1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



539 



•ing, harrowing, sowing, &c., are all pressing, is a 

 great drawback upon the spring work. Make 

 muck heaps in your fields in December, draw the 

 manure to them, and as often as the frost will per- 

 mit, mmgle them ; the muck Avill absorb the gases 

 from the decomposing mnnure, while the muck it- 

 self will undergo valuable changes from the air and 

 rain, and frost, and make that an important fertili- 

 zer. 



Farm Implements — should all be put in per- 

 fect order, ready for use m the spring ; if any need 

 pauiting, a coat appHed now mU get hardened 

 through the winter, and thus last twice as long as ^ 

 when apphed just before the implement is wanted , fo^'es,<^. ^il^ be productive of a good store of excel- 

 r. „ ,. o ^ t- \ ^ 111 1 1 ! lent utter, and the expenses amply repaid. A good 

 for use. Every tiling of the kindshould be placed _„ii„„^;„„„(.„„„i, L„:.i,. ;„ „„; „ii„..„ 



under cover. 



other- men. A perusal of these will increase yom- 

 knowledge, and enable you to pass the Avinter even- 

 mgs pleasantly. 



So we come to the close of another revolution of 

 The Months, trusting that om- suggestions may 

 sometimes have been agreeable, and tending to 

 promote the interest of those who cultivate the 

 land. 



COLLECT LEAVES FOR LITTER. 



After the harvest is over, and before the snows 

 cover the ground, a day or two spent .by the farmer 

 and his hands in collecting: the fallen leaves of the 



AccoTlNTS. — Do not suffer any account to re- 

 main unsettled through the month of January. If 

 it cannot be paid, look it over and settle it, so that 

 no questions shall arise upon it afterwards. Keep 

 a cash book. Every one §y\\l find it gratifymg at 

 the end of the year to know what amount of money 

 he has received, what for, and for what he has paid 

 it out. It is a very simple matter, and requires 

 but Kttle time. 



Sheep — should not be allowed to find a Hxing 

 in the pastures too late ; some persons suffer them 

 to run until snow covers the ground, without feed- 

 ing them. Sheep kept in this mamier shrink rap- 

 idly, and it is difficult to bring them up in flesh 

 again through the whole winter. It is cheaper, 

 and every way better, to keep all our domestic ani- 

 mals in good condition. 



Poultry. — It is unprofitable to winter old hens ; 

 if such Avere not marketed in August or Septem- 

 ber, when they were worth double what they are 

 now, fat them as rapidly as possible, and put them 

 in the pot. When the ground is covered with 

 snow, see that your fowls are provided with plenty 

 of gravel, lime, pounded bones, or oyster shells, 

 and occasionally .with scraps, or fresh meat. 



Schools. — Every good farmer will take a de- 

 cided mterest in the schools of his town, to see 

 that the building is comfortable and convenient ; 

 that a competent, good-dispositioned and faithful 

 teacher is employed, and fairly remunerated; to 

 see that all may attend who desire to, and occasion- 

 ally look m upon the school himself. 



Winter Evenings. — .Attending Lyceum and 

 the Farmers' Club will occupy two. What is to be 

 done in the other four ? Have you read several 



collection of such materials is not always made in 

 the fall by those who could do it easily. Lideed, 

 tliis prudent foresight for litter with which to bed 

 down cattle, horses, and other stock, during the win- 

 ter, is not sufficiently practised among us. . It not 

 only ensures a great amount of comfort to yom' cat- 

 tle, by ginng them an easy and warm bed, but it 

 saves, incUrectly, much fodder, in consquence of the 

 warmth thus obtained — cattle eating much less 

 when they are ke])t warm and cleanlj-; 



The leaf harvest, then, is one of importance! to the 

 farmer, if he will avail himself of it. A calm day or 

 two spent in tliis business, with his boys and oxen, 

 and hay-rack, will enable him to get together a 

 large pile of these fallen leaves, and if stowed in a 

 dry place, he will experience the good effects of 

 them in the improved condition of his stock, com- 

 pared with those which are suffered to he down, 

 and perhaps he frozen down, m their own filth. The 

 fertilizing material of leaves also adds essentially to 

 the enriching qualities of the maniu'e heap. Gar- 

 deners prize highly a compost made in part of de- 

 composed leaves. 



As the leaf harvest is the last harvest of the year, 

 let it be attended to when its time comes. — Maine 

 Farmer. 



A BAD COLD. 



DR. hall's way of TREATING IT. 



A bad cold, like measles or mumps or other sim- 

 ilar ailments, will run its course of about ten days, 

 in spite of what may be done for it, unless remedial 

 means are employed witliin forty-eight hours of its 

 inception. Many a useful life will be sjiared to be 

 increasingly useful, by cutting a cold short off, in the 

 following safe and simple manner. On the first day 

 of taking a cold, there is a very unpleasant sensation 

 of chilliness. The moment you observe this, go to 

 )our room and stay there ; keep it at such a tem- 

 perature as will entirely prevent this chilly feeling, 

 even if it requires a hundred degrees of Fahrenheit. 

 In addition, put your feet inwater, half leg deep, as 



hot as you can bear it, adding hot water from time 

 excellent works that relate i)articularly to your to time for a quarter of an hour, so that the water 



business ? Youatt and Martin on Cattle ; and You- 

 att on the horse, hog and sheep ; the American 

 Muck Book, and Dana's Muck ^lanual ; the Com- 

 plete Farmer and American Gardener, by Fessen- 

 den ; Johnston's Elements of Agricultm-al Chemis- 

 try and Geology, together with a variety of other 

 books, which record the practice and experience of 



shall be hotter when ycni take your feet out than 

 when you put them in it ; then dry tliem thorouglily, 

 and tlien put on warm, thick woolen stockings^ even 

 if it be summer, for summer colds are the most dan- 

 gerous ; and for twenty-four hours eat not an atom 

 of food ; but drink as largely as you desire of any 

 land of warm teas, and at the end of tliut time, if 

 not sooner, the cold will be effcctualh/ broken, ivith- 

 oid any medicine tohatevcr. — Me. Farmer. 



