241 



Cinchona. — It is claimed that a new variety of ciiiclioii a tree, of su- 

 perior value, has been origiuated in India. Kecently plants, eight feet 

 high, of the new, and of the common species, raised on the Neilgherrj 

 plantations, were analyzed, with the following results : The new yielded 

 of quinine, 7 parts; of alkaloid, 11.50; the common, of quinine, 2.43 ; of 

 alkaloid, 4.52. 



Percentage of cream as affected ey temperature. — Mr. 0. 

 Schermerhorn, supervisor of a cheese factory at Derl)yshire, England, 

 took a certain quantity of average milk — dipping it from vats in which 

 milk was mixed — and set it in a cream-gauge daily from April 1 to Oc- 

 tober 31. For Ai)ril the average percentage of cream was lO.OG ; May, 

 9.D31; June, 8.75 ; July, 8.253; August, 9.12 ; yeptember, 10.875 ; Oc- 

 tober, J2.49. It will be observed that the average of cream diminished 

 as the average temperature rose, and vice versc^. Mr. Scherinerhorn 

 also found like results attending the daily rise and fidl of the thermom- 

 eter, the hottest days yielding the smallest percentage of cream. 



Keav Zealand flax. — ^Ir. A. Carr, of Oarbondale, Pennsylvania, 

 who for some years resided in New Zealand and gave special attention 

 to the variety of flax cultivated in that island, thinks it could be profit- 

 ably produced in this country. The dressed fiber commands the pres- 

 ent year in the English market £25 per ton, and in New York cents 

 per pound in gold. It can be used as a substitute in all products manu- 

 factured from the common variety, as linen, cordage, paper, &c., and is 

 extensively used for stufling chairs, mattresses, &c., being as suitable 

 and durable for that purpose as horse-hair. 



Diversity in Southern INDUSTE,\^ — The corresponding secretary 

 of the Pioneer Agricultural Society of Halifax, North Carolina, observes 

 that the practice of raising large cotton crops to the neglect of other 

 farm products sufficiently accounts for the extensive wastes which so 

 frequently meet the eye, covered with second growth pines and cut up 

 by gullies. He states that the people are waking up to this fact, and, 

 so far as their shattered resources admit, are beginning to practice mixed 

 husbandry and rotation in crops. With reference to the same subject, 

 Mr. E. A. Crandall, of Oxford, Alabama, writes : 



We are wounded and bruised, and must have mollifyin;; ointment to eft'act a cure ; 

 this of the tiller as well as of the soil. Not at once cau it be expected of us, but 

 j!;radually it is to be hoped we may be induced to work ourselves into that more eu- 

 lightened and rational path, embracing all the various branches of industry and lead- 

 ing to better methods, wherein lies more certain success, not for the South only, but 

 equally for our whole, unsectional, undivided country. 



Mr. Richard H. Day, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, writes : 



The South wants labor, capital, and diversified industry. The latter will eventually 

 bring the two former. Heretofore tbe cultivation of cane and cotton hiive monopo- 

 lized the entire attention of our people. The folly of the system is beginning to be 

 understood, and other crops are being cultivated. It is now demonstrated that in this 

 latitude apples, pears, peaches, and, indeed, almost any fruit, can be successfully raised. 

 With proper attention good crops of corn may be raised. I have been raising corn ou 

 a few acres consecutively since 1857, and every year increasing the yield without com- 

 mercial fertilizers. This year the yield was over oue hundred bushels to the acre. 



Mr. H. Tatwiler, of Havana, Alabama, thinks that the salvation of 

 the South depends largely on the introduction of cereals and grasses. 

 '^' It will take time for our planters to get over their antipathy to grass — 

 a thing they have been fighting all their lives ; but nothing else will 

 meet our deficient supply of labor." 



Cost of labor in the South. — Mr. H. Hammond, of Augusta, 

 Creorgia, writes : 



