NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



251 



It may not be clearly understood by some of our 

 readers what is meant by Nos. 1, 2, &c. 



Mr. Peters says his mode of sorting is this : The 

 very coarsest common wool is No. 6. There is 

 scarcely a flock so common that its wool will not 

 range at No. 4, which is the next best grade. 



Full-blooded Merino is the No. 1, while half and 

 three-fourths will make more or less No. 2. One 

 quarter and half make No. 3. Saxony wool and its 

 grades rank above Merino and its grades. The 

 farmer can therefore form a pretty accurate idea of 

 the value of his wool from the forcgomg figures. 



The editor advises wool-growers to make their 

 arrangements and calculations without any reference 

 to any alterations of the tariff very soon. He thinks 

 the balancing of parties at Washington, for or against 

 a new tariff, such as ought not to lead the farmer to 

 depend upon any important change, and the reasons 

 which induce him to consider a rise in wool probable 

 during the season, are based upon the state of affairs 

 in Europe. 



He remarks, that " there are no old stocks on hand 

 to be thrown upon our markets, cither from France, 

 Germanj^, or England. On the contrary, their own 

 markets were never so bare as at this moment. 



" The war between Austria and Hungary has been 

 very disastrous to some of the finest wool-growing 

 sections of those countries, and by increasing con- 

 sumers, and decreasing producers, the result must 

 be that there will be nothing to export. Indeed, 

 should this war continue any length of time, or be- 

 come more general, it is not improbable that we 

 shall become exporters of vrool to such an extent as 

 to sensibly affect the price at home." He also ob- 

 serves, that if England is compelled to purchase her 

 wool here, it is clear that our manufacturers will 

 have little to fear from them, for the difference of 

 transportation, time, and other expenses, with the 

 tariff, will- more than neutralize any advantage her 

 .manufiicturers may have over ours, by reason of the 

 cheapness of labor and capital. 



On the other hand, they must also consider that 

 any advantages that may arise from the present com- 

 motions in Europe, are very precarious. They may 

 subside ere the year has expired, in which case mar- 

 kets will return to their former condition, or they 

 may continue and settle down into a long and sav- 

 age war, in which case what brings desolation to 

 them may indirectly increase prices in our own coun- 

 try. It is not probable that wool-growing in the 

 Northern States will ever again be as profitable as it 

 has been in years past ; yet it may become a fair 

 business once more. — Maine Farmer. 



THE DEW. 



The dew, celebrated through all times and in every 

 tongue for its sweet influence, presents the most 

 beautiful and also striking illustration of divine 

 agency in the economy of nature, and exhibits one 

 of those wise and bountiful adaptations, by which 

 the whole system of things, animate and inanimate, 

 is fitted and bound together. All bodies on the sur- 

 face of the earth radiate and throw out some rays of 

 heat, in straight lines — every warmer body to every 

 colder ; and the entire surface is itself continually 

 sending rays upwards through the clear air into free 

 space. Thus, on the earth's surface all bodies strive, 

 as it were, after an equal temperature, (an equilibrium 

 of heat,) while the surface, as a whole, tends gen- 

 erally towards a cooler state. But while the sun 

 shines, this cooling will not take place, for the earth 

 then receives in general more heat than it gives off; 

 and if the clear sky be shut out by a canopy of 

 clouds, these will arrest and again throw back a por- 

 tion of the heat, and prevent it from being so speed- 

 ily dissipated. At night, then, when the sun is 



absent, the earth will cool the most ; on clear nights, 

 also, more than when it is cloudy; and when clouds 

 only partially obscure the sky, those parts will be- 

 come coolest which look towards the clearest por- 

 tions of the heavens. Now, when the surface cools, 

 the air in contact must cool also ; and like the warm 

 currents on the mountain side, must forsake a por- 

 tion of the watery vapor it has hifherto retained. 

 This water, like the floating mist on the hills, de- 

 scends in particles almost inttnitely minute. These 

 particles collect on every leaflet, and suspend them- 

 selves from every blade of grass, in the drops of 

 "pearly dew." And mark here a beautiful adapta- 

 tion. Different substances are endowed with the 

 property of radiating their heat, and thus becoming 

 cool with different degrees of rapidity ; and those 

 substances, which, in the air, become cool flrst, also 

 attract first and most abundantly the particles of 

 falling dew. Thus, in the cool of a summer's even- 

 ing, the grass-plot is wet while the gravel- walk is 

 dry ; and the thirsty pasture and every green leaf 

 are drinking in the descending moisture, while the 

 naked land and the barren highway are still uncon- 

 scious of their fall. — Farmer and Mechanic. 



THE JAPAN CEDAR. 



The English periodicals abound with interesting 

 notices of this tree, which, along with the deodara, 

 or Indian cedar, is decidedly the rage in that ever- 

 green-loving country. 



The Japan cedar, {cri/pio>neria Japoiiica,) which is 

 nearly allied to the cypress, is one of the many 

 treasures brought home by Mr. Fortune, the Chinese 

 traveller, to the London Horticultural Society. As 

 it grows in the north of China, about Shangai, where 

 the thermometer sinks nearlj' to zero, ant^ forms large 

 forests on the mountains of Japan, at the height of 

 more than one thousand feet, it follows that it is a 

 hardy evergreen in all temperate climates. 



The English accounts of this tree state, that for 

 beauty and rapidity of growth it has no rivals among 

 hardy evergreen trees. In the garden of the London 

 Horticultural Society, yormg trees have grown four 

 feet in a single season. It is described by some of 

 its admirers as the " Queen of Evergreen Trees." 

 Its peculiar beauty is in the graceful droop of its 

 branches. It is a great favorite in China for avenues, 

 growing up one hundred feet high, with a remarka- 

 bly straight stem, and dense and handsome foliage. 

 The wood is said to be very hard and elastic, and 

 " withstands the most terrific winds or monsoons, 

 which sometimes devastate that country. It is em- 

 ployed in China for the high poles which are every 

 Avhere placed at the dwellings of mandarins, to denote 

 their rank, where it lasts for ages." 



The Japan cedar is said to be as hardy in England 

 as the deodar cedar. As the latter tree, even in 

 young specimens, has, in this country, withstood 

 without injury a winter temperature of six degrees 

 below the zero of Fahrenheit, we may safely say that 

 the Japan cedar, or cryptomeria, will endure the 

 winters of the Middle States, and possibly those of 

 the Eastern States, in proper situations, i. e., those 

 sheltered from sudden thawings in winter. 



The soil considered most favorable to the growth 

 of this tree is a sandy loam, mixed with some peat 

 or leaf mould. Those inclined to plant where there 

 is doubt of its standing the winter, will take care 

 that the subsoil is well drained when preparing to 

 plant it. 



The tree is, of course, yet very scarce in this coun- 

 try. Plants about a foot high may, however, be 

 obtained of Buist, Parsons, and other leading nur- 

 sery-men. EUwanger and Barry have also, we notice, 

 imported a few for sale and for trial in the interior 

 of this state. Every amateur will be glad to make 







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