Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-07-12

From the Farm aud Preside.
HYGIENE OF THE FARM.
BY REYNELL COATES, N. D.

amount, as its special object, the advance
ment Of that greatest ofall national interests,
Agriculture, seems also to invite commune
cations of somewhat wider range; snd pro.
pose to offer you an occasional article upon
subjects which, though not directly connected
with the management of the farm, are not,
therefore, less yitaliy important to the well
being, moral or physical, ofthe most precious
of all "stock''-the farmer himself, his wife
children and employees. In other words,
wish to approach the farmer tireside, not
even excepting the young ones, upon matters
that receive by far too little attention there,
if may judge from some years of former
professional experience in what the doctors
call country practice. Yet it is not about
disease and its treatment that ! intend to
speak, but about health and its preservation;
hoping that all readers win remember that
the health Of the mind is quite as serious
consideration as health of the body--that nei-
ther can be neglected without injuring the
other, and that both are as necessary to
profitable tillage as plowing, planting, manure
or under-drainage.
The ancients, at one time, fixed the seat of
the soul in the stomach. That doctrine has
gone out of fashion, except, perhaps, with
the aldermen; but this organ is still consider
ed as one of the three coordinate authorities
Of the body cogporate-the brain, heart and
stomach-and as completely equal in rank as
the Legislature, Judiciary and Executive, in
civil government / trust, then, that no
apology will be necessary for beginning with
some hints about food; for there are few sub
iects connected with health on which more
obstinate or more dangerous prejudices pre-
vail
'What! Not eat fat porkl' says Mr.. Bur
ly, the farmer, to his delicate daughter or his
slender, rapidly growing boy ''it always
agrees with me; SO, eat 1t, | say!
How often have seen constitutions broken
down, sometimes to the early destruction of
life by this insane idea that what is good food
for one, must be good for all Even the yul-
gar adage, iwhat is one man meat is anoth
er mans poison should teach better phil
osophy. a E'Gn is not lUOHlan, and child
is neither how then, can the same quantity
and quality of food be suitable for each2 All
have the same system of organs it is true, but
these organs are not developed in the same
relative degree, nor are they applied to pre-
cisely the same purposes. They all require
the same chemical elements to build up the
frame, but they do not require them in the
same proportions, nor in the same amount,
nor prepared in the same manner. The
mothers milk contains nearly every ingredi-
ent reqniredby every part ofthe adult human
organization, and although all parts are grow
ing together, it is sufficient for the infant.
But some parts are developed more rapidly
at first, and others at later period. Take
the bones, for example. These, in their ma.
ture condition, require very large amount
Of phosphate Of lime, to give them proper
strength and soidity, yet in the earlier
months Of infancy they contain comparatively
little, and viii bend before they will break;
while about the end of the first year, they
should be firm enough to bear the weight Of
the body-and the child stands upon its feet.
How many mother has sighed over a pair
of handy legs, from having had the silly
pride to test the strength of the young limbs
too soon Now, this demand for phosphate
of lime increases rapidly up to the time Of
weaving and long afterwards; and nature, to
supply this want, changes continually the
quality of the milk, up to the time when other
food, of stronger character, is indicated by
the growth of the youngster's teeth; so that
the infant of ten months would dwindle, if
not starve, upon the food that was so whole
come at The age of week or two, while, if
the younger child were fed upon the later
milk it would inevitably suffer, if not die,
from the effects Of its unnatural diet. Every
nurse who has brought up child by the
bottle," well knows these facts, and mixes in
the proper amount of water with far more
honesty than many dairy man who attends
the market.
How do you know then, Mr. Burly, that be-
cause fat pork always agrees with you, who
are at work all day in the open field, that it
will also agree with your delicate daughter,
who is all day at work in or about the house
or dairy, breathing the fumes of the kitchen
or chamber, or stitching away the long Win
ter evening by candle light, without enjoying
a 1.-THE of proper sunshine, in half ventilated
apartments? The truckster's daughter, if
we'll Drowned in the garden and field, using
her muscles to the extent of their endurance,
may stand good, hard working fare very we'll
without refusing anything that comes;" yet
your vounp dauObtar or avan vour bov
though he trudges two miles to school every
day but uses up FIVE, six or seven hours
in the schoolroom, "cudgelling his brains in
the gloom'-to say nothing Of home lessons,
which confne the juvenile parrotb by the side
of his sister, till bed time-cannot subsist
on exactly the same kind of diet exclusively,
without suffering both in bodily strength and
mental capacity.
Go, look at the leading lawyer of your court,
when he has just finished difficult case, dur.
ing tedious term. See how he "pitches
into the first restaurant for oysters and eggs,
ifthere be any at hand, though, al other times,
ne cares not much about them. "What is the
reason?'' you inquire. Why, because oys.
ters, eggs and all salt water fish give food
to the brain, and fat pork does not Mr.. Bur
ly!
Whatever we use most, wears out soonest
and cries for more food; and one part requires
but little or none of that of which another de.
mands large amount. 1t is now perfectly
well known that no animal can live in health
upon one kind of food alone-not even upon