176 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JUIME 



er and roof boards that were ordinarily damp and 

 sometimes wet from the condensed vapor, were at 

 once dried, and the hay has since been sweeter and 

 more free from must. The expense of these four 

 ventilators, fitted and placed, including the cost 

 of material, was thirty dollars ; they are much 

 more efficient in their operation than a cupola, as 

 they take the air from four different parts of the 

 barn, while a cupola operates only thoroughly near 

 the centre. I am just completing a large barn, 

 on which have been placed three ventilators of 

 this description, each measuring two feet square 

 in the clear ; they are made of the best of lum- 

 ber, and cost on the barn complete, at- this time 

 of high prices, twelve dollars each. In locating 

 them on the building, I placed one in the centre 

 of the roof, the other two one-fifth of the length 

 of the barn from either end ; this equalizes the 

 ventilation throughout the building. These ven- 

 tilators are rather ornamental than otherwise, giv- 

 ing a completeness of finish, and breaking a long 

 line of roof. I would strongly recommend them 

 to those persons who contemplate putting up 

 buildings for the storage of cattle or hay. I have 

 cupolas on two of my barns that I should be very 

 glad to have replaced by the ventilators. 



While on the subject of ventilation, I would 

 remark on the importance of a change of air in 

 the lean-to, or those parts of the barn where ani- 

 mals stand. 



I have a barn ninety feet in length, on each side 

 of which cows are tied. I used to be painfully im- 

 pressed with the unhealthfulness of the atmosphere 

 for man or beast, on going into the barn on a cold 

 winter morning, when all had been tightly closed 

 through the night. Hoping to make an improve- 

 ment, I caused four boxes, twelve by twenty-four 

 inches, to be carried up on each side of the barn, 

 back of the cattle, against the outside walls. These 

 opened in the floor over the lean-to, and also on 

 the outside of the building just under the eaves ; 

 slides fitted to the lower opening regulate the 

 draft. The plan has operated to my entire satis- 

 faction, and with the ventilation in the roof, serves 

 to keep the air always pure, — no easy matter in a 

 modern barn, containing sixty head of cattle. 



One suggestion more and I have done. Much 

 complaint is made by those having close sided or 

 clapboarded barns, that the hay laying near the 

 outer walls becomes damp and mouldy. I think 

 this may be avoided by nailing strips of board on 

 the studs a few inches apart, which will prevent 

 the hay touching the outside. In my own case, I 

 have, in addition to the strips, an opening in the 

 outer wall, near the sill in each section, six inches 

 square ; this creates ventilation and keeps all dry 

 and sweet. Henry H. Peters. 



Southboro\ Mass. 



Growing Cucumbers. — Take a large barrel, 

 or hogshead ; saw it in two in the middle, and 

 bury each half in the ground even with the top. 

 Then take a small keg and bore a small hole in 

 the bottom ; place the keg in the centre of the 

 barrel, the top even with the ground, and fill in 

 the barrel around the keg with rich earth, suita- 

 ble for the growth of cucumbers. Plant your 

 seed midway between the edges of the barrel and 

 the keg, and make a kind of arbor a foot or two 

 high for the vines to run on. When the ground 

 becomes dry, pour water in the keg in the even- 



ing — it will pass out at the bottom of the keg into 

 the barrel and rise up to the roots of the vines, 

 and keep them moist and green. Cucumbers cul- 

 tivated this way will grow to a great size, as they 

 ai'e made independent both of drouth and wet 

 weather. In wet weather the barrel can be cov- 

 ered, and in dry the ground can be kept moist by 

 pouring water in the keg. 



THE NATURE OF SCIENCE. 

 Many persons entertain the most eiToneous no- 

 tions respecting, the character of science. They 

 think and speak of it as if it were some mysteri- 

 ous intellectual subtlety, revealed to the few and 

 denied to the many. Such ideas may have come 

 from the olden times when all men believed sin- 

 cerely in mysterious powers committed through 

 incantations and charms by deities and spirits 

 who had power over "the earth, the water, the air, 

 and fire." The ancient alchemists and astrolo- 

 gers kept what they called "science" secret, as 

 something too sacred to be communicated to the 

 mass of men ; hence they taught favorite disciples 

 only. Many of those old plodders in the paths of 

 science were sincere in their peculiar views, but it 

 must be admitted that too many of them employed 

 secret discoveries in chemistry for the purpose of 

 astounding their unlearned fellow-men by their 

 curious experiments, in order to obtain power over 

 them. Asti'onomy, also, such as a superior 

 knowledge of eclipses and the movements of the 

 heavenly bodies, was employed in a sort of quack 

 manner to obtain power by foretelling events. 

 Many of these impostors were very like the learned 

 Irish prophet set forth in Hibernian verse, who 

 knew every event before it happened after it took 

 place. Science simply means knowledge of any 

 subject — its nature and operation ; and whoever 

 knows most of any branch of knowledge, and can 

 apply it in the best manner, is the most scientific 

 in that branch. Knowledge means truth, as there 

 can be no knowledge based upon fiction. A man, 

 however, may perform a mechanical or chemical 

 operation in a very superior manner and yet not 

 be scientific. A parrot can speak, but a parrot is 

 not a linguist, nor has it any knowledge of the 

 science of language. A man, to be scientific, 

 should know "the why and the wherefore of the 

 operations he performs." Mathematics is a science, 

 but great powers of calculation aS"ord no evidence 

 of scientific acquisition. Some individuals, not 

 much above the reach of idiocy, have been great 

 calculators. Yet mathematics as a science re- 

 quires a high grade of intellect and great persis- 

 tency of mental effort to master. Science may be 

 said to be a collection of facts and experience ac- 

 curately arranged and properly understood. 

 Chemistry, for example, is an art and a science, 

 because it is a collection of the results of careful 

 experiments. Geology is simply a collection of 

 facts carefully arranged. A theory is not a sci- 

 ence ; it is simply the explanation of phenomena. 

 Every science has, according to Max Muller, first 

 an empirical stage, in which facts are gathered and 

 analyzed. After this they are classified or ar- 

 ranged, and according to the inductive method, 

 theory explains the purpose or plan of the whole. 

 — Scientific American. 



Generally the greatest humbug is he who 

 talks of humbug the most glibly. 



