Vol. XI.-No. 11. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



85 



examine every iiioniiiig. A!)oiit this time you 

 will And them sproiiiing, then you are sure of their 

 keeping. 15ut little trouble is now required — 

 only, on seeing tlie damp, to make a little tiro and 

 open your inner door for air. Tlie sprouted part 

 of them is only on top of the lieaps, not more than 

 five or six inches deep; on examination, you will 

 find the inner or lower part of them clear of 

 sprouts, and dry. In my o|)iiiion, slips may he 

 kept thus for two years; and root potatoes much 

 longer than they generally are in our comitry. 



The slats (of which the doors are niailr] i.-; about 

 two and a half inches in width and the same 

 between each slat to he open. The door is about 

 five feet high and two feet six inches wide. 



A coarse frame is made with crutches for double 

 banking. 



Your obedient servant, 



JOHN M. PHILLIPS. 



Christ Church Parish, June, 1832. 



JVote. — The plan here laid down by our correspondent, 

 has been siiccesslully followed for many years, and we 

 have been shown polaloes kept ninie tliau a year by him, 

 in those cellars. Our readers will recollect, that another 

 of our correspondents (" Exotic," p. 241, of the current 

 vol.) experienced great benefit from ihe use of smoke in 

 his cellars, and froui all we can learn, we are inclined to 

 believe that they may be kept longer in a sound slate 

 by following these rules, or similar ones, than any other 

 mode in common practice among us. — Ed. So. Jigr. 



NUT AND FOREST TREES. 



It is a common opinion that walnut and chesniit 

 trees will not grow in this state; the opinion 

 iloubtless has no foundatioi;, but the mere fact, 

 that such trees arc not indigenous in our soil. But 

 the same objection would ajiplyto the apple, Eng- 

 lish cherry, pluu), pear, and many other trees, 

 which grow herein perfection. Lasl fall wctoolt 

 a fancy to plant some chesnuts and walnuts. The 

 chesnuis came up very well, and are now several 

 inches high. Only a part of the walnuts sprout- 

 ed ; but we have a dozen or two that look prom- 

 ising. We are told that walnuts for seed, should 

 be gathered before they get very dry, and put up 

 in moss, so as to keep them cool and a little muisl. 

 We planted about the last of October. 



The horse chesnut ought to be more generally 

 introduced into this state. It is a most lioautifid 

 ornamental tree, the first to put forth its foliage in 

 the S|!ring, and the handsomest at all times. Per- 

 haps the maple ratdis next in thitdiiicss of foliage, 

 symmetry of branches, and brilliaucy of its dark 

 green. 



Walnut wood is valuable as timber; so is white 

 oak, which grjws in this town, and iiv many oth- 

 er places in the State, though not generally dif- 

 fused. !Iow easy to i)lant these trees, and all oth- 

 ers that are valuable, and let them be growing for 

 posterity. A peck of acorns, liiat could be bought 

 for a shilling or less, and planted in an hour or 

 two, in a wood lot, or by the .road side, would be 

 worth hundreds of dollars, perhap.s, lo the chil- 

 dren of him who jdanted them, and be more f n- 

 during monuments of his wisdom and benevo- 

 lence, ihan most meji leave after them. 



Jt is a vei7 easy thing for every farmer in ilie 

 country, for every mechanic- who owns .t few rods 

 of land, to surround bis bouse with handsome 

 trees, and with flowering and fragrant shrubbery. 

 A neat oottage, thus situated, if it be but one story 

 high, is far more pleasant to the eye, than a three 

 story brick house, with everything around it, in 

 barren nakedness. — Kennebec Jour. 



AMERICAN INVENTIONS. 



We have before us a record of all the improve- 

 ments in the arts, mechanics and manufactures in- 

 vented in the United States and entered in the 

 Patent Office since the year J79.3, when the first 

 patent law was passed. It is contained in a doc- 

 ument transmitted last winter to Congress by the 

 Secretary of State, and comprises a list of no less 

 th.Tu 6000 inventions, the product of American 

 ingenuity in the course of 36 years. During that 

 period, the plough has been made to undergo 1*24 

 improveirients. 119 threshing machines have 

 been invented. The great problem, the extraction 

 of butter from cream without fatigue lo the opera- 

 tor, has been solved in 80 ways by the inventors 

 of 80 churns; and the laundress has been allowed 

 her choice out of 125 washing machines. 123 

 machines have been invented for making nails; 

 the number of new spinning machines exceeds 

 100; the lunnber of improvements in the loom is 

 7.3, and in the manufacture of hats 43. The num- 

 ber of steam engines exceeds 100, that of stoves 

 nearly the same. There have been 42 new ways 

 contrived for iTianufactnring combs, in which we 

 presume is included the late ingenious invention 

 of cutting them by a single operation, into all sori.s 

 of figures, 3 new machines for paring ajjples have 

 been invented and 3 gridirons. Pencil cases, 

 ramrods, razors and suspenders, have each been 

 subject to various improvements. An invention 

 has been patented under the name of "dog pow- 

 power;" another termed an " elevator of pots and 

 kettles," and a third destined for a useful dojnes- 

 tic purpose, under the sonorous Greek name of 

 " Hacmagalactophorus." 



duced to send you the following: Some time ago> 

 a drawer, in which I kept sug.ir, was so much in- 

 fisted with ants, that we v.ere (diliged to remove 

 the sugar from i;. It hapjiencd from some cati.se 

 or other, a small piece of camphor was Inid in the 

 ilrawrr, and on opening it a few days afterwards, 

 we were agreeably surprised to find the bottom 

 liierally covered with dead ants. This induced 

 us to repeat the experiment, and from that lime 

 we have found no dijficnliy in keeping the sugar 

 free from their depredations, by allowing a small 

 ])iece of camphor to be in one corner of the ilraw- 

 er. Where tree.-? upon walls, or plants are infest- 

 ed, I should recommend small pieces of camphor, 

 to be thrown on the ground round their stems, and 

 in some cases to dissolve a little in alchohol, and 

 sprinkle it over the leaves in a diluted stale, with 

 a common syringe. JOHN J. GODFREY. 



.PJbamj, ilarch3,1S3% [Hort. Reg. 



MAHOGANY. 

 Some idea of the size and value of the coiiiniim 

 mahogany, may be formed from the fact that a 

 single log, imported to Liverjiool, weighed nearly 

 seven tons; was in the first instance sold for 

 £378, resold for £526 and would, had the dealers 

 been certain of its quality, have been worth 

 £1000. A short time ago, Messrs Broadwoods, 

 who have long been distinguished as makers oi' 

 pianofortes, gave the enormous sum of £3000 for 

 three logs of inahogany. Thi.'si.' logs, the jiroduci 

 of one tree, were about 15 feet lon'g and iS inches 

 wid.". The discovery of this beautiful limber 

 was accidental, and its introduction into notice 

 slow. The first that was brought into England 

 was about the beginning of the last century; a 

 few [ilanks having been .sent to Dr I. Gibbons, of 

 London, by a brother who was a West Imlia Cap- 

 tain. The Doctor was erecting a house in King 

 street, Covent Garden, and gave the planks to the 

 workmen, who rejeete<l it, as being too hard. The 

 Doctor's cabinet maker, named Wollaslon, was 

 employed to make a candle box of ir, aiul as he 

 was sawing up the plank, ho too complained of its 

 hardness. But when the candle box was finisiu'd, 

 it outshone in beauty all the Doctor's other furni- 

 ture, and become an object of curiosity and exhi- 

 bition. The wood was then taken into fiivor ; Dr 

 Gibbons had a bureau made of it, the Dutchess of 

 Buckingham another; and the despised mahoffa- 

 ny now became a prominent article of luxury, and 

 at the same time raised the fortune of the cabiViet 



maker, by whom it had been so little regarded. 



Library of Entertaining Knowledge. 



To Destroy .j/tis.— Having read in pages 278 

 and 279, two complaints against ants, 1 am in- 



Large Jjpple Tree. — There is growing at Dov- 

 erage, (Eng.) an apple tree 40 years old, wliiidi is 

 thus described : "The length from one extremity 

 to the other, is ninetynine feet, and it increases 

 annu.ally from two to three feet. Since I liavc 

 had the management of it (which is eight years,) 

 it has grown in length tvventy feet; it is not more 

 than six feet in height, and the circumference of 

 the stem about four feet, it is an enormous bear- 

 er, and an excellent fruit, but more adajvted for 

 the kitchen than for eating, as it grows to a large 

 size. Anotl.'er very I'emarksdile feature, which 1 

 must not oniit, is, that on one side of tlie tree, three 

 branehes invariably bear fruit ordy on alternate 

 seasons ; so that the branch bearing the present 

 year, will next season be destitute of fruit, and in 

 I he same manner, the branches bearing next year, 

 will rest the vcar followin!.'." — lb. 



Tanna-its. — We understand that a very great 

 im])rovenieiit or saving I.ias been recently made in 

 the economy of Tanneries, by Mr Kendall Osborn 

 ofDanvirs. He has recently put in 0[;eration a 

 Steam Mill d r grinding bark, beating hides, and 

 smoothing leather. The only fuel used is spent 

 bark or tan, which has lililicrlo in tan yards been 

 of no value. The engine, mills and appurtenan- 

 ces cost about two thousand dollars, and is equal 

 lo a grist-mill power. Tan has been long used in 

 fiiitiilits in I his vicinity as fuel, but its value has 

 never before been fully tested. Its use at this 

 mill proves a cord of it to be worth as much as a 

 cord of while i)iiie wood — one cord will grind six 

 C(uds of bark — and that with stoves and grates 

 projicrly constructed, houses may be waruitd and 

 all the cooking in families performed with no oth- 

 er fuel at a trifling expense. — Salem Cnz. 



^ Preservation of Iroit- fi'om Rvst. — A mastic or 

 covering for this [)ur])ose, proposed by the " Soci- 

 ele d'Enconragenienl,"' at Paris, is as follows: — 

 Eighty parts of pounded brick, passed llnongh a 

 silk sieve, are iriixed with twenty i)arts ol ithnr- 

 age; the whole is then rubbed uj) by the muUer 

 wilh linseed oil, so as to form a thick paint, whicli 

 may be diluted with spirits of turpentine ; well 

 cleaning the iron before it is ajjplied. From an 

 experience of two years, upon locks exposed to 

 the air and covered daily with salt water, after 

 being coated twite with this mastic, the gooil ef- 

 fects of 'he ])reparaiio)i Lave been thoroughly 

 proved. 



