should at once found a national experimental farm and garden, and place them in charge of 

 men competent to direct and manage them in such a way as to be not only useful but cred- 

 itable to the country. Until this is done, the people should protest against money being 

 foolishly squandered, as it has been for a number of years. Why will not the agricultural 

 press take up this matter and agitate it thoroughly. "We clip the following items from 

 "Washington papers : 



"The Cork Tree. — About a hogshead of acorns of the Cork Oak have been introduced from the 

 south of Europe and distributed in the Middle and Southern States for experiment, or to test their 

 adaptation to the climate. This tree, in its native country, where it is an evergreen, usually 

 grows to a height of twenty or thirty feet: but in England there are specimens which exceed 

 fifty feet in height, with a diameter of more than three feet. The substance familiarly known to 

 U3 as Cork, is the epidermis or outer bark, and sometimes grows two or three inches thick. Should 

 the experiment succeed, it will be a subject of great national importance that plantations should 

 be established in various parts of the countiy for the purpose of growing this useful substance, par- 

 ticularly in the event of a war between this counti-y and Europe, in consequence of which the 

 supply would be cut off." 



The JYational Intelligencer, reasoning upon the above paragraph in the Washington 

 Union, arrives at the following conclusion : 



"The Government is sensible how great an inconvenience it would be to the country to have 

 its supply of Corks cut off by a foreign war. Spain is the country from which we are chiefly sup- 

 plied, and as Spain is the country with which we are most likely to be involved, it is proper, as 

 well on the general principle of national independence as for the particular emergency, that we 

 should be rendered independent of importation by naturalizing the tree in our own country ; and 

 thus this large judicious importation of the Cork tree acorns. Further — the Cork Oak {Quercus 

 suber) does not attain its growth, so as to mature its cortex, in less than forty or fifty years ; and 

 we argue, therefore, that, as the Government is providing by the planting of the tree for the 

 interruption which a Spanish war will cause in our supply of Corks, the President does not expect 

 war to ensue much before our exotic trees shall come to maturity — namely, fifty years." 



New Oil Plant. — This small tree {Castiglionia lobata), known in Peru under the name of P'lnon- 

 cello, and cultivated about Surco, Huacho, and Sambageque, al^o growing wild in great abundance 

 in those regions, it has been ascertained yields a valuable oil well adapted to the purposes of 

 illumination. Its bean-like fruit, or seeds, when roasted, have an agreeable flavor, preferable to 

 that of the Olive. When eaten raw, the etherial oil generated between the kernel and the outer 

 skin is a strong cathartic, the effects of which can only be counteracted by drinking cold water. 

 It has been ascertained that the seeds will grow in Baltimore; and, doubtless plantations of this 

 tree might be formed in many parts of the South, from which vast quantities of oil might be pro- 

 duced, and thus add another link to the great chain of our national wealth. We understand that 

 the Patent Office has taken measures to procure some of the seeds of this tree for trial in the South 

 and Southwest — Washington Union, May lOth. 



Agricultural Division of the Patent Office — Cuttings of the Prune. — Tliere have recently 

 been imported from France the cuttings of several varieties of the Prune, which have been dis- 

 tributed in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Northern New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minne- 

 sota, and several points on the Alleghany mountains, to be engrafted on the common Plum ti'ee. 

 Why these places have been selected, is in consequence of the absence of, or comparatively few, 

 Curculios in these regions. In most other parts of the United States, this insect is a great bane to 

 the Plum trees, and often cuts off the entire crop. From the coolness of the climate in Maine, 

 most entire absence of this insect, it is the opinion of good judges tliat this State is 

 producing a sufficient quantity of Prunes for the whole consumption of the Union. 



