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Title: The Rural Magazine, and Literary Evening Fire-Side, Vol. 1 No. 10 (1820)

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  THE

  RURAL MAGAZINE,

  AND

  LITERARY EVENING FIRE-SIDE.

  VOL. I.     PHILADELPHIA, _Tenth Month, 1820._      _No. 10._




FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.

THE DESULTORY REMARKER.

No. IX.


It is a fact of no infrequent occurrence, that erroneous estimates
are formed of human conduct, and its immediate and remote effects
on the interests of society. When this is the case, we sometimes
denounce as hostile to social order and salutary improvement,
those who are really their most faithful and efficient friends,
and in this way become the agents and disseminators of error and
injustice. There is nothing perhaps, more unfashionable, not to say
mischievous, in the eyes of the present generation, than what they
denominate ENTHUSIASM; a temper of mind, which they are disposed
to treat with the greatest contempt, as altogether unworthy the
enlightened period in which we live. If the legitimate import of the
word were always observed in its application, there would be little
controversy on the subject; as no one would become the advocate
of "vain imaginations" or "violent passions." But it is believed
that much that is truly valuable in its character and tendency, is
improperly ascribed to this source; by which hostile prejudices are
excited, in opposition to that which is entitled to the countenance
and support of the public.

In CHARLES J. FOX'S history of JAMES II. there is this passage:--"We
are accused of enthusiasm! are we then fanaticks? Are we enthusiasts
because we do not rob--abstain from murder? If by enthusiasm be
meant _zeal and warmth_, I freely acknowledge it; I glory in it.
Enthusiasm, when it arises out of _a just cause_, is that which
makes men act in it with energy; it is that, without which _nothing
was ever done great, since the creation of the world_. Enthusiasm of
this sort, I hope, therefore, I shall always possess." The historian
referred to, will not be classed among credulous, weak-minded
men; for he was one of the most eminent statesmen of his day; and
his opinion is therefore justly considered as authoritative. The
position taken, is corroborated by all experience, that great
actions and great achievements are never the result of lukewarmness
and indifference; but of "zeal and warmth," directed to "a good
cause," without which honourable and permanent distinction can
never be obtained. What is too frequently mistaken for enthusiasm,
is in reality produced by a profound conviction of the truth, in
connection with some particular object, of the greatest importance
to mankind.

It was this that guided COLUMBUS across the unknown and boisterous
ocean, and opened to his view a new world; which enabled him to
encounter and surmount every difficulty, which the malice of his
enemies, or the combination of untoward circumstances, arrayed
against his great design; a design which was branded as a chimera of
enthusiasm.

It was this which induced FRANKLIN to persevere in his philosophical
experiments, until they were crowned with success; and the identity
of lightning and the electric fluid, completely established, and
eventually placed his name among the most eminent philosophers of
the age.

It was this, that enabled RITTENHOUSE to emerge from the condition
of an humble mechanic in Montgomery county, and by the construction
of his wonderful Orrery, to obtain from Jefferson this great but
well-merited testimony to his talents;--"that no mortal was ever
permitted to make so near an approach to his Creator."

It was this that strengthened the hands of the immortal FOUNDER of
Pennsylvania, in his noble determination of sacrificing the bright
prospects which birth and connexions imparted, to a sense of duty;
and of establishing an asylum in a remote wilderness, where the
oppressed of all nations, kindred, and people, might find a covert
from the storm of civil and religious persecution, and enjoy in
perfect security the sacred rights of conscience.

It was this which guided the footsteps of HOWARD to the distant
abodes of wretchedness and wo, unmindful of the comforts and
delights of home, to bind up the sorrows of their miserable
tenants, and to complete, in the language of Burke, his "noble
circumnavigation of charity."

It was this which conducted FULTON to that astonishing result,
justly considered as the great wonder of the age--_navigation by
steam_; after a crowd of discouragements and difficulties had been
subdued, sufficient to disconcert the plans and defeat the object of
almost any other man, however sanguine his temper and resolute his
purpose.

It was this which under Providence induced that signal victory,
obtained in Great Britain, by SHARP, WILBERFORCE, and CLARKSON, over
the disgrace of humanity and civilization, the SLAVE-TRADE; after a
most doubtful and arduous conflict of more than twenty years, with
avarice and oppression.

To conclude, nothing but this active and persevering zeal, will,
_in future_, lead to like glorious results. Instead, therefore, of
its being opprobriously branded, let it be cherished, when directed
to just and important objects, as a prolific source of good to man.
Scientific research has an ample field before her still unexplored,
in which no doubt laurels will continue to be reaped, and great and
substantial advantages be derived by new discoveries. But the _moral
improvement_ of our fellow citizens, should be sedulously attended
to, as more immediately soliciting our notice; and the cause of
such of them as are denied the rights to which they are by nature
entitled, should be fearlessly and constantly vindicated, as truth
and justice may open the way; notwithstanding those may be denounced
as ENTHUSIASTS, who believe that in the eye of the great Creator,
"ALL MEN ARE EQUAL." ☞




VARIETY.

For the Rural Magazine.


The fogs of England have been at all times the complaint of
foreigners. Gondomar the Spanish ambassador, when some one who was
going to Spain waited on him to ask whether he had any commands,
replied, "Only my compliments to the Sun, whom I have not seen since
I came to England." Caracoli, the Neapolitan minister there, a man
of a good deal of conversational wit, used to say that the only
ripe fruit he had seen in England, were roasted apples; and in a
conversation with George II., he took the liberty of preferring the
Moon of Naples to the Sun of England.


JOHN HOWARD.

I have been frequently asked, says this great man, what precautions
I use to preserve myself from infections in the prisons and
hospitals I visit. I here answer, next to the free goodness and
mercy of the Author of my being, temperance and cleanliness are my
preservatives. Trusting in Divine Providence, and believing myself
in the way of my duty, I visit the most noxious cells, and while
thus employed, "I fear no evil."


FRANKLIN.

He that raises a large family, says Franklin, does indeed, while
he lives to observe them, _stand_, as Watts says, _a broader mark
for sorrow_; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too.
When we launch our little fleet of barks into the ocean, bound
to different ports, we hope for each, a prosperous voyage; but
contrary winds, hidden shoals, storms and enemies, come in for a
share in the disposition of events; and though these occasion a
mixture of disappointment, yet considering the risk where we can
make no insurance, we should think ourselves happy if some return
with success.


BURNS THE POET.

About the age of thirteen, Burns was sent during a part of the
summer to the parish school in Dalrymple, in order to improve
his hand writing.--In the following year he had an opportunity
of passing several weeks with his old friend Murdoch, with
whose assistance he began to study French with intense ardour
and assiduity. His proficiency in that language, though it was
wonderful, considering his opportunities, was necessarily slight;
yet it was in shewing this accomplishment alone that Burns' weakness
ever took the shape of vanity. One of his friends, who carried him
into the company of a French lady, remarked with surprise that he
attempted to converse with her in her own tongue. Their French,
however, was soon found to be almost mutually unintelligible. As far
as Burns could make himself understood, he unfortunately offended
the foreign lady.--He meant to tell her that she was a charming
person and delightful in conversation; but expressed himself so as
to appear to her to mean, that she was fond of speaking; to which
the Gallic dame indignantly replied, that it was quite as common for
poets to be impertinent, as for women to be loquacious.


ORTHOGRAPHY.

The following curious instances of spelling are from Bassompierre's
account of his mission to the court of Charles I. in 1626.

Sir Edward Sackville, (Hacfil;) Earl of Dorset, (Dorchet;)
Buckingham, (Boukinkam;) York-House, (Jorschaux;) Earl of
Bridgewater, (Britswater;) Whitehall, (Withal;) Cheapside,
(Shipside;) Wimbledon, (Semilton;) Wallingford, (Vialenforaux;)
Blackfriars, (Blaifore;) Kensington, (Stintinton;) Berkshire,
(Barcher.)




For the Rural Magazine.

INDIAN CORN: ITS BAD AND GOOD CULTURE.


An agricultural traveller, who has recently passed through parts of
Montgomery, Berks, Lehigh, Northampton and Philadelphia counties,
by the great roads leading through them, wishes, most cordially and
earnestly to call the attention of the farmers to their unfortunate
style of agriculture in some important particulars.

After leaving the neighbourhood of Norristown, with a few
exceptions, a barely tolerable field of Indian corn was rarely to be
seen, until he arrived, on his return from Easton, into the southern
parts of Bucks county. The foes to all good husbandry, weeds, were
predominant in almost every cornfield. If, perchance, the interior
was tolerably clear, a circumstance which rarely, occurred, the
weeds around the enclosures were so lamentably abundant, that the
corn was, in a great degree, obscured. Good and bad land exhibited
the like ruinous and disgusting appearance and miserable promise;
and the same bad system of culture prevailed. The ploughing was
generally shallow, whatever might be the texture of the soil.--Every
field was ridged; many had been broken up in bulks, and furrows
were always thrown up to the plants, for the drought to turn into
dust, or indurate into impenetrable clods.--The middle spaces
between the rows were untouched, either by the plough or the harrow
in very numerous instances. Countless varieties of pestiferous
coarse grasses and weeds took possession of these neglected spots,
furnishing a counterbalance to any supplies from the earth or the
air, which the corn plants, in the absence of these pests, might
have drawn, and effectually preventing the extension of their roots
beyond the bounds of the elevated furrows, or narrow ridges, in
which they were imprisoned. Can it then be wondered at, that the
crops evidenced a sickly, stunted & wretched appearance, both in
colour and size? In some fields, where limestone prevailed, and,
perhaps, lime had been applied, the colour was better, but the
weeds and grasses abundant; on the head lands particularly, which
are seldom sufficiently, if at all, stirred and cleaned: thus
establishing a mischievous nursery of poisonous pests to perpetuate
their scourges on future crops. Fall ploughing was rarely, if
at all, practised; and lime little used, even in many limestone
districts. One farmer said, "their land was hot enough without
lime." It is hoped, that this superlative ignorance of the qualities
of lime, which, when slacked, is the coldest of all substances
applied to land, is confined to the individual sporting the opinion.
One of the uses of lime is to supply the soil, and that not too
lavishly, with calcareous matter, when its caustic qualities are
subdued.

This is not exaggerated, but is a regretful picture. It is held
up to intelligent and well-disposed farmers, who, by viewing its
deformities, may banish entirely their present mode of culture,
which, by its own showing, is proved to be radically wrong. A
corn crop is not only in itself, but, when well cultivated, is in
its consequences the most valuable of all our products. With an
abhorrence of weeds, the test of intelligence in a farmer, he can,
with a corn crop, more effectually clean and prepare his fields for
succeeding crops, than can be done by any other culture. Whilst
he is attending his corn, which will not, with impunity, suffer
neglect, he is not only invigorating and increasing his crop, but
he is subduing his worst enemies--weeds of all kinds. This makes
ample amends for the exhaustion of the soil by this gigantic plant.

The change recommended, is dictated not only by reasonable theory,
but is founded on long experience and multitudinous practical proofs.


_Deep and Flat Culture._

Plough your fields throughout _deeply_; and _that_ in the fall, to
expose and destroy the eggs of the grub moth; and roll, to pulverize
the clods. Harrow in lime at this season, or on spring ploughed
ground, for corn; and do not spread it on your fallows for wheat;
because it is then injurious to your winter grain crop; as frequent
experience has shown. Mark out your squares or drills, lightly, with
the plough; and thereafter never suffer the plough to enter your
fields. Work entirely with _harrows_; whereof procure the necessary
variety; some with large, and others with smaller _hoes_. These
cut up weeds, and sufficiently stir your intervals to any depth
you choose. If the hand hoes be found indispensable, use them near
your plants; but never hill or plough up furrows. The common harrow
will have its share of usefulness; and spare it not. As often as
young weeds appear, or your surface becomes crusty, often occasioned
by drought after rains, ply the harrows. You will then have a
deep, loose and light body of pulverized soil, for your roots to
penetrate. It will imbibe the dews and gases from the atmosphere;
and afford, in the severest droughts, perpetual moisture and
nourishment; which will be exclusively applied to your corn plant;
having no robbers to contend with. In droughts, deeply stirred
soil inhales and _retains_ moisture. In wet seasons it is the
least injured; because it affords room for superabundant wetness.
Being elastic and buoyant, it does not consolidate or settle into
concrete bodies, like shallow ploughed, cloddy, and unstirred
ground. The corn roots (which have, in such ground, been measured
ten feet long,) will have a continuous and not a divided soil,
wherein to expand and extend themselves; in which, it being loose,
deep, and constantly moist, the roots will far exceed those confined
to narrow detached ridges, wherein they are short and starved. It is
an idle opinion, to suppose that plants spend themselves in roots.
The stronger, the root, the more vigorous is the plant.

If you _will_ introduce the plough after the first breaking up,
either before or after planting; and squares are the most commodious
for thorough stirring and cleaning; plough shallow; so as not to
disturb the deeply buried sod. Let the harrows level and flatten
your surface at the next operation; and continue them exclusively
in all future stirrings. Your culture will be easier, cheaper, and
more abundantly profitable, than those who are accustomed to the old
modes will _believe_, until they _see_.

If your field requires drains, draw furrows in proper places. If it
be naturally wet, break up deeply in very broad lands, on which the
harrows may still be used, and drains sufficiently multiplied. If it
be stony, rugged, or harsh, either plant other crops; or strengthen
your harrows; ridged ground dries the soonest, and burns through; so
does all shallow ploughed soil, whether ridged or flat. Attraction
of moisture is trifling, and evaporation rapid.

Be not afraid of cutting corn roots, which benefit by excision;
throwing out, on the parts attached to the plants, numerous fibres,
to draw in and communicate their food.

Your corn, in deeply ploughed and frequently stirred ground, will
resist storms and heavy rains, owing to the strength and numbers of
its roots, far beyond hilled or ridged plants. If it yields to the
storm, and leans, the extent, tenacity, and re-acting contraction
of the roots, will generally restore the erect position of the
stalks: whereas, in the ridged or hill culture, the roots are short,
brittle, and incapable of recovery. It is not uncommon in the deep
and flat culture, for those called finger roots, to grow entirely or
greatly extended _under_ instead of _above_ the surface; and throw
out innumerable fibres, to support the stalk.

Detach all suckers, which are robbers; and top, in due season, to
shorten the lever, insure the standing of the stalks, and facilitate
the ripening of the grains.

Banish all apprehensions, that working among corn in dry weather, is
injurious. The contrary is the truth; for your harrows will, in such
weather, have the double effect of more certainly destroying weeds,
and pulverizing, to open mouths to take in moisture and gases, from
the dews and the air.

It being seldom practised in Pennsylvania, I need not warn you
against sowing winter grain in the same year with corn. This not
only scourges your land, but interferes with the great use of the
cleaning culture, affording the time and opportunity for weeds to
recover their pestiferous reign, and is a sure test of slovenly and
covetous farming.

If you will not at once believe in this system of corn husbandry,
now frequently and ever successfully practised, where the best
crops are to be seen, try a small portion of your field--do it
justice--and compare it with the old mode, for your own and your
neighbour's conviction. Whatever may be hastily thought of these
observations, they are, with the most friendly wishes for their
prosperity, offered for the serious consideration of liberal minded
and unprejudiced farmers; among whom numberless instances of good
farming, in other respects, are to be found, and to which the
greatest proportion of the corn culture is a mortifying contrast.

  _September 10, 1820._    MENTOR.




  SEPT. 18, 1820.

  Messrs. Richards & Caleb Johnson--

In the Lancaster Journal of September 8th, 1820, there is an
excellent charge of Judge Franklin to the Grand Jury, on the subject
of the Act of Assembly "for promoting agriculture and domestic
manufactures." I think it well deserving a place in your Magazine;
as it contains, in epitome, much useful and impressive advice on
the importance of agriculture, and the formation of agricultural
societies; by the instrumentality whereof both the principle,
and practice of husbandry can be successfully promoted, and most
effectually encouraged.--Your obedient servant,

  RICHARD PETERS.




_Address._


But I am desirous at this time, gentlemen, of introducing to your
notice an Act of Assembly of this Commonwealth, passed at the
last session of the legislature, which, if its provisions be duly
attended to, may produce many beneficial effects. It is entitled,
"An Act for the promotion of agriculture and domestic manufactures."
The 1st, 2d, and 3d, sections enact:

"That as soon as the Board of Commissioners and two-thirds of the
Grand Jury, of any county within this Commonwealth, shall agree,
in writing under their respective hands (which agreement shall be
filed in the office of the Prothonotary of the proper county) that a
society shall be established within the same; then it shall and may
be lawful for twenty or more inhabitants of any such county, fifteen
of whom shall be practical and actual farmers, under the name of The
Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and Domestic Manufactures,
in and for such county, to sign an agreement, promising to pay the
treasurer of said society, so long as he shall remain a member
thereof, the sum of one dollar each, or more, annually, for the
purposes hereinafter mentioned, and cause such agreement to be
filed in the office of the Prothonotary of proper county; every
such society shall by virtue of this act become a body politic and
corporate, in deed and in law, with perpetual succession, and all
the rights, liberties, privileges, and franchises incident to a
corporation, for all the purposes of this act, and to admit new
members upon the terms aforesaid. _Provided_, That the association
which shall have first filed their articles of agreement shall be
the only one entitled to the privileges granted by this act.

"That the said societies, respectively, shall meet at some
convenient place on the Wednesday of the next Court of Common Pleas,
after the said agreements shall have been filed as aforesaid, and
choose by a majority of votes, out of their number, one president,
ten directors, one treasurer, and one secretary, who shall be
officers of said society for one year and until others are duly
elected. And the said societies respectively, at their first
meeting, shall have power to fix on the time and place of their
annual meetings on such day of the year as they shall designate,
which shall continue to be the day of the annual meeting of the
societies respectively, until otherwise altered by a vote of
the members as aforesaid; and also to make their own rules and
by-laws, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the
United States, or of this state; and to add other officers to those
designated, and prescribe their respective duties. And the president
and directors shall have power to summon special meetings of said
societies respectively, at such other times as to them shall seem
proper.

"That at the next assessment of county rates and levies, after said
societies respectively shall have been established and organized
in any county within this commonwealth, and annually thereafter,
the county commissioners are hereby required to assess, levy, and
cause to be collected, in the same manner that county rates and
levies are assessed, levied, and collected, an additional sum of
fifty dollars for every member which said counties respectively are
or may be entitled to elect to the House of Representatives of this
commonwealth, and to cause the same to be paid to the treasurer
of the society, by warrants drawn on the county treasurer: to be
expended, together with their annual subscriptions, in the manner
hereinafter mentioned."

I need not read the remaining sections of this law. The pamphlet
containing it will be laid upon your table, and you will have an
opportunity of deliberately considering it in all its parts.

I wish to impress you, gentlemen, with the importance of this
subject, as it affects the vital interests of our country;
particularly at a time when our foreign markets are almost
destroyed, and we must learn to establish our prosperity on the
interchange of commodities within our own limits. This will produce
a solid independence, teach us the value of our connexions with one
another, and bind us in bonds of mutual interest. The struggle has
heretofore been (and a fatal one it has proved) to get _rich_: the
endeavour now must be, how to _live_ in comfort and plenty.

The consumption and use of the necessaries and conveniences of
life, by 10,000,000 of people, and the demands for the materials
of domestic manufactures, cannot fail to afford to every quarter
of our Union the means of substantial enjoyment. _Industry_ must
take the place of hazardous _Speculation_, and _Frugality_ must
succeed _Extravagance_. We shall then be taught to live within our
means, and this will easily be accomplished, when we have only real
wants, and not those which are, for the most part, artificial and
fanciful. We must "eat our bread in the sweat of our faces," and
we shall find it the sweetest and most nutritive of any food we
have heretofore enjoyed. It may not be accompanied by luxurious and
expensive viands; but its associates will be health, peace of mind,
and corporeal vigour, ensuring exemplary life and purity of morals.

The foundation of the public prosperity is undoubtedly agriculture.
This brings forth all the materials about which other branches of
labour are, for the most part, employed, and sustains the workers in
every department of the mechanic arts, in their labours. Without it,
the earth would be a howling desert: with it, the cultivated world
is an artificial Paradise, produced by the labour of Man, who, being
doomed to "eat his bread in the sweat of his face," thus fulfils
the decrees of Heaven, while he ensures to himself and his race the
blessings of plenty, innocence and health. To what a high destiny,
then, is the farmer appointed, when to him is committed the art on
which the subsistence of his fellow men necessarily depends. His
responsibilities are great indeed; and shall he rely only on his
individual efforts and limited experience, for the fulfilment of
such important duties? No: he should call to his aid the experience,
the intelligence, and the scientific as well as practical knowledge,
which associations for promoting agriculture are universally found
to afford, and thereby add to his own, the experience of those with
whom he is associated, and, by joint efforts, produce results to
which any one individual is incompetent. The practices, good or
bad, which are handed down by his predecessors, are repeated; and
little progress is made in improvement by isolated or self-confident
individuals.

It would be a toilsome task, nor indeed would my limited information
enable me, to enumerate all the discoveries and improvements in
husbandry which modern times have developed. I will mention one
or two of the most prominent. There have been but few articles
used among our farmers, for the most essential of all requisites,
_manuring their lands_. _Dung_, which can be produced only in
quantities inadequate to the demand for it, has been the universal
and main reliance, _Lime_ is also generally esteemed of primary
importance. Both of these are estimable, without dispute; and yet
it is now well known in Europe, and begins to be so here, that
_the ashes of burnt clay_ constitute a manure which is superiour
to them all, for every purpose to which they have been applied.
Clay is found every where in immense quantities, and can be cheaply
converted into ashes, and whole farms may be rapidly fertilized in
place of partial and protracted applications of more expensive and
less attainable manures; it is fortunately best adapted for strong
and clay soils, which thus afford renovations of their surfaces out
of their own bowels. This account of so valuable an addition to our
stock of manure, obtained from a material of little estimation,
walked over every day, and heedlessly neglected, will not, perhaps,
be believed by the generality of our farmers; and yet the most
celebrated agriculturists in England, Scotland, and Ireland are so
convinced of the fact, from actual experience, that it is maintained
to be "the most important discovery in agriculture which modern
times have produced."

The application of salt to our fields as manure, is now under very
extensive experiment. There is no doubt of its efficacy: but it
requires experience, as to quantity per acre, and the kinds of soil
the most suitable. This is not a new discovery; for its application
to _land as manure_ has been known before, and at the time of, our
blessed Saviour's appearance upon earth. In St. Luke's Gospel[1]
it is said, "_salt_ is good; but if the salt has lost its savour,
wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither _fit for the land_
nor _yet for the dunghill_; but men cast it out." Its uses, both for
cattle and manure, can be traced through the writings of the most
eminent among the _Romans_, down to the most celebrated chymists and
agriculturists of our own day. Where are our farmers to learn such
facts and discoveries? Not of themselves; for there are many who do
not read, and few go out of their way to try experiments. They can
only be taught by agricultural associations, wherein the experience
of practical farmers, the information derived from books, and the
assistance of scientific characters, are happily combined.

  [1] Chap. xiv. 34, 35.

The spirit for agricultural improvement, and the formation of
societies, has very much spread throughout the Union. Shall
Pennsylvania be behind her sister states in such associations? She
is before them in many practical proofs of her good husbandry; but
has yet much to learn. Let us then promptly obey the call of our
legislature, and begin the great work by forming societies and
rendering them efficient. Let us pride ourselves in our household
manufactures; and for this purpose let us invite the female branches
of our families to join in our plan. _Without their aid_, we can
do nothing in such manufactures; _with it_, everything. Instead
of foreign gewgaws and expensive finery, we may be independent
in articles for household uses and our attire, and save the
expenditures which now go into the pockets of foreigners. Commerce
is certainly essential to an agricultural country; but the extent
of it should be no greater than our products will reach: when the
balance turns against us, our prosperity declines.

You know, gentlemen, that our farmers will be satisfied only by
actual observations of practical proofs. We must have public
manifestations of improvement. The institution of cattle-shows
should be promoted. They would be useful as places of sale, or for
the exhibition of the best breeds, or for exposing for imitation
or sale the best and greatest variety of household manufacture. On
these occasions, premiums, more honorary than costly, should be
distributed to successful candidates, either for such cattle or
manufactures, or for agricultural discoveries or improvements, or
the best execution of known practices. Emulation must be roused and
encouraged, and the honourable pride of excelling must be fostered.
Such public exhibitions must be conducted by discreet and reputable
men.

Under such guidance and with suitable accompaniments of innocent
pleasure and amusement, they will make a much stronger impression
than any oral addresses or written communications. By these
exhibitions, the emulation, excited in some neighbouring states
has improved their agriculture and increased their manufactures to
a degree almost incredible. Agricultural societies are extending
to every quarter of the Union. Until very lately, there did not
exist one to the southward of Pennsylvania, and she had but two,
_to wit_, the Philadelphia Society, which has long continued its
useful labours and eminent zeal; and that of Blockley and Merior, in
the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. In the Eastern States, they are
numerous; and in New York, forty or fifty are recently formed and
are making successful progress.

I shall not enlarge further upon these topics, but will dismiss you
with the expression of a hope that you may be governed in all your
deliberations by the pure principles of justice; that by preserving
your minds entirely free from hate, from friendship, from anger,
and from pity, they may be directed to such conclusions as may best
effectuate the great purposes for which you are assembled, and that
in clearing the innocent from unjust suspicion, and dragging the
guilty to deserved punishment, you may promote the best interests
of society, and secure the freedom and happiness of its individual
members.




LETTERS ON AGRICULTURE.

(Concluded from last Number.)


Though the cultivation of land by metayers may be unfavourable
to its amelioration, still it may be easily imagined, that the
smaller products of every little farm will be greater, as each must
possess both a garden and a poultry yard. Every field in Lombardy is
encircled with a band of poplars, mulberries, oaks, &c., and they
are often so thick that the eye can scarcely penetrate the rich
growth of leaves. From the boughs, luxuriant vines hang in festoons,
and present to the passing traveller a scene of rural beauty and
enjoyment which he may search for in vain in other countries.
The shade of the trees does not injure the crops, such is the
invigorating effect of a humid soil and an Italian sky.

Of the constant succession of crops we here know very little; indeed
it is the result of experience alone. So much depends on climate,
that we imagine the rotation practised elsewhere can never afford
certain information to us. The largest quantity of the most valuable
product, which may be taken from a spot of ground in any number of
years, is a problem whose solution is of the greatest importance. In
Piedmont the rotation is generally as follow:

     1st year, Indian corn, manured, Beans--hemp.

     2d year, Wheat.

     3d year, Clover, turned up after the first cutting and fallowed
     by a fallow.

     4th year, Wheat.

This rotation, says M. de Chateauvieux, is one of the most abundant,
and may be pursued indefinitely, notwithstanding the recurrence of
wheat, though perhaps the result may be atributed to the abundance
of manure furnished by a meadow cut three times. After stating that
a farm of sixty arpents supported a family of eight or nine persons,
who kept twenty-two head of large cattle, of which two oxen and a
cow are fattened every year, as well as one or two hogs, that it
gave about one hundred and twenty-five dollars worth of silk, and
furnished more wine than could be consumed, that the preparatory
crop of Indian corn and beans almost subsisted the metayers, and
that nearly all the grain might be sold, as well as a great quantity
of smaller products, he celebrates the industry and management of
the Piedmontese proprietors in the following terms: 'It will be easy
for you, after this, to conceive how Piedmont is perhaps, of all
countries, that where the economy and management of land is best
understood, and the phenomenon of its great population and immense
exportation of produce will thus be explained.'

In the neighbourhood of Placenza, cattle rather than grain
constitute the wealth of the farmer. The cows and oxen are
distinguished by immense horns and beautiful figures, and we believe
that our American race is in no way to be compared with them.--Their
origin is said to be Hungarian; the males are noble animals, but the
cows give little milk. To remedy this inconvenience, two thousand
cows are imported from Switzerland, and the valuable qualities of
the animal are thus perpetuated. The cattle are almost universally
of a slate-grey colour. The rotation of crops is here as follows:

  1st year, Indian corn and hemp, manured.

  2d year, Wheat.

  3d year, Winter beans.

  4th year, Wheat, manured.

  5th year, Clover, ploughed after the first cutting.

  6th year, Wheat.

This succession, however, can only be pursued in a rich soil, which
is manured every three years. There is one article we beg leave to
notice particularly. We imagine that the winter bean might easily
be introduced among us, and with great advantage, as it is capable
of supporting the cold of the severest winter. It is sown in the
beginning of September, and it must have considerable growth before
autumn to resist the attacks of the cold. The stalk then perishes
by the frost, but at the moment the genial warmth of the spring
is felt, two or three new stalks arise, which bloom in the month
of May, and the beans are fit to gather at the end of July. The
management of this important vegetable we give in the words of
the author. 'La culture est extrêmement simple; aprés a récolte
du blé fumé, on retourne la terre par un seul labour et on la
laisse émietter par l'influence de la saison. Aux premiers jours de
Septembre on séme les féves, soit en les enterrant á la charrue,
soit en les recoverant á la herse, soit enfin avec le semoire, qui
les place par rangées, de manière à pouvoir au printemps les sarcler
avec la houe à cheval. Si on ne suit pas cette dernière méthode, il
faut les sarcler à la main, dans le courant d'avril.' The culture of
the winter bean is suited to argillaceous soils, and while it allows
the proper intervals between ploughing the ground and sowing wheat
which succeeds, it is admirably calculated to maintain the fertility
of the ground.

The plains which border on the Po, in the vicinity of Parma and
Lodi, support those fine animals, whose milk is converted into the
celebrated Parmesan cheese. The grass is here far more valuable than
any crop of grain. In the summer the cows are housed and fed with
the green grass of the first and second mowings: that of the third
is converted into hay. At the end of autumn the cows are allowed
to pick up whatever may be left in the fields. These meadows are
perhaps the most fertile on earth; they are generally mowed four
times a year. The cheese is here never made from less than fifty
cows, and as the farms are small, there is one common establishment,
to which the milk is brought twice during the day; an account of it
is kept by the cheesemaker and settled in cheese every six months.
The same plan has been introduced in Switzerland.

In the Milanese, the farms are larger than in other parts of Italy,
because the culture of the grasses demands less care and labour than
other branches of farming, and fewer advances. Irrigation is here
carried to such an extent, that every two or three arpents can be
inundated by its own canal. The good quality of the grass, however,
in time becomes deteriorated, other plants gradually spring up in
the place of the grasses; the sluices are then closed, and the
ground is ploughed for hemp; after which, and a crop of legumes,
oats, and wheat, it is again laid down in grass. A meadow will
generally last fifteen years, and the course of harvests returns
every five. M. de Chateauvieux gives the following remarkable
outline:

     1st year, Hemp, followed by legumes.

     2d year, Oats.

     3d year, Wheat, followed by legumes.

     4th year, Indian corn.

     5th year, Wheat.

     15th year, Natural meadow, dunged every 3 years, and mowed 4
          times a year.
     --          --
     20 years  67
     --        --

Of these sixty-seven crops from the same ground there are sixty-one
for the use of animals, five for the sustenance of man, and only one
for his clothing. There is, perhaps, no country on the face of the
earth which can boast such a proportion of agricultural products.
To obtain this result, the ground is manured, very profusely
however, five times in twenty years, and it is a singular fact that
this manure is applied always to the grass and never to the grain.

The culture of rice occupies a part of Italy, and is a source of
great profit to the owner of the soil. The difficulties in its
cultivation are so trifling, that, contrary to the usual custom, the
ground is let out at a fixed rent of one hundred and sixty francs
the arpent; three crops are received every five years. As with us,
these rice grounds are most unhealthy, and the stagnant water which
covers them produces disease in all the surrounding country. The
unfortunate peasant rarely escapes its deleterious effect, and the
government, sensible of this constant draft on human life, have
prohibited the further extension of the culture of this grain.

One of the most singular features in the physical character of
Italy, is the constant elevation of the beds of rivers, particularly
the Arno and the Po, by means of depositions of earth and stones,
brought down by the heavy rains from the mountains.--This had become
so alarming, that the raising of dykes yielded to a very ingenious
operation called _Colmata_, by which the water of the river was
allowed to overflow a certain space, and this very deposition,
about three or four inches in a year, made to raise the level of
the adjacent shores. But this process, which is fully described by
Sismondi, must necessarily have a limit. Embankments are resorted
to, and in some places the bed of the Po is absolutely thirty feet
above the level country. The Po even now frequently overflows and
devastates its banks; the inhabitants, provided always for the
calamity which unfortunately is not unfrequent, take to their
boats and wait till the inundation has subsided. There would seem
to be little doubt that at some day not far distant, the whole
delta of the Po, or _Polesino_, as it is called, will become one
wide and wretched marsh. Even now the roads are often impassable.
Ferara, consecrated by the genius of Ariosto and Tasso, will be
extinguished, and Revenna, already fallen from its high honours,
be known only as the deserted capital of a potentate of the lower
empire.

M. de Chateauvieux, climbing the mountains which separate Tuscany
from Modena, and leaving behind him the fertile plains of Lombardy,
entered those lofty regions, where the earth does not produce
sufficient sustenance for the inhabitants, who are employed with
their flocks of goats and sheep, in constantly traversing the
mountains in a manner somewhat similar to that of the Spanish
shepherds. The author employs himself in describing the scenery of
the Corniche, and though it is perhaps among the finest in Europe,
and he might have felt all its changeful beauty and sublimity, still
we think he is far more fortunate in his delineations of rural
economy.

The agriculture of Tuscany has been so fully and ably investigated
by Sismondi,[2] that little was left to M. de Chateauvieux. The
valley of the Arno, in truth the only fertile part of the dukedom,
(for the rest is composed of precipitous mountains, or that silent
and hideous district the Maremma) stretches from Cortona to Pisa,
and forms about one-sixth of its whole territory. The farms are
very small, being from three to six arpents, so that one pair of
oxen supplies the necessities of ten or twelve metayers, in the
working of their little plat of ground. They manifest, however,
their extravagance in maintaining a horse, which may transport their
produce to market, and their wives and daughters to mass or a
rustic ball.--The most general rotation of crops is here:

  1st year, Indian corn, beans, peas, or other legumes dunged.

  2d year,   Wheat.

  3d year,   Winter beans.

  4th year,  Wheat.

  5th year, Clover, sown after the wheat, cut in the spring and
        followed by _sorgho_.

  [2] Tableau de l'agriculture Toscane, par J. C. L. Sismondi.

This _sorgho_ is a sort of parsnip, which is reduced into flour, of
which they make a bad soup and a poor polente. The ground is manured
only once in five years, a circumstance which abundantly proves
the richness of this deep alluvial soil. Notwithstanding all this
fertility and a cultivation which resembles rather that of a garden,
than a farm, the country does not produce enough to resist the
effects of a bad year. The metayers live with the greatest economy,
and though their cottages are built with a taste which seems
indigenous to the country, the interior exhibits a total absence of
all the conveniences of life, and supplies but a frugal subsistence.
Such is the view which M. de Chateauvieux has taken. But in our
opinion the peasantry of Tuscany under all circumstances, are not
only more neat in their persons, but better clothed, and apparently
enjoying more happiness, than that of any other district in Italy.
There can be little doubt, that all this distress and privation
arises from the system of the metayers; a system which, deriving
its existence from the feudal state, is equally to be deprecated,
whether we consider the political character of the community or
the individual happiness of its members. The man who has no other
possession than his industry, and who cannot hope to change his
situation, can never have such a stake in the state, as to render
him either an intelligent or valuable member of it. On the other
hand, the metayer, bound to furnish half the seed and to divide and
sell the produce, pretty generally consumes one year the fruits of
the last; or if there be a surplus, how is it to be invested? There
would seem to be no other mode, than in the sticks which he is bound
to supply, for the support of the vines, for the landlord provides
the stock and repairs the house. He then can only lay up his money
in his chest, or spend it on his pleasures. Thus the end of a year
finds him no better off than at its commencement, for want of such
an interest in the soil, as would secure him from the effects of his
negligence and indifference in its cultivation.

Before leaving this part of Italy, we ought to mention a subject
which is of some little importance; the manufacture of straw hats,
which has just commenced in our country. It is doubtless a most
profitable exertion of industry. The raw material costs nothing,
and M. de Chateauvieux informs us that this branch annually amounts
to three millions (we presume) of francs. The straw is of beardless
wheat, cut before it is ripe, and whose vegetation has been thinned
(étiolée) by the sterility of the soil. This soil is chosen among
calcareous hills; it is never manured, and the grain is sown very
thick. The women who are employed in making the Leghorn hats, earn
from about thirty to forty cents per day, no trifling sum in Italy.

The Maremma or country of the Malaria forms the third district,
extending from Leghorn to Terracina, and from the sea to the
mountains, and having a width of twenty-five or thirty miles. M.
de Chateauvieux speaks of this singular country in the following
terms: 'Le ciel reste également pur, la verdure aussi fraiche,
l'air aussi calme; la sérénité de cet aspect semble devoir inspirer
une entiére confiance, et je ne saurais cependant vous exprimer l'
espèce d'effroi que l'on éprauve malgré soi en respirant cet air
à la fois si suave et si funeste.' A country so very singular in
its character would necessarily require a very peculiar system of
management. Our author developes this system in a visit he made to a
domain called Campo Morto, in the most deserted part of the Maremma.
Here was a Faltore, charged with the administration of the farm. The
whole Maremma of Rome is in the hands of eighty proprietors, who are
called mercanti de' tenuti, and reside as well as their Fattori in
the city.--On this farm there were four hundred horses, of which,
one hundred were broken; two thousand hogs, which ran in the woods
and fed on the acorns; some hundreds of cows, who give no other
revenue than the sale of the calves, which is estimated at about
eight dollars each cow; one hundred oxen used to the plough, and
about four thousand sheep. The rent of this farm was about eighteen
francs the arpent of cultivated land, amounting in all to about
$22,000. The annual profit was about $5000, besides interest at five
per cent. on the capital of the flocks.

In the midst of this establishment there was a vast _casale_ or
farm house, destitute of furniture and inhabited but a very few
days in the year.--Every thing around breathed the most perfect
desolation; all was vast and silent. The harvest had just commenced
and a thousand labourers, of whom one half were women, had descended
from the mountains to gain a small pittance during a few days, by
reaping the rich grain of six hundred and sixty arpents for the
lordly proprietor, and if they did not perish at their toil, to go
back after having respired the elements of a miserable death. Some
days had elapsed since the harvest began, and only two labourers had
been attacked by the fever of the Malaria; every day would, however,
increase the number, till at the completion of their task, scarcely
half of them would remain. 'What then becomes of these unfortunate
people?' said M. de Chateauvieux. 'They get a piece of bread and
are sent off,' was the inhuman reply,--'But where do they go to?'
'To the mountains; some stop on the road, some die, others get home
almost expiring with misery and famine, only to follow the same life
next year.'

The Malaria is one of those singular phenomena whose origin has
baffled every effort at discovery, and the remedy for which has
never yet been ascertained. Attempts have been made to cultivate
the soil of the Maremma, and colonies were established within its
circuit, but the resistless scythe of sure and silent death swept
away the presumptuous intruders.--During half of the year, a few
miserable beings, armed with lances and clothed in skins, the
living images of death, wander over these devoted plains with their
flocks; and if accident should delay their return to the mountains,
fall certain victims to this fatal disease. Immense numbers of
sheep, cows, horses, and goats find a subsistence on these wastes
and supply the markets of Rome and the Val d'Arno. The soil is
extremely steril; the whiteness of the pure argil being only alloyed
by a mixture of sulphur, which is produced in great profusion.
The cause of the Malaria, as we before remarked, has escaped all
the investigations of science; it still remains a mystery no less
profound, than its effects are dreadful. Some have supposed it to
arise from the low pools of stagnant waters, which collect on the
face of the Maremma; but the disease prevails on the heights of
Radiocofani and within the lofty precincts of Volterra.

Some have supposed that the disease was caused by exposure to the
sudden changes of temperature at the going down of the sun.[3]
This is supported, it is true, by the very weighty face related
by de Bonsteten in his _Voyage au Latium_, of a man who resided
at Ardea sixteen years without being indisposed. But we doubt
whether any solution that has ever been proposed was so perfectly
ridiculous or so completely destitute of foundation. Do the people
then die in the towns of this disease, where we know it to be a
custom not to go out after dark, of mere exposure to a changing
atmosphere? A short distance from the Porta del Popolo at Rome are
two villas, one on each side of a small lane, but both situated on
high ground. We were informed that during the summer season, a man
would run very imminent danger of death in sleeping in one, while
he might remain in the other with perfect impunity. How is this
to be reconciled with the doctrine that the disease caused by the
Malaria is nothing but fever and ague, brought on by exposure? The
truth is, this dreadful enemy every year makes further inroads; no
longer satisfied with pursuing the wretched thousands of enervated
labourers and shepherds, who at evening crowd for safety into
Rome, it is advancing into the city in the midst of darkness, and
spreading from the Porta del Popolo, on the one side, and from the
Palatine on the other, up the sides of the Quirinal. In 1791, says
M. de Chateauvieux, Rome had a population of 160,000; at the time of
this visit, it numbered only 100,000, of whom more than 10,000 were
gardeners, shepherds, and vine-dressers. Four years afterwards we
heard it computed at from 80 to 90,000. Undoubtedly political events
have had no small effect in diminishing the number of inhabitants;
but still we believe the Malaria must have had a no less powerful
influence. Annually it roams over the finest villas without the
walls, and ravages large districts of the town within; and neither
the magnificence of the villa Borghese, nor the luxuriant beauty
and towering pines of Doria Pamfili, can resist the assaults of
this silent and deadly foe. Time seems to hold its mantle over the
queen of cities, and to prepare by a fate as extraordinary as its
former history, to blot it out from the admiration of mortals.
Encompassed already by the awful stillness of a desolate waste,
once filled up with sixty towns, which the antiquarian in vain
attempts to trace, perhaps her own site may be hereafter unknown;
and some future traveller may boast with enthusiasm of having once
again penetrated its deserted streets, of having visited the spot
enobled by the heroic virtue of Junius Brutus, or the eloquence and
wisdom of Cato the censor. But we must leave a subject, on which we
could dwell still longer with delight, and conclude our notice of a
book, of which we would hope our readers have received a favourable
impression. The subject of the work is not only important in itself,
but most interesting to us. Italy is essentially an agricultural
country; she is neither a manufacturing nor a commercial state.
It is by her agriculture, that she supports more than 17,000,000
of inhabitants, or about 1237 to a square league; a population
far superiour to that of France or England. It is her agriculture
which laid the foundations of those splendid cities which crowd her
plains; it is her agriculture, which, should it ever be protected
by an enlightened government, will again yield nourishment to the
principles of liberty, and raise her to a level with the most
respectable nations of Europe. M. de Chateauvieux has devoted
himself to the illustration of this noble subject, and we are
confident that his work will not only afford many valuable hints
to the practical farmer, but some lessons to our statesmen, in any
future attempts which may be made to elevate manufactures at the
expense of the most dear and invaluable interests in our country.

  [3] See Edinburgh Review for March, 1817, p. 57.




From the Edinburgh Farmer's Magazine.

PARMESAN CHEESE DAIRY.

From a Journey in Carniola, &c. by W. A. Cadell, &c.


"On the 14th April (1818,) I went to see a large cheese dairy, 3
miles from Milan, one of the dairies at which that kind of cheese,
called in commerce _Parmesan_, is made. It is called in Italy,
_Formaggio di grana_, because it is commonly used in a granular
form, being grated, and brought to table to be eaten with soup. Much
of this cheese is also made near Lodi and Pavia.

The word _Formaggio_ is from _Formaticum_, which signifies, in the
Latin of the middle ages, cheese prepared in a form.

The cheese is made in the morning before sunrise.

The morning's milk, and that of the preceding evening, are put into
a large brass vessel, five feet in height, narrow at bottom, and
widening out like a trumpet to three feet diameter at top. This
vessel is placed over a fire, which is sunk in the ground, and the
vessel can be removed from the fire by a crane.

When the milk is heated, runnet, in form of paste, is put in, and a
little saffron, to give the cheese the yellow colour.

When the coagulation has taken place, the copper is taken off the
fire, the curd is taken out in a cloth, and put within a broad
wooded hoop, the sides of which are as high as the cheese is
intended to be. This hoop can be straitened by means of a rope. A
board is placed on the top of the cheese, and a small weight on the
board. The cheese is not cut into a press.

After this, the cheese is taken to the salting room, and two cheeses
are placed together, one above the other, with broad hoops tightened
round them. Much salt is laid on the top of the uppermost cheese;
the salt dissolves, and the brine filters through the cheeses.

The cheeses are shifted from one place to another all along the
benches of the salting room, and are beaten with a flat piece of
wood, cut with straight-lined furrows intersecting each other.

The cheese is next taken to the magazine, where each cheese is
placed on a shelf.

The sides of the cheese are painted with a mixture of litmus,
otherwise called _tournesol_, and oil, to give them the purple
colour. The tournesol is a plant collected in the south of France.

The cheeses are set on the shelf in the same order in which they
were made; and the cheeses of each month are placed together.

Those of the month of October and of May are the best, and bear
the highest price. The best cheeses can be kept longest, and are
improved by keeping for some years.

There was an October cheese which had been kept five years, and was
to be sent to the emperor.

After the great cheese is made, the liquid in the copper is again
heated over the fire, and curd is collected from it to make small
cheeses, called _Mascarla_.

The number of cows kept for making cheese in this dairy is
eighty.--They are always in the house in winter, and at the present
season of the year. They are fed upon grass all the year, except
perhaps in December. The house in which they are kept is not above
nine feet high to the ceiling. They are not kept very clean. In
summer, they go out to the field to feed during the day.

The cows are of a dark colour, and are brought from Switzerland,
which is found more profitable than rearing them in this country.
The bull is also Swiss, and fourteen months old.

It is estimated that 2000 head of cattle pass the Mount St. Gothard
every year coming from Switzerland into Italy. Considerable fairs
for the sale of Swiss cattle are held at Lugano.

The evening's milk is put in flat copper vessels, three feet in
diameter, in order to collect the cream.

There is an ice-house in the dairy, for the purpose of supplying ice
for cooling the cream which is put into the churn. This, they find,
facilitates the making of butter at certain periods of the year.

In the farm-yard is an inscription, commemorating the visit paid to
this dairy by the Austrian emperor and the archdukes, two years ago."




WILD RICE.

From the New York Statesman.


Extract of a letter, dated Canandaigua, July, 1820.

I saw for the first time in the Seneca river at Montezuma, the
aquatic plant called wild rice, or folle arvine. It grows all over
the west and north; and wherever it flourishes, myriads of waterfowl
are attracted to it, and derive their chief support and exquisite
flavour from its alimentary qualities. In the lakes and rivers
adjoining Montezuma, thousands of wild geese and ducks of all kinds
congregate at the proper season for food, except the canvas back
duck, or anas valsineria of Wilson, which derives its name from a
water plant called valsineria, on the roots of which it feeds, and
which Wilson states to be a fresh water vegetable, that grows in
some parts of the Hudson and Delaware, and in most of the rivers
that fall into the Chesapeake.

Some difficulty has occurred not only about the botanical name, but
also about the botanical character of the wild rice, or wild oats.
The confusion of nomenclature has arisen from Linnæus himself. In
his Species Plantarum, he has denominated it zezania aquatica, and
in his mantisa, zezania palustris--and it has been called by other
botanists, zezania claurlosa. I shall prefer the first name as
most characteristic. It has been well described by Mr. Lambert, as
zezania panicula inferne racemosa superne spicata. Pursh represents
it as a perennial plant. Nuttall and Michaux are silent on this
point, and Eaton says it is an annual, in which opinion I concur.

Mr. Lambert, in a communication in the 7th volume of the
Transactions of the Linnæan Society of London, has given a figure
of this plant as growing at Spring Grove, the seat of sir Joseph
Banks, in England. It appears that sir Joseph received some of the
seed gathered in a lake, in Canada, and put it in jars of water. It
was sown in a pond at Spring Grove, where he has a great quantity of
the plant, growing annually, ripening its seeds extremely well in
autumn, and sowing itself round the edges.

By what I can learn, this same plant grows in Lake George, and Lake
Champlain, and in all the western lakes. It produces seed in some
places in September, and in others in October. It grows in shallow
water, and, sometimes to the height of eight feet. Some of the
western Indians derive their principal support from it. The grain
it bears is superior to the common rice, and if cut before ripe, it
makes excellent fodder, embracing the advantages of hay and oats.
Mr. Lambert's figure of the plant in the Linnæan Transactions is
accurate, and exactly resembles the one growing in the Seneca River.
Its productiveness may be inferred from the food it furnishes to
thousands of human beings, and to myriads of aquatic animals. From
the success of the experiments of Sir Joseph Banks, it is highly
probable that it will grow in any part of this country and Great
Britain; and if so, may it not be considered as a good substitute
for the oryza sativa, or common rice. It is well known that the
latter furnishes more subsistence to the human race than any
other plant. Pursh mentions a grass which he calls the oryzopsis
asperifolia, which he observed on the broad mountains of this
country, and which he says contains large seeds, that produce the
finest flour. Perhaps this species of oryzopsis, although generally
different, bears the same relation to z aquatica in its importance
and place of growth, as the mountain rice of India does to the
common rice of that region. At all events, the more I see of this
country, the more I am convinced of its vast ability to support the
human species and of the propriety of calling its latent powers into
operation.




ON SEEDS.


Among plants, as among animals, there are different breeds to be
found, some mean, some middling, and some quite superior. The
intelligent grazier, or raiser of cattle of every sort, selects the
finest animals he can find for breeders of his future stock; and
in this way he experiences a wonderful improvement in its value,
whether the stock be of horses, neat cattle, sheep, or swine. The
same precaution should be observed by the agriculturist in the
selection of the seeds of different plants which he cultivates--he
should constantly select his seeds from the finest breeds of plants
of every kind. In some cases such selections are attended with more
trouble than with others, but in all cases it is a matter of the
utmost importance in the improvement of crops. Some general rules
for such selections shall now be pointed out.

For _Indian corn_.--Search for such stalks as bear two ears, at
least, and take the largest ear of each stalk for seed, rejecting
the grains on both ends. Pursuing this practice will, in a few
years, increase the corn crop at least one third.

_Wheat, Rye, Barley, &c._--Search among the sheaves for the
largest and best filled heads.--Sow the grains taken from these by
themselves, and when the product is sufficient for seed, sow of
this selected stock only. Repeat the selection about every six years.

_Flax, Hemp, &c._--At the time of pulling the crop, select the
longest stalks to be found, sow the seed of these separately, and
the product will probably afford seed sufficient for the next year's
sowing. Repeat this, as before mentioned.

_Carrots, Beets, Turnips, &c._--Make yearly selections of the
largest and most perfect roots, for bearing a supply of seed for the
ensuing year.

_Pumpkins, Squashes, &c._--Select such plants as bear the greatest
_number_ or the greatest _quantity_ of pumpkins, or squashes,
&c.--take the _largest_ of the produce of each plant, and
after opening them, the quality for _sweetness_ of each can be
ascertained. Select your seeds for the next year's crop, from the
sweetest of the collection.

_Cabbages._--Preserve the stalks for seed, which bore the largest
and finest heads, or leaves, according to the sort of cabbage.

_Apples, Pears, &c._--No selections from the seeds of these, will
insure the same sorts of fruit as those from whence the seeds
were taken. The finest of these fruits are only to be obtained by
ingrafting. It is however said, that by taking the seeds only from
the south sides of such apples or pears, as grow on the finest of
these fruit trees, varieties of young trees will be afforded from
such seeds nearly equal to those from whence the seeds were taken.

_Peaches, Plums, &c._--Make your selections from such trees as bear
the finest fruit, and from that growing on the south side of the
trees. If you wish to make the young stock of fruit earlier than
that of the parent tree, make your selections of such peaches or
plums as ripen first, and these will always be found on the south
side of the tree.

For preserving the germinative power of seeds, let them be mixed
with a due proportion of sugar.

There is, in most cases, perhaps in all, a very essential advantage
to be derived from a change of seeds, or bringing them from one
part of the world to be sown in another. Sufficient attention has
not, however, been paid to this matter to enable us to ascertain
what changes prove most beneficial; but in making them, regard
must doubtless be had that the seeds be taken from climates not
too widely dissimilar. In bringing southern seeds to be sown in
northerly climates, the danger is, that they will want sufficient
time for ripening, and in pursuing the reverse of this, the crop may
ripen so early as to be, on that account, lessened in its products.

In raising seeds of plants of which there are different species,
it is essential that the seed plants be placed so far apart as to
preclude any danger of the pollen of the one being carried by the
winds to the other; for if an intermixture of breeds take place,
a degeneracy of the plants must ensue, by mixing the valuable
qualities of each. In the _Brascia_ tribe, for instance, there
is one species denominated cabbages, of many varieties, and are
valuable for their heads or leaves; another species is the common
turnip, of several varieties, and valuable for its bulbous root;
and another is the Swedish turnip or Ruta Baga, whose principle
excellence is its bulbous stalk. The effect, therefore, of an
admixture of these plants, must be a diminution of the bulbs of the
two latter, and an increase of foliage, while the cabbages would
lessen in the heads and leaves, with a proportionate augmentation of
stalk and roots.

  [_Plough Boy._




HOLKHAM SHEEP-SHEARING, (ENG.)


This festival, established by T. W. Coke, Esq. forty-three years
ago, commenced on 10th July last.--Among the company present
this year were, his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, Princes
Potemkin and Trabetzkoy, (Russia,) the Marquis of Downshire, Earl
of Albemarle; Lords Waterpark, Erskine, Anson, Ebrington, Lynedock,
Delaware;--Hon. Mr. Keppel, Hon. Geo. Walpole, Hon. Gen. Fitzroy,
Hon. Mr. Thellison, Sir John Sinclair, Bart. Sir Wm. Hoste, Bart. T.
W. Coke, jr. Esq. M. P.; G. W. Hall, Esq. Thos. Gay, Esq. (Herts,)
Robert Patterson, Esq. (Baltimore,) C. Deering, Esq. (Middlesex,)
Mons. Petit, Esq. (Paris,) Thos. B. Beevor, Esq. J. Ellman, Esq.
(Sussex,) and many eminent agriculturists from Norfolk, Suffolk,
and various parts of the kingdom. This festival, instituted for the
improvement of agriculture, assumes, at every anniversary, a greater
degree of interest and importance.

Among the sheep exhibited there was an Arabian, and one from New
Zealand; likewise a half-bred Zealand lamb, from a Southdown ewe.
The Arabian sheep is a large animal, covered with a close coat of
hair, like our pointer dogs. The colour of the one exhibited was
white, with a black head and neck. The tail is very singularly
formed--a large piece of loose flesh projects from the rump, above
which grows a tail, about four inches in length, exactly resembling
that of a young pig; the sheep has also a large pouch under the jaw.

A simple but most effectual method of preventing rats and mice from
injuring corn stalks, was recommended by Mr. Gibbs. of Quarles, a
tenant to Mr. Coke. The cost is not more than 6s. or 7s. per stack;
and it has been found by several gentlemen who have made the trial,
to be a complete bar to the depredations of those destructive
vermin. The stack is cut round, and merely plastered with common
lime and hair, about three feet high; and when properly done, it
will be found that no vermin can possibly make their way into the
stacks.

Mr. Coke pronounced the _grubber_ to be one of the most useful
implements upon his farm, and pointed out its superiority over the
scarifier, which cuts the roots of the weeds in pieces, and thereby
multiplies them; instead of which the grubber forces them up in an
entire state, and even their finest fibres are destroyed. Alluding
to his own farms as a proof of what a better mode of husbandry would
effect, Mr. Coke observed, with respect to what was frequently said
of the injury accruing from the introduction of machinery, that he
employed more hands with the machinery than he could any other way.
Of the mode of _driling_, he said, it should be from north to south,
instead of from east to west. This might appear of trivial moment,
but he could assert that it was worthy of attention.

About 500 persons each day sat down to dinner in the noble mansion;
when a scene of hilarity and cheerfulness, intermixed with valuable
information from the gentlemen whose healths were drank, was
exhibited. Mr. Coke, at the close of the meeting on Wednesday
evening, delivered the prizes to the successful candidates in the
various classes.




AGRICULTURAL MEMORANDA.


_Flax for Cambrics._--The culture of this species of flax is an
object of great importance to every farmer.--The produce of a
single acre has been known to bring in Flanders upwards of $380.
It requires a deep and rich soil, and must be sticked or supported
nearly as peas, as it grows twice as high as the ordinary flax; but
the labour attending this is amply compensated by the produce.

_Hops._--The essential oil of hops, obtained by distillation, and
afterwards mixed with a small quantity of sugar, is found to be the
best way of using that plant in brewing, and the most effectual
method of preserving it for years.

_Squashes._--It has been asserted, as the result of an accidental
experiment, that squashes sown in the Fall will survive the frosts
of winter and spring, and will ripen much earlier than any which can
be raised by sowing in the spring. Those sown in the spring, and
those sown in the fall, were, in the case alluded to, exposed to a
severe frost; the former were killed, while the latter survived. It
may be worth a more satisfactory experiment. The earliest salads, we
know, are grown in this way. The same has been said of a species of
beans, and even potatoes.

_A Hint for Farmers._--For 3 or 4 years past Hemp and Canary Seed
have sold, on an average, at 5 and 6 dolls. per bushel, in this
city; and within the last twelve months the last mentioned seed
(Canary) has been sold as high as 12 dols. per bushel.--The above
seeds are as easily raised in this country as wheat--why then should
we depend on Europe for our supply, while wheat is selling for
seventy cents per bushel?

  [_E. Post._

_Salt as a Manure._--In the history of the cocoa nut tree, by M.
le Goux, the author tells us that the inhabitants of those parts
of Hindostan and China, which border on the sea coast, sprinkle
their rice fields with sea water, and use no other manure; and that
in the interior of these countries, they sprinkle the lands with
salt before they are tilled, a practice which has been followed for
ages with the greatest advantage. Park says, he was informed by a
gentleman in England, who had spent many years in making experiments
on the employment of salt in Agriculture, "that one bushel to an
acre makes land always more productive; but that a larger quantity
would, for two or three years afterwards, render it actually
sterile."




AMERICAN GINSENG.

Extract from the New Monthly Magazine, on the "American Trade with
China."


Above all, a remarkable production deserves to be mentioned here,
which grows in America itself, and is almost peculiar to the United
States; a production which is almost wholly unknown in Europe, but
has been in use in China from time immemorial, and is held there
in extraordinary esteem. This is the root Panax quinquefolia, or
Ginseng. The Chinese writers call this plant a precious gift of
nature, sweeter than honey and the honey comb, more valuable than
fine gold, and jewels, and pearls, a glorious gift of Heaven,
bestowed by the gods upon mortals for their happiness, and their
enjoyment on earth. Placed on a par with the philosopher's stone,
it is called the food of immortality, and it passes among the
priests and physicians for a universal remedy, wholesome for all
weakness of the frail body, applicable to all diseases; nay, it is
even said to prolong life, invigorating the nerves, strengthening
the understanding, cheering the soul, soothing the mind, taming the
wild passions, and bestowing inexhaustible delights upon our mortal
existence.

The reigning dynasty of the Mantchews, in China, were proud that
Nature produced this wonderful root, with such magical powers, in
their original country; for it was found in Chinese Mogul Tartary;
but sparingly scattered in certain places and districts. Here it
was considered as one of the regalia of the crown, only the emperor
had the right to have it gathered, and guards were posted at the
places where it grew, that no one might presume to take openly, or
by stealth, what was for the emperor alone. How fortunate was it for
the Americans, that they accidentally discovered, not very long ago,
that this root, so highly esteemed in China, and paid for there with
its weight in gold, which it had been always supposed was only to be
found in Tartary, as the Chinese had always boasted, was indigenous
in the United States, and might be there collected in far greater
abundance than in China, hitherto the only country where it was
known to grow.

It grows in the United States, in the whole of the immense tract
from the Canadian Lakes to Georgia; is found even in the northern
states of New York and Pennsylvania, and flourishes in Virginia and
the two Carolinas. Nature has spread it here, particularly in the
tract between the Alleghany mountains and the sea, and it thrives
especially where the mountains take a southwesterly direction. It
loves a fertile soil, and cool shady spots, on the declivity of the
mountains.

While Europe produces nothing which it can offer to the Chinese in
exchange for their productions, America possesses in this remarkable
plant an article peculiarly its own, which is, above all others,
proper for the trade with China.

Many of your readers may, perhaps, be curious to be better
acquainted with a plant so esteemed by the great Chinese Mandarins,
and in the Harems.

The stalk of this plant, which attains the height of about a foot
from the ground, is of a dark red. It is adorned with elliptical
leaves, three of which always grow together, and each of which is
again divided into five little leaves. On account of the symbolical
meaning attached to the numbers three and five, which these leaves
present to the eye, the plant obtained, in ancient times, in China,
the character of particular sacredness. The growth of this singular
plant is extremely slow, but then it attains an age unusual in
plants of this kind; when it has stood fifteen years or more, the
root it not yet an inch in diameter. Every year the stalk makes at
the upper part of the root, at each new shoot, marks, which show
by their number the age of the plant. The root itself is of an
elliptical form, and commonly consists only of one piece. The plant
bears but a few seeds; two or three grains are all that can be
gathered from one stem; these are of a bright red colour, in shape
and size like those that may be collected from the honeysuckle. They
ripen in America, in the latter half of the month of September, and
their taste is more aromatic than that of the root itself, but less
bitter.

In China the greatest care is taken in gathering this valuable
root. It is not done till it has attained the highest perfection
and maturity: this is during the autumn and winter. In America they
long committed, from ignorance and inattention, the great fault of
collecting the root from the spring to the first frost. As it is
always soft and watery at this season, it naturally shrunk together
in drying, became very hard, and lost not only in weight but in
goodness. This mistake is still committed in some parts of the
United States, where the inhabitants make the collecting of the root
only an occasional object; and when they are hunting or travelling,
dig up the plant at all seasons when they happen to meet with it.
But by this they deprive the ground of a valuable production, which
would be far more valuable if it were tended and cultivated with due
care. Though the Ginseng roots thus collected by ignorant persons
do not fetch in China the high prices which are given for such as
have attained their proper maturity, yet the demand for them is not
the less brisk. The American merchants in the interior purchase
large quantities by the pound, or the hundred weight, of the country
people, who employ themselves in collecting and digging this root,
and gain by exporting it to China, about one hundred per cent.

But the profit is incomparably greater when Ginseng roots, perfectly
ripe, and carefully gathered at the proper time, are brought to
Macao or China. The Americans begin to be more sensible of this
advantage, in proportion as the intercourse with China becomes more
active. They have made themselves better acquainted with the nature
of the plant, and the taste of the Chinese; employ greater care in
gathering, and acquire more skill in digging it. One man can gather
about eight or nine pounds daily. Hence the quantity of this article
exported from the United States increases at the same time that its
quality improves; and the trade with Ginseng roots in the Chinese
markets continues to become more and more profitable to America. The
exportation already amounts to at least 500 cwt. annually.

In China they understand the art of preparing the Ginseng, in such a
manner, that it appears semi-transparent: in this case a much higher
value is set upon it. In America they have also learnt this art, and
the process employed is very simple.--The merchants in the American
commercial towns, purchase the roots so prepared, and rendered
partly transparent, at six or seven piasters apiece; and sell them
in China, according to the quality, at from fifty to a hundred
piasters apiece. Even in Louisiana and Kentucky, they carry on this
extremely profitable export trade to China.




EDUCATION.


The Easton, (Md.) Gazette, in treating of the importance of
Education, and the advantages, under a republican government,
of close application to study, concludes with the following
characteristic allusions:

Who was Mr. Wirt, the present Attorney General of the U. States? A
poor boy of our state; of the village of Bladensburgh.--What has
given him one of the first stations in the country, with a handsome
income? Good education, laborious study and application, and
consequent knowledge.

Who was William Pinkney? A poor boy of Annapolis. What has learning
made him? The first lawyer; the most celebrated advocate of our
country.

Who was James Monroe? The son of a bricklayer in the town of
Cambridge, in Dorset. Who is James Monroe? The President of these
United States.

       *       *       *       *       *

Education is the solid granite pedestal of the column of his
fame, supporting a shaft of the most towering attitude, whose
Corinthian capital is high above the clouds. How emphatically, in
this instance, has wisdom, founded on good education, and matured
by intense study and application, proved herself to be power, with
station, and honours, and wealth, following in her train. Why
then should not a son of one of our bricklayers, or hatters, or
tailors, or cabinet makers, become a future President of the United
States?--The same path is open to them: true, it winds up the sides
of a steep and rugged mountain; and the elevated pinnacle is not
to be gained without setting out aright, with the earliest and
best discipline of good schools, and the severest and most immense
mental labour--but the prize is well worth the boldest, the highest
exertion.

Will it be said that Nature made these men of her best materials?
no such thing. Providence was bountiful to them; but Nature left
these diamonds as rough, as many of the pebbles now in the streets.
Instruction turned them; and education gave the high polish and the
point, which illumes and dazzles America, and throws their radiance
far into other countries. And have we not at this moment, genius and
talents in our Academy equal to Wirt's, and Pinkney's, and Monroe's?
Yes, without doubt, and among the sons of our mechanics too--and
would to Heaven I could fire their young bosoms with the noblest
ambition, without which they can never reach what they aim at.




THE TURKMANS.


The following extract is taken from Mr. Browne's MS. remains: on his
journey across Asia Minor he thus describes a very remarkable people:

"In my visits to the Turkman tents, I remarked a strong contrast
between their habits and those of the Bedouin Arabs. With the
latter, the rights of hospitality are inviolable; and while the host
possesses a cake of bread, he feels it a duty to furnish half of
it to his guest; the Turkman offers nothing spontaneously, and if
he furnish a little milk or butter, it is at an exorbitant price.
With him it is a matter of calculation, whether the compendious
profit of a single act of plunder, or the more ignoble system of
receiving presents from the caravans for their secure passage, be
most advantageous. The Arab values himself on the _hasb we nasb_,
that is, his ancient pedigree; the Turkman, on his personal prowess.
With the former, civility requires that salutations be protracted to
satiety; the latter scarcely replies to a _Salam aleikum_.

"The muleteers, who had preferred this devious path to the high
road, to avoid the dellis, were now alarmed at the frequent visits
of the Turkmans. They described me to them as an officer of Chappan
Oglou's retinue, employed to communicate with the English fleet
on the coast; an explanation which appeared to satisfy them; and
fortunately I was able to support that character. It is to be
observed that Chappan Oglou has a large military force at his
disposal, and administers justice with a rod of iron. His vengeance
pursues, on eagle-wing, the slightest transgression against his
authority. Our precautions at night were redoubled; and I divided
the time into two watches, which I ordered my servant to share with
me; but the disposition to sleep having speedily got the better of
his vigilance, a pipe, although carefully placed under the carpet
on which I myself slept, was stolen unperceived before morning.

"The dress of the Turkmans consists of a large striped and fringed
turban, fastened in a manner peculiar to themselves; or sometimes
of a simple high-crowned cap of white felt. A vest, usually
white, is thrown over the shirt; the Agas superadd one of cloth;
and in general, and in proportion to their rank and wealth, they
approximate to the dress of the capital. But the common people wear
a short jacket of various colours. A cincture is indispensably
required, in which are fixed an enormous yatagan, and a pistol.
Many of them wear half boots, red or yellow, laced to the leg: the
dress of the women is a coloured vest, and a piece of white cotton
cloth on the head, covering part of the face. They are masculine
and active, performing all the harder kinds of labour required by
the family. Their features are good, but not pleasing. The men are
generally muscular, and well-proportioned; tall, straight, and
active. Their teeth are white and regular; their eyes are often
extremely piercing; and there is an air of uncommon boldness in
their countenances and mode of address. Their complexions are
clear, but sun-burnt. In a word, they have every thing that denotes
exhaustless health and vigour of body. A general resemblance is
visible between them and the populace of Constantinople; but the
latter appear effeminate by the comparison. Every action and every
motion of the Turkmans is marked by dignity and grace. Their
language is clear and sonorous, but less soft than that of the
capital; expressing, as may be conceived, no abstract ideas, for
which the Turkish is indebted to the Arabic alone; but fitted to
paint the stronger passions, and to express, in the most forcible
and laconic terms, the mandates of authority. Their riches consist
of cattle, horses, arms, and various habiliments. How lamentable
to think, that with persons so interesting, and a character so
energetic, they unite such confirmed habits of idleness, violence,
and treachery! From the rising of the sun till his disappearance,
the males are employed only in smoking, conversing, inspecting their
cattle, or visiting their acquaintance. They watch at night for the
purpose of plunder, which among them is honourable, in proportion to
the ingenuity of the contrivance, or the audacity of the execution.
Their families are generally small, and there seems reason to
believe that their numbers are not increasing."




PUNCTUALITY.


An English traveller, who has just published an account of a
Journey in Holland, makes the following remark--"The Dutch are as
punctual as they are industrious and parsimonious. The diligences
and treckschuyts start at the time appointed, during the striking of
the clock. If you are told that the hour is seven, you may be sure
to be away before the fourth of the seven strokes has sounded.--The
precision at which the hour of arrival is fixed, is such that you
may depend upon it within a few minutes; and the same reliance may
be placed on the period of finishing the journey, whether it be made
by water or by land." This is a most valuable trait of character in
that people, and is well worthy of universal imitation. There are a
considerable proportion of mankind who are always behind-hand.--Let
them make ever so many or so important engagements, as it respects
punctuality in time, they invariably fail.--Many such have fallen
within our observation; and the same want of exactness in point
of time attends all their concerns. If they go to church upon the
sabbath, they will not get there until after the services have
commenced--and this happens to good, sober, pious Christians,
as well as others; and it happens all their lives. Such is the
inveteracy of this habit of negligence, that people, who would be
shocked at the irreverence of any person who should so far forget
himself as to disturb the devotions of a religious congregation by
speaking, or in any other thoughtless manner, seem to have no idea
that their entrance into the church in the midst of the most solemn
exercises, has any thing in it improper or censurable.

The same thing occurs in the attendance of such persons upon public
business, where they are associated with others. At meetings,
appointed for the transaction of such business, if any considerable
number are necessary to its accomplishment, there is often, and
indeed usually, as much time spent in waiting for _a quorum_, as is
consumed in attending to the object of the meeting. This is a great
hardship upon those who make a point of being strictly punctual,
for it costs them a double quantity of time. And these _behind-hand
persons_, if they would only suffer themselves to reflect, could
not fail to remember, that punctuality would cost themselves no
more time than the want of it. Judging from considerable experience
and observation, we are very well convinced, that about as much
time is spent in waiting for dilatory people, as is necessary for
transacting the business immediately in view when appointments for
the purpose are made.

Espriella, if we do not mistake the writer, mentions his having
taken passage in a stage coach at York, in England, which was to
start at a certain hour. A few minutes before the time, every
thing was prepared; the passengers took their seats; the coachman
mounted his box, took the reins and his whip, but did not move.
Upon being inquired of why he did not start, as every thing was
ready, he replied, _he was waiting for the Minster_--which meant
the cathedral church of that name. In a minute or two the secret
was explained--the Minster clock began to strike, and before it had
finished, the carriage was on its way.--We have no doubt that this
habit in the driver made every body who intended to make use of his
vehicle strictly punctual. If, however, instead of starting at the
moment, he had practised waiting 5 minutes, occasionally, there
would have been much delay and vexation, by the dilatoriousness of
these behind-hand persons of whom we are speaking. We scarcely ever
recollect to have been on the wharf when a steamboat was casting
off, without finding some person left, or running with breathless
speed to get aboard, being a few minutes _too late_. Such persons,
when they find themselves safe on the deck, will almost always
look at their watches, and find it _a few minutes later than they
imagined_, or their watches a little too slow, or something else is
made chargeable with the evil--when the honest truth is, _they are
naturally or habitually behind-hand_.

It is not easy to imagine, unless our attention has been
particularly turned to the subject, how much time is lost, and how
much a man's affairs suffer, from this dilatory disposition. It will
more or less run through and affect all his concerns. A dilatory
man is perpetually in a hurry. His business always drives him--and
business transacted in a hurry, is rarely well done. We once knew a
respectable mechanic, whose habit of punctuality was such, that in
carrying on his trade quite extensively for more than forty years,
he never disappointed a single customer by not having his work done
at the time appointed--he never failed of sitting down to his meals
within five minutes of the time--he made his family, as well as his
workmen, conform strictly to his rules of punctuality--and it hardly
need be added, that he always supported the fairest reputation as
a man of business--and that he acquired an independent property,
beyond the handsome support of a large and expensive family.

  [_N. Y. Daily Adv._




NATURAL CURIOSITY.


Most of our readers, no doubt, have noticed accounts of living
toads, that have been found enclosed in stones and trees. This is
perhaps one of the most extraordinary facts that has come within the
observation of naturalists; so extraordinary, indeed, that few, on
the first mention of it, have given it credence. So many instances,
however, have occurred, attested by authority so respectable, that
it would seem there now remains little room for doubt. Some of the
most remarkable may here be mentioned--instances that are well
substantiated, and which have led inquiring men to investigate as
minutely as possible the philosophy of the matter.--A living toad
was found in a large stone at Newark, on Trent, in England--it was
white, measured three and a half inches, and appeared incapable
of bearing light; for its motions argued an incompatible state,
and in an hour it died. But in this time it was seen by several
hundred people.--Three living toads were discovered lying together
in a stone quarry near Cassel. No aperture was discoverable on the
outside of the stone. The toads could with difficulty be removed
from their bed, and endeavoured to return whenever they were
removed, but died in the course of half an hour. More of the same
kind might be added; every one's recollection will no doubt, supply
him with instances which have occurred in our own country. Though
naturalists have endeavoured to account for this astonishing fact,
yet we think their speculations have been in general very visionary.
The best account we have seen, is that by J. G. J. Ballenstedt,
rector of Papsdorf, in the duchy of Brunswick. The substance of
this we present to our readers, hoping that will at least be found
amusing, at a time when political news is scarce, and uninteresting.
More than amusement need not be expected; for we regard his
speculation as we do most speculations of mineralogical travellers
and geological societies--mighty light, airy and unsubstantial
stuff. But let his rectorship be heard.

Another world besides the one we now inhabit, has had its existence,
inhabited, as ours is, by animals terrestrial and marine. A
time was when all that is now land was covered by the ocean, as
the secondary mountains, with their beds of petrified marine
productions, abundantly prove. "There, where at present the plough
turns up the soil, and countless cornfields shine with their golden
harvests--where immense forests spread their luxuriant trees,
among which numerous wild animals sport--where hills and mountains
raise their varied summits--where herds of cattle graze--where
rivulets and rapid streams wind through valleys, and where cities
and villages are now situated--there formerly raged the waves of
this ocean--there swarmed hosts of marine animals, of numberless
forms and magnitudes."--The Almighty spoke, the waters disappeared,
and these animals were left on dry land; those belonging to the
dry land were swallowed up, together with their habitations, in
the great deep. Sea animals that have been petrified, are found at
the present day in the bosom of the earth; and under the bottom of
the sea are discovered river muscles and the beds of former great
rivers. Whole forests were buried, and have been subsequently turned
into coal. The slime and mud of the bottom of the sea, when left
dry, was hardened into stone, and strata of regular conformation;
which, to produce the present irregularity met with among them, (we
suppose,) have undergone divers severe twistifications, by means of
earthquakes, the great steam engine of geologists, whose boiler has
burst more than once; we may credit the accounts of these profound
world makers.

During this awful catastrophe, these living toads were probably
enclosed in their stony prisons. They were covered and buried
with mud, which afterwards was hardened into stone by the active
exertions of Mr. Unknown Process, a worthy old gentleman, of
astonishing powers, who occasionally has the kindness to assist poor
philosophers in their immense task of creating worlds. In this mud,
poor fellows, they would have gone the way of all flesh, had it not
been for their peculiar organization; for they possess the "power
of sleeping and remaining in a state of torpor during the winter
without having occasion for any nourishment during that period."
When enclosed in mud, therefore, the same process went on as in
winter, but for a longer time.--They had nothing to do but to go to
bed, and get to sleep as soon as possible, and enjoy a comfortable
nap of several thousand years, till accident should unhouse them,
and turn them out to enjoy the glorious light of the sun, and a
thousand other things they had never dreamed of. Being fast asleep,
and so closely and comfortably wrapped up in a stone blanket
several feet thick, "no exhalation could take place from them, and,
therefore, there could be no necessity to replace the lost animal
juices by various nourishment." Wonderful phenomenon! The toad, this
highly and much despised animal, was of all others the only one
capable of undergoing this experiment of nature, and, thereby, of
viewing a second time the light of the world. All others the most
noble and most beautiful of creatures, even man himself, had it not
in his power to live to see such a blessing. Man, with his fellow
creatures, could only pass into a new world in a petrified state;
insects of a former world could only be preserved from complete ruin
in amber, and the mammoth be preserved partially in ice; but the
toad was capable on account of its tenacious powers of life, and its
peculiar nature, to pass from the old world into the new one, in a
living state, and by these means to be snatched from destruction. It
has twice trodden the theatre of the world!!--Wonderful phenomenon!
we respond. Wonderful, indeed, when we take into consideration the
many other created beings that sleep during winter, which had the
same risk to run of being enclosed in this mud, and therefore,
"from their peculiar nature," had the same chance of enjoying a
comfortable nap of several thousand years.

  [_Milledgeville Journal._




THE ISLAND OF MADEIRA.

From a late account of that Island published in London.


The climate of the island is excellent, being between the extremes
of heat and cold; indeed the climate and soil are such, that the
fruits of the earth are yielded with very little trouble in their
cultivation, which, from the negligence of the inhabitants, is
highly essential.

Nearly every kind of European vegetable production is to be met
with here, to which may be added the sweet potato and yam. The same
may be said of fruits, and with care might be produced most of the
tropical ones. The oranges, lemons, and figs, are remarkably fine:
peaches, nectarines, apricots &c. are very abundant.

The hills are covered with very large chesnut and walnut trees; the
former producing the finest fruit of its kind in the world, and
forming one source of sustenance to the hardy peasantry.

The island is formed of one immense hill or mountain, running from
east to west, affording views beautifully romantic, abounding with
fine springs of the purest water in the universe; while verdure and
fertility cover the most unpromising situations. Pico Ruivo is five
thousand one hundred feet high.

The city of Funchal is very delightfully situated at the foot of
this lofty range of mountains, on the south side of the island;
which forms a kind of amphitheatre, and has a beautiful appearance
from the shipping as you approach it, the environs abounding with
vineyards, generally in the most luxuriant state; and in the midst
of the green foliage of the vine, orange, lemon, pomegranate,
bannanas, myrtle, cypress, cedar, &c. are numerous villas belonging
to the gentry, or to the British merchants, which, being quite
white, add greatly to the beauty of the scene.

Funchal is the emporium of the island; it contains about twenty
thousand inhabitants, (the population of the whole island is one
hundred thousand souls,) and is the residence of a governor, bishop,
corrigidor, juiz da fora and other public functionaries. It is a
very irregular built town; the streets are generally narrow and
crooked, having no foot paths, and are badly paved; but it is quite
the reverse of Lisbon, being extremely clean. The old houses are ill
built; but they have lately much improved in architecture, for the
modern buildings are generally handsome, and are invariably built
with stone, plastered over and whitewashed: most of the houses of
the gentry are stuccoed inside, many of them are very elegant, and
they are for the most part handsomely furnished in the English style.

The residence of the governor is called the palace of Fort St.
Lawrence; it is a large ancient building: a few years since, it was
greatly improved by the addition of a new suit of apartments, built
under the direction of an English gentlemen, which are elegant and
commodious.

Funchal has several handsome churches, the altar pieces of which
are highly ornamented with paintings, silver lamps, and railings,
together with richly carved and gilt figures, &c.

There are, on the island, about twelve hundred secular priests,
governed by a dean and chapter, with a bishop at their head.

Funchal towards the sea side, is protected by a parapet wall,
properly called the musketry parapet: the fortifications consist of
a castle erected upon a steep rock, on the west side of the harbour,
and is within a few yards of the shore; it is very ancient, and
mounts nine guns of different calibre. This fort returns the salute
of the different vessels of war, anchoring in the roads; and the
castle serves for a state prison.

There is one small vegetable and fruit market, but the cattle, beef,
and fish markets, are miserable.

The prisons are ill constructed, badly governed, and insecure. They
are altogether a disgrace to the island.

All the towns and villages, of which there are several, are
invariably situated on the sea coast.

The country is too uneven for wheel carriages, except just in the
town and its vicinity; the mode of travelling, therefore, is on
horseback, or on mules, and in palanquins or hammocks.

The native inhabitants of Madeira are commonly of a middling
stature, well limbed, and of a darker complexion than the
inhabitants of the colder climates of Europe, possessing a warmth of
feeling with more volatile humour than is usual in the phlegmatic
constitutions of people of more northern countries, they are
courteous in their dispositions, and are very polite in their
manners among themselves, as well as towards strangers. The females
display great taste in adorning their hair, the blackness of which
corresponds with their dark expressive eyes, and gives them a very
interesting appearance; they are almost universally distinguished
for the whiteness of their teeth, the smallness of their feet, and
their finely turned ancles.

The convulsive state of Europe, for so many years, occasioned such
an increased demand for the wines of Madeira, that they have, in
consequence, advanced to nearly treble the price at which they
were sold at the commencement of the French revolution. The cause
is removed, but the effect is still continued, by the impolicy of
the British merchants, who out-bid each other in their purchases
from the land proprietors and wine-jobbers: this rise in the price
of wine has produced an increase of income to the landholders, and
thus (to use the language of one of their own writers) many now live
in splendour, whose parents were content with the simple manners
of their neighbours on the opposite coast of Barbary.--Both sexes
dress now in the highest style of English fashion: while most of the
principle families have their card and music parties, routes, balls,
&c.

There is no imprisonment for debt, and condign punishment is never
inflicted in Madeira; for certain crimes the criminal is sometimes
banished to the Cape de Verds, and when the crime is death,
according to the Portuguese law, the felon is sent prisoner to
Lisbon, there to await his fate.

Many of the natives are possessed of a turn for poetry, and almost
the whole of them are rhymesters.

The islanders have a great taste for music, and are very graceful
dancers.

The highest gratifications of the natives are the church festivals,
and religious processions; their avidity for these spectacles is
so great, that they come from all parts of the Island to see them:
although it is constantly a repetition of the same thing; the
streets are crowded with the delighted multitude, and the windows
of the houses filled with the senhoras, who assemble there full
dressed to see and be seen.

It is the custom to bury their dead within twenty-four hours after
their demise; they carry the body in an open bier to the place of
the interment, with the face and arms exposed to full view, attended
by a concourse of priests and friars, chaunting a funeral dirge
(that is when the deceased leaves money to pay for it, otherwise,
no penny no pater-noster;) then follow the friends of the departed,
and a motley tribe of beggars bearing lighted torches, although it
should be at mid-day. When the body is consigned to the grave, a
quantity of lime and vinegar is thrown in to consume it, in order
to make room for others, as they always bury within the church.
Relatives do not accompany the funerals, being supposed to be
too much affected by their loss. Widows of rank do not cross the
threshold for twelve months after the death of their _Caro Sposos_.

The dress of the peasantry is very simple, consisting of a shirt
and drawers of linen of their own manufacture, the knee-bands of
the latter and collar of the former are worn both open, a pair of
loose light goat-skin boots, which, with a small blue cloth cap,
of a conical shape turned up with red, completes their dress;
although they have a blue cloth jacket, but it is generally thrown
over one shoulder, being seldom worn. They are very civil when they
meet a stranger; they take off their cap, and "hope the Lord will
prosper him;" and when they encounter one another, they stand cap
in hand, though under a perpendicular sun, till they have satisfied
each other as to the welfare of their wives, children, relatives,
acquaintances, cattle, domestic animals, and so on: there is then a
good deal of ceremony in settling the important question who shall
first put his cap on again. They are very muscular, and are capable
of undergoing incredible fatigue.

A more desirable spot for the asthmatic or consumptive, uniting
such numerous advantages cannot be found; the town of Funchal being
situated in a valley open only to the south, while it is completely
defended by the mountains rising behind, from those northern blasts,
which in other situations too often prove fatal in cases of decline;
and the temperature of the atmosphere is very little subject to
change, the thermometer being seldom higher than from 75 to 78 in
summer, and rarely below 65 in winter; indeed, the climate is so
favourable for invalids, that were it resorted to before the disease
becomes too long confirmed, it would seldom fail in restoring their
health; but it is to be regretted that this resource is often
deterred till it is too late for any hopes of recovery, and when the
patient has scarcely strength to undergo the fatigues of the voyage.

When the Island was first colonized, prince Henry had the sugar
transplanted hither from Sicily; and, at one time, there were forty
sugar mills on the Island, that article then forming the staple
commodity; now there is only one mill remaining, at which little
sugar is made, but that little is excellent, and has a scent like
the violet.

Instead of the cane the vine is now cultivated, the produce of
which is well known and esteemed all over the world: the vines run
on trellises of cane work, about three feet from the ground, and
the grape is usually fit for making into wine at the beginning of
September, when they are obliged to tie up all the dogs, to prevent
their getting at the grapes, of which they are very fond. Great
quantities are destroyed by rats, lizards, and wasps.

The wine-press is a wooden trough, about six feet square, and two
feet deep, over which is a large clumsy lever. When the trough is
nearly filled, about half a dozen peasants bare-legged, get in,
and, with their feet, press out the precious juice; after which
the husks and stalks are collected in a head, and pressed with
the lever: this last pressing produces the strongest and choicest
wine. The best wine is produced on the south side of the Island,
and, when first made, is as deep coloured as Port: it ferments for
about six weeks after it is made. It is computed that about twenty
thousand pipes are made annually, of which about two thirds are
exported, principally to Great Britain, and British colonies, and
the remainder is consumed on the Island.

There are many different descriptions of grapes; the large sized,
and which is merely a table grape, and is not made into wine, is
about the size of a muscle plum, and the bunches are so large as
sometimes to weigh twenty pounds.

The wines shipped from Madeira, are classed Tinta, or Madeira
Burgundy, Malmsey, Sersial, and simple plain Madeira; the three
first thirty pounds per pipe dearer than the latter, which is sixty
pounds per pipe of 110 gallons, free on board. This high price is
occasioned by the want of unanimity among the English merchants,
or indeed a want of good faith towards each other, for they appear
occasionally to rouse from their lethargy, meet at their consul's,
and agree to give only certain prices for the wines at the press;
but, immediately after, each out-bids the other, and the wine-jobber
laughs in his sleeve, and profits by their folly.--Were a dozen of
the principal wine shippers to be unanimous, they might, with ease,
reduce the wines at the press one third of the present exorbitant
prices, and could, of course, make a similar reduction in the
shipping prices, when they would consequently have larger orders:
but what can scarcely be credited is, that when they had what they
term a factorial meeting to affix the shipping prices for 1819,
all but two of the sapient assembly were for raising the price
8_l._ per pipe; and when these two proved to a demonstration that
such conduct would only induce the wine-jobbers to make a similar
rise, and merely add to their coffers, already overflowing with the
effect of the merchants' past follies; the meeting still deemed
it necessary to adjourn for a few days, before they would allow
themselves to be convinced.

No foreign wine is allowed to be imported, not even a few dozen of
Port for private use, although it is the production of the mother
country: this is being strict indeed, yet it is justifiable, as a
very few years since a discovery was made of an attempt to smuggle
into the Island a number of pipes of wine from the Islands of Fayal
and Tenneriffe; and had not the most rigid methods been adopted,
the wine of Madeira would have lost its reputation, as no one who
imported wine from thence could have been certain of having it
genuine: consequently the wines were seized, and the heads of the
casks were knocked out in the public marketplace, which overflowed
with the contents: the boats that landed it were confiscated, and
the smuggler condemned to transportation, or to pay to the crown, in
addition to losing the wine, twice its amount.

The Island is well supplied with good beef, mutton, poultry, and
some wild pidgeons, quails, partridges, snipes, woodcocks, wild
rabbits, &c. The Atlantic furnishes the Island with abundance
of excellent jew fish, john dory, pike, mullet, hake, mackeral,
pilchards, turtle, cray fish, crabs, shrimps, limpets, &c. They have
a breed of small but handsome and serviceable horses.

Most of the commercial characters on the Island are English; and
among them are some respectable long established houses, possessing
considerable capitals: there are about twenty different firms, and
as many families. The total number of British subjects in Madeira,
including women, children, clerks, and servants, amounts to one
hundred; but they are too haughty, too jealous, and too envious of
of each other, to be very sociable.




THE PROMPTER.

He does not work it right.


What a vulgar saying the Prompter has selected for his text in this
number! Yet these vulgar sayings are often full of good sense.

I knew a young man who left the army with an invincible attachment
to gambling. He followed it closely till he had lost most of his
wages--he then purchased a shop of goods, mostly on credit--he had
his nightly frolics--_he kept it up_--he was a blood of the first
rate--his goods were soon gone and not paid for--his creditors began
to cry _peccavi_--in fact, _he did not work it right_. But his
friends helped him out of six scrapes, yea, out of seven. At length
necessity broke his spirit--it tamed him--he married, became a man
of business, recovered his lost credit--and now _he works it right_.

I often say to myself, as I ride about the country, what a pity it
is our farmers _do not work it right_. When I see a man turn his
cattle into the street to run at large and waste their dung, during
a winter's day, I say this man does not work it right. Ten loads
of good manure, at least, is lost in a season by this slovenly
practice--and all for what? For nothing, indeed, but to ruin a farm.

So when I see cattle, late in the fall or early in the spring,
rambling in a meadow or mowing field, pouching the soil and breaking
the grass roots, I say to myself, this man _does not work it right_.

So when I see a barn yard with a drain to it, I say the owner does
not work it right; for how easy it is to make a yard hollow, or
lowest in the middle, to receive all the wash of the sides, which
will be thus kept dry for the cattle. The wash of the yard, mixed
with any kind of earth, or putrid straw, is the best manure in the
world--yet how much do our farmers lose! In fact they do not work it
right.

When I pass along the road and see a house with clapboards hanging
an end with one nail, and old hats and cloths stuffed into the
broken windows, and the fences tumbling down or destroyed, I
conclude the owner loves rum--in truth, he does not work it right.

When I see a man frequently attending courts, I suspect _he does not
work it right_.

When I see a countryman often go to the retailer's with a bottle,
or the labouring man carrying home a bottle of rum after his work
is done on Saturday night, I am certain this man _does not work it
right_.

When a farmer divides a farm of one hundred acres of land among five
or six sons, and builds a small house for each, and sets them to
work for a living on a little patch of land, I question whether _he
works it right_. And when these sons are afterwards unable to live
on these mutilated farms, and are compelled by a host of children to
go to work by the day to get bread, I believe they are all convinced
that _they have not worked it right_.

When a man tells me his wife will not consent to go from home into
new settlements, where he may have land enough, and live like a
nabob, and therefore he is obliged to sit down in a corner of his
father's farm, I laugh at him, and some time or other he will own
_he has not worked it right_.

A man in trade, who is not punctual in his payments, certainly _does
not work it right_; nor does the man, who trusts his goods to _any
body_, and _every body_.

Whether in Congress or a kitchen, the person who _talks much_ is
_little regarded_. Some members of Congress then certainly _do not
work it right_. A hint to the _wise_ is sufficient; but twenty
hints have not been sufficient to silence the clamorous tongues of
some Congressional spouters.

Family government gives complexion to the manners of a town: but
when we see, every where, children profane, indelicate, rude, saucy,
we may depend on it, their _parents do not work it right_.

I once knew a young man of excellent hopes, who was deeply in love
with a lady. The first time he had an opportunity to whisper in
her ear; and before he had made any impression on her heart in his
favour, he sighed out his sorrowful tale to her in full explanation.
The lady was frightened--she soon rid herself of the distressed
lover--she said, _he did not work it right_.




THE TURKS.


In the New England Galaxy we find the following account of the
Turks. If the facts are as stated, those that are termed barbarians
are _Christians in practice_, while we who are Christians by name,
are barbarians in reality.

"Notwithstanding their religion differs from ours, still I cannot
help respecting it. They worship the same God that we do--they
esteem our Saviour as a great prophet and lawgiver--their prayers
are evidently offered with a sincere heart, and considering that
it is the religion of their ancestors, how can we blame them for
preferring it to ours? Did you but know in what contempt they hold
a renegado, you would agree in opinion with me, that the combined
powers of the whole Christian world would not be able to persuade a
virtuous musselman to change his faith.

"Honesty, so often sought and rarely found, among the enlightened
and religious communities of Europe and America, in this part of
Asia and in the Turkish dominions west of the Hellespont, stands
unrivalled.

"Whether a sense of virtue or moral obligations to each other
contained in the pages of the Koran is the cause, I am unable to
say; but all travellers who have visited this country, and are
divested of prejudice, will do them the justice to say, that theft
is a crime almost unknown throughout the realms of the Grand Seignor.

"A merchant of Smyrna having occasion to send about five hundred
pound sterling a distance of about four days journey into the
country, requested his brokers to find a suitable person! The first
they met in the streets, although one of the lowest porters, they
engaged for that purpose.

"The gold was given him in a bag, and without even inquiring his
name or residence in the city, he was directed to hand it to the
merchant in the village, whose name was given him on a piece of
paper: and on his return he should receive the amount agreed on, and
about five dollars as a compensation for his trouble.

"On the eighth or ninth day he returned to the city, stating that he
had delivered the money, when he received his pay, and went to seek
employment in the streets.

"After a lapse of nearly a month, a letter from the merchant
announced that he had not received the money, and expressed surprise
at the circumstance. This excited considerable alarm, particularly
as it was almost impossible to find the messenger, having a second
time neglected to take his name. After three days search, however,
he was found staggering through the streets with a heavy burden on
his back; and being informed of the cause why they sought him, he
laid it down and exclaimed, 'God forbid that I should wrong any man,
even a _Christian!_ but,' he continued, 'I will go back at my own
expense and see who has got the property; otherwise my reputation
will be ruined!' This speech had a curious effect from a man whose
real and personal estate would not, in all probability, have
amounted to fifty piastres.

"He departed, and arriving at the village, examined, with a
scrutinizing eye, every Christian he met, till at last the Greek to
whom he had given the gold, presented himself. 'You have injured my
reputation like a dog, as you are, (said the porter,) and have taken
from me that which belongs to another! but, thank God, you are found
at last; I will take you to the Agha, and have you hung, that the
world may be rid of such a scoundrel.' The Greek on his knees begged
forgiveness: 'I was in distress, (he said) when I saw you, and
having occasion for the money, I assumed the name of my neighbour!
It was my intention to have paid him before he would feel any alarm
as to the remittance: but spare my character; here is your gold, and
here are 500 piastres for yourself!' The Turk allowed him to depart,
took the money to the right owner, and returned with his pockets
better filled than they had ever been during the whole course of his
life.

"The perfect resignation with which the Turks submit to the
dispensations of Providence cannot but be pleasing to every one. If
they are fortunate, God is praised; if the reverse, they say, 'His
will be done.'

"The Turk never effects insurance on his commercial adventures; but
often, previous to despatching his vessel, makes a solemn promise,
that, should he be fortunate, a sum of money shall be bestowed in
charity; which promise is never broken. But, should she be lost,
and, as often happens, his whole property with her, he exclaims,
'God's will be done,' and seeks in the streets the means of
accumulating another, in the laborious employment of a porter.

"His friends continue to show him the respect he previously
experienced, remarking, 'Our brother has been unfortunate, but it
was the will of God! Why should we treat him otherwise? We are
all liable to lose our possessions, and it would be censuring the
decrees of the Almighty, were we to neglect him!' How can we but
admire these principles, notwithstanding they emanate from the
breasts of those differing from us in religious tenets?"




MISCELLANY.


_Weight of Great Characters_--Weighed at the Scales at West Point,
August 19, 1783.

                            _lbs._
  General Washington,        209
  General Lincoln,           224
  General Knox,              280
  General Huntington,        132
  General Greaton,           166
  Colonel Swift,             219
  Colonel Michael Jackson,   252
  Colonel Henry Jackson,     238
  Lieut. Colonel Huntington, 232
  Lieut. Colonel Cobb,       186
  Lieut. Colonel Humphreys,  221

The above memorandum was found in the pocket book of a deceased
officer of the Massachusetts line.

Curiosity respecting the form, physiognomy and stature of eminent
men is universal; biographers usually attempt to gratify their
readers by detailing all such minute circumstances; yet who knows
the weight of general Bonaparte, or the duke of Wellington? Those
who read their biography would be gratified to know the cubic inches
and exact dimensions of the clay tenements occupied by such martial
spirits.

The average weight of these 11 distinguished revolutionary officers,
is 214 lbs. and exceeds, we think, that of an equal number of any
other nation.

  [_Salem Gaz._

_Benevolence the source of delight._--BENEVOLUS, who was uncommonly
fond of music, was dressing to go to an opera, which was much
admired, when he heard a murmuring of voices in the passage below
his chambers; on inquiry, he was told that it was occasioned by a
workman who had dropped half a guinea that he had just received for
his week's wages, which could not be found; and on which his own
maintenance and that of his wife and child depended. It immediately
struck Benevolus that he could afford to give the man the half
guinea by staying from the opera that night. He accordingly sent him
the money and staid at home.

On another occasion, Benevolus having been prevailed on to promise
to dine at a tavern with some young men, of whose company he was
fond, was solicited for charity at the tavern door by a woman with
an infant suckling at each of her breasts, and two half-naked
children following her.--"For heaven's sake, a penny," said the
poor woman, "to purchase some bread." "We are very hungry," cried
the children. Benevolus, thrusting his hand in his pocket, found he
had just a guinea, and no other money of any kind. "Good heaven!"
thought he, "I am going to throw away the greatest part of this
for a dinner, and it will maintain this poor woman and children a
fortnight!"--He slipped the guinea into the poor woman's hand, and,
returning directly to his chamber, sent an apology to the company,
and dined with more delight on a mutton-chop than he had ever
experienced from the most luxurious dinner.

  [_Moore_.

_Home._--The great end of prudence, Dr. Johnson says, is to give
cheerfulness to those hours which splendour cannot gild, and
acclamation cannot exhilarate. Those soft intervals of unbended
amusement, in which a man shrinks to his natural dimensions, and
throws aside the ornaments and disguises which he feels in privacy
to be useless incumbrances, and to lose all effect when they become
familiar. To be happy at _home_, is the ultimate result of all
ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and
of which every design prompts the prosecution. It is, indeed, at
home, that every man must be known, by those who would make a just
estimate either of his virtue or felicity; for smiles and embroidery
are alike occasional, and the mind is often dressed for show in
painted honour and fictitious benevolence.

There is something undoubtedly venerable in antiquity, but even this
passion may be carried beyond its proper bounds. An old gentleman
was once possessed of a jack-knife, which he declared he would not
sell for twenty dollars. It was once, said he, the property of my
great grandfather--and since I have been the owner of the knife, it
has been repaired with four blades and two handles.

_The Emperor of Morocco._--The following anecdote serves to show the
_high wisdom_ of the Emperor of Morocco:--A Jew had ordered a French
merchant to furnish him with a considerable quantity of black beaver
hats, green shawls, and red silk stockings. When the articles were
ready for delivery, the Jew refused to receive them. Being brought
before the emperor, who, it is well known, administers justice
himself, he denied having given the order, and maintained that he
did not know the French merchant. "Have you any witnesses?" said
the emperor to the Frenchman. "No." "So much the worse for you; you
should have taken care to have had witnesses--you may retire." The
poor merchant, completely ruined, returned home in despair. He was,
however, soon alarmed by a noise in the street; he ran to see what
it was. A numerous multitude were following one of the emperor's
officers, who was making the following proclamation at all the cross
roads: "Every Jew, who within 24 hours after this proclamation,
shall be found in the streets without a black beaver hat on his
head, a green shawl round his neck, and red silk stockings on his
legs, shall be immediately seized, and conveyed to the first Court
or Palace, to be there flogged to death." The children of Israel all
thronged to the French merchant, and before evening the articles
were all purchased at any price he chose to demand for them.

_A knave outwitted._--A man lately came into a merchant's store in
Newbern, N. C. and told the merchant he owed him five dollars for
goods he lately had of him. The merchant being a correct man in
his business, finding no charge against him on book, and knowing
also that he never gave credit to strangers, told the honest man he
must be mistaken; but he insisted he was not, and paid the money.
A few days afterwards he called again and wanted credit for goods
to the amount of about $30, which the merchant declined letting him
have. The man pretended to be surprised that he, who had shown such
honesty in paying a debt, which the merchant had forgotten, should
be refused a further credit; but says the merchant, if I have been
foolish enough, for once to trust a stranger, I shall not be such a
fool again.

_Mineralogy._--The science of mineralogy is at present pursued with
uncommon assiduity in England.--The elementary treatises on the
subject, as published there, are numerous, but lately Mr. Philips
published a second edition of a Manual of Mineralogy, of which in 9
months he sold 900 copies. In Paris there are four lectures on the
subject, and last year the only four students who were foreigners,
were all from Pennsylvania--these were the young Messrs. Gallatin,
Seybert, Keating, and Vancexin. The science seems to be highly
deserving of encouragement here, as it has become reduced to such
general rules as enables the mineralist or geologist to ascertain
with tolerable certainty what substances are, and what are not
to be found in the bowels of different parts of the earth, by
inspection of its surface, as well as to ascertain by sight, or by
analysis, their nature, composition, properties, and uses.

_Cave in Virginia_.--Of _Wier's Cave_ in Virginia, general C.
Jones, of that state, has lately given a description, of which
the following is a summary. The cave is of limestone, generally
descending in its course. The entrance, about 4 feet square, brings
you first into a room 12 or 15 feet high; you then creep along
a narrow passage into another room--then, descending a ladder,
you enter _Solomon's temple_, in which is a large fluted column,
called _Solomon's pillar_, and on the sides curtains descend from
the ceiling to the floor, the room about 25 feet high; ascending
a ladder, you pass a steep narrow rock, and then descend into the
_curtain room_, profusely ornamented with drapery, having more of
the appearance of art than of chance, the curtains hanging from
6 to 12 inches apart, and mostly white and transparent:--next is
the _music room_, abounding with stalactites similar to those
forming the curtains just mentioned, but of firm texture, on which
enchanting music can be made, when struck with a skilful hand:--You
next descend a natural staircase, with something like balusters on
one side, and then, down a ladder, into the _ballroom_, 100 feet
long, and from 16 to 20 high, the floor smooth, the sides ornamented
with curtains, and in which there is a sofa, remarkable for its
resemblance to the reality. You next encounter a long difficult
narrow passage, creeping and sliding part of the way, and then,
descending some steps, you enter the _vestibule_, the arch about
25 feet high, in which is a saloon, and Mary's gallery, the latter
formed of a horizontal sheet of rock, a foot thick, and 20 in
diameter:--You then enter _Washington-Hall_, the grandest part of
the cavern, the floor of which is level, and rings to the tread,
the arch above 80 feet high, and on one side is something like a
a row of marble statuary:--The next is _Lady Washington's drawing
room_, a handsome large apartment, with something like a bureau in
it, on which are inscribed a number of names:--The _diamond room_
is next, its walls sparkling with brilliants; then the _enchanted
room_, in which is a basin containing about two hogsheads of pure
water, and a column, about 25 feet in diameter, called the tower
of Babel; and the last is the _Garden of Eden_. This is a spacious
apartment, in which a rock seems to be floating over head, called
Elijah's mantle, and a large white curtain, and a rock called the
salt mountain, are seen at a distance. The general, and the party
with him, were two hours and three quarters before they regained the
mouth of the cavern.

_Missouri._--The Missouri Convention, having completed its labours
in the formation of a constitution for that state, have designated
St. Louis as the seat of government for the state until 1827, when
it is to be permanently established on the Missouri, at or near the
mouth of the Osage, which place is to be called Missouriopolis, the
former part of the name being Indian, and the latter Grecian.

_Iron Rail or Carriage-ways._--In the neighbourhood of Newcastle,
this ingenious mode of reducing friction, and facilitating the
conveyance of loaded wagons, has been adopted to a very great
extent. According to M. Gallois, an extent of 28 square miles on
the surface of the earth, presents a series of 75 miles for this
species of conveyance; while the interior of the adjacent coal
mines contains them to as large an amount. Five or six wagons, made
entirely of iron, fastened to each other in regular succession,
descend these roads without any other mover than their own
gravitating force. By means of a pulley, or wheel, a certain number
of carriages in descending occasion a certain number of others to
mount, in order to take in a load at the summit of the inclined
plane they traverse. We are, however, naturally led to believe
that, excepting in very peculiar circumstances, there will always
be a great saving of power in conveyances by water, for this simple
reason, that the whole weight of the burden so transported, is
transported by the stream with a comparatively small loss of power
by friction, while the inclined plane, on which the carriage runs,
supports only a part of its weight. On the other hand, however, it
cannot be denied that many situations in which it would be quite
impossible to open a canal, might admit of the establishment of
metallic and other rail-ways.

_Varnish for Wood._--The Italian cabinet work, in this respect,
excels that of any other country. To produce this effect, the
workmen first saturate the surface with olive oil, and then apply a
solution of gum arabic in boiling alcohol. This mode of varnishing
is equally brilliant, if not superiour, to that employed by the
French in their most elaborate works.

_American Saltpetre._--A Boston paper says--"We have seen a
quantity of Saltpetre refined and chrystallized at the Gunpowder
Manufactory of Chelmsford, which, for whiteness and clearness, was
much superiour to that of foreign preparations, with which it was
compared; and we understand it can be afforded at a less price. The
chrystallization of the American articles is uncommonly handsome,
and will gratify the attention of any who may view it."

_The Horse._--J. Carver, Veterinary Surgeon, has written a letter to
the editor of the Plough Boy, wherein he stated he had been applied
to by a gentleman to cut the Lampas out of his horse's mouth, but
that he had declined on the ground that there was no necessity for
such an operation; and that the disorder could be cured in the
following simple manner:--"Rub the upper part of the roof of the
mouth, which you find on those occasions red and swollen, with
coarse salt, three or four times a day--throw in his manger also a
few ears of the hardest corn; and thus, a few days would totally
remedy the evil."

Mr. Carver expresses some astonishment that persons "should fall
into the ridiculous and absurd belief, that horses are subject
to that imaginary disease called Lampas. Because, examining the
palate or roof of the mouth would be quite sufficient to convince a
judicious investigator, that the supposed enlargement cannot deprive
the animal of his food; since it is not in the least sore, nor shows
any signs of sensibility on pressure."

He states that the error proceeds from a want of the knowledge
of the animal, and the obstinacy and ignorance of stabularian
philosophers; that the operation of "_cutting and burning_ the
palate with a red hot iron, not only prevents the animal from eating
his food for some weeks, but is frequently attended with the most
serious consequences by opening the palatine artery, which has bled
many a horse to death for want of proper assistance."

Mr. Carver advises gentlemen never to suffer the operation to be
performed, but if the parts are very red and very much swollen, they
may be just scarified with the point of a sharp penknife, or pricked
with a large darning needle. He concludes with saying, "that the
cutting and raising the frog from the ground to keep the foot in
health--the cutting out the haw of the eye, to cure inflammation and
lockjaw--and the operation of burning for Lampas, can by no means be
reconciled to common sense."

_Internal Wealth._--A correspondent informs us, that he passed, in
Danvers, on Wednesday last, a wagon road of merino wool, weighing
three tons, drawn by seven horses, passing from Hanover, N. H.
(where it was produced,) to the Factory at Danvers--the value of
which was probably from four to six thousand dollars.

  [_Newburyport paper._

_Camels._--Two full grown camels, one eight and the other nine years
old, have arrived at Boston from the coast of Morocco.

_Paintings._--The paintings by the old masters, which belonged to
the late Mr. West, have been sold at public vendue in London. The
whole produced 10,027_l._ The Death of Actæon, by Titian, brought
1700 guineas--a Head of Christ, by Guido, 700--Abraham entertaining
the Angels, by Rembrandt, 7 by 9 inches, 200--the Bath of Diana, by
Titian, 610--a Forest Scene, by Rembrandt, 200--the Last Supper, by
Titian, 435--the Virgin Child, and St. John and Mary Magdalen, by
Parmagiano, 350--the Watering Place, by Wouvremans, 560--Peasants
with Cattle, by A. Berchem, 450--View on a River, by Hobbima, 290--a
Knight in full Armour, by Giorgione, 140--View of a Village, by
Gasper Toussin, 210--a Dead Hare, and other Game, Spaniel, &c., by
Wfenix, 165--Minerva, with her Ægis, &c., by Reubens, 155--Christ
betrayed, by Teniers, 126--and many others, at proportionate prices.

_New Hampshire State Prison._--The income of this penitentiary,
for the last year, has been derived from the usual sources, the
labour of convicts in its various departments, the sale of articles
manufactured by them, and the fees of admittance to visiters--the
whole amounts to $4660 81 cts. The expenditures during the same
period, amount to $4203 53 cts. leaving a balance gained to the
institution during the last year of $457.28. The amount of property
on hand has also increased $1811.41; and the balance of debts due,
$743.14; making the whole income $2553.55; from which deducting
the amount received from the treasury, leaves a balance further
gained of $454.55. In the amount of debts due is included $3637.03,
charged to the state house committee, for labour of the convicts in
preparing stone, &c. for that building; which, if paid over to the
state prison, would reduce the sum required from the treasury to
meet the estimated expenses of the present year to $963.

_Anecdote of Lycurgus._--Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, to show
his countrymen the vast importance of education, by reason of its
influence in forming the minds and manners of a people, caused
two whelps of the same litter to be bred in quite different ways;
whereby the one became sluggish and ravenous, the other of a good
scent, and skilled in hunting. Finding the experiment to answer his
design, he soon took an occasion at an assembly of the Lacedemonians
to discourse on this subject, and address them in the following
manner:

"It is of great advantage, fellow citizens, to the acquirement
of virtue, when any one is trained up in the customary practice
of wholesome instructions, and precept, which I will presently
let you see by example."--On this, he ordered the young dogs to
be brought into the midst of the hall, where was set before them
a vessel, in which meat had been frequently boiled, and a _live
hare_.--Whereupon, according to their different breeding, one flew
to the hare, and the other as greedily ran to the vessel.

The spectators were surprised: and, as they were musing what should
be the intent of his introducing the whelps after this manner, he
said to them, "This is what I before told you; you perceive these
creatures do as they were taught, for, though they are both of a
litter, yet the diversity of breeding has made one a good hound, and
the other a cur, good for nothing but to lick pots and dishes."




FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.


The following extract is taken from the Poems of CUNNINGHAM, whose
pastorals are those in which he is generally considered as the most
successful. The moral of this fable is good; and if resembled in our
daily intercourse with each other, might be highly useful.

  I.


THE FOX AND THE CAT.

    The Fox and the Cat, as they travell'd one day,
    With moral discourses cut shorter the way:
    "'Tis great," says the Fox, "to make Justice our guide!"
    "How godlike is mercy!" Grimalkin replied.
    Whilst thus they proceeded, a wolf from the wood,
    Impatient of hunger, and thirsting for blood,
    Rushed forth--as he saw the dull shepherd asleep,
    And seized for his supper an innocent sheep.
    "In vain, wretched victim, for mercy you bleat,
    When mutton's at hand," says the Wolf, "I must eat."
    Grimalkin's astonished--the Fox stood aghast,
    To see the fell beast at his bloody repast.
    "What a wretch," says the Cat,--"'tis the vilest of brutes:
    Does he feed upon flesh, when there's herbage--and roots?"
    Cries the Fox, "While our oaks give us acorns so good,
    What a tyrant is this, to spill innocent blood!"
    Well, onward they marched, and they moralized still,
    Till they came where some poultry picked chaff by a mill;
    Sly Reynard surveyed them with gluttonous eyes,
    And made, (spite of morals,) a pullet his prize.
    A mouse too, that chanced from her covert to stray,
    The greedy Grimalkin secured as her prey.
    A spider that sat in her web on the wall,
    Perceived the poor victims, and pitied their fall;
    She cry'd--"Of such murders how guiltless am I!"
    So ran to regale on a new taken fly.

MORAL.

    The faults of our neighbours with freedom we blame,
    But tax not ourselves, though we practice the same.




From Barton's Poems.

STANZAS.


    We knew that the moment was drawing nigh,
      To fulfil every fearful token;
    When the silver chord must loosen its tie,
      And the golden bowl be broken;
    When the fountain's vase, and the cistern's wheel,
    Should alike to our trembling hearts appeal.

    And now shall thy dust return to the earth,
      Thy spirit to God who gave it;
    Yet affection shall tenderly cherish thy worth,
      And memory deeply engrave it,
    Not upon tables of brass or stone,
    But in those fond bosoms where best 'twas known.

    Thou shalt live in mine though thy life be fled,
      For friendship thy name shall cherish
    And be one of the few, and the dearly lov'd dead,
      Whom my heart will not suffer to perish;
    Who in loveliest dreams are before me bro't,
    And in sweetest hours of waking thought.

    But oh! there is one, with tearful eye,
      Whose fondest desires fail her;
    Who indeed is afraid of that which is high,
      And fears by the way assail her;
    Whose anguish confesses that tears are vain,
    Since dark are the clouds that return after rain!

    May HE, who alone can scatter those clouds,
      Whose love all fear dispelleth;
    Who, though for a season his face he shrouds,
      In light and in glory dwelleth,
    Break in on that mourner's soul, from above,
    And bid her look upwards with holy love.




MEMORY.


    Borne on the Ocean's heaving breast,
      Mark yon stately vessel sail;
    How in floating canvass drest,
      Courts she every wanton gale!

    Soft the prosp'rous breezes blow;
      Fast she makes a wish'd-for shore;
    Glitt'ring bright in splendid show,
      Rich with India's golden ore.

    Gently foams the recreant tide,
      'Neath the golden-gilded prow;
    Pleased the joyous waves divide
      Still behind no track they show.

    Yet at some far-distant day
      Memory will the scene retrace;
    Mark the wanton breezes play,
      Hail the vessel's easy grace.

    Buoyant thus on life's broad stream,
      Man in all his beauty moves;
    Blest with sweet contentment's beam,
      Blest with all his bosom loves.

    Swift each passing year rolls on;
      Still contentment glads his mind;
    Soon each passing year is gone--
      Gone, nor leaves a track behind.

    Then alike fond memory's powers
      Pleasures long since past, review;
    Lead him back to youth's bright hours,
      And each blissful scene renew.




BANK NOTE EXCHANGE,

AT PHILADELPHIA--_Oct. 3d, 1820_.

                   Per cent Disc't

  VERMONT--generally,                     4

  MAINE--generally,                       4

  NEW HAMPSHIRE--generally,               4

  MASSACHUSETTS--generally,               4
    Boston Bank,                          2

  RHODE ISLAND,                           4

  CONNECTICUT--generally,               2-4

  NEW YORK,--City Bank,                par.
    Country generally,                  2-6
    J. Barker's Ex. Bank--no sales

  BANK OF UPPER CANADA,                  10

  NEW JERSEY notes,--                  par.

  PENNSYLVANIA--Farmer's Bank, of}
    Lancaster; Easton; Montgomery}     par.
    County; Chester              }
    County, at Westchester,      }
    New Hope; Northampton,               1½
    Susquehanna Bridge Company,           2
    Lancaster Bank,                      1½
    York; Gettesburg; Chambersburg,       2
    Northumb.; Union; Centre,            15
    Farm. and Mech. Bank of }            25
    Pittsburgh,             }

  DELAWARE--generally,                 par.

  MARYLAND--Baltimore Banks,              ½
    City Bank,                            5
    Annapolis; Hagerstown,              2-3

  VIRGINIA--Country generally,            2
    N. W. Bank, at Wheeling,              8

  COLUMBIA DISTRICT--Country generally,   1
    Mech. Bank of Alexandria,             3

  NORTH CAROLINA--State Bank at}          4
    Raleigh, and Branches,     }
    Cape Fear; Newbern,                  4½

  SOUTH CAROLINA--State Banks, generally, 2

  GEORGIA--State Banks, generally,        3
    Augusta Bridge Company,              75

  TENNESSEE--Few sales at any price.

  KENTUCKY--Kentucky Bank, and}          30
    Branches,                 }

  OHIO--Marietta; Steubenville          11½
    Bank of Chillicothe,                  5
    Country generally,                20-50




PRICES CURRENT--_Oct. 3, 1820_.


                             Per      D. C.      D. C.

  Beef, Philad. Mess,       _bbl._   13.00   to  13.50

  Butter, Fresh              _lb._    0.18    "

  Cotton, (Louisiana)         "       0.19    "   0.21
  Cotton Yarn, No. 10,       _lb._    0.36
  Flax, Clean,                "       0.16    "   0.19
  Firewood, Hickory,        _cord,_   6.00    "   7.00
    Oak,                      "       3.25    "   4.25
  Flour--Wheat, P. S. F.    _bbl._    4.50
    Rye,                      "       2.75
    Corn Meal,                "       2.87
  Grain--Wheat,            _bush._    0.85 sales.
    Rye,                      "       0.45    "   0.50
    Corn, Pa.                 "       0.48    "   0.53
    Oats,                     "       0.25    "   0.30
  Hams--Jersey,             _lb._     0.11    "   0.13
  Leather--Sole,            _lb._     0.24    "   0.30
    Upper, undrs'd.        _side,_    2.75    "   3.50
  Plaster of Paris,        _ton,_     4.75    "   5.00
  Shingles, cedar, 3 feet   1000     20.00
    Cypress,                  "       4.00
  Molasses, S. H.           _gall._   0.50
  Nails, Cut, all sizes,     _lb._    0.07    "   0.12½
  Pork, Jersey & Penn.}     _bbl._   15.00
    Mess,             }
  Wool--Merino, Clean,       _lb._    0.75
    Do. in Grease,            "       0.40
    Common,                   "       0.50
  Yarn, Hempen,               "       0.10    "   0.11




STATE OF THE THERMOMETER.


          9 o'cl. 12 o'cl. 3 o'cl.

  Aug. 26,  80       81      82
       28,  72       73      74
       29,  71       76      76
       30,  73       77      78
       31,  75       77      81
  Sept. 1,  76       79      83
        2,  74       75      76
        4,  72       76      79
        5,  73       77      80
        6,  76       79      83
        7,  77       82      94
        8,  77       80      82
        9,  77       82      87
       10,  80       82      86
       11,  80       83      83
       12,  70       70      73
       13,  67       69      72
       14,  70       73      73
       15,  71       73      76
       16,  72       74      75
       17,  75       75      79
       18,  74       76      78
       19,  72       73      70
       20,  67       69      65
       21,  54       62      61
       22,  58       68      68
       23,  63       70      70
       24,  61       64      68
       25,  64       76      75
       26,  55       64      64
       27,  65       70      70
       28,  62       74      74
       29,  62       68      67
       30,  65       76      75
  Oct.  2,  67       73      73
        3,  65       69      71
        4,  67       60      --




RAIN GUAGE AT PHILADELPHIA.


                         In. hun.

  Sept. 12,      Rain,    1.16

  18 & 19,        do.     0.40

  Oct. 3,         do.     4.00

       3 to 4,    do.     1.65




Errata in p. 360, No. 9, for "he will," &c. read, _we_ will, &c.




PHILADELPHIA,

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

RICHARDS & CALEB JOHNSON,

_No. 31, Market Street_,

At $3.00 per annum.


GRIGGS & DICKINSON, _Printers--Whitehall_.







*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RURAL MAGAZINE, AND LITERARY EVENING FIRE-SIDE, VOL. 1 NO. 10 (1820) ***


    

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