172 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



June 



The pale colored, hard and solid article, possess- 

 ing & brilliant fracture, is the beet and most cohe- 

 ■ive (it is stated in "Ures' Dictionary of Arts, Man- 

 ufactures and Mines,") and is most suitable for 

 joiners, cabinet makers, painters, &c., and that for 

 use, glue should be broken into small pieces, put 

 along with some water into a vessel, allowed to 

 soak for acme hours, and subjected to the heat 

 of a boiling water bath, but not boiled itself. That 

 common glue (not isinglass or fish glue) is not sol- 

 uble in alcohol, but is precipitated iu a white, 

 coherent, elastic mass, when its watery solution is 

 treated with that fluid. That concentrated sul- 

 pheric acid makes glue undergo remarkable 

 changes, during which are produced sugar of gela- 

 tine, leucine, an animal matter, &c. That nitric 

 acid, with the aid of heat, converts glue into malic 

 acid, oxalic acid, a fat analogous to suet, and into 

 tanning ; so that, in this way, one piece of skin 

 may be made to tan another — and that, when the 

 mixture of glue and nitric acid is much evaporated, 

 a detonation at last takes place. Strong acetic 

 acid (it is further said) renders glue first soft and 

 then transparent, and then dissolves it, and that, 

 though the solution does not gelatinise, it preserves 

 " the property of gluing surfaces together when it 

 dries. 



From the authority above quoted or refrred to, 

 it would seem after all that glue is not soluble in 

 alcohol, but as strong acetic acid will do it, and as 

 this exists in good cider vinegar (which is the best 

 of all vinegars for the table, pickling, &c.,) it 

 should always be at hand, and is easily applied. 

 Those who intend using tiitric acid, had better step 

 aside when the explosion takes place. W. C. 



mous quantities of foreign luxuries as well as neces- 

 sities, while the high prices of our leading commo- 

 dities have restricted the export movement withia 

 narrow limits. 



[From the N. Y. Shipping List.] 

 Speculation and Extravagance. 



The mania for speculation, facilated by an 

 inflated currency, is daily iHcreasing, and the steady 

 gains of legitimate business enterprises are coming 

 to be considered much too slow for the times. The 

 licence which an exemption from specie payments 

 affords, undoubtedly stimulates to reckless extrav- 

 agance, and, although money flows freely, and many 

 departments of trade are brisk, a good many peo- 

 ple seem to forget that their wealth will shrink to 

 much smaller proportions when measured by a 

 depreciated currency. All the luxuries, and most 

 necessaries of life, are constantly appreciating in 

 value, but no inflation of prices seems to check the 

 tendency to lavish expenditure ; on the contrary, 

 it seems rather to increase it. The taste for com- 

 forts and luxuries are the natural growth of this 

 state of affairs, and to this growth it is diflBcult to 

 set the bounds. What were the luxuries of the 

 last generation have become the ordinary comforts 

 of to-day, and the cost of living sumptously a quar- 

 ter of a century ago would now be scarcely adequate 

 to meet actual necessities. When and where this 

 mania will stop, it is impossible to conjecture. Un- 

 less we solve the issues of rebellion by speedy milita- 

 ry successes, there is fear that the nation will be 

 overtaken by a financial revulsion, the magnitude 

 of which will have no parallel on this side of the 

 Atlantic. The rebellion is rapidly assuming an 

 aspect of finance, and by many the financial ques- 

 tion is deemed to have the more important and 

 inexplicable of the two. We are importing enor- 



-—>- 



[From the Missouri Democrat, 22d.J 



High-Priced Tobacco. 



A tub of choice leaf tobacco weighing 230 pounds 

 net wa» offered in this market yesterday, and 

 created no little .excitement on account of its 

 superb quality. It was exhibited among the rest 

 of to-day's break for public sale, but changed hands 

 at private sale before the regular commenced at 

 |200 ^ 100 fi)S, and again in a few moments by 

 private sale at an advance of $10. It was then put 

 up for bids and knocked down to Mr. Dausman, of 

 Liggeti & Dausman, the celebrated tobacconists of 

 this city, $231 ^ 100 fibs — the highest price ever 

 paid in this or any other market of the world ! 



The tobacco was grown by Dr. C. W. Jeffries, of 

 Franklin county, Missouri, and consigned to Messrs. 

 Hardwood, Warren & Co., Commission Merchants 

 of this city. The purchaser at $200 was Mr. Dam- 

 eron, of Nanson, Dameron & Co., and the second 

 purchaser at $210, was Mr. Rowland, of Shryock 

 k Rowland, all Commission Merchants of this city. 



[From the Conntry Gentleman and Cultivator.] 



Onion Sets. 



A correspondent in the CocifTRT Gznthman of 

 April 21st, wishes to be informed the proper time 

 and method of sowing onion s«ed for sets, whether 

 iu drills or broadcast ? The answer to the ques- 

 tions of "J. C." should in some degree be in refer- 

 ence to his location, which he does not give. The 

 climate of New-England, and Northern States gen- 

 erally, is favorable to growth of the onion, and it 

 will perfectly mature from the first season. In 

 this section sets are much less extensively planted 

 than in the more southern portions of the country, 

 where the onion will not mature the first season 

 from the seed. In the Northern States then, sets 

 or small onions are planted for the purpose of rais- 

 ing "rareripe" onions, which are fit for the table 

 some weeks before those that are grown from 

 seed. Among the seedlings grown here, there is 

 generally small onions sufficient for sets for th« 

 following spring. 



In the more southern portions of the country, 

 take for instance the maridian of Kentucky, and 

 the onion requires two years to arrive at maturity. 

 Two kinds of seta are planted by gardeners ; one, 

 the " Top-onion," — this is the variety that produces 

 sets or small onions on the top. These are very 

 extensively grown about Vevay, in Indiana, for 

 the southern market. Many thousands of bushels 

 are annually grown and shipped from that place. 

 In other neighborhoods the sets of the common 

 onion are largely grown for market. In order to 

 avoid excessive labor in weeding so small plants as 

 the onion, the seeds are planted as early in the 

 spring as the ground is in a proper condition to 

 work, say the last of February or the beginning of 

 March. The ground, of course, must be made fine 

 and moderately rich, with manure as free from 

 wild seeds as possible. Broad, shallow drills are. 

 then made, saj twelve inches apart. In these drilla 



