The

appeared to enjoy the pleasures of private life, yet in his manners he was less familiar, and in his disposition less affable, than most men. Few men, however, were more respected. He was eminently a practical man. projects to which he gave his sanction, or which he attempted, were those which judgment could approve. When his purposes were once formed, he seldom found reason to alter them. His firmness and resolution were not often equalled.

He sel

In his political character, there was much to admire. He was uniform and independent. He manifested great candor and sincerity towards those from whom he happened to differ; and such was his well known integrity, that his motives were rarely, if ever, impeached. dom took part in the public discussion of a subject, nor was he dependent upon others for the opinions which he adopted. His views were his own, and his opinions the result of reason and reflection. If the public estimation of a man be a just criterion by which to judge of hirn, General Floyd was excelled by few of his contemporaries, since, for more than fifty years he was honored with offices of trust and responsibility by his fellow citizens.

THE FLOATING GARDENS OF CASHMERE.

The city of Cashmere, being the capital of the province of that name in Asia, is situated in the midst of numerous lakes, connected with each other, and with the River Vedusta, by canals, separated by narrow lines and insulated plots of ground. Upon these lakes are floating gardens, cut off generally from the body of the lake by a belt of reeds; the cultivation of which is not only very singular, but highly profitable, and worthy of imitation in many parts of Europe as a resource for raising food for man. The second number of the Journal of the Geographical Society' contains a notice of the Natural Productions and Agriculture of Cashmere, from which the following account is compiled:

The city of Cashmere is subject to considerable inundations, which have become annually more frequent, through the neglect of the government in not checking the accumulation of weeds and mud, which diminish the depth, and consequently increase the surface of the lakes. This has suggested the expediency of a fleating support by which vegetables are cultivated in safety, deriving as much moisture as is beneficial without the risk of being destroyed. Various aquatic plants spring from the bottoin of the lakes, as water lilies, sedges, recds, &c.; and as the boats which traverse those waters take generally the shortest lines they can pursue to their destination, the lakes are in some parts cut into avenues as it were, separated by beds of sedges and reeds. Here the farmer establishes his cu cumber and melon floats by cutting off the routs of the aquatic plants about two feet under water, so that they completely lose all connexion with the bottom of the lake, but retain their situation in respect to each other. When thus detached from the soil, they are pressed into somewhat closer contact, and formed into long beds of about two yards breadth. The heads of the sedges, reeds, and other plants of the float are next cut off and laid upon its surface, and covered with a thin coat of mud, which, at first interrupted in its descent, gradually sinks into the mass of matted stalks. The bed floats, but is kept in its place by a stake of willow driven through it at each end, which admits of its rising and falling in accommodation to the rise and fall of the water. By means of a long pole thrust among the reeds at the bottom of the lake from the side of a boat, and turned round several times, a quantity of plants are torn off from the bottom, and carried in the boat to the platform, where the weeds are twisted into conical mounds about two feet in diameter at their base, and of the same height, terminating at the top in a hollow, which is filled with fresh soft mud, and sometimes wood ashes. The farmer has in preparation a number of cucumber and melon plants, raised under mats, and of these, when they have four leaves, he places three plants in the basin of every cone or mound, of which a double row runs along the edge of every bed at about two feet distance from

each other. No further care is necessary except that of collecting the fruit, and the expense of preparing the platforms and cones is very trifling. Mr. Moorcroft traversed about fifty acres of these floating gardens growing cucumbers and melons, and saw not above half a dozen unhealthy plants; and he says, he never saw in the cucumber and melon grounds, in the vicinity of populous cities in Europe or in Asia, so large an expanse of plant in a state of equal health or luxuriance of growth. The general depth of the floating beds is about two feet, and some of them are seven feet broad. The season lasts for three months and a half, beginning in June. From the first setting of the fruit to the time of pulling, seven or eight days are the ordinary period. Thirty full-sized fruit from each plant, or from ninety to a hundred from each cone, are the average crops. The seed of the melon is brought annually from Baltistan, and the first year yields fruit of from four to ten pounds each in weight; but if the seed be re-sown, the produce of the second year exceeds not from two to three pounds. Unless when eaten to great excess the melon produces no disorders, and it is remarked that healthy people who live upon this fruit during the season become very speedily fat; and the effect upon horses fed upon this fruit is reported to be the same. In the early

part of the season, cucumbers of full size sell at the rate of about three for a piece of coin of the value of a halfpenny; but as the weather becomes hotter, and the plants get into full bearing, ten, fifteen, and even twenty are purchased for this price. It is calculated that every cons yields a money return of about eighteen-pence. Allow ing sixpence for labour of every description, and including also the tax, the clear profit is a shilling for every two square yards. The yield of the melon is numerically less but the return of profit is at least equal. No other vegetables are raised upon the spaces between the cones, although Mr. Moorcroft thinks that onions, cresses, and other useful vegetables might be raised upon them; and water-mint grows spontaneously upon the floats.

Cashmere, or Cassirere, is one of the northern pro

vinces of India within the Ganges. It is surrounded by mountains, and from its beauty and fertility has been called the Paradise of the Indies. It contains upwards of 100,000 villages, is well stocked with cattle and game, and is said to be unmolested by beasts of prey. The people are ingenious, and resemble the Europeans in their persons, and the women are fair and tall. The famous Cashmere shawls derive their name from this country, though at present the supply that actually comes from it is comparatively small.

PROVERBS.

"A man of fashion," says Lord Chesterfield, "never has recourse to proverbs and vulgar aphorisms." And yet many greater men than Lord Chesterfield have not been ashamed of employing the pithy maxims that were husbanded in the memories of the people before they had books for their guides. Those of our forefathers who could read had proverbs stamped on the blades of their knives, and the borders of their pewter plates; and, according to an old dramatist, they "conned them out of goldsmith's rings." A member of the House of Commons, in the time of Elizabeth, made a speech in favor of a proposed law for limiting credit, in the following words: "I think this law is a good law. Even reckoning makes long friends. As far goes the penny as the penny's master. Laws are for the good of the wakeful and not the sleeping. Pay the reckoning over night, and you shall not be troubled in the morning. If ready money be the public measure, let every one cut his coat according to his cloth. When his old suit is in the wane, let him stay till that his money bring a new suit in the increase." Proverbs present a curious history of the popular mind; and in many lessons of individual prudence they are safe guides. But there are some maxims, especially on subjects connected with the general interests of the community, which

show how little our ancestors understood of these leading principles of public economy upon which nations must now found their prosperity. Some of these ancient saws are still in the mouths of many who have not yet learnt to think without prejudice; and we may render an acceptable service if we occasionally endeavor to show the fallacy of such proverbs as the following, which at present occur

to us:

"The strength of work is the decay of trade."

"The pride of the rich makes the labors of the poor." "Store's no sore."

"One man's gain is another man's loss."

GENIUS.

It is the prerogative of GENIUS to confer a measure of itself upon inferior intelligences. In reading the works of Milton, Bacon, and Newton, thoughts greater than the growth of our own minds are transplanted into them; and feelings more profound, sublime, or comprehensive, are insinuated amidst our ordinary train; while in the eloquence with which they are clothed, we learn a new language, worthy of the new ideas created in us. Of how

much pure and exalted enjoyment is he ignorant, who never entertained, as angels, the bright emanations of loftier intellects than his own? By habitual communion with superior spirits, we not only are enabled to think their thoughts, speak their dialect, fcel their emotions, but our own thoughts are refined, our scanty language is en riched, our common feelings are elevated; and though we may never attain their standard, yet, by keeping company with them, we shall rise above our own; as trees, growing in the society of a forest, are said to draw each other up into shapely and stately proportion, while field and hedge row stragglers, exposed to all weathers, never reach their full stature, luxuriance or beauty.-JAMES MONTGOMBRY.