THE NAVAL FIGHT AT NEW ORLEANS

Otago Witness, Issue 537, 15 March 1862, Page 7

THE NAVAL FIGHT AT NEW ORLEANS

Tkue Veksion oe the Afjfaik,

The following is the only account of the attack upon the blockading &qu;ulroa off New Orleans, by Commander Huliins, of Groyto'.vn notoriety, from loyal sources, uhich,ha<? )et" come to hand: — The bteamship M'CVlKuul arrived at Past, a l'Outre early on the mornimr of October 12, from Fort Piekens, with de»patoiu\s from Colonel Broivn and Captain Powell, ihi'Jt-oificer at Poit Pickeiis, the purport of which, as reported to m. «as to order one or more of the uien-of:war to Pickons to assist in tho proposed bomUudinem of the Navy Yard. At half-past t-eveu p.m., the CapUin heard gum firing up the Pass, and socm after picked up a boat containing a Dr. Bradford and two men, who were on their way up to New Orleans, as they said, under a geneial permission from Captain Pope, of the Richmond, f<>r all the inhabitants along the Pass to go freely to the city. As, he had no written vouchers, however, he was detained as a prisoner. Arrived at the head of the pass, Captain Grey ascertained that the fleet had been attacked by the battering ram Mana^us, the armed .steamship Star of the West, with other anued steamers and a lone: line of fire ships. As there were 125 barrels of powder and 50,000 dollars in money on board the M'Clollan, the captain thought that if the enemy Irul driven off the fleet, it would be folly forlii-u to" keep on, and accordingly turned about and headed down the Pass. When the rebel'? saw the '" M'Clelhn" .iijj>roaehing, they ceased firing at the stranded hhips and made for him — throe of their vess-els turning into another Pass to cut off his retreat, he escaped, however, over the bar, and entering the Southward Pav<, wont alongside the " Richmond " and delivered the guns and ammunition which he had brought to Capt. Pope. The " Richmond " was fast ashore, as well as the " Vincennes " aud "Nightingale." He then went to the " Vinceiuies. " made fast, and tried for two hours to haul her off jerking out the bitts of tho M'Clellan, but without succeeding in the attempt. He then returned to the Richmond, and by seven oV-loek he got her safely out and aciws the bar. He thon made fast again to the Vincennes with the United States' stf-ainer South Carolina, at the other side, and after working three hours and a half, the two succeeded in getting her off. An attempt to get oiF the Nijrhtinpale"was not successful, but it was thought when Captain Grey left next morning for Fort Pickens that she would ho got off by the steamers of the fleet. Tho whole amount of damage done to our vessels was very trilling, and not only were no lives lost, but not a man in cithor ship was injured. Tin- attempt of the rebels to burn and sink our fleet wns au entire failure, ami they did not even succeed in destroying the stores of lumber for the fortifications which our troops have commenced at the iiead of the Passes.— Northern Paper JJJi»»iJ«t.iu.'i*;iiWßi'E*jiv,iutfL'JUitii»'.^'iMßaßaaaaajaaaAJiu»iijpgai

Cunious Medicinal Plasts.— The last number of the Bulletin do la Soc'wte d' Acelimatation contains two papers of some interest in a medical point of view. Tlie first relates to the well kuown plant Ginsene:, to which the Chinese iisoribo most extraordinary invigorating powers, and of which they had the monopoly, until it was discovered in Canada by Father Lafitau, in 1718. This plant possesses tho crift of longevity to a high degree, some of its roots being ascertained to have lived'upwards of a century. They look like turnips, their flesh is white, but becomes yellowNh with age. The fruit is not us >d in China; the lews "iske an excellent infusion, much resembling that of tea; thoy have also a gool smell aud flavor when smoked like touavco. The' root is a good febrifuge in casts of chronic fever; and, accordIng to the Chinese, there is no end to it.s virtues. It cures pleurisy, vomiting, hysterics, vertigo, &c, aud prolongs life. Ginsong is not easily reared from sued, a circumstance which render-) it ixtivindv rare. The other plant mentioned in the Bullntin is the "Emilia rigedula" (Decandoile), which is much used in Guiana as a tonic and anti-chlorotic. The seeds of this plant have been sent over by T.I. Michely, who states it to be so powerful as to distance all other bitters. It is cultivated in trardeus like lettuce, to which it boars a great resemblance, and it should be eaten like salad, slightly seasoned -\\ith oil, salt, and -vinegar, about an hour before meals, or else fasting. For this purpose it must first be properly picked and cut. M. Michely relates two serious cases cured by this plant.

A Nr\v Speciks of Hye.— A new specirs of rye, indigenous to California, and remarkable for the I \rgpne<v=, plumpness, and beauty of its grain, has been exhibited in Washington. Air Isaac Newton, the newly appointed Superintendent of the Agricultural Bureau, connected with tho Department of tlie Interior, has receiver) a small supply of the jyrain, and will distribute it among the farmers in different parts of the country. Its yield h said to be very great, reaehinir even, on poor land, lifty bushels to the acre. — Boston Journal.

Pacts por Farmkus.— Stilton Che?:&b.— A Mr Augustus A. F. Greaves writes to the Yeoman in the following strain respecting the manufacture of the real stilton :— Put together a nieal of the morning's milk and a meal of tho night's cream, previously just warinod in a little of the night's milk. Add the rennet, and when the curd is formed, take it out carefully with a skimming dish ; break it as little as possible ; put it in a strainer cloth, laid upon a sieve ; gather and tie it up gradually t-> drain the whey from it. When the curd m firm cut it across to see if" any more whey will come oft", always handling gently, and disturbing and cutting as little as may be. By ni^'ht (when it will be quite drained) cut the curd in thin slices three times the thickness of a crown piece, and lay the slices within a hoop (.vithoufc a strainer) in lajers, with uare, and salting well each layer. An empty fig-drum, to be got at any grocer's, makes a capital hoop, and when it is filled with the curd, lay the damper (or lid made a little too small) upon it. Next inoi-niiijr put a 2 lb. weight upon it, but do not press it down. Next morning turn it up»idc down, putting- of course the damper and the weight oa the top, and thus turn it nitrht and morning until it begins to stick to the hoop. When this is the ease, take it out, and iill the holes you fii d on the outside, by working round the cheese with a knife (as a glazier smoothes his, putty), so as to make it as smooth as possible. Bandage it round with a broad piece of linen, and put apiece of linen al~o to top and bottom. Change the linen pvery day, and if it becomes wet, iuoiv frequently. When the cheese gets a coat upon it, discontinue the bandaging, but lay some linen well over it to keep the flie-i off, and set it in a cool pla.-e, so as not to dry too quickly. Onsen c, in formine; the cheeso, to sort it well, or it will bo good for nothing. I always tell people to try and over-salt it. It requires to remain in the mould or hoop about a week or ten days. You will sen no complex or costly apparatus is required :— a two-p:)iiud weight for a press ; an empty ngdrum for a mould : aud any place fit to keep mem. fur a dairy. Yr>t the product is thr- most delicious and esteemed cheeses, and fetches the highest prices iii the market It can hardly be bought wholesale in the great Midland cherse-mart, yclept Nottingham Goose-fair under eighteen-pence a pound. It is a cheese which rarely is imported here, not only from the demand of it ut home, but because by the time it gets here it has become, by it.s inherentVichness, so tar " gone" as to be past eating. Yet it may be produced here in the greatest perfection. Some of the bess .Stilton I ever ate, I made with my own hands, at what way then my cattle station, at Mount Eliza, where tlie township of Franckstone is now. This receint was pioeured from a celebrated Leicestershire diury, and 1 have endeavoured to explain the process, so that one who never made a cheese before may be able to do so.

Product op Mn.cn Cows.— A dairyman somewhas noted for producing a large amount of cheese Annually from his dairy, said to the editor of the Dairy Fanner, in a recent conversation, that one of the secrets of his success in this respect was the careful manner in which he treated his herd. His cows were driven to the stables leisurely. No dogs were used for the purpose of driving the cows, and pei sons in his employ who were caught striking or in any way abusing a cow were discharged on the instant. Let the cows have an abnndauce of food, and take their time in coming to the barn, especially in hot weather, milk clean and regularly, from fifty to an hundred poands more cheese can be made per cow, during the season, than when tho animals are dogged out of the fields night and morning, or kicked and pounded and frightened for every little mistake they are supposed to make. Some people make a great mistake in overstalking, and too little attention is given to the treatment of stock, summer and winter. Tho dairyman should consider a momeut whether 30 cows, yielding COOlbs. of cheese per cow, are not as profitable as 40 cows whose annual product is 4001bs. per cow. The same treatment holas good in a butter dairy as well as cheese

Since the great scarcity of cotton, Parisian milliner have been charging 50 and 70, jand as much as 82 per cent, extra for padding. If the scarcity should continue, It will be frightful to contemplate upon the thousands and thousands af French beauties that will be pinched by the want of it during the coming winter. ■--•--