothing more. I often ttiink that it mitst be to mis- apprehen>ion on this point that much of the unmitiga'ed hostility to in-and- in breeding is to be attributed. Peopl*^, by some means or other, get hold of the idea that the advocates of the system mean universal and indiscrimi- ' iiate in and-in breeding, than which nothing can be more absurd. But let us see where Mr. Lance's favorite system will lead him when car- ried into practice. As the end and aim of all crossing is of course improve- ment, all breeders may hope to (nay, if the theory be co^ect, they must, at some period or other,) reach a point beyond which there is no improvement to be made by crossing; that is, they will produce a perfect animal, or, at least, one more })erfect than anybody's else. Now, sir, allow me to pro]jound this quesiinn to Mr. Lance : When a man has arrived at this point — when he has exhausted every source of improvement which the kingd.an, nay, which the world affoids, — what is he to do? It is evident he must adopt'one or the other of the following courses : Either he must feed oft' and GRAND NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF STOCK. 167 consign to the butcher both his m-iles and female^, without any more ado ; or he may allow thera to live to an unprnfitable maturity, and a useless old age, and die at last a natural death ; or he may call in Mr. S afford, and dis- peri^e to the four quarters of the globe the fruits of perhaps a litVtime of care, trouble and anxiety, besides enormous expense, and br-gia again de novo ; or he may knowingly and wiih his eyes open, by crossing theui with animals inferior to themselves, retrogra le, step by step, to the mediocrity and inferior- ity with which- he set out in the first instance ; or, his last resource, he may by in-and-in breeding, attempt to propagate t'lem perfected as they are, and thus retain for his country and himself the benefits which such a race of animals must necessarily confer. But such is the amount of obstinate pre- judice now entertained against this system that we might expect to see many gentlemen, perhaps Mr. L mce himself, adopt any of the above sources rather than the last. This is a suppositious case, bur, substantially it may be said to have occurred in the instance of Mr. Barford's tiock, as the following rough sketch of its history will show. About the year l7S6, the late Mr. V. Barford commenced sheep-breeding, lie hired rams of Mr. Roliinson, of Wellingborough, who was a disciple of Bakewell, of Di-hiey, and bred from his stock. Mr. Barford continued to do so until about the year 1810, when the present Mr. Barford, considering his own sheep as good as Mr. Robinson's, and not being able to find any that he thought calculated to improve them, was really j)laced in something like the dilemma which I have above mentioned. However, in-andin breeding had no imaginary terrors for him, and therefore he boldly adopted the last of the courses which I have enumerated ; so that, by necessity, even if he had not from choice, he must have become an in-and-in breeder. I will not take upon myself to say that he has succeeded ; but I do ask any gentleman who is skeptical of ihe possibility of the thing to visit him, and inspect a flock of which every individual sheep has a pedigree than can be traced back for up- wards of forty years without a cross ! With such a fact as this before me, Mr. Editor, and with the still more significant one that the Jews have bred from the closest affinities from the very time of their father Abraham, without any deficiency of nervous energy, or any physical or moral degeneracy, I think I may be justified in declaring my firm opinion that the explanation of the numerous and palpable defects in man and animals, in modern times, must be sought in other reasons than the system of breeding Mr. Lance so strongly objects to. — Omega, iu The London Veterinarian. A GRAND > NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF STOCK. The United States Agricultural, Society under the Presidency of Marshall P. Wilder, does not not prove to be a mere opportunity fir holding office, nor its official stations mere sinecures, as some predicted. Some of the largest and best exhibitions in the country have been under the auspices and through the ag^-ncies of this Society, Another exhibition of stock is now contemplated at Boston during the next mouth, as will be seen by the fc^llowing offiaal notice. We commend this to the attention of stock growers and amateurs, and all lovers of agricul- 168 ' AMERICAN INSTITUTE. tural progress throughout the country. Improvement in stock lies at the foundation of all improvements, bearing directly upon improved feed, more economy in the selection and proportion of the various crops of tillage, pas- ture, etc., and creating in fact a sort of more necessity for improvement in every department of agricultural management. We commend this exhibition to the public favor as promising to be one of the most interesting exhibitions ever held in New-England. CIRCULAR. A Grand National Exhibition of Stock. — Horses, Cattle, Sheep and Swine — open to competition to all the States of the Udion, and to the British Provinces, will be held by the United States Agricultural Society, in the City of Boston, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, October 23d, 24th, 2oth and 26th. Twenty-Thousand Dollars have been guaranteed by patriotic gentlemen of Boston and its vicinity to defray the expenses; the City of Boston has generously granted to the Society for present use, a fine public square of fifty acres ; and Ten Thousand Dollars wnll be ofiered in Preminms, in the various departments. The previous Exhibitions of this Society — at Springfield, Mass., in 1853, and at Springfield, Ohio, in 1854, — were eminently successful, and no efforts •will be spared to make the present Show, combining as it does, the Four Great Departments of Farming Stock, superior to its' predecessors. The Premium List, with the Rules of the Exhibition will be forwarded to all who will address the President, or Secretary, at Boston, to that eff^^ct. It is earnestly hoped that all Breeders, and owners of Fine Stock will feel it to be a duty, as it certainly is for their interest, to contribute for the Show. The List of Entries, Exhibitors, and Award of Premiums, and all the proceedings of the Exhibition, will be published in the Journal of the So- ciety, for 1855. Annual Members of the Society, who desire to receive the Journal, should remember to renew their subscriptions. Marshall P. Wilder, President. William S. King, Secretary. Boston, August, 1855. " . . , I^^Editors favoring the objects of the Society, will please give the above an early insertion, and notice. AMERICAN INSTITUTE-ANNUAL FAIR. The Twenty-seventh Annual Fair of the American Institute will be held in the Crystal Palace in this city in October next, and we cut th^ following from the circular which has been issued : "The Twenty-seventh Annual Fair of the American Institute will be opened in the City of New- York on the third day of October, 1855, and continue during the month. ''The Managers announce to the Manufacturers, Mechanics, Inventors, Ar- tizans. Farmers, Gardeners, and all others interested, in the United States, ^hat iliey have secured the Crystal Palace, erected in 1853 for the Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations, in which to hold the Twenty-seventh Annual Fair of the American Institute. AM. ASS. FOR ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 169 "This magnificent and spacious building will afford unusual facilities for the arr^iiigement and display of tha various specimens of Art and productions of Nature. Steam-power will be provided, to put in operation Machinery of every description, and the Managers pledge themselves to make every exer- tion in their power to effect such arrangements, for the accommodation of exhibitors, as will secure the great ends of the Exhibition. "Premiutns of Gold and Silver Medals, Cups, Books, and Diplomas, will be awarded to the Exhibitors of artiitles deemed worthy of such distinction, by competent Judges appointed for that purpose. "Practical and disinterested persons, acquainted with the several branches in which they shall be appointed, will be selected for Judges, to whom all ar- ticles for competition will be referred, in order to secure the same satisfaction that has heretofore been given, in the bestowal of the awards of this In- stitute. To insure a perfect impartiality, the By-Laws of the Institute pro- hibit 'any premium being awarded by the Board of Managers to any Mem- ber of their Board, to any of the Trustees, or to any of the Standing Com- mittees of the Institute, or anything in lieu thereof.' "The awards will not be confined to specimens prepared expressly for exhibition ; but when articles are entered as being of ordinary manufacture for general consumption, full weight will be given to that fact, as showing the actual state of the particular branch to which they belong. " The Managers desire strongly to impress Exhibitors with the necessity of furnishing mforraation, at an early day, of the description of articles they intend to exhibit, and the space required for their proper display." The Managers are striving to make an exhibition that shall do honor to all concerned, and will furnish all the facilities in their power to sati;?fy both exhibitors and visitors. They offer peculiar inducements for the exhibition of steam-engines, and building materials, natural or artificial, and also for Designs, Sculptures, Paintings, etc. The products of agricultural and house- hold industry, of course, are among the necessities of such an occasion. We hope the public will give their attention to this. Mr. John W. Chambers is the Secretary of the Board of Managers, and may be found at the rooms of the Institute, 353 Broadway. , AMERICAN ASSOCIATION" FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. Providence, Wednesday, Aug. 15. The American Association for the Advancement of Science commenced its Ninth Annual Meeting in the chapel of Manning Hall, Brown University, August 15 th. The officers of the Association are as follows : President — Dr. John Torrey of New-York. Permanent Secretary — Prof. Jos*^ph Lovering of Cambridge. Tieasurer — Dr. A. L. Elwyn of Piidadelphia. General Secretary — Dr .Wolcott Gibbs of New- York. The meeting was called to order by the President, Dr. Torrey, who at once introduced to the Association the Rev. Dr. Wayland, President of Brown University. He gave them a very handsome welcome. We make the following ab- 170 AM. ASS. FOR ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. stract of the discussions of especial interest to the public from our city dailies. Economy of Heat. — The first paper read was by Prof. Henry, on Com- bustion. He had based his experiments on a [laper by Count Rumford, sta- ting that when the sides and back of a grate were composed of fire-brick and heated red hot they radiated more heat than the fire itself. When a fire was made of coals and small pieces of fire-brick it- gave out a much greater amount of heat and the cinders were entirely consumed. The same effect was produced by the mixture of fuel and clay. Count Rumford had given no account of the cause of that phenomenon. He had repeated the experi- ment and the result a])peHied to confirm the experiments of Count Rumford. He then varied them with flames of hydrogen and alcohol and different sub- stances, carbonate of lime, glass, stone, coal, and clay. Carbonate of lime produced the greatest eff"r-ct. It had long been known that a piece of plati- num wire in a flame would increase the radiation of light, and these experi- ments proved that the radiation of heat was increased in like degree. We could not suppose that tlie absolute amount of heat was increased. The most probable conjecture he thought was, that the heat of combination was converted into radient heat. To test this he had placed a platinuna wire in the ape.x of a flame and introduced a slip of mica, one-fifch of an inch in. breadth, vertically beneath it. The wire immediately diminished in intensity of light and of radiant h^at, so that while the mica itself was radiant witu light and heat it was evident that its introduction cooled the flame above it, verifying the idea that the intensity of radiation was produced at the expense of the heat of combinatinn. So if fuel was to be employed in the evapora-v tion of water by combustion under a kettle, its effect would be diminished by any suostance intervening between the flame and the kettle, and the flame ought to be made to strike directly on the, kettle with considerable force. But a very different fire was required to warm a room. Tn that case, radia- ting substances might be employed to advantage. Temperature of the Planets. — In a discussion on this general subject Prof. Agassiz stated that at very remote times there was a similarity of ani- mals in the polar and equatorial regions, indicating a temperature so nearly equal as not to be capable of explanation by any other hypothesis than that ot interior heat. He did not think, however, that we should find it so gloomy on the surface of Mars as the gentleman had supposed ; he thought we should see something more than red snow. In his wandering:^ on tlie Alps he had seen Cerasite in full bloom at an elevation of 11,000 feet above the level of the sea. He had found several mosses also in the same situation. — A kind of Podura was frequently found in the fi.-sures of t^e glaci-^rs, and besides even the genus of the Cyclops and others wtiich would make quite a Fauna and a little Fk)ra were they examined and stated. Prof. Loomis reii-serled that the earth had not sensibly lost heat for 2,000 years. Prof. Pierce stated that we never saw the body of Saturn, and il was always heated to a whiteness and we only saw the cloud above it. Prof. Chase said that we knew that light was as necessary to vegetable life as heat was to anitnal life. He would inquire, then, where the light ne- cessary to vegetable life on the more remote planets came from? How was it to be su|»plied ? Did light radiate from the internal heated nucleus ? Prof. Henry said that this whole subj.^ct belonged not'to the domain of actual siience but of scieniitic speculation. It did not strike hitn that the same matter must be found in all the planets, even if we adopted the nebu- lar theory of condensation. The condensation of different material would AM. ASS. FOR ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 171 take place at different epochs. He thought the proposition with regard to light Whs a very sinking one. The dvnimic power, which decomposed tlie carbonic acid necessary for organic tbriiis, was found only in the chemical ray. The Sun was yet a great source of heat and life. Its strength however was wasting away. " Th** Sim b'mself ehall fade, and ancient D>ght Again involve a desolate abjss." With regard to the changes in the Earth's temperature, the data were not very prei-ise. There were conditions which miHtaied against the results as- certained. He instanced the effect of the Moon in retardint/ the velocity of the Earth. The argument that the Earth hnd not [lerceptibly cooled within 2,000 years was based on the fact that the sidenal day was now the same as then, and it would have shortened had the Earth shrunk by cooling. Whea certain substances became solid they became enlarged. His own view of the inhabitability of the planets was that the outer platiets had passed that con- dition which was necessary to organized life, and the interior had not yet come to it. On the E^irth organization had evidently commenced at the poles, and had gone out there while it was still luxuriant at the equator. — It was destined to go out there also. Mr. Gould would ask the grounds on which Prof. Loomis stated the earth's temperature had not changed for the last 2,000 years. Prof. Win- lock and he had convinced themselves that they could see distinct traces of an atmosphere around the surf ice of the moon. Twilioht distinctly nppenred, and he could only attribute it to the atmospheric influence. At each suc- cessive lunation during its earlier part they could perceive the lunar disk bor- dered as it were by a fringe of light. This surface was distinctly bounded. There was almost as much difference between that and the dark surface of the moon as between the light and the dark rings of Saturn, the only interrup- tions of this boundary being such as would naturally result from the inequal- ities on the moon's surface. He could not speak with confidence as to the breadth of that portion, but he thought it must exceed two seconds of time. Calculating Machine. — Thomas Hill of Waltham, read a paper the design of which was to show that there were many cases in which the scien- tific computor could save time without the sacrifice of any desirable degree of accuracy by substituting construction for logarithmic computation. He had at the suggestion of Prof. Pierce produced a machine by which he had calculated 200 phases of an eclipse in ten hours, scarcely varying a minute from the calculations subsequently published in the Nautical Abnanac. The method ot construction also had this advantage, that any considerable error became apparent to the eye, since a series of results always in construction runs in a regular curve. StiPARATlON OF AlCOHOL FROM WhISKY BY FoRCE OF GrAVITV. Prof. Henry then detailed an experiment which was made at the Siuithsoniau in consequence of the granting of a patent for the separation of alcoliol frtim whisky by placing a considerable quantity in -a vertical tube. The patentee stated that by the use of a tube 100 feet in height he had separated 100 gallons of alcohol in 12 hours. The experiment was made in one of the powers of the Smitbsoniati, with a gas-pipe 160 feet long, into which stop- cocks were inserted at various lengths. A most careful examination of the whisky at the various heights was made at the end of a few hours, and also at the expiration of some months, but no more variation could be discovered than in difterent samples of the same whisky not subjected to the process. 172 ARTIFICIAL STONE. The patentee bad, however, obtained bis patent and sold several rights at a high price. A paper was read at ihe last meeting of the Association an- nouncing this discovery. The gist of his remarks was that the Patent-Office, the Smithsonian, the Association, and the country, had been sublimely hum- bugged. {^End of first dat/s proceedings.) FOR THK PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THK ANVIL. BRITISH OIL AND OIL OF SPIKE. As the farmers in this vicinity are much in the use of a nostrum named British Oil, and another of simihir virtue called Oil of Spike, I send re- cipes, that those who wish may prepare them for their use. BRITISH OIL. 8 Fluid ounces Spirits Turpentine, do. do. Oil Linseed, 4 do. Oil Juniper, 4 do. Barbadoes Tar : Mix thoroughly. OIL OF SPIKE. I^ One pint Spirits Turpentine, Two ounces Oil Lavender, Four ounces Barbadoes Tar;* Much used for sprains and bruises in cattle and horses. Hyde Park, July 19, 1855. Ariel Hunton. ARTIFICIAL STONE, Science and art have united, in recent times, in many useful discoveries and inventions that bid fair to make a thorough revohition in the depart- ments of art with which they are connected. Among these, the manufacture of new materials for buildings and other structures, hitherto made only of ■marble or other mineral, expensive and difficult to work. A fictitious or coun- terfeit substitute for marble is found m the marbleized iron, which is valuable in its way. A far more valuable substitute is found in the Silexian marble, ,an artificial composition, which we described some months since, and which promises much. We now are offered another material, which seems to prom- ise great things. A. mere vi«w of these products does not enable one to judge of its durability, but the chemical combinations which occur in the mixture of its ingredients do furnish testimony to a great extent reliable, and this testimony \n this- case is favorable. The stone to which we refer is that manufactured by the " American Arti- ficial Stone Company," whose works are in Newark, N. J., and are known as the Uamil'on Work's. The inventor is Mr. Thos. Ilodgson, but it is now un- der the management of a Mr. Wood. The stone is composed of sand, sulphate of lime, and blood, and produces ARTIFICIAL STO]S"E. 173 an imitation of the old red sand-stone, popularly called freestone, now used so abundantly in our ciry architecture. The chemical action -which gives hardness and insolubility to the compound is thus explained : 1. The sulphate of lime possesses the peculiar property of hardening, after being mingled with water, in the form of powder, so as to form the consist- ence of cream. If suffered to stand, it rapidly becomes hard, and refuses to yield a second time to the action of water, but is to a great extent in that form insoluble. . 2. But the strongest adhesion and its utter insolubility which occurs, is the result of a combination of the potash in the blood wiih the silex of the sand, forming the silicate of potash, which is insoluble. The iron of the blood also which pervades the mass, acted upon in different ways, unites with oxygen and forms an oxide of iron, msoluble in water. This product grows harder and becomes imperishable by continual exposure to these influences, and is thus made a durable and cheap material for ornamental architecture. By the use of moulds of various kinds, it may be formed, like the Silexian marble, into any desired shapes, whether of statues, bas-reliefs, lintels, trusses, etc. Gar- den ornaments are also manufactured by this company, although we under- stand from their pamphlet put into our hands, that their purpose is to sell the moulds, with the right to manufacture, rather than to manufacture them- selves. At a meeting of gentlemen interested in this subject, recently held in this city, refnarks were made by Prof. Mapes, so replete with interest, and so thoroughly endorsing and carrying out our own views in relation to a reform in our architecture, as presented in a recent number of this journal, that we present them in full, so far as they bear upon this subject or upon the impor- tance of the invention. " I conceive the great advantage of this invention to be apart from its du- rability as a building material : Its use for building purposes will be great ; but in addition to this, it will enable us to avail ourselves of the designs of sculptors through all time, for our current use. The mould once made, we may give in a single hour that which required the labor of a lifetime to compose. The study of the arts of design has been materially neglected in our country, and the duplication of these ornaments will have a tendency to correct the evil ; for when the finest designs shall be found covering the ex- terior of our buildings, the eye of the rising generation will, without its volition, be educated to recognize the finer class of forms. Look at France, as an ex- ample : she warred with half Europe, without colonies to pay tribute, or agricultural products to export ; and all this arose from her placing Christen- dom under contribution for her arts of design. Napoleon made the arts of design a part of the common-school education of France ; and every appren- tice, while he learned to read his language, also learned to comprehend the beauty of graceful forms, until even the silversmith of England found it his profit in copying the designs of the tinsmith of France ; for up to the time of Wedgewood, every piece of pottery made in England was but a copy of the grotesque forms of those made by the Chinese. Wedgewood introduced a school of design in his factory, and thus rendered the manufacture of por- celain, china, etc., one of the greatest industiiesof his country. At one time, three quarters of the members of the Royal Academy who had received the degree of Academician, were found to have emanated from Wedgewood's school. Last year, we imported twelve hundred thousand dollars worth of French furniture, the wood and workmanship of which was inferior to our own ; but 174 ARTIFICIAL STONE. the designs were more graceful ; and our wealthy citizens will continue to pay for these designs until our mei^lianics shall became better educated in the arts of design. Rest assured the eye may be cultivated even beyond its own volition. He who can draw the letter S (which is an approximation to Hogarth's line of beauiy) wit'i accuracy, can never be guilty of building an ungraceful utensil. Look about this room, observe ttie figures of the carpet, the curtains, the form of the girandole, and the graceful form of the tiacks of thtise sofas, and you will find that all these de>igns were originally taken from the French, before which our furniture was grotesquely square and wanting in beauty. A pound of American coitun is still returned to us from France a thousand times increased in value in the form of French laces embracing French designs. Even French calicoes oC new patterns when first introduced, are purchased by our wives and daughters at a price which pays the French raaimfai-.turer four hundred per cent, more for his designs than we can procure for calicoes of the same quality with designs of less benuty. " From all this you may readily perceive, that when Mr, Wood shall have ornamented the exterior of our houses wiih coj)ies of the finest desiijns, more cheaply than we can now use the plaini-st surfa'-es, the eve of our youth will become educated with tne-e beautiful forms, until our cabinet- makers, blacksmiths, and so forth, will produce designs of greater beauty than those nov? made. At this time the frames of steam-engines and other machines are parallelograms supported on straight legs, while the line of force is often in another direction. Why should we not copy such forms rfs are suggested, by Nature's laws : When a lion le^ps from an eminence, his foot reiirt-sents the smallest amount of material arranged in such form as to exercise the greatest amount of resistance. "And why should not these be copied in the frame of every steam-engine ? Why should not our mantles be sustained by caryatiiles, figures of Hercules ; or, at least, some figure indicH.tive of strength ? Why should our doorways be square frames, requiring but a rope suspended in the middle, to imitate a gallows? Fortunately these remarks will not applv to the doors of this room. Ornamental architecture may, ere long, rt-lieve us from the use of square rooms, causing us to feel as if confined in a packing box, with a win- dow in its side. All angles may be relieved by ornament, until this feeling of confinement is done away with. "The invention of Mr. Wood will be one of the sfreatest engines to relieve architecture of its sameness, and will entitle him to the thanks of the public. Its beauty is in its simplicity. It canies with it, its own rationale, for suc- cess, and after time has permitted all the necessary chemical changes to take place, it will then be found capable of being immersed in water without change. " When we examine the structures bviilt by the Romans, we are surprised to fitid the mortar harder than the stones; but by reference to Vitruvius, we find that the Rwmans made their mortar many months before its use; that the quantity of lime used was much less than is now applied ; but that im- meiliately bi-fore its final use, it was beaten with cleaver-shaped piei-es of wood, until the Sdicate of Lime formed, was fairly and evenly divided throughout the mass ; and ttiat its peculiar hardness arises from the absence of any excess of lime, and the perfect converHou of the small amount used into the silicate; which fact is analayous to the rationale we ha^e already explained, as belonging to the invention of Mr. Wood. The finest of our Filth Avenue houses may be imitated or improved upon, with this material. We want but the moulds, and the duplicates can be rapidly and coeaply furnished." IMPROVED HARNESS SADDLES AND TREES. 175 IMPROVED HARNESS SADDLES AND TREES. 176 IMPROVED HARNESS SADDLES AND TREES. The annexed engravings represent an improvement in first-class harness saddles and trees, for which a patent was granted lo Robert M. Selleck, of this city, on the 'Zlh of last November. Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved saddle ; figure 2 is a per- spective view of a saddle partly fini-hed, viewed from the rear; figure 3 is a perspective view of the tree as prepared for the saddler to work upon ; figure 4 represents one-half of a partly finished saddle in section, and figure 5 is a vertical longitudinal section, showing the tin seat of the saddle. The same letters refer to like parts. A represents the cast-iron frame or tree, upon which the saddle is con- structed ; B B are the shoulders cast on the sides of its head, C ; D D are circular holes for the terrets, E E, to pass through, as represented ; F is an oblong slot cut through its tup for a tongue or tack-hold on the gullet piece to pass through ; G is the gullet piece. It is provided with an opening in its center, and fits over the tree. This gullet piece fits against the shoulderii, B B, and its top surface stands even with the head, C. Owing to the shoulders being formed on the tree, the full thickness of the leather forming the gullet piece can be employed without increasing the thickness of the sad- dle. The gullet piece can also be extended back under the cantt-l, H, and crupper, I, and be made to f jrm part of the flaps, as shown. If the should- ers Wf re liot formed on the tree, the gullet piece would have to be skived ofi", and fitted in and tacked to the front of the frame or tree after the flaps have been fitted in their places, and the edge of the piece uniting the flaps at the back of the tree will also have to be skived ofi" and fitted in and tacked to the back of the tree, as is done in constructing saddles on the common wood trees. By this arrangement the front and back of the gullet piece on the common tree can be made in one, and of the same thickness as the flaps, L L, and owing to no tacking and fitting-iu being necessary, can be arranged on the frame by the tree-maker before the tree is delivered to the saddler, and made to serve as a tack- hold or soft substance for the saddler to work upon, and when the saddle is completed, form part of the flaps. By thus fitting the gullet piece the bolts which secure the crupper will serve for secur- ing it in its place, and the back edge of the leather which covers the saddle can be secured under the cantel, instead of to the back edge of the tree, and considerable time and labor saved, and a more solid and also a much hand- somer and n-^ater appearance given to the back portion of the saddle ; J is the tongue or tack hold, to which the front end of the leather which covers the seat is tacked. This tongue forms part of the gullet ; it passes down through the slot, F, and under the head, C, of the tree, and is secured in place by the, gullet hook, K; M M are tongues formed on the flaps, L L. These tongues serve as blocking, and also as receptacles for the sockets of the terrets, it passing under the frame or tree. A, Avhile the flaps lay on it ; N, figure 5, is the false tin seat, arranged on the cantt-l (which owing to its being formed by itself, can be made of any desired shape) and also on the frame or tree, A. As this seat is made of tin, and can be struck up on a die, the part which fits the cantel may be made to form a' perfect circle — instead of having its sides nearly verical, as is the case when the cantel and seat are cast in one piece. . The nature of the improvements consist, 1st, in a cast-iron saddle tree having a depression formed on each side of its head, and a gullet p-ece con- structed and arranged upon it in such a manner that it can be fitted flat on the tree, with its top surface even with the head of the same, withuut the necessity of its being skived down and tacked to the front and back of the NEW BUILDING MATERIALS. 177 tree, as when placed on a wooden tree. The gullet piece can also be extended back under the cantel and crupper, and secured, and a portion of it can like- wise be secured and carried under the head, and by the gullet hook. By extending the gullet piece backwards it is made to form part of the flap, and owing to its being thus extended, and a portion of it carried under the head, it serves as a tack hold to work upon in covering the seat with leather. The second improvement consists in providing the flaps with tongues, which pass under the lower parts of the frame while the flaps pass over it. By thus constructing the flaps, no other blocking than that afforded by the tongues is required under the frame. A third improvement consists in making the seat of tinned sheet iron, and separate from the cantel. This invention possesses manifold advantages over anything heretofore known. As it enables the most ordinary workman to make a first-class saddle on an iron tree. Heretofore none but the best workmen with safety could be put to work on a first-class saddle. Saddles can in this manner be made of greater symmetry with increased strength and durability. The tree itself can be afforded at a much less cost than heretofore, and a saving of about half a day's labor on each saddle is effected, and thereby saddles of the first-class can be afforded at the same price as one of the second-class made on an or- dinary tree. • More information may be obtained of Mr. Selleck, at his place of business, 253 Pearl street, this city. NEW BUILDING MATERIALS. A GENTLEMAN exhibited to The Traveller a few days ago a very beautiful specimen of a new description of brick, which, if all that is said of it be true, may probably effect quite a revolution in the building trade. ■ The bricks in question are formed of lime and sand, and are the invention, of Mr. Ambrose Foster. Acting on the established fact, that hydrated (wet) lime, when exposed to the action of the atmosphere again, takes up the car- bonic acid which it lost in the process of burning and slacking, and so be- comes indurated, Mr. Foster set himself to work to find out the proper pro- portions of sand and lime to form a species of sand-stone. These he found were one part lime to twelve of sand. He also found that in order to effect a more perfect combination, the lime and sand should be mixed together in a nearly dry state. The mixture is then run into moulds, and subjected to great pressure, as much indeed as 120 tons upon a single brick of the or- dinary size. When placed out in the atmosphere, a chemical change begins. The moisture of the atmosphere enables the lime to again take up the car- bonic acid, and the whole is transformed in the cour.=e of a few days into brick of remarkable hardnesss, ready for ordinary building purposes. The surfaces now present the appearance of a whitish sand-stone, while month after month, and year after year, the same chemical changes are going on, and the bricks become harder and harder, till at last they are said to be as indestructible as granite itself. The bricks are also, from their nature, impervious to damp, and one great advantage is, that from their smoothness and beauty, lathing and plastering becomes unnecessary, and the outside and inside of a wall is made at the same time. Owing to their 12 178 SOCIETY OF ARTS EXHIBITION AT PARIS. great strengtli and hardness, these bricks can be manufactured with perfora- tions, as in the specimen which was shown to us. This is a saving of mate- rial, and gives many other advantages. Lime and sand, it is well known, are more plentifully scattered than the clay from which the common brick is formed, consequently Mr. Foster's in- vention will materially decrease the cost of building, since by the machinery of manufiicture, which is portable, they can be made in almost all localities more cheaply than the most common brick. Metallic oxides may, where necessary, be incorporated with the materials so as to give any shade or colors required, or produce an almost-indestructible imitation of any kind of marble or stone. We understand that M. & 3. H. Buck & Co., of Lebanon, New-Hamp- shire, who are the agents of the patent and manufacturers, are about to erect a dwelling-house in North Danvers, of this new material. An opportunity will thus be afforded of testing its strength and durability. SOCIETY OF ARTS EXHIBITION IN PARIS. The London Practical Mechanics' Journal .contains an illustrated chapter on the details of this exhibition. Photographic Views of Carriages. — ^Harper & Co., Coachbuilders, of the Haymarket, have applied this new process to the production of perspec- tive views of carriages. This gives them a complete portfolio, from which purchasers may make orders, fully understanding what they order, which otherwise, even if reference is made to small diagrams, can scarcely be said to be practicable. The Circular Plate-Cutting Machine, exhibited by Messrs. Sebley, of Ashton-under-Lyne, is prominent in the collection. The representation of it is here given. This sketch is a hand machine as it stands on a table. A pair of horizon tal shaft?, geared by equal-sized spur pinions, are turned by a winch haudle while each shaft has at its opposite end a circular shear-edged cutter "" The STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. 179 plate to be cut is clamped by a central screw in a recessed bracket holder, adjustable to the size of cut desired. The helix upon the upper cutter shaft is to allow of the necessary movement in cutting different thicknesses of plates. Different sizes are made, cutting from six inches to six feet in diameter. One now at work cuts ^ inch plates to 12 inches in diameter, in ten seconds. The American Fog-Horn, as used on the Lakes for signaling ia dense fogs. " It produces a stunning sound with a mere zephyr breath, and when the full power of the chest is given out, an immense volume of sound is given out." - _ A Smoke-preventing Furnace, with movable chill-bars, by Mr. Eegan, of Liverpool, the object of which is " to give a regulated supply of rarified air to the gases of combustion." A Railway sanding Apparatus, and Driver's Time-keeper, by Mr. J. Beal, of Chestnut. The Patent Crystal Window of Messrs. Lloyd & Summerfield, is a v^ery elegant adaptation of glass to a new purpose, the framing pillars of large windows, such as shop-fronts. " Boxwood and Printers' ink will not copy the wonderful hues reflected by such resplendent masses of artificial crystal." These fronts consist of plate glass exclusively, supported by flint glass pillars or sash bars. Hence the transmission of light to the interior of the apartment is perfect. The larger pillars are made in detached lengths, which are bound together to form a single solid pillar, by a metal tension rod, passing through the centre from end to end. This binding is covered by a silvered tube, which materially adds to the luster of the glass. The Hand-barrow Ambulance is scarcely more than a wheelbarrow frame, with a bed tick or canvas instead of a wooden floor, properly pillowed, the wheel of which is capped, for carrying the sick and wounded. The wheel may rest on , springs. f; Mr. Jee's Continuous Rail, for railways, represented in the margin, is simply a rail in ^^^^^^ longitudinal halves or sections, fastened together *^1 by bolts or rivets to produce a solid rail. Steamboat Statistics. — The Cincinnati Gazette, of Friday, publishes an interesting statement prepared by W. W.- Guthrie, Esq., Local Inspector, showing the number of steamboats in existence on the Western and South- ern rivers, and the number of disasters for the six months ending June 30th, 1855. From this it appears that 39 boats were totally lost. The estimated damage to boats was $573,700, and. to cargoes $1,229,800. Thirty-one lives were lost. Twelve steamboats were destroyed by fire, 7 were damaged by ice, 52 were sunk or damaged by snags, 5 were damaged by explosion, and 7 by collision. , The Avhole number of boats on Western and Southwestern rivers is put down at 600. Mr. Guthrie says : " It is worthy of remark that there has been no explosion or collapse of flue of any boiler manufactured since the passage of the law by Congress of Au- gust 30th, 1852, and coming under the reduction of f^team pressure. In every instance, the disasters have been from boilers made previous to the passage of that law." 180 peince's pkonean pen. PRINCE'SPROTEAN P^N. We are now permitted to give a representation of this "Fountafu Pen," and do not hesitate to revert again to it as an invention of great value. We were in error in describing the interior spring as gold. It is all of vulcanized rubber, "Goodyear's patent," and beyond the power of anj'- acid to corrode or injure. We have now used one ■ of these pens for some two months, and ro pleased are we with it that we are dissatisfied when obliged to take up any other, for continuous use. If we would write only a receipt, (a duty too sel- dom called on to perform,) or other similar service, any pen an- swers the purpose. But we have now been writing some two or three hours ; and had we been obliged to use a common metalic pen, after the experience we now have, we should deem it a real misfortune. The letters are formed with a gold pen, selected like any other, to suit your own taste. But we are saved the danger of spilling ink upon our table from the pen, or upsetting the ink- stand, and from reaching after ink, and can occupy the entire table with books, or papers, or other conveniences, as we may wish. We have filled our pen one day and used it for two days in suc- cession, without having recourse to the inkstand. True, we did not write a quire of paper during that time, though we covered several sheets on each of these days. Read again what we have said heretofore on this subject, and send the bill to us for damages, if, on trial, every word we have written is not literally true. We never commend anything in these pages further than we are willing to be judged by the results. Nor have we any kind of interest to advance by giving publicity to these statements. The following directions for its use are given us by the inventor : " To fill the reservoir with the piston, remove the cap by turn- Fl |j|{| it like a screw, insert the pen in the ink half an inch or more, draw 1 1 1 up the piston, then with the thumb and finger on the lower part of the piston, draw it up tight into the head of the tube that it may neither move nor allow any pressure of the air. Wipe the pen with a soft cloth or ^aper after filling and ivhenever the cap is removed, " The piston is not to be pushed down until the ink is entirely exhausted.' To push it down, place the thumb and finger just _^ above the tube, that the piston may not be broken. Put the cap on lightly when the pen is not in use, to preserve the ink from dry in f ; and screw it home to its shoulder when carried in the pocket. " To' fill the reservoir by suction, (the mode adapted to pocket pens,) loosen the small screw at the upper end, but do not take it out ; insert the pen in ink, as above ; apply the lips to the small screw, exhaust the air by suction, and' while the pen remains in the ink, turn the screw until it is in tight. Or, loosen the screw, insert the tube in a bottle of ink, let it remain until the ink has found its level in the tube, "then turn the screw until it is tight, and the pen is ready for use. " The suction pens should be carried in the pocket with the cap upwards. " Use good ink, free from sediment : Headly in tbe laternal branches, d, and rise correspondingly the central branch, c, lifting the float, e, and thereby causing the throttle- valve 188 MISCELLANEOUS. to open further, and give an increased supply of steanv to the engine, to en- able it to recover its rate. The throttle-valve, ii, represented as in connection with the improved governor, is also constructed according to one portion of the invention. The valve seating consists of a cylinder, j, fitted into the steam-pipe, k, in such a manner that one end of the pipe communicates with one or both ends of the cylindrical seating, whilst the other end communicates with the circumference of the seating, the stream having to pass through the cylindrical valve seating on its way to the cylinder, this passage being effected through slots in the seating. The spindle, l, of the valve passes through the axis of the seating, and carries a number of radial feathers corresponding to the slots in the valve seating, j, and turning on their circumferental edges to work upon the turned inside surface of the valve seating. The valve is thus balanced as regards the steam pressure, which can in no position have any tendency to shut or open it, or prevent its being shut or opened, by the least possible force applied to its lever. In addition to the above, Mr. Hackworth also describes two arrangements of reversing gear for mining and similiar engines. MISCELLANEOUS. Saleratus. — The Medical Examiner reviews at some length the state- ment of Dr. Alcott respecting the poisonous effects of saleratus used in food, and after carefully examining the statements, closes by saying — what is per- fectly correct, in our judgment-^that " there can be but little doubt that the dangerous properties attributed to saleratus by some persons, exist entirely in their imaginations." . Patents Granted. — In 1841, there were 847 apjjlications, 312 caveats, and 4Q5 patents were issued. In 1847 there were 1531 applicants, 533 caveats, and 572 patents issued. In 1852, 2,639 applicants, 996 caveats, 1,020 patents issued. Ship-building. — The number of vessels built in the United States, in cer- tain years, is given in the census returns, as follows : 1815, 136 ships, 224 brigs, 680 schooners, 274 sloops and canal boats. Total 1,314 ; tons, 154,624. 1829, 44 ships, 68 brigs, 480 schooners, 145 sloops and canal boats, 43 steamers. Total 785 ; tons 77,098. 1852, 255 ships, 79 brigs, 584 schooners, 267 sloops and canal boats, 259 steamers. Total 1,444 ; tons 351,493. Steam Tonnage of United States. — The steam marine of the United States by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury in 1852, consisted of ocean steamers 96, ordinary 382, propellers 67, ferry-boats 80. total 625 , tonnage 212,500. The inland steam marine consists of 767 steamers, of 274,723 tonnage. J. B. Wickeksham is at his old stand, 312 Broadway, and is agent of the ^Ew-YoRK Wire Railing Works. He has a fine book of specimens of capitals, fences, fire-frames, chimney-pieces, girders, gratings, bedsteads, etc. The volume will bo forwarded to any order, enclosing a shilling or four post- age stamps. NEW BOOKS. 189 New Description of Silver. — A Frencli savant, M. Sainte Clair De- \alle, has succeeded in obtaining from the aluminum in common clay a metal which rivals silver in beauty, and surpasses it in durability, not to mention other qualities. It can also be produced in masses sufficient and cheap enoutrh to replace copper, and even iron in many respects, the cost of ex- tracting it, owing to recent discoveries, being only about forty cents the pound. The new metal is wonderfully light. Among the many remarka- ble qualities.of aluminum, such as its resistance to oxydation, either in the air or by acids, its hardness, its wonderful lii^htness, its malleableness, the facility of moulding it, etc., we are told of another, its sonority. An ingot was suspended by a string, and being lightly struck emitted the finest tones, such as are obtained only by a combination of the best metals. CoTTOK Manufacture in the South. — An able writer, in a Northern periodical, has taken up this subject, and shows very conclusively that the Southern States ought to become the manufacturers, as well as producers, of cotton for the world. From facts furnished by this writer, it appears that the cotton manufacture makes up nearly one-half of the external trade of the British Kingdom. The United States furnish four-fifths of the six millions of pounds imported into Great Britain. The writer proves, by sta- tistics and figures, that the British manufacturer receives five times as much for converting the cotton into cloth, as the farmer for producing the raw ma- terial, and both employ the same amount of capital. It appears that the same disproportion exists between the profits of the Southern planter and the Northern manufacturer. The writer then sets forth the great advantage possessed by the Southern planter for manufacturing, and shows that the mere saving in the transportation would go largely to the payment of the manufacture. He urges that instead of increasing the product, already too great, the true Southern policy is to enter largel)^ into the manufacture, and thui withdraw a portion of the labor engaged in the production, and employ it in the more profitable mode of manufactures. — Mobile Advertiser, . NEW BOOKS. A Practical Grammar, etc. By S. M. Clark, A.M,, Principal of Cortland Academy. New-York : A. S. Barnes &. Co. 1 855. Another stone in the " foundation" of the English language. It is " analytic" in its character, beginning with letters, and going on to the most complicate sentences Dia- grams have been introduced for illustrating the subjects, the value of which, says the author, has been tested by experience, being of as much value here as in Mathematics, since by it the mind is relieved, and receives valuable aid from the eye. This new can- didate for popular favor will, no doubt, receive its share of attention. The New-York Musical Review and Gazette. Mason i. Charles F. Thomas, Taunton, for improvement ia the means of increasing draft in locomotives. Stephen Ustic, Philadelphia, for improvement in brick presses. Orrin D. Vosmus, Mt. Sterling, Ky., for im- provi ment in open stirrups. Wm. E. Ward, Port Chester, for improvement in machines for making boit.s. Jerome B. WoodrulT, Washington, D. C, for im" provement in sewing machines. John C. Young, Middletown, Md., for machine for boring posts and pointing rails. John Edgar, Baltimore, Md , for self-regulating wind-mills. Wm. P. Walter, Philadelphia, for improvement in manufacturing plate glass from cylinders. Abnor Whitely, of Clark county, Ohio, for im- provement in grain and grass harvesters. John Philips, of Waynesborough, Pa., assignee to Benjamin Brantz, of the same place, for self- regulating wind-mill. '•The Delaware Air-Spring Manufacturing Com- pany," assignee ^f James F. Heyward of Wil- mington, Uel., for improvement in pneumatic springs. Patented in England, Jan. 2i!, 1855. Chas. F, Brown, Warren, R. I., improved mode Of mounting ordenance. C. H. Butterfleld, South Lancaster, Mass, im- provement in lanterns. ;;; Washington H. Bixler, Easton, Pa., improve ment in nut machines. Benj. Eastman, Philadelphia, improvement in invalid bedsteads. Jacob Edson, Boston, improved method of op- erating valve of pumps. Edwin Ellis, Ansonia, Conn., improvement in machines for forming metal tubes. John Frazer, New-York, assignor to Logan' Vail & Co., of same place, improvement in adjust- able rises. William Gourley, Clarke county, Va., improve- ment in harrows. John K. and William P. Gamble, Philadelphia, improvement in safety railroad draw-bridges. Francis Blake, Needham, Mass., improved rosin oil latnps. Joseph C. Gartly and Jacob Fox, Philadelphia) fan-blower. L. A. Gibbs, Wash'n, D. C.,'expanding auger or bit. John B. Holmes, New- York, assignor to A. R. Pratt, same place, improvement in ship's cap- stans. J. Carroll House, Lowvillo, N. Y., alarm bed- stead. Aaron G. Heckrotte, New- York, improvement in railroad car coupling. Tyler Howe, Cambridgeport, improvement in bedsteads. Julea Jennotat, Paterson, N. J,, improvement in bottle fastenings. Harold Kelsea, North Branch, N. !!., improve- ment in treating a single Etrand and twisting Sew- ing thread. J. S. Morgan. Highland, 111., -wind-mill. Edward Mingay, Boston, improvement in der- .ricks. David Mathew, Philadelphia, improvement in apparatus for heating feed water to locomotive engines. Jos. A. Peabody, Lowell, machine for morticing window blinds. S. T. Parmelee, New-Brunswick, N. J., im- provement in attaching metallic heels to India rubber soles. Oliver Palmer, Buffalo, wi'ecking-pump-rotary. John-Ryan, Wilmington, Del., improvement in railroad car coupling. Frederick R. Robinson, Worcester, improve- ment in guides for sewing machines. John B. Stott and Alex. Ferguson^ Troy, im- provement in cro:s-head attachment for working engine valves. Matthew Ludwig, Boston, machine for sawing down trees. Otis Tufts, Boston, improvement in construct- ing iron ships. English patent dated April 2, 1854. Wm. C. Worthen, New- York, improvement in metallic blinds for doors and windows. Willard M. Wheeler, Upton, Mass., water- w^heel. Moses D. Wells, Morgantown,Va., improvement in churns. Edwin Williams, Covington, Ky., improved excavating machine. Edwin D. Willard, Washington, D. C, improve- ment in gas-burning gridirons. Edward Wood, Philadelphia, improvement in looms. , David Watson, Petersburgh, improvement in harvesters. Chas. Waters, Brooklyn, improvement in lan- terns. Henry Van De Water, Troy, turbine water wheel. James Dickinson and Oliver White, Richmond, Ind., self-regulating wind-mill. John Pepper, Franklin, N. H., assignor to the Franklin Mills of same place, improvement in knitting machines. Albert Reinhaidt, New- York, assignor to Jas. Schlumberger & Co., Gueberyiller, France, im- provement in machinery for preparing wool for combing. W. H. Elliot, Plattsburgh, N. Y,, improvement in devices for sealing preserve cans. John A. Reynolds, Elmira, improvement in Are arms. John A. Reynolds, Elmira, improved apparatus for corking repeating fire-arms. Cephas Appleton, Lyndon, Vt., Machine for cutting sheet metal. John and Evan Archer, New-Brunswick, N. J., for cutting boot and shoe uppers, soles, etc., from sheets of India rubber. Archibald Railcy, BIueKock, O., whippletree. William Ball, Chickopee, M^iS.*., feeding water steam boilers by auxiliary engines. G. Thompson, E. Tarentum, Pa., mode of e paring potash and soda. Pierpont Seymour, E. Bloomfield, N. Y., seea planter. 192 LIST OF PATENTS. A. E. Smith, Bronxville, N. Y., washers for axles. • C. A. Wilson, Newport, Ky., oscillating valves and gearing for pumping engines. Wm. Mootry, New-Yorit, refrigerators. Jesse Urmy, Wilmington, Del., grain and grass harvesters. Augustus Seaborn, assignor to E. T. Fairbanks & Co., St. Johnsbury, Vt , union platform scales. S. T. Jones, New -York, furnace for treating zinc ore. Andrew Campbell, Newark, N, J., feeding paper to printing presses. Willis IIumistOD,. Troy, N. Y., candle mould apparatus. Merwin Davis, New-York, printing press. Augustin Duboce, Brooklyn, N. Y., propellers. John A. Buruap, Albany, N. Y , double recip- rocating split piston rods for pumps, etc. Frank Otase, So. Sutton, N. H , window blinds. Matthew F. Connet, Plainfleld, N. J., turning cylinders of wood. . J. T. Eussell, Tyler county, Va., wagons. T. E. Saridgren. Wilmington, Del., hydrody- namic friction joints. G. R. Comstock, Manheim, N. Y., cheese presses. John AUender, New-London, Ct., bottle fasten- ings. James Montgomery, Baltimore, Md., wrought iron shafts, Henry Colgate, Jersey City, N. J., starch mak- ing. John Williams, Hartford, Ct., calendar clocks. Albert Walcott, Detroit, Mich., dressing lumber .from the log. E. A. Swan, Brooklyn, N. Y., and De Witt C. Smiley, iMew-York, dressing and carving stone. F. O. Degener, New- York,- paging macliine, W. H. KUiytt, Pldttsburgh, N. Y, exhausting and sealing vessels. Phineas Emmons, N. Y., sizing hat bodias. Benj. Fulgham, Richmond, Ind., sawing ma- chines. _ Kington Goddard, Philadelphia, Pa., bridle reins. <5. H. Guard, Brownsville, N. Y., boring and mortising hubs. Joseph Harris and Elbridgo Harris, Boston, Mass., hand stamp. John Harris, N. Moosick, N. Y., machinery for making rope. Horace Uotchkiss, Waterbury, Ct., cutting files. g?M. ;g. Hubbard, New-York, improvement in carriages. John Jerries, Bethany, N. Y., stalls for horses. James Kelren, Canton, Mass., assigiler to him- self and George Banks of E. Boston, Mass., mak ing railway chairs. Francis Kennej, Springfield, Mass , parlor stoves. E. B Larcher, Baltimore, Md., making gutta percha boots Saml. Macferran, Philadelphia, Pa., processes for smelting iron. D. M Messer, Boston, Mass., processes for hulling cotton seed. Jonas Moore and D. P. Adams, Marietta, Ohio, administering pulverulent medicines E. N. Moore, Lenox, Pa., and J. B. Hanyan, Chester, N. Y., balance water gate. H. E. Worthinglon, Brooklyn, N. Y., water metre. Joseph Plegar, Birmingham, Pa , hinges. H. T Robbins, Lowell, Mass., shuttle guides for rooms. John n. Atwater, of Kalamazoo, for improve- ment in washing machines. Nelson Barlow, of Newark, for improved meth- od of feeding planks to planing machines. Simon Barnhart, ofChilicothe, lor fan blower. Olivet D. Barrett, of Fulton, N. Y., for improve- ment in washing machines. John Ericsson, of New-York, for improvement in air engines. .lohn A. Elder, of Westbrook, Me., and John Richardson, of Portland, Me., for improved ma- chines for ruling and paging paper, John A. Elder, of Westbrook, Me., and Ephraim Wood, of WiiUhrop, Me., for improvement in ma- chinery fur seizing and dressing warps. Fred'k Field, of Toledo, for cross-cut sawing ma- chine. Jas. Harrison, .Jr., of Milwaukee, for improve- ment in sewing machines, Liveras Hull, of Charlestown, Mass, for ma- chine for sawing rattan. Solon S. Jackman, of f ock Haven, Pa., for im- provement in machines for compressing puddler's J)all3 and other masses of iron. Joseph Johnson, of Washington, D. C., for im- provement in washing machines. Fielding H. Keeney, of Newport, Ky., for circti- lar saw mandrel. Stephen Meredith, of Meadsvflle, Pa., improve ment in distilling coal with hydrogen gas. Fred'k Perry, of Newark, for improvement in cut-off valves for steam engines. Wm. H. Rhodes. M. D., of Berlin, N. Y., for im- provement in artificial legs Wm, Sellers, New-York, for improvement in ventilating hats. Isaac M. Singer, New-York, for improvement in sewing machines. Paul Stillinan, New- York, for improvement in water guages tor steam boilers. ElamC. Shaftsbury, of New- York, for improve- ment in excluding dust from railway cars. Geo. S. Shepard, of Canaan, N. Y., for improve- ment in musical road instruments. C. C. Taylor, of Delafield, Wis., for improve- ment in bucket for water-wheel. Anton Von Hagen, of Cincinnatti, for improve- ment in soap cutting machines. Norman W. Wheeler, of Cincinnatti, for im- proved inetho 1 of operating steam valves. Ante- dated March 1, 1855. Henry R. Worthington, of Brooklyn, for im- provement in direct ' acting hydraulic steam pumps. Wm. G. Wolf, of Philadelphia, for improvement in writing desks. Sam'l M. Yost, of Connersville, Ind., for im- provement in washing machines. Lucien N. Bigelow, of Cuba, N. Y., for improve- ment in seeding machines. Sam'l A. Briggs, of Providenco, for improve- ment in hot-air furnaces. John P. Hayes, of Philadelphia, for improve- men in ovens. DESIGN. N.ntbaniel P. Richardson, of Portland, for de sign for Franklin fire-places. f Ije fifiH% tl)e 1*00111, anil tljc ^n^il. Vol. VIII. OCTOBER, 1855. No. 4. THE CONDITION OF LABOR— TRUE PROSPERITY. We think the time has come for the mass of the people to review the past and examine their present condition, and to know whether they are receiving and have received that return for their labor to which thev are entitled. It may be found that the language of that true poet, Hood, applied to a single form and department of labor, is applicable, in a degree, to a much larger proportion of the people than has been generally supposed. " O men with sisters dear, 0 men with mothers and wives! It is not linen you are wearing out, But human crea'ures' lives! Stitch ! stitch ! etitch ! In I overty, hunger and dirt, Sewing at once, with a double thread, A shroud as well as a Bhirt. » * * * * O God r that bread should be so dear. And flesh and blood so cheap ! Work ! work ! work ! My labor never fliigs ; And what are its wages ? — a bed of straw, A crust of bread and rags — That shattered roof, and this naked floor — A table, a broken chair — And a wall so blank — my shadow I thank For sometimes falling there !" Intelligent industry ought to thrive, and in every department of useful labor a livelihood ought always to be secure to the industrious worker. He should not be borne down into the dust, either by fraud or by force. That law of trade, belonging to a code now quite current, " buy cheap," ought not to override all justice and all mercy, and make paupers or beggars of those by whose labor the rich become richer, and the strong stronger. Nor is it enough to show, in justification of such a grinding process, that it is necessary to enable the employer to compete successfully with some other, who lives on fraud, and whose prosperity grows out of the destruction of his neighbors, as really as the tree of the forest thrives on the decomposition of the dead animal at its root. If any one thing can show the general prosperity and well-being of a- VOL. VIII. 13 194 THE CONDITION OF LABOR. community, we think it is the fact that all useful labor is remunerative. This does not require that every form of kbor should receive a large sum ia wages, but it does require 'that the amount received should enabe the laborer to provide well for himself. He expends his energies, his only capital, for the good of his employer. He is not fully compensated unless he receives at least what will restore to him what he has expended. In any condition of things short of this, he is reducing his capital, and in the code commercial, this is the unpardonnble sin. Nor does the laborer receive this full remuneration when he merely gets wages that will buy all he want* to eat, drink, and wear. That laborer is a man. Progress is as much a part of his creed as it is that of the scholar, though the progress desired is dif- ferent in kind and in degree. This must be his creed because he is a man, and no man is in the best condition to do well for himself or for others who does not see something before him, and within his reach, better than the present. He knows that there will be " rainy days." He knows that sickness may lay him low and hold him helpless. He has loved ones, too, whom he cherishes as his own eyes, to whom he would do good. He is not then satisfied, althougi when night comes he finds that his food for the day has been paid for, and a. shilling is left for his lodging. We may take another view of this doctrine, which may set it in a clear light. A young man commencing for himself says, " Here I am, about to begin a series of labors, which shall, perhap?, continue for many years, but, at last, it will give me a comfortable home for myself and mine in our old age. Thirty years even may be past ere I acco npiish this; but yet so much a year laid up will secure this result." But he labors ten years without gain- ing anything, and now only twenty remain. Hence the annual saving must thereafter be greater than he first proposed, or his prospects will be mate- rially lessened, and his hopes disappointed. He is not now in so good a condition as he was when he commenced for himself. His circumstances have constantly been growing worse and worse. He is not ready to sur- render the one aim of his hfe. He has not thought of despair. But he sings, in the words of the same poet : " No parish money or loaf, No pauper badges for me, A son of the eoil, by right of toil, Entitled to my fee. No alms I ask ; give me my task — Here are the arm and leg, The strength, the sinews of a man, To work, and not to beg." Without spending further time or space in this direction, we repeat that it is a full remuneration for all his expenditures that he may rightfully claim, and in this calculation, be it more or less, within reasonable limits, this desire for progress or an improved condition comes in as a legitimate item ; and, if disappointed in this, the laborer is so far deteriorated, positively incapa- citated. It would be impossible to lay down any particular rule for meas- uring or limiting the amount of this obligation. But, whatever it may be, it is a legitimate item in fixing the price of a day's work. The interest of the employer demands it as really as the interest of the employed. Whatever standard may be adopted as a just measure of recompense for services rendered, no difference of opinion can exist on the absolute proposi- tion, that the laborer is worthy of a full remuneration for whatever is actually expended for his employer; and no community can be said to be prosperous where labor does not thus receive its full reward. THE CONDITION OF LABOR. 195 A great deal of confusion exists in the minds of thousands upon the real question at issue on this subject. If a certain number of the comraunity grow rich, if the wealth or power of certain sects or cliques, or particular interests, increase, the idea prevails that the corarauuity is necessarily prosperous. Nothino- can be more erroneous. Suppose a bouse consists of ten partners, each having his distinct branch of trade, and that five of these lose as much as the other five gain. Is that house prosperous? No man thinks so. Then why should we not judge the same of a comrhunity ? We can well understand why, in past times, such a mistake should be made. There have been times when the interests of the masses were not regarded. The lords of the manor, the baron^*, and a few other titled men, constituted the nation. No man was in any sense a citizen who was not the owner of real estate. " The right of peerage was origmally territorial," says Blackstone, " that is, annexed to lands, honors, castles, manors, and tue lifee, the prop ri<- tors and possessors of which were allowed to be peers of the realm. When the land was alienated the dignity passed with it as an appendant." Even in the early history of this country similar views were held. It is within the recollection of many, not among our " oldest inhabit- ants," when the owneiship of real estate was necessary to constitute a voter. Nor is it longer ago than the frimous Dorr rebellion in Rhode Island that this was one of the doctrines which became a matter of contention even at the point of tbe basnet. The views generally entertained on this subject even now partake very extensively of the coloring of those past epochs. When any such Jiraitation of the right of citizen-hip is established, it mdij, perkajJS, be true, that the welfare of the masses is not involved in the welfare of the community. But even then we do not see that the state of things would be essentially changed in this respect. The general may be regarded as the only person of consequence among all those who are about him. But if his army are weak from starvation, where will he obtain his laurels ? So the master may appropriate to himself all the dignities and emoluments, and even ignore the existences which minister to him, but if they are diseased and dis-abled what becomes of him ? It is quite too late in the day to urge any such considerations as these to which we have referred upon the public mind. Tue community is made up of all its parts, whether they are held in honor or in dishonor, •whether allowed more or less of civil and social privilege, and that community does not prosper where the masses are not in good condition — well educated for the duties required of t'oetn — happy and contended. But we must not extend these remarks. We appreciate the importance of every block in the structure of society whether below or above the sur face, aijd are quite ready fairly to investigate the question, Is our community in a prosperous condition ? When compared with many others it undoubt- edly is prosperous., But when compared with our own ideas of what we should be and may be, when we compare our practice with our theory, we must pause ere we answer either way, yes or no. What are the facts connected with this inqtiiry ? Vast estates are made, and ipnde rapidly. We can point to those who have accumulated a million in les-> than thirty years. But did they make it, or steal it? Was it the result of honorable, legitimate traffic, or was it the product only of trickery, dfC«it, fraud, falsehood? Was it drawn out from the hard and honest earnings of others, who were deluded by the false tales that were told them ? If this is the process, would any amount of wealth thua acquired by the few make a prosperous community, or furnish any 196 THE CONDITION OF LABOR, evidence of its good condition ? This, no doubt, does describe truthfully the process by which many great estates have been rapidly acquired. Our cities abound in them, and they are met with all over the country. Other large estates are rapidly accumulated by foreign trade. Amorg the ignorant natives of China and the Indie?, the "shrewd" Caucasian sends his commercial agent, and, partly by cheating in weights and meas- ures, partly by deceits of other sorts, the rich products of those counines are obtained for a song, and the house rapidly becomes rich. It em;>loy3 twenty or fifty men in our own midst, to handle, sell, and manage the^se rich cargoes, and a great noise is made about " commercial enterprise," and the progress of our country, and the very science of Permutation is exhausted in conjuring up numerous forms of trumpeting this "progress" over the continent, and even acro?s the ocean. But is it not obvious that all this is humbug and fraud ? What has it done for the general pros- perity of the community ? Perhaps this same great house beat down the shipbuilder that furnished the ships which brought over these rich cargoes to almost the cost of the timber, so tbat he had no resource but to do the same thing with the carpenter, and blacksmith, and lumberer, while the rigger, and sailor, and stevidore, and porter, as well as the clerks, book- keepers, and salesmen can find employment in that house only at the lowest possible wages. Is there here any evidence of a prosperous community ? But let us take a tour into the country. Rich lard extends all through our valleys, and our hills wave with rich harvests, herds and flocks abound, and the farms, barns, and granaries are running over. " Surely here is pros- perity," we are told, and we admit that no class in the world is so independent of the fluctuations which abound in all communities as this. But why are his barns so full and his granaries so loaded ? Because he can find no remunera- tive market. Because such a system of speculation pervades all the places of business, that the producer must sell at almost ruinous rates or keep his products for home consumption. This, often and generally, he cannot do, and therefore he must sell them to the speculator, who, without a particle of labor bestowed upon them, without doing a single thing to improve their condition, has such a control of the retail market, that he demands an exorbi- tant price for the daily necessaries of hfe, and, in a few years, budds a splen- did house in a fashionable street, and retires from active business to loan his money at tv,'o or three per cent, a mouth, and thus keeps the ball in motion till it is absolutely unwieldy. Is there here any evidence of a prosperous community ? We might thus run through all the forms of trade, and we should come to the same result, nor shall we get any satisTactory answer to the inquiry we have made, till we are so happy as to find all these classes well compen- sated for their labor, and labor always to be had. The farmer then toils cheerfully, and sings a song of praise each evening with a merry heart. The mechanic sharpens his tools and plies them with an energy that whets his appetite while he enjoys his liberal repast; and a hard day's work, well com- pensated and a certainty of employment for to-morrow, secures for him sweet sleep in the midst of a happy family. And so this ball r«lls on. All are well provided for, all are prosperous and happy. Grim want drives none into vice. The people become honest, and hate every form of crime. Even their selfishness teaches them such lessons, for now they have that which needs the protection of law, and they crave the peace and security which good morals alone can insure. Is there any such talisman as this among^all the regulations of thepohce, and the penal enactments of legislatures ? Surely there is none. METEOROLOGY FOR FARMERS, 197 And to what result are we brought as to the answer, Yes or no 1 Are we, as a community, in a prosperous condition ? There has been, by general consent, one of the severest seasons our country has ever known. Its severity consisted in the fact that labor could find no market, and could earn no wages. Many a heart still aches under the bare recollection of its pangs. What produced that state of things? Who will inform us? Who will in^stigate it? Leave not the inquiry to the politicians, it is for the laborer. Puliticians are the most corrupt crew living on this footstool. There is not a band of pickpockets on earth, that can so easily be led to be- tray the interests of their associates as they. Statesmen are noblemen. Men who take office for the good of their country and labor for its good, deserve the highest of rev^ards. Men who seek office as they would buy goods at an auction, as a source of profit and for personal advantage, and who value it in the exact ratio of its emoluments, belong to a different class, and though some of these are truly honest, and many others as honest as is compatible with security of place, too many of them become politicians by trade, and they do trade in their policy just as they would in horses, to the best bidder. Trust not this discussion in such hands. Let the educated, the intelligent laborer, study the relations of trade, the antecedents of " commercial crises," and of stagnation in business. We have said this is the duty and interest of the laborer. This is a large class. It includes all but idle drones, who are generally too inefficient to exert any influence beyond their own family circles. The laborer, then, has it in his power to adopt such measures as he may think best. Will he take it in hand, and examine it in the light of facts? We will try to do our part. Let every reader give us his assistance. METEOROLOGY FOR THE FARMERS. We give extracts from the interesting letter of Lieut. Maury, of the U. S. Navy, to the Editor of the American Farmer^ on the subject of Meteorology. It is a matter of great importance to the Agricultural interest of the country ; and it is hoped an appropriation from Congress will be made, to carry out the views of Lieut. Maury. — Ed. "Observatory, Washington, June 18, 1855. " To the Editors of the American Farmer : " Gentlemen : — I am much obliged to you for your favor of the 9th inst. You are right ; I did not intend to confine the appeal to the farmers of any ' pent-up Utica.' 1 intended to make it as broad as the land. " You ask for the plan of cooperation. It is very simple, and calls on the farmers for little more than good-will. " I first want authority to take the preliminary steps, and to confer with other meteorologists and men of science at home and abroad, with the view of establishing a uniform system of meteorological observations for the land, as we have done fur the sea. " If any officer of the Government were authorized to say to the farmers, as I have to the sailors. Here is the form of a meteorological journal ; it 198 METEOROLOGY FOR FARMERS. shows you the observations that are wanted, the hours at which they are to be made; tells what instruments are required, and how they are to be u>ed: take it, furn'sh the Government with observations, and in return the Govern- ment will discuss them, and give you a copy of the results when publi>hed — he would have at once, and without cost, a volunteer corps of observers that would furnish him all the data requisite for a complete study of both agri- cultural and sanitary meteorology. " Such an ofler to the sailors has enlisted a corps of obscrrers for the sea, by whose cooperation results the most important and valuable, and as unex- pected as valuable, have been obtained. " Could not at least one farmer be found on the average for every county in every State that vv'ould gladly undertake the observations? I don't think there would be any difFiculty on that score. Sailors have been found to do as much for every part of the sea — on the average ten observers for a State would be sufficient. " Now if we could get the English Government, and the French Govern- ment, and the Russian Government, and the other Christian States, both of the Old World and the New, to do the same by their farmers, we shall have the whole surface of our planet covered with meteorological observers, acting in concert, and eliding from nature, under all varieties of climate and circumstances, answer to the same questions, and that, too, at no other expense than what each Government should choose to incur for ihe discussion and publication of the observations that are made by its own citizens or subjects. " What is wanted in a system of observations like this is uniformity. Hence, cooperation — an agreement to observe the same things at the same times — is essential to anything like success. We want not only correspond- ing observations as to the time, but we want them made with instruments that are alike, or that can be compared; and then we may expect to find out something certain and valuable, concerning the movements of this grand and beautiful machine called the atmosphere. " If you ask me to state beforehand what particular discoveries or special results of value I expect to make, I answer. If I could tell, I would not ask your assistance to make them. The fields meteorological are large — there are many of them, and all that I do know about them is, that there is in them mighty harvests of many sorts. "I make the appeal to the farming interest especially, because that is the great interest to be subserved by the scheme ; and if the farmers do not really care enough about it to use their influence with their Repi'esentatives in Congress to procure the very trifling appropriation that is required to get it under way, I do not see why I should give myself any further trouble in the matter. " Will you not bring the subject in some tangible shape before the Agri- cultural Societies of the country ? A simple memorial fnm them to Con- gress would not fail to procure all the legislative aid necessary. < "Some of the leading sciemific men of Europe are ready to join us in such a plan ; and with authority to confer with them officially as to details, I have no doubt that most of the goverments of the world would undertake, each for itself, and wiihin its own territories, a corresponding series of obser- vations, so that we should then be able to study the movements of this great atmospherical machinery of our planet as a whole, and not as hitherto in Isolated deiached parts. Re-pectfully, etc., « M. F. Maury, Lt. U. S. N." PROBLEMS AND TABLES OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 199 PROBLEMS AND TABLES OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. One pound Avoirdupois = 1.21527 pounds Troy. 144 pounds » =175 " " Avoirdupois pounds X 1.21527 = Troy pounds. ,9115 == " ounces. .823 = Avoirdupois pounds. 1.1 == " ounces. , .03657 = " drachms. system) = 15.4340 Troy grains. : 27.7015 cubic inches of distilled water. 1 gallon of distilled water weighs lOjBb Avoirdupois. A cubic foot of distilled water weighs 62.5g) Avoirdupois. A wine gallon contains 231 cubic inches. An ale " " 282 " " An English Imperial ale gallon, dry measure, • = 277.274 cubic inches. A pint English Imp., wine measure, = 34.659 " A pint " dry measure, r^ 34.659 " A gallon " <■' = 277.274 " A bushel « « = 1.2837 feet. u ounces X Trov pounds X u ounces X u grams X 1 gramme (French dec. 1 poui id Avoirdupoi; 5 = FRENCH DECIMAL SYSTEM. 1 metre is 39.371 inches. The increasing series consists of the Millimetre, Decimetre, Metre, Decametre, = .03937 inches. Centimetre, Hectometre, Kilometre, and My- riametre, the last = 10930.389 yards. 1 Gramme equals 15.4340 Troy grains. The entire series, increasing, consists of the Millegrarame, Centigramme, Decigramme, Gramme, Decagramme, Hectogramme, Kilogramme, Myria- gramme. To Find the Content of a Cylinder ( Well, Cistern, c&c.,) in U. States ■Gallons. — Multiply the square of the diameter in feet, by the length of the cylinder in feet, and this product by 5.874 ; or Multiply the square of the diameter in inches by the length in feet, and this product by 0.408. For example. How many gallons in a well 22^ feet deep and 3^ feet in diameter ? 3.5' X 22.5 X 5.874 = 1619.02 galls. Or, 3^ feet = 42 inches, and 42' x 22,5 x .034 == 1619.55 galls. To Find the Force of Wind, its Velocity being Given. — Divide the velo- city per second by 10, and multiply the square of the quotient by 0.229. The product will be the force exerted upon a square foot in pounds. 200 COUNTRY HOUSES. FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. SHORT AND USEFUL RULE. Solid feet multiplied by ff gives bushels of 2l50f * inches each, or by f f gives bushels of 2211.84 inches each. To' find the number of bushels m a square-cornered box or pile, multiply the length, breadth, and depth in feet together, and the product will be the number of solid feet, which, being multiplied by either of the above-men- tioned fractions, (f | or ff,) will give the number of bushels. Bentonville, Ind. Merchant Kelly. * " Standard bushel."— Ed. rOR THK PLOUon, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVII., COUNTRY HOUSES. Mr. Editor : — One of the most common features in the houses of the country is the want of taste, visible in all sections of the country. These dwellings are mostly the homes of the farmer, and surprising it is to se.e how little time is spent in improving them and making them look as a fann- er's home should. Most of them were placed close to the highway with a door-yard perhaps in front, of twelve by twenty feet, fenced off from each corner of the house and nmning to the street fence. Hence this yard comprised all the " grounds" the house had, and sometimes even this was wanting, as in many cases the!ice of about six hundred square yards. These pits are to be filled with horse dung ani covered with earth. After the first frost, all the mole-crickets of the neighborhood will collect there to shelter themselves from the cold, where they may be destroyed in heaps." The Grvllad.e, or " Grasshopper" family are well known, and in some seiisons of the yenr are very abundant. But in our country, hitherto, they have not been particularly destructive. Such however is not the case with 201 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. other regions. The migratory locust belongs to this genus, and the terrible desolation produced by this insect is well known. In Africa, they appear in legions, and the devastation they commit is terrible. In a few short hours they devour every gr«en thing over large tracts of territory. So dense are the masses in which they move, that they resemble a thunder-cloud. They have appeared in various parts of Europe, from Tartary, and have even found their way into England. In 1813, the French Government issued decrees, offering premiums for the insects or their eggs, with a view of destroying their larvae. The plague, so frequent in the East, has been - ascribed to the decaying of these swarms of locusts. It is supposed to be the Gr. migratorious which constituted one of the plagues of Egyj)t. They are sometimes used as food, and in the East are constantly offered for sale. Trave'ers have assured us that they form an agreeable diet, having the tHste of cray-fi^h. The Arabs pre^erve them in a dry state. They , are described in the New Testament, as having served as the food of St. John the Baptist. They are about two inches and a half in lentjth. Their head and neck are green, body brownish, upper wings brown, melting into greenish, and with darker quadrangular spots. The under wings are tran-parent, and greenish towards the body. The blue upper javifs are fur- nished witii sharp teeth. (Kollar.) Gryllus forinosus. The body is pale green, antennae yellowish, thorax armed with numerous small denticles, above compressed, very much elevated into a regularly bow-shaped keel. Keel with two yellow radii, and }ellow anterior and posterior edges. The Heraelytrse or wing-covers, with about six large brown spots, with pale wing cells. It is a very beautiful species. Major Long found this insect on the Arkansas River. Gryllus hirtipes is another species, very curious, but rare, occurring with the prece'ding. Its specific name is descriptive of its hairy feet. The species of grasshoppers and locusts are too numerous for detailed de- description. Dr. Harris describes nearly thirty species. They are not o'ten seen in so large numbers as to be very destructive to crops, though such an event has occurred in our own countr}^, and during the present season the country around the Great Salt Lake has been utterly laid waste by them. Whether tbis is the true M>gratonus we cannot judge, not having seen a descripiioa of the insect, but it probably is so. As to the mode of destroying them, it is obvious that when they appear in such immense masses, their actual destruction is out of the question. Their numbers may be diminished by drawing a piece of cloth held obbquely over the ground by four persons, the lower edge sweeping the surface. Thus they are coUecfed in a sort of winrow, and by a proper managerat-ut of the sheet, they may be secured in a heap, and poured into bags. They should then be immersed in boiling water, and afterwards given to the hogs. The even- ing is the proper time for this service. Such means have proved beneficial. Several bushels of insects have been collected in a single evening. In France, in 1825, six thousatid, two hundred francs were paid, at Mar- seilles, in premiums, a franc being given for a kilogramme, about two and a half lbs., or a quarter of a franc fur the same weight of eggs. When meadows are in danger of being materially injured by grass-hop- pers, tbe grass should be cut early, by which means a larger part of the growth' is preserved, and many of the young grass-hoppers, being thus de- prived of their fiod, will perish. Domestic fowls, and sorue species of birds, devour great numbers of crickets and grass-hoppers. Turkeys will fatten upon them, when they are numerous. The order Hbmiptera, exceedingly prolific and destructive, is next in order. SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUST. 205 , FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THB ANTIL. SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUST. Mr. Editor: — ^In Vol. 8, No. 1 of your valuable publication, the Natural History of the Seventeen Year Locust is given. About the year 1820, the said locust made its appearance in myriads in E. Feliciana Parish, La. They have been found in that Parish* four feet beneath the surface of the earth, in the chrysalis state, -whence they make their way to the surface, in what length of time is unknown. But when the period of changing to a superior state of existence arrives, they simultaneously appear above ground, leaving a perfectly round hole nearly vertical, 10 or 12 inches deep. The insect in the chrysalis state is encased in a semi-transparent sub- stance that might be compared to horn of the same thickness. They have strong necks and fore-legs, and, as their eyes are shelled over, are not afraid of dirt, but like the mole can press the earth aside and force themselves through. These insects contrive to get above ground during the night, and, though their pace is slow, find some post, tree or stump on which they ascend, and before morning leave the homely dress they brought with them from the in- terior, sticking to whatever gave them support, but with a terrible rent in the back. When they first assume their superior state of existence they are literally " soft-shells," but a few minutes of good sunshine invigorates them, their shells become " hard," and they are able to soar aloft and become harmonious. In or about the year 1820, those locusts were so pumerous iu E. Feliciana Parish that it was useless to listen for a bell. The males alone are musical ; the music is played on two little shell or glass-like balls about the size of a duck -shot, under the ■Wrings, by a tremor of the w'mgi acting on said balls. The females are peculiar. They are furnished under the extremity of the body with two reddish-brown sword-shaped instruments, the curve turned upward. With this double instrument, they perforate the uuder-side of twigs about half the size of a man's little finger, making holes with each swoid at a time — the sword, being slightL separated, and the holes slaniing to about 45 degrees backward from the insect, from the perpendicular of the twig. These holes were filled with eggs resembling fly-blows, five or six to the hole. The twigs operated on had from three to seven, generally, of these perforations, lengthwise of the Umb, and about an eighth of an inch apart. The eggs, after looking plump and remaining about four weeks, hatched out, nobody knew when, and disappeared in the ground as was presumed. In 1831 the locusts reappeared inE. Feliciana to a small extent, I should probably not have recollected the circumstance but that the publisher of the village paper j^redicted great ravages from them, mistaking them for one of the plagues of Egypt. The W on the back mentioned, was in the locality where I saw them, on each wing. From that circumstance the old ladies in the country predicted war. It is a great mistake to presume that the locust of our country ever cuts off the limb of a tree ; they have no mandible. If they derive any sustenance from vegetation it is by suction with the slender bill they have. Some twigs die from the perforations made for depositing eggs. 206 FOREST TREES OF NICHOLS, TIOGA CO. The insect that circles or cuts off twigs is a species of beetle, and probably 6**9 into t'^igs for food. It is the progenitor of the Flat-Head or Sawyer — a good bait in fishing for perch, and extremely destructive to pine timber. W. M. D. FOR THE tLOVan, THE LOOM, AND THS ANVIL. FOREST TREES OF NICHOLS, TIOGA CO , N. Y,, AND THEIR USK Fagus Ferruginea, Beech. — The Beech is a very common tree in this vi-. cinity, and is seldom found on high land unless associated with commoa hemlock; tree is from 50 to 60 feet high, and from 15 to 20 inches in di- ameter, seldom two feet; bark, dark gray and smooth, about | of an inch thick; wood, of a yellowish white color. Sometimes large trees with a red heart, 6 or 8 inches in diameter; wood, smooth grain, and very hard when seasoned ; when green, of uncommon weight. A log put into water instantly sinks. Leaves; elliptical-ovate, acuminate, conspicuously toothed, with 15 or 16 ribs on each side of the leaves, and a notch or tooth at each rib. Leaves from 2 to 5 inches long, and 1^ to 2^^ inches wide, on short stems; flowers appearing about the middle of May in clusters, appearing like a small round ball of fringe of a reddish green color. Nuts in a roundish shuck, dividing into four parts, and covered with soft prickly nut; two tognther, and nearly three square, or the shape of a grain of buckwheat, about f of an inch long, ripe about the middle of October. Nuts this year tn great abundance, gen- erally abundant every other year. The wood of the beech is used very extensively for fuel and plane stocks, and seldom for any other use in this vicinity ; wood, generally strait grained, and works into fuel, very easily. The trees are frequently hollow at the butt. The ash of the beech like the different maples is deficient in alkah, and the wood soon decomposes if left exposed to the weather. Trees cut in the latter part of winter begin to decay in the fall, especially small trees. The stumps from small trees sprout freely for a few years, when they die, and the stump is soon out of the ground. The beech-nut furnishes a large amount of food for hogs. Farmers hogs frequently live the winter through on the nuts, aud oecome very fat. They are also gathered for household use, being excellent for eating. It is thought by some that there are two varieties of the beech, but I have never been able to discover this. Large trees have frequently a red heart, which small trees seldom have. Carpinas Americana. — Hornbeam, Water Beech. — ^No.2. — ^The Water Beech, as it is called in this vicinity, is seldom found except in the vicinity of streams, and rarely on hills, unless on wet land with hemlock. Tree from 15 to 25 feet high, seldom over 20 feet, and generally Y or 8 inches in diam- eter ; a few in this vicinity are 12 or 14 inches ; generally in open woods, low and brlincbing like an apple tree. Trees often grow with two main branches ; trunk of the tree very uneven, being full of grooves and ridges, and frequent- ly for a. space of several inches nearly flat. The bark is nearly smooth, and generally is covered with two or three varieties of moss. The bark h of a dark color. The leaves are from 2 to 5 inches long, and from 1 to 2 inches wido, with 12 or 14 ribs on a side, and generally three notcheR be- MANUFACTURE OF NEEDLES. 207 tween each rib. The leaves often terminate in a sharp point. Stem of leaves I" inch long; flowers in April. Fruit, a nut on long stems, in pairs ; at the base of the involucral scale, nuts flattish round, half of the size of a grain of wheat, sharp pointed, ripe early in October. "Wood heavy, close grained and excellent fire-wood, also good for levers, being very stiff. Nichols, September 10, 1855. E. Howell. THE LARCH FOR TIMBER. HowiTT, in his Rural Life in England, gives the following valuable sug- gestions : " Larch will supply ship-timber at a great height above the region of the oak ; and while a seventy-four gun ship will require the oak timber of seventy-five acres, it will not require more than the timber of ten acres of larch ; the trees, in both cases, being sixty-eight years old. The larch at Dunkeld, grows at the height of 1,300 feet above the level of the sea ; the spruce at 1,200 ; the Scotch pine at 700 ; and deciduous trees are not higher than 500. The larch, in comparison with the Scotch pine, is found to produce three and three-quarter times more timber, and that timber of seven times more value. The larch, also being a deciduous tree, instead of injuring the pasture under it, improves it. The late Duke of Athol, John the Second, planted in the last year of his life, 6,500 Scotch acres of mountain ground solely with the larch, which in the course of seventy-two years from the time of planting will be a forest of timber tit for the building of the largest class of ships in her majesty's navy. It will have been thinned out to about forty trees per acre. Each tree v/ill contain at least fifty cubic feet, or one load of timber, which, at the low price of one shilling the cubic foot, only one-half of its present value, will give 661,000 per acre, or in all, a sum of £6,500,000 sterling. Besides this, there will have been a return of £7 per acre from the thinnings, after deducting all expense of thinning, and the original outlay of planting. Further still, the land on which the larch is planted, is not worch above ninepence or one shilling per acre. After the thinnings of the last thirty years, the larch will make it worth at least ten shillings per acre by the improvemept of the pasturage, on which cattle can be kept summer aad winter." Manufacture of Needles. — In the manufacture of needles, the harden- ing process is effected by beating them in batches in a furnace, and when red hot throwing them into a pan of cold water. After this, they are tempered by rolling them forward and backwards on a hot metal plate. Then comes the polishing. On a very coarse cloth needles are spread to the number of forty or fifty thousand ; emery dust is strewed over them, oil is sprinkled, soft soap daubed upon the cloth, and the cloth is then rolled hard up and thrown into a wa*h pot to roll to and fro for some hours, when they are rinsed in hot water, rubbed iu sawdust, and look as bright as can bf*. 208 EXTENSIVE LUMBER BUSINESS. EXTENSIVE LUMBER BUSINESS. The Three Riv^ers (Canada) Inquirer gives a very interesting account of the vast business operations of Norcross, Philips & Co., and illustrates the almost inestimahle advantages Tvhich a community may derive from the judicious enterprise of a single individual or firm. On Thursday evening, the Hon, Mr. Drummond, Attorney- General, visited the extensive establishment owned here by Norcross, Phillips & Co.; min-^ utely inspected the entire, and expressed his admiration of the economical distribution of the Motive Power, and of the excellent and suitable arrange- ments of the establishment. Though the Saw-Mills under notice are only in the second season of their operations, they give employment to about three hundred persons, who r> ceive liberal wages and permanent work. Had we not this resource in the immediate vicinity, in these extremely dull times, the laborers and some of the mechanics of the town would have suffered severely from the stagnation of business, and the high price of produce. Three hundred men, if married, represent a population of 1500 ; it therefore must be regarded as no small benefit to this class of our population, that so many are presented with the means of securing a comfortable support. We cannot pr-etend to give an accurate account to our readers of the, full benefit that our people derive from this establishment, but they may form an approximate opinion, when they are informed that upwards of one hundred thousand pounds are invested by the time the lumber reaches a market, thus including in the wide sweep of its benefits all classes, from the steamboat' proprietor to the day-lal)orer. The proprietors reasonably calculate on send- ing this season fifteen millions of f^^et to the American market, and that this calculation is based on moderate data, may be presumed from the fact that, •with four double gangs of saws, seven hundred and seven thousand feet of lumber were sawed in one week, and in eleven hours on Saturday last, 73,000 feet were cut. Shingles and clapboards are extensively manufactured ; about teo thousand daily of the former, and four thousand of the latter. Window sashes and door frames, etc., will also be manufactured. In addition to all this, a large machine house is erected, and executes steamboat and other machinery. The firm intend to commence the manu- facture of sngar shooks for the West Indian market, as some of their limits abound in timber well suited for this branch ( f trade. One pervading rule of economy and rfgularity pervades the entire establishment. Even the saw-dust and refuse odds and ends of sticks are shovelled into the furnaces, and are found more than sufficient for fuel, and from an accurate calculation made by one of the partners, we were convinced that a steam-mill at the mouth of the St. Maurice could be worked as cheaply as a mill with water- power 20 or 30 miles higher up. The great obstacle to lumbering operations hitherto, has been the exces- sive cost of the transit of provisions and cattle, 100 or 150 miles up tlie river. This difficulty, entailing enormous expense, and prodigious waste of time, was promptly perceived by Messrs. Norcross & Philips, and to obviate it, they constructed a steamer, and had it launched. This boat is of 100 horse power, 120 feet in length and 20 feet wide, and now navigates 70 miles of the St. Maurice, above the Piles. . AGKICULTUEE, ETC., OF INDIANA CO., PA. 209 FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL AGRICULTURE, etc., OF INDIANA COUNTY, PA. [The following interesting communication is received from a friend at a point near West Branch, about ten miles from the head of the Susquehan- aah, called Cherry Tree.] This place is so called from the fact, that when William Penn made one of his purchases of the Indians, (the place of contract was down the river about Curwinville or Oldtown,) it was agreed that the purchase line should •cross the river as high up as two Indians could row a canoe with two white men as companions. They set out, and having rowed as far as they could well do, they drew to shore, and at the place of landing was a large wild cherry tree standing, to which they tied their canoe. At the point where this tree stood, the southern line of the purchase crossed the river from east to west. This line is the dividing li-^'e between Clearfield and Cambria •C 'Unties, and cuts Indiana County on the dividing line between the townships of Montgomery and Green. Hence, the Cherry Tree is the point at which the purchase line, and the line which separates Indiana County on the west, from Clearfield and Cambria counties on the east, cut each other at right angles. Hence, also, the Cherry Tree is a point at which two counties and four townships corner. From the above you will see why this region is called the Cherry Tree. This region is also called the Pine region, from the fact that White Pine is very abundant all along the river on both sides for several miles back in the country. It is also called the Lumber region, from the fact that vast quantities of pine lumber, in theforms of hewn-timber, spars, and boards, are run down the river in rafts in the spring and summer during high water, or when, as they say here, there is a flood. This lumber is sold mostly at Marietta, below Harrisburg, to lumber merchants from New- York and Baltimore, and other places, whither it is taken by them for dis- posal. The lumbering season here is, for the most part, a very busy, labori- ous, and hazardous one. Sometimes it is very remunerative, as it was last spring a year ago. And sometimes, as last spring, it is a losing business. As for agriculture in this region, owing to the heavy growth of pine, and the recent date of the beginning of operations here, not much has been or could well be- done in that line. The people have been most dependent on buying their provisions, both for man and beast, abroad ; that is, out of the Pines, in the older settlements till the last two or three years. The timber is now getting so reduced, that the people are beginning to prepare the ground, divested of its native products, for the plough and the seed. For the last three years or so, the face of the people has been setting strongly towards raising their own bread and meat. Last year especially, the clearmg fever run high and strong, as if emulating the fever (drought) of the outer world. The last season was the most favorable for clearing of any ever known here, and every man seemed to put his best foot ahead to see how much he could clear. And the very legitimate consequence was, that a very large breadth of new ground was sown to wheat last fall, that is, for this region, and the winter and summer were both favorable to its growth, till the harvest. But during the lime of harvest there was so much rain, that the crop was considerably injured, and yet wheat has fallen in price since harvest from two and a half dollars to one dollar and even less in some cases. « 14 210 AGRICULTURE, ETC., OF INDIANA CO., PA. Oats were, perhaps, never better or more abundant here than this season. Owing to wet weather, considerable difficulty was experienced in harvesting the oat crop as well as the wheat. Oats have fallen in price from about a dollar down to about twenty cents, and some are expecting that they will be down to twelve and a half cents before spring. The Rye crop was also good, and the price, instead of two dollars, as last spring, is slow at fifty cents. The Corn crop looks very promising now, and more acres were planted this season than perhaps were ever planted before in one season in these parts. If the corn comes to maturity, there will probably be a fall in its price from one dollar and fifty cents to I cannot tell what figure. The f )re- part of the season was very unfavorable for corn, so much so that it had made but little headway by the first of July. Hence it is late in ripening. We have had no frost yet, except a harmless white one on the morning of the 19th of August. The Hay crop was very good, all things considered. There was a dry spell about the last of May that threatened the hay crop somewhat, but at the time of cutting it was very good. But the rains were so frequent and abundant during and after haying, that much was spoiled. In fact, there is but little good, bright, sweet hay about these regions. The Buckwheat crop now promises an abundant yield if no ill betides it, and, for these parts, a large breadth was sown. The starvation prices of the last year or so up to harvest, has had the eftect of urging every man to raise all he possibly could of any and everything eatable for man or beast. So great was the scarcity, and so great the demand for seed buckwheat, as I have been informed, that it was sold at seven and even nine dollars a bushel. But if the crop comes in as abundantly as it now gives promise of doing, it will probably be humbled in price, like all its neighbors, to a low figure. The Potato crop had, all along through the season, threatened to a be very abundant and healthy one, but, alas, during the last two weeks it has sadly changed its tune, and cries rat! rat! rat! so that, I think, the people instead of turning up their saucy noses in view of their abundance, will be very apt to turn them up at another smell before winter or spring. Pros- perity makes some people very saucy and thankless. Like Jeshurun, if there is but even a prospect of waxing fat, they will begin to kick. They can't wait till they are fat. This has been, in truth, a very wet season — as wet as last season was dry. The rains have been not only frequent, but powerful, as though the very doors and windows of the clouds had burst open, and the winds were in keeping with the rains. It has been no uncommon thing to go out after the storm was passed and see the roads and fields all gullied out, and the corn and potatoes, etc., etc., lying exposed in all directions. On the whole, I think, that the practice of agricuUure has been greatly on the increase here during the last three years, and bids fair for the future. I could wish I were able to say as much for the science. Most of them would think that the price of agricultural books and papers, and the time spent in' read- ing them, as bad, if not worse, than thrown away. But the world moves, and thank God, (the great and the good,) the science as well as the practice of agriculture ^royresse^, and will progress, till righteousness, and peace, and truth, shall reign throughout all the earth. " Till every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree." "Till the nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks." Glorious day that com- pared with this. God speed the cause of agricultural acience and practice until the wilderness and solitary places shall be made glad, and the barren NOTES FROM THE FAR-WEST. 211 waste shall become di fruitful field, and the eanh shall yield her strengib, and the family of man shall become oneffreat, peaceful, prosperous, and happy brotherhood. A County Agricultural Society for Indiana County was formed last March in Indiana town, which is trying to do something fur the noble cause. It is to hold its first annual Fair about the middle of next month, (October.) Prayingthe blessing of God Most High to rest upon you and the noble cause of agricultural science and practice in the world, I remain, Yours truly, D. M. FOR THB PLOUGH, THB LOOM, ASD THE ANVIL. NOTES FROM THE FAR-WEST. Mr. Editor : — Your valuable periodical, which punctually reaches us in these almost outskirts of creation, is perused with great interest, and as here- tofore I have occasionally supplied a few of its pages with observations upon this part of the country, I resume my pen, and otfer other gleanings, not, I think, uninteresting to the lovers of Agriculture. Our harvest is now rapidly proceeding, and by far the greater part of the grain is secured in stacks, and in another week the oats and barley will also be saved. The yield is abundant, and the quality excellent ; perhaps not so much bulk in straw as last year. The weather also around this region of country, with the exception of a few days, has been all that could be desired. Reap- ing machines are he'ard by the traveler as he passes along the road, and every hand that can be got is eagerly pressed into service. Wages with us are not quite so exorbitant as last year, nor are hands quite so scarce. No grain this year, I believe, will suffer or be lost for want of help, as was then the case. The crop of corn promises exceedingly good ; the stalks, owing to the timely showers, are strong, and the ears are putting themselves out in a remarkably fine manner. The long drought in the spring made the farmer very anxious about this crop ; many replanted, but eventually rain came, and all was recti- fied. This article has strangely risen in price since my shftrt residtnce here ; from 25 cents to 65, on the cob, per bushel. Hay with us is not a heavy crop ; but enough, and what has been preserved is in first-rate order. The old stock of hay has been entirely consum-d, and we had almost a panic last spring, as many formers were out of it before the grass grew. Gold would not purchase it, although it had risen from three to ten dollars per ton ; but we were much more highly favored than many other neighboring parts of the country. Th^ past winter was extraordinary for the quantity of snow. The oldest settler says he remembered but one such before. High drifts of snow-banks, storms of the same, continuing twenty-four hours, cold piercing winds, etc, made it a hard winter for cattle, and but few got through without some loss! It fell more heavily upon sheep than any other kind of stock. Many lost nearly the whole of their lambs, and, owing to the lateness of the spring, num- bers of their old stock died. • 212 NOTES FROM THE FAR-WEST. There is too miicli inattention and carelessness here about live stock. The country is large and not fenced, and many roam away and are never sought after. Winter provender has usually been abundant and cheap, and the win- ters such that cattle have shifted a great deal for themselves upon the nu- merous stacks of straw and corn-stalks which have been left standing in the open prairies. But as stock and provender have increased in value, and the waste lands become enclosed, more attention is paid to this branch of hus- bandry, particularly in improvement in the breeding and rearing of all kinds of cattle. The dairy here is perhaps the most profitable part of the farm. I have seen cows yielding from the udder quantities of milk quite equal to anything I have known in the East ; but here they dry up sooner, as the prairie grass does not grow so late, nor is the bottom any thing like the thickness which we find in the old pastures of the longer cultivated States. A friend of mine has this spring introduced a fine Durham bull, which is expected to take the pre- mium at our coming annual county fair. Coming from a more Southern clime, it will be needful to guard it against the rigors of our severe winters ; and I have my doubts whether its progeny will ever be so fine and heavy as in a warmer temperature. Rock County, on the north-western part of which lies my landed property, on the meandering Catfish stream, but which has now received the more classical name of Wyhorra, is said to possess a soil inferior to none in any of these Western States. Several new occupants from the East have bought with- in sight almost of my residence, and several new houses are going up. The breaking- plough, with its team of from four to eight yokes of oxen, is turn- ing over the new soil, into which no ploughman has ever before probed. Horses with us maintain an extravagant price ; but many are brought from Ohio, which may be purchased at a more reasonable rate. One bunded and fifty dollars will buy a good horse, and not much less. It is a great country for raising these animals. It is rare to meet a team without a colt and some- times two, jogging beside their mothers. They are put to work too early, and then sometimes become prematurely old. This creature here, I some- times think, seems doomed to mishaps. A neighbor of mine found his only one cast and dead in hfs stable the other morning. His almost next resident lost one by its slipping upon the ice and breaking its leg ; while my_son\ a (Uost valuable one, a few days since was struck by lightning and killed in- tan taneously. Sparsely as at present this part of the country is settled, there has yet been :i fever for emigration, and numerous families liave left this vicinity for Iowa and Minnesota. Some who went to reconnoitre have returned, fully satisfied they should not be benefited by a removal. Most have gone to buy Govern- ment land, which can be had at a much cheaper rate than with us, where r-peculators have got possession of the greater part. Lands entirely unim- proved have this season been sold at prices from seven to fifteen dollars per ;icre. These new States have a fine opening for the raising of fruit and ornamental trees. I have a young apple orchard now beginning to bear. The trees are luxuriant in their growth ; and I intend next spring to head them down con- siderably by pruning. My peach trees two winters ago were nearly killed by the severity of the frost, but since then they have made fresh shoots, a^nd nothing can appear more healthy. Some young vines of the Isabella and Ca- tawba kinds, which I brought from the East two years ago, have this VEED-ANTIQUE. 213 season a few bunches of grapes upon them, and the bearers are extremely luxuriant, requiring a little protection, while young, during the winter, I am trying to prevail upon the farmers to plant ornamental trees around their homesteads, I planted, the first year I was here, seeds of the Alanthus, Locust, Laburnum and Katalpa, and some of them have now the height of eight or nine feet, with which next spring I hope to ornament my dwelling and the land contiguous thereto. Agricola. Freidom, Wis., Aug. VERD- ANTIQUE. "We have more than once referred to the new quarries of this elegant mar- ble, opened in Roxbury, Vt, A recent number of the Boston Traveller, de- scribing thfir machinery, highly commends the rock as more durable than other marbles, " resisting the action of acids," heat, frost, etc, ^ We value this rock as one of greai importance in ornamental architecture, giving us a material that is easily wrought, and susceptible of a beautiful polish. But the writer referred to runs wild. What is Verd-Antique ? Any elementary treatise on Mineralogy will in- form^ the reader that its green is serpentine, and its white, lime stone. Ser- pentine, again, is composed chiefly of magnesia, with more or less of silex, alumine, oxides of iron, of manganese, etc. It is the proportion of these elements which determines the color, and some of its physical qualities. But the list of its component parts alone is enough to prove the unsoundness of the pretence that it is not afiected by acids, ^Magnesia, its principal element, is ready at any moment to go into " fusion," as the phrase now is, with any free acid. Toe oxides are also unable to resist the claims of an acid. We have no doubt that particular specimens may be selected, in small fragments, that would bear heat or frost, or other ordinary exposure, quite satisfactorily, and other fragments will exhibit other capabilities. But let any fragment, having white veins (white marble) in it, be tested with an acid, or let other specimens, colored with the oxide of iron or manganese, be exposed to the fire. The earthy oxide is both friable and pulverulent. The black oxide is used with common salt and an acid to produce chlorine. It certainly forms elegant pillars, columns, pilasters, etc., and we have seen very handsome fire-places formed) this rock. But we think it decidedly bad taste to mix up white marble with this. The Capitol at Washington may be made a splendid pile. But if such striking contrasts, such medleys of colors, are to be incorporated into it, it will more resemble a huge baby house, than a pure and dignified specimen of civil architecture. No. Leave such ornamentations to our dashing milliners, and to those by whom the merit of any such combination is measured by the boldness of its contrasts, or by its variety of color. The durability of a building stone in this climate cannot be measured very accurately by its condition in the antique structures of Italy, where the di mate is so unlike ours, and the condition of the atmosphere is not only so variable and not so various. We only add that this rock is not a true marble. Where the green is predominant it should be rather called serpentine, and the durability, 214 VERD-ANTIQUE. strength, etc., of the rock will be that of serpentine variously modiBed by its conneclion with the different coloring minerals. If it is a marble, it is, of course, a caibonate of lime, and soluble in any acids. We regjird the Verd-Antique as well worthy the attention of our' archi- tects, and for their information we cut the following from the article above referred to : " The location of the modern Verd-Antique is on the summit of the Green Mountain range, in Roxbury, Vt., in a narrow valley made by the branches of the White river and the Dog river, the former running southerly into the White river and the Connecticut, and the latter into the Winooski and Lake Charaplain. The quarries lie on the westerly side of this valley, where, full of richness and beauty, as they are, they have been lying dormant, but in full view of settlers and even explorers for years and ages. The marble, so far as it has been discovered, lies in a line running nearly north and south, a distance of about half a mile immediately contiguous to the Vermont Cen- tral Railroad — the rails passing, indeed, at the very foot of the quarries. The quarries located and now owned by the American Verd-Aniique Marble Co., consist of six or eight out-crops, a few rods distant from each other, and ranging in height above the railroad from twenty to one hundred feet. One of these quarries has been opened and worked to considerable extent — sufficiently to test the quality of the material, and to indicate an exhaustless supply. The marble is found to improve rather than otherwise, as the quar- rying proceeds, in texture and beauty, and in all the qualities, v^hich render it superior to other marbles, especially in strength. It is ascertained also, to a practical certainty, that blocks of any desirable dimensions can be got out and wrought with facility into all the various forms which utility and orna- ment may suggest. " The Company have contracted with the Government to furnish a consid- erable quantity of this magnificent material for ornamental portions of the new Capitol at Washington. They are now engaged in fultilling this con- tract, and among the pieces to be furnished are several columns, about a foot in diameter and ten feet in length, some of which were being sawed at the mill on the occasion of our visit. When these columns are tinished and raised in their places, the American Capitiol will be worth visiting for a sight of them. They will be truly beautiful, and as worthy of admiration as the famous columns of Verd-Antique in the Villa Pamphilia, at Rome. " There is a mill for sawing the marble into slabs, or other pieces, as may be wanted, immediately contiguous to the quarry. It has five or six gangs of saws, and apparatus for grinding the marble, and is operated by a steam engine of thirty or forty horse-power. We saw at the mill many finished and polished specimens, which have been wrought to answer individual orders ; among the rest a center-table slab, four feet square, and an inch and a quarter in tuickness, which is exiremely rich and beautiful. We venture to say that it cannot be matched from any other quarry in the world ; and that it is incomparably more beautiful than any other quarry can produce. The green color, varying from the deepest to the lightest hue, pervades ; and the seams or vems are of the purest white and scattered throughout the material in every direction, with a variegation of gracefulness which no art could pro- duce. This splendid slab, we understood, had been ordered by the Governor- General of Canada. "This Verd-Antique marble is not only beautiful in the highest degree, but it posesses other most valuable qualities, in which marbles generally are deficient. It has been submitted to the examination of practically scientific WHEAT TRADE FROM TENNESSEE. 215 men, and tested, and found to resist completely the action of frost or moist- ure, and has been exposed for a long time to a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit, without exhibiting the blightest effect of the action. As to du- rability, therefore, it must take the highest rank. It has been likewise thoroughly tested as to strength, by the ordinary mode of applying a crush- ing force to the square inch. In this respect it is likewise preeminent. And in another very important particular, for many purposes for which marble is used, this Verd-Antique has been successfully tested. It is found to resist effectually the action of acids. A polished slab has been exposed to the action of concentrated muriatic acid, for twenty-four hours, without the slightest corrosion or change of color being discoverable. FOR THE PLOUGH, TUB LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. WHEAT TRADE FROM TENNESSEE. Messrs. Editors : — A century has rolled its tedious round since the article of wheat has been an important surplus in the trade of the farmer of Tennesee, and so long has Eastern Tennessee been bound. by those formidable natural granite barriers to transport her products over the broad-based and close-capped Allegany and Cumberland mountains. Thus ever locked up, her hardy pioneers aud their sons were forced to sacrifice their labor, till the glorious present year, 1855. In this bright year her farmers have put upon the seaboard (about one-third in your own city) about 300,000 bushels of this valuable cereal, so luxuriantly and healthfully grown in the swf^et valleys and hill sides of lovely East Tennessee. It is with the greatest pride I record the opinion, that our own East Tennessee alone can annually furnish treble the quantity aforesaid for ranrket, aside from employing all the time her manufactories of flour, which by the way are very considerable. The route over which our wheat was this year shipped from Knoxville via Atlanta to Charleston, S. C, thence by ship to your city, gives to our citizens but half satisfaction. The progress goes on. Already has the Old Dominion scaled the heights of the Alleganits with the farmers' iron horse, already has the proud summits of the adjacent hills been razed, and fast is the improvement pushing toward our lovely mountain-bound home. We of Tennessee are moving the very e>irth to greet her at the line of Virginia, and will as sure strike her veteran hand with the crash of trains, as the year 1856 rolls its last season half out. This road will bring our district at once in line of easy transport for wheat to New- York overland, a great desideratum in the transport of this article. No doubt the wheat grown in Eastern Tennessee will then, in larger quantities be re-shipped to Eur.ipe. Our facility being equal, our surplus will vie with any other district of equal area south of the Alle- ganies in this article. In view of this, our intelligent farmers are improving their seeds, fertilizing their lands, employing the most improved plans for harvesting, cleaning and putting up- ready for market iheir abundant crops of the present year, which have not perhaps in quantity been equal to that of last year, but in quality far better. Talking uf railroads, it may be sup- posed that the one spoken of, being a continuous line from the entire East 216 FALL AND SPRING IT^OWING. _ ■ to the whole South and Wept, dividing Tennessee into two islands of about equal territory, would be sufficient for us, but the fact is otherwise. A road is now being put under contract from Charleston, S. C, entering the State about equi-distant from its eastern border to the Cumberland Mountain west, including the district aforesaid, and crossing at right angles the road running east and west, cutting Cumberland Mountain and Cumberland Gap, and terminating at Louisville, Ky. This work is sure to be completed before long ; and with branch roads to our beautiful county towns dotted along the valley, ere long Enstern Tennessee must be the garden of the South. And I am happy to add, that the recent influx of money has caused instita- tions of learning for either sex to be established and respectably administered in nearly every neighborhood in our mountain fastnesses. This pleasing fact is 8uhmitted as the surest guaranty of our lasting prosperity. Mill Bend, Tenn., August, 1855. A. L. B. FOB THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, ANB THE ANVIL, FALL AND SPRING PLOUGHING. Editor of the P. L. and Anvil : — Much has been said and written m regard to ploughing in the fall. Some contend that land ploughed in the fall is not as productive as when ploughed in the spring ; for spring grains of the broad-cast. As your plough cuts a wide and deep furrow, (for it has a strong team to draw it,) I would be much pleased to have you or some of your contributors that till the soil for a livelihood, give their opinions upon the subject ; for it is one of great importance to the farmers of this western country. What little experience I have had in Fall and Spring ploughing, convinces me that ground ploughed late in the fall is as productive as when ploughed in the Spring, for small grain, and in many places for corn. When corn is to be planted upon sod, my opinion is that it should be turned over in the fall, late, shortly before the ground closes up with frost. A few years since, I was working by the month for a farmer in the Bucteye State, where the soil is composed of red clay and some portions of gravel. Late in the month of November, I was set to breaking up a piece of pasture ground, where the introduction of the plough was never known to the soih After having turned over several acres, a gale from the north-west came up in the night, and the ground was so frozen the next morning that ploughing could not be done. The remaining part of the piece had to lay over until Spring. In the Spring I finished ploughing. At the usual time of planting, corn was planted, well-tended during the season of tending corn. In the fail, when the crop was harvested, there was one-third more corn per acre where the ground was ploughed in the fall than where it was ploughed in tho spring ; the soil was equally as good or better where it was ploughed in the spring as where it was ploughed in the fall. The next season corn was planted again ; the yield was the same as before. The next season it was sown with oats for the purpose of seeding to grass. At harvest time, like most men that work by the month, one morning I was introduced to a fine muly cradle, for the purpose of laying them in the swath, and as I cradled across the furrow, COST OF RAISING- WHEAT. 217 I could tell the moment that I struck the grain where the ground was p'oughed in the spring. The result was the same as with the corn. During these three years I tried the experiment on old ground for oats. The result was, where the ground was broken late in the fall, the crop was by far the best. I sowed the oats as soon as it was early enough in the spnng. Whether this would prove true in all soils I cannot tell. Many of your correspondents that have tilled the soil for years, can tell me their experience in fall and spring ploughing, in the Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil ^ * L. S. Spencer. Lynn, Warren Co., Iowa. COST OF RABING WHEAT, CORN, ETC. The next volume of the New- York Agricultural Transactions will contain a detailed farm account of Mr. William Johnson, near Geneva, from which we have the following interesting items in regard to the cost of raising dit- ferent crops the last season. His statement is published in the Journal of the State Society, for the present month, and shows very creditably the order and method of Mr. J.'s agricultural operations. The farm contains 80 acres of tillable land, divided into nine lot^, num- bered from one upwards, and an accurate account kept with each. The sou is dry loam, with a clay sub-soil, pretty uniform throughout the farm. Each crop is charged with the interest on the value of the land producing it, and with all the labor and material used in its production. Of wheat six acres were sown, the whole expense was $122 40 : the product was 126 bushels, or 21 bushels per acre ; this makes it cost per bushel a trifle over O*? cents. But deducting the value of the straw, estimated at $18, we make the cost of the wheat but 83 cts. per bushel. It was sold at $1 81, leaving a fair mar- gin for profit at either figures. But at the price of wheat for many years past, the profit would be little or nothing. Eight acres of barley cost $102 20, and produced 285 bushels, or 32i bushels per acre. It cost very nearly 37 cents, and sold for $1 per bushel. This produced a greater per cent, of profit than the wheat, as we believe it generally has for a series of years. Ten acrts of corn, on clover sod, cost $153 26. The product was 410 bushels of corn, and $60 worth of corn stalks. Mr. Johnson states the cost of raising the corn ^t 27i cts. per bushel, but if we dedtict the value of the stalks from the whole expense, it makes the cost of the corn but 22\ cts. per bushel. We should be glad of some explanation from Mr. J. on this point, as the value of the stalks and straw may have been allowed to balance some part of the expenses not indicated. Ten cows were kept upon the farm, yielding an average ®f 210 lbs. of butter each. Mr. J. estimates the product of each cow worth about $64, and the cost of keeping, $26 85. Ir, costs 12i cts. per lb. to make butter on Elm wood farm, and we think it cannot be sold for less anywhere with much profit. His pork, killed at 9^ months old, fed on milk and fattened with corn, costs 5 cts. per pound. The balance over expenses on the whole farm, for the last year was $953 52. Mr. Johnson practices the following system of rotation. 1st. Corn, to 218 SELF-CLOSING FAUCET. which is applied all the unfermented manure he can get. T*:e next spring it is sowa with barley at the rate of 2^ bushels of seed to the acre, then sown to wheat in the fall, with a topdressing of fine manure, of about 6 loads to the acre. The following spring it is sown with 8 quarts of c'over seed and 5 quarts of Timothy, with one bus-hel of piaster per acre, when it is allowed to remain three years in grass. The usual product is 55 bushels of .corn, 30 of barley, and from 20 to 30 of wheat, per acre. The manure ia kept under cover, and a regular system of underdraining is carried out. A GOOD FIELD OF HOPS, ETC. To Capt. J. Farwell fewark Daily Advertiser furnishes the following addi- tional particulars in regard to this wonderful discovery : "A second succes'iful trial of Bonelli's locomotive electric telegraph has been made on the Turin railway with the concurrence of the ministers of State and the diplomatic representatives of France and England. Two trains traversing a five-mile track exchanged communications till all were fully satisfied. The correspondence with the stations was equally satisfac- tory ; and orders to ' stop' and to ' proceed were obeyed as by volition. Morse's apparatus reduced to the dimensions of a coat pocket, including paper, &c., was used on this occasion. The simplicity of the invention is amusing. The wires running from the little pocket machine through the bottom of the car, trail on parallel insulated iron rods, which are the medi- ums. Strange that the notion never occurred to the Yankee nation ! '' The inventor, who is the director of the Sardinian telegraphs, has sub- mitted to the government an inexpensive project for working them, and also for continuing the submarine line now in use between Genoa and the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, (200 miles,) by way of Malta and other interme- diate points, to Constantinople and toe long Black sea line, and which will also be propounded to the electricians of the thousand-leagued Atlantic. Valuation of Springfield. — The total valuation of the real and personal properly in this city is 68,409,870, which is an increase upon the valuation of last year of $647,620. Number of ratable polls, 3793 — increase from 1854, 139. Springfield's portion of the State tax is §4990 50 ; of the county tax $9003 63 — her city tax $64,995 — making a total to be raised by tax on polls and on property of $78,019 13. The polls are taxed $2 20 each, making $8344 60. The tax assessed on the property valuation is $8 50 on the $1000, making $71,483 89. Total sum assessed this year, $79,828 49, which is $1779 36 over the amount to be raised. The sum assessed this year is greater thane ver before, and the rate higher by $2 50 on the thousand. — Springfield RepuhUccui, 8th. Photographs, Neipce's Process. — Mr. Neipce's process of obtaining positive photographs is to expose a sheet of calotype paper to the daylight for a few seconds, or until a visible discoloration or browning of its surface takes place. Then it is dipped in a solution of iodine of potassium, consist- ing of 500 grains to the pmt of water. The visible discoloration is appa- rently removed by the immersion — though such is not really the case, for, if the paper were dipped into a solution of gallo-nitrate of silver, it would speedily blacken over. When the paper is removed from the iodine of potassium, it is washed iti water and then dried with blotting paper. It is then placed in the camera obscura, and after five or ten minutes it is removed therefrom and washed with sfallo-nitrate of silver, and warmed. NEW BOOKS. N E W B 0 0 K S . Cora and the Doctok, or Revelations of a Physician's Wife. Boston : John P. Jewett ife Co. 407 pp. This is a capital book; one of Jewett'e best, and that is saying a good deal, Ther are but two things in it that are as they should not be — to wit, its title, which is quite forbidding ; and second, the name of a writer who can make such a book should not be unknown. Many of its scenes are full of interest, some of which are in connection with a sick-room. The whole is pervaded by a decidedly religious current of thought, and cannot fail to do good. There are no repulsive pictures in it as might be supposed from its title. Modern Mysteries Explained and Exposed. In four parts. By Rev. A. Mahan, first President of Cleveland University. 466 pages. Boston: J. P. Jewettr ding to others in 14 days. The young insect is one-sixteenth of au inch in iwugth, yellowish white, eyes and claws of the fore-legs reddish, grublike in form, with six legs ; on the shoulders are little prominences in the place of wings, and underthe breast is a long beak for suction. Some of the habits of the young insect are very wonderful. Soon after TOADS. 269 they burst the shell of the egg that contains then), they raove to the side of the limb, and voluntarily drop to the ground. Thus they bury them- selves in the soil, attaching themselves to succulent and slender roots, on the juices of which they subsist. After a time they gradually ascend to the surface, and live in their burroughs or on the surface, according to cir- cumstances, till they shed their pupa skin and change to perfect insects, which are scon strong enough to fly. A good description of this insect was given by a correspondent in our October number, page 205. Cicada Canicularis, or the Dog-day Harvest Fly, so called from its ap- pearing near the commencement of dog-dajs, is also musical. This is sometimes mistaken for the Cicada 2Jniinosa, or Frosted Harvest Fly, found in the Middle States. Neither of these species is numerous enough to produce much injijry to our harvests. Tettigonia vitis, is an insect that has proved to be very destructive to grape vines. It is one-tenth of an inch in length, pale yellow or straw color, with two small red lirics on the head; the back part of the thorax, the scutel, the base of the wing-covers, and a troad band across the middle are scarlet color, tips of the wiog-covers blackish, with little red lines between the broad band and the tips. The head is crescent-shaped above, the eyelets just below the' ridge of the front. They are found on the under part of the leaf through most of the sum- mer, first appearing in June in the larva state, and destitute of wings. They generally remain quiet, their beaks thrust into the leaf, but if disturbed they leap nimbly from one leaf to another. They often cast their skius. They arrive at maturity in August. The I'-'avts thus attacked become yellow, and then dry, and the injury ex- tends to the fruit and to the growth of the wood. In the autumn they retire for shelter beneath fallen leaves and tufts of gra^s, remaining there till spring, when they emerge from their hiding-pUces, deposit their eggs, and die. Fumigations with tobacco, beneath a movable tent placed ever the trellis, insures their destruction ; but it may be necessary often to repeat the process. TOADS. (BUFO VULGARIS.) From the earliest recollection of the " oldest inhabitants," this little crea- ture has been under (he ban, a source of terror to every little miss, an object of disgust to maids and matrons, a by-word and term of reproach for every old aunt and grandm.i in the land, who would never seek farther in their vocabulary of opprobrious terms for a suitable name for any little urchin, than to call him a " little nasty iJoac?." Boys have made it their sport, have pelted it with stones, pierced it through and through with sharp sticks, sub- stituted it in the place of a ball, upon a bat-board, throwing it high in the air, and exulting in its torture ; and even men in the field, hoting their crops, have been wont to rudely thrust it aside with their hoes, as a useless reptile, wondering for what purpose such a loathsome object could have been created. The toad has been accused of being a venomous reptile, a fit object 270 POLICY OF COTTON GROWERS. of dread, a poisoner of clioice garden plants, deserving banishment from every one's premises, and fit only to inhabit an tuiinTiahitahle morass or desert. The toad has, however, occasionally been brought into respectable notice by curiosity hunters, and newspaper paragraph writers, whenever he has chanced to have been found in a torpid state in the cavity of a rock, or in the trunk of a tree, in which cases, an antiquity has been ascribed to it equal to that of Egyptian mummies, or perhJips set down as of antediluvian origin. In this r-^anner, pooT toady has'^gone the rounds of newspaper notoriety, not for any merit or value it might have possessed, but as a matter of mere curiosity. But this poor and despised creature has not been left entirely friendless, nor without an advocate. Naturalists have placed' him in the scale of usefulness where he belongs, and have shown that he is not deserving the very many opprobriums that have been heaped upon him. To the gardener, the toad is a very useful assistant, as it devours a great many insects and worms that prey upon the plants. In the darkness of the evening, the toad comes forth from its hiding-place, and commences its work of extermination. Noiselessly it passes through the garden, regaling itseif upon the insects that have just begun their nocturnal work upon the tender plants. No one but those who have observed the movements of this little animal, can form any correct estimate of its usefulness. A few evenings since I watched one a short time, and observed that in the space of fifteen minutes, it devoured some fifteen or twenty insects, of that class too, that in the day time, lie concealed from the observation of the birds, but at night go forth in armies to carry on their work of destruction, to lay waste the gardener's toil. It would be a matter of economy for those who till the ground to provide the toad with a suitable place for retreat in the day time, thus virtually saying to him : " My dear little fellow, I value your services, and will do all I can for your comfort." With proper appreciation for his services, and care for his preservation, the toad will become quite domesticated, and will continue his valuable work for years, simply for his " board and lodging." Those who wantonly destroy the toad, should be classed with those who kill harmless and useful birds. — Ohio Farmer. FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. POLICY OF COTTON GROWERS. " Dear Sir: — On 189 page of Sept. number you have an article from the Mobile Advertiser on Cotton Manufacture in the South. I do nof think the produce of cotton to be *' too great,^' but I know the price is not remunerative to the grower. How we can remedy is an after- thought, and may not be known and adopted for years. The disparity be- tween profits to the producer, the carrier, the manufacturer and the seller of ■raanufoctured goods is too great. The commission merchant who only charges the small pittance of 2{ per cent, will in a very few years have his marbled halls and "ham boiled in champagne," whilst the vast bulk of the oTowers may Uve in their log cabins and live upon middling corn bread and POLICY OP COTTON GROWERS. 271 greens. The manufacturer making his " five times as much for converting the cotton into cloth as the farmer for producing the raw material" soon be- comes a millionaire, whilst the producer and his operatives are under the ban. Until producers know and act upon, that " mind makes the man, and the want of it the fellow," until we educate and become self-acting and thinking beings, this will continue. We see it in every other position in society, and why not here ? There are two things in my humble opinion that will greatly aid the planter, and as much aid our whole country. The cotton planter and his negroes are now as much needed in America as any branch of business, as any other operatives. Was the South to devote its energies to producing grain, meat, wool, mechanics or the navy, how long would it be ere the North would feel the need of her manufactures ? What I now propose I have before done, and one of them many years ago, viz., Planters to restrict sales of cotton to one-eight or one-tenth of the crop per month. If sent forward, which is best for the mass, prohibit selling as now, in the short period of about 120 days. The other, to connect with the ginning machinery, the spinning of a portion, at least, of our crop. This matter was suggested some ten or twelve years ago, hoping that some large planter of enterprise would give the subject thought. It was reported a few years ago that a large Louisiana planter was building for this object, but he was taken away ere he had his buildings. The continent draws from England largely of twist, which can be supplied by the planter, and thus realize at least two prices for capital and laboi* em- ployed. The capitalist buys our cotton in the three or four last months of the year and holds until the manufacturer needs, then usually makes his profit and interest. If the planter will hold for the manufticturer he can demand the profit and interest. If the pork producer or the flour producer would ship to New-Orleans in the short space of three or four months the supply for the year tha quantity alone would depress the price. They know this and send forward as demanded, whilst the Southern cotton, sugar, tobacco and rice planters push in as early as possible — the factors advise rapid sales — the want of the " golden egg" as soon as possible, lo double, by long shares, causes in part this counsel. If only one-half the planters will attempt either or both of these, it is my conviction that ere five years profits would be more equable and the million clothed cheaper. The demand for cotton if not backed up by the millionaires must much exceed our crops. The profits by the manufacturers and sales- men are too great, and thus debar a larger use of cotton and fabrics. Cot- ton worth 10 cents per pound when costing 5 cents to spin will sell for about 20 cents, and thus pay a large profit, even double that of producing, for the inci'eased capital needed to spin 100 bales on an unsettled plantation would be small. The young and old negroes could be employed say 4 or 5 months at least, as the clearing and improving would justify. These are mere hints for wiser heads to elaborate. Yours, etc. P. French Decimal System. — In our last issue on page 199 our printer made us say that a deca-metre ==.03937 inches. We wrote this of the milli-metre. It was interlined in the copy, and inserted in the wrong place. Please make this correction in the margin of your copy, or place the decimal point after the 9. • 272 FATTENING ANIMALS. FATTENING ANIMALS. Certain facts ou this subject are uniform and perfectly well settled. Others are very inconstant and appear subject to no uniform law. Some well-known facts are of very easy explanation. Others seem to contradict ordinary principles of philosophy. Indeed, this department of physiology, if it deserve so worthy a name, partakes of the imperfections and doubls at- tached to many theories. We use the conditional '' if," for we are not quite willing to admit that a system, the entire object of which is to produce an abnormal, that is, an un- healthy, diseased action in the animal, is a part and parcel of any true phi- losophy. Would it not be worse than ridiculous to pretend to arrange into a science the means and modes of producing all manner of diseases ? As a counterpart to its opposite, it may be admissible, giving clearness and emphasis to it. By itself it would be absurd. It is or should be regarded like that part of a mathematical demonstration which shows that the oppo- site of the point to be proved is absurd. By itself, it is not demonstration. It ooly prepares the way for actual demonstration. But this is of little mo- ment. We must come to cur subject. Some principles and facts, as we have said, are well settlecl. Carbona- cious food promotes the deposition of fat. Nitrooenous food produces mus- cle, with its natural and healthful proportion of fiit, which is, indeed, very small. Wild animals are never fat, with the exception of those Avho lie dor- mant through the winter, sustaining life by the consumption of the fat ac- cumulated in autumn. This is alike true of herbiverous and carniverous animals. Those examples of domestic animals, as dogs, etc., who grow fat, are of no account, as their entire habits, both of eating and of living, are arti- ficial. So also the wild animals of particular districts, who have access to some peculiar kind of food, are of no authority in settling general facts and principles, though they are very important in showing the effects of that kind- of food. Again, the formation of fat is very much akin to the secretion of milk. Hence it is that great milkers are seldom fat, and are not easily fattened. So it is also true that cows becoming fat, generally give a diminished quantity of milk. If we would fatten a cow, it is desirable to begin by drying up her milk. Other facts seem to contradict received theories. We have more than once alluded to the fattening properties of turnips. It is well known, and a constant practice in England, that cattle are fattened upon turnips and hay, the latter being fed in moderate quantities and of inferior quality. What re- ceived theory explains this ? We do not remember any careful experiments to determine the connection between the quality of the milk and the condition of the animal, although general statements are abundant; but if such were made, we apprehend the results would be very diverse. Some cows are lean because they convert all their fatty feed into butter, etc., v;hich is secreted in and is a part of the milk. Other lean cows give very mean milk because their secretive organs have an imperfect action. Some cows are fat because they convert all the fatty ele- ments into solid deposits of fat, while the milk i.s almost destitute of cream. Odiers still may not possess the power of converting these elements into any- thing, but reject them with other useless and effete matters. FATTEXIXG ANIMALS. 273 We do not believe that any two animak would give precisely the same re- sult, under such a course of experiments. Physiological phenomena vary like human countenances. Facts which are well settled ought to be understood and acted upon. Those who experiment on these and kindred points ought not to waste their time and labor, and mislead the public, as many have done, by unphilosophic experiments, or by carefully managed experiments in peculiar or unnatural circumstances. For example, if a cow has been accustomed to roam at'large and is tied up in a stable, and deprived of all exercise, no experiment in fat- tening her is reliable. She may be fretted by the mode of confining her, or she may be discontented and uneasy for loss of company, or the sudden change in her habits mayhave a material influence, or the food given her may be that to which she is unaccustomed and for which her digestive organs are not prepared, or the quantity may be improper. Some animals require more food than others, though of equal weight. So other causes of error may exist. Hence although all positive arrangements may be as they should be, in a given experiment, the neglect of some other conditions may be fatal to its value as a representative of a class. Certain differences, of little apparent consequence, are often test points. Thus, raw, sour apples are not valued much as feed for fattening hogs. When cooked they are very generally approved. Boiled potatoes are much more efficient in this way than raw potatoes. Some exercise is necessary for the health of all animal*. Too much is fatal to any effort to fatten. These and such-like cannot be safely overlooked in any experiment on this subject. So too a given amount of exercise may, under the circumstances, be excessive, while it would be only moderate for another of more roving habits, although this might perhaps be regarded only as a source of discontent. But we do not believe this is of so little importance as seems to be supposed. In the human species this is an essential point. Why may it not be with all animals ? Shut up a person, long accustomed to much society, in a room by himself, or from which only certain persons are excluded, of what value would any ex- periment be in relation to digestion, appetite, and even general health ? And it should not be forgotten that natural propensities and instincts are quite as strong in brutes as in men. So too warmth of temperature has an important influence in the fattening of animals. A cold temperature requires an increase of food, and vice versa. It is therefore difficult to fatten animals that suffer from cold. Even when fattened such exposure consumes the fat and diminishes their energies. .We have much to learn on this subject, but we fail in making a practical use even of what we do know. Perhaps it is because we consider the truths as of small importance. For example, carding a cow daily as one would groom a horse is, and is admitted to be, always useful. But how sadly this treatment is neglected. It is as valuable to the cow, so far as her good con- dition is involved, as it is for the horse. And yet even few hard-working oxen are properly cared for in this respect. Cen^sus of RoxiftRY. — Whole number of inhabitants 18,699 : Ward 1 — 4242 ; 2—1960 ; 3—5161 ; 4—2853 ; 5—2494. In 1850 the population was 15,012 ; increase in five years, 3687. 18 27-i SHORTHOENED VS. LONGHORN CATTLE, ETC. SHORTHONED CATTLE versus LONGHORN, HEREFORD, DEVON, SUSSEX AND SCOT. Sir : — If memory serves me right, in tlie year 1816, 1 saw tried or fed together, for two years, a three year old shorthorn Durham, valued at £20 ; a three year old RoUwright or Bakewell longhorned steer, valued at £15; ~and*a three year old dun Highland Scot, value £12 — all equally good of their kind. The first winter they lay out in the open air — no hovel or cover for them to go under — in a close three miles from Boston and about one mile from the sea, and wintered upon nothing but hay. The following summer they were grazed upon first-rate land together ; and the second winter they lay again in the open air, in the same field as they were before wintered in, with 71b. of cake per day each, with some strong coarse h 'y ; and they were grazed in the same close as the summer before, without cake, until the last week in September, when they were sent into Northampton- shire, and fed under cover, and had 141b. of cake per day, until they came to the great Christmas market in Smithfield, where they were sold ; the shorthoned ox making £82, to Mr. Somers, of Somers Town, weight 151st. 61b., of 141b. in the stone. The longhorned ox sold for £52 10s. to Mr. Parmington ; weigh!. 99st. lllb. The Scot was sold at £45 to Mr. Parden, weight 86st. of 14lb. The three above oxen was exhibited the last year at Boston Fair, on the 4th of May, and at Peterborough Fair on the 2d of October, with seven Lincolnshire oxen of the old Turnill breed, for which the owner was bid £G0 each, or £420 for the seven Lincolns, before they had eaten Linseed cake. I saw weighed, in the spring of the following year, a gigantic worked Lincolnshire shorthoned ox, a very large old-fashioned longhorned ox (not worked), a very fine boned smart North Devon worked ox, and a great polled Scot (not %vorked.) They were all good of their kind, and in a lean state when weighed, and were all grazed in one field of first-rate land, near Boston, for 24 weeks, when the shorthorned Lincoln ox gained 36st. of 14lb., which was 15 per cent., the most weight ; the giant Sussex ox next ; the longhorned ox third ; the handsome Hereford fourth ; the great polled Scot fifth ; and the North Devon being so much less in frame and bone, gained the least weight in 24 weeks' grazing. I am satis- fied that the North Devon consumed much the least food. It is to be found in many of the files of journals that Mr. Coke, the late Earl of Leicester, tried an experiment with a gigantic shorthorned ox of the old Teeswater kind, against two fine-boned handsome North Devon oxen of the same age. They were fed in the stalls for a long time, and the food weighed to them, until the shorthorned ox had gained 100 stone in weight, and the two Devons together 140 stone, but upon investigation, it is said, Mr. Coke found that tlie giant shorthorned ox had consumed a little more than both the Devons. " Gigantic animals," said Mr. C, " have gigantic entrails, and it takes a gigantic quantity of food to fill them." The trial proving in favor of the Devons, is said to be the cause of Mr. Coke breeding North Devon cattle. I knew a Lincolnshire-bred ox, with a dip of the Dur- ham in him, in 1815, that gained 50 stone of 141b. in 46 weeks, fed upon grass and plenty of Svveede turnips only, for more than half the year. The weight of this ox was 140st. 8lb. of 141b. to the stone ; slaughtered by Mr. Somers, of Somers Town. BEETS — BEET SUGAR. , 275 It was proved by Mr. Bakewell and many other clever men, tliat great> coarse, large boned animals consumed much more food than fine boned, high bred animMls, which have greater propensity to fatten. It may easily be proved whether Mr. Coke's bailiff's evidence or statement was correct in the three oxen's weight of carcass and food, because any breeder may try the experiment with a shorthorn and a North Devon. It is worth trying. — Gorr. London Farmer's Magazine. . FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL. BEETS — BEET-SUGAR. Mr. Editor : — The beets of the New- York market are of a very indifferent quality. They are of two kinds, the round and the oblong. In comparing them with those of Europe, they are very inferior. A beet root in France weighs two and four pounds or more, and such growth might be attained here, if it were properly cultivated. The beet root of France is not only larger, but sweeter. There are two kinds, the red and the white. The former are used exclusively as food, the latter in the manufacture of sugar. Both extend their growths and ripen above the surface. We will not treat of the red beet, which is used as food, but make a few suggestions upon the white, which has a shade of yellow, and which is used in the manufacture of sugar. It is well known that the prohibitory system of Napoleon I. in France, occasioned the introduction of beet sugar. This form of industry has now become so extensive in that country, that to protect its colonies which had furnished cane sugar, and which could not compete with the beet root sugar of France, it was found necessary to establish an impost upon the native sugar, which was sold at a higher price than that of the colonies. The yellow beet should be cultivated in a good soil, well manured, the roots being grown a foot from each other, and all weeds kept down. When it commences to ripen, the tops should be cut. These tops are eaten readily by cattle, and are useful in the production of milk, when fed to cows. Beet roots destined for the production of sugar should be kept in a dry place, and protected from the cold. In sowing beets for this manufacture, the cultivator may use profitably a machine similar to those used in various parts of the country. The white beet root, if it were cultivated in Old England, would compete successfully with the sugar manufacture of the South. I will now point out to the farmer the means by which he can furnish a substitute for imported sugar in his family : Take the white beet root, wash it clean, grate it to a powder, and then press the juice from it. Place it over a fire in a copper kettle. Heat it just to a boiling point, so that the bubbles will rise to the surface, constantly stir- ring it with a wooden spoon, so as to secure it from being burned, without removing it from the fire. If heated too much it will burn, and have a disa- greeable taste. When cooled, you will have an excellent syrup for common family use, and by care, the process may be continued, until it is sufficiently reduced to form sugar when cool. 276 cahoon's seedling ehubaeb. To improve this syrup, for particular uses, it may be clarified by filtration through powdered wood charcoal This will delay its fermentation. It is necessary to be very careful in cooking the juice to skim it well. The residium of the beet root, after the juice is expressed, is very useful for cows, producing large quantities of good milk. At the sugar factories at St, Maur, near Paris, this material is sold to persons in the country who raise stock, and is regarded as a very nutritious kind of feed. Try it, and you will see its results. Saniewski Felii. [Translated from the French manuscript by M. P. P.] MR, OAHOON'S SEEDLING EHUBARB. The editor of the Prairie Farmer, who recently visited the garden of Mr. B. P. Gaboon, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, says : " Mr. Gaboon has a farm of six acres, all told, on which ha contrives to get a pretty fair living, if we can judge from appearances. He divides it between pie-plant, gooseberries, currants, evergreens and flowers. " But the pie-plant is the thing here. He has about three acres in this roQt, of his own seedling. It stands on ground which was a few years ago a marsh covered with alders, willows and water. Springs cropped to the surface just at its upper edge and flooded the Avhole region. Mr. Gaboon put in drains 30 feet apart and three feet deep, and covered them. They were made of four pieces of timber. The whole, was given one coat of manure and no more ; since which it is dry enough for a wet time, and wet enough for a dry one, and will produce anything which is willing to grow on reasonable land. Such masses of pie-plant never grew on any soil before. We counted on one root fifty-five stalks, of which the largest was two feet in length from root to leaf, and would girt eight inches or more. The others were of all sizes down to fifteen inches in length, and an inch in diameter, though the average would be twenty inches long and four or more in circum- ference. The root was not an unusual size, and was only an average of those which have stood three years and allowed a fair chance. Mr. G. showed us a stalk preserved in spirits which is five and a half inches wide, by 27 long. " These large stalks are commonly flattened, but the rest are not so by any means. We saw on the same root stalks as round as a rifle barrel ; some of them were three feet in length and an inch and a half in diameterf while others would be flattened so as to be twice as wide as thick. Nor do they preserve one color : some are green, some reddish hke the Victoria, and some speckled with a purplish red like the eggs of a turkey. We are satisfied that nobody can tell a pie-plant by looking at the stalks and leaves, without knowing more about it. " Mr. G.'s mode of culture is to set the rows five feet apart and two feet apart in the rows. At this distance they cover the ground m a single season. He has set 3,500 plants this year, commencing the 10th and ending the 15th of May. He cuts about three days in the week, cutting about four or five hundred pounds per day. He puts up in boxes or bales, and sells in Mil- waukee, Chicago, Detroit, Buffblo, or elsewhere — getting about 84 per 100 TRIAL OF AGEICULTURAL MACHINES IN FRANCE. 277 pounds. The cutting is continued till frost comes. In cutting he is guided by judgment, taking°all from a plant he thinks it can spare, and going over the same ground 5 or 6 times in a season. Then in spring and fall he makes sale of roots. He sold last spring 2,500 roots or more. Fall Plowinct, or Buckwheat to kill Wire-Worms. — We take the following from A. C. Dickinson's Address before the Cortland county (N. Y.) Agricultural Society. " Ploughing in the fall is to become more fashionable than formerly, as I regard it as the best and only sure remedy to destroy the wire-worm which has made, and is making, sad havoc of almost every kind of crops, wholly destroying some. Ploughing late in the fall will not kill all, but most of them. In three years I think they may be nearly or quite all destroyed, and itis the only remedy I know of to destroy the most mischievous and ruinous insects the farmer has to contend with. I have heard it said that five bushels salt to the acre would destroy them, or one hundred bushels of lime. I have tried both, and sowed ten bushels of salt to the acre, and they only laughed at my folly. I tried one hundred bushels of lime as recommended, and they fattened on my bounty. I have only proved one remedy for the rascals, and that is to break the sod and sow it to buckwheat ; plough late and as often as possible in the fall, and then sow it to peas in the spring ; with the like ploughing next fall they will not destroy any crop next season. Trial of Agricultural Machines in France. — The trial of agricul- tural implements and machines, on exhibition at Paris, has been had before the Grand Jury on the farm of the Postmaster General, M. Dailly, at La Trappes. Many of the great men of Europe were present, as were many eminent Americans — ex-President Fillmore among the number. The experi- ments consisted of drainage machines, ploughs, thrashers, sowing machines, feapers, and mowers. . Hundreds of machines were tested, and for the minor ones, the English carried off two-thirds of the honors ; but the great interest was felt in the reapers and thrashers. The contest with the former was among the Ameri- cans ; they had the whole field to themselves. Manny's, Wright's, (Adkin's Automaton Raker,) Hussey's, and McCormick's reapers, were tested together. The latter came off" victor. Four thrashing machines were tried, and six men with flails, to test the difference of the labor. " Pitt's American thrasher secured the prize." The six men thrashed 60 litres of wheat in thirty min- utes ; Pitt's machine 740 litres; the English machine 410; the French machine 250 ; the Belgian machine 150. In these trials of reaping and thrashing machines America stood singularly preeminent. -78 STATE FAIRS. STATEFAIRS. KENTUCKY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY — SIXTH EXHIBITION. This fair is pronounced as very successful. Kentucky stands among the foremost for fine cattle. Those of Aitcherson Alexander, Esq., of Woodford, are spoken of with especial commendation. A new variety of hemp, grown by Wm. L. Yance, Esq., of Woodford Co., was shown, the stems being up- wards of twelve feet long and average but a quarter or half inch in diameter at base. The seed was procured in France, It requires a season of five months. The sheep were fine, and mostly of the Cotswold and South-down breeds. The hogs were Yorkshires, Irish Grazier, and Sufiblk breeds. The Grazier is said to be the favorite in that region. The third day was devoted to the exhibition of horses, mules, etc. The horses in harness, matched horses, and mare colts under one year of age are described as making a capital show. NEW-YORK AGRICULTURAL STATE FAIR. ^ The correspondent of The Boston Traveller discourses thus unceremo- niously in relation to our State Fair : "The State Fair yesterday was visited by upwards of 20,000 people, and should the weather continue .fine to-day, it is calculated that nearly as many more will be on the fair grounds as yesterday. The receipts now foot up 86,200, and the managers confidently expect them to finally amount to 810,000. The premiums awarded will be nearly 88,000. Last year, at New- York, the receipts were $9,000 ; the premiums about the same amount as this year. The south-western counties promised last year that when the Fair was held in their midst, they would do better than had heretofore been done in any other section of the State ; but they have only redeemed their promises so far as the pecuniary attendance is concerned. "The displays of Butter, Cheese, Honey, Soap, Yegetables, Grains, and in fact all the agricultural products of a ftirm would have disgraced a county fair, consequently in a State fair were of little account. What would be thought in Massachusetts of an exhibition .-upposed to contain the products of the State, in which the whole assortment consisted of one specimen of Beans, one of Flour, two of Honey, six of Butter, (all from one county,) six of Potatoes, one of Sweet Potatoes, two of Beets, two of Soap, three of Toma- toes, one of Water and one of Citron Melons ; no Peaches, no Grapes grown ' in the open air, no Flowers except Dahlias ; in fact the only things fully re- presented were Apples, Pears, Squashes, Pumpkins and Cabbages, besides some beautiful Grapes from the hot-houses of the Messrs. Hovey, of Cam- bridge, and to New-Yorkers it was a painful thought that at the Annual Fair of their own State they should be indebted for the most creditable dis- play of several of tlie products of the nursery to a concern fi-om the little barren State of Massachusetts. STATJ] FAIRS. 279 " The horse stock of the South-western counties is nothing to boast of. The Floral Ball takes place to-night, and the ladies riding and driving match to-morrow. The fair is attended by the usual concourse of outside exhibi- tions. " As regards the morale of State fairs very little can be said favorably. The scenes of vice introduced into the rural districts, by the hangers-on, or followers of all exhibitions of a public nature, I believe do more real injury to the inhabitants than the benefit derived from the display of Agricultural and Horticultural stock will ever compensate for, because the injurious effects fall alnlost entirely on the young, inexperienced and verdant, who do not ex- pect to be benefitted by the exhibition, but make the occasion one of display, in other words they consider it a first-rate chance for a frolic." We publish the above as we find it, and would invite attention to the latter paragraphs, not to endorse or to deny them, but to warn " all men" to take care how they give occasion for such statements. The show of the finest cattle is a mean item to offset against the tarnished virtue of men and wo- men. We have read more than once, severe censure against the practice of a contest among female riders on such occasions. No sensible parent could suffer a daughter to enter such an arena. In its utter unfitness for female modesty, such public display is second only to the race-course, and should be avoided as such by all respectable females. The following account is an abstract from the Rural New-Yorker, and is more favorable, and per/iops more just : " Compared with former shows, it was universally pronounced superior in the variety and quality of animals and articles exhibited, and number of spectators present, to any fair held by the society since that of 1851, at Ro- chester. " The stately and dignified short-horns were well represented ; of Devons there was a fine shoAV, though some of the best herds were unrepresented. The Herefords were present in greater numbers than usual, we think, though never very numerously represented heretofore. The Ayrshires do not appear to gain in popular favor, or at least are not largely represented at our fairs. Of Grade and Native Cattle there was neither so large nor fine a display as we had anticipated — the farmers of the Southern Tier having ap- parently neglected to enter the arena of competition. The Fat Cattle shown, though not numerous, w^ere superior, and attracted much attention. The Genesee Valley sustained its high reputation. " Sheep of the various breeds were well represented. Of some there was not a large show, but it comprised many superior specimens, especially of the Essex and Suffolk breeds. " In Agricultural Implements and Machinery and Mechanical Tools and Inventions generally, the display was one of the largest and finest we ever witnessed at any exhibition. This department was not only very complete in the variety it comprised in the several branches, but the new and improved implements and machines presented — the perfected inventions of former years, and the novelties recently introduced by the active brain-power of the ' Universal Yankee ^Nation' — demonstrated decided progress in the produc- tion and perfection of labor-saving machinery adapted to the most important operations of Agriculture and Manufactures. The contrast between this and former exhibitions was highly creditable to the numerous inventors and man- ufactures who contributed the results of their skill and industry, while it must have been most gratifying and satisfactory to farmers and others inter- 280 STATE FAIRS, ested in this important branch of improvement. Columns might be filled in enumerating and describing the more important and valuable machines and implements, but want of space compels us to omit or defer mention of even the most noteworthy. " Floral Hall was the especial attraction of all devotees of Flora and Po- mona, and thousands of ' the rest of mankind.' It was most tastefully ar- ranged and contained a large and magnificent display of Fruits — one of the best, if indeed it was not the best, horticultural exhibitions ever made by the Society. Of Apples, Pears, Plums and Grapes, the show was in all respects superior, and received, as it merited, universal admiration and commenda- tion. Hovey & Co., of Boston, exhibited 210 varieties of Pears, while Ell- wanger & Barry, and A. Frost & Co., of Ptochester, were large contributors. But we cannot particularize. The display of Plants and Flowers was also creditable, while the arrangement of the whole was in excellent taste. The most attractive feature was the fancy Floral Designs representing various counties of the State, mostly in flower and evergreen work. The idea is a novel and happy one, and worthy of future attention. Of these emblatic de- signs we may give some descriptions hereafter. " The department embracing Domestic Manufactures, the Dairy, etc., was not highly creditable, nor what might reasonably be expected from the loca- tion of the exhibition. The Poultry show was decidedly meager, and we saw none so feverish as to do it reverence." ANKUAL EXHIBITION OF THE PENNSYLVANIA AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. The Fifth Annual Exhibition of this Society was held at Harrisburgh 26lh, 27th, 28th, and 29th of September. The arrangements on the ground were more complete than at any previous exhibition. The shedding for stock was more than sufficient for the purposes of the exhibition, as the display in this department, although there were many fine cattle on the ground which attracted the attention of nearly every visitor, w^as not large. In the horse department there was a very large number of entries, some of them animals which would have reflected credit upon any exhibition. The display of heavy draught horses was particularly fine. The immense buildings erected for the display of fine and mechanic arts, etc., notwithstanding their great extent, were well^fiUed with attractive articles. Some idea of the contributions may be inferred from the fact that the avenues through the building, if extended through a continuous line would have given a single avenue of 1800 feet in length with shelving on each side for the display of goods. In addition to these extensive buildings, there was a large circular tent appropriated to the display of seeds and vegetables which was well filled with very creditable specimens, giving evidence of the increasing interest felt in this direction by farmers. We are informed that the display was fully equal to that of last season. Another large tent was appropriated to the display of fancy needlework, preserves, etc., and, it is said, it has never been equalled at any exhibition of the State Society. There was in this tent, also, a most tempting display of preserved fruits, etc. STATE FAIRS, 281 A third tent w^s set apart for dairy contributions, flour, etc. The display of butter and cheese was ^mall, but very excellent. The fourth large tent was appropriated to carriages, fire engines, etc., of which there was a very handsome display. The poultry department was perhaps better filled than any other. A third large building some two hundred feet in length, with double avenues, was appropriated to the exhibition of agricultural and horticultural tools, and of machinery, requiring the aid of steam power to operate them ; the larger implements, such as horse powers, threshers, reapers, mowers, corn and cob- crushers, etc., were all ranged in neat order around the outside of the building. There has never been a better exhibition of farm implements than on this occasion. The articles generally, appeared to be not only well made and finished, but efficient and serviceable. NEW-JERSEY STATE FAIR. The first Exhibition of the New-Jersey State Agricultural Society was held at Camden on the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st of September. The grounds selected were most appropriate for the purposes of the Society, and were in themselves a feature worthy a visit. Although the display in some of the departments was not as full as it should have been, it will be recol- lected that this was the first exhibition of the Society, and as a first effort it was creditable in every respect. The display of horses was of the finest character, and a very attractive part of the exhibition. Of fruits and vegetables there was not as fine a display as there should have been. Few States are so capable of presenting a magnificent display in this department as New-Jersey, and we have no doubt but that she will give evidence of her abihty in this respect another season. The stock, although not large in number, embraced many first-class animals of the various breeds. Of agricultural implements there was an immense number on exhibition, and among them many of the most approved kinds in use. [n the mechanical department, as in that devoted to the fine arts, domestic manufactures, etc., the contributions were sufficiently numerous and attractive to enlist general attention. As a whole, the exhibition may be regarded as entirely successful, and the friends of the Society have everything to encourage them to persevere in the good work so auspiciously begun. The MiCHiaAN State Fair, at Detroit last week, is reported to have fully sustained the reputation of the Peninsular State, the exhibition indicating decided improvement in both agricultural and horticultural productions. We hope to receive a definite report in time for our next number. 282 STATE FAIRS. CONNECTICUT STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETT. The Second Annual Show of the Connecticut State Agricultural Society was held at Hartford. The exhibition, considered with reference to the character of each de- partment, was highly creditable, and calculated to elevate the reputation of the State in regard to its agricultural resources and productions. Of the cattle, the greater part were a mixture, more or less, of the Devon with the common stoct, though some were a cross of the Short-horn. The Devons made a good appearance. "We saw but two Ayrshires — a cow and heifer, owned by Norman Battelle, of Norfolk, The cow was evidently a large milker, and the heifer appeared likely to equal her. Mr. B. stated that the cow had not been dry for three years, though she had bred every year. The only Jersey cows on the field were two, owned by John T. Norton, of Farmington. The looked like good ones, and a yearling heifer exhibited by him was admired as almost a model. We may mention in this connec- tion, that John A. Taintor, of Hartford, had several Jersey cows, just im- ported, in a field near the show-ground. One of them — a three' year old — has received the highest prizes of the Jersey Agficultural Society. She is very fine. She has been sold to Mr. Robeson, of Jamaica Plain. Sixty-three yokes of working oxen were shown. They were brought on the course and made the circuit, following in the rear of the horses. The oxen were generally of good size and form, well matched and well trained. The quickness and ease of their gait was in mauy instances remark- able. Nor were they deficient in strength, or a faculty of using it, as was proved by trying them on a heavily loaded cart. There were some good fat cattle. The horses made a good appearance. E. B. Bishop & Son, of New-Haven, exhibited three pair of mules. One pair were driven in a barouche, and were kind and active. Another pair, three years old, bred in Kentucky, were IG hands high, and were stated to weigh 2,350 pounds. Another pair, much handsomer and stronger made, weighed 2,000 pounds. Of sheep, Stephen Atwood, J. N. Blakeslee and Jos. Blakeslee, of Water- town, showed specimens of their Merinos, whose reputation is so widely known. L. & A. Whiting, of Torrington, had also good Merinos. We noticed some excellent Saxons, owned by John Whitman, of West Hartford. Good sheep in this class were also shown by Stanley Griswold, of Torring- ford. South Downs were shown by T. S. Gold, of West Cornwall, and G. W. Chadwick, of South Lyme. Cotswolds were shown by T. L. Hart, of West Cornwall, W. L. Cowles, of Farmington, Charles Tracy, of Norwich, and others. The show of swine was quite large, and comj)rised some good animals of the Sufiblk breed, and crosses with it. There were also a few specimens of the Essex. The poultry display was large, and the specimens were generally good. The department of manufactures was well filled, though it fell short of a fair representation of the ability of the State. The horticultural department comprised a good show of apples and pears, while there was no lack of grapes. Vegetables were numerous and of good quality. , The show of butter and cheese was the largest and, so far as we could judge by the looks and smell, the best we have seen at any show for several years. HINTS ON COLOR PRINTING, • 283 OHIO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. The Ohio Agricultural College holds its second Lecture Session at Cleveland, commencing on the first of December, and continuing twelve weeks. FARMERS, Whether old or young, this Institution places within your reach the means of acquiring a knowledge of all the sciences that have important relations to Agriculture. What intelligent farmer has not felt the need of such an Institution ? PLAN. Instruction given in lectures as in Medical Colleges. Four lectures will be given daily during the whole term. The Subjects embraced in the course are 1st. Those that relate to the land. Geology, Mineralogy, Chemistry, etc. 2d. Those that relate to Plants. Botany and Vegetable Physiology, Field Crops, Orcharding, Gardening, etc. 3d. What relates to animals. Comparative Anatomy and Physiology ; Natural History of Domestic Animals — Veterinary Medicine, Insects, etc. 4th. What relates to labor. Rural Architecture and Landscape Gar- dening, Draining, use and construction of Implements, Surveying, Farm Book- Keeping, etc., etc. LECTURERS. Prof. J. P. Kirtland, Prof. Jas. Dascomb, Prof. Sam'l. St. John, Prof. J. H. Fairchild, Prof. N. S. Townshend. ADDITIONAL FACILITIES. A Reading-Room, supplied with the principal Agricultural Periodicals, will be open to students at all hours. TERMS, For the entire course, - - $40 Board and rooms may be obtained at |2 50 per week, exclusive of fuel and lights. This Institution is designed to be permanent, and is therefore incorporated as the Ohio Agricultural College. For further particulars, address the Secretary of the Board. Harvey Rice, President. Thos. Brown, Secretary, Cleveland, Ohio. HINTS ON COLOR PRINTING. The following may be of use to others besides printers. We find it in the Photogj^ajjhic Advertiser. "To produce fine qualities of Colored Printing Inks, by mixing pure dry colors with varnish, the printer will do well to give heed to the following particulars : "1. No more should be mixed at a time than will be required for the job in hand. 284 RAILWAY INVENTION'S. "2. Colored inks should be mixed upon a slate or marble slab by means of the muUer, and never upon an iron or other metallic table. The table, before mixing, should be thoroughly clean, and perfectly free from the slightest soil or trace of other inks. " 3. For working colored inks the roller should not be too hard, and should possess a biting, elastic face. When change of color is required, it should be cleaned with turpentine, and a moist sponge passed over the face, allowing a few minutes to dry before resuming its use. " For bronze printing, the roller should have a firm face, or the tenacity of the preparation may destroy it ; yet it must have sufficient elasticity to de- posit the preparation freely and cleanly on the type. " 4. Various shades may be produced by observing the following direc- tions : ^'Bright Pink Ink. — Use carmine or crimson lake. '■'■Deep Scarlet. — To carmine, add a little deep vermillion. '■'Bright Red. — To pale vermilion, add carmine. "Dee2) Lilac. — To cobalt blue, add a little carmine. "Pale Lilac. — To carmine, add a little cobalt blue. '■'Bright Pale Blue. — Cobalt. '■'Deep Bronze Blue. — Chinese. "Green. — To pale chrome, add Chinese blue; any shade can be obtained by increasing or diminishing either color. "Emerald Green. — Mix pale chrome with a little Chinese blue, then add the emerald uatill the tint is satisfactory. "Amber. — To pale chrome, add a little carmine. "Deep Broivn. — Burnt umber, with a little scarlet lake added. "Pale Brown. — Burnt sienna ; a rich shade is made by adding a little lake as above. " 5. Gold Preparation. — Print as with ordinary hak, then put on the bronze powder with a broad camel-hair brush ; all6w the impressions to remain a short time for the preparation to set, then clean of the superfluous bronze ; the impressions are much improved if passed through rollers." RAILWAY INVENTIONS. Our Canadian exchanges contain an account of two inventions for railway service, which meet the approval of persons in that section : *' Mr. I. W. Forbes, of this village, (Dunville,) has just secured the patents of some important improvements in Railroad Switches. We have been favored with an inspection of the model, and were astonished to find a machine so sim- ple and complete in all its parts and arrangements. It is just what it purports to be ;' a self-acting and self-adjusting switch,' requires no attendance, no matter how many tracks or in what position the Switch is placed, the whole being under the control of the engineer of the passing train, who can adjust the Switch and place the train on any track he chooses without any regard to speed or fear of accident. It has been examined by some of the most prominent engineers and superintendents in the country, who unanimously FIRST WATER POWER IJS" SILK MANUFACTURING. 285 prouounced it the most perfect machine that has ever come under their notice. The adoption of this Switch -will save a vast amount of expense to such Companies as adopt the improvement, as well as prevent many accidents and losses which occur daily through the neglect and carelessnes of persons em- ployed for that purpose. Mr. Forbes has also invented an Alarm and Register, which is so arranged that the train cannot pass without ringing a bell, giving notice of danger of any kind or notifying that all was right, at any point of the road where required. This invention is thought by soma persons well posted up in railroad sta- tistics to be equal to the Switch in usefulness. We cannot describe it so that our readers will understand, and therefore will only say that it is intended to be attached to the engine, and is so constructed as to ring a bell near the engineer and warn him of danger on approaching stations, bridges, or curves, and would, no doubt, have saved many valuable lives the last twelve-month had it been in use. Several cases in point have occurred on our Canadian roads last year where the alarm flags were not observed by the engineer, and fatal consequences ensued which would have been prevented ; had this inven- tion been attached, it would have warned them of approaching danger." FIRST WATER POWER IN SILK MANUFACTURING. We suppose that the following historical facts are admitted. Nearly the first attempt at manufacturing silk in this country was made in Mansfield, Ct., and nearly the first man in the business in that town was Mr. Rodney Hanks, who deceased some years. Mr. Hanks was, also, the first person in Mansfield, or anywhere in America, who applied water power to the twisting and wind- ing of sewing silk and twist. Upon high land which slopes towards the east his mill was built ; a dam was built across a small stream of water rising on land still higher than the mill, which was turned and compelled to work its way down to the ocean. The building and the business were small, both reminding us of the names of John and Wm. Slater, and their labors in the beginnings of the manufacturing of cotten by water power. Forty years since that water power began to wind silk, guided by the ingenuity and skill of Rodney Hanks. That mill, and the newly-invented and constructed machines in it, and the mind which devised all, are gone. A new mill suc- ceeded on the same stream, larger in proportion and used by the father and his son, Mr. Geo. R. Hanks, for the same business. Now the second mill has given place to the third, the largest of all, which is used by father and son, Geo. R. Hanks and his son Philo G. Three mills have been operated by three successive generations of men in the same family and in the same business. During all this time water power has been used in winding and twisting silk, and during all this time progress has been made in the excel- lence of the manufacturing and in the amount done. The skill and know- ledge of the father, acquired by experiment or study, has been communicated to the son, and his again to his son, until now perhaps the world uses no better article of sewing silk and twist than comes from this celebrated factory. The name of Rodney Hanks should stand beside Slater and Wilkinson in the history of American manufacturing, as the name of his son Geo. R. may stand by the side of Martin in the annals of silk dyeing. D. 286 ART OF PAINTING. BRITANNIA- WARE— A LARGE ESTABLISHMENT. The business of making- Britannia-ware in our country has wrown to great proportions, and its growth is still increasing in magnitude. Very much the largest establishment for this important business we suppose to be in West Meriden, Ct., owned and operated by the " Meriden Britannia Co." The es- tablishment, whilst it has a oneness, may properly be divided into three more distinct factories. One is north of the depot, where steam power is used, and where the ware made is mostly cast, an'd for common use. Im- mense quantities and diverse qualities of ware are turned out of this shop, ex- citing the admiration of even traveled persons. Another factory is " over east" some three miles, where water power is used, and where ware is both cast and " spun up" in large quantities, and some of it admirable qualities. Up stairs and down, through many stories, are ponderous machines and mul- titudes of men, actively at work upon ware in some stage of its construction, from the rough ingot to the burnished vase or tankard. But the largest factory is " down in Wallingford," where more men are employed, and where all the ware is either rolled, pressed and run up, or is the product of all three processes of manufacturing. In this factory the perfection of the art of mak- ing this ware is seen. With engines and machines, newly invented and constructed, with many men of great ingenuity long applied, with ample means and facilities, an immense quantity of culinary and purely ornamental wares of astonishing excellence is thus turned out into the American market. Each factory has its manager. Silver plating and burnishing are done only at this pjace. The burnishing hall is large, and the large company of men engaged in it furnishes some of the finest countenances in the State. These three manufactories, under the name of " Meriden Britannia Co." are the largest establishment in this business on this continent. It has, too, its " commercial gentleman," who is constantly visiting towns and villages in all' the latitudes and longitudes of our country, effecting sales to persons of taste aud refinement, as well as to those who use this ware in common life. "Where does our ware go to?" asks the manufacturer, astonished at the quantity demanded. " Where docs all the Britannia ware come from ?" asks the million of users and admirers. We cannot say where it all comes from, but we can say, that immense quantities go from the large establishment of the Meriden Company. D. THE ART OF PAINTING. The following recipes, prepared by a practical painter, have been sold for a dollar. We give them to our readers taken from the Due West Tel- scope. 1. To Boil OIL — In boiling oil, never fill your kettle more than two-thirds, or it may run over and take fire. Place your kettle on the coals, simmer your oil till it will scorch a feather, when it will be fit for use. 2. To Grind Paint. — Put your paint on a large flat stone, with a smooth face, wet your paint with oil, and grind until fine. Be careful to grind fine, or there will be a waste of the paint, and your work will not look well. ART OF PAINTING. 287 3. A mixture for drying 2')aint. — Take 8 ounces of sugar of lead, 8 ounces of red lead, 8 ounces of lithavage, 4 ounces of umber ; make fine, put them into a gallon of oil ; simmer together one hour, then strain, pour in one pint of spirits of turpentine. Add one gill to one quart of paint to make it dry fast. 4. Painting on Wood. — In any kind of painting your paint must he of the proper consistency, your wood clean and smooth, and you must have a pro- per brush, or you cannot do good work. It is as necessary that a painter have good tools as any other mechanic, to enable him to make a good job. I have seen houses and other things spoiled with poor brushes. 5. To Paint a house White. — Mix 4 quarts of linseed oil, with one keg of white lead thoroughly. Commence at the top and paint six or eight boards at one through, using great care to lay the paint even and smooth. In put- ting on three coats, make the second the thickest, adding a little Prussian blue to the last coat to make the white more clear. Be careful not to use too much blue ; and you must putty all the holes and cracks before the last coat is applied. 6. Cream Color. — Add finely-ground chrome yellow to white paint, (see No. 5,) a little at a time till the shade pleases you. You must add yellow every coat to have a good finish. 7. Lead Color. — Add finelj'' ground lamp-black to white paint, (No. 5,) till the color suits you. 8. Blue Paint. — Prepare a suflicient quantity of white paint, then add finely-ground Prussian blue in oil. Add a Httle at a time, until the color is light or dark as you may want the shade. 9. Black. — In preparing black paint, grind lamp-black in oil ; and as black dries slowly, you should add two ounces of litharage, to every pint of paint. Always use boiled oil for black, to give it a body. 10. Verdigris Green. — Wrap verdigris in cabbage or other large leaves, - and place it on the hearth, over which scatter cold ashes, then cover with coals, let it roast one hour, remove, and when cold, grind in oil. This is not so apt to fade as other green, and is used for outside work. * 11. Common Green. — This is composed of nearly equal quantities of Prus- sian blue and chrome yellow. It must be ground very fine in oil. The shade may be varied with white lead. 12. Another Green. — You may purchase patent green ready for grind- ing, which is beautiful if genuine ; to be ground as other paint. 13. Stone Color. — Burn umber on an iron plate until it is of a reddish cast. No color looks better for a room if well put on. 14. Stone Color of a beautiful Green Shade. — Add to white paint, suffic- ient to make a light drab ; then green enough to make a green shade. 15. Orange Color. — Combine white lead with chrome yellow in the proper proportion to make a bright straw color, then add red lead to tinge it to an orange. 10. Straio Color. — Number 15 makes a straw color by leaving out the red lead. 17. Dark Stone Color. — Add umber to light lead color, (see No. 7,) till the color suits. 1 S. Blossom Color. — To white paint add red or Venetian red, till the col- or please. Red lead is the best. INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. 19. Flesh Color. — To white paint add chrome yellow enough to change its shade, then some red lead and a very small quantity of black, till the color suits. 20. Best Co])al Varnish. — Reduce 2 lbs. of gum copal to fine powder and pour it into a copper kettle that will hold 3 or 4 gals., and melt it over a fire of charcoal. When the gum is dissolved, add one pint and a half of hot flaxseed oil, having removed the gum from off the fire, stirring smartly while adding the oil. AVhen it is partly cool, add slowly 3 quarts of spirits of tur- pentine, still stirring. Care must be taken that the contents of the kettle are not too hot nor too cool while adding the turpentine ; if too hot it will take fire ; if too cool it will not mix well. Strain whilst warm. 21. Carriage Varnish. — Manage your copal as directed in No. 20. Use 5 pints of hot oil that will scorch a feather, add 1 quart of turpentine, and proceed as in No. 20. This varnish will not crack. 22. Gum Shellac Varnish. — Put two lbs. of Shellac gum into 2 quarts of spirits of wine, and shake occasionally ; and when it is dissolved it will be fit for use. This will not stand exposure ; it will dry in a few minutes, and an- swers well for coffins. 23. Varnish to render Paper Transparent. — Heat 2 gills of spirits of tur- pentine in an earthen vessel ; when hot add 2 oz. rosin, and stir until dis- solved. Varnish both sides of your paper with one coat, and when dry it will be clear enough to read through. Lay this paper on a picture and mark the outlines, then cut it out, paint through the hole. In this manner you may paint any figure you may desire. INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. Veknon Depot, Ct. — Phoenix Man'g. Co. T. Tyler, agent ; S. J. James and George Wilber, and others, foremen. Mill has 16 cards 24 inches; 120S spindles. Make satinet warps, I'JOO yards weekly. KeUogville Mill, woolen. H. W. Talcott, agent ; Warren Spaulding, A. A. Ellsworth, Palmerton, and others, foremen. Mill has 4 sets cards ; 36 looms. Make satinets. Warps purchased. RocKviLLE, Ct. — Springville Man'g. Co. Alonzo Bailey, agent; Digby Wood, C. Winchester, Jr., Wm. C. Avery, foremen. Mill has 3 sets card^, 4 jacks, 28 looms. Make satinets. Warps purchased. Florence Mills, woolen. George Kellogg, Jr., agent ; Augustus Schwarz, John Dawson, Joseph Bailey, George Lee, foremen. Mill has 4 sets cards, 4 jacks, 38 looms. Make Union cassimeres. Warps cotton and purchased. Machine shop attached, having Edward Low, foreman. New-England Co. Allen Hammond, agent; J. W. Thayer, superinten- dent; Vinton, Dimock, Van Tine, Buckrainster, Thompson, Soules, and Simonds, foremen. Mill has V sets cards, 44 Crompton looms. Make fancy cassimeres. Machine shop attached, having James M. Fuller, foreman. Saxony Mill, woolen. H. Selden, agent. Mill has 1 set cards, 10 looms. Make satinets. Leeds Co., 1 mill, woolen. A. Talcott, agent ; C. L. Clark, superintendent ; INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. 289 Albert R. Chapin, Francis Brown, and others, overseers. Mill has 6 sets cards, 40 looms. Make satinets. Warps jDurchased. Rock Man^'j. Co. George Kellogg, agent ; A. 0. Crosby, superintendent. Mill has 9 sets cards, 14 jacks, 70 looms. Make fancy cassimeres. Charles Metcalf, Jacob Guley, and others, foremen. Old mill attached to Rock, makes satinets. 24 looms. American Mills Co., 1 mill, woolen. Thomas Darrow, Jr., agent. Has 13 sets, 25 broad and 36 narrow looms. Make fancy cassimeres. Slone Mill, cotton. A. Hammond, agent ; AVm. R. Ladd, superintendent. Mill has 14 cards 24 inches. Make satinet warps, turning out 2200 yards daily. Meriden, Ct, — Factory of Charles Parker. Employ 250 hands on an average. Make all kinds of Britannia and German silver ware, vices, kitchen hard ware, builders', ga e, and other hinges, locks, coffee-mills, etc., etc., etc. Office, 15 Gold street. New- York. Factory of Perkins & Parker, owners and agents. James M. Perkins, superintendent. Make 14 kinds of hammers, and a great variety of tin and iron spoons. Works have 11 fires; 2 hammer- engines; 2 trip-hammers. Employ in all 50 hands. Factory of Edward Miller. Employs 25 hands on average, turning out 830,000 worth goods annually. Make trimmings for lamps, kettle cars, etc. West Meriden, Ct. — Meriden Machine Co., 1 shop. Oliver Snow, agent. Shop has 35 lathes, and other tools in proportion. G. T. Snow, foreman. Foundry has 15 hands on average; Eugene Leonard, foreman. Forge shop has 5 fire?, 2 trip-hammers ; R. S. Gladwin, foreman. Make machinery, tools, and do job work. Make Prew's car-wheels, patented. Meriden Lock Co. H. Curtis, agent ; H. H. Elwell, superintendent ; H. H. Booth, foreman. Employ 80 hands. Make builders' hard-ware, and spring balances. Silver Plating Shop of Henry Blunt. Commodiofiis laboratory. Does all kinds of plating. Foster, Merriam d- Co., 1 factory. Make furniture castors. Employ 30 men. Foundry attached has 20 hands on an average. Alanson Watrous, foreman. Meriden Britannia Co. H. C. Wilcox, agent. Have 3 factories. Em- ploy 150 to 175 hands. Make Britannia ware, fine-plated goods. Office, corner Gold and John street?. New- York. North factory has L. J. Curtis, superintendent; the East one has Mr. Lewis, superintendent; the third one is in Wallingford, Ct., and has Samuel Simpson, superintendent, Seth 0. Babbitt, foreman, employing 60 hands ; Mr. M. L. Forbes, plater. German silver department and rolling works, Robert Wallace, foreman. The works turn out great quantities of Britannia ware of a very superior quality. Factory of Hanover Co., W. Webb, agent, turns out 400 dozens of ivory fine-teeth combs daily. Cutlery Factory of Meriden Cutlery Co. J. Brackenridge, agent. Employ 75 hands, and make table cutlery. Lock Shop of Amory Parker & Co. Employ 40 hands, and make build- ers' hard-ware. R. L. Webb, finisher. Foundry attached, Mjron White, foreman. Power, steam and water, W. S. Coy, engineer. Foundry of Julius Parker & Co. Hiram Richmond, foreman. Employs 25 hands. Make bliods, hinges, and scales. . Yalesville Mill. C, Parker & Co. Thomas Jerald, manager ; Timothy White, superintendent. Employ 05 hands. Make Britannia and German silver spoons, plain and plated. 19 290 INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. Parker Scale Co. H. B. Osgood, agent. Make platform and counter scales. Wallingfordj Ct. — Fowler Man^g. Co. Alma J. Hall, agent. Shop has 8 lathes, 4 planers, and other tools in proportion. Make machine tools, and presses from 20 to 160 tons power. Fowler & Flagg, Jobbers. Forge shop has 3 fires and 1 hammer, George P. Munson, foreman. Power, steam. German Silver Works of Hall, Elton & Co. Have 3 mill?. Employ 150 hands. Turn out $250,000 worth goods annually. George W. Elton, plater. Make German-silver ware, plain and plated. SouTHiNGTON, Ct. — Factory of W. J. Clark & Co. Make nuts, washers, patent shaft couplings, bolts, etc. Business about 860,000 per annum. Peck (b Smith MarHg. Co. Wm. Wilcox, secretary ; B. A. Neal, general agent; Wm. Jones, foreman ; F. Hitchcock and Henry Way, jobbers; Julius Lewis, manager of old shop ; B. Cadwell, foreman of foundry. Make ma- chines and tools for tin-workers, spoons, 14 kinds of coffee-mills, grind-stone and pump fixtures, steelyards and notions. Employ 150 hands on average, 30 of whom are in foundry. Power is steam. James S. Young, engineer. Miller Man^g. Co. S. W. Sessions, manager. Employ 30 hands on average. Turn out 840,000 worth annually. Make carriage bolts. Manchester, Ct. — Pacific Co. C. G. Keeney, agent. Mill has 6 sets cards, 1200 spindles, 21 power frames. Make shirts and drawers. South Manchester, Ct. — Glohe Mills. J. Parker, agent; C. Cook, overseer. Has 8 cards, 600 spindles. Make satinets. Warps purchased. Charter Oak Mills. D. H. Bidwell, superintendent. Mill has 2 sets machinery. Makes satinet. Warps purchased. Middleton, Ct. — Sanseer Machine Shop. E. Lewis, agent. Has 12 lathes, and other tools. Make machinery, and do job work. ■ Shop of A. P. Bailey. Does silver plating and burnishing, and makes sewing birds. Sold by Stoors Brothers, No. 36 Vesey street, New- York. Russell Man'g. Co. Has 4 mil's. J. Brasselmann, dyer ; Samuel Single- ton, and others, foremen. Make suspenders, India Rubber, girth, boot, rein, and other webs. Turn out 8200,000 worth goods annually. Machine Shop of Wm. Stroud. E. Z. Parkhurst, foreman. Has 8 lathes, and other tools. Foundry attached, J. P. Davis, foreman. Has 6 hands on average. Do job work. Factory of E. L. Wright. Employs 6 hands. Make eyelets. Baldwin Tool Co. G. W. Fox, foreman of wood shop of 35 hands ; S. W. Drown, foreman of iron shop, with 25 hands. Make carpenters' tools. Factory of J. & W. Tidgewell. Employ 14 hands on an average. Make screw slide, mortise gages, printers' composing sticks, web-saws, etc. Turn out 812,000 worth goods annually. Factory of Charles North. Make John North's patent truss and sui:)ports. Britannia Factory of F. W. & 0. Z. Pelton. Make superior common and plated Britannia ware. Machine Shop of Nelson & Co. N. A. Parkhurst, foreman. Shop has 6 lathes, and other tools. Makes tools, and do job work. Plantsville, Ct.— Plant's Man'g. Co. A. P. Plant, president. Make all kinds of bolts for carriages and springs, car and coach screws, wrought cut nuts and washers, snaps for harnesses, geared coftee mills, etc., etc. Turn out 8200,000 worth annually. Sold at 85 John street. New- York, and 70 Kilby street, Boston. Stow Man'g. Co. S. Stow, president. Employ 60 hands on average. Make tin-workers' tools. PEOGRESS OF MECHANICAL INDUSTRY. 291 MiLLviLLE, Mass. — Eagle Mill, woolen. S. B. Hall & Scott. Has 2 sets. Make satinets. Warps purchased. David Lamson and Hiram Whit- ing, overseers. Millville Maii'g. Co. Edward S. Hall, agent ; Phillip Welden, James Pitts, Benj. Balmforth, and others, foremen. Mill has 14 sets machinery. Make superior fancy cassimeres, SILK FACTORIES. Mansfield Center, Ct. — Silk Factory of James Leigh. Abiel S. Holt, foreman. Turn out 150 lbs. weekly, for sewing, fringes, etc. Silk Factory of M. & G. C. Rixford. W. McFarland, foreman. Turn out 150 lbs. weekly. Make superior article of twist, for sewing machines. Silk Factory of 0. S. Chaffee. Turn out 300 lbs. weekly of sewing silk and machine twist, of all colors. Silk Mill of Orlow Atwood. Turn out 100 lbs. daily. Orlow Atwood, foreman. GuRLEYviLLE, Ct. — Silk Mill of George R. Hanks. P. G. Hanks, superintendent. Turn out 200 lbs. weekly. Make superior sewing silk of all colors. Make sadlers' silks, and silks for embroidery an