GATHERINGS. 
Shanghai Sheep. 
Geo. W. Kendall, of the N. 0. Picayune, in 
the prosecution of his purpose to establish an ex¬ 
tensive sheep farm in Texas, has recently returned 
to New Orleans with a pair of Shanghai lambs, 
which the Picayune announces in the following 
strain: 
Sheep all the way from China, good reader !— 
Something of a novelty that! We are accustomed, 
thanks to Yankee adventure, to the terms Shang¬ 
hai chickens, Shanghai eggs, etc., but we had no 
idea that the subjects of the Brother of the Sun, 
and fifty-third Cousin of the Moon, had any 
knowledge of the wool-clip or the taste of mutton 
chops. One would imagine that Chinese sheep 
would be like everything else that is Chinese- 
queer, odd, quizzical; but no such thing. These 
two lambs—for they are young ’uns—are quite as 
simple, and wooly, and dirty, and respectable¬ 
looking, as the most civilized of their European 
or American brethren. It’s no use saying “ chow- 
chow,” or “Tehiki” to them. They don’t un¬ 
derstand the green-tea language. A long voyage 
they have had of it, from Shanghai, on the other 
side of the globe, to New York—which is already 
a trip long enough to frighten any sheep—and 
then from New York to this city of abominations. 
They appear to take it quite quietly however, and 
thoroughly to understand the difference between 
people who wear tight inexpressibles, and those 
who sport baggy ones. The two innocent little 
big lambs propose emigrating to the prairies of 
Texas shortly, and we expect to hear of their 
lying down peaceably in the same flock with 
Mexican and Vermont specimens of their tribe ! 
So ba-a it! 
Wool Growing Profitable. 
The importance of Wool as a staple, is but 
just beginning to be realized among the farmers 
of Michigan and other States of the West. The 
repeated failure of the wheat crop in this section 
of the country, and its low price during an abun¬ 
dant season, have been causes for great discourage¬ 
ment to the agricultural community, and has com¬ 
pelled them to seek for relief from impending ruin, 
in some other of the gifts which Dame Nature 
lavishes so bounteously on her industrious vota¬ 
ries. The attention of the farmers of the North- 
West having been fortunately directed to the 
breeding of sheep, the experiment Ills been found 
to work admirably, and there has, for the past 
three years, been a continually increasing clip of 
wool sent forward to market from the interior of 
Michigan, in the aggregate amounting to some 
millions of pounds. The prices, so far, have been 
higher, more uniform, and better sustained than 
those of any other product of the farm, and, as 
the Paw Paw Free Press remarks, it is becoming 
pretty certain that wool is to be the leading agri¬ 
cultural product. The market for this article is 
very brisk, and the manufacturers have not a sup¬ 
ply on hand, and importations to some extent have 
taken place the past season.— Detroit Free Press. 
Chapped Teats. —We have had some experience 
with this difficulty, and never found anything 
better as a preventive and cure, than washing 
thoroughly in clean, cold water. If the weather 
is very raw, a thin coat of pure lard, applied after 
milking, is useful in addition to the washing.— 
Soft butter • is said to be excellent for that pur¬ 
pose. In corroboration of the value of this treat¬ 
ment, we quote the following from a communica¬ 
tion in the Prairie Farmer : 
“ I have used various liniments, and many kinds 
of ointment, but none in my experience came up 
to the mark like clean cold water. My practice is 
to take water to my cattle yard, as much as my 
milking pail. Every teat, and the lower part of 
the bag, whether sore or sound, is washed clean. 
The teats are then soft, the cow stands quietly, 
and no dirt falls into your pail.” 
Ringbone. — This disease so termed because it 
constituted bony growth round the pasteru-bone, 
is of two kinds, which are distinguished by horse¬ 
men as true and false ringbones. The former oc¬ 
curs at the pastern joint, and generally arises from 
strain of these ligaments ; but the latter consists 
in ossification of the cartilages of the sides of the 
foot, which become enlarged, as well as converted 
into bone. The best treatment for ringbones of 
either kind is, after the inflammation has been in 
a great measure removed by cooling applications, 
to fire the part, or otherwise rub in the iodide of 
mercury ointment, washing off the effects on the 
following day, and thus repeating it again and 
again. We have by such means succeeded in 
removing the lameness, diminishing the enlarge¬ 
ment, and restoring the animal, in many cases, to 
a state of usefulness.— Spooner. 
Wounds on Horses should be washed twice a 
day with clean, soft water, or with a little Castile 
soap, and then rub with whale oil. This answers 
for all seasons, keeps off flies, restores the liah, 
and of the original color. So says the author of 
“ Domestic Animals.’ ’ 
Words of Approval and encouragement are 
daily received in letters orderiug the W. G. A S 
R. We are often favored with remarks similar to 
the following, which we extract from a Virginia 
letter containing payment for the Wool Grower 
and the Rural New-Yorkfr : 
“ I esteem the Wool Grower as a very valuable 
paper indeed—one very much needed at tlie pres¬ 
ent time : for it is most manifest that the wool 
growing business is about to assume a very high 
stand iu the ranks of agricultural pursuits ; and I 
consider that paper well adapted to the wants of 
the country in this wise. I am no flatterer, but 
will say in regard to “ Moore’s Rural New-Yorker” 
that I think it comes nearer fulfilling its prospectus 
engagements, than any paper with which I have 
ever met. It is truly a family paper of much worth. 
Its literary and scientific parts are highly respect¬ 
able, and its mechanical parts are most excellent.” 
:::::::r:rrrrrrr^ 
MOORE’S R&J1AL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
art mill 4 
APRIL,—KITCHEN GARDEN AFFAIRS. 
In tho eastern States and New York, as 
well as the States lying west on the same 
latitudo, nothing as yet has been done in the 
Kitchen Garden. The spot of earth having 
been determined on, where the garden shall 
be made this season—you must bo guided 
by the nature of the soil, and forwardness 
of the season, in working it. If the soil be 
of clay formation, do not work it with spade 
or plow, until the water is drained off or 
removed by evaporation—because, if you 
do, it will bo full of hard lumps all summer 
—thus rendering your garden unproductive. 
On tho other hand, in case your soil bo 
sandy, it may be worked while wet — for 
such soil does not, like the former, possess 
the kneading qualities of dough. By work¬ 
ing sandy soil, when wet, you render it more 
compact, consequently more retentive of 
moisture, which is a very desirable quality 
in such a soil. Such a garden should bo 
top-dressed with clay-soil and stable manure, 
or l'ather cattle excrements—whereas, your 
clay soil should receive a top-dressing of 
sandy-soil and horse-dung, and compost 
manure. 
That earth, or soil for a garden that comes 
the nearest to perfection, is that which will 
retain its moistui’othe longest without leak¬ 
ing or becoming hard. This is loam, the 
medium between sand and clay. If your 
garden spot be sandy, mix clay-soil until 
you convert it into a loam—if clay, use sand 
until you have produced a like change.— 
Having prepared tho soil, begin to put in 
the seeds, for early vegetables, just so soon 
as the temperature of the season and other 
circumstances will allow. Peas, you can 
scarcely plant too early, after the frost is 
out of the ground. Cabbage of the differ¬ 
ent varieties, lettuces, radishes, potatoes, 
early beans, and corn. Carrots, and pars- 
neps, and onions, should be sown early, if 
you would maturely grow roots and bulbs. 
Forget not to sow a few early turneps.— 
Peppers should bo sown towards tho end of 
the month. So of tomatoes and kidney 
beans. 
No preciso day can bo fixed on for plant¬ 
ing—the gardener must be guided by ob¬ 
servation and judgment, in this, as in most 
other kinds of business. There is a time 
as well as a place for all things, in the gar¬ 
den as elsewhere. Nick that time and you 
will bo called one of the lucky kind, other¬ 
wise you will be denominated unlucky. 
Take good care of your fruit trees. The 
pruning you have already done, if not, it is 
not too late to do it this season. Destroy 
tho caterpillers as soon after they appear 
as you can. 
If you intend to plant fruit trees this 
spring, it is high time that it be done. In 
doing this, procure good thrifty trees—plant 
no others. So of your garden roots, bulbs 
and seeds for planting — bo sure to get 
the best—for it is a well established law of 
nature, that like produces like. Men do 
not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of 
thistles—nor good strong, vigorous, plants 
from imperfect embryos of their kinds.—w. 
TORONTO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Tiie friends of Horticulture at Toronto, 
C. W., met at Beard’s Hotel, March, 23d, 
and organized a Horticultural Society; 
chose officers, adopted by-laws and regula¬ 
tions, and voted to hold throe public exhi¬ 
bitions during the year. The first exhibi¬ 
tion will be hold early in June, for which 
a prize list has been prepared. Toronto 
is well situated for the production of tho 
best fruits and vegetables, and from the 
known character, skill and enterprise of 
those who have been active in organizing 
this Society, we have every reason to expect 
it will prove vigorous and useful. 
HARDY ROSES. 
The follwing may be relied on as being 
every way desirable and satisfactory : 
Hybrid Chinas —Fulgens, fiery crimson ; 
Chonodolle, light crimson ; Georgo the 4th, 
(Rivers’) dark violet crimson; Aureti, dark 
purple; Cericetto, light red. 
Climbers — Elcgans, (Boursault:) Balti¬ 
more Belle; Queen of tho Prairies, best of all. 
fVhite —Madame Hardy,beautiful; Strip¬ 
ed Unique ; Old English White. 
Moss —Common, Iiosinella, Gen. Drouot. 
Perpetual — La Reine, Baron Provost, 
Madamo Laffay. 
Yellow —Doublo Harrison, Persian. 
Lilium Loxgiflorum.— A long flowered 
White Lily, very beautiful and of easy cul¬ 
ture. Late in tho autumn cut a sod, say a 
foot square, and lay it over the plant, grass 
down, and this will bo ample protection 
from frost. The plant grows about two feet 
high. Try one. 
PLANTING ORCHARDS. 
In planting orchards, whether of apple, 
pear or peach, wo recommend the following 
courso:—Having prepared tho ground, as 
before advised, by deep and thorough work¬ 
ing, put out the trees a liberal distance apart, 
setting them no deeper than they stood in 
the nursery, and then plant tho field with 
corn. Mark out tho ground in such a man¬ 
ner as to plant each tree to stand in tho 
place of a hill of corn, and in cultivating 
and hoeing treat tho trees as corn, and give 
them as much attention as you do the grow¬ 
ing crop. If you hoe once more than is 
common, no harm will result. Under this 
treatment tho trees will grow apace and 
thrive. 
Pzeonies. —Many new and elegant vari¬ 
eties havo been produced within a few years 
past. They are of almost every shade of 
color, and some of them fragrant. People 
ought not to be satisfied with the old crim¬ 
son sort, which has been a comspicuous’and 
showy object, in gardens, since the earliest 
recollection of the “oldest inhabitant.” One 
or two, or more, of different huo should also 
adorn the border. They liko good culture 
as well as other plants, and pay back in 
“ glory.” 
THE DULLER PEAR. 
“ Diller” is among the very best August 
pears, and deserves a place in every collec¬ 
tion in this State. It is named after the 
person on whose property it grew and by 
whom it was most probably raised from seed, 
one hundred years since. Tradition says he 
brought the tree or scions from Germany ; 
but this is extremely doubtful, becauso of 
long voyages and want of horticultural 
knowledge. It is more probable he brought 
seed of some favorite pear, planted it, and 
raised this tree. Its growth much resem¬ 
bles the Bloodgood, short jointed, wood 
reddish brown, not a rapid grower, but bears 
regularly and abundantly. Fruit of medium 
size, obovate irregular or one-sided, thicken¬ 
ing abruptly into the stalk, which is an inch 
long and obliquely inserted. Skin, at ma¬ 
turity, golden yellow, sprinkled, and one 
side mostly covered, with light cinnamon 
russet. Calyx mostly open, set in a slight, 
smooth depression. Flesh yellowish white, 
buttery, with rich sugar luscious flavor; a 
little gritty at the core, which is small. 
Seed long, black and pointed.—J. Iv. Esh- 
leman, in Pa. Farm Journal. 
CULTURE OF ASPARAGUS. 
A correspondent over the signature of 
“ A Gardener.” in tho last number of the 
Germantown Telegraph, gives some practi¬ 
cal hints on the culture of Asparagus, which 
we annex : 
Next to green peas, asparagus is the most 
generally admired gardon esculent raised. 
Every farmer should have a bed of it, to 
supply tho wants of his own family, it being 
a very easily propagated vegetable, and one 
that is almost certain to do well in any soil 
possessing the attributes of fruitfulness and 
natural warmth. Mr. Pond, the celebrated 
Horticulturist, gives the following directions 
for its cultivation. 
“ In tho latter part of the month of March, 
or in April, select a spot of ground sufficient¬ 
ly large to plant tho number of roots intend¬ 
ed. If tho plantation is to be largo, and in¬ 
tended to supply the market, the ground 
should be plowed to a good depth ; if for a 
common kitchen garden, it should be trench¬ 
ed to the depth of fourteen inches. Make 
the surface of the bed lovol; after this is 
performed, proceed to mark places, to dig 
tho trenches for your roots ; they should bo 
two and a half feet apart: then throw tho 
soil out, twelve inches wide, and as many 
inches deep, laying it up in ridges between 
the trenches. After this is done, throw in 
three or four inches of manure; level it, and 
add about one inch of soil on the surface, 
scraped from the sides of the trenches ; lev- 
ol this also, and all is ready for planting.” 
Tho roots taken from old beds are better 
to propagate from than seed, as they pro¬ 
duce sooner, and require much less care 
and labor in tho cultivation. The plan I 
havo pursued is tho following j—Jn autumn. 
I dig my trenchos, either in green sward 
land, or that which has been cultivated—ma¬ 
king tho trenches eighteen inches deep, by 
twenty-four wide, filling them to. within six 
inches of tho top with good old manure, or 
compost. On tho top of this I place four 
inches of garden mould, and plant my roots 
or slips six inches apart, covering them with 
two inches of soil which has been previously 
saturated with house ley or salt. A sprink¬ 
ling of salt is given early in tho spring, and 
repeated at intervals of a fortnight through 
tho season. Salt is an indispensable agent 
in tho cultivation of asparagus, which is a 
saline marine plant, and cannot bo brought 
to perfection without it. An occasional 
dressing of chip manure, or compost, formed 
of pond mud and forest scrapings, is highly 
advantageous. If the beds become weedy, 
pour on pickle. It will destroy tho weeds 
and grasses without injuring the asparagus. 
All blanching of the spires, I consider in¬ 
jurious; they are thereby rendered more 
tender, it is true, but they are less sweet. 
THE GARDEN. 
The older we grow, the fonder we become 
of our garden. The time was, “in our hot 
youth, when George tho Fourth was King,” 
that wo haunted the stream, and loved to 
drop the lure, softly as thistle-down, on the 
dimpled pool. But the love of tho “ gentle 
craft” subsides somewhat with tho advance 
of years, and seems disposed to pass away 
imperceptibly into a pleasure of tho imagi¬ 
nation. With the return of the sweet vernal 
season, the piscatory passion, indeed, duly 
revives, and wo betake ourselves strenuous¬ 
ly to repair our tackle, and to study “ Stod- 
dart.” But were it not that then, too, 
Piscator junior returns home from college, 
and excites the weaker flame in the pater¬ 
nal bosom by the ardor of his angling en¬ 
thusiasm, and succeeds in hurrying us away 
to Lochard, or some cherished upland stream, 
wo doubt exceedingly if weather tho most 
inviting, and streams of the most perfect 
tint, and reports the most propitious regard¬ 
ing tho inclinations of the finny tribes, could 
withdraw us from our glowing polyanthuses 
and bright-eyed auricular. We feel, indeed, 
that our affections are gradually concentra¬ 
ting themselves on our garden ; and we have 
satisfied ourselves, on tho high grounds of 
philosophy, that it is wise that they should 
do so. 
Cicero gives it as his opinion, that the 
superintendence of a garden is an employ¬ 
ment appropriate to mature years ; and al¬ 
though the Tusculan sage has left his theo¬ 
ry undeveloped, it is not difficult to see how 
the pursuits and pleasures of horticulture 
should bo in unison with a disciplined un¬ 
derstanding and a calm breast. Perfect 
Wisdom placed tho perfect man in a garden, 
to dress and keep it. The place and the 
duty must have been divinely congenial with 
the exercises of an undepraved heart. The 
love of man’s primeval calling seems yet to 
linger fondly in the bosom of the exiled race. 
The first ploasuro of children is to gather 
fresh flowers from the daisied mead, or to 
play their little hands in the allotted patch 
of garden-ground. “ Heavbn lies about us 
in our infancy”—some faint visionary gleam 
from Eden seems yet to rest on the infant 
soul, and, with the dawn of reason, the first 
voice of childhood seems to say that Para¬ 
dise should have been its home, and horti¬ 
culture its proper vocation. It is sadly 
true, no doubt, that adverse lessons in gar¬ 
dening have come to us from Paradise— 
promptings of an apostate kind from beyond 
the Euphrates. Boy-hood, and tho succeed¬ 
ing period of immature manhood, with their 
tumultuary passions and noisy pleasures, 
show themselves alien to tho tranquil de¬ 
lights of the garden. But “ years that bring 
the philosophic mind,” and that chasten hu¬ 
manity with their mildening influence, con¬ 
duct the belated pilgrim back to the garden, 
and teach him there to find pleasures serene 
and unalloyed.— Blackwood’s Magazine. 
GRAFTING WAX. 
We made some remarks last week, in re¬ 
lation to cutting and preserving cions. We 
will give this woek, a recipe for making the 
best kind of grafting cement. Take three 
parts of tho best quality of rosin ; two parts 
of bees-wax ; and one part of tallow ; melt 
them thoroughly together, and pour the 
composition while hot into cold water, and 
then work it like shoemaker’s wax, till it 
will spread as thin as paper, or draw out as 
fine as gosamer. Should the rosin precipi¬ 
tate when cooling in tho water and remain 
in the wax in small lumps, it must bo melt- 
over and worked again. In such case care 
must bo taken that no water remains in the 
vessel that tho composition is melted in, as 
wator will remain at the bottom, and when 
tho cement becomes heated to a certain tem¬ 
perature, the operator will witness a rather 
unpleasant experiment upon the expansivo 
powor of steam. 
In rather cold weather, a little more tal¬ 
low than in the abovo proportion may be 
added, and the cement will work very well, 
and in very warm weather a little more ro¬ 
sin will harden the wax, without material 
injury to its good properties. But for all 
seasons and all kinds of weather, we have 
never found any kind of grafting wax, that 
worked as well as wax made according to 
the above proportions. In cold weather, 
wo keep our wax in warm water, in order 
to have it work well,—and in very warm 
weather it is necessary to keep it in cold 
water. Care should be taken to procuro 
pure bees-wax for making cement. Much 
of the bees-wax that is purchased in the 
market is adulterated with tallow; such 
may bo deteoted, by placing it in a temper- 
aturo <-hat will melt the tallow and not the 
wax.— Keenq (.V. II.) JYervs. 
Grare Vines.—L oosen tho earth about 
their roots.and giro them manures. Swamp 
muck which has been decomposed by the 
salt and. lime mixture answers a good pur¬ 
pose. Whole bones buried near the roots 
of grape vines will soon be appropriated, 
and, during the summer rest, a little potash 
water will hurry up their action.— Working 
Fanner. 
dlTccbaiiic fa. 
LIST OF PATENT CLAIMS 
ISSUED FROM THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 
For the week ending March 29, 1853. 
Luther Atwood, of Boston, Mass., for improve¬ 
ment in preparing lubricating oils. 
Schuyler Briggs and John G. Talbot, of Sloans- 
ville, N. Y., for improvement in winnowers of 
grain. 
Lewis W. Colver, of Louisville, Ky., for im¬ 
provement in machines for breaking hemp. 
V m. Ennis, of New York, N. Y., for improve¬ 
ment in hot air furnaces. 
Moses G. Farmer, of Salem, Mass., for improve¬ 
ment in electric telegraphs. 
Benjamin Fonn, of Hartford, 0., for improved 
pendulum balance for quick weighing. 
Isaac H. Garretson, of Clay, Iowa, for improve¬ 
ment in seed planters. 
Jno. Maxwell, of Galesville, N. Y., for improve¬ 
ment in knitting machines. 
John McAdams, of Boston, Mass., for improve¬ 
ment in paging bound books. Ante-dated Sept. 
29, 1852. 
James H. Swett, of Boston, Mass., for improved 
arrangement of die rollers in spike machines. 
Geo. Traeyser, of Cincinnati, 0., for improve¬ 
ment in vertical pianos. 
Thos. C. Thompson, of Ithaca, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in sewing machines. 
Matthew Walker, M. Walker, Jr., and Daniel 
S. YValker, of Philadelphia, I’a., for improvement 
in wire fences. 
RE-ISSUE. 
Thos. J. Sloan, New York, N. Y., for machine 
for arranging and feeding screw blanks. Patented 
Feb. 25, 1851. 
BARREL-MAKING MACHINE 
YVe accepted an invitation yesterday to 
pay a visit to Wilder’s Machine Shop to ex¬ 
amine the operations of a newly invented 
patent-right machine for making barrels.— 
The machine is the invention of Mr. Trapp, 
of Elmira, New York, and tho agent for the 
sale of tho machines in this vicinity has got 
one now at work in Wilder’s shop. The 
machines are of different sizes, according to 
tho size of barrel wanted to be made; but 
the size does not vary the principle of the 
invention at all. YVe watched the workmen 
select out the rough sawed staves, joint 
them, set them up, polish tho outside, cut 
the notch for tho heads, bevil the chimes, 
cut the heads, put on the hoops and pre¬ 
sent a well made, neat, and handsomely 
finished fifty pound paint keg in the space 
of twenty minutes. This was all done by 
one man who is no cooper. Of course a 
regularly bred cooper, practiced with the 
machine, could have done the work much 
quicker. 
Tho machine for jointing the staves, tho’ 
connected with the other portions of tho 
machine, may be worked entirely separate. 
It consists of a series- of planing irons set 
into tho rim of a wheel at certain angles.— 
Connected with this, is a small iron frame, 
called a jointing iron, which must be seen 
to understand its operation; it bends the 
stavo into tho preciso shape it will occupy 
in the cask, and in which the stave is held 
while it is jointed by the planes fixed in the 
rim of the jointing machine. The other 
portion of the machine consists of a table 
on which are a series of lathes that perform 
tho different work of sawing the staves the 
proper length, of plaining the outside of tho 
barrel after it is set up, of cutting tho notch 
for the heads and making the chimes, in a 
simple manner, and do tho work better than 
it can be done by hand. 
The agent informed us that with three 
men to attend it, the machine would turn 
out 100 flour barrels per day, and about 
sixty beef or pork barrels, or butter fiirkins. 
The price of a machine for turning out 
flour barrels is about $600. To see the op¬ 
eration of the machine is well worth a visit 
from any one.— Detroit paper. 
SAWING MACHINE. 
Measures to secure a patent for an im-. 
proved 1 construction of the above, by which 
it is rendered more suitable for certain kinds 
of work, have been taken by Thomas J. A’- 
exander, of YVesterville, Ohio. The advan¬ 
tage of this plan is that logs can be sawn di¬ 
rectly into broom handles, chair rounds, &o u 
without having been previously sawn iptQ, 
planks, thus economising an important item, 
of expense. One horizontal and iwq vpxti- 
cal saws adjusted in relative positions, servo 
to cut the sticks from the logs, the vertical 
saws being placed underneath the horizon¬ 
tal saw and nearly touching it. The log is 
secured between screw rods passing tlfrUurrh 
tho cross-pioce of a reciprocating frame 
and which are raised or depressed by turn¬ 
ing a crank so that the log can be adjusted 
; with facility. 
-I --- 
YVater Frozen by Boiung.— The follow¬ 
ing beautiful experiment may easily be per- 
. formed by any one having an air pump, and 
cannot faii of being exceedingly interesting 
to those who take delight in the science of 
chemistry i^Take a small, thin glass jar, fill 
; it half full of good ether, then place it w’ith- 
in another jar half filled with water. Let 
this be then under tho receiver of an air 
pump, and as soon as tho air is exhausted 
the ether will boil, and tho water will freeze. 
The reason is that when the pressure of the 
atmosphere is removed by the air pump 
from the surface of the ether, its own latent 
caloric occasions its expansion, and absorb¬ 
ing caloric from the water, it becomes con¬ 
verted into gas ; and the water having now 
lost all its caloric of fluidity, is converted 
into ice. 
