MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
Drcjrari) ant 1 §arkn. 
CULTIVATION OF FRUIT. 
No superior excellence can be attained in 
anything physical or mental without a great 
deal of labor, watchfulness, and anxiety.— 
Weeds in the garden and field, and bad habits 
in men, grow spontaneously ; but valuable 
productions in either must be carefully culti¬ 
vated in order to succeed. It is a rule, with 
very few exceptions, that the mere choice and 
excellent a prcduc ion is, the more care must 
be bestowed upon it, and the greater number 
of enemies must be guarded against. 
In no department of labor is this more 
manifest than in that of Horticulture.— 
Fruits and flowers of all degrees of excellence 
exist, from the spontaneous productions of the 
uncultivated waste to the tender plants and 
flowers of the green-house, ar.d in all these 
gradations towards perfection in flavor or 
beauty is an equal degree of liability to dis¬ 
ease and decay. In the pear, for instance, we 
find natural hardy varieties producing a near¬ 
ly worthless fruit, which flourish for centuries, 
while of the choice and tender kinds, which 
the skill of the gardener has succeeded in 
propagating, diseases and casualties not un- 
frequently cut them off in the first ten years. 
On the quince stock many of the varieties are 
greatly improved both in appearance and fla¬ 
vor, are produced upon trees of diminutive size, 
and are earlier brought into bearing ; but ac¬ 
companying these advantages are correspond¬ 
ing disadvantages of a greater tendency to 
disease and shorter periods of life. We 
have seen a dwarf pear tree one season loaded 
with the choicest fruit, and the next utterly 
destroyed by the blight, and standing with its 
leaves scorched and withered as if by fire. 
In cherries, although a much hardier fruit 
and le83 liable to disease than the pear, the 
same facts exist. The choice and highly cul¬ 
tivated Bigarreauand Heart cherries are much 
more subject to misfortune than the native 
and comparatively worthless varieties. The 
latter will flourish neglected and unprotected, 
where great care is'required to render the 
others successful. The wild native grape 
propagates itself and lives through snow and 
frost, when the magnificent Hamburgh and 
the unsurpassed Cliasselas exhausts the skill 
and watchfulness of the gardener to bring 
them to the highest perfection. So it is in 
other departments of fruit culture, not ex¬ 
cepting the apple itself. Ihe nearer worth¬ 
less may be the product of an apple tree, the 
more tenacious it is of life. It defies the as¬ 
saults of its thousand enemies to destroy it, 
as it also exhausts the efforts of its friends to 
improve its fruit. Graft the stock with some 
choice variety, then treat it with the same 
neglect as before, and the tree will perish. 
The foliage and the trunk of choice fruit 
trees are the prey of many kinds of enemies 
and diseases, and call fer constant vigilance 
on the part of the cultivator. And yet, who 
that has ever reared a tree of choice fruit, and 
brought it forward to perfection in bearing, 
does not feel himself amply rewarded ? The 
very care which he has bestowed upon it pro¬ 
duces a kind of affection for the object of his 
solicitude, and he watches the unfo.dirg of its 
buds and the swelling and ripening of its 
fruit, with a thousand times more gratifica¬ 
tion than its pecuniary value is capable of 
producing* in any other way. 
There is room on nearly every freehold out¬ 
side of cities, and of many within their limits, 
for at least a small number of fruit trees ; and 
it is surprising to see how little attention is 
paid to their cultivation by the mass of men. 
A few of the most hardy, and of course infe¬ 
rior kinds are permitted to exist, rather than 
are cultivated, A and the meagre returns from 
these must answer all purposes, when a 
knowledge of fruit culture easily acquired, and 
an amount of care amply compensated by the 
results, would furnish a large return. 
The difference between culture and neglect 
was exhibited recently in two small fruit gar¬ 
dens of this city, the proprietors of which 
came into possession of them within a few 
years. Each had several dwarf pear trees, 
young and vigorous, and a limited number of 
cherries, quinces, Arc. The dwaifs and the 
quinces of one bore profusely for a year or 
two, and then nearly all of the trees perished 
with the blight. The same malady attacked the 
trees of the other garden also, but the owner 
pruned away the diseased branches at the ear¬ 
liest moment, and-otherwise watched over and 
protected his trees. The consequence is he has 
several of the most beauti.'ul dwarf trees we 
have ever seen, and takes unbounded pride and 
pleasure in their cultivation and success._ 
His premises, limited in extent, abound pro¬ 
fusely in the choicest kinds of fruits and flow¬ 
ers, and they contribute cot a little to the at¬ 
tractions of his home. 
fepARHAw Apple.— Mr. George Shorey, of 
Boston, allowed us to look at a couple of ap¬ 
ples of this variety, weighing one and a quar¬ 
ter pounds each, and measuring fifteen inches 
in circumference. They grew in Illinois — 
N. E. Farmer. 
r»(VftMrjra.*:i nimmnnn mimia hpjii 11 i o n 
WESTERN N Y FRUIT GROWERS’ SOCIETY 
The first Annual Exhibition of this Soci 
e-ty, held at Buffalo on the «3 h and 14: h, was 
well at ended, and comprised a fine collection 
of fruits. The specimens presented were nor, 
only numerous, but generally well grown and 
correcdy named. The principal nurserymen 
of Buffalo Rochester and L ickport, contribu¬ 
ted large;y to the exhibition, and fine collec¬ 
tions were presen'ed by amateur cultivators 
residing in various localities of Western New 
York. Altogether the display was most 
creditable to the Society, gmng a prestige of 
success to the organization, and evincing a 
spirit which must tend to the promotion of 
Horticulture throughout Western New York. 
We shall endeavor to give a more detailed 
account, or the official proceedings of the 
meeting, in our next number. 
Illinois Fruit. —In a recent letter, Mr. 
John R. Woods, of Alton, Id., writes us in 
this wise :—“ I cannot let the present oppor 
tunity pass without boasting a little about the 
fruit we raise in this region. On the 29 :h 
ult. our Horticultural Exhibition was held.— 
Our peaches measured from 8 to 12>A inches 
in circumference, and the largest apples from 
9 to 1G inches. The premium articles were 
sold in the evening, and brought enormous 
prices. Strargers from abroad were pur¬ 
chasers to a considerable extent, to take home 
the specimens to their friends. On a single 
branch of one of my trees, I had 19 peaches, 
the extreme ones beiDg but 18 inches apart.— 
These peaches measured from to 10 
inches in circumference.” 
A Public Meeting of Horticulturists and 
Fruit Growers will be held on Tuesday, 
Wednesday and Thursday eveniegs at Elmira 
daring the week of the State Fair, under the 
auspices of the State Agricultural Society._ 
The arrangements for the meetings were 
placed in charge of Col. E. C. Frost, who has 
authorised us to say that they will be held at 
the Court House. Col. F. a'so requests us, 
in behalf of the Society, to tender an invitation 
to those interested to attend and take part in 
the discussion,—not only to residents of this, 
but neighboring States and the Canadas. 
IMPORTING VEGETABLES. 
It is not a great many years since Connec¬ 
ticut used to supply the West India Islands 
with onions and other kinds of vegetables; but 
now the tide has turned, ard a stream of veg¬ 
etables is pouring in upon us from the West 
Indies and all other parts of the world. YVe 
are certainly getting to be great eaters. With 
the finest soil and the best kind of climate in 
the world for all kinds of vegetable produc¬ 
tions, we are importieg from foreign countries 
the article that ought to be produced in cur 
own gardens. Bermuda supplies us with 
early potatoes and tomatoes; and it seems 
that the British provinces at the east of us 
are supplying us with egg*, which are now 
imported duty free under the Reciprocity 
treaty. Twelve hundred and sixty dozen of 
Nova Scotia eggs were entered at the Custom 
House in Boston on one day recently. We 
import enormous quantities of dried prunes 
from France, a kind of fruit that grows abun 
dantly in ail of our Eastern aLd Middle 
States; we import figs from Smyrna, which 
might as well be grown in North Carolina; 
grapes from Spam, which can be raised in 
\ irgima ; cuts from Madeira, which may be 
raised in New \ erk ; and olives, which might 
be produced in abundance in nearly all the 
Southern Stales. As for eggs, the value of 
which is so much greater when they can be 
warranted fresh, we should hardly ‘think it 
could be profitable to import them from 
abroad. Reaches we are able to raise in as 
great quantities as we can'consume; but we 
shall not be surprised next to hear cf a cargo 
of this delicious fruit fcei: g imported from 
some neighboring country. Potatoes are 
brought to us trom France, Germany and 
England, and a cargo of turnips was lately 
brought to us from Scotland. It is about 
time that we had begun to develop our agri¬ 
cultural resources.— New York Times. 
Keeping Apples.— S. S. Boyd, of Jaekson- 
burgh, Indiana, states that he has found ap¬ 
ples to decay in keeping, more from being 
kept too close and warm, than from all other 
causes put together. He has succeeded re¬ 
markably with a cellar where the air circu 
lates freely, and is so cool that potatoes can¬ 
not be kept there. Close or confined air we 
have long since found to he detrimental, and 
we have therefore adopted the plan of sus¬ 
pending the apple shelves in the middle of the 
cellar, so that one can pass round on every 
side, which is the most convenient; and so as 
to admit a free circulation of air, which can 
not take place when the shelves are in contact 
with the damp walls. Iron reds are best for 
supporting them, and if sufficient space is al¬ 
lowed, rats End mice cannot reach them. 
Saving Seed. —In saving the seed of Stocks 
aud Wallflowers, the sirigte ones only avail 
you ; and as the double ones have no organs 
of generation, they arc useless. It is a fallacy 
to put a single one among double ones. The 
proper way of saving seed, is to select any 
single one that has five petals instead of four, 
and remove all other single ones. In savins 
seed from Dahlias, Hollyhocks, Larkspurs, 
China Asters, Camellias, Iloses, or other 
double flowers which yield seed, choose the 
best that bear the necessary organs aud seed 
vessels. In saving of vegetables—select the 
very test and let none other bloom within a 
mile if you can help it.— Garden*Almanac. 
Good Culture.— Heury Little, of Bangor, 
Me., j <srlv observes :—“ 1 see no reason why 
we ih.ju d manure oar lands for crops of 
wheat, corn and potatoes, and utterly neg'ect 
to enrich the soil for our crops of fruit. One 
of our farmers was asked why his app'es were 
so much superior to those of the saaie variety 
raised by his neighbor? ‘Because,’ he re- 
pLed, • 1 fat my apples—by enriching the soil 
around the roots of my trees.’ There may be 
a lev instances at the west,, wh-re the soil is 
already rich enough tor grain a d root as well 
as for fruit crops, but the reverse is often 
strikingly the case in other places.” 
Chip Manure.— -Very important additions 
may often be made to the manure and com¬ 
post heaps from the wood yard, the refuse ma¬ 
terials of which, consisting of fine, easily de¬ 
composable ligneous particles, when mixed 
with putresent matter, and incorporated with 
the soil, speedily change into hurnvs or the 
food of plants. A few cords of this article 
mixed with quick lime or unbleached wood 
ashes, with a small quantity of gypsum, make 
a most salutary dressing for fruit trees, cur¬ 
rant bushes, &c.— Banner. 
domestic (fcf ommiiL 
amt 
, h. 
i BREAD FROM SPROUTED WHEAT I’LOUR 
Mr. Moore ;— In compliance with ycur 
, request in the Rural, I forward you my rnetk- 
od of making bread from hour made from 
sprouted wheat. After many experiments I 
found that by heatirg a small stone (or flat¬ 
iron,) and covering it in my flour bowl, ard 
let it stand an hour previous to putting in 
the yeast, and then, after rising, to mix it 
quite hard, and bake at least one-fourth longer 
than usual, good light bread wa 3 the result 
—scarcely discernible from that made from 
the best of wheat. I think that after partial 
germination, wheat contains more moisture, 
and consequently requires some drying pro 
cess to expel the percentage of water. 
By the way, Mr. Editor, why cot advocate 
in the Rural the importance of young ladies 
obtaining a knowledge of chemistry, which is 
of such practical utility, especially to a 
farmer’s wife, instead of spending years in 
studies that are laid aside as useless or nearly 
so as soon as the duties of households g are 
commenced ? Fidelia D. Palmer. 
Bridgewater Center, Wash. Co , Mich., 
TO PRESERVE QUINCES. 
The oraDge quince i3 the best to preserve. 
Peal and core the quinces ; weigh them ; put 
a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Boil 
the quinces very tender in water. When all 
are cooked, make a syrup of the water and 
sugar ; then put in a3 mary of the quinces as 
the syrup will cover, and let them boil about 
thirty minutes. Take them out to cool on a 
flat dish and put in more, until all are boiled. 
Then boil up the syrap again, and strain it hot 
over the quinces in a jar. If you wish to in¬ 
crease the quantity, without additional ex¬ 
pense, have as many sweet apples cored, 
quartered and pared as will weigh one third as 
much as the quince. When the quince is done, 
put in the apples and boil them soft. Put 
quince and apples into the jar alternately._ 
The flavor of the quince will penetrate the 
apple. 
Quince Marmalade.— Pick out the poorest 
of the quinces ; pare, cere and boil them in as 
little water as will.cover them. When soft, 
take them out. Weigh them before boiling, 
aud put a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit' 
Mash up the fruit, and boil the fruit and sugar 
together ; then strain through a coarse sieve, 
and put it up in small jars. 
Quince Jelly. —Prepare quinces as above; 
cut them in small pieces, and boil them in 
water with the seeds, cores, and parings about 
one hour. Strain through a sieve; measure 
a pint of juice to a pound of sugar ; boil these 
together about twenty minutes, and strain in¬ 
to moulds. The quinces strained out will 
make good marmalade with the addition of 
sugar.— American Cook Book. 
Cure for Wasp Stings.— Some unfortu¬ 
nate, last year, while picking, peaches, was 
stung in the fmger by a yellow wasp. The 
wound caused effusion of blood, and inflamed 
the arm to the shoulder. Saleratus made into 
a paste with water, was soon applied as a 
poultice, and in half an hour had so com¬ 
pletely neutralized the acid poison, that the 
swelling had entirely gone down, aud nothing 
remained but the soreness occasioned by the 
puncture. This application has proved bet¬ 
ter than liquid ammonia, so far as a limited 
trial has proved, and is probably the best rem¬ 
edy for stings generally. It is important that 
the nearest alkaline substance at hand should 
be applied till a better can be found, whether 
it be ammonia, or even paste of fresh ashes._ 
In the absence of all these, a mud poultice is 
an excellent remedy.— Buffalo Democracy. 
Spiced Peaches. —There are many ways 
in which this delicious fruit may be served up 
so as to suit the palate; but none, I think, 
superior to pickling them. The best recipe, 
to have them nice, (and every housekeeper 
likes nice preserves.) is the following:—Pare 
your peaches and leave them whole; then to 
eight pounds of peaches put three pounds of 
sugar, one pint of the beet e’der vinegar, and 
about a tablespoontul of cloves, pounded up 
and enclosed in a linen bag. Allspice is 
equally as good as cloves, to those who prefer 
the taste of that spice, and should be left with 
the peaches as long as they are kept. These 
will be of ?ery light color and of a delicious 
flavor.— Cor. Germantown Telegraph. 
LIST OF PATENTS. 
*»“«* from Che United States PatevJ. Office for die tivo 
roedis ceding Sept. 11, 1855. 
J. W. Bocag,\ <~ypress Mills. Ark. improvement in 
machines for cutting standing cotton stalks. 
C H. Butterfield, of south Lancaster, Mass., improve¬ 
ment in lantern guards. 
John Cochrane. Baltimore, improvement, in machines 
for sawing marble. 
George H. Coney, Boston, improvement in the method 
ot securing keys in connecting rods &c. 
John Claris, Cambridge Township, Pa.,' self-regulating 
valve for ventilation. 
John I). Eliot, Leicester, Mass., improvement in ma 
chinery tor folding and measuring cloth. 
Robt. S Eastham, B.anchester, Ohio, improvement in 
saw-mill carriages. 
John E. Heath, Geneva, 0., improvement in harvest- 
ing machines. 
Geo. K Hooper, Boston, life-preserving beds for ships. 
Jo.ee Johnson, Washington, D. C., charger for fire¬ 
arms, ate. 
Frances Grace Mitchell, M. D. Now York, improve¬ 
ment m hernial trusses. 
Jonathan Nesbit, Jr., and Thos. Cosley, Clear Spring 
Md„ improvement in hominy machines. 
Christian E. Otfhause, Newark, improved rotary steam 
engine. J 
Freeman Plummer & Gilman B. Rollins, of Manches¬ 
ter, Ind.. improvement in seed planters 
John J. Speed, Jr., and John A. Bailey, Detroit, Mich, 
improvement in conical plate railroad car springs. 
J. B. Terry Hartford, improved machine for crimp’ng 
paper for stickpins. 6 
0. S. VVoodcock, Connelsvilie, Ind.. improved method 
of operating reciprocating saws. 
Henry J. Weston, Buffalo, improved construction of 
beds for shingle machines. 
'V 1 ? - N'^ ,er ' ^ ew Orleans, improvement in cotton 
seed huller-. 
Wm. Wilber, New Orleans, improvement in steam ap¬ 
paratus for exti acting vegetable oils. 
Wm. Wiloer, New Orleans, improvement in grinding 
cotton and otk<-r st ed for their oils. 
• h°’. J- Yampert, Mobile, double ac'.ing force pump. 
Amos Abbott Manchester N. H., improvement in ho 
romeiers. Patented in England. Sept 10 1854 
Walter & Jonas B. Aiken Frankhn N. H., assignors to 
derrick & James B. Akin, same place mprovement in 
knitting machines. 
A son A. Swift, Florence, Ala., assignor to himself and 
samuei L Hill, fame place improvement in machinery 
tor trebling a single thread. 
RE-ISSUE. 
J M. Thatcher. Jersey City annrovement in air-heat- 
mg stoves. Patented March 23. 1S52. 
or j0h Y, 'f^sey, New York, improvement in g.» n dry¬ 
ers. Paten:ed Apnl 17,1850. * 
DESIGNS. 
Edward Gleason, Dorchester, Mass., design for tab'e 
castors. 
James Andrews, Phi.adelphia, assignor to Andrews & 
Lixon, same p ace design for parlor grates. 
Ja3. H. Conklin, Peekskill, assignor to Sani'l B. Sex on, 
Baltimore, Md., design lor stoves. 
STEEL AND IRON. 
The ddferenca between common iron and 
steel is the carbon in the latter; bat if iron 
be heated to a white heat and plunged in cold 
water, it becomes very hard. Mechanics 
take advantage of this in making axles and 
collars for wheel work, for it easily filed and 
turned in a soft state, and afterwards harden¬ 
ed ; this is most commonly practiced in the 
machine shop. Moulders who make wheels 
are often embarassed by this chemical proper¬ 
ty in iron ; for as the metal is poured in the 
mould of moist sand, the evaporation of the 
water carries off the heat, and cools the iron 
so quickly as to make it extremely hard.— 
This is common in such portions cf the metal 
as have to run the greatest distance from the 
aperture of reception. The only remedy for 
this is to have the sand dry as possible, and 
as many apertures as are convenient. ’The 
harder the steel the coarser the grain_fine 
steel has the closest grain. A neat curved 
line and gray texture denote good steel • 
threads, cracks, bright specks, denote bad.— 
The management of the forging may indeed 
modify these indications, and steel, o-ood for 
some purposes, may be bad for others! Very 
small particies heated in a candle, are found 
to be perfectly hardened by whirling them in 
tee cold air, and thin plates of steel, such as 
the needle of a compass, are hardened by bdD°- 
ignited and laid upon a plate of cold lead and 
quickly covered with another. 
“ Case hardening ” is that property of iron 
by which it becomes very hard on its surface. 
Articles of iron may be case hardened be¬ 
smearing their surface with a paste of the 
prussiate cf potash, then heating them to a 
red heat, and dipping in cold water. In mak¬ 
ing tools, the artist is directed by the color of 
the steel while heating. The different colors 
direct, in tempering, to a standard. When 
steel is too hard, it will not do for tools in¬ 
tended to have a very fine edge, because it will 
soon become notched, and if too soft, it will 
too easily bend. Purple is the color for 
gravers, cr tools used to work in the metals ; 
when the color appears in heating, it is im¬ 
mediately plunged in cold water ; a very hard 
temper will be made, if the steel be taken at 
a yellow color and dipped. Blue is the color 
for spring and instruments for cutting soft 
substances, such as leather, &c .—Inventor. 
Expensive Railroading.— The Americans 
who own and run the Copiapo Railroad in 
Chili, South America, are obliged to distil 
sea water for the use of their engines, at a 
cost of two cents per gallon, as they find that 
the water of the country deposits lime in 
their boilers at the rate of 3 4 inch per day. 
Its track is 75 miles long. Fifty miles of it 
is from Copiapo up into the mountains_ 
twenty of which traverses the desert of Ataca¬ 
ma, where there is not a drop of water, and 
where, consequently, beasts of draft and bur¬ 
den suffer and too frequently parish. Freight 
for these 50 miles is $10 per ton. The pass¬ 
enger fare is $4,25. 
The Wayne County Iron Company.—A 
companv bearing the above title was organ¬ 
ized iu December last, and went into opera¬ 
tion in January. The company owns the ex¬ 
tensive property in Ontario, “ Wayne coun¬ 
ty in this State, which consists of 500 acres 
of land—100 of which is an ore bed, and the 
blast furnaces and other buildiugs erected 
thereon. This property is 18 miles distant 
from Rochester, aud three miles from Lake 
Ontario. The company has turned cut since 
December 1,400 tons of iron, and its affairs 1 
are now in a very thriving condition. The j 
capital stock is $75,000.— Rochester Union. 
ORIGIN OF FIRES. 
The London Quarterly Review gives some 
curious facts and statistics as xo the or¬ 
igin of the great majority ox fires. “It is 
commonly imagined,” it observes, “that the 
introduction ot hot water, hot air, and steam 
pipes, as a means of heatipg buildings, cuts 
off cue avenue of danger from fire. This is 
an error. Iron pipes, often heated up to 400 
degrees, are. placed in close contact with 
floors and skirting boards, supported by slight 
diagonal props of wood, which a much lower 
degree of heat would suffice to ignite. Mr. 
Brandwood, (the Superintendent of the Lon¬ 
don Fire Brigade.) has stated his belief that 
by long exposure to heat, not much exceeding 
that of boiling water, or 212 degrees, timber 
is brought into such a condition that it will 
ignite without a light. 
The time daring which this process of de- 
sication is going on, until it ends in spontane¬ 
ous combustion is, he thinks, from eight to 
ten years,—so that a fire might be hatching 
in a man’s premises during the whole time of 
his lease without making &oj sign 1 Our 
object in making this extract, in which all in¬ 
surance companies are interested, is not of 
course to discourage the mode of heating build¬ 
ings by steam, &c , but to show the necessity 
which exists for greater care beiDg exercised 
in the laying of the pipes. They should be 
clear of all woodwork, and rest on metal 
brackets only. 
Raii.rold Dust.— A correspondent of the 
Albany Express tells what he has seen on the 
Housatonic Road He says : 
“ A complete and thorough ventilation 
was apparent to all—and though the day was 
hot and clouds of sand enveloped the train, 
yet within, there was not a particle, and a 
pleasant breeze made it a real luxury to 
travel. 
It seem3 that the air is taken in at the front 
of the buggsge car—carried over the top, in 
a sort of covered way, brought down in the 
space where the cars are coupled —the plat¬ 
forms of which are cased in by a tight flexible 
cloth covering, (india rubber, perhaps,) and 
diffuses itself through the train—all the cars 
beirg, as it were, thrown into one long gal¬ 
lery. 
Of coarse there are on the platforms, doors 
of ingress a:d egress—and windows for the 
brake man and a ready way of uncoupling, or 
detaching these India rubber arch-ways_ 
though we do not pretend to know by whose 
Yankee (it mus" be a Yankee) ingenuity it is 
all effected, Probably President Hunt, of the 
Housatonic Road, can tell all about it—and 
for ourselves we know it does the work well 
and thoroughly, and ought to be on every 
train in the country.” 
Improved Brick.— The Cleveland Herald 
speaks of a new kind of brick which has been 
introduced there, for building purposes._ 
They have the appearance of granite, and are 
made of sand and lime, the block subjected 
to a great pressure while in nearly a dry 
state. In size they are ten by four and five 
inches and hollowed, the indented part beino- 
seven by one and a half inches. After the 
bricks are formed into shape and pressed, they 
are subjected to the action of the'atmosphere, 
and soon become as hard as rock, and insen¬ 
sible to the frost or rain, These bricks cost 
twenty dollars per thousand ; but the inven¬ 
tors say that they are cheaper than clay 
bricks that cost but three dollars, because 
they furnish so smooth an exterior surface 
that no plastering is necessary, ard being hol¬ 
lowed, the walls do not require to be Erred. 
These brick were exhibited at the Ohio State 
Fair, and probably will be at ours also. 
Ink A cnemist in Europe has been exper¬ 
imenting with ink?, with a view to determin¬ 
ing the most beautiful and durable pr:duct to 
be obtained. After experimenting with va¬ 
rious substances, and among others, with 
Prussian blue and indigo dissolved in various 
ways, he found the sulphate of indigo to fulfil 
all the required conditions, and, when added 
in the proper proportion to a tannogallate 
ink, it yielded an ink which is agreeable to 
write with, which flows freely from the pen, 
and dees not cleg it; which never moulds— 
becomes of an intense pure black when it dries 
on the paper and does not fade or change its 
color, however long kept. He found that the 
smallest quantity of the sulphate of indio-o 
which could be used for this purpose wa 3 
eight ounces for every gallon cf ink.— New 
York Evening Post. 
Prof. Alexander states, in regard to the 
origin, of the. asteroids, that by the skillful use 
of delicate circumstantial evidence he has ar¬ 
rived at the absolute conclusion that the as¬ 
teroids between Mars and Jupiter were once, 
not a globe, but a disc, seventy thousand 
miles wide and eight miles in thickness, re¬ 
volving in about three and a half days. He 
says it made such a fats as might have been 
anticipated from so thin a body whirling so 
rapidly, and burst, as grindstones sometimes 
do.— N. Y. Post. 
The mode of forming a hard surface for the 
public streets and squares of Paris is to melt 
into a liquid, cakes of asphalt, about the size 
of a half brick, and, while in this state, a 
quantity of granulated stone is mixed with it; 
then, by means of large iron ladles, it is car¬ 
ried to the spot where it is to be used, and 
there poured out—and as soon as this is done, 
the mass is hastily spread by means of a spa¬ 
tula, and in a few minutes it becomes hard_ 
N. Y. Post. 
The English are casting shells for the Cri¬ 
mea three feet through, and weighing over a 
ton each. Mr. Nasmyth, the great founder, 
is also casting guns, which, with their car¬ 
riages, will weigh fifty tons each. They re¬ 
quire 225 pounds of powder for a charge, and 
will throw one of the immense balls of a ton 
weight four miles. 
