of the United States engaged in the culture of rice. If two crops from one planting can be gathered in Egypt, I don't see why the same result might not be obtained in the United States.

Our consul general at Alexandria-a gentleman formerly of your State, (Mr. Edwin DeLeon,) doubtless well known to you-could, and no doubt would, with pleasure, procure you any information that you would seek in reference to the

matter.

With great respect, your very obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM AIKEN, Charleston, S. C.

J. J. SEIBELS.

The extract alluded to above, from the Journal des Debats, is as follows: Our last advices from Alexandria report a fact which, at the same time in possibly exercising a great influence in the condition of Egypt, presents also a great deal of interest in a scientific and economical point of view. It is the discovery of a new system of culture by which two successive crops of rice are obtained by a single sowing, and in the same space of time as it takes ordinarily to produce one crop. The inventor of this system is a learned professor of agriculture, of Venice, Mr. Jerome Lattis, who went two years ago to Egypt to carry out on a large scale his valuable discovery. Notwithstanding the difficulties that he was necessarily doomed to encounter in a country governed by routine, he nevertheless, as early as last year, succeeded in obtaining from S. A. Mustapha Bey, son of the late viceroy, Ibrahim Pacha, permission to try his system on one of his lands in the environs of Alexandria. The experiment was eminently successful, and the working men among the natives and the Europeans have verified the existence of the double crop promised by the inventor.

In the meanwhile, Said Pacha ascended the throne, and one of his first acts was to call Mr. Lattis and grant him a firman brevet (patent) for seven years, and request him at the same time to apply his new system of culture to his lands of Destene and Beyrouth. This example set by his highness induced large landholders, native and European, to adopt the Lattis system, and, since two months, 2,000 feddams of ground have undergone its application. All the rice produced by the new system has already borne the ears with a precocity unknown in the country, and will, consequently, give the first crop towards the middle of July, while the sowing done under the old system generally matures at the end of October.

By the results already known the problem can be considered as solved, and the invention of the new mode of cultivation in creating a new source of public riches, will have also well deserved from humanity in contributing to the solution of the great question of substances.

REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF CATTLE.

Redwater-Bleed (says Youatt) first, and then give a dose of 1 lb. of Epsom salts, and -lb. doses repeated every eight hours until the bowels are acted upon. In Hampshire they give 4 oz. bole armenian and 2 oz. of spirits of turpentine in a pint of gruel.

Blackwater is the concluding and commonly fatal stage of redwater.

Cleansing drink.—1 oz. of bayberry powdered, 1 oz. of brimstone powdered, 1 oz. of cummin-seed powdered, 1 oz. of diapente. Boil these together for ten minutes; give when cold in a gruel.

Colic. The best remedy is I pint of linseed oil mixed with oz. of laudanum. A cordial is easily made by 1 oz. of caraway seeds, 1 oz. of aniseeds, oz. of ginger powdered, 2 oz. of fenugreek seeds. Boil these in a pint and a half of beer for ten minutes, and administer when cold.

Diarrhea.-Give oz. of powdered catechu, and 10 grs. of powdered opium, in a little gruel.

Dysentery.-The same as for diarrhoea.

Fever.-Bleed; and then if the bowels are constipated, give lb. of Epsom salts in three pints of water daily, in gruel.

Hove or Hoven.-Use the elastic tube; as a prevention, let them be well supplied with common salt, and restrained from rapid feeding when first feeding upon rank grass or clover.

MODE OF EXTRACTING TALLOW FROM THE TALLOW TREE.

A few days ago a gentleman residing in Texas addressed the Commissioner of Patents in regard to the tallow tree, and desired to be furnished with the best mode of extracting the tallow. We copy the method recommended by this office: "The seeds of the tallow tree (stillingia sebifera) are picked in China at the commencement of cold weather, in November and December, when all the leaves have fallen. The seeds are, in the first place, taken to the building where the process of making the tallow is carried on, and picked and separated from the stalks. They are then put into a wooden cylinder, open at the top, but with a perforated bottom. This is placed over an iron vessel (about the same diameter, or rather larger than the wooden cylinder, and about six or eight inches deep) containing water, by which means the seeds are well steamed, for the purpose of softening the tallow, and causing it more readily to separate. The furnace has four or five iron vessels in a row, about three feet high, four or five feet broad, and eight or ten feet long. The fire is placed at one end and fed with the husks of the rice, dry grass, and such like cheap materials, which make a great flame, and the flue is, of course, carried directly under the whole of the iron vessels.

"When the seeds have steamed ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, they are thrown into a large stone mortar, and are gently beaten by two men with stone mallets for the purpose of detaching the tallow from the other parts of the seed. They are then thrown upon a sieve, heated over the fire, and sifted, by which process the tallow is separated, or nearly so, although they generally undergo the process of steaming, &c., a second time, that nothing may be lost. The other part of the seed is ground and pressed for oil.

"The tallow now resembles coarse linseed meal, but with more white spots in it, and derives its brown color from the thin covering over the seed, (between it and the tallow,) which is separated by the pounding and sifting. In this state it is put between circles of twisted straw, five or six of which are laid upon each other, and thus forming a hollow cylinder for its reception. When this straw cylinder has been filled, it is carried away and placed in the press, which is a very rude and simple contrivance, but which, like everything Chinese, answers the purpose remarkably well. The press consists of longitudinal beams of considerable thickness, placed about a foot and a half or two feet asunder, with a thick plank at the bottom, forming a kind of trough, and the whole is bound together with iron. The tallow is pressed out by means of wedges, driven in very tightly with stone mallets, and passes through a hole in the bottom of the press into a tub, which is sunk there to receive it. It is now freed from all impurities, and is a semi-fluid of a beautiful white color, but soon gets solid, and in cold weather is very brittle. The inside of the tubs which collect the tallow is sprinkled or dusted over with a fine red earth, well dried, which prevents the tallow from adhering to their sides. It is thus easily removed in a solid state from the tubs, and in this condition the cakes are exposed for sale in the market. As the candles made from this vegetable tallow have a tendency to get soft and melt in hot weather, they are commonly dipped in wax of various colors, as red, green, and yellow. Those which are intended for religious purposes are generally very large, and finely ornamented with golden characters.

The cake, or refuse, which remains after the tallow has been pressed out of it, is used for fuel, or to manure the land, and so is the other part of the seed from which oil is extracted."

It may be remarked that this tree has been cultivated in South Carolina for more than a hundred years, and appears well adapted to the climate.

RICE.

We have been politely favored, says the Charleston Mercury, by the Hon. William Aiken, with the subjoined communication from the Hon. J. J. Seibles, our minister in Belgium:

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Brussels, July 21, 1855. DEAR SIR: I send you enclosed an extract from the Journal des Debats, (Paris,) which I have thought might contain information of importance to you gentlemen

of the United States engaged in the culture of rice. If two crops from one planting can be gathered in Egypt, I don't see why the same result might not be obtained in the United States.

Our consul general at Alexandria-a gentleman formerly of your State, (Mr. Edwin DeLeon,) doubtless well known to you-could, and no doubt would, with pleasure, procure you any information that you would seek in reference to the

matter.

With great respect, your very obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM AIKEN, Charleston, S. C.

J. J. SEIBELS.

The extract alluded to above, from the Journal des Debats, is as follows: Our last advices from Alexandria report a fact which, at the same time in possibly exercising a great influence in the condition of Egypt, presents also a great deal of interest in a scientific and economical point of view. It is the discovery of a new system of culture by which two successive crops of rice are obtained by a single sowing, and in the same space of time as it takes ordinarily to produce one crop. The inventor of this system is a learned professor of agriculture, of Venice, Mr. Jerome Lattis, who went two years ago to Egypt to carry out on a large scale his valuable discovery. Notwithstanding the difficulties that he was necessarily doomed to encounter in a country governed by routine, he nevertheless, as early as last year, succeeded in obtaining from S. A. Mustapha Bey, son of the late viceroy, Ibrahim Pacha, permission to try his system on one of his lands in the environs of Alexandria. The experiment was eminently successful, and the working men among the natives and the Europeans have verified the existence of the double crop promised by the inventor.

In the meanwhile, Said Pacha ascended the throne, and one of his first acts was to call Mr. Lattis and grant him a firman brevet (patent) for seven years, and request him at the same time to apply his new system of culture to his lands of Destene and Beyrouth. This example set by his highness induced large landholders, native and European, to adopt the Lattis system, and, since two months, 2,000 feddams of ground have undergone its application. All the rice produced by the new system has already borne the ears with a precocity unknown in the country, and will, consequently, give the first crop towards the middle of July, while the sowing done under the old system generally matures at the end of October.

By the results already known the problem can be considered as solved, and the invention of the new mode of cultivation in creating a new source of public riches, will have also well deserved from humanity in contributing to the solution of the great question of substances.

REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF CATTLE.

Redwater.—Bleed (says Youatt) first, and then give a dose of 1 lb. of Epsom salts, and -lb. doses repeated every eight hours until the bowels are acted upon. In Hampshire they give 4 oz. bole armenian and 2 oz. of spirits of turpentine in a pint of gruel.

Blackwater is the concluding and commonly fatal stage of redwater.

Cleansing drink.-1 oz. of bayberry powdered, 1 oz. of brimstone powdered, 1 oz. of cummin-seed powdered, 1 oz. of diapente. Boil these together for ten minutes; give when cold in a gruel.

Colic. The best remedy is I pint of linseed oil mixed with oz. of laudanum. A cordial is easily made by 1 oz. of caraway seeds, 1 oz. of aniseeds, oz. of ginger powdered, 2 oz. of fenugreek seeds. Boil these in a pint and a half of beer for ten minutes, and administer when cold.

Diarrhaa.-Give oz. of powdered catechu, and 10 grs. of powdered opium, in a little gruel.

Dysentery. The same as for diarrhoea.

Fever.-Bleed; and then if the bowels are constipated, give lb. of Epsom salts in three pints of water daily, in gruel.

Hove or Hoven.-Use the elastic tube; as a prevention, let them be well supplied with common salt, and restrained from rapid feeding when first feeding upon rank grass or clover.

Mange.-lb. of black brimstone, pint of turpentine, 1 pint of train oil. Mix them together, and rub the mixture well in over the affected parts.

Milk fever, or Garget.-2 oz. of brimstone, 1 oz. of diapente, 1 oz. of cumminseed powdered, 1 oz. of powdered nitre. Give this daily in a little gruel, and well rub the udder with a little goose grease.

Murrain.-lb. of salts, 2 oz. of bruised coriander seed, 1 oz. of gentian powder. Give these in a little water.

Poisons swallowed by oxen are commonly the yew, the water dropwort, and the common and the water hemlock. 1 pints of linseed oil is the best remedy. Purge, in Poisoning.—Either 1 lb. of salts in a quart of water or gruel, or a pint to a pint and a half of linseed oil.

Sprains.-Embrocation: 8 oz. of sweet oil, 4 oz. spirits of hartshorn,

of thyme.

oz. oil Sting of the Adder or Slowworm.-Apply immediately to the part strong spirits of hartshorn; for sting of bees, apply chalk or whitening mixed with vinegar. Worms.-Botts; give lb. of Epsom salts, with 2 oz. of coriander seed bruised in a quart of water.

Yellows.-2 oz. diapente, 2 oz. of cummin seed powdered, 2 oz. of fenugreek powdered. Boil these for ten minutes in a quart of water, and give daily in a little gruel.

HORSE AND MULE POWER.

ON THE COMPARATIVE ECONOMY AND VALUE OF HORSE AND MULE POWER, BY J. S. SKINNER.

Review of the premiums offered by the Agricultural Society of Prince George's county, Maryland.

For the best Jack, $5; for the best Jenny, $5; for the best pair of mules, $5. The prejudice against the mule seems to be as inveterate as that which impels the "heel" of every son of Adam to "bruise the serpent's head," whether it be the head of the innocent water or the harmless black snake, or the viper or copperhead, bloated with poison. Does this aversion to breeding mules owe its origin, too, to a divine command-" thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind?" But the same prohibitory command addressed to the Jews forbade also the "mixing of seed," yet who deems it therefore unchristian to mingle the seed of clover and timothy?

Instead of this invidious distinction by the committee in favor of the horse, offering the highest premiums for that very expensive animal in all his ages, forms, and sexes-young and old, quick and slow, male and female-it were better, we should think, to have held up the highest premium to him whose mule power should bear the greatest, and horse power the least proportion the one to the other, in use on his plantation! As for rewarding the mere exhibition of the "best pair of mules," what length of merit can be discerned in that, unless it be that it implies length of purse to give the highest price? If driven to the ground in the owner's own carriage, in lieu of a pair of $500 Vermont horses, that would be quite a different matter. The mode of taking the last census was very defective in many respects. For example, it only gives the number of "horses and mules" in the aggregate; while here, at once, is an agricultural problem which requires for its investigation that we should have accurately and separately stated the number of each.

Twenty years ago it was estimated that the horses in England consumed the product of twenty millions of highly cultivated acres, and Sir John Sinclair calculated the keep of one horse to be equal to the product of five acres. Let us suppose constant work to be provided, as it should be, for every horse that is kept on a plantation, do not true economy as well as humanity and justice demand that each horse so worked should be well fed? and if so, may not each horse be estimated to consume, at 2 gallons a day, $56 of corn? Add to this $14 for other provender and shoeing and physicing; and you have an outlay of not less than $75 a year for every work horse, to say nothing of idle brood mares, colts, carriage-horses, and other non-producers; a sum for each horse equal to the purchase of a first-rate mule, while the average life of the former will not more than half equal the latter.

Among planters in the south, whose position and circumstances are so identical with those of Maryland, the economy and edvantages of the mule over the horse are universally admitted. The reports of an agricultural society of South Carolina, in relation to this subject, may here be quoted, where it asserts: "The mule is more easily raised than the horse, more able to bear heavy burdens, equally strong for the draft, more patient, equally docile, will live twice or thrice as long, capable of enduring much more labor, will do as much work in the same time, and will not be more than one-half the expense, as they will not eat more than one-half the grain, will make use of long forage which the delicacy of the horse will reject, and will bear the heat full as well, perhaps better."

Should these considerations induce planters to ponder and reflect how far it is expedient to aggravate, by their highest honors and rewards, that natural and costly predilection of our countrymen for horses, which may be said already to amount to a passion, one which had its origin in deeds and days long past of

but no more congenial with this utilitarian, money-saving age of ours than would be the vagaries of the Knight of La Mancha himself.

The last census (1840) gives for Prince George's county, Maryland, 4,648 horses and mules. This we believe to be much short of the real number. The aggregate of both for the State is returned at 92,220.

It is not extravagant to assume that 60,000 horses in Maryland might be well superseded by mules, and taking only $10 as the clear saving for each, here would be a reduction of annual expenditure; in other words, an increase amounting to $600,000, equal to the interest on the State's debt.

In all steady continued draft, as in threshing, grinding, and other machinery, now so much in vogue, the excellence of the mule is most remarkable, and especially in his less liability to gald, an evil to which the horse is peculiarly subject where his locomotion in harness is circular. On their value in service that consists of constant, steady hauling, an extract may here be made from some editorial remarks in an old volume of the American Farmer, then conducted by Mr. Skinner, now of Washington. Speaking of the decided preference given by the late General Ridgely, of Hampton, to the mules in the heavy hauling connected with his iron works, it is observed: "For some time the general indulged an old servant in keeping a single team of horses, but it was found that the mule teams performed their day's journey, hauling equal weight, sooner than the horses by an hour; and the greater value of the mules has been so well established, in the course of his ample experience, that they have superseded horses, with entire conviction of the great saving accomplished by the change. This information, first derived from his manager, Mr. Green, was fully confirmed by the general himself."

Why, then, let it be repeated, in reference to those two animals, make fish of one and flesh of the other, offering $76 in premiums for the horse, and $15 only for "jack, jenny, and mules," and that, too, under the authority and sanction of gentlemen who cannot be too much admired for their public spirit and honorable intentions, nor too closely imitated in their individual practice and general management?

As to the more general use of the mule in light harness for the road, the common impression is that he cannot be made to travel fast enough. Nobody likes rapid motion more than the writer of these crude but well meant strictures; and he would like to inquire, who has given to this neglected hybrid a patient and fair trial, to see how much his speed may be improved? Let it be considered how long it takes to bring a crack trotter such as Ripton and Confidence to his best. Hiram Woodruff or Bill Wheelan, the American Chifneys among trotting jockies, never think of taking a horse in hand to train him for this pace until after he reaches his sixth or seventh year, and can hardly be said to get to their best work until they fall into their teens. Old Topgallant performed his chef d'œuvres after he was twenty. When the mule has been in like manner taken up, and systematically trained for the trot, and it is found that he cannot be driven at the rate of eight miles an hour, it will be time enough to pronounce him impracticable in that pace; but the writer knows him to be master of that rate, for he has ridden with two others besides General James Shelby-who drives nothing else in his private carriage-from Lexington out to his magnificent blue grass farm, eight miles from Lexington, behind two mules, of about fifteen hands, within the hour,