Year: 1859

There is in every hamlet, if not in every
house. scattered over the broad acres OF n
Gle Sam. to be found stray copies OF books,
kicked about as valueless which have cost
the government hundreds of thousands to
write compile. publish and distribute. P'-
tent Office Reports are drug in every mar
ket, often not opened, sometimes not even
the wrappers containing the autograph OF
Spriggins NJ. c.. are torn off before the black
muslin bound documents are carelessly stack
ed in the most dusty corner of the worst room


in the house, and allowed to grow yello"
and musty with age and the damps,


In this manner are treated the labonous
collections of one of the most powerful ana
important governments on earth' laleh',
genius research is tabooed as soon as bound
up in the homely form of Patent Once ke-
ports. They are sealed books to the mayor
part of the world so soon as the Congresslon-
al stamp is put upon them.


They serve purpose apparently IN poIitl-
cal economy-to fool the receiver OF one with
the impression that man with handle to
his name amid the hustle of the national capi
tai is mindful of his constituents-and that Is
about ali These mementOes of great man 5
affections are sometimes preserved with care,
with the specimen of his chirography on the
outside Just as it came from his fingers, or
more likely from those of private secretary
who can write his masters name more legi-
bly, than the owner of it. But the idea that
these uninvitiug volumes contain anything
of value appears to be rarely entertained
rhey are supposed, if ever found in private
library at ali, to be used like the painted
blocks of booksellers, to fill up the upper
shelves. Occasionally a philosopher, or a
book worm opens one of these forbidding vol
umes and is surprised to find a mine of wealth
not to be found elsewhere. An editor, per-
haps, out of sheer curiosity or from the force
Of habit tumbles over the virgin leaves of an
old looking volume from the Bureaus at
Washington, and finds ample employment for
lis scissors with scarcely the necessity ofgiv'
ing credit for matter purloined. 1t would be
well if more of the profession examined these
records. They might thereby not fall into
the most pernicious errors in regard to the
cultivation of the SOIL and growth of vegeta-
| ton the progress of the arts and sciences,
and the works of mechanics. In short, were
the publications coming from Washington
more generally read some of our writers for
the press would cease humbugging the peo-
pie with European theories of slaughtering
vines, and perhaps more rational ideas of the
tap-root question might become diifused to
the no small benefit of young and unexperi-
enced cuturists


1t is possible, too that even the most wise
In such matters might derive a profit from
perusing the chemical combinations of soils
necessary to the successful growth of certain
species of plants For instance, it io not gen.
orally known that potash, soda, lime and its
phosphates are excellent manures to perfect
the grape A work published by the gov
ernment would teach the young vine grower
the fact if he failed to gain the information
from the agricultural papers of the State
The same kind of reading, if not common
sense, might teach him the utter nonsense OF
cutting his vines back to two or three buds
each year, or destroying the tap roots oftrees
set in a dry soil in the dryest of climates.
SO, too, many young inventor, by a more in
innate knowll dge of the publications of the
Patent Office, might save himself the racking
Of brains, perplexing toll and the btterest
disappointment


These neglected documents ought to be
commended to the public as worthy of more
general perusal.-NeUada Journal