The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 47 pages of information about The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction.

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 47 pages of information about The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction.

At Tynningham, the residence of the Earl of Harrington, are holly hedges extending 2,952 yards, in some cases 13 feet broad and 25 feet high.  The age of these hedges is something more than a century.  At the same place are individual trees of a size quite unknown in these southern districts.  One tree measures 5 feet 3 in. in circumference at 3 feet from the ground; the stem is clear of branches to the height of 14 feet, and the total height of the tree is 54 feet.  At Colinton House, the seat of Sir David Forbes; Hopetown House, and Gordon Castle are also several large groups of hollies, apparently planted by the hand of Nature.—­Trans.  Horticultural Society.

Egg Plants.

In this country, the egg plant, brinjal, or aubergine, is chiefly cultivated as a curiosity; but in warmer climates, where its growth is attended with less trouble, it is a favourite article of the kitchen garden.  In the form of fritters, or farces, or in soups, it is frequently brought to table in all the southern parts of Europe, and forms a pleasant variety of esculent.—­Ibid.

Vinegar Made From Black Ants.

It is singular enough, that a discovery of modern chemistry should long have been practically employed in some parts of Norway, for the purpose of making vinegar from a large species of black ant.  The method employed in Norlanden is simply this:  they first collect a sufficient quantity of these little animals, by plunging a bottle partly filled with water up to the neck in one of the large ant-hills; into which they naturally creep, and are drowned.  The contents are then boiled together, and the acid thus produced is made use of by the inhabitants as vinegar, being strong and good.

Soil For Fruit Trees.

Low grounds that form the banks of rivers are, of all others, the best adapted for the growth of fruit trees; the alluvial soil of which they are composed, being an intermixture of the richest and most soluble parts of the neighbouring lands, with a portion of animal and vegetable matter, affording an inexhaustible store of nourishment—­Trans.  Horticultural Society.

Watch Alarum.

A patent has recently been procured for a most useful appendage to a watch, for giving alarm at any hour during the night.  Instead of encumbering a watch designed to be worn in the pocket with the striking apparatus, (by which it would be increased to double the ordinary thickness), this ingenious invention has the alarum or striking part detached, and forming a bed on which the watch is to be laid; a communication being made by a lever, projecting through the watch case, to connect the works.  This appendage is described to be applicable to any watch of the usual construction, and is by no means expensive.

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THE MONTHS.

[Illustration]

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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.