MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
ABOUT SEEDS. 
Vitality and Durability. —In the sum¬ 
mer of 1849, a gentleman in England is 
said to have had wheat growing in his gar¬ 
den from seed taken from an Egyptian 
mummy supposed to be 3,000 years old.— 
Several other kinds of seed obtained from 
similar sources, have been found to grow 
after a sleep of many hundred years. Soil 
taken from the ground several feet below 
the surface, and carefully protected, has 
been known to produce new varieties of 
vegetables. 
A gentleman in this vicinity informed 
me, that, a few years ago, he plowed a 
piece of ground that had not been dis¬ 
turbed for thirty years. Soon after a por¬ 
tion of the field was found to be thinly 
covered with young plants which proved to 
be turnips. They were allowed to grow, 
and produced a fine crop. He ascertained 
upon inquiry, that the last thing raised on 
that part of the field was a crop of turnips, 
some of which being small, had been left 
in the field, producing seed the following 
year. These seeds must therefore, have 
retained their vitality during 30 years. 
In the spring of ’49 I dug a ditch thro’ 
what had once been a bog, but had been 
covered, within the last 40 or 50 years with 
new soil, washed from lands above, to the 
depth of a foot or more. The upper stra¬ 
tum was wholly different from the lower, 
and distinctly separated from it by a thin 
layer of fine vegetable mould. As soon as 
the growing season commenced, a line of 
vegetation sprang up from this layer along 
both sides of the ditch, some of which was 
the same with that on the surface of the 
ground, another was different. 
My present garden was used both as 
vegetable and flower garden several years 
ago, but for the last few years has been 
for meadow. In the spring of ’50 several 
species of garden flower grew up and blos¬ 
somed ; among which were fumitory, poppy, 
flower-of-an-hour, and others. The same 
have appeared again this season in other 
parts of the garden in greater abundance, 
(of the poppy several varieties,) together 
with the “ Allegany vine,” ( Adlumia , Wood 
Cor. E. Ac.) The seeds of these plants 
must have lain in the ground 10 or 15 
years. 
In regard to the cause of the durability 
of seeds, it is well known that three things 
are necessary to germination; viz., air, heat, 
and moisture; while one of these would 
either produce no change, or a fatal one. 
Of the reasons why, we know nothing.— 
The facts are well understood; and from 
these facts we may reason in regard to seeds 
in certain situations; as when buried deep 
in the earth, beyond the resell of heat and 
air, or when kept dry, i. e., away from the 
influence of moisture. Potatoes, apples, 
Ac., may be kept for years by being buried 
in the ground away from the influence of 
heat and air. These facts explain some of 
those above, but not all. The case of the 
turnips, and other seeds that are known to 
lie for years on, or near the surface, seems 
not easy of solution. 
Multiplicity.— A single plant often pro¬ 
duces many hundred, or many thousand 
seeds, which cultivation may increase to 
many hundred thousands. A plant, ( Oe¬ 
nothera biennis,) was allowed to grow last 
year, on one side of my garden, not in the 
most favorable situation, which flowered 
the present season. When out of flower, 
(some of the seeds being nearly ripe,) I 
counted the branches, capsules, Ac., and 
calculated the number of seeds as follows: 
Main stem five and a half feet high. 
Number of spikes on brandies and 
main stem, 41 
Average number of capsules on a spike, 50 
Total number of cells, 2,1)50 
Number of cells in a capsule, 4 
Total number of cells, 8,200 
Average number of seeds in a cell, 70 
Total number of seeds, 574,000 
Great as this number appears, as the 
product of a single seed, I consider it be¬ 
low rather than above the truth. a. 
Down East, A'jg., 1851. 
Tue Orchard.--T ake away dry grass 
and weeds, or old mulching from young 
trees; mice will rarely gnaw them unless 
there are substances near suitable for the 
construction of their nests. If these ani¬ 
mals are troublesome, it will be better to 
throw half rotted leaves, or old peat-mud 
about your nursery seedlings.—Ah E. Far . 
PEARS RUNNING OUT. 
Any person conversant with fruit, who 
will take the trouble to walk through the 
markets of Philadelphia, where more Seckel 
pears are to be seen than any where else 
in the world, cannot but be struck with the 
very small size of these pears. If he has 
besides been in the habit, as we have been, 
of seeing the Philadelphia markets at this 
season, for some years past, he will make 
the comparison between the Seckel pears 
of Philadelphia now and those of ten or 
fifteen years ago. Then, the Seckel, pears 
might be seen by the wagon load, large, 
fair, ruddy, and handsome, as well as de¬ 
licious. If you mention this present de¬ 
generacy to a Philadelphian, he will shrug 
his shoulders, and say, “ yes, the Seckel 
pear is no longer what it once was; I am 
afraid it is running out.” 
And yet, if you go to Boston, which is 
far from being so favorable a climate for 
fruit culture as that of Philadelphia, you 
will see Seckel pears so large and fine that 
you almost doubt their being the same 
fruit. If you are curious to investigate the 
history of the Seckel pear culture in the 
two places, you will not long be at a loss 
how to account for the difference. In Phil¬ 
adelphia, they trust to nature, and a soil 
once highly fertile. But the Seckel pear 
trees have exhausted the soil, because it 
had only a certain amount of pear tree ele¬ 
ments, and languished for more food. In 
Boston, they know that nature is a hard 
mother, and they rely on art, trenching the 
soil twice as deep as nature makes it, and 
supplying an abundance of food for the 
growth ol the tree and fruit. Hence the 
average size of the Seckel pear in Philadel¬ 
phia has dwindled down in twenty years 
lrom an inch and three-fourths in diameter 
to a little more than an inch; while in Bos¬ 
ton it has been raised by high culture to 
between two and three inches in diameter. 
Some soils,.however, contain in them¬ 
selves an almost inexhaustible supply of 
natural food for fruit trees. Even long 
culture wears out such soils slowly, because 
the mineral elements of fertility gradually 
decompose and form new soil. We have 
before us a couple of Seckel pears, of ex¬ 
traordinary size and beauty, sent us from 
Brandon, on the James river, Virginia, one 
of the largest and oldest estates in Ameri¬ 
ca, having been cultivated since the earliest 
settlement of the lcountry. This estate still 
shows large fields, which, under the present 
good management (i. o. the judicious ap¬ 
plication of lime,) yield thirty bushels of 
wheat to the acre. But the Seckel pear 
trees here, without any special attention, 
still bear larger and finer fruit than we 
have seen in Philadelphia. It is useless, 
with such proofs of the effects of soil and 
culture upon fruit, for our Philadelphia 
friends to talk about the “ running out” of 
so modern a pear as the Seckel. It is the 
soil which has run out, not the variety.— 
Downing's Horticulturist. 
CHEAP COVERING FOR GREEN-HOUSES. 
I have a few words to say about a cheap 
and effectual covering for green-houses, pits, 
etc., which will answer for the American 
climate, as it has answered for our severe 
winters in the northern parts of Germany 
for the last thirty years, to the greatest sat¬ 
isfaction, under all circumstances. Accord¬ 
ing to the size of your lights, have a frame 
work made, so if put on, to cover the whole 
light sufficient. Take paste-board of the 
most common kind—tar it well over, so that 
the tar will soak well in the paste-board— 
do it a second time—then, according to the 
size of the paste-board, nail it on to the 
above mentioned frame, and put so many 
lath in your frame-work as to make the 
paste-board tight, or rather keep it, when 
snow or rain is falling, from bending on the 
glass. After that is done, give the whole 
another tarring over with a better sort of tar. 
I forgot to mention that it is best to put 
the tar on when it is either boiled, or made 
thin by means of hot stones put into it.— 
After that is done, take a fine sieve and sift 
some sand over the whole, which will give 
it a nice appearance, and prevent any stick 
ing which might be left by the last tarring. 
This, done every second or third year, will 
keep these shutters for many years. Any 
accidental hole can be repaired by sewing 
a piece of prepared paste-board in it. It 
is possible that many may think boards for 
shutters, cheaper and better than this; but 
any one acquainted with them, will know 
that the glass is very liable to be broken by 
them, besides getting so often out of repair, 
and being so very heavy when snow or rain 
falls on them. The way to secure these 
sashes, (or shutters,) must be left to any 
one’s own choice. — Cor. of Horticulturist. 
Pear Trees. —My fruit has very much 
improved and some that were almost worth¬ 
less, restored by the following applications: 
During the winter, when the frost will ad¬ 
mit, I have trees dug around to the distance 
of three feet, baring up the under roots, 
and then have applied a bushel or more of 
cinders from the blacksmith’s shop—old 
iron would be better. This oxydizes by the 
rains of the season, and is taken up by the 
sap as it ascends in the spring.— Samuel 
Ford. 
QUINCE MARMALADE. 
In the “ Sketches of Brazil” in the New 
England Farmer, we find the following 
description of the mode of making mar¬ 
malade practiced in that country. It will 
be of interest to our lady readers. 
The fruit is first carefully sorted over, 
and all that is any ways specked or rotted 
is thrown aside as unlit for use. Next the 
quinces are thoroughly washed in pure 
water, after which they are sliced up with¬ 
out paring or removing the core, in the 
same manner that apples are often cut in 
New England, for frying. The fruit thus 
prepared, is placed in a copper or brass 
vessel, and just sufficient water poured in 
to cover them, when they are covered with 
a board cut to fit the top of the kettle, but 
never suffered to press upon the fruit. 
The kettle is then suspended over a 
moderate fire, where it ought to remain for 
three hours, observing the utmost caution 
all the time, that the water docs not boil. 
The fruit will then be sufficiently cooked, 
and the next move is to ladle it out into a 
fine wire or hair sieve, through which it is 
forced with the hand, or what is better, a 
stiff brush, thereby separating the pulp or 
jelly, in the proportion of one pound of 
sugar to two of the fruit, after which the 
water in which the quinces have been 
cooked is added, and the whole is simmered 
together for two hours longer, when it 
should be poured into wide-necked jars or 
tin cans, and suffered to cool, when it will 
become as hard as good new cheese, and 
I will venture to say, that a more delicate 
or delicious dish in the way of sweetmeats, 
never was placed upon the table. 
METHOD OF CURING PRIZE HAMS. 
The hams of Maryland and Virginia, 
have long enjoyed a wide celebrity. — 
At the last exhibition of the Maryland State 
Agricultural Society, four premiums were 
awarded for hams. We are informed by 
those who had the opportunity of examin¬ 
ing them, that they were of first rate qual¬ 
ity. The following are the recipes by which 
the hams were cured.— Amer. Far. 
T. E. Hamilton's Recipe. —First Premi¬ 
um. To every 100 lbs. pork take 8 lbs., of 
G. A. salt, 2 oz. saltpetre, 2 lbs. brown su¬ 
gar, 1-| oz. of potash, and 4 gallons of wa¬ 
ter. Mix the above, and pour the brine 
over the meat, after it has lain in the tub 
for some two days. Let the hams remain 
six weeks in brine, and then dry several 
days before smoking. 1 have generally had 
the meat rubbed with fine salt, when it is 
packed down. The meat should be per¬ 
fectly cool before packing. 
J. Green's Recipe. —Second Premium. 
To 1,000 pounds of pork, take half a bush, 
and half a peck of salt, 3 lbs. saltpetre, 3 
lbs. sugar, and 2 quarts of molasses. Mix- 
rub tlie bacon with it well; keep on for 3 
weeks in all; at the end of nine days take 
out the hams, and put those which are at 
the top, at the bottom. 
R. Brooke, Jr.'s Recipe. —Third Premi¬ 
um. One bushel of fine salt, half a bushel 
ground alum salt, one and a half pounds to 
a thousand lbs. pork, left to lie in pickle 4 
weeks, hung up and smoked with hickory 
wood until the rind become a dark brown. 
C. D. Slingluff's Recipe. —Fourth Pre¬ 
mium. To 100 lbs. green hams take 8 lbs. 
G. A. salt, 2 lbs. brown sugar or molasses 
equivalent, 2 oz. saltpetre, 2 oz. pearl ashes, 
4 gallons water, dissolve well; skimming off 
the skum arising on the surface. Pack the 
hams compactly in a tight vessel or cask, 
rubbing the fleshy part with fine salt. In 
a day or two pour the above pickle over 
the meat, taking care to keep it covered 
with pickle. In four to six weeks, accord¬ 
ing to the size and weight of the hams, 
(that is to say, the longer period for heavy 
hams,) hang up to smoke, hock up; smo¬ 
king with green hickory wood. I have put 
up hams for the last 12 or 15 years by the 
above recipe with uniform success, equal at 
all times to the sample now presented. 
BEEFSTEAKS. 
Steaks should never be covered after 
they are laid upon the dish; a cover smoth¬ 
ers them, and thus they lose their best 
flavors. Beefsteaks should be eaten as soon 
as they are cooked. 
The best pieces for steak are the surloin 
and the rump. The top of the round, next 
to the aitch bone, is very juicy, and by 
pounding it with a mallet may be made as 
tender as the rump. The steaks should be 
cut nearly an inch thick. It is not neces¬ 
sary to grease the gridiron before putting 
on the steak, indeed the flavor of the meat 
is much impaired by so doing. 
Prepare a brisk fire of coals, put your 
gridiron over it, but do not let your gridiron 
get hot before you put on the steak. As 
soon as the sinews become crisped a little, 
turn the steak. Do not spill the gravy up¬ 
on the fire. Take up the steak on a hot 
dish, turn the steak and replace it upon the 
gridiron. It will require ten minutes to 
scald it through and brown the outside.— 
As soon as the steak is cooked, put it upon 
a hot dish and serve. 
LIST OF PATENT CLAIMS 
ISSUED FROM THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 
For the week ending Nov. 4, 1851. 
To John Ericsson, of New York City, for im¬ 
provement in air engines. Patented in England 
Dec. 26, 1850. 
To Isaac Davis, of Mechanicsburgh, Ohio, for 
improvement in machines for forming horse col¬ 
lars. 
To Isaac Constant, of Buffalo Heart Grove, Ill., 
for improvement in cultivators. 
To N. Foster, G. Jessup, FI. L. & C. P. Brown, 
of Palmyra, N. Y., for improvement in seed 
planters. 
To L. B. Griffith, of Honeybrook, Pa., for ma¬ 
chine for measuring and cutting iron. 
To .1. T. Hammett, of Philadelphia, Pa., for 
improvement in desks. 
To J. K. Ingalls, of Brunswick, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in radiating surfaces. 
To L. S. Robins, of New York City, for im¬ 
provement in tanners oil from rosin. 
To L. S. Robbins, of New York City, for im¬ 
provement in distilling naptha from rosin. 
To Louis S. Robins, of New York City, for im¬ 
provement in paint oil from rosin. 
To Wm. P. McCornell, of Washington, D. C., 
for improvement in the manufacture of charcoal. 
To James Root, of Cincinnati, O., for improve¬ 
ment in folding doors for stoves. 
To Edward Swiney, of Andover, Mass., for 
improvement in processes for dyeing blue. 
To Joshua Uphain, of Salem, Mass-, for im¬ 
provement in compounds for extinguishing fires. 
To James Webster, of Leicester, England, for 
improvement in springs. Patented in England, 
Feb. 11, 1851. 
To Geo. W. Beardslee, of Albany, N. Y., for 
improvement in plaining machines. 
To Levi Bissell, of New York City, (assignor 
to himself and Lyman Kinsley, of Canton, Mass., 
for improvement in carriage springs. 
To L. S. Chichester, of Williamsburgh, N. Y., 
for improvement in machine for dressing staves. 
To W. B. Mulligan, of Edinburgh, Va., for 
improvement in bating and tanning hides. 
ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENT. 
To Henry Pace, Sen., of Cincinnati, O., for 
improvement in bedsteads. Originally patented 
Dec. 10, 1846. 
GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUC¬ 
TION OF CHAINS. 
There are some things which appear to 
escape general observation, as it respects 
the necessity of improvement; this has been 
the case with the one before us, for no man 
ean question the value of it after it is made, 
although we believe few, if any but the 
inventor, ever thought it was required. 
The improvement is on the simple link of 
a chain, whereby its strength is doubled: 
and whoever thought this could be done, 
or does not wonder that it was not discover¬ 
ed long ago, as chains have been made 
from time immemorial, and in every nation 
on the globe ? 
The inventor is Mr. Ledyard Colburn, of 
Birmingham, New Haven Co., Conn., who 
has taken measures to secure a patent for 
the same. The invention consists in simply 
uniting the two ends of each link together, 
by doubling them over one another, the 
same as if w e should hook, “ mason fashion.” 
the two little lingers into one another. The 
old unwelded links, on no chain, were ever 
made with their ends hooked into one 
another, but simply brought together and 
formed (the most common way) like an 8. 
Now what are the advantages of this im¬ 
provement? They are great We have 
tried the old link and the new one, in a 
Jack ; they were both made of iron rods of 
the same diameter, and we found that the 
new link stood more than double the power 
applied to the old link, before it gave way; 
in short, it is as strong as the welded link. 
. ° 
When we consider the usefulness and 
extensive application of iron chains to so 
many processes and operations, the value 
of this invention cannot be estimated; for 
the link can be made as fast and as cheap 
as the old unwelded link, while it has all 
the advantages of being as strong as the 
welded one.— Sci. American. 
IMPROVEMENT IN HORSE COLLARS. 
It often happens that articles in common 
use escape the attention of inventors, and 
hence we find machines, articles, and sys¬ 
tems in the same state now as they were 
hundreds of years ago. It is but a few 
years ago since attention was devoted to 
sewing machines, and many such things, 
and although we cannot say the same of 
horse collars, for we have seen many modi¬ 
fications of them, yet we must say that too 
little attention has been paid to their im¬ 
provement. W e say this because the clum¬ 
sy, close, shoulder-galling collars are in gen¬ 
eral use. 
J. B. Lindner, of Newark, N. J., has in¬ 
vented and taken measures to secure a pat¬ 
ent for an improvement in horse collars, 
which consists in forming the body of the 
collar of a spring, and making it to open 
and close at the bottom, to allow it to pass 
easily over the horse’s head, and to adjust 
itself better to the shape of the neck and 
shoulders of the animal — Sci Am. 
SPECIMEN COINS AT THE U- S. MINT. 
Tna suite of apartments in the mint ap¬ 
propriated to the exhibition of coins, ores 
and national medals, occupies the front of 
the building in the second story, and mea¬ 
sures sixteen feet wide by fifty-four feet 
long. Originally there were three rooms, 
connecting with each other by folding-doors; 
the removal of these has made one large 
saloon, with recesses, vary commodious and 
suitable for the use to which it is applied, 
ihe eastern and western rooms are of uni¬ 
form size and construction; the central one 
has a dome and skylight, supported by four 
columns, with a corresponding window in 
its floor (protected by a railing) to light 
the hall of entrance below. 
The ancient coins are displayed in eight 
cases mitred in pairs, and placed erect 
against the walls in the wide doorways and 
the middle room. The modern coins are 
variously arranged; part (including all those 
of the United States) being in a nearly 
level case which surrounds the railingabove 
mentioned; and part being in upright cases, 
disposed along the walls of the middle and 
west rooms. The ores, minerals and me¬ 
tallic alloys are placed in the west room; 
in the eastern are shown the national and 
other medals, and the fine beams used for 
the adjustment of weights. The middle 
room also contains portraits of the directors 
of the mint, beginning with Rittenhouse, 
the first director. All the cases are fronted 
with glass, and, besides allowing an inspec¬ 
tion of every specimen, present an agreea¬ 
ble coup d' ceil on entering the room, 
especially by the middle door. 
The collection was commenced in June, 
1838. Long before that date, however, 
Mr. Adam Eckfeldt, formerly chief coiner, 
led as well by his own taste as by the ex¬ 
pectation that a conservatory would some 
day be established, took pains to preserve 
master-coins of the different annual issues 
of the mint, and to retain some of the finest 
foreign specimens, as they appeared in de¬ 
posit for recoinage. As soon as a special 
annual appropriation was instituted for this 
object by Congress, (which was as soon as 
it was asked,) the collection took a perma¬ 
nent form, and, from the nucleus above 
mentioned, has gone on in a continual 
course of augmentation ever since. It is 
now nearly as large aa we expect or wish 
to have it, excepting, however, that speci¬ 
mens of new coinage, domestic or foreign, 
must be added as they appear. 
For effecting this purpose, we have singu¬ 
lar facilities. A great majority of the coins 
—almost all of those not over three hun¬ 
dred years old—have been culled from de¬ 
posits, and consequently have cost us no 
more than their bullion value. They are, 
moreover, the choicest of their kind; and, 
perhaps, there are few cabinets where so 
large a proportion of the pieces are in bo 
fine preservation, as well the ancient as the 
modern. We have, also, the advantage of 
the correspondence and aid of gentlemen 
abroad, some of them officially related to 
our government, and all experiensed in this . 
business, and disposed to respond to our 
wishes. 
At the present time the aggregate of 
specimens is about 650 in gold, 2100 in 
silver, 1200 in bullou brass, copper, Ac; 
in all 3950. Of these, the ancient Greek 
and Roman number 82 in gold, 503 in sil¬ 
ver, and 480 in other metals; in all, 1662. 
Compared with. the numismatic cabinets 
of Europe, our collection is, indeed, but a 
dwarf in size, and may stand second, in that 
respect, to some in this country. But it 
was not our purpose to amass an immense 
store of coins, the very multitude of which 
might deter from its examination. We are 
rather willing to be the first to set an ex¬ 
ample of moderation in a pursuit which has 
it* temptations to extravagance and excess. 
— Bankers Magazine. 
IMPROVEMENT IN BEDSTEADS. 
Mr. L. Newcomb, Jr., of New Bedford, 
Mass., has invented and taken measures to 
secure a very novel improvement on Bed¬ 
steads. The nature of the invention con¬ 
sists in having two bedsteads connected to¬ 
gether—an upper and lower one—and so 
arranged that the lower one slides under¬ 
neath the upper one, the said lower one 
having its foot posts surmounted by clamps 
which fit or work into recesses cut on each 
side of the rails of the upper one. The 
rails of the lower one pass through mortise 
holes in the lower part of the foot posts of 
the upper one. By this arrangement, the 
lower one can be drawn out from the upper 
when required for use, but when not re¬ 
quired it is kept in its recessed position, oc¬ 
cupying but little space, while it is very 
convenient in many cases where a spare 
bed is required.— Scientific American. 
Something New. —We met yesterday 
with a buggy wagon made entirely of iron, 
body, running gear and all, except the 
shafts which were of spring steel. It was 
a beautiful and airy concern, weighing 
about 300 lbs., and with more strength and 
durability, to all appearances, than those 
now in use. It is the patent of Messrs. 
Judson A Dewoolf, Harlaem, and ere long 
a branch manufactory will be started in 
this oity.— Alb. Register. 
