188 



Break the Crust. — Technicalities. — Flour. — Cattle. Vol. XII. 



den. The box was made, and the doctor 

 was so pleased with it, that he got the cabi- 

 net maker to make him a bureau of it, and 

 the nne colour and polish of it induced him 

 to invite a great number of his friends to see 

 it, and among them the Duchess of Buck- 

 ingham. Her Grace begged the doctor for 

 some of the wood, and got Woolaston, the 

 cabinet maker, to make her a bureau also, 

 on which the fame of mahogany and Wool- 

 aston was much raised, and it became the 

 rage for grand furniture. No other wood 

 has excelled it yet. — Farmer and Mechanic. 



" Break the Crust." — Many years ago, 

 when I lived in Connecticut, a man from 

 among my acquaintance removed from that 

 State into Vermont. He was a farmer that 

 understood his business and attended to it 

 Some years after, I made a tour into Ver- 

 mont, and the first call that I made after 

 crossing the river out of New Hampshire, 

 was at his house. He had got a fine farm, 

 a good proportion of which was intervale on 

 the Connecticut. There was a field of three 

 acres on the intervale before the door, which, 

 he said, when he came to make his purchase, 

 had on it a very stunted growth of corn. To 

 use his own words, "it was but little bigger 

 than pennyroyal." He asked the owner the 

 reason of the corn making such a miserable 

 appearance. He said he did not know. But, 

 said my friend, "I knew." He finally bought 

 the farm, and the next season undertook to 

 renovate that field solely by ploughing. He 

 ploughed every opportunity through the sea- 

 son, taking care to plough only when the 

 dew was on, or immediately after a rain. 

 He went over it a number of times in the 

 season, and sowed it with wheat in the fall; 

 and when he came to harvest and thresh it, 

 he had ISA^- bushels, averaging 51^ to the 

 acre. — Cultivator. 



gunpowder is only a small keg holding 25 

 lbs., — and that reminds me of cotton, a bale 

 of which is 400 lbs., no matter in what sized 

 bundles it may be sent to market. 



Price of Flour. 



We are indebted to a friend for the follow- 

 ing average of prices of flour in this city 

 from the year 1824 to 1846 inclusive. It is 

 an interesting, and we believe a reiiable 

 statement. The averages have been taken 

 on the prices during the season of canal 

 navigation. 



Years. Mv. price. High. price. Low. price. Dif. in price. 



Highest average price %Q 04 was in 1837; 

 lowest average price $4 53 was in 1844. 

 Highest price $12 was in 1837; lowest price 

 $3 75 was in 1846. — Albany Argus. 



Local Technicalities. — A Ready Rule 

 for Farmers made Readier. — A "quarter of 

 wheat," is an English measure of eight 

 standard bushels — so, if you see wheat 

 quoted at 56 shillings, it is 7 shillings a 

 bushel. A shilling is 22\ cents; multiply 

 by 7, and you will have $i 57^ per bushel. 



In Kentucky corn is measured by the bar- 

 rel, which is five btishels of shelled corn. 

 At New Orleans, a barrel of corn is a flour 

 barrel full of ears. At Chicago, lime is sold 

 by the barrel, and measured in the smallest 

 size cask of that name that will pass muster, 

 A barrel of flour is seven quarters of a gross 

 hundred — 112 lbs. — which is the reason of 

 its being the old measure of 196 pounds. A 

 harrcl of tar is 20 gallons, while a barrel of 



Supply of Cattle. 



The following is a carefully prepared 

 statement of the amount of live stock re- 

 ceived monthly at the Philadelphia cattle 

 market, during the year ending the 30th of 

 December, 1847, inclusive — to which we 

 have added the total supply in several pre- 

 vious years: 



Beeves. Cows & Calves. Sheep. Swine. 



