In many localities, in the Eastern and Middle 
States, peat can be procured at less than half 
the labor and expense of wood or coal. Hun¬ 
dreds of fanners have deposits of this valuable 
substance npon their farms, and by giving the 
subject a little attention, can, with very little 
labor and in a short time, readily prepare their 
fuel for the year, and thus preserve their groves 
and timber lands, which are disappearing with 
lamentable rapidity In thickly settled districts. 
It is evident that the extensive introduction of 
this article into the market would revolutionize 
the fnel trade. E 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
PEAT: 
ITS PRODUCTION AND DEVBLOPMENT, 
An aid man to our hearth had come. 
One evening in the time of snow. 
He told as of his childhood's home, 
And of hi 3 parents long ago; 
How much for him they worked and prayed: 
How long their toils and prayers were done 
And then the old man sighing said; 
"If I had been a better son.” 
We never knew what early sin 
Called forth that aged traveler’s sigh. 
But often have I thought since then. 
My parents must grow old and die; 
And mine mast be a grief as keen 
For harsh words said, or follies done; 
Therefore my daily prayer has been 
That I might be a better eon. 
■f££ 
ISfefe 
A NEW CUBE FOE HYDROPHOBIA 
Dr. Bctsson, of Paris, was lately called in to 
treat a woman who had been seized with hydro¬ 
phobia, and in whom the disease had reached its 
final crisis. Having bled the patient, he wiped 
his hands with a cloth moistened by the saliva 
of the dying person. On the fore-finger of the 
left hand he had a trifling wound with the skin 
broken. He at once perceived his imprudence, 
but trusting to the method of core lately dis¬ 
covered by him, he was satisfied with washing 
iu water. “Thinking,” says M. Buisson, “that 
the malady would not declare itself before the 
fortieth day, and having many patients to visit, 
I put off taking my remedy of vapor baths 
from one day to another. On the ninth day, 
being in my closet, I felt all at once a pain in 
my throat, and one yet more keen in my eyes ; 
my body felt so light that I thought if I jumped 
r could rise to a prodigious height, or that if I 
Mr. E. K. Mandkvii.i.i: It lies sbont a mile 
and a half west of the village, on an elevated 
table-land, four bin dred feet above Seneca Lake. 
The bed is deposited in a kind of natural basin, 
the bottom of which is formed by a stratum of 
haril blue clay resting upon quicksand, and the 
6 ides of fine gravel and sand, having tbe charac¬ 
ter and formal ion of a lake beach. It appears to 
have been left in its present position during the 
terrace period of geological history. 
Peat is deposited by the gradual decay of a 
kind of swamp 
THE NEW SCHOLAR. 
A saw scholar came to Rockford school at the 
beginning of the half year. He was a well- 
dressed, fine-looking lad, whose appearance all 
the boys liked. 
There was a set of lads at this school who im¬ 
mediately invited him to join their “ larks," and 
I suppose boy3 know pretty well what that 
means. They used to spend their money in eat¬ 
ing and drinking, and often ran up large bills, 
which their friends sometimes found it hard to 
pay. They wanted the new scholar to join them, 
and then always contrived, by laughing at him, 
or reproaching him, to get aimost any boy they 
wanted into their meshes. The new boys were 
afraid not to yield to them. This new scholar 
refused their invitations. They called him mean 
and stingy—a charge which always makes boys 
very sore. 
“Mean!" he answered;—“and where is the 
meanness in not spending money which is not 
my own? and where is the stinginess in not 
choosing to beg money of my friends in order 
to spend it in a way which they would not ap¬ 
prove ? for, after all, our money must have come 
from our friends, as we have’nt it, nor can 
we earn it. No, boys, I do not mean to spend 
one penny that I should be ashamed to give ac¬ 
count of to my father and mother, if they 
asked me.” 
“ Eb! not out of your leading strings/then ? 
Afraid of your father; afraid of his whipping]you? 
Afraid of your mother ? wo'nt she give you a 
sugar-plum? What a precious baby!” they 
cried in mocking tones. 
“ -And yet you are trying to make me afraid 
of you.” said the new scholar, boldly. “ You 
want me to be afraid of not doing as you say. 
But which, I should like to know. Is the best 
sort of fear—the fear of my school-fellows, 
which would lead me into what is low ; ~or fear 
of my parents, which will inspire me to things 
noble and manly ? Which fear is the best ? It 
is a very poor service you are doing me, to try 
to set me against my parents, and teach me to be 
ashamed of their authority.” 
The boys felt there was no headway to be made 
bUch, o. view scholar. All th^y caid hurt 
themselves more than him, and they liked better 
to be oat of his way than iu it—aLl bad boys, I 
mean. The others gathered around him, and 
never did they work or play with greater relish 
than while he was their champion and friend. 
“ That new scholar is a choice fellow,” said 
the principal, “and carries more influence than 
any boy in school. They study better and play 
better where he is. You can’t pull him down. 
Everything mean and bad sneaks out of his 
way! ”— Children's Prizs. 
moss. This moss consists for 
the most part of two species, known to botanists 
as sphagnum squarroxum, and sphagnum aeuti- 
folium. These mosses, unlike most other veget¬ 
able forms, possess the peculiar characteristic nf 
dying at the roots only, the plant constantly 
shooting up anew from the top. Thus the peat 
is foruvug all the time, and the beds continually 
increasing in depth. Mr. Mandeville declares 
it to be his opiniou, that about four years 
elapse between the decay of the plant and its 
final conversion into peat. 
When the land is drained by natural or arti¬ 
ficial means, and the moss becomes extinct or 
its place supplied by sedges or grasses, the for¬ 
mation ceases. The moss and t he peat itself are 
largely saturated with water. It has been estima¬ 
ted that from % to 2-5 of the entire weight of the 
peat is water. The water of the peat bogs is of throat 
a very peculiar nature and is always of a dark one w 
color. In some places the color is a dark claret, attack 
and again it is as black as Ink, and possesses served 
powerful antiseptic qualities. an( j st , 
The first, object to be attained, in working a Thinki 
peat bed, is a thorough drainage. This has here no t ca 
been accomplished by digging deep trenches with tl 
around and outside the bed, leading to a well or eating 
pit in one corner. Of course more or less veg- 50 ^ e g, 
etable matter, leaves, sticks and sand, are ear- peared 
ried Lnto this well. Therefore the draining pipe nothin 
does hot lead from the bottom of the well, as it than e 
would soon clog up and become useless; but it animal 
rises up in the eeutre of the pit about four feet, save d t 
is closed at the top and, near the top, is perfo- \ytn> 
rated with a number of small holes. The reruse h e 8 h 01 
settles to the bottom of the well and is cleared Russia) 
out as occasion requires. The drainage is thirty- r rce8 c 
two feet below the surface, and the pipe which proven 
carries oil' the water is laid at such an angle as tinetly 
to insure a rapid flow. heated 
The peat in the locality mentioned above slowly 
Till Itb lll/tlt H r 1.41 lU lV/Ui toou feci in j COTlti 
thickness. This is rather more than —Tl S 
Thebe Is no region in the Atlantic States 
more delightful thau lb» Lake District of Cen¬ 
tral New York. The/surpassing attractions of 
these little bodies of fresh water—the largest of 
them not more thankbAy miles In length—are 
yearly receiving more atention; and they need 
only to become gent»al|;y known, to entice the 
footsteps of the toufist away from more fash¬ 
ionable resorts to tleit own quiet and lovely 
retreats. Cayuga cejmfy alone claims a chain 
of three of these lakesj of which Skaneateles, 
lying between Cayngl ind Oneida counties, and 
represented in the esgraving above, is perhaps 
the least known. It is only five miles from the 
city of Auburn, is sixteen miles lone and from 
half to three-fourths of a mile in width. It will 
be found a cool and pleasant retreat during these 
dog-days, while its advantages of scenery, vary¬ 
ing from the beautiful to the picturesque, will 
charm every beholder. Its waters are 770 feet 
above tide, and are remarkably sweet and pellu¬ 
cid. Its eastern shores are bluify and precipi¬ 
tous, while the western slope gradually to the 
water’s edge, in a succession of low, verdurous 
hills. Skaneateles abounds in the smaller varie¬ 
ties of fresh water fish. 
rose continually in my mouth; contact with the 
external air caused me frightful pain, and I 
shunned looking at anything bright; Ibadan 
incessant longing to run after and bite, not men, 
but animals and even objects about me. I drank 
STEWART, THE MERCHANT MILLION 
AIRE. 
He has many paring, but they are only part¬ 
ners in profits. He is the sole master of all that 
is bought and sold. He knows every article 
that comes in or go* 1 out of the store. No 
bundle leaves withou! 3 check. He selected a 
shawl for his wife 01 e day, and neglecting to 
check it, it could not Lave the building. No 
merchant in New Yof; works so many hoars or 
gives such undivided .ttention to his business. 
His rooms are in h t down-town store. He 
comes down early, tates his dinner about five 
o’clock, returns and renains at his work till late 
at night. He finds his pleasure in business. He 
is as difficult to approach as the Grand Lama. 
Go to the store, and yoi will be met at the door 
by a courteous gentleaun, once an affluent mer¬ 
chant who kept his »wn establishment. To 
yonr question if Mr. Stewart is in, a response 
comes, “ What is. your »nsiness ? ” “ I want to 
see Mr. Stewart.'; “Xiju can’t see film unless 
I know your bug nesst I must know what you 
want, sir.” It is private, you say. “Mr. Stew¬ 
art has no private business.” If your state- 
uncut there nrc several which are 
still deeper. The surface of moss hav¬ 
ing becu taken otf, the peat is removed 
by means of an implement kuown as 
a SUtius. It Is a tool very simple in its 
construction, can be made by any 
blacksmith, and is very perfect in its 
operation. It has a handle like a 
flpade; the blade Is about 18 inches 
long, and bent down through the mid¬ 
dle at light angles; the main blade is 
o\x inches wide, and the side blade or 
linage is about the same width, but 
with the outer point projecting about 
An iuch below tbe inuiu blade, so as 
to cut a little beyond it and guard 
ugaiust breaking the block of peat 
A little skill is required to cut the 
blocks ol peat out, and turn them over, with¬ 
out breaking them, but this is soon acquired 
with care. 
The peat Is cut out, with the slane, into blocks 
or bricks of any desired size, and these blocks 
are then laid upon the turf in rows, where they 
cau have a free circulation of air and an expos¬ 
ure to the snn. After lyiug in this manner a few 
days —the time varying according to the state 
of the weather —it is stacked up, Btill preserv- 
lug a free circulation of air, and when thoroughly 
diy is ready for market. The pent from this 
■bed Is of a dark color, is quite elastic, and very 
compact, hard and free from impurities and 
foreign substances. Some specimens are sus- 
ceptitle of a flue polish. The fragments and 
from the fact that the natives use them as lamps 
for the lighting of their lodges. The fish, when 
dried, has a piece of rush pith, or a strip from 
tbe inner bark otlhe cypress-tree, drawn through 
It, a lorg, round needle made of Hard wood being 
used for the purpose; it Is then lighted, and 
burns steadily until consumed. I have often 
read comfortably by its light. The candlestick 
(literally ft stick for the caudle) consists of a bit 
of wood split at one end, with the lamp fish in¬ 
serted in the elelt, These ready-made sea can¬ 
dles -little dips wanting only a wick that can be 
added in a minute—are easily transformed by 
heat and pressure into liquid. If the Indian 
drinks instead of burning them, he gets a fuel 
in the shape of oil that keeps up the combus¬ 
tion within himself, burnt and consumed in the 
lungs, just as it was by the wick, but giving only 
beat. It is by no mere chance that myriads of 
small fish, in obedience to a wondrous instinct, 
annually visit the northern seas, containing 
within themselves all the elements necessary for 
supplying light, and heat, and life to the poor 
6 avuges, who but for this supply must perish in 
the bitter cold of the long dreary winter. 
A NEW DETERGENT 
KEEPING THE GOLDEN .RULE, 
“ Please, sir, will you ring the bell for me ? ” 
said a short, fat girl to a tall gentleman who was 
passing a house before which she stood vainly 
trying to reach the bell-handle. The tall gentle¬ 
man was either too proud or busy with his own 
thoughts to give much attention to Miss An¬ 
nie’s request. He merely glanced at her as he 
brushed past, and said :—“ Go away! I have 
nothing for you.” 
Poor Annie felt pained, for she was a nice lit¬ 
tle girl, and did not like to be mistaken for a 
beggar. 80 she sighed, looked at the door in des¬ 
pair, and said half aloud :—“ 0 dear! what shall 
I do?” 
Just then a stout boy, with a big basket filled 
with groceries, came walking towards her. 
“I won’t ask Aim,” said Annie to herself I 
don’t believe he would help me, and fie might 
make fun of me.” 
But tbe boy stopped at the door and put down 
his basket. He bad seen her trouble as fie came 
up the street, and pitied her. His face was 
lull of sunshine as he smiled on Annie and said: 
—“Can’t you reach the bell? Let me ring it 
for you.” 
“ Ob, I shall be so glad,” replied Annie, “I’ve 
been waiting here ever so long, and I’m so tired.” 
The boy rang the bell, the door was opened 
and Annie’s trouble was ended. 
Now, the golden rale, given by Jesus, says 
“ Whatsover ye would that men should do to 
you, do ye eveu so unto them.” Did that proud 
gentleman keep this rule when he gave little 
Auuie that rude answer ?—TV Nkio Covenant, ' 
SLANE, 
Sala, in a late n.mber of “ Temple Bar,” thus 
speaks of our rever nee for the flag:—“ Although 
some opticians ddare the primary colors to 
amount to seven, lere are no hues in the Amer¬ 
ican rainbow denied worthy of mention, save 
the red, white ail blue. Big flags and little 
flaunting standar s, trailing pennons, stiff gui¬ 
dons, you may soil ;t them as you please; but there 
must be a stares aiigled banner of some kind 
about the premiss. In Boston I have seen the 
American flags i ftde up into window-blinds. 
On the fourth ol uly all the omnibus and haek- 
ueycoach horses Arry the stars and stripes in 
their ears. I an glad to say that the stripes do 
not extend to t ali’ backs; for the Americans 
very seldom w ip their horses. Ladies fre¬ 
quently wear th beloved bnuucr, enameled in 
gold, as brooohe ; and. after the first shot tired 
at Fort Sumter, Unost every matter-of-fact mer¬ 
chant or broker’Ou met down town wore atiuy, 
representation f the flag In his buttonhole. 
Bootmakers wok leathern arabesques of the 
flag on the front, of their patent leathers; eating 
house keepers t ,.d pastry cooks stick lilliputian 
dags into roun i of beef and plum-cake; you 
can get the flu |iu colored candy; and, more 
thau once, I hi* seen Its infinitesimal contig- 
urement amour the pounded ice which crowns a 
sherry-cobbler Iftes.” 
A FLOCK OF DRUNKEN PIGEONS, 
A San Francisco paper has a curious story 
about a flock of inebriated pigeons. A farmer, 
living in the vicinity of that city, was recently 
surprised to tee a large flock of pigeons, after fly¬ 
ing around his barn-yard a few moments, sud¬ 
denly fall to the ground. Wondering at the 
phenomenon, he concluded to watch them. An 
antiquated Thomas-cat, perambulating the yard, 
seized one of the youug pigeons and made a 
hearty meal of it Soon after the Thomas-cat 
commenced staggering Uke Intoxicated, and 
ialllug over gave up the ghost with a dismal 
yowl. % 
The farmer’s wife who had picked up a num¬ 
ber of the pigeons for the purpose of making 
pies of them, ou learning of poor grimalkin’s 
fate, thought the birds were poisoned and threw 
them down. The farmer gathered up two hun¬ 
dred of them aud threw them into an old out¬ 
house. In the morning they were alive and roost¬ 
ing on a wood-pile. Inquiries were made, audit 
was ascertained that a near neighbor, bavins 
been troubled by frequent visits of pigeons, 
bad soaked some grain iu whisky and scat¬ 
tered it about bis premises, so that the pigeous 
became intoxicated, in fact dead drunk. They 
recovered, however, but poor puss became a vic¬ 
tim of alcoholic stimulants, imparted by infected 
pigeon meat. 
NEW MEASUREMENT OF SEA-DEPTHS, 
Various sea soundings, made by the new 
telegraph company iu England, in preparation 
for the laying of the Atlantic submarine cable 
this summer, reveal the following results:—The 
Baltic Sea between Germany and Swcdeuis onlv 
120 feet deep, and tbe Adriatic and Trieste 1:30, 
The greatest depth of the channel between 
Franco and England does not exceed 300 feet, 
whilst to the southwest of Ireland, where the 
sea is open, the depth Is mure than 2 , 000 . The 
seas to the south of Europe are much deeper 
than those in the interior. T 11 the narrowest 
ourt 01 the Straits ot Gibraltar the depth L only 
1,000 feet, while a little more to the east it is 
if 000 . On the coast of Spain the depth is nearly 
6,000 lect. At 260 miles south of the Nantucket 
(south ol Cape Cod) no bottom was found at 
i, 8 U 0 «et. lhe greatest depths of all are to be 
met. with in tbe Southern Ocean. To the west 
of the Cape ot Good Hope 10,000 feet have been 
measured, and to the west ot St. Helena 27,000 
Jeet. Dr. Youug inti mates the average depth of 
hintic is 23,000 lent, and of the Pacific at 
me employment ot this substance as fuel, 
both for domestic purposes and iu the mechani¬ 
cal arts, is a subject that now claims much 
attention, and Is growing in importance every 
day’. Though peat has been loug known to exist 
In laige quantiliea in tin- United States, yet Its 
use, to any extent, is of comparatively recent 
date, and It Is being constantly discovered in 
localities where it was hitherto unknown. It 
may now bo regarded as a new and important 
sonreo of National wealth. 
For smelting and working metals, it is invalu¬ 
able, as it gives an intense heat aud is free from 
the impurities that render coal objectionable. 
In a recent trial, at Watkins, of peat, for the 
purpose of generating steam in a large station¬ 
ary engiuo, the heat was so intense that the eu- 
gliiecr whs obliged to leave the furnace door 
open nearly all I be time. As ft fuel for houses, 
it produces a cheerful aud pleasant lire. 
An Old Man’s Advice.— Never attempt to 
strike the guilty, where by a misdirected or too 
hasty blow, tbe innocent, the gallaut and the 
good may suffer. Never attempt to expose a 
villain, if your efforts in doing so are likely to 
injure those who have been the unsuspecting 
dupes of his artifice. Never wager a lurgersum 
than you carry in your pocket. Never shake 
hands with a man if you are not really glad to 
see him. Never forget when yon meet, to rec¬ 
ognize your friends, and be even more careful 
to offer your salutations to those that are poor. 
Never quarrel without a sufficient cause, but if 
it be necessary to take up a quarrel, then see it 
flrmly put to an end. 
REMAlKABLE OLD OIL WELL. 
[From the Li dsville (Ky. ) Advocate, of March 
28, 1829, cophl iuto Nile’s Register, Yol. 86 , 
page 117, Apri 1829 : ] 
We have jist conversed with a gentleman 
from Cumber! ad county, who informs us that 
in boring thn tgh rocks for salt water, a foun¬ 
tain of petroi< tn or volatile oil, was struck, at 
the depth of bout ISO feet. When the auger 
