AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
263 
Memorable Sieges in Modern Time8. —The 
following memorable sieges have taken place 
in modern times. The Siege of Acre, under¬ 
taken by Bonaparte, in 1799, was raised 
after 60 days, open trenches. At the siege 
of Algiers in 1816, bomb-vessels were first 
used by a French engineer, named Renau. 
Badajoswas besieged by Lord Wellington in 
May, 1811, and the siege raised; again be¬ 
sieged in June, raised June 9 ; taken by es¬ 
calade on the night of April 6, 1812. The 
Siege of Belgrade, Avhich gave its name to a 
celebrated romantic opera, took place (the 
last one) in 1789. At the siege of Bommel, 
in 1794, the invention of the covert way was 
first practised. The besiegment of Burgos 
commenced Sept. 19,1812. It was raised in 
a few days, and the French on their retreat 
blew up the works, June 13, 1813. The 
siege of Ismael took place in 1790. Suar- 
rowbutched 30,000 men, the brave garrison, 
and 6,000 women, in cold blood, Dec. 22,1790. 
At the siege of Mothe,in France, the French, 
taught by a Mr. Muller, an English engineer, 
first practised the art of throwing shells. St. 
Sebastian was obstinately defended by the 
French, Sept. 8, 1813. The first experiment 
to reduce a fortress by springing globes of 
compression, was made in 1807, at Schweid- 
nitz. In the same year the method of throw¬ 
ing red-hot balls was first practised at Stral- 
sund. 
When You should Take your Hat.— 
Young man, a word. We want to tell you 
when you should take your hat and be off. 
And mind what we offer. It is—-when you 
are asked to “ take a drink.” When you 
find out you are courting an extravagant or 
slovenly girl. When you find yourself in 
doubtful company. When you discover 
that your expenses run ahead of your in¬ 
come. When you are abusing the con¬ 
fidence of your friends. When you think 
you are a great deal wiser than older and 
more experienced people than yourself. 
When you feel like getting trusted for a suit 
of clothes because you have not the money 
to pay for them. When you “wait upon” 
a lady just for the “fun of it.” When 
you don’t perform your duty, your whole 
duty, and nothing but your duty. 
Reply to a Challenge. —A little fop, con¬ 
ceiving himself insulted by a gentleman who 
ventured to give him some wholesome ad¬ 
vice, strutted up to him with an air of impor¬ 
tance, and said—“ Sir, you are no gentleman; 
here is my card—consider yourself chal¬ 
lenged ! Should I be from home when you 
honor me with a call, I shall leave word with 
a friend to settle all the preliminaries to 
yoursatisfaction.” To Avhich the other re¬ 
plied—“Sir, you are a fool! Here is my 
card—consider your nose pulled. And should 
I not be at home when you call on me, you 
Avill find I have left orders with my servant 
to shoAv you into the street for your impu¬ 
dence !” 
When a lawyer, on his passage to Europe, 
was one day Avalking the deck, it having 
blown pretty hard the preceding day, a shark 
was playing by the ship. Having never 
seen such an object before, he called to one 
of the sailors to tell him Avhat it Avas. 
“Why,” replied the tar, “I don’t knoAV 
what name they know ’em by ashore, but 
here Ave call them sea-lawyers.” 
It must be very annoying to a young lady 
who has devoted a lifetime to the reduction 
of her Avaist to the smallest possible span, 
to hear some handsome felloAv, Avhom she 
instictively feels is a good judge of such mat¬ 
ters, exclaim, “Avhat a lump of deformity!” 
Op all the contemptible beings, especially 
avoid a tattler. 
S® 3 " Every one writing to the Editors or 
Publishers of this journal Avill please read 
“ Special Notices ,” on last page. 
8@“Every dollar received for the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist will be expended in enrich¬ 
ing its pages with collections of practical 
knowledge, valuable engravings, &c. &c. 
Our friends Avill oblige us by connecting as 
feAv other matters as possible with their sub¬ 
scription lists and premium orders, for tAvo or 
three weeks, as these will occupy us much 
of the time. When other matters than busi¬ 
ness are inclosed in the same letter, let it 
be on a separate piece of paper. 
Particular Notice. —We daily receive 
neAv subscribers without any specification as 
to the time they are to commence. We 
have printed a large extra edition of this 
volume, up to this time, and, as long as Ave 
have them, will send back numbers from the 
commencement, (September 13th,) Avhen de¬ 
sired. Subscribers can commence at any 
time they will name. 
It is our purpose to commence, soon after 
January 1st, a series of plain practical ar¬ 
ticles on Chemistry and its applications to 
every day life. We hope to present the sub¬ 
ject in such a manner that every young per¬ 
son Avho reads the American Agriculturist, 
Avill become acquainted with this most im¬ 
portant branch of science. We think that 
this series alone Avill be Avorth to every per¬ 
son many times the subscription price of the 
paper, as we shall apply the principles of 
chemistry to the actual operations of prepar¬ 
ing food, drink, clothing, &c., besides sIioav- 
ing wherein it may assist in cultivating the 
soil, and Avherein it can not do so. The se¬ 
ries Avill consist of short articles, and extend 
through the year. We delay commencing 
it till our neAv subscribers for 1855 are most¬ 
ly in. 
Slarfteto. 
Remarks. —Flour has advanced the past 
week from 37! to 62! cts. per bbl. Corn is 
unchanged. 
Wool is very dull and many failures of 
those engaged in the trade. 
Cotton has advanced from J to ! ct. per 
lb. Other southern products no change. 
The weather the past Aveek has been ex¬ 
traordinary for December. According to 
Mr. Meriam’s statement, Avho keeps the most 
accurate register on Brooklyn heights, the 
loAvest temperature on the 20th, at 6 and 7 
A. M., Avas 3 degs. above zero ; on the 23d, 
at the same hours, it Avas 9 degrees above 
zero. Since this it has moderated rapidly, 
rising above 50 at noon. On the 27th we 
have an abundant rain. In this city we have 
had not over one to two inches of snoAv at 
any one time this month, and this soon disap¬ 
peared. North-west and North of us, it has 
j fallen from one to four feet deep, and still 
covers the ground. The temperature has 
been very Ioav there also, ranging from 10 
to 36 degrees beloAV zero, according to the 
latitude. 
PRODUCE MARKET. 
Tueday, December 26, 1854. 
The prices given in our reports from week to week, are the 
average wholesale prices obtained by producers, andnot those 
at which produce is sold from the market. The variations in 
prices refer chiefly to the quality of the articles. 
There is little change in the Produce Market since our 
last. The supply of Potatoes is limited, except Nova Sco- 
tias, of which a few cargoes have recently come in. Oth¬ 
er kinds of vegetables are plentiful and rather dull. 
There is a fair supply of Western apples on hand, much 
better, it is anticipated, than will be a month or two later. 
The prices have not changed materially. 
Butter, Eggs, and Chese continue about the same, both 
in supply and prices. 
Vegetables. —Potatoes, New-Jersey Mercers, $3 75® 
$4 87 p bbl.; AVestern Mercers, $3 25®$3 75 ; Nova 
Scotia Mercers, $1 15®$1 25 p bush.; New-Jersey Car¬ 
ters, $3 50®$3 75 pbbl.; Washington Co. Carters, $3 50® 
$3 75; Junes, $3®$3 25; Western Reds, $2 50®$3 124 ; 
White Pink Eyes, $3 50®$3 75 ; Yellow Pink Eyes, $2 75 
®$3 25; Long Reds, $2®$2 50; Virginia, Sweet Pota¬ 
toes $3 25®$3 50 ; Philadelphia, $4 50 ; Turnips, Ruta 
Baga $2®$2 25 ; White, $1 25®$175; Onions, White, 
none ; Red, $2 50®$3; Yellow, $2 75®$3 50 ; Cabbages, 
$4®$7 p 100 ; Beets, $1 25 pbbl.; Carrots, $1; Parsnips, 
$150; Celery, $1®$ 1 25pdozen. 
Fruits. —Apples, Spitzenbergs and Greenings, $2 25® 
$2 50 pbbl.; Russets andGilliflowers, $2. 
Butter, Orange Co., 21®24c. pib.; Western, 15®18c. ; 
Eggs, 23®26c. P doz.; Cheese, 10c.®llc. p lb. 
NEW-YORK CATTLE MARKET. 
Wednesday, December 27, 1854. 
There are but few good cattle in market to-day, and in 
fact few of any kind, and the market is very dull. There 
is considerable advance in prices. The few cattle give 
the brokers an advantage over the butchers, and they 
have taken the liberty to fix their own prices. The best 
cattle are sold to-day from 104 c. to 11c. p lb—prices which 
cuts off the profits of the butchers, as raising the retail 
price of meat is out of the question in these times—and 
those only purchase who are compelled to. Some of them 
went away without buying at all, declaring they would 
rather purchase ready butchered meat down town than 
submit to such prices. 
As to the present Market-day, established by general 
agreement, we hear little complaint, and it will doubtless 
continue, though cattle will be offered for sale almost 
every day, and many more on the clearing-up day than 
formerly. 
The following are about the highest and lowest prices: 
Superior quality beef is selling at.104®llc. p lb. 
Fair quality do. .9® 104c. do. 
Inferior do. do. . 7®7e. do. 
Beeves. 7e.®lle. 
Cows and Calves. $30®$55. 
Veals.44c.®64c. 
Sheep. $2® $5. 
Lambs.$1 50®$4 50. 
Swine. 44.® 41. 
Washington Yards, Forty-fourth-street. 
A. M. Allerton, Proprietor. 
RECEIVED DURING THE WEEK. IN MARKET TO-DAY. 
Beeves,. 1005 915 
Cows. 44 - 
Veals,. 164 - 
Sheep and lambs,. 1013 - 
Swine,. 2148 -— 
Ofthese there came by the Erie Railroad.100 
By the Harlem Railroad..467 
By the Hudson River Railroad. 200 
By the Hudson River Steamboats. — 
New-York State furnished, 1G4; Pennsylvania, 90 , 
Indiana, 51; Kentucky, 194; New-Jersey, 28. 
SHEEP MARKET. 
Wednesday, Dec, 27, 1854. 
There was a little improvement in the sheep market 
last week. The supply to-day is not large, and the de¬ 
mand is fair. With a change of weather we may hope to 
see it decidedly better. 
We noticed to-day, at Tompkins’ market, at the stall of 
Mr. P. Woodcock, some of the South-down and Leicester 
sheep of which we spoke in our last. They appeared 
quite as well dressed as alive, which is no more than 
saying they are equal to any we ever saw. 
