VOL. XI, NO. 42. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



331 



beauty of its ro^c-tinted blossoms, will amply re- 

 pay whatever trouble may be taken with it. 



Two roses, exliibited by Mr. Samuel Feast, ex- 

 cited general interest. They are quite new varie- 

 ties, raised by liim from seeds of the common Tea 

 rose, very probably with an admixture of some 

 other variety. The appearance of the plant and 

 its foliage, is particularly neat ; it grows very 

 freely, and flowers beautifully, Blossoms large, 

 and well colored, borne on graceful stems, with 

 a singular fragrance, like that of the common Tea 

 rose and the China rose combined. It has been 

 named, in compliment to an amateur of the city, 

 Kurtz's Hose, or Roza Tliea, var : Kurlzii. 



The otlier Rose, likewise obtained from seed 

 by Mr. Toast, is the most curious Rose perhaps 

 ever produced. It is a dwarf, and so completely 

 does it vindicate its title to that appellation, that, 

 although it has now reached the termination of its 

 third year, the busk is not quite two inches in 

 height! It is a sturdy little affair, well furnished 

 with branches, and clothed with leaves of a sur- 

 prising neatness. The blossoms are quite as ex- 

 traordinary; they are double, of a beautiful color, 

 and very well formed, of a little more than half 

 the diameter of a five-cent piece ! It is a real 

 bijou, and has been named Master Burke, having 

 flowered for the first time, during the period 

 when the young Roscius was performing here on 

 on his first tngagement. 



brain ; and thus the disease might readily be mis- 

 taken for the dropsy of the brain. I have one 

 preserved in spirits, and I intend to exhibit it at 

 the next quarterly meeting of the Society. 



I have little doubt that these insects cause 

 the sheep to discharge so nuich mucus from the 

 nose ; for which I have frequently blown snuft' 

 up their nostrils with a quill, occasioning violent 

 sneezing; and I think it quite probable tliat die 

 worm is thrown out by these powerful eflbrts. 

 With sentiments of respect, 



I remain thy friend, 



Joseph Kersey. 



TAR FOR SHEEP. 



The following letter from Joseph Kersey, Esq. 

 to the Corresponding Secretary of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Agricultural Society, we find in the "Me- 

 moirs" of that Society. 



Respected Friend, — I beg leave to submit to 

 thee, a few remarks on the subject of some ex- 

 perience, which I have lately, and dearly bought, 

 in regard to my sheep. 



Until the last year, I had been in the practice 

 of applying tar to their noses, several times in the 

 course of the summer, with the view of promo- 

 ting their health, as it is generally believed that 

 pine or cedar shrubs have that effect ; and tar is 

 the best substitute within our reach. 



Two of my Dishley ewes have lately been de 

 stroyed by what is here termed the gadfly, and 

 three others are now affected in a similar man- 

 ner. Such a case never occurred while I used 

 the tar ; but before I commenced this practice, I 

 lost a number of sheep, which were supposed, at 

 that time, to have died of dropsy of the brain, but 

 which I am now satisfied were killed by the above- 

 mentioned insect, as the symptoms were similar 

 throughout; and as the sheep were exempt from 

 this disease while I pursued the tarring process, 

 it i» reasonable to conclude that the fly was 

 thereby prevented from depositing its eggs in the 

 nose. 



It is not in my power, at present, to describe 

 this insi ..-t with such precision that it might be 

 known ; nor, indeed, can I positively say, that 

 the fly which I have noticed, is the same which 

 does the injury ; but I have observed one flying 

 about the sheep from the seventh to the begin- 

 ning of the ninth month, of which the animals 

 were very much afraid. This fly resembles that 

 which is so destructivs to the peach tret, although 

 it is not so large. 



I have dissected the head of one sheep, and 

 found the maggot stationed near tlie brain, so that 

 the Laflamination produced by it extended to the 



FruM till- Aiii.-rican Senlinel. 

 SUBSTITUTE FOR THE POTATO. 



" A PLANT called the oxalis crenata has lately 

 been introduced into England from South Ameri- 

 ca, and is likely to be extensively cultivated, as 

 decidedly preferable to the common potato." 



This notice induced us to turn to Botanical 

 works for information, and to find a description of 

 the plant. In Persoon's Synopsis, there are 102 

 species of oxalis enumerated, and No. 80, there de- 

 scribed, takes its name from the corolla being 

 notched. There is also another species. No. 85, 

 oxalis tuberosa, found in Chili, having a root sim- 

 ilar to a ])Otato. 



Seventy-two species of oxalis are described in 

 Loudon's Cyclopedia of Plants. Speaking of the 

 genus oxalis, ivood sorrel, this author says, " the 

 root is commonly bulbous, in some species only 

 thick and fleshy, in a few branched ; the bulbs 

 consist of fleshy scales, sometimes closely imbri- 

 cate, sometimes loose and diverging, in a few the 

 subterranean stipes, and the terminating fibre of 

 the bulb produces little dog-toothed bulbs, in such 

 abundance as to fill the whole pot, to the very 

 bottom, as in oxalis purpurea, crenata, and repta- 

 r!.r." 



And Professor Lindley, tn his valuable Intro- 

 duction to the natural system of Botany, on the 

 OxalidesB, the wood sorrel tribe, CCXXIII. page 

 187, says, " a species of oxalis found in Colum- 

 bia, bears tubers like a potato, and is one of the 

 plants called Arracacha." 



From the same work we learn that there is a 

 species of Nasturtium, the Tropoeolum tuberosum, 

 which is eaten in Peru. This may also prove 

 worthy of cultivation among us. It is therefore 

 exceedingly desirable to obtain these new Plants, 

 and give them a fair trial. 



It will be recollected, that it is to South Amer- 

 ica we are indebted for that most invaluable gift, 

 the potato, the Solanum tuberosum, introduced 

 into Europe, 1586. The Jerusalem Artichoke, 

 Helianthus tuberosus, is a native of Brazd, and 

 was first cultivated in England, in 1617; and at 

 one time stated to be in greater estimation ou the 

 continent of Europe, than the potato. 



Since the preceding was written, we have seen 

 a further notice of the oxalis crenata, from an 

 English paper, of which the following is the sub- 

 stance : This new plant was brought from South 

 America, in 1830, by Mr. David Douglass, and 

 was planted by Mr. Lambert. One tuber was 

 planted by Mrs. Hurst, that weighed half an ounce, 

 and it produced 90 roots in number, grown in a 

 space of 9 inches diameter, and six inches deep, 

 and weighing 4 pounds ! Some were boiled and 

 eaten, and found preferable, in point of flavor, to 

 the potato. The plant flowers in August ; the 

 stem is large and diffuse ; corolla slightly notched, 

 from which it derives its specific name. B. 



RICE MACHINE. 



' Strong & Moody's Huller, smutter and pol- 

 isher of rice" is now in perfect operation at the 

 old Hemp INIill. They clean fifty bushels of rice, 



containing the outer hull and an inner, thin 

 coating, ready for domestic uses, — in twelve hours. 

 The rice with the hull on it is worth seventy-five 

 to eighty cents per bushel, and its value is increas- 

 ed about fifty cents by cleaning. The work is 

 done well, and it will save a frugal house wife 

 much labor and time, and perchance not a litde of 

 that discordant family music, — Scolding. A ma- 

 chine started last week for Charleston, S. C, and 

 we predict its importance to the rice planters will 

 be almost inestimable. We should like to learn 

 the particular history of the machine after it ar- 

 rives there — another " Yankee among the NuUi- 

 ficrs." From the JVorthampton Courier. 



A large ox was slaughtered last week in New- 

 York, and met vvitli ready sale, a portion of the 

 best cuts having brought a dollar per pound. The 

 ainmal was raised on Long Island, was six years 

 old, had consumed about 700 bushels of Indian 

 meal in the last three years, and weighed, when 

 living, 2,874 poimds. Its height at the fore shoul- 

 ders, was 5 feet 10 inches high — girth, 10 feet 3 

 inches — length, to the forehead, 9 — and to the 

 nose, 10 feet. The weight of the slaughtered car- 

 case was 1,890 pounds. 



BNGI.ISH OPINIONS. 



No person, who is at all familiar with the Eng- 

 lish journals, can have failed to remark the change 

 which has taken place within a few years, in their 

 estimation of the institutions and character of our 

 country. A similar change is observable in the 

 high places; in Parliament particularly, where, 

 fifteen years ago, the United States were rarely 

 mentioned, except as the theme of censure or sar- 

 casm. In connexion with this subject, the follow- 

 ing extract from an article in the Medico-Chirur- 

 gical Review, on a surgical work published by 

 Professor Smith, of the University of Maryland, 

 may possess some interest for our readers. This 

 review is republished in the United States, and 

 we believe that it stands high in the estimation of 

 gentlemen of the medical profession : 



" It may be, that in the changes ominously im- 

 pending over Europe, Britain, the modern nurse 

 of freedom, science, and the arts, may full a prey 

 to despotism or anarchy, and her name be blotted 

 from the list of nations. Should that day arrive, 

 and such a fate has overtaken far mightier em- 

 pires, we shall live in our offspring still, and 

 Ameri«a will show what Britain was. 



" Americans may be assured, that the feeling 

 entertained towards them by the mass of the libe- 

 ral and enlightened here, is one of unmixed good 

 will. We know how impoj-tant it is, that kindly 

 sentiments sbould take root and flourish in either 

 land, and we look upon the attempts of fools or 

 knaves to sow disunion with deep indignation and 

 bitter contempt. This spirit pervades our scien- 

 tific, as well as our political relations, and the 

 paltry scribbler hardly exists, who would dare in- 

 sult the public taste by such a tirade against Amer- 

 ican literature as was once penned in Scotland. 

 The Review which contained that ill-advised criti- 

 cism has since made ample and honorable amends 

 to America, and few can read its notice of Mrs. 

 Trollope's book, without applauding its manly and 

 liberal tone," 



