VO!.. Xv. SO. 46. 



AND G A R D E N E E ' S JOURNAL 



865 



shows that even a poor farm, well managed, may 

 be rendered more productive than many a good 

 farm now is, under bad managetnsnt. — Albany 

 Cullivator. 



CoRiv Planting. — We liavo been frequently 

 asked who has any of the Button Corn for sale. 

 We do not know that there is any in the State. — 

 If there is not, there ought to ho, and before anoth- 

 er year we Iiope some trader or other person will 

 procure a quantity of it for sale. Meantime, the 

 small Canada corn is doubtless the best we have. 

 The hills may he very near each other, and an 

 acre is thus made to produce as much of it as of 

 the larger sort. In many parts of New Hamp- 

 shire and Massachusettstlie farmers use a plough 

 with a double mould board. With this they throw 

 the laud into ridges, turning the turf over, one fur- 

 row against the other, so that the sw.ird shall all 

 be covered ; upon these ridges the com is planted. 

 The turf thus covered ferments and warms the 

 soil, at the same time that it enriches it. We 

 should a[)prehend that these ridges would not do 

 so well in a dry season, but those who have prac- 

 tised upon this jilan recommend it. It is certain- 

 ly an expeditious mode of tillage. In platitmg 

 and hoeing, all the turfs should be kept bottom 

 npwards. 



By covering seed corn with tar and plaster it is 

 jirotected from birds a4id insects in a great meas- 

 ure, so that a war of extermination upon the poor 

 crow.5 can be sjiarcd. Instead of being driven off 

 and a price set upon their heads, their socieiy 

 ought to be courted, as they subsist principally 

 upon insects and carrion. By the way all aiumal 

 bodies should always be buried in the earth, to 

 increase its fertility, instead of being left above 

 ground to corrupt the atmosphere. This would 

 leave the crows to subsist upon worms, by which 

 means they woulil save ten times more tnoney to 

 the farmer than was ever [laid as a bounty for 

 their destruction. 



There are a few of our birds which subsist up- 

 on grain entirely, and but very few. The |)igeon 

 we believe is the largest of them. Most birds sub- 

 sist upon insects. Many of them destroy great 

 numbers of grasshoppers, as do also hens and tur- 

 keys. The smallest kind of granivorous birds 

 feed upon the fine seeds of many kinds of weeds, 

 and are useful in that way. In fact there are but 

 very few binls that are not useful in some way, 

 and fewer still that <lo any mischief worth men- 

 tioning. Bii-ds then should never be shot at nor 

 stoned. If unuiolested by men and hoys, they 

 would fly about our windows, and throng our gar- 

 dens, destroying the myriads of insects which de. 

 vourour plants. They now are obliged to regard 

 man as an enemy, to be avoided as we would 

 avoid a tiger, or a hyena, or a grisly bear. — Ken- 

 nebec Journal. 



It is well however, to watch and (d)serve the op- 

 erations of nature as she carries on her silent but 

 interesting operations around us, and endeavor 

 to treasure up as many facts as possible, and draw 

 such conclusions as facts will warrant to guide 

 us in future operations. We hope that those who 

 may be engaged in grafting will expeiiment a lit- 

 tle and note the result. By the way, we are in- 

 clined to think that the mode of engrafting by ce- 

 ment is not so sure or safe a method as the old 

 mode of using clay composition. Wo may be 

 mistaken in this, but we are induced to draw this 

 conclusion from observation. The cement does 

 not so thoroughly protect the scion from the ex- 

 tremes of heat and cold, as does the composition, 

 and this may be one reason why it has not suc- 

 ceede<l so well in this region. Many, however, 

 still prefer it, and think it is equally as good as the 

 other, and much more expeditiously ap|ilied. — 

 Maine Farnur. 



Spontaneous Combustion. -Last Sunday morn- 

 ing, about one o'clock, a lady living in Arch St., 

 near Eleventh, who was sitting up with her sick 

 husband, was surprised by the sudden bursting of 

 a flame on the dressing table, on which lay half 

 a quire of letter paper, and on the top of it a news- 

 paper. The reflection of the flames from the look- 

 ini'-glass made the whole table at lirsi appear to 

 be in a blaze. Although very nmch alarmed at' 

 so unexpected and unaccountable an occisriTuce, 

 she had the presence of mind to take up th« burn- 

 ing mass of |iai)er on the shovel and throw it into 

 a tub of water, which stood near. With the same 

 instrument she smothered the blaze which bad 

 communicated to the dimity table-cover and the 

 varnish of the table, 'i'he only light in the room 

 at the time was a small floating taper, which stood 

 upon a'stand several feet from the dressing case. 

 When she had sufficiently recovered from her sur- 

 prise to investigate the cause of this sijigular oc- 

 currence, she recolhcied that on the Thursday be- 

 fore, she bad spread a rug with sweet oil to he 

 laid over a blister, and had left it for a i'evi mo- 

 mentson tlie dressing table, which had occasioned 

 a grease spot on the cover. The papers lay on 

 or near this spot. At 9 o'clock on Saturday night 

 a peculiar empyreumatic sujell had been perceiv- 

 eil in the room, hut the source of it had not been 

 suspected. No doubt the process of comliustion 

 had been going on slowly for some time in the 

 cloth and letter paper, until reaching the air, it 

 burst into a flame in the newspaper. May not 

 many fires, which have been considered the work 

 of incendiaries, have originated from a similar 

 cause. — Phil, paper. 



The Boston Society of Natural IIistort, 

 held their annual meeting at the Society's Room, 

 over the Savings Bank, in Tren-iOtit street, on the 

 "d inst., when an eloquent am* ingenious discourse 

 was delivered by the Rev. Hubbard \\ inslow, 

 which, by the request of the society, will be print- 

 ed. 1 he report on the slate of the Treasury ex- 

 hibited a satisfactory state of the finances. The 

 library has been im])rnved and consists of .500 vol- 

 umes, chiefly of scientific books. '1 he cabinets 

 are well arranged, and for so young an institution, 

 are quite rich in valuable specimens. In the 

 Zoological department there are thirty complete 

 skeletons — one of an elephant, admirable set up« 

 The collection of insects numbers sixteen thou- 

 sand. The hall is open to the public on Wednes- 

 days, from 12 till 2 o't^ock. The following gen- 

 tlemen were elected officers for the ensuing year: 

 George B. Emerson, President ; F. W. P. Green- 

 wood and A. Binney, Vice Presidents ; Epes S. 

 Dixwcll, Corresponding Secretary ; Martin Gray, 

 Recording Secretary ; E. Weston, Jr, Treasurer ; 

 C. K. Dillaway, Librarian ; A. A. Gould, T. M. 

 Harris, C. T. Jackson, J. B. S. Jackson, Winslow 

 Lewis, Jr., N. B. ShurtleflT, D. II. Storer, J. E. 

 Teschmacher, Curators; T. M. Brewer, (/abinet 

 Keeper. — Transcript. 



Remember This. — Unfermented vegetable and 

 animal matters, including green sward, gr.'en 

 crops and long manure, after being burii;d by the 

 plough, should never he exposed lo the sun and 

 winds by cross ploughing, until they have become 

 p(!rfectly rotten. The gaseous matters which dung 

 gives give off while imdcrgoing fermentation, al- 

 ways rise, because they are lighter than atmos- 

 pheric air. They enrich the soil and afford food 

 fur plants, because they have already formed a 

 necessary part of plants. Hence, if fermentation 

 takes place on the surface, these gaseous matters 

 are scattered and lost ; if in the soil, ihe earths 

 and moisture retain them there, and the plants 

 feed upon them. — Cult. 



Long and Short Scions. — Which are best 

 long or short scions ? We have always supposed 

 that a short scion, having two or three biuls upon 

 it was suft'iciently long for the purpose of engraft- 

 ing. We do not know now but they are equally 

 as good as those which are a foot in length. We 

 have, however, seen and watched the progress of 

 some that were imcommonly long, set two or three 

 years ago, which have done uncommonly well, 

 while some short ones, set the same season have 

 not done so well. It is possible however, that the 

 difference may be owing lo some other cause. — 



Beet Sugar. — This cultivation contiimesto ex- 

 cite the attention which its increasing importance 

 demands. Numbers of manufacturing establish- 

 ments are springing U|) in different jiarts of the 

 country, whose products will form, probably, at 

 no very distant period, an important item in the 

 " su"ar line." Among the works which the sub- 

 ject has brought forth, we notice a recent publi- 

 cation entitled a " Notice on the Beet Sugar," 

 which furnishes particular, and, to those about 

 embarking in its cultivation, useful information, 

 relative to the culture and preservation of the 

 plant, with an explanation of the process of ex- 

 tracting sugar. It is published by Messrs W. Mar- 

 shall & Co., of this city, and J. H. Butler, of 

 Northampton. — lb. 



Remedy for Influenza. — The disorder being 

 one of obstruction of perspiration, and of the cus- 

 tomary evacuations, the proper remedies ought to 

 he administered without delay ; on tlie first appear- 

 ance of the usual symptoms, the action of the skin 

 is to be resttred by an early a|)plication of the hot 

 bath, or by the use of sudorific diluents, as hot 

 tea, barley broth, treacle posset, mulled and spiced 

 wine, or, that which is best of all, a basin of warm 

 gruel at bed time, well sweetened, and containing 

 from 20 to 25 drops of antimonial wine, and 10 

 or 12 drops of laudanum. The bowels are to ba 

 well attended to; and all intemperance in eating 

 and driidiing, as well as exposure to damp and 

 night air ought to bs carefully avoided. — Knox- 

 ville Register. 



The East Boston Sugar Refinery is said to be 

 the most extensive establishment of the kind in 

 the world. Some idea of its extent may be form- 

 ed from the fact that 16 tons a day are here re- 

 fined. It has been in operation about 6 months 



the experienced hands from Europe, and the 



article is said to be of the best quality. — Weekly 

 Messenger. 



Wm. Lincoln, Esq. of Worcester, has been ap- 

 pointed by the Gov., Cotnuiissioner to publish the 

 Journal of the' Provincial Congress of '74 and '75. 



