HORTICULTURE. CULTIVATION OF CRANBERRIES. Montgomery county, Md. Feb. 10, 1826. JOHN S. SKINNER, Esq. method of fusing a portion of it on the wine; "name-admitted. In the early ages of Rome, the law as Dr. Henderson alludes to the prevailing opinion charge, and they were obliged to salute their near I recollect having seen it mentioned in the "Ame- of the ancients, that boiled water was most speedily relations, in order to ascertain from their breath rican Farmer," two or three years ago, that attempts converted into ice: "the experiments of modern che- whether they had violated the law.* were making in England to cultivate the cranberry mists," he adds, "would seem to prove that this doc- The contrast between the rude and coarse feasts on high ground or upland, but with what success I trine was not altogether without foundation" [p.108.] of Homer's heroes, and the banquets of the later have never understood. It is a most delicious and Galen, one of the authorities referred to, likewise Greeks and the Romans, is well pointed out by Dr. wholesome fruit, and if it could be raised in our la- remarks that boiled water is not only more easily Henderson. "Archestratus of Syracuse, who extitude, could not fail of being considered a most va-frozen, but also more easily cooled, even to any in-plored every land and sea, solely, as Athenæus alleluable acquisition. ferior degree; a fact worthy to be ascertained by ges, for the purpose of studying the art of good livWe know that the finest cranberries in the world, experiment. And Aristotle informs us, that a bar- ing, digested the materia's he had thus collected into are grown in New England, and among the moun- barous nation near the Euxine, who used ice as a an epic poem, under the title of Gastronomy, of tains in Alleghany county, in this state. I have also kind of cement for their huts, heated the water in which various fragments have been preserved: and understood that small quantities have been raised order that it might concrete the sooner. Timarchides of Rhodes enlightened his countrymen by some families in the lower counties of our state. If they can be raised both north and south of us, am at a loss to know why they would not succeed in our middle counties. I * Dr. Henderson concludes his first part, a history by a work, of eleven books or upwards, on the same of the wines of the ancients, by a chapter on the use subject. A complete art of cookery, beginning with of wine at the banquets of the Greeks and Romans: truffles and ending with tunny fish, was furnished by their dishes, sauces, drinking vessels, chaplets, Philoxenus of Cythera, the prototype of some noted The object of this communication is to get the drinking of healths, and the various kinds of wine epicures of modern times, who prayed for the neck favor of some of your eastern correspondents or used, are treated in a very amusing manner. of a crane in order to prolong his pleasures; and who, others acquainted with the cultivation of them, to He begins this chapter by very properly pointing when he dined abroad, was attended by pages cargive us through the medium of your valuable paper, out "the remarkable contrast between the customs rying oil, vinegar, and other sauces, to season the such directions and information as to the most proper of the Greeks and Romans: the Romans allowed the dishes of which he might be invited to partake. soil, best exposure, manner of procuring seed, pre- women to mix in their festive meetings, but forbade Even Aristotle is said to have applied his talents to paration of the ground, time of sowing, and culti- them the use of wine; while the Greeks permitted the compilation of a code of laws for the table, and vation, as will enable us to make the experiment. them to drink wine, but excluded them from all en- to have been known among his contemporaries as a I am respectfully, yours, &c. tertainments at which any but near relations were lover of fish. Nor, extravagant as they may often present" [p. 110.] Casaubon, indeed, maintains, appear, were the boasts of the culinary artists of that the Greeks did admit their women to banquets, those days altogether vain; for the ample detail of generally, but the few instances he adduces, and the their performances which has been handed down to particular circumstances of the cases, only prove us by the author of "Deipnosophista," shews, that what the regular and established custom was: be- they left but little for the inventive genius of their sides, the authority of Cornelius Nepos is most de- successors to accomplish.-p. 112.f R. B. D. From the Westminster Review-London. HISTORY OF ANCIENT AND MODERN WINES. By Alexander Henderson, M. D. (Continued from page 382.) cided and express: his object was, to point out the Originally the two meals of the ancients divided strong contrast, in several respects, between the the day; but when the pleasures of the table had beIn the climates of Greece and Italy, however, it Greek and Roman customs, and he would not, come an important part of the business of life, the was more agreeable, as well as more difficult, to therefore, have particularized these, unless the con- morning repast was reduced, and the dinner usurphave a supply of ice or snow for the purpose of trast had been not only strong, but confirmed by ed the place of the supper; this was usually precedcooling their wine. This practice, as well as the general usage. Unmarried women certainly were ed, with those who lived luxuriously, by a collation mode of preserving ice and snow, and of reducing not admitted to the banquets of the Romans, except of oysters, eggs, asparagus, lettuce, onions, figs, &c., the temperature of water by evaporation, the Greeks in particular cases; but we are as little aware that and mulsum or a mixture of wine and honey was borrowed from the Orientals, and the Romans from their married women were at any period excluded, drunk. Dr. Henderson, in a note, points out a simithe Greeks: the latter process is particularly descri- as we are that Grecian women were at any period lar custom at the well-furnished tables of France. After the collation, came the first course of more bed by Athenæus from Protagorides, as well as by substantial dishes: and then the dessert of pastry, Pliny and Galen, to whom Dr. Henderson refers: according to Protagorides, boys were employed all tions, i. p. 262. This paper is much more sober and and give zest to the stronger wines which were then * Dr. Falconer's paper in the Manchester Transac- fish and other delicacies, to provoke the appetite the night in keeping the outsides of the jars moist.* rational, and better supported by facts than the cele-put in circulation. The coolness of the jars was preserved, as well as brated Treatise of Dutens, on a similar subject. The the ice and snow which they accumulated in pots ancients certainly knew some facts in physics, at which scription of their couches and tables; but we shall Dr. Henderson next proceeds to give a short dekept undissolved, by a covering of straw, leaves, the moderns have arrived very recently. The effect of oak branches, coarse cloths, &c. [p. 106.] Dr. Hen- the prism on the rays of light, was known to Seneca premise a few words respecting their dining apartderson seems to think that Alexander learnt this [Nat. Quæs. Lib. i. c. 7.] In the Treatise of Ptolemy on ments. These were always placed in the upper part mode of preserving snow in India: but that it was Optics, lately published, which was supposed to have of the house for the sake of prospect, and were preserved during summer by this or some similar been lost, he gives in his 5th book a theory of astrono- twice as long as broad; the ceiling of the rooms did mical refraction, much more complete than that of any not correspond either to their magnificence in other mode, half a century before the birth of Alexander, astronomer prior to Cassini: he begins his book by ex-respects, or to the luxury of their banquets; since it is evident from a passage in Prodicus de Hercule, plaining the experiment with a piece of money, which, -p. 11. Edit. Simpson, Oxon. 1738. when concealed behind the sides of a vessel, becomes In the time of Seneca the snow, collected from visible by filling it with water. The abstract of this the mountains in the vicinity of Rome, and preserv- work of Ptolemy, given in the history of optics in the The name of Apicius must be familiar to our readed in the manner described, was hawked about the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, is worth perusing. Not to ers: there were three; one in the time of Sylla; the sestreets, and sold in ice-shops: and Dr. Henderson multiply instances, we shall only add, that Plutarch was cond under Tiberius; and the third under Trajan. The quotes a passage from Mr. Lumsden's remarks on acquainted with the facts, that pouring oil in the sea second was the most celebrated: he established what the Antiquities of Rome and its Environs, which makes it clear and calm; that if meat is hung under a Seneca calls a school for good living, at Rome; and poiproves "that the modern inhabitants are still sup-it otherwise would be; and that salt water is made fresh ten millions of small sesterces, the rest of his fortune fig tree, it is thereby rendered tender much sooner than soned himself, because he thought he should starve on plied in the same manner" [p. 106.] This quotation by distillation; facts which are generally supposed to having been expended on gluttony. Pliny states him points out a fact not generally known, that, when have been first ascertained very recently-Plutarch's "nepotum omnium altissimus gurges:" he published a pressed closely and hardly down in the ice-house, Symposiacs and Natural Questions, translated by seve-book on cookery. The third invented a mode of keepsnow is not only colder, but may be preserved long-ral hands, pp. 341, 462 and 464. ing oysters, so that some he sent to Trajan in Parthia er, than cakes of ice taken from ponds or ditches For proofs that it was the custom to admit married were fresh and good when they arrived thither. It is [p. 107.] In the time of Nero, the Romans had sub-women to Roman banquets, and that sometimes unmar- doubtful whether the treatise "De Re Culinaria," was stituted an elegant method of cooling their liquors, ried women were admitted, see Nepos. Præfat. Suet. written by any of these three epicures.-Bayle in voc. by means of snow, instead of the simple and coarse Calig. 17, and Claud. 32., Valer. Max. Lib. ii. c. 1. § 2, Apicius. and Plutarch's Symposiacs, 211. There are some excel- The Orientals differed from the Greeks and Romans: lent remarks on the genuineness, antiquity, and merits the time for drinking was at the beginning of the feast, * Dr. Falconer, On the Knowledge of the Ancients. of Cornelius Nepos, in Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, when fruits, sweetmeats, and wine were served upManchester Transactions, i. 265, iv. 416. hence the banquet of wine, mentioned in Esther, v. 6. * Aulus Gellius, Lib. x. c. 23. No 49.-VOL. appears from Horace that a canopy was suspended unfortunate in referring to Virgil for a description of such a cruel death; it is not clear, however, whether over the table, and when this happened to fall the the pastoral cup: his description is very inferior to the vessel was of crystal or glass. In the time of guests were enveloped in a cloud of dust [Horat. that of Theocritus, to which we have already allu- Martial, as Dr. Henderson observes, they were very Sat. Lib. ii. 8.] The dining halls of some of the ded. Indeed, most of Virgil's imitations of the Greek common, but the finer kinds, especially what were emperors, particularly Nero and Heliogabalus sur poet are inferior; the cast of his mind, the state of called calices allassontes, from their various and passed in splendor any thing in modern times; those society, and other circumstances, render his pic-changing colours, were always rare and of high of the former had their ceilings and sides formed of ture of pastoral manners less faithful than they ap- price, as is evident from their having been obtained ivory plates, which, turning on swivels, exhibited pear in Theocritus: and, perhaps, of all the passa- by the emperor Adrian, while in Egypt, from a changing pictures; and flowers, and perfumes were ges of the Greek poet, there are few so exquisitely priest of the temple, and sent as a present to Serviashowered on the guests. The movement of the finished, and yet so natural and easy, as his descrip- nus with strict injunctions to use them only on high spheres was imitated in the vaulted roof, so that a tion of the Sicilian cup in the first Idyllium. The occasions.* Martial, in one of his epigrams, recomdifferent season of the year was represented as each goblets bedecked with gems, to which Pliny, as mends cheap and common cups of earthenware, as course was placed on the table. But for further par quoted by Dr. Henderson alludes, appear, from a not liable to break with hot water; nor, like those ticulars on this subject, as well as on every other re- passage in Theophrastus, to have been first intro- bedecked with gems, holding out a temptation to the lative to the manners of the Romans, whether pri- duced among the Greeks by the officers of Alexan- long and sharp nails of the guests, to pull them off, vate, aristocratical, or regal, we must refer our der's army, on their return from the conquest of In- and steal them. The same author, as quoted by readers to the very learned and amusing treatise of dia; and the Asiatic artists then, as now, were cele- Dr. Henderson, informs us, that broken glasses were D'Arnay, or to the "Sketches of Domestic Manners brated for their superior workmanship in gems and trucked for sulphur matches. Dr. Henderson adopts the opinion of M. de Roprecious metals.† Drinking vessels of brass, large and Institutions of the Romans." The Greeks and Romans adopted the custom of and round, were also used, probably by the poorer zière, that the celebrated murrhine cups of the anreclining at their meals from the Asiatics; the la-classes in cities: they formed one of the articles im- cients were formed of fluor spar. We cannot coindies, however, continued to sit at table till the time ported into Adooli in Abyssinia, according to the cide in this opinion; fluor spar is not found in Karaof the first Cæsars. The couches were most splen- Periplus of the Erythrean sea. The earthenware mania, from which district of Parthia, both Pliny did, inlaid with ivory, tortoise-shell, or the precious vases manufactured at Athens, Samos, Saguntum, and Propertius, though they differ with respect to metals; the feet of solid ivory or bronze, and the co- and several towns in Italy, were also used, coated the nature of these vases, agree that they came; its verings of purple cloth, richly embroidered [p. 113.] with bitumen which admitted of a fine polish, and geographic situation seems confined to Europe. They were furnished with mattresses of the softest sometimes imbued with aromatic substances [115.] The expression of Propertius "cocta focis" is too down, covered with the richest stuffs.-[Manners of Heliogabalus is said to have greatly increased the strong and definite to denote the mere exposure to the Romans, p. 167.] Rose leaves were sometimes number and variety of these perfumed cups.§ Of the heat of a furnace, such as is employed to change used for this purpose: the anecdote of the Sybarite earthenware vases and cups, as well as those of the the colour of the fluor spar; the extreme thinness is well known: those of extreme and fastidious deli-precious metals, Athenæus mentions nearly one hun- expressly stated by Pliny does not agree with the cacy of smell, had the leaves of the white rose care- dred varieties. To this author, as quoted by Dr. fluor spar: the odour by which, this author says, the fully picked out, before they would allow their Henderson, we therefore refer such as wish for fur-stone from which the cups were made was distincouches to be stuffed, or their tables to be spread ther information on this subject; only particularizing guished, Dr. Henderson thinks must have been deriwith roses. The triclinium consisted of three parts the Thericlean and the Amphitheton, on account of ved from the mastic, with which the last polish is at like the Greek letter II, hence its name; the couch- the proverbs, to which they gave rise, and which are present given to the fluor spar; but Propertius exexplained by Erasmus; and the bria, a species of pressly says, that the odour was that of saffron [Lib. es were so elevated that footstools were requisite. The tables were equally costly and magnificent; cup from which the words ebrius and ebrietas are iii. Eleg. ii. v. 22.] We are of opinion too that these cups were not formed of any gem or mineral; the at first of maple or fir, then of citron and other rare said to be derived.|| woods. It appears from Martial and other authors, The Romans were supplied with vessels of glass from passage in Propertius is directly against this, Murrthat the most esteemed of these woods were those the glass manufacturers of Egypt; here they were hiaque in Parthis pocula cocta focis: the thinness of that exhibited a variety and play of colours, like the made in clearness equal to rock crystal, and gilded the vessels already stated also contravenes this suppeacock's tail.* The feet were ivory, with a circle and stained in various colours. Glass was but little position. The anecdote of Heliogabalus proves not of silver or gold round the edge [p. 113] The side-known in Rome prior to 536 U. C., and from a pass- the similarity of material, but only the equal rareage in Seneca, de Ira [Lib. iii. c. 40], we may infer, ness and value of vessels of onyx and murrhine.§ boards were similar in material and ornament. that in the time of Augustus drinking vessels of it We believe them to have been porcelain cups from Amidst all this magnificence, there were one or two proofs of want of refinement, or meanness. Till were very rare and costly, otherwise Vedius Pollio China: the expression of Propertius proves that they would not have doonied the slave who broke one to were manufactured; they came to Rome from Egypt the age of the emperors table cloths were not used; and Parthia, and the vicinity of the Euxine, all in when introduced, they were of woollen, or silk and *Imitations of Theocritus much more effective may be the regular route from India; we can trace them bewool, embroidered and striped with gold and purple. found in the pastorals of Longus: this author, who cer yond Karamania to Guzerat; here they were obtainIt was long after the age of Augustus before the tainly lived some centuries after Christ, presents exqui-ed when the author of the Periplus visited it; and master of the house supplied his guests with nap site pictures of pastoral scenery and manners, in a most he informs us, that they were brought to the markins; previously, each brought his own; and it is said pure style. His picture of the process and of the gaie-ket of Baroach from the interior of India, and we the custom was changed, because the slaves who ties of the vintage, at the beginning of his second book, know from Ptolemy, Pliny, and the Periplus, that carried them, conveyed away things in them which is evidently drawn from nature. they ought not. Sponge was employed to wipe Theophrast. Charact. c. 23. Philostratus [de Vita there was an inland communication between India, their tables after dinner. The guests always dressed Apoll. Tyan. lib. iii. c. 8] describes the precious stones and even Parthia and China, at a very early period. in white or some gay colour. Not to soil the couch-in India as large enough for cups and cooling vessels; he Dr. Clarke saw at Constantinople some porcelain es, the feet were covered with slippers, or naked, gives a curious picture of an oriental banquet. Vincent's Navigation of the Ancients, ii. 15. Lamprid. Heliogab. 481. dishes a yard in diameter, that had been conveyed on the backs of camels from China. In the time of their hands, and sometimes their feet, were washed; Belon (1555,) the Greeks called them La Mirrhe de and they, as well as the apartinent, were sprinkled Erasmi Adagia, pp. 397, 401. Bentley has an ex- Smyrna (to which place they were also brought with perfumes. Bills of fare and cups were distribu- press and elaborate dissertation on the Thericlean cups, from China, in the same manner as to Constantinoted to each guest; each was attended by his own in his Dissertation on Phalaris, pp. 78-106. Bowyer's slave; these were employed in setting on and remo- Ed. For the authorities respecting this derivation of ple and Grand Cairo,) from Murex, a shell, called ving the dishes, sweeping and cleaning the table at ebrius, see the notes of Longolidus in Kapp's edition of by the French the porcelain shell. From this it would seem that the name was given to the vases by Taciti Germania, p. 77. each course, serving the wine, fanning, and driving ¶ xgusaλλos originally signified ice; it was applied to the ancients from the resemblance of its colours to away the flies. Dr. Henderson describes at considerable length that this was in reality ice in a state of permanent and French called the shell from the porcelain. Stolberg rock crystal, in consequence of the belief of the ancients, those of the murex, while, on the contrary, the the various kinds of drinking vessels used by the unalterable solidity It is doubtful whether the word informs us that he saw in the collection of prince ancients; the ivy and beechen bowls of the poorer was ever used for manufactured glass; vaλos, however, Bascari, at Catania, a little blue vase, which was classes, and the cups of the rich, "on which the the term for glass, was probably employed for crystal. believed to be a vas murrhinum. Inferior and spusculptor, lapidary, and jeweller had displayed the In the time of Aristophanes it was sold in the shops of perfection of their skill." We think, however, he is Martial, lib xiii. Ep. 85. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xiii. c. 25. Before the use of napkins was known, the ancients wiped their hands with the soft parts of the bread, which was afterwards thrown to the dogs, that always attended their meals; there is more than one allusion to this custom in the New Testament. the Pharmacopolæ, who, according to the Scoliast, kept p. * Vopisci Saturnin, 963. † Martial, xii. 75. Juvenal, Sat. v. 40. 482. Article on Mineralogy, in Edin. Encyclop. Vol. xiv. § In Murrhinis et onychinis minxit. Lamprid. Heliogab. 502. Whoever wishes to examine this question more thoroughly should consult the authorities referred to by Dr. rious murrhine vessels were manufactured at Thebes sential improvement, and if this metal, and artisans to make them broader to work the same quantity of in Egypt. skilled in the working it could be obtained at rea-water which is required to drive a quick speeded The most important usages and ceremonies re-sonable rates, water wheels might be made wholly wheel. Thus if a person intending to erect a mill, garding the wine drunk at banquets; the oblations of it, and prove ultimately the cheapest, as, if ma- has a stream sufficient to work a wheel of 5 feet to the Gods; the crowning of the guests and the naged with due care, and worked with pure (not broad, the skirt to move 10 feet per second, it is cups with chaplets, the manufacture of which was salt) water, they would last for centuries; but as the evident that if he wishes to work all the water which a distinet branch of trade; the mode of drinking first cost would be an objection, I would recommend such wheel takes, he must have his wheel 10 or 12 healths, on which occasion the glass was to be emp-in all very large wheels that the axis be made of feet broad instead of five, otherwise the water must tied to the bottom;* the duties and authority of the cast iron, and in order to obtain the greatest strength run to waste, as there would not be room in a slow president of the feast; the custom of the master of with the least weight, the axis or shaft ought to be moving wheel of 5 feet broad to receive more than the house keeping the best dishes and wines for cast hollow, and in the hexagon or octagon form, half of it. The principal advantages resulting from himself and his favourite or richer guests, while the with a strong iron flange to fix each set of arms and the proposed method of adapting wheels to the falls rest were obliged to be content with inferior fare;t the cog wheel upon, these flanges to be firmly fixed by which they are to be worked, and the method of so similar to the custom of placing some guests in their places with steel keys. applying water, are above and some below the salt, practised in this On the adaptation of water wheels to the differ- 1. The lessening of friction upon the main country not two centuries ago, and still practised in ent heights of the water falls by which they are to gudgeons, (and first pair of cog wheels,) by Russia; all these, and many other curious and amu-be worked, I remark that falls of 2 to 9 feet are most which, with a little care, they may be kept regusing particulars are given in this very interesting advantageously worked with the undershot wheel; larly cool, and the shaft or axis be preserved much chapter. The concluding paragraph we transcribe. falls of 10 feet and upwards by the bucket or breast longer in use than when the gudgeons cannot be "If we compare the ceremonies and usages above wheel, which up to 20 or 25 feet ought to be made kept cool. described, with the convivial customs of the present about one sixth higher than the fall of water by 2. By working water upon the principle of its day, we cannot but be struck with the numerous co- which it has to be worked; and in wheels of both specific gravity alone, and applying it always at the incidences which subsist between them. The ar- descriptions, the water ought to flow on the wheel height of the surface of the dam, its power is double rangement of our dinners, the succession and com- from the surface of the dam. I am aware that this what is obtained by the common method of applyposition of the different courses, the manner of fill- principle is at direct variance with the established ing it. ing our glasses, of pledging our friends, and of practice, and perhaps there are few wheels in these 3. The expensive penstock required to convey drinking particular healths, are all evidently copied states that can be worked as they now are fixed, by the water to the wheels, generally used, will not be from the Greeks and Romans; and although certain thus applying the water; the reasons will be appa- needed, as one much shallower and consequently peculiarities in our situation and habits, have ren- rent from what follows. less expensive will be sufficient. 4. The resistance of back water is reduced as far as possible. In all these establishments, there is not 50 per cent. obtained of the power of the water used. The water wheels at Fair Mount, used for supply dered the use of bumper cups and undiluted liquors In adjusting the proportions of the internal wheels too prevalent among us, yet the common distribu- by which machinery is propelled, it is necessary in tion of wines at our banquets cannot be considered order to obtain the greatest power, to limit the speed 5. The risk of fire is less as the friction is reduced. as very different from that which we have been dis- of the skirt of the water wheel so that it shall not be I shall close this paper with remarks upon those cussing. With another modern nation, however, more than from 4 to 5 feet per second, it having establishments I have inspected in the course of the which has been thought to resemble the ancient been ascertained by accurate experiments that the present year. Greeks in character, the analogy is still more com- greatest force of water obtainable is within these Mr. Smith's newly erected corn mill on the Rariplete. Thus, at all entertainments among the French, limits.-As a falling body, water descends at the ton, at New Brunswick, N. J., has water wheels 16 the ordinary wine is used with a large admixture of speed of nearly 16 feet in the first second, and it feet high and 14 feet broad, which are worked by a water, generally in the proportion of one to three, will appear evident that if a water wheel is required head of four feet. The water wheels make 12 revoexcept immediately after soup, when it is drunk to be so driven, that the water with which it is load-lutions per minute, equal to 10 feet per second, pure. The finer kinds are circulated in the inter-ed has to descend 10, 11, or 12 feet per second, at when the stones (five feet diamater) make 100 revovals, between the courses, or towards the end of which rates wheels are generally constructed to lutions. the repast, and hence are termed vins d' entremets; work, that a very large proportion of the power is The water wheels at the flour mills at Brandywine but, with particular dishes certain wines are served, lost, or rather, is spent in destroying by unnecessa- near Wilmington, are worked at the speed of 10 to as Chablis with oysters, and Sillery after roast ry friction the wheel it is flowing upon. 15 revolutions per minute; the wheels generally 16 meat. The coup d'avant of ewermuth has been al- In the common way of constructing mill work and feet high, and the fall 20 feet. ready noticed as corresponding with the draught of of applying water to wheels, it has been found indismulsum, and the coup du milieu, which consists of pensably necessary to have a head of from 2 to 4 some liqueur, "quod fluentem nauseam coerceat," feet above the aperture through which the water may be regarded as identical with the cup of sweet flows into the buckets, or against the floats of a ing Philadelphia with water, are 16 feet high and 14 wine, handed round in the middle of a Grecian water wheel, in order to be able to load the wheel feet wide, worked by a head of 5 feet; they are drivfeast. With the dessert the luscious sweet wines instantaneously, and without which precaution it en at the rate of 13 revolutions per minute, which are always introduced"-pp. 127, 128. could not be driven at the required speed; from this is equivalent to 11 feet per second for the motion circumstance it has been erroneously inferred that of the skirt of the wheel. the impulse or shock which a water wheel so filled The machinery used here, is highly creditable to receives, is greater than the power to be derived to the workmen who put it up; but if the principle from the specific gravity of the water alone. This of applying water, which I have endeavoured to estheory I have heard maintained among practical tablish, be correct, it will be readily perceived that a men, but it is, in fact, only resorting to one error to very considerable loss of power is sustained by its [On the construction of water-wheels and the method rectify another. Overshot wheels have been adopt-mode of application. of applying the water for propelling them so as to ed in numerous cases merely for the purpose of get- If these water-wheels as situated at present, were produce the greatest effect, communicated for the ting the water more readily into the buckets-but confined to make no more than 5 revolutions per American Farmer, by request of the Editor.] confine the wheel to the proper working speed, and minute, and the pumps to make the same number of To the Committee of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. that difficulty does not exist. revolutions they do now, that is 13 double strokes, In constructing water wheels, especially those of In consequence of the excessive speed at which the water flowing against the wheel at the surface great power, the introduction of iron is a most es- water wheels are generally driven, a small accumu- of the dam, each wheel would work two of the lation of backwater either suspends or materially re- pumps, with the water that is now taken to work Henderson [p. 117;] by Dr. Vincent, ii, 722. Dr. Clarke, tards their operations, but by properly confining one. But if the wheels were placed 18 inches lowviii. 151. Fosbroke in his Encyclop. of Antiquities in their speed, the resistance from back water is coner in the tide-way, of the water required to work voc., and Stolberg [Travels, ix. 280.] Stolberg mentions siderably diminished, and only amounts to about the one pump, would work two at equal speed, while a treatise by prince Bescari, Ragionamento di Vasi same thing as working from a dam as many inches the wheel continued free, and it would require no Murrhini, which we have never seen. lower as the wheel is immersed, and in undershot more than is now used to work one pump, to work `(To be continued.) RURAL ECONOMY. WATER WHEELS. 246, which illustrates the custom of toast-drinking * Theocr. Idyll. vii. 70, and Schol. in loc. The phra- wheels worked from a low head, or situated in the two with the wheel immersed 18 inches in the tide. ses were bene mihi, bene tibi: Plaut Pers. v. i. 20. There tide-way, the resistance from back water may be This will, I trust, be sufficiently clear, when it is is a facetious epigram in Reiske's Antholog. Græc. P. farther obviated by placing the floats not exactly in considered, that by the reduced speed, an addition among the ancients. At Athens three officers attended a line from the centre of the wheel, but deviating 6 of 150 per cent. in the quantity of water is thrown the public entertainments; provided lights and torches, or 8 inches from it, so as to favour the water leaving into the wheel and kept there, together with the adand took care every person drank his due portion. the float ascending. vantage gained between the water descending 43 inAugustus seems not to have followed this custom. stead of 11 feet per second. eton. August. 74. September 24, 1825. In constructing water wheels to be driven at the speed of 4 to 5 feet per second, it will be requisite LADIES' DEPARTMENT. BEST METHOD OF PRESERVING ALL KINDS OF COOKED BUTCHERS' MEAT, FISH, OR POULTRY. drinks-is not apt to get the rot, or to die-does the fibres are connected together, and thus, without not tumble over board, nor get its legs broken, or its injuring the strength of the flax, he gives it a degree flesh wore off its bones, by knocking about the of fineness which is not attainable by any other prodecks of a ship in bad weather it takes no care in cess. He has, we believe, secured his invention by a the keeping it is always ready-may be eat cold patent; and several cotton spinners at Preston have Or all the methods of preserving animal sub- or hot-and thus enables you to toss into a boat in paid considerable sums for the privilege of exerci stances for domestic purposes, or sea store, the pro- a minute, as many days' cooked provisions as you sing it.—Manchester (Eng.) Guardian.) cess found out by Mr. Appert, and pursued in this choose-it is not exposed to the vicissitudes of marmetropolis upon a large scale by Messrs. Donkin kets, nor is it scourged up to a monstrous price (as and Gamble, is unquestionably the best. It is as at St. Helena,) because there is no alternative. Befollows: sides these advantages, it enables one to indulge in Let the substance to be preserved be first par- a number of luxuries, which no care or expense boiled, or rather somewhat more, the bones of the could procure." HABITS OF ANIMALS. Acquired habits are hereditary in other animals besides dogs. English sheep, probably from the greater richness of our pastures, feed very much together, while Scotch sheep are obliged to extend meat being previously removed; put the meat into In this preservative process is displayed a singu- and scatter themselves over their hills for the better a tin cylinder, fill up the vessel with the broth and lar and important fact with regard to the agency discovery of food Yet the English sheep, on being then solder on the lid, furnished with a small hole. of oxygen in putrefaction. The tin canisters being transferred to Scotland keep their old habit of feedWhen this has been done, let the tin vessel, thus closed during the exposure to heat, must necessari- ing in a mass, though so little adopted to their new prepared, be placed in water and heated to the ly contain, with the included matter, some portion of country: so do their descendants: and the English boiling point, to complete the remainder of the air, and if heat were not applied, or even if applied im- sheep are not thoroughly naturalized into the necescooking of the meat. The hole in the lid is now perfectly, putrefaction would take place. This proves sities of their place till the third generation. The closed perfectly, by soldering, whilst the air is that the effect of the high temperature is to pro- same thing may be observed as to the nature of his rushing out. duce some kind of combination of the oxygen of the food that is observed in his mode of seeking it. The vessel is then allowed to cool, and from the air with the animal or included matter, not leading When turnips were introduced from England into diminution of volume in the contents, in conse-to putrefaction, or even counteracting it, while by Scotland, it was only the third generation which quence of the reduction of temperature, both ends this combination it is effectually removed. The air heartily adopted this diet, the first having been of the cylinder are pressed inwards and become accordingly, where the process is successful, is de-starved into an acquiescence in it. In the same concave. The tin cases, thus hermetically sealed, prived of oxygen; but if the heat were not suffi- manner it required some years to establish the Engare exposed in a test-chamber for at least a month. ciently prolonged, and by far the greatest part of lish practice of bringing up calves by hand in Scotto a temperature above what they are ever likely the air in the vessel not exhausted, putrefaction land; the first who were so fed, being cheated into to encounter, from 90° to 110° Fahrenheit. If the soon comes on. From experiments that have been swallowing milk, as the English calves at first are, process has failed, putrefaction takes place, and gas made on this mode of preserving alimentary sub- by dipping the finger in the bowl and giving it to is evolved, which in process of time will bulge out stances, it has been proved, that if the vessels were the animal to suck. Nor was this mode of adminisboth ends of the case, so as to render them convex opened only for a short time and again closed, with- tering nourishment (slowly and reluctantly admitted instead of concave. But the contents of whatever out heat being applied, the inclosed substances soon by lowland calves) ever I believe, cordially adopted cases stand this test, will infallibly keep perfectly putrefied: as they did also from mere exposure to by their mountain kindred. The highland beast has sweet and good in any climate, and for any length the air. But if, after having been exposed even for shown himself the worthy imitator of the highland of time. If there was any taint about the meat an hour or two, they were re-placed, the vessels man, and is as obstinate in his opposition to this, as when put up, it inevitably ferments, and is detected again treated as before, and then the due degree of his Celtic master is to any of the Saxon improvein the proving process. heat applied, they could be preserved as at first. ments which can be offered to him. All kinds of animal food may be preserved in this And this repeated exposure to the air, and removal way-beef, mutton, veal, and poultry, either boiled of its operation by heating, it appears from Gay or roasted. The testimonies in favour of the suc- Lussac's experiments, can be renewed a number of cess of the process are of the most unexceptions times. Nay, by occasional exposure to the heat of ble kind. At Messrs. Donkin and Gamble's esta- boiling water, without the exclusion of the air, he blishment the meat is put up in canisters of from found the exemption from putrefaction to be attained. MR. SKINNERSassafras Neck, Cecil county, Md. Feb. 11, 1826. 4 lbs. to 20 lbs. weight each. It is charged from The theory of these effects is not very apparent. Philockuon would willingly have mentioned the 1s. 8d. to 3s. a pound, roast higher than boiled, and Gay Lussac supposes, that the oxygen may com- name of the old setter, (so distinguished for perforveal dearer than mutton or beef. The weight of bine with that principle analogous to gluten, which mances,) as well as that of his owner, in his comthe canister is deducted, and nothing is charged excites fermentation, and which may equally excite munication upon the Field Dog, could he have asfor the canisters; and it should be observed that putrefaction; that this by a kind of coagulation is certained his pedigree as a recommendation of the these provisions being cooked, and without bone, separated by heat, and thus rendered inert; and strain. It is only known that this dog is a cross of render them equivalent to double the weight of that it is only that part of it which has suffered the pointer and setter, and this very circumstance (if meat in the raw state; for it is certain, that the oxygenation which is capable of this coagulation; it British sportsmen are to be relied on) precludes any waste in cooking, together with the weight of bone, is thus removed, while the exclusion of oxygen pre- certainty in regard to the value of this stock. Alare about one half. vents the putrefaction from taking place, which though this dog is unquestionably fine in the field, on Captain Neish took a quantity of provision, thus would otherwise be excited by the remainder. But account of the above objections, he could not be prepared to India, not one canister spoiled; and this is rather hypothetical and unsatisfactory. one which he brought home contained beef in the highest state of preservation after two years, and having been carried upwards of 35,000 miles in the warmest climates. MISCELLANEOUS. IMPORTANT INVENTION. SPORTING OLIO. recommended as a breeder to those who are desirous of improving the animal to a degree of perfection equal to that attained by our rivals across the water. Medicine for a Pointer, or Hound Dog, when taken with the distemper. THE FARMER. The commissioners for victualling the navy also examined some, nearly four years old, which had We understand, that a Mr. Kay, of Preston, has been in the Mediterranean and Quebec, and found it invented a mode of spinning by machinery, which as sound, sweet, and fresh, as if it had been only yes- bids fair to work a complete revolution in the linen Two ounces of sulphur, one ounce of jalap, two terday boiled. We are enabled to add the testimo-manufacture, and to give this country advantages ounces of syrup of buck-thorn, well mixed togeny of that distinguished navigator, captain Basil in that manufacture which it has not hitherto pos- ther-give a ball of the size of a pigeon's egg once Hall, who has liberally communicated to us the re-sessed. We are not acquainted with the particu- a day. sult of his personal experience and observation, lars of Mr. Kay's invention, but we are informed on which is as follows: "I can answer for the perfect very good authority, that, from an inferior descrippreservation of a great number of cases which tion of flax, and with very little heckling he is enawere in my possession during the voyage to China. bled to spin, 200's yarn without difficulty. Some I had 881. worth, and not one failure. At that time idea may be formed of the value of this discovery, milk was preserved in bottles corked; but tin cases when it is known that the price of linen yarn of this have been substituted with very great effect, as I degree of fineness, in the neighbourhood of Valen- FOR SALE.-The Editor has possession of, and offers have myself tried. It is really astonishing how ex- ciennes, where it is used for the manufacture of the for sale, a colt which he believes he may safely recellent the milk is; and, indeed, every thing preserve finest thread lace, is about 1,200 francs, (or nearly commend to those who would have a first-rate horse ed in this way is good." 1. 50 sterling,) per pound weight. We understand for the turf or a very superior stallion derived on "You must, on examining the list of prices, bear that instead of heckling his flax, Mr. Kay steeps it in both sides from the purest English blooded horse.in mind, that meat thus preserved eats nothing, nor a liquid that dissolves the glutinous matter by which He candidly believes, that such a colt, ought to sell BALTIMORE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1826. PRICES CURRENT. ARTICLES. WHOLESALE. RETAIL. per from lb. at this time for $500; yet he is willing, never having [On the side of the dam, the pedigree of my colt SINCLAIR & 'MOORE Offer for sale at their Agricultural Repository, near 400 bushels Clover seed, (carefully selected for retail.) do. do. 200 Timothy and Herd Grass do. Early White seed Potatoes. CANDLES, Mould, FEATHERS, Live,. FISH, Herrings, Sus. to from to 12 40 50 7 33 109 34 16 18 22 25 FLOUR, Superfine, city, bbl. 4 50 4 62 5 50 6 25 FLAX, do. White Flint, 4 4 25 5 00 none lb. 9 11 bush 4 50 5 lb. 1 75 2 00 1 25 1 50 2 25 2 50 40 42 45 1 37 150 SILVER HEELS, who took the highest premium at the cattle show in Baltimore, in the year 1821. Silver Heels is upwards of 16 hands high, was got by The Editor unites with some of his correspondOscar, who was got by the imported horse Gabriel ents in the particular desire, to obtain from various (sire to Post Boy, Harlequin, and Lady Jack Bull, positions on the tide waters of the Chesapeake Bay, grand dam of Chance Medley)-Oscar's dam was the exact rise and fall of the tides, from actual meaVixen by old Medley; grand dam Col. Tayloe's Pe- surement. The investigation, which will be aided nelope by old Yorick; great grand dam by Ranter; by such information, may establish results highly great great grand dam by old Gift. Silver Heels' advantageous to landholders in the positions referdam was Pandora, who at three years old sold for a red to. thousand dollars; she was got by Col. Tayloe's grey Diomed, who was got by the imported horse Medley; his dam by Sloe; his grand dam by Valiant out of the imported mare Calista, the property of Col. Wm. Byrd, of Westover. The above horse Sloe was got by old Partner, out of Gen. Nelson's imported mare Blossom; her dam was got by Mr. Hall's Union; her grand dam by Leonidas; her great grand dam by the imported horse Othello; her great great grand dam by the imported horse George's Juniper; her great great great grand dam by the imported horse Morton's Traveller; her great great great great grand dam was Col. Tasker's imported mare Selima, who was got by the Godolphin Arabian. A general assortment of Garden seeds. Gabriel (bred by Lord Ossory,) was got by Dori- SMITH'S COTTON PLANTER AND CULTIVATOR. mont; his dam by the famous High Flyer; grand Those interested in the culture of cotton are informed HEMP, Russia, clean, dam by Snap, out of Shepherd's Crab mare (the that a machine is invented for planting and cultivating Do. Country dam of Chalkstone, Iris, Sphinx, Planet, and other this crop, which promises to be of great importance. It HOPS,. good runners)-her dam was Miss Meredith by has been lately exhibited both in Petersburg and Rich- HOGS' LARD, Čade, out of the little Hartley mare. mond, and met the approbation of all who had an oppor- LEATHER, Soal, best, Medley was got by Gimcrack (Cripple Godolphin tunity of seeing it. Those who associate large crops of MOLASSES, sugar-house gal. Arabian)—his dam, full sister to the dam of Sir Pe- tobacco or corn with cotton, will find it a valuable acqui- Havana, 1st qual. ter Teazle, was Araminda by Snap; grand dam sition. It is computed that one hand with this machine MEAL, Corn, kiln dried, bbl. 3 00 3 25 3 75 Miss Cleveland by Regulus; great grand dam Midge will plant or cultivate, ten acres per day. They are so NAILS, 6a20d. by Bay Bolton; great great grand dam by Bartlet's simple in their construction that any common mechanic NAVAL STORES, Tar, bbl. 1 75 2 00 Pitch,. can make them, any farmer keep them in repair. The Childers; great great great grand dam by HoneyTurpentine, Soft, wood's Arabian, out of the dam of the two True following certificate, to which many more respectable names might have been added, will no doubt be perfect- OIL, Whale, common, Blues. Thus you see, that Medley's blood, so desiSpermaceti, winter ly satisfactory. rable among sportsmen, flowed through Grey DioHaving witnessed the operation of Mr. Smith's Patent PORK, Baltimore Mess, med, the sire of Pandora, the dam of Silver Heels; Cotton Planter and Cultivator, we have no hesitation in do. Prime,. and also through Vixen, the dam of Oscar, sire of saying that it fully answers the purpose for which it is PLASTER, cargo price, Silver Heels;-who is of course a quarter Medley, designed. It opens the furrow, drops the seed at any re- RICE, fresh, and a quarter Gabriel, the best running blood in A-gular distance required, covers it lightly, and rolls it at SOAP, Baltimore White, one operation, and all much better than it could be done merica. by hand. After the cotton is up, two small ploughs are then attached, which removes the grass and weeds from both sides of the plant at once. It operates as fast as a horse usually walks. It is necessary, however that the land should be first listed, and free from stumps or other obstructions. Signed by Brown and yellow, Loaf, Lump, - 10 10 25 50 none 16 8 50 9 7510 11 19 22 201 23 lb. Ginger, Ground, . Liverpool Blown SHOT, Balt. all sizes, 985 14 WINES, Madeira, L. P. gal. 2 50 3 00 3 50 4 do. Sicily,. Pandora won the great sweepstakes at Piscataway, Wines, by Alexander Henderson, M. D., continued-On 120 130 2 00 1 15 1 25 150 1 75 doz. 4 8 500 900 gal. 1 50 200 2 50' Claret, do. crossed,. Printed every Friday, at $5 per annum, for JOHN S. |