NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



143 



Hogs. — The number killed at St. Louis up to 

 Jan. 7, was 40,000 head. 



At the different packing points on the Illinois 

 river, the number killed up to the 4th of Janua- 

 ry, was 44,001), against 79,500 to the same time 

 last year. 



At Evanville, several thousand more have been 

 killed than last season. Up to Tuesday last, 326,- 

 426 hogs had been slaughtered in Covington and 

 Cincinnati, against 307,200 to the same date last 

 year. 



A correspondent of the St. Louis Intelligencer 

 says that in Schuyler and Cass counties there have 

 been packed this year 30,191 head, against 47,- 

 000 hogs last year. 



The St. Louis Republican says : — We were in- 

 formed yesterday by a gentleman engaged in the 

 pork business, that there will be but little meat 

 barrelled in St. Louis the present season. The 

 principal cutting has gone into bulk sides for ba- 

 con. Hams, too, will be scarce, for principally 

 they have been taken for Eastern account in 

 sweet pickle. 



(gp* Wendell Phillips says "we live under a gov- 

 ernment of men — and morning newspapers." 



One of the Emperors' of China having noticed 

 that a particular stalk in his garden produced 

 better rice than the rest, cultivated it for several 

 years ; and, then, having fully satisfied himself of 

 its superiority, he distributed its grains among 

 them for their general benefit. A Sussex farmer 

 having remarked that some gooseberry bushes, 

 growing under an elder tree, were exempt from 

 the attacks of caterpillars, was induced to try the 

 efficacy of a decoction of elder loaves in destroy- 

 ing the grubs that infested his turnip crops, and 

 he and other farmers who tried the experiment 

 found it successful. 



Rose. — Professor Agassiz, in a lecture upon the 

 trees of America, stated a remarkable fact in re- 

 gard to the family of the rose, which includes 

 among its varieties not only many of the most 

 beautiful flowers which are known, but also the 

 richest fruits, such as the apple, pear, peach, 

 plum, apricot, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, 

 &c, namely, that no fossils or plants belonging 

 to this family have been discovered by geologists ! 

 This he regarded as conclusive evidence that the 

 introduction of this family of plants upon the 

 earth was coeval with, or subsequent to the crea- 

 tion of man, to whose comfort and happiness they 

 seem especially designed by Providence to con- 

 tribute. 



fjorticulturctl. 



FRUITS OF OBSERVATION. 



BY ntOF. FENNBLL, IN THE JOURNAL OF THE HIGHLAND AG. 

 SOCIETY IN SCOTLAND. 



It is said that the occasional natural union of 

 the boughs of distinct trees demonstrated the 

 practicability of grafting, and that the observation 

 of the circumstance of a vine shooting more vigo- 

 rously after a goat had browsed on it, suggested 

 the valuable art of pruning fruit trees. 



In the sixty-third volume of Philosophical Trans- 

 actions, we find it related that M. Mustel, having 

 observed that some of the flower buds of an apple 

 tree had been gnawed off by a snail in such a man- 

 ner that all the petals and stamens had disap- 

 peared, being eaten close up to the calyx, which, 

 together with the basis of the pistillum and the 

 embryo, were left uninjured, concluded that those 

 imperfect flower buds would bear nothing, but 

 was soon convinced of his mistake. Nearly all of 

 them bore fruit ; the apples were perfectly formed, 

 and six or seven pretty large ones were seen upon 

 each bunch. On the other hand, the snail had 

 spared some other bunches which it could not so 

 easily get at ; but out of ten or twelve flowers in 

 each of these bunches, not above one or two 

 showed any signs of fruit. This suggested to M. 

 Mustel the idea that, when the flowers of trees 

 are full blown, the prevention of the natural 

 fall of the petals and stamens gives a greater as- 

 surance of the fructification — a fact which he 

 several times proved ; for having cut off with the 

 scissors the petals of apple, pear, plum and cherry 

 blossoms, close to the calyx he found that almost 

 every one of them bore fruit, whilst several of the 

 uncut flowers bore none. Thus did a snail teach 

 him how to render a tree more fruitful. 



Rose Insects. — If our lady readers are desirous 

 of keeping their rose bushes free from the small 

 green vermin that so frequently infest them, the 

 following remedy will be found a most effectual 

 one : — To 3 gallons of water add one peck of soot 

 and one quart of unslackcd lime. Stir it well — 

 let it stand for twenty-four hours, and when the 

 soot rises to the surface skim it off. Use a syr- 

 inge for applying it. 



filenames' Department, 2lrts, &c. 



CURIOSITIES OF STEAM. 



There is a question connected with steam which 

 is more strange than any, and yet we seldom hear 

 it mentioned. It is 'this : water at 212° gives off 

 steam ; this steam is totally different in its nature 

 and action from water, and yet it is only 212 Q also. 

 Why does not the water, at 212°, all flash in a 

 moment, like gunpowder, into steam — that is, in- 

 to 1700 times its original bulk 1 We cannot tell ; 

 we only know it does not do it. It has been proved 

 by Faraday, however, that water perfectly jDurged 

 of all atmospheric air, (which all water contains a 

 portion of,) when heated to 300°, explodes instant- 

 ly — that is, all flashes at once into steam. There 

 is another property belonging to water not so uni- 

 versally known to engineers as it should be, name- 

 ly, all the water in a boiler will become steam in a 

 given time, when subjected to a constant heat and 

 great pressure. If a certain amount of water, at 

 the heat of melted ice, be put into a vessel, and a 

 lamp applied to the same, it will be found that if 

 the time occupied to bring the water from melted 

 ice to 212 Q (the point where steam commences to 

 be given off,) be noted, and the lamp kept at the 

 vessel for 5 1-2 times longer, all the water will be 

 changed into steam ; it follows then, that if a cer- 

 tain amount of heat be applied to water, for 5 1-2 



