thrown into the road-are excellent manures, and at the same time keep the soil loose and mellow.

Carting in sand is another labor-saving operation. It will last for ages, and prevent many a hard thrust of the spade, or stroke of the hoe. Let me suggest, however, that a stiff soil is broken most by coarse sand; and from observation, I incline to believe that one load of this kind will do as much good as several loads where the particles are very fine.

The effect of blacksmiths' cinders, when broken and applied, and burning the soil, which I have also tried to some extent, are both remarkable for loosening and fertilizing at the same time; and it may afford some encouragement to reflect that these are permanent improvements-to benefit posterity as much as ourselves. The crops from old coal pits, burnt brush heaps, or the sites of old buildings, will sufficiently illustrate these remarks.

The radish, like the watermelon, delights in sandy soil. We use sharp sand and vegetable earth in equal portions; and it is so loose that a man might easily thrust in his arm up to the elbow. A bed of this kind would yield a full and constant supply of radishes for a family-provided a seed were dropped in, whenever a root were drawn out; and such a bed would serve during a long life. A frame of boards, rising two inches above the surface, prevents the ground on the outside from intermixing.

In applying manure, one thing is important: it should be mixed with the soil most thoroughly and completely-no two particles of the one (if possible) should be without a particle of the other between them. Why do some cultivators say that fresh stable manure is injurious, especially in dry seasons? Because they apply it in a slovenly manner. In the summer of '41-the dryest for many years I had land manured in this way, which was always moist, the plants not appearing to suffer in the least; but then it was plowed several times before planting, with six harrowings in immediate succession.

Forty-five years ago, in this neighborhood, strawberries were abundant in the open woods, and parties went several miles to gather them. In a few years, however, scarcely a plant was left by the cattle; and very little was known of this fruit, by a great part of our population, for it was rarely cultivated in gardens. Twenty years ago in Geneva, however, I sat down at the table of a friend which was garnished with two large dishes of strawberries-one white, the other red. I had never seen so fine a display; and it did me good in more ways than one; for I have often since seen my own table ornamented in a similar manner.

The cherry, plum, pear, apricot and peach, as well as the smaller fruits, deserve our attention: but I have detained you too long already to enter into particulars.

HOGS AND THEIR TRADE IN THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE.

The immense production of hogs in the United States, and the heavy trade in them at Cincinnati, demand something more than a mere superficial view of the transactions, at one point, in order to understand the magnitude and relations of the trade. We can furnish the commercial reader with some statistical facts, which will serve as landmarks in taking a broad view of the subject.

In the year 1839 there were in the United States, in all, 26,301,293 hogs. Of this number, more than one-half of the whole were in eight states, viz.:

The states of Virginia, New York, and North Carolina, each have more hogs than Illinois and Missouri; but we have taken the states of the west and south-west together to show the result. Now, we want to draw two or three inferences from the number of hogs in the several states, before we compare the production with that of Europe.

1. In the first place, hogs are fatted and nearly supported on maize and Indian corn. They exist, therefore, in the several states just in proportion to the production of Indian corn. Now, Tennessee has the most, and the three states of Tennessee, Ohio, and Kentucky, far more than any other three states, of both Indian corn and hogs. The twenty-six millions of hogs in the United States can scarcely consume less than two hundred millions of bushels of corn! They are therefore, the greatest market for that article.

2. If we suppose these hogs to average 180 lbs. each, and to be worth, as they are, $3.50 per cwt., then this animal alone is, in the United States, worth one hundred and sixty-six millions of dollars, or three times the entire cotton crop for the year 1845. The value of swine in the state of Ohio alone, exceeds twelve millions of dollars.

3. It is important to discover how large a proportion of swine are annually killed. There are two sorts of consumption for swine. One may be called the commercial, and the other the domestic consumption. One is for family use, and the other for commerce. Almost every farmer's family kills one or more hogs. This is a constant drain on the increase. But on the other hand the increase of swine is so great, that it will exceed in one year the original stock unless checked. The main inquiry is, how large a proportion of hogs are fatted in order to supply the provisions of commerce? In the year 1845 there will have been killed at the various pork packing establishments of Ohio, about 500000 hogs. About 150,000 of these may be set down as from othIt is fair, therefore, to assume that commerce consumes, about 350,000 hogs in Ohio, per annum. The present stock cannot be much if any under 2,500,000. It follows, therefore, that commerce consumes near about one-sixth part of the stock on hand. We belive that in the United States, generally, this is much too high an estimate; yet the figures in the western states will show this result very nearly.

er states.

4. But suppose the total is really as great as the facts imply, then it follows a fact of great moment to the packer-that no safe conclusion whatever can be drawn from the number of hogs killed in one year of the real number of the stock that will be brought to market next year. This is obvious, if the reader will reflect, that a given stock of hogs will nearly double themselves in one year, and that yet the number of hogs of commerce is only one-sixth part of the original number! This is the great source of the constant errors made in calculating the number of hogs to be brought to market, and the effects on the market. The truth is, the domestic or family consumption is the great fact, and that we cannot arrive at exactly.

We shall proceed to show the number of hogs raised proportionably in Europe and America. We have before us McGregor's Statistics, which contain a table of the agriculture and live stock of Europe for 1828. Since then the population of Europe has increased more than 10 per cent, and if we add 10 per cent to the live stock, we shall have the full amount; for this species of stock does not increase in densely populated countries equally with that of other productions.

To one who is acquainted with the abundance of swine, and the facility for raising them in the United States, this table must seem extraordinary. It shows that Russia, Austria, and Great Britain, having a population of 120 millions of people, have only as many swine as the United States with 20 millions!

Eight western States, with a population of 6 millions, have as many swine as Great Britain, France, Prussia, and Bavaria, with 75 millions! The European States have not enough Indian corn to feed them upon.

The proportion of swine between the United States and some of the European States, is thus:

Russia being a thinly populated country, and having the most mast has the most swine; but for the converse reason, the southern states of Europe have the least. The United States have six times as many in proportion as Russia.

The same disproportion extends, but in less proportion, to other animals. If the people of Europe were a meat-eating people, they could not find a supply in their country. These animals would be killed off in half a dozen years. But they are not a meat-eating people. They live upon every species of vegetable, much as the animals do.

In Ireland they depend upon potatoes. In Scotland, in no small degree, upon oatmeal. Strange as it may seem, thousands of people in Spain and France live in a great degree on chesnuts, a food which is scarcely fit for pigs to eat. In some countries they eat rye, and in Russia they mix all the bran of grain, making a very coarse rough bread.

The pork of the western country is chiefly in demand at the Atlantic seaports, for our commercial marine, is now rapidly approaching the largest in the world. The adventurous whaleman, the hardy fisher for cod and mackerel, the thousand coasters, who sail in every bay and inlet, from Penobscot to the Rio Grande,

all, more or less, eat pork. It serves both as butter and meat, with the fish and potatoes which they have constantly on hand.

The demand for American pork, is on the whole, likely to increase; because the class of people who eat it are increasing, and there is no other country to supply the demand.-Cincinnati Inquirer.

BEGINNING OF THE YEAR IN VARIOUS NATIONS.

The Chaldean and Egyptian years were dated from the autumnal equinox. The ecclesiastical year of the Jews began in the spring; but in civil affairs they retain the epoch of the Egyptians. The ancient Chinese reckoned from the new moon nearest the middle of Aquarius. The year of Romulus commenced in March, and that of Numa in January. The Turks and Arabs date the year from the 16th of July. Dremschid or Gremschid, king of Persia, observed, on the day of his public entry into Persepolis, that the sun entered into Aries; and in commemoration of this fortunate event, he ordered the beginning of the year to be removed from the autumnal to the vernal equinox. The Brachmen begin their year new moon in April. The Mexicans in February, when the leaves begin to grow green. Their year consists of eighteen months, having twenty days each; the last five days are spent in mirth, and no business is suffered to be done, nor even any service at the temples. The Abyssinians have five idle days at the end of their year, which commences on the 26th of August. The American Indians reckon from the first appearance of new moon at the vernal equinox. The Mahomedans begin their year the minute in which the sun enters Aries. The Venetians, Florentines, and the Pisans in Italy, begin the year at the vernal equinox. The French year, during the reign of the Merovingian race, began on the day the troops were reviewed, which was on the first day of March. Under the Carlovingians it began on Christmas day, and under the Capetians on Easter day. The ecclesiastical beginning on the first Sunday in Advent. Charles IX appointed, in 1564, that for future the civil should commence on the first of January. The Julian calendar was called from Julius Cæsar; and it is the old account of the year which was reformed by Pope Gregory in 1582, which plan was suggested by Lewis Lilio, a Calabrian astronomer. The Dutch and Protestants in Germany introduced the new style in 1700. The ancient clergy reckoned from the 25th of March; and the method was observed in Britain until the introduction of the new style, A.D. 1752, after which our year commenced on the 1st of January.