colic. A spirituous liquor is drawn from cyder by distillation, in the same way as brandy from wine. The particular flavour of this spirit is not the most agreeable, but it may be purified and made wholly insipid. The traders in spirituous liquors are too well acquainted with the value of this spirit, as they can give it the taste of other kinds, and sell it under their names without any danger of detection. There is, also, a wine called cyder wine, made from the juice of apples taken from the press and boiled, and which, being kept three or four years, is said to resemble Rhenish. See more on this subject in T.T. for 1817, p. 305.

All sorts of apple-trees are propagated by grafting or budding upon the stocks of the same kind, for they will not take upon any other sort of fruit tree. The method of growing them from the seed is to procure the kernels: where they are pressed for verjuice or cyder, they are cleared from the pulp, and sown half an inch deep in a bed of light earth. This should be done in December, and they will appear in the spring.

APRICOT (prunus armeniacus). The apricottree rises to the height of twenty feet, with a spreading head. The stem is large, and so are the branches, which are covered with a smooth bark. The leaves are large, broad, and almost round, but pointed at the ends, and finely indented about the edges; and the flowers are white. It is not certain of what country this tree is a native. The fruit is highly esteemed. There are seven sorts, which are-1. The Masculine apricot, which is the first that becomes ripe; it is a small roundish fruit of a red colour towards the sun: as it ripens, the colour fades to a greenish yellow on the other side; it has a very quick high flavour. The tree is very apt to be covered with flowers, which are often destroyed by coming out too

early in the spring. 2. The Orange apricot is the next ripe; it is much larger than the former, and as it ripens changes to a deep yellow colour. The flesh being dry and not high flavoured, it is better for tarts and preserving than for eating raw. 3. The Algier apricot comes next into season. This kind is of an oval shape, a little compressed on the sides; it turns to a pale yellow or straw colour when ripe; the flesh is high flavoured and very full of juice. 4. The Roman apricot ripens next. It is larger than the Algier, and not so much compressed on the sides; the colour is deeper, and the flesh is not so moist as the former. 5. The Turket apricot is still larger than either of the former, and of a globular form. The colour is deeper and the flesh firmer, but not so juicy. 6. The Breda apricot came originally from Africa. It is a large roundish fruit: the flesh is soft, juicy, and of a deep orange colour within. This is the best apricot we have; when ripened on a standard, it exceeds all other kinds. 7. The Brussels apricot is the last ripe of all the kinds; for when planted against a wall it is seldom fit to eat before the beginning of August, unless the wall has a southern aspect, which spoils its flavour, but this is prejudical to the fruit. Many persons prefer the Brussels to the Breda apricot, but the latter is certainly the most juicy, and has the best flavour when planted as a standard. All the sorts should be planted against walls facing the

east or west.

FEBRUARY.

SOME etymologists derive February from Februa, an epithet given to Juno, as the goddess of purification; while others attribute the origin of the name to Februa, a feast held by the Romans

in this month, in behalf of the manes of the deceased. The Saxons named February sprout-kele, on account of the sprouts of the cole-wort which began to appear in this month.

Remarkable Days

In FEBRUARY 1819.

*I. 1684.-ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON died. He was in his 71st year, having been born at London in 1613, although educated at the University of Edinburgh, where his talents were not more conspicuous than his piety and humble temper. He had been accustomed to express a wish that he might die from home, and at an inn; and his desire was literally gratified, for he closed his long and exemplary life at the Bell, in Warwick Lane, London, far away from his relatives, whose distress, if present at so awful a period, he thought, might too greatly discompose his mind. Dr. Doddridge speaks of him as one of the most eminently devout and pious writers his age has produced:-his works are a treasure to the English language. They continually overflow with love to God, and breathe a heart entirely transformed by the gospel, above the views of every thing but pleasing Him.

2.-PURIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN

MARY.

This festival is of high antiquity, and the antient christians observed it by using a great number of lights; in remembrance, as it is supposed, of our blessed Saviour's being declared by Simeon to be a light to lighten the Gentiles; hence the name of Candlemas Day. This practice continued in England till the second year of Edward the Sixth, when Archbishop Cranmer forbade it by order of the then privy-council. The

Greeks call this festival Hypante, which signifies the meeting, because Simeon and Anna met our Lord in the Temple on this day. It is called

Christ's Presentation,' the Holiday of Saint Simeon,' and, in the north of England, the Wives' Feast-Day.'-See T. T. for 1814, p. 28, and for 1815, p. 43.

PORTUGUESE HYMN to the VIRGIN MARY.
[By John Leyden.]

Star of the wide and pathless sea,
Who lov'st on mariners to shine,
These votive garments wet to thee,
We hang within thy holy shrine.
When o'er us flushed the surging brine,
Amid the warring waters tost,

We called no other name but thine,
And hoped, when other hope was lost,
Ave Maris Stella!

Star of the vast and howling main,
When dark and lone is all the sky,
And mountain-waves o'er ocean's plain
Erect their stormy heads on high;
When virgins for their true loves sigh,
And raise their weeping eyes to thee,
The star of Ocean heeds their cry,
And saves the foundering bark at sen.
Ave Maris Stella!

Star of the dark and stormy sea,
When wrecking tempests round us rave,
Thy gentle virgin form we see

Bright rising o'er the hoary wave.
The howling storms that seem to crave
Their victims, sink in music sweet;
The surging seas recede to pave
The path beneath thy glistening feet,
Ave Maris Stella!

Star of the desert waters wild,
Who pitying hears the seaman's cry
The God of mercy, as a child,

On that chaste bosom loves to lie;
While soft the chorus of the sky
Their hymns of tender mercy sing,
And angel voices name on high
The mother of the heavenly king,
Ave Maris Stella!

He was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, and suffered martyrdom in 316, under the persecution of Licinius, by command of Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia and the Lesser Armenia. His festival is kept a holiday in the Greek church on the 11th of February. In the holy wars his relics were dispersed over the west, and his veneration was propagated by many miraculous cures, especially of sore throats. He is the principal patron of the commonwealth of Ragusa. No other reason than the great devotion of the people to this celebrated martyr of the church, seems to have given occasion to the woolcombers to choose him the titular patron of their profession; and his D