yVND GAKDENEirS JOURNAL. 



5S.* 



7«> 



' I, the duly on foreign wheat is as I'oUows, 

 the nverngc piice of wheat is oc and 



barley and Indian corn, if the average price is 

 ind under 3l8., the duty is 12s. 4J. per imperial 

 and for every Is. per qr. that it advances, the 

 3 decreased Is. 6d., until it reaches 41s. per qr., 

 ch price and upwards, no more than Is. per qr. 

 ed; and the duty increases in like manner Is 6d. 

 . Bs the price declines Is. or part of Is. under 

 ler qr. 



oats, if the average price is 258. and under 263 

 '., the duty is 93. 3d. per qr. , decreasing Is. 6d. 

 . as the average price advances Is. until it reach- 

 ., when at that price or more the duty is only 

 r qr., and in like manner it is increased Is. 6d. 

 . for every Is or part of Is, per qr. the average 

 la below 243 per qr. 



the convenience of those who do not readily 

 •stand quarters and sterling money, I have prepa- 

 e following tables, exhibiting the rates of duty 

 tshel in federal money, together with the duty 

 ur per bbl in federal money, so arranged tlwi they 

 ipond with the preceding table, and will be at 

 understood. Thus when wheat is at and over — 



on grain: consequently shippers generally send wheat 

 in bulk to England, unless the price is very high, 

 when the duty is so small as to nnike the fieiglitagc 

 more than connterhaloncc the extra duties. At beet, 

 however, it is but a hazardous business, and often at- 

 tended with ruinous loss to American exporters. The 

 extra duty on tluur is no doubt intended as n sort of 

 priiloriivo tarilf to English flour manufacturers, and is 

 almnilanlly characteristic of English tact and statee- 

 innship. I have iu> wish to make comments noia ; 

 the time is coming when this subject will be canvas- 

 sed in all il8 parts, and an uilmiiiistrut'wn elected that 

 will put forth all its powers to procure cither a total re- 

 peal of these unjust lows, or such a modification of 

 them as will justify American merchants in seeking 

 the ports of Great Britain as an available market for 

 our increasing surplus of bread etulTs. 



J. H. IlEDLEY. 



Castor Oil Bcaii~Suii Flower See<l"Cotton 

 Seed Oil. 



Messrs. Editors — You ask if the Castor Oil plant 

 will come to full maturi ty in our climate. As the 

 (.Ricinus communis) castor bean, is a tropical plant, it 

 is hardly probable that it will attain its greatest perfec- 

 tion in our climate. There are many tropical plants 

 which perfect their seed in our climate, without at- 

 taining the enlarged growth of the torrid zone. 



Half an acre of sun flower seed wos planted in this 

 vicinity lust season, with the intention of using the 

 crop for oil. The seed was planted on a strong muck 

 soil about the first of June; it grew very large, but 

 continued green until September. When harvested, 

 the fall rains had commenced, hence it was got in in 

 bad order. It was a little neglected, and the seed got 

 mouldy and spoiled. 



Had it been planted earlier so ns to have been har- 

 vested and thrashed with our flax seed crop in August, 

 I think the success of the experiment would have been 

 complete. 



I was told by a white lead manufacturer -oj' Pitta- 

 burg, that cotton seed oil, mixed with one-third spirits 

 turpentine, made the best paint oil for inside work ; it 

 being much lighter colored than linseed oil. Why 

 woidd it not answer equally as well for lamp oil, ns 

 castor oil mixed in the same manner with spirits tur- 

 pentine? SENECA 



Waterloo, N. Y. 



om an inspection of the above tables, it will be 

 that tb« duty on flour is 50 per cent, higher than 



Conntervailing Duties. 



The effect calculated to be produced by countervail- 

 ing duties may be seen by the second resolution pas- 

 sed at the meetincc of the American Chamber ol 

 Commerce held in England on the 2d of March oftiiis 

 year; in which a reduction of duties on the agricultu- 

 ral products of the United States, of flour, rice, tobac- 

 co, cotton, and oiher articles, is reconmiended, from 

 the anticipation that the tarifi' in the United States 

 would otherwise be augmented in the course ot this 

 year, on the manufactures of Great Britain; this on- 

 ticipalion being founded, doubtless, upon the discus. 

 eion3 in the United States as to the suitableness of a 

 policy of countervailing duties, with the view of 

 bringing about a more liberal scale of duties on our 

 products in England. — Nut. Intel. A. Farmi-r. 



Uisolred, That this Chamber, being composed of 

 members deeply interested in furthering the commer- 

 cial relations between this country and the United 

 States of America, feel it incumbent on them to ex- 

 press their thorough conviction, that unless some im- 

 portant modification of the existing duties takes place 

 in respect to flour, rice, timber, tobacco, cotton, and 

 other articles, the growth of that country, changes in 

 the tariff" in the United States will be introduced, in 

 the coursof this year, highly injurious to the British 

 interests, and especially detrimental to its principal 

 manufactures. 



To Render wrood Imperishable and Iiicombus' 

 tible. 



(further particulars.) 



We last month gave a somewhat detailed account o. 



the remarkable discoveries made by Dr. Boucherie for 



preserving wood from decay and combustion. A late 



number of the London Gardener's Chionicle contains 



the following additional information on this iniporiunt 

 subject, extracted from a pamphlet published by Dr. 

 Boucherie. 



" It is obvious that to render a power of preserving 

 timber generally useful, it is necessary not only that 

 the substance to be employed and the menus of apply- 

 ing it bhould be extremely cheap, but also that the for- 

 mer should be pcrlcctly free from all unwholeeomo 

 cpialities. Among the many substances that occurred 

 to Dr. Boucherie wos the impure pyroligniie of iron, 

 manufuctured abundantly from refuse iron for the use 

 of dyers, which the following experiment led him to 

 believe would be perlectly efficacious. The soft fruit 

 of the melon dificrs from hard wood only in the 

 greater quantities of soluble matter which it contains; 

 and as the decay ol wood has been ascertained experi- 

 mentally to be coused principally by its soluble con- 

 tents, it appeared highly probable that whatever sub- 

 stance would preecrve so perishable a vegetalile sub- 

 stance as the melon, would a furtiori act with energy 

 upon timber. A melon then was divided into two 

 equal parts, one of which wos immediately placed 

 upon a plate, and the other wos plunged for a few 

 hours into the pyrolignite, after which it was laid upon 

 a second plate by the side of the first. As usuol, the 

 unprepared half speedily become putrid; but the other 

 gradually became dried up, and at last acquired the 

 hardness of wood. Experiments upon saw-dust beet 

 root, carrots, and flour, having given the same result, 

 Dr. Boucherie proceeded to apply the pyroli{:nile to 

 wood. To gain this object coraiiletely was his next 

 inquiry. Mere immersion will produce only a super- 

 ficial cflcct and to force the pyrolignite into the titsuc by 

 means of pressure is too expensive. It occurred to him 

 that the simplest, the most certain, and economical 

 method would be to take advantage of the vital 

 forces of a tree while in full vegetation, and to present 

 the pyrolignite to the lower extremity of the trunk, as 

 f it were food to be taken up into the circulation. Up- 

 on trial, this mode of impregnating the trunk was 

 found perfect; the pyrolignite rising ropidly through all 

 the permeable parts of the timber up to tUc extremities. 

 The method employi d is simple immersion of the 

 lower end cut off, when small arms of trees aie to be 

 operated upon; hut when the weight of large timber 

 trees prevents their being so treated, without expensive 

 tackle, the following contrivance has been adopted. — 

 At the ground line, a hole is bored, horizontally 

 through the trunk, so as to open a passage from side 

 to side; a coorse-toothed saw is then introduced into 

 the hole, ond worked right and left horizontally, till 

 about an inch in thickness remains undivided on either 

 side; by which means nearly all the sop-vessels are cut 

 through, and the trunk remains supported by two op- 

 posite points. The wound is then carefully closed ex- 

 ternally with pitched cloth, except at one point, 

 ihroiig'h which a pipe passes from a reservoir contain- 

 ing the pyrolignite. A few days in the summer or 

 autumn are sufficient to saturate a large tree, for which 

 purpose pyrolignite to the amount of about one Iwen- 

 tietli of the weight of the green wood is required. 

 Timber thus impregnated bccoines so hard and tough, 

 as to be very ditflcult to work. 



Having thus BEcertained the practicability of intro- 

 ducing substances into the interior of trees without 

 having recourse to any expensive proceee. Dr. Bouch- 

 erie turned his attention to the possibility of increasing 

 the elasticity of wood, and of diminishing its combusti- 

 bility. He found that these most important results 

 could only be arrived ot by the use of a deliquescent 

 salt. His experiments taught him that the elasticity 

 of' wood is generally in proportion to the quantity of 

 nioisture it contains, ond thot those qualities ore univer- 

 sally lost when perfect dryness is produced. Such 

 discs as appear to form an exception to this rule, are 

 either dependent upon some particular structure of 

 wood, or upon the alkaline anils which it naturally 

 contains. Muriate of lime, an exceedingly cheop de- 

 liquescent salt, wos employed with perfect success; a 

 weak solution increases the clasiicily and flexibility a 

 little; concentrated solutions render those quoliliea 

 excessive. Veneers of pine-wood prepared with a 

 concentrated solution of muriate of lime became so 

 pliable, that they could be twisted in any direction, or 

 bent into o perfect spiral, witTiout giving woy. It op- 

 peors proboble that the same preparation -will render 

 wood durable; but in the absence of proof of tliie, a 

 fifth part of pyrolignite is added to the muriate. The 

 casting, splitting, ond shrinking of wood, are all pre- 

 vented by the same means; and what is of much great- 

 er moment, its combustible qualit es ore olmost des- 

 troyed. Upon this most interesting subject we quote 

 the words of Dr. Boucherie : — " As soon as 1 had 

 discovered that a certain amount of nioi«ture could bo 



