22 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



we can no longer wonder that the immense force 

 of ice and water should carry away bridges, and 

 riee suddenly almost beyond all former example. 



THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE. 



Odd scraps for the economical. 



The ofloner carpets are shaken, the longer they 

 wear; the dirt that collects under them, grinds out 

 the threads. 



Do not have carpets swept any oftener than is ab- 

 solutely necessary. After dinner, sweep the crumbs 

 into a dusting pan with your hearth-brush; and if 

 you have been sewing, pick up the shreds by hand. 

 A carpet can be kept very neat in tins way ; and a 

 broom wears it very much. 



Buy your woollen yarn in quantities from some 

 one in the country whom you can trust (if you can- 

 not furnish yourself). The thread-stores make 

 profits upon it, of course. 



It is not well to clean brass andirons, handles, Ac. 

 with vinegar. It makes them very clean at first ; 

 but they scion spot and tarnish. Rotten-stone and 

 oil are proi>er liiaterials for cleaning brasses. If 

 wiped every morning with flannel, they will not 

 need to be cleaned half so often. 



If you happen to live in a house which has mar- 

 ble fire-places, never wash them with suds ; this de- 

 stroys the polish, in time. They should be dusted; 

 the spots taken off with a nice oiled cloth, and then 

 rubbed dry with a soft rag. 



Featliers should be very thoroughly dried before 

 they are used. For this reason they should not be 

 packed away in bags, when they are first plucked. 

 They should be laid lightly in a basket, or some- 

 thing of that kind, and stirred up often. The gar- 

 ret is the best place to drv them ; because they will 

 there be kept free from dirt and moisture : and will 

 be in no danger of being blown away. It is well 

 to put the parcels, which you may have from time 

 to time, into the oven, after you have removedyour 

 bread, and let them stand a day. 



If featlier-beds smell badly, or become heavy, 

 from want of proper preservation of the feathers, 

 or from old age, empty them and wash the feathers 

 thoroughly in a tub of suds ; spread them in your 

 garret to dry, and they will be as light and as good 

 as new. 



If you wish to preserve fine teeth, always clean 

 them thoroughly, after you have eaten your last 

 meal at night [or the first thing after rising in the 

 morning.] 



Rags should never be throv.'n away because they 

 are dirty. Mop-rags, lamp-rags, *fcc. should be 

 washed, dried, and put in the rag-bag. There is no 

 need of expending soap upon them : boil them out 

 in dirty suds, after you have done washing. 



Linen rags should be carefully saved ; for they 

 are extremely useful in sickness. If they have be- 

 come dirty and worn by cli'aning silver, &.C. wash 

 them and scrape them into lint. 



After old coats, pantaloons, &(•. have been cut 

 up for boys, and are no longer capable of being con- 

 verted into garments, cut them into strips, and em- 

 ploy the leisure moments of cliildren, or domestics, 

 in sewing and braiding theni for door-mats. 



If you ar.? troubled to get soft water for washing, 

 fill a tub or barrel, half full of aslies, and fill it up 

 with water, so that youmay have lye wheneveryou 

 want it. A gallon of strong lye put into a great ket- 

 tle of hard water will make it as soft as rain water. 

 Some people use pearlash, or potash ; but this costs 

 something, and is very apt to injure the texture of 

 the cloth. 



If you liave a strip of land, do not throw away 

 suds. Both ashei.' and suds are good manure for 

 bushes and young plants. 



When a white Navarino bonnet becomes soiled, 

 rip it to pieces, and wash it with a sponge and soft 

 water. While it is yet damp, wash it two or three 

 times with a clean sponge dipped into a strong saf- 

 fron tea, nicely strained. Repeat this till the bon- 

 net is as dark a straw color as you wish. Press it 

 on the wrong side with a warm iron, and it will look 

 like a new Leghorn. 



About the last of May, or the first of June, the 

 little millers which lay moth-eggs begin to appear. 

 Therefore brush all your woollens, and pack them 

 away in a dark place, covered with linen. Pepper, 

 red-cedar chips, tobacco, — indeed, almost any 

 strong spicy smell is good to keep moths out of 

 your chests and drawers. But nothing is so good 

 as camphor. Sprinkle your woollens with cam- 

 phorated spirit, and scatter pieces of camphor-gum 

 among them and you will never be troubled with 

 moths. tDome people buy camphor-wood trunks, 

 for this purpose ; but they are very expensive, and 

 the gum answers just as well. 



The first young leaves of the common currant- 

 hush, gathered as soon as they put out, and dried 

 on tin,ein hardly be distinguished from jree« tea. 



Cream of Tartar, rubbed upon soiled white kid 

 gloves, cleanses them very much. 



Bottles that have been used for rose-water, 

 sliould be u.sed for nothing else ; if scalded ever so 

 much, they will kill the spirit of what is put in 

 them. 



If you have a greater quantity of clieeses in the 

 house than is likely to be soon used, cover them 

 carefully witli paper, fastened on with flour paste, 

 so as to exclude the air. In this way they may be 

 kept free from insects for years. They should be 

 kept in a dry, cool place. 



Pulverized alum possesses the property of puri- 

 fvino- water. A large spoonful stirred into a hogs- 

 head of water will so purify it, that in a few hours 

 the dirt will all sink to the bottom, and it will be as 

 fresh and clear as spring water. Four gallons may 

 be purified by a tea-spoonful. 



Save vials and bottles. Apothecaries and gro- 

 cers will give sometliing for them. If the bottles 

 are of good thick glass, they will always be useful 

 for bottling cider, or beer ; but if they are thin 

 French glass, like claret bottles, they will not an- 

 sv.'er. 



Woollens should be washed in very hot suds, and 

 not rinsed. Lukewarm water shrinks them. 



On the contrary, silk, or any thing that has silk 

 in it, should be washed in water almost cold. Hot 

 water turns it yellov.-. It may be waslied in suds 

 made of nice white soap ; but no soap should be put 

 upon it. Likewise avoid the use of hot irons in 

 smoothing silk. Either rub the articles dry with a 

 soft cloth, or put them between two towels, and 

 press them with weights. 



Do not let knives be dropped into hot dish-watet 

 It is a good plan to have a large tin pot to wash 

 them in, just high enough to wash the blades, icitli- 

 o>it wettini[ the handles. Keep your castors cov- 

 ered with blotting paper and green flannel. Keep 

 your salt-spoons out of the salt, and clean them 

 often. 



Do not wrap knives and forks in woollens. Wrap 

 them in good, strong paper. Steel is injured by 

 lying in woollens. — Mrs. Child- 

 Village Lighted by Natural Gas. 



The village of Fredonia, in the western part of 

 the state of New York, presents this singular phe- 

 nomenon : The village is forty miles from Buffalo, 

 and about two from Lake Erie : a small but rapid 

 stream called the Canadoway, passes through it, 

 and after running several mihis discharges itself 

 into the lake below ; near the mouth is a neat small 

 harbor with a light house. While removing an old 

 mill, which stood partly over this stream, in Fre- 

 donia, three years since, some bubbles were observ- 

 ed to break frequently from the water, and on trial 

 were found to be inflammable. A company was 

 formed, and a hole, an inch and a half in diameter, 

 being bored through the rock, a soft fcetid limestone, 

 the gas left its natural channel and ascended thro' 

 this. A gasometer was constructed, with a small 

 house for its protection, and pipes being laid, the 

 gas is conveyed through the whole village. One 

 hundred lights are fed from it, more or less, at an 

 expense of one dollar and a half yearly for each. 

 The streets and public churches are lighted with it. 

 The flame is large, but not so strong or brilliant as 

 that from gas in our cities ; it is, however, in high 

 favor with the inhabitants. The gasometer, I found 

 on measurement, collected eiglity-eight cubic feet 

 in twelve hours during the day ; but the man who 

 has charge of it told me that more might be procur- 

 ed with a larger apparatus. About a mile from the 

 village, and in the same stream, it comes up in 

 quantities four or five times as great. The contrac- 

 tor for the light-house pn'"chased the right to it, 

 and laid pipes to the lake, but found it impossible to 

 make it descend, the dilierence in elevation being 

 very great. It preferred its own natural channels, 

 and bubbled up beyond the reach of his gasometer. 

 The gas is carboretted by hydrogen, and is sup- 

 posed to come from beds of bituminous coal; the 

 only rock visible, however, here, and to a great ex- 

 tent along the southern shore of the lake, is foetid 

 limestone. — Breicsler's Journal. 



might derive from their manures. We lose in the 

 first place by neglect of gathering it together — sec- 

 ondly, by suffering it to spoil iji the heap, for want 

 of proper mixing — and thirdly, by a wrong applica- 

 tion of it to the soil. The liquid portion of it is al- 

 lowed to be as valuable as the solid, and this in ma- 

 ny instances is wholly lost. We often suffer a mass 

 to dry up or evaporate by lying thinly spread over 

 a yard. We often lose by heaping it together and 

 sufiering it to burn. We lose much by spreading 

 on the surface of the field green manure that can- 

 not be covered with the harrow — and we lose more 

 by laying it out in small heaps of one or two shov- 

 els full to a hill, and planting our seeds in those 

 heaps. We lose in winter by heaving it out at the 

 windows and suffering it to freeze in a scattered sit- 

 uation. 



We assert with the utmost confidence that we 

 can by taking proper care of our means make every 

 part and paicel of our farms rich — that is, so rich 

 that one acre shall feed one cow through summer, 

 and another acre shall give us sixty bushels of corn. 

 And this without buying a single load of manure 

 from the stables. This matter must be better at- 

 tended to by us who occupy a soil that has been 

 cropped, and mismanaged tdl much of it now hard- 

 ly pays the expense of cultivating. — Boston Culti- 

 vator. 



Manures. 



Brother Farmers, we shall have much to say to 

 you on manures. We shall often interrogate you 

 as to the best modes oi'mnking, preserving, and a/j- 

 plijing manures. These are three important con- 

 siderations in our calling. It may be thought by 

 some of you that enough has already been said on 

 the subject. Many, truly, have written upon it, 

 and some have written truly. But let us have the 

 sentiments and the experience of practical men. 

 From our observations of the practice of Farmers 

 in New England we are satisfied that on En av- 

 erage, they lose one half of the advantage they 



From llio Clieslilte Farmer. 



Mr. Cooke, — In looking over your December 

 number of the Cheshire Farmer, an article head- 

 ed, the "Soil a decomposer," led me to reflection, 

 which induced me to give you some of my own 

 experience ; and if you see fit you may give it to 

 the public in any shape you please. 



With regard to making manure, I think there is 

 a wonderful negligence among our farmers. This 

 is the all important article, and if I can give the 

 least impulse towards arousing the attention of 

 farmers more generally to it, my object will be at- 

 tained. 



I have attached to my hog-honses, yards, say 25 

 feet square, with a door to each, that the hogs may 

 pass in and out as they will. In commencing, af- 

 ter cleaning out the last year's manure, I throw in 

 plentifully of straw at the bottom and cover it over 

 deep with soil. I then let on the hogs, when com- 

 mences the chemical operation of making manure. 

 I calculate to add as much as one load of soil, and 

 one of hor-se or yard manure or corn cob, once a 

 week through the season, or any vegetable sub- 

 stance is good for this purpose. I will here remark 

 that I have never made manure of this kind too 

 weak ; it is stronger, and will show its effect more 

 tlian long yard manure ; I believe almost any quan- 

 tity might be made in this way. 1 am also confi- 

 dent that hogs supplied in this way, might make 

 manure which would be of more value than the 

 hogs would sell for wlien well fattened. The hogs 

 are more industrious than I am, and will work out 

 a great profit if kept in employ in this way. I can- 

 not tell how much manure they might be made to 

 make in a season, but I think 25 cart loads to a hog 

 v.-uuld be a low estimate. 



Now if I am right in my estimate, a farmer may 

 make more manure in the summer than in the win- 

 ter, whereas by the old way he does not make half 

 as much. The matter in tlie hog yard will decom- 

 pose much faster in warm weather than in cold, 

 and it is necessary to add soil, &c. the faster; and 

 to assist the hogs in dry weather, I turn a spout 

 from the pump and saturate the whole bed with 

 water, which is of great service in warm dry weath- 

 er. Shelled corn occasionally thrown in with the 

 soil will encourage the hogs and prevent their dig- 

 ging too much in one place. 



Now if these are realities, it is in the power of al- 

 most every farmer to add hundreds of loads of ma- 

 nure to his farm, and I have not the least doubt but 

 a mine of wealth is thus within his reach. If farm- 

 ers would attend to this matter, what an impulse 

 would it give to the agriculture in this section .^ We 

 should hear no more of the importation of foreign 

 grain, to the shame and disgrace of our country. 



There are great advantages attendant upon the 

 enriching of land. It is a j)rogressive work. The 

 facilities and means are constantly increasintr. Ev- 

 ery one knows that animals in fle.=:h are more easily 

 kept than those that are not — so it is with lands; 

 those that are rich are easily kept so, while those 

 that are poor, give a small profit for the labor be- 

 stowed. 



My richest lands will now give six crops with 

 once manuring ; whereas, they would but three for- 

 merly, and less by one third or more. I am now 

 practising upon a ihret course system, which is, say 

 first with corn on a clover lay, well manured with 

 long manure from tiie yard, sj^read and plowed un- 

 der deep, and as soon as possible after taien from 



