538 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



the way, forms a pretty important item in our are balls, parties, and theatres, for the pleasure- 

 preparations for winter, and we are inclined to 'loving, operas and concerts for the musical, and 

 think the ne plus ultra has not yet been invent- 'lectures for the more sober-minded. In short, 



"the season opens" for all but the poor ! and it 

 opens to them with the sad question, how shall 

 they keep off cold, and nakedness, and hunger 

 and yet not be tempted to break the command- 

 ments, and covet or steal their neighbors' goods * 



"Yes, winter is coming, and God help the poor ! 

 [ wish he were going away !" 



Winter in the country — what a scene of deso- 

 lation, where a few months since all was so calm 

 and beautiful ! Where the green leaves trembled 

 in the breeze, naked branches now bend before 

 the north-west wind. The houses which were 

 softened and shaded by the trees and vines, now 

 as if it had a squalling child shut up in it, and stand out in bold relief, like beauty bereft of the 

 you begin to think the customs of your ances-'veil with which she delights to enhance her 

 tors maybe improved upon in some respects. | charms. The broad stretch of land which you 

 You next try an air-tight stove. It is an inven-|have often likened to the 

 tion of the adversary, unattended by the proper 

 ventilation. Why ! a pair of bellows could not 

 blow in such an atmosphere ! But it is cheap, 

 and does warm the room, — so air-tight stoves are 



ed, and that a triumph still remains for somebody 

 in this line. The old-fashioned fireplace is fault- 

 less as it regards ventilation, or as an ornamen- 

 tal object, merely, but it lacks the one essential 

 quality of warming the room ! You may sit and 

 gaze at it in a poetic ecstacy, and see all manner 

 of things in the coals, and think how your great 

 grandmother sat by just such a fire, but you feel 

 a cold wind playing about your ankles ; you 

 change your seat, and a blast sweeps over your 

 shoulders, and creeps down the back of your 

 neck ; you change your seat again, and are greet- 

 ed by a gale from that closet, which always howls 



"Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood," 



are now one bleak, unbroken desert of snow, — 

 and how the wind blows the snow about, down 



'in the very spot where only a few months ago, 

 t little bare-footed children were out blueberrying, 

 [laughing, as they filled their baskets, with the 



almost universally used where wood alone is 

 burned, and will be, till something shall be in- 

 vented possessing these advantages, and some: 

 besides. 



All furnaces are open to one objection. There . •. , , ... 



., „ , , 1 • w i watch the sunset, as it throws aglow on the tree- 



is no "mgle-side" to gather around — no bright, ! , .1 i i • i 1 • . .1 



„ ° „ ° , ^ • /< .1 :tops,and the church spire, and listen to the many 



cheerful fire to form a centre 01 attraction tor the i '. ., ,., • ,• ,-i 



[voices with which nature is speaking, while you 



ringing, happy laugh, which only children have ! 

 No longer can you sit at your front door and 



family group, — and the heat, moreover, is by no 

 means as agreeable as that of an open fireplace, 

 provided you could contrive to escape the 

 draughts attendant thereon. But of all contriv- 

 ances yet discovered for warming dwellings, man- 

 ufactories, workshops, or public buildings, noth- 

 ing is so healthful, so easily managed and cheap 

 in the long run, as steam. A moderate amount 

 of steam will pervade and warm a large room, 

 much quicker than furnace or stove heat, — and 

 as there are no outlets for the escape of air, there 

 will be no cold currents as in the case of open 

 stoves or fireplaces. The reason why steam is 



think of Abraham at the door of his tent, or 

 Adam in the garden of Eden. No pleasant rev- 

 eries, no quiet musings now. But still there is 

 work to do — and the season brings with it the 

 very energy which we need to accomplish it. 

 Well is it for us that we have not to contend 

 with the stern requisites of winter, without this 

 additional vigor. 



I For the New England Farmer. 



[fakming in northern n. h.~barns. 



1 Mr. Editor : — At a distance, the barns are 

 ,, , i .1 T. .. • the most prominent objects upon each farm, 



not more generally employed,— though it is nowir^j^^^.^ ^^^ usually two to four in number— each 

 coming into use in private dwellings, — is the | measuring about forty by fifty feet. They are 

 first cost of the fixtures. As the materials fori well roofed with shingle and walled with single 

 conducting steam are expensive, and as the work 1 boards. They are so arranged as to form a part 

 , 111 . »i n . t • v 1, .!,„ [of a hollow square for the protection 01 the cat- 



must all be exact the first cost is higher than , , ,,,,1 ,, . 1 i ki„ „^a 



, ., . , ^ . ! tie-yard. 1 he walls present a large double and 



for any other mode of heating; but in the usei^^^ ^^ ^j^^^g gj^^gj^ ^^^^^^ and a row of manure 



of steam for a series of years, there is so much! windows. A shed usually extends from one side, 

 saving of fuel, that the cost of the fixcures would 1 Through the middle of the interior extends the 

 be paid for in that item. i Aoor-upon one side the "bay"-upon the oppo- 



site the "stable" and "scaffold." A grain room 

 often occupies a portion of the bay 



Though keeping warm is a great desideratum, 

 it is not the only thing to be attended to, for win- 

 ter brings with it an entire change in our mode 

 of life. 



To the dwellers in cities, amusements increase, 

 rather than diminish, as winter approaches. There 



This is the most usual arrangement of our 

 barns. Connected with it are many evils. From 

 the number there is waste of building-material, 

 space and labor. It certainly requires more ma- 

 terial to build two or three small barns than one 



