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OC7"The courts have decided that persons are ac
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fETKY.
MAY.
BY LEIGH HUNT.
May ! thou month of rosy beauty !
Month when pleasure is a duty;
Month of maids that milk the kine
Bosom rich and breath divine;
Month of bees, and month of flowers;
Month of blossom-laden bovvers;
Month of little hands with daisies,
X.over's love, and poet's praises;
Oh, thou merry month complete—
May!—thy very name is sweet !
May was maid in olden times,
And is still in Scottish rhymes;
May's the blooming hawthorn hough;
May's the month that's laughing now.
t no sooner write the word,
Than it seems as though it heard,
And looks up and laughs at me.
Like a sweet face, rosily;
Like an actual color bright,
Flushing from the paper's white;
Like a bride that knows her power.
Startled in a summer bovver.
If the rains that to tis wrong,
Come to keep the winter long,
And deny ns thy sweet looks,
1 can love thee, sweet! in books—
Love thee in the poet's pages,
Where they keep thee green lor ages,
Love and read thee, as a lover
Reads his lady's letter over,
Breathing blessings on the art
Wuich commingles those that part.
There fs Vsy in books ftrsver,
May will part from Spencer never;
May's in M.ltor—May's in Prior—
May's in Chaucer, Thomson, Dyer;
May's in all the Italian books;
She has old and modern riooks,
Where she sleeps with nymphs and elves
in happy places they call shelves,
And will rise arid dress your rooms
With a drapery thick with blooms.
Come, ye rains, then, if you will,
May's at home, and with me still;
But come, rather thou, good weather !
And lind us in the fields together.
miscellaneous.
TIIE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH.
BY EDGAR A. TOE.
The '-Red Death" had long devastated the
country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal,
or so hideous. Blood was its Avator and its
6eal—the horror of blood. There were sharp
pains, and sudden dizziness, and then proluse
bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The
scarlet stains upon the body, and/specially upon
the face of the victim, were the pest ban which
shut him out from the sympathy of his fellow
men. And the whole seizure, progress and
termination of the disease were the incidents of
halfari hour.
Bui the Prince Prospero was happy and
dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions
wvre hall depopulated, he summoned to his
presence a thousand hale and light-hearted
friends from among the knights and dames of
his court, and with these retired to the deep
seclusion ol one of his castellated abbeys. This
was an extensive and magnificent structure, the
creation of the Prince's own eccentric yet au
gust taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it
in. The wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, j
having entered, brought furnaces and massive
hammers and welded the bolts. 1 hey resolved
to leave means neither of ingress or egress to
the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy
from within. The abbey was amply provisioned.
With such precautions the courtiers might bid
defiance to contagion. The external world
could take care of" itself. In the meantime it
was folly to grieve or to think. The prince had
provided all the appliances of pleasure. There
were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there
were ballet-dancers, there were musicians,
there was beauty, there was wine. All these
and security were within. Without was the
"Red Death." Jt was toward the fifth or sixth
month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence
raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince
Prospero entertained bis thousand friends at a
masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.
It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade.
But first let me tell ol the rooms in which it was
held. There were seven—an imperial suite.
In many palaces, however, such suites form a
long and straight vista, slide back nearly to the
walls on either side, so that the view of the
whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the
case was very different; as might have been ex
pected from the Duke's love of the bizarre.—
The apartments were so irregularly disposed
that the vision embraced but little more than
one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every
twenty or thirty yards and at each turn a novel
effect. To the right and K it, in the middle of
t3cb wall, a narrow Gothic window looked out
upon a closed corridor which pursued the wind
ings of the suite. These windows were of
I stained glass whose color varied *n accordance
with t!ie prevailing hue of the decorations o
the chamber Into which it opened. That at tin
eastern extremity was hung, lor example, in
blue—and vividly blue were its windows. The
i S'-cond chamber was pur[>!e in its ornaments
and tapestries, and here the panes were purple.
The third was green throughout and so were
the casements. The fourth was finished and
lighted with orange —the fifth with white—the
sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was
closely shrouded in black velvt-t tapestry that
hung all over the ceiling and down the walls,
falling in heavy (bids upon a carpet of the same
materia! and hue. Now, in no one of the sev
en apartments was there any candle or candel
abrum, amid the profusion of golden ornaments
that lay scattered to and fro or depended from
the roof. There was no light of any kind em
anating from lamp or candle wifhin the suite of
chambers. But in the corridors that followed
the suite, there stood, opposite to each window,
a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire, that
projected its rays through the tinted glass and
so glaringly illuminated the room. And thus
were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantas
tic appearances. But in the western or back
chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed
upon the dark hanging through the biood tin
ted panes, was ghasliv in the extreme, and pro
duced so wild a look upon the countenances of j
■ those who entered, that there were few of the j
company bold enough to set foot within its pre- :
cincts at ail.
It was in this apartment, also, that there'
stood against the western wail, a gigantic clock j
,of ebony. Jts pendulum swung to and fro with j
a dull heavy monotonous clang; and when the
minute hand made the circuit of the face, and j
the hour was to be stiicken, there came from
the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which
was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly
musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis
: (hat, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of j
I the orchestra were constrained to pause, inomen
j tariiy, in their performance, to hearken to the '
j sound; and thus the waltzers per force ceased j
! their evolutions: and there was brief disconcert 1
'of the whole gav company; and while the
chimes of the clock yet rang it was observed
j that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged
I and sedate passed their hands over their brows
iasif in confused revery and meditation. But
when tiie echoes had fully ceased, a high laugh
ter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians
'■ looked at each other and smiled as it at their
| own nervous!)- s* and folly, and made whlsper
; ing vows, each to the other, that the next chi- j
ming of the clock should produce in them no \
similar emotion; and then after the lapse of'six
ty minutes, (which embrace three thousand six
hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there
came yet another chiming of the clock, and
then were the samp disconcert and treniulous
j ness and meditation as before.
But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and
1 magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were
peculiar. lie had a fine eye ljr colors and ef
j l ets, lie disregarded the decora of mere fash
ion. His plans were bold and fiery, and hi
conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There
i are some who would have thought him mad.—
His followers knew that he was not. it was
necessary to hear and see and touch him to be
sure tfiat he was not.
| lie had directed, in great part, the movable
j embelli-hments of the seven chambers, upon oc
| casion of this great fete, and it was his own gui
ding taste which had given character to the
masqueraders. But sure they were grotesque.
There were much glare and glitter and piquan
cy and phantasm much of which has since been
seen in "Hernani." There were arabesque
figures with unsuited limbs and appointments.
There were delirious tancies sucli as the mad
man fashions. There were much of the beau
tiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre,
and something of the terrible, and not a little of
ffiat which might have excited disgust. To
and f.o in the seven chambers there stalked, in
fact, a multitude of dreams. And these—the
; dreams—writhed in and about, taking hue from
the rooms, and causing the wild music of the or
chestra to seem as the echooflheir steps. And,
; anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands
;in the hall of the velvet. And then, for a mo
ment, all is still, all is silent save the voice ol
the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they
: stand. But the echops of the chime die away
j t hey have endured but an instant—and a light,
half subdued laughter floats aftt-r them as they
j depart. And now again the music swells, and
j the dreams live, and writhe to and fro more
j merrily than ever, taking hue from the many
tinted windows through which stream the rays
| from the tripods. But to the chamber which lies
most westward of the seven, there are now none
I of the maskers who venture; for the night is wa
ning away, and there flows a ruddier light
through the blood colored panes; and the black
ness of the sable drapery appals; and to him
j whose foot fails upon the sable carpet, there
; comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled
! peal more solemnly emphatic than any which
reaches their ears who indulge in the more re
mote gaities of the other apartments.
But these other apart merits were densely
crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart
|of life. And the revel went whirling on, until
at length there commenced the sounding of
midnight upon the clock. And then the music
ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the
' waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy
! cessation of all things as before. But now there
were twelve strokes to be sounded bv the bell
of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps
that more of thought crept, wi'h more of lime,
into the meditations of the thoughtful among
those who revelled. And thus ton, it happened,
perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last
chimes had utterly sunk into silence, there
were many individuals in the crowd who had
found leisure to become aware of the presence
of a masked figure which had arrested the atten
tion of no single individual before. And the
' rumor of this new presence having stirred itself
whisperingly around, there arose at length
from tlie whole company a buzz, or murmur,
expressive of disapprobation and surprise—then,
finally, of terror, of horror and disgust.
In an assembly of phantasms such as I have
painted, it may well be supposed that no ordi
nary appearance could have excited sifch sensa
tion. Ju truth the masquerade license of the
night was nearly unlimited; but the figure in
jueslion had out Heroded Herod, and gone be
yond the bounds of even the Prince's indefinite
decorum. There are cords in the hearts of the
most reckless which cannot be touched without j
emotion. Even with the utterly lost, to whom
life and death are equally jests, there are mat
ters of which no jest can be made. The whole
company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel
that in the custom and bearing of the stranger
neither wit nor propriety existed. The figure
was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to
foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask
which concealed the visage was made so nearly
to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse
that tfie closest scrutiny must have had difficul
ty in detecting the cheat. And yet all ttiis
might have been endured, if not approved by
tfie mad revellers around. But the murmur had
gone so far as to assume the type of Red Death.
His vesture was dabbled in blood —and his broad
brow, with all the features ot the face, was be
sprinkled with the scarlet hoiror.
When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon
this spectral image (which with a slow and sol
emn movement, as if more fuilv to sustain its
role, stalked to 3nd fro among the waltzers) he
was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment, ,
with a strong shudder either of terror or dis
taste; but in the next his brow reddened with
rage.
"Who dares ?" he demanded hoarsely of the
courtiers who stood near him—"who dares in
sult us with this blasphemous mockery I Seize
him and unmask him—that we may know
whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the
battlements!"
It was in the eastern or blue chamber in
which stood tfie Prince Prospero as he uttered
these words. They rang throughout the seven
rooms loudly and clearly for the Prince was a
bold and robust man, and the music had become
hushed at the waving of his hand.
It was in the blue room where stood the
Prince with a group of pale courtiers by his side.
At first, as he spoke, there was a slight rushing
movement of this gioup in the direction of the
intruder, who at that moment was aiso nearat
band, and now M irtt TeTrtierytg-atrd swehrwtvp-/
made closer approach to the speaker. But from
a certain nameless awe with which the mad as
sumptions of the murmur had inspired the whole
party, there wi re found none who put forth
hand to seize him; so that unimpeded, he passed
within a v an! of the Prince's person: and while
the vast assembly, as with one impulse, shrank
from the centres of the rooms to the walls, he
made his way uninterrupted, but with the same
slow and measured step which had distinguished
him from the first, through the blue chamber to
the purple—through the purple to tiie green
through the green to the orange—through this
again to tfie white—and even thence to the vio
let, ere a rlecid"ci rr.pvement had been made to
arrest him. It was then, however, that the
Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the
shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed
hurriedly through the six chambers, while none
followed him on account of a deadly terror that
had seized upon all. He bore aloft a drawn
dagger, and had approached, in rapid imp*tuos
ity, to within three or four feet of the retreating
figure, when the latter, having attained tlie ex
tremity of the velvet appai tment, turned sud
denly and confronted his pursuer. There was
a sharp cry—and the dagger dropped gleaming
upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly
afterwards, fell prostrated in death the Prince
Prospero. Then summoning the wild romage
of despair, a tinong of the revellers at once
threw themselves into the black apartment, and
seizing the murderer, whose tall figure stood
erect and motionless within the shadow of the \
ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horrcr at
finding the grave cerements and corpse-like mask j
which they handled with so violent a rudeness, j
untenanted by any tangible form.
And now was acknowledged the presence of
the lied Death. He had come like a thief in
the night. And one by one dropped the revel
lers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel,
and died each in the despairing posture of his
fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out
with that of tfie last of the gay. And the flames
of the tiipods expired. And Darkness, and De
cay and the Red Death held illimitable domin
ion over all.
COOD HUMOR. — Keep in a good humor. IL
is not great calamities that embitter existence;
it is the petty vexations, small jealousies, the lit
tle disappointments, the minor miseries, that
make the heart heavy and the temper sour.—
Don't let them. Anger is a pure waste of vi
tality; it is always foolish, and always disgrace
ful, except in some very rare cases, when it is
kindled by seeing wrong done to another; and
even that noble rage seldom mends the matter.
Keep in good humor.
No man does lus best except when he is
cheeiful. A light heart makes nimble hands,
and keeps the mind fair and alert. No misfor
tune is so great as one that sours the temper. —
L ntil cheerfulness is lost, nothing is lost!
Keep in good humor!
The company of a good humored man is a
perpetual feast; he is welcomed everywhere—
eyes glisten at his approach, and difficulties
vanish in his presence. Franklin's indomita
ble good humor did as much for his country in
the old Congress as Adams' fire, or JeffWson's
wisdom; he clothed wisdom with smiles, and
soltened contentious minds into acquiescence.
Keep in good humor !
A good conscience, a sound stomach, a clear
skin are the elements of good humor! Cet
them, and—be sure to keep in good humor '
Freedom of Thought and Opinion.
BEDFORD, PA., FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 28, 1858.
WE REAR NO WAR-DEFYINQ FLAG.
BY R. STORY.
We rear no war-defying flag,
Though armed for battle still;
The feeble, if he like, may brag—
The powerful never will.
The flag we rear in every breeze,
Float where it may, or when,
Waves forth a signal o'er the seas
Of "Peace, good-will to men!"
For arms, we waft across the waves
The fruits of every clime ;
For death, the truth that cheers and saves:
What mission more sublime !
For flames, we send the lights afar
Outflashed from press and pen ;
And for the slogans used in war,
Cry—"Peace, good-will to men !"
But, are there states who never cease
To hate or envy ours ?
And who esteem our wish for peace
As proof of waning powers ?
Let them but dare the trial ! High
Shall wave our war-flag then,
And wo to those who change our cry
Of "Peace, good-will to men!"
NOVEL COURTSHIP.
Three months SIUCP, a young Parisian was
travelling per railroad, in Germany, from Augs
burg to Berlin. The cars, unlike those here,
ate divided into compartments, like the inside
of a coach, the passengers sitting facing each
other. In the compartments he selected were
four other persons, two mammas and two
daughters. The two mothers were face to face
in one corner, the young man took the other,
and found himself face to face with the young
ladies. He soon after fell into a brown study,
during which the conductor repeatedly deman
ded his ticket without success, and the young
i ladies were laughing at his bewildered air.—
j Suddenly resenting to a ruse, to avoid ridicule,
! he pretended not to understand German, and
-transacted his business with conductor by
! signs. A moment after the young ladies com
| menced a conversation.
j. "This young man is very handsome," said
one.
"Hist, Bertha," said the other, with a sort of
affright.
"Why, he does not understand a word ol
German. We can talk freely. How do you
find him?"
"Only ordinary."
"You are difficult. lie has a charming fig
ure and distingue air."
"He is too pale, and besides you know I do
not love dark."
"And you know I prefer dark to blonde.—
We have nothing but blonde in Germany. It
is monotonous and common-place."
"You forget that you are blonde."
"Oil, for a woman, it is different. He has
. pretty moustaches."
"Bertha, what if your mother should hear
; vou 1"
"She is busy with her taik; besides, it is no
! hurt to speak of moustaches."
"1 prefer the blonde moustaches of Freder
; ick."
■•I understand that Frederick is engaged to
: you, but I, who am without a lover, am free to
exercise my opinion, and to say that this young
man f as beautiful eyes."
"They have no expression."
"Yon do not know. lam sure he has spirit;
it is a pity he does not speak German; he would
chat with us."
"Would you marry a Frenchman ?"
"Why not, it he looks like this one, and were
spirited, well-horn and amiable! But I cannot
keep from laughing. See he doesn't mistrust
what we are saying."
Tfie young man was endowed with great
self-control. He looked carefully at Bertha,
and his resolution was taken. At a new sta
tion the conductor came again for tickets.
Our young man, with extra elaborations, and
in excellent German, said:
"Ob, you want my ticket. \ ery well, let
me see—l believe it is in my portmonnaie. Oh,
yes, here it is."
The effect was startling. Bertha nearly
fainted away, but soon recovered under the po
lite apologies of the young Frenchman. They
were pleased with each other, and in a few
weeks Bertha ratified her zood opinion of the
young man, and her willingness to many a
Frenchman.
They live at Hamburg.
BURSTS OF ELOQUENCE.
One of our exchange papers gathered up the
following "bursts of eloquence," which it says
were delivered before a court of justice in Penn
sylvania :
"Your honor sits high upon the adorable seat
of justice, like the Asiatic rock of Gibraltar;
while the eternal streams of justice, like the
cadaverous clouds of the valley, flow meander
ing at your feet." j
This reminds us of the commencement of a
speech of a lawyer in New Jersey—"\our
honors do not sit there like marble statues, to be
wafted about by every idle breeze." i
Another western orator commenced his ha- I
rangue with—"l he important crisis wh.ch
were about to have arriven, have arroven.
Another : "The Court will please to observe
that the gentleman from the East lias given
them a very learned speech. He has roamed
with old Romulus ; socked with old Socrates ;
ripped with Euripides, and canted with old
Cantharides—but what, your honor, what does
he know about the laws of Wisconsin? '
A young lawyer in one of our own courts
commenced his defence as follows: May it
piease your honor, the deluge has passed over
the earth, the Atk has rested upon the moun
tain, and the rainbow of justice shines as beau- |
tifully upon my colored client as it does upon
any in the court, including the jury."
"OLD HUNDRED."
CAN you find a tomb in the land where seal
ed lips lie that have not sung that tune? If
they were grey old men they had heard or
sung "Old Hundred." Sinner and saint have
| joined with the endless congregations where it
has, with and without the pealing organ, sound
ed on the sacred air.
The dear little children looking with won
! der on this strange woild have lisped it. The
! sweet young girl, whose tombstone told of six
teen summers, she whose pure innocent face
| haunted you with its beauty, loved "Old Hun
i dred"; arid as she sung it closed her eyes and
i seemed communing with the who were
soon to claim her. He whose manhood was
j devoted to the service of God, and he who with
i the faltering step ascended the pulpit steps with
the white hand over the laboring breast, loved
"Old Hundred."
And though sometimes his lips only move,
away down in his heart, so to cease its throbs,
: the holy melody was sounding. The dear white
, headed father, with his tremulous voice, how
he loved "Old Hundred!" Martyrs hallowed
it; it has gone up from the beds of the saints.—
The old churches, where generation after gen
eration has worshipped, and where many scores
j of the dear dead have been carried and laid be
| fore the altar, where they gave themselves to
God, seem to breathe of "Old Hundred" from
vestibule to tower top—the air is haunted with
j its spirit.
FIGUT ON A HOUSE Tor— MAN KNOCKED OFF.
—The Detroit " Free Press " says:—"Two men
named Mike Welsh and John Boyle, were en
gaged in putting a new roof on the two story
house of Mr. Geo. Pattison, when a misunder
standing arose in regard to some part of the
work, in which Boyle refused to obey Welsh's
orders. Welsh thereupon struck Boyle on the
head with a shovel, and then, gave him a kick
which pitched him headlong from the roof.—
Boyle, who is a little chunky fellow, came down
turning numerous somersets through the air,
and astonished the passers-by by striking the
walk all sound and hearty. After examining
himselfto ascertain that he was indeed alive he
gave his antagonist, a few hearty curses and
trudged of!'to the Police Court. Justice Bagg
issued a warrant, tried Welsh, and sent him up
for sixty days. The fall wax a dangerous one,
i and it is a wonder that Boyle was not killed.
RESPECTABILITY. —The popular mode of esti
mating the respectability of ar. individual or fam
ily is very pointedly hit off in the following
! street dialogue of two'"gemmeu of color," which
we clip from an exchange :•
"Cato, does you know dem Johnsings up dar
in Congo Place 1 is going to be berry 'spectable
, folks ?" "Wall, Scipio, I thought dey war get
ting along berrv well, hut I doesn't know how
; 'spectable dey is." "How 'spectable does you
tink, Cato ?" "Wall, guess about tree tousand
dollars." "More 'spectable dan dat." "Watt,
| how 'spectable is dey?" "Wy, five tousand
dollars an' a house an' lot." "Whey ! good by,
j Cato, I u.ust give'em a call."
A ROMANTIC young-lady fell into the river
i the other day and was neaily drowning, but
j succor being fortunately at hand, she was drawn
> out senseless and carried home. On coming to,
; she declared to her family that she must marry
; him who had saved her. "Impossible," said
j her papa. "What, is he already married ?"
1 "No," "Wasn't it (hat interesting young man
. who lives herein our neighborhood!" "Dear
no—it was a Newfoundland dog."
learned Professor and Principal of
j the Academy of Saumur, used to spend five
hours every morning in his study, but was very
punctual at dinner. One day, on his not appear
ing precisely at the dinner hour, his wife enter
!ed his study, and found him still reading. "I
| wish," said the lady, "that I was a book."
"Why so ?" replied the Professor.
"Because vou would then be constant to me."
"I should have no objection," rejoined the
Professor, "provided you were an almanac."
"Why an almanac, my dear ?"
"Because I then should have anew one every
i year
don't say, Mr. Judge, that the defen
-1 daut was drunk; no, not by any means. But
this I will say, when I last seen him he was
j washing his face in a mud-puddle, and drying
|iton a door-mat. Whether a sober man would
do this, in course I can't say." The Court
j thought he wouldn't. The consequence was,
■■ the 'defendant' went up for sixty days.
: said old Roger to his board
ing-house keeper, "in primitive countries beef
is often a legal tender; but, madame," said he,
emphatically, thrusting his fork into the steak,
• "all the law in Christendom couldn't make this
beef tender."
QJP'A beggar was arrpsted in Bognor, Eng.,
who had on his person S4O in specie, was wear
ing three shirts, three waistcoats, three pairs
of trousers, a jacket, a coat, a neck tie, a large
! blanket, and had several shirts and stockings in
| his pack.
[Gr""My German lriend, how long have you
been married ?"
"Vel, dat is a ling vat I seldom don't like to"
tank about, put ven I does it seems to be so long
as it never vas."
[TF = *"My character," said an alderman, who
had cleared himself from a charge of bribery;
"my character, sir, is like my boots—all the
brighter for blacking."
(£p"No woman should paint except she who
has lost the power of blushing.
[£p"A father called his son into a crowded
stage —"Ben-jam-in!"
supported by goodness, is hard
to be overthrown.
WHOLE BER 3798.
CHINESE SUGAR CANE.
A COMMITTEE of the United Slates Agficul
; tural Society, who recently met at Washing
ton, made a report upon the subject of Chinese
sugar cane, ol which the tollowing is a synop
! sis :
1. The soil and geographical rangeof the Chi
| nese sugar cane, correspond nearly with those
.of Indian corn. It produces the best crop on
dry lands, but the most luxuriantly in rich bot
toms or moist loams.
2. It endures cold better than corn, and ex
! periences no autumnal frosts. It will also with
stand excessive drought. Ripens its seed in
: September in dry warm soils, in many parts of
the New England States; at the extreme south
; it may be planted as late as the 20th of June.
3. Its cost and culture are about the same as
| Indian corn.
4. Height of plant when fully grown varies
j from six to eighteen feet, and stalks vary from
half an inch to two inches in diameter. The
weight of the entire crop when fully grown, ta
ken before drying, is from ten to forty tons
Of seed the amount reported from fifteen to
sixty bushels.
5. During the early stages of its growth it
makes but little progress, so slow, indeed, as to
have discouraged many cultivators; hut the np
j proach of warm weather imparts to it a wonder-
I ful rapidity. The period of growth varies from
j ninety to one hundred and twenty days.
G. The yield of juice was about 50 per cent.
The number of gallons required to make a gal
| lon of syrup varies from 6 to 10; in New Bruns
j wick 10 tonne; in Indiana and Illinois, 7 to 1.
7. A palatable bread was made from the
: flour around from the seed.
I S. By accounts from all parts of the country
| this plant is universally admitted to be a whole
j some food for animals; all parts of it being greed
ily devoured in a green or dried state, by hor
ses, cattle, sheep and swine, without injurious
effects; the latter, especially, fattening upon it
j as well as upon corn.
9. Paper ol various qualities has been manu
factured from the fibrous parts of the stalk, some
j of which appears to be fitted tor a special use.
SALT FOR PLUM TREES-
It is almost impossible to cultivate any kind
of plums in this climate, unless salt enter liber
ally as an ingredient upon the compost applied
to them. When this article is used in conjunc
| tion with house ashes there appears rarely to be
j much difficulty in producing good and healthy
trees which ultimately prove highly productive
of fair and well developed fruit. When trees
are set in situations in which application of
of compost is not feasible, or where it would
subject the operator to considerable fatigue or
expense, salt, in its crude state, may be appli
ed; or it may be dissolved and poured around
the roots.
If plum trees were carefully washed do wn
once or twice a year in whiskey ley and suppli
ed with two or three quarts each of salt—care
being taken to retain the soil around the roots
light and free from weeds, we should hear far
| fewer complaints of want of success in this de
partment of pomologica! enterprise. No fruit
commands a more ready sale or a higher price
in the market. Good plumsareat present soscarce
as to render them a luxury, and those who have
valuable trees in good bearing are realizing a
heavy profit from them. Let those who have
trees profit by the above suggestion, they indi
cate the only legitimate cures to be pursued.—
J\'ew Eng. Farmer.
[CF'CAXADA THISTLES should be kept down
either by hoeing or plow ing. A plant, weed,
or tree, can no more live without lungs; there
fore, if no leaves are permitted to grow, they
must die. This I know from experience, hav
ing killed several patches on mv farm. If a
hoe is used, thpy should be cut off as deep in
the ground as you can strike the hoe ; and don't
leave it for the boys and hired men to do, but
do it yourself, and see that no green thing is
left. If a plow is used, once in two or three
weeks will be often enough. One summer will
use them up, if it is thoroughly done. Be sure
to attend to them during the months of July
and August, for Nature will make powerful ef
forts during this time to produce seed for the
propagation of the species, for that is her great
object, anJ this eflort on the part of Nature will
draw hard upon the roots, and weaken them so
much that if they are cut at this season of the
year they are pretty sure to die. I once cut a
patch of them regularly once a week. They
continued to sprout up all through the
without any diminution, until the latter part of
August, when I cut them for the last time and
sowed the ground in wheat. Not a thistle has
shown itself there since. Genetsee Former.
CYitn FOP. THE AGUE. —A gentleman recent
ly from Central America—a great place for
shakes—informs us that he has seen many ob
stinate cases cured by wearing finely pulveri
zed rock salt between the feet and the stockings.
We cannot vouch for the value of this remedy,
but consider it xvoithy of trial.— Genessee Far.
VOL 1, NO. 43.