AnRICUr.TURAL MUSETiM 22l 



are more ])roiiidiciaI to the wool and ci^rcase of those 

 feeble animals, than has been hidierto consiclered. 

 We venture no opinion whatever, on the propriety of 

 commuting- or uboHshing the duty on salt : if it be mode- 

 rated or abolished .so much the b ;tter for the farrain^j 

 world ; if the duty re-tiain, we ^hall persist in the use of 

 saitj fortunate that ., c can obtain so great a benefit at so 

 cheap a rate ; and rather tnan forego its use, we do not 

 scruple to declare, that w ; would give one hundred 

 pounds j?er annum for every thousand sheep we possess, 

 rather than b^ dcbarr;:'d its use, even at its present rate ; 

 well persuaded tlat we shall be most essential gainers 

 thereby. ]t becomes a drity with us -io say ttius much? 

 because an extensive adoption of the use m taiC has a 

 two fold operation ; whiistit benefits the landed iiiierest^ 

 it adds also, in a most couiiderable degree, to the nati- 

 onal revenue. 



P-\Ti^?.!T OFFICfi".. 



Let US turn our view to the Goicojida of the iTnited 

 States, ^'iC Patent OJj'ke, vvhei-e many a ^e:!! lies deep in i\s 

 matrix of cobweo and dust, or piled in re2;.i'ar confusiour 

 where the visitor in vain seeks for a. pojudar exhibition 

 of models, speciiiV!ations and drawings ; though all exist, 

 yet all are lost to the curious visitant. lu place of irradi- 

 ating', as from a common centre, the rays cf mechanical 

 science, they lie unheeded, the expensive monuments of ^ 

 Gothic inattention. The legislature of the United States 

 at their last session, with a liberality truly economical, 

 iiave at length appropriated fmuls for the purchase of 

 a building for tlie reception of those treasures of genius, 

 and a law !'or the government of the depai'tm^nt was' 

 brought into conJ;ress. 



it is hoped that into this law a provision may he intro- 

 duced, which will make it the duty of the incumbent offi- 

 cer to make up a report on the state of the institution, 

 whichmight contain a digest of the specifications ah-ea- 

 dy lodged in the ofiice, in classical arrangement, under 

 tb? ditterent heads of mechanic puwei's, and this report 



