93 



ing )nac]iines, suffar-inills, liorsc-powers, steam-engines, &c., 89 were 

 from the United States, embracing the firms of Collins & Co., Hartford, 

 Connecticut; the Ames Plow Company, Nourse, Mason & Co., and Page 

 & Son, Boston; John Moore, Geo. M. Sergeant, Treadwell & Co., Fords 

 & Howe, F. Nishwitz, A. Piatt & Co., Goodwin & Son, W. A. Wood, 

 Sheble & Fisher, and A. Jack & Sons, of New York ; and others. The 

 sugar-mills, horse-powers, and locomotive steam-engines were prominent 

 among the articles exhibited from England. 



To DESTROY DISEASE GERMS IN CLOTHING. — For this purpose the 

 beds and clothing from the scarletina patients, at the sanitaria of large 

 institutions in England, have been baked at a high temperature. Ee- 

 searches seem to show that the miasm is not destroj'ed by the heat of 

 the disinfecting chambers; also that steeping the patient's clothing, 

 before washing, in a strong solution of bleaching powder frequently in- 

 jures it. To obviate these objections. Dr. Calvert, who has devoted 

 much attention to the study of disinfectants, and sanitary chemistry 

 generally, recommends a dilute solution of carbolic acid. It is easy to 

 mix, profectly soluble, has no injurious action upon fabrics in the diluted 

 state, and the editor of the London Microscopical Journal thinks it will 

 insure the complete destruction of any of the lower organisms. 



Cinchona. — The British government has established a Cinchona 

 plantation at St. Helena, at an elevation of 2600 feet above the sea. 

 The London Journal of Botany states that there are now nearly one thou- 

 sand trees, in a fine healthy condition, the tallest between 7 and 8 feet 

 above the ground. The nature of the land forming the plantation is 

 very steep and rugged. The entire cost of the trees, exclusive of the 

 suiierintendent's salary, is about $1 50 each. Plantations of pines and 

 other valuable timber trees have also been established, and efforts are 

 making to introduce the cultivation of tobacco and guinea hemp, 

 fSanciera guineensisj the latter valuable for its fiber. The superin- 

 tendent is training up a number of appreiitices with a view to their 

 being ultimately useful in the island, where the arts of horticulture and 

 arboriculture have been much neglected. 



Sheep-huseandry in Pennsylvania. — Mr. J. S. Elder, of Darling- 

 ton, Beaver County, complains that farmers in that region are pursuing 

 the old routine in lite-stock husbandry, buying at high prices and selling 

 out at low prices in a panic. Because sheep-men last fall made the most 

 money all live-stock enterpise is now directed toward sheep. Cattle and 

 hogs are down. Mr. Elder describes a disease ambng sheep called the 

 " poll disease," as destructive as the hoof-rot. In two seasons he lost 

 his entire flock of 180. 



Wheat-seed in Wisconsin. — Mr. George B. Kidder, president of 

 the Star Prairie Farmers' Club, says : 



The same kiud of seed wliicli we sowed in this vicinity eiglit years ago wonld pro- 

 duce, on new land, from 25 to 30 bushels per acre, while now the same seed sown on 

 new land will not produce more than 10 to 15 bushels per acre. The variety sown 

 here for the last ten years is the Scotch Fife wheat. I have no doubt that the largest 

 heads might have been gathered each season for eight or ten jea,vs, and thereby have 

 improved the seed the same as potatoes or corn can be improved. I have picked the 

 best ears, and those which got ripe the earliest, for several years, and have, thereby, 

 imjiroved mj^ seed and made ray corn from ten to hfteen days earlier ; and I think the 

 same can be said of any kind of gi'ain or vegetable. 



Eamie cleaning machinery. — Mr. T. H. Murphy, of New Orleans, 

 Louisiana, claims to have "invented machinery that can be worked in 



