196 



The Jigriculturist^s Note Book. 



Vol. III. 



house should be always clean, free of ptnell, 

 and so constructed as to admit a cuircnt of air 

 to circulate tiioroufrhly through it, and at tlie 

 same time to be regulated at pleasure. The 

 utensils employed should always be kept clean 

 and free from acidity. The cheese- house 

 should be kept at the regular temperature of 

 70° Fahrenheit throughout the whole season of 

 cheese-making, and the different processes of 

 this manufacture should be attended to without 

 delay. I conceive it quite impossible to pro- 

 duce cheese of fine quality and taste without 

 the use of the thermometer. 



TIME FOR CUTTING TIMBER. 



The highly respectable Mr. Cooper, late of 

 New Jersey, is said to have pronounced with 

 great confidence that oak and hickory felled 

 when their sap is vigorously flowing would 

 not be attacked by worms, producing what is 

 called powder post. The cause of this ex- 

 emption from the depredation from worms, is 

 probably the same as that of its extra-dura- 

 bility. 



Sir Humphrey Davy tells us in his Elements 

 of Agricultural Chemistry, that Mr. Knight 

 examined the alburnum of difi^erent poles of 

 oak in the same forest; of which some had 

 been felled in winter, and others in sum- 

 mer ; and he always found most soluble mat- 

 ter in the wood felled in the winter, and its 

 specific gravity is likewise greater. 



This being the case with the alburnum or 

 sappy part of the wood, there can be no doubt 

 of a somewhat similar difference in the heart 

 part of wood. 



The foregoing premises being admitted, 

 we may conclude that timber felled in winter 

 while replete with inspissated sap, after being 

 thoroughly seasoned, will, of consequence be 

 found easier to work, because more porous, 

 or spongy, than that felled in summer, while 

 the sap is more scanty and limpid, but the 

 wood of the latter soon becomes more hard, 

 strong and compact, and consequently more 

 durable; and will never be bored by worms 

 because it contains no nourishment for them. 

 In timber felled in winter afler being tho- 

 roughly .seasoned, the essence or saccharine 

 matter of the sap, still remains a nutritious 

 and palatable food for various kinds of worms, 

 both on land and under water; and these 

 worms gain their living as they progress, 

 from the wood they reduce to powder. 



The vessels of the winter-felled timber, re- 

 plete with sap when felled, are believed to 

 continue open, and like a sponge remains sus- 

 ceptible of imbibing water when exposed, 

 which inevitably produce fermentation and 

 gradual decay. 



On stripping timber of its bark in June, 

 Sir II. Davy says : "the reason of the supe- 

 riority of this timber is, that the concrete sap 



i is expended in the spring in the sprouting of 

 I the leaf; and the circulation being destroyed, 

 it is not formed anew ; and the wood having 

 its pores free from saccharine matter, is less 

 liable to undergo fermentation from the ac- 

 tion of the moisture and air." From a view 

 of the testimony and argument adduced in 

 connexion with the mass of te.stimony now 

 before the public, we may safely conclude that 

 the true cause of the extraordinary durability 

 of timber felled in barking time is this, that 

 when seasoned it becomes so compact as to 

 become impervious to wet : and also, that it 

 remains secure from the depredation of 

 worms, because it contains no saccharine mat- 

 ter for them to subsist upon. 



[The reader is referred to a very interesting 

 and conclusive paper on this subject, to be 

 found in the first number of the present vol- 

 ume of the Farmers' Cabinet, page 29.] 



LINIMENT FOR THE GALLED BACKS OF HORSES. 



Keating, in his expedition to the source of 

 St. Peter's River, says — For the information 

 of other travelers, we may mention, that, after 

 having tried many applications to the backs 

 of horses, when galled, we have found 

 none that succeeded so well as white lead 

 moistened with milk. When milk was not 

 to be procured, oil was substituted. When- 

 ever the application was made in the early 

 stage of the wound, we have found it to be 

 very effectual, and it is likewise a convenient 

 one, as two ounces of white-lead sufficed for 

 the whole of our party for more than a month. 



YOUNG CATTLE. 



Young's Farmers' Calendar under January 

 contains the following observations. "Last 

 year's calves should now be fed with hay and 

 roots, either turneps, carrots or potatoes; and 

 they should be thoroughly well fed, and kept 

 perfectly clean by means of litter; at this age 

 it is a matter of great consequence to keep 

 such young cattle as well as possible, for the 

 contrary practice will inevitably stop their 

 growth, which cannot be recovered by the 

 best summer food. If hay is not to be had, 

 'good straw must be substituted ; but then the 

 roots should be given in greater plenty and 

 with more attention. To steers and heifers 

 two years old, the proper food is hay, if cheap, 

 or straw, with baits of turneps, cabbages, &ic. 

 It is not right to keep yearling calves, and two 

 year old together, becnusc in general the 

 younger cattle are, the better they should be 

 fed. — Yankee Farmer. 



HORSE FOOD AND DRINK. 



Some of the innkeepers on the western 

 roads have lately begun to follow the prac 

 tice recommended by the Eath Agricultural 

 Society, of boiling the corn given to horses, 



