1825.J 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



117 



From the Boston Medical InUUistncer. , 



COMPLAINTS OF CHILDREN. 



An acid acrimonv m:iv he occasioned either 

 bv laxity and debility in the organs ot' digestion, 

 or by an excess of ascescent food. 



When digestion is imperfect, acidity is the 

 consequence, though no such process as fermen- 

 tation has preceded. The food of children is 

 for the most part of the vegetable kind, and 

 readily turns sour in the stomach, if the body be 

 any way disordered ; hence most of tiieir com- 

 phiints are accompanied with eviilent signs of 

 acidity,— as green stools, griping pains in the 

 bowels, &c. 



It is frequently asserted that a prevailing acid 

 is the cause of almost all disorders among child- 

 ren; but acidity in their stomcch is oftener an 

 effect than a cause of their complaints. It is not 

 acidity, but its excess that does harm, and this 

 is always a consequence of some error in diet or 

 deficiency in the poiver of digestion. 



Redundant acid in rtie alimentary canal, may 



CANALS. 

 The principal Canals in the United States, 

 which have been already completed, arc: The 

 Middlesex Canal, connecting the Merrimack 

 river with Boston harbor, 36 miles in length, 

 which was begun in 1793 and linished in 1 1 

 years: this brings the internal trade of New 

 Hampshire to Boston. The Champlain Canal, 

 connecting the waters of Lake Champlain with 

 the Hudson river, was tinished in 18'2i, which 

 brings the trade of the northern part of New 

 York and Vermont to the city of New York. 

 The Erie Canal, by which the waters of Lake 

 Erie will be united with the Hudson, on the 

 13th of the present month, will introduce the 

 business of the western country and lakes to 

 New York: this Canal is more than 3t)D miles 

 in length. The Canal that unites the Chesa'- 

 peake bay with Albermarle sound, through the 

 Dismal Swamp, gives Norfolk, in Virginia, the 

 trade of the north eastern part of North Caro- 

 lina, and is about 30 miles in length. The San- 

 tee Canal connects the Santee river with Char- 



tr.iin of nervous 



p. 



appear, and 



follows. 



In diseases peculiar to children, there arc, for 

 ihe most part, symptoms of an excess of irrita- 

 tion ; the puise is accelerated, the stomach is 

 disordered, the vessels of the skin are contract- 

 ed, and convulsive fits follow 



ymptoais sooni*'''^* these, numerous other Canals have been 



I made around the falls and obstructions of rivers, 



but they are generally of inconsiderable length. 



The Canals which have recently been com- 

 menced, are : The Ohio, to connect the Scioto 

 river with Lake Erie, 312 miles in length : the 

 -,.... ., ^ , , ,.. i Blackslone, for continuing the navigation of 



As thisis requently a cause of great moi;lality , p,„.,„cket river from Providence, R. I. to Wor- 

 among children, we cannot be too attentive to 1 



its treatment, nor too early in Ihe use of reme- ' 

 dies; for if neglected, it is likely to end in some 

 obstinate or incurable disease. To commence 

 with, then, children if not loo feeble, should be 

 exercised more and fed less. Twice the num- 

 ber die in consequence of pampering and feed- 

 ing upon delicacies, as IVom want, neglect, or 

 acute disiMse. 



II' medicine must be employed, let it be done 

 under the superintendence of a physician. Par- 

 egoric and mint dro|)S, the grand remedies in 

 which nurses on all occasions put their trust are 

 imj-ruper articles to l)e administered in eflicient 

 dosi'S, in the commencement of a mnjorilv of 

 disorders that are [leculiar to children. Castor 

 oil, the most ]iolent article in the nurse's m.iteria 

 aiedica, and her last resort in cases of emerjiPn- 

 cy, is also objectionable where tliere is acidity 

 in the stomach and bowels. — This complaint is 

 not peculiar to children, nor does it always de- 

 pend on the nature of the food. It is a mark of 

 disordered digestion, and may proceed l>om 

 many different causes. Curdled milk ejected is 

 a popular and decisive proof of a sour stomach. 

 But this is often fallacious; for the stomach of 

 an .infant will curdle milk, when the nicest test 

 cannot detect the least particle of acid. — From 

 all that is known upon this subject, it is suppos- 

 ed that the principles of the vegetable acid, (for 

 of this nature is the morbid acid of the stom:'.ch,) 

 are found in food of every kind, and that wlien 

 U'iion is destroyed in the first periods of digest- 

 ion, a new compound takes place. Calcareous 

 and magnesian earths, only act as palliatives in 

 diseases which arise from acidity ; their cure 

 depends on strengthening the system and invig- 

 orating Ihe action of the stomach. 



cester, Mass.: the Pennsylvania, lor opening 

 the inland navigation between the Delaware 

 river and the Susquehanna : and the New .Ter- 

 sey, between the Raritan and the Delaware riv- 

 er' which will connect the cities of New York 

 and Philadelphia. Projections for establishing 

 inland navigation have been made in almost ev- 

 ery practicable situation in the United Stales. 

 .\nu amon; some of the most important plans of 

 this kind of improvements is that of connecting 

 the navigable waters of the Potomac river with 

 the Ohio, which, if carried into execulinn, will 

 unite the western Stales with the Atlantic, and 

 furnish a necessary sccurily in case of invasion. 

 The iniprovcmeni of the navigation of Connec- 

 ticut river, with a Canal trom Barnet to Lake 

 Memphremagog, will, if effected, greatly ilimin- 

 ish the expense of transportation and increase 

 the value of marketable conimodities. 



The verdant fields and pleasant vallies of New 

 England will yield an income as certain and prof- 



HAINAULT SCYTHE. 



Two young farmers have been brought from 

 Flanders to Scotland, by some Scotch gentlemen 

 engaged in agricultural pursuits, to exhibit 

 practically the uses and Ihe advantages of what 

 is called Ihe Hainault Scythe. The following 

 description of the article, which we find in the 

 London New Times, may be interesting to our 

 country readers. 



" The scythe is a short blade of 20 inches, op 

 nearly like the point half of ordinary hay scythe 

 blades. It has a handle of the same length. The 

 blade during cutting is quite level, both from 

 point to heel, as well as from edge to back. — 

 The handle stands in a position nearly upright, 

 or inclines forward at the top, so as to form with, 

 the blade an angle of 80 degrees. That portion 

 of it held in the hand is turned back a little, or 

 nearly to 45 degrees, and is longer than the 

 breadth of the hand, on which overlength the 

 arm rests, and is strengthened during cutting. — 

 In the left hand the operator holds a staff of 3^ 

 feet long, at the extreme end of which is a hook; 



g back the 

 Ihe scythe 

 the scythe 

 more deep, 

 which cut corn it leaves standing quite upright 

 in front of the uncut corn. As soon as the ope- 

 rator has proceeded as far as he wishes across 

 the ridge, he turn?, and, with the hook, pulls 

 ihe corn towards the open side, cutting a little 

 more at the same time, so that in going and re- 

 turning, about five feet may be cut." 



The young men, have made a tour through 

 several parts of Ihe South of Scotland, working 

 a day at a time on different farms ; and the gener- 

 ■>.\ opinioB-seems to be, that though the Hainault 

 scythe can never be brought into use exclusive- 

 ly, it may become a useful auxiliary to the other 

 modes of gathering in the fruits of the earth. — 

 vV. 1'. Statesman. 



.Method to preserve Beef. — Sort, and take that 

 which is clean, and free from blood; let it be 

 cold but not frozen — To 200 wt. use half a 

 bushel of good salt, half a pound of salt-petre, 

 and two quarts of molasses, dissolve your salt- 

 petre in water, add the molasses, then pack 

 down your beef tight, put salt in your barrel, 

 and between each layer, and let a suitable pro- 

 portion of sall-petre and molasses be put be- 

 tween each layer, till all is put together — re- 

 serving four or five quarts of the salt to make a 

 brine sufhcient lo cover the beef, which must 

 be added in four or five days, and your beef 

 will be good through Ihe year. — When you salt 

 itable as any other quarter of ihe country, should beef again, use the same process 10, 1 1 or 12 

 the impediments of commercial enterprise be q^arls of salt will be enough — but keep youc 



removed. Our flocks of sheep grazing upon our 

 hill lops, will become, for extent and certainly 

 of profit, as valuable a capital as the most enter- 

 prising could desire ; and our herds will, when 

 multiplied to Ihe utmost extent, increase in val- 

 ue as the amount of population advances and as 

 the attention of the people of this country be- 

 comes more engaged in the business of manufac- 

 ture. Should Vermont keep up the march of 

 improvement, there is no Slate in the Union that 

 can realize a greater profit and more substantial 

 wealth from the same quantity of land — Ver- 

 mont Aitrora. 



old brine and in four or five days add that to 

 your beef without boiling, as that will injure it 

 very much. AVhen you add your old brine, 

 keep back the sediment. — I have tried this 

 method five or six years, and the beef was sweet 

 and good. WILLIAM SLADE. 



Cornwall, Oct. 12, 1825. {Nat. Stand.) 



The following is stated to be a chemical an- 

 alysis of a bottle of a cheap commodity, sold in 

 England under the denomination of port wine : 

 — spirits of wine, 3 ounces; cider, 14 ounces; 

 sugar, li ounce; alum, 2 scruples; tartaric 

 acid, 1 scruple ; strong decoction of logwood, 

 4 ounces. 



