1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FAPtlVlER. 



277 



provement to them, one which they will feel for 

 ages, making them more adhesive, retentive of 

 manures, and making them more capable of re- 

 ceiving and retaining the most important atmo- 

 spheric influences. When the mechanical texture 

 of sandy loams is improved in this way, and they 

 are once made rich by manure and careful culture, 

 they become the most pi'olific and easiest culti- 

 vated lands we have. 



WARMING OUR DWELLINGS. 



Will some of your readers inform me which is 

 the best method for heating a dwelling-house, as 

 regards the cost of fixtures and fuel, and the more 

 important matter of health ? I am aware that the 

 common method is to introduce a furnace, if a 

 number of rooms are required to be heated. I 

 understand some are introducing steam to warm 

 with, and I wish to make inquiry in regard to its 

 advantages or disadvantages ; first, in regard to 

 its being healthy. Second, how much it costs to 

 get the apparatus put in working order for five or 

 six rooms ? Does it require more or less fuel 

 and attention than the furnace, and are there any 

 advantages derived other than warming the 

 rooms ? / Subscriber. 



Medford, Mass., 1860. 



Remarks. — We believe the use of steam for 

 warming our dwellings is, in every way, prefera- 

 ble to the use of stoves or furnaces, — such as 

 health, economy, safety, and these include every- 

 thing, we believe. The first cost of the steam fix- 

 tures is much larger than the cost of a furnace, 

 but the consumption of fuel, and the current ex- 

 pense for repairs, much less. So far as health is 

 concerned, the two modes of heating admit of no 

 comparison, as in the case of steam the air is not 

 vitiated in the slightest degree by the heat, while 

 nearly all the heated air in the use of a furnace 

 has been in contact with red hot iron ! As re- 

 gards safety, there is scarcely more room for com- 

 parison than in the case of health. In our mode 

 of heating by steam there is no possibility of ex- 

 plosion, or of setting the house on fire. For fur- 

 ther information call upon Messrs. Braman, Per- 

 ham & Co., 8 Charlestown Street, Boston. 



INCREASING MANURE ON A RENTED FARM. 



I wish to propose an inquiry for some one or 

 more of your correspondents to answer, viz.: Will 

 it pay for any man who lives on a farm, not his 

 own, but has only one-half the product of the 

 farm on which he lives, to try to increase the 

 quantity of home manufactui'ed manure from 110 

 loads per annum, as heretofore, to 220 per annum ? 

 The opinion of some of our good farmers will 

 much oblige an Inquirer. 



East Concord, N. K, 1860. 



SOUTH DOWN SHEEP. 



Will you have the kindness to inform me 

 through the Farmer, where I can get a South i 

 Down buck and one or more ewe lambs, and at 1 



what price ? I should like to get them about four 

 months old, or after they have been weaned, 

 which, I suppose, will bo about August. Which 

 is the largest breed of sheep, and where are they 

 to be had, and at what price ? A SUBSCRIBER. 

 April 2, 1860. 



IlE>Li,RKS. — Those wanting a customer will 

 please reply. 



CHERRY CURRANT, 



AVill you inform me where I can obtain cuttings 

 or roots of the cherry currant, and also the price 

 of the same ? c. w. s, 



Cornish, N. H. 



Remarks. — Probably of any of the nursery- 

 men who advertise in the Farmer. 



WASH FOR APPLE TREE BORERS. 



Is there any wash that will destroy the egg by 

 which the apple tree borer is propagated ? 

 Orange, Mass., 1S60. Subscriber. 



Re^iarks. — We know of none. 



BEE FEED. 



Two-thirds rye meal, one-third buckwheat flour, 

 to be fed in the months of March and April, fed 

 in pans or shallow boxes a short distance from the 

 hive. I. s. c. 



Manchester, Mass., 1860. 



For the New England Farmer. 



A PEEVENTIVE AGAINST THE CATTLE 

 DISEASE. 



Inoculate an animal of the swine, mule or horse 

 kind with the cattle disease. I should prefer the 

 latter. After it has come to maturity in the above 

 swine, mule or horse, inoculate from either of 

 them a creature of the herd kind. Be careful to 

 take one that has always been in every respect 

 free from the disease. When this last inoculation 

 has come to full maturity, and has proved satis- 

 factory, I think there can be no risk in inoculat- 

 ing from this last animal as fast as the infection 

 can be obtained from it. The disease will then 

 bo half-blooded. 



The public may demand some evidence of the 

 utility of the above experiment. I would offer 

 the following. It is Avcll known that the small 

 pox by passing through tlie constitution of the 

 cow and its milker, is by the laws of nature dis- 

 armed of its malignity, so that it then passes 

 through the constitution of man witli the gi'catest 

 ease and safety. Now I do not know why the 

 malignity of the cattle disease should not be de- 

 stroyed by passing it through the constitution of 

 the mule or horse, and then through the before- 

 mentioned herd kind. 



If I am not mistaken, all that is needed to de- 

 stroy the malignity of this disease, is to pass it 

 through the constitution of two or three different 

 species of animals, as those of the swine, horse, 

 and one of the herd kind. If it be passed through 

 three species of animals, it will lose seven-eighths 

 of its virulence. Paul Pilsbury. 



Georgetown, Mass., April, 1860. 



