THE CULTIVATOR. 
161 
be too much pressed down. When this has been done, 
water is to be poured very gradually into each of the 
funnels, and it will rise up as it does in a piece of lump 
sugar into the dry soil, as may be seen through the glass. 
The more rapidly the water is seen to rise the better 
will be the texture of the soil. 
I shall next turn the attention of the beginner to the 
changes which food, taken up by the spongelets, or suck¬ 
ers, of roots, undergoes in the different parts of the in¬ 
terior of the plant, a subject which is usually termed 
physiology , though the original meaning of this word is 
merely a “ discourse or treatise on nature.” As I believe 
the term is well understood, I shall employ it here. 
A Table 
For foretelling the Weather throughout all the Lunations 
of each year, forever. 
This table and the accompanying remarks are the re¬ 
sult of many years actual observation, the whole being 
constructed on a due consideration of the attraction of 
the sun and moon, in their several positions respecting 
the earth, and will, by a simple inspection, show the 
observer what kind of weather will most probably fol¬ 
low the entrance of the moon into any of its quarters, 
and that so near the truth as to be seldom or never found 
OBSERVATIONS. 
1. 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 foul or wet weather may be ex¬ 
pected during the next seven days. 
4. The space for this calculation occupies from 10 in 
the forenoon to 2 in the afternoon. These observations 
refer principally to the summer, though they affect spring 
and autumn nearly in the same ratio. 
5. The moon’s change, first quarter, full and last quar¬ 
ter, happening during six of the afternoon hours, i. e. 
from 4 to 10, may be allowed by fair weather; but this 
is mostly dependent on the wind, as noted in the table. 
6. Though the weather, from a variety of irregular 
causes, is more uncertain in the latter part of autumn, 
the whole winter, and the beginning of spring, yet in the 
main, the above observations will apply to those periods 
also. 
7. To prognosticate correctly, especially in those ca¬ 
ses 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 depend¬ 
ing on the table.— Dr. Adam Clarke. 
Preserving Roots. 
[From the Yankee Farmer.'] 
Every person that has a family should lay in a good 
stock of roots for winter, whether he raises them or not; 
if he raise them, the best should be selected in the fall 
and properly preserved; and if he has to purchase them, 
then he should do it while they are in good condition, 
and save them well, instead of buying them after they 
have lost much of theiirgood qualities, as is the case 
when they are saved without proper attention. 
Beets, carrots, turnips, parsnips, &c. are often put into 
Ihe cellar without any protection from the air, and they 
soon become dry and poor, or they may be put in large 
Piles in a warm cellar and heat, and thus become poor, 
ihese roots of the proper shape and quality, should be 
selected very soon after they are dug, and saved in pure 
earth or sand. If there be a convenient place to lay 
them on the ground in a bin, or corner of the cellar, in 
small quantities, they may be saved well by covering 
them well with earth ; if the quantity of roots be large, 
there should be alternate layers of roots and earth. If 
it be convenient, it is as well to put the roots in a close 
box or cask, first a layer of earth, then one of roots, 
and a good covering of earth on top. Either of these 
methods may be followed, as most convenient. The roots 
are best saved by being embedded closely in earth and 
having enough to cover them to prevent its drying readily. 
When roots are covered with earth, they may be sav¬ 
ed in a cooler cellar than when exposed, as they will be 
much less liable to freeze, and when thus protected they 
keep better where it is tolerably cool. Any pure earth, 
having only a common degree of moisture, is good for 
saving roots, and will answer about as well as sand if 
it be fine so that it willrun down closely and cover them. 
A person living in a city and having only a garden spot, 
can generally getgood earth for this purpose, by remov¬ 
ing the top as far as it has been cultivated and taking 
up the pure soil below. 
Most farmers have good cellars in which they can lay 
their potatoes on the earth, and by keeping their cellars 
shut close and free from light, they usually save their 
potatoes well without covering them, but they must not 
infer from this that other roots may be kept well in the 
same manner, for as they are more liable to injury from 
being dried and exposed to air, they should be protected 
with more care. 
We have known good turnips and beets become very 
poor in a few months, when with proper care in laying 
them down in earth they might have been kept perfectly 
good till warm weather. We had some early garden 
stone turnips last fall, which kind is of as transient du¬ 
ration as any kind cultivated ; we put them in a barrel 
with layers of earth, and they were excellent the first 
of May; they continued good till the warm weather 
caused them to grow. 
Most persons that raise parsnips let them remain in 
the ground till spring, and then they can have only a 
few messes before they begin to grow; instead of this 
way, a part should be dug and put in the cellar, packed in 
earth, that they may be used as wanted through the win¬ 
ter. 
The best roots for eating are of a small or middling 
size; the large ones should be given to stock. Turnips 
that were sown late and have acquired only one third or 
one half the usual size, are of a much better quality 
for present use, and they keep far better than those 
that have a full growth. 
There is generally time enough to raise turnips for 
winter use after digging early potatoes. Some of suf¬ 
ficient size were raised in that way last year, and we 
have seen some this season that have already attained a 
good size for eating, on ground that has produced a crop 
of potatoes; and they will probably grow a month or 
more yet. 
Receipt for Curing Pork anti Hams. 
[From the Farmers’ Cabinet.] 
As soon as the pork becomes cool, I cut and sort it, 
taking great care to have the tubs perfectly sweet and 
clean. In cutting, I take out all the spare ribs, and make 
pickled pork of all the side between the ham and the 
shoulders; cutting it into pieces of suitable size for fami¬ 
ly use. I trim the hams and shoulders well. I cover the 
bottom of the tub with rock salt, and then put in a layer 
of pork, nicely packed; then cover this layer with salt, 
and so on, until the tub is filled. I use rock salt and 
very bountifully. In six or eight days, make a pickle 
of salt, and cold water, as strong as possible, and cover 
the pork previously salted with it. It will then keep 
for use for years if you choose. 
In preparing the hams and shoulders, I weigh several, 
to come at the probable weight of the whole. They are 
packed with great care, in suitable tubs. My process is 
to sprinkle some coarse salt at the bottom; then pack in 
the hams and shoulders firmly, side by side, being care¬ 
ful not to put the back of one flat on the top of another. 
The spaces are filled up with chines, hocks and jowls. 
To about every 300 weight of meat, I take 30 pounds of 
rock salt, one pound of salt petre, and fourteen pounds 
of brown sugar, or half a gallon of good molasses, (ge¬ 
nerally the latter.) Take as much pure water as will 
cover the meat, put in a clean vessel, add the above ar¬ 
ticles, boil it, removing the scum as it rises, and when 
no more rises set it to cool, after which pour it on the 
meat until it is covered three or four inches. 
If the hams are small, weighing from 12 to 15 pounds, 
let them remain in the pickle five weeks—if from 15 to 
25, six weeks—if from 25 to 45 seven weeks. When 
you remove them for the purpose of smoking, put them 
in clean cold water for two or three hours. If there is 
too much salt or saltpetre adhering to the surface of the 
hams, the water will take it off. The smoke should be 
made of clean green hickory. A fire should be built 
only in dry weather. And when the meat has acquired 
a yellow tinge, not red or black, they are removed and 
hung up in a dark place where they are not disturbed 
by flies or vermin. DAVID COMFORT. 
Tilings a Farmer should not do. 
[From the Common School Assistant.] 
1. A farmer should never undertake to cultivate more 
land than he can do thoroughly; half-tilled land is grow¬ 
ing poorer; well tilled land is constantly improving. 
2. A farmer should never keep more cattle, horses, 
sheep or hogs* than he can keep in good order: an ani¬ 
mal in high order the first of December, is already half 
wintered. 
3, A farmer should never depend on his neighbor, for 
what he can by care and good management produce on 
his own farm; he should never beg fruit while he can 
plant treeSj or borrow tools when he can make or buy; 
a high authority has said, the borrower is a servant to 
the lender, 
4; The farmer should never be so immersed in politi¬ 
cal matters as to forget to sow his wheat, dig his pota¬ 
toes and bank up his cellar; nor should he be so inat¬ 
tentive to them as to be ignorant of those great ques¬ 
tions of national and state policy which will always agi¬ 
tate, more or less, a free people. 
5. A farmer should shun the doors of a bank as he 
would the approach of the plague or cholera; banks are 
for traders and men of speculation, and theirs is a busi¬ 
ness with which farmers have little to do. 
6. A farmer should never be ashamed of his calling; 
we know that no man can be entirely independent, yet 
the farmer should remember, that if any one is said to 
possess that enviable distinction, he is the man. 
7. No farmer should allow the reproach of neglecting 
education to lie against himself or family: if knowledge 
is power, the beginning of it should be early and deeply 
laid in the district school. 
8. A farmer should never use ardent spirits as a drink ; 
if, while undergoing severe fatigue and the hard labor 
of the summer lie would enjoy robust health, let him be 
temperate in all things. 
9. A farmer never should refuse a fair price for any 
thing he wants to sell; we have known a man who had 
several hundred bushels of wheat to dispose of, refuse 
8s. because he wanted 8s. 6d. and after keeping his 
wheat six months, was glad to get 6s. 6s. for it. 
10. A farmer should never allow his wood house to 
be emptied of wood during the summer season; if he 
does, when winter comes, in addition to cold fingers, he 
must expect to encounter the chilling looks of his wife, 
and perhaps be compelled, in a series of lectures, to 
learn that the man who burns green wood has not mas¬ 
tered the A B C of domestic economy. 
11. A farmer should never allow a window to be filled 
with red cloaks, tattered coats, and old hats ; if he does 
he will most assuredly acquire the reputation of a man 
who tarries long at the whiskey, leaving his wife and 
children to starve at home. 
Facts for the Fireside. 
[From the Vermont Phctmix.] 
’Tis thus Benevolence her laws fulfils. 
And Justice executes what Nature wills. 
All the laws of Nature, but especially those of our 
own organization, are instituted in infinite benevolence ; 
and every instance of pain, sickness and suffering, is an 
example of the penalty attached to one or more of these 
violated laws. 
The two most prominent laws of our organization re¬ 
late to nutriment and exercise. 
Our bodies are made up of organs fitted to the perfor¬ 
mance of certain functions. These organs, thus in a 
state of constant action necessarily occasion a wear and 
waste; and this waste demands a supply for the usual 
reparation. Whence then is this supply derived ?-— 
Chiefly from solids and fluids received into the stomach. 
Under the influence of the vital power the necessary se¬ 
lection and appropriation is made. 
A diet too poor and unstimulating often begets scrofu¬ 
la and many other constitutional maladies. The poor 
Irish, and the hungry herds who subsist on the meagre 
pittance of soup societies, are painful examples of the 
truth of this remark. Among the opulent, however, the 
opposite error prevails—as their bloated forms and 
gouty limbs plainly show. 
Gluttony is a breach of the law, the penalty of which 
is so irretrievable that no violator can escape. 
A certain amount of food is necessary for the healthy 
support of the human body , and every iota taken into 
the stomach, over and above what the law of nature re¬ 
quires, tends to weaken the constitution and induce dis¬ 
ease. 
The quantily that some people are able to crowd into 
their stomachs, by long habits of gluttony, is indeed 
enormous. A case is recorded of a man who ate 64 
pounds of food daily, for six days; and another of a 
Frenchman who used to eat his own weight of beef eve¬ 
ry 24 hours. A man, recently, in the state of Maine 
was at work felling trees, and had his dinner brough t 
him at 12 o’clock. At 2 o’clock he left his work, saying 
he should work no longer unless he could get something 
more to eat. On inquiry, it was found that he had ea¬ 
ten for his dinner the following articles, viz:—two quarts 
of fish and potatoes, two quarts of bread and milk, two 
quarts of old cider, and a one quart or a three quart dish 
of baked pudding—the good lady of the house did not 
recollect which. The gentleman who employed him ve¬ 
ry wisely remarked, that he did not hire him oftener 
than he could help, for he thought it must take nearly 
all his strength to digest his food. 
It is a fact that the great mass of the community eat 
food not only too rich and stimulating in quality, but 
also use far too much in quantity. And but a glance at 
the community will show that their penalties are meted 
out in the form of dyspepsias, liver diseases, dropsy, 
gout, and premature death. 
The tender mother wonders that her sinless offspring 
should suffer so much pain, and then be snatched from 
her tender embrace by a “ mysterious providence,” 
