AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
377 
compound body and produce a new one, and 
he studies what are the comparative affini¬ 
ties of the atoms in the materials he has in 
hand, and considers what atoms will unite 
together when he mingles together two or 
more kinds of materials. 
66. Another illustration will perhaps make 
this subject still more plain. We see £ e ° r 9 f 
two boys,walking together in one place, 
and in another place two others— John. 
When they come near each, we find that, by 
reason of some stronger liking (affinity), the 
first groups are broken up and two p a ,° r r g<> 
new groups are formed, thus I James 
John. 
If we were previously acquainted with the 
likings (affinities) of these boys we could 
have told beforehand what change would 
have taken place. 
Sqash Seeds. —W'e have received from 
D. A. Buckley,ofWilliamstown,Mass., three 
varieties of squash seed. The Albion va¬ 
riety he states will produce squashes of two 
hundred pounds in weight, and several 
squashes upon one vine, making in the ag¬ 
gregate about one thousand pounds from a 
single seed ; which manifestly is some 
squashes if not some pumpkins. Allowing 
one hill to the square rod, this would give 
80 tons of squashes to the acre, which is 
at least four times the quantity we ever 
heard of. |But some things can be done 
doubtless, as well as others, and we shall 
certainly plant the seeds, and if our hill hap¬ 
pens to be covered with a number of good 
sized light houses in the course of the sum¬ 
mer, the public may know that the Albion 
squashes are in town. 
Mr. B. has 600 varieties of potatoes ob¬ 
tained from the bolls. The Stone Hill pota¬ 
toes yielded on an average 266 bushels to 
the acre, in a field of ten acres. He has also 
originated a large number of varieties of 
beans by judicious crossing. 
BOOK NOTICE. 
BATTLES OF THE CRIMEA : including an Historical 
Summary of the Russian War, from the commence¬ 
ment to the present time : giving a graphic picture of 
the great Drama of War, its bloody encounters, thril¬ 
ling incidents, hair-breadth escapes, fierce enthusiasm, 
individual daring, personal anecdotes, etc., embracing 
a new plan of Sebastopol, its fortifications, batteries 
position of contending forces, siege-works, etc., and a 
map of the seat of war. New-York : G. S. Wells, 140 
Nassau-st. 
We are indebted to the publisher for a 
copy of the above work. The title-page 
which we have quoted gives its design and 
scope. The volume will prove an interest¬ 
ing one to all those wishing to read an ac¬ 
count of the stirring events that have recent¬ 
ly occurred in the Crimea. The accompa¬ 
nying maps are quite valuable. 
We refer our readers to the advertisements 
of Bcok and Maps of the Eastern War, on 
page 381. They came in too late for inser¬ 
tion among the regular advertisements.— 
Among the latter will be found “A Valuable 
Farm for Sale,” “Fine Angers Quince Cut¬ 
tings,” “ Cherry Stocks for Sale,” &c. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
WATERLOO IN. Y ) CORRESPONDENCE. 
The thermometer on the nights of the 5th 
and 6th of February marked 22° below zero; 
on the 6th, in a bright sun, it thawed slightly 
before noon, on the south side of the house, 
while on the north side, throughout the whole 
sunshiny day, it only rose to 10° above 0—a 
consummation never before witnessed here 
under a February sun. Those two nights 
were colder by 8° than the cold night in the 
winter of 1835-6, and 16° colder than it has 
ever been since 1836. Good sleighing com¬ 
menced here early in December; with the 
mild weather in January it failed entirely, 
but since the first of February it has been 
good ; now, on the 10th, it was never better, 
with snow fifteen inches on the average. 
We have had no rain since winter com¬ 
menced, and very little for the last eight 
months ; but for the melting of the snow in 
December and January our wells would have 
failed. 
I can but admire the philanthropic enthu¬ 
siasm of your correspondent, F. L. Olmsted, 
particularly at this time when a heartless, 
not to say unchristian, crusade threatens to 
disfranchise a large and useful portion of our 
race, even to its own last of kin. I repeat, 
it is consoling to see even one individual 
movement in the opposite direction, particu¬ 
larly when it is made so quietly, and so free 
from that bluster and pretension which char¬ 
acterizes so many of the doubtful charities 
and querulous movements of the day. 
The millions of unculvated acres of land 
in the United States offer a stimulus to agri¬ 
culture far beyond the physical capacity of 
the nation to improve it; hence the import¬ 
ance of foreign laborers, more especially to 
the farmers of the great west. ’Tis true that 
the great army of emigrants from Ireland 
and even from Germany, have not been phys¬ 
ically broken in to general farming, and to 
American farming particularly; but every 
man or boy below the middle age soon 
becomes, by good training under his mas¬ 
ter’s eye, a useful, if not an expert farm- 
laborer. Thousands of, bushels of wheat 
went into the ground last season in the great 
wheatfields of Wisconsin, “ the harvest was 
great but the laborers were *few.” Not 
enough expert hands could be hired at $2.50 
a day, board included, when money was 
worth 3 percent a month, and not to be had 
even at that rate. Hundreds of German 
women and girls earned their dollar a day 
and board, during the long-protracted har¬ 
vest in that great wheat-growing State. We 
have only to point to our canals and rail¬ 
roads to illustrate the idea of the value of 
the Irish emigration to these United States ; 
and I would ask the congregated matrons of 
our land, what would not have been their 
toilworn condition, but for the importation of 
those females of the Celtic race, who now 
form almost exclusively the “ hired help ” 
of almost every family in our land. 
In one reply to the queries of Mr. Olmsted 
I notice the remark that the “ Catholic Irish 
are more improvident and less susceptible of 
progress and improvement than the Protest¬ 
ant.” This assertion may be true in extenso, 
because the great mass of the poor Irish are 
of the Roman Catholic faith ; but as far as 
my somewhat extensive experience extends, 
I have noticed that the educated Romanists 
will compare favorably, both in thrift, moral¬ 
ity, and generous impulses, with the Protest¬ 
ant sects of the same nation. 
N’Importe. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CARPETS. 
Nothing is so soon observed on entering 
a room as the carpet. If that is nice and 
clean, there will be an air of comfort about 
the room, however plain the furniture may 
be. On the other hand, if there is a shabby 
and soiled carpet on the floor, if it is all 
askew, and half put down, the room will 
look uninviting and 'cheerless, even if the 
furniture is covered with damask. It is bet¬ 
ter to have no carpet rather than one that is 
ragged and filthy. 
With proper care carpets can be made to 
last a long time. In the first place, moths 
must be guarded against. Every crack in 
the floor ought to be filled with putty, and 
well dried. If there is not time to dry the 
putty, papers can be laid over it, Carpets 
should never be laid next the floor. The 
sand wears them if they are. A little straw 
or soft hay scattered on the floor does very 
well, but old straw matting, or drugget, or an 
old wool carpet does better. For very nice 
carpets, cotton batting, tacked between 
coarse, unbleached cotton, is the best thing 
that can be used. Experience has proved to 
me that carpets wear a third longer for be¬ 
ing wadded. The dust goes through to the 
floor, and the carpet needs much less sweep¬ 
ing than it otherwise would. A little damp 
grass, or brown paper sprinkled on a carpet 
when it is swept, saves the wear of it. For 
a nice carpet a broom should be kept which 
is not used for other purposes. Every spot 
should be washed off as soon as seen. 
Wool carpets should be taken up and 
shaken once a year, and, if the room is a 
common one, twice^or more. Whenever a 
carpet is taken up it should be carefully ex¬ 
amined, and if any places are burned or 
worn they should be carefully darned with 
the ravellings to match. A carpet can be 
saved very much by guarding the entrance 
doors with mats, &c., especially the door 
leading from the kitchen. Where there is a 
small entry between the kitchen and a car¬ 
peted room, it is a good way to cover the 
entry thickly with straw, and put over it a 
piece of carpet or drugget. Even cotton 
carpeting will wear a long time over straw. 
This is much better than mats to take the 
dust from the shoes. Get a large pattern 
so as to have some left to repair with. Much 
can be done by turning and mending carpets 
to keep them looking almost as well as new. 
No young lady ought to be married until 
she thoroughly understands this branch of 
housewifery. No matter if she expects to 
begin housekeeping with Brussels or Tapes¬ 
try, or Velvet, or Axminster carpets, put 
down by an upholsterer. She ought to know 
how to take care of them, and how to make 
a room comfortable, if in the reverses o 
