used them against Jerusalem. From Babylon the | were three kinds of battering rams; one, acting Tyrians learned its use, when the same monarch upon rollers, as represented in the foregoing cut; besieged that city, and from them it is probable the Romans obtained their knowledge of it. The name is derived from the manner of its use, representing the butting of a ram.

There

another suspended, like a scalebeam, by cables or chains, in a frame of strong timber; and another used by manual exertion alone, without suspension or other contrivance.

Suspended Battering Ram. From Grose's Military Antiquities.

The first was worked with more precision and longitude one hundred and eight degrees fiftyforce, but with greater labor; the second was five minutes west, which is almost at the head of was worked very easily and powerfully, and the the waters that flow from the north into Hudson's third was used only for demolishing weak ob- Bay. In no part of the journey was the presence jects. Josephus says, that at the siege of Jerusa- of the officers more requisite to animate and enlem many of the Roman rams were destroyed by courage the crews, because the river itself is fire being thrown upon them from above; others forty miles, as scarcely to admit of a flat-bottomusually so shallow through its whole course of were rendered almost powerless by sacks of wooled bateau floating with half its cargo, much less being let down to oppose their blows, and large our boats, which drew, when loaded, from eighmasses of rocks were thrown upon them, in many instances breaking off the heads.

We shall conclude the whole subject in the next number, by a literary and graphic illustration of various kinds of standards used among the ancients, including those of the twelve tribes

of Israel.

CANADIAN VOYAGEURS.

THE Wood-cut opposite represents voyageurs of Sir John Franklin's canoe, on his journey to the Polar Sea, taken from Captain Basil Hall's sketches. The following extract shows the mode of travelling through the fur country.

"The boats of the expedition," says Sir John Franklin, in his 'Second Journey to the shores of the Polar sea,' "had advanced from Hudson's Bay into the interior twelve hundred miles before they were joined by the officers; while the latter, from taking a more circuitous route by New York and Canada, travelled two thousand and eight hundred miles to reach the same point. This junction took place early in the morning of the twenty-ninth of June, 1825, in the Methye River, latitude fifty-six degrees ten minutes north,

teen to twenty inches. This river and its impediments being surmounted, the Methye Portage ten miles and three quarters long, was at no great distance which is always held up to the inexperienced voyageur as the most laborious part of the journey. But whatever apprehension the men might have entertained on this subject, seemed to vanish on our landing among them; and Dr. Richardson and myself were received by all with cheerful, delighted countenances, and by none more warmly than by our excellent friend and former interpreter Augustus the Esquimaux, and Ooligbuck, whom he had brought from Churchill as his companion. A breakfast was quickly prepared by Mr. Fraser, a clerk of the Hudson's Bay Company, under whose charge the boats had been since their departure from Cumberland House; and I then inspected the boats and stores, which I was rejoiced to find were in good order. We had brought letters from the relatives of several of the party, and another hour was allowed to read them.

"At ten in the forenoon we began to ascend the stream, but very soon found that it was necessary for the whole party to walk in the water, and drag the boats through the mud. Nor could we long advance even by this mode, but were compelled either to carry some of the cargo along the shore, where walking was at all prac

Canadian Voyageurs. From Captain Basil Hall's North American Sketches.

ticable, or else to take half the lading in a boat to a part where the river was deeper, and then return for the remainder. From thus travelling the distance twice over, it was the fifth day before we reached the lake from whence its waters flow.

"On the evening of the thirtieth of June, we witnessed one of those violent but momentary gusts of wind which occur not unfrequently in the spring and autumn, and which prove so destructive to the forests in this country. It was preceded by calm and very sultry weather, with loud thunder and vivid lightning. In an instant the tents were overthrown, and even very large trees were bent by its force into a horizontal position; indeed, for a few seconds, the scene around us appeared one of almost entire devastation. When the violence of the squall was past, we had great reason to be pleased at its occurrence, for the strong steady breeze and heavy rain that succeeded carried away the myriads of moschetoes by which we had been tormented the whole day.

the boats. The packages amounted to one hundred and sixteen, weighing from seventy to ninety pounds each, exclusive of the three boats and the men's personal luggage; and there were nineteen men of the boats' crews, two Canadians, and two boys, to carry these burdens. At first the packages were equally distributed among this party: but several of the men, who had been reduced by their previous exertions, became lame; among these were the Esquimaux, and we were, therefore, compelled to make other arrangements, and ultimately to employ the crew of my canoe, though the great fatigue they had suffered in our rapid journey from Canada, made me desirous of sparing them for the present.

"The boats were the heaviest and most difficult articles to transport; one of the small boats was carried on the shoulders of eight men, of whom Mr. Fraser undertook to be one, as an example to the rest. Another of the same size was dragged by eight men; and the largest was conveyed on a truck made for the purpose on the "Having crossed the Methye Lake, we arri- spot, to which service the lame were attached. ved at the portage of that name. Here it was "Each day's journey, and also the intermediate necessary to make an equal division of the car-stages, were determined by the places where goes, and to devise means for the conveyance of water could be procured, and our mode of travelVOL. 1V.-59

ing was as follows:-rising at three, forenoon, the, a meal of deer's flesh. As one of the party, sev men carried a part of their burden to the first eral of whom followed, was watching an opportu stage, and continued to go backward and for-nity to fire, the prisoner called out, "Tirez! tirez! ward till all was deposited. They then slept mon cher frère, si tu m'aimes. A la tête! à la for a few hours, and in the cool of the evening tête!" (Fire, fire, my dear friend, if you love me, the boats were brought up. By these means every-at the head, the head!) The bear was according thing was ready at the western end of the por- ly shot over the right temple, and was quickly tage early on Monday the eleventh of July. afterward despatched with a couteau de chasse, "With reference to the Methye Portage I may or hunting knife. The liberated voyageur escaped remark, that except the steep hill at its western without injury, except an ugly scratch over the extremity, the road is good and tolerably level, face. and it appeared that much fatigue and suffering might have been spared by using trucks. Accordingly, two were made by our carpenters at Fort Chipewyan in 1827, for the return of the expedi tion, and they answered extremely well. I mention this circumstance in the hope that some such expedition will be adopted by the traders for the relief of their voyageurs, who have twice in every year to pass over this ridge of hills.”

The next extract is from the narrative of Captain Back's more recent expedition to the Arctic Sea in 1833-5. It is short; and refers to a source of annoyance which diminishes greatly the pleasure of the brief summer in the fur country-the myriads of moschetoes and sand flies.

"There is certainly no form of wretchedness among those to which the chequered life of a voyageur is exposed, at once so great and so humiliating as the torture inflicted by those puny bloodsuckers. To avoid them is impossible; and as for defending himself, though for a time he may go on crushing by thousands, he cannot long maintain the unequal conflict so that at last, subdued by pain and fatigue, he throws himself in despair with his face to the earth, and half suffocated in his blanket, groans away a few hours of sleepless rest."

RURAL ECONOMY.

RURAL LIFE.

THE most beautiful sight in England is the cottages of the poor, where taste and industry display their mutual results.

And here let us observe, that it costs no more to build a residence in good than in bad taste, and that our country friends err in not thinking a little more of this than they do. In England there are elaborate and carefully written books containing plans and estimates of cottages that cost from three hundred dollars to fifty thousand!-from an edifice of one room and bedroom to those of the greatest dimensions. We have run too much into the Grecian style for comfort; we forget that high columns and lofty colonnades give neither the shelter in winter nor the shade in summer which our climate demands. Blinds, porches lattice-work, large and low piazzas, are much bet ter adapted to our use than the Grecian fane, and when properly combined, afford the most beautiful and picturesque form, while they are also infinitely more comfortable.

Dr. Richardson relates another anecdote illustrative of the daring and ferocity of the grisly bear :Our villages and farm-houses might be made "A party of voyageurs, who had been employ- to be very striking and elegant in their appeared all day in tracking a canoe up the Saskatche-ance without costing as much as the ill-designed wan, had seated themselves in the twilight by a and often comfortless dwellings, which meet the fire, and were busy in preparing their supper, eye at every turn.

when a large grisly bear sprang over the canoe In the country, then, so far as the desire of that was tilted behind them, and seizing one of comfortable or elegant residences actuate our the party by the shoulder, carried him off. The minds, we may find "ample room and verge rest fled in terror, with the exception of a man enough" for its gratification. In the gratification named Bourasso, who grasping his gun, follow- of the taste for good and wholesome fare, surely, ed the bear as it was retreating leisurely with even the gourmand must admit the country preits prey. He called to his unfortunate com- eminent. Everything may be had fresh and pure. rade, that he was afraid of hitting him if he fired What flour, what butter, what eggs, what proat the bear, but the latter entreated him to fire visions of all kinds repay the cares of industry. without hesitation, as the bear was squeezing him How healthful the table of the independent farto death. On this he took a deliberate aim, and mer or mechanic! Why, the jaded appetite of discharged his piece into the body of the bear, the resident in town revives at the very thought who instantly dropped its prey to pursue Bouras- of these luxuries of the country. so. He escaped with difficulty, and the bear ultimately retreated to a thicket, where it is supposed to have died; but the curiosity of the party not being a match for their fears, the fact of its decease was not ascertained. The man who was rescued had his arm fractured, and was otherwise severely bitten, but finally recovered."

Ross Cox tells a similar story: the bear in this instance seized a voyageur from a group of ten Canadians seated round a blazing fire, enjoying

But how much more than this may be attained. A seed dropped here and there, slips from the nosegay replanted, a specimen of some shrub or some fruit-tree, springs up almost without a thought to repay the slightest attention of the horticulturist, the aboriculturist or the florist.

What choice vegetables, what rare plants, what beautiful flowers may be the trophies of any one in the country, who will devote the smallest leisure to their cultivation.

Persons who once become interested in this pursuit, find themselves surrounded by immeasurable enjoyment. Those only of enthusiastic minds have within a few years abandoned all other concerns to cultivate this neglected field, and the discoveries of science aiding them in their task, they have become real benefactors to their race, as well as true friends to their own interests. Any one-almost the poorest person, ay in this way reap the pleasures which nature nies to those whose shade is the awning of a usty street, and whose groves are but stacks of chimneys.

FRUIT TREES.

THE following improved method of preventing canker-worms and other insects from ascending trees, is the invention of Jonathan Dennis, jr., of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

would yield beets enough to keep ten cows from the first of November till the first of May, should not every farmer make his arrangement for planting beets this spring? From our own experience, we have no doubt, that this addition of beets to the ordinary feed of the cows, makes a weekly difference of two pounds each, in their product of butter. From the first of November to the first of May there are twenty-six weeks. This number of weeks at two pounds' additional butter, gives us fifty-two pounds, for each cow during the period named, or five hundred and twenty pounds, for the ten cows; and if we set down the butter as being worth twenty-five cents per pound, it will give us one hundred and thirty dollars as the value of additional yield brought about by the feeding with the product of an acre in, beets. But this is not all. The proprietor of the cows, in the spring, would have the gratification to know, that he had treated his animals well, and the satisfaction of seeing them in good condition. Baltimore Farmer and Gardener.

GARDEN FRUIT.

This apparatus consists of a circular metal trough and roof, made of one entire piece of metal; it is generally made of lead, and bent so as to conALMOST every farmer that has even a small garform to the shape of the tree, den attached to his premises, is pretty sure to and the ends soldered together have a lot of currant, and perhaps gooseberry so as to make a trough com- bushes growing in the margins-the very place, pletely round the tree with a by the way, where they should not be set out; roof over it; it is made so but did they never think that there are other large as to leave an inch be- bushes, which, with about as little trouble, will tween the trough and the tree, produce them as good, and even better fruit? which will allow the tree to Let them, for instance, set out two or three dozen grow several years. The space of the White Antwerp Raspberry bushes. They between the trough and the require but little more care than common curranttree is filled with hay, straw-bushes; and they yield a large and beautiful fruit, husks, cotton, waste tow, sea- to be eaten from the bushes, or to be sat as a desweed, or any substance that sert upon the table. We venture also to recomis easily compressed by the mend, sanguinely, the Thimbleberry, or black growth of the tree. The Raspberry, which may be found wild in many troughs should have a little right whale-oil, that places in this state. When cultivated in gardens costs forty cents per gallon, put into them three they grow very large, and are as sweet as the times in a year, five gallons was found sufficient nicest tooth could desire. The bushes, too, make for one hundred and fifteen trees for a year, and an ornamental appearance. The dark red and some of the trees were very large, and it kept polished stalks rise from three to six feet from the the worms down so completely that it was diffi- earth, and then bend over in graceful circles to cult to find one upon the trees. This trough is the ground; on coming in contact with which, put on at the small expense of fifty cents for a the end inserts itself in the soil, takes new root, tree, one foot through, and a very small crop of and sends up a young shoot for fruit the next apples will pay the expense of putting on, and year. They make an elegant appearance in the they will last several years without being made garden and in front yards, and the abundance of larger, and when the tree has grown so as to fill the space that was left between the trough and the tree, the trough can be cut open, and a piece put in to make it larger so as to answer for several years more, and when the lead is taken off, it will be worth two thirds as much as it was when it was put on.

fruit which they produce is astonishing. From twenty or thirty sets we have in our garden, we dare say we gathered bushels-in the plural number-last year. Mixed with a little cream and sugar, they present upon the table a dish that would do honor to the most exalted guest.

TO DRIVE BUGS FROM VINES. SUGAR-BEET FOR MILCH COWS. THE ravages of the yellow-striped bugs on cuAN intelligent gentleman from the eastward as-cumbers and melons may be effectually prevented sured us a few days ago, that by giving his cows by sifting charcoal-dust over the plants. If rea peck of sugar-beet twice a day, cut up with peated two or three times, the plants will be entheir hay, he was enabled to get just as rich milk tirely free of annoyance. There is in charcoal during the winter, as in summer, when the pasture some property so obnoxious to these troublesome is at its best. Now, as an acre of ground well insects, that they fly from it the instant it is apmanured, planted in this root, and well attended, plied.

Muse with a Lyre of improved form; taken from a Grecian bas-relief. STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.