24 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



August 8, 182S. 



MISCELLANIES. 



THE SWEKI' BRIER.— I!y Bpainerd. 

 Our swcel autumnal tteaiern-st-entod wind 

 Robs ot ils odors none so sweei a fio\\''r, 

 in all liio blooming waslo it lell behinJ, 

 As that tlie sweet brier yields it ; a.id ilic shower 

 AVels not a rose that butis in beauty's bower 

 One half so lovely — yet it grows along 

 The poor girl's path-way — by the (jjor man's door. 

 Sueh are the simple folks it dwells among j 

 And humble as the bud, so humble bo die song. 



I love it, fur it takes ils untoucli'd staud 

 Not in the vase thai sculptors decorate — 

 Its sweetness all is of my native land, 

 And e'en its li-agrant leaf has not its mate 

 Among tile perfumes which the rich and great 

 Buy froin the odors of the spicy East. 

 You love ijoi'r (lowers and plants — and will you bale 

 The liltle lour leav'd rose that 1 love best. 

 That freshest will awake, and sweetest go to rest ? 



LINES 

 From the Saco Palladium. 

 Give vie a mug liltle Jurm, with sufficient learning to imilerstand 

 my bihli'—a little wife that cm milk the cow, and rock tlie cra- 

 dle—that can sleep at night, and icark all day— that can dis. 

 course music on the cheerful spinning icheel, and hang your 

 Greek arid Latin. The pnsent times are too unnatural and 

 luxurious. 



Our ancestors liv'd on bread and broth, 

 And woo'd their healthy wives in home-spun cloth ; 

 Our mothers nurlur'd to the nodding reel, 

 Gave all Iheir daughters lessons on the wheel. 

 Though spinning did not much reduce the waist. 

 It made the food much sweeter to the taste j 

 They plied with honest zeal the mop and broom, 

 And drove tlie sliutllo thio' the noisy loom. 

 They never once coniplain'd as wg do now. 

 We have no girl to cook, or milk Iho cow. 

 Each mother taught her red cheek'd son and daughter 

 ' To bake, and brew, ami draw a pail ot water. 

 No damsel shunn'd the wash-tub, bloom, or paii, 

 To keep unsullied a long grown finger nail. 

 They sought no gaudy dress, no wasp-like form, 

 Ihit ate to live, and work'd to keep them warm. 

 iSo idle youth, no tight-lac'd mincing fair, 

 Became a living corpse for want o( air. 

 Ino fi'lgeis, fainlings, fits, or frightful blues — 

 No painful corns from wearing Chinese shqes. 



March ofinfelhct. — A gentleman on %'i.siting tlie 

 school of Mr. Wood, in Edinbiifgh, lia J a book put 

 into 'lis hand for the purpose of examinhi,^ a class. 

 The word '•inheritance" occuring iu the verse, the 

 ■querist interrogated tiie youngster as follows : 



<Ji«s. — What is inheritance ? 



.■3ws. — Patrimony. 



Ques. — What is patrimony ? 



Ans. — Something lett by a father. 



i^iies. — AVhat would you call it if left by a mo- 

 ther ? 



Ans. — Matrimony. 



RATTLESNAKES. 



The present season has discovered an unusual 

 number of these venomoits reptiles ; several per- 

 sons have been bitten, and nonie lives lost. The 

 opinion of naturalists and others as to the manner 

 in which this snake inflicts the wound, or rather 

 when inflicted, ejects the poison into it, does not 

 appear to be settled. Some suppose that the pois- 

 on is thrown into the wound from a bag seated at 

 the root of its tongue, and located there by nature | 

 for its reception. Others believe that the poison 

 is contained in the upper jaw, and when the bite 

 is inflicted it is injected through a small orifice in 

 the tooth into the wound. 



The latter hypothesis we believe is most cor^ 

 rect. The upper jaw of the rattlesnake is provid- 

 ed on each side with one, two and three fangs, 

 similar in size and appearance to the claw of a 

 cat's foot. They are situated in the jaw, wit i 

 their points inward. When the snake prepares to 

 bite, he coils himself up with his head drawn back, 

 he maintains his ground with resolute firmness, 

 tint with his rattle, warns you of his presence. — 

 The lower jaw performs no part in the operation 

 of biting — it is done entirely by the spring of the 

 animal. 



A few days since a gentleman of this town 

 caught a rattlesnake, and with a forked stick fas- 

 teiied him to the ground, while with a knife he 

 extracted the fangs, after which the snake bit a 

 person with his masticators, without uijury result- 

 ing from it. We examined two of the fangs of 

 this sjiafce, and the cylhider in them was distinctly 

 visible to the naked eye, and in order to be more 

 certain we inserted a horse hair with ease through 

 it, their cavity passing through the tooth from its 

 root, and coming out close by tlie point. It has 

 been repeatedly said, and correctly too, that there 

 is no part, however minute, of the aniniiil creation, 

 which nature has not adapted to some useful pur- 

 pose. What then are those cavities in the fangs 

 used for, which are so entirely difterent from the 

 ordinary operations of nature ? They are clearly 

 intended for the transmission of the poison to the 

 wound inflicted. — Miner^s Journal. 



The Dutckiruin's shower. — Our steadj- rain li;!s 

 been interrupted by two or three days of good 

 weather, and pleasantly cool. We have foimd a 

 good description of the pipvious month, in the 

 Dutchman's weather journal, "had a dunder show- 

 er for tree weeks, and then it set in for a settled 



Messrs. F. & ,T. Andrews of Lancaster, propose 

 to publish an Edition of Mrs. Rowlandson's Narra- 

 tive of her captivity and sufferings among the In- 

 dians, by whwT) that town was destroyed in 1676. 



Gigantic hemp. — There is now grooving on the 

 property of Stephen Girard,in Passyunk township, 

 Philadelphia county, a stalk of hemp, (amongst 

 others) nine feet four inches high, and has not yet 

 attained its ultimate height. The stalk is four in- 

 ches and a half in circumference, just above the stir- 

 face of the ground. 



SEXUALITY OF PLANTS. 



This remarkable structure of plants exemphfies .1 

 the same indispensable process in the vegetabh.- 

 as in the animal kingdom. One of tlie most sin- 

 gular plants which exhibits this struilure in a , 

 very striking manner, is the yalisneria spiralis, a ] 

 species which is common to Europe as well as to ! 

 this country. It is an aquatic, growing on tho 

 margin of rivers, and bearing its fertile or teraale 

 flowers on a very long spiral foot-stalk, so that 

 whatever depth the tide may cause in the waters, 

 it always floats ; the male flower, on the contrary, 

 is attached to the stem, and is submersed until it 

 is ready to blow, when it detaches itself from the 

 stem under water, rises.^to the top, and carries its 

 pollen to the female plaiit. 



The same remarkable moiie of fructification ex- 

 ists in a plant jiecuhar to this country. This is . 

 also an aquatic, very small, and much resembling 

 a species of moss. The whole plant is immersed 

 in fresh water streams. The female flower is at- 

 tached to a spiral stem so slender as scarcely to 

 exceed the finest hair in diameter ; the male is 

 borne on the stem under water, and migrates at. 

 its maturity to the surface, sheds its pollen, which 

 floats around the female plant until the office of 

 fructification is performed, when it withers and 

 dies. It is the Udora canadensis of Nuttall, and 

 may be found in the months of .July and August 



in most of the tributary streams of our rivers jV. 



}". Farmer. 



RASPBERRY WINE. 



Take equal ([uantities of fruit and water, bruise 

 and let them stand two days, then strahi it, and 

 to every gallon put four pounds of coarse sugar, 

 when dissolved, put the liipior in a barrel, and 

 when fine, which will be generally in three 

 mo>.tb<-, buttle it, and in each bottle put a large 

 spoonful of brandy lb. 



COFFEE. 

 It was owing in some measure to a distinguish- 

 ed French botanist, that we are .so abundantly fur- 

 nished with the coftee berry. Two plants were, 

 under his care, taken to the West Indies, from the 

 botanic gardens at Paris, but on the voyage the' 

 supply of water became nearly exhausted ; this 

 person was so anxious to preserve the plants that 

 he deprived himself of his allowance in order to 

 water the coffee-plants. From these two, all the 



coffee grown in the West Indies has sprung. 



Fbrnierly, coffee could only be got at a great ex- 

 pense from Mocha in Arabia. 



Cure for the fever and ague — Take a gill of very 

 strong coffee, mixed with an equal quantity of lime 

 juice — the dose to be taken just before the fit of 

 ague is expected. Dr. Ponqueville's "Travels in 

 the Moiea," contains the following : I have often 

 seen intermitting fevers subdued entirely by a mix- 

 ture of coffee and lemon juice, which is the gene- 

 ral remedy for them, all over the country. The 

 proportions are three quarters of an ounce of cof- 

 fee, ground very fine — two ounces of lemon juice, 

 and three of water. The mi.xture to be drank 

 warm, and fasting. — Charleston Mer. 



Lowell. — Above 125,000 yards of cotton cloth, 

 and about 3000 yards of cassunere, are manufac- 

 tured weekly, in Lowell. 



It is stated, that Mrs Hemans, so long distin- 

 guished as the first poetess of the age, is about to 

 make Edinburgh her place of residence. 



Turnip Seed, S,-c. 



Just received at the New England Farmer Seed .Store, No. 

 52 North .'Vlarket Street, Boston, an extensive assortment of 

 Turnip Se.^ds, some of which are the growth of the present 

 season— the finest sorts eiUier fer family use or stock. 'J'be 

 most improved sorts for the former are the White Stone, White 

 Dutch, Yellow Stone, Yellow Malta. The Yelloin Stcme is 

 one of uncommon excellence and keeps well. Of the sorts for 

 field culture, the White Norfolk, White Globe, and VeUow Ab- 

 erdeen or Bullock are preferable. The Yellow Aberdeen is 

 most approved among the farmers of England and Scotland, as 

 it grows to a large size, is very sweet and nutritious, and keeps 

 till June. Also, Yellow Ruta Baga, or Russian Turnip, of the 

 best description. The above seeds were saved in Europe e.v- 

 pressly fo*- us, and the utmost dependence may be placed upon 

 theii genuine quality. A variety of Long and Turnip Radish- 

 es, suitable for growing the three ensuing months. Prickly or 

 Fall Spinach, Long Prickly and Early Cluster Cucumber ; also 

 the genuine Girkin Cucumber, or West India pickling one of 

 'he finest pickles. 



Likewise SOO lbs. fresh common white flat English Turnip 

 Seed, a part of it the growth of 132S : — to dealers and purchas- 

 ers by the quantity, it will be put at a low rate. 



Pubhshed every Friday, at ^3 per annum, payable at tlie 

 end of the year — but tliosc who nay within si.xly days from the 

 lime of subcribing. are eniitloa ro a deduction of fifty cents. 



