AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
335 
What Air do you Breathe ? 
Is it the hot, impure air of a close, unventilated 
room, or the pure air of heaven 1 Much is said, 
and truthfully, of the superior vigor of our moth¬ 
ers and grandmothers over wives and mothers of 
the present day. It would be interesting to know, 
how much of this is due to the kind of rooms 
they stay in—they can not be said to live in such 
habitations. It cannot be denied, that many farm¬ 
houses, as now constructed, are unfavorable to 
health. They are more “ comfortable” than those 
of our fathers, and have many more conveniences 
and elegancies, but in one particular, at least, 
they are less conducive to the preservation of 
health. The old-fashioned farm-house had low 
ceilings, it is true, but then it had large rooms, es¬ 
pecially the kitchen, and it had a broad, open fire¬ 
place, making abundant ventilation. The doors 
and windows, too, were not so scrupulously tight 
at the joints, as though the external air were poi¬ 
sonous and must be shut out. The moderns 
walled up our fire-places, listed every crack, and 
then put into them huge, air-tight stoves. Then 
we have sat down in our “ comfortable ” rooms, 
expecting to enjoy good health ! 
It is no wonder that farmers’ families, every¬ 
where, are becoming less robust every year. Tbe 
men , who are out of doors most of the time, suf¬ 
fer comparatively little injury j but the females, 
confined as they are, day and night, to these close 
apartments, are growing pale, and sallow, and 
nervous, and are breaking down prematurely. 
Every one should look at this matter, and, if pos¬ 
sible, apply a remedy. A partial one, at least, is 
easily obtained. Make an opening in your fire¬ 
place, as large as a stove-pipe, and another in 
tbe chimney-breast, near the ceiling, for the es¬ 
cape of foul and over-heated air. Then, to supply 
the room with fresh air, and to promote a good 
circulation, attach springs or pulleys to the upper 
sashes of your windows, so that they can be 
dropped a few inches from the top. It is well to 
hang a curtain before the opening, to prevent too 
sudden drafts of air upon the occupants of the 
room. This, or some other contrivance for intro¬ 
ducing fresh, air, and carrying off the impure, will 
do much to promote the health and comfort of our 
families. 
New Remedy against Rats and Mice. 
A correspondent of an exchange paper is over¬ 
joyed at an accidental discovery he has made of 
a means to repel rats and mice from his houses. 
For many years past, he says that he had shelled 
his corn by hand—a very slow process. Last 
Fall, he purchased a corn-sheller, and was well 
pleased, not only with the dispatch it gave to his 
business, but also with the effect of its music on 
his rats and mice. It charmed them all away ! 
Formerly, they had infested his corn-house and 
dwelling ; and all the Yankee traps he had set for 
them, and all the French antidotes he had baited 
them with, had failed to subdue them. But the 
music of his new corn-sheller banished them en¬ 
tirely from his premises ! As the sagacious coon 
succumbed to the Kentucky hunter before he shot, 
so these varmints heard in the corn-sheller the 
march of improvement on that farm, and made 
off into some more old fogy region. 
That will do. 
Much coin, much care—much meat, much mal¬ 
ady. 
Party is the madness of many for the gain of 
few. 
$»ure religion is the very foundation of peace, 
Plant Potato Balls. 
The success which has attended the cultiva¬ 
tion of seedling potatoes leads us to anticipate 
better days for this indispensable crop. Seed¬ 
lings, originating from whatever stock, are al¬ 
most always stronger and less liable to rot than 
their parents. They rarely equal them in their 
good qualities. For some reason which we are 
not able to define, every variety of potato seems 
to increase its proportion of starch, the longer it 
is cultivated. The black Mercer, which fifteen 
years ago was raised mainly for stock, is now an 
excellent late keeping variety, and by some is 
preferred to all others for Spring use. A seedling 
that is productive, hardy, and every way desirable, 
except in quality, should be kept a few years be¬ 
fore it is discarded. If only one in a hundred 
proves desirable, it will amply pay the amateur 
for all the time he spends, in propagating new 
varieties. 
The process is so simple that any man of ordi¬ 
nary intelligence can raise seedlings. We have 
sometimes found Nature attending to this busi¬ 
ness herself, without human agency. Where the 
vines have been thrown in a heap, in the Fall, the 
seed is sometimes washed out of the balls, and 
falls into the soft mold beneath, and survives the 
Winter. The balls may be gathered any time 
after the vines are mature, and the seed he wash¬ 
ed and dried, and laid away for Spring planting. 
A gentle hot-bed, covered three or four inches 
deep with a very fine soft mold, is much the best 
to start them in, though they can be planted in 
the open soil, without difficulty. But the forcing 
gives you the plants early, and you can frequent¬ 
ly get potatoes of the size of a hen’s egg the first 
Summer; you can determine the character of 
some of them the first season. Select the most 
promising and hardy for seed and keep sifting 
them down for four or five years, and you will 
probably find one or more varieties that will be 
worth disseminating. 
This crop is so essential in every household 
that it has claims upon every intelligent cultiva¬ 
tor for these experiments. Save a few balls, and 
raise seedlings. 
- — —- »—- 
Keeping Cabbages. 
There are a variety of good methods of keep¬ 
ing them for family use. Storing them in the 
house cellar is the worst. It is always too warm 
for them, the outer leaves drop off, they crack 
open and rot, making an unpleasant odor from 
cellar to garret. Better throw litter over them 
and let them stand in the garden, than to do this. 
Where you want to keep them only a few weeks 
the heads may be cut off and put in a common 
flour barrel, sunk half way in the earth. The 
top of the barrel should be kept as closely cov¬ 
ered as possible to prevent changes in the tem¬ 
perature inside. The heads will bear a very 
hard freezing, if the frost is drawn out gradually. 
They may be kept in a trench laying the heads 
upon a board in the bottom, and covering with 
earth a foot deep or more. The objection to this 
method is, that they are inaccessible, when the 
ground is frozen hard. 
The best method, on the whole, is heeling them 
in, on the north side of a fence or building, where 
they will have as little sun as possible. 
Dig a trench a foot deep by the fence, the 
length proportioned to the number of cabbages 
you desire to store. Put in the cabbages, and 
cover roots and stumps with earth, making a 
second trench for a second row of heads, and so 
square they are left, the less it will take to cover 
them. Place rails or small poles over them, so 
that they shall not rest on the head'-, and r 
with any old straw or litter, a foo' deep, h mild 
weather ventilate. By removing the litier you 
can always get at the heads, and remove few or 
many as suits your convenience. Some market 
gardeners keep their cabbages in this wav until 
April. 
--—• -—«B---- 
Storing Roots 
The beets should go in first. The crowns are 
more sensitive to frost than other roots, and the 
sooner they are in after the first of the month the 
better. If once frozen, they will soon decay. 
Mangel wurtzel should also be stored early, and 
put in the bottom of the bin, where they will not 
be wanted before January or February. They 
keep well, and do not scour the cattle, when fed 
out late. The white carrots, growing out of the 
ground, should be gathered before ground freezes 
The yellow varieties may be left until the middle 
or last of the month. Turnips come in last—arv 
time before Winter sets in. If the weather h 
mild they will add a good deal to their weight ta 
the first half of November. 
In our eli'mate, a root room, under the barn, or 
adjoining it, well protected against frost, and w. 11 
ventilated, is the best storehouse. It will pay as 
well as a barn for the protection of hay. 
About Weeds. 
Notwithstanding our advice, oft-repeated 
during the Summer, we see that all the weeds in 
the country were not exterminated during the 
growing season! Hosts of them still stand 
proudly, in potato patches and corn fields, and by 
the side of fences everywhere. Some of them 
have not shed their seeds, and may yet be cut 
down. Others are biennial plants, or perennials, 
propagated by the roots, and will have to be pul¬ 
led or dug up. Now, before the ground freezes, 
let one more grand assault be made upon them. 
If left untouched, they will reproduce their kind 
by thousands next year, and add ten fold to the 
care and labor. Let, then, every leisure hour be 
devoted, this month, to a war upon weeds, dig¬ 
ging and burning them. 
-— -——- 
Young Fruit Trees in Autumn- 
Many trees set out within the past two years, 
have not made a satisfactory growth. This has 
been owing, undoubtedly, to the hasty and imper¬ 
fect manner in which they were planted, or to 
the neglect they have suffered since. This very 
month of November is a good time to commence 
restoring the vigor of these trees. At once, he- 
fore winter sets in, cart some old, well-rotted ma¬ 
nure into the young orchard, dropping small 
heaps—say, about a bushel, each—at the foot of 
every tree. Take off part of the soil from the 
roots, spread the manure equally over the whole, 
and mix it in with the earth, leaving the ground 
loose for the winter. Be sure to feed the extrem¬ 
ities of the roots; there is no use putting th-e 
manure around the trunk of the tree. The spon- 
gioles are the mouths of the tree, and the food 
should be put within their reach, at the ends of 
the roots. This treatment will give the tree new 
vigor iq the next growing season. 
Of the importance of heaping little mounds of 
dirt around the trunk for the winter, our readers 
are doubtless well informed. This is the best 
possible preventive of the attacks of mice. This 
op, until the whole is finished, The nearer 
hillock is to be removed, of course,, in the Spring 
