1838J 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



507 



been cut, be rareliilly drained, and llien plonirhed 

 and sowed willi jirass-geed ; let weeds ol' iill kiniis 

 be destroyed, ;ind let ihe Wtitcrs be so directed ns 

 10 prevent their stajrnating in any pari of (iieir 

 course. Ti\ese are the two principal means ol 

 extirpatin<T tevers (rotn our country ; hut as they 

 are slow in their operation, I will su2;gest a lew 

 preventives, till the above remedies can talce 

 effect. 



Whether the matter which produce? fevers, be 

 of an ori^anic or inorganic nature, I do not pre- 

 tend to determine : but it iscerlain that fire, or the 

 smoke or heat from fire, destroys the etiei-t ol 

 swamp or marsh miasmata upon the human body ; 

 from this cause, we find cities more healthy than 

 country places, and comnioidy, the centre of cities 

 more healthy than their suburbs, in tiie siclcly 

 months. Where it can be done, I would advise 

 iarge fires to be made every evening, between the 

 spots li"om whence the exhalations are derived 

 and the house, as near the latter as is safe, and 

 not troublesome. This practice should be con- 

 tinued till tiie appearance of two or three fi-osts, 

 for frosts, as well as heavy autumnal rains, never 

 fail to put a stop to the progress of intermittents. 

 During the sickly season, fires should be likewise 

 kept in every room in the dwelling-house, even 

 when the heat of the weather makes it necessary 

 to have the doors and windows open. 



Let me advise all in sickly situations 'o preli'r 

 woollen and cotton clothes, to linen in the summer 

 and autumnal months. Great confidence may be 

 placed in woollen and cotton clothes, in raw, wet 

 weather, as preventives of fever, but most in 

 woollen. 



The di.>t in the sickly months should he gene- 

 rous. Wine and beer should be the drink's of this 

 season, instead of spirits and water. Fruits and 

 vegetables are not unwholesome ; but as the sea- 

 son of the year produces languor and weakness, 

 a larger quantity of animal food tlian usual, is best 

 calculated to o|)pose fevers. Salted meat, for this 

 reason, is preferable to fl-esh meat. Food of all 

 kinds, eaten during the sickly months, should be 

 well seasoned. 



The evening air should be avoided as much as 

 possible. Before breathing the morning air, the 

 body should be fortified with a little solid aliment, 

 or a glass of bitters. These bitters should be 

 made of centaury, wormwood, camomile, or the 

 bark of the willow or dog-wood tree, infused in 

 water. Bitters made with spirits, or even wine, 

 cannot be taken in a sufficient quantity to do ser- 

 vice, without producing intoxication, or the deadly 

 habit of loving and drinking spirituous liquors. 



The person should be bathed or washed fre- 

 quently, and those who have not access to the sea, 

 will find that adding salt to water, renders it pow- 

 erful in preventing diseases. Preserve cleanliness 

 in every species of apparel. Offal matters, should 

 be removed from the neighborhood of dwellings. 

 The excrements of domestic animals may be ex- 

 cepted, for nature has kindly prevented any incon- 

 venience from them. More than this, she has en- 

 dowed their dung with a power of destroying the 

 effects of swamp, or marsh exhalations," aiid of 

 preventing fevers. The cottagers of Europe, 

 who live under the same roofj and even under the 

 same roof with their cattle, are almost always 

 healthy. These counsellings, are founded on prac- 

 tice and observation. Your.?, respectfully, 



A Patro\. 



From the American Farmer, 

 AN KM'KDITIOIS MKTIIOn OF MOVING HAY. 



Culpepper co^inty, Va. July 7lh, 1838. 

 Mil. Skinner. — In the last number of your 

 American Farmer one of your correspondents has 

 described an expeditiotis mode of drawing hay to 

 stacks, in use in Hardy county, Virginia. The 

 same method was formerly adopted by some farm- 

 ers in this county ; but that now most generally 

 used here, seems to be so much more easy and 

 j expeditious, that perhaps a description of the mode 

 j may deserve a |)lace in your useful paper. So 

 I slow is the progress of even small improvements 

 j in agriculture, and labor-saving operations, that it 

 is probable many of your readers have never seen 

 this practised. 



The hay being cocked, and the stacking about 

 to be commenced, a hickory pole ten or tweh^e 

 lijet long, is procured, and the knots all well trim- 

 med off. The larger end of the pole should have a 

 hole bored in it, to admit a clivis pin, and to which 

 the swingle tree of the horses in gear, is to be at- 

 tached by means of the clivis. The smaller end 

 of the pole should be brought to a smooth point, 

 so as to admit its being run under the cocks of 

 hay, and a leading line should be attached to the 

 large end, about where the clivis goes through. 

 A boy, holding this pole in one hand, thus fixed to 

 the liorse, and guiding the horse with the other, 

 comes to the cock of hay. The pole is immedi- 

 ately disengaged, by taking out the clivis pin — 

 the boy then runs the pole under the cock, till 

 the sharp end has passed a little distance, say 

 two or three feet on the other side: he then 

 throivs the line attached to the large end of the 

 pole, across the top of the cock, and by a slight 

 bow knot fastens il to the pole on the other side, 

 taking care to have the rope placed exactly over 

 the middle of the cock — the horse is then attach- 

 ed to the pole by fixing in the clivis; jusi as the 

 liorse sets ofi" it is necessary to take hold of the 

 pole just behind the place where the rope is tied 

 to it, to prevent its slipping, until the cock moves, 

 when there is no longer any danger. After get- 

 ting with the cock to the stack, without its being 

 necessary even lor the horse to stop, the knot is 

 slipped, and the horse goes on with the pole, leav- 

 ing the cock in nearly as good a situation as when 

 it was first touched. There is less work for the 

 hand-rakc after the cocks thus drawn, than in the 

 mode described by your correspondent, and the 

 draft is much less. One horse will draw, with 

 ease, cocks of three liundred weight, and as fast 

 as two can pitch up to one stacker. The draft is 

 less, in consequence of the hay next the horse 

 being somewhat raised firom the ground, and the 

 friction against the ground greatly reduced. 

 Your constant reader, 



A Young Farmer. 



RABBIT, CUNICULIS, IN ZOOLOGY. 



Interesting and authentic account of some of its 

 curious habits. 



[This little animal affords a remarkable instance 

 in the variety of its colors, of the effect of do- 

 mestication, fu its wild siate, it is unilbrmly of 

 a brown cast ; when tamed, its color ranges 



