was very productive. M. Barbié du Bocage, the French dragoman at Bagdad, states, in a letter dated 11th of May, 1824, that, profiting by his last journey to Syria, he had transported his collection of antiquities to Aleppo; whence it was his intention to send it to Paris, in order that it might be presented to the Royal Library. Unfortunately this valuable collection was very much impaired and reduced by the earthquake that occurred in Syria on the 13th August, 1822. New Route to Italy. The beautiful road of Posilippo, begun by the French in 1811, and carried on with much art up to the foot of the mountain near Puzzuoli, is continued upon the same plan by the Austrians, and will be completed immediately. The trenching which these works made necessary, has been the means of discovering tombs, inclosing skeletons, and vases with money placed in the mouths of the skeletons.

A succession of earthquakes was expe rienced in Tuscany between the 12th and 13th of August. Several of the shocks were so strong as to excite great apprehensions; and in one place a wall was thrown down.

Rome. In removing the masses of the entablature of the Temples of Jupiter Tonans and Concord, recovered last year under the Campidoglio, adhering to a little building existing between the two Temples themselves, there has been found a small votive altar of marble, which determines the age and the use of the little edifice, by the following inscription :DIVAE. PIAE FAVSTINAE VIATOR. Q

AB. AER. SAT

That is, Divae Piae Faustinae Viator Quaestor Ab Aerario Saturni. It, therefore, belonged to the younger Faustina, and was erected to her, after her death, by Viator, Questor of the neighbouring treasury of Saturn. Signor Luigi Marini having occasion to rebuild a wall in his house, on the level of the present street, which is much above the ancient, the workmen discovered the external circular part of the Theatre of Pompey. It corresponds with the many fine remains of the saine Theatre which are still seen in the vaults of the Palace Pio. Besides fragments of columns, &c. a female statue was found, nine or ten palms in height, wanting the head and arms, and the drapery much damaged, but in a good style. It is well known that near this place were found the Hercules called Commodiano, which is now in the Museum Pio-Clementino, and the other very famous Hercoles called the Tors di Belvidere, in the time of

Julius II.; as well as the other celebrated colossal statues of Melpomene, Ceres, &c. The Pope lately visited the public prisons, examined the most secret dungeons, their government, food, &c. and interrogated many of the prisoners upon their treatment. He departed highly pleased with the state in which he found them, and left marks of his satisfaction with the conduct of the gaoler and turnkeys; he also distributed money among the prisoners. A similar visit was once paid to the prisons by Benedict XIV, The amelioration of the prison regimen, from the observations made by the same sovereign in his visits, characterized in a manner highly honourable the vigilance of the chief of the catholic religion. Petrarch.

-

Professor Meneghelli has lately addressed a paper to the Abbé Talia, entitled Sopra due Lettere Italiane attribuite al Petrarca: "Upon two Italian Letters attributed to Petrarch." These two letters were published by M. Foscolo in his essays on the italian Poet. On comparing with them the fac simile now preserved in the seminary of Padua, the authenticity of which is incontestable, it is plainly to be seen that these letters are not autographs. M. Meneghelli has also found many passages in contradiction with circumstances more or less remarkable in the life of Petrarch, in his age, and in his style. Revue Enclyclop.

AMERICA.

American Literature. The publication of books is so much cheaper in this country than in Great Britain, that nearly all we use are American editions. According to reports from the custom-houses, made under a resolution of the Senate in 1822, it appears that the importation of books bears an extremely small proportion to the American editions. The imported books are the mere seed. It is estimated that between two and three millions of dollars' worth of books are annually published in the United States. It is to be regretted that literary property here is held by an imperfect tenure; there being no other protection for it than the provisions of an inefficient Act of Congress, the impotent offspring of an absolute English statute. The inducement to take copyrights is therefore inadequate, and a large proportion of the most valuable American books is published without any legal title. Yet there were 125 copyrights purchased from January 1822′′ to April 1823. There have been eight editions, comprising 7500 copies, of Stewart's Philosophy, published here since its appearance in Europe thirty years ago. Five hundred thousand dollars were the capital invested in one edition of Rees's Encyclo

On Fertilizing the Blossoms of Pear Trees. By the Rev. George Swaine. An almost general unproductiveness as to the fruit of the superior varieties of pear trees, has long been the subject of complaint with horticulturists, both, of South and North Britain. Among the first prizes offered by the Caledonian Horticultural Society, was one ❝ for the communication of the best means of bringing into a bearing state full-grown fruittrees, especially some of the finest sorts of French pears, which (it is stated), though apparently in a very healthy and luxuriant condition, are yet in a state of almost total barrenness;" and the President of the London Horticultural Society, in bis paper on the cultivation of the Peartree, remarks, that "the pear-tree exercises the patience of the planter during a longer period, before it produces fruit, than any other grafted tree which finds a place in our gardens; and though it is subsequently very long lived, it generally, when trained to a wall, becomes, in a few years, unproductive of fruit." But I have no need, at least for my own conviction, to refer to the testimony of others for proof of the existing grievance, possessed as I am myself of a striking instance of this untoward disposition in an individual of the genus Pyrus, which has for a long time baffled all my attempts to alter its infertile habits; it is that of a Gansell's Bergamot, which has grown for twenty years or more in its present situation against a wall, part of which has a southwest, and part a'south-cast aspect. This tree has all the appearance of health, and sufficient luxuriance, and has been for several years constantly covered with a profusion of blossoms at the proper season, but has never before this borne more than three or four pears in any one year, and most frequently not a single It never occurred to my observation before the year 1820, when I was much occupied in the artificial impregnation of different kinds of fruit, that, out of from nine or fewer, to fifteen or more florets, of which the cluster (botanically corymbus) of the pear-tree consists, only the three lower ones (generally speaking) set, or, in other words, are effectually im. pregnated for fruiting. Recollecting the practice of the best gardeners, of topping their early beans, i. e. of pinching off with the fore-finger and thumb the uppermost blossoms, some apparent, and others in embryo, of the general spike, for the purpose of setting the lowest and earliest ones, which would otherwise, in most cases, prove abortive, I conceived, that, removing the upper and central blossoms

one.

1

olore N. 901 16 26865 208 405 711650 of the corymbus of the pear, as soon as it could conveniently be done, would have a i similar good effect in invigorating the ren maining ones, and causing them to set with greater certainty. With this view,n in the spring of 1821) as soon as the three, lower blossoms of the corymbi began to shew their white faces, I set to work with ; my sharp-pointed scissors on two pear trees, the one the Gansell's Bergamoti above mentioned, and the other a Brown Beurré, and in as short time as I could have properly thinned two dozen bunches of grapes, I divested both these trees of at least three-fourths of their budding honours. On the Beurre, this operation, subsequently, appeared to have the best, effect; for there was scarcely an instance in which the three remaining blossoms/ did not set, which afterwards produced the finest crop of pears I have yet gathered from that tree. But on the intractable Gansell, although the blossoms at first seemed to set, and many of them did not fall off till Midsummer, when they; were nearly as large as common gooseberries, yet not a single pear arrived at maturity. By dissecting many of the larg-!· est of those which fell off last, and comparing with them some of the Beurrés of the same age and size, it was plain that the kernels of the former had not been impregnated. This circumstance induced me to think that there must be some imperfections in the essential parts of the blossoms. In the following spring of 1822, on attending to the blossoms of this tree, which blooms earlier than any other pear-tree which I have, they ap peared to me to remain much longer in a globular state without expanding, than any other variety of pear which I Lare, had an opportunity of noticing. I fancied likewise that the pointal was fit for impregnation before the anthers were ripe and even before the petals expanded, and from the peculiarly slender and delicate make of the latter, as it struck me, I supposed that it ceased to be in a proper state as soon as it became exposed to the sun and air; I therefore concluded, that there might possibly be a chance of obtaining fruit, by depriving the blossoms of their petals before they expanded, and inclosing with each floret in this state, within a paper envelope (as is my mode of effecting artificial impregnation), a riper blossom, viz. one that had just begun to diffuse its farina, either one of its own, or, preferably, of some other variety of pear. Accordingly, on the 27th of March, 1822, I began this operation, and in a day or two had tied up, in the manner just mentioned, twenty-seven blossoms. Ten

of these envelopes contained blossoms of the Beurré pear, which (it not blooming so early as the Gansell) were the only ones I could then find in a state of expansion. Fourteen (to make up, with the former number, two dozen) contained blossom from the same tree, and three blossoms of the pound pear. From the latter presenting a large and coarse appearance, I had very little expectation. I intended to have done many more, but the weather getting colder, and being myself not quite in health, I neglected it till it was too late. The papers were not taken off till the 15th of April, on which day the weather began to be warmer, without sanshine. You will please to observe, that I had previously cut off from all the corymbi with which the tree was abundantly furnished in every part, all the blossoms, except the three lower ones, as in the former year; and that having tied up but one of these in each corymbus, I immediately cut off the two remaining ones. The blossoms were operated on in different parts and aspects of the tree; for part of it, as I said before, faced the south-east, and part the south-west. Of the ten blossoms, treated with the Beurré pear, eight set, two of which afterwards fell off, but I suspect not fairly, and six are now proceeding to maturity. One only of the fourteen, where its own blossoms were used, now remains. Of the three wherein the pound pear was concerned, the whole failed. The

Patent to WILLIAM JONES, of Bedwellty, in the county of Monmouth, Engineer; for certain improvements in the Manufac turing of Iron-This invention consists of an improvement in the manufacturing of iron, in that process of it called puddling, by re-heating refined metal, pig, or other crude iron, in a stove or furnace, either attached to or detached from the puddling furnace, in which the same is intended to be worked; but the stove or furnace being attached to the puddling furnace is preferred, and heated with the same fire as the one by which the puddling furnace is worked; and when so re-heated, then by charging the puddling furnace with the hot refined metal, pig, or other crude iron, or by charging the puddling furnace with refined metal, pig, or other crude iron in a heated state, whereby a charge of iron in the puddling furnace is worked, and brought into balls fit for rolling or hammering, in much less time than by the usual mode of charging the puddling furnace with cold refined metal, pig, or other crude iron, and a considerable saving is produced in

only pear now on the tree which set uaturally, and on which no operation was performed, was produced on a cluster of blossoms, at the extremity of a leading horizontal shoot of last year, which did not make its appearance till after the others had dropped off. This circumstance, by the way, proves that the fruiting buds of the pear do not invariably require three years for their perfection, since the bud, naturally the most productive on the tree in question, could not have been visible at farthest before the middle of last summer. As the pears are now from five and a half to seven and a half inches in circumference, I consider them as past all danger of failure, or rather, that they will only fail through the application of violence. Three are in a line within the space of twelve inches near the centre of the tree, and on. is on a branch which I considered, at the time of the operation, to be the most unlikely to succeed, as being in the most exposed situation.

Whether the result of the above detailed experiments be such as to authorize an expectation that artificial assistance in vegetable fecundation will hereafter become of so much importance to gardeners in the instances just alluded to as in those at present recognized, of the cucumber, the melon, the early bean, and the hautbois strawberry, must be left to futurity to ascertain.-Trans. Horti. Soc.

ARTS.

the consumption of coal in the operation of puddling.

New Screw. Mr. Alfred Churchill, of Batavia, United States, has invented a new screw, which is thus spoken of in the American Papers :-"The screw is concave, and meshes with admirable regularity with the cogs placed in a circular wheel, which is moved with ease and rapidity with the application of small power. To shew its immense strength, it is only necessary to mention that the thread of the screw in its evolution presses at all times upon four of the cogs of a wheel containing eleven cogs, and may be so constructed, if necessary, as to encircle five elevenths of a circle."-The same Mr. Churchill is said to have invented a new and ingenious hydraulic model; ** its power for raising bids fair to excel any preceding principle whatever, where the height required should not exceed the half of the diameter of the wheel used in lifting and discharging the water."

Machines for singeing Cotton goods by the flame of Gus.-Mr. Hall, of Basford, has recently taken out a patent for a method of

clearing calicoes, muslins, and other cotton goods, from the loose fibres which He on the surface, and which untit them for the use of calico-printers. This is effected by passing them over a continuons fame of gas, equal in length to the width of the piece. This invention, or rather another invention of the same kind, which preceded it, and for which Mr. Hall took out a patent several years ago, was applied to clearing lace from fibre. The invention completely answered the purpose for which it was intended, and had the effect of increasing greatly the beauty and the value of the lace fabrics. The process was performed by passing the lace quickly over a continuous flame of gas, placed under a sort of chimney, to cause a draught through the fabric. But though this plan answered extremely well for open textures like lace, it was obvions that it would not be equally successful when applied to the singeing of calicoes, muslins, and other closely woven goods; because it was not easy, by rarefaction alone, to cause a draught that would impel the flame with adequate force against the surface of the cloth. To obviate this difficulty Mr. Hall contrived the machine in which, instead of the chimney, a tube, with a longitudinal slit, is placed over the flame of the gas: the tube communicates with a chamber, in which a partial vacuum is caused by a sort of air-pump, which is in principle pretty nearly the reverse of the blowing

apparatus used by founders. The cloth being passed quickly between the flame and the aperture, the air rushes through it with considerable force to supply the vacuum in the chamber, and causes the flame to impinge on the surface with power sufficient to destroy the loose fibres, without injuring in the least the texture of the cloth. The process has in this respect a great superiority over the old method of singeing on a red-bot iron, which required very great care and dexterity on the part of the workmen to avoid damaging the goods. In the present method, scarcely any thing is left to the care of the workmen; the machine does every thing except presenting the end of a fresh piece. In quiltings, in corded, checked, or striped muslins, and other goods of which one part of the surface is raised above the rest, the new method possesses a very great advantage over the old.

An easily procured substitute for a chalybeate spring has been discovered by Dr. Hare, in America. If several pieces of silver coins, and several pieces of thin iron plate cut to the same size, be done up alternately in a pile, and secured in this state by a string lapped and tied round them, leaving the ends of the string loose, as the means of lifting up this pile; then, if into a jug of clean water this pile be inserted, and left for an hour or two, the water will acquire as strong a chalybeate taste, as that of many springs medicinally resorted to.

F. I. W. Needham, of David-street, Middlesex, for an improved method of casting steel. Oct. 7.

W. Foreman, Esq of Bath, for improvements in the construction of steam-engines. Oct. 7.

F. Benecke, of Deptlord, and D. T. Shears and J. H. Shears, of Fleet-market, for improvements in the making, preparing, or producing, of spelter or zinc. Communicated to thein by a foreigner. Oct. 7. P. Alejre, of Kerez-de-la-Frontera, in Spain, now residing at Caleb-place, Commercial-road, for an improved and more economical method of genera ting steain, applicable to steam engines, and other useful purposes. October 7, 1824.

H. Jeffreys, of Bristol, for an improved flue or chimney for furnaces and other purposes. Oct. 7. R. Dickinson, of Southwark ; for improvements in the manuracture and construction of metal casks or barrels, tor the conveyance of goods and products by sea or otherwise. October 7, 1824.

F. Richman, of Great Pulteney-street, Goldensquare; for improvements in the construction of fire escapes; parts of which improvements are hkewise applicable to other purposes. October 7.

S. Wilson, of Streatham; for improvements in machinery for making velvets and other cut-works. Communicated to him by certain foreigners residing abroad. October 7, 1824

J. tlam, of West Coker; for an improved proces for manufacturing vinegar. October 7, 1824.

M. Bush, of West Hani, Essex; or improvements in machinery or apparatus for printuig cali coes and other fabrics. October 7. 1824.

J, Shaw, of Milltown, Derbyshire; tor transverse spring slides for trumpets, trombones, French horus, bugles, and every other musical instrument of the like nature. October 7, 1821,

J. T. Hodgson, of Lambeth; for improvements in the construction and manufacture of shoes, or substitutes for shoes, for horses and other cattle, and method of applying the same to the feet. October 7, 1824.

P. Chell, of Kensington; for improvements on machinery for drawing, 1oving, and spinning, flax, wool, waste silk, or other fibrous substances. October 14, 1824.

J. G. Bodmer, of Oxford.street, Manchester; for improvements in the machinery for cleaning, carding, drawing, roving, and spinning of cotton and wool. October 14, 1824.

J. Gunn, of Hart-street, Grosvenor-square; for improvements on wheeled carriages. October 14, 1824.

W. P. Weise, of Tooley-street, Surrey; for improvements in the preparing of, and making, waterproof cluth, and other material, for the manufac taring hats, bonnets, and caps, and wearing apparel, and in manufacturing the same therefrom. October 14, 1824.

H. Marriott, of Fleet street; for an improvement on water-closets. October 14, 1824.

J. Feltow, of Manchester, Lancashire, weaver; for improvements in power-loonis, for weaving various articles. October 14, 1824.

H. Maudslay and J. Field, of Lambeth; for a method and apparatus for continually changing the water used in boilers for generating steam, particularly applicable to the boilers of steam-vessels making long voyages, by preventing the deposition of sait or other substances contained in the water, at the same time retaining the heat, saving fuel, and rendering the boiler more lasting. Oc tober 14, 1824.