root, we subjoin some brief directions founded upon personal experience, in particular ruta baga crop. The soil for turnips should be such as will grow good Indian corn. It should be rich and dry, and, with these qualifications, the more that sand preponderates the better. Clay is the worst, and wet soil does not answer much better. Preparation. Our general practice has been to manure well a piece of pasture, or a clover lay from which the hay has been just cut, the last of June, plough it handsomely and harrow it well. A clover lay is preferable, as old sod does not rot, especially in a dry season as was the case last year, in time for the wants of the crop. It is the practice of many to lay the ground in ridges of two and a half or three feet, and to cover the manure in these with a plough. This plan cannot be readily adopted upon a sward, but upon grounds under previous tillage, and to correct a wet soil, or economize inanure, it is often the preferable mode. sumed. An acre will give from five to ten loads of Use. The tops serve for autumn. As soon as the mild weather of spring will justify, we break through the frost, and take the contents of a pit to the barn, and cover the roots with straw or hay. From thence they are fed to our stock, being first chopped up with a snick, (Dutch meat-chopper,) or spade. They are excellent for sheep, especially for ewes that have young, and hogs and horses eat them freely. Steamed, they are used in the north of England for horses as a substitute for grain. We have fattened sheep and bullocks upon them with profit. They constitute, particularly from February table. A bullock will thrive fast upon two bushels a day, and will consume hardly any hay, and require no drink. Produce and cost. Our average crop has been six hundred bushels per acre, though others have raised much heavier products. The costs in manure and labour, when they are secured for winter, has been from two to three cents per bushel. Sowing, &c. The seed may be sown broad-cast or in drills. The latter is far the best mode, and to June, an excellent culinary vegetable for the the drill-barrow is an important aid in the process. The sooner the operations of manuring, ploughing, harrowing, and sowing, succeed each other the better, as seeds germinate soonest in fresh-ploughed ground. If the drill-barrow is employed, a tracechain may be passed round the coulter, and the ends suffered to drag after it, which will cover the seeds sufficiently. Sometimes a small roller is attached to the barrow, to press the earth upon the seeds. We allow a pound of seed to the acre, though half this quantity, well distributed, is enough. The seed should be sown from the twentieth of June to the fifth of July. If sown earlier, the turnip is apt to become hollow before harvesting, the water gets in and induces rot. We have never succeeded well in transplanting. Culture. We use a cultivator, that may be graduated to the space between the rows, drawn by a horse, as soon the plants can be distinguished. This is repeated in a few days, twice in a space, and the implement carried so close as to leave only strips of from two to six inches, which are then thoroughly cleansed with a skim-hoe, and the plants thinned to eight and ten inches distance. The cultivators soon follow for a third time, and if necessary, the skimhoe, when the crop is generally left till harvest; the great aim is to extirpate the weeds, to do this while they are small, and to pulverize the soil. Harvesting is postponed as long as the season will permit. The roots are then pulled up, and laid on the ground, the top of two rows toward each other. The pullers are followed by a man or boy with a billhook, who, with a light blow, cuts the tops as fast as three or four can pull. Three men will in this way harvest, of a good crop, three hundred bushels in a day. Another, and we think a better mode, is, for the puller, with a billhook or heavy knife in his right hand, to grasp and draw the turnip with his left, to strike off the tap-root as soon as it is raised a little above the ground, and then with another quick stroke at the crown, sever the top from the root. This is done with great expedition, by an expert hand. The tap-root is acrid, and loaded with earth, and not worth preserving. The tops are gathered into heaps and taken to the yard in carts, daily, for the stock, until they are con Cattle or sheep, fattened upon this root, should be kept from eating them for eight or ten days before they are slaughtered; otherwise the meat will have an unpleasant flavour. : INDIAN CORN. ALL, or nearly all, the accounts, that are published of great products of Indian corn, agree in two particulars, viz. in not using the plough in the after culture, and in not earthing, or but very slightly, the hills. These results go to demonstrate, that the entire roots are essential to the vigour of the crop; and that roots, to enable them to perform their functions as nature designed, must be near the surface. If the roots are severed with the plough, in dressing the crop, the plants are deprived of a portion of their nourishment; and if they are buried deep by hilling, the plant is partially exhausted in throwing out a new set near the surface, where alone they can perform all their offices. There is another material advantage in this mode of cultivating the corn crop-it saves a vast deal of manual labour. There is another question of interest to farmers, which relates to the mode of harvesting the crop, that is, whether it is best to top the stocks, or cut the whole at the ground when the grain has fully ripened. According to the experiments of Mr. Clark, of Northampton, one of the best practical farmers of our country, and of other gentlemen, grain suffers a diminution of six or eight bushels the acre, by topping the stocks; and there seems to be no counterbalancing benefit in the fodder, unless at the expense of carrying the stocks to the borders of the field, that they may be secured before they become blanched and half ruined. And it is no protection against early autumnal frosts, but rather exposes unripened grain to be more injured. Hence, so far as regards these two modes, all who have made a comparison, seem to concur in the opinion, that stripping the corn of its tops and leaves is a bad practice. William Carmichael, of Virginia, has given us in the Farmer's Register, his experiments in this matter, which go to corroborate the conclusion we have drawn. He took, promiscuously, one hundred ears from corn that had been topped, and one hundred ears from that which had not been topped, growing side by side. The first weighed, on the cob, fifty pounds-shelled, forty-one pounds, and measured twenty-one quarts, one pint. The other, fifty-four pounds-shelled, forty-six pounds, and measured twenty-six quarts-showing a difference of nearly one fifth in favour of unstripped or untopped corn. The fact is, that topping not only prevents the further elaboration of the sap, which can only take place in the leaves, and which is necessary for the growth of the corn, but it deprives the grain of much that is already elaborated, and on its way to the grain. If a fruit-tree is deprived of its leaves, before the fruit has attained its growth, or mature flavour, the fruit will no longer grow, nor will it attain high flavour, for its supply of elaborated food, or vegetaable blood, is cut off by the loss of leaves. We have noticed this particularly in the plum. 1. That the corn harrow and cultivator be substituted for the plough in the culture of the crop. 2. That the plants be not hilled, or but slightly so this not to prevent the soil being often stirred and kept clean. And, 3. That in harvesting, the crop be cut at the Cultivator. ground as soon as the grain is glazed. NEW YORK LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. We WE alluded, in a former number of the Family Magazine, to the erection of a new edifice appropri ated to the several objects pursued by the Lyceum of Natural History in the city of New York. esteemed ourselves fortunate in being present at the agreeably to appointment, on the evening of Dec. 28, opening address of the society, which was delivered, 1836, by Prof. JOHN W. FRANCIS, M. D., and we are compelled by a sense of justice to the orator on that occasion, as well as by a desire to farther the great interests of the Lyceum, to state, that the address was worthy of the occasion, and of the high reputation of the speaker. The theme selected for the special purpose of making better known the imporSatisfactory experiments have not been made to tant purposes for which the Lyceum was organized determine, whether it is most advantageous to cut "The Natural History and Physical Resources of the crop when the grain is merely glazed, or to wait the United States ;" and in treating of this wide and till it is perfectly ripe. This will depend upon the almost unlimited subject, Dr. Francis displayed an amount of loss, if any, in the grain, by early harvest-intimate acquaintance with the numerous and varied ing—the relative value of the grain and fodder, and the prospect of both being injured by early frostsfor neither are liable to suffer from frost after the crop has been cut and put into shooks. It is to be noticed, that, in early cutting, the stalks are succulent, and abound in elaborated sap, on its descent from the leaves to the grain, and that this supply of food to the grain continues to flow probably for some days after the corn is in the shook, and if so, the was, topicks which it embraced, highly honourable to his erudition and attainments, and well calculated to place in the strongest possible light the advantages arising from the study, and promotion of American Natural History. In fact, before hearing the learned and interesting discourse of Dr. Francis, we were not aware, ardent as is our love of Natural History, that America had so many claims to the respect and gratitude of the scientifick world, and we congratulate the Lyceum upon this brilliant effort of one of its members, which reflects so much honour upon them as a body, and which when published will add much to the reputation of the Institution, and secure for its author, among naturalists, a station as distinguished as that he now occupies in the medical world. We agree so fully with the opinions published in the New York American, on the occasion of this discourse, that we are induced to transcribe them:— grain itself continues to improve, though we think it likely that the corn undergoes some trifling diminution. But if frost is likely to intervene before the complete maturity of the crop, there is no doubt but the corn will suffer less in shook than it will standing, while the fodder will be materially injured by frost. Admitting that there is a small loss in grain by early cutting, though it is undoubtedly less than when it is topped, the difference in the value of the fodder, under the two modes of management, is "It is sometimes said that the character of New vastly in favour of early harvesting. We do not pretend to calculate to a nicety the difference in York society is frivolous, and that fashion only, and nutritious properties, of cornstalks cut in a succulent the amusements of fashion, interest those whose state, early in September, well-cured and well-hous- means and position enable them to seek instruction ed, and those left standing till October or November and amusement where they list. We have always in the field, but we should think to fifty per cent. Well-cured cornstalks afford an excellent winter food for neat cattle; and when fodder is likely to be in demand, they may be made to contribute largely to the profits of the farm. Several of our acquaintances have kept their neat stock almost entirely upon this fodder during the past winter, and we have done the like, having first cut ours in a cutting machine; and so far as we can learn, the cattle kept upon them are in excellent condition. The preceding considerations justify us in recommending, that in the management of the Indian corn crop, the following rules be observed, at least partially, so far as to test their correctness : thought this unjust, and are every year more and more confirmed in the impression. Who, for instance, that heard the introductory address delivered some days ago, upon the opening of the New York Lyceum, by Dr. John W. Francis, and marked the riveted attention with which, for two hours and a half, he was listened to by a brilliant, intelligent, and crowded audience, of both sexes, would doubt, even though he should meet, as he probably might, the greater portion of this same audience next night at a ball, that the imputation of frivolity upon them was unjust? The theme of Dr. Francis was the natural and physical resources of the United States, which he made a framework for a vast deal of knowledge, personal anecdote, biographical sketches, and useful information. To have succeeded as he did, in holding breathless for such an unusually long time, such an audience, is not more honourable to him, than to those who listened and we refer to the fact with pleasure, as illustrating the useful influence of lectures." We are happy to learn that this discourse is in the press its great importance justifies its extensive diffusion, and the mass of information contained in it, the immense number of facts which are brought forward, as well as the attractive manner in which they are presented, will command the attention of American and European naturalists. The following extracts will enable our readers to form, in part, an opinion for themselves of the merits of this address: "To select a theme becoming the present occasion, has not been without its difficulties. Nothing perhaps would be so appropriate as an exposition of the present state of Natural Science abroad: embracing a cursory view of the early condition of physical knowledge by its primary cultivators and an examination of the present respective merits of the nations of Great Britain and the European continent. To present but a concise summary of this character, calls for richer materials than I possess; and justly executed, would trespass on time which we have not at command. The inevitable consequence of a mere outline of such a survey, however, if impartially and judiciously drawn, could not fail to strengthen our admiration of the dignity and importance of Natural History as connected with the interests of human society, and raise our estimate of the talents which have been appropriated to its elucidation. It would liberalize our feelings, warm our charities, and counteract the prejudices which unfortunately too often beset even the most enlightened cosmopolite philosopher. geniously, which has occasioned the association of minerals with vegetables, vegetables with animals, and again animals with the Creator, has been the efficient cause of the nomenclature to which I now allude. But even the metaphysicks of Bonnet are not to be allowed to supply the chasms originating from our incapacities; neither an artificial nor a natural arrangement of the characteristick organs of animals ought to tolerate such freedom; an improved physiology discards it, and the inherent dignity of man, as the difference between the operations of human reaa moral and accountable being, renders demonstrative son and the impulses of the instinctive faculty of brutes. A later and more successful division of Zo ology by the immortal Cuvier, rests on the nervous and sensorial, and not on the circulatory and respiratory systems and in order 1, Bimana, we find the species man placed at the head of the living creation and no longer primus inter pares. Nor would our labours here end. Though we be disqualified from speaking with oracular precision, Mineralogy would demand of us, that the homage be rendered to Theophrastus and the elder Pliny among the ancients, while the vast accessions to this science by the enterprise and sagacity of the moderns, have given it the certainty of experimental knowledge and placed this branch of investigation for its importance to the elegant arts and useful resources of man as second to none in the volume of nature. In a comparative estimate of the contributions of eminent men in this extensive field of productive effort, imaginative Germany, philosophick France, and melodious Italy, would prefer the claims of their respective sons in accents too loud and too continuous to be resisted. The vegetable kingdom in like manner, if properly treated, might solicit as her due our ardent contemplation, and invoke the sincerest plaudits, by her threefold claims, her precise classical terminology, the copiousness of her treasures aud her extensive utility. Botany, sacred by its antiquity, would sumIn instituting a comparison of the respective theo- mon our best efforts in its behalf, by the dominion ries of the earth, we would be bound to reduce the which it holds in the breast of every lover of the speculations of Geologists, to the actual condition of bounties of creation, as a study sanative as Hygeia the globe; and whether we enlisted as disciples of herself, in its influence on her worshippers and rich Neptune or Vulcan, of the Wernerian or of the Hut- in variegated and attractive formations. Who would tonian school, while scrutinizing the services of the not aspire to participate in recreations such as those ingenious writers who have appeared on the subject in which a Ray, an Evelyn, and a Tournefort dewith all the lights of modern science, we would be lighted; who would not strive to master a pursuit brought to the conclusion of the extraordinary con- which by its quotidean discoveries and advancements formity of facts, the most recent and abundant, to repays its votaries with new truths; and enter the the cosmogony of the great Jewish lawgiver. In list of that mighty phalanx of meritorious individuals, descanting on another almost boundless topick, zool- who, in different ages and nations, have revealed its ogy, we would be struck with the wonderful sagacity secrets and preferred its excellence? Such a review and acumen of Aristotle, the first classifier of this of the progress and present state of the physical scidepartment of physical study. We would be taught ences, would teach us the most pleasing and instructthe great excellence to which it has attained in our ive part of history; the progressive development own day. A discussion not without practical in- of knowledge, and the advancement of our species struction would here very properly offer itself. The in arts, science and civilization: while we would arrangement of the several branches of this division of Natural History, has vexed minds the strongest for accurate discrimination, and by consequence, the cogitative powers have been subjected to a logick as astute as any the schoolmen may have formed. The Linnæan division mammalia, among the primates, it is familiarly known, associates man with the monkey and the bat, a classification not overflattering to the lord of the creation. This fancied chain of being, on what poets and philosophers have written so in indulge a juster and higher opinion of the capabili ties and arts of the age in which we live. And though we might be reluctant to look to Hesiod or Columella for principles in practical agriculture, or to Aldrovandus or Rhondeletius for minute Anatomy, or to Agricola for the philosophy of mineralogical science, we would, by the study of the writings of these master-minds, the better comprehend the obligations which each successive age owes to its predecessor, and ever bear in grateful recollection the contributors who have reared to its present lofty | sing the space by means of cradles, suspended on state the intellectual fabrick of man. It may justly ropes thrown across. be said, that he who should execute such a theme would require the bow of Ulysses. But let us leave the acquirements and the wisdom of venerable Europe, and turn our reflections to a consideration of the New World." TAKING OF BIRDS' EGGS. At Carrick-a-Reade, near the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, and in the Shetland islands, two of these airy conveyances are still in use, and, until a suspension-bridge was erected a few years ago, a third, and tolerably commodious and safe one, existed, connecting the South Stack rock with Holyhead mountain, in lieu of an original and far more primitive machine, which was, for a time, of necessity resorted to by those who wished to inspect the works IT is chiefly on the most rugged shores of Scot-on the island. It consisted of a small box, susland, or on the more rugged rocks of the several djacent islands, or still further to the north, in the Shetland or Ferroe islands, that the "dreadful trade" of egging is carried on in the perfection of its horrours; though in some parts of Wales, as, for instance, near the South Stack, and the Needle rocks in the Isle of Wight, adventurous climbers will occasionally exhibit feats of perilous achievement, quite sufficient to satisfy most beholders. In some parts of the coast, immense mounds or fragments of rocks have been cut off from the mainland by terrible convulsions of nature, or the incessant wearing of waves through fissures and narrow channels for successive ages. On a few of these spots, sea-birds, for a time, rested securely, till some bold adventurers devised the means of invading their territories, cros pended on two strong ropes swung across a chasm of about a hundred and fifty feet, commencing its journey from a projecting point, about halfway down the precipice of the mainland, from which the passenger was vaulted over the gulf, by a rope leading to the island: a journey which, together with the scrambling down the unprotected face of the precipice, was sufficiently disagreeable and alarming, to convey a correct idea of the far more terrifick communications adopted in less frequented places; such as that in Shetland, between the headland of Bressa, a sort of column rising out of the sea to the height of three or four hundred feet above its level, and not more than four yards in diameter on its summit. It is said that this cradle, by which the inhabitants pass easily and readily, and, from habit, without any fear ular from their summit to their base; and yet, upon this treacherous surface, the St. Kilda people approached, and sat upon the extremest verge; the youngest of them even creeping down a little way from the top, after eggs or birds, building in the higher range, which they take in great numbers, by means of a slender pole like a fishing-rod, at the end of which was fixed a noose of cow-hair, stiffened at one end with the feather of a Solan goose. of danger, was erected by a bold man in the neighbourhood, who mounted the hitherto supposed inaccessible sides of the rock. A great number of people were assembled, expecting to see him lose his footing, and fall headlong: however, he succeeded, and when at the top, waved his hat, and cheered his friends; and then having, with their assistance on the opposite side, arranged the ropes and cradle, might have been the first to cross safely and successfully over his own bridge-but being foolhardy, and determined to descend by the way he had got up, before he had accomplished a third of the distance, his foot slipped, and he was dashed to pieces. But though here and there, accommodations like this, or others, for facilitating the visits of the birdcatchers to their particular haunts, may be at hand, by far the greater number are taken by enterprising individuals, who have only their own steadiness of head, strength of muscle, and dauntless spirit, to ensure success. We will describe the means and proceedings of those in St. Kilda, a small speck of an island, the most westward and distant, (save a still smaller needle-pointed uninhabited coast, called Rockall,) in the midst of the Atlantick ocean, containing a few people, who, from infancy accustomed to precipices, drop from crag to crag, as fearlessly as the birds themselves. Their great dependance is upon ropes of two sorts; one made of hides-the other of hair of cows' tails, all of the same thickness. The former are the most ancient, and still continue in the greatest esteem, as being stronger, and less liable to wear away, or be cut by rubbing against the sharp edges of rocks. These ropes are of various lengths, from ninety to a hundred and twenty, and nearly two hundred feet in length, and about three inches in circumference. Those of hide are made of cows' and sheep's hides mixed together. The hide of the sheep, after being cut into narrow slips, is plated over with a broader slip of cow's hide. Two of these are then twisted together; so that the It is, indeed, astonishing to what a degree habit rope, when untwisted, is found to consist of two and practice, with steady nerves, may remove danparts, and each of these contains a length of sheep-ger. From the island of the South Stack aboveskin, covered with cow's hide. For the best, they mentioned, boys may be seen frequently scrambling will ask about thirteen pence a fathom, at which price they sell them to each other. So valuable are these ropes, that one of them forms the marriage-portion of a St. Kilda girl; and, to this secluded people, to whom moneyed wealth is little known, an article on which, often life itself, and all its comforts, more or less depend, is far beyond gold and jewels. But these pranks of the young, are nothing when compared to the fearful feats of the older and more experienced practitioner. Several ropes of hide and hair are first tied together to increase the depth of his descent. One extremity of these ropes, so connected, is of hide, and the end is fastened, like a girdle, round his waist. The other extremity is then let down the precipice, to a considerable depth, by the adventurer himself, standing at the edge: when, giving the middle of the rope to a single man, he descends, always holding by one part of the rope, as he lets himself down by the other, and supported from falling only by the man above, who has no part of the rope fastened to him, but holds it merely in his hands, and sometimes supports his comrade by one hand alone, looking at the same time over the precipice, without any stay for his feet, and conversing with the other, as he descends to a depth of nearly four hundred feet. A bird-catcher, on finding himself among the Fulmar's nests, took four, and with two in each hand, contrived, nevertheless, to hold the rope as he ascended; and, striking his foot against the rock, threw himself out from the face of the precipice, and returning with a bound, would again fly out, capering and shouting, and playing all sorts of tricks. Frighful as such a display must be to those unaccustomed to it, accidents are extremely rare; and the St. Kildians seem to think the possibility of a fatal termination to these exploits almost out of the question. by themselves, or held on by an urchin or two of their own age, letting themselves down the picturesque precipice opposite the island, by a piece of rope so slender, and apparently rotten, that the wonder is why it does not snap at the first strain. Yet, without a particle of fear, heedless of consequences, they will swing themselves to a ledge barely wide enough to admit the foot of a goat, and thence pick their way with or without the rope, to pillage the nest of a gull, which, if aware of its own powers, might flap them headlong to the bottom. The favourite resort for sea-fowl, particularly the oily Fulmars, is a tremendous precipice, about thirteen hundred feet high, formed by the abrupt termination of Conachan, the most elevated hill in the island, Here too, as in St. Kilda, accidents are said to be and supposed to be the loftiest precipitous face of of rare occurrence, though, of course, they do occarock in Britain, and so tremendous, that one who sionally happen; but escapes, sufficiently appalling was accustomed to regard such sights with indiffer-to make the blood run cold to hear of, are common ence, dared not venture to the edge of it alone; but enough. held by two of the islanders, he looked over into The first we shall mention happened about two what might be termed a world of rolling mists and miles from the South Stack, on the rocky coast of contending clouds. As these occasionally broke Rhoscolin. A lady, living near the spot, sent a boy and dispersed, the ocean was disclosed below, but in search of samphire, with a trusty servant to hold at so great a depth, that even the roaring of its surf, the rope at the top. While the boy was dangling dashing with fury against the rocks, and rushing, midway between sky and water, the servant, who with a noise like thunder, into the caverns it had was unused to his situation, whether owing to a formed, was unheard at this stupendous height. The sudden dizziness from looking downward on the brink was wet and slippery-the rocks perpendic-boy's motions, or misgivings as to his own powers |