64 



*^ Source of Comfort. 



Vol. IV. 



RAG-WEED. 



If you have a field on which there is a full 

 crop of this weed, have it cut down and dry 

 the weed for hay. As soon as dried stack it 

 away, and sprinkle salt between each layer, 

 in about the proportion of one peck to the 

 ton. This weed when thus cured makes a 

 most acceptable and nutritious food for cat- 

 tle and sheep, and greatly contributes towards 

 the saving of more valuable provender. 



GRASSES. 



During the early part of this month sow 

 your Tiniothij, Burnet and Rye grass seed. 



Quantity of seed. — Timothy, one peck to 

 the acre: Burnet, from sixteen to twenty 

 quarts to the acre : Rye grass, two bushels to 

 the acre. 



MANURE. 



As manure is the farmer's gold-mine, be 

 careful in adding to, and economismg yours. 

 Gather all your early potato tops, weeds of 

 every description, turf, loam, and indeed 

 every kind of vegetable offal ; let these be 

 thrown into your hog pen, where they will 

 not only contribute to the support of your 

 swine, but the latter will prepare them tor 

 your dung pile, where, after undergoing the 

 process of manipulation by your hogs, they 

 should be placed once a week, taking the pre- 

 caution of covering them carefully over with 

 earth of some kind several inches deep. By 

 attention to this, you will increase the quan- 

 tity and quality of your manure to a great ex- 

 tent, and in like proportion add to your means 

 of improving your soil the next year. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 A Source of Comfort. 



" It comes home to every man's business 

 and bosom, sticking closer to him than a bro- 

 ther, and is an article which no good farmer 

 should be without." " Ah," said his friend, 

 " I see, you mean a good wife !" " No," 

 said the farmer, " I mean flannel next the 

 skin! — the next best thing to a good wife — 

 that is an affair of the heart, and is not, we 

 see, afiected by any out outward circum- 

 stances; but all things else, I conceive, are 

 governed to a very great extent, by the gene- 

 ral influence of flannel next the shin. It 

 keeps up a state of insensible perspimtion, 

 without which, the doctors will tell you, 

 there can be no health, and without health, 

 there can be but little happiness. In this 

 remarkably ciiangeable climate, with the 

 thermometer making such plunges us al- 

 most to endanger the quicksilver tube, how 

 necessary is it that an animal so exposed to 

 its influence as man— exposure sufficient to 

 kill a hor^e— should be protected by some 

 menns from the fearful consequences ; and in 



flannel, he has exactly that protection which 

 he needs ! In very hot weather, a very thin 

 texture formed of this singular substance, 

 adds very little to the heat, but forms an im- 

 penetrable shield against the cold chills which 

 are often experienced even at the moment 

 we are complaining of the hot blasts which 

 are raging round us ; while in the severest 

 cold of winter, when a man would not turn 

 a dog out of doors, as the saying is, he walks 

 forth under about a dozen folds of this bless- 

 ing, in the form of under-shirt, waistcoat, 

 defensihles, under-coat, upper-coat, cap and 

 overalls-', grinning at the north wind, and de- 

 fying the tempest ! 



It is a most remarkable property of flannel, 

 that although it prevents the ingress of cold, 

 it seems, in a measure, to facilitate the egress 

 of heat, and is on this account admirably cal- 

 culated to form the clothing of that animal, 

 on whom alone it might be said to be found, 

 and which, without this wise ordination of 

 " Him who doeth all thi7igs well," would be 

 totally unable to move or exist in hot wea- 

 ther under a covering from four to nine niches 

 thick, of a substance which, of the texture 

 even of gauze, will enable a man to defy the 

 elements! It is truly a wonderful ordination 

 of nature, which ought to call forth, every 

 day of our lives, the sacrifice of a grateful 

 heart ! but the blessings of life, coming in tlie 

 humble guise of a flannel shirt, are very apt 

 to be overlooked — so true is it, that our great- 

 est blessings are of every day occurrence, and 

 so common that, like the air we breathe, we 

 miffht be said to respire them — too often with 

 careless and unthankfiil hearts !" 



Thus far my friend, an adjoining farmer — 

 need I add, he is the best husband, father, 

 friend and manager in the neighborhood ! 



J. A. C. 



Kingston, Ulster co. N. Y., Aug. 29, 1839. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sir, — A person from the country has in- 

 formed me, that he has a peach tree which 

 for some time had exhibited symptoms of de- 

 cay; by digging round it, and applying lime, 

 it "has leconie healthy and fruitfiil, altliough 

 he said nothing about having searched for 

 and destroyed the worms at the root. A 

 neiglibor remarked, he had found ashes good 

 for the same purpose, but the person above 

 alluded to replied, " There is nothing like 

 lime." 



Subscriber. 



Philada., August '->«, 1839. 



Useful. — It is said that the calamus or 

 sweet flag root, cut into thin slices and scnt- 

 lered among woollen cloths, will effectually 

 prevent the moths from getting among them. 



