224 
PLANING MACHINE. 
about the house, which we " guess are not much 
account ;" but we know that the real wire-haired 
terrier is worth his weight in gold, real Cali- 
fornia gold, upon any farm that is infested with 
these-destructive and filthy vermin, rats. 
The ingenuity and perseverance of these 
dogs in hunting and killing their prey, is such 
as to convey to us the idea of a very elevated 
degree of intellect. They are also very useful 
as house watch dogs, and possess a kind and 
pleasant disposition, and most untiring industry 
in their line of usefulness. We recommend our 
readers to provide themselves with terriers, and 
kill off some of their miserable mongrel curs. 
-•+ 
PLANING MACHINE. 
This machine is valuable for planing all 
lengths, widths, and thicknesses of joists, plank, 
and boards, various kinds of mill work, and 
other parts of work for machinery, plows, &c., 
&c. It will plane hard or soft wood equally 
well and with great rapidity. They have been 
used for many years with entire success through 
various parts of the Union. There are several 
sizes to plane different widths and lengths. 
Planing Machine. — Fig. 64. 
VARIETIES OF THE ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE 
CREATION. 
The researches of naturalists are day by day, 
adding to our stock of reliable information on 
the interesting subject of the numbers, varieties, 
and economy of the animal creation. Ray, who 
wrote in 1690, set down the amount of beasts, as 
he called them, including serpents, at 150 ; saying, 
" not many of any considerable bigness in the 
known regions of the world had escaped the 
cognizance of the curious." Buffon said at a 
later date, " All the four-footed animals may be 
reduced to 250 pairs, and the birds to a still 
smaller number." Instead of the 150 of Ray, 
we have over 1,500; and the 500 of Buffon ex- 
ceed 9,500 individual species, over 8,000 being 
birds. 
Of reptiles, there are about 1,500 already 
known. Neither toads, snakes, nor ophidian rep- 
tiles of any kind are found, it is said, in Ireland. 
Fishes are of much more numerous variety 
than any other vertebrate animal, exceeding 
8,000, and almost daily accessions are making 
to this class. 
Of the invertebrate, the varieties are almost 
countless. In one class of these, the insects, 
more than 100,000 species have been pre- 
served in cabinets, and more than 200,000 are 
known to naturalists. The actual number, prob- 
ably, exceeds half a million ! 
Besides these, we have the moluscous classes, 
shell fish, cuttle fish, snails, &c. ; the articulated, 
such as leeches, lobsters, crabs, earth worms, 
and the like; the radiate, such as the star fish, 
polypi, coral, madrepores, sponges, &c. 
How creation expands upon intelligent re- 
search ! Whether viewed by the telescope or 
microscope, we behold increasing worlds, be- 
yond our natural vision. The former brings 
successive strata of nebulse to view, each formed 
of myriads of distant suns, the probable centres 
of systems like our own ; the latter finds suc- 
cessive myriads of insects, constantly decreas- 
ing in magnitude. How innumerable the yet 
unexplored varieties of these may prove, future 
naturalists may approximately determine, but 
we can hardly appreciate. 
Humboldt, only a few years since, reckoned 
the number of plants, 44,000 ; but later observers 
carry up the number of ascertained varieties to 
100,000. That this is only the commencement, 
of their enumeration, must be apparent to any 
observing man, who considers the extent of 
countries yet unexplored, the superficial exam- 
ination of those already known, and the count- 
less varieties of minute or animalcular plants. 
A moment's reflection will thus convince us, 
that the science of the naturalist, equally with 
that of the chemist and geologist, is yet only in 
its infancy. 
Take Time by the Forelock. — Neighbor, your 
field is all growing up to bushes ; it takes you 
longer to mow around them, than it would to 
mow over twice the ground they occupy. Why 
don't you cut them? "Well, that ought to be 
done, I know, but somehow or other, I can never 
get about it." That is the way of a great many 
farmers. There are rocks, bushes, and stumps 
that obstruct their labors, and should be remov- 
ed. There is a swamp that should be drained. 
There is an old brush fence that should be re- 
placed by a stone wall, rail or wire fence. 
There should be some gates made, and a great 
many things ought to be done ; but " somehow 
or other, we can't get about it. All that is want- 
ing is a little resolution to commence the work, 
and energy to complete it, and the improvements 
are made. 
Httssey's Mowing Machine. — Late improve- 
ments, made by the inventor, render this machine 
highly worthy the attention of farmers. Let a 
number of neighbors club together and buy one 
the present season, and if found to answer the 
purpose, as well as we believe it will, they will 
each be ready to order one another season. 
