NEW p:ngland farmer. 



93 



Cjealtl). 



Health of Children-. — Rising early is a habit of 

 high, importance to fix in children ; and in forming 

 it, there is far greater facility than in other cases. 

 There is a natural propensity in children generally to 

 early rising, which needs only to be gratified and 

 encouraged. They usually retire to bed some hours 

 before their parents, and at daylight, or at least sun- 

 rise, are generally awake, and anxious to rise. Many 

 of them arc actually bred up with diiFculty to the 

 habit of taking morning naps, which, when once 

 formed, generally prevail through life. Let his father 

 deny himself so far as to retire early, and become an 

 early riser also. His health, enjoyment, and useful- 

 ness, he may depend upon it, will be perceptibly 

 benefited. And this may be connected with another 

 preventive of disease — active employment. The 

 morning is the season for activity ; the frame, invig- 

 orated by repose, is prepared for exertion, and motion 

 gives pleasm-e. The pui-e atmosphere, so much more 

 bracing than at other hours, so much sweeter and 

 more exhilarating than the air of a confined cham- 

 ber, has been prepared to be breathed ; and, like all 

 nature's medicines, it is superior to any which science 

 can produce. Early rising and early exercise might 

 more properly be called food than medicine, as 

 they are designed for daily use, and to protect us 

 from disease rather than to remove it. Every thing, 

 except mere sloth, invites us, nay, requires of us, to 

 train up our children to use them. The morning is 

 the most favorable season for exercising the frame, as 

 well as for making useful impressions on the mind 

 and heart ; and whoever tries to conduct the educa- 

 tion of his child independently of this practice, will 

 lose some of the most favorable opportunities. — 

 Dioight's Father s Book. 



Recipe foe. White Swellings and Felons. — To 

 cure white swellings and felons, a correspondent of 

 the South- Western Farmer says, "take copperas, 

 blue stone, alum, table salt, and flowers of sulphur, 

 of each the size of a pea, put them into a four-ounce 

 phial, and fill it with strong apple vinegar, and in 

 twenty-four hours or less it is fit for use. If to be 

 applied to a bone felon on the finger, the skin is to 

 be pared with the razor, the phial being well shaken ; 

 wet lint, and apply it three times a day. It will in- 

 stantly relieve pain, take out the fever, and effect a 

 cure.. If a sore leg, the sore must be washed twice a 

 day with Castile soap, — then apply the wet lint." 

 Most bruises and diseases of the flesh may be bene- 

 fited, and generally cm-ed, it is said, by this applica- 

 tion. 



iUccljanics JUcpartment, ^rts, ^c. 



Time for cutting Timber. — There are various 

 opinions on this subject ; some persons preferring 

 one season, and others another. But nearly all are 

 agreed in the opinion that the spring is an unfavor- 

 able season, as the tree is then full of sap. Most 

 mechanics, who attend to wood work, prefer timber 

 that is cut in winter, or late in fall, after the season 

 of vegetation, as it then contains less sap than in 

 spring. If {he opinion that it contains less sap in 

 winter than in spring is not correct, it is evident that 

 the sap contained in the timber in winter has a less 

 tendency to decay than that of spring. 



Farmers who have cut poles for fencing in spring 

 and fall, and let the bark remain on, have generally 

 observed that those cut in fall last far longer than 

 those cut in spring. Some mechanics, who have cut 

 their timber at different seasons, are decidedly in favor 

 of cutting it in June, when the tree is in its greatest 

 vigor, as it is very durable and heavy. At this period 

 it is supposed that the sap or juices of the tree are thick, 

 or of a mucilaginous svibstance, and that they become 

 fixed in the wood, and fill up the pores, and add 

 to its weight. June is a favorable time for stripping 

 the bark from trees, and this operation is very 

 necessary when timber is cut in June. 



We hope that more experiments will be made on 

 this subject, particularly to show which is the best 

 period for cutting timber — in June, when vegetation 

 is in full vigor ; or August and September, when it is 

 less active ; or late in fall or early in winter, when the 

 tree is in a dormant state. 



Easy Method of breaking Glass in any required 

 Direction. — Dip a piece of worsted thread in spirits 

 of turpentine, wrap it round the glass in the direc- 

 tion that you require it to be broken, and then set 

 fire to the thread ; or apply a red-hot iron round the 

 glass, and if it does not immediately crack, throw 

 cold water on it while the wire remains hot. Glass 

 that is broken by this means may often be- fashioned 

 and rendered useful for a variety of purposes. — Eng- 

 lish Paper. 



To preserve Specimens in Natural History. — 

 To preserve the skins of animals for exhibition, 

 arsenical soap has been found to be the most perfect 

 guard against vermin, and is prepared in the follow- 

 ing manner, viz. : camphor, five ounces ; arsenic in 

 powder, two pounds ; white soap, two pounds ; salt 

 of tartar, twelve ounces ; chalk in powder, four 

 ounces. Rub this thoroughly over the inner surface, 

 and afterward stuff the animal for the case. 



WATER IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 



The watery vapor in the atmosphere exerts an 

 agency in promoting the growth of vegetables, of 

 which few are aware. The effect produced by its 

 descent to the earth, in the form of rain, is obvious 

 to all. The agency which it otherwise exerts, 

 tho\igh less marked and obvious, is, perhaps, less 

 important. 



It is a well-established fact, that the earth absorbs 

 water from the atmosphere, and that in proportion 

 to its djyness. On the other hand, it is a fact equally 

 well established, that the drier the surface of the 

 earth is, the more abundant is the watery vapor in 

 the atmosphere. This is rather a matter of course, as 

 the water evaporates from the earth into the atmos- 

 phere. In a season of great drought, then, the at- 

 mosphere is charged with this vapor in a high degree, 

 just at the time when its influence is most needed. 



We see the reason, then, why loose, porous soils 

 stand a drought better than close, compact soils. 

 We see the reason also why stirring the earth, in a 

 drought, is so vastlj' advantageous. There are those 

 who are in the habit of stirring the earth, in a drought, 

 among theii" crops by ploughing and hoeing, when 

 not a weed is to be seen, on account of its highly 

 beneficial effect. 



That the atmosphere pervades the surface of the 

 earth, is a fact too obvious almost to need proof. Its 



