76 



®l)c .former's itfontl)h) bisitor. 



A CHARACTERISTIC OF THE AGE. — VVIieil WP 



look abroad upon the worlil and scan its most 

 striking features, and compare tliem will, [he 

 features of the days gone hy, we cannot fail to 

 perceive that there is one trait at least which 

 eminently characterizes and distinguishes the 

 present from all others that have preceded it ; 

 we refer to the spirit of rapidity in locomotion. 

 Jt was the boast of Csesar that his legions in one 

 season had conquered in Asia and Europe; but 

 in the same space of time which Caesar's legions 

 took to come from Rome to Albion's coast, an 

 army could now be transported from the Thames 

 to the Indus, or across the wide Atlantic— that 

 ocean which to the ancients was a vast unknown. 

 History records with pride the feats of swiftness 

 performed hy their sure-footed "steeds of metal 

 true ;" but what is the speed of the swiftest ani- 

 mal in animated nature, in comparison wiih the 

 swift-winged messenger that travels along the 

 copper wire of the telegraph, or the disc-looted 

 courser that pants unwearied on his iron-girdled 

 course from lake to ocean ? Last year our coun- 

 try was thrilled by a famous horse on Long Is- 

 land trotting one hundred miles in ten hours, 

 and fifieen years ago Mr. Oshaldistone in Eng- 

 land astonished the world by riding two hundred 

 miles in ten hours, by relays of famous racers; 

 but what are all these feats in comparison with 

 the feats of a few iron wheels driven with ex- 

 panded water? The crippled soldier, whose 

 luckless limbs were left on some well -fought 

 field, can, hy the aid of science, travel as quietly 

 as if sitting at his own fire-side, from Albany to 

 Buffalo during the lime the swifiest-footed racer 

 could gallop one-fourth of the distance. We 

 may boast of " the speed of the Aral, steed," and 

 we may admire the eagle in his flight through 

 the air; but neither the race of the one, nor the 

 flight of the other, has so much poeiic inspira- j 

 lion in it as the locomotive that fleets faster than I 

 the whirlwind, or the steamship that marches 

 proudly against wind and wave over the stormy 

 deep.— Scientific American. 



Metropolitan Manure. 



A joint stock company of a novel character 

 has been established in the vicinity of London, 

 called the Metropolitan Sewage Manure Compa- 

 ny. The works of the company lately erected 

 at Stanley Bridge, near Fulham, are described, 

 in an article in the London Times, as deserving 

 the attention of all persons interested in the pro- 

 gress of agriculture. The objects of the compa- 

 ny, and their system of operations, are thus de- 

 scribed in the article here referred to:— 



The company was incorporated by act of Par- 

 •ai nent, lor the purpose of conveying the con- 

 tents ol the London sewers in a liquid form into 

 th s country, and distributing them over the fields 

 and gardens which surround the metropolis, at 

 a tnfl.ng cost. The mechanical means by which 

 these objects are effected are very nearly the 

 same as those by which water is carried into all 

 irge cities, reservoirs being formed for the 



gave great satisfaction to a large and highly re- 

 spectable company of gentlemen assembled on 

 I be occasion. The general result went to show 

 the perfect ease with which the sewage can be 

 taken horn the main and applied to the land in 

 any quantity for this purpose. Mr. Coode's pa- 

 tent irrigator, which was one of the implements 

 exhibited, excited much admiration. 



Deserved Testimonial.— The Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society, at its last meeting, presen- 

 ted to Hon. M. P. Wilder, the late President of 

 the Society, a massive silver pitcher, superbly 

 chased and wrought, and bearing the following 

 inscription : — r 



HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER 



President of the Massachusetts Hon, cultural Society 

 Tk . „ , J'""' A D. 1841 to m-J. 3 ' 



1 hi. I ,eee of Piate is pre.cnted by the Society, as a tes- 

 timonial ol respect and appreciation of his »alu- , 

 able services during the above period. 

 January. 184y. 



Mr. Wilder has eminently deserved this gift 

 or bis services in behalf of the Society have 

 been numerous and enduringly valuable. 



London Market for American Provisions —The 

 following statement shows the comparative im- 

 ports ol American provisions into London for 

 the past two years, and the first quarter of the 

 present year : — 



18*7. 



2,736 



35 108 



8,722 



1,458 



2,040 



3,237 



274 



113 



%\ 



0,195 



Cheese — casks, 

 buxes, 

 Bacon — packages, 

 Pork — lierces, 



barrels, 

 Beef — lierces, 



barrels, 

 Hams — casks, 

 Lard — lierces, 



barrels, 



ke"s. 



1848. To April 5, 1819 



3,499 



32 009 

 23,117 



3,067 

 10.427 

 12,076 



1,053 



82 



397 



2,105 

 13,280 



362 

 1,384 

 2324 



345 

 1,779 



862 



105 



7 



68 



908 

 1,120 



More refinement.— Instead of saving a man 

 runs on Ins own hook, the phrase is' now more 

 elegantly rendered, by saying, « He progresses 

 on his personal curve." = 



reception ol the sewage, an engine being con- 

 structed to pump up as much of it as may be re- 

 quired, and pipes being laid down lion, the 

 works into the districts where this species of 

 "-""ire ,s likely to be in demand. The plan 

 has been already tried, it appears, with great 

 success near Glasgow and Manchester, but of 

 course on a small scale compared with the ope- 

 ration contemplated by this company. They 

 •aye already laid down about nine miles of pipes 

 " i the parish of Fulham, and thence they intend 

 extending the,,, wkhout loss of time into the 

 bl ™ ," f "leworth. The estimates of profit 

 formed by them show that they calculate on sup- 

 ply ug sewage to thirty thousand acres of land 

 and that farmers, market-gardeners, and land 

 owners cultivating about sixty -eight' ,bou 

 acres, have by petition lo Parliament expressed 

 their .merest ,„ the success of the experiment. 



I Ins reveals the extent of the scheme in which 

 Hie company have embarked, and its great j,„. 

 }>'»■ ance to the interest of agriculture, no, only 

 n the neighborhood of the metropolis and other 

 arge towns, but generally throughout .be coun- 



m'ne^i" , ", S rea, f difficulties with which 

 hrme shave Intherto had to contend, are the 

 scarcity of manure, its inferior-quality and the 

 nimense expense incurred in J purchase and 

 transport. J he Aletrop.diian Sewage Manure 

 Company pro |loses t0 re|ieve (|ie ^^ e . 



he soil „, the neighborhood of London lion 

 bis he , ^ t si 



•ecu,, erred an inestimable boon upon the ag- 

 ricultural mtereM, besides turning to good ac- 



wa!ero't e h^. age W '" Cl ,' "? w «»«■«•««•*■ the 

 watei o the Thames and poisons the atmosphere 



m "-lung the soil, and greatly increasing its pro- 

 ductive powers, there now remains aimZ'be 



doubt. '8 chemical properties have bee,, anal- 

 vzed a n d nave heen (()1Jli(| {n . 



highly concentrated form, all .hat is best adapted 

 lor making the ear,!, yield her increase. I, 



l '.'".";" ,0 1 " '°, S' ass ,all(,s ""'I Sieen cops, espe- 

 cially, has been attended with very smprismg 

 results j and from the body of evidence collected 

 on the subject, it is quite clear that if the com- 

 pany are successful in the means for niacin* it 

 a he disposal of the ma, ke.-gardener an 

 birmers around London, they will ,,j ve an im- 

 mense impulse lo the productiveness of the soil 

 Ibns manured. 



The company are now about to commence 

 operations and we shall watch with imeresnhe 

 refills ol their first experiments. Ti.ey will find 

 a" '".mense mass of ignorance and prejudice to 

 contend with among those whose interest they 

 seek lo promote, and some time must elapse he- 

 lore the enlightened views which actuate them 

 ••'re dulj appreciated, but ii is impossible that ihe 

 existing state of things around London can long 

 continue, or that men will persevere in watering 

 their crops at an expense each time of from 21 to 

 5b an acre, when the same can be done far more 

 effeclnalv with liquid manure, applied to ,he 

 '■''Hi b) he hose at a cost of 1s.au acre. On 

 Wednesday last some very interesting exneri- 

 meiiuj were made at Stanley bridge with several 

 ijej inventions fo r ,|, e economic and efficien 

 distribution of the sewage on the soil. These 

 experiment* were completely successful and 



Bone Dust.— An experiment tried hy Mr. 

 Mortimer, Silverton, furnishes a remarkable 

 proof of the efficacy of this manure. At a re- 

 cent meeting of the Netherexe Farmer's Club, 

 Mr. W. Strong, of.Powhay mills, offered to give 

 some bone dust to any agriculturist to be tried 

 against guano. Mr. Mortimer took the offer, and 

 manured a piece of land, one part with bone, 

 another with Peruvian guano, and a third portion 

 with farm-yard dung, leaving a small strip with- 

 out any dressing. The whole was planted with 

 turnips, and we are assured by an agriculturist 

 who has seen them, that, while on the boned 

 ground there are turnips larger than his hat, the 

 part left unmantired has not one so large as his 

 finger. The guano crop is finer than the dung 

 turnips, but by no means equal for the size, 

 though superior in thickness and rapidity of 

 growth to that grown where bone manure was 

 used.— Mark Lane Express. 



Suspension Bridge.— It is proposed to bridge 

 the Ohio river, between Cincinnati and Coving- 

 ton. Mr. Charles Ellett, Jr., the distinguished 

 engineer, has written a letter, declaring its prac- 

 ticability, and the lower House of the Ohio Le- 

 gislature has passed a bill incorporating a com- 

 pany to build the bridge. 



Mr. Elicit says, in his letter, that it is entirely 

 practicable to span the whole breadth of the 

 river with a single arch, which will not impair the 

 navigation in the lejst, at a cost of $300,000. 



The gigantic, arch is to be 120 feet above the 

 centre of the river, at low water; the towers for 

 the suspension of the wire cables 230 feet high ; 

 twenty cables four inches in diameter, capable' 

 of sustaining a weight of 7,000 tons. 



The bridge at Wheeling is to he ninety-two 

 feet above low-water mark. The bridge con- 

 lemplated across the Mississippi, at St. Louis, is 

 to have an elevation of forty-five feet above the 

 highest freshets. But this bridge is proposed at 

 one hundred and twenty feet above low-water 

 mark, or fifty feet above the great flood of 1832. 

 —Louisville Journal. 



Great Farm.— The United Slates Patent Of- 

 fice Report says, " One of the greatest dairies in 

 our country u i that of Colonel Meacham, of Pu- 

 laski, N \. His farm consists of one thousand 

 acres, three hundred of which are devoled to 

 grass; and lie keeps one hundred head of cattle 

 and ninety-seven cows. In one year he made 

 thirty thousand pounds of cheese, twenty thou- 

 sand of which sold at one time, in New York 

 •>r from six and a half to seven cents per pound.' 

 He feeds his cows mostly on hay and carrots; of 

 the latter, he raises two thousand bushels and 

 gives each cow half a bushel per day. And be- 

 sides the benefit derived from his grass for his 

 slock he gathers not less than three hundred 

 bushels ol grass seed." 



Mineral Wealth of Russia—The mctalic pro- 

 .-Jce of the Russian empire in 1848, was, accord- 

 ing to official documents, as follows ; 1,826 poods 

 ol gold, 1 p„ud platinum, 1,192 poods of silver 

 2o4,o(,9 poods of copper, and 8,513,673 poods of 

 wrought iron. The pood is equivalent to a little 

 more than thirty-six pounds avoirdupois. The 

 gold from Russia, therefore, represents a value 

 ". 3,944,832/. (or 98,120,800.:) [about nineteen 

 million, six hundred thousand dollars,! making 

 due allowance for the English alloy. The silver, 

 at ns.txl. the ounce, represents a value of 188,000/. 



