for twenty-one acres. The gentleman who made the experiment, considers one acre of potatoes equal to two of turnips, with this advantage, that when the potatoe begins to germ, it is even more nutritious than when first taken out of the ground. The beasts average fifty stone: cost per acre 40s.

Melons. A melon, "the large netted cantelope," was cut on the 10th ult. at Denby Grange, the seat of Sir J. L. Kaye, Bart. which weighed one stone four pounds (14 lbs. to the stone); the circumference was two feet six inches; measure lengthways two feet ten and a half; the eatable depth of the slice was full two inches and a half, and the flavour of a very superior quality.

Extraordinary Pear-tree. There is now at the White Swan, in Hyde-street, in the suburbs of Winchester, a peartree known by the name of Brown Berry, which has grown most luxuriantly, its top branches being nearly twenty feet high. It blossomed in its usual way in May last, and the fruit of that bloom is nearly in perfection; in June it bloomed again, and this fruit kerned, and is now on the tree nearly the size of a pullet's egg; in July it bloomed again, and this fruit is now about the size of a walnut; and in August the bloom hangs in clusters of five and six, which are kerning about the size of peas; a circumstance scarcely ever known before.

Gooseberry. Mr. Stringer, of Congleton, in Cheshire, produced, at a gooseberry-show there, the prize-gooseberry, which measured five inches and an eighth in circumference, and weighed 21 pennyweights and 12 grains.

Soot Manure.-This manure is to be

met with in all the towns of the king dom, at a stated price, usually rising from 6d. to ls. a bushel. It is as powerful in its operations as any other body to be met with, owing to its consisting of particles very finely divided, and to its being full of oleaginous and volatile alkaline materials. By far the most beneficial use of it is that of sowing over wheat in the spring. When the young crop turns yellow, or is otherwise sickly and backward, forty or fifty bushels an acre of soot will seldom fail of changing it to a healthy green colour. It is also beneficial on meadows, on which it has been compared with pigeon's dung, and found to exceed it most so on soils which are tolerably stored with the food of plants. The most advantageous use to which either can be applied, is as a top-dressing to wheat in the spring. Forty or fifty bushels are a common

quantity, but sixty or seventy would be better; and where to be had at 4d. a bushel, eighty will not be too expensive a dressing.

Chopped Straw as Manure.-Sir H. Davy says, "Dry straw of wheat, oats, barley, beans, and peas, and spoiled hay, or any other similar kind of dry vegetable matter, is in all cases useful manure. In general, such substances are made to ferment before they are employed, though it may be doubted whether the practice should be indiscriminately adopted. There can be no doubt that the straw of different crops, immediately ploughed into the ground, affords nourishment to plants: but there is an objection to this method of using straw, from the difficulty of burying long straw, and from its rendering the husbandry foul. When straw is made to ferment, it becomes a more manageable manure; but there is likewise, on the whole, a great loss of nutritive matter. More manure is, perhaps, supplied for a single crop; but the land is less improved than it would be, supposing the whole of the vegetable matter could be finely divided and mixed with the soil. It is usual to carry straw, that can be employed for no other purpose, to the dunghill to ferment and decompose; but it is worth experiment, whether it may not be more economically applied when chopped small by a proper machine, and kept dry till it is ploughed in for the use of a crop. In this case, though it would decompose much more slowly, and produce less effect at first, yet its influence would be much more Jasting."

match on Tuesday, the 18th inst. for the Ploughing-match.-At the ploughingprizes given by the Bath and West of England Society, the four successful ploughmen did their after-acre in a masterly style, in two hours and thirteen minutes, two hours and eighteen minutes, two hours and nineteen minutes, and two hours and twenty-one minutes.

Potatoes. A gentleman residing near Sherborne, who has this year adopted the plan of planting potatoes at the distance of a foot from each other, a few days since dug up a single root, which produced an increase of no less than thirty-seven, twenty-seven of which were remarkably large.

Peach. Last week, there was taken from the hot-house of Mrs. Graham, of Richardby, a peach, which measured 104 inches in circumference, and weighed upwards of a pound.

Important Discovery.-Mr. Lester has discovered a simple method for letting the hydrogen gas out of coal-mines before it becomes explosive. He asserts that all coal strata produce this gas when exposed to atmospheric air; that he has visited many mines that are not liable to explosion, which arises from their peculiar situation in the earth. He has found that all coal-mines, whose entrance is betwixt the horizontal line, and the angle of forty-five degrees, are not liable to the accumulation of hydrogen, the cause of which he proves from a law of nature in the gravitation of fluids. The explosion of hydrogen in a coal-mine, he calls the ferocious rage of a fiery dragon-the safety-lamp a muzzle to the dragon, which too often leads the miner to his destruction, as it induces him to work where the hydrogen has accumulated. The lamp not affording him sufficient light to shew the fissures of the falling coal, tempts him to remove the gauze, by which not only himself, but his fellow-workmen are immolated in a moment.

The Terpodion.-A musical instrument of an entirely novel description, has lately arrived in London. The instrument has excited a high degree of interest on the continent; and the inventor, Mr. Buschmann, has obtained the most flattering testimonials of approbation from many celebrated musical characters in Germany; and it is represented by those who have heard it in this country, as being a very delightful instrument, combining the sweetness of the flute and clarionet with the energy of the horn and bassoon, and yielding a full and rich harmony, resembling an orchestra of wind instruments.

Naptha.-Lamps, supplied by artificial naptha, or essential oil of tar, produced in the making of gas from coals, under Lord Cochrane's patent, are rapidly making their way. The brilliant and penetrating light which they afford gives satisfaction wherever they have been tried.

Receipt for preserving Milk.-The following method of preserving milk at sea during the longest voyage, and in the warmest climate, equally sweet as when it was first drawn from the cow, ought to be more generally known: - Provide a quantity of pint or quart bottles (new ones are perhaps the best); they must be perfectly sweet and clean, and likewise

very dry before they are made use of. Instead of drawing the milk from the cow into the pail, as usual, it is to be milked into the bottles: as soon as any of them are filled sufficiently, they should be immediately well corked with the very best corks, in order to keep out the external air, and fastened tight with packthread or wire, as the corks in bottles which contain cider generally are. Then on the bottom of an iron or copper boiler spread a little straw, on that lay a row of the bottles filled with milk, with some straw betwixt each to prevent them from breaking, and so on alternately, until the boiler has got a sufficient quantity in; then fill it up with cold water. Heat the water gradually until it begins to boil; and as soon as that is perceivable, draw the fire: the bottles must remain undisturbed in the boiler until they are quite cold; then take them out, and afterwards pack them in hampers, either with straw or sawdust, and stow them in the coolest part of the ship. Several years since, the writer tasted some milk on board a Swedish or Danish ship in the harbour of Liverpool, which had been carried twice to the West Indies and back to Denmark. The Captain said it was milked into the bottles at Copenhagen upwards of eighteen months previous to that time; it was as sweet, or more so (we imagined), than when first milked from the cow. The perpetual motion of the sea, in time, improves milk equally as much as it does Madeira wine.

New Machinery.-M. Kuhaiewsky, of Warsaw, has produced the following inventions.-1. A Threshing Machine, very simple in its construction, durable, economic, and not expensive; and is likewise superior to every contrivance hitherto formed for this purpose, being the only one that injures neither the stalk nor the grain in separating the former from the latter. The machine consists of several wheels, two of which (one at either end) are furnished with fortyeight flails: these are put in motion by one man as he walks to and fro within the machine.--2. A Sawing Mill, also worked by a single person, without any assistance from water. 3. An Astronomical Watch, which indicates the difference of time in the principal places in different parts of the globe: this has been accepted as a present by the Emperor Alexander, who has sent M. Kuhai

ewsky, in return, a magnificent snuffbox, and has assigned him a sum to enable him to continue his labours.

Table Ice.-M. Hemptinne, of Brussels, has shewn, that ice for summer use should be taken from the river on a very cold day, and be exposed on the following night to the open air, till its temperature is in equilibrio with the cold of the atmosphere. It should be then placed in the ice-house, about six o'clock in the morning, when the air becomes warmer. In order to prove the advantages of this method, he supposes that two ice-houses have been filled with ice, one with ice at 32°, and the other with ice at 14°. When a sixth part of the ice at 322 is melted, the ice at 14 will be untouched, but its temperature will have risen to 32°. One-sixth part of the whole, therefore, has been saved by laying it up at a low temperature.

Horizontorium.-This instrument affords a pleasing optical illusion, and was invented by a person named Shires. The illusion is produced by the picture of a castle, projected on a horizontal plane, whence its name is derived. The picture is laid flat on the table, with the light on the left of the spectator. In front there is a small perpendicular parchment sight, with a groove in it, to which the eye is applied, and the effect is, that the whole appears to be a solid building; the walls of the castle, the rim of a well, &c. &c. being, in every respect, like a model, instead of a coloured horizontal projection. By removing the candle to the floor, that which was a sun-light becomes a moon-light scene. The illusion, though very pretty, in its principles is not entirely new.

Newly-invented Boat.-North Berwick. An invention hitherto unknown here has lately attracted the attention of a numerous assemblage of spectators. A boat manned by four men, proceeded from this harbour to Canty-bay, a distance of two miles, and, after refreshing the crew, proceeded round the bass-rock, and returned about a quarter past nine, having performed their voyage in the space of an hour and a quarter, gross time, being upwards of six miles; the whole without either sails, oars, or steam apparatus. The invention is entirely that of a respectable mill-wright, who expects a patent before he publishes the means of impulsion.

Congreve Rockets.-These rockets have been found to answer perfectly well for killing whales in the Polar Sea. A letter from Captain Scoresby, dated the 24th

of June last, and forwarded from lat. 74. 40. announces their complete success.

Aquatic Travelling.—Mr. Bader, counsellor of mines at Munich, some years ago invented what he termed an aquatic sledge, constructed on such a principle that it might be impelled and guided on the water by the rider himself, without any other aid. The first public experiment was made with this machine on the 29th of August, 1810, before the royal family at Nymphenburgh, with complete success. It is described as consisting of two hollow canoes, or pontoons, eight feet long, made of sheet copper, closed on all sides, joined to each other in a parallel direction, at the distance of six feet, by a light wooden frame. Thus joined, they support a seat resembling an arm-chair, in which the rider is seated, and impels and steers the sledge by treading two large pedals before him. Each of these pedals is connected with a paddle, fixed perpendicularly in the after-part of the machine behind the seat, and in the interval between the two pontoons. In front of the seat stands a small table, on which he may read, write, draw, or eat and drink. His hands being at perfect liberty, he may even play an instrument, load and fire a gun, or do whatever he pleases. Behind the seat is a leathern bag, to hold any thing he may want in his excursion. It is evident that this machine must be admirably calculated for taking sketches of aquatic scenery, as also for the diversion of shooting waterfowl, in which case the sportsman conceals himself behind a slight skreen of branches, or rushes, so as to approach the birds unperceived. This vehicle is far safer than a common boat, the centre of gravity being constantly in the middle of a very broad base, a circumstance which renders upsetting, even in the heaviest gale, absolutely impossible. It is moreover so contrived, that it may be taken to pieces in a few minutes, packed in a box, and put together in a very short time.

Steam Coach.-An ingenious individual of Dublin has succeeded in completing a model of a steam-coach, which will travel at the rate of six or eight miles an hour; and, by a self-acting apparatus, it can be conducted through the most intricate roads.

Green Paint.-Gas tar, mixed with yellow ochre, makes an invisible green paint, very useful for preserving coarse wood-work, or other articles, where more ornament is required than tar alone.

NEW PATENTS. H. CREIGHTON, of Glasgow, for a new Method of regulating the Admission of Steam into Pipes or other Vessels, and for heating Buildings and other Places. This invention consists in the application of the force or power obtained by the expansion and contraction of the pipes conveying and containing steam, or by the expansion and contraction of other pipes or vessels, bars or rods, connected with, or placed near, the pipes for conveying or containing steam, to effect and regulate the admission of steam into the pipes; and the patentee applies this expanding and contracting force or power to regulators, for admitting the steam in different methods, as circumstances may require. Such regulators may consist of cocks or valves, or other machinery now commonly employed. He describes different methods by which the aforesaid force or power, obtained by the expansion and contraction of the pipes containing and conveying steam, or by the expansion and contraction of other pipes or vessels, bars or rods, connected with, or placed near to, the pipes for containing or conveying steam, may be applied to the effecting and regulating the admission of steam. But his invention consists in the application of these forces or powers to effect and regulate such admission. The methods by which the force and power aforesaid can be applied to the purpose above specified are various.

W. CARTER, of Grove-place, Paddington, for certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Measures of Capacity. These improvements consist in forming measures of capacity of cast-iron, and then covering the whole surface, both inside and outside, with tin, either pure or mixed with any of the metals that are now commonly used, or that may be properly applied with tin, to cover or coat cast iron to preserve it from oxydation. By using cast-iron as the principal material in the manufacture of measures of capacity, the great temptation that has so long existed for stealing publicans' measures is prevented, as the metal is of very trifling value when compared with pewter. Another very important advantage that results from the use of cast-iron is, the certainty of having measures that will retain their perfect shape; for as this metal is not liable to be bruised, whatever shape is given to it in the first instance will be retained as long as the measure remains whole. Measures made of cast-iron may be cast either in metal moulds (in which case the handles may be cast at the same time, and in one entire piece,) or they may be cast in sand or loam, at the option of the founder; after which they may be annealed in the usual way, and then turned in a lathe to prepare the surface to receive the coating of tin, or any of the usual mixtures of metals that are applied to prevent the oxydation of the iron.

W. Church, of Threadneedle-street, for an improved apparatus for printing. July 3, 1821. J. Simpson, of the Strand, for an improvement in the manufacture of snuffers. July 3, 1821.

W. Coles, of New Street-square, London, for braces or instruments for the relief of hernia or ruptures. July 5, 1821.

R. Dickinson, of Great Queen-street, for improvements in the construction of vessels of every description, whereby they may be rendered more durable than those heretofore constructed for the purposes of navigation. July 14, 1821. S. Cooper and W. Miller, of Margate, for improvements on printing-machines. July 17, 1821.

Frederic Mighells Van Heythuysen, of Chancery-lane, for a new method of propelling small vessels or boats through water, and light carriages over land. July 23, 1821.

D. Barclay, of Broad-street, for a spiral lever or rotary standard press. Communicated to him by a foreigner residing abroad. July 26, 1821.

T. Barker, of Oldham, Lancashire, and John Rawlinson Harris, of Winchester-place, Southwark, for certain improvements in the method

GRANTED.

of clearing furs and wools, used in the manufacture of hats, from kemps and hairs. July26, 1821. J. R. Barry, of the Minories, for certain improvements on, and additions to, wheeled carriages. July 26, 1821.

S. Bagshaw, of Newcastle-under-Line, Staffordshire, for a method of forming and manufacturing vases, urns, basins, and other ornamental articles, which have been heretofore usually made of stone or marble, from a combination of materials never heretofore made use of in manufacturing of such articles. July 26, 1821.

J. Manton, of Dover-street, for an improvement in the construction of locks of all kinds of fowling-pieces and fire-arms. July 30, 1821. T. Bennet, jun. of Bewdley, for certain improvements in steam-engines, or steam-apparatus. August 4, 1821.

J. Slater, of Birmingham, for improvements in making a kitchen-range and apparatus for cooking, and other purposes. August 4, 1821. W. H. Higman, of Bath, for certain improvements in the construction of harness, which will afford great relief to horses in draw. ing carriages of various descriptions. August 14, 1821.