450 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



The Doctor died some two years ago. The son 

 is filling his place as rapidly as possible in the 

 department of scientific inquiry. — Ed.] I was 

 particularly struck by the beautiful, brilliant col- 

 orings of those stranger worms, having never 

 seen their like before — at that time. I came to 

 the conclusion it was the ofi'spring of the crusta- 

 ceous insect here described. 



That much mischief may arise from imported 

 seed, and that caution should be used before put- 

 ting it into the ground, must be evident to all 

 concerned. How is it possible that a wheat field 

 should be infested with weevil the first year of 

 its being sowed, and perhaps the first ever put on 

 the farm, unless it should be brought in the grain ? 

 Will some of your scientific readers, east or west, 

 enlighten the farmer on this subject of weevil — as 

 Mr. Fowler proposes to do on the habits of the 

 army worm? We look anxiously for his commu- 

 nications. H. Poor. 



For the New England Parmer. 



LETTER PKOM THE HOMESTEAD. 

 BY JUDGE FRENCH. 



Chester, N. H., Aug. 13, 1861. 

 My Dear Brown: — A rainy day in the coun- 

 try, in summer, is a useful institution, not only 

 because it helps on the potato crop and fall feed, 

 but because it gives us, who have run away from 

 the city for a few weeks, and do not mean to do 

 much but play till we return, an opportunity to 

 collect our scattered thoughts, and note down our 

 observations of things about us. My play, this 

 vacation, is very much like what some people 

 would call work, but it answers my purpose for 

 recreation much better than hanging round fash- 

 ionable watering places. I am engaged in what 

 every farmer must try his hand at sooner or later, 



REPAIRING OLD BUILDINGS. 



And let me advise every man, especially in the 

 country, to teach his boys the use of carpenters' 

 tools. A work-shop, with a bench and a variety 

 of good tools, is a necessity on a farm, and a 

 comfort and economical arrangement, at any 

 home. 



The old homestead has many monuments of 

 our handiwork about it ; and in that word our, 

 with myself, I include of course, yourself and my 

 two brothers. The well-house and fixtures by 

 which, with a stone at one end and the "iron- 

 bound bucket" at the other, of a rope running 

 over a wheel, we draw up water that is cool and 

 fresh, and not poisoned with lead nor tainted 

 with dead fish — that was, I think, our joint pro- 

 duction. I have an impression that you and 

 brother Edmund did most of the hard work, ex- 

 cept the shingling and splicing the rope, in which 

 we allowed the Major to think he excelled, while 

 I did the general superintending ! My opinion is 

 that it is the best way ever yet invented for draw- 

 ing water to drink. As I was about to say, they 



who know how to use tools, keep their houses in 

 order. Their doors do not catch at top or bot- 

 tom, so as to require a kick to open them, their 

 gates are not off the hinges, their wives do not 

 scold because the pump runs down, or the han- 

 dle comes off of the coffee-mill; in short, they 

 know how to "put things to rights" and keep 

 them 80. 



ABOUT SHINGLING. 



Experience is the best teacher, we are told, 

 and in repairing the homestead, the past is talk- 

 ing with us always. We, the carpenter and I, 

 were on the roof yesterday stopping the leaks. 

 How long will shingles last ? These were clear 

 heart pine rift shingles, well laid, on a flat hipped 

 roof, first covered with tarred paper. They 

 were laid in 1844, and with a little patching will 

 last out the twenty years. But heart-shingles 

 are getting scarce, and hereabouts people use 

 sawed sap shingles, first dipped in lime white- 

 wash. After they are laid they are whitewashed 

 once in three or four years, and thus it is thought 

 they will be durable. Our next neighbor here has 

 shown me a roof shingled twelve years ago. A 

 part covered with whitewashed shingles is good 

 yet, while the rest, covered with the same shingles 

 without the lime, has rotted out. Chestnut was 

 used for shingles a good deal, a few years ago. It 

 will never decay, but warps so much by the heat 

 as to look badly and loosen the nails. At Bos- 

 ton, the comparative cost of the best slating and 

 shingling is about as three to two, or say $7,50 

 per hundred square feet of slating, and $5 per 

 hundred of shingling. All things considered, a 

 slated roof is cheaper, more secure against fire 

 and water, and far handsomer. 



ABOUT TIMBER. 



We have examined the timbers in the cellar, 

 and can report what experience tells this genera- 

 tion about the preservation of timber. The house 

 has stood sixty years. Part of the bottom tim- 

 bers were old timber, sixty years ago. The house 

 was built on an old cellar, in part, and many of 

 the floorings have the marks of the mortises and 

 halvings of the old frame of which they were 

 part. The white oak and chestnut sills are sound 

 yet, and, indeed, so are those of pine, except in 

 one dark corner where vegetables were always 

 kept, and there was no ventilation. There the 

 floorings had rotted away so that we replaced 

 them years ago. 



To make your house endure, place it on a stone 

 foundation, so that no earth will ever touch the 

 woodwork, and keep the cellar well ventilated. 

 In that way, good white pine timber will last 

 longer than the builder. 



As to what is between roof and sill, or more 

 poetically speaking, "turret and foundation 



