1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



349 



is extracted, and thus bones retain their original 

 form, and acquire great flexibility. After giving 

 the pieces of ivory their acquired form and polish, 

 they are steeped in acid, either pure or diluted, 

 until they become supple and elastic, and of a 

 slightly yellow color. In the course of drying, 

 the ivory returns to its original hardness, but its 

 flexibility can be easily restored by surrounding it 

 with wet linen. It is now ascertained that the de- 

 cay of articles in ivory can be effectually checked, 

 even when its progress has advanced so far as to 

 cause the specimens to crumble away under the 

 hands. Some of the works in ivory forwarded by 

 Mr. Layard from Nineveh, were found, on their 

 arrival in England, in a state of rapid decompo- 

 sition. Professor Owen was consulted on the sub- 

 ject, and he suggested a remedy Avhich, on trial, 

 proved to be in the highest degree successful. 

 Concluding that the decay was owing to the loss 

 of gelatine in the ivory, he recommended that the 

 articles should be boiled in a solution of gelatine, 

 and thus treated, they became firm and solid. 



PAINT FOH. MARKING LABELS. 



1. In the business of the garden and orchard, 

 marked stakes and labels are often needed for 

 temporary purposes, as the designation of rows of 

 fruit trees, new varieties of corn and potatoes, 

 flowers, Szc, or rows of seed sown in hot beds. 



2. The staves of an old barrel sawed in two and 

 sharpened at one end, answer for larger purposes, 

 and short pieces of hemlock lath, planed smooth 

 on one side, for smaller ones. Those who happen 

 to have blocks of cedar cut off from long posts, or 

 even the sound portion of cedar posts that have 

 failed, will find them especially useful wood for 

 either large or small marks and stakes. 



3. For paint to mark such stakes and labels, I 

 have found nothing so cheap and ready as shellac 

 varnish, into which a little lampblack had been 

 worked. Whether used in making letters or fig- 

 ures, it should be applied with a small brush. It 

 is better applied to the naked wood than to a 

 painted surface, to which, especially if the paint 

 be fresh and glossy, it does not adhere Avell. . 



Such paint will continue legible until the stakes 

 decay. Its superiority to oil paint is seen in two 

 facts — it dries rapidly, and it does not spread on 

 the wood when first applied, as does oil paint on 

 many surfaces, and become illegible. 



So, also, this same mixture is superior for the 

 same reason for marking barrels, boxes and bales 

 of goods. — Country Gentleman. 



To Cure a Film on the Eye of a Horse. — 

 Take of white vitriol and rock alum one part — 

 pulverize finely, and add clear spring water. AVith 

 a finely pointed camel's hair pencil or soft feather, 

 insert a single drop of tlus solution into the dis- 

 eased eye every night and morning, and in a 

 week the film usually disappears, and the e3'e be- 

 comes bright, sound and healthy. In some cases, 

 pulverized loaf sugar blown into the eye tlirough 

 a quill, will prove a remedy. Powdered glass 

 should never by used in such cases, although re- 

 commended by some, as it is much more likely to 

 produce injurious eflfects, than to cure them. 



A DAY WITH THE SHAKERS. 



Harvard, June 20, 1862. 



Gentlemen : — There is always something prof- 

 itable to be found here among this interesting and 

 intelligent people. One soon catches the spirit of 

 quiet which pervades everything, and voice, man- 

 ner and passion are all chastened and calmed, 

 while sun-ounded by a system that never yields, 

 though it is never irksome or oppressive. On 

 their little farm of two thousand acres, always 

 managed so as to yield a profit, I do not fail to 

 find something to learn in an agricultural point of 

 view. A considerable portion of their land is oc- 

 cupied with growing wood, which covers tbe 

 sweeping vales and beautifully swelling hills 

 around me, almost as far as the eye can reach. lu 

 the clear sunlight of this delicious June afternoon, 

 the rich foliage of the forests is trembling and 

 glancing in the sun's rays, and giving tone to the 

 fresh west wind playing in the branches. Cattle 

 are grazing on the distant hill-side pastures, and 

 the new corn plants are glistening on the wide- 

 spread fields of brown soil, where groups of healthy 

 men, clad in loose and comfortable garments, are 

 tending the springing corn. All things seem to 

 be in harmony. Voice answereth unto voice in 

 sympathizing tones. While all nature is fresh 

 with new life and beauty around me, the bursting 

 bud or expanded flower, the young fruit and wav- 

 ing grass or i^romising grain, all seem in unison 

 with the spirit and expression of the singular and 

 sentient beings with whom I have been convers- 

 ing. And now come other tones through the or- 

 chard, and up the hill into the vineyard, where 

 bees hum, and young grape blossoms fill with fra- 

 grance the surrounding air ! These voices cannot 

 be the breath of the trees, or birds, or climbing 

 vines. They come mellifluous, in irregular ca- 

 dences, as the voices of joyous girls, though from 

 this bower I cannot look out upon habitation or 

 human face. And the voices of joyous girls they 

 proved, coming from the school- room, where I 

 joined them, and passed a most interesting hour. 



In this school I found fifteen girls, between 

 the ages of fourteen and five — children who 

 came to the society with their parents, or who 

 have been adopted. The room was very com- 

 modious, and the perfection of neatness, the fur- 

 niture comfortable and the walls spread with such 

 maps and diagrams as were necessary for refer- 

 ence. I listened to classes in reading, parsing, 

 spelling, geography, and then to an exercise which 

 was new to me, though somewhat familiar with 

 schools. The teacher asked her pupils to express 

 "what they should like ?" when one of the older 

 scholars, in glowing but appropriate language, told 

 through what country she would "like to travel 

 and what to see. The others, apparently taking 

 the hint of their leader, all spoke of travel, and 



