Joamal of 'Agriculture have no small part of 

 their value in their tendency to awaken inquiry 

 into customs, of however long standing they 

 may be, and to stimulate society to decide their 

 value not by antiquity of custom, but by tested 

 utilitj' and confonnity to the laws of Nature. 



We may also extend these observations, and 

 ■with even more propriety apply them to Bams. 

 If a Barn is built, as it always ought to be, with 

 two wings and an intervening space for thresh- 

 ing-floor, at least ten feet wide, all under the 

 same roof, and placed lengthwise, as recom- 

 mended for the Dwelling-House, •wiud-miUs 

 would become little more than an incumbrance. 

 If, again, placed on sloping ground, the south- 

 east exposure would afford to stock a like shel- 

 ter from the winter blasts as promised above to 

 the human. William Darby. 



■• L' AP..T DU MAIL.UCHER." 

 Extract of a letter to the Editor. 



•' There is a subject, entirely new in this coun- 

 trj-. well worthy of investigation, if you could 

 get hold of a book on the subject ' L' Art du 

 Maraicker.' You will better understand it by 

 analyzing the word ' Maraicker : ' marai means 

 marsh, or s%vamp ; cher means dear. 



" I have seen it practiced in France, without 

 payine much attention to it. It is, however, a 

 systern of cultivating vegetables based upon 

 large supplies of water ; and this water is al- 

 ways obtained fi-om wells by means of horse- 

 power, driven by one horse. You can imagine 

 what a fat, rich soil would do for us if always 

 moist, when the thermometer ranges from 80 

 to 100, as it usually does here in summer. 



" In Entrlaud and France, owing to more 

 moisture, tliey greatly excel us in the produc- 

 tion of vegetables. Give us the moisture, and 

 with our hot sun we can greatly surpass them. 

 Near Paris, the horse that draws the water does 

 all the other work about a vegetable garden. 



" You w ant a paper on tlie cultivation of 

 Uquorice. Lar?e quantities of it are reared in 

 France in tlie latitude of Paris and fartlier south. 

 You might loam something of it in New-York 

 from the large dma-gists.' That used in this 

 countrj- is, I think, all imported. 



" Jrrisafion is another subject of great import- 

 ance. In Italy the subject is so important, and 

 the practice so universal as to require separate 

 and special legislation. The day may be re- 

 mote, but we will get to it eventually in this 

 country. F. G. S. ' 



Notes cj the above. — There is, indeed, 

 Toom for inquiry and need for infonnation about 

 Liquorice. "VV^e import it all ; and if it were 

 not the product o{ agricultural labor, the home 

 growth of it would doubtless be well protected ; 

 but farmers are the last of all classes to look af 

 ter their particular interests and to see that they 

 are provided for in the legislation of the coun- 

 try. Their Representatives are, for the most 

 part, small politicians who regard their place in 

 Congress as an office, in itself if they happen to 

 be ill th<; minority ; and if of the dominant party, 

 then thev use it as a utepping-stoue to office for 

 (890) 



themselves, or as affording them something to 

 give in exchange for Executive favors to their 

 families and friends. As populariti/, not the 

 permanent public interest, is, for the most part, 

 the tjuestion with them, the only way to insure 

 broad-bottomed, enlightened legislation, based 

 on the welfare and true glory of the country, is 

 to have an educated, enlighfened constiivency. 

 But how is that to be obtained ? The dear peo- 

 ple will submit to taxes, and pay any thing that 

 is demanded of them for m ilitary institutions 

 and insti'uction ; they will go down on their 

 knees the more conveniently to take up that 

 burden, under the charm of the dram and fife ! 

 But, with all their instinctive apprehension of 

 what is popular, of what will "please the peo- 

 ple," do you ever see a Congressman proposing 

 money or voting money for any road but a 

 military road — for any school but a rn ilitary 

 school ? Oh no, not he ! He knows too well 

 what will " go down at home " — what will 

 please in Buncombe. 



Liquorice root is sold in New- York for five 

 cents a pound ; the extract is fifteen cents. The 

 chief supply is from Marseilles ; the best from 

 Spain — hence the famous '-Spanish Liquorice." 

 "We wi.sh our coiTespondent had the books, or 

 that we had the time to look farther into this 

 matter. 



For Irrigation and Water Mcadmrs. — We 

 indicated our estimate of the importance of these 

 subjects in an early number ; and on page 463 

 (this month's issue) will be found an article on 

 Flooding Meadows. But these processes are 

 very expensive where labor is so dear.- 

 Yet, there are thousands of .streams of water 

 that might be used with great advantage and 

 profit, that are now unused. We have as much 

 of what we esteem to be very valuable matter, 

 as will fill the March and April numbers ; but 

 all printed and selected articles are liable, be- 

 fore they are in tjpe, to be superseded by ori- 

 ginal comrounications, and even to be post- 

 poned after they are in type, where circum- 

 stances require it. We solicit and give prefer- 

 ence to original correspondence on subjects de- 

 cidedlv new and important ; but we do not 

 wish to tax our readers with pages of mere 

 twaddle — old details reproduced; old stories 

 vamped up, and stale subjects revived, or hum- 

 bugs, such as " calico-com," that serve, like 

 June-bugs tied by the leg, to amuse, for the mo- 

 ment, men w'ho " are but children of a larger 

 growth.' [-K<i- Farm. Lib. 



Indian Cure for the Rore Throat.— 

 Three or four salt-water clams split and bound 

 round the neck wher swollen and inflamed, 



■ with a cloth, will effectually cure this disease. 



I The clams lo ke renewed every four or five 



' hoars. 



