MARCH 13 
MOORE’S RURAL fiEW-KORKER. 
175 
^borimlteral. 
NATURAL PROTECTION CONSIDERED 
WITH REFERENCE TO THE ARTIFICIAL PROTECTION OF 
SHRUBS AND TREES. 
There are few of us who have not a gene- | * 
ral understanding of the value of snow as a 
non-conductor—and the expression that a 
heavy snow is “ as good as a dressing of ma- 
nure” is colloquial. Yet when we see that 1 
the snow about trees and shrubs is suffered ,| J 
to melt away while considerable heaps, clear- 1 
ed from carriage drives and paths, yet re¬ 
main here and there, it is manifest that its 
exceeding value as a defense against those 
frequent changes of temperature, whether 
gradual or violent—that, more than any other 
cause, are harmful if not destructive to hardy 
erf 
plants—is not fully appreciated. 
Water, one of the best and for a long time 
111 
considered by chemists perfect, non-conduc¬ 
tors, is heated by diffusion or transmission 
and not, except to an inappreciable extent, er 
by conduction. In the familiar illustration ™ 
of the tea kettle, the particles of water In 
contact with the parts exposed to the fire n 
are at once rendered somewhat lighter by m 
expansion and arise, making way for the n< 
colder particles that hasten to fill their place, f” 
These, in turn, are warmed and ascend until a 
they reach a level of equal specific gravity ; e 
and in this way an incessant agitation and aI 
revolution are maintained until the mass is ^ 
heated to the boiling point, the highest tem- N 
perature to which water can be raised. The 
continued heat now separates the particles 
of water and becomes latent in a gas which, 
passing through the spout, appears at the ^ 
mouth, giving up its latent heat and con- fc 
densed by contact with the air, in the form fe 
of steam. This process is carried on by dif¬ 
fusion. The slight conducting power of wa^er el 
is well shown by the simple experiment of ci 
attempting to heat water from the surface t< 
by a little cup filled with alcohol, which wo si 
ignite. The surface water may Vie brought a 
to boiling, while a piece of ice in the bottom ti 
of the glass vessel holding the water, is unaf- o 
fected except by the heat conducted through (( 
the glass itself. These experiments—famil- u 
iar enough to all who have studied chetnis- b 
try, we know'—may serve to strengthen the a 
conclusions we seek to impress. c 
Until water freezes the cooling process is, v 
of course, precisely the reverse, subject to a ' 
variation, beginning at 39° of Fahrenheit, 1 
(water's greatest density) which we need not 1 
further particularize. The surface water, ren¬ 
dered denser by contact with a cooling tem- t 
perature, falls beneath until it commingles t 
with a st ratum of its own density. Another t 
succeeds and another, and this would contin- i 
ue until the air and water were of one tem- • 
perature if, at about 32°, the surface did not < 
freeze and form n protection for the body i 
underneath. If, now, the same law operated, 
(f. e., the law of contraction with cold,) the 
frozen layer would at ouce sink to the bot¬ 
tom, Vicing coldest and heaviest; another 
would follow, uutll the waters of stream, 
river and lake in temperate countries prob¬ 
ably, and in frigid, certainly, would become 
solid ice, annihilating their aquatic inhabit¬ 
ants and, it may be, by the suspension of 
evaporation and derangement in the distri¬ 
bution of rain, all vegetable life. But here 
we find not the least of those impressive evi¬ 
dences of a wondrous power and intelligence 
which guide the workingsof Nature, existing 
in the fact that water in freezing becomes so 
much lighter than liquid water as to float 
upon its surface, securiag such a degree of 
warmth to the one and of moisture and pro¬ 
tection to the other as effectually to guard 
against those disastrous consequences. 
Ice is to bodies of water that which snow 
is to the. earth. Though ice, as a non-conduc¬ 
tor, would provide as perfect a protection to 
vegetation as snow, its far greater density 
does not admit the air which is shut in about 
the particles of snow ; besides, it binds the 
individual blades or leaves so tightly as to 
cut off communication with the roots. Hence 
cereal crops which are sown in the fall are 
sometimes, during icy seasons, “ winter kill¬ 
ed,” as it is termed. 
Although water is almost a perfect non¬ 
conductor, we canuot confine it upon our 
lands or about shrubs and trees so that it 
would not run away to lower surfaces or 
pass into the ground ; and even if we could, 
its itncompressibih'ty would clog every at¬ 
mospheric passage, while the putrefaction 
of organic matter would prove detrimental 
to vegetable growth. 
But in snow we have a combination that 
affords in every particular precisely what is 
! desired, aud more efficacious in retaining the 
moisture and heat of the earth than any arti¬ 
ficial application known to man. The forma¬ 
tion of snow in the clouds is attended with 
the evolution of heat, Every atom of vapor 
must give out the caloric which insures its 
liquid form before it can change into a snow¬ 
flake. The fact, therefore, of an invariable 
and decided change in the temperature, just 
previous to or during a snow storm has, we 
suppose, given rise to the belief that it can 
be “ too cold to saow”—a condition that 
never exists. The heat evolved in the forma¬ 
tion of snow in the clouds must be again ab¬ 
sorbed after it has fallen to the earth before 
it can melt, becoming latent in the resultant 
water ; and this provision not only serves, in 
a powerful degree, to cool the earth and air, 
modifying those rapid and excessive change s 
with which our climate is so familiar, but to 
prevent the overwhelming floods which must 
surely follow the quick conversion of any 
great body of snow into water. 
Snow furnishes n gradual and steady moist¬ 
ure to the roots from the slow evaporation of 
that in contact with the earth. If the cov¬ 
ering of snow is considerable, it does not 
matter whether the temperature is that of 
blood” heat or below zero ; the roots expe¬ 
rience no change except as it may be com¬ 
municated by the trunk, and this is perhaps 
neutralized by the upward conduction of the 
prevailing temperature from benea th. What, 
above all things, we desire to prevent, is al¬ 
ternate freezing and thawing. Manj- shrubs 
and trees (especially coniferous) which have 
been deemed not hardy in the latitude of 
New York City, have bien ascertained quite 
hardy north of it. Others not hardy in more 
southern latitudes have been ascertained 
to he hardy here. Certain Ivies, Rhododen¬ 
drons, M thonias and Honeysuckles have been 
found hardy in northern exposures that suf¬ 
fer In southern exposures. 
Hardy roots are provided with a degree, of 
elasticity that enables the minute vessels to 
conform to a certain distension without ma¬ 
terial injury. But if before those vessels 
shrink back to their natural dimensions, they 
are again and again further distended, rup¬ 
tures must ensue, to the greater or less injury I 
of the plant. A fibrous sod, for instance, 
(though not exactly a parallel one,) may 
undergo no marked change in form from 
being once frozen by which the interstices 
are enla rged about one-quarter—the differ¬ 
ence in bulk between a given quantity of 
water frozen and liquid. A second freezing 
would distend these interstices five-six¬ 
teenths, and so on in an increasing ratio, 
until the sod must crumble in pieces. 
All gases, like water, are changed in their 
temperature by diffusion. The same action, 
therefore, which in water produces currents, 
in the air causes winds. Air, owiug to its 
protection we should, in early winter, before 
the ground is permanently frozen, stick sev¬ 
eral stakes (three are sufficient) about every 
shrub to he protected, forming (if three are 
used) a triangular pyramid from one to four 
feet, according to its size, from the trunk at 
its base, and so high that the apex shall be 
several inches above lhe topmost brauch. 
Upon these sticks and supported by several 
horizontal rings (or rather triangles) of straw, 
string or bark, the protecting material (h iy, 
canvas, boughs, rubbish,) may be secured 
t he same as we would land them to the shrub 
itself in the usual mode. 
In this way a snug, conical space is formed 
within, the air of which is confined to resist, 
by its non-conducting powers, the communi¬ 
cation of any change of temperature to the 
trunk, branches or roots. Similar confine¬ 
ments of air about the roots of trees are easily 
effected by arranging sticks to extend up the 
trunk a foot or mure. E- 8. Carman. 
River Edge, Bergen Co., N. J., 
Domestic (Bqonomt). 
“PUTTING THINGS AWAY.” 
rarity, elasticity and the consequent rapidity 1 
with which it moves, is practically a non- ( 
conductor n xly when confined within such ' 
narrow limits that no motion from the. outer ' 
air can be communicated to it. The clothing 1 
which we wear creates no warmth—it serves 
but to hold the warmth radiated from the 
body, and this it does more perfectly if the 
garments are loose and porous, and less per¬ 
fectly if tight and firm. The same garment 
if drawn about us closely, retains less warmth 
than if it could be made not to touch us in 
any part, A tight glove, though of thicker 
material, will not protect the hand as well as 
a mitten. A tight boot is “colder” than a 
loose boot. A sheet thrown loosely over us 
will secure more warmth than if wound 
about the body. 
It is not quantity or thickness, therefore, 
that necessarily offers the best protection ; 
but such an arrangement of material, what¬ 
ever that may be, as both to admit and con¬ 
fine the air. Whenever and wherever cloth¬ 
ing touches the body, it becomes a medium 
for the conduction of heat away from, it ; 
whereas, a quantity of air between the body 
to be protected aud the protecting substance 
imitating, as closely as may be, Nature’s 
snow protection for the earth and ice for the 
water, induces a resistance to atmospheric 
changes, as we have before remarked, greater 
than that produced by any other artificial 
methods. 
It is the general practice—so far as we 
have observed—in covering limbs and trees 
for the winter, to hind the straw, hay or lit¬ 
ter closely to them, forming compact cones. 
Protection is unquestionably thus gained ; 
I but the shrub is In contact with the haj' or 
straw, and the individual straws are in con¬ 
tact with each other, so that we have estab¬ 
lished precisely in one respect what we don’t 
want, viz.,—a communication between the 
plant and the atmosphere. We have pro¬ 
vided for the shrub what a close-fitting gar- 
i ment—a snug glove, a tight boot—is to our- 
s selves. 
In order to utilize the principles of natural 
FOR MEN TO READ. 
Do women ever think how much time they 
spend in picking up and putting away i Of 
course we do not moan to intimate that it is 
wasted, or that all this labor is done tin- ! 
necessarily. Women have a vast amount of 
such work to perforin, and few men realize 
its extent, or its necessity until some ac¬ 
cident or circumstances brings it home to 
them. 
A married man said once, that he never 
realized the amount of work done in bring¬ 
ing things out and putting them away, until 
he happened to sit idly, watching the opera¬ 
tion of setting the table—“ getting tea,” as 
it was called, at a neighbor’s house, washing 
the dishes and clearing them away. It 
struck him, for the first time, how much 
real labor had to be done in lifting and 
carrying between table and pantry and he 
determined to 'esson such labor in his house, 
as much as possible, by constructing a 
kitchen in his house with every facility and 
convenience. Ho thought, with a sort of 
consternation, if one “tea” requires that 
amount of labor, what must the work of 
a house for a lifetime amount to ? A very 
pretty problem, which we should like to 
have answered. 
It is a fact, however, that “ putting things 
away ” becomes a sort of mania with some 
neat housewives, and not only gives them a 
vast amount of trouble, but sours their 
temper, and is a source of annoyance to 
every member of the family. From a habit 
probably of being upon one spot all the time, 
eternally seeing and doing the same things, 
it becomes a sort of mania, and is in fact, a 
symptom of disease. We think a good plan, 
in such a case, would be, for the husband to 
insist on his wife taking a journey, making a 
visit home, or spending a couple of weeks at 
a watering place. The change of scene, the 
breaking up of themontony of her life would 
do her a world of good. Her ideas would be¬ 
come enlarged ; her thoughts travel out of 
their accustomed routiue, and when she re¬ 
turned she would take up life less as a 
burden, and more as a basket of flowers, 
from which it is possible to extract beauty 
and fragrance. 
be steeped in cold water, for a night 
previous to cooking it. Meat so spiced will 
hang well for a week or two, if not required 
for immediate use. 
-♦♦♦- 
THE HOUSEWIFE’S TABLE. 
The following is a very valuable house¬ 
wife’s table, by which persons not having 
scales and weights at hand, may readily 
measure the article wanted to form any 
receipe without the trouble of weighing, 
allowance to be made for an extraordinary 
dryness or moisture of the article weighed cr 
measured : 
Wheat flour, 1 pound is 1 quart, 
Indian meal, 1 pound 2 ounces are 1 quart. 
Butter, when soft, 1 pound is 1 quart. 
Loaf sugar, broken, 1 pound is 1 quart. 
White sugar, powdered, 1 pound 1 ounce 
are t quart. 
Best brown sugar, 1 pound 2 ounces are 1 
quart. 
Ten eggs arc 1 pound. 
Sixteen large teaspoonfuls are 1 pint. 
Eight large teaspoonfuls are % pint. 
Four large teaspoonfuls are 1 gill. 
Two gills are a % pint. 
A common sized tnmbler holds ^ a pint. 
An ordinary teacup is 1 gill. 
A large wine glass is 1 gill. 
A large tnlilespoonful is an ouuce. 
Forty drops are equal to 1 teaspoonful. 
Four teaspoon fuls are equal to 1 table¬ 
spoonful. 
SELECTED RECIPES. 
Minced Beef .—It is customary, with many 
farmers to kill a beef in the full or winter, 
and after using the nicest pieces to roast, 
broil and fry, for a length of time, you will 
find many scraps accumulate that are to be 
used, certainly, but how i A good way is to 
boil them until quite tender ; take out all the 
bones. Then chop very fine with your 
mince knife, season with salt, pepper and 
sage if you like, press firmly into some large 
mouthed vessel and when cold it is ready for 
use, either to be sliced thin and eaten cold, 
or broil it slightly on a very hot griddle ; it is 
splendid. 
The Children's Pudding .—Quarter of a 
pound of suet, quarter of a pound of flour, 
quarter of a pound of currants, two ounces 
of sugar, two teaspoonfuls of molasses, juice 
and peel of one lemon, milk. Boil in mold 
t hree hours. 
If Stove Polish is mixed with very strong 
soap suds the luster appears immediately, 
and the dust does not fly around as it usually 
does. 
®he HJmcpriL 
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO PLANT 
GRAPES. 
Some seven years ago I had occision to 
plant nearly an acre of grapes. Being a. 
novice at the business, I set them in the fall 
and lost at least one-third of them. The fol¬ 
lowing fall 1 filled up the vacancies, and fully 
I one-third again failed to grow. Since that I 
have set more or less each year, but have in¬ 
variably done so in the spring with much 
better success. 
Last April I set out 154 vines of different 
kinds, and all grew except eleven, I very 
PICKLING BEEF, much disliked to wait another season before 
- filling the spaces occupied by these eleven, 
An English correspondent of the Country an( j having plenty of good plants 1 set them 
Gentleman gives the two following modes of in, June 18th. The vines had then made a 
pickling beef, as practised in England : growth of two feet or more, and I was ex- 
To four gallons of water add as much ceedingly doubtful about their growing ; but 
salt as will bear the weight of an egg ; when grow they did and in a way that surprised, 
the salt is dissolved, add one ounce of sal as well as pleased me. Now, Mr, Editor, I 
prunella and three ounces of saltpeter and have come to this conclusion ; that the best 
half a pound of fair sugar. Boil and skim time to plant grapes is in the spring, and after 
well. Strain off, aud when cold, put in the they have commenced to grow. Say from 
beef, mutton, pork, tongue, etc., taking care the 20th to the last of May. I would advise 
to cover the meat well with tiie pickle. In no person to set grapes in the fall (at least 
nine or ten days it will be fit for use, but not unless I had plants-to sell), Let any per- 
may remain a month without being too salt, son who doubts my statements set a few 
The other is to mix well together the. fol- vines in the fall and others the following 
lowing ingredients : Six pounds of salt, two spring. Some of them before, and some 
pounds of brown sugar, a quarter of a pound after they have commenced growth, and 
of saltpeter, and a half pound of allspice, give us the result In the Rubai, New Worker. 
With these proportions I have fully spiced I am in error I will willingly ackuowl- 
two pounds of beef and two aitch-bones, edge the corn.” Nei.son Ritter. 
Fora larger quantity of meat add in exact Syracuse, N. 4 . 
proportions. Rub the meat well all over- 
each day fora week; after this, each Ricektt’s Seedling Grapes. — President 
alternate day. Turning it in the pickle Barry of the Western N. Y. Hort. Soc. is 
every few days will be sufficient for the rest reported as remarking in relation to these 
of the time it remains in it. This spicing grapes that “ in his opinion they were the 
gives the outside of the meat a dark color, ‘ greatest acquisition the country had ever 
but flavors it excellently. All meat should had.” 
