258 



NEW ENGLAND FAE^IER. 



June 



The compounds put off upon the farmer as 

 fertilizers have proved of so little value that 

 hundreds are <'iscouraged from using anything 

 in the form of compact manure. Many of these 

 special articles are a compound of "villainous 

 smells," too disgusting to become common on 

 the farm ; they ought to be two feet under it. 

 The article called superphosphate of lime is 

 usually nauseous to a high degree. It ought 

 not to be so, and probably would not, if it did 

 not contain rotting animal matter in some 

 form. This odor affords olfactory evidence 

 that the article is not a pure one ; that it con- 

 tains matter that is not worth one-quarter 

 part the price demanded for it. We hold in 

 our left hand, now, while writing, a ball of 

 nearly pure superphosphate of lime. It is as 

 harmless as a ball of wax, and instead of be- 

 ing disgusting, its odor is pleasant. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 THE FLOOD IN NE'W HA-MPSHIRE. 



House and Barn Cellars full— Liquid Manuring— Farm 

 Implements and Sitting Hens take a Bath — Freaks of 

 Brahmas — Hints on Irrigation. 



This rainy morning, I catch up my pen to 

 say, that after an absence of nearly three years 

 from the farm, my hand is again at the plough, 

 or will be as soon as the weather and season 

 permit. But the rain, how it has come ! And 

 the melted snow, how that has come down from 

 the hills and woodlands, and filled the streams 

 with mighty rushing waters, which have poured 

 down rivulet and ravine, and flooded every- 

 thing, higher up than any old high-water msrk. 

 Wells are full to overllowing, house cellars 

 have become cisterns, and the barn cellars — 

 what a plight they are in. A system of bail- 

 ing and draining has been going on never be- 

 fore experienced. We shall see what eff -ct 

 liquid manure has upon the crop with which 

 it may come in contact, as it has been poured 

 out from the drenched manure heap, by ladle 

 and drain. Perhaps we may get an experi- 

 ence that will lead us on after Alderman Me- 

 chi, and cause us to adopt his plan of liquid 

 manuring. We shall see. We are driven, 

 sometimes, by the force of circumstances, into 

 a "corner," and thereby make important dis- 

 coveries. 



It would have been amusing, no doubt, 

 could you have seen the plight many of us 

 farmers were in at the height of the late flood. 

 Pigs were wallowing in the poached manure 

 pile ; carts and wagons stored in the cellar as 

 a safe and dry place, were axle deep in water ; 

 ploughs, harrows and cultivators were in wa- 

 ter deep enough to swim them, had they not 

 been too heavy ; and the poor hens that were 

 so unfortunate as to be silting in what was 



supposed to be a safe and dry place, were 

 gradually reminded that they must leave or be 

 suomerged, together with their hopes of a fu- 

 ture brood of little chicks, in the rising flood. 

 There was a hurrying to and fro in hot haste, 

 in attempts lo save next autumn dinners from 

 being cheated of the boiled or roast chicken. 

 But with the fancy or whim that hens have of 

 late, most of their labor must be in vain, for 

 they set, or wont set, just as they please. 

 Two of my nice, clever, social, agreeable, 

 companionable Brahma young ladies were 

 each indulged with a nest full of eggs, brought 

 from a distant farm-yard, because it is thought 

 best to change eggs for hatching, with our 

 neighbors, even if we get the same breed. 

 They behaved very lady-like, and appeared 

 very motherly for nearly two weeks, and then 

 without applying for leave of absence, they 

 walked off and forgot to return till the two 

 nestfuls of eggs were cold as snow balls. But 

 they soon showed a di^position to reset, and 

 they are in full blast again, but so encom- 

 passed with barriers that they canH get out of 

 remembering distance of their nests. We 

 shall see what will come of them. But I find 

 they are so careless they have broken some of 

 their eggs. Hens don't do now as they used 

 to, when they would lay, set and hatch without 

 tending. As things now appear, there must 

 be professional chicken doctors and nurses, so 

 far have we wandered from the old track. 

 This is all right, perhaps, for the more our 

 circumstances force us to study and labor, the 

 more perfect is the character, on the principle 

 that idleness begets moral disease. 



But letting alone morals and philosophy, and 

 going to facts, the results of this spring flood 

 bhould induce many farmers to pay more at- 

 tention to irrigation. Let the results of flood- 

 ing be noticed the coming season. If not 

 mistaken in my own experience, many will be 

 the extra tons of hay grown from the over- 

 flowing of meadows. To secure the advan- 

 tage in tature, let dams be so arranged in the 

 brooks that at high water the grounds shall be 

 flooded, and then the water gradually run off. 



Excuse this hasty line, for I must here put 

 in the (.) and haste to the station. 



Yours f )r the farm, Z. Breed. 



Weare, N. H., April 25, 1870. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 MEDICAL TOPICS. 



BY A MEDICAL MAN, 



Health and Disease. 



The human body is composed of solids and 

 fluids, and when the former perform their 

 functions properly, and the latter retain their 

 normal purity, the body is in a state of abso- 

 lute health. But this perfection of health is 

 ideal ; it never actually exists. An examina- 

 tion of the bodies of the healthiest persons 

 would, doubtless, reveal derangements of some 



