POISONS OF THE FARMER'S LIFE. 13 



SOME OF THE POISOIS'S OF THE 

 FARMER'S LIFE. 



From an Address before the Hampshire Agricultural Society. 



BY EDWARD HITCHCOCK. 



In our cold and variable climate, specially acting upon 

 our acutely nervous temperaments, we are quite sure to secure 

 animal and artificial heat enough, even if we do it at the 

 expense of purity of the air. If we sleep cold, Ave are sure to 

 wake and pull on an extra blanket. If Ave are too cool when 

 we sit down in our houses, the first thing is to shut the win- 

 dow. And the patient lungs will endure a wonderful amount 

 of this abuse. Though they fill and empty better when the 

 air has its proper amount of pure oxygen, yet they will pump 

 on harder and harder when the purity of the air is more or 

 less diminished, for they must do their part to supply the 

 necessary waste. In this centennial year it is proper to 

 praise anything that is old. Then, I say, Hurrah for the old- 

 fashioned fireplace, with its big blaze of flame and coals ! 

 Hurrah for the plenty of fresh air which it compelled in every 

 house ! Are we to suppose that the young or old people in 

 1775 suflTered any more in their persons from the cold, or 

 were obliged to dress any warmer, than we do now ? For 

 the purer and more plentiful the air, the greater the animal 

 heat. 



Not farmers only, but most other people, nowadays, make 

 their houses as close from air as possible, build smaller chim- 

 neys, put a red-hot furnace in the cellar, stop up every hole, 

 and have now got to the Yale lock, where there is not even a 

 key-hole for the air to escape or enter ; and with a little 

 eifeminacy, the result of increasing luxury everywhere, and 



