Qi.\]t Saxmtt's illouti)li) bisiior. 



0. Tlin yeUotcs, wlien attended wiili fevuiisli 

 syiiiptoriis, or (roiislijiatioii oi' the tiowel;', re<iiiire 

 lilrediii^'. 



'I'liO niaiiiier of peiibriiiiii,;,' this oiieralion is 

 liK) well known to require any ile»rri|ilion. The 

 jiijiidiir, 01- neck vain, is lliat wliien is mostly 

 o|ieni.'d. Local liieeding is, however, iji many 

 eases, partieidarly soiviee,d)le. In inHa/nnialion 

 ol'tlie eye, eye-vein is rrei|Mont!y cm ; in iboi-lialt, 

 we sometimes bleed ntllie toe; in iiiHammation 

 of tlie bowels or the ndder, or even of tin; chest, 

 in cows, l>lood is advantageously taken from the 

 tiiilk-vc-in. 



The quantity of Idood that it may he proper 

 to take away at one time, cannot hero be deter- 

 mined ; hut must be renulated by the size, 

 stren^tli and condition of ilic animal, and the 

 disease under which it labors. In many inflam- 

 matory eonq)laints, too iiMHrli can hardly be ta- 

 ken, provided the l)!eeding is slopped as smiu as 

 the patient appears likely to faint or fall down. 

 A strong, healthy beast will bear the loss of five 

 or six quarts of blood, without the least injiny. 

 The bioo<l shoidd flow from a larj;)^ orifice, for 

 sudden depletion is tar more (louerfid in its op- 

 eration than when the blood is siilffred slowly to 

 trickle down. The blood should not he siin'eri^ 

 to fall on the ground, hut should he ri'ceived in- 

 to n measure, in order that the (piantily taken 

 may be known, 'i'he beast slionhl not be per- 

 mitted to drink cold water immediately after 

 bleedin?, nor to jrraze in the fiehl : the former 

 has sometimes induce-d tronblesouie catarrh, and 

 the latter may cause the orifice to open again." — 

 JVew England Farmer. 



Christmas fifty years ago. 



tV LAVnrE Toun. 



In New 'i'ork Ciiy on tliat day tlm stores and work- 

 sJHjps wertMioailv all shut up, a lew beli>ngiiii» to the 

 friends, in I'oar! street, excepted. Then men had lime 

 to worship Ciod ; now they have only time to worship 

 Mammon — that golden call' in VVali-st. Then we had 

 only two Banks, and not one Broker ; now we have tilirly 

 Batdis and ten Brokers, 'i'hen the floor was scrubbed 

 and sprinkled with wliitc sand from Coney Island ; now 

 they are covered with cloth Irom Brussels and carpets 

 fri-m Turkey. Then the people were happy ; now they 

 live in splendid raiseiy. Then when the ladies got the 

 headache they dipped their raven lockrf in a pail of cool 

 water, and were cured j now they pour out a bottle ofco- 

 logne w.iter. to the cost of til'ty cents, and yet the [lain 

 remains. I'll'ty years ago I never lieard oT a bottle oTco- 

 logne water being in the city ; now 1 am told that two 

 Iiundred thousand dtdlars is spent annually on this useless 

 drug. Fdiy years ago, the daughters of able merchants 

 and thriving mechanics wnuld sing with tlie spinning- 

 wheel, and weave on the loom, like the daughters of men 

 when Rnchel was a girl and Jacob stood by his mother's 

 knee ; now they set humming French airs and jingling a 

 piano, until they get the vapors in their iieads and the 

 meagrims in their bosoms. Then the l.:ssps wore woolen 

 stockings and double-soled shoes, and lived to be eighty} 

 nnw ihey wear silk stockings and satin shoes, and belbre 

 they live half theirdays,tlie doctor and grave-digger ride 

 riot over the graves. Then if we took a notion to get 

 married, we finished our day's work at seven P. M. as 

 usual, got supper at eight, put on our Sunday coat, and the 

 lass her summer hat, and at nine we walked to Rev. Dr. 

 .lohn Rogers, in Pine st. or Rev. Bishop Provost, in V'csey 

 street } the Bishop's, or the Doctor's man-servant and 

 niaid'servant were always dressed by eight P. M. and 

 rea.ly to olficiato as br:d.i*s-niaid and grooiirs-maii, and 

 from their long experience in such matters, they could act 

 their part up to nature. A .Spanish dollar was the reg- 

 ular fee. Wo then walked home alone. Having caught 

 the bird, we took her to tiie nest ^ve had prepared for her. 

 Perhaps we begun with three rush-bottom chairs, nt 25 

 cents each ; it was one more than we wanted ; and we 

 had our room, though small, to ourselves ; our hearts 

 knew their own happiness, and no stranger intermeddled 

 with our joys. JSow the bachelor of thirty-five lakes his 



bird ol lifieen to the public table of Madame B 's 



boarding house, or that promiscuous group in Howard's 

 Hotel, where she sutfers from the stare of some impu- 

 dent, brainless blockhead, or is put to the blnsli by Ihe 

 insolent litter of a set of black-whiskered, most coiisum- 

 r.iate fools j and tins is the refinement of the nineteenth 

 century. 



Now my young friends, don't you think our old sohor- 

 sided mode of doing business was more natural, more 

 pleasant, and more economical, than the present bom- 

 bast and jingle Ir.shion ? Why, 1 have known a l^arson 

 .get a check of $oO for buckling a couple together. Fifty 

 years ago we got married at night, went to work at six in 

 the morning, with all the sober realities of lite on our 

 backs, and at eight o'clock found our breakfast made 

 ready, for the tirst time, by the hands of her we loved 

 best. In this there was a pleasure unspeakable and sub- 

 lime. On Wednesday, we changed e.ur nether frock, soil- 

 ed with brick-dust, coal-smoke, or the labor of the plane, 

 and perhaps a rent in the sleeve, or a button gone astray. 

 On Saturday night we found the shirt clean and neatly 

 folded, the rent mended, and the stray button relumed to 

 its place, and the stockings neatly mended, making them 

 look a'most asgvde as neio. 'J'his was the labor of love. 

 A bachelor has thii done for nuniev. but Ih'- wnphwoman 



embezzles his stockings, tenra his collars and throws liia 

 vest to the wind, because she is is a hireling. The money 

 spent by our young mechanica and clerks for board, 

 washing, mending, tear, wear and cabbaging, political 

 clubs and smoking Spanish cigars, is more than suliieient 

 to support hiipsell' and an industrious wife. Fifty years 

 ago Mrs. Washington knit stockings for her general ; — 

 now there are not fifty la<lies in the city who can play that 

 part, and hundreds know not liow the apple gets into the 

 heart of a dumpling. 



On l\ew Vear's day, as soon as service was over in the 

 -Middle Dutch Church, you might see a whole company 

 of l'".lders and Deacons adjourn to the house of the worthy 

 Dutch mayor. Rich iril V'arick, ciirner of Pine and Broad- 

 way streets; there they broke the first conkey ami sipped 

 the first glass of cherry. bounce for the season. l''roin 

 thence they went Irom house to house and broke their 

 bread with merry heart.i. Dinner bjing ended, John wiili 

 his wife and oldest children, would go to the hou^e of 

 James ; the compliiiienls of the season, the customary 

 salute, the bounce, (cherry- brandy, sweet and weak,) and 

 the cookey, with the health of the family, being all dis- 

 cussed, they joined in company and went the rounds; — 

 they gathei-td as they rolled onwaril.and boUjre the moon 

 sunk behind the blue hills of the Jerseys, you might see 

 a score of these happy mortals in one company. In all 

 this, the rules of decorum and sobriety were rarely in- 

 fringed upon. To be su'-e we had no. temperance socie- 

 ties in those days, for every man kept a temperance soci- 

 ety in his own lionso. 



Voung folks smile when their grandfathers tell thorn of 

 the happy days of Auld Tj<tn<; Sijri?. But certain it is that 

 (illy years ago tae people in Aew V'orlt livid much liiji- 

 picr than they do now. They haO no artificial wants — 

 only two banks — rarely gave a note — but one small play- 

 house — no opera.5, no ottomans, few sofis or sideboards, 

 and perhaps not six pianos in tfie city. A'ow more monev 

 is paid to servants, in some of these five-story houses, lor 

 rubbing, scrubbing, and polishing of brasses and furniture 

 — for wiping, dusting, and breaking of glasses and china 

 — than it took to support a decent fimily fifty years a'^o. — 

 A', y. " Mew n'orld." 



The Potato Rot. 



An enquiry into the Ciiuse and remedy of this 

 disea.se, is quiic as imjiorlant, not only to tlie 

 liirmers and political economists, but to tiie whole 

 population, as is the subject of the Tariff", 'J'e.xas 

 or any poliljcal matter of the present day. An 

 iinnionse los.s, probably amounting to millions of 

 dollais, has been incurred by the coniinunity the 

 last two years, in the destruction of this most 

 valuable esculent, and if the disease should con- 

 tinue, for a lung series of yeart, and admit of no 

 remedy, the evil will be incalculable. 



Tlie first ease of this disease which came to 

 (uir observation happened three years ago. In a 

 (piuiitisy of potatoes brought from Nova Scotia, 

 about ten per cent, of them were fouiul to bo un- 

 sound, some showing on the removal of the skin 

 tifter cooking, a di'y black spot, covering fretiuent- 

 ly one half of the potato and often leaving the 

 other half perfectly good and mealy ; some of 

 them on breaking open einitted a strong, disa- 

 greeable smell and siiovviug the color of the po- 

 tato to liave changed from the natur.-il white to a 

 dingy yellow. Tiiese last specimens of the dis- 

 etise were in dift'erent stages of progress, like 

 those having the dry black spots, hut tliey difl'er- 

 cd froiTi these last by afl'ecting unlfortiily the en- 

 tire tuber. In some of them the color had hut 

 slightly changed, and thougli the smell was per- 

 ceived sonieu hat, yet the potato svas eatable. In 

 others the smell h.nil become so offensive that al- 

 though it could not be discovei'ed till the potato 

 was cut or broken, it was immediately thrown 

 away. We did not then p;iy much attention to 

 the disease, su|i(iosing it to Jiave arisen from 

 some local peculiarity of soil or cultivation, and 

 not a matter of nitich importance as it did not 

 show itself to any serious e.vtent. 



Last year we heard nmch of this disease in the 

 middle States, where the crop was very much 

 lessened, and in the nutiimn it was found to have 

 made its way to some extent in New England, 

 and to have sliglitly affected some fields in this 

 vicinity. \Vc had some excellent potatoes raised 

 in "Newbury, a fifth part of which, probably, du- 

 ring the winter were infected with tlic dry, hliick 

 spots, in some instances covering .-md destroying 

 the whole tiiher ; and some Nova Scotia potatoes, 

 which we were called to observe during the win- 

 ter ami which were put into the celler in good 

 order, sound as those of the preceeding year, 

 were found in a short time to have become com- 

 pletely rotten, anil on opening the barrels a mass 

 of semi-liquid mutter occupying not more than 

 half the space, was found. This decomposition 

 had proceeded so far and so rapidly that we 

 were disposed at first to attribute it to the pota- 

 toes having been frozen before they were jilaccd 

 in the ccilnr, but as siniihir cases have a|)penr- 



ed wheie there was no possibility of frost hav- 

 ing reached them, it was no doubt the effect of 

 disease. 



Tliis year the rli.seaso has nflx-cted a great many 

 potatoes in New Englaml as well as in the mid- 

 illo Slati;s. In New Hampshire its ravages have 

 been very groat; how far it has prevailed in this 

 vicinity we have not yet incertained. We had 

 placed in our cellar, about six weeks since, sev- 

 eral barrels of excellent poiatocs, raised in New- 

 bury, ecpial to the bijst Nova Scotia or Irish appio 

 potatoes we have ever eaten, and wiiieh then on 

 repeated trials showed not jhe slightest .symptom 

 of disease, hut within the iast three weeks have 

 discovere'.l thatth^^y are rapidly hecoining infi^ct- 

 eil with the black spots, and a i'tiw of them are 

 already entirely soft and rotten. 



We have found on inquiry and research no 

 satisfactory cause assigned lor this disease. Soine 

 iittrihute it to the atmosphere, soirie to the soil 

 and others an inherent disease in the tubers lliem- 

 selves. This last as far as the explanation goes 

 is i>rohalily correct, although on newly broken up 

 sward land, it is said the disease does not make 

 its appearance. Tliis kind of l.ind we believe 

 has always produced the best [potatoes, and the 

 evidence is not yet conclusive that the ravages 

 can be stopped by plaiitin« on such land, because 

 it has been fbiinil ttiat potatoes which when dug 

 and placed in Ihe cellar Witi-ti in a perfectly sound 

 slate to all apearaiice, have sometimes been en- 

 tirely lost by the disease before spring. 



Wo find that this rot has [irevailed in Ger- 

 many, England, Ireland, Scotl.ind, the United 

 States and Nova Scotia, for sever.d years, but not 

 until within the two last does it appear to have 

 been so extensive in the United States, as to ex- 

 cite much interest and anxiety among fanners. 

 Associations of farmers and agricultural chemists 

 in Euro))e have lieen busily engaged in investi- 

 gating tiie nature of the disease, but have arrived 

 at no satisfactory conclusion. 'I'he most plausi- 

 ble opinion which was first advanced by a distin- 

 guished German writer, iind which is adopted by 

 the large cultivators in Ireland and Nova Scotia, is 

 that it is owing to the continual replanting of the 

 same seed ; and that to preserve the potato new 

 varieties must be frequently produced from the 

 seed. 



In Ireland and Nova Si-oti;i the disease has 

 been known to some extent for nearly thirty 

 years, and in L'eland we are told the far famed 

 apple potato had becclue so constantly infected 

 with it that its cultivation was soine years ago 

 entirely abandoned, and it has become now e.x- 

 tinct. In Nova Scotia the progress of this dis- 

 tettiper among the potatoes seems to liave been 

 somewhat singular. It has for a series of years 

 been found to pervade particular farms, some- 

 times aiipearing in the stalk like rust, long before 

 the potato has arrived at m ituriiy, and on cutting 

 open the young root the disease is found to ex- 

 hibit itself in black spots throughout the inside 

 of it. At other times tlie distem|)er has appeai'ed 

 after the potato has been harvested and put into 

 the cellar, the first intimation which the farmer 

 received being an oif'iisivi! smell arising from 

 their decomposition, and (^xperidnce has taught 

 them in this contingency immediately to cull over 

 the whole mass and remove every defective po- 

 tato as it has been found rapidly to spread over 

 the whole if this is not done. It has sometimes 

 broken out -suddenly, and spread from farm to 

 farm and cellar to cellar, lingering a few years 

 and then entirely disappearing tor a time. After 

 trying many remedies the farmers in that region, 

 !ido|)ted the plan of planting the balls and thus 

 procuring new seed v\'hioh in two or three years 

 arrived at maturity and full size. 



We should be inclined to copy their e.xample 

 in this respect, and also to seek lor other reme- 

 dies, such as planting on sward land, ploiighing 

 in O't depositing in the hill, lime, salt or some 

 other substance, which could do no harm and 

 might operate as a preventative. In particular, 

 where there was any fear that the potatoes in the 

 cellar might become infected, we should be in-r 

 clined to try putting in occasionally n layer of 

 lime among ihe potatoes. 



Our farmers generally are not careful enough 

 to make experiments and note the results. If 

 experiments are carefully followed up and the 

 results accurately noted, an imnignse fund of 

 knowledge is ultimately gained, even if not more 

 than oiii- in a thousand proyeasupcesgfid. There 



nuuiDer ol Oirds liy artificial means, the only re- 



iway; tor shoats that have a cold, damp, com-' and animals, has given the chief direction to all 



