ENERGY. ANSWER TO PROBLEM L ANSWER TO PROBLEM F. The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between men, between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy, invincible determination,-a purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. That quality will do anything that can be done 1. Anna. in this world; and no talent, no circum-4. Gig. stances, no opportunities, will make a two-legged animal a man without it. THE WREATH OF GRASSES. FRANCES 8. OSGOOD. The royal rose-the tulip's glow- The pansy's gold and purple wing, ANSWERS TO RIDDLES A cistern has 4 pipes; the first will fill it in one half hour, the second in one quarter of an hour, the third in one eighth of an hour, and the fourth in one sixteenth of an hour. Required the time the four running together will fill it. PROBLEM H. A, B, and C's ages are such that A's age, plus one half of B's, plus one half of PREKING NUTS.-The Bellefontaine third of A's, plus one third of C's, equals C's, equals 25; and B's age, plus one (Ohio) Republican says the Hoosiers on 25; and C's, plus one fourth of A's, plus the Wabash turn their "ague shakes" to one fourth of B's, equals 25. What is the some account. They climb into the top age of each! of a "shell bark" just as the chill comes on, and by the time the "personal earthquake" leaves them, there is not a hickory nut left on the tree. PROBLEM I. A and B bought a Dutch cheese, in the form of a ball, weighing 40 pounds, for 10 cents a pound, A paying four elevenths, and B the rest. When they came to divide it, A proposed to take for his share as large a cube as could be cut from it to which B. agreed. Did A gain or lose, and how much? PROBLEM K. What two numbers are those whose sum is 581 4-7, and whose difference is 150 1-7? RIDDLE, My number, definite and known, Is ten times ten, told ten times o'er; Though half of me is one alone, And half exceeds all count and score. ENIGMA. I AM composed of 19 letters. My 6, 2 3, 16, 12, is what children are apt to do. My 5, 12, 17, 14, 7, is a shrub bearing beautiful flowers. My 3, 6, 14, 17, 4, 7, 11, 8, 13, 1, is a virtue that should bel found in every household. My 4, 5, 2, 19, 16, 12, is made by farmers' wives. My 14, 19, 17, 4, 5, is what some do for a living. My 5, 2, 3, 18, 12, 13. is where we all would like to go. My 9, 17, 6, 4, 7, is what all good mothers should do. My 15, 11, 19, 13, is a sign. My 11, 3, 6, 4, 7, 19, 16, you do not keep house without. My 13, 19, 17, 14, is what every woman should be. My 18, 2, 16, 6, 11, 19, 13, 1, is a covering or garment. My 10, 3, 14, 5, is a solemn affirmation. My whole is an important maxim. THE CULTURE OF FRUIT. FRUITS are too often considered a luxury rather than a necessary of life. The fact is now becoming known that they are among the most healthful of all articles of food, and ought to be far more extensively used. The annual market value of the apples, pears, cherries and other fruits of Massachusetts, in 1855, was no less than $1,315,000. The next census will probably raise it to more than two millions. In the last three months of 1858 and the winter of 1859, no less than 120,000 barrels of apples were exported from Boston, four-fifths of which were Baldwins. The pear crop of Massachusetts exceeds $100,000 a year. A farmer in Dorchester, Mass., from thirteen acres of land, devoted to apples, pears, peaches and currants, gets on an average from $2,500 to $3,000 a year for his crop. A fruit-grower in Roxbury has one acre devoted to the pear. The oldest trees are 18 years; more than half of them quite young. From two trees, a Dix and a Beurré Diel, he has realized more than $100 a year, and for the whole crop over $1,000 a year. Another fruit-grower near Boston raises from one acre and a half of pear-trees from $600 to $900 a year of marketable fruit. A strawberry cultivator in Belmont raised and sold, in 1858, from two-fifths of an acre, 2,115 boxes of strawberries. This is at the rate of 165 bushels to the acre, and the market value per acre would be at least $1,300. We say, then, cultivate fruit. Set out an orchard, and, if you expect success, do it well. Merely sticking down a tree here and there, without regard to fitness of soil and proper after-culture, will never pay; and, if you can't make up your mind to do it in the best manner, so as to receive the largest and most satisfactory results, don't attempt it, but leave the profits and pleasures of fruit-culture to others who are willing to do the thing right. The eminent success of those who make a specialty of this or any other farm or garden produce, furnishes a striking comment on our common practice of farming more acres than we have means to farm well. But what are the essentials of success in fruit-raising? 1st. Thorough drainage. This is indispensable to complete success. The Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, high authority in horticulture, says truly: "We might as well expect to promote the comfort and health of a man by seating him at a luxurious table with his feet plunged in ice-water, as to look for a healthy development and longevity of a fruit-tree when planted in a wet and uncongenial soil. The foliage may perform its functions, elaborating aud maturing the sap under a genial sky and salubrious air, but the temperature of such a soil below will counteract all the propitious influences above." If drainage will pay anywhere it will pay in the fruit-orchard. Don't excuse yourself by saying, my soil is high and dry, and don't need draining. Try the experiment on any soil, except a light sand, and you will find the fruit of better quality, the trees healthier, thriftier, and freer from diseases, such as spotting of the leaf and fruit, canker, fungi, mosses, and decay of the bark, on the drained than on the undrained soil. 2d. Deep and thorough cultivation. When an orchard is young, and the trees set well apart-say thirty, or better thirty-three feet-some other crops may be grown without much if any injury to the trees; but when the trees are larger, and in bearing condition, any secondary crop, except, perhaps, some of the smaller fruits, as raspberries, blackberries or currants is inexpedient. It won't pay to starve your trees to feed a less valuable crop. Many people, having trees standing in grass land, will spade up a cirele of two or three feet around the tree, with the idea that they are doing it good. If the tree is very small, it may in some cases be of service; but the rootlets of a grown tree are at a much greater distance from the trunk, and a circle dug around it at a distance of the average length of the branches would be far more useful, if not spaded so deep as to cut off and injure the roots. Never move the soil under trees more than four inches deep. 3d. Selection of the best varieties. A few varieties are better and more profitable than many. Get the best, and make a speciality of them; that is, devote yourself to raising them to the highest quality. The pruning of fruit-trees, the preservation of fruits, and other points connected with this subject, will be treated of in our number for 1862. TIDE TABLE. The tides given in the Calendar pages are for the Port of Boston. The following table contains the difference between the time of high water at Boston and several other places. When the sign is prefixed to the hours and minutes, in the table, the time must be subtracted from the Boston time; and when the sign is prefixed, the time must be added to the Boston time. FRE Charles, ❝ Cod, "Fear, "Henry, "St. Mary, 0 00 Pr. Edward, 0 00 Marblehead, -445 Port Campbell, k.m. -236 -3 50 -3 00 +257 0 00 -045 -230 -3 30 -36 +4 15 -453 SOUTHERN RAILROADS.-The following statistics of Southern Railroads, brought down to the close of the year 1859, may afford matter of reflection to those who are in the habit of speaking with contempt of the enterprise and resources of that section of the country : THE NEW VALUATION OF MAINE. — The table which follows shows the new valuation of the State of Maine, by counties. The Portland Advertiser, from which we copy it, says that although the valuation "is much more correct than that of 1850, yet it is not up to its just and full value throughout the State. Portland returned her property at full value, and had all other places made similar returns, the state valuation would nave been, we think, up to two hundred millions of dollars.” Polls. Estates Polls. Estates, ∙1850. Polls. Estates. 5,578,965 -1800.Polls. Estates, 3,36 $2,705,228 4,560 10,054,434 Androscog'n,4,447 84,152,502 6.551 $8,230,892 Piscataquis, 2,844 $1,841.063 Hancock, 6,457 5.896,368 7,810 6,520,594 Washington, 7,277 5,252,801 8,342 68,945 Lincoln, Oxford, 9,042 8,179,197 11,343 13,488,147 10,309 12,390,335 13,038 19,135,618) 106,490 100,037,909 128,899 164,714,168 Penobscot, 12,624 9,107,666 14,438 14,524,937 The increase of polls is 23,634, and of estates 64,676,199 dollars. HOW TO SECURь 1HE RETURN OF LETTERS NOT CALLED FOR.-Thousands of letters, misdirected, or not called for at the post-office, annually find their way to the dead letter office at Washington—a bourn from which very few misguided missives ever return. The law, however, recently enacted, provides a way for the return of letters to their writers. It is lawful to request the postmaster at the office to which the letter is directed, to return it unless called for within thirty days; and when this request is made it becomes the duty of the postmaster to return it to the writer withcut expense to him. This request can be printed on the flap of an envelope, and would read as follows: POSTMASTER OF Please return to the undersigned unless called for within thirty days. This arrangement will commend itself to business men who have an extended oorrespondence, and without doubt be generally adopted. FRAUDULENT NOTICES OF MARRIAGES, ETC.-The following is among the acts passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts at the session of 1860: An Act concerning Fraudulent Notices of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Be it enacted, &c., as follows: Any person who shall wilfully send to the publishers of any newspaper, for the purpose of publication, a fraudulent notice of the birth of a child, or of the marriage. of any parties, or of the death of any person, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars. Approved April 4, 1860.; 1 Day. 1Week.11 Month.[1 Year. D.ex.1.c.m. D. c. m.\D).c.m. Cts. 2010 0 00 0 010 0 10 1 2 Doll.700 1 TABLE OF SIMPLE INTEREST, AT 6 PER CENT. So arranged that the interest on any sum may be at once ascertained. Principal. Princi- 4.80 5 40 60 0 0 12 0 50 0 18 0 0 0 24 0 500 30 3 Where the interest is at the rate of seven per cent. the year, add one sixth to the product, - of eight per cent., add two sixths, &c. Where at the rate of five per cent., deduct one sixth, of four per cent., deduct two sixths, &c. A Short and Easy Method of Casting Compound Interest, at 6 per cent. RULE. Multiply the given sum, if, For 2 years, by 1.1236 For 3 years, by 1.191016 For 8 years, by 1.593848 NOTE. This will give the amount of principal and compound Interest for the given number of years. Subtract the principal from the amount, and it will show the compound interest. Any sum of money at compound interest, at six per cent. per year, will double itself in eleven years, ten months, and twenty-two days. POST-OFFICE REGULATIONS. (1860.) Letters.-A letter not exceeding half an ounce, three cents, pre-paid, under 3000 miles; but over that distance, ten cents, pre-paid. "A letter, when conveyed wholly or in part by sea to or from a foreign country, over 2500 miles, 20 cents; and under 2500, 10 cents, except all cases where the postages have been or shall be adjusted at different rates by postal treaty or convention." Drop letters, one cent. Advertised letters, one cent in addition to regular postage. Valuable letters may be registered at the office, on payment of regular postage and five cents additional. Newspapers, Periodicals, Unsealed Circulars, &c., nut over à oz., 1 ct. each, to any part of the U. States, or ct. if paid quarterly or yearly in advance. Newspapers, &c., not over one and a half oz., half the above rates, if sent within the state where published. Newspapers, papers, and pamphlets, not over 16 pages, 8vo, in packages of not less than eight ounces to one address, one half cent an ounce; though, if separate pieces, the postage may be more. All transient matter to be pre-paid, by stamps. Books, bound or unbound, not over 4 pounds each, 1 cent an ounce under and 2 cents over 3000 miles; to be pre-paid. Weekly newspapers free in the county of publication, when transmitted by mail. Bills and receipts for payments of money for newspapers may be enclosed in subscribers' papers. Exchanges between newspaper publishers, for one copy from each office, free. Newspapers, &c., to be so enclosed that the character can be determined without removing the wrapper; to have nothing written or printed on the paper or wrapper, beyond the direction, and to contain no enclosure other than the bills or receipts mentioned. To these rules we would add, always sign your name, and also direct all letters, &c., sent by mail, p ainly and distinctly; and use the folded sheet, in pref erence to envelopes, as this saves separating the post-mark from the letter. LIST OF STATE AND COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN N. ENGLAND, With the name and aDDRESS OF The secretaries, 188). MAINE. State Society, E. Hoimes, Wintop. North. Aroostook, Joel Bean, Presque Isle. North Penobscot, John S. Patten, Spring- North Somerset, William H. Russell, Bingham. MASSACHUSETTS. State Board of Agricult., Charles L. Flint, Middlesex North, Geo. Stevens, Lowell. Worcester South, David Wight, Jr., Stur- Worcester South East, J. J. Metcalf, Mendon. Oxford, Elliot Smith, Norway. Penobscot and Aroostook Union, L. Rog-Hampshire Frankin and Hampden, II. K. ers. Patten. Starkweather, Northampton. Highland, Charles Wright, Middlefield. Piscataquis Central, E. B. Averill, Dover. Belknap, O. A. J. Vaughan, Laconla. Barrington. Norfolk, H. Ó. Hildreth, Dedham. RHODE ISLAND. Hillsborough North, John F. Chase, Deer-State Society, W. R. Staples, Providence. ing. Hillsborough South, II. A. Daniels, Milford. Souhegan, Marshall Kimball, Mason Village. Aquidneck, George Brown, Newport. CONNECTICUT. Connecticut River Valley, Alexander Mc-State Agricultural Society, Henry A. Dyer, Lane, Fairlee, Vt. VERMONT. State Society, C. Cummings, Brattleboro'. Hartford. Hartford, James T. Pratt, Rocky Hill. New London, H. L. Read, Jewett City. FARMERS' CLUBS IN MASSACHUSETTS, WITH THE NAMES OF THE SECRETARIES. |