1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



491 



upon them without essentially altering their char- 

 acters in an injurious manner. We ought to have 

 a public holiday for every season, and one which 

 should have reference to the character of the sea- 

 son. Summer may be said to be commemor- 

 ated on the "Glorious Fourth ;" spring and au- 

 tumn by the holidays already named ; but winter 

 is yet without its seasonable* holiday ; though New 

 Year's day might be established as our winter fes 

 tival, and accompanied with such exercises and 

 amusements as would, besides affording the inhab- 

 itants a relaxation from their daily pursuits, be ren^ 

 dered promotive of their moral and intellectua 

 improvement. 



LEAD. 



When this metal was first used by man no one 

 can tell. It is known to have been in common use 

 among the Romans, who sheathed the bottoms of 

 their ships with it. At that time lead was twenty 

 four times the price it is now. The uses of lead 

 are very numerous, such as for covering buildings, 

 for water pipes, for dyeing and calico printing, in 

 making glass, for glazing porcelain, for refining 

 gold and silver, for pigments. White lead, red 

 lead, yellow chrome, are known to everybody. The 

 application of lead as a cosmetic is somewhat curi- 

 ous. The Roman ladies were wont to "paint" with 

 ceruse, (oxyd of lead.) Plautus, an old poet, in- 

 troduces a waiting-woman refusing to give her 

 mistress either ceruse or rouge, because, in the 

 true spirit of a flatterer, she thought her quite 

 handsome enough without it. The best hair-dyes 

 are made with lead. The quantity of sheet lead 

 used for wrapping tea, tobacco, and perfumery 

 goods, is enormous. It is remarkable that this 

 metal, when dissolved in an acid, has the property 

 of imparting a saccharine taste to the fluid. Thus 

 the common acetate of lead is always called "sugar 

 of lead." It was, perhaps, on this account that 

 the Greeks and Romans used sheet lead to neu- 

 tralize the acidity of bad wine — a practice which 

 now is happily not in use, since it has been found 

 that all combinations of lead are decidedly poison- 

 ous. Lead will take off the rancidity of oil, and 

 on this account it is much valued by watchmakers 

 for making their lubricating oil. The alloys of 

 lead, which we call pewter, solder, and others, are 

 80 essential in every-day life, that we should be in a 

 regular "fix" without them. "As heavy as lead" is 

 a proverb which brings to our minds its weighty 

 quality, which is of great importance, for it enables 

 us to ascertain the depths of the ocean ; and with- 

 out we could do this, how could we lay down the 

 telegraph cables ? how ascertain the presence of 

 those dangerous banks which upset the vehicles of 

 the mighty deep ? Thus we perceive that one ma- 

 terial is subservient to another, till that great unity 

 is produced which we call the world. — Scientific 

 American. 



Apples. — The apple left us by Mr. Jacob Noyes, 

 of Abington, is unknown to us, and probably is a 

 sport of Nature. It resembles an apple called the 

 "Patterson apple," which originated in Northfield, 

 Mass. 



SELECTING SEED CORN- 

 HINT. 



-TIMELY 



Farmers will remember that for two or three 

 years past, a great deal of corn came up badly. — 

 Last spring, especially, much of it "rotted" in the 

 ground. The loss from this cause is hundreds of 

 thousands the present season. On our own ground 

 (with some 14 acres in corn) the loss was next to 

 nothing. The same is true of some others we 

 could name. What is the reason of the difference P 

 Why does the seed in one field grow, and in anoth- 

 er rot ? That is just what we wish to come at. 



One great cause of the rotting of seed, is that it 

 was never well ripened. Another reason is that it 

 is hadly dried. Poorly rifiened and badly dried 

 seed is very easily injured by fermentation, and 

 a very little fermentation and moulding will destroy 

 vitality. Last autumn, we had the best, largest 

 and ripest ears carefully selected, and braided to- 

 gether by the husks in tresses, and hung in a dry 

 place. This was planted, and notwithstanding the 

 drenching rains and mud, all came up, — not a miss- 

 ing hill or stalk, — and the field is noted as one of 

 the best in the county. The same has been the 

 experience of some others. Those who made no 

 selection and took no care of their seed, have had 

 "very bad luck." Another field was planted with 

 King Philip corn, not trussed ; but as this sort ri- 

 pens so early and perfectly, this operation appears 

 not necessary. It came up as evenly as the other. 



Let farmers seleet their best and ripest ears, and 

 either truss and hang them up, or place them, in 

 the ear, where they will dry thoroughly, (unless it 

 be some very early, quickly ripening sorts,) and 

 there will be better success and htiter luck with the 

 corn crop. — Country Gent. 



A WOODEN BAHOMETEE. 



Many of our readers have no doubt noticed in 

 this and other papers, a description of a wooden 

 barometer, said to be in use in Brazil, and other 

 South American States. At our request, Messrs. 

 Hersee & Timmerman have made one. It is made 

 of a slip of red cedar, cut according to the grain, 

 about an eighth of an inch thick, one and a half 

 inches wide, and thirty inches long. On the back 

 of this, strips of thoroughly seasoned pine, of the 

 same thickness, are glued transversely to the grain 

 of the cedar. This is set in a neat pedestal of black 

 walnut. We received ours Sunday forenoon. It 

 was just finished, and stood as straight as a pike 

 staff. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon it had bent over 

 so that a perpendicular line from the top would fall 

 about four inches from the base. It rained heavily 

 during the afternoon. Yesterday was a bright day, 

 with a slight, pleasant breeze, and throughout the 

 day the standard gradually approached an upright 

 position, until, at 6 P. M., it was not more than 

 three quarters of an inch from the perpendicular 

 "ine. This morning .at 6 o'clock it had bent over to 

 three inches. At 7 it was nearly four inches out of 

 line, and at 8 o'clock it began raining. This state- 

 ment will show the sensitiveness of the instrument, 

 — Buffalo Advocate. 



CCf* A cheerful spirit makes labor light and sleep 

 sweet, and all around happy, which is much better 

 than being only rich. 



