VOl.. XII. NO. 9. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



69 



KENRICK'S ORC1IA.RDIST. 



We are highly gratified to perceive, in Loudon's 

 Magazine, of June last, the following candid and 

 favorable notice of the New American Orchardisl 

 by our Countryman and Friend William Ken- 

 rick. 



This will prove a very valuable manual to those 

 in America who addict themselves to the cultiva- 

 tion of fruits. It is for the Americans what Lind- 

 ley's Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen-Garden is 

 to the British, except that the present work con- 

 fines itself to fruits. Its contents have been de- 

 rived from considerable practical experience, re- 

 search, and examination, in the subject, by tin- 

 author and some friends of his ; but it is still, in 

 good proportion, a compilation from all the works 

 which the author could procure on his subject, 

 and the later of those published in England have 

 been liberally drawn on. The author gives a list 

 of the titles of the works he has had recourse to. 

 There is a good deal of patriotism in the author's 

 feeling ; and he is anxious to promote the passion 

 for, and emulation in gardening, which are now 

 in America, on all sides kindling into resultful ac- 

 tion. The book, too may prove useful to British 

 gardeners, as a means of teaching them the quali- 

 ties of certain American fruits. In the "Intro- 

 duction" are these remarks: — "In England, 

 however, they cannot duly appreciate the value of 

 our native fruits, and those of other climates 

 equally favored with us : their high northern lati- 

 tude forbids it ; although they have done wonders 

 in counteracting the hostility of their seasons and 

 climate. In their vast collection of fruits, which 

 they have congregated from all climates, in their 

 Horticultural Society's Garden, at Chiswick, I 

 find, by the Society's calalogue for 1S26, that 

 they have at least fifty varieties of the native 

 peaches of America, the selections from the ex- 

 tensive native orchards of this fruit, raised in the 

 middle and western states for distillation. All 

 these, so fine in our climate, so much admired by 

 travellers, are, with but two exceptions, rejected as 

 ' worthless, 1 not being adapted to their latitude, 

 and not arriving to their full maturity and excel- 

 lence, eveu on the walls to which their cultivation 

 is confined. (See vol. ii, No. 54, of the Porno- 

 logical Magazine.) Other varieties of native fruit, 

 so superior in our own climate, are by them al- 

 most as little noticed. The apples of America, 

 — the fine selections during two centuries, from 

 the innumerable native orchards." Not one sylla- 

 ble of the above may require a qualifying question : 

 we would only, in perfect good humour, add an 

 admired couplet from Goldsmith, which has now 

 come to mind : 



" Such is the patriot's boast where'er we roam, 

 His first best country ever is at home." 



Another of Mr. Kenrick's remarks should be quot- 

 ed: — "The temperature of our climate, on our 

 extensive Atlantic coast, differs considerably from 

 those parts of Europe and of Africa [which are] 

 in corresponding latitudes." Towards the close 

 of his book, the author sketches a list of foreign 

 fruits, and foreign trees, " which may be cultivat- 

 ed in the south-western and southern states to the 

 lat. of 25 deg." and adds, " Most of these, howev- 

 er, may flourish in the middle states ; and a small 

 portion may succeed in the north-western and east- 

 ern states to the latitude 43 deg." 



The author dedicates his work "to the Hon. 

 John Lowell, LL. D.," who has, during the twen- 

 ty-five years past, been a distinguished promoter 



of gardening and fanning in America; and in the 

 course of that time has " extensively disseminated 

 many valuable productions — the donations from 

 T. A. Knight, Esq. [President of the London Hor- 

 ticultural Society,] and from other sources." 



ITEMS OF ECONOMY, ARTS, &c. 



Splendid Bridge. Messrs. Gilson & Co. Read- 

 ing, Penn. it is said, have entered into a contract 

 for building a bridge over the Potomac river, at 

 Washington city ; for completing which they are 

 to receive $1,400,000. It will be one mile long — 

 to have forty arches, 42 piers. 



Flea-ology. Happening in the Drug store, in 

 this place, a few days since, we found one of our 

 citizens procuring of the gentleman of the "pestle 

 and mortar" a prescription to keep his house clear 

 of Fleas ! What think ye it was — Calomel or Ar- 

 senic, or some deadly poison ? It was the sweet 

 smelling oil of penny-royal, which, it seems, will, 

 if sprinkled over the floor, make these troublesome 

 little insects keep at a respectable distance. This 

 appears to be preferable to the Irishman's mode of 

 killing them, particularly when it is considered 

 that oftentimes in "putting your finger on them 

 they ain't there." — St. Joseph's Beacon. 



Corns. A piece of tobacco, moistened with wa- 

 ter, and bound upon the corn, acts as an effectual 

 cure. We have tried it and found it so — have re- 

 commended it to many others who have found the 

 same relief. If you are afflicted, bind on the weed, 

 do not ape the Chinese, and we will warrant you 

 free from corns in six months. — N. H. Spectator. 



Beef. The drovers have begun to purchase 

 grass-fed cows in this vicinity. We are informed 

 that the price paid is not far from $4,50 per 100, 

 (probably short of that,) giving the owners about 

 8 dollars per head more than they paid for farrow 

 cows in the spring-. — Northampton Gaz. 



Strange Animal. An animal of strange cogno- 

 men has repeatedly been seen in anil about the 

 woods at Hadley, (Upper Mills,) exciting no little 

 curiosity in that vicinity. He is represented as 

 larger than a Fox, of a brindled color, long hind 

 legs and short front ones, and belongs to no spe- 

 cies known about here. He is rather ferocious, 

 and when seen in the road by two men between 

 the Upper Mills and Sunderland, he growled an- 

 grily, and seemed disposed to act on the offensive. 

 No hunters have been able to get a shot at him ; 

 but dogs have been vanquished, and they refuse to 

 renew the attack again. He is thought to be a 

 species of the Kangaroo, going upon his long hind 

 legs, by skipping and jumping. A general hunt 

 is to he attempted in a few days, and if successful 

 we may learn something more minute about him. 

 — Northampton Courier. 



Milk Sickness. Mr. T. S. Hinde communicates 

 to the Ohio State Journal, as the result of more 

 than twenty years observation, that the cause of 

 what is called the milk sickness is a wild vine re- 

 sembling the poison oak vine. It grows as a 

 shrub, is bushy at top ; and in some instances at- 

 taches itself to trees, though not as firmly as a 

 creeper. He says, " I have observed that the vine 

 attached to trees bears a buff or yellowish berryj 

 covered with a brownish skin. The present sea- 

 son having been wet, this vine is unusually plen- 

 tiful, and cases of milk sickness have occurred 

 earlier than common." 



"Scot's Mountain against the World !" was the 

 triumphant exclamation of neighbor Ferguson, 

 while he held an oat straw in his fist, "6 feet 5% 

 inches above the root." Andrew Vansicfcje, Esq. 

 left at our office an oat stalk, measuring 7 feet 5i 

 inches. This leaves Scot's Mountain 12 inches on 

 the back ground. The straw may be seen at this 

 office. Beat this who can. — Belvidere.N. J. Apollo. 



A disease is at present raging to a great extent 

 amongst the cows in France. It is said that more 

 than 20,000 have died. 



Superior Intelligence of the Dog and Elephant. 

 The dog is the only brute animal that dreams, and 

 he and the elephant the only quadrupeds that un- 

 derstand looks. The elephant is lire only animal 

 that, besides man, feels sorrow ; the dog the only 

 quadruped that has been brought to speak. Leib- 

 nitz bears witness to a hound in Saxony, that 

 could speak distinctly thirty words. — Med. Gaz. 



Silver Mines of Mexico. From an article in the 

 last number of Silliman's Journal, we learn that 

 there are about 500 towns or principal places in 

 Mexico, celebrated for the explorations of silver 

 that surround them. These 500 places compre- 

 hend together about 3000 mines. lire whole 

 number of veins and masses in the exploration is 

 between 4000 and 5000. The ore is generally in 

 veins, — rarely in beds or masses. The vein of 

 Guanaxuato is the most extensive. It is from 120 

 to 150 feet thick, and is explored in different pla- 

 ces for a distance of nine miles. The quantity of 

 silver in the ores average from 3 to 4 ounces the 

 quintal, or from 1-448 to l-597th of the weight 

 of ore. The annual produce of silver in Mexico 

 during the last years of the 17th century, was 

 1,134,424 lbs. 



ST. JOHN'S WORT. 



A correspondent of the Philadelphia U. S. Ga- 

 zette, who writes from Bridgeport, N. J. under 

 date of the 3d inst. says: — 



I left Camden a few days since, where I had had 

 my horse at livery, and had proceeded so far as the 

 first watering place, when 1 made a discovery that 

 startled me. My horse — a favorite, noble fellow — 

 presented an appearance about the head that 

 strongly reminded me of the bloody knobs of the 

 pugilists who beat each other's heads into a jelly 

 as a matter of science. His face was apparently 

 bruised shockingly, the skin all off, and as red as 

 a boiled lobster. My excessive agitation and 

 alarm was somewhat moderated when able to un- 

 derstand the matter. It appears he must have 

 been eating new hay, in which was mixed some 

 leaves of that vile plant known as St. John's Wort, 

 and wherever that comes in contact with the white 

 hair and skin of a horse, it operates like poison, 

 making it as raw as would aqua fortis, while that 

 portion of the hair and skin which partakes of any 

 other color than white is entirely exempt. 



Of this strange fact I had often heard, but nev- 

 er before saw it manifested. It was an offensive 

 sight to the merciful master of the noble animal ; 

 to see him throwing his head up. with his honest 

 face like a raw beef-steak, broiling over hot Jersey 

 sand and beneath a scorching sun ; it was too 

 much. It would be some consolation to witness a 

 change of color, and this was immediately effected 

 by a thorough basting with sturgeon oil and gun- 

 powder, said to he a sovereign remedy; a fact I 

 mention for the information of those who may 

 happen to have their horses stripped of that neces- 

 sary article — a bide. 



