182 



DEEP PLOUGHING. 



Deep ploughing may be a very profitatile piac- 

 •ice in a rich soil ; and in a fertile, shallow soil, 

 situated upon cold clay or sandy subsoil it may 

 16 extremely prejudicial. A shallow soil, liow- 

 nver, may be rendered deeper by degrees, plougli- 

 ng up a small quantity of barren earth at a time, 

 ind manuring plentifully. 



FOOD FOR PLANTS. 



Water, and the decomposing animal and veg- 

 etable matter existing in the soil, constitute the 

 true nourishment of plants ; and as the earthy 

 parts of the soil are useful in retaining water, so 

 as to supply it in the proper proportions to the 

 roots of the vegetables, so tliey are likewi-ie effi- 

 cacious in producing the proper distribution of 

 the animal or vegetable matter ; when equally 

 mixed with it they prevent it from decomposing 

 too rapidly ; and by their means the soluble parts 

 are supplied in proper proportions. 



SOILS ABSORBING MOISTURE. 



I have compared the absorbent powers of many 

 soils with respect to atmospheric moisture, and 

 I have always foimd it greatest in the most fer- 

 tile soils; so that it affords one method of judging 

 (if the productiveness of land. — Ai;ricultarul 

 Chemistri/. 



POTATOES IMPORTED. 



In 18-27, 20,'892 bushels of potatoes were im- 

 ported into the United States from the British 

 dominions ; but the exports of American potatoes 

 in that year to England and her dependencies 

 were only two bushels. This, however, is the 

 less to be wondered at, when we reflect that the 

 climate of Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, and 

 Nova Scotia, being more moist and cool than 

 that of the United' States, is better adapted to 

 the culture of potatoes. 



NICETY IN MAKING CIDER. 

 An English writer says, " In some places ap- 

 ples are split, and two kinds of cider made ; that 

 with the red side being of a superior quality to 

 what the whole apple would make." 



NEW ENGLAND FAliiVlER. 



Dec. 2(3, 1828. 



farther increased ; and even if confined in bad 

 weather to your inn, the windows of your apart- 

 ment, as I have often experienced, will add to your 

 s;ock. If a sudden shower ol)liges you at any 

 time to seek shelter under a tree, your attention 

 will be attracted, and the tedium of our station re- 

 lieved, where the botanist could not liope to fiud 

 even a new lichen or moss, liy the appearance of 

 several insects, driven there, perhaps by the same 

 cause as yourself, that you have not observed be- 

 fore. Should you, as I trust you will, feel a de- 

 sire to attend to the manners and economy of in- 

 sects, and become ambitious of making discoveries 

 in this part of entomological science. I can assure 

 you from long experience, that you will here find 

 an inexhaustible fund of novelty. For more than 

 twenty years my attention has been directed to 

 them, and during most of my summer walks my 

 eyes have been employed in observing their tvays ; 

 yet I can say with truth, that so far from having 

 exhausted the subject, within the last six months 

 I have witnessed more interesting facts respecting 

 their history, than in many preceding years. To 

 follow only the insects that frequent your own 

 garden, from their first to their last state, and to 

 trace all their proceedings, would supply an inter- 

 esting amusement for the remainder of your life, 

 and at its close you would leave much to be done 

 by your successor; for where we know thorough- 

 Iv the history of one insect, there are hundreds 

 cnnoerning which we have ascertained little be- 

 sides the iiare fact of their existence. 



Kirby^ Spenne. 



USES OF THE BEECH TREE. 



The leaves of the Beech, gathered in autumn, 

 before they are much injured by the frost, make 

 infinitely better mattresses than straw or chaff, 

 and endure for seven or eight years. It is un- 

 paralleled in water works, for when constantly 

 kept wet, it appears as perfectly sound at 40 years 

 end, as when first immersed. [It rots very 

 quick, however, in fences, or other situations in 

 which it is exposed to changes from wet to dry.] 



The wood is formed into tool-handles, planes, 

 chairs, bedsteads, spokes, howls, large screws, ^x. 



The felloes of the London carts are made of 

 it, because it tears with more difficulty than even 

 ash. 



It is excellent fuel, and when burnt it affords 



TO MAKE VERY STRONG VINEGAR 



An European author asserts that, "Cider! 

 (particularly such as is of an acid tendency,) j 



placed in the sun, becomes vinegar in a short! ,-, r . i 



time; and one pound of honey to a gallon of j =i '^ge quantity of potash, 

 cider will, after standing some months, become 

 such strong vinegar that it must be mixed with 

 water for cominon use." 



ENTOr-lOLOGY. 



A new animal oi' plant is seldom to be met with 

 even by those who liave leisure and oppnrtuiiity poor for winter firing. 



for extensive researches ; but if you collect in- and may be trained to form very lofty hedges. 

 sects, you will fiud, however limited the manor Gleanings on Hnshandri/. 



that your 



The mast, seeds or nuts yield a good oil for 

 lamps: swine are fond of them, but their fat is 

 soft, and boils away, unless hardened before they 

 are killed, by some other food. They have been 

 toasted as a succedaueum for coffee. 



The hulls of the seeds are collected by the 

 The tree bears lopping, 



upon which you can pursue your I'ame 

 efforts are rewarded by the capture of some non- 

 descript or rarity at present not possessed by other 

 entomologists, for I have seldom seen a cabinet so 

 meagre as not to possess unique specimens. Nay, 

 though you may have searched every spot in your 

 neighborhood this year, turned over every stone, 

 shaken every bush or tree, and fished every pool, 

 you will not have exhausted its insect production;*. 

 Do the same to another and another, and new 

 treasurer wi'l still continr.e to enrich your cabinet. 

 If you leave your own vicinity for an entomolo- 

 gici I excursion, your prospects of success are still 



Cure for Warts. — Procure sixpence worth of 

 muriat of iron, sufficient to cure any number of 

 warts, which may be had of any of the druggist^s, 

 and touch the wart with the liquid three or four 

 times a day, for two or three weeks, with the 

 feather of a quill made very small at the end, so 

 as to discharge a drop at a time, and let it dry in. 

 irthe wart should be an old one, it would be more 

 speedily cured by shaving off with a sharp pen- 

 knife a fittle of the rough outside skin, not, ho\ir- 

 ever, so as to make it bieed, but juft sufficient to 

 make the surface a little tender. — Am. Sentinel. 



STATISTICS. 



In the police of the work of M. Balbi, called 

 " T/ie Political Balance of the Globe," which 

 we find in the .Tournal cli:s Debuts of the 2"th 

 September, the following tables are extracted, 

 pui porting to show the power and resources of 

 the principal nations of the civilized world, as 

 coiiqjared with their respective population : 

 Proportion between the amoxint of Revenue and 



Population. 

 United Kingdom of Great Britain and 



Ireland, for each inhabitant, about $13 00 

 France, - . . . . 



Netherlands, . . - . 

 Prussian Monarchy, ... 

 United Slates of America, 

 Empire of Austria, ... 



Empire of Russia, excluding Poland, 

 Proportion between the amount of Debt and 



Population. 

 United Kingdom of Great Britain and 



Ireland, for each inhabitant, about $174 00 

 Netherlands, - - - - 127 00 



France, 29 00 



Austria, 9 00 



United States of America, - - 7 00 



Prussia, 5 9-101 



Russia, excluding Poland, - - 4 1-iS 

 Proportion betiveen the Army and the Population. 



InliabitantSi 



Russia, without Poland, one soldier for 



every - - - - 57 



Prussia, . . - 



Austria, ... 



France, ... 



Netherlands, ... 142 



Great Britain and Ireland, - - 229 



United States of America, - - 1977 



Proportion of the Naval Force to the Population. 



lnha.bitaQti. 



Great Britain and Ireland, one line of 



battle ship or frigate, to - - 82,979 

 Sweden and Norway, - - 154,640 



Netherlands, .... 170,566 



France, 299,909 



United Slates of America, - - 316,000 

 Russia, without Poland, - - 700,000 



Austria, 2,909,091 



This is a curious, and not uninteresting view 

 of the various powers enumerated; and if the 

 same accuracy be evinced with regard to the 

 other calculations, which is exhibited in those 

 relating to the United States, it must be deemed 

 authentic. 



Frcni the United Strites Gazette. 



COJIMUNICATION. 



Gentlemen — Herewith I send you an extract 

 from late English papers, which may be interest- 

 ing to some of your readers, and which you can 

 publish when you have room for it. 



A Coffee Drinker. 



Coffee. — The discovery of coffee is generally 

 attributed to the Prior of a monastery in that 

 part of Arabia where the shrub is indigenous. — 

 The fact of the case, however, as verified by the 

 learned Addalcuder, whose manuscript is in the 

 King of France's library, and by Mr G:'.lland, 

 translator of the Arabian Tales, areas follows; — 



About the middle of tiie fifteenth century, cue 

 Gemaleddin, who resided at Aden Bear the 



I 



