320 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



nonymous with the habitual inhalation of air ' 

 rendered foul bj' respiration, and, second, 

 50)7 moisture.'''' 



As showing the necessity of pure o,vc for 

 children, it is stated that in the great lying in 

 hospital in Dublin during twenty-five years 

 before ventilation was introduced, the mor- 

 tality of new-born infants in the first two or 

 three weeks of me, was one in six. In the 

 twenty-five years following the introduction of 

 good air, the mortality was one in one hun- 

 dred and four. The teaching of the report 

 on this point is briefly this, that pure air irom 

 out of doors, every moment of time, day and 

 night, introduced, if possible, comfortably 

 warmed, is essential to health. "Ventilate 

 the schoolrooms, and the workshops, and the 

 stores and the houses." 



A Sound Soil. 



Dr. Bowditch is perhaps the best authority 

 in this country as to the diseases classed under 

 the name of consumption, and he is under- 

 stood to be the first person who deduced from 

 statistics the conclusion that soil moisture is 

 among the prominent causes of these diseases. 

 "When a man proposes to build a dwelling in 

 a swamp, warn him of his danger," say the 

 board of health. 



In England, in 18G5 and 1866, inquiries 

 were made, under government authority, into 

 the effect of drainage-works and other regula- 

 tions designed to promote health. It ap- 

 peared that while the general death-rate had 

 greatly diminished, consumption had dimin- 

 ished even in greater proportion, wherever the 

 soil had been rendered dry by means of ssw- 

 ers. 



The writer has exhorted so much on the 

 importance of drainage about our buildings, 

 that he is happy to borrow the language of 

 this report. It is well known that in many 

 towns, — and Concord, which ought to know 

 better, is one of them, — a large proportion of 

 the cellars are afloat with water for a longer 

 or shorter time, every spring. The Board of 

 Health say, "Another danger is a damp cellar. 

 Its atmosphere goes all over the house in 

 spite of every effort to prevent it." Again, 

 "most houses in the country are exposed to 

 special dangers from the absence of drains, 

 the refuse irom houses being poured upon the 

 ground, thereby infecting not only the air, but 

 water also. In some instances, the kitchen 

 slops, delivered from a spout upon a limited 

 space have in the course of time worn a direct 

 channel to the family well. At any rate it 

 may be useful to remember that the soil sur- 

 rounding a well is drained by it. In this view 

 it will be seen how important it is for the 

 purity of ))Oth air and water, that pigstyes, 

 privies and manure heaps should be kept at a 

 certain distance from the dwelling. Many a 

 case of typhoid, and much imj)itired vitality 

 ready to succumb to trifling ailments, might 

 be traced to such pollutions. The epidemic 



of fever at the Maplewood Institute at Pitts- 

 field, a few years ago, was caused by an ac- 

 cumulation of filth, and ceased on removal of 

 the cause. Instances of this sort, where the 

 cause has been sought for and found, and the 

 epidemic thereby stayed, are so numerous that 

 we need not cite them." 



Consumption, typhoid fevers and rheuma- 

 tism are as much the natural, legitimate pro- 

 ducts of bad air and bad water, as our crops 

 are of our seed. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 LIME A3 A FERTILIZER. 



On page 22 of the Monthly Farmer for 

 1870, I find the following remark : — "It should 

 be said, once for all, that oyster shells are 

 composed of carbonate of lime ; and carbo- 

 nate of lime is not a manurial agent. It is 

 hard, insoluble marble, and of no value in ag- 

 riculture." This was written by Dr. James R. 

 Nichols of Boston, and is so directly at vari- 

 ance with the generally received opinion, that 

 perhaps a reference to some authorities upon 

 the subject, will not be out of plac-e. 



Dr. Stockhardt says that "the same constit- 

 uents enter into the composition of chalk, com- 

 mon limestone, marble and oyster shells ; that 

 they consist of carbonate of lime, and have 

 for a formula (CaO, CO5)," He also says 

 that "carbonate of lime is one of the principal 

 constituents of our earth." 



Now it is undoubtedly conceded that car- 

 bonic acid, one of the elements of the formu- 

 la, enters largely into the food of plants. 

 Baron Liebig says that if by manuring a field 

 with potash or lime, no increase of crop can be 

 observed, it therefore does not follow, that 

 these substances of themselves, are not effica- 

 cious ; a certain amount of ammonia is neces- 

 sary to render them efficacious." Also in his 

 "Familiar Letters" he says ; "in limestone are 

 certain elements indispensable to the growth 

 of plants and the presence of which renders 

 them fertile;" and that "we possess substan- 

 ces, which by their chemical action render the 

 constituents of the soil more suitable for en- 

 tering into the vegetable organism, and one of 

 these is lime." Again, he says: "The cere- 

 alia require the alkalies and alkaline silicates, 

 and these are liberated by lime from clayey 

 soils, and hence the fertility of the soil is in- 

 ereased by lime." The latter statement is also 

 found in his "Agricultural Chemistry." 



Frof. J. F. W. Johnston in his "Agricultu- 

 ral Chemistry" says, "The use of lime is of 

 the greatest importance;: in practical agricul- 

 ture. Marls consist of carbonate of lime, 

 mixed with sand, and are considered more or 

 less valuable for agricultural purposes as the 

 proportion of lime increases or diminishes." 

 "Where vegetable matter abounds, much lime 

 may be usefully added ; and on stiff clay lands, 

 after draining, its good effects are very re- 

 markable. Upon pastures a greater fineness. 



