X.— No. !8. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



139 



Ijoili sletiisaiHl leaves aie lined with |irick!es, near- 

 ly as sliaip and stitV as llini'ns. Tliu plants iiave 

 no smell of celei'y. Iti liie absence of any liuoks 

 which might help ine lo a knowledge oT thcif use, 

 if they have any, I am induced to lotinest yon to 

 give mo your opinion, (iiovided my statements be 

 so iiitidligihlc, that yon can uuilersland if. I 

 may add; that the frost t!ius far appears lo have 

 made no ijnpression in)ijn the plants. I have neg- 

 lected to earlli them up, as they have grown, not 

 Unowing, that lliey would he ealahle. 

 Yonis, respeoifiilly, 

 Jierlin, Con. JVov. 1831. G, 



We are not ahle to give the botanical name of 

 the plant uliove described, and would be obliged 

 to any friend who would assign it a proper appella- 

 tion &c. The common celery is one of the va- 

 rieties of a plant called v^/»(ijn» by botanists. Of 

 these varieties we know of none except the ./Jpi- 

 um pt.lroselinam, or Garden Parsley ; Apium grav- 

 eohns, or Celery and Apium americanum, or Arra- 

 cacha. 



PRESERVATION OP ICE. 



Mr Fessenden — In your paper of the 26th nit. 

 a correspondent says he ' has experienced iniich 

 difficulty in keeping ice through the summer,' and 

 ' asks which are the most ajjproved methods of 

 constrncling ice-lioitses, in general.' 



1 have never built an ice-house, but I will state 

 for the information of your correspondent, that in 

 the spring of 1S23 I pmcbaaed at auction u house 

 ill the vicinity of Uoston. Some weeks after I took 

 pdssessioii of my house, I observed a trap door 

 through the floor of my wood-hoitse ; and on 

 opeiiing it, I perceived a hole say ten feet square, 

 planked at the four sides. This I supposed was an 

 ice-liouso, and into itiputjhe ne.^a winter, i-ix 

 sled loads of ice, which kept well, and was a Aill 

 supply for my family the succeeding warm season. 

 Every wititer since, I put into tlie ice house 

 about the same quantity (never varying more than 

 a load) and the SMpply is always abundant. 



My house stands on a gravelly hill, and the air 

 passes tiniler my woo<l-house, in every direction ; 

 uiul the wood-house floor is the oidy covering for 

 the ice-house. I cover my ice wirh shavings. 



I have supposed my ice-house, which jtrobably 

 did not cost more than ten dollarSj a very superior 

 one : Cor some of my neigbliors lay in twenty loads 

 of ice a season, and by midsummer, want to beg a 

 piece of nie. F. 



.\uv. 7, 1831. 



ICE HOUSES. 

 Ma Fesse.ndfn — My ice-cellar is a very sim- 

 ple and i-hoap »ff:.\r. It is 12 feet every way, dug 

 (11) a gravelly knoll. It has a stout cedar post, 

 about 13 feet long, at each corner, sind I believe 

 four tuore posts between those, with a sill mertired 

 on the top, all round, lo keep them all in place. 

 Outside of these posts it is planked with old cast off 

 bridge plank, which were originally 5 inches thick, 

 an I these are secured, not by nailing, but merely 

 filling in behinil with gruvel. The roof is a coni- 

 inoii one, rather steep sloping of course! to the 

 ground, and shingled in the ordinary way ; the door 

 is at the east end. There is no floor beiwccn the 

 ice and the ro<jf. The ice may be taken out at any 

 hour, but it is generally done early in the morning. 

 Before the ice is put in, some small spars (round ) 

 rails if you please) are placed on the bottom of' 

 the cellar, and brush put crosswise, so as to keep 



the ice from touching the gronnd. 'i'he ice is 

 sawed in blocks of 2 or 3 feet long and about 2 

 feet wide and packed in the cellar, side by side. 

 When filled to the top, some straw or shavings are 

 laid over to a considerable thickness, pcrlia|.'S a 

 couple of feet, and /Aa< « aW. Some years, when 

 the ice is thin, it is gone in September or October ; 

 but when it can be had solid and of a good thick- 

 ness, after using it freely for all family purposes 

 and occasionally for neighbors, some ofit remains 

 at the end of the year. The posts shonid be about 

 13 feel, so as to enter the ground a little at bot- 

 tom, and rise a little above the top for the pur- 

 pose of making a small bank outside to turn ofl' 

 the rain. The quantity put in is, I think, about 

 15 tons or loads. 



jVov. 10, 1831. A Middlesex Farmer. 



Biupuwicli, Ncv. II, 1831. 



Mr Fessenden — On reading the description of 

 my ice-house in your last number it occurred to 

 me, that I might not have been sufficiently mi- 

 nute on one or two points. The roof is so sharp 

 and high, that it affords a convenient passage into 

 the entry, above ground, at the end of the build- 

 ing, by a triangular door, made double and filled 

 with charcoal powder. The double partition, 

 which divides the pit, extends upward to the roof, 

 having in it a door, through which the ice is easily 

 introduced at the top of the pit. This door is 

 closed, after the straw is deposited in the spai-e 

 above the ice. Thus one door, opening to the at- 

 mosphere, is sufficient for all purjioses. 

 Yours resi)eclfully. 



P. Cleaveland. 



FORESTS. 



Mr Fessenden — It was with great pleasure 

 that I lately noticed a commiinieation, in your nse- 

 lul paper, on the propriety of planting and improv- 

 ing forest and ornamental trees in this country ; 

 as grand forests, to the most simple observers, may 

 be considered as the bulwarks of nations, per- 

 haps no country is more endowed by nature with 

 ornamental shrubs and trees than America ; which 

 by a little attention, might be transplanted to diC- 

 fereiit vacant spots and add much to the beauty 

 of the scenery, as well as wealth of the nation. 

 On taking a survey of New England we are pre- 

 sented with thousands of acres of land in a barren, 

 uncultivated state, which by being planted with 

 forest trees, wouhl enliven the jirospect and add 

 much to the value of the soil. The many varie- 

 ties of flowering shrubs indigenous to this country, 

 may be planted in the outlets and vacancies by 

 the road side and would at once gratify the trav- 

 eller and enliven such localities, to the benefit of 

 its neighboring community. 



At the present time perhajis nothing more at- 

 tracts the attention of European cultivators and 

 landholders than planting and improving forests, 

 and cultivating fruits. Many thousands of acres of 

 lanil once barren are now covered with a valuable 

 growth of oaks, ash, and various trees, suitable to 

 the climate and the public wellfare. Wo also find 

 that American shrubs are the pride of European 

 flower gardens ; and it is greatly to be hoped they 

 will, as they merit, attract the attention of the |ire- 

 sent enlightened community. Oeservator. 



1000 brads and sparrow-bills were lately made in 

 one minute, by machines invented by Mr Charles 

 Makepeace, of the Howell Works, N. Y. 1300 could 

 be made in the same time. 



HINTS TO FARMERS. 



Never feed potatoes to stock wiihont boiling or 

 frteaniing, as this increases their nutritive qiialitiee. 

 Grind your corn with the cobs. It is better 

 feed, and pays well fur the trouble. 



One bushel fla.\seed, grtmnd with eight bushels 

 of oats, is better for horses ihan sixteen bushel.^ 

 of oats alone, nud will efl'cctually destioy the 

 bols. 



Never burn all dry wood in your fire place, 

 nor use a fire place when you can get a stove. 



Cut your trees for rails in Febriiarv, as thev 

 are most durable. 



Never dew rot your flax, unless you wish to 

 render it worthless. 



Never select your seed corn from the crib but 

 from the stalk. 



Never feed out your best potatoes and plant 

 the refuse, nor sell your best sheep and keep the 

 poorest. 



A fat ox is worth more than a poor horse, and 

 does not eat as much — a yoke and chain can be 

 bought for less money than a wagon harness. 



Englishand American J^ewspapers. — At a meet- 

 ing lately held by the London Literary and Scien- 

 tific Institution, <m the subject of the restrictions 

 on the British press, it was stated in debate that, 

 in America, where news[)apers are not taxed, 

 1,555,416 advertisements were inserted in eight 

 newspapers in New York, where 400 English and 

 Irish papers contained, in the same space oftime, 

 only 1,155,000 ; — that the twelve New York daily 

 |iapers contain more advertisements than all the 

 news])apers of England and Ireland ; — that the 

 number issued nniiuaily in America is 10,000,000, 

 w bile in Great Britain it is less than one tenth of 

 that nuiMl)er. Advertisements, which in England 

 cost 817, are inserted in America for about $1 50 ; 

 and an article which costs annually for advertisin" 

 in the United States $28, is liable in Eugland to a 

 charge of $900. — Boston Telegraph. 



The ' Revue Encyplopsdique' of January last 

 speaking of the specimens of American silk which 



were sent to France for examination, says ' It 



cannot be doubled that |)lautations of mulberry 

 trees will rapidly increase in the republic. Ameri- 

 can silks may, perhaps, soon supplant, in the mar- 

 kets of Europe those of the In lies and China,' 



If'eslern Tiller. 



It was computed, some years since, that no lesa 

 than 112,000,000 pounds of butter are annually 

 consumed in London, ehieSy made within 40 

 miles round the city. — From the three counties of 

 York, Cambridge and Suflolk, there are annually 

 sent to the capital 210,000 firkins, amounting to 

 11,760,000 lbs. 



The Camden (S. C.) paper mentions a squash 

 vine at Hanging Rock Creek, which bore ten 

 squashes. One measured 6 ft. 6 in. in circumfer- 

 ence and 122 lbs; another measured 5 ft. 10 in. 

 and weighed 06 lbs. This beats everything ! 

 They must have boon mammoth pumpkins. 



Dutch wives generally assist their husbands in 

 their business, often taking the most active shnro 

 in it ; and it is a common remark in Holland, that 

 where the women have the direction of the purse 

 and trade, the husbands seldom become bankrupts. 



