112 



ONE SQUARE FOOT OF BOARDS, 



WORTH MORE THAN A POUND OF BEEF 

 OR MUTTON. 



"A preposterous and random assertion," 

 we fancy, that we hear a reader say, 

 "Why, it is ridiculous and absurd to sup- 

 pose, that one pound of beef, which is 

 worih from five to fifteen cents, is worth 

 no more than one square foot of common 

 boards, which can be attained, in almost 

 any region, for about one cent for every 

 square foot! Such an article is not worth 

 reading !" 



Hold, gentle reader, spare 3^our remarks, 

 and we will show you, beyond a doubt, 

 that common boards are worth far more 

 than we have been wont to suppose. 



How many pounds of flesh will a few 

 such snow storms, as we had in the win- 

 ter of 1854 and '55, use up, or destroy ? 

 in a herd of six or eight cattle. How 

 many pounds of mutton will be used up, 

 in a flock of one hundred sheep during a 

 severe north-wester, when old Boreas 

 tunes his harp high ; and drives the fleecy 

 snow into every crack and crevice ; and 

 piles high the drifty heaps ? We all know, 

 that at such times, we must keep out- 

 doors and windows tightly closed ; and 

 thrust in more, and more fuel, into our 

 stoves ; and cram our stomachs with 

 wholesome food, in order to keep up a 

 degree of comfortable temperature. We 

 all know, when any substance that will 

 freeze, is exposed to the winds, in a bleak 

 place, that it will freeze, while more of 

 the same substance, only a few feet from 

 it, protected by a breast work of boards, 

 or anything to check the force of the 

 wind — of the same temperature — will not 

 be frozen. The truth is, in a current of 

 air, the caloric is dissipated, or carried off"; 

 and, unless there is some means in opera- 

 tion, to keep up the desired temperature, 

 injury will follow. 



So with animals; if they be placed in 

 a situation, where they are comfortable — 

 not exposed to the driving storms, and 

 piercing winds — even if their place is of 

 the same temperature of the surrounding 

 atmosphere they will retain their plump 

 and thriving appearance. But let them 

 now be exposed to a' current of air, and 

 the snow and rain, and see how soon they 

 will begin to draw up their bellies, and to 



bring their hind feet toward their forward 

 feet. 



Every chemist knows that evaporation 

 is a cooling process. When the body of 

 an animal is wet, evaporation immediately 

 commence-:, and much of the colciric or 

 heat of the body is dissipated in this pro- 

 cess. The stomach, at such times, must 

 be crammed with nutritious food, in order 

 to supply the fuel of the body. When 

 the contents of the stomach is exhausted, 

 if an animal has any fat laid up in store, 

 Nature draws largely, from these sources, 

 to supply the material for the necessary 

 heat of the body ; and if it takes but a 

 short period of time to consume a pound 

 of fat, and when animals arrive to that 

 point, when nature must draw upon the 

 materials of the body, to furnish necessary 

 heat, animals begin to deteriorate in con- 

 idition. They must have heat, and will 

 I have it, and if we can manage to retain 

 the heat, after it has been produced, it 

 subserves a better purpose to retain a 

 giveg amount, than to attempt to furnish 

 new materials for unnecessary waste by 

 rapid evaporation and currents of air. 



To retain the heat, then, and to prevent 

 the materials of the body — fat and flesh — 

 from being used up in unnecessary com- 

 bustion, is the main idea to be kept in 

 I view. Suppose, now, that a herd of ten 

 cattle, cows or oxen, use up one pound 

 each of the materials of the body in 

 twenty-four hours, in keeping up the ne- 

 cessary heat — and this is a very small 

 computation — we have ten lbs., which is 

 worth nine cents per lb., cash, at the low- 

 est calculation, because the very best ma- 

 terials are used up first, and in many lo- 

 calities, we might reckon it much higher, 

 with all safety. This would make in seven 

 davs $6 30, and in thirty days $27 00 

 worth of valuable beef. This $27 00 

 would have purchased, in almost any lum- 

 ber region, two thousand, seven hundred 

 feet of good boards, which would make an 

 open shed on one side, six feet high on 

 the back side, covered with boards twelve 

 feet long, about one hundred and forty 

 feet long, or a shed on two sides of a yard, 

 sixty to seventy feet in length. If now, 

 this 2,700 feet of lumber will so check 

 the wind, as to be the means of retaining 

 this $27 worth of beef — and who doubts, 

 for a moment, that this is not a very small 

 computation — we save enough in one 



