VOL. XII. NO. 30. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



237 



From the Northern Farmer. 

 SILK. 



We have received, through the politeness of 

 Mr. Simon Brown of this village, from Dr. Frost of 

 Plainliehl, in this county, a heantiful skein of sew- 

 ing silk, of the produce of the Doctor's own little 

 silk establishment the past season. This experi- 

 ment, by Dr. Frost, has resulted in the establish- 

 ment of certain facts, which may hereafter be of 

 incalculable benefit to Northern Agriculture. 



First: — That our northern climate presents no 

 obstacles to the abundant production of the proper 

 food of the silkworm ; and that the temperature of 

 our northern summers is not unfavorable to the 

 growth, perfection, and instinctive industry of this 

 wonderful little spinner of the most durable, as well 

 as most elegant material of our wardrobes. 



Second : — That the skill necessary to the profit- 

 able culture of silk, may be as readily acquired, and 

 as easily reduced to practice, as the knowledge of 

 other agricultural pursuits. These facts establish- 

 ed ; we are able to look forward, with the most 

 confident expectations, to the time, when the silk 

 culture will become a subject of general attention, 

 and one of the principal sources of wealth in north- 

 ern New England : for what cannot New England 

 industry effect, when rightly directed ? A farmer, 

 beginning now, might in ten years, be able to 

 throw into market many hundred dollars' worth of 

 silk ; and, at an expense of culture, much less than 

 would attend any other product, to the same 

 amount; and, at the same time, not diminish his 

 profit from other sources. 



TIMBER 



— By the process of charring or burning the sur- 

 face, may be preserved for an indefinite time, even 

 though exposed to damp, or buried in the earth. 

 The utility of charring timber used for posts or wa- 

 ter works, is so evident, that we are surprised it is 

 not more generally attended to. The most won- 

 derful proof of the indestructibility of charcoal tim- 

 ber is given in Watson's vSkemical Essays, where 

 we are informed " that the beams of the Theatre 

 of Hereulaneum were covered vyith charcoal, by 

 the burning lava which overflowed that city ; and 

 during the lapse of 1,900 years, they have remain- 

 ed as entire as if they had been formed but yester- 

 day." This property was well known to the an- 

 cients, as the famous temple of Ephesus was built 

 on piles charred to preserve them from decay ; and 

 some years ago, piles were found in the Thames, 

 charred, in a perfect state of preservation, in the 

 very spot were Tacitus relates that the Britons 

 drove in piles, to prevent the attack of the fleet of 

 Julius Ctcsar. 



observer to tell the difference by sleeping upon 

 them. I have used one during the last summer, 

 made in this way, and can attest to their great 

 excellence, as well as economy. — Gen. Farmer. 



YEAST. 



Good housewives, who take pride in setting 

 sweet and light bread before their families, feel 

 vexed at nothing more than bad yeast. And they 

 are sometimes put to a great deal of trouble in 

 procuring a good article. The following is said 

 to he a good recipe for making it : Boil one 

 pound of good flour and a quarter of a pound of 

 brown sugar, ;;nd a little salt in two gallons of wa- 

 ter for one hour. When milk warm, bottle it and 

 cork it close, and it will be fil for use in 24 hours. 

 ODe pint of the yeast will make 18 lbs. of bread. 



WHY DOES SOAP CURDLE WITH HARD 

 WATER. 



The sulphuric acid of the sulphate of lime, to 

 which it generally owes its character of hardness, 

 combines with the soda of the soap. The lime anil 

 oil or tallow, being thus freed from their respec- 

 tive combinations, float through tiie liquid medium 

 in flakes ; the phenomenon, therefore, is one entire- 

 ly of decomposition. On this principle solution 

 of soap will determine the relative hardness of 

 water and is generally employed by the well dig- 

 ger. — Murray's Manual of Chemical Experiments. 



HUSK MATTRESSES. 



Ik one of your late numbers, [vol. 3, p. 385,] I 

 observed an article on the subject of Husk Mat- 

 tresses. Permit me to suggest an important im- 

 provement. The preparation of the husk should 

 be as you propose, but instead of using it alone, 

 the following addition is far preferable. Prepare a 

 layer of hu3k of the size you want your mattress, 

 and then lay on a layer of cotton batting, of the or- 

 dinary thickness ; then another thin layer of husks ; 

 then another of cotton, and so on, till you get your 

 mattress of the desired thickness. Stitch the whole 

 together, and cover with your ticking ia the usual 

 manner. 



Mattresses made in this way, are full as good as 

 the best curled hair beds, and I defy the closest 



From the Northampton Courier. 

 QUITE DOMESTICATED. 



The docility and domestic habits of Cows are 

 quite amusing sometimes. There is a venerable 

 old pet creature in this town, who is accustomed 

 to steal a march of the family with whom she re- 

 sides and eat up the miscellaneous matter deposit- 

 ed in the kitchen. Sheoccasionally walks into the 

 hack part of the house and from thence into the 

 larder, and after seating herself on some bumble 

 stool, quietly fills her stomach with any culinary 

 matters which happen within her reach. She al- 

 ways has a good appetite, and never takes hot 

 sling or early bitters to create one. The oilier 

 morning it was found during the night she had 

 eaten up what was designed for the breakfast table, 

 a goodly mess of codfish and potatoes; and at an- 

 other time she stowed away in her bread-basket a 

 large quantity of baked pork and beans. A few 

 days since, she walked into a neighbor's kitchen 

 and ate up a number of fresh loaves of bread and 

 then returned home and swallowed a quantity of 

 butter, enough to spread them with. She's a nice 

 beast, and yields, in the proper season, sixteen 

 quarts of milk in a day, and withal has a touch ol 

 somnambulism about her. 



BLACK TONGUE. , 



We scarcely open a newspaper from the coun- 

 try, without meeting a paragraph or a communica- 

 tion respecting a disease in horses and cattle called 

 the Black Tongue, or the Burnt Tongue. It is 

 said to prevail chiefly among horses, but is not un- 

 common among cattle. Some respectable physi- 

 cians have given their opinion, that if any person 

 who was taking care of animals afflicted with this 

 distemper, should get any of the matter of the dis- 

 eased tongue into an eye or a flesh wound, it would 

 be a very serious affair, and might prove fatal. We 

 have heard that several persons in the couutry are 

 now suffering under an inflammation from this 

 cause. — Boston Courier. 



CHARCOAL. 



There is a peculiar temptation during these 

 long and bitter wintry nights, on exchanging the 

 snug comforts of the warm hearth for the shiver- 

 ing frostiness of apartments unoccupied during the 

 day, to resort to some method for raising their 

 temperature at once. One of the first expedients 

 has ever been to introduce a pan of hurtling coals 

 for this purpose; and notwithstanding the repeat- 

 ed warnings which have been read to the public 

 each succeeding winter, many still persist in this 

 dangerous practice. The consequences are not 

 the less fatal because they are gradual. In a tight 

 room, the carbonic gas escaping from combustion 

 soon renders the air unfit for respiration, a be- 

 numbing lethargy succeeds to drowsiness, and the 

 devoted sleeper seldom awakes to a consciousness 

 of his danger. Many an untimely death has been 

 the consequence of heedlessness in this respect ; 

 and we would again urge caution upon parents 

 and housekeepers in regard to it. The addition of 

 a pair of Dutch blankets, or an extra comforter, — 

 the appellation though homely is appropriate, bless- 

 ings to its inventor! — would be a far better substi- 

 tute. These remarks have been more particularly 

 suggested at this time by the melancholy account 

 of the recent death of two young ladies, who were 

 stifled by the mephitic vapor generated by the in- 

 troduction of burning charcoal into their sleeping 

 apurtment. — Detroit Courier. 



ANIMAL WEATHER GLASS. 



In Germany there will be found, in many coun- 

 try houses, an amusing application of zoological 

 knowledge, for the purpose of prognosticating tbe 

 weather. Two frogs are kept in a glass jar, about 

 eighteen inches in height, and six in diameter, 

 with the depth of three or four inches of water at 

 the bottom, and a small ladder reaching to the top 

 of the jar. On the approach of the dry weather, 

 the frogs mount the ladder — but when wet weath- 

 er is expected, they descend into the water. These 

 animals are of a bright green. 



From the Aew-York Farmer. 



REMEDY FOR THE BLACK TONGUE IN 

 HORSES AND CATTLE. 



I see by tbe papers that a disorder called the 

 Black Tongue is making fearful ravages among 

 the cattle, horses and hogs, in various parts of our 

 country. I believe this disorder may be cured. 

 Take half an ounce of gum gamboge, 1 ounce of 

 aloes, 2 drachms of calomel, reduce to fine powder, 

 add flour and water until it is of the consistence 

 of dough, divide into 10 balls of the size of a hen's 

 egg, — give one ball night and morniDg for a week. 



To give the balls, take hold of the tongue with 

 the left hand, draw it out about 2 inches, then with 

 the right hand lay the ball on the root of the 

 tongue. Let go with the left hand, and the tongue 

 will recede, so that the creature cannot avoid swal- 

 lowing it. If much fever, take 1 oz. ipecacuanha, 

 pour on it a quart of warm but not boiling water, 

 take J pint of this tea, and put it iu a bucket of 

 water ; let the horse drink freely. But in most cases 

 the halls will do the work without the ipecacuanha. 

 For hogs, take 4 oz. gum gamboge, 1 oz. saltpetre, 

 4 quarts charcoal powder, 4 do. fine salt — a pint of 

 this mixture in a barrel of swill, and give as usual. 

 1 have tried it for 20 years, always with success — 

 have given it to cattle and sheep in lieu of salt, and 

 found it a preventive of diseases which have destroy- 

 ed many cattle of my neighbors. R. M. W. 



