Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-01-12
Getting Ready for spring.


lFINUl me American w l'ilNris'.l
A light and warm workshop is good
investment. Men and boys cannot be
expected to do much work ii their fingers
are numbed with cold, but il suitable
place and proper facilities are provided,
the stormy days OF winter may be turned
to good account. Among the needed pre-
pnrations for spring is putting the i'm
plemcnts in good order Not merely the
mowers and other costly implements, but
even the hoe and spade will do better
work If properly ground. All iron and
steel tools and parts of machines can be
readily preserved from lust by the use OF
II mixture of lard and rosin, melted to-
Gether tan ounce of rosin to n pound of
lardl, and stirred while cooling. This
may be applied by means of rag, or
better. II swnb, made by winding hit of
cloth around the end of a stick. Only IL
hight contlng Is needed, and this is more
readily applied if the article be warm. If
the woodwork Of the machines was orig
innlly painted, il is well to repaint when
necessary, but If 1t was merely oiled, use
llnseed oil again. For wood that has not
been painted or oiled, crude petroleum,
(several applications to saturate the wood,
is an excellent preservative. Where there
are many small tools, such as the trow-
| els, hand forks, etc, 1t is well to paint II
portion of tie handles bright red. Such
affairs are quitc.apt to be left where used,
or dropped going from place to place.
The red makes them very conspicuous,
and will often save much hunting. Be-
sides repairing, various gar len conye-
niences may be made. Markers of vari-
ous widths are useful, though it is quite
as convenient to have II marker SO arrang-
ed that it will serve for several distances
The head of the marker should he piece
OF scantling and the teeth Of hard wood.
Placing one row of teeth nine inches
apart, aud the teeth of the other row II
foot apart, will allow. by the use of every
mark, or every other one. rows at four
different distances to be mide,-9 II,
Is, and 2l inches. \ good wooden reel
for the garden line is much more useful
than the poorly made iron ones SO often
sold. 1t is well to have ready the boxes
for raising plants from seeds, either in
the house or i'll the hot-bcd. Those for
the window may be II foot wide, three
inches deep, and Of length correspond
ing to the width Of the window frame
Those for Use in the hot.beds are most
cheaply made from the boxes in which
starch, soap, and other articles were pur-
chased These can he bought, when
empty, at a low price, and by cutting
them III halves, two may be made from
each, the cover forming the bottom Of one
OF them. BoXeR, without either top or
bottom, with mosquito netting tackled ON
III place OF the cover, are of great service
IN keeping insects from melon or other
vines.
| lHealthfulncss of Honey.
American people are lovers of sweets,
and consume an average of forty pounds
or more of sugar for every man, woman
aud child of our population, says an ex-
change. To meet this demand, millions
OF dollars worth of sugar is imported
annually, and millions of dollars worth
OF honey is allowed to go to waste from
want of bees to collect aud put it in pro-
! per shape for use of man 1t is not gen
orally known as it should be, that honey
may be employed for swcetening pur.
poses instead OF sugar for most of the
purposes for which the latter is used.
But could we supply it 10 the extent OF
diminishing our imports of sugar to one
hal1 their present proportions, millions
OF dollars would be saved for the pur-
poses Of business in our own country.
But far above all money considerations
would be the use Of pure sweet upon
the health Of the people instead OF the
vlle compounds now sold ms sugar and
syrups. The healthfulness of honey as
food has been admitted from the earliest
writers down through the centuries to
the present time. Hence we have moth