1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



573 



in the dry month of July, '56. In '57 too much 

 rain fell for ashes, which helped the manure. Still 

 there may be some other cause. Seeing an article 

 in the Farmer relative to planting the large end of 

 the potato, asserting that it would grow much 

 larger, yield more, and ripen ten days earlier, and 

 wishing to learn what I could, I tried the experi- 

 ment ; selected four rows in a corn field, on which 

 no manure had been put, put only one piece in 

 each hill, dug and measured carefully, and found 

 no difference in measure. The small ends came up 

 first, and continued to keep ahead, but I saw no 

 diiference in the size of the potatoes at digging 

 time ; so I hardly think the writer is correct. Now 

 if some one better informed than myself will give 

 information as to the use of plaster, he would 

 much oblige a learner. Is there not a difference in 

 plaster ? If so, where can we find that which is 

 good ? A. p. B. 



Roxhury, Ft, JVov., 1857. 



For the New England Farmer. 



WHITEWASHING TREES. 



A writer upon the subject of whitewashing trees 

 asserts that trees are subject to diseases as much as 

 animals are. But we do not whitewash animals for 

 any diseases with which they are afflicted, or for the 

 prevention of such as they may be liable to. 



The skins of animals are perforated by nature, 

 we believe, in wisdom, for the preservation of their 

 health and lives. The pores of the skin are for the 

 ventilation of the system. In the process of diges- 

 tion, the impure gases that are generated escape 

 through the pores of the skin. When the pores are 

 obstructed, the organs of digestion and the absorb- 

 ent vessels and circulatory system are deranged and 

 disordered. 



When the pores of the skin are too much con- 

 tracted from the effect of cold, or are obstruct- 

 ed from uncleanliness, the whole system is more or 

 less deranged, and a phlegm is formed which ob- 

 structs the digestion and prevents the enjoyment of 

 perfect health. It is essential to health that the 

 pores of the skin be most expanded in the open or 

 warm weather, and consequently, when they are 

 contracted by sudden cold, then the result is most 

 injurious and fatal. 



Were one to besmear his skin completely with 

 pitch or any other substance that will close the 

 pores and stop the invisible perspiration and venti- 

 lation, a cold would be the result — and it would 

 sooner prove fatal in summer than in winter. — 

 Phlegm would forthwith be formed. Wearing gut- 

 ta percha dresses or clothing for a long time will 

 have a corresponding effect. 



The skin or bark of trees and plants has pores 

 for the like purposes of ventilation and purification 

 of the tree and plant. The effect of stopping that 

 ventilatory process in trees and plants must be the 

 most injurious in summer. Were we to clothe the 

 tree or plant or flower stems with a full gutta per- 

 cha suit, there could be no pure sap generated 

 therein. 



A tree will be usually in health when the grass is 

 prevented from growing over its roots, and the soil 

 is properly fertilized. In open land it would be 

 well to confine the fallen leaves beneath the tree to 

 prevent the winds from blowing them away. Some 

 cheap netting or wire gauze covering would save 

 them. P. 



For the New England Farmer. 



WOMEN THE REFORMEaS OF 

 SOCIETY-No. 1. 



Mr. Editor: — Your excellent journal, in its 

 weekly visits to fifteen or twenty thousand families, 

 must come under the eye of some thirty thousand 

 mothers and daughters. Perhaps I should not go 

 beyond the limits of exact truth if I should say that 

 it is read more or less by some fifty thousand fe- 

 males who are either influential in the families of 

 farmers, or are destined to be. 



Now, sir, along with the praises which, ever and 

 anon, as I travel up and down the country, I hear 

 bestowed upon some of the articles in your columns, 

 designed for the class of readers alluded to, I hear 

 an occasional wish for something more specific — at 

 least, more frequently — for housekeepers. It is my 

 purpose to furnish an occasional article of this sort 

 for your examination, and for insertion, if it should 

 seem worthy. Allow me to commence with the 

 following paragraphs from a recent English maga- 

 zine of considerable merit. 



"If ever society becomes mentally great, the im- 

 pulse must be given by our mothers and daughters, 

 who, to a larger extent than the professional'school- 

 master, are the real educators of the young. This 

 great impulse can never be given until we adopt 

 simple dietetic habits, which will give woman more 

 leisure for the improvement of her mind. 



"With our present customs, this leisure is unat- 

 tainable. The dressing of meats, and the prepara- 

 tion of sauces and gravies engross so much of her 

 time, that opportunity for mental culture is impossi- 

 ble. Nay, should she be fortunate enough to com- 

 mand a few spare minutes, her excessive labor in 

 supplying the animal wants unfit her for the exer- 

 cise of her higher powers." 



The late Rev. Timothy Flint, more than twenty 

 years ago, and Dr. Rupp fifty years ago, were ac- 

 customed to concede to woman's cphere of influ- 

 ence all the importance which our transatlantic 

 brother has attached to it ; and in some respects, 

 more. The first of these insisted that woman must 

 be the prime mover in the great work of reforma- 

 tion, and the latter said that mothers and school- 

 masters were wont to plant the seeds, not only of 

 nearly all that is great in the world, but of that 

 which is good. 



These sentiments, with a single modification, I 

 wish to endorse ; and by statements, and facts, and 

 common sense reasonings to sustain. The single 

 modification to which I refer is the addition to the 

 phrase, "The dressing of meats and the preparation 

 of sauces and gravies," the words, "and other equal- 

 ly artificial and unnatural combinations of customs." 

 My contributions will generally be short. Let me 

 close these preliminaries, by another paragraph 

 from the above-mentioned British magazine. 



"It is no pleasing subject for reflection that wom- 

 an, under the influence of whose precepts and ex- 

 ample the rising generation gather their first les- 

 sons in Hfe, should be so comparatively powerless 

 for everything of an educational character, when, 

 were she but elevated to that state of which her 

 mind is susceptible, she might become a teacher in 

 her familj', and assist in banishing that mental 

 darkness now the unfortunate lot of millions of 

 voung beings, crying for light, but crying in vain. 

 (^ Auburndale, Xov. 5, 1857. W. A. Alcott. 



