AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
199 
bell or hand glasses will require to have the 
glasses taken off occasionally and wiped, to 
prevent the cuttings front Jbeing injured by 
damp. 
When the cuttings have struck root and 
beging to grow, then pot them in small pots 
filled with soil suitable to their nature ; re¬ 
place them for a while in the frame, and 
gradually expose them to the air, until they 
bear the temperature and treatment of the 
other plants in the greenhouse. 
Sow the seeds of greenhouse "plants'in 
pans or pots filled with a light soil, as early 
in the spring as possible; place the pots in 
a very gentle heat, keep the soil damp by 
covering with moss, and occasionally sprink¬ 
ling with water; and when they are about 
an inch high, pot them off into small-sized 
pots, and treat them in the same manner as 
cuttings.— Floricultural Cabinet. 
THE TALLOW TREE OF CHINA. 
BY DR. RIACGOW'AN. 
The Stillingia sebifera is prized for the 
fatty matter which it yields ; its leaves are 
employed as a black dye; its wood, being 
hard and durable, is used for printing blocks 
and various other articles; and, finally, the 
refuse of the nut is employed as fuel and 
manure. 
It is chiefly cultivated in the provinces of 
Kiangsi, Kongnain, and Chehkiang. In some 
districts near Hangchan, the inhabitants de 
fray all their taxes with its produce. It 
grows alike on low alluvial plains and on 
granite hills, on the rich mold at the margin 
of canals, and on the sandy sea-beach. The 
sandy estuary of Hangchan yields iittle else. 
Some of the trees at this place are known to 
be several hundred years old, and though 
prostrated, still send forth branches and bear 
fruit. 
In mid-winter, when the seed-vessels are 
ripe, they are cut off with their twigs by a 
sharp crescentric knife, attached to the ex¬ 
tremity of a long pole, which is held in the 
hand and pushed upwards against the twigs, 
removing at the same time such as are fruit¬ 
less. The capsules are gently pounded in a 
mortar to loosen the seeds from their shells, 
from which they are separated by sifting. 
To facilitate the separation of the white se¬ 
baceous matter enveloping the seeds, they 
are steamed in tubs, having convex, open, 
wicker bottoms, placed over caldrons of 
boiling water. When thoroughly heated, 
they are reduced to a mash m the mortar, 
and thence transferred to bamboo sieves, 
kept at an uniform temperature over hot 
ashes. A single operation does not suffice 
to deprive them of all their tallow, the steam¬ 
ing and sifting is therefore repeated. The 
article thus procured becomes a solid mass 
on falling through the sieve, and to purify it, 
it is melted and formed into cakes for the 
press; these receive their form from bamboo 
hoops, a foot in diameter and three inches 
deep, which are laid on the ground, over a 
little straw. On being filled with the hot 
liquid, the ends of the straw beneath are 
drawn up and spread over the top, and when 
of sufficient consistence, are placed with 
their rings in the press. This latter appara¬ 
tus, of the rudest description, is constructed 
of two large beams placed horizontally, so 
as to form a trough capable of containing 
about fifty of the rings with their sebaceous 
cakes; at one end it is closed, and at the 
other adapted for receiving wedges, which 
are successively driven into it by ponderous 
sledge-hammers wielded by athletic men. 
The tallow oozes in a melted state into a 
receptacle bel nv, where it cools. It is again 
melted and poured into tubs smeared with 
mud, to prevent its adheiing. It is now 
marketable, in masses of about eighty pounds 
each, hard, brittle, white, opaque, tasteless, 
and without the odor of animal tallow; 
under high pressure it scarcely stains bibu¬ 
lous paper; melts at 140 deg. Fah. It may 
be regarded as nearly pure stearine, the 
slight difference is doubtless owing to the 
admixture of oil expressed from the seed in 
the process just described. The seeds yield 
about eight per cent of tallow, which sells 
for about five cents per pound. 
The process for pressing the oil, which is 
carried on at the same time, remains to be 
noticed; it is contained in the kernel of the 
nut. The sebaceous matter, which lies be¬ 
tween the shell and the husk, having been 
removed in the manner described, the ker¬ 
nel and the husk covering it are ground be¬ 
tween two stones, which are heated, to pre¬ 
vent clogging from the sebaceous matter 
still adnering. The mass is then placed in 
a winnowing machine, precisely like those 
in use in western countries. The chaff 
being separated, exposes the white oleagin¬ 
ous kernels, which, after being stemmed, 
are placed in a mill to be mashed. This 
machine is formed of a circular stone groove, 
twelve feet in diameter, three inches deep, 
and about as many wide, into which a thick 
solid stone wheel, eight feet in diameter, 
tapering at the edge, is made to revolve per¬ 
pendicularly by an ox harnessed to the outer 
end of its axle, the inner turning on a pivot 
in the center of the machine. Under this 
ponderous weight the seeds are reduced to 
a mealy state, steamed in the tubs, formed 
into cakes, and pressed by wedges in the 
manner above described; the process of 
mashing, steaming, and pressing being re¬ 
peated with the kernels likewise. The ker¬ 
nels yield above thirty per cent of oil. It is 
called Ising-yu , sells for about three cents 
per pound, answers well for lamps, though 
inferior for this purpose to some other vege¬ 
table oils in use. It is also employed for 
various purposes in the arts, and has a place 
in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, because of 
its quality of changing grey hair black, and 
other imaginary virtues. 
Artificial illumination in China is gener¬ 
ally procured by vegetable oils ; but candles 
are also employed by those who can afford 
it. In the religious ceremonies no other 
material is used. As no one ventures out 
after dark without a lantern, and as the gods 
can not be acceptably worshipped without 
candles, the quantity consumed is very great. 
With an unimportant exception, the candles 
are always made of what I would designate 
as vegetable stearine. When the candles, 
which are made by dipping, are of the re¬ 
quired diameter, they receive a final dip into 
a mixture of the same material and insect- 
wax, by which their consistency is preserved 
in the hottest weather. They are generally 
colored red, which is done by throwing a 
minute quantity of alkanet root ( Ancliusa 
tinctoria), brought from Shantung, into the 
the mixture. Verdigris is sometimes em¬ 
ployed to dye them green.— Florticultural 
Cabinet. 
Perfume of Flowers. —The Philadelphia 
Ledger, gives the following simple directions 
for extracting the perfume of flowers ; an 
additional interest is thus given to their cul¬ 
tivation : 
“ Gather the flowers with as little stocks as 
possible, and place them in ajar three parts 
full of almond or olive oil. .After being in 
the oil twenty-four hours, put them into a 
coarse cloth, and squeeze the oil from them. 
This process, with fresh flowers, is to be re¬ 
peated according to the strength of the per¬ 
fume desired. The oil being thus thorough¬ 
ly perfumed with the volatile principle of the 
flowers, it is to be mixed with an equal quan¬ 
tity of pure rectified spirit, and shaken every 
day for a fortnight, when it may be poured 
off, ready for use. As the season for sweet- 
scented blossoms is just approaching, this 
method may be practically tested, and with¬ 
out any great trouble or expense. 
We give the above for what it is worth. 
It is not so simple a process after all. Would 
not the alcohol applied at once to the flow¬ 
ers be as effectual! 
CULTURE OF LUCERNE. 
We have been informed by Mr. Lewis 
Mabry of this city, that he has cultivated lu¬ 
cerne regularly for more than forty years 
with the most satisfactory success. It has 
invariably supplied him with the greatest 
abundance of green food of the richest 
quality for soiling cows, and it makes a hay 
in all respects equal to clover. There are 
plants now in Mr. Mabry’s yard which have 
been there for forty years. He has usually 
had about two acres of ground in lucerne, 
and his mode of cultivation is as follows: 
The land should be well and deeply pre¬ 
pared, as the plants send down their tap 
roots to a great depth. The soil should be 
dry and rich. The time for sowing the seed 
is in September, and they should be sown 
broadcast. They soon vegetate, and the 
plants continue to grow vigorously during 
the fall, and acquire sufficient strength to 
withstand the severity of the coldest win¬ 
ters. In the spring, they start off to grow in 
advance of all other vegetation, and take en¬ 
tire possession of the ground. If the seed 
is sowed in the spring, the grass will overtop 
and smother the lucerne, unless it is drilled, 
in which case it requires frequent and care¬ 
ful workings. It should not be sowed with 
any other crop. When sowed in the fall, it 
will furnish two cuttings the next season. 
The second seasond it will be fully es¬ 
tablished, and yield as many as four cut¬ 
tings, which it will continue to do for four 
years. By the expiration of that period, it 
will begin to die out in patches, and another 
sowing should be made. The plants should 
not be suffered to bear seed any further than 
is necessary for new growings. 
On the whole, Mr. Mabry considers lucerne 
as invaluable, particularly on small farms, 
from the great quantity of food it supplies; 
thus enabling the possessor of only a few 
acres to keep a number of cows, which, in 
their turn, furnish abundant means of en¬ 
riching the land, besides affording the owner 
the luxury and the profits to be derived from 
a good dairy. We would especially recom¬ 
mend to our farmers in the neighborhood of 
the city to make the experiment. With milk 
at sixpence a quart, and butter at 50 cents— 
never less than 37£ cents—a pound, the ad¬ 
vantages to be derived from a dairy appear 
to us to be very decided. 
Mr. Mabry informs us that the Alfalfa 
clover, about which we made some inquiry 
a few weeks ago, is nothing else than lu¬ 
cerne.— Southern Farmer. 
UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS. 
Great Washington was number one ; 
Then senior Adams next came on. 
Jefferson made the number three ; 
Then Madison, the fourth was he. 
Monroe, the fifth, just here came in ; 
Then, sixth, an Adams came again ; 
Then, seventh, Andrew Jackson came , 
And, eighth, we count Van Buren’s name. 
Then Harrison made number nine ; 
And, tenth, John Tylerfilled the line. 
Polk was the eleventh, as we know ; 
And twelfth was Taylor, in the row. 
Fillmore, the thirteenth, took his place ; 
And Pierce is fourteenth in the race. 
Now let us stop until we see 
Who our next President will be. 
Sunday School Visiter. 
