54 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Fkbruahy, 
of all ils draw-hacks. And I stand up for that 
old stand-hy, our apples. I don’t wonder that our 
forefathers cultivated them. The trees are easy 
to raise, and the fruit is good for man and heast, 
and not the least for swine, a race not apt to 
relish, or to thrive on unsubstantial fare. As fruit 
now sells, my orchard is about the best part of 
my farm. Mr. Editor, how long do apple-trees 
live, on an average 1 
Editor.— I cati’t speak with certainty. Some 
say it takes twenty or thirty years to bring a tree 
to its full maturity, and that then it lives about 
as much longer, making in all about sixty years. 
Yet, I have heard of apple-trees over a hundred 
years old. Still, I am inclined to believe that the 
average life of a tree is not above fifty years. 
Probably most of the orchards now living were 
planted since the Revolution ; and probably the 
kinds of apples which are now our favorites, 
were not such as regaled the palates of our great¬ 
grandfathers. 
Fanner. —What do you mean 1 Did'nt Miles 
Standish and Governor Bradford and others, 
great and small, eat Baldwins and Russets and 
Newtown Pippins 1 Pd like to know. 
Editor. —1 can’t tell you, sir, from history. 
But if a certain theory of some learned pomolo- 
gists is true, no variety of apple lasts longer, on 
an average, than fifty or sixty years, but runs 
out. The pear holds out longer. 
Farmer. —Please explain that humbug. 
Editor.— Humbug it may be ; but many sensi¬ 
ble men have held to it. Thomas Andrew Knight, 
of England, is generally considered the author of 
the doctrine that cultivated varieties of fruit 
have only a limited period of life. Trees very 
favorably situated and well managed, might 
live beyond that period, but the majority would 
die at the allotted time. He thence drew another 
doctrine, viz : that all buds or cions taken from 
one tree and inserted in another, are only exten¬ 
sions of the original tree, and can not outlive it. 
To all lovers of fine fruit, this is an unpleasant 
theory, and many writers reject, it. 
Farmer .—What is your private opinion about 
■t, sir 1 
Editor .—Perhaps, I havn’t fully made up my 
mind. It certainly has some very stubborn facts 
on ils side. As long as fruit trees sicken and die 
off, annually, as they now do, people will believe 
it. And if it is true, all we have to do is to keep 
on sowing seeds of fruit, and so raise new and 
good varieties to'replace those which die out. 
And we needn't be discouraged after originating 
such apples as the Rhode Island Greening, Eso- 
pus Spitzenberg, Northern Spy, King, Melon, etc , 
and such pears as the Buffum, Dix, Lawrence, 
Tyson, and Seekel. 
But then, perhaps this theory is not correct. If 
T had lime I could say as much against it as for 
it. But I must go now. 
-- "* *---- - «-- 
Familiar Talks by the Doctor'...II- 
M u. Editor. —Thanks for your kind introduction 
of me to your readers. No doubt you are correct 
in saying that, as a class, farmers are more 
healthy than many, perhaps most others. Still 
they do suffer unnecessarily from ill health, and 
my hope is to enable some of your readers to 
avoid that suffering. 
Overwork—doing too much—going beyond one’s 
strength in bodily labor, is a very prolific cause of 
ill health among farmers. The reason I suppose 
o be this, that no class is so greatly tempted to 
do too much. There are certain limits to the 
strength of any man, and these limits are very 
different for different met). It is jio disgrace to 
you that you are not as strong as Samson, and it 
is no disgrace to me that I am not as strong as 
many a broad-shouldered six-footer whom I meet. 
He can load a tun of hay or lift a big hog, better 
than I—but I can judge of a person’s pulse, or 
perform a surgical operation, better than he.— 
This is no disgrace to either of us, and I should 
be as unwise if I attempted to rival him in loading 
hay, as he'would be to try to rival me in removing 
a tumor. 
I dwell on this point because it will be easier 
for your readers to see by this illustration that 
there are very great differences in the ability of 
different people to do the same work, than if I 
had simply compared two farmers The feeling 
is very common too that it is rather a shame for 
a man not to be able to do as much as his neigh¬ 
bor.—This feeling is perhaps of no consequence 
in itself, but it leads to results that are, from my 
point of view, of great importance in their influence 
upon the health. Thus, if a man who weighs 
130 lbs and is of moderate muscular development, 
has heard his neighbor tvho weighs 160 lbs, and 
has large strong muscles, say that he can load a 
tun of hay in a certain time, be is very apt to 
attempt to do the same thing in the same time, 
so that he may not be thought inferior to his neigh¬ 
bor. The result may be that he makes himself 
an invalid for the rest of his life. Or a farmer 
may employ a band to help him during haying, 
and insist on “ keeping out of his way” when they 
are mowing together. It requires immense 
exertion, but he does it, his ambition making up 
whatever deficiency there may be in strength. 
This gratification is, however, dearly paid for by 
the years of ill health which may follow a single 
effort of this kind. 
The illustration which I use in talking directly 
to men of such things is this. If you have two 
valuable horses, one of which weighs 800 lbs, and 
the other 1100 lbs, would you risk injuring the 
lighter one by setting him to draw a load which 
is full as much as the heavier one can pull 1 Or, 
if the one that weighs 800 lbs can travel 10 miles 
in an hour easily, and the speed of the other is 
fairly rated at 8 miles an hour, would you attempt 
to make the large one always go 10 miles in the 
hour! Well, overwork is just as likely to damage 
you as your horse, and perhaps more likely to, 
and if you will not risk your horse—why do you 
risk yourself 1 
The contrast is still more striking when you 
remember that a hot day in June or July is just 
the day when you are particularly careful not to 
drive your horse too fast, or with too heavy a 
load, and yet it is just the day in which you will 
be most apt to over-exert yourself, especially if 
you are haying. Many a man takes better care 
of his horse, because it has a money value, than 
he does of himself, when a whole family may 
depend for their comfort on him. 
But there is another way of farmers over¬ 
working themselves, which is still more common, 
in many respects more injurious than that which 
I have described. I mean by always having a 
little less help in carrying on their farm than they 
need. Thus if a farmer needs four men to carry 
on his farm, and he never hires but three, the 
consequence is that he will he constantly doing 
more than his strength is equal to. His men will 
not, as a general thing, do more than a fair day’s 
work, (no one does for hire), and they ought not 
to be blamed for it. But the deficiency must be 
made up in the main by the farmer himself. It 
is not a month since I was consulted by a young 
man who lias probably made himself an invalid 
for the rest of his life in precisely this way. 
Does any one want to know what the effects 
of overwork are. Let him try overworking his 
cattle or his horses for a year, and he will see 
some of the effects, for they are not always the 
same. I shall not attempt here to describe them, 
but every one may rely upon it, that if he 
continues to do more than he his able, he will 
have to pay for it. If you have an iron consti¬ 
tution, remember that iron will not bear every 
thing. If it is broken, it may be patched up, but 
not made as good as new. 
Now it remains^for me to add, that if we are 
poor and unable to obtain all tbe assistance we 
need, we must all often overwork ourselves.— 
Of course, in such a case we are compelled to run 
the risk of whatever results may follow. But 
this is one of the evils of poverty. There is how¬ 
ever no such excuse for a man who overworks 
himself without such necessity. For the sake of 
making a few dollars more, he ruins his health, 
which no money can restore. Doctors know 
what the value of health is, and let me tell any 
one of your readers, Mr. Editor, who with the 
new year is making his plans to save a hundred 
or two of dollars by working his farm with a less 
number of hands than he needs, that he had bet¬ 
ter throw that amount of money into the fire and 
then get all the assistance necessary to avoid 
overwork. 
But, I have something more to say on this 
point, and only add now, that if your Horse is 
able to go 10 miles an hour, but is not inclined to 
go at a faster rate than 5 miles an hour, there is 
no harm in whipping him. So too, I trust, no 
lazy man will make an excuse of what I have 
said, to do less than he is able. P. H. E. 
Save the Coal Ashes- 
Those who use hard coal, lose a large amount 
of fuel in the unconsumed portions thrown out in 
the ashes. The ashes themselves arc well worth 
saving to put upon the garden or field. They 
are alkaline, and act similarly to lime, or wood 
ashes, and though much less 
powerful, they are well worth 
preserving. Sifting out the ash¬ 
es is, however, a disagreeable 
job, and is apt to be neglected. 
We have now a simple, cheap 
apparatus which is effective, and 
saves all the annoyance of dust— 
called “Adams’Coal Sifter.” It 
consists of a circular iron hoop 
forming a cylinder, say 5 inches 
deep and 16 inches in diameter, 
fitted,with a strong barred sieve 
at the bottom. This is fastened to a shaft which is 
hung through a circular board, and is furnished 
with handles above. The board is laid upon the 
top of a common barrel, and the iron sieve swings 
down inside. The cinders are poured in through a 
trap door which is then closed, and by turning 
the handles back and forward rapidily, the ashes 
fall through into the bottom of the barrel. Tbe 
apparatus is then lifted off the coal poured out, 
and the sieve returned for a new charge. Tbe 
barrel can thus be nearly filled up with fine ash¬ 
es before emptying it. Tbe apparatus can be 
carried home in the hand readily, and fitted to the 
top of any barrel. It is made strong and durable, 
and costs but a couple of dollars or ©2.25. Its con¬ 
venience, cheapness, and freedom from dust, 
make it a desirable addition to the household 
implements. 
He who seldom thinks of heaven, is not likely 
to get there, as the way to hit a mark is to keep 
the eye fixed upon it.— Home. 
The hard stool ol repentance has no cushion. 
