THE FARMER AT HOME. 195 



to the new chemical arrangement, the sulphate of lime. It forms 

 immense strata, composing entire mountains ; it is found in almost 

 every soil ; it is contained in the waters of the ocean, and in almost 

 all river and spring water. In these its presence is the cause of the 

 quality termed hardness, which may he known by the water being 

 incapable of forming a solution of soap, the sulphuric acid seizing on 

 the alkali of the soap, and the oil forming a compound with the lime. 

 Sulphate of lime is insipid, white, and soft to the touch. Wafer will 

 not hold a five hundredth part of it in solution. Exposed to heat it 

 appears to effervesce, which phenomenon is caused by the expulsion 

 of water. It becomes opaque, and falls into powder. This powder, 

 when its water has been driven off by the application of a red heat, 

 absorbs water rapidly, so that if it be formed into a paste with water, 

 it dries in a few minutes. In this state it is called plaster of Paris, 

 and is employed for forming casts, and for a variety of purposes in the 

 art of statuary. 



Gypsum, when used in agriculture as a manure, is ground fine in 

 mills for the purpose ; and then scattered by the hand at the rate of 

 two or three bushels per acre, and its effects on grasses are frequently 

 perceptible for three or four years. It is best strewn when the leaves 

 are wet with a light rain or heavy dew, and after the leaves of the 

 plants begin to cover the ground. Some have objected to the use of 

 gypsum, or plaster, that it produced greater crops at first, but that it 

 speedily exhausted the land, and impoverished it. Those who make 

 this objection, probably, took everything from the land, and returned 

 nothing to it, relying wholly on the plaster to keep up the fertility, a 

 course manifestly erroneous. Clover should always accompany the 

 use of plaster, and when this crop is fed off on the land, and made 

 part of the course of rotation, no deterioration, but on the contrary, 

 an increase of the grain crops has taken place. Considerable quan* 

 tities of earthy materials are usually mixed with plaster, giving it a 

 dark color, and on the proportion of these in the mass, much of the 

 value is depending. Of course that which is white is best, as the 

 dark shades are caused by some other substance, probably mere earth. 



HABITATIONS OF ANIMALS. Many animals, besides those 

 of the human species, have the faculty of constructing proper habita- 

 tions for concealing themselves, for defending themselves against the 

 attacks of their enemies, for sheltering and cherishing their young, and 

 for protecting them from the injuries of the weather. All those of the 

 same species, when not restrained by accidental causes, uniformly 

 build in the same style, and use the same materials. From this 

 general rule man is to be excepted. Possessed of superior faculties 

 and understanding, he can build in any style, and employ such 

 materials as his taste, his fancy, or the purposes for which the fabric 

 is intended, shall direct him. A cottage and a palace are equally 

 within the reach of his powers. In treating of this subject, we mean 



