210 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JAN. 4. 1S43. 



OUR OBLIGATION TO LABOR. 



George Combe, whose recent journey through 

 this country attracted so much notice, and wliose 

 Pysiological writings have been received with great 

 favor, niakes the toUowing very just observations. 

 Speaking of the duty of man to exercise al! the 

 faculties''given him, and their adaptation to the va- 

 rious conditions of life, he says : 



"In the tropical regions of the globe, where a 

 hiffh atmospheric temperature diminishes the quan- 

 tum of muscular energy, the fertility and produc- 

 tiveness of the soil are increased in a like propor- 

 tion, so that less labor suffices. Less labor, also is 

 required to provide habitations and rament. In 

 the colder latitudes, muscular energy is greatly in- 

 creased, and there much higher demands are made 

 upon it; the earth is more sterile, and the piercing 

 frosts render necessary a thicker covering for the 

 body. 



The natural law appears to be, that every one who 

 desires to enjoy the pleasures of health, must ex- 

 pend in labor the energy which the Creator has in- 

 fused into his limbs. A wide choice is left to man, 

 to the MODE in which he shall exercise his ner- 

 vous and muscular systems. The laboror, for ex- 

 ample, digs the ground, and the sriuire engages in 

 the chase ; both pursuits exercise the body. The 

 penalty for neglecting this law is imperfect diges- 

 tion and disturbed sleep, debility, bodily and men- 

 tal lassitude, and if carried to a certain length, 

 confirmed bad health and early death. The pen- 

 alty for over exerting these systems is exhaustion, 

 mental incapacity, the desire for strong artificia' 



masses will not pass into the atmosphere, or su 

 stances must be incorporated with them which w 

 unite in taking up ammonia. Hence the benefit 

 composts, for all tho turf, weeds, muck, and oti 

 decomposable absorbants, which are thiown in 

 and incorporated with, the manure lieap, to go 

 aid in taking up the salts and gases, which wol 

 otherwise pass into the atmosphere, and bccoi 

 rich manures of themselves. Any o le can s 

 the propriety of this. Take for instance, 

 dead animal and expose it on the surface of t 

 earth, a loathsome effluvia will pass off, as dec 

 advances. Bury the animal, and the stench cea; 

 to annoy you, but putrifaction does not stop 



stimulants, (such as ardent spirits,) general insensi- merely passes into surrounding substances, insle 

 bilitv, erossness of feeling and perception, with of the atmosphere. Now when the ammal has 



disease and shortened life. 



" Society has not recognized this law; and, in 

 consequence, the higher orders despise labor, and 

 suffer the first penalty, while the lower orders are 

 oppressed with toil, and undergo the second. The 



"Farther, the food afforded by the soil in each 

 climate appears to be adapted to the maintenance r^J^'^-j^r"^^-^'^ to provide motives for obedience to 

 of the organic constitution of the people in health, ^,|g,j^„. and wherever it is recognized, and the 



and to the muscular energy necessary for the par- 

 ticular wants of the situation. In the Arctic Re- 

 gions, no farinaceous food ripens, but on the ques- 

 tion being put to Dr Richardson, how he accustom- 

 ed himself to the bread and vegetables of the tem- 

 perate regions, was able to endure the pure ani- 

 mal diet, which formed his only support on his ex- 

 pedition to the shores of the Polar Sea, along 

 with Captain Franklin, he replied, that the effect 

 of the extreme dry cold to which he and his com- 

 panions were constantly exposed — living, as they 

 did, in the open air — was to produce a desire for 

 the most stimulating food they could obtain; that 

 bread in such a climate was not only not desired, 

 but comparatively impotent, as an article of diet ; 

 that the pure animal food, and the fatter the better, 

 was the only sustenance that maintained the tone 

 of the corporeal system, but that when it was abun- 

 dant, (and the quantity required was much greater 

 than in milder latitudes) a delightful vigor and 

 buoyancy of mind and body were enjoyed, and 

 rendered life agreeable. Now, in beautiful harmo- 

 ny with these wants of the human frame, these re- 

 gions abound during summer in countless herds of 

 deer, in rabbits, patridges, ducks, and in short 

 every sort of game, and also in fish ; and the flesh 

 of these, dried, constitutes a delicious food in win 

 ter, when the earth is wraped in one wide mantle 

 of snow. 



' Amonff the Greenlanders and other Esquimaux 



consequences are discovered to be inevitable, men 

 11 no longer shun labor as painful and ignomin- 

 ious but to resort to it as a source of pleasure and 

 advantage." 



AMMONIA, 



More commonly known as hartshorn, is an alkali, 

 being of a burning caustic taste, and as every one 

 must know, who has treated tlie nasal organ to its 

 aroma, is of a powerful, pungent odor. It is very 

 volatile in its character, for unless closely confined 

 from the influence of the atmosphere, its peculiar 

 qualities pass off and enter into new composition, 

 in the material system. 



Its chemical composition is one part of nitrogen, 

 the principal ingredient of the atmosphere, to three 

 of hydrogen — a gas which of itself is inflamma- 

 ble, but which when united with oxygen, forms 

 water; or if taken in atomic proportions, 17 parts 

 of nitrogen, and 3 of hydrogen, form 17 of pure 

 ammonia. [See Dana's Muck Manual pp. 130.] 



Thus much for what ammonia is ; nextly, Where 

 is it found ? 



It exists in the atmosphere — in the cloud that 

 floats through it — in the snow and rain that fall 

 upon the earth ; indeed its existence may be tra- 

 ced to all organized substances. It is found most 



abundantly, however, where the process of decay 



is going on most rapidly, and in such cases unless 



tribes' nothin-T is so much relished as the fat of the I precautionary measures are adopted to prevent its 



whale, the seal, or the walrus ; tallow candle, and escape, it passes into the atmosphere, and though 

 a draught of train oil, are regarded as dainties ; 

 while a piece of bread is spit out with strong indi- 

 catrons of disgust. 



"The plains of Hindooston are too hot for the 

 extensive nutrition of the sheep and the ox, but 

 produce rice and vegetable spices in prodigious 

 abundance ; and the native is healthy, vigorous, 

 active, when supplied with rice and curry, and 

 becomes sick when obliged to live chiefly on ani- 

 mal diet. He is supplied with less muscular en- 

 ergy by this species of food ; but his soil and cli- 

 mate require far less laborious exertion to main- 

 tain him in comfort, than those of Britain, Germa- 

 ny, or Russia. 



" So far, then, the external world appears to be 

 wisely and benevolently adapted to the organic 

 system of man ; that is, to his nutrition, and to the 

 developement and exercise of his corporeal organs. 



that becomes an annoyer as well as a benefit, for 

 then, while it feeds the farmers' wheat, it also 

 yields nourishment to his tares. If his grass flour- 

 ish under its influence, the thistles by the wayside 

 and in the ' old field,' shoot up more luxuriantly 

 from the aid it bestows. In the more valuable ma- 

 nures it is found most abundant, and Dr Dana sup- 

 poses the yearly product from the manure of one 

 cow, to be 188 pounds of pure ammonia, or 5.10 lbs. 

 of the carbonate of ammonia of the shops. 



Other animal manures possess it in different 

 quantities, and it is upon this mainly, that their 

 effect in producing fertility is supposed to depend. 



Hence the propriety of the farmers' adopting 

 such a course with these manures as will be most 

 likely to convert them to practical benefit. In 

 order to effect this, the process of evaporation 

 must be stopped until they are placed where the 



or nearly all decayed, take the earth that surrour 

 ed it and apply it to your lands, and you will fi 

 the effect to fertilize arises from it. Or, if y 

 please, let it remain, and a luxuriant growth 

 weeds will for years mark the place, unless buri 

 so deep that its effects are not felt on the surfa. 



It is just so with all manures : while tho proci 

 of decay is going on, the volatile and imports 

 parts are passing away in unhealthy stenches, pc 

 soning the air, and wasting the substance of t 

 farmer. It is his wealth, one that might soon be i 

 alized in the beauty of luxuriant crops, and later 

 dollars and cents, (those words of peculiar charm 

 passing off on the wings of the wind. 



Even in winter, when the frost and cold are 6 

 erting their antiputrcscent qualities, it may hare 

 be said to stop ; and unless precautionary measui 

 are taken, spring will be sure to waste the accunr 

 lations winter brings. To remedy this evapoi 

 tion, many of the entorpris'ing farniers where ir 

 nures are fully appreciated, have made cellars u 

 der their barns and stables, into which the inani 

 is daily thrown to protect it Irom the drenching 

 storms and the effects of the atmosphere. 



The saving by this plan has been found to yit 

 a rich profit for'thc outfit, but still the gases » 

 to some extent, pass oft', and a remedy for this 1 

 developed itself in the admixture of the sulphi 

 of lime, gypsum, or plaster of Paris, with mam 

 in winter. It should be thrown in frequently, a 

 its effects in summer when applied are to corre 

 all offensive smells, and retain the gases in th 

 proper places. — Berkshire Far. 



The Blacksmith's Epitaph. — The following qua 

 epitaph, remarkable for its point and humor, grac 

 a stone in one of the parish churchyards at I] 

 wich, England : 



My hammer and anvil 1 'vr declined, 

 My bellows, too, have lost their wind, 

 My fire 's extinct, my forge's decay 'd. 

 And in the dust my rice in laid. 



Gv'We have noticed this epitaph in almost eve 

 exchange paper within a few weeks past. It 

 rather a bungling abridgement of the followir 

 which we have seen in an almanac, printed mc 

 than eighty years ago. — Bost. Cour. 



My sledge and hammer lie reclined ; 

 My liclloics, too, have lost their tciiid ; 

 My fire 's extinct, my forge decayed, 

 And in the dust my vice is laid ; 

 My coat is apenl, my iron gone ; 

 My nails are driven ; my work is done. 



For all practical purposes, conscience is the bt 

 casuist, and to do as we would be done by, t 

 safest rule. — Lacon. 



