will lay in a box. Egg-shells coiilain litiie, niul 

 when in winier tlie earth is hound in I'vot-t, or cov- 

 ered wiih snow, if lime he not (iiovided lor thetii, 

 they will not lay; or if they do, the e^rys ot ne- 

 cessity must he without shells. Old ruhhish lime 

 from chimneys ami old hiiildin;;s is proper Cor 

 them, tind ofdy need to he hroken. 'I'liey will 

 often attempt to swallow pieces of lime and plas- 

 ter as lar<>e us walmit.s. The sinijing hen will 

 certaiidy lay e^'gs il' she find all things ajireeahle 

 to her, hut the hen is so much a prude — as wutcli- 

 Inl as a wenzel, and fasliilious as a hypocrite — she 

 timst, she will have secrecy and mystery ahout 

 her nest. All eyes hut her own must he averted. 

 Follow or watch her and she will forsake her 

 nest and stop layiiifr. She is hest pleased with a 

 l)o.\ covered at the top, w itii an aperline for lifiht, 

 nn<l a side door by wliioh she can escape unseen. 

 A liirmer may keep one hundred fowls in the 

 harn, may sufter them to trample on and destroy 

 his mows of {.'rain, and have fewer eg;,'s than the' 

 coiiiijer who keeps a dozen, provides secret nests, 

 chalk nest-eggs, pounded hricks, plenty of corn 

 or other grain, water and gravel for tliem, and 

 takes care that his hens he not distm hed ahout 

 their nests. 'J'hree chalk eggs in a nest are bet- 

 ter than one, and large eggs please them most. 

 1 have smiled to see them fondle round and lay 

 in a nest of geese eggs. I'ullels will begin to 

 lay early in life, when nests and eggs are plenty 

 nn<l when others are chuckling around them. A 

 dozen dmrg-hill fowls shut up away (iom other 

 means of obtaining food will require something 

 more than a quart of corn a day. 1 think fifteen 

 bushels n year a fiiir allowance for them ; but 

 more or les.s, let them always have enough by 

 them ; and after they have become habituated to 

 find at all times a plenty in their little manger, 

 they take but a few kernels at a time, except just 

 belbi-e going to roost, when they will tak<; nearly 

 a spoonful in their crops. Hut just so sure as 

 their provisions come to them scanted or irregu- 

 larly, so sure will they raven up a whole cropful 

 at the time anil stop laying. A dozen tbwis well 

 nttended will furnish a family with more tluui two 

 thousnnd eggs a year; and one bimdred full- 

 grown chiciiens for the fall anil winter stores. — 

 Tlie expense of feeding a dozen fowls will not 

 umoimt to more than eiL;lit bushels of grain. They 

 may be kept in cities as well as in the country, 

 will do as well shut up the year round as to run 

 ut large. A grated room well lighted, ten feet by 

 five, partitioned from a stable or out-house, is 

 sufficient for the dozen fowls with their roostini, 

 nests and feeding trotiolis. In the spring of the 

 year five or six bens will batch at a time, and the 

 fifty or sixty chickens may be given to one hen. 

 Two hens will take care of one limidred eliick- 

 eiis well enough until they begin to cliudi their 

 little stick roosts. They then should he separa- 

 ted from the hens entirely. I have olien kept the 

 chickens when young in my garden. They keep 

 the May hugs and other insects from the vines. 

 In case of confining fowls in simimer, it should 

 be remembered that a ground floor should be 

 chosen ; or it would he just as well to set in their 

 pen boxes of well dried, pulverized earth for them 

 to wallow in during warm weather. Their pens 

 should he kept clean. — Scottish Ref. Gat. 



®l)c larmcr'fl iUontl)li) l)isitor. 



79 



The UailiiOad to the Pacific. — Leaving the 

 Mississippi river, about one hundred fniles above 

 the city of New Orleans, llie distance from llience 

 to the excellent harbor of San Diego on the Pa- 

 cific, will not he foumi to diifermuch from J.500: 

 or taking the city of New Orleans as the starting 

 point, and contimiing the road up the banks of 

 the Mississippi, to a point fioni which it would 

 bo necessary to diverge across die country, the 

 distance or lenglli of railroad wo»dd be ahout 1,- 

 600 miles. On either suppo>ition New Orleans 

 would be the great depot on this side. Crossing 

 the Stale of Louisiana, the railroad would then 

 cross the belter part of the State of Texas to the 

 vicinity of El Pato on the Del None. From this 

 vicinity there is tdready a practical wagon track 

 across the mountain range to the valley of the 

 Gila; thence down the valley of this river to the 

 Colorado of California hay ; thence across to San 

 Diego. The whole of this route is known. — 

 Nearly all of it has been traversed by our troops, 

 accompanied by officers of our enterprising corps 

 of topographical engineers, whose opinions, we 

 understand, are decidedly in favor of the practi- 

 cability of the route — being throughout exempt 



from serious difficulties, am! passing through u 

 country capable of sustaining « dense population. 

 — H'nshitiirlnn Union. 



Let us have a ship canal across the isthmus of 

 Tehuantepec, and wc will forego the advantages 

 of this or imy other Pacific railroad.— Aem Or- 

 leans Delta. 



The ■' Delta" is hardly aware that the local bu- 

 siness from west to east will do quite as mucli 

 for the support of railways as the long liiisiness. 

 Such in their infancy proves to be the case on 

 most of the New England railroads.— £</. /'. M 

 I isilor. 



From the (jcnannlown Telegraph. 

 Salt and Ashes for Stock. 



Some years since I saw it recommended in an 

 agiicullmal paper lo mix salt with aslies for 

 stock. Having tested the ulility of the practice. 

 1 am now prepared to speak favorably of il, and 

 from a firm conviction that stock, of all descrip- 

 tion.s, are essentially benefitted thereby. ftly 

 cows, work hoises, and young cattle, as well as 

 sheep have been regularly piipplied with it as 

 often as once a week, fur two years, and not- 

 withstanding tlie feed in the pastures, during a 

 part of the grazing period of both si'asniis, was 

 quite short in conseqneme of the prevalence of 

 severe diougbt, the stock generally has remained 

 ill excellent condilion ; much belter, indeed, than 

 I have seen them fur years. 



Sheep, especially, are extremely fond of it, pre- 

 fisrring it to fine salt, and partaking of it with al- 

 most the same avidity Willi which, when hungry, 

 they devour their meal or grain. As to the gen- 

 eral efficacy of the practice, and its tendency as 

 respects the health of the stock, I will merely 

 say, in conclusion, tliat 1 am ai'tpiainled with 

 several discriminating (iirmers who have made 

 the same trial, and that in no iiistun<-e with which 

 1 am familliar, or w hich has fallen under our di- 

 rect personal observation, has it been attended 

 with other than the best results. The propor- 

 tions in which the ingredients should be given, 

 are one part salt to seven ol' ashes. The salt 

 should be fine, and the allies dry and fiee from 

 coals. If thought necessary, the salt may be in- 

 creased in quantitj-, to two or three quarts, in- 

 Mead of one. Try it, liirmcrs, and see il it dolli 

 not "do good like a medicine." 



In the season of pasturing I usually liavc sev- 

 eral boxes or long troughs placed in a shed or 

 out-building to wliich the animals can at all times 

 have bee access, and which I keep constantly 

 supplied with a quantitin sujicit of the mixture. 

 'I'liis plan is necessary as an open exposure of 

 the receptacles would subject the salt lo injury 

 in rainy weather. AGKICOL.A. 



IIow TO Make Soap. — First, set your tub as 

 usual with sticks and straw, and then put jour 

 lime (slaked) on the straw, to the depth of 3 ur 4 

 inches — then take a lung slick that will come a 

 fi;w inches above the tup of the tub — wind a bay 

 rope around the slick, nearly iis wbule length—' 

 let the slick go through tin; tub two or three inch- 

 es, then you can draw\oiirlje without pulling 

 your hands into it uiidernealb. Put your grease 

 into the kettle, and turn in ahout two quarts (or 

 enough to cover the bottom of the kettle,) of your 

 stroimest lye. B'lil a few miniiles, and then turn 

 In a little more lye, and eominiie lo pour in as 

 the lye boils over, iiiiiil your kettle is about two- 

 thirds or tbree-liiurlbs full, when joii can fill up 

 the kettle, and after skimiiiing the conlenis well, 

 dip out and emply it in the barrel. Put in two 

 pounds of rosin to one barrel of soap. If jour 

 lye is of sufficient strength, you will he sure to 

 have gouci soap. I have heard people complain 

 a great deal that they did not have good luck in 

 m.'ikiiig soap; but if the aliove diiections are 

 carefully followed, I can assure llieiii that they 

 will have no reason to complain of poor luck,ur 

 any thing of the kind. — .Maine Cull. 



|)resented to the coiuructofs, Messrs. Harrison 

 VVinans it Eastwick. The establishment em- 

 ploys at present i;i20 woikmeii, including ]til3 

 Knss^aiis, V>1 Germans, lii4 S«,.dts, 17 English 

 and 5 Americans — w hich nuuiber emhrace.s the 

 whole nuinbrr of liireiiien and woikmen. The 

 contracts of Messrs. Ilan isun, Wiiians & East- 

 wick embrace llW twenty-live ton locomoiives 

 and tenders; .'KWO iron 'trucks, (iir eight-wheel 

 ears; 2500 eight-wheel freight cars ; 70 passen- 

 ger cars ; and two improved cars on sixteen 

 wheels, eighty feet long. Out of which are now 

 finished, 108 locomotives with their lenders; 5,- 

 OOti freight and 2 



yOO wagon trucks 

 car.s. 



passenger 



America.n Frcit Trees going to Edp.ope. 

 — The time was when our country was indebted 

 to (breign regions lor all the choicest varielies 

 of the apple, pear, |ieacli, cherry, plum, and some 

 other fruits, which were brought among us; hut 

 tliese liireign productions Ibnnd a soil so conge- 

 nial in their new location, that the seminal vane- 

 lies produced therefrom have, in numerous in- 

 stances, exceeiled in excellence the parent stock, 

 and (or several years |iast ibe European bolaiii- 

 cal and nursery establishmcnls liave vied with 

 each other in obtaining from our country these 

 superior native varieties of fruits. .^ firw years 

 since, the London Horlicnllmal Society obtained 

 from the great nurseries of tlie Messrs. Prince, 

 at Flushing, several hundred varieties of (i nit 

 trees, and our attention has just been called to 

 the subject by a shipment to the same society in 

 the last London packet of above ]00 additional 

 varieties, which were also obtained from Me:-.-,r.s. 

 Prince & Co., of Flushing. Thus is our country 

 paying back lo the Eastern ilemispbere all she 

 ever received from it, and with accumulated in- 

 terest.— .V. y. Tribune. 



Strawberries.— It has often been matter of 

 surprise to us that morealtention is not accorded 

 to the cultivation of this most excellent fruit. It 

 is true that persons residing in the country, can, 

 during a period of the sejison, obtain an abund- 

 ant supply from the fields; Imt ihere the fruit is 

 not so good as when culiivate<l, and where at- 

 tention is paid to the procuring of iliffi;rei!t va- 

 rieties, instead of n week's (easting, one may ex- 

 tend the gratification of seeing ripe straw bt'rrie.s 

 served up to a much longer period. Our com- 

 mon strawberries,like most oi'oiir " ild fruits, are, 

 it is well known, greatly improveil by culiivaliun. 

 Not only are they aim-lioraled as to flavor, hut 

 lliey are also greatly improved in size and pro- 

 ductiveness. Vines removed from the fields in 

 August, and caiel-iUy iraiisplaiited in snilable 

 soil, projierly prcjiared, will rarely if ever (iiil.— 

 Some experienced cullivalors, however, prefer 

 setting their plants in the spring, under the pre- 

 suniplion tiial they do belter, and become, even- 

 tually, better bearers.— .ifiine Farmer. 



The Einppi'or of Russia lias recently visited 

 the splendid establishniiiit of Jlessrs. [lanison, 

 Winans &. Ea-twick, (American mechanics,) lor 

 the conslruclion of railmad locomoiives tor the 

 use of the Kussiaii Goverument. He was de- 

 lighled with the triumphs of American genius 

 and skill, and ordered llie Cross of St. .^iine to 

 he conlijrred upon Major G. \V. \Vlll^tler, the 



_ iMiNERAL Wealth of (Jreat Britain.— Mr. 



Teiinant slates lliat liie aiinuMl value of the min- 

 eral produce of this counlry ainotints to about 

 twenty-five millions. Of ihis £0,100,000 is from 

 coals, £8,4(10,«IO from iron, jCI,200,U00 from cop- 

 per, £920,000 from lead, £400,000 from salt, 

 £:i! 10,000 from tin, £(iO,000 from manganese, £;«,- 

 000 from silver, £22,000 from alum, £8000 I 

 zinc, and £2.'j,000 Irum the various oihe 

 ns aiilimony, hismtith, ai>enic, &c. 



roni 

 melals. 



not- 



dat' 



The Turnip Fly.— It is a.sserted in one of our 

 excliMiiges,— ihougb on what aulboriiy we know 

 -ihat the ravages of this troublesome depre- 

 r may he etrecliially obviated simply by stecfi- 

 ing the svf(\, (iir six hours before sow iiig, in com- 

 iiiun chamber ley, decanting the liipiiil, aiiij mix- 

 ing flour of sulphur wiih the seetl. We have 

 never reduced this rule to the lest of experiment, 

 nor do we know any person who has. It mai/ 

 prove efFecKial, and as the evijs resiiliing annu- 

 ally to the (iirmer and gaideiier, in con.sequeiicc 

 o( the want of an eflt;cl(ial preveniive, are great, 

 every resource promising an exemption from the 

 same bIiouUI at least lie tried. — Maine Farmer. 



The present number of convicts in the Con- 

 neciicut State Prison is I'M; ten jearsago, 2]G 

 were there confined. The iliiectois attribute this 

 cheering change to the great diminution of in- 

 American Engineer, and diamond rings to be | temjierance in the State. 



