256 
VENETIAN OR TANNERS SUMACH 
eye of Molly, that he would stop on his way home, 
and do himself the pleasure that very evening. 
“ Yes, sir, yes,” continued Aunt Nabby, “ and the 
chickens, and ducks, and turkeys, too. It warn’tno 
longer ago than t’other day, that I says to my hus¬ 
band, says I, Mr. Doolittle, says I, do you mind 
how all them ’ere critters do grow these moonshiny 
nights % ' Wal,’ he says back, ‘ Mammy,’ says he— 
for ye know, neighbors, he ollous calls me Mammy 
when we talk familiar like together—‘ may be ’tis 
as you say, all in the moon,’ says he, ‘ but I kinder 
guess u ’tis the airly bird that catches the worm”’ “and 
it aint into a shut mouth that flies is apt to enter ;” ’ 
for ye know he most ollous will have his old say- 
in’s to begin with. ‘Wal, ye know, Mammy,’ says 
he, ‘ our chickens is pretty airly in the mornin’, with 
eyes and mouths wide open, too, huntin’ for break¬ 
fast ; and, what is more, worms, and bugs, and 
grasshoppers, and pollyvvogs, is gettin’ plenty now T - 
a-days, and field mice, too, for the kittens; and it 
don’t take much runnin’ arter to catch ’em; 
and, when cotched, they fat all that eats ’em 
despert fast—tho’ I don’t mean by this nothin’ 
agin the moon. Then the cosset calf and lamb, we 
musn’t forget the new clover patch, on to ^hich 
they were turned a fortnight ago ; no, nor all the 
milk and meal you and Molly gives ’em. Wal, it’s 
a poor hide, that clover, milk, and meal, does n’t 
soon fill; and it’s a miserable back and belly that 
they don’t soon kiver with wool, that’s sartin ; 
yet, we’ll let all that pass; but I know this, that 
the moon ollous makes me grow amazin’ fast one 
way, and that is—everlastin’ sleepy,’ and so he 
goed right ofi' to bed. Wal, arter all, I guess it’s 
sartin sure Mr. Doolittle b’lieves as much in the 
moon as Miss Thompson here, and I does. And 
Sargeant, now, ye need n’t look quite so cunnin’ out 
o’ the corner o’ yer eyes, and kinder touch up Mr. 
Jones with yer forefinger; for I sees ye, yes, I do,” 
she sharply continued, “ and ye can’t hide it; and I 
know, ’cause yer a readin’ man., as Mr. Jones is, 
and like to laugh at what ye call old women’s no¬ 
tions, that ye pretend to b’lieve nothin’ about the 
vartue of moonshiny nights. Wal, ye wont con¬ 
vince me, nor Miss Thompson nother.” To which 
Sister Lizzy nodded assent, “ that things do grow 
faster in the light of the moon than when its dark.” 
I beg your pardon, Mrs. Doolittle, and that of 
my excellent friend, Miss Thompson, you quite 
misunderstand me; for I agree with your husband, 
that milk, meal, grasshoppers, &c. ; have something 
to do with the growth of things; still, I think a 
good deal of moonshine. If the light of the sun be 
necessary to produce and perfect the vegetable and 
animal creation, and the moon shines by its bor¬ 
rowed light, its rays cannot but have a favorable ef¬ 
fect upon all growing bodies. Here young Jones 
was going to add, by way of offset to my partial ac¬ 
knowledgment of the merit of moonshine, that it 
was all humbug; that the light of the moon, com¬ 
pared with that of the sun, was hardly as one drop 
of water to the great ocean; but, as he is some¬ 
thing of a wag, I gave him a wink, and he checked 
himself, and went ofi 1 in a rigmarole of scientific 
terms that absolutely amazed the old ladies; and, 
luckily, as they did not understand one word, they 
took his grandiloquent harangue for a confirmation 
of their opinions. . i 
“ The moon,” he said, “ is wonderous in its sat- 
ellitic opacity. Who can count its ubiquitous 
phases 1 Who calculate its eccentric obfuscations 
during its heliacal risings 1 Its phenomena are un¬ 
bounded. Its conjunction unexplainable with the 
periphery of its diurnal mundicity; especially when 
the gibbous apparent coincides with the cornal 
crescent, and becomes a quadrature upon the syzy- 
gies of the octant line, and its nodes are at the un¬ 
precedented angle of its grandest symmetrical pertur¬ 
bation. Then is the time of her apogee ; and then 
commences the subtended evection to perigee.” 
“ Apogee and perigee! That’s it,” said Aunt 
Nabby triumphantly ; “ and don’t 1 see ’em every 
time I look in the almanac. Wal, Mr. Jones, I 
didn’t know ye was so wise afore. I kinder 
guessed you and the Sargeant would at last agree 
with me, and Miss Thompson, and my husband. 
It ony takes a little explainin’ to convince even the 
most stubbornest folks livin’.” 
Here my horse and carry-all were brought to the 
door; and, as we had taken our tea. and it was 
getting towards sundown, my wife interrupted 
Aunt Nabby, by saying we ought to be on the 
move home. To this she readily assented ; and 
after bidding good evening to our kind hosts, and 
promising to renew our visit as soon as convenient, 
we, with our darling baby, left them for our own 
domicils. Sergeant Teltrue. 
VENETIAN, OR TANNERS’ SUMACH. 
The Venetian sumach (Rhus coriaria ), so much 
used in tanneries, is imported in large quantities from 
Sicily, and the south of France, and sells at $45 to 
$50 per ton. It is very distinct from all the American 
species in its growth and general appearance, with 
the exception of the Rhus copallinum, and it is su¬ 
perior to them all for manufacturing purposes. 
The best mode of forming plantations would be 
from seeds, which may be imported from Naples, 
or the south of France. It is of easy culture, and 
propagates rather freely from suckers. It was fully 
tested by my father about twenty-five years ago, 
who imported it from Sicily, and cultivated it suc¬ 
cessfully in his grounds. He was particularly de¬ 
sirous of having its culture extensively established 
with us; it being a primeval feeling with him, that 
the first object of our country should be to render 
herself perfectly independent of foreign supplies of 
all articles which could he produced from our own 
soil. And it has always seemed impossible for him, 
as well as myself, to distinguish between that pu¬ 
sillanimity which once caused tribute to be paid to 
the Algerines, and the humiliating position of pay¬ 
ing tribute for supplies from the limited domains, 
and pauper-sustained factories of European nations, 
when the same articles could be produced to any 
extent within the limits of our own republic. 
The Rhus coriaria, being a native of the south of 
Europe, it will not flourish to the northward of 
New York. On the light soils of New Jersey, 
which are there so prevalent, it would, no doubt, 
do well; but it would probably produce a greater 
number of shoots in the lower sections of the 
southern states, where the climate is rr ore conge¬ 
nial and mild. Wm. R. Prince. 
Linncean Gardens and Nurseries , ) 
! Flushing , June 28th , 1848. ] 
