423 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 



The atmosphere is mainly composed of two dis- 

 tinct gases, which are invisible but not impondera- 

 ble bodies, and everywhere surround the planet 

 like an ocean. It has a mean depth of some forty- 

 five miles. The gases which form the air are called 

 nitrogen and oxygen. According to the accurate 

 analysis of dry, pure air, made by M. M. Dumas 

 and Boussingault, 100 parts consist of 20.8 oxygen 

 and 89.2 nitrogen. These chemists found from 2 

 to 5 parts of carbonic acid in 10,000 of atmospheric 

 air. Dr. Fresenius has ascertained that the pro- 

 portion of ammonia in the atmosphere is as 1 to 

 2,000,000, varying to 1 to 3000,000. Undoubted- 

 ly there are many other volatile and gaseous bodies 

 in the atmosphere, in a state so extremely diluted 

 and diffused as to escape all chemical tests. Sir 

 Robert Kane found that sulphureted hydrogen will 

 pass through a thin piece of India-rubber into the 

 atmosphere, against a pressure equal to 50 times 

 the weight of common air. Gaseous compounds 

 of phosphorus, chlorine, and sulphur, are constant- 

 ly discharged from decaying animal and vegetable 

 substances into the atmosphere. These gases fall 

 to the earth again in rain-water. It is one of the 

 laws peculiar to all gases, that the presence of one 

 in any given space does not in the least prevent 

 several others from occupying the vacancies left 

 between atoms of gas that seem to repel each 

 other with singular aversion. The facility with 

 which the atmosphere takes up vapor when water 

 evaporates, is familiar to all. This capacity to 

 hold immense quantities of water imbibed from the 

 ocean, lakes, rivers, the foliage of trees, and moist 

 earth, in a volatile condition, to be distributed over 

 broad continents, is a wonderful provision of na- 

 ture. But the filling of the air with water, like a 

 wet sponge, is less remarkable than the contriv- 

 ance for squeezing the sponge, so to speak, and 

 causing the diffused moisture to fall in gentle rains, 

 snows and dews. The drying of the atmosphere, 

 after it is saturated with water, is a phenomenon, 

 without which it would never rain ; nor could 

 there be any springs, rivers, land plants or animals 

 on the globe. This precipitation of water is effect- 

 ed by a change of temperature ; which change is 

 the result of the revolution of the earth on its ax- 

 is, and of solar heat. Day and night, spring, 

 summer, autumn and winter, with their ever vary- 

 ing temperature, varying winds and clouds, and 

 constantly changing humidity, are all results of 

 fixed laws, which invite the research of every rea- 

 soning mind. 



FATTENING CATTLE IN STALLS AND 

 IN SHEDS. 



An experiment has been made in Scotland to tr 

 the c >inparative value of i> ese two modes of fat 

 tenin 5 cattle. Ten animals having been chosen 

 were livided as equally as possible ; five were pu 

 in a s ieltered court with plenty of shed room, an 

 the ot lers into boxes. At the beginning of Octo 

 ber it was soon found that those in the court ea 

 13-4 lb-, per day, while those in the boxes eatonb 

 112 lb-;., or 22 lbs. less, thus proving thata certaii 

 degree of warmth is equivalent to food. Afte 

 seven months, toward the end of April, the 

 were all -laughtcrcd, and the following results wer'< 

 found : — 



fed in boxes Heef.. 3,262 fts. Tallow. .6, 678 lis. 



fed in courts Beef.. 3,416 lbs. Tallow. .6, 54 1. s. 



(':.•■ 



Can 



These results show the superiority of feeding in 

 boxes. It is thought that in a less mild winter 

 they would have been more striking. In the 

 course of the experiment the thermometer rose to 

 50 degrees, and the cattle under cover seemed to 

 suffer from being too warm. It was found a tri- 

 fling expense to comb them regularly, which 

 speedily produced a very marked improvement. — 

 N. Y. Tribune. 



FLOWERS— GARDENING. 



Mr. Charles Dickens has been discoursing very 

 eloquently about flowers at the ninth anniversary 

 of the Gardener's Royal Benevolent Institution. — 

 We give a short extract from his beautiful ad- 

 dress : — 



''Gardening," he said, "was invariably connect- 

 ed with peace and happiness. Gardens are asso- 

 ciated in our minds with all countries, all degrees 

 of men, and with all periods of time. We know 

 that painters, and sculptors, and statesmen, and 

 men of Avar, and men who have agreed in nothing 

 else, have agreed, in all ages, to delight in gar- 

 derm. 



"We know that the most ancient people of the 

 earth had gardens ; and that where nothing but 

 heaps of sand are now found, and arid desolation 

 now reigns, gardens once smiled, and the gorgeous 

 blossoms of the East shed their fragrance on races 

 which would have been long ago forgotten but for 

 the ruined temples which, in those distant ages, 

 stood in their gardens. We know that tl e an- 

 cients wore crowns of flowers ; and the laurels and 

 the bays have stimulated many a noble heart to 

 deeds of heroism and virtue. We know that in 

 China hundreds of acres of gardens float about the 

 rivers ; and, indeed, in all countries gardening is 

 the favorite -recreation of the people. In this 

 country its love is deeply implanted in the breasts 

 of everybody. 



"We see the weaver striving for a pigmy garden 

 on his house top ; we see the pcor man wrestling 

 with the smoke for his little bower of scarlet run- 

 ners ; we know how evenjnen who have no scrap 

 of land to call their own, and will never have, un- 

 til they lie their length in the ground, and have 

 passed forever the portals of life, still cultivate 

 their favorite flowers or shrubs in jugs, bottles, and 

 basins ; we know that in factories and workshops 

 we may find plants ; and I have seen the poor pri- 

 soner, condemned to linger out year after year 

 within the narrow limits of his place of confine- 

 ment, gardening in his cell. 



"Of the exponents of a language so universal ; 

 of the patient followers of nature in their efforts to 

 produce the finest forms and the richest colors of 

 her most lively creations, which we enjoy alike at 

 all times of life, and which, whether on the bosom 

 of beauty or the breast of old age, are alike beau- 

 tiful, surely it is not .too much to say that such 

 men have a hold upon our remembrance when they 

 themselves need comfort." 



The Tropical Planter — is the title of a new 

 agricultural paper, published at Ocala, Florida. 

 Lewis C. Gaines, Editor. We like his introduc- 

 tion much, and most other articles in the paper. 

 Those on the culture of tobacco, and the " Far- 

 mer's medicine chest," we have no sympathy 

 with. We are glad to see that portion of the 





