MISCELLANY.
Public Lands.—The highly important bill, for changing the mode of disposing of Public Lands, so that hereafter they shall be offered for sale in half quarter sections, the minimum price to be one dollar and twenty-five cents, and all to be paid in cash, has passed both Houses of Congress, by great majorities, and now wants only the signature of the President to become a law.—This bill is to take effect from the 1st of June next.
From a late London paper it appears, that a new and easy method has lately been discovered, in England, of preventing the destruction of the young turnip plants by the fly, and for which the discoverer was rewarded with 200 guineas. It is merely to sow about 2 lbs. of radish seed on every acre of turnip land, with the turnip seed; the fly, preferring to feed on the radish plants, will, in such case, leave the turnip plants unmolested.
One of the most effectual methods of preventing the ascent of insects on fruit trees, in the spring, is to draw a streak of tar round the body of the tree; but the surface of this soon becomes incrusted by the warmth of the atmosphere, and then the insects are enabled to pass this barrier. To remedy this, mix a proportion of oil with the tar, which will prevent the hardening of the exterior for a considerable length of time; and when the effects of the oil are dissipated, let the exterior be again softened with oil.—This plan is certainly one of the most efficacious for preventing insects from ascending the bodies of fruit trees.
The scab in sheep.—The shepherds, in Spain, cure this disease with an ointment made of the trunk and roots of the juniper, by breaking them in small pieces, and infusing them in water. The sheep of this country are, however, but little liable to the scab.
It is a fact well ascertained, that when apple trees are in bloom, if the farina be gathered from the blossoms of a tree bearing sour fruit, and scattered on those of a tree bearing sweet, the apples produced from these blossoms will partake of the flavour of both trees. In this way the flavour of fruit may be changed for the better—a matter worthy of note, though perhaps not very profitable in practice.
From Munich, Germany, we learn that Dr Vogel has announced the important discovery, that sulphuric acid, diluted with a certain proportion of water, and then applied to saw dust, to old linen, to paper, &c. will change these substances into gum and saccharine matter. M. Chaptal, somewhere in his book on chymistry, has ventured to offer his opinion, very modestly however, that even the chemical art of making gold (the great secret of the philosopher's stone) will yet be discovered—that chymists will yet be convinced that all matter is the same, only different modifications.
Calculation of the Period of a Second Deluge.—According to the calculations of the learned astronomer of Bremen, M. Olbers, after a lapse of 83,000 years, a comet will approach to the earth in the same proximity as the moon; after 4,000,000 years it will approach to the distance of 7,700 geographical miles, and then, if its attraction equals that of the earth, the waters of the ocean will be elevated 13,000 feet, and a deluge will necessarily ensue! after a lapse of 220,000,000 years, it will clash with the earth.
During the late inundation of the Rhine, a hare, dislodged by the water took refuge in a tree. One of the boatmen who were traversing the inundated country, in canoes, to pick up the sufferers, observed the hare, steered for the tree, and without making his boat fast, climbed hastily up to seize the poor animal. The hare perceiving his danger, sprang from the tree into the boat, which was put in motion by the leap of the hare, and floated down the stream, leaving the boatman in his place upon the tree, in the disagreeable necessity of watching the rise of the waters.
The Rhetorical Society at Cortryk, in the Netherlands, has lately offered a gold, and a silver medal, as a prize for a poem of 100 lines, and an epitaph of 12 lines, upon Kotzebue.