430 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



another nap. Whoever shall accustom himself inus to rise, will enjoy 

 more undisturbed sleep during the night, and awake far more re- 

 freshed, than those who indolently slumber all the morning. 



TIN. This is a white soft metal, softer than silver and harder 

 than lead. The native oxide, is the principal ore of tin which is 

 found in Spain, Saxony, France, the East Indies, and South America ; 

 and in Cornwall and Devonshire, whence the greatest part of the tin 

 consumed in Europe is procured. Camden supposes the abundance 

 in these two provinces to have given the name Britain to the whole 

 country. In the Syriac language varatanac signifies land of tin, from 

 which Bochart derives the name Britain. The principal properties 

 of tin are, that it is very flexible, next to lead in softness, and the 

 most fusible of all the common metals, except mercury. It is of great 

 use for coating the inside of copper vessels for culinary purposes ; but 

 as thus it constitutes only an imperfect protection from the poisonous 

 qualities of the copper, it is much better applied on thin sheets of iron, 

 forming what are called tin plates, of which the tin ware, now 

 chiefly used for the common purposes of the kitchen, is made. 



TOAD. A harmless but unsightly amphibious animal; very 

 tenacious of life, and believed when enclosed in stones and trees to be 

 able to exist for many centuries ; being torpid during the winter, they 

 creep into crevices and sometimes become enclosed by petrifaction or 

 concretions. They live on small worms and insects, and are great 

 enemies of wasps. The Pipa or Surinam toad is larger than our toad 

 and more ugly ; but its young grow in cells on its back from eggs to 

 tadpoles, and then to perfect toads in large numbers. Toads are fre- 

 quently esteemed a kind of nuisance on one's premises ; and, truly 

 they are not very comely to the sight. Yet, it would be difficult to 

 tell of any injury ever done ]y them. On the contrary it is affirmed 

 that in gardens they are of great service in destroying the vermin 

 there, oftentimes so annoying and destructive to tender plants. Some 

 gardeners have been known to collect all the toads they can obtain to 

 be thus employed. 



TOBACCO. A plant greatly in use, which was first found 

 among the natives of America. In the year 1534, James C artier, a 

 Frenchman, was commissioned to explore the coasts of North America, 

 with a view to find a place for a colony. He observed that the na- 

 tives of Canada used the leaves of an herb which they preserved in 

 pouches made of skins, and smoked in stone pipes. It being very 

 offensive to the French, they took none of it with them on their 

 return. Ralph Lane, at his return in 1586, carried it first into 

 Europe ; and Sir Walter Raleigh, who was a man of gaiety and 

 fashion, not only learned the use of it himself, but introduced it into 

 the polite circles. It is related that a servant of Sir Walter, bringing 

 a tankard of ale into his study as he was smoking his pipe and read- 

 ing, was so alarmed at the appearance of srnoke issuing out of his 



