122 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
ing in May and June, we had not a shower Irorn 
the 20th of the latter month till the 2lst of July, 
the weather in the mean time being excessively 
hot. The consequence was that the vapors 
which floated in the air were so elevated by 
rarefaction, that dewssoon failed; the great heat 
of the nights also contributing to their being 
detained aloft in the atmosphere, so that by the 
13th ol July a geneial drouth prevailed — the 
earth was so parched and dry that not the least 
perspiration appeared on plants, which shrunk 
and withered. All standing waters were dried 
up, as were many wells and springs, so that 
travellers could not find water, either tor them- 
selves or their beasts for a whole day together, 
for the soil being very light and transpirable, it 
was soon drained of its moisture. * * * * 
In several settlements no water could be found 
by digging ever so deep, for which search the 
enclosures were laid open, and the cattle drove 
out to shilt for themselves. But very many of 
them perished tor want of both pasturage and 
water, as probably did great numbers ot those 
birds that require drink, lor none of them were 
to be seen amongst us. In short, the distresses 
of men and beast at this time are not to be de- 
scribed. 
When the thermometer rose to the 97th and 
98th degree in the shade, the atmosphere seem- 
ed to glow as if fires were kindled around us, 
the air being likewise so thick and smoky with- 
all, that the sun appeared as a ball of red hot 
metal, and shined very faintly. * * 
Refreshing sleep was therefore a stranger to our 
eyes, insomuch that people were in a manner 
worn down with watching and the excessive 
heat together. Many people lay abroad on the 
pavements. During this season a candle was 
blown out and set in a chimney at ten o’clock 
at night, the wick of w^hich continued to burn 
clearly till next morning, and was likely to do 
so fcr many hours together. * ' * * * 
The mercury rose above the 90th degree of the 
thermometer during the months of May, June, 
July and August, and for iv:enty successive days, 
excepting three in June and July, the tempera- 
ture of the shaded air varied between the 90th 
and 101st division, and sometimes it must have 
been 30 degrees wanner in the open sunshine. 
Neither wa,s ever a more healthy season k7iown than 
this, so long as the weather continued steady, 
warm and fair. 
Agricultural Education. 
The Rev. Cari.isle P. B.M.iRTiN, ot Madi- 
son, Morgan county, advertising the commence- 
raentofthe second term of his “ Family Board- 
ing School,” informs the public, that “ in connec- 
tion with the usual studies, (as soon as practi- 
cable,} lectures on agricultural chemistry will 
be delivered before the students, and the princi- 
ples of chemistry, as connected with the noble 
and important subject of agriculture, illustrated 
by experiment and analysis.” Now we like 
this proposal. It is undertaking to do just what 
the country wants; and in a wmy too that is sure 
to be successful, so far as the explanation ol the 
elements of the subject is concerned. More 
than this— that is, the explanation of first prin- 
ciples— individual eSorl cannot well accom- 
plish. Indeed, beyond this it would not perhaps 
be well for individual effort to attempt to go. 
The full illustration ot the subject in all its 
branches and details, must be the business of 
our State College. And the State must furnish 
it with the means of doing this effectually, by 
appropriating the money to sustain the necessa- 
ry professorship. After the vast sums the State 
has expended for the benefit of those who are 
destined for the professions ot divinity, law^ and 
medicine, the tillers of the ground must demand 
that something shail be done by the State for 
that profession without which none of the oth- 
ers could exist for a moment, and w'hose great 
business is the conversion of earth, air and wa- 
ter, into bread, meat and clothing. The neces- 
sity of some such provision being made by the 
State is becoming stronger every day, from the 
fact that every day the value of mere bone and 
muscle, as a mechanical agent, is becoming 
less — and must in the end become comparative- 
ly worthless in agricultural operations, unless 
guided by an enlightened intellect. 
“ I had occasion,” says a writer in the Lon- 
don Agricultural Cazette, to visit the son of a 
friend of mine, at a school of great respectabil- 
ity in a wealthy agricultural district. The 
master, a very intelligent person, showed me 
the details of his well-arranged establishment, 
which was certainly a pattern in every respect. 
On entering the well-filled school-room, he ob- 
served that most of his scholars were farmers’ 
sons. Glancing at his library, I inquired what 
books on agricultural subjects it contained ? 
The master seemed struck with surprise (as if 
the thought of such books had never occurred 
to him) and replied, ‘With shame I acknow- 
ledge, not one; but send me a list of such as 
you recommend, and I will immediately pro- 
cure them.’ Now I apprehend this case might 
be multiplied by a thousand or more. Can we 
wonder, then, that a youth who never heard the 
word agriculture at school, and who is seldom 
or never sent into different districts to be taught 
agriculture as a science, should go home to his 
parent, and follow his plan of farming, be it 
good, bad or indifferent. In all other trades and 
professions an apprenticeship is considered es- 
sential to the acquirement of knowledge; but 
farming, the most necessary ot all trades, is to 
be left to chance, or rather mischance. A sys- 
tem of uniformity is essential in making a hat, 
coat, orshoes; there are established education- 
al rules for the church and the bar and the se- 
nate ; but agriculture, the greatest interest ol all, 
on which cur very existence depends, economi- 
cally and politically, is to be like a ship without 
a compass, tossed about by the ever-varying gale 
of individual opinion, without a hope ol reach- 
ing the port of Perfection. Were a youth ever 
so much inclined to furnish his mind wdth com- 
parisons and observations ot the various sys- 
tems of culture in our own different counties, 
as well as in foreign climes, there is under the 
present school system, no opportunity for his 
doing so; and no doubt he wmuld be surprised 
if tofd that we are a century at least behind the 
Chinese in agricultural practice. 1 hope we 
shall soon see every school, and, in fact, every 
farmer’s parlor, possessing a Tew sound practi- 
cal works on agriculture. I presume no man 
will consider he knows every thing in agricul- 
ture — if he does, it is unfortunate for him. Lit- 
tle as I am acquainted wdth the subject, I am 
fully convinced that it is full of interest, and of 
such extent that a lifetime of study and prac- 
tice M'ould find us on the wrong side of perfec- 
tion.” 
The Lazy Fever. 
A correspondent of the American Agricultu- 
rist has furnished for that paper a recipe for the 
cure ot that most pestilent disease known as the 
lazy fever, and sometimes the slow fever, copied 
from “The Breviary of Health, by Andrew 
Boorde, Physicke Doctoure— Anno 1557.” We 
copy the recipe for the benefit of such of our 
readers as may happen to have about them per- 
sons afflicted with this horrible disease, that are 
worth curing : 
“The 151 chapitre doth showe of an evyll 
fever, the which doth cumber yonge persons, 
and named the fever burden or lazy fever. * 
* * * Tbys fever doth come naturally, or 
else by evyll and slouthful brynging upp. If it 
doth come by nature, then it is incurable ; for it 
can never bee gotten out of the bone that is bred 
in the fleshe. If it be by slouthful brynging upp, 
it may be holpen by dylligent labour. There 
is nothing for the fever burden so good as un- 
guenlum baculinum ; that is, lake a sticke or 
wand, a yard of length and more, and let it be 
as great as a man’s fynger ; and wyth it anoynt 
the back and shoulders well, morning and eve- 
ning, and doe thys 21 dayes — and if thys lever 
wyll not be holpen in that tyme, let them 
beware of waggynge on the gallowes. And 
whyles they do take tbys medicine, put no lub- 
berwort in theyre pottage.” 
Communicated for the Cultivator. 
A Table of the Weather. 
The following article is from the pen of the 
celebrated Dr. Adam Clarke, foretelling the 
weather through all the lunations of each year, 
for ever. 
M’n 
TIME OP CHANGES. 
IN^SUMMER. 
Between midnight ) 
and 2 o’clock in 1 
Fair | 
the morning. j 
Between 2 and 4 } 
Cold with fre-( 
in the morning. \ 
quent show’s! 
Between 4and 6 a.m. 
Rain 
a? oj 
Between 6 and 8 “ 
Wind & rain.; 
CD g 
Between 8 and 10 “ 
Changeable.. ; 
& D 
a 
Between lOand 12 “ 
i Frequent ? ; 
j showers. ( ; 
Between 12 o’cl’ck ? 
at noon & 2 P M. 5 
Very rainy.. .; 
O tf 
Between 2 and 4 P M. 
Changeable.. 
1 ° 
Between 4 and 6 “ 
Fair 
^ F 
a £ 
Between 6 and 8 “ 
f Fair ifwind 
1 IS VV. ; rainy 
] if S. orSW'.J 
*-< kj 
Z 
Between Sand 10 “ 
Ditto. ; 
Between 10 and 12 “ 
Fair 
IN WINTER. 
C Hard frost, 
r unless wind 
( be S. or W. 
i Snow and 
r stormy, 
llain. 
Stormy. 
C Cold rain if 
(wind West, 
( snow if East 
t C o 1 d and 
\ high wind. 
Snow or rain. 
Fair and mild. 
Fair. 
('Fdir& frosty 
I if wind N. or 
■{ N.E.; rai n or 
I snow if S. 
I^or S.West . 
Fair & frosty. 
Observations — 1st. The nearer the time of the 
Moon’s change, first quarter, full and last quarter are 
to midnight the fairer will the weather be during the 
seven days following. 
2. The space for this calculation occupies from 10 at 
night ’till 2 next morning. 
3. The nearer to midday or noon the phases of the 
moon happen, the more wet weather may be expected 
during the next seven days. 
4. The space of this calculation occupies from 10 in 
the forenoon to 2 in the afternoon. These observations 
refer principally to the Summer, though they afl'ect 
Spring and Autumn. 
5. The moon’s change, first quarter, full and last 
quarter, happening during six of the afternoon hours, 
i. e. from 4 to 10, may be followed by fair weather, but 
this mostly dependent on the wind, as noted in Table. 
6. Though the weather, from a variety of irregular 
causes, is more uncertain in the latter part of Au umn, 
the hole of Winter and the beginning of Spring, yet 
in the mam, the above observations will apply to those 
periods also. 
7. To prognosticate correctly, especially in those 
cases where the wind is concerned, the observer 
should be within sight of a good vane, where the Four 
Cardinal Points of the Heavens are correctly placed ; 
with this precaution, he will scarcely ever be deceived 
in depending on the Table. 
Useful DirectioHs. 
Britannia ware should be first rubbed gently 
with a woollen cloth and sweet oil, then washed 
in warm suds and rubbed with soTt leather and 
whiting. Thus treated it will retain its beauty 
to the last. 
New iron should be very gradually heated at 
first ; after it has become inured to the heat, it is 
not as likely to crack. 
It is a good plan to put new earthen ware into 
cold water, and let it heatgradually until it boils 
— then cool again. Brown earthen ware, par- 
ticularly, may be toughened in this way. A 
handful of rye or wheat bran thrown in while it 
is boiling, will preserve the glazing, so that it 
will not be destroyed by acid or salt. 
The oftener carpets are shaken the longer 
they will wear ; the dirt that collects under them 
grinds out the threads. 
If you wish to preserve fine teelh, always clean 
them thoroughly alter you have eaten your last 
meal at night. 
