Vol. X.— No. 25. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



195 



The rudest liabitaiioii, the mnsi iiiiproinising and 

 scanty jjorlion of land, in the hands of an English- 

 rniiM of taste, liecome."! a little paradise. The re- 

 sidence of people of fortune and refinement in 

 the connlry has diffused a degree of taste and ele- 

 gance in rural economy, that descends to the low- 

 est class. The very laborer, with his thatched 

 cottage and narrow slip of ground, attends to 

 their emliellislnnent. The trim hedge, the grass 

 plot hefiM'e the door, the little flower bed bordered 

 with snug liox, the woodbine trained np against 

 the wall, and hanging its blossoms about the lat- 

 tice ; the pot of flowers iu the window; the holly 

 providentially planted about the house, to cheat 

 winter of ils dreariness, and throw in a gleam of 

 green summer to cheer the fireside ; — all these 

 bespeak the influence of taste, flowing down from 

 high som-ces, and pervading the lowest levels of 

 the public mind. If ever lover, as poets sing, de- 

 Jigbts to visit a cottage, it must be the cottage of 

 on English peasant. 



The proneness to rural life among the higher 

 classes, has had a salutary efl^ect upon the national 

 character. I do not know a finer race of men I 

 than the English gentlemen. Instead of the soft- 

 ness and effeminacy which characterize the men | 

 of rank in some countries, they exhibit a union of 

 of elegance and strength, a robustness of frame 

 and freshness of complexion, which I am inclined 

 to attribute to their living so much in the open 

 air, and pursuing so eagerly the invigorating re- 

 creations of the country. 



The effect of this devotion of elegant minds to 

 rural occupations has been wonderful on the face 

 of the country. A great part of the island is level, 

 and would be monotonous, were it not for the 

 charms of culture ; but it is studded and gemmed, 

 as it were with castles and palaces, and embroid- 

 ered with parks and gardens. It does not abound 

 in grand and sublime prospects, but rather in lit- 

 tle home scenes of rural repose and sheltered 

 quiet. Every antique farm-house and moss-grown 

 cottage is a picture ; and as the roads are contin- 

 ually winding, and the view shut in by groves 

 and hedges, the eye is delighted by a continual 

 succession of small landscapes of captivating love- 

 liness. 



The great charm, however, of English scenery 



is the moral feeling that seems to pervade it 



It is associated in the mind wilh ideas of order, of 

 quiel, of calm and settled principles, of hoary 

 usage and reverend custom. 



It is a pleasing sight on a Sunday morning, 

 when the bell is sending its sober melody across 

 the quiet fields, to behold the peasantry in their 

 best finery, with ruddy faces, and modest cheer- 

 fulness, thronging tranquilly along the green lanes 

 to church ; but it is still more pleasincr lo see them 

 in the evenings, gathering about their cottage 

 doors, and appearing to exult in the humble com- 

 forts and euibellishments which their own hands 

 have spread around them. It is this sweet home 

 feeling, this settled repose of affection in the do- 

 mestic scene, that is, after all, the parent of the 

 steadiest virtues and purest enjoyments. 



'Oh! fiienilly to the best pursuits of man. 

 Friendly to thought, lo virtue, and lo peace, 

 Doaiestic life in rural pleasure passed !' 



W, Irving. 



Gen. E. Risley, of Fredonia, N. Y. has engaged 

 largely in the manufacture of corn brooms, no less 

 than thirty thousand of which he has disposed of 

 to a single house in Buffalo, the present season. 



QUINCE TREES. 



Last summer two of iny quince trees died. I 

 iliscovered no insects, but suspecting that some 

 hidden depredator had occasioned my loss, I had 

 the trees taken up by the roots and burnt. Two 

 days ago, on digging round some small trees of 

 this kind, I saw a brownish powder on the bark ; 

 and oji probing witli a knife, I found the trees had 

 suffered great damage from worms of an un- 

 known kind. These larvm resemble the peach 

 worm, (/Egeria exitiosa) though rather larger than 



that worm is commonly found at this season. 



They appear to commence near the surface of the 

 ground ; and in a great majority of cases, have 

 worked upward, sometimes to the height of one 

 foot, gradually slanting through the solid wood, 

 as if they were retiring imcard on the approach 

 of winter. From one tree I took fifteen worms. 

 It is rare to find two within the same cavity ; but 

 the holes are so contiguous that to cut them out 

 would inevitably destroy the tree. I have there- 

 fore drawn them out with a barbed wire made 

 sharp. 



In a few cases, the worms had worked downward 

 slanting inward ; and in other cases, they re- 

 mained under the bark without having penetrated 

 the wood. Instead of throwing out their filth like 

 the peach worm, they pack it behind thetn, com- 

 pletely closing the orifice. On breaking through 

 the bark into one of these tracks, the direction of 

 the worm may be determined by the color of the 

 filth, the old part being brown, and the more re- 

 cent orange colored. 



1 now suspect that the loss of an English 

 Mulberry which had been two years in a bearing 

 state in my fruit garden, ought to be ascribe 1 lo 

 these worms. 



Under a microscope they are found to differ 

 from the peach worm in several external jiarticu- 

 lars, and also in their internal structtu-e. In their 

 manners, the difference is striking ; for though 

 the peach worm is occasionally discovered two or 

 more feet from the ground, I have not observed it 

 to work upward from the surface ; neither does it 

 penetrate the solid wood. It is supposed not to 

 continue in the larvce state quite a year ; but son)e 

 circumstances rather indicate that the Quince 

 worm may continue longer. 



The name of this pernicious insect, anil the best 

 method of preventing its ravages, are ivanled. 



From the Village Record. 



LIMING. 



In Chester Coimty, Pa. on the farm of Thomas 

 H. B. Jacobs, Esq., of about 150 acres, he has a 

 stone barn 100 feet long, with stabling under the 

 whole, divided in the most convenient manner, for 

 stall feeding, milk-cows, oxen, horses, colts, sheep, 

 &e. It has two threshing floors, one as smooth as 

 any ball room ; and here, young and old, at Har- 

 vest Home, ' trip it on light fantastic toe,' to < the 

 sweet sound of the tamborine and viol.' On the 

 plantation adjoining, belonging to Mr J. B. Reming- 

 ton, there are two new elegant stone barns, the 

 length of the two exceeding 100 feet. 



While we boast of our farming, we must repeat 

 again and again, the secret of our prosperity. It 

 is a regular rotation of crops, making a little of 

 many articles, rather than attempting to make 

 inuch out of one ; remembering the Scotch 

 proverb, that ' many a mickle makes a muckle' — 



together with heavy liming — liming — liming. — 

 Many farms here of an hundred acres have bad 

 from 3 to GOOO bushels of lime each, within the 

 last ten years. 



We wish the price current makers in all our 



cities, would state the price of lime per bushel 



or if by the cask, mention the nunjbtr of bushels 

 the casks hold. When the Valley l{;dl Koad shall 

 be completed, Chester County will pour a million 

 of bushels into the city for exportation, if ihero is 

 a demand abroad ; and when Aiitbracite Coal 

 comes down to its minimum. 



From the Gonesee Farmer. 



SUGAR FROM POTATOES. 



The conversion of starch into sugar has long 

 been known to chemists ; and hopes were enter- 

 tained that some new method of procuring the lat- 

 ter might render the cane, the beet, and the maple 

 of less importance ; but years have passed over 

 without any successful attempt in the large ^ay, 

 unless that which is mentioned iu the following 

 very interesting account from the last uiindier of 

 Sillinian's Journal should prove to be sucli. It 

 was written by Samuel Guthrie, of Sackett's Harbor. 



' I have been for some lime persuaded, taking 

 the data furnished by chemists as correct, that su- 

 gar might be advantageously made in towns re- 

 mote from the Atlantic coast, from the potato ; 

 and one year ago, Capt. E. G. Palter, at my in- 

 stance, with great ingenuity devised anil construct- 

 ed machinery and apiiaratus for proseiuting the 

 business. As this is the first attempt within my 

 knowledge, to make sugar from that on any con- 

 siderable scale, I projiose giving you a full ac- 

 count of the business so far as it has proceeded. 

 He has iised in the manufacture three thousand Jive 

 hundred bushels of potatoes. A fair sample of 

 the sugar, or rather molasses, for no crvstal- 

 lized pure sugar could be obtained, is now sent to 

 yo-i.' 



To this account Professor Siltiman adds, ' The 

 molasses forwarded by Mr Guthrie is very rich, 

 and apparently pure syrup, and has only a slight 

 peculiarity of taste, a little like that of an oil, that 

 could enable one to distinguish it from the best 

 cane molasses. The syrup is nearly as rich as 

 that from the sugar maple : and not improbably 

 may yet afford a crystallized sugar.' D. T. 



Hats.— The report of the Committee on the 

 Manufacture of Hats (of which Clarkson Crolius 

 was Chairman, and which was raised at the late 

 Tariff Convention in New York,) is published. It 

 estimates the annual manufacture of hats at 

 $10,500,000 being exported ; that the business 

 employs 18,000 persons, viz. : 15,000 men and 

 boys, .3000 females, whose total wages are com- 

 piited at $4,200,000 a year, which is about S240 

 for each jierson : and that the whole number of 

 persons subsisted by the business is from fifty to 

 sixty thousand. 



Coffee. — All the coffee grown in the West In- 

 dies has sprung from two plants taken thither by 

 a French botanist, from the botanic garden at 

 Paris. On the voyage the supply of water be- 

 came nearly exhausted ; but so anxious was the 

 Frenchman to preserve the plants, that he depriv- 

 ed himself of his allowance in order lo water the 

 Coffee Plants. Formerly Coffee could only be o'ot 

 at a great expense from Mocha in Arabia. 



