Vol. X.-So. 44. 



AND MOUTICUI.TURAL JOURNAL. 



347 



svver in coUk'r climates. He then tried charcoal 

 and succet^dod perfectly. It is of great impor- 

 tance to liave the hams, &c, dried as early as pos- 

 sible, that they may be packed away in dry char- 

 coal made moderately fine. He observes, that the 

 " difficulty of getting the charcoal off, may be 

 made an olijection by the neat housewife, &c. 

 But if the legs or pieces of meat are covered with 

 stout brown paper, as recommended above, tlie 

 difficulty is obviated." 



DrSEASES IN SHEEP. 



I hear complaints of great mortality among 

 sheep, particularly among those which are in the 

 best condition, and late dropped lambs of last year, 

 without satisfactory cause being assigned for such 

 mortality. I beg leave, therefore, to suggest the 

 cause and to recommend a remedy for the evd. 



The winter has been uncommonly severe, the 

 ground almost covered with snow, and sheep have 

 •consequently been precluded their ordinary exer- 

 cise, their usual supply of green food, and debar- 

 red also from access to the ground. They are 

 much in the condition of a ship's crew who have 

 subsisted, in a long voyage, wholly upon salted 

 provisions. I will not say that earths constitute a 

 food for sheep ; yet I am satisfied, that in the ab- 

 sence, at least, of green food in a long winter, they 

 are essential to their health. I will not attem])t 

 to explain their physical effects ; but it is evident 

 they take them in, in considerable quantities, from 

 the analysis of their dung, by Kirwan, who found 

 in 105 parts, 37 parts lime, sand and clay, while 

 cow dung gave but 13, and horse dung 16. 



I am told on credible authority, that a gentle- 

 man who was losing his sheep without apparent 

 cause, had occasion to use some clay about his 

 house in the winter, and observed that his sickly 

 flock ate it with avidity ; he caused a load to be 

 placed in their yard, much of which was devoured 

 and his sheep speedily recovered. ' 



As a cure, therefore, I woidd recommend clay 

 to be placed in the sheep yard, which can, at 

 worst, do no harm, as the animals will not eat it 

 unless prompted by instinct ; or when it is practi- 

 cable, the boughs or branches of resinous trees, as 

 the pine and hemlock, may be given to the flock 

 in limited quantities. Roots of any edible kind 

 will also be highly serviceable. As a preventative 

 in future, I advise sheep-farmeis- to raise and lay 

 in, a good stock of ruta baga or other turnips, 

 which are not only the healthiest but cheapest 

 food for the winter consumption of sheep. — J\'ew 

 York Fanner. 



From the New Hampshire Sentinel. 



Messrs Editors — I have lately passed some 

 examination among my fruit trees, having trim- 

 med some of them, and examined others, far the 

 purpose of ascertaining the effect of the cold on 

 them the past winter. I have heard it remarked, 

 by persons much older than I am and many vears 

 since, that late in the fall of the year, the buils on 

 trees which would blossom the next spring, would 

 be swollen much larger than those that would not 

 blossom. Last fall I made some observations, for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the probability of a 

 blossom this spring, but was unable to satisfy my- 

 self at all on the subject. 



The result of my examination this spring, does 

 not satisfy me as respects the blossom, although I 

 am inclined to think the trees are not much more 



injiued than usual. I find the inside bark is not 

 dried on more liinbs or twigs this spring, than is 

 commonly the case; but the buds are much small- 

 er than usual for this season of the year. I can 

 perceive, however, that the buds have grovVn some 

 this spring, although remarkably slow. The above 

 relates to apple trees, of which I have perhaps 

 five or six hundred, located on different kinds of 

 soil and on what we call hill land. 



Of pear and cherry trees, I do not find any 

 more dead limbs of last year's growth than usual; 

 neither do 1 find the inside bark turniil dead and 

 black, as is the case with those liiidjs which are 

 dying. 



Of peach trees we have a few, some of which 

 have suffered frotn some cause or othir and some 

 are not injured, although the trees of about two 

 years from the stone, I think are mostly if not all 

 dead or dying. What I have written relates to my 

 own farm. 



A partial examination in some of my neighbors' 

 orchards of apple trees, convinces me that they are 

 similaj' to mine. It must be evident to all who 

 are in the habit of making observations of the kind, 

 that trees of every description are more backward 

 this spring than they have been for many years. 

 At any rate, I think it cannot be satisfactorily de- 

 termined whether we shall have many or few 

 blossoms the present season. Marlborocgh. 



From Porter's Health Almanac. 



DISINFECTING AND PURIFYING 

 AGENTS. 



The antiseptic and consequent preservative, dis- 

 infecting and pm-ifying properties of the chlorides 

 of soda and lime, render them highly important 

 agents in the preservation of health, and applica- 

 ble in various ways to the promotion of public and 

 domestic comfort. It is principally, however, in 

 the preservation and promotion of public hygiene, 

 that these salts become in the highest degree val- 

 uable, by decomposing putrid miasmata of every 

 kind and preventing the generation of epidemic 

 diseases, or arresting their progress when they 

 already exist. They are effectual in destroying 

 the poisonous exhalations from privies, sewers, 

 docks gr ponds, left bare at low water ; the putrid 

 materials accidentally admitted or incautiously al- 

 lowed to accumulate in vaults and cellars, store 

 houses, ifcc, — for disinfecting hospitals, prisons, 

 market-houses, gutters ; for purifying the air of 

 wells, mines, the rooms where silkworms are rear- 

 ed, the manufactories of glue, starch, catgut, &c ; 

 slaughter-houses, drains, stables, the holds of ves- 

 sels, amphitheatres, churches, theatres, hospitals, 

 infirmaries, the rooms of the sick, &o ; for the 

 preservation of dead bodies previous to burial, or 

 for removing the fetor and injurious exhalations 

 from bodies that have been disinterred for the 

 purpose of judicial investigation ; for washing the 

 linen and bedding of the sick ; for destroying the 

 fetid emanations from filthy clothes, and disinfect- 

 ing the stores and ware-rooms where second-hand 

 clothing and rags are kept. 



The chloride of soda, which is liquid, is rather 

 more expensive but more powerful than the chlo- 

 ride of lime, which is in form of a white powder; 

 and hence the former is applicable to disinfecting 

 and purifying operations on a small scale. They 

 ?re both used, mixed with more or less water, ac- 

 cording to the intention in view. If a body is to 

 be preserved before burial, add about a pint of the 



concentrated chloride of soda to a bucket-full of 

 water, and cover the body with a .sheet dipped in 

 the solution, which must be sprinkled occasionally 

 over the corpse. Or if the chloride of lime is em- 

 ployed, make a mixture of about a pound of the 

 chloride with two buckets-full of water, and pro- 

 ceed as before. 



For vaults, cellars, ifc, take two oimces of the 

 chloride of lime to three or four pints of water, 

 and sprinkle them from time to time, by means of 

 a watering-pot. 



The solution should be thrown into the sink of 

 a privy, or into a well, the foul air of which it is 

 desirable to neutralize. 



To preserve the health of workmen employed 

 in common sewers, a pound of the chloride of Hme 

 should be dissolved in three buckets-full of water ; 

 and a bucket-full of the solution should be placed 

 by the side of the workmen, to be employed by 

 them in washing their hands and arms, and mois- 

 tening their nostrils, and for sprinkling on the filth. 



For ships, take a spoonful or more of either 

 chloride, add it to a bottle of water, and sprinkle 

 the solution freely on every part of the hold and 

 over the decks. 



For purifying offensive water, mix it with the 

 chloride of lime in the proportion of one or two 

 ounces of the latter to about sixtyfive gallons of 

 the former. After being thus disinfected, the water 

 must be exposed to the air, and allowed to settle 

 for some time, when it becomes fit to drink. 



In domestic economy. The chlorides may be 

 used for the preservation m summer of eggs, meat, 

 game, poultry, and other articles of aliment ; to 

 deprive vegetables, which are kept during win- 

 ter, of the unpleasant odor they frequently ac- 

 quire, and, finally to disinfect spoiled meat, fish, 

 &c. To preserve eggs, they are to be put into a 

 solution of one part of the chloride of lime in thir- 

 tytwo parts of water, their place being occasion- 

 ally changed. Meat, &c, may be preserved sweet 

 by wrapping it in cloth, wet wth a weakening 

 mixture of the chloride of soda and water. To 

 deprive vegetables and meat of any disagreeable 

 smell or taste they may have acquired, they are to 

 be immersed several times in water containing one 

 fortieth or sixtieyi part of chloride of soda, and 

 then well washed in pure soft water. 



The manner of disinfecting articles in a state of 

 putridity, is by using a mixture of thirty or forty 

 parts of water to one of chloride, and enveloping 

 them in pieces of linen or cotton soaked in this 

 solution, or by sprinkling them freely and at short 

 intervals with it. By these means, the disgusting 

 odor and poisonous exhalations given out by pu- 

 trid matters are promptly destroyed, and the dan 

 ger which may result from them is entirely re 

 moved. 



The chlorides of lime and soda may be procur- 

 ed of all our piincipal apothecaries; the expense 

 attendant upon their free use, is so trifling as to 

 place them within the reach of almost every indi- 

 vidual. As a means of removing the sources of 

 disease iu cities and villages, these salts demand 

 the attention of those who are constituted by law 

 the guardians of public health. 



DRI.NK. 



Rarely drink but when thou art dry ; the small- 

 er the drink, the clearer the head and the cooler 

 the blood, which are great benefits in temper and 

 business. — ff'iUiam Penn's Works. 



