652 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



subsoil should be composed of dry materials. It 

 is almost impossible indeed to make a vine border 

 ofmalerials that shall be too dry or porous. It is 

 not mere earth that the rooie require to come in 

 contact with, to induce growth and extension, but 

 air also, which is as necessary to them as to the 

 leaves and branches. The excrementitious mat- 

 ter discharged from the roots of a vine is very 

 great, and ifthis be given out in a soil that is close 

 and adhesive, and through which the action ol 

 the solar rays is feeble, the air in the neighbour- 

 hood ofthe roots quickly becomes deleterious, and 

 a languid and diseased vegetation immediately 

 Ibllows. But if the roots grow in a soil composed 

 ofdry materials, mixed together in such a iTinnner 

 38 to possess a series of cavities and interstices, 

 into which the sun's rays can enter with Ireedom, 

 and there exert their full power ; the air in which 

 the roots perform their lunciions becomes warm 

 and purified, they absorb their Ibod in a medium 

 which dissipates their secretions, and a healthy 

 and vigorous vegetation is the never-lailing conse- 

 quence. All borders, therelbre, made expressly 

 lor the reception of vines, ought to be composed 

 of a sufficient quantity ofdry materials, such as 

 stones, brickbats broken moderately small, lumps 

 of old mortar, broken pottery, oyster shells, Sfc. 

 Jiones, however, on account of their prolonged 

 effect, are by iar the roost valuable manure that 

 can be deposited in a vine border. They should 

 be buried in the soil whole, and as fresh as possi- 

 ble. Every variety of size may be procured, 

 from the smallest bone of a fowl to the largest 

 bone of an ox. The small bones will decompose 

 in a ie\f months, but the largest will remain for 

 twenty, thirty and even fifty years, belore they 

 are entirely decayed while the intermediate-sized 

 ones, according to their respective kinds, will be 

 continually decomposing m succession Ibr a great 

 number of years, yielding thereby a constant 

 supply of nutriment of the most valuable descrip- 

 tion. It is worthy of remark also, that every 

 bone, whether small or large, after it has been 

 deposited in the soil a few weeks, will begin to 

 yield, by the decomposition of the gluten on its 

 surface, a steady supply of nutritious matter, and 

 contmueso to do until it be resolved into its con- 

 stituent parts and form part of the soil itself. 



FACTORY BATHS. 



From ttie Peuny Magazine. 

 In the autumn of last year I established some 

 warm baths, which have been brought into very 

 general use, and have contributed materially to 

 the health, comfort, and cleanliness of the people. 

 The bathing-room is a small building close be- 

 hind the mill, about twenty-five feet by fifteen. 

 The baths, to the number of seven, are ranged 

 along the wails, and a screen about six feet high, 

 with benches on each side of it, is fixed down the 

 middle of the room. The cold water is supplied 

 from a cistern above the engine-house, and the 

 hot water from a large tub, which receives the 

 waste steam from the dressing-room, and is kept 

 constantly almost at boiling temperature. A pipe 

 from each of these cisterns opens into every 

 bath ; so that they are ready for instant use. 

 The men and women bathe on alternate days, 



and a bath-keeper for each attends for an hour 

 and a half in the evening. This person has ihe 

 entire care of the room, and is answerable for 

 every thing that goes on in it. When any one 

 wishes to baihe, he comes to the counting house 

 for a ticket, for which he pays a penny, and with- 

 out which he cannot be admitted to the bathing- 

 room. Sortie families, however, subscribe a shil- 

 ling a month, which entitles them to five hatha 

 weekly ; and others hold a general subscriber's 

 ticket, which always gives ihem admittance to 

 the room. I think the number of baths taken 

 weekly varies from about twenty-five lo seventy 

 or eighty. During the first four months (from 

 November to February inclusive) the average 

 was about seventy-five weekly. Ipaythebaih- 

 keepers two shillings and sixpence and two shill- 

 ings a-week ; and i believe this amount has been 

 more than covered by the receipts. The first cost 

 of erecting the baths was about eighty pounds. 



PORK RAISING — EXERCISE USEFUL FOR 

 SWINE. 



From the Maine Farmer. 



Mr. Phinney's remarks and experiments (no 

 guessing) prove that swine kcpi in ordinary grow- 

 ing condition only, for the first nine months, or 

 half their life, have exceeded in weight fifty 

 pounds those kept high and fat the whole time, 

 I hough at nine months old the latter were the 

 heaviest. They were all one litter. Three were 

 kept so as to exercise and root in the compost 

 heap, or in squealing condition, as some farmers 

 would say, for nine months, while the other three 

 were kept fat and in a close pen for the same 

 lime. They were all slaughtered in one day at 

 18 monihs old, having the last nine months been 

 kept precisely alike. Mr. Phinney, like a man 

 wfio reasons and thinks, attributes the increased 

 weight mostly to exercise. The benefits of ex- 

 ercise are well known in all animals, man not ex- 

 cepted. If all were to bring up their children on 

 rich lood, without exercise, our race would soon 

 become Lilliputians ; and so with all other ani- 

 mals. This is worth knowing, as it saves much 

 expense, and in swine 50 lbs. of pork into the 

 bargain. It must also aid in making manure ; if 

 mud, thistles, bushes, &c., &c., are placed lor those 

 which are kept ordinarily to root over. 



Pork cannot be afforded at 6 or 7 cents per 

 pound by any one who does not raise roots, squash- 

 es, pumpkins, and who does not let liis swine 

 run out to pasture, or on a clover patch three or 

 four months in summer, or does not mow clover 

 grass for them and place it in their yanJ, or on 

 the compost heap, &c. I suggest these ideas for 

 those who may fee! interested m the subject. 



N. B. — Were I asked, what farmer could afTord 

 pork lowest, and make the raising of it a good 

 business 1 I would answer, in a word, he who 

 makes the most manure from his swine, and who 

 raises the most roots, squashes, pumpkins, apples, 

 &c., and who looks well to the breed. 



