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a A FAMILY-TEXT BOOK FOR THE COUNTRY ;

OR

THE FARMER AT HOME:

BEING

A CYCLOPAEDIA

OF
THE MORE IMPORTANT TOPICS

IN

MODERN AGRICULTURE,

AND IN

NATURAL HISTORY AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY ,

ADAPTED

O: 0 RAL Lene.

BY REV. JOHN L. BLAKE, D. D.

“”
AUTHOR OF FARMER’S EVERY DAY BOOK; AGRICULTURE FOR SCHOOLS; THE FARM AND THE
FIRESIDE , FAMILY ENCYCLOPAEDIA, AND GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.

BE WY ORK:
A. 0. MOORE, AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER,
i No. i140 FULTON STREET.

: 1859,
‘

_

a

—————— eet

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
JOHN L. BLAKE, ;
In the Vier«'s Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey

J. P, JONES & CO., STEREOTYPERS.
Is3 Wituram-Street, N. Y¥.

vy.

PREFACE.

Ir is the design of the author, in all his labors for rural localities, to
improve the mind as well as the soil. Indeed, such labors for the former
will ultimately prove of more benefit than those having exclusive reference
to the latter. If the one is duly promoted, the other will follow in its
wake. Whenever a rural population becomes imbued with a well culti-
vated literary taste and a love of science, there need be no apprehension
that agriculture will be neglected, or that it will fail to be duly appreci-
ated. Rarely will the soil receive a defective culture, except from the
ignorant and the illiterate.

It has sometimes been thought by farmers that a book, having particu-
lar reference to their vocation, is necessarily filled with oxides and silicates,
or with sulphates and phosphates ; that the mental food of the scientific
agriculturist }s a compound of caustics and volatilized poisons; and that
his very breath and clothes are so impregnated with carbonates and alka-
lies, that they cannot approach him without experiencing a kind of suffoca-
tion. Misapprehensions of this sort must be removed. Prejudices of this
nature must beovercome. If not, the treasuresof chemical knowledge will
do little in renovating the soil. On the contrary, sterility will increase,
till the wand of desolation passes over the broad earth. We labor to over-
come these obstacles—to progress in rural economy.

To this end we connect, in a book for a rural population, with the
topics more immediately interesting to the husbandman, brief sketches of
political economy. What is better calculated to awaken attention in the
producers of wealth, than to be taught the channels in which it is made to
flow? And, we connect with them brief sketches of natural history and
domestic economy. Is there nothing in these to cast a charm upon his
hitherto dreary pathway? Is there nothing in these to impart bright and
cheering gleams amidst the dark shadows of his monotonous and wearied
life? The records of animal and vegetable physiology are the gems of our
best literature. There is a richness in them found nowhere else. Com-
pared with them other records are insipid. The same laws which regulate
the growth of farm animals, regulate the growth of all animals spread over
the wide creation, whether of tiny or gigantic dimensions. The same
laws which regulate the vegetable tissues of the farmer’s garden and grass
fields, regulate the lofty trees, the magnificent foliage, and the rich fruits
of the tropics. All these are kindred subjects. Is it no rational source of

)

i< PREFACE.
inquiry at the festive table and the social circle of the farmer, to kn
whence came our tea and our coffee, our sugar and our spices, and indeed
the hundred other articles, foreign as well as domestic, that enter into
human food ; or, of the hundred different vegetable tissues, from all climes,
that enter into the constituency of human apparel ; or, of the hundreds of
mineral and vegetable substances that enter into the various arts of life?
If subjects like these do not awaken the dormant energies of the mind, it
is difficult to tell what will do it.

A better book than this, on the same plan, might possibly be made.
Possibly we might have made a better one. If so, it would doubtless
be difficult to satisfy the public that our reason is good for not doing it.
We are not quite satisfied with that reason ourself. However, we have
some grounds of justification. Even doing what we have done was a
mental and physical toil exceeding the prudence every one should exercise
in regard to the preservation of his own life and health. Our voyage on
the ocean of life has already been somewhat long. Our bark has been
deeply laden, and sometimes feebly manned. And, above all, we have
sometimes had stormy weather. Heuceto keep the ship in order, the hull
well trimmed, the deck well swept, and the sails well set, has left but little
time to make fanciful observation and embellishment. Such a mariner
has but little leisure for his log book, or to look at the stars—to watch
their transits, their declinations, or their ascensions. To leave our tropes:
it is sufficient to say, that during the present winter, in addition to a general
out-door supervision on the farm, and to writing for a dozen periodicals, the
present volume is the firstborn of a twin progeny, for which we must assume
the paternity. The only mitigation in the responsibility lies in the fact that
more than one half of this one was prepared several years ago, and has
not, perhaps, received the thorough revision, which a longer experience
could have given it.

Men of enterprise and energy are under the guidance of destiny or
Providence. They are carried forward whither they had not. dreamed.
They make their own pathway, without landmarks, before them. Others
follow in their track, and those possessed of sufficient genius sometimes
embellish the fabric devised for them. They are welcome to do it, so far
as our hasty productions can be made available to public utility. None
have but a temporary proprietorship in the avails of the mind or of the
soil. Both, at short intervals, are to be merged again and again, succes-
sively, to the end of time, in the common joint stock for all the successive
members of the human family. It is the duty of each one to add to this
stock all in his power ; and, on the other hand, not to waste any of it, and
to use as little of it as practicable for his own individual convenience.

J. GB:
New Yors, March 20th 1852

INTRODUCTION.

Home is the resort
Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty, where,
Supporting and supported, polish’d friends
And dear relations mingle into bliss.

Why is home the most desirable place that can be found to the man
of correct taste? Why does he enjoy himself better there than elsewhere ?
Why do his affections centre in it, as the atoms in a crude mass of matter
tend to their common point of magnetic attraction? It is because every
thing appertaining to it is in harmony with his own nature; and he is so
familiarized with the whole that he is as much a part and parcel thereof
as a leg, or an arm, or a hand, or a foot is a part of the human structure !
When in that hallowed precinct the same system of instinct and pulsation
is common to him and every one sharing it with him; there is, as it were,
but one current of blood to give vigor to the whole frame; but one
measure of animal heat to warm every part ; and but one mental aspira-
tion to impart that general buoyancy and elasticity which characterize the
entire organization with moral beauty. Remove him from this commnu-
nion of interest and mental and physical action, and in a measure he
becomes paralyzed like an amputated limb, or like an individual translated
from the knowledge and influence of social institutions to some uninhabited
and desolate part of the earth. Home is dear to him because he is
familiar with everything pertaining to it; because in it with all dear to
him he has a joint interest ; and, because there is about it a fragrance
which perfumes the atmosphere breathed by all, and above it a halo that
dispels every dark and cold shadow which gathers upon the soul.

The American Farmer at Home ; or a Family Text-Book for the Country.

vi 4 INTRODUCTION.

We have chosen this title to the volume here offered to the public, fro
a belief that it will readily convéy the idea most prominent in the mind
of the author when engaged in its preparation. In saying that a man is
at home, it will be understood that he is in his own house, or on his own
premises; that he is attending to his own duties, and is of course familiar
with their nature and importance. And the expression has a constructive
or figurative as well as a literal meaning. In this sense we use it.
Nothing is more natural than to suppose a man at home or in his own
house is familiar with its architecture ; with the materials of which it is
composed ; with its several apartments and their respective uses ; with
its conveniences and defects ; and especially with its inmates, with its
furniture, and with all its other contents. If he were not familiar with
all this he would be an anomaly of manhood. Thus, also, we suppose
that an individual living in a city is familiar with its streets and lanes;
with its public and private buildings; with its inhabitants and social
economy; and with its amusements and all its diversified business
elements. And so we presume that an individual living in the country
is particularly familiar with rural scenery and rural labor; with rural
society and rural recreations; and not less with all the constituents of
domestic economy and rural enterprise and labor usual in such localities.
These are natura] inferences. They are the spontaneous results of all
conventional habits of thought and uses of language. Consequently,
every man is judged to be well acquainted with all the constituents of his
own business transactions, and with the varied ramifications of the labor
bestowed upon them, whether mental or physical.

Hence, of the individual familiar with these things, we say, that in
reference to his country, or to his more particular local residence, or to
his occupation, he is at home; and that if he is not familiar with them,
he is not at home—that his appropriate sphere is somewhere else. For
instance, if one go to an apothecary’s shop with a prescription for certain
compounded medicines, and the clerk cannot find the materials of which
they are to be composed, or is incompetent, if found, to prepare them, or
is unable to read the prescription in consequence of his ignorance of the
seientific terms used in it, we say he is not at home. So likewise, if one
were to go to a mechanic’s shop for a piece of workmanship in his own
line of labor, and he were ignorant of the materials to be used in its

INTRODUCTION. vii

construction, or of the process of putting them together, we say at once,
that he appears not to be at home. The same would be our apprehensions
in every similar case that can be imagined ; and all would readily under-
stand such an use of language. There is no propriety in saying a mer-
chant, or a mechanic, or a druggist, or a shopkeeper, is at home in his
business, unless he is familiar with all its details; and the being familiar
with it is the foundation for success in it, and attachment to it.

lt may, therefore, emphatically, though figuratively, be said of the
farmer, that in order to be at home in his vocation he must be conversant
with whatever contributes to his suecess. He must understand the
nature of soils and the means of improving them. He must understand
the elementary constituents of the vegetable creation in every variety,
and the means of providing them. He must understand the separate and
combined influence of light, of heat, of air, and of water in vegetabie
development. He must understand the best modes of culture, including
all the implements used therein; and especially the adaptation of par-
ticular soils and local metereological influences to the production of
particular crops. And he must on no account be ignorant of animal
physigiogy, and of the particular kinds and breeds of stock, generally
most productive of profit, or suited to his own individual circumstances.
If in these things the farmer is well skilled, he is at home in his vocation,
and he will be likely to render that vocation reputable and productive of
a fair remuneration for his labor and other capital required in it.

The present volnme is designed to assist the farmer in being at home
in his vocation. The materials composing it are so arranged that he can
in the most ready and convenient manner turn to any subject on which he
needs information. No time will be lost in ranging through a whole
chapter in pursuit of a fact described in a few lines. He will speedily
acquire the habit of opening to it with the facility of finding the definition
of any word ina common dictionary. This book, therefore, is not so
much intended for protracted study and elaborate investigation or for
amusement, as for occasional reference, and to make the farmer’s fireside,
in short intervals of leisure, radiant with intelligence and enlivened
conversation, on topics relating to rural life and domestic economy. As
such it is compressed into asmall compass. A large volume would not
be suited to the purpose contemplated. Such an one would bewilder

vill INTRODUCTION.

rather than speedily enlighten, the mind having only a short season of
leisure at command.

In addition to the definitions and illustrations of subjects and terms
particularly connected with and having reference to agriculture, there are
also a few others having reference to the more common occasions for a
knowledge of general literature and science. These, in a volume for
every-day use, will render the subjects to which they relate far more
familiar than though found onlyin large works. Such is the present
state of education, that every individual is presumed to have some general
acquaintance with the popular elements of classical learning, and without it
one is deemed lacking in ordinary intelligence. Limited as are the means
here introduced to meet such an exigency, it is imagined that they will
be found of material value for the department of society, now particularly
in view, and not of detriment to any other interest, whether social or
monetary.

In every family there should be a code of household literature, embra-
cing such topics as are constantly presenting themselves in the diversified
developments of domestic economy, as well as in the sterner business opera-
tions of life. To have no acquaintance with the history and physiology
of articles used for human apparel, or ornament, or health, or dietetics;
or, with the arts and processes required in their production, denotes a defi-
ciency of mental culture inconsistent with the age in which we live. And,
in the country where facilities for acquiring such knowledge are less abun-
dant than in cities, it is especially needful, that there should be within
the reach of all. not supplied with more elaborate productions, a literary
compend like the one now offered to the public. A familiarity with such
subjects readily presents in the family circle, both at the fireside and about
the festive board, the elements of intellectual and enlivened conversation.
Home is thus made cheerful ; and, all mutually assist in rendering it a
school of improvement, as well as a centre of social attraction. Hence,
without other aids to literary progress, they will severally become respect-
able for intelligence, and rarely will one of the number go abroad in search
of pleasure or means of contentment.

\

THE FARMER AT HOME.

ABDOMEN. That portion of the body of an animal which con-
tains the stomach, intestines, heart, liver, kidneys, and spleen, with
their several appendages called the belly.

ABORTION. The premature separation of the offspring from
the mother. It is also called miscarriage, and in farm animals,
slinking, slipping, and casting. Abortion in cows is of a frequent
occurrence. A farmer at Charentin, out of a dairy of twenty-eight
cows, had sixteen slip calves at different periods of gestation. To pre-
vent, as far as possible, this annoying evil, let them be well fed, and
kept from rough treatment of every kind. They should be exempt in
seasons of pregnancy from sudden exposure to heat or cold; and if in
stalls, the ventilation should be free, that there be no deficiency of
fresh air. In mares also it is of no rare occurrence. It frequently
arises from over-exertion, which should be carefully avoided. When
used for labor they should be treated kindly; and should not be
allowed to go in pastures where they are liable to leap fences, logs, or
ditches.

ABORTIVE. This is a term frequently used in Botany to denote
the absence of stamens or pistils whereby fruit cannot be produced.
It also denotes the deficiency of any other organ. And, it is applied
by gardeners and farmers to flowers, seeds, and fruits, which do not
come to maturity, in consequence of external injury from the weather,
from insects, or other causes affecting their growth. Thus fruit
often becomes abortive, in consequence of cold winds or frosts in
spring checking the flow of the nutritive juices ; and after losing its
healthy color it shrivels and falls. The same effects arise too from
the depredation of caterpillars on the leaves and branches.

ABSCESS. This usually signifies an animal swelling or tumor,
containing pus or putrid matter, which takes place in consequence of
previous inflammation.

ABSORPTiON. The conversion of gaseous fluids into liquids
and solids. Fluids and gases only can be absorbed. As plants are

1*

s,

10 THE FARMER AT HOME, %

not furnished with any individual organ similar to the mouth of
animals, nature has furnished them with pores througn which nour-
ishment is received. These pores exist in the leaves and the external
surface of the bark; and, the process of their agency in absorbing this
nourishment is not unlike that of the passage of water into the pores
of sponge, or the rising of water through the valve of a pump.

ABUTMENT, the head or end; that which unites one end of a
thing to another. But usually it denotes the solid pier or mound of
earth, stone, or timber, which is erected at the bank of a river to
support the end of the bridge and connect it with the land.

ACACIA. A beautiful shrub, a species of which bears rose-
colored flowers. A thorny shrub of this name is common in the
deserts of Asia and:Africa, and produces gum Arabic. The Chinese
employ the flowers of a plant called by this name to produce that
beautiful and durable yellow which has been so much admired in
their different stuffs.

ACANTHUS, the name of an herb remarkable for the model of
the foliage. In the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders
of architecture there is an ornament resembling the leaves of the
acanthus.

ACCIPITRES, the order of rapacious birds containing the vul
ture, the owl, the hawk, the eagle, and other birds of prey. The
name is derived from two Latin words which mean to seize the object
of which they are in pursuit.

ACCLIMATE or ACCLIMATION. In rural economy this
term signifies the adaptation of animals or vegetables of one clime or
temperature to a different one. For instance the culture of tropical
plants in a temperate zone; or even the removal of one from the hot
house to the open air.

ACETATE, a salt formed by the combination of any base with
acetic acid, for instance, vinegar with earths or metals. Some plants
naturally contain acetic acid. It is found in the chick pea; in the
elder berry; and, in the date palm tree.

ACIDS, a class of chemical substances, which are so called from
their taste, or the sensation of sourness they produce on the tongue.
They change vegetable blue colors to red. When they combine with
alkalies, or the metalic oxides and earths they form the compound
salts. Mineral acids are those which are produced from a compound
or union of oxygen gas with mineral substances, as sulphur.

ACONITE, Wolfsbane, or Monkshood. A plant, the flower of
which resembles the hood of a monk. There are several species of
the aconite, most of which are violent poisons. The ancients were so
surprised at their pernicious effects, that they were afraid to touch
the plants; and hence sprung many superstitious precautions about
the manner of gathering them. Theophrastus relates that there was
a mode of preparing the aconite in his days, so that it should only

THE FARMER AT HOME. 11

destroy life at the end of one or two yewrs. It is confidently affirmed,
that the huntsmen on the Alps, who hunt the wolves, and other wild
animals, dip their arrows in the juice of these plants, which renders
the wounds occasioned by them mortal. A decoction of the roots has
been used to kill bugs ; and the powder disguised in bread, or some
other palatable vehicle, has been employed to destroy rats and mice.
Mathiolus relates that it was given by way of experiment to four con-
demned criminals, two at Rome in 1524, and two at Prague in 1561.
Two of them died and the other two with great difficulty were
recovered.

-ACORN. The seed or fruit of the oak ; it was reckoned, in for-
mer times, an important article of human sustenance. We are told
by historians, that the natives in the forests of Germany and Britain,
fed on this fruit as a luxury; and that violent quarrels sometimes
arose between the chiefs of their clans, respecting the division of
their crops of acorns. According to Volney, the peasants of Syria, at
this day, depend for a considerable part of their food on oak-acorns,
which they gather upon Mount Lebanon ; for if they raise barley and
wheat, the Arabs of the wilderness come in harvest time, and rob
them of their crops.

ACRE, a quantity of land containing one hundred and sixty
square rods or perches ; four thousand eight hundred and forty square
yards ; and forty-three thousand, five hundred and sixty square feet.
This is the English statute acre. In measuring an acre by yards, the
usual practice is to trace off seventy yards in length and seventy in
width ; this in a rough way may be considered near enough for most
practical purposes in laying out a farm; but as seventy yards each
way make four thousand nine hundred square yards, they exceed one
“acre by fifty square yards. ‘To determine an accurate acre, it should
be measured seventy yards in length by sixty-nine and one-seventh
yards in breadth. This will be an acre wanting a few inches.
Still greater accuracy will be attamed by measuring off two hundred
and nine feet one way and two hundred and eight feet, five and one-
eighth inches the other. This will be precisely a square acre, or
exceeding it only two-sevenths of a square foot. The acre of Scot-
land contains six thousand, one hundred and fifty-one and two-fifths
square yards. The French arpent or acre is nearly equal to the
Scottish acre. The Irish acre is seven thousand, eight hundred and
forty square yards.

AFFINITY is an elective attraction, or a tendency that different
species of matter have to unite, and combine with certain other
bodies, and the power that disposes to continue in combination.

AGRICULTURE. The art of cultivating the earth, so as to
increase the quantity and improve the qnality of its vegetable pro-
duction. This may be considered the most ancient, and is certainly
the most important, of all arts. It forms the basis of society, and

12 THE FARMER AT HOMB.

constitutes the grand distinction between savage and civilized life.
In the necessity of cultivating the earth for subsistence, social order
commenced. The wandering life of a nation of hunters admits of
little or no improvement. Agriculture has the merit of having re-
claimed mankind from this hopeless state ; by drawing them together
in communities, and imposing on them the necessity of a fixed habi-
tation. Hence the ancient nations, amongst which this art originated,
held it in the greatest veneration. The Egyptians considered it as a
gift from their gods, and even paid divine honors to the ox, on
account of his usefulness in agricultural labors. The ancient Romans
venerated the plough, and in the earliest and purest times of the
Republic, the greatest praise of an illustrious citizen was, to be called
an industrious and skillful husbandman. ;

We learn from the writings of Moses, that agriculture was the
primitive employment of man. The earth no longer yielded her pro-
ductions spontaneously after the fall. It had been cursed with barren-
ness for Adam’s transgression ; and, under the new constitution of
things, could be made to minister to his wants, only by patient toil,
and careful and assiduous cultivation. He was therefore ‘ sent forth
from the garden of Eden to till the ground ;”’ and it is probable that -
Adam and his immediate descendants were instructed in this art by
God himself.

In the early ages of the world, before mankind had become very
numerous, and whilst every tribe or family could range over a large
extent of country, their principal wealth consisted in flocks and herds,
and their chief employment in the care of them. This continues to
be the condition of the Nomade nations of Northern Asia to the
present day; and under such circumstances agriculture is but little
attended to. The Egyptians were undoubtedly the first people, who
applied themselves successfully to the cultivation of the earth; and
they were invited to it by the extraordinary fertility and productive-
ness of their soil, occasioned by the annual overflowings of the Nile.
The wealth and power which they acquired from this source, and
their extraordinary advances in knowledge and the arts, are fully
attested by those wonderful monuments still remaining of their former
greatness. The Greeks probably borrowed their agriculture, as they
did their arts and early principles of science from the Egyptians.
The Chaldeans and Pheenicians held husbandry in the highest estima-
tion. The Carthagenians, descended from the latter, carried it to
great perfection. The Romans devoted themselves to agriculture
with extraordinary zeal and success; and several of their treatises on
this subject are still extant. In fact all the celebrated states of
antiquity rivalled each other in promoting and improving this impor-
tant art.

During the ages of anarchy and barbarism, which succeeded the
fall of the Roman empire, agriculture was almost wholly abandoned.

THE FARMER AT HOME 13

The wild hordes which successively overran and subdued the fairest
portions of the earth, had little knowledge of, and still less inclination
for husbandry. Like all savages, they had the greatest aversion to
labor, and their only delight was in idleness and debauchery, war and
the chase. Long time is required to change the character and habits
of a people, and accordingly agriculture, together with all the useful
arts, languished for centuries. But when at length new light began
to break in on the nations, it could not fail to attract the earliest
attention, and has been advancing to perfection, and acquiring fresh
importance to the present time.

Agriculture is now probably better understood, than it was by
any of the ancient nations. The application of modern science, par-
ticularly chemistry, to it, has greatly accelerated its improvement.
Britain, especially during the last half century, has made the
greatest efforts to advance her husbandry ; and with signal success.
The value of her agricultural products has doubled during this period,
and actually exceeds those of France, though that country has twice
the territory, a third more population, greater natural fertility, and a
climate adapted to every variety of vegetable growth. The French
agriculture, previous to the revolution, suffered, in common with other
species of industry, from the effects of bad government, and a worn
out and antiquated system opposed to all change, and therefore hostile
to improvement. But, a better state of things has succeeded that
great event. The large domains, have been broken up and divided,
small farms created, vexatious regulations, and burdensome imposi-
tions removed, and a general spirit of enterprise and inquiry excited.
Lombardy and Flanders have long been celebrated for their flourish-
ing agriculture.

England is indebted to the Flemish farmers, who came over to
that country as far back as the Norman conquest, for many valuable
improvements. In all parts of Germany, increasing attention is paid
to this subject, both by the governments, and by enlightened individ-
uals. Nor, has the general spirit of improvement been confined to
Europe. In our own country, the condition of agriculture is rapidly
meliorating. Societies for the diffusion of useful information have
been created, better modes of tillage have been introduced, improved
breeds of domestic animals procured, new articles of cultivation re-
commended, and men of intelligence and capital are more and more
devoting themselves to this most healthful, interesting, and important
of all human employments.

AIR. In Natural Philosophy, is that fluid, transparent substance
which surrounds our globe, reaching to a considerable height above
its surface ; and this ocean of air is the great laboratory in which most
of the actions of life go on; and on the composition of which they
depend. Though invisible, except in large masses, without smell or
taste, yet it is a substance possessing all the principal attributes of

14 THE FARMER AT HOME.

matter ; it is impenetrable, ponderable, compressible, dilatable, per-
fectly elastic, and its particles are operated on like those of other
bodies, by chemical operations. It is indispensable to the life of all
organic beings; animals respire it incessantly, and decompose it ; a
part of its oxygen is transformed into carbonic acid, and this combina-
tion produces caloric, which contributes principally to the preserva-
tion of animal heat. Vegetables imbibe the carbon which the
carbonic acid, diffused through the air, contains. The air is the
agent of combustion ; the particles of bodies combine with its oxygen
and evolve light and heat. Air is also the principal medium of sound.

AIR-BELLS are enlarged cavities in the cellular tissues of plants,
to produce buoyancy, if they are of the aquatic order. In birds they
are membraneous cavities communicating with the lungs, and travers-
ing all parts of the bird, even to the interior of the bones and quills.

AIR-PUMP. A machine for exhausting the air out of vessels, in
the same manner as water is drawn up by a pump. The vessel
from which the air is thus exhausted is called the receiver, and the
space thus left vacant in the vessel, after withdrawing the air, is
called a vacuum. It is one of the most curious and useful of philo-
sophical instruments. By experiments with it, the weight, elasticity,
and many other properties of the air may be shown in a very simple
and satisfactory manner. If any animal is placed under the receiver,
and the air exhausted, it dies almost immediately ; a lighted candle
under the exhausted receiver immediately goes out. Air is thus
shown to be necessary to animal life and combustion. A bell sus-
pended from a silken thread beneath the exhausted receiver, on being
struck, cannot be heard. If the bell bein one receiver, from which
the air is not exhausted, but which is within an exhausted receiver,
it still cannot be heard. Air is therefore proved necessary to the
production and to the propagation of sound. A shrivelled apple or
cranberry, placed beneath an exhausted receiver, becomes as plump
as if quite fresh. They are thus shown to be full of elastic air.

AJACIO. An extraordinary tree, that grows on the shores of
the Antilles Islands. St. Pierre states, on the authority of Labat and
du Tetre, that it grows to such a prodigious size, that out of one log
of it a boat can be made capable of carrying forty men. This tree is
also the only one, of those shores, which is never attacked by the sea
worm, an insect so formidable to every other species of timber which
floats in those seas, that it devours whole squadrons in a very little
time, and occasions the necessity of sheathing the bottoms of the
vessels with copper.

ALABASTER. A well known mineral, used by architects, stat-
uaries, plasterers and others. It is a sulphate of lime. Alabaster is
found of various colors and kinds; snowy white, yellow, variegated,
reddish, and in masses of various shapes and sizes. Most of the ala-
basters are interspersed with veins of different colors. Alabaster is

THE FARMER AT HOME. 15

found in many different parts of the world, and in abundance in sev-
eral places of England. In general, it is so soft, that it can be cut
with a knife; yet it admits of a fair polish. The clearness and
fineness of this stone renders it in some measure transparent. whence
it has been occasionally employed for windows. There is a church
in Florence still illuminated by alabaster windows ; instead of panes
of glass, there are slabs of alabaster nearly fifteen feet high, each of
which forms a window, through which the light is conveyed. When
a candle or lamp is put into a vase of this kind, it diffuses a very
agreeable and delicate light, and is therefore much used for that
description of statuary.

ALBUMEN. A colorless insipid fluid, coagulating at a heat of
120°, existing in the leaves, juices, and fruits of most plants, but most
abundant in animal products. The white of eggs is nothing but pure
albumen, and the blood contains large quantities of the substance.
Its principal use, in domestic economy, is in classifying or cleansing
fluids, such as dissolved sugars, and for which purpose it is unrivalled.
Milk contains albumen, and, hence, is sometimes used for cleansing
syrup, but it is inferior to the white of eggs. These carefully incor-
porated with a fluid when cold, and then ‘submitted to a coagulating
heat, will lift all impurities to the surface, where they can easily be
taken of by skimming. Albumen is more abundant in the bark of
red or slippery elm, than in any other vegetable product. Hence its
value for medicinal purposes. Albumen is composed of carbon 52 psi
oxygen 23, hydrogen 7, and nitrogen 15.

ALBURNUM. Wood of trees is usually composed of three dis-
tinct parts; the pith or central part, having a loose spongy texture ;
the heart wood, the most durable and valuable part of the tree; and
the sap wood or alburnum. This last is usually whiter than heart-
wood, is more porous, and throngh it the circulation of the sap is
principally performed. It is the soonest attacked by the borer or pow-
der-post, and in exposed situations is always first to decay.

ALCOHOL. This is the purely spiritous part of all liquors. It
is the product of vinous fermentation, and can be derived from all
substances capable of fermentation. It is the intoxicating principle
of liquors, and few nations have been found so rude as not to have
discovered some means of producing it. Alcohol is produced princi-
pally by the distillation of wine, molasses, and grain. The product
of the first is brandy, the second rum, and the third whiskey or gin.
Alcohol is of much use in the arts, but it has, by its general use, pro-
duced a most unhappy effect on the happiness and morals of multi-
tudes. Perhaps greater quantities of distilled spirits are used by the
nations that border on the Baltic than in any other part of the world,
and here they are principally produced from the distillation of pota-
toes. Alcohol is present in brandy, whiskey, and other strong spirits,

16 THE FARMER AT HOME.

to the extent of fifty per cent.—in cider and ales ten per cent.—and
in beer six per cent.

ALDER. The alder is a tree which grows in wet situations, and
is distinguished for its flowering stalks being branched. The roots and
knots furnish beautifully veined wood, nearly of the color of mahv-
gany, and well adapted to cabinet work. The bark may well be used
in the operations of tanning and leather dressing. It is also some-
times used, together with the young twigs, for dyeing, and yields dif
ferent shades of yellow and red. With the addition of copperas it
yields a black dye. The Laplanders chew the bark of the alder, and
dye their leather garments red with the saliva thus produced.

\S 5 Ty

4? base yy

. THE ALDERNEY COw.
ALDERNEY CATTLE. The cattle called by this name, on

some accounts deserve distinct notice. They are of French origin,
either from the continent or French islands adjacent to the Con-
tinent ; but receiving this name from the English island in the
British Channel, called Alderney. These cattle mostly prevail in
Hampshire, along the coast in the south-west part of England. They
are generally of a mingled white and sandy red, or fawn color ;
the latter being mostly disposed in large, abrupt patches. In form
they are of small size and awkwardly shaped—the neck thin, bones
small, high shoulders, and short rump. They are a variety of the
oe and are sometimes, but not generally, called Normandy
cattle.

Yd THE FARMER AT HOME. 17

“The cows yield only a small portion of milk, but it is of the most
extraordinary richness ; and, on this account, and perhaps for their
peculiar figure and color, they are often kept in the parks and ‘plea-
sure-grounds of the opulent, where they are judged both useful and
ornamental. Their gentleness, their diminutive size, and even their
singular contour, together with the excellence of their milk, render
them favorites, where no remunerating return for their keeping is ex-
pected or desired. In proportion to the quantity of milk, the butter
it yields is astonishing ; a single cow has been known to give nine-
teen pounds of butter weekly for several weeks in succession. This,
of course, is a very rare occurrence ; the average is from six to eight
or nine pounds weekly, Juring the season, supposing the cow to be
first-rate of her kind.

ALICONDA. An African tree of Congo, of immense bulk. Of
the bark a coarse thread is made; the shell or rind of the fruit may
be made into a nourishing pap, serves for vessels of various kinds,
and gives an aromatic taste to water preserved in it. The smail
leaves are used as food in time of scarcity, the large ones to cover
huts, and, being burned, makes good soap.

ALKALIES. Alkalies are saline substances possessing a hot
and caustic taste, and readily corrode the flesh of animals ; they also
convert vegetable blue to a green color, are soluble in water, and
combine in various ways with acids, forming a variety of new bodies
of very different qualities. With oils they form soaps. They are
known under two forms, the fixed and volatile. The fixed alkalies are
potash and soda; the volatile alkali or Ammonia, is obtained from
animal matter ; and latterly, it has also been procured in large quan-
tities from the distillation of coal for gas. The fixed alkalies, potash
and soda, are products of the vegetable kingdom ; and used largely both
in medicine and the arts, chiefly in medicine, in combination with
acids forming neutral salts. Soda is also obtained from the salt of
the sea and that of mines.

ALLUVION. Land deposited by the action of rivers ; either at
the mouths in lakes or the sea, or on the banks in their passages to
these receptacles. Constituted as it usually must be of the richer
and lighter parts of the regions drained by the river that deposites it,
it is the most fertile of soils, and the most valuable when it can be
drained, or rendered secure from floods. Nearly the whole of Hol-
land is alluvial. In this country the vast tract on both sides of the
Mississippi, for a great distance from its mouth, is of this character ;
but owing to its annual submersion is of comparative little value.
Perhaps there is no river in the United States, in proportion to its
length and volume, that has so much valuable alluvion on its borders
as the Genessee in New-York.

ALTERNATION. In» agriculture this term means the system

18 THE FARMER AT HOME. ~~
in which one portion of the farm is in pasture and another arable,
aud these being successively changed.

ALUM. A fossil salt, and mineral, of an acid taste, which
leaves in the mouth a sweetness, accompanied by an astringency so
considerable as to cause a sensation of shuddering. There are two
sorts of alum, the natural and the artificial, In a natural state, it is
said to be met with in Egypt, Sardinia, Spain, Bohemia, and other
places, and the counties of York and Lancaster, in England. On
account of its binding qualities, it is used in several mechanic arts,
and in medicine. In dyeing, it fixes and brightens colors; it
constitutes the basis ef crayons; it gives hardness and consistence
to tallow, in the manufacture of candles; and wood, soaked in a so-
lution of alum, being incapable of taking fire, and answering the
purpose, also, of excluding the air is used for powder magazines.

ALUMINE. One of the earths most important to the agricul-
turist, and entering largely into the composition of all rocks, clays,
and loams. It is the principle that gives peculiar tenacity and plas-
tic nature to clays ; rendering them heavy and impervious to water,
in proportion to the quantity contained in them. Alumine has a
great affinity for water, hence clay lands are -usually more cold and
wet, and more difficult to cultivate than those into which it enters
in less proportions. Its presence im soils is, however; absolutely
necessary to prevent porosity ; and when combined in due proportion
with other principal earths it constitutes one of the surest ingredients
of a fertile soil. Much attention has of late been paid to the amelio-
ration of clay soils, and of all the methods tried, thorough draining
has proved the easiest and most effective. When clay land is drained,
its texture is changed ; and the plants it naturally. produces, as well
as those it is made capable of producing, are of a higher and more
valuable kind. Alumine is of much use in the arts; it is extensively
employed as a cleaning powder ; as a mordant in dyeing ; and is the
basis of bricks, crucibles, and porcelain.

AMMONIA. A transparent, colorless gas, of about half the
weight of common water, with an exceedingly pungent smell, extin-
guishes flame, and is fatal to life. It derives its name from the fact
that the ancients received it from that part of Lybia in which the
temple of Jupiter Ammon was situated ; or from Ammonia, one of
the Cyreniac territories. It is the same substance as “spirits of
hartshorn,” employed for smelling bottles. To the agriculturist am-
monia is particularly interesting, because those substances that con-
tain the most of it are the most efficient manures, and act with the
most certainty and promptness. It is produced from soft or fluid
animal substances while in the process of decomposition, and this
change is rapid in proportion to the quantity of earthy salts they
contain.

THE FARMER AT HOME. 19

AMPHIBIA. A class of animals which live equally well in air
or water; such as the phoce, or seal tribe, frogs, lizards, crocodiles,
eels, water serpents, and snakes. They are remarkable for their
tenacity of life ; some will continue to move, even when the head is
cut off.

ANALYSIS. The separation of a compound body into its con-
stituent parts; a resolving; as, an analysis of water, air or oil, to
discover its elements. This is what is called chernical analysis. In-
deed, to analyze bodies, or resolve them into their component parts,
is the chief object of chemistry. When it is applied to the soils it is
the means of ascertaining the nature, properties, and proportions of
which they are cornposed. This chemical examination of the soil
affords perhaps more certain and more valuable information to the
farmer, for the improvement of its fertility. than any mode of inves-
tigation. It is to the agricultural chemist the same as an examina-
tion of the pulse, the tongue, and the excrements to the physician in
ascertaining the physical condition of the human system. One is as
necessary to the former, as the other is to the latter.

ANESNOSCOPE. Every contrivance which indicates the direc-
tion of the wind is called by this name. The vane upon towers and
roofs is the simplest of all anesnoscopes. There are some, also, where
the vanes turn a moveable spindle, which descends through the roof
to the chamber where the observation is made. On the ceiling of
this apartment a compass-card is fixed, and, whilst the wind turns
the vane together with the spindle, an index, fixed below, points out
the direction of the wind on the card.

ANGORA GOAT. A species of goat, so called, because found
in its highest excellence in the neighborhood of Angora, a city of an-
cient Syria. They are of dazzling white color, and, in all, the hair
is very long, thick, fine, and glossy; which is indeed the case with
almost all animals of Syria. There is a great number of these ani-
mals about Angora, where the inhabitants drive a trade with their
hair, which is sold either raw or manufactured, into all parts of Europe.
Nothing can exceed the beauty of the stufls which are made from the
hair of almost all the animals of that country. These are well known
by the name of camlet. The great antiquity of this kind of manu-
facture is evident ; as we are told in sacred scripture, that the cur-
tains of Moses’ tabernacle were made of goat’s hair, probably of the
Angora goat.

ANIMALCULE. In its general acceptance, this is a little ani-
mal ; but since the invention of the microscope, the term is particu-
larly applied to the myriads of insects, too small to be seen by the
naked eye, which are discovered by that instrument. The shape of
animalcules is infinitely diversified ; one is a long slender line ; ano-
ther is coiled up like an eel or serpent ; and sone are circular, ellip-
tical, or globular. Vinegar is full of these minute eels. They are

90 THE FARMER AT HOME.

also found in paste. Miller conceives that the sea abounds in animal-
cules peculiar to itself; and Spallanzani observes that vegetable sub-
stances dissolving in sea water produce swarms of animalcules. The
minuteness of them surpasses the conception of the human mind.
Leeuwenhock calculates that the size of some is to that of a mite, as
the size of a bee to that of a horse ; a hundred others will not exceed
the thickness of a hair; and ten thousand of a different species may
be contained in the space occupied by a grain of sand.

ANIMAL MANURES. That of young animals is poorer than
that of the aged, for the young and growing animal requires, for its
nourishment and increase of size, a greater proportion of the phos-
phate of lime, and other solid ingredients of its food, than the more
aged animal, because the excrements or refuse matters of the vegeta-
bles consumed are proportionately diminished in quantity and in rich-
ness. The richer the food, too, the better is the quality of the manure.
That from animals fed on oil- cake is the richest, then that of corn-
fed animals ; and, lastly, that from straw-fed cattle is the poorest.

ANIMAL POISONS. Several animals are furnished with liquid
juices of a poisonous nature, which, when injected into fresh wounds,
occasion the disease or death of the animal wounded. The poison of
the viper is a yellow liquid, which lodges in two small vesicles in the
animal’s mouth. These communicate by a tube with the crooked
-angs, which are hollow, and terminate in a small cavity. When the
animal bites, the vesicles are squeezed, and the poison forced through
the fangs into the wound. If the vesicles be extracted, or the liquid
prevented from flowing into the wound, the bite is harmless. The
venom of the bee and the wasp is also a liquid contained in a small
vesicle, forced through the hollow tube of the sting into the wound
inflicted by the instrument. From the experiments of Fontana we
learn that it bears a stiking resemblance to the poison of the viper.
The sting of the bee should be immediately extracted ; and the best
application i is opium and olive oil.

ANNUAL. This term is applied to plants that arrive at matu-
rity in a single year, and then perish. The stem of annuals is gene-
rally of rapid growth, porous, and abounding in the juices necessary
to the perfection of the seeds in a single season. The herbage of
some plants is annual, while the roots are perennial, or remain from
year to year. Maize, or Indian corn, is a proper example of an an-
nual ; the grasses, of perennial roots with annual herbage.

ANTIMONY. A blackish mineral substance found in different
parts of Europe, as Bohemia, Saxony, Transylvania, Hungary,
France, and England ; commonly in mines by itself, intermixed with
earth and stony matters. Sometimes it is blended with the richer
ores of silver, and renders the extraction of that metal difficult, by
volatilizing a part of the silver. The name of this metal is usually
referred to Basil Valentine. a German monk, who, as the tradition

——————E—————— rh St eee

7 THE FARMER AT HOME. , 21

relates, having thrown some of it to the hogs, observed, that after
purging them violently, they immediately grew fat upon it. This
made him think, that by giving his fellow monks a like dose, they
would be the better for it.

The experiment, however, succeeded so ill, that they all died of
it; and the medicine was thenceforward called antimony—anti-
monk. Antimony at first was used only in the composition of paint.
Scripture describes it a sort of paint with which the women blacken-
ed their eye-brows. Its modern uses are very numerous and impor-
tant. It is a common ingredient in specula or burning concaves,
serving to give the composition a finer texture. It makes a part in
bell-metal, and renders the sound elearer.’ It is mingled with tin to
make it harder, whiter, and more sonorous; and with lead, in the
casting of printers’ letters, to render them smoother and firmer. It is
also a general help in the melting of metals, and especially in the
casting of cannon balls. It is likewise made use of for purifying
and heightening the color of gold.

For a long time this mineral was esteemed poisonous. In 1566,
its use was prohibited by any but doctors of the faculty. It is now uni-
versally allowed that pure antimony in its crude state has no noxious
quality, and that though many of its preparations are most virulently
emetic and cathartic, yet by a slight alteration or addition, they lose
their virulence, and become mild in their operation. Its virtues in
the diseases of animals are greatly extolled.

ANTIPODES. In geography, a name given to those inhabitants
of the globe, that live diametrically opposite to each other. The
antipodes lie under opposite meridians and opposite parallels, in the
same degree of latitude, but of opposite denominations, one being
north, and the other south. They have nearly the same degree of
heat and cold, and days and nights of equal length, but opposite
seasons. It is noon to one, when it is midnight to the other; and
‘the longest day with the one, is the shortest with the other. The
terms upward and downward are merely relative, and signify nearer
to, and farther from, the centre of the earth, the common centre to
which all heavy bodies gravitate: wherefore, our antipodes, or the
people who with respect to us, seem to walk with their heads down-
ward, have not their feet upward, nor their heads downward, any
more than ourselves ; because they, like us, have their feet nearer to
the centre of the earth, and their heads farther from it. We all tend
toward the centre of the earth, in a direction from head to foot.

APHIS. A family of insects that prey extensively on plants,
and are endowed with astonishing powers of reproduction, and
though insignificant as individuals, they are formidable in their num-
bers, and in most yeats occasion more or less loss to agriculturists.
They have no mouths, but are provided with beak-like suckers,
which they insert into plants, and feed on the juices. Almost every

*
4

92 THE FARMER AT HOME. &

cultivated tree or plant has its peculiar family of aphis; and those
trees or shrubs that are wild, or found only in the depths of the
forest, cannot claim exemption. Soap suds and a strong decoction of
tobacco, have been deemed most effectual in destroying them ;
though when a foothold is once obtained, from their rapid multiplica-
tion extermination is difficult.

APIARY. This is a garden or place where bees are kept, and
derives its names from apis, which signifies a bee. The ancient as
well as modern writers on bees agree in recommending a southern
aspect as the most proper for this purpose; as a general rule, bee-
hives should be placed in such situations as are little exposed to the
wind, and enjoy as much of the influence of the sun as possible; as
wind always retards the bees in their work, while the sun’s beams
invite them to it. Thus, though it be well known, that bees will
thrive well in high and windy situations, a low one is obviously
always to be preferred. In the vicinity of the apiary, there should
constantly be abundance of flowers, from which the bees may collect
their wax and honey. Mr. Bonner, a late writer on the management
of bees, observes, that were a choice allowed him where to place his
bees, it should be in an easterly situation, a hollow glen by the side
of a rivulet, surrounded with abundance of turnips in blossom in the
spring, mustard and clover in summer, and heath in the latter end of
autumn and harvest; with a variety of other garden and wild flowers
in their seasons.

It is not, however. to be understood from this, that bees will not
thrive unless they are placed in such an advantageous situation, as
the contrary can, he says, be proved; for bees have thriven amazing-
ly well in places where they were not within reach of any of the
above mentioned flowers; but although they will do well in most
situations, and fly far for their food, yet they will thrive far better
when situated among or near good pasture, and surrounded with
plenty of food. And Mr. Keys properly remarks, that the hives
should be clear from the droppings of trees, and the annoyance of
dunghills, long grass and weeds, as by these means insects are bred
which are not only destructive to the bees, but which greatly retard
them in the preparation of honey.

Great improvements may be made in providing plenty of pasture
for bees, and as a rich corn country is unfavorable to their industry,
the practice of other nations, in shifting the abode of their bees, is
deserving of notice. M. Maillet, in his description of Egypt, informs
us, that the natives of that fertile country annually send their bees
into distant regions, to procure sustenance for them, when they cannot
find any at home. About the end of October, the inhabitants of
Lower Egypt embark their bees on the Nile, and in this extraordinary
Apiary convey them to upper Egypt, when the inundation is with-
drawn, the lands are sown, and the flowers beginning to bud. These

THE FARMER AT HOME. 23

insects are thus conducted through the whole extent of Egypt ; and
after having gathered the rich produce of the banks of the Nile, are
re-conducted home, about the beginning of February.

In France, floating bee-hives are very common. One barge con-
tains from sixty to a hundred hives, which are well defended from the
inclemency of the weather. Thus the owners float them gently down
the stream, while they gather their honey from the flowers along its
banks. A single bee-house, or Apiary of this kind, yields the pro-
prietor a considerable income.

APIS. The character of the honey bee, or apis, has been the
subject of anxious investigation for ages; and unquestionably more
singularities are exhibited by it than by any other insect, or perhaps
by any other animal, hitherto known. A single female lays the
foundation of a numereus colony ; she produces eggs which will be-
come males, females, and neuters or working-bees; for the females
and males are engaged in nothing but perpetuating the race, while
the neuters collect the honey and fabricate the combs. By some un-
accountable law, her impregnation cannot take place within the hive.
If delayed beyond twenty days from the origin of her own existence,
instead of laying eggs, which produce the above variety of her species,
she will never lay any than those which will be hatched into males.
In the natural state, where there has been no delay, she lays numbers
of them, it is true ; but invariably after having produced thousands
that give birth to workers. Two queens cannot exist at once in the
same hive ; it is indispensable to the safety of the colony that one of
them be destroyed ; and in the bitterness of their combats, sometimes
both become victims of their mutual resentments.

But without a queen the colony goes speedily to decay ; the work-
ers, however, possess the secret of converting a common worm, which
would hence become one of themselves, into a worm which will be-
come a queen, and the hive is thus preserved. The males. are mer-
cilessly massacred by the workers at a certain season, unless a queen
be accidentally wanting, and then they are spared. The workers
testify the greatest regard for the queen ; some attend her wherever
she goes, surround her, supply her with honey, and brush her limbs ;
others keep a vigilant watch day and night at the entrance of the
hive ; nothing is permitted to enter without due and cautious exami-
nation ; others are employed in providing for the necessities of the
young worms, in sealing the cells, or in building the combs. Our ad-
miration of their art should rise still higher than it does, on reflecting
that these beautiful and delicate structures, which often yield to the
slightest pressure, are all made perfect and complete in total dark-
ness.

APPLE TREE. One of the most valuable fruit trees in the
world ; this excellent tree is said to have been brought into Italy from
Syria and Africa, a very few years before the nativity of our Saviour.

24 THE FARMER AT HOME.

Apple trees should be kept from their first growth pruned in such a
manner as to spread very much, rather than to run up tall; they
should be cleared from limbs which stop and choke out the free cir-
uulation of the air. From May to November, manure enough to
smother and kill the grass, should be put about the stems of the young
trees ; but after the beginning of November, it should carefully be
removed, as the field mice would otherwise gnaw the bark, and spoil
the trees.

All good apples, and many of the common kinds, are produced by
the process termed prafting. This is performed by inserting young
twigs or shoots from trees bearing fine fruit into stocks of inferior kinds,
raised upon every farm, from the pomace of the cider-mill. Crab-
stocks are thought to answer best in England, but all kinds are made
use of in the United States. The branches formed by the twig inserted
are found to bear fruit corresponding in quality to the tree from which
it was cut. The same process is pursued with all other kinds of fruit-
trees ; for inoculated or ingrafted fruit is always found to be the best.

The kinds of apples most highly prized in all countries are the
varieties of pippin. The pippins of New York, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania are the richest in flavor of any apples known in the U.
States ; while the greening, the pearmain, and gilliflower, are the
best fruit of New England ; and the varieties of russet-apple the most
lasting, being often found in a good condition at midsummer of the
next year. Among the more recent varieties are Early Harvest,
Baldwin, Summer Rose, Summer Pearmain, Seek-no-further, Lady
Apple, Wine Apple, Bellflower, Vandevere, Nonsuch, Early Straw-
berry, Red Astracan, Gravenstein and Porter. The common family
uses of the apple are too familiar to need specification ; but its m.
important application is to the manufacture of cider. The process
for making the best cider is simple ; perhaps quite as much so as any
mode of spoiling it. They should be ground in a mill till they are
entirely bruised. They are afterwards allowed to stand a day or two
in open vessels or troughs, and then pressed hetween haircloths or
layers of clean straw ; the last is not so good, from absorbing and
wasting a portion of the juice. The liquor running from the press is
then received into a vat, or large casks, till it has fermented, when it
is drawn off, and placed im clean, tight barrels or casks, to stand till it
is fine and clear; it is then racked off from the lees, and kept in casks
or bottled for use. A portion of brandy and a little flowers of sulphur
render it more pure, and less likely to grow hard and sour.

APRICOT. A fruit of the plum tribe, which grows wild in sev-
era. parts of Armenia, and was introduced into England about the
middle of the sixteenth century. Some consider the apricot the most
delicate of all our hardy fruits. For pastry, certainly none is more ex-
cellent. It is used for tarts, both green and ripe ; it is also preserved
with sugar in both these states, and is sometimes dried as a sweet-meat-

|

THE FARMER AT HOME. 25

Care should be taken to gather it before it becomes soft and mealy.
The kernels of apricots have a pleasantly bitter flavor, and answer
much better, for several purposes in confectionary than bitter almonds,
which are commonly used. They likewise contain a sweet oil, which,
like that of almonds, was formerly used in emulsions. The gum that
issues from the apricot-tree is similar to that of the cherry. The
wood is coarsely grained and soft, and is consequently seldom used in
carpentry. Apricot-trees are chiefly raised against walls, and are
propagated by grafting upon plum tree stocks.

APRIL. The fourth month of our year receives its name from
the Latin word, aprilis, and that from aperio, ‘‘ to open,’ because
the buds now expand into leaves. The suddenness with which most
trees and shrubs become covered with foliage, affords at once pleasure
and surprise. April is, however, a fickle and changeable month; its
day has been called by poets, ‘““many weathered ;”’ consisting often of
sunshine, storm, rain, and sometimes snow.

AQUATIC. Plants that live and flourish in the water are termed
aquatic. There are also aquatic animals and birds. All our lakes,
rivers, and the ocean furnish specimens of aquatic plants, some of
which are of great use and value. A large part of the soda of com-
merce is obtained from a sea-weed, which, drifted ashore, is dried and
burned for the soda of the ashes. Hundreds of square miles in the
equatorial Atlantic, at some seasons of the year, are covered with this
marine vegetation. Some sea-weeds, as the alge, that grow as they
float in the water, attain a length of several hundred feet. The rice
plant of the East Indies and_ the Carolinas, is an aquatic plant, and
probably contributes as much to human subsistence as any plant on
the globe. The wild rice, Zeranta aquatica, of our northern lakes
and rivers, is of great service to the native tribes of those regions, feed-
ing the immense quantities of water fowls of all kinds that visit and
breed in those inhospitable climes, as well as furnishing food to the
natives themselves when their usual supplies from other sources fail
them. The flags, rushes, and other grasses that grow in the waters
of the lakes, or other quiet waters—also the pond lily, are further ex-
amples of aquatic plants.

ARBOR VITA. Thisisan evergreen of small size, but very dura-
ble. It abounds in the northern States, and has by some been recom-
mended as a hedge. It is used in Canada for brooms ; and it is also
used for medicinal purposes, as well as for ornament on lawns and
court yards.

ARGILLACEOUS. A term applied to soils in which clay
forms a principal ingredient. It was derived from argid or clayey,
as aluminous is derived from alumine. In agriculture, argillaceous
and aluminous are words of the same import, and mean soils or
earth in which clay predominates. Analysis shows how the pro-
portions can be determined.

2

26 THE FARMER AT FOME

ARTESIAN. A kind of well made by boring through success:
ive strata of the earth until water is found. This name is derived
from Artois in France, where the system was first successfully
adopted. By penetrating the rocky crust of the earth in this way, the
water frequently rises to the surface, and flows a living stream; in
other cases it rises so as to be obtained without difficulty. In this
country wells have been bored to the depth of a thousand feet, and
those of five hundred and seven hundred are not uncommon. YVari-
ous products have been obtained from the earth in this way. In
Albany a valuable mineral spring has been reached by boring.
The great quantities of water at the Kanawha salines are obtained
from Artesian wells. Springs of carbonated hydrogen, that burn
with perpetual flame; and immense reservoirs of petroleum have
been discovered while boring for salt or fresh water. Artesian wells
have been sunk in the deserts between Cairo and Suez, and abundant
supplies of water obtained; and wherever the borings have been
properly and perseveringly conducted, either in this or foreign coun-
tries, water has usually been procured.

ARTICHOKE. The artichoke .s a well known plant, which is
cultivated in Europe chiefly for culinary purposes. This plant was
cultivated in England as early asthe year 1580. The parts that
are eaten are the receptacle of the flower, which is called the dotiom,
and a fleshy substance on the scales of the calyx. The choke con-
sists of the unopened florets and the bristles that separate them from
each other. These stand upon the receptacle, and must be cleared
away before the bottom can be eaten. Its name undoubtedly arose
from a notion, that any one, unlucky enough to get it into his throat,
must certainly be choked. In England, artichokes are generally
boiled plain, and eaten with melted butter and pepper, and are con-
sidered both wholesome and nutritious. The bottoms are sometimes
stewed, boiled in milk, or added to ragouts, French pies, and other
highly-seasoned dishes. For winter use, they may be slowly dried in
an oven, and kept in paper bags, in a dry place. On the continent,
artichokes are frequently eaten raw with salt and pepper. By the
country people of France, the flowers of the artichoke are sometimes
used to coagulate milk. for the purpose of making cheese. The
leaves and stalk contain a bitter juice, which, mixed with an equal
portion of white wine, has been successtully employed in the eure of
dropsy, when other remedies have failed. The juice, prepared with
bismuth, imparts a permanent gold color to wool.

The Jerusalem artichoke is a somewhat potato-shaped ‘root, pro-
duced by a species of sun-flower, which grows wild in several parts of
South America. This plant bears single stalks, which are frequently
eight or nine feet high, and yellow flowers. much smaller than those
of the common species. So extremely productive are these valuable
roots, that between seventy and eighty tons weight of them are said

THE FARMER AT HOME. 9"

to have been obtained, in one season from an acre of ground. They
succeed in almost every soil ; and, when once planted, will continue
to flourish in the same place, without requiring much manure, or
much aitention to their culture. The season in which they are dug
up for use, is from about the middle of September till November,
when they are in the greatest perfection. After that they may be
preserved in sand, or under cover for the winter. The roots are gene-
rally eaten plainly boiled, but they are sometimes served at table with
fricassee-sauce, and in other ways. Their flavor is so nearly like that
of the common artichoke, that it is difficult to distinguish one from
the other. We are informed that Jerusalem artichokes are valuable
for hogs and store pigs; and that, if washed, cut, and ground in a
mill similar to an apple-mill, they may also be given to horses.

ASHES. When wood is bumed in a position that excludes the
‘air, the product is coal ; if the combustion is performed in open air,
the produce is ashes. Ashes by being leached, or having warm wa-
ter passed through them, are deprived of the alkali they contain, and
this is obtained in the shape of potash, or soda, by evaporation. Dif-
ferent woods, and plants, vary much in the quantity of ashes and
alkali they produce ; the fir, beech, and poplar, ranking among the
lowest ; and the box, willow, elm, wormwood, and fumitory the
highest.

Leached ashes are found to be an excellent manure applied to
soils that are light, or such as are inclining to be sour; the alkali
correcting the acid with which such soils, as the vegetation proves,
abound. In some instances, crops of grain, roots, and grass, have
been nearly doubled by their use ; and no skilful agriculturist permits
their waste.

ASP. A very small kind of serpent, peculiar to Egypt and Lybia,
the bite of which is deadly. Its poison is so quick in its operation,
that it kills without a possibility of applying any remedy. Those
that are bitten by it are said to die within three hours, by means of
sleep and lethargy, without any pain ; wherefore Cleopatra chose it
as the easiest way of despatching herself.

ASPARAGUS. There are thirteen species of this plant; but
the only one cultivated in the garden is the common asparagus, with
an upright herbaceous stalk; bristly leaves, and equal stipnla. The
other species are kept only for the sake of variety. The plants being
raised from seeds, after having acquired a period of three or four
years’ growth, produce proper sized asparagus, of which the same
roots furnish an annual supply for many years, continuing to rise in
perfection for six or eight weeks in the summer season, the shoots af-
terwards run up to stalks and flowers, and perfect seeds in autumn.
But besides the crop raised in the summer season it may also be ob-
tained in perfection during the winter, and early in the spring, by the
aid of hot-beds.

28 THE FARMER AT HOME.

Asparagus is always three years at least, from the time of sowing
the seed. before the plants obtain strength enough to produce shoots
of due size for the table ; that is, one year in the seed- bed, and two
after being transplanted, though it is sometimes three or four years
after planting before they produce good full-sized shoots. But the
same bed or plantation will continue producing good asparagus ten or
twelve years, and even endure fifteen or twenty years. However, at
that age the shoots are generally small, and the whole annual pro-
duce inconsiderable.

Asparagus oflers a striking instance of the effect produced on
plants by cultivation. In some parts of Europe it is found growing
wild on the sea shore, its stem not thicker than a goose quill, and
only a few inches in height. The cultivated plant is sometimes
found three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and grows to six feet in
height. In the neighborhood of cities or villages asparagus is culti-
vated as a source of great profit ; and it should find a place in every
kitchen-garden. In the year 1850 and 1851 the asparagus sold from
the farm of D. D. T. More, near Albany, N. Y., yielded over one
hundred and forty-two dollars.

ASS. This is an animal of the equine genius. It has long slouch-
ing ears, a short mane, and a tail covered with long hairs to the end.
It is usually of the ash color, is extremely hardy, and is easily kept.
It is a native of Arabia, Persia, and the central parts of Asia and
Africa. Like the horse, when wild, it goes in large troops, and dis-
plays great natural sagacity, activity, and courage. Jennets, or she-
asses, are used among us principally for breeding jacks, or the males
of the species, and the latter are for the breeding of mules, the hybrid
product of the ass and the mare. The ass is but little used for labor
in this country, and they are not numerous.

ASSIMILATION. This is a term, in animal and vegetable
economy, to denote that hidden, natural process, by which living
animals and plants are enabled to convert such bodies as have a cer-
tain affinity for them, or at least after having undergone some pre-
paration and change of properties, into their own substance and
nature.

ASTRINGENT. This is a medicinal substance which binds or
contracts the parts of the body to which it is applied, restrains profuse
discharges, coagulates animal fluids, and condenses and strengthens
the solids.

ATMOSPHERIC AIR. The atmosphere, ‘which was formerly
supposed to be a simple fluid, is composed of two distinct substances,
termed oxygen gas and nitrogen gas, It is not a chemical compound,
but a mere mzxtwre of those gaseous substances, in the proportion of
21 of the former and 79 of the latter. It contains also about one
part in every thousand of carbonic acid gas, a considerable portion of
water in a state of elastic vapor, and several adventitious substances.

THE FARMER AT HOME, 29

ATOM. A part or particle of matter, so small as not to admit
of farther subdivision. The Epicureans professed to account for the
origin and formation of all things, by supposing that these aton:s
were endued with gravity and motion, and thus came together into
the different organized bodies that we now see. This was called the
atomical philosophy, which was adopted by the sceptics and infidels
of those times.

AUGUST. The eighth month, from Augustus, Latin: the term
implies majestic or grand, and was first given to (etavius, the
Roman emperor, he being named Augustus Cesar in cousequence of
his victories. This month was therefore dedicated to his honor, and
still goes by his name.

This is the harvest month in this as in most temperate Euro-
pean countries. The harvest, chiefly, it should be observed, the
_ wheat harvest, used almost universally to be finished by a fea»
called harvest-home, when, for a few hours, the master and the ser-
vant was forgotten, and both mingled in social compariouship
Modern manners have, however, a good deal contracted such inter.
course ; and although harvest-home be not quite abolished in agricul
tural districts, we fear it is greatly on the wane.

Many fruits, among which may be named the apricot, are nov
fully ripe ; plums, peaches, and nectarines may now also be obtained
Of flowers and flowering shrubs, natives of foreign climes, many may
now be seen of great beauty; such are African marygolds, China
asters, persicarias. chrysanthemums, dahlias; the clematis, or virgin’s
bower, adorns the cottage porch. Geraniums and hydrangeas are
now also in their greatest glory ; so also is the passion flower.

Our song-birds, the thrush, the lark, and red-breast chiefly excepted,
are for the most part silent during this month ; some of the migratory
birds assemble in flocks previous to departure.

AWNS. The long, bristle-like terminations of the envelope of the
kernel in some kinds of plants is termed the awn, or beard. It is particu-
larly conspicuous in some kinds of winter wheat, in most varieties of
spring wheat, and in all the kinds of barley. Wheat without beards
can be converted into the bearded, and vice versa, by changing the
sowing from autumn to spring, or from spring to autumn. Of all
grains, barley is the most liberally provided with this formidable
appendage.

AYRSHIRE CATTLE. These cattle derive their name from
the county of Ayrshire, in the west of Scotland. The origin of the
variety is not weli understood, but it is supposed that at some period
it embraces a cross of the Durham and Alderney. This breed
became established about the middle of the last century, or between
the middle and the end of it, and is now scattered over England,
Wales, and Ireland in large numbers. It is also found in the
United States. Here it is becoming a favorite with some of our hest

30 THE FARMER AT HOME.

dairymen. It is particularly valuable, because when it ceases to be
of profit for other purposes, it is good for beef, beimg readily fattened,
and the meat yielded highly nutritious, and of the best flavor.

It has been estimated that a good Ayrshire cow will yield, for
two or three months after calving, five gallons of milk dai}~ for the
next three months, three gallons daily; and a gallon and a half for
the following three months. This milk is calculated to afford about
two hundred and fifty pounds of butter annually, or five hundred
pounds of cheese. This estimate is made for cows of the best class,
including those large and of first-rate milking capacity, and, what is
of prime importance, the best of feed. Even then, the estimate may
seem extravagant. The improved Ayrshire cow, of the present day,

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VM
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SN

THE AYRSHIRE COW.

has the head small, and narrow at the muzzle, though the space
between the roots of the horns is considerable. Her horns are small
and crooked, her eyes are clear and lively, and her neck is long and
slender. The fore-shoulders are thin, and the fore-quarters ar2 gene-
rally light. The back is straight, and she is broad behind. The
carcase is deep, the udders capacious, and the milk vein large and
prominent. The color is varied with mingled white and sandy red.
AZOTE, a gas, which constitutes the most important portion of
the air, and is sometimes called nitrogen, because one of the most
essential properties of its base is, that in conjunction with oxygen, it
composes nitric acid. Though in itself fatal to animal life, it abounds
in animal substances, and forms ammonia with their hydrogen when

;

THE FARMER AT HOME. 31

burned. The great difference between animal and vegetable sub-
stances lies in this, the former contains azote, and the latter is desti-
tute of it. Owing to its feeble affinity for other substances, the num-
ber of compounds into which azote enters is small, and its influence
on agriculture, with the exception of its effect when combined with
animal matter, is proportionably limited.

BACON. The fleshgof swine that has been subjected to the
process of smoking over a wood fire, is termed bacon; but the parts
to which this term is most usually applied, and which are usually
chosen for bacon, are the hams, the shoulders, and the cheeks. The
kinds most celebrated, are the Westphalia, principally brought from
Hamburg ; the Hampshire, from England ; and, in the United States,
the Virginia, or southern ham generally. It is not known that there
is anything peculiar in the feeding or pickling the Hamburg hams,
but their superiority is attributed to the manner in which they are
smoked. This is performed in large chambers in the third or fourth
stories of buildings, to which the smoke is conducted in tubes from fires
of oak or maple chips in the cellars of the buildings. In passing this
distance, the vapor which smoke usually holds is deposited, and the
hams are perfectly dry and cool during the whole process.

The Hampshire bacon is made from pork not scalded in dressing,
but deprived of the hair by quick fires of straw or other combustible
materials. This singeing is repeated two or three times, as the case
may require, when the hog is cut up, pickled, and carefully smoked.
These hams are particularly hard and fine, which is attributed to the
skin not having been softened by scalding.

Virginia, or southern hams, are supposed to owe much of their
superior flavor to the animals being allowed to run at large the most
of the time of feeding, to their being much in the woods, and wild,
giving more firmness to the muscles, and to their feeding much on
acorns and other products of the forests. Virginia hams are usually
small, the hogs themselves rarely weighing over two hundred, and
the pickling and smoking is performed in the best manner. The
great defects in smoking commonly are, the hams are kept too near
the fire, and the condensation of the vapor keeps them wet. Drying
while smoking is indispensable to good bacon.

BACON-FOSSIL. A singular fossil was discovered not many
years since, beating this name. Some workmen, in sinking a pole,
in a parish of Devon, on arriving at a depth of ten feet from the sur-
face, struck upon a spongy substance of a brown color. They soon
found pieces of bone and solid fat of the same hue. At length, the
entire body of a hog was extricated, reduced to the color and substance
of an Egyptian mummy. The flesh was six inches thick, and the
hair upon it very long and elastic. On proceeding in the work, a
considerable number of hogs, of various sizes, were found in different
positions, in some places two or three together, in others single; the

33 THE FARMER AT HOME.

bodies, when exposed to the air, still retained their consistency, and
the stratum continued for twelve feet.

BADGER. A quadruped of the genus Ursus, of a clumsy make,
with short, thick legs, and long claws on the fore feet. It inhabits
the north of Europe and Asia, burrows, is indolent and sleepy, feeds
by night on vegetables, and is very fat. Its skin is used for pistol
furniture, its flesh makes good bacon, and its hair is used for brushes
to soften the shades in painting.

BAG-PIPE. A well known wind instrument, mostly used in
rural life. It is of high antiquity among the northern nations, and
has long been a favorite with the natives of Scotland. It consists of
two principal parts; the first comprises a leather bag, which receives
and holds the wind conveyed by a sr:all tube, furnished with a
valve, to prevent the wind from returning. The second part of the
instrument consists of three pipes ; the wind is forced into them by
compressing the bag under the arm, while the notes are regulated, as
in the flute or hautboy, by stopping and opening the holes, with the
ends of the fingers. It is not known when the bag-pipe first made its
way into Scotland, but it is probable the Norwegians and Danes first
introduced it into the Hebrides. The music is very simple, and yet
sweet; and every traveller remembers it with delight.

BAIT. A feed of oats, or any other material given to an animal
employed in travelling or labor. It also signifies anything applied
with the view of catching an animal ; particularly in angling.

BAKING. The art of reducing meal or flour of any kind, or any
other substance, into bread. This art, simple and necessary as it may
appear, does not seem to have been discovered till a late period in the
history of mankind. The earlier nations knew no other use of their
meal than to make of it a kind of porridge. Such was the food of the
Roman soldiers for several centuries, or at most their skill proceeded ,
no farther than to knead unleavened dough into biscuits or cakes.
Even at present there are many countries where the luxury of bread
is unknown.

It is said that scarcely any nation lives without bread, or some-
thing as a substitute for it. The Laplanders have no corn, but they
make bread of their dried fishes, and of the inner rind of the pine,
which seems to be used not so much on account of the nourishment
to be obtained from it, as for the sake of having a dry food. In Norway
they make bread that will keep thirty or forty years, and the inhabi-
tants esteem the old and stale bread in preference to that which is
newly made. For their great feasts particular care is taken to have
the oldest bread; so that at the christening of a child, for instance,
they have usually bread which has been baked perhaps at the birth
of the father, or even the grandfather. It is made from barley and
oats, and baked between two hollow stones.

A person whose business i: that of baking and selling bread, is

THE FARMER AT HOME, : 33

ealled a baker. The origin of this useful profession is not ascertained,
though it is certam that the first public bakers appeared in the East,
and passed from Greece to Italy, about the year of Rome 583. Prior
to that period, every housewife baked her own bread. By the English
statutes, no person exercising the mysteries or sciences of baking, brew-
ing, surgery, or writing, shall be deemed a handicraft. Since the year
1155, the first-mentioned artisans have formed a brotherhood in that
country ; though the white bakers were not incorporated till 1407, and
the brown bakers until 1621.

BANIAN TREE. This is one of the greatest wonders of the
vegetable kingdom. For many centuries it continually extends itself;
for every branch shoots downward, and, striking into the ground,
becomes itself a parent tree, whose branches, in like manner spread.
One of them, the Cubeer Burr, had 350 stems, equal to large oaks,
and more than 3000 smaller ones, covering space sufficient to shelter
7000 persons. Its branches are crowded with families of monkeys,
and with birds of every description, and also with enormous bats, all
of which find luxurious subsistence on the rich scarlet figs that grow
upon it. The common fig-tree, and the sycamore of Scripture, is of
the same species, and the wood of the latter is almost imperishable.

BANTAMS.

BANTAMS. An Indian breed of barn-yard fowls so diminutive
in size, as rarely to weigh more than a pound; and they have been
bred so small as not to be much larger than a lark. Small as they
are, they are held in high estimation, both for the beauty of their
plumage, and for their utility. The male isa gallant little fellow,
of such courage that he will not shrink from measuring his prowess
with one of another race, though double of his own size. The hens
lay a profusion of eggs, of such excellent quality, that notwithstanding

o#

34 THE FARMER AT HOME.

their inferior dimensions, their effect in pastry, is thought by many,
to equal those of the Dorking fowl.

BAOBAB, or BAHOBAB. The name of a huge tree ‘which
grows on the west coast of Africa, from the Niger to the kingdom of
Benin. The circumference of its trunk is generally between seventy
and eighty feet, though the height of the trunk seldom exceeds twelve
feet. The branches, which are remarkably thick, shoot out horizon-
tally to the length of fifty or sixty feet, and their extremities, being
bent to the ground by their own weight, they form a hemispherical
mass of foliage, about one hundred and thirty feet in diameter. The
decayed trunks of the Baobab are hollowed out into burying-places by
the negroes, for their poets and musicians. The bodies are thus
preserved perfectly dry, and resist putrefaction as if they had been
embalmed.

BARILLA. A plant, whose salts are used in manufacturing
glass. When this plant is grown to its pitch, it is cut down, and let
dry ; afterwards it is burnt and calcined in pits, like lime kilns, dug in
the ground for that purpose ; which are closely covered up with earth,
so that no air may come at the fire. The matter, by these means, is
not reduced into ashes only, but is made into a very hard stone, like
rock salt, which must be broken with hammers to get it out.

BARK. In the anatomy of plants, the exterior part of trees,
corresponding to the skin of an animal. As animals are furnished
with a panniculus adiposus, usually replete with fat, which invests
and covers all the fleshy parts, and screens them from external cold ;
so plants are encompassed with a bark replete with fatty juices, by
means whereof the cold is kept out, and, in winter time, the spicules of
ice prevented from fixing and freezing the juices in the vessel ; whence
it is, that some sorts of trees remain evergreen the year round, by
reason their barks containing more oil, than can be spent and exhaled
by the sun. It appears that trees stripped of their bark in the time
of their sap, and suffered to die, aflord heavier timber, more uniformly
dense, stronger, and fitter for service, than if the trees had been cut
down in their healthy state.

BARK-BREAD. Is a species of bread which the Laplanders
prepare from the inner bark of pine trees. For this purpose the
most lofty and clearest branches are selected, the scaly bark taken off,
and the succulent white alburnum is collected, dried on coals till it is
friable, when it is pulverized, kneaded with water into cakes, baked
in an oven, and eaten as bread. In Siberia, when the ermine hunters
find their ferment, with which they make their quass, destroyed by
the cold, they digest the inner bark of the pine with water over a fire
for an hour, mix it with rye meal, bury the dough in the snow, and
after twelve hours find the ferment ready prepared in the sediment.

BARLEY. One of the most common cultivated grains, in use
from time immemorial, and extensively cultivated in modern times.

;

THE FARMER AT HOME. 35

It has a thick spike, with long arms attached to the kernel. It is
divided into several kinds ; of which the most common are the long-
eared, or two-rowed barley, the square or six-rowed, and sprat or
battle-door barley. The six-rowed is most commonly cultivated in
the north of England and Scotland, having the reputation of being
the hardiest plant. In this country the long-eared or two-rowed has
usually obtained the preference; producing a whiter, fairer grain, and
smutting less than other kinds. Barley, in this country, is principally
used for maiting ; in other countries it is extensively used for bread,
and for feeding cattle. Barley has met with little favor in this
country, as food for horses, but there is nothing improper in the
grain, as is evident from the fact, that barley is almost the only
grain given to horses in the east, where the best and finest horses are
found. The difficulty les in the mode of feeding. Barley is one of
the best substitutes for corn in making pork. It requires a rich soil,
rather moist and dry; and the ground should be made fine before the
seed is sown. From two to two and a half bushels of seed per acre,
is the usual quantity allowed.

BARM, or YEAST. Used in the composition of bread, to render
it light. When the art of brewing became known, this ingredient,
which is much better adapted to the purpose than any thing previously
used, was discovered. It is the spume which arises on the surface of
the beer in fermentation.

BAROMETER. A machine for ascertaining the weight of the
utmosphere, in order chiefly to determine the changes of the weather ;
nence usually termed a weather-glass. It consists, generally of a
glass tube, somewhat more than thirty-one inches in length. It is
filled with quicksilver and immersed in a small basin of the same
metal, the immersion being so made, that no air can ascend to the
upper part of the tube ; hence the small space above the quicksilver
is usually a complete vacuum, and hence the ease with which the
metal moves up and down in the tube, according as the atmosphere
presses upon the quicksilver in the basin. The usual range of the
barometer in this country is from twenty-eight to thirty-one inches ;
at twenty-eight the air is lightest ; at thirty-one heaviest. Of course
when the air is light, the vapors which are suspended in it when it is
heavy, must fall to the ground. When high winds blow, the quick-
silver is generally low; it rises higher in cold weather than in warm ;
and is also higher at morning and evening than at mid-day. In hard
frosts the air is purest and heaviest, the barometer then being at its
highest point.

The changes in the height of the column of mercury, preceding or
during changes of the weather, have given great value to this instru-
ment, and obtained for it, among common people, the name of weather-
glass, as foretelling the weather. It is a most valuable instrument
at sea; its rapid fall previous to violent storms, putting the mariner

36 THE FARMER AT HOME.

on his guard, and since its use has been understood, has been the
means of saving many valuable vessels and lives annually. It might
be of essential service to farmers; but, as yet has not received from
them the attention it deserves, as connected with metereology, a
science in which they are so much interested.

BASIN. A term in geology, used to designate a section of country
converging to a point lower than the remainder, which part is most
usually occupied by lakes, swamps, or rivers. Thus we speak of the
basin of the Hudson north of the Highlands, that of the Mohawk above
Little Falls, or the basins of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The best
defined basins of Europe are those of London and Paris. The first of
these basins is a bed of clay, in some places 700 feet in thickness.
The basin of Paris is formed of chalk, alternating with limestone,
marls, and gypsum.

BAZAAR. Among the Turks and Persians, an exchange, mar-
ket-place, or place where goods are exposed to sale. The word 1s of
Arabic origin. Some bazaars are open, others are covered with lofty
ceilings or domes, pierced to give light. At the bazaars, or in the
neighborhood of them, are the coflee houses, so much frequented in
Turkey, Persia, and other places in the East, and, as the Orientals
live almost entirely out of doors, the bazaars of populous cities, besides
their mercantile importance, are of conseyuence as places of social
intercourse.

The bazaar of Ispahan is one of the finest places in Persia. That
of Tauris is the largest known, and will contain 30,000 men. At
Constantinople are two bazaars. In the Oriental tales, for instance, in
the Arabian Nights, the bazaars occupy a conspicuous place. Since
the system of credit is almost entirely unknown in Eastern trade, and
all commercial transactions take place in merchandise and money,
the places where this merchandise is brought and changed from one
to another are, of course, very much frequented.

BEAN. A vegetable, the seed of which is used for food. Among
the ancients, many prohibitions were uttered against them by various
teachers. The reasons upon which they were thus interdicted, are
not clearly understood by the moderns. The precept of Pythagoras,
“Abstain from beans,’’ has been variously interpreted. It is gene-
rally supposed to have some hidden meaning. Beans were used in
balloting for public offices; and hence some have imagined, that
Pythagoras, in reality, charged his disciples not to meddle with the
affairs of the state. For whatever reason, beans appear to have been
held by several nations in aversion, and even abhorrence. Cicero
suggests, that they are unfavorable to tranquility of mind.

BEE, or APIS. A genus of interesting insects. A hive consists
of a queen, severai hundred drones, and from ten to twenty thousand
workers. The body of the queen is considerably larger than that of
the others. The government is a regular monarchy, and if there

THE FARMER AT HOME. 37

should be two queens, they fight till one has killed the other. The
qneen is an object of incessant solicitude and attention to the other
bees ; shu lays eighty thousand eggs in a season; the drones do noth-
ing, but after living three months they are killed by the workers.
These collect honey and wax from the nectaria of flowers, bread
from the pollen, and resin for their combs.

Queen, Worker. Drone,

Bees finish a comb in a short time; it is composed of six-sided
cells, arranged in two layers with opposite openings, so constructed as
to afford the greatest space with the least material, and the whole is
geometrically perfect. It is a wonderful system; and the workers
are so much engaged in their own industrious pursuits, that they
never attack or stimg except when assaulted or endangered. An
admirable and very profitable system of preserving them, instead of
barbarously suffocating them with sulphur, has lately been introduced,
and cannot be too much commended and encouraged.

BEEF. Of all kinds of animal food used, it is believed there is
none finer flavored, more easily digested, or more nutritious than beef ;
certainly there is none more universally used as an article of human
sustenance. ‘To have beef in perfection, it is necessary that the animal
should be well fed, and, if salted, that the pickle should be carefully
made, containing salt enough to harden the lean to the color of maho-
gany. Dried beef, properly prepared, is an excellent article, and one
which should be found among the stores of every farmer. In the tropi-
cal regions beef is preserved by being cut, as soon as killed, into thin
slices, and thoroughly dried in the sun. Such beef, in the language
of the country, is called jerked beef. In some parts of the world, particu-
larly in Abyssinia, beef is eatenraw. Ata feast, the animal is tied to
the door post, and the flesh is cut from the living beast, being served to
the guests, the muscles still quivering with life, and the more distinct
this action, the more highly is the flesh esteemed.

BEER. A liquor produced by brewing together malt, hops, and
water, and when properly made, is a nourishing and wholesome
drink. Beer is, however, like most of the other liquors of commerce
and trade, adulterated to a great extent, by the introduction of ingre-
dients of a cheaper nature than malt or hops, if not absolutely poison-
ous in their effects upon the system. The quantity of beer consumed
by the English laborers is incredible, especially during harvest, when

38 THE FARMER AT HOME.

it is provided by the employer. The greater part of the barley grown
in this country, as well as in England, is made into beer, though the
establishments for the cane here are on a small scale, com-
pared with the magnificent and expensive ones of that country. If
the good old home-brewed beer, from malt and hops, could be substi-
tuted for strong beer, or whiskey and rum, among the classes that con-
sume the most of these drinks, the health and morals of the country
would receive a decided improvement.

BERKSHIRE HOG.

BERKSHIRE HOGS. This breed of swine has been generally
considered to be one of the best in England, on account of its small-
ness of bone, early maturity. aptitude to fatten on little food, hardi-
hood, and the females being such good breeders. Those of the pure
original breed have been known to attain an immense size, and weigh
from eight to ten hundred pounds. One bred at Petworth measured
seven feet seven inches from the tip of his snout to the root of his
tail, and seven feet ten inches in girth round the centre; five feet
round the neck, ten inches round the thinnest part of his hind leg, and
two feet across the widest part of his back. He stood three feet nine
inches high; and, what was most remarkable in this monstrous hog,
he did not consume more than two bushels and six gallons of ground
oats, peas, and barley, per week.

BEET. A common vegetable, of which there are several varieties,
such as the common beet of our gardens, the mangel wurtzel, or field
beet, cultivated for cattle, and the white Siberian beet, grown pr nei-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 39

pally for the sugar manufacture. The mangel wurtzel is a valuable
root, producing heavy crops, and being excellent food for sheep, fatten-
ing animals, and for milk cows. It requires a rich loam. The manu-
facture of sugar from beets, in its most improved state, consists in slicing
the roots thin after they are well washed, drying them thoroughly in
ovens, grinding them to powder, and then, by putting this powder into
water, dissolving the sugar, while the fibre and the mucilage, which
rendered the crystallization difficult, remains unchanged, and is sepa-
rated from the sweet solution by straining. This is then evaporated,
and the syrup chrystallized in the usual manner. Beets thus treated
yield from eight to ten per cent. For cooking, medium-sized beets are
to be preferred, as they are found to be sweeter, and less fibrous than
those of larger size. Unlike most other roots, beets are fit for use as
soon as they attain a sufficient size; but they do not attain their
full perfection till October, and when wanted for winter use, should
stand as long as consistent with safety from frost.

BETEL. Is the leaf of a climbing East Indian plant, which
belongs to the same tribe as pepper, and, in shape and appearance, is
not much unlike ivy, but is more tender and full of juice. There isan
almost incredible consumption of betel throughout India, and other
parts of the East. The inhabitants chew it almost incessantly, and in
such a quantity that their lips become quite red, and their teeth
black—a color greatly preferred by them to the whiteness which the
Europeans and Americans so much affect. They carry it, in little
white boxes, about their persons, and present it to each other, by way
ef compliment and civility, in the same manner as we do snuff.
This is done by the women as well as by the men; and it would be
considered an offence, if those, tc whom it is offered should refuse to
except of and chew it. The leaves are sometimes used alone, but
much more commonly when covered with a kind of lime made of sea-
shell, and wrapped around slices of the areca nut, the fruit of the
areca palm, of the size of a small ege, and resembling a nutmeg de-
prived of its husk.

BIENNIAL. Any thing that continues or endures two years.
This term is usually applied to plants that grow one year and flower
the next, after which they perish. They only differ from annuals in
requiring a longer period for the maturity of fruitor seed. Most bien-
nials, if sown early in the spring will flourish in the autumn, and
then die, thus actually becoming annuals.

BIRD’S NEST. In China and some other countries adjacent to
it, the nest of a small swallow is delicately tasted, and is mixed with
soups. This nest is found in the rocks; it is of the hemispherical
figure, of the size of a goose egg, and in substance resembles isinglass.
In the East these nests are esteemed a great luxury, and sell at very
high prices.

BISON. A quadruped 0° the bovine genius, usually, but improp-

40 THE FARMER AT HOME.

erly called the buffalo. The proper buffalo is a distinct species,
peculiar to the warmer climates of the Eastern Continent. The
bison is a wild animal, with short, black, round horns, with great
intervals between their bases. On the shoulders is a large hunch, con-
sisting of a fleshy substance. The head and hunch are covered with
a long undulated fleece, of a rust-color, divided into locks. In win-
ter, the whole body is covered in this manner; but,in summer, the
hind part of the body is naked, and wrinkled. The tail is about a foot
long, naked except atuft of hairs at the end. The fore parts of the
body are very thick and strong; The hind parts slender and weak.
These animals inhabit the interior parts of North America, and some
of the mountainous parts of Europe and Asia,

BISON.

BISSEXTILE. Every fourth year is called bissextile, or leap-
year, in which a day is added to the month of February, on account of
the excess of six hours, which the civil year contains, above 365 days.
This excess is eleven minutesand three seconds too much; that is, it
exceeds the real year, orannual revolution ofthe earth. Hence, at the
end of every century divisible by four, it is necessary to retain the bis-
sextile day, and to suppress it at the end of those centuries which are not
divisible by four. Thus 1600 and 2000 are leap-years; but 1700,
1800, and 1900, are common years of 365 days. With this mode of
computation it will require a period of nearly 5000 years in order to
produce adifference of a single day between the civil and the tropical

ear.
: BITUMENS. Oily matters, of a strong acrid smell, and of differ-
ent consistencies. Bitumens are combustible, solid, soft, or fluid sub-
stances, whose smell is strong, acrid or aromatic. They are found
either in the internal part of the earth, or exuding through the clefts of
rocks, or floating on the surface of waters. Like oils, they burn with a

THE FARMER AT HOME. 41

rapid flame. Natural historians have divided them into several
genera ; but modern chemists arrange them according to their chem-
ical properties, and are only acquainted with six species, which are
very distinct from each other: these are, amber, asphaltos, jet, pit
coal, ambergris, and petroleum.

BLACK. Something opaque and porous, that imbibes the great-
est part of the light that falls on it, reflects little or none, and there-
fore exhibits no color. Bodies of a black color are found more inflam-
mable, because the rays of light falling on them are not reflected out-
wards, but enter the body and are often reflected and refracted within
it, till they are stifled and lost. Black substances are generally found
to be lighter than white, being more porous; clothes dyed of this color
wear out faster than those of any other, from the quantity of vitriol
necessary to strike the dye.

BLAST. A disease of plants, to which by different writers has
been given the name of blight, blast, and mildew. The latter, how-
ever, is evidently a distinct disease, and produced by different causes.
Blast or blight has been divided into several varieties, affecting plants
in diflerent ways, and-with varying intensity. Among these may be
mentioned blight originating from cold. The north or easterly winds
of spring often produce this, by freezing the tender shoots, or by re-
tarding the flow of the juices. Thus the young fruits are deprived of
their nourishment, and fall fromthe stem. Blast or blight from sultry
wet weather, originating contagious diseases of plants, is another of
the forms noted, and mildew sometimes seems to result from this
cause.

The blight which sometimes strikes the grain of whole districts,

vould seem to be owing to atmospheric causes thus generated, since
the disease appears to follow, and be governed by the course of winds.
Blast from the want of nourishment, is another form, but of which the
cause is usually obvious. Impoverished land, too great quantities of
seed, or injudicious culture, may produce this blight ; but in this coun-
try, it is oftener observed as the effect of drought. Blast from fwngz
is the kind of blight which attacks grain also, and which has been
erroneously attributed to particular plants, as the barberry bush, since
the fungi on the leaves of this plant, and those that cause the blight
in wheat, are clearly distinct.

BLASTING or rocks. The process of blasting rocks, or stones,
consists in boring a cylindrical hole, about ten or twelve inches deep,
in the rock, by means of a chisel for that purpose. The lower part
of this hole is filled with gunpowder. The upper part of the hole iz
then filled up with fragments: of stone, firmly rammed together; a
hole being left through these materials, by the insertion of an iron
rod, which is turned round during the operation of ramming. This
hole is next filled with powder, and a match is applied to it in such
amanner, that the operator has time to run out of the reach of the

42 THE FARMER AT HOME.

a mann>r, that the operator has time to run out of the reach of the
fragments of the rock.

This process, which is both tedious and dangerous, is now abandon-
2d for one which is more simple and eflectual, and which consists
merely in introducing a straw, filled with gunpowder, among the
powder at the bottom of the cylindrical hole in the rock, and filling
the rest of the cylindrical hole wit] loose sand. By applying a match
to the gunpowder in the straw, an explosion takes place ; and, instead
of the loose sand being driven out of the cylindrical hole, as might
naturally be expected, the rock is completely shivered in pieces. Mr.
Jessop tried the experiment with great success on some of the hard
rocks at Fort William, ard also on the lime works at Bristol.

BLINDNESS. No animal is so subject to blindness as the
horse, and in most cases it can clearly be traced to the treatment they
receive. Severe drawing in the harness, or racing, either on the
course or otherwise, will not unfrequently produce blindness, some-
times temporary, but often permanent. An examination of the pupils
of the eye, will most usually enable an observer to determine whether
there is blindness or not. If the pupils, when exposed to light after
being in a dark stable, contract, the horse is not blind ; if they con-
tract unequally, or one not at all, then the vision is imperfect, or gone
in one of the eyes. The hand placed close over the eye for a few
minutes, so as to render the eye dark, will show the dilation or con-
traction of the pupil, when no other convenient means of excluding
light are at hand. A horse, blind with both eyes, will usually have
his ears in constant motion, directing them in quick succession to
every quarter, relying on hearing rather than sight; and, he will lift
his feet high, as if he were stepping over some obstacle, when there
is actually nothing in the way.

BLOOD. The circulating fluid of animal bodies, and by means
of which the functions of nutrition and life are carried on. Blood is
usually divided into arterial blood, which is that given by the lungs
to the heart, and by that thrown into the arteries of the system, and
the venous blood, which is returned to the lungs through the veins
from the surface and extremities. The venous blood is of a dark
purple hue when passed into the lungs, and it leaves them of a rich
vermilion color. This change is effected by the absorption, while in
the lungs, of oxygen, from the atmospheric air with which they are
filled in breathing.

Blood is of much use in some of the manufacturing processes, some
valuable coloring pigments being derived from it. From the large
quantities of albumen it contains, it isthe principal ingredient in free-
ing sugar or molasses from its impurities, previous to the conversion
into lump and loaf sugar. Blood is found to be one of the most
powerful manures when applied to th2 ground, and large quantities
of it, mixed with other materials, are oFtained from the slaughter-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 43

houses of our principal cities, and appropriated to this purpose.
‘When animals are attacked with fever, one of the surest remedies is
bleeding, either local or general, as the cause may demand.

In a fluid of such importance as the blood, it will readily be
inferred that many material changes are constantly going on, both of
a physical and chemical kind, so as to modify constitutional tempera-
ments, regulate the condition of health, and influence morbid aflec-
tions; these changes, however, have not hitherto been ascertained
with anything like a precision sufficient to authorize inferences as to
the connection of such and such variations with such and such mala-
dies. Indeed the seemingly innoxious nature of the blood, while the
frame is under the influence of the most noxious poisons, is a striking
fact in the animal economy. It has, for example, been ascertained
that the flesh and the blood of an animal that is laboring under
hydrophobia, and which animal, by its saliva, is capable of innocu-
lating another with the specific disease, may be eaten with impunity.

Again, puncture the veins of an individual who is the subject of
small-pox, take blood from that subject, and mix it with the blood of
another, you will not by this process impart the sickness; an imparta-
tion which every one knows to be eflected with facility by a very
minute portion of the matter taken from the pustules that charac-
terize the disorder.

BLOSSOM. The opening of flowers in general. It is a term
applicable to every species of tree or plant, and more frequently used
than flower or bloom, when we have reference to the fruit which is
to succeed. Thus, we say flowers, when we speak of shrubs cultivated
for ornament ; and we say doom, in a more general sense in reference
to the beauty of flowers.

BLUBBER. Is the fat of whales, and other large sea animals,
whereof train oil is made. It is properly the adeps of the animal ; it
lies immediately under the skin, and over the muscular flesh. In the
porpoise, it is firm and full of fibres, and invests the body about an
inch thick. The whole quantity yielded by one of those animals ordi-
narily amounts to forty or fifty, sometimes eighty hundred weight, or
even more.

BOA. The negro name of a great tree that grows in some of the
parched districts of Africa, and in a wonderful manner furnishes sup-
plies of water. The trunk of this tree, which is of a prodigious bulk,
is naturally hollow like a cistern. In the rainy season it receives its
fill of water, which continues fresh and cool in the greatest heats, by
means of the tufted foliage which crowns its summit. Another man-
ner in which Providence has contrived a supply for the thirst of man,
in sultry places, is no less worthy of admiration. Nature has placed
amidst the burning sands of Africa, a plant, whose leaf, twisted round
like a cruet, is always filled with the quantity of a large glass fuli of

44 THE FARMER AT HOME.

fresh water: the gullet of this cruet is shut by the extremity of the
leaf itself, so as to prevent the water from evaporating.

BOG. A swampy piece of ground, usually containing large quan-
tities of vegetable matter, frequently of the nature of a quagmire, and
with tufts of coarse grass mingled with aquatic plants spread over its
surface, is in Europe, and also in this country, termed a bog. Such
pieces of amphibious soil are not common in the United States, but
in Scotland and Ireland, a very considerable portion of the surface is
occupied by such non-productive lands. Where bogs exist, the only
modes of bringing them under culture, are, by draining or covering the
surface with firm earth, and fre yuently it is necessary to combine both
operations. Draining the land consolidates the surface, and aflords
opportunity to cut off the bogs or coarse tufts of grass, and introduce
more valuable grasses, if not to submit it to the action of the plough.
Where the bogey ground is mostly composed of vegetable matter, it is
desirable to incorporate the common earths with the surface, thus
giving increased powers of production and greater firmness. Gravel
or sand may be carried on when the ground is frozen, if the surface
is not hard enough at other times, and by thus uniting draining: and
the application of earths to impart consistency, such soils, worthless
in their natural state, are rendered most valuable and productive.

BOILING, or EBULITION. The bubbling up of any fluid.
The term is most commonly applied to that bubbling which happens
by the application of fire, though that which ensues on the mixture of
an acid and alkali is sometimes also distinguished by the same name.
Boiling, in general, is occasioned by the discharge of an elastic fluid
through that which is said to boil; and the appearance is the same,
whether it is common air, fixed air, or steam that makes its way
through the fluid. The boiling of water is proved by Dr. Hamilton,
of Dublin, in his Essay on the Ascent of Vapor, to be occasioned by
the lowermost particles of the water being heated and rarefied into
vapor by reason of the vicinity of the bottom of the containing vessel ;
in consequence of which, being greatly imferior in specific gravity to
the surrounding fluid, they ascend with great velocity, and lacerating
and pushing up the body of water in their ascent, give it the tumul-
tuous motion called boiling.

The degree of heat at which different fluids boil, is very different.
Spirits boil at the lowest temperature, pure water next; at a still
higher temperature, the fixed oils. The degree of heat at which a
fluid boils, is called its boiling point. This is used as one of the fixed
points in the graduation of thermometers. Ether may be made to
boil at the common temperature, by merely exhausting the air from
the vessel in which it is contained.

BOLTON GREY HENS. One of the varieties of the Hamburg
fowls is known by this name. The breed is much esteemed. It is
handsome, active, ani valnable for eggs as well as the richness of its

THE FARMER AT HOME. 45

meat. It is known in various parts of Eneland, sometimes under
other names—to wit, the Coral, the Creole, and the Pencilled Dutch.
In some sections of that country it is more highly esteemed than any
other fowl. In Pennsylvania it is called the Creole, and is much
admired. Where a small number only is kept for family use, the
breed has been thought preferable to all others. The weight rarely
exceeds six pounds a pair, but when fat, the deficiency of weight is
more than made up by the tender and nutritious qualities of the flesh.
The comb is generally double or rose comb, though single combs some-
times are shown by the thorough-bred fowls. The leas and feet are
of a light blue or leaden color. Their ground color is a silver white,
that is marked with black or dark blue, in several parts of the body.
The tail in both sexes is darker than the body, and by its form adds
much to the beauty of the bird.

The best specimens of Bolton Greys are noted for their fecundity.
Some hens will lay daily, for several months in succession, without
evincing any desire to sit; but they are not all so prolific. They
vary in “this respect.just as cows of a particular breed vary in their
milking qualities, or the members of a family in their dispositions and
habits. The general character of the variety may be good, but it
has numerous exceptions. Taken altogether, however, we do not
know of any fowl which is more likely to give satisfaction to the
common breeder—attractive in its appearance, and, perhaps, as
profitable as any.

BOLTON GREY HENS.

BONE. The frame-work of animals, constituting the skeleton, 1s
called bone, and is composed of several ingredients, the principal one
of which is the earth called the phosphate of lime. This material

16 THE FARMER AT HOME.

appears to have been selected for this purpose, as forming much harder
compounds with animal membrane than the carbonate, which is used
in the composition of shells. The harder and more solid the bone,
the greater the proportion of the phosphate: thus the bony portions
of the ear are very hard, and they consist almost wholly of the phos-
phate. The long part of the teeth contains considerable carbonate,
but the enamel, or cutting parts, which sometimes approaches to the
hardness of steel, is nearly pure phosphate. The composition of bone
can be determined by fire, or more accurately by acids; and they are
found to consist of phosphate of lime, a small quantity of carbonate
lime, the whole cemented together by a strong, elastic animal mem-
brane, to which is added oil, of which the principal depository is the
interior of the bone.

The use of bone dust, or bones reduced to powder by grinding, has
introduced a new era in agriculture in some parts of the world.
Crushed bones were first extensively introduced as a manure in the
counties of Lincoln and York about the beginning of the present cen-
tury, and they are now considered the best and most efficacious appli-
cation that can be made to the soil. It has been estimated that by
extending the growth of the turnip crop to districts where it was not
before grown, and thus increasing the means of raising cattle and
sheep, and through these, indirectly, the culture of wheat and barley,
the means of subsistence in England has been increased one-fifth.
The experience of farmers who have used this manure, shows that it
succeeds best on light, dry, calcareous loams, or in general on any
soils that are dry, and do not contain too much alumine.

The finer the dust, the more rapid is the action, while as a matter
of course, that which is not so fine, is the most durable in its effects.
Twelve bushels per acre drilled in, is the usual allowance, but it is
sometimes sown broadcast, and the quantity varied from ten to twenty
bushels an acre. Where lands are much impoverished, thirty bush-
els an acre have been used with success. In our own country the use
of bone dust, as a manure, is annually increasing, especially in the
neighborhood of large cities, where bones are easily collected, and
where mills for reducing them to powder have been constructed.

BOTS. A species of small worms found in the intestines of the
horse, is called by this name. A fly deposits its eggs on the knees of
the animal, which are sometimes bitten off, and then carried to the
stomach, where they are hatched. The young bots adhere to the
stomach by little hooks, and are nourished by the mucus of the stomach,
or the food it contains, until the next spring, or the first of the sum-
mer, when, having attained full size in the larve state, they drop their
hold, and are usually carried along with the contents of the stomach,
and are voided. They then burrow in the ground, and remain a few
weeks in the chrysalis state, when they undergo a more important
transformation, and become flies, or perfect insects, pursuing the course

THs FARMER AT HOME. 47

of their predecessors. This is the course that nature has provided for
their propagation; and some conteud that bots never injure a horse,
but are beneficial. Others think that very rarely they injure him.

BOTANY. This is the branch of natural history which treats of
vegetables, of the different plants, and of the distinguishing marks by
which each individual species may be known from every other. Or,
botany is the science of the structure, functions, properties, habits. and
management of plants, and of the technical characters by which they
ure distinguished. The study of this science is not a trifling employ-
ment, undeserving the time and attention bestowed upon it. Our
food, our medicine, our luxuries are improved by it. By the inquiries
of the curious new acquisitions are made in remote countries, and our
resources of various kinds are augmented. We find that gardening,
the most elegant, and agriculture, the most useful of all arts, are im-
proved only in those countries in which botany is made subservient to
their advancement. And as knowledge of this science is more gene-
rally diffused throughout our country, we may expect to see it more
frequently enriched with fields, and adorned with gardens, which,
while they bestow honor on their possessors, shall prove a pleasant
recreation to the old, and a useful study to the young.

BOTTLE. A name given to certain small vessels, differing in
size and form, and composed of diflerent materials. We find them
square, circular, and cylindrical ; some with short, and others with
long necks. We have bottles of wood, stone, glass, and leather; all
of them used either for ripening or preserving liquors. Common bot-
tles are made of a coarse, green-colored glass. When a finer sort is
employed, and the exterior of the vessel has been wrapped about with
straw or wicket, it gets the name of flask. By this covering, it is
rendered less brittle, and 1s much used by travellers. Glass bottles
were unknown to the ancients, at Jeast the knowledge of them has
not been traced to a period earlier than the fifteenth century.

The country people of Persia never go a journey without carrying
by their side a small leathern bottle, in which to keep their water.
The Spaniards still use them under the name of Borrachas. They
are convenient, likewise, as the best means of preserving other sub-
stances, such as butter, cheese, and honey. ‘The manner of preparing
them is thus described by Chardin: ** When the animal is killed, they
cut off its feet and its head, and draw it in this manner out of the skin,
without opening its body. They afterwards sew up the places where
the legs were cut off, and the tail, and when it is filled they tie it
about the neck.’ It is certain that bottles of skin were universally
employed as wine vessels among the ancient Jews. And we may
here notice the Abyssinian Girba, though it does not properly rank
under the term do/tle. It is made of an ox’s skin, squared and stitched
together so closely as to be water tight, and will contain about sixty
gallons.

48 THE FARMER AT HOME,

BOW. A well known offensive weapon, which has been used in
war and hunting from times of the most remote antiquity. Although
the invention of the bow is, at first sight, extremely obvious and sim-
ple, yet the application of a missile bedy along with it, renders the
use of it more complicated. Hence the rudest class of savages are
entirely unacquainted with its properties, though they possess weapons
apparently of more difficult construction.

The form and substance of the bow have been greatly diversified
in different countries ; wood, horn, and steel, have all been succes-
sively adopted; but the first, from convenience, is in most general
estimation. In Tartary, Persia, and other eastern regions, bows are
manufactured from the horns of the antelope, and beautifully orna-
mented. They are sometimes composed of wood and horn, two pieces
of equal length being applied parallel to each other, bound together
by eatgut, and then covered with the smooth bark of a tree, which
receives suitable decorations, and a coat of varnish. The Laplanders
are said to frame their bows of two flat pieces of birch and fir glued
together ; and in England the modern bows are constructed of yew or
cocoa wood, with a slip of ash, or some other elastic wood glued on
the back.

BOX TREE. The box tree is a shrubby evergreen tree, twelve
or fifteen feet high, which has small, oval, and opposite leaves, and
grows wild in several parts of Britain. It has been remarked, that
this tree was formerly so common in some parts of England, as to
have given name to severa! places, particularly to Box-hill, in Surrey,
and Boxley, in Kent; and in 1815, there were cut down at Box-hill
as many trees of this sort as produced upwards of fifty thousand dollars.
This tree was much admired by the ancient Romans, and .has been
cultivated, in later times, on account of its being easily moulded into
the forms of animals and other fantastic shapes. The wood is of a
yellowish color, close grained, very hard and heavy, and admits of a
beautiful polish. On these accounts it is much used by turners, by
engravers on wood, carvers, and mathematical instrument makers.
Flutes and other wind instruments are formed of it ; and furniture,
made of box-wood, would be valuable were it not too heavy, as it
would not only-be very beautiful, but its bitter quality would secure it
from the attacks of insects. In France, it is in much demand for
combs. knife-handles, and button-moulds ; andit has been stated that
the quantity annually sent from Spain to Paris is alone estimated at
more than ten thousand livres. An oi! distilled from the shavings of
box-wood has been found to relieve the toothache, and to be useful in
other complaints; and the powdered leaves destroy worms.

BRAIN. The soft substance within the skull. It has been thought
probable that the soul is seated in the fluid of the ventricles of the
brain. This opinion is drawn from the fact that the organs of vision,
hearing, taste, and smell are all at their origin in contact with, and

THE FARMER AT HOME. 49

exposed to the action of this fluid; from the sarie taking place in
regard to the nerves of touch, and those belonging to the organs of the
voice, and the motions of the eyes; from the impossibility of finding
a solid part of the brain into which the terminations of all the nerves
can be traced ; from the nerves of the finest senses, viz: hearing and
seeing being most extensively expanded, and most directly in contact
with this fluid ; from the preternatural increase of it in the ventricles
of rickety children, which may, perhaps, be the cause of their uncom-
mon acuteness of mind; and, finally, from the fact that no animal
possesses so capacious and so perfectly organized ventricles as man ;
they being in the other mammalia much smaller than in him, still
less in birds, least of all in fishes, and absolutely wanting in insects.

BREAD. In the earliest antiquity, we find the flour or meal of
grain used as food. The inconvenience attending the use\of the grain
in its natural state, and, perhaps, the accidental observation, that
when bruised, and softened in water, it formed a paste, and when
dried again a more compact, mealy substance, led, by degrees, to the
artificial preparation of bread. Easy as it seems to us, it must have
been a long time before it was completely successful.

The grain was first bruised between two stones, and, from the meal
mixed with milk and water, a dry, tough, and indigestible paste was
made into balls. This is yet the chief food of Northern Africa. The
Carthagenians, also, eat no bread, and hence were called, in derision,
by the Romans, pultzphagz. that is, pottage eaters.

The best and most wholesome bréad is made in the United States
and in France. In England, the flour is adulterated with too many
foreign substances, in order to make the bread whiter. In some parts
of Sweden, the bread is composed, in part, of the bark of trees in win-
ter. In Westphalia, a kind of very coarse, black bread is made, of
which the peasants bake one large loaf for the whole week. This is
divided for use with small saws. In many parts of Germany, bread
is made of grain nearly entire, or but just bruised, which is very
coarse, and frequently forms part of the food of horses. Bread is
found wherever civilization has extended. The want of bread has
often occasioned public commotions, particularly in Paris and ancient
Rome.

BREAD FRUIT. The fruit of the arto-carpus, or bread-fruit,
appears to have been first discovered to Europeans by the great
navigator Dampier. It is indigenous in the islands of the South Sea.
The tree is said to be of the size of a large apple tree; the leaves
broad, and of a dark green. The fruit is appended to the boughs in
the manner of apples, and of about the size of a pound of bread, in-
closed in a tough rind, which, when ripe, turns of a yellow color.
The internal part is yellow, soft, and sweet. The natives of the
countries where it grows, bake it in an oven till the rind is black ;
and this being scraped off, they eat the inside, which is then white,

3

50 THE FARMER AT HOME.

resembling newly baked bread, having neither seed nor stone. If
kept in this state twenty-four hours, it grows harsh. It is said to be
very satisfying to the stomach, full of nourishinent, and therefore,
proper for hard working people. It is known at Bantam, by the
name of foccum; and Anson calls the tree rzma. It supplies food
during three-fourths of the year.

BREAD FRUIT.

BREECHES. An article of clothing in use even among the
Babylonians, and which, with them, were made so as to cover the
foot. and supply the place of stockings. In Europe, we find hose first
used among the Gauls. In the fifth century, they had become
fashionable in Rome; but the breeches-makers were expelled from
the city by an imperial edict, it being considered unworthy of the
lords of the world to wear these barbarous investments. The stock-
ings were separated from them some centuries since. Sometimes they
were worn small, and sometimes large, as the fashion changed In
some instances, an immense quantity of cloth was put into them.
The poor stufled theirs out with such substances as they could proenre
Joachim I1., Elector of Brandenburg, who had forbidden the wearing
of these enormous integuments, made a person, whom he saw with a
pair, rip them open, whea some bushels of bran fell out of them.

Osiander and Museulus raised their voices against this preposterous
fashion. The modern breeches were first introduced during ‘he reign
of Louis XTY.

BREEDING. A term apphed to the improvement of animals
by crosses, or breeding from new varieties, by which new and superior
kinds are obtained, and any desirable quality, whether of size, pro-
pensity to fatten, or for milk, secured. It is only within the last half
century, that the business of breeding has received the attention it
deserves; and ihe astonishing improvement made in the animals of
those couniries where it is best understood and practiced, shows that

THE FARMER AT HOME 51

few steps in reducing agriculture to a science, have been attended
with happier consequences. Such has been the result in England
and Scotland, that the average individual weight of the immense
numbers of cattle and sheep now.annually slaughtered at Smithfield,
is nearly or quite one-half greater than it was at the time the first
efloris at improvement by breeding commenced. Of the many who
distinguished themselves in Great Britain, as breeders, Bakewell and
Collings, Culley and Berry, are noted for cattle, and Bakewell and
Ellman have distinguished themselves in the improvement of sheep.

The principles of breeding are few and simple. Let the objects
desired in any particular race of animals be distinctly understood, and
the animals for breeding or crossing be selected with reference to these
objects. It should be remembered, that in determining the character
of the offspring, it is found by experience, that the influence of the
male is greater than that of the female. It is by the observance
of these, and a few other principles equally plain and simple, that
Bakewell and Collings raised the Durham short horns tc *o high
a standard; that the first named gave to the Leicester sheep a .-
and weight of which former sheep growers had never dreamed ; that
Ellman has brought the Southdown to within a few grades of the
Merino in fineness of wool; and that the improved varieties of swine,
such as the Chinese, Berkshire, and others, have so far exceeded in
value and actual profit to the farmer, the common kinds of this ani-
mal. Great efforts are at this time making in this country, and with
decided success, to raise the standard of our domestic animals, by
importations from abroad, and careful breeding at home. The results
are such as to encourage the belief, that in a few years first rate
animals of all kinds will be as common here as they have hitherto
and most unfortunately been rare.

BREWING. The art of brewing, or of preparing a vinous fer-
mented liquor from the farinaceous seeds, is of high antiquity. The
ancient Egyptians, from ithe soil and climate of their country not
being favorable to the culture of the vine, were induced to seek a sub-
stitute in barley, from which, in all probability, by the process of
malting, they knew how to procure a fermented liquor. The town of
Pelusium, situated on one of the mouths of the Nile, was particularly
celebrated for its manufactures of malt liquor, of which there were two
kinds; one called Carmi, was sweet, and appears to have resembled
our sweet and glutinous ales; the other named Zzthum, seems to
have been analagous to modern beer. The Germans, from the testi-
mony of Tacitus, were capable of preparing a liquor similar to wie
from barley, by fermentation. Julian, Strabo, and Polybius, show,
that the same art was known to the Spaniards, the Gauls, and the
inhabitants of the British islands, and the north of Europe. All the
ancient malt liquors, however, seem to have been made entirely of
barley, or some other farinaceous grain, and therefore were not gene-

52 THE FARMER AT HOME.

rally calculated for long keeping, as this quality depends considerably,
though not entirely, on the bitter extract of hops, or other vegetables,
with which the liquor is mingled.

BRICK. A kind of factitious stone, made of argillaceous earth,
formed in moulds, and baked in kilns, or dried in the sun. Bricks
appear to be of the highest antiquity; and, as we learn from sacred
history, the making of them was one of the oppressions to which the
children of Israel were subjected during their servitude in Egypt.
The bricks of the ancients, however, so far differed from ours, that
they were mixed with chopped straw in order to bind the clay
together, and instead of being burned were commonly dried in the sun.
Vitruvius recommended, that they should be exposed in the air for
two years before they were used, as they could not be sufficiently dry
in less time; and by the laws of Utica, no bricks were allowed to be
used, unless they had lain to dry for five years. From Dr. Pocock’s
description of a pyramid in Egypt, constructed of unburnt bricks, it
appears iaat the Egyptian bricks were nearly of the same shape as
ov’ .ommon bricks, but rather larger. The bricks used by the Ro-
mans were in general square; and M. Quatremere de Quincy
observes, that in his researches among the antique buildings of Rome,
he found them of three different sizes.

Among the celebrated buildings of antiquity, constructed of brick,
were the tower of Babel, and the famous walls of Babylon, reckoned
by the Greeks among the wonders of the world; the walls of Athens,
the house of Crassus at Sardis, and the walls of the tomb of Mausolus.
The paintings, which were brought from Lacedemon to Rome,
to ornament the Comitium in the edileship of Varro and Murena,
were cut from walls of brick; and the Temple of Peace, the
Pantheon, and all the Therma, were composed of this material. The
Babylonian bricks, which are in the possession of the English Hast
India Company, and upon which Dr. Hayes favored the public with a
dissertation, are inscribed with various figures and characters, and are
supposed by some to be a part of that brick work, upon which Pliny
tells us that the Babylonians wrote the observations which they made
of the stars for seven hundred and twenty years.

BRIDGE. In Architecture, from a Saxon word, is a structure
of carpentry, masonry, or iron work, built over a river, canal, or
valley, for the convenience of, passing from one side to the other, and
may be considered as a road supported in the air by arches or lintels,
and these agaiu supported by proper piers or butments. A stately
bridge over a large and rapid river, while it is one of the most difhi-
cult, is justly esteemed one of the most nobie and striking specimens
of human art To behold grand arches composed of an immense
quantity of snrall materials, so disposed and united as to form one
eompacted body, which, bestriding the stream, affords above an ample
communication with the distant shores, and allows below an uuninter-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 53

rupted passage to navigation, is enough to awaken the admiration of
every spectator.

One of the most celebrated of the bridges of antiquity was that
built by Trajan over the Danube. It was erected by that emperor for
the conveniency of sending succors to the Roman legions on the other
side of the Danube, in case they should be suddenly attacked by the
Daci, but demolished by his successor, Adrian, lest the barbarians,
overpowering the guards set to defend the bridge, should, by means
of it, pour into Maesia and cut off the garrisons there.

The celebrated Roman bridge, near Lyons, has long been reckoned
one of the finest and boldest of the ancient bridges in France. Its
whole length is upwards of eight hundred yards ; it is very crooked,
bending in many places, and making seve. al unequal angles, especially
in those parts where the Rhone has the strongest current. The arches
are from fifteen to twenty fathoms wide, and have their feet, or the
bottoms of the piers, protected by two pedestals which project from
them ; the lower part of the piers consists of several courses of foot-
ings jutting out lke steps. Between the great arches there are
smaller arches ke windows that come down nearly to the top of the
pedestals, about the middle of the pier. This mode of construction
was adopted with a view of breaking gradually the mighty force of
the Rhone, the several courses of steps jutting out from the piers were
intended to oppose and break the stream by portions, and prevent it
from coming with its full foree at once upon the fabric ; and when
the flood should rise so high as to cover the steps and pedestals, then
the small window-like arches would assist to convey the water through,
which might otherwise endanger the great arches.

Iron being the most abundant, cheap, and generally useful of all
metals, has of late been employed in many works where great strength
was required in proportion to the weight of the material; hence cyl-
inders, beams, and pumps for steam engines, boats, and barges for
canals and navigable rivers, beams and pillars for warehouses and
other large buildings, and at leneth bridges, have been constructed of
iron. ron bridges ure the invention of British artists.

BRIDLE. The head-stall, bit and reins by which a_ horse is
governed. The origin of it isof high antiquity. The first horsemen
guided their horses with a little stick, and the sound of their voice.
A cord drawn through the nose is sometimes used for other animals.
The ancient Thessalonian coins often represent a horse with a long
rein trailing on the ground. The Romans were trained to fight with-
out bridles, as an exercise in the manege. On Trajan’s column,
soldiers are thus represented at full speed. The parts of a modern
bridle are the snaffie or bit; the fillet, over the forehead, and under
the foretop; the throat band, which buttons under the throat; the
reins ; the nose band, buckled under the cheeks; the trench, the
cavesson, the martingal, and the chaff halter.

5A THE FARMER AT HOME.

BRISTLES. The strong glossy hairs growing upon the back of
the wild boar and the hog. They are an important item in the
matters furnished by swine. They are used by the brushmaker and
the shoemaker, and they form an article of commerce much more in
value than one would at first imagine. Large quantities ar?“ anually
imported into England, mostly it is believed from Russia and Prus-
sia. M’Culloch says, that the quantity amounted to 1,789,801
pounds a year, for the three years ending 1831. Youatt supposes
that each hog furnishes one pound. If this estimate is correct it
would be easy to calculate the probable value of all the bristles
yielded in the United States. Professor Low says that in the Orkney
Isrunds ropes are made from bristles, for some purposes preferable to
those manufactured from hemp.

BROADCAST. In sowing broadcast considerable skill is re-
guisite to spread the seed equally over the ground. A failure of this
kind is not only injurious to the crop, but as when the grain springs
up, it may be seen for a great distance, the unevenness of the sowing
gives a most unfarmerlike aspect to the field. In broadcast sowing
advautage shouid be taken of the wind, otherwise, great inequalities
will sometimes be produced. When grain is sown broadeast, the
glougb or the harrow is to be used for covering it; and unless these
yperations are well performed, much of the seed will remaim uncov-
ered, and be lost to the purposes of vegetation. More seed is required
to the acre when sown broadcast than when put in drills. Machines
have been invented for sowing seed broadcast, which do the work
with great precision ; and, where the ground is even and free from
stones, they answer an admirable purpose.

BROCCOLI. This is an improved variety of cabbage, the flower
buds of which are to be eaten. It differs from the cauliflower only in

the looseness of the inflorescence. The varieties are numerous, the
early white and the white cape being the best ; but the purple cape is
the only kind much cultivated. In flavor, good judges pronounce the
flowers equal to the cauliflower; and, as its cultivation is much more
easy, its use will become much more general, especially in the country,
where the conveniences for raising the other are less common. It is
not a long period since it was first known to American horticulturists ;
and, it is only about a quarter of a century since its proper mode of
culture was correctly understood by them.

In the middle and northern portions of our country the seeds may
be sown towards the end of May. The transplanting may be made
in July, or when the plants are large enough, into very rich, manured,
and mellow earth. They should be from eighteen to twenty-four
inches apart, each way. The flowers wiil probably begin to show
themselves in the latter part of August. In September more will
show themselves ; and from the middle of the month to the middle of
November, they produce one continued suczession of flowers. The

THE FARMER AT HOME. 55

degree of frost they will be able to withstand without sustaining the
.east injury, when they are in their highest state of flowering, is
astonishing ; and, the most singular and invaluable characteristic of
this plant is the great length of time which is contained between
their first beginning to flower and their final termination ; and that,
too, all from the same se2d, sown at the same time, and the plants all
treated precisely in the same manner.

BROKEN WINDED. This is disease of horses,in which the
inspiration is performed by one effort, and the expiration by two ;
which is plainly distinguished by observing the flanks, and noticing
that the expiration occupies double the time of the inspiration. The
cause is, the rupture or running together of some of the air cells in
the lungs, and the consequence is, that while the expansion of the
chest fills the lungs with air, an unusual and double effort is required
to force it out of the unnatural position it occupies. In healthy lungs,
when they are expanded, the air will rush in easily enough, and one
effort of the muscles of expiration is sufficient for the purpose of ex-
pelling it ; but, when the cells have run into each other, the cavity is
so irregular, and contains so many corners and blind pouches, that it
is exceedingly difficult to force it out again, and two efforts are
scarcely competent fully to eflect it. A dry, husky cough of a pecu-
liar kind, attends this disease.

The origin of the disease is to be found most commonly in the
previous treatment of the animal; although it is sometimes the result
of inflammation of the lungs. Horses which are fed on bulky food,
which are allowed but a short time to eat, or are naturally great
feeders, and which are put to severe work on a full stomach, are the
horses that most commonly are broken winded. Hence farmers’
horses suffer the most, as the food they receive is generally more
bulky, and the time allowed for receiving and digesting it is less than
with others, which are fed mostly on grain and are allowed longer
seasons for rest. It is not pretended that this disease can be cured,
yet much may be done in the way of palliation. The food should con-
sist of much nutriment in little compass ; the oats should be increased,
and the hay diminished; occasional mashes will be found useful ;
water should be given sparingly except at night; and the horse should
never be exercised on a full stomach.

BRUSH. An instrument for cleaning anything of dust and dit,
by light rubbing, as floors, furniture, clothes, boots, or merchandise.
The process is too frequent to require description. Brushes were
originally made of shrubs or small branches of trees tied together,
and such are yet used for coarse purposes. But the materials
inost used are bristles set in wood. Painters use brushes of bristles
in their work. Silversmiths use a wire brush for scrubbing metals in
order to gilding; and there is a method of staining leather by rubbing
the culor on the skin with a brush.

56 THE FARMER AT HOME.

BRUTE. A general name for all ansnals except mankind.
Philosophers have been puzzled about the essential characteristics of _
brutes, by which they may be distinguished from man. There isa
very ingenious treatise in German, published by the late Professor
Bergman, entitled, ‘“‘ Researches designed to show what the Brute
Animals certainly are not, and also what they probably are.” That
they are zot machines, he proves with more detail than seems neces-
sary for refuting an hypothesis which would equally tend to make ws
almachines. It is certain, that the half reasoning elephant cannot
be deemed a machine by us, from any other consideration than that
he goes upon four feet, while we go upon two ; and he might as well
tuke us for mere machines, because we go upon two feet, while he
goes upon four. Butif animals are not mere machines, what are
they? Manifestly, sensitive beings, with an immaterial principle;
and thinking or reasoning beings, to a certain degree.

In certain classes of animals, this appears evident to Sir T. Berg-
man, who seems to have observed, with great sagacity and attention,
their vavtows operations, their ways and means. He thinks it impos-
sible to deduce this in any animals, (if we except those of the lowest
classes in the gradation of intelligence,) from a general and uniform
instinct ; for they accommodate their operations to times and cireum-
stances. They combine ; they choose their favorable moment, and
receive instruction by experience. Many of their operations announce
reflection ; the bird repairs a shattered nest, instead of constructing
instinctively a new one; the hen who has been robbed of her eges,
changes her place, in order to lay the remainder with more security ;
the cat discovers both care and artifice in concealing her kittens.
Again, it is evident that, on many occasions, animals know their faults
and mistakes, and correct them; they sometimes contrive the most
ingenious methods of obtaining their ends, and, when one method
fails, have recourse to another ; and they have, without doubt, a kind
of language for the mutual communication of their ideas.

How is all this to be accounted for, (says Bergman,) unless we sup-
pose them endowed with the powers of perceiving, thinking, remem-
bering, comparing, and judging? They have these powers, indeed,
in a degree inferior to that in which they are possessed by the human
species, and form classes below them in the scale of intelligent beings.
But still it seems unreasonable to exclude them from the place which
the principles of sound philosophy, and facts ascertained by constant
observation, assign 1o them in the great and diversified sphere of life,
rcusation, and intelligence. He does not, however, consider them as
beings whose actions are directed to moral ends ; nor, consequently,
as accountable and proper subjects for reward or puntshment in a
future world. That brutes possess reflection and sentiments, and are
susceptible of the kindly, as well as the irascible passions, independ-
ently of sexual attachment and natural affection, is evident from the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 57

numerous instances of gratitude daily observable in different animals,
particularly the dog. Of those and other sentiments, such as pride,
and even a sense of glory, the elephant exhibits proofs equally sur-
prising and indubitable.

BUCKWHEAT. This plant is grown in almost every part of the
world. In China, Japan, and Russia it forms a very large portion of
the food of the inhabitants. It is likewise eaten in Switzerland, and
the southern parts of France, and in Flanders it forms an important
branch of industry. It has been known in Europe at least from the
time of the crusades. Gerard speaks of it as cultivated in England
about the year 1597. It was brought into Europe from the northern
part of Asia. The common buckwheat bears white flowers, tinged
with red. Its stem is full of knots, and rises to the height of two feet
or more. It is said that twenty branches or stems will sometimes
rise from a single seed. The flowers are in bunches, at the ends of
the branches, and are succeeded by black, angular seeds.

Buckwheat thrives well in almost any kind of soil, even those of
the poorest description. In most arable districts, it is sown on the
inferior sorts of land, as, when cultivated on the richer kinds of soil,
it is found to run too much to straw. Of course, the lighter soils are
adapted to it. On this account it is extensively cultivated. Besides,
the labor in its culture is trifling. And what is not less material, the
period in completing its growth is very short. If sown in mid-summer,
it usually has full time for attaining maturity. It is most susceptible
to cold, and the slightest hoar-frost will destroy it. The product of
buckwheat in the United States, for 1847, has been estimated at twelve
millions of bushels, or a little less, and more than half of the amount
was raised in the States of New York and Pennsylvania. It is said
that in Ohio the kernels have grown far larger than elsewhere
known, and that the product upon the acre has been proportionably
larger. ’

BUD. The germ or first fruit of a plant, which is the organized
rudiment of a branch or flower. Buds proceed from the extremities
of the young shoots, and also along the branches, sometimes single,
sometimes two and two, either opposite or alternate, and sometimes
collected in greater numbers. In general, buds are of three kinds,
that containing the flower, that containing the leaves, and that con-
taining both flower and leaves. The bud is covered with a kind of
scales, which are intended to defend the enclosed rudiments from cold
and other external injuries. These scales are closely applied to each
other; those on the outside are the longest and the thickest. and those
in the interior are smaller and more delicate. In cold countries, the
external scales are often covered with hair, or a resinous varnish, or
some other contrivance, which enablzs them to prevent the access of
frost to the young and tender centre v-hich they protect ; but in warm
countries, where such a provision is not required, they are green and

3%

58 THE FARMER AT HOME,

smooth, and much less numerous. The cellular centre of a bud is
the seat of its vitality ; the scales that cover it are the parts towards
the development of which its vital energies are first directed. Fruit
buds, in most cases, are distinguishable from the wood buds by their
rounder and fuller form, the scales that cover them are broader and less
numerous. and in the spring the: begin to swell and show signs of
opening at an earlier period.

BUDDING. This isa method of propagation practiced for various
sorts of trees, but particularly those of the fruit kinds. It is the only
method which can be had recourse to with certainty for continuing
and multiplying the approved varieties of many sorts of fruits and
other trees, as, although their seed readily grow, and become trees,
not one out of a hundred, so raised, produces anything like the original,
and but very few that are good. But trees or stocks raised in this
manner, or being budded with the proper sorts, the buds produce
invariably the same kind of tree, fruit, and flower, continuing unal-
terably the same afterwards. The object in view in budding is almost
always that of grafting, and depends on the same principle, all the
difference between a bud and a scion being, that a bud is a shoot or
scion in embryo ; in other respects, budding is conducted on the same
principles as grafting. In every case, the bud and the stock must be
botanically related. An apple may be budded on a pear or thorn, but
not upon a plum or peach. Common budding is performed from the
beginning of July to the middle of August.

BUFFALO. Ifwe should compare the common cow with the
bison, the difference between them will doubtless appear great; but
when we draw a resemblance between that and the buffalo, no two
animals can be nearer alike. Both are equally submissive to the yoke,
and both are employed in the same domestic scene ; notwithstanding
which, they have such an aversion to each other, that were there but
one of each kind, there would be an end of the race. The buffalo,
upon the whole, is by no means so beautiful as the animal which it is
like; his figure is more clumsy and awkward, and he carries his head
nearer the ground; his limbs are not so weil covered with flesh, and
his tail is much more naked of hair; his body is shorter and thicker
than the cow, and his legs are longer in proportion to his size; his
head is smaller, his horns not so round, and his skin is not near so
well covered with hair; his flesh is hard and disagreeable to the
taste, and has a very strong and disagreeable smell; the milk of the
females is much inferior to the cow’s, but in warm countries it is used
for butter and cheese.

The veal of the young buffalo is equally unpalatable with the beef
which is produced from the old, and the most valuable part of the
whole animal is generally allowed to be the hide, the leather of which
is famous for impenetrability and for the softness and smoothness of
the wear. The -hief use o” these animals is for drawing immerse

THE FARMER AT HOME. 59

burdens and weights; they are guided by a ring thrust through their
nose, and then yoked to a wagon in pairs; and their strength is
allowed so superior to a horse, that two buffaloes will draw as much
as two pair.

The wild buffalo, which inhabit many parts of India, are a very
fierce aud formidable race, and thes2 is no method of escaping their
pursuit but by climbing up into some immeuse tree ; a moderate size
would be no security, for they can break down those of infertor growth,
and many travellers have been instantly gored to death, and then tram-
pled to pices by their feet. They run with a surprising degree of
speed, and cross the largest rivers with the greatest ease; and the
method which the hunters adopt to destroy them, is to fire upon them
from some of their thickest trees.

Although so wild in a state of nature, no animal in the world can
be easier tamed; and though they are never quite so docile as the
cow, yet they are patient, persevering, and have a greater share of
strength. Though the torrid zone is properly their native clime, yet
in many parts of Europe they are bred; and the lower order of the
Italians are so sensible of their value, that they absolutely consider
them as a source of wealth. The animal has such a strong antipathy
to fire, that the very resemblance of it occasions them alarm and
dread ; and the inhabitants of those countries where they most abound,
avoid appearing either in scarlet or red.

BULB. There are a number of plants, the roots of which are
perennial, while the tops are annual; and as these seem destined to
contain the nourishment of a new plant, they are enlarged, and either
flattened or rounded, as the variety or species may happen to be.
Many of the finest flowering plants are bulbous, and in some places,
particularly in Holland, the culture of such bulbs, tulips, and others,
for sale, is an important and lucrative branch of trade. Among far-
mers, the only two bulbous roots that attract much attention, are
those of the onion and turnip. Bulbous roots, like the tuberous ones,
are preserved with ease, requiring only a temperature of little above
freezing to prevent germination, and atmospheric dryness to prevent
mouldinegs or rotting.

BURNING. In agriculture, burning consists in taking the turf
from the land with as much of the earth as will adhere to it, drying
it thoroughly, and then either with or without the aid of other fuel,
burning it in large pits prepared for this use. The greatest benefits
of burning are experienced on clay soils, where a mixture of other
earths is required to counteract the natural adhesion of the clay. In
burning, all the clay particles are converted to a kind of brick earth,
and this, on being spread over the earth, together with the ashes and
salts produced in the process, furnishes an excellent dressing, as well
as a permanent amelioration u the soil. The brick dust acts as the
addition of silicious matter in rendering the earth more friable, and

60 THE FARMER AT HOME.

from its color, it retains the solar heat better tha: when in its forn.er
state. Paring and burning is also destructive of all foul seeds, and of
all insects, unless their habitation les beneath the turf. In this
ease, the ashes not unfrequently destroy or drive them away. The
ashes so made are sometimes mixed with lime and vegetable or animal
manures, in the manner of composts, and then applied to the soil with
great eflect.

BUSHEL. In the time of Henry VIIL., it was ordained that the
imperial bushel, which is the standard adopted in this country, should
coutain eight gallons, or thirty-two quarts, and that, according to the
statute, each gallon was to contain eight pounds of wheat, troy weight,
or twelve ounces, and each ounce was to contain sixty-four kernels
growing in the middle of the ear. Accordingly, our common half-
bushel measure, to hold sixteen quarts, is thirteen and a-half imches
ii diameter, and seven and three-quarters of an inch in depth. To
show the importance of a strict conformity to this size, or an equivalent
one, it is easily seen that with a diminished one in selling, and an
increased one in buying, there will be a very considerable injustice to
the suffering party. For instance, if the measure is only seven inches
urd five-eights, instead of seven and three-quarters, there will be the |
diflerence of a pint in every bushel. So if the depth is increased to
seven-eights instead of three-quarters of an inch over seven inches, the
half-bushel measure will hold a pint too much. Hence, the honest
farmer, in buying or selling, should look well to the size of his half-
bushel measure. Even if the bottom of it is rounded or warped up in
the centre three-sixteenths of an inch, it will hold not enough by half
a pint; and if the stick used on the top to remove the surplus grain
were to be crooked three-sixteenths of an inch, it would make about
half a pint difference in each measure.

BUTTER. Is too well known to need description ; it 1s merely
the oleous portion of milk, first separated in the shape of cream, and
afterwards still further detached from its aqueous particles, or butter-
mull, by agitation either by the hand or other motion, called churn-
zu. Butter is used chiefly in temperate climates; in the south of
Turope, and many other places, olive oil is used for similar purposes.
The Dutch introduced butter into the East Indies. The Romans
used butter no otherwise than as a medicine, never as food. Pliny
suys that among the barbarous nations it was a delicate dish. The
Greeks had not an early knowledge of butter. Their poets, though
they make frequent mention of milk and cheese, never mention butter.
Cl. Alexandrinus observes, that the ancient Christians of Egypt purnt
butter in their lamps at their altars instead of oil; and the .\bys-
siuians, according to Godinus, still retain a practice much like it.
(sood butter is one of the most wholesome and nutritious of the animal
futs ; itis necessary, however, that it should be eaten in moderate quan-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 61

tity, and with bread or other farinaceous matter, or it will disagree
with the stomach.

BUTTERFLY. An insect well known, and much admired for
its beauty ; it is bred from the caterpillar. The wings of the butterfly
are four in number, and though two of them be cut off, the animal
can fly with the two others remaining. If we observe the wing of a
butterfly with a good microscope, we shall perceive it studded over
with a variety of little grains of diflerent dimensions and forms; and
nothing can exceed the beautiful and regular arrangement of these
little substances. Like the tiles of a house, those of one rank are a
little covered by those which follow ; and they are of a great variety
of figures, some oval, some in the form of a heart, some triangular,
and some resembling a hand open; yet the weight of the wing,
though it be covered over with these scales, is very little increased
thereby.

CAAMINI. This is a name given by the Spaniards and others ta
the finest sort of the Paraguay tea. It is the leaves of a shrub which
grows on the mountains of Maracaya, and is used in Chili and Peru
as tea is with us. The mountains, where the trees which produce
this valuable leaf grow naturally, are far from the inhabited parts of
Paraguay ; but the people of the place know so well the value and
use of it, that they constantly furnish themselves with great quantities
of it from the spot. They used to go out on these expeditions many
thousands together, and their country was left to the insults of their
enemies in the meantime, and many of them perished with the
fatigue.

CABAL. A name given to a sort of drink made of dried raisins.
The manner in which the Portuguese make cabal is this ; they take
out the stones of about twenty pounds of raisins, and then bruising the
raisins a little, they put them into a barrel of white wine, in the
month of January or February, and let them stand till about Easter.
It is then very clear and rich, luscious and palatable to the taste. It
is recommended to stop coughs, and give strength to the stomach.
It is worth while to try the experiment with the same proportion of
raisins to the same quantity of our cider, which would probably prove
a fine drink.

CABBAGE. The common cabbage is by far the mest valuable,
both to man and to the beasts, by whose assistance he is able to make
the earth so fertile. It is also the most productive ; for it is believed
that an acre of ground will yield a greater weight of green vegetable
substance, and thus be more profitable to the farmer, in the shape of
cabbage, than in that of any other vegetable matter. It is very
abundantly produced by clay soils, which are unfit for turnips, and
the farmers who cultivated such soils will find it a vegetable worthy
of much attention. The cabbage furnishes a green fodder for cows
and sheep, which is at least as good as turnips or carrots, fattening

62 THE FARMER AT HOME.

the animal equally fast, as well as being favorable to the production
of milk ; and is far preferable, as it keeps later in the spring, and
thus supplies green food when no other can be procured. Cobbett
calculated that one-fourth of an acre will yield cabbage sufficient to
support a cow the year round. Burying it in the ground where the
earth is dry, is probably one of the best methods of preserving cabbage
fresh and in good order. Large quantities are annually made into
sour krout, an article which forms an important part of ship stores,
destined for long voyages, and to the use of which, much of the ex-
emption of sailors from that terrible disease the scurvy, is now to be
attributed. There are many varieties of this plant; but the general
properties are the same.

CABBAGE TREE PALM. The Areca oleracea, is a native of
the West Indies, and grows to the height of one hundred and seventy
or even two hundred feet. The leaves, for it has no branches like
most other trees, are sometimes twenty fet long. The interior of the
leaf is used like hemp and flax for cordage ; the fruit, lying towards
the top of the trunk, under the leaves, is in thin snowy flakes, sweeter
than the almond; the pith produces a kind of sago, and the nuts,
called areca nuts, yield oil by decoction. In short, every part of this
tree is useful ; it is esteemed one of the most beautiful of trees.

CACAO. Chocolate is a kind of cake, or hard paste, the basis
of which is the pulp of the cacao, or chocolate-nut, a production of the
West Indies and South America. Plantations of cacao are numerous
on the banks of the river Magdalena, in South America. They are
usually formed in morassy situations, and are sheltered from the
intense heat of the sun by larger trees, which are planted in them.
There are two principal crops of cacao in the year; the first in June,
and the second in December. As soon as the fruit is ripe, it is
gathered and cut into slices; and the nuts, which are, at this time,
in a pulpy state, are taken out, and laid in skins, or on leaves to be
dried. They have now a sweetish acid taste, and may be eaten like
any other fruit. When perfectly dry, they are put into bags, each
containing about an hundred weight, and, thus packed, are exported
to foreign countries. Previously to being formed into chocolate, these
nuts are generally roasted or parched over the fire in an iron vessel,
after which process their thin external covering is easily separated.
The kernel is then pounded in a mortar, and subsequently ground on
a smooth, warm stone. Sometimes the arnatto is added; and with
the aid of water the whole is formed into paste. Thisis put whilst
hot, into tin moulds, where in a short time it congeals; and in this
state it is the chocolate of the shops. .

By the natives of South America, the chocolate nuts are used for
food. A white, oily matter, about the consistence of suet, is also
obtained by bruising them, and boiling the pulp. The oil is by this
means liquified, and rises to the surface, where it is left to cool and

THE FARMER AT HOME, 63

vonjreal, that it may be more easily separated. This, which is called
the butter of cacao, is without smell, and, when fresh, has a very
mild taste. Its principal use is an ingredient in pomatums. From
the nuts, when slightly roasted, an oil is sometimes obtained by pres-
sure, which is occasionally used in medicine.

CACAO TREE. The tree that produces the chocolate-nut, and
is a native of South America. In size and shape, it somewhat
resembles a young blackheart cherry. The flower is of a saffron
color, extremely beautiful, and the pods, which in a green state are
much like a cucumber, proceed immediately from all parts of the
body and larger branches. As they ripen they change their color,
and turn to a fine bluish red, a.most purple, with bluish veins The
cacao-tree bears two crops a year, yielding at each from ten to twenty
pounds weight, according to the soils and seasons. It is a tree of
great delicacy: it is obnoxious to blights, and shrinks at the first
appearance of drought.

CALABASH TREE. The calabash-tree is the production of
the West Indies, and the continent of America, about the height and
dimensions of an apple-tree, with crooked, horizontal branches, wedged-
shaped leaves, pale white flowers on the trunk and branches, and a
roundish fruit, from two inches to a foot in diameter. The uses to
which the fruit of the calabash-tree is applied are very numerous.
Being covered with a greenish yellow skin, which encloses a thin,
hard, and almost woody shell, it is employed for various kinds of
domestic vessels, such as water-cans, goblets, and cups of almost
every description. So hard and closely-grained are these shells, they
may even be put several times on the fire as kettles, when they con-
tain some fluid, without any injury. When intended for ornamental
vessels, they are sometimes highly polished, and have figures engraven
on them, which are variously tinged with indigo and other colors.

CALCINATION. A term given by chemists to that process by
which minerals, when exposed to a certain degree of heat, are deprived
of their water ; stones converted into lime; and metals into calx. A
metal never becomes calcined, but when in contact with air: the
more extensive this contact, the larger is the quantity of metal which
becomes calcined: and Lavoisier has proved, that a given quantity
of air can only serve for the calcination of a given quantity of metal.
The metal thus calcined is termed a metallic calx.

CALCIUM. This isthe name of a metal discovered by Sir H.
Davy, and constitutes the basis of lime. It is of a silver color, burns
with great brilliance when brought in contact with atmospheric air,
and absorbs oxygen so rapidly, that it instantly assumes the form of
lime. The term calcareous, as applied to earths containing lime is
derived from this word; and in the*form of carbonate of lime, or
common limeston:, there is perhaps no substance more universally

64 THE FARMER AT HOME.

diffused, or which acts a more important part in the ecoromy of veg-
etation.

CALENDAR. A table containing the days, months, festivals,
dc., happening in the year. The Roman calendar from which ours
is borrowed, was composed by Romulus, who made the year consist of
no more than three hundred and sixty-four days. Numa Pompilius
made it consist of twelve lunar months of thirty and twenty-nine days
alternately, which made three hundred and fifty-four days; but being
fond of an odd number, he added one day more, which made it three
hundred and fifty-five days; and that the civil year might equal the
sun’s motion, he added a month every second year. Julius Cesar,
as a farther improvement, made the year consist of three hundred and
sixty-five days, and left the six hours to form a day, at the end of
every fourth year, which was added to the month of February.

This calendar was called the Julian or the old style, in contra-
distinction of the mew style introduced by Gregory. In 1582, Pope
itregory XIII, finding perplexity to arise in the computation of time,
from some errors in the Julian calendar, thought proper to order the
formation and adoption of a new style of reckoning. The astrono-
mers and mathematicians whom he summoned to Rome for that pur-
pose, after spending several years in investigating the subject, and
adjusting the principles of another system, produced what has been
since called the Gregorian Calendar. In forming this method of
computation eleven days were lopped off from the old calendar ;
leaving out in the future, one dzsseatile day every hundred years, and
making every four hundredth a leap year. The Gregorian style, thus
formed, was soon adopted by all the catholic states; and in most of
the protestant countries, before the commencement of the 18th cen-
tury. But it was not until the year 1752, when Britain and her
dependencies, by an act of parliament, adopted the mew style; at the
same time, the Ecclesiasticu” year, which had before commenced on
the 25th of March, was made to coincide with the civil year, and
ordered, like that, to be computed from the first of January.

CALM. In metereology that state of the air and water when
there is no wind stirring. A calm is more terrible to a seafaring man
than a storm, if he has a strong ship, and sea-rocm enough ; for under
the line, excessive heat sometimes produces such dead calms, that
ships are obliged to stay two or three months, without being able to
stir one way or the other. Two opposite winds will sometimes make
a calm. This is frequently observed in the gulf of Mexico, at no
great distance from the shore, where some gust, or land wind, will so
poise the general easterly wind, as to produce a perfect calm.

Calms are never so great in the ocean as in the Mediterranean,
by reason the flux and refluxwf the former keep the water in a con
tual agitation, even where there is no wind ; whereas, there being
no tides in the latter, the culm is sometimes so dead, that the face of

THE FARMER AT HOME. 65

the waver is as clear as a looking-glass; but such calms are almost
constant presages of an approaching storm. On the coasts about
Smyrna, a long calm is reputed a prognostic of an earthquake.

CALORIC. This name is applied to fire, or the substance which
produces the sensation we call heat, but never to the sensation itself,
or the eflect produced by fire. Animal heat is preserved chiefly by
the inspiration of atmospheric air. If the hand be put upon a hot
body, part of the caloric leaves the hot body, and enters the hand ;
this produces the sensation of heat. On the contrary, if the hand be
put upon a cold body, part of the caloric contained in the hand leaves
the hand to unite with the cold body ; this produces the sensation of
cold. Caloric comes to us from the sun, at the rate of two hundred
thousand miles in a second of time. Caloric may be procured by
combustion, percussion, friction, the mixture of different substances,
and by means of electricity and galvanism. In a latent state, caloric
exists in all substances with which we are acquainted; but it com
bines with different substances in very different proportions.

On agriculture, this agent acts with great effect, since the soil 3-
cold or hot according as it retains or parts with the caloric it receiveu
from the sun. Soils that are black or white receive the least benefi
from heat; the black mould, while it acquires heat with rapidity,
giving it off still more freely ; and the white soils, owing their color
principally to clay that retains moisture very strongly, scarcely feel
its influence, the heat being carried off in evaporating the water.
The experiments of Rumford and Leslie show, that a vessel covered
with lamp-black radiated heat at the rate of one hundred degrees,
while one made of bright tin plate, gave out only twelve degrees.
Soils in which mould or black earth is properly combined with silex
and alumine, will retain heat the longest, as the black gives it out to
the others instead or radiating it into space. A melon laid on a bed
of powdered charcoal, will ripen, when one on common earth will
remain green and immature.

CALVES. The rearing of calves is an important branch of
rural economy. The value of the future ox or cow is greatly depend-
ing on the treatment the calf receives. The subject is of more conse-
quence to the farmer than generally supposed. Where circumstances
will permit, allowing the calf to run with the cow and draw its food
directly from her, is probably the best method, since it is that of na-
ture ; but as the milk for dairy purposes is valuable, breeders have
substituted many modes of feeding the calf, in which milk is partly
dispensed with, some other nutritive substance taking its place. As
a general rule, the calf should be allowed to suck the cow till the milk
is good. Some allow them to suck a week or fortnight, according to
their strength, but it has been found that where calves are to be taken
off, the earlier it is done, the better, both for cow and calf, each mak-
ing less ado at the separation. After removed from the cow, the

66 THE FARMER AT HOME;

following mode of fe:ding calves has been recommended. For the
first few meals, new milk; the next few meals, new milk and skim-
med milk mixed together; then skim milk alone, or porridge made
of milk, water, meal, and sometimes oil-cake or linseed meal. In
the season of making cheese, the whey may be given to them.

When fed from the pail, calves require about two gallons daily ;
but care must be taken not to give it to them too cold, as it will cause
them to purge. When this is the case, one or two spoonstul of rennet
in the milk will be a good remedy. Great regularity should be ob-
served in feeding calves, and they should always have sweet grass, or
good clover hay on which to nibble at intervals of their more regular
food. They are easily taught to eat carrots or turnips, small ears of
corn, and indeed almost every thing that is eaten by cattle. And, if
the farmer would see them thrive well, he must constantly look to
their wants. If in the first year they become stinted, no subsequent
effort will advance them to the size they might have attained, provid-
ed in this period they had been amply fed.

CAMEL. The camel is one of the larger quadrupeds, being six
or seven feet from the ground to the highest part of the back, and it
earries the head when erect about nine feet above the plane of its
position. The carcass weighs three or four hundred pounds; but the
size and weight are far from alike in all. The natural abode of this
animal is in the warmer climates, and places abounding with sand,
where food is scanty, and exposure to long protracted privations are
unavoidable ; insomuch that, from the configuration of its foot, diffi-
culty is experienced in treading another soil,and in the richer or
more fertile countries where attempts have been made for its natural-
ization, it grows feeble, languishes, and dies.

The motion of the camel is unlike that of most other animals ;
both the feet on the same side are successively raised, and not alter-
nately like those of the horse. Its pace is naturally slow, and when
accelerated, the rider experiences the most severe jolting, which it
requires continued practice to endure. Properties which are denied
to the greater part of quadrupeds are possessed by the camel, and in
their fullest extent converted to the use of mankind. It is docile,
patient of labor, and capable of abstinence in a wonderful degree ; it
can endure scorching heats with impunity; it feeds on thistles, on the
stunted shrubs and withered herbage of the desert, and can pass
successive days in total want of water ; thus seeming as if purposely
devised by nature for the most cheerless and inhospitable regions.

But these properties are improved to a great extent, by the mode
in which the camel is reared. At the earliest period, the legs are
folded under the body, in which position it is constrained to remain.
Its back is covered with a carpet, weighed down by a quantity of
stones gradually augmented : it receives a scanty portion of food ; it
is rarely supplied with water; and, in this manner, is regularly

THE FARMER AT HOME. 67

brought up in a system of privation. When the time of trial has
elapsed, and it is broke into subservience, it kneels at the command
of the master, who either mounts it himself or loads it with a heavy
burden ; and, trusting to its strength, and the privations it can suller,
he ventures to traverse the trackless desert.

The camel annually casts its hair in spring ; and in the space of
three days is as bare as a sucking pig. During that interval, the
keeper is careful to tarit over, im order to preserve it against the
annoyance of the flies. But the color and abundance of hair depend
entirely on the particular species of camel, and the climate which it
inhabits: that ot the Arabian Camel is thin and whitish; that of
the Bactrian camel thicker and darker colored. From the hair a
coarse kind of clothing, almost impermeable by water, is made for
camel-drivers and shepherds; and the same commodity, for an analo-
gous purpose, is used as wrappers of merchandise long exposed to wet
in heavy rains. But in Persia and the Crimea more valuable manu-
factures are produced in narrow cioths of different colors, and fine
atockings, of which white are the highest priced. It is wrought into
shawls, carpets, and coverings for the tents of the Arabs. According
to Pallas, the Tartar women of the plains manufacture a kind of
warm, soft, and light narrow cloth from the hair of the Bactrian or
Tauridan camel, preserving the natural color. The hair of different
colors is an article of export from Asia and Africa ; its value is pro-
portioned to the fineness and color, that which is black being the
dearest

As Mahomet the prophet himself rode a camel, it is considered a
sacred animal in the east, nor will his votaries at all times admit of
its being devoted to the service of Christians. They seldom eat its
flesh themselves, not so much from entertaining any scruples on the
lawfulness of doing so, as from reluctance to sacrifice an animal so
valuable to them ; but where fanaticism prevails, selling it to Chris-
tians would be deemed profanation. After the annual pilgrimage to
Mecca, the camel which carries the standard of Mahomet is ever after-
wards exempt from labor, and the Mahometans even believe that it
will participate in the pleasures of a future life.

CAMELEON. A species of lizard, abounding in some parts of
Egypt. This creature, with its tail extended, is about fifteen inches
long. Its usual color is of a light green, though it varies its dye
according to that of whatever plant or flower the animal rests upon.
The cameleon devours prodigious quantities of flies; but being very
slow and inactive, it would be impossible for him to take his prey,
had not nature taken care to supply those defects, by a peculiar gift,
which he improves with great success : for, sitting as if he were inat-
tentive to his prey, the unthinking fly uses no caution in approaching
him, when of a sudden, he darts out a tongue about six inches long ;
the end of which is concave, and covered with a glutinous matter, so

68 THE FARMER AT HOME.

that is is impossible for the fly to escape destruction. The foregoing
description is from Lord Sandwich’s voyage. Sonini, on the other
hand, says, that the changing of color in cameleons, is not to be
ascribed to the objects presented to them; and that their different
affections increase or diminish the intensity of the tints, which cover,
and, as it were, marble their very delicate skin.

CANARY BIRD. A native of the Canary Islands. They have.
a variety of coloring; some white, some mottled, some beautifully
shaded with green; but they are more esteerned for their song than
their beauty, having a high piercing pipe, continuing for sometime in
one breath without intermission, then raising it higher by degrees,
with great variety. They are capable of surprising improvement
from imitation: the only art necessary with those that have no very
fine note, is to breed them up with one of a more melodious voice.
A canary bird, in London, was taught to pick up the letters of the
alphabet at the word of command, so as to spell any person’s name
in company ; and this the little animal did by motions from his master,
which were imperceptible to every other spectator.

CANDLE. This is a long, but small cylindrical body of tallow,
wax, or spermaceti, formed on a wick composed of linen or cotton
threads loosely twisted, and is used for artificial light in dwelling-
houses or elswhere. A tallow candle made of the tallow of a bullock
and sheep, is considered best; that made of the fat of hogs, unless
chemically prepared, is soft, has an offensive odor, and emits a black
smoke. Candles are dipped or moulded; the former by having the
wick successively immersed in melted tallow, and the latter by having
the wick confined in a mould, and then having the melted tallow
poured on it.

The Chinese obtain from the tallow-tree a kind of vegetable fat,
with which they make a considerable portion of their candles, which
are firmer than those of tallow, and free from all offensive odor; but
they are not equal to those of wax, or spermaceti. Cheap candles
are also made of tallow, and even of grease of too little consistence to
be used, without the contrivance of being coated with the firmer sub-
stance of the tallow-tree or of wax. The surface of these candles is
sometimes painted red. Their wicks are made of different materials.
The candle makers at Munich prepare tallow candles with wooden
wicks, which afford about the same quantity of light as a wax candle,
burn also with great steadiness and uniformity, and never crack or
run.

CANDLESTICK. A household utensil, contrived to hold one
or more lighted candles. Larger and more stately candlesticks, con-
trived for holding a great number of candles, are called branches and
gzrandoles, and when made of glass, lwstves. The golden candlestick
was the richest utensil in the Jewish tabernacle. It was made of
solid gold, and weighed a ta’ent; and, according to Cumberland, the

THE FARMER AT HOME. : 69

value of it, exclusive of the workmanship, was £5076. It contained
seven lights, six bra:.ching out in three parts on each side of the
upright stem, and one on the top of it. Hach branch was adorned
with cups, knots, and flowers, alternate and equidistant ; and on the
top of each was fixed a lamp, in form of an almond, which might be
put on or taken off occasionally: and in these were put the oil and
the wick, or the cotton, which was drawn in or out by tongs or snuflers ;
under them were snuff-dishes for receiving the sparks, or refuse of the
oil that fell from the lamps. This candlestick was placed in the
ante-chamber of the sanctuary, on the south side, and served to illu-
minate the altar of perfume. and the tabernacle of the show-bread :
and it was the business of the priest to light the lamps every evening,
at the time of incense, and to extinguish them at the same time every
morning.

In Solomon’s temple there were ten golden candlesticks of the
same form with that described by Moses; five on the north, and five
on the south side of the holy place. But after the Babylonish cap-
tivity, the golden candlestick was placed in the temple, as it had
been before in the tabernacle of Moses; and when the temple was
destroyed. it was deposited in the Temple of Peace, built by Vespasian ;
and the representation of it still remains on the triumphal arch,
at the foot of Mount Palestine, on which Vespasian’s triumph is
delineated.

CANE. A kind of strong Indian reed, used for walking sticks ;
also the plant which yields the sugar, and grows freely in the East
and West Indies, and parts of North and South America. The skin
of the sugar-caue is soft, and the spongy matter or pith it contains,
very juicy. It is now extensively cultivated in Louisiana, Alabama,
and some of the other southern States of the American Union. It has
become an important branch of our rural economy.

CANOE. The term generally used to designate the small vessels
which uncivilized people, living near the water, use. In the East
Indies, there is a kind of boat which goes by this name, sometimes
from forty to fifty feet long, and five or six broad. The North American
Indians generally impel their canoes with paddles, which have a very
large blade, and are managed perpendicularly. The canoes of Canada
are of the most fragile texture, and of so little weight, that, in passing
from one river to another, the boatmen carry them on their heads across
the portages. They are mostly covered with bark, the pieces of which
are sewed together with a kind of grass. This bark is generally not
more than a quarter of an inch in thickness ; yet in these frail vessels,
the Indians and Canadians do not hesitate to descend very dangerous
rapids. The Esquimaux were exceedingly dexterous im the manage-
ment of their canoes. These consist of a light, wooden frame, covered
with seal-skins, sewed together with sinews. The skins are not only
extended round the bottom and sides, but likewise over the top, forming

7 THE FARMER AT HOME.

a complete deck, and having only one opening to admit the Indian to
his seat. The Greenlanders and Esquimaux ree the same kind of
canoes, and it is astonishing, when we consider their insignificant
construction, at what a distance from the regions they commonly
inhabit, these people, especially the former, are found in them.

CAP. A garment serving to cover the head, and made nearly of
its figure. The era of caps and hats is referred to the year 1449, the
first seen in Europe being at the entry of Charles VII. into Rouen ;
from that time they began, by little and little, to take place of the
hoods or chaperons, that had been used till that period. The Romans
were many ages without any regular covering for the head: when
either the rain or sun was troublesome, the lappet of the gown was
thrown over the head; and hence it is that all the ancient statues
appear bareheaded, excepting sometimes a wreath, or the ike. And
the same usage obtained among the Greeks, where, at least during
the heroic age, no caps were known.

The cap was the head-dress of the clergy and graduates. The
giving of the cap to the students in the universities, was to denote
that they had acquired full liberty, and were no longer subject to the
rod of their superiors, in imitation of the ancient Romans, who gave
a ptleus or cap to their slaves in the ceremony of making them free.
Hence, also, on medals the cap is the symbol of Liberty, whom they
represent holding a cap in her right hand by the point. When this
cap was exposed to the view of the people on the top of a spear, as in
the case of the conspiracy which had occasioned the death of Cesar,
it was intended as a public invitation to the people to embrace the
liberty that was offered to them by the destruction of their tyrant.
This thought of the conspirators on occasion of this event, was not
new ; for Satumnine, in his sedition, when he had possessed himself of
the Capitol, exalted a cap on the top of a spear, as a token of liberty
to all the slaves who would join with him; and though Marius, in
his sixth consulship, destroyed him for that act, by a decree of the
senate, yet he himself used the same expedient afterwards to invite
the slaves to take arms with him against Sylla, who was marching
with his army into the city to attack him.

The Chinese have not the use of the hat, like us, but wear a cap
of a peculiar structure, w hich the laws of civility will not allow them
to put off: it is different for the different seasons of the year ; that
used in summer, is in form of a cone, ending at the top in a point.
It is made of a very beautiful kind of mat, much valued in that coun-
try, and lined with satin: to this is added, at top, a large lock of red
silk, which falls all round as low as the bottom; so that in walking,
the silk, fluctuating regularly on all sides, makes a graceful appear-
ance: sometimes instead of silk, they use a kind of bright red hair,
the lustre whereof no weathes eflaces. In winter they wear a kind
of plush cap, bordered with martlet’s or fox’s skin ; as to the rest, like

THE FARMER AT HOME. 71

those for the summer. Nothing can be neater than these caps; they
are frequently sold for eight or ten crowns ; but they are so shot that
the ears are exposed.

CARBON. Charcoal is a word often employed synonymously
with carbon: but, although charcoal is the form under which carbon
most commonly occurs, yet it is in this furm mixed with several
extraneous ingredients. The diamond was concluded, by Guyton
Morveau, to be the only form of pure carbon ; but the experiments of
Ailen and Pepys have tended to show that these hard substances,
although so widely different in external character and appearance,
are chemically the same; the difference between them seeming to
result from the different state of aggregation of their particles It
further seems that the diamond is absolutely free from both water
and hydrogen ; and it is in this particular, as well as in the mode by
which its particles are aggregated, that the difference seems to obtain
between charcoal and the diamond. Diamond converts iron into
steel ; which power is likewise characteristic of charcoal.

Charcoal appears to be the same substance from whatever wood
it is procured, but it is usually made upon a large scale from oak,
chestnut, elm, beech, or ash wood. Lampblack may be regarded as
a very pure carbon, after it has been heated red-hot in a very close
vessel. This is prepared by causing the dense smoke, arising from
refuse resin burnt in a furnace, to be collected.

Carbon forms the base of all wood, and consequently of all trees
and plants, and is, therefore, one of the most important principles of
nature. To the farmer it is one of peculiar interest. Plants, how-
ever, never take up the minutest particle of carbon while in that
state, if ever so finely reduced. By a wise provision of Providence,
an inexhaustible reservoir of carbonic acid gas, carbon converted into
air, is found in the atmosphere, which readily combines with water,
and in that state is taken up by the roots for the support of the plant.
The leaves of trees also perform a species of respiration, by which car-
bonie acid gas is taken into the plant during one-half of the day, to be
decomposed by the solar rays; and, while the carbon is retained, the
oxygen is set free, and thrown off by the plant to purify the air.

CARIOLE. A name given by the Canadians to a sledge, by
which they transport themselves over the snow, from place to place,
in the most agreeable manner, and with a degree of celerity that ap-
pears almost incredible ; for with the same horse, it is possible to go
eighty miles in a day, so light is the draught of one of these carriages,
and so favorable is the snow to the feet of the horse. This cariole
will hold two persons and a driver, aud is usually drawn by one horse.
Its shape is varied according to the fancy and taste of the owner.

CARMINE. The most splendid of all red colors is made from
the cochineal insect. It is deposited from a decoction of powdered
cochineal in water, to which alum, carbonate of soda, or oxyde of tin,

72 THE FARMER AT HOME.

is added. As the beauty of this valuable color is affected, not only by
the mode of applying it, but also by the quantity of the ingredients
mixed with it, we find various recipes for the preparation of it. The
manufacturers which prepare the best carmine carefully conceal the
method. The best natural cochineal is formed in Mexico.

CARNIVOROUS. An epithet generally applied to animals of
every description, that subsist for the most part or entirely on animal
food. In a more limited sense we understand by carnivorous animals,
those only of a savage and voracious nature, assimilating in our ideas
some instinctive ferocity of character in the manners of those creatures
when seeking and attacking their prey, as well as actually feeding on
flesh. We naturally consider, for this reason, among the principal
carnivorous animals, the lion, the tiger, and the wolf; or among
birds, the eagle, and the kite, with a host of other rapacious crea-
tures, upon which nature has bestowed pre-eminent advantages of
courage, strength, and arms to aid them in seizing upon, and tearing
into pieces, those animals on which they feed; they have either for-
midable canine teeth or fangs ; claws, or talons ; the quadrupeds pos-
sessing both, and the birds the latter; fishes with very few exceptions
are carnivorous, but their only offensive weapons are the teeth, or
in some species the spimes and prickles disposed on various parts of
the body.

It is a dispute among naturalists, whether or not man be naturally
carnivorous. Some contend that the fruits of the earth were intended
as his sole food ; and that it was necessity in some places, and luxury
in others, that first prompted him to feed upon his fellow animals.
Pythagoras and his followers looked upon it as a great impiety ; and
strictly abstained from all flesh, from the notion of a metempsychoso-
sis; and their successors, the Bramins, continue the same to this
day.

In this, however, as in most other controversies, the truth lies
between the two extremes ; there is an obvious connexion between
the conformation of the teeth, stomach, and intestines, and the nature
of the food upon which an animal subsists; and according to the
rules laid down by comparative anatomists on this subject, man was
designed to use a mixed food in common ; but, if circumstances re-
quired it, his organs were adapted to digest ‘either animal or vegeta-
ble substances. His teeth are neither calculated for grinding coarse
vegetable food, nor for tearing the flesh, or breaking the bones of
animals. They are only fitted for masticating such matter when
divided by machinery or prepared by the operation of heat, in the
several processes of cooking.

CARROT. Itis believed that this plant was brought into Europe
from the Island of Crete. It was carried to England by the Flemish
refugees, during the reign of Elizabeth, and the leaves were then used
by ladies in their head ‘dresses at evening parties. The root of the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 73

wild carrot is white and small, as well as dry and strong flavored ;
which illustrates the remarkable improvement that has been effected in
our common esculents by cultivation for a long series of years. The
various uses of the carrot in cookery are well known. But although
it contains much nutriment, it is difficult of digestion, particularly if
eaten raw or imperfectly boiled. Carrots are an exceilent fodder for
horses, either alone or mixed with hay; and if given to cows in win-
ter, or the early part of spring, they are said to cause a great increase
of milk; which will have a much less offensive taste and smell than
when they are fed on turnips. Crickets are so fond of these roots,
that they can easily be destroyed by making a paste of flour, powdered
arsenic and scraped carrots, and leaving the compound near the places
of their resort. They are a profitable crop for the farmer, being
raised at an expense of eight or ten cents per bushel, and an acre of
land yielding from five hundred to one thousand bushels. For stock
they cannot be estimated at less than forty cents a bushel, so that the
net profits of the carrot will be from one hundred and fifty to three
hundred dollars to the acre.

CART. Fora long period the use of the waggon for farming
purposes was almost unknown in this country. The reliance was on
the cart and oxen, instead of the waggon and horses. When a boy
we never saw the latter ; but as the latter increased, the former gave
way; and now, the use of the cart is mostly confined to farms on
which cattle alone are used, and some particular sections of country.
It is a question however which deserves serious consideration by far-
mers, whether more on the whole has not been lost, than has been
gained by the change. On grain-growing farms, where much plough-
ing is to be performed, horses are indispensable, and the waggon of
course may be preferred; but, there are multitudes of farmers who,
we think, would greatiy promote their interests, by discarding their
waggon and its attendant span of inferior horses, and substituting in
their place, the old fashioned and less costly cart, and a yoke or two
of prime working oxen.

CASHMERE GOAT. A nobler species of common goats, is
descended from the goat of Thibet, which pastures on the Himalaya.
The goats of Thibet and Cashmere have the fine curled wool close to
the skin, just as the under hair of our common goat lies below the
coarse upper hair. The wool is shorn in the Spring, shortly before
the warm season—the time when the animal, in its natural state,
seeks thorns and hedges in order to free itself from the burden of its
warm covering. All the hard and long hairs are picked most care-
fully. The wool, thus purified, is washed, first in a warm solution of
potash, and afterwards in cold water, in which process felting must
be carefully avoided. It is then bleached wpon the grass, and carded
for spinning. The shawl-wool is three times died—before carding,
after spinning, and in the shawl. The Asiatics avoid spinning the

4

=

74 THE FaRMER AT HOME. ” aie

as

wool hard, in order that the shawl may be soft. They usea spindle |
which consists of a ball of clay, with an iron wire attached. The
finger and thumb of the spinner are kept smooth by steatite powder.

CAT. A domestic animal, whose good and ill qualities are too
generally known to need a description. The ancient Egyptians paid
a religions homage to this little animal ; and among them nothing
could more expose a man to popular rage, than killing a cat. The
following is, in substance, related by Diodorus Siculus, as a fact of
which he was an eye-witness. While embassadors from Rome, which
was at that time the proud mistress of the world, were in Egypt, and
were treated by the Egyptians, not only with all the courtesy of
respect, but with all the servility of fear, one of their attendants hap-
pening unintentionally to kill a cat, this circumstance excited such a
general horror and indignation, that neither the remonstrances of the
officers sent by Ptolemy, their king, nor the fear of the Romans, could
save the unhappy man from the fury of the populace. ‘“ What is
called the Wild Cat, is an animal in most respects similar to our
common cats, but different in its disposition and dimensions. It is
much larger, stronger, and fiercer, than any of our domestic cats,
and seems to be of the same disposition and color as the wolf.”
Strings for musical instruments, of superior and unrivalled excellence,
are made of catgut.

CATAMOUNT. One of the most fierce and dangerous quadru-
peds of North America. It is supposed to be the same animal which
the ancients ealled lynx, and which is known in Siberia by the name
ounce. In the form of its body it much resembles a common cat; it
is generally of a yellow color, bordering upon a red or sandy, and is
larger than the largest dogs. Some years ago, a catamount, at Ben-
nington, in Vermont, took a large calf out of a pen, where the fence
was four feet high, and carried it off upon his back. With this load
it asceuded a ledge of rocks, where one of the leaps was fifteen feet in
height. Two hunters finding the catamount upon a tree, one of them
discharged his musket, and wounded it in the leg. It descended with
the utmost agility and fury. did not attack the men, but seized their
dog by one of his ribs, broke it off in the middle, and instantly leaped
up the tree again with astonishing swiltness and dexterity. The
other hunter shot him through the head, but his fury did not cease
but with the last remains of life.

CATARACT. In farriery, a disease in the eyes of horses, in
which the crystalline humor is rendered opaque, and the vision im-
peded or destroyed. The only certain method of cure in these com-
plaints is to remove the lens by means of extracting or couching. By
the first mentioned operation, an incision is made into the eye, and
the opaque leus taken out—by the second, it is depressed by the point
of a couching needle, thrust into the eye, and being carried to the
lower part of the chamber of the eye, or vitreous humor ; it is left

THE FARMER AT HOME, 15

there to be absorbed. The first operation is the more effective, but
the more hazardous of the two, owing to the inflammation which suc-
ceeds. The second is tedious, and sometimes fails ; but it is free from
the risk of inflammation.

CATTLE. The value of the ox tribe has been in all ages and
tribes highly appreciated. The natives of Egypt, India, and of Hin-
dostan seem alike to have placed the cow among their deities, and,
judging by her usefulness to all classes, no animal could perhaps have
been selected whose value to mankind is greater. In nearly all parts
of the earth cattle are employed for their labor, for their milk, and for
their food. In southern Africa they are as much the associates of the
Caffres as the horse is of the Arab. They share his toil, and assist
him in tending his herds; they are even trained to battle, in which
they become fierce and courageous. In central Africa, the proudest
ebony beauties are to be seen on their backs. They have drawn the
plough in all ages ; in Spain they still trample out the corn; in India
raise the water from the decpest wells to irrigate the thirsty soils of
Bengal. When Cesar invaded England, they constituted the chief
riches of that country; and they now form, in that country, as well
as in our own, no small item of the wealth of the inhabitants.

Within the present century, great improvements have been made
in the breeds of domestic cattle, particularly in Great Britain, where
Bakewell, and Collings, and Bevey, with other spirited individuals,
have rendered the most valuable service in this important enterprise.
Within this period, the average weight of English cattle has risen one-
third ; and the present appearances do not indicate that this increase
has reached its highest point. The great improvements already
effected, have been made by judicious crosses, and breeding with
reference to certain desirable qualities of form, size, milk, or aptitude
to fatten ; and these objects have been attained in some of the best
modern breeds of cattle to an extent that would once have been
deemed impossible. It is evident that care must be taken, or there
will exist a tendency to retrograde to the original standard; a ten-
dency which will become less and less, as the type and constitution of
the improved breeds recede farther from the point of their origin, and
of course more fixed and stable.

The breeds of cattle at present in most repute, and beyond all
competition in any other varieties, are the Herefords, the Devons, and
the Short-Horns, including several distinct crosses. Indeed, it is
scarcely possible to conceive of more perfect models of form and beauty
among animals, than are to be found among those named, particularly
the high-bred varieties in the latter classification. Great pains have
latterly been taken to introduce into the United States the very best
breeds of Europe, and finer herds of cattle are nowhere to be found
than now exist in Kentucky and Ohio, which States have taken the
lead in this laudable business. As to the general treatment of cattle,

76 THE FARMER AT HOME.

our plan does not embrace it any further than to remark, that cattle
require kind treatment, plenty of good food at all times, and protection
from the severity of our winters. On these things, next to skilful
breeding, the excellence of cattle is mainly to depend. See Youatt
and Martin on Cattle.

CAULIFLOWER. This is a species of cabbage. What is the
head in common cabbage, in the cauliflower is a mass of buds and
flowers, possessing a richness and delicacy seldom found. It is the
most curious, as well as the most delicately-flavored, of the numerous
varieties of the cabbage family. The white flower buds form a large,
firm head, surrounded by long, green leaves. Its history is not so
well known as that of some other plants, less valuable in the culinary
department. On its being introduced into England from the island
of Cyprus, about the beginning of the seventeenth century, much
attention was paid to its culture, by which means its appearance and
character have been greatly improved. In our own country, it is
much less known than its merits deserve. To show to what an enor-
mous size it can be made to attain under skilful management, we
mention a single plant raised in the garden of the late Hon. Peter C.
Brooks, of Medford, Mass. The bare flower measured thirty-eight
inches in circumference, and weighed six pounds and five ounces.

CAUSTICITY. A substance is said to be caustic when it pro-
duces the same effect on the tongue as that of actual fire; that is, an
immediate sensation of burning, followed by a slight disorganization
of the surface actually in contact. Thus alkalies are called caustic
when deprived of carbonic acid, because, when concentrated, they
then burn and blister the tongue almost instantly. Caustic substances
are also generally corrosive, or such as act on organized matter, and
decompose it with rapidity. The term caustic, prefixed to the alkalies
and earths to distinguish the pure or decarbonated state, is now almost
always omitted as unnecessary, by the use of the term carbonic ; thus
to the terms caustic potash, and mild potash, are substituted those of
potash, and carbonate of potash, respectively. We also say lime, and
the carbonate of lime. Caustic medicines are principally used to
reduce irregular excresences of the flesh.

CEDAR. A well known evergreen, very like the juniper in
appearance, which flourishes in cold mountainous places. The leaves
are much narrower than those of the pine tree, and the seeds are pro-
duced in large cones. The most celebrated species is that of Lebanon,
which is also found in Russia, and which is introduced by transplant-
ing into various parts of Europe and America.

CELERY. This is a hardy biennial plant. The blanched leaf-
stalks are a very excellent raw salad. It is supposed to be a native
of Great Britain, and, in its wild state, is found in marshy grounds
and ditches, having a coarse, rank taste. Under judicious cultivation,
it is surprisingly altered, becoming sweet, mild, and crispy. There

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;
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THE FARMER AT HOME. 17

are many varieties, but what is called the white solid, is usually
esteemed the best. It is produced from seed, and one ounce of seed
is sufficient for a thousand plants. It requires a soil rather moist,
rich in vegetable mould, but not rank, from new unrotted dung.
Some of the New Jersey gardeners, who supply the New York mar-
ket, have raised each 60,000 heads in a season, which, at six cents
the head, the wholesale price, would amount to $3600. This shows
how profitable its culture may be made, small as the business may
appear. If it were generally understood how easily it is produced,
few only would neglect to raise enough for their own families. For
the culture of it, see Schenck’s Text Book, and Buist’s Family Kit-
chen Gardener»

CELLAR. An important appendage to every dwelling is the
cellar, and great care should be taken to have this so arranged that
the full benefit desired from it may be obtained. The cellar should
be well walled with stone or brick, laid in cement ; if inclining to be
wet, it should be drained, so as to present a hard, smooth surface, and
this will be better if covered with clean gravel. Cellars should
wholly exclude from frost, without being too warm, as fruit and vege-
tables, kept in a warm cellar, will not be as good as in one of an
equally dry but lower temperature. Since the commencement of the
cultivation of roots in this country to a considerable extent, and since
the making of pork from steamed apples and potatoes has succeeded
so well, cellars attached to barns and piggeries have become necessary,
and are already constructed in many cases. Cellars of this kind for
the reception of roots, should be made so that cart or waggon loads of
fruit or roots can be thrown into them at once, without the labor of
repeated handling.

CHALK. Compost limestone, or carbonate of lime, passes into
chalk, when the particles that compose the mass are so loosely con-
nected as to render it friable or capable of easy division ; in its essen-
tial qualities it does not differ materially from unburnt lime. Chalk
is extensively used instead of lime for agricultural purposes in many
parts of England, where it abounds. In the United States there is
no chalk, properly socalled. The immense beds of white marl, found
in some parts of western New York, are a near approach to it, and
the value of such beds as a resource for easy liming soils, will be bet-
ter appreciated hereafter than it now seems to be.

CHAMOIS GOATS. The Chamois inhabits the most inaccessi-
ble parts of the woody regions of the great mountains of Europe. He
bounds over the chasms of rocks—he springs from one projection to
another with unerring certainty—he throws himself from a height
of twenty or even thirty yards upon the smallest ledge, where there
is scarcely room for his feet to plant themselves. This extraordinary
power of balancing the body—of instantly finding the centre of
gravity,—is a peculiarity of all the goat tribe, to which the Chamois

78 THE FARMER AT HOME.

is nearly allied. The ability of the eye to measure distances, with
such undeviating exactness, is associated with this power of finding
the centre of gravity. In the Chamois these are instinctive faculties,
which he possesses almost from the moment of his birth. They are
not the result of training; for the young Chamois has only’ acquire
the necessary streugth to able him to imitate the feats of his more
practised companions.

CHARCOAL. A kind of coal that is made of wood half burnt,
under a covering of turf and dust. The microscope discovers a sur-
prising number of pores in charcoal ; they are disposed in order, and
traverse it lengthwise. If a piece be broken pretty short, it may be
seen through with the microscope. In a range the eighteenth part
of an inch long, Dr. Hook reckoned one hundred and _ fifty pores.
Charcoal is a powerful antiseptic ; consequently it has lately become
a practice to char casks, or to burn charcoal in them, before filling
them with water for a sea-voyage; by this means, it is said, water
may be kept sweet during the longest voyage. There is one property
of charcoal, that ought to be universally known; it is its wonderful
power of consuming respirable air. Mr. Lavoisier found that one
pound of charcoal, in burning, actually consumed two pounds nine
ounces of oxygen or vital air. Hence the extreme danger, or rather
almost inevitable death of persons sleeping in a close room with burn-
ing charcoal by the bed-side.

Charcoal is insoluble in water, destroys the odor, color, and taste of
many substances; and hence, its use in the arts and in the purifica-
tion of tainted’ meats and putrified waters. It also separates from
water any decayed animal matters or coloring substances which it
may hold in solution. Hence, its use in filters for purifying and sweet-
ening impure river or spring waters, or for clarifying syrups and oils.
In or upon the soil, charcoal, for a time, will act in the same manner,
will absorb from the air moisture and gaseous substances, and trom
the rain and flowing waters, organized matters of various kinds, any
of which it will be in a condition to yield to the plants that grow
around it, when they are such as are likely tocontribute to their growth.

Charcoal has the property also of absorbing disagreeable odors, in
a remarkable manner. Hence, animal food keeps longer sweet when
placed in contact with it; hence, also, vegetable substances, contain-
ing much water, such as potatoes, are more completely preserved by
the aid of a quantity of charcoal. It exhibits, also, the still more singular
property of extracting from water a portion of the saline substances it
may happen to hold in solution, and thus allowing it to escape in a
less impure form. The decayed, half carbonized roots of grass, which
have been subjected to irrigation, may act in one or all these ways,
on the more or Jess impure water by which they are irrigated; and
thus gradually arrest and collect the materials which are fitted to
promote the growth of the com‘ng crop.

——

THE FARMER AT HOME. "9

Charcoal may be applied with advantage, in the powdered state,
in the form of a top dressing. About forty bushels to the acre, sown
over grass lands, or among young plants, as turnips, it has been found
will produce an increased yield. Wherever an increased supply of
ammonia, escaping from the air, the earth, or any putrescent matter
is desirable to be caught and retained, charcoal will always do good.
But the best, and perhaps the only advisable mode of using charcoal
is, to compost the powder with night soil, urine, blood, and other pu-
trescent bodies, either liquid or solid. By this method, it tends to
absorb or dry up these fluids, and retain the ammonia formed during
their decomposition or decay. Such composts, when added to the soil,
retain the virtue of these bodies much longer than when they are
used alone.

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oa Sn
a

KENDALLL’S CHEESE PRESS.

CHEESE. In rural economy. is composed of coagulated milk,
which has undergone a chemical process, combined with the mechani-
eal operation of a powerful press, usually employed to expel the serum
or whey, which would otherwise retain it in a nearly fluid state, and
as such produce decomposition.. The quality, and as such the value,
of cheese generally depends on the nature of the milk employed,
which varies considerably in different places. There is likewise a
«ind of medicated cheese made by intimately mixing the express
tuice of certain herbs, as sage or mint, with the curd, before it is formed

80 THE FARMER AT HOME.

into a cheese. The Laplanders manufacture a species of cheese of
the milk of their reindeer which is not only of great service to them
as food, but also for a variety of other purposes connected with
domestic economy.

CHEMISTRY. Is an instructive, interesting and valuable sci-
ence. Within the last hundred years its empire has been wonderfully
extended. There is scarcely an art of human life which it is not
fitted to subserve; scarcely a department of human inquiry or labor,
either for health, pleasure, ornament, or profit, which it may not be

made in its present improved state, eminently to promote. To the
husbandman this science furnishes principles and agents of inestima-
ble value. It teaches him the food of plants, the ‘choice and use of
manures, and the best means of promoting the vigor, growth, produc-
tiveness, and preservation of the various vegetable tribes. To the
manufacturer chemistry has lately become equally fruitful of instruc-
tion and assistance. In the arts of brewing tanning, dyeing, and
bleaching, its doctrines are important guides. In making soap, glass,
pottery, and all metallic wares, its priuciples are daily applied, and
are capable of a still more useful application, as they become better
understood. Indeed, every mechanic art, in the diflerent processes
of which heat, moisture, solution, mixture, or fermentation is neces-
sary, must ever keep pace in improvement with this branch of philoso-
phy. To the physician this science is of still greater value, and is
daily growing in importance. He learns from it to compound his
medicines, to disarm poisons of their force, to adjust remedies to dis-
eases, and to adopt general means of preserving health.

Finally, to the domestic economist this science abounds with plea-
sing and wholesome lessons. It enables him to make a proper choice
of meats and drinks; it directs him to those measures with respect
to food, clothing, and respiration, which have the best tendency to
promote health, enjoyment, and cheapness of living; and it sets him
ou his guard against many unseen evils, to which those who are ig-
norant of its laws are continually exposed. In a word, from a spec-
ulative science, chemistry, since the middle of the eighteenth century,
has become eminently and extensively a practical one. From an
obscure, humble, and uninteresting place among the objects of study,
it has risen to high and dignified station ; and instead of merely
eratifying curiosity, or furnishing amusement, it promises a degree of
utility, of which no one can calculate the consequences or see the end.

The object of chemistry is to ascertain the ingredients of which
bodies are composed,—to examine the compounds formed by those in-
eredients,—and to investigate the nature of the power which produ-
ces these combinations. The science therefore naturally divides itself
into three parts; a description of the component parts of bodies, or of
elementary or simple substances as they are called—a description of
the compound bodies formed by the union of simple substances—and

THE FARMER AT HOME. 81

an account of the nature of the power which produces these combi-
nations.

CHERRY. There are two kinds of the cherry tree which are of
considerable importance ; the first, the wild or black cherry of our
forests, is much valued for the excellence of its wood, which is used
extensively for the manufacture of furniture. It is one of the most
beautiful of our forest trees, throwing up a tall straight trunk, from
six to nine feet in circumference, some seventy or eighty feet.
While the use of liquor was more tolerated and fashionable than at
present, the cherries of this tree were in great demand, to be steeped
inrum. The other kind of cherry is the cultivated variety, and is
one of our most valuable fruit trees, easily grown, very hardy, and
early in the season. Cherries flourish best in a dry and rather light
soil; and a heavy wet or clay soil is not only injurious to the tree,
but the fruit on such trees is of an inferior quality. For the varieties
of this fruit see Cole's American Fruit Book.

CHESTNUT TREE. A tree that is common in the United
States, and highly valuable both for its timber and fruit; it some-
times grows to a prodigious size. In the Gentleman’s Magazine, of
1770, we are told of a Spanish chestnut, measuring fifty-seven feet in
circumference, which grows in Gloucestershire in England. It is
supposed by Evylin and Bradley to have been planted in the reign of
king John, from mention of itin records of that antiquity ; and if so,
it must have been about six hundred years old. According to Dr,
Howel, the famous chestnut tree of Mount Etna is one hundred and
sixty feet in circumference, but quite hollow within ; which, however
affects not its verdure; for the chestnut tree, like the willow, depends
upon its bark for subsistence, and by age loses its internal part. In
the cavity of this tree the people have constructed a commodious
house, which they use for various purposes ; it is called the tree of a
hundred horses, as so many may at one time be shelterd under its
boughs. The wood of the chestnut tree (says St. Pierre) is never
attacked by insects, and is excellent for wainscotiug. A judgment
(he adds) may be formed of the beauty and of the duration of its
wood, from the ancient wainscoting of the market of St.Germain, in
France ; of which the joists are of a prodigious length and thickness,
perfectly round, though more than four hundred years old.

CHIMNEY. In architecture, a particular part of a house,
where the fire is made, having a tube or funnel to carry off the smoke.
The effect of chimneys is often destroyed by their being constructed
on unscientific principles. It will be found for the most part that the
smoking of chimneys arises from their being carried up narrower at
the top than at the bottom, and from their being thrown in a zigzag
direction. Now it is evident from the very principle on which smoke
rises at all in a chimney, that the higher it rises the less is the force
that drives it, and the slower it must move, and consequently the

4

82 THE FARMER AT HOME,

more room it should have to move in, whereas in the usual way it has
less. Chimneys, therefore, should be built as nearly perpendicularly
as possible ; they ought to be free from all roughness on the inside ;
and a few inches wider at the top than at the base. This would
effectually prevent smoking ; and might be so managed as not to
interfere with the form of the exterior.

CHINA PAPER. The Chinese, for making paper, use the
bamboo reed, the cotton shrub, the bark of the kow-chee, and of the
mulberry tree; also hemp, the straw of wheat and rice, the cods of
the silkworm, and several other substances, the greater part of which
are unknown in this manufacture in Europe. Most of the Chinese
paper is very susceptible of moisture ; dust easily adheres to it, and
worms insensibly get into it; but their paper is much superior to ours
in softness, smoothness, and the extraordinary size of the sheets; it
being no difficult matter to obtain, from certain manufaetories, sheets
thirty or forty feet in length.

CHINCHILLA. This interesting animal, which produces the
well known fur passing under that name, is a species of Field Mouse, :
and is common in the high plains of Chili and Peru. It is about nine
inches in length, and has a tail about half the length of its body. It
sits upon its haunches, and takes its food in its paws like a squirrel.
It feeds chiefly upon bulbous roots.

—ns)

CHINESE GOOSE.

CHINESE GOOSE. Only a few of the varieties of the goose
family have been brought from China to the United States. The ,
cut represents one of them which belonged to Mr. C. N. Bement. .
The form of these is very handsome ; their necks are long, with a

THE FARMER AT HOME. 83

graceful curve ; their bodies round, and the bill rises in a knob; a
characteristic of all the Asiatic goose-tribe, so far as we know; and
both the bill and the legs are black. Their general color is almost as
uniform as that of our American wild geese; and their flesh is said
to be very excellent. At the Agricultural Fair held at Poughkeepsie,
N. Y., in 1844. fine specimens of the Chinese goose were exhibited,
belonging to A. & H. Messier, of Fishkill. In the August following,
the talented editor of the Albany Cultivator visited the farm of these
gentlemen, where he saw their entire flock of these geese. He says
it was the finest exhibition of them that he ever beheld; that there
were three or four broods of goslings, hatched in May, but grown np,
apparently as large as the old ones ; and the geese which hatched them
were all sitting for a second brood, which were expected to be out the
first of September.

CHINESE AGRICULTURE. The pursuits of agriculture have
always been and still are held in hgh estimation by the Chinese, who
commence the agricultural year with a grand festival in honor of
spring. On this occasion the emperor, in imitation of his ancient
predecessor, performs the operation of ploughing and sowing seed in a
field set apart for that purpose, a custom that has very seldom been
neglected by the sovereigus of the Chinese Empire, who have thus
by their own example, stimulated their subjects to the performance
of these useful and necessary labors, and maintained the honorable
position and character of the husbandman, who even now holds a
rank in society above that of the soldier or merchant, however
wealthy the latter may be.

Among the ancients, particularly the Egyptians, Persians, and
Greeks, it was a common practice to hold games and festivals, min-
gled with religious ceremonies, at that season when the earth is ready
to receive the seed, thus showing the cheerfulness with which the
farmers returned to their rustic toils, and the reliance they placed on
the Supreme Being to reward them with an abundant harvest. The
old festival of Plough Monday in England, was probably derived from
these customs of the ancients, and was formerly celebrated in all of
the rural districts with great merry-makings on the Monday following
the twelfth-day ; some of the rites observed being not unlike those
among the Chinese, as an instance of which the plough-light was set
up before the image of some patron-saint in the village church; a
custom somewhat similar to that observed among the Chinese, who
place lighted candles opposite certain images in their temples.

The plough, the harrow, and the hoe, all of the rudest construc-
tion, are the chief implements used by a Chinese farmer, the spade
being only seen occasionally. The plough is usually drawn by buf-
faloes, but sometimes that labor is performed by men, and even by
women, among the lowest class of farmers. The great object of cul-
tivation is rice, the stable food of a‘) classes, from the prince to the

R4 THE FARMER AT HOME,

peasants, Most of the plains present an endless succession of rice or
paddy fields, which, in the early stages of the crops, exhibit a vast
surface of bright green, but turn yellow as the grain mipens. The
seed is first sown in small patches, flooded with a particular prepara-
tion of liquid manure, which promotes its immediate development,
so that in a few days the shoots are five or six inches in height,
when they are transplanted to the fields, some of the laborers being
employed in taking them up, others in making holes to receive them,
and a third party in dropping them into the holes, about six together.
All these men stand up to the ankles m water, for it is requisite that
rice should be kept constantly wet, or it would be spoiled ; but when
the rice is ripe, the fields are drained, so that the reapers, whose labors
eommence about midsummer, work on dry ground.

CHINESE HOG.

CHINESE HOG. The Chinese is among the smaller varieties,
aud without doubt is the parent stock of the best European and Ameri-
can swine. They necessarily vary in appearance, size, shape, and
color, from the diversity in the style in breeding, and the various
regions from which they are derived. The animal is too small for
general use, and it requires to be mixed with larger breeds to produce
the most profitable carcase, especially for the market. For the pur-
pose of refining the coarse breeds, no animal has ever been so success-
ful as this. They are fine-boned, short, and very zompact, with

THE FARMER AT HOME. 85

bellies almost touching the ground, light head and ears, fine muzzle,
of great docility and quietness, small feeders, and producing much
meat for the quantity of food consumed.

CHOCOLATE. A kind of cake or confection, prepared of cer-
tain drugs; the basis or principal whereof is the cocoa-nut. The
Spaniards were the first who brought chocolate into use in Europe ;
and that, perhaps, as much out of interest, to have the better market
for their cocoa-nuts, vanilla, and other drugs which their West Indies
furnish, and which enter the composition of chocolate, as out of regard
to those extraordinary virtues which their authors so amply enumerate
in it.

The method first used by the Spaniards was very simple, and the ~
same with that in use among the Indians; they only used cocoa-nuts,
maize, and raw sugar as expressed from the canes, with a little
achiotte, or roucon, to give it a color; of these four drugs, ground be-
tween two stones, and mixed together im a certain proportion, they
made a kind of bread, which served them equally for solid food, and °
for drink; eating it dry when hungry, and steeping it in hot water
when thirsty. The Indians, to one pound of the roasted nuts, put
half a pound of sugar, dissolved in rose-water, and half a pound of
flour of maize.

The Spaniards esteem it the last misfortune that can befall a man,
to be reduced to want chocolate; they are never known to leave it,
excepting for some other liquor that will intoxicate. Hoffman con-
siders chocolate as an aliment, and, in a medicinal view, he recom-
mends it in emaciating diseases, both as an aliment and medicine ;
and next very strenuously in hypochondriacal cases ; and in confirma-
tion, adduces that of Cardinal Richelieu, who, he says, was restored
to health by living on chocolate. He is not less copious on its good
effects against the hemorrhoids. The newest chocolate is esteemed
the best ; the drug never keeping well above two years, but usually
degenerating much before that time.

CHRYSALIS. In natural history, a state of rest and seeming
insensibility which butterflies, moths, and several other kinds of
insects, must pass through before they arrive at their winged or most
perfect state. The first state of these animals is in the caterpillar or
reptile form ; then they pass into the chrysalis state, wherein they
remain, immovably fixed to one spot, and surrounded with a case or
covering, which is generally of a conical figure; and, lastly, after
spending the usual time in this middle state, they throw off the exter-
nal case wherein they lay imprisoned, and appear in their most perfeet
and winged form of butterflies, or flies.

CHURN. An implement for agitating cream or milk, so as to
effect the production of butter. Some churns are made upright, of a
tapering form, and are worked by means of a pole and cross; the
former passing through a hole in the lid. These are pail or bell-

86 . THE FARMER AT HOME.

churns. A great variety of churns are in use ; but, in general, their
formation evinces more ingenuity than practical knowledge. Perhaps
the horizontal churns, and also the upright ones, operated with a crank
by hand, are an exception to this remark ; and, where there is a large
number of cows, whether the entire milk or the cream only is to be
churmed, what is called the dog-power applied to the chum, is an
important saving of manual labor. And there has recently been in-
vented, by F. G. Simpson. of New Jersey, a churn to be operated by
machinery with a weight applied, similar to the ruuning of a clock.
Nothing is required but to put the milk or cream into the churn, and
then wind up the machinery, when the moderate and uniform agita-
tion of the liquid is begun and continued till butter is produced, with-
out the aid of any other power. Thus far this invention works well ;
and if no difficulty hereafter arises in its use, it will be generally
adopted wherever the labor heretofore required in churning has beer
found a great burden.

CIDER. This is the expressed and fermented juice of apples.
To produce good cider, it is necessary that the fruit should be ripe,
that it should be sound, that it should be all of one kind, and that
there should be a perfect grinding of the apples. If the apples are
not ripe, the saccharine matter necessary to make a good fermented
liquor is not developed ; rotten apples impart an unpleasant flavor to
the liquor ; and different kinds of apples afford a liquor that will not
ferment equally or perfectly. When the liquor is pressed from the
pomace, it should be put in sweet, clean barrels, allowed to ferment,
and filled up occasionally, that all the feculent matter may escape.
It may be fined by isinglass, or drawn off for bottling. Where mak-
ing good cider is an object with the farmer, it is usually racked oif
after the fermentation is closed, and time allowed for all sediments to

i ee eee ee ee,

——

THE FARMER AT HOME. 87

leave the liquor, into clean new barrels fumigated with sulphur, and
will then keep good for a considerable length of time.

Cider was formerly used extensively for distillation into apple
brandy, but is now but little used for that purpose. According to
Brande’s analysis of fermented liquors, wines contain from 25 to 10
per cent. of alcohol, and cider from 10 to 5 per cent. Cider makes
an excellent vinegar, and large quantities are consumed for that pur-
pose. The best cider made in the United States is produced in New
Jersey, owing, probably, to the skill in manufacturing, more than to
any peculiar excellence of fruit or singularity of the soil or climate.

CINNAMON. This well known spice is the bark of the Lawrus
cinnamonum, which is cultivated both in the Spice Islands and at
Cayenne, though most abundantly in the former, whence almost the
whole of the cinnamon for the European market is brought. Captain
Percival has given the fullest account of this plant that has ever met
our eye, and the following account is substantially derived from his
history of Ceylon. The cinnamon gardens are within half a mile of
the fort of Columbo in Ceylon. They extend over a surface of more
than fifteen miles, which is traversed by various roads. There are
also plantations of the shrub at Madeira, and Point de Galle. It
thrives best in a loose white sand. It has a slender trunk, rises to
the height of from four to ten feet, innumerable branches shoot from
the siem, and give it the appearance of the Portugal laurel. The
wood is light and porous, like that of the osier. It is used as fuel.
Shoots spring up from the roots in immense profusion. The leaves,
when they first burst, have a beautifal scarlet color; they then
become green, and have both the taste and smell of cloves. The
blossom is white, and has no smell. The fruit resembles an acorn.

It is ripe at the end of autumn, when oil is obtained by bruising
and boiling it. The natives anoint themselves with oil, which is
skimmed off, and they also mix it with cocoa nut oil, and burn it in
lamps. During all audiences with the sovereign of Candy, this oil is
burnt. When the trees become too old, they are cut down, and their
places are soon occupied by young shoots, that rise from the roots in
_ vast profusion. Formerly. many of these young twigs were cut as
sticks, which are highly prized ; but this is now prohibited.

The branches which are three years old are lopped off; the
epidermis is scraped off with a knife, having one side concave, and
the other convex ; the true bark is then ripped up, loosened by the
convex side of the knife, and separated from the wood. The smaller
portions are then put into the larger. They are then dried in the
sun. When the drying is complete, the cinnamon is packed into
bundles, which weigh about thirty pounds. These bundles are bound
with bamboo twigs. They are then marked and numbered.

When the cinnamon is brought to Columbo, previous to its ship-
ment for Europe it is examined by the surgeons in the Company’s

88 THE FARMER AT HOME.

service in rotation ; and this is a most painful duty, as the only test
is the taste. The continued chewing of this pungent substance,
excoriates the mouth in spite of the utmost precaution. Experience
has shown, that the evil effects of the chewing is best alleviated by
occasionally eating bread and butter.

CISTERN. Is properly used for a subterraneous reservoir of
rain-water. Earthen cisterns must be made with good cement, to

“retain the water, and the bottom should be covered with sand to
sweeten and preserve it. Authors mention a cistern at Constantinople,
the vaults whereof are supported by two rows of pillars, two hundred
and twelve in each row, each pillar being two feet in diameter.
They are planted circularly, and in radii tending to that in the
centre.

Anciently there were cisterns all over the country in Palestine.
There were some likewise in cities and private houses. As the cities
for the most part were built on mountains, and the rains fell regularly
in Judea at two seasons of the year only, in spring and autumn, peo-
ple were obliged to keep water in cisterns in the country, for the use
of their cattle; and in cities for the conveniency of the inhabitants.
There are cisterns of very large dimensions to be seen at this day in
Palestine, some of which are a hundred and fifty paces long, and
fifty-four wide. There is one to be seen at Ramah of two.and thirty
paces in length, ard eight and twenty in-width. Wells and cisterns,
fountains and springs, are generally confounded in the Scripture
language.

To farmers, not having springs or running water on their premises,
it is very important to be provided with cisterns. In seasons of drought,
especially, this will be a great convenience. On every farm with cus-
tomary barns and out buildings, it would be easy to fill cisterns con-
taining from two to three hundred hogsheads. In a single rain from
the dwelling-house alone, we have collected over twenty hogsheads.
Such is not a common occurrence. However, the quantity that may
be saved in the year is surprisingly large; probably enough for a
stock of cattle, and for all domestic purposes, and even to water a
common garden, when suffering from want of summer rains. Most
of the materials for cisterns may be had on a farm, so that the expense
in making them is not great. Stones are as good as brick. They
will pay for themselves in a few years.

CLARIFICATION. This is the separation, by chemical means,
of any liquid from substances suspended in it, and rendering it turbid.
If a difference can be made between clarification and filtration, it is,
that the latter is affected by mere mechanical means, but the former
either by heat or by certain additions, the action of which may be
considered as chiefly chemical. The liquors subjected to clarification
are almost without exception those animal or vegetable juices, in
which the matter that renders them turbid is so nearly of the same

THE FARMER AT HOME, 89

specific gravity with the liquor itself, that mere rest will not effect a
separation. In these, too, the liquor is generally rendered thicker
than usual by holding in solution much mucilage, which further
entangles the turbid matter, and prevents it from sinking. Hence it
is that vinous fermentation has so powerful an effect as a clarifier,
since this process always implies the destruction of a portion of sac-
charine mucilage, and the consequent production of a thin limpid
spirit.

Coagulating substances are great clarifiers when mixed with any
turbid liquors, the process of coagulation entangling with it all mat-
ters merely suspended and not dissolved, and carrying them either to
the top in the form of a scum, or to the bottom in the form of a thick
sediment, according to circumstances. Thus, to clarify muddy cider,
the liquor is beaten up with a small quantity of fresh bullock’s blood,
and suffered to stand at rest for some hours, after which the liquor
above is as clear as water, and almost as colorless, and at the bottom
is a thick tough cake, consisting of the coagulated blood which has
earried down with it all the opaque matter suspended in the liquor.
Albuminous and gelatinous substances act in the same manner. The
effect of white of an egg in this way is known to every one. It
should be first mixed with the turbid liquor, without heat and by
agitation. Afterwards, on applying less than a boiling heat, the
albumen of the ege coagulates, and carries up with it all the opaque
particles, leaving the rest beautifully clear and limpid. Sometimes
clarification takes place in a very unaccountable manner. Thus, it
is well known, that a handful of marl or clay will clarify a large cis-
tern of muddy water, and marl is also used with advantage in clarify-
ing vinous liquors.

CLAY. There isa great variety of earths or clays denominated
after the particular use to which they are applied, as Porcelain Clay,
which consists of alumina and silex, with a little mica, and is found
in Cornwall, Saxony, Japan, and China. It is of a reddish white, is
supposed to be formed from the decomposition of felspar, andis used in
the manufacture of porcelain or china. Pipe Clay is of a greyish or
yellowish white. Potters’ Clay is found of various shades of yellow,
grey, green, and blue. The most durable kind of bricks are made of
a Yellow Clay containing some iron, and a considerable portion of
silex.

Next to silicia, common clay is the most abundant of the earths,
and is of extensive service to the agriculturist. Indeed without its
presence, vegetation would scarcely be possible, and cultivation could
not exist. To the presence of clay we owe the capacity of soils to
retain moisture in any degree, since the other earths would leave it so
porous, that water would pass through it as readily as through a
sieve. Mixed with lime, clay constitutes marl, of which such use is
already made in fertilising the soil, where these ingredients appear to

90 THE FARMER AT HOME.

be wanting. On soils so sandy as to be porous, the application of
manures produces only a partial good, it soon sinks beyond the reach
of the roots of the plants. Itis on these that clay may be applied
directly with excellent effect.

CLIMATE. We understand by climate the metereological
peculiarities of any location, whether of heat or cold, moisture or
drought, and pestilential or salubrious atmospheric influences. Heat or
cold do not depend altogether on geographical position ; there are
numerous causes that tend to increase or decrease these, such as
oceans, mountains, plains, local or general currents of air, and others
that will at once present themselves, as influencing climate in these
respects. The western side of continents is found warmer than the
eastern side, a fact accounted for by the general prevalence of westerly
winds, which in their passage over oceans are raised in their temper-
ature, while winds that pass over land for the same distance are
usually cooled in the same degree. Thus the coast of the United
States that borders on the Pacific Ocean is altogether warmer than
the eastern or Atlantic coast, the territory at the mouth of the Colum-
bia, which is in the latitude of Mackinaw and Montreal, having the
climate, and producing the same vegetables, as the Carolinas and
Georgia. On the different sides of the Atlantic, too, it is found the
same difference prevails; places having the latitude of Quebec, in
western Europe, producing the grains and plants of Pennsylvania and
Maryland.

The elevation of any country above the sea has also a decided
effect on the climate. Thus under the equator, in ascending high
mountains, the temperature and the climate of widely different
regions may be passed in a few miles or hours. The clearing of a
country has also a great eflect on climate ; as forests prevent speedy
evaporation, and retain the water that falls on the surface. All other
circumstances being equal, a cleared country is warmer than a
wooded one. The Cape Verd Islands, by being deprived of their
woods, have become sultry, the springs have mostly dried up, and the
health of the inhabitants seriously aflected. Is it not probable that
many eastern countries, once fertile and filled with mhabitants, have
become wastes, if not actual deserts, in consequence of the face of the
earth having for centuries been wholly denuded of wood? The great
lakes of this country, containing as they do about one-half the fresh
water on the globe, and from their great depth only slowly feeling the
influence of the atmosphere, whether in cooling or heating, have,
perhaps, more influence over the climate of the countries bordering on
them, than any other single cause.

CLOCK This is a machine moving by a pendulum. serving to
measure time, and to show the hours by striking on a bell. Al-Ras-
chid, an Arabian embassador, brought into France, in the year 802,
a striking clock, the first ever seen in that kingdom. At that time,

THE FARMER aT HOME. 91

the Arabs were much superior to the French and other Europeans, in
sxnowledge, and in the arts. Huggins was the first person who
brought the art of clock making to any perfection : and the first pen-
dulum clock made in England. was in the year 1662, by Fromantil,
a Dutchman, The expense of a clock was formerly so great, a few
only could own one; but latterly they are manufactured with such
speed no one need be without an article so convenient for domestic
economy and for labor generally. The following facts respecung the
multiplication of clocks cannot be without interest.

It is said there was resident in the town of Bristol, Conn., a
single clock-maker, who patiently wronght out time pieces by hand,
at an expense of sixty or seventy dollars each. About the year 1815,
some individuals, stimulated by the industry of the solitary clock-
maker, set up the business of making wooden clocks. This article
went all over the United States, and brought rich returns to the
inventors. When the market was supplied with these, cheap brass
clocks were made by machinery, which could be afforded as low as
two or three dollars each. The business of making clocks by machi-
nery, has been set up in at least twenty other towns in Con-
necticut; and the whole world is now their customers. On the
authority of Fraser’s Magazine, it is asserted that every hall and cot-
tage in England is furnished with one of them.

CLOTHING. Nothing is more necessary toa comfortable state
of existence than that the body should be kept in nearly a uniform
temperature. The chief end proposed by clothing ought to be protec-
tion from the cold ; and it never can be too deeply impressed on the
mind, that a degree of cold that amounts to shivering cannot be felt,
under any circumstances, without injury to the health, and that the
strongest constitvtion cannot resist the benumbing influence of a sen-
sation of cold constantly present, even though it be so moderate as not
to occasion immediate complaint. or to induce the sufferer to seek
protection from it. This degree of cold often lays the foundation of
the whole host of chronic diseases, foremost amongst which are found
scrofula and consumption.

The only kind of dress that can afford the protection required by
the change of temperature to which high northern climates are liable,
is woolen. Nor will it be of much avail that woolen be worn un-
less so muuch of it be worn, and it be so worn, as effectually to keep
out the cold. Those who would receive the advantage which the
wearing of woolen is capable of affording, must wear it next the
skin ; for it is in this situation only that its health-preserving power
can be feit. The great advantages of woolen cloth are briefly these :
The réadiness with which it allows the escape of the matter of per-
spiration through its texture ; its power of preserving the sensation
of warmth to the skin under all circumstances ; the difficulty there is

92 THE FARMER AT HOME.

in making it thoroughly wet; the slowness with which it conducts
heat ; the softness, lightness, and pliancy of its texture.

Cotton cloth, though it differs but little from linen, approaches
nearer to the nature of woolen, and, on that account. must be
esteemed as the next best substance of which clothing may be made.
Silk is the next in point of excellence, but it is very inferior to cotton
in every respect. Linen possesses the contrary of most of the proper-
ties enumerated as excellences in woolen. It retains the matter of
perspiration in its texture. and speedily becomes imbued with it ; it
gives an unpleasant sensation of cold to the skin; it is very readily
saturated with moisture, and it conducts heat too rapidly.

CLOTH TREE. A remarkable and very useful tree growing in
the Sandwich Islands: the natives call it Jowta. Of the burk of
this tree, neatly twisted, they form the twine which they use for fish-
ing lines, for making nets and for some other uses. It is of different
degrees of firmness, and may be continued to any length. They have
also a finer sort, which they make of the bark of a shrub named
areemah ; and they make a cordage of a stronger kind, from cocoa-
nut fibres, for the rigging of their canoes.

CLOUDS. A collection of vapor suspended in the atmosphere.
In other words, it is a congeries of watery particles raised from the
waters, or watery parts of the earth, by the solar or electrical fire.
These watery particles, in their first ascent, are too minute, and too
much separated by their mutuai repulsion, to be perceived ; but as
they mount higher and higher, meeting with a greater degree of cold.
losing their electricity, or by some process employed by Nature for this
purpose, they are in a certain degree condensed, and rendered opaque,
by the reunion of their parts, so as to reflect and absorb light, and be-
come visible as clouds.

The lowest part of the air being pressed by the weight of the upper
against the surface of the water, and continually rubbed upon it by
its motion, attracts and dissolves those particles with which it is in
contact, and separates them from the rest of the water. And since
the cause of solution is the stronger attraction of the particles of water
towards the air than towards each other, those that are already dis-
solved and taken up will be raised still higher by the attraction of the
dry air, which lies over them, and thus will diffuse themselves, rising
gradually higher and higher, thereby leaving the lower air not so
much saturated, but that it will still dissolve and take up fresh parti-
cles of water ; which process is greatly promoted by the motion of
the wind.

When the vapors are thus raised into the higher and colder parts
of the atmosphere, some of them will coalesce into small particles,
which, slightly attracting each other, and being intermixed with air,
will form clouds ; and these clouds will float at different heights,
according to the quantity of vapor borne up, and to the degree of heat

THE FARMER AT HOME. 93

in the upper part of the atmosphere. The clouds, therefore, are
generally higher in summe: than in winter; in the former season they
are from one mile to three miles high, and in the latter from a quarter
of a mile to a mile.

When the clouds are much increased by a continual addition of
vapors, and their particles are driven close together by the force of
the winds, they will run into drops heavy enough to fall down in rain.
If the clouds are frozen before their particles are gathered into drops,
small pieces of them being condensed, and made heavier by the cold,
they fall down in flakes of szow. If the particles are formed into
drops before they are frozen, they become hazlstones. When the air
is replete with vapors, and a cold breeze springs up which checks
the solution of them in the air, clouds are formed in the lower parts
of the atmosphere, and these compose a mst or fog ; this usually
happens ii a cold morning; but the mist is dispersed when the sun
has warmed the air, and made it capable of dissolving the watery
particles of which the mist is composed.

Southerly winds generally bring rain, because, being commonly
warm, and replete with aqueous vapors, they are cooled by passing
into a colder climate ; and therefore part with some of them, and
suffer them to precipitate in rain ; northerly winds, on the contrary,
being cold, and acquiring heat by coming into a warm climate, take
up or dissolve more vapor than they before contained ; and therefore
are dry and parching, and usually attended with fair weather.

Every farmer whose business is in the open air, is more or less a
meteorologist ; and none find an acquaintance with the clouds, and
the power of judging of the future by their present appearances, of
more essential service than the farmer. In assisting to form a correct
decision with regard to the weather, a barometer is of great help; but
where such an instrument is not at hand, the clouds, by their different
structure, height, and density, will enable the scientific or even the
ordinary observer, to calculate quite accurately the results of their
appearance. Itis proverbial how accurately mariners may judge of
approaching changes in the weather. .*armers may acquire much
of a similar accuracy.

CLOVE. The clove is the unexpanded flower-bud of an East
Indian tree, somewhat resembling the laurel in its height, and in the
shape of its leaves. In the Molucca islands, where the raising of dif-
ferent spices was formerly carried on by the Dutch colonists to great
extent, the culture of the clove-tree was a very important pursuit. It
has even been asserted, that, in order to secure a lucrative branch of
commerce in this article to themselves, they destroyed all the trees
growing in other islands, and confined the propagation of them to that
of Ternate. But it appears that, in 1770 and 1772, both clove and
nutmeg-trees were transp! .nted from the Moluceas into the islands of
France and Bourbon, and subsequently into some of the colonies of

94 THE FARMER AT HOME.

South America, where they have since been cultivated with great suc-
cess. At a certain season of the year, the clove-tree produces a vast
profusion of flowers. When fresh gathered, cloves will yield, on
pressure, a fragrant, thick, and reddish oil; and, by distillation, a
limpid essential oil. Oil of cloves is used by many persons, though
very improperly, for curing the toothache; since, from its pungent
quality, it is apt to corrode the gums and injure the adjacent teeth.
When the tooth is carious, and will admit of it, a bruised clove is
much to be preferred.

CLOVE TREE. A tree about twenty feet in height, bearing
the aromatic fruit called clove ; this tree has grown in greatest abun-
dance in Ternate, an island of the Indian Ocean, being the principal
of the Moluccas, or Spice Islands. In this island, which has been
long celebrated for its beauty and healthfulness, the clove trees grew
in such plenty, that they in some measure lessened their own value.
For this reason the Dutch resolved to cut down the forests, and thus
to raise the price of the commodity. But they soon had reason to
repent of their avarice ; for such a change ensued by cutting down the
trees, that the whole island, from being healthy and delightful, hav-
ing lost its charming shades, became extremely sickly, and has
actually continued so to this day.

COACH. A vehicle for commodious travelling, suspended on
leathers, and moving wheels. In England, and throughout Europe,
the coaches are drawn by horses, except in Spain, where they use
mules. Ina part of the East, especially the dominions of the great
Mogul, their coaches are drawn by oxen. In Denmark they some-
times yoke reindeer in their coaches; though this is rather for curiosity
than use. The coachman is ordinarily placed on a seat raised
before the body of the coach. But the Spanish policy has displaced
him in that country by a royal ordinance ; on occasion of the duke
d’Olivares, who found that a very important secret, whereon he had
conferred in his coach, had been overheard and revealed by his coach-
man ; since that time the place of the Spanish coachman is the same
with that of the French stage-coachman, vzz. on the first horse on
the left.

COAL. Coal of greater or less quantities, and of different quali-
ties, is found in most countries—in Holland, Germany, Saxony, Portu-
gal, Switzerland, Sweden, China, Japan, New Holland, and in North
and South America. Bufton states, that in his time, there were no
less than four hundred collieries worked in France. The deepest
mine in the world is near Namur; it is stated to be two thousand
four hundred feet, or nearly half a mile, in depth. Coal is seldom
found on high mountains. but usually, the localities are in hilly
situations, most commonly under a stratum composed of sand clay, or
argillite, splitting into layers, forming either slates, or a substance
called shivers, according to its fracture. Coal is found on hills in

THE FARMER AT HOME 95

strata, from a few inches to some feet in thickness, alternating with
strata of grit-stone and argillite. The beds run in various directions,
geuerally inclined to the horizon, which is called the dip. They are
frequently intercepted by columns of other matter ; and the continua-
tion of the bed may be higher or lower than the part from which it
seems to have been separted.

Geology has proved that, at one period, there existed an enor-
mously abundant land vegetation, the ruins or rubbish of which,
carried into seas, and there sunk to the bottom, and afterwards cov-
ered over by sand and mud beds, became the substance which we now
recognize as coal. This was anatural transaction of vast consequence
to us, seeing how much utility we find in coal, both for warming our
dwellings and for various manufactures, as well as the production of
steam, by which so great a mechanical power is generated. It may
naturally excite surprise that the vegetable remains should have so
completely changed their apparent character, and become black. But
this can be explained by chemistry ; and part of the marvel becomes
clear to the simplest understanding when we recall the familiar fact,
that damp hay, thrown closely into a heap, gives out heat, and
becomes of a dark color.

When a vegetable mass is excluded from the air, and subjected to
a great pressure, a bituminous fermentation is produced, and the
result is the mineral coal, which is of various characters, according as
the mass has been originally intermingled with sand, clay, or othex
earthy impurities. On account of the change effected by mineraliza:
tion, it is difficult to detect in coal the traces of a vegetable structure
but these can be made clear in all except the highly bituminous cak-
ing coal, by cutting or polishing it down into thin transparent slices,
when the microscope shows the fibre and cells very plainly.

From distinct isolated specimens found in the sand-stones amidst
the coal beds, we discovered the nature of the plants of this era.
They are almost all of a simple cellular structure, and such as exist
with us in small forms, (horse tails, club mosses, and frens,) but
advanced to an enormous magnitude. The species are all long since
extinct. The vegetation generally i is such as now grow in clusters of
tropical islands ; “but it must have been the result of a high tempera-
ture, obtained otherwise than that of the tropical regions now is, for
the coal strata are found in the temperate, and even the polar regions.

The conclusion, therefore, to which most geologists have arrived
is, that the earth, originally an incandescent or highly heated mass,
was gradually cooled down, until in the Carboniferous period it fos-
tered a growth of terrestrial vegetation all over its surface, to which
the existing jungles of the tropics are mere barrenness in comparison.
The high and uniform temperature, combined with greater proportion
of carbonic acid gas in the manufacture, could not only sustain a
gigantic and prolific vegetation, but would also create dense vapors,

96 THE FARMER AT HOME.

showers and rains ; and these again, gigantic rivers, periodical inun-
dations, and deltas. Thus all the conditions for extensive deposits of
wood, in estuaries, would arise from this high temperature; and
every circumstance connected with the coal measures points to such
conditions.

COFFEE. A seed, or berry, brought originally from Arabia
Felix, used for making a drink of the same nature. By coffee we
usually mean the drink itself, prepared from those berries. Its origin
is not well known ; some ascribe it to the prior of a monastery, who,
being informed by a goatherd that his cattle, sometimes browzing on
this tree, would wake and caper all night, became desirous of proving
its virtue ; accordingly he first tried it on his monks, to prevent their
sleeping at matins. Others refer the invention of coffee to the Per-
sians, from whom it was learned in the fifteenth century, by a mufti
of Aden, a city near the mouth of the Red Sea; and who, having
tried its virtues himself, and found that it dissipated the fumes which
oppress the head, inspired joy, opened the bowels, and prevented sleep
without his being incommoded by it, recommended it first to his
dervises, with whom he used to spend the night in prayer. Their
example brought coffee into fashion at Aden; there the professors of
the law, for study, artisans to work, travellers to walk in the night,
in short, almost every person drank coffee. Thence it passed to
Mecca, and from Arabia Felix to Cairo, and from Egypt to Syria and
Constantinople. Thevenot, the traveller, was the first who brought
it into France ; and a Greek servant, called Pasqua, brought it into
England in 1652, and setting up the profession of coffee-man, first
introduced the drink among the English; though some say Dr. Har-
vey had used it before.

COFFEE TREE. This tree is a native of Arabia; and though
it thrives surprisingly in the Antilles, at Cayenne, and in the Isle of
Bourbon, also in Jamaica, it has preserved in its original country a
superiority that gives it a preference in all the markets of Europe.
The fruit, when stripped of its skin, is commonly small and round ;
it is of a green color, and has a strong scent. In rich and spongy
soils, a single tree has been known to yield from six to eight pounds
of coffee; in different situations, a pound and a quarter from each
tree is great yielding. An acre of ground will yield from three to
seven hundred pounds of coffee. Some of our modern political econo-
mists affirm it may be raised in the southern portions of our own coun-
try ; but if, on trial, such should be the fact, it is doubted whether it
can ever here be made a profitable crop.

COLD. When caloric combines with our bodies, or separates
from them, we experience, in the first case, the sensation of heat, in
the second, cold. When the hand is put upon a hot iron, part of the
ealoric leaves the iron, and enters the hand; this produces the sensa-
tion of heat. On the contrary, when the hand is put upon a lump of

» THE FARMER AT HOME. 97

ice; this produces the sensation of cold. The sensation of heat is
occasioned by caloric passing into our bodies ; the sensation of cold by
caloric passing out of our bodies. We say that a body is hot, when
it communicates caloric to the surrounding bodies We call it cold,
when it absorbs calorie from other bodies

COLORS. The different hues in which bodies appear to the eye.
The colors which are most grateful and refreshing to the sight, are
blue and green; and hence our all-bountiful Creator has clothed the
heavens and the earth, those expansive and general objects of vision,
with these colors. The Turks prefer green to every other color; be-
cause, according to the tradition of their theologians, this was the
favorite color of Mahomet; and his descendants alone, of all the
Turks, have the privilege of wearing the green turban. Yellow is in
China the imperial color, as green isin Turkey. The most beautiful
of all colors in the judgment of most nations, is red. The Russians,
when they would describe a beautiful girl, say she is red ; red and
beautiful, being with them synonymous terms.

In Mexico and Peru, red was held in very high estimation. The
most magnificent present which the emperor Montezuma could devise
for Cortez, was a necklace of lobsters, which naturally have that rich
color. The only demand made upon the Spaniards by the king of
Sumatra, on their first landing in his country, and presenting him
with many samples of the commerce and industry of Europe, was
some coralsand scarlet colored stuffs ; and he promised to give them
in return, all the spiceries and merchandise of India, for which they
might have occasion. There is no such thing as carrying on trade to
any advantage with the Negroes, the Tartars, and the East-Indians,
but through the medium of red cloths. It is with red that nature
heightens the most brilliant parts of the most beautiful flowers, and
she invests most of the feathered race in India with a plumage of
this color; some have their heads covered with it; others have a
breast-plate of it, anecklace, a capuchin, a shoulder-knot.

COMPLEXION. The color of the skin, varying according to
climate. The Europeans, when they settle in New Spain or the
West India islands, soon lose their whiteness, and become of a
brownish yellow. The Europeans who reside long in the East
Indies, become of the same cream colored complexion.. The Span-
iards, who have inhabited America under the torrid zone for any
considerable time. have become as dark colored as the native Indians
of Virginia. The descendants of the Portugese, who settled at Sen-
egal in Africa, in the year 1400, and of those who settled at Mitambo,
and on the coasts of Congo, have the African color and wooly heads.
The Jews who descended from one stock, and whose religion has
prevented their marrying with other people, have varied in complexion
according to climate. In Britain and Germany, they are white ; in
France and Turkey, they are brown; in Spain and Portugal, their

5

98 THE FARMER AT HOME. “~

color is swarthy; in Syria and Chaldea, the ol.ve color prevails; in
Arabia and Egypt, they are of a tawny or copper color; and Tudela,
a Jew, relates that his countrymen in Abyssinia had acquired the
dark complexion of the original natives.

COMPOSTS. Animal manures, both solid and liquid, combined
with earths and decaying vegetables, and indeed almost every sub-
stance of refuse from the domestic apartments of the farm, are called
composts; and when the preparation of them is well managed, if
there is in reality no increase of fertilizing agents, a far better quality
of manures is obtained. Where the dung of the stables or the barn-
yard, is allowed to ferment before it is placed in the field, or im situa-
tions, where it is uncovered or unmixed with some substance to
absorb and retain the gases generated, a great loss to the_farmer of
nutritive matter certainly ensues. To avoid this, and provide for a
supply of fine manure, indispensable in gardening, and some other
farm operations, it is found an excellent plan to mix the vegetable
matters of swamps, the muck of drains, wash of roads, loam from the
margin of fields, peat, and seemingly every thing of the kind in
heaps with unfermented animal substances; and, in this way the
imsoluble part of the vegetable matter used, is prepared to become
the food of plants, while they at the same time serve to prevent the
escape of matter from the fermenting mass. The business of prepar-
ing composts is one of the most important in modern farming. The
success of farming depends in no small measure upon it. No one
till he has made a trial can be aware how much excellent manure a
farmer can annually prepare by collecting in this way substances
which are usually lost. The materials that may be used, and the

-processes for combining them is an important study. For assistance
in this study and labor, every farmer should own some book on the
subject. We think Browne’s American Muck Book is the best.

CONDOR. The Condor possesses all the formidable qualities of
the eagle, yet in a much higher degree; for it is not only an enemy
tothe bird and brute creation, but, when violently pressed with hun-
ger, will make its attack upon mankind. Fortunately the species of
this rapacious invader is scarce, or its deprédations would be terrible
indeed ; for the Indians assert that it will carry off a deer or calf in
its talons, with as much ease as an eagle will a lamb. When their
wings are extended, they are said to measure eighteen feet across ;
though one, which was shot by a gentleman in Peru, which he meas-
ured with the greatest exactitude. was only twelve ; the great feathers
upon the wings were a beautiful shining black, measuring two feet
four inches in length; those upon the breast and neck were of a light
brown, and those upon the back were rather of a darker shade; a
short down of the same color covered the head; the eyes were black,
and surrounded with a circle of reddish brown; the beak was about
four inches inlJength, hooked downwards, and the extremity white ;

THE FARMER AT HOME. 99

the thigh bone measured ten inches, the leg five, the toes three, and
the claws near one; and both the legs and toes were covered with
large scales.

COOKERY or COOKING. ° Dr. Cullen says that the cooking of
vegetables by boiling renders them more soluble in the stomach, not-
withstanding the degree of coagulation which their juices undergo.
In the second place, the application of a boiling heat dissipates the
volatile parts of vegetable substances, which are seldom of a nutri-
tious nature, but in many cases, have a tendency to prove noxious.
In the third place, boiling helps to extricate a considerable quantity
of air that, in the natural state of vegetables, is always fixed in their
substance ; and it is probably in this way especially, that heat con-
tributes to the dividing and loosening the cohesion of their smaller
parts. Thus they are rendered less liable to ferment, and produce
that flatulence which is so troublesome to weak stomachs.

The cookery of animal substances is of two kinds, as it is applied
in humid form in boiling and stewing ; or in a dry form, in roasting,
broiling, and baking. By the joint application of heat and moisture
to meat in boiling, the texture is certainly rendered more tender and
more soluble in the stomach; and it is only in this way that the
firmer parts, as the tendinous, ligamentous, and membranous parts,
ean be duly softened, and their gelatinous substances rendered subser-
vient to nutrition. Yet these eflects are different according to the
degree of boiling. A moderate boiling may render their texture more
tender without much diminution of their nutritious quality; but if
the boiling be extended to extract every thing soluble, the substance
remaining is certainly less soluble in the stomach, and at the same
time much less nutritious. But as boiling extracts in the first place,
the more soluble, and therefore the saline parts ; so what remains is,
in proportion, less alkalescent, and less heating to the system.

Boiling in digesters, or vessels accurately closed, produces eftects
very different from boiling in open vessels. From meat cooked in
the latter, there is no exhalation of volatile parts; the solution is
made with great success, and if not carried very far, the meat may
be rendered very tender, while it still retains its most sapid parts ;
and this is esteemed always the most desirable state of boiled meat.
If a small quantity of water only is applied, and the heat continued
long in a moderate degree, the process is called stewing, which has
the effect of rendering the texture of meat more tender, without
extracting much of the soluble parts. This, therefore, leaves the
meat more sapid, and in a state perhaps the most nourishing of any
form of cookery; as we learn from the admirable essays and experi-
ments of Count Rumford, who found very unusual eflects produced
on meat, by a low degree and long-continued action of heat, both in
the dry and humid way. Prat.

The application of a dry heat?ini the cooker: of meat is of two

100 THE FARMER AT HOME,

kinds, as it is carried on in close vessels, or as it is exposed to the air.
The first of these which we shall consider is baking. In this practice
meat has geuerally a covering of paste, by which any considerable
exhalation is prevented, and the retention of the juices renders the
meat more tender. In all cases, when the heat applied loosens, and
in some measure extricates the air, without exhaling it, the
substance submitted to this process is rendered more tender than
when an exhalation is allowed. In. broiling, an exhalation takes
place; but as the heat of a naked fire is more nearly applied, the outer
surface is in some measure hardened before the heat penetrates the
whole, and thereby a great exhalation is prevented, while the whole
is rendered sufficiently tender ; but this kind of cookery is suited to
meats that are chosen to be eaten a little raw. Nearly akin to this
is the practice of frying, in which the meat being cut into thin slices,
and laid ina pan over the naked fire, the heat is applied more equally
to the whole substance. But as the part of the meat lying next to
the bottom of the vessel would be suddenly hardened by the heat, it
is always necessary to interpose some fluid matter, usually of an oily
quality, as butter. A strong heat applied to the latter renders it less
miscible with the fluids of the stomach ; so that all fried meats are
less easily digested than those of any other preparation.

COPAL. Improperly called gum copal, is a hard, shining, trans-
parent, citron-colored, odoriferous, concrete juice of an American
tree, but which has neither the solubility in water common to gums,
nor the solubility in aleohol common to resins, at least in any con-
siderable degree. By these properties it resembles amber. It may
be dissolved by digestion in linseed oil, rendered drying by quick-
lime, with a heat very little less than sufficient to boil or decompose
the oil. This solution, diluted with oil of turpentine, forms a beauti-
ful transparent varnish, which, when properly applied, and slowly
dried, is very hard, and very durable. JDhis varnish is applied to
snuff-boxes, tea-boards, and other utensils. It preserves and gives
lustre to paintings, and greatly restores: the decayed colors of old pic-
tures, by filling up the cracks, and rendering the surfaces capable of
reflecting light more uniformly.

CORD. Thisis a measure for wood, equal to one hundred and
twenty-eight cubit feet; that is, four feet high, four feet wide, and
eight feet long. Any other article susceptible of being reduced to
regular dimensions, to wit, manure, may be sold by the cord.

CORK. Isa substance analogous to wood; it is the exterior
bark of a tree belonging to the genus oak, which grows wild in the
southern parts of Europe. When the tree is fourteen or fifteen years
old it is fit to be barked, and may be done successively for several
years. The bark always grows up again, and its quality improves as
the age of the tree increases. Ifthe bark is not taken off in due time
itsplits and peels off by itself, being pushed away by the second growth

THE FARMER AT SOME. 101

The best bark comes from Spain and Portugal; it is taken off in
sheets, care being used in keeping them as large as possible. After it
_ is detached from the tree, the Portuguese burn or char it, laying the
convex side of the bark to the fire in order to straighten and swell it.
It is then piled in stacks ready for sale.

Cork is formed into soles for shoes, into corks, bungs for stop-
ping bottles, and into a floatage for the nets of fishermen ; it is em-
ployed generally, though perhaps with a considerable degree of error,
in teaching the art of swimming ; and it is also ingeniously used, on
account of its lightness, when an amputation of the human leg has
been necessary, to supply the deficiency. Spaniards line stone walls
with it, which not only renders their houses very warm, but corrects
the moisture of the air; and the Egyptians made coffins of it, which
being covered in the inside with a resinous composition, preserved their
dead bodies. It is burnt to make that light black substance, called
Spanish black, from its having been first made in Spain.

CORN. It has not been determined of what country Indian corn,
or maize, is a native. It is usually attributed to America, wher? it
was cultivated by the aborigines, at the time of the discovery : br t no

iti
NNNUANMATM
ALANNA

CORN SHELLER.

botanist has hitherto found it growing wild in any part of this conti-
nent ; and most certainly it does not so exist in any portion of the
United States. It isalso certain that its culture did not attract notice
in Europe, Asia, or the north of Africa, till after the voyage of Colum-
bus. It was unknown ‘o the ancient Greek and Roman writers, and

102 THE FARMER AT HOME.

it is not mentioned by the earlier travellers who visited China. India,
and other parts of Asia and Africa, and were very minute in describ-
ing the productions of the countries they visited. Others, again, have
attributed its origin to the western coast of Africa.

There are many varieties of Indian corn known, of © ‘ch the
most prominent are those distinguished by color, as the yellow corn,
white, red, and blue; those that have different numbers of rows as
the eight, ten, twelve, sixteen, and twenty-four rowed kinds; those
that differ in taste, as the common and sweet kinds; and those that
have peculiarities in the shape of the kernels, as the common round
corn, the gourd-seed corn, the rice corn, and the Texas corn, each
kernel of which has a separate husk or envelope. Dr. Brown of Penn-
sylvania, in his excellent treatise on corn, enumerates thirty-five of
these varieties, and several have since with propriety been added to
his catalogue. Indeed, there seems no reason to doubt that this
plant, like the potato, may be greatly improved by cultivation, and
that varieties may be multiplied to any extent by judicious selection
of hinds, and crossing by careful impregnations.

She value of the corn crop is so great as to justify all judicious
efforts to augment its culture. The crop of 1848 is estimated at
471,000,000 bushels; thatis, over one hundred and fifty bushels for
each family. This, at the low price of sixty-five cents to the bushel,
amounts to more than three hundred millions of dollars ; from a sin-
gle branch of agricultural investment and industry in a single year.
However, its culture is so well understood, that it is superflous to
enter into discussion of it. Ifa farmer desire to raise a large crop
instead of a small one, let him learn the secret of doing it from his
neighbors who are setting him the example. Give the land good
tillage and ample supplies of manure, and the object will be reached.

CORN-COBS. There is a difference of opinion as to the value
of corn-cobs for fodder. A. correspondent of the American Agricul-
turist 1s accustomed to put his cobs into a large half hogshead tub,
and cover them with a solution of salt in water. Here they remain
till they have imbibed enough of the fluid to make them soft. In
this condition they are fed out to the stock at the rate of a peck a
day to a full-grown cow or ox. He says that allhis animals are fond
of them, that. they eat much less hay tuan before, and that they are
in excellent condition. He is also accustomed to have them ground
with the corn, and the corn and cob-meal makes the best food foi
horses, being, he is well satisfied, nutritive as well as keeping the
animal loose in the bowels. He has followed the practice fifteen
years ; and, although his neighbors first ridiculed the idea, yet they
became so well satisfied with it, most of them now follow his exam-

le.

CORN-STALKS. Most farmers do not seem aware of the value
of corn-stalks for fodder. Soit might be supposed from the manner

THE FARMER AT HOME. 103

in which they are frequently seen given out for feed, upon the ground,
yn large quantities, so that but a small fraction of them will be eaten,
and the major part entirely lost. If every farmer would pass them
through a good corn-stalk cutter, like the one we now have in use, it
would increase the value of them for feed and for manure, each year,
more than the cost of the instrument. By this means, every pound
of them not eaten, is in fine condition for the compost-heap, to be used
in the following spring. We have tried several of these cutters, and
now use that of Ruggles, Mason & Co., which we think decidedly
the best, although there are others we would use, if we could not ob-
tain this. Professor Mapes says he has some winters kept two or
three yoke of oxen on cut corn-stalks, prepared in the following man-
ner. They were cut by a machine similar to our own, and then put

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COB AND CORN CRUSHER.

ito a hogshead. On the top three gallons of hot water, containing a
gill of salt, is poured, and then the cask is covered over with a blanket.
The steam arising from the hot water softens and swells the stalks to
their original size. When cold, a little ground feed is scattered upon
them, and thus fed to the cattle. He says that the oxen worked hard
all winter, each yoke bringing three loads per day, of more than a ton
each, from a distance of three miles, and in the spring they were as
well conditioned as in the fall. ;

COTTAGE. A cottage is a small dwelling-house ; or rather it

104 THE FARMER AT HOME.

is small compared with others in the same vicinity. Many suppose it
necessarily has low walls and a steep roof, with perhaps several
gables. Such, however, is not the fact. The name rather apples
to its comparative size and its internal arrangements, than to its ab-
solute dimensions or style of architecture. Hence, a dwelling in the
midst of large mansions or villas might be called a cottage, although
if in the midst of small dwellings, much smaller than itself, it might
with propriety be dignified with another name. We are accustomed
to associate the idea of good taste, without great expense, in the con-
struction of a cottage, whether viewed in relation to its architecture,
to its accommodation to family purposes, or to the appendages with
which itis connected. Accordingly, there may be large cottages as
well as small ones, each adapted to the necessities of the occupants,
whether numerous or few ; yet, in both cases, having the appearance
of retrenchment or cautious expenditures. It may be Gothic, Swiss,
or Grecian, in its general outlines and decorations; it may cost five
thousand dollars or five hundred, or any intermediate sum ; it may
have capacity for a dozen persons or the fourth part of a dozen; yet,

" cated tae
ONION NAR
YEA NVR AS

—— ———

COTTAGE.

in either case, the incidentals about it should leave an impression on
the mind of the observer that the proprietor has had, or is able .to
occupy one far more capacious and expensive. The inductive associ-
ations, therefore, from viewing tastefully constructed cottages are of
the most agreeable kind, inasmuch as they denote a regard to econo-
my and a well-balanced mind ; and if the proprietors were driven to
them by necessity, the indications of good sense and remaining com
petence furnish more occasion for cheerful than pensive reflections.

-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 105

COTTON. The history of the growth of cotton is peculiarly in-
teresting. Its use has been known in the earliest ages of which we
have any written memorials. The ancient Egyptians were familiar
with it. Herodotus says it was known before his day. In his account
of the Indians, he says: ‘‘ They possess a kind of plant which, instead
of fruit, produces a wool of a finer and better quality than that of
sheep. Of this they make their clothes.” Pliny, in his description
of the island of Tylos, in the Persian Gulf, mentions among its pro-
ductions certain wool-bearing trees, that ‘‘ bear a fruit like a gourd,
and of the size of a quince, which, bursting when it is ripe, displays a
ball of downy wool, from which are made costly garments of a fabric
resembling linen.”” And we have authentic accounts that the article

COTTON PLANT.

was in possession of the Chinese previous to the thirteentb century ;
and that, on the ascension of the Tartar dynasty, its culture for com-
mon use became general. And it is now cultivated in the Kast and
West Indies, in North and South America, in Egypt, and, indeed, in
most parts of the civilized world where the climate is sufficiently
warm.

The cotton raised in the United States in 1847 was estimated at
1,041,500,000 pounds, and valued at seventy-three millions of dolkars.
In 1834, four hundred and sixty millions of pounds were raised; ia

5*

106 THE FARMER AT HOME. .

1831, three hundred and eighty-five millions ; in 1821, one hundred
and cighty millions; in 1811, eighty millions; in 1801, forty-eight
millions ; and in 1791, only two millions were raised. So rapid has
been the increase of its culture in our country. Of the amount of
cotton annually manufactured, the following calculation has been
made. All such calculations must of course be very general ; and,
although defective and imperfect, will convey impressions approxi-
mating to the reality. Thus, it is presumed that three hundred and
fifty millions of pounds are manufactured in England ; one hundred
and fifty millions in the United States; eighty millions in France ;
two hundred and fifty millions in India and China ; twenty-five mil-
lions in South America and Mexico; thirty-five in Germany ; ten in
Spain; twenty in Prussia; and the remainder elsewhere. About
two-thirds raised im the whole world is the produce of the United
States. Our cotton crop in 1850 was 1,002.239,000 pounds.

COULTER. The iron which is attached to the beam of the
plough, immediately before the share, and with itssharp cutting point,
by dividing the turf, renders the operation of ploughing more com-
plete, is called the coulter. It is constructed and applied in many
ways and forms, but the object is nearly the same in all, the cutting
of the turf before the share. When properly made and affixed, the
coulter greatly lessens the force required on the plough to turn the
turf well, as it is easier to cut than to tear or break the matted roots
of the grass. The coulter should be as near the share as can be con-
veniently, unless the surface to be ploughed is very level, and the
depth is regulated by wheels, in which casea greater distance between
the coulter and the share is admissible. The point in all cases should
be set slightly forward, as it will, if inclining backwards, exert a con-
stant tendency to throw the plough out of the earth. The cutting
should be as near the line to be made by the share as possible, though
if there be any deviation it is found to be better to have it made to
hand, as the ploughman’s phrase is, than otherwise.

COW. If we were to name the most profitable of all animals, it
would be the cow. What other one contributes so much to the sus-
tenance of mankind? What other one so liberally repays the owner
for his care of her? Js not milk one of the most indispensable articles
of human food? And is not milk almost exclusively from this ani-
mal? In all temperate climates, the cow and her products of milk,
butter, cheese, and beef, constitute one of the most important branches
of agricultural income. By paying attention to the breeding of the
cow, with particular regard to her milking qualities, and to her sus-
ceptibilities for becoming good beef, when past the period of utility
for dairy purposes, her value is greatly augmented above what it
would be if this attention were neglected. This is sufficiently evi-
dent to all who have witnessed the changes thus effected. It is
known that some cows will not only pay for the feed given to them

THE FARMER AT HOME. 107

and the labor .xpended in the care of them, but will yie.d an annual
profit varying trom twenty to fifty dollars each, while others do not
yield milk enough to pay for their feed. ‘The subject is of the utmost
importance.

COW-MILKER. An ingenious Yankee has recently invented
an Indian Rubber fixture for milking cows. We have made trial of
it, and the result was quite satisfactory. It consists of a sack for each
teat, of a size to receive that organ, and to adhere so closely to it as
tostop the admission of the surrounding air. Connected with the
lower end of the sack is a silver tube, which passes into the teat
about an inch. To each tube is a stopper. When the sacks are all
properly adjusted, the pail is placed in-a position to receive the milk,
which, as soon as the stoppers are drawn, commences flowing in un-
interrupted streams till the whole has made its escape. The process
is hastened, if not entirely occasioned, by the pressure of the atmos-
phere upon the bag. The cow appeared to experience no sensation
that caused her in the least measure to move or be uneasy, from which
it may be inferred that the insertion of the tubes caused no irritation.
As soon as the milk ceased to flow, the tubes and sacks were removed ;
and it was found by making trial with the hand no milk remained in
the bag. The operation was of short duration, probably not exceed-
ing a minute or two for the discharge of the milk after the stoppers
were removed from thetubes. The conclusion was drawn that when
a person became familiar with applying the sacks to the teats, he
would milk eight or ten cows while milking one by hand. To milk-
men and all others keeping a large number of cows, the saving of
time will be of no trivial consideration. One person would probably
milk twenty cows in an hour. The fixture is certainly very ingenious,
and should be well tried. No objection to it was apparent in this ex-
periment; yet it might not be an object for those who keep only one
or two cows. If it saves time at the rate above supposed, it is no
difficult matter to estimate the amount saved in a year to an indi-
vidual having fifty cows.

CRADLE. In husbandry, a cradle is a frame of wood, with long
bending teeth, to which is fastened a scythe, for cutting and laying
oats and other grain in a swath. It is comparatively a modern
invention. The sickle was formerly used for cutting grain, but that
is now rarely used at all, unless on new lands where there are stumps
or the surface is uneven, or where the grain has become entangled or
fallen down. At first the cradle was a clumsy instrument, and a
want of skill in the use of it occasioned a slow process and also a loss
of grain, which prevented its immediate general adoption. At this
we cannot wonder, when we compare the instrument now manufac-
tured with that delineated in books of agriculture in past periods ;
and indeed that constructed and adopted in this country is said to be
much superior to those usually seen in England. A skilful and

108 THE FARMER AT HOME. .

powerful man with a good cradle will cut grain on from two to four
acres in a day.

CRADLE.

CREAM. This is the name of the fat, oily, or unctious fluid
which rises on the surface of milk on standing, being specifically
lighter than the other parts, and from which the well known article
of butter is made. The richness of milk is very generally estimated
by the bulk of cream which thus rises to the surface in a given time.
The fatty part of the milk which exists in the cream, and which form
the butter, is merely mixed with and held in suspension by the water
of which the milk chiefly consists. In the udder of the cow it is in
’ some measure separated from, and floats on, the surface of the milk,
the later drawn portions being always the richest in cream. Duriug
the milking, the rich and poor portions are usually mixed intimately
together again, and thus the after-separation is rendered slower, more
difficult, and less complete.

That this is really so is proved by two facts—first, that if milk be
weil shaken or stirred, so as to mix its parts intimately together before
it is set aside, the cream will be considerably longer in rising to the
surface—and second, that more cream is obtained by keeping the
milk in separate portions as it is drawn, and setting these aside to
throw up their cream in separate vessels, than when the whole milk-
ing is mixed together. When the collection of cream, therefore, is
the principal object, economy suggests, that the first, second, third and
last drawn portions of the milk should be kept apart from each other.
Cream does not readily rise through any considerable depth of milk ;
it is usual, therefore, to set aside in broad shallow vessels, in which
the milk stands at a depth of not more than two or three inches. By
this means the cream can be more effectually separated in a given
time.

CROCODILE. An enormous river serpent, that is found in

THE FARMER AT HOME. 109

abundance in the Nile and the Niger of Africa. . is sometimes
found thirty feet long ; its strength is prodigious ; it seizes even the
tiger, and draws him into the water. She lays her eggs, in vast
numbers, in the sand, and leaves them to be hatched there in the
sun. Providence, however, has provided means to check the increase
of this destested race. The crocodile’s eggs are greedily destroyed,
not only by the ichneumon, but also by the vulture. Flocks of vul-
tures hide themselves within the thick branches of the trees that
shade the banks of the river, watching the crocodile in silence while
she is laying her eggs; and when she has retired they rush on with
loud cries, and tear up the eggs out of the sand, and devour them.
This monster 1s tameable ; the Siamese take the crocodile young,
breed it up in subjection, put a curb in its mouth, and manage it like
a horse, the rider directing it as he thinks proper.

CROCODILE, FOSSIL. One of the greatest curiosities in the
fossil world which the late ages have produced. It is the skeleton of
a large crocodile, almost entire, found at a great depth under ground
bedded in stone. This was in the possession of Linkius, who wrote
many pieces in natural history, and particularly an accurate descrip-

~tion of this curious fossil. It was found in the side of a large monn-

tain in the midland part of Germany, and in a stratum of black fossil
stone, somewhat like our common slate, but of coarser texture, the
same with that in which fossil fishes in many parts of the world are
found. This skeleton had the back and ribs very plain, and was of a
much deeper black than the rest of the stone ; as is also the case in
the fossil fishes which are preserved in this manner. The part of the» - oy
stone where the head lay was not found ; this being broken off just at io
the shoulders, but that irregularly ; so that in one place a part of the =
baek of the head was visible in its natural form. The two shoulder + —
bones were very fair, and three of the feet were well preserved ;
legs were of their natural size; and the feet preserved even to the. __
extremities of the five toes of each. at

CROP. This term in agriculture signifies the quantity, or pro-
duce of any sort of field crop, as of grain, roots, plants, grass, or any
similar kinds, raised by the farmer on any portion of ground at one
time. And from this diversity, they are likewise further distinguished
mto corn, root, and green crops, according to the circumstances of the
ease. The culture and utility of the two last sorts have been greatly
increased within these few last years, in consequence of their applica-
tion, as cattle food, being more perfectly understood. It is indeed to
this circumstance that much of the modern improvement in husbandry
is owing, and from which a great deal of the increased profit of the
farmer has been derived.

CROUTE, Sour-Crout, or Krowte. As this preparation of cab-
bage has been found of sovereign efficacy asa preservative in long
voyages from the sea-scurvy, it may not be unacceptable to give a

aw

110 THE FARMER AT HOME.

concise account of the process for making it, according to the informa-
tion communicated by an ingenious German gentleman. The sound-
est and most solid cabbages are selected for the use, and cut very
small, commonly with an instrumeut made for this purpose; not
unlike the plane which is used in this country for slicing cucumbers.
A knife is used when the preparation is made with greater nicety.
‘The cabbage thus minced is put into a barrel in layers, hand. high,
and over each is strewed a handfulof salt and carraway seeds ; in
this manner it is rammed down with a rammer, stratum upon stra-
tum, till the barrel be full; when a cover is put over it, and pressed
down with a heavy weight. After standing some time in this state,
it begins to ferment ; and it is not till the fermentation has entirely
subsided, that the head is fitted to it, and the barrel is finally shut up
and preserved for use. There is not a drop of vinegar employed
in this preparation. The Germans write this preparation in the
following manner: Sauer kraut, or saurer kohl, that is, in their
language, sour herb, or sour cabbage.

CRUSTACEOUS ANIMALS. The crustaceous animals have
been sometimes included in the class of insects, to which they have
indeed many strong points of resemblance. They deserve, however, a
separate consideration, both on account of their size and importance,
and of some anatomical differences of structure. They have articu-
lated limbs, antenne, and jaws, similarly formed to those of insects.
But they breathe by means of gills, and have a regular, double ciren-
lation: in which particular they dzffer from insects. Among the
most familiar examples of this class are the lobster, crawfish, and
what is usually called the horse-shoe. They are covered by a
pretty thick, firm shell, which envelopes them completely. As this
shell is incapable of growth, it is occasionally changed, to make room
for the constant increase in size of the animal. It is thrown off, and
their bodies remain for a time entirely naked, and exposed in a soft
and defenceless state. In this ease, the animal generally retires to
some place of concealment and security, and remains till the shell is
restored by the deposition of calcareous matter on the external mem-
brane of the skin, which becomes hard and firm, and finally takes the
place of the old shell. ;

CUCKOO. A bird of a grayish color, and less than a pigeon.
They are plenty in England, and some other parts of Europe. Before
winter sets in this bird disappears; in the spring its voice is heard,
earlier or later, as the spring happens to be more or less forward
The cheerful voice of this bird teaches the farmer with great exact-
ness, the proper time of sowing. All other signs may fail, but the
voice of the cuckoo is an unerring rule; for heaven has taught it to
point out the season. The cuckoo makes herself no nest; she con-
trives to deposit an egg with the eggs of the hedge sparrow, which
hatches it together with her own; and the young cuckoo, almost as

THE FARMER AT HOME. 111

goon as hatched, tumbles out the rest of the brood, and remains pos-
sessor of the nest, and the sole object of the future care of its uncon-
scious step-mother, the old sparrow.

CURCULIO. In the United States, particularly, the class of
insects which prey on grain, plants, and fruit, is known by this name.
The ravages of the grain curculio are not so habitual as those
occasioned by the fruit variety of these animal nuisances. However,
when they do attack grain they are very destructive. Degur, the
celebrated entomologist, says that a few hundred of them admitted to
a granary, would, in the course of four or five months, destroy be-
tween one and two hundred millions of grains. But a single hole is
made in a kernel, and but one egg deposited in each. Barley is a
favorite grain with the curculio, or weavil, as it is also called; and
small heaps of this placed in granaries, and occasionally removed or
subjected to boiling water, are used in some places as decoys for the
insect, and to prevent their settling on wheat.

To the ravages of the fruit curculio, which take place every year,
and in some cases to the total destruction of the crop, no effectual
antidote has been found. Several have been resorted to, but at best,
only with partial success. Their attacks on the plum and apricot
are the most fatal.. They make a circular or half moon invasion on
the young fruit, and then under the flap of the wound deposit an egg,
which speedily becomes a worm and feeds on the juices or pulp of the
fruit. ‘The curculio during the day lies concealed in the branches of
the tree ; and, it is said, that if previous to the setting of the fruit,
cloths are spread beneath on the ground, and then a violent blow ap-
plied to the trunk, most of the insects will fall upon the cloths so that
they can be gathered up and destroyed. This operation must be
repeated time after time, and will in this way do something in caus-
ing their destruction ; but, it is tedious and in most cases insufficient.
- The fruit that contains the grub, after a while falls to the ground, the
worm takes refuge in the earth, emerges the perfect insect, ready to
renew its depredation on the young fruit. To prevent this, all such
fruit should at once be gathered up and destroyed, by giving it to the
hogs or otherwise, which will also destroy the embryo curculio.
Where swine can come to the trees, they will constantly devour the
worm as well as the fruit, and thus ~ender an essential service to the
horticulturist. -

CURDLING. The coagulating or fixing of any fluid body ; par-
ticularly milk, by means of rennet. Pausanias says, that Aristeus,
son of Apollo, and Cyrene, daughter of the river Peneus, were the
first who found the secret of curdling milk. At Florence they curdle
their milk for the making of cheese with artichoke flowers ; in lieu of
the rennet used for the same purpose among us. The Bisaltae,a
people of Macedonia, Rochkfezt observes, live whe'ly upon curdled

113 THE FARMER AT HOME. ~~

milk, 2. e. on curds. He adds, that curds are the whole food of the
people of Upper Auvergne in France, and whey their only drink.

CURRANTS. Are so called because formerly coming from the
Isthmus of Corinth. They come from several other places of the
Archipelago. The little Spanish currants are sometimes sold for
them. They are a kind of small raisins or dried grapes of different
colors, red, white, or black. They must be chosen new, small, and
in large masses. When made up in bales they may keep two or three
years, without stirring or giving them air. The island of Zante is the
chief place whence currants are brought; in the Morea, or the Isth-
mus of Corinth, which was anciently the principal plantation, they
are no longer cultivated ; the jealousy of the Turks not allowing large
vessels to enter the gulf to take them off the collector’s hands. They
grow on vines like our grapes; except that the leaves are somewhat
thicker, and the grapes smaller ; they have no stone. The planters
gather them in August, dispose them in couches on the ground till dry,
then clean them, and lay them up in Magazines. On barrelling
them for sending abroad, they have people to tread them close, that
they may keep the better. Zante produces enough yearly to load five
or six vessels ; Cephalonia three or four; and the other islands one.
The Zantiots know but little of the use we make of them.

CUTIS. The skin, in anatomy, is that strong thick covering
which envelopes the whole external surface of animals, It is com-
posed chiefly of two parts; a thin white elastic layer on the outside,
which is called the epidermis, or cuticle; and a much thicker layer,
composed of a great many fibres, closely interwoven, and disposed in
different directions ; this is called the cutis, or true skin.

CYCLE. A perpetual circulation of the same parts of time.
The cycle of the moon is a period of nineteen solar years, equivalent
to nineteen lunar years and seven intercalary months; at the end of
every nineteen years, the new and full moons happen at very nearly
the same times of the year. The ancients discovered this, and reck-
oned the cycle of the moon so that it terminated the year before the
Christian era. This cycle was marked with letters of gold, thence
called the Golden Number, to find which, add one to the date of the
year, say 1829, will make 1830, which, divided by nineteen, will
produce ninety-six cycles, and there remain six, the Golden Number
for 1829, which shows that the moon is in the sixth year of the lunar
cycle. It should be, however, observed, that this cycle of the moon
only holds true for three hundred and twelve years ; for though the
new moons return to the same day after nineteen years, yet not to the
same time of the day, but nearly an hour and a half sooner ; which
error in three hundred and twelve years amounts to an entire day.
Yet those who were employed in reforming the calendar, went on the
supposition that the cycles returned precisely the same forever. The
use of this cycle in the ancient calendar was to show the time of the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 113

new moon and of Easter for each year; in the new one it only serves
to find th epacts.

The Cycle of the Sun is the number of years that elapse before
the Sundays throughout the year happen on the same days of the
month. If there were only 364 days in the year, that would occur
every year; if 365, it would occur every seventh year; but as a quar-
ter of a day makes an alteration of a day every fourth year, the cycle
must extend to twenty-eight years. The beginning of this cycle,
both Julian and Gregorian, is nine years before Christ. T'o jind the
cycle of the sun for any given year, add nine to the date of the year,
and divide the sum by twenty-eight, the remainder will be the num-
ber of the years of the present cycle, and the quotient the number of
revolutions since Christ. If there be no remainder, it will be the
twenty-eighth or last year of the cycle.

DAIRY. A place where milk is deposited, and where it is manu-
factured into butter, cheese, and other articles of food. In some situa-
tions, the farmer brings his milk to market in its natural state, and
then he is said to keep a milk dairy ; in other situations, he manufac-
tures butter or cheese, and, in such cases, he is said to keep a butter
or a cheese dairy. It is quite evident, that it must depend on cireum-
stances which of all these three sorts will afford the most profit.
Within a few miles of a large town, where there is always a ready
sale for milk and butter, and where the carriage is short, the milk
and butter dairy will generally answer best; but where the distance
from a market is considerable, the sale of milk in its natural state is
out of the question, and the dairy farmer will probably find it neces-
sary to engage in the manufacture of cheese.

The dairy system is perhaps the most profitable, as well as the
most pleasing, of all the parts of husbandry. It was certainly the
earliest. Herbage may be converted into human food, either in the
form of flesh or of milk; but it is calculated, that a much larger
quantity of human food will be produced from the same quantity of
herbage in the latter case than in the former. The herbage that
would be sufficient to add one hundred and twelve pounds to the
weight of an ox, would, if employed in feeding cows, afford four hun-
dred and fifty gallons of milk. This, if made into cheese, which is
not the most advantageous way of consuming milk, would produce
four hundred and thirty pounds, besides the flesh that might be
obtained by feeding hogs with the whey.

In some dain of our own country, the dairy operations are
extensive, well arranged, and productive of wealth. An instance of
this may be found in “the northern portion of Ohio, frequently called
“The Reserve,” which embraces eight counties. The inhabitants
here were mostly from New England. It would be difficult to
reduce any branch of business to a more perfect system than that
practised by the intelligent farmers of the Reserve in the dairying

114 THE FARMER AT HOME.

establishments. The cheese factors purchase the grecn curd at the
rate of from three to four cents per pound, of the farmers, and call at
their doors regularly every week-day morning for it, and thus much
labor and responsibility is got rid of in curing and marketing the ar-
ticle, and the business, on the whole, is better done than if each far-
mer pressed and cured the product of his own dairy. A single factor
finds no difficulty in manufacturing the curd produced by a thousand
cows, and in prosecuting the business to this extent, is warranted in
investing a suitable amount of means in the erection of appropriate
buildings, and in the purchase of economical appliances for its profit-
able prosecution. Both farmer and factor appear satisfied that a high-
er character is given to the cheese in the market, and better prices
are obtained for it, than if the old system was practised. It imparts
a uniformity to the appearance and quality of the cheese, throughout
a large district of country, that no other plan could have so thorough-
ly accomplished ; and on the whole, the system may safely be adop-
ted in any part of the republic suitable to the production of cheese,
where an abundant supply of curd can be obtained at a fair price.

DAISY, in Botany. The name is derived from day and eye, al-
luding to the eye-like form of the flower, and its expansion in the day,
and in bright weather only, when it presents its front to the sun, fol-
lowing his course till the afternoon, when the flower closes, but opens
again for many successive mornings. There is a variety of the daisy
called whiteweed, and if once permitted to get well rooted on a farm
is destructive to everything else, and is eradicated with the greatest
difficulty. It grows so thick as to preclude the appearance of the
grasses, or exterminates them if they already exist. This plant is
readily known by its white blossom, and its unfortunate prevalence.
Thorough cultivation is the only remedy where it is found, but the
farmer will find if he destroy the plant effectually on its first appear-
ance, even if requiring considerable labor, the time and exertion for
it are well expended. The appearance of this weed denotes bad hus-
bandry.

DAMASK. A silk stuff, with a raised pattern, so that the right
side of the damask is that which has the flowers raised above the
ground. Damasks should be of dressed silk, both in warp and woof.
Those made in France are half an ell in breadth. Damask is also a
kind of wrought linen, made chiefly in Flanders; so called, because
its large flowers resemble those of damasks. It is chiefly used for
tables.

DAMPS. The permanently elastic fluids which are extricated
in mines, and are destructive to animal life, are called damps by the
miners. The chief distinctions made by the miners are, choak-damp,
which extinguishes their candles, hovers about the bottom of the
mine, and consists for the most part of carbonic acid gas; and the
fire-damp, or hydrogen gas, which occupies the superior spaces, and

THE FARMER AT HOME, 115

does great mischief by exploding whenever it comes in contact with
their lights. Carbonic acid gas is generated in large quantities in
the vats of cider distilleries, where a small quantity of the liquor re-
mains for any time; or in brewers’ vats, in which acetous fermgnta-
tion is allowed. Numerous deaths occur yearly from the operation of
this gas, and farmers and others, who are particularly exposed in
cleaning wells, should always take proper precautions. Where it ex-
. ists in large quantities, it extinguishes flame ; and, hence we are for-
tunately provided with the means of ascertaining its presence. No
one, therefore, should venture a descent into any of the places named
without first lowering a candle or a lamp If the flame is extin-
guished, life would also be put in peril. If it is not extinguished, one
may descend safely.

DARK DAYS. The Rev. Mr. Sterling gives an account (as
published in the Philosophical Transactions in England,) of a dark-
ness of six or eight hours at Detroit, in North America, on the nine-
teeth of October, 1762, in which the sun appeared as red as blood,
and thrice its usual size ; some rain falling, covered white paper with
dark drops, like sulphur or dirt, which burnt like wet gunpowder, and
the air had a very sulphureous smell. He supposes this to have been
emitted from some distant earthquake or voleano. Dr. Darwin adds,
that a dry fog (somewhat similar to the appearance at Detroit) cov-
azred most parts of Europe, for many weeks, in the summer of 1780,
which was supposed to have had a voleanic origin, as it succeeded
the violent eruption of Mount Hecla. It is remarkable that the same
year which Dr. Darwin mentions, that is, on the nineteenth of May,
m the afternoon, 1780, a surprising darkness overspread New Eng-
land. For several days preceding this darkness, the sun appeared
from morning to night, unusually large, and nearly of the color of
blood ; and this was its appearance during the forenoon of the mem-
orable nineteeth of May. Early in the afternoon, the sun was totally
obscured, and all objects had a yellowish or brassy hue. The dark-
ness increased gradually till about three or four o'clock, when the
fowls went to roost, candles were necessarily lighted in dwelling-
houses, and it seemed to be night. During the progress of this won-
derful fog, some scattering drops of rain fell, attended, as it was then
said, with a blackish powder that tinged the substances which were
touched by it.

DARKNESS. Means the absence or the want of light. In
commion language we consider ourselves as being in darkness, when-
ever objects that are pretty near to us, cannot be distinguished from
each other ; but perfect darkness does not easily occur ; and it 1s ow-
ing to this that several animals can see in what we call darkness,
viz., the.eyes of those animals are so formed as to be able to see with
very little light. But it appears from the experiments of M. le Cat
and others, that no animal can see in perfect darkness where no light

-

116 THE FARMER AT HOME. “"

is emitted, even from any phosphorescent body ; and such phosphor-
escence may sometimes proceed even from the animal itself.

DATE. The fruit of the date-palm, a tree of the natural order
Palme, inhabiting the north of Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, Syria,
Persia, the Levant, and India, and which is also cultivated in Italy
and Spain. Dates form the principal nutriment of the inhabitants
of some of the above countries, and are an important article of com-
merce. This fruit is an oval, soft, fleshy drupe, having a very hard
stone, with a longitudinal furrow on one side, and when fresh, pos-
sessing a delicious perfume and taste. Dates are sugary, very nour-
ishing, wholesome, and require no preparation ; but when dried, and
a little old, as they usually are when imported into Europe and the
United States, they are not much esteemed, and are little used in the
countries where they grow. The best fruits have firm flesh of a yel-
low color. The inhabitants of Tunis, and several other countries,
every year journey in crowds, into Biledulgerid to procure dates.

Almost every part of this valuable tree is converted to some use.
The wood is very hard, almost. incorruptible, and is used for building.
The leaves, after being macerated in water, become supple, and are
manufactured into hats, mats, and baskets. The petioles afford
fibres from which cordage is made. The nuts after being burnt, are
used by the Chinese in the composition of India ink. Palm wine is
made from the trunk. For this purpose, the leaves are cut off, and a
circular incision made a little below the summit of the tree, then a
deep vertical fissure ; and a vase is placed below to receive the juice,
which is protected from evaporation.

The date-palm is a majestic tree, rising sixty feet and upwards,
the trunk is straight, simple, scaly, elegantly divided by rings, and
crowned at the summit by a tuft of very long pendant leaves. The
leaves are ten or twelve feet long, composed of alternate narrow
folioles, folded longitudinally. The Arabs pretend that they attain
the age of two or three hundred years. This valuable tree would
undoubtedly succeed in the southern parts of the United States.
The wood, though of spongy texture, is employed for the beams and
rafters of houses, and for implements of husbandry, which are said to
be very durable. The pith of the young trees is eaten, as well as the
young and tender leaves. A considerable traffic is carried on in the
leaves, which, under the name of palms, are sent to Italy, to be used
in the grand religious ceremonies of Palm Sunday. In Persia, an
ardent spirit is distilled from the fruit; and, in many places, the
stones are ground to make oil, and the paste that is left is given as
food to cattle and sheep.

DAY. Nations have differed much from each other as to the
commencement, and still more in the division of the day. The Chal-
deans, Syrians, Persians, and Indians began the day at sunrise, and
divided both the @ay and night into four parts. This division of the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 117

day into quarters was in use long before the invention of hours. The
Chinese, who begin their day at ‘midnight, and reckon to the midnight
following, divide this interval into twelve hours, each equal to two of
ours, and distinguished by a name and particular figure. The Ro-
mans called the time between the rising and setting sun, the natural
day, and the time in the whole four and twenty hours the civil day,
and this definition has been adopted in modern Europe. They began
and ended their civil day at midnight, and derived this practice from
their ancient jurisprudence and rites of religion, established long be-
fore they had any idea of the division into hours. According to Varro,
the first sun-dial seen at Rome was brought from Catana in Sicily, in
the first Punic war, as part of the spoils of that city. It was erected
unskilfully in the forum, and though it probably was not adapted to
the latitude of the place, yet it was the only measure of hours they
had for near a century afterwards. Thus it appears that the Romans
learned the division of the day into hours from a dial of Greek con-
struction. The Greeks divided the natural day into twelve hours,
a practice which, according to Herodotus, they derived from the
Babylonians. These hours were of course unequal at different sea-
sons of the year, varying in the same ee 5) as the length of the
natural day.

The days of the week received their names in the followimg man-
ner. The first day of the week was called Sunday, from the sun, to
which by the ancient heathens it was dedicated ; Monday, from the
Moon; Tuesday, from the Saxon word, Twzsco, and is the same as
Mars; Wednesday, from a Saxon word, Woden, a heathen deity ;
Thursday, from the Saxon word, Thor; Friday, from Friga, a
Saxon goddess; and Saturday, from two Saxon words, which signify
the day of Saturn. Christians’call the first day of the week Sunday,
in honor of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, who is denomin-
ated the Sun of Righteousness.

DECEMBER. The month wherein the sun enters the tropic of
Capricorn, and makes the winter solstice Among the ancient Ro-
mans, December was under the protection of Vesta. Romulus assigned
it thirty days, Numa reduced it to twenty-nine, which Julius Cesar
increased to thirty-one. In the reign of Commodus this month was
called, by way of flattery, Amazonius, in honor of a courtezan, whom
that prince passionately loved, and had painted like an Amazon ; but
this name died with that tyrant. At the end of December they had
the juveniles ludi ; and the country people kept the feast of the god-
dess Vacuna in the fields, having then gathered in their fruits, and
sown their corn ; whence seemed to be derived our popular ait
of harvest-home.

DEATH. An animal body, by the actions inseparable frie life,
undergoes a continual change. Its smallest fibres become rigid; its
minute vessels grow into solid fibres no longer pervious to the fluids ;

118 THE FARMHXR AI HOME.

its greater vessels grow hard and narrow; and every thing becomes
contracted, closed, and bound up; whence the dryness, immobility,
and extenuation. observed in old age. By such means, the offices of
the minuter vessels are destroyed; the humors stagnate, harden, and
at length coalesce with the solids. Thus are the subtilest fluids in the
body intercepted and lost, the concoction weakened, and the repara-
tion prevented ; only the coarser juices continue to run slowly through
the greater vessels, to the preservation of life, after the animal func-
tions are destroyed. At length, in the process of these changes, death
itself becomes inevitable, as the necessary consequence of life. But
it is rare that life is thus long protracted, or that death succeeds
merely from the decays and impairment of old age. Diseases, a long
and melancholy train, cut the work shert.

All our first associations with the idea of death are of the disgust-
ing and alarming kind; and they are collected from all quarters ;
from the sensible pains of every sort ; from the imperfections, weak-
ness, loathsomeness, corruption, and disorder, attendant on disease,
old age, and death, whether animal or vegetable. This seems per-
fectly natural ; for these things are usually viewed with disgust and
shame; whereas, those things to which they are opposed, or with
which they are placed in contrast, such as health, beauty, youth, and
the lustre of life. are objects of admiration and are sources of social
delight. And it is necessary, that the heedlessness and inexperience
of infancy and youth should be guarded by such terrors, and their
headstrong appetites and passions curbed, that they may not be hur-
ried into danger and destruction before they are aware. It is proper,
also, that they should form some expectations with respect to, and set
some value upon, their future life in this world, that so they may be
better qualified to act their parts in it, and make the quicker progress
to perfection during their passage through it.

DECOMPOSITION. This term, in chemistry, denotes the reso-
lution of a compound substance into its constituent parts, which are
exhibited either separate, or in some new combination. In agricul-
ture, it is principally used to signify the process by which animal and
vegetable bodies pass into a state that renders them serviceable as
food for plants. During life, the elements of organic bodies, whether
animal or vegetable, are held together by vital affinities, under the
influence of which they were first united. When life ceases, these
elements become subject to other laws, those that govern inert matter.
The original affinities that were suspended during the vital organiza-
tion, again operate, other combinations are formed, and the organized
structure passes to decay. The rapidity and extent of decomposition
are, in a great measure, depending on the circumstances under which
the process takes place. Substances kept perfectly dry, and at certain
temperatures, decompose very slowly, or not at all. Moisture. unequal
temperature or the presence of certain agents, aid the process mate-

THE FARMER AT HOME, 119

rially. It is by decomposition that all manures are formed, and it is
by regulating, aiding, and combining the action of diferent substances,
that the most valuable composts and ferti izing powders are prepared.
To preserve plants, timber, and vegetables fromm premature decommposi-
tion, has occasioned much research, and though in some cases success-
ful, there are others in which all efforts to arrest the original laws of
action have proved unavailing.

DEER. An animal which in England is kept in parks,
either for ornament or for the chase ; the flesh of which is called
venison. In North America, we have five animals of the deer
kind, the Moose or Elk of Europe; the American Elk, a stately ani-
mal, whose branching horns are sometimes five feet in length; the
common Fallow or Virginia deer; the mule, or black tailed deer of
the Rocky Mountains; and the Reindeer. The male of the fallow
deer, is called buck, the female, hind. The stag, hart, or red deer of
Europe, the female of which is called hind, is not found in this coun-
try. It is a characteristic of all these animals, that they shed their
horns once a year.

DESERT. A wild, uncultivated, uninhabited place or country.
Geographers use the word in the general for all countries little, or not
at all, inhabited. In Scripture, we find several places in the Holy
Land, or places adjoining thereto, called deserts, which were not
absolutely barren or unfruitful, but such as were rarely sown or culti-
vated; and though they yielded no crops of corn or fruit, they never-
theless afforded herbage for the graziers of cattle, with fountains or
rills of water, though more sparingly interspersed than in other
places. The wilderness or desert which was the scene of our Saviour’s
temptation, with several others mentioned in Scripture, was of this
nature and. quality. Many of these deserts contained cities and
villages, rich and well peopled; and, indeed, almost every city had
some desert according to the Scripture idiom, belonging to it for pas-
ture ; so that the word meant no more than a land, or tract, that
bore neither corn, wine, nor oil, but was left to the spontaneous pro-
ductions of nature.

DEVON CATTLE. Among the several varieties of the bovine
family in Great Britain the Devons have been deservedly noted.
With many it has been a great favorite; and its popularity is well
deserved. Among the reasons for it the following may be named.
These cattle, although not large are well formed, their several parts
distinguished for symmetry ; oftentimes highly beautiful, yet having
sufficient bone and muscle to render them hardy and active. They
have great uniformity of appearance in every feature, size, shape,
horns, and color. The oxen exceed the cows in size more than is
common with other breeds; and both, when cut up for beef are
found to go much beyond what is estimated by those not familiar
with them. And their meat is distinguished for fine flavor and rich

120 THE FARMER AT HOME.

juices, being duly formed from an alternate mixture of fat and lean,
And, what is equally important, whether in the yoke or for the dairy,
they have great docility and good temper. Within the last thirty
years the Devons, by due crossings, have been greatly improved ; they
have become heavier and better milkers. And, although there is a
general opinion that as milkers they are inferior to several other breeds
so far as the quantity of milk is concerned, the quality of their milk
is by all admitted to be unsurpassed. This, however. by their advo-
cates is denied ; and Mr. Bloomfield, the manager of the late Lord
Leicester’s estate at Holkham, has challenged England to milk an
equal number of cows of any breed, against forty pure Devons, to be
selected out of his own herd, without as yet having found a com-
petitor. See Steven’s edition of “ Youatt and Martin on Cattle.”

DEVON BULL.

DEW. A dense, moist vapor, falling on the earth in the form of
a mistling rain, while the sun is below the horizon. The most plen-
tiful deposits occur, when the weather is clear and serene ; very little
is ever deposited when the weather is not so. It is never seen on
nights both cloudy and windy It is well known, likewise, that a
reduction in the temperature of the air, and of the surface of the
earth. always accompanies the falling of dew, the surface on which it
is deposited being, however, colder than the air above. These phe-
nomena admit of an easy and elegant explanation from the well
known effect of the radiation of caloric from bodies. This radiation

TH FARMER AT HOME. 121

constantly taking place in all bodies, it is obvious that the tempera-
ture of any body can remain the same only by its receiving from
another source as many rays as it emits. In the case of the earth’s
surface, so long as the sun remains above the horizon, it continues to
receive as well as to emit heat; but when the sun sinks below the
horizon, no object is present in the atmosphere to exchange rays with
the earth, which still emitting heat into free space, must, consequently,
experience a diminution in its temperature.

Thus the earth becomes not only many degrees cooler than the
superincumbent air ; and, as the atmosphere always contains watery
vapor, this vapor becomes condensed on the cold surface ; hence, the
origin of dew, and, if the temperature of the earth is below thirty-two
degrees, of hoar frost. And since the projection of heat into free
space takes place most readily in a clear atmosphere, it is under the
former condition that dew and hoar frost are formed ; for if the radi-
ant caloric, proceeding from the earth, is intercepted by the clouds,
an interchange is established, and the ground retains nearly, if not
quite, the same temperature, as the adjacent portions of the air.
Whatever circumstances favor radiation favor also the production of
dew ; and, accordingly, under the same exposure, dew is much more
copiously deposited on some surfaces than on others. Gravel walks
and pavements project heat and acquire dew less readily than a
grassy surface. Rough and porous substances, as shavings of wood,
take more dew than smooth and solid wood. Glass projects heat
rapidly, and is as rapidly coated with dew. Bright bodies attract
dew much less powerfully than other bodies.

Dew acts an important part in the processes of agriculture, and in
the nutrition and growth of plants. Large quantities of the most
active agents escape from the earth during the processes of decompo-
sition and evaporation in the shape of gases, and these combined with
the aqueous vapor are deposited with the dew on the earth, or on the
plants, and in either case are available to nutrition. Hence the
advantages of frequently stirring the earth, and keeping the surface in
a pulverised and absorbing state. In some parts of the world it
rarely rains, but the dews are so copious, that vegetation does not
seem to sufler from the want of water. Spreading a substance, no
matter how flimsy, as a thin cloth, over vegetables will preserve
them from severe frosts, if it is not allowed to touch them ; acting by
intercepting the heat. Every one has observed that plants lable to
destruction by frost, remain green much longer under the shade of
trees than when exposed. Thus potatoes or any thing else planted in
an orchard, will be unhurt by frost as far as the branches of the trees
extend, while the tops in the uncovered spaces will be wholly
prostrated.

DIBBLER. This is an instrument used in gardening for making
holes in the ground to receive roots in transplanting. It is generally

6 ;

122 THE FARMER AT HOM=

made of an old spade handle, having the lower part sharpened, and
sometimes shod with iron. The depth of its insertion in the soil may
be regulated by a small cross-bar, which can be placed at various
heights, according to the size of the root for which it is used. In
some parts of England various kinds of seed are planted with a
dibbler.

DIGESTION. By the term digestion, in the more perfect ani-
mal, is generally understood that process by which certain substances,
called nutritive, are converted into a homogeneous semi-fluid mass,
from the cavity containing which small vessels drink up the more
elaborated portion, and convey it into other larger ones, containing
blood, with which it is mixed and carried to the heart. The simplest
kind of digestion is that performed by presenting a watery fluid to a
moist surface, which converts it into its own nature. Examples of
this are seen in the lower orders of animals, the individuals of which
consist almost entirely of a closed sack or pouch, on the external sur-
face of which the above change is accomplished. On nearly the same
line may be put the spongy extremities of the roots of plants, which
absorb or drink up the nutrimental fluid from the soil.

In proportion as the animal structure becomes more complex, the
subsidiary or preparatory organs are increased in number, to qualify
the stomach for acting on the great variety of food, often of a solid
and dense texture, which is taken for the purpose of nourishment.
The most generally distributed apparatus for the breaking down and
grinding the food, before its reception into the stomach, is the teeth.
In an omniverous animal, such as man, who appropriates to the
gratification of his appetite, food from all the kingdoms of nature,
these instruments are of three kinds ; the two éhiet: however, are the
front or incisor teeth, which tear, and the back or molar teeth, which
triturate and more minutely divide the alimentary matter, im what is
called mastication. In many birds, which swallow directly their food
without chewing or masticating, there is a mechanical contrivance,
in the gizzard. by-which it is broken down and prepared to be oper-
ated on by the stomach proper.

Those animals, such as the serpent tribe, which swallow their
prey without any preliminary process, except breaking the more
prominent and resisting parts, such as the bones of the creatures
which they have seized, have very slow digestion. They will remain
for many hours in a half torpid state, unable and unwilling to move,
until the substance which they swallowed has undergone the requisite
change, by the digestive action of the inner surface of their stomach,
It would ‘seem then to be an established principle in the history of
digestion, that unless the nutrimental natter be of the very simplest
kind, and presented in a fluid state, as in the lowest animals, and in
vegetables, it requires to be subjected to some preparatory process,
before it can be received by the stomach, and undergo in it the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 123

changes by which it is to be fitted for nourishing all parts of the living
body.

DILUENTS. Watery liquors which are believed to increase
the fluidity of the blood, and to diminish the acrimony and viscidness
_ of several of the secreted or excreted fluids. Simple water-gruel,
weak tea, and a great variety of such liquors, are much used as
diluents. Such drinks are especially required in febrile diseases, both
as removing the irritation caused by thirst, and as diluting the acri-
mony of the contents of the stomach and bowels, and as facilitating
the perspiration. In various diseases of the stomach and bowels,
diluents are very useful, by mixing with the bile and other fluids, and
rendering them more mild. They may also assist in digestion, by
rendering the chyme and the chyle thinner and more easily absorbed
by the lacteals. As watery fluids pass off readily by the kidneys, they
are of great utility in diseases of the urinary organs and of the bladder.
Though it may seem a good rule, to let the salutary instinct of nature
for diluents in feverish disorders be gratified, yet, as a large quantity
of fluid will, for a time, distend the blood-vessels, and so increase the
action of the heart and arteries, it may be prudent to restrain the appe-
tite of thirst in those inflammations where we combat the disease by
large bleedings. It will be better, in such cases, to allay thirst by very
small quantities of fluid, or by eating fruits either fresh or preserved.
The temperature of diluting fluids is to be regulated by the state of
the body at the time of giving them. In the cold or shivering stage
of a disease they should be hot ; when the heat is great and the skin
dry, they should be cold; and in most other cases they should be
tepid. See Gunn’s Domestic Medicine.

DINNER. Is the principal meal in modern times, and the one
at which luxury is chiefly indulged in. Much disease arises from the
mismanagement of dinner, both as to time, and to the quantity and
variety of food taken. Physicians cannot lay down any general rule
for the time at which persons should dine; the hour when nature
requires it, and the period which is most adapted for it, as furnishing
a supply of aliment before the exhaustion of the powers has proceeded
too far, would seem to be two or three o'clock ; but individuals vary
in their habits, in the kind of breakfast they take, and in their powers
of digestion; all which are to be taken into account by the medical
man who gives his advice on the subject. Some persons much
troubled with indigestion, are relieved by the simple expedient of
taking their dinner sooner or later, as they find upon trial what time
agrees best ; and much may be done to relieve stomach complaints
by diminishing the quantity of food and drink taken at dinner. Late
copious dinners are really nothing else than heavy suppers, and in all
likehhood will produce restlessness, nightmare, and various unplea-
sant symptoms. The dinners of children should always be in the
middle of the day.

124 THE FARMER AT HOME.

DIRT SCRAPER. This is an instrument designed for the
removal of dirt in the making and repairing of roads. It is also
used in levelling the ground, particularly about newly erected houses ;
both in carrying what is not wanted on hills to adjacent hollows, and
also in making excavations for cellars and wide ditches. A yoke of
oxen or a span of horses with a man will thus remove as much dirt
in one day, as he could remove with a spade and barrow in a week.
The best scrapers are made of iron, save the handles, and would be
found convenient on every farm.

DIRT SCRAPER.

DISEASE. In medicine, that condition of the animal economy,
in which one or more of the functions is altogether impeded, or is per-
formed with difficulty or with pain. Various definitions of disease
have been given by different physicians. Some have laconically
defined it the absence of health, forgetting that this involves another
definition, that of health. Some have described it as existing in par-
ticular conditions of the fluids, or of the solids. But it is unnecessary
to inquire into the variety of definitions of disease, since the word is
well understood by all, and is used under the same acceptation by the
peasant and the philosopher.

DISSOLUTION. In a general sense, the separation of the parts
of a body which, in the natural structure, are united ; or the reduc-
tion of concrete bodies into their smallest parts without regard to
solidity or fluidity. Thus we speak of the dissolution of salts in
water, of metals in nitro-muriatic acid, and of ice or butter by heat ;
in which eases, the dissolution is effected by a menstrum or particular
agent. We speak also of the dissolution of flesh or animal bodies,
when the parts separate by putrefaction. Dissolution is then, the act
of liquifying or changing from a solid to fluid state by heat ; a melt-
ing ; a thawing ; as the dissolution of snow and ice, which converts
them into water. The reduction of a body into its smallest parts, or
into very minute parts, by a dissolvent or menstrum, as of a metal

THE FARMER AT HOME. 125

by nitro-muriatic acid, or of salts in water. The separation of the
parts of a body by putrefaction, or the analysis of the natural struc-
ture of mixed bodies, as of animal or vegetable substances ; decom-
position.

DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. While there is scarcely any
part of the globe on which plants are not found, many of the most
important ones are confined by certain causes to particular zones or
locations, and attempts to produce them in other situations, must of
necessity be abortive. Thus, the palm of the tropics and the maple
of the arctic circle cannot be made to change their places; and the
same law applies to the‘apple and the orange, the Irish potato and.
the yam. The grand modifying agent in the distribution of plants, is
temperature ; and this cause divides the vegetable productions of the
globe into zones, north and south of the equator, regularly marked,
unless influenced by causes local in their nature and action. There
are some general rules applicable to the investigation of,the laws that
govern distribution, which cannot be overlooked ; and these are dif-
ference in elevation. It has been found that the average difference
in temperature on any given degree of longitude, is about equal to a
degree of Fahrenheit for every degree of latitude; and that in eleva-
tion, there is on an average, a decrease of temperature equal to a de-
gree, for every five hundred feet of ascent.

The result of these laws is, that plants of the temperate zones,
which will not grow on the plains of the tropics, flourish on the sides
of the mountains or the elevated plains, the temperature resembling
that of their favorite clime. Thus wheat and barley which cannot
be grown on the plains of the tropics, produce abundantly on the
table lands, some eight or ten thousand feet above the sea. The ef-
fect of these laws of distribution are sensibly felt in the United States,
in the production of fruits and grain. Thus the apple, which finds its
favorite clime in the northern States, does not grow in the southern
ones; and the peach of the north is so inferior to that of the south,
as scarcely to be considered the same fruit. The proper wheat zone
of the United States may be said to extend only from the thirty-eighth
to the forty-third degree of latitude. It is indeed cultivated both to
the north and the south of these limits, but experience proves that
the crop is less certain and the grain less perfect without than with-
in them. In the northern States corn is not as certain a crop as it
is south, but as far north as it succeeds, the produce is usually more
abundant, and the grain of a better quality than that grown farther
south.

DIVISION OF LABOR. That separation of employments,
which, in political economy, is called the division of labor, can take
place only in civilized countries. In the flourishing states of Europe
and America we find men not only exclusively engaged in the exer-
cise of one particular art, but that art subdivided into numerous

126 THE FARMER AT HOME.

branches, each of which forms a distinct occupation for the different
workmen. Observe the accommodation of the most common artificer
or day-laborer in a civilized and thriving country, and you will per-
ceive that the number of people, of whose industry a part, though but
a small part, has been employed in procuring him this accom . .vdation,
exceeds all computation. The woolen coat, for example, which
covers the laborer, though it may appear coarse aud rough, is the
produce of the joint labor of a great number of workmen. The
shepherds, the sorter of the wool, the carder, the dyer, the spinner,
the weaver, the fuller, the dresser, with many others, must all
join their different arts to complete even this ordinary production.
How many merchants and carriers, besides, must have been employed
in transporting the materials from some of those workmen to others
who often live in a distant part of the country! How much com-
merce and navigation in particular, how many ship-builders, sailors,
sail-makers, rgpe-makers, must have been employed, in order to bring
together the diflerent drugs made use of by the dyer, which often
come from the remotest corners of the world! What a variety of
labor, too, is necessary in order to produce the tools of those workmen !
To say nothing of such complicated machines as the ship of the
sailor, the mill of the fuller, or even the loom of the weaver, let us
consider only what a variety of labor is requisite to form that very
simple machine, the shears with which the shepherd clips the wool.
The miner, the builder of the furnace for heating the cre, the burner
of the charcoal to be made use of in the smelting-house, the brick-
maker, the brick-layer, the workmen who attend the furnace, the
mill-wright, the forger, the smith, must all of them join their different
arts in order to produce them.

Were we to examine, in the same manner, all the different parts
of his dress and household furniture, the different hands employed in
preparing his food, the glass window which lets in the heat and the
light, and keeps out the wind and the rain, with all the knowledge
and art requisite for preparing that beautiful and happy invention,
together with the tools of all the different workmen employed in pro-
ducing those different convenienves ; if we examine all these things,
and consider what a variety of labor is employed about each of them,
we shall be sensible that without the assistance and co-operation of
many thousands, the very humblest person in a civilized country could
not be provided for, even according to what we falsely imagine the
easy and simple manner in which he is commonly accommodated.
Compared, indeed, with the more extravagant luxury of the great,
his accommodation must no doubt appearextremely simple and easy :
and yet it may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of an Euro-
pean prince does not always so much exceed that of an industrious
and frugal peasant, as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that

THE FARMER AT HOME 127

of many an African king, the absolute master of the lives and liber-
ties of ten thousand naked savages.

DOCK. This is the name of a well known plant; and, it is ap-
plied to several species of the family ; sometimes cultivated in gar-
dens, but generally considered a troublesome weed. It has stout roots
and long leaves. Their roots have an austere taste, are stringent,
and styptic, and the seeds are sometimes used in hemorrhage. For-
tunately the dock does not, like the Canada thistle, spring from the
lower roots when the crown of the plant is cut off; and all that is
necessary, therefore, to eradicate it, is to strike it off below the sur-
face. If this is done cleanly and at once. the plant is destroyed.

DOG. The largeness of the make, the elegance of the form, the
strength of the body, the freedom of the motions, and all the exterior
qualities, are not the noblest properties in an animated being; and.
as, in mankind, understandirg is preferred to figure, courage to
strength, and sentiment to beauty ; so the interior qualities are those
which we esteem most in animals; for it is in these that they differ
from the automaton ; it is by these they are raised above the vegeta-
ble, and made to approach nearer to ourselves; it is their sense
which ennobles their being, which regulates, which enlivens it, which
commands the organs, makes the members active, gives birth to de-
sire, and gives to matter progressive motion, will, and life.

The Dog, independently of his beauty, vivacity, strength, and
swiftness, has all the interior qualities which can attract the regard
of man. The tame dog comes to lay at his master’s feet his courage,
strength, and talents, and waits his orders to use them; he consults,
interrogates, and beseeches; the glance of his eye is sufficient ; he
understands the signs of his will. Without the vices of man, he has
all the ardor of sentiment; and what is more, he has fidelity and
constancy in his affections; no ambition, no interest, no desire of re-
venge, no fear but that of displeasing him; he is all zeal, all warmth,
and all obedience ; more sensible to the remembrance of benefits than
of wrongs, he soon forgets, or only remembers them to make his at-
tachment the stronger ; far from irritating, or running aw ay, he even
exposes himself to new proofs; he licks the hand which is the cause
of his pain, he only opposes it by his cries, and at length entirely dis-
arms it by his patience and submission.

More docile and flexible than any other animal, the dog is not
only instructed in a short time. but he even conforms himself to the
motions, manners, and habits of those who command him; he has all
the manners of the house where he inhabits; like the Wien domestics,
he is disdainful with the great, and rustic in the country, always at-
tentive to his master; and striving to anticipate the wants of his
friends, he gives no attention to indifferent persons, and declares war
against those whose station makes them importunate; he knows
them by their dress, their voice, their gestures, and prevents their ap-

128 THE FARMER AT HOME.

proach. When the care of the house is entrusted to him during the
night, he becomes more fiery and sometimes ferocious; he watches,
he walks: his rounds, he scents strangers afar off; and, if they hap-
pen to stop, or attempt to break in, he flies to oppose them, and, by
reiterated barkings, efforts and cries of passion, he gives the alarm.
As furious against men of prey as against devouiing animals, he flies
upon, wounds, and tears them, and takes from them what they were
endeavoring to steal; but, content with having conquered, he rests
himself upon the spoils, will not touch it even to satisfy his appetite,
and at once gives an example of courage, temperance, and fidelity.

DOGDAYS. Certain days in the year called by this name, from
the dogstar, or Sirus. They are also called canicular days, from
cants, the Latin word signifying dog. On these days the dogstar
rises and sets with the sun. The ancients imagined that the rising
of the dogstar with the sun, occasioned the sultry weather and the
diseases usually experienced in the Jatter part of summer. The Ro-
mans sacrificed a brown dog every year to appease the rage of Sirius.
The rising of the stars, however, not only varies according to the la-
titude of different places, but is always later and later every year in
the same place, so that in time Sirius may, by the same rule, be
charged with bringing frost and snow when he rises in the winter.
In our almanacs the season of dogdays is set down as occuring from
the third of July to the eleventh of August, without any regard to the
position of Sirius. In England, the dogdays have caused some vari-
ety in their calendar. Bede refers to a time when they commenced
on the fourteenth of July; in the reign of Elizabeth they were reck-
oned from the sixth of that month to the sixth of September ; from
the restoration of Charles II., to the correction of the calendar, the
beginning of this period was on the nineteenth of July, and the end
of it, on the twenty-eighth of August ; after the correction of the cal-
endar the time was changed to the thirtieth of July and the seventh
of September; and of late in the English almanacs they are placed
as we first mentioned.

DORKING HENS. This is a variety of barn yard fowls which
take their distinctive appellation from a town of that name in the
county of Surrey, England. They have generally been much ad-
mired by all, we believe, who have been familiar with their merits.
They are not as large as some varieties that have lately attracted
notice, but they are sufficiently so for profit, holding a medium rank
between the stately gobbler fraternity, and the smaller varieties of the
hen family. Their native color is generally pure white, spotted or
spangled with black; and these colors sometimes merge into a grey
or grizzle. The cocks are magnificent birds, with a surpassing bril-
hhaney of plumage, rarely equalled by other kinds. ‘The hens are
well formed with broad breasts; are usually good layers; and their
young are easily reared. It has been affirmed that the Dorkings

THE FARMER AT HOME. 129

originally had five toes, or in other words, two hind toes; and that if
they do not possess this peculiarity now, it is because they have lost
it by successive crossings.

DORKING HENS.

DORMANT state of animals. Weare all accustomed to see a
large part of creation, during summer, in great activity, and in winter
returning to an apparently manimate state ; we mean the plants; but
this phenomenon is not common in the case of animals. There is,
however, a small number of animals, which, besides the daily rest
that they have in common with most other animals, remain, during
some months in the year, in an apparently lifeless state; at least, in
utter inactivity. Except the hedgehog ind the bat, all the mammalia
subject to this dormant state, belong to ihe class of digitated animals.
They are found not only in cold climates, but in very warm ones ;
for instance, the jerboa in Arabia, and the taurick in Madagascar.

The period of long sleep generally begins when the food of the
animal begins to become scarce, and inactivity spreads over the veg-
etable kingdom. Instinct, at this time, impels the animals to seek a
safe place for their period of rest. The bat hides itself in the dark,
or in walls of decayed buildings. The hedgehog envelopes hizself
in leaves, and generally conceals himself in fern-brakes. Hamsters

6*

130 THE FARMER AT HOME.

and marmots bury themselves in the ground, and the jumping-mouse
of Canada and the United States, incloses itself in a ball of clay. At
the same time, these singular animals roll themselves together in such
a way that the extremities are protected against cold, and the abdom-
inal intestines, and even the windpipe, are compressed, so that the
circulation of the blood is checked. Many of them, especially the
gnawers, as the Hamster and Norway rat, collect previously to their
period of sleep, considerable stores of food, on which they probably live
until sleep overpowers them.

DOVE. A wild pigeon, of which there are three sorts, sehen
the ring dove, the largest of the pigeon tribe, so wild that 1t cannot
be domesticated ; the stock dove, that is migratory; and the turtle
dove, a shy and retired dove living in the weods. These descriptions
apply to the European varieties. In America we have several kinds
of pigeons, of which the passenger pigeon is the most remarkable.
In the western states these birds assemble in such countless numbers,
as to darken the air by their flocks, and desolate the whole country
for miles around their breeding places. The turtle dove of America
differs in some measure, from the turtle dove of Europe.

DOWN. In commerce, the fine feathers from the breasts of the
several birds, particularly of the duck kind. That of the eider duck
is the most valuable. These birds pluck it from their breasts -and
line their nests with it. We are told that the quantity of down
found in one nest more than filled the crown of a hat, yet weighed no
more than three-quarters of an ounce. Three pounds of this down
may be compressed into a space scarcely bigger than one’s fist, yet is
afterwards so dilatable as to fill a quilt five feet square. That found
in the nest is most valued, and termed live down ; it: is infinitely
more elastic than that plucked from the dead bird, which is little
esteemed.

DRAINING. Few expenditures in husbandry are calculated to
make better returns than those made in draining, a branch of labor
which has had in this country but a limited application. Many of
our best lands are permitted to remain in a comparative unproductive
state, on account of the water, which saturates the surface, or reposes
on the subsoil. To render these lands productive, even for arable
purposes, it is only necessary, by well conducted and sufficient drains,
to collect and carry off the surplus water which falls upon the surface,
or rises from the springs below. The philosophy of draining is simply
this :—Air and heat are essential agents in preparing the food of plants
which is deposited in the soil, and they are also necessary for the
heaithful development of most of the cultivated varieties. These
agents are in a measure excluded from the soil by the water. The
temperature of a soil, habitually saturated with spring water from
beneath the surface, seldom exceeds fifty or sixty degrees at midsum-
mer. Hence the grains and grasses, which require a heat of eighty

THE “ARMER AT HOME. 131

or ninety degrees to bring them to a high state of excellence, can
never thrive in these cold situations, where they find neither the
warmth nor the food suited to their habits. . It is as unreasonable to
expect it as it is to expect the farmer’s wife can bake bread in a cold
oven. But drain these soils, and they become light and porous ; per-
vious to solar and atmospheric influence, the process of vegetable
decomposition is accelerated, and a high state of fertility is developed.

The ackndwledged utility of irrigation, or of spreading, oecasion-
ally, the water from streams, or the highways over lands, has led to
a misapprehension with many of the principles of draining. Irriga-
tion is employed to furnish water to soils, generally slopes, where it is
deficient, and from whence it speedily passes off, or to cover grounds
in winter to exclude severe frosts. The water thus employed is nearly
of the warmth of the atmosphere, and is generally charged with fer-
tilizing properties. Draining is « ployed on flat surfaces, or upon
slopes ‘abounding i in springs, where there is an excess of water, and of
a temperature which materially chills and deadens the soil. _ Irriga-
tion supplies water where there is a deficiency—draining carries it off
where there is an excess. Both are intended, by opposite modes, to
produce the same result—a suitable degree of moisture for the wants
of the crop.

DRESSING OF MEAT. By means of culinary fire, is intended
to loosen the compages or texture of the flesh, and dispose it for disso-
lution and digestion in the stomach. The usual operations are roast-
ing, .boiling, and stewing. In roasting, it is observed, meat will bear
a much greater and longer heat than either in boiling or stewing ;
and in boiling, greater and longer than in stewing. Roasting being
performed in the open air, as ‘the parts begin externally to warm,
they extend and dilute, and so xradually let out part of the rarefied
included air, by which means the internal sueccussions, on which the
dissolution depends, are much weakened and abated. Boiling being
performed in water, the pressure is greater, and consequently the suc-
cussions to lift up the weight are proportionably strong, by which
means the coction is hastened ; and even in this way there are great
differences ; for the greater the weight of water the sooner is the
business done,

In stewing, though the heat be much less than what is employed
in the other methods, the operation is much more quick; because per-
formed in a close vessel, and-full; by which means the succussions
are oftener repeated, and more strongly reverberated. Boiling, Dr.
Cheyne observes, draws more of the rank, strong juices from the
meat, and leaves it less nutritive, but lighter, and easier of digestion ;
roasting, on the other hand, leaves it fuller of the strong. nutritive
juices, but harder to digest, and needing more dilution. Dr. Brown
insists, tha’ roasted meat is more easily digested, and every way more

132 THE FARMER AT HOME.

fitted fer a weak stomach than boiled. Strong and full-grown animal
food should be boiled, and the young and tender roasted.
DRILLING. A modern mode of putting seed into the ground by
a machine called a drilling machine, which makes channels in the
ground, and lets the seed into them, so that it comes up in rows at
regular distances frorn each other. The implement is also called the
drill, and although a comparatively modern invention, is so con-
structed, as to be used for nearly all the seeds cultivated in the garden
or the field. The advantages of drilling over the common method of
planting, are, the business is performed more expeditiously, the seeds
are more evenly distributed, and they are covered at the depth most
suitable for their vegetation. The drill is used in some parts of

HORSE-DRILL.

England extensively for sowing wheat, and on the Holkham farm in
Norfolk, belonging to the Earl of Leicester, four hundred acres in a
season are put in by this implement. Where the drill is used, the
soil must be fine, free from stones or other obstructions, and then
drill-sowing is performed with the greatest accuracy and benefit.
The Norfolk drill sows from twelve to sixteen rows of wheat at a
time, and at a distance of eight inches. With the best drills now to
be had in our own country, a man with two horses can sow a dozen
acres of wheat in a day, and with one horse can plant twenty acres
of corn in a day.

DRINK. A part of our ordinary food. in a liquid form, serving
to dilute and moisten the dry meat. Although the proportion of

THE FARMER AT HOME. 133

hquid to that of dry or solid food, cannot be precisely ascertained ; yet,
if the constant secretion of the fluids be laid down as the basis of this
computation, we should, perhaps, drink double the quantity of the
solid provisions we daily consume. Nevertheless, even this propor-
tion is but too often exceeded, merely to please the artificial cravings of
a corrupted palate. Thus we no longer drink with a view to quench
thirst only, but at certain hours of the day, whether we are naturally
inclined or not. Nay we frequently meet with sots in beer, ale, spir-
its, wine, punch, and even tea. Excessive drink, however, though it
distend and oppress the stomach, and thus impede digestion, is not
nearly so pernicious as gluttony, unlesss the former be attended with
intoxication. It however impoverishes the whole mass of the blood,
by rendering it too thin and watery ; so that relaxation of the urinary
and other canals, and, at length, general debility of the system, are
its necessary concomitants.

On the contrary, too little drink disposes persons of a sedentary
life to indigestion ; because many particles of solid food are, for want
of dilution, passed unassimilated through the alimentary canal; and
the blood becomes viscid, and inert in its circulation. The active
and laborious should, therefore, drink more than the idle or phlegm-
atic ; and either of these more in summer than in winter, to supply
the great loss of humors exhaled by insensible perspiration. Persons,
whose natural appetites are not depraved in consequence of irregular
living, may easily regulate the due proportion of their drink to that of
their solid food ; as, to them, thirst will be the safest guide. But
those individuals who have become slaves to intoxicating libations
are unfortunately deprived of this beneficent instinct, which is the
privilege even of brutes, to drink what they need, and then to abstain
from drinking.

DROMEDARY. A species of camel, called also the Arabian
camel, with one bunch or protuberance on the back, in distinction
from the Bactrian camel, which has two bunches. It has four cal-
lous protuberances on the forelegs, and two on the hind ones. It is a
common beast of burden in Egypt, Syria, and the neighboring coun-
tries. It is said to be very swift, and able to travel more than one
hundred miles in a day, though its common rate does not exceed forty
miles.

DRONE. The male of the honey bee. It is smaller than the queen
bee, but much larger than the working bee. The drones make no
honey, but after living a few weeks, and being no further needed to
impregnate the queen, by a wonderful instinct in the working portion
of the family, they are killed or driven from the hive. An idler; a
sluggard ; one who earns nothing by industry is also called a drone.

DROWNING. The extinction of life by a total submersion in
water. In some respects, there seems to be a great similarity between
the death occasioned by immersion in water, and that by strangula-

134 THE FARMER AT HOME.

tion, suffocation by fixed air, apoplexies, epilepsies, sudden faintings,
violent shocks of electricity, or even violent falls and bruises. Physi-
cians, however, are not agreed with regard to the nature of the
injury done to the animal system, in any or all these accidents. It
is indeed certain that, in all cases above mentioned, particulariy in
drowning, there is very often such a suspension of the vital powers, as
to us has the appearance of a total extinction of them; while yet they
may be again set in motion, and the person restored to life, after a
much longer submersion than has generally been thought capable of
producing absolute death.

The length of time during which a person may remain in water
without being drowned is very unequal in different individuals ; and
depends as much on the temperature of the water as on the particular
constitution of the subject. In general, however, there is less pros-
pect of recovery, after having continued fifteen minutes immersed in
water. Insuch cases, death ensues from impeded respiration, and the
consequent ceasing of circulation of the blood, by which the body loses
its heat, and with that, the activity of the vital principle. Dr. Good-
wyn justly observes, that the water produces all the changes which
take place in drowning, only indirectly, by excluding atmospheric air
from the lungs, as they admit but a very inconsiderable quantity of
fluid to pass into them during immersion. Hence we find that infla-
tion of the lungs is one of the principal means of restoring life to those
apparently dead from having been too long in the water.

DRUG. The general name of substances used in medicines, sold
by the druggist, and compounded by apothecaries and physicians ;
any substance, vegetable, animal, or mineral, which is used in the
composition or preparation of medicines. It is also applied to dyeing
materials. Any commodity that lies on hand, is not saleable; an
article of slow sale, or in no demand in the market, is frequently called
a drug.

DRUM. A martial instrument of music, in form of a hollow cyl-
inder, and covered at the ends with vellum, which is stretched or
slackened at pleasure. In machinery, drum is a short cylinder
revolving on an axis, generally for the purpose of turning several small
wheels, by means of straps passing round its periphery, In anatomy,
a portion of the ear is called the drum, or tympanum, or barrel of the
ear. The membrane of the tympanum of the ear is tense, and closes
the external passage of the ear, receiving the vibrations of the air.

DRUNKENNESS. Alcohol is the chief of the intoxicating sub-
stances ; but there are others besides it which produce a similar
effect. Such are opium and bangue, hemlock, nightshade, henbane,
and tovacco. Nitrous oxide gas, applied for a few seconds to the
lungs by means of breathing, induces a transitory sort of intoxication.
Opium and bangue are used in Mahometan countries, where the laws
of the prophet prohibit the use of wine. Bangue induces a sort of

THE FARMER AT HOME. 135

folly and forgetfulness, gaiety, and delirious joy. It and opium are, in
truth, succedanea for wine; for, in all countries, men constantly seek
after something or other to rouse and exhilerate their spirits, and bring
on that mental state which relieves them from every care. This dis-
position, however, prevails most in cold climates ; for drunkenness is
observed to increase in proportion as we recede from the equator.
The stimulus of heat being deficient, it would appear in cold cli-
mates, men feel more the want of another stimulus, and are thus led
to the excessive use of intoxicating liquors.

The effects of inebriating liquors will be very different at different
times. They will vary with the habit of intoxication, the fullness or
emptiness of the stomach, the time of the day, the heat of the climate,
the season of the year, the temperature of the room, and in short with
whatever tends to vary the excitability of the system. Every persou
knows, that less liquor will produce intoxication in the forenoon
than after dinner ; and we learn from Captain Bligh’s narrative, that
when he and his companions in an open boat in their passage to
Timor, were, from a scarcity of provisions, reduced to a state of
almost continued fasting, a single teaspoonful of rum produced ine-
briation. This state of the system has been called accumulated
excitability. But in typhus fever it seems to be in a state directly
opposite ; for then two or even three bottles of wine will sometimes
be used in the four-and-twenty hours, and that too by delicate females,
without inconvenience.

It is not uncommon to hear people say that they have known
many hard drinkers live to a great age ; and that if spirituous liquors
be a poison, as physicians and moralists tell them that they are, they
must indeed be a very slow poison, for such a person of their acquain-
tance has now attained his 80th year, for example, and yet has
drunk hard all his life. This, however, is a very gross and most
pernicious deception, much resembling the lists of remarkable cures
said to be performed by quacks. You hear of those that have sur-
vived their prescriptions, but nothing of those who have perished.

We shall here put down a few of the most curious instances, of
mental hallucination, that have been ascertained to proceed from
excess in drinking. Atheneus tells us, that a drunken crew at
Agrigentum in Sicily, hearing the winds roar on the house in which
they happened to be, became so fully persuaded that they were on
board ship, and in danger of suffering shipwreck, that they threw all
the furniture out of the windows, under the idea that they were
lightening the ship: A drunken man has been known to whip a post
because it would not move out of his way; and an old gentleman of
eighty, when intoxicated, once took a lamp-post for a lady, and
addressed her in all the impassioned language of love. Junius men-
tions the case of a drunken man who was stopped in his progress by
the shadow of a sign-post, which he thought it impossible to get over ;

136 THE FARMER AT HOME.

of a second, who seeing the moon shine through a small hole in the
wall, attempted to light his candle at it; and, another that fell down
drunk in the street, and when the people attempted t» help him up,
exclaimed, ‘ What, can I not be quiet in my own rcom ?”

DRY-ROT. This is a term applied toa rapid decay of any vege-
table matter, when it has the appearance of being tolerably dry, but,
in general, is applied only to timber when in that state, and is so
named in contradistinction to the common mode of decay, by being
exposed to the alternate states of wet and dry. There are a great
many causes for this species of decay—some are quite simple, others
are very complicated; yet, whatever may be the original cause,
simple or compound, the effects are the same, namely, to render the
timber useless, by destroying its elasticity and toughness, rendering it
insufficient to resist any considerable pressure, and, indeed, for any of
the useful purposes to which timber is applied. When timber is in a
tolerably dry state, any means which will absorb or extract its oxygen
from the other component parts will leave it in the state commonly
called dry rotten. Moist, warm situations, with little or no current
of air, are the most likely to generate this evil. The efHuvia from
timber in such a state of decay will rapidly carry its effects to the
circumjacent timber, however dry it may appear; and any sort of
timber will be, in a very little time, rendered quite useless.

There are no means of restoring rotten timber to a sound state,
and the dry rot can only be cured by removing the decayed and
affected parts, clearing all the fungi, and destroying its vegetating
principle, with which the hard materials such as bricks or stone,
may have been impregnated. For this purpose a strong solution of
iron, copper, or zine, is used with advantage. This, with the admis-
sion of a large quantity of air, is very advantageous. Many persons
have written on the subject; and the nostrums proposed are as
numerous as their authors. But no means of checking the evil can
be depended upon, except that of removing the corrupted and con-
tagious matter, and admitting a free circulation of air. Much also
may be done by cutting timber in winter, and properly seasoning it,
by steeping it in water for some time, and thoroughly drying it before
it is used in building.

DUCK. A very extensive and natural genus of birds is repre-
sented by this name. They are known in all parts of the world. It
has been divided by naturalists into an infinity of genera; to such a
degree, indeed, that, according to some of the distinctions which have
been made, it would be impossible to leave the females of several
species in the same genus with the males. We have thirty-one
species of this interesting genus, inhabiting Nerth America, heing
within one of the number found in Europe—of nese twenty-one are
common to both countries, leaving ten pecul..r to America, and
eleven to Europe.

ws THE FARMER AT HOME 137

DUCTILITY. In physics, a property possessed by certain solid
bodies, which consists in their yielding to percussion or pressure, and
in receiving different forms without breaking. Some bodies are duc-
tile both when they are cold, and when they are hot, and in all cir-
cumstances. Such are metals, particularly gold and silver. Other
bodies are ductile only when heated to a sufficient degree; such as
wax andsother substances of that kind, and glass. Other bodies,
particularly some kinds of iron, called by the workmen red-short, brass,
and some other metallic mixture, are ductile only when cold, and
brittle when hot. The degrees of heat requisite to produce ductility
in bodies of the first kind, vary according to their different natures.
In general, the heat of the body must be such as is sufficient to reduce
to a middle state betwixt solidity and perfect fusion. As wax for
instance, is fusible with a very small heat, it may be rendered ductile
by a’still smaller one ; and glass, which requires a most violent heat
for its perfect fusion, cannot acquire its greatest ductility until it is
made perfectly redhot, and almost ready to fuse. Lastly, some bodies
are made ductile by the absorption of a fluid. Such are certain
earths, particularly clay. When these earths have absorbed a sufli-
cient quantity of water, to bring them into a middle state betwixt
solidity and fluidity, that is to the consistence of a considerably firm
paste, they have then acquired their greatest ductility. Water has
precisely the same effect upon them in this respect, that fire has upon
the bodies above-mentioned.

DURATION OF PLANTS. The several kinds of plants vary
very much in their degrees of longevity, some being annual, perfecting
their growth within a year, ripening their seeds and perishing. Others
are perennial and continue to grow and flourish for years and cen-
turies.. Warm or cold climates have much influence on the duration
of plants, and in some few instances plants that are annual in cold
climates, become perennial when transplanted into warm regions, and
vice versa. There are some kinds of trees that are very short-lived,
as the peach and the plum, others reach a great age as the pear and
the apple. Some kinds of the forest trees are remarkable for their
duration, and specimens are in existence seemingly co-eval with the
date of the present order of things on our globe. The oak and chest-
nut or pine of our forests reach the age of from three hundred to five
hundred years. The cypress or white cedar of our swamps has fur-
nished individuals eight or nine hundred years old. Trees are now
living in England and Constantinople more than one thousand years
old, of the yew, plane and cypress tree varieties ; and Addison found
trees of the boabab growing near the Senegal in Africa, which, reckon-
ing from the ascertained age of others of the same species, must have
been nearly four thousand years of age. It may be remarked that
plants of the same variety attain about the same age in all climates
where they are produced.

138 THE FARMER AT HOME.

DYEING. The origin of the art of dyeing is involved in that
obscurity which pervades the history of all those arts connected with
the common wants and necessities of life. They have originated in
times beyond the reach of history or tradition, and are the offspring of
the natural faculties of man directed by the great primeval wants of
food, shelter, and raiment. The art of dyeing is, of course, posterior
to many of these, and is founded less on the necessities than passions
of mankind. A love of distinction is common to man in every stage
of civilisation, but that passion for admiration which is displayed in
a love of finery and ornament, is peculiar to him in his most barba-
rous and uncultivated state. Hence savage nations delight in bril-
liant and gaudy colors, and many paint their skins, and adorn them-
selves with feathers, stones. and shells of various hues. History has
not furnished us even with her fables on the origin of dyeing; but
from analogy, as well as observation of the practice of barbarous na-
tions at the present day, we may trace the rude beginnings from
whence the art has sprung. The rich and gaudy plumage of birds,
the finely-spotted skins of animals, colored stones, and such other sub-
stances as nature herself supplies, would afford the first materials for
savage finery and dress. The caps and mantles of the chiefs of the
South Sea Islands, such as were brought home by Captain Cook, are
composed almost wholly of feathers richly colored.

Purple has been almost every where a mark of distinction at-
tached to high birth and dignity. It was an ornament of the first
officers of Rome, but luxury, which was carried to great excess in
that capital of the world, rendered the use of it common among the
opulent, till the emperors reserved to themselves the right of wearing
it. Soon afterwards it became the symbol of their inauguration.
They appointed officers to superintend the manufactories, principally
established in Phenicia, where it was prepared solely for their use.
The punishment of death was decreed against all who should have
the audacity to wear it, though covered with another color. The
penalty so tyrannically denounced against this whimsical species of
treason, doubtless occasioned the loss of the art of dyeing purple ;
first in the West, but much later in the East, where it flourished
considerably till the eleventh century.

The ancients had such a veneration for this color, that it was es-
pecially consecrated to the service of the Deity. Moses used stuffs of
purple for the works of the tabernacle, and the habits of the priest.
The Babylonians gave purple habits to their idols; it was the same
with most of the other people of antiquity, The pagans were even
persuaded that the purple dye had a particular virtue, and was capa-
ble of appeasing ‘the wrath of their gods. Among the presents which
the Israelites made to Gideon, the Scriptures make mention of purple
habits found among the spoils of the kings of Midian. Homer gives
us plunly to understand, that it only belonged to the princes to wear

THE FARMER AT HOME. 139

this color, and we may remark, that this custom was observed by all
the nations of antiquity.

EAGLE. A bird of prey, of the genus falco, of which there are
several species. It is said to be the swiftest, strongest, and boldest of
all birds. The eagle has a long hooked beak, yellow scaly legs, thick
crooked talons, a short tail, and a very keen sight. The wings of the
sea-eagle extend seven feet. The eagle, as a bearing in a coat armor,
is reckoned as honorable among the birds, as the lion is among the
beasts. The bald eagle is the national emblem of the United States
of North America.

EARTHQUAKES. Shaking or vibrations of the ground are
called earthquakes. They are sometimes accompanied by rents
and rocking or heavings of the surface, so as to overthrow buildings,
and swallow up towns and large tracts of country. They are
attended with a terrible subterranean noise, like thunder, and some-
times with an eruption of fire or water, smoke or wind. They are
occasioned by an electrical action between the atmosphere and some
deep substrata; or the sudden formation of gaseous matter beneath
the surface of the earth by internal volcanic fires. The great earth-
quake of 1755 extended over a tract of at least 4,000,000 of square
miles. It appears to have originated beneath the Atlantic ocean, the
waves of which received almost as violent a concussion as the land.
Its effects were even extended to the waters in many places where
the shocks were not perceptible. It pervaded the greater portions of
the continents of Europe, Africa, and America ; but its extreme vio-
lence was exercised on the southwestern parts of the former. Lisbon,
the Portuguese capital, had already suffered greatly from an earth-
quake in 1531 ; and, since the calamity of 1755, has had three such
visitations, 1761, 1765, and 1772, which were not however attended
by equally disastrous consequences. This earthquake was also felt
at Oporto, Cadiz, and other parts of Europe, and equally severe in
Africa. A great part of the city of Algiers was destroyed. In many
places of Germany the effects of this earthquake were very per-
ceptible ; but in Holland the agitations were still more remarkable.
The agitation of the waters was also perceived in various parts of
Great Britain and Ireland. At sea, the shocks of this earthquake
were felt most violently. Among other catastrophes, the captain of
the Nancy, frigate, off St. Lucas, felt his ship so violently shaken,
that he thought she had struck the ground, but on heaving the lead,
found she was in a great depth of water.

EARTHS. The earths that are of the most consequence to the
agriculturist as constituting arable soils, are silica, lime, alumina,
magnesia, oxyde of iron, and some few saline substances as sulphate
and phosphate of lime. The arable soils or earths are produced by
the decomposition of the rocks which form the basis of our globe, and
their quality is depending on the proportion in which the several

140 THE FARMER AT HOME.

ingredients enter into combination. Not one of these earths is of
itself adapted to cultivation, and where any one is found in excess,
sterility is the inevitable result. The best earths, or those best
adapted to agriculture, are those that unite the properties most in
demand by vegetables, and nearly in the proportion in which they
exist in the most valuable plants. There is to be a distinction
between earths and soils, though the difference is frequently over-
looked or forgotten. The earths are made by the decomposition of
the primitive elements of the globe; this material is converted into
soil by the admixture and combination of animal or vegetable matter,
and the fertility is usually depending on the proportion in which this
is blended with the earths. The earths in some form exist in all
plants; and by reducing them to ashes and submitting them to
analysis the proportion and kind of earths may be ascertained.

EARWIG. There is an insect of this name, so called because
it is supposed to insinuate itself into the ears of persons who incau-
tiously sleep among grass where it is found. It is troublesome in
Europe, but rarely found in the United States. It is extremely |
doubtful whether the animal intentionally enters the ear; and,
indeed, there is no reason whatever that it should, except from mere
accident.

EARTHWORM. This worm is the common angle worm of the
fisherman ; though apparently of little consequence to the agriculturist,
is in some places found in such numbers as to prove somewhat of a
nuisance. It is generally most abundant in moist lands, or in gardens
that are heavily manured, and their presence may readily be known
by observing the earth after rains, when numerous openings will be
found, each accompanied by a small portion of earth apparently
forced upward from the opening. There isa difference as to the effect
they produce on the soil. Some have supposed they impoverish it by
absorbing the nutriment that sustains the plant, although there is ne
proof that they feed directly on the roots. The opinion of others is
that these worms benefit the soil by loosening it. If desired, they can
be destroyed by lime or salt.

EAST. The point in the hea*ens where the sun is seen to rise
at the equinox, or when it is in the equinoctial, or the corresponding
point on the earth; one of the four cardinal points. The east and
the west are the points where the equator intersects the horizon.
But to persons under the equinoctial line, that line constitutes east
and west.

ECHO. A sound reflected or reverberated to the ear, fron some
solid body. As the undulatory motion of the air, which constitutes
sound, is propagated in all directions from the sounding body, it will
frequently happen that the air, in performing its vibrations, will im- |
pinge against various objects, which will reflect it back, and so cause
new vibrations the contrary way. Now, if the objects are so situated

THE FARMER AT HOME. 141

as to reflect a sufficient number of such vibrations as proceed different
ways, to the sarne place, the sound will be there repeated, and is
called an echo; and the greater the distance of the object is, the
longer will be the time before the repetition is heard ; and when the
sound, in its progress, meets with objects at different distances, suffi-
cient to produce an echo, the same sound will be repeated several
times successively, according to the different distances of these objects
from the sounding body, which makes what is called a repeated echo.

ECLIPSES. These natural and now well understood phenomena
were formerly beheld by mankind with terror and amazement; and
were looked upon as prodigies which portended calamity and misery.
Such fears, and the erroneous opinions that produced them, originated
in ignorance. The illiterate in all ages have beheld eclipses with a
kind of terror ; and, not having been able to account for the obscura-
tion of any of the celestial bodies, superstition has invented a thou-
sand ridiculous stories to account for this seemingly wonderful exhi-
bition of nature. The natives of Mexico kept fasts during eclipses,
imagining the moon had been wounded by the sun in a quarrel.
Other nations have thought, that in an eclipse of the sun, that body
has turned away its face with abhorrence from the crimes of mankind ;
and, by fasting, they thought to appease the excited wrath. This
ignorance and superstition were greatly serviceable to the celebrated
navigator, Colambus. When he arrived at St. Domingo, on his fourth
voyage of discoveries, in the year 1502, he had the mortification tc
find the Spanish governor, who resided there, would not allow his
ships to anchor, because he was jealous of the favors which Columbus
had received from Isabella, then queen of Spain. This obliged him
to put to sea in search of some more hospitable harbor. After he
had searched in vain for a passage to the Indian ocean, he returned,
and was shipwrecked on the coast of Jamaica.

Being driven to great distress in consequence of the natives with-
holding a supply of provisions, he had recourse to a happy artifice,
which not only produced the desired success, but heightened the favor-
able ideas the Indians had originally entertained of the Spaniards.
By skill in astronomy, he knew there would shortly be an eclipse of
the moon. He assembled all the principal persons of the district the
day before the eclipse happened ; and having reproached them for
their caprice in withholding their assistance from men whom they
had so lately and so highly respected, he told them the Great Spirit
was so offended, at their want of humanity to the Spaniards, that as
a sign he intended to punish them with extreme severity, and that as
his vengeance was ready to fall on them, he would cause the moon
that very night, to conceal its ight, and appear of a bloody hue, the
certain emblem of Divine wrath. This artifice was a most success-
ful one. It led te the speedy supply of all his wants Some of these

142 THE FARMER AT HOME.

poor ignorant creatures did indeed hear his threat with indifference,
while others listened to it with a degree of astonishment ; but when
the moon began gradually to be darkened, all were struck with fear.
They immediately ran with consternation to their houses, and returned
instantly, loaded with provisions.

EFFLUVIA. Fluxes, or exhalations of minute particles from
any body; or emanations of subtle corpuscles from a mixed sensible
body by a kind of motion of transpiration. Odoriferous bodies every
one knows, are continually emitting substantial effluvia, by means of
which they excite in us the means of smelling. These minute efflu-
via are sometimes perceived by the eye, in form of fumes and
vapors.

Some bodies are found to emit efHuvia for a great number of
years, without any considerable loss, either as to bulk or weight ; as
different odorous bodies, the tenuity of whose emanant corpuscles is
incredible ; not but that the loss they sustain by the continual emis-
sion of efHuvia may be made up to them by the reception of other
similar efHlnvia of the same kind of bodies diffused through the air.
That affluvia are emitted to very great distances, we have a notable
proof in odoriferous effluvia being in many cases perceived at the
distance of many leagues. Again, that the generality of effluvia
retain the proper color, smell, taste, and other properties and the
effects of the bodies whence they proceed, and this even after they
have passed through the pores of other solid bodies, we have abun-
dant proof.

EGGS. Eggs difler very much according to the birds that lay
them, as to their color, form, bigness, age, and the different way of
dressing them; those most used in food are hen’s eggs; of which,
such as are new laid are best. As to the preservation of eggs, it is
observed, that the egg is always quite full when it is first lain by the
hen, but from that time it gradually becomes less and less so, to-its
decay; and however compact and close its shell may appear, it is
nevertheless perforated with a multitude of small holes, though too
minute for the discerument of our eyes, the effect of which is a daily
decrease of matter within the egg, from the time of its being laid ;
and the perspiration is much quicker in hot weather than in cold.
To preserve eggs fresh, there needs no more than to preserve them
full, and stop the transpiration ; the method of doing which is, by
stopping up the pores with matter which is not soluble in watery
fluids ; and on this principle it is, that ali kinds of varnish, prepared
with wine, will preserve eggs fresh for a long time, if they are care-
fully rubbed all over the shell; tallow, mutton fat, and even fresh
butter, are also good for this purpose; for such as are rubbed over
with any of these will keep as long as those coated over with
varnish.

THE FARMER AT HOME, 143

The art of hatching chickens by means of ovens has long been
practised in Egypt, chiefly in a village named Berme, and its envi-
rons. About the beginning of autumn, the natives scatter themselves
all over the country; where each undertakes the management of .an
oven. These ovens are of different sizes, but in general they contain
from 40,000 to 80,000 eggs, and they usually keep them working for
about six months; as, therefore, each brood takes up in an oven, as
under a hen, only twenty-one days, it is easy in every one of them to
hatch eight different broods of chickens. Every Bermean is under
the obligation of delivering to the person furnishing him with eggs,
only two-thirds of as many chickens as there have been eggs put
under his care; and heis a gainer by this bargain, as more than two-
thirds of the eggs usually produce chickens. This useful and advan-
tageous method of hatching eggs was discovered in France by the
ingenious M. Reamur ; who, by a number of experiments, reduced
the art to fixed principles.

ELECTRICITY. The surface of the earth, and of all the bodies
with which we are acquainted, is supposed to contain or possess a
power of exciting or exhibiting a certain quantity of an exceedingly
subtile agent, called the electric fluid or power. The quantity
usually belonging to any surface, is called its natural share, and then
it produces no sensible effects ; but when any surface becomes pos-
sessed of more, or of less, than its natural quantity, it is electrified,
and it then exhibits a variety of peculiar and surprising phenomena
ascribed to the power called electric. If you take a stick of sealing-
wax and rub it on the sleeve of your coat, it will have the power of
attracting small pieces of paper, or other light substances, when held
near them. If a clean and dry glass tube be briskly rubbed with
the hand, or with a piece of flannel, and then presented to any small
light substances, it will immediately attract and repel them alter-
nately for a considerable time. ‘The tube is then said to be excited.
If an excited glass tube, in a dark room, be brought within about
half an inch of the finger, a lucid spark will be seen between the
finger and the tube, accompanied with a snapping noise, and a
peculiar sensation of the finger. Dry flannel clothes, when handled
in the dark, frequently exhibit a sparkling appearance, attended with
the same kind of hoise that is heard in the experiment of the glass
tube.

All those bodies which transmit or conduct electricity from one
surface to another, are called conductors, and those surfaces that will
not transmit the electric power, are called electrics or non-conductors.
The general class of conductors comprehends metals, ores, and fluids
in their natural state, except air and oils. Vitrified and resinous sub-
stances, amber, sulphur, wax, silk, cotton, and featners, are electrics
er non-conductors. Many of these, such as glass, resin, and air,
become conductors by being heated. When a surface is supposed to

144 THE FARMER AT HOME.

have more than its natural quantity of this fluid, it is said to be posi-
tively electrified ; and when less than its natural share, to be nega-
tively electrified. When an electrified conductor is wholly surrounded
by non-conductors, so that the electric fluid cannot pass from it along
conductors to the earth, it is said to be insulated. The human body
is a good conductor of electricity ; but if a person stand on a cake of
resin, or on a stool supported by glass legs, the electric fluid cannot
pass from him to the earth, andif he is touched by another person
standing on the ground, the same sparkling appearance and noise, as
mentioned above, will be exhibited. Two surfaces, both positively, or
both negatively electrified, repel each other; and two substances, of
which one is positively, and the other negatively electrified, attract
each other.

The effect of electricity on vegetation has not received that atten-
tion which it probably deserves. That plants push forward much
faster where the electric currents are active is well known to the
scientific farmer ; but how far this new agent may be used to hasten
vegetation is not generally understood. Some experiments seem to
show the power to be very great. Thus by sowing the seeds of cresses
in a suitable earth, watered and of a proper temperature, and apply-
ing the soltaic battery, the seeds are germinated, and the plants fully
developed in a few days; and very similar eflects are produced on
other seeds. Hence, it may be inferred, that all vegetation owes
perhaps its very existence to currents of this fluid, and if man is able
to produce or control them, they may be made of essential service.
The effect of electricity in hastening vitality in the embryo of animals
is not less striking. The eggs of the common fowl require from
twenty to twenty-five days to produce the young, according to the
temperature. By exposing them to the electro-magnetic current, the
young are hatched in five or six days; and some of our readers are
doubtless aware of the result of Mr. Cross’s experiments, in which
insects were repeatedly produced by the passage of the current through
silicate of potash.

ELEMENT. In Physiology, a term used by philosophers to
denote the original component parts of bodies, or those into which they
are ultimately resolvable. It seems to have been an opinion estab-
lished among philosophers in the remotest ages, that there are only
four simple bodies, namely, fire, air, water, and earth. To these they
gave the name of elements, because they believed that all substances
are composed of these four. This opinion, variously modified indeed,
was maintained by all the ancient philosophers. We now know that
all these supposed elements are compounds ; fire is composed of caloric
and light ; air of caloric, oxygen and azotie gases ; water of oxygen
and hydrogen ; and the earth includes ten different substances.

ELEPHANT. The human race excepted, the elephant is the
most respectable of animals. In size he surpasses all other terrestrial

“A THE FARMER AT HOME. 145

creatures, and in understanding he is inferior only toman. Of all
the brute creation, the elephant, the dog, the ape, and the beaver, are
most admirable for their sagacity ; but the genius of the dog is only
borrowed, being instructed by man in almost every thing he knows ;
the monkey has only the appearance of wisdom, and the beaver is
only sensible with regard to himself, and those of his species. The
elephant is superior to them all three ; he unites all their niost emi-
nent qualities. The hand is the principal organ of the monkey’s
dexterity ; the elephant with his trunk, which serves him instead of
arms and hands, with which he can lift up, and seize the smallest, as
well as the largest objects, carry them to his mouth, place them on
his back, hold them, or throw them far off, has the same dexterity as
the monkey, and at the same time the tractableness of the dog ; he
is like him susceptible of gratitude, and capable of a strong attach-
ment; he uses himself to man without reluctance, and submits to
him, not so much by force, as by good treatment ; he serves him with
zeal, intelligence, and fidelity ; in fine, the elephant, like the beaver,
loves the society of his equals, and makes them understand him.

In regions where our cannons and murdering arts are yet scarcely
known, men fight still with elephants. At Cochin, and in parts of
Malabar, they do not make use of horses, and all those who do not
fight on foot are mounted upon elephants. In Tonquin, Siam, and
Pegu, the king, and all the grandees, never ride but upon elephants ;
on festival days they are preceded and followed bya great number of
these animals richly caparisoned, and covered with the richest stuffs.
On comparing the relations of travellers and historians, it appears that
the elephants are more numerous in Africa than in Asia; they are
there also less mistrustful, not so wild, and, as if they knew the un-
skilfulness and the little power of the men with whom they have to
deal in this part of the world, come every day without fear to their
habitations.

If the elephant is vindictive, he is no less grateful. A soldier of
Pondicherry, who commonly carried to one of these animals a certain
measure of arrack every time that he received his pay, having one
day drank more than common, and seeing himself pursued by the
guard, who threatened to conduct him to prison, took refuge under
the elephant, and slept there. It wasin vain that the guard
attemped to draw him out from his asylum; the elephant defended
him with his trunk. The next day the soldier, become sober, was
struck with terror to lie under an animal of this enormous bulk. The
elephant, who, no doubt, perceived his consternation, caressed him
with his trunk, to remove his fears, and made him understand that
he might depart freely.

ELK. This animal dwells in the northeastern parts of Europe,
in Asia, and North America, chiefly frequenting the colder climates.
In the latter country it is called the moose deer, or wampoose by the

7

146 THE FARMER AT HOME. ey

natives. It is said to consist of two kinds, the real elk or moose deer,
which is larger than the tallest horse, and has been eight or ten feet
high, of a dark gray color, sometimes black, but much paler on the
legs and beneath the tail; the hair is long and coarse, ten or twelve
inches in length on the ridge of the back, and forming a kind of mane
on the upper part of the neck. There is a sort of carbuncle or
excrescence pendent from the throat of some; but it is not ascertained
whether this is a general characteristic of the animal, or belongs only
to the male. The tail is short, the eyes and ears are large and erect,
and the hoofs broad. But the elk is chiefly distinguished by two
wide spreading palmated horns of great size, proceeding from the
forehead, between two and three feet “long, or even between four and
five in those of the greatest size; and they have undoubtedly been
seen in recent instances, though not 50 large, yet of such dimensions
as to enable us to admit the probability of the fact.

It is probable that some species of these animals are extinct,
unless they remain in the recesses of those forests as yet unexplored
by the modern races of men. But we know from undoubted evidence,
that they once dwelt in countries, where they no longer exist, noz
does any tradition of them now remain. Horns of enormous size are
frequently discovered near the surface of the earth, or far below it,
which the present elk, though its neck be of great strength, would
almost seem incapable of supporting. Nor is it less singular, that
such remains are often associated with those of other animals so
different in nature, as to render it doubtful whether the living race of
both could survive together.

ELM. There are about twenty species of the elm ; all inhabiting
the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, and three of them
natives of the United States. The American white elm is found
mostly from the forty-ninth to the thirtieth parallel of latitude, is
abundant in some of the Western States, and extends even beyond
the Mississippi. This tree often rises to the height of one hundred
feet, with a trunk four or five feet diameter. At the height of fifty
or sixty feet it separates into a few primary limbs, which gradually
diverge, diffusing on all sides long, arched, pendulent branches, grace-
fully but majestically floating in the air. In many parts of the
eastern and middle States these trees are highly esteemed for their
venerable appearance, and for the refreshing shadows from their thick
foliage in the hot days of summer. When found on the public
grounds of the quiet village, m the spacious squares of the densely
populated city, and about the secluded country mansion, there is a
rural magnificence, and a delightful playing of the winds, which can-
not fail being appreciated by the lovers of nature and by all of good
taste.

ENDOGENOUS. In some plants the additions made to their
growth takes place from the interior of the plant, and in some from

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the exterior. In the first case the plant is called-endcezenous, and in
the last, erogenous. All trees belonging to the family of palms, the
date, cocoa-nut tree, bread-fruit tree, the bamboo, sugar cane, and
indeed most of the trees belonging to tropical climates, as well as all
gramineous and lilaceous plants, are endogenous. On the contrary,
most of the trees of temperate or northern regions, such as the oak,
pines, and elms, and the various fruit trees, are exogenous. In the
first, each successive addition is made from within, like drawing out
an additional slide to a telescope ; in the last the addition is made
between the bark and the wood of the previous year’s growth, and
these successive layers determine the age of the tree, as the joints of
the palm do that class. The stems of endogenous plants, after they
become consolidated, never increase in size; they can only increase
in height ; while the exogenous ones continue to increase in circum-
ference as well as in height during their whole life.

ENRICHING-PLANTS. A term used by Tull and other
farmers to designate such plants as are found to improve land, rather
than to exhaust it, and in consequence of which the same piece of
land will produce a good crop of corn, though it would, without the
assistance of their having been planted on it, have yielded a very
poor one. The mystery of this difference between plants, some of
which are found to burn up, that is, impoverish lands, while others
enrich it, and leave it fitter for succeeding crops than they found it, is
explained by Mr. Tull. This author having observed, that breaking
the earth, by digging or horse-hoeing between the plants, gave them
great increase, found that it was this practice that enriched the earth ;
and that, while corn and such plants as stand close, and cannot be
hoed between, impoverish the ground, and suffer no means of enriching
it again to be used, there were some other things, the crops of which
being planted thinner, gave room to the earth to be ploughed, dug, or
hoed between, and that these were the plants which were called the
evriching kinds by farmers ; and the whole secret lay in this, that the
hoeing, ploughing, or otherwise breaking the earth between them, in
order to kill the weeds, enriched the ground greatly more, in propor-
tion, than these plants exhausted it ; and the consequence was, that
though they had thriven very well, yet the earth was left richer than
before, notwithstanding all that they had imbibed from it.

EPIDERMIS. In botany the exterior cellular coating of the
ark, leaf, or stem of plants or trees. It is composed of cells com-
pected together into a stratum, varying in thickness in different spe-
cies, and is often readily separable by gentle violence. It is believed
to be intended by nature asa protection of the subjacent parts from
the drying effects of the atmosphere.

ERA. An account of time, reckoned from any particular period,
term, or epoch. The Jews had several eras, as from the creation of

148 THE FARMER AT HOME.

the world, from the universal deluge, from the confusion of languages,
from Abraham’s journey to the land of Canaan, from the departure of
their forefathers out of Egypt, trom the building of Solornon’s temple,
and from the Babylonish captivity. The ancient Greeks reckoned
time by Olympiads, which were public games celebrated every fifth
year ; the first Olympiad they placed in the year of the world 3187.
The ancient Romans reckoned from the building of their city, which
was inthe era of the world 3113. The Christians take their era
from the birth of our Saviour, this method of computing time com-
meucing among them, about the beginning of the seventh century.
The Mahometans compute their time from Hegira or flight of their
prophet, in the year of our Lord, 617; subtracting this number (617)
from the Christian year, the remainder will be the Mahometan
rear.
: ERGOT. This is an elongated irregular excrescence, curved and
dark colored, sometimes found growing on the heads of several of the
cultivated grasses, particularly rye, and the smooth stalked June
grass. It most commonly appears in hot, damp summers. It is
known to be present by the change which the grains assume ; but
these seldom exceed five or six in an ear. The ergotted grains have
a heavy, unpleasant odor, and an acrid, nauseous taste, leaving a
slight sensation of heat in the palate. Ergotted rye is poisonous both
to man and other animals. When in bad seasons, it has prevailed,
and has been ground into flour with the rye, and baked into bread, it
has caused many fatal, depopulating diseases in the north of Europe.
On quadrupeds its use is followed by emaciation, palsy of the hind
legs, and extreme debility; mules in South America lose their hoofs
and hair when fed on ergotted maize ; and hens who have ergotted
rye mixed with their food lay eggs without shells, owing to its excite-
ment of the oviduct. It is employed as a medicine in difficult partu-
rition, but it ought not to be administered without great caution
and discretion. Ergot is not so prevalent in this country as to occa-
sion great loss to farmers

ESSEX HOGS. In England is a breed of swine, known by this
name and much admired. Youatt says the Essex pigs have been
indebted for their improvement to crosses with foreign breeds, and
especially the Neapolitan, and with the Berkshires. They are mostly
black and white, the head and hinder parts being black, and the
back and belly white; have smaller heads than the Berkshire pigs,
and long thin upright ears, short hair, a fine skin, good hind quarters,
and a deep round carease ; they have small bones, and the flesh is
delicate and well flavored. Lord Western’s stock of these hogs is
entirely black, and is distinguished by having teat-"ke appendages of
ve skin depending from the upper part of the neck which are com-
monly termed wattles. Some of these animals have reached the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 149

weight of nearly five hundred pounds. It is stated that he has done
‘uch to improve the Essex ; and, that the pigs are much sought
throughout the British realm.

)

ld

ESSEX HOG.

EVAPORATION. The volatilization of a fluid by means of
heat, with access of air, in order to diminish its fluidity, or to obtain
any fixed salts it may hold in solution, or diminish the quantity of a
residuum. In this manner, the water of the sea is evaporated, and
the salt obtained, and decoctions made into extracts. Evaporation is
one of the great chemical processes, by means of which Nature sup-
plies the whole vegetable kingdom with the dew and rain necessary
for its support. Hence, it takes place at all times, not only from the
surface of the ocean, but also from that of the earth. Nor is it con-
fined to these ; it is even carried on from the leaves of trees, grass,
and flowers, with which the earth is covered. Great part of the
water which is thus raised, descends again during the night, in the
form of dew ; being absorbed by those vegetables which yielded it
before.

One of the most beneficial effects of evaporation, is to cool the
earth, and prevent it from being too much heated by the sun. This
property of producing cold by evaporation, has but lately been
observed by chemists, who have accordingly availed themselves of it
in its fullest extent; though their mode of procuring cold, by means of
those expensive fluids, cther and spirits of win:, can only be employed

150 THE FARMER AT HOME.

by way of experiment. The most simple method, however, of pro-
ducing cold by the evaporation of water, may be applied to various
useful purposes, especially in warm countries ; thus sailors are accus-
tomed to cool their casks of liquors, by sprinkling them with sea-
water

Dr. Darwin justly observes, that the evaporation of moisture from
the surface of the earth, produces so much cold as to injure those ter-
restrial plants, which are too long covered with it. Hence, such
parts of wall trees as are sheltered from the descending dews, by a
coping stone on the wall, are not so lable to be injured by frosty
nights; because they are not made colder by the evaporation of the
dew, and also have less water to be congealed in their vessels, and to
burst them by its consequent expansion.

EVERGREENS. Are a species of perennials, that preserve
their old leaves a long time after the formation of the new, and do
not drop them at any determinate time. In general, the leaves of
evergreens are harder, and less succulent, than those which are
renewed annually. The trees are generally natives of warm climates ;
and the common evergreens are those belonging to the pine and
spruce families, of which the white pine, hemlock, black spruce, yew
trees, fir balsam, and arbor vite, may serve as specimens. In orna-
mental planting, evergreens are very desirable; and where they can
be successfully transplanted constitute one of the greatest beauties
of the landscape. Their rich foliage amid the frosts and snows of
winter is inimitably rich and magnificent. Some herbaceous peren-
nials, as the house-leeks, and naval-worts, enjoy the same privilege
with the evergreen trees, and resist the severities of winter; some can
even exist out of the earth for some time; being replete with juices,
which the leaves imbibe from the humidity of the atmosphere, and,
which, in such plants, are of themselves sufficient for effecting the
purposes of vegetation. For this reason, unless in excessive hot
weather, gardeners seldom water fat succulent plants, as the aloes,
which rot when they are moistened, if the sun does not quickly dry
them. The leaves of all the evergreen shrubs and trees havea thin
compact skin over their surface, as is easily discovered by macerating
them in water, to separate the parenchyma, or pulp, from the vessels
of the leaves ; which cannot be effected in any of these evergreens till
a thin parchment-like cover is taken off. They are found by experi-
ment to perspire but little, when compared with those which shed
their leaves; and it is, perhaps, principally owing to this close cover-
ing, that they retain their verdure, and continue through the winter
on the trees. The nutritive juices of these plants always abound,
more or less, with an oily quality, which secures them from being in-
jured by severe frost, so that many evergreens grow in the coldest
parts of the habitable world.

EXCRETIONS. From experiments that have been made by

-”

a THE FARMER AT HOME. 151

Decondelle and others, and repeated by Leibig, it is established be-
yond all question that the roots of plants throw off an excrement
during the progress of their growth, and that the excrement of each
plant is peculiar to itself. And further, that the presence of such
matter in a svil, impedes the growth of plants of the same kind,
whilst in some instances it becomes a source of nourishment to others.
This fact is used as an argument, among other known reasons, in
favor of a rotation of crops. And much will depend upon the nature
and character of the soil itself as to what time should elapse before a
certain crop may be successfully repeated.

EXHALATION. Generally speaking, denotes effluvia or steams,
which arise from the surface of the earth, or other bodies, in the form
of vapor. Plants and flowers aflord a grateful exhalation, provided
their fragrance be not too sire1g ; hence they should never be placed
in confined apartments, as instances have occurred of persons being
almost suffocated, by sleeping in rooms where quantities of fresh
flowers were exposed. In serene weather, however, fresh plants or
evergreens (but by no means flowers) may be strewed with advan-
tage, during the day, in the apartments of valetudinarians ; as such
vegetables, especially in sunshine, generate a vital air, which produces
salutary effects on the lungs.

The exhalations arising from vast numbers of burning candles, as
also from the breath of many persons respiring in the same room, are
peculiarly unwholesome to weak and consumptive habits. This incon-
venience may, however, be remedied by means of conical tubes, the
funnels or broad ends of which should be placed so as to communicate
in or above the windows, with the open air; thus the latter will be
impelled into the rooms with considerable force, and ventilate them
more effectually, and at much less expense, than is accomplished by
fumigations or other methods. The vapor arising from charcoal is
particularly hurtful, and, in close apartments, often productive of fatal
accidents. The greatest precaution is therefore requisite, when char-
coal is employed for culinary or domestic purposes. In a similar
manner humid air of every kind is very detrimental to health; and
we seriously reprobate the keeping of damp linen, wet clothes, and
even wet umbrellas, in dwelling-rooms ; as, by paying due attention
to this circumstance, many serious accidents might easily be pre-
vented.

EXOTIC. An appellation for the produce of foreign countries.
Exotic plants are such as belong to a soil and climate entirely difler-
ent from the place where they are raised, and therefore can be pre-
served for the most part only in green-houses. Exotic plants of the
hot climates are very numerous, and require the utmost attention of
the gardener. Even if they can be brought to blossom, it is rare that
they produce fruit, and still more rare that the seeds ripen. It is
only by care and accurate observation of their nature and wants, that

152 THE FARMER AT HOME.

some of them can be acclimated, or made to flourish on the foreign
soil.

EXUVIA. Formed from exure, to put off; to divest; in Physi-
ology, transient parts of certain animals, which they put off, or lay
down, and assume new ones. Such, especially, are the skins or
sloughs of serpents, shells of lobsters, and the like; which are annu-
ally changed, and renewed in the spring. The outer integument of
the body, which in man and other large animals is so durably fixed
on the body, is in many of the animals of the reptile kind much more
loosely fixed, and is changeable several times during the period of
their lives. The serpent kind all shift their skins several times in
their lives, and the water-newt has been lately observed to do the
same ; but no creature in the world does it so often as the caterpillar,
almost every species of these insects throwing off their old skin once
in ten or twelve days, or less; and this in such a manner as is ex-
tremely worthy of an attentive observation. Malpighi observed that
the common silk-worm changed its skin four times during its continu-
ance in that state, the first of these changes happening at eleven or
twelve days from its appearance from the egg, and the others at the
distance of five or six days each ; and probably the rest of the cater-
pillar kind observe nearly the same periods.

Neither is this change of the skin confined to the few creatures
we have mentioned ; but among the whole insect class, the most
numerous of that of all animated beings we know, there is scarcely
one species, every individual of which does not throw off its skin, once
at least, before it arrives at its full growth. The term changing the
skin is scarcely expressive enough for this operation in the caterpillar
kinds ; for the creature throws off the external covering of even the
minutest part and organ of its body, and the skins they thus deposit
have so much the appearance of a complete insect, that they are very
often mistaken for such, presenting us with every thing that we see
in the external appcarance of the living animal.

EYE. In anatomy, the organ of sight, or that part of the body
whereby visible objects are represented to the mind. The term eye
is used in a great variety of senses. In architecture, it signifies an
aperture at the top of a dome, also the centre of a volute; in agricul-
ture, it means either a little bud or shoot, ingrafted into a tree, or the
part of a potato cut off for seed; and in printing it is used for the
graving in relievo on the top of the letter. In a symbolical sense,
there is no term of which so much use is made to denote the opera-
tions of the understanding and the affections.

EYELID. The eyelid is the external covering of the eye. Its
peculiar adaptation to its proper offices cannot be sufficiently admired.
It forms the cover which closes the eye during sleep, when it remains
motionless for hours ; it serves the purpose of wiping and cleansing
the ball of the eye, as well as moistening it by spreading the tears

THE FARMER AT HOME. 153

over its surface, for the performance of which offices it is, during the
waking hours, in incessant motion. It screens the eye also from ex-
cessive light, which might often be injurious or destructive to it.
The sympathy between the eye and its lids is very close, as was ab-
solutely necessary to their proper action ; and this isso much the case,
that in weakness of the nerve of the eye, the smarting, which warns
us to close them, is always felt in the lids. Their diseases, like those
of the eye, are various, but of minor importance.

FAGOT. In agriculture, is a bundle of any sort of small wood
tied up closely together by means of a withe, or other kind of ligature.
They are mostly made up from the cuttings or thinnings of under-
woods, coppices, and hedges, being sold in many districts to the
bakers, for the purpose of heating their ovens. They usually fetch a
good price in many situations, especially near large towns. In mak-
ing up these bundles the workmen trim off the superfluous spreading
branches from the sides and ends, which gives them a neater appear-
ance. These trimmings are put in the middle of the fagots which
are to be made up, by which they appear to greater advantage.

These trimmings are of little or no use in the fagots, and ought to
be left on the ground; for being small, they would soon rot there,
and would manure the ground so as to be of more advantage to the
next growth than is easily imagined. The leaves of the trees falling
to the earth, manure it very much ; but this is nothing to the advan-
tage of these little pieces of wood ; any rotten wood, but in a moder-
ate quantity, will turn a common bad earth into good garden mould,
and the growth of young trees is more forwarded by this manure
where it is left, than by any other means that can be used to it. We
always see the land where wood-stacks have stood enriched to a sur-
prising degree by them, and the same advantage will occur wherever
wood of any kind is left to moulder and rot upon the ground. That
sort of small wood which is bound up in fagots is called fagot-wood,
and sometimes bush-wood.

FAIR. In England, a greater kind of market granted to a town,
by privilege, for the more speedy and commodious buying aad selling,
or providing such things as the place stands in need of. It is inci-
dent to a fair in England, that persons should be free from being
arrested in it for any debt, except that which has been contracted in
the same, or, at least, promised to be paid there. There is a toll
usually paid at fairs, for the privilege of erecting stalls, from which
to sell goods, as well as booths, either for entertainment or pastime.
The most important fairs now held are probably those of Germany,
and particularly the Leipsic fairs. In German, a fair is called Messe,
which also signifies a mass. High masses, on particular festivals,
collected great numbers of people, and thus, probably, became the
origin of markets, and, at a later period, of fairs, which as we have
already said, are only privileged markets.

7T*

154 : THE FARMER AT HOME.

The most important fairs, in this country, are those for the exhi-
bition of agrieultura] productions and of specimens of skill in the
mechanic arts, and in domestic economy. They are intended not so
much for selling the articles produced, as for comparing them together,
to see who, in his own efforts, has been most successful. The motive
for such comparison is to obtain premiums or testimonials for cases of
rare excellence in the rearing of animals, in the products of the farm
and garden, and in whatever is manufactured, whether in the family
or the workshop. The moral influence of agricultural fairs especially
is of the first importance. By attending them, each one of our farm-
ers is stimulated to embark in all experiments made by others, which
have been found advantageous. Each witnesses the perfection which
may be attained in the improvement of farm animals, whether in
cattle, horses, swine, sheep, and even poultry ; and is enabled to note
the profit arising from them, above what is experienced where such
improvement has not been made. Hach witnesses the saving of labor
in the use of the best constructed agricultural in-plements, and becomes
resolved to adopt them. And each, without cost to himself, is en-
abled to avail himself of all that his more enterprising brethren have
achieved by a free use of capital, and a long period of study and per-
severing labor. In a word, each becomes possessed of what all others
know without paying for it

FALCON. A bird of prey, once much esteemed as an auxiliary
of the savage arts of man, in destroying the feathered race. Falcons
were formerly tamed and trained, just as pointer-dogs are at present
trained ; and hawking or falconry, was, to a certain class of minds,
as Interesting as shooting or hunting is to the same class in our days.
They are carnivorous, the beak hooked, and the head covered with
feathers, and the legs and feet scaly.

FALLOW. A term applied to land which is left uncultivated
for one or more years, with a view to exterminate weeds, and to
enable it to fix those atmospherical elements which promote vegetable
growth, and which are exhausted by repeated crops of the same kind,
though the same effect is produced by the rotation of a crop for man,
and a crop for beasts.

FALLOW-DEER. No two animals can be more nearly allied
than the stag and the fallow-deer; and yet no two animals keep
more distinct, or avoid each other with more fixed animosity. They
are never seen to herd in the same place ; it is even rare, unless they
have been transported thither, to find fallow-deer in a country where
stags are numerous. They seem to be of a nature less robust and less
savage than the stag; they are found but rarely wild in the forests,
and are bred up in parks, where they are, as it were, half domestic.

England is the country of Europe where they most abound ; and
there their flesh, which dogs are observed to prefer to that of all other
animals, is held in no small estimation. f seems to be an animal

THE FARMER AT HOME. 155

formed for a temperate climate; for itis never found in Russia, and
very rarely in the forests of Sweden, or in any other northern coun-
try, and as the fallow-deer is less savage, more delicate, and, indeed,
it may be added, more domestic than the stag, it is likewise subject to
a ereater number of varieties. Besides the common deer, and the
white deer, we know of several other kinds still; and the deer of
Spain, for example, which are always as large as stags, but whose
neck is more slender, whose color is more obscure, and whose tail is
rather black than white underneath, and longer than that of the
common deer; the deer of Virginia, which are almost as large as
those of Spain ; other deer, whose forehead is compressed and flat-
tened between the eyes, whose ears and tail are longer than those of
the common deer, and of whose hind legs the hoofs are marked with
a white spot; and others, which are spotted or streaked with white,
black, and yellow; and others still, which are entirely black. The
horns of the buck, like those of the stag, are shed every year, and take
nearly the same time for repairing.

It frequently happens, that a herd of fallow-deer is seen to divide
into parties, and to engage each other with great ardor. Each seems
desirous of gaining some favorite spot of the park for pasture, and of
driving the vanquished party into the coarser and more disagreeable
parts. Each of these factions has its particular chief, namely the
oldest and the strongest of each herd. These lead on to the engage-
ment ; and the rest follow under their direction. Their combats are
singular enough, from the disposition and conduct by which their
mutual eflorts seem to be regulated. They attack with order, and
support and assault with courage; they come to the assistance of
each other ; they retire, they rally, and never yield the victory upon
a single defeat. The combat is renewed every day, till at length the
most feeble side is obliged to give way, and is content to escape to the
most disagreeable part of the park, where alone they can find safety
and protection. The fallow-deer may easily be brought to live in
stables, and seems to acquire an affection for the horse. One which
was kept at Newmarket in England, used to delight in galloping
round the course with the racers while the jockeys were exercising
them. .

FANNING MILL. This is a contrivance employed for separa-
ting, by an artificial current of air, the chaff from the grain, after it
has been threshed out of the straw. The importance of this contri-
vance must be apparent to every one who has seen the slow and tedi-
ous process of a separation without the aid of a Fanning Mill, where
perhaps the farmer would have to wait day after day, subsequent to
the threshing of his grain, before he could have the benefit of natural
breezes to effect it; and, even when Boreas seemed propitious to his
wishes, the operation was painfully protracted. All know the Winds,
like the passions of man, are fickle in the extreme ; one moment rapid

156 THE FARMER AY HOME.

and the next moment slow, and then anon not perceived at all
There are various accounts given of the first imtroduction of the Fan-
ning Mill; and there are sundry claimants for the honor of the in-
vention. It is probably pretty generally admitted. that the idea or
design of the first used in England and Scotland was obtained from
Holland ; but there has been a succession of improvements upon it.
In the United States there have been patents for several different
mills, each having its own admirers, and each having, probably, some
peculiar merit not belonging to the others. It is very obvious, that
in addition to a thorough and expeditious separation of the grain from
the chaff, it is important that there should be in a Fanning Mill sim-
plicity and durability of construction, so as to prevent liability for
getting out of order; or, if by accident it becomes broken or deranged
the proprietor or any common mechanic may repair it.

FANNING MILL.

FARMING. Signifies the art of managing, or general detail of
the business of a farm. It is an employment of considerable diffi-
culty and trouble, as requiring constant care, united with great
activity and judgment. In order to conduct it with propriety and
advantage, it demands an intimate practical knowledge of the various
sorts of cultivation and management which are in use, as weil as of

THE FARMER AT HOME. 157

the nature and value of every description of live stock ; likewise a
perfect acquaintance with the various methods of buying and selling,
and the constant state of different markets and fairs. And, besides
these, there are other minutiz which are of equal importance to the
success of the farmer. The advantages of farming difler materially
according to the nature, situation, and circumstances of farms as well
as the care and management that are bestowed upon them.

FARRIER. Is the designation of the smith who devotes his
attention chiefly to shoeing horses, and to curing them of all kinds of
diseases. It was probably owing to the opportunities aflorded to the
smiths, while shoeing horses, of observing the various diseases of the
foot, and consequently of haranguing on the subject, that they, in
time, acquired an undue reputation for perfect ability in not only that
particular, but for a general knowedge of whatever related to the
animal at large.

FARINA. This is an article of food manufactured from the flour
of wheat, and usually cooked for a desert on the dinner table. It is
a new mode of using wheat, and is becoming very popular. One
house in New York manufacture 800,000 pounds annually, which
requires 80,000 bushels of wheat; a bushel of the grain furnishing
only ten pounds of farina, the rest of the wheat being converted to
other purposes. Hence, it is seen that farina is made only from the
finest portion of the flour of wheat; and, the process of producing it
isa long one; the grain passing through eight different run of stones,
every one of them bearing its part in breaking the kernels and reduc-
ing the particles to the required size, the different parts being separated
also thereby ; and finally it is screened by passing through a hand-
selve.

FAT. An oily matter contained in the cellular substances of
animals, of a white or yellowish color. It seems to answer several
important purposes ; it facilitates the motion of the various parts
where it is lodged ; it fills up interstices in different situations; and
as it is a bad conductor of heat, it appears to contribute to the preser-
vation of the temperature of animals. It is used with other animal
substances as an article of food; and where the digestive powers are
strong, it proves highly nutritious. Those animals which sleep all
the winter, are generally fat at the commencement of their long slum-
ber, and come out of it very lean, owing to the fat having been
absorbed and carried into their system for the purpose of nutrition.
Fat has a tendency to accumulate very much in some perscns who
live luxuriously, using great quantities of animal food, with porter and
other malt liquors, and who take little exercise, Others without such
causes, seem to get corpulent from peculiarity of constitution. It
sometimes proceeds to such an extent as to be a real disease, incapac-
itating the individual from exercise and from performing the duties of
life, besides rendering him liable to apoplexy and other diseases

158 THE FARMER AT .10ME.

analogous to it. Such overgrowth of fat is to be counteracted by
abridging the quantity of food taken, by abstaiming from malt liquors,
and by taking constant and regular exercise. Instances are upon
record, of persons who have made a sudden and total change in their
manner of life, in order to diminish their corpulency ; and this with-
out any bad effects: but such sudden transitions from one mode of
life to another are not advisable, and it is better to make them
rradually, but steadily.

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Ss ry WP My

SBN YZ
FAT-RUMPED SHEEP.

FAT-RUMPED SHEEP. This is a variety of sheep that has
fiom the earliest times inhabited the countries over which the patri-
archal shepherds roaed. It is but little known in Africa, but pre-
vails extensively in the north and south of Asia ; is found in Palestine
in greater numbers than any other breed, and reaches far into the
imverior and northern parts of Russia. It is the purest in the deserts
of ureat Tartary, no other variety bemg near to contaminate its blood.
This breed often weighs two hundred pounds, and may be considered
the largest of the unimproved sheep ; of which weight the soft oily
fat alone that forms the rump amounts to from twenty to forty pounds.
In the neighborhood of Caucasus and Taurida, the hind quarters of
the sheey are salted as hams, and sent in great quantities to the
northern provinces of Turkey In parts of Russia the fat-rumped

THE FARMER AT HOME. 159

sheep bears a somewhat fine fleece, but generally speaking it is coarse,
and is adapted only for the purposes of inferior manufactures.

FAT-TAILED SHEEP. This race of sheep is more extensively
diffused than the fat-rumped, since it is found throughout Asia, a
great part of Africa, as well as through the north eastern parts of
Europe. Dr. Russell, in his history of Aleppo, gives the following
account of it as it appearsin Syria. The dead weight of one of these
sheep will amount to fifty or sixty pounds; but some of the largest
that have been fattened with care, weigh one hundred and fifty
pounds, the tail alone composing one third of the whole weight.
This broad, flattish tail is mostly covered with long wool, and, becom-
ing very small at the extremity, turns up. It is entirely composed of
a substance between marrow and fat, serving very often in the kitchen
instead of butter, and cut inte small pieces, makes an ingredient in
various dishes.

FEATHERS. In Comparative Anatomy, constitute the peculiar
covering of the class of birds. In no other tribe of animals are they
met with ; for the plumes which belong to some of the lepidopterous
insects are diflerent from the feathers of birds, both with respect to
their structure and mode of growth. No bird is entirely deprived of
feathers, although some species want them on certain parts of the
body. The turkey and vulture have the head and part of the neck
uncovered. The ostrich and the wading birds have bare thighs ;
those birds which haye ceres, combs, or pieces of flesh on the head,
have those parts without feathers.

FEELING. Is one of the five external senses, by which we ob-
tain the ideas of solidity, hardness, softness, roughness, heat, cold,
wetness, dryness, and other tangible qualities. Although this sense
is perhaps the least refined, it is of all others the most sure, as well
as the most universal. Man sees and hears with small portions of
his body, but he feels with all. The author of nature has bestowed
that general sensation wherever there are nerves, and they are every-
where found where there is life. If it were otherwise, the parts want-
ing this sense might be destroyed without our knowledge. On this
account it seems wisely provided, that this sensation should not require
particular organization. Feeling is, perhaps, the basis of all other
sensations. The object of feeling is every body that has consistency
or solidity enough to move the surface of our skin. To make feeling
perfect, it was neccessary that the nerves should form small eminences,
because they are more easily moved by the impression of bodies than
a uniform surface; and it is owing to this structure that we are
enabled to distinguish not only the size and figure of the bodies, their
hardness and softness, but also their heat and cold. To the blind,
feeling is so useful a sensation, that it supplies the office of eyes, and
in a great measure indemnifies them for the want of sight. We have
known persons totally blind, whose sense of feeling was so acute that

160 THE FARMER AT HOME.

they could, by the impression made on their feet, go from place to
place with the precision of persons who can see, not only in their own
houses and about their own premises, but for miles from home, find-
ing any fixed object with unfailing certainty. True, sucha discipline
of feeling cannot be achieved without repeated and successive efforts.
And we have known persons both blind and deaf with whom one
might converse tolerably well by spelling the words to be used, and
marking each letter with the finger, on the inside of their hands, they
pronouncing the letters as soon as made, as though they had seen
them.

FENCES. In this country, next to a good soil, good fences may
be considered one of the most indispensable conditions of good farm-
ing. Without them the crop is never safe; cattle are sure to become
unruly and troublesome ; and neighbors, too, become vexed, and at
last quarrelsome. In some countries, as in France, there are few or
no enclosures. The inhabitants principally live in villages, and the
animals of all kinds are kept under the charge of individuals who pre-
vent them injuring the crops. In England stone walls and hedges
are used for forming enclosures, and the last are so abundant as to
form one of the most prominent and beautiful features in the land-
scape. In the United States, rail fence of some kind is principally
used ; the most common being the post and rail, or the Virginia
worm fence. The hedge-fence is yet scarcely known among us, and
the attempts that have been made to introduce it, either owing to
unskilfulness, the selection of improper materials, or the peculiar
nature and dryness of our climate in the summer months, have not
been very successful. It is probable, however, that these difficulties
will eventually be surmonnted, and hedges becorne common. At
present, where stone can be procured suitable for wall, fences partly
or wholly of this material are the best that can be made. A stone
wall of five feet is better security against unruly animals than a rail
fence of seven ; and though generally costing more at first, is not un-
frequently the cheapest in the end. Where stone for a wall cannot
be had, a good fence is made by laying a wall of three feet, placing a
railon the top of this, then staking it, and finishing with another
rail.

FERMENTATION. An intense commotion, to which certain
substances of vegetable or animal origin are, more or less, liable,
from the spontaneous reaction of their constituent elements. The
process embraces a series of changes of composition, and terminates
in the formation of new products, which differ essentially from the
original substance, as well as from one another. Fermentation 1s
accordingly divided into three kinds ; and to these, epithets have been
applied descriptive of the products to which it gives birth, namely,
the saccharine, the vinous, the acetows, and the putrefactive. The
first of these produces sugar ; the second, alcoho!, the third, vinegar,

THE FARMER AT HOME. 161

and the fourth, vegetable mould. It is with the last that the farmer
is principally interested ; as on this process depends the advantages
he derives from manures, from green crops used as dressings, and
from the preparation of composts.

The vinous and acetous fermentation are confined to a very few
substances, chiefly of a saccharine nature; the putrefactive stage
embraces a wider field, and takes place in almost every body of a
vegetable or animal nature. The vegetable matters which undergo
putrefaction most readily, are soluble in water; though those which
are but imperfectly soluble, :f kept in a moist state. are not exempted
from this species of decomposition. This process is promoted by the
same circumstances which are favorable to the others, namely, mois-
ture and elevation of temperature. The presence of air, also, has no
less influence on the putrefactive, than on the acetous stage.

The elastic fluids which are evolved from vegetables during the
putrefactive fermentation, are combinations of the elements of the
vegetable substance, and have for their bases hydrogen and carbon.
When the decomposition takes place under water, the hydrogen, by
its greater tendency to elasticity, makes its escape, and the residual
matter consists almost entirely of carbon. Hence wood which has
been long buried in the beds of rivers, is reduced nearly to the state
of charcoal. If the carbonaceous part, however, be exposed to the
air, it undergoes a gradual change, and is at last entirely decomposed,
by being converted into carbonic acid. When animal matters suffer
putrefaction, they evolve, besides the usual elements of vegetables, a
quantity of ammonia. They yield also certain other products which
are more peculiar to them, particularly combinations of sulphur and
phosphorus ; and to these substances must be, ascribed fetid odor and
noxious properties of the gases, which are extricated from them dur-
ing putrefaction.

Animal bodies scarcely suffer any change when they are well
dried, and completely excluded from the air. Even in the warmer
climates, beef, which has been effectually freed from its juices, may
be preserved a long time without salt; and meat, which has been
sufficiently roasted, and afterwards covered with melted suet, may be
preserved in that state perfectly untainted for several months. Ani-
mals enveloped in ice, have been preserved for ages without suffering
any change. It appears, also, that animal bodies powerfully resist
putrefaction, which have been buried in morasses of peat ; probably
because, in such places, the carbonaceous part of the woody matter
being converted into a substance resembling tan, produces upon the
animal matter the usual effects of that vegetable product.

FEVER. A disease characterized by an accelerated pulse, with
increase of heat, impaired functions, diminished strength, and often
with preternatural thirst. Fevers are often or generally preceded by
chills or rigors, called the cold stage of the disease. Fevers are of

162 THE FARMER AT HOME.

various kinds ; but the principal division of fevers is into remitting
fevers, which subside or abate at intervals ; and continued or contin-
ual fevers,. which neither remit nor intermit.

FIBRIN. A peculiar organic compound, found both in vegeta-
bles and animals. It is a soft solid, of a greasy appearance, insoluble
in water, which softens in the air, becoming viscid, brown, and semi-
transparent. On hot coals it melts, throws out greasy drops, crackles,
and evolves the smoke and odor of roasting meat. It is procured, in
its most characteristic state, from animal matter. It exists in chyle ;
it enters into the composition of blood; and it forms the chief part of
muscular flesh; and hence it must be regarded as the most abundant
constituent of the soft solids of animals.

FILAMENTS. Vegetable filaments form a substance of great
use in the arts and manufactures, furnishing thread, cloth, cordage,
and the like. For these purposes the filamentous parts of hemp and
flax are employed among us. Different vegetables have been em-
ployed in different countries for the same uses. In some parts of
Sweden a strong cloth is said to have been prepared from the stalks
of hops. These have been tried elsewhere, but without success.
Vegetable filaments, and the thread or cloth prepared from them, dif-
fer remarkably from wool, hair, silk, and other animal productions,
particularly in their disposition to imbibe coloring matters ; sundry
liquors, which give a beautiful and durable dye to those of the animal,
giving no stain at all to those of the vegetable kingdom.

FILTRATION. This is the act of clarifying impure water for
domestic purposes. Filters for doing it are of various construction ;
but they all act, somehow or other, as a sieve, or strainer, having
innumerable small passages through which the fluid can percolate
slowly; but as the passages are not sufficiently large to allow the
particles of matter which are mixed with the fluid to escape, they are
detained by the instrument. In cities where the water of wells is
usually impregnated with the various substances with which the entire
earth is there saturated ; and, indeed, wherever the water furnished
is impure, artificial filters are of great importance in domestic economy.
Every family should be supplied with one. Rarely can spring water
be found so free from extraneous mixtures, as that which has thus
been artificially purified.

All springs of water which we are accustomed to call pure, are
only rendered so by the effect of natural filtration ; for the rain falling
upon the surface of the earth, soaks first into the vegetable mould
with which the surface is almost everywhere covered; in passing
through this, it takes up not only dirt or earthy particles, but the
remains of vegetable substances, which are in the progress toward
decomposition ; the water is thus rendered turbid and unwholesome
for domestic purposes ; such is the state of the waters of most rivers
which are not supplied by springs alone, but by brooks running on

THE FARMER AT HOME. 163

the surface, Tnat portion of the water which soaks into the earth
having passed through a sufficient thickness of porous strata, either
by ascent or descent, ‘will have all extraneous mixtures detained, and
become clear spring water. It should be observed, that filtration
can only produce transparency, by arresting such particles of matter
as are in a state of mechanical mixture with the fluid, for any matter
which is held in chemical solution in the fluid will pass with it,
‘through the pores of the most minute filter, unless the substance of
the filter itself should have a greater affinity for such matter than the
fluid which contained it. In this case, a new combination will be
formed, and the matter in solution, leaving the fluid, will be taken
up by the filter, not simply because the passages are too small to per-
mit its particles to pass, but on account of the superior elective attrac-
tion between the substance of the filter and the dissolved matter.
Filtration, on this principle, cannot continue to produce a natural
spring for any great length of time ; because, by the constant addition
of matter, the filter will at last become saturated with it, or choaked
up. In applying this reasoning to springs, we shall find a reason
why so few springs produce pure water, although it is always trans-
parent. In reality, the great natural filters which produce springs,
are almost always on an opposite principle, viz., that the sub-
stance which composes the filter has a great affinity for the water,
and its particles are thereby taken slowly in solution, and carried off
at the same time that the extraneous matters, which are only in
mixture with the water, are detained in the pores of the filtering
strata ; thus we find few springs which have not some mineral held
in solution by the water, although invisible to the eye; and in cases
where heat is generated in making the new combination we have
spoken of, hot springs will be produced. The most common mineral
taint which water receives in its natural filtration, is sulphate of lime
or plaster of Paris; this renders the water hard, as it is called, so
that it will not produce a lather with soap, but curdles it. Sulphate
of iron or vitriol is also frequent in springs. Add to this, that in great
towns, the drainage water which soaks into the earth is contaminated
by animal matters as well as vegetable, and in such an offensive state,
that the filtration through the soil can scarcely restore its purity.
Gravel. in thick beds, is the most perfect natural filter; and
instances may be met with, of springs from gravel producing water
very nearly as pure as distilled water. Sand, when white, such as
that of the seashore, is also very good; but if colored, it generally
contains iron; and where the color is deep, the iron is often in such
excess, that it will be communicated to the water in passing through
it. Beds of sandstone filter extremely well, and also some porous
limestone.
FIXED STARS. The universe, so far as human observation
lias extended, consists of infinite or boundless space, in which are

164 THE FARMER AT HOME.

numberless fixed stars, of the nature, bulk, and properties of the sun;
but because they are at such immense distances from the earth, they
appear to our eyes only as so many beautiful ‘shining points. They
are called fixed stars, because they do not change, like the planets,
their relative position ; and they are distinguished from the planets by
their twinkling light.

It is supposed that the fixed stars have primary and secondary
planets revolving round them, as the planets of our system revolve
round the sun. Were the sun as far from us as these stars are, it
would doubtless appear as they now do. It is certain that they do
not reflect the sun’s light as do the planets ; for their distance is so
ereat, that they would not, in that case, be visible. All the fixed
stars, with the exception of the polar or north star, notwithstanding
they do not change their relative position, appear to have a motion
like the sun and moon, rising in the east, increasing in altitude until
they approach the meridian, and declining to the western horizon,
where they disappear. This apparent motion is caused by the revo-
lution of the earth on its axis from west to east.

FLAIL. This is a wooden instrument for threshing corn. The
construction of this implement is too well known to require description.
The ancient Romans used a kind of whip-flail, to a limited extent,
for the performance of this agricultural process; but the prevailing
mode, among the nations of antiquity, for separating grain from straw,
was for cattle to tread it out in the open air. In modern times the
flail is perhaps the universal implement used in this process, unless
threshing is performed by machinery. All large farmers should have
a threshing machine; and even among small farmers there should be
one in every neighborhood of a dozen families ; for the labor saved in
a single season would be more than an equivalent for the cost of it.
A good machine, to be operated by one horse only, with two men and
a boy to tend it, will thresh from seventy-five to an hundred bushels
in a day.

FLAME OF A CANDLE. Is a curious mechanical action and
re-action of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. Whenever the light gas,
called hydrogen, is excited, oxygen combines with it, and produces
heat, and if carbon is combined with the evolving hydrogen, light is
the result. A tallow candle, or the wick of a lamp, consists of hydro-
gen and carbon, and on being evolved by great motion, as by the
touch of a match, or any other flame, the oxygen flows in and is
fixed, and causes heat, and at the distance from the wick, where the
efflux and influx cross each other, the film of the flame is created ;
less carbon, makes blue light, a due proportion, white light, and an
excess, the smoke of a candle, an excess of hydrogen, makes the blue
light, and an excess of oxygen, red light. In truth, a candle is a
prism, arising from the same principles differently exhibited.

FLANNEL. A kind of woolen stuff; composed of a woof and

THE FARMER AT .HOME. 165

a warp, and woven after the manner of baize. Various theories have
been adopted to prove the utility of flannel as an article of dress. It
is unquestionably a bad conductor of heat, and on that account very
useful in cold weather ; this is accounted for from the structure of
the stuff’; the fibres touch each other very slightly, so that the heat
moves slowly through the interstices, which being already filled with
air, give little assistance in carrying off the heat. On this subject
Count Rumford has made many experiments, from which it should
seem, that though a woolen substance is warmest in winter, it is also
preferable, under certain circumstances, in summer. He expresses
his surprise, that the custom of wearing flannel next the skin should
not have prevailed more universally. He is confident it would pre-
vent a number of diseases; and he thinks there is no greater luxury
than the comfortable sensation which arises from wearing it, espe-
cially after one is a little accustomed to it. And he says it isa
mistaken notion, that it isa too warm clothing for summer. He says,
also, that he has worn it in the hottest climates, and at all seasons of
the year ; and never found the least inconvenience from it. This is
his philosophy in the case. It is the warm bath of perspiration con-
fined by a linen shirt, wet with sweat, which renders the summer
heat of southern climates so insupportable ; but flannel promotes
perspiration, and favors its evaporation ; and evaporation, as it is well
known, produces positive cold.

FLAX. This plant has been cultivated from remote antiquity,
throughout a great part of Europe, Asia, and the north of Africa, for
various purposes. Its native country is not known with certainty,
though, according to Olivier, it is found wild in Persia. It is culti-
vated principally for the fibre yielded by the bark, of which linen
eloth is made The use of this article is so ancient, that no tradition
remains of its introduction. The ancient Scandinavians and other
barbarous nations were clothed with linen. The mummies of Egypt
are enveloped with it, and immense quantities are still made in that
country, especially about the mouths of the Nile; and it is worn
almost exclusively by the inhabitants.

The seeds of the flax are mucilaginous and emollient, and an
infusion of them is often used as a drink in various inflammatory dis-
orders ; they also yield an oil, well known in commerce under the
name of linseed oil, which differs, in some respects, from most
expressed oils, as in congealing in water, and not forming a solid
soap with fixed alkaline salts. This oil has no remarkable taste, 1s
used for lamps, sometimes in cookery, and also forms the base of all
the oily varnish made in imitation of China .varnish. It is much
employed in the coarser kinds of painting, especially in situations not
much exposed to the weather. Equal parts of lime-water and linseed
oil form one of the best applications for burns. The cakes remaining
after the oil has been expressed, are usd for fattening cattle and sheep.

166 THE FARMER «Tf HOME.

Flaxseed has been substituted for grain in times of scarcity, but it is
heavy and unwholesome.

FLEA. The history of those animals with which we are best
acquainted is one of the first objects of our curiosity. If the flea be
examined with a microscope, it will be observed to have a small head,
large eyes, and a roundish body. It has two feelers, or horns, which
are short, and composed of four joints; and between these lies ita
trunk, which it buries in the skin, and through which it sucks the
blood in large quantities. The body appears to be all over curiously
adorned with a suit of polished sable armor, neatly jomed, and beset
with multitudes of sharp pins, almost like the quills of a porcupine.
It has six legs, the joints of which are so adapted, that it can, as it
were, fold them up one within another; and when it leaps, they all
spring out at once, whereby its whole strength is exerted, and the
6ody raised above two hundred times its own "diameter.

The young fleas are at first a sort of nits or eggs, which are round
and smooth ; and from these proceed white worrns, of a shining pearl
color; in a fortnight’s time they come to a tolerable size, and are
very lively and active; but if they are touched at this time, they roll
themselves up in a ball; soon after this they begin to creep like silk-
worms that have no legs; and then they seek a place to lie hid in,
where they spin a silken thread from their mouth, and with this they
enclose themselves in a small round bag or case, as white within as
writing paper, but dirty without ; in this they continue a fortnight
longer; after which they burst from their confinement perfectly
formed, and armed with powers to disturb the peace of an erh-

eror.

FLORIST. In Gardening, a name applied to such persons as are
curious in, or have much skill in the knowledge and nature of flowers
A good florist should be perfectly acquainted with the names, char-
acters, and kinds, or sorts of flowers; and at the same time have a
thorough knowledge of their nature, habits, and methods of cultiva-
tion and management.

FLOUR. The meal of any grair but more particularly of wheat.
ground and sifted for the purpose of fo.d. The grain itseif is not only
subject to be eaten by insects in that state, but when ground into
flour, it gives birth to another race of destroyers, who eat it unmerci-
fully and increase so fast in it, that it is not long before they wholly
destroy the substance. The finest flour is most liable to breed them,
especially when stale or ill prepared; in this case, if it be examined
in a good light, it will be perceived to be in a continual motion ; and
on a nicer inspection, there will be found in it a great number of little
animals of the color of the flour. and very nimble. If a little of this
flour be laid on the plate of a double microscope, the insects are very
distinctly seen in great numbers, very brisk and lively, continually
crawling over one another’s backs and playing a thousand antic tricka

THE FARMER AT HOME. 167

together, whether ‘pr diversion or in search of food, it is not easy to be
determined.

These animals are of an oblong slender form, their heads are fur-
nished with a kind of trunk, or oblong hollow tube, by means of which
they take in their food, and their body is composed of several rings.
They do vast mischief among the magazines of flour, laid up_ for:
armies and other public uses ; when they have once taken possession
of a parcel of this valuable commodity, it is impossible to drive them
out, and they increase so fast, that the only method of preventing the
total loss of the parcel, is to make it up into bread as soon as can be.
The way to prevent their breeding in the flour is, to preserve it from
damp ; nothing gets more injury by being put up damp than flour,
and yet nothing is so often put up so. It should be always carefully
and thoroughly dried before it is put up, and the barrels also dried
into which it is to be put; then if they are kept in a room tolerably
warm and dry, they will preserve it well. Too dry a place never
does any hurt, though one too moist always spoils it.

FLOWER. In physiological and systematical Botany, compre-
hends all those organs of a plant which are preparatory and necessary
to the impregnation and perfection of the fruit or seed. Flowers are
usually the most ornamental part of vegetables, but the most fleeting
and transitory. After their production, the vegetation of the plant,
however rapid and luxuriant before, is checked, at least for a time,
even in perennial plants and trees ; and annual ones survive flowering
only till they can ripen their seed. The same species which will
endure for several winters without blossoming, after this event loses its
vigor and yields to the first attacks of frost. Pliny observes that
“blossoms are the joy of trees, in bearing which they assume a new
aspect, vieing with each other in the luxuriance and variety of their
colors.” M. Dutens, a traveller in Holiand, says, ‘‘ 1 was witness to
a circumstance I could not otherwise have believed, respecting the
price of flowers in Holland. I saw 475 guineas offered and refused
for a hyacinth. It was tobe sure the most charming flower I had
ever seen. It belonged to a florist, at Hague, and another florist
offered this price for it.”

FLUID. In physiology, an appellation given to all bodies whose
particles easily yield to the least partial pressure, or force impressed.
The nature of a fluid, as distinguished from that of a solid or hard
body, consists in this, that its particles are so loosely connected to-
gether, that they readily move out of their places, when pressed with
the least force one way more than another; whence philosophers
have concluded that these particles are exceedingly minute, smooth,
and round ; it being otherwise impossible they should move with such
freedomn. upon the least inequality of pressure. Those particles, con-
sidered separately, are endowed with all the common properties of
matter, and are subject to the same laws of motion and gravitation

168 THE FARMER AT HOME.

with larger bodies. To inquire, therefore, into the nature of fluids,
is to consider what appearances a collection of very small round
bodies, subject to these laws, will exhibit under different cireum
stances.

FLYING. The progressive motion of a bird or other winged
animal in the air. The parts of birds chiefly concerned in flying are
the wings and the tail; by the former, the bird sustains and wafts
himself along ; and, by the latter, he is assisted in ascending and de-
scending, to keep his body poised and upright, and to obviate the vas-
cillations thereof. It is by the largeness and strength of the pectoral
muscles that birds are so well disposed for quick, strong, and continual
flying. These muscles, which in men are scarcely a seventieth part
of the muscles of the body, in birds, exceed and outweigh all the other
muscles taken together.

FOG, or MIST. A meteor consisting of gross vapors, floating
near the surface of the earth. Mists, according to Lord Bacon, are
imperfect condensations of the air, consisting of a large proportion
of the air, and asmall one of the aqueous vapor ; and these happen
in the winter, about the change of the weather, from frost to thaw,
or from thaw to frost; but in the summer and the spring, from the
expansion of the dew.

If the vapors, which are raised plentifully from the earth and
waters, either by the solar or subterraneous heat, do, at their first
entrance into the atmosphere, meet with cold enough to condense
them to a considerable degree, their specific gravity is by that means
increased ; and so they will be stopped from ascending, and return
back, either in form of dew, or drizzling rain, or remain suspended
some time, in the form of fog. Vapors may be seen on the high
grounds as well as the low, but more especially about marshy places.
They are easily dissipated by the wind, as also by the heat of the sun.
They continue longest in the lowest grounds, because these places
contain most moisture, and are least exposed to the action of the
wind.

Hence we may easily conceive, that fogs are only low clouds, or
clouds in the lowest region of the air; as clouds are no other than
fogs raised on high. When fogs stink, then the vapors are mixed
with sulphureous exhalations, of which they smell. Objects viewed
through fogs appear larger, and more remote, than through the com-
mon air. Boyle observes, that upon the coast of Coromandel, and
the most maritime parts of the East Indies, there are, notwithstand-
ing the heat of the climate, annual fogs so thick, as to occasion those
of other nations who reside there, and even the more tender part of
the natives, to keep their houses close shut up.

FOOD. Many persons are unaware of the great difference of
nutritious matter contained in different articles of food in daily use.
One might distend his stomach like a bladder, upon turnips, and yet

THE FARMER AT HOME. 169

have very little to sustain life, or give him strength to labor. Pota-
toes contain much more nutriment than turnips, but nothing in pro-
portion, according to bulk or cost, that is contained in many other
substances used as human food. The following facts will show this
difference. For instance, one thousand pounds of prime wheat contain
955 pounds of human food; one thousand pounds of barley, 940
pounds ; one thousand pounds of rye, 792 pounds; one thousand
pounds of oats, 743 pounds; one thousand pounds of beans, 570
pounds; one thousand pounds of dry peas, 514 pounds ; one thousand
pounds of potatoes, 230 pounds; one thousand pounds of carrots and
parsnips, 98 pounds; one thousand pounds of cabbage, 73 pounds ;
and one thousand pounds of turnips, only 50 or 60 pounds.

It may be seen from this that there is no economy in purchasing
many of the coarse kinds of food in common use. Potatoes, at the
prices they have ranged for several years, must be considered a luxury
rather than a cheap diet ; for their cost is nearly the same per pound
as wheat, and it takes more than four pounds of them to yield the
nourishment in one pound of wheat. Indian corn is probably the
cheapest food that can be had ; and it is far more economical to use
beans, dry peas, beets, and parsnips, than potatoes. The following
anecdote of a poor woman in Cincinnati shows a tact in economizing
food rarely seen. She had seven children to be fed, and at one time
she found herself wholly destitute of the means of providing for them,
save eight laying hens. Here was an egg a day for each one ; but a
pittance, all can see, wholly inadequate to fit the human frame for
labor, and barely to sustain life. What could be done? She ex-
changed each day six of her eggs for half a peck of beans, which, with
a small piece of poor meat, procured with the other two eggs, was
regularly made into a thick soup, and this enabled her to sustain her
family till other means could be had. Such an example might be
made worth thousands of dollars to the poor.

FOOD OF PLANTS. A plant or a tree can no more exist
without food than can an animal; and it is only because the mode in
which they receive it is less evident to us, that we do not commonly
think of vegetables as equally dependant with animals, upon the
materials supplied to them by the elements around. We are con-
stantly witnessing the act of feeding in all the animals that are under
our notice; but the growth and reproduction of plants seem to take
place with so slight an introduction of solid matter into their system,
that it cannot be comprehended, without further examination, how
they derive the means of uprearing the gigantic masses of wood and
foliage which many of them present to our admiring view. It is the
business of the farmer to ascertain what kind of food is wanted for
the growth of vegetation, and then to provide it. The absurdity of
rearing or maintaining any animal without an adequate supply of the
elements needed in animal substances, is too apparent to need illustra-

8

170 THE FARMER aT HOME.

tion. Can an animal have bones, or blood, or muscles, tniess sup-
plied with food that contains the principles of these animal constitu-
ents? To suppose it, is contrary to common sense. The food of
plants is furnished by the soil in which they grow, and the atmos-
phere. Hence, the soil must contain every portion of vegetable con-
stituent not furnished by the air. If it does not contain it, plants
will not flourish. They may have a feeble and sickly existence, but
cannot flourish In agricultural productions, if the soil does not con-
tain it, the crops will be small, at best ; perhaps not paying the labor
of tillage. Let the farmer study this subjeeti To aid him we recom-
mend to him a popular Treatise on Vegetable Physiology, published
by Lea & Blanchard, or Johnston’s Agricultural Chemistry.

FORCE, Comparative, or Men anp Horses. There are several
curious as well as useful observations in Desagulier’s Experimental
Philosophy, concerning the comparative forces of men and horses, and
the best way of applying them. A horse draws with the greatest
advantage when the line of direction is level with his breast; in such
a situation, he is able to draw two hundred pounds eight hours a day,
walking about two miles and a half an hour. And if the same horse
is made to draw two hundred and forty pounds he can work but six
hours a day, and cannot go quite so fast. On a carriage, indeed,
where friction alone is to be overcome, a middling horse will draw
one thousand pounds. But the best way to try a horse’s force is by
making him draw up out of a well, over a single pulley or roller ;
and in such a case, one horse with another will draw two hundred
pounds. Five men are found tobe equal in strength to one horse,
and can, with as much ease, push round the horizontal beam of a
mill, in a walk only nineteen feet wide ; whereas, three men will do
it in a walk forty feet wide.

The worst way of applying the force of a horse, is to make him
carry or draw up hill; for if the hill be steep, three men will do more
than a horse, each man climbing up faster with a burden of one hun-
dred pounds weight, than a horse that is loaded with three hundred
pounds, a difference which is owing to the position of the parts of the
human body being better adapted to climb than those of a horse.
On the other hand, the best way of applying the force of a horse, is in
an horizontal direction, wherein 4 man can exert least force ; thus a
man, weighing one hundred and forty pounds, and drawing a boat
along by means of a rope coming over his shoulders, cannot draw
above twenty-seven pounds, or exert above one-seventh part of the
force of a horse employed to the same purpose. The very best and
most effectual posture in a man, is that of rowing; wherein he not
only acts with more muscles at once for overcoming the resistance,
than in any other position ; but as he pulls backwards, the weight of
his body assists by way of lever.

FOREST. In Geography. The Caledonian and Hercyn*,0

THE FARMER AT crLOME. 171

forests are famous in history. The first was a celebrated retreat of
the ancient Picts and Scots; the latter anciently occupied the greatest
part of Europe ; particularly Germany, Poland and Hungary. In
Cesar’s time it extended from the borders of Alsatia and Switzerland
to Transylvania, and was computed sixty days’ journey long and nine
broad : some parts or cantons thereof are still remaining. The an-
cients adored forests, and imagined a great part of their aods to reside
therein; temples were frequently built in the thickest forests ; the
gloom and silence whereof naturally inspire sentiments of devotion,
and turn men’s thoughts within themselves. For similar reasons the
Druids made forests the place of their residence, performed their sacri-
fices, instructed their youth and gave laws in them. The moral
influence of forests to the contemplative mind, no one can deny, is of
a high order; and, in our own country, as a matter of taste and pros-
pective interest, there has been a recklessness in destroying them,
that is incomprehensible.

It must be apparent to the slightest observer, that the forests of
the country are rapidly diminishing g, and that wood every year is
scarcer and dearer. Considering the value and necessity of woodlands
to future generations, a farmer cannot do better service to his posterity,
and to the State, than to perpetuate the forests. To accomplish this
object, the woods now standing must be carefully guarded and cut
with caution. Only the oldest trees should be selected, leaving the
others to improve by standing. The high price of wood leads our
farmers, often to cut off all the timber of some pieces of land, whose
soil, rocky situation, or position on a side hill, prove that it is of ne
service but for wood. A little care of such tracts, would lead to their
perpetuity, and to their constant increase in value. AlJl wood-lands
should be so securely fenced that cattle should have noaccess. A lit-
tle care will protect the young trees from the growth of underbrush.
But there is one thing, hitherto neglected by our farmers, to which we
wish to call their attention, and that is the sowing of various nuts, that
will preserve the forest to posterity. It is on this subject that the pre-
sent generation have been the most careless, and have shown the least
regard to the benefit of the future, because they may suppose the
present will derive no advantage from it. Let therefore, our farmers,
every year scatter acorns of different species, especially of the white
oak, beach nuts, hickory nuts of the kinds most serviceable for fuel, and
in places adapted to the tree, chestnuts, if they wish a supply of fenc-
ing, maple and ash keys, &c , and they will be doing as much service
to their grand-children as if they laid up money for them at ten per
cent. interest.

FOUNDER. This is a disease of the horse caused by riding or
driving him until much heated and fatigued, and then allowing him
to cool suddenly, by drinking of cold water, or standing in an exposed
situation, or in a cold stable without covering; or, without sudden

172 TiiE FARMER AT HOME.

cooling, it may be produced by too bountiful feeding, and his swal-
lowing his food greedily, while very warm and hungry. Under such
unfavorable circumstances, the poor animal, after resting, instead of
being refreshed, is stiff and sore; his rest, food, and drink, being more
destructive to health than constant action and abstinence. On the
contrary, had he been allowed to cool gradually, and fed sparingly, he
would have escaped injury. The reader is referred for a cure of
founder to Cole’s Diseases of Animals, published by J. P. Jewett, and
to Youatt on the Horse, published by Derby and Miller.

FORK. Forks are first mentioned in an inventory of a prince’s
plate, in 1379. Before this period, the knife only was used for the
purpose of cutting up food. The use of the fork spread from Italy to
the northern parts of Europe. Thomas Coryate is said to have intro-
duced it into England. The use of the fork was considered so great
a luxury, that many monastic orders forbade their members to indulge
init. The Asiatics, even to this day, use no forks, as is also the case
with the Turks. The Chinese, instead of forks, make use of two
small sticks, which they hold in the same hand between different
fingers.

FOUNTAIN. A natural spring of water rising out of the
ground ; also a stream of water ejected through a pipe by means of a
machine contrived for this purpose. Artificial fountains are various
in their forms, but they all act on the principle of a pressure, either
from a head of water, or arising from the spring and elasticity of the
air. When*‘fountains are formed by the pressure of a head of water,
or any other fluid of the same kind, with the fountain or jet, then
will this spout up nearly to the same height as that head, allowing a
little for the resistance of the air, with that of the adjutage, &c., im
the fluid rushing through ; but when the fountain is produced by any
other force than the pressure of a column of the same fluid as itself, it
will rise nearly to the altitude of the fluid, whose pressure is equal to
the given force that produces the fountain.

FOWLS. The culture of fowls, although very common among
farmers, is by no means estimated according to its importance. Poul-
try are among the chief luxuries in culinary economy. Without their
meat and eggs, what substitute could be furnished, not leaving a
lamentable deficiency to the epicure, and even to those who “eat
mainly for the purpose of keeping soul and body together. In
secluded situations, when no bntcher’s cart or shop is near, how con-
venient—nay how almost indispensable it is, if a Siena from a
distance unexpectedly make a call, or if there be indisposition in the
family, and chicken broth is needed, that there be a hand a poultry
establishment, to furnish materials for the occasion! What could be
done without it? Nor is the profit of fowls, when kept for the
market to be overlooked, or under-estimated. The profits of fifty hens,
with proper care, besides paying for their feed, will not fall below fifty

THE FARMER AT HOME. 173

dollars annually. What investment is better? Much is said about
fancy breeds of poultry. The presumption, however, is, that hens
which weigh eight pounds each will eat twice as much as those that
weigh only four pounds. The best policy for those who keep fowls
for profit, is to select such breedsas lay most eggs, furnishing also a fat
tender carcase, according to the feed which they require. Those who
desire to become amateurs in this branch of rural economy are referred
to Browne’s American Poultry Yard ; Bennett’s Poultry Book; and
Dixon and Kerrs’ Book on the same subject.

WMS

SA

SHANGHAE FOWLS.

FOX. A common and mischievous animal, which, in all ages
and nations, has been celebrated for his craft and wiles. He is so
extremely fond of honey, that he attacks the nests of wild bees,
regardless of their fury. They at first put him to flight by number-
less stings ; but he retires for the sole purpose of rolling himself upon
the ground and crushing his enemies under him. He returns to the
charge so often, that he obliges them to abandon the hive, which he
soon uncovers, and devours both the honey and the wax. The fox
sleeps in a round form, like the dog; but when he only reposes him-
self, he lies on his belly with his hind legs extended. It is in this
situation, that he eyes the birds on the hedges and trees. The birds
have such an antipathy against him, that they no sooner perceive
him, than they send forth shrill cries to warn their neighbors of the
enemy's approach. The jays and blackbirds in particular, follow the

174 THE FARMER AT HOME. id
fox from tree to tree, sometimes two or three hundred paces, often
repeating the watch-cries.

FREEZING. In philosophy, the same with congelation.
Freezing may be defined the fixing a fluid body into a solid mass, by
the action of cold. Water and some other fluids suddenly ¢“ate and
expand in the act of freezing, so as to occupy a greater space in the
solid than in the liquid state; in consequence of which ice is specifie-
ally lighter than water, and floats upon it. Water also loses of its
weight by freezing, being found lighter after it is thawed than before
it was frozen. And it even evaporates nearly as fast while frozen, as
while it is fluid. Water which has been boiled freezes more readily
than that which has not been boiled ; and a slight disturbance of the
fluid disposes it to freeze more speedily; having sometimes been
cooled several degrees below the freezing point, without congealing
when kept quite still. but suddenly freezing into ice on the least mo-
tion or disturbance. Water, covered over with a surface of oil of
olives, does not fieeze so readily as without it ; and nut oil absolutely
preserves it under a strong frost, when olive oil would not. Rectified
spirit of wine, nut oil, and oil of turpentine, seldom freeze. The sur-
face of water, in freezing, appears all wrinkled; the wrinkles being
sometimes in parallel lines, and sometimes like rays, proceeding from
a centre to the circumference. Fluids standing in a current of air
grow much colder than before. Fahrenheit had long ago observed,
that a pond, which stands quite calm, often acquires a degree of cold
much beyond what is sufficient for freezing, and yet no congelation
ensued ; but if a slight breath of air happens in such a case to brush
over the surface of the water, it freezes the whole in an instant. It
has also been discovered, that all substances grow colder by the evap-
oration of the fluids which they contain, or with which they are
mixed. If both these methods, therefore, be practised upon the same
body at the same time, they will increase the cold to almost any de-
gree of intenseness we please. Plants are frequently destroyed by
frost, when overtaken by it while in the vigor of growth, as the ex-
pansion of the juices in that state bursts the tender vessels, and causes
death. The freezing of wheat causes more loss to the farmer and
the country than all other losses from frost combined. When a soil
is tenacious, or contains a large proportion of clay, and by its position
or want of drainage abounds in water, as such soils usually do, there
is great danger that wheat sown on such lands will freeze out, or win-
ter kill, as it is termed ; and examination will show that there are
very few farms or fields where wheat is sown, where more or less
plants are not destroyed by this cause. The destruction is usually
performed in the spring months, when the ground is bare, and freezes
at night after thawing during the day. There are very few soils
where this evil exists which may not be cured by draining and sub-
soil ploughing, and as it is one that oftentimes seriously lessens the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 175

amount of crops, and the profits of the farmer, it deserves serious con-
sideration.

FRICTION. Denotes the resistance a moving body meets with
from the surface on which it moves. Friction arises from the rough-
ness or asperity of the surface of the body moved on, and that of the
body moving ; for such surfaces 2onsisting alternately of eminences
and cavities, either the eminences of the one must be raised over those
of the other, or they must be both broke and worn off; but neither
ean happen without motion, nor can motion be produced without a
force impressed. Hence, the force applied to move the body is either
wholly or partly spent, on this eflect; and consequently there arises
a resistance, or friction, which will be greater, other things being
equal, as the eminences are the greater, and the substance the hard-
er; and as the body, by continual friction, becomes more and more
polished, the friction diminishes.

A very large part of the power requisite to move a threshing ma-
chine, a wagon, or a plough, is expended in overcoming the passive
resistance of simple friction ; and the greater in any case the space
on which this acts, the greater will be the force required to overcome
it. A wagon, the axles of which run on rollers, where the friction
is reduced to its minimum, will move over a surface with much less
force applied, than one where the whole surface of the axle comes in
contact with the inner part of the hub, and the friction of course is
at its maximum. The experiments of Mr. Pusey of the English
Royal Agricultural Society, proved that in all soils the celebrated
Scotch plough, and consequently all ploughs similarly constructed,
which, from its structure of share and mould-board, exposes a great
extent of surface to friction, was so much impeded from that cause,
that a large part of the power of the team was expended in overcom-
ing it; and that in tenacious soils at least one-half of the force ex-
erted was required to overcome the eflect of this cause. It is clear,
then, that a light plough, with a part of the weight supported on a
wheel or wheels, and with the least possible surface exposed to fric-
tion, will move the easiest for the team; and in all implements and
machinery, the lessening of the friction is one of the most important
things to be aimed at in their construction.

FROG. The external figure of the frog is too well known to
require being particularly described ; its active powers are astonish-
ingly great, when compared with its unwieldy shape; it is the best
swimmer of all four-footed animals; and Nature has finely adapted
it for those ends; the arms being light and pliant, the legs long, and
endowed with great muscular strength. A single female produces
from six to eleven hundred eggs at a time; but this only happens
once a year. The male is of a greyish brown color ; but the skin ot
the female is of a yellow hue; these colors grow deeper every time
they change them, which frequently happens every eighth day. The

176 THE FARMER AT HOME.

frog generally lives out of the water; but, when the cold nights set in,
it returns to its native place, always making choice of those stagnant
waters at the bottom of which it 1s most likely to remain concealed ;
there it remains torpid during the winter season ; but it is roused into
activity by the genial warmth of spring. The croaking of these ani-
nals has long been considered as the certain symptom of approaching
rain ; for no weather-glass can describe a change of season with more
accuracy than this vociferous and noisy tribe; and we could hardly
linagine, that a creature of that size could send forth sounds that
would extend the distance of three miles.

FROST. In Physics, that state of the natural world, in which
the atmosphere so absorbs the caloric from bodies on the surface of the
vlobe, as to leave them, more or less, without fluidity or expansion.
The power of cold on vegetables is well known; and though the
frosts of severe winters are, on the whole, more injurious to vegeta-
tion than those of the spring ; yet the latter are productive of more
extensive damage, because their effects are evident almost every year.
Trosts act most powerfully on ground newly cultivated, on account
of the vapors continually ascending from such soils. Trees recently
cut, also, suffer more than others from the spring frosts; a cireum-
stance which must be attributed to their shooting forth with greater
] xuriance. Hence, likewise, light and sandy soils are thus more fre-
- quently damaged, than firm and tough land, though both may be
equally dry.

Although it has been generally believed, that frost meliorates the
soil, and especially clay-lands ; yet, as ice contains no nitrous parti-
cles, such improvements can ouly be of a transitory nature, by
enlarging the bulk of some moist soils, and leaving them more porous
fur some time after the thaw ; but when the water has exhaled, the
ground becomes as hard as before, being compressed by the incum-
vent weight of the air.

FRUITS. Are much used as an article of luxury; and from the
eflects they are too frequently seen to produce, they would seem to be
by no means of a salutary nature. Looseness, vomiting, indigestion,
aud even inflammation of the bowels, have been seen evidently to
proceed from the use of various fruits. Yet it is pretty certain that
the fault has lain not with the fruit, but with the consumer. When
fruit is eaten in large quantity, and in an unripe state, when it is
forced into the stomach, already loaded with a plentiful dinner ol
soup, meat, pudding, and all the items of a luxurious table, there is
nothing wonderful in the subsequent intestine war. But when fruit
is taken in moderation, of a proper quantity and at proper seasons,
uo bad effects are to be dreaded. Fruits are evidently useful, and
they are kindly sent at the very season when the system, heated and
excited by the warmth of summer, stands in need of something cool-
ing and laxative to be taken with the food.

THE FARMER AT HOME. 177

The fruits in most common use may be classed under the heads
of stone-fruits, the apple kind, berries, (without affecting botanical
accuracy in the use of this term,) and farinaceous fruits. The stone-
fruits are those which are of most difficult digestion. Plums and
cherries are particularly so. The ripe peach is both delicate in its
flavor and easily digestible ; the apricot is also very wholesome ; but
the nectarine is liable to disagree with some stomachs. The fruits of
the apple kind are somewhat firm in their texture, and therefore
rather indigestible, and liable to be detained in the stomach. Pears
are rather more allowable, as their texture is softer. The white
skin of the orange should be carefully rejected, but the inner pulp is
grateful to all stomachs, whether in health or sickness. The fruits
of the berry kind are the most wholesome of all. The strawberry or
raspberry are particularly good; the grape is cooling and laxative,
but the husks and seeds are to be rejected; the gooseberry is not so
digestible, especially if the skin be swallowed. It is only the pulp of
these fruits that is digested ; the seeds always pass through the body
undigested, unless they be chewed. Other berries are generally baked
in pies, but the pastry should be sparingly used. The melon, a farin-
aceous fruit, is almost sure to disagree with weak stomachs; and
when eaten after dinner, always requires abundance of salt, pepper,
ginger, or other condiment to be eaten with it. Many fruits, other-
wise unsafe, are much improved by cooking. Baked apples are an
excellent article of food, and may even be of benefit to dyspeptic pa-
tients. Dried fruits are generally esteemed very safe, but they are
apt to run into fermentation from the quantity of sugar which they
contain.

FUEL. In our climate, fuel is one of the great essentials for
human comfort and the cost of it is one of the principal items, espe-
cially with the poor, for which provision must be made. The vast
amount of it used, and the constantly decreasing amount of wood,
hitherto mainly consumed for fuel, renders the future supply of the
article one of the most important topics of consideration for the phi-
lanthropist and social economist. Is it not apparent, that the time is
rapidly approaching when, in many portions of our country where
wood is now used for fuel, there will be such a deficiency of it,
if used in any appreciable quantity by the poor, the burden of pro-
curing it must be nearly insupportable? How can this be reme-
died? Or, how can the evil be diminished? It can ina measure be
done by the following precautions. First; no one, however much wood
he may have, should cut down a single tree, great or small, or even
sprout, unless it be necessary. No prudent man should do it, any
more than a prudent mariner would throw overboard a portion of the
ship’s provisions, when some unforeseen casuality may put the life of
his crew in jeopardy for the want of them. Multitudes of our far-
mers have cut down scores of acres of wood and burnt it up, or suf-

ex

178 THE FARMER AT HOME.

fered it to rot on the ground, to make a clearing as it is called, when
they already had double the cleared land they can cultivate properly.

The second precaution recommended is that all use dry wood in-
stead of green. It is a fact well known, that two cords of dry wood,
on an averaze, in al. domestic purposes, are better than three cords of
green. What makes green heavier than dry wood? The water or
sap in the former. There is nothing else to make it. Hence, if a
cord of dry wood weighs a ton, and a cord of green wood weighs
thirty hundred, there is in the latter ten hundred weight of water or
sap to be evaporated during the process of its combustion. It passes
off in the form of hot steam and vapor, carrying with it of course so
much of the caloric or heat, which, had it been confined, as it might
have been, in the uses of dry wood, would go to the promotion of its
legitimate purpose. The effect is precisely the same that it would be,
if in the combustion of ten pounds of dry wood in a stove or fireplace,
there should be a continual filtration upon it of five pounds of water,
which would render necessary a constant current of air to effect com-
bustion, and this air on being heated, would pass off with the evapo-
rated fluid through the stove pipe or chimney. What would be thought
of the sanity or the common sense of the person who should do this?
He would have as much title to sanity and common sense, as the per-
son who habitually or unnecessarily uses green wood instead of dry.

The third precaution recommended is, to have stoves of the best
devise for saving fuel, instead of using it in large and open fireplaces,
where, as Count Rumford says, four fifths of the heat pass up the
chimney without any good ; and, also to construct houses in a manner
best calculated to save fuel. A little additional expenditure in the
construction of houses having reference to this subject, and in the use
of first quality stoves, will save more than one-half the fuel other-
wise required. Suppose in a family fifty dollars a year only is thus
saved, which is a moderate calculation, the amount, it will be per-
ceived, in forty years, a period families hope to continue, reaches two
thousand dollars. without any interest—more than the cost of ordinary
dwelling houses in the country for that time. And, if the fifty dol-
lars thus saved were at the end of each year to be put at six percent.
interest, and then the whole from year to year be compounded, the
whole will amount in the forty years to about eight thousand dollars.
No wonder that so many persons continue poor. No wonder that so
many agriculturists complain no money can be made by farming.-
The fourth precaution recommended, to prevent future scarcity of fuel,
is that all farmers on their waste lands turn their attention to the
raising of wood. This to their grand-children would be better than
money invested at ten per cent, interest.

FULLER’S EARTH. Iu Natural History, a soft, grayish,
brown, dense, and heavy marl. When dry it is of a grayish, ash-
colored brown, in all degrees from very pale to almost black; and

THE FARMER AT HOME. 179

it has generally something of a greenish cast. It is very hard and
firm, of a compact texture, of a rough, and somewhat dusty surface,
that adheres slightly to the tongue. It is very soft to the touch, not
staining the hands, nor breaking easily between the fingers.

FUR. In Commerce, this signifies the skins of wild beasts,
dressed in alum with the hair on, and used as a part of dress by
princes, magistrates, and others. It was not till the later ages that
the furs of beasts became an article of luxury. The refined nations
of antiquity never made use of them ; those alone who were stigma-
tized as barbarian were clothed in the skins of animals. Strabo de-
scribes the Indians covered with the skins of lions, panthers, and
bears ; and Seneca the Scythians clothed with the skins of foxes and
the smaller quadrupeds. Most parts of Europe were then in similar
circumstances, Cwsar was, perhaps, as much amazed with the skin-
dressed heroes of Britain, as the celebrated Cook was at those of his
new discovered regions. What time has done to us, it may also
effect for them ; and, it is to be hoped, with much less bloodshed.
Civilization may take place, and those spoils of animals, which are
at present essential for their clothing, become merely objects of orna-
ment and luxury. It does not appear that the Greeks or ancient Ro-
mans ever made use of furs. It originated in those regions where
they most abounded, and where the severity of the climate required
that species of clothing

FURZE. Thisis a hardy, leguminous evergreen, growing abun-
dantly on poor lands, and made use of for hedging and coarse fodder
in Europe. It grows rapidly, so that it can be cut every four years
for fuel, and is so far nutritious that horses are often maintained on
furze only ; but considering the abundance of excellent fodder plants
we possess, the introduction of furze is scarcely worthy of thought.
And, as a fencing material, it is objectionable, from the room it
requires, but the prickles with which it is covered make it a sure de-
fence.

FUSTIC. This is a dyewood, and contains a great quantity of
coloring matter, forming the most durable of all the yellow dyes,
which, however, is mostly used in compounding green and a variety
of drab and olive colors, as, when employed alone, it is dull and defi-
cient in clearness. It grows in the West Indies, Mexico, and Cam-
peachy, and even west of the Mississippi, in the southern part of the
United States. The wood is also highly prized by the Indians for
making bows, and is by them called bow-wood. It being firm, solid,
and elastic, is well adapted to that purpose. In latitudes most favor-
able to its growth it reaches the height of sixty feet or more, but in
Louisiana only about half that height.

GABLE. The triangular end of a house. barn, church, store,
stable, or any other building, from the cornice or beams to the top, is
ealled the gable end. The common elevation of the apex or ridge of

180 THE FARMER AT HOME.

a roof is one-half the width of the building. Where utility only is
desired, this is a proper elevation. If 11 were less the roof would be
inore likely to leak, from the water falling cn it not having a suffi-
cient tendency to run from it: and there is rarely any motive for
having it higher. However, in gothic architecture, particularly in
cottages, the elevation is higher, making the upper angle quite sharp.
This in cottages allows better chambers; and in churches a_ better
opportunity for appropriate arches.

GALE. This is a current ; a strong wind. In the language of
seamen, the word gale, when unaccompanied by any qualifying term,
usa gentle gale, a moderate gale, signifies a vehement wind, storm, or
tempest. In asmall breeze, it is estimated that wind progresses at
the rate of four miles an hour; in a fresh gale, twenty-five or thirty
miles an hour; and in a violent storm, fifty or sixty miles an hour.

GALLINACEOUS. The name of a species of birds of the phea-
sant kind, including the common cock and hen, the characters of
which are these. The beak is short, strong, and a little crooked, proper
“or the picking up of corn, which is the food of the whole species ; the
body is large, thick and fleshy ; the wings are short and hollowed,
and not calculated for much flying; they all breed a numerous
progeny; they build on the ground; the young are not fed by the
parent, but immediately shift for themselves ; and some have long
spurs behind their legs.

GALLON. This is a well known measure of capacity for dry or
liquid substances, but is usually appropriate to the latter. It contains
four quarts, eight pints, and thirty two gills. A gallon, however, is
not always the same in its dimensions. The gallon of wine contains
two hundred and thirty-one cubic inches, or eight pounds of pure
water avoirdupois; the gallon of beer or ale containstwo hundred and
eighty-one cubic inches, or -ten pounds, three ounces and a quarter
avoirdupois pure water ; a gallon of corp or meal, or any dry substance,
contains two hundred and ‘severity-one and a quarter cubic inches, or
nine pounds and thirteen ounces of pure water.

GALLOP. The movement of a quadruped, particularly of a horse,
by springs, reaches. or leaps, is called gallop. The animal lifts his
forefeet nearly at the same time. and as these descend and are just
ready to touch the ground, the hind feet are lifted at once. The
greatest speed of a horse is when he gallops, although he may gallop
slowly as a pleasure movement fcr the person on his saddle.

GALLOWAY CATTLE. No breed of cattle is more readily
known from their distinctive attributes than the Galloways of Scot-
land. They are straight and broad in the back, and nearly level from
the head to the rump, are round in the ribs, and also between the
shoulders and the ribs, and the ribs and the loins, and broad in the
Joins, without any large projecting hook bones. In roundness of bar-
rel and fulness of ribs they will compare with any breed, and also in

THE FARMER AT HOME. 181

the proportion which the loins bear to the hook bones, or protuber-
ances of the ribs. When viewed from above, the whole body appears
beautifully rounded, tike the longitudinal section of a rolier. They
are long in the quarters and ribs, and deep in the chest, but not broad
in the twist. The prevailing fashionable color is black ; a few are of
a dark brindle brown, and still fewer speckled with white, and some
of thei are of dun or drab color. The galloway cows are not reputed
to be great milkers; but although the quantity of the milk is not
great, it is rich in quality, and yields a large proportion of butter.
But when fatted they are highly valued for the shambles. Indeed,
the heifers generally, unless the finest of them reserved for breeding,
are spayed in reference to being fattened for that purpose.

FAT GALLOWAY COW.

GALLS. Is the name given to morbid excrescences growing on
different plants, in consequence of the attacks chiefly of hymenop-
terous insects. The egg of the insect is deposited in a puncture made
with a sharp sting; and when it is hatched, the maggot causes a
great degree of luxuriance in this part of the plant, which appears in
various excrescences.: (alls are found in the two British species of
oak. The astringent galls brought from the Levant, and used in
dying and making ink, are also the produce of a particular species of
oak. The best Aleppo galls have generally a bluish, and sometimes
a grayish and blackish color, inclining to bluish. They are of a close,
compact texture, are difficult to break, and are unequal and warty on

182 THE FARMER AT HOME. ° ewic

the surface. The small, white, and broken galls are by no means
good. About two thousand cwt of galls are annually used in great
Britain, the value of which, six pounds per ewt., is twelve thousand
pounds.

GAME. All sorts of birds and beasts that are objects of the
chase. The laws which in England particularly protect this sort of
property, are known by the name of the Game Laws. By these laws
certain qualifications of property are required, to give a person the
privilege of being allowed to kill game ; and penalties are imposed on
all persons who kill game, either without such qualification or at im-
proper seasons ; likewise the sale of game is prohibited under every
circumstance. Attempts have been repeatedly made in parliament
to procure a repeal, either wholly or in part, of these laws, which are
thought to be oppressive in their operation.

GANGRENE. An intense degree of inflammation, m which
the part affected grows livid, soft, little sensible, and is frequently
covered with vesicles containing ichorous matter. But, when the
part becomes blackish, flaccid, easily lacerated, cold, insensible, and
emits the smell of putrid flesh, so that the corruption quickly spreads,
it is then cailed sphacelus.

Persons of a good habit of body are seldom affected by a gangrene ;
though, even in them, it may accidentally be induced by contusion,
long continued pressure, or by whatever destroys the texture of a part,
and deprives it of its nourishment. Thus, in cold climates, severe
frosts frequently occasion this malady, by impeding the circulation.
In rheumatic constitutions, especially those advanced in years, the feet
are first afHicted with pain; while on the inner side of the small toes,
livid spots appear, from which the skin soon separates. By degrees,
the foot swells, and the toes become mortified.

GALVANISM. Although this agent is generally believed to be
identical with electricity, yet its mode of production, and the laws
which it observes when in action, are so far peculiar, that it is fre-
quently treated of by itself. Its name is derived from Galvani, an
Italian philosopher, who, in the course of his experiments on animal
uritability, observed the first striking phenomena which led to its dis-
covery. So powerful is this agent, by the aid of a voltaic battery, on
muscular action, that dead animals are again to appearance endowed
with lite. He accordingly called it animal electricity. The voltaic
battery, or instrument used for experiments in galvanism, was con-
structed by Volta, and at first consisted of a pile or succession of plates
of zine and copper, each pair of which was connected by a piece of
cloth moistened with water ; but, from the inconvenience in using it,
the voltaic battery is now made of such plates, vertically arranged in
a trough crosswise, the ends of the plates firmly fixed in groves of the
sides of the trough, two plates by themselves, so that between each
pair of these plates, there is a section of the trough to be filled with

THE FARMER AT HOME. 183

water. To increase the effect, all that is needed is to increase the
number of these plates, either in the same trough, or in a number of
troughs, and all connected together, the whole constituting the bat-
tery. Sir H. Davy constructed a voltaic battery which contained two
thousand of these double plates of zinc and copper, each plate six
inches square, and twenty of them in a trough ; that is, one hundred
troughs in all.

Galvanism produces an intense heat, sufficient to ignite and fuse
the hardest metals, and even the most refractory earths. Galvanism
is a most powerful agent in causing decomposition. By increasing the
strength of the battery, substances held together by the most powerful
affinity are easily separated. We have thus been enabled to ascertain
the composition of some, till then reckoned simple; ana new bodies
have also, by its aid, been discovered, which have themselves proved
powerful means of analysis. About the beginning of this century, Sir
Humphrey Davy subjected a number of substances to the action of a
powerful battery, by which he discovered the compound nature of
many; and illustrated, by numerous instances, the chemical changes.
produced by this wonderful agent.

GARDENING Gardening is the art of forming, planting, cul-
tivating, and managing garden grounds, whether of the ornamental

GARDEN IMPLEMENTS.

or culinary kinds. In a niore enlarged sense, it is the business of
rendering the rural objects of nature more agreeable, interesting, and
useful to mankind ; in the execution of which, the operator has the
whole range of country scenery at his command, in order to select
with taste such parts as are the most appropriate and suitable to his
particular views and purposes.

Gardening is one of those arts that most obviously, from the ne-

184 THE FARMER AT HOME.

cessities of mankind, have been practised at a very early period, so far
at least as herbs and fruits are concerned. It seems not improbable
but that it almost immediately succeeded the forming of distinct hab-
itations, and the possession of individual property. It must, however,
have remained long after its introduction in a very rude and imperfect
state, as, notwithstanding the accounts that have been given of the
magnificent gardens of early times, the Greeks and Romans seem to
have been but little acquainted with them ; for the garden of Alcinous,
when divested of the beautiful language of the poet, appears to have
been nothing but a sort of orchard and vineyard somewhat adorned
with the prevailing works of art; or those of Lucullus, Cicero, and
Pliny, among the Romans, anything more than mere places of retreat,
planted with various odoriferous flowers and shrubs, and embellished
with a variety of heavy and unnatural works of ornament.

GARLIC. This is a species of onion, cultivated in Europe since
the year 1551. Garlic has a strong, penetrating odor, and pungent,
acrid taste. It differs from the onion only by being more powerful in
its effects. In warm climates, where garlic is produced with consid-
erable less acrimony than in cold ones, it is much used, both as a sea-
soning and as a food. When bruised and applied to the skin, it
causes inflammation and raises blisters. In the south of Europe, par-
ticularly in Spain, it is very much used, entering into the composition
of almost every dish, not only among the common people, but among
the higher classes of society; and it is everywhere prized by epicures.
At all times, however, it has experienced much contrariety of opinion,
and has been adored by some nations, and detested by others, as by
the ancient Greeks. Its cultivation is easy, being a hardy plant,
growing in almost every kind of soil; and it is reproduced by planting
the radical or floral bulbs. In the Middle States, it acquires its full
size about the latter end of August. Its medicinal virtues have also
been much celebrated.

GAS. This name is apphed by chemists to those fluids that
partly resemble common air, yet differ from it in their qualitiess and
have never been made solid. There are a great variety of these;
but those which, after oxygen, are of the greatest use, and in agricul-
ture have the greatest effect, are those of carbon and ammonia.
Carbonic gas is composed of carbon and oxygen. Ammonial gas
is composed of hydrogen and nitrogen. Carbonic gas furnishes
to plants the carbon which constitutes their stems or trunks,
and is constantly absorbed and decomposed by the leaves of plants ;
the carbon is retained for the use of the plant, while the oxygen is
thrown off to restore to the alr that which was lost by the respiration
of the millions of vitally organized beings that breathe on the surface
of the earth. Ammonia is an alkali, volatile, and commonly known
in some of its combinations as salts of ammonia, or when combined
with a fluid, as spirits of hartshorn. This gas or its salts have a

THE FARMER AT HOME. 185

highly exciting power on plants, and constitute one of the most essen-
tial ingredienis in animal manures. When stable manures ferment
too highly, this gas is volatilized and driven off, as the pungent odor
arising from the manure proves, and is thus mainly lost to plants
where the dung is applied. This may be remedied by making the
compost heap of layers of manure, earth, swamp muck, or any sub-
stance that will absorb and retain the gases that may be developed
during fermentation, as well as the fluids that drain from the manure
while undergoing the process of conversion into compost.

GASTRIC JUICE. A fluid separated by the capillary exhaling
arteries of the stomach, which open upon its internal tunic. The
zsophages also afford a small quantity, especially in the inferior part.
Modern philosophers have paid great attention to this fluid; and
from their several experiments, it is known to possess the following
properties. It is the principal agent of digestion, and changes the
aliments into a kind of uniform, soft paste. It acts on the stomach,
after the death of the animal. Its effects show that it is a solvent;
but of that peculiar nature, that it dissolves animal and vegetable
substances uniformly, and without exhibiting.a stronger affinity for
the one, than for the other. It is far from being of the nature of a
ferment, as many suppose ; for it is one of the most powerful antisep-
tics we are acquainted with; and from the experments of Spallanzani,
Scopoli, Carminati, and others, its nature appears to be essentially
different in the several classes of animals, as they have proved by
analysis. The gastric juice of the human subject, when healthy, is
inodorous, of a saltish taste, and limpid, like water, unless it be a
little tinged with the yellow color of some bile, that has regurgitated
into the stomach. In quantity, it is very considerable, as must be
evident from the extent of the surface of the stomach, and its con-
tinual secretion; but it is the most copious, when solicited by the
stimulus of food. Besides the properties of this fluid before mentioned,
it has others, which have induced physicians and surgeons to exhibit
it medicinally. It cures dyspepsy and intermittent fever. Applied
externally, in form of fomentation or poultice, it cures putrid and
scrofulous ulcers in a wonderful manner; and it is to be regretted,
that its utility is not more generally known.

GELATINE. This is one of the constituent parts of animal
substances, and may be obtained by repeatedly washing the fresh skin
of an animal in cold water, afterwards boiling it, and reducing it to a
small quantity by slow evaporation, and allowing it to cool. It then
assumes the form of jelly, and becomes hard and semi-transparent. It
18 a principal ingredient both of the solid and fluid parts of animals,
and is employed in the state of glue, size, and isinglass. Gelatine is
used in a new kind of bread, now manufactured in Paris. It having
been found that the gelatine of bones used for soups was exceedingly
nutritious, it was imagined that if this gelatine sould be introduced

186 THE FARMER AT HOME.

into bread from potato flour, which is very much less nutritious than
wheaten flour, the former would be equally pleasant, and even more
nutritive than wheaten bread. The experiment has been tried with
great success; and beautiful loaves of bread, made in this way, are
now sold in Paris at a much lower price than bread from wheat flour.

Gelatine is one of the most powerful and valuable manures, being
supposed by Chaptal to act both as a stimulant and a nutritive sub-
stance. It is principaily used in the shape of bone dust, though in
many parts of the world it is used extensively in the form of flesh, as
where fish are used for manuring. Bones are better than flesh, as
they contain phosphate of lime, a substance that greatly aids the
action of the gelatine. Banes contain about equal quantities of phos-
phate and gelatine. The bones, that are the hardest, have the least
gelatine, and those of young animals more than those of older ones.
Bones intended for grinding, should not be boiled, as they sometimes
are in cities, to extract the fat and gelatine for soap, as it lessens their
value for agricultural purposes. Bones should be ground fine, and if
allowed to ferment so as to have the pungent ammoniacal odor
appear, their action will be more prompt than otherwise.

GERMINATION. Among botanists, germination comprehends
the precise time which the seeds take to rise, after they have been
committed to the soil. The different species of seeds are longer or
shorter, in rising, according to the degree of heat which is proper to
each. Air and - cates are the’ agents of germinations. The humidity
of the air alone makes several seeds to rise that are exposed to it.
Seeds too are observed to rise in water, without the intervention of
earth ; but water without air is insufficient. Mr. Homberg’s experi-
ments on this head are decisive. He put several seeds under the
exhausted receiver of an air-pump, with a view to establish something
certain on the causes of germination. Some of them did not rise at
all; and the greatest part of those which did, made very weak and
feeble productions.

Thus it is for want of air, that seeds, which are buried at a very
great depth in the earth, either thrive but indifferently or do not rise
at all. They frequently preserve, however, their germinating virtue
for many years within the bowels of the earth ; and it is not unusual,
upon a piece of ground being newly dug to a considerable depth, to
observe it soon after covered with several plants, which had not been
seen there in the memory of man. Were this frequently repeated, it
would doubtless be the means of recovering certain species of plants
which are regarded as lost ; or which, perhaps, have never come to
the knowledge of botanists.

GINGER. The root of a plant which grows spontaneously in
the East and West Indies, and in China. It flowers about August
or September, and fades about the end of the year. When the stalks
are withered, the roots are dug up, commonly in January and Feb-

~ THE FARMER AT HOME. 187

ruary, and are picked, cleansed, and gradually scalded in boiling
water. They are then dried by exposure to the sun, and form what
is called black ginger. White ginger is the very same root. but in
order to produce 1 it, the roots are not scalded, but are picked, scraped,
separately washed, and dried very carefully. Ginger is generally sold
in knotty, branched. and flattish pieces, and is of a pale color and
fibrous texture, when stripped of the outer bark. It should generally

be chosen in large roots, new, and ‘not easily broken ; its color ana
be of a light brownish green, and it should be resinous within, and of
a pungent aromatic taste. ,.The dark, soft, and fibrous kind, should be
rejected. Sometimes it is imported green from Bengal. Preserved
ginger is brought from the West Indies and China, but the former is
preferred. It is brought home in large and somewhat transparent
pieces, of a bright yellow color. The-jars which contain it should be
carefully sealed up.

GLASS. Glass is the name of an artificial substance, formed by
the igneous fusion of siliceous earth with various salts and metallic
oxides, and possessing a high degree of transparency, equalled only
by the more perfect crystals of the mineral kingdoms, and other phy-
sical properties, which render it one of the most useful and ornamental
substances which the arts have received from the ingenuity of man.

GLAZING. In the manufacture of pottery, the incrustation of
vessels with a vitreous substance, the basis of which is lead. The
usual composition is, forty pounds of white sand, twenty pounds of
red lead, and twelve pounds of pearl-ashes. After these ingredients
are ground together, they are calcined with a moderate heat, and,
when cold, reduced to powder. When wanted, the powder is tem-
pered with water, and laid on the ware by means of a brush. Placed
in a furnace, the violent heat soon transforms this coating into a per-
fect glass.

The glazing of all our earthen ware is very apt to crack, both from
moisture and heat, being composed of lead. one of the most pernicious
metals that could be devised for such important purpose. It is well
known, that lead is easily volatilized by heat, and readily decomposed
by any vegetable acid. Hence it has been affirmed by various emi-
nent. writers, that we are under the necessity of inhaling or swallow-
ing, perhaps every day, a minute portion of a metal, which is one of
the slowest, but most destructive poisons, and lays the foundation of
many fatal disorders, such as palsy, dry colic, consumption, &c. ; the
remote cause of which has not, till lately, been suspected.

GLEANING. Picking up the scattered ears of wheat after the
wheat is cut and carried. “Tt was once thought in England, that, by
the common law, the poor might claim this liberty as their right; but
it has been adjudged by a judoment of the Court of Common Pleas,
that no such right exists by the common law of the land.

GLUE. Glue is a tenacious cement, principally used by cabinet-

188 THE FARMER AT HOME. ™~

makers, joiners, book-binders, case-makers, and hatters. _The sub-
stances from which glue is made, are the shreds or parings of hides ;
the ears, before they are immersed in the tanner’s vats; the cuttings
and the raspings ef horn, from the comb-maker, the button-maker,
and the horn lantern-maker, and the hoofs and horns of oxen, calves,
and sheep, from the butcher. These substances are indiscriminately
mixed together, and are purified from all grease and dirt by digestion
in lime water, the greatest care being taken to remove every piece
that is in the slightest degree putrescent. The materials are next
steeped and washed in clean water, with frequent stirring, and after-
wards laid in heaps, and the water pressed out. They are then boiled
in a large brass kettle, with clean water, the fat and dirt being con-
stantly skimmed off as they rise, and when the whole is dissolved, a
little melted alum, or finely-powdered lime isadded. After the skim-
ming has been continued for some time, the whole is strained through
baskets and suffered to settle, in order that the remaining impurities
may subside, and the fat rise to the top. The impurities and fat be-
ing removed, it is then returned into a clean kettle, and suffers a
second evaporation and skimming. When it acquires a clean darkish
color, and a sufficient consistence, which is known by the appearances
during ebullition, it is lifted out by a scoop, into frames or moulds,
about six feet long, one foot broad, and two deep, where it is allowed
to cool gradually.

GLUTEN. When wheat flour or other farinaceous powders are
put into a coarse bag and kneaded with water, that fluid carries off
their starch suspended in it, and a tough tubstance is left in the bag
which is called vegetable gluten. It is a soft viscid substance, tena-
cious, elastic, and very adhesive, having a fibrous texture, and a faint
peculiar odor. When exposed to a dry air, it becomes hard and
brittle, resembling a piece of glue. In a moist atmosphere, it swells,
and undergoes putrefaction, emitting an offensive odor. Yeast or
barm, which is employed to excite fermentation, particularly by
bakers, is found to have many of the properties of gluten. Gluten is
contained in greatest quantity in wheat; it is also found in other
substances, though in small quantity, as in barley, rye, peas, beans,
chestnuts, and many others. It does not, however, exist in potatoes.
Gluten, from its close resemblance to the principles of the animal
kingdom, is supposed to be very nutritious. From the changes which
it so easily excites in other bodies, it is employed largely in distilling,
and also in the making of bread.

GNAT. An insect fly that feasts on blood, and is the expertest
phlebotomist in nature. The gnat is furnished with a proboscis,
which is at once an awl proper for piercing the flesh of animals, and
a pump by which it sucks out their blood. This proboscis contains,
besides, a long saw, with which it opens the small blood vessels at
the bottom of the wound which it has made. He is likewise provided

THE FARMER AT HOME. 189

with a corselet of eyes studded round his little head, to see all the ob-
jects around him in every direction ; talons so sharp, that he can
walk on polished glass, in a perpendicular line ; feet supplied with
brushes to clean himself; a plume of feathers on his forehead; and
an instrument answering the purpose of a trumpet, to proclaim his
triumphs.

GOAT. The domestic goat is known in almost all parts of the
world. If we may judge from the expressions of the ancient pastoral
poets. goats were formerly attended in Greece and Italy with no less
care than sheep. The milk is excellent, and has been thought pecu-
liarly serviceable for consumptive persons. The Angora goat is fur-
nished with soft silky hair, of a silver white color, hanging down in
curling locks eight or nine inches long. From the wool or hair of
this goat the finest camlets are made. The Cashmere goat, as its
name indicates, is a native of the kingdom of Cashmere ; it is smaller
than the domestic goat, and has long, silky, fine hair, not curled, as
in the Angora goat. This variety has been successfully introduced
into France, where it has bred with another variety equally valuable,
the Thibet goat From these animals are procured the materials for
the manufacture of Cashmere shawls.

GOOSEBERRY. The gooseberry is well known as a most
wholesome fruit, chiefly confined to cold or temperate climates. It
appears to have taken the name of gooseberry from its being used as
sauce for young or green geese. From a small berry in the wild
state, the gooseberry, like the apple, has been multiplied in its varie-
ty, and brought to its present size and flavor by the industry of well-
skilled gardeners; and it is now deemed one of our most valuable
fruits, being easily propagated, and regular in its production ; furnish-
ing our tables with a wholesome and agreeable diet. The gooseberry
is the earliest, as well as one of the best fruits for spring tarts.

GRAFTING. The operation of grafting consists in affixing one
portion of a plant to another in such a manner as that a vital union
takes place between them. It is one of the most important processes
in horticulture, as affording the most eligible means of multiplying
and perpetuating all our best varieties of fruit-trees, and many kinds
of trees and shrubs not so conveniently propagated by other means.
The season for performing this operation is, for all deciduous trees and
shrubs, the spring, immediately before the movement of the sap.
The spring is also the most favorable period for evergreens ; but the
sap in this class of plants being more in motion during winter than
that of deciduous plants, grafting, if thought necessary, might be per-
formed at that season. From the ease with which grafting is per-
formed, there can now be no excuse for poor fruit, as any farmer may-
practice it, and every year would be thus adding t) the stock of valu-
able fruits. It is quickly dare, and attended w'th no expense, if
performed by himself.

190 THS FARMER AT HOME.

GRAIN. This is a general name, and includes all those kinds ot
grass which bear straw, and which are cultivated on account of their
seeds for the production of meal or flour. The word corn, or its equi-
valent in other languages, is frequently applied exclusively to that
kind of grain which constitutes the chief nourishment of the country ;
thus, in a great part of Germany, it is rye; in France, it is wheat ;
and, in our own country, it is maize. The great secret of the preser-
vation of grain consists in protecting it from the action of air and
moisture, with a low temperature. Either too much air, or moisture,
or heat, will be fatal to it. The Chinese preserve their grain in pits
dug in rock, or firm dry soil, and to protect the grain from humidity,
these pits are lined with straw. Grain well dried and put up in
stacks at harvesting, or in rows, will keep much better than if thrashed
and deposited in common granaries, the chaff of the ear serving te
absorb the moisture which is most injurious to it.

GRANITE. A compound rock, consisting of quartz, feispar, and
mica, each crystallized and cohering by mutual affinity, without any
basis or cement. The felspar commonly predominates, and the mica
is in smallest quantity. The colors of the felspar are white, red, gray,
and green. The quartz is light gray, and the mica dark. The gra-
nular crystals vary exceedingly in size, in different granite rocks.
Occasionally granite is stratified : but sometimes no stratification can
he verceived. Large globular masses, called rolling stones, are fre-
yuently met with, composed each of concentric lamellar concretions.
Schorl, garnet, and tinstone, are frequently present in granite. Tin
and iron are the only metals abundantly found in this rock. It con-
tains molybdena, silver, copper, lead, bismuth, arsenic, titanium, tung-
sten, and cobalt. It is, however, poorer in ores than many other rock
formations.

GRAPE. The fruit of the vine, growing in clusters, from which
wine is expressed. Grapes are found by a chemical analysis to con-
tain supertartrate of potash, tartaric acid, citric and malic acids,
abundance of sugar, a portion of mucilage jelly, some albumen, and
also, as is said, some gluten. When it becomes generally known with
what ease some kinds of grape can be cultivated, no farmer should
be without it. The fruit is delicious and conducive to health. The
vine is hardy and requires no great attention. If in locations near to
large cities, or where there is a demand for the fruit, the culture of it
meets with an ample remuneration; but if not, a very few vines about
the house, which are ornamental as well as useful, would ordinarily
in the season of the fruit keep a family abundantly supplied with it.

GRATE. A frame of iron bars, used for burning coal or fuel.
Grates are commonly smaller than fireplaces intended for the con-
sumption of wood, on account of the greater heat emitted by coal.
Those used for burning anthracite should be made deeper and of a
greater height than others, so as to present a comparatively small

THE FARMER AT HOME. 191

surface to the air; for, in very cold weather, the air conducts the heat
- from the surface faster than combustion renews it, so that, if the
amount of surface exposed be large, the fire will go out. This kind
of coal yields no visible smoke. The chimney, however, should be
large enough to transmit smoke, otherwise some of the carbonic acid,
which is formed during the combustion, will be sent into the room.
This gas is the suffocating vapor of burning charcoal.

GRAVEL. Stones from the size of a a pin’s head to those of two
or three pounds in weight, are termed gravel, and the greater or less
quantity of them in the soil, as well as the kind of rock of which they
are composed, has a great influence on the fertility and cultivation of
land. If the gravel is coarse, and the particles slightly connected,
the soil will be what is called hungry, as manures put upon it sink
among the porous materials, and produce little or no effect on the
crops. On the contrary, if the gravel is finer, or sufficiently filled
with other earths and vegetable and animal matter, it constitutes one
of the most valuable soils, and is particularly excellent for wheat and
clover. Gravelly soils are apt to be too dry ; but unless very coarse,
the incorporation of clay will have a beneficial effect, by rendering it
more retentive of moisture, and consequently giving it more support to
the crop. Under the influence of the doctrine promulgated by Tull,
that the finer the particles of the soil the better it would be, some farmers
sifted some of their soils, and carried off the gravel so collected ; but
the eflect was found to be most injurious, as the soils speedily became
too compact for profitable vegetation ; the experiment was abandoned,
and the pebbles returned to their original place.

GRAVITATION. The principle of gravity, of so much import:
ance in the sciences of mechanics and astronomy, was first explained
by Sir Isaac Newton. His attention was first directed to the subject
by seeing an apple fall to the ground, and he began to consider what
could be the cause. The same phenomenon everywhere presents itself.
A stone dropped from the hand comes to the ground. A sand-bag let
fall from a balloon does the same. The same cause acting in all these
cases is called gravity ; and its influence is exerted over all bodies
whatever upon our earth. Smoke and vapor indeed arise from the
surface of the earth, but that is for the same reason that wood rises
to the surface of water, or a balloon in the air. In a vacuum pro-
duced by the air-pump, smoke and vapor do not ascend. Specific
gravity, is the relative gravity of any body or substance, considered
with regard to some other body which is assumed as a standard of
comparison, and this standard, by universal consent and practice, is
rain-water, on account of its being less subject in variation in different
circumstances of time and place, than any other body, whether solid
or fluid. And, by a very fortunate coincidence, at least to English
philosophers, it happens that a cubic foot of rain-water weighs one
thousand ounces avoirdupois ; and, consequently, assuming this as the

192 THE FARMER AT HOME:

specific gravity of rain-water, and comparing all other bodies with this,
the same numbers that express the specific gravity of bodies, will at
the same time denote the weight of a cubic foot of each in avoirdupois
ounces. which is a great convenience in numerical computations.

GRAZIER. In Agriculture, a term commonly applied to such
farmers as are engaged in the art and. business of fattening various
sorts of live stock on pasture and other grass lands. That this sort of
business may be managed to the best possible advantage, the grazier
should have a perfect knowledge of the nature, properties, and value
of all sorts of cattle and sheep stock, as well as of the quality of the
ground on which they are to be fed, and of the most proper methods
of suiting them to each other. And he should also be well informed
concerning the nature and states of markets in general. It is obvious
that upon those being well understood and properly regarded, much of
the suecess of this sort of farming business must depend, as thereby
proper advantage may be taken, not only of fairs and markets, but a
variety of other necessary circumstances.

GREEN. One of the original colors excited by the rays of light.
The green color of plants has been shown, by the French chemists, to
depend upon the absorption of carbonic acid, and it is supposed that
the leaves of plants have the power of decomposing the carbonic acid
and water also.

GREEN TURTLE. The most noted and the most valuable of
all animals of the tortoise kind ; by reason of the delicacy of its flesh
and its nutritive qualities, together with the property of being easily
digested.” This animal, which is found in great abundance on the
coasts of Jamaica and some other West India Islands, is called the
green turtle from the color of its skin, which is rather greener than
that of others of the tortoise kind. It is generally found to weigh
about two hundred; though some are five hundred, and others not
above fifty. Dampier tells us, of one that was seen at Port Royal, in
Jamaica, that was six feet across the back ; and that the son of Cap-
tain Roach, a boy about ten years old, sailed in the shell, as in a boat,
from the shore to his father’s ship, which was about a quarter of a
mile from land.

GRINDING. -In Cutlery, the operation of sharpening edge-tools.
This operation, as usually practised, is attended with no small incon-
venience, from the production of heat by friction. The heat produced
is so great, that hard tools are often softened and spoiled by the steel
becoming ignited during the grinding. To prevent this effect, the
grind-stone is partly immersed in a trough of water; but in this case
the rotation of the stone must be moderate, and the work, of course,
slow, else the water will be thrown off by the centrifugal force. When
the water is applied from above by a cock, the quantity is too small to
counteract the heat, and preserve the necessary low temperature. It
has even been found, that the edge or point of a hard tool ground

THE FARMER AT HOME. 193

under water will be softened, if it be not held so as to meet the stream,
sparks being often produced even under water.

GRINDSTONE. This is a circular stone used for the grinding
of edge tools, being mounted on a spindle, and turned by a winch-
handle or crank ; but in manufacturing establishments, where much
grinding is to be done, the stone is turned by water or steam. The
stone suited to form grindstones, is what is denominated a sharp grit,
that is, the grains of sand or silex of which it is composed are pretty
uniform in size, and firmly attached to each other by a siliceous or
other very hard cement, without the interstices between the grains
being filled up, as frequently is the case, or nearly so, with the other
kinds of sandstone. A grindstone mounted on friction rollers can be
turned by a very small power applied, compared with what would be
required were it not on them ; and if there be a treadle attached to
the crank, in sharpening all small instruments the grinder can turn
it by his own foot, so as to save the time of a second person.

GRINDSTONE.

GUANO. This is a manure used in modern husbandry ; less in
this country than in England. It is merely the excrements of vari-
ous sea-fowls, which resort in immense numbers to small uninhabited
islands or rocky promontories on the coasts of Africa and South Amer-
ica, where they have remained in undisturbed possession for ages.
Some of the deposits there made by these birds are from fifty to sixty
feet in depth. Guano has been pronounced by competent judges to
be the richest manure known to the farmer ; but, as might be sup-
posed, it is of various qualities, depending not only on its original
character, but the climate and metereological influences upon it,
where obtained. Its original character was the result of the peculiar
food on which these birds feed, mostly flesh and fish, that afford a

9 .-

194 THE FARMER sT HOME.

stronger manure than that yielded by parrots or pigeons which live
on berries and grain. Although the use of guano in this country is
of recent origin, within the last ten years there have been imported of
it about 650,000 tons.

GUINEA PIG. An animal of the hare kind, resembling a rab-
bit, but is less in size. It is a native of the warmer climates, but has
long been rendered domestic over the world; in some places it is con-
sidered the principal favorite, and is often found even to displace the
lap-dog. Its colors are different; some are white, some are red,
and others both red and white. The male and the female are
never seen both asleep at the same time; but while he enjoys his
repose, she remains on the watch, silently continuing to guard him,
and her head turned towards the place where he hes. When she
supposes he has had his turn, she then wakes him with a kind of
murmuring noise, goes to him, forces him from his bed, and lies down
in his place. He then performs the same good turn for her, and con-
tinues watching till she also has done sleeping.

GUM. Is the mucilage of vegetables, and is of no particular
smell or taste. It becomes viscous and tenacious when moistened
with water; totally dissolves in water into a liquid, more or less glu-
tinous in proportion to the quantity of the gum; not dissolving in
vinous spirits or in oil; burning in the fire to a black coal, without
melting or catching flame ; suffering no dissipation in the heat of
boiling water. The true gums are gum arabic, gum tragacanth, gum
senega, the gum of cherry and plum trees, and such like. All others
have more or less of resin in them.

GUM ARABIC. Is the produce of a species of Mimosa. Its
chief use in medicine is from its glutinous quality, which serves to
incrassate and obtund their acrid humors, and thus is useful in coughs,
alvine fluxes, hoarsenesses, gripes, &c. In a dysuria the true gum
arabic is more cooling than the other simple gums. One ounce of
gum arabic renders a pint of water considerably glutinous; four
ounces give it a thick syrupy consistence ; but for mucilage, one part
gum to two parts water is required; and for some purposes an equal
proportion will be necessary. Hasselquist relates an instance of the
extraordinary nutritive virtues of this gum, which happened to an
Abyssinian caravan, whose provisions were consumed, when they had
still two months to travel. They were then obliged to search for
something among their merchandize wherewith they might support
nature ; and found nothing more proper than gum arabic, of which
they had carried a considerable quantity along with them. This
served to support above one thousand persons for two mouths; and
the caravan at last arrived at Cairo, without any great loss of people
either by hunger or diseases.

GYPSUM. A substance well known to the ancients, and one
that is very abundant in nature, and is now denominated, according

THE FARMER AT HOME. 195

to the new chemical arrangement, the sulphate of lime. It forms
immense strata, composing entire mountains; it is found in almost
every soil ; it is contained in the waters of the ocean, and in almost
all river and spring water. In these its presence is the cause of the
quality termed hardness, which may be known by the water being
incapable of forming a solution of soap, the sulphuric acid seizing on
the alkali of the soap, and the oil forming a compound with the lime.
Sulphate of lime is insipid, white, and soft to the touch. Water will
not hold a five hundredth part of it in solution. Exposed to heat it
appears to effervesce, which phenomenon is caused by the expulsion
of water. It becomes opaque, and falls into powder. This powder,
when its water has been driven off by the application of a red heat,
absorbs water rapidly, so that if it be formed into a paste with water,
it dries in a few minutes. In this state it is called plaster of Paris,
and is employed for forming casts, and for a variety of purposes in the
art of statuary.

Gypsum, when used in agriculture as a manure, is ground fine in
mills for the purpose ; and then scattered by the hand at the rate of
two or three bushels per acre, and its effects on grasses are frequently
perceptible for three or four years. It is best strewn when the leaves
are wet with a light rain or heavy dew, and after the leaves of the
plants begin to cover the ground. Some have objected to the use of
gypsum, or plaster, that it produced greater crops at first, but that it
speedily exhausted the land, and impoverished it. Those who make
this objection, probably, took everything from the land, and returned
nothing to it, relying wholly on the plaster to keep up the fertility, a
course manifestly erroneous. Clover should always accompany the
use of plaster, and when this crop is fed off on the land, and made
part of the course of rotation, no deterioration, but on the contrary,
an inerease of the grain crops has taken place. Considerable quan-
tities of earthy materials are usually mixed with plaster, giving it a
dark color, and on the proportion of these in the mass, much of the
value is depending. Of course that which is white is best, as the
dark shades are caused by some other substance, probably mere earth.

HABITATIONS OF ANIMALS. Many animals, besides those
of the human species, have the faculty of constructing proper habita-
tions for concealing themselves, for defending themselves against the
attacks of their enemies, for sheltering and cherishing their young, and
for protecting them from the injuries of the weather. All those of the
same species, when not restrained by accidental causes, uniformly
build in the same style, and use the same materials. From this
general rule man is to be excepted. Possessed of superior faculties
and understanding, he can build in any style, and employ such
materials as his taste. his fancy, or the purposes for which the fabric
is intended, shall direct him. A cottage and a palace are equally
within the reach of his powers. In treating of this subject, we mean

196 THE FARMER AT HOME.

not to trace the progress of human architecture, which, in the early
stages of society. is extremely rude, but to confine ourselves to that of
the inferior tribes of animated beings.

With regard to quadrupeds, many of them employ no kind of
architecture, but live continually, and bring forth their young, in the
open air. When not under the immediate protection of man, these
species, in rough or stormy weather, shelter themselves among trees
or bushes, retire under the coverture of projecting rocks, or the sides
of hills opposite to those from which the wind proceeds. Besides
these arts of defence, to which they are prompted by instinct and
experience, nature furnishes them, during the winter months, with a
double portion of long hair, which protects them from cold, and other
assaults of the weather.

Of the quadrupeds that make or choose habitations for themselves,
some dig holes in the earth, some take refuge in the cavities of
decayed trees, and in the clefts of rocks, and some actually construct
cabins, or houses. But the artifices they employ, the materials they
use, and the situations they select, are so various and so numerous, it
would be impracticable to enter into any minute specifications in this
short article. It may, however, be remarked, that the architecture
of several of these creatures denotes a degree of intelligence, or per-
haps, instinct it should be called, that 1s wonderful ; and the study of
it would be amusing, to say the least. Take as samples, the labors
of the Beavers and the Alpine Marmot, which indicate an adaptation
to the object to be attained that is extraordinary in the extreme.

HAIL. In Natural History, a meteor, generally defined frozen
rain, but differing from it in that the hailstones are not formed of sin-
gle pieces of ice, but of many little spherules agglutinated together.
Neither are the spherules all of the same consistence, some being
hard and solid like perfect ice; others soft, and mostly like snow
hardened by a severe frost. Sometimes the hailstone has a kind of
core of this soft matter; but more frequently the core is solid and
hard, while the outside is formed of a softer matter. Hailstones are
of various figures ; some round, others pyramidal, crenated, angular,
thin, and flat, and some stellated, with six radu like the small crystals
of snow. Natural historians record various instances of surprising
showers of hail, in which the hailstones were of extraordinary magni-
tude. Mezeray, speaking of the war of Louis XIIL., in Italy, in 1510,
relates, that there was for some time a horrible darkness, thicker than
that of night ; after which the clouds broke into thunder and light-
ning, and there fell a shower of hailstones, or rather (as he calls
them) pebble stones, which destroyed all the fish, birds, and beasts,
of the country.

Hail. so far as has been discovered, never produces any beneficial
effect. Rain and dew invigorate and give life to the whole vegetable
tribe; frost, by expanding the water contained in the earth, pulverises

THE FARMER AT HOME. 197

and renders the soil fertile; snow covers and preserves the tender
vegetables from being destroyed by too severe a frost. But hail does
none of these. In winter it lies not sufficiently close to cover vege-
tables from the nipping frosts ; and in spring and summer it not only
has a chilling and blasting effect, but often does great damage to the
more tender plants by the weight of the stones. In great hail storms
the damage done in this manner is prodigious.

Hail is one of the natural phenomena for which it is difficult to
account in any satisfactory manner. It is certain that, on the tops of
mountains, hailstones, as well as drops of rain, are very small, and
continually increase in bulk, till they reach the lower grounds. It
would seem, therefore, that during their passage through the air they
attract the congealed vapor, which increases them in size. But here we
are at a loss how they come to be solid hard bodies, and not always soft,
and composed of many small stars like snow. The flakes of snow, no
doubt, increase in size as they descend, as well as the drops of rain
or hailstones ; but why should the one be in soft crystals, and the other
in large hard lumps, seeing both are produced from congealed vapor?

Some modern philosophers ascribe the formation of hail to
electricity. Signor Beccaria supposes hail to be formed in the
higher regions of the air, where the cold is intense, and where the
electric matter is very copious. In these circumstances, a great
number of particles of water are brought near together, where they
are frozen, and in their descent collect other particles, so that the
density of the substance of the hailstone grows less and less from the
centre ; this being formed first in the higher regions, and the surface
being collected in the lower, drops of rain and hail agree in this, that
the more intense the electricity that forms them, the larger they are.
Motion is known to promote freezing, and so the rapid motion of the
electrified clouds may produce that effect. A more intense electricity
also, he thinks, unites the particles of hail more closely than the more
moderate electricity does those of snow. In like manner we see
thunder clouds more dense than those that merely bring rain ; and
the drops of rain are longer in proportion, though they fall not from so
great a height.

HAIR. This is a fine, threadlike, more or less elastic, substance,
of various color, and constitutes the covering of the skin, particularly
of the class of mammalia. The same variety and brilliancy are dis-
played in the feathers of birds, which may be considered as analagous
to hair, of the most variegated and beautiful colors. In quadrupeds,
it is of the most various conformation, from the finest wool to the
quills of the porcupine, or the bristles of the hog. The hair, which
is spread over almost the whole of the skin, is comparatively short
and soft. On particular parts, a longer, thicker, and stronger kind is
found ; as, for instance, the mane and tail of the horse, the lion’s
mane, the covering of man’s occiput his beard, and the beard of goats.

198 THE FARMER AT HOME.

The color of the hair generally affords an external characteristic of
the species or variety; but climate, food, and age produce great
changes in it. The human body is naturally covered with long hair
only in a few parts; yet the parts which we should generally describe
as destitute of it, produce a fine, short, colorless, sometirm~ hardly
perceptible hair. The only places entirely free from it are the
palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Hair not only serves as
a cover or ornament to the body, but exercises an important influence
on absorption and perspiration ; where the hair is thick, the perspira-
tion is freer. If the root is destroyed, there is no means of reproduc-
ing the hair; but if it falls out, without the root being destroyed, as is
often the case after nervous fevers, the hair grows out again of itself.

HALO. A halo is a luminous circle, usually of various and beau-
tiful hues, surrounding the sun or moon during certain conditions of
the atmosphere. A halo of the moon is usually a white circle with
an inner edge sometimes tinged with pale red. There is much truth
in the remark, that a dense halo close to the moon portends rain.
Lunar halos are most frequent, because the sun’s rays are too dazzling
to admit of their being seen. The most probable cause of this phe-
nomena is, that it depends on the refraction of light in passing through
small transparent prisms of ice, floating im the higher regions of the
atmosphere.

HAMS. The ham is one of the most valuable parts of the hog,
and which, if properly cured, may be preserved for almost any length
of time, retaining its fine properties. The most esteemed, are made
from hogs fed on solid feed, corn being the best, which are allowed
considerable exercise ; which do not weigh more than two hundred
or two hundred and fifty pounds, and which have a large portion of
muscular or lean flesh in their structure. The quality of the meat
depends also on the manner of pickling and smoking it. Saltpetre in
the curing of it gives it a good color, and prevents it from being too
salt ; the meat having a greater affinity for the former than for the
latter of these substances. A little saleratus will render it tender, and
sugar or molasses will give general improvement to the flavor. Our
own rule is, to every hundred pounds of flesh, one pound of saltpetre,
half a gallon of molasses, or its equivalent in sugar, and half a tea-
cup of saleratus, made into a pickle, with salt sufficient to raise an
egg half above the surface, the whole being simmered over the fire
till all the impurities rise and are skimmed off. When cold, the
hams are buried in it, and remain there from four to six weeks, when
they may be taken out, dried, and put in the smoke-house. The
smoke of cobs or hickory wood is best. They may be kept through
the season hanging in the smoke-house, now and then making a little
smoke under them; or, they may be sewed up in bags and white-
washed, or they may be packed in ashes; either, if well done, will
protect them from flies.

THE FARMER AT HOME. 199

HAND. A member of the human body, at the extremity of the
arm. The mechanism of the hand is excellently fitted for the various
uses and oceasions we have for it, and the great number of arts and
manufactures in which it is to be employed. It consists of a com-
pages of nerves, and little bones joimted into each other, which give
it a great degree of strength, and at the same time an unusual flexi-
bility, to enable it to handle adjacent bodies, lay hold of them, and
grasp them, in order either to draw them towards us or thrust them
off. Anaxagorous is said to have maintained, that man owes all his
wisdom, knowledge, and superiority over other animals, to the use of
his hands. The right hand was the place of honor and respect.
Amongst the Greeks and Romans it was customary for inferiors to
walk on the left hand of superiors, that the right hand might be
ready to afford protection and defence to their left side, which, on
account of the awkwardness of the left hand, was more exposed to
danger.

HAND AND HORSE GRAIN MILL. In many localities, and
particularly in seasons of drought, farmers are subjected to material
inconvenienve in having their grain ground. This usually happens

HAND AND HORSE GRAIN MILL.

when time can least be spared to go a long distance for it, in the sea-
son of hay-making and harvesting To relieve them from this incon-

200 THE FARMER AT HOME.

venience, small portable mills, operated by hand, or horse power, as
occasion requires, have been provided. ‘The accompanying cut rep
resents one kind that has been highly commended. The grinding
surfaces are made of iron, and when they are too much worn for use
new ones can be substituted in their place. The mill is strong and
durable. With horse-power applied, four bushels of fine meal can
be made in an hour ; and a greater quantity of coarse. And, what
is very important, the mill is not liable to get out of repair.

HARDENING OF TIMBER. The Venetians are famous for
the soundness of their ships, which do not rot as those of other nations,
but will endure much longer than the others. Tachenlus tells us,
that the whole secret of this consists in the manner of their hardening
their timber intended for this service ; and that this is done by sink-
ing it in water while green, and leaving it there many years. This
prevents the alkali, or that salt which furnishes the alkali in burning,
from exhaling afterwards; and by this means the timber becomes al-
almost as incorruptible as stone. It is evident that the exhaling of
this salt, and the rotting of wood, have some very great connection
with one another, since the more sound any piece of timber is, the
more salt it proportionably yields; and the wood which is rotten is
found on trial to contain no salt at all.

HARROW.

HARROW. Next to the plough, the harrow may be said to be
the oldest agricultural implement. It is represented on the most

THE FARMER AT HOME. 201

ancient sculptures of Egypt, and is known in some form wherever the
earth is cultivated. Various forms are given to the harrow, from
that of the wedge to the square, and the teeth are adapted to the
work it has to perform. The great use of the harrow is in pulverizing
the earth, tearing and freeing the soil from the roots of weeds and
grasses, and covering seeds when sown. For this purpose, the harrow
is preferred to the plough, as the latter usually places the small seeds
at too great a depth for certain germination. Many of our best farm-
ers, however, prefer the plough to the harrow for covering wheat; and
as this grain, if sown in autumn, germinates better, and endures the
winter better to have greater depth of earth than the harrow usually
gives, they are probably correct in their preference. The Triangular
Folding Harrow, represented in the preceding cut, is one of the best
in use.

HARVEST. In Agriculture, a name which is commonly applied
to the season in which grain, hay, and other crops are cut down, ecar-
ried and secured im the barns or stack-yards. The particular period
at which the harvest for corn and hay takes place, is sooner or later
according to the nature and state of the climate, the qualities of the
soil, and the peculiar circumstances of the crops in regard to situation
and kind.

HARVEST. MOON. An ephithet applied to those moons which,
in the autumnal months, rise on successive nights, soon after sunset,
owing to the oblique ascension of the signs of the zodiac, through
which the moon is then passing ; which signs, in turning the globe,
ascend almost horizontally.

HAULM. This is a name given to the stalks of beans and peas.
When well harvested, these form a very hearty species of fodder.
Both of these and all other kinds of straw haulm, should be given as
fresh as possible from the flail, for they grow brittle, and lose a portion
of whatever sap they possess, by exposure to the air; if kept long
they grow musty also, and in that state are neither wholesome or
readily eaten.

HAY. In most countries where the length and severity of the
winters make some provision for domestic animals necessary, grass cut
and cured in the form of hay, has always been the cheapest and most
valuable. Grass for hay should be cut at the time when the nutritive
parts are most developed, and that is in most cases when the plants
are forming the seeds, but before they are ripened. In curing it, creat
care should be taken not to have it damaged by rain, nor should it be
long exposed to the sun. In the first case the hay is washed and
whitened, and in the last, the leaves crumble and fall off, thus mate-
rially lessening the quality of the article for fodder. Clover makes a
hay which all animals eat greedily, but it requires more strict pre-
eaution in curing, and will bear less handling without injury, than any
other of the grasses. The hay called rowen, or the second crop, is

9*

202 THE FARMER AT HOME.

very fine and good for lambs and calves, but has not the nourishment
which the more natured plant possesses.

HEAD. In Anatomy. The head, besides possessing muscular
parts and integuments in common with the rest of the body, is the seat
of the organs of the external senses, and of the bony cavity m which
the brain is placed. This variety of structures and of the functions
which are performed by them, renders the head liable to many dis-
eases, of which some affect the skin, muscles, and cellular texture,
others the organs of sense, and others the brain and internal parts of
the skull. The head is liable to all the varieties of external injury,
of wounds of the scalp, and fractures of the skull ; the organs of sense,
to their peculiar maladies; and the brain and the internal parts to
very many diseases. In an important work with which the profession
has been favored by Dr. Abercrombie, he classes the diseases of the
internal parts of the head under the inflammatory, the apoplectic, and
the organic.

HEARING. The ear is the organ of hearing. In man it con-
sists of an external ear, and an internal ‘bony cavity with numerous
circular and winding passages, by which the vibrations of the air are
collected and concentrated, and by a peculiar mechanism conveyed to
the auditory nerves. The ear is supplied with peculiar glands, which
secrete an unctuous substance, called the wax of the ear. The internal
auditory passage proceeds in a spiral direction to the tympanum or
drum of the ear, which forms a complete partition between this pas-
sage and the internal cavities. Beyond the tympanum is a hemi-
spherical cavity which leads to the fauces, or opening at the back of
the mouth. This opening is of a trumpet form. The inner cavity,
including the winding passage, is aptly called the labyrinth of the
ear. The sense of hearing is, perhaps, still more important than that
of seeing; but as we can have no just conception of the real state of
social existence without either of these senses, it is idle to speculate on
such comparisons.

HEAT. Heat is the well known sensation which we perceive on
touching any substance whose temperature is superior to that of the
human body. Chemists have agreed to call the matter of heat calorie,
in order to distinguish it from the sensation which it produces. Caloric
has a tendency to diffuse itself equally among substances that come
in contact with it. If the hand be put upon a hot body, part of the
ealoric leaves the hot body, and enters the hand; this produces the
sensation of heat. On the contrary, if the hand be put upon a cold
body, part of the caloric contained in the hand, leaves the hand to
unite with the cold body: this produces the sensation of cold. If you
pour warm water into one basin, cold water into a second, and a mix-
ture of hot and cold water into a third; then put one hand into the
cold water, and the other into the warm, for two minutes, and after
that put both hands into the luke-warm water, to the one hand it will

THE FARMER AT HOME. 203

feel cold, and to the other hot. Persons ascending from the burning
shores of Vera Cruz, on the road to the mountain land of Mexico, will
feel the climate become colder, and will put on their great coats, and
yet they will meet people descending complaining of the heat. Cold,
therefore, is nothirig but a negative quality, simply mami the
absence of the usual quantity of caloric.

When gaseous substances become liquid, or liquid aabsianeen solid,
by this change of state they lose, in a great measure, their capacity
for caloric. During the slaking of quicklime, the calorie which is
evolved escapes from the water in consequence of its changing from a
liquid to a solid form by its union with the lime. When solid bodies
become liquid or gaseous, their capacity for caloric is proportionably
increased. If you place a glass of water in a mixture of equal quan-
tities of snow and salt, during their conversion to a liquid, the water
will be frozen in consequence of parting with its caloric to supply the
increased capacity of the mixture. The portion of caloric necessary
to raise a body to any given temperature is called its specific caloric.
The instrument in common use for measuring the temperature of
bodies, is called a thermometer. It consists of a glass tube containing
a portion of mercury, with a graduated scale annexed to it.

When a thermometer is brought in contact with any substance, the
mercury expands or contracts till it acquires the same temperature ;
and the height at which the mercury stands in the tube, indicates the
exact temperature of the substance to which it has been applied. It
will not show the absolute caloric in substances; for it cannot measure
that portion which is latent, or chemically combined with any body.
Caloric is the cause of fluidity in all substances capable of becoming
fluid, from the heaviest metal to the lightest gas. It insinuates itself
among their particles, and invariably separates them in some measure
from each other. Thus ice is converted,into water, and by a further
portion of caloric, into steam. We have reason to believe that every
solid substance on the face of the earth might be converted to a fluid,
or even to a vapor or gas, were it submitted to the action of a very
high temperature in peculiar circumstances. Some bodies give out
their superabundant caloric much sooner than others. Iron is a
quicker conductor of caloric than glass, and glass than wood.

The study of the laws of caloric to the agriculturist, is of great
interest and importance. Although some plants can exist with a very
small degree of heat, yet some of it is essential to all fluidity, as already
gated, and also, of course, to circulation, and consequently without it
there can be no growth. The rapidity of all vegetation is in a great
measure depending on the degree of heat combined with moisture, to
which the plant is subjected, and there are many which cannot exist
except in countries and places of high temperature. The effect in
forcing the growth of plants may be seen every season in our fields
and gardens, and it has been ascertainzd by actual experiment, that

204 THE FARMER AT HOME.

a difference cf five degrees in temperature will advance or retard
plants of the same kind and same advantages, temperature excepted,
ten or fifteen days. Of all our cultivated plants, corn is the one which
requires the highest temperature, and will endure it the longest with-
out injury. Melons require more heat than the climate of the northern
States afford to reach the perfection of which they are capable further
south ; and, in England, they cannot be grown. at all, without the aid
of artificial heat.

HEDGE. One of the most beautiful and durable of fences, made
of living plants, usually those of a thorny nature, and disposed to
grow in a close and impervious manner. One of the most striking
features of the English landscape, is the hedges which serve to divide
the estates from each other, or the several farms into suitable fields for
the purpose of agriculture. In the United States, ni merous attempts
at making hedges have been made, but owing to some unexplained
cause, with but little success on the whole. The plants used here
have been generally the same variety of the foreign hedge thorn, but
the deep green of the English hedge is not seen on the same plants
here, and they are liable to the attacks of worms, which speedily
destroy them. The Osage orange, the honey locust, the crab apple,
and the wild mulberry, are natives of this country, and have been tried
with different degrees of success. And there has been introduced for
this purpose, into the vicinity of Boston, the buckthorn, and there are
some beautiful specimens of hedges from this plant, which promise to
be all the lovers of this kind of fence can desire. However, it is
apprehended that as the circumstances here, are so different from what
they are in England, it will be long indeed before hedges in this country
become general.

HEMP. This is an annual plant of great use in the arts and
manufactures, furnishing thread, cloth, and cordage. Hemp bears a
near analogy to flax, not only in form, but also im culture and use. The
bark of the stalk, as in flax, is the chief object for which it is eultiva-
ted. Large portions of the Western States are peculiarly adapted to
the production of hemp, both so far as soil and climate are concerned ;
and for many years it has been a conspicuous object of attention.
Kentucky may as yet be considered the great hemp growing portion
of the American Union. It requires a warm, rich, vegetable mould,
to produce it in perfection, and the best limestone lands in Kentucky
and Tennessee are admirably adapted to it; and, it is to be hoped,
that ere long enough of it will be raised to prevent the necessity of |
further importations of it from abroad.

HEN. The number of eggs laid in a year by the domestic hen
are above two hundred; provided she be well fed and supplied with
water. In the wild state the hen seldom lays more than fifteen eggs.
When she begins to sit, her perseverance and patience are very
remarkable ; she continues for some days immovable ; and when

THY FARMER AT HOME. 20

hunger forces her away from the nest, she quickly returns. While
she sits, she carefully turns her eggs, and even removes them to dif-
ferent situations, till at length, in about three weeks, the young brood
give signs of bursting their confinement. When they have broken
with their bills a passage for themselves through the shell, the hen
continues to sit till they are excluded. When all are produced, the
strongest taking the lead, and the weakest following, she leads them
forth to provide for themselves, and in various ways seek the food that
is necessary to supply their wants. She recalls them when they
wander, spreads her wings over them to defend them against the
inclemency of the weather, and broods a second time. In_ these
expressions of anxiety and attention, her own health is visibly
impaired, and she may be distinguished from every other hen by her
rutiied feathers and trailing wings. The hoarseness of her voice, and
its different inflections, are all expressive of her situation, and of her
maternal affection and solicitude. For their preservation she neglects
herself, and exposes her life to danger in their defence. Whatever
the enemy be that assails them, she warns them by her repeated
cries, and boldly attacks the foe, whilst her brood are driven into some
place of security.

HEREFORD COW.

HEREFORD CATTLE. This isan English breed of the bovine
family, deriving the distinctive name, from the county of Hereford,
where it is common to the exclusion of most other breeds. They are
usually of a dark red ; some of them are brown, and even yellow,

206 THE FARMER AT HOME

and a few are brindled ; but they are principally distinguished by
their white faces, throats and bellies. In a few the white extends to
the shoulders. The old Herefords were brown, or red-brown, with
not a spot of white about them. It is only within the last fifty or
sixty years that it has been the fashion to breed for white faces.
Whatever may be thought of the change of color, the present breed
is superior to the old one. The cows are not generally admitted to
be equal in milking qualities to those of some other breeds; but, they
have their admirers in this country as weli as in England. And if
universally judged deficient in these qualities, the deficiency is bal-
anced by the great weight to which they can be fattened. And the
oxen are thought more profitable for the shambles than for the yoke,
notwithstanding their great strength and docility.

HERON. This bird builds in cliffs over the sea ; though it some-
times will be found in numbers on high trees. The heron was for-
merly much esteemed as food; it is remarkably long-lrved, some-
times exceeding even sixty years. Itis a great devourer of fish, and
does more mischief to a pond than even an otter. It has been found
that a heron will eat fifty moderate sized dace and roaches in a day ;
and that in carp ponds, visited by this bird, one heron will eat up a
thousand store carp in a year, and will hunt them so close as to let
very few escape.

HICKORY. This name is applied to one of our well-known
trees. The wood is coarse-grained, very heavy, exceedingly tough
and strong, and red at the heart ; but it is not as durable as the wood
of some other trees. It is employed for the shafts and springs of car-
riages, for large screws for presses, for bows, chair backs, whip handles,
wooden cogged wheels, cask hoops, and a variety of other purposes.
It is one of the most economical kinds of wood for fuel. The nuts of
one species of this tree are much prized. They are commonly called
shag-barks, from the roughness of the scaly surface of the bark of the
tree on which they grow.

HIDE-BOUND. This is applied to a certain disease of cows
and horses, in which the skin adheres to their sides. Want of
proper care, spare diet, and bad food—sometimes long, rank grass, in
swampy situations, and musty hay or oats, may be the causes of this
affection. The skin of the hide-bound animal loses its pliability and
flexible nature; the surface of it is hard and dry; the minute scales
with which it is covered no longer yield to the hair, but separating
themselves in every direction, they turn it in various ways, and so
give to it that irregular and ragged appearance which is one of the
characteristics of waut of condition. :

HIGH WATER. That state of the tides when they have flowed
to the greatest height, in which state they remain nearly stationary
for about fifteen or twenty minutes, when the water begins again to
ebb. The time of high water is always nearly the same in the same

THE FARMER AT HOME. 207

~

place at the full of the moon, and at all other times, the time of high
water depends upon the age of the moon; the rule for finding which,
the age of the moon being given, is as follows, viz: add four-fifths of
the days of the moon’s age, as so many hours, to the time of higk
water at the full of the moon, and the sum is the time of high water,
answering to that day nearly.

HOEING. In the new husbandry, is the breaking or dividing
the soil by tillage while the corn or other plants are growing thereon.
It differs from common tillage in the time of performing it ; and it is
much more beneficial to the crops than any other tillage. This sort
of tillage is performed various ways, and by means of different instru-
ments. Next to ploughing, hoeing is one of the most effectual opera-
tions in farming ; and, especially in countries where Indian corn is
grown, it may be considered indispensable. There are many kinds of
the hoe adapted to its various uses in the garden or the field; and in
the form of it, and in the material used for its construction, depends its
excellence. The blade or cutting part of a good hoe should be
sufficiently hard to keep a good edge and not batter, and at the same
time so elastic and fine tempered as not to be easily broken.

HOG. In grossness of manners, the hog tribe stand unrivalled
among quadrupeds; and their general appearance corresponds, in a
great measure, with their habits. The natural term of the life of
this animal is from fifteen to thirty years ; and it increases in size and
strength until four or five years of age. In Minorca, it is said, that
the hog is used as a beast of draught. The wild boar, from which
most of our domesticated varieties are derived, is found in most parts
of Europe and Asia, and is by no means so stupid or filthy an animal
as the tame hog. Hunting the wild boar has always been a favorite
amusement. When roused, he goes slowly and uniformly forward,
frequently stopping and facing his pursuers, often inflicting severe and
even mortal wounds. The common hog, in a tame state, is almost
universal, except in very high latitudes. In the forests of South
America, it is found in vast droves, derived from the European varie-
ties again relapsed into,a state of nature. The common hog appears
to enjoy none of the senses in perfection except that of smell. In their
taste they discover a strange degree of caprice ; for while they are sin-
gnlarly delicate in their choice of herbs, they will devour with voracity
the most nauseous and putrid carrion.

HOLLYHOCK. A malvacéous plant, a native of the Hast, and
very frequently cultivated in gardens for the sake of its ornamental
spikes of large and beautiful flowers. The root is biennial, and shoots
up one or several very upright, hairy stems, which attain the height
of from five toeight feet. The leaves are cordate at base, and divided
into from five to seven lobes. The flowers are subsessile, rose-colored,
and situated in the axils of the superior leaves, thus forming a long
terminal spike. From cultivation, many varieties have’ arisen, bear-

208 THE FARMER AT HOME.

ing flowers, single or double, white, yellow, red, or even almost black.
It is a hardy plant, and easily reproduced from seed.

HONEY BEES. A species of animals remarkable for industry,
economy, and ingenuity. They have all things in common, and yet
live under inviolable laws. Muindful of the coming winter, they toil
in summer, and lay up food in common stock. Some are employed
in the fields, gathering honey and wax; some construct the combs ;
some fill the cells with honey ; some watch at the gates to observe
the weather, or receive the loads of those that return to the hive. All
have one time of labor; all have one rest from work. In the morn-
ing they rush out of the gates without delay; at evening all is hushed
for the night. It has been remarked, that ‘if Newton had been a
bee,” he could not have constructed the combs or cells, with more
geometrical exactness. Ina hive of bees are commonly found from
fifteen to eighteen thousand inhabitants ; over which there is always
a queen, that reigns absolute. The queen is distinguished from the
other bees, by the form of her body ; she is longer and larger than they
are, and her wings are much shorter than theirs in proportion to her
body. Her hinder parts are more taper than those of other bees ; her
belly and legs are of a deep golden yellow. A_ hive of bees cannot
subsist without a queen, as she lays all the eggs, and thus produces
the whole posterity. No other earthly monarch has such obedient
subjects. If you take the queen, wherever you put her in sight, the
whole hive will follow, and presently surround her; and when a
queen happens to die, the bees of her hive immediately leave working,
consume their honey, fly about their own and other hives at unusual
hours when other bees are at rest, and pine away, if not soon supplied
with another sovereign.

HONEYDEW. A term frequently applied to a clammy sac-
charine substance, which is often seen covering the leaves and other
parts of different kinds of trees and plants, at some particular seasons
of the year. It does not appear that the cause of this extraordinary
appearance is yet fully understood, as it has not by any means been
well ascertained whether it derives its origin from external circum-
stances, or some morbid affection of the vegetables themselves.
It is generally, however, supposed to be the production of insects.

HOP. A plant with a creeping root, the stalks of which climb
and twist about whatever is near them; wherefore, in hop grounds,
poles are fixed near to the plant for them to rise upon. Hops are
said to have been introduced into Engtand from the Netherlands in
the sixteenth century: they are principally used to boil up with beer,
in order to prevent it from turning sour, and to give it a strengthening
quality. Hops require to be planted in open situations, and in a rich
strong ground. The two best sorts are the white and the gray kind.
These should be planted in hills about eight or nine feet asunder.
About the beginning of July hops begin to blow, and are ready to

THE FARMER AT HOME. 209

gather about the latter end of August; when, by their strong scent,
their hardness, and the brown color of the seed, they may be known
to be fit. The best method of drying hops is on a kiln over a char-
coal fire ; when the stalks are brittle, and the top leaves easily fall
off, they are promptly dried. When taken from the kiln, they should
be laid to cool for three weeks or a month before they are bagged.

FLYING CHILDERS; AN ENGLISH RACE HORSE.

HORSE. The horse is known to most nations as the most useful
and manageable of those animals that live under the sway of man.
In gracefulness of form and dignity of carriage, he is superior to
almost every other quadruped ; he is lively and high spirited, yet gen-
tle and tractable; keen and ardent in his exertions, yet firm and
persevering. The horse is equally qualified for all the various pur-
poses in which man has employed him; he ‘works steadily and
patiently in the loaded wagon or at the plough; becomes as much
excited as his master in the race; and appears to rejoice in the chase.
The horse feeds on grass and grain, and defends himself with his hoofs
and teeth. His flesh, although rejected among civilized nations, is
much used among several rude tribes ; and from the milk of the mare,
the Calmucks and other Tartars prepare a spirituous drink of consider-
able strength. The voice of this animal is peculiar, and well known
under the name of neighing. The life of the horse, when not short-
ened by ill usage, extends from twenty-five to thirty years.

The horse, like the other tame animals, was no doubt originally
wild, but his domestication happened at so early a period, as to leave
no record of the event, and it is now impossible to ascertain, with any

210 THE FARMER AT HOME.

certainty, in what country he originated. Wild horses, it is true, are
found in various parts of the world, but in most cases it is impossible
to say whether they are the remains of the ancient stock or are
derived from the domesticated animal; though, as respects those
found in the American continent, there is no doubt but that they were
originally introduced by the Spaniards. Desmarest gives upwards of
twenty varieties of the horse, and his catalogue is by no means com-
plete. We shall only be able to notice the principal. The wild
horses of Tartary are smaller than the domestic ; their hair, particu-
larly in winter, is very thick, and generally of a mouse color. Their
heads are larger, in proportion to their bodies, than those of tame
horses, and their foreheads remarkably arched. These horses are very
watchful of their common safety. Whilst a troop is feeding, one of
their number is placed on some eminence as a sentinel ; when danger
of any kind approaches, he warns his companions by neighing, and
they all betake themselves to flight.

The most esteemed horses are the Arabian. These are seldom
more than fourteen to fourteen and a half hands high, more inclined
to be lean than fat; they rise higher from the ground than other
blood horses, and gather much more quickly. The breed in Arabia
is never crossed as in other countries, but preserved unmixed with the
utmost solicitude. The Arabs prefer the mare, as being more capa-
ble of bearing hunger, thirst and fatigue ; and these must neither bite
nor kick, or they are deemed vicious; indeed, it is no uncommon
thing to see children play and fondle about the mare and her foal
without fear of injury. Madden says, when an Arab sells his mare,
he rarely sells all his property in her; he generally reserves, the
second or third foal. That author also observes, that it is so difficult
to get a thorough-bred Arab mare to send out of the country, that he
doubts if any ever go to Europe; those usually sent as such being
Dongola horses, which are very inferior, being worth only from one
hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty dollars, whilst an
Arabian is worth from fifteen to two thousand dollars.

The Persian horses are much esteemed, but not equal to the
Arabian. The Barbary horse, which approaches the Arabian, is the
origin of the Spanish and Italian. The Andalusian horse is much
prized. It is small, but beautifully formed. The head is, however,
rather large in proportion to the body, the mane thick, the ears long,
the eyes animated, the breast full, the legs finely shaped, and the
hoofs high. The Italian horses are not so much esteemed now as
formerly ; they are large, and move well, and are used for carriage
horses and heavy cavalry. The Danish horses are stout and well
built, but seldom elegant The same may be said of the Dutch horse,
which is preferred for draught throughout Europe. The French
horses differ much, according to the part of the country from whence

they are derived. The breed of horses in England and the United

THE FARMER AT HOME. 211

States is as mixed as that of the inhabitants, the frequent mtroduction
of foreign horses having produced an infinite variety.
HORSE-POWER. What is usually termed horse-power in rural
economy, is the construction of machinery for the performance of
labor, formerly done by man, and sometimes that done by water-
power or steam. The more ordinary kinds of this labor are thrashing
and winnowing grain ; the sawing of wood. the grinding of grain;
also the sowing or planting seeds, the reaping of grain, and the raking
of hay. For the three first of these operations the same machine is
used, having distinct fixtures for each one of them; and, for each of
the three last there is a distinct machine complete by itself It is

HORSE POWER.

reasonable to suppose, and it is proved by the fact, that horse-power
thus applied is a great saving of manual labor, in some eases is
of very great convenience, and on large farms is seemingly indis-
pensable. In the first contrivances to effect these objects there
have been defective results; but, wherever this has happened new
efforts have been induced, so that at present, of the numerous ma-
chines devised, those that can be selected, apparently approximating
perfection, that of Emery and Company, manufactured at Albany,
is very highly recommended, and by many is esteemed superior to all
others.

HORSE-CHESNUT. This is an ornamental tree ; a native of
the northern parts of Hindostan, and frequently cultivated in Europe
and the United States. It was unknown to the ancients, and is now
cultivated only for the sake of its beauty, the wood being of no value.
It is one of our most admired ornamental trees. Its large and bright
ereen foliage, its full rich form, and the profusion of spikes of flowers,
of the most delicate and brilliant colors with which we are acquainted,
render it one of the most showy trees to be found. In Europe, the
fruit is used for feeding various kinds of cattle, who are said to be
fond of it. For this purpose, it is first soaked in lime water, or an
alkaline solution. which deprives it of its bitterness; it is then washed
and boiled to a pulse. In Turkey it is ground and mixed with pro-
vender for horses.

212 THE FARMER AT HOME.

HORTICULTURE. In its more limited application this is the
culture of the kitchen garden and orchard. As such, the chief differ-
ence between horticulture and agriculture is, that in the former art
the culture is performed by manual labor in a comparatively limited
space. called a garden ; while in the other it is performed jointly by
human and animal labor in fields, or in an extensive tract of ground
called a farm. In its more extended and popular sense, horticulture
not only means the cultivation of esculent vegetables and fruits, but
the management of ornamental plants and the formation of rural
scenery, for the purposes of utility and embellishment. It is difficult
to imagine any occupation more conducive to the promotion of good
taste and susceptibility to moral sentiment, than that of the well edu-
cated horticulturist. Nature is spread before him in full beauty ; it
is from her teachings that he constantly receives instruction ; and
thus, while he is storing his own mind with the idea of all that is
beautiful and lovely, he has the every-day consciousness of laboring
for the wants and for the pleasure of his fellow-creatures. Those
who inculeate a taste for horticulture are public benefactors, and The
Horticulturist of Downing should be in every farmer’s family.

HOTBED. In Gardening, a name given to a sort of bed con-
structed for the purpose of producing artificial heat, and the raising
of different sorts of culinary and other vegetables and plants. It is
chiefly by the aid of these beds, also, that various tender plants, flow-
ers, and fruits, are raised in perfection, which, without such artificial
heat, could not possibly be produced or continued in this climate. By
this means, likewise, vast numbers of seeds, which would otherwise
remain years in the earth, and some never grow at all, are made to
generate, form plants, continue their growth, and produce their flow-
ers and fruits as in their native soils. And the cuttings and slips of
many sorts of trees and shrubs, which would otherwise remain inac-
tive and perish, are also made soon to emit root-fibres and shoots, and
become plants in due time.

By this means, too, many valuable esculent plants, that succeed
in the full ground at one time of the year or the other, are brought to
perfection much sooner than they could otherwise be obtained, as the
cucumber, asparagus, peas, beans, kidney-beans, radishes, carrots,
strawberries, and various salad herbs, and other plants, which grow
in the open ground of the garden departments. And annual flower-
ing plants, as well as those of the herbaceous and shrubby kinds, are
ulso brought to more early perfection and flowering by them. They
are therefore of great use in the practice of gardening in numerous
cases of forcing early productions.

HOUSES. Houses in our own country are of almost every possi-
ble imaginative device, from the cheapest log cabin to the most stately
and enduring mansion. In the country, however, there has generally
been manifested a lamentable want of taste and regard to comfort.

THE FARMER aT HOME. 213

In the early settlement of the country, a necessity existed for the
erection of some kind of a shelter, without regard to beauty or even
for comfort, save to obtain protection from the inclemency of the
weather. There was a general want of mechanical skill, of the
requisite materials, and in most cases of the pecuniary ability, to pay
regard to ornament, or the principles of architecture. This style of
houses, or rather want of all style in them, originally the result of
necessity, almost as a matter of course, with the masses of our yeo-
manry, has been perpetuated, in no small degree, after the necessity
ceased to exist. Within the last few years there has been a praise-
worthy manifestation of desire to correct the evil; and we are now
beginning, in transient localities, to observe the rising of the neat
cottage, the commodious farm-house, and the expensive villa. This,
as it becomes more general, will add much to the attractions and
pleasure of rural life.

The English and Scotch cottages differ in their external appear-
ance and management. ‘The best English cottages of recent con-
struction are built of brick and covered with slate. The use of these
materials has changed the character of this class of dwellings. In
many cottages the chimney stack forms the principal bearing of the
floors and roof. The Scotch cottage has not only a different appear-
ance when compared with the English, but, from its being so much
wider, it admits of two apartments being formed on the ground floor.
This is also a matter of necessity, as they are seldom raised more than
one story. The material for the walls is most commonly stone ; the
roof is large and heavy in appearance, and has but a small projection
beyond the walls ; the gable walls also run up frequently above the
roof, forming a parapet, which is sometimes notched so as to resemble
steps, or has a battlement appearance.

As the French and Italians of the middle classes do not generally
live in separate houses like the English, but on floors containing a
series of rooms, it follows that the arrangement of their houses differs
from that of the English The staircase, as in public chambers, is
common to each floor. The rooms communicate with each other, and
generally with a passage or balcony on one side ; chimneys are rare,
stoves being most commonly used to heat the rooms. French and
Italian houses are mostly built of rough stone stuccoed ; the floors are
seldom boarded, being paved with glazed tiles or unglazed_ bricks.
The Spanish houses are very spacious ; they have large courts in the
interior, and are formed with galleries round the inside of the quad-
rangular courts, families occupying the separate floors. The houses
in many parts of Germany, approach nearer to the English in their
arrangement, than the French and Italian houses. In many places
the houses are a frame work of wood, and the interstices are filled
with unbaked bricks, and are plastered with clay. The city archi-
tecture of Russian houses, both in its effect and arrangement, resembles

214 THE FARMER AT HOME.

the architecture of the Italian and French houses, except. that the
roofs are covered with sheet iron painted with vivid colors, mostly red
and green. The windows are double. The history of architecture ie
curious in the extreme, and would furnish amusement as well as use-
ful instruction. It deserves more attention than it has received.

HUMMING-BIRD. The least of all the feathered tribes ; its
body being not bigger than the end of one’s finger, and its eggs no
larger than small peas: it is a native of America. On this ttle bira
nature has profusely lavished her most splendid colors ; the most per-
fect azure, the most beautiful gold color, the most dazzling red, are
forever in contrast, and help to embellish the plumes of its majestic
head. Like the bee, it finds its food in flowers and blossoms ; when
it feeds, it appears as if immovable, though continually on the wing.
Myriads of these little birds are seen, feeding on the flowers and
blossoms, in the southern parts of the United States, and in the
Floridas.

HUMUS. The general name of humus is given to fine, dark-
brown or blackish particles of decayed vegetation, which impart
their richness to all fertile sous. It is frequently called vegetable
mould. The amount of humus in the soil is readily inereased by
green fallows, by ploughing in straw, prepared peat, and all vegetable
rubbish. The leaves of trees which fall in the forest in autumn, and
the old roots of grass in the meadows, are likewise converted into
humus.

HUNGER. The feeling of a want of food. When the stomach
has digested and disposed of the food and drink which it contained,
its peculiar nervous power is destroyed, and some time is necessary
before it collects it again. This time is shorter in proportion as the
individual is healthy, young, strong, and active. As soon as this
nervous power is restored, the activity of the organ is again awakened,
and produces a longing to eat, which we call, in its first degree, appe-
tite. If this is not gratified, it gains strength, and becomes hunger,
which, if not appéased, turns to voracity. Appetite is not a disagree-
able feeling, but hunger is an ever-increasing pain, on account of the
ever-increasing sensibility of the nerves of the stomach.

To some men, whose stomachs are morbidly sensitive, the first
desire for food is unpleasant, and if this desire is not immediately
gratified, they are seized with griping pains in the parts about the
stomach, which, if not appeased, are followed by sudden weakness,
and even fainting. If hunger is not allayed, a dreadful state of the
body ensues, and finally death. After long continued hunger, the
blood becomes weak, acrid, and thin, on account of the want of mate-
rials to compensate for the nutritious matter expended in the support
of the body ; hence the whole body becomes lean and weak, bloody
fluxes take place from all parts, as well as violent irritation of the
nervous system, caused by the excessive sensibility of the nerves of

THE FARMER AT HOME. 215

the stomach, which at length extends to the whole region of the abdo-
men, is carried to a still greater height, and produces pain over the
whole body, sleeplessness, convulsions, raving madness, until at length
death puts an end to the scene.

HUSK. Among Botanists, the part which a flower grows out of.
The husks or cups of the flowers of plants are not so much regarded
with a view to their medicinal virtues as they deserve. Petiver, in
the Philosophical Transactions, speaking of the virtues of the verti-
cillate class of plants, among which are included the sage, rosemary,
and the like, observes that it is an erroneous, though general opinion,
that the flowers of these plants contain their principal virtues, for that
the husks are the part in which it is lodged. For instance, in the
rosemary, the fine scent of the Hungary-water is not in the flowers,
but husks; and the flowers alone, when clean picked from them, yield
very little odor. The cup, in this and other plants of the same class,
is the only part in which their viscous and sulphureous qualities are
lodged, and that something of this kind is deposited particularly there,
may be perceived by the touch and smell; for they appear moist and
feel clammy ; and this clammy matter, when received upon the fingers,
is of a very strong and agreeable smell, much more so than the rest
of the plant.

HYACINTH. The numerous and splendid varieties of the garden
hyacinth have always been general favorites, and, in some countries.
the fondness for this plant amounts to acomplete mania. In Holland,
upwards of two thousand varieties have received distinct name§, recog-
nised by the different florists, and the price of one thousand florins has
been paid for a single plant. The environs of some of the Dutch
towns astonish the traveller, from the gorgeous appearance produced
by the vast profusion of these flowers. The wild plant is a native of
the Levant, and has a bulbous root, from which rise a few linear lance-
olate leaves and a leafless stem, bearing six or eight bell-shaped
flowers, of a blue or white color. The cultivated double varieties have
very graceful forms and a remarkable diversity of color. The natural
affinities of this plant place it in the same family with the squill and
the onion. All the species of hyacinth are natives of the eastern
continent.

HYBERNATION. Hybernation ‘s that state of inaction and rest,
which some animals and many plants undergo during the cold season
of the year. and exhibits some remarkable phenomena, well deserving
the attention of the naturalist. On the approach of winter, the
badger, the marmot, ground squirrel, frog, toad, snakes, and some
other animals, betake themselves to their retreats in the earth, where,
in a torpid, motionless state, with but just circulaticn enough to pre-
serve vitality, they remain until the returning summer rouses their
drowsing faculties to action once more. Those instances in which
animals and insects have been found in positions where they must

216 THE FARMER AT HOME.

have remained for centuries, as frogs and toads in solid rocks, are
examples of continued hybernation, produced by being placed in a
position where the temperament and the confined state adopted at the
commencement of the hybernation, is continued by causes afterwards
superinduced. Thus the bats enclosed in the old mine, at Cheshire,
(Conn.,) by a slide from the mountain, while in a state of hyberna-
tion, remained in that state for more than a quarter of a century, and
were so found at the reopening of the mine. Thus toads hybernating
in swamps, if covered, while in that state, to a depth which would
prevent the usual effects arising from the changes of the seasons, would
remain in that position, and the subsequent conversion of the covering
matter into stone, would enclose them forever in the rocky mass. It
is to this indurating process that we must ascribe the wonderful pre-
servation and continued vitality of those reptiles which are found in
the sand stones of the transition series.

The condition of plants, too, during our winters, in which the sap
ceases to circulate, or circulates but to a limited extent, and in a lan-
guid manner, is a species of hybernation. It is a rest of the plant, a
cessation of its functions, growth ceases, and what may be called a
sleep of the plant ensues. Other causes may produce this rest of
plants. Numerous instances have occurred in which a second blos-
soming has taken place, and the flowers of the first of October have
vied with those of the first of May or June. This reviving of the
plant has been noticed in the apple, plum, and pear. It is unquestion-
ably to be attributed to the check which the extreme hot and dry
weather gave to the trees, and which produced on them an effect
similar to that of the hybernation of tropical plants. The functions
of the plant were for a time partially suspended ; heat had performed
the effect of cold; the secretions of the plant, which prepare it for
bluoming and reproduction, had been performed, and when rains suc-
ceeded the drowth, their blossoming in October as well as in May, was
che natural result.

HYBRIDS. When copulation takes place between different spe-
vies of animals, the progeny which in some cases is the result, is
termed a hybrid, as partaking of the qualities of both, yet distinct
irom either. Thus, a connection between the ass and the mare, pro-
duces the mule, and between the horse and the female ass, the hinny,
the two most common hybrids among animals. The hybrids among
animals do not have the power of reproduction, a proof that muling
is a violation of nature’s laws, by which the races as distinct species
are governed. There has been in the highlands of Scotland a hybrid
between the stag and the mare, the first ever known.

HYDROGEN. A constituent of water, and a rare gas, sixteen
times hghter than atmospheric air, and on that account used to fill
balloons. But its most important function is that of absorbing oxygen
from surrounding parts, when excited by any accession of heat or undue

- THE FARMER AT HOME. 217

motion. Combined with carbon, it thus fixes or condenses the oxygen,
forming aqueous vapor and smoke, thereby locating great heat, while
the reaction of the excited parts causes a diffused action which is the
important effect called light. With oxygen only it creates a yellowish
light, but with a suitable proportion of carbon it makes all the colors
of the prism, when the resulting light is mechanically decomposed by
it. Of course, coals, bitumens, oils, tallow, spirits, and all bodies that
burn, abound in it, for burning means nothing more than its power of
absorbing oxygen when duly excited, and this absorption creates by
reaction in the space, heat, flame, and light, universally. The car-
buretted vapor of hydrogen, evolved by subterranean heat from coal
in the cavities of mines, is exploded by oxygen, with destructive effects
when first excited by the similar process of a candle. When the
same gas is made by distillation, and sent through pipes, it gradually
explodes at the orifice, forming what are called gas lights. And
when gradually evolved at the wick of a candle or lamp from the com-
pound of carbon and hydrogen in the tallow and oil, the explosion
accompanying the evolution of the gas creates our domestic lights.
So also with the flame of a coal fire.

IBEX. This animal is distinguished by large knotted horns, re-
clining backwards, a small head, large eyes, a thick, short, strong
body, short Jegs, very short hoofs, and a short tail. Its body is of a
deep brown color, with a mixture of hoary hairs; its belly is of a
tawny white; its legs partly black, partly white; the space under
the tail, in some individuals, is tawny, in others white. The hair is
harsh, and the male is furnished with a beard. These animals are
seldom found, except in the most precipitous and inaccessible heights
of lofty mountains, where they assemble in flocks, sometimes consist-
ing of ten or fifteen individuals.

During the night, they feed in the highest woods, but, at sunrise,
they again ascend the mountains, till they have reached the most
perilous heights. They are remarkably swift, and display amazing
agility and dexterity in leaping. They are objects of the chase, but,
from the inaccessible nature of the places to which they generally
resort, their dexterity in leaping, and the danger attendant on a pur-
suit of them. the ibex hunter must have a head that can bear to look
down from the most tremendous precipices without terror, address
and sure-footedness in the most difficult passes, and also much strength,
vigor; and activity.

Another danger attendant on this chase is, that the ibex, when
close pressed, will sometimes turn on his pvrsuer, and tumble him
down the precipices, unless he has time to lie down, and permit the
animal to pass over him. The ibex will mount an almost perpendic-
ular rock of fifteen feet, at three successive bounds, appearing merely
to touch it, to be repelled, like an elastic substance striking against a
hard body. The fore legs being considerable shorter than the hinder,

10

218 THE FARMER AT HOME.

enables these animals to ascend with more facility than to descend,
and hence, when pursued, they always attempt to gain the summits
of the mountains. They inhabit the chain of mountains extending
from Mount Taurus, between Eastern Tartary and Siberia. In Eu-
rope, they are found on the Carpathian and Pyrenean chains, and in
the Grisons and other parts of the Alps.

ICE. A brittle transparent body, formed of some fluid, frozen or
fixed by cold. The specific gravity of ice to water is as eight to nine;
or the specific gravity of water being one, that of ice is ninety-three ;
hence, being lighter than water, it floatsuponit. The specifie gravity
of ice was tried by Dr. Irving, in Phipps’ voyage to the north pole ;
who found that when a piece of the most dense ice which he could
meet with was immersed in snow-water, the thermometer thirty-four
degrees, fourteen-fifteenth parts sunk under the surface of the water ;
in brandy just proof, it barely floated ; in rectified spirits of wine, it
fell to the bottom at once, and dissolved immediately. This rarefac-
tion of ice has been supposed to be owing to the air bubbles produced
in ice while freezing ; these, being considerably large in proportion
to the water frozen, render the ice so much specifically lighter.

Accordingly, it is said that a considerable quantity of air is lodged
in the interstices of water, though it has not there any elastic property,
on account of the disunion of its particles ; but these particles coming
closer together, and uniting as the water freezes, light, expansive, and
elastic air bubbles are thus generated, and increase in bulk as the
cold grows stronger; whence of course the ice grows lighter, and
these air bubbles acquiring an elastic force, burst to pieces any vessel
in which the water is closely contained. But snow-water, or any
water being boiled over the fire, affords an ice more solid than ordi-
nary, and with fewer bubbles. Pure water, long kept in vacuo, and
frozen afterwards there, freezes much sooner, on being exposed to the
same degree of cold, than water unpurged of its air and set in the
open atmosphere. And the ice made of water thus divested of its air,
will expand in freezing ; though it 1s much harder, more solid and
transparent, and more ponderous, than common ice.

ICE-HOUSE. An ice-house may be simply a large cellar with
hollow walls, containing fixed air; or, which is better, with walls
filled in with sawdust or tanning, which is a non-conductor of heat,
and furnished with roof and door, made in the same manner, and
also with a drain to allow the escape of water produced by a partial
thaw. The drain is as important as the non-conducting walls and
roof; for standing water, on the floor or bottom of the vault contain-
ing the ice, is as prejudicial to the preservation of the article as heat
itself. Latterly it has been judged preferable to erect an ice-house
above ground, to having it under ground, or in a cellar. Im both
eases, the construction is similar; the walls, roof, and door being
double, say with an intervening space of twelve inches, well filled and

THE FARMER aT HOME. 219

rammed solid, of the sawdust or tannin. The west side of a hill, or
under trees of dense foliage, is a desirable location for an icehouse ;
and it might be well that it should be covered over with ivy or grape
vines, or honey suckle, to intercept the rays of the sun or the warm at-
mosphere. lt is advisable also that the door should be on the west
side, and that it should be opened during the night or in the morning
when there is no current of hot air to rush in. By a small expense,
every farmer may have a small ice-house, that in the hottest weather
of summer will keep fresh meat in good order for any reasonable
length of time, and where butter may be kept hard, adding at least
ten per cent. to its value, whether designed for market or family use.
Such saving from an ice-house would soon balance the cost of its
erection.

ICE TRADE. A very curious traffic within a few years has
sprung up; to wit, the transportation of ice from New England to
tropical regions in different parts of the world. In the East Indies
the artificial formation of ice has been lone carried on, as the only
means of cooling beverages and food The ground near Hoogley,
about forty miles from Caleutta, is formed into shallow troughs ; into
these troughs, on a layer of straw, are placed pans of porous earthen-
ware. Shortly before midnight in the winter months, and when the
wi appens to be blowing from the north-west, a little water is
poured into each vessel or pan; and if all the circumstances are
favorable, a film of ice is found in each pan on the following morning ;
and this ice is collected and stored with the utmost care. The selling
price of this ice at Calcutta is about six pence per pound; but the
Calcutta inhabitants were surprised by the arrival, in 1833, of a ship
from the United States, laden entirely with ice, which was offered for
sale at three pence per pound, which afforded the shipper a good pro-
fit. Since that time the price has been reduced ; and the traffic has
become regular, and of very considerable magnitude. It is mostly
procured in the vicinity of Boston, where the article is very pure and
solid, and can be obtained in any quantity desired. The contrivances
for collecting, handling, and preserving it are exceedingly curious, and
give evidence of American ingenuity and enterprise.

ICHNEUMON. An animal of the weasel kind, bred chiefly in
Egypt. It has the strength of a cat, andis more nimble and more cun-
ning ; it easily strangles a cat that is larger than itself. It takes to the
water when in danger, and will live a considerable time under water.
More expert than cats in catching rats and mice, they are used in
Egypt for that purpose The animal makes war with great courage
and eagerness upon all kinds of serpents. If bitten by the viper or
the asp, it uses a certain root that cures the poison. Its principal
service to the ancient Egyptians was in discovering and destroying
the egos of crocodiles ; and for its usefulness in this respect it was
worshipped by that idolatrous people as a deity.

220 THE FARMER AT HOME.

ICELAND SHEEP. The sheep of Iceland are of two kinds;
the first, termed the native breed, is small, in color from dun te
almost black; the second is larger, the fleece white, and supposed to
have originated from more southern regions. The fleece of these
breeds consists of hair externally, with a white, close layer of wool

Psat
ve
SiS
WN

PANY

ICELAND SHEEP.

within, impervious to cold and wet ; it is worthless for manufactur-
ing, and is used for horse collars, and more or less exported and
appropriated to this purpose. The principal peculiarity about the
native sheep is the number of their horns, many individuals having
four and five, and instances have been known of eight. These hardy
animals propagate without the care of man, and seek refuge from
storms among the caverns of the coast during the winter season.
ICELAND MOSS. This lichen, though a native of the higher
mountains of the northern parts of Britain, is procured mostly from
Norway and Iceland, on the lava of the west coast of which latter
country it abounds and attains a large size.- When dry it has-
scarcely any odor, and the taste is bitter and unpleasant. The pow-
der or flour is of a whitish gray. When the bitter principle is
removed, the starchy matter differs from wheat flour in nutritive
properties, though some authorities assert that a soup made of it is
twice as nutritive as one made with flour. Certain it is that the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 221

inhabitants of Norway Lapland, and above all Iceland, use it exten
sively as an alimentary substance, the latter regarding it as the gift
of a bountiful Providence, which sends to them this bread in that
frozen clime. It is submitted to uo other preparation than repeated
steepings in cold water, drying, and powdering; after which it is
either made into cakes or boiled in milk. The excellence of Iceland
Moss depends upon its freshness, and freedom from accidental impu-
rities, which should be carefully removed before it is used.

IDLENESS. In China it is a maxim, that if there be a man
who does not. work, or a woman that is idle, in the empire, somebody
must suffer cold or hunger; the produce of the lands not being more
than sufficient, with culture, to maintain the inhabitants ; and there-
fore, though the idle person may shift off the want from himself, yet
it must fall somewhere. The court of Areopagus at Athens, punished
idleness, and examined every citizen how he spent his time. The
intention was that the Athenians, knowing they were to give an
account of their occupations, should follow only such as were laudable,
and that there might be no room left for such as lived by unlawful
arts.

INCOMBUSTIBLE CLOTH. M. Magellan informs us that the
Romans enclosed dead bodies in cloth of this kind. In 1756 or
1757 he tells us, thatehe saw in the Vatican a large piece of asbestos
cloth, found in a stone tomb, with the ashes of a Roman, as appeared
by the epitaph. The under-librarian, to show that it was incombus-
tible, lighted a candle, and let some drops of wax fall on the cloth,
which he set on fire with a candle in his presence, without any det-
riment to the cloth. Its texture was coarse, but much sofier than he
could have expected.

INCUBATION. Birds, fishes, insects, worms and reptiles, as is
well known, lay eggs, from which the young animals are produced
by means of warmth. The four last named classes leave the fecun-
dation of the eggs to the warmth of the sun ; birds employ the warmth
of their own bodies for this purpose. The process which they use is
called incubation. All known birds, with the exception of the
cuckoo, discharge this office themselves. The cuckoo deposits its
eggs in the nest of the hedge-sparrow and other small birds. The
ostrich, contrary to the common opinion, sits upon its eggs, the male
in company with several females, day and night. Birds in general
become comparatively tame during this period. Others defend their
nests with the greatest courage. The domestic hen boldly encounters
the largest dog. Only a few birds living in a state of freedom, allow
their nests to be disturbed. Many desert them entirely, if a man has
displaced the eggs during their absence ; for instance, the canary
bird. The gradual development of the young bird in the egg has
been observed, particularly in the case of the eggs of the domestic
hen.

522 THE FARMER AT HOME.

a

The covering of the young bird, when it first leaves the egg, is a
sort of down; this is gradually superseded by feathers. The little
creature remains for some hours or longer in the nest underits mother,
till it has become accustomed to the external air. The old birds,
particularly the female, now manifest the greatest care ‘or their
young, in protecting them and providing for their wants. They
bring them suitable food, which, when necessary, the mother
softens first in her crop. Water and marsh birds, soon after birth,
leave the nest, and follow their mother into the water. Theold birds
teach them where to find their food. The mother protects them,
takes them in stormy weather under her wings, and exposes herself
to much inconvenience to save them from suffering.

The time of incubation generally varies with the size of the birds.
The linnet requires but fourteen days, the common hen twenty-one,
and the swan forty-two days. In warm climates, the time of incuba-
tion is said to be somewhat shorter. In Africa, the hen is said to sit
but thirteen days. With us, too, in very cold weather, geese and
hens are known to sit much longer than im warm. The warmth
required for fecundating the eggs is about one hundred and four
degrees Fahrenheit. The artificial hatching of eggs is practised in
Egypt. Ovens for ihis purpose are made of brick, and sunk some
depth in the earth. They consist of two stories, connected with each
other, and divided into several apartments. In a corner of the build-
ing is an oven, which is heated daily three to four hours, for ten days
in succession, with cow and camel’s dung, the usual fuel of the
country. The heat is regulated by the feeling of the superintendent.
The temperature to be produced is compared with the warmth of
baths. When the heat is too great, some passages are opened for the
air. The floors of the divisions or apartments are covered with mats,
and a layer of straw thereupon, on which the eggs are laid, so, how-
ever, as not to touch each other.

IN-AND-IN BREEDING. This is a term applied by the
breeders of animals, to that kind of propagation where both are of
the same blood, and the nearest possible. Although some of the
most decided improvements have been made by following this system
of breeding—in-and-in—yet it has only been done by the most judi-
cious selections, and the exercise of cautious judgment, while in the
hands of the ordinary breeder it is sure to run out a stock, degenerating
them rapidly, rendering the males impotent in many cases, and the
females of little value as nurses or breeders. Experience seems to
have proved, that crosses of the same variety of animals, but of
another family, have made the best animals. In some cases, where
there is a marked superiority in any race of animals, which it is
wished to retain, a cross with a race less perfect in some respects,
perhaps, but more vigorous, making what Berry calls a strong cross,
and then breeding directly back to the favorite blood, has been very

THE FARMER AT HOME. 293

successful. The first attempts to improve the short horns and the
Berkshires, received serious checks from their system of in-and-in
breeding, and both Berry and Collings found it necessary to give more
vigor and constitution to their animals, by an infusion of different,
and in some respects inferior blood.

INDIAN CATTLE. There can be little doubt the Zebu, or
Indian Ox, is merely a variety of the common ox, although it is diffi-
cult to ascertain the causes by which the distinctive characters of the
two races have been in the process of time gradually produced. The

ZEBU, OR INDIAN OX.

only circumstances, in which the two animals essentially differ,
consist in a fatty hump on the shoulders of the Zebu, and in a some-
what more slender and delicate make of the legs. Numerous breeds
of this humped variety, progressing in size from that of a large mastiff
dog, to that of a full grown buffalo, are spread, more or less exten-
sively, over the whole of southern Asia, the islands of the Indian
Archipelago, and the eastern coast of Africa, from Abyssinia to the
Cape of Good Hope. In all these countries, the Zebu supplies the
place of our ox, both for labor, and as an article of food. In some
parts of India, it also executes the duties of the horse, being either
sadu'ed and ridden, or harnessed to a carriage, and performing in this

224 ‘THE FARMER AT HOME. %

manner journeys of considerable length with tolerable facility. They
will travel, with a rider on their back, fifteen or sixteen hours in a
day, at the rate of six miles an hour. So it has been stated by early
writers ; but later ones reduce their daily travel to half that distance
Their action is particularly fine—nothing like that of our cattle, with

the sideway circular of their hind legs. They are very active in .
travelling and leaping, bringing their hind legs under them ina
straight line like as the horse does. Their most common color is a
light ashy gray, passing into a cream color or milk white ; but it is
uot unfrequently marked with various shades of red or brown, and
occasionally it becomes perfectly black.

INDIAN CORN, or MAIZE. This grain is too well known to
require a particular description. The native country of it remains
undetermined. It is usually attributed to America, where it was
cultivated by the aborigines at the time of the discovery; but no
botanist has hitherto found it growing wild in any part of the new
continent ; and most certainly it did not so exist in any portion of the
territory of the United States. Itis also certain that its culture did
not attract notice in Europe, Asia, or the north of Africa, till after the
voyage of Columbus. It was unknown to ancient Greek and
Roman writers, and is not mentioned by the earlier travellers who
visited China, India, and other parts of Asia and Africa, and who
were very minute in describing the productions of the countries they
visited.

Indian corn is now very extensively cultivated, not only in
America, but throughout a great part of Asia and Africa, and also in
several countries in the south of Europe, as in Spain and Italy. In
many of the provinces of France, it forms almost exclusively the sus-
tenance of the inhabitants. It requires a warm climate, a rich soil,
and good cultivation. Under these circumstances it yields a large
crop. As generally as it is produced in this country, the valley of the
Mississippi is perhaps more favorable to its growth than any other
part of the world. Itis there cultivated with so much ease, requires .
so little labor, and the yield is so great to the acre, that there is no
fixing limits to the amount which will there be raised in coming time.

IRON. One of the most useful and abundant, and one of the
first metals that was known and worked. This metal is easily oxi-
dized, but is infusible, except by an intense heat; it is, however,
inalleable at a less degree of heat, and several pieces may be united
into one mass, by a process called welding. Iron is the only metal
that is susceptible of magnetic attraction. Pure iren is very rarely to
be found ; the principal varieties of iron au the cast or pig iron, or
that which is immediately extracted from the ore ; wrought iron, that
which has gone through the process of melting in a furnace; and
steel, that which has been heated in charcoal, and hardened by its
combination with carbon.

i THE FARMER AT HOME. 295

IRRIGATION. The importance of water to vegetation is known to
every farmer, yet very few are the instances in which this natural want
is supplied by artificial means. In most cases, by a wise dispensation
of Providence, showers supply the requisite moisture, and of all water
that can be applied to plants, rain water is found the most suitable ;
but there are some soils and some crops which require more water
than others, and which are greatly benefited by artificial supplies
Thus the drifting sands of Arabia are arrested and covered with vege-
tation by water; the rice fields of India and the South, are flooded to
secure a crop, and irrigation, or an occasional flowing of water from
brooks, rivers, or springs, over meadows, is found to add much to their
productiveness. All water contains more or less matter essential to
plants. The soluble salts, the finely divided organic matters, and the
richest parts of all soils are continually passing away in the streams
by which our fields are watered, and it is this cause which forms one
of the drawbacks on their fertility.

To arrest and detain these matters from passing away and being lost
to the soil, is another important end of irrigation. The more foreign
matter any water contains, the more valuable it will be for irrigation ;
thus river water is better than that of springs, and rivers below large
towns, are found to act more efficiently than those above. Of this
there is abundant evidence in the use of the Thames’ water below and
above London, and particularly the celebrated Craigintinny meadows
below Edinburgh. Water generally contains sulphate of lime, at
least all hard waters do, and a single flowing of a meadow with such
water for a few days, besides the other materials it deposites, will leave
more of this sulphate or plaster, than is usually appled per acre by
farmers. Some of the best meadows and lands of England, have been
formed by flowing them and increasing the deposit until poor lands
have become like the richest alluvion. In this country, few instances
of irrigation have as yet been attempted, but where it has been done by
system, and with reference to permanent results, they have proved most
successful ; and the practice, as the soils become older, and other
methods besides manuring become proper to promote fertility, will
doubtless be common.

ISINGLASS. This substance is almost wholly gelatin ; one hun-
dred grains of good dry isinglass containing rather more than ninety-
eight of matter soluble in water. Isinglass is made from certain fish
found in the Danube, and the rivers of Muscovy. Willoughby and
others inform us, that it is made of the sound of the Beluga; and
Nuemann, that it is made of the Huso Germanorum, and other ‘fish,
which he has frequently seen sold in the public markets of Vienna.
Mr. Jackson remarks, that the sounds of cod, properly prepared, afford
this substance ; and that the lakes of America abound with fish fate
which the very finest sort may be obtained.

Isinglass receives its different shapes in the following manner :-—

10%

226 THE FARMER AT HOME.

The parts of which it is composed, particularly the sounds, are taken
from the fish while sweet and fresh, slit open, washed from their slimy
sordes, divested of a very thin membrane which envelopes the sound,
and then exposed to stiffen a little in the air. In this state they are
formed into rolls about the thickness of a finger, and in length accord-
ing to the intended size of the staple; a thin membrane is generally
selected for the centre of the roll, round which the rest are folded alter-
nately, and about half an inch of each extremity of the roll is turned
inwards. Isinglass is best made in the summer, as frost gives it a
disagreeable color, deprives it of weight, and impairs its gelatinous
principles. Isinglass boiled in milk, forms a mild nutritious jelly, and
is thus sometimes employed medicinaily. This, when flavored by the
art of the cook, is the blane-mange of our tables. A solution of isin-
glass in water, with a very small proportion of some balsam, spread
on black silk, is the court-plaster of the shops.

IVORY. The tusk, or tooth of defence of the male elephant. It
is an intermediate substance between bone and horn, not capable of
being softened by fire, nor altogether so hard and brittle as bone.
Sometimes it grows to an enormous size, so as to weigh nearly two
hundred pounds. The entire tooth is of a yellowish, brownish, and
sometimes a dark brown color on the outside ; internally white, hollow
towards the root, and, so far as it is inserted into the jaw, of a blackish
brown color. The finest, whitest, smoothest, and most compact ivory
comes from the island of Ceylon. The grand consumption of this
commodity is for making ornamental utensils, mathematical instru-
ments, cases, boxes, balls, combs, dice, and an infinity of toys. The
coal of ivory is used in the arts under the denomination of ivory-black.
Particular vessels are used in the manufacture of this pigment, for the
purpose of rendering it perfectly black. Some travellers speak of the
tooth of the sea-horse as an excellent ivory ; but it is too hard to be
sawed or wrought like ivory. It is used for making artificial teeth.

JACKAL. There is no essential difference between the dog and
the jackal, as they will breed together, producing prolific offspring.
This species of quadrupeds is very widely extended throughout the
warmer regions of the old wuld. It is found in Africa, from Barbary
to the Cape of Good Hope ; in Syria, in Persia, and throughout all south-
ern Asia. It is about two feet and a half in length, and about fourteen
inches in height ; the length of the tail, about eight inches ; the eyes
are small; the tail bushy ; the head, neck, sides of the belly, thighs,
and outer parts of the limbs and ears, of a dirty yellow ; underneath,
and on the sides of the lower jaw, the end of the upper hp, under the
neck and belly, and the inner surface of the limbs, somewhat white ;
the back and sides of the body, to the tail, of a gray yellow, which is
abruptly divided from the surrounding lighter colors; the tail a mix-
ture of yellow and black hair, the black prevailing at the extremity .
the muzzle and nails, black.

——-

THE FARMER AT HOME 227

All travellers who have been in the countries where the jackals
are found, mention the ravages they commit, and, their dreadful noc-
turnal cries, which, answered as they are by all their companions,
produce the most appalling effects. Their voice has often been
described as more terrific than the howl of the hyena or the roar of
the tiger, and deprives of repose all hearers who have not been long
accustomed to it. The jackal can be tamed with tolerable facility,
but always preserves an extreme timidity, which he manifests by con-
cealing himself on hearing the slightest unusual sound, or at the sight
of a person he is unaccustomed to. This fear is different from that
of most wild animals, and he closely resembles a dog in fear of chas-
tisement, for he will offer no resistance when he is touched.

The most celebrated commentators onthe Bible, consider the three
hundred animals, to whose tails Samson tied firebrands, were jackals.
This opinion is grounded on the great number of these animals found
in Syria, and on their assembling in large flocks; whereas the fox is
comparatively scarce, and is always solitary. The jackal has been
popularly termed the lion’s provider, from an opinion that it rouses
the prey for that quadruped. The fact appears to be, that every crea-
ture in the forest is set in motion by the fearful cries of jackals; the
lion and other beasts of prey, by a sort of imstinct and the call of appe-
tite, attend the chase, and sieze such timid animals as betake them-
selves to flight at the voice of this fearful pack. Buffon’ gives the
following description of the jackal ;—It unites the impudence of the
dog with the cowardice of the wolf, and participating in the nature of
each, is an odious creature, composed of all the bad qualities of both.

JANUARY. The first month of the year, among the western
nations, is from the Latin word Januarius—a term given to it from
Janus, one of the Roman divinities; or rather perhaps from Janua,
a Latin word signifying gate, the first month being, as it were, the
gate of the year. Numa Pompilius made January, Romulus March,
the first month in the year.

JAUNDICE. Isa disease of which the distinguishing peculiarity
is, that the whole skin becomes yellow. It proceeds from sorae dis-
ease about the liver or its \ mmunication with the bowels. The
internal symtoms are those of all disorders of the digestive organs,
except that the water is dark and loaded with bile, while the bowels
appear to be deprived of it. The yellow color is first perceptible in
the whiter parts of the body, as the white of the eye, and soon over-
spreads the whole body. There is often an extreme itching and
prickling over the whole skin. After the disease has continued long,
the color of the skin becomes gradually deeper and darker, till the
disease becomes, at last, what is vulgarly called the black jaundice.
This appearance arises from the bile being retained, from various
causes, in the liver and gall-bladder, and thus being absorbed and
circulated with tie blood. It may be produced by obstacles to the

228 - THE FARMER AT HOME.

passage of the bile of various kinds, and is often suddenly induced by
a violent fit of passion, or more slowly by long continuance of melan-
choly and painful emotions.

The jaundice also attacks horses and cattle, and sometimes be-
comes quite intractable and dangerous. It is usually occasioned by
some obstruction in the ducts and tubes which convey the bile from
the liver to the intestines. The disease is easily detected by the yel-
lowness of the eyes and mouth, and of the skin generally; the urine
is high colored, and the appetite is impaired. In the ox or cow, the
disease is more difficult of management, and more frequently proves
fatal, than in the horse. Bleeding and purgatives are required ; but
for the purgative Epsom salts are to be preferred to any other. Some
have recommended as a certain cure for this disease, when taken in
season, two ounces of flour of mustard, mixed with some liquid, and
given twice in twenty-four hours. As all animals are more liable to
be attacked in Spring, than at other times, it proves that green food
of some kind is essential to their health, and it is probable that roots
will be one of the most effectual preventives of this disease. If the
system becomes inflamed or feverish, bleeding must be resorted to, and
there are few cases of jaundice in which it would not be useful.

JELLY. Isa form of food, or medicine, prepared from the juice
of ripe fruits, boiled to a proper consistence with sugar; or the strong
decoctions of the horns, bones, or extremities of animals, boiled to such
a height as to be stiff and firm when cold, without the addition of
sugar. The jellies of fruits are cooling, saponaceous, and accescent,
and therefore are good in all disorders of the prime vie, aysing from
alkalescent juices. Jellies made from animal substances are all alka-
lescent, and, therefore, good in all cases in which an acidity of the
humors prevails; the alkalescent quality is, however, in a great mea-
sure taken off by the addition of lemon juice and sugar. A sort of
jellies were formerly much in use, called compound jellies; these
had the restorative medicinal drugs added to them, but they are now
seldom prescribed.

JESUITS’ BARK. Or Peruvian Bark, an invaluable drug, used
with great success in ‘ntermittent fevers. The tree which produces
it, grows chiefly in Quito, a province of Peru. — It is about the size of
a cherry tree, and bears a kind of fruit resembling an almond ; but it
is only the bark that possesses those excellent qualities for which it is
so much celebrated. It is said that the medicinal virtue of this bark
was discovered in the following manner. Several of the trees were
felled for other purposes into a lake, when an epidemic fever of a very
mortal kind prevailed at Loxa, in Peru; and the woodmen acci-
dentally drinking the water were cured. Some Jesuits carried this
bark to Rome, about the year 1639.

JET. In Natural History, a bituminous substance, which Ma-
gellan supposes to be similar to amber, differing only in its color,

THE FARMER AT HOME. 229°

which is black. Great quantities of it have been dug up in the
Pyrenees ; and it is also found in parts of Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ger-
many, Prussia, Sweden, and Ireland. It bears a good polish, and is
made into trinkets. It is also reduced into powder, formed into a
varnish, and, when mixed with lime, it is an extremely durable
cement.

JOINTS. The joints of the human body are called by anatomists
articulations. The suppleness to which the joints may be brought
by long practice from infancy is very surprising. One of the most
wonderful instances was a person of the name of Clark, and famous
for it in London, where he was commonly known by the name of
‘Clark, the posture-master.” This man, by long practice, distorted
many of the bones, of which nobody before had ever thought it possi-
ble to alter the position. He had such an absolute command of his
muscles and joints, that he could almost disjoint his whole body; so
that he once imposed on the famous Mullens by his distortions, in such
a manner, that he refused to undertake his cure ; but, to the amaze-
ment of the physician, no sooner had he given over his patient, than
he saw him restore himself to the figure and condition of a proper man,
with no distortion about him.

JUICES OF PLANTS. The proper juice of plants, that which
is essential to their growth and nutrition, is the sap, after it has
undergone the changes consequent on being received into the circula-
tion of the plant. It seems to be elaborated from the sap, by the
vital power of the plant, and hence varies much in different plants.
In some, it is sweet, as the sugar maple ; in others, acrid or corrosive,
as in the wild parsnip ; in others, narcotic, as in the poppy ; in others,
aromatic, asin cinnamon. The color of the proper juices of plants,
varies as much as their qualities. In the milkweed it is white, in the
periwinkle green, in the celandine yellow, in bloodroot or logwood
red, and in others clear and pure. The medicinal qualities princi-
pally reside in their proper juices, of which the balsam and turpentine
of the fir and pine, are familiar instances.

Although it was long doubted, it now seems to be generally ad-
mitted, that there is a proper circulation of the juices of plants, as the
result of their organization. Indeed, in some plants this current is
clearly seen, by the microscope, as is exhibited in the plates of Roget’s
Vegetable Physiology. Such a function, in some form, seems neces-
sary, or plants would be unable to free themselves from uniecessary or
adventitious matters which are taken up by the sap, as it is clear they
do by the process of excretion. Professor Knight’s account of this
circulation and its results, in substance, is as follows:—When the
seed is planted under favorable circumstances, moisture is absorbed,
and slightly modified by the cotyledons, is conducted to the radicle,
mingled with that continually taken up from the soil, ascends to the
plumelet, which now ex»ands, and gives the due preparation to the

930 THE FARMER AT HOME.

ascending sap, which is returned in its elaborated state to the tubes
of the bark. Through this it descends to the root, forming in its pro-
gress new bark, and new alburnum, thus completing the circulation

JULIAN YEAR. A space of time consisting of three hundred
and sixty-five days and six hours, so called from Julins Cesar, by
whom it was established. The calendar, which contained an acconnt
of Julian time, was called the Julian Calendar; and the time when
it was first instituted, namely, 46, A. C., the Julian Epocha.

JULY. The seventh month, from the Latin word Julius, said to
be derived from Julius Cesar, who was born in this month; Mark
Anthony first gave the name Julius to it; it was called before Quin-
tilis, from being the fifth month, according to the old Roman calendar ;
for the same reason Aucust was called Sextilis, or the sixth. Abundant
objects will now excite our pleasure, in our walks through the numer-
ous and variegated fields of nature; whether it be over the lately close
shorn meadow, the promising and ripening cornfield, or the uplands
and lofty hills, where the heath sheds a purple tint over the swelling
undulations ; the furze and the broom still wave their beautiful yellow
blossoms ; and the whortleberry modestly hanging beneath its olive
green leaves; or in the shady wood, secluded from the now intense
rays of the powerful sun.

The fruits of the garden, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and
cherries, are now fully ripe ; the lilies of many kinds are now in their
splendor ; the hollyhock, the convolvulus, the sunflower, and innumer-
able cultivated plants, offer their fragance or their colors to our senses.
The bindweed, with companulate flowers of snowy white, adorns
every hedge; the scarlet poppy, the waving corn. Of flowering
shrubs, the Spanish broom and syranga may be named. Of the
numerous culinary vegetables now scattered before us in profusion,
we cannot speak ; they offer a rich variety for every taste.

JUNE. The sixth month in the year, called by the Romans
Junius. This month offers to him who is fond of the country—and
who with unadulterated taste is not?—several agreealfle sources of
pleasure ; the air is always bland, generally even hot ; and the agri-
cultural operations of hay making and sheep shearing excite, in a sort
of festal activity, at once to pleasure, to business, aud to employment,
Fragrance, in the country, may be an appropriate term for this month ;
whether it be exhaled from the variegated flowers of the meadow, the
fields of clover, of beans, or of hay; or whether from the garden with
the rose, the jessamine, the sweet william, the sweet pea, and the
woodbine ; add to these, not indeed of much fragrance, but of various
and numerous dyes, the larkspur, the candy tuft, nasturtiums, poppies,
canterbury bells, the lychnis, and lilies of many kinds. The pink,
carnation, and stocks, of infinize hues, embellish the borders of him
who is disposed to become a nurse for these beautiful children of
nature; and imparts also thei varieties of odor along with the flower

THE FARMER AT il0ME. 231

de luce, one species of which, with extreme delicacy of scent, should
never in a garden be omitted. Towards the end of this mouth, many
of the singing birds cease their notes ; the nightingale, in particular,
is scarcely, if ever, heard after the thirtieth ; nor is the cuckoo often,
though occasionally, later in song. Migratory and other birds are
now busy in the work of incubation. In this month, also, some fruits
are ripe, among which the cherry and the strawberry are the chief.

JUNIPER TREE. A sor of tree or shrub, having long, narrow,
and prickly leaves, and bearing a soft pulpy berry. This shrub is
common on heaths and barren hills, but the berries, which are used
medicinally, are brought from Germany. From the berries is made,
in Holland, the gin called Holland gin.

KAMSIN. The name of a hot southerly wind, common in Egypt.
The wind is said to prevail more or less for fifty days, hence it is called
“the wind of fifty days.” Travellers who have experienced the eflect
of it have described it as a poisonous wind. When it begins to blow,
the atmosphere assumes an alarming appearance. The sky, at other
times so clear in this climate, becomes dark and heavy; the sun loses
its splendor, and appears of a violet color; the air is not cloudy, but
gray and thick, and is filled with a dust so subtle, that it penetrates
every where.

This wind, always light and rapid, is not at first remarkably hot,
but it increases in heat in proportion as it continues. All animated
bodies soon discover it by the change it producesin them. The lungs,
which a too rarified air no longer expands, are contracted, and become
painful. Respiration is short and difficult, the skin parched and dry,
and the body consumed by an internal heat. In vain is recourse had
to large draughts of water; nothing can restore perspiration. In vain
is coolness sought for ; all bodies, in which it is usual to find it, deceive
the hand that touches them. Marble, iron, water, notwithstanding
the sun no longer appears, are hot. The streets are deserted, and the
dead silence of night reigns every where. The inhabitants of towns
and villages shut themselves up in their houses, and those of the desert
in their tents, or in wells dug in the earth, where they wait the ter-
mination of this destructive heat. It usually lasts three days, but if
it exceeds that time it becomes insupportable. The danger is most
imminent when it blows in squalls ; for then the rapidity of the wind
increases the heat to such a degree as to cause sudden death. This
heat is a real suffocation. The lungs, being empty, are convulsed, the
circulation is disordered, and the whole mass of blood driven by the
heat towards the head and breast; whence the hemorrhage at the
nose and mouth, which happens after death.

KANGAROO. An animal of New South Wales. four or five feet
long, with a tail three, weighing one hundred and fifty pounds. Its
usual position is standing on its hind feet, its fore feet being employed
like those of the squirrel. It lives on vegetables, and instead of walk-

232 THE FARMER AT HOME.

ing, leaps fifteen feet at a time. The limbs of the Kangaroo are
strangely disproportioned ; the fore legs being small and short, whilst
the hinder are long and powerful. The tail is very thick at its base,
gradually tapering, and appears to act as a supplemental limb, when
the animal assumes its usual erect or sitting posture, in which position
it is supported by the joint action of the tail and its hinder legs. This
conformation also enables it to take amazing leaps. They use their
tails and hinder feet as weapons of defence. When they are pursued
and overtaken by dogs, they turn, and seizing them with their fore-
feet, strike them with their hinder extremities. and often tear them to
such a degree as to destroy them.

KELP. In Commerce, the ashes of sea weeds. On the Scottish
coast, the sea weed is cut close to the rocks, during the summer season,
and afterwards spread out upon the shore to dry, care being taken to
turn it oceasionally, to prevent fermentation. It is then stacked for
a few weeks, and sheltered from the rain, till it becomes covered with
a white saline efflorescence, and is now ready for burning. This is
usually accomplished in a round pit, lined with brick or stone; but
the more approved form for a kiln is oblong, about two feet wide, eight
to eighteen long, and from two to three deep: the bottom of this is
covered with brush, upon which a little dried sea weed is scattered,
and fire is applied at one extremity ; the sea weed is now thrown on
gradually, as fast as the combustion reaches the surface, and, should
there be much wind, it is necessary to protect it by covering the sides
with sods ; after the whole is burnt, the mass gradually softens, be-
ginning at the sides, when it should be slowly stirred up with 2 heated
iron bar, and incorporated, till it acquires a semifluid consistence.
This part of the process requires considerable dexterity ; and, if the
mass continues dry, a little common salt should be thrown on, which
acts as a flux. When cold, it is broken up, and is now ready for sale.

Notwithstanding that kelp contains but two or three per centum
of carbonate of soda, while Spanish barilla often contains twenty or
thirty, the manufacture of this article has imcreased prodigiously on
the northern coasts of Great Britain and the neighboring islands.
Small farms on the Orkneys, which formerly rented for forty pounds a
year, have now risen to three hundred pounds, on account of their
kelp shores ; and so much importance is attached to this branch of
business, that, along sandy shores, stones have been placed within the
flood-mark, which, in a short time, become covered with sea weed.
Many thousand tons are thus manfactured annually, and are sold in
the various parts of Great Britain, at the rate of from seven to ten
pounds per ton. New England, being the only part of the United
States which has a rocky coast, would seem to be the only part of our
country fitted for the manufacture of kelp. The greater rise of the
tides north of Cape Cod, and especially in the more eastern parts, is

A

~ THE FARMER AT HOME. 238

also a favorable circumstance ; indeed, this branch of business has
been carried on in the state of Maine.

LN At ~aegf

KERRY COW.

KERRY CATTLE. The cattle of this name belong to Ireland,
and have some distinctive attributes which entitle them to notice.
They are found on the mountains and rude parts of the country, in
almost every district. The horns are of medium length, between
what are technically denominated Short Horns and the Irish Long
Horns. Usually their horns are upright, and project forward. Their
hair is coarse and long; they are black, brindled, and black or brin-
dled, with white faces. They are exceedingly hardy, living through
the winters on their native mountains and moors ; and when removed
to more favored situations, they fatten with rapidity. They are small,
especially when in their native localities; but, when favored with a
better climate and soil, and improved by crosses, their size is increased.
The cow of this breed is emphatically called the poor man’s cow, be-
cause she is so easily kept, and because she yields, considering her size,
a fair quantity of milk, which is of an excellent quality.

KITE. A migratory bird in various parts of Europe ; in England
it is said to continue the whole year. It preys chiefly upon small
birds ; and from a distance in the air, at which it is invisible to the
sight of man, it will pounce upon ther with incredible rapidity and

934 THE FARMER AT HOME.

fatal precision. It makes frequent depredations on broods of young
chickens, and furnishes hereby an interesting spectacle of maternal
affection and courage in the hen. From these conflicts the kite
sometimes retires worsted.

KETCHUP. This is a well known preparation from the mush-
room and other plants, used as a condiment for flavoring, differs
greatly in its ingredients and manufacture, according to the chief
substance which gives it a name. The best articles for it after
mushroom, are tomato and walnut. To the juice of these vegetable
substances, there is added vinegar with a seasoning of cloves, pepper,
ginger, pimento, salt, and whatever else may be deemed agreeable to
the taste.

LABOR SAVING MACHINES. Montesquieu somewhere
regrets the introduction of the use of water mills for grinding corn,
instead of the hand mills formerly in use, as it threw a great many
laborers out of employment, besides diverting the water from the pur-
poses of irrigation. Upon this principle of throwing laborers out of
employment, the English weavers were opposed to the use of the
power looms. It is not remarkable that laborers themselves, who,
for a time, feel the inconveniences of the introduction of any improve-
ment, should oppose its introduction ; but it is singular that any man
of enlarged and philosophical views should fall into such a notion.
Nobody certainly would think it a misfortune to a community, that,
in consequence of some improvement in agriculture, the same labor
would produce a greater crop of grain; on the contrary, every one
consents to the praise bestowed, by Johnson, upon the man who
makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before. And
an improvement in machinery, whereby the same labor will produce
twice the quantity of cloth, is precisely the same in its general eflects
upon the condition of the community, as an improvement in
agriculture.

Improvements in agriculture are much promoted by labor-saving
implements Much of the time that was formerly consumed in the
use of the spade is now prevented by the application of the plough.
What formerly occupied a stout laboring man a month can now be
done by a good span of horses in two days. There is perhaps as
much gained by the horse-drill in sowing and planting seed, over the
former tedious processes of doing it. The cultivator between the rows
of corn instead of the hoe is productive of similar advantage. So is
the horse power applied to reaping, raking hay, thrashing and win-
nowing grain, and sawing wood. Indeed, in whatever department
of labor, whether by machinery in the mechanic arts, or by unple-
ments in agriculture, the individual is a common benefactor, wha
enables one man to perform the labor that previously required a_plu-
rality of men. By thismeans the quantity of products is increased
and the cost of them diminished in a corresponding ratio,

THE FARMER AT HOME. 235

LACTEALS. A set of vessels which convey a milky fluid,
whence they derive theirname. They arise from the cavity of the
intestines, from minute beginnings which elude the eye. The milky
fluid which they carry is the chyle, elaborated from the food afier it
has passed the stomach, and has been mixed in the duodenum with
the bile and pancreatic fluid. The lacteals charged with chyle pass
‘through the glands of the mesentery, where some change is prob-
ably made upon it; thence it is conveyed by the lacteals into the
receptacle of the chyle, then to the thoraic duct, by which it is carried
to the left subclavian vein, to be afterwards incorporated with the
blood in the lungs.

LACTOMETER. This is an instrument to ascertain the quality
of milk ; or the proportion which the cream bears to the milk, of any
particular cow. The lactometer consists of any number of glass tubes,
half an inch or more in diameter, and eleven inches in length, fitted
into an upright wooden frame ; each tube having aline drawn around
it, ten inches from the bottom ; three inches from the line downward ;

LACTOMETER.

it is graduated into inches and tenths of inches. Each tube, at the
time of milking, is to be filled up to the top line, with the milk of a
particular cow. To make the test as accurate as possible, the milk
should be taken as soon as drawn from the cow, and from the middle
of the pail, which may be done by dipping a small pot or vessel below
the froth. After standing twelve hours, the quantity of cream which
floats upon the surface will be shown by the scale of inches and tenths
marked on the tubes. Thus, it will readily be seen what is the
relative richness of milk from each of the different cows; what pro-
portion yielded by each one is cream.

LAMA. An animal of Peru and Chili, resembling the camel.
Like the camel they have the faculty of abstaining from water, and
like that animal their food is coarse and scanty. They travel, though

236 THE- *ARMER AT HOME.

slowly, long journeys in countries impassable to most other animals,
and are much employed in transporting the rich ores, dug out of the
mines of Potosi, over the rugged hills and narrow paths of the Andes.
They lie down to be loaded, and, when weary, no blows can excite
them to quicken their pace. They neither defend themselves with
their feet nor teeth; when angry, they have no other method of
avenging injuries but by spitting. They can throw out their saliva
to the distance of ten paces; and if it fall on the skin it raises an
itching, accompanied with a slight inflammation.

LAMP. A well known apparatus for producing artificial light.
A lamp in the most simple form, has a wick, composed of several
cotton threads, partially immersed in oil, contained in a flat dish,
furnished with some small support, to hold the upper end of the wick
in a perpendicular direction, a small height above the surface of the
oil; this oil holder, or dish, when suspended in a globular glass ease,
is the common street lamp. When the wick is lighted, by the appli-
cation of a burning torch, the heat of its flame causes the oil, which
is contained in the wick, to boil, or rise in vapor; and the combustion
of this vapor is the flame which produces the light. As fast as the
oil in the wick is carried off, by this evaporation, a fresh supply is
drawn up, by the capillary attraction of the wick, from the oil con-
tained in the oil-holder.

Hence, it appears that lamps and candles are both of the same
nature as gas-lights. The difference consists in the materials from
which the gas is extracted, and the manner in which the extracting
of it is performed ; but in all cases, flame is nothing more than the
combustion of gas. In gas-lights, an apparatus is previously employed,
to make and preserve the gas, and to conduct it to the place where
artificial light is to be obtained from its combustion; but in lamps
and candles. the heat of the same flame which produces the light, is
employed to vaporize the combustible matter, and form gas for its
own maintenance. The difference between Jamps and candles is, that
lamps are supplied with the combustible matter in a fluid state, but
candles are supplied with a solid material; and the heat of the flame
must first be employed, to reduce the tallow or wax to a fluid state ;
and this fluid, which forms itself round the base of this wick, sustains
the flame just in the same manner as the oil in lamps.

The flame which we employ for artificial light, is produced by the
combustion of some gas which contains carbonaceous matter ; and
it is most probable that the matter, while it burns in these gases, is
chiefly composed of particles of carbon in a very minute state of division.
Combustion takes place when the carbon combines with the oxygen of
the atmospheric air, in the requisite proportion to produce the carbonic
acid gas; and if the oxygen is supplied in a less proportion, the oxide
of carbon will be produced in the form of smoke or soot. The chief
circumstance influencing the combustion of the different carbonaceous

THE FARMER AT HOME. 237

matters which are used for producing light, is the degree of tempera-
ture which they require, in order to make them combine with the
oxygen of the atmosphere, in sufficient proportion to produce flame.

LAMP-BLACK. This is a coloring substance in very general
use for several purposes. The finest lamp-black is produced by col-
lecting the smoke fromm a lamp with a long wick, which supplies more
oil than can be consumed, or by suffering the flame to play against a
metallic cover, which impedes the combustion, not only by carrying
off part of the heat, but by obstructing the current of air. Lamp-
black is prepared, however, in a much cheaper way for the demands
ef trade. The dregs which remain after the purification of pitch, or
else small pieces of fir-wood, are burned in furnaces of a peculiar con-
struction, the smo«e of which is made to pass through a long horizon-
tal flue, terminating in a close boarded chamber. The roof of this
chamber is made of coarse cloth, through which the current of air
escapes, while the soot remains.

LAMPAS. lLampas, or lampers, as many farmers pronounce it,
is a difficulty in the roof or palate of a horse’s mouth, which prevents
his eating except with pain. In a horse, the palate is crossed trans-
versely by bars, and some of the lower ones, or those adjoining the
fore teeth, swell, become inflamed, and if they rise higher than the
teeth, which, in a young horse, or when he is shedding his teeth, they
sometimes will, feeding is impossible. It may also arise at any time
from a feverish tendency, but most often when taken up from grass,
or when he has been over-fed. It is the custom with some, when a
horse has the lampas, to burn them out with a hot iron ; and nearly
every blacksmith’s shop is furnished with an instrument of torture for
this purpose. This isa nost barbarous practice, and should never be
performed. It tortures the animal to no purpose, and it destroys, by
rendering the bars callous and hard, that elasticity and sensibility so
necessary to safety in managing a horse by the bridle.

In nine times out of ten the inflammation will subside in a few
days of itself, and if it does not, a few mashes, or gentle alterative
medicines, willrelieve him. If they are severe, a few slight cuts or
pricks across the bars with a lancet or knife, will cause the inflam-
mation or swelling to subside; but in all operations about the mouth
of the horse, care must be taken not to disturb the principal artery or
vein of the palate, unless a full bleeding is intended. At times this
difficulty of eating arises from either the grinders or tushes endeavor-
iug to make their way through the integuments of the jaw. Exam-
ination will show whether this is the case, and if so, a cross cut with
a penknife will give immediate relief. Young horses, from the short-
ness of their tezth, are more subject to the lampas than old ones, but
those of all ages ur2 liable to the disease.

LAND REMAINS. A term applied to remains of animals and
vegetables, found ¢verywhere on digging in the earth, mostly inter-

238 THE FARMIR AT HOME.

changed with strata of marine remains. They consist of bones of
animals, or vegetables whose species chiefly are extinct, or whose
genera now flourish in warmer climates, the bones being often of ani-
mals of enormous size, either because such were common, or because
they have endured longer. Vegetables in particular are often found
imbedded in coals, and coal seams are in general considered as con-
solidations of ancient forests. In Iceland a forest was lately found
with the trees erect, fifty or sixty feet below the surface of the earth,
and prostrate forests have been found in Lancashire and Lincolnshire.
LANDMARK. A mark to designate the boundary of land; any
mark or fixed object ; as a marked tree, a ston2, a ditch, or a heap of
stones, by which the limits of a farm, a town, or other portion of ter-
ritory may be known and preserved. In ancient times the correct
division of lands was an object of great importance; and various
means were adopted to give distinctness and permanency to the
boundaries of every man’s property. Stones and hillocks were the
most usual landmarks. The importance of this subject among the
Israelites particularly, may be judged of from the denunciation of
Moses : ‘‘ Cursed be he who removeth his neighbor’s landmark.”
LANDSCAPE. A portion of land or territory which the eye can
comprehend in a single glance, including mountains, rivers, lakes,
and whatever else the land contains. Also, a picture, exhibiting the
form of a district of country, as far as the eye can reach, or a particu-
lar extent of land and the objects it contains, or its various scenery, is
called a landscape. It would be wise when locating houses in the
country, to select sites that combine all the elements that can be had
for a beautiful landscape. After a judicious choice of site is thus
made, the buildings should be designed so as to harmonize witli, and
give additional eflect to the natural scenery. Most persons do not
seem to be aware how much pleasure in the course of life they would
experience from due attention to this subject. All this costs but little,
but it gives commercial value to a country residence, an hundred fold
beyond what is expended in outlay for it. What passing traveller
does not stop to admire the tasteful and economical cottage, with
appropriate outbuildings and fences—with trees and shrubs—with
lawns and mounds—with flowers, gravel walks, and terraces—and,
also it may be with gurgling rills, or overflowing fountains! It is
not to be supposed very many can have enough of these artistic or
even natural decorations to deserve the name of landscape gardening ;
but most persons may indulge themselves a little in such emanations
of a well cultivated taste. That an admiration of such scenery is an
innate quality of the human mind, is too well known to need proof.
LAND SPRINGS. Land springs are sources of water which
only come into action after heavy rains ; while constant springs, which
derive their supplies from a more abundant source, flow throughout
the year. All springs owe their origin to rains. In the case of land

THE FARMER AT HOME. 239

springs, the water when it sinks through the surface, is speedily inter-
rupted by a retentive stratum, and there accumulating soon bursts
out into a spring, which ceases to flow a short period after the cause
which gave it birth had ceased to operate; but the water which
supplies constant springs sinks deeper into the earth, aud accumulates
in rocky or gravelly strata, which become saturated with the fluid.

LANTERN FLY. This very curious insect measures about three
inches and a half, from the tip of the front to that of the tail; and
about five inches and a half from wing’s end to wing’s end, when
extended. The body is of a lengthened oval shape, roundish, and
divided into several rings. The wings are very large, of a yellow
color, elegantly varied with brown. The lower pair are decorated
by a very large eye-shaped spot on the middle of each, the border of
the spot being red, and the centre half red and white. The head or
lantern is a pale yellow with red stripes. ‘Phis beautiful insect is a
native of Surinam, and during the night sheds so strong a phosphoric
splendor from its head or lantern, that it may be employed for a
candle or torch. It is said that three or four of them tied to the top
of a stick are frequently used by travellers for that purpose. A single
one gives light enough to enable a person to read.

LAPIDARY. — Is chiefly used for an artificer, who cuts precious
stones. Dealers in precious stones are rather styled jewellers. The
art of cutting these is of great antiquity. Various machines are
employed in cutting precious stones, according to their quality. The
diamond, which is extremely hard, is cut on a wheel of soft steel,
turned by a mill, with diamond dust, tempered with olive oil, which
also serves to polish it. The oriental ruby, sapphire, and topaz, are
cut on a copper wheel, with diamond dust tempered with olive oil,
and are polished on another copper wheel with tripoli and water.
Hyacinths, emeralds, amethysts, garnets, agates, and other stones, not
of inferior hardness, are cut on a heiden wheel with smalt and water,
and polished on a tin wheel with tripoli. ,The turquois, girasol, and
opal, are cut and polished on a wooden wheel with tripoli.

LARCH-TREE. The European Larch is one of the most valua-
ble exotics which has been introduced into Britain. In the north of
Scotland it has been grown to a great extent, cultivated with partic-
ular attention, and found to be one of the most profitable trees to the
planter, provided the land be well drained, but it will not succeed in
swampy situations. It grows with great rapidity, is subject to very
few accidents, transplants with little risk, and produces timber of
great excellence and value. The timber is usec for shipbuilding,
bridges, dock-gates, and other purposes. The bark is nearly as valu-
able as that of oak for tanning, and the trunk, when tapped, yields
the venetian turpentine.

LARD. The melted fat of the hog is known under this name ;
it is much used for domestic purposes, in cookery. for ointments, and

240 THE FARMER AT HOME.

for other purposes. Pure lard has little or no taste. and no odor
When long exposed to the air it attracts oxygen, and becomes rancid.
It should therefore be kept in air-tight vessels. Within a few years
past very large quantities, especially in the Western States, where
hogs are numerous, by a ¢hemical process are converted into candles
and oil, by many considered equal to the sperm. This will be of
immense importance to the country, having already reduced the price
of sperm, or put a check upon its advancement. It has been esti-
mated, that in Cincinnati only, lard oil is made at the rate of over a
million of gallons per annum. Doubtless the manufacture of it will
increase.

LARVA. This is a term applied to that state in which an insect
exists immediately after its exclusion from the egg, and before it
assumes its distinctive character, or before it becomes a perfect insect.
The animals commonly called grubs, maggots, and caterpillars, are
larva. The egg of the butterfly produces a butterfly, with the linea-
ments of its parent, only these are not disclosed at first, but for the
greater part of the creature’s life, they are covered with a sort of case,
or muscular coat, in which are legs for walking ; which only suit it in
this state, but its mouth takes m nourishment that i is conveyed to the
enclosed animal ; and after a proper time, this covering is thrown off,
and the butterfly, that all the while might be discovered in it*by an
accurate observer, with the help of a microscope, appears in its proper
form.

The care of the butterfly tribe to lodge their eggs in safety is sur-
prising. Those whose eggs are to be hatched in a few weeks. and who
are to live in the caterpillar state during part of the remaining sum-
mer, always lay them on the leaves of such plants as will afford a
proper nourishment ; but, on the contrary, those whose eggs are to
remain unhatched till the following spring, always lay them on the
branches of trees and shrubs, and usually are careful to select such
places as are least exposed to the ngor of the ensuing season, and
frequently cover them from it in an artful manner. Some make a
general coat of a hairy matter over them, taking the hairs from their
own bodies for that purpose ; others hide themselves in hollow places
in trees, and in other sheltered cells, and there live in a kind of torpid
state during the whole winter, that they may deposit their eggs in the
succeeding spring, at a time when there will be no severity of weather
for them to combat. The caterpillar state is that through which every
butterfly must pass before it arrives at its perfection and beauty. In
the study of the insect tribe will be found most-curious phenomena.

LAUDANUM. This resinous juice exudes upon the leaves of
the Cistus ladanum of Linneus, in Candia, where the inhabitants
collect it by lightly rubbing the leaves with leather, and afterwards
scraping off and forming it into irregular masses, for exportation.
Three sorts of landanum have beer. described by authors, but only

TIE FARMER AT HOME. 24

two are to be met with in the shops. The best, which is very rare,
is in dark colored masses, of the consistence of a soft plaster, growing
still softer on being handled. The other is in long rolls, coiled up,
much harder than the preceding, and not so dark. The first has com-
monly a small, and the last a large admixture of fine sand, without
which they cannot be collected pure, independently of designed abuses ;
tne dust blown on the plant by winds from the loose sands among
which it grows, being retained by the tenacious juice. The soft kind
has an agreeable smell, and a lightly pungent, bitterish taste: the
hard is much weaker

LAUREL MAGNOLIA. A large and beautiful tree, that grows
on the banks of the Mississippi, and of the river St. Juan. Their
usual height is about one hundred feet, and some greatly exceed it.
The trunk is perfectly erect, rising in the form of a beautiful column,
and supporting a head like an obtuse cone. The flowers of this tree
are the largest and most complete of any yet known: when fully
expanded, they are of six, eight, and nine inches diameter. They are
on the extremities of the subdivisions of the branches, are per-
fectly white, and expanded like a full blown rose. In the autumn,
multitudes of red berries hang down from the branches of these trees.
suspended by white silky threads, from four to nine inches in length.
The berries have an agreeable spicy scent, and an aromatic bitter
taste. The wood, when seasoned, is of a straw color, and harder and
firmer than that of the poplar. The grape vines which climb these
trees, are frequently nine, ten, and twelve inches in diameter : they
twine round the trunks of the trees, climb to their very tops, and then
spread along their limbs, from tree to tree, throughout the forest.

LAVENDER. A plant with a shrubby stem, much branched
with numerous hoary leaves. The flowers are produced in termi-
nating spikes from the young shoots on long peduncles. The leaves,
stalk, and flower, yield a fragrant perfume, and from the latter arc
prepared an essential oil, a simple spirit, and a compound tincture.

LAWN. Ground covered with the smallest perennial grasses,
kept short by mowing, and generally situated in front of a house or
mansion. Lawns, when once established, require only to be kept neat
by the ordinary routine of rolling, mowing, and sweeping, except
keeping the surface perfectly even, by making small hollows with
screened mould early in the spring. When lawns become worn out,
a top dressing of any finely divided manure will refresh them ; leached
ashes are particularly useful, and at the same time, an additional
quantity of grass seed may be sown.

LEAD. In Mineralogy, a bluish white metal, very soft and
flexible, and easily beaten into thin plates by the hammer. In a
strong heat it boils and emits flames, and if during that time it is ex-
posed to the air, its oxidation proceeds very rapidly. It is very brittle
at the time of congelation. Most of the acids attack lead, but it

11

43 THE FARMER AT HOME.

unites with most of the metals, particularly tin, which, in union with
lead, forms the solder used by plumbers. The carbonate of lead,
which is a powder, is better known by the name of white lead ; the
red oxide of lead is otherwise called red lead.

LEATHER. This remarkable substance, which is universally
employed throughout the civilized world, is prepared from the skins
of animals, or, it would perhaps be more correct to say, consists of that
substance after it has been chemically changed by the process of tan-
ning. This change is effected by means of a substance residing in
several vegetable matters, to which th2 name of tannin has been
given. When this tannin, which is soluble in water, is applied to
the hides of animals, from which the hair, epidermis, and any fleshy
or fatty parts adhering to them are removed, and which hides then
consist wholly of gelatin, also soluble in water, these two soluble sub-
stances, so unite chemically, as to form the wholly insoluble substance
called leather. Of the ox-hides which are converted into leather,
those supplied by bulls are thicker, stronger, and coarser in the grain,
than those of cows ; while the hides of bullocks are intermediate be-
tween those of the bull and the cow. Such leather is employed for
the soles of boots and shoes; for most parts of harness and saddlery ;
for making leather trunks, buckets, hose for fire engines and pump-
valves ; for the thick belts used in military accoutrernents and ma-
chine shops, and for the gloves of cavalry.

LEAVES. In Botany, are membraneous or succulent organs,
usually of a green color, arising immediately from the root, or attached
to the stem and its branches. The point by which a leaf is attached
to the plant is termed its base, the opposite extremity is the summit,
the intermediate portion of the leaf is its expansion, and the boundary
of the expansion is its margin. The superior surface is more even,
and usually of a deeper green ; and the other exhibits more promi-
nently the fibres of the diverging vessels.

The magnitude of leaves varies almost as much as their forms.
In the mosses which abound in cold climates, they are extremely
minute ; and the forest trees of the north are adorned with leaves
which appear diminutive when compared or rather when contrasted
with the foliage of equatorial plants. There we find the leaves of the
banana, perhaps the same which were employed by our first parents,
to supply the want of a more artificial dress ; they being, in the opinion
of many writers, the *‘fig-leaves’ of sacred history. In Ceylon, a
country alternately exposed, for many months in succession, to the
rays of a vertical sun, and the inclemencies of an rnceasing storm, Is
found the singular talipot, a single leaf of which is sufficiently large
to shelter twenty men from the vicissitudes of the climate in which
they dwell. This tree is venerated by those who find beneath its
branches so kind a shelter, and travellers consider it as the greatest
blessing which Heaver. has bestowed on the country. And when we

THE FARMER AT HOME. 243

regard its subserviency to the wants of the human race, it is not sur-
prising that by the ancients, the wide spreading tree, decorated with
leaves, and occasionally beautified with flowers, shou.d have been
held sacred as the very temple of the deities they worshipped.

It has long been known that leaves are organs of exhalation, from
which an invisible vapor continually escapes, capable of being col-
lected, condensed, and accurately examined. The fact is illustrated
by a very simple experiment, and we all know that when a branch
is separated from its parent stock, it will shortly droop, wither and
die. Its weight is diminished, for it is no longer filled with those
fluids on which its firmness and elasticity depend. They have been
discharged through the pores of the leaves, which, being cut off from
all further supply, are sooner or later entirely exhausted. But if a
leafy stem be placed in a small vessel of water, its freshness will be
preserved a much longer time, though the perceptible and rapid dim-
inution of the water will prove that the leaves have been the outlet
through which it has escaped. If the same branch be placed in a
close tin box, its freshness will be still longer preserved. Here are
no fluids for the stem to absorb, but by confining the air which is al-
ready saturated with vapor, we prevent its further escape from the
leaves, which must of necessity cease to transpire. They retain the
same fluids with which they are already supplied, and though they
perform none of the actions, they exhibit the appearance of perfect
health. Thus they may be preserved for weeks, and thus the botan-
ical traveller, who expects to derive every advantage from his journey,
will collect and preserve the plants that meet his eye, till he has
leisure to examine them.

In general, succulent plants exhale more sparingly than others.
It seems to have been the design of Nature that they should inhabit
the burning sands of the torrid zone, and the peculiarity of their native
situation, makes it necessary for them to preserve the fltids, which
with so much difficulty they procure. But plants with thin mem-
branaceous leaves, which generally occupy moist situations, where
they are supplied with an abundance of water, perspire very copiously.
The sunflower, which is very frequently met with in the United
States, was found to exhale two pounds in the course of a day: and
in the same space of time the cornelian cherry, ashrib with thin and
almost transparent leaves, growing in the hedges of Europe, is said
to lose a quantity equal to twice its own weight. On a warm sum-
mer’s day, at a time when there had been no rain for several weeks,
Dr. Watson placed some grass under a large vessel, aud in two min-
utes it was covered with moisture which ran down its sides. By
collecting it on muslin, he ascertained the amount of this exhalation ;
and from the result of his experiments, he was led to conclude, that
in the course of a day, an acre of land tratuspires nearly two thousand
gallons of water. The rapidity with: which plants wither, will teach

244 THE FARMER AT HOME.

us how fast their roots absorb, or their leavesexhale; and in cultivat-
ing rare plants, this simple experiment will enable us to determine
what quantity of water they require.

LEAVES FOR MANURE. The dead leaves of the forest con-
stitute an admirable manure when rotted in the barn-yard, pig-stalls,
or in composts ; they have precisely the value of straw, being very
similar in their action. The leaves of oaks and plants growing on a
rich soil are better than those of pine, or such as grow on poor lands.
They should be collected as early as possible in the fail. They might
be gathered with rakes and put into stacks of several hundred each in
the forest, to remain till the snow falls, when they could be removed
to their places of deposit’with more convenience than at the period of
collecting them, or as they may be needed for litter. If they were to
be at once ploughed into the soil, they would form an excellent
amendment ; but in that case, require rather more time to yield veg-
etable food. In this case, lime should be applied with the leaves.

LEECHES. The traffic in leeches is a remarkable one, alike for
the gatherer and the dealer. The leech is met with more abundantly
in the south than in the north of Europe. The country about La
Brienne, in France, is famous for its supply of leeches; and here is
exhibited the wretched nature of the employment of a leech-gatherer.
He has his arms and legs bare, and waiks about in the marshes where
the leeches abound. They attach themselves to his legs as he moves
along, and he picks them off from time to time; he seeks for them
also about the roots of bulrushes and sea-weeds. He can on some
days gather a groce in three or four hours: and he puts them into a
small bag suspended round his neck. Such is the leech-fishery in
spring ; but in summer it is still worse. The leeches then go into
deeper water, aud the gatherer strips naked to go after them. These
poor fellows are exposed to fogs, mists, and fetid vapors, and are sub-
ject to agues, catarrhs, and rheumatisms; but the trade is tolerably
lucrative, and thus there is no scarcity of leech-gatherers. They are
sometimes imported in bags, but more usually in small barrels contain-
ing about two thousand each : the head being made of stout canvas,
to admit the air. It has been estimated that the annual consumption
of leeches in Paris is about three millions; and that not less than
seven millions are annually carried to London, either for use there or
for shipment to other places.

LENS. Is a glass ground into such a form as to collect or dis-
perse the rays of light which pass through it. They are of different
shapes, from which they take their names. If rays proceed from a
radiant point distant as far as the sun, their divergency is so trifling
that they may be considered as parallel. When parallel rays fall‘on
a piece of glass having a double convex surface, that ray only, which
falls in the direction of the axis of the lens, is perpendicular to the
surface ; the other rays falling oblique'y, are refracted towards the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 245

axis, and they will meet beyond the lens at a point called its focus.
The distance of the focus from the centre of the lens depends both
upon the form of the lens, and upon the refractiv2 power of the sub-
stance of which it is made; in a glass lens, both sides of which are
equally convex, the focus is situated nearly at the centre of the sphere
of which the surface of the lens forms a portion ; it is at the distance,
therefore, of half the diameter of the sphere. The property of a lens
which has a double concave surface, is to disperse the rays of light.
Instead of converging towards the ray, which falls on the axis of the
lens, they will be attracted towards its thick edges, both on entering
and quitting it, and will, therefore, be made to diverge. Lenses
which have one side flat and the other convex or concave, are less
powerful in their refractions, than those which have been described.
They are called plano-convex and plano-concave. The focus of the
former is at the distance of the diameter of a sphere, of which the
convex surface of the lens forms a portion. The last kind of lens is
called a ménis cus, being convex on one side, and concave on the
other, like the glass or crystal of a watch.

LENTIL. A species of ervam. The common lentil comes from
France and the Valais. The thin annual root brings forth weak,
creeping, hairy, angular stalks, from one to two feet long, divided,
from near the bottom, into several branches, and clinging for support
to other plants; the primate leaves stand alternately ; from the axils
of the leaves proceed fine stalks, which each have two or three whitish
flowers, hanging down. The pods do not contain more than two
sound seeds, flat upon both sides. Lentils are cultivated for the seeds
just mentioned. They require a rather sandy, yet strong soil; they
are sown somewhat later than peas and vetches, because they cannot
endure night frosts; they are to be sowed in drills, and well harrowed.
Care is to be taken that the seed is not put too deep into the ground,
and that the young plants are well hoed and well weeded. For the
harvest, the time is to be chosen when the little pods begin to turn
brown, though the plant may be still quite green ; and, if possible, it is
best to choose the afternoon of a dry, warm day ; for if the pods are
quite ripe, or are wet with rain at the time of gathering, they easily
crack open, and a great loss of seed takes place.

Two varieties are cultivated—the large garden lentil, and the
common field lentil. ‘The former is distinguished by its ee and the
greater quantity of mealy substance which it will afford. The straw
of lentils is good food for cattle and sheep, particularly for calves and
lambs. Lentils are also mixed with vetches, and sowed as food, both
green and dried, for milch kine. Lentils, when cooked, afford a
nutritious food, (this should be done in the pod, to preserve their
flavor) but, like peas and beans, are not good for persons whose diges-
tive powers are weak, particularly if they are not cooked quite soft.
They ought to be boiled for two hrurs and a half. When they are

246 THE FARMER AT HOME.

browned, some butter and a few onions roasted in butter, are added,
also salt; they are then boiled half an hour more. A good soup may
also be made of them. Some persons soften the lentils, before cook-
ing, in cold water. Purified rain water is best to cook them in. In
the Archipelago, they are one of the principal articles of fwd. To
fatten pigs, lentils are excellent, and, given with other food, increase
the milk of cows.

LETTUCE. A smooth, herbaceous, annual plant, containing a
milky juice, which has been cultivated from remote antiquity, and is
in general use as a salad. The original locality is unknown. The
stem grows to the height of about two feet, and bears small pale-
yellow flowers ; the inferior leaves are sessile, and undulate on the
margin. The young plant only is eaten, as it is narcotic and poison-
ous when in flower. Twenty species of lettuce are known, from
various parts of the globe, aid one or more of them inhabit the
United States.

LICE. There is scarce an animal that does not nourish, under
peculiar circumstances, on its skin, hair, wool, or if a bird, among its
feathers, some kind of lice. Some have even more than one kind, as
the horse, where one kind lives in the short hair, and another in the
mane. The causes are various which are deemed favorable to the
production and increase of these parasites. Domestic animals kept
dirty and not curried ; filthy unwholesome stables; dirt and sweat
allowed to accumulate on the skin, or contact with one already in-
fected, are named as causes. But experience shows that lice prefer
animals reduced by hunger, disease, or bad food, and they frequentiy
appear after malignant or inveterate diseases have left the animal
weak and debilitated. On the horse, they more generally fix on the
mane and tail, but if numerous, spread over the whole animal; on
the ox. they are found on all parts ; they run over the whole body of
the sheep, and swarm on every part of the bodies of swine. Animals
attacked, rub off the hair, wool, and even the skin, in their annoy
ance, and fall away rapidly from the abstraction of blood and juices,
and the restless state in which they are kept.

For the cure of animals infested with lice, some kind of mercurial
ointment is most to be depended upon; though there are vegetable
washes, such as a decoction of black hellebore and marsh tea, which
will kill these vermin. It has been said, where they are not numer-
ous, sifting fine sand over the animal, would speedily drive them off.
Snuff, or a decoction of tobacco, is also used with success. For cattle,
Youatt recommends the common scab ointment of sheep—one part of
strong mercurial ointment ant five parts of lard, as a cure for this
disease. If a little of this is well rubbed in, instead of a good deal
spread over the hair, there will be no danger of salivation, and the cure
will be speedy. Infected animals should be kept separate from well
ones, both to prevent infection, and the danger of licking where the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 247

mercurial ointment has been newly spread. If fowls are provided
with a box containing sand, with a considerable portion of ashes, to
dust, or roll themselves in, they will not be lousy, or if they become
so, such a box will cure them. It is is said also, that, occasionally
boiled onions chopped or mashed with corn meal dough for feed, will
prevent their being lousy.

LICHEN. The name for an extensive division of plants. They
appear in the form of thin flat crusts, covering rocks and the bark of
trees, or in foliaceous expansions, or branched like a shrub in minia-
ture, or sometimes only as a belatinous mass, or a powdery substance.
They are called rock moss and tree moss, and some of the liverworts
are of this order. They also include the Iceland moss and the rein-
deer moss ; but are entirely distinct from the true mosses.

LIGAMENTS. Strong, tendinous, inelastic, glistening bodies,
which surround the joints, and connect bones together, or strengthen
the attachments of various organs, or keep them in their. places.
Every joint is surrounded by a capsular ligament; the tendons at the
wrist and ankle are bound down by what are called the annular liga-
ments. Poupart’s ligament, under which the great nerves, artery,
and vein pass out from the cavity of the abdomen to the fore part of
the inferior extremity, is merely the lower border of the descending
oblique muscle of the belly; which tendon is stretched from the fore
part of the haunch-bone to the share-bone. In dislocations of joints
the capsular ligament is often broken.

LIGHT. Without light, plants may be made to grow, but no
longer exhibit the verdure, the texture, or any of the properties of
health. Hereafter we shall probably learn, that while the atmos-
phere is contaminated by the respiration of animals, its purity is
restored by the vegetation of plants. But secluded from the light,
vegetables are no longer capable of converting a portion of the fixed
air to their own use, or of supplying the atmosphere with oxygen, on
which its importance to animal life, chiefly, if not entirely depends.
By the action of light, the carbon of the fixed air is interwoven with
the very texture of the plant, whereby it acquires a greater degree of
firmness, and becomes more valuable in the arts. Through its agency,
the aromatic and essential secretions are formed, and hence we find
them existing in perfection, only in countries which are favored with
the perpetual light of summer, or on elevated mountains, where the
rays of light meet with no obstruction. There we find the Nutmeg,
the Clove, the Cinnamon and the Peruvian barks, all designed to
increase the comforts, or diminish the sufferings of humanity ; and all
owing their chief excellences to the light of the sun.

When prepared to investigate the geographical distribution of the
vegetable kingdom, we shall learn the powerful effects of these united
causes. Feeble and exhausted in Polar regions, vegetation acquires
strength as we approach towards the equator ; where its powers can

248 THE FARMER AT HOME.

be estimated, only by the magnificence of its productions. There the
light of the sun is more vivid, its heat more permanent and intense,
while the soil is equally fertile, and the atmosphere equally pure.

In southern Georgia, an island of the frozen ocean, only two plants
have been discovered, and but thirty have been found to grow without
cultivation, in the more temperate climate of Spitzberg. How con-
temptible are these productions, when compared with those of our
own climate, or the still more fertile fields of Madagascar! But de-
prive Madagascar of its heat, and it becomes a second Greenland.
Exclude the light of the sun, and like the dark caverns of the earth,
it will produce only a few plants, and those of a sickly hue. Desti-
tute of rain, it will be like the deserts of Africa, and unsupplied with
air, it will exhibit no vestige of life. We must, therefore, expect, as
we recede from the equator, to meet with a constant succession of new
plants, but as we advance, we shall find them less numerous and
perhaps of inferior beauty and size. And as we ascend above the
surface of the ocean, we must be prepared for a similar, though more
rapid succession. This was long ago established by the observations
of Tournefort, and it has more recently been verified, by the researches
of Humboldt and Decandolle.

LIGHTNING. That lightning is really an electrical phenome-
non, is now universally admitted. Philosophers had not proceeded
far in their experiments and inquiries on this subject, before they per-
ceived the obvious analogy between lightning and electricity. But
this hypothesis was first placed beyond a doubt by Dr. Franklin, who,
about the close of the year 1740, conceived the practicability of draw-
ing lightning down from the clouds. Various cireumstances of resem-
blance between lightning and electricity were remarked by this
philosopher, and have been abundantly confirmed by later discoveries.

LIGNUM VITA. Guaiacum or pockwood, a genus of plants,
native of warm climates. The common Lignum vite is a native of
the warm climates of America. It becomes a large tree, having a
hard, brownish, brittle bark, and its wood firm, solid, ponderous, very
resinous, of blackish yellow color in the middle, and of a hot aromatic
taste. It is of considerable use in medicine and the mechanie arts,
being wrought into utensils, cogs, and various articles of turnery.

LIME. This substance is obtained by exposing chalk, or other
kinds of iimestone, or carbonates of lime, to a red heat; an operation
generally conducted in kilns constructed for that purpose; the car-
bon:> acid is thus expelled, and lime more or less pure, according to
tne original quality of the limestone remains. In this state it is
usually called quick-lime. The purest quick-lime is obtained from
the calcination of white marble. Most stones that are soft enough to
be scratched with a knife, have a portion of lime. These are what
are commonly designated limestone, chalk, marble, spars, gypsum,
and various others. When, by igrition they are reduced to the state

THE FARMER AT HOME. 249

ealled quick-lime, they have a strong tendency to combine with water.
Thus if water be sprinkled upon quick-lime, it becomes very hot, and
crumbles into a dry powder, and is called slacked lime, or hydrate of
lime, owing to the water having become consolidated with it and an
essential part of the lime. And when quick-lime has been some
weeks exposed to the air, it falls into powder, in consequence of the
absoption of the moisture in the air. The uses of lime are various.
The most important of them are in the manufacture of mortar and
other cements used in building, and as a fertilizing agent in agricul-
ture.

The paste of lime and water, called mortar, has a degree of ad-
hesion and ductility, though much less than clay. When dry, it is
more or less friable, like chalk. A mixture of sand, or broken earthen
vessels, greatly increases its firmness, which it seems to effect by ren-
dering it more difficult for the parts to be removed with respect to
each other. When mortar is left to dry by the gradual evaporation
of its superfluous water, it is very long before it obtains its utmost
degree of firmness. But if dry quicklime be mixed with mortar, it
gradually absorbs the superfluous water, and the mass becomes solid
in a very short time.

The best lime for agricultural purposes is that which is lightest,
whitest, softest to the touch; the purest and strongest lime is always
found the lightest. If, then, by calcination, limestone loses much of
its weight by this process ; if the lime shells are extremely light, and
require for slaking them fully, a large portion of water; if they are
a considerable time before they begin to fall; if during the process of
burning, the limestone is not disposed to run or become vitrified ; if it
increases very much in bulk by slaking, and the lime is a pure white,
and fine and light to the touch, it may be set down as very good, and
should be used in preference to other lime not possessing the same
qualities. The use of lime is increasing in agriculture, and is found
by those who understand the nature and design of it, to be attended
with the best results. Where it has failed, the loss has arisen from
want in its application, and not from any want of fertilizing capability
in the article itself.

LINEN. In Commerce. The linen manufacture was probably
introduced into Britain with the first settlements of the Romans. The
flax was certainly first planted by that nation in the British soil. The
plant itself indeed appears to have been orignally a native of the east.
The woolen drapery would naturally be prior in its origin to the linen,
and the fibrous plants from which the threads of the latter are pro-
duced, seem to have been first noticed and worked by the inhabitants of
Egypt. In Egypt, indeed, the linen manufacture appears to have
been very early ; for even in Joseph’s time, it had risen to a consider-
able height. From the Egyptians the knowledge of it proceeded pro-
bably to the Greeks, and from them to the Romans.

11*

250 THE FARMER AT HOME.

LINIMENT. An oily or spirituous preparation for external use,
of a consistence not so thick as an ointment. There are various use-
ful liniments employed in medicine; the volatile liniment, of various
strength, made of ammonia and oil, and applied very beneficially in
sore throats and other cases, where an external stimulus is required ;
and the carron oil, a limiment of great efficacy in burns and scealds,
made of olive oil and lime-water, equal parts. The tincture of soap,
alone or with opium, is called anondyne liniment or opodeldoc, and is
used to rub parts of the body aflected with rheumatic or other pains.
Stimulant liniments are useful in chronic d‘seases of the viscera, both
by their own powers exciting the skin to action, and by relieving the
internal parts ; and also by the friction itself.

LINSEED. This is the seed of the common flax, and is one of
the most valuable seeds cultivated for oil. The process of growing,
pulling, rotting, and dressing, is familiar to most farmers, though such is
the value of the lint, or flax, and the seed, that we think the culture
might be profitably extended. For common painting, the linseed oil
is the best that can be procured, and it forms the base of all varnishes
into which oil enters as a part. After the oil is expressed from the
seeds, the residue, called oil cake, is one of the most nutritive sub-
stances used, and is justly celebrated for fattening animals. When
cattle are to be fed on oil cake, they are usually put up at the end of
the grass season. The cake, broken or ground fine in mills, is fed to
them at the rate of about four quarts a day each, one-half in the morn- °
ing and the other at night. With the oil cake, is also fed cut hay or
straw, cob meal, or inferior grain or other matters; and the result is
they fatten very rapidly. A small quantity of oil cake fed to horses,
during winter, gives their coat a fine sleek appearance, as well as im-
proves their condition. Oil cake is sometimes fed to milk cows, but
while it increases the milk, it has the effect of giving it a somewhat
unpleasant taste.

LION. The lion, like all other cats, is armed, in each jaw, with
six strong and exceedingly sharp cutting teeth, two formidable canine,
and six others, occupying the usual place of the molars, but differing
from these by terminating in sharp protuberances. Besides these,
there is a small tooth, or tubercle, on each side of the upper jaw,
immediately posterior to all the others. The tongue is covered with
rough and elevated papille, with their points directed backwards.
The claws, which are five in number on the fore feet, and four on the
hinder, are of great length, extremely powerful, and much curved ;
like those of the other cats, they are retractile within a sheath enclosed
in the skin covering the paws. The lion is distinguished from his
kindred species by the uniformity of his color, which is pale tawny
above, becoming somewhat lighter beneath, and never, except while
very young, exhibiting any markings; and also by the long and flow-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 251

ing mane of the old male, which, covering the whole head, extends
backwards over his shoulders.

The roar of the lon is terrific and loud, especially when heard in
the solitary wilds he inhabits. This roar is his natural voice; for
when enraged, he utters a short and suddenly repeated cry, while the
roar is a prolonged effort, a kind of deep-toned grumbling, mixed with
a sharp, vibrating noise. It has been usually stated, that the lion had
constant and stated times for roaring, especially when in captivity ;
but this has been shown to be erroneous in some degree. It appears,
however, that, in summer time, and especially before atmospheric
changes, he uniformly commences about dawn; at no other time is
there any regularity in his roar. When enraged, his cry is still more
appalling than his roar; he then beats his sides with his tail, agitates
his mane, moves the skin of his face and his shaggy eyebrows, thrusts
out his tongue, and protrudes his dreadful claws. The lion requires
about sixteen pounds of raw flesh a day; he drinks often, lapping like
a dog; but in this process his tongue is bent downward ; his breath
is very offensive, and the odor of his urine insupportable.

LIQUID. Fluids have been divided in two classes, viz: those
which are elastic, and the non-elastic, or those which do not sensibly
diminish in bulk when subjected to pressure. The first class are airs
or gases, the second liquids ; hence, we may define a hquid to be a
fluid not sensibly elastic, the parts of which yield to the smallest
impression, and move on each other. When liquid bodies are mixed
together, they act in various ways according to the nature of the sub-
stances employed. Some dissolve each other in any proportion, as is
the case with most gases when mixed; some unite in determinate
proportions ; some do not act sensibly upon each other, separating
again, though mixed ever so carefully; and some decompose each
other.

LIQUORICE. Tt is an excellent medicine in coughs, and all
disorders of the breast and lungs. The only simple preparation of it
in use, is its Inspissated juice, commonly known by the name of
Spanish juice of liquorice, as being brought originally from Spain.
This has the same virtues as the root itself; and is to be chosen firm,
but not tough; hard ; and, when broken, of a fine shining surface ;
such as melts in the mouth without leaving any harsh or gritty parti-
cles in the teeth, and does not taste of burning.

LIVING WITHIN THEIR MEANS. It is remarkable, that
China, with a well defined nationality of 4,000 years, and a popula-
tion for 2,000 years denser according to its area, than that of France
or Britain, has never had cause to complain of the misery or distress
ofher people! Virtually, she has no paupers—no poor. Her infirm
or unfortunate have been generally provided for by the State ; while
her masses have been, and are, the kappiest and most independent
people on earth. The reason of this ies in the habits of industry,

252 THE FARMER AT HOME.

and love of peace of the Chinese. They till the earth in every avail-
able spot ; they drain marshes, and earth over waste places; they
turn all the riches of the earth to the most pracdcable account ; and
living peacefully and simply, they have comfort and plenty. No peo-
ple on earth live so completely within their own means. They have
never sought the trade of any country, never have interfered with
any other country ; but, minding their own business, have grown rich
and been wise, when more boasting nations were steeped in poverty
and ignorance. Surely the nations and people of Europe and the
Western Hemisphere, have yet to learn the art of true living and well
governing.

LOADSTONE. A sort of ore dug out of iron mines, on which
the needle of the mariner’s compass is touched, to give it a direction
north or south. It is a peculiarly rich ore of iron, found in large
masses in England, and most other places where there are mines of
that metal. It is of a deep iron gray, and when fresh broken, it is
often tinged with a brownish or reddish color.

LOCOMOTION. The chief obstacles which oppose locomotion,
or change of place, are gravity and friction, the last of which is, in
most cases, a consequence of the first. Gravity confines all terrestrial
bodies against the surface of the earth, with a force proportionate to
the quantity of matter which compose them. Most kinds of mechan-
ism, both natural and artificial, which assist locomotion, are arrange-
ments for obviating the eflects of gravity and friction. Animals that
walk, obviate friction by substituting points of their bodies instead of
large surfaces, and upon these points they turn, as upon centres, for
the length of each step, raising themselves wholly or partly from the
ground in successive ares, instead of drawing themselves along the
surface. As the feet move in separate lines, the body has also a
lateral, vibratory motion. A man, in walking, puts down one foot
before the other is raised, but not in running. Quadrupeds, in walk-
ing, have three feet upon the ground for most of the time ; in trotting
only two.

For moving weights over the common ground, with its ordinary
asperities and inequalities of substance and structure, no piece of
inert mechanism is so favorably adapted as the wheel carriage. It
was introduced into use in very earlyages. Wheels diminish friction,
and also surmount obstacles, or inequalities of the road, with more
advantage than bodies of any other form, in their place, could do.
The friction is diminished by transferring it from the surface of the
ground to the centre of the wheel, or, rather, to the place of contact
between the axle-tree and the box of the wheel ; so that it is lessened
by the mechanical advantage of the lever, in the proportion which the
diameter of the axle-tree bears to the diameter of the wheel. The
rubbing surfaces, also, being kept polished and smeared with some
unctuous substance, are in the best possible condition to resist friction.

THE FARMER AT HOME. 253

In like manner, the common obstacles that present themselves in
the public roads, are surmounted by a wheel with peculiar facility
As soon asthe wheel strikes against a stone or similar hard body, it
is converted into a lever for lifting the load over the resisting object.
If an obstacle eight or ten inches in height were presented to the body
of a carriage unprovided with wheels, it would stop its progress, or
subject it to such violence as would endanger its safety. But by the
action of a wheel, the load is lifted, and its centre of gravity passes
over in the direction of an easy arc, the obstacle furnishing the ful-
erum on which the lever acts. Rollers placed under a heavy body
diminish the friction in a greater degree than wheels, provided they
are true spheres or cylinders, without any axis on which they are
constrained to move ; but a cylindrical roller occasions friction, when-
ever its path deviates in the least from a straight line.

The mechanical advantages of a wheel are proportionate to its
size, and the larger it is, the more effectually does it diminish the
ordinary resistances. A large wheel will surmount stones and similar
obstacles better than a small one, since the arm of the lever on which
the force acts is longer, and the curve described by the centre of the
load is the are of a larger circle, and of course, the ascent is more
gradual and easy. In passing over holes, ruts or excavations, also, a
large wheel sinks less than a small one, and consequently occasions
less jolting and expenditure of power. The wear also of large wheels
is less than that of small ones, for if we suppose a wheel to be three
feet in diameter. it will turn round twice, while one of six feet in
diameter turns round once; so that its tire will come twice as often
in contact with the ground, and its spokes will twice as often have to
support the weight of the load. In practice, however, it is found
necessary to confine the size of wheels within certain limits, partly
because the materials used would make wheels of great size heavy
and cumbersome, since the separate parts would necessarily be of
large proportions to have the requisite strength. and partly because
they would be disproportioned to the size of the animals employed in
draught, and compel them to pull obliquely downwards, and therefore
to expend a part of their force in acting against the ground.

LOCUSTS. Ofall animals capable of adding to the calamities
of mankind, by destroying the vegetable products of the earth, the
migratory locusts would seem to possess the most formidable powers of
destruction. In Syria, Egypt, and almost all the south of Asia, these
insects make their appearance in legions, and carry desolation with
them, in a few hours changing the most fertile provinces into barren
deserts, and darkening the air by their numbers. Happily for man-
kind, this calamity is not frequently repeated, for itis the inevitable
precursor of famine, and its horrible consequences. The annals of
the most southern Asiatic climates are filled with accounts of the
devastations produced by locusts. They seldom visit Europe in such

254 THE FARMER AT HOME.

swarms, though they are there occasionally formidable to the agricul-
turist. We are told that nearly as much damage is done by their
touch as by what they devour. Their bite is thought to contaminate
the plants, and either to destroy or greatly weaken their vegetation.
Barrow states that in Southern Africa, the whole surface of the
ground might some years literally oe said to be covered with them for
an area of two thousand square miles.

The most remarkable species of this insect is the seventeen years
locust, so common, in particular seasons, in some parts of the United
States. They emerge from the ground towards the end of April, and
always during the night. On their first coming out, they are in the
pupa state; but the back soon bursts, and the perfect fly appears.
They begin to lay eggs about the end of May; these are deposited
in close lines of two inches long, in the tender twigs of trees. As soon
as the young attain their growth, in the grub state, they fall to the
ground, and make their way two or three feet underneath the surface,
in order to undergo their change into the pupa form. Soon after
attaining their last transformation, they are found in great numbers
over large districts of country. They appear about every seventeen
years, though it is highly probable, that the periods of their return
vary according to the heat of the climate, and other circumstances.
These insects have been known to make their appearance in the city
of Philadelphia in great numbers, penetrating from their subterranean
residence between the bricks of a pavement.

LOCUST-TREE. This valuable aud ornamental tree. which is*
so frequently cultivated in the Atlantic States, and which is highly
prized in Europe, grows wild in great profusion among the Alleghany
Mountains, and throughout the Western States, even to the borders of
the sandy plains which skirt. the base of the Rocky Mountains.
When in bloom, the large. pendulous recesses of fragrant white flow-
ers, contrasting with the light green foliage, produce a fine eflect, and
give this tree a rank among the most ornamental. The flowers,
resembling in form those of the pea, diffuse a delicious perfume, and
are succeeded by a flat pod. The branches and young stems are
usually armed with thorns. The wood is compact, hard, capable of
receiving a fine polish, and has the valuable property of resisting de-
cay longer than almost any other. The color is greenish yellow, with
brown streaks. Locust posts are consumed in enormous quantities,
and everywhere preferred where they can be obtained. It is also
used in ship-building.

LOGWOOD. Logwood is used in great quantities for dyeing pur-
ple, and more especially black. All the colors, however, which can
be prepared from it, are of a fading nature, and cannot, by any art,
be made equally durable with those prepared from some other mate-
rials. Of. all the colors prepared from logwood, the black is the
most durable. Dr. Lowis re:ommeads it as an ingredient in making

THE FARMER AT HOME. 255

ink. Logwood is also found to have a considerable astringent virtue
as a medicine, and an extract of it is sometimes given with great
success in diarrh@as.

LUCERNE. This is one of the most common cultivated grasses
in the south of France, Spain, Italy, and on the shores of the Mediter-
ranean Sea generally, and has been a favorite from the earliest ages.
It grows when cultivated some two or three feet high, is perennial,
and flowers in June or July. Lucerne requires a deep and light soil,
with a free or porous sub-soil, and in good condition from cultivation.
It will not grow on all soils, like some of the clovers, and on a heavy
compact soil is sure to prove a failure. Lucerne is to be cultivated
much as the clovers, which it greatly resembles in product and quality,
except that when sown in drills, and hoed, as it sometimes is, it may
be kept in the ground a long time with increasing productiveness.
If sown broadcast, and left to take its chance, it is apt to be soon
crowded out by the grasses and hardier plants. It should be sown in
the spring, and from ten to sixteen pounds per acre may be used. It
does not arrive at its full growth and productiveness until the third
year, but it may be mown or cut from the first year. There is no
plant so well adapted to the soiling of animals, particularly the horse,
as it is early, grows rapidly, and is eminently wholesome and nutri-
tive. Perhaps there is no better feed for milk cows than lucerne.
When attempted in this country on the right soil and in a proper
manner, it has succeeded very well, but fears are entertained that in
the Northern States it will not be found as hardy as clover.

LUNGS. The organs of respiration, situated in the cavity of the
chest. They are divided into lobes, of which the right side contains
three, and the left only two, in order to allow room for the heart and
great vessels. All the blood of the body passes through the lungs, in
order to be there exposed to the influence of the external air, by which
it undergoes a change necessary to make it salutary for the body,
which it is not, after once having circulated through it. The blood
circulates through the lungs always contained in vessels, and it is
beheved to be exposed to the action of the air not directly, but through
the medium of thin vesicles, as the windpipe iscontinued by branches
continually getting smaller and smaller, till at last they end in points
too minute for sight.

An organ of such importance as the lungs, so close to the moving
centre of action, so abundantly supplied with blood, and so delicate
in their own ultimate structure, may be easily supposed to be liable
to very numerous diseases, and those of the most dangerous kind.
Accordingly, a very large proportion of fatal diseases are those which
occur in the chest, either in the substances of the lungs themselves,
in the membranes that line them, or in the numerous vessels that
ramify through them. Pleurisy, asthma, catarrh, consumption, spit-
ting of blood, are some of the dangerous or painful diseases of the

256 THE FARMER AT HOME.

lungs; but the question often asked by non-medical persons with so
much anxiety, about themselves or friends, whether the lungs are af-
fected, seems to have reference principally to the symptoms of con-
sumption.

LYMPH. A fine fluid, separated in the body from the mass of
blood, and contained in peculiar vessels. It is distinguished into
watery and coagulable lymph; the former, as tears, for an exam-
ple, is little else than water ‘holding in solution a small portion of
salt, and still less of animal matter. Coagulable lymph, which is
found in the dropsy, contains a very considerable portion of albumen,
so as to be viscid to the touch, and when heated to coagulate firmly,
like the white of an egg.

THE LYNX.

LYNX. The Canada lynx, or grey wild cat, when full grown,
measures a little over three feet from the point of the nose to the root
of the tail, and the length of the tail is about six inches more. The
weight will vary from fifteen to twenty-five pounds. Its food consists
of several species of grouse and other birds, the northern hare, grey
rabbit, chipping squirrel, and other small quadrupeds, occasionally
attacking and devouring deer, sheep, lambs, poultry, and pigs. It is
said, also, that it will pounce upon the wild goose, at its breeding-
places, and will destroy the wild turkey while on her nest. When
alarmed or pursued, it leaps rapidly in a straight line from danger,
and if hard pressed, will take to a tree. It will not ordinarily attack
a man, but on becoming desperate from hunger or fear, it will attack

THE FARMER AT HOME. 257

him with great ferocity. It breeds but once a year, usuaily producing
two young at a birth. It exists in Labrador, the Canadas, and rarely
in the northern parts of New England.

LYMPHATIC VESSELS. A set of vessels in the animal body,
numerous and important, which open into the cellular texture and
into the various cavities, and absorb the lymph and other watery
fluids, convey them through glands situated in different parts of the
body, till they pour the fluid into the thoracic duct, the same to which
the lacteals convey the chyle; and from which the two fluids are
carried into the lungs, there to be completely fitted for the purposes
of the body. When the lymphatic glands are diseased or any way
obstructed, they give rise to hard knotty swellings in various parts of
the body ; and they are thought to be peculiarly the seat of scrofulous
inflammation. Such swelled glands are often seen in the neck and
groin. The best way to promote the healthy action of the lymphatic
vessels and glands, is to wear warm clothing, to use moderate and
constant exercise, to pay attention to diet, and to the regular action
of the bowels.

MACHINE. Any complication of artificial bodies acting upon
one another by contact, through the medium and motion of which any
effect is produced, is a machine. The initial force which puts the
machine in motion, is called the first or prime mover. The point at
which that force is applied, is the acting point ; and that in which the
effect is produced is the working point: the machine being the
medium through which the power is transferred, and by which it is
modified so as to answer the intended purpose. When a simple body
is the medium between the acting and the working points, it is an
instrument.

MADDER. Madder is a plant, with rough narrow leaves, set in
form of a star, at the joints of the stalk. The root, which is the only
part made use of, is long, slender, of a red color, both on the outside
and within, excepting a whitish pith, which runs along the middle.
For cultivating this plant, the ground is ploughed deep in autumn,
and again in March; and then laid up in ridges, eighteen inches
asunder, and about a foot high. About the beginning of April, they
open the ground where old roots are planted, and take off all the side
shoots, which extend themselves horizontally ; these they transplant
immediately upon the new ridges, at about a foot distance, where they
remain two seasons. It is to be observed, that this method of plant-
ing in ridges is only necessary in wet land, and that the rows are some-
times planted three feet, and the plants in the rows eighteen inches
asunder. If all the horizontal roots are destroyed from time to time,
it will cause the large, downright roots, to be much bigger, in which
the goodness of this commodity chiefly consists. Madder gives out its
color, both to water and rectified spirit; the watery tincture is of a
dark dull red; the spimtuous of a deep bright one. It imparts to

258 THE FARMER AT HOME.

woolen cloth, prepared with alum and tartar, a very durable, though
not a very beautiful red dye. As it is the cheapest of all the red
drugs, that give a durable color, it is the principal one commonly
made use of for ordinary stufls. Sometimes its dye is heightened by
the addition of Brazil wood, and sometimes it is employed in con-
junction with the dearer reds, as cochineal, for demi-scarlets, and
demi-crimsons.

Madder is principally cultivated in Holland, the province of Zea-
land being almost entirely covered with it, whence it is exported to
every part of Europe and America, yielding almost incalculable pro-
fits. The imports of this article, for the use of our manufactures, is
stated to amount in value to more than two millions of dollars annually.
Our soil and climate are found to be well adapted to its culture, and
some successful experiments have been nvade in raising it in western
New York and Ohio, and perhaps elsewhere. The profits on these
experiments justify the conclusion, that when our farmers become
better skilled in its culture, it may be made one of the most advan-
tageous branches of agricultural industry. In one of the experiments
alluded to, the net profit was above two hundred dollars per acre.
Madder requires a deep rich sand loam, moist, but not wet.

MADEIRA. A wine brought from the island of that name. It
is more stimulant than port ; it agrees well with the stomach, and is
excellently adapted for debilitated constitutions, and for rousing the
nervous energy in the weakness of typhoid diseases. But good Ma-
deira wine is difficult to be procured; it is no longer made of the
same excellence as formerly ; and the trade, according to Mr. Brande,
overflows with a variety of inferior and mixed wines, of all prices and
denominations, to which the name of Madeira is most undeservingly
applied. in its purest form, Madeira generally is more acid than
either port or sherry, and is consequently not so well adapted to
stomachs inclined to acidity, where it is generally found peculiarly
heating and irritating.

MADNESS. This is one of the most formidable and dangerous dis-
eases to which animals are liable. It usually originates in some domes-
tic animal, as a disease, commonly in the dog, and the infection is
communicated to others by biting, or by allowing the saliva or froth of
the mad animal to fall upon, or be injected into a wound on the bodies
of others. The saliva of an ox or a man, laboring under the hydro-
phobia, is as dangerous and fatal as that of the dog that originated
the disease. Instant and complete incision, or cutting out the wounded
parts, is probably the most certain preventive of the disease ; yet, un-
fortunately, there is no effectual remedy for it. When an animal has
been bitten, he must be carefully examined to ascertain all the wounded
parts, as the smallest stratch may be fatal, and cutting or burning—
sometimes done—one part, will be of little avail, if others are over-
looked. Animals rare-y show that dread of water, when mad, that

THE FARMER AT HOME. 259

characterizes the disease in man; and they will frequently drink freely
till the last. Among animals, there are two kinds of the disease ; the
dumb madness and the excited or raving madness. In the first, the
animal is frequently harmless through the whole of the disease; in
the second he is most ferocious, and seems eager to destroy whatever
comes in his way. But in all cases, no chance for mischief should be
allowed, as the disease at all times seems suddenly to change, and the
dog or the bull will inflict the most terrible injuries. Singular as it
may seem, the milk, or even the flesh of animals suffering from mad-
ness, may be used without the least danger. The poison is no where
evolved except in the saliva, and however unpleasant it might be to
the imagination to feed on the milk or flesh of a rabid animal, no fatal,
or indeed, injurious results, need be apprehended.

MAGPIE. This crafty and well known bird is found in both con-
tinents, though it is much more limited in its range in America, being -
confined to the northern and western regions. In its habits and man-
ners, it much resembles its brethren the crows; like them, it indis-
criminately feeds on both animal and vegetable food; it is peculiarly
destructive to the eggs and young of the feebler tribes of birds. It is
about eighteen inches in length, and weighs from eight to nine ounces.
It has a black bill, wings and tail ; but the latter are variegated with
white, green, purple, and blue, of different shades.

The construction of the nests of these birds shows great art, they
having a thorny cover, and the entrance being at the side. The
female lays from five to seven pale-greenish eggs, closely spotted with
black. When ‘taken young, they readily become domesticated, and
learn to repeat many words, and even sentences, as well as to imitate
every noise within hearing. This faculty appears to have been known
to the ancients, as Plutarch relates an account of the performances of
one of these birds, belonging to a barber in Rome.

MAGNESIA. A species of earth, of great benefit in correcting
acidity of the stomach. It is of the class of what are called alkaline
earths ; and having an affinity for acids, it attracts to itself whatever
acid it finds in the stomach, and forming with it a purgative salt, it
produces several easy motions of the bowels, and so removes the
acidity, heartburn, and other unpleasant symptoms Magnesia may
be taken to the extent of a tea-spoonful twice or thrice a day, accord-
ing to the urgency of the symptoms ; and it may be mixed with water,
or peppermint water, or any similar fluid, to diminish its insipidity.
Magnesia may be safely and usefully given to children, even when
very young, mixed with thin gruel. The best magnesia is what is
called burnt or calcined magnesia. Magnesia is either found in
nature, combined with the carbonic acid, or it is obtained in that com-
bination in the process of preparing it from Epsom salts, which are
magnesia combined with sulphuric acid. This carbonate of magnesia
answers the purpose of correcting acidity, and is cheaper, bit in some

260 THE FARMER AT HOME.

vases may be disadvantageous, on account of their being an escape of
carbonic acid, which gives rise to flatulency in the stomach and
bowels. By exposing the carbonate of magnesia to a strong heat for
a proper length of time, the carbonic acid is driven off, and the pure
magnesia remains, which is then termed pure, calcined or burnt mag-
nesia. Double the quantity of the carbonate is required to produce
the same effect as the calcined magnesia.

MAGNETIC NEEDLE. A small bar of iron, to which, by
artificial means, the peculiar arrangement of the magnet has been
transferred, by which it points in the magnetic meridian; and the
direction of this meridian bemg known, the course of ships at sea is
thereby determined. It also dips or inclines from the plane of the
horizon, pointing towards the apparent centre of a magnetic sphere,
existing, as it were, with the sphere of the earth, the varying poles
of which seem to be at right angles to the plane of the ecliptic.

MAHOGANY. The mahogany tree is a native of the warmest
parts of America, and grows also in the islands of Cuba, Jamaica,
Hispaniola, and the Bahama islands. It abounded in the low lands
of Jamaica formerly, but it is now found only on hills, and places
difficult of access. This tree grows tall and straight, rising often sixty
feet from the spur to the hicahaid ; and is about four feet in diameter.
The foliage is a beautiful deep green, and the appearance made by
the whole tree ver y elegant. The flowers are of a reddish or saffron
color, and the fruit of an oval form, about the size of a turkey’s egg
Some of them have reached to a monstrous size, exceeding one hun-
dred feet in height. In felling these trees, the most beautiful part is
commonly left behind. The negro workmen raise a scaffolding of
four or five feet elevation from the ground, and hack up the trunk,
which they cut into balks. The part below, extending to the root, is
not only of larger diameter, but of a closer texture than the other
parts, most elegantly diversified with shades or clouds, or dotted like
ermine with spots: it takes the highest polish, with a singular lustre.
This part is only to be come at by digging below the spur, to the
depth of two or three feet, and cutting it through ; which is so labori-
ous an operation, that few attempt it, except they are curious in the
choice of their wood, or to serve a particular purpose.

The mahogany tree thrives in most soils, but varies in texture and
grain, according to the nature of the soil. On rocks, it is of a smaller
size; but very hard and weighty, and of a close grain, and beauti-
fully shaded ; while the produce of the low and richer lands is ob-
served to be more light and porous, of a paler color, and open grain ;
and that of mixed soils to hold a medium between both. This con-
stitutes the difference between the Jamaica wood and that which is
collected from the coast of Cuba and the Spanish Main : the former
is mostly found on rocky eminences ; the latter is cut in swampy soils,
near the sea coast. The superior value of the Jamaica wood, for

THE FARMER AT I10ME. 261

beauty of coloring, firmness, and durakility, may therefore be easily
accounted for ; and a large quantity of balks and planks is brought
from the Spanish American coasts to Jamaica, to be shipped from
thence to Great Britain. This wood is generally hard, takes a fine
polish, and is found to answer better than any other sort. in all kinds
of cabinet ware. It is a very strong timber, and was frequently used
as such in Jamaica in former times. It is said to be used sometimes
in ship building ; a purpose for which it would be remarkably adapted,
if not too costly ; being very durable, capable of resisting gun shots,
and burying the shots without splintering. *

MALT LIQUORS. Malt liquors contain a considerable portion
of nutritive matter, and a less proportion of spirit than wine; and
they also contain a bitter principle derived from the hop, with some
soporifie properties. Those who use much malt liquor generally grow
fat. They have the muscular strength increased, and the general
health for a time improved ; but if carried to excess, and if proper
exercise be not taken, a fulness of the system is induced, and it is
rendered liable to all the diseases which such a state brings on. As
very concentrated nourishment will not be well digested, because the
stomach requires a certain bulk as well as quality of food, in order to
the production of good chyme, malt liquors agree best with those in
the poorer walks of life, whose food, though bulky, is not very nutri-
tive, but whose stomachs are enabled by the stimulus of the hop to
extract a good deal of nourishment from what they eat. Malt liquors
are infinitely preferable to spirits for the laboring classes; but those
who live well, and indulge in a variety of dishes, have no need of
the stronger kinds of malt liquors; though table beer would assist
their digestion very considerably. The principal kinds of malt liquor
in use are. beer, ale, and porter.

MAMMEE TREE. Mammee tree, or West India Apricot; a
large and beautiful tree, native of tropical America, and interesting
from the qualities of the fruit, which is highly esteemed. This fruit
is large, roundish, and contains a bright yellow, firm pulp, which is
enveloped with a thick, leathery rind: within this outer rind is a
second very delicate one, closely adhering to the pulp, which should
be cautiously removed, otherwise it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth,
not very strong at first, but gradually increasing, and continuing for
two or three days. The taste is peculiar, sweet, and very agreeable,
and is accompanied with un aromatic and pleasant odor. The leaves
are oval, obtuse, very entire, smooth, and six or eight inches in length.
The flowers are white, an inch and a half in diameter, and diffuse a
delightful perfume.

MANCHINEEL. A West Indian tree, celebrated for the poi-
sonous qualities of the milky juice which abounds in every part of it.
When a drop of this juice is applied to the skin, it causes the same
sensation as a burning coal, and quickly produces a vesicle. The

262 THE FARM!R AT HOME.

Indians use it for poisoning the points of their arrows, which preserve
their venorn for a long time. The workmen employed in felling these
trees first build a fire round the trunks, in order to make the juice
evaporate, and cover their eyes with gauze; but, notwithstanding
these precautions, they are subject to be incommoded with the dust.
The accounts, however, which represent it as dangerous to sleep in
the shade, or to come in contact with the rain which has fallen upon
this tree, are highly exaggerated. The inhabitants of Martinique
formerly burnt entire forests of the manchineel, in order to free their
dwellings from its presence.

MANGEL WURZEL. Mangel Wurzel, or the root of searcity,
is a root much celebrated as food for cattle. It is a species of beta.
It is a biennial plant; the root is large and fleshy, sometimes a foot
in diameter. It rises above the ground several inches, and is thick-
est at the top, tapering gradually downwards. The color of the roots
vary ; being white, yellow, and red. It is good fodder for cows, and
for rabbits, and produces great plenty of leaves, which are very palat-
able and wholesome for cattle. It is chiefly cultivated in Germany.

MANURES. All agents used by agriculturists to preserve or

restore the productiveness of the soil, are properly called manures.
All soils, after being cultivated and subjected to the exhausting influ-
ence of continual harvests, become deficient in mineral and organic
elements, which must be replaced artificially, or total barrenness
will ensue. Manuring is the process by which this end is aecom-
plished, and for it there is no substitute. If the supply be less than
the crops require, the soil increases in barrenness ; if it just replaces
what has been removed by the crops, the fertility remains the same ;
if more be added than the crops require, the fertility of the land is
increased.
_ The whole science of manuring consists in supplying to the soil
those indispensable elements which have become exhausted. The
richest manure may be applied to a failing soil, and if it lacks a par-
ticular element which the crops require, and which the soil does not
contain, the soil grows barren, notwithstanding the manuring. Farm-
yard manure probably contains the greatest number of elements
necessary to fertility ; but particular plants require special manures.
The remains of plants, together with the excremente and carcases of
animals, if returned to the soil before decomposition, must contain all
the mineral, organic, and gaseous elements, which the plants derived
from the soil or the atmosphere. These must pass through the differ-
ent processes of decomposition, before they assume their original gas-
eous and earthy forms, and become available for the food of plants.

Manures operate beneficially on the soil in several ways. Furst,
by serving directly in ‘some instances as the food of plants. Second,
by causing chemical changes in the soil, by which other substances
are prepared to be taken up as nutriment by their roots. Third, by

THE FARMER AT HOME. 263

neutralizing noxious substances in the soil, which prevent the growth
of vegetation. The operation of lime on a cold, sour, peat soil, or one
which abounds in sulphate of iron, is an example of this principle.
Fourth, manures change, according to their bulk and texture, the
mechanical properties of soils. Fifth, manures may change more or
less, according to their various properties, the chemical character of a
soil, in relation to its light, heat, air, and water. Sand, used upon a
clay soil, for the purpose of rendering it more loose and friable, would
be as properly a manure as farm-yard or any other variety Clay
used to ameliorate a sandy soil, is also in effect a manure. Manures
have been classified in various ways, according to their supposed
operation and nature. The most simple and convenient division, and
one which is usually adopted at present, is that which arranges all of
them into three classes—animal, vegetable, and mineral manures.
The first class includes all substances of animal origin; the second
includes all those of vegetable origin; and the third, all those directly
from the mineral kingdom.

The success of a farmer depends mainly on the abundance of his
manures, and the skill with which he preserves and applies them.
Most farmers, with a little extra effort, might double and even quad-
ruple the amount of their fertilizers. Tull turning their attention to
the subject few would realize how easily it is done. Every farm
abounds with the materials that might be collected for them. Hogs,
especially, if supplied with these materials, would make manure
enough to pay for all they eat. To do this in the best manner, there
should be among farmers a competition, to see who will collect the
most ; and each one should avail himself of his neighbor’s experience.
And above all, no one should be without a good Muck Book; that of
Browne is the best.

MAPLE SUGAR. The manufacture of maple sugar has been,
and still may be an important business in several of our northern
States. Should proper attention be paid to it, the importance may
rise above what it ever has been. There will always be thousands
of families who would find it much easier to produce the sugar for
their own use than to buy it. In the early settlements of the country
the process was very simple. Those who made the least would bring
the sap of the maple to their own houses, and there reduce it to sugar.
Others who made it in larger quantities, and whose maple forests
were at aninconvenient distance for doing that, would construct cheap
eabins in the midst of them, in which to shelter themselves during
the season of collecting the sap. In front of such cabins they would
have suspended in the open air, large kettles constantly filled with
the precious liquid. Here by night and by day would be seen the
rousing fires beneath the kettles, the flames aflording cheerfulness and
warmth to those who watched them, and filing the air with their
wide spreading illuminations. With the increase of facilities to

264 THE FARMER AT HOME.

reduce the labor of manufacturing maple sugar incident to the pro-
gress of the country, these rude and simple fixtures have been super-
seded ; and, instead of them, will now be found in large maple forests,
commodious houses with kettles placed on brick furnaces, where the
labor can be done with greater facility and less personal toil and ex-
posure. As little as has generally been thought of this American
product, the amount manufactured has some years reached nearly forty
millions of pounds. One hundred good trees will produce sap sufhi-
cient to make from three to five hundred pounds of sugar. The
season for it is in March and April.

MAPLE TREES. There are several species of the maple in this
country ; the most important and valuable is the sugar maple. This
tree is found in great abundance in the northern portions of the
United States and in Canada. The labor of procuring the sap and
converting it into sugar is exceedingly onerous, but it is required at
that season of the year when the general operations of the farm least
demand it. The finest sugar is made from the sap that flows the
earliest ; and care should be taken that the sap is always boiled down
before the process of fermentation or souring commences. In the lat-
ter part of the sugar season, after the buds begin to swell, the con-
version of sap into sugar becomes more difficult, and that made is not
as fine flavored as that earlier produced. The sap flows from the
alburnum or sap wood, and this should not be wounded to the depth
of more than an inch or aninchandahalf. Some of the other varieties
of maple produce those beautiful woods called curled or birdseye
maple, and which are so much in demand by cabinet-makers.

It would be difficult to imagine what wiser and better thing can be
done by farmers than to transplant the sugar maple. If there were
to be an hundred only on each farm, how much value would thereby
be given to it. Only a moderate sized piece of land would be wanted
for them, and they would yield sap sufficient to supply the family with
sugar. And independent of such an use, a number of such trees
about our dwellings would be in the highest degree ornamental, and
furnishing delightful shades in summer for man and beast. And if
each land holder were to plant these trees by the road side opposite
his own premises, how much would be added to the beauty of rural
scenery! It would be the admiration of all travellers. Let every
man in a township or county do this; and let there be on every farm
an hundred or more of these trees, and no one can tell what may be

he advantage of it to posterity. It would be better to the farmer’s
children than money invested at twelve per cent. In fifteen or
twenty years after being transplanted, these little trees, if in the order
of an orchard, would make a delightful and magnificent forest ; and
if by the road side, aud about the neat cottage or the stately mansion,
would in their season impart 2 delicious fragrance to the atmosphere,
conducing to the health and the pleasure of all inhaling it. We

THE FARMER AT HOME. 265

would like to see Agricultural Societies encourage the growth of the
sugar maple. Let them give premiums for its culture.

MARBLE. This is the popular name of any species of calcareous
stone or mineral, of a compact texture, and of a beautiful appearance,
and susceptible of a good polish. The varieties are numerous and
greatly diversified in color, as well as in the fineness of their structure.
Some of it is white, some of it black, and some variegated with every
possible shade and delicate blending and combining of different
hues. Marble is limestone, or a stone which may be calcined to lime,
a carbonate of lime ; but what is usually denominated limestone is of
a coarse and inferior quality. Marble of various degrees of beauty is
abundant and found in different parts of the country.

MARE. Some difference of opinion exists among farmers as to
the comparative value of mares or geldings for labor ; but it is thought
when everything is taken into consideration, the former will be
deemed the most profitable. Mares are as lasting and durable as
geldings, do not usually cost as much, and should any accident render
them permanently lame, or unfit for labor, or even if remaining sound,
they can be used for breeding. There is no necessity for the mare
lying idle when with foal. Moderate labor, even to the period of
foaling, wlll be better for her and for the foal, as she will be in more
vigorous health than if idle. It is a singular fact, that the Arabs,
noted for the beauty and value of their horses, use none but mares.
These they find more hardy, capable of longer endurance over the
deserts, than geldings, and prize and retain them accordingly. Mr.
Youatt lays down as a rule, and it is one we are confident every
breeder of horses who understands his business will concede is correct,
“that the value of a foal depends a great deal more on the dam than
the sire.’ Farmers, however, too often forget this fact, and in raising
horses, go on the supposition that every mare is a mare, and every colt
a colt, whether they are worth raising or not. A little attention to
this point would benefit the breeder by adding to his pretits, and
greatly improve the appearance and actual value of farm horses. In
those parts of the country where grass, and hay, and grain, are plenty,
and are so far removed from a market, as to make it necessary to con-
sume them on the premises, the breeding of horses is a profitable de-
partment of rural economy.

MARL. Any earthy substance in which the proportion of calca-
reous matter exceeds that of the sand or clay, is styled in the popular
language, a mar! ; of this there are four principal varieties: first, clay
marl; second, sand marl; third, slate or stony marl; fourth, shell
marl; of these, the last is commonly the richest in calcareous matter.
All these kinds of marls are to be found in many of the States of our
Union, and are variously valued, owing to the peculiar requirements
of adjacent soils. Clay marls are particularly useful to sandy soils,
and if spread on the surface of sods. remaining for winter's frosts to

266 THE FARMER AT HOME.

render them pulverulent, the marl not only improves the growth of
grass from its action as a mulch, but by slow solution, Loth its alumin-
ous and calcareous portions are carried into the soil, rendering the soil
more retentive of manures and less liable to suffer from the effects of
drought. Sand marl is also useful for clay soils, and to any soil defi-
cient of lime. Slate or magnesian marls are seldom of much value,
and should only be used in localities where better marls or lime can-
not be procured. Shell marls are of various qualities, some of them
containing both sulphate and phosphate of lime, and therefore are of
great value. This kind of marl forms in part the subsoil of a small
portion of land near Jersey City. and on which cabbages have been
grown every year for half a century.

Marl, like lime, strictly speaking, is not a manure. When added
to the soil, it acts as an ameliorator in improving its texture and mo-
difying its natural condition, rather than by giving materials for the
growth of vegetation. Its action upon the soil, and the benefits de-
rived from its application, are akin to those of lime, for it is, im fact,
but the carbonate of lime reduced to powder, and mixed with earthy
matters. It slakes and expands when exposed to the air, and in com-
mon with lime, possesses the property of rendering stiff soils friable
and easier of cultivation, and of giving more compactness to those too
sandy and light. It also promotes the decomposition of vegetable
matter, neutralizes acids, and induces the formation of the nitrates
requisite to the highest fertility. It gives activity to the inert vege-
table matters often present in barren soils, as its suecessful employment
in the renovation of over-cropped and worn-out lands in many districts
in this country, particularly along the seaboard and in the South-
western States, most abundantly prove.

MASTICATION. This is the action of chewing, or of agitating
the solid parts of our food between the teeth, by means of the motion
of the jaws, the tongue, and the lips, whereby it is broken imto small
pieces, impregnated with saliva, and so fitted for deglutition and a more
easy digestion.

MASTIFF. This species of dog is peculiar to England. It is
nearly of the size of a Ne ewfoundland dog, strong and active, possessing
great sagacity, and is commonly employed as a watch dog. The
mastiff is said seldom to use violence against intruders, unless resisted,
and even then he will sometimes only throw down the person, and
hold him for hours, without doing him further injury, till he is relieved.
He has a large head, with short es ears, and thick lips hanging
down on each side. In the reign of James J., a contest was exhibited
between three mastiffs and a lion, in which the king of beasts was
compelled to seek for safety in Aight.

MASTODON, orn MAMMOTH. This animal, which must have
been many times larger than the elephant, is now extinet, and all
that remains to attest its former existence ae the bones, which are

THE FARMER AT HOME. 267

found deeply imbedded in the earth. These bones have been disco-
vered in various parts of the United States, but as yet only one nearly
entire skeleton has been obtained. This was dug up near Newburg,
in the State of New York, and was placed in the museum at Phila-
delphia. It is impossible to determine to what race this huge animal
belonged, except that its formation and modes of living were analogous
to those of the elephant. That he was not of the same species, is
probable ; that he was nearly allied to the rhinoceros and hippopot-
amus, is also probable. The bones of prodigiously large animals of
the elephant kind, have been found in Siberia, and those of the mas-
todon have been found in various parts of Europe.

MATERIA MEDICA. Every substance employed in the cure
of disease, whether in its natural state, or after having undergone
various preparations, belongs to the Materia Medica, in the extended
acceptation of the words. But in most pharmacopeias, the Materia
Medica is confined to simples, and to those preparations which are
seldom prepared by the apothecary himself, but commonly purchased
by him, as articles of commerce, from druggists and others. Syste-
matic authors on this branch of medical knowledge, have bestowed
much pains in contriving scientific arrangements of these articles.
Some have classed them according to their natural resemblances ;
others according to their active constituent principles; and others
according to their real or supposed virtues. Each of these arrange-
ments has its particular advantages. The first will probably be pre-
ferred by the natural historian, the second by the chemist, and the last
by the physiologist. But every scientific classification hitherto pro-
posed, is liabie to numerous objections. Accordingly, in the pharma-
copeias published by the Colleges of Physicians of London, Dublin,
and Edinburgh, the articles of the Materia Medica are arranged in
alphabetical order, and the same plan is now almost universally
adopted.

MEAD. An agreeable liquor made of honey and water. There
are many receipts for making mead, of which the following is one of
the best. Take four gallons of water, and as much honey as will
make it bear an egg; add to this the rind of three lemons, boil it, and
scum it well as it rises. Then take it off the fire, and add three
lemons cut in pieces ; pour it into a clean tub or open vessel, and let
it work for three days; then scum it well and pour off the clear part
into a cask, and let it stand open till it ceases to make a hissing noise ;
then stop it up close, and in three months’ time it will be fine and fit
for bottling. If you would give it a finer flavor, take cloves, mace,
and nutmeg, of each four drams ; beat them small, tie the powder in
a piece of cloth, and put it into the cask.

MEADOW. That part of the farm fro: which, in temperate or
northern latitudes, hay is made for the wintering of domestic stock,
is usually called meadow. Under the old system of farming, the

268 THE FARMER AT HOME.

~

meadow was never disturbed by the plough, but for years in succes-
sion was reserved for the scythe ; consequently when it was possible
the meadow was found on low lands, or those naturally wet, and to
preserve its fertility, much of the manure of the farm was applied to
the surface dressings, to the great detriment of the tillage land and
the crops. Under the improved or rotative system of husbandry,
every part of the farm is alike subjected to the plough and the
scythe, as the meadow changes as often as the wheat or the
corn field. To do this, every part of the farm is made capable of
growing any of the cultivated crops, by draining, and while the
average product of the whole farm is greatly increased, the quantity
and quality of the hay made, will be proportionally improved. The
grasses best adapted for meadows where a rotation is practiced, are
the clovers, timothy, orchard grass, herds grass, and perhaps some of
the foreign grasses may be found useful; but at present nothing is
known equal to clover and timothy.

In seeding down lands, too little seed is generally used, whether
the land is to be meadow or pasture. Heavy seeding makes a closer
turf, finer hay, sweeter and better pasture, and by giving more roots
restores the exhaustion consequent on cropping, much sooner. In
seeding lands they should always be thoroughly rotted. It will assist
the covering and germination of the seeds, and render the surface
level and smooth for the scythe. Lands intended for mowing should
not be trodden or poached by the feet of cattle in spring, as such
poaching renders the surface uneven, destroys the roots of plants, and
is of little service to animals. Where, however, it is inconvenient to
subject meadow land to the plough, and the grasses and the product
decline, such meadows may be restored by occasionally giving them
a liberal dressing of compost manure, sowimg them afresh with a por-
tion of the most valuable grasses, and giving them a very heavy
harrowing in all directions. This will dislodge the masses that clog
the surface in old meadows, loosen the surface and promote atmos-
pherie action, and give a new and more vigorous growth of grass plants.

MEALS. The quantity of food taken at regular intervals is com-
monly understood by the term meal. One of the most important
circumstances about meals is their regularity, both as to number, and
the periods at which they are taken. Habit has such an influence on
the appetite of hunger, as well as on many other of our sensations,
that it will return at the stated hour of eating ; and if it be not
appeased, the stomach will cease its cravings, though no aliment has
been supplied. But hunger will in many persons recur before the
time usually allotted for the regular meal ; and it will often be neces-
sary to take some food, to enable the stomach to hold out till its
accustomed period. In a healthy person, whose digestion is good,
who has taken sufficient exercise, and who in a morning has taken
no very substantial or copious repast, the luncheon will probably be a

THE FARMER AT HOME. 269

matter of indispensable necessity ; but many of those who take
~ Juncheon find it to spoil the digestion both of itself and of their dinner ;
much more will this be felt by the dyspeptic patient, who needs his
stomach to be undisturbed during the digestion of his rezular meals,
and who should not exhaust his powers by calling them too frequently
into action. If additional food be taken before the former portions
are assimilated, the process will be disturbed ; and however plausible
may be the maxim, that the stomach will be best managed and the
strength improved, by taking small quantities of food very frequently,
yet this is not found to be true; in fact, the invalid thrives much
better by regular meals at proper ‘intervals, than by that constant
throwing in of supply as fast as a morbid craving calls for it, or as a
false theory says it should be swallowed.

The number of meals to be taken cannot be subjected to any con-
stant rule. Most people take three in the day; one copious and
substantial, the others more sparing, and with a larger proportion of
fluid. Some hardly consider tea as a meal, and some dispense alto-
gether with supper. ‘Those who dine plentifully, and dine late, that
is to say, any time after five, may well dispense with supper; but
those who dine before three, will find it for their comfort to take a
light supper before going to bed. The quantity of food to be taken at
each meal, it is quite impossible to limit by weight or measure. It
is a moral duty to stop short at the point where nature is satisfied, as
indicated by a certain feeling of satiety that few persons may not be
conscious of experiencing at every meal; and those who are at all in
bad health, especially with dyspeptic symptoms, ought to be still more
watchful of the coming on of this sensation.

It is proper for those who in general feed to the full, to practice
abstinence occasionally, by avoiding solid food, and taking some weak
broth. Byincessant copious feeding, that state will be induced which
is called high health, but from which the transition is easy and proba-
ble, to fevers and various other complaints. Convalescents should be
very cautious not to urge too hastily their return to strength and
vigor. After an acute disease, the person, weak and emaciated, has
a good appetite ; but it is dangerous to indulge this, lest he bring his
system too rapidly to that state which, relatively to him, is that of
high excitement ; and liability to inflammatory diseases. When habits
are once formed with respect to the quantity and quality of food, they
should not be suddenly altered. Some have no doubt been successful,
in rapidly changing from a nutritious and stimulant diet to a spare
one; but it is generally safer to alter the habits by degrees, provided
it be really and steadily done. On the other hand, it is equally well
known, that those who have been long fasting run the greatest risk of
suffering, even fatally, by the sudden use of too much nourishing
food. i

MECHANICAL POWERS. Themechanical powers are simple

270 THE FARMER AT HOME.

~

instr:ments or machines in the hands of man. by which he is enabled
to raise great weights. and overcome such resistances as his natural
strength could never effect without them. They are six in number,
the lever, the pulley, the wheel and axle, the inclined plane, the
wedge, and the screw, one or more of which enters into the composi-
tion of every machine. In order to understand the power of a
machine, four things are to be considered; the power that acts, which
consists in the effort of men and horses, of weights, springs, running
waters, wind, and steam; the resistance which is to be overcome by
the power, which is generally a weight to be moved ; the centre of
motion, or, as it is termed in mechanics, the fulcrum, which is the
point about which all the parts of a body move; and lastly, the
respective velocities of the power, and of the resistance, which must
depend upon their respective distances from the axis of motion. The
power and weight are said to balance each other, or to be in equili-
brium, when the effort of the one to produce motion in one direction, is
equal to the effort of the other to produce it in the opposite direction.
The power of a machine is calculated, when it is in a state of equi-
libriam, that is, when the power just balances the resistance opposed,
and the momentum of each is equal.

MELON. A species of cucumber, indigenous in warm climates,
where its juicy fruit is highly acceptable. In cold ones, its coolness
is somewhat dangerous. The cantalupe melon is in principal estima-
tion. To raise melons with a proper regard to wholesomeness and
flavor, that water which is usually given, in order to increase their
size, should be kept away.

MERCURY. Thisa mineral or metallic fluid, vulgarly called
quicksilver, and distinguished from all other metals by its extreme
fusibility, which is such, that it does not assume the solid state, until
cooled to the 39th degree below 0 on Fahrenheit’s thermometer, and
of course is always fluid in temperate climates. It is volatile, and
rises in small portions at the common temperature of the air; it
readily combines with gold, silver, lead, tin, bismuth, and zinc, and
on that account isusefully employed in the silvering of looking-glasses,
making barometers and thermometers, and for various other purposes.

MERIDIAN. Meridian is a great circle passing through the
poles of the earth, and some given place on its surface. It therefore
divides this surface into two hemispheres, the eastern and the western.
As the terrestrial meridian is the circle over which the sun is at noon,
it is consequently in the plane of the celestial meridian with which
the centre of the sun coincides at that time. Now as, by the earth’s
revolution about its axis from west to east once in twenty-four hours,
every part of the equator is successively presented to the sun, all
places that are situated eastward or westward of each other have
their respective meridians. It is, therefore, always the same hour of
the day at all places situated on the same meridian. The first meri

THE FARMER AT HOME. 27,

dian of a country is that from which its geographers, navigators, and
astronomers, commence their reckoning of longitude ; and, the meri-
dians having nothing in themselves to distinguish them from each
other, the fixing upon any one for this purpose is quite arbitrary ;
hence different persons, nations, and ages, have commenced their
longitudes at diflerent points, which has introduced no small confusion
into geography. But national and even scientific jealousies are too
strongly prevalent for us to hope that the world will, at an early
period, fix on a common first meridian.

MERINO SHEEP. The variety of sheep known by this name
is long in the limbs, but the bone is small; the breast and back are
narrow, and the sides are rather flat; the fore shoulders and bosoms
are heavy, and the skin under the throat is loose and flabby, or indeed
pendulous; the forehead and cheeks are covered with coarse long

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MERINO RAM.

hair, but the lower part of the face is smooth and velvety ; the head
is large, and the forehead rather low. The male carries compara-
tively large horns, spirally contorted, the curvature often being very
graceful. The females are mostly destitute of horns, and where these
appendages are present, they are small. The wool of the Merino
sheep is exquisitely fine, and admirable for its felting properties. Mr.
Youatt gives: confirmati(n to the general testimony in favor of the

272 THE FARMER AT HOME.

article, but also in favor of the large amount annually yielded by each
individual sheep. The length and density of the wool furnishes the
animal with excellent protection against cold ; and consequently ren-
ders it well adapted to the varying latitudes to which it has been
removed.

The growing of wool in our country is of the greatest importance
to the American farmer. The amount of it wanted for home con-
sumption is incalculable. In al. the Northern States, the principal
of our clothing is made from it. No country could prosper if obliged
to import all that it needed for a population now large and destined
to increase to an unlimited extent. It is believed also that wool, with
our facilities for producing it, ina commercial view is equally deserv-
ing consideration, both with the political economist, and the agricul-
turist. Hence, with our enterprising eitizens, the introduction of
Merino has long been an object of attention. If in some cases, as
in most new enterprises, there has been manifested a wildness of cal-
culation that eventuated in individual loss, there can be no doubt,
that if the pioneers in these eflorts have not imvariably or generally
made themselves rich, they have rendered an excellent service to their
countrymen. Another generation will profit from the experience of
the present one, so that hereafter fine wool will be one of the great
staples of the American States.

METHEGLIN. A species of mead; one of the most pleasant
and general drinks the northern parts of Europe afford, and much
used among the ancient inhabitants. There are various methods of
making it; one of the best is the following:—Put as much new
honey, naturally running from the comb, into spring water, as that
when the honey is thoroughly dissolved, an egg will not sink to the
bottom, but be just suspended in it; boil this liquor for an hour or
more, till the egz swim well above the liquor; when very cool, next
morning, it may be barrelled up, adding to each fifteen gallons an
ounce of ginger, as much of mace and cloves, and half as much ecinna-
mon, all grossly pounded ; a spoonful of yeast may also be added at
the bunghole to promote the fermentation. When it has done work-
ing it may be closely stopped up; and after it has stood a month it
should be drawn off into bottles.

MIGRATION. The migration of birds, as the swallow, quail,
stork, crane, field-fare, woodcock, nightingale, and other birds of pass-
age, 1S a very curious article in natural history, and furnishes a
notable instance of the powerful instinct impressed by the Creator.
Dr. Derham observes two things remarkable in this subject: the first,
that these untaught, unthinking creatures, should know the proper
times for their passage, when to come, and when to go ; as also, that
some should come when others go. No doubt the temperature of the
air, as to cold and heat, and their natural propensity to breed their
young, are the great incentives to those creatures to change their habi-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 273

tations. But why should they at all change their habitation? and
why is not some certain place to be found, in all the terraqueous globe,
affording them convenient food and habitation all the year round ?
The second, that they should know what way to steer their course,
and whither to go. What instinct is it that moves a poor foolish bird
to venture over vast tracts of land and sea. If it be said, that by their
high ascents up into the air, they can see across the seas ; yet what
should teach or persuade them that another land is more proper for
the purpose than this? that Britain, for instance, should afford them
better accommodation than Egypt? than the Canaries? than Spain?
or any other of the intermediate countries ?

The manner of the birds of passage journeying to their southern
abode may vary, according to the different structure of their bodies,
and their power of supporting themselves in the air. Those birds
with short wings, though they are incapable of such long flights as
the swallow, or of flying with so much celerity, yet may pass to less
distant places, and by slower movements. Swallows and cuckoos may
perform their passage in a very short time ; but there is for them no
necessity for speed, since every day’s passage affords them an increase
of warmth, and a continuance of food. Providence, which has guided
the defenceless animals in many other instances to the safest methods
of performing their necessary works, may have instructed many of
these birds which have shorter passages to make, or places to stop at
by the way, to fly only in the night, that they may be secure from
the birds of prey ; and Mr. Catesby gives a proof that some species
do so, from his own observation ; for, lying on the deck of a sloop on
the north side of Cuba, himself and the whole company heard succes-
sively, for three nights, flights of rice birds, which are easily distin-
guished from all other birds by their notes, and which were passing
over their heads northerly ; which is their direct way from Cuba, and
the southern continent of America, from whence they get to Carolina,
annually, about the time that rice begins to ripen, and from whence
they return southward again, when it is gathered, and they are
become fat.

MILK. The fluid secreted in the breasts of females for the nour-
ishment of their young. That of the cow being furnished in greatest
abundance, is of much importance as an article of diet. By boiling
milk, its albuminous part is not coagulated into a mass like the white
of an ege. on account of the larger quantity of water through which it
is diffused ; but a thin film rises to the surface, which, if removed. is
replaced by another, and if this be continued, the whole of the albu-
men will be removed. This renders the milk less nutritive, but more
easily digestible ; and hence many delicate stomachs can take boiled
milk, who could not take it in its naturalstate. As milk is sufficiently
nourishing, and holds*a just medium between the spare nutriment of

vegetables and the stimulant nature of an‘mal food, it is directed with
190%

274 THE FARMER AT HOME.

great benefit to patients laboring under various diseases. One of those
in which we find it advisable to direct a riilk diet most frequently, is
consumption, as nourishment enough is supplied by it to the body
without any tendency to increase the inflammatory diathesis, which
we so much dread in this disease. When consumption is further
advanced, the milk of the ass has been considered not only as nutri-
tive but medicinal; and, in conjunction with other observances,
should be directed, when there is the means of procuring it in sufli-
cient quantity.

With respect to milk, considered as the food designed by nature
for the early periods of infancy ; in general, the milk of most parents
agrees well with their offspring, but in some cases, it proves too pur-
gative, or too flatulent, and the child is not properly nourished. In
some cases, it may be necessary for the woman to desist from suckling
her child, or to make a complete alteration in her diet, manner of
living, and place of abode ; by which the milk may perhaps become
more congenial to the stomach of the child. Human milk is of easy
digestion, light, and very nutritious, requiring little labor from the
stomach, and easily convertible into chyle. It contains a larger pro-
portion than any other milks, of the fat or buttery part; and having
less of the curdy or cheesy part, it is more digestible.

MILL. A combination of machinery to effect purposes which
require great force. The force employed is sometimes water, some-
times wind, aud at others steam, or horses. The principle is always
the same ; a main shaft enters the works, to which wheels with cogs
are affixed, and the power being the contrary of the velocity, small
wheels give great power, and large wheels less power ; other wheels
are then connected with these in various directions, and the resulting
force applied to any desirable object. When corn is to be ground,
large stones, cut in grooves, are made to work oneagainst the other in
such manner as to break or pulverize the grain. There are also bark
mills, paper mills, and oil mills, which operate by the force of percus-
sion; also, silk, cotton, and flax mills, which perform sundry
operations ; and saw mills, which revolve circular saws with great
energy and precision.

MINER'S BEE-HOUSE. The cut connected with this article,
is from an origimal design, and is not so much for general use as for
an ornament to flower gardens or lawns of a gentleman keeping bees.
The idea of Mr. Miner, to connect with the bee-culture an object of
architectural taste and rural beauty, deserves a public acknowledgment,
and is worthy the consideration of apiarian amateurs. We scarcely
know a branch in rural economy, invested with more absorbing in-
terest than the physiology of the honey-bee ; and as much as we have
been delighted for years. to study its habits, the volume from which
this cut is copied, has inspired us with additiorfal desire for increased
knowledge on the subject. We know not a more interesting book to

THE FARMER AT HOME. O75

persons having the least taste for the topics on which it treats. Not
having had the long experience that he has had in relation to them,
uor the leisure to make them subjects of critical investigation, we feel
ourselves incompetent to express an opinion upon some of the results
to which his inquiries have led him. Of this, however, we can affirm,
that no man seemingly is more able to give a well authenticated theory
than Mr. Miner. He has labored long in forming his conclusions ; his
success in the bee-culture has rarely been equalled ; and he has even
a passion, we should judge, for this department of natural history.
We have never tried his hives, represented in the cut, and, of course,
cannot speak of them from experience, but we have such confidence
in his sufficiency to make improvement in bee-hives, that we should
not hesitate to think well of those he has devised, and we can espe-
cially recommend, in sincerity, to every person keeping bees, ‘“‘ The
American Bee Keeper’s Manual,” to which we hav* above alluded.

AN

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MINER’S FANCY BEE-HOUSE.

MILLET. The common name of a plant which grows naturally
in India, whence it was first imported into Europe. It is greatly cul-

276 THE FARMER AT HOME

tivated in Italy, Spain, and the southern part of France. for the food of
men as well as that of poultry. It may also be raised in this climate.
This is a plant that delights ima light sandy soil, prepared in the same
manner as for maize; and in such lands it branches out into many
stalks, sometimes thirty or forty, not unlike reeds either in their shape
or leaves, of which there is one at each jomta The top of each stalk
is terminated by a large, loose panicle, which hangs on one side, with
a chafly flower, which is succeeded by a small round seed, about the
bigness of a turnip or cabbage seed, of a yellowish white color in one
variety, and of a dark red inclining to black in another, which are the
small millet, and the large, a distinction which some make, as only
varieties of the same species. It is likewise said to thrive extremely
well in strong land; but will not do in stony ground, or where the
bottom is of either a chalky or clayey nature.

Miller advises, that it should be sown in the beginning of April,
that it may ripen in August; but im warmer climates, the general
rule is to sow it either between the middle and the end of May, or
about midsummer. The former crop is reaped at the end of Septem-
ber, and the latter about the end of October. The seed is usually
sown in furrows, very thin, and covered with the plough or rake.
The largest sort should be sown thinnest, because it branches most.
When the plants are about a month old, the ground should be stirred
round them with a hand hoe, as well to lay fresh earth to their roots,
as they require much nourishment, as to clear them from weeds,
which they afterwards prevent by over-topping them. At the same
time, the millet plants should be thinned out wherever they grow too
close, so as to leave in general, about six inches between each plant.

MINERAL. In Natural History, is used, in general, for all fos-
sil bodies, whether simple or compound, dug out of a mine. Minerals
are inorganized or inanimate bodies, that increase in volume by the
juxtaposition of parts, and the force of attraction. The early natur-
alists divided minerals into a great number of classes; but, by the
moderns, they are divided only into three sections. Under the first
are arranged earths and stones which have no taste, and do not burn
when heated with contact of air; under the second, saline matters,
having more or less taste, which melt in water, and do not burn;
and under the third. combustible substances, not soluble in water, and
exhibiting a flame, more or less evident, when exposed to a fire with
access of air.

MIRROR. Mirror is used for any polished body that forms the
images of objects, by reflection of the rays of light. Mirrors are either
plain, convex, or concave. The first reflect the rays of light in a
direction exactly similar to that in which they fall upon them, and
therefore represent bodies of their natural magnitude. The convex
ones make the rays diverge much more than before reflection, and
therefore greatly diminish the images of those objects which they

THE FARMER AT HOME. 277

show ; while the concave ones, by collecting the rays into a focus, not
only magnify the objects they show, but will burn very fiercely when
exposed to the rays of the sun ; and hence they are commonly known
by the name of burning mirrors. In ancient times mirrors were made
of some kind of metal; and from a passage in the Mosaic writings
we learn that the mirrors used by the Jewish women were made of
brass. The Jews certainly had been taught to use that kind of
mirrors by the Egyptians ; whence it is probable that brazen mirrors
were the first kind used in the world. Any metal, indeed, when well
polished, will reflect very powerfully, but silver reflects the most,
though it is toe expensive a material for common use. Gold also is
very powerful; and metals, or even wood gilded and polished, will
act very powerfully as burning mirrors. Even polished ivory, or
straw nicely plaited together, will form mirrors capable of burning, if
large. Since the invention of glass, and the application of quicksilver
- to it, became generally known, it has been universally employed for
those plain mirrors used as ornaments to houses; but in making
reflecting telescopes they have been much inferior to metallic ones,

MISLETOE. A plant which always grows on trees, and was
thought, therefore, to be an excrescence of the tree; but it has been
found to be propagated by the seed or berry which is conveyed by the
misletoe thrush from one tree to another; this bird being fond of these
seeds, it sometimes happens that the viscous part of the berry sticks
to his beak, and, in his attempts to disengage himself from it by strik-
ing his beak against the bark of the tree, the berry sticks to the
latter ; and if it happen to light on a smooth part, it will take root,
and sprout out the next winter. This plant adheres most readily to
the ash and other smooth rinded trees, as the apple.

MOCKING BIRD. The mocking bird, like the nightingale, is
destitute of brilliant plumage, but his form is beautiful, delicate and
symmetrical in its proportions. His motions are easy, rapid and
graceful, perpetually animated with a playful caprice, and a look that
appears full of shrewdness and intelligence. He listens with silent
attention to each passing sound, treasures up lessons from any thing
vocal, and is capable of imitating with exactness, both in measure

-and accent, the notes of all the feathered creation. As if conscious
of his unrivalled powers of sorg; and animated by the harmony of
his own voice, his music is as it Were, accompanied by chromatic
dancing and expressive gestures ; he spreads and closes his light and
fanning wings, expands his silvered tail, and with buoyant gaity, and
enthusiastic ecstasy, he sweeps around, and mounts and descends into
the air from his lofty spray, as his song swells to loudness, or dies
away in sinking whispers. While thus engaged, so various is his
talent, that it might be supposed a tria- of skill from all the assembled
birds of the country; and so perfect his imitations, that even the

278 THE FARMER AT HOME.

sportsman is at tiraes deceived, and sent in quest c: birds that have
no existence around.

The feathered tribes themselves are decoyed by the fancied call of
their mates; or dive with fear into the thicket, at the well-feigned
scream of the hawk. Soon reconciled to the usurping fancy of man,
the mocking bird often becomes familiar with his master; playfully
attacks him through the bars of his cage ; or at large in a room, rest-
less and capricious, he seems to try every expedient of a lively imagi-
nation, that may conduce to his amusement. Nothing escapes his
intelligent and discerning eye or faithful ear. He whistles perhaps
for the dog, who, deceived, runs to meet his master ; the cries of the
chicken in distress, bring out the clucking mother to the protection of
her brood. The barking of the dog, the piteous wailing of the puppy,
the mewing of the cat, the action of a saw, or the creaking of a
wheelbarrow, quickly foilow, with exactness. He repeats a tune of
considerable length; imitates the warbling of the Canary, the lisping
of the Indigo bird, and the mellow whistle of the Cardinal, in a man-
ner so superior to the originals, that mortified and astonished, they
withdraw from his presence, or listen in silence, as he continues to
triumph by renewing his eflorts.

In the cage, also, nearly as in the woods, he is full of life and
action, while engaged in song ; throwing himself round with inspiring
animation, and as it were, moving in time to the melody of his own
accents. Even the hours of night, which consign nearly all other
other birds to rest and silence, like the nightingale, he often employs
in song, serenading the houseless hunter and silent cottager to repose,
as the rising moon illuminates the darkness of the shadowy scene.
His capricious fondness for contrast and perpetual variety, appears to
deteriorate his powers. His lofty imitations of the musical brown
thrush, are perhaps interrupted by the crowing of the cock, or the
barking of the dog; the plaintive warblings of the blue bird are then
blended with the wild scream and chatter of the swallow or the
cackling of the hen ; amid the simple lay of the native robin, we are
surprised with the vociferation of the whip-poor-will ; while the notes
of the garrulous jay, woodpecker, wren, and many others succeed,
with such an appearance of reality, that we almost imagine ourselves
in the presence of the origina’s, and can scarcely realize the fact, that
the whole of this singular concert is the eflort of a single bird.

MOLASSES. This is the gross fluid matter remaining of sugar
after refining, and which no boiling will bring to a consistence more
solid than that of syrup ; hence it is also called syrup of sugar. Pro-
perly, molasses is nothing else but the sediments of coarse or brown
sugar, and that is the refuse of other sugars not capable of being
whitened and reduced into loaves. Molasses is used in the prepara-
tion of tobacco, and large quantities of it are distilled into rum. As
well known, it is extensively used as a cheap substitute for sugar and

THE FARMER AT HOME. 279

as such is generally considered favorable to health as well as nutri-
tious. But the products of it, when distilled, are most deleterious,
especially if freely used as a beverage.

MONEY. The circulation of gold and silver in different ages
and in different parts of the world, is a curious and interesting, but,
in some respects, a difficult subject of investigation. It appears that
those metals were used as a medium of com:erce so early as in the
time of Abraham ; and that they served as ornainental articles of
dress, in a period little less remote ; and, indeed, although we have
no authentic information relative to this particular, it is extremely
probable that gold and silver were used as ornaments before they were
established as a medium of commerce, and the standard whereby to
estimate the comparative value of other articles. We may collect
from sacred history, that gold and silver, as well as divers kinds of
precious stones, were sufficiently plentiful in Egypt at the time of the
egress of the Israelites; and the valuable oflerings of the people for
the construction of the tabernacle, with all the rich materials of which
that structure was composed, as well as those used for the high priest’s
garment, and in the whole apparatus of religion, were furnished out
of those treasures which they had carried from that country ; for no
other channel can be discovered, or even with any appearance of pro-
bability imagined, by which the Israelites could at that period be sup-
plied with such plenty of those valuable commodities ; for they had
not then obtained any wealth by the plunder of enemies ; the spoils
of Midian being the first considerable acquisition of this kind after
their departure from Egypt; and the Midianitish war was an event
posterior to the construction of the tabernacle.

In regard to commerce, there is no mention made, nor the least
appearance of any being carried on by the Israelites, whereby they
could have obtained such a stock of valuable materials so soon after
their entrance into the wilderness. In their conquests of the land of
Canaan, they appear to have sometimes obtained a considerable
booty ; but it is not until the reign of David that we observe that
profusion of wealth, which seems astonishing in a period of such
remote antiquity. And the abundance of gold and silver which Jeru-
salem displayed in the succeeding reign of Solomon, has staggered the
credulity of some readers of the Jewish history. It appears, however,
that those metals were at that time very plentiful in Egypt, and in
several countries of Asia. The history of David’s wars and conquests,
make it appear evident that very considerable quantities of gold and
silver had, by some means, been introduced into the countries situated
between the Euphrates and the Levant Sea; and it seems that this
influx of wealth must have been, in a great measure, the eflects of
the trade carried on by the Tyrians and Egyptians with the eastern
and southern parts of the world. In whatever parts of Africa or
Asia these metale were found, it is prohable, that they were introduced

280 THE FARMER AT HOME.

into Egypt, and the western parts of Asia, by the Arabian, Egyptian,
and Tyrian merchants. The Egyptians, especially, might bring a
considerable part of them by their caravans, which, from time imme-
morial, travelled into Ethiopia, under which name all the interior and
southern parts of Africa were formerly comprehended ; as the Ethio-
pian caravans in like manner traded into Egypt.

In the flourishing agés of Greece, gold and silver began to be
plentifully introduced into that country, particularly after the conquest
of Persia by Alexander, which caused the wealth of that empire to
circulate westward. During this time Rome was exceedingly poor,
and her warlike citizens possessec a very small quantity of those
valuable metals, until the conquest of Macedonia and the Grecian
kingdoms of Asia, caused the riches of the east to flow into her bosom.
After the Goths and other northern nations began to make successful
inroads into the Roman empire, the plunder of its provinces put them
in possession of part of its riches; and gold and silver, with which
they had before been almost wholly unacquainted, began by their pre-
datory wars to be introduced among them. After the total subversion
of the western empire, those riches, which Rome had accumulated by
so many centuries of successful rapine, were by degrees diffused over
all Europe, and gold and silver introduced into the regions of the north.

It is common to imagine that the more money a country possesses
the more affluent is its condition. And that is usually the ease. But
the cause is often mistaken for the effect. A great quantity of it is
necessary to circulate a great quantity of commodities. Rich flourish-
ing countries require abundance of money, and possess the means of
obtaining it; but this abundance is the consequence, not the cause
of their wealth, which consists in the commodities circulated, rather
than in the circulating medium. The wealth which proceeds from
industry resembles the copious yet tranquil stream, which passing silent-
ly, and almost invisibly, enriches the whole extent of country through
which it flows ; but the treasures of the new world, like a swelling
torrent, were seen, heard, felt, and admired; yet their first operation
was to desolate and lay waste the spot on which they fell. The shock
was sudden ; the contrast was too great. Spain overflowed with
specie, while other nations were comparatively poor in the extreme.
The prices of labor, of provisions, and of manufactures, bore propor-
tion to the quantity of circulating cash. The consequence is obvious ;
in the poor countries industry advanced; in the more wealthy it de-
clined.

MONKEY. The general name of the ape, baboon, and simia
tribe, the several varieties of which are principally found in the tro-
pical climates. They inhabit forests in prodigious numbers, and,
though mischievous, their manners are fantastical and imteresting.
They have hands like man, and also walk on two legs, but they prac-
tice no arts beyond the necessities of the hour. They are affectionate

*

THE FARMER AT HOME. 281

to their young, and often exhibit great sagacity,but their brain is
smaller than that of man, and they are without his risible muscles, and ~
less in size. They throw missiles with great dexterity, and live on
vegetables.

MONSOONS. In the Indian ocean these winds are partly general,
and blow all the year round the same way, as in the Ethiopic Ocean ;
and partly periodical, that is, half the year blow one way, and the
other half nearly on the opposite points ; and these points and times
of shifting differ in different parts of this ocean. These latter are
what we call monsoons. The shifting of these monsoons is not all at
once ; in some places the time of the change is attended with calms,
in others with variable winds, and particularly those of China, at
ceasing to be westerly, are very apt to be tempestuous ; and such is
their violence, that they seem to be of the nature of the West India
hurricanes, and render the navigation of those seas very unsafe.
These tempests the seamen call the breaking up of the monsoons.
Monsoons take their name from an ancient pilot, who first crossed the
Indian sea by means hereof; but others derive the name from a Por-
tuguese word, signifying motion or change of wind and sea. Lucre-
tius and Apollonius mention annual winds which arise every year,
which seem to be the same with what in the East Indies we now call
monsoons. ‘

MONSTER. A monster is a birth or production of a living being,
degenerating from the proper and usual disposition of parts in the
species to which it belongs: as, when there are too many members,
or too few ; or some of them are extravagantly out of proportion, either
on the side of excess or defect. Aristotle defines a monster to be a
defect of nature, when, acting towards some end, it cannot attend to
it, from some of its principles being corrupted. Monsters do not pro-
pagate their kind ; for which reason some rank mules among the
number of monsters, as also hermaphrodites. Monster is also used for
an animal enormous for bulk ; such as the elephant among terrestrial
quadrupeds, and the shark and the whale among sea animals ; for
other animals remarkable for fierceness and cruelty ; and for animals
of an extraordinary species, arising from the copulation of one animal
with another of a different genus.

MONTH. In Chronology, the twelfth part of a year, otherwise
ealled a calendar month, to distinguish it from the astronomical month,
which is either solar or lunar. A solar month, or the time in which
the sun passes through a whole sign of the zodiac, is thirty days six-
teen hours twenty-nine minutes five seconds ; a lunar month, or the
period of one lunation, is twenty-nine days twelve hours forty-four
minutes.

MOON. Our moon is one of the heavenly bodies often ranked
among the planets; but more properly a satellite, or secondary planet.
As all the other planets move primarily round the sun, so does the moon

282 THE FARMER AT HOME.

round the earth ; her orbit is an ellipsis, in which she is retained by
the force of gravity; performing her revolution round the earth, from
change to change, in twenty-nine days, twelve hours and forty-four
minutes, and round the sun with it every year; she goes round her
orbit in twenty-seven days, seven hours, and forty-three minutes,
moving about 2290 miles every hour; and turns round her axis
exactly in the time that she goes round the earth, which is the reason
of her keeping always the same side towards us; and that her day
and night taken together are as long as our lunar month.

Among the ancients the moon was an object of prime regard.
By the Hebrews she was more regarded than the sun, and they were
more inclined to worship her as a deity. The new moons or first
days of every month, were kept as festivals among them, which were
celebrated with sound of trumpets, entertainments, and sacrifice. Peo-
ple were not obliged on these days to rest. The feasts of new moons
were the miniature representation of the feast of trumpets, which was
held on the first of the month Tisri, which was the beginning of the
civil year. The Jews, not being acquainted with the physical causes
of eclipses, looked upon them, whether of sun or moon, as signs of the
divine displeasure. The Grecians looked upon the moon as favorable
to marriage ; and the full moons or the times of conjunction of the
sun or moon, were held the most lucky seasons for celebrating mar-
riages ; because they imagined the moon to have great influence over
generation. The full moon was held favorable for any undertaking
by the Spartans; and no motives could induce them to enter upon an
expedition, march an army, or attack an enemy, till the full of the
moon. The moon was supposed both by Greeks and Romans to
preside over childbirth. The patricians at Rome wore a crescent on
their shoes, to distinguish them from the other orders of men. This
crescent was called Lanula. Some say it was of ivory, others that it
was worked upon the shoe, others that it was only a particular kind
of fibula or buckle.

MOROCCO. This is a fine kind of leather, prepared of the skin
of an animal of the goat kind, in the countries of the Levant. The
name was probably taken from the kingdom of Morocco, whence the
manner of preparing it was borrowed. The skins are steeped twenty-
four hours in a river, taken out, stretched on the leg, beat with the
knife, returned into the water for twenty-four hours, rebeaten on the
leg, re-steeped, thrown into a vat, and, for three weeks taken out and
returned every morning, to dispose them to peel. Being taken out
for the last time, they are scraped with the knife, and when the hair
is quite off, thrown into pails of fresh water, where they are rinsed,
then the flesh side is scraped, thrown into the pails. and thus alter-
nately from the leg to the pails, till they leave the water clean.
They are then put into lukewarm water, with the sumac, and, after
twelve hours, rinsed in clear water, and scraped on the leg on both

THE FARMER AT HOME. 283

sides, pounded in pails, and the water changed three times; then
wrung and stretched on the leg, and passed after each other into water,
with alum dissolved in it. Thus alumed, they are left to drain till
the morning, then wrung out, pulled on the leg, and folded from head
to tail, the flesh inward. In this state they receive their first dye, by
passing them from one to anothe m a red liquor, prepared with lacca,
and some other ingredients.

MOSS. A parasitic piant, something like down, and adheres to
the trunks of trees, and was formerly supposed to be merely an ex-
crescence, but is now found to be a perfect plant, having roots, flower,
and seeds, yet cannot be propagated by seed. It is oftentimes very
injurious to fruit trees,and ought to be scraped off in the spring
season and in moist weather.

MOTH. The clothes-moth itself is perfectly innocuous. The
devastation is committed by the caterpillar. This begins to form a
nest as soon as it quits the egg. For this purpose, having spun a thin
coating of silk around its body, it cuts filaments of wool or fur close to
the thread of the cloth, and applies the pieces to the outside of its
case. This covering it never leaves, except in cases of urgent neces-
sity. When it wishes to feed, it puts out its head at either end of the
case, as may be most convenient. When it wishes to change its
position, it protrudes its head and about half its body, and thus moves
forward, dragging its case by fixing its hinder legs firmly in it.
When, from its increase in size, the case becomes too small, it makes
an addition to it at each end. This operation can be readily traced
by transferring it from cloth of one color to another, when each addi-
tion will be conspicuous, from the difference of color. After changing
into a chrysalis, it remains quiescent for about three weeks, when a
small nocturnal moth, of a silvery-gray color, comes forth, but too well
known to almost every mistress of a family.

The usual mode of destroying these pests is by oil of turpentine,
camphor or tobacco, all of which wil] answer the purpose to a certain
degree ; but all have the disadvantage of communicating odors to the
clothes, to which they have been applied, extremely disagreeable to
many persons. As moths never attack unwashed wool, and even
abandon the places where it is kept, this substance may be advan-
tageously substituted for the above mentioned articles, by placing it
in layers between clothes, or keeping small parcels in the corners of
shelves or drawers. For this plan to be effectual, the wool must be
used as it comes from the back of the animal, before any cleansing
process has been employed that will deprive it of its natural oil or
smell.

MOTT’S AGRICULTURAL FURNACE. This is undoubtedly
the best apparatus for cooking vegetables and other food for stock that
has been devised. The largest size holds 120 gallons, and the
smallest only fifteen gallons, and there are seven intermediate sizes,

284 THE FARMEF AT HOME.

with a progressive increase of capacity. It can be placed and used
in the open air, or in any enclosed room where the smoke can be con-
veyed to a chimney through a common stove pipe. It is also well
adapted to the various household purposes where a large quantity of
water is to be heated. The cooking is eflected with great rapidity,
and requires only a small amount of fuel. The apparatus consists of
two kettles, one within the other, and united at the top. The dimen-
sion of the inner one is so much less thanof the outer one as to leave
a space all round between them from one to three inches, according to
the size of the kettle. The outside kettle is so connected with the
furnace at the bottom which receives the fuel, that the heat rises into,
and circulates in every part of the space between the kettles. No

MOTT’S AGRICULTURAL FURNACE.

heat, therefore, passes off in the flue, or by mixing with the sur-
rounding air, till it has been brought in contact with, and expended
upon the surface, which encloses the substances to be affected by it.
Our own, which holds thirty gallons, can make water boil in less than
half an hour ; and then the merest trifle of fuel is wanted to keep up
the temperature and to complete the process of cooking. We have
had it in use from three to four years; and, so great is our confidence
in the economy of cooking food for stock. and in the adaptation of this
furnace for the purpose, that we considered the value of it to us the
first winter was more than an equivalent for its cost, which was fifteen
dollars. To others of more extensive farming operations the impor-
tance of its use would be greatly augmented.

THE FARMER AT HOME. 285

MOULDINESS. A term applied to an appearance in bodies
which are much exposed to the humidity of the atmosphere, and
which shows itself by a kind of white down, or lanugo, on their sur-
face. It is liable to affect different articles of farm produce, unless
guarded against by depositing them in proper dry places. This
mouldiness, when viewed with a microscope, affords a curious spec-
tacle; being a kind of meadow, out of which arise herbs and flowers ;
some only in the bud, others full blown, and others decayed; each
having its little root, stalk and other parts. The same may be ob-
served of the mouldiness which gathers on the surface of liquid bodies.
Mr. Bradley observed this mouldiness in a melon very accurately, and
found the vegetation of these little plants to be exceedingly quick.
Each plant had its seeds in great abundance, which did not seem to
be three hours before they began to shoot up ; and in six hours more
the new plant was complete and mature, and the seed ready to fail.
When the fruit had been covered with a mould for six days, its vege-
tative quality began to abate, and it was entirely gone in two days
more ; then came on a putrefaction, and the fleshy part of the melon
yielding nothing but a stinking water, which began to have a gentle
motion on its surface; and in two days’ time maggots appeared, which
in six more laid themselves up in their bags, where they continued
four days, and then came out flies. These maggots were owing to
the eggs of flies deposited in the putrefaction.

MOULTING. Among farmers, a term signifying the changing
of the feathers in animals of the domestic bird kind. It is a process
which takes place annually towards the latter end of the year, when
care should be taken to have them weil fed, and kept as much as pos-
sible in a sheltered situation. In some sorts of birds, as the goose,
advantage is taken of this season for collecting the feathers for various
useful purposes. Moulting is sometimes applied to horses, when they
alter, change, or cast their coats towards the latter end of autumn.
As they become weak at this period, they should be well kept, and
not have too much work. Great care should likewise be taken in the
cleaning and dressing of them.

MOUTH. In some creatures the mouth is wide and large, in
others little and narrow; in some it is formed with a deep incisure
into the head, for the better catching and holding of prey, and more
easy comminution of hard, large, and troublesome food ; and in others
with a shorter incisure, for the gathering and holding of herbaceous
food. In birds it is neatly shaped for piercing the air; hard and
horny, to supply the want of teeth ; hooked, in the rapacious kind, to
eatch and hold their prey ; long and slender in those that have their
food to grope for in moorish places ; and broad and long in those that
search for itin the mud. Nor is the mouth less remarkable in insects ;
in some it is forcipated, to catch, hold, and tear the prey; in others,
aculeated, to pierce and wound animals, and suck their blood ; in

286 THE FARMER AT HOME.

others strongly rigid, with jaws and teeth, to gnaw and scrape out
their food, carry burdens, perforate the earth, nay, the hardest wood,
and even stones themselves, for houses and nests for their young.

MUCILAGE. A soft glutinous substance, made by dissolving
different kinds of gum ; or the roots, leaves, or other parts of plants
that abound with it. Mucilaginous drinks and mixtures are very
useful in disorders of the bowels, and in ecatarrhs, where our object is
to cover any acrid matter, so as to prevent its irritating the parts over
which it passes. A solution of gum arabic, an infusion of linseed, or
water gruel, are all to be considered as mucilaginous drinks.

MUCK. This is the common name for peat, marsh mud, and
decaying vegetable matter generally. The value of it in restoring
fertility to declining soils that have long been used for tillage, is a mat-
ter of common sense, and has been well tested by the experience of
our best farmers. The swamps and bogs, and all low lands that have
been uncultivated, consist, in no small measure, of what has been
washed upon them from the adjacent hills and uplands, as well as of
the decayed substances that have there been accumulating for an
unknown succession of years. These substances are the essence of
all vegetable composition ; and, whenever collected, duly prepared
and properly applied to fields to be used for tillage, it is apparent that
the provident husbandman may expect a good crop. The value, how-
ever, of muck, as a fertilizer, will greatly depend on the fact of the
swamp or bog having been able to retain without waste the vegetable
elements that may have there been collected. For, if there has been
a stream of water running through it, the soluble portions of the mud
must have been partially separated from the vegetable remains, and
washed away ; whereas, the muck taken from those swamps or bog-
holes, having no mode of discharging their water, except by evapora-
tion, retain most of the soluble portions of their animal and other
organic remains, and consequently is richer in nitrogen and fertilizing
salts.

In dry seasons, the prudent farmer will be industrious in removing
or carting muck from evaporated swamps or other sunken places
on or near his farm, and composting it with the dung or urine of ani-
mals, night soil, soap suds, or other putrescent matter; or, what is
better, to lay it in his barnyard, pigsty, or sheepfold, and let it become
thoroughly mixed with the dung and urine of his stock. When thus
managed, the compost is excellent, and suitable for almost any variety
of soil, though best for those that are sandy and light. The majority
of farmers in this way might annually double the amount of their
crops, as well as add much to the value of their farms. All farms
are not alike favorably situated for being thus enriched, but there are
a few only, and it is believed not any, but what might be vastly ben-
efited in this way, if the proprietors were duly observant of the means
for doing it.

THE FARMER AT HOME. 287

MURIATIC ACID. Mauriatic acid is generally in a liquid form,
having a strong and pungent smell, and a taste very sour and caustic ;
exposed to the air, it emits white fumes. It is a solution of the muri-
atic acid gas in water, which deserves attention ina medical point of
view, as being employed in fumigation for destroying contagion. It
is extricated for this purpose by pouring sulphuric acid on common
salt, by which the fumes of muriatic acid are disengaged, and sulphate
of sodaisformed. Muriatic acid has been successfully administered in
typhus and scarlet fever, in the proportion of a dram to a pint of gruel
or barley water, with sugar or syrup to correct its acidity, and to ren-
der it more palatable. This mixture isto be used for common drink ;
but must not be put into a leaden or pewter vessel or spoon. It is
recommended as good against worms, in the dose of from five to twenty
drops in a strong infusion of quassia, frequently repeated.

MURRAIN. Murrain, or garele, is a contagious disease incident
to cattle. The symptoms are, a hanging down and swelling of the
head, abundance of gum in the eyes, rattling in the throat, a short
breath, palpitation at the heart, staggering, a hot breath, and a
shining tongue. To prevent this disease, the cattle should stand cool
in summer, and have plenty of good water. All carrion should be
speedily buried; and as the feeding of cattle in wet places, on rotten
grass and hay, often occasions this disease, dry and sweet fodder
should be given them.

MUSCLE. The parts that are usually included under this name
consist of distinct portions of flesh, susceptible of contraction and re-
laxation ; the motions of which, in a natural and healthy state, are
subject to the will; and, for this reason, they are called voluntary
muscles. Besides these, there are other parts of the body that owe
their power of contraction to their muscular fibres; thus the heart is
a muscular texture, forming what is called a hollow muscle; and the
stomach, intestines, &c., are enabled to act upon their contents, merely
because they are provided with muscular fibres; these are called in-
voluntary muscles, because their motions are not dependent on the
will. The muscles of respiration being, in some measure, influenced
by the will, are said to have a mixed motion.

MUSHROOM. A plant remarkable for the quickness of its
growth and decay, for the remarkable bad smell it diffuses when in a
state of decay, and for yielding a nutritive article for the table. Care
must be taken that those eaten are of the right sort, as there are sev-
eral funguses resembling them that are highly poisonous. The marks
of good esculent mushrooms are the following. The true mushrooms
are known by their external whiteness, and by being of a pale red
within when young, and of a deeper red, or dark, when older ; they
are at their first appearance of a round figure, and not much larger
than a small nut; after they have a little unfolded their membranes,
they appear red full, and close ; on the top is a disagreeable softness,

238 THE FARMER AT HOME.

equal, and white ; the matter within is very white, with short and
thick stalks. They grow in fertile groand and should be gathered
for eating as soon after springing up as possible, for they then contain
an oily and a saline part, and if they stay long before they are gath-
ered, their salts become more active and hurtful. Another species of
mushrooms, is that kind which produces the circular appearances in
fields, and called fairyrings. Its substance is tough, and consequently
it is used only to make catchup, or in powder.

MUSK. A substance secreted into a kind of bag in the umbilical
region of the moschus mosenifer. It is of a brown red color, feels
unctuous, and has a bitter taste. Its smell is aromatic and intensely
strong. Itis partially soluble in water, which acquires its smell ;
and in alcohol, but that liquid does not retain the odor of the musk.
Musk is dissolved by nitric and sulphuric acids, but the odor is by
them destroyed. Fixed alkalies develope the odor of arnmonia.

MUTTON. Mutton is the flesh of sheep; and perhaps in no
one point has the skill of the breeder of animals been more marked,
than in that of producing breeds of sheep, in which the greatest
amount of flesh, and the smallest quantity of offal, seems to have
reached a point beyond which progress will be difficult. The quality
of mutton is greatly depending on the age of the animal, and the
mode of feeding. Its general use in England, has caused great atten-
tion to producing it of superior quality, and the suecess has been un-
rivalled elsewhere. To be first-rate mutton, the sheep should not be
less than five years old, and asa general rule, it may be said the
older the mutton the finer the flavor, in this respect differing from
most other meats. The flesh of mutton five or six years old will be
firm, dark colored, and when cooked full of the richest gravy, while
at two or three, the flesh will be comparatively light colored, and be
soft and flabby. As a general rule wether mutton is superior to that
of ewes of the same age, though connoisseurs in this flesh assert that
a maiden or spayed ewe of five years old, produces mutton preferable
to any other. The south downs are highly prized for mutton, and
their reputation in this respect abroad, has been well sustained here.

MUSQUITOES. Small insects which abound in countless mul-
titudes in the East and West Indies, and are particularly annoying,
especially to new comers. They inflict a small wound, which is soon
surrounded by a pimple, accompanied by troublesome itching ; and
in some cases so numerous are those annoying bites, that a great
degree of general fever is induced. The best application is lemon
juice. It is fortunate that the bites of these insects seem to produce
a certain change in the blood, which renders it disagreeable to them
afterwards, as those who have occasion to visit warm countries often,
are rarely attacked by them with much violence on their second o
subsequent voyages.

MYRTLE. A genus of plants consisting of aromatic trees or

THE FARMER AT HOME. 289

shrubs, with simple opposite leaves, which are sprinkled with pellucid
glandular points, and having axillary or terminal white or rose-colored
flowers. One species, the common myrtle, is a native of the south of
Europe, and other countries bordering on the Mediterranean. It has
been celebrated from remote antiquity on account of its fragrance and
the beauty of its evergreen foliage, and, by different nations, was con-
secrated to various religious purposes. Myrtle wreaths adorned the
brows of bloodless victors, and were the symbol of authority for mag-
istrates at Athens. With the moderns, it has always been a favorite
ornamental plant, and is commonly cultivated in gardens both in
Europe and America. Pimento or allspice is the produce of a species
of myrtle inhabiting tropical America, and consists of the berries,
which are collected before they are ripe, and dried in the sun.

NAIL. A bony excrescence, growing at the ends of the fingers
and toes of men and animals. The several parts of nails have their
respective names. The extremity is called the apex ; the opposite
end, the root or base; and the white part near the latter, somewhat
resembling a half moon, lunula. The substance of the nail is that of
the skin, hardened, but firmly connected with it. For this reason, it
is extremely sensible at its root, where the substance is yet tender ;
but at the apex, where it is perfectly hardened, capable of being cut
without pain.

NANKEEN. A well known cotton stuff, deriving its name from
the ancient capital of China. According to Van Braam, it is manu-
factured in the southeast of the province of Kiang-nam upon the
seashore. The color of nankeen is natural, the cotton down of which
it is made being of the same tinge with the cloth. The color, as well
as superior quality of this cotton, seems to be derived from the soil ;
for it is said that the seeds of the nankeen cotton degenerate in both
particulars when transplanted to another province, however little
different in its climate. The common opinion, that the color of the
stuff is. given by a dye, occasioned an order from Europe, some years
ago, to dye the pieces of nankeen of a deeper color than they had at
that period ; and the reason of their being then paler than formerly
is as follows ;—‘‘ Shortly after the Americans began to trade with
China, the demand increased to nearly double the quantity it was

‘possible to furnish. To supply this deficiency, the manufacturers
mixed common white cotton with the brown ; this gave it a pale cast,
which was immediately remarked ; and for this lighter kind no pur-
chaser could be found till the other was exhausted. But the demand
afterwards lessening, the white cotton was no longer mixed with it,
and the color returned to its former standard.”

NASTURTIUM. Indian Cress is a frequent name for this plant.
It is a native of South America, and is distinguished for its brilliant
show of orange and crimson colored flowers. It was carried to Eng-
land in the sixteenth century. Being a good climber, it is useful in

13

290 THE FARMER AT HOME.

covering a trellis or lattice as a screen, and for its gay dress is often
made a tenant of the flower garden. Asso few culinary vegetables
are considered ornamental, we heartily recommend the Nasturtium
to the attention of every person having a kitchen garden. Let it be
placed in a conspicuous situation. Few things are more attractive in
appearance; and it is useful as well as beautiful. In addition to the
gaiety of its successive blossoms, the fruit, when pickled, is desirable,
and by many esteemed superior to capers. Thé tops, too, by some
are used for salad.

NATURE. Of this word, which occurs so frequently, with sig-
nifications so various and so difficultly defined, Boyle has given the
following explication ‘—Nature is sometimes used for the author of
nature, as, Nature has made man partly corporeal and partly imma-
terial; for Nature, in this sense, may be used the word Creator.
Nature sometimes means that on whose account a thing is what it is,
and is called, as when we define the nature of an eagle; for nature,
in this sense, may be used for essence, or quality. Nature sometimes
means what belongs to a living creature at its nativity, or accrues to
it by its birth, as when we say a man is noble by nature, or a child
is naturally froward. This may be expressed by saying, the man was
born so, or the thing was generated such. Nature sometimes means
an internal principle of local motion, as we say the stone falls, or the
flame rises, by nature ; for this we may say that the motion up or
down is spontaneous, or produced by its proper cause. Nature some-
times significs the established course of things corporeal, as nature
makes the night succeed the day; this may be termed established
order, or settled course. Nature means sometimes the aggregate of
the powers belonging to a body, especially a living one; as when
physicians say that nature is strong, or nature left to herself, will
do the cure; for this may be used constitution, temperament, or
structure of the body. Nature is put likewise for the system of the
corporeal works of God ; as there is no phenix or chimera in nature.
For nature, thus applied, we may use the world, or the universe.
Nature is sometimes, indeed commonly taken for a kind of semi-deity ;
in this sense it is best not to use it at all.

NAVIGATION. No art or profession has appeared more aston-
ishing and marvellous than that of navigation, in the state in which
it is at present. This cannot be made more evident than by taking
a retrospective view of the tottering, inartificial craft to which navi-
gation owes its origin; and by comparing them with the noble and
majestic edifices now in use, containing a thousand men, with their
provisions, drink, furniture, wearing-apparel, and other necessaries for
many months, besides a hundred pieces of heavy ordnance, and earry-
ing all this vast apparatus safely, on the wings of the wind, across
immense seas. These majestic floating structures are the result of the
ingenuity and united labor of many hundreds of hands, and are com-

THE FARMER AT HOME. *9)

posed of a great number of well-proportioned pieces of timber, nicely
fastened together by means of iron nails and bolts, and rendeicd so
tight with tow and pitch, that no water can penetrate into any part.
To give motion to these enormous machines, lofty pieces of timber
called masts, have been fixed upright in them; and sails of linen
‘cloth are placed for the purpose of catching the wind, and receiving
its propelling power. It has been requisite also to add vast quantities
of cordage and tackling. Yet all these would be insufficient for the
perfect government and direction of the vessel, if there were not
fastened to the hinder part of it, by means of hinges and hooks, a
meveable piece of wood called the rudder, very small in proportion to
the whole machine, but the least inclination of which to either side
is sufficient to give immediately a different directién to the enormous
mass ; so that two men may direct and govern this floating town,
with the same or with greater ease than a single man can direct a
boat. Even the vaulted part of the fabric, together with its sharp
termination underneath, is proportioned according to the nicest calcu-
lations ; and the length, width, and strength of the sails and tackling,
are all in due proportion to one another, according to certain rules
founded upon the principles of the art of ship-building. A violent
storm of wind will make us tremble with fear in a well-built house,
in the midst of a populous city ; but the seaman, provided he has a
good ship, rides with unshaken courage, amidst the enraged waves,
when the whole surface of the ocean presents to the eye an awful
scene of immense watery mountains and bottomless precipices.
NATURAL HISTORY. This branch of useful knowledge is a
generic term, and presents topics of great interest and utility. It has
more commonly been used for a systematic description of that part of
nature which is immediately connected with man and human wants,
although formerly embracing a wider range of investigation. Thus
limited, natural history is a science both useful and entertaining. It
is intimately connected with all the other sciences; and with all the
arts, from the simplest and rudest to the most complicated and most
elegant. We cannot well avoid becoming more or less acquainted
with the manners of animals, the economy of vegetables, and the
general appearance of nature. From an acquaintance with these,
many advantages have already accrued to man; and, from a more
intimate knowledge of them, many more will doubtless be derived.
The husbandman ought to know the characters of the tame animals
which he employs ; what advantages are to be derived from them;
whether there are others that would suit his purpose better ; where
they are to be found; how they may be procured, and how supported ;
the qualities of the soil which he cultivates, and the means of man-
aging and of improving it; the nature of the grains and grasses which
he raises, and whether he might not, with advantage, substitute a
different species for that in common use. Even the meanest mechanic

92 THE FARMER AT HOME.

hould have a pretty eccurate kncewledge of many of the qualities o1
hose natural objects with which his craft is connected. The fine
rts, though usually considered as the peculiar province of imagina-
ion, depend greatly also upon natural history.

From the vicissitudes of the seasons acting upon the senses; from
he presence of surrounding objects; from the necessity of deriving
rom them food, clothing, and shelter ; natural history must have been
_ study of the first importance to man, and attended to from the earliest
eriods of society. Before the invention of letters, however, the ob-
ervations and discoveries of individuals were neither likely to be
ommunicated to those at a distance, nor recorded for the information
f posterity. In a more polished state of society, the case is different ;
nd hence we find*Alexander the Great decreeing a collection of ani-
nals for the examination of Aristotle; and wild beasts, from every
uarter of the globe, produced and exhibited in the amphitheatres at
tome. Yet Aristotle is almost the only ancient writer on zoology
hat merits attention ; for even Pliny and Alian, with this great ex-
mple before their eyes, offer us nothing but crude collections, discrimi-
ated with little taste or judgment, truth and falsehood being blended
1 one common mass: and for many succeeding years, from various
auses, all Europe is well known to have been immersed in ignorance
nd credulity as to the most common facts of this study.

The bodies, as well of plants as of animals, consist of fluids and
olids; they have both vessels designed to contain the fluids, and
lands to secrete different juices: while the blood circulates through
he bodies of animals, the sap of vegetables ascends and descends, so
s to produce the same effects on the vegetable, which the motion of
he blood, by the force of the heart and the arteries, produces on the
nimal system. These are but a few of the resemblances which have
een observed between the species of the animal and those of the
egetable kingdom. Almost every one of the parts common to animal
odies, has been represented by one naturalist or another, as matched
y some correspondent part in vegetable bodies. Such analogies are
ometimes plain and striking, and sometimes scarcely perceptible, or
nerely imaginary. They afford, however, an agreeable subject of
peculation ; and it cannot be denied that they increase the difficulty
f ascertaining the limits by which these two departments of nature
re divided. But however numerous and strong the analogies between
nimals and vegetables, however difficult it may be to discern the
yrecise line which separates the one kingdom from the other, yet the
eading characteristics are sufficiently distinct. The privileges which
nimals enjoy above the other parts of the creation, are in most in-
tances highly conspicuous.

Animals have an organized structure, which regularly unfolds
tself, and is nourished and supported by air and food; they conse-
juently possess life, and are subject to death; they are moreover

seat Bhat =

ie AEN

THE FARMER AT HOME. 2

endowed with sensation, and with spontaneous, as well as voluntar
motion. Vegetables are organized, supported by air and food, endow
with life, and subject to death as well as animals. They have,

some instances spontaneous, though we know not that they ha
voluntary motion. They are sensible to the action of nourishmer
air, and light, and either thrive or languish, according to the whol
some or hurtful application of these stimulants. The spontaneo
movements of plants are almost as readily to be observed as the
living principle. The general direction of their branches, and es
cially of the upper surface of their leaves, though repeatedly disturbe
to the light, the unfolding and closing of their flowers at stated time
or according to favorable or unfavorable circumstances, with some st
more curious particulars, are actions undoubtedly depending on the
vital principle, and are performed with the greater facility in propc
tion as that principle is in its greatest vigor. Plants alone have
power of deriving nourishment, though not indeed exclusively, fro
inorganic matter, mere earths, salts, or airs, substances certainly inc
pable of serving as food for any animals, the latter only feeding «
what is or has been organized matter, either of a vegetable or anim
nature. So that it would seem to be the office of vegetable life alon
to transform dead matter into organized living bodies.

NEEDLE. A name given to various small instruments in tl
useful arts. The most common acceptation of the word is to deno
the common sewing-needle, which is so well known as to require |
description : besides this, there is the knitting-needle ; the nettin
needle ; the glovers-needle. with a triangular point; the tambov
needle, which is made like a hook, and fixed in a handle; the ho
being thrust through the cloth, the thread is caught under the hoo
and the needle is drawn back, taking the thread with it. Needle
a name given to a part of the stocking-frame, lace-machine, and mat
other machines in the manufactures. The manufacture of sewin
needles, is one of the most remarkable pursuits of the age, both tec
nically and locally. In a technical point of view, it is striking for t
number of processes which every individual needle passes throug!
while it is not less noteworthy on account of the grouping of t
manufacture about one town of England in particular—Redditch,
Worcestershire—where it has been calculated there are sixty or seven
millions made every week! In our own country, but few attempts
this important branch of artistic industry have been made. It is sai
however, that in the recent ones at Newark, (N. J.,) the results pr
mise a degree of success highly auspicious to the enterprising inc
viduals who made them.

NECTARINE. The nectarine is only a variety of the peac
with a smooth skin. In its growth, habit, and general appearanc
it is impossible to distinguish it from the peach. The fruit, howeve
is rather smaller, perfectly smooth, without dowr and is one of tl

294 THE FARMER AT HOME:

most wax-like and exquisite of all productions for the dessert. In
flavor, it is perhaps scarcely so rich as the finest peach, but it has
more piquancy, partaking of the noyeau, or peach-leaf flavor. The cul-
ture of the nectarine is, in all respects, precisely similar to that of the
peach, and its habits, also, are completely the same. It is lounger lived
and hardier when budded on the plum, but still the nurserymen here
usually work it on the peach stock.

NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.

NEWFOUNDLAND DOG. The Newfoundland dog is of the
Spaniel family, but derives its name from the island of which it is a
native. It is usually of a large size, and has long shagged hair, with
a coat of fine, soft fur beneath the outer covering, which is almost im-
penetrable by water. His color is most frequently black ; sometimes
spotted, and partially flecked or grayish ; and occasionally buff. He
is remarkably docile and obedient to his master ; and, although very
serviceable as a watch dog, when well trained, is good natured to all
not suspected of mischievous intentions upon the property of his owner.
He will defend his master and his master’s property, and suffer no
person to injure the one or the other ; and however extreme may be
the danger, he will not leave them for a minute. He seems only
wanting in speech, in order to make his good feelings and wishes
known to all around him.

One of the most striking traits of the Newfoundland dog, is his
fearlessness of water, and particularly as connected with the preser-
vation of human life. A writer in the Farmer’s Library, Mr. Youatt,
gives the following narrative illustrative of this trait. A native of
Germany was travelling one evening on foot in Holland, accompanied

THE FARMER AT HOME. 295

by his large dog. Walking on a high bank which formed one side of
the dyke, his foot slipped, and he was precipitated into the water, and
being unable to swim, soon became senseless. When he recovered
his recollection, he found himself in a cottage on the contrary side of
the dyke, surrounded by peasants, who had been using the means for
the recovery of drowned persons. The account given “by one of them
was: that returning home from his labor, he observed, at a consider-
able distance, a large dog in the water, swimming and dragging, and
sometimes pushing along, something that he seemed to have great
difficulty in supporting, but which he at length succeeded in getting
into a small creek on the opposite side. When the anima! had pulled
what he had hitherto supported, as far out of the water as he was
able, the peasant discovered that it was the body of a man, whose
face and hands the dog was industriously licking. The peasant
hastened to a bridge across the dyke, and having obtained assistance,
the body was conveyed to a neighboring house, “where proper means
soon restored the drowned man to life. Two very considerable bruises,
with marks of teeth, appeared, one on his shoulder, and the other on
his poll ; hence it was presumed that the faithful dog had at first
seized his master by the shoulder, and swam with him in this manner
for some time, but that his sagacity had prompted him to quit his hold,
and shift it to the nape of his neck, by which he had been enabled to
support the head out of the water ; aud iu this way he had conveyed
him nearly a quarter of a mile before he had brought him to the
creek, where the banks were low and accessible.

NIGHT. That part of the natural day during which the sun is
underneath the horizon; or that space wherein it is dusky. Night
was originally divided by the aes and other eastern nations, into
three parts or watchings. The Romans, and afterwards the Jews
from them, divided the night into four parts, or watches, the first of
which began at sunset and lasted till nine at night, according to our
way of reckoning ; the second lasted till miduight ; the third till three
in the morning ; and the fourth ended at sunrise. The ancient Gauls
and Germans divided their time not by days but by mights ; and the
people of Iceland and the Arabs do the same at this day. The like is
also observed of our Saxon ancestors.

NIGHT-AIR. Many diseases are brought on by imprudent
exposure of the body to the night-air ; and this, at all seasons, in every
climate, and variety of temperature. The causes of this bad property
of the night-air, it is not difficult to assign. The heat is almost uni-
versally several degrees lower than in the daytime; the air deposits
dew and other moistures; the pores of the body are open, from the
exercise and fatigues of the day ; the evening feverishness leaves the
body in some degree debilitated and susceptible of external impres-
sions ; and from all these concurrent causes, are produced the various
effects of cold acting as a check to perspiration; such as catarrhs,

296 THE FARMER AT HOME

sore throats, coughs, consumptions, rheumatisms, asthmas, fevers and
dysenteries. In warm climates, the night-air and night-dews, with
their tainted impregnations, act with much malignancy on the unwary,
who too often, after an imprudent debauch, still more absurdly lays
himself down in the woods 01 verandahs, to receive the full attacks of
the morbific powers then unusually active.

In civilized life, and in crowded towns, how many fall victims to
their own imprudence, in exposing themselves to the cold, the damp,
and the frostiness of the night-air. Issuing from warm apartments
with blazing fires, or from crowded churches, theatres, or ball-rooms,
with exhausted strength, profuse perspiration, thin dresses, and much
of the person uncovered, how many are arrested with the benumbing
cold and the universal shivering, which prove the forerunner of dan-
gerous inflammation of the brain, of the lungs, or of the bowels, which
either cut them off in a few days, or lay the foundation of consump-
tion or other lingering illnesses. Such being the dangers of exposure
to the night-air, it ought to be inculeated on all, both young and old,
to guard against them, by avoiding all rash and hasty changes of
place and temperature, by hardening the frame by due exercise and
walking in the open air in the daytime; and on occasions when the
night-air must be braved, taking care to be sufficiently clothed; and
to avoid drawing in the cold air too strong or hastily with the mouth
open.

NIGHTMARE. Nervous or indisposed persons are oppressed
during sleep with a heavy pressing sensation on the chest, by which
respiration is impeded, or the circulation of blood intercepted, to such
a degree as to threaten suffocation. Frightful ideas are recollected on
waking, which occupied the dreaming mind. Frequent attempts are
made to cry out, but often without eflect, and the horrors and agita-
tions felt by the patient are inexpressibly frightful. The sensations
generally originate in a large quantity of wind or indigestible matter
in the stomach of supper-eaters, which pressing the stomach against
the diaphragm, impede respiration, or render it short and convulsed.
Inflated intestines may likewise produce similar effects, or mental
perturbations.

There is another species of nightmare mentioned by authors, which
has a more dangerous tendency ; and this arises from an impeded
circulation of blood in the lungs, when lying down, or too great relax-
ation of the heart and its impelling powers. Epilepsy, apoplexy, or
sudden death, are sometimes among the consequences of this species
of disturbed sleeep.

NIGHT-SOIL. Human excrements are usually known under this
name, which is one of the best fertilisers. The history of the use of
the night-soil, as a manure, is attended with difficulties ; for the very
nature of it predisposes every experimentalist in our country as well
as England, to be silent as to his knowledge of its powers. Many

THE FARMER AT HOME 297

absurd prejudices are entertained by the laboring classes ; such as the
imaginary taste it imparts to vegetables, when added to the soil ; and
in the earliest authorities, it is mentioned with cautious reserve.
Long experience, however, has taught many nations the value of this
manure. In China it is preserved w:th the greatest care, mixed
with a fat marl; and according to Sir George Staunton, is made into
cakes, which after being dried m the sun, constitute a recular article
of traffic between the citizens and the cultivators of that singular
empire. The same useful practice is carried on in Belgium. What
we too often throw into our rivers, or allow to waste itself in the open
air, or in deep vaults, the more thoughtful Belgians turn to account ;
what is a nuisance in American cities, is a source of revenue at
Brussels.

The best mode of preparing night-soil for use is by mixing it with
powdered charcoal, half burnt peet, or soil that is rich in vegetable
matter. Quick lime has been applied to it for a similar purpose ;
but, although it destroys the odor, it dissipates, at the same time, a
large portion of the ammonia. During the decomposition of night soil,
an evolution of carbonic acid, ammonia, sulphureted and phosphu-
reted hydrogen takes place. After the escape of these gases, the odor
ceases, and the remainder, when dried, constitutes what is sold in
large cities under the name of poudrette. The odor of recent night-
soil may be destroyed, and the volatile elements retained, by adding
to it gypsum, or dilute sulphuric acid. This manure is used in the
form of compost and as a top dressing in the form of poudrette. One
of our most scientific writers remarks, that rich as are the liquid eva-
cuations of the barn-yard and horse-stable, they are surpassed by those
of the farmer’s own dwelling, especially when it is considered with
what ease these last may be preserved. If it be a fact, that each
man, as asserted, evacuates annually, enough to manure an acre of
land, it is easy to form some estimate how much might be added to
our agricultural products without material increase of labor, if all the
night-soil of the country, in cities especially, were properly saved.

NITRE. Saltpetre ; a perfect neutral salt, formed by the union
of the nitrous acid with the fixed alkali of tartar. It is found im-
mersed in imperceptible particles, in earthy substances, as the parti-
cles of metals in their ores; but sometimes it is gathered native and
pure, in the form of an efflorescence, or shapeless salt, either on its
ore, or on old walls. The earth from which nitre is made, both in
Persia and the East Indies, is a kind of marl, found on the bare sides
of hills exposed to the northern or eastern winds, and never in any
other situation. The people of those countries collect large quantities
of this earth; and having a large and deep pit, lined with a hard and
tenacious kind of clay, they fill it half full of water, and into this they
throw the earth. When this is broken and rnoulded to powder, they
add more water, and, mixing the whole together, suffer it to remain

13*

298 THE FARMER AT HOME.

four or five days. After this, they open a hole made in one of the
sides of the pit, which lets out all the clear water into a channel
of about a foot wide, which is also lined with clay, and through
which it runs into a very wide and shallow pit, which is _pre-
pared in a level ground, secured by slight walls on all but the
northeast side, and open to the sun at the top. Here the water
evaporates by degrees ; and the salt which it had imbibed from the
earth, cystallizes into small, brownish white, hexaedral, but usually
imperfect crystals. This is the rough saltpetre brought from the East
Indies. There are some other methods of procuring it; but the far
greater part of the nitre used in the world, is prepared in this manner.
Saltpetre is of great use in various manufactures. Besides being the
basis of gunpowder, it is employed in making white glass, and is of
the same use as common salt in preserving meats. From the same
substance, also, are prepared Glauber’s spirit of nitre, sweet spirit of
nitre, vitriolated nitre, and aquafortis.

NITROGHN. Nitrogen, also called Azote; a substance existing
in great abundance, but is never found except in combination with
some other body. It is a principal component part of the air we
breathe, which consists of 78 parts of nitrogen, and 22 of oxygen. It
is accordingly here united with oxygen, and a certain portion of caloric
and light. The nitrogen and oxygen of the atmospheric air may be
separated, so that we may have the nitrogen by itself, but then only
in a state of gas, and its properties are very diflerent from those of
the atmospheric air. Nitrogen gas will not support animal life. It
is a little heavier than atmospheric air, elastic, and capable of expan-
sion and condensation. It produces no change on vegetable colors,
and when mixed with limewater does not make it milky, as does
carbonic acid gas. Nitrogen gas and oxygen gas artificially mixed,
in proportions in which air is found in the atmosphere, have exactly
the same properties as atmospheric air, which they become, in every
respect. All animal and vegetable substances contain a large propor-
tion of nitrogen.

NORMAN HORSE. It is not the design of the present work to
discuss the nice points resulting from the crosses of our best farm
animals. This is left for more elaborate treatises, and to persons more
competent to the task. We aim only at calling attention to some of
these most prominent points, By them it will be perceived that there
is a vast difference in the appearance and also in the merits of them,
and hence the great importance to our rural interests, that general
public attention should be directed to the subject. Of the horse fam-
ily there is much in the Norman branch to elicit observation. They
are of Arabian descent, and are much used in France, particularly for
drawing the heavy diligence coaches. The admired Canada horses
are more or less a mixture of this stock. A writer in the British
Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, say, the Norman horses are capital

THE FARMER AT HOME. 293

in the collar for hard work and scanty fare. They are enduring and
energetic beyond description; also that they are gentle and docile ;
never kicking or becoming otherwise vicious ; so that any person may
pass about hundreds of them in perfect security. For further particu-
lars respecting these horses, see Genesee Farmer, Albany Cultivator,
Allen’s Domestic Animals, and a valuable work on the Structure and
the Diseases of the Horse, published by Derby and Miller, Auburn,
N. Y., being Youatt revised and enlarged, by W. C.Spooner and Henry
S. Randall.

NORMAN HORSE.

NORTH. One of the four cardinal points of the world; being
that point of the horizon which is directly opposite to the sun in
meridian. The north wind is generally accompanied with a con-
siderable degree of cold. It sometimes blows with almost irresistible
fury. It is often mentioned by the classic authors under the name of
Boreas, which is of Greek original.

NUT, COCOA. The fruit of the cocos nucifera of Linneus.
Within the nut is found a kernel, as pleasant as an almond, and also
a large quantity of liquor resembling milk, which the Indians greedily
drink before the fruit “s ripe, it being then pleasant, but when the nut

300 THE FARMER AT HOME.

is matured the liquor becomes sour. Some full grown nuts will con-
tain a pint or more of this milk, the frequent drmking of which seems
to have no bad effects upon the Indians ; yet we should be cautious
of making too free with it at first, for when Lionel Wafer was at a
small island in the South Sea, where the tree grew in plenty, some of
his men were so delighted with it, that at parting they were resolved
to drink their fill, which they did; but their appetites had like to have
cost them their lives, for though they were not drunk, yet they were
so chilled and benumbed, tha‘ they could not stand, and were obliged
to be carried aboard by those who had more prudence than them-
selves, and it was many days before they recovered. The shells of
these nuts being hard, and capable of receiving a polish, are often cut
transversely, when, being mounted on stands, and having their edges
silvered or gilt, or otherwise ornamented, they serve the purpose of
drinking cups. The leaves of the tree are used for thatching, for
brooms, baskets, and other utensils; and of the reticular web growing
at their base the Indian women make cauls and aprons.

NUTS. There are several kinds of nuts used as articles of diet ;
but they are not in general to be much recommended. They abound
in oily matter, are viscid and glutinous, and are apt with many peo-
ple to prove very difficult of digestion. Dr. Paris thinks it would be
wise to banish nuts from our tables, for there is a fascination in them,
which will lead most persons who begin to eat them. to take a quan-
tity which the best disposed stomach cannot bear with impunity.
Hoffman observes, that dysenteric complaints are always more com-
mon in those years in which the harvest of nuts is plentiful; and
there is not a physician in any practice who will be inclined tu doubt
his statement.

NUTMEG. In natural history, the kernel of a large fruit, not
unlike the peach, the produce of a tree called by botanists Myristica.
The nutmeg is separated from its investient coat, the mace, before it
is sent over to us; except that the whole fruit is sometimes imported
in preserve, by way of sweetmeat, or as a curiosity. The nutmeg, as
we receive it, is of a roundish or oval figure, of a tolerably compact
and firm texture, but easily cut with a knife, and falling to pieces on
a smart blow. Its surface is not smooth, but furrowed with a num-
ber of wrinkles, running in various directions, though principally
longitudinally. It is of a grayish brown color on the outside, and ot
a beautiful variegated hue within, being marbled with brown and
yellow variegations, running in perfect irregularity through its whole
substance. [tis very unctuous and fatty to the touch, when powdered,
and is of an extremely agreeable smell, and of an aromatic taste,
without the heat that attends that kind of flavor in most of the other
species The largest, heaviest, and most unctuous of the nutmegs to
be chosen ; such are in shape of an olivw, and of the most fragrant
smeli. .

THE FARMER AT HOME 301

NUTRITION. In Physiology, a function common to all organ-
ized bodies, in which their various component tissues convert nutritive
matter into their own substance and add it to the particles which pre-
viously entered into their composition. The materials of nutrition are
prepared by several previous processes; by digestion, in which the
food is altered in its qualities, and reduced to a homogeneous mass ;_ by
absorption, in which this nutritive part of the aliment is extracted and
conveyed into the blood ; by circulation and respiration, in which this
nutritive matter is converted into blood. Nutrition is the completion
of the functions of assimilation ; the aliment, animalised by the series
of processes just enumerated, and rendered similar to the substance of
the being which it is to nourish, is applied to the organs, whose waste
it is to repair; and this identification of the nutritive matter to our
organs, which take it up, and appropriate it to themselves, constitutes
nutrition, in which there is a real conversion of the aliment into our
own substance.

The cornponent particles of an animal body are in a state of con-
stant change ; the old ones are detached and removed by the absorb-
ents, and their place is supplied by new matter laid down by the
arteries. Until the body has attained its full size, the movement of
composition predominates over that of decomposition, and all the parts
increase ; when the growth is completed, and there is no apparent
change of bulk, they are moved and the added portions balance each
other ; and, as the body declines, the absorption exceeds the addition
ofnew matter. But, at all times, there is an interior motion of the
component parts. Hence the body has been compared by a French
physiologist to the vessel of the Argonauts, so often repaired in the course
of a long and perilous navigation, that on her return, no part of her
former materials remained.

An animal body probably contains none of the same molecules at
two distant periods. The experiments performed by mixing madder
with the food of animals, prove most unquestionably this incessant de-
composition of animated and living matter. This mixture, in conse-
quence of a chemical affinity between the madder and phosphate of
lime, dyes all the bones of a red color ; when the madder is left off for a
sufficient length of time, the color disappears. It is obvious, that the
calcareous phosphate in the osseous system previous to the commence-
ment of the experiment, must be gradually removed, and its place
supplied by the colored earth; while this is again absorbed in its
turn, after the madder is discontinued, to make room for a new un-
colored deposition. If the hardest and most solid parts, apparently
the most calculated to resist decay, are undergoing perpetual motion
of decomposition and regeneration ; there can be little doubt that this
motion must be far more rapid in those, whose power of cohesion is
much inferior; for example, in the fluids. In the nails, hair. and
cuticle, a constant growth is so regularly observed, that it is not ne-

302 THE FARMER AT HOME.

cessary to particularise the phenomena. The fact is not so apparent
in the soft parts, although we :annot doubt of its existence.

OAK. Among the most useful of the productions of temperate
climates are the dillerent species of oak, truly the pride of the north-
ern hemisphere, to which part of the globe they are almost exclu-
sively confined, with the the exception of a few on the mountainous
parts of the equatorial regions. They are shrubs, or trees, many of
them of the largest size. More than eighty species are known, of
which one half inhabit North America, either within the territory of
the United States, or on the mountains of Mexico. Among the va-
rious uses to which the wood is applied, the most important is ship
building. The European oak is tougher and more durable than our
own; but if the American vessels are more liable to decay than the
European, it is more owing to the timber not being thoroughly sea-
soned, than to any other cause. In Europe, it is usual, after stripping
the oak of its bark, to leave it standing for three or four years before
it is cut for use. The European oak, which is most common there,
and is so highly prized for its wood, has leaves resembling these of
our white oak, and it attains a height of from sixty to one hundred
feet, with a trunk six to twelve feet or more in circumference.

Previous to the introduction of mahogany, oak was much used for
furniture. Old specimens produce a very beautiful effect when carved,
as may be seen in many of the large and ancient European mansions
as well as churches. Some of those specimens denote a magnificent
size attained by the tree, as well as a beautiful texture. In Dudley
Castle there is, or was, an oak table seventy-five feet long and three
feet wide, formed from one plank; and at Goodrich Castle is an oak
beam sixty-six feet long by two feet square its whole length. The
mainmast of the Royal Sovereign, built in the reign of Charles L,
was ninety-nine feet long by three feet diameter at the lower end, and
formed out of one piece of oak. These samples will give an idea of
the size to which the oak in Europe has attained. The quantity
of this timber used, especially in ship-building, is as wonderful as the
magnitude of the trees. It is said that fifty acres of oak plantation
are required to produce the timber for a seventy-four gun ship; and
that when the British Royal Navy was the largest, say in the early
part of the present century, the ships composing it contained in their
structure more than eleven hundred thousand loads of oak.

OAK BARK. The bark of the oak, which is very useful in tan-
ning. The bark of oak trees was formerly thought to be extremely
useful in vegetation. One load, Mr, Mills in his Treatise on
Husbandry informs us, of oak bark, laid in a heap and rotted, after
the tanners have used it for dressing of leather, will do more service
to stiffen cold land, and its effects will last longer than two loads of
the richest dung; but this has been strenuously controverted. The
bark, in medicine, is also a strong astringent; and hence is recom-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 303

mended ir hemorrhages, alvine fluxes, and other preternatural or
immoderaty secretions; and in these it is sometimes attended with
good effects. Some have alleged that by the use of this bark every
purpose can be answered which may be obtained from Peruvian bark.
But, after several very fair trials, this is found not to be the case. Be-
sides the bark, the buds, the acorns, and their cups are used ; as also
the galls, which are excrescences, caused by insects, on the oaks of
the eastern countries, of which there are divers sorts; some perfectly
round and smooth, some rougher with small protuberances, but all
generally having a round hole in them.

OAR. A long piece of timber, flat at one end, and round or
square at the other, used to make a vessel advance upon the water
The flat part, which is dipped into the water, is called the blade, and
that which is within the board is termed the loom, whose extremity,
being small enough to be grasped by the rowers, is called the handle.
To push the boat or vessel forwards by means of this instrument, the
rowers turn their backs forwards, and, dipping the blade of the oar in
the water, pull the handle forward, so that the blade, at the same
time, may move aft in the water. But since the blade cannot be so
moved without striking the water, this impulsion is the same as if
the water were to strike the blade from the stern towards the head ; the
vessel is therefore necessarily moved according to the direction. Hence
it follows, that she will advance with greater rapidity, by as much as
the oar strikes the water more forcibly ; consequently, an oar acts up-
on the side of a boat or vessel like a lever of the second class, whose
fulcrum is the station upon which the oar rests on the boat’s gun-
wale.

OATS. The great use of oats, and the ease with which they are
raised on almost every kind of soil, from the heaviest loam to the
lightest sand, have made them occupy a place in almost every rota-
tion of crops. It is said that the best oats are raised in Scotland and
Friesland. The average yield on good soils is from thirty to forty
bushels per acre, and on the richest soils when well cultivated, the
produce has been over one hundred bushels to the acre. The oat is
exposed to fewer injuries than other grain, being seldom aflected by
rust, smut, or insects. It succeeds best in cold and moist countries.
The meal is nutritious, and, in some countries, forms an important
article of food, for instance in Ireland particularly; but the bread
made of it is rather indifferent in quality, and somewhat bitter. Beer
is made from this grain in Britain and Poland ; and it is besides dis-
tilled to procure ardent spirits. Oats are the best food for horses, and
for this purpose, in our own country, are principally cultivated.

OIL STONE. In Natural History, is a stone of a whitish color,
with a faint mixture of a bluish grey; and it is sometimes ornament-
ed with black spots and dendrite. It is of a moderately fine and
compact texture, hard and heavy, and capable of a tolerable polish.

304 THE FARMER AT HOME.

It is not acted upon by acids, gives fire very freely with steel, and
when burnt, acquires a pure white color. This stone has not yet
been found in England ; but in the eastern parts, and in Germany,
there are large strata of it. It is much used by our artificers for set-
ting a fine edge on their tools, and is only used with oil, which by
degrees changes its color to a deep brown.

OLIVE OIL. This is prepared from the fruit of the olive when
fully ripe, by pressing it gently ; it then yields the purest oil, but an
inferior kind is procured by heating the remainder, and squeezing the
fruit more strongly. Olive oil enters largely into the diet of many
nations, and is much used in medicine and pharmacy. When good,
it is of a pale yellow color, of a bland taste, and without smell ; when
long kept, it becomes rancid. When taken internally, it acts as a
mild laxative, but not many stomachs can retain enough for this pur-
pose. It is sometimes given in pretty large doses for the expulsion of
worms, particularly some kinds of tania or tapeworm. And it may
also be given internally in small doses, with mucilage and other ad-
ditions, as an emulsion in cases of catarrh and sore throat. In cases
where certain poisons have been swallowed, large quantities of oil
are given to correct the acrimony of the substance swallowed. When
applied externally, it acts as an emolient, and forms a good medium
for frictions which are desigued to promote absorption, and to discuss
indolent swellings. Warm oil rubbed on the belly, gives much rele
in dysentery and other abdominal complaints ; and the same applica-
tion is one of the best means for dispersing the knots in the breasts
of childbed women, in the first days of their confinement. Olive oil
is an ingredient in many plasters and ointments. Combined with
hartshorn, it forms the volatile liniment, so useful as an external
stimulant. Some have said that anointing the body with oil prevents
a person from receiving the infection of the plague.

OLIVE TREE. The olive tree, in all ages, has been greatly
celebrated, and held in peculiar estimation, as the bounteous gift of
heaven; it was formerly exhibited in the religious ceremonies of the
Jews, and is still considered as emblematic of peace and plenty.
The utility of the fruit is very extensive. Pickled olives, which are
of two kinds, Spanish and French, are extremely grateful to many
stomachs, and said to excite appetite and promote digestion ; they are
prepared from the green unripe fruit, which is repeatedly steeped in
water, to which some quicklime or alkaline salt is added, in order to
shorten the operation ; after this they are washed and preserved in a
pickle of common salt and water, to which an aromatic is sometimes
added. The principal consumption, however, of this fruit, is in the
preparation of the common salad oil, which is obtained by grinding
and pressing them when thoroughly ripe; the finer and purer oil
issues first by gentle pressure, and the inferioi sorts on heating what is
left, and pressing it more strongly. The bes~ olive oil is of a bright

THE FARMER AT HOME. 305

pale amber color, bland to the taste, and without any smell; it be-
comes rancid by age, and sooner if kept in a warm situation.

With regard to its utility, oil, in some shape, forms a considerable
part of our food, both animal and vegetable, and affords much nour-
-ishment. With some, however, oily substances do not unite with the
contents of the stomach, and are frequently brought up by eructation ;
this happens more especially to those whose stomachs abound with acid.
Oil, considered as a medicine, is supposed to correct acrimony, and
to lubricate and relax the fibres ; and therefore has been recommend-
ed internally, to obviate the effects of various stimuli, which produce
irritation, and consequent inflammation; on this ground it has gene-
rally been prescribed in coughs, catarrhal affections, and erosions.
Oil rubbed over the body is said to be of great service in dropsies,
particularly ascites. Olive oil enters several officinal compositions,
and when united with water, bv the intervention of alkali, is usually
given in coughs and hoarsenesses.

ONIONS. Of the several varieties of onions, the yellow or silver
skinned, and the large red, are the best for a general crop. The
bulbs are handsome, of firm growth, and keep well through the win-
ter. The New England white are handsome for the table, and are
very suitable for pickling, as well as to pull when quite young, and
generally prove a very profitable crop. The admirable Portuguese
onions are only raised in perfection near the seashore, in places moist-
ened by the tide ; hence moisture and a little salt should be secured
to the growing plants. It is a well established fact, that the mild or
strong qualities of the onion depend more on climate and cultivation
than on any inherent property of it; as those grown in Spain, Portu-
gal, Madeira, and Teneriffe, are more benignant in their flavor than
those cultivated in the northern parts of Europe or of the United
States. And the inhabitants of the warmer climates, as in the trop-
ics, requiring their meats and sonps highly seasoned, prefer onions of
the strongest flavor; while those of more temperate and colder
regions, who more frequently eat them served up with melted butter
or white sauce, seek the opposite property, mild and sweet.

The onion is supposed to be a native of Spain, yet that is not an
established fact. The history of its culture is not fully known. This,
however is known, that wherever the ground is duly prepared, and
the cultivation is properly observed, the crop is highly profitable.
They require a rich friable soil; a situation enjoying the full influ-
ence of the sun, and entirely free from trees, which are very inimical
to them. If the soil be poor, or exhausted, abundance of dung should
be applied in the preceding autumn or winter, and the ground thrown
into ridges. By these means it becomes well decomposed and incor-
porated with the soil; for rank, unreduced dung, is generally injurious
to the crop. If, therefore, the application of manure is neglected until
spring, it should be taken from an old hot-bed, or other source whence

306 THE FARMER AT HOME.

it is to be had, ina thoroughly putrescent state, and turned in only
to a moderate depth. A dressing also of gypsum, soot, and wood
ashes is favorable to the growth of onions; and we have found neither
better than finely decomposed hen-dung.

OPHIR. In Sacred Geography, the place from which Solomon
procured the gold and other precious articles with which he enriched
himself, and adorned the temple of Jerusalem. Concerning the part
of the world in which Ophir was situated, there have been many and
various opinions and conjectures ; some of them extremely fanciful,
not to say absurd ; and others supported and elucidated with no in-
considerable portion of ingenuity and learning ; still, however, the
exact situation of this place is undetermined, though the opinion that
it was somewhere either on the eastern or western coast of Africa
seems the most plausible, and to obtain the sanction of the most
learned and well informed writers, who have discussed or adverted to
this point of sacred geography.

OPTICS. Optics is the science which treats of light, and of the
instruments by which it is applied to useful purposes. It is one of the
most interesting branches of natural philosophy, but not one of the
easiest to understand ; it will be necessary, therefore, that you give to
it the whole of your attention. Light, when emanated from the sun,
or any other luminous body, is projected forwards in straight lines in
every possible direction ; so that the luminous body is not only the
centre from whence all the rays proceed, but every point of it may
be considered as a centre which radiates light in every direction. The
particles of light are so extremely minute, that although they are pro-
jected in different directions, and cross each other, yet they are never
known to interfere, and impede each other’s course. It is still a dis-
puted point, however, whether light be a substance composed of par-
ticles like other bodies. In some respects, it is obedient to the laws
which govern bodies ; in others, it appears to be independent of them :
thus, though its course is guided by the laws of motion, it does not
seem to be influenced by the laws of gravity. It has never been dis-
covered to have weight, though a variety of interesting experiments
have been made with a view of ascertaining that point. Some sup-
pose that the rays of light, instead of being particles, consist of the
undulations of an elastic medium, which fills all space, and which
produces the sensation of light to the eye, just as the vibrations of
the air produce the sensation of sound to the ear. Most of the phe-
nomena may be accounted for by either hypothesis, but that of their
being particles applies more happily to some of the facts respecting
the modifications of light by refraction and reflection.

OPIUM. Inchemistry and medicine, an inspissated gummy juice,
which is obtained from the head of the ‘‘papaper somniforum.” It
is imported from Persia, Arabia, and other warm parts of Asia, in flat
cakes, covered with leaves, to prevent their sticking together. It has

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a reddish brown color, and strong peculiar smell: its taste at first is
nauseous and bitter; but this soon becomes acrid, and produces a slight
warmth in the mouth. A peculiar substance has been detected in
opium, to which it is supposed the properties it possesses of producing
sleep are owing. On account of this property, this substance has re-
ceived the name of narcotic matter. Is is obtained from the milky
juices of some plants, as those of the poppy, lettuce, and some others.
Opium, which is extracted from the poppy, is prepared by the follow-
ing process: The heads of the white poppy, which is cultivated in
different countries of the east for this purpose, are wounded with a
sharp instrument: a milky juice flows out, which concretes, and is
collected and formed into cakes. In this state opium is a tenacious
substance, of a brownish color; has a peculiar smell, and a disagree-
able bitter taste. It becomes soft with a moderate heat. It readily
takes fire, and burns rapidly.

ORANG OUTANG. Cuvier thus describes this animal. The
average height of the species is from three to four feet. The body is
covered with coarse red hairs. The forehead equals in height one-half
of the rest of the visage. The face is bluish. There are neither
pouches in the cheeks, nor callosities on the posteriors. The hinder
thumbs are remarkably short. This celebrated ape resembles man
more nearly than any other animal, in the form of the head and the
volume of the brain. The natural history of the orang outang has
been miserably disfigured by the mixture of it with that of other apes
of the larger size, more especially with that of the Chimpanse. Upon
a critical examination, it is ascertained that he inhabits the most ori-
ental countries only, as Malacea, Cochin China, and particularly the
great island of Borneo, whence he has been brought to Europe by way
of Java, though but rarely. He is gentle, easily tamed, and capable
of attachment. From the character of his physical conformation, he
can arrive at some facility in the imitation of several human actions ;
but his intelligence by no means equals the exaggerated accounts we
have received of it, nor does it appear to surpass much that of the
canine species. Camper has discovered and ably described two mem-
branous sacks, which produce a thickness and hoarseness in the voice ;
but he was wrong in believing that the nails are always wanting on
the hinder thumbs.

ORANGE. A low, evergreen, branching tree, bearing oblong
oval, acute, smooth and shining leaves, inserted on winged leaf stalks,
by which character it is easily distinguished from the lemon. The
flowers are white, containing about twenty stamens, and are disposed
in clusters of from two to six upon a common peduncle. The fruit is
globose, bright yellow, and contains a pulp, which consists of a col-
lection of oblong vesicles, filled with a sugary and refreshing juice :
it is, besides, divided into eight or ten compartments, each containing
several seeds. The principal varieties are the sweet or China, and

308 THE FARMER AT HOME.

the bitter or Seville orange ; the Maltese orange is also deserving of
notice, from its red pulp. Though now extensively cultivated in the
south of Europe, the introduction of the orange is of modern date,
and it was unknown in that continent till about the beginning of the
fifteenth century. At the present time, it forms an extensive branch
of commerce between the Mediterranean and the more northern coun-
tries. It is exceedingly long lived, and is still esteemed young at the
age of acentury. An essential oil is obtained from the flowers, which
is hardly less esteemed than the celebrated ottar of roses.

Bergamot is a well known perfume, obtained from the rind of a
variety of the orange, and has received the name from the town of
Bergamo, in Italy, where this variety is much cultivated. The wood
of this tree is fine grained, compact, susceptible of a fine polish, and
is employed in the arts. The orange, together with the lemon, citron,
lime, shaddock, and indeed almost the entire family aurantiacee, is a
native of tropical Asia and the East Indies. A singular exception is
found in our own country: a species of orange, bearing fruit of a very
agreeable flavor, is extremely abundant in East Florida, and, aecord-
ing to the testimony of scientific travellers, is undoubtedly native : it
has not, however, been accurately compared with other species, and,
what is more remarkable, although mentioned by early travellers, has
not hitherto found its way into systematic works on our botany.

ORES. Metals, when found in a state of combination with other
substances, have the name of ores, They are in general deposited in
veins of various thickness, and at various depths in the earth. The
mode of obtaining them is to penetrate from the surface of the earth
to the vein, and then to follow it in whatever direction it may lie.
The holiow places thus formed are called mines, and the men eme
ployed in them are denominated miners. When the veins are at a
great depth, or extend to any considerable distance beneath the surface
of the earth, it is necessary, at intervals, to make openings, or shafts,
to the surface, for the admission and circulation of air; and also to
draw off the water, which collects at the bottom, by means of drains,
pumps, or steam engines, as the situation or circumstances require.
After the metallic ores are drawn from the mine, they, in general, go
through several processes before they are in a state fit for use. Some
of these are first washed in running water, to clean them from loose,
earthy particles. They are then piled together with combustible sub-
stances, and burnt, or roasted, for the purpose of ridding them of the
sulphur or arsenic with which they may happen to be combined, and
which rises from them in a state of fume or smoke. Thus having
been freed from impurities, they undergo the operation of melting, in
furnaces constructed according to the nature of the respective metals,
or the uses to which they are subsequently applied.

ORGANIC REMAINS. A name applied to all those animal
and vegetable substances which have been dug out of the earth in a

THE FARMER AT HOME. 309

mineralized state, and serve as strong evidences of the universal deluge,
and the changes which ensued. They also afford reason to believe
that the matter composing the solid parts of the globe, has undergone
violent and extensive revolutions, and that whole classes of vegetables
and animals now extinct, have existed on the globe, anterior to the
present constitution of things.

ORNITHOLOGY. That branch of natural history which considers
and describes birds, their natures and kinds, their form, external and in-
ternal, aud teaches their economy and uses; also, the several orders and
genera in the alphabetical order. Birds are divided, according to the
form of their bills, into six orders, viz : Accipitres, as eagles, vultures,
and hawks: Pice, as crows, jackdaws, humming-birds, and parrots :
Anseres, as ducks, geese, swans, gulls: Gralla, as herons, woodcocks,
and ostriches : Galline, as peacocks, pheasants, turkies, and common
fowls : and Passeres, comprehending sparrows, larks, swallows, &c.

Birds are distinguished from quadrupeds, by their laying eggs :
they are generally feathered ; some few are hairy, and instead of hands
or fore-legs, they have wings. Their eggs are covered by a calcareous
shell, and they consist of a white, or albumen, which first nourishes
the chick during incubation ; and a yolk, which is so suspended within
it as to preserve the side on which the little rudiment of the chicken
is situated continually uppermost, and next to the mother that is sitting
upon it. The yolk is in great measure received into the abdomen of
the chicken, a little before the time of its being hatched, and serves
for its support, like the milk of a quadruped, and like the cotyledons
of young plants, until the system is become sufficiently strong for ex-
tracting its own food out of the ordinary nutriment of the species.

OSTRICH. The ostrich is a bird very anciently known, since it
is mentioned in the oldest of books. It has furnished the sacred
writers with some of their most beautiful imagery ; and its flesh was,
even previous to the days of Moses, apparently a common species of
food, since we fnid it interdicted, among other unclean animals, by the
Jewish legislator. The ostrich is generally considered as the largest
of birds, but its size serves to deprive it of the principal excellence of
this class of animals, the power of flying. The medium weight of
this bird, may be estimated at seventy-five or eighty pounds, a weight
which would require an immense power of wing to elevate into the
atmosphere. The head and bill of the ostrich somewhat resemble those
of a duck ; and the neck may be compared to that of a swan, but that
it is much longer ; the legs and thighs resemble those of a hen ; though
the whole appearance at a distance bears a strong resemblance to that
of a camel] ; it is usually seven feet high from “the top of the head
to the eround, but from the back it is only four ; so that the head and
neck are above three feet long. Some reach the height of nine feet.
From the top of the head to the ramp, when the Berk is stretched out
in a right line, it is six feet long, and the tail is about a foot more.

310 THE FARMER AT HOME.

One of the wings, without the feathers, is a foot and a half; and being
stretched out, with the feathers, is three feet. The plumage is much
alike in all; that is, generally black and white ; though some of them
are said to be gray. The greatest feathers are at the extremities of
the wings and tail, and the largest are generally white. The next
row is black and white: and of the small feathers on the back and
belly, some are white and others black. There are no feathers on the
sides, nor yet on the thighs, nor under the wings. The lower part of
the neck, about half way, is covered with still smaller feathers than
those on the belly and back ; and those, like the former, also are of
diflerent colors. The head and upper part of the neck are covered
with hair.

The season for laying depends on the climate; in the northern
parts of Africa it is about the beginning of July; in the south it is
about the latter end of December. These birds are very prolific, and
lay generally from thirty to forty eggs in a season, and about twelve
at one clutch. It has been commonly reported that the female de-
posits them in the sand; and, covering them up, leaves them to be
hatched by the heat of the climate, and then permits the young to
shift for themselves. Very little of this, however, is true : no bird has
a stronger affection for her young than the ostrich, and none watches
her eggs with greater assiduity. It happens, indeed, in those hot
climates, that there is less necessity for the continual incubation of the
female ; and she more frequently leaves her eggs, which are in no
fear of being chilled by the weather: but though she sometimes for-
sakes them by day, she always carefully broods over them by night ;
nor is it more true that they forsake their young after they are excluded
the shell. On the contrary, the young ones are not even able to walk
for several days after they are hatched. During this time the old ones
are very assiduous in supplying them with grass, and very careful to
defend them from danger ; nay, they encounter every danger in their
defence.

OTTAR OF ROSES. An aromatic oil, obtained from the flowers
of the rose, but in such small quantities that half an ounce can hardly
be procured from a hundred pounds of the petals. This oil is solid
and white at the common temperature of the atmosphere, but on the
application of heat, becomes fluid, and assumes a yellow color. It is
brought in considerable quantities from Turkey, and is sold at the
extravagant price of from fifteen to twenty dollars an ounce. That
from the East Indies, where it is said to be chiefly manufactured,
when genuine, has been sold at a much more exorbitant price. It is
frequently adulterated with oil of sandal wood, but the fraud is easily
detected by those who are accustomed to its scent, and also by the
fluidity. The true ottar of roses is, undoubtedly, the most elegant
perfume known.

OTTER. The American otter is about five feet in length, in-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 311

eluding the tail, the length of which is eighteen inches. The color
of the whole body, except the chin and tnroat, which are dusky white,
is a glossy brown. The fur throughout is dense and fine. This otter
inhabits South, as well as various parts of North America, along the
fresh water streams and lakes, as far north as to the Coppermine river.
In the Southern, Middle, and Eastern States of the Union. they are
comparatively scarce, but in the Western States they are in many
places still found in considerable numbers. On the tributaries of the
Missouri, they are very common; but it is in the Hudson’s Bay pos-
sessions that these animals are obtained in the greatest abundance,
and supply the traders with the largest number of their valuable
skins. Seventeen thousand and three hundred otter skins have been
sent to England in one year, by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Nature appears to have intended the otter for one among her efti-
cient checks upon the increase of the finny tribes, and every peculiarity
in its conformation, seems to have this great object in view. The
length of body, short and flat head, abbraciated ears, dense and close
fur, flattened tail, and disproportionately short legs, with webbed feet,
all conspire to facilitate the otter’s movements through the water. In
the crystal depths of the river, few fish can elude this swiftly moving
and destructive animal, which unites to the qualities enabling him to
swim with fish-like celerity and ease, the peculiar sagaciousness of a
class of beings far superior in the intellectual scale to the proper
tenants of the flood. In vain does the pike scud before his pursuer,
and spring into the air in eagerness to escape ; or the trout part with
the velocity of thought from shelter; in vain does the strong and
supple ee] seek the protection of the shelving bank or the tangled
ooze in the bed of the stream ; the otter supplies by perseverance what
may be wanting in swiftness, and by cunning where he is deficient in
strength, and his affrighted victims, though they may for a short time
delay, cannot avoid their fate. When once his prey is seized, a single
effort of his powerful jaws is sufficient to render its struggles unavail-
ing ; one crush with his teeth breaks the spine of the fish behind the
dorsal fin, and deprives it of the ability to direct its motions, even if
it still retain the least power to move.

OUNCE. A little weight, the sixteenth part of a pound avoirdu-
poise, and the twelfth part of a pound troy: the ounce avoirdupoise is
divided into eight drams. and the ounce troy into twenty pennyweights.
The avoirdupoise ounce is less than the troy ounce, but the avoirdu-
poise pound is greater than the troy pound. One hundred and seventy-
five troy ounces are equal to one hundred and ninety-two avoirdupose
ounces : but one hundred and forty-four pounds avoirdupose are equal
to one hundred and seventy-five pounds troy. Therefore one pound
avoirdupoise, is equal to oue pound, two ounces, eleven penny weights,
sixteen grains troy.

OXYGEN. Oxygen is one of the most important agents in na-

312 THE FARMER AT HOME.

ture ; there is scareely a single process, either natural or artificial, in
which oxygen has not a share, but it is known only in combination
with other bodies. It forms nearly or quite half of the material of our
clobe. Of every nine pounds of water, eight pounds are oxygen. Of
air it forms the one-fifth part. Of the solid ground, nearly one-half is
oxygen ; but to make an estimate correctly we must look at the
several minerals composing the earth, and then, knowing the amount
of oxygen in each one of these, we may have an idea of its amount in
the whole. Silica and alumina are more abundant than all the others
together ; the former is composed, 24 parts of oxygen, and 22 of sili-
con, the latter of 24 of oxygen and 27 of aluminum. Water is an
important constituent of nearly all minerals, and being mainly com-
posed of oxygen, it helps to enlarge our estimate of the vast amount
of this element in the formation of our planet. But its importance is
not more conspicuous in its amount than in the part it acts in the ani-
mal and vegetable world. Every grown up person consumes 150
cubic feet of it in his lungs daily. It unites with the carbon of our
bodies, and then we exhale it as carbonic acid gas. How constantly
are our lives dependent upon it! If deprived of it from three to five
minutes, our lives are extinct. Drowning causes death simply by
depriving us of oxygen. Strangling or choking instantly causes death
in the same way.

When we think of how much oxygen is daily consumed by the
800,000,000 people of our earth, by all the myriads of animals, and
by all the fires for warming, cooking, and manufacturing purposes, we
are astonished at its vast daily consumption! How shall the air
receive a new supply? Only from the leaves of plants! They imbibe
carbonic acid in the leaves, decompose it, take the carbonic for build-
ing up their structures, and give out the oxygen for the support of
men and animals. We are just as much dependent upon plants for
the air we breathe as for our fuod and clothing. And plants are
equally as dependent on animals for their necessary supplies of car-
bonie acid. Plants have this power of absorbing carbonic acid and
giving out oxygen only through the influence of the yellow rays of sun-
lieht. At night this mysterious process does not go on, and if with a
prism we decompose the rays of the sun, we find that in the yellow
rays alone they give out oxygen. Here we see the dependence of one
part of creation upon another, and how in fact the whole fabric of the
known universe is a unity! No science is complete in itself alone,
because no department of creation is disconnected with the other
parts. All are most intimately interwoven, and their greatest beauty
and grandeur is seen in their connections and their harmonious
operations. Creation is a great machine—no portion of it is for an
instant at rest. And among all these motions not one is independent.
Each is caused by the other in a mazy round, and the grand Power

THE FARMER AT HOME. 313

which originally started the whole, and now sustains and guides it,
is God !

In all the arts oxygen acts as important a part as in the natural
world. The smelting of iron, zinc, copper, lead, and mercury,
is done by oxygen operations. ‘nk blackens after writing on
paper by imbibing oxygen from the air; cider turns to vinegar from
the same cause, and so butter becomes rancid, oil thickens, and
dough sours if it be not baked soon enough. Oil mixed with paint
makes it hold on; it imbibes oxygen from the air and turns into
a solid gum, which is smooth and glossy. If a house be painted
in extremely hot weather, the oil evaporates and flies away,
and does not harden on the boards or bricks to keep on the paint.
Often the parlors of fine houses are painted white with the air kept
out as much as possible while the operation is going on and until it
is dry—even the keyholes of the doors are shut up. This keeps out
the oxygen to some extent, and prevents it from uniting much with
the oil or turpentine of the paint, and from turning into gum. Hence
such rooms have a chalky, milky whiteness, and no shining gloss, but
the work is most deleterious to the health of the painter. The mak-
ing of varnish is a process for uniting the oxygen of the air with oil,
spirits of turpentine, and various gums.

The rusting of metals is but the union of oxygen with their sur-
faces. Dampness hastens the rusting because of the oxygen dissolved
in the water. In sickness the death of men and animals is hastened
by the same cause. Even when we are unable to take food, the
oxygen we breathe unites with our systems, and carries them off little
by little ; soon we become very thin and light, and the vital organs
give way. Cooked meats and vegetables are preserved many years
when shut up away from the oxygen in tin cans that are air tight.
Winter apples that keep so long have a peculiar gum in the skin
which prevents the entering of the oxygen. Eggs are said to keep
long if covered with a thin coating of wax which protects them from
this destructive gas. Meats after being smoked remain sweet a long
time, because the creosote of the smoke unites with the albumen of the
meat and forms an impervious coating which the oxygen cannot
penetrate.

PAIRING. In the animal economy this is the union of animals
in couples for the purposes of rearing their young. All wild birds
pair; but with a remarkable difference between such as place their
nests on trees and such as place them on the ground. The young of
the former, being hatched blind and without feathers, require the
nursing care of both parents till they are able to fly. The male feeds
his mate on the nest, and cheers her with asong. As soon as the
young are hatched, singing yields to a more necessary occupation, that
ef providing food for a numerous issue; a task that employs both
parents. Eagles, and other birds of prey, build on trees, or on other

14

314 THE FARMER AT HOME.

inacesssible spots. They not only pair, but continue in pairs all the
year round; and the same pair procreates year after year. This
at least is the case with the eagles; the male and female hunt
‘together, unless during incubation, at which time the female is fed by
the male. A greater number than a single pair are never seen in
company. Gregarious birds pair, probably to prevent discord in a
society confined to a narrow space. This is the case particularly
with pigeons and rooks. The male and female sit on the eggs alter-
nately, and divide the care of feeding their young. Hider ducks pair
like other birds that place their nests on the ground ; and the female
finishes her nest with down, plucked from her own breast. If the
nest is destroyed for the down, which is remarkably warm and elastic,
she makes another nest as before. If she is robbed a second time, she
makes a third nest; but the male furnishes the down. The black
game never pair; in spring, the cock, on an eminence, crows and
claps his wings ; and the females within hearing resort to him.
Pairing birds, excepting those of prey, flock together in February
to choose their mates. They soon disperse; and are not seen after-
wards but in pairs. Pairing is unknown to quadrupeds that feed on
grass. To such it would be useless ; as the female gives suck to her
young while she herself is feeding. Beasts of prey, such as lions,
tigers, wolves, pair not. The female is left to shift for herself and for
ater young ; which is a laborious task, and often so unsuccessful as to
shorten the lives of many of them. Pairing is essential to birds of
prey, because incubation leaves the female no sufficient time to hunt
for food. Pairing is not necessary to beasts of prey, because their
young can beara long fast. Among animals that pair not, males
fight desperately for a female. The beavers, with respect to pairing,
resemble birds that place their nests on the ground. As soon as the
young are produced, the males abandon their stock of food to their
mates and live at large; but return frequently to visit them while
they are suckling their young. Hedgehogs pair, as well as several of
the monkey kind. We are not well acquainted with the natural his-
tory of these animals; but it would appear that the young require
the nursing care of both parents. Seals have a singular economy.
Polygamy seems to be a law of nature among them, as a male asso-
ciates with several females. The sea turtles have no oceasion to pair,
as the female performs her task at once, by laying her eggs in the
san¢. The young are hatched by the sun, and immediately crawl to
the sea. .
PALMS. A natural family of plants, the pride of tropical cli-
mates, and which, more than any other, contributes to give a peculiar
and imposing character to the vegetation of those regions. Their
lofty, straight and unbranching trunks, crowned at the summit by a
tuft of large radiating leaves, give them an aspect entirely unique,
and far surpassing that of other trees in majesty. Aside from the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 315

grandeur of their appearance, many of them hardly yield to any other
vegetables in useful properties. The species are numerous, but are
not well understood ; and many fruits exist in collections which can-
not be referred to known genera.

The stem is simple, or very rarely branching, and is sustained by
a ass of fibrous roots at the base. Though usually attaining the
stature of a tree, and sometimes ascending to a very great height, in
some species the stem rises only a few inches above the surface of the
ground. This stem is cylindrical, but, internally, the fibres are
arranged in fasicles, and not in concentric circles, as with trees
generally. The centre is soft, while the circumference is firm and
hard like horn. In these respects, the palms are analogous to other
monocotyledonous vegetables. This stem is covered externally with
the sheaths of the fallen leaves, or with their cicatrices, and is ter-
minated by a tuft of pinnate or flabelliform leaves. From the midst
of these arises a simple or branching spadix, on which the numerous
small flowers are disposed, and which at first is enveloped in one or
several spathe, or sheaths. Many of the palms appear to be confined
within narrow limits, and it has been remarked that, whenever a dis-
trict is characterized by striking peculiarities of soil or climate, it
appears to be inhabited by peculiar species. All the palms are not
strictly confined within the tropics, but a few inhabit the warm regions
on their borders. Five species are found in the United States; of
these, the palmetto, or cabbage tree, extends along the Atlantic coast
as far as north latitude thirty-five degrees; the others are dwarfs
and are confined to more southern latitudes. Among the more useful
of the palms may be mentioned the cocoa-nut, the sago and the
date.

PARADISE, BIRD OF. The great beauty of this bird’s plu-
mage, and the deformity of its legs, have been the means of giving
rise to a variety of fabulous tales. The savage inhabitants of the
Molucea Islands, of which the bird of paradise is a native. perceiving
the eagerness with which the Europeans purchased this favorite bird,
resolved to make it appear different from any other of the feathered
race; and, by cutting off the legs with some degree of ingenuity,
asserted that it lived wholly in the air; and this improbable invention
was actually believed. Of this bird there are two kinds, the most
common of which is about the size of a pigeon, and the other not
larger than a lark; the head, throat, and neck, are of a pale gold
color, though the hinder part of the former is of a shining green ; the
body and wings are a beautiful brown, intermixed with purple and
gold ; the upper part of the tail feathers are a pale yellow, but the
under ones, which are longer, are a delicate white. Yet, what _
chiefly excites the observation of the curious, are two long naked
feathers, which spring from the upper part of the back, near the tail ;
these feathers are usually three feet in length, bearded only at the

316 THE FARMER AT HOME.

beginning and end; the shaft of which is a deep black, but tha
feathered part is changeable, like the mallard’s neck.

BIRD OF PARADISE.

These birds, which for beauty exceed all others of the pie kind, asso-
ciate in large flocks in the Molucca Isles; but, in the Island of Aro,
they are still more abundantly found ; and, as the country where they
breed has its tempestuous seasons, when rains and thunder continually
disturb the atmosphere, they are supposed at those periods to seek a
more tranquil clime, and are never seen in the air until it becomes
composed. The natives, who make a trade of killing and selling the
bird of paradise to Europeans, hide themselves in those trees to which

THE F#RMER AT HOME. 317

they resort, and contrive to cenceal their persons, by forming a bower
of the branches which are over their heads, from which they shoot at
their prey with reedy arrows, that only slightly damage the beauty of
their plumes; they then take out every part of their entrails, and run
a hot iron up their body, which dries up the juice; and, after filling
them with salts and spice, they offer them for public sale. It is
asserted by the natives, that each flock of these curious birds is under
the dominion of one, that is considered as king, and that this is distin-
guished by a peculiar brilliance of plumage, which the natives them-
selves can easily discern; and if the fowlers are able to destroy their
monarch, the rest of the flock quickly become their prey.

PARASOL. It appears from ancient monuments and descriptions
that this well known instrument, or something exceedingly resem-
bling it, was used among the ancients, not for the purpose so much
of preservation from the rays of the sun as in religious ceremonies and
processions. In the festivals of Ceresand Minerva, the young females
who celebrated them bore, among other sacred instruments, the par-
asol ; it was, in fact, one of the most ancient marks of dignity that we
find indicated either by relics of arts ory by authors. In process of
time, when the Romans began to lay aside the simple habits of their
forefathers, the parasol, by a natural transition, began to be used for
the purpose to which it is still applied. The matrons, particularly,
used to be followed by slaves, whose office was to protect the delicacy
of their charms by intercepting the solar heat by the agreeable shade
of the parasols. They were constructed of wands, or twigs, disposed
in such a manner as to admit of their being put up or down, in much
the same way as those used at the present day. The substance em-
ployed, was often of rich stuff, such as silk, of showy colors, and ele-
gantly embroidered. In many countries, where the sun is powerful,
it is well known that parasols are used by men, as well as women.

PARCHMENT. The article called parchment is the skin of
the sheep, lamb, pig, or calf, prepared for writing with a pen,
or for inscriptions with types or plates used by engravers. When the
skin is divested of its hair, or wool, it is placed for some time in a lime
pit, and then stretched on a square wooden frame drawn tight by pegs.
When in the frame it is first seraped on the flesh side with a blunt
iron, then wetted with a moist rag, covered with pounded chalk, and
rubbed well with pumice stone. After a short pause these operations
are repeated, but without chalk. The skin is then turned, and
scraped on the hair side only once. The flesh side is scraped once
more, and again rubbed over with chalk. All this being done, and
when the skin is well dried, it is removed from the frame and sent to
the parchment maker, who with a sharp instrument further prepares
the surface for the use to which it is to be applied, by scraping and
smoothing it.

PARSNIP. This root is among the most valuable raised in the

318 THE FARMER AT HOME.

garden for family use,andon the farm for stock. What renders it
particularly desirable in the family, is its being kept in the ground
without injury till spring, when there are but few fresh vegetables
that can be had. It is known also that the flavor of the parsnip is
improved by remaining in the ground. The customary mone of pre-
paring them for the table is to boil them with meat; this gives
additional richness to their juices ; and a still further improvement in
them is effected, if afterwards cut into slices and fried brown. The
slices should be thin, and sometimes, if designed to be very nice,
the slices before being fried, are dipped into a batter of flour, butter,
and eggs. Parsnips, as well known, are sweet, and in a small degree
aromatic, and they contain a moderate percentage of vinous substance
They are sometimes mashed with potatoes and butter and mixed
with milk. They also make a kind of marmalade that is by many
highly relished.

Of late years the parsnip has been highly commended for field
culture, yielding a large crop, and being among the most nutritious
of vegetables for most kinds of stock. Some have fatted pork upon
it without any other feed; and the pork was of the best quality.
Beef is fatted with it, and in the London market such beef is highly
prized, and commands the highest price. Dairy cows eat them as
readily as they would carrots; and the quantity and quality of the
milk are essentially promoted. The butter made from cows fed with
parsnips is peculiarly rich. Horses and sheep, too, are not less dis-
posed to feed upon them, and to give evidence that they are conducive
to thrift. It is estimated that parsnips may be raised cheaper than
potatoes. Twelve hundred bushels have been obtained from a single
acre ; and with the same degree of culture, in ordinary seasons, not
more than three hundred bushels of potatoes could be had from it.
They are rarely injured by insects; and they penetrate so deep into
the ground as not to be eflected by drought. However, they require
a rich mellow soil, and in the early part of the season, to be properly
thinned out and kept free from weeds.

PARING AND BURNING. This is an operation, in modern
agriculture, which consists in cutting a thin slice from the surface of
land which is overgrown with grass, heath, fern, or any other plant
which form a sward by matting together of their roots. The sods
are allowed to dry in the sun, to a certain degree, after which they
are arranged in heaps, and burnt slowly, without flame or violent
heat. The result is a mixture of burnt earth, charred vegetable fibre,
and the ashes of that part which is entirely consumed. The object
of this operation is two-fold—first, to kill the insects and destroy use-
Jess and noxious weeds completely ; and secondly, to obtain a power-
ful manure, impregnated with alkaline salts and carbonaceous matter,
which experience has shown to be a very powerful promoter of vege-
tation. The instrumevts by which this is effected, are either a com-

THE FARMER AT HOME. ~ 319

mon plough with a very flat share, which may be used when the
surface is very level, without being encumbered with stones or large
roots, as in low moist meadows, or in most: other cases, a paring iron,
used by hand, the cross bars of which are held by both hands; and
the upper parts of the thighs, being protected by two small slips of
board, push the instrument into the ground, so as to cut a slice of the
required thichness, which is then turned over by moving the cross
handle. The labor is severe, and a good workman can scarcely pare
more than one-sixth of an acre ina day. This mode of paring and
burning is but barely known in our own country.

PARROT. Of all foreign birds, the parrot is best known to us ;
it is at once beautiful and docile, and with very little difficulty is
taught to speak. A grave writer assures us, that one of these birds,
at command, would repeat a whole sonnet from Petrarch ; and a dis-
tiller, who had been greatly injured by the malevolence of an inform-
er that lived opposite to him, taught his parrot the ninth command-
ment, which the bird was continually repeating, to the entertainment
of those neighbors who were acquainted with the ungenerous part the
despicable man had played. Willoughby tells us that a parrot, be-
longing to King Henry VIJ., who then resided at Westminster, in
his palace by the Thames, had learned many words from the passen-
gers who took water at that place. One day, sporting on his perch,
the poor bird fell into the stream, at the same time calling as loud as
he could, ‘‘ A boat ! twenty pounds for a boat!’ A waterman, hear-
ing the cry, made to the place where the parrot was floating, and
taking him up, restored him to the king. As it was known the bird
was a favorite, the man insisted that he ought to have a reward
rather equal to his services than his trouble; and as the parrot had
cried twenty pounds, he said the king was in honor bound to grant
it. The king agreed to leave it to the parrot’s determination ; which
the bird hearing, instantly cried out, ‘“‘ we the knave a groat.”

PASTRY. Pastry, or dough mixed with butter, is used in a great
variety of forms, aud is grateful to the taste, but injurious to the
health. It is a fertile source of all the varieties of stomach complaints,
and is apt to occasion plethora and the apoplectic tendency, as well
as many skin diseases. At dinner, in the shape of tarts and confec-
tionary, pastry is thrown into the +already loaded stomach, and its
overtaxed powers are unable to digest what is difficult to manage at
its most vigorous times. To children, pastry is peculiarly unsuitable.
Its taste is pleasant, and injudicious fondness is apt to indulge them
with it ; but those children who use it much, are subject to runnings
from the ears, disorders of the bowels, eruptions on the skin, and in-
flammatory complaints of various kinds. Pastry should be almost
totally excluded from the nursery-table.

PASTURES. The land usually appropriated to permanent pas-
turage, is that which is mountainous or hilly, or encumbered with

320 THE FARMER AT HOME.

large stones, so as not to be susceptible of tillage, or if susceptible, oc-
casioning so much labor, as to render the process inexpedient. Other
lands which are habitually cultivated, may be benefited by allowing
them for a few years, after a long period of devotion to cropping, to
be used as pastures. The soil ismade better. The roots of the grass
which remain furnish a large amount of organic matter, which, to a
soil poor in this constituent, is of great advantage. Land which
thus lies several years will be more improved than when it hes but a
single year; but the first year enriches it more than any succeeding
year. The result to the land will be nearly the same, whether the
grass be mown or eaten off by the stock. If farmers have not land
necessarily appropriated to permanent pasturage, a year or two of
temporary pasturage, on each of their meadows, might be advisable,
prior to the regular course of rotation of crops,

Besides the benefit which the soil derives from the organic mat-
ters left in it during the pasturage, whether temporary or permanent,
some of its mineral constituents are, by the action of the air, moisture,
and the roots of the grass, brought into a soluble state to be of advan-
tage in the succeeding year. Another advantage of pasturage, es-
pecially on stiff clay soil, is that it renders it more loose and friable.
On dry, sandy soils, pasturage is beneficial, by causing the moisture
to be retained longer, and also the dry organic matters and fine sand
upon the surface, which would otherwise be blown away by the winds.
Insects too have an agency in improving lands, by no means to be
overlooked. They subsist upon the organic matters of the soil, which
they bring into a minute state of division and deposit on the surface
as they ascend by night through their holes. They furnish also, con-
siderable organic matter, which is rich in nitrogen, by the death and
decay of their own bodies. Thus these earth worms and insects, in
the lapse of a few years, furnish a vast amount of the richest manure
without the smallest expense, and as a compensation for the nuisance
occasioned by their existence.

PEACOCK. If empire were obtained by beauty, and not by
force, the crested peacock, without dispute, would be the king of
birds. There is none of the feathered offspring, upon which nature
has heaped her treasures with such boundless profusion. Of a tall
stature, majestic step, and elegant proportions, every thing belonging
to this bird seems to announce a creature of importance and distine-
tion. It is crowned with a fine moveable crest, of the richest hue,
which adorns and heightens, without burdening its head. The plu-
mage and tail of this magnificent bird are adorned with colors so rich
and various, that no human art can imitate, nor language describe
them. When it struts in the sunshine, every moment produces a
thousand shades of undulating and evanescent colors, that are con
tinnally replaced by other shades, always diflerent and always admi
rably beautiful.

THE FARMER AT HOME. 321

But this brilliant plumage, which exceeds the lustre of the finest
flowers, fades, like them, every year, and drops in the moulting sea-
son; when the poor bird, as if afflicted on account of his loss, and
afraid to be seen in so humiliating a condition, always seeks to con-
ceal himself in some gloomy retreat, till the return of spring again
restores him his splendid dress. At that season he resumes his sta-
tion in the open field, to receive the homage due to his beauty ; for it
is alleged, that nothing so much gratifies his pride as the admiration
of his gaudy apparel.

PEACOCK.

Peacocks, though spread over the greatest part of Europe, came
originally from India; where they are found in vast flocks, in some
parts of the hither peninsula and the Islands of the Indian ocean. So
early as the days of Solomon. they were imported into Judea, by the
fleets which that monarch equipped upon the Red Sea; and which,
in all probability, traded to the coast of Malabar.

When the peacock was first brought into Greece, it was ; only to
gratify the eye with the sight of his plumage. The Romans, howev-
er, who were richer, and carried by consequence every excess of
luxury to a greater length, soon served them up as one of their most
delicate dishes. Hortensius, the orator, is said to have first made the

14*

322 THE FARMER AT HOME.

peacock an article of food. His example was soon followed by the
epicures in Rome, insomuch that the price paid for these birds soon
became exorbitant. The luxurious and effeminate emperors that suc-
ceeded, refining upon the luxury of former times, took a pride in col-
lecting immense dishes of the heads or brains of peacccks: dainties
which had nothing to recommend them but the prodigious expense at
which they were provided. The same thing may be said of their
flesh, which is hard and dry. But probably the Roman cookery,
which was carried to a very high degree of perfection, might compen-
sate for these defects. Only the young at present are deemed good
eating: the old are seldom dressed, except at some formal and splen-
did feast. In France, they were formerly served up with all
their plumage, merely for show; a purpose for which they are per-
fectly suited, as their flesh is said to remain unaffected by corruption,
for a longer period than that of most birds.

PEACH. The peach is a native of the warm climate of Persia.
The tree is small and short-lived, but is rapid in its growth. It is
sometimes known to bear fruit the third year; but usually not till
the fourth or fifth. This, however, is but a short time to be in wait-
ing for fruit of such delicious excellence ; and then, although the tree
does not long continue to bear, by setting out every year a few new
trees, the family will annually have a supply of it. The fruit is too
well known to need description. It flourishes finely in our Middle,
Western, and Southwestern States; and occasionally it is found in
tolerable perfection as far north as Vermont and New Hampshire.
In climates and on soils most congenial to its health and productive-
ness, the culture of the peach is made a source of large remuneration.
In New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland are extensive peach orch-
ards, in some cases, containing 20,000 trees, and yielding five, ten,
or fifteen thousand dollars in a year from a single plantation. With
such an inducement, it is a wonder that the number engaged in the
business is not greater than it is. Occasionally the buds are destroyed
by the frosts.

PEAR. The pear is a tall tree, of upright growth, generally
smaller than the apple-tree, yet rarely it is found larger. It is a
native of Europe and Asia, but not of Africa and America. In its
original state, the fruit was austere and useless for dessert. Gradual
improvements have been made, so that it is now rich, melting, and
delicious, and in some of our finest kinds, it seems to be almost in a
state of perfection. Under favorable circumstances, the pear forms a
long-lived tree. Some are said to be several hundred years old. A
Perry pear-tree in Herefordshire, England, produced fifteen hogsheads
of perry in one year. The branches bent down and took root, cover-
ing half an acre of land. The Endicott pear-tree is still flourishing
in Danvers, Massachusetts It was imported by Governor Endicott
in 1628. Near Vincennes, Illinois, is a pear-tree forty or fifty years

THE FARMER AT HOME. 323

old, that is ten feet in circumference, and its branches extend sixty-
nine feet. In 1834, it yielded 184 bushels of fruit. The original
Harvard pear-tree is nine feet in circumference. And the late Mr.
8S. W. Cole, author of the American Fruit Book, a work of great
merit, and of its size believed to be the best extant, had a wild pear-
tree that was over seven feet in circumference, and he stated that the
oldest inhabitants in its vicinity did not remember the time when it
was much smaller than at present. Our best pears sell at from ten
to fifteen dollars per barrel ; and from one to two dollars per dozen.

PEA. The original locality of this hardy annual seems to be
unknown. It has been cultivated in India, China, and Japan, for
many centuries, and was introdu:ed into this country.at the time of
its first settlement. It probably went to Great Britain from Italy.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the most delicate varieties were
brought from Holland, and Fuller observes that they “were fit dain-
ties for ladies, they came so far, and cost so dear.’ At the present
day, the pea is very extensively diffused, and is well known as one of
the most important culinary plants. The varieties are numerous,
differing in stature, productiveness, the color of the flowers, and the
time of ripening. They are adapted to almost any dry soil; yet they
will give a much better yield on rich land. Fresh manure is not
good for either peas or beans. They will bear a much heavier soil
than the bean, good clays being highly favorable to their growth.
For early table use in the family they are ordinarily raised in the
garden ; being sowed in drills and furnished with small poles or brush,
so that they may occupy the least possible space, and be in a conve-
nient position for being picked.

When wanted in larger quantities for families, to be used dry, or
for stock, they receive a field culture. The land designed for them
should be ploughed in the fall; and they may be sown in the spring
immediately after the hard frosts, either in drills or broadcast. They
should be covered in the soil to the depth of about two inches. If in
drills. after they are up, a plough may be used to destroy the weeds.
Where the soil is adapted to them, and the seed takes well, broad-
cast sowing is equally efficient in preventing weeds, as their vigorous
growth effectually overshadows and keeps them under. The best
kind for field sowing is the grass-pea, and the marrow-fat for garden
culture. Earlier kinds should be selected in part for the garden.
When broadcast, from two to four bushels of seed to the acre is the
usual quantity used. In the garden, there should, in all parts of
the season, be successive sowings about once in two weeks. By this
means a family may be successively kept supplied for months; or till
beans and other vegetables are grown. However, the hot weather
of mid-summer is unfavorable to the growth of peas.

PEAT. This is a substance of vegetable origin, found wherever
the soil has been soaked with water which has no outlet, and does

324 THE FARMER AT HOME.

not completely evaporate by the heat of the sun. When dried peat
is examined, it is found to consist of roots and fibres in every stage of
decomposition, from the natural wood to the complete black vegetable
mould. From the nature of its formation under the surface of water,
it acquires a portion of tannin, which has the property of preserving
animal and vegetable matter from decomposition. Hence large
branches and trunks of trees are found embedded in peat, which have
no mark of decomposition, except what have taken place before the
wood was completely immersed in the peat. Peat contains all the
elements of the richest manure, and may, by an easy process, be con-
verted into humus. For this purpose, the agency of alkalies is the
most effectual.’ If the tannin be decomposed, that of the vegetable
fibre will go on, and soluble humus will be formed. When peat is
newly dug up, if caustic lime be added to it, before it is dry, the
moisture of the peat slakes the lime, which acts on the galic acid in
the peat, and neutralizes it. If this mixture be then excited to fer-
mentation by the addition of animal matter, such as urine or dung,
oxygen is absorbed, and carbonic acid evolved; and the residue is
converted into an excellent manure, containing much soluble humus.
The same may be effected more slowly by mixing peat with clay or
marl, and allowing the mixture to remain exposed to the atmosphere
for a considerable time, frequently turning it. But nothing acceler-
ates this process like the addition of putrescent animal matter, which
acts as a ferment, and greatly hastens the decomposition.

PELICAN. The pelican of Africa is much larger in the body
than a swan, and somewhat of the same color and shape; its four
toes are all webbed together, and the form of its neck bears some
resemblance to the swan’s. The singularity which peculiarly distin-
guishes this bird, chiefly consists in the form of its bill, and the great
pouch which hangs underneath it, which has given rise to a variety
of fabulous tales. This enormous bill is fifteen inches, from the point
to the opening of the mouth, which is a good way back, behind the
eyes; at the base it is rather greenish, but varies towards the end to
reddish blue ; in the beginning it is very thick, but tapers off towards
the point in the form of a hook. To the under chap hangs this extra-
ordinary bag, which extends along the whole bill, and reaches to the
neck, and is said to be capable of containing no less than fifteen
quarts ; this bag the bird has the power of wrinkling up into the hol-
low of the under jaw; it is not covered with feathers, but with a soft,
very smooth down, and, when empty, is scarcely, perceptible; but
when the pelican has been successful in fishing, it is astonishing to
see to what a size it will extend; and it has been asserted, that it
would contain as many fish as would satisfy the appetites of six hun-
ery men.

PERENNIAL. In Botany. is applied to those plants whose
roots will abide many years, whether they retain their leaves in win-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 325

ter or not ; those which retain their leaves are called evergreens ; but
such as cast their leaves, are called deciduous. Some of these have
annual stalks, which die to the root every autumn, and shoot up
again in the spring

PERENNIAL PLANTS. In Gardening. are such as are of long
duration. Such plants as are perpetuated by the roots, whether the
leaves and stocks decay annually in winter, or always remain, pro-
vided the roots are of many years duration, are perennial. All plants,
therefore, with abiding roots, both of the herbaceous, shrub, and tree
kinds, are perennials; though in the general acceptation of the word
perennial, it is most commonty applied to herbaceous vegetables with
durable roots, more especially those of the flowering kind, which,
among gardeners, are commonly called simple perennials, particularly
the fibrous-rooted tribe ; but it is equally applicable to fibrous, tuber-
ous, and bulbous-rooted plants, whose roots are of several years dura-
tion ; likewise all shrubs and trees of every denomination, as having
abiding roots, are perennial plants.

PERIOD OF LIFE. The natural limit of human life seems to
be from 80 to 90 years. Few men survive that period—the greater
majority die long before they even approach it. Of all new-born in-
fants, one out of four dies the first year. Two fifths only attain their
sixth year; and, before the twenty-second year, one half of the gene-
ration is consigned to the grave. The order which death observes in
cutting off his victims, is one of the most wonderful phenomena in
nature—the causes by which it is effected are too numerous and too
complicated to be here considered in detail. The unhealthy nature
of certain occupations, the impétuosity of the passions, and the cor-
ruption of manners, prove no less fatal to life than the original weak-
ness of the human frame. In general, the mean duration of human
life is between 30 or 40 years; that is, out of 30 or 40 individuals,
one dies every year.

Rare examples, however, of extreme longevity, of a life of 150
years and upwards, seem to be common to all countries without dis-
tinction. If England, the salubrity of which is so highly extolled,
has furnished three or four examples of men arriving at the age of
from 150 to 169 years, Hungary, which, generally speaking, is not a
very healthy country, has seen the celebrated Peter Czartan prolong
his life to the 185th year, and John Rovin, at the age of 172, had a
wife of 164,and ayounger son of 117. It is in the Bannat of Teme-
suar, a very marshy district, and subject to the putrid fever, that these
examples of longevity, and many others, have been observed. A.
mode of life, which is sober, and unruffled by tumultuous passions,
singularly contributes to longevity. According to the author of a very
curious little work, called the Apology for Fasting, 152 hermits, taken
in all ages, and under every climate, produce a sum total of 11,589
years of life, and consequently an average of 76 years and a little

326 THE FARMER AT HOME.

more than three months for each; whereas the same number of
Academicians, the one half belonging to the Academy of Sciences,
and the other to that of Belles Lettres, give only 10,511 years of life,
consequently 69 years and a little more than two months for the
mortal career of each. It is therefore not improbabie. that in the
ages of patriarchal innocence, the period of 150 or even 200 years,
was much more commonly attained than it is in our times.

PERSPIRATION OF PLANTS. In vegetable physiology, takes
place chiefly from the surface of their leaves. In order to collect the
liquor perspired, it is only necessary to introduce a branch of the plant
into any sufficiently capacious glass vessel; when the fluid which
exudes will trickle down the sides of the glass, in great abundance,
especially if the experiment be made in sunshine. The liquor thus
obtained is of a clear watery nature, scarcely distinguishable to our
senses, or to our chemical inquiries, from the sap of the same plant,
whatever it may be, procured by wounding its branches before the
foliage expands. This, which may be termed insensible perspiration
of plants, becomes in some cases sensible ; as when it runs down, like
a slight shower, from willow or poplar trees, in hot sunny weather;
or when it collects in drops on the leaves of plaintain trees in a stove.
Hales and others have made experiments to ascertain the quantity of
insensible perspiration in various plants. The great annual sun-
flower was found to perspire about seventeen times as much as the
ordinary insensible perspiration of the human skin. The Cornelian
cherry, Cornus mascula, is said to discharge, in twenty-four hours, as
much fluid as is equal to twice the weight of the whole shrub. Suc-
culent leaves perspire much slower than others, though they absorb in
a far more rapid proportion.

This watery perspiration is the only excrementitious discharge of
the vegetable body. The sap being carried up into the leaves, where
it is acted upon by the air and light, for the most important purposes,
yields those various and highly curious secretions, which, being carried
down into the bark, afford matter for the increase of the tree, as well
as for the manifestation of its various qualities. The great bulk of
the sap which remains, as it does not return to the root, like the blood
of animals to their heart, can be disposed of no otherwise than by a
copious evaporation. Dr. Darwin was of opinion that this watery
perspiration rendered a further service to the plant, by being acted
upon by light, so as to give out oxygen, which was immediately ab-
sorbed by the air vessels.

PEWTER. A factitious metal used in domestic utensils. It is
very uncertain in its composition. The common utensils of the lowest
price, are made from an alloy composed of about twenty of tin, three
of lead, and one of brass. The lead is of no use but to make it
cheaper, and doubtless on this account is often used in larger propor-
tion. The brass is intended to give stiffness and hardness, the tin

THE FARMER AT HOME. 327

being of itself much too soft. Another alloy of this kind is made
without lead, consisting of tin combined with antimony, and copper
in small proportion, to give it hardness. This is manufactured into
almost all the articles which are usually made of plated copper, and
is known by the name of Britannia metal. The practice of putting
lead into these alloys is extremely dangerous. Malt liquor, and par-
ticularly porter, always contain more or less ascetic acid, which cannot
fail to dissolve some of that deleterious metal.

Lead may be mixed with tin in any proportion, without destroying
the malleability of the compound metal, whereas the brittle metals,
and copper, impart a brittleness to the alloy, when they exceed certain
proportions. Hence lead and tin, with or without other smaller addi-
tions, form the pewter in ordinary use. Lead being the cheapest of
the two metals, the manufacturer finds it his interest to employ it in
as large a proportion as possible ; but danger having been apprehended
from this noxious metal, the French government appointed a commis-
sion of some very able chemists to examine the subject; and they
found, that when wine or vinegar is allowed to stand in vessels com-
posed of an alloy of tin ana lead in different proportions, the tin is
first dissolved ; whilst the lead is not sensibly oxydated by these liquors,
except at the line of contact of the air and the liquor, and no sensible
quantity of lead is dissolved even by vinegar, after standing for some
days in vessels that contained no more than about eighteen per cent.
of lead. Hence it was concluded, that as no noxious effect is pro-
duced by the very minute quantity of tin which is dissolved, a pewter
may be considered as perfectly safe, which contains about eighty or
eighty-two per cent. of tin; and where the vessels are employed
merely for measures, a much less proportion of tin may be allowed.
But the common pewter of Paris was found to contain no more than
about twenty-five or thirty per cent. of tin, and the remainder was
lead.

PHOSPHATE OF LIME. The substance called phosphate of
lime, is simply a compound of common lime and phosphoric acid. It
is an important element in vegetable composition, and is the principal
constituent of dry bones. Consequently, so far as the soil may be de-
ficient in the phosphate of lime, the powder made from bones is a
sure remedy. Eight pounds of bone dust in phosphates, are equal to
one thousand pounds of hay or wheat straw. The value of bones is
not dependent alone on the phosphates, but partly upon the gelatine
and other organic matters which enter into their composition. These
latter operate in the same way as the other organic tissues of animals.
Bones are prepared for manure by boiling, by maceration in sulphuric
acid and water, and by grinding ; the last of which methods is thought
on all accounts to be preferable. The phosphate of lime is needful for
the growth of about every description of the cereal family, in the seed,
in the bran, and in the stem ; for in the ashes of each it is found more

328 THE FARMER AT HUME.

or less abundant. However, in most varieties there is not a large
quantity ; and it is calculated that two hundred and sixty pounds of
bone dust—less than six bushels—are sufficient for all the phosphates
contained in the crops which are procured from an acre, in a rotation
of four years, in turneps, barley, clover, and wheat. Some lands will
exhibit the benefit of such a dressing for twice or thrice that time.

PITCH LAKE OF TRINIDAD. Near point La Braye, Tar
Point, the name assigned to it on account of its characteristic feature,
in the island of Trinidad, is a lake which, at the first view, appears
to be an expanse of still water, but which, on a nearer approach, is
found to be an extensive plain of mineral pitch, with frequent crevices
and chasms filled with water. On its being visited in the autumnal
season, the singularity of the scene was so great, that it required some
time for the spectators to recover themselves from their surprise, so as
to examine it minutely. The surface of the lake was of an ash color,
and not polished or smooth, so as to be slippery, but of such a con-
sistence as to bear any weight. It was not adhesive, although it re-
ceived in part the impression of the foot, and could be trodden without
any tremulous motion, several head of cattle browsing on it in perfect
security. In the summer season, however, the surface is much more
yielding, and in a state approaching to fluidity, as is evidenced by
pieces of wood and other substances, recently thrown in, having been
found enveloped in it. Even large branches of trees, which were a
foot above the level, had, in some way, become enveloped in the bitu-
minous matter.

The interstices, or chasms, are very numerous, ramifying and join-
ing in every direction ; and being filled with water in the wet season,
present the only obstacle to walking over the surface. These cavities
are in general deep in proportion to their width, and many of them
unfathomable : the water they contain is uncontaminated by the pitch,
and is the abode of a variety of fishes. The arrangement of the
chasms is very singular, the sides invariably shelving from the surface,
so as nearly to meet at the bottom, and then bulging out towards each
other with a considerable degree of convexity. Several of them have
been known to close up entirely, without leaving any mark or seam.
The pitch lake of Trinidad contains many islets covered with grass
and shrubs, which are the haunts of birds of the most exquisite
plumage. Its precise extent cannot, any more than its depth, be
readily ascertained, the line between it and the neighboring soil not
being well defined; but its main body may be estimated at three
miles in circumference. It is bounded on the north and west by the
sea, and on the south by a rocky eminence, and on the east by the
usual argillaceous soil of the country.

PLAYFULNESS OF ANIMALS. Small birds chase each other
about in play, but perhaps the conduct of the crane and the trumpeter
is the most extraordinary. The latter stands on one leg, hops about

THE FARMER AT HOME. 399

in the most eccentric manner, and throws somersets. This is some-
times called the mad bird, on account of these singularities. The
crane expands its wings, runs round in circles, leaps, and, throwing
little stones and pieces of wood in the air, endeavors to catch them
again, or pretends te avoid them, as if afraid. Water birds, such as
ducks and geese, dive after each other, and cleave the surface of the
water with outstretched neck and flapping wings, throwing an abun-
dant spray around. It is amusing to witness the sportive habits of
turkies. Sometimes the whole flock, more particularly when the
young brood is about half-grown, will start off like race horses, upon a
run, as if a wager were to be awarded to the swiftest. Birds of the
pie kind are the analogues of mcukeys, full of mischief, play, and
mimicry. There is a story told of a tame magpie, which was seen
busily employed in a garden gathering pebbles, and with much
solemnity and a studied air, dropping them in a hole about eighteen
inches deep, made to receive a post? After dropping each stone, it
eried currack! triumphantly, and set off for another. On examining
the spot, a poor toad was found in the hole, which the magpie was
stoning for his amusement. Deer often engage in a sham battle ona
trial of strength, by twisting their horns together and pushing for the
mastery. All animals that pretend violence in their play, stop short
of exercising it ; the dog takes the greatest precaution not to injure
by his bite; and the ourang outang, in wrestling with his keeper,
attempts to throw him and makes feints of biting him. Some animals
carry out in their play the semblance of catching their prey ! young
cats, for instance, leap after every small and moving object, even to
the leaves strewed by the autumn wind ; they crouch and steal for-
ward ready for the spring ; the body quivering and the tail vibrating
with emotion, they bound on the moving leaf, and again watch, and
again spring forward at another. Rengger saw young jaguars and
euguars playing with round substances like kittens. Young lambs
collect together on the little hillocks and eminences in their pastures,
racing and sporting with each other in the most interesting manner.
Horned cattle, particularly steers and young oxen, may be seen exer-
cising together with their horns, as if they were taking lessons in
means of self-defence. And calves will seemingly enjoy their frolics
and gambols as much as boys in playing ball, or hide and seek.
PLANTAIN. This fruit is eaten to a remarkable extent by the
inhabitants of the torrid zone. From its nutritious qualities and
general use, it may, whether used in a raw or dressed form, be re-
garded rather as a necessary article of food than as an occasional lux-
ury. In tropical countries, the plantain is one of the most interesting
objects of cultivation for the subsistence of man. Three dozen fruits
will maintain a person, instead of bread, for a week, and appears bet-
ter suited to him in warm countries than that kind of food. Indeed,
the plantain is often the whole support of an Indian family. The

330 THE FARMER AT HOME.

fruit is produced from among the immense leaves in bunches, weigh-
ing thirty, sixty, and eighty pounds, of various colors, and of great
diversity of form. h is ususlly long and narrow, of a pale yellow or
dark red color, with a yellow farinaceous flesh. Bu* in form it varies
to oblong and nearly spherical ; and in color it offers all the shades
and variations of tints that the combination of yellow and red, in dif-
ferent proportions, can produce. Some sorts are said always to be of
bright green color. In general, in our climate, we place little value
on it; to most of us the taste of it is insipid, unless it has had some
preparation to make it palatable. It is more used in the West Indies
than on the eastern continent in corresponding latitudes.

PLOUGHS AND PLOUGHING in rural economy denotes the
stirring and turning over of land with the plough. This is one of the
most essential operations in the culture of the earth, and requires to
be performed with the greatest care. Whatever, therefore, may be
the design of the farmer, or the destination of the ground thus moved,
it ought never to be ploughed in a wet state ; because the soil cannot
be improved by such labor. Farther, the plough ought to be carried
to a considerable depth into the soil ; and, if one turning be not suffi-
cient, it will be advisable to pass another plough over the same fur-
row, so that the land may be effectually stirred ; when, being thus
exposed to the air, its fertilizing properties will not only be consider-
ably augmented, but all perennial weeds will be completely eradicated.
Deep ploughing, however, is unnecessary for land that has been
recently manured with lime or marl, but, on exhausted soils, it is un-
commonly beneficial, and has, therefore, been generally recommended
by the most skilful husbandmen.

Ploughing increases the food of plants ; as it opens the soil for the
reception of vegetable aliment from the air and light ; and, the sur-
face being consequently enlarged, a greater portion of land is thus
exposed to its influence. Farther, by breaking up the ground, if it
be too solid, and rendering it firm, in case it be too light, this opera-
tion greatly tends to improve the earth; and, as weeds and other
vegetable substances are thus reduced to a state of putrefaction, it
promotes the nourishment of the new roots. Lastly, ploughing re-
moves too great humidity, by forming the land into small ridges, and
contributes to the eradication of weeds, as it first causes their seeds to
vegetate, and afterwards tearing up the young plants, exposes their
roots to the drought, in consequence of which they are deprived of
their vegetative power.

The oldest forms of the plough of which we have any description
in ancient authors, or which are represented on monuments or coins,
are very simple; a mere wedge with a crooked handle to guide it,
and ashort beam by which it was drawn, form the whole instrument.
The Hindoo plough, now in use in many parts of India, seems to dif-
fer little from the old model. The greatest improvements in modern

THE FARMER AT HOME. 331

ploughs are in the shape of a mould-board, and contrivances for regu-
lating the line of draught so as to go at an equal depth, and cut off a
regular slice of equal breadth, without any great force being applied
by the plounghman. In addition to a regard to the form of the plough
best accomplishing these objects, it is but little less important to com-
bine lightness with strength, and with a reference to the least resist-
ance in its progress by friction or otherwise, so as to diminish to the
lowest possible degree the power to be applied in drawing it onward.
If by improvements in these latter respects two oxen can accomplish
what four oxen formerly did in the same time, and, if in the former
respects, a boy is enabled, as ploughman, to perform with ease the
labor formerly requiring the strongest man, the magnitude of saving
to the whole agricultural community is immense. The substitution
of iron for wood in the construction of the piough, and the present
peculiar adaptation of form for an easy accomplishment of the objects
to be attained, is a saving to that amount if no more.

ai (AT ior a

<, Ramee

PLOUGH.

Mechanical philosophy has rarely or never done a better service
than in making improvements in an agricultural implement, of which
from fifty to one hundred thousand are manufactured every year.
We know single establishments that make each ten thousand in a
year. Hitherto for some years past, so numerous have been the im-
provements in them, that it might seem that the article at present
nearly approximates perfection. The kind of ploughs we used half a
dozen years ago, then recommended as the best to be had, we have
laid by to be preserved as memorials of a bygone period, and adopted
others better adapted to our wants. It is scarcely to he presumed
that one establishment can for any long period produce an implement
materially of better form than all others; for any one neglecting to
adopt improvements of general notoriety, would soon be left without
patronage. When the particular form of ploughs in particular estab-
lishments is no longer susceptible of improvement, the reputation of
them is to be kept up by superior artistic finish, in connection with
an invariable use of the best wood and iron in their construction.
The ploughs of Prouty and Mears have an enviable reputation, and

332 THE FARMER AT HOME.

where they can most easily be procured, no one will be likely to seek
for better articles; but the Eagle or Worcester ploughs, manufactured
by Ruggles, Nourse, and Mason, occupy the most prominent place in
public opinion, it appears to us. The oak used at Worcester is pro-
verbially as tough as leather. In addition to the mechanical skill
belonging to the establishment, it is believed, that the views of the
Hon. F. Holbrook, perhaps the most critically scientific ruralist on
this subject in the country, have been adopted by the proprietors ;
and to complete their claims to this high excellence, they have re-
ceived over four hundred premiums for their ploughs from different
agricultural societies in the United States.

PLUM. The plum is a native of Asia, the south of Europe, and
America; but most of our cultivated kinds are foreign, or descendants
from them. It is a small tree, of a rather low spreading form, gener-
ally of rapid growth, and moderate duration. The plum isa fine
dessert fruit, some varieties being remarkably rich and luscious. It is
used extensively for preserves, for which it is excellent. Some acid
and austere kinds are used exclusively for this purpose. It is also
used for pies, tarts, sauces, and various condiments. In France, dried
plums are an important article in commerce. Varieties called prunes
are used in this way. Plums well ripened, and used moderately, are
nutritious and healthful ; but in excess they are injurious, as they are
rich and cloying. The great obstacle to the raising of plums is the
curculio, an insect which, soon after the blossom falls, punctures the
young fruit, and then lays an egg in the wood, The gum oozes out,
the ege hatches, the worm eats towards the centre of the plum, which
falls, often before half grown, and the worm enters the earth, where
it remains in a pupa state, some say a few weeks, others say till the
next spring, when it emerges to commit a similar ravage on the fruit
of the plum tree. As yet no antidotes effectually protect the plam
against the depredations of this mischievous insect.

POLAND HENS. Poland fowls, as they are generally called,
were according to English authors, said to be imported from Holland.
Their color is a shining black, with a white top-knot of feathers on
the heads of both cock and hen. They are not so thickly covered
with feathers as some other breeds, and still less so with down. They
are quiet’ and domestic, neither quarrelsome or mischievous, and their
eggs of a good size, fine flavored, and thin shells. The true breed is
rather above the middling size ; their form is plump and deep, and
the legs of the best sort are not too long, and most have five claws.
The top-knot of upright, white feathers, covers so much of the head as
almost to blind the eyes. The contrast of this perfectly white crest
with the black plumage, is exceedingly beautiful ; but the top-knot
of the cock differs from that of the hen—hers being broad and erect
feathers, while his are narrow and hanging down in every direction ;
but they must be perfectly white and the rest of the plumage black ;

THE FARMER AT HOME 333

broken colors, it is said by some, show a cross breed. The Poland
hens, by many, are esteemed the best layers, seldom wanting to set.
There is a white variety of top-knots, without a feather of any other
color. These are very beautiful, but not quite so hardy as the black.
And there is also a gold and black, or pheasant colored variety. But
these are scarce in the United States.

POLAND FOWLS.

POMEGRANATE. The pomegranate is a fruit in the form of
an apple or quince, full of seeds or kernels, inclosed within a reddish
pulp, sometimes sweet, sometimes acid. It is so called either from .
the abundance of its grain or kernels, pomum granatum, a kernelled
apple, or from the country where it was anciently produced, viz.
Granada. The pomegranate is, however, a native of the south of
Europe, and grows to the general height of an apple tree; the
branches are a little prickly ; the leaves resemble those of the great
myrtle; and the fruit, which is composed of red angular grains, is
inclosed in little distinct cells, the whole of which are enveloped by a
thick and highly astringent outer rind. Pomegranates are by some
esteemed. Of the kernels are made syrups and preserves ; the peel
contains a considerable quantity of astringent matter.

POND MUD. Small ponds, into which is conveyed the wash
from the circumjacent hills, often contain, at their bottom, a thick
stratum of very rich, unctuous sediment, which if removed at times
when the water is dried up by the powerful heat and continual eva-
poration which occur during the stltry months of summer and early
autumn, makes a most valuable ingredient in compost, and is even a

334 THE FARMER AT HOME.

strong and efficient fertilizer when applied to the soil in its crude state,
especially if the texture of the land on which it is spread, is light and
dry. All the animal excrement, and decayed vegetable matter pro-
duced on the surrounding hills, naturally finds its way into these pools
or ponds, and is there retained till removed, often forming rich muck
and presenting an almost inexhaustible source of fertility to the farmer
who is possessed of sufficient enterprise to avail himself of its latent
wealth. By hauling this rich deposit into his yards—exposing it to
the free action of the frost and air, in open situations, or by spreading
it upon the surface of light lands, he will find it productive of highly
beneficial effects. As a top dressing for grass lands, it possesses great
efficiency, and retains its energies unimpaired for a longer time than
stable manure, or perhaps any other decomposable manure that can
be applied.

POPPY. The species of poppy are herbaceous plants, all bearing
large, brilliant, but fugacious flowers. One of them yields the opium
of commerce, and the juice of all is lactescent. Most of the species
are natives of Europe, often occuring as weeds in fields and waste
places; but, in this country, we only see them in gardens, cultivated
for ornament. One, indeed, the papaver nudicaule, is found in all
the extreme northern regions of the globe. Their roots are annual or
perennial ; the leaves alternate, and the flowers terminal and droop-
ing until they are expanded; the calyx is composed of two leaves,
and the corolla of four petals; the stamens are very numerous, and
the capsule is one-celled, but is divided internally by several longi-
tudinal partitions, and contains a multitude of seeds.

PORK. The hog is the only domestic animal that we know of
no use to man when alive, and therefore seems properly designed for
food. The Jews, however, the Egyptians, and other inhabitants of
warm countries, and all the Mahometans at present, reject the use of
pork. The Greeks gave great commendation to this food, and their
Athlete were fed with it. The Romans considered it as one of their
delicacies. With regard to its alkalesceney, no proper experiments
have yet been made ; but, as it is of a gelatinous and succulent na-
ture, it is probably less so than many others. Upon the whole it
appears to be a very valuable nutriment. The reason is obvious why
it was forbidden to the Jews; their whole ceremonial dispensation
was typical. Filth was held as an emblem or type of sin. Hence
the many laws respecting frequent washings ; and no animal feeds so
filthily as swine. Mahomet borrowed this prohibition, as well as
circumcision and many other parts of his system, from the law of
Moses. But it is absurd to suppose, as some do, that Moses borrowed
any thing of this kind from the Egyptians.

POROSITY. Porosity is a property common to all the bodies of
nature, at least we know of none in which the particles are contiguous
to one another. In some, as sponge and cork, the pores are visible to

THE FARMER AT HOME. 335

the eye, and in others they may be rendered so ty the aid of a micro-
scope. In bodies, whose pores are not thus manifest, the existence of
the intervals between the molecules is proved by various circum-
stances. Thus water or mercury being contained in an open vessel
of wood over the exhausted receiver of an air-pump will, by the pres-
sure of the atmosphere, be forced through the wood, and fall thence
in a shower; liquids also are frequently filtered by being made to
pass through the pores of paper; and in the Florentine experiment
for determining whether or not wateris compressible, the fluid was by
pressure forced through the pores of the vessel of gold in which it was
contained. Again, the porosity of bodies is inferred from their elas-
ticity, and the sounds which are heard when the molecules are in a
state of vibration ; also, in transparent bodies—and the most dense
metals are, when veldeiea sufficiently thin, found to be transparent—
it is inferred from the fact that the particles of light pass through
them, or that the vibrations of an wthereal fluid takes place among
the molecules. Finally, the porosity of bodies is proved from the fact
that they suffer contraction of volume by being exposed to cold, and
by mechanical compression, since such contractions can only take place
in consequence of the particles being forced closer together thap they
were in the usual states of the bodies.

POULTR?Z.

POULTRY. This term includes all the domesucated birds reared
for the table, fowls, turkeys, geese, ducks. and Guinea hens. It might
seem a waste of words to attempt proving that poultry should be kept

336 THE FARMER AT HOME.

by every family in the country. Most persons may not think it expe-
dient to keep enough to render any pecuniary profit to be received in
this way an object worthy of consideration. That there is a profit
from the eggs of hens, when properly managed, beyond what can be
derived from most branches of rural gain, according to the amount
invested, has been sufficiently proved. The profit of one hundred
hens in the year, properly managed, cannot be less than one hundred
dollars, after paying every expense attending them. But if there were
no pecuniary profit from them, the part they contribute in supplying
our tables with their most valuable stores, renders them indispensable.
True, it costs something to feed and shelter them ; and occasionally
they may interfere with some of our other interests, as well as occa-
sion us some vexations. Yet, how amply do they compensate us for
all this! How much do they add to the cheerfulness and gaiety of
the farm! Who can fail to be interested, and oftentimes delighted
with the ceaseless clatter of their commingled tones of joy for sunshine
and food! Were it not for the pompous shouts of the gobler, and the
lordiy crowing of Chanticleer, what an unchanged silence would now
and then reign about the farmer’s door-yard’ But with that and the
perpetual cackling of an hundred hens, each daily leaving their nests
after laying, is a specimen of animated nature scarcely elsewhere to
be witnessed.

PULVERIZATION. In Agriculture, the separation of the
earthy particles of soils, in such a manner as to render them of a fine
mellow mouldy quality, or to partake of the nature of powder. This
state of mould is obtained in diflerent ways, as by frequent ploughing
and harrowing in the less stiff sorts of land; and in those of the more
heavy and retentive descriptions, by the same means, and the fre-
quent exposure of them to the influence and effects of the atmosphere,
with the growth of such sorts of crops as produce a close thick shade
upon them. This state of the soil, when produced in lands, has
various advantages, the roots of plants penetrate it with more readi-
ness and greater facility. It admits of the particles of moisture more
equally, and in a more extensive manner, by which the fibrous roots
of the crops are more fully supplied with nourishment. It likewise
produces a more equal and regular mixture of the different materials
of which the soils are constituted and composed, so as to yield the
nutrition of plants in a more extensive and abundant manner. The
rains in the vernal months are also, by this means, more abundantly
drank up and retained, in consequence of their sinking to a greater
depth, as well as more equally diffused through the different parts,
from which much advantage is derived in the support of the crops.
By this fineness in the particles of the soils, the manures, or other
ameliorating substances, are also more extensively and more perfectly
blended and incorporated with them, and of course a more equal and
abundant supply of nutritious materials provided for the growth and

THE FARMER AT HOME. 387

merease of the crops, of whatever kind they may be. And the air of
the atmosphere is more intimately and abundantly received and blend-
ed with them. These are a few of the various advantages that may
be derived from the pulverization of land ; but there are many others
noticed by writers on agriculture and rural economy.

PUTREFACTION. This is the spontaneous decomposition of
animal and vegetable substances, attended by the evolution of fetid
gases. The putrefactive fermentation of animal substances is usually
attended by more fetid and noxious exhalations than those arising
from vegetable products. This appears principally referable to the
more abundant presence of nitrogen in the former; and hence those
vegetables which abound in nitrogeniferous principles. such as most
of the cruciform plants, exhale peculiarly nauseous eflluvia; hence,
also, such animal products as are destitute of nitrogen are either un-
susceptible of what is usually called putrefaction, or suffer it slowly
and imperceptibly. The putrefactive effluvias are, for the most part,
easily decomposed, and resolved into new and comparatively inocuous
compounds by the agency of chlorine ; hence the importance of that
body as a powerful and rapidly acting disinfectant. The rapidity of
putrefaction, and the nature of its products are. to a great extent, in-
fluenced by temperature, moisture, and access of air; they do not
ensue below the freezing point, nor in dry substances, nor under the
entire exclusion of oxygen. The astringent principle of vegetables, as
seen in the tanning of leather, is a powerful preserver of most organic
tissues. The anti-putrefactive powers of salt are well known. When
a piece of meat is salted, brine runs from it, in consequence of the
energy with which the salt abstracts the component water of the
muscular fibre ; the flesh becomes indurated, and its susceptibility to
putrefactive changes is greatly diminished ; but it becomes at the
same time less easy of digestion as an article of food.

QUADRUPED. In its simplest and most general meaning, a
four footed animal. But as such an interpretation must include a pro-
digious multiplicity of animals of very different habits and structures ;
as, for example, not only hoofed and clawed land animals, but lizards,
tortoises, frogs, and other amphibious reptiles, and perhaps various
kinds of insects, it has been necessary, in the study of natural history,
to limit its meaning, in order to be able to apply it to any definite
purpose, and hence it has generally been restrained to such animals
as have not only four feet, but a hairy body, produce viviparously, and
suckle their young.

QUASS. This is the name of a liquor in Russia, which serves
the natives not only for drink, but also for sauce to a number of dishes ;
and it is the the basis of the favorite cold soup of the North, which is
made by adding cold meat, cut in pieces, with cucumbers, salted after
a peculiar manner, or with onions, or garlic, to a bowl of this sub-acid
liquor. The common Russian quass is prepared by putting into a

15

338 THE FARMER AT HOME.

large pot of cold water, as much rye flour as will make thin dough ;
this is then placed in an oven moderately heated, for three hours, and
afterwards taken out and thrown into a tub of cold water; the mix-
ture is worked with a machine like a chocolate mill, till it froths. To
this liquor is added two basins of the grounds of old quass, leaven or
a piece of their sour bread; and the tub is covered with cloth, and
laid by till the liquor has acquired a sourish taste, which marks its
being ready for use.

QUINCE. A low, tortuous tree, named after the ancient town
of Cydon, in Crete, from which place it was said to have been intro-
duced into the other parts of Europe; but it appears to grow wild in
Western Asia, and some of the neighboring parts of Europe. It is
now cultivated throughout Europe, and in many paris of the United
States, for the sake of its fruit, which, though hard and austere when
plucked from the tree, becomes excellent when boiled and eaten with
sugar, or, preserved in syrup, or made into marmalade. Quinces, when
mixed with other fruit, in cookery, communicate a very pleasant flavor ;
and a delicious wine may be made from their juice, mixed with sugar
in the proportion of one quart to the pound, and fermented. The
leaves of the quince tree are simple, alternate, and entire; the flowers
are large, white, sometimes with a blush of rose, and are solitary at
the extremity of the young branches, and the fruit 1s somewhat pear-
shaped. yellowish, and cottony, internally containing five cartilaginous
cells, in each of which the seeds are arranged in two series, to the
number of eight and upwards, and covered with a mucilaginous sub-
stance. The character of the numerous seeds is the principal circum-
stance in its structure, which distinguishes the quince from the apple
and pear. The quince succeeds best in a light soil ; if it be too rich,
the fruit becoms insipid, and if too dry, it remains small and coria-
ceous.

RADISH. A well known esculent root, universally cultivated in
temperate climates, and in daily use. Several varieties have been
produced by long cultivation, differing in the form, size, and color of
the roots ; either turbinate or round, spindle-shaped ; annual or bien-
nial ; white, red, violet, or blackish, externally, but always white
within. The taste is more or less pungent in these different varieties ;
but they are good only when young, becoming hard, woody, and hollow,
with age. The radish requires a deep, loose soil to attain perfection,
and it may be produced successively throughout the year, by sowing
monthly. It is of easy culture, but, during extreme heats, frequent
irrigation is necessary, which renders the roots more mild and tender.
The seed will keep five or six years. The stem of the radish is herba-
ceous, upright, two or three feet high, and rough, with short hairs.
The leaves are alternate, the superior ones simple and sessile, the in-
ferior lyrate, divided into <val or rounded lobes, toothed on the margin,
with the terminal lobe much the largest. The flowers are white or

THE FARMER AT HOME. 339

purplish, disposed in terminal racemes. The pods are cy ‘indrical,
acuminated with the style, indehiscent, and swelling into knots, and
contain rounded seeds. These seeds are oleaginous, and in one variety,
lately introduced from China, the oil is extracted and used for culinary
purposes. MRadishes are antiscorbutic and stimulant, but are little
employed in medicine. The plant was originally brought from China
and Persia, but has been cultivated in Europe from time imme-
morial.

RATAN. A genus of palms, but widely differing in habit from
the rest of that family, and, in this respect, somewhat resembling the
grasses. The species have all perennial, long, round, solid, jointed,
unbranching stems, extremely tough and pliable, often ascending
among the branches of trees, but without prickles or tendrils. They
grow in profusion along the banks of rivers in tropical Asia and the
neighboring islands. Ali the species are very useful, and are applied
to various purposes ; the fruit and young stems of all furnish nutri-
ment, and a drink is obtained from the liquid which flows from wounds
made in the spadix.

One species is even cultivated for its fruit, which is about the size
of a walnut, and covered with scales. Certain species furnish cables,
cords, and withes of exceeding strength; others are split into strips
for making the seats and backs of chairs, baskets, and other light and
elegant articles of furniture ; those which are larger and firmer, and
whose joints are more distant, afford elegant walking sticks ; in short,
the econemical purposes to which the various species of ratans are
applied, are very numerous, even in northern climates. A trade in
ratans, to a considerable extent, is carried on from several of the East
India islands to China, which is the principal market for them.

RASPBERRY. In its wild, unimproved state, the raspberry is a
native of various temperate climates, to be found growing in thickets,
woodland, and rough mountain districts. Several varieties are known,
which differ from each in their habits of growth and hardiness, as
well as in the quality of their fruit. The cultivation of the raspberry
on an extensive scale for market, is found to be very ue ii for the
crop is generally large, and always commands a good price. A Mr.
Hallock, of Ulster county, in the State of New York, has a plantation
covering three-fourths of an acre of land, which, in the season of 1848,
yielded thirty-three hundred baskets of fruit. He sold them in the
city of New York, at an average price of ten cents per basket, being
at the rate of four hundred and fifty dollars per acre. Such a return
cannot be expected from anything besides the very best management.
An idea that the raspberry will flourish without cultivation, is very
prevalent among those who consider themselves gardeners. On the
contrary, it requires a good soil, the occasional application of manure,
and regular pruning, quite as much as the cherry tree or the grape
vine. We frequently hear people complaining that the improved

340 ‘THE FARMER AT HOME.

varieties, which they have procured at considerable expense, are but
little better than the old-fashioned kinds to be found on the roadside.
The reason is obvious; the bushes are set perhaps in the most unfavor-
able part of the premises, and then allowed to take care of themselves.
To expect that they will yield fruit in abundance, and of the best
quality, is about as reasonable as it would be to suppose that a boy,
left to follow his own headstrong will, and allowed to run wild with
all kinds of associates, can become a respected member of society.

The ease with which raspberries are produced in the garden,
is a sufficient inducement for every family to pay so much atten-
tion to the culture as to be furnished with an ample supply for
its own use, if nothing more. The use of this fruit is not only harm-
less, but is favorable to health. It ripens at a season of the year when
something of the kind is pecuharly needful to assist in creating an
appetite without impairing the digestive powers, or deranging the
other organs of the animal system. Succeeding the strawberry in
quick succession, the raspberry seems designed by Providence to answer
a valuable purpose in supplying us with such a delicious fruit.

RAY. Rays are defined, by Sir Isaac Newton, to be the least
parts of light, whether successive in the same line, or contemporary
in several lines. For that light consists of parts of both kinds is evi-
dent, since one may stop what comes this moment in any point, and
let pass that which comes presently after; now the least light, or part
of light, which may be thus stopped, he calls a ray of light. It has
been found by experiment, that there is a very great difference in the
heating power of the different rays of light.

It appears, from the experiments of Dr. Herschel, that this heating
power increases from the middle of.the spectrum to the red ray, and
is greatest beyond it, where the rays are invisible. Hence it is
inferred that the rays of light and caloric nearly accompany each
other, and that the latter are in different proportions in the different
colored rays. They are easily separated from each other, as when the
sun’s rays are transmitted through a transparent body, the rays of
light pass on seemingly undiminished, but the rays of caloric are inter-
cepted. When thesun’s rays are directed to an opaque body, the rays
of light are reflected, and the rays of calorie are absorbed and
retained. This is the case with the licht of the moon, which, how-
ever much it be concentrated, gives. no indication of being accom-
panied with heat.. The solar rays pass through transparent bodies
without increasing their temperature. The atmosphere, for instance,
receives no increase of temperature by transmitting the sun’s rays, till
these rays are reflected from other bodies, or are communicated to it
by bodies which have absorbed them. This is also proved by the
sun’s rays being transmitted through convex lenses, producing a high
degree of temperature when they are concentrated, but giving no in-
crease of temperature to the glass itself. By this method the heat

THE FARMER AT HOME. 341

which proceeds from the sun can be greatly increased. Indeed, the
intensity of temperature produced in this way is equal to that of the
hottest furnace. This is done, either by reflecting the sun’s rays from
a concave polished mirror, or by concentrating or collecting them by
the refractive power of convex lenses, and directing the rays thus con-
centrated on the combustible body.

If the rays of light, after passing through a medium, enter another
of a different density, perpendicular to its surface, they proceed through
this medium in their original direction. But if they enter obliquely
to the surface of a medium, either denser or rarer than what they
moved in before, they are made to change their direction in passing
through that medium. If the medium they enter be denser, they
move through it in a direction nearer to the perpendicular drawn to
its surface. On the contrary, when light passes out of a denser into
a rarer medium, it moves in a direction farther from the perpendicu-
lar. To prove this, take an upright empty vessel into a darkened
room, which admits but a single beam of light obliquely through a
hole in a window shutter. Let the empty vessel stand on the floor, a
few feet in advance of the window which admits the light, and let it
be so arranged, that as the beam of light descends towards the floor,
it first passes over the top of the side of the vessel next the window,
and strikes the bottom on the side farthest from the window. Let the
spot where it falls be marked. Now, on filling the vessel with water,
the yay, instead of striking the original spot, will fall considerably
nearer the side towards the window. ~

REAPING MACHINE. The tedious process of reaping or\
cutting the different kinds of grain by a sickle is well remembered.
The labor required being generally at a season of the year when the
heat of the sun is the most oppressive, the toil is proportionally more
severe. The introduction of the cradle as a substitute of the sickle
was indeed a great attainment to the extensive grain culturer; but to
such as have from twenty to two or three hundred acres to be cradled,
the toil was enormous. Nor was this the only evil to be alleviated.
As soon as grain becomes ripe it should all be cut and harvested.
without delay. If it becomes overripe, or if wet by showers after
being cut, the damage may become great to the crop. To cut these
large fields by hand, and to harvest them without being damaged from
wet or over-ripeness, is not ordinarily to be accomplished. Laborers
enough to do it is among the impossibilities of the case. The inven-
tion, therefore, of reaping machines, to relieve laborers from such
severity of toil, and to save grain from loss and damage, is one of the
most important acquisitions to agriculture that hasebeen made.

Several reaping machines have been preserted to the public, of
varying shades of merit; but, as good as they all may be, it seems
now to be an admitted fact, the machine of McCormick takes prece-
dence. So it may be tferred from the success attending its mission

343 THE FARMER AT HOME.

to the World’s Fair. It would not be feasible, in a short article like
the present, to exhibit a description of its several parts, enabling the
reader to understand the perfection of its movement and the rapidity
of its execution. To realize this, it must be seen when at work; and
so wonderful is the result. one would then find a difficulty in velieving
the evidence of his own senses. When first offered on sale, the pro-
prietor guaranteed that it should, on an average, when at work, cut
the grain of an acre in forty minutes, or about twenty acres per day ;
and in case of failure the machine might be returned. Yet, although
several thousands had been sold during the first three years, it was
stated ‘at the end of that time, that no one had been returned. No
better evidence can be given that it is satisfactory to the purchasers.
It is drawn by two horses, to be relieved in due time by two
others; and the four are thus to work alternately through the day.
A boy of sixteen can drive them, and a man is requried to rake the
grain from the machine into parcels on the ground. as it passes on, of
a size suitable for sheaves. It will take six or seven hands to bind
the sheaves and put them into shocks, as fast as they are made ready
It is also affirmed, that in every acre of land, a bushel of wheat that
would be lost from beimg trodden down or shell out with the use of
the cradle, is saved by the machine, which is equal to about three
quarters of the cost of operating it. The cost of it is one hundred and
twenty dollars. This and the other reaping machines have under-
gone, it is believed, since first in use, sundry improvements. When
any defect was discovered, a remedy was devised as in machinery

. generally.

REINDEER. Amidst the many stalaing marks which are every
where exhibited of the supremacy of that Power that called us into
life, in no instance do we trace stronger proofs of his beneficence than
in the formation of that animal called the reindeer. In a country
where the beauties of nature are unknown, and sterility and barren-
ness have established their seat, how dreadful would be the situation
of its wretched inhabitants but for the advantages they enjoy from
this domesticated friend! The severity of the climate, which is fatal
to many quadrupeds, is the meansof increasing this animal’s strength ;

' for whenever it has been transported into a more genial country, the

change shortly proves destructive to its life. The comforts of the
Laplander absolutely depend upon the services he derives from this®
useful race of animals: they conduct him over tracts that would
otherwise be impassable, supply him with an abundance of whole-
some food, and afford his body a covering from the severities of the
cold.

The horns of the reindeer resemble the American elk ; and they
likewise have antlers springing from the brow; it is not so tall an
animal as the stag, though it is much stronger, and more calculated
to endure fatigue. When they firs shed theit coat, their color is

THE FARMER AT HOME. 343

brown ; but as the summer approaches, it begins to grow light, and
varies until it becomes nearly gray ; the hair upon its body is thick
and long, calculated te defend it from the severity of the clime ; and
contrary to the rest of the deer species, the female is adorned both
with antlers and horns.

There are two kinds of reindeer in Lapland; the one wild, and
the other tame; the latter are chiefly used for drawing the sledges,
as the former will seldom submit to their guide. The sledges are
built remarkably light, and their bottoms covered with a young deer’s
skin, with the hair placed in a proper direction to glide over the con-
gealed snow. The person who sits on this vehicle guides the animal
with a string fastened round the horns, and encourages him to proceed
by the sound of his voice, or compels him forward by the assistance
ofa goad. The wild breed, when harnessed, are sometimes so refrac-
tory, that their drivers find it impossible to make them proceed, and
are obliged to hide themselves under their conveyance to avoid the
attack it would make upon their lives. There is scarcely a part of
this animal but what is serviceable to the inhabitants, and proves the
benevolence of that Power by whom it was made ; its flesh, as I have
observed, supplies them with food; and though it does not give milk
in large quantities, yet it is both nourishing andsweet. As to butter,
they seldom make any; but they boil the milk with sorrel, which
makes it coagulate and grow thick; they then put into casks, or
skins, and bury it in the earth as a winter's regale; but the skin is
the most valuable part of this animal; it supplies the inhabitants
with bedding, clothing, and shoes; nay, even the blood is preserved
in small casks, to make sauce with the marrow of those which are
killed in the spring. :

RENNET. The preserved membrane of the calf’s stomach is
called rennet, and it has the property of coagulating the albumen of
milk, and converting it into curd and whey. The maw is cleaned,
salted, and stretched iypon a small hoop or frame, like parchment.
Previous to its use, the salt is extracted by washing the rennet ; which
is then soaked in hot water during the night; and in the morning
the infusion is poured into the milk to coagulate it. Coagulation is
the result of the gastric juice, which is acid; and acts upon the case-
ous part of the milk, in fhe same manner as other acids. It has
*sometimes happened that no rennet sufficiently good can be had for
curdling milk In that case, vegetable acids are used for the pur-

ose.
REPRODUCTION. This is one of the most important provisions
of nature, inasmuch as it guards animals and plants against the mul-
tiplied dangers to which their bodies are exposed. Hence, when
viewed in the connection with the system of nutrition, altogether, it
forms one of those decisive and grand characters which distinguish at
once the machines that proceed from the hand of the Creator, from

344 THE FARMER AT HOME

all, even the most ingenious and boasted productions of human skill.
The difference is recognized at the first glance; the distance is im-
measurable. The springs and wheels of mechanical instruments
have no power of repairing themselves, when they are bent, broken,
worn, or spoiled ; but such a faculty is enjoyed in various degrees by
every animal and by every plant.

At different periods of the year, several organized beings lose, by
a spontaneous and natural process, certain parts of their bodies, which
are subsequently renewed. Examples of this occur in the fall of the
stag’s horns ; in the moulting of birds; in the renewal of the cuticle
of serpents and other amphibia, of the larve of insects, and of the
shell of the crustacea, and the fall of the leaves of the trees. This
may be called ordinary or natural reproduction. The stag’s horn, or
antler, as it should be more properly called, is a mass of true bone,
possessing the structure and characters of osseous substances. In its
early state it is soft, and traversed by large vessels, which must be
reproduced every time the new horn is formed. This annual repro-
duction constitutes, in many points of view, one of the most remark-
able phenomena of animal physiology.

The cuticle of the snake is separated every year, and comes off as
a complete sheath, excepting the aperture, through which the animal
escapes ; the covering of the cornea is shed with the rest of the exter-
nal integument. Crustaceous animals, for instance, the crab and lob-
ster, have a skeleton, which surrounds and contains their soft parts,
and which serves, at the same tire, the purposes of a skin. When
it has attained its perfect consistence, it grows no more ; but, as the
soft parts still increase, the shell separates, and is detached, being
succeeded by a larger one. The calcareous bodies in the stomachs ot
these animals performing the office of teeth, are shed with the shell.

The second, or extraordinary kind of reproductive power, is that
by which wounds, fractures, or any accidental mutilation or loss ot
parts of an organized body are remedied or restored. This exists in
very different degrees in different departments of the animal kingdom.
In man, and such animals as are nearly allied to him, the property is
very limited, although sufficiently active to be capable of remedying
the effects of great injuries. Ifa bone be broken, a muscle or tendon
divided, or a piece of skin destroyed, processes are set up in the parts
by which restoration is accomplished. The ends of the bones are
joined by an osseous substance, which gives to the part its original
solidity ; the tendon regains its firmness and power of resistance ; the
muscle can contract again and move the points of its attachment ;
and the surface of the body is covered by a new piece of integument.
The functions of the parts are restored : but the newly formed matter
can be always distinguished from the original composition of the body,
and possesses a weaker vitality. For, in some cases, old ulcers have

THE FARMER AT HOME. 345

broken out afresh, and even fractures have been disunited in states of
great general debility.

REPTILES. Reptiles are distinguised from birds and quadrupeds
by their cold blood and single heart, that is, with only one ventricle,
and from fish by their respiring through lungs. Their blood is never
at a much higher temperature than that of the medium in which they
live. No other animals are capable of enduring so great extremes of
heat and cold as the reptiles, especially some particular species.
Frogs, for instance, have continued to live in the human stomach,
and in lumps of ice. From the peculiar structure of their bodies,
they are able to suspend their respiration for a considerable time, and
are also endowed with the faculty of enduring an abstinence that
would prove fatal to warm-blooded animals. Most of them can hve
in the air as well as in water. Many live indifferently in either ele-
ment. Some pass a certain period of life, or certain seasons of the
year, in one, and the rest in the other ; and some, finally, are confined
to the water, or to the land. They live chiefly in morasses, swamps,
and stagnant waters, damp, dark places, caves, and holes im the
earth.

As means of defence, nature has given to some of them great
bodily strength, or sharp teeth, as to the crocodile ; to others a deadly
poison, as to certain kinds of serpents ; to others, a hard covering, as
to the tortoise ; to many, a disgusting smell, or an acrid humor, which
they eject. Some of them have a remarkable power of reproduction,
by which they renew parts of the body of which they have been de-
prived. Some can live for an incredibly long time without air, and
even without food, and some undergo transformations like insects.
None of them chew their food, but they swallow it whole, and digest
it at leisure. They are in general extremely tenacious of life, and
will continue to move, and perform their animal functions, even after
the severest injuries. Their colors and general appearance are, in
most instances, disagreeable ; some, however, are decorated -with
the most vivid coloring. Their voices are either harsh and grating,
or they are entirely dumb. Most reptiles are oviparous. In some,
particularly in the frosts, the eggs are not fecundated until after their
expulsion from the female; hence they are merely provided with a
thin membranous covering. The eggs of others, as the tortoise’s, have
a soft, tough skin, resembling parchment, while, in other genera, the
eggs are furnished with a hard, calcareous shell. « In those species
which are viparous, the eggs are regularly formed, but are hatched
internally, as in vipers.

RESIN. From the various species of pine, there exudes a balsam
which coneretes in the form of tears. It differs somewhat according
to the peculiar tree from which it is.obtauined, and by distillation it is
separated into two distinct ingredients ; oil of turpentine, which is
volatile, and resin, which is not. If a quantity of pine wool is col-

15*

346 THE FARMER AY HOME.

lected, covered with turf, and then set on fire, the resinous juice
which would have been dissipated in the open air, may be collected in
a suitable receptacle beneath. In this way, tar and pitch, two well
known articles of commerce, and both of a resinous nature, are usually
procured. From a shrub that grows in Palestine and Arabia, is ob-
tained a resin long celebrated for its medical virtues. It is the Balm
of Gilead, so frequently alluded to in sacred history, and it is highly
prized by the Turks, who prohibit its exportation.

No kind of wood is sc durable as that in which the resinous secre-
tion abounds. It is rarely injured by those insects which devour the
hardest timber, and the imsolubility of resin most effectually secures it
from the destroying agency of water. As a proof of this fact, it has
been observed that the cypress gates of Constantinople, erected by the
Emperor Constantine, were found undecayed a thousand years after
they were built. It is owing to this secretion that pine is more dura-
ble than the hardest oak, though at the same time it contains much
less of the woody fibre, on which the value of timber usually depends.

RESPIRATION. In Physiology, that function of animal bodies,
in which the air, either in its elastic state, as it constitutes the atmos-
phere, or held in solution in water, is brought into contact with some
organ or organs, undergoing alterations in its own constitution, and
producing changes in the nature of the animal fluids, which are essen-
tial to the continuance of life. In the mammalia, birds, and reptiles,
the respiratory organs consist of lungs, that is, of membranous cavi-
ties, differently constructed in the three classes, but agreeing in the
circumstances of alternately receiving and emitting a portion of atmos-
pherical air. This alternate ingress and egress of air constitutes pro-
perly what is called in common language breathing, to which the
philosophical term respiration is synonymous.

Although the structure of organs in fishes and insects is so different
from that which we find in mammalia, birds, and reptiles, they per-
form an analogous office, answer the same general purposes in the
animal economy, and are considered equally in the light of organs of
respiration ; this term being employed now to denote the general effect
produced by these various organizations, without any reference to the
means through which it is produced; although it was originally ap-
plied to the passage of the air to and from the lungs, when the results
of that process were unknown.

The functions of the respiratory organs are closely connected with
the other great processes of the animal economy. The heart, brain,
and lungs, more particularly influence each other, and present, in their
mutual relations, numerous and highly interesting considerations for
the physiologist.

REVOLVING HAY RAKE. Every person familiar with the
routine of labor on the farm, must be aware of the excessive toil and
the frequent pressing urgency for despatch in the season of hay making:

THE FARMER AT HOME. 347

On large farms, where sometimes whole meadows of grass are in
swath, or im a condition to be raked up, and clouds suddenly arise, de-
noting showers or a storm, it is well known what alarm is created,
especially when the whole reliance for guarding against damage is on
the hand use of the old fashioned rakes. On such emergencies every
individual within reach is put under requisition, women as well as
men; and even the children oid enough to manage a rake, are called
from the neighboring school hous2, to engage in the scramble. On
such occasions, when a boy, we have thus toiled till our hands were
covered with blisters. We shall never forget it. The necessity for
such panics and hardships is mostly superseded. The invention of
the horse-power rake is among the most important of agricultural
facilities for saving labor. Rarely will it happen, where one of these
rakes is on a farm, that there will be any necessity for the former
efforts alluded to in protecting mown hay against damage from rain.
Among the different horse rakes, we believe the Revolving Rake is
the best ; and, a man and boy in a day, can rake up the hay of fifteen
or twenty acres.

REVOLVING HORSE RAKE.

RHINOCEROS. The rhinoceros is an animal which ranks next

~ to the elephant, in point of size as well as strength ; it is usually found
to be about twelve feet long from the tip of the nose to the insertion
of the tail; the same in circumference, and about seven in height ;
the legs not being near so long as those of the elephant. It is diffi-
cult to convey an accurate idea of this extraordinary animal, from the
singular appearance produced by the skin. which lies upon the body
in large folds, and looks like different coverings of shell, of a dirty
brown color, and so callous as ‘to turn a cimeter’s edge. From the
snout there issues a curved horn, which sometimes grows near four feet
in length, with which it is a match for the fiercest animals, though it is

348 THE FARMER AT HOME.

never the first to commence an attack ; the form of the head resem:
bles that of a hog ; but the ears are larger, and star.d erect ; the eyes,
though small, are bright and piercing ; and the legs remarkably strong
and thick.

RICE. This plant is cultivated in many parts of the Hast, in
South Carolina, in America, and also in Spain, Italy, and Piedmont.
It is a plant that grows to the height of about two feet and a half,
with a stalk not unlike that of wheat, but fuller of joints, and with
leaves resembling that of the leek. It branches out into several stems,
at the top of which the grain grows in clusters, and each of them is
terminated with an ear or beard, and enclosed in a yellow rough husk.
When stripped of this, they appear to be of an oval shape, of a shining
white color, and almost transparent. Rice in China is the most im-
portant crop. On it the people mainly subsist; and of course the
utmost attention is paid to its culture. It is also an important crop
in some parts of ourown country. The cultivation in South Carolina
is very successful on rich river bottoms, the yield being forty bushels
or more to the acre, and one hand can manage five acres. For the
process of cultivation, see the Southern Cultivator, one of the best
journals in the country.

RIVER HORSE, or HIPPOPOTAMUS. Probably the Behe-
moth mentioned in the book of Job. This surprising animal inhabits
the rivers and lakes of Africa, living, as oceasion requires, either in
the water, or upon the land. He is twice the size of the largest ox.
He has four legs which are short and thick; his head is near four
feet long, and nine feet round; his jaws are about two feet wide; and
. his teeth above a foot in length. His skin, generally, is so thick that
a sword will not pierce it, and even a bullet can hardly enter it; and
his voice is loud and horrible. They chiefly keep at the bottom of
deep lakes and rivers, especially in the day time, catching fish and
feeding upon them. Sometimes, however, they walk upon the shore,
and sometimes invade the fields of standing corn; whence they are
driven by the cries and shouts of the people who inhabit the country,
and keep watch against this fearful enemy. This animal is remarka-
bly constructed for his manner of walking. He is furnished with a
cloven foot, and, above the pastern, with two small horny substances.
which bend backward as he walks, so that he leaves on the ground
an impression which seems to have been made by the pressure of four
paws to each foot. By this peculiar structure of his feet he is kept
from sinking, at the bottom of lakes and rivers, and upon oozy shores.

ROADS. The Romans were distinguished by the vast extent
and solid construction of their roads, of which several thousand miles
were made in Italy alone; while every other country that was brought
under their sway was more or less intersected by these excellent high-
ways. The solidity of their construction was fully equal to the
boldness of their desigr a fact proved by the existence of many that

THE FARMER AT HOME. 349

have borne the traffic of nearly two thousand years witiout material
injury. The Romans always gave a firm foundation to their roads,
by ramming down a layer of small stones and broken bricks; on this
layer a pavement of large stones was laid, either to fit closely around
one another, or cemented into a hard and firm causeway. In our
own country, as yet, but little has been done in the construction of
public highways on scientific principles. ‘Some attempts have been
made for the Macadamized roads, and more recently for plank roads ;
but the latter, although answering a good temporary purpose, will
soon wear out.

The plan of M’Adam has generally been found to be free from the
objections most common in previous efforts to construct good roads.
His plans, as many of our readers know, js to make a deep layer of
small stones which will lock together, by the frequent pressure upon
them, into a hard and compact mass, forming a sort of crust nearly
impervious to water. The quantity of these small stones must depend
on the quality of the ground beneath; im many cases a layer of two
or three feet has been required. In some cases where a deep layer
would be indispensable, there has been for a foundation to the small
stones, a layer of large ones, carefully disposed by hand, so as to
remain without any change of position. It has been found that this
affords an easier draught for horses than where the substratum is of
earth; and that a gravel surface is more trying to horses than a
broken stone surface. Stone tramways have occasionally been applied
in England to common roads with great advantage. They consist of
wheel-tracks formed of large blocks of stone, usually granite, over
which the wheels roll smoothly, while there isan intermediate broken
stone road for the horses. Jron tramways have sometimes been used.
It is supposed by many that good tramways, and even Macadamized
roads, may be constructed so as to answer the purpose for locomotives.
This has been attempted in France, and with a prospect of satisfac-
tory results.

ROLLER. Rollers are important implements in modern farming,
and are fast coming into general use. They crush all the sods and
Jumps that remain on the top of the ground after the harrow has passed,
and force down small stones level with the surface. They render the
field smooth for the <radle, scythe, and rake, press the earth close
about the seed, and secure a more sure and quick germination. On
light and sandy soils they are invaluable, and in all cases their use
has greatly increased the product. Much benefit is undoubtedly
found in compressing the surface of light soils, by preventing the
escape of those gases from the manure so essential to vegetation, and
which are so rapidly extracted by the sun and winds.

Great advantage is gained by rolling early in the spring, while the
ground is soft. Clay lands, by heaving, pull to pieces and displace
the roots of grain and grasses sown the previous autumn, and the

350 THE FARMER AT HOME,

heavy rollez presses the roots and the earth together in their proper
position, when vegetation goes on again, and thus, in a measure, pre-
vents what i. termed winter killing. They are variously made of
wood, stone, aud iron. Those of iron are most durable; those of
stone may occasionally become impaired by the loss of fragments where
there had been old seams; and those of wood are always liable to
decay. The one represented in the cut is entirely of iron, except the

ll

il

ROLLER.

tongue and box, which are of wood. Twenty four inches in diameter
is a good size; but are’ sometimes six inches larger, and then again
six inches smaller. The rollers are in separate sections. each one
foot long, placed on a wrought iron arbor on which they turn indepen-
dently of each other, thus turning without much friction, and leaving
the ground smooth. The box is attached to receive stones, either to
increase the weight of the implement, or that such as are casually
found on the surface may be removed. Rollers are made of any size
or weight desired ; and none can be obtained better than those man-
ufactured by A. B. Allen and Company, New-York.

ROOT. The root is that part of a plant by which it attaches
itself to the soil in which it grows, or to the substance on which it
feeds, and is the principal organ of nutrition. The roots by which
trees and shrubs are supported, appear to be merely elongations ot
their stems, subdivided into numerous branches, and terminating in
minute radicles, or absorbents. These extremities resemble the fibrous
roots of grasses, and are subservient to precisely the same ends, for the
main body as well as its large branches, serve only to convey towards
the ‘eaf the nourishment which its minute extremities have derived from

THE FARMER AT HOME. 351i

the earth. Like the stem to which it is attached, the former is composed
of concentric circles corresponding to the age of the tree, and contains
the same vessels which pervade the other parts of the vegetable texture ;
but the extreme radicles are always of annual growth, and the deli-
cacy of their texture renders it difficult to transplant vegetables after
they are formed. The proper period, therefore, to remove trees and
shrubs, is late in autumn, after the radicles have ceased to absorb
moisture from the earth, or in the spring, before a new system of ab-
sorbents is formed. It may be done with safety in mid-winter, when
the whole energies of the vegetable are torpid, but during the season
of vegetation, which requires the constant abstraction of nutriment
from the earth, it is a work of more difficulty and danger.

The analogy between the ascending stem and the branching root,
is more close and better established, than at first view we should be
prepared to expect, and their only difference is derived from the dif-
ferent organs with which they are connected. This is established by
an experiment which has frequently been performed, and may with-
out difficulty be repeated. A shrub was bent to the horizon in such
a manner that half of its branches were covered with earth, and a
similar proportion of its roots were exposed to the action of air and
light, without any protection but that of a thin coat of moss, which
was removed in a few days. In this position the shrub remained for
a considerable while, after which the remainder of the stem was
buried beneath, and the whole root raised about the surface of the
ground. Thus reversed, it continued to grow, the former roots being
crowned with leaves, and in a few years decorated with flowers, while
the former branches put forth radical fibres, whereby the shrub de-
rived its nourishment from the earth.

Bulbs are by some writers classed with roots, while others regard
them as an interesting variety of subterranean bud. Certain it is
that they enclose-the embryo of future plants, till the period of their
evolution arrives, and in this respect they perform the office of buds.
Many of them are also composed of concentric scales, nearly allied to
those which secure the tender leaves and flowers of northern trees,
from the cold of the winter to which they are exposed. But it is
equally true they bear a close analogy to the tuberous root, and what-
ever opinions we adopt respecting their nature and rank, whether we
class them with roots or with buds, the plants to which they are
attached will always be regarded with peculiar interest. They are
amongst the earliest harbingers of spring, and certainly the most
splendid ornaments of the garden. Among them are the lily, snow-
drop, tulip, hyacinth, with about forty more interesting plants, equally
deserving the fostering care of the cultivator.

All these varieties of roots are formed to secure the same end, to
fix the plant securely in the earth, to supply it with food, and to pre-
serve its vital though dormant energies, at a season when they could

352 THE FARMER AT HOME.

_not be safely aroused into action ; and at the same time, to secure its
resources against the vicissitudes of moisture and dryness to which the
vegetables of many countries are perpetually exposed. And a small
share of attention to the structure and form of each variety, will ena-
ble us to pursue the best mode of cultivation, and to designate the
quality of the soil to which they are respectively suited. Of those
which descend deep into the earth, there are several varieties, and all
require to have the ground deeply furrowed, before they can be culti-
vated with advantage. Barren and thin soils are best suited to the
wide spreading roots, which creep extensively on their surface; dry
and sandy plains are adapted to those which penetrate deep for nour-
ishment, and are supplied with bulbs for its preservation, or with
downy radicles for its abundant absorption. No one can advan-
tageously introduce a new plant, till by the examination of its various
organs, he has learned to what situation it is best adapted, nor can he
be a successful florist, who is not at the same time an observing
botanist.

ROOT-PULLER,

ROOT-PULLER. One of the most simple and useful contri-
vances on a farm that has not been fully subdued, is the Root and
Bush Puller. The cut annexed will convey an idea of the principle
on which it becomes so powerful. Let it be attached to bushes,
clumps of roots, and bogs for the purpose of pulling them out of the
ground. It is made, with two, three, or four claws. These are
hooked to the bush close to the ground, and to the root wherever it
may be well secured ; the oxen or horses are attached to it bya chain,
when the bush and roots are easily hauled out. It will do the work
of half a dozen men in clearing and grubbing. It may be found at
the large agricultural warehouses generally.

ROTATION OF CROPS. It has been found from experience
that a repetition of the same crops in succession has a peculiar effect
on the soil, so that if grain of the same nature be sown year after year
in the same ground, it will not produce the same return of seed, even
when abundantly manured. It is the formation of the seed which
principally causes the deterioration of the soil; for if the crops be fed
off in a green state, or mown before the seed is formed, the same may

THE FARMER AT HOME. 353

be safely repeated, and no diminution of the plant is apparent. How-
ever judiciously the land may be manured, it is not practicable to
raise a crop of wheat or clover, or of many other plants on a soil
which has shown that, as farmers say, it is tired of the crop; but
clover grows well after wheat, and wheat after clover, so that the
same effect is not produced in the soil by these two crops. In all
countries where peculiar attention has been paid to agriculture, the
most advantageous succession of crops is generally known; and certain
general principles are commonly adm‘tted as fully established.

In order to find the crops which may advantageously succeed each
other in rotation, many circunistances must be taken into considera-
tion. First of all the quality of the soil, and its fitness for par-
ticular crops ; next the wants of the farmer and his family, and the
maintenance of the stock required to produce a sufficient supply of
manure; and, next the particular market which lies open to him.
That which forms the food of man is always the principal object in
cultivation ; and, in our climate wheat and maize or Indian corn may
be considered the grains that should have prominence in each rotation
among our agriculturalists. Rye, barley, and oats, either as substi
stutes for them, or for the feeding of stock, are not to be omitted
Next to grain comes meat, chiefly beef, mutton, and pork, of which the
consumption increases with the wealth of a nation and the advance of
its agriculture. Wheat, maize, and meat are therefore the primary’
objects with every farmer; and he who can raise most wheat and
Indian corn, and fatten most oxen, or sheep, or pigs, will realize the
greatest profit. The rotation, therefore, depends on all these con-
siderations combined.

RUST. In Rural Economy, a distemper incident to corn, and
generally called mildew. The ancients generally thought that it
came from heaven, being ignorant of its truecause. Virgil gives this
up asan incurable distemper, and tells the farmer that if his corn is
blighted he must live upon acorns, not supposing that any remedy
could be devised for such a distemper. Wheat is blighted at seasons,
first in the blossom, and then its generation is prevented, many of the
husks being empty in the ear, and the rudiments of the grains not
impregnated ; secondly, wheat is blighted when the grains are brought
to maturity ; and in this case they become light and are of little value
for making of bread, having scarcely any flour in them.

Under this term of rust may, perhaps, most properly be arranged,
and included, that sort of destructive affection of grain, which is
caused by the funguses and parasitical plants, which fix themselves
on ang attach themselves to, the stems or other parts of it, so as to
diminish, interezpt, or destroy its nutritive properties and qualities.
The injury done in this way is often more dreadful than that from
any of the other causes, as whole fields have been known to be utterly
destroyed, so as not to contain a single grain of wheat in the ear, and

354 THE FARMEP AT HOME.

at the same time, the straw rendered totally unfit for fodder, possess-
ing neither strength nor substance in it. The evidence of dillerent
places fully confirm the existence of fungi, as injurious in this man-
ner; as from some it is stated, that as the wet weather continued,
the rust of fungus made a rapid progress from the ear downwards,
until, in many instances, it covered the stem from the ear, as far as
it was unsheathed. From others it is said, that the rust or fungus
prevented those grains which the maggot had not destroyed from being
perfected, in a greater or less degree. From others still it is asserted,
that these parasitical plants multiplied so much on the straw, and on
the husk and chaff of the ears, that in many cases whole fields put on
an universal blackened, rusty appearance. From other different per-
sons, various other circumstances of this nature are also related to be
met with.

The best means of preventing and removing affections of this
nature in this sort of grain crop, are supposed to be those of cultiva-
ting only the sorts of wheat which are the hardiest in point of quality,
and the least lable to disease; the sowing of the wheat earlier than
usual in the season ; the introduction of earlier varieties of it; the
giving of a sufficient quantity of seed; the draining of the land where
it is inclined to be wet; the rolling and treading of the land by live
stock immediately after sowing; the use of sowing different sorts of
saline substances as a manure; the proper regulation and improve-
ment of the course of crops; the change of seed, by bringing it fresh
from other countries; the extirpation of the diseased stems, stalks, or
blades early in the season, and the instantly cutting down of the crop
when it is decidedly affected.

SADDLE. A seat upon a horse’s back, contrived for the conven-
iency of the rider. The ancient Romans are supposed not to have
made use of saddles and stirrups, and it is thought that they did not
come into use till the time of Constantine the Great, A. D. 340, as
appears from the Greek historian, Zonaras, who (through his whole his-
tory) makes no mention of a saddle for a horse, before such time as
Constans, attempting to deprive his brother Constantine of the empire,
made head against his army, and entering into the squadron, where
he himself was, cast him beside the saddle of his horse.

SAGO. Sagois a simple brought from the East Indies, of con-
siderable use as a restorative diet. It is produced from a species of
palm tree, growing in the East Indies. The progress of its vegetation
in the early stages is very slow. At first it is a mere shrub, thick set
with thorns ; but, as soon as its stem is once formed, it rises in a short
time to thirty feet, is about six feet.in circumference, and imperceptibly
loses its thorns. Its ligneous bark is about an inch in thicknes®, and
covers a multitude of long fibres; which, being interwoven one with
another, envelope a mass of a gummy kind of meal. As soon as this
tree is ripe, a whitish dust, which transpires throuch the pores of the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 355

leaves, and adheres to their extremities, proclaims its maturity. The
Malays then cut it down near the root, divide it into several sections,
and then scooop out the mass of mealy substance, which is envel-
oped by, and adheres to the fibres; they dilute it in water, and then
pass it through a straining bag of fine cloth, to separate it from the
fibres. When this paste has lost part of its moisture, by evaporation,
the Malays throw it into earthern vessels, of different shapes, where
they allow it to dry and harden. This paste is wholesome nourishing
food ; the Indians eat it diluted with water, and sometimes baked or
boiled. A jelly is sometimes made of it, which is white and of a
delicious flavor. An inferior kind of Sago is made in the West Indies
from the pitch of the areca.

SALIVA. The saliva which is secreted by peculiar glands, and
which flows into the mouth, is a clear viscid fluid, without taste er
smell. It has generally a frothy appearance, being mixed with a
quantity of air. Saliva has a strong attraction for oxygen, which by
trituration it communicates to some metalic substances, as mercury,
gold, and silver. When saliva is boiled in water, albumen is precipi-
tated, and when it is slowly evaporated, muriate of soda is obtained.
A vegetable gluten remains behind, which burns with the odor of
prussic acid. Saliva becomes thick by the action of acids. Oxalic
acid precipitates lime. Saliva is also inspissated by alchohol. It is
decomposed by the alkalies ; and the nitrates of lead, of mercury, and
the silver, precipitate muriatic and phosphoric acids. By distilla-
tion in a retort, it froths up, affords nearly four-fifths of its quantity ot
water almost pure, a little carbonate of ammonia, some oil, and an
acid. What remains behind consists of muriate of soda, phosphate
of soda and of lime. .

SALT. Or the muriate of soda, as it is termed by chemists, is
one of the most abundant productions of nature, and is found in vast
quantities in its native state. The waters of the ocean owe their salt-
ness to it; it is found in a number of mineral springs; and it forms
immense strata in the bowels of the earth, or rising on the surface,
even to the height of mountains. According as it is produced from
these sources, it is named sea salt or rock salt Rock salt is solid,
hard, and more or less transparent, of a white, gray, or reddish color,
sometimes of a bright or deep red or yellow, and more rarely with spots
of blue. Its fracture is foliated or fibrous ; generally it is massive,
but sometimes erystalized in cubes, and its fragments are always of a
cubical form. The colors are supposed to depend on the oxide or
muriate of iron. In general it is pure, and hence its taste is purely
saline ; but sometimes it is bitter, from the presence of foreign salts.
There are immense mines of it in different countries

It has been stated that salt is superior for preserving fish and meats
in proportion to its weight ; and, that American salt being considera-
bly heavier than Liverpool salt, is superior to it. This comparative

356 THE FARMER AT HOME.

difference of weight will appear from the following account of samples
of salt, manufactured at the Onondaga works, in New York. These
samples were of four different kinds. ‘The coarsest is of the most
perfect whiteness and purity, and weighs seventy-four pounds to the
bushel. It is made by evaporating the salt water in the sun, in large
wooden vats. It is almost as coarse as Turk’s Island salt. The
second quality is about as coarse as St. Ubes’ salt, bat entirely free
from all impurity. It weighs sixty-six pounds to the bushel, and is
made by boiling the brine in wrought iron pans. The third quality
is a little finer than that called Liverpool coarse salt, and a bushel
weighs fifty-five pounds. (The Liverpool weighs only fifty pounds to
the bushel.) The fourth kind is very fine and clean table salt, of the
very best quality. The water of the salt springs at Salina, is said to
yield four times as much salt as the water of the ocean. It probably
proceeds from some vast body of rock salt in the bowels of the earth.
In a memoir on the Salines, or salt springs, and wells of the Kenhaway
county, in Virginia, it is stated among other particulars, that at the
salt works, along the great Kenhaway, there are about sixty furnaces
in operation, producing from ten to twenty thousand bushels annu-
ally; and furnishing the principal supply of this essential article to
the States of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, the west part of Ten-
nessee, the northern section of Alabama, and the western counties of
Virginia.

The quantity of salt used is immense. In all culinary processes
it is indispensable. It is as conducive to health as itis agreeable to
the taste. One could scarcely live without it. Nor is it less neces-
sary to other animals than to man. There should be a strict regard
to its being given to oxen and cows, sheep and horses, without any
long intervals. They will thrive the better for it. And it is equally
valuable for hogs, especially upon being fattened. Salt is also used in
agriculture, particularly in forming composts. However, if used with-
out regard to its chemical qualities, the effects of it may sometimes be
baneful rather than beneficial ; for it is known to all that to certain
kinds of vegetable life it is very destructive. If applied toe an aspara-
gus bed, while it destroys grass and certain weeds whose roots are
near the surface, the growth of the asparagus is promoted. In gene-
ral its effects are said to be better on good soils than poor ones, If
east about trees, the saline properties may indeed destroy insects ;
but, if the quantity has been too large, so as to penetrate to the mass
of the roots, the trees have likewise now and then been destroyed.
Those who use salt in agriculture should be furnished with a directory
for it, either Brown’s American Muck Book, or Dana’s Muck Manual.

SALMON. A celebrated fish belonging to the trout genus, which
inhabits the northern seas, and ascends the rivers in spring for the
purpose of depositing its spawn. The excellence of its flesh is well
known, but it varizs somewhat in different waters. In certain dis-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 357

tricts, the abundance of this fish forms a great source of wealth to the
inhabitants, and it often forms a chief article of sustenance. The
salmon inhabits the European coasts, from Spitzbergen to Western
France. but is never seen in the Mediterranean. On the Western
shores of the Atlantic it is found from Greenland to the Hudson, but
is exceedingly rare in the latter river, and never penetrates farther
south. It ascends the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario, and enters the
tributaries of that lake ; but the fall of Niagara presents a barrier to
its farther progress into the continent. In the North Pacific the
salmon again makes its appearance, and frequents, in vast numbers,
the rivers of Northwestern America, Kamtschatka, and Eastern Asia.

A cold climate and clear water seem to be most congenial to its
constitution. The salmon grows to the length of four, five or six feet,
and usually weighs twelve or fifteen pounds. The body is elongated
and compressed ; the color silver gray, with spots ; the head of mod-
erate size, and the upper jaw rather the longest. Almost all parts*of
the mouth, and even the tongue, are furnished with pointed teeth, as
in the other trouts, and like them, it has an adipose fin upon the lower
part of the back. All the trouts are voracious and carnivorous, and
in general seek the purest water. As soon as the ice melts, the sal-
mon enters the mouths of rivers, and, as has been ascertained, almost
always of those which gave them birth. They are easily frightened,
either by a sudden noise or floating timber, and on such occasions
sometimes turn aside from their course and return to the sea. When
farther advanced, they make the most determined efforts to sarmount
rapids and cascades, and will leap a fall of twelve or fifteen feet in per-
pendicular height. If alarmed, they dart away with such rapidity that
the eye can scarcely follow them.

When the young are about a foot in length, they descend the rivers
and take refuge in the ocean. Late in the following spring or in the
beginning of summer, and after the old ones have ascended, the young
again enter the rivers, and are then about eighteen inches in length.
They again seek the ocean on the return of frosts. At two years old,
the salmon weighs six or eight pounds, and requires five or six years to
attain the weight of ten or twelve. The salmon fishery is one of the
most important branches of business in the north of Europe. Im-
mense quantities of this fish are taken every year, and form a consid-
erable accession to the general mass of nutriment. The flesh is
bright orange, but, though delicious to the taste, and very much
sought after, is difficult of digestion. Formerly the New York market
was supplied with fresh salmon from the Connecticut river ; but,
since the erection of mill dams and other obstructions, the fish have
become scarce there, and now are brought almost exclusively from the
state of Maine, packed in ice.

SAMP. A name given to a sort of bread made of the maize, or
Indian corn. They first water the corn for about half an hour, and

358 THE FARMER AT HOME.

then beat it in a mortar, or grind it in a handmill ; they then sift out
the flour, and winnow the husks from it; they then mix this into a
thin paste with water, and bake it in flat loaves, which they call
samp loaves; or samp bread. Beside this, they have another dish
prepared of this corn, which they esteem a great delicacy, and call by
the name of samp, without the addition of loaf or bread. To make
this, they only bruise or grind the corn to the size of rice, and then
winnowing away the husks, they boil it gently till it is thoroughly
tender, and then add to it milk and butter and sugar ; this is not only
a very wholesome, but a very pleasant dish. It was the first diet of
our planters when newly settled here, and is still in use as an inno-
cent food in sickness as well as health. The Indians, who feed on
this sort of food, are found never to be subject to the stone, and to
escape several other painful diseases. The English have found a way
of making a very good sort of beer of the grain of Indian corn; they
do this either by using the bread of it, or else by malting it, as they
do their own corn. When they make the-beer of the maize bread,
they break or cut it into lumps as big as a man’s fist; they mash
these in the samme manner that we do malt, and boil up the wort in
the same manner, either with or without hops.

SAND. The name of sand is given to all mineral matter that
exists in minute detached grains, and is denominated from the pre-
vailing substance, as siliceous sand, iron sand. Sand is generally formed
from the disintegration of hard stones or rocks by the agency of water,
and the particles of siliceous stones, possessing a greater degree of
hardness than most other kinds. The greatest part of the sand which
exists on the seashore, or is spread on the surface of the earth, is sili-
ceous. Argillaceous stones, or calcareous stones intermixed with
alumine, when reduced to minute parts, form a kind of paste or mud
by intermixture with water, the particles uniting or cementing together
as the mixture becomes dry. When a bed of siliceous sandstone rises
to the surface, the particles become separated by the action of the
atmosphere and other causes, and form a loose sandy soil; sometimes
so destitute of mixture with other earths, as to be entirely unfit for
vegetation.

The surface of the globe presents immense countries covered with
sand, as the deserts of Africa, and those of Northern Asia. Accord-
ing to Patrin, a French mineralogist, the great rivers which he has
seen in Northern Asia, the Irtisch, the Ob, and the Yenissey, have
their beds at present surrounded by sandy deserts, which are in many
parts from four to five hundred feet above the level of the plains.
These masses of sand, which cover such an immense extent, were
formed from the ruins of the higher parts of central Asia, brought
down by inundations. Extensive tracts of cultivated ground are
sometimes converted into sandy deserts; the process is taking place
at present, and has been well described by Ci.vier. During very high

THE FARMER AT HOME. 359

winds, the sand on the seashore is driven inland, covering the ground
to a certain distance, and leaving an elevated ridge at the further
boundary ; succeeding winds blow this forward, and at the same time
bring fresh sand to supply its place.

In the sixth volume of the Transactions of the Irish Academy, an
account is given of the encroachment of the sand over some parts of
Ireland. Trees, houses, and even villages, have been covered or sur-
rounded during the last century. The roofs, still rismg above the
waste, attest the period and the progress of desolation. The loose
sands of Egypt are thus spreading over the plains that border the
Nile, and burying the monuments of art, and the remembrance of
former cultivation. Palmyra, in Asia Minor, that once supplied an
abundant population with food; now scarcely affords a few plants to
the camel of the wandering Arab. By planting and irrigation, man
can fix limits to the moving wastes of sand ; but despotic power, more
destructive than the winds of the desert, unnerves the arm of industry,
and dashing the cup of enjoyment to the ground, consigns flourishing
and fertile districts to eternal sterility and solitude.

SAP. The water in which the roots of a plant are immersed is
gradually absorbed, and during the season of vegetation, it ascends
through the vessels of thestem with great rapidity, and with great
force, but still limpid, tasteless and inert, possessing only the proper-
ties of the pure water from which it was derived. This fluid consti-
tutes the sap. In some plants, and at certain seasons, it 1s particu-
larly abundant. If wounded in the spring, previous to the expansion
of their buds, the sap of the vine, maple or birch, flows profusely, but
at midsummer, after the leaves are fully developed, the ‘ tears of the
vine” are comparatively few. It is not unusual, in this country, to
collect one or two hundred pounds of sap from a single maple of ordi-
nary size, and we are told that a birch tree, when wounded, has been
known to discharge a quantity equal to its own weight. Yet, at mid-
summer, when the noble euergies of the vegetable are exerted, these
trees rarely bleed at all. The flowing of the sap is usually regarded
as the effect of its accumulation in the vessels, at a season when there
are no leaves through which. in the form of vapor, it may escape.
Dr. Smith, however, regards it as the effect of heat, operating on the
irritabilifof the plant, and he considers it as the first step towards
the revival of vegetation from the torpor of winter. To this hypo-
thesis there are very serious objections, for many trees bleed in the
autumn after the leaves begin to fade and fall, as well as in the spring
before the buds are open

SAUSAGE-MEAT CUTTER. This machine, by the labor of
one man, is capable of cutting readily from eighty to one hundred
pounds of meat per hour, the person feeding the machine ; thus leaving
the mass cut sufficiently fine and uniform. The process is simply
putting in the meat at the small end of the cone, through the hopper,

360 THE FARMER AT HOME.

and, by turning the crank, the meat is passed round, through and be-
tween the knives, and forward to the large end of the cone, and dis-
charged through an aperture in the bottom at the large end of the
cone,-or opposite the hopper. Cutting meat for sausages by hand,
with a knife, as formerly done, was an arduous and disagreeable labor ;
but, with one of these machines, and a sausage stuffer, that will do
the work of five or six men, sausages may now be manufactured with
the greatest imaginable facility and convenience. No family should
be without them.

SAUSAGE-MEAT CUTTER.

SAVING MANURE. Many persons do not seem to be aware
that a valuable portion of manures can escape in the form of steam
and gases generated by the heat and decomposition of animal and
vegetable matters ; or that another valuable part may be washed out
by rain and snow water, while a moiety 1s frequently lost in the urine
that passes through a leaky floor. Every agriculturist should make it
a leading object to guard as much as possible against these losses ; to
eflect this, the barn cellar is probably the best plan yet devised ; for
here large quantities of peat, muck, with other valuable absorbing
materials, can be stored in summer and auturnn for daily de: with
the fresh dung during winter. The temperature of the le mass
can be easily regulated so as to guard against loss by excessive fer-
mentation ; the muck absorbs the urine, and no drenching rains wash
out the soluble portions of the contents of the cellar, but all is saved
in the best possible condition to be carted out and ploughed into the
soil.

But as few farmers, compared with the many, have cellars under
their barns and stables, sheds answer a very good purpose for shelter-
ing winter-made manure. In such cases the hovel floors should be

THE FARMER AT HOME. 361

made water tight, and sufficient quantities of dried muck, .oam, clay,
and litter, should be stored for the purpose of daily littering the floors,
both for the comfort of the cattle, and absorbing the urine ; but during
the winter, where such a practice is pursued, the contents of the hovel,
if thrown loosely under sheds, are often lable to heat and ‘“ firefang,”
unless trodden down hard ; this can be done by keeping a few hogs
upon the mauure, or suffering young cattle or sheep to go under the
sheds. As the manure does not freeze when thus treated, it can at
any convenient time during the winter, be sledded out and placed in
large heaps, near where it will be wanted for use ; thus saving much
heavy cartage over wet roads and across soft fields in the busy season
of spring. In this matter I speak from experience.

The agricultural value of the urine of a stock of cattle, does not
appear to be fully appreciated by farmers generally, if we may judge
from the recklessness with which a large portion of it is suffered to
run to waste on many farms during the winter season. Carefully con-
ducted experiments made some years since, by an intelligent farmer,
Charles Alexander, near Peebles, Scotland, proved that while fourteen
head of cattle made six loads of solid manure, the urine voided by
them in the same time, would saturate seven loads of loam, rendering
it of equal value, load for load, with the solid excrements. ‘ He tried
this experiment for ten years, and had indiscriminately used in the
same field, either the rotted cow-dung or the saturated earth ; and in
all the stages of the crop, he had never been able to discover any per-
ceptible difference ; he found that his compost lasted in its effects as
many years as his best putrescent manure.” Said Mr. Coleman,
‘conclusions of vast importance are deducible from this statement.
They speak volumes of instruction; and if we are willing to learn,
they must lead to a very material alteration in the construction of our
barns.”

SAW MILLS. In early periods, the trunks of trees were split
with wedges, into as many and as thin pieces as possible ; and if it
was necessary to have them still thinner, they were hewn on both
sides to the proper size. This simple and wasteful manner of making
boards has been still continued, in some piaces, to the present time.
Peter the Great, of Russia, endeavored to put a stop to it, by forbid-
ding hewn deals to be transported on the river Neva. The saw, how-
ever, though so convenient and beneficial, has not been able to banish
entirely the practice of splitting timber used in building, or in making
furniture and utensils, for we do not speak here of firewood ; and in-
deed it must be allowed that this method is attended with peculiar
advantages, which that of sawing can never possess. The wood
splitters perform their work more expeditiously than sawyers, and split
timber is much stronger than that which has been sawn ; for the fis-
sure follows the grain of the wood, and leaves it whole; whereas the
saw, which proceeds in the line chalked out for it, divides the fibres,

16

362 THE FARMER AT HOME.

and by those means lessens its cohesion and solidity Split timber,
indeed, turns out often crooked and warped; but in riany purposes to
which it is applied this is not prejudicial ; and these faults may some-
times be amended. As the fibres, however, retain their natural lengta
and direction, thin boards, particularly, can be bent much better.
Thus a great advantage in making pipe staves, or sieve frames, which
require still more art, and in forming various implements of the like
kind.

SAXON BUCK.

SAXON SHEEP. The invaluable properties of pure Saxon wool,
and the demand consequent for its manufacture into fabries, the fine-
ness of which the world has never before produced, is the cause of the
high value of Saxon sheep, and their spread over so large a portion of
Europe, and of their introduction to our own country. No other breeds
are so highly prized on the continent of Europe, and none which com-
mand such enormous prices. Individual uncontaminated rams, often
bring from one hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars ; and a whole
flock was purchased in Germany, a few years since, destined for Russia,
for which an average price of five hundred dollars was paid ; and, on
the authority of Mr. Spooner, it has been stated that rams have been
sold there at the incredible prices of one hundred to near three hun-
dred guineas per head. And in our own country, for rams, there have
been sales at prices approximating five hundred dollars each.

THE FARMER AT HOME. 363

- Mr. J. A. Taintor, of Hartford. (Conn.,) has imported some of the
best Saxon sheep known in the United States. The wool of his sheep
is of the finest and best quality ; and the animals have more size, and,
it is believed, better constitutions, than belonged to previous importa-
tions. It may be affirmed that his patriotic services in such laudable
efforts to improve the stock of this valuable animal deserves public
commendation. Of his importation there was a three year old buck,
which weighed one hundred and fifty pounds ; and he was admirably
well built, and had one of the best of fleeces. Mr. Taintor is a gentleman
of wealth, and of high intellectual bearing, and his personal acquaint-
ance with the best wool growers of France, Spain, and Germany,
enabled him to be thus successful in his selection. In making the
selection, he had the aid of Baron de Spreck, second to no other man
in judgment on such a subject.

SCORPION. Is an insect of this description, and is frequently
mentioned in the Seripture, but scarcely ever without being associated
with representations of malevolence and mischief. Among all the
insect tribe, the scorpion, indeed, is the most terrible ; its tigure is
hideous, and its sting is generally fatal. This creature, which, of all
the insects without wings, is the Jargest as well as most formidable,
somewhat resembles a lobster in shape, although beyond comparison
more horrible. Of this dangerous insect nine different species have
been enumerated, and all of them remarkable for their malignity.
Indeed there are few animals more dreadfully mischievous than the
scorpion. As it frequently takes refuge in houses, it is found to be a
dangerous inmate, and often stings those among whom it resides. In
some parts of Italy, and also in the south of France, it is one of the
greatest pests that torment mankind; but as in those countries its
sting seldom proves mortal, the malignity of the European scorpion is
trifling in comparison of that which the natives of Africa and the East
experience from those bred in their climates. In Batavia, where they
grow to a foot in length, it is scarcely possible to remove any furniture
without being in danger of being stung by these poisonous animals.
Bossman also informs us that on the Gold Coast in Africa they are
often found larger than a lobster, and that their sting is inevitably
fatal. In Europe their size does not exceed two or three inches, and
those who are stung generally recover.

The malevolent disposition of the scorpion has been proved by a
number of experiments, which show that no animal in creation is en-
dued with so irascible anature. Its fierceness is dangerous not only to
all other creatures that approach it, but also toits own species; for scor-
pions are the most cruel enemies to one another, which is a happy means
of preventing the too great increase of their numbers, as whenever
two of them meet, a combat immediately commences, and they never
cease fighting till one of them be destroyed. Maupertius put a hun-
dred of them together in a vessel, and they scarcely came into contact

364 THE FARMER AT HOME.

before they began to exert their rage in mutual destruction. Nothing
was to be seen but universal carnage; and in a few days there ~
remained only fourteen, which had killed and devoured all the rest.
He also enclosed in a glass vessel a female scorpion big with young,
and she was observed to devour them as soon as they were brought
forth ; only one of the number escaped the general destruction by tak-
ing refuge on the back of the old one; and this parricidal offspring of
an unnatural mother soon avenged the cause of its brethren by killing
its cruel parent. These observations demonstrate the propriety of the
scriptural metaphors, which exhibit the scorpion as the lively emblem
of finished malignity.

Mia RSE tea attr utinaineaee

SEED SOWER.

CORN PLANTER.

skib SOWER AND CORN PLANTER. All implements
thas can well perform by machinery and horse-power the labor re-
quired on a farm, and heretofore done by hand, add much to the
elevation of agriculture. Such implements are as important to the
farmer as improved mechanism and steam are to the mechanic. To
save labor and create dispatch are the great objects of attainment in
rendering any occupation productive of profit. If a farmer can be
enabled to accomplish in one day what he had formerly done m six
days ; or if he has become enabled to effect by machinery and horse
power aided by his own hands, what others do in the same time by
the occupancy of six men, it is clear that he is receiving far better
remuneration for his services than they are; probably three times as
much. To sow small seeds, especially in field culture, such as car-

THE FARMER AT HOME, 365

rots, turnips, and parsnips, is a most tedious process ; slow as well as
irksome, from the stooping position of the body in doing it; and,
although the same objection does not so fully exist in the planting of
Indian corn, still in that, where large fields are under culture for it,
the aggregate of labor in the operation is a weighty one.

So great was the object to be gained in doing this work by ma-
chinery, it was to be expected that our ingenious mechanics would
turn their attention to it. Such has been the fact. Several imple-
ments, in different parts of the country, more or less perfect, have
been produced ; each new one designed to obviate some supposed
defect in previous ones. Thus every new aspirant in this department
of agricultural improvement has the benefit of what his predecessors
have done. It now seems that the Seed Sower and Corn Planter has
become so perfect it would be visionary to attempt any additional
alterations for the better. The largest of them, with two horses and
a men will plant towards twenty acres of corn in a day; smaller ones,
with one horse, about half as much. The latter are preferable for
common farmers, because they afford all the speed desirable Emery’s
Seed Sower, called also the Albany Corn Planter and Seed Drill,
being made at Albany, N. Y., with one horse will plant one acre per
hour, with rows three feet apart. In using it the operator takes the
handles as with a wheel-barrow, and walks erect. The machine
making its own furrow, counting and measuring its own quantity of
seed, deposits it in hills or drills at pleasure, and at any distance
apart, covering the seed after it is dropped, and compressing it after
it is covered, by means of a roller, and doing the whole at one and the
same time. It would be difficult to imagine how it can be more com-
plete, unless one cau impart to it the locomotive power of the horse or
steam engine, which probably will not be attempted in our day. It
is believed that every farmer, planting no more than five or six acres,
with Emery’s Planter, will save labor enough in a single season to
pay for it.

SEEDS, DISPERSION OF. By the currents of the ocean, the
seeds of West India vegetables are frequently conveyed to the coast of
Norway, where they refuse to grow merely in consequence of the
unfavorable climate in which they are deposited. In this way the
plants of Germany find access to Sweden, and those of Spain and
France are scattered over the shores of England. In these cases the
difference of climate is not so great as to prevent the growth of seeds
which have thus emigrated from their native country. On the banks
of the Connecticut we frequently meet with plants which probably
descended with its current from the mountains among which it takes
its rise; plants whose seeds ripened in Canada, and. emigrated toa
more temperate climate.

Winds also contribute to the dissemination of seeds. We have
seen how well many of them are adapted to expose a large surface to

366 THE FARMER AT HOME.

its action, and we have often observed them sailing through the air,
in pursuit of a new and distant home. It is scarcely necessary to
refer to the winged capsules of the maple and the ash, which, in con-
nexion with the seeds, are propelled by the wind to a distance from
their respective trees. Nor is it necessary to say how effectually the
same object is secured by the winged seeds of the catalpa and pine,
which, in a similar way, are elevated and propelled through the air,

Some seeds are enclosed in an inflated calyx, more resembling a
balloon than a sail, but equally effectual in diffusing over the globe
the seeds which they enclose. But the feathery crown which invests
the seeds of compound flowers affords a more beautiful specimen of
mechanism than any of these, and it is brought into operation through
the agency of dry air at the very moment best suited for their disper-
sion. Aided by this, the erigeron of Canada has travelled from
America to Europe, and thence it has been diffused over the eastern
continent. Aided also by this, the dandelion, a native of Europe, has
diffused itself over every part of our country ; neither impeded by the
broadest rivers nor intercepted by the loftiest mountains, it has already
passed over the Alleghany and become a tenant of the woods of Ohio.
The minuteness of some seeds facilitates their dispersion by the wind,
and it is found that those which are most minute are most extensively
diflused. It is chiefly on this account that mosses and ferns are more
widely scattered than those whose seeds are large. Swartz found in
Jamaica the same moss which he had been accustomed to gather
when climbing the mountains of Europe. and there too the same
ferns which he had frequently seen in France, though the other plants
were all new and peculiar.

The fruit of many plants being the food of animals, they in various
ways scatter the seeds abroad. The squirrel fills his storehouses with
a stock of winter's food ; but he is either destroyed, or forgets where
his treasures were deposited, till they are no longer desirable food. Here
his nuts are permitted to germinate, and the very means which
threatened to destroy, are made to preserve the trees to which they
belong. Birds also lay up a store of food for themselves and their
young. While the Hollanders were in possession of the Spice Islands,
they endeavored to destroy the nutmegs which they could not defend ;
and before they relinquished any of their possessions, they carefully
rooted out this, their most valuable production. But notwithstanding
the vigilance and the jealousy of the Dutch, birds disseminated the
seeds of the nutmeg over these very islands, evidently indicating that
nature will not acknowledge the improper restrictions which man
would make supreme.

But more than birds and animals, more than wind and tide, man
contributes to the dispersion of seeds. Of this we shall be convinced,
as we learn the history of many well known vegetables, as we trace
them from one country to another, and observe in what way they have

THE FARMER AT HOME. 367

been extensively diffused. The wars which led many of the European
nations to the Holy Land, brought back many of the esculent vegeta-
bles which are seen on our tables, and many of the flowers which
adorn our gardens. Commerce has enriched different nations by an
interchange of their most valuable productions, and science has dis-
covered in the remotest sections of the earth, vegetables which are
now diffused through countries where they were formerly unknown.
Buckwheat, and most kinds of grain, were received through Italy from
the eastern nations, while the various kinds of cultivated fruit were
derived from Greece, ultimately perhaps from the provinces of Asia.
Persia is the native country of the peach; Arminia of the apricot ;
and from these nations they have travelled through Europe, and at
last reached this country. The potato was carried from America to
Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh, and from thence it has found its way
to almost every section of the eastern continent. These are but a few
of the many examples which might be mentioned, to prove how much
man has contributed to the dissemination of seeds. The fertility of
the vegetable kingdom will warrant the conclusion, that its numerous
species have all been preserved in the midst of the dangers which
assailed them; dangers. too, which they have no eyes to see, and no
voluntary power to avoid.

SENSITIVE PLANT. A remarkable plant that shrinks at the
touch. Naturalists have not explained the cause of the collapsing of
the sensitive plaut. The leaves meet and close in the night, or when
exposed to much cold in the day time, in the same manner as when
they are affected by external violence ; folding their upper surfaces
together, and in part over each other, like scales or tiles, so as to ex-
pose as little of the upper surface as may be to the air. Another
plant that seems to be endowed with a degree of sensation is the sun-
flower, which follows the course of the sun by nutation, not by twist-
ing its stem.

SERPENTS. In none of the countries of Europe is the serpent
tribe sufficiently numerous to be truly terrible. The venomous ma-
lignity, also, that has been ascribed to European serpents of old, is
now utterly unknown; there are not above three or four kinds that are
dangerous, and the poison of all operates in the same manner.
Though, however, Europe be happily delivered from these rep-
tiles, in the warm countries that lie within the tropics, as well as in
the cold regions of the north, where the inhabitants are few, the ser-
pents propagate in equal proportion. All along the swampy banks of
the rivers Niger and Oroonoko, where the sun is hot, the forests thick,
and the men but few, the serpents cling among the branches of the
trees in infinite numbers, and carry on an unceasing war against all
other animals im their vicinity. Travellers have assured us, that they
have often seen large snakes twining round the trunk of a tall tree,
encompassing it like a wreath, and thus rising and descending at plea-

368 THE FARMER AT HOME

sure. In these countries, therefore, the serpent is too formidable to
become an object of curiosity, for it excites much more violent sensa-
tions,

In the East Indies they grow also to an enormous size; particu:
larly in the island of Java, where we are assured that one of them
will destroy and devour a buffalo. In a letter printed in the German
Ephemerides, we have an account of a combat between an enormous
serpent and a buffalo, by a person who assures us that he was himself
a spectator. The serpent had, for some time, been waiting near the
brink of a pool, in expectation of its prey, when a buffalo was the
first that offered. Having darted upon the affrighted animal, it in-
stantly began to wrap it round with voluminous twistings; and at
every twist the bones of the buffalo were heard to crack almost as loud
as the report of acannon. It was in vain that the poor animal strug-
gled and bellowed ; its enormous enemy entwined it too closely to get
free ; till, at length, all its bones being mashed to pieces, like those of
2 malefactor on the wheel, and the whole body reduced to one uniform
mass, the serpent untwined its folds to swallow its prey at leisure.
To prepare for this, and in order to make the body slip down the throat
more readily, it was ‘seen to lick the whole body over, and thus cover
it with its mucus. It then began to swallow it at that end that
offered the least resistance ; while its length of body was dilated to
receive its prey, and thus took in at once a morsel that was three times
its own thickness.

Some serpents bring forth their young alive, as the viper ; some
bring forth eggs, which are hatched by the heat of their situation ; as
the common black-snake, and the majority of the serpent tribe. When
a reader, ignorant of anatomy, is told that some of these animals pro-
duce their young alive, and that some produce eggs only, he is apt to
suppose a very great difference in their internal conformation, which
makes such a variety in their manner of bringing forth. But this is
not the case; these animals are internally alike, im whatever manner
they produce their young; and the variety of their bringing forth is
rather a slight than a real discrimination, The only diflerence is, that
the viper hatches her eggs, and brings them to maturity within her
body; the snake is more premature in her productions, and sends her
eges into the light some time before the young ones are capable of
leaving the shell. Thus, if either are opened, the eges will be found
in the womb, covered with their membranous shell, and adhering to
each other, like large beads on a string. In the egg of both, the
young ones will be found, though at different stages of matur ity ; those
of the viper will crawl and bite the moment the shell that encloses
them is broken open ; those of the snake are not yet arrived at thei
perfect form.

Father Labat took a serpent of the viper kind, that was nine fee*
long, and ordered it to be opened in his presence. He then saw the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 369

manner in which the eggs of these animals lie in the womb. In this
creature there were six eggs, each of the size of a goose egg, but
longer, more pointed, and covered with a membranous skin, by which
-also they were united to each other. Each of these eges contained
from thirteen to fifteen young ones, about six inches long, and as thick
as a goose quill. These little mischievous animals were no sooner let
loose from the shell, than they crept about, and put themselves into a
threatening posture, coiling themselves up, and biting the stick with
which he was destroying them. In this manner he killed 74 young
ones ; those that were contained in one of the eggs, escaped at the
place where the female was killed, by the bursting of the egg, and
their getting among the bushes.

SHAD. A large species of herring, which inhabits the sea near
the mouths of large rivers, and in the spring ascends them for the pur-
pose of depositing its spawn in the shallow water about their sources.
The young fry remain for a season in the waters which gave them
birth, but on the approach of cold weather descend the rivers, and take
refuge in the ocean. The old ones likewise return, and at this time
are emaciated and unfit for food. The form of the shad is the same
as that of the other herrings, very much compressed, with the abdo-
men gradually becoming thinner, and forming a serrated edge ; and,
like them, the bones are much more numerous and more slender than
in other fish. The shad which frequents our waters has not been
accurately compared with the European, but is probably a different
species. It usually weighs four or five pounds, but sometimes twelve ;
the scales are easily detached, when a row of dark spots is exposed on
each side. It is found in all the rivers of our Atlantic coast, is highly
esteemed for food, and is consumed in great quantities, in the fresh
state, in our principal cities. During the season they are an important
source of wealth to the inhabitants of the borders of the Hudson,
Delaware, and Chesapeake. Great quantities are salted, but are less
esteemed than when eaten fresh.

SHEEP. One of the most extraordinary facts respecting sheep is
the vast number of them in ancient as well as in modern times.
True, this is the result of the great value of the animal. There are
supposed to be twenty millions of sheep in our own country ; probably
more than this number, as many as there are inhabitants. In Great
Britain, the number is set down at between thirty and forty millions.
From Scripture accounts, Job had fourteen thousand of this animal.
When the Israelites made an incursion into the land of Midian, they
brought back with them six hundred and fifty thousand ; and when
the ‘ribes of Reuben and Gad made war upon the Hagarites, their
spoils amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand. The king of
Moab was required to make an annual tribute of two hundred thou-
sand sheep ; and Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, made an
offering of one hundred and twenty thousand of them. From these

16*

370 THE FARMER AT HOME,

and other facts named in the sacred volume, it is inferred that sheep
constituted almost the only riches of the people; and they became thus
numerous, because few comparatively were slaughtered, their flesh
being rarely eaten, except on solemn occasions of sacrifice. It has
also been inferred that the ewes then had lambs twice a year. The
wealth of the people consisting in sheep, the reason is apparent why
the owners of them are so generally represented to have been wan-
dering shepherds.

In those times sheep were valuable for their milk, as well as for
their fleeces. This milk was used for human sustenance, so far as we
are informed, long before that of the cow. In addition to its use in
the liquid form, it was on a large scale converted into butter and
cheese. So essential was it as an article of food, that the same sys-
tematic usage prevailed for collecting it that now constitutes the order
of modern dairies. The only known particular in which there was
then made an effort to change the breed of sheep was to change the
color of the wool. It is supposed that the fleece of sheep was origin-
ally tawny, or dingy black, with rare cases of one being speckled.
The fleece, now, as well known, is white ; and the origin of this change
has been credited to the patriarch Jacob, when he stipulated with
Laban for all the ring-streaked sheep and goats, as. a compensa-
tion for his services. This incident establishes two facts; first, that
antecedent to it, the number so marked had been very small, or Laban
would not have acceded to Jacob’s proposition ; and second, that it isin
the power of man to produce changes in the breed of animals, of whick
no one should be ignorant. Here is a truth in animal physiology bette1
understood by Jacob than many modern agriculturists.

SHEPHERD’S DOG. The origin of the sheep-dog is somewhat
various ; but the predominant breed is that of the intelligent and do-
cile spaniel. It is found in most countries where sheep are kept.; and
wherever found, possesses much of the same form and character. The
muzzle is sharp, the ears are short and erect, and the animal is covered,
particularly about the neck, with thick and shaggy hair. The tail is
slightly turned up and long, and almost as bushy as that of the fox,
even in that variety whose coat is almost smooth. It is of a black
color, or black prevails, mixed with gray or brown. Instinct and
education combine to fit this dog for our service. He has a natural
predisposition for the office he has to discharge, which requires little
trouble or skill to develop and perfect.

My. Hogg says, and truly, that a single shepherd and his dog, will
accomplish more in gathering a flock of sheep from a Highland farm,
than twenty shepherds could do without dogs ; in fact, that without
this docile animal, the pastoral life would be a mere blank. It would
require more hands to manage a flock of sheep, gather them from the
hills, foree thern into houses and folds, and drive them to markets, than
the profits of the whole flock would be capable of maintaining. Well

THE FARMER AT HOME. 371

may the shepherd feel an interest in his dog ; he indeed it is that earns
the family bread, of which he is himself content with the smallest
morsel ; always grateful and always ready to exert his utmost abilities
in his master’s interest. Neither hunger, nor fatigue, nor the worst of
treatment, will drive him from his side, and he will follow him through
every hardship without murmuring or repining. Buffon says, in his Na-
tural History, that the shepherd’s dog. at the head of the flock, makes
himself bet'er understood by the sheep than the voice of his master.
Safety, order, and discipline, are the fruits of his vigilance, intelli-
gence and activity. His sagaxity in exercising control over a flock of
sheep, astonishes every one who may witness it.

SILBERTA cio
ot

IN i
we

SHEPHERD’S DOG.

A Mr. Peters, a few years ago, in the Albany Cultivator, says, the
sagacity of the shepherd’s dog is wonderful, and relates the following
anecdote from a Scotch paper he had then recently seen. It seems
that the master of a bitch of this breed, purchased at a fair, seventeen
miles from his own house, a flock of eighty sheep ; and having occa-
sion to remain a day longer, sent them on under the care of his faith-
ful dog. The poor bitch, when a few miles on the road, dropped two
whelps, but faithful to her charge, she drove the sheep on a mile or
two further ; then allowing them to stop, she returned for her pups,

372 THE FARMER AT HOME,

which she carried some two miles in advance of the sheep, and thus
she continued to do, alternately carrymg her own young ones, and
taking charge of the flock, till she reached home. The manner of her
acting on this occasion was gathered by the shepherd from various per-
sons who observed her on the road. On reaching home and delivering
her charge, it was found that the two pups were dead. In this ex-
tremity, the instinct of the poor brute was yet more remarkable ; for,
going immediately to a rabbit's nest, she took two young rabbits, which
she deposited on some straw in the barn, where she continued to
suckle and watch over them.

——

SAR :
te WN
C Sil S WSN ‘

S

= SING
2M
yl

*

SHETLAND BULL.

SHETLAND CATTLE. The Shetland Islands present a won-
derful scene of rugged, black, and barren rocks. No tree or shrub
relieves these dreary spectacles, and enly gray rocks appear rising
from the marshes, and pools, and shores, bounded by the wildest
precipices. There are few or no artificial grasses, or green crops, or
enclosures protecting these crops, and grasses could not be brought to
perfection in these islands; there is nothing but moss, heath, and sea-
weed; yet, there is a breed of cattle of the same origin with the West
Highlander, which has been distinguished among stock amateurs.
These cattle from the severity of the climate and the scarcity of food
are diminative in size. They are gaunt and ill-shaped, so far as their
shape can be ascertained through the long, thick hair with which
they are covered, and which forms an impenetrable defence against
the snow and the sleet. They are rarely more than four feet high at

THE FARMER AT HOME 373

the withers, and sometimes scarcely more than thirty-five or forty
pounds a quarter.

These Shetland cattle contrive to live on their native moors and
wastes, and some of them fatten there; for a considerable and in-
ereasing quantity of beef is salted in Shetland and sent to the main
land, the quality of which is exceedingly good. When, however, the
Shetlanders are transported to the comparatively richer pastures of the
north of Scotland, they thrive with incredible rapidity, and their flesh
and fat, beg so newly and quickly laid on, is said to be peculiarly
delicious and tender. But if carried further south they rarely thrive,
becoming sickly and poor in the midst of abundance ; apparently not
able to encounter so great a change of climate.

SHETLAND PONEY. The Shetland poney, called in Scotland
sheltie, an inhabitant of the most northern Scottish islands, is a very
diminutive animal ; sometimes not more than seven and a half hands
in height, and rarely exceeding nine and a half. However, if so small
in stature, he is by no means contemptible, and is a great favorite
with many. He is often exceedingly beautiful, with a moderate sized
head, good tempered countenance, a short neck, fine towards the
throttle, shoulders low and thick—in so little a creature far from being
a blemish ; back short, quarters expanded and powerful, legs flat and
fine, and pretty round feet. These ponies possess immense strength
- of their size ; will fatten upon the meanest of feed ; and are perfectly
docile. One of them, nine hands high, is known to have carried a
. man weighing fourteen stone, or 168 pounds, forty miles in one day.

Mr. Youatt, in the Farmer’s Library, mentions, that some little
time previous to his making the statement, a friend of his presented
him with one of these elegant little creatures. Being several miles
from home he was greatly puzzled to know how he should convey his
newly acquired property. The Shetlandler was scarcely more than
seven hands high, anu as docile as he was beautiful. ‘‘ Can we not
earry him in your chaise?” said his friend. The curious experiment
was tried. The pony was placed in the bottom of the gig, and
covered as well as could be with the apron; a few bits of bread kept
him quiet ; and thus he was safely conveyed away, and exhibited the
novel spectacle of a horse riding in a gig.

SHOES. Among the Jews, were made of leather, linen, rush, or
wood ; those of soldiers were sometimes of brass or iron. They were
tied with thongs which passed under the soles of the feet. To put
off their shoes was an act of veneration; it was also a sign of mourn-
ing and humiliation ; to bear one’s shoes, or to untie the latchets of
them, was considered as the meanest service. Among the Greeks,
shoes of various kinds were used. Sandals were worn by women of
distinction. The Lacedemonians wore red shoes. The Grecian
shoes generally reached to the middle of the leg. The Romans used
two kinds of shoes; the calceus, which covered the whole foot some:

374 THE FARMER AT HOME.

what like our shoes, and was tied above with latchets or strings; and
the sale or slipper, which covered only the sole of the foot. and was
fastened with leathern thongs. The caleeus was always worn along
with the toga when a person went abroad ; slippers were put on dur-
ing a journey and at feasts, but it was reckoned effeminate to appear
in “public with them. Black shoes were worn by the citizens of ordi-

nary rank, and white ones by the women. Red shoes were some-
times worn by the ladies, and purple ones by the coxcombs of the
other sex. Red shoes were put on by the chief magistrates of Rome
on days of ceremony and triumph. The shoes of senators, patricians,
and their children, had a crescent upon them, which served for a
buckle ; these were called calcei lunati.

In the ninth and tenth centuries the greatest princes of Europe
wore wooden shoes, or the upper part of leather and the sole of wood.
In the reign of William Rufus, a great beau, Robert, surnamed the
Horned, used shoes with long sharp points, stufled with tow, and
twisted like a ram’s horn. It issaid the clergy, being highly offended,
declaimed against the long pointed shoes with great vehemence.
The points, however, continued to increase, till in the reign of Rich-
ard II. they were of so enormous a length that they were tied to the
knees with chains sometimes of gold, sometimes of silver. The upper
parts of these shoes in Chaucer’s time were cut in imitation of a church
window. The long pointed shoes were called crackowes, and con-
tinued in fashion for three centuries, in spite of the bulls of popes, the
decrees of councils, and the declamations of the clergy. At length
the parliament of England interposed by an act, A. D. 1463, pro-
hibiting the use of shoes or boots with pikes exceeding two inches in
length, and prohibiting all shoemakers from making shoes or boots
with longer pikes under severe penalties. But even this was not
sufficient ; 1t was necessary to denounce the dreadful sentence of ex-
communication against all who wore shoes or boots with points longer
than two inches. The present fashion of shoes was introduced in
1633; the buckle was not used till 1670.

In Norway they use shoes of a particular construction, consisting
of two pieces, and without heels; in which the upper leather fits close
to the foot, the sole being joined to it by many plaits or folds. The
shoes or slippers of the Japanese,as we are informed by Professor
Thunberg, are made of rice straw woven, but sometimes, for people
of distinction, of fine slips of ratan. The shoe consists of a sole with-
out upper leather or hind piece ; forwards it is crossed by a strap of
the thickness of one’s finger, which is lined with linen; from the tip
of the shoe to the strap a cylindrical string is carried, which passes
between the great and second toe, and keeps the shoe fast on the foot.
As these shoes have no hind piece, they make a noise when people
walk in them like slippers. When the Japanese travel, their shoes

THE FARMER AT HOME. 375

are furnished with three strings made of twisted straw, with which
they are tied to the legs and feet, to prevent them from falling off.

Some people carry one or more pairs of shoes with them on their
journeys, in order to put on new, when the old ones are worn out.
When it rains, or the roads are very dirty, these shoes are soon wetted
through, and one continually sees a great number of worn-out shoes
lying on the roads, especially near the brooks, where travellers have
changed their shoes after washing their feet. Instead of these, in
rainy or dirty weather, they wear high wooden clogs, which under-
neath are hollowed out in the middle, and at top have a band across
like a stirrup, and a string for the great toe; so that they can walk
without soiling their feet. Some of them have their straw shoes fas-
tened to these wooden clogs. The Japanese never enter their houses
with their shoes on; but leave them in the entry, or place them on
the bench near the door, and thus are always barefooted in their
houses, so as not to dirty their neat mats. During the time that the
Dutch live at Japan, when they are sometimes under an obligation of
paying visits at the houses of the Japanese, their own rooms at the
factory being likewise covered with mats of this kind, they wear,
instead of the usual shoes, red, green, or black slippers, which on
entering the house they pull off; however, they have stockings on,
and shoes made of cotton stuff with buckles in them, which shoes are
made at Japan, and can be washed when dirty. Some have them of
‘lack satin, to avoid washing them.

SHOOTING STARS, or METEORS. The luminous appear-
ices, known by the name of shooting stars, are too common not to
aave been seen by most of the persons for whom this book is designed.
But as frequent as they are, the phenomenon is not well understood.
Some imagine that they are occasioned by electricity, and others that
they are nothing but luminous gas, perhaps phosphureted hydrogen.
Others have again supposed, that some of them are ]uminous bodies
which accompany our planet in its revolution about the sun, and that
their return to certain places might be calculated with as much cer-
tainty and exactness as that of any of the comets.

Signior Baccaria supposed they are occasioned by electricity. His
opinion is confirmed by the following observations. About an hour
after sunset, he and some friends that were with him, observed a fall-
ing star, directing its course directly towards them, and apparently
growing larger and larger, but just before it reached them it disap-
peared. On vanishing, their faces, hands, and clothes, with the earth
and all the neighboring objects, became suddenly illuminated with a
diffused and lambent light. It was attended with no noise. During
their surprise at this appearance, a servant informed them that he
had seen a light shine suddenly in the garden, and especially upon
the streams which he was throwing to water it.

On the 12th of November, 799, there was seen a very remark-

4

376 THE YARMER AT HOME.

able exhibition of shooting st:rs, at Cumana, in South America, and
over most of the West India Islands. ‘The following account of it is
from the pen of a gentleman who witnessed it. He says : ‘‘I was
called up about three o’elock in the morning, to see the shooting of
stars, as it is called. The phenomenon was grand and awful... The
whole heavens appeared as if illuminated with sky rockets, which
disappeared only by the light of the sun after daybreak. These me-
teors appeared as numerous as the stars, flying in all possible direc-
tions, except from the earth, towards which they all inclined more or
less, and some of them descended perpendicularly over the vessel we
were in, so that I was in constant expectation of their falling on us.

About thirty years previous to this time, a similar phenomenon
was observed on the table-land of the Andes. At Quito, there was
seen in one part of the sky, above the volcano of Gayamba, so great
a number of falling stars, that the mountain was thought to be in
flames. This extraordinary light lasted more than an hour. Those
meteors which are heard to burst, the explosion being followed, as is
sometimes the case, by the fall of stones, are called aerolites. These
stones often descend with suck force as to bury themselves several feet
in the earth. Many attempts have been made to account for the
formation and ignition of these grand objects; but the subject still
remains enveloped in mystery.

It has been said that the stones, thus incontestibly proved by dif-
ferent authorities, and from various places, to have fallen after the
explosion of meteors, are heated and luminous when they reach the

earth, and they have been seen in Europe, Asia, and America. The
stones are of different sizes, and from a few ounces in weight to seve-
ral tons. They are generally of a circular form, and covered with a
rough black crust. Meteoric stones have been subjected to chemical
analysis, and are found to be entirely different from all known stones
belonging to the earth. The most remarkable of these meteors, so
recently seen, were those of 1783 and 1805. The former was very
luminous, and its diameter was estimated to be a thousand yards.
The latter passed with such astonishing rapidity, that amazement had
not subsided ere it vanished ; consequently, but very little dependence
ean be placed on what has been said concerning its bulk and shape.
The light which it emitted was a pale blue,and almost as instantaneous
as a flash of lightning, and the rushing of the enormous body produced
a sound like very distant thunder.

SHORT-HORNED CATTLE. The Durham cattle are usually
called short horns. From the earliest periods to which we have any
accounts of our breeds of cattle, says Mr. Martin, the counties of Dur-
ham and York have been celebrated for these cattle, particularly as
extraordinary milkers. The Durham short horns are of all colors,
from a pure creamy white to a deep red; but generally these colors
are intermixed in patches of every imaginable shape and of all sizes,

THE FARMER AT HOME. 377

or blended into a beautiful roan. Their form is well spread, symmet-
rical, and imposing, and capable of sustaining a large weight of valu-
able carcass. The horn was originally branching and turned upward,
but now frequently has a downward tendency, with the tips pointing
towards each other. They are light, and comparatively short ; clear,
high polished, and waxy. The head is finely formed, with a longer
face, but not as fine a muzzle, as the Devon. Mr. Stephens remarks,
that a dark red color usually indicates hardiness of constitution, rich-
ness of milk, and disposition to fatten; and that high red indicates a
large quantity of thin milk, and little disposition to fatten.

The weights reached by the short horns in England, says Mr.
Allen, author of Domestic Animals, have been enormous. Two oxen,
six years old, weighed nett, 1,820 pounds each. A heifer of three
years old, and fed on grass and hay alone, weighed 1,260 pounds.
A four-year-old steer, fed on hay and turnips only, dressed 1,890
pounds. A cow reached the prodigious weight of 1,778 pounds. A
heifer running with her dam, and on pasture alone, weighed, at seven
months, 476 pounds. An ox, seven years old, weighed 236 pounds.
From the comparatively small numbers in this country, most of these
cattle are kept as breeders; few, as yet, have been fattened, and such
only as were decidedly inferior. Such animals as have been exten-
sively produced by crossing this breed upon our former stocks, have
given evidence of great and decided improvement; and the short
horns and their grade descendants are destined, at no distant day, to
occupy a large portion of the richest feeding-grounds in the United
States.

In England, where so much effort has been made to improve these
cattle, there has been a disposition to pay high prices, bordering on
wildness or insanity. In 1810, Mr. Charles Collings sold his bull
Favorite for one thousand guineas; another one for three hundred
and sixty-five guineas ; his cow Cupid for four hundred guineas; and
his cow Cornet for four hundred and ten guineas. And the produce
of his whole stock, of forty-seven head, including calves and heiters,
amounted to £7,115 17s. He also raised an ox for which one time,
two thousand pounds were offered and refused. The live weight of
this ox at one time was 3,780 pounds. In our own country, such
prices have not been known. However, prior to the year 1840, there
was, with a few of our enterprising citizens, a manifestation of a spec-
ulative temperament, that led, in some imstances, to prices varying
from five hundred to a thousand dollars for favorite animals. The
following years of commercial embarrassment reduced their market
price below their intrinsic value. The current of feeling is again
turning in their favor; and the presumption now is that the rearing
of the best breeds of cattle will become an object of permanent inter-
est. There will be again no occasion for prices so high as to bring
the business into disgrace. It will be a legitimate and patriotic de-

378 THE FARMER AT HOME.

partment of rural economy, justifying honorable competition, and
leading to well defined and satisfactory remuneration for all judicious
investment.

os; ey

NS

os i at Ree
LORD ALTHORP’S SHORT-HORNED BULL.

SILKWORM. The silkworm is as beneficial as the scorpion is
noxious, and produces an article of ornament and commerce univer-
sally known and admired. This insect is of the caterpillar genus, of
a whitish color, with twelve feet, and at last produces a butterfly of
the moth kind. Jt is a native of China and the easternmost parts of
Asia, and has been gradually introduced into various parts of the
world. Silk was anciently brought in small quantities to Rome; but
it was so scarce as to be sold there for its weight in gold.

There is given, in the ‘‘ Letters on Ancient aud Modern» History,”
a succinct account of the silk trade carried on between ancient Rome
and the oriental countries of Asia, and of the introduction of the silk-
worm into the Roman empire; which it is therefore unnecesssary
here to repeat. Since that event, which forms an important era in
the history of commerce, this valuable insect has been diffused
throughout all the warm countries of Asia and Europe. In China,
Tonquin, and other hot countries, they are left at liberty on the trees

THE FARMER AT HOME. 379

where they are hatched ; but to breed them in Europe, and America,
they must be sheltered from the inclemency of the weather, and care-
fully protected from every external injury. For this purpose, a room
is chosen with a southern aspect, the windows of which are so well
glazed as not to admit of the least air when it is cold. The walls are
well built, and the planks of the floor laid close, so as not to admit
the entrance of birds, mice, or even insects. In the middle of the
room four pillars or posts are erected, and placed so as to form a pretty
large square. Between these are diverse stories constructed with osier
hurdles ; and under each hurdle is a floor surrounded with an upright
border. These al] hang upon pillars, in such a manner as to be placed
or taken down at pleasure.

This is the mode of constructing a habitation for the silkworms
generally used by the most skillful breeders of these valuable insects
in European countries. Their food consists of mulberry leaves, of
which they must have a fresh supply every morning, and the remain-
der of the old leaves must also be carefully taken away, and every
thing must be kept very clean ; for nothing is so hurtful to them as
uncleanness and moisture. For this reason the leaves must be gath-
ered when dry, and kept in a dry place, if it be necessary to lay in a
store. Ifmulberry leaves cannot be obtained. the leaves of lettuce or
hollyhock will sustain the worms; but they will not thrive so well
upon this diet; their silk will neither be so abundant nor of so good a
quality. Although the judicious choice and careful management of
their diet, with a strict attention to cleanliness, be absolutely neces-
sary, there is yet another precaution of equal importance,—which is,
to give them air, by opening the windows at such times as the sun
shines with the greatest heat and clearness.

The silkworm is an insect not more remarkable for the precious
matter it furnishes for divers stufls, than for the many formsit assumes,
before and after its being enveloped in the rich cod or ball which it
weaves for itself. From a small egg, about the size of a pin’s head,
which is its first state, it becomes a pretty big worm, or caterpillar, of
a whitish color, inclining to yellow. In this state it feeds on mul-
berry leaves, till, being come to maturity, it winds itself up in a silken
bag. or case, about the size and shape of a pigeon’s egg ; and becomes
metamorphosed into an aurelia; in this state it remains without any
signs of life, or motion ; till at length it awakes to become a butterfly,
after making itself a passage out of its silken sepulchre ; and, at last,
dying indeed, it prepares itself, by an egg which it casts, for a new
life ; which the warmth of the summer weather assists it in resum-
ing.

As soon as the silkworm, or caterpillar, is arrived at the size and
strength necessary for beginning his cod, he makes his web; for it is
thus they call that slight tissue, which is the beginning and ground
ef this admirable work. This is his first day’s employment. On the

380 THE FARMER AT HOME.

second, he forms his ball, and covers himself almost over with silk.
The third day, he is quite hid; and the following days he employs
himself in thickening and strengthening his ball ; : always working
from one single end, “which he never breaks by his own fault ; and
which is so fine, and so long, that those who have examined it atten-
tively, think they speak within compass, when they affirm that each
ball contains silk enough to reach the length of six English miles.

SKATING. An exercise on ice, both graceful and healthy.
Although the ancients were remarkable for their dexterity in most of
the athletic sports, yet skating seems to have been unknown to them.
It may therefore be considered as a modern invention ; and probably
derived its origin in Holland, where it was practised, not only as a
graceful and elegant amusement, but as an expeditious mode of trav-
ellmg when the lakes and canals were frozen up during winter. In
Holland long journeys are made with ease and expedition ; but in
general less attention is there paid to graceful and elegant move-
ments, than to the expedition and celerity of what is called journey
skating.

It is only in those countries where it is considered as an amuse-
ment that its graceful attitudes and movements can be studied ; and
there is no exercise whatever better calculated to set off the human
figure to advantage. The acquirement of most exercises may be
attained at an advanced period of life; but to become an expert
skater, it is necessary to begin the practice of the art at a very early
age. It is difficult to reduce the art of skating to a system. It is
principally by the imitation of a good skater that a young practitioner
can form his own practice. Those who wish to be proficients should
begin at an early period of life, and should first endeavor to throw off
the fear which always attends the commencement of an apparently
hazardous amusement. They will soon acquire a facility of moving
on the inside; when they have done this, they must endeavor to
acquire the movements on the outside of the skates, which is nothing
more than throwing themselves up on the outer edge of the skate, and
making the balance of their body tend towards that side, which will
necessarily enable them to form a semicircle.

SKIN. The skin is the external covering of the animal body.
The impressions made on it, by the contact of foreign substances, are
transmitted to the brain, by means of the nerves coming from this
latter, and give rise in the mind to the sensations of roughness or
smoothness, hardness or softness, heat or cold, according to the prop-
erty of the substance applied. In other words, the skin is the seat of
the sense of touch—and like all the other senses, is capable, when
strongly impressed, of acting powerfully on the brain, and producing
great mental disturbance, accompanied in some cases with convul-
sions; and, in others, going on to insanity. Durimg the wars of
religion in France, between the Cs‘holics and Hugenots or Protestants,

THE ¥aRMER AT HOME. 381

many of the latter, belonging to the province of C2vennes, were sub-
jected to the martyrdom of being tickled to death, or the necessity of
abjuring their creed. In certain diseases of the skin, the itching is so
intolerable, as to drive the sufferers into actual madness.

Sensations of a very different and pleasurable character are expe-
rienced, when polished bodies or soft and elastic ones of a mild temper-
ature, are applied to the skin. These eflects are produced, by rubbing
slowly in the same direction with the hand of another person. The —
influence of this operation is not confimed to the skin, but is diffused
throughout the whole ammal economy ; as is evinced in general lan-
guor ; disinclination to motion, and indolence of thought ; a mild and
diffused warmth of the skin itself; languid circulation of the blood,
and subsidence or removal of forrner pain. Such are often the effects
of the touching and frictions of the magnetisers, to which they are
mainly indebted for the favorable belief in their powers, and by which
they sometimes obtain undoubted success in irritations and spasms of
persons possessed of great delicacy and sensibility of frame.

The tepid and warm baths produce nearly analogous effects. It
is more especially in southern climates, the inhabitants of which have
such exquisite sensibility, that the highest enjoyments of the sense of
touch are experienced. A]l travellers in Turkey, Persia, and Egypt,
unite in praising the luxury and ornaments of the bathing establish-
ments in those countries ; and all concur in describing the luxurious
languor, the pleasurable sensations pervading the whole nervous
system, when the bather after coming out of the bath, reclines on a
couch, and has the entire surface of the body gently rubbed, by attend-
ants in waiting for the purpose. The women in particular are lulled
to a soft repose, of hours’ duration, by this means.

SKINS. In Commerce, the membranous coverings of animals,
which are converted to several uses. When employed with the hair
remaining on them, they are distinguished by the names of peltry and
fur ; when dressed for writing, painting, and other purposes, by those
of parchment and vellum ; and when tanned, by the general name of
leather, or the particular name of the leather manufactured, or of the
animal from which it was obtained ; as morocco and ealf skin.

SKY. The blue expanse, otherwise called heaven, and the firm-
ament. With respect to its color, Leonardo da Vinci, and M. de la
Hire, have explained it as resulting from the mixture of white and
black, which is produced when we see the dark regions of the atmos-
phere through the light of the sun; but Sir Isaac Newton attributes
it to the vapors, which, beginning to condense, have had time suffi-
cient to reflect the most reflexible rays, that is, the violet ones, but
not enough to reflect the rest. One thing is certain, that, whatever
be the cause of the blue color of that space in which the stars move,
and which bounds all the visual prospects of this globe, the color that
we see by night, and that which we see by day, are the same; and

382 THE FARMER AT HOME.

that the apparent difference consists in this, that, in the latter case,
the light is between it and our eyes ; and, in the former, the lhght is
at our backs.

SLEEP. That state wherein the body seems perfectly at rest,
and external objects act on the organs of sense, without exciting their
usual sensations. Sleep is necessary not only to animals, but even
some of the vegetable tribes have the faculty of assuming, during the
night, a position essentially different from that which they bear
throughout the day. This change takes place principally towards the
approach of night, in leaves and flowers; the appearance of which
often varies so considerably, that the same plants can scarcely be
recognized. During the night, their leaves are observed to rise or
curl up, and sometimes to be pendent, according to the nature and
genus of the plant, in order to protect the flowers, buds, and young
stems. This period of rest is absolutely necessary to vegetables ;
their irritability being exhausted by the light and warmth of the
lay.

“SLEEPING APARTMENTS. Every one, who is actuated by
a due regard for his health and real comfort, will consider an equal
degree of attention necessary in regard to the size, situation, tempera-
ture and cleanliness of the room he occupies during the hours of
repose, as of his parlor, drawing-room, or any other apartment ; and
yet, how often do we find families crowded at night into obscure and
confined chambers, of dimensions scarcely more ample than those of
an old fashioned closet, while perhaps, in most instances, the best
rooms in the house will be set aside for the sole purpose of ostentatious
display. It is all-important that the largest and most lofty room,
upon the second floor, be appropriated for the sleeping apartment,
and that it be freely ventilated, during the day time, at all seasons,
when the weather is not rainy, or otherwise very humid. There are
few houses, the rooms of which are so situated as to render the latter
impracticable; and the influence of the practice upon the health of
the inmates is too important to permit its being neglected from any
slight cause.

While too great a degree of caution cannot be observed to avoid
sleeping in damp rooms, beds, or clothing, the temperature of the bed-
chamber should, if possible, never be augmented, under the ordinary
circumstances of health, by artificial means. As this apartment is to
be reserved solely for repose, a fire is never necessary, excepting, per-
haps, during uncommonly severe weather ; and even then the tem-
perature ought not to exceed fifty degrees. A sleeping apartment, in
which a large fire has been kept up for several hours previous to the
period of retiring to rest, may to many, at the first view, present an
appearance of the most perfect comfort—it is, however, at the same
time, a rneans of very effectually enervating the system—creating an
increased susceptibility to the influence of cold, and thus opening the

THE FARMER Av HOME. 383

way to the attack of some of the most serious diseases, especially of
the chest. Happy may they esteem themselves whose means forbid
an indulgence in this species of luxury.

A person accustomed to undress in a room without fire, and to
seek repose in a cold bed, will not experience the least inconvenience,
even in the severest weather. The natural heat of his body will very
speedily render him even more comfortably warm, than the individual
who sleeps in a heated apartment, and in a bed thus artificially
warmed. and who will be extremely liable to a sensation of chilliness
assoon as the artificial heat is dissipated. But this is not all—the
constitution of the former, will be rendered more robust, and far less
susceptible to the influence of atmospherical vicissitudes, than that of
the latter.

All must be aware, that in the coldest weather, a fire in the bed-
chamber can only be necessary during the periods occupied in dress-
ing and undressing. When the individual is in bed, it is not only
altogether useless, but to a certain extent injurious. It might be
supposed, however, that bad effects would result from rising out of a
warm bed, of a morning, in a cold chamber. We are assured, how-
ever, that if the business of dressing be performed with rapidity, and
brisk exercise be taken previously to entering a warm apartment, they
who would pursue this plan would render themselves less dependent
for comfort upon external warmth—a circumstance of very great
importance as a means of guarding against colds, coughs and con-
sumptions.

SMELL. To the use of discernisig prejudicial food, the sense of
smelling is subservient ; by which we both perceive their noxious
nature, before they be tasted, which might be dangerous ; and espe-
cially avoid putridity in our victuals, which to us is exceedingly
hurtful; and discover what is grateful and wholesome; although, by
habit, this advantage of smell is more conspicuous in animals than in
man. But men who have been left to themselves, and whose sense
of smell has not been corrupted by variety, have been observed most
certainly to retain that sagacious faculty in distinguishing food in an
eminent degree. The powers of medicinal plants are hardly to be
estimated better than by the simple testimonies of taste and smell.
Hence in all animals the organ of smell is placed near the mouth ;
and hence the smell is stronger, and the organs larger, in those ani-
mals which have to seek their prey at a considerable distance, or to
reject deleterious plants from among their food.

The actions of smell is strong, but of short continuance ; because
particles in a very minute state are applied to naked nerves, in the
immediate vicinity of the brain. Hence the deleterious and refreshing
actions of odors, by which people are resuscitated from faintings, and
even from drowning. Hence the violent sneezing, excited by acrid
particles, the evacuation of the bowels by the smell of purgatives, and

4 THE FARMER AT HOME.

in some few cases, perhaps, though by no means always, the power of
antipathies. Hence the pernicious effects of excessive sneezing, more
especially blindness, from the great sympathy of the nerves.

SNOW. A well known substance, formed by the freezing of the
vapors in the atmosphere. It differs from hail and hoar frost, in
being, as it were, crystalized, which they are not. This appears on
examining a flake of snow by a magnifying glass; when the whole
of it will appear to be composed of fine shining spicula, diverging
like rays from acentre. As the flakes fall down through the atmos-
phere, they are continually joined by more of these radiated spicula,
and thus increase in bulk like the drops of rain or hailstones. Dr.
Grew, in a discourse on the nature of snow, observes, that many parts
thereof are of a regular figure, for the most part stars of six points,
and are as perfect and transparent ice as any we see on a pond.
Upon each of these points are other collateral points, set at the same
angles as the main points themselves ; among which there are divers
other irregular, which are chiefly broken points, and fragments of the
regular ones.

Others, also, by various winds, seemed to have been thawed, and
frozen again into irregular clusters ; so that it seems as if the whole
body of snow were an infinite mass of icicles irregularly figured ; that
is, a cloud of vapors being gathered into drops, the said drops forth-
with descend ; upon which descent, meeting with a freezing air as
they pass through a colder region, each drop is immediately frozen
into an icicle, shooting itself forth into several points; but these still
continuing their descent, and meeting with some intermitting gales of
warmer air, or in their continual waftage to and fro touching upon
each other, some of them are a little thawed, blunted, and again
frozen into clusters, or entangled so «as to fall down in what we call
flakes. The lightness of snow, although it is firm ice, is owing to the
excess of its surface in comparison to the matter contained under it ;
as gold itself may be extended in surface till it will mde upon the
least breath of air. The whiteness of snow is owing to the small
particles into which it is divided ; for ice, when pounded, will become
equally white.

According to Beccaria, clouds of snow differ in nothing from
clouds of rain, but in the circumstance of cold that freezes them.
Both the regular diffusion of the snow, and the regularity of the struc-
ture of its parts, show that clouds of snow are acted upon by some
uniform cause like electricity; and he endeavors to show how elec-
tricity is capable of forming these figures. He was confirmed in his
conjectures by observing, that his apparatus for observing the elec-
tricity of the atmosphere never failed to be electrified by snow as well
as rain. Professor Winthrop sometimes found his apparatus electri-
fied by snow when driven about by the wind, though it had not been
affected by it when the snow itself was falling, A more intense

THE FARMER AT HOME. 385

electricity, according to Beccaria, unites the particles of hail more
closely than the more moderate electricity does those of snow, in the
same manner as we see, that the drops of rain which fall from thun-
der clouds are larger than those which fall from others, though the
former descend through a less space.

Were we to judge from appearances only, we might imagine that
so far from being useful to the earth, the cold humidity of snow would
be detrimental to vegetation. But the experience of all ages asserts
the contrary. Snow, particularly in those northern regions where the
ground is covered with it for several months, fructifies the earth, by
guarding the corn or other vegetables from the intenser cold of the
air, and especially from the cold piercing winds. It has been a vul-
gar opinion, very generally received, that snow fertilizes the land on
which it falls more than rain, in consequence of the nitrous salts,
which it is supposed to acquire by freezing.

But it appears from the experiments of Margraaf, in the year
1731, that the chemical difference between rain and snow water is
exceedingly small ; that the latter is somewhat less nitrous, and con-
tains a somewhat less proportion of earth than the former ; but neither
of them contain either earth, or any kind of salt, in any quantity
which can be sensibly efficacious in promoting vegetation. Allowing,
therefore, that nitre is a fertilizer of land, which many are upon good
grounds disposed utterly to deny, yet so very small is the quantity of
it contained in snow, that it cannot be supposed to promote the vege-
tation of plants upon which the snow has fallen. The peculiar agency
of snow, as a fertilizer, in preference to rain, may admit of a very
rational explanation, without recurring to nitrous salts, supposed to
be contained in it. It may be ascribed to its furnishing a covering
to the roots of vegetables, by which they are guarded from the influ-
ence of the atmospherical cold, and the internal heat of the earth is
prevented from escaping.

The internal parts of the earth are heated uniformly to the forty-
eighth degree of Fahrenheit’s thermometer. This degree of heat is
greater than that in which the watery juices of vegetables freeze, and
it is propagated from the inward parts of the earth to the surface, on
which the vegetables grow. The atmosphere being variably heated
by the action of the sun in different climates, and in the same climate
at different seasons, communicates to the surface of the earth, and to
some distance below it, the degree of heat or cold which prevails in
itself. Different vegetables are able to preserve life under different
degrees of cold, but all of them perish when the cold which reaches
their roots is extreme. Providence has, therefore, in the coldest cli-
mates, provided a covering of snow for the roots of vegetables, by
which they are protected from the influence of the atmospherical cold.
The snow keeps in the internal heat of the earth which surrounds the
roots of vegetables, and defends them from the cold of the atmosphere.

17

386 THE FARMER AT HOME.

SOAP. Pure white soap ought to be invariably used in ablutions
of the face and hands. or of the surface generally. But it may be
asked, what necessity is there for the use of any kind of soap in wash-
ing? We reply, that personal cleanliness cannot be effectually
secured without it. A few remarks will render this evident to every
one. In addition to the perspiration which is thrown out by the skin,
a portion of which always remains upon this surface, it is constantly
lubricated by an oily fluid. It is this that occasions, after bathing,
the water, with which it does not unite, to collect in minute drops upon
the body, and which gives to the skin of those in whom it is furnished
in large quantities, an habitual greasy and dirty appearance; while
of those in whom it is deficient, the skin has a harsh, dry, and scaly
aspect. This oily exudation greases the linen where it is worn for
too long a time—catches the dust floating in the air, and causes it to
adhere to the skin, and likewise retains in contact with our bodies, a
portion of the excrementitious matter, which it is the office of the
skin to discharge from the system. The removal of this deposit,
which is constantly accumulating, is absolutely necessary, as well for
personal comfort as for the preservation of health. Now the oily
matter referred to, with the foreign substances accidentally combined
with it, is not readily or completely soluble in simple water ; it can-
not, therefore, be effectually removed without the occasional use of
soap, with which it combines without difficulty.

The frequency with which it is necessary to wash with soap will
depend, in a great measure, npon the occupation and exposure of in-
dividuals. Ifthese be such as do not subject them to an atmosphere
loaded with dust, or to the frequent contact of such substanees as have
a tendency to soil the skin, washing the face, hands, and arms, once
a day, with soap and water, will be sufficient. particularly if the
water be warm or tepid, and its application be followed by brisk fric-
tion with a somewhat coarse towel. But mechanics and they who,
from any cause, are peculiarly liable to have deposited upon their
skin, dust, dirt, or any foreign matters, will find that washing several
times a day, especially before each meal, and previously to retiring
to bed, in addition to a frequent use of the bath, will be demanded,
as well for the preservation of the skin as of their health generally.
Upon the laboring classes the importance of frequent ablutions cannot
be too strongly urged—cleanliness of the person in its strictest sense,.
is too often practiced by them in a very imperfect manner. Repeated
washing of the face, hands, arms, and feet, though all important, is
aot sufficient. The entire surface of the body requires equal atten-
tion ; and it would be well if measures were adopted to afford to
every laborer and mechanic the time and means for the daily use of
the bath in summer, and its not unfrequent use in winter.

SOIL. Soil is the general name applied to the surface of all sorts
of land. It consists of the fine powdery material formed by the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 387

chemical and mechanical action of the air, water, and different de-
grees of temperature, from the primitive rocks of the earth, incorpor-
ated with each other in an endless variety of proportions, and mixed
with decayed and other vegetable matter in every stage of decompo-
sition. The soil thus formed affords a place for vegetable life, by
enabling the seed and plant there to fix itself mechanically to one
spot, and by its peculiar properties of affording moisture and the other
ingredients necessary for the development of plants i in all their stages,
to arrive at maturity, and thus furnish a supply of food to man and
animals.

The various ingredients necessary for vegetable life, all exist in
the primitive rocks of earth, and by their destruction these ingredients
are rendered available for plants, and as farther, this integration is
constantly going on, it must as a matter of necessity oceur, that a
greater power daily exists for the support of the vegetable creation.
The substances produced by the decomposition of the various strata
of the original rock, are potash, soda, phosphoric acid, magnesia, lime,
and silex. That such disintegration is constantly going on, is evident
from many causes; and one is, that the lavas in Sicily, which have
been thrown out from Mount Etna within a comparatively recent
period, are now found covered with a fertile soil, which could only
have arisen from this source ; and which is proved to be derived from
this cause by the chemical analysis of the rock itself; which yields
the substances found under other modifications in the soil itself.

This fertility is owing to the alkalies which are contained in the
lava, and which, by exposure to the combined action of the air and
moisture, are reduced to a state capable of being absorbed by plants.
A soil which has been subjected to this influence for ages, and from which
no crops have beeu removed, will be enabled to support a luxuriant
vegetation for many seasons successively, without any supply of ma-
nure, simply because the soil is full of the alkaline matter, phosphates,
and other ingredients necessary for the growth of plants; but when
under cultivation, and when the crops are removed from it, it must
become gradually exhausted, and unless the alkaline property removed
with the crop is restored in the shape of manure to the land, the soil
will become eventually quite unable to support a crop and bring it to
perfection. To ascertain annually how much of the fertilizing agents
of the soil are removed from it in the removal of the crops, and then
to restore to it in the form of manure what is equivalent to them, is
the province of scientific agriculture.

SOILING. ‘Cutting green food daily during the summer, and
giving it to cattle in yards or stables, is called soiling ; and in some
countries is the common method of feeding stock. In our own coun-
try, owing probably to the cheapness of land and the dearness of labor,
this is as yet but little practiced. The advantages of soiling are,
that one acre cultivated for this purpose will afford as much susten-

388 THE FARMER AT HOME.

ance as three acres will, when lying in pasture. When land is used
for pastures, more grass is trodden under foot, or otherwise rendered
unfit for food, than is eaten. Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, from
actual experiment, came to this conclusion. Many experiments have
been made in England establishing the same conclusion. Cattle also
thrive far better when soiled, than when allowed to collect their own
food. If their feed is collected for them, and given to them fresh,
they eat it when in its most nutritious condition ; fill themselves in a
very short time, and then he down and become fattened from it ;
whereas, if they collect it themselves in pastures, unless the grass is
of luxuriant growth, it takes them the whole time to fill themselves ;
they have no time for rest; and their constantly roaming about, like
labor to the ox or horse, only in a less degree, prevents their acquiring
fat or muscle. :

The labor indeed of cultivating the land to be used in producing
summer food for cattle, and of cutting it whenever wanted, forms an
important item of expense. There is nevertheless a material saving
of labor or money or its equivalent. In the six months of cattle run-
ning at large in pasture there is a loss of five dollars in manure, at
least, for each grown animal, which in soiling is saved. This for ten
head of cattle wonld be a saving of fifty dollars a year. On a farm
of seventy-five acres fenced into lots of the usual size, it will cost on
an average fifty dollars a year to keep the fences in repair. Half of
this may be saved if cattle are soiled and not allowed to run at large.
Then, if ten acres will support as many cattle by soiling as thirty will
by pasturage, the interest of money on the cost of twenty acres will
also be saved. If the land is worth only twenty dollars per acre,
a very low price, this will be the interest of four hundred dollars,
or about twenty-five dollars, annually. Now, it is easy from these
hints to form an opinion which of the two modes of feeding cattle in
summer is most economical.

SOOT. This is a complicated and variably mixed substance,
usually produced by the combustion of wood and of mineral coal. Its
composition, and consequently its effects, as a fertilizer, must vary
with the nature and quality of the fuel, and the manner in which it
is burned, as well as the height and structure of the chimney or
apparatus in which “' is collected. As the soot of wood fire is some-
what limited, and as that produced from mineral coal is more abun-
dant, attention should be more particularly directed to the latter. As
this coal is now generally used in cities, with becoming care in sweep-
ing chimnies soot might there be saved and sold to farmers for a
handsome sum annually. If each family would save a bushel only,
and double that quantity might be saved, the produce of the earth in
the neighborhood of cities would be augmented to an incredible
amount.

The composition of soot from mineral coal will of course vary with

THE FARMER AT HOME, 389

the kind of coal used for fuel, and with the circumstances under which
it is burned. From whatever variety it is derived, it will contain a
number of organic as well as inorganic bodies, including a considera-
ble portion of coal ashes, which have been carried up and lodged in
. the chimney by the draught. One of its most prominent ingredients
is the large amount of ammonia it contains. Besides this, it yields
the phosphates, the sulphates, carbonates, and chlorides of lime,
potash, soda, iron, and magnesia, which are the principal inorganic
ingredients, and show that soot is quite a powerful manure. A few
years ago it was stated in an English paper. that soot had been suc-
cessfuliy used for potatoes, producing a great yield and preventing the
rot.

SOLIDITY. In Physics, a property of matter or body. whereby
it excludes every other body from that place which itself possesses.
Solidity in this sense, is a property common to all bodies, whether
solid or fluid. It is usually called impenetrability ; but solidity
expresses it best, as carrying somewhat more of positive with it than
the other, which is a negative idea. The idea of solidity, Mr. Locke
observes, arises from the resistance we find one body make to the
entrance of another into its own place. Solidity, he adds, seems the
most extensive property of body, as being that whereby we conceive
it to fill space; it is distinguished from mere space, by this latter not
being capable of resistance or motion. It is distinguished from hard-
ness, which is only a firm cohesion of the solid parts, so as they may
not easily change their situation. The difficulty of changing situation
gives no more solidity to the hardest body than to the softest; nor is a
diamond properly a jot more solid that water. By this we distinguish
the idea of the extension of the body, from that of the extension of
space ; that of body is the continuity or cohesion of solid, separable,
movable parts; that of space the continuity of unsolid, inseparable,
immovable parts.

SONG OF BIRDS. The song of birds has been defined to be a
successicn of three or four different notes, which are continued withcut
interruption through the same intervals, in a bar of four crotchets,
adagis, or whilst a pendulum swings four seconds. It is observed, that
notes in birds areno more innate than language in man, and that they
depend entirely on the master under which they are bred, as far as
their organs will enable them to imitate the sounds which they have
frequent opportunities of hearing ; and their adhering so steadily, even
in a wild state, to the same song, is entirely owing to the nestling
attending only to the instruction of the parent-bird, whilst they disre-
gard the notes of all others that may, perhaps, be singing round them.

Birds in a wild state do not commonly sing more than six or seven
months out of the twelve ; but birds that are caged and have plenty
of food sing the greater part of the year; and we may add, that the
female of no species of bird sings. It has been remarked, that there

390 THE FARMER AT HOME.

is no instance of any bird singing whose size exceeds that of our black-
bird; and this is supposed to arise from the difficulty it would have
of concealing itself, did it call the attention of iis enemies, not only by
its bulk, but by the proportionable loudness of its notes.

It has been noticed by some writers, that certain passages of the
song in a few kinds of birds correspond with the intervals of our scale,
of which, indeed, the cuckoo affords a striking and well known
instance ; but much the greater part of such song is not capable of
musical notation; partly because the rapidity is often so great, and it
is also so uncertain when they may stop, that we cannot reduce the
passages to the form of any musical bar whatsoever; partly also,
because the pitch of most birds is considerably higher than that of the
shrillest notes of our highest instruments; and principally because the
intervals used by birds are commonly so minute and consequently so
different from the more gross intervals into which we divide our
octave, that we cannot judge of them.

Most people, who have not attended to the notes of birds, suppose
that all those of the same species sing exactly the same notes and
passages, which is by no means true, though it must be admitted that
there is a general resemblance. The nightingale has been almost
universally esteemed the most capital of singing birds; and its
superiority chiefly consists in the following particulars; its tone is
much more mellow than that of any other bird, though by the exer-
tions of its powers it can be extremely brilliant. Another point of
superiority is its continuance of song without a pause, which is often
extended to twenty seconds.

SPECTRUM. In Optics, when a ray of light is admitted through
asmall hole, and received on a white surface, it forms a luminous
spot. If a dense transparent body be interposed, the light will be
refracted in proportion to the density of the medium ; but if a triangu-
lar glass prism be interposed, the light is not merely refracted, but
divided into seven different rays. The ray of light no longer forms a
luminous spot, but has assumed an oblong shape, terminating in semi-
circular arches, and exhibiting seven different colors, This image is
called the spectrum, and, from being produced by the prism, the pris-
matic spectrum. These different colored rays appearing in differeut
places of the spectrum, show that their refractive power is different.
Those which are nearest the middle are the least refracted, and those
which are the most distant, the greatest.

The order of the seven rays of the spectrum is the following ; red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. The red, which is at one
end of the spectrum, is the least, and the violet, which is at the other
end, is the most refracted. Sir Isaac Newton found, if the whole
spectrum was divided into 360 parts, the number of the parts occupied
by each of the colors tc be the following; red, 45 parts ; orange, 27 ;
yellow, 48 ; green, 60; blue, 60 ; indigo, 40; and violet, 80. These

: _ THE FARMER AT HOME. 391

different colored rays are not subject to further division. No change
is effected upon any of them by being further refracted or reflected ;
and as they differ in refrangibility, so also do they difler in the power
of inflection and reflection. The violet rays are found to be the
most reflexible and inflexible, and the red the least.

SOUTHERN CORN-SHELLER.

The machine here represented is sometimes called the Virginia
corn-sheller, and is mostly used in Virginia and Maryland, where are
cultivated very extensive corn fields. Here it is invaluable from the
despatch with which it operates. It may be worked by one or two
men, or by horse power. By manual labor it will shell three hundred
bushels in a day, and by horse seven hundred bushels. It separates
the cobs from the corn, leaving both unbroken, and in the best con-
dition. It is of simple construction and not liable easily to get out of
order.

SPIDERS. In England, and the more densely populated parts of
our own country, where all the insect tribes are kept under by human
assiduity, the spiders are but small and harmless. We are acquainted
with few but the house spider, which weaves its web in neglected
rooms ; the garden spider, that spreads its toils from tree to tree, and
rests in the centre ; the wandering spider, that has no abode like the
rest ; and the field spider, that is sometimes seen mounting, web and
all, into the clouds. These are the chief of the spiders known to us,
which, though reported venomous, are entirely inoffensive. But they
form a much more terrible tribe in Africa and in Central America. In
those regions, where all the insect species acquire their greatest growth,
where the butterfly is seen to expand a wing as broad as our sparrow,

392 THE FARMER AT HOME.

and the ant to build a habitation as tall as a man, it is not to be won
dered at that the spiders are seen bearing a proportionable magnitude
In fact, the bottom of the Martinico spider's body is as large as a hen’s
egg, and covered all over with hair. Its web is strong, and its bite
dangerous. It is happy for us, however, that we are placed at a dis-
tance from these formidable creatures, and that we can examine their
history without feeling their resentment.

SPINAGE. This plant is a native of Persia, and has been culti-
vated in Europe, as an esculent, for about two centuries. The root
is annual; the stem herbaceous, smooth, upright, a foot or more high,
and somewhat branching ; the leaves alternate, petiolate, and narrow
shaped; the flowers small and greenish, disposed in several little
branches, in the axils of the superior leaves; in short, the whole plant
much resembles some of the species of goose-foot, to which genus it is
allied in its botanical characters. It is eaten sometimes in salads, but
more frequently cooked in various manners. It is a wholesome and
agreeable aliment, but contains little nutriment, and is not suitable for
delicate stomachs. The plant is of the easiest culture, and may be
procured nearly all the year round, by sowing at intervals of time. It
requires a rich soil, and frequent watering in dry weather.

SPINNING. When the fibres of cotton, wool, or flax, are in-
tended to be woven, they are reduced to fine threads, of uniform size,
by the well known process of spinning. Previously to the middle of
the last century, this process was performed by hand, with the aid of
the common spinning wheel. Locks of cotton or wool, previously
carded, were attached to a rapidly revolving spindle, driven bya large
wheel, and were stretched or drawn out by the hand, at the same time
that they were twisted by the spindle, upon which they were after-
wards wound. Flax, the fibres of which are longer and more parallel,
was loosely wound upon a distaff, from which the fibres were selected
and drawn out by the thumb and finger, and at the same time were
twisted by flyers, and wound upon a bobbin, which revolved with a
velocity somewhat less than that of the flyers. The manufacture of
flexible stuffs by means of machinery, operating on a large scale, is an
invention of the last century. Although of recent date, it has given
birth to some of the most elaborate and wonderful combinations of
mechanism, and already constitutes, especially in England and in this
country, an important source of national wealth and prosperity. The
character of the machinery which has been applied to the manufac-
ture of cotton, at different times, has been various.

There are, however, several leading inventions, wpon which most
of the essential processes are founded, and which have given to their
authors a greater share of celebrity than the rest. There are, Firsz,
the spinning jenny. This machine was invented by Richard Har-
greaves, in 1767, and, in its simplest form, resembled a number of
spindles turned by a common wheel, or cylinder, which was work.d

THE FARMER AT HOME. 393

by hand. It stretched out the threads as in common spinning of
carded cotton. Second, the water spinning frame, invented by Richard
Arkwright, in 1769. The essential and most important feature in this
invention, consists in the drawing out or elongating of the cotton, by
causing it to pass between successive pairs of rollers, which revolve
with different velocities, and which act as substitutes for the finger and
thumb, as applied in common spinning. These rollers are combined
with the spindle and flyers of the common flax wheel. Third, the
mule. This was invented by Samuel Crompton, in 1779. It com-
bines the principles of the two preceding inventions, and produces
finer yarn than that which is spun in either of the other machines.
It has now nearly superseded the jenny. Fourth, the power loom,
for weaving by water or steam power, which was introduced about the
end of the eighteenth century, and has received various modifications.

The foregoing fundamental machines are used in the same or
different establishments, and for different purposes. But, besides these,
various auxiliary machines are necessary to perform intermediate ope-
rations, and to prepare the material as it passes from one stage of the
manufacture to another. The number of these machines, and the
changes and improvements which have been made in their construction
from time to time, render it impossible to convey, in a work like the
present, any accurate idea of their formation in detail.

SPONGE. A marine production, generally to be met with in the
shops in pieces only. Its texture is cavernous and porous. Its great
elasticity, and its property of imbibing, and as readily parting with, a
large quantity of water, render it useful, Sponge is to be chosen as
light as possible, perfectly clean, and free from stone, of as pale a color
as may be, with small holes, and fine, and soft to the touch. It grows
in the Archipelago, at considerable depths, on the rocks, about some
of the islands there; and multitudes of people make a trade of diving
for it. It is also common in the Mediterranean and many other seas,
though in general browner or yellower, and not so fine as that of the
Archipelago, It adheres in large masses to rocks and stones, some-
times to large shells, and is either round, flat, or hollow, like a funnel.
There has been much dispute among naturalists concerning the real
nature of the sponge: nor is it yet satisfactorily decided whether it
belongs to the animal or vegetable kingdom. But it appears to be desti-
tute of irritability, as well as of any locomotive power ; and some recent
writers have maintained that it is during a part of its existence a vege-
table, and during the rest an animal. The opinion that sponge is,
like coral, the work of a polype, is erroneous.

SPRINGS. In order to prove that the vapors raised by the heat
of the sun from the surface of the seas, lakes, and rivers, are abun-
dantly sufficient to supply the springs and rivers with fresh water, Dr.
Halley made the following experiment: he took a vessel of water,
made of the same degree of saltness with that of the sea, by means

17*

394 THE FARMER AT HOME.

of the hydrometer ; and having placed a thermometer in it, he brought
it, by means of a pan of coals, to the same degree of heat with that
of the air in the hottest summer. He then placed his vessel, with the
thermometer in it, in one scale, and nicely counterpoised it with
weights in the other; after two hours, he found that about the sixtieth
part of an inch was gone off in vapor, and, consequently, in twelve
hours, the length of a natural day, one tenth of an inch would have
been evaporated. From this experiment it follows, that every ten
square inches of the surface of the water yield a cubic inch of water
in vapor per day, every square mile 6,914 tons, and every square de-
gree, or sixty-nine miles, thirty-three millions of tons. Now, if we
suppose the Mediterranean to be forty degrees long, and four broad at
a medium, which is the least that car be supposed, its surface will be
one hundred and sixty square degrees, from whence there will evapo-
rate five thousand two hundred and gighty millions of tons per day,
in the summer time. The Mediterranean receives water from the
nine great rivers following, viz: the Iberus, the Rhine, the Tiber, the
Po, the Danube, the Neister, the Borysthenes, the Tanais, and the
Nile, all the rest being small, and their waters inconsiderable.

Now let us suppose that each of these rivers conveys ten times as
much water to the sea as the Thames; which, as is observed, yields
daily 76,032,000 cubic feet, which is equal to two hundred and three
millions of tons; and therefore all the nine rivers will produce
eighteen hundred and twenty-seven millions of tons ; which is little
more than one-third of the quantity evaporated each day from the
sea. The prodigious quantity of water remaining, the doctor allows to
rains, which fall again into the seas, and for the uses of vegetation. As
to the manner in which these waters are collected, so as to form reser-
voirs for the different kinds of springs, 1t seems to be this—the tops of
mountains, in general, abound with cavities, and subterraneous caverns,
formed by nature to serve as reservoirs ; and their pointed summits,
which seem to pierce the clouds, stop those vapors which fluctuate in
the atmosphere, and being constipated thereby, they precipitate in
water, and by their gravity, easily penetrate through beds of sand
and lighter earth, till they are stopped in their descent by more dense
strata, as beds of clay or stone, where they form a basin or cavern,
and work a passage horizontally, and issue out at the side of the
mountain. Many of these springs running down by the valleys, be-
tween the ridges of hills, and uniting their streams, form rivulets or
brooks ; and many of these, again, uniting on the plain, become a
river.

STARCH. If a quantity of wheat flour is formed into a paste,
and then held under a very small stream of water, kneading con-
tinually till the water runs off from it colorless, the flour, by this pro-
cess, is divided into two distinct constituents. A tough substance, of
a dirty white color, called gluten, remains in the hand; the water is

THE FARMER AT HOME. 395

at first milky, but soon deposits a white powder, which is known by
the name of starch.

STARS, FIXED. The universe, so far as human observation has
extended, consists of infinite or boundless space, in which are number-
less fixed stars, of the nature, bulk, and properties of the sun ; but
because they are at such immense distances from the earth, they ap-
pear to our eyes only as so many beautiful shining points. They are
called fixed stars, because they do not change, like the planets, their
relative position; and they are distinguish~d from the planets by their
twinkling light. It is supposed that the fixed stars have primary and
secondary planets revolving round them, as the planets of our system
revolve round the sun. Were the sun so far from us as these stars
are, it would doubtless appear as they now do. It is certain that they
do not reflect the sun’s light as do the planets; for their distance is so
great that they would not, in that case, be visible. All the fixed stars,
with the exception of the polar or north star, notwithstanding they do
not change their relative position, appear to have a motion like the
sun and moon, rising in the east. increasing in altitude until they ap-
proach the meridian, and declining to the western horizon, where they
disappear. This apparent motion is caused by the revolution of the
earth on its axis from west to east.

The immovable appearance of the polar star, is occasioned by the
axis of the earth pointing directly to it. Its elevation above the hori-
zon of any place, is always equal to the latitude of that place, or its
nearest distance to the equator. The number of fixed stars visible to
. the naked eye, in either hemisphere, is not more than a thousand.
They seem indeed to be innumerable, when, in a clear winter’s even-
ing, we turn our eyes towards the heavens. But by looking atten-
tively, we shall find that most of those bright spots, which appeared
to be stars, vanish from our view. This illusion is owing to the twink-
ling lght with which the fixed stars are seen ; and, to our viewing
them confusedly, and not reducing them to any order.

STATURE. The height of an animal. It is a known fact, that
people in younger life are taller in the morning than at night, owing
to the pressure of the upper parts im the daytime while the person is
in an upright posture, on the cartilages between the vertebre of the
neck and back ; which cartilages, by their spring, resume their tone
and former dimensions in the horizonal position of the body during
sleep; the incumbent weight or pressure being, for that interval, and
during that posture, removed. But it is not so with the aged : the car-
tilages in them are grown dry, and thin, and springless ; by reason
whereof their stature will constantly continue at the lowest pitch.
And as the interstices of the vertebre are consequently enlarged, the
head, by its weight, will moreover naturally fall forward, and a bend-
ing in the back ensue. Hew 2e old person; are never so tall as they
were in their prime.

396 THE FARMER AT HOME.

STEEL. In the Arts, a most valuable metal, consisting of iron
combined with carbon. It is chiefly used for edge tools, and other
cutting instruments, and from its fine polish is used in ornaments of
various kinds. In Chemistry it is called a carburet of iron. Its
hardness is greater than that of iron; and its most valuable property
is, that it can be made harder than any other metal, by suddenly
cooling it when heated to redness ; also, if it is heated to a lower
temperature than redness, and suddenly cooled, it becomes the most
elastic of all the metals. It is of a darker color when polished, and
retains its polish much longer, not being so hable to oxydate.

Steel is manufactured by two processes, one in which the steel is
made from pig-iron at once in the finery; this is practised in Ger-
many, and is called natural steel. Cemented steel is formed by
stratifying bars of iron with powdered charcoal in a close vessel, and
by keeping the mass at a brisk red heat for a longer or shorter time,
depending upon the size of the bars. This process is called conver-
sion. The test of the conversion being complete is its blistered ap-
pearance, from which it has been called blistered steel. As the steel
in this change does not undergo fusion, all the imperfections in the
mechanical texture of the iron will still be found to exist in the steel.
Cast steel is blistered steel fused and cast into ingots, which are after-
wards drawn into rods by the hammer, or by rolling. By this change
the steel becomes much harder, and of course entirely free from those
seams and other defects which exist in the blistered steel; this is
what renders cast steel so much better for polished goods ; for when
blistered steel is attempted to be polished, the surface is seen to
abound with numerous spots, arising from mechanical defects m the
bars previous to conversion.

Cast steel works much harder under the hammer, and will vot
bear much more than a red heat, without breaking in pieces under
it. This, however, is more especially confined to that commonly
made ; since cast steel may be made which will bear a white and
even a welding heat; but it requires a much greater heat for its
fusion, and would in consequence be sold at a much higher price.
The refuse of blistered or common steel is generally melted into east
steel ; but this is not of the best quality. The best cast steel is made
by melting the bars of blistered steel, which, for this purpose, are a
little more converted than for ordinary purposes, in order to give the
steel a little more carbon than if it were used in the state of blistered
steel. The bars are broken into small pieces, for the purpose of stow-
ing the greatest quantity in the crucible.

STOCKING. That part of the clothing of the leg and foot which
immediately covers and screens them from the rigor of the cold.
Anciently, the only stockings in use were made of cloth, or of milled
stufls sewed together ; but since the invention of knitting and weav-
ing stockings of silk, wool, cotton, and thread, the use of cloth stock-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 397

ings is quite discontinued. Dr. Howel, in his History of the World
relates, that Queen Elizabeth, in 1501, was presented with a pair of
black knit silk stockings by her silk woman, and thenceforth she never
wore cloth ones any more. The same author adds, that King Henry
VIL. ordinarily wore cloth hose, except there came from Spain, by
great chance, a pair of silk stockings. His son, King Edward VI.,
was presented with a pair of long Spanish silk stockings by Sir
Thomas Gresham, and the present was then much taken notice of.
Hence it should seem, that the invention of knit silk stockings origin-
ally came from Spain. Others relate, that one William Rider, an
apprentice on London Bridge, seeing at the house of an Italian mer-
chant a pair of knit worsted stockings from Mantua, took the hint,
and made a pair exactly like them, which he presented to Wilham,
earl of Pembroke, and that they were the first of that kind worn in
England, anno 1564.

The modern stockings, whether woven or knit, are formed of an
infinite number of little knots, called stitches, loops, or meshes, inter-
mingled in one another. Knit stockings are wrought with needles
made of polished iron, or brass wire, which interweave the threads,
and form the meshes the stocking consists of. At what time the art
of knitting was invented, it is perhaps impossible to determine, though
it has been usually attributed to the Scots, as it is said that the first
works of this kind came from Scotland. It is added, that it was on
this account that the company of stocking knitters, established at
Paris, 1527, took for their patron St. Fiaere, who is said to have been
the son of aking of Scotland. Butit is most probable that the method
of knitting stockings by wires or needles was first brought from Spain.

Woven stockings are generally very fine; they are manufactured
on a frame or machine made of polished iron. The invention of this
machine is by Mr. Anderson attributed to William Lee, M. A., of
St. John’s College, Cambridge, at a period so early as 1589. Others
have given the credit of this invention to a student of Oxford at a
much later period, who, it is said by Aaron Hill, was driven to it by
dire necessity. This young man, falling in love with an innkeeper’s
daughter, married her, though she had not a penny, and he by his
marriage lost a fellowship. They soon fell into extreme poverty ;
and their marriage producing the consequences naturally to be ex-
pected from it, the amorous pair became miserable, not so much on
account of their sufferings, as from the melancholy dread of what
would become of their yet unborn infant. Their only means of sup-
port were the knitting of stockings, at which the woman was very
expert. While sitting constantly together from morning to night,
and the scholar often fixing his eyes with steadfast observation, on
the motion of his wife’s fingers in the dexterous management of her
needles, he took it into his imagination that it was not impossible to
contrive a little loom which might do the work with much more ex-

398 THE FARMER AT HOME,

pedition. This thought he communicated to his wife, and joining his
-head to her hands the endeavor succeeded to their wish.

STOMACH PUMP. A small pump, in this application called
the stomach pump, has lately been introduced into practice for re-
moving poisons from the stomach in cases where the action of vomit-
ing cannot be excited. It has already saved manv lives. Jt resem-
bles the common small syringe, except that there are two apertures
near the end, instead of one, which, owing to valves in them, opening
different ways, becorne what are called a sucking and a forcing pas-
sage. When the object is to extract from the stomach, the pump is
worked while its sucking orifice is in connexion with an elastic tube,
passed into the stomach; and the discharged matter escapes by the
forcing orifice. When it is desired, on the contrary, to throw cleans-
ing water or other liquid into the stomach, the connexion of the aper-
tures and the tubes is reversed.

STRAW. In the manufacture of straw hats, the culms of several
kinds of grasses are used. The Leghorn straw is the culm of a sort
of wheat sown on poor soils, and cut green. Rye straw is much used
in this manufacture. The straw is cut at the joints; and the outer
covering being removed, it is sorted of equal sizes, and made up into
bundles of eight or ten inches in length, and a foot in circumference.
They are then to be dipped in water, and shaken a little, so as not to
retain too much moisture ; the bundles are afterwards to be placed on
their edges, for the purpose of bleaching, in a box which is sufficiently
close to prevent the evaporation of smoke. Inthe middle of the box
is an earthern dish, containing brimstone, broken in small pieces ;
this is set on fire, and the box covered over and kept in the open air
several hours. It is the business of one person to split and select the
straws for fifty others who are braiders.

The splitting is done bya small machine, made principally of
wood. The straws, when split, are termed splints, of which each
worker has a certain quantity ; on one end is wrapped a linen cloth,
and they are held under the arm, and drawn out as wanted. Plaiters
should be taught to use their second fingers and thumbs, instead of
the fore fingers, which are often required to assist in turning the
splints, and thus much facilitate the plaiting ; and they should be
cautioned against wetting the splints too much. The finest hats are
made in the neighborhood of Leghorn, whence they are exported in
great numbers. The Dunstable manufactures in Bedfordshire, Eng-
land, are of a fine quality. In the English plait, the straws are flat-
tened in a hand mill, previous to working ; but in the Leghorn, the
pressure is applied after the plaiting is made. In some portionsof the
United States the culture of straw for the manufacture of hats has
been carried on to a considerable extent. This is particularly done in
several towns in the vicinity of Boston. The articles manufactured
are of great fineness and beauty ; and the pecuniary product has often

THE FARMER AT HOME. 399

been a most gratifying and honorable remuneration to the fair hands
occupied in the labor.

STRAWBERRY. This is one of the most wholesome and most
delicious of our fruits. The pulp is light. melting, and, notwithstand-
ing, but little watery, and does not undergo the acetous fermentation
in the stomach. It exhales a most delightful perfume, and the flavor
is exquisite, especially immediately after being plucked from the stem.
The root gives out several long, slender, creeping shoots, which take
root at intervals, and form so many new stocks; the leaves are com-
posed of three leaflets, supported on a long foot-stalk, which is provided
with stipules at the base. From the midst of the leaves arise two or
three simple, slender, silky stems. from four to six inches high, and
terminated by a few white flowers, disposed in a sort of corymb.
After flowering, the receptacle increases, acquires a pulpy and succu-
lent consistence, and finally a red color, when the strawberries have
attained maturity.

The strawberry is easily cultivated, and numerous varieties have
been produced ; some of great excellence have been obtained recently.
It forces well, and, with a little trouble in choosing a succession of
sorts, may be had almost every month in the year. An open situation.
and rich, loamy soil, rather strong, is required for most varieties; and
from their large mass of foliage and flowers, they must, till the fruit
is set, have copious supplies of water. The row culture is the most
convenient, and frequent renewal insures vigorous plants and large
fruit. A palatable jam, wine and vinegar are prepared from straw-
berries; and they are sometimes preserved entire, in syrup or in wine.
Besides the cultivated strawberry, we have a wild species, common
in most parts of the United States.

Modern skill and care have brought the strawberry into high
repute. It now occupies a conspicuous position in most private
gardens, while in some sections of the country it is extensively culti-
vated for market. One grower, in 1848, picked one hundred and
twenty bushels daily at the height of the season. Under proper man-
agement, it can be made very profitable. Instances are on record of
crops being at the rate of from one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars
per acre; but the fair average product is probably not far from three
hundred and fifty dollars, which is certainly a good return upon the
investment. In fact, it is so productive and easy of cultivation, that
it is really a matter of wonder why so many families are willing to do
without it.

STRAW-CUTTER. Instruments for cutting straw, hay and
cornstalks, are among the most useful inventions relating to agricul-
ture. Their utility is two-fold. If fodder is put into mangers or
spread out on the ground, no small part of it will be trodden under
foot and greatly injured, if not ruined. Even what is put in mangers
is liable to be drawn and scattered so as to be trampled upon. In

400 THE FARMER AT HOME.

this way there is a saving in the quantity of the fodder. Also when
it is cut cattle will fill themselves much quicker than if it were given
to them without being cut. When they have filled themselves they
lie down and rest, and digest what they have eaten. The action of the
muscles in masticating their food is similar, in its effects on the sys-
tem, to that of walking, and to that of oxen and horses in any kind of
labor. If any animals are to be fattened, they must be kept compar-
atively quiet. If they are all the time exercising it will require
double the food to sustain them, and it will be next to impossible to
fatten. Willa man grow fat when constantly devoted to arduous
muscular toil? All know to the contrary. If aman has a tendency
to corpulence, he reduces his food in quality or quantity and increases
his manual exercise. The idea of keeping animals at work all the
time when desirous of increasing their flesh, is contrary to the experi-
ence of every farmer, and is absurd. And an incessant action of the
masticating organs is much the same, in this respect, as an incessant
action of the locomotive organs, in drawing the plough, the harrow, or
the wagon.

Nor is this all. When food is made fine, more nutriment will be
derived from it, than if conveyed to the stomach in a coarse state.
Is it not universally known, that if the human species swallow their
food before it is reduced to a fine pulpy state, it lies heavy in the
stomach, fails to refresh and invigorate the system, and often leads to
disease? All know this from their own experience. Why should it
not be so with farm animals? It is so with them, perhaps in a less
degree, because they are more able to sustain the evil. It is on this
account that cooked or steamed food is more nutritious than that which
is not cooked. In the one case all the juices are developed and assim-
ilated to the animal tissues ; in the other case, a portion of them is
forced off through the alimentary canal, doing as little good as though
it had at first been mixed with the compost heap instead of having
been carried into the stomach ; as little good as though it had been
a corresponding amount of pulverized stones. A little reflection will
satisfy any sensible person that this is so.

Cutting, bruising, grinding, fermenting, and cooking food, all tend
much to fit it for easy and rapid digestion, and wherever it can be
thus prepared, without too much expenditure of labor, it should be
done. By adopting a mixed food, much of the coarser products can
be worked up, which are now suffered to be added to the manure
heap. Indeed, scarcely any of the vegetable productions of the farm
need be suffered to run to waste, till they have first contributed all
the nutriment they contain to the support of animal life. By chopping
these fine, and properly cooking and seasoning them, they will be
eaten with peculiar relish, easily digested, and go twice as far as in
the ordinary method of feeding. Such a method of preparing food
for farm animals is compared to mincing up the cold remains of a

THE FARMER AT HOME. 401

dinner, meat, gristle, all sorts of vegetables and fragments of bread,
which, on being well cooked together, will make a palatable and
nourishing breakfast. No farmer should any more be without a good
cutting machine for hay, straw, and corn stalks, than he would be
without a plough or wagon. They may be had of any size; and
there is a variety of patterns ; all probably answering a tolerable pur-
pose, although some are much better than others. That of Ruggles,
Nourse, Mason & Co., is the best for ordinary use known to us.
Besides other testimonials in its favor, in 1848, the State Agricultural
Society of New York, and the American Institute, at their respective
Fairs, awarded to it their first premiums.

\STRAW-CUTTER.

SUBSISTENCE. The food of all organized beings; in vegeta-
bles, the air, water, and unctuous matter of the soil; in animals the
substance of matter prepared by vegetation ; and in carnivorous crea-
tures the substance further prepared by animalization. The staff of
human life is the starch, gluten, or albumen, of vegetables, as corn,
rice, potatoes. ‘These must always be at a price proportioned to the
abundance of money and circulation, and to the remuneration for
labor, or the population must perish ; and to decree that corn should
be higher priced when money is scarce, and labor ill paid, is to pass
sentence of death on the population. Of all trade, therefore, that in
the necessaries of life should be allowed to find its level in exact
accordance with the means of consumers.

SUBSOIL PLOUGH. The subsoil plough takes its name from
the office it is to perform ; to break up and loosen the subsoil—that
is, the soil lying under the surface soil. Subsoil is merely the under
soil. The utility of breaking up and loosening the subsoil is becoming
one of the prominent features in modern agriculture. Although in

402 THE FARMER AT HOME.

our country it has not become general, its utility is based on the
soundest philosophical principles; and so far as it has been fairly
tested the results have been most satisfactory and conclusive. By the
use of the subsoil plough the hard sterile earth, is thoroughly pul-
verized, thereby being exposed to the meliorating influences of the
atmosphere, and furnishing increased supplies of food and moisture in
dry seasons, for the roots of the plants. These are the primary advan-
tages of a deeply wrought loam, and they are certainly such as com-
mend themselves to the attention of every reflecting farmer.

sat HE

‘oe ——

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SS

7) 2

SUBSOIL PLOUGH.

Few persons are aware of the depth to which roots will descend
in favorable situations. The fibrils of a wheat kernel have been
found more than thirty inches below the surface; those of red clover,
Indian corn, and the Swedish turnip, five feet; and sanfoin and
lucern, from twenty to thirty feet! And long after they have become
invisible to the naked eye, they can be detected by the microscope,
pushing themselves away from the light. No one needs be told the
object of these subterranean journeys. It is the constant effort of the
good gardener to facilitate this wonderful operation of nature ; he digs
and trenches the soil to the depth of two or three feet, and he finds
himself repaid by a luxuriant vegetation. Surely this is as important
for the farmer as for the gardener. Sub-soiling secures a supply of
heat and moisture for the plant. It is a well known fact, that in
time of drought the vegetation of a garden will be more vigorous than
in the adjacent field. This is mainly owing to the greater looseness
of the soil. The minute particles of the surface and subsoils are
gradually mixed together ; the natural resources of the ground are
wakened into life by the influence of the atmosphere; the threadlike
web of roots with which it is filled, decay when the plant dies or is
removed; and in time, the sterile, unprofitable substratum becomes
a valuable loam of great depth and fertility. In sorne cases there has
been from subsoiling a gain of from thirty to fifty per cent.

The subsoil plough much resembles the common plough without
the mould board. As it is to operate in a soil of great hardness, per-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 403

haps never before disturbed ; occasionally having to cut off roots and
move large stones, it is apparent that it should be strongly made; the
materials of which it is composed to be of the best kind, whether
wood or iron. It is always to be drawn by four, and sometimes by
six oxen. Of course, unless firmly constructed, it is liable to be
broken. In our first attempt at subsoiling, the implement—a new
one—broke, and was completely disabled before the end of the first
hour. We now use one of the Worcester manufacture, by Ruggles,
Nourse & Mason ; if this breaks, we shall be much mistaken. The
oak used in its construction, seems to be wholly unyielding, whatever
force be applied to it. :

SUCCESSION OF DAY AND NIGHT. By the daily motion
of the earth on its axis, the same phenomena appear as if all the
celestial bodies turned round it; so that in its rotation from west to
east, when the sun or a star just appears above the horizon, it is said
to be rising, and as the earth continues its revolution, it seems
gradually to ascend till it has reached its meridian; here the object
has its greatest elevation, and begins to decline till it sets, or becomes
invisible on the western side. In the same manner the sun appears
to rise and run its course to the western horizon, where it disappears,
and night ensues, till it again illuminates the same part of the earth
in another diurnal revolution.

One half of the earth’s surface is constantly ilJuminated, and by
its regular diurnal motion, every place is successively brought into
light and immersed in darkness. If the axis of the earth were always
perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, the days would every where
be of the same length, and just as long as the nights. For an in-
habitant at the equator, and one on the same meridian towards the
poles, would come into the light at the same time, and on the other
side would immerge into darkness at the same time. And since the
motion of the earth is uniform, they would remain in the dark hemis-
phere just as long as in the light; that is, their day and night would
be equal—the plane of the ecliptic coinciding with the plane of the
equator.

But as the ecliptic and equator make an angle with each other of
twenty-three and a half degrees, or in other words, as the axis of the
earth has such an inclination to the plane of its orbit, it is manifest
that, except the earth be in that part of its orbit where the ecliptic
cuts the equator, an inhabitant at the equator, and one on the same
meridian towards the poles, will not come into the light at the same
time, nor, on the other side, immerge into darkness, at the same time.
And since the axis of the earth always preserves the same inclination,
they will, except at the points where the two great circles intersect
each other, remain in the dark and light hemispheres at different
times; that is, their day and might will be unequal. The points
where the equator cuts the ecliptic are the beginning of the signs

404 THE FARMER AT HOME.

Libra and Aries. The earth is at these points of its orbit, or, as is
commonly said, the sun enters the sign Aries on the twentieth of
March, and the sign Libra on the twenty-third of September. Hence
at these periods, and at no others, the days and nights are equal all
over the world; and on this account they are called equinoxes ; the
the first, the vernal, and the second, the autumnal equinox.

At these seasons, the sun rises exactly in the east at six o’clock,
and sets exactly in the west at six o’clock; the light of the sun is then
terminated by the north and south poles, and as all parts of the earth
turn round once in twenty-four hours, every place must receive the
rays twelve hours, and be deprived of them for the same time. But
at other seasons, where the rays of light are not terminated by the
north and south poles, but extend over *he one and do not reach the
other, it must be manifest, from a moment’s inspection of the circles
drawn on globes, or common maps of the world, that day and night
will be unequal in all places except those situated on the equator,
where they will always be equal. At the poles there is but one day
and one night in a year, each of six months. The sun can never
shine beyond a pole farther than twenty-three and a half degrees ; for
that is the extent of the declination ; and when it has declination
from the celestial equator, either north or south, it must shine beyond
one pole, and not to the other. The days, therefore, will be longest in
one hemisphere when they are shortest in the other.

SUFFOCATION. The three ordinary modes of suffocation, or
death by the interruption of the breath are, hanging, drowning, and
the respiration of fixed air, or carbonic acid gas. The same result
takes place from either of these causes, which is described under the
article ‘‘ Drowning,” and the same process is ‘required for the restora-
tion of animation. In the instance of suffocation by carbonie acid
air, whether arising from mines, lime kilns, or vats of fermenting
liquor, the vital powers become more speedily extinct.

SUFFOLK CATTLE. The Suffolk cattle of Great Britain have,
by Mr. Martin, a distinct head in his classification. They have some-
times been called the Suffolk duns, although dun is not their common
color. With the improvements to which they have been subjected,
other colors are generally preferred, as red, red and white, brindled,
and yellowish or cream color. These cattle are supposed to owe their
origin, with crossings, to the Galloways, and are chiefly valuable for
their good milking qualities. A good Suffolk milking cow is inclined
to be lean and spare, with a light thin head, slender, but short limbs,
a heavy and well ribbed carcase, a large udder, and prominent milk
veins. The hip-bones are high and conspicuous, the loins narrow, and
the chine hollow. In the above respects the Galloway contour is not
well marked,

A first rate Suffolk cow, will yield from six to eight gallons per
day, in the best portion of the season. There is not an agreement of

THS FARMER AT HOME. 405

opinion as to the quality of her milk ; some have ranked it high, others
eall it inferior ; the probability is, it has a medium quality. Mr.
Youatt says that fifty thousand firkins of Suaffolk butter are annually
sent to the London market. When turned aside for the shambles, she
is found to fatien with great ease. They are not of large size, pro-
bably on account of the early age at which the heifers are used for
breeding. When fattened, however, the weight will vary from four
hundred and fifty to five hundred pounds, and the meat is of good
quality. The beef of the Suffolk oxen is excellent. Without much
regard to their good points, the bulls are usually slaughtered at the age
of three and four years, although it is supposed they would answer
well their legitimate purpose till seven or eight years. Did the Suffolk
dairymen pay the same attention to the improvement of their cattle
that many other stock breeders do, particularly in preserving for a
longer time their best animals, these polled Suffolks would be superior
to what they now are.

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SUFFOLK BULL.

SUFFOLK HOGS It is stated in Youatt’s treaties on the Pig,
that there are no bette: swine in Great Britain than the improved
Suffolks. Among the crosses of the native Suffolk which he specifies,
are those of the Lincoln, the Berkshire, and ‘Chinese. A cross
between the Suffolk and the Lincoln has led to a hardy progeny,
which fatten well, and will weigh from four to six hundred pounds.
However, he gives preference to a cross between the Suffolk and

406 THE FARMER AT HOME.

Berkshire, or Chinese. He says these are well formed, compact, short
legged, hardy animals, equal in value to the best of the Essex, and
superior in constitution, and consequently better adapted to the farmer.
Those kept on the farm of Prince Albert, near Windsor, are of the
improved Suffolk breed ; that is, the Suffolk crossed with the Berk-
shire and Chinese. They are small in size, with round bully bodies,
short legs, small heads, and fat cheeks. Those arising from the
Berkshire and Suffolk are not so well shaped as those from the Chinese
and Suffolk, being coarser, longer legged, and more prominent about
the hips. They are mostly white, with thin fine hair; some are
spotted, and all easily kept in fine condition ; and having a decided
aptitude to fatten early.

SUFFOLK HOG,

The Rev. Mr. Rham, author of the Dictionary of Agriculture
says the Suffolk breed of pigs is, perhaps, on the whole, the most prof
itable of any in England. Several years ago the late William
Stickney, of Boston, introduced into our country this breed of animals ;
and, although they have not become extensively diffused, the results
thus far are highly satisfactory to all who have seen them. It was
said by one gentleman, highly competent to give a reliable opinion,
that the pigs of this breed, at six weeks old, simply for being raised
and fattened, are cheaper than the common country pigs at the usual
prices. As the best ones have been generally kept for breeding, the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 407

statistics of those slaughtered are not numerous. A few of therz will
satisfy any reasonable person of their excellence. A Mr McCormick,
of New Hampshire, slaughtered one, seven months and ten days old,
that weighed three hundred and twenty-five pounds; a Mr. Stearns
one, six months and ten days old, that weighed three hundred and
ninety-four pounds ; and Mr. Knapp, of Northampton, Massachusetts,
one, at fifteen months, that weighed five hundred and fifteen’ pounds ;
and a Mr. Titcomb one, at nine months, that weighed three hundred
and twenty-five pounds—also two at seven months and thirteen days,
which weighed two hundred and sixty-two, and two hundred and
ninety-six pounds.

SUGAR. A substance of a sweet and very agreeable nature,
made of the juice of the sugar cane. Sugar was first brought from
Arabia into Europe ; and for many centuries was used not for food,
but for medicine only. Among the Romans it was unknown before
the reign of Nero. According to Ramsay’s Review, the quantity of
this article used in England, more than three-doubled from the year
1700 to 1790. A century ago, even the rich considered it as a lux-
ury, and used it sparingly at their tables; now the poorest people
think it a necessary of life.

SUGAR CANE. A pointed reed terminating in leaves or blades,
whose edges are finely and sharply serrated. The body of the cane
is strong, but brittle, and when ripe, of a fine straw color, inclinable
to yellow; and it contains a soft pithy substance, which affords a
copious supply of juice, of a sweetness the least cloying and most
agreeable in nature. The length of the cane in very strong lands, is
sometimes twelve feet ; its general length, however, is from three and
a half to seven feet; and in very rich lands ihe root has been
known to put forth upwards of an hundred suckers or shoots. A
pound of sugar from a gallon of the raw liquor of the cane, is reckoned
in Jamaica very good yielding. A sugar plantation well conducted,
and in a favorable soil, is computed to yield as many hogsheads of
sugar annually, of sixteen hundred pounds weight, as there are negroes
belonging to it. The average anuual profits of sugar plantations in
the West Indies, is not more than three or four per cent. on the cap-
ital. A portion of our own country is admirably adapted to the
growth of the sugar cane, as already tested, particularly of Louisiana
and other States of corresponding soil and metereological influences.
L. R. Allen, Esgq., in his capital work, called the Book of the Farm,
says in 1845 the product of sugar in the State named, reached the
enormous quantity of 207,337,000 pounds, and about 9,000,000 gal-
lons of molasses, worth nearly 15,000,000 dollars ; being an increase
of over ten times the quantity yielded thirty years before. Here
the sugar crop is a profitable one.

SUGAR MAPLE. A handsome, clean tree, which gives a deep
shade, and is excellent for fuel. The largest of these trees are five

408 THE FARMER AT HOME.

and a half or six feet in diameter ; and will yield five gallons of sap
in one day; and from twelve to fifteen pounds of sugar, during the
season. However, in some situations, and in some years, the yield is
better than others. The younger and smaller trees aflord sap or
juice, in a still greater proportion. It is only during four or five
weeks in the spring, that the juice can be collected. While the trees
are frozen at night, and thawed in the day, the sap runs plenti-
fully ; but as soon as the buds come on, the sap ceases to flow in such
a manner as that it can any longer be collected. It would be excel-
lent policy if all our farmers would cultivate the sugar maple, if it
were only in reference to the wood and the beauty of the shade.
Fifty of these trees should be transplanted, if not already there, to
the grounds about the mansion ; and then, every one opposite his own
lands should have the road-side ornamented with them. Some day
the sap may be of value.

SULPHUR. An inflammable fossil, of which there are two
species; viz. common natural sulphur, and volcanic natural sulphur.
The color of the natural sulphur is yellow, of different degrees of
intensity ; it occurs massive, disseminated, and crystallized. The
crystals are middle sized and small, of which the surface is smooth
and splendent. Internally it is intermediate between shining and
glistening. It is soft and frangible. When placed on inflamed coals,
it burns with a bluish flame, and emits a pungent suffocating vapor,
and is totally volatilized. It is found in many parts of the world. It
is found in many parts of the world. It occurs commonly in masses,
in gypsum, limestone,and marl; and in some places with honeystone,
and bituminous wood. It is often found in viens that traverse primi-
tive rocks; in veins of copper pyrites that traverse granite; in Siberia
it is found in the gold mines of Catherineburg, and in the lead glance
veins in the Altain mountains. Humboldt mentions a province of
Quito, in which he discovered a bed composed of sulphur and quartz,
in a mountain of mica slate; he likewise found great quantities of
sulphur in primitive porphyry,

The volcanic natural sulphur is yellow, inclining to green; it
occurs sometimes corroded ; sometimes as a sublimate in flowers. It
is glistening, and its lustre is resinous, inclining to adamantine. It
occurs only in voleanie countries, where it is found in greater or smal-
ler quantity among the lava. Solfatara, in the vicinity of Vesuvius,
is one of the most famous repositories of natural volcanic sulphur, and
is there collected in considerable quantities for the purposes of com-
merce. It is found also in Iceland, in Aitna, and inthe Lipari islands.
It occurs likewise in the island of Teneriffe, and in the West India
islands ; in Java, and the East Indies. .

SULPHURIC ACID. When sulphur is exposed to the temper-
uture of three hundred and two degrees, it takes fire spontaneously.
burns with a blue flame, yields a strong odor, and, by combining with

THE FARMER AT HOME. 409

the oxygen or vital air of the atmosphere, has a tendency to destroy
life, by suffocation. This vapor, which is composed of the volatilized
particles of sulphur and oxygen, is called sulphuric acid.

SULPHUROUS ACID. A combination of sulphur with oxygen,
in which the proportion of the latter is less than in the sulphuric acid ;
and it is a rule observed in all oxygenous mixtures, to distinguish
those in which the larger quantity of oxygen is present, by the termi-
nation zc, and those in which the lesser, by the termination ows.
Vapors of sulphur have the property of bleaching or whitening almost
every substance with which they come in contact.

SUMACH. A plant that grows spontaneously in many parts of
the United States; bearing a small red berry, which is useful as a
dye, and has been discovered to be possessed of very powerful anti-
septic qualities. It has long since been the practice among the
natives of this continent, to substitute the sumach berry for tobacco,
and the secret has been transmitted to Europe; in consequence of
which it became so universally esteemed there by people of fashion
and fortune, that large sums were offered to persons of mercantile
professions, for this valuable but common production of nature. It
has been preferred to the best manufactured Virginia tobacco. The
method to be pursued in preparing the sumach to a state proper for
smoking, is, to procure it in the month of November, expose it some
time to the open air, spread it very thin on canvass, and then dry it
in an oven, one-third heated. After having completed the process of
cure thus far, spread it again on canvass, as before; and there let it
remain twenty-two hours, when it will be perfectly fit for use. The
branches of the elm-leaved sumach, when dried and reduced to a
powder, are used in tanning Turkey or Morocco leather.

SUMMER. In Cosmography, one of the seasons of the year,
commencing, in the higher northern latitudes, on the day the sun
enters Cancer, and ending when it quits Virgo ; or, more strictly and
universally, the summer begins when the sun’s meridian distance
from the zenith is the least, and ends when it is a mean between the
greatest and least.

SUN. The sun has ever been esteemed an object of the first
importance in the solar system. Being the great source of light and
heat, it diffuses its rays to every part of an immense sphere, giving
life and motion to innumerable objects. Like its divine Author,
while it controls the greatest, it does not overlook the most minute
portions of the creation. According to the Copernican system, now
universally received, the sun is the centre of all the planetary and
cometary motions, all the planets and comets revolving round it in
different periods, and at different distances. The sun, although sta-
tionary in respect to surrounding objects, is not destitute of motion.
It turns on its own axis, from west to east, in about twenty-five days.

There has been much speculation concerning the physigal organi-

18

410 THE FARMER AT HOME.

zation of the sun. It was formerly supposed to consist of liquid fire,
exhaustless in its nature ; which by constantly emitting rays in every
direction, imparted a cheering influence to every part of the system.
By modern astronomers this theory has been found untrue. They
have supposed, with more plausibility, that it is a solid body, sur-
rounded by a luminous atmosphere. It is estimated that the atmos-
phere with which the sun is surrounded, extends to the distance of
two thousand miles from its surface ; and, that its density is at least
eighty times greater than that which environs the earth. Herschel
supposes that the density of the luminous solar clouds need not be
greater than that of our aurora borealis, to produce the effects with
which we are acquainted. Euler makes the light of the sun equal to
6500 candles at a foot distance.

The sun is a spherical body, and has a diameter of about 880,000
miles; being more than eaual to 100 diameters of the earth. So
great is the power of gravitation upon its surface, that a body weigh-
ing one pound at the surface of the earth, will there weigh about thirty
pounds. Thus a common sized man removed to the surface of the
sun would weigh between two and three tons. On different parts of
the sun’s disc may be seen dark spots, called macule. These consist
of a nucleus, which is much darker than the rest, surrounded by a
mist or smoke; and they are so changeable as frequently to vary dur-
ing the time of observation. Some of the largest of them seem to
exceed the bulk of the whole earth, and are often seen for three-months
together. They were first observed by the celebrated Galileo.

SUNDAY. The first day of the week ; thus called by our idola-
trous ancestors, because set apart for the worship of the sun. It is
sometimes called the Lord’s Day, because kept as a feast in memory
of our Lord’s resurrection on this day ; and also Sabbath-day, because
substituted under the new law instead of the Sabbath in the old law.
Some are of opinion that the Lord’s day, mentioned in the Apocalypse,
is our Sunday; which they believe was so early instituted by the
apostles. Be this as it will, it is certain a regard was had to this day
even in the earliest ages of the Church, as appears from the first
Apology of Justin Martyr, where he describes the exercise of the day
not much unlike to ours. But it was Constantine the Great, who
first made a law for the proper observation of Sunday ; and who,
according to Eusebius, appointed it should be regularly celebrated
throughout the Roman empire. Before him, and even in his time,
they observed the Jewish Sabbath as well as Sunday ; both to satisfy
the law of Moses and to imitate the apostles who used to meet together
on the first day. By Constantine’s laws, made in 321, it was decreed,
that for the future the Sunday should be kept a day of rest in all
cities and towns; but he allowed the country people to follow their
work. In 538, the council of Orleans prohibited country labor ; but
because there were still many Jews in Gaul, and the people fell into

THE FARMER AT HOME. 411

many superstitious usages in the celebration of the new sabbath, like
those of the Jews among that of the old, the council declares, that to
hold it unlawful to travel with horses, cattle and carriages, to prepare
food, or to do any thing necessary to the cleanliness and decency of
houses or persons, savors more of Judaism than of Christianity.

SUNFLOWER. A genus of plants consisting of several species ;
it has its name from its following the course of the sun. The com-
mon sunflower is easily propagated in any common soil, either by
sowing the seeds, or by parting the roots in the month of March.
The young flower-cups of this plant may be dressed and eaten lke
artichokes. It has appeared from experiments made in Pennsylvania,
that a bushel of sunflower seed yields a gallon of oil, and that an acre
of ground planted with the seed, at three feet apart, will yield
between forty and fifty bushels of the seed. This oil is as mild as
sweet oil, and is equally agreeable with it in salads, and as a medi-
eme. It may also be used with advantage, in paints, varnishes, and
ointments. The seed is raised with little trouble, and grows on land
of moderate fertility.

SWALLOW. A common summer bird that seems ever on the
wing. They fly in circles, seemingly in play, but actually in pursuit
of little insects of the air which form their food. When the weather
is fine these insects venture aloft, and the swallows follow them; but
when the air is filled with vapor, the insects and their pursuers fly
near the earth. It has been doubted by some able. naturalists, whe-
ther it is possible for the swallow to live inclosed with water and mud.
‘“‘T saw an instance,” says Dr. Williams, ‘‘ which puts the possibility
of the fact beyond all doubt. About the year 1760, two men were
digging in the salt marsh at Cambridge, in Massachusetts; on the
banks of the Charles river, about two feet below the surface, they dug
up a swallow, wholly surrounded and covered with mud. The bird
was in a torpid state, but being held in their hands, it revived in
about half an hour. The place where this swallow was dug up, was
every day covered with the salt water; which at every high tide,
was four or five feet deep. The time when this swallow was found,
was the latter part of the month of February.” The species of this
bird called the Chimney Swallow, has been found during the winter,
in hollow trees. This curious fact has been put beyond all doubt, in
Dr. Williams’s History of Vermont ; which particularly describes two
swallow trees, the one at Middlebury, and the other at Bridgeport.
In those trees, the swallows used to have their winter residence ;
issuing out about the first of May like swarms of bees.

SWAN. Is the most majestic and picturesque of all birds that
swim in the waters. When it exhibits itself smoothly sailing along
the stream, displaying its graceful attitudes, and moving forward
without the smallest effort, a more beautiful figure can scarcely be
found within the rangeof animated nature. This elegant bird admits

42 THE FARMER AT HOME.

of two varieties, the wild and the tame swan; the former has a loud
cry, which may be heard at a great tone) but the latter seldom
emits any sound. The wild swan is smaller by about one- -fourth than
the tame kind, and also of a different color, its back and the tips of
its wings being ash-colored ; while the tame swan is remarkable for
the delicate and uniform whiteness of its whole plumage. In Cum-
berland county, in New Holland, black swans are very common, and
three of the species were in 1806 exhibited at Exeter ’Change,
London.

SWAN.

The wild swan is a native of the arctic regions, and visits more
temperate climates only when compelled by the severity of the cold.
During the summer season they frequent the lakes of Lapland, in
common with the numerous flocks of other aquatic fowl ; there it also
breeds and rears its young. Of the tame swan, any minute descrip-
tion is unnecessary ; to give some idea of its size, it 1s sufficient to say,
that it grows to the weight of upwards of twenty pounds. Its majes-
tic appearance has been already noticed ; and it is not less remarkable
for the delicacy of its appetite than the elegance of its form ; its food
consists of corn, with herbs and roots that grow in the water, or are
found near the margin.

SWEET POTATO. This plant is a native of the East Indies,
but is now cultivated in all the warmer parts of the globe, and has
produced numerous varieties. Formerly the roots were imported into
England from the West Indies by the way of Spain, and sold asa

THE FARMER AT HOME. 413

delicacy. tis the potato of Shakespere and contemporary writers, the
common potato being then scarcely known in Europe. The roots are
fleshy and spindle shaped, giving rise to herbaceous vines, which take
root at intervals ; the leaves are smooth, varying in form, but usually
hastate, or three lobed ; the flowers are white externally, and purplish
within, disposed in clusters upon axillary foot-stalks.

In Warm climates, the culture is very easy, and they are obtained
almost throughout the year, by planting at different periods. In
northern climates, the culture becomes more difficult; but one varie-
ty succeeds even in the vicinity of Paris. Considered as an ali-
ment, the sweet potato is very nutritious, wholesome, and easy of
digestion. The consumption is very considerable, especially in the
warmer parts of America, where even several savage tribes have
introduced it, on account of its easy culture. In the United States,
it is very little cultivated north of New Jersey, and even there is
inferior in quality to those which grow in Carolina.

SWIMMING. Swimming has with great propriety been pro-
nounced ‘the purest exercise of health; combining in itself the
advantages of muscular exertion with those of bathing. It is to be
observed, however, that there is, perhaps, no exercise which calls into
violent action a greater number of muscles, and which, therefore, so
quickly induces fatigue. It is on this account, independent of the
effects of the cold water in which the body is immersed, an amuse-
ment but ill adapted to the aged, and those of an enfeebled and deli-
cate constitution. Even by the young, the healthful, and robust, it
should not be carried too far, lest injury, rather than benefit result
from it.

Immediately on leaving the water, the body should be always
wiped perfectly dry by friction with a coarse towel; and after dress-
ing, a gentle degree of exercise ought to be taken. Nothing is indeed
more prejudicial to health. than sitting, or remaining inactive, subse-
quently to bathing. Walking briskly to and from the place selected
for swimming, particularly if it be at a reasonable distance from the
dwelling, will in most cases be the best exercise that can.be adopted,
both before entering, and after coming out of the water. It was not
our intention, in the present article, to teach the art. or to describe
the various modes of swimming. With Franklin, Saint Pierre, Saltz-
man, and others, we are of opinion, however, that such instruction
should constitute an item_in the education of every child, not merely
to enable him to enjoy a beneficial exercise, but to insure his own
safety, and to enable him to minister to that of others, in cases of
accidental submersion.

TADPOLE. The young of the frog is called by this name. It
is produced from an egg, and is extremely unlike the animal it is to
perpetuate, seeming to consist of head and tail only. The head is
large, black, and round, the tail slender, and margined with a broad,

414 THE FARMER AT.HOME.

transparent fin. Its motions are very lively. Its food consists of small
water plants and different animalcule. The mouth has very minute
2eth. About five or six weeks after it is hatched, the first change
-akes place. The hind legs first appear, and, gradually increasing in
length and size, are succeeded, in about two weeks, by the forelegs,
which are formed at an earlier period beneath the skin. The tail now
decreases, so that in a day or two, it is quite obliterated. After this
change, the animal leaves the water and reposes upon the shore.
Sometimes they are there seen in countless multitudes. The appear-
ance of so many young frogs has probably induced the popular but
eroundiess belief of their having fallen from the clouds in showers.
Tadpoles, just after they are hatched, are perfectly transparent ; and
when placed before the double microscope, the pulsations of the heart
may be easily seen, and the blood protruded thence, may be observed
in its passage through the whole body.

TALLOW. This is an animal substance, or fat, melted from the
membraneous matter which is naturally mixed with it. When pure,
tallow is white, and nearly tasteless; but the tallow of commerce
usually has ‘a yellow tinge. A very large proportion of the tallow
that becomes an article of export from the country where obtained,
is furnished by Russia, which annually exports 250,000,000 pounds,
mostly furnished by the steppes of Southern Russia. The cattle are
brought by thousands, driven to the salgans, or tallow factories, and
there fattened and slaughtered. After the animals are slaughtered
and skinned, a little of flesh and intestines are removed, and the rest
of the carcase, cut into pieces, is thrown into the boilers, of which
there are from four to six in every salgan, each large enough to contain
the flesh of ten or fifteen oxen. During the boiling, the fat, as it col-
lects on the top, is skimmed off with large ladles, and before it is quite
cold, it is poured into the casks in which it is afterwards shipped.
The first fat which comes off is the best, and is quite white, while
that which follows has a yellowish tinge; and a still coarser tallow is
obtained by squeezing the bones and flesh in presses.

An ox, in prime condition, will yield from two to three hundred
pounds. The merchants of St. Petersburg divide the tallow which
they receive from the interior, into white and yellow candle tallow,
and common and Siberian soap tallow ; the latter, which is considered
the best tallow for soap-making, being brought by water transit from
Siberia. Yellow candle tallow, when good, should be clear, dry, hard
when broken, and of a fine yellow color throughout. The white can-
dle tallow, when good, is white, brittle, hard, dry, and clean. The
best white Russia tallow, is brought from Woronesch. In our own
country and England, tallow is obtained, as in Russia, from the melted
fat of cattle and sheep. With the fat, however, there is left remain-
ing as little meat as possible, as that is worth more to be cooked for
food, than to be boiled with the fat for tallow. The membraneous

THE FARMER AT HOME. 415

matter remaining, after the fat is extracted, called scraps or graves, on
being macerated in warm water, softens and swells, and becomes a
wholesome and palatable article of food for poultry, dogs, and other
domestic animals. It is extensively used in fattening poultry, and
sometimes swine, for market.

TALIPOT. A remarkable tree, that grows in the greatest luxuri-
ance in the island of Ceylon. Robert Knox, who is said to have given
the best account extant of Ceylon, tells us, that one of the leaves of
the talipot is capable of covering ten persons. When it is dry, con-
tinues he, it is at once strong and pliant, so that you may fold and
unfold it at pleasure, being naturally plaited like a fan. In this state,
it is not bigger than a man’s arm, and extremely light. The natives
cut it into triangles, though it is naturally round, and each of them
carries one of those sections over his head, holding the angular part
before, in his hand, to open for himself a passage through the bushes.
The soldiers use this leaf as a covering to their tents. They consider
it, and with good reason, as one of the greatest blessings of Providence,
in a country burnt up by the sun, and inundated by the rains, for six
months of the year.

TALLOW TREE. There are various plants whose expressed
oil is sufficiently thick, and in sufficient abundance to answer the pur-
pose of tallow, and to be employed instead of animal oil, in the manu-
facture of candles, and which are hence called tallow trees. It is
about the height of a cherry tree, its leaves in form of a heart, of a
deep shining red color, and its bark very smooth. Its fruit is enclosed
in a kind of pod, or cover, like a chestnut, and consists of three round
white grains, of the size and form of a small nut. each having its pe-
culiar capsule, and within a little stone. This stone is encompassed
with a white pulp, which has all the properties of true tallow, both as
to consistence, color, and even smell, and accordingly the Chinese
make their candles of it; which would doubtless be as good as those
in Europe, if they knew how to purify their vegetable, as well as we
do our animal tallow. All the preparation they give it is to melt it
down, and mix a little oil with it, to make it softer and more pliant.
It is true, their candles made of it yield a thicker smoke, and a dim-
mer light than ours ; but those defects are owing, in a great measure,
to the wicks, which are not of cotton, but only a little rod of dry wood
covered with the pith of a rush wound round it; which, being very
porous, serves to filtrate the minute parts of the tallow, attracted by
the burning stick, which, by this means, is kept alive. In like man-
ner, the Americans make wax candles of the waxy berry of the candle-
berry myrtle, which burn with a fine clear light, for a long time, and
possess a fragrant myrtle odor.

TAMARINDS. Of the two species of the genus Tamarindus
the fruit is much larger in the East Indian than the West Indian.
The shell being removed, there remains the flat, square hard seed,

416 THE FARMER AT HOME.

imbedded in pult, with membraneous fibres running through it. In
the East Indies the pulp is either dried in the sun, and used for home
consumption, or with salt added, it is dried in copper ovens ; this kind
is that sent to Europe and this country. This sorte@called natural
tamarinds, is much darker and drier than the West Indian, which
are called prepared tamarinds. The West Indian tamarinds reach
maturity in June, July, and August, when they are collected, and the
shell being removed, they are put into jars, either with layers of sugar
put between them, or boiling syrup poured over them, which pene-
trates to the bottom. Prepared tamarinds therefore possess much
more saccharine matter than others.

TANKS. The importance of collecting rain-water for domestic
purposes, especially in districts where springs are deficient or lie at a
great depth, has been much overlooked in our country. Mr.
Waistell, an English gentleman, urges, in a forcible manner, the
importance of placing spouts round all the buildings of a farm to col-
lect the rain-water which falls upon them into a tank or tanks ;
observing that, besides the value of the supply of water thus obtained,
the buildings will be benefited by the walls and foundations being
kept drier than when the water from the roof is suffered to fall upon
them. He states that the quantity of water that falls annually upon
every hundred superficial or square feet is about fourteen hundred
gallons. Upon this calculation a dwelling house thirty by forty feet
and a barn fifty by thirty, a horse stable and carriage house twenty by
twenty-five feet, a corn house twelve by eighteen feet, and a moderate
sized shed, will catch in the year fifty thousand gallons, affording a
constant supply of more than four barrels for each day in the year.

Most farmers might make arrangements for 2 much greater quan-
tity. This would certainly be an easy method of supplying a stock of
cattle as well as a family with all the water needed, if the wells were
deficient, or there were on the premises no living springs. The expense
of tanks or cisterns, independent of the labor furnished by each far-
mer for himself; would be inconsiderable. Most farmers have an
abundance of small stones, as good or better than brick, so that money
would have to be paid out only for the cement and mason work. If
made below the surface of the ground, the water would be kept cool
and fresh, and might be placed wherever most convenient, and not be
in the way of any thing else. Rain-water thus kept, when filtered,
is as good for any family purpose as the best of well or spring water.
They should be of circular form, because that is more firm and
unyielding against external pressure, with an arch at the top, and an
opening just sufficient to admit a man to enter, in case cleansing or
repairs are required.

TANNIN. A vegetable extract which combines with animal
gelatine, forming a tough substance, and hence its use in converting
skins into leather. Oak bark, and Leicester willow, yields one-six-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 417

teenth of its weight, but other barks only a thirtieth or fortieth. Four
pounds of good oak bark make one pound of leather; but one pound
of catechu, or earth brought from Bengal, is equal to eight pounds of
oak bark, By an immersion into tan liquor, which is an infusion of
bark, the combination of the tannin with the organized gelatine, which
forms the animal fibre, is slowly established; and the compound of
tannin and gelatine not being soluble in water, and not liable to
putrefaction, the skin is rendered dense and impermeable, and not
subject to spontaneous change, which it would otherwise soon undergo,
To render it equal throughout the whole substance of the skin, the
action of the tan liquor must be gradual ; and hence the tanning is
performed by successive immersions of the skin in liquors of different
strength. Sir H. Davy observes, that leather slowly tanned in weak
infusions of bark, appears to be of better quality, being both softer and
stronger than when tanned by dense infusions ; and he ascribes this to
the extractive matter which they imbibe. ~

TANNING. The preparation of skins, by means of which they
are rendered into leather. The first part of this preparation consists
in taking off the hair, which is effected by steeping in lime water.
When this is done and everything superfluous is removed with the
knife and the pumice, as in the preparation of parchment, the skin is
put into the tan ; that is, being stretched in a pit, it is covered with
tan, and the pit filled with water. At Hunter, Greene county, New
York, tanning has been carried on very extensively. The tannery
has seven powerful water wheels, adapted to its various machinery.
In one year, of which we have its statistics before us, 26,360 sides of
sole leather were tanned in this establishment. They weighed
627,413 pounds, and were manufactured with the labor of forty-nine
hands, and with 3,200 cords of bark.

TAPIOCA. This is an excellent article, well known in domestic
economy, obtained from the farina of the roots of an American plant
called Mandioc and Cassiva, and is used for puddings and other light
food for invalids. Bread is also made from it. The plant is indigen-
ous in tropical America, and is cultivated from Florida to Magellan,
and in several countries of Asia and Africa. The stem is smooth
and branching, and rises to the height of six or seven feet. It is
easily cultivated, grows rapidly, and produces abundantly. The roots
attain the size of a man’s thigh, shaped somewhat like a parsnip ;
and two years are required to bring it to perfection. Every part of
the plant is filled with a milky juice, which is a very violent and
dangerous poison, bringing on death in a few minutes if swallowed ;
and it may well excite surprise that human ingenuity should have
converted the roots into an article of food. The flour made from these
roots, when kept free from moisture, continues good for fifteen or twenty
years. It is very nutritious, half a pound a day being sufficient for

1S*

418 THE FARMER AT HOME.

any one. The Creole women prefer bread made from it to wheat
bread ; but for bread we consider it insipid.

TAPIR. The American tapir, when full grown, is six feet in
total length, and about three and a half in height. In general form
it resembles the hog; but the legs are rather longer in proportion,
and the nose is prolonged into a small movable proboscis. The fore
feet have four toes, and the hind ones three only. The eyes are small
and lateral, and the ears long and pointed; the skin thick, and
covered with scattering, short silky hairs; the tail short, and slightly
hairy. The teeth resemble those of the horse. It is the largest
animal of South America, and is found in all parts of that continent,
though most abundant in Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguay. It shuns
the habitations of men, and leads a solitary life in the interior of the
forests, in most situations, but selects for its abode a place somewhat
elevated and dry. By travelling always the same rounds, it forms
beaten paths, which are very conspicuous. It comes out only in the
night, or during rainy weather. and resorts to the marshes. Its ordi-
nary pace is a sort of trot; but it sometimes gallops, though awk-
wardly, and with the head down ; and, besides, swims with facility.
In the wild state, it lives on fruits and young branches of trees, but
when domesticated, eats every kind of food. Though possessed of
great streneth, it makes use of it only for defence ; and its disposition
is mild and timid. The flesh is dry and disagreeable tasted ; but the
skin is very tough, and might be applied to useful purposes. The
Indian tapir has only been discovered within afew years. It inhabits
Sumatra, Malacca, and some of the surrounding countries. The
colors are remarkable. The head, neck, feet and tail are black ; the
rest of the body and tip of the ears white.

TAR. Tar is obtained from the wood and roots of various kinds
of pine by the agency of fire ; it is too well known to need descrip-
tion; that which is thinnest and biackest is the best. It is exten-
sively manufactured in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Russia, North
America, and other countries in which those trees abound. The
mode of making tar in Sweden is as follows: a conical cavity is made
in the ground, generally in the side of a bank or sloping hill; the
roots, as well as billets and logs of the fir, are packed into the cavity,
when the whole is covered with turf, which is beaten down firmly
upon the wood. The fire is then kindled, and a slow combustion
takes place without flame. The tar exudes into a cast iron pan, at
the bottom of the funnel, having a spout, beneath which barrels are
placed to receive the tar. This process is the same, in fact, as that
described by Theophrastus and Dioscorides, as practised by the ancient
Greeks. Tar is made in France and Switzerland in ovens built for
the purpose. ‘Tar is used in medicine ; and for innumerable purposes
in the arts. In England a vast amount of tar is wanted for the navy,

THE FARMER AT HOME. 419

for which she is mainly dependent on Sweden for the supply, although
she has attempted to produce it in her American colonies.

TATTOOING. Among all the known nations of the earth, none
have carried the art of tattooing to so high a degree of perfection as
the inhabitants of the Washington islands. The regular designs with
which the bodies of the men of Nukahiwa are punctured from head
to foot, supplies, in some sort, the absence of clothing; for, under so
warma climate, clothing would be insupportable tothem. Many people
here seek as much to obtain distinction by the symmetry and regularity
with which they are tattooed, as among us by the elewant manner in
which they are dressed ; and although no real elevation of rank is
designated by the greater superiority of these decorations, yet as only
persons of rank can afford to he at the expense attendant upon any
refinement in the ornaments, it does become, in fact, a badge of

. distinction.

The operation of tattooing is performed by certain persons, who
gain their livelihood by it entirely, and those who perform it with the
greatest dexterity, and evince the greatest degree of taste in the dis-
position of the ornaments, are as much sought after as among us a
particularly good tailor. Thus much, however, must be said, that the
choice made is not a matter of equal indifference with them as with

s; for if the punctured garment be spoiled in the making, the mis-
chief is irreparable ; it must be worn, with all its faults, the whole
ufe through.

TEA. The culture of tea in China seems simple enough. The
plants are raised from seeds, sown in the places where they are to
remain. Several are dropped into holes four or five inches deep, and
three or four feet apart. The plants rise up in a cluster when the
rain comes on, and require little further care, except of removing
weeds, till they are three years old, when they yield their first crop of
ieaves. They are seldom transplanted, but sometimes four or five
plants are put close together, so as to form a fine bush. After grow-
Ing seven or ten years they are cut down, in order that the numerous
young shoots which then spring out, may afford a more abundant
supply of leaves. In some districts the bushes grow unrestrained, in
others they are regularly pruned to keep them low.

The gathering of the leaves is performed with great care. They
are usually gathered singly, first in March or May, according to the
district, when the leaves are scarcely expanded ; the second about two
months later, or May and June; and the third in August, or about
six months after the second ; but the times necessarily differ in differ-
ent districts, as well as the number of crops to be obtained ; some avoid
the third for fear of injuring the bushes. When the leaves are
gathered they are dried in houses which contain small furnaces, on
each of which there is a flat iron pan, and upon this, when heated,
the leaves, partiaily dried by expose re to the sun, are thrown; which

420 THE FARMER AT HOME.

then are to be frequently shifted and turned. When all are properly
dried, they are quickly removed, either by the hand or with a shovel,
and either thrown upon a mat or into baskets which are kept ready
to receive them. They are then removed to a table where they are
rolled and cooled, and the process is repeated; after which they are
sifted and sorted into several varieties. The appearance of-one roll-
ing the leaves is like that of the baker kneading his dough.

ROLLING PROCESS.

Tea having become so extensive an article in domestic economy,
and also in commerce, and a source of considerable revenue, various
attempts have been made to introduce it into other countries ; as in
Rio Janeiro, and in the warm parts of Brazil, in Penang, Asarn, and
the Himalayas. Within the last few years, Junius Smith, LL. D., a
gentleman well known for eminence in science and enterprise, has
been engaged in experiments on its culture in our own country.
Favorable reports are given of the teas grown in the East Indies, but
as yet only small quantities of them are brought into market. The
whole amount of teas raised, is enormous , almost surpassing credi-
bility. Russia is annually supplied through Kiakhta with about seven
millions of pounds ; France requires two millions of pounds ; Holland
three millions ; in 1850, it is estimated that twenty-three millions of
pounds came to our own country ; and in the same year, there were
consumed, in the United Kingdom of the British Empire, over fifty
millions of pounds.

TEAK. The teak tree is a native of different parts of India, as

THE FARMER AT HOMH. 421

well as of Birmah, chiefly along the banks of the Irawaddy, and of
the islands of Ceylon to the Moluccas. The tree grows to an immense
size, and is remarkable for its large leaves, which are from twelve to
twenty-four inches long, and from eight to sixteen inches broad, and
are compared, by Oriental writers, to the ears of the elephant. From
extensive experience, teak timber has been found the most valuable
timber for shipbuilding, and has been called the oak of the East. The
wood is light, brownish colored, easily worked, but at the same time
strong and durable. It is soon seasoned, and from containing a resin-
ous oil, resists the action of the water, as well as insects of all kinds.
Some of the finest ships that float, have been made from it.

Some interesting details have recently been published concerning
the export of teak-timber from Moulmein, in India. Teak is the prin-
cipal article of export from that province, both in quantity and value.
During the year 1849, upwards of 25,000 tons were shipped to various
parts of the world, all properly converted, by hand or machinery, and
in the rough state estimated at 100,000 pounds. The teak of
these provinces and the surrounding foreign states, which finds its way
into Moulmein, is of very superior quality, and unequalled, for ship
building purposes, by any other wood in the world. The annual sup-
ply is more than equal to the demand, in consequence of this port
being but little known to the English ship owners and builders. There
is almost an unlimited extent of teak forests in the neighboring states,
of superior quality and easily worked.

TEMPERATURE. The presence of the sun is undoubtedly one
of the principal sources of heat, as its absence is of cold; but if those
affections of the atmosphere depended solely on these two causes, an
equal temperature would, at the same seasons, prevail in all places
situated under the same parallels. This, however, is far from being
the case ; for the temperature of the eastern coast of America, is far
colder than that of the western shores of Europe, in the same lati-
tudes ; and the same observation may, with some degree of variation,
be extended to the whole of these two continents. It is equally ob-
servable, that the tropical heats of Africa are far greater than those
of the West India Islands. and some other parts of America, situated in
the torrid zone ; and, indeed, an abundance of proofs might be adduced,
to show that the temperature of the air, in different countries, depends
on a variety of circumstances besides geographical position.

One great source of heat exists in the earth; but whether this
arises from any central fire, or from elementary heat diflused through
the whole mass, is a problem of no easy solution. ‘The warmth which
the earth imparts to the atmosphere, tends greatly to moderate the
cold; and it has, by various observations, been found that the same
degree of heat exists in all subterraneous situations at the same depth,
or at least, that the variations are extremely small. The condensa-
tion of vapor also is another cause of heat, of which, it is well known,

422 THE FARMER AT HOME.

that vapor contains a great quantity. This condensation is often
formed by the attraction of an electrical cloud, and hence arises that
sultry heat which, in summer, is often felt before rain, and particularly
before a thunder storm.

As the earth is the source of heat, distance from the earth must,
consequently, be a cause of cold ; and, in confirmation of this theory,
it is invariably found that cold increases in proportion to our elevation
in the atmosphere. Hence we find, even under the equator, moun-
tains of a certain height have their tops covered with snow. An
elevation of five hundred yards produces the same eflect as a distance
of five thousand miles from the equator. Accordingly, at an eleva-
tion of thirteen thousand feet we find the frosts of the frozen zone ;
and at fifteen and sixteen thousand feet, the mountains, based upon
the most scorching plains, are capped with perpetual snow and ice.

The heat of the atmosphere is further augmented by the accumu-
lation of the sun’s rays at the surface of the earth. The rays are then
reflected into the air and to surrounding objects; so that the reflected
heat is often greater than the direct heat of the sun. On this account,
the heat in valleys, where the heat is reflected by hills and mountains,
is sometimes very great. In an elevated valley in Switzerland, the
heat is so much increased by reflection, that in the centre there is a
spot of perpetual verdure, in the midst of perpetual snow and glaciers ;
and there are plains on the Himmaleh mountains, fifteen thousand
feet above the level of the sea, which produce fine pasturage ; and at
the height of eleven thousand feet, which is above the region of per-
petual snows on the Andes, in the same latitude, barley and wheat are
known to flourish.

Countries that are uncultivated aud covered with wood, are much
colder than those which are open and cultivated ; as the former pre-
vent the access of the solar rays to the earth, or to the snow which
they may conceal, and also prevent a greater number of evaporating
surfaces than the latter. To be convinced that the air of woody coun-
tries is rendered colder by the evaporation from the trees and shrubs,
it is only necessary to observe that a thick shade of trees is cooler than
the shelter of buildings. As the land is capable of receiving and re-
taining much more heat or cold, than water can imbibe, the vicinity
of the sea is also a circumstance which considerably affects the tem-
perature of the air. The sea therefore moderates the heat in warm
climates, and the cold in higher latitudes. When the rays of the sun
strike upon the water, they will penetrate six or seven hundred feet,
if there be that depth ; and the heat will be diflused through the
whole mass, remaining till carried off by evaporation. Consequently,
in hot climates, the body of the ocean is much cooler than the lane ;
and in cold ones it is warmer.

TEMPERATURE OF THE EARTH. The circumstance of the
earth being flattened at the poles and protuberant at the equator, is

THE FARMER AT HOME. 423

the natural and necessary result of its rotation on its axis. But in
order that it might yield to the force resulting from such a motion, the
matter of which it is composed must have been soft. Now, although
water is capable of being compressed, and so far as we can judge, of
taking any degree of density, according to the force exerted upon it,
still the shape of the earth is not that which would have resulted from
such a mass of water. There may be particular portions of the sea
that extend to the depth of several miles, as there are particular points
of the solid crust of continents, that rise to this height above the
general level. Still we have reason to believe, that the average depth
of the ocean does not much exceed three thousand feet.

It is thought that heat may have been the original cause of the
fluidity of the earth, and that there may still remain enough to keep
the interior portions in the same state. The more the subject has been
examined, the more the evidence has accumulated in favor of the po-
sition that the temperature increases as we descend below the surface.
There are numerous instances in which we have been able, by means
of natural or artificial excavations, to penetrate to the depth of from
thirteen to sixteen hundred feet. The general inference from all the
observations made in different> parts of the earth is, that there is an
increase of heat amounting to about one degree of Fahrenheit for
every forty-six feet in depth ; that at the depth of ten thousand feet,
the heat would be sufficient to boil water, and that at the depth of
about one hundred miles, or one fortieth part of the distance to the
centre, the heat would be intense enough to melt most of the earths
and stones that are known to enter into the composition of the globe.
These facts and inferences have an important bearing upon the phe-
nomena of earthquakes and volcanoes, and open a wide field of specu-
lation to the natural historian and geologist.

THERMOMETER CHURN. This churn has been so con-
structed that the cream or milk is readily brought to the desired tem-
perature without mixing water or other substances, and the tempera-
ture certainly and definitely determined, which proves invaluable in
the art of making butter. One improvement consists in the construc-
tion of a double bottom made in the form of a semicircle, of two
sheets of zinc, or other metal, placed one above the other, the cream
to rest upon the uppermost. Between the two sheets forming the
bottom is a space, or chamber, into which may be introduced cold or
warm water, as may be required to increase or diminish the temper-
ature of the cream or milk. The water is easily applied by means of
a common tunnel, through an aperture or hole in the side of the
churn. :

Another improvement is a thermometer permanently placed in
one end of the churn, entirely secure from breaking or accident,
marked at sixty-two degrees, and which is always visible, so that the
operator may know and determine with certainty when the cream or

424 THE FARMER AT HOME.

milk is brought to the proper temperature. If the cream or milk is
too warm, the mercury will riseabove the mark of sixty-two degrees,
and cold water should be applied in the chamber described ; if too
cold, the mercury will fall below the mark, when warm water must
be used instead of cold. The cream or milk should be stirred or agi-
tated, by turning the crank, while the water is introduced, to give the
cream or milk an equal temperature throughout. When the ther-
mometer indicates that the crearn or milk is of the proper tempera-
ture, the water may be drawn out through the tube placed for the
purpose, when the churning should be performed by giving the crank
about forty revolutions to the minute. By reversing the motion of the
crank, it is liberated. when both it and the dasher, or floats, are
drawn out. This being done, the churn is easily cleaned. The con-
struction of this churn in all respects is simple; is not liable to get
out of order, and can be used with ease.

THERMOMETER CHURN.

THIRST. Distinct from the first and most obvious purposes for
which we take drink, viz., for allaying thirst, and for diluting the
solid food taken into the stomach, there is another motive which has
great influence over us all; and that is, to gratify the taste, and tickle
the palate. Thirst is a sensation amounting at times to a real irrita-
tion or want felt in the throat and stomach. It is brought on by
whatever stimulates these parts in such a way as to exalt sensation
and diminish the customary discharge of fluids from their surfaces.
Hence, thirst is excited by condiments and vinous spiritous drinks.
This want is also greater by whatever stimulates the blood vessels
and nerves of other parts, with which the stomach sympathizes ; and
on this account it is very urgent, in consequence of exposure to the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 425

sun’s rays, and in a heated atmosphere, which stimulates both the
skin and the lungs. Burns will cause raging thirst; so fits of pas-
sion, by their exciting powerfully the nervous system, have the same
effect.

Thirst thus brought on, and augmented by external heating and
irritating matters, and by irritation in various parts of the animal
economy ; and when present, giving rise to increased heat and irrita-
tion of the functions generally, can of course be mitigated and removed
but by one class of agents. These are of a cooling, soothing, and
sedative nature. Cool air applied to the skin and inhaled into the
lungs, or cold water applied to the extremities, will sometimes answer.
A depressing emotion, as of sudden fear, will, by its prompt sedative
action on the nervous system, produce the same result. But that
which above all other means is best calculated to soothe the heated
and irritated surfaces of the throat and stomach, and thus remove all
the troublesome secondary symptoms, is to drink simple water, or the
blander watery fluids. The instinctive want of such fluids for drink,
is strongly pronounced from the lowest animal up to man. They
soothe the irritated sentient surfaces affected in thirst ; they furnish
matter for the absorbents of these surfaces to carry into the circulation,
and thus preserve the requisite proportion of water in the blood.

While simple aqueous moisture is the chief assuager of thirst, and
that withovt which the want would soon become a raging inflamma-
tion and fever, leading to death, yet does temperature also exert a
modifying influence. Coldness of the fluid contributes more effectu-
ally to allay the nervous irritation in extreme thirst ; but, though
agreeable at the moment, it is not essentially necessary, and is often
hazardous, after the individual has been enfeebled by long and exces-
sive exercise and labor. The safer plan in such a case, is to apply
the cold fluid, iced or spring water, to the hands and face, and use
for drink that which is of the temperature of the river or flowing
stream. Even in hot weather, water of the temperature which it
assumes when exposed to the air, is the best quencher of thirst, though
not the most grateful to the taste. Very cold water taken into the
stomach, in some cases deadens the senses and produces spasms, and
even death. In the most favorable condition of the animal economy,
it is apt, especially in vigorous habits, to give rise to great reaction,
increased flow of blood and sensibility of the parts, and of course a
fresh call for drink.

The lover of spiritous and fermented liquors, persuades himself
that they are excellent quenchers of thirst and mitigators of heat ;
because he experiences relief from these sensations after he drinks
them of an icy coldness. The benefit here was from the adventitious
property of the liquor, viz., its coldness; but so soon as this has dis-
appeared, then follows the stimulation and excitement from the alco-
holic portion —the thirst is renewed, and if appeased in the same way,

426 THE FARMER AT HOME.

~

soon returns with increased urgency; and finally, the sipper of such
liquors is at length brought into the fever of drunkenness, and is
greatly surprised to find that his cold spirit and water, or cold wine,
or beer, should heat him so excessively, The only element in most
of these liquors, by which they at all palliate thirst, distinct from the
effect of their artificial coldness, is water.

Next to simple water, and that with the addition of a little mu-
cilage, the fluid, with a slightly saline impregnation, is useful in
moderating thirst. Animals, especially herbiverous quadrupeds,
usually so particular in taking no other drink but simple water, will
often drink with avidity from a saline spring or lick. The vessels
ealled absorbents, which drink up fluids to be carried into the circu-
lation, to dilute the blood and aid in the various secretions, are usu-
ally very careful to exclude foreign matters; but when they allow
the entrance of these, it is saline substances, in minute proportions,
in preference to all others.

But as few salts are pleasant to the taste, when they have been
dissolved in water, it has usually been the practice to employ those
solutions in which there is an excess of acid, as in the cream of tar-
tar ; or what at the moment of their formation largely evolves fixed
air, which stimulates agreeably the sense of taste, as in what are
ealled soda and seidlitz powders. When we use them, we dissolve
in one portion of water the acid, usually the tartaric ; and in another
the alkali, combined with fixed air or carbonic acid in the form of a
carbonate or bi-carbonate of soda. The tartaric acid unites with the
soda, forming a salt, the tartrate of soda; whilst the fixed air is dis-
engaged from its combination with the alkali, and froths up in the
glass at the moment of the mixture of the two solutions.

THRASHING MACHINE.

THRASHING. The act of beating out the corn from grain or other
crops, is called thrashing. The flail was the implement formerly
used in thrashing corn, and which separated the grain from the straw
and husks very effectually and expeditiously; but as it has now be-
come expensive, where large quantities are raised, and always bruises a
great many seeds, it has been attempted to avoid these inconveniences

THE FARMER AT HOME. 427

by proper machines, provided with a number of flails, or other parts
answering the same purpose, made to move by the power of water,
wind, or horses. By this means the business of thrashing is found to
be performed cheaper, more expeditiously, and with less damage to
the health of the thrasher ; for it is well known that thrashing with
flails is laborious in the extreme, and the dust constautly arising is in-
jurious to the lungs. Thrashing machines have become quite numer-
ous, each inventor endeavoring to obviate some fault in previous ones,
and to introduce some new advantage not before accomplished. A
correspondent of the American Agriculturist, living in Tompkins
county, (N. Y.,) says: ‘‘ Since I have owned one of Allen’s machines,
it has not cost me one bushel in twenty to thrash my grain. With
two light horses, by changing them every hour, and with two men and
a boy, I thrashed forty-five bushels of wheat in half a day. There
are but few farmers who caunot thrash all of their grain on their rainy
and leisure days, and incur very little expense, if they have a machine
of their own.

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. The surface of the earth, and
of all bodies with which we are acquainted, is supposed to contain or
possess a power of exciting or exhibiting a certain quantity of an ex-
ceeding subtle agent called the electric fluid. The quantity usually
belonging to any surface is called its natural state, and it then pro-
duces no sensible eflects ; but when any surface becomes possessed of
more, or less, than its natural quantity. it is electrified, and it then
exhibits a variety of peculiar and surprising phenomena ascribed to
the power called electric.

If you take a stick of sealing-wax and rub it on the sleeve of your
coat, it will have the power of attracting small pieces of paper, or
any other light substances, when held near them. If a clean and
dry glass tube be briskly rubbed with the hand, or with a piece of
flannel, and then presented to any small light substances, it will im-
mediately attract and repel them alternately for a considerable time,
The tube is then said to be excited. If an excited glass tube, in a
dark room, be brought within about half an inch of the finger, a lucid
spark will be seen between the finger and the tube. accompanied with
a snapping noise, and a peculiar sensation of the finger. Dry flannel
clothes, when handled in the dark, frequently exhibit a sparkling ap-
pearance, attended with the same kind of noise that is heard in the
experiment of the glass tube.

When any body is possessed of more than its natural quantity of
electricity, it is said to be positively electrified ; and when possessed
of less than its natural quantity, it is said to be negatively electrified.
If two substances come in contact, one charged positively and the
other negatively with electricity, so much of the fluid passes from the
former to the latter, as to produce an equilibrium. Certain bodies
have the power of transmitting electricity from one surface to another,

428 THE FARMER AT HOME.

and are hence called conductors; others not possessing this power are
called non-conductors. Metals, ores, and fluids, in their natural state,
excepting air and oils, are conductors ; vitrified and resinous substances,
amber, sulphur, wax, silk, cotton, and feathers, are non-conductors.

From the similarity between lightning and the electric fluid, it had
long been supposed that they were one and the same thing; but it
was left for Dr. Franklin to prove the truth of this supposition. When
the clouds and the different terrestrial objects, over which they pass,
are charged, one positively and the other negatively, in the passage of
this fluid from the former to the latter, there is presented what we call
lightning. So likewise, where two clouds come in contact, differently
charged, the same result takes place. Thunder is the report which
accompanies the taking place of this electrical union. It is occasioned
by the rarefaction or displacing of the air, and its sudden return to its
original position. Thunder and lightning bear the same relation to
each other, as the flash and report of a cannon.

THUNDER ROD. This is a rod of metal attached generally to
the side of a building, and extending from below the level of the
ground, to a point several feet above the highest part of the roof of
the building, in order to secure the edifice from the effects of thunder
and lightning. The upper end of the rod terminates in a point, some-
times in several points. It is to Dr. Franklin that the world is in-
debted for the idea of raising pointed rods in order to secure buildings
from the effects of atmospherical electricity ; and the recommendation
was immediately adopted. These rods should be thick enough to con-
vey the electric fluid to the ground without being melted by it; and
they should reach so far into the ground, as to relieve the building
from danger of receiving the fluid from the lower extremity of them.
It is surprising that so few farmers avail themselves of a protection
against one of the most fearful calamities to which they are always
liable, when several times every year they are shocked with the reports
of persons killed and valuable property destroyed by it.

TILLAGE. This term, applied to arable land, signifies the stir-
ring and preparing the soil, so as to render it fit for the vegetation of
seeds ; and its object is to destroy the weeds as well as to make the
soil mellow. The whole art of cultivation consists in tillage and
manuring, and the profits of the husbandman depend on the perfection
of this process, and the economy of labor in producing his crops. A
defect in tillage, bad ploughing, or any other want of due preparation
of the soil, will cause a deficiency of his crops; and, if such defect
be perpetuated for a course of years, most land will become incapable
of yielding enough to remunerate for the labor bestowed upon it. To
ensure remunerating crops, the soil should be in such a state that the
rains and dews may readily be diflused through it, without giving it a
wet appearance, or evaporating too rapidly. The effect of deep tillage
is most remarkable. This may be seen in the use of the spade upon

THE FARMER AT HOME. 429

garden lands, and in the use of the subsoil plough, for all kinds of field
culture. What would grow in the garden if the soil were loosened
only to the depth of three or four inches! To raise garden vegetables
on such a soil, would be deemed absurd; and the attempt to do
it presumption. The principle is the same in field culture. Good
tillage is the secret of successful farming.

TIME FOR SLEEP. Nightis evidently the period appropriated
by nature for repose, and general experience has proved, that it is the
only one during which we can with certainty obtain that sound,
sweet, and refreshing slumber, so necessary for the preservation of
health. Sleeping during the day is, indeed, on many accounts, a
pernicious practice, which should be carefully avoided, excepting
under particular circumstances of disease, or when a sufficient amount
of repose cannot be obtained at the natural periods. This, however,
does not apply to infants. For the first months after birth, a healthy
child sleeps full two-thirds of its time. This propensity requires to be
indulged by day as well as by night, but, with judicious management,
it may be brought, in a short time, to require and enjoy repose during
the latter period only. Young children, when fatigued by exercise,
will also, in general, be found inclined to sleep during the day ; from
indulging them in a short repose, under such circumstances, no bad
effects can result, provided their clothing be perfectly loose, so that
every part of their bodies is freed from bands or ligatures.

The popular maxim, “ early to bed and early to rise,” is one
which should be rigidly observed by every individual. It has been
remarked that, in the natural state, the disposition to sleep usually
comes on soon after the commencement of darkness ; and, according
to the oldest and most accurate observers, three or four hours sleep
before midnight is very nearly as refreshing as double that portion in
the morning. Persons who spend the day in manual labor, or active
exercise in the open air, with great difficulty keep awake for a few
hours after the night has closed in ; and this disposition to early sleep
is, perhaps, one of the strongest indications of perfect health. It has
been very correctly remarked “that the atmosphere of the night is
always more vitiated, and consequently less fit for respiration, than
that*of the day; and as we respire a greater portion of air while
awake than in a sleeping state, it follows that from these, independent
of other causes, the system is more liable to injury in the former than
in the latter state.”

Early rising is equally important to the health of the system as
early rest. On no account should any one permit himself to again
slumber, after the moment of his first awaking in the morning, whe-
ther this happen at the early dawn, or before the sun has risen ; even
though from accident or unavoidable causes he may not have enjoyed
his six or eight hours of repose. It is much better to make up the
deficiency, if necessary, at some other time, than to attempt taking

430 THE FARMER AT HOME.

another nap. Whoever shall accustom himself {nus to rise, will enjoy
more undisturbed sleep during the night, and awake far more re-
freshed, than those who indolently slumber all the morning.

TIN. This is a white soft metal, softer than silver and harder
than lead. The native oxide, is the principal ore of tin which is
found in Spain, Saxony, France, the East Indies, and South America ;
and in Cornwall and Devonshire, whence the greatest part of the tin
consumed in Europe is procured. Camden supposes the abundance
in these two provinces to have given the name Britain to the whole
country. In the Syriac language varatanac signifies land of tin, from
which Bochart derives the name Britain. The principal properties
of tin are, that it is very flexible, next to lead in softness, and the
most fusible of all the common metals, except mercury. It is of great
use for coating the inside of copper vessels for culinary purposes; but
as thus it constitutes only an imperfect protection from the poisonous
qualities of the copper, it is much better applied on thin sheets of iron,
forming what are called tin plates, of which the tin ware, now
chiefly used for the common purposes of the kitchen, is made.

TOAD. A harmless but unsightly amphibious animal; very
tenacious of life, and believed when enclosed in stones and trees to be
able to exist for many centuries ; beimg torpid during the winter, they
creep into crevices and sometimes become enclosed by petrifaction or
concretions. They live on small worms and insects, and are great
enemies of wasps. The Pipa or Surinam toad is larger than our toad
and more ugly; but its young grow in cells on its back from eggs to
tadpoles, and then to perfect toads in large numbers. Toads are fre-
quently esteemed a kind of nuisance on one’s premises ; and, truly
they are not very comely to the sight. Yet, it would be difficult to
tell of any injury ever done by them. On the contrary it is affirmed
that in gardens they are of great service in destroying the vermin
there, oftentimes so annoying and destructive to tender plants. Some
gardeners have been known to collect all the toads they can obtain to
be thus employed.

TOBACCO. A plant greatly in use, which was first found
among the natives of America. In the year 1534, James Cartier, a
Frenchman, was commissioned to explore the coasts of North Amarica,
with a view to find a place for a colony. He observed that the na-
tives of Canada used the leaves of an herb which they preserved in
pouches made of skins, and smoked in stone pipes. It being very
offensive to the French, they took none of it with them on their
return. Ralph Lane, at his return in 1586, carried it first into
Europe ; and Sir Walter Raleigh, who was a man of gaiety and
fashion, not only learned the use of it himself, but introduced it into
the polite circles. It is related that a servant of Sir Walter, bringing
a tankard of ale into his study as he was smoking his pipe and read-
ing, was so alarmed at the appearance of smoke issuing out of his

THE FARMER AT HOME, 431

mouth, that he threw the ale into his face, and run to alarm the
family. crying out that his master was on fire.

Much of the peculiarity of taste and aroma, and the consequent
value of tobacco, depends on the soil, and the preparation or sweating
of the plants after drying. The former should not be too rich, and
never highly manured, as the flavor is thereby materially injured,
although the product will be increased. Yet it is an exhausting
crop, as seen by the large quantity and the analysis of the ash; and
the soil requires a constant renewal of well fermented manures, and
particularly the saline ingredients, to prevent exhaustion. The culti-
vation of tobacco, from the first settlement of Virginia, has been an
object of primary attention in that section of our country ; and for a
long time it formed the principal object of export from Virginia and
Maryland. It is still largely cultivated there. and has become an
object of considerable attention in some of the middle and western
States.

TOMATO. This plant or vegetable, sometimes called love apples
belongs to the same genus with the potato, and was first found in
South America. The use of it as food is said to have been derived
from the Spaniards. It has long been used also by the French and
Italians. The date of its introduction into this ¢ountry is unknown.
It is said that the tomato has been used in some parts of Illinois for
more than fifty years. Its introduction on our tables, as a culinary
vegetable, is of recent date. Thirty years ago, it was scarcely known
but as an ornament to the flower garden, and for pickling. It is now
cultivated in all parts of the country, and found either in a cooked or
raw state on most tables. In warm climates, it is said that they are
more used than in northern, and have a more agreeable taste. It is
now used in various parts of the country, in soups and sauces, to
which it imparts an agreeable acid flavor; and is also stewed and
dressed in various ways, very much admired, and many people con-
sider it a great luxury.

We often hear it said that a relish for the tomato is an acquired
one; scarcely any person at first liking it. It has, indeed, within a
few years, come into general use, and is considered a particularly
healthy article. A learned medical professor in the West pronounces
the tomato a very wholesome food in various ways, and advises the
daily use of it. He says that it is very salutary in dyspepsia and in-
digestion, and is a good antidote to bilious disorders, to which persons
are liable in going from a northern to a warmer climate. He recom-
mends it also in diarrhea, and thinks it preferable to calomel. The
tomato is a tender, herbaceous plant, of rank growth, but weak, fetid,
and glutinous. The jeaves resemble those of the potato, but the flow-
ers are yellow, and arranged in large divided branches. The fruit is
of a light yellow, and a bright red color, pendulous, and formed like
the large squash-shaped pepper. They should be planted near a

432 THE FARMER AT HOME.

fence, or a trellis should be provided for them, in the same manner
as for nasturtiums ; or they will do pretty well, if planted four feet
from each other. Stakes, too, may be driven up among them, to
keep therm from falling. They will bear till the frost.

GARDENERS TOOL CHEST.

TOOL SHOP FOR FARMERS. Every farmer ought to pos-
sess a variety of tools, such as are needed in repairing farming imple-
ments—fences, gates, and pens; and for doing such work generally,
as will always be required on the premises, and which every person
may acquire the habit of doing, although he has no mechanical trade.
How often does a nail give way, and hence a board becomes loose !
If he has nails and a hammer at hand, a few minutes will be suffi-
cient to make it secure. Whereas, if permitted to remain insecure, it
may fall and be broken, so that a new one will be required to supply
its place. How often will the fastenings on a gate or door demand a
slight attention, to prevent destruction from the wind, as well as to
keep the stock from going where they ought not. How often does a
rake-tooth or an axe-handle get broken; a hoe-handle become loose
in its socket ; an ox-bow pin gets lost; a floor plank in the stalls
becomes damaged. If he has tools and materials at hand for making
repairs, he may do it himself in half the time to be occupied in going
after a mechanic to do it ; besides, if he does it himself, he does not
have to pay another person for doing it.

To do these things, he must have hammers and hatchets, gimlets
and augers, chisels and gouges, drills and screw-drivers ; saws and
files, squares and compasses, pliers and pincers ; also a punch, a vice,

THE FARMER AT HOME. 433

an adze, a drawing knife, a gauge, and, perhaps, twenty other arti-
cles, the cost of which is not much—not equal to what they will enable
a person to save in a single year, if he uses them as he may do.
Besides, the time generally taken in such acts would never be missed ;
it is fragments of leisure about the season of meals, or stormy days,
when nothing else would be done. With such habits of attention to
the farming implements, and to the various fixtures on the premises,
whenever a job of work is to be undertaken, no delay is caused by the
want of instruments to effect it. This is the secret why some farmers
get along with their labor so much better than their neighbors. They
do not have to wait a day before beginning any specified operation, in
going after a carpenter, a wheelwright, or blacksmith, after the
laborers are personally ready to engage in it.

TORNADO. A tornado seems to partake much of the nature of
a whirlwind, or perhaps of a water spout, but is more violent in its
effects. It commences very suddenly, several clouds being previously
drawn together, when a spout of wind, proceeding from them, strikes
the ground in a round spot of a few rods or perches diameter, and
proceeds thus half a mile ora mile. The proneness of its descent
makes it rebound from the earth, throwing such things as are movable
before it, but some sideways or in a lateral direction from it. A
vapor, mist, or rain, descends with it, by which the path of it is
marked with wet.

TORPEDO. A fish that gives to those who touch it a kind of
electric shock. The body of this fish is almost circular; the skin is
soft, smooth, and of a yellowish color, marked with large annular
spots; the tail tapering to a point. Such is that unaccountable
power it possesses, that, the instant it is touched, it numbs not only
the hand and arm, but sometimes also the whole body. The shock
received most resembles the stroke of an electrical machine ; sudden,
tingling, and painful. Even if one treads upon it with the shoe on,
it effects not only the leg, but the whole thigh upwards. The nerves
are so affected, that the person struck imagines all the bones of his
body, and particularly those of the limb that received the blow, are
driven out of joint. All this is accompanied with an universal
tremor, a sickness of the stomach, a general convulsion, and a univer-
sal suspension of the faculties of the mind.

TORRID ZONE. That portion of the earth over every part of
which the sun is vertical, or perpendicular, at some time of the year.
It extends from twenty-three degrees and twenty-eight minutes north
latitude, to twenty-three degrees and twenty-eight minutes south.
This zone comprehends the East and West Indies, the Philippine
Islands, the greater part of South America and Africa, and almost all
Captain Cook’s discoveries, including the northern parts of New Hol-
land. In order to prevent its being burnt up by the rays of the sun,
Providence has placed in the torrid zone the largest diameter of the

19

434 THE FARMER AT HOME.

South Sea, and the greatest breadth of the Atlantic Ocean ; and there
it has collected the greatest quantity of islands in existence. Farther,
it has planted in the breadth of the continents, the greatest bodies of
running water that are in the world, all issuing from mountains of
ice ; such as the Senegal and the Nile, which issue from the moun-
tains of the moon. in Africa; the Amazon and Oronoko, which have
their sources in the Andes. Again, it is for this reason that Provi-
dence has multiplied in the torrid zone, and in its vicinity, lofty chains
of mountains covered with snow, and that it directs thither the winds
of the north pole and of the south pole, of which the trade winds al-
ways partake.

TORTOISE. There are many species of the sea-tortoise or turtle
found in the West Indies and the South Seas, which are principally
distinguished by the peculiarities of their feet. It has four legs and
a tail, and the body is covered with so strong a shell, that several
men may stand on it without doing it any injury. The tortoise digs
round holes in the sand, in which it lays several membranaceous eggs.
Some of the species, such as the common green turtle, and the hawks-
bill turtle, grow to a very large size, and are not unusually four, five,
or six hundred pounds weight. Those who take them watch them
from their nests on shore, in moonlight nights ; and before they reach
the sea, turn them on their backs, and leave them till morning, for
they are utterly unable to recover their former position; at other
times they hunt them in boats with a spear, striking them with it
through the shell ; and as there is a cord fastened to the spear, they ©
are taken much in the same manner as whales. Tortoises will live
after being deprived of the brain, and even their heads. The flesh
of many of the sea turtles is highly esteemed as food ; that of the
hawksbill turtle is, however, indifierent ; this species is noticed chiefly
as producing the tortoise-shell of commerce, so well known and used
for various purposes.

TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. The writer having
made several unsuccessful attempts to transplant tulip trees and make
them live, resolved on the following expedient. In the autumn of
1849 he selected one standing in an open pasture, twenty-seven inches
in circumference, and about twenty-five feet in height. Around the
trunk, eight feet in diameter, he dug a trench fifteen inches in depth,
and nearly two feet in breadth. As soon as the frost rendered the
mass of earth within the trench of a solid consistence, he commenced
digging underneath it at the outer edge. This gave the frost a better
opportunity to operate, till it became nearly as impenetrable as a stone.
This undermining of it was continued at intervals for two months, till
with levers, oue side was lifted up and the tap root cut off—all the
lateral roots being of course imbedded in the frozen earth. It was
then raised up by levers upon a sled, the whole being drawn by four
txen to the place prepared for it, an eighth of a mile, and afterwards

THE FARMER AT HOME. 435

easily deposited therein and made to stand upright, the position in
which it was transported. On the return of spring the budsexpanded
and the leaves unfolded themselves with as much vigor as though it
had never been touched; nor has the growth to appearance been re-
tarded.

If very large trees are transplanted, even in this manner, it is ap-
parent that it will be a long time before their growth will become
vigorous, as so great a reduction is unavoidably made in the quantity
of their roots. In all cases it is ordinarily a good rule in transplanting
trees to remove as many of the branches as of the roots. Between the
number of the roots and branches there is a correspondence in num-
ber and size ; the existence of the former is necessary for the preserva-
tion of the latter.

TRANSMIGRATION. In pagan mythology, the passing of
human souls into other bodies. This doctrine originated among the
East Indians, and is of great antiquity. The Indians believed that
the soul transmigrated from body to body, for a long succession of
ages ; that the punishment of crimes would be to*have the souls of
the criminals thrust into some unclean or detested brute animals after
death ; that the cruel or tyrannical, for instance, would suffer in other
bodies the same kinds of distress and tortures that they had inflicted ;
and that after a course of trials and transmigrations, the soul would
be reunited to its original body, in order to enjoy eternal happiness.
Accordingly, they scrupulously abstained from eating flesh and from
spilling the blood of any of the inferior animals, lest they should eat
or kill some near relation. Pythagoras, in his travels in India, learned
this doctrine of the Indian Brachmans, and taught it in Greece.

TREACLE or MOLASSES. The chief difference between this
article and sugar appears to be in its mucilaginous or gummy color-
ing matter ; it is more laxative than refined sugar; and may by di-
lution and the addition of yeast, be made to undergo the vinous and
acetous fermentations. In the first, a considerable portion of spirit
may be obtained from it, flavored of course with the peculiar taste
which the sugar imparts, as in rum, the taste of which arises, no
doubt, from the essential oil of the sugar.

TREADMILL. An instrument of punishment, lately introduced
into England and this country, consisting of a large wheel, about
twenty or twenty-five feet wide, with steps on its external surface,
upon which the criminals are placed. Their weight sets the wheel
in motion, and they maintain themselves in an upright posture by
means of a horizontal bar fixed above them, of which they keep hold.
The power thus obtained may be applied to the same purpose as water
power or steam. The exercise is very fatiguing, and the prisoners
are relieved every eight or ten minutes.

TRIANGLE. In Geometry, a figure of three sides and three
angles. Triangles are either plan2 or spherical. A plane triangle is

436 THE FARMER AT HOME.

one contained by three right lines; and a spherical triangle is one
contained by three arcs of great circles of the sphere. Triangles are
denominated, from their angles, right, obtuse, and acute. A right-
angled triangle is that which has one right angle; an obtuse-angled
triangle is such as has one obtuse angle; and an acute-angled triangle
is that which has all its angles acute. The triangle is the most im-
portant figure in geometry ; and its various lines bear the most inter-
esting relations to each other.

TREES. Few objects can be more innocently pleasing and of
more importance in the economy of nature, and to man, than the
various vegetable productions of the earth. The large proportion
which its surface bears to its herbag. and the immense extent of the
forests in comparison with that of meadows, pastures, prairies, or
plains, seem to indicate that trees and shrubs act an important part in
the economy of our globe. In countries uninhabited by man, the
influence of forests must be great on the climate, on the soil, and on
the number of wild animals, and on the herbaceous vegetables. In
civilized countries, to those influences must be added the relation in
which they stand to man.

It appears highly probable, that the greater part of the surface of
our globe has been, at one time, covered with wood ; because among
other reasons, coal is found in nearly all countries in both hemispheres,
from the equator to the poles; at all events, it is certain that this has
been the case with the greater part of the temperate regions of the
globe at no very distant perjod. The whole of the American conti-
nent was, until lately, we are led to presume, almost entirely covered
with trees and shrubs, and presented few naked surfaces, except those
of the prairies, alluvial deposits on the banks of its large rivers, and
on the tops of the highest mountains ; and what was so recently the
condition of America must, we have reason to suppose, once, at least,
have been that of every other part of the whole world.

The influence which a predominance of forest must have in a
country uninhabited by man, must have extended to the animals, the
herbaceous vegetables, the soil, the waters, and the climate. To wild
animals of every kind, especially to those of the more ferocious tribes,
forests have, in all countries, furnished shelter, and in a great meas-
ure, food; birds, insects and reptiles are the more common inhabi-
tants. Herbaceous plants are, for the most part, destroyed by dense
forests ; but some kinds are encouraged by the thickness of the shade,
and the moist heat which prevails among the trunks and the branches
of trees. But the great influence of forest scenery in a wild state, is
on the soil ; and in this point of view, natural forests may be regarded
as a provision of nature for preparing the surface of the earth for the
cultivation of the chief productions which constitute the food of man,
and of domestic animals. It would be interesting to show how the
soil is furnished with the organized matter, so essential to the growth

THE FARMER AT HOME, 437

of perfect plants, by the decay of leaves, and, ultimately by the decay
of trunks and branches. The water of a country, the rivers and
lakes, are invariably affected by the state of the woods of that country.
These woods, and their mossy beds, must, in all cases, act more or less
as sponge in retaining the water which falls on them; and water
must thus be supplied more gradually to the rivers, in countries
covered with wood, than in those which are cleared and regularly
drained.

TROUT. A delicate fish, abounding in the rivers and ponds of
England, and weighing from four to twenty-five pounds. They weigh
less in the United States. It has a short roundish head, and wide
mouth, filled with teeth, which cover the palate and tongue, the scales
are small, the back ash-colored, the sides yellowish, and, when in
season, it is sprinkled all over the body with small, beautiful red and
black spots. These fish abound in small brooks and ponds ; anglers
use worms or artificial flies as baits to take them.

TRUMPETER. A South American bird, about as large asa
domestic fowl, referred by naturalists to the waders, of which it has
the long neck and legs; but it possesses many characters in common
with gallinaceous birds. The feathers of the throat and the upper
part of the breast have the most brilliant reflections of green, gold,
blue, and violet; the other parts of the body are black, except the
middle of the back ard lesser coverts, which are reddish, and the
greater coverts of the wings and tail, which are ash-colored. In the
wild state this bird is found only in the mountainous and woody dis-
tricts of the hottest parts of South America, where it lives on fruits.
It runs swiftly, sometimes walks with a slow pace, or leaps. Its wings
and tail are very short, and its flight clumsy. The name has been
applied on account of the note which it utters. It is easily tamed,
and shows as muvh attachment and fidelity to its master as a dog.
It obeys his voice, caresses and follows him, and recognises him after
a long absence. It drives away all strange animals, and fears neither
cat nor dog. Those which live in the streets of Cayenne will often
attach themselves to a stranger, and follow him wherever he goes.
In short, these birds are superior to all others in intelligence and social
disposition ; and it would be desirable to naturalize them in our
climate,—an experiment which has never been fairly tried, that we
are aware of. It is said that flocks of sheep are confided to their
charge, and that they constantly bring them home every evening. It
is certain that the care of poultry may be safely entrusted to them.

TUNNEL. This term, in civil engmeering, denotes an arched
passage formed under ground to conduct a canal or road on a lower
level than the natural surface. Long tunnels are usually made
through hills, to avoid the inconvenience and loss of power occasioned

by conducting a canal, road, or railway over elevated ground, and
' also the enormous expense of such an open excavation as would be

438 THE FARMER 4T HOME.

necessary in order to preserve the requisite level. The most extraor-
dinary work in tunneling of antiquity was under the bed of the Rhone,
below Avignon, undertaken by the Romans. A more splendid one,
however, has been made under the Thames, to connect the portions
of London on the opposite sides of this river.

The Thames Tunnel was projected about the year 1825. The
enterprise required a long preparation. The excavation of the tunnel
was commenced in January. 1826, in a stratum of clay ; but several
interruptions of the river took place ; and the one in 1828 was so
serious in its consequences, that the company did not resume opera-
tions till 1835. The tunnel is twelve hundred feet in length, between
the two shafts on the opposite banks of the river. It was not till
1843 that this tunnel was opened for foot passengers. But although
it was one of the grandest undertakings in the history of human
enterprise, in a commercial point it has by no means equaled the
anticipations of its projectors. It is truly a great curiosity of art, and
will remain so as long as its massive abutments and arches retain
their present firm position, which may be to the end of time; but,
even as such it does not attract that observation and admiration from
the multitudes of foreigners visiting that proud metropolis, which
might be supposed.

TURKEY. The turkey, for the table, is an universally favorite
bird. The finest and strongest are those of a bronzed black, as closely
as possible resembling the original stock, which is the wild turkey.
These are not only reared the most easily, but are generally the largest,
and fatten the most rapidly. Some turkeys are of a coppery tint, some
of delicate fawn color, while others are parti-colored, grey, and white,
and rarely they can be found of a pure snow white. All of the latter
are regarded as inferior to the black, their color indicating something
like degeneracy of constitution, if not actual disease. Some have con-
sidered the turkey a most profitable bird, inasmuch as it will provide
for itself almost wholly, if permitted to run at large during the season
when snails, slugs. worms, and grasshoppers are abundant. These, to
the turkey, are a great luxury, and the young birds, after two months
old, will grow on them better than any other food. The refuse rneat
from the slaughter house, chopped up fine, is excellent food for them
However, they will sometimes, unless furnished with yards, (the larger
the better,) from which they cannot escape, be very troublesome to the
farmer. They will destroy double the grain they want to eat by tread-
ing it down; and in locations to which they have access, it is impossi-
ble to raise cabbage.

Notwithstanding turkeys are apt to provide feed for themselves,
they should be fed at least in the morning, as it will tend to attach
them to their home, and prevent them from wandering so far from it,
as they would do if not thus fed. They will roost out on trees during
the whole winter, but as their feet are tender, they will be likely to

THE FARMER AT HOME. 439

freeze, should the weather be extremely cold. They should, therefore,
be furnished with warm and comfortable shelters, and they should
never be suffered to become poor from waut of sufficient feed. In
Browne’s Treatise on Poultry, will be found ample directions for the
rearing of turkeys. The work is called the American Poultry Yard.

TURKEY.

TURNIPS. Little is known of the history of this valuable plant.
Its origin appears to be uncertain, but the choicest English varieties,
from which our own are descended, were brought from Hanover. For
culinary purposes, it has been prized from the earliest periods, long
before it was considered important in an agricultural point of view.
Cumella recommends its extensive cultivation, because that portion of
the crop not wanted for the table will be greedily eaten by the farm

440 THE FARMER AT HOME,

cattle. At the present day, however, its merits are generally acknow-
ledged, and in some countries if occupies a conspicuous position in
every system of husbandry. It must be yet fresh in our minds, how,
in the recent dearth in Ireland, the people placed their whole trust
upon the success of the turnip crop.

It has been remarked, that the turnip culture effected a great and
beneficial revolution in English husbandry, as the introduction of the
steam engine and spinning jenny effected in British manufactures.
This crop has there proved a great source of wealth and fertility. It
constitutes by far the greatest material for making beef and mutton,
as well as for enriching or keeping up the fertility of the soil. In our
own country, the turnip culture has not received the attention its im-
portance demands. Those who have made sufficient experiments to
testify in regard to its value, speak well of it. Six hundred bushels
to the acre is a fair crop of the Swedish turnip Some raise double
that quantity.

TURPENTINE. A resin, flowing either naturally, or in conse-
quence of incision, from various sorts of trees; as the terebinthus,
larch, pine, and fir. In medicine, the uses of turpentine are innumer-
able. Among many other good offices, it cures wounds, cleanses ulcers,
and relieves the lungs. The distilled oil or spirit of turpentine, is
also a useful medicine, and, besides, is of great service in various arts.

TWILIGHT, orn CREPUSCULUM. The time from the first
dawn of the morning to the rising of the sun ; and again, between the
setting of this luminary, and the last remains of day. It is usually
computed to commence and terminate when the sun is about eighteen
degrees below the horizon. Without this twilight, the sun’s light
would appear at its risig, and disappear at its setting. instantaneously ;
and we should experience a sudden transition from the brightest sun-
shine to the profoundest obscurity. The duration of twilight is different,
in different climates ; and in the same place, it varies at different pe-
riods of the year.

ULMIN. A substance obtained from the elm tree, of very singu-
lar properties. It resembles gum, but is hard, of a black color, and con-
siderably bitter. In its original:state, it is soluble in water, and
insoluble in alcohol or ether ; but when nitric or oxymuriatic acid is
poured into its solution, it changes into a resinous substance no longer
soluble in water, but soluble in alcohol,

UNIVERSAL CULTIVATOR. ‘The Cultivator is a great labor-
saving implement, for stirring the earth between the rows of corn and
other crops. There are several patterns. What is called the Uni-
versal Cultivator, is of recent construction, is longer than those pre-
viously used, and entirely of iron, except the centre beam and handles.
The side beams are of wrought iron, and so curved that they are
expanded or contracted, by loosening the iron key that confines the
teeth in their place. They are each moved forward or back, to a

THE FARMER AT HOME. 441

point that will again cause them to work parallel with the centre
beam, and at equal distances from each other. To these are fitted
several sets of different teeth and scarifiers of wrought and cast iron.
There is also one pair of teeth calculated to work in the rear, formed
like small plough shares, turning the furrows in opposite directions.
They can be so placed as to turn the furrows to or from the rows of
vegetables. If the forward teeth are used at the same time, both
together finely pulverise the soil. The cultivator is made to expand
from two to five feet. A man and a horse will do the labor of half a
dozen men in a cornfield, and far better than it can be done with
a hoe.

UNIVERSAL CULTIVATOR.

URINE. This is the fluid excrement of animals, and is produced
by the action of the kidneys on the blood. In birds and reptiles, the
substances composing the urine are solid, and are voided in their dung.
All urine contains the essential elements of vegetables in a state of
solution ; but the various species of urine from different animals, differ
in their constituents ; and the urine from the same animal alters when
any material change is made in its food, as well as when there is an
increased flow of milk. For instance, a cow in milk, when fed on
rich food, yields less urine than one which is dry ; and the urine varies
in quantity in proportion to the amount of milk she gives. The effi-
cacy of it as a fertilizer, depends upon the quantity of solid matter
which it holds in solution, upon the rature of said matter, and espe-
cially upon the rapid changes which the organic part of it is known to
undergo.

As little attention as has generally been paid to the saving of urine,
it is one of the most valuable of all manures. That of the cow and
hog is said to be more valuable, because it contains more solid soluble
matter than that of any other domestic animal. The efficacy of urine
as a manure, is owing to the large amount of urea, ammonia, and
phosphates, and consequently of nitrogen, which it contains. Recent
urine generally exerts an unfavorable influence on vegetation ; it is

19*

442 THE FARMER AT HOME.

most beneficially applied after fermentation has fairly commenced, and
before it reaches the final state of the process, decomposition is attended
with a diminution of urea and an increase of ammonia. It is important
that it should be collected and fermented in tightly covered cisterns to
prevent the escape of volatile matters ; and it has been proposed to add
gypsum, sulphate of iron, or sulphuric acid. to the fermenting urine,
in order to fix the ammonia; the mixture of vegetable mould with it,
has also been recommended as equally effective and more economical.
The loss of manure in waste urine, in densely populated countries and
large cities, is 1mmense.

If every human being voids annually enough urine to manure an
acre of ground, which is the calculation of scientific farmers, then a
family of ten persons, if so minded, could save enough to enrich ten
acres ; and, the inhabitants of a city containing five hundred thousand
inhabitants, New York, for instance, if means were provided to collect
and convert their liquid evacuations into manure, would fertilize five
hundred thousand acres of land ; which, if well cultivated, would
yield vegetable food double the amount of their own consumption of
it ; and enough, also, to rear and fatten the farm animals required for
their nourishment. The same estimate may be made of the inhabit-
ants of other localities. Again, it is calculated that each man will
void six hundred pounds of urine in a year. But we will call it one
half of that for each individual in a family, so that if the family is
composed of ten persons, the urine voided by the whole in a year, will
be three thousand pounds. This, at one cent a pound, (much less than
the cost of guano,) will amount to thirty dollars; so that if it were
saved, and applied as a manure, would save annually to the family
doing it, thirty dollars, now ordinarily lost. At this rate, there might
be an annual saving in this article, from a city ike New York, of one
million and five hundred thousand dollars.

URSUS. The bear, a genus of animals of ten species, which in-
clude the brown bear, a solitary animal, which lives on vegetables and
fish ; the American bear, which climbs trees ; the Polar bear, twelve
feet long, white, with shaggy hair, and very courageous when attacked,
or in attacking boats and ships; the glutton, so called from its vora-
city ; the raccoon; and the badger, about two feet long, living under
ground on roots, fruit, frogs, and insects, and quite inoffensive, but
often destroyed amidst circumstances of great cruelty.

VALERIAN. The root of this plant has been long extolled as
an efficacious remedy in epilepsy, which caused it to be exhibited in a
variety of other complaints termed nervous, in which it has been found
highly serviceable. It is also in very general use, as an antispas-
modic, and is exhibited in convulsive hysterical diseases. A simple
and volatile tincture is prepared from it, for which directions are given
in medical books.

VANILLA. An exotic, parasitical plant, growing in Mexico ;

THE FARMER AT HOME. 443

whence its long slender pods, containing numerous black grains, are
imported. These seeds are warm and aromatic, possessing an oily
taste and a fragrant odor, similar to thatofthe Peruvian balsam. They
are used chiefly for imparting an agreeable flavor to chocolate, in the
proportion of one grain to an ounce. The drug itself is said to be
resolvent and coroborant ; to afford relief in flatulency; and to pro-
mote the digestion of the oily matter contained in the cacao. On the
other hand, if it be too freely used, its narcotic eflects, though exhile-
rating at first, like opium, are succeeded by uncommon debility, and
relaxation of the nerves. When the fresh pods are opened, they
exhale such powerful fragrance, as to intoxicate the person thus
employed.

VAPOR BATH. The vapor or steam bath may be regarded as
a modification of the hot bath ; but its effects are much less violent.
The most usual mode of employing it is to expose the naked body in
a room, into which the steam of hot water may be admitted. The
room is generally heated to a temperature considerably above that of
the atmosphere, and the body is suffered to remain for some time in the
heated air, the common effect of which is, to increase its temperature,
and to accelerate the circulation of the blood. After some time, the
steam is admitted, when the former symptoms are removed, and a
profuse perspiration is produced. Thisis usually promoted by friction,
and a removal to a warm bed. The general effect of this process is
to relax the body, to remove obstructions of the skin, alleviate pain
and spasmodic contractions, and promote sleep. In the vapor bath,
the stimulant power of heat is modified and tempered by the moisture
diffused through the air; and, as the elastic vapor, like air, is a less
powerful conductor of heat than the watery fluid, the effect of vapor in
raising the temperature of the body is much less than that. of the hot
bath. Its heating effect is also further diminished by the copious per-
spiration that ensues; so that, on all accounts, the vapor bath is safer,
and, in most cases, more effectual than the hot water bath.

VEGETABLE. A vegetable is composed of a root, stem, leaves,
flowers, fruits and seeds ; and when all these different parts are fully
developed, the vegetable is said to be perfect. The root is that part
of the plant which is concealed in the earth, and which serves to
convey nourishment to the whole plant. The stem, which commen-
ces at the termination of the root, supports all the other parts of the
plant. When the stem is large and solid, as in trees, it is denomi-
nated the trunk, which is divided into the wood and the bark. The
bark constitutes the outermost part of the tree, and covers the whole
of the plant from the extremity of the roots to the termination of the
branches. The bark is composed of three parts, namely, the epider-
mis, the parenchyma, and the cortical layers. The wood immedi-
ately under the bark, is composed of concentric layers, which increase
with the age of the plant. The wood next the bark, which is softer

444 THE FARMER AT HOME.

and whiter, is called the alburnum. In the middle of the stem is the
pith, which is a soft and spongy substance composed of cells. In old
wood this part entirely disappears, and its place is supplied by the
perfect wood. To the vegetable also belong leaves, flowers, and fruit
or seeds, each of which faithless matter for s study, on account of their
beauty and utility in vegetable economy.

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VEGETABLE CUTTER.

VEGETABLE CUTTER. To farmers who raise turnips, carrots,
parnips, beets or potatoes for “arm animals it is, as it were, indispen-
sable to have what is called a vegetable cutter. Those which are
large cannot be eaten unless they are cut; and, those which. are
small should also be cut—unless they are, especially potatoes and flat
turnips, cattle and sheep are liable to be choked in eating them. To
eut them by hand with a common knife is a work of great labor.
Suppose a thousand bushels only were to be fed out in a winter, any
one can tell how long a time it would take a man to cut them. If he
were to cut thirty bushels in a day, which would be three bushels in
an hour, it would occupy him nearly six weeks. To board a man this
time, if no wages were paid, would be worth what it would cost to

urchase a good cutting machine. The Cutting Machine of Ruggles,
Sater and Mason, will prepare sixty bushels in an hour. The

THE FARMER AT HOME. 445

cutting wheel is made of cast iron, faced on one side, through which
are inserted three knives like plane-irons. These cut the vegetables
into thin slices with great rapidity, and then by cross knives they are
cut into slips of convenient form and size for cattle or sheep to eat,
without danger of choking. The pieces after cutting lie loosely and
angularly thrown together, and can be easily taken up by the animal.

VEGETABLE HABIT. Plants, like men, are much under the
power of habit. The following examples are sufficient to evince the
extent of this power. Several plants which are natives of warm
climates, where their existence is prolonged for several successive
years, have been removed to less temperate regions. They are unable
to endure the cold of their new situations, and consequently must
change their habits of growth ere they can be cultivated with success.
To secure this object some of them pass through the successive stages
of their existence with astonishing velocity, and accomplish in a
single summer what they had been accustomed to require years to
perform. Our garden Nasturtion was origimally a shrub which flour-
ishes without cultivation on the banks of the Peruvian streams ; yet,
transferred to this country, it has become an annual plant, which
arrives at maturity in a few short months.

The habits of other tender plants are with more difficulty sub-
dued, and they to be successfully cultivated must be gradually trans-
ferred from their native soil. In the latter case the habit and the
power they acquire to accommodate themselves to their new situation,
overcome the natural impediments to their growth, which under
different circumstances would have been irresistible. Therefore it is,
that plants whose seeds were ripened in northern latitudes, are less
liable to injury from frost, than they would have been if their seeds
had been brought from a temperate climate. By thus gradually
accustoming it to a diminution of temperature, rice was at one time
cultivated with advantage in New Jersey, though without these
precautions it rarely comes to maturity even in Virginia. The habits
of the Indian corn aided by climate and culture have suffered still
more remarkable changes. After having been for several years
raised in Canada, it arrives at perfection in a few weeks, and on that
account is employed by us as an early corn. But that which has
been repeatedly cultivated in Virginia will not ripen even in New
England, yet originally the small early Canadian, and the luxuriant
Virginia corn were the same, both in habit and in every known
property. They probably originated from the same identical seed.
Numerous other examples might be mentioned, but enough has been
done to justify the conclusion, that vegetables as well as animals are
under the dominion of habit.

VEGETABLE INSTINCT. A little attention to the subject of
physiology will satisfy us that plants have a most curious kind of
instinct or sensibility, as it is sometimes called. Their roots will

a46 THE FARMER AT HOME.

take a direction to the place where moisture or other aliment exists,
for their nourishment. Plants will distinguish between heat and_
cold, darkness and light, and the other sensible properties of the
atmosphere which promote, from those which retard vegetation, with
unerring certainty. Thus when plants are placed by our windows,
we see them present the upper surface of their leaves to the light ;
and when their position is reversed, a new arrangement of the leaves
takes place, by which the same surface is again exposed to the rays of
the sun. Some flowers which shine with distinguished lustre in the
morning, shrink from the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun ;
some court his meridian glory, while others at the approach of dark-
ness, expand their tender blossoms, loading with perfume the breezes of
evening. Thus too, we find the leaves of some plants closing around
their tender blossoms, to protect them from the injurious effects of
cold and moisture; and others exquisitely sensible to the touch of
extraneous bodies. The flowers of the barbary,a shrub, which grows |
abundantly in our country, evince a susceptibility of impression from
external objects, at once curious and surprising. The leaves of the
sensitive plant, so often the innocent source of interest and amuse-
ment. exhibit the same phenomena in a still more remarkable degree.

VELVET. A rich kind of thick, shaggy stuff made of silk; the
nap, or velveting, of this stuff is formed of part of the threads of the
warp, which the workman puts on a long narrow channelled ruler,
and which he afterwards cuts by drawing a sharp steel too} along the
ruler to the end of the warp. The principal and best manufactures
of velvet are in England and France; there are others in Italy, as at
Venice, Milan, Florence, Genoa, and Lucca, and in Holland at Haer-
lem ; those in China are the worst of all. A good imitation of silk
velvet is now to be obtained, made of cotton ; but the dyes are less
permament on cotton than on silk.

VENTILATION. It is much to be regretted, that in connexion
with the various improvements, which the style of building, and the
internal arrangement of our houses, have undergone within the last
ten years, more attention has not been paid to the means for insuring
a free ventilation throughout every apartment. In the large and
sumptuous dwellings of the rich, the wide halls, lofty ceilings, and free
communication existing between the principal apartments, prevent, it
is true, most of the causes of complaint in this respect ; but in the more
numerous and humble dwellings, occupied by the laborer, as well as
by the industrious mechanic and artisan, and in the buildings, appro-
priated for workshops, stores, and warehouses, the means of ventila-
tion, have in too mamy cases been sadly neglected. As a necessary
consequence, cleanliness is prevented, and the health and comfort of
the inhabitants and inmates prejudiced to a greater or less extent.
A free cirenlation of air, in and about a building, is of too much
importance, to allow of its being sacrificed from motives of economy

THE FARMER AT HOME. 447

avarice or mere convenience. Air, when it is confined for any time
within a room, or rendered stagnant by any other means, soon
becomes, not only unfitted for respiration, but absolutely destructive
to life.

Under such circumstances, its composition is quickly changed from
various causes ; while at the same time, it is loaded with dust and
deleterious exhalations given out by the human body, even in health,
or produced from the decomposition of animal or vegetable substances.
Every one who has entered a room, that has been completely shut up
for even a few days, whether inhabited or not, must have been struck .
with the peculiar smell of the air in it, and experienced the disagree-
able sensation, caused by its admission into the lungs. The walls and
furniture are soon covered with a damp mould, every thing within the
apartment of a perishable nature, falls quickly into decay, and affords
materials for the still further vitiation of the atmosphere. Many
complain of the unpleasant smell and dampness of their houses, with-
out suspecting for a moment that this is merely the result of defective
ventilation.

It is all important, therefore, that the air from without should be
allowed to enter freely into every part of a building, if not in a con-
tinued current, at least at frequent intervals, so as fully to expel that
previously existing in the several apartments. The causes of deficient
ventilation are either, the location of the building in narrow crowded
courts or alleys—the want of a free communication between the
different rooms, in each story—the improper position of the doors and
windows, or, the want of an open space of sufficient extent in the
rear of the house, in consequence of which the free circulation of the
air, is entirely prevented. The healthiness of a dwelling is increased
very considerably by allowing to it a capacious yard, which may
either be well paved, laid down in grass, or cultivated as a flower
garden. In the largest and best constructed houses, ventilation
should be promoted, by leaving the doors and windows open several
hours, during the day, in fair weather and when the air is driest, and
closing them carefully before nightfall. Even in winter, a proper
opportunity should be taken, during the day, to admit freely the exter-
nal air in every apartment of the house, especially the bedrooms; the
ventilation of workshops and manufactories, can be maintained by
proper furnaces, which, while they supply a current of heated air, for
warming the apartment, cause its atmosphere to be constantly Te-
newed.

VETERINARY. The art of managing cattle, and curing their
diseases, whence a veterinary surgeon, vulgarly called a horse doctor
or farrier, and the veterinary college, where horses are taken in for
cure, and persons resort to acquire practice and information in all that
relates to the care of animals. The principal diseases to which horses
are subject are the water farcy, or dropsy of the skin; ascites, or

448 THE FARMER AT HOME.

dropsy of the belly ; broken wind, supposed to arise from a rupture of
the cells in the lungs; cracks in the heels, from gross habit or from
filth ; farcy, an infection of the skin ; foot-foundering, when a horse is
unable to rest on any of his feet; greasy heels, from weakness or
overlabor ; lampers, a swelling of the bars in the roof of the mouth ;
mange, an affection of the skin, when the hair falls off; staggers, a
sort of lethargy, and mad staggers, a sort of frenzy from a pressure on
the brain ; strangles, a disease attended with a fever, cough, and run-
ning at the nose ; thrush, a discharge from the frog of the foot ; pole
evil, arising from friction of the collar at the back of the ears; besides
inflammations, fevers, dysenteries, and other disorders which they
have in common with human subjects. It is desirable, that every
farmer and every person owning or having the care of horses and cat-
tle should have an elaborate treatise on the diseases and the treatment
of these animals. We recommend for this purpose Randall’s edition
of Youatt on the Horse, and Stevens’ edition of Youatt and Martin on
Cattle. As valuable as these works originally were, the editors have
greatly added to their merits. Oftentimes by having such a work at
hand, and by timely reference to it, the life and usefulness of a
superior animal may be preserved to its owner.

VITRIOL. <A salt, of a very caustic taste. It is a sulphate
generally found in mines in a capillary state, or in a loose powdery
efflorescence. The three principal sorts are the green vitriol, cop-
peras, or sulphate of iron; the blue vitrol, or sulphate of ecpper ; and
the white vitriol, or sulphate of zinc.

VINE. Of all the productions of the vegetable world which the
skill and ingenuity of man have rendered conducive to his comfort,
and to the enlargement of the sphere of his enjoyments, and the in-
crease of his pleasurable gratifications, the grape-vine stands forward
as pre-eminently conspicuous. Its quickness of growth, the great age
to which it will live, sometimes to an unknown age, its almost total
exemption from all those adverse circumstances which blight and di-
minish the produce of other fruit-bearing trees, its astonishing vegeta-
tive powers, its wonderful fertility, and, especially, its delicious fruit,
applicable to so many purposes, and agreeable to all palates, in all its
varied shapes, combine to mark it out as one of the greatest blessings
bestowed by Providence to promote the comfort and enjoyments of
the human race. The native country of the vine is generally consid-
ered to be Persia, but it has been found wild in our own country,
and is now become naturalized in all the temperate regions of the
world.

From the remotest records of antiquity, the vine has been cele-
brated in all ages as the type of plenty, and the symbol of happiness.
The pages of Scripture abound with allusions to the fertility of the
vine as emblematical of prosperity; and it is emphatically declared,
in describing the peaceful and flourishing state of the kingdom of

THE FARMER AT HOME. 449

Israel during the reign of Solomon, that Judah and Israel dwelt safe-
ly, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even
to Beersheba. The vine is supposed to have been introduced into
Britain at the commencement of the Christian era; and _ history
amply proves that for a long series of years, vineyards were very com-
mon in the southern parts of that island, and that the quantity of
wine produced from them was so great as to be considered one of the
staple products of the land. The culture of the vine in our country
is increasing ; but only in a few places has it yet become a source of
profit for wine. When the facility and ease with which it can be
made a source of pecuniary gain is better understood, its culture will
be greatly extended, there is no doubt ; for we have soil and climate
in abundance adapted to its growth.

eS

VULTURE.

VULTURE. The vulture here represented in the cut is larger
than an eagle, and possesses amazing strength. Its head and neck
are without feathers, and are covered only with a very slight down or
a few scattered hairs. The vulture is deficient in all the nobler
qualities of the eagle; and rivals it only in size, strength, and rapacity.
This bird is cruel, unclean, and indolent; and its very appearance is
filthy and disgusting. In Egypt, vultures are usually seen in com-
pany with wild dogs of the country, tearing a carcass with the utmost
deliberation and apparent good will to each other. This singular
association is the more remarkable, as both are extremely rapacious,

450 THE FARMER AT HOME.

and both very lean, probably having but a scanty supply even of the
wretched foodson which they subsist. Here they are of singular ser-
vice. In the neighborhood of Grand Cairo are great flocks of them,
which no person is allowed to kill, as they devour all the carrion and
filth of that large city, that would otherwise tend to corrupt and
putrefy the air.

VINEGAR. In our own country cider is the principal material
from which vinegar is made. The common method of making
it in the family is this; a vimegar-barrel, so called, is placed in
the garret, or on the sunny side of the house, during the summer, and
during the cold weather, in a room where it does not freeze. The
refuse cider, already sour, or the daily remnants of the table where
cider is used upon it, are added to some good vinegar in the barrel, or
to the mother of vinegar, the common name of a thick film which
collects on this liquid. The good vinegar, or fhe mother, will act
upon the liquid substances thus added to it, till the whole becomes
acidified, and thus formed into the article desired. In. wine countries
it is usually made from the poor wines; and wherever wine has be-
come soured, it may be, and frequently is, converted into vinegar.
This liquid has been known from the earliest times, both as an article
of commerce, in domestic economy, and when diluted in water as a
beverage by laborers and soldiers. The ordinary uses of it are too
well known to require specification.

WAFERS. For sealing letters, are made by mixing fine flour
with the whites of eggs, isinglass, and a little yeast, and beating the
mass into a paste; then spreading it, when thinned with gum-water,
on even tin plates, drying it in a stove, and cutting it for use. The
different colors may be given it by tinging the paste with brazil or
vermillion, for red: indigo, for blue ; saffron, turmeric, or gamboge,
for yellow, &c.

WAGONS. Most probably originated from rude vehicles dragged
on cylindrical logs, which must soon have suggested the idea of the
axis and solid wheel, even now used in Portugal by the peasants.
According to Moses, Egypt was the country where wagons were first
used. The Chinese called the inventor Hiene-Huene. The Greeks
attributed the invention to Erichthonius, fourth king of Athens, and
say that he used them in consequence of lameness. Wagons with
two wheels may have been the first constructed; but Homer men-
tions fuur-wheeled wagons, the invention of which was ascribed to
the Phrygians. Whoever first conceived the idea of an axis was a
most ingenious man; and he who applied it to wheels and wagons
has become one of the greatest benefactors of mankind. Much time
elapsed before wagons were used for pleasure carriages. The sedan
chair and horseback were long preferred. In war, use was sooner
made of the wagon. Moses mentions the war-chariots of Pharaoh
Theseus is said to have introduced chariots among the Greeks. The

THE FARMER AT HOME. 451

horses were covered with iren scaies. At the endsof the pole, lances
were fastened, and at the sides and below were scythes. These
chariots were driven into the ranks of the enemy. The Greeks, be-
sides, used two-wheeled chariots, each containing two persons, one of
whom drove, while the other threw spears. The chariots were open
_ behind and had low wheels. The Romans used them early. From
the time of Roger Bacon (in the thirteenth century) to our days, many
trials of locomotive wagons have been made, of which the steam
wagon, lately brought to such perfection, is the most important.
The wind has also been frequently used to propel wagons. Simon
Stevin, of Bruges, invented a sailing wagon for twenty-eight persons,
which, on even ground, is said to have travelled fourteen Dutch
leagues in two hours! Mr. Slater, an Englishman, travelled in a
sailing wagon from Alexandria to Bassora.

Where wagons are used for husbandry, they should be wide and
low. Manures may be carried in this sort of wagon almost as well
as iu carts. Broad wheels are improper for passing and repassing
upon tillage lands ; for, if in fallow, they press the land too much,
and make it so hard as to prevent its being ploughed till rain comes ;
but on grass lands broad wheels are proper for all uses, as they oper-
ate as rollers. Wagons are probably the best conveyances for heavy
loads of every kind to a distance ; but for home business, especially
harvest and other work, which requires to be speedily performed in
the field, carts, it is believed, will generally be found preferable. It
is important that wagons, whether for husbandry or on the highway,
should be as light as consistent with strength and durability. To
this end they shouid be made of the best materials, and with the best
workmanship. Where two or three hundred pounds are thus saved
in weight, it is apparent that so much additional can be transported
at each load. Wagons, like all other farm implements, when not in
use should be under cover; and if well painted every year, it would
be economy.

WALNUT TREE. A valuable tree, which, in its several varie-
ties, is a native of the United States of America. The walnut is
valuable for fuel, for timber and for fruit. Black walnut has been
often employed in the manufacture of household furniture ; but being
very brittle, itis at present partly superceded by mahogany and other
foreign timber. Nevertheless it is still highly prized by joiners and
eabinet-makers, for tables, gun-stocks, and other light articles; as it
is beautifully veined, and admits of a fine polish. The black walnut
is also used in ship-joinery, in carriage-making, and for the interior
of churches. The fruit of the walnut tree is used at two periods of
its growth, namely, when green, for pickling, and in a ripe state, at
the dessert. According to Bartram, the Creek Indians store up the
shell bark hickory or walnuts, sometimes to the amount of an hundred
hushels to a family. They pound them to pieces, and then cast them

452 THE FARMER AT HOME,

into boiling water; which, after passing through fine strainers, pre-
serves the most oily part of the liquid; this they call by a name
which signifies hickory milk. It is as sweet and rich as fresh cream,
and is an ingredient in most of their cookery, especially hominy and
corn cakes.

WALRUS. A marine quadruped, resembling the seal in the
structure of the feet, but differing in the teeth and digestive system.
It is large and unwieldy, sometimes attaining the weight of two
thousand pounds, and inhabits unfrequented coasts in the Arctic seas,
The head is oval, short, small, and flat in front; the flat portion of
the face is set with very strong bristles. which are pellucid, about a
span in length, and twisted; the orifices of the ears are very small,
but the sense of smelling seems to be exceedingly acute ; the incisors
are four in the upper jaw, but the two middle ones are shed as the
animal advances in age; the upper canines are large, elephaut-like
tusks, directed downwards ; the feet are very short, and the toes are
connected by a membrane, and armed with strong nails ; the tail is
short. Formerly, vast herds of these animals frequented the shores
of the islands between Northern Asia and America, Davis’s Straits,
and Hudson’s Bay, in latitude sixty-two degrees, and even as far south
as the Magdalen Islands, in the gulf of St. Lawrence, between lati-
tude forty-seven and forty-eight degrees ; but at present, the walrus
is nowhere numerous, except on the icy shores of Spitzbergen and the
remotest northern coasts of America. Voyages were once made to
procure its tusks and oil, and it is said that 1200 or 1500 individuals
have been sometimes killed at once out of a herd.

The walrus is slow and clumsy while on land, but quick and ac-
tive in the water. It often comes on shore, and the female brings
forth her young there in the spring. It is fearless and inoffensive,
unless disturbed, and strongly attached to its mate and young, but
becomes fierce and formidable when attacked, especially if the young
are present, furiously endeavoring to sink the boats by rising and
hooking their tusks over their sides ; and frequently the violence of
its blows is sufficient to stave the planks of small boats. Its princi-
pal food, it is said, consists of shell-fish. The tusks grow to the length
of ten or twenty inches. or sometimes even three feet, weighing from
five to ten pounds. They are worked like ivory, but turn yellow in
a short time. The skin is about an inch in thickness, and is used for
a variety of purposes.

WASHING or BATHING. This operation, so essential to good
health, is so little practised in winter, that the very naming of the
subject will send a thrill through the sensitive frame of many of our
readers, and they will draw their garments close around them, and
move nearer the fire, to save them from taking cold while reading
this article. There is but little trouble in bathing in hot weather,
when the application of cold water to the system is often grateful.

bat

THE FARMER AT HOME. 453

But in cold weather, there is in most minds a dread of water, almost
as great as in one afflicted with the hydrophobia, and bathing and
washing in winter, are generally discontinued ; and this is one cause
of colds at this inclement season.

In summer the skin is soft and moist, and by profuse perspiration,
and the frequent change of garments, the system is cleansed, in some
measure, without washing ; yet washing is necessary. But in winter,
the perspirable matter passes out to the surfce of the body, where it
lodges, forming a dry scurf, closing the pores of the skin, and perspir-
ation after a while becomes impeded, and the redundant matter is
thrown inward upon the lungs, and must be thrown off by coughing ;
thus requiring a double office of these delicate organs, which have
enough to do in their own peculiar province, in climates where the
thermometer often varies in twenty-four hours as many degrees.

Infants are generally washed daily, but when they become large
children and adults, they often go six months without this operation,
so essential to health and comfort. The face is -washed often, the
body seldom. Why this difference? A thorough washing of the
whole system once a week, is not a hard task, and the advantages
from it will be great. It will not only add to health and happiness,
but to life itself. If one thinks he has not time, let him take the
time from the hours of sleep, even if he be already limited in that
respect to five or six hours in the twenty-four. He will sleep faster,
after bathing, and make up for the deficiency. After bathing or
washing in cold water, brisk rubbing with a coarse cloth will produce
a pleasant glow, and prevent injury to a person of delicate constitu-
tion. But those who choose can use warm water in a warm room.
We say to our readers. as you value health, life, and happiness, give
due attention to thorough and frequent bathing and washing. See
that every member of the family attends to it, at least once a month ;
once a week is better. There is no excuse for the gross neglect on
this subject, for if any one has not a bath, or shower-bath, a tub is
sufficient ; and any one who has six hours to sleep, can take half an
hour for bathing, and then he will gain an hour in sweeter, sounder
sleep.

WATCH. In Mechanics, a machine which shows the parts of
time, and may be carried in the pocket. The invention of the spring,
which answers to the pendulum of a clock, and without which a time-
keeper for the pocket cannot be made, is attributed both to Hooke and
to Huygens. Among the first watches, according to the modern ac-
ceptation of the name, that were made in England, was that present-
ed to Charles II.

The business of watch-making, like most kinds of mechanism, is
now carried to great perfection; and the pocket watch in its early
use was so expensive that few only could be furnished with it. But
they are now made with so much expedition, and consequently at se

454 THE FARMER AT HOME.

cheap a rate, they have become objects of general ornament as well
as of convenience ; and the more expensive ones show the progress of
time with an accuracy that would once have been deemed incredible.

WATER. Water was once considered one of the four elements,
and in common language, is still frequently so termed. Water, how-
ever, is known to be a compound substance, consisting of hydrogen
and oxygen. When pure, it is colorless, transparent, inodorous, and
insipid. Like ail other fluids anc substances, it expands by exposure
to an increase of temperature ; and with a curious exception, the dila-
tation, within certain limits. is proportionable to the degree of heat
to which it is subjected. When water is heated to a certain point, it
acquires the greatest volume it is capable of assuming; it then boils,
and is converted into steam. This point is indeed an arbitrary one,
being what is called 212° on the scale of Fahrenheit’s thermometer.
Steam, at this point, occupies about 1700 times as much space as the
water does from which it is generated. It is upon the elastic force of
steam communicated by heat, or water thus converted into vapor, and
the annihilation of it by cold, that the working of the steam engine
depends.

Water is seldom found in a state of entire purity, but, from its
great solvent and absorbent power, it is impregnated with a variety of
saline substances, either living or undergoing a process of fermentation.
The effect of these is to communicate different properties, and gene-
rally give it a peculiar taste, and not unfrequently an odor, which, if
not cognizable by the blunted senses of man, is so by animals, espe-
cially the camel, which can scent water at a great distance in the desert.
The specific gravity is often much increased, especially that of sea
water and of mineral waters. from the saline ingredients, and of some
of the great rivers, from the quantity of mud and other matters which
they contain. Rain water is commonly reckoned the purest ; but that
is by no means so free from accidental impregnations as is generally
supposed. Whatever foreign ingredients exist in the atmosphere of
any place, are brought to the ground by the first rain that falls. Rain
water, however, from its comparative great purity, has high solvent
powers, which fit it well for the part it has to perform in the economy
of nature. and also for many operations in the laboratory. In this re-
spect, it is nearly equal to distilled water. The surface water of sandy
districts, is the purest that can be obtained naturally.

Who can count the diversified uses that come from water? The
Christian philosopher never beholds a limpid current of it, or a gurg-
ling rill, without an emotion of pleasure and of gratitude to the Author
of it. Let us remember that every drop of rain, which we see fall,
bears into the bosom of the earth a quality of beautiful fertility ; re-
member that each glorious tree,and herb, and shrub, and flower, owes
to those drops its life, its freshness, and its beauty ; remember that half
the loveliness of the green world is all their gift; and that without

THE FARMER AT HOME. ABS

them we should wander through a dull desert, as dusty as the grave.
Take but a single drop of rain, cloistered in the green fold of a blade
of grass, and pour upon it one ray of the morning sun, where will you
get a lapidary, with his utmost skill, to cut a diamond that shall shine
like that? Oh, no! blessed forever be the beautiful drops of the sky,
the refreshing soothers of the seared earth, the nourishers of the
flowers, that calm race of beings which are all loveliness and tran-
quility, without passion, or pain, or desire, or disappointment ; whose
life is beauty, and whose breath is perfume.

WATER CHESTNUT. An aquatic plant of China. The Chi-
nese cultivate even the bottom of their waters, and the beds of their
lakes, ponds, and rivulets, produce crops that to us are unknown. Their
industry has found out resources in a number of aquatic plants, among
which the pitsi, or water chestnut, is one of the greatest delicacies of
a Chinese table. The government has caused this plant to be culti-
vated:in all the lakes, marshes, and waste grounds, covered with water,
which belong to the state. And th» emperor has ordered .all the lands
which ornament his gardens, to be planted with it, and the greater
part of the ditches round his palace are full of it; the flowers and
verdure of this plant cover those two vast sheets of water in the
centre of Pekin, which are adjacent to the gardens of the imperial
palace.

WATER FOWLS. A class of fowls which are surprisingly con-
formable in the structure of their bodies, to their destination and
manner of life. It must be obvious to every observer, that Providence
has given these a different formation from that of the land fowls ; as
their legs and feet are formed for the purposes of wading in water,
or swimming on its surface. In those that wade, the legs are
usually long and naked ; in those that swim, the toes are webbed _to-
gether, as we see in the feet of a goose, which serve, tike oars, to drive
them forward with great velocity.

WATERING GARDENS. Opinions are divided on the best
time to water gardens, whether morning or evening. A writer ob-
serves : Water, when exposed to the sun and air, during the day, will
be better applied after four o'clock in the afternoon than at any other
time, for then the heat of the sun’s rays is decreasing, and the tempe-
rature of the soil may be a little modified also ; nor do I think there
is any great difference betwixt the morning and evening temperature
of the soil in the summer months, whilst that of the water must be
decidedly great, as is obvious from its having been nine or ten hours
without the influence of the sun’s rays. I think, therefore, that reason
and science justify the practice of evening watering; the oxygen the
plants absorb during the night, being restored to the atmosphere during
next day; therefore water, if applied in the evening, whether to
the roots or leaves, or surrounding surface, will increase the quantity
of oxygen to be re-absorbed during the night, and again liberated with

456 THE FARMER AT HOME.

the return of light. But another writer affirms: Evening watering
cools the surface excessively, and chills the roots of plants. I prefer
the early part of the morning for watering all plants out of doors, and
about noon, to water those in the house. Thus leaving to fair experi-
ment the settlement of the question; all agreeing in the fact, that if
you begin the practice of watering you must continue it, for the fibrous
roots, no longer depending upon themselves for a supply, and diving
into the subsoil for it. turn upwards, expecting to receive it from above,
and immediately suffer for the want of it, if it be not constantly fur-
nished by surface-watering.

WAX. The bees carry the farina, or pollen, on their hinder legs,
but, according to Reamur, this dust does not contain any real wax ; nor
is this latter substance produced by the mixture of the farima with a
glutinous liquor, by trituration, or by any other mechanical process.
After long and attentive observation, this naturalist found, that bees
actually eat the pollen they collect, and that this pollen is converted,
by an animal process, into wax. Virgin wax, or propolis, is a resin of
a red color, which the bees collect from different trees, as poplars,
birches, and willows. This the insects use to fill up chinks or defici-
encies in their habitation, and to encase the dead bodies of large
insects, as shelless snails, which have intruded upon their hives; to
the end that, by excluding the air, they may be preserved from be-
coming offensive. Propolis is of a reddish color. It is the most tena-
cious kind of wax, and is recommended medicinally, as beneficial to
the nerves. The pollen gathered by the bees is of various colors ;
but the combs they construct are always of the same. Every
comb, especially when it is newly made, is of a pure white color.
This is liable to be injured by age, the operation of the air, and
by other accidents. To bleach wax, therefore, it is only neces-
sary to extract the foreign bodies that have insmuated themselves
into its substance, and obscured its original color. Hence the dis-
tinction, in commerce, between white and yellow wax ; the first being
bleached and the second only melted. With a view to bleach wax,
it is cut in small pieces, melted, and poured into cold water, where it
granulates. In this state, it is exposed to the sun and air; melted
and granulated repeatedly ; then submitted to the influence of the sun,
air, and dew, in the interval between each liquefaction. When the
wax is perfectly blanched, it is dissolved for the last time, and cast
into flat moulds, in which it is again exposed to the air, for one or two
days, in order to render it more transparent.

WAX TREE. A beautiful evergreen shrub, growing in wet sandy
ground, about the edges of swamps, in the Floridas. It rises ereet
nine or ten feet, dividing itself into a multitude of nearly erect
branches, which are adorned with many green leaves. The branches
produce abundance of large round berries, nearly the size of bird
cherries, which are covered with a coat of white wax. It is in high

THE FARMER AT HOME. 457

estimation with the inhabitants for the production of wax candles, for
which purpose it answers equally well with beeswax, or preferable,
as it is harder, and more lasting in burning.

WEASEL. This animal, though little seen in the environs of
towns, is an animal very well known in most parts of the country ;
it varies in no great degree from the stoat, either in shape, make, or
propensity. Its favorite alimentary enjoyment seems to be the de-
struction of eggs by suction ; although it pursues and destroys poultry
and game with equal avidity. By some instinctive impulse of scent
or sagacity, the weasel is enabled to follow a hare, which it pursues
with great enthusiasm ; and whenever the hare unsuspectingly squats,
if this inveterate enemy happen to get up, it immediately makes a
spring, seizes the hare near the poll, and never quits its hold till the
animal (running in a state of distraction, and with the most piteous
shrieks) at length dies. The weasel may justly rank in the list of
venomous animals, for its bite is, among quadrupeds, almost univer-
sally fatal; a hare or rabbit bitten by the weasel is seldom known to
recover.

In its pursuits, it has several points in its favor ; its activity and
the peculiar formation of its claws, enable it to scale walls with so
much ease, that no spot is secure from its depredations. For its
luxurious repasts, however, upon eggs and young poultry, it makes
some amends to the farmer by its inveteracy to rats and mice; having
something of the ferret in its nature, it is to these an implacable
enemy, and pursues them with mortal hatred. Of young pigeons it is
likewise a destructive depredator; and when it has young is more
bold and indefatigable in its researches. In the dusk of the evening
and by moonlight, it may frequently be seen stealing from its lurking
place, near the farm house, taking the barns, stables, pigsties, and
poultry house in search of prey; which, when it has killed, if not too
large, it drags to its place of retreat. In the summer it will venture
farther from its haunts, and may be often traced by the side of rivulets
and near mills, in both places in quest of rats.

WEATHER. Weather denotes the state of the atmosphere, with
regard to heat and cold, wind, rain, and other meteors. The phe-
nomena of the weather must have at all times attracted much of the
attention of mankind ; because thejr subsistence and their comfort, in a
great measure, depended upon them. It was not till the seventeenth
century, however, that any considerable progress was made in investi-
gating the laws of meteorology. How desirous soever the ancients
might have been, to acquire an accurate knowledge of this science,
their want of proper instruments entirely precluded them from culti-
vating it. By the discovery of the barometer and thermometer, in the
last century, and the invention of accurate electrometers and hygrome-
ters, in the present, this defect is now pretty well supplied; and
philosophers are enabled to make meteorological observations with

20

458 THE FARMER AT HOME.

ease and accuracy. Accordingly, a very great number of such
observations have been collected, which have been arranged and
examined, from time to time, by ingenious. men, and consequences
deduced from them, on which several different theories of the weather
have been built. But meteorology is a science so exceedingly diffi-
cult, that, notwithstanding the united exertions of some of the first
philosophers of the age, the phenomena of the weather are still very
far from being completely understood ; nor can we expect to see the
-veil removed, till accurate tables of observations have been obtained
from every part of the world, till the atmosphere has been more com-
pletely analysed, and the chemical changes which take place in it
ascertained.

WEEDS. Every plant which grows in a field or garden other:
than that of which the seed has been sown by the husbandman or
gardener is called a weed, and, inasmuch as it interferes with the
intended crop, should be carefully eradicated. It is a proof of good
cultivation when few weeds appear among the growing crops, and
many of the operations of tillage are intended chiefly for their destruc-
tion. The seeds of annual weeds are chiefly brought on the land in
the manure which is made in the yards, where the cattle, fed on hay
or straw, swallow the seeds, which pass through them undigested.
By exciting a greater degree of fermentation in the mixture of dung
and litter some of the seeds may be destroyed, but many of them will
. keep their vegetative powers even after having been exposed to a con-
siderable heat ; and as it is not advisable to let the manure undergo
a great degree of decomposition before it is carried to the land, many
weeds always escape destruction, and vegetate as soon as they are
placed in a favorable situation, Those which are buried deep he
dormant for a long time, and vegetate as soon as the plough or spade
brings them up again.

One of the greatest advantages of composts made with human
excrements mixed with earths and mineral substances is, that. they
introduce no weeds into the soil. It is reported that in China, where
the dung of cattle is little used, in comparison with human excre-
ments, no weeds are to be found in the fields; and if more attention
were paid to the preservation of this highly enriching manure, and its
proper application to the soil, much expense would be saved which is
now unavoidably incurred in the destruction of weeds. Nor is it to
be forgotten that whatever of weeds are left to grow exhausts so much
of the fertilizing properties of the soil needed in producing the crops.
By caution and a little labor weeds will generally be kept down.

WEEK. A division of time consisting of seven days. As this
division of time had its origin from the positive command of God ; so
it has been known and observed by those only who have been ac-
quainted with divine revelation. Besides the incalculable moral and
religious advantages resulting from a dedication of the seventh part of

THE FARMER AT HOME. 459

time as a Sabbatical rest, it is of no small importance that this wise
and benevolent institution has mitigated the rigor and eased the burden
of slavery. The slaves of the ancient pagan naticns, for instance, the
Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, had no sabbath, no seventh day of
rest. ‘The whole week, the whole year, was, in general, with but
few exceptions, one uninterrupted round of labor and oppression.”
But, among the Israelites of old, and among Christian nations since,
the divine prohibition of labor on the sabbath, a prohibition that
mercifully names in particular the man servant, and the maid servant,
has brought no inconsiderable relief, even in a temporal point of view,
to this wretched class of people. The French government, in 1685,
enacted laws which obliged every planter in their West India islands,
to have his negroes properly instructed in the doctrines and duties of
Christianity ; and allowed the slaves for these purposes, and for days
of rest, not only every Sunday, but every festival usually observed by
the Romish Church. And it is said that a similar regulation was
made by the Spanish government, a long time ago; and that obedi-
ence has been paid to it, particularly in the Havana. It had been
well if Protestant nations had always treated their slaves in a manner
correspondent with these examples.

WEST HIGHLAND CATTLE. The cattle which are natives,
or descendants of natives, of the western coast of Scotland, or the
islands adjacent thereto, are called West Highlanders. The particular
value of them consists in their being hardy, and easily fed; in that
they will live, and sometimes thrive, on the coarsest pastures; that
they will frequently gain from a fourth to a third of their original
weight in six months of good feeding; that the proportion of offal is
not greater than in the most improved larger breeds ; that they will
lay on their flesh and fat equally on the best parts; and that, when
fat, the beef is close and fine in the grain, highly flavored, and so well
mixed or marbled, that it comn.ands a superior price in every market.
Their common color is black, or pale red, the head small, the ears
thin, the muzzle fine, and rather turned up.

Forty years ago, the treatment of cattle was, with very few
exceptions, absurd and ruinous, to a strange degree, through the
whole of the Hebrides. With the exception of the milch cows, but
not even of the calves, they were all wintered in the field; and, if
they were sometimes scantily fed with hay, it was coarse, and
withered, and half retten; or if they got a little straw, they were
thought to be well tasen care of. The majority got little more than
sea-weed, heather, and rushes. One-fifth of the cattle, on an average,
used to perish every winter from starvation. When the cold had
been unusually severe, and the snow had lain long on the ground, one-
half of the stock has been lost, and the remainder have afterward been
thinned by the diseases which poverty had engendered. It proved
the excellency of the breed, that, in the course of two or three months,

460 THE FARMER AT HOME.

so many of them got again into good store ccndition, and might
almost be said to be half fatin that time. In fact there are numerous
instances of these cattle, which had been reduced to the most dread-
ful state of impoverishment becoming fattened for the butcher in a
few months after being placed in a rich pasture.

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WEST HIGHLAND BULL.

WHEAT. This grain is now cultivated in almost all temperate
climates, throughout the greater part of Europe, in all the provinces
of China, in Natolia, Syria, Persia, and other temperate parts of
Asia, in the north of Africa, and at the Cape of Good Hope, in the
United States, and even in the extreme southern parts of South
America. The culture of wheat. from time immemorial, and in
different soils and climate, has produced numerous varieties, which in
some instances have even been mistaken for distinct species. Among
these varieties the most obvious are hard or flint wheats, the soft
wheats, and the Polish wheats. The hard wheats are the produce of
warm climates, such as Italy, Sicily, and Barbary. The soft wheats
grow in the northern parts of Europe. The Polish wheats grow
mostly in the country from which they derive their name, and are
also hard wheats. It has been estimated that the quantity raised in
the United States is in the neighborhood of one hundred millions of
bushels annually, which converted into flour will make about twenty
millions of barrels. Were it all used at home, it would be about
four bushels to each individual, man, woman, and child, which
converted into bread would be about a pound a day to each individual.

THE FARMER AT HOME. 461

There is in the country an abundance of land adapted to the growth
of wheat not yet used, so that should there be a foreign demand for
it, this valuable grain could be produced to any amount however
reat.
; WHEELBARROW. This is a well known implement, less
common than it should be on farms, to be used by Land for carrying
light loads a short distance. No farmer especially should be without
one. To remove earths, lime, manure, wood, farm or garden pro-
ducts, or indeed any thing else, only a few rods, it is quicker and
more economical than to use a cart or waggon. The greater the
diameter of the wheel of a barrow, and the smaller the axles, or ends
of the gudgeons, on which it turns, the less power will be required to
drive it forward; for the leverage is thereby augmented, and the
friction materially reduced. It is supposed that the diameter of the
wheel might advantageously be increased one-half above what it
generally is. With a barrow thus constructed a man will move
eight hundred pounds with the same ease, that with the usual barrow he
moves five hundred pounds. Barrows are frequently employed in
England, constructed entirely of wrought iron, weighing less than an
hundred pounds, which of course are very durable and easily moved.

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WHEELBARROW.

. WHEELS. The utility of wheels to carriages may be said to
be two-fold ; namely, by diminishing or more easily overcoming the
resistance or friction from the carriage, and more easily overcoming
obstacles in the road. In the first the friction on the ground is trans-
ferred in some degree from the outer surface of the wheel to its nave
and axle, and in the latter they serve easily to raise the carriage over
obstacles and asperities met with on the roads. In both these cases
the height of the wheel is of material consideration ; as the spokes act
as levers, the top of an obstacle being the fulcrum, their length enables
the carriage more easily to. surmount them, and the greater the pro-
portion of the wheel tothe axle serves more easily to overcome the
friction of an axle. The principle, therefore, of mechanical philoso-
phy is, that large wheels are best adapted for surmounting inequalities
on the road. Nevertheless there are other circumstances of a coun-
teracting tendency, s> that limits should be prescribed for the height

462 THE FARMER AT HOME.

of wheels. If the radius exceeds the height of that part of the horse
to which the traces are attached, the line of traction will be inclined
to the horizon, and part of the power will be exerted in pressing the
wheel to the ground. Besides, the circumference of the wheel might
be imagined of such extent as almost to resemble, in its contact with
the ground, a flat surface; in which case, the eflect would approx-
imate the dragging one flat surface upon another one. The best
average size of wheels isin the range of six feet in diameter.

WIGAN WELL. About a mile from Wigan, in Lancashire,
England, is a spring, the water of which burns like oil. On apply-
ing a lighted candle to the surface, a large flame is suddenly produced,
and burns vigorously. A dishful of water having been taken up at
the part whence the flame issues, and a lighted candle held to it, the
flame goes out ; notwithstanding which the water in this part boils
and rises up like water in a pot on the fire, but does not feel warm
on introducing the hand. What is still more extraordinary, on
making a dam, and preventing the flowing of fresh water to’ the
ignited part, that which was already there having been drained away,
a burning candle being applied to the surface of the dry earth, at the
same point where the water before burned, the fumes take fire, and
burn with a resplendent light, the cone of the flame ascending a foot
and a half from the surface of the earth. It is not discolored, like
that of sulphurous bodies, neither has it any manifest smell, nor do
the fumes, in their ascent, betray any sensible heat. The latter
unquestionably consists of inflammable air, or hydrogen gas; and it
ought to be observed that the whole of the country about Wigan for
the compass of several miles, is underlaid with coal. This phenom-
enon may therefore be referred to the same cause which occasioned
the dreadful explosion of Felling Colliery ; but in the present case,
this destructive gas, instead of being pent up in the bowels of the
earth, accompanies the water in its passage to the surface.

WILD BOAR. A ferocious and formidable animal of the forest.
He is always found of an iron gray, inclining to black; his snout is
much longer than that of the tame hog; his tusks also are larger,
some of them being seen almost a foot long. When he is come to a
state of maturity, he walks the forest fearless, dreading no single
creature. He does not seek the lion to attack, but will not fly at his
approach. We are told of a combat of a lion anda wild boar, in a
meadow near Algiers, which continued for a long time with sur-
prising obstinacy. At last, both were seen to fall by the wounds they
had given each other; and the ground all about them was covered
with their blood. When this creature aims at the hunter nothing
will avail but courage and agility; if the hunter flies for it, he is
surely overtaken and killed. If the boar comes straight up, he is to
be received at the point of the spear; but if he makes doubles and
windings, he is to be watched very cautiously, for he will attempt

ee ee eae oe

THE FARMER AT HOME. 463

to get hold of the spear in his mouth; and if he does so, nothing can
save the huntsman but another person attacking him behind.

WILD BOAR.

WILD CAT. The common wild cat of North America stands
very high on its legs, and has a short tail which is curved upwards
at its extremity ; which circumstances tend to give the animal an
appearance of being somewhat disproportioned. In other respects its
physioenomy reminds one strongly of the domestic cat, to which its
general aspect and movements are very similar. The residence of
the wild cat is usually in woody districts, where it preys upon birds,
squirrels, and other small animals belonging to the cat genus. This
animal is about two feet long, and twelve or thirteen inches in cir-
cumference. The tail but little exceeds three inches inlength. The
general color is a deep reddish, mingled with small spots of blackish
brown. The animal is now very rarely met with in New England ;
but is more common in Canada and the Western States. It must be
distinguished from the wild cats occasionally shot in our woods, which
have sprung from the domestic cat.

WILD GOOSE. A bird of passage. From the beginning of
April to the middle of November, this fowl resides chiefly in the
northern and north-easterly parts of America. In those parts they
produce their young, and are to be found in the rivers and harbors, m’
immense numbers. In November they come in large flocks from the
north and northeast, and pass off to the southwest. In March and

464 THE FARMER AT HOME.

April, they return from the southwest, in a contrary direction, and go
back to their summer habitation. These flocks frequently consist of
fifty or sixty ; they fly at a great height, and appear to observe great
regularity in their passage. They sometimes follow one another in
a straight line, but are more generally drawn up in the form of a
wedge, and appear to be led by one of th. strongest and most active ;
and while they keep together they seem to understand their course
perfectly well.

2 We=
KG OL

WILD GOOSE.
WILD HORSE. In the boundless plains of Tartary and Arabia,

wild horses are often seen feeding in droves of five or six hundred.
Whenever they sleep in the forests they have always one among
their number that stands as sentinel to give notice of any approach-
ing danger ; and this office they take by turns. Ifa man approaches
them while they are feeding by day, their sentinel walks up boldly
near him, as if to examine tis strength, or to intimidate him from
proceeding ; but, if the man approaches within pistol shot, the sentinel
then thinks it high time to alarm his followers ; this he does by a loud
kind of snorting ; upon which they all take ‘the signal, and fly off
with the speed of the wind; their faithful sentinel bringing up the
rear. As they go together, they will not admit any strange animals
among them, though even of their own kind. Whenever they find a
tame horse attempting to associate with them, they instantly gather
round him, and soon oblige him to seek safety by flight.

WILD PINE. A native plant of Jamaica, which is so contrived
by the Author of Nature, as to be of the utmost use to the inhabitants
of that hot climate, where there is frequently a scarcity of water.
The wild pine isa plant so called, because it somewhat resembles the
bush that bears the pine apple. They are commonly supported or
grow from some lanch, knot, or excrescence of a tree, where they

THE FARMER AT HOME. “465

take root and grow upright. The root is short and thick, whence the
leaves rise up in folds, one within another, spreading off to the top.
They are of a good thick substance, ten or twelve inches long. The
outside leaves are so compact, as to contain the rain water as it falls ;
they will contain a pint and a half, and sometimes a quart. The
thirsty traveller sticks his knife into the leaves, just above the root ;
and this lets out the water which he catches in his hat.

WINDOW. In the most ancient eras, the windows of habita-
tions were very small and narrow; and the same remark is true of
the castle and other edifices which were constructed during the mid-
dle ages. In the painting on the Greek vase which represents
Jupiter about to scale the window of Alemena, the opening is exceed-
ingly small. According to Seneca, those oi the baths of Scipio were
so small that they merited not the name, and might rather be denom-
inated crevices. As the Romans improved, however, in the elegant
arts, this particular was not overlooked ; and both their town and
country houses were decorated with numerous and ample windows.
It was not customary to have them overlooking the street ; and they
were, in the majority of instances, confined to the interior court of the
house. The ancient temples had not, generally, windows; some
exceptions, however, exist to this observation. Before the use of glass
became common, which was not till towards the end of the twelfth
century, the windows in England seem generally to have been com-
posed of paper, which, properly prepared with oil, furms no contempt-
ible defence against the intrusions of the weather, and is a tolerable
medium for the admission of light. In warm climates, as in the
West indies, windows are often quite open, without glass or any
translucent medium to admit light while it excludes air. In Russia,
salt is used to clean windows from frost, on account of its effects in
liquefying this substance. It is rubbed on the glass with a sponge.
In England windows are one of the articles subjected to taxation.

WINE. The fermented juice of the ripe fruit of the Vitis
vinifera of Linneus.. There is a great variety in wines; but they
have been principally confined to four sorts, as sufficient for officinal
use, viz. the vinum album hispanicum, or mountain wine; the vinum
canarium, canary or sack wine; the vinum rhenanum, or rhenish
wine ; and the vinum rubrum, or port wine. On a chemical investi-
gation, all wines consist chiefly of water, alchohol, a pecular acid, the
carbonic acid, tartar, and an astringent, gummi-resinous matter, in
which the color of the red wine resides, and which is expressed from
the husks of the grape. They differ from each other in the proportion
of these ingredients, and particularly in that of alchohol, which they
contain. The qualities of wines depend not only upon the difference
of the grapes, as containing more or less of saccharine juice, and the
acid matter which accompanies it; but also upon circumstances
attending the process of fermentation.

20*

466 THE FARMER AT HOME.

WIRE A piece of metal drawn through the hole of an iron into
a thread of a fineness answerable to the hole it passes through. Gold
wire is made of cylindrical ingots of silver, covered over with askin of
gold, and thus drawn successively through a vast number of holes,
each smaller and smaller, till at last it is brought to a fineness exceed-
ing that of a hair. A cylinder of forty-eight ounces of silver, covered
with a coat of gold, only weighing one ounce, as Dr. Hally informs us,
is usually drawn into a wire, two yards of which weigh no more than
one grain; accordingly ninety-eight yards of the wire weigh no more
than forty-nine grains, and one single grain of gold covers the ninety-
eight yards; so that the ten-thousandth part of a grain is above one-
eighth of an inch long.

WOLF. The wolf is, by some naturalists, considered the original
stock of the domestic dog, and, indeed, it very much resembles a large
dog in its general appearance. The European wolf leads a solitary
life, but, when urged by hunger, unites in packs, which, at times,
even become dangerous to travellers. It possesses such strength that
it is able to carry Poff a sheep at full speed, and few dogs are “able to
attack it with success. When taken young, it is easily tamed, and
becomes attached to its keeper, recognising him even after a year’s
absence. The female brings forth her young in a retired place in the
forest, and defends them courageously. The American wolf is pro-
bably a distinct species ; but this point is not yet perfectly ascertained.
It was formerly numerous in all parts of the United States, but is now
almost extinct in the more settled districts. We have also another
species of the wolf—the prairie, or the barking wolf—on the unwooded
plains of the Missouri. The black wolves are supposed to be mere.
varieties of the common species.

WOODCHUCK. This animal is common in all the temperate
parts of America. It is also called the Maryland Marmot, being nu-
merous in that state. It does great injury to the farmers, as the quan-
tity of herbage it consumes is really surprising. It burrows in the
ground, on the side of hills, and these galleries extend to great dis-
tances under ground, and terminate in various chambers. Here the
woodchuck makes himself a comfortable bed of dry leaves, grass, and
any soft rubbish, where he sleeps from the close of day till the next
morning is far advanced. It is fond of cabbage, lettuce, and other
garden vegetables. When in captivity, it is exceedingly fond of milk
and bread. At the commencement of cold weather, it goes into win-
ter quarters, blocks up the door within, and remains torpid till the
warm season. It is about the size of a rabbit, and of a dark brown
color.

WOODCOCK. The woodcock of the old continent, is about as
large as a pigeon, with a bill three inches long. The crown of the
head and back of the neck, are barred with black, and a black streak
runs from the bill to the eyes. The American woodcock greatly re-

THE FARMER AT HOME. 467

sembles that of Europe, but is considerably less, and very differ
ently marked. This bird is universally known to our sportsmen.
During the day, they keep the woods and thickets, and at the approach
of evening, seek the springs and open watery places to feed in. They
soon disperse themselves over the country to breed. In the hot weather,
they descend to the marshy shores of our rivers, their favorite springs
and watery recesses inland being chiefly dried up. To the former of
these retreats, they are pursued by the merciless sportsmen, and shot
down in great numbers. The woodcock is properly a nocturnal bird,
feeding chiefly at night, and seldom stirring about till after sunset.
Their food consists of larve and other aquatic worms, for which, during
the evening, they are almost continually turning over the leaves with
their bill, or searching in the bogs. Their flesh is delicious and prized
highly.

WOODS. Even at a comparatively early stage of the arts, man-

kind appears to have made use of the bright or variegated colors of
wood, to give beauty both to their dwellings and their furniture. The
temple built by king Solomon, was overlaid on the inside with boards
of cedar—‘ All was cedar ; there was no stone seen.” Among the most
ancient specimens of ornamental furniture that are to be met with, we
find that attempts have been made to heighten the effect by the con-
trast of various kinds of wood. Though both in the materials and in
the designs, these are inferior productions of modern art, many of the
cabinets which are still preserved, have much higher claims to notice
than their mere antiquity. In all these works, a veneer, or thin plate
of fancy wood, is laid down in glue upon a surface of a plainer de-
scription. The process is, of course, cheaper than if the whole were
made of the solid fancy wood.
_ The beauty of fancy wood arises, in many sorts, from its being
cross-grained, or presenting the fibres endways or obliquely to the sur-
face. These different positions of the fibres, as well as their different
colors in grained woods, give a clouded and mottled variety to the sur-
face; and, when some of the parts are partially transparent, as in the
case of fine mahogany, the surface gives out a play of different tints,
as the observer changes his place, or the light falls upon them, and,
consequently, is reflected at different angles. When mahogany was
first introduced, as a cabinet timber, it seems to have been in the dark-
colored, hard, and straight-grained trees, which are now used for chairs
and other articles, in which the solid timber is preferred ; and, on that
account, mahogany was not much used in combination with other
woods. When, however, its great value was known, the ease with
which it can be cut, the improvement that varnish gives to its colors,
the firmness with which it holds in glue, and the improvement which,
when properly taken care of, it gains in time, it was found that good
mahogany was much too valuable a timber for being used solid, and
it began to be employed as the staple timber in veneering.

468 THE FARMER AT HOME.

Mahogany is now of universal use for furniture, from the common
tables of a village inn, to the splendid cabinets of a regal palace. But
the general adoption of this wood, renders a nice selection necessary
for those articles which are costly and fashionable. The extensive
manufacture of piano-fortes has much increased the demand for this
wood. Spanish mahogany is decidedly the most beautiful ; but occa-
sionally, yet not very often, the Honduras wood is of singular bril-
liancy ; and it is then eagerly sought for, to be employed in the most
expensive cabinet work. A few years since, three logs of this wood,
taken from the same tree, were sold to some piano forte manufacturers
for fifteen thousand dollars. Next to mahogany, rose wood is most
admired for furniture. Some, indeed, give it the preference, probably,
however, from the fact that it is lesscommon. The first used for this
purpose, is said to have been brought from Cyprus, although the prin-
cipal supply is now, it is believed, from Brazil.

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—_——

WOOD-SAWING MACHINE.

WOOD-SAWING MACHINE. Among the important labor-
saving purposes of the horse-power machine for farmers, is its appli-
cation. to the sawing of wood and timber. The labor of chopping
wood with an axe, and cutting it with a common hand wood saw,
where fuel is used very freely, as in some sections of our country, is a
most laborious occupation. Those only who have had experience in
this toil, can judge of its odious severity. Fifty odd years have not
blotted it from our own recollection. It used to occupy one man most
of the time for six months, to supply the family fires. The cut con-
nected with this paragraph, represents the machine to be attached to
the horse power for sawing wood. It is easily driven by a one horse

THE FARMER AT HOME. 469

chain power, and is capable of sawing several cords in a day. It is
simple and easily worked and kept in order. Others, of larger dimen-
sions, are used for slitting plank and boards. For this purpose, a
different saw is required than when used for cutting across the grain.
For the last purpose, the teeth are triangular; for the former, they are
hooked like an eagle’s beak. The first is called the cross-cut, the last
the rip-saw. The above machine, and every thing else wanted by
farmers, can be had of A. B. Allen & Co., New York, who have a
manufactory for agricultural implements equal to any one in the
country.

WOOL. This is the soft, hairy, or downy substance which forms
the covering of sheep, and is found in smaller proportion on many
other animals. It is an article which has continued from the earliest
period down to the present day to be of primary importance, having
always formed the principal part of the clothing of mankind in most
temperate regions. Authors have seemed to imagine that the pro-
duction of wool was confined to the sheep ; practical men, however,
know that there is a numerous list of animals, on whom, at some
seasons of the year at least, wool is to be found. The fineness of the
wool differs greatly on different parts of the sheep. That running
down the side of the neck, and covering the shoulders, the ribs, and
the back is the finest; the next covers the superior part of the legs
and the thighs, and extends up to nearly the haunch and tail, and a
still inferior portion runs along the upper part of the neck, the throat,
the breast, the belly, and the ‘lower parts of the legs.

There is also a considerable variation in this ‘respect in different
breeds, and in different individuals of the same breed; and although
a fleece, taken generally, may be said to be adapted to a particular
use, yet a portion of it may be employed in the manufacture of a much
more valuable article ; and at the same time, a greater quantity will
be thrown aside as not sufficiently fine for the originally intended
purpose. The influence of temperature on the growth of wool is very
considerable. Sheep, in a hot climate, will yield a comparatively
coarse wool, and those in a cold climate will carry a finer, but, at the
same time, a closer and warmer fleece. The natural instinct of sheep
would seem to teach the wool-grower the advantage of attending to
the influence of temperature on him. He is evidently impatient of
heat. In the open district, and where no shelter is near, he climbs
to the highest part of his walk, that if the rays of the sun must fall
on him, he may nevertheless be cooled by the breeze ; but, if shelter
is near, of whatever kind, every shaded spot is crowded with sheep.
And pasture has a very great influence on the fineness of the fleece.
The staple of the wool, like every other part of the sheep, must in-
crease in length or in bulk, when the animal has a superabundance
of nutriment ; and on the other hand, the secretion which forms the

470 THE FARMER AT HOME,

wool must decrease, like every other, when sufficient nourishment is
not aflorded.

Connected with fineness and trueness of staple, as equal growth
as possible over the animal; a freedom from the shaggy portions,
here and there, which are ovcag nally observed on poor and ne-
glected sheep. These portions ar? always coarse and comparatively
worthless, and they indicate an irregular and unhealthy action of the
secretion of the wool, which will probably weaken or render the fibre
diseased in other parts. Soundness and elasticity are also very im-
portant properties in wool. If the pile is sound, there are few quali-
ties in wool of so much consequence as softness. Fashion has done
much in effecting this. Softness of the pile is evidently counected with
the presence and quantity of yolk or animal oil, more or less abound-
ing in good wool. There is no doubt that this substance is designed
not only to nourish the hair, but to give it richness and _pliability.
Bad management, neglect, exposure, starvation, impair the pliability
of the wooly fibre, but chiefly so because they arrest the secretion of
the yolk, or change its properties. The color of the fleece is of minor,
and yet of no trifling importance. The alteration of the color was the
first recorded improvement of the sheep; and its purity, its perfect
whiteness, should never be lost sight of by the sheep-master of the
present day. To acertain extent, the fleece is frequently stained with
the color of the soil on which the animal grows. It is stated on good
authority, that in some parts of Gloucestershire, England, the wool
acquires an orange color ; in Hertfordshire and Warwickshire it is of
a brownish red ; and in the fens of Lincoln and Cambridge it has a
dark-blue tint.

WORSTED. This is a thread that has been spun of wool that
has been combed, and which, in spinning, is twisted harder than
ordinarily. The wool used for worsted should be of the finest and the
longest texture. The thread then has an increased smoothness and
strength. This accounts for the superiority of worsted fabrics. The
thread thus produced is chiefly used either to be knit or woven into
stockings, caps, or gloves, and more recently into various under gar-
ments. Worsted has obtained its name from Worstead, a market
town in the county of Norfolk, England, where the manufacture of
the article was first introduced. The manufactures, which derived
their name from the place, are now mostly located in Norwich and
Vicinity.

WREN. This is a well known genus of birds. closely allied to
the warblers, distinguished by their small size, slender beak, short
roundish wings, mottled plumage, and the habit of holding the tail
elevated. The European wren is, with one exception, the smallest
bird on that continent. It is fond of prying about crevices and holes
in walls and ruined old buildings, and is constantly in motion, search-
ing for insects, which form its accustomed food. It nestles in similar

THE FARMER AT HOME. 473

situations, or even under the eaves of houses. The winter wren, which
visits us in the winter season, and sometimes remains till spring, is
considered identical with the European species. Our house wren is
distinguished by its longer tail. It is one of our most familiar birds,
from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, taking up its abode in the vicinity
of dwellings ; and its note is well known even in the midst of our most
populous cities. The habits of all the wrens are more or less similar.

YAM. This a slender herbaceous vine, having large tuberous
roots, which are much used for food in Afri¢a and the East and West
Indies. They are mealy and esteemed to be easy of digestion, are
palatable, and not inferior to any roots now in use, either for delicacy
of flavor or nutriment. They are eaten either roasted or boiled, and
the flour is also made into bread and puddings. The juice of the
roots, when fresh, is acrid, and excites an itching on the skin. There
are many varieties of the roots ; some spreading out like the fingers ;
others twisted like a serpent; others, again, very small, scarcely
weighing more than a pound, with a whitish, ash-colored bark,
whereas the bark is usually black. The flesh of the yam is white or
purplish, and viscid, but becomes ferinaceous or mealy when cooked.
One variety of the yam sometimes has roots three feet in length, and
weighing thirty pounds. All the varieties are propagated like the
potato.

YEAST. Yeast, or barm, as it is sometimes called, is the froth
of beer and other malt liquors when in a state of fermentation.
When thrown up by a quantity of malt or vinous liquid. it may be
preserved to be put into another at a future period, on which it will
exert a similar fermentative action. Yeast is used in making bread,
which, without such action, would be heavy and unwholesome.
Yeast for bread making is also prepared in families in the following
manner. Boil twelve clean-washed potatoes; and at the same time
boil, in another vessel, a handful of hops in a quart of water ; peel
and mash the potatoes fine ; pour part of the hop water, while hot,
upon the potatoes, and mix them well; then add the remainder
of the hop water and a spoonful of sugar; beat all well; add a small
portion of leaven to bring on fermentation, and set it in a cool place.
One cupful of the potato yeast will answer for two quarts of flour.

YEW. This is an evergreen tree, belonging to the family of the
pines, and which is common in many parts of the north of Europe.
The foliage somewhat resembles that of the hemiock-spruce, except
that the leaves are larger. The fruit, however, is not a cone, but a
small red berry, in the hollow part of the extremity of which the
green seed appears. The yew was formerly extensively cultivated in
Great Britain, and, on account of its gloomy and funereal aspect, was
usually planted in church-yards. The wood, which is peculiarly
hard, smooth and tough, was manufactured into bows ; but since the
introduction of fire arms, the tree is no longer planted except for orna+

472 THE FARMER AT HOME.

ment. In the formal style of gardening which was once prevalent,
few trees were more the subject of admiration, from its bearing to be
clipped, without injury, into almost any form. The veins of the
wood are strongly marked, and are susceptible of a very high polish ;
hence it is valuable for veneering and other cabinet work, and is in
frequent use. The wood is also good for the cogs of wheels, and any
situations where exposed to moisture, as it resists decay from metero-
logical exposure.

YORKSHIRE CATTLE. We give a few sketches of the York-
shire cattle from the elaborate description of them in Stevens’ edition
of Youatt and Martin, to which the reader is referred for a vast fund
of valuable information to the stock amateur. Years ago the York-
shire cow was, compared with other breeds, as great a favorite in the
London market as at present. She yielded more milk, in proportion
to the quantity of food consumed, than could be obtained from any
other breed ; but, when the dairyman had had her four or five years,
she began to fall off, and he dried and sold her. By degrees, however,
the more intelligent of the breeders began to find that, by cautiously
adopting the principle of selection, by finding a short-horned bull
whose progeny were generally milkers, and crossing some of the old
Yorkshires with him; but still regarding the milking properties of
the dam, and the usual tendency to possess these qualities in the off-
spring of the sire, they could at length obtain a breed that had much
of the grazing properties of the short-horns in the new breed, and re-
tained, almost undiminished, the excellences of the old breed for the
pail.

The quantity of milk given by some of these cows is very great.
It is by no means uncommon for them, in the beginning of the season,
to yield thirty quarts a day ; there are rare instances of their having
given thirty-six quarts ; but the average may be estimated at twenty-
two or twenty-four quarts. It has been said that this milk does not
contain the same proportionate quantity of butter. That their milk
does not contain the same proportionate quantity of butter as that from
the long-horns, the Scotch cattle, or the Devons, is probably true ; but
there is reason to believe that the difference has been exaggerated,
and is more than compensated by the additional quantity of milk.

In speaking of the milking qualities of these cows, he remarked
that the udder is rather large in proportion to the size of the animal,
but not too large. It must be sufficiently capacious to contain the
proper quantity of milk, but not too bulky, lest it should thicken and
become loaded with fat. The skin of the udder should be thin, and
free from lumps in every part of it. The teats should be of moderate
size ; at an equal distance from each other every way; and of equal
size from the udder to nearly the end, where they should run to a kind
of point. When they ar2 too large near the udder, they permit the
milk to flow down too fr ely from the bag, and lodge in them; and

THE FARMER AT HOME. 473

when they are too broad at the extremity, the orifice is often so large
that the cow cannot retain her milk after the bag begins to be full
and heavy. The udder should be nearly of the same size, before and
behind, or, if there be any difference, it should be broader and fuller
before than behind.

—

TAN
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YORKSHIRE COW.

ZEBRA. An animal of the horse kind, and a native of the
southern parts of Africa. This creature is rather less than a mule,
is exceedingly wild, and amazingly swift. Its shape is elegant ; its
hair fine and smooth ; its head, its neck, and its whole body is striped
in such a manner as to resemble a garment made of the finest ribands ;
and it is in all respects one of the most beautiful of animals.

ZINC. A semi-metal of a whitish color, nearly resembling that
of lead, though it does not so speedily tarnish. It is of great utility
in the arts. Combined with gold, in equal portions, it forms a hard
white compound, that admits a fine polish. and may be advantage-
ously manufactured into specula. for optical instruments. Zinc and
tin, melted together, produce a kind of pewter; and as the former
spreads more uniformly, while it is much harder, and less fusible than
tin, it has been proposed as a substitute for the latter, in tinning cop-
per vessels. Zinc and copper readily unite in the fire, forming a
metal distinguished by the general name of yellow copper ; but which

474 THE FARMER AT HOME.

is divided into several sorts, according to their respective proportions.
Thus, three parts of copper and one of zine, constitute brass; five or
six of the former, and one of the latter, afford pinchbeck. Zine is
found in England, Hungary, and some other parts of the globe.

ZODIAC. The zodiac is an imaginary belt round the heavens,
among the fixed stars, sixteen degrees wide, the centre of which is the
plane of the ecliptic. In this space or belt all the primary planets
revolve round the sun, with the exception of Juno, Pallas, and Ceres,
three of the asteroids. The ecliptic, and consequently the zodiac, has
been divided into twelve equal parts, consisting of thirty degrees each,
called signs. As one-half of the ecliptic is situated north of the equa-
tor, and the other half south of it, no six of these signs are in the
north equatorial hemisphere, and the other six in the southern hemi-
sphere.

ZOOLOGY. Few departments of knowledge are more interest-
ing than the natural history of animals, and the attention given to it
in the present age, furnishes the best evidence that its claims to notice
begin to be fully estimated. . In our own country the inducements to
its cultivation are peculiarly strong, for our immense lakes, forests, and
mountains have as yet been but imperfectly explored by naturalists,
and the little that is known of their productions leads to the belief
that they contain abundance to encourage and reward the labors of
science. The study of zoology is particularly advantageous to the
young, from its direct tendency to cultivate one of the most useful
habits of the mind, that of attentive observation of things of common
and daily occurrence. Its objects are everywhere around us—swim-
ming in the waters, flying in the air, walking the earth, and burrow-
ing beneath it. One set provides our food and clothing, another
purloins and destroys them. Some attack, aud others protect us.
Their forms are continually before our eyes, and their voices always
sounding in our ears

In order to treat clearly of the animal kingdom, it is necessary to
consider it according to some method of arrangement, by which those
animals which most resemble one another are connected together for
the convenience of description. This arrangement is founded upon
their form and structure, and separates them into various divisions
and subdivisions, according to their degree of similarity, and the
points in which theirstructures correspond. Such a system of arrange-
ment is called a classification of the animal kingdom; and an accu-
rate acquaintance with the principles on which it is founded will be
of great assistance to the student of natural history.

All animals are divided in the first place into two grand divisions,
namely, into vertebral, embracing those that have a spine, or verte-
bres, and into invertebral, comprehending all those that are destitute
of a spine, or vertebral column. The vertebral animals are subdir
vided into four classes, and the invertebral into five. Each of the

THE FARMER AT HOME. 475

classes is divided into a greater or less number of orders, distinguished
by some important, clear, and remarkable peculiarities of conforma-
tion and structure, which are common to all the animals included
under each of them. Orders are subdivided into genera. These
comprehend animals that have a general externa] resemblance to
each other, a kind of family likeness. Genera are made up of species.
Each distinct kind of animal constitutes a species, and they areknown
from one another by their size, color, form, and various other circum-
stances of external appearance. Each kind of animal, then, consti-
tutes a distinct species; a number of species taken together form a
genus ; those genera which have important and well defined points
of resemblance in structure and conformation common to all, are
placed together in an order; whilst upon a similar principle, but
more extensive in its application, these orders “are marshalled into
separate classes.

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