S32 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



In building a new bouse, or remodelling an old one, tbc upper rooms — tlie 

 cbambers et^pecially, vben practicable — sbould be so arranged tbat tlie truu 

 ehould shine into tliem as much as possible to give the light and dryness and 

 cheeifulness which so much contribute to the healthfulness of a chamber, and 

 the lively, cheerful temper of those who occupy them. All farm-houses should 

 be arranged, as far as possible, so that the rooms which are most generally oc- 

 cupied should have most of the sun during the day. It is too often the case 

 that the parlor, the company room, is the largest, lightest, and best room in the 

 building; this j'arlor is barricaded with curtains, window shutters, and closed 

 doors, except when there is "comjmny," which will, perhaps, average not a 

 dozen half days in the year; the remainder of the time all its sweetness is 



" Wasted iu the desert air." 



By all means let the best room in the house be enjoyed every day by the 

 members of the family ; give the room which is largest and lightest to your own 

 wife and children all the time, instead of saving it for other people for a dozen 

 hours in the year. Besides, such a room, almost always closed up, is a positive 

 injury to every person who enters it ; for, in winter, it has a pernicious " close- 

 ness" about it, while in summer there is a mustiness and dampness, often a 

 " chilliness," present, which makes it feel almost sepulchral the moment it is 

 entered. 



HOUSE-WALLS. 



Wall-papers, like carpets, are the inventions of laziness and filth ; they con- 

 ceal dirt and noisomeness of every description. The milk-white floors and white- 

 plastered walls of olden time have almost entirely disappeared, to the great 

 detriment of family purity and personal health. It is greatly to be regretted 

 that this is the case to the extent that it is. White-plastered walls can be kept 

 clean for a number of years ; the lime in them has the effect to purify them. 

 Next to this the painted wall, covered well with a suitable varnish ; for it can 

 be readily washed without injury, and is easily kept free of dust. In cases 

 where walls must be papered, if for the first time, there are two important pre- 

 cautions : use no paper which has a green color, especially a " fuzzy green," 

 which is composed of arsenic, and is capable of causing convulsions and fatal 

 disease in a single night. Children have been taken extremely ill after playing 

 a few hours in a small room covered with paper which had considerable green- 

 colored patterns on it. Care should be taken that the paste should be fresh, 

 and put on equally and thin, and that any holes in the wall should be filled up 

 with plaster. A tidy room in a certain dwelling was appropriated 1o lodgers. 

 It was noticed, after a time, that as certainly as a person slept in that room a 

 single night, severe sickness next day was the I'esult. The authorities ordered 

 an investigation, when it was found that a depression in the wall had been filled 

 up by one of the workmen by gathering up a bucketful of pieces of paper and 

 some remnants of paste to make them adhere. After a time decomposition 

 began to take place, giving out emanations of the most poisonous character ; and 

 for this reason, if any wall of plaster or of wooden partition is to be papered or 

 repapered it should be thoroughly cleaned first, then made smooth; every par- 

 ticle of old paper should be removed. 



The way in which the smallest amount of money can be made to go farthest 

 on a farm, morally and pecuniarily, is by investing it in lime and white lead. 

 Filth, dirt, darkness, and untidiness, always and inevitably degrade those who 

 dwell among tliom. Cleanliness purifies and elevates. If white-wash is used, 

 it should be applied every year to whatever is exposed to wind and weather; 

 that Avhich is, perhaps, the cheapest, most durable, and most generally available, 

 is made thus: one ounce of white vitriol — that is, sulphate of zinc — and three 

 ounces of common salt to every four pounds of fresh lime, which is lime not 



