404 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



We shall be glad of reports from all the New 

 England States, from the South and West, and 

 the Canadas, as we have readers in them all. 



By mingling brief remarks in these reports of 

 the causes of failure or success in certain crops, 

 we believe much valuable information may be 

 disseminated throughout our whole circle of wri- 

 ters, readers and operators. 



CUEIOSITIES OF COMMERCE. 



Turning over the pages of the CydopfEdia of 

 Commerce, just published, a few matters attracted 

 our attention as curiosities which we propose to 

 transcribe for our readers. We were lacking for 

 the small things in commerce, matters that, in 

 taking a magnificent, broad and comprehensive 

 view, would be overlooked. Just as an inven- 

 tion of the greatest importance for domestic pur- 

 Eoses would be overlooked and unnoticed, in its 

 omely attire, when placed in an exhibition and 

 surrounded by works of polished art, costly ma- 

 chinery and gorgeous furniture. A humble in- 

 ventor once placed in such an exhibition a few 

 bunches of friction matches. They were unno- 

 ticed. Visitors went there looking for some great 

 thing, not realizing that the despised package of 

 splints, tipped with chemical fire, was the great- 

 est thing in that proud collection, destined to 

 work a revolution in the means of procuring ar- 

 tificial light, and to become a universal necessity, 

 to be deprived of which would be one of the 

 greatest inconveniences that could happen. 



It is not more than twenty years ago since the 

 tinder-box was in universal use. It is abolished 

 now. The invention of the friction match spread 

 slowly, but who, at this day, would venture to 

 say they could do without it? Insignificant as 

 they appear to be, single factories with extensive 

 machinery, cut up large rafts of timbers annually 

 for matches. 



Under the head of Pin, we find that the man- 

 ufacture of this indispensable little instrument 

 was commenced in the United States between 

 1812 and 1820, since which time the business 

 has extended greatly, and several patents for the 

 manufacture of pins have been taken out. The 

 manufacture in England and other parts of Eu- 

 rope is conducted upon improvements made in 

 the United States. Notwithstanding the extent 

 of our production, the United States imported 

 in 1856 pins to the value of $40,255. 



Still keeping our attention directed to small 

 things, we find that the imports of needles into 

 this country for 1856, amounted to $246,060. 

 It is said that needles were first made in England, 

 in the time of the bloody Mary, by a negro from 

 Spain ; but as he would not impart'his secret, it 

 was lost at his death and not recovered again till 

 1566, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when a 

 German taught the art to the English, who have 

 since brought it to the greatest perfection. It is 

 stated that the construction of a needle requires 

 about 120 operations, but they are rapidly and 

 uninterruptedly successive. 



The Temperance people will find an argument 

 to enforce their doctrines in the fact that 41,071,- 

 636 bushels of grain, paying twenty-five million 

 dollars duty, are annually converted into malt in 



Great Britain for ale and porter. It may reason- 

 ably be inferred that a great quantity of these 

 beverages is drank there. 



Ground nuts are quite an institution with 

 Young America, eight hundred tons having been 

 imported into the United States from Gambia in 

 one year. We, however, dissent from the ency- 

 clopaedist, when he says they are most used here 

 at dessert, roasted, as chestnuts are elsewhere. 

 But France is the great iffarket for ground nuts, 

 where they are used for oil of which they con- 

 tain large quantities. The insignificant Hazel 

 nut, so agreeable to the palate, but so difficult to 

 get, is exported from Tarragona, to the extent of 

 25,000 or 30,000 bags of four to the ton. A kind 

 of chocolate is prepared from them and they have 

 sometimes been made into bread. The pressed 

 oil of hazel nuts is little inferior to that of al- 

 monds. 



The original inventor of the Ayrshire snuff- 

 boxes was a cripple hardly possessing the power 

 of locomotion. They are made of wood, admira- 

 bly joined, painted and varnished, and were first 

 manufactured only sixty years since. Instead of 

 taking out a patent, the inventor entrusted his 

 secret to a joiner in the village, who in a few 

 years amassed a great fortune, while the other 

 died as he had lived in the greatest poverty. 

 Speaking of snuff-boxes, snufl-taking took its 

 rise in England in 1702. Under the head of hair 

 the CyclojjcBdia says that two hundred thousand 

 pounds weight of woman's hair is annually sold 

 in France and that the price paid for it is usually 

 six cents an ounce. One hundred roses are re- 

 quired to give a yield of 188 grains ottar or oil 

 of roses. 



There are, doubtless, in this compendious work, 

 a great many curious, interesting and instructive 

 facts, if one had the time to search them out. 

 And now, as we are closing, we notice quite a 

 number of items, such as that a bale of Sea Is- 

 land cotton weighs 333 pounds and measures 35 

 cubic feet, while a bale of East India cotton 

 weighs 383 pounds and only measures 15 cubic 

 feet, a fact of great importance in the question 

 of transportation. What makes this great dif- 

 ference in cubic proportions ? — Boston Herald. 



For the New England Farmer. 



A CHEAP FEED FOB SWINE. 



Happening to call upon a lady a few days since, 

 not a milliner shop one, but a well educated 

 one, who knows what it is to grapple with the 

 practical duties of life in the kitchen and the par- 

 lor equally, and who now is compelled to provide 

 for her orphaned children, — I saw in her kitchen 

 a new mode of providing food for a p'g. She 

 had caused a large boiler to be filled with weeds 

 which her little boys had pulled up about the 

 premises, for she superintends a small farm, and 

 these were being boiled. More were added from 

 time to time, till the whole kettle was filled with 

 well boiled greens. These, when done, were tak- 

 en out with a pie slice and well cut up. A little 

 bran and the slops from the kitchen were added 

 and fed to the pig. She remarked that he seemed 

 to like the feed and to thrive on it. The boiled 

 weeds were, she thought, worth as much as the 

 same bulk df boiled potatoes. Of course, I wait- 



