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GRINDING.

Wheat, barley, &c-corn as the eastern nations call it-is often ground in hand mills. This was the common way of grinding among the ancient Jews, and is still resorted to by some nations or tribes in every quarter of the globe. The slaves in the Southern United States grind their corn, (theirs is the real corn, Indian corn,) much of it, by hand; and so did the Scotch Highlanders, till quite lately. Some of the mills used to differ, however, from the one represented in the engraving. This is such a mill as the Jews used, and is still used by rude nations, on the eastern continent; especially, in Palestine.

and

In ancient times, women appear to have performed the labor of grinding. Thus, it is said in the New Testament that "Two women shall be grinding at the mill," &c.

For Parley's Magazine. LITTLE LUCY.

Friend.

Do you grieve to lie on your lonely bed When the sun is so brightly shining, The merry birds carol above your head, Yet I hear not a word of repining.

Lucy.

Oh no, tho' I suffer, and great is my pain,
Yet I read with much comfort, and pleasure;-
With much to enjoy, why should I complain;
When a book is to me a rich treasure.

For me too, the fairest fruits, and flowers,
Are selected, by fond friends' affection.
I love the bright sun-the cooling showers,
And thank God, for his care and protection.

Brother picks the nuts from their dark brown coat,
The ripe peaches, and pears, from the tree;
Here on my couch, from their pleasures remote,
I rejoice, in their kindness for me.
When I hear below, in the busy street,

Companions, joyful to school repairing,
There's music to me, in their moving feet,
Rosy health, sweet contentment, declaring.
Friend.

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WHAT I DON'T LIKE.

I don't like to see boys get ink on their hands and face, and books and papers.

Example 1. Samuel does not keep his pen clean. Hence the ink gets on his fingers; next he takes hold of a book with them.

Ex. 2. Junius wipes his pen with the fingers of his left hand, and then finishes cleaning, it with his mouth. I wish he would not do so. He has old papers enough lying about him. Would it not be as well for him to clean his pen with them, as to black his hands and face, and pick the papers in pieces and throw them about the floor, for somebody to sweep up? An ink wiper, even, would not cost much. His sister Jane would make one for him, I dare say.

Ex. 3. Ambrose has a habit of shaking his pen over the inkstand, after dipping it in the ink. Sometimes the portion which falls goes back into the inkstand, at others it falls on the top of it; at others, still, it drops on the table, at the side of the inkstand; and if no book happens to be there for it to fall upon, it is not long before he throws down his grammar or writing book upon it, or draws a book across the inkstand; and then how it looks!

THIS is properly a species of pigeon; of which tribe of birds, Rees, in his Cyclopedia, enumerates ninety-nine species. It is of a light ash color, but has a pretty strong resemblance to the common pigeon. On each side of its neck is, however, a patch of black feathers, white at the tip; and the tips of the tail feathers are also white. It is little more than half as large as the stock dove, or common domestic dove.

The turtledove, is found in many of the countries of Europe and Asia. It builds on the highest trees in thick and deep forests, and lays two eggs like the rest of the pigeon

tribe.

In the Turkish dominions, this bird is a great favorite, and travellers say that it is allowed to feed on corn unmolested, whenever, and wherever it can find it. Vessels which cross the port of Constantinople, carry the corn to the mills or magazine uncovered. Crowds of these birds may constantly be seen alighting on the vessels to get their share of the corn, and the boatmen never oppose them. This favor shown them by the Turks makes them very numerous. It also makes them exceedingly tame. They are often seen standing on the shoulders of the rowers, waiting to find a vacant place

among the crowd, where they may fill their crops, in their turn.

The turtledove is often mentioned in the Bible; and Malcom's Bible Dictionary has an account of it, but it is very short.

It is very unfortunate that the tortoise should ever be called a turtle. But it sometimes is; and this confuses some minds. When we read about the turtle in the Bible, instead of a bird, they are apt to think of a tortoise.

LITTLE is known of this fish, except that it is occasionally thrown upon the coast of the United States. Most if not all we know about it, is related by the ingenious Dr. Smith, in his Natural History of the Fishes of Massachusetts.

It is supposed to live on aquatie insects

which play about the surface of the water, and that it captures them by darting out its long tube-like mouth at them. It is never thrown on our coast, except after severe storms; and for this and other reasons its common abode is supposed to be in very deep water.

Hemp rotting-Broken by females.

HEMP is one of the most important plants in the world. It has been known as a useful production for about 2,500 years. It may be raised in almost every part of the United States, but is cultivated with, perhaps, the greatest success in the north of Europe; and especially, in Russia. The city of St. Petersburgh, alone, exported about 600,000

The stalk is channelled, and hollow in the middle, containing a kind of soft pith. It is covered with a green bark, rough and hairy, which is formed of numerous fibres extending the whole length of the stem.

The flowers and fruit of the hemp grow on separate plants. Those bearing the flowers are called male hemp, those bearing the fruit or seed, feinale. In general, the male hemp is more slender and delicate than the female. The fibres of its bark are also finer, and more elastic.

Most soils can be made fit for hemp, by good manuring, but rich, moist earth is undoubtedly the best. On a stiff clay soil, it seldom thrives. Poor land will yield but a scanty crop, but the quality will be proportionably finer; while, on a stronger soil, the crop will be greater, and the quality inferior. After the seed of this plant is sown, it is carefully covered with earth, either by a rake or a harrow. The owner has to keep an almost constant watch over the ground,, or the birds will dig up and destroy so much of the seed as to spoil his crop. Even after the plants have come up, as they often bring up the seed on their top in the manner of beans, the birds will still pull them, if not prevented by scarecrows, and by children, and by dogs.

After this dangerous period in the life of the hemp plant is over, it requires very little attention till it is fit for pulling. It is never overrun with weeds, but, on the contrary, has the power of preventing their growth any where very near it. Some farmers sow hemp in their fields for the very purpose of cleansing them from the noxious weeds which abound, and which they find it difficult to destroy in any other way.

A swamp was once drained in Italy, with a view to cultivate it; for it had an exceed

146

ingly rich soil. It had hitherto been overrun with canne, a species of reeds. They were not only thick, but large; rising above the head of a person on horseback. How should they destroy them? Some person proposed to sow the swamp with hemp. The reeds were so far subdued in this way, that the very next year some of the ground was planted, very successfully, with Indian corn. This anecdote shows the value of hemp, as a destroyer of noxious vegetation. It is said by some, that hemp has the remarkable property of destroying caterpillars, and other troublesome insects, which prey upon plants. Whether this notion is correct or not, the people in hemp countries believe it to be so, and frequently encircle their garden beds with a border of it.

It is common to pull this plant before it is ripe, because the barky fibres then separate with more ease from the stalk. The male hemp comes to maturity in about three months after sowing; but the female plant is three weeks later. Some gather both sorts at a time, others pull the earlier sort first. Ropes made from that which is pulled too soon, though they appear very well, are not so durable as if made from that which stands longer.

After it is pulled, and before it is taken from the field, the leaves and flowers, and sometimes the roots, are cut off with a kind of wooden sword. These are left on the field, to serve as a manure for the soil. The stalks are then arranged as nearly as possible in equal lengths, all the root ends being placed the same way, as is done with flax.

To prepare hemp for spinning, requires nearly the same processes as to prepare flax. It must be rotted, broken, and dressed. The object of all this is precisely the same, viz.

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to separate and cleanse the thready bark from the woody and gummy matters, which adhere to it. It is thought, however, that the practice of drying it, after it is pulled, and before it is rotted, is unnecessary, in the case of hemp; and that it even makes it longer in going through the latter process.

Besides the three usual methods of rotting hemp and flax, there is a fourth, which, in the cold regions of Russia and Sweden, is sometimes adopted. After the first fall of snow, the hemp is spread upon it and suffered to remain there till the snow melts away in the spring. Buried thus, in a snowy bed, it is said to be completely prepared in the spring for breaking and dressing.

Another method is practised in Livonia, which consists in placing the hemp in large basins of water; but a description of the process would be too long for this place.

The following curious method of rotting hemp was discovered and to some extent adopted in France, thirty years ago.

The hemp is immersed in soft soap suds, nearly boiling hot, and the boiler is then closed, and the fire extinguished. After soaking, in this way, about two hours, the hemp is taken out, and covered with straw, and gradually cooled, without suffering it to dry. As soon as one parcel is taken out of the boiler, another is put in; care being taken to add new soap as often as may be

necessary.

By crushing and beating the fibres of the hemp, immediately after this process, they are found to separate more easily from the stalk, and with less waste, than by the common method of rotting. It is true the soap and fuel cost something.

After soaking the hemp in hot water, as abovementioned, and crushing and beating the fibres suficiently, it is dried. This is

39

sometimes done by means of a kiln, but this method is not so good for the hemp as a slower mode of drying it.

The more common way is to prepare a kind of cavern, so situated as to be sheltered from the north and north east winds, and open to the south to receive the full benefit of the sun. About four feet above the floor of the cavern, bars of wood are fixed across it, on which the hemp is laid, six inches thick. Under the hemp, so placed, a very small fire is kindled, and continued, till it is gradually dried. It must, however, be often turned, and constantly guarded, to prevent its taking fire.

When dry, it is ready for the break, which is usually a hand break; though some use mills. When the former is used, the labor is, in many countries, performed by women. One woman will break twenty or thirty pounds in a day.

The rest of the process of preparing it for the spinning wheel, is so similar to that of preparing flax, that they can best be described together.

THE CHINESE WALL.

IT is stated in a Prussian paper, that the celebrated Chinese wall was erected 248 years before the birth of Christ; and that it is 3286 miles long, 14 feet thick, and 26 feet high. So that, with the same materials, a wall one foot in thickness, and twenty three in height, might be carried twice round the whole world. We do not know whether this statement can be relied on; but the Chinese wall, in all its windings, certainly stretches over an immense territory.

Be not the fourth friend of him who had three before, and lost them.