m 



Ql\)c i^avmci's illontl)li) biiiitor. 



31 



fices and implores a blessing on the Itibois of the 

 spiinj;, that they niiiy pioiliice a [ilentil'iil hiir- 

 vest ; and when these rites are ended he de- 

 scends (ioij) tlje temple into the fieW where all 

 the requisite prep;\rali<M)s have been made by for- 

 ty or fitly husbandmen who are in nitendance. 

 The Eniporor plows u lew fnrrows with his own 

 bands, and sows five sorts of grain ; after which 

 twelve grandees of the first class, plow and sow 

 in turn, and then the work is completed by the 

 professional liusbandnjen, each of whom receives 

 a present of a piece of Nankin cloth. The pro- 

 duce of this field is held sacred, and carefully 

 preserved in a granary by itself, to be used for 

 most solemn sacrifices. The plowing by the Im- 

 perial lu/sbandiiian takes place only in the capi- 

 tol ; but in every large city a ceremony is per- 

 formed, called " meeting the spring," when the 

 Governor assumes the character of high priest, 

 and goes out in state, carried in a finely ornamen- 

 ted sedan-cliair, pieeeded by banners, lighted 

 torches, and music. He is followed by several 

 mandarins in their sedans, and by a niunber of 

 litters, in which are placed children who are fan- 

 cifully dressed and crowned with flowers, repre- 

 senting various deities connected with the labors 

 of the field. But the most prominent figure a- 

 mong the dramatis personee is a huge earthern Buf- 

 falo, the representative of spring, which is borne 

 in procession to tneet the high priest, who deliv- 

 ers a lecture on the benefits of husbandry, which 

 is one of sixteen discourses read anjiually to the 

 people. At ibe conclusion of the lecture be 

 strikes the Biiffalo three times witli a stafl^, when 

 it is immediately broken in pieces by the popu- 

 lace, and a number of little porcelain cows with 

 which it is filled, furnish materials for a scram- 

 ble. The rest of the day is devoted to amuse- 

 ments. 



It is thus the rulers of China, both by precept 

 and exan)ple, stimulate their subjects to the pur- 

 suit of agriculture, so essential to the support of 

 the empire. And, as the Emperor in person 

 plows the land and sows the seed, so the Em- 

 press also performs her part to encourage another 

 most important branch of industry, by going 

 through, in appearance at least, all the labors con- 

 nected with the culture of silk. — Ji]iss Corner's 

 Hist, of China. 



Raiuy Days. 



Messrs. Editors — How much time is thrown 

 away by some farmers in our country, when 

 the weather will riot permit them to work out of 

 doors. This lime might be well improved by 

 every farmer. In the course of a season there 

 are many days of wet v^eather, in which it is 

 impossible to do work on a farm ; therefore, 

 when these are lost, (as they arc lo many farmers 

 of my acquaintance in this vicinity,) ihey amount 

 to a considerable sum. " Time is money," as the 

 saying is; therefore bow important it is lor we 

 fiirmers, at this day of the world, to take care of 

 the pence, and the pounds will take care ofihem- 

 selves. Now if this is good advice in money 

 matters, it will surely apply to om' domestic af- 

 fairs — to those hours and half-days, when the 

 rain drives us under shelter. Well, some will 



- ask how, these hoin's and half-da} s are to be best 

 employed.^ I will tell you, my brother farmers. 

 Get yourselves a set of carpenter's tools and 

 make yourself a work bench, and if you can 

 plane a board and drive a nail, you will find 

 enough to occupy all the leisure horns and days 

 you will have in the year. The tools will cost 

 but five or six ilollars, such ss are most necessa- 

 ry for a farmer's use, and then you will be able to 



■ keep your out huililings, stable doors, &c. in 

 good repair, wiihout paying out money. If your 

 barn doors get out of order, the first rainy day 

 you can repair them. If a lioard on your fence 

 gets loose, put a nail in it or rcjdace it. In this 

 way you can improve all your rainy days, and 

 thereby keep your buildings and fences in good 

 coinliiion. 



Many farmers in our country think if any 

 small job of work is necessary to be done on 

 their premises, they must go on and ejnploy a 

 mechanic lo do it, when ihey couhl very proba- 

 bly do it just as well ihemselves, and conseijueHt- 

 ly save expense. If a farmer wants any plain 

 and useful lurnilure for hi.-; kitchen, such,' for in- 



' stance, as a plain table, henclies, ifcc, take a rainy 

 dii> to do it. I5ut it is unnecessary to multiply 

 the many thiinjs that might be done" or prepared 



at such times. Every farmer that looks around 

 his premises — if he is not in the habit of so do- 

 ing — will generally find his out-buildings and 

 fences are decaying, and out of repair. Every 

 farmer should accustom himself to the use ul' 

 tools, and whenever he wants asinall job of work 

 done, he can do it himself, wiihout going (bur or 

 five miles after a carpenter. I know a good ma- 

 ny farmers in this vicinity, that have not u hatch- 

 et, drawing knil'e, auger, plane or work bench, 

 about their premises. The consequence is, their 

 jobs go undone, and they have naught to do in 

 rainy days. Is this econoujy .' lean safely an- 

 swer no. Yet such men will carry their grain 

 five miles further to a market where they can get 

 two cents more a bushel. Enough has been said 

 to convince those who do not imitiove raiuy days 

 that they must inevitably be running down hill, 

 and soon their out-buildings, fences, &c., will all 

 be gone. — Cen. Farmer. 



Eruptio.v of Mou.nt JEtsa. — The following 

 particulars of the recent eruption of /Etna are 

 given in a letter from Palermo: 



A new eruption took place on the western side 

 of iEtna on the I7tli of Novendjer. The crater 

 ojiened near Monte Rosso, not far from the erup- 

 tion of 183'i. Three rivers of lava are formed, 

 and flowing rapidly in the direction of Maletto, 

 Bronte and Aderno. At the date of the last ac- 

 count, Noveiidier 22, the lava, which is flowing 

 across the Bronte, is of considerable thickness, 

 and had arrived within a mile oftlie town. The 

 inhabitants were flying in alai m, carrying oft' 

 their portable property. Bronte was enclosed in 

 two slreanis of lava, and tlie |)osilion of the in- 

 habitants was I'righlful. The lava took as its bed 

 the high road bom Palermo to Messina, and it is 

 leared that it may tail into the torrent of Simen- 

 to, which is qnit(; close lo the road from Aderno 

 to Leon Eorte, and which falls into the Gulf of 

 Catania, where it might cause grave accidents. 

 The road trom Palermo to Catania is in[erru|)ted 

 by the lava. Ail the cantons around vEtna are 

 alflicted wilh an atmosphere of ashes, which ob- 

 scures the sun's rays. The subterranean rumb- 

 lings of the volcano are heard as far as Catania, 

 and the grourid h.is a sort of (piivering motion, 

 which leads the inhabitants to fear an ajjproach- 

 ing eartlnpiakc. 



A curious circumstance took place at Catania 

 the night befbie the eruption. A fine rain fell 

 which changed the color of ihe silk in the nm- 

 brellas, and lunnt it. A professor of chennstry 

 having annalyzed this rain, found that it contain- 

 ed a large quantity of muriatic acid. The erup- 

 tion commenced, as already staled, on the 17lh 

 of November, aiiont half past two, in the desert 

 region of Monte Rosso. A thick stiioke, ini.ved 

 with sand, was sent forth, and rocks hurled into 

 the air, showed that the for<-e below was most 

 active. A constant undulating motion was felt 

 in every part of the montitain. Lava was soon 

 perceived to make its appearatice, and it descend- 

 ed rapidly lo the woody region, where it divided 

 into three streams, the northern one proceeding 

 toward the wood of Maletto, the south one to- 

 wards Bronte, while the third menaced the dis- 

 trict of Aderno. During the day the smoke in- 

 creased tremendously, anil being collected above 

 ^Etna, covered it completely. A quantity of sand 

 fell from it continually on the eastern part of the 

 mountain, and did inuch injury to shrubs and 

 crops. A strong smell of sulphur was percepti- 

 ble, even a! the botlom of the moimtain. 



On the Jt'th the lava continued to make its 

 way toward iMaletto, and the tilled grounds of 

 Bronte. The wljole population was uluriried. 

 The southern branch approached Basilliana, 4 

 miles from Bronte. An excessive activity con- 

 tinued to prevail in the crater, and sand still fell 

 over the whole southern and eastern sides. On 

 Ihe 90th the stream of lava, '.vhich had threaten- 

 ed Bronte, apprared to direct its course towards 

 the south, over the old lava of Alonle Egitto. Tin; 

 otiier two currents piu'sued iheir cour.-i', one to- 

 ward Aderno, and the other tnvvards Mallelto. 

 On the south and east, /Etna is entirely covered 

 with smoke. 



Anoiher letter, diited Palermo, 4th, in the Aiigs- 

 l)in-g Gazette, states that the l-iva had swept 

 iiway .-fiveral houses, ami destroyed sixty-seven 

 pei'BOn.s. 



Water power of Niagara FAi.i.s.—BIr. Al- 

 len, an engineer, has an article in Sillinjan's Jour- 

 nal, in which he thus estimates the hydraulic 

 power of Niagara Falls: 



The volume of the river discharged from Lake 

 Erie is estimated equal to :j7;5,O00 cubic leet of 

 water per second, uhirb he states is eipial lo22- 

 440,000 cubic feet, or l(i7,8(;a,420 gallons, or /Ol'- 

 250 tons, or 1,402,,'300,000 pounds of water flow- 

 ing out of tin- lake every minute. 



To show the amount of machinery this would 

 move, lie makes the fiillowing statenient: 



" Mr. Baines of England, 182.5, estimated Ihe 

 total quantity of moiivc power then at work in 

 all the cotton mills in Great Britain, as equal to a 

 horse power of 33,000 ; the whole motive power 

 employed in the woolen, flax, and other mannfiic- 

 tures, as eijual to 100,000 horses; and the whole 

 motive power em|)loyed in mining, ili propelling 

 boats, &c., .MS equal "to 50,000 horses. Thus Mr. 

 Baines made the entire motive power employed 

 in all these ways, in 1835, in Great Britain, equal 

 to 104,000 horses. 



"Since 1835, ibis aggregate of moving power 

 is supposed to have increased about 20 per cent., 

 or say 3i',000 horse power, making the entire ag- 

 gregate of motive power now in use in Great 

 Britain, in all the manufactures of cotton, wool, 

 flax, &c., in mining, &;c., equal to 233,000 hor.se- 

 power. But all this power, the working of which 

 produces so vast a proportion of the wealth of 

 Great Britain, amounts to no more than one nine- 

 teenth of the motive power of the Niagara Falls." 



Substitute for White Lead in Paint. — 

 M. de Ruolz of Paris, in a pajier recently present- 

 ed to the French Academy of Sciences, staled 

 that oxide of aniimoiiy was a good subslilnie for 

 white lead, the poisonous quality of which is the 

 origin of that dire diseyse "the painter's cholic," 

 of which in 1841 there were no less than 302 pa- 

 tients.sick in the hos|)itals of the province of the 

 Seine. M. Ruolz enumerates tlic advantages of 

 the oxide of antimony as follows: 



In cohn-, it rivals the most beautiful silver 

 while; it forms, with oil, an unctions and cohe- 

 sive mixture, and as a coating to wood or any 

 other article is snperinr to white lead. When 

 dry, it preserves its biilliancy, and, mixed wiih 

 other colors, produces a much better eftect than 

 while lead. IJnt the (lueslion will naturally .irise, 

 in getting rid of one poisonous substance, are 

 we not adopting anoihcr.- This (piesiion has 

 been anlicipale.l by M. Ruolz. He declares that 

 in the prepariilion of the flowers of antimony 

 there is no danger to the opeiator, and that in 

 using it .-is a paint none of those emanations take 

 place which make the use of white lead so dan- 

 gerous. We are disposed lo thiidv that M. Ruolz 

 is right; hut this is a ipiesliun which may be 

 soon set at rest by a commissioner of ihe Acade- 

 my. Science has r'nnde too great jirogress for it 

 to be difficidt to decide whether there can he any 

 thing injurious in the preparation or use of this 

 article. 



Too OFTEN THE CASE.— The Portland ,\rgns 

 relates the following, of which we too iVequeiillv 

 sec the parallel here :— "A man at ourelbow tolls 



us that a trader in this city by Ihe n;une of , 



went into a stable lo hire a horse, when the sta- 

 ble keeper having put the animal into the har- 

 ness, oflered him a whip. But otijected, 



and .-iski'd lor one he esjiied very carenilly hung 

 up by itself; but the hostler reiiiarked, you can't 

 have that, it belongs to a yotini; frentkma'n by the 

 name of G. Now this Mr. (i,' was a clerk in his 

 store at a stilary af §3110 per annum. The cost 

 of the whip v,i\» sfven dollars, mu] iheyoumr dan- 

 dy, on a salary that would Iniidly clothe him in 

 the style he dressed, purchasi'd a" whip for seven 

 dollars, and kept it hanging up in the stable, to 

 use when he hired a horse, to ride fljr pleasure, 

 which he often did, because there was none thero 

 he considereil good enough ! That young clerk 

 must luive cheated somebody or robbed his em- 

 ployer. We V(n-ily believe that more _\oung peo- 

 ple of moderate income are amnially ruined by 

 endeavoring to ape the slijle of living" of the aris- 

 ioeranj of fashion, than by all other vices and fol- 

 lies pill together." — Boston Bee. 



Frtit Trees.— See that the snow is keptcon- 

 slaiiily well trod about the roots of voin- (Vuit 

 trees. More pouch, apple, i>t*ar and phinib tree» 



