1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



409 



head are two powerful oval fins, and just beneath 

 them are the breasts, from which, on pressure be- 

 ing applied, flows a stream of beautiful white 

 milk. The ears are minute holes, and the eyes 

 very small. The color is a dusky lead, with some 

 large pinkish white marbled blotches on the 

 belly. The skin is about an inch thick on the 

 back, and a quarter of an inch thick on the belly. 

 Beneath the skin is a layer of fat of greater or 

 less thickness, generally about an inch, which is 

 boiled down to make oil used for light and for 

 cooking. The intestines are very voluminous, 

 the heart about the size of a sheep's, and the 

 lungs about two feet long and six or seven inches 

 wide, very cellular and spongy, and can be blown 

 out like a bladder. The skull is large and solid, 

 with no front teeth ; tl\p vertebrte extending to 

 the very tip of the tail, showing no rudiments of 

 posterior limbs ; the fore limbs, on the contrary, 

 are very highly developed, the bones exactly cor- 

 responding to those of the human arm, having 

 even the five fingers, with every joint distinct, 

 yet inclosed in a stiff, inflexible skin, where not a 

 joint can have any motion. The cow-fish feeds 

 on grass at the borders of the rivers and lakes, 

 and swims swiftly and paddles ; and though the 

 external organs of sight and hearing are so im- 

 perfect, yet these senses are said by hunters to 

 be remarkably acute, and to render necessary all 

 their caution and skill to capture the animals. 

 They bring forth one, or rarely two, young ones, 

 which they clasp in their arms, or paddles, while 

 giving suck. They are harpooned, or caught in 

 a strong net, at the narrow entrance of a lake or 

 stream, and are killed by driving a wooden plug 

 with a mallet up their nostrils. Each yields from 

 fiye to twenty-five gallons of oil. The flesh is 

 very good, something between beef and pork, 

 and this one furnished us with several meals, and 

 was an agreeable change from our fish diet. — 

 Travels on the Amazon. 



BBILLIANT STUCCO WHITE-WASH. 



Many have heard of the brilliant stucco white- 

 wash on the east end of the President's house at 

 Washington. The following is a recipe for it, as 

 gleaned from the National Intelligencer, with 

 some additional improvements learned by exper- 

 iments : 



"Take half a bushel of nice unslaked lime, 

 »lake it with boiling water, cover it during the 

 process to keep in the steam. Strain the liquid 

 through a fine sieve or strainer, and add to it a 

 peck of salt, previously well dissolved in water ; 

 three pounds of ground rice, boiled to a «thin 

 paste, and stirred in boiling hot ; half a pound 

 of powdered Spanish whiting, and a pound of 

 clean glue, which has been previously dissolved 

 by soaking it well ; and then hanging it over a 

 Blow fire, in a small kettle with a large one filled 

 with water. Add five gallons of hot water to the 

 mixture, stir it well, and let it stand a few days 

 covered from the dirt. 



It should be put on right hot ; for this purpose 

 it can be kept m a kettle on a portable furnace. 

 It is said that about a pint of this mixture will 

 cover a square yard upon the outside of a house 

 if properly applied. Brushes more or less small 

 miiy be used according to the neatness of the job 

 i^uired. It answers as well as oil paint for wood, 



brick or dtone, and is cheaper. It retains its bril- 

 liancy for many years. There is nothing of the 

 kind that will compare with it, either for inside 

 or outside walls. 



Coloring matter may be put in, and made of 

 any shade you like. Spanish brown stirred in 

 will make red pink, more or less deep according 

 to the quantity. A delicate tinge of this is very 

 pretty for inside walls. Finely pulverized com- 

 mon clay, well mixed Spanish brown, makes red- 

 dish stone color. Yellow ochre stirred in makes 

 yellow wash, but chrome goes further and makes 

 a color generally esteemed prettier. In all these 

 cases the darkness of the shades of course is de- 

 termined by the quantity of coloring used. It is 

 difficult to make rules because tastes are differ- 

 ent ; it would be best to try experiments on a 

 shingle and let it dry. We have been told that 

 green must not be mixed with lime. The lime 

 destroys the color, and the color has an effect on 

 the whitewash, which makes it crack and peel. 



When walls have been badly smoked, and you 

 wish to have them a clean white, it is well to 

 squeeze indigo plentifully through a bag into the 

 water you use, before it is stirred in the whole 

 mixture. If a larger quantity than five gallons 

 be wanted, the same proportions should be ob- 

 served. 



THE USE OF HAY CAPS IS PKACTICAL 

 ECONOMY. 



On Tuesday, the 20th July, we struck into a 

 three-acre field covered with a heavy stand of 

 oats, which were to be cut and cured for fodder. 

 A small portion of them had lodged. Enough 

 of them were cut in the morning to make fifty 

 large cocks, were left in the swath until just at 

 night, when they were turned directly upside 

 down, and remained in that position until the 

 next day, Wednesday, when they were carefully 

 spread, and before five o'clock in the afternoon, 

 were all put up in large cocks, and covered with 

 caps or covers, each two yards square. 



During Wednesday night there was a heavy 

 rain, accompanied with considerable wind, so 

 that cocks not covered were pretty thoroughly 

 drenched on Thursday morning. 



On removing the caps from those that were 

 covered at 10 o'clock on Thursday morning, the 

 top of each cock was found so dry as to rustle 

 like well-made hay, and was in good condition to 

 go directly to the barn, — and no part of the cock 

 was wet excepting a little on the outer edges of 

 the base of the cock. The whole was then spread 

 and carefully tended until quarter before twelve, 

 when "thunder-heads" began to make their ap- 

 pearance in the West, and were soon followed 

 by deep-toned rumblings in the far distant hori- 

 zon. 



At a little past one the oats were in the bam, 

 dry, bright and sweet j the wind suddenly 

 changed from the south-west to the north, and a 

 drenching rain followed, which continued through 

 most of the afternoon. 



