No. 5. 



Deleterious effects of Brick-yards. 



151 



mixture while hot, and thus rendered more 

 valuable for being cooked with the mass. I 

 think that sweet apples fed in this way to 

 hogs, are worth nearly as much as potatoes, 

 and sour ones more than half as much. 



I never made pork with as little expense 

 or less trouble than since I have practiced 

 this method. 



I now prepare most of my feed in this 

 way for fattening my beef and mutton, and 

 find it equally advantageous, indeed, I be- 

 lieve that I get the best profit from feeding 

 sheep in this way, particularly my old ones. 

 My course is, in the month of October, to 

 select from my tlock all that do not promise 

 fair to winter well, old ewes in particular, 

 which will be likely to die in the spring, as 

 all sheep growers know that they are liable 

 to do, and give them a good chance for fall 

 feed, and also feeding them with the same 

 kind of substances that I do my hogs, and 

 by the first of January have them all first 

 rate mutton, bearing good fleeces. This 

 kind of feed is excellent for milch cows, 

 and cows that come in early, or for ewes 

 that are with lamb. It does well to mix 

 with cut feed, only there should be more 

 water put into the mixture. 



Wh^n my potatoes get short, I put in 

 beets and carrots for my sheep and cattle, 

 and consider them much better for being 

 cooked. Turnips are easily raised, and are 

 very good food for sheep or cattle during 

 the winter, yet will not compare in value 

 with either carrots or beets. Potatoes or 

 pumpkins are valuable for horses, fed raw. 

 I never knew a horse to be troubled with 

 the botts that was fed with a few raw pota- 

 toes every week. 



I have made my communication rather 

 desultory, but my principal object in this 

 communication is to show the value of ap- 

 ples for fattening hogs and sheep, when 

 mixed with other substances, and the saving 

 to farmers from picking out their old sheep 

 and fattening them, instead of pelting them 

 in the fall or letting them die in the spring, 

 as many do. 



When a sheep gets old and the front teeth 

 partly gone or pointed, the best way is to 

 take them out entirely, as they feed better 

 without than with them. 

 Yours, 



A Vermont Farmer, 



Windsor co., Vt., Nov. 1st, 18-lG. 



Deleterious effects of Brick-yards. 



Dr. Underbill made some remarks upon the above 

 subject at a late meeting of the New York Farmers' 

 Club, and the following notice is taken from the Tri- 

 bune of that city.— Ed, 



At the time when his attention was first 

 directed to this subject, the following inci- 

 dent occurred to establish his opinion. A 

 friend had observed that, immediately after 

 a severe thunder-shower, all his vineyard 

 appeared in a sickly condition, and no satis- 

 fiictory reason could be assigned for the oc- 

 currence of the phenomenon, until the in- 

 vestigation had proceeded sometime, when 

 Dr. Underbill discovered that the gases of a 

 brick-yard in the vicinity had been blown 

 over the vineyard, and produced the disas- 

 trous effect, turning the leaves to a dark, 

 reddish brown colour. These gases were 

 stated by the Doctor to be more particularly 

 injurious in the latter stage of the burning 

 of the kiln, and derive their noxious property 

 from the anthracite coal used, the proportion 

 of which is, in the interior of the kiln, three 

 pecks of hard coal to a thousand bricks, and 

 on the outside twelve bushels to the thou- 

 sand. This he knew to be the case in at 

 least one brick-yard. If there is a light 

 wind blowing, these gases will extend their 

 deleterious influence for miles, the supply 

 being kept up at the yards for hours. They 

 are particularly detrimental to Newtown 

 pippins, the foliage of which is destroyed 

 for miles. The leaves are turned completely 

 over in many cases, and one side is turned 

 to a different colour, a reddish-brown, ap- 

 pearing as if touched by a vehement fire. 

 By these gases trees are often rendered un- 

 able to furnish healthy sap for the proper 

 sustenance of the fruit. Speaking of pip- 

 pins, he mentioned that one of the finest 

 orchards in the country, in the town of Cort- 

 landt, Westchester county, containing from 

 ICOO to 1500 trees, was entirely ruined, 

 principally by the gases from numbers of 

 brick-yards in the immediate vicinity. This 

 subject was referred to a committee, to re- 

 port to the Farmers' Club. 



At a meeting O'f the Club held since the 

 above, Dr. Underbill said : 



The influence of gases emanating from 

 burning brick kilns, injurious to neighbour- 

 ing vegetation, is the subject, and it is more 

 important tlian many suppose, to all farmers 

 and gardeners having such mischief in their 

 vicinit}'. Seven years ago I began to notice 

 this evil, which has since caused a damage 

 of hundreds of thousands of dollars to agri- 

 culturists. I will prove the injury or sub- 

 mit to the jeers and jibes of intelligent 

 men ! Whether it be this or that kind of 

 gas, I will not pretend to say, but numerous 

 fields and orchards from here to Albany, are 

 severely injured or destroyed this last year, 

 by the gases from burning brick kilns. I 

 now exhibit specimens of Forest, Fruit, and 

 garden vegetable leaves destroyed by these 



