MISCELLANEOUS.

MATERIALS FOR TEXTILE FABRICS.

The late Paris Exhibition contained ample proof that the colonies of Great Britain could produce an inexhaustible supply of vegetable fibres adequate to all the requirements of our textile manufactures in lieu of the flax and hemp of Russia of which the war is to a large extent depriving us. When the supply of rags fell short of the demand for paper making, attention was turned to the vegetable kingdom for a substitute, and not one, but many ligneous fibres were spcediiy discovered, of acknowledged suitableness for the purpose. The paper-makers, however, found that, in order to take advantage of these discoveries, expensive alterations would be required in their existing machinery; and in the meantime. the supply of rags, which had been kept up on the Continent in the expectation of increased prices from the demand for cheap newspapers, has become sufficient for ordinary wants; although newspaper proprietors have not been relieved of the extra price laid upon their paper during the scarcity of rags. The capability of India to supply this country with substitutes for Russian flax and hemp, was demonstrated in the collection of products exhibited at Paris by Dr. Royle; and a corresponding collection from Jamaica, prepared by Mr. N. Wilson, of the Botanic Garden in that island, exhibited an equal capability on the part of our colonies in the West Indies. There is now a reasonable prospect that sugar, their staple product, will no longer be an unremunerative article of produce. But with the revival, as we fondly trust, of the prosperity of these fine colonies, the proprietors have an opportunity of pushing their enterprise into other and more lucrative fields of production. The Kew Garden Miscellany for November, edited by Sir W. J. Hooker, contains extracts from a report on the Jamaica Botanic Garden, deserving the careful consideration of proprietors in that island. The report bears testimony to the increasing desire for growing new plants and adopting new staples in Jamaica, as well as for a more extended and varied cultivation of the island, in order to meet the exigencies of its altered condition. Numerous plants have been introduced by Mr. Wilson, who has tested their fitness for the soil and climate, and who finds that the island now "possesses the finest fibres and the greatest number of textile plants in the world, hitherto of no avail in the country in general, and held of little value by individuals, but which may now be turned to the greatest account in a national point of view." No fewer than fifty one of the samples of fibres shown at Paris from Jamaica were the products of plants indigenous to the island, and all suited more or less for textile purposes, from the coarse cocoa-nut coir to filaments rich as those of the finest silk. We subjoin an extract from this important and seasonable report:

For the Plantain, Pinguin, and all similar herbaceous plants, machinery is absolutely necessary to separate and clean the fibre advantageously; when this desideratum is accomplished, and with one or two years' practice, there is nothing to prevent Jamaica competing with any part of the world of ten times the same extent. The inducement to do so cannot be much greater than it is at present. I find, by a statistical account, that the imports of flax into the United Kingdom during 1853, amounted to 94,163 tons, 14 cwt., and, at the exhorbitant price of £110 per ton, to which the average price of foreign flax has already risen, it shows a sum of £10,358,007, which has been paid in cash for foreign flax-fibre last year; and since the prohibition of Russian hemp into European markets, prices aud demand are increasing daily.

“My motive for laying before you my views on this subject, and preparing the samples of fibre for your inspection, is, that I am anxious to submit to you, and through you to the agriculturists and people in general of this island, the desirability and advantages in an individual and national point of view to be derived from the adoption and extensive cultivation of fibrous plants. As I have already mentioned, the great scarcity, exhorbitant price, and widely-spreading demand for fibre throughout the world, render the materials of which it is manufactured of much importance, particularly in this country, where labour is scarce and dear, and agriculture at its lowest ebb. Many of these fibres will be found of superior quality, and produced in greater abundance than any grown in temperate regions "I have made a very moderate calculation of the produce of an established field with Plantains, which I find to be as follows:

An acre planted with suckers, at ten feet apart, will contain
435 plants, and the first year will produce as many bunches

of fruit worth 6d.

..£10 17 6

Each stem will yield 1 lb. of finely-dressed fibre, worth 6d. 10 17 6

Amounting in sterling money in all to....£21 15 0

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

The present number contains the Monthly Meteorological Reports for November 1855, in continuation of the series hitherto published in the Canadian Journal; and those for December, along with the abstracts of the various observations for the past year would also have been included, but for unavoidable impediments incident to the starting of the new series, with a different size of page, which render the materials formerly used for setting up the Monthly Meteorological Regis ters of the various Canadian observers no longer available.

The December number of the Journal contains three papers on the subject of Meteorological Observations in Canada, from which it will be seen that a very little time must clapse before a greatly extended staff of observers will be in full operation throughout all the settled districts of Upper Canada; and the impetus thus given to such labors in this important department of science, cannot fail to be productive of valuable results. The example set by the Upper Province, will, it may be confidently anticipated, stimulate those at the head of the scientific and educational institutions throughout British North America to follow its example, and thus contribute some of the links in the great chain of philosophical researches in Physical Geography and Magnetism, now embracing so widely extended an area of the globe.

Already symptoms of an intelligent and increasing interest in this subject are apparent. Professor Williamson, of the University of Queen's College, Kingston, has intimated to the editor his intention of enlisting as one of the contributors to this branch of scientific observation, and furnishing to the Canadian Journal monthly tables from Kingston, corresponding with those already due to the Meteorological and Magnetic observations made at the Provincial Observatory of Toronto University, and to the indefatigable labors of Dr. Smallwood, at St. Martin's, Isle Jesus, Capt. Noble, and Mr. W. D. C. Campbell, at Quebec, and Dr. Craigie, at Hamilton. It has been resolved by the Canadian Institute, after mature deliberation, that its duties in relation to this department of science shall be strictly lim ited to publishing the observations supplied by the various scientific laborers throughout the Province; but even this, it is obvious, must speedily become both an onerous and very responsible duty, as the stations multiply through the Province, and the number of volunteer observers increase. Meanwhile the work is not incompatible with the general features of this Journal, but the period is proba bly not far distant when the Institute may find it advisable to publish in a distinct and independent form the Meteorological and Magnetic Journal of British North America.

DAY.

EbNN
ENE

E
EGS E28

SSW NWьN N 20 M

*835

*831

355 374 8328 341 96

96.

4.2

601

1005

ENE

EUS

EbN

E4N

4558

20 458

*99 95

E

E

A S

S 16 EFT

W

W
SE

•92 '80

NW
SSE

REMARKS ON TORONTO METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER FOR NOVEMBER. .30131, nt 8 A. M. on 9th

28:983, at 6 A. M. on 25th Monthly range :=1'148 in.

Highest registered temperature, 59° 2 at P. M. on 15th
Lowest registered temperature, 15° 5 at A. M. on 29th
Mean maximum Thermometer, 45° 50

The mean velocity of the wind was 450 miles per hour above the average of the last 8 years, and is the greatest for any month yet recorded in the observatory.

In looking out for the periodic display of meteors, from the 11th to the 14th,
about 30 were observed on the 12th, hetween 10 and 15h; and 17 on the
13th between 8h and 14h. At 11h 40m of the 12th a brilliant meteor 3' in
diameter appeared in the west at a point 45° above the horizon, from
whence it descended vertically. Its course was marked by a belt of light,
3' in diameter, whose color changed from deep red to green and white,
and which lasted 10s with undiminished splendor; the luminous path con-
tinued visible at least 1m 30s.

2 to 3 P. M., mean velocity: 1811 per hour' .... 2 to 3 A. M.. mean velocity: 8'62

The mean temperature of November 1855 was 19 8 above the average of the las

16 years, and the depth of rain that fell 1'564 inches above the mean.

Day.

MONTHLY METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER, ST. MARTIN, ISLE JESUS, CANADA EAST-NOVEMBER, 1855. (NINE MILES WEST OF MONTREAL.)

BY CHARLES SMALLWOOD, M. D.

Latitude-45 deg 32 min. North. Longitude-73 deg. 36 min. West. IIeight above the Level of the Sea-118 feet.

6 2 10
6 2 10
AM. P.M. P.M. A.M. P.M. P.M
29.696 29.690 29.857 39.7 48.4 41.1
.990 .978 991 31.5 44.5 33.0
30.009 30.012 30.049 30.1 41.6 29.0
094 047 .190 28.1 43.8 30.6
209 .174 .100 26.2 39.1 35.6
629.991 29.906 29.906 31.6 51 1 41.6
.857 .701 .730 40.1 57.0 49.5
784 .921 30.010 47.1 51.

9 30.198 30.231 .265 32.7 47. 32.5
10 .121 29.987 29.964 30.0

11

2 P.M. 10 P.M.
.94 .96 .95 SSE SSW NNW
96 74 90 NNE ENE NNE
74 89 NE by NNE byN NEbyN
90 69 90 NEbyN NE by N
96 73 92 E NE ESE E by N
95 70 90 SE by ESE by ESE by F
91 81 90 SE SE by EN by W
91 71 91 WhyN WbyN WSW
95 80 95 W by N SW SW
74 89 NEbyN SSE S
.081 30.100 30.192 3S-2
226 281 22 80 85 NE byN NE NE byN
12 15 .014, 29.014 36.8 43.
214 252 263 85 92 NE byENE by ENE by E
13 29.817 29.900 .939 41.0 53.2 42. 263 323 235
85 S WSW WSW 11.70 11.50 8.10 1.751
14 .964 845 .999 39.6 55.7 43.7 231 331 232
SW SW SW 10.63 8.5S 5.70
15 30.015 .965 .775 31.6 46.1 37.0 185 216 179
NW EbyN NE by E
16 29.281 498
.901 36.0 41.0 26.5 221 191 165 99
ESEWN WW NW
17 30.120 30.04 .874 20.2 25.0 23.1 114 123 106 87 79 76 NbyW NE byE ENE
18 29.620 29.78-1 .752 21.0 26.7 26.1 126 157 93 94 96 N WSW SE by E
19 .795 842 .984 22.0 25.0 13.1 131 123 083 94 79 82 W W bv NW by N
20 30.173 30.153 30.170 1.0 19.2 8.8 048 080 06G 95 61 93 WSW W W by N
21 29.847 29.590 29.521 12.0 18.1 18.6 085 106 124 88 87 99 NE by ENE by ENE byN
22 30.051 30.069 30.070 5.4 20.1 15.6 058 103 10 92 87 94 W by NW by NSW by W
23 29 802 29.296 29.140 20.0 32.6 34.6 121 199 216 93 94 96 S SSE SW by W
2429.661 30.124 30.081 9.0 21.1 13.2 064 103 085 90 CS 82 NW WSW WSW
25 29.827 29,552 20.279 21.0 28.9 34.1 118 179 192 88 95 99 SE SE by SSSE
26 .271 341 886 36.0 34.2 301 220 195 177 99 91 94 WSW WSW NW
.21 21.8 31.8 32.5 134 214 19 92 95 SW by W NE SSE
285 36.0 37.8 21.3 230 218 092 97 71 91 SW SW NW
.6-12 8.1 17.0 12.7 065 084 096 93 73 82 Why S WN WW NW
.772 12.2 27.7 26.7 094 137 161 88 82 91 WSW WSW S by E

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