VOL. XI. NO. 38. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



299 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



At a statfiJ meeting of tlie Massachusetts Ilor- 

 ticiiltunil Society liekl on Satunlay, March 30, by 

 an adjoui-niTient, the following letters from Beiija- 

 luiii Rodman, Esq., of New Bedford, and S. P. 

 llildretli, Esq., of Marietta, Ohio, were read. 



.Veio Bedford, March 23, 1833. 

 Dear Sir, — I have just received from my 

 friend J. P. Hiiteliinson, Consul at Lisbon, a 

 package of onion seeds, which I divide with you 

 for the members of H. S., which you will please 

 ofler for distribution. 



He says the " seed must be sown — the plants 

 transplanted and well watered." 



They are very large and very mild — as he says 

 as large as your head and mild as an apple. 



I am very truly your friend, B. Rodman. 



Marietta, Ohio, Feb. 25, 1833. 



To the Secretari/ of the Mass. Hor. Society, 

 R. L. Emmons, Esq. 



Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure of forwarding 

 to your Society a small package of the seeds ol' 

 the magnolia acuminata, the native growth of the 

 forests, near Marietta. The seeds are very fine 

 and fully ripe ; and gathered at a time before they 

 had taken any injury from the weather. The 

 magnolia acuminata is amongst the most beautiful 

 productions of our woodlands, perfectly hardy, 

 and will make a fine figure amongst its other rela- 

 tives when flourishing in your interesting garden ; 

 a garden devoted to the sacred and sweet memory 

 of the dead, and to the improvement and happi- 

 ness of the living, and such an object is every way 

 ■worthy of its illustrious founders, and will place 

 Massachusetts at the head of her sister states in 

 horticultural pursuits, as she already is in the arts, 

 manufactures, and literature. If you will have 

 the goodness to name such seeds of our native trees 

 as would be desired for planting in the garden of 

 the Society, I shall take great pleasure in select 

 ing them for your use, and will forward them as 

 «arly as possible after their ripening. 



Very respectfully your obedient servant, 



S. P. HiLDRETH. 



It was then Voted, That the thanks of this So- 

 ciety be given to Benjamin Rodman, Esq., of 

 New Bedford, and to S. P. Hildreth, Esq., of 

 Marietta, Oliio, for their valuable donations of 

 seeds of the Lisbon onion and magnolia acuminata. 



Voted, That the seeds of the Lisbon onion be 

 distributed among the members of the Society, — 

 and that the seeds of the magnolia acuminata be 

 confided to the care of Mr. David Haggerston for 

 the Mount Auburn Cemetery. 



The meeting was then dissolved. 



the need of such an ap[iaralus()r instniuicnt, :is we 

 liegln to feed more with roots. — In Great I5riuiin 

 where they feed extensively with roots, the Far- 

 mer who was without one would be considered a 

 very careless man. 



I hope some one at least in every neighborhood 

 will procure one or two of the following dimen- 

 sions. One suitable for applying should be 3-4 of 

 an inch thick, and 40 inches long, with a strong 

 loop affi.ved to the end, that it may be the better 

 managed by the operator. For an ox of a large 

 size it should be an inch thick 48 inches long, ex- 

 clusive of the loop. The cost may be 25 or 30 

 cents — Yours, ^-c. care. 



.flwful C'alaslrophe. — The Redactor of Satiwday, 

 contains an article from the Constitutional del 

 Cauca, stating that in the month of July last, while 

 Mass was being celebrated hi the church of Sig- 

 shos, near Tachunga, in the republic of Equador, 

 South America, on the day of the solemn festival 

 del Corpus, fire was communicated to the building 

 by a rocket, and that in the rush of the audience 

 to the door, it became shut, and the whole Cod- 

 gregation perished in the flames, except the Cu- 

 rate, who escaped through a window ! The num- 

 ber of lives lost was estimated at more than five 

 lumdred, besides the children. — JV. Y. Jour, of 

 Commerce. 



From tlie Maine Fanner. 

 Mr Holmes ; It is agreed, both in Europe and 

 this country, that there is nothing so safe and elti- 

 cacious for a creature that is choked, as tarred 

 rope of proper dimensions, with the tar well work- 

 ed in to stiffen it when made. I have been led 

 to remind my brother Farmers of this simple thing, 

 because one of my neighbors recently lost a cow 

 by being choked, and another came near losing a 

 valuable ox, in the same way. Both of them 

 might have been relieved, in a few minutes, had 

 such a rope been at hand, or even in the neighbor- 

 hood; but this was not the case, and the owner of 

 the cow used an improper stick, which hastened 

 her death. I believe we shall more frequently see 



MACHIKE FOR MAlilMG PINS. 



It is highly ingenious in point of contrivance, 

 and, in respect to its economical principles, will 

 furnish a strong and interesting contrast with the 

 manufacture of pins by the human hand. In this 

 machine, a coil of brass wire is placed on an a.xis ; 

 one end of this wire is drawn by a pair of rollers 

 through a small hole in a plate of steel, and is held 

 there by forceps. As soon as the machine is put 

 in action — 



1. The forceps draw the wire on to a distance 

 equal in length toi one pin : a cutting edge of steel 

 then descends close to the hole through which the 

 wire entered, and severs a piece equal in length to 

 one pin. 



2. The forceps holding the wire moves on until 

 it brings the wire into the centre of the clmck of a 

 small lathe, which opens to receive it. Whilst the 

 forceps reti'irns to fetch another piece of wire, the 

 lathe I'evol ves rapidly, and grinds the projecting 

 end of the wire upon a steel mill which advances 

 towards it. 



3. At this first, or coarse pointing, the lathe 

 stops, and another forceps takes hold of the half 

 pointed pin, (which is instantly relieved by the 

 opening of the c/mct,) and conveys it to a similar 

 chuck of another lathe, which receives it, and fin- 

 ishes the pointing on a finer steel mill. 



4. This mill again stops, and another forceps re- 

 moves the pointed pin into a pair of strong steel 

 clams, having a small groove in them by which they 

 hold the pin very firmly. A part of this groove, 

 which terminates at that edge of the steel clams 

 which is intended to form the head of the pin, is 

 made conical. A small round steel punch is now 

 driven forcibly against the end of the wire thus 

 clamped, and the head of the pin is partially form- 

 ed by pressing the wire into the conical cavity. 



5. Another pair of forceps now removes the pin 

 to another pair of clams, and the head of the pin 

 is completed by a blow from a second punch, the 

 end of which is slightly concave. Each pair of 

 forceps returns as soon as it has delivered its bur- 

 then ; and thus there are always five pieces of wire 

 at the same moment in different stages of advance 

 towards a finished pin. The pins so formed are 

 received into a tray, and whitened, and papered in 

 the usual way. 



About sixty pins can be made by this machine 

 in one minute ; but each process occupies exactly 

 the same time in performing. — JVcu) York Mechan- 

 ic's Magazine. 



A pair of young Tom Turkeys, shot on Mount 

 Tom, weighing at the time about 30 pounds each 

 — were on the 26th presented to the proprietor of 

 the Hampden Coffee House. They were large 

 and beautiful birds. 



i/1 good sized Story. Mr. Alpheus Warner, in 

 liy-gone days well known along the road between 

 New Haven and Litchfield, called upon us last 

 week and requested us to state that last fall he 

 felled upon his farm in the town of Liverpool, 

 Medina county, Ohio, a chesnut tree from which 

 he obtained 18,000 eighteen inch shingles, 50 good 

 sized rails, and there was wood enough left to 

 make 100 bushels of coal. The tree was 16 feet 

 in circumference at the base. — LAtchfield Enquirer. 



A Veterinary Surgeon has lately discovered 

 that exhausted and worn out horses, are very 

 speedily restored to their strength and condition, by 

 giving them daily one or two bundles of couch- 

 grass, often or twelve pounds weight, mixed with 

 a quantity of carrots. Thus this weed, which, 

 wherever it has appeared has been the pest of 

 farmers, will become a useful medicament. — 

 French Paper. 



Roasting by Gas. An apparatus for roasting 

 meat of every kind by gas, has recently been in- 

 vented by Mr. Hicks, in London. 



We understand that the Winnisimmet Com- 

 pany's new Steam Ferry Boat, is to be called the 

 " Malden." She is daily expected from Philadel- 

 phia. Her speed and accommodations are said to 

 be equal to those of the two Steamers now plying 

 between this city and Chelsea. The Maiden will 

 be put upon the ferry as soon as she arrives. 

 — Gazette. 



Ancient Roman Empire. The ancient magni- 

 tude of the Roman Empire might well have justi- 

 fied the Roman pride. 



It covered a million and a halfof square miles of 

 the finest portion of the globe. Stretching three 

 thousand miles, from the Atlantic to the Euphra- 

 tes, and two thousand from the northern borders 

 of bacia to the tropic of Cancer, it was the seat of 

 all the choicest fertility, beauty and wealth in the 

 world. Imagination sinks under the idea of this 

 prodigious power in the hands of a single nation, 

 and that nation in the hands of a single man. — 

 Crobfs Life and Times of Geo. 4. 



Dreadful accident. The powder mills at Can- 

 ton, Conn, belonging to Mills & Co. blew up on 

 Friday week, and three persons were instantly 

 killed, viz. Wm. Weatherby and his daughter, and 

 a Mr. Keep. Mr. W's head was literally taken 

 from his body, and all three shockingly mangled. 

 One hundred casks of powder were destroyed, and 

 every thing torn from the earth in all directions 

 around. The report resembled an earthquake, 

 and was heard at a great distance. 



