202 
CYLINDRICAL CHURN-—AGRICULTURE IN CHINA, ETC. 
(The object of this experiment was to test the ques¬ 
tion whether the Scarlets could be impregnated with 
the Hautbois.) 
5. Hovey’s Perfect (Blossom) ; 22 blossoms, but 
not a single perfect berry. 
CYLINDRICAL CHURN. 
This churn is 
the best in use, 
as it is simple in 
its construction, 
and combines all 
the good quali¬ 
ties of other 
utensils of simi¬ 
lar construction, 
with this addi¬ 
tional advantage 
that the dasher 
_ or agitator can 
Fig. 52. be taken out in 
a moment, any time it is required to be cleansed. 
This is important to be done after every churning, 
in order to keep it sweet, and from tainting the 
cream. Price from $2.00 to $4.00. 
AGRICULTURE IN CHINA. 
The great requisites in the Chinese system of 
agriculture are manure and water; and, to obtain 
these, their whole energies are devoted. The soil 
is rarely allowed to lie fallow, and in most parts 
produces two crops annually. It is assiduously 
pulverized, and different soils are also mixed to¬ 
gether to improve the quality of each. They will 
carry sand for a long distance, to mix with clay— 
heavy soils, and loam, to put with that which ap¬ 
pears too loose. During the few months of win¬ 
ter, in the southern provinces, the soil is sometimes 
thrown up into heaps, where it has been mixed 
with some vegetable matter, thus making a kind 
of compost, and also presenting a greater surface 
to the air ; after which, those lands which require 
flooding, are covered with water, and hoed and 
turned over, until the whole surface is reduced to 
mud. This process has still a further fertilizing 
tendency. Fora manure, the Chinese collect every¬ 
thing of a vegetable or animal kind that can possi¬ 
bly be applied to such a purpose. Reservoirs, of 
brick or wood, are dug in the banks of the field, 
near a canal, into which every refuse substance is 
put The principal one has a roof over it, and is 
plastered, that the contents may not be absorbed 
into the earth. Besides this principal one, large 
vases of stoneware are sunk in the ground, at con¬ 
venient places, for the use of passing travellers 
The children and poor people are continually em¬ 
ployed in collecting refuse animal and vegetable 
matter with which to fill up these receptacles; the 
sweeping of the streets, hair from barbers’ shops, 
oflal from the butchers, feathers, horns, and bones 
reduced to powder, soot, and the deposits of creeks 
and rivers, are all industriously gathered up and 
thought sufficiently valuable to be carried a great 
distance, especially if water carriage is convenient. 
The dung of all animals is esteemed above an¬ 
other kind of manure; it often becomes an ar¬ 
ticle of commerce, in the shape of small cakes, 
which are made by mixing with it a portion of 
loamy earth, and then thoroughly drying them. 
These cakes are never applied dry, but are diluted 
in as much animal water as can be procured. Old 
plaster is esteemed so valuable a fertilizer as some¬ 
times to induce a farmer to re-plaster an old room 
that he may fertilize his fields with it. Before ma¬ 
nure is taken out of the receptacle, in the field, it is 
suffered to become half putrefied, in which state it 
is put upon the plants. Some seeds are put into 
manure until they have germinated, while others 
are planted enveloped in their appropriate manure. 
After the plant has grown a few inches, it is again 
manured with that which is much diluted. The 
effect is immediately apparent in an accelerated 
growth .—Chinese Repository. 
FRICTION ROLLERS APPLIED TO GRIND¬ 
STONES, 
Grindstone.— Fig. 53. 
Grindstones are now generally hung on friction 
rollers, and moved with a treadle, so that the per¬ 
son grinding can thus turn the stone himself with¬ 
out the assistance of another. 
These rollers render the movement of the stone 
very easy, and are so constructed that they can 
readily be applied to the stone without the aid of a 
mechanic. Price of rollers $2.50 to $4.00. 
Imported Saxon Sheep.— Under this head we 
had but a moment to give a hasty notice in our last 
No., page 198, of four Saxon bucks and four ewes 
just imported from Germany, by Mr. Scoville, of 
Connecticut. After our paper had gone to press, 
we had an opportunity of examining these sheep 
fully, and found that they more than justified' all 
the encomiums we then passed upon them. The 
staple of their wool is very fine, soft, and even ; 
the fleeces heavy, and so close as to be impervious 
to rain. Their forms are quite superior, and they 
show such vigor, size, and constitution, as to give 
us an entirely different opinion than we had before 
entertained of Saxon sheep. We really think them 
a valuable importation, and well calculated to im¬ 
prove American Saxons in size, constitution, and 
weight of fleece, and as such we earnestly recom¬ 
mend them to the attention of our flock-masters 
