AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
347 
RAINY DAYS IN JULY FOR SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS. 
Mr. E Merriam, of Brooklyn,has furnished 
some of the daily papers with a tabular state¬ 
ment, showing the number and dates of the 
rainy days in July of each year from 1789 to 
1855, both inclusive. The details are too 
voluminous for our columns. We however 
copy the total number of rainy days in July 
of each year, as follows : 
Year. 
No. of rainy 
(lays in July. 
Year. 
No. of rainy 
days in July 
1789.. 
.9 
1822... 
.10 
1790.. 
. 3 
1823... 
. 9 
1791.. 
. 3 
1824... 
. 9 
1792.. 
.10 
1825... 
.4 
1793.. 
.9 
1826... 
.9 
1794.. 
. 8 
1827..: 
.10 
1795.. 
. 9 
1828... 
.14 
1796.. 
.13 
1829... 
.11 
1797.. 
.:_6 
1830... 
. 8 
1798.. 
.12 
1831... 
.9 
1799.. 
. 4 
1832... 
.9 
1800.. 
1833... 
. 9 
1801.. 
. 8 
1834... 
.7 
1802.. 
. 7 
1835... 
.12 
1803.. 
.14 
1836... 
.15 
1804.. 
.8 
1837... 
.11 
1805.. 
. 5 
1838... 
.8 
1806.. 
. 9 
1839... 
.8 
1807.. 
.. 9 
1840... 
.9 
1808.. 
.12 
1841... 
.10 
1809.. 
......13 
1842... 
.14 
1810.. 
.9 
1843... 
..10 
1811.. 
. 9 
1844... 
___11 
1812.. 
.. 9 
1845... 
. 8 
1813.. 
.10 
1846... 
.12 
1814.. 
. 9 
1847... 
. 7 
1815.. 
..10 
1848... 
. 7 
1816.. 
. 5 
1849... 
. 5 
1817.. 
.10 
1850... 
.10 
1818.. 
.9 
1851... 
.13 
1819.. 
.7 
1852... 
. 9 
1820.. 
.7 
1853... 
.15 
1821.. 
.8 
1854... 
..10 
1855... 
..19 
Total, 67 years. In only six of them did 
the rain in July continue more than four 
days consecutively, viz : 
In July, 1803, rain fell from 23 to 28—6 consecutive days 
Do. 
i- 
O 
CO 
do. 
do. 
19 to 23—5 
do. 
do. 
Do. 
1829, 
do. 
do. 
2 to 6—5 
do. 
do. 
Do. 
1836, 
do. 
do. 
9 to 15-7 
do. 
do. 
Do. 
1851, 
do. 
do. 
19 to 30-12 
do. 
do. 
The duration of the rainy term in July of 
this year has greatly exceeded that of any 
July for a period of two-thirds of a century. 
The heat has been great, and the maxi¬ 
mum has been at and above ninety degrees 
on ten days ; at and above eighty and below 
ninety on fifteen days; between 70 and 79 
on five days, and at 63 one day, viz : on the 
21st. Lightning has been active on 21 days. 
A Remarkable Cat. —A neighbor, resid¬ 
ing near the s>-a shore, has a large tom-cat, 
which has frequently been found with fish in 
his possession, and which he was busily en¬ 
gaged in eating. It became the occasion of 
much remark, as it could not be ascertained 
how or where he obtained them. A few days 
since, he was discovered with a live eel in 
his mouth, which he was just proceeding to 
devour. As he has since been seen stand¬ 
ing near the sea shore, with his gaze intent 
upon the water, there is no doubt that he is 
in the habit of catching fish and eels, and re¬ 
galing himself on them. Cats have some¬ 
times been known to catch fish from small 
brooks, or vessels of water wherein they 
were placed.— New-Hoven Register. 
The Greytown Affair.— The New-York 
Herald says that the sufferers by the bom¬ 
bardment of Greytown have arrived at Wash¬ 
ington to present their claims before the 
Court of Claims, and that those claims 
amount to about five millions of dollars ! 
THE USE OF SALIVA. 
We gather the following from the recent 
lectures of Dr. H. Bence Jones, of London: 
“ The action of the saliva upon the starch 
we take as food, is similar to that of a fer¬ 
ment, and causes it to undergo a change into 
sugar. If you take a portion of pure starch 
and hold it in the mouth for only two min¬ 
utes, you can obtain distinct and decided 
traces of sugar. We have here a solution of 
starch not treated with saliva, and if we em¬ 
ploy our test for sugar, which you well know 
(sulphate of copper and liquor potassae), we 
have no reduction of the oxide of copper; 
but in this other mixture of starch and wa¬ 
ter, which has been held in the mouth for 
two minutes only, you may see distinctly a 
beautiful red line of reduced copper, the evi¬ 
dence of the presence of sugar. If the starch 
is left in the mouth for three minutes, a still 
more manifest action is apparent; and if it 
remains there five minutes, there is a dis¬ 
tinct mass of reduced copper, which is pro¬ 
portioned to the quantity of sugar formed out 
of the starch.” 
There are many sources of the sugar found 
in the body. It is found for the most part 
in vegetable food already formed, and it 
arises from the action of saliva on starch. 
It is present in considerable quantity in 
milk, and minute traces of it are contained in 
muscle ; but, still further, it is always pro¬ 
duced by the action of the liver. We have a 
large quantity of fat going into the liver by 
the portal vein, and a large quantity of sugar 
coming out by the hepatic vein. This sugar 
is always found in the liver, not only when 
vegetable food but even when animal food 
is taken. 
-- iiW Ti’UJWi' di UT Il i — — - - 
The Good Time Coming—Come. —We 
took a stroll around the markets yesterday, 
to look at the heaps on heaps of eatables 
reported to be so cheap—and sure enough 
they were cheap. Potatoes, large, nice and 
fair, “ at your own price.” We are told 
that a number of loads from Long Island 
were seen going homeward, for want of a 
buyer at any price. Let Paddy and Mickey 
and Morris improve the time now, for we 
hear distant groanings of the “rot” approach¬ 
ing. Peaches at five and six shilling a bas¬ 
ket, stand in long files, or in solid platoons, 
waiting all day for a signal to be marched olf. 
But they are rare-ripes, fallen from their high 
estate too soon, just as we learn that one- 
fourth or more of this crop has already fall¬ 
en. Those who had dreamed of peaches, 
large and luscious, five for a penny, must 
lower their expectations by one-half, if re¬ 
ports from New-Jersey be true. 
Tomatoes are upon us like an avalanche ; 
those who paid four to eight dollars a basket 
not long since, can supply themselves with 
a better quality, at five to six shillings a 
husliel now. 
Apples are scarce—sixteen to twenty shil¬ 
lings a barrel; but who cares 1 They are 
sour gr—apples, not fit to eat, and no mis¬ 
take.— N. Y. Times. 
Beef Coming Down. —Beef is said to be 
“ coming down ” in New-York. The laugh 
comes in when it is understood that it is 
only coming down the Hudson river.— Bos¬ 
ton Bee. 
The Bee may laugh again, when it is as¬ 
sured that prices as well as “ the beef” are 
coming down. Read the cattle market re¬ 
port. A month ago we were paying at the 
rate of $l2a$14 per hundred, at the Bull’s 
Head. Now, fair qualities can be had at 
$3a$4 less. That is coming down—isn’t it 1 
— Express. 
The Sea Serpent has been diving deep 
through subterranean passages, and made 
his appearance in a little pond of half a mile 
wide by three or four long, called Silver 
Lake, near Wyoming, in the State of New 
York. Two of a party of eight, who were out 
on a fishing excursion a week or ten days 
ago, swear most positively to the big snake 
pursuing them around the lake and finally 
compelling them, at a late hour to abandon 
their boat, and foot it home, a couple of 
miles, rather than continue on a sheet of 
water containing such a monster. They 
first took him for a log, till he dived down 
and came up on the other side. They swear 
he was eighty or a hundred feet long, and 
that eight or ten feet of his head arid neck 
were clear out of water. He did not attempt 
to injure them, but at one time lashed the 
water with his tail—and when he brought his 
head down it created waves that “ nearly 
capsized the boat, and suspended regular 
operations with the oars.” The story is a 
big one, and few will swallow it, although 
sworn to before Enos W. Frost, Justice of 
the Peace. 
Black Sea Fowl. —Since the war with 
Russia a new kind of domestic fowl has been 
introduced into England from the Black Sea, 
and is likely to prove a formidable rival to 
the Shanghai and Cochin China. It is quite 
as large as the barn-door fowl, is crested, 
has feathered legs. Its color is generally 
all white or black ; when the latter, of a 
raven hue, and glossy. This bird is pugna- 
• ious, and its movements are very lively. 
The tail-feathers do not project as in other 
birds, but drop down close to the body. 
Several of these birds are to be seen at 
Southampton. 
Dr. Marshall Hall, in his Journal of Health, 
says that it is owing, mainly, to their con¬ 
stant out-door exercise, that the elevated 
classes in England reach a patriarchal age, 
notwithstanding their habits of high living, of 
late hours, of wine-drinking, and many other 
health-destroying agencies. The deaths of 
their generals, their lords, their earls, and 
their dukes, are chronicled almost every 
week, at 70, 80, and 100 years. Their exer¬ 
cise, as well as their disposition to take the 
world easy, adds many years to their life. 
Sixty three steamers and fifty-two flats 
barges, and keel boats, involving property to 
the amount of one million four hundred and 
two thousand six hundred dollars, have been 
lost, during the last six months, on the west¬ 
ern rivers. Of the steamers, thirty-five were 
snagged, thirteen burned, nine were destroy¬ 
ed by collision. 
A trout has lately died in Blockly which 
lived in a garden pool for eighteen years, and 
was twenty years of age. It was blind of 
one eye, supposed from old age, and it was 
so tame that it would come to the side of 
the pool, and eat out of any one's hand, and 
allow persons to take it out of the water. 
All men in their hearts covet esteem, yet 
are loth any one should discover their fond¬ 
ness to be esteemed ; because men would 
pass for virtuous, that they may draw some 
other advantage from it, besides virtue it¬ 
self ; I would say esteem and praise—this 
should no longer be thought virtue, but a 
love for praise and esteem, or vanity. Men 
are very vain creatures, and of all things 
hate to be thought so. 
