ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 139 



These are experiments upon very small plants. The vast 

 amount of surface presented by a large tree must give off 

 immense quantities of moisture. The practical bearings of 

 this fact of vegetable exhalation are not a few. Wet for 

 est-lands, by being cleared of timber, become dry; and 

 streams, fed from such sources, become almost extinct as 

 civilization encroaches on wild woods. The excessive damp 

 ness of crowded gardens is not singular, and still less is it 

 strange that dwellings covered with vines, whose windows 

 are choked with shrubs, and whose roof is overhung with 

 branches of trees, should be intolerably damp ; and when 

 the good housewife is scrubbing, scouring and brushing, 

 and nevertheless, marvelling that her house is so infested 

 with mold, she hardly suspects that her troubles would be 

 more easily removed by the axe or saw, than by all her 

 cloths and brushes. A house should never be closely sur 

 rounded with shrubs. A free circulation of air should be 

 maintained all about it, and shade-trees so disposed as to 

 leave large openings for the light and sun to enter. Un 

 usual rains in any season produce so great a dampness in our 

 residences that no one can fail to notice its effect, both on 

 the health of the occupants, and upon the beauty and good 

 condition of their household substance. 



THE following method to destroy weeds is pursued at the 

 mint in Paris, with good effect: 10 gallons water, 20 Ibs. 

 quicklime and 2 Ibs. flowers of sulphur are to be boiled in an 

 iron vessel ; after settling, the clear part is thrown off and 

 used when needed. Care must be taken, for if it will 

 destroy weeds it will just as certainly destroy edgings and 

 border flowers if sprinkled on them. Weeds, thus treated, 

 will disappear for several years. 



