FARMERS' REGISTER— DIARY OF THE WEATHER— POSTS, &c. 



747 



Diary of the temperature and state of the Weather 

 in ^-Jpril, observed at Shellbanks, Prince George 

 County— 37° 14' N. Lat. 



Fair, or sunshine, f — cloudy, c — rain, r. 



From the Maine Farmer. 



There have been sonfie remarks published in the 

 Genesee Farmer upon the subject of selling j)osts 

 butt end up, in order to insure more durabibly. 

 We were last summer informed by Mr. North of 

 Augusta, that he set, several years ago, two posts 

 near the river at the landing in Augusta not far 

 from the Kennebec Hotel. One of the posts was 

 set butt end up, the other was set the butt end 

 down. He states that both were equally sound 

 when placed in the ground, but that the one which 

 was set butt end up is now sound and good, and 

 that the other is decayed. 



His mode for accounting for the ditference in 

 preservation is the following, viz : that the tubes 

 in the wood through which the sap ascends while 

 growing, are furnished with valves or separations 

 to prevent the weight of the sap from passing back. 

 That if the post be set in the ground with the 

 small end up, the moisture would rise in the same 

 manner that the sap did, and thus hasten a decom- 

 position of the wood, luit if set in the other posi- 

 tion the valves or partitions would prevent the 

 moisture fiom rising at all. This theory is plau- 

 sible, but whether true or not we cannot say, or 

 whether setting a post with the small end down- 

 wards will cause it to last longer than otherwise, 



we cannot say from any experience that we have 

 yet had ourselves. One method, however, is cer- 

 tain, viz : charring as mentioned by Carolus. 

 And we have also tbund that by heating the whole 

 of tlic post even if it be not charred it vvill in- 

 crease its dura!)ility. 



Thei-e seems to he a sort of low state of vegeta- 

 ble life remaining in wood even after it has been 

 cut for some length of time; and the action of this 

 vitality does seem, in a manner inexplicable to us, 

 to produce decay. The shipwrights in the Eng- 

 lish Navy Yard have become aware of this sort of 

 morbid life, if we may so speak, and they have 

 adopted the plan of soaking their ship timber in a 

 weak solution of corrosive sublimate, in order to 

 destroy this kind of action and preventing what is 

 called the dry rot in timber. We have lately re- 

 ceived the February number of the Mechanic's 

 Magazine, in which we find some remarks on the 

 subject of preventing the decay of timber by satu- 

 rating it with lime. We shall publish it in our 

 next. 



SHEEP. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 



Late in the summer of 1830, I borrowed SlOO, 

 and went into the neighboring towns and purcha- 

 sed sixty-eight sheep, at the average cost of ^1,30 

 per head, which left me remaining on hand $!13 of 

 my borrowed money. At this time I had on hand 

 twelve sheep; which with those I bought, made 

 me a flock oi' eighty head. The next winter I 

 kept tliem on good fine hay, without any grain, 

 until the first of^ March, Avhen as the ground was 

 bare, I quit feeding hay and turned them out upon 

 ni)' old pastures, and commenced feeding a little 

 corn. The winter of 1830-31, it will be recollect- 

 ed, was one of uncommon severity ; but notwith- 

 standing its length and coldness, I lost but one 

 sheep, and that by casualty. I continued feeding 

 grain until the first of May, when as the grass had 

 got a considerable growth, I tlwught it unnecessa- 

 ry, and quit entirely. That season I raised 36 

 lambs, which increased my flock to 115. In June 

 I sold the wool produced by my old sheep, for 

 iS; 150,06. I went and redeemed my note, and had 

 left of money /received for wool, ^44. The win- 

 ter of 1831-32 I fed my sheep as before, but lost 

 three head; consequently, in the spring, had but 

 112 to shear, which produced 300 pounds ; this I 

 sold at the very low price of 35 cents the pound, 

 or S105 for 300 pounds. The same season [ raised 

 45 lambs, and sold 60 head of my old sheep for 

 878,60 ; making the amount of sales from mv 

 flock that season -S 181,60. In the winter of 1832"- 

 33 1 lost 6 sheej) — in the spring sheared 91 ; but in 

 consequence of^ the great proportion of lambs, the 

 produce of wool was small. I letained a number 

 of fleeces for home use, and sold the remainder, 

 (176 pounds) for 50 cents the pound or ^88 for 

 what I had to sell. 



Thus it will be seen that my flock, for three 

 years, has averaged 94 head, and that the actual 

 sales from it have amounted to -9419. The last 

 summer I raised 30 lambs and sold none of my old 

 sheep; consequently in August last, when the 

 three years had expired since my purchase, I had 

 on hand 119 sheep, which is 25 above the average 

 for three years past, and which 25 sheep were 

 worth at that time ,^2 the head-^-making .*p50 for 

 25. This added to my sales would make $469 for 



