180 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Dec. 26, 1S28. 



water from three to five days, according to the 

 temperature. It is then dried by a few liours' 

 exposure to the sun, and again passed through the 

 machine, wliich frees it from the remaining shives, 

 and leaves it in a fine flexible state. 



This improvement not only saves more than 

 half the expense and waste in manufacturing hemp, 

 but secures it from the injury which it unavoida- 

 bly sustains by the rotting system. Too much 

 labor has heretofore been requisite in producing 

 this article, so that our fiirmers could not compete 

 with Europeans, who obtain labor so much 

 cheaper; but now that labor-saving machine and 

 our tarifl" give him a double advantage. If our 

 government continues to extend the protecting 

 hand to our own productions and manufactures, 

 the growing of hemp and flax will soon become 

 a branch of business to the northern agricultur- 

 ists." 



BRITISH IRON TRADE. 



By a statement in a late English paper,it appears 

 that nearly 700,000 tons of iron are made every 

 year in Great Britain— valued at 0,297,000 pounds 

 sterling. In making this estimate of the value of 

 the trade, the writer merely takes into account 

 the coarser kinds of the article. Undoubtedly the 

 finer manufactures of Sheflield and Birmingham, if 

 added to the above, would greatly swell the 

 amount. This immense sum is derived, it is af- 

 firmed, from the minerals of Great Britain alone — 

 no foreign ingredient whatever being employed in 

 the manufacture— and, what is equally creditable to 

 the character of the iron trade of that country, 

 almost the whole amount of the money thus ob- 

 tained, is distributed among the artizans engaged 

 in that business. — Boston Bulletin. 



From the New York Evening Post. 



RUSSIA. 



The American Quarterly Review reckons the 



population of Russia at between 50 and 60 millions 



of souls, of whom about 40 millions are serfs, 



(white slaves employed in husbandry.) The num- 

 ber of serfs belonging to the crown is 14 millions. 



The serfs are not sold in Russia as slaves are sold 



in the United States, but they are bonded to the 



land ; they form a part of the glebe, and can only 



be made over to another as a part of the estate. 



On some estates, they are allowed to work three 



days in the week on their own account ; the other 



three days they work for their lord. When the 



government wants recruits for the army, each 

 person holding serfs is directed to send his quota 

 of peasants, suitably equipped, to a particular spot. 

 The serfs settle it among themselves who are to 

 march. The friends of the recruits bewail their 

 fate in the most lamentable manner, and take an 

 everlasting farewell of their children, brothers and 

 relations. They seldom see or hear from them 

 again. Few furloughs are given to Russian sol- 

 diers ; their distance from home renders visits im- 

 possible ; they cannot send letters to their friends, 

 being unable to read or write ; and most of them 

 fall in battle or by natural death before the expi- 

 ration of their 25 years' service. The paj' of the 

 poor soldier is not more than 55 cents a month. 

 Capt. Jones, in his Russian Tour, estimates the jplete success." 

 Russian army at 800,000 men, of whom not more 

 than half are efiicient for field duties. The Cos- 

 sacks usually send 40 or 50,000, cavalry into the 

 field in time of war. — Hamp. Gaz. 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



We are glad to observe that these useful insti- 

 tutions are multiplying over the country, and that 

 now the nolitical storm is over, the activity and 

 zeal of our citizens are turned to the improvement 

 of husbandry. A meeting of gentlemen from the 

 several counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, 

 Tompkins, Ontario, Wayne, Yates, Monroe, Liv- 

 ingston, and Genessee, has lately been held at 

 Geneva, for tlie purpose of forming a " Domestic 

 Horticultural Society for the Western part of the 

 State of New York." The vice-presidents and 

 committee of managers are selected, one from 

 each of these counties. Myron Holly delivered 

 a discourse, previous to the organization of the 

 society, which will he published. The otficers of 

 the society have been chosen from among gentle- 

 men of the highest respectability in that part of 

 the state. The Geneva Gazette, speaking of the 

 institution, says — 



"The countenance which this society has re- 

 ceived in its origin, from men of acknowledged 

 acquirements and of extensive influence, gives an 

 earnest of success, cheering to its projectors, and 

 which promises lasting benefits to this section of 

 our state. A project, so honorable in its cliarac- 

 ter, so laudable in its object, and so auspicious in 

 : its commencement, cannot fail of final and com- 



WOBURN ACADEMY. 



On Wednesday the 3d inst. the academy in 

 Wohiirn was opened, and the handsome edifice 

 dedicated by appropriate services, cotmiiencing by 

 an anthem. The dedicatory prayer was made by 

 Rev. Mr Bennet ; an appropriate address was de- 

 livered by Rev. Dr Fay, of Charlestown, in which 

 he gave a concise account of tlie original design 

 in the establishment of the Institution ; last prayer 

 by Rev. Mr Mallory ; an anthem concluded the 

 services. It is intended by the Trustees, and 

 the Preceptor, that nothing on their pari shall be 

 wanting, to make this institution equal to any in 

 our hifihly favored land ; especially for instruction 

 in such branches of education as may qualify for 

 active business, as well as in sound literature, and 

 the moral and religious cultivation of the mind. — 

 Instead of a gymnastic establishment, it is con- 

 templated that the students shall have a far more 

 healthful and useful exercise, by occupying a 

 small portion of their time in labor, either in a 

 garden, (there being several acres of lanil attached 

 to the Institution for that purpose,) or at some 

 mechanical work in a shop already provided. — 

 Bost. Rec. &,■ Tel. 



The J^Tew Zealand Spinage is certainly a great 

 iiddition to our list of culinary vegetables. We 

 have given the method of cultivation reconmiended 

 in New York. Having it under cultivation two 

 seasons, we are enabled to speak of it from our 

 own observation, and we certainly concur in the 

 encomiums bestowed on it. In a subsequent 

 number, and in time for those to benefit by it, who 

 may wish to cultivate it, we will give our experi- 

 ence on the subject. — Southern JlgricuUuralist. 



Souvenirs, Tokens, ifc. — Seven or eight Souve- 

 nirs, or Annuaries, have been published within the 

 last two months, each of which contains, probably 

 ten, 7)oMi6Z_y twenty, pages of excellent composi- 

 tion ; the remainder, if it were sent in manuscript 

 to the editors who praise it, would not be admitted 

 into the columns of their respective papers. Any- 

 thing, paid for such blank verse and " blanker 

 prose," must be extravagant Boston Courier. 



CHEMICAL EXPERIMENT. 



A new Fire-Screen for the Ladies. — Draw a land- 

 scape on paper with common Italian ink, repre- 

 senting a winter scene, or mere outhne ; the foli- 

 age to be painted with muriate of cobalt, (green,) 

 muriate of Copper, (yellow,) and acetate of cobalt, 

 (blue,) all which colors dry in invisible ; but on 

 the screen being held near the fire, the gentle 

 warmth will occasion the trees, flowers, &c. to 

 dis])lay themselves in their natural colors, and 

 winter is magically changed to spring. As the 

 paper cools, the colors disappear ; and the eflect 

 may be repeated as often as desired. 



Impostor. — An impious wretch has recently ap- 

 peared in Ohio, who declares that he is Jesus 

 Christ, and that he has come to judge the world. 

 He has about 20 crazy followers, who worship 

 him, prostrating themselves at his feet, and calling 

 him God. Soineofthem were formerly consid- 

 ered respectable citizens. One man knowing the 

 injury he had done to his foUowers, gave him a 

 thrashing, and drove him out of the place. A few 

 sound drubbings will doubtless divest him of his 

 pretended omnipotence. — lb. 



Flour ard grain have advanced a little in New 

 York. On Friday last flour was sold from $7 75 

 to 8 25 per barrel ; wheat 1 62 per bushel ; rye 

 67. In 1827 the wheat received by the canal 

 was 1,290,552 bushels ; this year it has been only 

 505,902 bushels — decrease 724,6.50 bushels. — 

 Supphes of wheat come in freely from the south. 



Large Crop. — From two bushels and two thirds 

 of a bushel of potatoes, planted by Lt. Timothy 

 Eaton, of East Pond Plantation, this season, he 

 had the astonishing product of one hundred and 

 thirty bushels. 



Extraordinary Vegetable Production A Cab- 

 bage which grew at the farm of Mr Shubrick, on 

 the neck, was this morning (Doc. 4 ) brought to 

 this oflice ; it measures Li ci.-ci-m'erence be:\76en 

 40 and fifty inches-:-and is as large a vegefsjle 

 of its kind, in size, as was perhaps ever seen.^ 

 Charleston Patriot. 



Our countrymen sometimes leave potatoes as 

 legacies to the nations whom they visit. Mr Bogle 

 brought them to Thibet, and in that country they 

 are called " Bogles." The Hindoos regard them 

 as the beot boon bestowed upon them by the En- 

 glish. Sir John Malcolm introduced them into 

 the garden at Bushire, and now they are abundant 

 on the coast of the Persian Gulf, and distinguished 

 by the name of " Malcolm's f ;.ira." 



Losses in JVew York by Fires. — Mr Jameson Cox 

 has presented the City Council of New York an 

 estimate of the losses by fire during eleven ninths 

 of the present j'ear, 1828 — v.Iiic!: ainouiit ij the 

 enormous sum oi" six hundred and eighty thousand 

 dollars. — .V. E. Palladium. 



The coffers of the Ban!: of En.Tland are stated 

 to contain gold to the amount of ilurUm r/uliiona 

 of pounds. 



So great is the vintage the prssentycar in some 

 parts of France, that it is stated in mny vi^^ages 

 the vintners will give two hogsheads of wiuc Tor 

 an empty cask. 



