Congressional Proceedings. 
Ncius Paragraph 
Contents of the Rural for March 12, 1859, 
®l)c Jmns (Eonbenscr. % 
AGRICULTURAL. Pagi 
Potatoes:—Prices, Markets and Varieties,. f 
Small Farms Well Tilled,. i 
A Chapter on Farm Gates, (Illustrated,). i 
Obstructing the Highway,. f 
■ What Kind of Sheep to Choose,”. 
About Maple Syrup. 
Profitable, or Systematic Farming,. 
About Setting Hens. 
A Dairy Darn in Cattaraugus Co. 
To Cure Scratches,.. 
Mad Itch,.. 
Unburned Brick Houses,. 
Rural Spirit of the Press.— Experiment with Pota¬ 
toes : About Spreading Manures; That “ Flock of Geese;” 
Corn and Pork,. 
Agricultural Miscellany .—The Michigan Farmer; 
A Farmers' and Mechanics’ Association; Michigan Band 
Agency; Those Mittens; Steuben Co. Ag. Society. 
HORTICULTURAL. 
The Vegetable Garden. Planting and Management of 
the Hot-Bed,. 
Not a Bad Idea,. 
Culture of the Grape—No. Ill,. 
Cast-Iron Posts for Grape Trellis,... 
Fremontia Cafifornica, [.Illustrated,]. 
Will the Native Grape Produce Wine?. 
Failure of Fruit. 
Ontario Grape,. 
DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 
Washing-Day Dinners; Cocoa-Nut Drops; Victoria Cake; 
Pound Cake; Rose Drops; Wine Sauce for Puddings; 
Plum Cake; Molasses Pie; A Good Chicken Pie,. 
LADIES’ OLIO. 
The Little Boy, [Poetical,] Little Allie; Long Skirts, 
Again; How I Came to Learn Music; The Scotchman 
and tiis Daughter; What we Live For; Anecdote of the 
British Queen; How American Children are Fed,. 
CHOICE MISCELLANY. 
The Science of Gullology, [Poetical,] Bygones—No. 1; 
Incentives; Exhaustion of Talk; Be Gentlemen at 
Home,. 1 
SABBATH MUSINGS. 
All Well, [Poetical,] What is Life? Psalms of David.I 
EDUCATIONAL. 
The Public Schools of Rochester, (Illustrated;) How the 
Professor Got Out of the Well; Education in Pennsyl¬ 
vania; Teachers Should Study; Physical Education; 
Schools in Ohio; Educational Fund of England; Ala¬ 
bama State School for the Deaf and Dumb. I 
USEFUL OLIO. 
Wild, or Canada Goose, (Illustrated;) Anecdotes of Wild 
Geese—No. I,. I 
THE REVIEWER. 
The Pioneers; or, The Sources of the Susquehanna; The 
Land and the Book; or. Biblical Illustrations, &c.; 
Father and Daughter; Episodes of French History Du¬ 
ring the Consulate and the First Empire. I 
YOUNG RURALIST. 
Awakening Thought—A Sketch; A Noble Sentiment,_I 
STORY TELLER. 
The Dead Love.. ! 
Senate. —The Post-Office Appropriation bill was 
taken up, when the following amendments were 
brought forward and carried:—That the Butter¬ 
field Overland Mail be reduced to weekly service; 
pay to be $450,000, instead of $G00,000; that the 
weekly mail between St. Josephs and Placerville 
be accelerated, and the pay be $110,000; that a 
Meekly mail be established between St. Paul, Min., 
to Puget’s Sound—the pay to be $200,000; to strike 
out the $8,000 for the monthly overland mail from 
Kansas City to Stockton, at the expiration of the 
present quarter; the bill was then reported to the 
Senate, when most of the amendments of the Com¬ 
mittee of the Whole were adopted. Raising the 
rate of postage, abolishing the franking privilege, 
and generally regulating the details, &c., was 
adopted. Mr. Clingman moved to give the Post- 
Henrt O’Reilly, Esq., one of the pioneer edi¬ 
tors of the daily press of this city, and P. M. of 
Rochester some twenty years ago, but subseqently 
known as the “ Telegraph King,” is now paying a 
brief visit to his “troops of friends,” and scenes 
of early efforts and triumphs, hereabouts. 
It is stated that in the Opera House at Milan, 
some nights ago, when the celebrated chorus from 
“Norma,” “War! war!” was given, the Italian 
audience rose, joined in it, and shouted with all 
their might. And when they had done, the Aus¬ 
trian officers in the house rose in their turn, clap¬ 
ped their hands, and shouted, “ Yes, gentlemen, 
‘war! war!’” 
Five thousand shares in the stock of the Suez 
Ship Canal, representing half a million dollars, 
have been taken in the United States, which is 
nearly equal to the amount taken in England. 
The Connecticut River Railroad Company is 
making experimental use of a passenger car whose 
propelling power is a small engine in the forward 
end. It carries forty passengers, and is intended 
for a short distance. It is quite possible that rail¬ 
ways will generally adopt some such method for 
way travel. 
The effects of the skating mania of the winter of 
1858-9, says the Buffalo Advertiser, are already 
visible in the blooming cheeks and agile frames of 
“ our ” fair mothers and daughters. 
Twelve thousand pounds of gunpowder explod¬ 
ed in Akron, Ill., a week since, pulverized several 
buildings, and shook the surrounding country like 
an earthquake, and made a flash whose glare, says 
a spectator, was about five acres in extent. 
It is 1859, this year, and the dwellers on the coast 
of New Brunswick have just discovered that cod¬ 
fish may be caught in winter, by fishing through 
the ice, in their bays and rivers. 
The Legislature gets along very slowly. Thus 
far 727 bills have been introduced ; 384 have been 
reported by committees, and only 85 have been 
acted upon in committee of the whole. They should 
work more and talk less. 
The N. Y. Journal of Commerce, of the 1st inst., 
says, “ fifty or a hundred robins called upon the 
sentor editor of this paper yesterday morning, 
at his residence in New Haven, on their annual 
journey northward. Who told them to-day would 
— Apples bring $3 a bushel in Cleveland. 
— Mr. Gough, the teetotal lecturer, is lecturing in 
Edinburg. 
— The United States Mint will not hereafter recivo 
Spanish silver. 
— The Ohio officials estimate the population of that 
state at 2,800,000. 
— A German newspaper has been started by German 
exiles in London. 
— An “American Indian Association” has been 
formed in New York. 
— Coal has already been found in no less than four 
counties in Michigan. 
— One hundred negro residents of N. Y. city leavo 
for Africa this spring. 
— The Chinese have recently sent home $816,000 in 
silver from San Francisco. 
— Twenty-one persons arc in the Tombs, N. Y. city, 
charged with capital crimes. 
— In South Carolina the slave population is 8SS,000. 
The white population is 288,000. 
— Blue-birds have appeared in the Connecticut Val¬ 
ley. Spring must be near at hand. 
— There are 435,378 bushels of grain in store at Buf¬ 
falo. All but 59,000 bushels is wheat 
— E. A. Hannegan, formerly U. S. Senator from In¬ 
diana, died in St Louis Friday week. 
— A move has been made in one of the Western 
States to abolish grand juries as a nuisance. 
— It is stated that over 1,000 families in Buffalo are 
receiving aid from the overseer of the poor. 
— Ohio has 2,728 miles of railroad in operation, tho 
construction of which cost over $110,000,000. 
— The harbor of Grcytown is rapidly filling up with 
sand, and a survey has been determined on. 
— Harvard University has a fund of $1,009,636, nenrly 
all of which is safely and profitably invested. 
— A. A. Skillings, a handy little chap, weighing 679 
pounds, died in New York on Sunday week. 
— In the State Blind Asylum of Iowa, all pupils aro 
received free of charge, except for clothing only. 
— Kossuth is said to be in straightened circumstances, 
he having spent all in pursuit of political objects. 
— A State census of Texas, just taken, shows a pop¬ 
ulation of 458,492, against 212,495 in the year 1850. 
— Twenty-four men, with forty-horses, left Corunna, 
Mich., on Monday morning week, for Pike’s Peak. 
— Another attempt to render steam-engines available 
for common roads is being made in Patterson, N. J. 
— There are three hundred and thirty orphans in 
the Girard College, Philadelphia, at the present time. 
— Louis Napoleon is now said to possess a navy that, 
in effective strength, is not inferior to that of England. 
— An old man named Rozell, aged 106 years the 29th 
nit., voted at the fourth ward poll, Oswego, on the 1st. 
— Seventy fugivive slaves from Missouri passed thro’ 
Grinncll, Iowa, on the 21st ult., on their way to Canada. 
— The proposition to call a convention to revise tho 
State Constitution, has failed in the Wisconsin Legisla¬ 
ture. 
— At the last examination at West Point, fourteen 
cadets could not stand the tests applied, and were sent 
home. 
— Eighteen communes near Tarbes, France, are now 
protected from lightning by conductors composed of 
RtrUTT. 
— Coal exists in 81 of the counties of Illinois, and 
over a hundred mines arc now worked in 81 different 
counties. 
— The British Government is about to establish a 
monthly steam postal service between Australia and 
Panama. 
— Out of a lately discovered “ gulch ” on the Tuol- 
oume, Cal., $3,000 were taken in one day, and $4,000 on 
tho next. 
— Punch truly says that in the shadow of a small 
waist may be seen a large doctor’s bill and the outside 
of a coffin. 
— An agent of the British Museum has collected in 
Philadelphia four hundred different biographies of 
Washington. 
— When the District Court opened in Keokuk, Iowa, 
the other day, eighteen hundred cases were found on 
the calendar. 
— The Auburn Advertiser notices a turkey which 
weighs 35 pounds, and can pick corn placed seven feet 
from the floor. 
— The Hannibal and St. Joseph P.ailroad is complet¬ 
ed, thus making an unbroken line of railroad from 
Chicago to Kansas. 
— The King of Sweden is in a bad state, it is said. 
The Emperor of Austria is at this time supposed to be 
in a worse State yet. 
— Hon. Stanley Matthews, of Glendale, Ohio, had 
three children lying dead in his house one day last week. 
Cause, scarlet fever. 
— It is stated that in Newark, N. J., there are more 
than 1,500 operatives in the hatting business, and nearly 
$1,000,000 invested. 
— During February, the deposits at the Philadelphia 
Mint were $161,OSS, and the coinage 8,167,842 pieces, of 
the value of $301,988. 
— Wm. Smith O’Brien was received in a becoming 
manner by the New York Committee of the Irish So¬ 
cieties, on Friday week. 
— A statue of Caxton, represented as seated reading 
proof sheets, is about being erected in the Westminster 
Palace Hotel,iLondon. 
— Lake Erie is so clear of ice that the shipping in¬ 
terest is already beginning to “ look up ” at Sandusky, 
Toledo, Cleveland, &c. 
— A difference having arisen between Dr. Living¬ 
stone and Captain Bedingfold.the latter has abandoned 
the Zambesi expedition. 
— Illinois legislators receive $1 per day at the present 
time, being $7 a week less than their board costs. Short 
sessions will be the result. 
— The potato rot is ascribed to high manuring and 
consequent undue forcing of the plant, by Mr. Trow¬ 
bridge, of Camden, N. Y. 
— The first indications of water in the Artesian bore, 
at Columbus, were observed this week, at a distance of 
1,891 feat from the surface. 
— In the British Islands, the work done by machine 
power is computed by Lord Brougham to equal the labor 
of eight hundred million men. 
Political Intelligence. 
During the past week politicians have been all 
alive in the Empire State, keeping the fires brightly 
burning under the politico - domestic cauldrons 
of counties, cities and towns, and now, scenting 
the National battle-field, are auguring great results 
each for his favorite Son of Mars, in the approach¬ 
ing contest. In this city (Rochester,) the Repub¬ 
licans have done pretty much as they pleased, 
electing Mayor, Justice of the Peace, City Sealer— 
the Democracy taking the Treasurer — on the city 
ticket. Of Aldermen, 8 are Republican, 2 Demo¬ 
crats and 1 contested. The result for Supervisors 
in city and county, is 21 Republicans, 7 Democrats 
and 1 tie. 
In Oswego the Republicans elect their Mayor by 
224 majority, and all the Supervisors and Aldermen. 
The Democrats carried Troy by about 500 maj. 
on Mayor. The American and Union candidate for 
Justice chosen. Council a tie. 
In Utica the Democratic Mayor has two majority; 
4 Democrat and 3 Republican Supervisors ; 4 Dem¬ 
ocrat and 3 Republican Aldermen. 
The entire Republican city and ward tickets of 
Auburn, (Cayuga Co.,) were elected, with the ex¬ 
ception of one constable, by an average majority of 
225. In the county, 22 Republicans, 3 Democrats. 
Columbia county stands same as last year—11 
Republicans, 9 Democrats. 
List of New Advertisements this Week. 
Seeds! Seeds!! Seeds!!!—William Thorbum. 
Just Pulished—Realities of Homoeopathy—A.11.Copeland. 
Northern Muscadine Grape—D. C. Brainard. 
Michigan Land Agent—.). M. Treadwell. 
Assignees Sale of Valuable Real Estate—Horace Blackmar. 
A Choice Dairy Farm for Sale—H. S. Dodge. 
Vestry Harp !—A Hymn and Tune Book—Cole & Adams. 
Clover and Timothy Seed—G. C. Buell. 
New York Conference Seminary—John C. Ferguson. 
50,000 Prime Mahaleb Stocks—E. Y. Teas. 
Gifts, Gifts, Gifts—O. N. Needham. 
Fejee Island Tomato Seeds—D. L. Adair. 
Grape Vines, Lawton Blackberry, Ac—A. W. Potter A Co. 
Farm Produce sold on Commission—Haight A Emens. 
♦88,50 a Year—John I’. Griffin. 
Early Paris Cauliflower—“Rural Empire Club.” 
Evergreens—T. C. Maxwell A Bros. 
For Sale, House and Lot and Mules—W. II. Lee. 
Raspberry Plants—T. C. Maxwell A Bros. 
Superior Potatoes— Prince Alberts —S. A. Dewey. 
Pine Hill Nursery—G. Zimmerman. 
Peach Trees—T. C. Maxwell A Bros. 
Ontario Female Seminary—B. Richards. 
Cherry Trees—T. C. Maxwell A Bros. 
Tobacco Seed—Wm. J. Pettee. 
Cranberry Plants for Sale—Noble Hill. 
LinnajUS Rhubarb. Ac—T. C Maxwell A Bros. 
For Sale—D. Norton. 
Isabella Grape Vines for Sale—E. A. McKay. 
Changes in the United States Senate. —The 
terms of twenty-two members, or one-third of the 
United States Senate, expired with the Thirty- 
Fifth Congress, on the 4th inst. Of these, ten are 
re-elected for a new term, which will expire March 
4th, 1865, and the successors of three have not yet 
been elected. 
The following is a list of the Senators whose 
terms expired on the 4th inst., and their successors, 
as far as elected : 
85th Congress. 36th Congress. 
Mo.—W. P. Fessended, It. Win. P. Fessenden, R. 
N. 11.—.John P. Hale, It. John P. Hale, It. 
Mass.—Henry Wilson, It. Henry Wilson, R. 
II. 1.—nmiu Alien, l>. lieniy J>. Aininuiy, It. 
N. J.—Win. Wright, I). 
Del.—Martin W. Bates, D. Willard Saultsbury, D. 
Va.—It. M. T. Hunter, D. It. M. T. Hunter, D. 
N. C.—David 6. Iteid, I). Thomas Bragg, I). 
8. C.—Arthur P. Ilayne, D. James Chestnut, I). 
Ga.—Robert Toombs, D. Robert Toombs, I). 
Ala.—C. C. Clay, Jr., D. Clement C. Clay, Jr., D. 
Miss.—Albert G. Brown, D. Albert G. Brown, D. 
La.—J. P. Benjamin, D. J. P. Benjamin, I). 
Texas—Sam. Houston, A. J. W. Kemphill, I>. 
Ark.—W. K. Sebastian, I). W. K. Sebastian, I). 
Ky.—J. B. Thompson, A. Lazarus W. Powell, D. 
Tenn.—John A. Bell, A. A. O. P. Nicholson, D. 
III. —S. A. Douglas, D. Stephen A. Douglas, 1). 
Mich.—Chas. E. Stuart, D. Kingsley S. Bingham, It. 
Iowa—Geo. W. Jones, D. James W. Grimes, It. 
Minn.—James Shields, D. 
Oregon—D. Smith, D. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., MARCH 12, 1859. 
Opening of Navigation on Lake Erie. — The 
Buffalo Courier, of the 3d inst., says:—“ The pro¬ 
peller Equinox, Capt. Rice, left this port at 9 o’clock 
yesterday morning for Sandusky, loaded with pota¬ 
toes, and before noon she was out of sight, having 
experienced very little detention on account of the 
ice. She will load with flour and provisions at 
Sandusky, and return about the close of this week. 
Other propellers will leave for ports on Lake Michi¬ 
gan as soon as the Straits are open. This early 
opening of navigation cannot fail to give an impe¬ 
tus to the business of Buffalo, and also to secure to 
the trausportatiou routes through this State an ad¬ 
vantage over the southern competing lines which 
have recently been underbidding for the through 
freight. This is the earliest opening for many 
years. We have not at hand the dates before 1856; 
but since that time the following have been the days 
on which the first vessels have left this port;—1856, 
May 3; 1857, May 13; 1858, April 5; 1859, March 2.” 
Review of the Week. 
Indian Battle. —Capt. Skillinan, from El Paso, 
reports to the St. Louis papers that a band of 
Apache Indians having stolen a number of horses 
and mules from near San Elizario, pursuit was 
made by a detachment of mounted riflemen from 
Fort Bliss, under Lt. Lasalle. The Indians were 
overtaken about 160 miles distant from Fort Bliss. 
Reports were that an engagement resulted in the 
withdrawal of our troops with the loss of three 
killed and six wounded. Among the latter is Lt. 
Lasalle, who received a wound in the lungs, which 
is supposed will prove mortal. About a dozen 
Indians were killed. The troops numbered 22,— 
the Indians about 200. 
Explosion op a Steamboat Boiler and Loss of 
Life.— The steamer Princess from Vicksburg to 
New Orleans, exploded her boiler and burned, on 
the 27th ult., at Conrado Point, near Baton Rouge. 
Four hundred persous were on board, of whom 200 
are lost or missing, mostly residents of Louisiana 
and Mississippi. A large number of ladies were on 
board, filling the ladies’ cabin and half of the gen¬ 
tlemen’s. 
Later. —A boat which arrived at Baton Rouge 
from tho wreck of the Princess, brings a number of 
the dead and wounded. The weather was foggy. 
At the time of the explosion she was behind time, 
and had too much steam on. A Baton Rouge de¬ 
spatch says that the engineer is reported to have 
An Extra Session of Congress. — There is no 
doubt but there will be an extra session of Con¬ 
gress called by the President earlier than the first 
of the month of December next, but whether in ad¬ 
vance or directly after the autumn elections for 
Representatives, is not determined. Not only the 
Post-Oflice Department, but other branches of the 
public service, absolutely require legislation before 
the usual time of meeting of Congress. 
Seven Prixtino Offices Destroyed. — A fire 
occurred in Memphis on the night of the 1st inst., 
burning half a square on Main street, includingthe 
printing offices of the Eagle and Enquirer, the Ava¬ 
lanche, the Ledger, the Christian Advocate, the 
Presbyterian Sentinel and the Book and Job office 
of Hutton & Clark. Also, the stores of Gen. Key 
& Warren, Saffrons & Stratton, W. II. Hunt, U. 
Stillman, II. Inrich & Bros., the saloon of Joseph 
Renfel, and several offices. Loss about $150,000; 
partially insured. 
A Fortune from Selling Quails. — There is a 
man on Bear river, says the Grass Valley (Cal.) 
National, who has been in the above business for 
some four years; and is said by those who know to 
have amassed a fortune of some $9,000 from the 
proceeds of his “ sport.” He sends a large bag of 
quails to Sacramento or Nevada each day. 
dence. Gen. Brown is about 63 years of age. 
Washington writers assert that information has 
been received from reliable sources from Ascen¬ 
sion and Buenos Ayres, stating that Mr. Bamberger, 
our Consul at Paraguay, has repeatedly written to 
