138 



THE FARMER'S MO^J IHLY VISITUR. 



width and depl'l are formed in ;rn instant ; at others, Ihr 

 ground licaves like a boiling sea, and several hundred of 

 these rents may be seen at a time opening and closing m 

 rapid succession. The largest mountains tremble as if 

 they were about to be torji from their foundations ; their 

 summits open — the sules heave and rend — and huge mass- 

 es arc thrown from them into the subjacent vallies ; rivers 

 arc dammed up -, lakes formed, and the general features so 

 much changed that places can scarcely be recognised. 



The earthquake in Calabria, threw down nearly all the 

 houses in two hnndred towns and villages in tlie sliort 

 space of two minutes. One hundred thousand of the in- 

 habitants perished, and in some instances, it was difhcult 

 to find even distant relations to succeed to the property of 

 some families. " During the reign of Justinian each year 

 was marked by the repetition of earthquakes of such e.\- 

 tent that the shocks were communicated to the whole sur- 

 face of the globe, or at least of the Roman Empire ; and of 

 such duration that Constantinople was shaken above forty 

 days. Two hundred and fifty tliousand persons are said to 

 have perished in the earthquake of .\iitioch. 'I'he earth- 

 quake of IS'ii, in one horrible night, destroyed every city, 

 village, and cottage in the pashalic of Aleppo within ten 

 or twelve seconds, and buried a vast number under the 

 ruins. 



If the earthquakes of Syria have often prostrated Anti- 

 och, Balbec, and Acre, those of South America have over- 

 thrown Lima, Cumana, and Caraccas; and for magnitude, 

 number, and duration, the latter are not inferior to the for- 

 mer. We shall give an extract from the description of 

 the one which destroyed Caraccas in 1812, and refer our 

 readers to the work for tlie rest. '• On the 2ljth of March, 

 it was overthrown by one of the most dreadful earthquakes 

 recorded in either hemisphere, .\fter four in the evening, 

 two successive shocks were felt, during which the ground 

 was in continual undulation, and heaving like a fluid in a 

 state of ebullition. The danger was then thought to be 

 over, when a subterranean noise was heard, like the rolling 

 of loud thunder ; it was followed by two shocks, one per- 

 pendicular and one undulatory, so ti-emendous, that in a 

 few seconds the whole city was in ruins. Several of the 

 loftiest churclies fell, burying 3000 or JOOO of the inhabi- 

 tants, and they were so completely destroyed, that none of 

 the fragments were more than five or six feet above tlie 

 ground. 



The Cazerne el Quartel vanished almost entirelyi and a 

 regiment of soldiers stationed there, disappeared along 

 with it: only a few individuals escaped. The sky was 

 clear J there was no forewarning; and the duration of the 

 shocks, which produced this awful ruin, was thought to be 

 less than a moment. In lSd5, Chili received 300 shocks in 

 12 days, averaging a sliock an liour, which completely pros- 

 trated many of her towns. 



Warm and Cold Baths. On tlic healtliliil- 

 iiess of warm butliiiig there eau be no doubt : iu- 

 cleed, it is astouisliiiig tluit it is not nioi-e gener- 

 ally known and ))raeticed,tliata clean and healthy 

 state ot'the skin contributes essentially lu promote 

 not only health ami cheerluluess, but also lon- 

 gevity ; the light and i'greeable I'eeling eonsc- 

 qiieut on the use of warm baths, fully continns 

 this — not only from the peculiar softness of the 

 skin which is the result of it, but the muscles anil 

 limbs seem to acquire from it increased clastici- 



Some persons inutghie that warm ball).ng 

 expcses those who practice it to "catch cold." 

 r>Iothing can be fartiier from the luct. Colds arc 

 oftener produced by impeded jierspiratiou, caused 

 by an accumulation ofmatterv.hich luis tilled the 

 pores: warm bathing opens them and promotes 

 a free and healthy prespiration ; and its repetition 

 takes oif those impurities "\\Iiich otherwise attn<-h 

 to the persons of those of the most cleai>ly habits, 

 who do not practice warm bathing. 



Cold bathing is ipiite a diti'erent thing : ■\\ ith 

 young, strong and healthy ])ersons, it is a bracing 

 luxury and an agreeable exercise ; the sick and 

 ■v\eakly should never practice is except imder the 

 instructions of their medical advisers. 



From the Delaware Journal. 

 The Diirliam Cow " Blossom." 



Observing in the Pennsylvania Inquirer a short 

 time since, a statement of Mr. J. Gowen's i-elc- 

 brated cow Dairi/ Xdaid's yield of milk for one 

 week, which he states is " unprecedented, being 

 on an average rather o\er 33iJ (piaris ])er day," J 

 concluded to try my cow Blossom, a statement of 

 whose milking for one week you will find liclow, 

 and liy which you will perceive she averaged for 

 the week over 8.-) quarts per day, and yielded ]3i 

 lbs. of well worked butler. Not having a spring- 

 hoii.se, we are obliged to keep our milk in a cel- 

 lar, wliich at lliis sea.'jou of the year every one 

 iicquainted with the (irocess of butter-making 

 knows wotild be unfavorable for a large yield. 

 BIy dairy maid is firm in the belief that at a cool- 

 cr'season, or :.vith a siiring-house, the cretuu she 

 had from Blos.som (or the week wiuild have yipld- 

 ed 15 or Iti lbs. of biuter. 



tJncommou as this produce may be, 1 do uot 

 rousider it more hf.' tliali the firt of her having 



never been dry since she had her first calf, more 

 than two years ago, and in the space of 2.5 months 

 has produced five living calves, viz : — on the 5th 

 of April, 1838, she had her first calf (Delaware) : 

 on the 4th of Jid}', ]8:3i), sha had twins (Liberty 

 and Indejtemkncej; and on the ICthof May, 1840, 

 she had twins again (Romeo and JuUetj ; and 1 

 tliink I can safely say that during the whole of 

 thiit time she has averaged f till 20 quarts per day : 

 she gave 25 quarts per tlay with her first calf, and 

 made nearly 12 lbs. of Ijutter per week. 



As I consider it an injury both to the cow and 

 calf to milk up to calving, we tried both last year 

 iuid this to get her dr} a lev; weeks before the 

 time, but fbuiul it impossible, although we kept 

 her oft' of grass for some days. 



As you may suppose, such constant milking 

 keeps her very much . reduced : if she could be 

 got dry for a time so as to gain flesh, I tliink her 

 yield would be much greater, but I am satisfied 

 with it for the present, and until I see it beaten ; 

 when that is done, I will try again, for the credit 

 of little Delaware. 



Blossom is a thorough-bred short-horn Dur- 

 ham, roan color, cahed iu 1835, bred by Charles 

 lleniy Hall, Esq., of New York, (of w bom 1 pur- 

 chased her v\hen two years old): she was got by 

 Fox's Regent, dam the imported cow Leonora, 

 (a great milker) by a son of Lancaster, &c. 

 Very respectfidly, 



Samuel Candy. 



Jf'oodside, June 29, 1840. 



Blossom's yield of Milk for one iccek. 



Total 247i 

 Being on an a\ erage over 35 quarts per daj'. 



Statistics of Pauperism. 



From the .'\lbaiiy N. Y. Cultivator. 



One of the greatest dl■a^^■backs to the prosper- 

 ity of Gteat Britain, tlie load that hangs with 

 more than millstone weight on the necks of her 

 producing classes is her p;iuper system ; origina- 

 ting in some of the best ii-elingsof the lieart, but 

 wrongly directed, and so frightfully abused, as to 

 have become an almost immitigated curse, instead 

 of a blessing to the comnnniity. The true end 

 of all legislation on subsistence, as connected 

 with poverty, should lie ba.sed on the fact that 

 every one able to labor, is bound by the original 

 law of God, and of society, to siqiport tlieni- 

 .selves ; and that every measure that tends to in- 

 fringe this rule, whether by encouraging idle- 

 ness, or by appropriating the labors of the indus- 

 trious, miist, in the end, result in unnii.xcd evil 

 to all concerned. Ill-directed aid to the ))oor, 

 tends to encourage Ihcin in their habirs of im- 

 providence, and jierhaps profligacy ; and depress- 

 es and discourages the eftbrts of the honest and 

 iudu.strious. ]t was Burke, we believe, that said, 

 '■ every man was as idle or la/y as he could be," 

 or, in other words, that nothing but the dread of 

 want prompted men to exertion. Now, ^^ ithout 

 stopping to inquire as to the extent in which this 

 is true, it is very evident that men very readily 

 acquire the habit of living on the htbors of oth- 

 ers : that this is soon done without any apparent 

 ieeh'ngs of reluctance or shame; and that no- 

 thing has a more direct tendency to destroy all 

 honorable independence of feeling and conduct 

 in the mass of a people, than to know the idle 

 and improvident are sure of support, without 

 care or labor on tlieir part. This, experience in 

 England, if not in this country, has abuiidandy 

 proved. 



We believe that with many, the influence and 

 i'xamiile of the foreign vagabonds who, educa- 

 ted and instructed as beggars at home, jnowl 

 around our streets, subs'isting on charity, and im- 

 posing on the credulou.s, is most destructive and 

 contagious. While we welcome to our shores 

 the poverty-depressed, but honest laborer of Eu- 

 rope, we cannot avoid deeming the luultiludesof 

 [laupcrs and profligates poia-cd in upon u.s, as 

 one of the most serious evil.s of the day. They 

 ■r!o{ o'llv biib^ist thcni.-^-'lves on the c:irnin!,'s of 



the frugal and industrious, but by their example, 

 they deprave the morals, and unsettle the habits 

 of niany, who had before, by the fear of public 

 opinion, or some remaining sense of shame, been 

 capable, or eomin'iled, to support themselves. 



Strange as it may seem to the hone.st, indus- 

 trious laborer, whether farmer or mechanic, that 

 the man who is able to dig, should not be asha- 

 med to beg ; it is certainly'true, that the numbers 

 of those who subsist on the ](ublic bounty iu this 

 country, has been rapidly increasing, and the tax 

 paid by the man who works, to sujiport the idler 

 and the pauper, has increased in a corresponding- 

 ratio. Society is bound to take care of them- 

 selves; those, ^vho by an act of God have been 

 rendered incapable of providing for their own 

 Wiuits ; but neitlier justice or policy, requires any 

 thing more than this. The clearest dictates of 

 human nature, the soundest jjrinciples of jihilo- 

 sopby and economy, no less than the voice of in- 

 s])uation, i)roclaim that labor and bread are to go 

 together ; that if a man will not work, neither 

 shall he eat. If you wish to malie a man worth- 

 less and depraved ; if you wish to destroy him iu 

 his own estimation and that of others ; if you 

 wish to root out the last spark of independence 

 and nuuily feeling fiom his bosom, make him a 

 voluntary pauper, and teach him lo accept of 

 charity without a blush, and the work is done. 



We have been led to these remarks by an ex- 

 amination of the "Report of the Secretary of 

 State, transmitting abstracts of the returns of the 

 Superintendents of the poor in the several coun- 

 ties of this State, for the year 1839." It is an in- 

 teresting document, to be read and reflected upon 

 by every friend to his coimtry. England has 

 found her poor rates increased to the fearful sum 

 of forty millions of dollars annually ; and al- 

 though the past year shows a slight" falling off" 

 from former years, in the ex|ienses, yet the rapid 

 anniud increase, shown in the tables given, proves 

 that the same causes are at v\ork here, as there ; 

 and if not timely checked by an imjiro^ed .sys- 

 tem of general education, and the inculcation of 

 a spirit of self-reliance and independence, will 

 eventually produce the same bitter fruit;-\ Wo 

 may ;idd that the exaniination of the poor house 

 and pauper returns, as well as those of the pri- 

 sons of the State, demonstrates that nine tenths 

 of tlie pauperism, degredation, and crime of the 

 coimtry, is owing to the unrestricted use of ar- 

 dent spirits. 



Warming Houses. 



There is much popular ignorance prevailing on 

 the subject of warming houses both among the 

 English and Auglo-Aiiiericans. One would 

 have thought that the experiments of such men 

 as Frazfklin and Ilumford would have dispelled 

 the illusions about [leoplo being more liable to 

 catch cold when a regular and uniform heat is 

 kept up iu their apartments, than when these arc 

 traversed by currents fiom doors, windows, and 

 e\ery crevice, all rushing towartis an open fire. 

 But ])rcjudices we hard to be overcome— the 

 aiiore so indeed, the more beneficial their aban- 

 donment. It' we were really made hardier, and 

 acquired exemption from the complaints so com- 

 mon hi our variable climate, during the autumn, 

 wiiiler, anil spring months, by the common 

 ]n-actice of using open iires, — single windows 

 and doors, we might give uji the comfort of the 

 oiqiositioii plan : hut no such good follows our 

 exposure: no Irame, however vigorous, is exempt 

 from the assaults of streams of cold air in our 

 houses. This is not, however, a matter of theo- 

 ry, or to be argued from individual experience. 

 National usage, in the coldest climates iu Europe, 

 is decisive on this [loiut. The iiussian.s, Finland- 

 ers, and Swedes, of all classes, are not ashamed 

 to keej) up nearly a summer heat in their houses 

 during tiie winter mouths — they have no lijars of 

 liiMiig called effeminate. On the contrary, allege, 

 the.t in sallying out from their houses into the ex- 

 ternal frosty air, they are able to bear and even 

 enjoy this kind of exposure, or air-bath, the bet- 

 ter from their |jre\ ious vvm'tnth ; [neeisely for the 

 same rea.son that a jierson ^\Uh a v igorous circu- 

 lation of the blood, and hot skin, is better enabled 

 to bear the shock of a cold iKith. In tlif o[)po- 

 site circumstance's, of immersion in cold air or 

 cold water, wlien a person is chilly and with pale 

 skin, as when coming out fiom a cold room and 

 inipericctly clad, he will snirer greatly, and be 

 less able to resi.'-t the secondarv and morbid 



