32 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



For the New England Fanner. 



IMPORTANT THIK-QS TO E:]SrO"W ABOUT 

 BUILDING. 



One of the faults of our New England people is 

 their great haste. No sooner is a thing conceived, 

 than it is produced. This is commendable in part, 

 and will do in some directions, but not in all. 



We astonish the eyes and senses of an English- 

 man, A\ho may chance to call at some New Eng- 

 land village, when we show him round and tell him 

 that two years ago, there was not a building in 

 this jilace, except that old mill you see down yon- 

 der. We shall be amused as well as instructed 

 by his complimentary reply, which we shall per- 

 ceive is meant more for himself than for us. Af- 

 ter stretching himself up into a very significant 

 attitude, he says, "Well, you are a very fast peo- 

 ple ; you grow up wonderful quick. But Ave don't 

 do things after this sort in Hold Hingland. Our 

 cities are not built up in one year. Neither will 

 you see them come tumbling down the next." 



It is true that many of our New England villa- 

 ges grow up like muskrooms, and are not much 

 more durable. Some men pretend that they are 

 doing a wonderful good thing for the poor people, 

 when they go into a place and stick up a cluster 

 of slash houses, and offer great inducements for 

 people of small means to purchase a new house, 

 very cheap, and make for themselves a nice little 

 home. And by fair speeches and a little putty, 

 many poor fellows are seduced into their clap-trap. 

 They buy a cheap house, pay down some two hun- 

 dred dollars, (all the house cost, very likely,) give 

 a mortgage to the builder for the balance, which, 

 of course, "may lie as long as you wish ;" but be- 

 fore another sun has set, that nice little mortgage 

 has slipped into the hands of a certain money- 

 changer, at some twenty-five or fifty per cent, dis- 

 count, and the builder has pocketed a smart profit, 

 and gone home to smoke his cigar. The poor 

 man, with his cheap house, soon begins to learn, 

 by every gust of Avind and every shoAver of rain, 

 hoAV badly he has been cheated, and in a few years 

 his nice little house is Avorthless. The result of 

 the Avhole operation is this : The builder made a 

 little money, created a nuisance, and made people 

 poorer. My advice is, never buy a slash built 

 house, no sooner than you Avould an English shod- 

 dy blanket. 



But, Mr. Editor, this is not A\'hat I Avas going 

 to say. Mr. Harney, of Lynn, has contributed 

 draAvings of some very elegant looking mansions 

 and cottages. They look inviting enough to give 

 most any one a longing to possess one ; yet they 

 are lacking in many of the most essential conve- 

 niences tliat a farm-house needs. To make a dAvell- 

 ing delightful and pleasing, Ave must unite conve- 

 nience Avith style and beauty, or they may prove 

 to be like Jefferson's Avind saAV-mill on the hill. 

 Having had considerable experience in building, I 

 Avill state Avhat I deem of great importance in the 

 materials for building. All the lumber should be 

 seasoned and dry before Avorked ; as a general 

 thing, very little attention is paid to this, except 

 for the finish stock. To make a tight, durable 

 roof, both boards and shingles should be dry Avhcn 

 laid ; else the shingles Avill crack betAvecn the nail- 

 ing by shrinking. Nail the shingles pretty Avell 

 up, to keep them from the Avet. Nails driven into 

 unseasoned stock AviU rust off, after Avhich the sliin- 



gles AA'ill giA'e themselves up to the Avinds. It is 

 always cheapest to use the best pine or cedar shin- 

 gles on a good building. When perfectly dry, 

 paint tAvo coats Avith Brandon red, Avhich may be 

 mixed Avith a cheap oil, prepared for such purpos- 

 es ; though the best linseed oil is most dural)le ; 

 add a little blacking, to give it a deep red color, if 

 you fancy it. A roof Avell covered in this manner, 

 is done for a lifetime. It is a great mistake that 

 people do not paint their roofs ; it is just as essen- 

 tial for their preservation and durability, as for the 

 clapboards on the sides. The boards for the side 

 should always be dry ; else you Avill find your clap- 

 boards cracking by reason of the boards shrinking. 



A. Philbrick. 

 East Saugus, Mass., Dec, 186L 



Fur the New Enqland Farmer. 

 CATTLE G-NAWING BONES. 



Inquiries are constantly made, and many times 

 ansAvered, in relation to the cause and cure of this 

 singular habit of cattle — more particularly coavs. 

 CoAvs kept on white grass hay in Avinter, or in Avhite 

 grass pastures in summer, Avill almost inevitably 

 indulge in this practice. The cause is undoubted- 

 ly the loss of carbonate of lime in the system, from 

 an absence of carbon and lime in their food. Wlien 

 the lands of Ncav England Avere new, this phenom- 

 ena Avas unknoAvn. It is the natural result of an 

 exhausted soil. When coavs are fed upon clover, 

 hay or grass, or other articles of food Avhich con- 

 tain all the elements Avhich enter largely into the 

 secretion and production of milk, the instance Avill 

 be rare in Avhich they Avill meddle Avith chips and 

 bones. The great mystery of the cause lies more 

 immediately in the Avant of a knoAvledge of the 

 sciences Avhich reveal nature's process for chang- 

 ing earth, air and Avater into bread, milk, meat and 

 clothing. A sufficient quantity of milk for the 

 manufacture of a firkin of butter Avill require all 

 the caustic lime, in a crude state, that is contained 

 in the butter in an organized condition, and if not 

 supplied in the animal's daily food, Avill draAv on 

 the system for such supply, Avhich has been organ- 

 ized there for the purpose of making bone. Where 

 and what these materials are, and how they can be 

 so combined as to produce the greatest quantity of 

 milk Avithout destroying the vital organism of the 

 system, are questions Avhich interest every person 

 Avho OAvns a coav. Early cut clover, Timotliy and 

 red-top are SAveet, juicy and nutritious, and pos- 

 sess the poAvcr to produce milk and make bone. 

 So a grain of corn, for instance, possesses in a Avell- 

 organized arrangement, the phosphate of lime and 

 magnesia ; also the salts of iron, lime and starch, 

 Avhich enter largely into the composition of bones, 

 and most of the glutinous matter to be found in 

 lean meat, tendon, tissue, and the jelly found in 

 bones. Coavs fed upon these vegetable materials 

 can have no hankering for chips and bones. 



A neighbor of mine says one-half ounce of salt- 

 petre, (nitre.) given in some corn meal one or tAvo 

 mornings, Avill effect a temporary cure. Every far- 

 mer Avho has none but Avhite grass pastures and 

 Avhite grass hay, may rest assured that his coavs 

 Avill give white milk, hanker for chips and bones, 

 and limp Avith the "bone ail." L. L. PlERCE. 



East Jaffreij, N. IL, Dec, 18GL 



