AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
235 
informed that a work devoted to their bus'\ 
ness—the first one published in this country 
—has been recently prepared. A glance at 
the contents will show at once that other 
persons, not of the craft, will be interested 
in procuring a copy. *It is styled 
The Marble Worker’s Manual ; Designed for the 
Use of Marble Workers, Builders and Owners 
of Houses, containing Practical Information 
respecting Marbles in General; their Cutting, 
Working, and Polishing; Veneering of Mar¬ 
bles ; Painting upon and Glazing of Artificial 
Marble and Mosaics, Stuccos, Cements ; Re¬ 
ceipts, Secrets, &c. &c. 
This is a translation from a most valua¬ 
ble French work by Miss M. L. Booth, with 
an Appendix concerning American Marbles. 
Published by Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. 
New York Price $1. 
The Earnest Man. —This is a valuable 
work by Mrs. H. C. Conant, which gives a 
sketch of the character and labors of Ado- 
niram Judson, first missionary to Burmah. 
The name of Judson has become a house¬ 
hold word in this country. He is well sty¬ 
led the “ Earnest Man,” for his life was one 
of continued, earnest labor in behalf of his 
race. The character of the man, as set forth 
by Mrs. C., furnishes a fine example for 
those who would live not for self alone, 
while the incidents connected with his for¬ 
eign labors are entertaining. Published by 
Phillips, Sampson & Co., Boston ; for sale 
by Livermore & Rudd. 
Early History of Michigan. —We have 
been much interested in the perusal of a 
volume bearing this title, recently issued by 
Messrs. A. S. Barnes & Co., of this city. 
There is an almost unlimited store of manu¬ 
script, as well as unwritten but reliable tra¬ 
ditionary history of the early settlements, 
&c., of many parts of our country. Occa¬ 
sionally we find a volume devoted to gather¬ 
ing, arranging, and systematising the records 
of some particular locality. Such books, 
when good, seldom remunerate the writers, 
from the circumstance of their having but a 
local interest, while many of them are com¬ 
paratively worthless, owing to a lack of la¬ 
bor and care on the part of the authors or 
compilers. This objection is not to be 
brought against the book before us. We 
have been personally cognizant of the care 
and unwearied diligence of the author, Mrs. 
E. M. Shelden, while she has labored night 
and day, month after month, almost year af¬ 
ter year, in her efforts to gather the materi¬ 
als of the work before us. The volume will 
be peculiarly valuable to every resident of 
the Peninsular State, and they are under 
high obligations to the author for rescuing 
from oblivion these chapters in the early 
history of their native or adopted home. 
There are many things in this work which 
make it valuable as a part of the history of 
the county, and the volume will prove an 
acceptable addition in many public and pri¬ 
vate libraries elsewhere than in Michigan. 
U. S. Magazine. —The July number (Vol. 
3, No. 1) of this Magazine is before us. It 
is highly illustrated, comprises a large 
amount of useful and entertaining matter, 
and promises to take a prominent place 
among the leading magazines of the country. 
$2 a year. T. M. Emerson & Co., New- 
York. 
A Courageous Woman. —Benefit of Presence 
of Mmd .—In Jersey City not long since a 
lady was awakened by a burglar in the room, 
and demanded the cause of his intrusion, 
when he stepped to her bedside, and raising 
his clenched fist said, “ Be still or I’ll take 
your life !” “ Take my life, ha!” responded 
our undaunted heroine, “ take care you don’t 
have your own taken !” and suiting the ac¬ 
tion to the word, she said, “John, hand me 
that pistol!” Now, although there was no 
John in the room, (the heroic lady being all 
alone,) yet her Spartan courage had the de¬ 
sired effect, and the burglar, with several 
of his accomplices, fled from the premises 
without carrying off any booty. 
A butterfly basked on a baby’s grave, 
Where a lily had chanced to grow ; 
“ Why art thou here with a gaudy dye, 
While she of the bright and sparkling eye 
Must sleep in a church-yard low 1” 
Then it lightly soared through the sunny air, 
And spoke from its airy track ; 
“ I was a worm till I won my wings, 
And she whom thou mourneth, like a seraph sings ; 
Wouldstthou call the blest one back 1” 
Birds poisoned by painted Cages. —It is 
not safe to keep birds in painted wire cages, 
especially in warm weather. The paint sof¬ 
tens in the heat, the birds are apt to nibble 
it, and to get poisoned. This is a fact, and 
those having valuable birds in such cages 
should remove them. 
EXTRACTS EROM OUR CORRESPONDENCE. 
Lockport, N. Y.—Mr. A. E. Raymond, 
writes June 18th “ The average surface of 
wheat sown last fall did not exceed half that 
of the previous year, the insects, and rains 
having rendered the former crop hardly worth 
harvesting. However, may old wheat rais¬ 
ers, unwilling to give it up, have sown in the 
usual manner, and the prospect is favorable 
for a good yield if the crop is not destroyed 
by the weevil. We are looking for this de¬ 
stroyer as the little weevil flies are now on 
the wheatheads in thousands.Rye was 
sown last fall to a considerable extent, and 
now looks remarkably well.Farmers 
are turning their attention more to Spring 
crops, since the failure of wheat.There 
is a general complaint that corn of last 
years growth has not come up when planted 
three and even four times over, and we are 
perplexed to know the reason.Spring 
crops generally look well. Meadows in 
clover last year are improved very much, 
which I attribute to the large body of snow 
on the ground during the entire freezing 
weather.The peach crop promises to 
be abundant; apples not nearly as many as 
last year, but still a fair quantity.Your 
paper is exceedingly valuable, the “ Work for 
the Month,” and “ Calender of Operations,’ 
set business of the month before one, and 
this alone in every number, has been worth a 
years subscription to me.The old preju¬ 
dice against ‘Book Farming,’ is passing away, 
and farmers find that if they will keep up 
with their neighbors and with those en¬ 
gaged in other callings they must ‘ take the 
papers.’ ” 
Brooklyn, Conn. —Dr. J. B. Whitcomb, 
writes June, 17th. “ Crops are looking very 
well as a general thing ; Corn rather back¬ 
ward, and from its appearance I should 
judge that most farmers had planted the 
yellow variety—but a few days of warm 
weather will make it look verdant-Ap¬ 
ples promise a medium crop. Peaches none 
—the trees mostly dead or dying-Plums, 
few and far between. 
Richmond, Va. —A friend visiting the in¬ 
terior of Virginia, writes June 14th. “From 
observation and what I am told by the farm¬ 
ers themselves, the wheat harvest in this 
state will hardly be an average one. The 
severe winter, the fly, and rust have injured 
it in some places very much ; in fact I have 
seen fields that will not be worth gathering. 
Corn is late but the recent rains are hasten¬ 
ing it forward rapidly. The oat crop is 
looking very fine. Our correspondent fur¬ 
ther refers to the farm of Mr. Wm. Allen 
on the James River, 25 miles below Rich¬ 
mond. He has 1,000 to 1,200 acres in wheat, 
as much more in corn, and 500 acres of 
oats, has ten Reapers by different makers 
and intends increasing the number this year. 
Jefferson Co., N. —Mr. L. Kieffer, 
writes from Stone Mills, June 12th. I have 
just returned from a trip to the Southern 
part of this county. Crops there, and here 
in the northern part,never looked better. The 
wet spring injured some badly drained, low 
fields, which was more than compensated by 
the good effect upon the knolls. Grass is 
very heavy. The farmers seem to be pre¬ 
paring for a “ heavy drink of beer,” rather 
than a crust of bread, as one passing through 
this section sees nothing but barley, barley, 
barley. An unprecedented hay harvest in 
prospect. 
Lake Co., Ohio. —Mr. C. B. Rising, writes 
from South Ivirtland, June 19th. Wheat 
looks well throughout the State. Spring 
wheat was sown late, but promises for a 
fair crop. Little corn was planted here¬ 
abouts until the last week in May, and all 
ground planted with seed from the cribs. It 
is supposed the cobs were not dry enough 
when stored last fall. The growing crop 
is not advanced enough to speak of its pros¬ 
pects. Oats, late but looking well. Little 
or no fruit this year ; the frost of May 31st, 
destroyed nearly all the apples. A good hay 
crop looked for, but many cut less than 
last year’s crop. 
Indiana Co., Penn.— Rev. David Mills, 
writes June, 17, from Newman’s Mills, in 
the western part of the State. Wheat looks 
well, though little was sown compared with 
the preceding year, and that sown came up 
thin, owing probably to part of the seed be¬ 
ing spoiled by growing during the wet har¬ 
vest. The same may be said of rye. Grass 
looks well,though there is not a large breadth 
to be cut. Oats, where up, show well. Not 
much to be said of corn yet. Two or three 
plantings were required before the ground 
was needed, and much of it is just up. With 
an early frost corn would be scarce here. 
Potatoes were so much rotted last fall, and 
