1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



401 



bodies of children, and renders them peculiarly 

 liable to be attacked by colds and coughs. A 

 child should have its feet well shod with socks 

 and boots, its body well wrapped in warm cloth- 

 ing, its head and ears securely protected from the 

 cold, and then let loose to play in the bracing 

 winter air. By this means its body will become 

 robust, and its spirits be kept bright and cheer- 

 ful ; whereas, if a child be shut up in the house, 

 it will become fretful and feverish, and perhaps 

 wind up with an attack of illness. The coroner's 

 inquests in London show that every week, in that 

 city, children are suffocated in bed, or under the 

 shawls of mothers. They die in consequence of 

 inhaling their own breath, which is a compound 

 of carbonic acid gas. They are, in fact, in the 

 Bame situation as a person who is locked up in a 

 room which is full of the fumes of charcoal. The 

 children are gradually overpowered by the delete- 

 rious atmosphere, and die without a struggle, it 

 being thought they were in a sound sleep. — Sci- 

 entific American. 



DISSOIiVINQ BONES. 



We are told from all quarters that bones which 

 arc by some means converted into a powder or 

 paste are excellent for nearly all the plants we 

 cultivate. The chemist tells us so, and gives us 

 the reason for his opinion ; while the observing 

 farmer, who has used them on his growing crops, 

 leaving a portion of them, side by side, without 

 the bone, assures us that the superior growth and 

 weight of seed where bone dust is applied, is too 

 obvious to leave any room for doubt. It is said, 

 also, that the animals fed upon herbage where 

 bone in some form is applied, are more healthy, 

 grow faster and yield larger products in milk, 

 butter and cheese, than on those farms that have 

 long been cropt without the use of bone. 



If such is the case, it is well' worth the atten- 

 tion of the farmer to save and secure all the bones 

 he can, and convert them into a fertilizer in one 

 form or another. If he but commences saving, 

 he will be surprised at the amount collected in 

 the course of the year, especially if he have an old 

 horse to compost during the time. In order to 

 make the saving certain, there must be a specific 

 vessel in which to deposit them, such as a barrel 

 or box of sufficient size, which should always 

 stand in some convenient place. When thus col- 

 lected, the question arises, how they may best be 

 reduced to the form of powder or paste, so that 

 they may be evenly applied to the soil. 



In former years we have given the modes prac- 

 ticed to dissolve bones by the use of sulphuric 

 acid, commonly called oil of vitriol. But as the 

 acid is high, and there is some danger of acci- 

 dents in its use, some other mode is preferable. 

 We have also given a mode of producing the de- 

 sired result by bedding the bones in horse ma- 

 nure— but. that process is a tedious one, and few, 

 we fear, will avail themselves of its use. 



In a recent number of the Country Oentleman, 

 a writer over the signature of "A. R. A.," intro- 

 duces a new mode which is at once simple and 

 cheap, and which, if effectual, is a valuable one. 

 It consists in "putting the bones through a pro- 

 cess of fermentation." We give it below as he 

 states it, intending to employ it on the bones we 

 have now collected, and will then state to the 

 reader the result — whether favorable or not. He 



"To a ton of crushed or ground bones, add two 

 to four cwt. of common salt, and enough of hot 

 water or urine or liquid manure of any kind to 

 wet or dampen thoroughly the whole mass ; mix 

 thoroughly, and then cover up the whole heap 

 with dried muck, charcoal dust, sawdust, sods, or 

 common soil. The heap will soon become warm 

 and ferment ; and after several weeks will be fit 

 for application in the same way, and in about the 

 same doses, as ordinary superphosphates or bones 

 dissolved by the agency of sulphuric acid. Of 

 bones thus prepared the North British Agricultur- 

 ist says : 'Bones fermented by adding liquid ma- 

 nure or hot water with a portion of salt, are ma- 

 nurially of about equal value, weight for weight, 

 with those treated by sulphuric acid.' As sul- 

 phuric acid is, at present, higher in price than 

 formerly, and as there is always liability to acci- 

 dents and injuries to both the clothing and the 

 body of persons handling this strong acid, the 

 process of dissolving by fermentation is at once 

 more safe and more economical than dissolving 

 by acid." 



SALT FOB THE THROAT. 



In these days when diseases of the throat are 

 so universally prevalent, and so many cases are 

 fatal, we feel it our duty to say a word in behalf 

 of a simple, and what has been with us a most ef- 

 fectual preventive, if not a positive cure, of 

 sore throat. For many years past, indeed, we 

 may say during the whole of a life of more than 

 forty years, we have been subject to sore throat, 

 and more particularly to a dry, hacking cough, 

 which was not only distressing to ourselves, but 

 to our friends and those with whom we were 

 brought into business contact. Last fall we were 

 induced to try what virtue there was in common 

 salt. We commenced by using it three times a 

 day, morning, noon and night. We dissolved 

 a large table-spoonful of pure table salt in about 

 half a tumbler full of cold water. With this we 

 gargled the throat most thoroughly just before 

 meal time. The result has been that during the 

 entire winter we were not only free from the usual 

 coughs and colds to which, as far as our memory 

 extends, we have always been subjec'td, but the 

 dry, hacking cough has entirely disappeared. We 

 attribute these satisfactory results solely to the 

 use of the salt gargle, and do most cordially re- 

 commend a trial of it to those of our readers who 

 are subject to diseases of the throat. 



Many persons who have never tried the salt 

 gargle, have the impression that it is unpleasant. 

 Such is not the case. On the contrary it is plea- 

 sant, and after a few days' use, no person who 

 loves a clean mouth, and a first-rate sharpener of 

 the appetite, will abandon it. — Far. and Oard. 



