518 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



CijUndrical Meat Masher. It is intended for 

 mashing beef-steak, instead of pounding it, and 

 by the noise driving every body out of the house, 

 and it is said makes the toughest equal to the 

 most tender. It certainly promises to do much 

 toward it. We have strong hopes, now, of eat- 

 ing a tender beef-steak. 



A Patent Tree-Cutting or Felling Machine, by 

 Col. Hamilton, of N. H., attracted much atten- 

 tion. It can be used to saw a tree down, and 

 saw it into blocks after it is down. It is simple 

 and effective. We saw it take a tree off at the 

 butt with great facility by a single man-power ! 



A NEW SEDATIVE. 



The Journal de Chimie Medicale contains the 

 following remarkable account of the discovery of 

 a powerful sedative in cases of neuralgia by Dr. 

 Field : Some time ago that gentleman was in- 

 duced by a homoeopath to put two drops of a so- 

 lution, supposed to be diluted to the first degree, 

 on his tongue, in order to try its effect. After 

 the lapse of about three minutes, he felt a sensa- 

 tion of constriction at the base of the neck, then 

 violent singing in the ear, while his forehead be- 

 came covered with abundant perspiration. He 

 then was seized with uncontrolable fits of yawn- 

 ing, and remained senseless for several minutes ; 

 his head fell back, his lower jaw sank down pow- 

 erless, he became extremely pale, and for two 

 minutes his pulse was silent. The homoeopath, 

 perceiving these symptoms, was terrified, think- 

 ing he had unconsciously committed a murder. 

 Stimulants, however, brought Dr. Field to con- 

 sciousness again, but he continued to feel a head- 

 ache for half an hour after, with a sensation of 

 pressure at the epigastrium and general weakness. 

 These symptoms disappeared in the course of tliat 

 time. It M'as evident that the substance employed 

 was a powerful poison, and that it had not been 

 sufficiently diluted ; and it turned out to be ni- 

 trate of oxide of glycile, a substance obtained by 

 treating glycerine at a low temperature with sul- 

 phuric of nitric acid. One drop, mixed with 99 

 drops of spirits of wine, constitutes the first dilu- 

 tion. Dr. Field was immediately struck with the 

 idea that he had experienced the effects of what 

 in a much weaker dose, must be a useful sedative 

 of the nervous system ; while the homiieopath was 

 oveijoyed at having discovered what he conceived 

 to be a powerful remedy for apoplexy. After va- 

 rious trials upon animals, Dr. Field at length re- 

 solved to test this new remedy on patients. He 

 did so first on a lady 68 years of age, who had 

 long been suffering from neuralgia, which re- 

 turned at intervals of three hours, and had resist- 

 ed every remedy known, such as ammonia, asa- 

 fcetida, chloroform, &c. The fourth part of a drop 

 of the above solution being administered, she was 

 at once relieved ; but some of the symptoms ex- 

 perienced by Dr. Field being felt by her also, she 

 discontinued the remedy, but her sufferings soon 

 obliged her to have recourse to it again, and she 

 was completely cured. It has since been tried in 

 cases of headache and dental neuralgia with equal 

 success. — Go.Ugnani's Messenger. 



ROTATION OF CROPS. 



There seems to be a feeling more or less prev- 

 alent among farmers, even among the readers of 

 agricultural papers, that those who write upon 

 "Rotation of Crops," "Improved Stock," "Drain- 

 age," "Manufacturing Manures," "System in 

 Farming," and similar topics, belong generally to 

 that class known as "fancy farmers," or as "city 

 folks who farm for amusement, without regard to 

 the cost." We propose, therefore, to vacate the 

 editorial chair for the time being, and allow an 

 individual of the "practical" class, one who "has 

 made a fortune at farming, or a considerable por- 

 tion of one, and who has the ability to tell how it 

 was done," to use our editorial pen. He insists 

 on using the big "I," but as he is a Scotchman, 

 and promises to introduce himself, this little bit 

 of independence will be excused. It may be prop- 

 er for us to say that he comes to us with recom- 

 mendations from the Secretary of the Canadian 

 Board of Agriculture. It will be noticed that our 

 favorite crop, Indian corn, has no place in the ro- 

 tation of our Canadian friends. Its introduction, 

 or any other improvement on his system, we leave 

 to the good judgment of each one of our readers ; 

 believing that some will be glad to know how a 

 poor man has improved a poor farm, and made 

 money by the process. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



I cam^e to the country thirty years ago, and 

 burdened with a debt of .'^200 ; I leased a worn- 

 out farm in Lower Canada of eighty-four acres, in 

 the midst of a French population, and at an an- 

 nual rent of $225. Well, in the space of 21 years, 

 I have paid my original debt, and saved enough 

 to enable me to purchase in the neighborhood a 

 much better farm than the one I rented. The 

 owner of the farm which I bought, was going on 

 every year from bad to worse, until he was forced 

 to sell it, whilst I, the tenant of a less productive 

 farm, and paying rent all the while, was enabled 

 to buy him out, as just said. What was the rea- 

 son of this anomaly ? The Canadian was strong- 

 er than I was, had equally good health, and no 

 rent to pay. The reason was that he had no sys- 

 tem ; he let his land become exhausted and full 

 of weeds ; he let his stock starve ; he wasted his 

 manure, the gold of the farmer, and let everything 

 go on to ruin for want of method ; but when I 

 had got hold of this same farm, and had applied 

 the system which I am about to describe, the 

 whole was brought gradually, field by field, into 

 good condition by the end of six years ; since 

 then, the condition of the land has steadily im- 

 proved, and that by resources drawn wholly from 

 within itself The system to which I allude is 

 knov/n to all good farmers everywhere as the ba- 

 sis of all improvement : I mean that of 



A ROTATION OF CROPS. 



There are two sorts of reasons in favor of a ro- 

 tation of crops. 



1st. Because different plants draw from the 

 soil different sorts of food, so that one plant will 



