§lllj 
is diminished by friction and the resistance of the 
air. This approximation of the velocity of the ma¬ 
chine around the stand, from 4 feet per second down 
to a state of rest, may be demonstrated by figure 6. 
With a velocity of 16 1-12 feet per second, the re¬ 
sultant, as before shown, would be B, E; but if 
doubled to 32 1-6 feet, the resultant would be B, G, 
and if increased to 49% feet, the resultant will be 
B, I; while if quadrupled to 64% feet, it will be B, 
K, and so on, approximating to B, J, though never 
able entirely to reach it. It will be readily per¬ 
ceived that the resultants are continually opposing 
gravitation more and more as the velocity is in¬ 
creased. And the more two forces oppose each 
other, the less they accomplish towards a common 
end. 
A Treatise on tiie Theory and Practice of Land¬ 
scape Gardening, Adapted to North America; with 
a view to the Improvement of Country Residences, 
comprising Directions for Laying out Grounds, De¬ 
scription and Cultivation of Hardy Trees, etc., etc., 
with Remarks on Rural Architecture. By the late A. 
J. Downing. With a Supplement containing remarks 
about Country Places, and the best way of making 
them ; also an account of the Newer Deciduous and 
Evergreen Plants, lately introduced into cultivation, 
both hardy and half-hardy. By Henry Wintiirop 
Sargent. New York : A. O. Moorf. & Co. 
Tins, we need not inform our readers, is that popular 
work, Downing's Landscape Gardening and Rural 
Architecture, to which is added a supplement contain¬ 
ing about 150 pages, and many beautiful illustrations of 
Country Houses,Trees, Parks, &e., by Henry Wintiirop 
Sargent. Perhaps no man in the country was so well 
prepared for the work which he has performed as Mr. 
S. With a beautiful house and grounds on the Hudson, 
within sight of the residence of the lamented Downing, 
whose intimate friend he was, with fine taste, and an 
intimate knowledge of all the newest and rarest trees, 
particularly evergreens, gained from actual experiment, 
he is, we have no doubt the one Mr. Downing, if living, 
would have selected to do this work, if unable to per¬ 
form it himself. We have only been able to give an 
hour to the perusal of the supplement, and thus far it 
has realized our anticipations. Our readers will be 
happy to learn that Mr. Sargent has performed this 
labor without compensation, and for the sole benefit of 
Mrs. Downing. When we have examined it further, 
we may say more on the subject. From the Publishers. 
(more than we do of the books,) and which we are 
endeavoring to correct. 
2d. About the number of books of which one 
man claims to be the author, the reply is :—“ We 
have often seen people wonder at the expertness of 
gymnasts, and simply for the reason that they could 
not themselves perform the same feats.” Such a 
feat as writing half-a-dozen books on as many dif¬ 
ferent subjects, we will not be likely to attempt— 
nor any other man who is competent to write profit¬ 
ably on one subject! » 
3d. We are charged with inconsistency, because 
we advertise the books, and at the same time con¬ 
demn them. We allow advertisers to say what 
they choose of their wares, over their own signa¬ 
tures, whether they are books, grapes, trees, horses 
or cattle. They alone are responsible, and the 
people know that advertisements are the statements 
of interested parties. When the editor gives his 
opinion, the readers have a right to believe that he 
expresses his honest sentiments, formed on evi¬ 
dence. One is considered as the expressions of a 
merchant endeavoring to sell his goods, the other 
the counsels of a competent and disinterested 
friend. We think there is a vast difference here. 
4th. We are next taken to task because we last 
year spoke favorobly of two books by the same 
author, I low to Talk and How to Write. We have 
nothing to take back of what we have said of these 
works; but does it follow that because these two 
were good, and we said so, that the author was 
competent to learn people how to cultivate all 
the field crops, vegetables, fruits, flowers and orna¬ 
mental trees, and instruct them in architecture 
and cattle raising, in the bargain? Because a man 
paints a barn, and we praise his work, are we bound 
to praise a daub of a landscape that he may after¬ 
wards paint ? Or, because he shoes our horse well, 
must we have him doctor our eyes, teach our 
children, make our clothes, and prune our pear 
trees? 
5th. Complaint is made because we have not 
shown the faults of the books, in the following 
language: 
But really now, friend Moore, what fault have you to 
find with, or criticism to make, on the books under 
notice? You have occupied a good deal of space, but 
have not come to a point, and have not given the pub¬ 
lic the most remote idea why these books should not be 
purchased. Almost the entire press in the country— 
religious, political, secular, and agricultural— have 
united in pronouncing each of the nine volumes of this 
style of books that we have published as being very 
much what you said you thought the first two were. 
Have they all, as well as the publishers, been mis¬ 
taken ? Are they books got up for the purpose of get¬ 
ting the people’s money without rendering an equiva¬ 
lent, or are they what we claim for them—the very best 
books on the the subjects on which they treat ever pub¬ 
lished for the same price ? 
We have not much space to spare, but we will 
devote a few lines to an examination of one of 
these books, The Hand-Book of Fruit Culture. 
The Grape and the Pear are now the most interest¬ 
ing subjects in the whole range of Pomology, both 
to the amateur and the frutit-grower. Information 
is more needed, and more eagerly sought on these 
subjects than on any others. The feeling is general 
that a grape earlier, and if possible hardier than 
the Isabella is needed, and at least of as good quali¬ 
ty. Sellers of vines, like the publishers, are over¬ 
praising their wares, and there is danger that 
many will be induced to plant sorts far inferior to 
Of course the Hand- 
BOOK-MAXING AND PUFFING. 
Tiie people of this country are a reading people— 
they desire knowledge —buy such books as are 
published and recommended by the press, and read 
them. Publishers take advantage of this thirst for 
knowledge, and cheat the people by getting up 
worthless patch-work books, made from others 
already before the public. And, what is worse, 
these book-makers generally know so little of the 
subjects of which their books treat, that they are as 
likely to steal the defects and errors of authors, as 
those parts of real merit. All that is needed to 
make one of these modern book-makers, is industry, 
some knowledge of the English language, so as to 
be able to write an introductory paragraph occa¬ 
sionally, and a sharp pair of scissors, and there is 
no end to the number of books he can get up, and 
on any subject desired. The only limit is the wil¬ 
lingness of the people to buy them. A few pictures 
and bright-colored covers make these books look 
attractive, and they are ushered into the world, 
accompanied by windy advertisements in the 
papers, and showy hand-bills at the doors of the 
bookstores. A copy of each new book is sent to the 
editors of the papers, nine-tenths of whom do not 
A PLEA FOR LOGS. 
Messrs. Eds.: — In looking over the pages of 
the Rural, my eyes very naturally rested upon an 
article by S. B. R., entitled “ A Plea for Dogs," — 
and thinking perhaps I could add an additional 
mite of testimony in favor of “ these gentle dogs,” I 
send you this communication, so that “by the 
mouth of two or three witnesses every word may 
be established.” Yonr correspondent starts out 
with the assertion that “in all ages and in all 
climes the dog has occupied a conspicuous place 
among domestic animals,” which, so far as my 
observation extends is strictly true; and if any 
one entertains a doubt, he can have ocular demon¬ 
strations of the fact that he (the dog, I mean) “has 
occupied a very conspicuous place among” some of 
the best flocks of sheep in this vicinity. All that 
would be necessary would be to take a walk over 
the fields of some of our neighbors in order to con¬ 
vince the most skeptical. 
In addition to what my friend says with respect 
to “ the three letters that compose the term (dog) 
when differently arranged might serve as a gentle 
hint, Ac.,” he might have added that the dog pos¬ 
sesses one of the good qualities attributed to Him 
thus represented, namely—“he goes about doing 
good.” In proof of this, I will cite a case which 
recently came under my own observation. Our 
neighbor over the way, was the owner of a nice 
flock of Leicester Sheep, for which he had paid a 
large amount of money, (which he ought to have 
paid out for dogs.) His sheep were increasing so 
fast that they were likely to eat up all his surplus 
fodder and convert it into good merchantable wool 
and mutton, which, when sold, would enable him 
to lay by a snug little sum each year. The prospect 
was that unless something was done immediately, 
our neighbor would soon be ranked among those 
of whom it was said, “ it is easier for a camel to go 
through the eye of a needle than for them to enter 
into the Kingdom of Heaven.” And, had not our 
“faithful sentinel” (with his “eloquent tail,”) 
“opened, his mouth” in behalf of our neighbor, 
awful would have been his situation. But “ the 
noble animal for which we plead,” saw the impend¬ 
ing danger, and came to the rescue. And the result 
was, that this morning the mangled carcasses of 
his choicest sheep were to be seen scattered over 
his fields. But notwithstanding this exhibition of 
disinterested benevolence on the part of our mutual 
friend, some of our neighbors (even the one over the 
way included,) are so ungrateful as to accuse “ the 
noble animal for which we plead” of prowling 
about nights and thrusting his carniverous fangs 
into the throats of the innocent and unoffending 
sheep, and sucking out their life-blood. But I 
intend to silence all such slanderous insinuations 
in these parts, and if S. B. R. can keep them all 
straight away down in old Vermont, I think wee 
dogs will come out all right yet. Willie. 
Fairfield, Mich., March, 1S59. 
Man and Ills Dwelling Place. An Essay Towards 
the Interpretation of Nature. Redfield: New York 
12 mo. pp. 891. 
This is a mixture of science, philosophy, religion, 
ethics, reason, and so forth. The object of the book 
seems to bo to prove, otherwise than by revelation, the 
doctrine of the final happiness of all the human family. 
The argument is that this world is not a state of trial or 
probation, as is generally believed, but a school for 
training and correction, where people are punished for 
their sins and rewarded for their virtues — all being 
designed for improvement. That in this world we are 
dead, and after death we commence to live, and scrip¬ 
ture allusions to the death of the wicked refer to the 
state of death in which wo exist here. This is all we 
can make out of it, after giving all the time we can 
afford. The author’s name is not given, and the reader 
will be as much troubled to find out what he means as 
who he is. For sale by Dewey. 
Figure 7. 
If our theory is correct with regard to the Rota- 
scope, it is rational to suppose that the yearly 
motion of the earth, in its orbit around the sun, is 
the resultant of the daily revolution on its axis, and 
the attraction of the sun, and very much do we 
regret our want of scientific culture to extend our 
investigations in that direction, and treat the sub¬ 
ject as its importance deserves. We venture a 
homely opinion, hoping to hear from abler minds 
on the subject. Let S, (figure 7,) represent the 
sun, E, the earth revolving on its axis, in the direc¬ 
tion indicated by the arrow-heads. This diurnal 
revolution, (like the motion given to the wheel,) 
with gravitation of the earth toward the sun, would 
cause it to move in its orbit in the direction from 
A to B as a resultant. Likewise a ship, propelled 
by a single wheel placed at the stern, revolving 
with its axis parallel to the keel, like our lake pro¬ 
pellers, will have tendency to swing the stern side- 
wise, and require the helm to be laid over, to coun¬ 
teract this motion. I am not sure that this is 
practically true, but hope to hear from some ex¬ 
perienced lover of truth on this subject. Let us 
have facts, and then draw our conclusions from 
(hem, and many things which appear mysterious 
will be found obeying the laws of Nature with due 
loyalty. 
'W'illiamsvillc, N. Y., 1S59. 
THE ROTASCOPE.—Ho. Ill 
BY TOBIAS WITHER. 
In our preceding article we assumed the wheel 
to be moving with a velocity that would carry a 
particle on its outersurfacc, just equal to the veloc¬ 
ity of a falling body towards the center of the 
earth, during the first second of time of its descent; 
and we found that the particle C, fig. 5, would 
(independent of cohesion) be brought to a state of 
rest, and all the other particles of the wheel would 
tend to move around that pointjJKS a center, bring- 
thc centre I, in the direvtioiimk-.! But as the 
our old well-tried kinds. 
Book will give valuable information on this point. 
We open at page 89, and there we find the com¬ 
mencement of the chapter on grapes, which consists 
of only three pages, and that an old and unsatisfac¬ 
tory article from Pardee's Strawberry Book, pub¬ 
lished in 1854, in which only the Catawba, Clinton, 
Diana and Isabella are mentioned, even by name. 
Not a word of the newer sorts, or an iota of knowl- 
ege added since 1854. What a valuable document 
for the anxious inquirer after knowledge! 
About seventeen pages are devoted to pears, 
mostly occupied with outlines, with brief descrip¬ 
tions of a number of varieties, less full and satisfac¬ 
tory than can be found in the pages of any nursery 
catalogue. To the Virgalieu about two lines are 
devoted, and we arc told it is “ a fine market pear;” 
but that it cracks over a large portion of our 
country, so as to be worthless, the reader must 
learn from some other source. All that is said of 
Beurre Superfin, which was figured and described 
in the Rural a few weeks since, is simply this,— 
“ Bears young. Good on quince.” Of what value, 
we ask, is such a description, to those who desire 
information ? 
Within a page or two of the end of the chapter 
on Pears, the reader is informed that the “ above list 
(with descriptions condensed) is extracted from 
Tucker's Animal Register. The following are de¬ 
scribed in Ellwaxger & Barry’s Catalogue.” A 
valuable book, truly, where the article on Grapes 
is taken bodily from a little work published in 
1854, and the chapter on Pears from the An¬ 
nual Register and a nursery catalogue. But our 
author has not the merit of copying correctly, for 
on page 107 we find three outlines of pears with 
the slender, long-stemmed, 
FARMING IN OHIO. 
SPEED OF RAILROAD CARS. 
Eds. Rural :—The present day brings with it 
an opportunity to write something relative to our 
rural homes, and the prospects of the coming sea¬ 
son, which, no doubt, will prove a fruitful one. I 
have been anxiously looking to see if the Young 
Ruralists of Ohio would speak out and say some¬ 
thing about the present campaign, which farmers 
are heartily preparing for. Old fences are being 
torn down, new ones made in their stead, briars 
and thorns mutilated, and lands, which formerly 
produced nothing but weeds and grass, are now 
undergoing a process of underdraining, which will 
eventually pay the owner three dollars per day. 
Sugar Cane is fast becoming a common produc¬ 
tion in Ohio, and most farmers in my vicinity are 
fixed upon giving it a thorough trial the coming 
season, and I, as one, have come to the resolution 
of putting out at least one acre, in which to test 
its cultivation. Those who have tried the cultiva¬ 
tion of the cane have succeeded tolerably well. 
One of my neighbors having out a piece of ground 
in sugar cane, not exceeding in dimensions a com¬ 
mon country garden, received from the stocks fifty- 
one gallons of juice, which, when boiled into sirup, 
produced seven gallons. Young Ruralists, will 
this not pay? Let us, then, put forth our strongest 
efforts to see who can produce the most sirup from 
the least portion of ground. S. C. Roach. 
Paris, Stark Co., Ohio, 1859. 
Many of the accidents which happen to persons 
attemping to cross railroads are the results of 
ignorance of the velocity of the iron horse when 
fairly under way. A writer in the Hartford Cour- 
ant gives some interesting facts which it may be 
well to bear in mind: 
“It seems almost incredible that, as we glide 
smoothly along, the elegantly furnished car moves 
nearly twice its length in a second of time — about 
74 feet. At this velocity we find that the locomo¬ 
tive driving wheels, six feet in diameter, make 
four revolutions per second. It is no idle piston- 
rod that traversfes the cylinder eight times per 
second. 
If a man with a horse and carriage should ap¬ 
proach and cross the track at a speed of six miles 
per hour, which would be crossing rapidly, an ex¬ 
press train approaching at the moment would 
move two hundred and fifty-seven feet while he 
was in the act of crossing a distance barely suffi¬ 
cient to clear the horse and vehicle. If the horse 
was moving no faster than a walk, as the track is 
usually crossed, the train would move towards 
him, while in the act of crossing, more than five 
hundred feet. This fact accounts for the many 
accidents at such points. The person driving 
Figure 5. 
wheel continues to revolve on its axis, and each 
particle is incessantly cliangi 
center of motion is also incessantly changin' 
place, causing, as before show 
;ing its place, this new 
its 
the rotation of the 
machine around the stand, (see fi: 
article,) with a velocity of, say 4 feet per second. 
Now, we will increase the velocity of the wheel, 
say four times, or to 64% feet per second. The 
particle C, will no longer be at rest, but will be 
projected 64%—161-12 =48% feet inasecond, in the 
direction C, D, while, in the same time, E will be 
projected 64% +161-12=80 5-12 feet in the direction 
E, F, while the center of motion will be brought 
back to r. And the greater the velocity of the 
wheel around its axis, the nearer will this new 
center of motion be brought in proximity to I; and 
the rotation of the machine around the stand, will 
no longer be 4 feet per second, but less than 4; and, 
indeed, if the velocity of the wheel, could be in¬ 
creased to infinity, i. e., so that 16 1-12 ft. per second 
would be as nothing to the velocity given, (which 
might prove to be a dangerous experiment, as well 
as a difficult one,) the machine would not rotate at 
all around the stand, but while revolving on its 
1, in second 
HENS, PRAIRIE CHICKENS AND CHILBLAINS. 
puffing, which has long enough cheated the public, and 
filled the country with worthless books? 
To this list of books, of which this gentleman 
pretends to be the author, we might have added 
one recently issued on Architecture, and another 
announced on Domestic Animals. Now, it is per¬ 
fect nonsense to suppose one man competent to 
write a good book on all these subjects. A man 
might well spend ten or twenty years of his life in 
preparing material for a book on either of these 
practical matters. Our views on this point were 
given January 8tli, as follows: 
Who, in all this land, is competent to give us a good 
and reliable work on practical agriculture? not theories 
that have been proved a thousand times—nor visionary 
ideas that never will be proved—but a book giving tiie 
teachings of experience, the results of well-tried ex¬ 
periments, teaching truth in a manner not to bo gain- 
sayed. A life-time and a fortune might be well spent 
in the accumulation of facts for such a book, but when 
accomplished it would be a blessing to the country and 
the world, and place the author’s name on the roll of 
fame, away out of sight of the journeymen book-makers 
who manufacture books to suit their employers, the 
publishers. 
Life Illustrated, of March 12th, published by 
Fowi.kr & Wells, who arc also the publishers of 
the little books which furnished the text for our 
previous article, comes to the rescue, with a defence, 
and states 
1st. The notice we gave was the only unfavorable 
one of over 500 which the books have received.— 
l'his we do not doubt; nor will our readers be 
surprised at the fact, now that we have stated the 
manner in which these notices are obtained. It is 
this indiscriminate puffing of which we complain, 
wrong 
delicate Rostiezer is made to be a short, obovate 
pear, with a thick, short stem, and the others are 
as badly off. 
Coe’s Transparent Cherry is described as new, 
because Thomas first described it so in his book? 
ten years ago; although it has been fruited here 
twelve or more years. 
Need we go further to show how unreliable this 
work is ? How sadly those 500 editors, “ religious, 
political, secular and agricultural,” have imposed 
upon their readers by advising them to purchase 
such a book. 
Messrs. Eds.: — As father and I take the Rural, I 
wish to ask a few simple questions through its columns. 
What is the best and cheapest food to feed hens to 
make them lay in the winter? I keep them in a warm 
coop and let them out every afternoon. I feed them 
plenty of boiled buckwheat and fresh meat. I keep 
plenty of coal, gravel, and lime in the coop. Two- 
thirds of them are half Shanghaes and the rest full-blood 
Brahmas. The number of eggs that I get ranges from 
three to five a day, from two dozen hens. Will any one 
give a non-laying remedy ? 
Will some one give me the best plan to make a trap 
to catch prairie hens? The one that I have is four 
boards nailed together, in the form of a box, with slats 
I never catch 
Physical Education. —Dr. Cox is reported to 
have said, in a College addressI am glad that 
Luther had a good digestion as well as a great 
soul, for the reformation would have been delayed 
had he been a dyspeptic.” The Reverend Doctor 
has been a martyr himself to throat-ail, arising 
from a dyspeptic stomach; and it has been report¬ 
ed to us that his wife is the only person able to 
keep him well, by always accompanying him and 
treading on his big toe under the table, to remind 
him that he had eaten enough, and instanter the 
plate is obediently pushed back.— ^Hall's N. Y. Jour¬ 
nal of Health. 
Adam Bede. By George Eliot, author of “ Scenes of 
Clerical Life.” New York: Harper & Brothers. 12 
mo. pp. 496. 
This is a closely printed and a very interesting novel 
of the very best class. The scene is laid in an English 
village, about fifty years ago. The hero, Adam, was a 
hard-working, honest, able mechanic, and an adherent 
of the English church. The heroine, Dinah, was one 
of good John Wesley’s converts, and, like Mrs. 
Fletcher, and other noble women, felt it to be her duty 
to follow the example of her Divine Master, preach the 
gospel to the poor, and go about doing good. After 
refusing several offers of marriage, being determined to 
devote her whole time to the work in which she was 
engaged, she finally became the wife of Adam Bede. 
Much may be learned in this book of English cus¬ 
toms and village life, as well of the efforts of the dis¬ 
senters to benefit the poor and ignorant, and the re¬ 
gard in which they were held by the “ Evangelical ” 
section of the established church. The portraits seem 
to be fairly drawn. From the Publishers. 
across the top. I set it with a figure four, 
but one at a time, and, as they are very shy, my hauls 
are few and far between. 
What will cure chilblains? As I am troubled with 
them, I wish to know. F. L, 
Springpert, Mich., 1S59. 
Wk cannot tell why your fowls do not lay better 
in the winter. We find early spring chickens lay 
better in the winter than either old hens or late 
chickens. Ascertain which hens lay, and this fact 
may be of service to you another season. Perhaps 
they are confined in too small and close a house. 
It would be well to change their feed. Try a few 
experiments in this way. The best way to trap 
prairie chichens we must leave for our young read¬ 
ers in the West. Turpentine is said to be an ex¬ 
cellent remedy for chilblains, if well rubbed in, 
but we cannot speak from experience. 
Figure 6. 
axis, would stand perfectly still; gravitation hav¬ 
ing no power to destroy the “ balance of power ” 
between the particles situated on opposite sides of 
the axis, and moving in opposite directions. Hence, 
the rotation of the machine around the stand, is 
very slow when the wheel moves with great veloci¬ 
ty, and is accelerated as the velocity of the wheel 
It C09ts a deal of money to be rich, and it is 
a question if so much is worth so little ? Afterall, 
is wealth worth the cost, first in acquiring it, next 
in supporting it, and lastly, in bearing up under it 
when you have lost it ?—Punch 
