Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-11-29
Preparing for Winter,

f~~-'0 49, ''~+'~|A'
Chill Noyombors surIy blast makes
fields and forests bare, and 0ll Winter with
his frosty bc&rd,' will soon be upon us and
in the Northern and Western States, winter
is not myth, but substantial reality that
can neither bo hushcd up, coughed down, or
thrust aside There is no Sinking its cold
and driving storms. 1t is = palpablo thing
enc that can be lcIt by both man and animals i;
and it is the part of wisdom, in the farmer
and ell others, to be prepared to meet it, and
as far as possible to guard against its sevcri-
ty upon the inmates of the barn as we'll as
those Of the house.
The dwelling houses should be we'll banked
up, If necessary, SO as TO prevent the cold
from entering the cellar and frosting the po-
tatocs and other vegetables stored therein. -
From neglect III making their cellars frost
proof, we have known many farmers to lose
large quantities Of potatoes in their cellars,
by freezing and in the following spring they
were obliged to purchase (and sometimes at
a high price, too,) potatoes for planting and
Tor table use. \ few hours OF well directed
labor early in November, in fixing up their
cellars would have saved their potatoes, mon-
oy and whining.
Broken windows should bo attended 10 !;
glass and putty are cheap to what they were
half century ago, and there is no longer
any excuse for filling the broken windows
with old hats, aud cast off unmcntionabes, as
was SO frequently tae case in the " good old
times VIC occasionally hear Of Everything
come, ted with the house should be made snug
ana comfortable, both Inside and out. The
principal living room should be upon the sun
ny side OF the house, aud furnished with
good-sizod windows. The buvrowing of fam
lilies in i'll lighted rooms in the cold, dark
north side Of the house. whore the sun scarce
~ peers III upon the inmates from November
to April il pogr economy indeed, and sill
poorer, to stint the children who wish to
read or study, to the small lgh. Of a gre ,gy
taIlo@ candle. Good oils OF various kinds,
Tor illuminating purposes, with lamps to
match. are now everywhere obtainablc, and
at prices within the reach Of all. But aO-
jurc camphaNc and other burning fluids, as
you would the fangs OF deadly serpent
Furnish the sons and daughters Of the farm,
ers with Suitable books, agricultural and 9th.
papers and periodicals, aud We should hear
less Of their fleeing the patornal roof and the
leaving Of " the old folks at home" in their
downhill Of life.
Over large sections Of the country, the
frosts Of few Of tho last nights OF Septem-
bcr found much corn unripe. 1t has died
somewhat, and much Of it appears tolcrably
sound, but yet the cob contains a vast amount
Of water. Where tho corn is stored in cribs
or in laticed corn houses there is danger OF
its becomi g mouldy, and sometimes the corn
is very much injured by having the cobb fro
zen. This was the case with tens OF thou.
sands of bushels in the Western States, in
the autumn of 1857. The corn was harvest.
cd and eribbed as usual, and near the close Of
November of that year, few days of ex-
tremo cold occurred, which troz2 the ju cy
cobs, and when the weather became milo
enough to thaw, most Of the corn was found
TO be nearly worthless, becoming Shiny anc
useless except for the compost heap. In The
laticed courthouse close box stove can b.
Iproftably used for hiln~dryiag the corn, al
experiment we have known to be successfully
tried on several occasions. Where the corr
is spread upon the garrett floor it should b.
daily raked over and in ioir weather the V i'll
dOws should be kept open for the purpose 0
keeping up free circulation of air, whiol
twill muck hasten the process Of drying, anc
preyent mouIdiness.
A few days since We saw some newly har
vested corn which had been thinly spread up
on garnet floor The owner thought whel
harvested, that it was well ripcned and dry
but upon examination a few days afterwards
the undersido of a large portion of the ear
was moudy, Such corn will not make goo
sweet bread, nor do we'll for seed. The rails
ing of the windows, and daily use Of the rak
n moving it about arrested all further mou
illness, This is a matter worth attending t'