1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



45 



manufacture of styles of worsted dress goods not 

 before attempted. I am confirmed, by the opin- 

 ions of several manufacturers, in the belief, that 

 there is a favoral)le opening for a new application 

 of our longest-fibred American merino wool, in 

 the production of the fine all-wool merino dress- 

 stuffs, produced at present only in Europe; but 

 so largely produced there, that, in a single estab- 

 lishment in Reisenberg, Bohemia, 12,000 persons 

 are employed in this manufacture. As these goods 

 are admirably adapted for printing, the introduc- 

 tion of this manufacture would be greatly favored 

 by the perfection to which the art of cotton and 

 delaine printing has attained in Rhode Island and 

 Massachusetts. 



Home Made Fertilizeu. — Mr. H. W. 

 Risley, recommends in the Georgia Southern 

 Cultivator, the following formula for making 

 "guano," which he says he adopted "during 

 those sad years of war, when he was obliged 

 to make his living out of the earth by the sweat 

 of his brow :" — 



First gather any quantity of swamp muck 

 into a pile to dry. Measure off 6 barrels of 

 this (or any other rich black earth) into 

 another pile, and add the following salts 

 previously dissolved in a barrel or more 

 of water, viz : 40 pounds nitrate soda. 60 

 pounds sulphate anmionia and ^ bushel com- 

 mon salt. Then add one barrel of ashes, one 

 barrel of Plaster of Paris and one barrel 

 ground bones. Mix all well together and use 

 in the same manner as Peruvian Guano. 



Aquariums. — Aquariums are now so well 

 understood, as to be in a fair way to become 

 essentials in the room-gardening of all persons 

 of taste. Growing plants, fishes and water 

 reptiles are placed in the same globe or tank 

 of water, and the gases which the fish reject 

 are the food of the plants ; while the plants, 

 on the other hand, prepare the elements necee- 

 sary for the health of the fish. By this beauti- 

 ful principle of reciprocity, both plants and 

 animals remain in perfect health, without the 

 water scarcely ever being changed. A tank 

 for plants and animals might form tlie base 

 of a pretty parlor ornament, a central j)ortioti 

 consisting of a case for ferns and similar 

 plants, and a cage for birds on the top. — Gar- 

 deiier^s Monthly. ^ 



*§%&i\ 'M^S 



To Keep Cider Sweet. — Of the various 

 preparations used for this purpose, I have had 

 some experience with sulphite of lime and white 

 mustard seed. Treated with the lime, the ci- 

 der soon becomes flat and insipid. The mus- 

 tard seed I much prefer — ^ lb. to a barrel — put 

 in when it has about half done working. It 

 gives it a sprightly, agreeable flavor, which it 

 retains until warm weather. Both of these 

 methods, however, spoil it for vinegar. With 

 the mustard seed it becomes thick and ropy 

 during the heat of summer. — F. Curtis, in 

 Country Gentleman. 



KTCOTIANA MACROPHYLLA VAR. 

 GIGANTEA. 



With the aid of the cut, there will be little 



difficulty in translating this much of Latin, 



which we copy from the books as descriptive of 



our illustration. Though Shakspeare gave it 



as his opinion that by any other name a rose 



would smell as sweet, it does not follow that 



tobacco, 



"The stinkingest of the stinking kind. 

 Filth of the mouth and fog of the mind," 



must smell just as bad in Latin as in English. 

 Without venturing an opinion on this ques- 

 tion, we may say that the above drawing rep- " 

 resents the most showy of all the Nicotiana 

 Tahacum. Its leaves are much larger than 

 those of any other variety ; it grows si.x to 

 eight feet high, and the plants are crowned 

 with immense bunches or corymbs of large 

 purple flowers. Its huge foliage and stately 

 aspect give it the advantage over most other 

 ornamental-leaved plants for lawns or groups 

 in the flower-garden. Mr. Breck, in his Book 

 of Flowers, says "it may be grown in the gar- 

 den as a curiosity, as well as for its leaves, 

 which are useful to destroy insects. Its de- 

 coction, the powder of the leaves, and the 

 smoke produced when they are burned, arm 



