"'A botanist would find a rich harvest in these high regions, in the most elevated parts of which, a variety of sweet scented herbs grow. The Bedouins collect to this day the manna, under the very same circumstances described in the books of Moses. Whenever the rains have been plentiful during the winter, it drops abundantly from the tamarisk (in Arabic, Tarfa;) a tree very common in the Syrian and Arabian deserts, but producing, as far as I know, no manna any where else. They gather it before sunrise, because, if left in the sun it melts; its taste is very sweet, much resembling honey; they use it as we do sugar, principally in their dishes composed of flour. When purified over the fire, it keeps for many months; the quantity collected is inconsiderable, because it is exclusively the produce of the Tarfa, which tree is met with only in a few vallies at the foot of the highest granite chain. The inhabitants of the peninsula, amounting to almost four thousand, complain of the want of rain and of pasturage; the state of the country must therefore be much altered from what it was in the time of Moses, when all the tribes of Beni Israel found food here for their cattle.'"
COTTON-SEED OIL.
The subject of Cotton-seed Oil, is gaining attention, and obtaining investigations, both in Europe and America. It is a subject highly important to the southern states. Millions of bushels of cotton seed are annually used as manure for corn, wheat, &c. in South Carolina. For this purpose the article is worth, at the present reduced prices of staple commodities, about 12 or 15 cents a bushel; weighing about 25 lbs. lightly thrown in. One hundred pounds of cotton seed, yields about 27 pounds of clean cotton, and about three bushels of seed. The oleaginous quality of the pulp of cotton-seed has long been known; and it is believed that any given quantity of it contains as much oil as a like quantity of the pulp of any other seed. As to its qualities, they are not all fully developed; but considerable experience among leather-dressers in North Carolina, has proven it to be equal to any other oil for currying of leather for shoes, boots, harness, &c. Whether it can be made to take the place of linseed oil, in painting, or of olive in manufactures, remains to be determined. The great difficulty attending the extracting of oil from cotton-seed, lies in the soft and spongy texture of the shell which encloses the pulp, which with the short firbs of cotton adhering to it, absorbs a great portion of oil in the process. If the seed could be made to pass hastily through fire, by the operation of machinery, to divest it of the adhering cotton, then it seems probable that a machine somewhat similar to that made for hulling barley, would take off the shell or hull with great expedition. From all the light elicited on the subject, it appears probable, that each bushel of seed might produce a gallon of oil; and that the pulp, after the extraction of the oil, would still be valuable for feeding cattle or for manure. For every bale of cotton there might be produced about ten gallons of oil: this, should the demand for oil continue, would be equal to half or two-thirds the value of the cotton. The subject is highly important to this state: and it is humbly conceived, would be worthy of attention of the Agricultural Society of South Carolina, and perhaps of legislative aid, by way of premiums, to encourage further practical investigation.
[Pee Dee Gazette.
Nantucket whale fishery.—The number of ships now employed in the whale fishery by the people of the small Island of Nantucket is 72—28 of them between 3 and 400 tons. In addition to which they have a large number of brigs and smaller vessels in the same employment.
A running horse, lately died in England, for which the owner was offered a few days before upwards of fifteen thousand dollars.