NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



237 



Cleanliness preventive op Choleua. — Personal 

 cleanliness is a orcat preventive of disease p;cnerally ; 

 but in the cholera pestilence, it is even more essential 

 than local cleanliness, if we woixld escape the scourge. 

 It is not our intention to intimate that personal 

 cleanliness is a general vice, in this or any other 

 community of our country ; but we believe it is not 

 denied that the Americans, as a peoi)le, are subject 

 to hydrophobia in an eminent degree — have a 

 gi'eat horror of water, in its external application to 

 the body. The rich and well-to-do in the world 

 do not even indulge in the bath as freely as the same 

 classes in other countries ; and the experience of 

 foreign-born physicians amongst us will bear testi- 

 mony to the fact, that they find diseases prevalent 

 among the wealthy which arise wholly from habits 

 engendered by the neglect of bodily ablutions. If 

 such be the result among those who have the means 

 to prevent it, it is not to be presumed that any better 

 state of things in this respect exists among the toil- 

 ing thousands, intent alone upon procuring the sub- 

 sistence of life. Every person should, at least once 

 a day, wash the entire body. The practice will 

 make manifest an improvement in the general health, 

 both bodily and mentally. Braced muscles, invig- 

 orated nerves, a quieted brain, and a cheerful tem- 

 per, invariably follow bathing once in twenty-four 

 hours. A body and mind so prepared could encoun- 

 ter the cholera pestilence without fear of danger. 

 Clean clothing is a certain sequence of daily bathing. 

 No man, woman, or child, who is in the habit of 

 daily ablutions, can tolerate for a moment any other 

 but clean wearing apparel. The habit of bathing 

 begets a feeling of hostility to uncleanliness in every 

 form. The great obstacle to daily bathing, in the 

 minds of most people, is the trouble of it ; but we 

 would remind the reader, that nothing, which is 

 worthy of having, can be had without trouble. A 

 half hour spent once a day in washing the body, 

 would save many daily hours of prostration on a 

 sick bed ; besides, the indulgence in the practice 

 will soon beget a love of it, and wliere men come to 

 love to do a thing, it is always very easy, and is al- 

 most sure to be done. The argument in favor of 

 personal cleanliness is unanswerable at all times, 

 but more especially at the present time, because it is 

 a powerful means of disarming the dreaded cholera 

 of one half its influence and effects. It is never too 

 late to begin a good work, especially when the enemy 

 is at the door. — Wojih. Nat. Whiff'. 



ilTecl)amcs' IBcpartmcnt, :irts, ^c. 



The Time to cut Timber. — It has been the cus- 

 tom, in Vermont, for those who own timber to cvit it 

 in winter, without regard to the use to which it is to 

 be put ; but having so often seen posts, and rails of 

 fences, as well as the timber in carriages, i-endered 

 utterly v>orthless by being worm-eaten, I have been 

 led to inquire if the season at which it was felled, 

 produced any effect. 



It is well known that the bark cannot be stripped 

 off, only at the time that the leaves are growing, and 

 I think observation has universally estabUshed the 

 fact, that timber stripped of its bark, and seasoned 

 quickly, so as to prevent fermentation, is much more 

 durable, strong, and less liable to become worm- 

 eaten, than that from which the bark has not been 

 removed. M. Euffon, the naturalist, presented a 

 memorial to the Koyal Academy of Sciences, at 

 Paris, in 1738, entitled " An easy method of increas- 

 ing the strength, solidity, and durability of timber," 



in which he saj's : " Nothing more is necessary, 

 than to strip the tree entirely of its bark during the 

 season of the flow of the sap, and leave it to dry 

 before it is cut down." I do not suppose there is 

 anj- advantage to be derived from the tree remaining 

 staiuling ; in fact, my own observation is in favor of 

 cutting thein down at once, so as to prevent their 

 receiving moisture through the live roots. We all 

 know how tough the twigs and shoots of the willow 

 {s(dix viminaUs) arc when woven into baskets, as 

 well as how extremely brittle when they have lain a 

 few months, after being cut, with the bark on. There 

 is an equal diflerence with the alder, white birch, 

 poplar, as well as others. 



If any man doubts, in regard to the proper time 

 for felling timber, to render it most durable, let him 

 try an experiment for himself in this way. Let him, 

 the present season, cut a tree of the several kinds 

 he is accustomed to use, at such times as the bark 

 can be removed, and from a part let the bark be 

 taken, on another part let the bark remain. In the 

 autumn, and in the winter, let him cut still others, 

 and let them be alike exposed, and a very few trials 

 will enable him fully to determine the matter, and 

 the information thus acquired will amply repay him 

 for the trouble ; or, if he wishes to determine more 

 quickly, let him choose a small branch of each kind 

 of tree, and use them for the experiment, bearing in 

 mind that a branch too small may become dried iii 

 spite of its covering of bark. C. 



Waterbuuy, Vt., 18i9. 

 — Phikidelphia Dollar Newspaper, 



"By means of a chemical discovery recently made, 

 it is said that oil of turpentine can be freed from its 

 peculiar smell so completely that not only is it 

 rendered inodorous, but it can be impregnated with 

 any desired perfume, without deteriorating its use- 

 ful proi^erties. 



PERMANENT IMPROVEMENT OF CLAY 

 SOILS. 



Clay^ soils are distinguished by their adhesiveness. 

 They stick to the feet when damp, they imbibe 

 moisture slowly, but do not transmit it freely for the 

 use of plants ; and when strong clay soils are brought 

 quickly from a wet to a dry state, they a]3proach to 

 the state of bricks previous to their being burned. 

 Clay soils are tilled with difficulty when too dry, 

 and when too wet, this operation has the same effect 

 as the tempering of clay has in the art of brick- 

 niaking. 



The tillage of such land in a proper state is there- 

 fore of the greatest importance, and this is best per- 

 formed when it is neither too wet nor too dry. 



Poor, thin clays, upon a retentive subsoi', are the 

 most unprofitable ; the expense of their cultivation, 

 under the present system, is great, being frequently 

 equal to the value of the produce, and sometimes far 

 above it. Their natural produce is coarse grass of 

 very little value, tit only for young beasts. 



Clay soils are best calculated for the production of 

 plants that have fibrous roots, particularly wheat, 

 beans, oats, vetches, clover, cabbage, grass, &c. 



While the light, sandy soils have been greatly im- 

 proved by the adoption of a new system of culture, 

 the poor clays remain in the same state they were in 

 a century ago, without any increase to their produc- 

 tiveness ; indeed, they are rather in a worse state 

 than formerly. It is' therefore supposed by some 

 agriculturists, that, as there have been no improve- 

 ments in the clay soils, while there has been so great an 

 increase in the productiveness of sandy soils, that the 



