203 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JAN. 6, 1836. 



sassoi^aSiAWS". 



SKETCHES OF WINTER. 



BY T. G. FESSKNDEN. 



The hoary Monarch of the inverted year 



Silvers tlie forestj desolate and sear, 



Sol, pale and powerless, with weak slanting ray 



Scarce marks the boundaries of night and day ; 



The North wind, sallying from the frigid zone, 



Threatens to seize the abdicated throne 



Of Heaven's bright Regent — binding earth and main 



In one all powerful, all pervading chain. 



Whose tiny links, though viewless serve to make 



Bands, which Oinnipolence alone can break. 



The snow-capp'd cottage, and the hoary hill, 



The palsied landscape, desolate and still, 



The bitter biting, brawling brumal blast 



The fleecy, flitting frost work, falling fast 



Through many a dark dull night and dreary day, 



Still shew stern winter's unrelenting sway : — 



Though Sol his annual circuit has begun, 



Nature deplores the absence of the Sun, 



With many a frozen but fast falling tear. 



Which decks with silver sheen the northern hemisphere. 



The hand of industry is now excluded 



From glebe and ga'rden winter has denuded. 



The landscape stripp'd its garniture laid low, 



Seems dead and wrnpp'd in winding sheets of snow. 



Well, since the season drives us from the fields. 



Cull the rich fruits the social fire side yields 



And cultivate those intellectual flowers 



Which shed their sweets in winter's dreary hours. 



Having well listed, please to close the door. 



And when the North wind roars, why — let him roar: 



But see the blusterer no admission gains 



Through yawning crevices and broken panes. 



Please to be seated near the social fire 



Just point blank eye-shot from the nymph you admire 



(Though this cold weather furnishes, you know, sir, 



A good apology for sitting closer,) 



Let books and conversation then impart 



Their mental opulence to head and heart. 



And you will find, while pleasure gilds the hour 



Knowledge is happinees, as well as power. 



Aiu AND HOT ROO.MS. — At cHcli breath we draw 

 more than a cubic incii of oxygen, or of tho vital 

 principle of the air is consuiijefl ; and whereas 

 this firinciple constitutes one fourth of the air in- 

 haled, if pure, it forms but a fifth part of that 

 which is e.vhaled from tlie lungs. Now the num- 

 ber of respirations is about 25 per minute, or 1.500 

 hourly. Suppose, then, a person to slee[» eigljt 

 hours in a perfectly close room, and to breathe 

 successive volumes of pure air, without any ad- 

 inixturo of that expired, and at the end of that 

 time lie will have entirely consumed, so far as 

 this vital principle is concerned, 20 feet of atmos- 

 pheric air. This, however, is a mere illustration 

 of the subject, for the circumstances supposed can 

 not occur, but it serves to show the importance of 

 two things, viz. a large room and abundant venti- 

 lation. Unless attention be paid to ventilation, 

 the air is much more rapidly contaminated than 

 is generally supposed. Its extreme fluidity leads 

 us to imagine that a body of it cannot, for any 

 considerable time, retain its place undisturbed. 

 On the contrary, it is found that where there are 

 no causes of disturbance, air will remain for a 



long time stationary. Thus the fixed air which 

 forms in the vats of brewers being specifically 

 heavier than the atmosphere, will keep its ]ilace 

 for an indefinite period. In the case of a sleeping 

 apartnient, our own senses inform us of the change 

 which is jiroduced by respiiation and the efHuvi- 

 uin from our persons. After leaving our room, 

 if it remains clo.sed, we find on returning to it that 

 the air is close and offensive. 



A sleeping apartment should be of tli6 largest 

 size which can be commanded, and should be 

 well aired through the day, to pre|iare it for occu- 

 pation at night. Even at night the health is best 

 promoted by having a door left partly open, and 

 many per.sons find the addition of a current from 

 a window, if at a reasonable distance, no disad- 

 vantage. The question is often asked, as to the 

 exprdioncy of keeping fire in the sleeping apart- 

 ment during severe weather. A lire kept burning 

 during the night is decidedly prejudicial to a per- 

 son in health, if his body be well covered be can 

 not suffer from breathing an atmosphere of a low 

 temperature, and he is a gainer by being better 

 prepared to admit into the lungs the cold air 

 whicii he meets abroad. Besides, cold air being 

 more condeu.sed, furnishes more oxygen within 

 the same space, frotn which the blood gains in 

 richness, and the skin in color. A fire kept 

 througli the day, and extinguished at bed-time, 

 subjects the room to the disadvantage of a decrea- 

 sing temperature through the night, a source of 

 discomfort and even of danger. 



In regard to fires, it should be recollected that 

 they act on the atmosphere, not only by consuming 

 its oxygen, but by diminishing its moisture. It 

 is a familiar fact, that the higher the temperature 

 of the air, the greater the amount of njoisture 

 which it is capable of dissolving ; hence the ex- 

 ternal atmosphere warmed by the sun's rays, re- 

 tains Its due proportion of this principle. But 

 when the air is artificially heated, there being no 

 supply from which moisture can be obtained, it 

 becomes naturally dry. and from this cause ill 

 fitted for maintaining in full vigor the vital process. 

 Many persons on entering a hot room, find them- 

 selves greatly annoyed by this circumstance ; the 

 membrane of the nose is deprived of its moisture 

 of evaporating, and the sensation is at once pro- 

 duced of difficult respiration, as if the nasal i)as- 

 sage was obstructed. To remedy this drying of 

 air by artificial heat, the plan has been adopted of 

 placing a vessel of water near the fire, the evapo- 

 ration of whicli may furnish moisture to take the 

 place of that abstracted ; and the expedient will 

 be found to answer a very good purpose. Dry hot 

 air is injurious to furniture, and still more so to 

 books, warping the backs and^pringing the leaves. 

 We have known books remove spontaneously 

 from their shelves, in consequence of their vicini- 

 ty to the hot draught of air from a furnace. — 

 Phil. Com. Her. 



Up to Snuff. — The following singtilar calcu- 

 lation of Lord Stanhope on the quantity of time 

 consuiried in the uncleanly and unnatural habit 

 of snuff-taking is worthj; cjf perusal. It will be 

 perceived that his Lordship 'was up to snuff;' 

 and should it meet the eyes of any old snuffer, 

 we hope he will not be disposed to turn up his nose 

 at it. 



" Every professed, inveterate, incurable snuff- 

 taker," says his Lordship ; " at a moderate com- 

 putation, takes one pinch in ten minutes. Every 



pinch, with the agreeable ceremony of blowing 

 and wiping the nose, and other incidental circum- 

 stances, consumes a minute and a half One 

 minute and a half out of every ten, allowing si.x- 

 teen hours to a snuff-taking day, amounis to two 

 hours and twentyfour minutes out of every natural 

 day, or one day out of ten. One day out of every 

 ten amounts to thirtysix days and a half in a year. 

 Hence, if we suppose the practice to be persisted 

 in forty years, two entire years of the snuff-taker's 

 life will be dedicated to tickling his nose, and two 

 more to blowing it. The expense of snuff-boxes 

 and handkerchiefs, will be the subject of a second 

 essay, in which it will appear that this luxury 

 encroaches as much on the income of the snuff- 

 taker as it does on his time; and that by proper 

 application of the time and money thus lost to the 

 public, a fund might be constituted for the dis- 

 cliarge of the national debt of Great Britain." 



Monet in the Bank. — A miser having careful- 

 ly deposited his darling treasure in a bank of, 

 earth un<ler a hedge, — in one of his visits to the 

 spot, which contained all his hopes, found his 

 money gone. His lamentations attracted several 

 |)ersons, when a wag, who had more wit than feel- 

 ing, observed that it " was very surprising that 

 the old gentleman should lose his money, as it 

 was put into the Bank." 



hicli time uiu 

 ceptatjle and 



PROSPECTUS. 



Niw E^OLAKD TinMEB AND Gardeker's Joobhal. 



Tills is a weel<ly paper, dfivotert to Agricitlture, Hnrliciituire and 

 Rural Mconomy. It is conducted by Thom \b G. Fessevden, assist- 

 ed by various Agricultural wrirers.and by the observations of many 

 of the bt.-'t practical i;uIlivators in the United Stales. The ivew 

 England Farmer is printed with a new type on good paper In & 

 quarto form, paged, making a volume of 416 pages annually, to 

 which a title page and index are furnished gratis. 



This Journal has been published 13 years, duri 

 remitting exertions have been made tu make 

 useful to the farmer and gardener. 



At the end of each year the Numbers can be bound, and consti- 

 tute a valuable work, being worth their subscription price as a boolc 

 ol reference. 



A weekly report ofthe sales at Brighton, the stale of the markets,. 

 crops, &c., and occasional drawings of Agricultural Implement?, 

 r-c. are given in this Journal. 



The N E. Farmer is published every Wednesday eveningat 

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Postmasters and others who may be disposed to act as Agents, 

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Boston, Dec. ISIiS. 



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THE NE1V ElVGLAND PARMER 



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AGENTS. 



Nnv York — G C. Thokeurn, 11 John-street. 



Albany — VVm . ThorEiUUN, Sil Market-street. 



Philaddphia—D. Sf C. Lanubkth, 85 Chesnut-slreel. 



BuWrmore— Publisher of American Farmer. 



Cincinnati — S. C. Paukhukst,23 LovNer Market-street. 



Flushing, N F.—Wm. Prince i^ Sons, Prop. Liu. Bol.Gar.. 



Middlebury, Vt. — Wight Chapman, Merchant. 



Taunton^ Mass. — Sam'l O. Dunbar, Bookseller. 



Hartford— Goouw IS ^ Co. Booksellers. 



Newburyport — Erenezer Stedman, Bookseller. 



Portsmouth, N. H. — John W. Foster, Bookseller. 



Woodstock, Vt. — J. A. Pratt. 



Bangor, Me. — Wm. Mann, Druggist. 



Halifax, N. S.—P. J. Holland, Esq. Editor of Recorder. 



a. touts— Geo. Holton 



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