PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 295 



well ventilated, we are a people of progress, we do not follow — we pretend 

 to lead, we raise as fine crops as are to be found anywere, our horticulture 

 stands high. 



Dr. Parker of Ithaca, contended that farm-houses in that part of the 

 state are as well ventilated, and the people as health^', as in the city, and 

 as a general thing that the cooking is better, and the general style of liv- 

 ing better in farm-houses in central New York than in New York city. 



Mr. Enos Stevens ansvs^ered these arguments by a statement that in. 

 some part of that state, the same question having been mooted, a census 

 was taken of the actual condition of dwellings, in regard to ventilation 

 etc., which proved that the best ventilated houses, and those kept 

 the most cleanly, and where .the food was supposed to be of the best 

 quality, and most carefully prepared, showed a greater amount of 

 sickness than those of the reverse order. "The same thing, he said, 

 had been proved by the statistics of cities ; that is, that high ceilings, 

 which some gentlemen liave dwelt upon as important, and well ventilated 

 rooms, and great cleanliness of persons, dwellings and streets, do not 

 show the greatest degree of health, nor vigor of constitution, as fewer 

 children are born in such residences, and of those born only one-sixth 

 as many grow up as of those boi*n in the meanest tenements. These are 

 stubborn statistical facts, against the argument of the necessity, in a 

 health point of view, to improve our dwellings." 



Adjourned. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



Mr. Nathan C. Ely in the chair. March 1, 1864. 



Snow the poor man's Manure. 



The Chairman propounded this question, in view of the snow then falling, 

 and alluded to the popular opinion that spring snows, which fall upon un- 

 frozen earth, are in some way enriching to it so that the appellation of 

 " poor man's manure " has been applied to them, and he wanted to know 

 if any one present could tell, and if they were enriching, why ? Is it am- 

 monia or electricity that the falling snow gathers and conveys to the soil ? 

 And in what condition should the soil be to be most benefited ? 



Dr. Ward said that he had always supposed that the enriching quality 

 came from ammonia, which exists at all times in the air, and has affinity 

 for water, and is brought down in every shower, and he supposes that the 

 flocculent character of the snow has a greater capacity to absorb ammonia, 

 and that is why it is considered "the poor man's manure." 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — Let us start fair with this question. In the first 

 place, does any body know that the snow that is falling to-day, or one that 

 may fall later in the spring, will enrich the soil any more than the 

 same amount of moisture falling in the form of rain ? 



Dr. Ward said he never had heard this fact disputed, and he thought that 

 a popular belief of the people, so long undisputed, was evidence of its truth. 



