NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



277 



the middling class of independent Farmers and 

 Mechanics, who possess, as a general tiling, mure 

 than a competency. Now what is the object for 

 which they expose themselves to all the inclemen- 

 cies of the season, and toil on without intermission, 

 through rain and snow, cold and heat, night and 

 day, until they are stiff and useless with infirmities, 

 racked with rheumatism, or struck down with 

 disease. Is it necessary to sustain your existence ? 

 then it is a duty to go to the last stretch of human 

 endurance. 



Is it necessary to the existence of those who are 

 dearer to you than life ? Then natural affection will 

 prompt you to discharge an imperative duty, to 

 the full extent of your ability. Is it to provide 

 things necessary and convenient for your house- 

 hold, that you are thus early sacrificing health 

 and happiness and even life itself? Then it is a 

 duty up to the point of necessity, and no further. 

 Is it for the purpose of educating your children, 

 and fitting them for usefulness in life 1 Then it is 

 truly laudable, then it may be a question how far 

 your duty extends. Is it for the purpose of amass- 

 superfluous wealth, that you may leave an inherit- 

 ance for your offspring ? Then it is sordid and crimi- 

 nal, and such a wretched suicide is beyond the 

 circle of our sympathy. 



This last mentioned class is the one we arraign, 

 and they must plead guilty. We believe that a 

 temperate, honest and industrious man is able, 

 with ordinary health, to secure the necessaries of 

 life for himself and family in this country, far with- 

 in the utmost stretch of human endurance, and 

 even without that superior management which 

 makes many rich with little effort. And that all 

 may have not only sufheient time for rest and re- 

 creation, but also time for mental and moral im- 

 provement. — Green Mountain Farmer. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 RECIPES. 



Corns can be cured by paring and wetting them 

 with muriatic acid ; it will cause no pain, unless 

 you pare to the quick, and never fails to cure. — 

 Try it. (a.) 



Swelled Udder. — Boil the bark of bittersweet, 

 — the bark of the root is best, — in water to get the 

 strength ; strain and simmer it away in fresh but- 

 ter to an ointment ; bottle it, and it will keep for 

 years. This ointment is excellent for cows' bags 

 that are swelled, and will heal a wound on a horse. 

 Every farmer should keep it. 



Bedbug Poison is the best to kill bedbugs, and 

 leave* no scent ; it is made by dissolving one ounce 

 of corrosive sublimate in one pint of alcohol; ap- 

 ply the mixture with a feather to the joints of the 

 bedsteads. Label the bottle to prevent mistakes. 



I built a corn-house in 1842 on a new plan. The 

 usual way with us has been to build corn-houses 

 on wood posts, with a flat stone under the sill, or 

 on stone posts, with a tin pan bottom side up un- 

 der the sills to keep the mice from running up the 

 posts ; but the mice in most cases get into them. 

 I framed the sills into the posts two and one-half 

 feet from their end, and cased the posts, filling the 

 wane corners of the posts, to keep the mice from 

 running up, and put a sheet of tin round them ten 

 inches wide under the sills ; this keeps the mice 

 and red and striped squirrels out, but the grey 

 squirrel jumps over. My corn-house is 15 by 18 



feet, 10 feet from sill to plate; the beams are 

 framed into the posts two feet below the plates, 

 making a good chamber for grain. It is boarded 

 on the sides and one end with strips three inches 

 wide and three-eighths of an inch apart. The cribs 

 are two feet wide, laid up with strips on the inside, 

 and will hold three hundred and fifty or four hun- 

 dred bushels of cars. It is built with six posts, 

 braced from the top of the sills to the posts and 

 under the beams and plates ; the wind does not 

 move it. The posts should stand on a stone with 

 a channel cut round them to keep the water from 

 running under and rotting the posts. It should 

 not stand near a fence, nor have steps fur the mice 

 to run upon. The tin is quite an ornament to the 

 house. c. H. 



Montepelier, Vt. 



Remarks. — (a.) We have clear convictions on one 

 point, viz.: that nothing is made in vain. But we 

 had forgotten, when we spoke of tobacco recently, 

 that it was a sovereign remedy for corns; at least, 

 a lady told us so many years ago, and she the wife 

 of a Governor, too, and she ought to know, of 

 course! Take a fat quid, madam, (for ladies un- 

 fortunately have corns,) if your husband happens 

 to be a tobacco chewer, and bind it upon the ag- 

 grieved part, renew it every other day, and the 

 cure will be certain. But prevention is better than 

 cure. The recipe is simple, — wear suitable boots 

 or shoes. 



THE FARMER'S GUIDE 



To Scientific and Practical Agriculture. Detailing the labors 

 of the Farmer, in all their variety, and adapting iliem to the 

 seasons of the year, as they successively occur.' By Heniiy 

 Stephens. Assisted by John P. Norton, Professor of 

 Scientific Agriculture in Yale College. Leonard Scott <fc 

 Co., Publishers, N. Y. 



This is a work which, in itself, would compose 

 a pretty good farmer's library. It begins with de- 

 scribing the best existing methods for acquiring a 

 thorough knowledge of practical husbandry ; speaks 

 of the difficulties the beginner has to encounter in 

 learning, and the means of overcoming them. It 

 then takes up and discusses, in the most systemat- 

 ic manner, all the various operations of the farm — 

 the forests, fields, meadows, swamps and pasture ; 

 the barns, stables, yards and dairy. Also, all that 

 can be said in books of the gathering, preparation 

 and application of manures. Treats of cattle, 

 horses, sheep and swine, their growth, manage- 

 ment, profits and losses, diseases, remedies and 

 various breeds ; of poultry in its every relation. In 

 speaking of plowing, for instance, it does not stop 

 with the mere declaration that deep plowing is ben- 

 eficial, but sustains that declaration, by such plain 

 and practical teachings as will satisfy the most 

 captious of the ability of the writer to teach. The 

 plowman's duties are also distinctly defined, and 

 all the operations of that ar| illustrated by appro- 

 priate engravings. Each branch of farm husband- 

 ry is in this manner minutely discussed, explained, 

 and its importance enforced. 



Beside this, the two large, royal octavo volumes 



