30 i 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
thocl is cheaper than the old. 5. It is applicable to the 
existing tan-yards, at a comparatively trifling expense, 
with a capability of working in rounds or series, and of 
expending less tan or liquor. 6. That it is available for 
all sorts of leather.” 
A SHOWER BATH. 
Friend Tucker—A great deal has been written and 
said, of the necessity of frequent ablution. It has often 
been shown by the most learned logic, that perfect health 
may not be expected by him who neglects to keep 
his skin clean , any more than him who neglects to 
keep his feet warm by exercise. And yet it is probable 
that not one person in a thousand in this country, expects 
to wash daily more than his face and hands. This is 
particularly true of the country, where water is in great¬ 
est plenty, and where from the nature of our occupation, it 
perhaps, is the most needed. How many a poor fellow 
after a hard days’ work in the harvest field, has retired 
at night, wearing linen steeped in perspiration, and found 
that 
-“ he’s a ninny who supposes 
That every bed's a bed of roses.” 
Ke rises in the morning uttering the almost universal 
complaint at this time of the year, “I am more tired than 
when I went to bed.” 
Now, if he could have stood for but one minute under 
a shower bath, and followed this by a brisk towel, and 
this with a clean night gown, how full his heart would 
have been of “ blessings upon the man who invented 
sleep.” He would have thought with the Irish poet, 
“Still as I. stretch each wearied limb, 
I cast a grateful thought on him, 
And wish him rest in heaven.” 
A certain correspondent of the Genesee Farmer once 
said “ that hogs did not prefer to be dirty , but they wal¬ 
lowed in foul water because clean was not given to them.” 
Surely no one will say that men are less refined than 
hogs! The true reason for this apparent neglect, arises 
chiefly, in my opinion, from the want of a suitable wash¬ 
ing apparatus. Bathing tubs are sometimes found in 
the dwellings of the rich, but these are costly, and require 
to have the water heated during the most of the year, for 
who but a regular disciple of Preissnitz would encoun¬ 
ter, feet foremost, an ice bath in the winter! Seeing in 
an eastern paper, (the name I do not like to give lest I 
might be suspected of fanatical tendencies,) an adver¬ 
tisement of “ Portable Shower Baths,” we set our icits 
to work, to contrive a “ Macedon Shower Bath.” And 
though with much inward trembling lest the “ rights” of 
the aforesaid advertisers be infringed, I will now pro¬ 
ceed to describe the results of this mental exertion, in a 
simple and perfectly successful apparatus. 
A sink is first made, two feet by two feet and a half, 
six inches deep, hollowing to an inch hole in the centre. 
This stands upon legs seven inches high. Four posts 
two inches square are raised upon the corners of the sink. 
Three of the sides are enclosed by muslin, nailed to the 
posts, and painted. The fourth side has a door covered 
by muslin as before. Across the top run two inch 
strips, two inches wide; in each of these two window 
pullies are fixed, one in the middle, and one near the 
end. So far the closet, now for the engine. This con¬ 
sists of a cylinder of tin, keg shaped, ten inches in diame¬ 
ter, and twenty-eight in length, with a small iron axis 
running through the heads one inch from the centre, and 
having gudgeons at either end. Now put blocks with 
cords attached, upon these gudgeons, and let the cords 
pass over the pullies, and the cylinder maybe raised then 
either by a crank or weight. 
The next thing will be to get the water in. and out. 
The reader will observe that by reason of the axis being 
at one side of the centre, the other side will always tend 
downward. Toward the top, as it hangs, cut out three 
sides of a parallelogram, that is, the tw r o short sides, and 
the lower long one; bend in this piece of tin, perpendic¬ 
ular to the surface of the cylinder, and you have a hole 
for turning in water, four inches by twelve. The ends 
of the piece of tin must then be lengthened to the heads 
inside and soldered fast, making a tight partition four 
inches deep and twenty-eight long. 
Now to get the water out. On the other side of the 
partition, and near it, describe a circle eight inches in 
diameter; punch this space full of holes, size one eighth 
of an inch. Solder a ring to the upper surface of the 
cylinder, and attach a cord three feet long thereto. 
Are you ready for a bath? If so, let down the engine 
and pour in twelve to eighteen quarts of water, turn the 
crank until the cylinder has reached the top, and the 
clack holds it fast; step in and gently pull the string; the re¬ 
freshing shower descends. Do you say “ hold, enough?” 
let go the string, and the cylinder falls back by the unal¬ 
terable laws of gravity; thus on till you are satisfied, and 
refreshed, not forgetting the rough towel, and polishing 
flannel at the last. W. R. S. 
PRESERVATION OF CARROTS. 
Mr. Tucker —In the Cultivator of last year, page 141, 
Mr. Henry Weston, of Indiana, says that carrots may 
safely be left in the ground during winter, like parsneps. 
This statement induced me to leave a few carrots in 
the ground last fall for the purpose of experiment. 
They were of the long orange variety. When dug, in 
the spring, the lower ends of them were sound, but the 
upper ends, for four or five inches, were soft and rotten. 
I conclude, therefore, that in this climate , it is not alicays 
safe to let carrots winter in the ground where they grow. 
Yet I have no doubt the experiment may sometimes be 
successful; and the same is true of turneps. I have seen 
excellent turneps pulled in April, from the ground where 
they grew the preceding year. The winter had been 
very severe. Snow fell in November, and remained on 
the ground until late in the succeeding April. The tur¬ 
neps, being covered during the whole winter with a thick 
coat of snow, were preserved from freezing. But when 
the top of the ground is subjected to alternate freezing 
and thawing, as is often the case during our winters, 
turneps left in the ground are soon spoiled, and carrots 
do not fare much better, judging from the result of last 
year’s trial. A. R. M’Cord. 
Lagrange Dutchess county, 1845. 
THE BUTTON-WOOD TREE. 
The sad fate of that noble shade tree, the Button-wood, 
(Plantanus Occidentalis,) during the last four years, has 
attracted the attention and excited the sympathy of the 
admirers of nature. 
When their early shoots were killed in the spring of 
1840 or’41, it was generally conceded that early frosts 
were the cause, and I well remember that in this state 
we had, soon after their buds had expanded, a cold rain 
and sleet, covering the young leaves with icicles that 
“nipped the tender shoots” beyond recovery. Vegeta¬ 
tion put forth again, but so late in the season that the 
wood had not time to mature and ripen before.winter 
approached, and the young leaves were either killed or 
entered the ensuing spring sickly and W'eak. They again 
perished—the old tree suffering most ; but sprouted out 
as before, late in the season, and again were too young, 
or had not sufficiently performed their office to withstand 
our severe winters. In many of the old trees life became 
entirely extinct, and all were more or less affected. 
Some writers have assigned as the cause a disease or 
epidemic, and given, as an indication of it, instances in 
which the trunk of the tree has been affected—the bark 
in places turning brown and the sap ceasing to circulate. 
This, however, I conceive to be the effect rather than the 
cause. The appearance of the trunk and large branches 
has generally been healthy.—remarkably so for trees that 
have so frequently been deprived of their foliage. I he 
present spring being unusually dry and the mild weather 
approaching gradually, has favored these monarchs of tie 
forest, and I am happy to observe a more healthy condi¬ 
tion in those which have survived. It has been said that 
the button-wood is one of our hardiest forest trees, and 
therefore should not have suffered more than others by 
early frosts ; but this ni&y depend greatly on the particu 
lar state of each kind of tree when attacked. The wil 
