(JO THE FARMER AT HOME. 



from its color, it retains the solar heat better thai when in its former 

 state. Paring and burning is also destructive of all foul seeds, and of 

 all insects, unless their habitation lies beneath the turf. In this 

 case, the ashes not unfrequently destroy or drive them away. The 

 ashes so made are sometimes mixed with lime and vegetable or animal 

 manures, in the manner of composts, and then applied to the soil with 

 great effect. 



BUSHEL. In the time of Henry VIIL, it was ordained that the 

 imperial bushel, which is the standard adopted in this country, should 

 contain eight gallons, or thirty-two quarts, and that, according to the 

 statute, each gallon was to contain eight pounds of wheat, troy weight, 

 or twelve ounces, and each ounce was to contain sixty-four kernels 

 growing in the middle of the ear. Accordingly, our common half- 

 bushel measure, to hold sixteen quarts, is thirteen and a-half inches 

 in diameter, and seven and three-quarters of an inch in depth. To 

 show the importance of a strict conformity to this size, or an equivalent 

 one, it is easily seen that with a diminished one in selling, and an 

 increased one in buying, there will be a very considerable injustice to 

 the suffering party. For instance, if the measure is only seven inches 

 and five-eights, instead of seven and three-quarters, there will be the 

 difference of a pint in every bushel. So if the depth is increased to 

 seven-eights instead of three-quarters of an inch over seven inches, the 

 half-bushel measure will hold a pint too much. Hence, the honest 

 farmer, in buying or selling, should look well to the size of his half- 

 bushel measure. Even if the bottom of it is rounded or warped up in 

 the centre three-sixteenths of an inch, it will hold not enough by half 

 a pint ; and if the stick used on the top to remove the surplus grain 

 were to be crooked three-sixteenths of an inch, it would make about 

 half a pint difference in each measure. 



BUTTER. Is too well known to need description ; it is merely 

 the oleous portion of milk, first separated in the shape of cream, and 

 afterwards still further detached from its aqueous particles, or butter- 

 milk, by agitation either by the hand or other motion, called churn- 

 ing. Butter is used chiefly in temperate climates ; in the south of 

 Europe, and many other places, olive oil is used for similar purposes. 

 The Dutch introduced butter into the East Indies. The Romans 

 used butter no otherwise than as a medicine, never as food. Pliny 

 says that among the barbarous nations it was a delicate dish. The 

 Greeks had not an early knowledge of butter. Their poets, though 

 they make frequent mention of milk and cheese, never mention butter. 

 Cl. Alexandrinus observes, that the ancient Christians of Egypt burnt 

 butter in their lamps at their altars instead of oil ; and the Abys- 

 sinians, according to Godinus, still retain a practice much like it. 

 Good butter is one of the most wholesome and nutritious of the animal 

 fats ; it is necessary, however, that it should be *aten in moderate quan- 



