Chapter II: Part 2

From a Journey in Carniola, &c. by W. A. Cadell, &c.

"On the 14th April (1818,) I went to see a large cheese dairy, 3 miles from Milan, one of the dairies at which that kind of cheese, called in commerce _Parmesan_, is made. It is called in Italy, _Formaggio di grana_, because it is commonly used in a granular form, being grated, and brought to table to be eaten with soup. Much of this cheese is also made near Lodi and Pavia.

The word _Formaggio_ is from _Formaticum_, which signifies, in the Latin of the middle ages, cheese prepared in a form.

The cheese is made in the morning before sunrise.

The morning's milk, and that of the preceding evening, are put into a large brass vessel, five feet in height, narrow at bottom, and widening out like a trumpet to three feet diameter at top. This vessel is placed over a fire, which is sunk in the ground, and the vessel can be removed from the fire by a crane.

When the milk is heated, runnet, in form of paste, is put in, and a little saffron, to give the cheese the yellow colour.

When the coagulation has taken place, the copper is taken off the fire, the curd is taken out in a cloth, and put within a broad wooded hoop, the sides of which are as high as the cheese is intended to be. This hoop can be straitened by means of a rope. A board is placed on the top of the cheese, and a small weight on the board. The cheese is not cut into a press.

After this, the cheese is taken to the salting room, and two cheeses are placed together, one above the other, with broad hoops tightened round them. Much salt is laid on the top of the uppermost cheese; the salt dissolves, and the brine filters through the cheeses.

The cheeses are shifted from one place to another all along the benches of the salting room, and are beaten with a flat piece of wood, cut with straight-lined furrows intersecting each other.

The cheese is next taken to the magazine, where each cheese is placed on a shelf.

The sides of the cheese are painted with a mixture of litmus, otherwise called _tournesol_, and oil, to give them the purple colour. The tournesol is a plant collected in the south of France.

The cheeses are set on the shelf in the same order in which they were made; and the cheeses of each month are placed together.

Those of the month of October and of May are the best, and bear the highest price. The best cheeses can be kept longest, and are improved by keeping for some years.

There was an October cheese which had been kept five years, and was to be sent to the emperor.

After the great cheese is made, the liquid in the copper is again heated over the fire, and curd is collected from it to make small cheeses, called _Mascarla_.

The number of cows kept for making cheese in this dairy is eighty.--They are always in the house in winter, and at the present season of the year. They are fed upon grass all the year, except perhaps in December. The house in which they are kept is not above nine feet high to the ceiling. They are not kept very clean. In summer, they go out to the field to feed during the day.

The cows are of a dark colour, and are brought from Switzerland, which is found more profitable than rearing them in this country. The bull is also Swiss, and fourteen months old.

It is estimated that 2000 head of cattle pass the Mount St. Gothard every year coming from Switzerland into Italy. Considerable fairs for the sale of Swiss cattle are held at Lugano.

The evening's milk is put in flat copper vessels, three feet in diameter, in order to collect the cream.

There is an ice-house in the dairy, for the purpose of supplying ice for cooling the cream which is put into the churn. This, they find, facilitates the making of butter at certain periods of the year.

In the farm-yard is an inscription, commemorating the visit paid to this dairy by the Austrian emperor and the archdukes, two years ago."

WILD RICE.

From the New York Statesman.

Extract of a letter, dated Canandaigua, July, 1820.

I saw for the first time in the Seneca river at Montezuma, the aquatic plant called wild rice, or folle arvine. It grows all over the west and north; and wherever it flourishes, myriads of waterfowl are attracted to it, and derive their chief support and exquisite flavour from its alimentary qualities. In the lakes and rivers adjoining Montezuma, thousands of wild geese and ducks of all kinds congregate at the proper season for food, except the canvas back duck, or anas valsineria of Wilson, which derives its name from a water plant called valsineria, on the roots of which it feeds, and which Wilson states to be a fresh water vegetable, that grows in some parts of the Hudson and Delaware, and in most of the rivers that fall into the Chesapeake.

Some difficulty has occurred not only about the botanical name, but also about the botanical character of the wild rice, or wild oats. The confusion of nomenclature has arisen from Linnæus himself. In his Species Plantarum, he has denominated it zezania aquatica, and in his mantisa, zezania palustris--and it has been called by other botanists, zezania claurlosa. I shall prefer the first name as most characteristic. It has been well described by Mr. Lambert, as zezania panicula inferne racemosa superne spicata. Pursh represents it as a perennial plant. Nuttall and Michaux are silent on this point, and Eaton says it is an annual, in which opinion I concur.

Mr. Lambert, in a communication in the 7th volume of the Transactions of the Linnæan Society of London, has given a figure of this plant as growing at Spring Grove, the seat of sir Joseph Banks, in England. It appears that sir Joseph received some of the seed gathered in a lake, in Canada, and put it in jars of water. It was sown in a pond at Spring Grove, where he has a great quantity of the plant, growing annually, ripening its seeds extremely well in autumn, and sowing itself round the edges.

By what I can learn, this same plant grows in Lake George, and Lake Champlain, and in all the western lakes. It produces seed in some places in September, and in others in October. It grows in shallow water, and, sometimes to the height of eight feet. Some of the western Indians derive their principal support from it. The grain it bears is superior to the common rice, and if cut before ripe, it makes excellent fodder, embracing the advantages of hay and oats. Mr. Lambert's figure of the plant in the Linnæan Transactions is accurate, and exactly resembles the one growing in the Seneca River. Its productiveness may be inferred from the food it furnishes to thousands of human beings, and to myriads of aquatic animals. From the success of the experiments of Sir Joseph Banks, it is highly probable that it will grow in any part of this country and Great Britain; and if so, may it not be considered as a good substitute for the oryza sativa, or common rice. It is well known that the latter furnishes more subsistence to the human race than any other plant. Pursh mentions a grass which he calls the oryzopsis asperifolia, which he observed on the broad mountains of this country, and which he says contains large seeds, that produce the finest flour. Perhaps this species of oryzopsis, although generally different, bears the same relation to z aquatica in its importance and place of growth, as the mountain rice of India does to the common rice of that region. At all events, the more I see of this country, the more I am convinced of its vast ability to support the human species and of the propriety of calling its latent powers into operation.

ON SEEDS.

Among plants, as among animals, there are different breeds to be found, some mean, some middling, and some quite superior. The intelligent grazier, or raiser of cattle of every sort, selects the finest animals he can find for breeders of his future stock; and in this way he experiences a wonderful improvement in its value, whether the stock be of horses, neat cattle, sheep, or swine. The same precaution should be observed by the agriculturist in the selection of the seeds of different plants which he cultivates--he should constantly select his seeds from the finest breeds of plants of every kind. In some cases such selections are attended with more trouble than with others, but in all cases it is a matter of the utmost importance in the improvement of crops. Some general rules for such selections shall now be pointed out.

For _Indian corn_.--Search for such stalks as bear two ears, at least, and take the largest ear of each stalk for seed, rejecting the grains on both ends. Pursuing this practice will, in a few years, increase the corn crop at least one third.

_Wheat, Rye, Barley, &c._--Search among the sheaves for the largest and best filled heads.--Sow the grains taken from these by themselves, and when the product is sufficient for seed, sow of this selected stock only. Repeat the selection about every six years.

_Flax, Hemp, &c._--At the time of pulling the crop, select the longest stalks to be found, sow the seed of these separately, and the product will probably afford seed sufficient for the next year's sowing. Repeat this, as before mentioned.

_Carrots, Beets, Turnips, &c._--Make yearly selections of the largest and most perfect roots, for bearing a supply of seed for the ensuing year.

_Pumpkins, Squashes, &c._--Select such plants as bear the greatest _number_ or the greatest _quantity_ of pumpkins, or squashes, &c.--take the _largest_ of the produce of each plant, and after opening them, the quality for _sweetness_ of each can be ascertained. Select your seeds for the next year's crop, from the sweetest of the collection.

_Cabbages._--Preserve the stalks for seed, which bore the largest and finest heads, or leaves, according to the sort of cabbage.

_Apples, Pears, &c._--No selections from the seeds of these, will insure the same sorts of fruit as those from whence the seeds were taken. The finest of these fruits are only to be obtained by ingrafting. It is however said, that by taking the seeds only from the south sides of such apples or pears, as grow on the finest of these fruit trees, varieties of young trees will be afforded from such seeds nearly equal to those from whence the seeds were taken.

_Peaches, Plums, &c._--Make your selections from such trees as bear the finest fruit, and from that growing on the south side of the trees. If you wish to make the young stock of fruit earlier than that of the parent tree, make your selections of such peaches or plums as ripen first, and these will always be found on the south side of the tree.

For preserving the germinative power of seeds, let them be mixed with a due proportion of sugar.

There is, in most cases, perhaps in all, a very essential advantage to be derived from a change of seeds, or bringing them from one part of the world to be sown in another. Sufficient attention has not, however, been paid to this matter to enable us to ascertain what changes prove most beneficial; but in making them, regard must doubtless be had that the seeds be taken from climates not too widely dissimilar. In bringing southern seeds to be sown in northerly climates, the danger is, that they will want sufficient time for ripening, and in pursuing the reverse of this, the crop may ripen so early as to be, on that account, lessened in its products.

In raising seeds of plants of which there are different species, it is essential that the seed plants be placed so far apart as to preclude any danger of the pollen of the one being carried by the winds to the other; for if an intermixture of breeds take place, a degeneracy of the plants must ensue, by mixing the valuable qualities of each. In the _Brascia_ tribe, for instance, there is one species denominated cabbages, of many varieties, and are valuable for their heads or leaves; another species is the common turnip, of several varieties, and valuable for its bulbous root; and another is the Swedish turnip or Ruta Baga, whose principle excellence is its bulbous stalk. The effect, therefore, of an admixture of these plants, must be a diminution of the bulbs of the two latter, and an increase of foliage, while the cabbages would lessen in the heads and leaves, with a proportionate augmentation of stalk and roots.

[_Plough Boy._

HOLKHAM SHEEP-SHEARING, (ENG.)

This festival, established by T. W. Coke, Esq. forty-three years ago, commenced on 10th July last.--Among the company present this year were, his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, Princes Potemkin and Trabetzkoy, (Russia,) the Marquis of Downshire, Earl of Albemarle; Lords Waterpark, Erskine, Anson, Ebrington, Lynedock, Delaware;--Hon. Mr. Keppel, Hon. Geo. Walpole, Hon. Gen. Fitzroy, Hon. Mr. Thellison, Sir John Sinclair, Bart. Sir Wm. Hoste, Bart. T. W. Coke, jr. Esq. M. P.; G. W. Hall, Esq. Thos. Gay, Esq. (Herts,) Robert Patterson, Esq. (Baltimore,) C. Deering, Esq. (Middlesex,) Mons. Petit, Esq. (Paris,) Thos. B. Beevor, Esq. J. Ellman, Esq. (Sussex,) and many eminent agriculturists from Norfolk, Suffolk, and various parts of the kingdom. This festival, instituted for the improvement of agriculture, assumes, at every anniversary, a greater degree of interest and importance.

Among the sheep exhibited there was an Arabian, and one from New Zealand; likewise a half-bred Zealand lamb, from a Southdown ewe. The Arabian sheep is a large animal, covered with a close coat of hair, like our pointer dogs. The colour of the one exhibited was white, with a black head and neck. The tail is very singularly formed--a large piece of loose flesh projects from the rump, above which grows a tail, about four inches in length, exactly resembling that of a young pig; the sheep has also a large pouch under the jaw.

A simple but most effectual method of preventing rats and mice from injuring corn stalks, was recommended by Mr. Gibbs. of Quarles, a tenant to Mr. Coke. The cost is not more than 6s. or 7s. per stack; and it has been found by several gentlemen who have made the trial, to be a complete bar to the depredations of those destructive vermin. The stack is cut round, and merely plastered with common lime and hair, about three feet high; and when properly done, it will be found that no vermin can possibly make their way into the stacks.

Mr. Coke pronounced the _grubber_ to be one of the most useful implements upon his farm, and pointed out its superiority over the scarifier, which cuts the roots of the weeds in pieces, and thereby multiplies them; instead of which the grubber forces them up in an entire state, and even their finest fibres are destroyed. Alluding to his own farms as a proof of what a better mode of husbandry would effect, Mr. Coke observed, with respect to what was frequently said of the injury accruing from the introduction of machinery, that he employed more hands with the machinery than he could any other way. Of the mode of _driling_, he said, it should be from north to south, instead of from east to west. This might appear of trivial moment, but he could assert that it was worthy of attention.

About 500 persons each day sat down to dinner in the noble mansion; when a scene of hilarity and cheerfulness, intermixed with valuable information from the gentlemen whose healths were drank, was exhibited. Mr. Coke, at the close of the meeting on Wednesday evening, delivered the prizes to the successful candidates in the various classes.

AGRICULTURAL MEMORANDA.

_Flax for Cambrics._--The culture of this species of flax is an object of great importance to every farmer.--The produce of a single acre has been known to bring in Flanders upwards of $380. It requires a deep and rich soil, and must be sticked or supported nearly as peas, as it grows twice as high as the ordinary flax; but the labour attending this is amply compensated by the produce.

_Hops._--The essential oil of hops, obtained by distillation, and afterwards mixed with a small quantity of sugar, is found to be the best way of using that plant in brewing, and the most effectual method of preserving it for years.

_Squashes._--It has been asserted, as the result of an accidental experiment, that squashes sown in the Fall will survive the frosts of winter and spring, and will ripen much earlier than any which can be raised by sowing in the spring. Those sown in the spring, and those sown in the fall, were, in the case alluded to, exposed to a severe frost; the former were killed, while the latter survived. It may be worth a more satisfactory experiment. The earliest salads, we know, are grown in this way. The same has been said of a species of beans, and even potatoes.

_A Hint for Farmers._--For 3 or 4 years past Hemp and Canary Seed have sold, on an average, at 5 and 6 dolls. per bushel, in this city; and within the last twelve months the last mentioned seed (Canary) has been sold as high as 12 dols. per bushel.--The above seeds are as easily raised in this country as wheat--why then should we depend on Europe for our supply, while wheat is selling for seventy cents per bushel?

[_E. Post._

_Salt as a Manure._--In the history of the cocoa nut tree, by M. le Goux, the author tells us that the inhabitants of those parts of Hindostan and China, which border on the sea coast, sprinkle their rice fields with sea water, and use no other manure; and that in the interior of these countries, they sprinkle the lands with salt before they are tilled, a practice which has been followed for ages with the greatest advantage. Park says, he was informed by a gentleman in England, who had spent many years in making experiments on the employment of salt in Agriculture, "that one bushel to an acre makes land always more productive; but that a larger quantity would, for two or three years afterwards, render it actually sterile."

AMERICAN GINSENG.

Extract from the New Monthly Magazine, on the "American Trade with China."

Above all, a remarkable production deserves to be mentioned here, which grows in America itself, and is almost peculiar to the United States; a production which is almost wholly unknown in Europe, but has been in use in China from time immemorial, and is held there in extraordinary esteem. This is the root Panax quinquefolia, or Ginseng. The Chinese writers call this plant a precious gift of nature, sweeter than honey and the honey comb, more valuable than fine gold, and jewels, and pearls, a glorious gift of Heaven, bestowed by the gods upon mortals for their happiness, and their enjoyment on earth. Placed on a par with the philosopher's stone, it is called the food of immortality, and it passes among the priests and physicians for a universal remedy, wholesome for all weakness of the frail body, applicable to all diseases; nay, it is even said to prolong life, invigorating the nerves, strengthening the understanding, cheering the soul, soothing the mind, taming the wild passions, and bestowing inexhaustible delights upon our mortal existence.

The reigning dynasty of the Mantchews, in China, were proud that Nature produced this wonderful root, with such magical powers, in their original country; for it was found in Chinese Mogul Tartary; but sparingly scattered in certain places and districts. Here it was considered as one of the regalia of the crown, only the emperor had the right to have it gathered, and guards were posted at the places where it grew, that no one might presume to take openly, or by stealth, what was for the emperor alone. How fortunate was it for the Americans, that they accidentally discovered, not very long ago, that this root, so highly esteemed in China, and paid for there with its weight in gold, which it had been always supposed was only to be found in Tartary, as the Chinese had always boasted, was indigenous in the United States, and might be there collected in far greater abundance than in China, hitherto the only country where it was known to grow.

It grows in the United States, in the whole of the immense tract from the Canadian Lakes to Georgia; is found even in the northern states of New York and Pennsylvania, and flourishes in Virginia and the two Carolinas. Nature has spread it here, particularly in the tract between the Alleghany mountains and the sea, and it thrives especially where the mountains take a southwesterly direction. It loves a fertile soil, and cool shady spots, on the declivity of the mountains.

While Europe produces nothing which it can offer to the Chinese in exchange for their productions, America possesses in this remarkable plant an article peculiarly its own, which is, above all others, proper for the trade with China.

Many of your readers may, perhaps, be curious to be better acquainted with a plant so esteemed by the great Chinese Mandarins, and in the Harems.

The stalk of this plant, which attains the height of about a foot from the ground, is of a dark red. It is adorned with elliptical leaves, three of which always grow together, and each of which is again divided into five little leaves. On account of the symbolical meaning attached to the numbers three and five, which these leaves present to the eye, the plant obtained, in ancient times, in China, the character of particular sacredness. The growth of this singular plant is extremely slow, but then it attains an age unusual in plants of this kind; when it has stood fifteen years or more, the root it not yet an inch in diameter. Every year the stalk makes at the upper part of the root, at each new shoot, marks, which show by their number the age of the plant. The root itself is of an elliptical form, and commonly consists only of one piece. The plant bears but a few seeds; two or three grains are all that can be gathered from one stem; these are of a bright red colour, in shape and size like those that may be collected from the honeysuckle. They ripen in America, in the latter half of the month of September, and their taste is more aromatic than that of the root itself, but less bitter.

In China the greatest care is taken in gathering this valuable root. It is not done till it has attained the highest perfection and maturity: this is during the autumn and winter. In America they long committed, from ignorance and inattention, the great fault of collecting the root from the spring to the first frost. As it is always soft and watery at this season, it naturally shrunk together in drying, became very hard, and lost not only in weight but in goodness. This mistake is still committed in some parts of the United States, where the inhabitants make the collecting of the root only an occasional object; and when they are hunting or travelling, dig up the plant at all seasons when they happen to meet with it. But by this they deprive the ground of a valuable production, which would be far more valuable if it were tended and cultivated with due care. Though the Ginseng roots thus collected by ignorant persons do not fetch in China the high prices which are given for such as have attained their proper maturity, yet the demand for them is not the less brisk. The American merchants in the interior purchase large quantities by the pound, or the hundred weight, of the country people, who employ themselves in collecting and digging this root, and gain by exporting it to China, about one hundred per cent.

But the profit is incomparably greater when Ginseng roots, perfectly ripe, and carefully gathered at the proper time, are brought to Macao or China. The Americans begin to be more sensible of this advantage, in proportion as the intercourse with China becomes more active. They have made themselves better acquainted with the nature of the plant, and the taste of the Chinese; employ greater care in gathering, and acquire more skill in digging it. One man can gather about eight or nine pounds daily. Hence the quantity of this article exported from the United States increases at the same time that its quality improves; and the trade with Ginseng roots in the Chinese markets continues to become more and more profitable to America. The exportation already amounts to at least 500 cwt. annually.

In China they understand the art of preparing the Ginseng, in such a manner, that it appears semi-transparent: in this case a much higher value is set upon it. In America they have also learnt this art, and the process employed is very simple.--The merchants in the American commercial towns, purchase the roots so prepared, and rendered partly transparent, at six or seven piasters apiece; and sell them in China, according to the quality, at from fifty to a hundred piasters apiece. Even in Louisiana and Kentucky, they carry on this extremely profitable export trade to China.

EDUCATION.

The Easton, (Md.) Gazette, in treating of the importance of Education, and the advantages, under a republican government, of close application to study, concludes with the following characteristic allusions:

Who was Mr. Wirt, the present Attorney General of the U. States? A poor boy of our state; of the village of Bladensburgh.--What has given him one of the first stations in the country, with a handsome income? Good education, laborious study and application, and consequent knowledge.

Who was William Pinkney? A poor boy of Annapolis. What has learning made him? The first lawyer; the most celebrated advocate of our country.

Who was James Monroe? The son of a bricklayer in the town of Cambridge, in Dorset. Who is James Monroe? The President of these United States.

* * * * *

Education is the solid granite pedestal of the column of his fame, supporting a shaft of the most towering attitude, whose Corinthian capital is high above the clouds. How emphatically, in this instance, has wisdom, founded on good education, and matured by intense study and application, proved herself to be power, with station, and honours, and wealth, following in her train. Why then should not a son of one of our bricklayers, or hatters, or tailors, or cabinet makers, become a future President of the United States?--The same path is open to them: true, it winds up the sides of a steep and rugged mountain; and the elevated pinnacle is not to be gained without setting out aright, with the earliest and best discipline of good schools, and the severest and most immense mental labour--but the prize is well worth the boldest, the highest exertion.

Will it be said that Nature made these men of her best materials? no such thing. Providence was bountiful to them; but Nature left these diamonds as rough, as many of the pebbles now in the streets. Instruction turned them; and education gave the high polish and the point, which illumes and dazzles America, and throws their radiance far into other countries. And have we not at this moment, genius and talents in our Academy equal to Wirt's, and Pinkney's, and Monroe's? Yes, without doubt, and among the sons of our mechanics too--and would to Heaven I could fire their young bosoms with the noblest ambition, without which they can never reach what they aim at.

THE TURKMANS.

The following extract is taken from Mr. Browne's MS. remains: on his journey across Asia Minor he thus describes a very remarkable people:

"In my visits to the Turkman tents, I remarked a strong contrast between their habits and those of the Bedouin Arabs. With the latter, the rights of hospitality are inviolable; and while the host possesses a cake of bread, he feels it a duty to furnish half of it to his guest; the Turkman offers nothing spontaneously, and if he furnish a little milk or butter, it is at an exorbitant price. With him it is a matter of calculation, whether the compendious profit of a single act of plunder, or the more ignoble system of receiving presents from the caravans for their secure passage, be most advantageous. The Arab values himself on the _hasb we nasb_, that is, his ancient pedigree; the Turkman, on his personal prowess. With the former, civility requires that salutations be protracted to satiety; the latter scarcely replies to a _Salam aleikum_.

"The muleteers, who had preferred this devious path to the high road, to avoid the dellis, were now alarmed at the frequent visits of the Turkmans. They described me to them as an officer of Chappan Oglou's retinue, employed to communicate with the English fleet on the coast; an explanation which appeared to satisfy them; and fortunately I was able to support that character. It is to be observed that Chappan Oglou has a large military force at his disposal, and administers justice with a rod of iron. His vengeance pursues, on eagle-wing, the slightest transgression against his authority. Our precautions at night were redoubled; and I divided the time into two watches, which I ordered my servant to share with me; but the disposition to sleep having speedily got the better of his vigilance, a pipe, although carefully placed under the carpet on which I myself slept, was stolen unperceived before morning.

"The dress of the Turkmans consists of a large striped and fringed turban, fastened in a manner peculiar to themselves; or sometimes of a simple high-crowned cap of white felt. A vest, usually white, is thrown over the shirt; the Agas superadd one of cloth; and in general, and in proportion to their rank and wealth, they approximate to the dress of the capital. But the common people wear a short jacket of various colours. A cincture is indispensably required, in which are fixed an enormous yatagan, and a pistol. Many of them wear half boots, red or yellow, laced to the leg: the dress of the women is a coloured vest, and a piece of white cotton cloth on the head, covering part of the face. They are masculine and active, performing all the harder kinds of labour required by the family. Their features are good, but not pleasing. The men are generally muscular, and well-proportioned; tall, straight, and active. Their teeth are white and regular; their eyes are often extremely piercing; and there is an air of uncommon boldness in their countenances and mode of address. Their complexions are clear, but sun-burnt. In a word, they have every thing that denotes exhaustless health and vigour of body. A general resemblance is visible between them and the populace of Constantinople; but the latter appear effeminate by the comparison. Every action and every motion of the Turkmans is marked by dignity and grace. Their language is clear and sonorous, but less soft than that of the capital; expressing, as may be conceived, no abstract ideas, for which the Turkish is indebted to the Arabic alone; but fitted to paint the stronger passions, and to express, in the most forcible and laconic terms, the mandates of authority. Their riches consist of cattle, horses, arms, and various habiliments. How lamentable to think, that with persons so interesting, and a character so energetic, they unite such confirmed habits of idleness, violence, and treachery! From the rising of the sun till his disappearance, the males are employed only in smoking, conversing, inspecting their cattle, or visiting their acquaintance. They watch at night for the purpose of plunder, which among them is honourable, in proportion to the ingenuity of the contrivance, or the audacity of the execution. Their families are generally small, and there seems reason to believe that their numbers are not increasing."

PUNCTUALITY.

An English traveller, who has just published an account of a Journey in Holland, makes the following remark--"The Dutch are as punctual as they are industrious and parsimonious. The diligences and treckschuyts start at the time appointed, during the striking of the clock. If you are told that the hour is seven, you may be sure to be away before the fourth of the seven strokes has sounded.--The precision at which the hour of arrival is fixed, is such that you may depend upon it within a few minutes; and the same reliance may be placed on the period of finishing the journey, whether it be made by water or by land." This is a most valuable trait of character in that people, and is well worthy of universal imitation. There are a considerable proportion of mankind who are always behind-hand.--Let them make ever so many or so important engagements, as it respects punctuality in time, they invariably fail.--Many such have fallen within our observation; and the same want of exactness in point of time attends all their concerns. If they go to church upon the sabbath, they will not get there until after the services have commenced--and this happens to good, sober, pious Christians, as well as others; and it happens all their lives. Such is the inveteracy of this habit of negligence, that people, who would be shocked at the irreverence of any person who should so far forget himself as to disturb the devotions of a religious congregation by speaking, or in any other thoughtless manner, seem to have no idea that their entrance into the church in the midst of the most solemn exercises, has any thing in it improper or censurable.

The same thing occurs in the attendance of such persons upon public business, where they are associated with others. At meetings, appointed for the transaction of such business, if any considerable number are necessary to its accomplishment, there is often, and indeed usually, as much time spent in waiting for _a quorum_, as is consumed in attending to the object of the meeting. This is a great hardship upon those who make a point of being strictly punctual, for it costs them a double quantity of time. And these _behind-hand persons_, if they would only suffer themselves to reflect, could not fail to remember, that punctuality would cost themselves no more time than the want of it. Judging from considerable experience and observation, we are very well convinced, that about as much time is spent in waiting for dilatory people, as is necessary for transacting the business immediately in view when appointments for the purpose are made.

Espriella, if we do not mistake the writer, mentions his having taken passage in a stage coach at York, in England, which was to start at a certain hour. A few minutes before the time, every thing was prepared; the passengers took their seats; the coachman mounted his box, took the reins and his whip, but did not move. Upon being inquired of why he did not start, as every thing was ready, he replied, _he was waiting for the Minster_--which meant the cathedral church of that name. In a minute or two the secret was explained--the Minster clock began to strike, and before it had finished, the carriage was on its way.--We have no doubt that this habit in the driver made every body who intended to make use of his vehicle strictly punctual. If, however, instead of starting at the moment, he had practised waiting 5 minutes, occasionally, there would have been much delay and vexation, by the dilatoriousness of these behind-hand persons of whom we are speaking. We scarcely ever recollect to have been on the wharf when a steamboat was casting off, without finding some person left, or running with breathless speed to get aboard, being a few minutes _too late_. Such persons, when they find themselves safe on the deck, will almost always look at their watches, and find it _a few minutes later than they imagined_, or their watches a little too slow, or something else is made chargeable with the evil--when the honest truth is, _they are naturally or habitually behind-hand_.

It is not easy to imagine, unless our attention has been particularly turned to the subject, how much time is lost, and how much a man's affairs suffer, from this dilatory disposition. It will more or less run through and affect all his concerns. A dilatory man is perpetually in a hurry. His business always drives him--and business transacted in a hurry, is rarely well done. We once knew a respectable mechanic, whose habit of punctuality was such, that in carrying on his trade quite extensively for more than forty years, he never disappointed a single customer by not having his work done at the time appointed--he never failed of sitting down to his meals within five minutes of the time--he made his family, as well as his workmen, conform strictly to his rules of punctuality--and it hardly need be added, that he always supported the fairest reputation as a man of business--and that he acquired an independent property, beyond the handsome support of a large and expensive family.

[_N. Y. Daily Adv._

NATURAL CURIOSITY.

Most of our readers, no doubt, have noticed accounts of living toads, that have been found enclosed in stones and trees. This is perhaps one of the most extraordinary facts that has come within the observation of naturalists; so extraordinary, indeed, that few, on the first mention of it, have given it credence. So many instances, however, have occurred, attested by authority so respectable, that it would seem there now remains little room for doubt. Some of the most remarkable may here be mentioned--instances that are well substantiated, and which have led inquiring men to investigate as minutely as possible the philosophy of the matter.--A living toad was found in a large stone at Newark, on Trent, in England--it was white, measured three and a half inches, and appeared incapable of bearing light; for its motions argued an incompatible state, and in an hour it died. But in this time it was seen by several hundred people.--Three living toads were discovered lying together in a stone quarry near Cassel. No aperture was discoverable on the outside of the stone. The toads could with difficulty be removed from their bed, and endeavoured to return whenever they were removed, but died in the course of half an hour. More of the same kind might be added; every one's recollection will no doubt, supply him with instances which have occurred in our own country. Though naturalists have endeavoured to account for this astonishing fact, yet we think their speculations have been in general very visionary. The best account we have seen, is that by J. G. J. Ballenstedt, rector of Papsdorf, in the duchy of Brunswick. The substance of this we present to our readers, hoping that will at least be found amusing, at a time when political news is scarce, and uninteresting. More than amusement need not be expected; for we regard his speculation as we do most speculations of mineralogical travellers and geological societies--mighty light, airy and unsubstantial stuff. But let his rectorship be heard.

Another world besides the one we now inhabit, has had its existence, inhabited, as ours is, by animals terrestrial and marine. A time was when all that is now land was covered by the ocean, as the secondary mountains, with their beds of petrified marine productions, abundantly prove. "There, where at present the plough turns up the soil, and countless cornfields shine with their golden harvests--where immense forests spread their luxuriant trees, among which numerous wild animals sport--where hills and mountains raise their varied summits--where herds of cattle graze--where rivulets and rapid streams wind through valleys, and where cities and villages are now situated--there formerly raged the waves of this ocean--there swarmed hosts of marine animals, of numberless forms and magnitudes."--The Almighty spoke, the waters disappeared, and these animals were left on dry land; those belonging to the dry land were swallowed up, together with their habitations, in the great deep. Sea animals that have been petrified, are found at the present day in the bosom of the earth; and under the bottom of the sea are discovered river muscles and the beds of former great rivers. Whole forests were buried, and have been subsequently turned into coal. The slime and mud of the bottom of the sea, when left dry, was hardened into stone, and strata of regular conformation; which, to produce the present irregularity met with among them, (we suppose,) have undergone divers severe twistifications, by means of earthquakes, the great steam engine of geologists, whose boiler has burst more than once; we may credit the accounts of these profound world makers.

During this awful catastrophe, these living toads were probably enclosed in their stony prisons. They were covered and buried with mud, which afterwards was hardened into stone by the active exertions of Mr. Unknown Process, a worthy old gentleman, of astonishing powers, who occasionally has the kindness to assist poor philosophers in their immense task of creating worlds. In this mud, poor fellows, they would have gone the way of all flesh, had it not been for their peculiar organization; for they possess the "power of sleeping and remaining in a state of torpor during the winter without having occasion for any nourishment during that period." When enclosed in mud, therefore, the same process went on as in winter, but for a longer time.--They had nothing to do but to go to bed, and get to sleep as soon as possible, and enjoy a comfortable nap of several thousand years, till accident should unhouse them, and turn them out to enjoy the glorious light of the sun, and a thousand other things they had never dreamed of. Being fast asleep, and so closely and comfortably wrapped up in a stone blanket several feet thick, "no exhalation could take place from them, and, therefore, there could be no necessity to replace the lost animal juices by various nourishment." Wonderful phenomenon! The toad, this highly and much despised animal, was of all others the only one capable of undergoing this experiment of nature, and, thereby, of viewing a second time the light of the world. All others the most noble and most beautiful of creatures, even man himself, had it not in his power to live to see such a blessing. Man, with his fellow creatures, could only pass into a new world in a petrified state; insects of a former world could only be preserved from complete ruin in amber, and the mammoth be preserved partially in ice; but the toad was capable on account of its tenacious powers of life, and its peculiar nature, to pass from the old world into the new one, in a living state, and by these means to be snatched from destruction. It has twice trodden the theatre of the world!!--Wonderful phenomenon! we respond. Wonderful, indeed, when we take into consideration the many other created beings that sleep during winter, which had the same risk to run of being enclosed in this mud, and therefore, "from their peculiar nature," had the same chance of enjoying a comfortable nap of several thousand years.

[_Milledgeville Journal._

THE ISLAND OF MADEIRA.

From a late account of that Island published in London.

The climate of the island is excellent, being between the extremes of heat and cold; indeed the climate and soil are such, that the fruits of the earth are yielded with very little trouble in their cultivation, which, from the negligence of the inhabitants, is highly essential.

Nearly every kind of European vegetable production is to be met with here, to which may be added the sweet potato and yam. The same may be said of fruits, and with care might be produced most of the tropical ones. The oranges, lemons, and figs, are remarkably fine: peaches, nectarines, apricots &c. are very abundant.

The hills are covered with very large chesnut and walnut trees; the former producing the finest fruit of its kind in the world, and forming one source of sustenance to the hardy peasantry.

The island is formed of one immense hill or mountain, running from east to west, affording views beautifully romantic, abounding with fine springs of the purest water in the universe; while verdure and fertility cover the most unpromising situations. Pico Ruivo is five thousand one hundred feet high.

The city of Funchal is very delightfully situated at the foot of this lofty range of mountains, on the south side of the island; which forms a kind of amphitheatre, and has a beautiful appearance from the shipping as you approach it, the environs abounding with vineyards, generally in the most luxuriant state; and in the midst of the green foliage of the vine, orange, lemon, pomegranate, bannanas, myrtle, cypress, cedar, &c. are numerous villas belonging to the gentry, or to the British merchants, which, being quite white, add greatly to the beauty of the scene.

Funchal is the emporium of the island; it contains about twenty thousand inhabitants, (the population of the whole island is one hundred thousand souls,) and is the residence of a governor, bishop, corrigidor, juiz da fora and other public functionaries. It is a very irregular built town; the streets are generally narrow and crooked, having no foot paths, and are badly paved; but it is quite the reverse of Lisbon, being extremely clean. The old houses are ill built; but they have lately much improved in architecture, for the modern buildings are generally handsome, and are invariably built with stone, plastered over and whitewashed: most of the houses of the gentry are stuccoed inside, many of them are very elegant, and they are for the most part handsomely furnished in the English style.

The residence of the governor is called the palace of Fort St. Lawrence; it is a large ancient building: a few years since, it was greatly improved by the addition of a new suit of apartments, built under the direction of an English gentlemen, which are elegant and commodious.

Funchal has several handsome churches, the altar pieces of which are highly ornamented with paintings, silver lamps, and railings, together with richly carved and gilt figures, &c.

There are, on the island, about twelve hundred secular priests, governed by a dean and chapter, with a bishop at their head.

Funchal towards the sea side, is protected by a parapet wall, properly called the musketry parapet: the fortifications consist of a castle erected upon a steep rock, on the west side of the harbour, and is within a few yards of the shore; it is very ancient, and mounts nine guns of different calibre. This fort returns the salute of the different vessels of war, anchoring in the roads; and the castle serves for a state prison.

There is one small vegetable and fruit market, but the cattle, beef, and fish markets, are miserable.

The prisons are ill constructed, badly governed, and insecure. They are altogether a disgrace to the island.

All the towns and villages, of which there are several, are invariably situated on the sea coast.

The country is too uneven for wheel carriages, except just in the town and its vicinity; the mode of travelling, therefore, is on horseback, or on mules, and in palanquins or hammocks.

The native inhabitants of Madeira are commonly of a middling stature, well limbed, and of a darker complexion than the inhabitants of the colder climates of Europe, possessing a warmth of feeling with more volatile humour than is usual in the phlegmatic constitutions of people of more northern countries, they are courteous in their dispositions, and are very polite in their manners among themselves, as well as towards strangers. The females display great taste in adorning their hair, the blackness of which corresponds with their dark expressive eyes, and gives them a very interesting appearance; they are almost universally distinguished for the whiteness of their teeth, the smallness of their feet, and their finely turned ancles.

The convulsive state of Europe, for so many years, occasioned such an increased demand for the wines of Madeira, that they have, in consequence, advanced to nearly treble the price at which they were sold at the commencement of the French revolution. The cause is removed, but the effect is still continued, by the impolicy of the British merchants, who out-bid each other in their purchases from the land proprietors and wine-jobbers: this rise in the price of wine has produced an increase of income to the landholders, and thus (to use the language of one of their own writers) many now live in splendour, whose parents were content with the simple manners of their neighbours on the opposite coast of Barbary.--Both sexes dress now in the highest style of English fashion: while most of the principle families have their card and music parties, routes, balls, &c.

There is no imprisonment for debt, and condign punishment is never inflicted in Madeira; for certain crimes the criminal is sometimes banished to the Cape de Verds, and when the crime is death, according to the Portuguese law, the felon is sent prisoner to Lisbon, there to await his fate.

Many of the natives are possessed of a turn for poetry, and almost the whole of them are rhymesters.

The islanders have a great taste for music, and are very graceful dancers.

The highest gratifications of the natives are the church festivals, and religious processions; their avidity for these spectacles is so great, that they come from all parts of the Island to see them: although it is constantly a repetition of the same thing; the streets are crowded with the delighted multitude, and the windows of the houses filled with the senhoras, who assemble there full dressed to see and be seen.

It is the custom to bury their dead within twenty-four hours after their demise; they carry the body in an open bier to the place of the interment, with the face and arms exposed to full view, attended by a concourse of priests and friars, chaunting a funeral dirge (that is when the deceased leaves money to pay for it, otherwise, no penny no pater-noster;) then follow the friends of the departed, and a motley tribe of beggars bearing lighted torches, although it should be at mid-day. When the body is consigned to the grave, a quantity of lime and vinegar is thrown in to consume it, in order to make room for others, as they always bury within the church. Relatives do not accompany the funerals, being supposed to be too much affected by their loss. Widows of rank do not cross the threshold for twelve months after the death of their _Caro Sposos_.

The dress of the peasantry is very simple, consisting of a shirt and drawers of linen of their own manufacture, the knee-bands of the latter and collar of the former are worn both open, a pair of loose light goat-skin boots, which, with a small blue cloth cap, of a conical shape turned up with red, completes their dress; although they have a blue cloth jacket, but it is generally thrown over one shoulder, being seldom worn. They are very civil when they meet a stranger; they take off their cap, and "hope the Lord will prosper him;" and when they encounter one another, they stand cap in hand, though under a perpendicular sun, till they have satisfied each other as to the welfare of their wives, children, relatives, acquaintances, cattle, domestic animals, and so on: there is then a good deal of ceremony in settling the important question who shall first put his cap on again. They are very muscular, and are capable of undergoing incredible fatigue.

A more desirable spot for the asthmatic or consumptive, uniting such numerous advantages cannot be found; the town of Funchal being situated in a valley open only to the south, while it is completely defended by the mountains rising behind, from those northern blasts, which in other situations too often prove fatal in cases of decline; and the temperature of the atmosphere is very little subject to change, the thermometer being seldom higher than from 75 to 78 in summer, and rarely below 65 in winter; indeed, the climate is so favourable for invalids, that were it resorted to before the disease becomes too long confirmed, it would seldom fail in restoring their health; but it is to be regretted that this resource is often deterred till it is too late for any hopes of recovery, and when the patient has scarcely strength to undergo the fatigues of the voyage.

When the Island was first colonized, prince Henry had the sugar transplanted hither from Sicily; and, at one time, there were forty sugar mills on the Island, that article then forming the staple commodity; now there is only one mill remaining, at which little sugar is made, but that little is excellent, and has a scent like the violet.