News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-04-09
FARM AND GARDEN.
CONCERNING FARM WORK AND ITS
HEALTH.GlVING INFLUENCE.
Danger Existing in the Imperfect Disposal
of Household Wastes - A Method of
Planting Corn.

| Planting Corn.
| HEALTH UPON THE FARM.-A farmer
should enjoy the most robust health
He and his family and his animals
should always breathe the purest air of
| heaven, while the healthful exercise of
the farm and wholesome food should
secure him from disease and warrant
| him long life. But instead of this he
| is too often surrounded by the worst of
dangers; the worst, because they are I'M
suspected and perhaps invisible. The
most robust health will give way to the
constant sapping influence of an I'M
wholesome atmosphere. A frequent
source of danger exists in the imperfect
disposal of the household wastes. Pu-
| trefying Stops from the kitchen too
often saturate the soil about the house:
cesspools give out foul gases, and some
times actually drain into wells and cis-
terms or springs from which the domes-
| tic supply of water is obtained. Drains
well laid and carried to a safe outlet
| may be without effective traps. and
back current OF drain gas may imper-
ceptibly fill the house. The cellar may
| be damp and impregnated with mold,
| the spores of which, when taken into the
stomach, produce vomiting and dysen-
| terry. Food kept in such a cellar is
| poisonous to weak stomach, and causes
those disorders of that organ and the
| bowels which result in vomiting, diar-
rh9a, and dysentery. So that these
common rural complaints may, in many
cases, be caused directly by mold spores
in the food. Besides these dangers there
are those which centre around the ma
| nure heaps and the barnyard; the
| crowding of shade trees around the
| dwelling, and the location of the house
upon low ground where damp air settles
down from hehillsides. 1t is supposed
too often that bad smells may not be un-
wholesome, and farmers are apt to think
OF the fragrance of the manure in the
barnyard as one of the creditable ad-
juncts to good farming. But wherever
decomposition and decay are progress
ing there unhealthy influences are
Astounding, and we recognize these by
their disagreeable odors, intolerable to
many sensitive persons. The sense of
| smell is one of the instincts which warns
us of danger, and we cannot safely ig-
| more its indications. 1t is not difficult
to prevent all these noisome scents in
the barnyard and the stables. A few
barrels of plaster purchased annually,
and spread about these places will alb
sorb and fix all these vapors, and will
turn them to their proper uses as fertil-
izers of the soil. Sunlight is the great
life preserver and health giver. A dense
shade may produce the grateful cool
ness, but danger turks even in this, and
where there is this GOODNESS every evil
belonging to this unwholesome condi-
ton may be found. A few trees about
the house, but not overhanging it, are
desirable, but they should not be so
close as to prevent the free circulation of
air and the blessed sunshine. Finally,
the location of house should be upon
perfectly dry ground, and higher than
source of danger from the percolation of
impure drainage.
A METHOD OF PLANTING CoRN.-A
year or more ago / read communica-
ton from farmer in Pennsylvania ad-
vocating planting corn eight feet apart
in rows. l tried it the past season. I
made my rows eight feet apart and
planted the corn from two to two and
half feet in the row. 1 got as much
corn from the same ground as did the
year before when [ planted four feet
apart. When my cornstalks were from
four to five feet high, which was some
time in the latter part Of June, I sowed
Hungarian grass seed between the corn
rows. After the grass got to be some
six inches high or more I plowed it
under, which was in the latter part of
July. Then l sowed part of the ground
in turnip seed, and got enough turnips
to pay for the trouble. This year I shall
plant my corn between the rows, as I
had them last year.. When corn plant
ing time comes, instead of blowing my
ground all over, will run a one horse
pillow in the same place twice, then take
my one horse Y harrow, set it about 3
ieet wide, let the horse walk in the fur
row, which will drag a lot of loose dirt
in the furrow and make good bed to
plant my corn in. After the corn comes
up, my first blowing is to be deep.