June, 1842. 



THE FARMER 'S MONTHLY VISITOR 



96 



and Oregon, now on their way home, and may be espec 



ted early in July. These two vessels left at St. Helena ! 



week before the Vincennes called there, for Rio Janeirc 



and home — all well. 



crew of the brig U.\or, of Mystic. Ct., wreck 

 Kdward's Island, are also on board the Vitt' 



Prin 



nly eight of the men, have died 



Although the officers and crew of the Expedition have 

 been exposed to every variety of climate, the gent ' 

 health of the squadron has been vvithouta precedent. I 

 one officer (Mr. V'anderford, master's mate, who died 

 the passage home.) 

 from disease. 



The officers, and scientific men, have been constantly 

 employed, as will appear by the labor performed, and the 

 results of the cruise. 



In addition to the larse collections already receivi 

 from the Expedition, tlie \niccnnes has now on board 

 large and valuable collo^iion. including several boxes of 

 live plants, bulbs, &c., collected in the Pacific, Sooloo, 

 Phillipines, Singapore, Cape of Good Hope, and St. 

 Helena. 



Vindova, one of the principal Chiefs of the Fiji Islands, 

 who directed and assisted at the massacre of ten of th 

 ciew of the brig Charles Daggett, of Salem, and assistei 

 in eating their bodies, is now on board the Vincennes as 



capital, 

 added, < 

 trusty c 



Rail Road Accident in France. 



Mr. Walsh in his last letter to the National Intelligen- 

 cer, dated Paris, May 14. gives a very interesting descrip- 

 tion of this great calamity, from which we make the fol- 

 _ lowing extracts : 



"Instead of accompanying the younger members of my 

 family, afler dinner, to tlie gardens, I strolled to the cm- 

 barmdere of the South, and happened to see the depart- 

 ure, between five and six o'clock, of the train which was 

 to experience so awlul a doom. It had the ordinary fes- 

 tival aspect— the eagcrest competition for places, the wild- 

 est gaiety, and the closest pressure; disappointed hund- 

 reds left behind for the greater part of an hour, whoso 

 dinner awaited them in P.aris. The number of passengers 

 is reported from the books of the clerks as seven hundred 

 and thirty; it could not have been less; each of the first 

 five cars had its complement— fifty ; and they were not of 

 the common people, but of the substantial classes of the 

 capital, provincial visitors of more or less consequence, 

 foreign strangers and office-holders, whose presence at 

 the celebration in Versailles was a tribute of loyalty. — 

 There were Prefects, Deputies, superior officers of the 

 Kavy, Lawyers, whole families able to figure in the dress 

 and with the ornaments of rich bourgeois. It would have 

 been difficult to luing together, studiously, an equal mass 

 to whom such a dis.istcr could occur with more diffusive 

 sensation and pain to tlio better orders throughout the 

 a suspected engine of four wheels, there was 

 rdinarily, a most powerful one of six ; the 

 ngincer. George, an Englishman, went with 

 the train out of abuiid.int caution or from secret misgiv- 

 ing ; near a relay, half-way, the axletree of the weaker 

 locomotive (the first) snapiied; the second dashed upon 

 it, crushed it, and dragged or cast upwards the whole five 

 of the nearest cars, which took fire from the craters on 

 which they were piled ; and as the doors were all locked, 

 there was no possibility of escape from within, except 

 through the windows on each side, remarkably small. A 

 more horrible funeral pyre w.is never imag'ined by any 

 poet or sketched by any pencil; a Dante might be une- 

 qual to the proper description of such a holocaust, i be- 

 lieve that the havoc of life by the flames and leaps and 

 struggles is net less than one hundred and fifty ; some fifty 

 or sixty are so mutilated, or stricken in mind, if not in 

 body, that immediate death would have been preferable to 

 their condition. There are survivors hopelessly insane ; 

 some still inii(fs, from terror and the If ss of friends and 

 relatives ; not a few of the hundreds in the cars which es- 

 caped concussion, were so much affected at the scene, 

 and preserve the imagery with so much vividness of ago- 

 nizing recollection, that their situation is either precarious 

 or piteous in the l.ast degree. The newspapers at first in- 

 cluded three young Americans, together with three young 

 Greeks, in the bill of mortality. Three of our country- 

 men had seats in the seventh vehicle, but they felt merely 

 a concussion, and saved themselves by the windows." 



" Extreme velocity is cited among the causes of the ac- 

 cident of Sunday. 1 have noted, in the United States, 

 that the majority of the folks most earnest for expedition 

 in their journeys by steam, are those who can best spare 

 hours and days, and who waste the most of them every 

 where. The spirit of wild despatch, however, has seized 

 the world, and will prove an effectual auxiliary of the 

 King of Terrors. A clamor is raised here against four- 

 wheeled engines and in favor of six-wheeled. Controversy 

 has ensued, which the Academy of Sciences has underta- 

 ken to decide by investigations that will settle various 

 other points important to the main consideration — safety 

 in steam conveyance. It is agreed that if the doors of 

 the cars had not been under lock and key, and the keys in 

 the pockets of attendants without, who attended not at 

 all, the casualty would have been much less destructive. 

 Several of the passengers were pulled through the win- 

 dows, and more cleared the tops before the bodies of the 

 cars were enveloped in Haines ; the boilers did not burst. 

 Rumor carried the event rapidly, and with all the exag- 

 geration possible, over the wliolo capital; the multitude 

 became so indignant at the station that troops were sum- 

 moned to prevent the immediate demolition of the build- 

 ings and the road itself, and the sacrifice of all the agents 

 of the establishment who could be discovered. Every 

 thing and every body, .says the Courier Erancais, would 

 have been torn to pieces, if we had not interposed a regi- 

 ment of the line. The number of guards and soldiery 

 prevented popular disorders. On Monday, the rail road 

 bill was made the order of the day in the Chamber of 



Deputies; the discussion was not suspended, but atten 

 tirely diverted by the impressions from with 

 stry gained by the hasly adoption of three oi 



ut; the I 



■ their 



1 wo circumstances may be mentioned 

 in perlect keeping with the fttreur dovtoiireuse, (rage of 

 sorrow) as the journals call it, of the mob at ttie Pari: 

 station. Later in the evening, and quite near, along the 

 walls, dancing was kept up, as usual, in the many resor 

 lor the purpose. On Monday, the mutilated, defaced, 

 may say calcined, remains of some thirty of the victim 

 who had not been recognized, were transported to the 

 principal entry of tlie cemetery of Mount Parnassus ; anc 

 in that neighborljood there are lines of tippling-houses 

 and ball-rooms, m which the operatives of both sexes in- 

 dulge themselves, by established customs, after 2 o'clock 

 on that day, styled the %Varkman's Sabbath. They inter- 

 mitted their revels to gaze at the contents of the biers oi 

 tumbrels as they were emptied, and returned to their cups 

 and music, laughing and joking, says the journal L'Ame 

 de la Religion. The notorious rendezvous, the College 

 of the Sttideiits, where the youth of the medical and Law 

 schools, or the more dissolute of them, assemble to ca- 

 rouse with the operatives, had, that evening, an extraordi- 

 nary frequency and joviality. This may remind you of 

 Mr. Burke's notice, in his Regicide Peace, of the scenes 

 in Paris under the guillotine, the area of which was hired 

 out for sets of dancing dogs. On the other hand, abund- 

 ant edification was afforded by the unwearied, humane. 



ind Christian 



the 



:harity, and public 

 :1 on the theatre o 

 private dwelling: 

 llergymen issued" 

 e of the 



* Mendon and Issy, cai 

 of every kind of aer 



The administrators of the railway 

 of the Seine, published this day a seri( 

 h they have 



■rs physicians, 

 iritips, with the 

 ccident, and in 

 hich they were 

 all the burning 

 seminaries and 

 forth and 



en tbey 



nay. They am 



that ; 



AtVf 



night, 



■ millions of passengers, witlioul 



I III, and the Belgian railways, frnir 

 ). to December, 1341, nearly twelve 

 iss of only three lives ; and that the 

 cars have run altogether in tliat trans- 

 llionof post leagues." 



es, for the five successive days after thi 

 groups were to be seen, from morning til 

 , disputing, gesticulating on the subject 

 an me articles and fragments of dress which could b. 

 gleaned by sifting and raking on the road were first brought 

 to the register office of the Versailles Court House. Or 

 Friday, 1 entered with a throng of the curious to look al 

 the collection, which consisted of coin of every descrip- 

 tion, trinkets— such as rings, chains, medallions— specta- 

 cles, buckles, keys, canes, umbrellas, blood-stained rem- 

 nants of apparel, and a quantity of fused metals, in ingots 

 or lumps, .all smouldered. There were nine watches, two 

 of which indicated the moment of the Bhock. The rest 

 h.ad stopped at diff'erent short intervals. The contempla- 

 tion of this poor residue of all the finery of the fleshy ta- 

 bernacle, w.as fitted to startle and sadden any spirit next to 

 that of the shattered human relics. The two locomotives, 

 which were likewise first brought back, exhibited a singu- 

 lar wreck. It is ascertained that three only of the passen- 

 gers in the second car escaped. A Versailles family of 

 10 perished altogether. Nine respectable persons from 

 Burgundy, who "indged at the White Horse in the Ru 

 Beaubourg, and formed a party of pleasure for the festi 

 val. are still missing, and were probably consumed c 

 masse. The skeletons yet unrecognized and unclaimei 

 will bo interred at one time, with a solemn religious sei 

 vice and a funeral discourse." 



interposed and vvithui-evv from the contract, and 

 entered into a new one with a cotnpany of mer- 

 chants, by which it seemed to itself one-tliiid of 

 the profits afler the deduction therefrom of all 

 expenses. I understand that it hrinijs, in Eng- 

 land, about $120 per ton. It is einbaikcd on 

 board the ships with as iiiucli facility, and with 

 as httle expense, as if it were sand from the most 

 convenient banks. Specimens of the Huano 

 have recently been forwarded to the United 

 States. 



-Til 



thi! 



annually paid in the 

 " In Ohio theboui 

 183U w 

 1841 

 The whole amount of 

 set down at 3000 pounds 



'. Cincinnati Gazette gives the fol- 

 cts showing the progress of the 

 ntry.as indicated by the bounties 

 ■oral .States : 

 paid to silk growers in 

 «71 10 

 2681 76 

 led silk produced last year is 

 n Massachusetts the bounty 



1836 was g85W 



183y " 439 99 



1841 " 4«7610 



In New York, the increase in the quantity of cocoons 



produced, has been very rapid, in 1840 being 2000 pounds, 



while in 1841 it w.as 6426 pounds. 



In Pennsylvania, the bounty paid in 



IS40 was ^2101 89 



ISH " 4418 55 



The Rev. Frederick .\. Ross has probably raised more 

 silk than any other person in the country. During the 

 last vear he sold 300 pounds of reeled silk in Burlington, 

 N. J. for 1600. A silk filature has been recently estab- 

 lished in Philadelphia." 



Bird Lime for Manure. — A correspondent 

 of the Journal of Commerce, under date of Val- 

 paraiso, (South America) April 2, J842, thus 

 speaks cf the article known as bird lime : — 



"The Euglisli vessels, for the most part, take 

 the Iliiaiio, a s(ie(;ies of lime (i;enerally supposed 

 bird lime) \\'\]\ch aliounds on the islands on the 

 coast of Peru, particularly flic Chincha, which 

 yields high piotifs and freight.-. This article be- 

 came a monopoly, just about the time of my ar- 

 rival on the coast — before which it had been long 

 used to a liniitrd extent by tlie agriculturalists of 

 flie coiiiitiy as a manure— and the Chincha Is- 

 lands, from whii-h the present exportations are 

 made, bid lair to become more valuable than all 

 the gold ami silver mines on the coast, combined. 

 They are said to be inexhaustible. That is doubt- 

 ful, however, as the Hiiano is evidently the de- 

 posito of the numerous water-fowl of the cotist, 

 has been probably accumulating ever since 

 the flood, as there are no rains, or none suffi- 

 cient to wash it aw"y, on the coast of Peru. A 

 French gentleman obtained the exclusive privi- 

 lege of exporting the article about the time I 

 came to the coast, on the payment to the Peru- 

 ian Government of $80,000." He introduced it 

 into England as an experiment — and was so suc- 



Dr. Percival. — Perhaps one of the most exact 

 nd perfect geological surveys made of any coun- 

 try, is that which Dr. Percival, a man as eminent 

 for his scientific knowledge as for )iis poetic 

 talent, has made, or rather is now making— for 

 we do not know that it is yet completed-— of the 

 State of Connecticut. A report from his pen has 

 been laid before the Legislature of Connecticut, 

 and on Saturday a proposal to give the copyright 

 to the author, after a certain number of copies 

 should be printed for the use of the State, was 

 discussed. On this occasion one of the members 

 said that Dr. Percival, in his examination of the 

 geology of the State, had been upon one side at 

 least of every .«fpiare mile in the State, except 

 where river or lake had interrupted his progress. 

 He had walked over every hill, plain and morass 

 ill Connecticut, with his basket on his arm and 

 his bag on his back; stopping at the farm-house 

 at night, and re.siimiiig his examination at early 

 light. He has been engaged in this work for five 

 years, and his salary has never exceeded three 

 hundred dollars per annum. The Legislature of 

 comse adopted fhe proposal of le.tving to him the 

 copyright. — Aeto York Evening Post. 



Useful Hints.— An excellent way to get rid 

 of trouble from corns is to go barefoot. 



When a man is hungry it is good for him to 

 eat, provided he can obtain any thing edible. 



In case of catching a Tartar, it may be wisdom 

 to get rid of him as quick as possible. 



When you have got any thing particular to say, 

 it is worth while to be particular about saying it. 



Wheii you don't know what to do with your 

 money, inform some friend of your perplexity, 

 and, ten to one, he will suggest a ineans of re- 

 lieving you. 



If .you are desperately enamoured of a pretty 

 face, be sure to see it at the breakfast table. This 

 remedy has been ofleti taken with success. 



If you desire to be quite comfortable in mind 

 jjay the printer. 



When your wife scolds you, hold your tongue. 



If you want to be enlightened, read the news- 

 papers. 



If you want to see confidence in the currency, 

 don't be too ready for panic yourself 



If you want to be wi.se, take a hint. 



Taking a hint sometimes saves taking a kick-- 

 ing.— JV. O. Pic. 



Farmers' wives in olden time had lots of work 

 to do. In the re ign of Henry VIII, Sir A. Fitz- 

 herbert wrote a treatise entitled the "Rock of 

 Husbandry," in which he says: 



" It is a wyve's occupation' to wynowe all man- 

 ner of cornes, to make malte, to washe and 

 wringe, to heye, sheve corn, and such other. 

 And to go ryde to the market and sell butterj 



cessfnl as to have cleared, it is said, within a few I cheese, milk, eggs, chickens, capons, beeves, 

 months, about .'^1,000,000. The Government then I pygges, geese, and all manner of cornes." 



