VOL. XI. NO. 33. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



261 



loves the, inay-tiy wliicli is bred of the cod vvoriii, 

 or cadis; and these make the trout bold and histy, 

 and lie is usually fatter and better meat at the end 

 of that month (May) than at any time of the year." 

 For our own part if it be deemed necessary to pro- 

 tect any kind offish in our streams and ponds we 

 see no good leason why trout are not entitled to a 

 full share of that jirotection. It will be hut a few 

 years time ere'thc streams in this vicinity will be 

 exhausted of trout if llie practice of fishing for 

 them through the ice be not prevented. We can 

 liardly think, however, that our citizens will be 

 willing to purchase for the use of their families, 

 poor, lousy fish, and such is the state of trout 

 caught in the winter, merely because they can be 

 got cheap. We never knew a lover of the angle, 

 one who professed to be at all scientific in taking 

 trout, who would disgrace the art piscatorial by 

 catching them with a net or by taking them 

 through the ice in any way ; it would be taking as 

 much advantage of the fish as it is for a sportsman 

 to shoot a woodcock silting, a proceeding which 

 has always been held to be disreputable in a 

 shooter. 



ITEMS OF ECONOniY, ARTS, &c. 



Preserved Ice. It is remarked in the Genesee Far- 

 mer that " there is one important point hi packing 

 away ice which does not appear to be well under- 

 stood. We mean the temperature of the ice when 

 it is put into the ice-house. It is well known that ac- 

 cording to Fahrenheit's thermometer 32 degrees is 

 denominated the freezing point, or that degree at 

 which water congeals. If the temperature is raised 

 but one degree above this the water melts, but to what- 

 ever degree below the temperature is reduced, no 

 change takes place. Now it takes nearly the same 

 quantity of heat to raise the temi)eratiu'e of a body 

 one degree when it is below 32 degrees, that it does 

 when it is above. From this position it is plain that 

 the colder the ice when packed in the ice house, the 

 greater would be the quantity of heat required to 

 tliaw it, or a greater length of time in the same 

 temperature. Su|)pose one ice-house was filled 

 when the temperature of the ice and atmosphere 

 was of thirty degrees, or two degrees below the 

 freezing point, and another was filled when the 

 tenqjerature of the atmosphere and ice were at 

 zero, then would it not require fifteen times the 

 quantity of heat to melt the ice in the latter that 

 it would in the former, and if the heat was com- 

 municated in the same manner, would it not require 

 time in proportion? If so, then it is all important, 

 at whatever temi)erature the ice is collected, it 

 should only be packed in houses when at the 

 lowest temperature. Now the contrary of this is 

 often pursued. The gathering of ice is at best a 

 cold business, and most people omit doing it until 

 the last of winter, and then prefer those days 

 which are most pleasant, and proceed to jiack the 

 ice in the house as it is gathered or drawn from 

 the water. There can be no objection to gather- 

 ing or drawing the ice to an ice house in pleasant 

 weather, but it should never be packed down, but 

 when the mercury indicates extreme cold, as in 

 proportion to it will be the durability of the ice 

 under the same exposure. 



•/t Porlahle Ice-house. A vrell framed wooden 

 box, 6 feet by 3 feet. Another wooden box 2 

 inches larger every way. Put the smaller into the 

 larger, surrounded by charcoal dust at the bottom 

 and on the sides ; a cover to fit close ; a hole at 

 one corner to let out any water of melted ice ; 



with a cock or plug. At the first frost put in two 

 inches of water, add to it during the winter till it 

 is frozen solid, cover it. Thi-ow a blanket over 

 the top. Put it under a shed so as to be screened 

 tiom the sim. — Domestic Encyclopedia. 



Starching. Some of our female readers, would, 

 we presume like to have us record some of the 

 facts which we now and then pick up in conver- 

 sation. If they wish to make a brother or a son 

 look a little smart on some particular occasion, 

 they must, after having boiled the starch, and 

 while yet hot, stir a little tallow in with it, or, 

 what is better, a small bit of sperm candle. The 

 linen should be pretty wet when ironed, and the 

 iron hot. Heated in this manner starched apparel 

 looks nmch better and keeps clean longer. — W. 1". 

 Farmer. 



Heaves in Horses. A writer for the New York 

 Farmer, with the signature T. C. asserts that his 

 old horse, who is now in his 20th year, has been 

 cured of a disease called the "heaves," by the use 

 of ground ginger. A table spoonful was given 

 him daily for several weeks, mixed in his mess of 

 Indian meal and cut straw. The horse had been 

 troubled with wheezing and a hard cough for a 

 year or two, and had lost flesh so much that he 

 seemed to have nearly finished his term of service. 

 Since the use of the powdered ginger he has be- 

 come quite fat, and appears to be years younger, 

 and in good spirits. 



TRANSPARENT SOAP. 



Tallow is the basis of all soaps for the toilette 

 known under the name of Windsor ; because olive 

 oil forms a paste too difficult to melt, and has an 

 odour too powerful for mixing with perfumes. 

 Tallow soap dissolved in alcohol, returns to its 

 solid state on cooling. It is this fact that has led 

 to the discovery of transparent soap. When well 

 prepared, this soap should have the appearance of 

 fine white sugar candy. It may also be colored, 

 and vegetable colors are for this purpose prefer- 

 able to mineral. Any person may make the soap, 

 by putting into a thin glass phial half a brick of 

 Wiudsor soap cut small, filling the phial half full 

 of alcohol, and placing it near the fire till the soap 

 is dissolved. This mixture put to cool in a mould, 

 gives the transparent soap. — Edinburgh Journal of 

 Science. 



TO COLOR BLACK. 



Few parts of domestic economy are more defi- 

 cient than the art of colormg ; I therefore pro- 

 pose to give some directions. 



To color black, say for ten pounds of yarn, 

 take one pound of nut-galls in coarse powder, 

 five pounds of logwood, put into a kettle with ten 

 or twelve gallons of water. Take 3 lbs. of Cop- 

 peras ; 2 ozs. of Blue Vitriol, dissolved in a gallon 

 or two of water, and wet the yarn in this mordant 

 for lialf an hour, then hang it in the air. After 

 the coloring stuff has been boiled about an hour, 

 take out the wood and pour on hot water, letting 

 it drain in the kettle through a sieve or cloth. 

 As soon as all the coloring matter is exhausted, 

 the wood may be thrown away, and the tea boikd 

 down about one-third. Then the yarn may be 

 put it, while the tea is hot, and let it remain about 

 one hour, when it should be taken out, and hung 

 for half an hour in the air, and the tea boiled down 

 again and the yarn put in for half an hour longer, 

 taken out and hung in the air, and so alternately 

 put in and taken out several times, and the cop- 



peras and vitriol water added to the coloring stufT. 

 By this process a standing black may be obtained. 

 — JV. ¥. Farmer. 



STEAM CAR. 



Mr. Benjamin Phillips, Architect, of Philadel- 

 ])hia, proposes to construct a .Steam Car to travel 

 on livers at a speed of 20 to 25 miles ])er hour, to 

 carry one hundred passengers, to draw 15 inches 

 water, to be only oue-third the weight of any other 

 ordinary steamboat of the same dimensions now 

 afloat ; of far superior strength and safety, con- 

 structed on entirely new principles ; the whole 

 materials, except the engine and boiler, not to cost 

 above .$1,500, completely furnished and ready for 

 operation by the first day of May next. — Railroad 

 Journal. 



Domestic Yeast. Boil one pound of good flour, 

 a quarter of a pound of brown sugar, and a little 

 salt, in two gallons of water, for one hour. When 

 milk warm, bottle it and cork it close. It will be 

 fit for use in twenty-four hours. One pint of this 

 yeast will make eighteen pounds of bread. 



Tomato Catsup. — One pint of salt to one peck 

 of tomatoes ; bruise them and let them stand two 

 days ; afler they are strained, boil them until the 

 scum stops rising; add two ounces of black pep- 

 per, two ounces of allspice, one ounce of ginger, 

 one ounce of cloves, half an ounce of mace. 



Among the prizes awarded by the Paris Acade- 

 my of Sciences, at their last sitting, was the fol- 

 lowing: — "To Israel Robinet, workman, for the 

 substitution of the action of a machine for that of 

 the human lungs, in glass blowing, 8,000 francs. 

 By means of this valuable invention, the health of 

 the glass-blower will, in future, be preserved, and 

 the product of his manufacture greatly improved, 

 both as regards accuracy of form and the capabili- 

 ty of making articles of greater dimensions than 

 was formerly possible." 



Infringement of a Patent Right. — Doctor Nott 

 has obtained a verdict of S850, (which in pursu- 

 ance of the statute was trebled by the court) 

 against Silvester Parker, for an infringement on 

 his Patent rights for his improvements in stoves 

 for burning anthracite coal. 



THE SCOTTISH THISTLE. 



This ancient emblem of Scottish pugnacity, 

 with its motto, J^emo me impune lacessil, is repre- 

 sented of various species in royal bearings, coins 

 .-ind coats of annor; so that there is some diffi- 

 culty in saying which is the genuine original this- 

 tle. The origin of the national badge itself is thus 

 handed down by tradition: — When the Danes 

 invaded Scotland, it was deemed unwarlike to at- 

 tack an enemy in the pitch darkness of night, 

 instead of a pitched battle by day ; but on one oc- 

 casion the invaders resolved to avail themselves of 

 this stratagem ; and in order to prevent their tramp 

 from being heard, they marched barefooted. They 

 had thus neared the Scottish force unobserved, 

 when a Dane unluckly stepped with his naked 

 foot upon a superb prickly thistle, and instinc- 

 tively uttered a cry of pain, which discovered the 

 assault to the Scots, who ran to their arms, and 

 defeated the foe with a terrible slaughter. The 

 thistle was immediately adopted as tlie insignia of 

 Scotland. 



