other competent tribunal, has, in this case, 
full right to take into account the facts above 
adduced in respect to the origin of the Wool 
and Woolen tariff, and by the decision to 
effectuate the intent, of the parties in interest 
almost, if not. quite as unreservedly and com¬ 
pletely as it is the province of legal tribunals 
to effectuate the intent of private parties to 
a contract. 
But were this otherwise, the Bulletin itself 
concedes that there is another way to obtain 
a recognition of “ the mutual understanding 
of the Joint Committee,” in the law,—viz, 
by an amendment of the law. But this con¬ 
cession entirely vanishes, in substance, when 
we ave told that there is a “ primary agree¬ 
ment in writing” signed by the members of 
tire Joint Committee, from which the intent 
of such Committee can alone he drawn! 
And this must be as rigorously construed by 
the Growers’ and Manufacturers’ Association 
ns, the Bulletin claims, the tariff law must 
ho construed by the courts! We prefer to 
repeat this extraordinary proposition in the 
language of its author. The Bulletin says: 
“The act which establishes the present wool 
tariff is the matured result of a primary agree¬ 
ment formally signed by the members of the 
Joint Committee, and contained in tliolr joint 
report. It is freely admitted that if the existing 
wool tariff does not conform to that primary 
agreement it should be amended. Fur this 
reason the Manufacturers’ Association held it¬ 
self under obligations not to resist the skin wool 
amendment now pending. As in statutes we 
cannot seek for their interpretation outside of 
tlm statute itself, so when parties have entered 
into an agreement, in writing, their intentions, 
if the language of the agreement is uotiimhigu- 
oiis, are. to be drawn only from t.lm written 
agreement.. It would be preposterous for any 
member of the Committee making the agree¬ 
ment, or its Secretary, to say what the under¬ 
standing of the Committee was, when that un¬ 
derstanding is clearly expressed in tho written 
agreement. 
Thin agreement was as follows: 
“■A provision to be inserted In tho tariff Jaws 
reuniring all wools now known as Mestizo, 
Meat/., Cape, utnl Australian wools to bo sub¬ 
jected to a duty of not less than ten cents per 
pound, and ten cents a<l valorem; said provision 
to be so worded as most effectually to prevent 
these and similar wools from being admitted at 
versy on the subject, even though there 
might be another side. Our experience is 
that during the hot season, from the middle 
of May to September, sheep thrive at, least, as 
well, if not better, upon good upland prairie 
grass than upon tame pastures—other cir¬ 
cumstances, such as water, shade, etc., being 
equal. In a recent conversation with E. F. 
McConnell, Esq., who has made a specially 
of sheep raising in Illinois for twenty-eight 
years, lie gave his opinion that during the 
summer months no grass could bo found that, 
for sheep, would equal that of a good prairie 
range. The late S. P. Boardman, eminently 
successful as a sheep breeder as well as a wri¬ 
ter upon sheep husbandry, in an article pub¬ 
lished in the report of the Department of 
Agriculture, for 1862, says“ It is not worth 
while, in this late day, to go into any ex¬ 
tended examination whether the prairies of 
the West, are favorable to the production of 
wool. Thirty years’ experience has proved 
not only that such is the case, but also that 
prairie farmers enjoy peculiar facilities,” etc. 
As far as we are at present advised, the gen¬ 
eral testimony of Western flock-masters is in 
the same direction. 
The common prairie grass does not start 
early in the spring, and is killed by the first 
frosts of autumn The tamo grasses will 
furnish feed, probably, t wo or three months 
longer in a season ; and when the writer of 
Hie report above quoted, confines the illus¬ 
trations of his position, ns he is compelled to 
do, to the spring and fall seasons, we have 
no issue to take with him. We do submit, 
however, that, his assertion, that “men can 
never get good sheep off wild grass,” is quite 
too sweeping, and venture the opinion that 
he will find some difficulty in getting life¬ 
long sheep raisers on Western prairies to ac¬ 
cept, without qualification, Ids further dic¬ 
tum that “ it is indispensable that sheep 
should be pastured upon tame grass,”— 
though they may readily accept the propo¬ 
sition that “ the higher and more rolling the 
land, the better.”— A. M Garland, in Western 
Rural. 
let the mixture stand for several days. Keep 
the wash thus prepared in a kettle or porta¬ 
ble furnace, and when used put it on as hot 
as possible, with painters’ or whitewash 
brushes.” 
Oxygenated Bread. 
Messrs. Welton & Burch have recom¬ 
mended a new way of introducing oxygen 
into the stomach by means of bread. The 
air contained in the bread is extracted 
by means of a pump, and oxygen sub¬ 
stituted in its stead. The bread is said 
to mold rapidly, which can bo prevented 
by inclosing in cans covered with a 
small amount, of carbolic acid. A mouthful 
of this bread is said to take away at once 
loss of appetite and to produce a pleasant 
sensation to persons afflicted with dyspepsia. 
It is also recommended in all eases of ner¬ 
vousness, scrofula and defective digestion. 
Unleavened bread is said to be less liable to 
spoil than the ordinary kind. 
How to Use n File. 
The Irish Builder says.—“In filing flat 
surfaces, a‘surface plate’is used to enable 
the operator to finish the work, with accu¬ 
racy. This is merely a cast-iron plate planed 
to a true surface. Some red lead is rubbed 
on this plate; then tins piece of work is 
nibbed on, and wherever the work is red¬ 
dened it shows that that, part is above the 
level, and has to be filed down; and this 
testing and filing is carried on until the 
work is perfectly true. It. saves the file to 
draw it back at. each stroke ns lightly as 
possible. There is economy in using the 
files first on brass or cast iron, and after¬ 
wards on wrought iron.” 
DiMiufectlng Fails. 
It. is often desirable to disinfect the odor of 
perspiration, and this cun lie accomplished 
by means of pulverized charcoal. Take an 
ounce each of finely pulverized charcoal, 
gum arable in powder, and water. Put a 
thin paste of this between two sheets of pa¬ 
per or of cloth, and press by the hand or be¬ 
tween weights, to smooth the wrinkles, and 
thru allow it to dry in the air. It is tliffli 
ready to be cut into soles for the feet or into 
pads as required. 
gprod of Electric Siifiiuln. 
It is remarked that wires buried in the 
earth transmit slowly, like submarine cables. 
Wires placed upon poles, but slightly eleva¬ 
ted, transmit signals with a velocity of 12,000 
l miles per second, while those at a consid¬ 
erable height give a velocity of 10,000 or 
20,000 miles. 
rirnttfic anb (fistful 
H. S. RANDALL, LL. D., EDITOR 
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 
Op Cortland Vlllagk, Cortland County, Nrw York 
Making niiiHcudiin' Wine. 
A correspondent of the South-Land 
writes:—Allow me to give you a formula 
for making Muscadine wine. It was ob¬ 
tained by me from Dr. David Devall of 
Pointe Coupee, a gentleman of decided 
scientific and literary taste and proclivity. 
He said that the wine thus made was su¬ 
perior to any champagne he ever tasted. 
Recipe. — Muscadine juice, one gallon; 
rain water, one and one-half gallons; white 
sugar, one and one-half pounds. 
THIRD-CLASS WOOLS. 
The Intent and Administration of the Tariff 
ns to Wool** of Third-Class. 
The Windham County resolutions appeal 
to the National Association of Manufacturers 
to co-operate in procuring such a construc¬ 
tion and administration of the wool tariff as 
“ mutual understanding of 
accords with the 
the Joint Committee of Manufacturers and 
Wool Growers ” who framed the. draft of the 
law. To this the Bulletin replies that “ with 
that recommendation for legislation, the 
functions of the Joint Committee ceased;” 
that “ their views as to the intent of the 
laws, passed at their suggestion, are entitled 
to no more consideration than those of the 
most indifferent, person ;” that “ there is no 
propriety in appealing to members of the 
Joint Committee” “ to ascertain what they 
understood should be the intent of the law 
recommended by Litem.” 
Were these positions true in law, they 
would not be true in honor, if taken by 
either side to secure to itself, and at the ex¬ 
pense of the other side, any advantage con¬ 
trary to the “mutual understanding” of tho 
framers of the draft of the law. Among gen¬ 
tlemen, the time never comes when either 
is entitled to plead tho letter against the 
original spirit and intent, of the agreement. 
We concede, of course, that when the 
provisions of a statute ave explicit, judicial 
and administrative officers can only seek their 
legal intent “ from the body of the act itself.” 
But where those provisions are held to be 
ambiguous, their intention may be gathered 
from the context and the circumstances. In 
such cases the declarations of the framers of 
a law as to their understanding of its intent, 
whether made in debate pending its passage 
or in contemporaneous exposition, are al¬ 
lowed to be cited before judicial tribunals, 
and are recognized us one of the sources 
from which that, intent may be determined. 
We may here be met with the objection that 
the framers of the draft of the wool tariff, 
not being members of Congress, were not, 
technically speaking, framers of the law. 
The Secretary of the Treasury, in his famous 
“blood decision” in regard to East India 
Wools, (for its frank and manly repudiation 
of which we thank the Bulletin,) appears to 
have made no such distinction, for he evi¬ 
dently bases his decision on a supposed 
agreement, or mutual understanding, be¬ 
tween the wool growing and manufacturing 
interests as represented by the Joint Com¬ 
mittees who drafted the wool and woolen 
tariff; and it was not this fact, but his er¬ 
roneous assumption that such an agreement 
existed, that led him to a conclusion, in the 
language of the Bulletin, “ not sustained by 
the statute, or the facts of agreement alleged 
by hina.” 
The circumstances under which the wool 
and woolen tariff of 1867 was prepared are 
familiar to our readers. It was drawn up on 
the exact principle and almost in the exact 
terms in which it passed, by two committees 
appointed respectively by the National Wool 
Growers’ and Manufacturers’ Associations. 
The industrial interests represented by those 
Associations had generally felt and acted 
antagonistically to each other in reference to 
the relative amount of protection against 
foreign competition which each should re¬ 
ceive through tariff legislation. It was now 
believed that if they could effect a compro¬ 
mise in their claims which would be satis¬ 
factory to themselves and not injurious to 
the public interests, Congress stood ready 
to give its sanction to their agreement. So 
thought the United States Revenue Com¬ 
missioner, who most urgently pressed such 
an agreement upon them, and also the 
preparation of the complete draft of a law 
embodying and embracing the terms of that 
agreement. Their Joint Committees spent 
months in performing these labors. Every 
point was discussed Inch by inch, and tiie 
meaning of every term embodied in the draft 
of the law agreed on. Congress virtually 
enacted this agreement into a law. It passed 
the prepared bill almost without discussion, 
and ostensibly almost without investigation 
—certainly without anything like the amount 
of investigation usually bestowed on revenue 
bills of like importance. It seemed by tins 
course to adopt not only the agreement but 
the reasoning and the understandings on 
which it was based. Virtually the drafters 
of the law were the framers of the law. 
Under circumstances like these, to assume 
that the intent of the Joint Committees—or 
of the interests they represented—may not 
he taken at all into account in interpreting or 
construing the law, by tribunals vested with 
equity powers, is a position which, in our 
view, is wholly untenable. In investigating 
the facts and circumstances which may al¬ 
ways be properly and legally referred to as 
throwing light on the intent of a law, we be¬ 
lieve the Secretary of the Treasury, or any 
Inclose in a close vessel, from which con¬ 
duct the gases by a flexible tube to a vase of 
water, which will act as a valve, allowing 
the gas to escape and preventing the return 
of tho air. When the gas ceases to bubble 
up through the water, the wine is “made” 
and as soon as cold weather sets in bottle 
and cork tight. A bit of rock candy as 
large as a bean may be put in each bottle— 
this will make it sparkle. The juice should 
be expressed in a wooden or earthen vessel, 
and nothing of metal allowed to come in 
contact with it. 1 send here a sketch more 
fully explaining the idea. 
The editor of the South-Land says the 
above proportions vary so much from those 
Of the best domestic wines wc have proved, 
that we cannot but think that there has been 
some mistake. 
these and similar wools from bain, 
a less rate of duty; the rales ol duty on all 
Other wools te remain as they now are, with the 
exception or wools tho urowi.li of Canada, which, 
In the absence of treaty stipulations, shall ho 
subjected to a dul y of (biaulo corns per pound.” 
From what source does this “ primary 
agreement” derive such a binding character, 
force, and effect? It was, in point of fact, 
simply an inchoate agreement, incomplete 
on the face of it. It did not touch some im¬ 
portant subjects of wool tariff legislation, 
because the Joint Committee could not then 
agree in respect to them. It did not, there¬ 
fore, meet the wishes of either party. Like 
any other agreement, however, it was bind¬ 
ing on the parlies so far as it, went, and so 
long as it remained in force. But, yielding 
to the reclamations of those who thought 
that I bo agreement as it now stood would 
obtain little or no attention in Congress, and 
tho Growers yielding to promised conces¬ 
sions by the Manufacturers, the Joint Com¬ 
mittees met again in the same capacity as 
before and clothed with tbo same powers as 
before. They, consequently, were as com¬ 
petent to aller, abridge, or extend the “ pri¬ 
mary agreement” as they were originally to 
make it. A Congress may repeal or change 
the acts of a previous Congress, or its own 
acts at a previous (or even the same) session. 
Private parties are legally, morally, and 
honorably (if there is any distinction be¬ 
tween the moral and honorable) entitled at 
any time, by mutual agreement, to abrogate 
or change contracts or agreements between 
them. And in all cases the last agreement 
supersedes any previous one, where their 
provisions disagree. 
The Joint Committees acted on this prin¬ 
ciple at their subsequent meeting. They al¬ 
tered some of the provisions of the “ pri¬ 
mary agreement," and made additional ones 
not embraced in fact or principle within its 
scope. This they did by reporting to the 
Revenue Commissioner, and virtually, 
through him to Congress, the draft of a bill 
which represented their matured and com¬ 
pleted agreement, and which necessarily ab¬ 
rogated all preceding agreements of an op¬ 
posite tenor. 
Tho amount of rain water 
(one and one-half gallons) to the gallon of 
grape juice is too great, and the quantity of 
sugar (one and one-half pounds) altogether 
too small, to bring the “must” up to the 
proper strength for good sound wine that 
will keep. _ 
A Cement. - Waul!. 
Tiie following directions are given by the 
Government Light-House Board: — “Take 
of fresh Rosendalc cement three parts, clear 
sand, one part, and mix them thoroughly 
with fresh water. This will give a gray or 
granite color, dark or light, according to the 
color of the cement, If a brick-color is de¬ 
sired, add enough Venetian red to the mix¬ 
ture to produce that color. The cement, 
sand and coloring matter must be mixed to¬ 
gether. Tf white is desired, the walls, when 
new, Should receive two coats of comont- 
wasli, and then whitewash. After the work 
has received the first coat, a single coat, every 
three or tour years will be sufficient. It is 
best to thoroughly dampen the wall with 
clean fresh water, and follow immediately 
after with the cement-wash. This course 
will prevent the bricks from absorbing the 
water from the wash too quickly, and will 
give time for the cement to set. Care must 
he taken to keep all the ingredients of the 
cement-wasli well stirred during the appli¬ 
cation of it. The mixture must be made as 
thick as it can he conveniently put on with 
a whitewash brush.” 
unit vKtcmawy 
TAN BARK AS A FERTILIZER. 
In the Rural New-Yorker of May 7tli, 
page 801, a correspondent asks if the ashes 
of spent tan bark aiy^huable for fertilizing. 
In answer, 1 would say that they arc very 
good for fertilizing sandy soils, though not 
as good as hard wood ashes, from the fact 
that hard wood ashes contain a greater 
amount of alkali, and are, consequently, 
better adapted to destroy the acidity com¬ 
mon to such soils. But experience teaches 
me that using the bark Instead of the ashes, 
is far more profitable, and in reality much 
better, especially for clay soils. 
My experience is as follows: — Several 
years ago my garden, being, in part, the 
hardest quality of clay, when plowed, would 
break up in chunks from the size of a man’s 
fist up to that of a half-bushel, and even 
larger; and with all the clod-crushing and 
manuring l could do, I could scarcely raise 
anything, nor could I reduce the lumps in 
the least. Finally, after everything else had 
failed, 1 resolved to try tan bark, which 1 
did in the spring of 1808, using baric fresh 
from the yard mixed with lime, in propor¬ 
tion^ of about six or eight bushels of hark 
to one of lime, the lime (or ashes, if prefer¬ 
able,) being used to neutralize the acid in 
the bark. This was spread about three 
inches deep over the ground, and plowed 
under as well ns the lumps would admit of; 
the clods were then crushed, and the ground 
planted; but the crop manifested but very 
little improvement over previous years. 
Last season a dressing of barn-yard ma¬ 
nure was plowed under, and the result was 
a gain in the yield of about one hundred 
and fifty per cent, over any previous season, 
to say nothing of vanished clods, and the 
labor saved iu pulverizing them. This year 
a dressing of well.rotted stable manure was 
turned under, and everything continuing fa¬ 
vorable, a gain of fifty per cent, over last 
year is anticipated. Thus, with less labor 
and less manure, I can now raise nearly four 
times the amount that I could before, and 
all owing to the oue dressing of tan bark 
and lime. 
My experiment was with oak bark, though 
the hemlock bark would produce the same 
results. This bark is also excellent to put 
about currant bushes, strawberry vines, or, 
indeed, about anything where the ground is 
not stirred more than once a year, as it 
keeps the surface of the ground moist; and 
if put on sufficiently Lhick—say three or four 
inches—grass and weeds will not bother to 
any great extent. Scholium. 
Kentellatc, O., June, 1870. 
PIG-PEN PARAGRAPHS 
Buckwheat and Whitt* Kokh. 
A foreion correspondent, of the Prairie 
Farmer says:—“Relative to the fact com¬ 
municated in my last, of a breed of hogs hav¬ 
ing become delirious from feeding on green 
buckwheat, some German agriculturists and 
chemists think the cause must be found in 
insects which attack the plant, and add that 
the effect is not mi common,—affects sheep 
as well as hogs, hut strange, only those of a 
white color. Stupor, inflammation of the 
head, accompanied by pimples as large as 
peas, constituting the diagnosis of the 
malady.” 
Epilepsy in Figs. 
Tiif. Irish Farmers’ Gazette says:—Con¬ 
vulsions occasionally accompany different 
diseases, but they arc likely to 1)0 tho effect 
of epilepsy. Cold water kept constantly ap¬ 
plied to the head is essential- Also bleeding 
and purging, followed by low diet, perfect 
quiet and cooling medicines, such as niter, 
one or two drachms, in the water the pigs 
drink. The causes of epilepsy are sometimes 
obscure, hut. indigestion and intestinal irrita¬ 
tion from worms or other sources appear to 
hurry it on.__ 
Tlip K ox In Kind of Iloes. 
Joseph A. Leech, M. !)., Verona, Miss., 
writes the North Alabama Times that he 
has sought diligently for the best breed of 
hogs, ami concludes:—“ It is the old-fash¬ 
ioned woods hog, the long-nosed, bristle- 
backed, working, rooting, bilious hog, Mack, 
blue, red, sandy or spotted; I care not for 
color, so he is truly a hardy woods hog, that 
can stand on his head with his body half in 
the ground and root—root all day and half 
the night, and never tire or die; but do well 
and look well on it all the time, independ¬ 
ently making a living. These are the right 
kind of hogs. They arc the next thing to 
the ant for industry. They know their meat 
and reject what is poison. They are the 
beat doctors of all hogs. They keep healthy. 
Their flesh is the most healthy to eat, It is 
the most nutritious, it is tho sweetest to tiie 
palate; most easily digested. They arc clear 
of scrofula and consumption, which no other 
breed is. The flesh of the so-called im¬ 
proved breeds is filled with lymphatic, 
tubercular, adipose,cheesy matter; breeding 
scrofula uml consumption in all who eat 
their flesh.” 
Steam Boilers Become Brittle. 
Peter Carmich ael recently read a paper 
upon steam boilers before the Scotch Insti¬ 
tution of Engineers, in the course of which 
he mentioned that it had been found that, 
“ all qualities of iron get hard and brittle 
after the boilers have been at work more 
than a dozen years, more especially where 
exposed to the action of the fire; and that 
in the furnaces, even Lowmoor iron becomes 
as brittle as common iron in that time, and 
great care has to be taken in making repairs 
to prevent the plates from cracking. For 
this reason, sixteen to seventeen years is long 
enough for a boiler to be in use, at a pressure 
of forty pounds to forty-five pounds. If used 
longer, the pressure ought to be lowered.” 
Two boilers which had been in use nineteen 
years, and which required repairs, were 
found by Mr. C. so brittle that the rivet 
heads on the outside flew off when the in¬ 
side heads were struck; showing that the 
rivets had deteriorated as much as the plates. 
WILD GRASS FOR SHEEP 
We find the following paragraph in Grif¬ 
fith’s Fifth Annual Report of the Chicago 
Live Stock Market: 
“ Men can never get good sheep off wild 
grass. It is indispensable that they should 
bo pastured upon tame grass, and with this 
the higher and more rolling the land the 
better. Our best sheep come from sections 
where tame grass is most abundant. Thus, 
in the spring of the year, men look for the 
receipts per the Alton and St. Louis Rail¬ 
road, and the whole of Western Illinois, in 
which sections they have good tame grass, 
and feed plenty of corn. In the fall our best 
sheep come from Michigan, simply because 
there is more tame grass cultivated there 
than elsewhere. In Illinois wo have no 
cause to complain of the supply of sheep we 
get. from Springfield, Jacksonville, Cham¬ 
paign, and Ford counties; and also between 
Galesburg and Quincy, where there are tame 
grass and good rolling prairie.” 
This is pretty positive talk for one who is 
neither a practical farmer nor sheep raiser, 
and reads as if intended to close all contro- 
Au Approved Whitewash. 
The following is sent out by the Light¬ 
house Board of the Treasury Department: 
“The following recipe for whitewashing 
has been found, by experience, to answer on 
wood, brick and stone, nearly as well as oil 
paint, and is much cheaper. Slake half a 
bushel of unslaked lime with boiling water, 
keeping it covered during the process. 
Strain it, and add a peck of salt, dissolved in 
warm water; three pounds of ground rice put 
in boiling water, and boiled to a thin paste ; 
half a pound of powdered Spanish whiting, 
and a pound of clear glue, dissolved in 
warm water; mix these well together, and 
To Destroy Burdocks,— The following 1 cheap 
and sure destruction to burdocks and other 
troublesome plants is worth knowing:—Cut 
close to the ground with a sharp hoe, and apply 
a few drops of kerosene. The plant so treated 
will never “ put in appearance ” again.—H. C. 
Janes. 
