114 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
about retarding the blossoming of Peach trees by 
heaping snow about their stems aud over their roots, I 
adopted every mode I could think of to retard my trees 
in blossoming on that W.S.W. wall. I unnailed them, 
and shaded them from sunshine throughout the winter, 
keeping them covered with wet straw and mats, but 
exposing them whenever the weather was cold during 
the day. With the same object I laid bare the roots, 
and I pruned late. My reward was having the trees 
bloom full a fortnight later, and having a good crop. 
When in bloom they were protected with nets the same 
as those on the S. and S.E. walls; but on these I had 
scarcely a dozen Peaches from twice as many trees.” 
We earnestly direct our readers’ attention to this 
subject, repeating what cannot be too often repeated— 
“ Remember, the best protection is to keep your blossom 
out of harm’s way.” Shelter them when they have got 
into that way, but keep them out of it as long as 
you can. 
In general, pestilential disorders, as is the case with 
cholera and yellow fever, have arisen where men have 
been collected together in larger crowds than is con¬ 
sistent with all the natural requirements of the con¬ 
stitution; whether in armies; in popular gatherings; at 
fairs and markets, or about great commercial harbours. 
The whole air of such places becomes, at times, un¬ 
qualified to restore to the blood all its renewing pro¬ 
perties, and then the depraved blood (hardly adequate 
to supply the ordinary wear and tear of the frame) is 
altogether unable to repair any accidental injury or 
slight ailment. 
The state of the air is worsened where the free, 
natural currents of large rivers are obstructed by dams 
and weirs, and their waters directed, cut off, or absorbed, 
for irrigation or other purposes. Large muddy deposits 
at the low levels are thus left exposed to the air, con¬ 
sisting of an anomalous mass of decomposed or de¬ 
composing animal and vegetable and earthy remains; 
for the low marsh is the very graveyard of the valleys 
and uplands from which the waters descend. The un¬ 
healthiness of alluvial deposits was noticed by Hippo¬ 
crates, and history and ethnology have proved the 
truth, of the observation. Clay is, indeed, the emblem 
of mortality. 
It is a sad mischance, when, for our trial, or for social, 
or “ whether for ancestral faults, or our’s,” we have 
foregone that choicest provision of Divine goodness, the 
natural reparatory power of the constitution. That 
eminent physician, the vis medicatrix natures, ever 
directs at the consultations of the poor, lonely, country 
practitioner, and too often stands aloof from the con¬ 
clave of the doctors of the city. According to Cocker 
and Mr. Farr, the practice of the latter is the more 
unsuccessful; and where neither speedy death nor 
joyful recovery ends the consultation, the best pre¬ 
scription is, always, removal into good country air. 
Among other large assemblies of men we have not 
enumerated religious meetings as being prejudicial. 
November 17. 
Tire lustrations which are required for them ; the clean 
garments worn, and the large and lofty domes in which 
they are commonly held, besides their high typical 
import, have a moral and natural tendency to form 
habits of quiet, cleanliness, order, and self-control. 
The ceremonial laws once laid down by Moses, if no 
longer binding, yet remain for our instruction (in cir¬ 
cumstances not wholly unlike, it may he) in that 
volume, that standing miracle which the Apostle tells 
us contains all things needful for this life, as well as 
for that which is to come. 
We have no proof that the leprosy was of super¬ 
natural origin in the first instance. The Jewish and 
Egyptian historians tell us that the labouring slave 
population of Egypt was subject to a horrible epidemic 
before the Exodus. The Jews at that time occupied a 
low, marshy situation; they were worn down by pri¬ 
vations and ill-usage, and denied the free exercise of 
their elevating and purifying religion. It is no con¬ 
tradiction to this view, that afterwards, clearly enough, 
the leprosy was made the immediate punishment for 
wilful irreligion, for pride, worldly-mindedness, and sub¬ 
mission to a worse than Egyptian bondage. But the 
tenor of the old Levitical law seems rather merciful 
than penal towards the subject. And if its provisions 
should have anticipated every wise maxim of the nine¬ 
teenth century, it would only be just what we might 
expect. Let us see. 
In the first place, all slight (as we should say pre¬ 
monitory) symptoms are to be early looked to. The 
priest claims no extraordinary powers here. He 
separates the sick man from the camp, “ for his own 
good, as well as that of the public, because free and 
fresh air would contribute not a little towards his 
recovery.” (Biblioth: Bibl.) If after seven days this 
change of air induced no amendment, but the disorder 
was aggravated instead, the specific nature of the com¬ 
plaint was proved. We have already seen how character¬ 
istic a mark a breaking-out of the skin is, if a dis¬ 
tempered condition, especially if it exhibit no disposition 
to heal of itself. 
The direct connexion between disease and a want of 
cleanliness is asserted in the plainest words. And the 
provisions for enforcing sanitary observances, with all 
reverence be it spoken, appear plainer, and more prac¬ 
tical than what we moderns have ordered. No excre- 
mentitions whatever were allowed to defile the Israelitisli 
camp; they must be covered over with earth, forthwith, 
outside the camp. 
Orders are just now beginning to be given for the i 
daily scavenging of unwholesome places, and the I 
instant removal, at whatever cost, of all offensive 
matters before putrefaction has too far advanced. Large 
masses of manure, dangerous to leave where they are, 
dangerous to stir, too, are, as a last resource, now j 
ordered by the authorities to be covered well over with 
earth. They would only too gladly re-enact in the 
northern towns the Jewish prohibition of swine. 
The distinction in favour of the sanitary qualities of 
fresh, running water, has scriptural authority. The land j 
