g the meat more tender! The throat
is not attempted to be cut till after the infliction of this torture,
horrible even to think of, which instantly causes the most convulsive
agonies, such as are never seen in death of any other kind.

Lord Somerville's mode of _pithing_ animals, brought forward with
the most humane views, is a _horrible operation_. The body is
deprived of sensation, _while the living head rolls its eye in agony
on its tormentors_.--_Sir Everard Home_.

* * * * *

USEFUL DOMESTIC HINTS.

* * * * *

APPLES.

The preservation of apples is now brought to great perfection, by
keeping them in jars secure from the action of air; but there is one
method of preparing them for culinary purposes which is not practised in
this country. Any good baking sort, which is liable to rot, if peeled
and cut into slices about the thickness of one-sixth of an inch, and
dried in the sun, or in a slow oven, till sufficiently desiccated, may
be afterwards kept in boxes in a dry place for a considerable time, and
only require to be soaked in water for an hour or two before using.

At a recent meeting of the Horticultural Society, a large collection of
the best late varieties of the apple, as grown in America, were
exhibited. It was a remarkable circumstance, that, while these fruits
are unusually handsome, none of them, except the New-town pippin, were,
although sweet and pleasant, comparable to our fine European apples; and
yet the New-town pippin, the only good variety, is as much superior to
any variety of apple known in Europe as the others were inferior.

* * * * *

BLACK DYE AND INK.

The following is a process for the preparation of a black dye, for which
a patent was taken out at Vienna by M. Honig:--Logwood is to be boiled
several times in water, and a little sub-carbonate of potash to be added
to the decoctions, the quantity being so moderated that it shall not
change the colour to blue; the stuff to be dyed is then to be plunged
into this bath. This stuff may be either animal or vegetable. When it is
well impregnated with colouring matter, it is to be withdrawn, and,
without being exposed to air, is to be introduced into a solution of
green-vitriol, and left there until it has obtained the desired black
hue. In preparing the _ink_, the decoction of logwood is used in
place of the infusion of galls.