» 



430 editor's TABLE. 



of soups, and a trial of roast pork, roast mutton, roast beef. Between each trial, the Jurors 

 ate fish, fowls, sweet breads, and vegetables, so that history will be a])t to record that the 

 judges had rather a large dinner. It seems to us a sensible iiroceeding thus to enter into the 

 facts as regards the utility and nourishing qualities rather than the mere fatness ; and to 

 such trials must our great fairs come at last. 



Hovby's Magazine for August, contains an excellent article on the gathering and keeping 

 of early pears, in which it is said that no summer pear should be allowed to ripen on the 

 tree. The fruit, as soon as it has attained its growth, should be picked ; this may be ascer- 

 tained by the change which takes place in the appearance of the fruit. Some of the de- 

 fective specimens will turn yellow and drop, while the others will assume a smoother and 

 paler surface ; the coloring on the sunny side will be brighter, and the stem will become 

 swollen, particularly at the junction with the tree. These indicate that the period of ma- 

 turity is approaching, and the fruit may be gathered and ripened. 



Native Grape-Vfxes. — The Commissioner of Patents has sent an agent to Arkansas and 

 Texas, and the neighboring Territories, to select cuttings of the native grape-vines, and 

 gather information relative to their adaptation to the soil and climate of other parts of the 

 United States. 



Accurate expebimexts have been made in Illinois, to test the comparative value of timothy 

 and clover hay. The experiments were carried on for two years, and the results were that 

 the clover hay uniformly yielded ten per cent, more milk than the timothy. 



Silk from a New Source. — It is seriously asserted in the Trieste Zeitung, that M. Cavez- 

 zali, of Lodi, has succeeded in procuring silk from mulberry leaves. The silkworm is 

 henceforth to remain undisturbed in what Gibbon calls its "golden tomb;" and that may 

 prove sober fact which Waller wrote as a flight of fancy : that " without the worm, in Per- 

 sian silks we shine." 



A New Invention has been brought forward at Marseilles, France, for preparing flour by a 

 chemical process, a great deal finer than by grinding. A sample of the flour has been sent 

 to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, to report upon. 



The State of Ohio counts among her honors that she opened the first female college ; in- 

 troduced, or, rather, created the culture of the grape in America; discovered the true 

 method of taking, magnetically, the ascension and declension of stars ; invented the steam 

 fire-engine ; and gave birth to a noble series of painters, poets, sculptors, and men of science. 



Sulphur. — A correspondent calls attention to the subject of the use of sulphur for the 

 cure of the European vine disease, and requests the publication of the following from the 

 London Times, just received : " The French Society d' Encouragement pour V Industrie Nationale 

 has reported to the French Government that the i)rize of 10,000f. offered by the French 

 Government in conjunction with the Society, is jointly duo, 1st, to Mr. Kyle, an English 

 horticulturist, who first applied sulphur to this purpose in 1848 ; 2d, to M. Duchartre, Pro- 

 fessor of Agronomy at Versailles, who first introduced the method in France ; 3d, to M. 

 Gontier, a horticulturist at Montrouge, near Paris, who was the first to apply it on a large 

 scale ; and 4th, to M. Henry Mares, Secretary to the Society of Agriculture of the Depart- 

 ment of the Herault, who, by numerous experiments, has proved the superiority of sulpl 

 over all other agents previously tried, and pointed out the surest and most economic 



