376 



The Farmers^ Cabinet. 



Vol. V. 



gust, as on that day, monthly, have I received 

 my nnmbers for the past year with the regu- 

 larity of clock-work. 



But there is one subject noticed in the 

 Cabinet, which above all others has claimed 

 my serious regard and attention; for by it a 

 field of reflection has been opened which to 

 me is of more value than all my small pos- 

 sessions — it is the view taken of the cause 

 and iffccl of blight, and by it, it does indeed 

 appear that we have been in the habit of mis- 

 taking the one for the other. It was long 

 before I could prevail upon myself to believe 

 that the animalcula? which cover the rose 

 trees and other plants in my garden, were 

 not the cause of blight; I thought that view 

 of the case as plain as that the s^in goes 

 round the earth, and for the same reason — it 

 was palpable to my own eyes ! The papers 

 of " Vir" and other writers in the Cabinet 

 have, however, opened a new field of vision, 

 and I see clearly that I have hitherto mis- 

 taken the effect for the cause. I can now 

 create a blight amongst my potted plants 

 whenever I choose, according to the mode 

 practised by J. Lawrence, by placing them 

 in a cold, shady draught of wind, when it 

 blows from the east : this will insure me a full 

 crop of animalculfe in a very short time, and 

 furnish a lecture worth remembering. Dur- 

 ing the late very hot days (about the 4th of 

 the present month) I found that my gerani- 

 ums in pots suffered from the great heat of 

 the sun to which they were exposed in my 

 yard ; I therefore removed the stand upon 

 which they are placed, to the opposite side, 

 where tlie sun never shines, and a cool tem- 

 perature is kept up by the air passing from a 

 court leading therefrom ; for finding this a 

 peculiarly grateful situation as a retreat for 

 myself during the scorching time of the day, 

 I judged a removal thither would be as much 

 to their enjoyment as my own : but judge of my 

 surprise, when on examination I found their 

 young shoots full of life ! the aphides, not 

 much larger than a grain of sand, vigorous, 

 and bringing forth young by dozens in a vivi- 

 parous state! And then the question struci{ 

 me, to what purpose had I read the Cabinet, 

 that I had not foreseen the consequence of 

 such an exposure to atmospherical influence? 

 I turned to its pages and read all the papers 

 relating to that interesting subject, when I 

 became convinced of the correct view of the 

 system, as well as with the means of correct- 

 ing the evil itself; I therefore removed the 

 stand to its accustomed position ; washed the 

 plants with warm water, and sprinkled them 

 with water almost daily as soon as the sun 

 liad left them and before the coolness of the 

 evening air : in a few days they were quite 

 free from blight, " no one knowing which way 

 they went, or what had become of them," 



and will no doubt remain so. Let mo turn 

 the attention of your readers to an article at 

 p. 300 of the Cabinet for April, which seems 

 to set the question for ever at rest ; it is un- 

 der the caption of " Blight an Effect." I see 

 it has been reprinted in the Public Ledger 

 within these few days past. 



In my out-door family of animals and vege- 

 tables, I find a constant demand for the in- 

 formation which I derive from the pages of 

 the Cabinet. I prevent botts in my horse by 

 "salting her," as it is termed, not merely 

 two or three times a week, but by placing a 

 boxful by the side of her, out of which she 

 may help herself: — would it not be strange 

 to restrict ourselves to the tri-weekly use of 

 this necessary 7 She was, some time since, 

 seized with the colic — I turned to the pages 

 of the Cabinet, and was soon furnished with 

 the means of a perfect cure in a very short 

 time ; while saddle-galls and greased heels 

 dare not show themselves in a stable where 

 solutions of lead and copper are kept ready 

 prepared for use. My cow was afflicted with 

 the low or foot ail, and a touch of the hollow 

 horn, — the Cabinet furnivshed me with the 

 means of cure, as well as a straw rope to re- 

 lieve her when she became hoven from feed- 

 ing too greedily on cut clover — which alone 

 was worth more than the subscription price 

 of the Cabinet for twenty years to come : — 

 while the garget, milk-fever, and many other 

 kinds of fevers have been banished by the 

 means recommended in the Cabinet ; as I 

 always aim to "treat my brutes like men." 



And then come my fowls with the pip, and 

 the cure for it ; with directions for rearing 

 male or female chickens at will ; the best 

 form of a " henery," and the most approved 

 mode of preparing the food for its inhabitants 

 — pointing out the superiority of cooked focd 

 and the economy of feeding it out ; the most 

 approved management of bees; the improved 

 mode of curing hams, and how to cook a beef- 

 steak " !i la Jersey," as well as how to raise 

 mutton hams by stall-feeding the sheep — and 

 which I intend to practise the next winter. 

 In short, I find in the Cabinet, as I have al- 

 ready said, about all I look for, and I wish its 

 circulation may equal its deserts. Inclosed 

 is the amount of my subscription for the 6th 

 volume. Z. 



June 25th, 1841. 



Some entertain a notion that it is prejudi- 

 cial to stir the soil among corn in dry wea- 

 ther, and that weeds prevent the evaporation 

 of moisture by a hot sun — but the reverse is 

 the fact. The exhaustion of moisture by a 

 plant, is in the ratio of the surface of its 

 leaves and stalks presented to the sun and 

 air. 



