5G4 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



The Glout Morceau is received from France, un- 

 der the name of Beurre d' Aremberg, where it is 

 more extensively cultivated for the market than 

 any other winter pear. The tree is hardy, vigor- 

 ous, and produces well, but like many other varie- 

 ties, requires good cultivation, and until it has at- 

 tained to considerable maturity, frequently fails to 

 set a full crop. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FOUL CELLARS. 



Friend Brown : — Thinking that what I have to 

 communicate may interest your readers, I send you 

 a page from my note-book : 



One day last week, a little girl, aged eleven years, 

 daughter of a respectable farmer, living near this 

 village, died suddenly. The family physician had 

 been called a number of times within a month, 

 and had prescribed for nearly every member of 

 the family, which was large. 



On the day of the death of the child above- 

 mentioned, he was called to visit three children 

 of the family, whom he found quite sick, and all 

 exhibiting nearly the same symptoms. After at- 

 tending to these, he found the little girl, who, with- 

 out attracting the notice of her parents, had re- 

 clined upon a bed, and was exhibiting alarming 

 symptoms. 



He acquainted the family with her situation, and 

 expressed his fears that she would not live out the 

 day. She died before night. The other children 

 still remain sick. 



The doctor expi'essed to the family his belief 

 that there was some local cause for the sickness. 

 Search was made, which, for awhile, proved fruit- 

 less. At length, underneath the potato bin, the 

 cause was discovered in the form of a mass of 

 partially eaten potatoes and the offal of rats un 

 dergoing the putrifactive fermentation, and filling 

 the cellar and whole house with a most offensive 

 odor. The man who attempted to remove this 

 mass was made so sick as to vomit, and compelled 

 to desist. There now remains no reasonable doubt 

 that the sickness of this family and the death of 

 the child were caused by this decaying vegetable 

 matter. 



We are told that the curse causelessly does not 

 come. No more does sickness. In the physical 

 and in the moral world, every effect must have an 

 adequate cause. And well would it be, if, when 

 sickness invades our dwellings, instead of endeav- 

 oring to quiet our fears by sending for a physi- 

 cian and ejaculating, " 'Tis a mysterious Provi- 

 dence," we would inquire after the cause, and set 

 about removing it. 



Housekeepers should learn from the above-men- 

 tioned fact, the importance of carefully removing 

 from the cellar, in early spring, every vestige of 

 vegetable matter that witl be likely to decay. — 

 The cellar should be kept scrupulously neat. Bins, 

 casks, and all vessels, in which vegetables have 

 been kept during the winter, should be cleansed 

 and aired. The walls should be cleaned and 

 whitewashed, at least once a year; and, if ver- 

 min are allowed to enter, deodorizing substances 

 should be sprinkled about their haunts. 



The same caution should be used at all times, 

 but especially during the warm season, respecting 

 sinks and vaults, and other places productive of 



offensive odors. Let this precaution be exercised, 

 and dysentery and fevers would be less prevalent 

 and physicians would find less employment and 

 human life would be prolonged. 



There are some interesting geological facts con- 

 nected with this place. There is evidence that 

 the Ashuelot, which now flows westerly into the 

 Connecticut, through Hindsdale, once flowed south 

 through Warwick and emptied into Miller's river. 

 The channel of the river may easily be traced all 

 the way from Winchester to Miller's river, in the 

 town of Orange. On the highest ground in War- 

 wick, nearly six hundred feet above high water 

 mark, on the Ashuelot, in the village of Winchester, 

 numerous pots, of various sizes, may be seen, pro- 

 ving conclusively that for many ages a large stream 

 of water must have passed over that spot. 



It is obvious that the ground on which the vil- 

 lage of Winchester is built, the village of Swanzey 

 and most of the town of Keene and a part of Marl- 

 boro', was once the bed of a large lake. When 

 the barrier between Mount Holyoke and Tom gave 

 way and drained off the great lake, which covered 

 the valley, extending from Northampton to Brat- 

 tleboro', the ridge of land which separates Win- 

 chester from Hinsdale also gave Avay, and the lit- 

 tle Ashuelot found a shorter course to the Sound. 



To one interested in the changes through which 

 this mundane sphere has passed, this region af- 

 fords abundant matter for speculation. 



Yours, &c, h. 



Winchester, N. H., Oct. 17. 



Remarks. — The above article deserves especial 

 attention. 



BARKBOUND TREES. 



Some over-wise people have an idea that when 

 a tree gets mossy and barkbound — the latter an- 

 other term for the want of growth and weakness, 

 consequent upon neglected cultivation — it is only 

 necessary to slit the bark up and down the stem 

 with a jack-knife, and it will at once spread out 

 and grow. This is sheer nonsense. Dig about 

 and cultivate the roots, and the bark will take care 

 of itself, with a scraping off the moss, and a wash- 

 ing of the stem with ley or soap suds, or chamber 

 slops, which last is quite as good. The increased 

 flow of the sap, induced by a liberal feeding of the 

 roots, will do its own bursting of the "hide-bound'" 

 bark, which is simply its enfeebled condition as a 

 consequence of its poverty of root. No one thinks 

 of turning out a bony, half-starved calf in the spring 

 into the clover-field, with the skin on its sides all 

 split through with a knife in order to add to its 

 growth. But this last proposition is quite as sen- 

 sible and philosophical as the other. Nature takes 

 care of itself in these particulars. Sap in plants 

 is what the blood is to animals. Its vigorous flow 

 reaches every part of its composition, and gives to 

 each its proper play and function. We can show 

 frequent instances of adecrepid, shrivelled branch, 

 by the throwing open and manuring of the roots, 

 and a thorough pruning of the whole top, increas- 

 ing from an inch to two inches in diameter in a 

 single season ; and without assistance it grew, 

 bursting and throwing off its old contracted bark 

 as freely as the growth of a vigorous asparagus 

 shoot will develop itself during a warm shower in 

 May. Such nostrums are only the invention of the 

 head to the laziness of the hands.— Anonymous. 



