HEALTH AND DISEASE.

The Best Bed.

Of the eight pounds which a man eats and drinks in a day, it is thought that not less than five pounds leaves his body through the skin. And of these five pounds of considerable percentage escapes during the night, while he is in bed. The larger part of this is water; but in addition, there is much effete and poisonous matter. This being in great part gaseous in form, permeates every part of the bed. Thus, all parts of the bed, mattress, blankets, as well as sheets, soon become foul, and need purification. The mattress needs this renovation quite as much as the sheets.

To allow the sheets to be used without washing or changing, three or six months, would be regarded as bad housekeeping; but I insist, if a thin sheet can absorb enough of the poisonous excretions of the body to make it unfit for use in a few days, a thick mattress which can absorb and retain a thousand times as much of these poisonous excretions, needs to be purified as often certainly as once in three months.

A sheet can be washed; a mattress cannot be renovated in this way. Indeed there is no other way of cleansing a mattress but by steaming it, or picking it to pieces, and thus in fragments exposing it to the direct rays of the sun. As these processes are scarcely practicable, with any of the ordinary mattresses, I am decidedly of the opinion that the good oldfashioned straw bed, which can every three months be changed for fresh straw, and the tick be washed, is the sweetest and healthiest of beds.

If, in the winter season, the porousness of the straw bed makes it a little uncomfortable, spread over it a comforter, or two woolen blankets which should be washed as often as every two weeks. With this arrangement, if you wash all the bed covering as often as once in two or three weeks, you will have a delightful, healthy bed.

Now, if you leave the bed to air, with open windows during the day and not make it up for the night before evening, you will have added greatly to the sweetness of your rest, and in consequence to the tone of your health.

Air, Sunshine and Health.

H., New York merchant, noticed, in the progress of years that each successive bookkeeper gradually lost his health and finally died of consumption, however vigorous and robust he was on entering his service. At length it occurred to him that the little rear room where the books were kept opened in a back yard, and was so surrounded by high walls that no sunshine came into it from one year's end to another. An upper room, well lighted, was immediately prepared, and his clerks had uni

form good health ever after. A familiar case to general readers is derived from medical works, where an entire English family became ill, and all remedies seemed to fail of their usual results, when accidentally, a window in the family room was broken in cold weather. It was not repaired, and forthwith there was a marked improvement in the health of the inmates. The physician at once traced the connection, discontinued his medicines, and ordered that the window-pane should not be replaced. A French lady became ill. The most eminent physicians of her time were called in, but failed to restore her. At length Dupeytren, the Napoleon of physic, was consulted. He noticed that she lived in a dim room, into which the sun never shone; the house being situated in one of the narrowest streets, or rather lanes of Paris. He at once ordered more air and cheerful apartments, and all her complaints vanished. The lungs of a dog become tuberculated (consumptive) in a few weeks, if kept confined in a dark cellar. The most common plant grows spindly, pale and scraggling, if no sunlight falls upon it.— The greatest medical names in France, of the last century, regarded sunshine and pure air as equal agents in restoring and maintaining health. From these facts, which cannot be disputed, the most common mind should conclude that cellars, and rooms on the northern side of buildings, or apartments into which the sun does not immediately shine, should never be occupied as family rooms or chambers, or as libraries or studies. Such apartments are only fit for stowage, or purposes which never require persons to remain in them over a few minutes at a time. And every intelligent and humane parent will arrange that the family room and chambers shall be the most commodious, lightest and brightest apartments in his dwelling.-Hall's Journal of Health.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

Eschew Corks for Closing Preserve Bottles.

For the preservation of all kinds of fruits, use glass bottles or jars. They are cleaner, more durable, more costly at first, but cheaper in the end, than tin, and transparent. Select those of even thickness, or rather of even thinness, for they are often exposed to considerable heat, and while they should not be so thin as to break in common handling, or burst from internal pressure caused by fermentation, still they should not be thick, or of pressed glass, when blown glass jars can be readily obtained. So much for the bottles. Now as to closing them air-tight. 1st, corks will not do it. The very structure of the substance is against it, unless cork of the most velvety eharacter is obtained, and this is costly. We have in previous volumes recommended waxed cloth tied

over the jar as a substitute at once cheap and effective, and have never found anything superior to it. Prepare the cloth in this way: Melt together some rosin, beeswax and tallow in equal parts; tear the cloth in strips four inches wide, or at least wide enough conveniently to tie over the mouth of the jar, and dip these strips, drawing them through the hot wax and stripping nearly all the wax off. With cloth thus prepared, after the jar is filled with hot preserves, and while still hot, close the mouth and bind it on with good linen cord. Then with shears trim off as much of the waxed cloth as is desirable, and then dip it in some melted wax, which should be made with only about half as much tallow. Sealing wax may be used instead if desired. The jars should be put where the wax will cool at once, so that the exhaustion caused by the cooling of the preserves and the condensation of the steam, may not cause the wax to run through the cloth. Nothing can be more thoroughly air-tight than bottles so prepared.-Homestead.

An Improved Whitewash.

Take half a bushel of nice, unslaked lime, slake it with water, covering it during the process, to keep in the steam. Strain the liquor through a sinall seive or strainer, and add to it a peck of clean salt, previously well dissolved in warm water; three pounds of ground rice, mixed to a thin paste, and stirred in boiling hot; half a pound of powdered Spanish whiting, and a pound of clean glue, which has been previously dissolved by first soaking it well and then hanging it over a slow fire, in a small kettle within a larger one, filled with wa

ter.

Add five gallons of hot water to the whole mixture, stir it well, and let it stand a few days covered from the dirt. It should be put on quite hot; for this purpose it can be kept in a kettle on a portable furnace.

It is said that about one pint of this mixture will cover a square yard upon the outside of a house, if properly applied. Brushes more or less fine, may be used, according to the neatness of the job required. It retains its brilliance for many years. There is nothing of the kind that will compare with it, either for outside or inside walls. Coloring matter may be put in, and made of any shade you like. Spanish brown, stirred in, will make a red or pink, more or less deep, according to quantity. A delicate tinge of this is very pretty for inside walls. Finely pulverized common clay, well mixed with Spanish brown before it is stirred into the mixture, makes it a lilac color. Lampblack, in moderate quantities, makes a slate color, very suitable for the outside of building. Yellow ochre stirred in makes a yellow wash; but chrome goes further, and makes a prettier color. It would be best to experiment on a shingle and let it dry.

I am told green must not be mixed with

lime; the lime destroys the color, and the color has an effect on the whitewash which makes it crack and peal. When walls have been badly smoked, and you wish to have them a clean white, it is well to squeeze indigo plentifully through a bag into the water you use before it is stirred into the whole mixture. If a larger quantity than five gallons is wanted, the same proportions should be observed.Rural New Yorker.

Care of Carpets.

When carpets are taken up, be careful in removing the tacks, so that the edges of the carpet are not torn, then roll up the carpets with the upper part inside, and carry them away to be beaten. As soon as the carpets are removed, throw a few old tea leaves, not too wet, over the floor, sweep the room out, and afterwards wash the boards with a wet flannel, but be careful not to throw too much water about, as it is liable to injure the ceilings of the rooms below.

While the floor is drying, beat the carpets, by hanging them over a stout line and beating them, first on one side and then on the other, with a long smooth stick. After the carpet is beaten, it may be dragged over a lawn or else brushed on both sides with a carpet broom. If faded or greasy in many parts, an ox gall mixed with a pailful of cold water, or a little grated raw potato and cold water, mixed together and sponged over the places, and then wiped dry with soft cloths, will make them look clean and bright.

If there are any appearances of moths in carpets, when they are taken up, sprinkle tobacco or black pepper on the floor before the carpets are put down, and let it remain after they are laid down.

Straw matting, laid under carpets, makes them last much longer than straw; as it is smooth and even, and the dust sifts through it. Slips of paper should always be placed over the edges of the stairs under the carpet. This will diminish the friction between the carpet and the boards underneath. The strips should be in length within an inch or two of the width of the carpets, and four or five inches in breadth, as convenient. This simple expedient will preserve the carpet half as long again as it would last without the strips.

EDITORIAL MISCELLANY.

All communications, of whatever kind, intended

for the EDITOR should be addressed to him exclusively; all remittances of money and all business letters, to the Publishers. The offices are separate and distinct, and attention to this request will save the Editor a great deal of time and trouble, while at the same time, it will diminish the liability to mistakes.

State Fair. We are often asked if there is to be a State Fair this fall. We can only say in reply, that we believe it to be the intention of the Officers of the Society to hold a Fair, should nothing transpire to prevent. Due notice will be given in the FARMER and the local papers in each county in season to allow exhibitors time for preparation.

Notes of Travel.-The past month spent in the eastern part of the State has been fraught with no little of pleasant experience. A general hospitality has always been shown us, and a cordial co-operation in extending the patronage of the FARMER. We have met with many sterling men who seemed to have a lively appreciation of the value of a paper devoted to the agricultural interests of the North-West. To the assistance of these men,

whose leisure we have appropriated, are we indebted for

what success resulted to our labors. Omitting what

might be said of the weather, we pass to some incidents of travel, the details of which may or may not be interesting to the general reader.

First in order of time which we desire to mention is the visit which we recently made to the place of John P. Roe, Muskego, Waukesha Co. During a brief stay with this gentleman, we had an opportunity of looking over his fine herd of Durhams. Nothing pleases us more than to see good stock; and here was an opportunity, rarely to be met with in our State. For several years Mr. Roe has given his attention largely to importing and breeding pure stock; and, judging from the handsome specimens of the bovine species, "plump and sleek" which met our eye in the "green pasture" near, we should say that his success was an established fact. Credit is eminently due this enterprising gentleman for his efforts to improve the stock of our State.

Passing hence to the city of Racine, we had the pleasure of meeting with the representatives of the Press of our State at their annual gathering on the 18th of June; rather more in the character of an cutsider, however, than otherwise. The attendance was not so large as we had anticipated; still the programme of two days duration was well filled with intellectual treats, sight-seeing and those refreshing things most appreciated by the inner-man. During our stay, we were the favored guest of J. I. Case, Esq., who has more than a State reputation as an enterprising Threshing Machine Manufacturer. It was our privilege, in common with several represen

tatives of the press, to make a hasty tour through the various departments of his extensive establishment.— Never before have we seen the principle of the division of labor so elaborately illustrated. Each part of the machine has its separate department and set of hands to mould and shape it for its place in the finished whole. From the dock yard where the rough materials for the machines are unloaded, through all the departments of the factory to the counting room where this extensive business is booked, the men seemed to be constantly busy in plying their respective tasks. We felt that it must require a master mind to direct such a combination of 'power and skill. Like most men who have grown independent by assiduous attention to business, Mr. Case commenced his operations on a small scale, building his first machine in his back kitchen. By industry, his establishment has expanded to be one of the largest in the West, and his trade extends all over the North-West. His establishment is a credit to the State, and its systematic arrangement and neatness, an ornament to the city. Moreover, Mr. C. is a man of generous impulses, and has done much for the upbuilding of this pleasant city.

The Editor's Trip to Europe.-SOUTHAMPTON, England, May 16, 1862.-Weary of London rain, fog and smoke, and feeling the need of purer air and more cheerful skies, we resolved one day last week to leave L'Angleterre for a time. Took the cars accordingly this morning for Paris, via Southampton, Havre de Grace and Rouen. Found the country between L. and H. handsome and tolerably well cultivated, but the land was very wet from recent rains and the crops, particularly the wheat, looking badly.

Passing various villages-the most important of them Winchester-we arrived at Southampton at 10 o'clock, and immediately took a little steamer-built after an American model-for

THE BEAUTIFUL ISLE OF WIGHT, where we thought it better to spend the afternoon, as the Havre steamer would not leave S. until after 11 o'clock at night. It was a beautiful morning, and as the little ship skimmed over the waters of the bay, passing fortifications, the magnificent Netley Naval Hospital, Iordly mansions and distant villages, the voyage of some 22