354 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



good ; the Wood is made by Walter A. Wood, 

 Hoosick Falls, N. Y., and sold in this city by 

 Nourse & Co. Any inquiries about either of 

 these machines can be addressed to these parties 

 respectively. 



GIVE YOUB HORSES ilGHT AND AIR. 



History informs us that a certain emperor loved 

 a favorite horse so much that he had a golden 

 manger made for him. This extravagance ap- 

 pears unpardonable in the estimation of many, 

 now-a-days, and yet it is more pardonable than 

 the opposite extreme — meanness in the treatment 

 of the horse. In looking at the construction of a 

 very large proportion of our horse-stables, I am 

 sometimes led to think that the object of the 

 builder must have been to see how widely he could 

 depart from every principle of humanity and ex- 

 pediency — humanity in compelling a patient and 

 faithful animal to remain penned up in a close, 

 dark and filthy apartment — expediency in thus 

 sacrificing not only the comfort, but the health, 

 and consequently the usefulness and value of the 

 animal. 



Light is indispensable to the plant and to the 

 man, — is it less so to the horse .►* If it is, why ? 

 When the tyrants of the old countries sought to 

 inflict their most fearful punishments, next to 

 death, confinement in a dark cell was considered 

 the most severe. Is it reasonable that the horse 

 — whose native home is in the desert and wilder- 

 ness, where there is nothing to obstruct the free 

 light of heaven — is it reasonable, I ask, that he 

 should not suffer from confinement in our gener- 

 ally dark and gloomy stables ? Is it not a shame, 

 in a land like ours, where glass enough for a mod- 

 erate sized window can be had for fifty cents, that 

 a valuable horse should be shut up day after day 

 in a dark stall or stable ? Let every horse own- 

 er's heart, if he has one, answer ! 



Is foul air wholesome for plants ? Certainly 

 not. Is it wholesome for men ? Most emphati- 

 cally, no ! If not wholesome for plants or men, 

 can it be for horses ? The answer is as emphat- 

 ically, no ! 



Why then are the majority of our stables con- 

 structed without the slightest regard to that most 

 important feature, ventilation ? In thousands of 

 cases, an animal, than which none other loves the 

 fresh air better, is doomed to confinement for days 

 and nights at a time, in a stable, the atmosphere 

 of which is so foul that a man would die in it. 

 How many of the diseases to which our horses 

 are subject, may be traced to this unpardonable 

 error ? I say unpardonable, for no man possessed 

 of either common sense or common humanity 

 would thus punish one of his best and most faith- 

 ful friends — the horse. 



A word in conclusion. Farmers ! if you 

 would have healthy, lively, serviceable horses, 

 give them plenty of light. God will supply it, if 

 you will only furnish the means whereby it can 

 be made to reach your stables. 



Look to the ventilation of your stables, if you 

 would not have prematurely old and worn out 

 horses. Depend upon it, plenty of light, and 

 plenty of fresh air in your stables, will save you 

 many a dollar in the course of a life-time. — Cor. 

 Farmer and Gardener, 



For the New England Farmer. 



A WASH FOR "WALLS AND ROOFS OF 

 BUILDINGS. 



I noticed in your issue of June 1, 1861, a state- 

 ment in regard to a wash fur the walls and roofs 

 of buildings, said to render them incombustible, 

 and much more durable. Through your kind- 

 ness, Mr. Editor, or some of your correspondents, 

 I should like to know to what an extent, and how 

 long it has been tried, and its merits proved. The 

 cost does not appear to be great, and if it is real- 

 ly what it is recommended to be, it would proba- 

 bly be used to some extent, in place of oil paint ; 

 but if otherwise, it would not be policy to use it, 

 excepting in cases where common whitewash 

 would be used. 



A cheap and durable wash or paint for build- 

 ings, especially among farmers, is an object much 

 to be desired, and your paper seems to be the 

 medium for making all useful hints known to the 

 public. I would also inquire, 



1. Whether this wash should be applied cold 

 or warm, and could not a common whitewash 

 brush be used ? 



2. Could a light coat of oil paint be laid over 

 a surface covered with it, and would it add to its 

 durability to do so ? 



3. Does it make any difference in regard to the 

 coloring matter used, whether white lead or zinc, 

 or the darker paints in common use ? and, of 

 course, I suppose it would last longer on unplaned 

 work, than that which had been planed. Please 

 give the necessary information as soon as con- 

 venient, and oblige, M. A. Thompson. 



Swanzey, N. H., June 15, 1861. 



Remarks. — The "wash" spoken of above was 

 suggested to us by a gentleman who gives much 

 attention to such things, and who speaks of it 

 with certainty. We intend to make and use it, 

 as it strongly commended itself by the use of the 

 ingredients that go to make it up. We hope the 

 gentleman who communicated the matter to us, 

 or any other person acquainted with it, will speak 

 of it. 



THE BAMBOO. 



This plant may well be called useful, for it is 

 applied -by the Chinese to such a vast variety of 

 purposes, (some of them indeed better accom- 

 plished elsewhere by different materials,) that it 

 may justly be called their national plant. It is 

 reared from shoots and suckers, but after it has 

 once rooted, is not much attended to. The com- 

 mon yellow species extends over all the southern 

 and eastern provinces, but the varieties men- 

 tioned by Chinese writers amount to sixty, of 

 which the black-skinned sort, used in making fur- 

 niture, and the low, fine-branched one, affording 

 the slender twigs employed in the manufacture 

 of writing pencils, are the best known. The ten- 

 der shoots are cultivated for food, and are, when 

 four or five inches high, boiled, pickled and 

 comfited ; but not "the tender buds and flowers, 

 cut like asparagus," as represented by Murray. 

 The roots are carved into fantastic images of 

 men, birds, monkeys, or monstrous perversions 

 of animated nature, cut into lantern-handles and 



