Fire-Wood, 



Every individual in ihe land, ehnree ibe benefits of 

 fuel for domestic pui poses; and no subject con be pro- 

 posed for onr examination in whicli a greater number 

 of our readers are interested. 



Although fossil coal may now be obtained both 

 from the east and from the west — v/noard from Alba- 

 ny or downward through the Chemung canal; and 

 though peal, apparently of an excellent quality, has 

 been found in some of the adjoining counties; yet 

 farmers will probably for a long time to come, draw 

 their supiilies of fuel from their own woods. Wc 

 shall therefore confine our remarks for the present tu 

 this branch of domestic economy. 



The difTerence in value between some kinds of 

 wood is very great. In this district, sugar maple and 

 upland hickory, are considered the best; and willow, 

 and Lombardy poplar, perhaps the worst. 



But why is not a cord of Lombordy poplar equal to 

 a cord of maple 1 Chiefly because it does not con- 

 tain as much carbon. We do not sny it would nrj 

 make. as many bushels of charcoal — it would probably 

 yield more. The deficiency is not in the bvllc but in 

 the weight. Its texture is more porous — there is re- 

 ally less of it. A cord of maple iiaa been estimated 

 in the Genesee Farmer * to produce 2.") bushels of 

 charcoal, while a cord of basswood or white pine 

 -ielde 32 bushels; but then the former will weigh 25 

 * ->d9 a bushel, whilo the latter only weighs 15 

 pounds. 



The reli. "''^* values of firo-wood, have been stated 

 by the sime w ''''"^'' '" ' *"'''*' ""'t'ch w« shell expand 

 and render plain »° ""= comprehension of all of our 

 readers, rs it may be "^^ful in assisting purchasers. 



Where a cord of liaru ""^^^ '« worth 100 cents, 

 tchite beech and yellow birch -Te «'«"!i SO cenis— white 

 ash and white oak, 75 cents— s""/"' tiiaplc, white elm, 

 and swamp ash, 65 cenlB— chestnut and butternut, 52 

 cenlB—bussicood, ickitewood, and whitepine, 45 cents. 

 !t should be understood howevcr.> 'ho''" comparing 

 the difi'erent kinds of wood, it ought In au pases to be 

 dry. Some sorts conlfiin much moro sap than oihevs; 

 and if we undertake to burn them green, a larger part 

 of the heat will be occupied in carrying off the mois- 

 ture in some than in others; for all the heat that is re- 

 quired to turn the sap into steam, is lost to us. As 

 an illustration — we should prefer white ash to either 

 sugar maple or ichite beech, if we must burn them 

 without drying; and the simmering fires oi white oak, 

 lehite elm, and swawp ash, we should rather not ap- 

 proach. 



But another view may be taken of the comparative 

 values of fire-wood. It will not be far from the truth 

 if we estimate one cord that is will seasoned, equal to 

 two cords of g-rccn. Here then by laying in a stock 

 one year before hand, we gain about one hundred per 

 cent.— a speculation certainly worth the attention of 

 every house-keeper. 



To leave wood corded up in the woods, however, is 

 B poor plan. A few outside sticks when split fine to let 

 out moisture, may dry enough to be much improved; 

 butthe interior ofthe pile, especially if itbe inashady 

 place, will retain so much of the sap as to become 

 sour — a most unfavorable state for fuel. Wo prefer 

 green wood fresh from the stump. 



But though wood which stands corded in the open 

 ground, receiving the benefit of the sun and wind, 

 may dry enough not to turn sour, it may still be in 

 poor condition to burn at the commencement of win- 

 ter. Every heavy rain has soaked it, often for days 

 together; and its state will be very different from 

 wood that stands free from the ground under a 



dry bhed. More than 25 per cent, of moisture will be 

 retained, which is a heavy drawback from its value. 



The difference in the quantities of heat received from 

 the same kind of wood in different conditions, is so 

 palpable where a stove is used, that a person of good 

 observation might satisfy himself without a thermom- 

 etor; and we believe the following sc.ilf, beginning 

 with that in the worst condition, will be found nearly 

 correct? — 



1. Wet and partly decayed, or water-soaked. 



2 Soured by a fermentation of the sap. 



3. Uemaining corded up in shady places. 



4. Corded up in the open ground. 



5. Partially decayed in seasoning. 



C. Sheltered for 9 months or a year by a good roof. 



7. Seasoned several years in a dry building. 



8. Kiln-dricd. 



Whoever will carefully make experiments on fire- 

 wood in all these conditions, must become satisfied 

 that great improvements may be introduced into this 

 branch of domestic economy. } 



*,. Vol. a. page 8. 



For tlte New Genesee Farmer, 

 " Bots and Horse Bees." 



Messrs. Editors — Some other facts on this sub- 

 ject may be added to those mentioned by " Spectator" 

 in your last paper. It is not easy to decide in what 

 manner the nits, deposited by the hot-fy on the hair of 

 '.he horse, pass into the stomach of that noble animal. 

 The fact is certain. By the shaggy coat of the stom- 

 ach the nits are detained by some unknown contri- 

 vance till they hatch into bots. By the same contri- 

 vance probably the bots are detained till they are full 

 grown, deriving their nourishment from the coats of 

 the stomach. In the course of the following winter 

 and spring, many of them are voided by the horse, 

 and may be seen in the manure of the horse stable, 

 half an inch long, sharper at one end which is their 

 mouth, showing many rings, and giving signs of life 

 on being touched, probably to be changed by the heat 

 of summer into botflies. But many ot the bots are 

 often retained for a longer period in the horse's stom- 

 ach, before they are voided by the animal. It is in this 

 case that the bots are so dangerous, and often destroy 

 the horse, as they pass their lopering mouth or probos- 

 cis through the shaggy and into the other costs of the 

 stomach, aiid even through all the coats. I once sow 

 in the stomach of a fine horse that had died from their 

 action, multitudes of bots sticking into tlte coats, and 

 many of them had pierced through that organ, sj thai 

 on scraping tJiem off with a Imife the lii/uid matter of 

 tlie stomach passed through its coats. Those bots 

 were large and strong and of a deep flesh color. 

 They might have been detached perhaps by the action 

 of spirits of turpentine, for this substance has great 

 power over all such animals, but the death of the 

 horse must have ensued from the numerous lacera- 

 tions of the stomach. The only way to prevent the 

 fatal termination, is the application of remedies before 

 the bots have got so deep a hold, and of course before 

 there is any indication, or any alarming symptoms of 

 the disease. In other words, the remedy must be ap- 

 plied while the horse is in good health. This will 

 not commonly or very often be done; and if it should 

 be done, it might not prove effectual. Wc can know 

 the danger only by the symptoms of the disease, the 

 indications of the danger. 



The name given to the bot-fly by naturalists has 

 been Oestrus, from the Greek to excite or to sting. 

 Hence they called ihe gad-fly or goad -fly, which lays 

 lis eggs in the backs of cattle. Oestrus bovis, or ox- 

 lly; the insect that lays its eggs in the nose of sheep. 

 Oestrus ovis, or sheep-stinger; the bot-fly, Oestrus 

 cyuj, or horse stinger. The last, because it inhabits 

 the stomach of the horse, in now called Gasterophilvs 



; of the horse. Wf^'^ ^ 

 ks of nature, l| <•'■ *' , 



' ,i:„«f> 



crjui, the lorcr of the stomach 

 nomy discoverable in the worki 

 belief that the hot performs some important\ «•"'"*' ^ 

 the stomach of the horse, while its own beint i*''* 

 oped and it is preparing to become a flyli 

 Probably it is only in a diseased state of thei 

 they cease to be useful and become injurii 

 stomach. It may be that some disease of 

 first brings on the diseased state of the b 

 very certain that the larvae of the shecp-i 

 come diseased in the nose of the sheep, and 

 way upwards towards the brain, and bring) 

 ness, and dullness, and loss of oppetite, and 

 gere, and finally the death of the sheep. T 

 nation of the head shows them to be large, e 

 live maggots. 



It is well known thai the transformations of 

 different and take place under difl'erent circuit "'' 

 The silk-worm winds up itself in a cocoon 

 a chrysalis, and thence a fine molh. The co] 

 pletree-worm winds up itself by its web ai 

 and thus undergoes like changes; thus also 

 ers. The worm on the milk- weed altachei 

 its tail to the underside of a rail or limb 

 drops off its head, and becomes a beautiful 

 spangled with sjiots of gold, from which in a] 

 a splendid butterily comes forth. The lar| 

 worm on the common cabbage descends to tl 

 after its period of eating, drops off its heai 

 continued working forces its way into the ei 

 winter residence, and the next spring worka] 

 surlace, and comes forth in .July or August 

 moths that trouble our candles in the 

 an extent. The earth too, becomes the hal 

 bots, till the natural changes take place, an 

 fliee spring into life to take their common 

 annoyance to horses and enjoyment to thi 

 This annoyance is greatly increased by the 

 the fertilization of the nits takes place after thei 

 sition on the hair of the horse. 



How wonderful are these contrivances am 

 tions for the diffusion of life ! What a mull 

 those wonders present themselves to the e; 

 careful and jiatient observer ! C. DE 



March 1841. 



if«"l 



ml lie' 



I iri 



For tlic Ttea Genesee 

 Rust on Wheat. 



C Concluded from page Z8.J 

 There is a great diversity of opinion upon 

 ject, and it seems almost impossible to recoi 

 discordant views of those who have written 

 In an article, on rust, over the signature 

 List, copied into the New Genesee Farmer, 

 page 100; from the Farmers' Cabinet, are the 

 ing passages: — " It is stated that the fungus isj 

 sitical plant like the misletoe, but this is not the 

 the fungus has no power to attach itself, or p( 

 ihe healthy stalks of the wheat." The foundt 

 cause of the rust of the fungus, is the putrifi/'ig 

 ter discharged from, the ruptured sap vessels ^ 

 plarU** 



Before settling upon any definite conclusion, i| 

 the state of the stalks at the time the seeds of thfi 

 gus are deposited, it may be well to notice a few» 

 relative to this subject. The past season I hadijj 

 of Italian Spring wheat, containing two acres, 

 joined a piece of wiirter wheat a distance of 

 rods. The winter wheat was badly injured 

 rust the whole distance, and at the time of bar 

 it, the spring wheat adjacent, was found to be ci 

 rably rusted. Some 10 or 15 days after, the 

 wheat was cut, and was affected as follows: 

 swarth, badly rusted, perhaps 7-8ths shrunk; 

 swaiih, a little less; and so on to the 8tb, whffl 



