NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



399 



It being now eight o'clock, the company sepa- 

 rated, a large portion returning to town by special 

 train on the Eastern Counties Railway. — London 

 Morning Post. 



BATHING— THE SKIN. 



Many apologies are made by persons for a neg- 

 lect of habitual bathing — some urge a want of 

 time, others a want of inclination, and a half belief 

 that it is unimportant, but by far the largest num- 

 ber, a want of convenience for the operation. It 

 has become fashionable to add the boilers, pipes, 

 pumps, and rooms to most new houses for the ac- 

 commodation of bathing. It is generally a some- 

 what expensive attachment, but is all very well 

 for those who can afford to do it without cutting 

 off other conveniences, or embarrassing other of 

 their affairs. A bowl of soft water, a little soap, 

 and a couple of towels, after all, is all that is really 

 necessary. A small room is pleasant and conve- 

 nient, and may be found in most dwellings without 

 expense particularly for it. In the Farmer and 

 Mechanic, published by Messrs. Parker & Bidwell, 

 New York, we always find sound and useful in- 

 struction, and among many other good tilings, 

 what follows, in relation to the functions of the 

 skm : 



"A knowledge of the various and important of- 

 fices performed by the skin, in the animal economy, 

 must quicken our attention to bathing, as the best 

 means by which health may be preserved without 

 disturbance or interruption. There are three sub- 

 stances passing from the skin constantly : 1st, an 

 oil exudes for the benefit of the skin itself; 2d, the 

 perspiration, or water portion of the blood, evap- 

 orated from the surface to cool the body ; 3d, ex- 

 creted substances of varying character, very inju- 

 rious to health if not carried off. These substan- 

 ces are very liable by drying to form a gum or 

 glazing upon the surface of the skin, which closes 

 the millions of pores, damages the nervous system, 

 and throws the excretions back upon the lungs. 

 By bathing all these impurities are removed and 

 the skin rendered soft and readily adapted to pre- 

 serve the proper adjustment between the secretions 

 and exhalations ; and more especially assist the 

 respiratory functions of the human body." 



Now, kind reader, that thou seest what impor- 

 tant duties the skin has to perform, in order to 

 keep thee elastic and in health, wilt thou not at- 

 tend to its demands, and straightway go and 

 bathe, and do it habitually? 



A New Lamp. — The lamp to which we alluded 

 a few weeks since was invented and has been pa- 

 tented, by Dr. Charles Siedhof, of Lancaster, 

 Mass. We know nothing of it beyond what was 

 stated in the paragraph published. This para- 

 graph is written to answer inquiries in relation 

 to it. 



E3P" Some time since we published a table giving 

 the time of gestation of certain animals, in which 

 a typographical error of the figure 8 was inserted 

 instead of the figure 9, making the time of gesta- 



tion of the cow eight months instead of nine. The 

 error was so obvious that we did not deem it wor- 

 thy an erratum. But, it seems that one of our 

 neighbors, who is something of an old Buck him- 

 self, is in serious doubts whether it is eight or nine 

 months, so we state decidedly, that, ever since it 

 has been found there are calves who go on tivo legs 

 as well as on four, the cow does go with young 

 about nine months, more or less. 



For the New England Farmer. 



DRY WEATHER: 



— OR — 



SOLEMN WORDS ON A SOLEMN SUBJECT. 

 BY J. G. 110 YT. 



My Dear Brown : — What shall we do 1 The 

 Scripture — "the heaven that is over thy head shall 

 be brass and the earth that is under thee shall be 

 iron ; the Lord shall make the rain of thy land 

 powder and dust" — is finding its fulfilment among 

 us, Gentiles, in the southern district of New Hamp- 

 shire. Such a drought, as is now withering ev- 

 ery green thing before it, has never been known in 

 this region even by the father of "the oldest in- 

 habitant." Dame Partington might now "mop 

 up" almost any of our rivers, whatever may have 

 been said about her attempts on the Atlantic 

 Ocean. The noise of wheels and saws has ceased ; 

 ' ' the sound of the grinders is low; ' ' mill-ponds have 

 evaporated and left their fish as dry as smoked her- 

 rings. Not a few trees on light land, transplant- 

 ed this spring ivilhout mulching, have been sea- 

 soned for some time as thoroughly as last year's 

 bean-poles ; and in others, which maintain a sem- 

 blance of life, the sap circulates just about as brisk- 

 ly as the blood in Palmer's wooden legs. The fo- 

 liage on many large and old trees even is begin- 

 ning to droop and grow yellow. Potatoes will 

 not, as a general thing, be able to rot, for the sim- 

 ple reason that the tops have not had for several 

 weeks sufficient strength to stand up long enough 

 to be "struck" down, and the tubers are too small 

 to be worthy of the notice of a respectable epidem- 

 ic. The corn in many places is ruined "past a' 

 remead," as in the severity of the drought the 

 tassel was killed before it could develop pollen 

 enough to impregnate the silks ; and each partic- 

 ular silk, as you know, is a kind of Fallopian tube 

 leading to the ovum of a kernel. There may be 

 cobs, therefore, but precious little corn on dry 

 land. 



With the exception of an abortive effort to storm 

 a week or two ago, we have had nothing but"a 

 hot and copper sky" since the equinoctial rains. 

 The manure, which some of our farmers were un- 

 wise enough to put in their potato-hills, has not 

 been wet this year, and to all human appearance 

 is not likely to be wet very soon. The earth and 

 atmosphere have become so dry and hot, that it is 

 a matter of some doubt with me, whether, in ac- 

 cordance with the established laws of nature, it 

 can rain now. Red hot iron, it is well-known, 

 cannot easily be wet by endeavoring to sprinkle it, 

 because the water is at once converted into vapor 

 and scattered to the winds. It never rains on 

 the great African Deserts, because the clouds no 

 sooner come within speaking distance^ than they 

 are dissipated and dissolved "into thin air" by 

 the heat, which is always rising from the burning 



