262 



A VEGETABLE MAN. 



Among the many curious specimens of art 

 and nature exhibited at the State Fair at Pough- 

 keepsie, New York, was a figure which, says 

 a cotemporary, would have made a stoic or a 

 misanthrope split his sides with laughter. Here 

 is his portrait drawn by an eye witness : — " It 

 was a perfect vegetable man, or perhaps I should 

 say woman, for 1 believe it was called the ' Hin- 

 doo Goddess.' It was composed of vegetables, 

 the face only excepted. The head was a huge 

 cabbage, large enough to furnish a small family 

 with a winter's supply of sour crout. Then 

 came the mask face. The ear rings were com- 

 posed of fine strings of beets ; the arms were a 

 compound substance, being composed of about 

 equal parts of onions, beets and carrots ; around 

 the neck was strung a necklace of peppers ; the 

 body was a huge pumpkin, so large and tempt- 

 ing in appearance, that it seemed to say ' come 

 and eat me ;' two muskmelons served as thighs, 

 heads of cellery for the knee parts of the legs, 

 and crooked-necked squashes made no mean 

 imitation of a Chinese shoe ! This antique and 

 valuable statue was perched upon a pedestal 

 composed of several cargoes of pumpkins and 

 squashes. This curious looking production was 

 the handiwork of the family of Gen. Davies, of 

 Poughkeepsie. One could not blame the igno- 

 rant Hindoo for worshipping such a goddess, for 

 the idol, unlike the great mass of its kind, could 

 at least be eaten, and thus contribute of its sub- 

 stance to his bodily support." — Mass. Ploughman. 



Richmond, Oct. 3, 1844. 

 To the Editors of the Times : 



Gentlemen, — For several years past I have 

 furnished you for publication at this season some 

 statistics of Tobacco Inspections, Foreign Ex- 

 ports, &c; and supposing it probable that some 

 of your subscribers may desire to have such in- 

 formation the present year, I give below the in- 

 spections of tobacco in Virginia and at two of 

 the inspections in North Carolina — the latter are 

 included, as has heretofore been customary to 

 do so. From both of these places in North Ca- 

 rolina the tobacco is sent into the Virginia mar- 

 kets for re-sale. The total inspections embraced 

 in the statement to 30th ult. is ten thousand 

 eight hundred and sixty-one hogsheads less 

 than at corresponding period in 1843 — but still 

 the returns do not accurately exhibit the real 

 deficiency between the productions of 1842 and 

 1843 — in consequence of a larger quantity of 

 tobacco being re-prized and inspected a second 

 time the present year ; perhaps fifteen hundred 

 hogsheads at least thus count twice in the in- 

 spections. At this time the stock of old tobacco 

 held by the planters is very small: relative, 

 therefore, to the crop for inspection in 1845, it 



must be mainly confined to the production of 

 1844 — which, in the aggregate, will not exceed 

 forty to forty-five thousand hogsheads — fully half 

 (as has been the fact with the last crop inspected) 

 will be required by the manufacturers. The 

 home demand for tobacco, especially the produc- 

 tion of North Carolina and Virginia, is regu- 

 larly increasing; and well may those planters 

 who succeed in raising good crops congratulate 

 themselves that so large a portion of the crop is 

 needed for home consumption — inasmuch as the 

 prices paid by the manufacturers average consi- 

 derably higher than can be given by foreign 

 shippers. Permit me, therefore, Messrs. Editors, 

 through the medium of your journal, to suggest 

 to the planters in Virginia and North Carolina, 

 who have succeeded the present season in rais- 

 ing tobacco of medium size, and perfectly ma- 

 tured, to take especial pains in curing thoroughhj, 

 but to do so with as little firing as possible, and 

 not to keep the houses too close during the pro- 

 cess of curing. 



Respectfully, 



John Jones. 



Statistics of Inspections and Slocks to 30th Sep- 

 tember, 1844. 



Inspected. Stock. 



Richmond, 19,147 hhds. 8,446 hhds. 



Petersburg, 10,812 " 714 11 



Farmville, 2,714 * 380 " 



Clarksville, 1,954 " 24 " 



Lynchburg, 10,209 " 4,674 " 



*Tye River, 475 " 50 " 

 *Milton & Hender- V 

 son's, N. Carolina, J 



575 



75 



45,885 



14,363 



LIMESTONE. 

 As lime is attracting more and more the at- 

 tention of our farmer's quarries of limestone be- 

 gin to be valued more and more for agricultural 

 purposes. That there is a difference in the va- 

 lue of these quarries is well known to experi- 

 menters; some of the stone containing so little 

 carbonate of lime as hardly to repay the ex- 

 penses of burning. Johnston furnishes the fol- 

 lowing ready mode for testing the purity of lime- 

 stone rock : 



t£ Limestones, however, are seldom pure. — 

 They always contain a sensible quantity of other 

 earthy matter, chiefly silica, alumina, and oxide 

 of iron, with a trace of phosphate of lime, some- 

 times of potash and soda, and often of animal 

 or other organic matter. In limestones of the 

 best quality the foreign earthy matter or im- 

 purity does not exceed five per cent, of the 



* Not omcial, conjectured. 



