180 



Animals. — Heated Rooms. — The Potatoe. 



Vol. XII. 



most courageous engineer of modern times, 

 were encountered and successfully over- 

 come. The length of the road, of which 

 scattered fragments only remain, is various- 

 ly estimated from fifteen hundred to two 

 thousand miles; and stone pillars, in the 

 manner of European mile stones, were 

 erected at stated intervals of somewhat 

 more than a league all along the route. Its 

 breadth scarcely exceeded twenty feet. It 

 was built of heavy flags of freestone, and in 

 some parts, at least, covered with a bitumi- 

 nous cement, whiclvtime has made harder 

 than the stone itself. In some places, where 

 the ravines had been filled up with masonry, 

 the mountain torrents, wearing on it for 

 ages, have gradually eaten a way through 

 the base, and left the superincumbent mass 

 — such is the cohesion of the materials — 

 still spanning the valley like an arch ! — Pres- 

 cotCs History of Peru. 



Keep Animals in good Order. 



It is an old saying, that animals in good 

 condition in December, are half wintered. 

 This is no doubt true, they not only require 

 much less keep during the winter months, 

 but are far more profitable for labour or for 

 whatever purpose they are kept. Cows, 

 oxen, steers, sheep, horses — in fact, all ani- 

 mals, as soon as the food becomes short or 

 insipid, should be fed regularly from the 

 barn. It is often the case that animals that 

 have had the advantage of what is consi- 

 dered a "good run" during the summer 

 months, upon the decrease of food in au- 

 tumn, suddenly fall away, become poor and 

 dispirited, and require regular feeding to 

 preserve them in health and heart. A little 

 attention, under such circumstances, will 

 often be the means of obviating much trou- 

 ble and expense. By exposure to the winds 

 and chilly storms of the late autumn, there 

 is often laid the foundation of wasting and 

 cureless disease; debility and languor, loss 

 of appetite, and inaptitude to fatten, by this 

 means often induced, occasioning suffering 

 to the animals and loss to the owner, who is 

 not unfrequently ignorant of the true cause, 

 and at a loss to conceive why his animals 

 are not in as good a condition and health, 

 and as thrifty and well-looking as his more 

 careful neighbour's, who provides botli food 

 and shelter for his stock, and is careful to 

 see that no circumstance requisite to their 

 comfort is neglected or overlooked. 



There is probably no animal more gene- 

 rally and shamefully neglected in this cli- 

 mate than the sheep. The presumption 

 that they are capacitated to endure extreme 

 cold without any obvious or serious detri- 



ment, is an error that cannot be too speedily 

 corrected. No animal is more severely af- 

 fected by cold storms and exposure, or more 

 capable, consequently, of rewarding amply 

 an extra expenditure in the provision of se- 

 cure shelter and good keep. The old adage, 

 "A merciful man is merciful to his beast," 

 is one that we wish to see more generally 

 recognized and applied. — Olive Branch. 



Heated Rooms. 



Rooms heated with anthracite coal, and 

 rooms heated with close stoves, in which 

 wood is burnt, have very dry atmospheres. 

 The use of water in such rooms is very con- 

 genial to health, but the water should not 

 be placeJ in an iron or tin vessel upon the 

 stove, for the reason that it will undergo 

 that degree of heat which will make its va- 

 pors offensive and injurious to breathe. It 

 is as injurious to the human system to 

 breathe putrid water vapors of this kind, as 

 it is to breathe the vapors from stagnant 

 ponds in hot weather. If water is used 

 upon a stove, an iron pan should be made 

 use of, and this filled with dry sand ; in the 

 sand set an earthen bowl, filled with clean 

 water, which should be changed twice a 

 day, and the bowl washed and kept as clean 

 as if used for a drinking vessel. 



Where hard coal is burnt in a grate, a 

 glass globe should be suspended in the room, 

 filled with clean pure water, and as the 

 heated air rises to the top of the room, it 

 will steadily evaporate the water and moist- 

 en the dry and heated air. Persons who 

 prefer the atmosphere of salt water vapor, 

 can add salt to the water, or, if they prefer 

 an aromatic atmosphere, they can add co- 

 logne water, or any other perfume which 

 they prefer. It is as important to have 

 clean air for breathing, as to have clean 

 water for drinking. Basement rooms, where 

 hard coal is burnt, should be frequently ven- 

 tilated. Small children accustomed to stay 

 in basement rooms, find a bad air near the 

 floor. The air should be removed by allow- 

 ing the doors to he opened frequently, to let 

 in fresh air. A little care in these matters 

 wiJl tend wonderfully to comfort and enjoy- 

 ment. — Ex. Paper. 



The Potatoe. 



The Morris Jerseyman says: For a few 

 years past public attention has been directed 

 to the cause of the potatoe rot, as also the 

 remedy, but nothing satisfactory has been 

 elicited. One of our farmers, a few days 

 since informed us, while in conversation on 

 that subject, that he planted his potatoes 

 earlier this season than usual, and that h© 



