1 
MAY 10. 
.. . ... WMW’MW .. . . 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
151 
Jfrdiarti aiitt fertuii. 
VIRGALIEU-WHITE DOYENNE PEAK. 
In looking over the Transactions of the Amer¬ 
ican Pomological Society, a meeting of which 
was held last year at Boston, where was congre¬ 
gated almost the entire wisdom of the United 
States, together with many amateurs of Borno¬ 
logical science, and where much valuable infor¬ 
mation was elicited; a great many fruits hitherto 
enjoying an equivocal reputation, were rejected 
as worthless—some put upon their good behav¬ 
ior for trial, and others set down as best; but 
during the whole discussion, and among the two 
hundred pears named good, bad and indifferent, 
the Virgalieu of the West, (known at the East 
as the St. Michael,) was not named, except in a 
few reports from different States, as the White 
Doyenne. 
We have heard it said that it was failing fast 
at the East, and that fact may have thrown it 
out of the line of succession ; but at the West it 
is as fresh, fair and prolific a growing and pro¬ 
ducing tree, as any we have. There are other 
pears of more peculiar musky and foreign flavor 
for those that admire that peculiarity ; but for 
richness and uniform goodness, and the most 
perfect melting, buttery qualities, there is no 
October pear that we are acquainted with, that 
equals it. It will bring a greater price in 
the New York market than any other—usually 
from $18 to $25 a barrel 
A friend, whose palate we would as soon 
trust as any one we ever knew as a fruit taster, 
said on eating some at the exact season of per¬ 
fection, “ The Turks say ‘ there is but one God, 
GARDENS. 
PURPLE CANDY-TUPT. 
The Purple Candy-Tuft ( Ibcris Uinbclla,') is 
a native of Candia, and receives its name partly 
from this fact, and partly from the form of its 
flowers. Seeds were taken to England about 
the year 1590. It soon became a great favor¬ 
ite, and is now found in nearly every flower 
garden in the United Kingdom. There is 
much risk in transplanting the Candy Tuft, so 
that it should be sown where it is intended to 
and Mahomet is his prophet;’ but I say there I lcma * n " ^ flourishes on all rich, well drained, 
• ’ • " - - 1 a ud well pulverized soils. The Horticulturist 
says : 
When the plants are going into flower, the 
heads should be examined ; and if too numer- 
is but one Pear, and that is the Virgalieu.’ 
They require picking at the right time, and 
ripening on the shelf, as do many others, par¬ 
ticularly Osband’s Summer, which, when prop 
erly manipulated, and in first rate order, has 
no superior as an early fruit,—ripening early 
in August. It originated in Wayne county, 
near this city, and is of recent introduction. It 
is a little subject to blight, but a constant, full 
and early bearer, and in our opinion, worthy of 
all commendation. 
It is but a few years since winter pears have 
atti acted much attention ; but now w'eliave the 
Wintei N elis, Easter Beurre, Glout Morceau 
and Vicar of W inkfield, which are a treat dur¬ 
ing the winter months fit for Princes or their 
betters. 
CURRANTS FOR WINE MAKING. 
Eds. Rural : — Will you, or some of your 
correspondents, give me information relative to 
making wine from currants ? Which kind of 
currant will produce the best and give the most 
fruit per acre ? Are white and red sorts equal¬ 
ly good for wine ? How much is a good yield 
to an acre ? What amount of juice to the bush 
el manner of making wine, and the price that 
it will bring per gallon.—J. D., Cay. Co., N. Y. 
Remarks.— The red currant (or red Dutch) for 
wine making, gives a higher flavor than the 
white, and is considered a better producer._ 
One acre of currant bushes, set 4 feet apart, 
would in due time produce 25 bushels of fruit, 
and might be made to grow 50 bushels, that 
depending on the soil and the manner of culti 
vation. Three gallons may be obtained from a 
bushel of good ripe fruit. Make the wine in 
the same manner that you would a barrel of 
good sweet cider, with the addition of from 
to 4 pounds sugar to the gallon, fermenting off 
the pomace until it is entirely clear, after which 
it should be racked off into tight barrels and 
there remain any desirable time to become ripe 
and firm. As to the price of the article in mar¬ 
ket, the deponent saith not. —h. n. l. 
To make the garden most profitable, it must 
be liberally dealt with. In the first place, there 
must be a thorough mechanical preparation of 
the soil. The mere plowing of the surface soil, 
five or six inches deep, will not secure the best 
results. We have found in our experience, that 
a foot pays much better, and a garden soil two 
feet in depth, pays better still. This, of course, 
cannot be made at once, without a good deal of 
expense, but it should be the aim of every good 
gardener. The sub-soil should be brought up 
every year until there is a rich dark mould, two 
feet or more in depth, in every part of the gar¬ 
den. It should be stirred to that depth every 
spring, before the seeds are put into the soil.— 
The best tools to do this work with are the com¬ 
mon surface spade and the trenching spade. 
These leave the soil in a much lighter and finer 
condition than the plow, and give a freer range 
to the small roots of plants. Of course, the labor 
of preparing a seed-bed with the spade is much 
greater than with the plow ; but the results are 
also much better, both in the yield of vegetables 
and in the amelioration of the soil. 
Liberal manuring is another item of economy 
in the garden. This should be in proportion 
the depth of the soil. A heavy dressing upon 
a soil, stirred only two or three inches deep, 
would be likely to burn up the crops, while 
it were thoroughly and deeply mixed with the 
soil, it would greatly add to their luxuriance, 
Guano, night-soil and strong stable manur 
often destroy the roots of plants, because they 
are not sufficiently incorporated with earth.— 
The more perfectly you carry out this process 
of intermingling, the more largely will the soil 
appropriate fertilizers, and give a good account 
of them in harvest.— N. Y Observer. 
Dfoimiw Irts, &t; 
REMEDY FOR THE CURCULIO. 
A friend of mine informs me that two years 
since, while regaling himself with a genuine 
Havana cigar, he happened to be by one of his 
plum trees of a still morning, when the plums 
were beginning to set, and thought he would 
try what effect the smoke might have upon the 
olfactories of the Curculio. He bent down one 
limb, smoked it well, and that limb bore full of 
perfect plums, while the rest on the same tree 
were stung by the Curculio and dropped off. 
These facts are reliable, as my friend’s veracity 
is beyond suspicion, and I ate some of the 
plums. Now, if any covering was thrown over 
a tree, on a still morning, a good smoke gene¬ 
rated of refuse tobacco, or any other, under¬ 
neath, and so done once or twice thoroughly, 
the experiment would be demonstrated with 
scarcely any expense, and if successful, would 
be worth millions of dollars to the people of 
this State.—S. N. Holmes, Syracuse, N. Y. 
Vineyards about Cincinnati. — The Ohio 
Farmer estimates, from statistics of the Horti¬ 
cultural Society, that there are two thousand 
acres of Catawba vines in cultivation in the vi¬ 
cinity of Cincinnati, of which 1,600 acres are 
in full bearing. By the average production of 
the last few years this area of vines will yield 
500,000 gallons of wine, which yield must, in a 
short time, be doubled. The demand for the 
wine is increasing faster than the supply. 
Leaf Manure.— If you have a large pile of 
leaves, which you would convert into manure, 
adopt the following process :—Slake fresh lime 
with brine, till it falls to a powder. Turn your 
leaves with a fork, and sprinkle this powder 
evenly among them, at the rate of four bushels 
to a cord of leaves. Turn the heap now and 
then, and you will soon have a noble manure. 
Nothing is better applied to fruit trees.— Horti¬ 
culturist. 
ous, they should be removed. By this treat¬ 
ment, and occasionally loosening the ground 
around the plants, and keeping it free from 
weeds, flowers have been grown three inches 
across, most beautifully colored, being of a very 
dark purple on the outside, and softening 
nearly white in the centre. The great points 
are, thinning the flowers gradually, as they in 
crease in size, and supplying their roots with 
abundance of rich food when they are going 
into flower. By this mode of treatment, much 
finer flowers may be grown than those usually 
seen in our gardens. The Lilac Candy-Tuft 
a fine variety, of a lilac color. 
The Rocket Candy-1’uft (/. coronaria ) is 
splendid species, growing two feet high, branch 
ing v idely, each plant producing three to five 
racemes of flowers from six to ten inches long, 
and the centre one even longer than this, 
properly cultivated. Cultivation the same as 
the Purple. 
Consumption of Strawberries. —Mr. R. G. 
Pardee, in his revised “Manual of the Straw¬ 
berry,” says that during the last year New 
York consumed from 47,000 to 50,000 bushels of 
this delicious fruit; Philadelphia from 10,000 
to 14,000 ; Boston from 9,000 to 11,000, and Cin¬ 
cinnati from 11,000 to 14,000. Over 3,000 bush¬ 
els were received many days daily'at New 
York, for its own supply and that of the sub¬ 
urbs. A single county in New Jersey, from 
single port, over twenty-five miles distant,sent 
us by steamboat during one day 200,000 baskets, 
and several years ago the Erie railroad brought 
863 bushels to town on a single train. 
fjfflituray. 
SEASONABLE ITEMS. 
THE lawn. 
1 he most suitable soil for a lawn, as well as 
for a flower garden generally, is a friable loam 
rather tending to sand than clay. It is the 
most easily worked, and encourages the growth 
of the roots of the plants more speedily ; it is 
also of a warmer nature than clay—not so re 
tentivet of water, nor so liable to bake on the 
surface. Its disadvantages, on the other hand 
are, that in very dry seasons it becomes too dry, 
and while plants in clay soils well cultivated 
suffer comparatively little from drouth, those on 
very sandy soil will be parched. This can be 
obviated, or at least modified, by the applica¬ 
tion of vegetable mold or other absorbing ma¬ 
terials, as manure or as top dressing. The 
ground intended for the lawn should also be 
levelled, dug over, or trenched, so as to ensun 
a free germination of the grass seeds and their 
future support. 
evergreen trees. 
Thvrf- w.re many tender species of evergreen 
trees, whms., though very graceful and beauti¬ 
ful in the summer and autumn, are checked, in 
the Northern States, by the severity of the sea¬ 
son in winter—frequently losing several feet of 
their young wood, and afterwards presenting a 
very unsightly object. The more hardy and 
fully tested trees, such as Weymouth pine, 
Scotch fir, Austrian pine. Hemlock spruce, Nor¬ 
way spruce, Cephalonian pine. Balsam fir, Sil¬ 
ver fir, and other familiar species, give, in the 
end, most satisfaction. The Hemlock spruce 
and the Norway spruce are especially desira¬ 
ble, both in respect to their thrifty growth and 
admirable appearance, and they are easy of 
cultivation. The great point is not to aim at 
transplanting very large trees; those of a few 
feet high are generally better adapted, and turn 
out more favorably, than those much taller.— 
The Hemlock spruce is somewhat impatient of 
removal; its spreading fibrous roots cannot be 
taken up without much of a ball. The beauty 
of this common tree will repay for a little extra 
care. 
CAKES AND CRACKERS. 
Eds. Rural :—Believing the competition_ 
honorable one, I have the vanity to enter the 
list with “Farmer’s Daughter,”of Macedon, N 
1. The following, I think, experience wil 
prove valuable : 
Crackers.— One pound lard. 1 quart water, 1 
spoon salt; rub the lard well in the flour before 
adding your water; flour enough to mLx as 
hard as possible, and then pound them. 
Railroad Cake.— One cup flour, 1 do. sugar, 
3 eggs, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 do. cream tartar, lW 
salt; flavor with nutmeg. 
Sugar Cakes. One cup butter, 1 do. cream, 
1}4 do. sugar, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon saleratus ; n 
quite stiff. 
Cream Cake. —One cup cream, 1 do. sugar, 2 
eggs, 1 teaspoon saleratus, 2 cups flour, 1 spoon 
LIST OF PATENTS, 
Issued from the United State* Patent Ofllce Tor the 
week ending April 28, 1856. 
tackle* 18 T ' BUe1 ’ WhitehaI1 > N - Y -> improved fishing 
George J. Bitter, Lancaster, Ohio, improvement in seed- 
mg machines. 
Warren S.Bartle, Newark, N. Y., improved machine for 
sowing fertilizers. 
„ Alexander Buchann, New York, improvement in balance 
and slide valve for steam engines. 
Gustav A. Blittknowski and Frederick Win. Hoffman. 
* e ? V York, improvement in revolving fire-arms. 
Andrew Caleman, Perth Amboy improvement in receiv¬ 
ing magnets for telegraphs. 
drants* 1 Culver ’ BaItimore > improved waste device for hy- 
mv, riC R Beadi ?g. improv’t in brick machines, 
f l B p Er > btrasburg, Pa. improvement in door locks, 
cufuvators " Pralne > Wis -> improvement in 
Abraham Fitts, Worcester, improved machine for dig- 
S^ing peat. 
evaporators! GUman ’ ° rleanS ’ im P ro ™ment in sugar 
drPvingsp^k ^ 8 an<1 J ° hn C ' N011 ’ Chica ?°> for 
Wm. H. Hale, Worcester, improvement in hotel annun¬ 
ciators. 
Wm. E. Hayes, Geneva, improvement in the arrange¬ 
ment of dampers for cooking stoves. 
C. B. Hoard, Watertown, improvement in steam boilers. 
Eben N. Horsford, Cambridge, improvement in prepar¬ 
ing phosphoric acid as a substitute for other solid acids. 
George Hubbard. Stonington, improvement in suspend¬ 
ing extra topsail yards. 
James J. Johnston, Alleghany, improvement for flasks 
for moulding. 
James H. Kinyon and James Hollingshead Chicago for 
improvement in cotton cleaners. ° ’ 
Pells Manny, Wadham’s Grove, Ill, improvement in sub¬ 
soil plows. 
Alonzo M. Mace, Springfield, Mass., improvement in hy¬ 
dro-carbon vapor tamps. 
Jas. Miller, Buffalo, improvement in machines for saw¬ 
ing marble in obelisk form. 
R. C. Maack, Conrad’s Store, Va., and W. T. McGahey 
of McGaheysville, Va.,improvement in corn harvesters. 
Albert J. Partridge, Southbridge, Mass., improvement in 
electro-magnetic printing telegraphs. 
I homas Petherich, Pottsville, improvement in coal 
breakers. 
scale tlian M ’ PllilipR ’ Uew York, electro-magnetic grain 
Edwin A. Palmer, Clayville, N. Y., improved measure 
faucet. 
Alanson Quigley, Sheldrake, N. Y., improved apparatus 
for raising and lowering carriage tops. 
Asa P. Robinson, New York, improvewent in cast iron 
pavements. 
Wm. F. Shaw, Boston, improvement in gas burners 
Samuel R. Shepard and Orson W. Stow, Plantsville 
onn., improvement in working sheet metal. 
Henry H. Sibley, of the United States army, imnroved 
conical tent. F 
Emile Sirrett and Wm. H. Scott, Buffalo, improvement 
in the method of fastening lamps to lanterns. 
Thos. Smith, Pittsburgh, improvement in projectiles for 
fire-arms. 
Geo. S. Spence, Boston, improved pressure regulating 
apparatus for steam-heaiing boilers. “ 
Alfred Speer, Passaic, N. J., improved weatherstrip and 
lock for windows, kc. 
A. H. Stevens, Warsaw, N. Y., improvement in corn- 
shellers. 
Samuel T. Thomas, Lawrence, Mass., improvement in 
looms for weaving bags. 
Richard Vose, New York, improvement in divided axles 
for railroad cars. 
Chas. B. Waite and Jas. W. Senor, Fredericksburg for 
improvement in coffee pots. 
Henry R. Worthington, Brooklyn, improvement in com¬ 
pleting the throw of the valves of direct acting engines 
by the exhausted steam. 
Thos. D. Burk, Chicago, assignor to John C. Miller and 
Chas. A. Fowler, same place, improvement in link gear in./ 
for horse powers. 
Thos. D. Burk, Chicago, assiguor to James Garrett 
Ogle county, Ill., improved device to allow for contraction 
and expansion in wire fences. 
Kelsey Curtiss, Winchester, Conn., assignor to the 
“ Winsted Auger Company,” same place, improved auger. 
George W. Holmes, Buckfield, Me., assignor to James C. 
Marble, Paris, Me , improved hoop machine. 
Samuel Hofiman, Richmond, Va., assignor to himself 
and. James D. Brown, same place, combined shovel and 
tongs. 
Ira Merrill, Shelburne Falls, Mass., assignor to himself 
and Arthur Maxwell, same place, improved machines for 
tunneling and quarrying. 
Lucius Paige, Cavendish, Vt., assignor to himself and 
Albert L. Lincoln, Boston, Mass., improvement in studs 
for wearing apparel. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH CAST METALS. 
force was applied at the middle. The results 
obtained from four castings were in favor of that 
which was kept fused longest—three hours. 
On this head the report says, “ from this it 
appears that the cohesive power of the iron, so 
far as it can be shown by its capacity to resist 
transverse strains, is increased 60 per cent, by 
its "continued exposure in fusion. This is also 
a fact of importance to engineers and architects, 
regarding girders and beams, subject to a crush¬ 
ing force.— Selected. 
EXPENSES OF RAILROADS. 
The following facts regarding eight of the 
principal railroads of Massachusetts are devel¬ 
oped by the reports of the Legislature : 
1. The cost of passenger transportation is 
2.062 cents per passenger per mile. 
2. The cost of merchandise transportation is 
3.095 cents per ton per mile. 
3. In passenger transportation 41.98 per cent, 
of the receipts thereirom are absorbed in ex¬ 
penses. 
4. In merchandise transportation 89.52 per 
cent, of the receipts therefrom are absorbed in 
expenses. 
5. The expenses of railroads are almost in¬ 
variably determined by the weight carried over 
the rails. For instance—the Eastern road, up¬ 
on which passenger traffic predominates, is op¬ 
erated at an expense of $3,670 per mile of the 
length of the road; whilst the Lowell, upon 
which merchandise traffic predominates, is op¬ 
erated at an expense of $12,478. 
6. The cost of renewals of iron upon railroads 
is an infallible index of the magnitude of ex¬ 
penses. For the preceding reasons, the cost of 
that item on the Eastern road is but $390 per 
mile of the length of the road, while upon the 
Western it is $1,399. 
7. Of the expenses of railroads 30 per cent, 
are absorbed in maintenance of way, or road 
bed ; 20 per cent, in fuel and oil; 20 per cent, 
in repair of engines, tenders and cars; 10 per 
cent, in special freight expenses, and the re¬ 
mainder in passengers, incidental and miscel¬ 
laneous expenses. 
8. The weight of the engines, tenders and 
cars upon passenger trains is nine fold greater 
than the weight of the passengers. 
9. The weight of the engines, tenders and 
cars upon freight trains, is scarcely one fold 
greater than the weight of the merchandise. 
10. For cheapness, railroads cannot compete 
with canals in transportation of heavy descrip¬ 
tions of merchandise ; the cost of carrying mer¬ 
chandise upon the Erie canal ranges from two 
to sixteen mills per ton per mile ; whilst upon 
sixteen of the principal railways of New York 
and Massachusetts the cost of carrying mer¬ 
chandise ranges from thirteen to sixty-five mills 
per ton per mile. 
salt. 
Cup Cake.— One cup butter, 2 do. sugar, 4 
eggs, 4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon saleratus, salt and 
nutmeg. 
Soft Cake.— One cup butter, 1 do. butter- 
milk, 1% do. sugar, 4 do. flour, 3 eggs, 1 spoon 
saleratus, salt, spice to taste. 
Snowball Cake. —One and a half cups of 
butter, 1 do. loaf sugar, the whites of 3 eggs, 1 
spoon soda or saleratus, baked in small tins! * 
Fried Cakes.—Two eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1 do. 
butter, 3 do. buttermilk, 1 spoon soda, flour 
enough to mix quite stiff. 
Fruit Cake.— One pound flour, I do. sugar, 1 
pound butter, 2 do.Vrrants,2 do. raisins,°1 do. 
citron, 10 eggs, 1 glaEwine, 1 do. brandy, spice 
to taste. 
Fried Wonders .—i our eggs, 4 spoons sugar, 
1 piece butter the size ot an egg, 1 teaspoon 
soda ; roll thin and try in lard. 
Reading, Mich. Farmer’s Daughter. 
TO REMOVE GREASE WITHOUT WASHING. 
ORNAMENTAL HEDGE FOR THE GARDEN. 
Nothing adds more to the beautifying of 
gai dens and other ornamental enclosures than 
well grown hedge, such, for instance, as the 
Osage orange. It may be planted any time af¬ 
ter the warm weather commences in the spring, 
though it is well to wait until the buds are con¬ 
siderably swollen—and even if the leaves be¬ 
gin to put out, no matter, as there will be less 
danger of setting lifeless ones. Choose a moist 
time, or else wet the plants before setting. Se¬ 
lect those of a uniform size to be planted to¬ 
gether, and shorten the roots to within eight or 
nine inches, and the top to within two inches of 
the root. Stretch the line where the row is to 
stand, and set out the plants not more than ten 
inches apart, in a single line. —Home Journal. 
Eds. Rural :—Your correspondent, J. L. K., 
ishes to know if there is any method of re- 
mov ing a spot of grease from a valuable en- 
aving which he thinks is nearly ruined. I 
have a simple method of extracting it from fab¬ 
rics which will not bear washing tliht I have 
piacticed for years and have never known it 
Spread the unfortunate article on a table, 
and cover the spot with dry magnesia; cover 
that with a paper, and place upon it a warm 
flat-iron, not quite hot enough to iron with ; let 
it stand ten or fifteen minutes ; then remove it 
and shake off the magnesia. If the spot is not 
entirely removed, go through with the same 
process again, using fresh magnesia. I have 
never known the second application to fail of 
lemoving all appearance of grease so effectual¬ 
ly that it has never shown itself afterwards.- 
Mary E. Davis, North Lawrence, 1856. 
Soft Soap.— Inquiry. — Will any of your 
readers, through the Rural, kindly give some 
information relative to the best method of mak¬ 
ing soft soap, and oblige— rA Subscriber’s 
Daughter ?— Stafford, Gen. Co., N. Y., 1856. 
A very finely executed and comprehensive 
work has just been published by authority of 
the Secretary of War, containing reports of offi¬ 
cers belonging to the U. S. Ordnance Depart¬ 
ment, on the above-named subject. The work 
is a scientific one of great value, especially the 
information it contains relating to the nature 
and treatment of cast iron, a material of deep 
interest to so many millions of people in our 
own and other countries. 
One new fact developed is, that iron fused a 
number of times up to a certain point, is thereby 
greatly improved in strength. In trials with 
some iron, it was iound that its transverse 
strength was nearly doubled by being melted 
and cast four times. This is a discovery of 
great importance to all engineers and founders. 
At the South Boston Foundry, experiments were 
made to test the strength of cast-iron which 
had been submitted to fusion during different 
periods of time. 
Eleven thousand pounds of iron were cast into 
four six-pounder guns ; one after the metal had 
been under fusion or melted half an hour ; the 
second, under fusion an hour and a half; the 
third, under fusion three hours ; and the fourth, 
under fusion three hours and three-quarters._ 
The gun first cast burst at the thirty-first fire ; 
the second, at the thirty-fourth ; and the third 
was fired thirty-eight times, and remained un¬ 
broken. Uius the strength of the metal seemed 
to increase in a ratio corresponding to the period 
of fusion, or under which it was kept in a highly 
molten state, and it might have been inferred 
from this that the fourth gun would have been 
the stiongest of all. Instead of this being so, 
however, it proved to be the weakest, for it 
burst at the twenty-fifth discharge. 
In view of these experiments, Major Wade, in 
this report, says, “ these results appear to es¬ 
tablish satisfactorily the fact, that a prolonged 
exposure of liquid iron to an intense heat, does 
augment its cohesive power, and this power 
increases as the time of the exposure up to some 
(not well ascertained) limit, beyond which the 
strength of the iron is diminished. This is a 
new developed fact in relation to cast-iron, sub¬ 
ject to concussions, of deep import to all engi¬ 
neers. 
Experiments were also made to test the 
transverse strength of cast-iron bare, two inches 
square and twenty-four inches long, the metal 
of which was kept under fusion during differ¬ 
ent periods of time. These bare were set on 
supports twenty inches apart, and the breaking 
THE HOBES’ LOCK PICKED. 
The Ilion Independent of this week asserts 
that the Day & Newell Lock, manufactured at 
New York, commonly known as the “Hobbs’ 
Lock,” has at last been picked by Linus Yale, 
Jr., of the adjoining village of Newport. It 
says: 
“ The exact * modus operandi,’ of picking the 
lock, of course, is not expected to be made 
known to the public just at present; but it is 
sufficient to say that, by a singular and ingen¬ 
ious method, the action of the key upon the 
curve of the tumblers of the lock are mapped 
out and from which a wooden key is made, which 
unlocks and locks the lock, and in all respects 
operates it as perfectly as the true key. In this 
manner the lock was opened in the presence of 
the Cashiei of the Dairyman’s Bank, Newport, 
N. Y., and of the President of the Fort Stan- 
wix Bank, Rome, N. Y., and within a few 
weeks was so opened, (a $300 lock on a jewel¬ 
er’s safe,) in Wall street. New York—from all 
of whom certificates to this effect have been ta¬ 
ken. This statement of course will astound the 
world, but it is even trite.” 
A Peculiar Instrument.— At the National 
Observatory, Washington, there is an instru¬ 
ment of peculiar construction, called the prime 
vertical transit. I he prime vertical is the imag¬ 
inary line in the heavens, passing from the 
Eastern point in the horizon through the zenith 
to the Western point, and consequently at right 
angles to the meridian ; and a prime vertical 
transit is a transit instrument placed East and 
West instead of North and South. Upon a 
single block of granite rests the axis, over three 
feet in length ; at one end of the axis, outside of 
the pier, is the telescope, and at the other end 
its counterpoise. Upon the axis rests perma¬ 
nently a large frame containing a delicate spirit- 
lev el, whose indications show at any moment 
the inclination of the axis to the horizon. The 
thimr required in mouting the instrument is, 
that this axis shall be truly horizontal, that the 
telescope shall revolve exactly in the prime 
vertical, deviating neither to the North nor 
South. The telescope is six feet and a half in 
length.— N. Y. Commercial. 
New Alloy of Metal.— J. F. Anger, of Lon¬ 
don, has secured a patent for an alloy of metal, 
which he describes as follows :—« I melt in a 
crucible, 100 parts of good copper, and while in 
a perfect state of fusion, add 17 parts of zinc ; 6 
parts of manganese, or substance of a like nature, 
though perhaps differing in name ; part of 
ammonia, or salts of ammonia; part of quick 
lime or other calx; aad 9 parts of crude tartar. 
The crucible is then covered, and the whole 
allowed to come to a complete state of fusion. 
The metal resulting from this combination re¬ 
sembles gold in several of its properties.— Spec- 
tatar. 
