494 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



instant, we stood still, why we cannot say, it was 

 instinctive, not rational, and as soon as the sound 

 of falling ceased, we turned to the scene of disaster 

 Just as we turned, a poor young fellow passed us, 

 scarcely able to limp along, and the next instant, 

 was a full grown man, flat on his back, without one 

 atom of injury except he had no head ; the back- 

 bone just i)rotruded a little above the line of the 

 shoulder. In that instant of time, some eighty-one 

 persons, if we remember well, were hurried into 

 eternity. Some lingered a moment and died; oth- 

 ers lay a long time, and no aid came to them. — 

 The v;hole surface of the levee was covered with 

 bits of human bones, and joints, and flesh, and hair, 

 and parts of clothing ; a piece of boiler weighing 

 perhaps a thousand pounds, struck a bale of cotton, 

 cutting a mule in two, and shivered a cast-iron 

 awning-post, some four hundred feet from the ill- 

 fated steamer. As litter after litter passed by us 

 towards the hosjiital and town, bearing its black- 

 ened, mutilated, dying occupants, a resolution sud- 

 denly formed itself in our mind, as apparently for- 

 eign to scenes like these, as it was possible to be — 

 that as long as we lived, we never would, if alone, 

 'put our Foot on a steamer or rail-car, except in our 

 best clothing, and the whole body in as unexcep- 

 tionable condition as razor, and soap, and water 

 could make it. Now, why ? The argument ran 

 itself out in our mind as follows : — "If in that terri- 

 ble hour, I had been bereft of all sense, the atten- 

 tion shown me, and the place assigned me in a private 

 house or public hotel, or large hospital, would have 

 depended, to a considerable extent, on the charac- 

 ter of personal belongings." This is a thought 

 which will bear maturing by all travellers. 



Therefore, reader, if you would secure more 

 marked attention from your physicians or nurses in 

 times of sudden calamities and terrible mutilations 

 of body, a clean person, a clean foot, would not be 

 a despised passport. 



The feet should be soaked in warm water, for at 

 least twenty minutes, twice a week, and at the same 

 time, rubbed and scrubbed with a brush and soap. 

 Resides this, if they were dipped in cold water of 

 mornings, ankle deep, both in at once, for a single 

 minute, winter and summer, having them vigorous 

 ly and briskly rubbed all the time they are in, then 

 wiped dry and a walk taken, or held to a fire ui.til 

 perfectly warmed, the skin of the feet would be 

 kept in a soft, cleanly, pliable condition, the circula 

 tion about them would be vigorous, and the result 

 would be, in many instances, that corns and callosi 

 ties would almost cease to trouble you ; coldness of 

 feet would, to a considerable extent, be removed 

 and 'taking cold' would not occur once, where it 

 now occurs a dozen times ; for it is through the 

 feet, that many of our most serious ailments come. 

 In addition, let us suggest, that one of the most 

 useful of habits, as well as agreeable, during all the 

 seasons of the year, in which fires are kept burning, 

 let the last operation preceding getting into bed 

 be, holding the naked foot to the fire, for ten or 

 fifteen minutes, rubbing with the hands all the time, 

 until most thoroughly dry and warm. A good ano- 

 dyne thsit.— Hall's Journal of Health. 



our own State. If we had the disposition, we could 

 scarcely afibrd to use much wine, and do not pre- 

 tend that we should "die in aromatic pain," if we 

 found the flavor of a glass we were tasting a mil- 

 lionth part of a shade different from what we ex- 

 pected. Rut this native product was excellent — 

 better than any of Longworth's sparkling Catawba 

 we have ever tasted. Several persons tasting it 

 pronounced it very fine. In sickness, and cases of 

 weakness and debihty, we should think it would be 

 a capital wine. We are assured that there is not a 

 particle of brandy or alcohol added to this grape 

 juice, and that the sugar of which it is made is re- 

 fined of most of its alcoholic properties. 



Native Grape Wine.— Messrs. E. Paige & Co., 

 41 and 42 North Market Street, sent us the other 

 day a sample of their wine made from the grapes 

 which grow on the hills and along the streams of 



For the New England Farmer, 



EECLAIMING BOG-MEADOW. 



BY F. HOLBROOK. 



The Vermont Asylum for the Insane, located in 

 this town, has a farm connected with it, afi'ording a 

 variety of luxuries and substantial farm-products 

 for the use of the establishment. The consump- 

 tion of the products of the soil by the Institution, 

 is of course, in many articles, very much greater 

 than the farm can ever supply ; and to increase its 

 productivenes in all reasonable ways, is a desirable 

 object. The writer of this article, having some of- 

 ficial connection with the asylum, occasionally coun- 

 sels with its active ofucers as to the improvements 

 of the farm, and feels quite an interest in their 

 progress and results. Among the leading farm 

 operations, is that of furnishing the establishment 

 with fresh milk. To do this fully, a large stock of 

 cows must be kept, and the farm must be made to 

 support them, as well as the working teams of ox- 

 en and horses, summer and winter. The pastures 

 and mowing lands must therefore be looked after. 

 The method commenced for renovating the older 

 portions of the pasture lands, was detailed by the 

 writer in a recent communication to the Farmer. 

 The mowing lands are mostly Connecticut river in- 

 tervale, of excellent natural quality. About thirty 

 acres of the intervale, however, lie low, and were, 

 until recently reclaimed, wet and boggy, yielding 

 little or nothing but coarse swale grass, fit only to 

 be used for bedding the stock. This tract of bog- 

 meadow is now all drained, and yields a great bur- 

 den of excellent hay. It is the purpose of this ar- 

 ticle to describe the method of draining and re- 

 claiming this land. 



The meadow is not what would be called a peaty 

 soil, but a stiff", heavy loam, or alluvial deposit, ap- 

 proaching in texture to clay, and of uniform, and 

 very rich quality to the depth of two to three feet. 

 It is annually flooded by the waters of the Connec- 

 ticut, setting back in times of freshet. Some years 

 several freshets occur to flow the land, andin others 

 it is only covered by a January or a spring flood. 



