pride has inspired with ambition to have it said 

 that be excels in what he does undertake ? In 

 a word, is there an air of neatness and cleanli- 

 ness about his homestead, and exact and perfect 

 culture in his field to show that thought has 

 drained his own mind of sloth and ignorance, 

 and reading and reflection on the why and the 

 whez'efore of everything that is done, let in upon 

 his soul the light of agricultural discovery and 

 the genial warmth of virtuous and useful know- 

 ledge, in which, after all, is the only true glory 

 to be found ? or, does the absence of all these 

 features in the aspect of the country, betray, 

 along the line in question, the presence of a 

 population too much given up to indolence of 

 mind and body, and the party purposes of party 

 backs — consuming time, the most precious of all 

 things, in the vain retrospect o better times, or 

 the debasing pursuit of petty offices, without 

 education, or the moral courage which proper 

 education only can give, to look existing diffi- 

 culties in the face, and at once set about the 

 work of reform, or abandon at once, fields of 

 profitless labor, that no degrees of knowledge 

 and industrj- can reclaim and fructify ? Trying 

 the country which falls under th^eye of the 

 stranger on his way from Aquia Creek to ^Vil- 

 mington, N. C. by these tests, and the painful 

 conviction strikes you that there is some spell 

 resting upon it. Try it by the census as the 

 measure of national progress, and that conclusion 

 is but too well confirmed. On one farm there 

 were signs of an enterprising owner : the fences 

 were in order and a great quantity of barnyard 

 manure had been made and hauled out for the 

 ensuing crop ; and some miles, again, before 

 you get to Richmond, on the larboard hand, 

 there is a farm in nice order : the plowing had 

 been early and well done ; the soil was well 

 pulverized and the water furrows virere skill- 

 fully and well opened to drain the land. Some 

 passenger said it belonged to a Mr. Lyon, and I 

 could not help wishing that such Lions could 

 be found standing in the path of young agricul- 

 turists, here and there, throughout the country. 

 Approaching Petersburg, again, on the same 

 side of the railroad, you find an oasis in the 

 desert, in the handsome residence of a Mr. Dun- 

 lop, a Scotch gentleman '• of that ilk." A planta- 

 tion of beautiful shade-trees ornament an expan. 

 sive lawn around his mansion, and a handsome 

 graveled, pathway conducts to a neat spring- 

 hou.se, which you may easily fancy is well stored 

 with rich milk and nice butter for breakfast, to 

 be enjoyed in the shade of his ample piazzas at 

 this season. I would hazard any thing at a ven- 

 ture that both these gentlemen are readers of 

 Bott's Southern Planter. 



Viator. 



P. S. — Observe, I have not been speaking of 

 farms off the road — such as Mr. Wellford's, near 

 (1133) '.i.-i 



Fredericksburg, or the great com plantations of 

 the Taylors, or the Tayloes, on the Rappahan- 

 nock, or the wheat farms such as Hill Carter's 

 and Bowling's, on the James River, where in- 

 tellect of a high order combines humanity with 

 strict discipline, and gives to labor and capital 

 their most skillful direction. Of these I have 

 seen a little and heard the most honorable re- 

 ports, and hope to be able to speak more at 

 large, some day, on personal observation. 



CASK MAKING BY MACHINKRY. 



Considerable sums of money have at various 

 times been expended in trying to bring to per- 

 fection machinery for making casks, but herfito- 

 fore this object has been unattained, some parts 

 always having to be finished by manual labor. 

 A very ingeniously con.structed machine (which 

 we have had an opportunity of inspecting) has 

 at last, however, been constructed by Mr. \V. 

 Wild, of Bedford-street, Broughton-road. The 

 lags or staves, hoops, and heads, are, in the first 

 instance, dres.sed off by other machinery, which 

 is being constructed for the purpose ; afterward 

 the finishing machine is fed with the previously 

 prepared heads, hoops, and staves, and will in 

 two minutes' time turn out a complete barrel, 

 va.stly superior in workmanship to \%hat has 

 hitiierto been efiected by manual labor. Old 

 barrels can also as easily be repaired by the 

 same machine, the only difference in time being 

 occupied in the taking to pieces of the old bar- 

 rels previously- to substituting such fre.sh staves, 

 heads, or hoops, as may be required previously 

 to feeding the machine. The barrels, when 

 completed, are vastly superior to any heretofore 

 turned out by manual labor, the machine fitting 

 each stave as close as though the whole barrel 

 had been formed of one piece of timber — thus 

 doing away with the necessity, when made by 

 hand, of filling up any defects with rushes; 

 which plan, it is well known, has the effect of 

 rendering casks very foul, unless extraordinary 

 care be taken, and consequently much time is 

 occupied in thoroughly cleansing them. 



[Manchester (Eng.) Courier. 



WouU not this inventor find a great field for 

 his machine in the rice region of the U. States, 

 where so many casks are needed — where tim- 

 ber is so cheap, and labor so dear ? A rice cask 

 holds about 9 or 10 bushels ; and the "task" for 

 a man, with the staves and hoops at hand, is to 

 set up three in a day. [Ed. Farm. Lib. 



To Exterminate Beetles. — Place a few 

 lumps of unslaked lime where they frequent; 

 or set a dish or trap, containing a little beer or 

 syrup, at the bottom, and place a few sticks 

 slanting against its sides, so as to form a sort of 

 gangway for the beetles to climb up by, when 

 they will go headlong into the bait set for them. 

 Another plan : mi.x equal weights of red lead, 

 sugar, and flour, and place it nightly near their 

 haunts This last mixture made into sheets, forms 

 the beetle-wafers, sold at the oil shops 



[Cooley's Cyclo. of Practical Receipts. 



