524 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



wliich will cheapen it to British consumers. 

 The prices range in Liverpool, according to 

 quality, from $10 to $15 per 112 lbs., and for 

 three years past the London market has never 

 been overstocked but three or four times, 

 ■which has lasted but two to five weeks. It 

 is getting introduced into all circles, and 

 driving the Dutch article out of market. Mr. 

 Colman, in his Agricultural Tour in Europe, 

 eays he found it gracing the tables of the 



lords and nobles, where, five years ago, it 

 liad never found its way. He dined with a 

 Marquis, who treated him to American 

 cheese, American ap[)]es, American cianber- 

 ries, and American cider in bottles. 



It is now exported to the East Indies in 

 boxes ; found in Calcutta, and goes ; with oth- 

 er notions, to the Celestials of China. None 

 but the real skim-milk giindstoues, however, 

 can stand a hot climate. 



How many millions of pounds would come pouring down from the rich mountain sides and 

 valleys of fertile and temperate Western Virginia, if penetrated with railroads, as New-Eng- 

 land is ! Only look at the difference, and if there be a spark of State pride animating the bosoms 

 of the descendants of the Marshalls, and Jeffersons. and Henrys, and Lees, let them look into the 

 causes that are holding back that glorious Old Dominion, in the race that is pending between 

 the Sisters of the Republic, " as if her legs were tied," and promising to bring her to the pole dead 

 beat, and not even a third-rater. In Massachusetts, chiefly, and the adjoining States, there have 

 been made, while Virginia has been talking, 851 miles of railroad, at a cost of $35,902,355 ; and, 

 be it noted, of the finished parts of these roads, 662 miles pay a net profit of over six per cent ! 



A NEW BOOK, AND ONE MUCH WANTED. 



A Mksxjai, op the Pkinciples and Practice of RoAD-MAKrNc ; comprising the Location, Constnic- 

 tion, and Improvement of Roeds, (Common, MacAdam, Paved, Plank, etc.,) and Railroads. By 

 W. M. GiLLESpiE, A. M. C. E , Professor of Civil Engineering in Union College. 



The work of which we have liere given the title, has made its appearance very oppor- 

 tunely, as it was much needed for the very reasons given in the Preface : 



" The common roads of the United States are infen-ior to tliosc of any other civilized country. 

 Their faults are those of direction, of slopes, of shape, of surface, and generally of deficiency in 

 all the attributes of good roads. Some of these defects are indeed the unavoidable results of the 

 scantiness of capital and of labor in a new country, but most of them arise from an ignorance 

 either of the true principles of road-making, or of the advantages of putting these principles into 

 practice. They may therefore be removed by a more general diffusion of scientific instruction 

 upon this subject, and to assist in brmging about this consummation is the object of the present 

 volume. In it the author has endeavored to combine, in a systematic and symmetrical form, the 

 results of an engineering experience in all parts of the United States, and of an examination of 

 the great roads of Europe, with a careful digestion of all accessible authorities, an important por- 

 tion of the matter having never before appeared in English." 



We gave an exti-act from it in a former number,* and have only now to reiterate, what 

 we have so often urged, that these are the subjects which ought to be taught in our Com- 

 mon Schools, as practical exemplifications of the Mathematics which in some of them are 

 now taught or pretended to be. How obviously does a thorough reform in the course of 

 Common School education, lie at the bottom of all rational ideas of the improvement and 

 prosperity of the agricultural class ! The elements of Agriculture — the same in all countries 

 and all climates, have been so simplified as to be teachable and comprehensible to boys 

 from twelve to sixteen years ; and of these elements there ought to be a strong infusion 

 in every course of rural education. 



We are happy to have it in our power to say that a book is now in the press, exceedingly 

 well adapted to this end, and which will commend itself to every teacher and every learner 

 in the United Slates. It has the highest sanction, and is of universal applicability, and will 

 be so very cheap — not exceeding 37^ cents — as to make the price of no moment. 



Cork Bee-Hives. — Bee-hives have lately been made of cork, and have been found so service- 

 able that a considerable quantity of cork has been imported from London, for the purpose of ma- 

 king them. 



Flower-Clock. — Linnasus formed, at Upsan, a flower-clock, the flowers of which indicaied 

 the hours by their different times of falling asleep. 



* This article was written long since, and overlooked. 

 (964) 



