142 



^\)t farmer's iiTcrntl)lt) llifiitor. 



The Bketf:!i of " Gnn. Tajloi's pleasure lri|)" 

 bad most atlniotcd oirr altenlion iroin the fart 

 that it was iiiuleilaken in an enemies country, 

 under the simple escort of a " dozen dragoons." 

 It would seem that the distance of this trip out 

 was twenty-two miles, and that a roundabout 

 and different route returning was taken: here 

 were two conspicuous American generals ami 

 commanders exposed in a country not a foot ol 

 which we had supposed could he iiolden hut in 

 the immediate presence of a military force. On 

 tliis occasion how great tnust have been the in- 

 ducement to seize on the person of the Ameri- 

 can commander, whose presence alone in all 

 future battles might he estimated as worth a 

 thousand meu I Tlje coufidenor; of safety under 

 such a touiptatiou to the Mexicans to dispose of 

 "his person seems to us to be the very height of 

 temerity in old "Rough and Ready." It seems 

 to us that both himself and Gen. Gushing run a 

 risk that regard for the country'.s service, if not 

 for their own personal security, wauld have pre- 

 vented their inrurriug. The (act that their con- 

 fidence was not betiayed, speaks a lauguage in 

 relation to the mass of the people in Mexico 

 most gratifymg to all who desire to see the rela- 

 tions of peace again secured between the two 

 countries, preparatory to the better condition of 

 things in a region where ignorance and ineffi- 

 ciency have been but too much abused by being 

 converted lo the purposes of the ambition and 

 cupidity of tyrants and robbers. 



Boiling Vegetables and Meats. 



In boiling vegeuibirs, tliey should not be (iUt 

 itito the water until it is fully heated, ami then 

 there should be no cessation of heat tmlil the 

 cookifig is finally done. 



F5ut when meats are to lie boiled, quite an op- 

 posite procedure is to be observed. They re- 

 quire lo he put irjio the water while it is cold ; 

 or, in the case of fouls, while the water is a lit- 

 tle warm: then, instcaj of rapid boiling, the wa- 

 ter should he merely simrnereii. By this process 

 the meat is made tender, while by fierce boiling 

 it is hardened and made tough. — Prairie Farmer. 



There is unich due to the suggestion as to the 

 manner ef cooking, boiling, broiling, roasting or 

 baking, of both vegetables and meals. We have 

 remarked in the cooking of an equally fine beef- 

 steak, at one time it is tender and savory, at nn 

 other, tasteless and tough as Icalher. This must 

 be due altogether to the age of the killed meat 

 and the maimer and time of cooking, which ex- 

 perience should teach all cooks — how quick the 

 fire, how seasoned and basted, &c. Having 

 heard ihc suggestion that potatoes should be put 

 into boiling instead of cold water over the firo, 

 while warming the feet in the kitchen at the time 

 of cooking nn early brcakfa.st, we saw the water 

 boiling before ihe man had biiuight in the pota- 

 toes, taken that morning from the ground. The 

 soil of the g.-u'deu was so rich as lo make the 

 potatoes heavy : well cleaned, they were boiled 

 as quick as possiblj ; and williin some twBuly 

 uiinntes we were eating tliem at ihe breakliist 

 table, bursting from the tiiidor skin, and mealy 

 iis the best potatoes raised upon the rich groumis 

 upon our neighhorinir highlands. Allenlion to 

 preparation and cooking, we are confideul will 

 add nuich to the value of the pol;iln, as well as lo 

 other vegclahles and meats. 



A Ni 



ii:w l\IovE- Avast many mi,-chani.)s in 

 New York who can no longer find (MuphiyuiiMil. 

 are delcrniiucd to remove to ihe coimlry and oc 

 cupy grazing (iu-nis, which is an easy part of 

 tlu-uiing, anil more prciduclive than raising grain. 

 ^Tlie new demand for luatuj- ami elicesi! in llie 

 F.urop.can market is iudncin.' ;dl oin- (iuiners to 

 make ihnse ailicles in gnat qnantilies. 



From the Farmer and .Mechanic. 

 The Four, and Hundred Acre Fanners. 



In journeying through the Slale of Rhode Is- 

 land, the Ira'terller in that Suite, as in most oth- 

 ers, discovers a great variety ofintereet and al- 

 most every species of husbandry, from the very 

 best to none at all, as you may say. A few days 

 since I fell in with a gentleman, who had just 

 purchased a tiirm, tor which he paid seven thon- 

 !-anil dollars, c\ery dollar of which he had saved 

 from the income of his garden or farm, consist- 

 ing ef only four acres of land, (and Ihat not the 

 first quality in the natural state,) besides support- 

 ing his family. 1 asked him for the secret, as 1 

 was sure he must possess one, which he gave as 

 follows : — 



" First (he said) 1 prepare iriy ground, and 

 never use any but the best of seed — and that 

 moslly of my own raising — and always put it in 

 in good season, and ofien lake two crcqis liom 

 the same ground, by putting in vegetables thai 

 ripen early, and those that are late. And, again, 

 I never carry any thing into ihe market except it 

 is of the first quality, or quality recommended, 

 sell it for what it is, liot for what it is not. Al- 

 ways sort |)Olaloes ami all other vegetables, and 

 vary price according lo quality ; yet 1 can get 

 more tor each quality in piopculiou to mean cost 

 of price of whole by so doing, frequently sell 

 potatoes from ten to fifteen cents higher per 

 bushel — allow the market price and oilier kinds 

 in the some proportion — and only because the 

 buyer knows he can depend upon having just the 

 sort, kind or quality that he orders or pur- 

 chases." 



Near by was a farmer with a himdied acres 

 of equally good land, and was hardly able In 

 make Ih)1|i ends meet — as the saying is — and 

 was industrious, and had a healthy faiuily. Again 

 for ihe secret. Well, he did not work Ids land ; 

 had too iuuch, and coidd not ; went over it, ami 

 left it to work itself; was obliged to fence more, 

 and do a thousand things that Ihe man of four 

 acres was free from ; and when he went lo mar- 

 ket, went in a hurry, such shape as was most 

 convenient, and in suidi order as the time allot- 

 ted would allow ; always a little lale iu the sea- 

 sou ; and usually found a failing price. Had he 

 sold one half his fjuin of one hundred acres, and 

 bought manure, ami hired help to properly till 

 the other, ho might long ere this have bought il 

 back, and another wiih it of equal value. 



In a lew iuslaiu'cs I have seen farmers carting 

 iriaiuue from their yards and pulling il iu heaps 

 iu the fields for spring use : this I call any thing 

 but good husbandry, as the manure, by lying iu 

 the smnmer and exposed to the frosts and storms 

 of vvinler, must waste at h.Mst one-half its vir- 

 uies. As the grass crop in New-F.ngland is by 

 fur the ninsi pnjfil.ible, I think that the fine ma- 

 unre, and whatever is made through the summer, 

 should be put on the land that seeded in the lidl, 

 and then the yards cleaied in the spring, and 

 whether coaise or fine, be either ploughed or 

 harroued in the spring for cro|). Min-k from ils 

 resling place should be hauled out in suinmcr, 

 anil exposed to frosts and slorrns to decompose 

 and sweelen il a liltle if a present profit is want- 

 ed ; and in the spring, before using, put unslack- 

 ed line, and work it over, and you will he sure 

 of a rich return for the labor thus expended. 



A New Kesourcic. — The Jack.sonville, (Fla.) 

 News says — " We learn from Col. Mdnlosh, ol 

 this cou'.ily, that he is making preparalions lo 

 embark in a new enterprise — one wiiich prom- 

 ises to develop new resources lo the eneigy and 

 indiislry of Ihe plainer of Floriila. lie iuieiids 

 lo enter largely into the ciillivalion of iho grape, 

 for Ihe purpose ol' manuliii'Iming wine, anil is 

 making arrangemi'iils to have a vineyard which 

 will vie with any in the Uniou. The giape 

 glows iu this climate more luxuriaully than iu 

 any other porlion of ihe IJuiied Slales, ami Ihe 

 only reason that has deterred others from embark- 

 ing iu ihe same enterprise long since, is ihe feai 

 that our lii'ipnuit rains may destroy ihe frnil. 

 But {'ol. iMidnlosh is of opinion lhat by cmi- 

 slrucling arbors, whereby the leaves can shade 

 ihe i;rapc, Ihe injury will not he elleeied. l\Iav 

 he be successful in his eutcrpi-ise — and wo shall, 

 ere long, see «incs tioiii llie banks of ihe sunny 

 Sl. Johns which may vie wilh llmse of Xeres, ol 

 the Douro, and of the far-fame<l .Souili Side." 



The Iron production of Pennsylvania. 



Few persons in iliis part of the country have 

 had any full and correct kno« ledge of the vast 

 extent of the Iron manufacture of Pennsylvania. 

 There has been a prevailing impression that it 

 V. as very extensive as well as lucrative, but still 

 there was a want of precise and definite infor- 

 mation on ihe subject. To supply this deficien- 

 cy, in 18JG a committee was appointed at a con- 

 vention of iron-masteis to address circulars load 

 the manuficlurers and collect the most thorough 

 and detailed information with regard lo the 

 quantily of Iron piodni-ed iu that State. That 

 eommitee have faithfully dischurged the duties 

 assigned to them, and their report, which has 

 been recently publisheil, supplies a great deal of 

 valuable kdowleilge. 



It appears from this report that during the 

 year 1846, the very large quantity of 3(J8,056 tons 

 of Iron was proiluced iu Pennsylvania by 310 

 furnaces. This, we observe, is larger by about 

 filly per cent, than the whole produce of Great 

 IJrilian 40 years ago — which was ofticially re- 

 ported to Parliment at 258,206 tons. But large 

 as Ihe produce now is, it is increasing with a 

 rapidity beyond all precedent. Owing to the 

 newly discovered process for smelling wilh an- 

 thracite coal, the cost of producing Pig Iron has 

 diminished one-hali; and according to the report, 

 many new furnaces have been pieclcd, and the 

 production has nsarlv doubled in four years — be- 

 ing 368,000 ions in"l846, and only 189,000 tons 

 in 1812. Pig Iron can be made with coke in 

 Scotland, in ordinary times, for 89 per ton, and 

 without doubt it can he produced quite as cheap- 

 ly wilh anihracile in the interior of Pennsylva- 

 nia. The committee estimate the value of the 

 liou jiroduced iu that State in }84G at 823,923, 

 640. - So thai it appears the Iron mines of Penn- 

 sylvania in 184(i produced a value fiilly equal to 

 Ihe annual produce of the (iold and Silver 

 mines of .Mexico (the richest in the world) when 

 they were most productive, ami luice as great 

 as the value of the present produce of those 

 tniues. The Iron manufacture, owing in part to 

 the great demand fin- rail roads, is probably the 

 most profitable business now carried on in this 

 country. 



The value of the Coal mines in Pennsylvania 

 is not uuich less than that of !ier Iron. It is the 

 only dislrict in the world where Iron Ore and 

 Anihracile Coal are fi)uml logellier, and in an 

 abundance which is literally incxhauslible. In 

 llie Western part of ihe Slate, Bituminous Coal 

 alioumis to an unlimilcd exlenl. It is often sold 

 as low as Sl,r)0 per ton at Piiisburgh, near which 

 place it is found in great quanlilios very near the 

 suil'ace of ihc ground. 



From all these tiicls it is manifest that Penn- 

 sylvania is far more richly endoued with natural 

 treasines than any oiher secliou of the Union. 

 Here Iron and Coal deposits are many litnes 

 greater ihaii Ihose of Great Britian and France 

 comhincd. The lapse of cciilinies will scarcely 

 be able to make any pcrcepiible impression upon 

 iheni. Il used lo he a favorite and a Irue sajing 

 of Professor Silliman, that ' the suit and the "coal 

 mines of Penns) Ivania would burn out logelher.' 



Her staple prodiicls, from their biilkiuess and 

 expensive carriage, receive, under the present 

 tariff', a |)rotecliou of about (iliy per cent, against 

 foreign competition — much i:re.'iier than lhat en- 

 jojeil by Ihe Cotton iiud AVool inanulaclure. — 

 Unrlford Times. 



Imstimctof Plants. — Ohservatioii shows that 

 plains have hours devoted to rest, during which 

 lime they maki; litrle or no progress iu growth. 

 A curious proof of this statement was ali'orilcd 

 by the account of a gentleman, who had an arti- 

 ficial light ke|>t up in his grajieries throughout 

 ihc night, and where this was done, ihe ijrapcs 

 ripened sooner by sevrual weeks ; but subsequent 

 accoiuits infoi'in ns lhat the vint^ thus stimulat- 

 ed were much we;ikeued. 



Siiine plants, like some animals, have been 

 ordaiiiril liir iiighl, and these accordingly are ac- 

 tive only during those hour.-J, The niglii bloom- 

 ing cerens is an examide of this sorl. ()ilier.s, 

 lhat increase and llourish dining llie day, close 

 I heir flowers, and t'rcqnenlly I heir leaves, remiun- 

 ing inactive during tlieiiighl. 



The liolauisl Giiahcrl, in a receul silling of llio 

 I'riiich Academy of Sciences, atlribuicd the re- 

 markjible morlalilv of the trees iu the Parisian 



