1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



67 



AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OP PENN- 

 SYLVANIA. 



We have before us, through the polite atten- 

 tion of President PUGH, the Catalogue of this In- 

 stitution for the year 1863. It contains the names 

 of the officers and students of the College, gives 

 the course of studies and progress of construction 

 of the buildings The number of students for 

 the year was 142. We have read its pages 

 ■with interest, and so far as the course of study 

 is developed, think it judicious and practical, 

 and one that will commend itself to such persons 

 as are desirous of placing their sons in a position 

 to learn agriculture and its kindred arts. The 

 progressive step in the study, or laboratory, and 

 in the field, are natural, and are so arranged as 

 to attract and lead the earnest student into the 

 intellectual regions of rural life. 



In speaking of the peculiarities and advantages 

 of the "course of study," President PUGH says : 



"The student has an opportunity of seeing all 

 the practical operations of the farm, garden and 

 nursery performed in the most approved manner, 

 with the use of the best manures, seeds, tools and 

 implements ; and, what is of more importance 

 than this, he studies in the class-room and labo- 

 ratory, the scientific principles involved in all he 

 does, and by becoming a scientific man and ana- 

 lytical chemist, he is enabled to protect himself 

 and others against the frauds that are continually 

 being practised upon the uneducated, by dealers 

 who are themselves either ignorant of science, or 

 who use it to impose upon the community. He 

 learns how to study the geology, mineralogy and 

 chemistry of the soil he cultivated, the botany of 

 the plant he grows, and the laws of health and 

 diseases of the animals he uses. 



"In a word, he is made thoroughly acquainted 

 with the laws and phenomena of the material 

 world with which he is in immediate contact, and 

 about which farmers are most deplorably ignorant, 

 but a knowledge of which is essential to their ma- 

 terial success or intellectual pleasure, in the pur- 

 suit of the duties of rural life." 



THE DANGERS OP COLD WEATHER. 



The N. Y. Evening Post, in an article on this 

 subject, says that frozen limbs should never be 

 rubbed. The juices of the fleshy tissues, when 

 frozen in their minute sacs or cells, at once be- 

 come in each of these enclosures crystals, having 

 a large number of angles and sharp points ; and 

 hence rubbing the flesh causes them to cut or tear 

 their way through the tissues, so that when it is 

 thawed the structure of the muscle is more or less 

 destroyed. The proper mode of treatment is thus 

 stated : 



When any part of the body is frozen it should 

 be kept perfectly quiet till it is thawed out, which 

 should be done as promptly as possible. As 

 freezing takes place from the surface inwardly, so 

 thawing should be in the reverse order, from the 

 inside outwardly. The thawing out of a portiou 

 of flesh, without at the same time putting the 

 blood from the heart into circulation through it, 

 produces mortification ; but by keeping the more 

 external parts still congealed till the internal heat 



and the external blood gradually soften the more 

 interior parts, and produce circulation of the blood 

 as fast as the thawing takes place, most of these 

 dangers are obviated. 



Speaking of the application of snow, the writer 

 says : 



If the snow which is applied be colder than the 

 frozen flesh it will still further abstract the heat 

 and freeze it worse than before. But if the snow 

 is of the same temperature it will keep the flesh 

 from thawing till the heat from the rest of the 

 body shall have effected it, thus preventing gan- 

 grene. Water, in which snow or ice has been 

 placed, so as to keep its temperature at thirty- 

 two degrees Fahrenheit, is probably better than 

 snow. 



VENTILATION IN BEE HIVES. 

 Bees in winter do not apparently suffer from 

 cold even when many degrees below the freezing 

 point. Their great enemy is damp. I have known 

 hives from which the bottom board had fallen and 

 which were fully exposed to the air, winter well, 

 while others carefully tended lost thousands of 

 bees, and yet both had sufficient stores. Hives 

 made of thin boards are bad quarters for bees, un- 

 less well ventilated, and for the simple reason that 

 when such are exposed to weather, they part rap- 

 idly with their warmth in cold weather, and un- 

 less carried off by currents of air, the moisture 

 from the bees condenses on the inside and then 

 congeals, and this process will go on until the 

 comb next the sides is involved, and the bees are 

 consequently huddled together in an ice house. 

 When combs are thus frozen or kep' steadily ex- 

 posed to an atmosphere of moisture for some time, 

 they will mould whenever the weather becomes 

 warm. It often happens that the principal por- 

 tion of the honey is laid up in the outer combs, 

 and if these are frozen, the bees cannot get their 

 food and may thus starve with food abuudiUit, but 

 locked up by frost. — Ohio Farmer. 



Mixing Grain in Seeding. — I take the liber- 

 ty to write JCTTa few lines for publication, if you 

 think it worth while. What I recommend is this : 

 For the farmer to mix his seed half and half with 

 strange seed of same kind from his neighbor's, — 

 wheat, rye, corn, barley, oats, buckwheat, etc. I 

 do not wish to be understood to recommend mix- 

 ing varieties, except the best white wheat and rye. 

 Then sow a small piece for bread or feed, espe- 

 cially in localities that are troubled with the midge. 

 Put on plenty of seed — nearly as much, of each as 

 though the other was not sown. 



Several farmers about here who mixed their 

 corn say their crops can't be beat. Two mixed 

 wheat, one white the other red ; both got near 

 three-sevenths more than expected, the berry be- 

 ing so large. 



At the same time, let farmers change the males 

 of their poultry every year — such as geese, ducks, 

 turkeys, hens, &p., they will have larger kinds 

 and healthier, better layers. 



Leivanee Co., Mich., 1863. L. Taylor. 



We find the above in the Rural New Yorker. 

 Some of our readers may not agree with Mr. Tay- 

 lor, in his recommendations, but there may be 

 truth enough in them to provoke a response from 

 some other thinking farmer. 



