210 



(liiod, and ground; three times a week, morning and evening, a hand- 

 ful of this nettle dust is mixed with the oats, in consequence of which 

 tlie horses are said to become fleshy and sleek, and their hair to grow 

 nnusually long, and to assume a remarkablj^ beautiful, silky luster. 



CooLij^'G OF BROODED EGGS. — Au inquiry is made of the German 

 Poultry Journal whether eggs brooded upon and allowed to become cold 

 cau be hatched ; in reply to which it is stated that, from extensive ob- 

 servation, it has been shown that eggs which have remained cold for 

 two days or more may even then be successfully brooded, and that the 

 nearer to the period of the escape of the young, the longer may this 

 cooliug last. It is, however, necessary that at least half of the brood- 

 ing })eriod be passed, as, if eggs are left too long in the first half of the 

 period, especially if this is repeated many times, the embryo will, in al- 

 most every instance, die. In the second half of the period the chick is 

 already so far formed that a prolonged cooling is not especially injurious 

 to it. It is also established that eggs thus cooled require a longer time 

 than usual to come to maturity. 



Draen^ing with fascines.. — The choking up of clay drain-pipes, 

 especially when used to carry water containing iron in solution, (from 

 which the oxide of iron is precipitated,) has frequently caused great dif- 

 ficulty in keeping up a proper drainage ; and, in view of this fact, the 

 propriety of adoptiug the old method of using fascines, or bundles of 

 wicker-work, has been urgently recommended. For this purpose a 

 coarse wicker-work, made of alder or willow, is to be loosely plaited 

 together into a tube of about ten inches in diameter, braced by cross- 

 pieces at intervals of two feet. A number of these are to be united 

 into a continuous tube, and laid in the ditches prepared for their rece|)tiou. 

 Sod is then to be laid on the top, with the grass side down, and the trench 

 filled with earth. In this way a very cheap system of drainage is ob- 

 tained, which will remain for a long time without filling up ; while 

 earthen-ware tubes do not answer their purpose for more than six or 

 eight years. The use of the wicker-work has the additional advantage 

 of allowing the air to i^enetrate upward through the soil, thereby in- 

 creasing its productive properties. 



Effect of trees on climate, (JMalta.) — Much has been said in 

 the work of Mr. George P. Marsh, entitled " Man and Nature," and by 

 many other writers, of the influences exerted by man upon the physical 

 condition of the earth and the atmosphere, and deserved stress has 

 been laid upon the important part played by trees in all phenomena 

 connected with the amelioration of climates and the restoration or 

 increase of rain-fall, and the diminution in the number and the intense 

 severity of inundations, «&c. Mr. Buchan, a well-known meteorolo- 

 gist of Edinburgh, has lately made a report to the scientific society of 

 that city in regard to certain measures about being introduced by the 

 Governor of Malta for replanting the island with trees, in which he re- 

 marks that tlie characteristic features of the climate of that island are 

 the cold northerly winds of the winter, and the excessive heat of sum- 

 mer, with a great scarcity of water throughout the Avhole year. The 

 entire absence of trees on the island was thought to intensify and in- 

 crease thes??, extremes, and it was believed that by securing an abundant 

 covering of forests much could be done for the amelioration of the cli- 

 mate. Mr. I^uchan, in reference to the general theory of such ameli- 

 oration, states that while the highest temperature of the air o(;curs in 

 summer between 2 and 3 o'clock p. m., the change in the trees is very 



