The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1872-04-13
The Value Of sunshine.

1 y VIC bAAI Will AtEItA
to the correlation Of forces, it is perfectly
certain that the combined heat, light,
electricity, and magnetism which we
derive from the SUI, constitutes an
important hygenic agency, and / am
inclined to think that few persons suf-
fciently appreciate the value Of sun
shine as a productive, conservative or
curative agent Were the ceutral orb
10 our solar system to be suddenly an
initiated, every planet within the orbit
Of Neptune would be chilled to ice
almost instantaueously, aud every living
creature on the surface of this earth
would be liieless in few minutes.
Whether the yiTifying principle We re-
ceive from the great luminary hum
dred millions Of miles distant, be yeri-
table entities or not, is immaterial prac-
tically, however interesting theoretically.
1t is enough for US WHO are obliged to
circle round the source of light and
heat once a year, and to be under its
direct influence one-half Of each day, to
know that, without due degree Of ex-
posure to its energizing power, We can
neither develop normally nor live health
lily.
Nothing which is nutritive will grow
well in the shade. Root crops, which
grow partly or wholly under ground, as
turnips and potatoes, must have their
top branches well summed or they will
deYelope but imperfectly. Potatoes and
corn, when planted in the shade of
apple trees, yield but small quantity
Of food, aud that of an inferior quality.
And it is a curious and important fact
that the bulbs Of the potatoe vine. from
which the plant must be occasionally
renewed to save the crop from annihi-
lation, can grow only iu the sunshine.
IL is true that many fruits, as berries,
will do well when shaded by the leaves
of the plant or vine on which they
grow, but in these cases the leaves
themselves are exposed to The sun. It
is not the fruit itself that needs the
sunlight SO much as the plant that pro-
duoes il.
Some fruits and pods. as watermelons.
corn, and wheat, can bear, and require
large amount of direct sunshine
squashes aud pumpkins need less, but
are protected oy large succuleut and
waving leaves against an excess. The
potato seems to be almost an anomaly
10 this respect. recurring the entire
absence OF sunlight from its root, and
: its abundant presence in the PLAN or
bud. The potato proereates both from
: its root, which grows 10 darkness, aud
its berry, which grows iu sunshine; but
/ it is an interesting and Instructive fact,
: that its iertilizing principle is constant
! ly maintained only in that fruit which
neeessitates its renewal by planting the
balls.
J In cities the sunny side Of the street
is the most salubrious. When malig-
nant diseases prevail, as typhus. small
pox, plague, cholera, etc, the worst
, cases are always in those apartments
, which are never rervaded by sunshine.
, To such places. too. u.iasrnas Of all kinds
accumulate. Ia London, there ara
! streets so narrow that horse aud car
T riage cannot pass through them aud
, in all large cities there are lanes and
, alleys so narrow that unless the tene-
, ments are constructed with the utmost
regard to light and ventilation. thew
must inevitably be constant sources Of
pestilence.
The rayages of the plague during the
, Middle Ages, in the Old World. dc.
; stroyina one hundred millions Of the
} earth's inhabitants, were greater in those
i cities whose streets were narrowcst and
/ darkest. We hear but little of the
5 plague nowadays, for the reason that
, streets are laid out and houses con-
9 structed more in reference to sanitary
! conditions. There is, however, room
for Improvement 10 this direction. more
especially with regard 10 the tenement
r houses, which are still, to great ex
+ tent, pest breeding rookeries. &
I But many persons who have room
/ enough, with ample wealth, do not get
/ all the bepefitthat sunshine is capable
. of bestowing. Windows are too much
D shaded, as though the bright colors Of
: the carpets we're more important than
/ pure blood and fresh faces. Flies, too,
mar the polished walls and soil The
t gilded furniture, unless the rooms are
), converted into cellars. Il ought to be
/ understood that bright light is essential
+ to bright colors in living tliings, and
r that flies only live and flourish when
+ putrescent elements need their presence.
5 If all persons would keep their tene-