editor's table. 



leather apron ; when dressed, however, it is no despicable dish, and, in the upper country, 

 is tlio kiiiil of mishinush most usually seen in tho markets ; we could seldom ])rocuro the 



entire fruit, and wlion we could it was rarely of tho best description. I'atchouly, tho 



favorite perfume, is olttained from an otto contained in the leaves and stem of an herb 

 which grows extensively in India, and resembling our garden sage. Its odor is the most 

 powerful of any derived from the botanic kingdom. In its pure state, it has a kind of 

 mossy or musty odor, analogous to lycopodium. Chinese or India ink is scented by some 



admixture of patchouly. Shagreen, much used, formerly, for spectacle and other cases, 



is made in Astracan. The material is the strong skin that covers the crujiper of the horse. 

 In its preparation, the roughness is produced by treading into the skin hard, round seeds, 

 which are shaken out when the skin has been dried ; it is then stained green with copper 

 filings and sal ammoniac, and the grains or warts are then rubbed down to a level with tho 

 rest of the surface, wbicli thus presents the appearance, that used so much to puzzle us, of 

 white dots on a green ground. Wliat is a billion of billions ? The number is a quad- 

 rillion, and to count it at the rate of 200 in a minute, would require all the inhabitants of 

 the globe, siipposing them to be a thousand millions, to count incessantly for 19,025,875 

 years, or more than 3,000 times the period during which the human race has been supposed 



to have been in existence. The hop pillow was formerly a popular application to produce 



sleep, one of the most active ingredients of the hop being its narcotic essential oil, which 

 gives the flower a peculiar smell. It was a great favorite with George the Third, in his sleep- 

 less fits. The line run between the United States and Canada, in accordance with the 



Ashburton Treaty, it is not generally known, cost tho labor of three hundred men for eighteen 

 months. For three hundred miles, a path was cut through the forest, thirty feet wide, and 

 cleared of all trees. At the end of every mile is a cast iron pillar, painted white, square, 

 and four feet out of the ground, and bearing, in raised letters, on its sides the date and the 



names of tho commissioners who ran the line. Arago has left us this important diction : 



" Whatever may be the progress of the sciences, never will observers who are trustworthy 

 and careful of their reputation, venture to foretell the state of the weather." It is best, there- 

 fore, when asked if you are weatherwise, to say : " No ; otherwise !" A tunnel through 



the earth from England to New Zealand, would be nearly eight thousand miles long. 



There is just now a perfect fury among collectors for majolica ware ; it was made in Italy, 

 though originally in Majorca, and the best belongs to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 

 Raphael is supposed to have painted some of it, and his pupils more. A Mr. Bernal set the 

 fashion of collecting it ; his collection contained about four hundred pieces, which cost him 



less than $5,000, but realized, at his late sale, $35,000. The great Pyramid of Gizeh, it 



has been calculated, could not now be built for less than a hundred and fifty millions of 



dollars. "The acquisition of the language of botany, the technical terms employed, is 



generally considered," says Dr. Darlington, "a formidable affair." He does not recommend 

 learning a parcel of uncouth terms, without comprehending the objects to which they are 

 applied, but rather to look at the objects, and examine their structure : their organs must 

 have a name', and these, once acquired, are no more burdensome, but an acquisition. It 

 might be dull work to take iip a Directory, and commit to memory the names of the inhabi- 

 tants of a city, but if we go among them, and form some interesting acquaintances, we find 

 no difficulty in learning the names of our friends. Thus, we ought never to waste our time 

 in learning mere names apart from objects ; the study of names and things should always go 

 together. As soon as we know a plant or tree, we feel a little affection for it ; to a new ac- 

 quaintance, there is the formality to be undergone of an introduction ; in botany, thus, we 



are continually acquiring new friends. The evident mode of getting rid of annual weeds 



gardens and farms, is not to let them ripen their seeds ; this is done by keeping the ground 

 or ploughed for a year or two, as well to prevent a new crop as to promote the vege- 



