men were a family of Stephens's, who, for more than a century, astonished the world, both with their acquirements and the magnificent specimens of typography issued from their press. In the year 1557, one of them, Henry Stephens, published a large number of editions of ancient authors; and his "Thesaurus" of the Greek, remains to this day the great lexicon of the language. Robert, (another brother,) is distinguished for his very beautiful edition of the New TesThe following account is given of him by his biogra

tament.

phers.

"He received only such compositors into his printing-office as were conversant with the Greek and Latin languages. His workmen, in and about the office, were obliged to speak Latin. His wife and daughter understood this language thoroughly, and assisted him in carrying his directions into effect, so that, throughout his whole house and printing establishment, from the bureau of business to the kitchen, nothing was heard but the Latin tongue. He usually employed the proof-readers all from foreign countries, who spoke the various languages which they corrected. The zeal of this early and learned printer for study, for maintaining the honor and dignity of the press, and for the public good in general, is worthy of the highest commendation; and his character in this respect is worthy of imita tion by all the members of the craft.

666

The glory of the house of Stephens was shared by five successive generations,' first in Paris, and afterwards at Geneva, in Switzerland. "

Mr. Walter, of the London Times, was the first who applied the power of steam to the operations of the press. As early as 1804, an ingenious compositor, named Thomas Martyn, had invented a self-acting machine for working the press, and had produced a model which was very satisfactory. In the completion of his work he was much exposed to the hostility of the pressmen, who vowed vengeance against this threatened destruction to their craft. In consequence of their bitter opposition it became necessary to introduce the various pieces of the machine into the premises with the utmost possible secrecy. An English paper thus speaks of the extent of this opposition, and the agency of Mr. Walter in carrying forward the project, in spite of it.

"To such a length was their opposition carried, that it was found necessary to introduce the various pieces of the machine into the premises with the utmost possible secrecy, while Martyn was obliged to shelter himself under various disguises in order to escape their fury. Mr. Walter, however, was not yet permitted to reap the fruits of his enterprise. On the very eve of success, he was doomed to bitter disappointment. He had exhausted his own funds in the attempt, and his father, who had hitherto assisted him, became disheartened, and refused him any further aid. The project was therefore for the time abandoned.

Mr. Walter, however, was not the man to be deterred from what he had once resolved to do.

He gave his mind incessantly to the subject, and courted aid from all quarters with his usual confidence. In the year 1814, he was induced by a clerical friend, in whose judgment he confided, to make a fresh experiment, and, accordingly, the machinery of the amiable and ingenious Koning, assisted by his young friend Bauer, was introduced-not, indeed, at first into the Times office, but into the adjoining premises, such caution being thought necessary, from the threatened violence of the pressmen. Here the work advanced, under the frequent inspection and advice of the friend alluded to. At one period these two able mechanics suspended their anxious toil, and left the premises in disgust. After the lapse, however, of about three days, the same gentleman discovered their retreat, induced them to return, showed them, to their surprise, their difficulty conquered,

and the work still in progress. The night on which this curious machine was first brought into use in its new abode, was one of great anxiety and even alarm. The suspicious pressmen had threatened destruction to any one whose inventions might suspend their employment-" destruction to him and his traps."-They were directed to wait for expected news from the Continent. It was about six o'clock in the morning when Mr. Walter went into the press-room and astonished its occupants by telling them that "the Times was already printed by steam!That, if they attempted violence, there was a force ready to suppress it; but that if they were peaceable, their wages should be continued to every one of them till similar employment could be procured-a promise which was, no doubt, faithfully performed; and, having so said, he distributed several copies among them. Thus was this most hazardous enterprise undertaken and successfully carried through, and printing by steam on an almost gigantic scale given to the world.

"Mr. Walter died in the midst of the General Election, on the 28th of July last, and the respect in which his memory was held, was shown by a circumstance almost without a parallel in Parliamentary history. The electors of Nottingham, on the day after his decease, without canvass or preparation, returned his son, Mr. J. Walter, to the House of Commons, by an immense majority."

We now enjoy in abundance the results of the mighty enterprise of these great discoverers, and have reason to be grateful that we live in an age in which science and art combine, without opposition, to give strength and permanency to our institutions. Every day brings us intelligence of some new invention, or the novel application of some old and long-established theory, to the production of almost inconceivable wonders of art and mechanism. Labor-saving machines are the order of the day; and the utmost extent of human ingenuity is taxed for the invention of more and more, till we can almost anticipate the period when manual labor in many departments of industry may be entirely dispensed with. But the printer is too important a member of the business community to have his usefulness set aside by the multiplication of type-setting and press working machines, which are always liable to error, and to get out of repair. A good printer regards a single typographical error an indelible stain upon his reputation. In fact, we are told of one who deliberately committed suicide because a turned letter. happened to be found in his matter. So long as the world jogs on, and society advances, the printer will always be among its class of useful citizens. And when he shall have filled up the measure of his days, and a small space of earth shall alone enclose his outer form, an imposing stone will mark the spot where rest his mortal remains, inscribed, like that of the immortal Franklin

Art. IV. PRODUCTION OF RICE IN LOUISIANA.

SIR, It was with much pleasure that I perused an article upon the subject of Rice, in one of your numbers; a product that has latterly been diminishing, I think, in this state, the lands being bought up for the perhaps more lucrative crop of sugar. Though not quite so heavy in its gross amount as our two great staples, yet not an inconsiderable portion of our large parish, (Plaquemines,) and other parts of the state, are devoted to its production. This crop is more to be valued, as it is within the reach of the middling and poorer classes, giving to them a neat and comfortable support, and to many, a handsome revenue. But little capital is required in its cultivation, and it constitutes a particularly healthy food in damp southern latitudes. The consumption of it is immense; and from having been used a short time past in this county as a luxury, it is now to be found on all well-arranged tables in the Union.

In regarding the expensive and laborious works of a South Carolina rice plantation, one accustomed to the manner of its cultivation here, cannot but be struck with the very small difference in the yield, and the vast difference in labor. The quality, however, is different. South Carolina rice commands from one-half to three-fourths of a cent here more than Louisiana. This arises from two causes-the Louisiana rice not being as white, and the grains being more broken than the Carolina. Both of these faults, I believe, can be remedied by cultivation and improvements of machinery. I hoped to have seen in your article on the subject, the reason that some rice breaks more in cleaning than others. The difference in whiteness, I am aware, proceeds from the inferior manner of preparing it for market. Can you not point out the means of remedying the former defect, which must proceed from the culture? These are the two objectionable things against Creole or Louisiana rice. It is, however, much sweeter, and not so apt to get musty as the imported. I have heard exactly opposite reasons given by the planters here for the first of these faults. Certainly the improvement of a crop so important to a large number of the inhabitants of our state, tending to the division of our farming labors, a result most anxiously to be desired, from the low prices of both sugar and cotton, should occupy most particular attention.

The rice crop, from the great care with which it is made here, the extreme richness of the land, the adaptation of the climate to it, and perhaps it may be, the enervated habits of the people generally, has never been fostered or reduced to a science, as in other countries, where the soils are poorer and climate worse. I have conversed with many intelligent South Carolina planters and managers of planta

We have published several valuable papers upon Rice in our back volumes, and beg to call attention to them. The one in Vol. I.. is the most elaborate yet published in the United States, and is from the pen of Mr. Allston, of South Caro lina, a practical man, and an extensive planter. We invite information upon this subject from the rice planters.-[Editor.

tions, and they all agree, that the land is suitable and climate proper, to vie here with Carolina, in both quantity and quality. There is this difference in favor of the cultivation of rice in Louisiana, on the borders of our rivers and tributaries:-It is well known that in Carolina, on the rice plantations, the water used is tide water, with little or no current, and the swamps large; that the water lies on large districts, sometimes drawn off, at others let on, leaving great fields, subject to the influence of a burning sun, creating malaria, and engendering the worst kind of disease, insomuch, that the planters yearly leave the country for the cities, where smoke and fires, or some other causes, seem to dispel the evil.

Such is not the case here. It is a well-known fact, that the rice plantations, both as regards whites and blacks, are more healthy than the sugar and cotton. From what cause does this arise, has been often asked by many? With the same hot sun and climate, and occupying a district of thirty to forty miles on both sides of the river, with but two or three sugar plantations, at long distances, there exists almost one undivided rice-field, making on an average about thirty thousand barrels of clean rice yearly, and overflowing the whole country around them, except a few front acres, generally appropriated to corn and potatoes. There can be but one cause for its health. The fall of the land is abrupt to the bayous and lakes behind, and the sea being near, at the time the Mississippi is high the rice is at the watering stage, and the water here not being taken off at all, is kept constantly running from the river back, preventing the back water from ever becoming stagnant, and carrying off, with the rapidity of its current, the vegetable matter that in decomposing causes malaria. The water, too, being drawn off at so late a date, the land does not dry sufficiently early to cause decomposition, before the cooler and stormy months come on and disperse it. Most certain it is, that no country so thickly settled in southern latitudes as the rice planting part of the Parish of Plaquemines, has a greater amount of healthy people and fine children. Why is not more attention paid to the improvement of the cultivation and manufacture of this valuable and lucrative staple?

The rice planters, as a body, generally consist of those who have but small farms, not wealthy, and hitherto almost entirely uneducated, and unable, from the smallness of their means, to vary their crops from their general routine; and not having the capital to put up sufficiently valuable machinery, and to properly prepare their crops for market, nor yet to get out more than ten to twelve barrels a day, they have never progressed since their commencement. This, too, while our other staples have advanced beyond the most sanguine expectations; having, at this present moment, we may say, stocked the whole world.

The common system of rice-planting here, is to begin in February to dig out the ditches, which, in a farm of four acres front on the river, consists of one ditch, four feet wide or more, four to five feet deep, running from the river to the swamp, with a dam or gate behind, at right angles, to this main ditch. At every half-acre is a

two-foot cross ditch, with a bank behind it to confine the water about a foot high, or more. At the back of the field is a four-foot ditch running parallel with the river, with a high bank on the outside to completely dam in the field, with a flood-gate opening behind to gauge the height of water. When March arrives, all the ditches having been opened, they commence ploughing, mud or not, rain or sunshine, if the oxen can go through it. There are generally six oxen, two drivers, and one to guide the plough. The work is, generally, where the land is dry, well and neatly done, with the old Roman plough, by us called the French sock plough, the best in the world for stiff land. I have tried such land successively with the centre draft of Jacob's, Cary, and others, none of which could equal this with the same team.

The planters sow and harrow in the rice in succession, as they can generally water the back cuts first, being lower than the front; and in the early part of the season, the river is not high enough to water any but the back, which covers up first, and is ready sooner for the water. The rice is sown broad-cast, about three-fourths of a barrel to an acre. I have often seen the planters harrow it in with oxen, knee-deep in mud. As soon as the back rice comes up, they put on a little water, just leaving the heads out, to check the weeds and grass; and from this time out it is kept in water, always leaving the heads out until ripe for cutting, at which time all the water is drawn off, or a little before. When the rice comes up, the weeds and grass also appear; the grass is kept under by water, but not so the weeds, and a kind of grass having a thousand seeds, that sometimes takes almost entire possession of the fields. These have to be carefully eradicated with the hand, pulling them up frequently, knee-deep in water. The process produces disagreeable effects on the legs, but is avoided by greasing them before going in, in the morning. The hands weed about one quarter to one-third of an acre per day, and sometimes one-half or more, as the weeds are more or less bad, thick pulling them up by the roots, which readily yield. So quick is the vegetation of rice, that one weeding is enough; but from the slowless of the operation, the last part of the crop is very full of weeds before they can get to it, and sometimes should the water fall too soon, it is much injured by being choked by them. Here is, I think, one of the faults of the cultivation by the present mode. I will presently point out the mode of avoiding this disaster. The crop being finished, and the weeds taken out from the rice, they spend a short time preparing latania strips from the woods, to tie up the bundles, which they do in the field as it is dried. This is generally in July or August, when a man or two is hired to assist, and then, with the cycle, the rice is cut down very neatly, about one-half to three-quarters of an acre a day, as it may be, better or worse, standing or blown down. It dries one day in the sun. It is then tied in bundles, and put in small stacks in the field convenient to the cutters, without stack-poles. The grain is turned inside and the stem outside. When all is cut down and stacked in three small stacks, they arrange their