Segar Machine

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We extract the following from the London Mechanics' Magazine ;?— "A paragraph has been going the round of the provincial papers, stating that M. Prae-torius, of Berlin, has ' constructed' a machine for making segars, and that it rolls out 5,000 segars a day, and economises both tobacco and manual labor. Upon the admitted principle that * honor should be given to whom honor is due,' it is only right to state that the paragraph in question is not quite correct. It is true that M. Praetorius, of Berlin, possesses such a machine, and that it combines all ths useful qualities attributed to it; but it was from Liverpool that it was obtained. America claims, and is entitled to, the honor of the invention; but, many years ago, a Liverpool firm, James Steel & Co., 78 Duke street, purchased the patent, and subsequently made considerable improvements in its construction and working. The patent has many years yet to run, and it is still in the hands of the house just mentioned, who have the exclusive right of using it or permitting its use in the United Kingdom. M. Praetorius, of Berlin, purchased his machine from a firm in Hamburg, to whom Messrs. Steel & Co. had sold it, and it has since been patented for the kingdom of Prussia, There can be no doubt of the ingenuity and value of the machine ; but while a foreign manufacturer only buys it, he must not be allowed to steal the honor of construction from England, or invention from America." MISSOURI WINE.—In Missouri there is a German colony occupying nearly a whole county, where the vine is the principal object of culture. The vintage this year is reported to have been remarkably successful, and the yield will be about 100,000 barrels of wine.

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