^\)t jTarmcr's ittotttl)li) Visitor. 



179 



The Bdshman. — There was a private cxlii- 

 lioii at tlie Museiiiii yesterday ol"a curious spe- 

 iieii of the huiiiaii laiiiily recently iiii|iortc(l. — 

 B is a hojesinaii or IJiishiuaii, one of an exlra- 

 dinary race iiiliahiiiiig a tract of country in S. 

 frica, about 1500 miles northeast of Cape Town. 

 ley present the lowest type of humanity, and 

 e pigmies in their stature, which never exceeds 

 ur feet four inches. In fact they are descrihed 

 the next liidi in the chain to tiie ouranj; out- 

 ijf. They live among tin; mountains in caves 

 id rudely constructed liovels, and subsist upon 

 ots, insects, lizards aiul such small game as is 

 ost easily allaiiialilc. They Hy at the approach 

 ' wliite men, and in conseiiuence of their shy- 

 !sn, but little has been known of them by the 

 vilized world. It is ascertained that the speci- 

 en of the race now iikBoston is the first ever 

 ought to this country. We found a number of 

 e distinguished medical men of our city, with 

 Warren at their head, present at the exijibi- 

 on yesterday. The object ol' their inspection 

 as standing upon a table with the exhibitor by 

 is side. The Uushnian was a youth of eighteen 

 sars of age, but he did not look to us more than 

 velve. He is three feet three inches in height, 

 lul said to be of the medium stature of his tribe, 

 'he formation of his lii:ad is almost sijuare, the 

 lieek-bones high, Ibrehead low, and hair wooly, 

 ut, unlike that of the common negro, starting 

 ut from the head in little bunches, liis limbs 

 re well prop(utioned, and the hue of his skin 

 ot far from that of the mulatto, lie has acc|uir- 

 d a slight knowledge of English, notwilhstand- 

 the race to which he belongs have no lan- 

 uage of their own except a guttm-al cluck, and 

 ave been supposed incapable of learning any 

 iluropean language. lie was so much aggrieved 

 y the iuterogatory of a gentleman, who asked 

 iin if lie was not a hundiug, that he began weep- 

 ng, and displayed a keen sense of the insult.— 

 le was soon reconciled however, and shook 

 ands with the person who had offended him. 

 The countenance of this Hiishman is neither 

 lupleasaut nor void of intelligence ; and if lie is 

 1 fair specimen of his tribe, it is a gross libel up- 

 in them to say that they are the next remove 

 rom the ourang outang. One gentleman re- 

 narked that the poor tldlow seemed to have 

 juite as mncli soul and brains as several among 

 he spectators who were pulling liis hair, feei- 

 ng of his head and poking his ribs. At any 

 rate lie is a curiosity ; and there existed no 

 Joubt among the scientific individuals present, 

 lliat he is a genuine specimen of the South Af- 

 rican race, to which he is reputed to belong. 



Boston Transcript. 



OuLTivATioN WITHOUT FENCES. — The atten- 

 tion of a person not acquainted with the cus- 

 toms of lilassachusetts, is attracted by the large 

 Rinount of land in some neighborhoods, lying as 

 'commons,' or uiifenced. Along the Connecti- 

 cut, between the intervale or ' meadows' and the 

 hills, on each side of the river, tiiere arc tracts 

 varying from two to six or eight miles in width, 

 called plains. The soil is sandy, hut varies in 

 ligliiness li-oiii that which is blown about by 

 winds to that which is called sandy loam. The 

 natural growth varies with the soil, being in 

 some instances only scrub-oak and small bushes, 

 in others while and pitch pine, and in others 

 chestnut, and other hard-wood trees. A large 

 jiortion of this land is unenclosed, yet there are 

 thousands of acres under cultivation, and some 

 of it proiluces fair crops of rye, Indian corn. 

 Buck wheat, and potatoes. A law of the state 

 prohibits live-stock of all kinds f'roin running at 

 large; and so strictly is the law observed, that 

 not an animal is seen in the highway unless im- 

 der the care of a kee[ier; and crops grown on 

 the commons are considered equally as safe as 

 though they were surrounded by the best fences. 

 — Albany Cullivator. 



Population and Progress or Wisconsin. — 

 The Milwaukie Courier of Nov. 16, says, the 

 jiresent population of iliis territory (which is ex- 

 pected to be adiuilted into the Union, as a Stale, 

 in 1848) is estimated at from 2IO,COO to 230,000. 

 Wisconsin has the precedence of six States, 

 and it seems to be considered that in 1850 the 

 population will fall but little short of 500,000.— 

 Under the apportionment, the new State at the 

 present ratio of 70,680, will probably have sev- 



en members of Congress in the House of Kcp- 

 resentatives. The following table, says the same 

 paper, will show how slowly population moveil 

 nt first, and with what an accelerated increase it 

 has been gradually gaining: 



1830 8,-J-l(! 1842 46,678 



1836 11,686 



1838 18,140 1846 (census) 15.'),277 



1840 30,954 1847 (est.) 22.1.000 



There is such a vast extent of territory (80,000 

 square miles) with a soil so sujierior, and capa- 

 ble of such diversified productions, that the in- 

 crease by emigration must keep up for years to 

 come. 



Gates. — Every field on the farm should be en- 

 tered by a good, self-shutting and self-(iisteuiiig 

 gate. Farmers, who are too bu.sy in summer to 

 make them or get them made, should see to it 

 now. How long does it recpiire to take down 

 and put up a set of bars? .\t least two min- 

 utes: which if repeated three times a day for a 

 year, amounts to thirty hours or three days of 

 working time— which would yearly pay for a 

 good gate. Or, examine it in another point of 

 view ; three limes a day, which is about eighteen 

 hundred times a year; now is there any man be- 

 nveeu llalilax and California, who would take 

 down and replace a set of bars eighteen hun- 

 dred times in succession, in payment for a farm 

 gate ? Hardly — yet this is the [uice yearly paid 

 by those who use bars that are constantly pass- 

 ed, and the gate is not obtained by it. Again, 

 how much belter is a well liimg gate than one 

 half hung? — or one with a good self-fastening 

 latch, than one with a pin thrust into an au- 

 ger hole ? Try it hy dragging a badly hung gate 

 over the ground, eighteen hundred times in con- 

 stant succession, securing it each time with a 

 pin, and see if you do not think this labor would 

 pay for good hinges and a latch. 



The Cotton Crop of the United States. 

 — A New Orleans letter in the N. Y. Commer- 

 cial Advertiser says that no frost had been in 

 that vicinity up to the 22d November, at which 

 time the weather was mild and most delightlnl. 

 This had favored the growing cotton crop, which 

 is fully equal in quantity, it is said, to that of 

 :iny former year. The entire crop of the South 

 is variously estimated by interested parties in 

 New Orleans at from 2,000,000 to 2,300,000 

 bales. The writer of the letter alluded to above 

 is of the opinion that the crop will reach 

 2,375,000 bales, and the remark made by him 

 that his estimates (or ten years past have al- 

 ways been very close to the actual yield, gives 

 to ills oiiinion considerable weight. 



Railroads in Nevj England. — By a careful enu- 

 tncraliiin of the Railroads in tlic New England States, it 

 is ascertained that there are 2420 miles tinishcd, or in 

 progress of construction, November, 1817. Most of the 

 unfinished roails, it is presumed, will be completed by 

 the end of ISIS. 



The following is abnut the number of miles of railroad 

 in each of the above six States, containing altogether an 

 area of ()f, 784 square miles. 

 States. Miles Railroad. 



300 

 473 

 379 

 900 

 300 

 75 

 Beside the above, there are several hundred miles of 

 railroad projected, for which charters have been obtained, 

 'f he capital already invested in railroads in Ibe New Eng- 

 land States is supposed to amount to gj0,000,000. 



N. Y. Com. Advettiscr. 



A Secret Worth Knowing. -Boil three or 

 four onions in a pint of water. Then, with a 

 gilding brush, do over your glasses and frames, 

 and the flies will not light on the articlesvvash- 

 ed. This may be used wilhout apprehension, as 

 it will not do the least injury to the frames. 



Maine. 



New Hampshire. 



\>rmont. 



Massachusetts. 



(Jonnectieut. 



Rhode fsland. 



Area square miles. 

 30,000 

 9,191 

 9,066 

 7,500 

 4.671- 

 f,.360 



Bottle INIaking. — The rapidity with which 

 bottles are m.ide is almost incredible. .'\ work- 

 man with the a.ssistaiici of a gatherer and blow- 

 er, will begin and finish 120 dozen quart hollies 

 in ten hours, which averages nearly two and a 

 (piarter a minute, and this is ordinarily done ; 

 and in some works the men are restricted to 

 two in a minute to prevent the work being 

 slighted. 



From tlie Cullivator for November. 

 Culture and Distillation of Pcppermiut. 



It should not be surprising, that In a country 

 so diversilicd both in soil and climate as is the 

 United Slates, that we should learn every year of 

 some new fruit, or grain, or vegetable, which 

 lends its tribute to the augmenting wealth of the 

 national prosperity. The primary staples of the 

 nation have been subjects of long and familiar 

 discussion, and improvements in their cultivH- 

 tiun are conslaiit and progressive. The minor 

 products of the soil, which enter into the econo- 

 my of general consuiii|ition, and add to the na- 

 tional wealth, are often little thought of save in 

 the immediate localities of their production. In 

 the report of Judge Ellsworth, late Commission- 

 er of Patents, we have been informed of the 

 great amount of white nuislard, and the large 

 profit which it has yielded to the producers, in u 

 limited district of the western part of the coun- 

 try, and this, too, without drawing much time 

 and attention of the growers from other crops of 

 greater value. 



In this section of New York, there is an arti- 

 cle alike valuable for its medicinal and other 

 uses, which has been cultivated with great profit 

 to the producers, that has hardly attracted atten- 

 tion even in the immediate neighlxirhoods of its 

 production. I allmle to the article of Pepper- 

 mint, and its distillation into oil, and its manu- 

 facture into essence. 



It is to invite attention to this subject, that I 

 am induced to give you a brief history ol its cul- 

 tivation in this neighborhood. Its cultiviition is 

 principally confined to a few persons in Pliel|is 

 township, in this county, and Lyons and Arcadia 

 townships, in Wayne "coiinly. It is cultivated 

 wilhout any serious interference with the neces- 

 sary attention to other crops, and has yielded for 

 some years past, some fifty orsixty thousand dol- 

 lars annually to the producers. 



This species of mint was first introduced into 

 this vicinity by the iVIessrs Burnett, some 30 years 

 ago, who planted it on the flats of the outlet of 

 Canaliilaigua lake. They brought it with them 

 from Ashfield, .Massachusetts. They distilled it 

 and sold the oil, in the western [lart of' New 

 York and Canada, at prices varying Iron five to 

 lifieen dollars per pound, and realized, from 

 small beginning, each ii handsome fortune. — 

 When the oil is diluted into essence, the profits 

 are very great. 



This mint dift'ers from what is generally called 

 spear mint. The peppermint has a larger stalk, 

 and a larger leaf, than the spear mint. In rich 

 ground it will grow from two to two and a half 

 feet high. . 



The principal expense in its cultivation is in 

 procuring the roots for the first year's croji ; and 

 the chief labor is in the first year's cultivation. — 

 The ground should be rich, and should be care- 

 fully plowed ill the fiill or spring, so as to be en- 

 tirely free from grass and weeds. 



It is cultivated from the roots, which should 

 be planted in the s|)ring, in drills from eighteen 

 inches to two It3et apart, and should be cultiva- 

 ted carefully with the hoe until after mid-sum- 

 mer, at which time it sends forth shoots or run- 

 ners, like the strawberry, and covers the entire 

 space plained, sending forth innuiuerable stocks 

 and branches. It is cut in the fall when matur- 

 ed, and distilled into oil. The roots remaining 

 in the ground during winter, vegetate in the 

 spring, and covering the entire sjiace planted, 

 require no cultivation the second year, and so al- 

 so of the third year. By the end of the third 

 year, the ground becomes so exhausted, and so 

 infested with grass and weeds, that it is neces- 

 sary to plow up the roots, and plant fresh grounds. 

 So the first year is tl.e only one of expense or 

 labor in the cultivation, as it requires no cultiva- 

 tion the second and thiril years. The crop is ex- 

 hausting to the laud. Lauds have rented from 

 eight to ten dollars per acre for the purpose ot 

 raising this mint upon them. 



If the seasons are favorable, and the lands rich, 

 the crop the first year will yield mint that will 

 produce from ten to thirty pounds of oil to the 

 acre. The second year (which is the most |'ro- 

 duetive) from twenty-five to Ibriy iioiinds; and 

 the third year from ten to thirty pounds. 



The process of distilling the mint into oil is 

 simple: The mint when mowed, on maturing, is 

 placed in an ordinary still boiler with water, and 

 fire is placed beneaiii. The evajioration is con- 



