SILK-WORMS.

One of the most active and distinguished of the members of the Society of Acclimation, M. Guerin Meneville, who has been especially interested in the introduction of new silk-worms into France, has just succeeded in acclimating one from China, where it lives in the varnish tree, (Aylanthus Glandulosa.) The species is the true Bombyx Cynthia, known for centuries in China, where its silk clothes the people. The color of the silk made by this worm is a fine flax-gray; and clothes made of it are not injured by the rain, or oil, and wear long.

Now that the introduction of the silk-worm into France is accomplished, attention is turned to the extension of it industrially; and GUERIN MENEVILLE proposes for this end the making of plantations of Aylanthus, a tree that is easily produced on poor soil; then to place the worms upon them in the spring that were hatched in the month of May, and let them eat the leaves. Care is required to preserve them from the birds, and this is proposed, according to the custom in China, by invalid workmen incapable of other work. At the end of June the first crop may be gathered, and a second in August. The cocoons for reproduction should be preserved until the next May, which requires, as with other species of silk-worm, special care in the winter.

THE SPICE CROP.

From our new contemporary at Penang, the Argus, says a Singapore paper, we regret to learn that the death of nutmeg trees is still going on to such an alarming extent, that it is calculated there will not be a single nutmeg tree left in the island in the course of ten years hence." We much regret to observe that this painful conclusion coincides with that we expressed with reference to Singapore some weeks since. On the part of the government, everything has been done that suggested itself, to avert the evil of which the Straits planters complain. Dr. OXLEY was deputed to proceed to the Moluccas in order to procure seedlings and nuts of the true stock, the expense of his mission being chiefly borne by the government of India, the new stock being supplied at the lowest possible rate. Unfortunately, notwithstanding Dr. OXLEY's mission, the disease has widely increased, to such an extent as to threaten the annihilation of the important spices ntmegs and mace, so that speculators are not much disposed to enter upon the culture in the face of certain loss. The large nutmeg plantations belonging to Dr. OXLEY and Mr. PRINSEP exist only in the name, the ground being laid out for building purposes, and such nutmeg trees as remain being retained as ornamental trees. Singapore, like Penang, will in a few years be without nutmeg trees, leaving this branch of the spice trade almost entirely in the hands of our Dutch neighbors.

THE SYRIAN GRAIN.

The Agricultural Bureau of the United States Patent-office have sent off a mber of the specimens of grain obtained from Syrian products to bight southern agricultural societies for trial. The grains sent were such as would not grow in northern latitudes.

COLORS AS INDICATIVE OF BREED.

Some persons are inclined to give the preference to the darker colors, from the fact that among animals generally the lighter the skin the weaker the energy. Lord BACON seems to have entertained the same idea, when he asserted white to be the color of defect. In some respects white may be regarded as denoting debility. Renewed skin generally produces white hair, and grays become gradually lighter as they advance in years. The most esteemed as well as the most common colors are the bay, gray, brown, black, and chestnut. Some breeds maintain a peculiar and uniform tint. The Flanders horse is usually black.

AGRICULTURE IN KENTUCKY.

The Assesors of the State of Kentucky have made an interesting return of the agricultural industry of that State. The sums total of all the counties are as follows:

The aggregate values of these several articles, at the point of production, are

The increased production of leading staples of the State of Kentucky, in the year 1859, as compared with 1849, shows important changes, the article of hemp being the only one that shows lessened production, viz. :-

This return of the quantity of corn produced is amazing, if accurate. There is an apparent increase of seven-fold, and if the return is to be depended on, Kentucky alone produced last year two-thirds as much as the whole Union in 1849, and 6,000,000 bushels more than the whole Union produced in 1840.

STATISTICS OF POPULATION, &c.

STATISTICS OF LIFE.

Do you wish to know how long you are to live? Tables have been prepared with exceeding accuracy, showing the probable duration of human life, stating the chances from birth to the age of one hundred years. These tables are made by taking an average of authentic records of births and deaths, which records have been kept in different countries, elimates, and conditions.

Here follows a table, made in France about a hundred years ago, recording only to the age of eighty-five. The first column states the age, and the second the number of years which a person at that age will probably live :

Some interesting facts are deducible from these data. It will be seen that every human being at birth has a prospect of living eight years, while a child one year old has a prospect of living thirty-three years. This shows how important is maternal care during the first year. A man of twenty years may expect to live but thirty-three years and five months, while one at thirty years may expect to live twenty-eight years. By this table it appears that the age at which one may probably hope for the longest duration of life is that of seven. A child at that age may expect to live forty-two years and three months. This is the highest number in the table.

It further appears that at the age of twelve or thirteen a human being has lived one-quarter of his life, because he cannot legitimately expect to live but

about thirty-eight years more. He who has reached his twenty-eighth or ninth year has lived half his days, because he has but the same number remaining. He of fifty years has spent three-quarters of his life, because he has only sixteen or seventeen years to hope for.

Tables of longevity made in late years differ somewhat from the above, and are used by Life Insurance Companies in America and Europe with great confidence.

Here follows the table used now extensively in this country. If we compare it with the one made a hundred years ago in France, we shall find (to use the office phrase) that "life is better" in this country than in France :

These tables are made by including all the inhabitants of a State or city. If they should be made by counting only the intemperate, licentious, and idle, then the chances of prolonging life would be at least thirty per cent less; and if they should be made by counting only the industrious, temperate, and good, then the chances would be thirty per cent more.

POPULATION OF VIRGINIA.

The report of the State Auditor of Virginia contains a summary of the population of the State in 1859, as follows, as compared with the previous re

The proportion of slaves in the State is now 31 per cent; in 1850 it was 33 per cent; in 1840 it was 36 per cent; in 1830 it was 39 per cent; in 1820 40 per cent; in 1810 41 per cent. Thus, although slaves have increased since 1810, 118,636 in number, the proportion they bear to the whole population has fallen 10 per cent.

The total population is probably larger than is shown above. In making his estimates the Auditor was governed by the returns of the Commissioners of Revenue, which are not generally to be relied upon for accuracy, as will be seen by an examination of the county tables. Take the city of Richmond as an

illustration. The number of white males over 21 years assessed by the State officer, is 1,674 less than by the city officer, for the same year; and so again the State officer finds 220 slaves less than the city officer in the same year. In passing, we may further remark that, to say the very least. gross carelessness is manifest in the returns made to the Auditor by many of the commissioners. We might point out a hundred or more instances, but will now name only one, as an illustration of the general omission of commissioners on subjects of taxation The increase of population in the whole State since 1850, is :— Whites....

Slaves.

Free Negroes.

Total increase...

193,118

22 per cent gain.

The relative increase of the four districts is reported as follows:

NATIVITIES-POPULATION OF BOSTON AND NEW YORK.

The United States census of 1850, and the State censuses of New York and of Massachusetts, gives the means of comparing the population of the two cities according to nativities, and the results are as follows:

In Boston, owing to the great facilities for "spreading " the population into the surrounding towns, there seems to have been a positive decrease in the numbers of native-born citizens, with a large increase in the Irish element. In New York, a similar cause has operated to reduce the per cent of native increase while the proportion of increase is by far the largest in the German element. The number of immigrants who arrived, in New York mostly, in the period mentioned, was 1,893,000 persons, showing how large a proportion pass into the interior.

MEN MONKEYS OF MALACCA-THEIR MODE OF LIFE, MARRIAGE, CUSTOMS, ETC. A correspondent of the Boston Traveller writes from Shanghae an interesting account of the habits of the Jakoons, a barbarous people who inhabit the interior of Malacca. Their language and features are unlike those of the Malays proper, of whom they are also politically independent. They have no history, having been found by the early Portuguese voyagers in the country in which they still reside. They are called the Orang-Benner, or "men of the great country;" the Orang-Hutang, or " men of the forests;" the Orang-Semang, or "black men ;" the Jakoons and the Kaiats. Oran is the Malay word for man; and Utan or Hutang