494 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



looks upon the farmer's profession as a business 

 of the greatest importance to mankind — as all 

 truly noble and intelligent minds have ever re- 

 garded it since the creation of man. 



South Oroton, 1861. S. L. White. 



FREQUENCY AND TIMES OF EATING. 



Systematic recurrence is the order of nature, 

 observed everywhere, alike in the timing of melo- 

 dious sounds, the rhythmic beats of the heart, 

 the measured respirations, the coming and going 

 of light, the ocean's ebb and flow, seasonal revo- 

 lutions, and ])lanetary periodicities. The arrange- 

 ment of regular times for meals harmonizes, 

 therefore, with the universal policy of nature, and 

 is, moreover, of the highest social convenience. 

 Yet it is impossible to subject all to the same 

 regulations of time. ])r. Combe remarks — 



"The grand rule in fixing the number and pe- 

 riods of our meals, is to proportion them to the 

 real wants of the system, as modified by age, sex, 

 health and manner of life, and as indicated by the 

 true returns of appetite." 



As the blood is usually most impoverished after 

 the eight or ten hours' fast of the night, break- 

 fast should be early. The stomach is usually va- 

 cated of its nutritive contents in about four hours 

 after eating, but it may be an hour or two later 

 before t'le blood begins to call upon it for a re- 

 newed supply. Persons engaged in active labor, 

 in which bodily expenditure is rapid, of course 

 require to eat more often than the indolent and 

 sedentary; and children need nourishment oftener 

 than adults. But too long abstinence, especially 

 if the digestive power be not strong, sharpens 

 the appetite, so that there arises danger of exces- 

 sive eating. 



Some avoid luncheon for fear of "spoiling the 

 dinner," whereas the thing they most need is to 

 have it spoiled. Where the intervals between the 

 meals are so long as to produce pressing hunger, 

 something should be taken between them to stay 

 the appetite and prevent over-eating. Late and 

 hearty suppers are to be reprobated. Active di- 

 gestion and sleep mutually disturb each other, as 

 at night the exhalation of carbonic gas is slowest, 

 a!id tissue changes most retarded, the overloaded 

 blood is not relieved, and invades the repose of 

 the brain, jiroducing heavy, disordered dreams 

 and nightmare, followed by headache and ill- 

 humor in the morning. 



Still there is the opposite extreme, of sitting 

 up late, and going to bed wearied, hungry, and 

 with an "indefinable sense of sinking," followed 

 by restless, unrefreshing sleep. A little light 

 nourishment in such cases may prevent these un- 

 pleasant effects. 



Custom has fixed the daily number of meals at 

 from three to five ; probably three is the smallest 

 number that consists with well-sustained vigor 

 of the system ; four or five may be unobjection- 

 able, the amount of nourishment taken each time 

 being less. The essential thing is, regularity in 

 each case, in order that the digestive glands may 

 have time to prepare their secretions. 



We should not take our meals when tired out, 

 or much fatigued. The stomach participates with 

 the other parts of the system in the exhaustion, 

 and is thus unfitted for the performance of its 

 proper and active duties. If there has been se- 



vere exercise, either of body or mind, a short in- 

 terval should be allowed for repose, or half an 

 hour may be appropriated to any light occupation, 

 such as dressing before sitting down to dinner. 



It is questionable if much exercise before break- 

 fast be generally proper. When -we rise in the 

 morning the system has passed the longest inter- 

 val without food, and is at the lowest point of 

 weakness from want of nourishment. It is well 

 understood that the body is more susceptible to 

 the morbid influence of colds, miasms and all 

 noxious agencies, in the morning before eating, 

 than at any other time, and those exposed to the 

 open air before getting anything to eat, in aguish 

 regions, are infinitely more liable to be effected 

 than those who have been fortified by a comfort- 

 able breakfast. Cases may be quoted, undoubted- 

 ly, in which early exercise has produced no in- 

 jurious results — perhaps even the contrary. Yet 

 in most instances, especially if the constitution 

 be not strong, breakfast should follow shortly 

 after rising and dressing, before serious tasks are 

 attempted. Dr. Combe justly observes, that "in 

 boarding-schools for the young and growing, who 

 require plenty of substance, and are often obliged 

 to rise early, an early breakfast is almost an 

 indispensable condition of health." — Household 

 Science. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MA-NCTRING "WITH GHEEN CROPS. 



Mr. Editor : — Your editorial article for Sep- 

 tember, contains the following paragraph : 



"The great problem to be solved is, not how to 

 produce large crops, but how to produce crops 

 with the most profit ; in other words, how to ])ro- 

 duce remunerating harvests without abstracting 

 from the soil all the fertilizing particles which 

 constitute its fertility and strength." 



Every one must agree with you here ; it is 

 truly the great problem : but farmers do not seem 

 to be very successful in solving it. Almost all 

 over the country, except in the vicinity of cities, 

 the soil is constantly deteriorating, by its products 

 being sent to market in some form or other, and 

 a great proportion of the resulting manure goes 

 into the ocean, or is otherwise wasted. Another 

 great drain upon the soil is made by the exporta- 

 tion of such vast quantities of grain to foreign 

 lands. 



Even here, in these New England States, we 

 are exhausting our lands by raising grain, hay, 

 tobacco, potatoes, hops, milk, &c., for the market, 

 some of which most farmers must sell in order to 

 obtain the needed cash. Milk-raisers, (like the 

 writer.) are selling some of the most valuable 

 constituents of the soil for a mere pittance. 



Agricultural writers have long declaimed 

 against this evil, and urged that the products of 

 the soil be turned into meat and butter, instead 

 of being sold ; but this is already done to a larger 

 extent than is profitable, and bread the world 

 must have as well as meat, and of course some 

 portion of the country must furnish it. 



I can see but one course of enabling the soil to 

 sustain this constant drain, and that is, the turn- 

 ing in of green crops. We are told that, in many 

 places, worn out and poor soils have, by this 

 means alone, been rendered productive, and in 



