118 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
married five years. He keeps a horse and car¬ 
riage, and hires one of the best pews in church, 
and pays forty dollars a year for it, while we 
never could afford to pay more than ten dollars, 
and have to go to meeting in the same buggy 
we have ridden in for twenty years. What is 
the use of trying to be a farmer’s wife, or trying 
to be any thing at all, when the business don’t 
sustain you in it 
“ The house and farm is paid for, I suppose ?” 
“Yes, thank fortune, it is. And that is the only 
handsome thing about it. We have always gone 
upon the principle of paying as we go; except 
in the matter of buying land. I told David 
when I married him, that I couldn’t sleep o’ 
nights if he run in debt much, and that he need 
not get in debt ■ t all on my account. So lie has 
bought his farm Oy piecemeal, except the build¬ 
ings, and the first sixty acres. He has added a 
hundred and forty five since, and has paid near¬ 
ly ten thousand dollars for land, besides what 
he has spent on the buildings. But if he had 
been a merchant, like Col. Humphrey, he might 
have made as much again money, and been a 
great deal more thought of by his neighbors. 
Why Mrs. Humphrey told me, that her hus¬ 
band had an income of twenty five hundred 
dollars a year, and the most we ever sold from 
the farm, was last year, when it did not quite 
come up to nineteen hundred dollars. And then 
we have to pay so much for labor. Why 
David’s labor bills, last year, came to over five 
hundred dollars, and the most of it in cash. It 
is very poor business.” 
“ I do not suppose you have any bank account ?” 
“Well, yes, we have. But we did not make 
that by farming exactly. I had three thousand 
dollars when I was married, in bank stock, and 
I guess it has not grown any smaller. David has 
used the dividends in his business, but the prin¬ 
cipal has never been touched. But what is the 
use of having money laid up, if your business is 
not prosperous enough to allow you to use it ? 
Col. Humphrey’s wife can spend money, but I 
can’t. Her name is out on every subscription 
paper that comes along. She figures large in 
the Ladies Benevolent Society, gives whole cuts 
of cloth to the Home Missionaries, and, the oth¬ 
er day, she launched out with ten dollars for 
the starving in Kansas. I wasn’t able to give 
but two dollars. I suppose some folks would 
call it stinginess, but I always told David that 
we must cut our coat according to the cloth. 
We farmers,-who have to work hard for our 
living, can’t expect to live in such style, or figure 
so high on subscription lists, as merchants who 
have an income of twenty five hundred a year, 
all clear profit, and made standing behind a 
counter, and using a yard stick and scales. That 
business pays.” 
“ I don’t suppose you have any family ?” 
“ Family! Just look in the other room there. 
I am the mother of eight children, and the old¬ 
est is only eighteen, and he is in college. If it 
wasn’t for the children, I should have been dead 
long ago. The farm is a pretty gc od place to 
bring up a family, so far as making the children 
healthy and well behaved is concerned. But as 
I was saying, it is no place to make money. 
My children so far have got along without much 
sickness, doctor’s bills very light, thank fortune. 
We have pretty good schools at home, but Bet¬ 
sey, my oldest girl, took it into her head that 
she must go to the Seminary, and that costs us 
three hundred dollars a year, all in clean cash. 
The education of the children, you see, takes off 
the profits, and when the year comes around, we 
haven’t much left. It. is very poor business in¬ 
deed, sir, and you will need two lanterns, I guess, 
to find a farmer that is making any money.” 
The ‘other room,’ that Mrs. Grimes spoke of, 
was a very pleasant sitting room, used also as a 
nursery. The children, six of whom were at 
home, were as pretty a group as you will find 
in any other calling. Mrs. Col. Humphrey, 
probably, could not boast of any thing more 
charming. They were well dressed, well be¬ 
haved, and growing up with all the advantages 
of a New England education. Each one of the 
group will cost their parents on a moderate esti¬ 
mate, two thousand dollars, by the time they 
have reached adult years, and are ready for the 
responsibilities of life; and all these bills, 
amounting to sixteen thousand dollars, will be 
paid for out of the profits of the farm, in a pe¬ 
riod of thirty years, leaving the farm in better 
condition, and worth more at the close than at 
the beginning. And yet, Mrs. Grimes is disatis- 
fied with her lot, and thinks farming is a poor 
business, because her bank stock has not quad¬ 
rupled in value. Her sons and daughters will 
fill honorable positions in society, and will prob¬ 
ably be better men and women than the chil¬ 
dren brought up in affluence. Verily there is no 
accounting for tastes, I thought, as I bid Mrs. 
Grimes good morning, and she added to her 
adieu: “ It is a very poor business, sir.” 
“Frosted” Feet. 
Chilblains, or “frosted” feet as they are 
usually termed, are too well known to need par¬ 
ticular description. It is not necessary that the 
feet be actually frozen to produce this difficulty ; 
exposure to cold, particularly with persons 
mostly engaged indoors, will cause it. Woolen 
socks are usually worn in Winter, which keep 
the feet unnecessarily warm while in the house. 
This makes them tender, and also causes free 
perspiration to dampen the socks, and cold is 
more sensibly felt when going out of doors. We 
have observed that persons habitually wearing 
India rubbers or other waterproof material, 
are most subject to chilblains: the confined 
perspiration may have an irritating effect upon 
the skin, in addition to the influence of cold. 
The wearing of light slippers while in the house, 
or changing the socks before going out, would 
tend to prevent chilblains. To cure them, va¬ 
rious remedies are prescribed, as bathing the 
feet with alcohol, turpentine, or burning fluid, 
which is a mixture of the two. Mr. Henry 
Hawk, Blair Co., Pa., recommends an applica¬ 
tion of common tar, which he says he has proved 
effectual. Spread the tar thickly on a cloth, and 
let it remain on the affected part an hour or two. 
Two or three applications may be needed for a 
cure. It is easily tried. Having no use for the 
remedy, we can not speak from experience. * 
--- -——■ ► •-- 
About Feather Beds. 
The doctors agree pretty well in the opinion 
that feathers are not the best material for filling 
beds; but the people do not very generally agree 
with them. Probably the doctors are right, 
when they tell us that soft beds are enervating, 
making the body effeminate; that the animal 
effluvia arising from feathers, though slight, is 
injurious; and that, except in the intensest cold 
of Winter, the body is kept too warm by them, 
for health. Nevertheless, while geese are reared, 
and feathers make a comfortable bed, people will 
continue to use them, and live and grow old, 
-despite the doctors; though there is no doub 
that it would contribute to health and comfort, 
if feathers were entirely discarded, and hair, or 
husk, or even straw mattresses, wholly substi¬ 
tuted. No one having slept for six months or 
so on a good mattress—long enough to over¬ 
come his prejudice in favor of feathers—would 
willingly go back to the latter. 
Some of the objections to feathers may be ob¬ 
viated by proper care. Let them not be used 
until Winter fairly commences, and put them 
aside very early in Spring; otherwise they will 
soon become impregnated with exhalations from 
the skin, caused by the heat they excite,' and be 
rendered unfit for use. For the same reason 
they should be thoroughly aired every day whim 
in use. Many have a second tick filled with 
straw, or what is better, husks reduced to shreds, 
which is placed above the feather bed in wa rn 
weather, and under it in Winter; in either case, 
it is essential to frequently beat up and air the 
feathers. 
After years of service, the best kept feathers 
lose much of their elasticity, become matted to¬ 
gether, and are scarcely superior to straw. By 
proper treatment, much of their original excel¬ 
lence may be restored. The best plan is to give 
them a thorough steaming in a tight box, and 
with a proper apparatus to beat them thorough¬ 
ly until dry and light. Nearly the same results 
can be obtained without expensive apparatus. 
Put the feathers in a barrel with hot suds, and 
pound them as you would clothing. Change 
the suds twice, and pound well each time—the 
water will show how much dust and other offen¬ 
sive matter they have accumulated. Then rinse 
them in two waters, place them part at a time 
in a sheet or other cloth, wring them a3 dry as 
may be, and spread them on the garret floor. 
Give them a good whipping every day with a 
rattan or other slender rod, for a week or more, 
until they are completely dry, and lie up loose 
like new feathers. * 
Good Whitewash, for Indoors. 
At the request of many subscribers who have 
not read the previous volumes of the Agricul¬ 
turist ., we here republish the directions given 
two years since for the best whitewash we have 
ever used. For a moderate sized house, say 
8 rooms, about 33 lbs. Paris white, and 1 lb. 
best white glue are needed. Dissolve the glue 
in hot "water ; also make a thick wash with 
the Paris white and hot water, and add the dis¬ 
solved glue and sufficient water to make the 
wash of the proper consistence. As the mass 
stiffens over night, it is better to mix each morn¬ 
ing what is wanted during the day. If left over 
night, warm, or add hot water to make it limpid. 
The Paris white is chalk cleansed from its 
impurities, and is only a very pure whiting— 
better than is ordinarily used for making putty. 
We use the Cooper glue, which is considered 
the best here, but any good white glue will 
answer. It costs here 50 cents per lb. at retail, 
and the Paris white 3 cents per lb. Both articles 
can be obtained in almost every city or village. 
The above makes an excellent whitewash, 
clean and white, and not easily rubbed off. Its 
first cost is more than lime wash, but it is dura¬ 
ble, and for nice rooms it is far preferable. 
To Stop Bleeding. —Asa Kemper, Ross Co., 
O., writes to the American Agriculturist , that 
bleeding from a wound on man or beast, may be 
stopped by a mixture of wheat flour and com¬ 
mon salt, in equal parts, bound on with a cloth. 
