Weeds, and larger growths, which interfere with cultivation or
impoverish the ground, should be cut down or pulled up, _before the
seed ripens_, in August, which prevents their growing in a following
year. Weeds are the successful rivals of grain, garden vegetables,
and grass.
Now is the BUILDING season. All our country houses and places
for work, should be built on the south and west sides of swamps,
marshes, ponds, and other fresh waters, _on account of health_; and
not on the north or east sides of any such wet or watery places. The
summer winds blow from the south and west, and carry the unwholesome
vapours, exhaled from those fresh waters, from places on their south
and west sides, to places on the north and east sides, preserving
the people's health.
WHITE COVERS of linen, cotton, or even paper, to the hats of people
working in the fields, fishing, fowling, travelling, &c. protect
them from morbid or sickening strokes of the sun. This is an old
practice among the judicious Swiss.
Now, when all the waters are becoming low, we should observe the
places for tapping swamps, marshes, and ponds. By cutting a drain to
draw off the water in its low state, in August, we begin to reclaim
our lands from the marsh and swamp.--The ground becomes firmer to
haul off the wood and timber in the cutting season. Wet grounds
should be drained, before they are cleared of their wood. For, if
they are freed from trees, _in their wet state_, the sun produces
sickening and often fatal evaporations. This is true in France,
Germany, Holland, and the marshy parts of England, though several
degrees further north than the United States.
* * * * *
_Dry Rot._--This destructive enemy of building, which generally
commences its ravages in the cellars, may be prevented or checked,
by whitewashing them yearly, mixing copperas with it to give it a
yellow hue.
Communicated for the Rural Magazine.