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In process of time, Mr FERGUSON attained so much celebrity for his scientific knowledge, mechanical inventions, and discoveries, that he was admitted to read lectures be fore the King, from whom he obtained a pension, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society without paying the admission fees, or the annual subscriptions.

ECONOMICAL RECEIPTS.

Substitute for Hemp and Flax.

S hemp and flax (lint) is now very high-priced, if the public would turn their attention to the Urtica Dioica (common nettle), an excellent hemp might be obtained from it, by cutting it just before the seed is ripe, and steeping it in water as they do hemp or flax and manufacturing it in the

same way.

Other uses of the Common Nettle.

THE root of the plant is esteemed to be diuretic, and the roots, boiled with allum, will dye yarn a yellow colour. It is likewise used by making a strong decoction of the young : plant, and salt put to it, and bottled up, which will coagulate milk, and make it very agreeable; by which means that plant, which is an obnoxious weed, might be turned to good ac

* count.

USEFUL INFORMATION.

ACCIDENTS FROM FIRE.

To Extinguish Fires speedily, before they have got to a great height..

MUCH mischief arises from want of a little presence of mind on these alarming occasions; a small quantity of water, well and immediately, applied, will frequently obviate great danger. The moment an alarm of fire is given, wet some blankets well in a bucket of water, and spread them upon the floor of the room where the fire is, and afterwanis beat out the other flames with a blanket thus wet; two or

three

three buckets of water thus used early, will answer better than hundreds applied at a later period. Linen thus wet will be useful, but will not answer so well as woollen.

This experiment seems to have been successfully tried in a late fire on board His Majesty's ship Bulwark, as appears from the following quotation from the London Courier of the 20th August last, even after the conflagration had assumed a very alarming appearance.

"A fire took place yesterday afternoon on board His Majesty's ship BULWARK, of 74 guns, lying in Cawsand Bay. It is stated to have taken place in the carpenter's cabin in the forepart of the ship, having communicated to some turpentine, and was at first so alarming that a number of men jumped overboard, but were all taken up again.

"The fire was extinguished by the means of wet blankets thrown thereon, before any material injury was done. The Abercrombie, of 74 guns, laying at anchor near her, cut her cables, fearing the ship might blow up*.'

Plymouth, 16th Aug. 1812.

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As soon as a house is discovered to be on fire, some persons should be sent for the nearest engines, and if there be none in the town or village where the fire happens, waggons should be sent for them, not only for expedition, but for safety. The utmost dispatch should be used in collecting buckets, pails, and other vessels, which will be highly useful on many accounts. The nearest and best supplies of water

should

*It may not be unacceptable to the public to be informed, that Mr HORNBLOWER, of Featherstone-street, City-road, has so modified the construction of the fire-engine, as to become a most valuable acquisition to those who are under any apprehensions of accidents by fire.

It has been proved, by experiment, that the four sides of a bedroom, all on fire, may be extinguished in the space of a minute, with little more than a pail of water. It stands in the compass of fourteen inches square, and two feet high, and may be carried from one room to another with ease; all that is required being to keep it full of water, in its properly assigned place, and to work it off every month or six weeks, to keep the water from becoming putrid, and, at the same time, to be assured that the engine is in working order.

EUROPEAN MAG, APRIL 1807.

should then be sought for, and the passages to them cleared as much as possible, that no interruption or delay may take place in the operations.

How to keep up a constant supply of Water in cases of Fire. SUPPOSING, now, all things ready, how would you sup

ply the engines? If the water were near at hand, so that they could feed themselves by means of their own leathern pipes, so far all would be well; and the buckets and other vessels would be at liberty to convey water to those places where the engines could not act, or where it might be wanted in greater quantities than they could furnish. But, if otherwise, as it is evidently of the first importance that the engines should receive a full and constant supply of water, some effectual method must be adopted for this purpose. Most people in this case, are not half so useful as they might be. Each one, filling and emptying his own bucket, or other vessel, for himself, is too much employed in running to and fro; and meeting with others in the general bustle, the greater part of the water is lost by the dashing of the vessels, and the ground is deluged with that which ought to have been applied to the quenching of the fire. Let a lane be formed, by ranging the people in a double line from the water to the engine, or to any other place where a supply is wanted, and let the men be placed on one side to hand the full buckets, &c. from one to the other, and the boys and women on the other side to convey back the empty ones. Thus a sort of regular and perpetual motion will be kept up, and the water will be most effectually supplied, not only without seonfusion or loss, but with much less fatigue than by the common disorderly method. If persons, in general, would make themselves acquainted with this simple fact, it would surely require no trouble to persuade them to act upon it from the first moment of assembling themselves together.

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The person who happens to be stationed next to the water, and who fills the buckets, ought to be careful that no loose stones or gravel be taken up with the water, as these often stop the engine, and sometimes damage it materially.

BOSWORTH'S "Accidents of Human Life."

To be continued

Work to be done in the Cottager's Garden in November.

FINISH planting Gooseberries, Currants, and flowering Shrubs. Sow more early Pease and Beans, and a few Radishes in a warm border. Plant all kinds of bulbous rooted Flowers, &c.

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EVEN NG LAY.

Be still'd, ye passions of the breast!

And own Reflection's sober power;
Be hush'd each earthly care to rest,
At circling day's departing hour:-
And let me seek the hermit path

That winds along TYNE's pebbly bed:
There let me, contemplative stray,
And muse beneath the silent shade.
Yon glorious Sun! that fast retires

And leaves the placid eve behind,
Again, with renovated powers,

Day's golden portals will unbind':
So when life's glimm'ring star shall set,
And I rest with my kindred clay,
Through CHRIST renew'd, my purer soul
Will rise to meet eternal day.

Ye antique tow'rs! ye mould'ring domes!
That by the river stately stand;...
Sublimely rising o'er the tombs,

The muse's tribute ye demand:
No more your lofty sculptur'd walls
The cheerful chime of bells resound,
No more, within your silent choir,
The organ's awful voice is found.

Banish'd

Banish'd those rites that fix the eye,

And strains that charm the fickle ear,
More sweet to Heaven the contrite sigh,
And humble praises lisp'd with fear.
O blest be God! we live to see

The age of Superstition fled:
And, Oh! by pure Religion's flame,
May still my countrymen be led.

Behold yon Sun withdraws his beams
To other climes to give the day;
And many a Pagan knee will bow
To worship his returning ray:
The Christian more exalted stands,
And lifts to Heaven his wond'ring eye,
To HIM, who bade yon circling_orbs
Perform their courses in the sky.

Fair stream! o'erhung by bush and tree,

hou too may'st claim the tribute song;
Fair TYNE! how oft my artless Lyre,
I've struck, thy imbow'ring shades among.
Now placid as the humble man,

Thou calmly wand'rest to the main;
Anon, with angry storms thou swell'st,
And wildly sweep'st the deluged plain.

O blest! O happy, is that man!

Who leaves the world, to muse on Heaven: At that enlighten'd, raptured hour,

A more than mortal feeling's given. Thus holy patriarchs roam'd of old ; At eve devoutest fervour flow'd:Thus often, often, let me stray,

And "rise from Nature up to God.”

M.

WILLIAM AND MARY;

OR, THE

UNCERTAINTY OF HUMAN ENJOYMENTE.

WILLIAM, fed his little flock,

By a burn fa's into Yarrow;

MARY, span beneath the oak,

Which grew beside their cot so narrow.

But

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