498 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



ANOTHER FLOATING ISLAND. 



The New York State Mechanic, after giving 

 Bome account of the floating island in Derweni 

 Lake, near Keswick, in England; matches ii with 

 one in Clinton, in the north-efi?tern corner of New 

 York. We copy what rehaed lo it. 



" Remarkable as this floating i&land may be, 

 it is sarcply more so than one of a similar descrip- 

 tion in Clinton county, in this state. Several 

 years since, Rev. J. W. B. Wood, a gfinileman 

 of an inquiring turn of mind, and then residing not 

 many miles distant, made a visit to the spot, and 

 his account was published in the Christian Advo- 

 cate and Journal, of New Yoik ciiy. 



" The lake in which the island is found lies 

 in a deep gorge or rotten gulf of high table moun- 

 tains, equally noted through the surrounding coun- 

 try lor its '■ huckleberries" and its rattlesnakes, 

 and called tlie Flat Rock. The wa'er of this lake 

 is very deep, and the island difl'ers from the one 

 above described in constantly floating. In liict, a 

 number ol pines were growing on it at the time of 

 the visit of Mr. Wood, some of which were five 

 cr six inches in diameter. The surface is covered 

 with the productions peculiar to maishy grounds, 

 and though the soil is so soil that a sliarpened 

 pole may be thrust completely through, yet stray 

 cattle have been discovered on it at various times. 

 Strictly speaking, it is not an island, but a penin- 

 sula, and this will explain the af^parent inconsis- 

 tency contained in the last sentence. However, 

 that the peninsula, or island, (whatever the reader 

 may please to term it,) floats, and is disconnected 

 fi-om the bottom, is demonstraied from the fact, 

 that the wind will cause it to change iis position, 

 varying some days many rods from the preceding. 

 Were the isthmus, that acts as an anchor, severer), 

 it would undoubtedly float on, with trees for sails, 

 a complete floating island." 



SUCCESSFUL MANUFACTURE OF CORN-STALK 

 MOLASSES. 



From tlic Pliilailclpliia Public Lcflgcr. 



Mr. James L. Vaughan, of Henry coutify, 

 Tennessee, has succeeded in manufacitiring ex- 

 cellent and clear molasses from corn-stalks. A 

 letter in the Nashville Banner in relation to it, 

 says : " It is pronounced by all who have tasted 

 it far preferable to that made Irom the sugar-cane. 

 It has somewhat the appearance of honey, and 

 the more you use it, the better you like it. The 

 mill for grinding the stalks is very simple, costs 

 only six dollars, and can be made by any com- 

 mon mechanic who has ever once seen it. With 

 this mill, which would answer very well for an 

 apple mill, and which runs with two horses, he 

 produced one hundred and twenty gallons of juice 

 per day. The yield of molasses from the juice 

 as it came from the mill was as one to five. II 

 planted early, and cut in August or September, 

 Mr. Vaughan thinks about sixty gallons of mo- 

 lasses (rom each acre in corn might be obtained, 

 and perhaps more. The corn which he used was 

 planted very late in June, and a severe frost fell 

 before he finished cutting it. To this Irost, and 

 to the fact that the corn had not sufficient time to 

 mature properly, he attributes his failure in 



making sugar. Mr. Isaac Norman, the me- 

 chaiic who constructed the mill, and who had 

 ueei) an old tugar pi, inter in Georgia, says that 

 he never saw finer syrup from the sugar cane, 

 or which gave greater appearances of graining, 

 and that it did not grain must be altogether ow- 

 ing 'o the frost, which fell the day belore they 

 commenced O|.eratioi)s. Mr. Vauyhan is, how- 

 ever, highly pleased with ihe success of his ex|)e- 

 riment so far, having demonstrated conclu- 

 sively, that with a mill not costing more than 

 six dollars, every larmer in Tennessee can ma- 

 nulaciure his own molasses, and that of a supe- 

 rior (pjalily. Another year, he hopes lo add his 

 sugar aloo. It must be metiMiHied that the ' refuse 

 juice,' which is skimmed ofl' in the act of boilirii^, 

 makes a most excellent beer, and cati likewise be 

 made into excellent vinejiar." 



TIME OF RIPENING OF WHEAT ON SOUTH 

 SIDE OF JAMES RIVER, 10 MILES BELOW 

 CITY POINT. 



For the Farmer's RegistRf. 



181S. Bt^gan harvest on June 25 h. 

 1819. Began harvest on June 23d. 



1822 

 1823 



1824 

 1825 

 1826 

 1827 

 1828 

 1829 

 1831 

 1837 

 1831 

 1840 

 1841 

 1842 



Sih. 

 13!h. 

 11th. 

 lOih. 

 12th. 

 16'h. 

 12ih. 

 19ih. 

 16ih. 

 16th. 

 13ih. 



8ih. 

 21s'. 

 13ih. 



The variety of wheat principally sown was in 

 the earlier ye:iis the bearded golden chafl', and in 

 the later, the innnntain purple siraw. Since, 

 about the year 1S22, cuiiing was creiif^rally begun 

 as soon as the wlieat was well in th<» douirh siate. 

 Prior to that lime, never until the grain was 

 nearly hard. In 1826 and 1829, harvest mikdit 

 have been commenced three days sooner, but (i"r_ 

 the pressure of other work on the farm. In 1841 

 we had a very cold, wet and backward spririg, 

 which no doubt postponed the ripening o/ wheat 

 several days. 



I regret exceedingly my inabilility lo give the 

 above li^t without intertuption or omission. 



E. RuFFiN, Jr. 



EXTRACTS FROM ENGLISH CORRESPONDENCE- 

 OF ALBANY CULTIVATOR. 



I learn from Mr. Hebeler, his Prussian majes- 

 ty's consul general, that Count Howpesch, a 

 Belgian gentleman, has laken out a patent lor the 

 preparation of a manure, more powerful and 

 cheaper than any yet invented. His plan is said 

 to consist in fixing all the volatile parts of night 



