1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



61 



shoot out to strengthen it against the winds, and 

 furnish a new and increased supply of food for 

 the plant. But few persons are aware of the 

 large per centage of nourishment our grain crops 

 receive from the atmosphere around them. Ac- 

 tual experiments have removed every doubt from 

 ray mind that a field conducted upon the plan of 

 three or four times plowing and hilling, will stand 

 the drought much better than by flat cultivation, 

 and produce a sufficient increase of corn to pay 

 good wages for the labor done. 



EXTREME COLD WEATHER — HORSES. 



Persons owning valuable animals are often in- 

 ilifferent to their health and comfort, and on an 

 extreme cold day, in good sleighing, will drive a 

 noble steed ten or twelve miles an hour, thinking 

 because it is cold he may be pressed forward to 

 the extent of his speed, unconscious of the deadly 

 effects of the frost upon the animal. When the 

 Iiorse is at full speed, his lungs are inflated to 

 their fullest capacity, and at every vital breath 

 the paralyzing effects of the frost are carried to 

 every part of the lungs. By the countless num- 

 ber of cells which form the internal structure of 

 these organs is exposed a surface greatly exceed- 

 ing the whole external surface of the body. The 

 Hving membrane of these cells has a wonderful 

 absorbent action, by which they suck in the ait 

 destined to vivify the blood. When the ther- 

 mometer is 10^ or 20° below zero, the air is so 

 powerfully impregnated with the properties of 

 dissolving acids as to form tubercles in the lobes 

 of the lungs, which result in consumption, or in 

 spasmodic afi"ections attended with fever and in- 

 flammation. If the owner is an unobserving 

 man, the animal dies of "Botts ;" if his owner is 

 a man of observation, he soon finds his horse is 

 laboring under a violent attack of lung fever, or 

 gradually wearing away in consumption. Philos- 

 ophize as you will upon thin shoes and wet feet. 

 I believe a large majority of cases of contracted 

 consvimption in this climate are attributable to an 

 unguarded exposure of the lungs to the extreme 

 cold weather. Barren and unfertile soils are cold- 

 er than rich and fertile ones in the same latitude, 

 and no doubt the improvement of the soil of New 

 England would not only improve the condition, 

 but the health of our people. A wet and rainy 

 climate, with wet feet attendant, nas more of a ten- 

 dency to produce a bilious stomach, Avhich results 

 in fever or ague, than to produce consumption. 



PICKLES. 



Having a desire to keep up with the spirit of 

 the age, and having a good supply of cucumbers 

 the past summer, I tried to make (with the aid 

 of my better half) some good pickles, by the nu- 

 merous receipts from books and papers, by mak- 

 ing a weak brine and pouring it on to the cucum- 

 bers hot, two or three times, and then putting 

 them in vinegar. At every trial we have lost three 

 messes of brine, two of vinegar and all the pickles. 

 Those we have put into the vinegar direct from 

 the vines are good. 



In my last communication, published in the 

 weekly of Sept. 26th, I gave you a very valuable 

 receipt for "Iron Cement," which your paper says 

 was for filling "cracks and holes in old bottles, 

 &c." Whether the mistake was yours or mine I 

 eannot now say. Please give it correct : 



IRON CEMENT. 



h teacup of iron filings, h teaspoonful of sal 

 amonia, 1 teaspoonful of sulphur. Mix in cham- 

 ber lye. This will fill cracks in iron kettles or pots, 

 as large as your finger, and in a few days become 

 sound and hard. Many a valuable pot or kettle 

 may be saved in this way. It must be used as 

 soon as made, as it soon becomes hard. 



SEASONING FOR SAUSAGES. 



1 teaspoonful of pepper, {% black and \ cay- 

 enne) 1^ of salt, 3 of sage pounded fine, to each 

 pound of meat. 



EXCELLENT BROWN BREAD. 



1 quart new milk, 3 teacups of Indian meal, 2 

 of rye, h teacup of molasses, 1 teaspoonful of 

 salt, 1 of saleratus. Bake 2 hours. 



SNOW STORMS. 



It may be interesting to many to know the 

 number of snows which fall in this vicinity every 

 winter. The record has been kept in my father's 

 family for upwards of half a century, and in no 

 winter has the number been less than 28 or more 

 than 33. "Squalls" are not counted. Snow 

 enough to "track a cat on a board" is a storm. 

 Lewis L. Pierce. 



East Jaffretj, N. IL, Nov., 1857. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ON PUKCHASING MANUBES. 



Dear Editor : — A correspondent of your pa- 

 per of the 21st of November inquires concerning 

 the economy of purchasing manures. Your re- 

 ply, that the utility of the thing depends on cir- 

 cumstances, is a very proper one. For if mai-ket 

 gardening can be made an object, and the prod- 

 uce of the land comes in quick returns of cash, 

 at the prices that garden produce brings in cities 

 and large villages, we do not doubt that it will 

 pay to purchase manures, at present prices. But 

 where it is to be applied to lands occupied in the 

 ordinary purposes of agriculture, where the mar- 

 ket is in the future, and the prices liable to fluc- 

 tuation, we much question whether such pur- 

 chases are profitable investments. 



The manure that is thrown into market, is gen- 

 erally found at livery stables, or at places where 

 many horses are kept, and their owner has not 

 grounds on which to bestow it, and where, too, 

 much grain or meal is fed to the animals. We 

 know that the latter circumstance is considered 

 commendatory of the article. Under certain cir- 

 cumstances it probably would be. For instance, 

 if the farmer purchaser could have the control of 

 the heap through the accumulating process, and 

 give occasional mixtures of gypsum, or even 

 muck or common soil, to arrest the gases that 

 pass off in the rapid fermentation to which such 

 manure is subject, the first quality of the manure 

 might be retained, and the quantity increased. 

 But the system of management pursued by the 

 stable-men is very different from this. Their first 

 object is to get it out of the way, it may be, by 

 throwing it under the eaves of the building, 

 where it is subject to enormous drenchings, or, 

 on a hill-side from which its richest qualities are 

 washed away ; either course rapidly dissipating 

 its value. At any rate, it is thrown into piles, 



