VOL. XII. NO. 16. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



123 



The weather, upon the whole, has been favora- 

 ble for harvesting such of the crops as were ripe ; 

 but the cold prevented all that were late from 

 ripening, and extensive fields have been injured 

 by the frost. Teas have not ripened, and will 

 prove a bad crop. Below the Island of Orleans, 

 it is the same with a great part of the wheat. 

 Above Quebec, it is hardly an average; and more 

 of it is injured by the worm in the grain than was 

 at first imagined. Oats were fine and abundant, 

 but a great many fields which were still green 

 have suffered greatly by the frosts, or have been 

 cut unripe. 



Potatoes arc the best crop, and have not suffered 

 materially. They will be a full average. Turnips, 

 which are but little cultivated, particularly the 

 Swedish or (he Choir cle Siam of the country, set 

 out early, prove productive, and form an excellent 

 aid to a scanty hay crop. 



The pastures have suffered by the frost, and 

 have turned brown where the land is not in good 

 condition. The live stock is, however, yet in 

 good order; but the produce of the dairy, which 

 has been about an average this year, is premature- 

 ly diminished. 



The finer produce of the garden has failed. 

 Upon the whole, garden stuffs will not keep up 

 to the promise of the earlier part of the season. 

 Every thing tails in coming to maturity. The 

 produce of the orchards is an average in quantity, 

 but inferior in quality. 



Nothing but great economy and good manage- 

 ment will enable the agriculturist to make the re- 

 turns of the year meet his most necessary wants, 

 till the labors of another season enable him to 

 raise a fresh supply ; and the inhabitants of the 

 towns, unless they have saved something from 

 summer's work, will find themselves bard pressed. 



Quebec, 1st Oct. 1833. 



HORSEMANSHIP. 



The Principles of the Art of Modern Horseman- 

 ship ; by M. Lebeaud : Translated from the French, 

 by D. J. Desmond, Esq. — Equitation, like all other 

 arts has its principles, both in respect of the rider 

 and the horse. They are well laid down and ex- 

 plained in this little treatise, which, however, we 

 must say, seems to have been translated with dic- 

 tionary in baud, and without any great knowledge 

 of the original tongue. The following note by the 

 translator, gives good reasons for taking the left, 

 instead of, as is the custom, the right side of a 

 lady on horseback : 



When a gentleman accompanies a lady on 

 horseback, he should take the left side of her 

 horse. The custom of taking the right side is de- 

 rived from the English mode of riding. The law 

 of England directs the left hand of the road to be 

 taken ; the gentleman therefore takes the right, to 

 protect the lady from vehicles, etc. which pass on 

 that side. Here the law directs the right hand of 

 the road to be taken, consequently the gentleman 

 should take the left side of the lady's horse. It 

 seems to be best adapted to afford efficient assist- 

 ance, whatever may occur. The right hand of the 

 gentleman is perfectly free, and may be used to 

 stop the horse, or rescue the lady from danger. 

 He can on this side aid her in disentangling her 

 dress, disengaging her foot from the stirrup, ad- 

 justing her reins, and lifting her off her seat, with- 

 out exposing her to the accidents which might 

 occur to him, if he attempted to give her assist- 

 ance from the other side. It is not so easy to 



afford assistance to the lady with the left hand, 

 nor is it so easy for the rider to command his own 

 horse with the right hand. — Rail Road Journal. 



LOVE OF MUSIC BY SHEEP. 



We were surrounded by a large llock of sheep 

 which were leaving their fold to go to pasture ; 

 one of our party look his flute out of his pocket, 

 and saying, ' I am going to turn Corydon, let us 

 see whether the sheep will recognise their pastor,' 

 began to play. The sheep and goats, which were 

 following each other towards the mountain with 

 their heads hanging down, raised them at the first 

 sounds of the flute ; and all, with a general and 

 hasty movement, turned to the side from whence 

 the agreeable noise proceeded. Gradually they 

 flocked round the musician, and listened with mo- 

 tionless attention. He ceased playing ; still the 

 sheep did not stir. The shepherd with his staff 

 obliged those nearest to him to move on. They 

 obeyed ; but no sooner did the fluter begin again 

 to play, than his innocent auditors returned to him. 

 The shepherd, out of patience, pelted them with 

 clods of earth, but not one of them would move. 

 The fluter played with additional skill ; the shep- 

 herd exasperated, whistled, swore, and pelted the 

 fleecy amateurs with stones. Such as were hit by 

 them began to march, but others still refused to 

 stir. At last the shepherd was obliged to entreat 

 our Orpheus to cease his magical sounds. The 

 sheep then moved off, but continued to stop at a 

 distance as often as our friend resumed his instru- 

 ment. — Vic de Haydn par Bombat. 



BA1BERRY OK MYRTLE WAX. 



The Vegetable Wax, called Bayberry in the 

 Northern, and Myrtle W r ax in the Southern parts 

 of the United States, is the produce of a shrub 

 called by botanists Myrica Cerifera, which some- 

 times grows to the si2e of a small tree, and is 

 found abundantly along the coast, from Maine in 

 the North, to Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. The 

 wax is extracted from this shrub by collecting the 

 berries, boiling them with water, and bruising 

 them at the same time, by which the wax will rise 

 to the top as a thick oily scum, easily separated, 

 which, when cold, turns out a moderately hard 

 substance, of a green dingy color. After chemi- 

 cal investigation, that substance has been found to 

 resemble bees' wax so closely in the most impor- 

 tant properties, that they may be classed under the 

 same genus of chemical bodies. 



Until now, the use of this wax has been very 

 limited ; the farmers pick up in swamps and the 

 woods a sufficient quantity to supply themselves 

 with candles; and if there is any surplus, they send 

 it to market hi New York, Boston, or other North- 

 ern places, where it is bought by caudle makers, 

 who mix it with their tallow, in order to correct, 

 in summer, the extreme softness of their candles. 



Notwithstanding the abundance of its growth, 

 the picking up of the berries among swamps, thick 

 wood and mire, is so laborious, that people who 

 have attempted the collection of the wax as a 

 special business and matter of trade, have found 

 that one single bushel of berries is the utmost a 

 stout and active man can collect in one day's work ; 

 hence its price in market is very high, fluctuating 

 between 18 and 25 cents per pound. 



The object of this publication is to invite the at- 

 tention of farmers to the cultivation of the shrub 

 affording the myrtle wax, in order to bring its 

 price down to that of tallow. It is obvious that 



should the shrubs be collected in one field, con- 

 sequently ready at hand — it is obvious, I say, that 

 the same man, who, under the difficulty of wan- 

 dering in swamps, wood and mire, can collect but 

 one bushel, shall be able, when he finds the shrubs 

 gathered together in the same field, to pick up in 

 the same space of time, from three to four bushels, 

 can also deliver his wax at a price proportiouably 

 reduced ; that is to say, from 25, to 8, 9, or 10 

 cents per pound. 



The question now is, to investigate what will be 

 the nett produce of an acre planted in myrtle wax, 

 the wax selling at the reduced price of 10 cents 

 per pound. 



Let us suppose each shrub planted at two and a 

 half feet from each other, there will be in one 

 acre 6724 of them : supposing, next, the average 

 product of each shrub to be only one pint of the 

 berries — then the whole crop will amount to 6724 

 pints, making up 105 bushels. Now, experience 

 has shown by those who follow the trade, that the 

 quantity of wax obtained from a bushel of berries, 

 averages from 5 to 8 pounds; then our 105 bush- 

 els of berries would yield 630 pounds of wax, 

 which, at 10 ceuts a pound, tallow price, would 

 make $63. 



As we have stated already, one man will pick 

 up in a field from 3 to 4 bushels in one day, it 

 follows that the picking of the whole 105 bushels, 

 will require the labor of a hand during a whole 

 month ; admitting $18 for the wages and finding 

 — then $18 deducted from $63, the value of the 

 crop as before stated, the balance, $15, will be the 

 nett profit accruing to the farmer. 



Besides such a valuable income, this culture re- 

 ceives additional recommendations from the follow- 

 ing circumstances : 



1st. It grows in the worst soils, especially if 

 damp and sandy. 



2d. It requires no fences, as the cattle do not 

 meddle with it. 



3d. Once planted, it requires no attendance ex- 

 cept in picking time. 



4th. The [licking may be performed by bovs, 

 girls, old men and old women, who else would be 

 useless on the plantation. 



5th. By a process discovered lately, the myrtle 

 wax may be bleached to a degree of whiteness 

 equal to that of bees' wax. This process adds on- 

 ly five cents per pound to the original price, is 

 done in a short time, and within the power of ev- 

 ery individual to perform. 



6th. A soap equal, if not superior, to any shav- 

 ing or fancy soap imported from Europe, can be 

 manufactured of the myrtle wax. 



A GOOD MINCED PIE FROM SAW-DUST. 



Dokt be frighteued ! — A neighbor ofmine once 

 desirous of obtaining a steak from his store of 

 beef found it very hard frozen, which rendered it 

 difficult to cut. He therefore used a common hand 

 saw, and sawed it on a clean cloth : his wife ob- 

 served that she thought the meat thus made fine 

 by the saw, nright be the happiest mode of pre- 

 paring it for a pie. She took it and added the 

 other usual ingredients, and it made even a better 

 and richer pie, than one made by boiling aud 

 chopping, &,c. which trouble was saved. Sawing 

 is clearly the easiest mode of obtaining a steak 

 when the meat is frozen ; the nutritive qualities of 

 the meat lost in boiling are saved in this way, and 

 of course the richer and better the pie. — Maine 

 Farmer. 



