suspect Scotch measure. The produce of four eyes, | ways, farmers who wish to rid themselves of this

cut from the cluster species, and planted in four different kinds of soil

In an experiment accurately managed, under the London Horticultural Society, with a view to ascertain whether whole potatoes or sets were best for seed, five acres of ground were taken for the experiment, and five kinds of potatoes were planted, one half with whole tubers, and the other half with pieces containing one eye each. There was obtainedTuns. Cwt. lbs. 113 2 17 111 3 54

From the tubers,

From the single eyes, The difference, about two tuns, was hardly equal to the difference in the weight of seed. From a series of experiments made by the society, they publish the opinion, "that, in order to acquire the greatest possible weight of potatoes, per acre, it is necessary that large, heavy sound tubers should be employed; and that the space allowed for the growth of each plant, should be as nearly as possible such as it would naturally occupy, if suffered to spread freely on all soils without interruption; that this space will vary according to the habits of different varieties, and can only be determined by actual experiments; and that too much, and too little room, are alike injurious to productiveness. Finally, that it is quite practicable to double the crops that are usually obtained.”

nuisance, may resort with confidence. The first method is by summer fallowing. We do not mean fallowing, as it is generally practised, viz.: ploughing up the ground twice or thrice in the season perhaps, but commencing with the plough as soon as the thistles show themselves in the spring, and repeating the operation as often as they appear above ground, which in the forepart of the summer will be as often as once a fortnight. The only rule is to keep them constantly under: none must be allowed to shoot; and if this system is faithfully adhered to. the thistle will soon be at an end. We know this method requires considerable labour and care, and prevents the use of the land for a spring or summer crop; but these are minor considerations compared with the certainty of destroying the thistle.

The other effectual method, and the one which we would advise in most cases to be pursued, is, to plough the thistle ground thoroughly, if in the fall so much the better, and in the spring, after the necessary preparation, plant the ground with potatoes or corn. These may be hoed in the usual manner two or three times, only taking particular care that not a plant escape the hoe, and pulling by hand those that grow in hills, so that in no case a shoot shall be left above the surface of the earth. After the corn and potatoes have attained some size, their growth has a tendency to check the thistle, and the scattering plants that appear must be exterminated by going over the ground as often as their springing up shall render such an operation necessary. To cut these scattering thistles, and the deeper they can be cut the better, an instrument made something like a Mr. Knight raised thirty-four tuns nine hundred chisel, with a long handle, will be found very useful. weight per acre, which, estimating the bushel at six- The greatest danger to be apprehended in this mode ty pounds, would be about one thousand one hundred of destroying the thistle is, that some plants may be and sixty-six bushels to the acre; and he is of opin-overlooked in the hills, and by thus giving the roots ion that still larger crops may be obtained. The soil was a rich garden mould, and the manure employed was chiefly decayed oak leaves. The tubers were planted nine inches in the soil, and the mould was afterward raised three inches higher in ridges, to guard the young plants from frost.

The Rohan Potato, a new variety which has lately appeared in Switzerland, surpasses all others in size and productiveness, and is said to be very farinaceous and of excellent flavour. Three tubers, chosen at random, weighed thirteen pounds eleven ounces, eleven pounds nine ounces, and nine pounds thirteen ounces, and a small tuber, having only four eyes, weighing when planted, a few grains less than half an ounce, produced forty-eight and a quarter pounds. The earth is dug twenty inches deep, and the sets, containing two or three eyes, are dibbled in, four feet apart. This statement is from The Cultivator, of Jan. 1835, published in Switzerland. A dozen tubers of the Rohan potato have been received from France, and planted by a friend in the county of Greene; so that if they are as valuable as represented, we are likely to profit by them.

CANADA THISTLE.

EITHER of the two following methods-methods which have the sanction of both philosophy and experience-will, if thoroughly carried out, effectually destroy the thistle and to one or the other of these

time to recruit, nearly or quite undo all that has been done. We wish here to repeat, and impress upon the mind of every farmer who engages in the destruction of the Canada thistle, that the grand secret lies in adopting a plan of operation which shall give them no resting-place, no breathing time. No halfway measure can be effectual; ploughing, if not often repeated, only scatters them the more, and hoeing will be equally useless if not carefully persevered in. The method of destroying by planting and repeated hoeings, has this advantage, that while if well performed it is equally successful with summer fallowing, the crop will in most cases pay the extra expense incurred, while naked fallowing returns little or nothing for the additional work expended.

The time, however, to attack the thistle, is on its first appearance, and never to wait until the horizontal shoots are formed, and the train laid for a century of evils. The seeding thistle is as easily destroyed as any weed of the garden or field, and even after it has begun to spread for a single season or so, no great effort is required to kill them. But when a farm is half covered, and plague spots of an acre or two abound, then they cannot be put down without great care and labour. In all evils precaution is better than care, and we advise farmers, one and all, not to overlook the first appearance of the thistle; let the spot where they are discovered be carefully marked, and by occasionally visiting the

spot, and cutting them below the surface of the | The white or queen-pine, is the most common in earth, or pulling them by hand, which may then Europe, and is the most to be relied on for a certain easily be done, one season will be the last. The and good crop. evil produced by the Canada thistle is great; it is also rapidly increasing, and unless extra exertions are used, will soon become most formidable. It is not however hopeless, and in this case as in all others, "nil desperandum."

THE PINEAPPLE.

Genesee Farmer.

THE Bromelia ananas or Ananassa sativa, the common pineapple, is well known to every one on account of the richness and fine aromatick flavour of its fruit, which is esteemed the finest in the world. The plant is originally from Brazil, whence it passed to the West, and then to the East Indies. About the middle of the seventeenth century it was brought to Holland, and from that country it was introduced into Britain in the year 1690, where it is now cultivated more successfully than in any other part of Europe.

The name pineapple is derived from the circumstance of the fruit being covered on all sides with small triangular scales, resembling the cone of a pine-tree.

Pineapples seldom perfect their seeds in cold countries, and hence they are propagated by suckers, which appear on the fruit stalks, or proceed from the base of the plant, and by crowns or tufts, those peculiar productions which grow on the fruit. The suckers, after they have assumed a brownish colour, are removed from the plant, by breaking down the leaf beneath them and then moving them gently backward and forward till they fall off. Pines are seldom cultivated in the United States. In fact, the culture of the pineapple is very expensive and troublesome. Fruit is seldom produced till after the lapse of two or three years. A bark-pit is used for nursing the crowns or suckers, the plants are then transferred to a low stove called a succession-pit, where they are kept till they are ready for fruiting; they are then removed to the pine-stove or fruitinghouse. In order to secure good pineapples, plenty of room must be allowed to the plants in the nursing and succession-pits, so that the lower parts of them may swell out and increase in bulk. Mr. Knight says that a loamy soil, well enriched with rotten manure, and the pots sufficiently drained, with abundance of heat without sudden extremes, will insure large and well-flavoured fruit.

Pines should be watered sparingly in dull weather, more especially in winter, from the beginning of October to the first or middle of March. After that, plentiful waterings may be given every three or four days. Fruiting plants ought to receive plenty of water from the time they go out of flower till they begin to colour. When they approach maturity, water should be applied more sparingly, inasmuch as by this means the flavour of the fruit is increased. The fruit is generally ripened from the month of June to September, and is known to be perfect by its acquiring a fine golden colour and a delightfully fragrant smell. The fruit is eaten in greatest perfection soon after being cut. It may be preserved, however, for several weeks, by putting the stem into a bottle of pure water, renewed every two or three days, and placed in a well dried room at a temperature of 60° Fahrenheit.

In some of the East India islands pineapples are said to be so abundant at certain seasons of the year, that the inhabitants clean their swords by running them through the fruit.

A juice is obtained from the pineapple, which by fermentation yields a liquor possessing stimulating and diuretick properties.

Pines are subject to injury from the attacks of brown and white scaly insects of the coccus tribe, as well as from the ant.

The Deathwatch.-The deathwatch, or ptinus, is an instance of insect-hearing. It makes a ticking noise, by beating its head with great force Many varieties of pineapples are known in the against what it stands on. Derham kept two in West Indies, and upward of thirty sorts are cultiva- a box for three weeks, and found that, by imitating ted in England. Among these are the queen-pine, their sound, which is done by beating with the point New Providence, brown sugarloaf, striped sugarloaf, of a pin, or the nail, on a table, the insect would Montserrat, Antigua, king-pine, green-pine, &c. Of answer him, by repeating its own tick, as often as these the two first are, perhaps, the most esteemed. he pleased.

USEFUL KNOWLEDGE..

FARINA.

A PATENT has lately been obtained for procuring nutritious food of a farinaceous character, which is exceedingly economical.

The patentee proposes to prepare from carrots, turnips, beetroot, mangel-wurzle, or potatoes, or any other roots of that kind which may be conveniently obtained, a fine white and nutritious farinaceous substance, capable of being converted to the best white bread, and to all the purposes of fine wheaten flour; and also into sugar.

Alabaster.-A correspondent of Silliman's Journal writes that he saw in Ohio, a boat of crystalline sulphate of lime, white as the driven snow, thrown out at a landing-place, as a thing of very little value; indeed the writer says that it is to be had for about six dollars the tun, and is used only for improving the quality of land. This sulphate of lime is the alabaster, of which mantel ornaments are made, and is a fine variety of gypsum or plaster of Paris, its constituent materials being the same.

Glass-ware. It probably is not generally known, that glass may be tempered so as not to be liable to crack when filled with hot water, by merely boiling in water, which should be cold when the glass is put into it, and then leaving it to cool gradually in the water. If the ware is to be exposed to a greater heat than that of boiling water, it should be temper

The roots are to be washed perfectly clean, or deprived of their skins, and are to be cut into thin slices, and then submitted to the action of a solution of acid in water; sulphurick acid is to be preferred, but any of the other acids will answer the purpose. The quantity of acid to be employed will depended with oil. upon the roots to be acted upon: from two to ten pounds of acid will be required for every hundred weight of roots; carrots will require the smallest quantity of acid, potatoes the greatest.

This steeping of the roots in the solution of acid, will perfectly change their characters and taste, and when they are sufficiently acted upon, the acid and other matters held in solution, are to be removed from the slices of the roots, by washing them repeatedly with pure water. They may be afterward dried by exposure to the air and sun, or by a kiln at a low temperature; and when the mixture has been evaporated, and the slices of the roots brought to perfect dryness, they may be submitted to the operation of a mill, and ground into farina, or white flour in the ordinary way.

The slices of roots thus prepared will retain their nutritious properties unimpaired for any length of time, and in any climate, if not exposed to damp; and the flour obtained from grinding then will have exactly the same properties, appearance, and flavour, as wheaten flour.

A method of preventing iron and steel from rusting after being newly ground.-A blacksmith, who was formerly engaged in the manufacture of sickles, informed us, that the method he adopted to prevent them from rusting after grinding, was to immerse them for an hour, in water strongly impregnated with lime.

To clean all sorts of metal.-Mix half a pint of refined neat's-foot oil, and half a gill of turpentine. Scrape a little kernel of rotten-stone, wet with a woolen rag therewith-dip it into the scraped kernel, and rub the metal well. Wipe it off with a soft cloth, polish with dry leather, and use more of the kernel. In respect to steel, if it is very rusty, use a little powder of pumice with the liquid on a separate woolen rag first.

The

To Smiths. It is said that a strong current of cold air is found to be much more valuable in hardening steel than water, which is commonly used. The manufacture of the celebrated Damascus blades is In preparing sugar from the said roots, they are to carried on only when the north wind occurs. be washed and sliced, and submitted to the action of colder the air and the stronger the blast, the more the acid in the way above described, and then redu-effectual the process of tempering, but these are proced into farina, as a first part of the process. The farina is then to be boiled with a solution of acid, in the proportion of about two pounds of the acid to one hundred weight of the farina. A saccharine matter is produced by this operation, which may be crystallized or granulated into sugar, by the ordinary mode of evaporating cane juice, or other vegetable extracts from which sugar is commonly made.

Instead of reducing the roots to a farinaceous powder, as last described, for the production of sugar, they may be steeped in their raw state in a sulution of acid, in the proportion of ten pounds of acid to every hundred weight of roots; and after having been acted upon by the acid for about three days, the saccharine matter will be produced, which may be treated as before described, and sugar obtained therefrom.

Substitute for coffee.-The seeds of grapes are very generally used in Germany as a substitute for coffee, and they make a very excellent substitute. When pressed, they yield a quantity of oil, and afterward, when boiled, furnish a liquid very similar to that produced by coffee. Its flavour is delicious.

portionate to the thickness of the article hardened.

Important to workmen in wrought iron.-The following information may prove useful to mechanicks and others employed in the use of wrought iron. It is perhaps not generally known that wrought iron, made red-hot and plunged into cold water, renders it much softer than by cooling gradually in the atmosphere, consequently rendering it more easy to be worked by the mechanick in the lathe, &c., &c. The prevalent opinion among smiths and mechanicks, that plunging red-hot iron into cold water makes it almost too hard to be worked, is a mistaken idea; for instance, take a piece of iron wire and having made it red-hot, plunge it into cold water till it is cold, which process will nearly render it as soft and tough as copper wire; and if that be not satisfactory, let the mechanick prepare a piece of iron which he is going to turn in a lathe, and when red-hot, plunge it into cold water until it is cold, along with another made red-hot from the same bar, and let it be gradually cooled in the atmosphere; when such a bar comes to be worked, the mechanick is sure to be convinced of the above fact.

REVOLUTIONARY ANECDOTES. | savages under your immediate command, and for no

MRS. CHARLES ELLIOT.

a

better reason than that his name was M'Koy. As you are a prisoner to the leaders of my country, for the present I lay aside all thoughts of revenge; but A BRITISH officer, distinguished by his inhuman- when you resume your sword, I will go five hunity and constant oppression of the unfortunate, meet-dred miles to demand satisfaction at the point of it ing Mrs. Charles Elliot in a garden adorned with for the murder of my son." great variety of flowers, asked the name of the Camomile, which appeared to flourish with peculiar luxuriance. "The Rebel Flower," she replied. "Why was that name given to it?" inquired the officer. "Because," rejoined the lady, "it thrives most when most trampled upon."

MRS. DANIEL HALL.

MRS. DANIEL HALL having obtained permission to pay a visit to her mother on John's Island, was on the point of embarking, when an officer stepping forward in the most authoritative manner, demanded the key of her trunk. "What do you expect to find there?" asked the lady. "I seek for treason," was the reply. "You may then save yourself the trouble of search," said Mrs. Hall. "You may find plenty of it at my tongue's end."

MRS. THOMAS HEYWARD.

MRS. CHANNING.

SHORTLY after the commencement of the war, the family of Dr. Channing, then residing in England, removed to France, and sailed in a stout and well-armed vessel for America. They had proceeded but a little way when they were attacked by a privateer. A fierce engagement ensued, during which Mrs. Channing kept the deck, handing car tridges, aiding the wounded, and exhorting the crew to resist until death. Their fortitude, however, did not correspond with the ardour of her wishes, and the colours were struck. Seizing the pistols and side-arms of her husband, she threw them into the sea, declaring that she would rather, die than see him surrender them to an enemy.

MRS. WILEY JONES.

THE haughty Tarleton, vaunting his feats of gallantry, to the great disparagement of the officers of the continental cavalry, said to a lady at Wilming ton-"I have a very earnest desire to see your farfamed hero, Colonel Washington."-" Your wish, colonel, might have been fully gratified," she promptly replied, "had you ventured to look behind you, after the battle of the Cowpens."

MRS. THOMAS HEYWARD, in two instances, with the utmost firmness, refused to illuminate for British victories. An officer forced his way into her presence, and sternly demanded of Mrs. Heyward, "How dare you disobey the order which has been issued; why, madam, is not your house illuminated?"-"Is it possible for me, sir," replied the lady, with perfect calmness, "to feel a spark of joy? It was in that battle that Washington had woundCan I celebrate the victory of your army, while my ed Tarleton, which gave rise to a still more pointed husband remains a prisoner at St. Augustine ?" retort. Conversing with Mrs. Wiley Jones, Colonel "That," rejoined the officer, "is of but little conse- Tarleton observed: "You appear to think very quence; the last hopes of rebellion are crushed by highly of Colonel Washington; and yet I have been the defeat of Green at Guildford. You shall illu- told that he is so ignorant a fellow, that he can minate."—"Not a single light," replied the lady, hardly write his own name.""It may be the "shall be placed with my consent, on such an occa- case," she readily replied, "but no man better than sion, in any window of my house."-" Then, mad-yourself, colonel, can testify, that he knows how to am, I will return with a party, and, before mid- make his mark." night, level it with the ground."-"You have power to destroy, sir, and seem well disposed to use it; but over my opinions you possess no control: I disregard your menaces, and resolutely declare-I will not illuminate !"

MRS. M'KOY.

MRS. PINKNEY.

PRE-EMINENT in malignity stood the Engineer Moncrief. The instances of oppression issuing from his implacable resentment would fill a volume. I shall confine myself to one anecdote.

Mrs. Pinkney, mother of C. C. Pinkney, solicited A REMARKABLE scene is related by Dr. Ramsay as a favour that he would not suffer certain oak to have occurred on the occasion of Fort Augusta, trees of remarkable beauty on a farm which he occommanded by Colonel Browne, being taken, which cupied, to be destroyed, as they were highly valued well deserves to be recorded. Passing through the by her son, having been planted by his father's settlement where the most wanton waste had re- hand. "And where is your son, madam?"—" At cently been made by the British, both of lives and Haddrels, sir, a prisoner."-" And he wishes me, and property, a Mrs. M'Koy having obtained per- madam, to have these trees preserved ?"—" Yes, mission to speak to Colonel Browne, addressed him sir, if possible."" Then tell him, madam, that they in words to the following effect: "Colonel Browne will make excellent firewood, and he may depend —in the late day of your prosperity, I visited your upon it they shall be burnt." Colonel Moncrief camp, and on my knees supplicated for the life of was no jester. The promptitude of his actions left my son; but you were deaf to my entreaties. You no room for suspense. An opportunity was offered hanged him, though a beardless youth, before my to injure and to insult, and he embraced it. The face! These eyes have seen him scalped by the trees were burnt.

MISCELLANY.

HINMAN'S HOLE, N. Y.

THIS remarkable cavern is situated on the side of a hill, about three quarters of a mile from Little Falls, on the road to Trenton falls, in the state of New York.

It has recently been explored to the distance of one hundred and fifty feet, without being able to find any bottom. In two instances where men have volunteered to be let down, it was with great difficulty they were raised to the surface alive. A candle ignited ceases to burn at the distance of one hundred and fifty feet. At present no means have been used with success to ascertain the depth of the hole. We threw stones in at the mouth, and from the lapse of time which intervened before we heard the last reverberation, it is reasonable to infer the earth is hollow several hundred feet. At the mouth, it is large enough to receive a cow or a horse.

A few trees surround the spot, and there are marks of visiters stepping down ten or fifteen feet, on old trees which have fallen in and lodged in the descent.

I am not aware that this extraordinary fissure has ever been noticed, and I send you this memorandum so as to invite future investigations on the subject. Saturday Chronicle.

TRACES OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATION AMONG THE
SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

EXTINCT RACE OF MEN.

MR. J. B. PENTLAND, in a paper before the British Association at Edinburgh, 1834, states the reasons which have led him to conclude that there existed, at a comparatively recent period, a race of men very different from any of those now inhabiting our globe, characterized principally by the anomalous forms of the cranium, in which two thirds of the entire weight of the cerebral mass is placed behind the occipital foramen, and in which the bones of the face are very much elongated. Mr. Pentland entered into details to prove that this extraordinary form cannot be attributed to pressure or any external force similar to that still employed by many American tribes, and adduced, in conformation of this view, the opinion of Cuvier, of Gall, and of many other celebrated naturalists and anatomists. The remains of this race are found in ancient tombs among the mountains of Peru and Bolivia, and principally in the great inter-alpine valley of Titicaca, and on the borders of the lake of the same name. These tombs present very remarkable architectural beauty, and appear not to date beyond seven or eight centuries before the present period.

The race of men to which these extraordinary remains belong, appears to Mr. Pentland to have constituted the inhabitants of the elevated regions, situate between the 14th and 19th degrees of south latitude before the arrival of the present Indian population, which, in its physical characters, its customs, &c., offers many analogies with the Asiatick races of the old world.

THE KING-SNAKE.

of his existence, to seek, to pursue, and to destroy the latter, whose retreats and presence are discoverable by the emission of a peculiar smell, resembling that of the cucumber vine. The king-snake to most other reptilés, is the most gentle and harmless of creatures; you may strike him, he shows no resentment-he hisses not, he turns not, nor does he exhibit any terrour or sluggishness. Drawn by the smell of the cucumber, he frequently enters gardens, but his appearance excites no alarm in any human being, that knows he is the king-snake; on the contrary, women and children will approach him, turn him about with a stick, and playfully annoy him, with impunity; he is only a relentless enemy of the rattlesnake, whose strength and venom avail nothing against the activity and mode of attack of the kingsnake, who is victor in every combat.

AMONGST the Caroline Islands, only six weeks' sail from Sydney, is Ascension, (about cleven degrees north latitude,) discovered very lately by his THERE is a large species of speckled snake commajesty's stoop-of-war Raven. Mr. Oug, now a res-monly called in the southern states, the king-snake, ident of this colony, some years back remained perhaps, because he is the most formidable enemy there for several months, and we have our informa- of the rattlesnake. It seems to be the chief object tion from a friend, who conversed frequently with Mr. Oug on the subject. On the above named island of Ascension, the language of the inhabitants is more harmonious than in the other islands of the South seas, a great many words ending with vowels. There are at the northeast end of the island, at a place called Tamen, ruins of a town, now only accessible by boats, the waves reaching to the steps of the houses. The walls are overgrown with bread, cocoanut, and other ancient trees, and the ruins occupy a space of two miles and a half. The stones of these edifices are laid bed and quoin, exhibiting irrefutable traces of art far beyond the means of the present savage inhabitants. Some of these hewn stones are twenty feet in length by three to five each way, and no remains of cement appear. The walls have door and window places. The ruins are built of stone, which is different from that occurring in the neighbourhood. There is a mounain in the island, the rocks of which are covered with figures, and there are far greater ruins eight miles in the interiour. The habits of these islanders exhibit traces of a different social system; the women do not work exclusively, as is the custom in the other islands. After the meals, water is carried about by servants for washing hands, &c. Asked about the origin of these buildings, the inhabitants say that they were built by men who are now above, (pointing to the heavens.)

Hobart town Cour.

Yet the rattlesnake is a terrible reptile. There is a peculiarity truly appalling in the sound of his rattles, being unlike the noise of any other creature; and when you hear it the first time, the true instinct of nature impresses on your quailing heart that danger and death are near. Never shall I forget one horrid event of my life! I was fishing in a southern lake one summer-day, when an unusual disposition to sleep affected me. I stuck the end of my fishing-rod in the bank of the lake, and sought a beautiful place of shade to enjoy repose. I laid myself on the grass between two trecs scarcely six feet