MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL ANU FAMILY JOURNAL. 
■ dbiitntiniml lf|tartnimt. 
BY L. WETIIERELL. 
THE NEW SCHOOL LAW. 
Mk. Editor: —I would sincerely regret 
to interrupt the harbinger of peace, with 
individual controversy; but there appears 
to bo an honest difference of opinion rela¬ 
tive to the justice and the effects of the new 
School Law. The property of Schools, and 
general diffusion of Education, is of such 
importance to the welfare of society, that 
those differences of opinion ought to be dis¬ 
cussed, if they are but calmly investigated. 
In doing so I will endeavor to confine my¬ 
self strictly to the new School Law, and its 
effects, and shall aim to avoid the multiply¬ 
ing of words, which only confuse; nor will 
I notice any beautiful pictures of scholastic 
acquirements, which are vividly portrayed 
to cover up the defects that are in the way 
of its advancement 
We, the opposers of the law, believe it 
to be unconstitutional*—that the Legisla¬ 
ture had not the right to pass it by a pop¬ 
ular vote. Secondly; it js unjust, and vio¬ 
lates the principles of free Government— 
Thirdly; its effects are destructive to the 
peace of society, and injurious to the pros¬ 
perity of the schools. At present I shall 
endeavor to confine myself strictly to the 
last proposition. 
The friends of the law stigmatize its op- 
posers {IS a few avaricious tax-payers who are 
unfriendly to Education, which is untrue, 
and extremely ungoierous. If the Lfiw in¬ 
terrupts the peace of society, {ind prosper¬ 
ity of the Schools, who are the real ene¬ 
mies,—they who Avish to remove the evil, 
or he who Avishes to continue the nuisance ? 
There are certain fundamental princples in 
social society, Avhich are as unchangeable as 
the primary rights of man. The cordial 
support of community is essential to the 
prosperity of any public measure, and none 
more so, than to the success of Schools and 
the adv'ancement of the pupils. And how 
does the law operate in that respect?— 
5'acts settled by practice are more to be re- 
bed upon than theories, no matter hoAV beau- 
tuully they are painted. Noav let us look 
at things as they really exist. School Dis¬ 
trict No.-hcis eighteen voters, ten of 
them nominal tax-payers, and eight real ones; 
a majority are in favor of the School and 
vote that the eight shall support it. Noav 
is it possible that any one can believe, that 
the opposition of the eight, Avho think them¬ 
selves unjustly taxed for the benefit of the 
ten, will not have a very injurious effect on 
the prosperity of the School. 
But suppose, on the other hand, that the 
tax-payers are a majority. The law cannot 
compel them to support a good School, for 
men cannot be made generous by force; it 
may force them to keep one four, eight, or 
even tAvelve months, but it Avill be only a ho av- 
do-you-do School, to avoid the LaAV, Avhich 
will be Avomc tlnin nothing. And such are 
the fruits of the neAv School LaAv, only with 
vai’ious majorities, Avhich does not materiid- 
ly alter its eft'ects. And I Avould sincerely 
ask the friends of Education if it is possi¬ 
ble for them to imagine that the prosperity 
of Schools can be promoted by any hiAv, 
that thus destroys the peace and harmony 
of community? William Garrutt. 
Wheatland, March, 1850. 
•The Attorney General has decided that the Law 
j?- Constitutional.—E d. 
FREE SCHOOLS. 
Mr. Editor: —In the 9th number of the 
“ HurtiV’ I find an article on Free Schools 
over the signature of “ Bloomingdale.” That 
the system of Free Schools is correct in 
principle, tind that they are far superior to 
the old Common School system, is evident 
from the superiority of the Common Schools 
in those countries where Free Schools have 
been in operation a sufficient period to ad¬ 
mit of a fair trial. In GermcUiy and Prus¬ 
sia, where the best Common Schools in the 
world arc found—where pauperism find 
crime arc rcirely found, and Avhere scjircely 
a person above the age of ten years cfvn be 
found Avho C{innot read {ind Avrite — Free 
Schools have been long in successful oper¬ 
ation ; {ind in our OAvn country their merits 
have been fairly tested. In M{issachusetts, 
Avlierc jiaupcrism and crime {ire far less 
abundant than in this State, and Avhere a 
much greater proportion of the inhabitants 
can read {ind Avrite, the Schools are free. 
I Avill not deny that there are serious de¬ 
fects in our Free School Lhav, but that does 
not prove the principle Avrong. We ought 
not to expect a ncAvlaAV—a measure of reform 
[ like this—to come perfect from the hands ! 
of its framers. Let its defects be brought 
to light by its practical operation, {ind then 
let us have Legislative enactments to reme¬ 
dy them. To repeal it noAv would be folly i 
in the extreme. Because it meets violent 
opposition is no proof that it is a biid law, 
or that it should be rcpeiiled. Fickle legis¬ 
lation is a very serious evil—laws enacted 
by the voice of the people should be repeal¬ 
ed only Avhen, after a fair trial, their opera¬ 
tion is found to be unjust. Let the present 
liiAv be so altered that the State and Boards 
of Supervisors shall have the poAver to raise 
the necessary sum for the support of Com¬ 
mon Schools, and collect it Avith the an¬ 
nual State tax—dispensing Avith all direct 
taxation—and let, at least, eight months 
school be required by law, and I think all 
complaints of its unjust operation will soon 
cease. 
That the benefits of education will be 
more generally diffused through Free 
Schools than imder the old system, no Avell 
informed person, I think, Avill deny. There 
are many persons who are in good circum¬ 
stances in life, that do not send their chil¬ 
dren to school, because they are too 'penu¬ 
rious to pay a rate hill. If you never have 
met such an one, reader, you have never 
seen all the ph{ises of human nature exhib¬ 
ited. Pride often induces poor people to 
keep their children from school. But to 
Free Schools all Avill send aa'Iio hiiA’-e chil¬ 
dren to send, and if the rich man has no chil¬ 
dren, he reaps his reward in the conscious¬ 
ness that he is aiding the generiil diffusion 
of knoAvledge—thus assisting to clog the 
{ivenues to vice and crime, and giving in¬ 
creased security to his life and property. 
Your correspondent conveys the idea that 
the increased diffusion of knowledge increa¬ 
ses crime. Facts do not appear to verify 
the truth of his assertion. It is true, that 
in a Avell educated community, things may 
be considered criminal, of Avhich no notice 
would be taken among people of less refine¬ 
ment, and thus more punishments may be 
infli^ed for crime among the former than 
among the latter. But Avhy is the standard 
of morals higher in Nbav England than in 
the Middle and Western States, if the more 
perfect system of education be not the cause ? 
It is true, that literary knoAvledge alone is 
not all that pertains to education, but I do 
not agree Avith him, that it cannot all be ac¬ 
quired at Common Schools. That moral 
impressions receiA^ed during school days are 
often the most lasting, cannot be denied, and 
the boisterous and vigorous school boy ex¬ 
ercises are very Avell calculated to develop 
the physiciil poAvers. Habits of industry 
may, and should also be acquired at school. 
But the practical education necessary for 
the successful performance of the varied 
duties of active life, cannot be acquired at 
school, and doubtless this is Avhat your cor¬ 
respondent undersUinds by practical educa¬ 
tion. An Ex-Superintendent. 
Alabama, N. Y., March, 1850. 
FREE SCHOOLS.- REACTION. 
This day I Avas called on by a neighbor 
who commenced here poor, and Avho, by in¬ 
dustry and perseverance is noAV Avealthy 
and independent, Avith {i long printed peti¬ 
tion to our State Legislature to re-enact our 
School Acts, &c., (fee. 
Before reading it I called for pen and ink, 
saying I Avould prefer anything rather than 
such bickering in our peaceable districts and 
schools. But after looking over the list of 
good old neighbors’ signatures in their own 
hand writing, and observing so many miser¬ 
ably poor and almost unintelligible marks, 
I said to myself, “read the printed petition 
before you sign it.” I did so and discover¬ 
ed that it proposed to place the district 
schools back on the old stingy ground Avhich 
they have occupied for years, and this too, 
in our Aveiilthy and reputedly intelligent 
Shite of Noav York, Avhile the spirit of the 
times and age is one too generous and com¬ 
prehensive to retard our efforts in the cause 
of the poor and of education. All other 
schemes divindle into insignificance in com¬ 
parison to this. Let the Legislature only 
Avitness the handwriting and signatures of 
those Avealthy petitioners and compare them 
to those of the little scholai*s in our old log 
schoolhouses, {ind act accordingly.— Daily 
American. 
Patience is very good, but perseverance 
is much better; Avhile the former stands as 
a stoic under difficulties, the latter Avhips 
them out of the ring. 
The temperate man, like a fish in crystal 
streams, untainted Avith disease, smoothly 
glides through the soft ciurent of life. 
The Public Education of the People. — An ! 
Oration delivered before the Onondaga ’I’eachers' i 
Institute, at Syracuse, Oct. 1849: by Theodokk j 
Parker, of Boston. Published by recjucst.— - 
Boston-. Crosby H. P. IVichols. 1850. ; 
For sale by 1). M. Dewey, Arcade Hail. I 
After remarking upon Education and sliowing ; 
the necessity for its universal diffusion among a ! 
free people, the author proceeds to discus.s tlie Fid- 
ucational F’orces corresponding to the folloAving ' 
modes of national activity: 
I 1. The Political action of the People, represent¬ 
ed by the State; 
2. The Industrial action of the People, repre¬ 
sented by Business; 
3. The Ecclesiastical action of the People, rep¬ 
resented by the Church; 
4. The Literary action of the People, represent¬ 
ed by the Press. j 
We make the following extract from what he 
says of Free Common Schools, and the import¬ 
ance of bringing the neglected children of the 
State Avithin these nurseries of virtue and knowl¬ 
edge, where they may be trained for the business 
of life;— 
“ The design of file Common School is to take 
children at the proper age from their mothere, and 
give them thb most indispensable development, in¬ 
tellectual, moral, affectional and religious, — to 
furnish them with as much positive, useful knowl¬ 
edge as they can master, and, at the same time, 
teach them the three great scholastic helps or tools i 
of Education—the art to read, to write and cal- ' 
culate. 
The children of most parents are easily brought 
to school, by little diligence on the part of the 
Teachers, and School Committee; but there are 
also children of low and abandoned, or at least, 
neglected parents, who live in a state of continual 
truancy; they are found on the banks of your ca¬ 
nals; they swarm in your targe cities. YVhen those 
children become men, through lack of previous 
development, instruction and familiarity AAUth 
these three instruments of Education, they cannot 
receive the full Educational influence of flie State 
and Church, of Business and the Press: they lost 
their youthful education, and therefore, they lose, 
in consequence, their manly culture. They re¬ 
main Dwarfs, and are Barbarians in the midst of 
Society: there will be exceptional men -w^hom 
nothing can make vulgar; but this will be the lot 
of the mass. They cannot perform the intelligent 
labor which Business demands, only the brute 
work, so they lose the development which comes 
through the hand that is active in the higher 
modes of industiy, Avhich, after all, is the greatest 
educational force; accordingly, they cannot com¬ 
pete with ordinary men, and remain poor; lacking 
also that self-respect Avhich comes of being respect¬ 
ed, they fall into beggary, into intemperance, into 
crime; so, from being idlers at first, a stumbling- 
block in the w'ay of Society, they become paupers, 
a positive burthen AAdiich Society must take on its 
shoulders; or they turn into criminals, active foes 
to the industry, the order and the virtue of Society. 
Now if a man abandons the body of his child, 
the State adopts that body for a time; takes tlie 
guardianship thereof, for the child’s own sake;— 
sees that it is housed, fed, clad, and cared for. If 
a man abandons his chiW’s Spirit, and the child 
commits a crime, the State, for its own sake, as¬ 
sumes the temporarj’ guardianship thereof, and 
puts him in a jail. When a man deserts his child, 
taking no concern about his education, I venture 
to make the suggestion, whether it Avould not be 
well, as a last resort, for the S-iw". to assume the 
guardianship of the child for its own sake, and for 
the child’s sake? We allow no one, with ever so 
thick a skin, to grow up in nakedness; why should 
Ave suffer a child, with ho^vever so pervei^se a pa¬ 
rent, to grow up in ignorance and degenerate into 
crime? Certainly, a naked man is not so danger¬ 
ous to Society as an ignorant man, nor is the spec¬ 
tacle so revolting. I should haA-e less hope of a 
State Avhere the majority were so perverse as to 
continue ignorant of reading, writing, and calcu¬ 
lating, than of one where they were so thick 
skinned as to Avear no clothes. In Massachusetts, 
there is an Asylum for juvenile offenders, e.stab- 
lished by the city of Boston, a Farm School for 
bad boys, established by the characteristic benev¬ 
olence of the rich men of that place, and a State 
Reform School under the charge-of the Common- 
Avealth: all these are for lads Avho break the laAvs 
of the land. YVould it not bo better to so take 
one step more, take them before they offended, and 
alloAV no child to groAV up in the barbarism of ig¬ 
norance? Has any man an unalienable right to 
live a savage in the midst of Civilization?” 
MINNESOTA SCHOOLS. 
Matnvnl Bistori]. 
It is only ti fcAv months, says the Chica¬ 
go Tribune, since Mrs. Sigourney sang tlms: 
We’ve a child out at nurse, where the waters run 
clear. 
And the F'alls of St. Anthony ring on the ear — 
And there, where the breezes arc bracing and free, 
She’s as healthful and happy as baby can be : 
"iMens Sana, in corpore sana,” you know, 
Is a treasure to all who are pilgrims below. 
Minnesota! just think Avhat it’s the name 
of, and Avliere the “of” is, and Avhat it was 
yesterday, and Avhat it is iioaa', and Avhat it 
Avill be to-morroAv. Find St. Paul, that young 
and mighty capital, on a four-year old map 
if you can. Presto! it’s there noAA'. What 
{ire fiiiry tales—Avhat Avere the teeth Cad¬ 
mus soAved — AAdiat the slippers of Cinder- 
elhi, compared Avith this? Eveiything is 
discovered, from the Antarctic Continent to 
Simm’s “excaA'ation,” except the lost Pleiad 
and Sir John Fninklin; Yankees AAffiittle pine 
sticks at e;irth’s “land’s end,” and build 
“pine piilaces” on the ultima thule of crea¬ 
tion. And here they {ire in the hist ^linne- 
sota Chronicle and Begister talking of their 
schools after tliis Avise :— 
“ There is a fine school at St. Anthony, 
Avhich is fully attended by the ‘youngsters’ 
of that thriving village. Our three schools 
{it St. Paul, recently established, are noAvin- 
fidl blast, affording, by their capacity and 
lociition, ample means for the education of 
all the children in tOAvn. We should like 
to knoAV Avhere the State is, that luis great¬ 
er advantages for Common Education than 
Minnesota at this veiy time.” 
Let young people remember, that their 
good temper Avill gain them more esteem 
and happiness than the genius and talents 
^ of {ill the bad men that ever existed. 
THE CANNON-BALL TREE. 
ifeMONo the plants of Guiana, one of the 
nK)St curious is the cannon-ball tree. It 
groAvs to the height of .sixty feet, and its fo¬ 
liage and ffowers are as remarkable for beau¬ 
ty and fragTance as its fruit is for size and 
contradictory qualities. Its blossoms are of | 
a delicious crimson, appearing in large i 
bunches, and exhaling a rich perfume.— j 
The fruit resembles enonnous cannon-balls,! 
Avhence the name of the tree, Avhich has al¬ 
so been attributed to the noise made in fal¬ 
ling. An eminent French naturalist says: 
“ Beneath a pure and dazzling sky, grace¬ 
fulness is ever united to the magnificence 
of nature; there the hidden streams only 
reveal their presence in gentle murmurs, or 
by the silvery light that they cast upon the 
rocks, or the soft sound Avith Avhichthey trick¬ 
le through the gras.s, or the increased ver¬ 
dure with AA'hich they endow the plants.— 
But Avhen the silence of nature is broken 
by those violent humcanes Avhich too often, 
in the torrid zone, blast the hopes of the 
cultivator, you may hear the report of the 
fruit of the cannon-ball tree, whose burst¬ 
ing produces an oft-repeated echo, and re¬ 
sembles the rolling fire of a discharge of 
artiller}^” 
From the shell domestic utensils are made, 
and the contents contain several kinds of 
acids, besides sugar and gum, and afford 
materials for making an excellent drink in 
sickness; but, singular as it may appear, this 
pulp, AA'hen in its perfectly ripe state, “ex¬ 
ceeds Avhatever is filthy, stinking and {ibom- 
inable in nature; yet the scent is remarka¬ 
bly vinoms, and so permanent, that on ex¬ 
amining some portions of the fruit that has 
been preserved in rum tAvo or three years, 
the native odor of the plant Avas found to be 
so strong as to render the apartment almost 
insupportable. Insects revel in this filthy 
and disgusting pulp. Beetles and earAAngs 
feed upon it; while the forruicas find shel¬ 
ter in the hollow of the shell.” 
THE HONEY-GTHDE. 
This singular bird is a native of Southern 
Afric{i, toAvard the country of the Caffres. 
It is small, with a gi-ay-brown back, and 
white beneath. It feeds principally on bees 
and honey,and is said to procure the aid of man 
to obtain honey, in the folioAving manner: — 
“The morning and evening are the times of 
feeding; the. note of the bird, Avell knoAvn 
to the African hunters, is then shrill; the 
latter answer the note from time to time, 
till the bird is in sight; it then dies forward 
by short flits, toAvards the spot Avhere the 
hive is situated, and thus secures a portion 
of the spoil from its grateful allies.” The 
natives hold these birds in great reverence, 
and highly resent the killing of them. In 
order to fortify them against the stings of 
bees, nature has furnished them Avith skins 
so thick that they can Avith difficulty be 
pierced Avith a pin. 
THE SPALAX. 
The Spalax, or blind rat, is found in Per¬ 
sia. It Avas once thought to be the same 
as the mole, and to bo blind, as no external 
traces of eyes are to be seen; but these or¬ 
gans of the thickness of half a line, have 
been discovered on removing the skin, and 
found also to be perfectly developed. The 
Spalax depends upon its ears for Aviiniing, 
and carries its head high for that pui^poso, 
its sense of hearing being acute, and the 
auditory caniil of great size. These animiils 
five in communities beneiith the surfiice of 
the earth, boring upward for roots, and ma¬ 
king one hole far deeper than the othei*s, 
Avhich is their city refuge. The agTicultu- 
rist often suffers from their researches, as 
they prefer cultivated land for their under¬ 
ground abodes. They can run sidewise or 
backAvard, Avith great SAviftness. Their bite 
Ls very severe. 
Birds in Mourning.—D ifferent species 
of birds have been mentioned {is occasion¬ 
ally becoming black. The bullfinch, Avhen 
caged and fed much on hemp-seed, is par¬ 
ticularly liable to become so. Many years 
ago, at Edenderry, Avhere a pair of bull¬ 
finches had been for some time kept, the 
male died, iind the female, AA'hose grief for 
his loss Avas very evident, S(X)n afterAvards 
moulted, and {issumed a full garb of bhick. 
Such a dress, being considered equivalent 
to the “AvidoAv’s AA’eeds,” Avas looked upon as 
almost supernatural; and more particuhir- 
ly so, Avhen after a year of mourning, she, 
at moulting time, threw^ them partially off, 
and exhibited some white feathers in her 
Avings.— Thomp)Son'’s Irish Birds. 
The White-Wax Insect. —This insect is 
a native of China. The celebrated Sir 
■ George Stanton speiiks of it as not much 
exceeding the size of a fly, haAdng very cu¬ 
rious pectinated {ippendliiges, rising in a 
curve, and bending tOAvards the head; the 
Avhole insect being covered Avith a Avhite 
poAvder. This powdery substance is impart¬ 
ed to the stems of the phints, upon w'hich 
these insects are found in thick clusters. It 
is then collected by the natives; hot vegeta¬ 
ble oil is then applied, and the whole, Avhen 
cofo, coagulates and becomes as firm as 
bees Avax.— Rambler. 
TENACITY OF LIFE. 
Fishes, and other cold-blooded animals, 
Avill survive an intense torpidity. “ The fish 
froze,” says captain, noAv Sir John Frank¬ 
lin, in the narrative of the journey to the 
Polar Sea, “as fast as they were taken out 
of the nets, and in a short time became a 
solid miiss of ice, and by a bloAv or two of 
a hatchet Avere easily split open, Avhen the 
intestines might be removed in one lump. 
If, in this completly frozen state, they Avere 
thaAved before the fire, they recovered their 
animation. We luive seen a carp recover so 
far as to leap {ibout with much vigor aftei- 
it had been frozen for thirty-six hours.”— 
The celebrated Isaac Walton quotes Ges- 
ner for the fact of some large breams be¬ 
ing put into a pond, Avhich Avas frozen the 
next Avinter into one mass of ice, so that not 
one could be found, and they were all swim¬ 
ming {ibout again Avhen the pond thawed 
in the spring,—a thing “almost as incredi¬ 
ble,” says the sentimental sinner, as Lord 
Byron ciills him, “ as the resurection to an 
atheist.” 
Insects easily bear torpidity from cold.— 
In NeAvfoundland, Captain Buchan saw a 
frozen lake, Avhich, in the evening, was all 
still and frozen over, but as soon as the sun 
had dissolved the surface in the mornina', 
it was m a state of animation, owing, as ap¬ 
peared by close inspection, to myriads of 
flies let loose, Avhile many still remained in¬ 
fixed and frozen round. Ellis also men¬ 
tions that a large black mass, like coal or 
peat, dissolved, Avhen thrown upon the fire, 
into a cloud of musquitoes. Those insects 
which hybemate, are not thought to pre¬ 
pare for and enter into that state solely from 
cold, as they do so Avhen the season comes 
round, although the weather be as Avarm as 
previously; and they shoAv no disposition 
before this period, though the temperature 
chance to be as Ioav as it is usually in the 
season of hybernation. Some animals be¬ 
come toiq)id on being deprived of moisture; 
the most simple infusoria, rotifera, and vir- 
bones, for instance. A common garden 
snail becomes torpid if put in a dry place, 
and may revive at any time by the applica¬ 
tion of a little Avater. Moisture has revived 
some animalculce aftei* a torpidity of tAven- 
ty-seA’-en years. The same is true of some 
of the most simple vegetables, as mosses.— 
The microscopic Avheel animal, after remain¬ 
ing three or four years as a shrivelled point, 
capable of being broken to pieces like a 
crystal of salt, is still recoverable by a drop 
of Avater, and the Aubrio, or eel, of blighted 
corn, after twenty or thirty years. Yet 
electricity destroys their capability of resus¬ 
citation. 
Most vegetables become torpid in Avintcr. 
Many lichens and mosses, dried in herbaria, 
have been restored to life, by moisture, after 
the lapse of very many years. Seeds and 
bulbs, Avhich have remained for years in the 
boAvels of the earth, have sprung into life 
on being throAvn into a more congenial soil: 
this Avas shoAvn recently, in trenching for a 
plantation in part of Bushy Park, which 
had probably been undisturbed by the 
spade or ploAV since, and perhaps long be¬ 
fore, the times of Charles the First. The 
ground Avas tui-ned up in the Avinter, and in 
the folloAAung summer it Avas covered with 
a profusion of the tree mignonette, pansies, 
{ind the wild raspberry, plants AA'hich are 
nowhere to be found in a Avild state in the 
neighborhood; “{ind in a plantation subse¬ 
quently made at Richmond Park, a great 
quantity of the foxglove came up after 
some deep trenching. The Hypecoum pro- 
cumbens Avas lost in the Upsal gardens for 
forty years, but Avas accidentally resuscita¬ 
ted by digging the groimd it had formerly 
occupied; and a species of lobelia, Avhich 
had been missing for tAventy years in the 
Amsterdam garden, was unexpectedly re¬ 
covered in the same manner.— Note Booh 
of a Nahiralist. 
VEGETABLE IVORY. 
This extraordinary nut, from the solidity 
it acquires at a certiiin {ige, is rendered an 
object of peculiar interest and astonishment 
to those Avho contemplate the economy of 
the vegetable AA'orld. The shell or outer 
covering of the nut is barely so thick as 
that of the common hiizle, and is so ex¬ 
tremely hard that no instrument wiU make 
an impression on it. It is only removed 
from the kernel by pressure. Bears and 
other animals are said to eiit the nut with 
{ividity, ere it has acquired its solid state, 
and derive considerable nourishment there¬ 
from. The learned Dr. Lindley classes the 
tree among the fiimily of the palms, and it 
is common in the Mascaren Islands, where 
it is called the Tagtia Plant. Persons de¬ 
scribe the nut and its shell as being enclo¬ 
sed in a prickly head of drupe. The kernel 
in an early stiite, includes a limpid liquor, 
wliich becomes milky and sweet, and at 
length acquires the solidity of ivory. 
The Indians cover their cottages Avith 
the largest leaves, and the English manu¬ 
facture all kinds of fancy articles in the nut, 
Avhich, in color, surpasses the elephant ivory. 
The shaATiig-s of the plant, when boiled, af¬ 
ford a milky liquor, and are not at all gel¬ 
atinous as the shavings of dust of ivory tire 
known to be A\'hen boiled doAvn. 
Indolence is the sleep of the mind 
