225 
DEATH OF TURPENTINE TREES.- A CHEAP PAINT, ETC. 
DEATH OF TURPENTINE TREES. 
We learn that some doubts exist at the north, 
relative to the death of turpentine trees, an ac¬ 
count of which appeared in the Chronicle of the 
3d inst. There is, unfortunately, no mistake in this 
statement, unless falling short of a full detail of the 
calamity may be considered such. We have per¬ 
sonal acquaintances who have lost trees in this 
way, and have undoubted statements of their dying 
in lots of five, ten, and as high as one hundred 
thousand. One gentleman had his trees boxed, 
which run very well, but after the first dipping 
they all died. This fatality among the trees has 
been thus far felt more in Brunswick county than in 
any other quarter here, in which county alone the 
damage is estimated at $100,000. They still con¬ 
tinue to die, and no one can calculate the extent to 
which the destruction may arrive. No satisfactory 
knowledge of the cause has been obtained, nor any 
remedy found.— Wilmington Commercial. 
The cause of the dying of the trees above refer¬ 
red to, is doubtless owing to the ravages of the lar¬ 
vae of the Pales weevil ( Hylobius pales), and the 
pitch-eating weevil (Hylobius picivorus, of Harris). 
Wilson, the ornithologist, describes the depreda¬ 
tions of these insects, in his account of the ivory¬ 
billed woodpecker, in the following words:—Would 
it be believed that the larvae of an insect, or fly, 
not larger than a grain of rice, should silently, and 
in one season, destroy some thousand acres of pine 
trees, many of them from two to three feet in diam¬ 
eter, and a hundred and fifty feet high ? Yet who¬ 
ever passes along the high road from Georgetown 
to Charleston, in South Carolina, about twenty 
miles from the former place, can have striking and 
melancholy proofs of the fact. In some places the 
whole woods, as far as you can see around you, 
are dead, stripped of the bark, their wintry-looking 
arms and bare trunks bleaching in the sun, and 
tumbling to ruins before every blast, presenting a 
frightful picture of desolation. Until some effec¬ 
tual preventive or more complete remedy can be de¬ 
vised against these insects and their larvee, I would 
humbly suggest the propriety of protecting and re¬ 
ceiving with proper feelings of gratitude the ser¬ 
vices of this and the whole tribe of woodpeckers, 
letting the odium of guilt fall to its proper owners. 
The larvae live under the bark, devouring its soft 
inner surface, and the tender, newly-formed wood. 
When they abound, as they do in some of our pine 
forests, they separate large pieces of bark from the 
wood beneath, in consequence of which the part 
perishes, and the tree itself soon languishes and 
dies. 
EFFECT OF TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES ON 
DISTILLERIES. 
In a very elaborate paper lately published in the 
Report of the Commissioner of Patents, by Charles 
L. Fleischmann, Esq., it is stated that the president, 
Count Burghaus, opened a meeting of German 
igriculturists, at Breslau, some time since, with 
in appropriate address, giving a sketch of Silesian 
agriculture ; and mentioned in it a fact which could 
not but please those interested in the noble cause 
of temperance, Prussian Silesia, he said, has 
heretofore had, to its population of 3,000,000, no 
less than the enormous number of 2,384 distilleries; 
and they have usually yielded to the government 
a yearly revenue of 998,000 thalers ; but since the 
rise of temperance societies, during the first four 
months of the year, 1845, the product of this tax 
had fallen off to 150,582 thalers; a diminution, as 
compared with the same period, in 1844, of no 
less than one sixth. From this decrease of tax 
and drink, he, of course, argued a proportionate de¬ 
crease of drunkards ; of the grain consumed by dis¬ 
tilleries, and of the total grain for which a market 
can be found; and hence he inferred that some 
agricultural labor must be diverted to other pur¬ 
suits. 
A CHEAP PAINT. 
As this is the season of the year when the good 
housewife delights in furnishing up the homestead, 
and in making it and all its appendages look al¬ 
most as good as new, we re-publish the following 
receipt for making a cheap paint. It is by Colonel 
Boyle, of Annapolis, a gentleman, who, notwith¬ 
standing the incessant claims upon his time in pro¬ 
fession, still devotes a portion of it to rural occupa¬ 
tions, and has, in times past, very acceptably oc¬ 
cupied our pages, much to the edification and de¬ 
light of our readers.— American Farmer. 
To Make Paint. —Having been so frequently ap¬ 
plied to for the following receipt, until it has be¬ 
come troublesome to give copies of it, I request you 
to publish it. James Boyle. 
To make paint without white lead and oil. Take 
2 quarts skimmed milk, 2 ounces fresh-slacked 
lime, 5 pounds whiting; put the lime into a 
stoneware vessel, pour upon it a sufficient quantity 
of milk to make a mixture resembling cream ; the 
remainder of the milk is then to be added; and 
lastly the whiting is then to be crumbled and spread 
on the surface of the fluid, in which it gradually 
sinks. At this period, it must be well stirred in, or 
ground as you would other paint, and it is fit for 
use. There may be added any coloring matter that 
suits the fancy. 
It is to be applied in the same manner as other 
paint, and in a few hours it will become perfectly 
dry. Another coat may then be added, and so on 
until the work is completed. 
This paint is of great tenacity, and possesses a 
slight elasticity, which enables it to bear rubbing, 
even with a coarse woollen cloth, without being in 
the least degree injured. It has little or no smell, 
even when wet, and when dry is perfectly inodor¬ 
ous. It is not subject to be blackened by sul¬ 
phurous or animal vapors, and it is not injurious to 
health. All which qualities give it a decided ad¬ 
vantage over white lead. 
The quantity above mentioned is sufficient for 
covering 27 square yards with one coat.— Annapo¬ 
lis Republican. 
Color of Eggs. —Fowls, to which a portion of 
chalk is given with their food, lay eggs having 
shells remarkable for their whiteness. By substi¬ 
tuting for chalk, a calcareous earth, rich in oxide of 
iron, the color of the egg shells will be of an orange- 
red. 
