Miscellaneous Intelligence. 99 



pletely destroyed. Scotch fir-wood, employed in roofing' of houses and other 

 indoor work, treated in this manner, has stood in such situations for thirty 

 years, sound, and without the vestige of a worm. In a very few years, fir- 

 timber so employed, without such preparation, would be eaten through by 

 that insect. It might perhaps be advisable, in all timber used for ship- 

 building, to soak it for some days in lime-water.— Mr. Mcnteaih, in Edin- 

 burgh New Philosophical Journal, June, 1828. 



Transplanting Trees.— According to the method of Sir Henry Steuart, at 

 Allanton, in Lancashire, the pit for receiving the transplanted tree should be 

 opened 9 or 12 months before its reception. It is well known that in all windy 

 seasons the tree shews a weather side, that is, its branches shoot more freely 

 to that side, which is leeward during the prevailing wind, than in the oppo- 

 site direction. Sir Henry recommends strongly that the position of the tree 

 be reversed, so that the lee side where the branches are elongated, shall be 

 pointed towards the prevailing wind; and what was formerly the weather 

 side, being now turned to leeward, shall be encouraged bv its new position, 

 to shoot out in such a manner as to restore the balance and symmetry of the 

 top. And lastly, a most important deviation in the new system is, (lie total 

 disuse of the barbarous practice of pollarding or otherwise mutilating and 

 dismembering the frees which are to be transplanted. 



Indian Corn. — The French chemists have prepared excellent sugar from 

 cs.ccharine matter contained in the stem of this invaluable plant. In Ger- 

 many, Indian corn is used entirely in the fattening of pigs, for which it is 

 said to be very proper, attended with a saving of at least 15 per cent., as com- 

 pared with the iise of grain of any other description. 



Making of Butter. — The degree of thermometrical temperature at which 

 butter from cream can be obtained, ranges from 45° to 7b* of the scale of 

 Fahrenheit ; and, from the annexed experiment, it appears that the greatest 

 quantity of butter, from a given quantity of cream, is obtained at 60 degrees, 

 and the best quality at 55 degrees, in the churn, just before butter comes ; 

 for, in the experiments made, it was found that the best rose four degrees 

 during 1 the operation of churning, though the temperature of the milkhouse 

 was trie same. Repeated experiments, made at this degree of heat, gave 

 butter of the finest colour and quality, the milk being completely separated 

 from the butter, which, when washed and made up in rolls, kept for a 

 fortnight, without either acquiring smell or taste. At 60 degrees, the quan- 

 tity is greater, but the quality much inferior, being soft and spongy, and 

 giving out a considerable quantity of milk, when salt was applied, which 

 may account tor the additional weight. Several experiments were made 

 with heat, up to 75°, the result of which, completely accounts for the great 

 quantify of inferior butter made in the country. 



By taking high heats, on purpose to accelerate the churning, the milk not 

 being taken from the butter, it cannot keep either sweet or sailed. When 

 the heat exceeded 65 degrees, no washing could detach the milk from the 

 butter, without the aid of salt: but when a quantity of salt was wrought 

 well into if, and the mass allowed to stand for twenty-four hours, and then 

 taken to a well of spring water, and repeatedly washed, the milk by this 

 process was got out, and the butter resalted in good order. 



LOCAL INTELLIGENCE 

 New Settlement.— In the month of May, l*s29, His Excellency the Gover- 

 nor authorised the formation of a settlement for Hottentots on or about the 

 sources of the Cat River, a large stream situated close to the eastern frontier, 

 and running through a tract of beautiful country, with a soil in many places 

 as well adapted for cultivation, &c. as that of any part of the colony. The 

 immediate object thereof was the furnishing an opportunity to such well- 

 disposed Hottentots as might prefer becoming landholders, and procuring' 

 subsistence by the practice of cultivation and grazing instead of by servitude. - 

 The plan adopted was that of forming a number Of separate parties, each 

 under a responsible individual, and generally consisting of at least ten 

 able-bodied men with all the locations, so disposed, as that in the event of 

 necessity the whole population could be readily brought together. To 

 become a member of the settlement the only qualifications required were and 

 are, respectability of character and an avowal of a determination to conform 



