The Farmers Own Book 20

The Farmers Own Book 20

If you want sweet cider the year round, turn to page 165 and follow

directions, and you will have it; if you want honey without bees, turn to

page 161 and you can have it; if you have the rheumatism and want to be

cured, turn to pages 152, 153, 154 and 155; if you want a liniment that

cannot be surpassed and is easily made, turn to page 157 and you will

see how to make it. You should add double the quantity of laudanum and

use the spirits of saltpetre--which is made by pouring alcohol over the

saltpetre, the same as the camphor.

 

If you want to read an interesting subject, turn to page 131 and read

the whole subject and you will have it in truth; if you want the best

medicine in the world for colic, turn to pages 128 and 129. I will here

state that the Pipsisseway is the best for colic, it has a whitish

stripe running through the centre of the leaf. The Wintergreen has not

this whitish stripe through the centre; both of them keep green the

year round. The Wintergreen is considered very excellent for colds and

coughs, it is used as a tea for coughs. If you want an eye water that

will relieve inflamed eyes, turn to page 194; this is truly valuable and

is a harmless application, yet easily made, costing but 6¼ cents.

 

I have here named some of the leading articles, which will prove to be

very valuable to all that have occasion to make use of them. Try them and

you will be convinced.

 

 

SCARLET FEVER.

 

I will here give to the reader the symptoms of Scarlet Fever. This

disease has slain its thousands where the monster disease, Cholera has

slain its hundreds, and it becomes every parent to feel it his duty to

be careful when the disease is in the neighborhood. It is evident that

the disease is contagious, in this form it can be taken by inhaling the

breath from one that has it, and it is satisfactorily proven that it can

be carried in woollen goods from one family to another.

 

SYMPTOMS:--This disease commences with chilliness, dullness of the head

and prostration of strength, according to the violence of the attack.

There is sometimes nausea and vomiting, and the surface soon becomes

florid and hot.

 

The throat is generally inflamed and the same appearance extends to the

tongue, which is sometimes of a very deep scarlet, tinged with blue. If

the symptoms are increased, it is called Scarlet Fever in a malignant

form, the symptoms are very violent and the patient becomes pale and

faint, the heart palpitates, the Fever continues to rise higher and

higher, there is great danger.

 

The pulse now rises to one hundred and fifteen or twenty strokes in a

minute. The pulse and the eruption will give the form and character of

the disease. The eruption generally commences with red patches, which

spread and unite till they cover the whole body. The eruption appears

first on the face and neck, then on the legs, and the redness is greatest

about the loins and bending of the joints, and on the hands and ends of

the fingers. There is however not a perfect regularity in the eruption

of Scarlet Fever, either in appearance or duration. In ordinary cases

the eruption remains out about four days, when the grain of the skin

begins to peel off and in a few days more it disappears. As the disease

progresses, the tonsils becomes specked with ash colored spots and

Ulceration follows. In favorable cases their slugs come off in eight or

ten days.

 

If the Patient does not die by the ninth day, he will generally get

well under proper management, though it may be three weeks, in some

cases before he recovers. When this disease terminates favorably, all

the symptoms generally yield, beginning about the fourth day after the

eruption appears. The patient is more liable to relapse in this disease

than any other, and caution should be used to prevent a relapse. Parents

would do well to watch its first appearance and keep their children from

its influence as much as possible using preventatives, such as keeping a

tar plaster around the neck, keeping gum camphor, a little asafœtida and

a small piece of garlic around the neck--this should be put into a small

muslin bag and hung around the neck. Let the children eat small pieces

of garlic during the day. These are considered preventatives by the

Medical Faculty.

 

TREATMENT--Give mild purgatives, such as Oil, to keep the bowels open.

Drink plentifully of balm tea, if this cannot be had, use Sage, Hysop,

Saffron Blossom, or Dittany. This will bring out the eruption and keep

it out full. If this can be accomplished, the danger will be very much

lessened. This fact should be kept in view in all eruptive diseases. Keep

a Tar Plaster around the neck; add to the tar a small portion of Spirits

of Turpentine, keep this on for some time, renewing, adding turpentine

enough to cause the skin to red. If the patient be not very careful when

he gets out, he will take cold, and the glands of the neck will swell

and suppurate and the ear will run, and if great attention be not paid,

deafness will probably be the result.

 

They must be kept clean and Laudanum and Sweet Oil put into them every

day till they get well.

 

 

6 REASONS FOR PLANTING AN ORCHARD.

 

First, would you leave an inheritance to your children, plant an orchard.

No other investment of money and labor will in the long run pay so well.

Second, would you make home pleasant, the abode of the social virtues,

plant an orchard. Nothing better promotes among neighbors a feeling of

kindness and good will, than a treat of good fruit often repeated.

 

Third, Would you remove from your children the strongest temptation to

steal, plant an orchard. If children cannot obtain fruit at home, they

are very apt to steal it, and when they have learned to steal fruit, they

are in a fair way to steal horses, &c.

 

Fourth, Would you cultivate a constant feeling of thankfulness towards

the Giver of all good, plant an orchard. By having constantly before you

one of the greatest blessings given to men, you must be hardened indeed

if you are not influenced by a spirit of humility and thankfulness.

 

Fifth, Would you have your children love their home, respect their

parents while living and venerate their memory when dead, in all their

wanderings, look back upon the home of youth as a sacred spot, as oasis

in the great wilderness of the world, then plant an orchard.

 

Sixth, In short, if you wish to avail yourself of the blessings of a

bountiful Providence, which are within your reach, you must plant an

orchard. And when you do it, see that you plant good fruit, don’t plant

Crab Apple Trees, nor Wild Plums, nor Indian Peaches, the best are

the cheapest. Seriously, we have often wondered why our farmers did

not devote more attention to the cultivation of fruit; it certainly

would prove profitable and pleasant. An orchard of an acre or so of

choice fruit, properly taken care of could not be the least profitable

portion of a farm. Upwards of a hundred bushels of fruit can be gathered

annually, and without much trouble from merely a small garden patch. One

great point to commence with is to procure good sorts, for it requires

no more labor to attend a tree that will bear apples worth seventy-five

cents and a dollar a bushel than one producing those not worth more than

two shillings. Let our farmers think of these things. But, the inquiry is

frequently made how shall we manage our trees, to produce fine flavored

fruit in a short time.

 

First, select good, rich soil, such as will produce 70 bush. indian

corn per acre, if not such it should be made such by manuring. You

cannot expect a tree to flourish and produce good fruit when there is no

strength or food to supply it with proper nourishment. It is too much

like building a house without a foundation, or sitting down to dine at

an empty dish, there being nothing to support the growth of the tree, no

food to supply it with proper nourishment, finally, it dies for the want

of nourishment, if not, the fruit which it bears, if any, is small and

knotty, having scarcely any taste or flavor. If you want nice, large,

fine flavored fruit, prepare your soil before planting your trees and

keep it prepared by manuring occasionally. It is unreasonable to expect

to raise fruit from a tree when it is half or three quarters starved out,

all for the want of nourishment. You may here make inquiry how to prepare

your soil. This may be done by putting a heavy dressing of manure on it,

then obtain sufficient depth of soil, so as to enable the roots to extend

themselves freely and hold moisture without dying out in protracted

drought. This may be done with a common plow, letting it run 8 or 10

inches deep, then by means of a good subsoil plow, running it in the same

furrow, you will obtain a depth of 15 or 18 inches. This process should

be continued until you have all plowed that depth. When you have this

accomplished, run your harrow over several times leveling and pulverizing

it finely. When you have all this completed your soil will be prepared

for planting your trees. If you cannot possibly prepare your soil in this

way, you should by all means dig very large holes, say six or eight feet

in diameter and a foot and a half deep, working the manure through the

soil as you dig it up. This may seem to the farmer as requiring too much

labor, but will richly pay him for it in the end. Plant your trees in

this soil firmly, leaving the soil a little lower about the body of the

tree, so as it may hold the water, if filled up about the level of the

soil, the water will run away from the roots and your tree may die for

the want of moisture. Every tree should have a stake driven in the ground

to fasten or stay the tree, so as to prevent the storms from bending and

switching it about. If this is not done your trees will be injured, and

will not thrive. There are a great many farmers complaining that they

cannot raise any fruit. Truly, how can they expect to raise fruit when

they will crowd their trees into small holes, and the soil so hard that

you can scarcely drive a stake into it with a sledge, and above all the

land starved out, the grass and weeds suffered to grow up at such a rate

that you are not able to see the body of the tree. Young trees should

be nursed and cultivated, keeping the soil mellow by repeated stirring

and preventing the growth of any vegetable for several feet from the

tree. A hoed crop is next best to clear mellow ground. A sowed crop,

grass or weeds is ruinous to young trees. After you have your trees well

set, you should by all means wash them down once or twice a year with

soap and water. Say about one quart of soap to two quarts of water--wash

from the large branches to the bottom--this will destroy the insects

that may be put into the body and limbs of the tree. Many drooping trees

have been made healthy by using this wash. If you wish to preserve your

peach trees, it is necessary for you to apply this to them twice a year,

also frequently pouring reasonably hot soap suds to the body and root

of the tree; this will kill and destroy the worm which so frequently

destroys your trees. The lie which is left at the bottom of the kettle

from boiling hot soap is very good and should always be used to wash your

trees. If you wish to preserve your peach trees, you should by all means

search the roots and body of the tree, and where you find any gum caused