136 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



of a second, who seeing the moon shine through a small hole in the 

 wall, attempted to light his candle at it ; and, another that fell down 

 drunk in the street, and when the people attempted t D help him up, 

 exclaimed, " What, can I not be quiet in my own room ?" 



DRY-ROT. This is a term applied to a rapid decay of any vege- 

 table matter, when it has the appearance of being tolerably dry, but, 

 in general, is applied only to timber when in that state, and is so 

 named in contradistinction to the common mode of decay, by being 

 exposed to the alternate states of wet and dry. There are a great 

 many causes for this species of decay some are quite simple, others 

 are very complicated ; yet, whatever may be the original cause, 

 simple or compound, the effects are the same, namely, to render the 

 timber useless, by destroying its elasticity and toughness, rendering it 

 insufficient to resist any considerable pressure, and, indeed, for any of 

 the useful purposes to which timber is applied. When timber is in a 

 tolerably dry state, any means which will absorb or extract its oxygen 

 from the other component parts will leave it in the state commonly 

 called dry rotten. Moist, warm situations, with little or no current 

 of air, are the most likely to generate this evil. The effluvia from 

 timber in such a state of decay will rapidly carry its effects to the 

 circumjacent timber, however dry it may appear; and any sort of 

 timber will be, in a vry little time, rendered quite useless. 



There are no means of restoring rotten timber to a sound state, 

 and the dry rot can only be cured by remof ing the decayed and 

 affected parts, clearing all the fungi, and destroying its vegetating 

 principle, with which the hard materials such as bricks or stone, 

 may have been impregnated. For this purpose a strong solution of 

 iron, copper, or zinc, is used with advantage. This, with the admis- 

 sion of a large quantity of air, is very advantageous. Many persons 

 kave written on the subject ; and the nostrums proposed are as 

 numerous as their authors. But no means of checking the evil can 

 be depended upon, except that of removing the corrupted and con- 

 tagious matter, and admitting a free circulation of air. Much also 

 may be done by cutting timber in winter, and properly seasoning it, 

 by steeping it in water for some time, and thoroughly drying it before 

 it is used in building. 



DUCK. A very extensive and natural genus of birds is repre- 

 sented by this name. They are known in all parts of the world. It 

 has been divided by naturalists into an infinity of genera ; to such a 

 degree, indeed, that, according to some of the distinctions which have 

 been made, it would be impossible to leave the females of several 

 species in the same genus with the males. We have thirty-one 

 species of this interesting genus, inhabiting Nr r th America, being 

 within one of the number found in Europe of nese twenty-om are 

 common to both countries, leaving ten pecul: .r to America, and 

 eleven to Europe. 



