No. 199.| 501 



"A good and industrious farmer has his barns full of grain, his 

 wine-cellar full of delicious wine, his olive oil, his dairy ; his whole 

 farm is full of riches — it abounds in cattle, pigs, goats and kids, sheep 

 and lambs, poultry of all kinds, full of milk and cheese and honey, 

 bacon and ham, and also' wild game. Amid his green fields he has 

 noble shade trees under which to recline in very hot weather, and 

 clear streams of water for bathing. He has arms for defence also in 

 his house 5 he plays ball, he swims, he runs foot races, has first-rate 

 horses, and when he is too old for such sports, he enjoys those of the 

 young." 



Mildew. — Mr. Meigs read extracts from several writers on the sub- 

 ect of mildew. These agree that what is generally called mildew, 

 is owing to excess of moisture and want of ventilation. That a hot 

 sun after a heavy rain, is apt to produce it ; that covewng the earth 

 under the gooseberry bush with hay or straw, (some say salt hay,) 

 prevents a mildew. That when wheat is struck by mildew it is call- 

 ed blight or rust. This is most fatal when it appears at the time the 

 grain is forming in the ear. If it appears at an earlier period, the 

 product of the plant will be lessened, yet with fair circumstances af 

 terwards, there may be good grain and a middling crop ; and mildew 

 is apt to be followed by insects, to whom some have attributed the 

 disease. Mildew is unknown in dry weather. The London Horticul- 

 tural Annual of 1847, recommends dusting mildewed plants with 

 flour of sulphur. 



Miller says that in England the east wind is dry, which stops the 

 pores of the plants and prevents perspiration, whereby the juices of 

 the plant are concreted upon the surface of the leaves. It is natural- 

 ly very tough and viscous, and by the heat of the sun becomes more 

 BO. The young ears of wheat daubed over with it cannot^obtain their 

 proper growth. In the morning before sunrise, let men stretching 

 cords between them, drag over the wheat ears to dislodge the dew, &c. 



Sagar says that the naked feet of farmers are made sore by the 

 dcrid property of mildew, and that when swallowed it attacks the 

 titomach, produces pimples on the tongue, loss of appetite, desiccation 



