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F A Jl M E R S ' REGISTER 



89 



iiumid than would be inferred from their latitudes 

 alone. In a voyage to New Zealand in 1814-15, 

 by John Liddiard ^Nicholas, Esq. and Rev. Sa- 

 muel Marsden, they say, in speaking oftlie Bay of 

 Islands, laf. 25'-' S. "The climate was so salu- 

 lirious and inviting, that even in the d(>plh of win- 

 Mr no other change was perceptible than a ihw 

 refreshing showers, which jjrave mellow and ver- 

 nal softness to the fields, while no sudden or vio- 

 lent transitions ever disturbed the serenity of the 

 mild atmosphere." yVgain, on their excursions 

 into the interior of the "Northern Island, they re- j 

 Tuark, " there was one feature of the country j 

 \vhich every where struck us w;lh admiration; and ! 

 tiMtwasthe fine rich verdure of the landscape I 

 wherever we turned our eyes, and wliich gave us 

 at the same time a high opinion of the genial in- 

 fluence of the climate. In 'Hawkesworth's V^oy- 

 ages,' v. 3, p. 34, it is said, "From the vegetables 

 found here, there is reason to conclude tliat the 

 winters are milder than those of England; and vve 

 found the summer not hotter, though more equally 

 warm. Of mosquitoes and sand-Mies, a lew were 

 found in almost every place where we went 

 ashore." In another place, it is observed that the 

 English vegetables left by Cook on his first voy- 

 age, continued to proparrate themselves, alihongh 

 many of them were too tender to survive a winter 

 in the open air of England. The character of 

 vegetation also confirms my opinions. Many New 

 Zealand plants are such as are found within the 

 tropics or on their borders. The shores in many 

 parts are beset with mangroves; the interior is 

 covered with arborescent flirns, and in many parts 

 the woods are so overrun with supplejacks, that it 

 is scarcely possible to force one's way amonij 

 them. Among the trees, were obs^^rved two or 

 three kinds of lern like those of the West Indies. 

 Al Norfolk Island, where a sort of spruce pine 

 'trees are very larnje and very abundant, cabbage 

 palms, of 10 to 20 i'eet high, are also a spontane- 

 ous growth; and here the fiax lilly is still more 

 luxuriant than in New Zealand. In New South 

 Wales they ffive a decided preference to the flax 

 lilly of Norfolk Island both for quantity and quality. 



JBut in both islands, whether in pine forests or 



undulating savannahs, whether on theseaeoast or 



in the inferior, on hills or in valleys, the flax lilly 



flourishes in the greatest proflision, as well in the 



■ most exposed, as in the most sheltered situations. 



Enough, however, I trust, has been said to 

 prove that this flax lilly can be propagated easily, 

 at least throughout all Florida, and probably 

 throughout all our southern and south-western 

 states. As the fi Mds of France already furnish lil- 

 ly flax enough to afford employni'^nt in manufiic- 

 tories to several thousand workmen, it may be an- 

 ticipated that the forests of Florida will furnish 

 soon flax lilly leaves enough to employ a mdlion 

 of family manufacturers. 



Henry Piurrtxe. 

 Washington, D. C, Idth Feb., 1838. 



that bachelors are less long-lived than married 

 men. Hufeland and Dcparcieux were of this 

 opinion; and Voltaire observed that there were 

 more suicides among those who had not given 

 hostages to fortune, than among those who had. 

 Odier, however, was the first who set on loot the 

 inquiry with exactitude, and he found (Hibl. Rri- 

 laiuiique, 1814) that, in the case of fiMuales, the 

 mean duration of life for the married women of 

 25, was about 36 years; while lor the unmarried it 

 was about 30^. At 30 there was a difference 

 of four years in favor of the married; and at 35 

 two years, and so on. It may be said, perhaps, 

 that married females ought to be considered as 

 picked lives; but, as Dr. "Casper observes, this is 

 liirfrom being generally the case, especially in the 

 middle and upper classes of society; it is chiefly 

 among the lower orders, where a livelihood is 

 procured by labor, that importance is attached to 

 the bodily health and vigor of the fijmale. With 

 retrard to men, we gather from Deparcieux's and 

 the Amsterdam tables, that the mortality of those 

 iVom 30 to 45 years of age, is 27 per cent, for the 

 unmarried, wliile it is but IS for the married; and 

 that for 41 bachelors who attam the age of 40, 

 there are 78 married men. The difference be- 

 comes still more striking as age advances; at the 

 aire of 60 there are but 22 unmarried men alive for 

 48 married; at 70, 11 bachelors f)r 27 married 

 men; and at SO, for the three bachelors who may 

 chance to be alive, there are 9 benedicts. The 

 same proportion very near holds good with re- 

 spect to the fiemale sex; 72 married women, for ex- 

 ample, attain the age of 45, while only 52 unmar- 

 ried reach the same term of life. Mr. Casper, in 

 conclusion, considers the point as now incontesta- 

 bly settled, that, in both sexes, marriage is condu- 

 cive to longevity. 



THE CLEXDING OF WINE, SILK AND DAIRY 

 ESTABLISHMENTS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



jBrinkleyville, 



FJaUfax Co., N. C. 

 March 16, 1838. 



From the Journal of Ajrricultiirc. 

 THE BIARRIED AND UNMARRI .i?.}. 



Some very curious facts on the subject of mar- 

 riage, as connected with longevitv, are stated by 

 J)r. Casper, in a paper of his, lately published at 

 Berlin. It had been long ago vaguely asserted. 

 Vol. Vi-12 



Having reason to believe it not contrar}' to the 

 wishes of the writer, I send you, and offer for pub- 

 lication, a letter I received Ijy our last weekly 

 mail li-om N. Herbemont, Esq. of Columbia, S. 

 Carolina; a gentleman, long known by the inlelii- 

 irent American public, as a zealous promoter, by 

 his pen and example, of agriculture in general, as 

 well as of the wine culture in particular. I beg 

 leave, however, to accompany the publicity of this 

 letter with a passing remark or two on some of the 

 topics noticed therein. 



As to honoring my name by conferring it on 

 the kind of grape I have been instrumental in 

 bringing into notice, I consider the doing of this 

 rather premature, to say the least of it. The pe- 

 culiar excellencies of this grape may be merely 

 local. In our locality, it has amply proved itself 

 to be as I have described. And it is the opinion 

 of all intelligent visitors lo my vineyard, who have 

 seen it, partaken of" its fruit, and judged of the 

 wines thereliom, that it will prove a first rate kind 

 lor our country in general. But this remains to 

 be tested by experience, the only infallible crite- 



