Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-12-26

an abundance of pure air TO sustain
vitality, but it is better to be able to
regulate lis admission at will than to
have it forced in upon you through !
neglected crevices. In dwellings
heated by furnace, pure air can be
taken from the outside, passed over
the furnace and warmed before adj
mission into living rooms.
And in this matter Of fuel, while
quite considerable proportion Of our
farmers probably depend upon the
heat stored in the coal measures of
the earth, in long past ages, to warm
their dwellings, still very many 60
to the living forests for their fuel.
The wise and provident farmer, UNI
doubtedly, prepared this winters
fuel last winter; cut and split ii in
the woods, hauled ii to the house,
cut and split it into stove.wood, and
piled it under the wood>hOuse, where
it has been seasoning eight or nine
months, and is now ready to burn
without coaXing, in cook or parlor
stove or in the open CRATE. Those
, farmers families who are provided
with such fuel are prepared to pass
through the winter with a maximum
amount of comfort and minimum of
discomfort, annoyance and veXation
from refractory fires that refuse to
burn. And if that seasoned wood is
hard maple, or beech, or hickory or
oak the farmers family is truly fa-
, vOred.
: But, that such blessings may con>
tinue, next winters supply Of fuel
should be cut in December, hauled
8 with the first good snow and sawed
split and piled under the woodhouse
e in stormy days, when the farmer can
| not work outdoors without detri-
e ment to his health. In our early
r boyhood small trees of second growth
: timber were cut and hauled to the
n house, sled length, and then worked
l. up in the dooryard during the latter
v part Of winter. Such a course had
j. IFS advantages, but we afterwards
n came in contact with large trees, two
It to three feet in diameter, and il
l. would have been more of task tC
e handle such logs, sled length.
+ Sometimes December remains quite
n mild up to the middle, or later, anC
|. many kinds of work can be done t
very good advantage out of doors. 1
is not advisable to commence any
work that cannot be abandoned any
day, without detriment, but suci
jobs as ditching, drawing stones
blowing and many other kinds o
work can frequently be prosecuted t,
y. advantage, but all tools should b
Il carefully housed every night, becaus
Il. you are liable to find any morning
r deep mantle of snow covering tn
st nakedness Of the earth.
rs December is the month of lon
It. evenings, the longest of the year, an,
n these are the farmers opportunity 70
ed mental improvement and social en-
IF. joyment. Read, study, gather III
it, family around the evening lamp, on
an of the best Of the kind, one that wi
n diffuse soft steady light, and rea
tn agricultural journals, agriculture
er books, agricultural experiment sts
IS, ton reports, the sciences pertainin
to to agriculture and encourage you
he sons and daughters to read sue
,r- works on natural history as shall ten
ITS to interest them in nature and
n love with the farmers vocation; #
ii. the coming farmer must understan
wv those sciences that will assist him
cultivating the soil and in HUSBAND
Ter ing its resources or agriculture wi
is become an unremunerative pursui
he The writer's most appreciative rea,
ire ing and study was done in a far
nd home around the evening lamp, al
he when he talks about this he is tall
,or ing from experience.
to Before December closes the farm
nm should have his accounts with II
or farm, and all other accounts postt
in and balanced, that he ma
9TH know what crops and VIII
as methods have paid and what ha'
X. failed to pay and whether the year
IRE operations have been profitable
ed otherwise. December should not
an idle month with the farmer, b
N one of the busiest of the year.