No. 12. 



Whitewash. 



375 



maininn^ portion left uncovered, at the rate 

 of nearly three to one. The preen prass 

 from tiie part nntoiichcd, cut at the cml of 

 the month, weighed two thousand two hun- 

 dred and seven pounds per acre; that of the 

 portion placed under tlie operation wciphed 

 live thous'ind eight hundred and seventy 

 pounds per acre. The pruss was wciphed 

 as it came from the hcythc. During this 

 period, there was not a drop of ruin ; and 

 guano, nitrate of soda, lime, sholl-sand, wood 

 ashes, and other manures, tried apainst it, 

 possibly from the drought, produced, durinp 

 this period, no very visible action. In this 

 experiment, tlie fibrous covering was laid on 

 the l.'jtii of April, and the grass cut and 

 weighed the :3()th of May. Half of a hay 

 field was covered on the 2nd of May; and a 

 month after, I had cut and weighed, respect- 

 ively, the portions of the field covered and 

 uncovered, and found that the one weighed 

 three thousand four hundred and sixty pounds 

 per acre, whilst the other weighed only nine 

 hundred and seventy pounds. As to the 

 length of the grasses in the respective 

 pieces, the trefoil in one case measured 

 three and one-half inches, whilst in the 

 other it only measured an inch ; clover six 

 inches, in the other one and one-half!" lie 

 found, on making the two samples of grass 

 into hay, that the proportionate loss of weiplit 

 was the same in each parcel, and the difi'er- 

 ence would be, that in the one case he 

 should get three tons to an acre, and in tlie 

 other only one. Another most important 

 circumstance in the case wap, tliat when 

 "a certain quantity of stall dung would 

 double tlie cpiantity of grass in a given time, 

 when laid on in the usual way, that it would 

 increase it six times, when properly treated 

 with fibrous covering." 



These are certainly very curious experi- 

 ments, and they have been repeated success- 

 fully by various individuals. " I'^or an indi- 

 vidual to satisfy himself, a bundle of straw, 

 say forty pounds, strewed lightly over two 

 or three roods of growing grass, would in a 

 very short time show the efiect, when raked 

 off. In the experiments made, all gave uni- 

 form results, when conducted fairly. Some 

 used too much covering, but generally loo 

 little. All these experiments showed that 

 the action was general; that the difference 

 in increase of growth, in a given time, was 

 in proportion to the natural fertility of the 

 soil." 



"The practical instructions for the use of 

 fibrous covering are few, but essential to 

 profitable results. Straw of wheat, oats, or 

 rushes, is to be lightly and evenly laid over 

 growing grass, in the proportion of about a 

 ton to a ton and a half per acre. 



end of a fbrtnight, it must be raked up in 

 heaps like hay-cocks, the grass eaten off by 

 cattle, and the covering again relaid. 'I'his 

 is necessary in the growing season, other- 

 wise the; herbage will grow through, by 

 which till! action will ceuse; the grass will 

 also become entangled with the covering. 

 If the land is good, the grass may generally 

 be eaten off by cuttle before thc! covering is 

 relai<l; if not, at the end of the next fiirt- 

 night — more or less depending on the rich- 

 ness of the land, the season, and the wea- 

 ther — it should be done, and the covering 

 r(daid again; and repeatinl at about these 

 periods through the season. If straw be the 

 material used, it will last through the whole 

 summer, in the autumn it is the practice 

 to rake it off when dry, carry it away, and 

 stack it f()r winter litter. (Jround und(!r the 

 action of fibrous covering, we find from our 

 returns, will keep three times the tjuantity 

 of cattle as ground not so treated. This ex- 

 perience seems in keeping with our experi- 

 ments on weight and measure, of the pro- 

 duce thus obtained." — ('obrmyCs Tour. 



WiiiTKWAHH. — In many ca.ses, whitewash 

 is preferable to paint, and is one of the most 

 excellent things in the world to preserve 

 cleanliness and health. 'J'he walls of cellars 

 ought to have a coat, and a liberal one, of 

 whit(;wasli applied every spring ;|Soshould the 

 interior of all your out buildings, hog house, 

 wood shed, stable and all. Fences, when 

 not painted, should also be accommodated 

 with a coat of it. ]]y carefully whitewash- 

 ing the walls of your cellar, and applying a 

 good coat overhead, with a liberal sprinkling 

 of caustic lime over the bottom as soon aa 

 your vegetables are removed in the spring, 

 you secure exemption from many evils, not 

 the least of which is the preservation of a 

 pure atmosphere during summer, and its in- 

 variable attendant, heai/iii. The cost of 

 whitewashing is but little, as the operation 

 can be perfijrmed in dull weather, when tiie 

 hel|) eniplcjyed on the farm or about the 

 huilrlings, will be likely to be unemployed 

 in other duties, while the niaterials and im- 

 plemetits, from their extreme cheapness, are 

 .scarcely worthy of being taken into the ac- 

 count. — Maine Farmer. 



So great is the influence of even simple 

 food on the nerves after protracted absti- 

 nence, that intoxication has occurred from 

 the stimulus of oysters alone ; and Dr. IJcd- 

 does states that persons who have been shut 

 up in a coal work frotn the fiilling in of the 

 sides of a pit, and have had nothing to eat 

 for four or five days, will be as much intoxi- 

 cated by a basin of broth, as an ordinary 

 At the 'I person by three or four quarts of strong beer. 



