Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1843-10-07
Vol. f-.NO. 2--WhOle No. 1ss.


The species OF cranberry most commonly
found in the United States, has been described
az an Indigenous low trailing vine, growing
wild in bogs and meadows, and bearing beau.
lifu red berry OF an exceedingly sour though a.
greeabe taste, which is much used in domestic
economy for tarts and sweetmeats. Mr.. Ken
drlck, OF Boston, says the cranberry is plant
of easy culture, and not a doubt exists that
meadows which are now barren wastes or yield
nothing but coarse herbage, might he converted
into profitable cranberry fields, with but very
little expense. According to Loudon, an Eng
lish writer ST. Joseph Banks, introduced the
cranberry into that country ron America, and
in 1881, raised 81 Winchester bushels on a
square lS feet each way which is rather more
than equal to AGO bushels to the acre. ANY
meadow, it is said, will answer TO their growth
They grow well on sandy bogs after draining.
If the bogs are covered with bushes they should
be removed but it is not necessary to remove
bushes as the strong roots ofthe cranberry soon
overpower them. 1t would be WELL however,
if the land could be poughed previous to plant
ing with cranberrics. Capt. Henry Hull, of
Barnstablc, who has cultivated the cranberry
more than 90 years, usually spread beach sand
on his bogs and digs holes four feet distant each
way, the same as for corn, though somewhat
deeper. In the holes he plants sods OF cranber-
ry roots, and in the space Of three years the
whole ground is covered with the vines. The
planting is usually performed in Autumn, when
the bogs are drer and can be better dug or
plonghed than at any other seasons of the year.
a MIR. Hayden, Of Lincoln, Mass, is said to
raise 400 bushels Of cranberrles yearly, which
bring him $500, in the Boston Market-some-
times more. An acre Of cranberries IN full
bearing, will often produce 200 bushels al
though a moist soil is best suited to the plant,
yet with suitable mixtures of bog earth or mud,
it will flourish, producing abundant crops, even
in comparatively dry SOIL"
PROFESSOR LIEBIo, The popular writer upon
Agricultural Chemistry, when in Yorkshire,
attending agricultural meetings, is said to have
displayed every disposition to communicate in.
formation to all who asked He is quite
ther person now living, to "make two blades OF
grass grow where only one grew before" Sir
! Humphrey Davy, before Lebig was born, lee.
'ured on Agricultural Chemistry. But the Ger
man had been reduced to practical system,
what was not much more than theory with
| Davy. At Edinburg and Abe rdeen, there are
now established university professorships Of
| agriculture, as well as at Oxford and Cambridge.
| This shows how completely the public are a.
| ware OF the Importance of cuitlyating acrcu-
iure asa science. Barclay has made fortune
by attending 10 the changes OF crops and breed
ing Of stock. Let others take the hint and do
ikewise.--Far naers' Cabinet.
| MANUFACTURE OF STEEL PESs-In the tirst
place. fiat sections of steel are cut out, OF the
shape required, by stamping press they are
then placed under another press, which pierces
the holes and cuts the Sits and they are then
struck into their convex shape by third press
They have then 10 be polished and tempered
which is managed in peculiar apparatus, called
emphatically, "The Devil consisting of fy
wheel and box, in which the pens are placed
and to vh'ch motion is given resembling tina,
exhibited in shaking materials together in a
bag. This motion IS continued for eight hours
when the pens are found TO be completely de
prived by their friction against each other, O
any asperities which might h.ye existed or
their edges, and which, though invisible to tbs
naked eve, would have obs,ructcd the free pas
sage ofthc pens. Arer this process. they are
tempered in box, shaken and brought to a hue
color, being carefully watched, aud the heat les
scned Whenever shade Of yellow is observed
on their surface.
The split is then completed by touching thC
sides with pair Of pncers. Some idea may
be given Of the greater rapldity with which
steel pens are made than the quill, when We
state, that the latter an expert pen-cutter car
only make six hundred a day; whilst with the
recent steel pen machines, as many may be
made in a single hour with the greatest case
The steel Of which these pens are made is fire
quon,ly alloyed with some other metal, in orde
to improve the elasticity, and in some cases tC
prevent rust, but the steel alone employed il
this country for making pens, amounts TO oni
hundred and twenty FIVE tons annually, whicl
) is equivalent to about three hundred millions
Of pens! number employing such an immense
amount Of labour and ingenuity, as to b
scarcely credible, did not the Parliamentary,
, returns attest the Fiact,-Adiey,oas Tyeatis'