No. 5. Dennis's Patent Troughs. — Ventilation of Sick Rooms. 



169 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Dennis's Patent Troughs. 



Sir, — As the public attention is again 

 drawn to the efficacy of these troughs, for the 

 prevention of the ravages of the canker- 

 worm on trees, I hand you a drawing of the 

 apparatus, for insertion in the pages of the 

 Cabinet, as also, copies of certificates of their 

 perfect adaptation to the purpose. It would 

 appear, however, from a correspondence in 

 the N. E. Farmer, that Dennis is not the ori- 

 ginal inventor of the trough : that honour is 

 there claimed for others, as also, for a Mr. P. 

 G. Robbins, of Roxbury, who, in the year 

 1830, made known, through the pages of that 

 Journal, a contrivance similar to this of Den- 

 nis's, for the same purpose. Still, as the effi- 

 cacy of the invention, by whomsoever made, 

 appears to be established, a record of it may 

 be preserved in the Cabinet for future refer- 

 ence. Here follows Dennis's account. 



P. D. C. 



DESCRIPTION or PLATE. 



], canker-worm's eggs; 2, a full-grown worm; 3, 

 chrysalis; 4, female; 5, male ; 6, male with its wings 

 spread— at the right hand tlje section of a tree with a 

 trough upon it. 



" The success that has attended the use of 

 these circular metallic troughs with roofs, has 

 won for it the reputation of being the cheap- 

 est, most effectual and most durable of any 

 method ever applied, as the subjoined certifi- 

 cates will testify, and to which many more 

 might be added. They are made of a single 

 Btrip of lead, about 4 inches in width, but in 

 the form of the figure 2 with the foot cut ofl^; 

 thus forming a trough and roof, all in one 

 piece. It is made large enough to leave a 

 space of an inch between the trough and 

 tree, and the ends are then soldered together, 

 three or more nails are then tacked into the 

 tree, to support the trough, and the space be- 

 tween it and the tree is stuffed with sea- 

 weed, straw, or any other substance that will 

 prevent the worms from ascending between 

 it and the tree, which packing must be smear- 

 ed at the end with tar to stick it together, 

 taking care not to touch the trough or the 

 tree with it. When the trees grow so as to 

 burst the trough, a small piece of lead might 

 be soldered in at a trifling expense, by which 



it is made to serve anotlier term of years. It 

 is supposed that cotton, hemp or tow, is in- 

 jurious if used for the purpose of stuffing. 

 The expense of these troughs is not more 

 than about 35 cents each, exclusive of the 

 oil ; and common fish-oil is fit for the purpose, 

 replenishing as occasion may require, never 

 filling the trough more than one-third full." 



1. Certificate of David Buffum. "Having 

 an orchard of more than one hundred apple 

 trees, that had been badly eaten by the can- 

 ker-worms for a number of years, I had, in 

 the fall of the year 1838, one-half the num- 

 ber guarded by the leaden trough, and am sa- 

 tisfied that, if properly done, and attention 

 paid to keep it well supplied with oil, both 

 fall and spring, it will prove a thorough re- 

 medy. I was so pleased with the result of 

 the first trial on the half of my orchard, that I 

 had the remainder of the trees furnished with 

 the troughs in the fall of 1839. That part 

 which was supplied first, produced 75 bushels 

 of apples, the other scarcely any, having been 

 much eaten by the worms, while the trees pro- 

 tected by the troughs were scarcely touched 

 by them." Middleton, R. I., 2d mo. 1840. 



2. " The undersigned, having used Den- 

 nis's patent trough and roof for the two last 

 years, are satisfied that it is a most effectual 

 and durable mode of preventing canker-worms 

 from ascending trees, requiring less care and 

 attention than any other method with which 

 we are acquainted, and we take pleasure in 

 recommending it to the public." 



G. .T. Bailey, H. Hedley, 

 W. Bailey, J. E. Bailey, 

 S. Hedley, Asa Sherman, 

 D. Buffum, C. S. Herishoff. 

 , T. B. Buffum, 



Of Middleton, Portsmouth 

 and Bristol, R. I." 



Signed : 



Ventilation of Sick Rooms. 



Our excellent friend. Dr. Southwood Smith, 

 in his valuable work on fever, has an observa- 

 tion worth recording; he says — 



" The room of a fever-patient, in a small 

 and heated house, in a populous city, with no 

 circulation of fresh air, is perfectly analogous 

 to a stagnant pool in Ethiopia, full of the 

 dead bodies of locusts ! Nature, with her 

 burning sun, stifled and pent-up wind, her 

 stagnant and teeming marsh, manufactures 

 plague on a large and fearful scale ; while 

 poverty in her hut, covered with rags, sur- 

 rounded with filth, striving with all her might 

 to keep out the pure air and to increase the 

 heat, imitates nature but too successfully: 

 the process and the product are the same — 

 the only difference being in the magnitude of 

 the result. Penury and Ignorance can thus, 

 at any time, in any place, create a mortal 

 plague." Ed. 



