40 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
ONIONS. 
Onions, together with garlic, were held in 
such estimation by the Egyptians, that they 
swore by these vegetables as divinities. The 
satirist Juvenal ridicules them for their super¬ 
stition, and calls them a happy people, in whose 
gardens their deities grow. 
The Egyptian onion, being a very fine vege¬ 
table, was forbidden to the priests of that coun¬ 
try, as too great a luxury. Some have thought 
that the priests did noteat the onion, from some 
superstitious dislike. But the bulb they hated 
was the red squill, because it was dedicated to 
Typhon, their evil deity. Our English name of 
onion is derived from the Latin unio , (one,) be¬ 
cause the bulb is solitary, and throws out no 
offshoots. 
Garlic was highly esteemed among the Greeks. 
The Athenians believed that it counteracted the 
effects of bad air. Garlic, with flour and honey, 
was the fare set before Machaon, in the royal 
tent of Nestor. (Iliad, book ii.) The herb 
moly, given by Mercury to Ulysses, to protect 
him from the enchantments of Circe, is be¬ 
lieved to have been the garlic, called Allium 
maqicum. (Odyssey, book x.) 
Garlic was sacred to the Roman penates, but 
the goddess Cybele admitted no one to her rites 
who had recently eaten garlic. Horace’s third 
epode is an execration of the strong-scented 
herb. AYe must remember the tale in the 
“Arabian Nights,” that delightful book of our 
youth, in which the merchant is so severely pun¬ 
ished by his lady wife for entering her pre¬ 
sence with unwashed hands after eating a ra¬ 
gout of garlic. Pliny tells an easy mode of 
doing away with the unpleasant smell of garlic, 
by eating with it beet-root roasted in the ashes. 
There is a sweet-scented garlic {Allium odorum,) 
a native of the south of Europe. In the Le¬ 
vant, garlic is hung over the doors of houses to 
avert sorcery; a relic, among the modern 
Greeks, of the veneration of Mercury’s moly, 
with its anti-circean virtues. Our wild garlic, 
with its pretty, white, star-like flower, is an or¬ 
nament to our woods, as far as the sense of 
sight goes, at least.— Littell's Living Age. 
DRAINING.—No. 11. 
TILE DRAINS—CONTINUED. 
Some of the advantages claimed for liorse-shoe 
over pipe-tile, are, that, they occupy less room 
in burning and carting, since they lock into 
each other; that they furnish better openings 
for the access of water, both at the bottom and 
at the edges where they are placed upon soles; 
and that, being placed upon broad soles, they 
rest upon a wider base than the round or nearly 
round pipe-tile, and are on this account less 
liable to sink out of place. A\ r e think, however, 
that pipes form the most perfect tube for a 
permanent drain. If carefully laid, there is little 
fear of their displacement, and with regard to 
the free access of water, experience has fully 
shown that “the water cannot be kept out of 
them.” The water will not only enter between 
the joinings of the several pieces, but it readily 
passes through the sides of the tile itself. An 
unglazed vessel made of brick-clay of the finest 
quality will not hold water any length of time. 
A drain of two-inch pipe-tile, ten rods long or 
even less, will give a constant full stream of 
water from a wet soil. 
The most perfect form for a drain is one made 
with tile, covered with a layer of stone six to 
fifteen inches in thickness. If stones are put 
over the tile, great care is requisite, or the tiles 
will be cracked or broken. This addition of 
stones is seldom necessary, and probably not at 
all, unless in a very compact clay soil. 
AVliere a great amount of water is to be con¬ 
veyed away, as in large main drains, it often 
becomes necessary to use very large tile, or to 
place two or three smaller ones by the side of 
each other. The cost of two smaller tiles is 
little more than that of a large one of double ca¬ 
pacity ; and there is this advantage, that where 
there are two distinct sets of tubes, there is a less 
chance of failure ; for should one'give way, there 
will still be one left. Two forms of the double 
drain are shown in figures 20 and 21. 
In fig. 20, two horse¬ 
shoe tiles, a and b, are 
placed upon a single 
sole. Two pipe-tiles 
may be similarly plac¬ 
ed by the side of each 
other, without the sole, 
and with or without 
the covering of stone. 
In fig. 21 one of these 
is placed over the 
other, with a single 
flat tile between them. 
Fig o 0 AYe should prefer the 
first method—that shown in fig. 20. 
Tiles, of whatever form, should be well made. 
Theyshould be smooth 
^ on the surface, and 
^ ring like cast iron 
$ when struck with the 
knuckle. If over- 
( burned, they are lia- 
( ble to crack and break, 
|| and if under-burned, 
they become soft and 
spongy, and fall in. 
There is considerable 
variation in length in 
this country, some 
Fig. 20. being fully fifteen in¬ 
ches long, while others are but twelve inches. 
The short tiles are preferable, if proportionably 
cheap, and buyers, in ordering, should always 
stipulate for some particular length. Two fac¬ 
tories were recently selling two-inch pipe-tile, 
the one at $10 and the other at $12 a thousand; 
but on measuring, we found their lengths re- 
pectively twelve and fifteen inches. Those at 
$12 and fifteen inches long were of course the 
cheapest. 
Tiles were formerly made by hand, but they 
are now made at a much cheaper rate by ma¬ 
chinery. These machines are with us luckily 
unpatented, and competition has already re¬ 
duced their price very low. Very fine single 
tile machines, capable of making several thou¬ 
sand tiles a day, can now be obtained for $125 
to $150, and double machines for $150 to $225. 
They are easily worked by any brickmaker, and 
we hope soon to see them in operation in every 
part of the country. AYe will gladly furnish 
any information in our power to those who may 
wish to procure such a machine. 
The smaller size of tiles are now sold for $12 
to $18 per thousand in this country, or at the 
rate of fourteen to eighteen cents a rod; and 
they will continually become much cheaper. As 
soon as the advantages of these tiles become 
known, so as to create, a demand for them, ma¬ 
chines for their manufacture will be introduced 
into brick-yards generally in the older parts of 
this country, and the cost of transportation will 
be greatly reduced. 
It is as cheap to raise a ton of grass or clover 
as a ton of burdock, nettles, or pig-weed. 
STATE FAIRS, 1853. 
Michigan, at Detroit, - - “ 
Pennsylvania, at Pittsburg, “ 
New-Hampshire, at Man¬ 
chester, .Oct. 
Maryland, Baltimore, - - “ 25, 
Illinois, at Springfield, - - “ 11, 
Indiana, at Lafayette, - - “ 
North Carolina, at Raleigh, “ 
Missouri, Boonville, - - - “ 
AYisconsin, at AYatertown, “ 
Virginia, at Richmond, - - Nov. 
Lower Canada Board of Ag¬ 
riculture, Annual Exhibi¬ 
tion, .Sept. 
Upper Canada, - - - - Oct. 
North-western Fruit-Grow¬ 
ers’ Association, Chicago, “ 
Alabama, Montgomery, - “ 
South Carolina, - - - - “ 
Southern Central Agricul¬ 
tural Society, Augusta, 
Georgia,.“ 
South-western Association, 
Louisville, Kentucky, - “ 
American Institute, - - “ 
COUNTY FAIRS, 1853. 
Herkimer, at Illion, - • - - Sept. 
Westchester, at White Plains, “ 
Orange, at Goshen, - - - - “ 
Ontario, at Geneva, - - - “ 
Green, at Coxsackie, - - - “ 
Clinton, at Keeseville, - - “ 
Lewis, at Martinsburg, - - - “ 
Alleghany, at Angelica, - - “ 
Orleans,.“ 
Livingston, at Geneseo, - - “ 
AYyoming, at AYarsaw, - - - “ 
Monroe, (AYest. Disk,) Brock- 
port, .“ 
Monroe, (Eastern Dist.) East 
Rush,. “ 
Dutchess, at AYashington Hol¬ 
low, . 
Albany, at Bethlehem, - - 
Seneca, at Waterloo, - - 
Chemung, at Horseheads, 
Monroe Domestic and Horti¬ 
cultural Soc’ty, Rochester, 
Oct. 
28, 29, 30 
27, 28, 29 
5, 6, 7 
26, 27, 28 
12, 13, 14 
12, 13, 14 
18 
2 to 7 
to 74 
1, 2, 3, 4 
27 to 30 
5 to 7 
4 to 7 
18 to 21 
17 to 20 
11 to 16 
19, 20, 21 
27, 28 
28, 29, 30 
28, 29 
28, 2 9 
27, 28 
27, 28 
27 
29, 30 
28, 29 
28, 29 
27 
29 
4, 5 
4, 5, 6 
12, 13, 14 
7, 8 
A New Variety of Wheat. —We have just 
received from Lieut. Wm. D. Porter, U. S. N., 
a small quantity of wheat which he procured 
from the eastern slope of Mount Atlas, Asia Mi¬ 
nor. This has been cultivated in an exposed 
situation, and appears to be a superior and fine 
variety. We can send a few samples of half an 
ounce each to those who are most desirous for 
new seed. 
-- 
TO SUBSCRIBERS —IRREGULARITY OF PAPERS 
We still have occasional complaints from sub¬ 
scribers that they do not receive their papers 
regularly from carriers or by mail. AYe hope 
those suffering in this way will send written 
notice to the office, that we may remedy the 
omission as well as possible; though we have 
little hope of regulating the United States mail. 
We keep on hand a few back numbers for 
new subscribers, and to fill up any deficiency 
arising from the above-named causes. We ad¬ 
vise all to preserve every number, so as to have 
a complete file at the end of the year, to be 
stitched together or bound with a full index, 
which we intend to furnish at the close of each 
volume. 
. ♦ fr-0- 
Arrival of Stock in Kentucky. —Mr. Alex¬ 
ander, of Medway, Woodford co., Kentucky, 
writes us that he got on nicely with his imported 
short-horn cattle, and that most of them are 
doing well on his plantation at Woodburn. He 
