1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



493 



by the animal, although the hairs of themselves 

 are insensible. They stand out on each side of the 

 lion as well as the common cat ; so that, from point 

 to point, they are equal to the width of the ani- 

 mal's body. If we imagine, therefore, a lion steal- 

 ing through a coA-ert of wood, in an imperfect light 

 we shall see at once the use of these long hairs. 

 They indicate to him, through the nicest feeling, 

 any ol)stacle which may present itself to the pas- 

 sage of the body ; they prevent the rustle of boughs 

 and leaves which would give warning to his prey, 

 if he were to attempt to pass through too close a 

 a bush ; and thus, in conjunction with the soft cush- 

 ions of his feet, and the fur upon which he treads 

 (the retractile claws never coming in contact with 

 the ground,) they enable him to move towards his 

 victim with a stillness even greater than that of the 

 snake, that creeps along the grass, and is not per- 

 ceived until it is coiled around its prey." 



Fof the New England Farmer. 



AN EXPEEIMEKT WITH VEGETABLE 

 MUCK. 



Mr. Editor : — I have j^reviously given to your 

 readers some account of my farming experiments 

 in the use of vegetable muck. Last autumn I ven- 

 tured, from what I had noticed of the action of 

 muck, to bank my house with it. Muck is emi- 

 nently a non-conductor of heat, and of course we 

 should be led to expect that it would be quite as 

 useful for banking houses as spent tan, or saw- 

 dust, or spruce boughs, all of which are extensive- 

 ly used in this region. The objection against the 

 use of muck, after the thing was thought of, for 

 embanking, was the fear of soiling the paint. I 

 tried the muck, thinking that, at least, I could 

 wash off any dirt or stain that might be left. It 

 proved the best protection against frost of any of 

 the above named materials. 



Within a few days I have removed the embank- 

 ment, and no stain or soiling of the paint on the 

 house appears, but the Avhole fell off readily and 

 cleanly. In removing the muck, I spread it over 

 my grass land, and about my trees; where it will 

 do good as a top-dressing to the grass, and as 

 mulching to the trees. The whole labor of re- 

 moving the muck was but two or three hours, and 

 everything is left in a neat and improved condition. 



The expense of procuring and placing the muck, 

 in the autumn, was less than to have procured any 

 of the other matirials ; the expense of removal much 

 less, and the benefit to the lawn and trees will ful- 

 ly repay the whole cost, and thus a saving is made 

 and trouble avoided. Hereafter I shall use muck 

 alone for embanking. Is not this little experiment 

 sufficiently suggestive to appear in your excellent 

 periodical ? Michael. 



Bangor, May, 1856. 



Scientific American. — This popular journal of 

 art and science entered upon its twelfth volume, 

 last week. It is conducted with much abiUty, and 

 is one of the most welcome and valuable of our ex- 

 changes, as the frequent drafts we make upon it, 

 in filling our own columns, will bear witness. No 

 inventor can afford to be without it, and it is of 

 hardly less value to the mechanic, the artisan, the 

 manufacturer, and the student in science. 



CARE OF THE FEET. 



One evening in Boston, just as Washington 

 Alston, the painter, was approaching the door of a 

 dwelling where a splendid party had assembled, he 

 suddenly stopped short, and said to his friend : 



"I cannot go in." 



"Nonsense ! Avhy not ?" 



"I have a hole in one of my stockings." 



"Pshaw, man, nobody knows it." 



"But I do," said the celebrated artist, as he 

 turned on his htel, and left his friend in doubt, 

 whether to SM'ear or laugh outright. 



A long time ago, "when you and I were boys," 

 reader, when dead people were brought in and 

 thrown down upon the fioor of the dissecting- 

 room, just as indifferently as a brawny butcher 

 throws down a great big pig to dissect into sausage 

 meat, ham and spare-rib, and just as nude, except 

 the face, which alone tells, in the recent subject, 

 that the man is dead, we used, as a pastime, while 

 the lecturer was calling over long Latin and Greek 

 names, as dry as a fence rail, and as hard, to be 

 cogitating in our own minds what was the position 

 of that body when in life, what its relative stand- 

 ing in society. Somehow or other, we fell on ths 

 fed as the most reliable indicator, especially if the 

 ap]3earance of the body as to plumpness indicated 

 sudden death. Now and then, the well trimmed 

 toe-nail, its freedom from collections under it, and 

 in every other spot, from toe-nail to ankle, scrupu- 

 lously clean ; these showed full well that the poor 

 body so ruthlessly treated now, was tenanted, but a 

 few hours before, by a spirit of purity, refinement 

 and elevation, or had friends around it in the last 

 sad hours of life, who merited such a character; 

 and it was impossible to withhold our sympathy 

 and respect for that lump of lifeless clay. At oth- 

 er times, the feet would be found in so filthy a con- 

 dition, as to excite within us sentiments of the 

 most irrestrainable disgust and contempt, and we 

 felt as if the spirit which had so recently left that 

 tenement was as foul and low as liestiality could 

 make it. 



On a beautiful November afternoon, away back 

 yonder in the Forties, we had just stepped ashore 

 on the Levee at New Orleans, after a ten-days' jour- 

 ney from Louisville, and hurrying along down the 

 water's edge, a few yards from the shore, in the di- 

 rection of the post-office, thinking of how many 

 letters we would find there from absent friends, and 

 kindred, and patients, we were aroused from our 

 reverie by a tremendous concussion and noise. — 

 The first glance was upward at the sky, filled with 

 innumerable objects of every size and description; 

 they had scarcely got high enough to take their 

 turn downwards, and the first thought, that mira- 

 cle of instinct, was, could we, by any rate of locomo- 

 tion, put ourselves beyond the point at which the 

 falling articles would strike the earth ? We looked 

 again, and thought we could. If any individual 

 ever "heeled it" in double quick time, it was the 

 writer of this article — every hair on the head and 

 body seemed to stand on end, a chill thrilled 

 through the whole frame at every successive step ; 

 we felt an expectation of an instantaneous crush to 

 the earth! O, how long that race for life seemed, 

 for we were not forty yards from the Louisiana, at 

 the moment of explosion. Not a single thing 

 touched us, although we heard many pattering 

 around us, apparently as thick as hailstones. In an 



