213 



/ 



nence ; but owing- to its hig'li price, and the diflSciilty and expense of 

 bleaching it, it has not been em])loyed in so many aiiplications as its 

 strength and other qnalities warrant. Tlie ])rincipal difficnlty in making 

 a profitable nse of it has been from the tenacity of the gnm which 

 envelops the libers. This, according to a late vrriter, consists of three 

 distinct snbstances: first, an actual gum, found only on the upper 

 leaves and near their bases, and readily dissolved by boiling water, or 

 removable by mechanical means ; second, a bitter principle, which it is 

 suggested may be used as a dye or stain for wood, and a mucilage, both 

 easily extracted ; and third, a kind of cement, only to be removed by 

 boiling water and alkali, and upon the retention of which the strength 

 of the fibers depends. 



ITEMS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. 



Palace stock cars. — The first train of palace stock cars from the 

 West to the East passed over the Pennsylvania Railroad and its western 

 connections about the 1st of May. The event is of general interest, in 

 its humanitarian as well as economic aspect. The train consisted 

 of eleven cars, containing one hundred and seventy-two head of cattle. 

 The cars are arranged for holding sixteen head each, with separate 

 stalls connected by gates, which are closed as soon as an ox gets his 

 place. These stalls are readily adjustable to the size of the animal, so 

 as to afford ample room for lying down and rising up. A comfortable 

 bed of shavings is strewn over the bottom. At the top of each car is a 

 feed-box, with canvas spouts, which communicate with the feed-basins 

 underneath ; also a water tank. By this arrangement the cattle can be 

 fed and watered during the transit without unshipping*. The cars are 

 about eight feet longer than ordinary stock cars, and there is ample 

 room to prevent the animals from being bruised or jarred. Underneath 

 are the passenger car trucks, with elliptical spring and swinging bar. 

 It is the intention to have stock trains of the above description to run 

 from St. Louis to I>few York in ninety-six hours. Under the old plan, tea 

 days were often consunuul in making the trip, and the discomfort to 

 cattle and shrinkage in their weight were very great. 



IjVEVIIGRation to the southern states. — The policy of dividing 

 the large lauded estates of the South into small farms, and inviting 

 industrious and order-loving farmers to jKirchase them and mak«i their 

 homes upon them, is making some jirogress in that section. Rapid 

 increase in production, material improvement, and accumulation depend 

 upon its more general adoption. A late number of the Natchitoclies 

 (Louisiana) Times says that, during the preceding week or two, some ot 

 the largest land-owners of that vicinity liave been quietly talking over 

 certain plans to induce immigration to the parish. The basis is a sub- 

 division of large tracts of land into snuill farms of forty acres or more, 

 and the sale to actual settlers of alterimte lots, at low prices, and on 

 long credit, or even the donation of every third or fourth lot to indus- 

 trious families from abroad, whose success might induce their friends 

 to purchase the intervening farms. The Times ijrefers immigrants 

 from France, Louisiana being originally a French settlement, and still 

 coutiuuing to be largely French in many of its social, religious, and 

 political features, and favors especially the organization of a plan to 

 induce the farmers and mechanics of Alsace and Lorraine to occupy 



