oe Fie OAs. Serr eet Lean St Or Am ae, IBRARY OF CONGRESS. CHU UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ae frre 2k TTR ; sit a Ne Saag uk ‘ i<*ct ‘ a K ie f $e rs = . re ad * , °S ARK v Pr et AeA % VA = > el ae FARM AND HOUSEHOLD CYCLOPAEDIA. A COMPLETE READY REFERENCE LIBRARY FOR FARMERS, GARDENERS, FRUIT GROWERS, STOCKMEN AND HOUSEKEEPERS, CONTAINING A LARGE FUND OF USEFUL INFORMATION, FACTS, HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS, IN THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, LIVE STOCK RAISING, POULTRY KEEPING, BEE KEEPING, DAIRY FARMING, FERTILIZERS, RURAL ARCHITECT URE,. FARM. IMPLEMENTS, HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, COOKERY,» LADIES’ BAN GY WORK, FPLORICOLT OLE, MEDICAL MATTERS, Ete., Ete. WITH TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS, New York: F. M. LUPTON, PUBLISHER, No. 3 PARK PLACE. 1885. F. COPYRIGHT BY M. LUPTON, 1886. PREFACE. Tue purpose of this volume is to supply a ready reference library of use- ful facts and suggestions for farmers and housekeepers. Within the pre- scribed limits of the work it would be impossible to present the fullest details of agricultural and kindred sciences, hence the author has deemed it politic to deal mainly with the more practical relations of agriculture and domestic affairs. Such matters as are self-evident and well understood by every practical agriculturist—as for instance the details of the cultivation of the commoner farm products—it has been thought wise to treat upon but meagerly, in order that full scope might be given to practical hints and use- ful suggestions in all branches of agriculture. The object of the work is not to tell the farmer and the housewife that which they already know, but to present to them valuable information which it is believed cannot fail to be of material assistance in rural homes. In the preparation of the work great care has been taken and no pains have been spared to make it complete in every detail. Consultation of the best authorities insures its reliability, and it is believed that it will be found invaluable by all who become possessed of it, and that it will prove one of those exceptional books which are prized more highly by reason of age and constant association; for it will doubtless be consulted almost daily in the course of rural and household affairs. There is hardly a day in a farmer’s life but that some problem arises not easy of solution without a reliable treatise of this kind to consult. Such a want it is the purpose of this volume to supply. The author is well aware that the masses of agriculturists have but little money to waste upon luxuries of any kind, and he is equally con- fident that the purchase of this book, far from being a waste of his hard earnings, will prove one of the most profitable of investments. Its perusal will develop new ideas, new methods and new theories in every branch of farm labor of incalculable value, and the household department will be found equally as serviceable to the farmer’s wife as will the agricultural de- partment to the farmer. In the compilation of the work we have been largely indebted to the leading agricultural journals of this country and Europe, as well as to many standard works upon agricultural and household topics. Access to exten- sive files of the former could alone insure completeness in a work of this kind. Entire originality, therefore, we do not claim. We maintain, how- ever, that we have succeeded in producing a work of far greater value than any exclusively original production could possibly be, for we present herein the views of nearly all the ablest writers in the country upon the various topics treated, giving to the people at large the benefits of their extensive experiment and research. It would be possible for a farmer, by subscribing for all the leading agricultural periodicals of the country for a number of years and by purchasing a considerable library of standard works upon the subject, and carefully culling therefrom such items and articles as he con- iv PREFAOE. sidered of the greatest interest and value, and pasting them in a scrap-book, to collect a mass of matter equivalent to that portion of this book allotted to “The Farm,” and his wife, possessing herself of authorities upon the sub- jects in which she is interested and pursuing a like course, might produce a partial duplicate of the matter contained in the department of ‘‘ The House- hold”; but the cost would have been as three hundred to a unit, and the result would be a clumsy, voluminous scrap-book with no method of ar- rangement, in comparison with a neat, handy and convenient volume ar- ranged with every facility for reference. From this indisputable argument the value of the work to all interested in the subjects of which it treats may be computed; but we would not be misunderstood as claiming that the pos- session of the work by a farmer and housekeeper will obviate the necessity of subscribing for the agricultural paper as usual, for, while the book is the more valuable for reference, especially in cases of emergency, the agricul- tural paper is indispensable as enlightening the farmer upon the new theo- ries constantly being promulgated and the new discoveries at all times being made, without which knowledge he would fail to keep pace with the age in which he lives, and therefore be unable to compete with his more progressive neighbors in the prosecution of his calling. The term ‘‘ Cyclopedia ” as applied to the work is a misnomer according to the lexicographer’s definition, inasmuch as the alphabetical arrangement of titles, as required for works thus designated, has not been preserved, the compiler being convinced that the arrangement of the subject-matter in departments would be more acceptable to the public. As by common usage applied to any work covering all subjects embraced in a certain field of knowledge, however, the title is entirely in keeping with the character of the book, for as a treatise upon all matters pertaining to the farm and the house- hold itis complete. Itis a book for each of the heads of the rural house- hold, being equally as valuable and interesting to the farmer’s wife as to the farmer himself, and may be truthfully said to embrace the cream of more than a dozen ordinary volumes, for it combines a book on Rural Archi- tecture, on Crops, on Fertilizers, on Gardening, on Fruit Culture, on Live Stock, on Poultry, on Dairy Farming, on Bee Keeping, on Implements, on Farm Management, on Cookery, on Medical Matters, on Fancy Work, on Floriculture, on the Toilet, on Domestic Economy and Household Manage- ment—in fact, it embraces all subjects in which farmers and housekeepers are most directly interested. The arrangement of the work in departments will, we think, commend itself to all, while the copious index at the end will render it extremely easy of consultation. The book is a permanent storehouse of useful facts, hints and suggestions for farmers and housekeepers. It may be consulted upon any problem or in any emergency that may arise, and will rarely fail to elicit the information desired. We believe it to be the very book that every farmer and housewife needs, and that it will repay its small cost many times over each month in the year. CONTENTS. : ye PAGE RGIOATI A RORTTROTUBE a 0.5 552 sip oki aremisihse © Hale ateteleiseraldewiotetais eels eeeacere ll PENMAN (GRATES. re sielel sc ooe sieceeec cc cree ccalle gees colon alesacatss 27 PUETOPIE ODS hac: 5 o ose) 5! sis arg, Whas 33) a oyeia Sis ale wieioSs cial widialere esc. sina cn cieisiesineiisielsein wis a/sia;e oreje'g le sca ene Oe Model Poultry House.—Elevation sinateeimeiiesint Plan and Yard. Chicken and Duck Enclogure..........-. cece eee e ee eect eect eter tees ; TBI!) GL TNCU PALO: os0/<,0:sj0 «10/0 0/5;0\s,a1e,eisieie\eie\elsiais}>)sie<1=)s)0)sie>.eiuinresi=toiaty Sas caer ANCUDALOL OLOBEDS < oi 66.5 sje snnisaaes ie eicr A Perfect Feeding HOpper...........cesecessecccncreccccecesceccsrecsnescceans Chicken Coop.—Fig. eiele-a wie pin.s Slew Sina. laces nia cis aloe leiaiejonavelnieinls (cts bsiingte teeta i BEG Doo ose.s.e.e.0njsseh a.0'0/einieieiein «9 a oje\0.0010/¢ @)ece sine sie /miaaynie noite ars aie Grain Chest for FOwI]s.......-...0cccccccscccccccccccccceneernnsseeeessersscaas An Inexpensive Chicken Coop A Cheap Chicken Fountain.............-- DU PAL Soc cihinn o:5.ye melts bien sinew nicki m nies MAKING VPA oii cisciv ic c/s sino esters ove aininieininin.s =pte oainle(@ eine ieiete SUPINE 6 oe o.c os ece oie bn ccciens 010.0 ss 0.5 010 0:0jelehalolatetalaieielee ='scntelelataint=ln\ofol=etaieratatn Double Strainer ane Milk Cooler. more A dewasoccea bs ane eeneiceememencliemats mista Bape orc Hoc sor Pewee eter ewe seers eeresssesee wee eee eeescereeceeeeeeesenee ee Power for namie rao if al psengenconoonacc AU atentaeasicsiae Fes ie anisaletates sate aie LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ix PAGE peeneer For Qivagii ng Pp Oo. . Sc ance ac ccdcacccevsasaCuceani St Rare 224 Go us re Bigs 8.4. vs Siatebsiateerc stale Tees MORIA te Ste CERT ABLY 225 cg ue LS OI SO SC OCT ae nae ener ae eG Ge aeay eg 225 Improved Butter NV OLR DIGI cco cemcarh tere ee ERO REE Uonsatis en ca 227 yy = ee Be Deak ge cry a aac e TOL MER et Ee 227 Movable Shelf for Holding Butter Prints............1.02 22220 228 RR had tance aise ended cee cass Shaecoos bs Oink ce, Lb ene cine 232 MED BE EEIVOH 6 odie 5 o.asc eas a vaeacedd pzcct eh eee Oe Moe. ioe he 232 RE EOE oo oS ne nsd cawnckas savtocon ee Le ee ee 232 BE EIOED. 50h 52 i 5 ac Sx sok 4 added Rec eek ony ce Ucckccn ce cbeahoe nt 233 IME EOCE stir sncvisis vauewabikdnn civcvudeidcce schieci tect tee pee 233 MIN rare ose cewd 25 eek Cheeete veo Lute Sowace on Catan che a 233 Appearance When MOMipleter ns secae neds tak aie eee Mea a 233 The Main Bee House, Showing Tiers of Hives : “ “ Fig. B} Combined Roller and Vibrating Harrow. ....................00. oe! ee AteVOUD A DONTANIE Ss 5 203 ccc bodes eeehnaneceres MOUMET.OVMW OF, BASKEhs \<:...<.cic sein < cis1e =sic eer etait este ate es Ladies? Rane yeas Purses. esses oot orb alow oie so: 0's ln cha ale cluial oho otelana einen Scissor Case and Needle Cushion Hanging Portfolio................... Visiting Card Standivenctececseimi. «ca. =: Work BaskenqORenaiee new acctemepereis-'s\ o> «(ie ce cysteine o'« sleasnens\¢ see emirate se us CNOSCG oe niecslraa eases ais aie oes ove SERIES E Ils inte eee Knitted Dressing Sippers— Bip. We). 2s <.0. ic caw eetam eeeinie sie aaa ae asl nlolsaisjeislerere Detail ‘Of Big sale eee ayo rasa ale site ice fearon eta mene iaherelateisl | Sitie (fateeaicte C0 | CES PRE APES SIR en eerie chore aruiatalol: «15.5 oleterekel ASmrete TOSI este aE a ‘ Stand for iOimarsABHOS. 4 care «aici iscsi «ic «+ ore elae urea) shite (= .valeia lata Baby Basketing sctc cm isieecc 0 visse-t ele mlsialas'=le\e elsie/ aie wieleiatejeliber =) afcfals [ates Dielan i <= ae Embroidered: Ohair COVER. o6..5 6 cove «nies vielen e ois'eia'sisisisis aie slate oneal en ees Saamntests Work Stand......... Sinn op me me alee 0 Paine aa'e.o la ale (aielete piers immtenaligl Sipe eaten Eee Sai Ivy for Picture FraMes......--rcecscccsereencscesececccrercnasasssesnsssissasisis Double Window an@, Plant SHEML. «5 cise occ aicisieini'pie «ivis hi niaiotsio cin oleate eione ote Pretty Arrangement for Sitting-Room Windows Bay Window with Plant Platform..............-.--2e-n cece seen ee cw tween cees Deep Bay Window with Brackets...........cese- ee cesee rr ecec eee ne eects cseees Ornamentali WArdiIAN Case «<6 oss ose.ccn.0 dei one )s jen rose a\vie/e(e/n|e/a\ Se era! ni seta SE ae Rustic Hanging Basket........-.seseeeeeseeeeee ees Pe ose hoor. Sok The Mud System of Slipping Plants...........--..ssseee esse este e esse eee canees 394 RuUstiG WIGwWeL StAMG aise aisic.e cisccie’s.6 5-6.0.< vnpo:cisjeseie.0/s\0/m,ala[, «'6, 0.00 0;a)are I wiplal at a ea 395 A Miniature Green {HOUBe: .c.c5..« «00. x:c'seiencle » sjuieie ss 010/510! ola[olb'e vic'oreas = Sete ees 397 Megarrhiza Californica..........eee cece eee ee ee cece eet e eet eeete eee enseaseees 399 Broms PAatulas NQNUSS 4 /<)ssejccs0.0.0 0.0 2 0;0:0,0,010;sie «.10.5 «10's ¢/0'n Siw a]aisinin fw [nlsiataibile o]> = 399 Rhynchocarpa GlOMErata ..... see e eee c eee reer eee e cece tence teeter eseseeeers 400 Begonia Davisii......... Seon saben s An Ivy SCTEeN.........22.eeeeeeees Peaeshe,siciaze A Living VASC........0..sccc cence cceecer ere cceccecescsccseceecnscaccassenasess WASWVARATAT CAKES isis nice cae o-ccic nes c.cjnsciolescisialeielsiejeisse «clases a feleia oleh teseyaiaie ieee SEAN TOTABERTIS sacs, o:5Simo-c-s oasc-sin.a/c.0 coj0ce vislaie ete. eje es sales sraib 0.5.0, [0 /0.ci0\ catia manna ate TPeWIS. TOP! PIANG. siciee:<.ccat wisie.ceie.c vieicieis cleo as 0 U'6d« oine/sie.cj0\0inin)s' nin o)a\el ain ieetet eae ait A Washing Machine. ..............- cece eee ee eect tence cece terse er sssnaccacs Convenient Clothes Bars... .. 2.6... c5s ee sce ees cnccnenavecnenne dora ata RRO ote cct 473 Clothes Sprinkler..........ccccee ccc ee eee cence ee ces eeeeceeneeetseecenssecsaes 476 d Mecaakgel Oe daalsik RURAL ARCHITECTURE. BD, nssttifee) ioe WME CI MY MILLE EE LL Ee = LL Lae ie soem osbe OTE mag AN INEXPENSIVE COTTAGE,—ELEVATION, An Inexpensive Cottage.—We give the plan of a neat and beautiful country cottage, the low cost of construction of which adapts it to the wants of those in moderate circumstances, while, in attractive appearance and gen- eral convenience, it rivals those of a much higher cost. This cottage is designed in the rural Gothic or English manner, but much modified, so as to adapt it to almost any site. The light, open porch may be omitted without injuring the design. In the plan, A is the porch, from which we enter the hall or entry, 8 feet wide, with the two best rooms, each 16x18 feet, on either side of it. Connected with the living-room, in its rear, is a good pantry. B is the back entry, communicating with the kitchen. Cis the back porch, which may be left open in summer, and inclosed in win- ter, when it will serve as & place for coal and wood. On one side of the kitchen fire-place is a closet, and on the other a sink, into which, if possible, 12 THE FARM. a water-pipe should be brought. The first story of this cottage is 10 feet, and the second story 5 feet, on the sides, and 8 feet in the middle of the rooms. The pitch of the roof is a right angle. The cost of this cottage, with the interior neatly finished and painted in oil color, and the two principal rooms grained and varnished like oak, and their walls papered with suitable paper—all the other rooms haying brown walls whitewashed—would be about $800. An Ornamental Country Cottage.—We give on pages 13 and 14 illus- trations of a plan and elevation of a cheap, but very ornamental, country cottage, which will be found both convenient and comfortable for a small family. If this plan is not extensive enough to meet your wants, it can be easily enlarged upon by making additions, or by enlarging the size of the whole plan, and thus in- creasing the dimensions of the rooms. This, however, would necessarily add to the cost of construction. The cottage, as shown in our illustration, presents a very aristocratic appear- ance, and, considering the small amount of money re- quired for its construction, is, we think, a very desir- able plan for a cheap and good dwelling-house. The dimensions of the rooms on the ground floor are plainly given in our second illustra- tion. The porch, with its seat, is large and roomy; the living-room is of good size, well lighted by a square bay-window. The kitchen is well supplied ———_—_ 2 AN INEXPENSIVE COTTAGE.—GROUND PLAN, With closets. The first floor could be very much im- proved by adding a one-story kitchen at the rear, making the living-room into a parlor, and the kitchen into a dining and sitting-room; the additional cost would be very small. The second floor contains three bedrooms, very conveniently arranged, and each provided with a closet. The two down- stairs rooms and the large front bedroom are supplied with open fire-places, the value of which for ventilation is so often overlooked in cheap houses. Besides this, there should be ventilating tubes or shafts in the chimney sides, with registers opening from each room, thus insuring a good system of ventilation. The roof should be ventilated by openings under the pro- jected eaves. The estimated cost of this building is from $1,200 to $1,800, according to locality and style of finish. General Suggestions to Those Intending to Build.—The following excellent recommendations are from the American Home and Farm Cyclo- pwedia: Farmers can afford to leave cellar-kitchens, basements, third stories, and all other unnecessary stair-climbing devices to their city cousins, who RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 13 have to count the cost of every square foot they build upon. The only ad- vantage of second stories in the country is that they are more healthful for sleeping apartments. If every fire has a separate flue, and each flue terminates in its own par- ticular chimney-top, there will never be any trouble over smoking fires, if the chimney is high enough. Proper care in the arrangement of various rooms will save those who have to do the housework a thousand needless steps. Kitchen and dining- IMU anes AN ORNAMENTAL COUNTRY COTTAGE.—ELEVATION. room should always be adjoining apartments. The china closet best opens into the dining-room. A trap-door connecting the pantry with the dining- room is a great convenience. It is well to have the wood-shed very near the kitchen, and connected with it by a covered way, avoiding exposure in in- clement weather. An attic over the entire house, with a window at each end, will be found of signal utility for drying clothes in bad weather. Provide plenty of closets and cupboards in all of the rooms. The lady of the house, who is the one most vitally interested in this matter, should not 14 THE FARM. be allowed to insist upon this in vain. Varnishing wood will make the paint last longer, and saves incalculable elbow grease in house-cleaning. Shingles of cedar will last from thirty to forty years, and those of pine from twelve to twenty years. In the arrangement of out-buildings, the following relative proximity will be found convenient: First, the house; attached to that the kitchen-wing, with wood-house appended; then, at a little distance, the privy, carriage- house, and workshop, with pig-sty and poultry-house adjoined. Stone and brick walls should always be furred off, leaving an air space between the stonework and plastering throughout the entire wall, and open- KITCHEN 12.0 X 12.0 LIVING ROOM 10.6 X 14.90 AN ORNAMENTAL COUNTRY COTTAGE.—GROUND PLAN ing into the attic. This prevents dampness, and insures an equable tem- perature. Brick houses must have a slate, sheet-copper, or tarred paper cut-off inserted in the foundation just below the water-shed, as otherwise the moisture of the ground is worked up by the brick, keeping the walls con- stantly damp. Frame houses may be made much warmer and more comfortable than they usually are by covering the studding with tongued and grooved sheathing, and this in turn by tarred building paper, placing the weather boarding over the whole. Fit the sheathing and weather boarding closely around door and window-frames, and let the tarred paper lap over a little where there is likely to be a crack. RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 15 Where ingrain carpets are to be used, it favors their economical cutting to have either the length or breadth of each room some multiple of their usual width—one yard—as twelve feet, fifteen feet, etc. Construction of an Octagonal Barn.—There are various plans for laying out and building barns of this shape, in all of which the principles are the same. There is a concrete or stone foundation wall, which may be either below ground for a cellar or partially below it for a basement, or wholly above it for a stable, an inclined way being built on two opposite sides to give access to the barn floor. Upon this foundation the sills are laid, the corners being made at an angle of 135 degrees, instead of 90 degrees, as in the square building. There are no cross-beams necessary except upon the floor, there being eight bents in the building, all on the outside, the plates FIG. 1.—ELEVATION OF AN OCTAGONAL BARN. being mortised exactly as the sills are, and the posts placed with regard to the necessary doors and windows, and the strength necessary to support the roof and stiffen the building. As many braces as may be thought needful may be used, but the braces must all be on the lines of the walls, and none of them cross-braces. The roof is an eight-sided cone, strengthened with purlin plates, and may be open at the center for a cupola or ventilator. The joints of all the plates and the sills will be at an angle of 62 1-2 degrees, in- stead of 45 degrees, as in a square building. This form of the frame will give a roof of the strongest kind—one that cannot spread, if well put to- gether, and one that offers less resistance to the wind than any other form of elevated roof. Inside of the barn there is nothing to interfere with the piling of grain or hay to the roof, and a wagon may be driven anywhere upon 16 THE FARM. the floor. The plan of the basement is shown at Fig. 2, a being a passage for the cows, and a drive-way for removing the manure; }, b, are the stalls for the cows, of which there are fifty-two, having the feed-trough toward the center, and all reached by an inner drive-way. There are six stalls, and a room at each end of the stalls for harness. At e is a place for storing plows, carriages, wagons, or machines. A drive- way (f, f) passes through the basement from east to west. As many win- dows as needed may be built in the wall. The sills of the barn are laid upon the wall, as already mentioned; the posts are 28 feet high, and the plates upon these sup- port the rafters. The plates are fastened to- gether at the ends by be- ing halved, and the cor- ners fastened by half-inch 5 iron bolts, as shown at FIG. 2.—PLAN OF BASEMENT. Fig. 3. At each corner is a brace of 8x8 timber, bolted to and through the plates by three-quarter-inch bolts, and strength- ened by an iron plate on the inside, through which the bolts pass. .The shoulders of the corner rafters rest upon these braces and plates, as shown at Fig. 4. These rafters are of 6x12 timber. Purlin plates of 8x10 inch tim- ber are bolted under the rafters, and are fastened together at the corners in the same manner as the plates. The intermediate rafters rest upon these purlins. Iron tie-rods may be used to strengthen the rafters and hold them to- gether, if thought necessary. Fig. 1 shows the elevation, with a portion of the roof re- moved to show the manner of laying the rafters and bridging them. A crown rim is bolted to the rafters at the point of the roof i —or, rather, the rafters are bolted to the S crown rim—which supports a cupola. The jase cupola is fifty feet from the floor of the barn, the roof rising twenty-two feet, and the post being twenty-eight feet high. The floor of rig. 3.—cORNER JOINT. the barn is laid upon beams, supported by FIG. 4,—CORNER BRACE. brick piers or timber posts in the basement. A line of beams may be laid above the floor on either side, above which floors may be laid; the space thus made may be used for granaries, or stor- age of farm tools or machines, or other cumbrous property. Plan for a Barn.—We present herewith a plan for a new and improved barn, For convenience, neatness of appearance, and practical utility, it will RURAL ARVUHITECTURE. 17 be found most excellent, and should any of our readers contemplate build- ing, they would do well to give this article a careful study; and should they not desire to follow out the plan to the letter, they might still be able to gain from it some valuable hints in planning a barn of a different style. The fol- lowing is the description of the plan we have illustrated: A, stables, 8x28, for nine cows, earth floor; B, man’s room; C, carriages; D, harness room; E, meal pr b: or shorts; F, shelled corn; i, Ao i G, oats; H, passage-way; I, ta Mah passage-way, 4 feet wide, platform floor, with pump; L, box for mixing feed; M, stairs; N, O, stalls, 5 feet wide; P, Q, R, stables, 6 feet wide; S, feed-bin for cattle; V, feed-box for horses; W, wagon shed, earth floor, 18x21; X, wagon shed, open at south and east, 9x17; Y, tool room, 9x10; Z,feed-bin; W, T, water-trough. : Main barn, 30x42 feet; posts, 18 feet in the clear; shed wing, 26x30 feet; posts, 12 feet in clear; lean-to shed, 14 feet wide, 42 feet long— all to have roof at one-third angle of rise. There will be 230 feet in length of wallunder ground, to be built of rough stone 1 foot high and 18 inches thick. Upon this is to be laid, in courses, quarried stone, in blocks, not less than 8x12 inches, 1 foot high and 1 foot thick, and all pointed. There will be required twelve piers, each 18 inches square and 2 feet high; these to be built of stone, and four of them to have the upper stone 12x18 inches. All to be laid in good strong lime mortar, and in a workman-like and substantial manner. There will be required for sills 334 feet in length of 8x8 timber, and 42 feet in length, 6x8; this last for the sill in front of cones in lean-to shed. For posts, girts of main beams, plates, etc., etc., there will be required 913 feet in length, of 6x6. For purlin beams, girts, etc., there will be required 454 feet of length, 4x6; and for intermediate girts, braces, etc., 394 feet of length, of 3x4 stuff. The sides should all be of oak or white pine. *“NOILVADTTIA LNOWI—'NUVa VY HOA NVId 18 THE FARM. The main »eams, purlins, posts, girts, ete., may be of oak, ash, red birch, white pine, or white wood. The joists are to be of oak or white pine, and these will be required as follows: 103 pieces, each 14 feet long, 2x8; 20 pieces, each 9 feet long,2x8; 20 pieces, each 10 1-2 feet long, 2x8; and 11 pieces, each 8 feet long, 2x8. The rafters will be as follows: 42, each 19 feet long, 2x4 at 26) * de ii as] kK = Ss) bac] 4 a % a ae ) Ceara M Fe xf =] °° a RC! ee y iF % ise) | i) me (2) ( as oh * +) 3 lu [Uo | 3 nX | 9 + Jj | 4a one end and 4x6 at the other, for the main beam; 21, each 17 feet long, 3x4, for the lean-to shed; and 30, each 16 feet long, 2x4 at one end and 3x5 at the junction of the first with the second stories (as shown from outside). There should be a strip inserted of 2x2. The frieze board to be 8 inches wide and 2 inches thick. The boards all to be straight edge, and the whole to be bat- tened with strips one inch thick and three inches wide, having the edges beveled half an inch, exhibiting a face of two inches. The whole to be of good, merchantable, dry pine timber. The roof boards may be of any light RURAL AROHITECTURE. 19 and durable timber, and shall be laid so that no space of over two inches may be found. That portion of the roof which projects beyond the up- right portion of the building shall be of double thickness. The shingles are to be of the best quality, and laid only 4 inches to the weather. The win- dows are to be made as per plan, all frames to be of seasoned pine, free from knots. The sash windows of 12 lights, each 9x12 inches, except two, yiz., one in south end of main barn, and one in east side of same; these to be as shown in plan. The blind windows to be hung with butt hinges, and fastened with hasp hooks, both outside and inside. They are to swing outward. The doors are all to be formed to present an appearance outside same as balance of barn. They are to be jack-planed sufficient- ly to render them free of splinters in hand- ling. They are to be placed and formed of height, width, etc., as shown in plan. They are all to be hung with wrought-iron strap hinges, and secured by latches and hasp hook staples. A Complete Stock Barn.—We present herewith an illustrated plan, with careful de- scription, of a complete stock barn, embrac- ing many good and sensible points in its construction, from which we trust our friends may gather some valuable suggestions. The body of the main barn is 100 feet long by 50 feet wide, the posts 18 feet high above the sill, making 9 bents. The beams are 14 feet above the sills, which is the height of the inner posts. The position of the floor and bays is readily understood from the plan. The floor, for a grain barn, is 14 feet wide, but may be contracted to 12 feet for one ex- clusively for hay. The area in front of the bays is occupied with a stationary horse- power and with machinery for various farm operations, such as threshing, shelling corn, cutting straw, crushing grain, etc., all of which is driven by bands from drums on the horizontal shaft overhead, which runs across the floor from the horse-power on the other side; this shaft being driven by a cog-wheel on the perpendicular shaft round which the horses travel. : A passage four feet wide extends between the bays and the stables, which occupy the two wings. This extends up to the top of the bays, down which the hay is thrown for feeding, which renders this work as easy and conven- ient as possible. , A one-sided roof is given,to the sheds (instead of a double-sided), to throw all the water on the outside, in order to keep the interior of the yards dry. Eavye-troughs take the water from the roofs to cisterns, The *NOLLVARIA—"NUVA MOOLS ALATAMOO V 90 THE FARM. cisterns, if connected by an underground pipe, may be all drawn from by a single pump if necessary. The floor of the main barn is three feet higher than that of the stables. This will allow a cellar under it, if desired—or a deeper extension of the bays—and it allows storage lofts over the cattle, with sufficient slope of roof. A short flight of steps at the ends of each passage, admits easy access from the level of the barn floor. The sheds, which extend on the three sides of the barn, and touch it at the rear end, are on a level with the stables. An inclined plane, from the main floor through the middle of the back shed, forms a rear egress for wagons and carts, descending three feet from the floor. The two rooms, one on each side of this rear passage, 16 by 34 feet, may be used for housing sick animals, cows about to calye, or any other purpose required. The sta- bles at the front ends of the sheds are convenient for teams of horses or oxen, or they may be fitted for wagon houses, tool houses, or other purposes. The rooms, 16 feet square at the inner corners of the sheds, may be used for weak ewes, lambs, or for a bull stable. Racks or mangers may be fitted up in the open sheds for feeding sheep yOOTd NIVW > AvM HS SOWING MACHIAERY ee CT A COMPLETE STOCK BARN.—GROUND PLAN. or young cattle, and yards may be built adjoining, on the rear, six or eight in number, into which they may run and be kept separate. Barred parti- tions may separate the different flocks. Bars may also enclose the opening in front, or they may, if required, be boarded up tight. Step ladders are placed at convenient intervals, for ascending the shed lofts. A granary over the machine room is entered by a flight of stairs. Poles extending from bay to bay, over the floor, will admit the storage of much additional hay or grain. A Convenient Barn.—A recent inquiry about how to build a barn, writes a correspondent of an agricultural periodical, tempts me to describe mine, which I think very handy. My barn is situated on a side hill with an incline of about seven feet in forty to the west. There is a bridge at each end for a driveway, only one of which is shown in our illustration, Fig. 1. On the right, as you enter the main. door, the bays extend down to the ground nine feet. Under the main floorway I keep my sheep. Under the bridge each end is open, to give the sheep plenty of light and air, as it will not do to keep them too warm. In stormy weather I close the doors. On RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 21 the left of the main floorway is the cow linter, and, beneath, the pig pen. The arrangement will be more readily understood from the illustration, Fig. 2. 1. Sheep pen; 2. Barn floorway; 3. Standing floor in the linter; 4. Cows’ manger; 5. Iron strap used instead of stanchion; 6. Tie chain; 7. A trough filled with dirt or sawdust for the animals’ front feet to stand on, thus pre- venting slipping; 8. Cows’ feed door; 11. Pig pen; 12. Windows used for cleaning sheep pens and pig pens; 13. Tight partition; 14. Walk behind the cows; 15. Scuttle for cleaning out manure. It will be noticed that the door through which the sheep are fed opens downward, and does not con- flict with the cows’ feed door, which liftsupward. By having these doors the linter can be closed up tight in cold weather, and the cattle will keep warm. The main part of the barn need not be clap-boarded. So A CONVENIENT BARN.—FIG. 1, . Sheeps’ feed door; 10. Sheep rack; lll: ee long as the roof is tight and the hay does not get wet, it is no injury to the fodder to have it well ventilated. This ventilation is indeed beneficial and necessary to carry off from the fodder the effluvia from the manure in the cellar. Cheap Barn Celiar.—But comparatively few farmers (as compared to the masses) have yet been convinced that it will pay to construct a root-cel- lar, and then to raise the roots to fill it with, but for all that, those who have ‘ A CONVENIENT BARN.—FIG. 2. provided themselves with cel- lars find they pay. As it is not always convenient to have one beneath the barn, it may be built above ground as follows: Dig down three feet the size desired; twelve by twenty feet makes a good large cellar; and ten by sixteen feet will do for six or eight hundred bushels. Get on hand a lot of small logs or poles from six to ten inches in diameter, with which to build the portion above ground. Cut the poles for each side three feet longer than the width or length of the excavation. Place the first two poles on flat stones or blocks back a foot from the edge of the hole dug, and upon opposite sides. Flat- ten the ends with the ax and lay two cross poles as you would in starting a log house. In these end -pieces one foot from the end cut notches for the next side poles to lie in. With each round, set the side poles in a foot, which will give a regular slant to the roof, and make a very strong frame for the weight that is to come upon it. The end that is to contain the door should be carried up straight, while the other may be slanted up, as the sides. 22 THE FARM. Cover this frame with cull or common lumber, laying the boards on up and down. Next put ona heavy layer of marsh hay or straw to keep the dirt from coming in contact with and rotting the lumber; over this put a foot of earth. A-shute should be provided for filling the house, and a small ventilation flue for winter. The end where the door is located should be Hy v. | “hay th i hi i! \ RAINY nv | i ey i} AN OLD BARN IMPROVED.—-ELEVATION. double boarded and filled in between with saw-dust or cut straw; there should also be a double door. A storing house of this kind, if well made, will last eight or ten years, and give as good satisfaction as one costing $200. How an old Barn was Improved.—We present herewith a brief de- scription of how an old barn was remodeled and greatly improved without much expense, and furnish illustrations showing the barn after the changes RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 23 had been made, and the plan of the basement underneath in detail. By a careful study of this plan, our readers may be able to gather some valuable hints and suggestions. The original building was the common 32x42 feet barn, with fourteen posts, a fourteen-feet floor in the middle, with bay on one side and stable on the other, with a lean-to of thirteen feet in the rear, the building standing on the line of the road and facing the west, the grounds descending say one foot in thirty to northeast. It was first raised 80 that the northeast corner would clear six feet, dug out to a level of one foot below that of the lowest corner; then a ditch was dug one and a half feet below that under the outside sills, all around which was filled with MANURE SHED 8STALLS 28X12 @ STALLS UNDER ORIVE WAY MANURE SHED BAY 2X20 ry STONE WALL ROALD AN OLD BARN IMPROVED.—PLAN OF BASEMENT. small stone. A substantial stone wall was laid on the west side, and twenty feet on both north and south ends; the rest of the building was double- boarded save where protected by other buildings. The front doors were then closed, the floor taken up, cut out the bay girts, and laid off a floor of twenty feet on the west side (space reaching from the ground to roof), made a floor twelve feet wide in upright and all of lean-to—in all twenty-five feet, and cut a door in south end. The bay now would hold more than the whole barn before; a large floor, 25x42, thirteen feet of which can be used to store grain, and a space of 25x42 feet for stable. A good idea of the interior construction may be obtained from the illustrated plan of the base- ment. 24 THE FARM. Hanging Barn Doors on Rollers.—The great convenience of sliding or rolling doors on the farm outbuildings is well known, and as every farmer with a little ingenuity can construct them himself, there is no reason why they should not be generally adopted. Our illustration, Fig. 1, repre- sents the sliding doors, completed, as applied to the barn; Fig. 2, the man- ner of applying the rollers to the doors and track. The rollers, track and other trimmings may be obtained at a hardware store. The track is first Saas securely fastened to the edge of an inch or two-inch board, about four or five inches wide. This is then firmly nailed or spiked to the building, parallel to and even with the top of the doorway, and should extend the width of the door on each side. In order that the doors may run easily, the track should be laid as level as possible, and upon one board. The manner of fastening the rollers of the doors is clearly shown in the engraving Fig. 2. The doors are placed upon the tracks at the ends of the latter, and are prevented from running off by placing a block at the end of the track or upon the side of the door. The track should be pro- tected from the weather by some kind of covering. Two narrow boards nailed together similar to an eaves-trough, and fastened to the building above the track and rollers, form the best kind of protection from snow or rain. 7 LE EET LT PEP LF ED a a EO aE ET iy ria. 1.—APPEARANCE AFTER COMPLETION. Model Carriage-House and Stable.—Our engraving of the elevation, on the following page, shows doors of the rectangular, car- riage-house portion of the building; also door to hay- loft. The carriage-house doors are folding, and open outward, as they can be made closer when hung on hinges than when hung on rollers; and as it is desirable that all doors and windows should be as close as practicable, that they may not affect the ventilation, the ingress of which is provided for by a subterraneous air duct, seen at A, in the ground plan. The posts are sixteen feet in length; the ceiling of the stable is nine feet in the clear, with storage in the loft for twelve tons of hay. The oat bin is a cylinder of one hundred bushels capacity, around which circular stairs are built. Its location could not be more convenient, as six horses can be fed grain with walking but fourteen feet, on account of the six stalls being with the head end around a semicircle of sixteen feet diameter. This circular area is open to the cupola, and being supplied with air through the floor, under the stairs, and the animals all breathing into a common een- FIG. 2.—MANNER OF APPLYING THE ROLLERS. RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 25 ter directly under the egress, the air is constantly changed without a per- ceptible current, and it is nearly at the temperature of the earth below the frost and solar influence; no doors nor windows need be opened. By reference to our illustration of the ground plan, it will be seen that the stall partitions are radial. The stalls are five feet in width in front, and eleven feet at the rear end. The stalls V and VI are arranged with strong gates hung to the wall of the building, in a line with the stall partitions, which, when closed, as seen in stall VI, form spacious, convenient box stalls. There is no partition between the carriage-house, VII, and the stable por- MODEL CARRIAGE-HOUSE AND STABLE.—ELEVATION, tion of the building, except that formed by the stall partitions and tho gates closed, as seen in stall VI. The ventilation is so effectual that the air of the stable does not effect the carriage-house; and it being arranged with three drive doors, three pairs of horses to carriages may all be driven into the carriage-house at once, and the doors closed behind them, and the horses taken to their respective stalls. There are two harness closets, H, H. The rectangular figures in each stable floor, are cast-iron drip grates, each covering a sink, or pit, into which the urine falls. These are all con- nected by pipes, which all connect with a main inner conduit, laid in the 26 THE FARM. ground by way of the stable door. This conduit discharges into the manure house. The quadrant-shaped figures at the head of the stalls, are hinged iron mangers, which may be turned into the feeding passages for conyen- ience in feeding, and the man- gers may be unhinged and removed from the building when cleansed. The circular figure in the line of the stall partitions, is the base of a sheet-iron hay tube, which is supported at the height of the manger, and | extends to the upper surface of the loft floor, where it is supplied with hay. These tubes have an opening to each stall, so that one tube sup: plies two horses, the tube be ing covered at the top, and close, except the feeding open- ings, and the lattice bottom to them protects the hay from air and dust, and is the most per- fect and durable hay-feeding eee eee arrangement yet discovered. MODEL CARRIAGE-HOUSE AND STABLE.— The object of the lattice bot- GROUND PLAN. tom to the hay tubes, is to preserve the hay seed which sheds. It falls into a drawer for the purpose, and the seed thus saved is of excellent quality, and the quantity thus collected well remunerates for the cost of the arrangement. The cupola is octangular, and has four openings, with stationary blinds, and four with glazed sash, which thoroughly light the hay-loft and feeding passage. The building is perfectly lighted and ventilated, and exhibits a pretty elevation from any point of view, FENCES AND GATES. Farm Fences.—In the following list of farm fences we have endeavored to illustrate and describe only those that are of practical value and in actual use by many farmers. They illustrate the various modes of arranging rails for the turning of stock and indicating the boundary line of farms. In many sections of the country the common crooked, zig-zag (sometimes called the Virginia or worm) rail fence is extensively used, and, in consequence of the scarcity of the desired material, cannot be immediately replaced by the im- proved board, post and rail, iron or stone fence. As commonly constructed, with wide-spreading stakes at each corner, it occupies a strip of ground nearly a rod in width, which is far worse than useless, affording a harboring place for noxious weeds, ete. Fig. 1 represents a section of a straightrailfence. The stakes are first driven in the soil from four to six inches asunder, sufficient to admit of a rail of medium size; a stone or block of wood a few inches in height is placed between the stakes, upon which are FARM FENCES.—FIG. 1, properly placed two or three rails; a piece of annealed wire is then placed around both stakes, the ends being well twisted together, upon which are placed rails until within a few inches of the top, when another bit of wire, a wooden pin, or a wooden cap, a8 most convenient, is attached. In building this class of fence, it will be necessary to cut away with an axe a portion of each end of many rails, that they may fit closely within the stakes. In this, as well as other rail fences, the largest and heaviest rails should be reserved for the top, rendering their removal by unruly stock and high winds less easy. Keep the crooked ones in a panel by themselves, and if they are very crooked it is policy to use them for stakes, or consign them to the flames; for to have a fence to please and not to provoke the intrusion of stock, use none but straight rails. When economy of rails is desired, immediately after setting the stakes cast up a ridge of earth by plowing two furrows on each side, throwing up the second furrow with a shovel, making a ridge a foot or more in height, and not less than a foot in breadth at the top; proceed as above in the con- struction of the fence; sow grass seed upon the ridge. This plan saves two rails to a panel, renders the stakes more firm and less liable to heave by the action of the frost, and unruly cattle do not have the same advantage in attempting to get through or over it. In situations not liable to the preva- lence of high winds, this is the fence that should be used, occupying less iY 28 THE FARM. ground than many other kinds; and, when properly constructed, it is a substantial and neat fence. Fig. 2, though in appearance somewhat resembling the previous one, is pee more expensive, and is designed — a especially for the use of ae: or ee yas SoM slender rails that it would be im- is an ——=—= possible to properly arrange in a === =| —— fence by any other plan. To the id hs A ieee stakes are nailed cleats, as shown, — = Rage from four to seven at every set of —= = ——— stakes. Size of rails and purpose SSS se of fence will decide this point. A Aca 7 - ridge of earth can be thrown up as in the previous plan, with a pk wt corresponding economy of timber. oa We rte 4 Fig. 3 exhibits a mode of stak- ere OK Pres Ss ing a zig-zag fence. After the “ey to foundation has been laid, the FARM FENCES.—FIG. 2. stakes should be driven; holes should be made with a crowbar to the depth of twenty inches at least. One man, standing on a box or bench, drives them with a sledge-hammer or common wooden beetle, while an assistant keeps them upright. Make all the holes before you commence driving the stakes, which should be all sharpened, and the top end reduced to a size admitting the caps to pass over them readily before they are brought to the field. When the fence is made four or more rails high (the size of rails, ete., will govern), the caps are put upon, and the fence finished by the addition of two or three more rails. In localities where caps are expensive or difficult to obtain, good annealed wire, size 10, will answer all purposes. It should be drawn tightly up around the stakes; it will bury into them, and the weight of the rails above the wires will rest upon the stakes, having a tendency to keep them in the ground when acted upon by the frost. The most expeditious manner in which to sharpen stakes is to have a large, flat block of wood for the stake to stand on, which is held upright with one hand and sharpened with an axe held in the other; a hollow cut in the upper surface of the block will consider- ably expedite the operation. Hop poles, = stakes for grape-vines, etc.,. are best ——_ = =, = sharpened in the above manner. ES = = In Fig. 4 is shown the best plan known SS SS Sse for staking the common rail fence. It <=> 4 ee . & te ul = va ge dispenses with stakes at the corners, and 4 |= — in consequence of their central position, “== — | = a y they are not liable to be broken or Rn a ¢ 2 aoe ae of loosened while plowing; nor does the MA. a Sie rok — fence occupy as much land as by the old See mode. In consequence of the central FARM FENCES.—FIG. 3. point at which the stakes cross the upper rail of fence, it is required to sustain the weight of the stakes and riders; » therefore, this part should be made strong and durable, of well-seasoned material. FENCES AND GATES. 29 Fig. 5 represents a plan of bracing a rail fence, whether it be staked ad ridered, staked and capped, locked and ridered, staked and wired, or wired and pinned, all of which kinds of fence are easily blown down by a heavy wind, rails broken, stock let into fields of valuable grain, time spent, and patience exhausted in rebuilding them. The manner of using the arrangement is clearly shown in the figure. It consists in placing on the inside leeward corner a piece of rail, one end resting upon the ground, the other placed underneath the third FARM FENCES.—FIG. rail from the top. = each pair being a foot asun- der, set bracing and meeting at the top, the whole covered by two sheaves, whose ends, each side of band, are so spread that when in position they will afford a more secure protection from rain, and render the liability to derangement in high winds much less. In Fig. 2 is shown a very WHEAT SHOCKS.—FIG. 1. good plan for securing a dozen or more sheaves in a round shock. Two caps are used, crossing at right angles above the center of the shock. Fig. 3 illustrates another mode of capping a round shock. But six sheaves should be placed upright in each shock, unless the straw be of extra length, as in the case of rye. Bind the caps securely near the butts, break- ing down all around before placing in proper position. The latter is a mode seldom practiced, yet highly recommended by many farmers. Should the sheaves be damp or contain slowly drying weeds, shock im the manner shown in Fig. 1, which exposes a greater area of each sheaf to the combined in- fluence of sun and air than by any other known process. : Harvesting Wheat.—Wheat, when cut before the grain has passed from the milk to the dough state, will shrivel and give small measure and light weight. The straw will be more valuable for fodder, however, than if harvested later. On the other hand, if left to become over-ripe,) the grains grow harsh and rough, and the bran will be so thick and brittle that no after manipulation of the kernels will bring the wheat in condition to make the best quality of flour without carrying a large proportion of flour off with the bran, 38 THE FARM. The cultivator’s safety lies, therefore, between the extremes of early and late cutting. In a word, harvest the crop when the grain has passed from the milky stage to a doughy one. If the wheat be cut when the grain reaches the dough state, the bran will be thin and elastic, and can be separated more readily from the flour than when dead ripe. In addition to the flour being finer, it will also be increased in quantity in consequence of the bran being lighter than when ripe. A saving of wheat is likewise gained, which otherwise would be lost by shelling in the field. The novice can ascertain the exact time when wheat and other small grain ought to be cut by opening heads in different portions of the field, and examining the ker- nels carefully. The straw near the ground will also proclaim the time for harvest by its yellow hue. Wheat cut in the dough AEAT SHOCKS.—FIG. 2. state ought not to be dried suddenly. It may be bound and stacked at once, or, if there is only a small quantity, drawn to the barn. Some farmers put it into small stacks. If stacked so that the wind and sun will not dry up all the juices in the plant, enough of these will be slowly con- centrated in the seed to accomplish the maturity of the grain in perfection. If by rapid ripening in the sun the kernels are shrivelled, more bran is formed in proportion to the flour. A large class of farmers practice threshing from the shock and hauling grain direct to market. The advan- tages of this plan vary with the season. When the wheat has been bleached out by hot suns and repeated rains, it should be stacked and go through the “sweat.” During this process the straw and grain become damp and heat is evolved. At such times the grain cannot readily be threshed, therefore it is not advisable to attempt it until both straw and grain are dry. WHEAT SHOCKS.—FIG. 3. Then it will be found that the berry has been restored to color and exhibits a plump appearance, having absorbed nutritive matter from the stalk. The grain has not only undergone a change for the berter, but the straw is also improved in quality. It is suggested that farmers take time to look about for extra fine heads of wheat for future seed. It will also be wise to carefully note the results of FIELD CROPS. 39 the several varieties grown, with a view to comparing their respective merits, and selecting for another year’s crop those sorts which promise best returns. When fertilizers have been used, it will also be well to mark the results. It is only by a careful comparison of different plants under different treatments that a farmer surely arrives at conclusions which best suit the special require- ments of his land and his location. How to Stack Straw.—We give an illustration showing how straw can be stacked so that it will be preserved from spoiling, and at the same time answer for a shelter to protect stock from the storms. The pen should be two or three logs high (or higher, if the logs are small), and large enough to correspond with the quantity of straw. Then set fence rails or poles all around inside of the pen, as represented. It can be built at the tail end of the threshing machine, so that the straw can fall in it. Tt will require less hands to stack, Draining Wheat Fields.—Ifno other method has been devised for drain- ing wheat fields, which are sometimes too wet, it will pay to plow furrows from the lowest spot to some lower point outside. Every experienced wheat grower knows that if water is al- lowed to stand upon the ground late in the fall, the crop will not only be direct- ly injured thereby, but will also be liable to be severely damaged by ‘‘ winter kill- ing,” and it should be the aim to prevent, as far as HOW TO STACK STRAW. possible, both of these evils. A heavy rain will do little damage to a wheat field if provision is made for the prompt removal of the surplus water, while a moderate rainfall upon undrained land which is already too wet will cause the destruction of many of the plants, and largely reduce the possible yield of the crop. While thor- ough drainage is much better than any makeshift which can be invented, it is much better to adopt the very imperfect plan recommended above than it is to make no provision for the protection of the crop from injury by an ex- cess of moisture in the soil. Weevil in Wheat.—A correspondent of an agricultural paper says: ‘*Some years ago, hearing complaint of weevil in wheat about the close of harvest, when I was ricking my wheat, I got fresh slaked lime and threw over the rick in building it—laying two courses of sheaves, then lime suffi- cient to whiten the stack. A neighbor who threshed his wheat from the shock came to me a few days after, and said he should lose his wheat, for it was alive with weevil. I told him to throw lime over it, and shovel it through his wheat, which he did. Two days later there was not a weevil seen in it.” 40) THE FARM. Wheat Maxims in Small Compass.—The foliowing information about wheat growing has been condensed: 1. The best soil for wheat is rich clay loam; 2. Wheat likes a good, deep, soft bed; 3. Clover turned under makes just such a bed; 4. The best seed is oily, heavy, plump, and clean; 5. About two inches is the best depth for sowing the seed; 6. The drill puts in the seed better and cheaper than broadcasting; 7. From the middle of Sep- tember to the last of Octo- ber is the best time for sow- ing; 8. Drilled, one bushel of seed per acre; if sown broadcast, two bushels per acre; 9. One heavy rolling after sowing does much good; 10. For flour, cut 7 when the grain begins to harden; for seed, not until it has hardened. An Ohio Corn Crib.— We give an illustration (Fig. 1) of a very convenient and substantial double corn crib, with a wagon shed between. Such a crib can be built any size, and filled with grain, without the least sign of weakness. One is a brace for the other, and the more grain you have in it the firmer it will be. It is use- less to explain how the tim- bers should be put together, and where every door should be cut out, when one glance at the illustration will an- swer. Fig. 2 represents the double doors made to corre- spond with the entrance of the shed. The doors, when shut, are fastened to a piece of scantling, standing per- pendicular—one entering the beam, the other enter- ing a block put in the ground. The foundation can be of wood or stone, as suits best. This is what we call the ‘Ohio Dutch Yan- kee corn crib.” Hilling Injurious to Corn.—Careful experi- ments have proved that corn which is hilled will blow down more readily than that which has level culture. This can be accounted for by the fact PIELD CROPS. 41 that corn roots run very near the surface, and when hills are made they are confined to the small space covered by the hill; while in level culture the roots run from one row to the other, thus enabling the corn to stand strong, as nature intended, and in no way liable to be blown down, except by winds of unusual violence. A Convenient Corn Crib.—We illustrate a very convenient style of corn crib, which, while costing but a mere trifle more than an ordinary crib, pos- sesses some of the main advantages of a corn house; namely, a space pro- tected from the weather sufficient to accommodate a team with a wagon load of corn. At the proper season the grain may be shelled therein, and it is an excellent place to shelter a lumber wagon. The plan needs but little expla- nation. It is simply two cribs placed side by side, and facing each other. The cribs and space between them are covered by one roof. The cribs should be about four feet wide at the bottom, and grow broader as they rise, the taper being on the outside; the projecting roof throws the water clear of oO ansaa — A CONVENIENT CORN CRIB. the crib. The height should be sufficient to allow easy shoveling of the corn from the wagon into the top of the crib. If one wishes to make it rat- proof, it may be elevated on posts, capped with inverted tin pans; but in that case it would hardly do to store tools init. Some would suggest a floor and doors, which can easily be added to the plan, if desired. The best ma- terial is sawed scantlings for a frame, and three or four-inch-wide strips for siding. The roof may be made of matched boards. In case it should be determined to floor and hang doors, it would be well to board up the inside of the crib with matched stuff to the height of the eaves. Seed Corn.—No one will deny that great care should be observed in se- lecting seed corn to plant, and yet numbers of farmers never see their seed corn until it is carried to the field at planting-time. We think the best plan is to place a barrel in a corner of the crib, and throw in it every large and vigorous ear. Shell off about two inches of the large ends, in order to get the largest and most prolific grains. This produces a large and healthy plant, that grows much fastef than small ones do. Many farmers may think it quite a tedious job to select every ear of corn planted in this way; but they 42 THE FARM. will not find it so after giving it a trial, and selecting as much as possible on rainy days. This plan, once adopted, will ever be adhered toafterward. Try it; you will not regret it, but find it re- munerative. Cheap Corn Cribs.— There are many farmers who follow a mixed husbandry, and who raise comparatively small quantities of corn, who cannot afford to pay much for structures used for this pur- pose. For such we herewith give directions, accompanied with drawings, showing how a cheap and yet suitable crib may be made. The elevation (Fig. 1) is CORN CRIBS.— FIG. 1. an excellent crib. The sills are four by six inches, framed; if only a small crib is needed, it will only be necessary to bore two-inch holes at each corner, and one intermediate, and insert sharpened sticks three inches square, to which secure slats horizontally, three-quarters of an CORN CRIBS.—FIG. 2. inch apart. As this structure has but one door, it is best to divide the room in two parts, the best or sound corn to be put in the near compartment, and the poor corn in front, where it may be first fed out. A still cheaper plan F | base arte 7 Yio OL RSE Nee CORN CRIBS.—FIG. 3. ip eer Rane ae es PURE Re NS rey ee) of construction is to use poles or small logs, secured together in the form shown in Fig. 2. This is an exceedingly cheap and expeditious manner of constructing a corn crib. If properly done, it will last for years, is easy of FIELD CROPS. 43 access, and, with a good cover, corn will keep in it as well as in those more expensive. Fig. 3 gives a side view of a crib constructed of poles or logs, showing the manner of splicing at A, A, the logs midway between the supports. Pin or nail the logs at the point of joining. In this way log cribs several hundred feet in length are often constructed. ‘ The Enemies of Corn.—tIts enemies in the field, the bin, and the mill are numerous. Among its bird foes the crow is most dreaded by the farmer. He is a bold, saucy fellow, well endowed with bird sense, and soon sees a scare-crow is a humbug. The common devices used for this purpose —an open newspaper, bright tin, a clapping wind-mill, an effigy, etc., are effective only for a short time, when something new must be found. A prac- tical farmer suggests that early planting will circumvent him, since he is not particularly an early bird. Another claims that the use of a planter which covers the seed and presses down the earth upon it has been a perfect de- fense for him. He has seen twenty crows pulling away after the corn had got above the ground, and found they had nipped the tops off, yet could not get the kernel up. Great damage is often done to the corn crop by a corn-worm ( Heliolhus Armiga), identical with the boll-worm, so injurious to the cotton crop. The parent of the worm is a moth of brownish-yellow color, with dark brown or black markings. The caterpillar is green with black stripes and dark spots, and is covered with hairs. When full grown it measures about one and one- half inches. It is extremely voracious, though not particularly dainty, since it eats whatever comes in its way. Peas, stringed beans, tomatoes, pump- kins, cotton or corn are all one to his greedy appetite. The moth deposits its eggs upon the corn silk, and the young caterpillars soon work their way down to the tender kernel. When the caterpillar attains its full size it descends into the soil a few inches and there weaves its cocoon. Two or more broods are produced each year. Birds and parasites destroy this insect both as worm and moth. Men destroy it by means of torches, lamps and lanterns, sometimes arranged over dishes of oil or water, into which it falls and drowns. Plates of vinegar and molasses put among the corn will entrap many of them. Aphis Maidis, a little plant louse, infests corn and lives upon its juices. The eggs, which are laid in the ground, hatch in May, when the lice gather upon the roots, and here remain until the roots harden so that they are driven to the stem and tassels, where they are found in great numbers about July. Their presence can be easily detected by an army of red ants dancing attendance upon them, since they wear two black honey-tubes standing up like horns on the upper and hinder part of the abdomen, which secrete a saccharine fluid, of which the ants are very fond. They have a curious history of reproduction. The female deposits her eggs in the ground and dies. The brood are wingless females, and without the intervention of the male bring forth alive another female brood. These do likewise, and so continue for five or six or more generations. The last brood are both males and females. These pair again, and deposit their eggs, which remain over winter in the ground, and the next spring begin the same round over again. It is claimed that nothing but cropping against them is of any avail. The corn-stalk borer is @ comparatively new enemy, or, at any rate, has been only lately described. The moth is of an ashy-gray color, and probable 44 THE FARM. lays her eggs near the base of the leaf where the leaf is sheathed around the stalk. The worm is orange yellow, with rows of reddish warts, and a flat, black head, with which it bores its way into the stalk. It sheds its skin four times before it attains full growth. The cocoon is woven within the stalk, and the moth makes its exit through the holes bored by the worm. Three or more broods are produced each year. It hibernates in stalks and stubble. The stalks not eaten by stock should be burned early in February, and the stubble should be plowed up and burned, or plowed under very deeply. Curing Corn Fodder.—Much corn fodder is spoiled while being cured. A good way to prevent this is to set firmly in the ground a small stake or large-sized bean-pole, around which a few armfuls of corn is set, and bound securely near the top. This makes a firm center around which to build. Then set up more corn, placing it evenly all around, and leaning it no more than is necessary to have it stand. When enough is placed to make a large stock, all that can cure, draw a rope, with a slip noose in one end, around the stock as tight as convenient, using a step-ladder to stand upon if the corn is very tall. An assistant can now bind with a straw band or with selected stalks, after which the rope may be removed. If doing the work alone, the rope can be tied while the band is being put on. Corn fodder well put up in this way may be kept, if desired, in the field till winter. _ Saving Seed Corn.—To save seed corn successfully in a cold climate, you should not keep it in a warm place, or especially where it is warm but a part of the time, as there is danger that the changes of temperature may de- stroy the germinative power. Continued warmth is also conducive to de- composition, which will destroy the life of the seed. Corn and similar seeds are best kept in a dry, cool room, where the temperature is uniform. When your seed from the “‘small pile over the living-room” failed to germinate, the cause was probably due to both dampness and warmth, which incited incipient decay. Seeds differ greatly in the degree of cold they will endure without losing vitality. Corn has germinated after having been subjected to the most intense cold of the polar regions, and an experiment is reported in which other sceds germinated after having been frozen into a cake of ice. Corn Cuiture.—‘The suckers,” says H. M. Engle, in a prize essay, “should, under all circumstances, be taken off before they appropriate too much substance which the main stalks should receive, but under no circum- stances allow suckers to tassel, for, whatever pains may be taken to bring or keep corn at its greatest perfection by selection of seed, the pollen from the sucker may undo what has been gained by years of careful selection. I would as soon think of breeding from a scrub male to a thoroughbred ani- mal as to have the pollen from suckers cast upon an excellent variety of corn. It is also well known that the pollen from a neighboring field is oft- times carried to an almost incredible distance, and consequently may cause more mixture than is desirable.” Points on Corn.—Deep plowing among growing corn after the roots have met in the rows is disastrous; “‘root pruning” is a mistake; to break the roots checks the growth, and in hot, dry weather deep cultivation will surely cause the corn to curl, showing injuring and suffering, while shallow working will keep it fresh and green. As soon as a crust is formed on the soil, it should be broken up to admit both moisture and air, for the one dis- solves the fertilizing matter which is in the soil, and the latter effects its de- FIELD CROPS. 45 composition and renders it soluble. So that after a rain, which has crusted the surface, the cultivator should be started as soon as the soil is dry enough; this tends to hold the moisture and prevent speedy evaporation. Raising Good Corn in a Dry Season.—‘‘ Some Yankee,” says a prac- tical farmer, ‘ will ask, ‘How do you raise good corn in a drouth?’ J’ll tell. I plowed and rolled my ground, spread my manure on, and harrowed it in; put a handful of hen manure and fine bone composted in the hill; cultivated it flat; did not hill any. When the drouth came, cultivated, but very shal- low; the result was a good crop. On another plot the manure was spread on the sod and turned under without any fertilizer in the hill, and was al- most a failure. My neighbors report that they have very fair corn on land that the manure was spread on after plowing and fertilizing in the hill.” Husking.—Some people who husk corn throw the shock upon the ground, spread it out, and go to work on their knees. They know no better. If they will make a frame four feet wide and long enough to hold a shock after it is spread out, with a board in the middle running lengthways to sit on, they will find they have done a sensible thing. The frame may be eigh- teen inches high, or any other height they may like better. Cabbages with Corn.—A writer in the J'ruit Recorder says that one of his neighbors planted some cabbage among his corn where the corn missed, and the butterflies did not find them. He has therefore come to the conclu- sion that if the cabbage patch were in the middle of the corn patch, the but- terflies would not find them, as they fly low and like plain sailing. Potato Culture.—Destroying the potato beetle, says the American Cul- tivator, and its even more destructive larve, has come to be the most im- portant point in the successful growing of potatoes. Paris green is the com- mon agent employed, though London purple is cheaper, equally effective, and has the advantage, when used with water, of being soluble, while Paris green, under similar conditions, is insoluble. It does not follow, however, because these poisons will do the work, that every grower can make them equally effective. In their indiscriminate use the inexperienced cultivator is liable to do more harm than good. The young potato shoot is very tender, and either Paris green or London purple applied in too strong doses will burn the vines. If the vines be injured at this early stage of their growth from any cause, the resultant crop will be greatly diminished. For nearly all early planted potatoes, when the vine grows slowly, hand picking to destroy the first crop of beetles is very important. It should be performed as soon as the shoots are up, and, if possible, before any eggs are laid. Ina potato-growing section, where old beetles from last year’s hatch appear by the thousands, this indeed involves considerable labor. In fact, in such a locality it is not easy to grow early potatoes on a large scale. From a few short rows in a garden we have picked up by count between eight hundred and nine hundred beetles on a warm, sunshiny half-day, just as the potatoes were coming up. The next day the process was repeated, with nearly half as many beetles secured, while more or less in number were gathered every subsequent day for a week. It was just at the time the beetles were coming out of the ground, and the garden potatoes being early planted, attracted all the beetles in the neighborhood. It is of little avail to attempt to poison these beetles in the spring. Occasionally one will eat as expected, but the majority are too busy propagating and laying eggs to 46 THE FARM. attend to anything else. It is the fact that beetles are very numerous in spring, together with the difficulty in destroying them by poison, which frightens so many from the business. The inexperienced grower is apt, as goon as he finds his vines infested, to prepare a dose of poison, making it of very great strength, so as to make certain of killing the enemy. In nine cases out of ten the tender vines are injured, and the beetles are seldom appreciably diminished in numbers. With close hand picking at first, and a reserving of the poison until the larve make their appearance, the result is very different and much more satisfactory. The main crop of potatoes should be planted late—that is, if large quan- tities are to be grown. Planting a few in the garden or somewhere else, as a bait to draw the first beetles, greatly lessens the subsequent work. Even in the same field the potato beetle is more destructive on some yarieties than on others. Those who have grown the Magnum Bonum say it is especially liable to attack. Grown alongside other varieties, the bugs sin- gled out this, while the others largely escaped. It has been suggested that one or two rows of this kind be planted around the potato field as a protec- tion to the main crop. On the other hand, it is said the Early Gem is especially distasteful to the bugs. There is probably some difference in the comparative liability of different varieties to this insect attack. We have generally found, however, that the larger growing varieties and the strongest hills of the same variety are least injured. It is possible to plant on highly- manured ground, with sced so vigorous that its rapid growth will largely reduce the cost of fighting the bugs. The female beetle instinctively chooses a vine that is a feeble grower on which to deposit her eggs. Where the vine is full of sap, either the eggs will not be laid or many of them will fail to hatch. We hope very much, from the results of recent experiments, in dis- covering the true way to cut potato seed. If the proper cutting of potato seed will insure greater vigor or growth, many of the difficulties in fighting the potato beetle will be overcome. It should not be forgotten that the potato grower has insect friends as well as enemies. All kinds of lady-bugs eat the eggs of the potato beetle. It is the abundance of these lady-bugs about old apple orchards that often makes potato growing successful near an orchard when the field crop will be entirely destroyed. There are several varieties of insects that prey on the potato larve. Farmers who use no poison sometimes find dead potato bug larvee on their vines. These dead specimens should always be left undis- turbed, as in all probability they are filled with eggs of the parasite that has destroyed them, only needing opportunity to hatch and continue the good work. On general principles, if any insect is found in the potato field whose habits are not known, it is best to leave it undisturbed, since it is quite probably a friend engaged in destroying the farmer’s enemies. Entomolo- gists have discovered thirty or more insect enemies of the potato bug in its various stages of growth, and there are probably others not yet known. But for these ‘friendly insects difficulties in growing potatocs would be much greater than those which now prevail. Phosphate for Potatoes.—Wm. T. Woerner, of New Brunswick, N. J., writes: “In planting potatoes I haye used no other manure than phosphate of some reliable brand, for the last ten years, and in that time I have not had a grub-eaten potato where I put the phosphate. All my potatoes grow as smooth as a bottle, and of a large, salable size. I never use stable manure of any kind on potatoes now. I would not put it on if it was given to me, FIELD CROPS. 47 and I had to pay fifty dollars per ton for phosphate. My neighbors have tried it with a like result. It is a very cheap fertilizer; on good ground I only use about two bags per acre (400 lbs.), which is a good manuring on ordinary soil. Ihave raised four hundred bushels to the acre with nothing but phosphate, applied in the row.” A Handy « Bug-Catcher.”—Although it is now the custom of most of our farmers to rid their crops of that terrible pest, the potato bug, by Paris green poisoning, still we think the following illustrated sketch of a bug- catcher, sent by a gentleman who has used the contrivance with great suc- cess, will prove interesting and profitable to our readers. He says: ‘‘ With the pan I use for catching Colorado beetles, any one can do as much work as three or four people collecting the pests, according to the ordinary method CONTRIVANCE FOR CATCHING THE POTATO BEETLE. of hand picking. The pan is made of tin, and any tinman can fashion it. It is a box or pan, two feet long, one foot wide, and six inches deep. The bot- tom should be round, or cylindrical, so that the rim of the pan can be got close to the ground when the vines are small. Stitfen the edge with wire. On the inside, at the top, solder a rim or flange about three-quarters of an inch wide. This should slant downward somewhat, as its object is to pre- vent the ‘bugs’ from crawling out when once they have gone in. On one side of the pan solder or rivet a handle, such as those on common tin milk- pails. On the same side as the handle solder a shield of tin eighteen inches high, and of the same length as the pan, slanting backward a little. The edges should be stiffened with wire. About four inches from the top of the shield, and in the center, solder a loop or ring large enough to admit the arm to the shoulder. In using, insert the left arm through the loop, and 43 THE FARM. grasp the lower handle with the hand, then, holding the pan close up to the vines and near the ground, with a crooked stick, like the one represented, gather the vines over the pan, giving them a smart shake against the shield and over the pan. A good, active man, with this contrivance, can ‘ bug’ an acre of potatoes effectively in two hours.” The Potato Disease.—There are many devices suggested for avoiding the disease known as potato rot. There is one made by an English writer, who says it has been found that ‘‘ by hilling the plants up very high as soon as the blight appears, the spores are prevented in a great measure from being washed down by the rains, and the rot consequently much di- minished. It was found that although the spores were readily washed downward through one or two inches of earth, they very rarely reached a depth of five inches. The experiment was repeated many times with the uniform result that where the plants were not hilled up, and the tubers lay but one or two inches deep, the percentage of rot was very large. But where the tubers were covered to the depth of five inches, the damage from the disease was inconsiderable.”’ If a physician were to say to a patient haying the small-pox that if the lower part of the body were swathed in wet sheets the disease would not get down to the legs and feet, it would be a parallel suggestion to this. The rot is a disease which infects the whole plant. It has been found that when the disease began in the tops at a late stage of the growth, mowing off the diseased tops saved the tubers. This is something like amputating a gangrened limb to save the body, and is a rea- sonable remedy. But the spores are not always, and are in fact rarely, ripe at the season of growth, and are generally in the soil and infect the plant from the roots. The tubers are not roots, but stems, and receive the infec- tion from the roots when the source of it is in the soil. When the leaves are infected by spores, carried in the air from distant fields, where they have re- mained during the resting season, the disease spreads through the tissues of the plant and reaches the tubers in that way, from within, and not from without. The spores are not free until the plant decays, being set free by the decomposition of the diseased tissues. This being distinctly known, it becomes of the greatest importance to destroy the infected vines by burning them, and thus preventing the soil from infection by the matured spores in the leaves and stems. Earthing up the potatoes might possibly have helped to preserve the tubers from the disease by removing the water from the saturated soil; this water being injurious to the plant and producing all the conditions favorable to the spread of the disease. A more healthful condi- tion of the plants would tend to preyent this unhealthful condition and con- fine the disease to the leayes and stems, and save the tubers. But every one who has had diseased potatoes, knows that tubers, apparently sound when dug, will rot in the cellar. This is because the disease is already in them when they are dug, and develops in them in the course of time from the infection. Earthing up cannot save them then, nor can it at any other time, excepting through its influence in the way we have pointed out. But here, where our seasons are not so wet, it would not ayail us as it might the farmers of sodden England or Scotland or Ireland, where “ the rain it rain- eth every day,” more or less. This difference of climate is very important to be remembered when considering such matters as this from an English view. Methods of Raising Potatoes.—There is, writes a practical farmer, a great variety of opinion in regard to raising potatoes, size of seed, and culti- FILLD* CROPS: 49 vation. Some advocate large, while others prefer small potatoes for seed, thinking that they are as good or better than large ones. They may raise good crops from small seed for one or two years, but if they do not obtain their seed from those that do take pains to select large seed, I think they will soon find their potatoes run out and become small. Why do we select a nice, well-shaped ear of corn for seed, not always the largest, but the best developed? Also, why screen wheat, oats, etc., to secure the plumpest and best seed to plant or sow? (At least we should if we do not.) We thereby raise a better quality of grain, and more of it, from year to year. I do not wish any one to infer that we should take the largest potatoes for seed, but those of a good marketable size, of nice shape, free from warts, scabs or other deformity. Having my seed selected, I cut them to single eyes, or at most two, and plant them in drills three feet apart, and fifteen inches apart in the drills, having the drills deep, in well-plowed and thoroughly pulverized soil. I prefer a piece that had corn on the previous year, well manured and plowed in for that crop, and kept under good cultivation during the season. On po- tatoes I use some good commercial fertilizer that has pleuty of potash in it, and use it liberally—400 to 500 pounds per acre. This will help keep the wire-worms away, and will increase the potatoes in size and quality, I am quite certain. I harrow, as soon as I see the first plants breaking the ground, with a smoothing harrow, to kill all the weeds that may have started. I cultivate often, whether there are any weeds or not, until they are in blossom. I have never failed to raise a good crop of nice smooth po- tatoes, and there was always a ready market for them. I often get consid- erable more than market price for them, which is quite an advantage in a plentiful season. My crop averaged about 500 bushels per acre last sea- son. How to Keep Sweet Potatoes.—A Texas writer says: I would like to give my plan for keeping sweet potatoes. I think the most essential thing is to dig them at the proper time, and I think that time is about the full moon in October (that is, in Texas). No matter about the weather, unless the ground is too wet. I never wait for frost; but if frost comes before the full moon, dig a8 soon as possible, or at least before any rain. I dig with a bull-tongue plow; but any way, so they are not cut or bruised too much, will do. In gathering them, sort out the cut ones; but before putting up let them have at least one day’s sun. If the ground is wet, two days is better; but in no case let them take the dew of the night. I put them in a shallow cellar under some house, say from three to four feet deep. After they are put away, throw a little fine, dry dirt over them, just enough to dust over the cuts. That will cause them to dry and not commence rotting. Let them lay that way till the weather begins to turn cool. Then begin to cover up as the weather gets colder, till they are from ten to twelve inches deep; in all cases cover with dry dirt. I differ with those who want straw or leaves under potatoes; I want them on the ground. When they are banked outdoors they should be on an elevated place, or throw up the dirt so water will not stand about them. Put the potatoes on the naked ground, about twenty-five or thirty bushels in a bank; set up corn stalks around them; then throw some grass or leaves on the stalks; bank up enough of dirt against the stalks to hold them. Let them stand that way till the weather begins to get cool; then begin to cover. When the weather gets very cold they should be covered at least twelve inches; but in warm 50 THE FARM. weather they should have a little air at the top. In all cases have them well sheltered; a very small leak will ruin a bank of potatoes. Points About Potatoes.—In the judgment of the South Deerfield (Mass.) Farmers’ Club, potatoes, when properly cared for, are, next to tobacco, the best paying crop a farmer can raise. The trouble is, potatoes are too often neglected and receive attention only when other crops are cared for. Turf land is the best, except in very dry seasons. Plow in the fall and harrow in a good coat of manure in the spring. Furrow out, and in the hills apply ashes and tobacco stalks cut about six inches long, at the rate of sixteen loads per acre. Twelve hundred pounds of fish and potash to the acre, harrowed in, with a little phosphate in the hill, produced a good crop. More attention should be given to selecting good seed potatoes. Use good-sized smooth tuber cut into four pieces. Change the seed every year or two. The Early Rose is the best kind for home use. Peerless, Beauty of Hebron, and Burbank Seedling give larger yields, but are inferior in quality. The Snowflake bakes well. Early Vermont resembles Early Rose, and is better in yield and quality. Hoeing potatoes is best done with a horse-hoe or tobacco-ridger. Go through the piece three times with a horse-hoe, and you wouldn’t need to put a hoe into it; that is, on smooth land free of stones. To get ahead of the bugs, cover the potato tops about an inch deep as soon as they are up; in about a week cut a lot of small potatoes into four or more pieces and wet them and sprinkle Paris green on them, stirring well until the pieces are covered with it; scatter these pieces over the field, and the beetle will eat them and die. If all do not partake of this wholesome diet and slugs ap- pear, apply Paris green mixed with plaster. Potatoes are a paying crop at fifty or sixty cents a bushel, and the small ones are excellent to feed hogs, stock, and horses. Getting Potatoes Early.—Some years ago, writes a correspondent of the Gardenei’s Monthly, I conceived the idea of planting my potatoes with shoots to them. Probably the sprouts suggested the idea; at any rate I car- ried out the plan, and have been so well pleased with it that I have followed it out for three years. A few weeks before planting time I select my seed potatoes, and set them in a warm place to sprout. By the time my ground is ready the shoots are about three inches in length. The potatoes are handled carefully, so as not to break the growth, and cut up in suitable sizes, a8 in the ordinary way. One strong shoot is left to each piece. The sets must be put into the ground carefully, of course, or the shoots will be broken off. As growth commences at once, the green tops show in a few days. There is easily a saying of two weeks time at the start. Those who have rather a low ground, which cannot be worked very early in spring, as T have, will find this method will enable them to compete with their neigh- bors on higher ground, with success. By July 10th, I was using fine Beauty of Hebrons (an excellent early sort by the way), planted April 25th. They were not then fully ripe, though the yellow tint in the leaves was getting quite perceptible. Generally the tops are dead at this date, but an unusu- ally fine potato season kept them growing later this year. Raising Potatoes.—The following suggestions are from a practical farmer: I select a piece of suitable ground in the fall. Sod is best. Ma- nure it heavily with good barnyard manure, and plow under so as to let the FIELD CROPS. 51 sod rot before cold weather; then in the spring I manure with well-rotted manure on the surface, and harrow thoroughly till the manure is com- pletely incorporated with the soil; then I mark one way three feet apart and plant two pieces in a place about one foot apart, about four inches deep. Then, just as the potatoes begin to break ground, I harrow thoroughly, then cultivate till it is time to lay by; then I use a single-shovel plow to hill them with; keep all weeds down—they are death to potatoes. I have raised from 450 to 500 bushels to the acre in favorable seasons. Now, as to the seed: I cut to a single eye; I would as soon think of plant: ing a whole ear of corn in a hill as a whole potato. I have often, in case of a new kind, cut the eye cluster into three or four pieces, and had a good hill from each piece. As to time of planting, I always try to get my whole crop in for early potatoes. I believe the earlier they can be got in the more cer- tainty of a good crop. As to kinds, I have raised legions of them, but for early, the Beauty of Hebron; for medium, the Burbank’s Seedling and the Mammoth Pearl; and for late, the Belle and the Late Rose, Of course, others are good and may do better in other places. New Remedy for Potato Bugs.—A farmer successfully tried a remedy for potato bugs, as follows: He procured a number of boards and placed them here and there among his potatoes, and on these boards were placed raw potatoes sliced. At noon on the first day of the experiment he and his hired men found every piece of potato covered with bugs. The men killed this crop, and at night another crop was killed, though not so large, and in a week not a bug could be seen, and his trouble with bugs after this was comparatively small. He thinks it would be a good plan to dip the pieces of potato in Paris green, as it would save the work of killing the bugs. Potatoes in Winter.—Potatoes stored in cellars, in some cases, rot. To check or prevent this, keep the cellar as cool as possible without freez- ing. Then scatter quick-lime over them. This is of threefold benefit. It keeps them from rotting, makes the potatoes dryer and better, and disin- fects the atmosphere, preserving the family from malarial fevers. Experiments in Plowing.—Mr. Knox, a veteran plow-maker, has called our attention to the effect of deep plowing of some soils to offset the danger from lack of rains in dry seasons. Some years ago an experi- ment was made by a Western Massachusetts farmer in plowing portions of a large field at varying depths. One part-was turned over seven inches deep, another ten inches, and a third, after being plowed ten inches, was sub- soiled to the depth of ten inches more, making a soil comparatively loose to the depth of twenty inches. The next year, which was a dry one during the summer, corn was grown upon the whole field, which was treated uni- formly throughout, and the yield of the three divisions carefully measured. The seven-inch plowing yielded as well as the ordinary fields in the vicinity. That part plowed ten inches deep was greener all through the season, and gave decidedly better yield, but that which was plowed ten inches, and sub- soiled ten inches in addition, produced just one-third more corn than that plowed in the usual way, seven inches deep. The next year the whole field was by agreement sowed to oats, a8 a continuation of the experiment, the season proving even drier than the preceding one, when corn was grown. When the oats were about ready to cut, Mr. Knox, being in the neighbor- hood, called to see them. Before reaching the farm, the field came in view from the car windows, and Mr. Knox, who was on the lookout, said to 52 THE FARM. a companion, that the gentleman had not done as he agreed, for he could see that he had sown different kinds of grain upon the different plots, the size and color of the growth both marking the lines, dividing the land plowed at three different depths. But on arriving at the field he found nothing but oats, and as stated by the owner, all sown on the same day, and treated pre- cisely alike in every respect. On the shallow plowed section, the growth was short and the straw yel- low; on the ten-inch plowing the oats were taller and less yellow, while on the sub-soiled portion they were green and very heavy. The final tests showed full one-third more grain on the sub-soiled part than on that which was plowed only seven inches deep. Now, it will not do for farmers to calculate that deeply stirring every kind of soils would alone add fifty per cent. in the yield of crops grown upon them the following two years, for they would doubtless be disappointed in very many cases. Yet, asa rule, a deep, mellow soil from which surplus water can readily settle without making the land into mortar, and through which the same moisture can again freely rise by capillary attraction, other things being equal, will always bring a farmer the better results. There are soils which naturally are never too wet, and rarely too dry, and it will usually be found on examination, that they are in the same mechani- cal condition for a considerable depth, say two feet or more, that one likes to haye his surface soil, light, friable, and containing a due proportion of vege- table matter. They will also be found to contain sand and clay in about the right proportion to keep the soil both mellow and moist through the varying climatic conditions. Deep plowing of stiff clays is often dangerous at first; but a good dry soil suits all kinds of crops in all kinds of weather. Deep plowing tends to make sucha soil, but this alone will not always be sufficient. Draining and manuring must accompany deep plowing. Early or Late Fall Plowing.—There is this against early fall plow- ing, that it favors the springing up of grass and weeds, which necessitates re- plowing in the spring. The fall rains, should they be heavy, will pack the surface of clay soil, which the frost that follows does not always relieve, and never if pressed during the winter by a deep snow. This not only compels plowing in the spring, but the soil then turns up rough, and generally too wet and sticky, and also it is necessarily done late in the season, so that fall plowing, instead of benefiting, hurts it, and the crop for the season is lost or seriously affected—the land showing it for a year or two more. But as the season is now advanced, there is little danger from the rains; the land would rather be benefited by them. Late plowing, therefore, isin order. Land ordinarily the wettest can now be plowed to the greatest advantage. It requires more power to break it, but the improved condition in the spring will more than pay the expense. This is a point not sufficiently considered. Tf late fall plowing is an advantage, better still if it can be done in winter or early in spring, so as to be followed by freezing and thawing. My best success has been obtained by winter and early spring plowing. Yet there is hardly a year in which one of the three seasons—either late in the fall, during the winter or early in the spring—is not available. To make as sure as pos- sible, do the work in the fall, if the ground will admit, but avoid making mortar. The same applies to winter and early spring. Other soils, especially the sand and leachy shales, have less to fear from water; they are also less benefited by the frost. They are the soils, therefore, that may be left unplowed till spring. One of the difficulties with FIELD CROPS. 53 spring plowing is that it does not allow of the winter application of manure, should it be required, though with an early spring and favorable weather, this may be done without interfering much with the work which usually requires all the time. The aim should be always to get the plowing done near to winter (or in it) a8 possible, so as to get the benefit of the freezing and thawing, and avoid the packing of the heavy rains. The Philosophy of Hoeing.—It may be overdone or underdone. There is reason in everything, ‘“‘eyen in roasting eggs,’ as the saying is. So in hoeing crops. If we hoe up the soil in large lumps, as we are apt to do with the very serviceable modern prong-hoes, we let the keen, dry air into con« tact with the starting but enfeebled roots, and, by their parching, an irre- parable injury is done. Such lumps should be crushed down so as to be permeable to air throughout, and yet serve to protect the roots from its free sweep. But, as in avoiding Scylla we may run to wreck on Charyhdis, so, in crushing the soil, we may make it too fine, in which case the first heavy rain will run the surface together in a crust impervious to the air, and, for want of enough of air, essential to active root action, growth will be checked until the hoe or its equivalent is used. Quantity of Seed to an Acre.—The following should be kept for reference: ‘‘ Barley, broadcast, two to three bushels; bean, pole, in hills, ten to twelve quarts; beets, in drills, five to six pounds; broom corn, in hills, eight to ten quarts; buckwheat, one bushel; cabbage, in beds, to transplant, half pound; carrots, in drills, three to four pounds; Chinese sugar cane, twelve quarts; clover, red, alone, fifteen to twenty pounds; clover, alsike, alone, eight to ten pounds; clover, lucerne or alfalfa, twenty pounds; corn, in hills, eight to ten quarts; corn for soiling, three bushels; cucumber, in hills, two pounds; flax, broadcast, one and one-half bushels; grass, Ken- tucky blue, three bushels; grass, orchard, three bushels; grass, English rye, two bushels; grass, red top, three bushels; grass, timothy, one-half bushel; grass, Hungarian, one bushel; grass, mixed lawn, four bushels; hemp, one and one-half bushels; mustard, broadcast, half bushel; melon, musk, in hills, two to three pounds; melon, water, in hills, four to five pounds; millet, common, broadcast, one bushel; oats, broadcast, two to three bushels; onion, in drills, five to six pounds; onion for sets, in drills, thirty pounds; onion, sets, in drills, six to twelve bushels; parsnips, in drills, four to six pounds; peas, in drills, one and one-half bushels; peas, broadcast, three bushels; potatoes (cut tubers), ten bushels; pumpkin, in hills, four to six pounds; radish, in drills, eight to ten pounds; rye, broadcast, one and one- half to two bushels; salsify, in drills, eight to ten pounds; spinach, in drills, twelve to fifteen pounds; sage, in drills, eight to ten pounds; squash, bush varieties, in hills, four to six pounds; squash, running varieties, hills, three to four pounds; tomatoes, to transplant, quarter pound; turnip, in drills, one pound; turnip, broadcast, half pound; vetches, broadcast, two to three bushels; and wheat broadcast, one and one-half to two bushels.” Soaking Seeds.—I am often asked, writes a New England agriculturist, whether it does any good to soak seeds before sowing them? In general I believe it does more harm than good, and if done at all, a good deal of judgment should be used to prevent mischief. Thus peas, beans and corn are often soaked to hasten germination with the belief that they will come a day or two earlier, but in cas8e the weather is cold and wet for some time after sowing the seed, it will be more likely to suffer injury from the weather 54 THE FARM. than if sown dry. Especially is this true of the McLean pea and other deli- cate green peas, and of the various kinds of sweetcorn. When the weather is dry and hot, however, it may be an advantage to steep the seeds before using them, and especially so in the case of seeds that are slow to germinate, such as celery and parsnips and carrots. To steep these seeds for a few days until germination has started and then dry them just enough to make them pass readily through the seed drill, will hasten their coming up, 80 that weeding will be less difficult in case the land is foul; but such seed should not be sown upon foul land if it can be avoided. Care is required in steeping seed that fermentation does not occur, which will frequently kill the seed. It may be arrested by turning off the water and spreading out the seed thinly upon a piece of sheeting and partially drying it. To steep seeds in chemical solutions with the belief that this will answer in place of fertiliz- ing the land, I believe, is sheer humbug and imposition upon common sense. The only chemical stuffs that have proved useful, so far as I know, are the blue vitriol to destroy germs of smut, strychnine to destroy crows and black- birds and a smearing of tar on corn seed for protection from these birds. Raising Roots.—The average farmer is now devoting all his energies to the production of the greatest possible number of bushels of grain. Concen- tration of effort is generally commendable, but when applied to one particu- lar branch of agriculture to the exclusion of others just as important, or to the detriment of the whole enterprise, it is not commendable. In other words, it is very bad management, and the evil effects of such a course will, sooner or later, become manifest in the exhausted condition of the soil, where this system of indiscriminate grain raising has been pursued. The true policy of farming is to produce good crops and feed them out, so far as practicable, upon the farm. The larger the stock carried on the farm the greater will be the amount of fertilizing material produced. In this case, good management would consist in growing those crops from which we could realize the greatest return per acre, thereby enabling us to carry more stock upon a given area. Considered in this way, the root crop is an important factor in stock raising, as it yields largely to the acre, and is a most nutritious and whole- some diet, when stock is deprived of other green food during the feeding months. Aside from their nutritious qualities, roots possess a mechanical value of no less importance, as they materially aid in the assimilation of dry food, which too often forms the exclusive diet of stall-fed stock. Of all roots, carrots are the most nutritious, and when the soil is deep, rich, and mellow, they will yield enormously, sometimes as high as ten or twelve tons to the acre. They keep well and can be fed all the year round if properly cared for. They are not so easily harvested as the beet and man- gold, as the roots penetrate deeply into the soil, necessitating the use of the spade or plow when harvesting. Probably, for this reason, they are not so extensively raised as they should be. . The mangold seems to be the favorite at present, as, perhaps, all things considered, it should be. Under the most favorable circumstances it will yield even heavier than the carrot, and it also keeps weil for spring feeding. Rutabagas and turnips come last in the order when considered as to their respective values. The greatest argument in their favor is, that they can be raised with the least labor and can be raised as a second crop, sown late in the season. This is particularly the case with the turnip, which may be sown as late as August Ist. FIELD CROPS. 55 To raise roots profitably, we must, of course, do away aa far as possible, with all hand labor. The garden or field should be long and narrow, with the drills running lengthwise, so that horse-power may be used to advan- tage when cultivating them. Jor sowing, the garden seeder, run by hand, is the best implement. When rightly managed this work need not interfere with other farm work. Many farmers have an idea that such crops must be in the ground the very first of the season, before the other field crops are sown; but such is not the case. Those calculated for feeding out to stock should not be started out before the first of June. By leaving them until this time, the seeds will germinate more surely and rapidly, and the weeds will not have three or four weeks the start of the plants, as is the case when sown early in the spring. Let us have acres of roots this year instead of rods. I am confident that the farmer who sows and properly cares for an acre of roots this year, will want two acres or more next year. Storing Roots.—A writer in the Nebraska Farmer says: “‘ We always find turnips putin the cellar become pithy and worthless. My method is to obyiate this, and I do itin this way: When I pull my turnips I cut off the top way down into the turnip, cut deep enough to cut all the eye out; then cut the root off smooth and nice, and you have them ina condition to place in a cool part of the cellar, or to bury out in open ground, and you need have no fear of pithy turnips. Beets should be buried out of doors, with manure over the dirt, so the ground will not freeze. In this way you can get at them any time in the winter. LIVE STOCK. 179 ing cholera, quinsy, or pneumonia, use one gallon of soft soap, four ounces of saitpetre, and half a pound of copperas. Mix well in swill, and feed to about forty hogs in one day. In four or five days give the following: Carbolie acid, eight drams, black antimony, two ounces, half pound of sulphur. Mix well in swill, and feed to about forty hogs in two days. Repeat the above once a month, and it will prevent any of the above diseases. I have used it for ten years without a single case of any disease among my hogs. A simple cure for hog cholera, says the Kentucky Live Stock Record, is an infusion of peach-tree leaves and small twigs in boiling water, given in their slop. Peach leaves are laxative, and they probably exert, toa moderate extent, a sedative influence over the nervous system. They have been used asa worm destroyer with reported success. They have also been recom- mended as an infusion for irritability of the bladder, in sick stomach and whooping cough. The cases of fatal poisoning from their use in children are on record, a8 peach leaves contain prussic or hydrocyanic acid, but as it is almost impossible to poison a hog, their use would not be objectionable. The specific is worth a trial. The report of the Georgia Agricultural Department has a statement to the effect that forty cases of hog cholera were averted, if not cured, by turning the animals on to a quarter of an acre of clover, to graze for one week. It has long been held that this disease springs mainly from malnutrition, and too much feeding on corn or other carbonaceous food. The fact that clover —a nitrogenous fodder—in this case averted the threatened disease is of great interest. The culture and use of clover in the South may through this knowledge be greatly extended. Nancy Agree, of Missouri, some years since claimed the $10,000 premium offered by the legislature of that State for a cure for hog cholera. Her spe- cific is as follows: ‘‘ Take inside bark of the wild cherry tree and boil it down with water so as to make a strong solution, and give it to the hogs to drink, excluding them from water. It has proven a perfect cure, even in the last stages of the disease. I also recommend an admixture of the root of the bull nettle.” A correspondent of the Journal of Agriculture recommends a half tea- spoonful of carbolic acid in a gill of milk. This remedy, he states, has been “successful in every case and not only cures but stops the spread of the dis- ease. Itis administered from the mouth of a long-necked bottle. The Pig as a Plowman.—Farmers everywhere, says the American Agricwturist, are influenced by the construction of railroads and other means of quick transportation, but none of them more so than those who grow meat as a branch of their farm operations. The pork-raisers in the older States come in competition with the swine products of the prairie States, where the pig is a condenser of the corn crop, and among the most economical methods of sending that cereal io market—yet even with cheap freights, it will not do for Eastern farmers to abandon the sty, and look to the West for their salt pork and hams. There are economies to be practiced in swine raising that will make the Eastern farmer successful in his competition with the West. He has the protection of freights over long distances which can never be very much reduced. The home market will always be remunera- tive, so long as pork products are in demand. His lands need manure, and that which is made in the sty and under cover, is among the best of the home made fertilizers. Herding swine, upon pasture, or old meadow, that needs breaking up, is not yery much practiced, but is one of the best methods of 180 THE FARM. raising pigs. They are as easily confined within a movable fence as sheep, utilize the grass and coarse feed quite as well, and perform a work in stir- ring the soil that sheep cannot do. The nose of the pig is made for rooting, and we follow Nature’s hint in giving him a chance to stir the soil. A movya- ble yard, large enough to keep two pigs, can be made of stout inch boards, about fourteen feet long, and six inches wide. For the corner posts use two by four inch joists. Nail the boards to the posts six inches apart, making four lengths or panels four feet high. Fasten the corners with stout hooks and staples, and you have a pen or yard fourteen feet square, which is easily moved by two men. If you place two fifty-pound pigs into this yard they will consume nearly all the grass and other vegetation in it in three or four days, and thoroughly disturb the soil several inches in depth. When they have done their work satisfactorily, the pen can be moved to the adjoining plat, and so onward through the season. The advantages of this method are, that it utilizes the grass and other vegetation, destroys weeds and in- sects, mixes and fertilizes the surface of the soil about as well as the ordi- nary implements of tillage. In the moyable yard there is thorough work. Eyen ferns and small brush are effectually destroyed. Worms and bugs are available food for the pig. And it is not the least of the benefits that the small stones, if they are in the soil, are brought to the surface, where they can be seen and removed. The pig’s snout is the primitive plow and crow- bar, ordained of old. No longer jewel this instrument, but put it where it will do the most good, in breaking up old sod ground, and help make cheap pork. Charcoal for Hogs.—-We have but little doubt that charcoal is one of the best known remedies for the disordered state into which hogs drill, usu- ally having disordered bowels, all the time giving off the worst kind of evacu- ations. Probably the best form in which charcoal can be given is in the form of burnt corn—perhaps, because when given in other forms the hogs do not get enough. A distillery was burned in Illinois, about which a large number of hogs were kept. Cholera prevailed among these hogs somewhat extensively. In the burning of buildings a large amount of corn was con- sumed. To this burned and partially burned corn, the hogs had access at will, and the sick commenced recovering at once and a large portion of them got well. Many farmers have practiced feeding scorched corn, putting it into the stove or building a fire upon the ground, placing the ears of corn upon it, leaving them till pretty well charred. Hogs fed on still slops are liable to be attacked by irritation of the stomach and bowels, coming from too free generation of acid, from fermentation of food after eaten. Charcoal, whether it be produced by burning corn or wood, will neutralize the acid, in this way removing the irritating cause. The charcoal will be relished to the extent of getting rid of the acid, and beyond that it may not be. Hence it is well to let the wants of the hog be settled by the hog himself. Iron Hog Troughs.—Upon the subject of the best material for hog troughs, a writer says: ‘“‘I make them out of iron, not out of iron-wood, but east iron. I grappled with this problem a half dozen years ago and mas- tered it. I became aninventor. I had an invention put into the form of a model and got the proprietor of an iron foundry to cast eight troughs after the model. They were put into the different pens and they are there now, bright, clean, smooth, sound, and all right, and I expect to leave them just in this shape to my heirs. The model cost $18, and the troughs 6 cents a LIVE STOCK. 181 pound, and they weighed an average of at least 100 pounds. The spout is cast with the trough in one solid piece, and there are also feet cast and at- tached, by which it is fastened to the floor. The corners are made rounding and so is the bottom, so that freezing does not crack them, as the ice does not press against the corners or sides, but around the whole. They are easily cleaned out, as the sloping sides allow the dirt to slide out before a broom, are always in place, and will never wear out. The wear and waste and annoyance of modern troughs became unbearable. Now I contemplate this part of farm experience with a feeling akin to perfect satisfaction. The troughis not patented.” Phosphates Essential to Pigs.—Kxperiments made by Lehman upon young animals showed that food containing an insufficient amount of phos- phates not only affects the formation of the skeleton, but has an essential! in- fluence upon its separate parts. A young pig was fed one hundred and twenty-six days upon potatoes alone; a result of this insufficient food, ra- chitis (rickets, or softening of the bone). Other pigs, from the same litter, fed upon potatoes, leach-out-meat, and additional phosphates, for the same length of time, had a normal skeleton; yet even in these animals there was a difference according to the kind of phosphate added. Two that were fed on phosphate of pot- ash had porous bones, specifically lighter than the others, which were fed upon phosphate and carbonate of lime. Pig Scraping Table.—This table can easily be made by a handy man. It is formed by bars of wood fixed into a frame. By using a table of this description when scraping pigs, the water and hair fall to the ground, and the latter is ef- PIG SCRAPING TABLE. fectually disposed of. It is a simple arrange- ment, and its construction and use will materially aid in neatness and de- spatch. Preparing Food for Swine.—A writer gives the following opinion: “The present practice with the greater number, I believe, is to prepare food for pigs either by steeping, steaming, or boiling, under the belief that cook- ing in any shape is better than giving in the raw state. I am not at present prepared to say definitely what other kinds of food may do, raw or cooked, with pigs or other domesticated animals, or how the other animals would thrive with peas or corn, raw or boiled; but I now assert on the strongest possible grounds—by evidence indisputable, again and again proved by actual trials in various temperatures, with a variety of the same animals, variously conducted—that for fast and cheap production of pork, raw peas are fifty per cent. better than cooked peas or Indian corn in any shape.” Hogs as Producers of Manure.—One hog, kept to the age of one year, if furnished with suitable material, will convert a cartload per month into a fertilizer which will produce a good crop of corn. Twelve loads per year multiplied by the number of hogs usually kept by our farmers would make sufficient fertilizing substance to grow the corn used by them; or, in other words, the hog would pay in manure its keeping. In this way we can afford to make pork at low prices, but in no other way can it be done without loss to the farmer . 182 THE FARM. Swine Raising.—The American Agricullurist contains the following sensible advice regarding the raising of swine: Pure air helps to make pure blood, which, in the course of nature, builds up healthful bodies. Out-of-door pigs would not show so well at the fairs, and would proba- bly be passed over by judges and people who have been taught to ad- mire only the fat and helpless things which get the prizes. Such pigs are well adapted to fill lard kegs, whereas the standard of perfection should be a pig which will make the most ham with the least waste of fat, the long- est and deepest sides, with the most lean meat; it should haye hone enough to allow it to stand up and help itself to food, and carry with it the evidence of healthy and natural development in all its parts. Pigs which runin a range or pasture have good appetites—the fresh air and exercise give them this—hence they will eat a great variety of food and much coarser than when confined in pens. Nothing need go to waste on the farm for lack of a market. They will consume all the refuse fruits, roots, pumpkins, and all kinds of vegetables, which will make them grow. By extending the root patch and planting the fodder corn thinner, so that nubbins will form on it, and by putting in a sweet variety, the number of pigs may be increased in propor- tion. A few bushels of corn at the end of the season will be ready the next year for any crop, and ten times the advantage accrue to the farm than if as the pigs are usually managed. Bone Meal for Strengthening Hogs.—Most farmers have noticed that in fattening swine, especially when they are crowded rapidly, they always appear weak in their hind legs, and sometimes lose the use of them entirely. An intelligent farmer says that he and his neighbors have made a practice of feeding bone meal in such cases, and find that a small quantity mixed with the daily feed will prevent any weakness, and strengthen the animals so as to admit of the most rapid forcing. As bone meal is known to be a preventive of cripple ail and weakness in cows, 1t looks reasonable that it should also be a benefit to hogs, which are often confined to a diet con- taining but little bone-making material. Keeping Hogs Clean.—The floor of a hog pen should be of plank. The pen and hogs can then be kept clean. Ifthe animals are permitted to root up the floor of the pen and burrow in the earth, they will always be in an uncleanly and unwholesome condition, and much food will be wasted. It is quite unnecessary for either the comfort or health of the hogs to let them exercise their natural propensity to root in the ground. The exercise is really a waste of food and takes s0 much from their growth. Hogs will fat- ten most quickly when they eat and sleep and remain perfectly quiet, as they will do in a dry, warm pen, with a clean plank floor, and bedding of clean straw and plenty to eat. How to Give a Pig Medicine.—At a recent meeting of an English Farmers’ Club, Professor McBride spoke of the difficulty of administering medicine to a pig. He said: “To dose a pig, which you are sure to choke if you attempt to make him drink while squealing, halter him as you would for execution, and tie the rope end toastake. He will pull back until the rope is tightly strained. When he has ceased his uproar, and begins to reflect, approach him, and between the back part of his jaws insert an old shoe, from which you have cut the toe leather. This he will at once begin to suck and chew. Through it pour your medicine and he will swallow any quantity you please.” LIVE STOCK. 183 Hay for Hogs.—vVory few are aware of the fact that hay is very bene- ficial to hogs; but it is true, nevertheless. Hogs need rough food as well as horses, cattle or the human race. To prepare it you should have a cutting- box (or hay cutter), and the greener the hay the better. Cut the hay short and mix with bran, shorts or middlings, and feed as other food. Hogs soon learn to like it, and if soaked in swill or other slop food, it is highly relished by them. In winter use for hogs the same hay you feed to your horses, and you will find that, while it saves bran, shorts or other food, it puts on flesh as rapidly as anything that can be given them. Paralysis in Pigs.—Pigs are frequently subject to a partial paralysis of the nerves of the lumbar region, by which motion of the hind quarters is rendered difficult or impossible. It sometimes results from inflammation of the covering membrane of the spinal cord, caused by exposure tocold. The remedy is to rub turpentine or mustard paste upon the loins, and to give a teaspoonful of saltpetre in the food once a day. Dry pens and protection from rains in the hot season are the best preventives. Poisonous Swill.—A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer, having complained of a disease among his hogs, is told by another correspondent that the symptoms are similar to those of hogs of his own, which he is satis- fied died from eating swill that had become poisoned by standing too long. He says: ‘‘ Chemists say that when swill stands a certain length of time after it has soured, it becomes poisonous. I don’t know that this is so, but I do know that I shall not feed any more old swill.” Roots for Hog3.—Parsnips, carrots, Swedish turnips, and especially mangel-wurtzels, will all fatten pigs. The roots ought not to be givenin a raw state, but always cooked and mixed with beans, peas, Indian corn, oats, or barley, all of which must be ground into meal. When pigs are fed on such cooked food as we have stated, the pork acquires a peculiarly rich flavor, and is much esteemed, especially for family use. Economy in Hog Raising.—One man who let his hogs run on grass and artichokes all summer, was sure that his hogs paid him from fifty to sixty cents per bushel for the corn they consumed (not counting anything for the grass). Another man, who kept his hogs in a pen all summer with- out anything but corn and water, did not realize more than ten or fifteen cents per bushel for the corn consumed. Water for Hogs.—Hogs require free access to water in the summer time. If they can have a place to bathe or wallow in, it is beneficial to them, as it cools and cleanses the skin. Mud is not filth—it is a good disinfectant and healthful. Sometimes mud baths have been found useful as medicinal treatment for sick people. Seurvy Pigs.—It is said by a farmer who has tried the experiment so often as to be sure of his ground, that buttermilk poured over the back of a ee pig will entirely and speedily remove the scurf. The remedy is simple. Squash for Fattening Hogs.—A New York farmer declares that an acre of Hubbard squash will fatten ten more hogs than the corn that can be raised on the same ground. He has gathered from six to eight tons from an acre. . 184 THE FARM. Hurdling Sheep.—The accompanying illustration shows how an Eng- lishman fed his sheep on an irrigated pasture, by the use of hurdles of AUT i Wain TAY Hite te, cil “ty aN r ru vil i Hw: NHN AWN nt I an in “XY. AN ENGLISH METHOD OF HURDLING SHEEP, a stout pole bored with two series of holes twelves inches apart; stakes six feet long are put into these holes so that they project from them three feet LIVE STOCK. 185 on each side of the pole. One series of holes is bored in a direction at right angles to that of the other, and when the stakes are all properly placed they form a hurdle, the end of which looks like the letter X. The engraving shows how these hurdles are made and the method of using them. A row of these hurdles is placed across the field. The field in which they are used consists of six acres. A strip of ten feet wide is thus set off, upon which four hundred sheep feed. They eat up all the grass upon this strip and that which they can reach by putting their heads through the hurdles, The hurdles are then turned over, exposing another strip of rather more than four feet wide at each turn. When this is fed off, the hurdles are again turned over. The sharp points presented by the hurdles prevents auy tres- passing upon the other side of them, and by using two rows of hurdles the sheep are kept in the narrow strip between them. Their droppings are very evenly spread over the field, and it is richly fertilized by them. At night the sheep are taken off and the grassis watered. The growth is one inch per day under this treatment, and when the field has been fed over, the sheep are brought back again to the starting point and commence once more eating their way along. Raising Feed for Sheep.—The corn raised especially for sheep should be planted in drills, three and one-half feet apart, and about six inches in the drill. It will ear sufficiently, and should be shocked when the ear is just passing out of the milk, in large, well-built shocks. And the most profitable use that can be made of this for winter feeding is, to run it through a cutter, directly trom the shock, reducing to fine chaff, stalks, ears, and all. If cut one-fourth of an inch long, the sheep will eat it all clean; this we know from practical experience. With a large cutter, a ton can be cut in twenty to thirty minutes. This cut corn, fed in properly con- structed troughs, will furnish both grain and coarse fodder. The only im- provement you can make on this ration, without cooking, is to feed with it some more nitrogenous food, such as bran, linseed meal, or cotton seed meal. Wool is a nitrogenous product, and corn is. too fattening a ration when fed alone. To Tell the Age of Sheep.—The books on sheep have seriously misled flock-masters on this subject. Almost any sheep owner will tell you that after a year the sheep gets a pair of broad teeth yearly; and if you show that his own three-year-olds have four pairs of broad teeth, he can only claim that they are exceptions, and protest that they do not exceed three years of age. Now these cases are no exception, for all well-bred sheep have a tull mouth of front teeth at three years old. Some old, unimproved flocks may still be found in which the mouth is not full until nearly four years old, but fortunately these are now the exceptions, and should not be made the standard, as they so constantly are. In Cotswolds, Leicesters, Lincolns, South-Downs, Oxford-Downs, Hampshire-Downs, and even in the advanced Merinos, and in the grades of all of these dentition is completed from half a year to a year earlier. The milk or lamb teeth are easily dis- tinguished from the permanent or broad teeth by their smaller size and by the thickness of the jaw bone around their fangs where the permanent teeth are still inclosed. As the lamb approaches a year old, the broad exposed part of the tooth becomes worn away, and narrow fangs projecting above the gums stand apart from each other, leaving wide intervals. This is even more marked after the first pair of permanent teeth have come up, overlap- 186 THE FARM. ping each other at their edges, and from this time onward the number of small milk teeth and of broad permanent teeth can usually be made out with ease. Another distinguishing feature is the yellow or dark coloration of the fangs of the milk teeth, while the exposed portions of the permanent teeth are white, clear, and pearly. The successive pairs of permanent teeth make their appearance through the gums in advanced breeds at about the following dates: The first pair at one year; the second pair at one year and a half; the third pair at two years and three months; the fourth and last pair at three years. It will be observed that between the appearance of the first two pairs there is an interval of six months, while after this each pair come up nine months after its predecessors. For backward grades, and the unimproved breeds, the eruption is about six months later for each pair of teeth, but even with them the mouth is full at three years and six months. Sheep Ticks__How to Get Rid of Them.—Sheep ticks are much more numerous and more annoying than many suppose. Men of experience with large flocks generally know and apply the necessary remedies, but there are hundreds of farmers whose time and attention aro principally directed to grain growing, etc., and who keep but a few sheep, whose flocks are sorely troubled by this parasite, and they never discover the cause of the evil. The accompanying engraying of the insect in its different stages, is from the Cyclo- pedia of Agriculture. The sheep tick or louse lives amongst the wool, and is exceedingly annoying to lambs. Their oval, shining bodies, like the pips of small apples, and similar in color, may be found attached by the pointed end to the wool. (See engraving Fig. 1; Fig. 2, the same magnified.) These are not the eggs, but the pup, which are laid by the female, and are at first soft and white. From these issue the ticks (Fig. 3; Fig. 4, the same magni- fied), which are horny, bristly, and dull ochre; the head is orbicular, with two dark eyes (Fig. 5), and a rostrum in front, enclosing three fine curyed tubes (Fig. 6), for piercing the skin and sucking the blood. The body is large, leathery, purse-shaped and whitish when alive, and notched at the apex. The six legs are stout, very bristly, and the feet are furnished with strong double claws. The English remedies are a wash of arsenic, soft soap and potash, decoction of tobacco, train oil with spirits of turpentine, and mercurial ointment. Ticks, when very numerous, greatly annoy and enfeeble sheep, and should be kept out of the flock if possible. After shearing, the heat and cold, the rubbing and biting of the sheep, soon drive off the tick and it takes refuge in the long wool of the lamb. Wait a fortnight after shearing to allow all to make this transfer of residence; then boil refuse tobacco leayes until the decoction is strong enough to kill ticks beyond a peradventure. This may be readily tested by experiment. Five or six pounds of cheap plug to- FIG. 1.—SHEEP TICKS, MAGNIFIED. LIVE STOCK. 187 bacco may be made to answer for one hundred lambs. The decoction is poured into a deep, narrow dipping tank kept for this purpose, and which has an inclined shelf on one side covered with a wooden grate, as shown in our illustration below (Fig. 2). One man holds the lamb by the hind legs, another clasps the fore legs in one hand, and shuts the other about the nostrils to prevent the liquid entering them, and then the lamb is entirely immersed. It is immediately lifted out, laid on one side on the grate, and the water squeezed out of its wool. Itis then turned over and squeezed on the other side. The grate conducts the fluid back into the box. If the lambs are annually dipped, ticks will never trouble a flock. Early Lambs.—In many localities an early lam) will sell for more money than will the ewe and her fleece; therefore, where there is a market for early lambs the breeding of these is a very profitable business, if the per- son who attempts it is pro- vided with ample shelter and understands the man- agement of both ewes and lambs. Lambs for early market are bred so as to be dropped in February and March. February is a hard month to bring them through, and without judicious treatment and warm shelter many lambs will be lost. The chief aim is to get the lambs ready for market as soon as possible, as it is the earliest arrivals that gain the high- est prices. It is necessary to keep the dams in good condition with sufficient food to make plenty of Fic. 2.—TANK FOR DIPPING SHEEP. nourishing milk. Experi- ence and judgment are required in feeding the lambs; they must have food enough to promote rapid, healthy growth, and yet of a character that will not produce scouring. While the lambs are still with the ewes, it is well to supply them additional food. They can soon be taught to drink milk which is fresh and warm from the cow. Later on, oats, rye and wheat bran finely ground together make an excellent feed. Asa gentle laxative a few ounces of linseed oil-cake will be found beneficial and at the same time nourishing. As the lambs approach the period for weaning extra food should be in- creased; indeed, the weaning must be very gradually accomplished. The sudden remoyal of the lambs from their dams is injurious to both. A plan generally followed to avoid the evil effects of a sudden change, is that of remoying’ the lambs to a good pasture of short, tender grass, and at night returning them to the fold with the ewes. The ewes must not be neglected. Their feed should be gradually diminished so as to diminish the yield of milk. How to Make Sheep Pay.— THE POULTRY YARD. 197 Good and Cheap Incubators.—For the benefit of those who desire to experience some of the pleasures and profits of artificial incubation, we here give a model of a very simple and reliable incubator, with directions for making the same. Haye a pine case made somewhat like a common washstand (see Fig. 2) without the inside divisions. About a foot from. the floor of this case, place brackets like those in Fig. 1, and on a level with these screw a strong cleat across the back of the case inside. These are to support the tank. The tank should be made of gal- vanized iron, three inches deep and otherwise proportioned to fit exactly within the case and rest upon the brackets and cleat. The tank should yyq 1. iNstpE OF INCUBATOR. FRONT have a top or cover soldered on when gyorron—r, TANK; LC, LAMP CLOS- itis made. At the top of this tankin py, BB, BRACKETS. the center should be a hole an inch in diameter with a rim two inches high, and at the bottom, toward one end, a faucet for drawing off the water. When the tank is set in the case fill up all the chinks and cracks between the edges of the tank and the case with plas- ter Paris to keep all fumes of the lamp from the eggs. Fill the tank at least two inches deep with boiling water. To find when the right depth is required, gauge the water with a small stick. Over the top of the tank spread fine gravel a quarter of an inch thick; over this lay a coarse cot- ton cloth. Place the eggs E Lm ul sacl on the cloth, and set a kero- sene safety-lamp under the center of the tank. The door of the lamp- closet must have four holes for ventilation, otherwise the lamp will not burn. The lamp-closet is the space within the incubator under the tank. Turn the eggs carefully every morn- ing and evening, and after turning sprinkle them with quite warm water. Two FIG. 2.—INCUBATOR CLOSED. thermometers should be kept in the incubator, one half way between the center and each end; the average heat should be 105 degrees. If the eggs do not warm up well, lay a piece of coarse carpet over them. If they are too warm, take out the lamp and open the cover for a few min- utes, but do not let the eggs get chilled. If they should happen to get down to 98 degrees, and up to a 108 degrees, you need not think the eggs are spoiled. They will stand such a variation once in a while; but of course a uniform temperature of 105 degfees will secure more chickens, and they will ve o a 198 THE FARM. be stronger and more lively. In just such an incubator as the one de- scribed, the writer hatched over two hundred chickens two years ago. For those who are ambitious to try top heat, the same sort of a tank is required, but a boiler must be attached at the side with an upper and lower pipe for circulation. Any plumber can attach the boiler, and the faucet must be at the bottom of the boiler on one side. The drawers containing the eggs should slide be- neath the tank. A stand FIG. 3.—TOP HEAT INcUBATOR, on TABLE, {°F the lamp should be screwed to one end of the case in such a position as to bring the lamp under the boiler (see illustration above). This incubator can be cooled by raising the lid, turning down the lamp and pulling the drawers part way out. In both incubators while the eggs are hatching sprinkle them two or three times with quite warm water. After the chicks are hatched they need a warm cover, a good run, plenty of clean gravel, fresh water, fine cracked corn, and green food every day. LN How to Raise bash ie Fic. 4.._FORM. OF TANE, Hatched Chickens.—The fol- lowing article is from the pen of a gentleman who has given the matter of the artificial hatching of chickens much careful study, and he tells how to successfully raise the young chicks after being so hatched: “Tt is evident to the most casual observer that chickens hatched without a mother must be raised without a mother. Born orphans, they must re- main orphans. When my incubator produced the first chick, what a com- motion there was in the house. The birth of a baby wouldn’t have been a circumstance to it; and while the women-folks would have known what to do with a new baby, we all looked at one another with blank bewilderment when the question was asked what we should do with the new chick. The thermometer outside was down nearly to the freezing point, while in the incubator the temperature was 105 degrees. The little chick’s hair stood on end, and he was panting for dear life. He mustcome out of there, and as his brothers and sisters were following him out of the shells, we began to prepare all sorts of receptacles for them. We rigged up a mother on the heater, and put in it several chicks that lived a few hours and then died. We de- cided it was too cold, so we put others in a box and put them back in the Fia. 1. THE POULTRY YARD. 199 incubator, where some of them were smothered with the heat. It was evident something must be done, or we would soon have no chicks to experiment with. I determined in my own mind that a temperature of about ninety degrees would be correct, so I rigged up the brooder and started the lamp, put in the thermometer, and when the proper degree of heat was reached, put what was left of the chicks into the brooder, and they began to brighten up. The problem was sclved, though its solution cost me the lives of many fine chicks. “With further experience, I find the following treatment a complete suc- cess: After the chick breaks the shell, let him scramble around and dry himself in the incubator, which will generally take a few hours, though some are much strong- er than others. After too much exercise they begin to pant, and should, of course, be removed. I have a box twelve inches square and six inches high. To the lid of this tack strips of woolen cloth an inch wide and two inches apart. These rags ¥FIa. 2. should hang within two inches of the bottom. Puta half inch of dry sand in the box. The brooder is kept at a temperature between eighty and ninety degrees. The young chicks, when perfectly dry, are taken from the oven and putin the box, and the box put in the brooder where the other chicks are. Air holes should be cut in the lid of the box, for if cut in the side the other chicks peck out the feathers of the little ones through these holes. This box keeps the chicks warm, and they soon brighten up, and at the end of twelve hours are ready to take the first lesson in eating. Take a hard boiled egg and chop the white and yelk up together as fine as grains of wheat; with it cover the bottom of a little pan —the top of a blacking box will do. Place this in the box with the chicks, and, while tapping with the finger in the feed, repeat ‘tuck, tuck,’ like the clucking of a hen (Fig. 1). A little patience, and one chick will see something and peck at it, when the others will follow suit, and in a few minutes the first lesson is learned. After a few meals, with this process repeated, it will be only nec- essary to rap on the box, and the little fellows will be ready for their meal, and also be spry enough to be put out of the box and run with the others in the brooder. ** The next lot of chicks I feed as follows: Stale wheat bread is soaked in water. A cupful of oatmeal or rice has boiling water poured over it, and is stirred until it takes up all the water. I mix two handfuls of soaked bread, with the water squeezed out, with one handful of this oatmeal, and dry it all with unbolted cornmeal until it crumbles freely. A little salt is mixed up with it. This, with a little meat once a day, is their sole feed, and it is given about every three hours until the chicks are a week old, or until the wings 200 THE FARM. are large enough to cover their backs, when they are putin a pen. This lot is fed the above mixture five or six times, with meat or worms once a day, and a head of cabbage is hung in the pen for them to peck at. The bottom of this pen is covered with dry sand and ashes, with a pile of old mortar and broken oyster shells to be picked over. “For a water fountain I use a small tin pan, covering with a stone all the top except just enough to allow the chicks to drink, as shown at Fig. 2. Turn the open part next to the wall, so the little things cannot scratch dirt into it. Chicks are very fond of scratching the feed out of the pan. To prevent this I take a sheet of tin (Fig. 3), bend it over, and put the feed under the bent part. This prevents their treading on or scratching out the feed, and caters to their natural taste for hunting under things for food. It is also cleaned more readily than a pan. The body of the brooder (Tig. 4) is made of zine, with an air-chamber over and under the back end. The lamp setting under it sends the heat up through the heater and out through the top, where a nursery for young or sick chicks is placed to utilize the waste heat. This form of brooder, with a warm chamber and the chicks feeding in the open air, I believe to be bet- ter than those where the chicks are never subjected to a cool atmosphere. The short stay while they feed in the open air tends to harden and invigorate them. All brooders, boxes, or pens, used to keep large numbers of chicks in, should have the bottom lined with zinc, as wood or earthis sure in time to become saturated with BROODER.—FIG. 4. excrement, no matter how clean you try to keep it, and it is the ammonia arising from these tainted floors that causes such pens in time to prove fatal to the chicks. I promised to tell the truth about my experience in hatching the eggs, and here it is: The last eggs that hatched out were bought October 10th. Up to that time I had purchased one hundred and, five eggs at thirty cents a dozen. About one-third of these proved unfertile, and were cooked and eaten, or hard-boiled and fed to the young chicks, leaving about seventy-five eggs for the incubator to work on. Out of these I now have twenty-seven as fine chicks as I ever saw. By my own awkwardness and want of experience, I have killed or lost fully one dozen. My machine was an old one, and the battery was worn out. The gauge never was worth a cent. All the defect- ive parts have been renewed except the gauge, and I have learned to doctor that. Owing to the above faults, the temperature in the oven has run too low for days at a time, and for hours it has been at 82 degrees, while it has THE POULTRY YARD, 901 taken short trips as high as 110 degrees. The only wonder is that I got a chicken out of any of the eggs. It is astonishing how much an egg will stand. “From my experience i with hens I am satisfied I i will be able to get more chicks from a given num- ber of eggs with the incu- bator than I ever could with hens, It would be a poor hand who could not raise from a fourth to a third more chicks with brooders than with the best hens.” Ax, 42 Snes SEER Packing Eggs for Market.--We present here- with three different styles or methods of packing eggs for shipment or for storage, any one of which will be found simple, inexpensive and practical. Our illustration, Fig. 1, represents a substantial carrying case, with nine ; drawers, the frames of ~ which are of wood covered with canvas or sacking, with cords or strings underneath, for the purpose of keeping the eggs in their places. The sacks, at the top and bottom, have depressions, as shown in the cover of the engraving, so that the eggs fit snugly and are not liable to be displaced by handling or trans- porting. Each alternating layer, coming between these depressions in each box or drawer, fills up the inter- stices perfectly. Witk proper care these cases will last for years, are always ready for packing and can be filled as the eggs are laid, thus avoiding repeated handling. ‘The eggs can also be kept in them per- fectly secure when the owner desires to hold his ; stock for better market. FIG. 2.—COMMON TRANSPORTING CASE. There are nine layers or drawers of eggs in this box, each layer containing eight dozen, or a total of seventy-two dozen of eggs. Fig. 2. shows a cheaper case in every respect. It is a common packing box, made with paste or binders’ board partitions, and each layer of eggs is FIa. 1.—CANVAS COVERED CASE. 202 THE FARM. covered with the same material. One point connected with packing in these boxes the shipper should know and guard against; that is, it is sometimes the case that the pasteboard cover, on which the eggs are placed, is com- posed of two pieces, and during transporting or handling these pieces be- come displaced, or pass cach other; then the eggs above drop down on the lower ones and break them. This difficulty, however, can easily be avoided by passing a piece of stiff paper over the joints, which will prevent them passing each other. Any sized box desired can be used for this style of case, and, with a little care on the part of the packer of the eggs, can be carried as safely as with any of the patent boxes now in vague. Fig. 3 consists of an outside case or crate, in which are fitted a number of trays with cord laced through the sides and ends, dividing the spaces into small squares or meshes, and making a delicate spring, which responds to the slightest jar. Rows of pockets are suspended from the cord work, giv- ing to each a separate apartment, and so arranged that no jar nor jolt the carrier may receive can cause one egg to strike an- other, and being thus sepa- rated, a free circulation of air is obtained, which pre- vents heating by any pos- sibility. Each tray is pro- vided with a protector, which keeps the eggs in the pocket even though the car- rier be overturned. As each tray contains a certain number, no errors in count can ever occur, and the pur- chaser can determine at a glance both the number and quality of the eggs. By FIG. 8.—SUSPENSION EGG CARRIER. using this carrier a child can pack as well as a man. One of these carriers, the size shown, will hold sixty dozen of eggs. Milk for Hen;.—Fanny Field thus expresses herself as to the food value of milk for hens: ‘‘I quite agree with the correspondent of the American Poultry Yard, who declares there is no feed on earth so good for fowls and chicks as milk in some form. For very young chicks we make the clabbered milk into Dutch cheese, and use the whey to mix feed for other fowls and chickens. From the time they are a week old till sent to market for broilers, our early chicks have all the milk, sweet or sour, or buttermilk, that they can drink. If the home supply of milk falls short of the demand, we buy skim milk at two cents a quart, and consider it cheap at that. For laying hens in winter there is nothing better than a liberal supply of milk. A pan of warm milk, with a dash of pepper in it, every morning, will do more toward inducing hens to lay in cold weather than all the egg-food in crea- tion. For fattening fowls, we find that boiled vegetables mixed with milk and barley or cornmeal will put on flesh at an astonishing rate. Don’t be afraid to give milk to fowls or chicks; from the tme when the chicks are given the first feed up to within the last day of the old fowl’s life, milk may be safely and profitably given.” THE POOLTRY YARD. 203 Poultry Keeping for Profit.—During the year 1884, Mr. Henry Stewart contributed to the New York Times a series of articles containing many yaluable suggestions for those who wish to make poultry-keeping a busi- ness. His plan is briefly as follows: Each yard is to consist of a plot of ground about 100x400 feet, containing nearly one acre, with a suitable fence. The house is placed in the center of the yard and a cross-fence on a line with the house divides it into two parts. These two parts are alter- nately sown thickly with some crop that will afford forage for the fowls. In September they are placed on one side sown thickly with turnips. The other is immediately plowed up and sown with rye. The fowls will do very well for the winter in one side, with an occasional day in the green rye. In November wheat is sown, after the turnips are eaten off. In April we may sow oats, in May corn, in June rape or mustard seed and in July begin the rotation again with rutabagas. As a rule a house twenty-five feet lon, ten feet wide, eight feet high in the front and five feet in the rear, will be quite large enough for the one hundred fowls to be kept in each yard. This should be cleaned at least once a week, the oftener the better. The inside walls are quite smooth, hav- ing no fixtures except the roosting poles, which are on a level one foot from the ground. This leaves no harbor for vermin. The nests are loose boxes. Mr. Stewart also suggests that where a series of yards are kept, the inside fences may be movable, so that while the fowls are all confined to one side, the fences may be removed from the other, thus facilitating the plowing and planting. “Tt is evident,” he adds, ‘‘ that this system will greatly enrich the soil, and this may be turned to good account by raising fruit trees in the poultry yards. No other fruit crop pays so well as plums, but none is so hard to grow on account of the pestiferous curculio. But when plums are grown in a poultry yard this insect has no chance. The sharp eyes of the fowls let no rogue escape, and one can raise plums with success and profit. As 200 of these trees can be planted on one acre, there is a possibility of $400 per acre from the fruit as well as $200 from the fowls; for every hen well cared for should make a clear profit of two dollars in the year. The yards may be planted with dwarf pear trees, with equal profit or more, because 300 of them may be placed on one acre. The shade of these trees is invaluable.” It is also recommended that a row or small grove of Norway Spruce, Arbor-vitze or Austrian pine be planted each side of the house to serve as a wind break for the fowls in winter. Raising Chickens by Artificial Mothers.—Mr, E. 8. Renwick writes from a large experience upon the above subject, in the American Agricul- twrist. He says: When a fancier raises forty or fifty chickens a year, as amusement, the amount of care which he gives them is never taken into account; but if the number of chickens be increased to several hundreds, some means must be provided by which so large a number can be taken care of without too much labor. For supplying warmth and protection to young chickens, various ‘* artificial mothers,” or “‘ brooders,” have been devised. Those in the mar- ket are well enough adapted to the raising of a small number of chickens of nearly the same age, but it becomes a difficult matter when from two hun- dred and fifty to five hundred are to be raised, and of all ages, from those just hatched to those large enough for broilers. Young chickens must have plenty of air, exercise and wholesome green food; and means of protection 204 THE FARM. against injury must be provided. Where young chickens of different ages are together, the elder tyranmze over the younger, the newly-hatched chickens being frequently trampled to death, or are driven away from their food by the stronger. Young chickens are very often lost in the grass when at liberty, and are frequently wet and chilled. Hence, to successfully raise a large number of chickens by hand, various means must be provided by which those of different ages can be separated, and by which the chickens can be protected and at the same time have sufficient liberty for exercise and development in the open air. A Rustic Poultry House.—The rustic poultry house here illustrated is not only convenient, but designed to beautify the poultry yard of any ama- teur or breeder. For the rustic work, join four pieces of sapling in an ob- long shape for sills; contine them to the ground; erect at the middle of each of the two ends a forked post, of suitable height, in order to make the sides quite steep; join these with a ridge pole; put on any rough or old boards from the apex down to the ground; then cover it with bark, cut in rough pieces, from half to a foot square, laid on and confined in the same manner as ordinary shingles; fix the back end in the same way; and the front can be latticed with little poles, with the bark on, arranged diamond fash- ion, aS shown in the en- graving. The door can be made in any style of rustic form. ‘The roosts, laying and setting boxes can be placed inside of the house, A RUSTIC POULTRY HOUSE. in almost any position, either lengthwise or in the rear. From the directions here given one can easily build a house of any desired size, and in any location in the poultry yard he wishes; but to make the rusticity of the house show off to the best advantage it should be placed amid shrubbery. The Hatching Period.—Setting hens should have a daily run. Do not remove them forcibly from their nests, but let the door be open every day at a given hour for a certain time while the attendant is about. Perhaps for the first day or two you may have to take them gently off their nests, and deposit them on the ground outside the door. They will soon, however, learn the habit and come out when the door is open, eat, drink, have a dust- bath and return to their nests. While hens are off their nests some people dampen the eggs with luke- warm water. Itis claimed that moisture is necessary, and that the chicks gain strength by the process. This may be correct, and in very dry weather, perhaps, necessary. It is generally, however, a mistake to meddle too much with nest or eggs; the hen is only made restless and dissatisfied by so doing. While the eggs are hatching out it is best not to touch the nests. It is very THE POULTRY YARD. 205 foolish to fuss the old bird and make her angry, as she may tread on the eggs in her fury, and crush the chicks when they are in the most delicate stage of hatching. Picking off the shell to help the imprisoned chick is always a more or less hazardous proceeding, and should never be had recourse to unless the egg has been what is termed ‘‘ billed” for a long time, in which case the chick is probably a weakly one and may need a little help, which must be given with the greatest caution, in order that the tender membranes of the skin shall not be lacerated. A little help should be given at a time, every two or three hours; butif any blood is perceived stop at once, as it is a proof that the chick is not quite ready to be liberated. If, on the contrary, the minute blood vessels which are spread all over the interior of the shell are blood- less, then you may be sure the chick is in some way stuck to the shell by its feathers, or is too weakly to get out of its prison-house. The old egg shells should be removed from under the hen, but do not take away her chicks from her one by one as they hatch out, as is very often advised, for it only makes her very uneasy, and the natural warmth of her body is far better for them at that early stage than artiticial heat. Should only a few chicks haye been hatched out of the sitting, and the other re- maining eggs show no signs of life when examined, no sounds of the little birds inside, then the water test should be tried. Get a basin of warm water, not really hot, and put those eggs about which you do not feel certain into it. If they contain chicks they will float on the top, if they move or dance the chicks are alive, but if they float without movement the inmates will most likely be dead. If they (the eggs) are rotten they will sink to the bot- tom. Put the floating ones back under the hen, and if, on carefully break- ing the others, you find the test is correct (one puncture will be sufficient to tell you this), bury them at once. Chickens should never be set free from their shells in a hurry, because it is necessary for their well-being that they should have taken in all the yelk, for that serves them as food for twenty-four hours after they see the light, 80 no apprehension need be felt if they do not eat during that period, if they seem quite strong, gain their fect, and their little downy plumage spreads out and dries properly. Their best place is under the hen for the time named. When all are hatched, cleanse the nest completely, and well dredgo the hen’s body with sulphur powder; give her the chicks, and place chopped egg and bread-crumbs within reach. The less they are disturbed during the first two or three days the better. Warmth is essential, and a constantly brooding hen is a better mother than one which fusses the infant chicks about and keeps calling them to feed. Pen the hen in a coop and let the chicks have free egress. The best place to stand the coops is under shel- tered runs, guarded from cold winds, the ground dry, and deep in sand and mortar siftings. Further warmth is unnecessary if the mothers are good; and if the roof is of glass, so as to secure every ray of sun, so much the better. Cleanliness of coops, beds, flooring, water vessels and flood tins must be absolute. The oftener the chicks are fed the better, but food must never be left; water must be made safe, or death from drowning and chills may be expected. The moment weather permits, free range on grass for several hours daily is desirable, but shelter should always be at hand. Packing Poultry for Market.—All poultry should be thoroughly cooled and dried before packing, preparatory for shipment to market. For 206 THE FARM. packing the fowl provide boxes, as they are greatly preferable to barrels. Commence your packing by placing a layer of rye straw, that has been thoroughly cleaned from dust, on the bottom of the box. Bend the head of the first fowl under it, as shown in our illustration (Fig. 1), and then lay it in the left hand corner, with the head against the end of the box, with the back up. Continue to fill this row in the same manner until completed; then begin the second row the same way, letting the head of the bird pass up between the rump of the two adjoining ones, which will make it complete and solid (see illustration, Vig. 2). In packing the last row, reverse the order, placing the head against the end of the box, letting the feet pass under each other. ; Lastly, fill tight with straw, PACKING POULTRY.—FIG@. 1. so that the poultry cannot move. This gives a firmness in packing that will prevent moving during transportation. Care should be taken to have the box filled full. Poultry Raising as a Business-—Mr. P. H. Jacobs, a practical poul- try man, writes as follows in the American Agriculturist: A flock of ten hens can be comfortably kept in a yard twenty feet wide by fifty deep. An acre of ground will contain forty such yards, or four hundred hens. No cocks are necessary unless the eggs are desired for incubition. To estimate $1.50 as a clear profit for each hen, is not the maximum limit, but the profit accrues according to the management given. Poultry thrives best when running at large, but this applies only to small flocks. Hens kept by the hundred become too crowded while at large, no matter how wide the range, and sickness and loss occur. Large flocks must be divided, and the size of the yard required for a flock is of but little importance compared with that of the management. There is much profit to be de- rived from the sale of young chicks--and, where one pays attention to the business—they receive the greatest care. Each brood, like the adult, is kept PACKING POULTRY.—TIIG. 2. separate from the others in a little coop, which prevents quarreling among the hens, and enables the manager to count and know all about the chicks. This is very important, as there are many farmers who hatch scores of broods and yet cannot tell what became of two-thirds of them. Hawks, crows, cats, rats, and other depreda- tors take their choice, and the owners are no wiser. Each setting hen should be in a coop by herself, and each coop should have a lath run. The critical period is the forming of the feathers, which calls for frequent feeding, and when they have passed that stage, the chicks become hardy. The houses need not be more than eight feet square for each family, and can be doubled. If possible, it is best to have changeable yards, but, if used, a less number PES POULT RY ¥ AR D:. 207 can be kept to an acre. If the yards are kept clean by an occasional spading, however, green stuff may be grown elsewhere and thrown over to them. This may consist of cabbage, grass, turnip tops, kale, mustard, lettuce, ete. Watering must not be neglected, or the meals given irregularly. Care must be observed not to feed too much, as over-fat fowls will lay few eggs, and such eggs will not hatch. A good poultry manager is always among his fowls, and observes everything. The breeds have special characteristics also. The large fowls must be hatched in March, if early pullets are desired for winter laying. This applies to Brahmas, Cochins and Plymouth Rocks. If the manager finds this impossible, he should at once substitute cocks of the Leghorn breed, which crossed with large hens, make good marketable chicks, and produce pullets that mature early. A knowledge of the charac- teristics of the several breeds is indispensable to success. Crossing pure- bred cocks with common hens is excellent, but “fancy poultry” is not profitable to any but those who understand thoroughly the mating and selection of the several breeds. Poultry on a Large Scale.—People thinking of raising chickens on a large scale will do well to note the following sound advice by the Poultry Monthly: ‘‘ There are many persons of moderate means who have had perhaps some little experience with breeding poultry, and who get to wondering if it will pay to breed poultry on a large scale; whether it will pay to embark in the breeding of poultry for market purposes as a business, and if it is good policy to give up a fair paying clerkship or small business to engage in it. Such questions are very difficult to determine to the satisfaction of all persons concerned, for much more really depends on the person than on the business in nearly every department of human industry, and where one person may make a success of any undertaking another one may fail, though having started with equally as good chances of success. Poultry, to be successful on a large scale, must be kept in small colonies of about fifty birds each, for many more than that number in a single house is apt to cause sickness or disease, ere long, among them. Small flocks like that can be given better attention than larger ones, and the first approach of disorder can be seen readily and promptly checked, while there is less danger of great loss when thus kept in small flocks, as the trouble can usually be confined to the flock in which it started by proper and prompt sanitary measures. When the breeder is not too far away from large retail markets, and especially where the breeder can market them himself, thus saving commission, freight, and loss, it pays best to breed and keep poultry for the eggs they produce, aa eggs known to be strictly fresh are always in good demand at quite an in- crease in price over that received for the ordinary ‘‘ store” eggs. Such breeds as the white and the brown Leghorns, and birds bred from them, either pure breed or cross breed or grade, as a basis, are first-class egg pro- ducers, while a game cock is also valuable to breed to good common hens, producing, as a rule, vigorous, active pullets, which are invariably good layers. Those who wish to raise poultry principally for the flesh should raise the light Brahmas, Plymouth Rocks, dark Brahmas, or some of the Cochin breeds, the first two named, however, being general favorites in this respect, and also combining with it good laying qualities under favorable circumstances. Those who cannot or will not give the poultry regular or constant attention, shelter them properly, supply proper food in liberal quantities and at frequent and regular intervals, and pay a strict attention 208 THE FARM. to cleanliness and thoroughness in all the details of the management, need not expect even to succeed, not to even consider the question of loss or profits, for success and profit here means work, work, work.” Feeding Hoppers for Fowls.—VWe give herewith designs for two styles of feeding hoppers for fowls, deeming anything that has a tendency toward economy will be beneficial to the farmer as well as to the amateur breeder of fowls. The illustration, Fig. 1, represents a yery good and easily constructed hopper, that can be made to contain any quantity of corn re- quired, and none wasted. When once filled it requires no more trouble, as the grain falls into the receiver below as the fowls pick it FIG. 1.—FEEDING HOPPER. away, and the covers on that which are opened by the perches, and the cover on the top, protect the grain from rain, so that the fowls always get it quite dry; and as nothing less than the weight of a fowl on the perch can lift the cover on the lower receiver, rats and mice are excluded. Our illustration, Fig. 2, represents “a perfect feeding hopper,” which, from the description here given, can be easily con- structed by any person. A is an end view, eight inches wide, two feet six inches high, and three feet long; B, the roof pro- jecting over the perch on which the fowls stand while feeding; C, the lid of the receiving manger raised, exhibiting the grain; EK, E, cords attached to the perch and lid of the manger or feeding trough; I, end bar of the perch, with a weight attached to the end to balance the lid, otherwise it would not close when the fowls leave the perch; H, pully; G, fulcrum. S The hinges on the top show = prq. 2.—A PERFECT FEEDING HOPPER. that it is to be raised when the hopper is to be replenished. Whena fowl dcsires food it hops upon the bars of the perch, the weight of which raises the lid of the feed box, exposing the grain to view, and after satisfying its hunger jumps off, and the lid closes. Of course the dimensions of either of these feeding hoppers may be increased to any size desired, SS THE POULIRY YARD. 209 Winter Egg-Production.—The following is from the Country Genile- man: To obtain a breed of fowls that are perpetual layers is the object that many aim at. This is an impossibility, for nature will exhaust itself and must haye a period of rest, In order that we have a perpetual produc- tion of fresh eggs, the business must be arranged beforehand. There is a difference in breeds, some laying better than others at any time of the year, and others, again, giving their eggs in winter. There is little difficulty in obtaining eggs in summer, but the winter eggs must be worked for, and the fowls managed beforehand. Hens that have laid well during the summer cannot be depended on for late fall or early winter, even if well fed, but will generally commence in January, and keep it up throughout February and March, giving a good supply of eggs if not tooold. But it is better not to allow such birds to go into the winter. They are generally fat, after having finished the annual moult, and should be killed for the table. After the second annual moult hens are apt to become egg-bound, especially if well fed and fat. The excess of fat that accumulates about the lower intestines and ovaries weakens these organs and renders them incapable of performing their offices. Hence the fowl suffers and becomes profitless. When left too long the bird becomes feverish and the flesh is unfit for food. The better way is to avoid this trouble, since there is no cure, by not allowing the birds to go into the second winter. Trouble of this kind seldom occurs with pullets or young hens. To obtain a supply of winter eggs, we must have the chicks out if March or April. Leghorns and some of the smaller breeds will doin May or the first of June, but the Brahmas and Cochins must come off early, that they may have the full season for growth. The Asiastics are generally good layers in winter, and need less artificial heat, as nature has not furnished them with any ornamental appendages which suffer by exposure to frost. For them it is not necessary to spend large sums in warm buildings. What they can dispense with in this respect they demand in feed, which must be given regularly. The feed must be kept up and varied with animal and vegetable diet. The supply of water must never fail. We must feed and feed a long time before the eggs will come. Any breed of hens will con- sume an enormous quantity of feed before commencing to lay, but after having once begun they will not require, or even take so much grain. When laying, their great craving is for vegetable and animal substances, and crushed clam or oyster shells. Fowls that are regularly trained have certain portions of the day for their different feeds. My birds require their shells at night, as well as their greens, and their grain in the morning, and always fresh water. When one has the time and convenience, and enjoys the petting of fowls, making warm stews on very cold days is an admirable plan, and the birds relish them marvelously. Take beef or pork scraps, and put into an old kettle, having them previously chopped fine, and fill it half full of water. While stewing, throw in a dozen chopped onions, two dozen cayenne peppers, and the day’s coffee and tea-grounds. Thicken the mixture with cornmeal, and serve it around among the hens hot. They relish it amazingly when once taught to eat it, and will look for the ration daily at the certain time. On cold winter days give this feed between two and three o’clock in the afternoon, and the chicks get their crops warmed up for the coming coldat night. IPfscraps are riot handy, boil unpeeled potatoes, and serve in the same manner, adding a little grease or cold gravies left over from yesterday’s dinner. The combed varieties require warmer quarters and sunnier exposure 210 THE FARM. than the Asiatics, and are good winter layers after December and early January. ‘They will lay in the fall if early hatched, but the change of fall to winter, and the getting into winter quarters affects them, and they seldom commence again before the days begin to lengthen, at which time Brahmas will cease egg-production and become broody. Where one has the con- venience it is well to keep both kinds, in order to insure a supply of eggs. It is useless to expect many eggs from old fowls of any variety. Have the buildings ready early, and the fowls of the right age and in condition to insure success. The business of our domestic hen is to produce eggs, and we must feed her for it. A Chicken Coop.— Nail short pieces of matched boards together as indicated in the cut; then board up the rear end tightly, and nail nar- row strips of boards or lath CHICKEN coop.—rFia. 1. in front; put a floor of boards in the back part of the coop, large enough for the hen to brood her young upon, and lay a wide board in front to feed upon, as long as the width of the coop. The coop should be at least two feet high, and from two to three feet deep. The board in front may be turned up at night to prevent the young against rats, cats, etc., and should remain in the morning until the dew is off from the grass. The coop should be moved every two or three days toa clean place. The second engraving shows a coop of another construction, the tight apartment at the end with a slide door to let down every evening, keeps the little inmates secure from all enemies, A few auger holes must be made for yen- tilation. The front is a simple frame, with lath hi attached at sufficient dis- il tances to allow the chickens to pass through. The top should be made separate, and attached to the side by leather hinges. H \ ! I Feeding and Laying. —The best of feed some- times failsto induce the hens to lay. This is not because CHICKEN COOP.—FIG. 2. the fowls do not get enough, but because it is not the kind they desire. It may be feed consisting of everything that serves to satisfy the demand for egg material, and yet no eggs will be the result. There are several causes for these complaints, one of the principal being the fact that a plentiful supply of pure fresh water is not always within reach, and unless water is plentiful the fowls will not lay. Water being the principal substance in an egg, it cannot be limited. Unless the water can be procured for the egg the fowl cannot lay. And in cold weather it must be so situated as to be either protected from freezing or else have a little warm water added to it occasionally. Now this is a trouble- gome job in winter, but water will freeze on cold days, and consequently is PHE POULT hey Y AT D. 211 useless to the fowls when ina frozen condition. The feed, however, even when of the best quality, may not give satisfaction. In that case, when no eggs are being derived, change it entirely for three or four days. Give something entirely different in the morning from that previously given, even if inferior, but still give whole grains at night in cold weather, for then the fowls go on the roost early in the evening, and have to remain in the coops until daylight, which is nearly thirteen hours, and so long a period demands the solid food in order to keep them warm during the long cold nights. Whole corn and wheat is best for them then, but in the morning any kind of mixed soft food makes a good meal for a change. The changes can be made by using good clover hay, steeped in warm water, after being chopped fine, slightly sprinkled with meal, and fed warm, which will be very acceptable. A few onions chopped fine will also be highly relished. Parched ground oats or parched cracked corn is a splendid change of food for a few days from the ordinary routine of every day. It stimulates them if fed warm, and is a good corrective of bowel complaints, especially if some of the grains are parched till burned. The matter of feeding is to give variety, and if the food is of good quality also, a good supply of eggs may be expected at all times, but with good quarters and plenty of water the prospects will be better. Successful Poultry Raising.—Mr. Charles Lyman, a successful raiser of poultry, writes as follows: In raising poultry or stock of any kind, it should be the aim of every one to keep it healthy and improve it. You can do it very easily by adopting some systematic rules. These may be summed up in brief, as follows: 1. Construct your house good and warm, so as to avoid damp floors, and afford a flood of sunlight. Sunshine is better than medicine. 2. Provide a dusting and scratching place where you can bury wheat and corn and thus induce the fowls to take the needful exercise. 3. Provide yourself with some good, healthy chickens, none to be over three or four years old, giving one cock to every twelve hens. 4, Give plenty of fresh air at all times, especially in summer. 5. Give plenty of fresh water daily, and never allow the fowls to go thirsty. 6. Feed them systematically two or three times a day; scatter the food so they can’t eat too fast, or without proper exercise. Do not feed more than they will eat up clean, or they will get tired of that kind of feed. 7. Give them a variety of both dry and cooked feed; a mixture of cooked meat and vegetables is an excellent thing for their morning meal. 8. Give soft feed in the morning, and the whole grain at night, except a little wheat or cracked corn placed in the scratching places to give them exercise during the day. 9. Above all things keep the hen house clean and well ventilated. 10. Do not crowd too many in one house. If you do, look out for disease. 11. Use carbolic powder occasionally in the dusting bins to destroy lice. 12. Wash your roosts and bottom of laying nests, and whitewash once a week in summer, and once a month in winter. 13. Let the old and young have as large a range as possible—the larger the better. 14. Don’t breed too many kinds of fowls at the same time, unless you on going into the business, Three or four will give you your hands ull, 212 THE FARM. 15. Introduce new blood into your stock eyery year or so, by either buy- ing a cockerel or settings of eggs from some reliable breeder. 16. In buying birds or eggs, go to some reliable breeder who has his reputation at stake. You may have to pay a little more for birds, but you can depend on what you get. Culls are not cheap at any price. 17. Save the best birds for next year’s breeding, and seud the others to market. In shipping fancy poultry to market send it dressed. Fish for Poultiry.—In preparing fish for fowls, we prefer to chop them up raw, add a very little salt and pepper, and feed in small quantities in conjunction with grain and vegetables; but for young chicks it is advisable to boil before feeding, afd simply open the fish down the line of the back bone, leaving to the chicks the rest of the task. This food shall be given to layers sparingly, or we may perceive a fishy smell about the eggs, especially if the fish is fed raw. All who can will do well to try this diet for their flocks, and note its effect on egg production. We have always marked a decided increase in the rate of laying following an allowance of fish fed in mcderate quantities. There are hundreds of our readers who live near or on rivers or lakes, or the sea shore, where they can get considerable offal fish, such as are either too small to market, or are cast out as unfit to be sold. Hundreds of bushels ot these fish are annually used for manure, either composted or plowed in direct. In this connection they are very good, though many a basketful could be put to better account by feeding them to your fowls; and they are very fond of this diet, though care must be taken not to feed it exclusively, for it may cause extreme laxity. To Cure Pip.—This is a troublesome and somewhat fatal complaint to which all domestic poultry are liable; it is also a very common one. Some writers say it is the result of cold; others, that is promoted by the use of bad water. But, whatever the cause, the disease is easily detected. There is a thickening of the membrane of the tongue, particularly at the tip; also a difficulty in breathing; the beak is frequently held open, the tongue dry, the feathers of the head ruffled and the bird falls off in food; and if neglected, dies. ‘The mode of cure which, if put in practice in time, is generally suc- cessful, is to remove the thickened membrane from the tongue with the nails of the forefinger and thumb. The process is not difficult, for the mem- brane is not adhesive. Then take a lump of butter, mix into it some strong Scotch snuff, and put two or three large pills of this down the fowl’s throat. Keep it from cold and damp, and it will soon recover. It may, perhaps, be necessary to repeat the snuff balls. Some writers recommend a mixture of butter, pepper, garlic, and scraped horseradish; but we believe the Scotch snuff to be the safest, as it is the most simple. Eggs and Puliets.—Unless you want a large proportion of cockerels do not sell all the largest eggs you can pick out. There are no means known by which the sex of eggs can with certainty be determined. Although many thought some sign indicated the sex, yet after repeated fair trials, all these indications have entirely failed with me, except the one which follows: With regard to the eggs of most of the feathered kingdom, if you pick the largest out of the nest, they are the ones that generally produce males, especially if they happen to be the first laid. Even in a canary’s nest it is noticeable that the first egg laid is very often the largest, the young from it is the first out, keeps ahead of its comrades, is the first to quit the nest, and the first to sing. THE PROUD RY. YARD. 213 How to Produce Layers.—Mr. L. Wright says: In every lot of hens some will be better layers than others. Let us suppose we start with six Houdans—a cock and five hens. Probably out of this five two may lay thirty eggs per annum more than either of the others; their eggs should be noficed and only these set. By following this for a few years a very great increase in egg production may be attained. My attention was drawn to this subject by a friend haying a Brahma pullet which laid nearly three hundred eggs in one twelve-month, though valueless as a fancy bird, and the quality de- scended to several of her progeny; and I have since found other instances which prove conclusively that a yast improvement might easily be effected in nearly all our breeds were that careful selection of brood stocks made for this purpose which the fancier bestows on other objects. Itis to be regretted more is not done in this way, and having more room than I had, I hope my- self to make some experiments in this direction shortly. I will say now that Iam perfectly certain the number of two hundred eggs per annum might be attained in a few years with perfect ease were the object systematically sought; and I trust these few remarks may arouse a general attention to it among those who keep poultry for eggs only, and who can easily do all that is necessary without any knowledge whatever of fancy points, or any attempt to breed exhibition birds. A Grain Chest for yy Ay 4, Fowls.—We illustrate an WHHL: as cag ae a iii i owls. e troug ), two 7 vali GEES, “The front of “a / | the chest extends down- eR A ward no further than the eee - top of the trough, thus SSS =—4 leaving a free passage for ——S grain from the chest into GRAIN CHEST FOR FOWLS. the trough. The dotted line (2) shows the position of a board in the chest, placed there to conduct the grain into the trough as fast as it is eaten out by the fowls. The platform (3) is for the fowls to stand upon while eating. It should not be wide enough to induce them to form a habit of sitting upon it. A board (4) is fastened to the front of the chest and extends over the trough to prevent filth from falling into it. The cover of the chest (5) should ex- tend a little over the front, that it may be handily raised, and should rest inclined to prevent fowls from roosting on it. An extension of the back of the chest (6), with two holes in it, is provided so that it may be hung on cor- responding wooden pins. If itis hung up in that way it will be necessary to put some kind of a key through each of the pins, to prevent its being jarred off from them. It should be hung so that the platform will be at least two feet from the fioor. It may be made any length. A square chest, for a post in the yard, can be made on the same principle. How to Fatten Turkeys.—Nothing pays better to be sent to market in prime condition than the turkey crop. Many farmers do not understand this. Their turkeys grow on a limited range, getting little or no food at home through the summer, and if fed at all with regularity it is only for two or three weeks before killing. I%see these lean, bony carcasses in the local 214 THE FARM. markets every winter, and feel sorry for the owner’s loss. They have re- ceived a small price for their birds and a still poorer price for the food fed out. The average life of a turkey is only seven months, and the true econ- omy of feeding is to give the chicks all they can digest from the shell to the slaughter. If they get all they can eat on the range, that is well. Usually this should be supplemented by regular rations when they come from the roost in the morning and two or three hours before they go to roost at night. The food may be slack in the morning, so that they will go to the range with good appetites, and fuller at night. They should be put upon a regular course of fattening food as early as the middle of October, when you propose to kill the best birds at Thanksgiving. The younger and lighter birds should be reserved for the Christmas and New Year’s markets. They continue growing quite rapidly until midwinter, and you will be paid for the longer feeding. There is nothing better for fattening than old corn, fed partly in the kernel and partly in cooked meal mashed up with boiled potatoes. Feed three times a day, giving the warm meal in the morning, and feeding in troughs with plenty of room, so that all the flock may have a chance. North- ern corn has more oilin it than Southern, and is worth more for turkey food. Use milk in fattening if you keep a dairy farm. Feed only so much as they will eat up clean. Cultivate the acquaintance of your turkeys as you feed them. No more charming sight greets your vision in the whole circle of a year than a large flock of bronze turkeys coming at call from their roosts on a frosty November morning. New corn is apt to make the bowels loose, and this should be guarded against. There is usually green food enough in the fields to meet their wants in the fall, and cabbage and turnips need not be added until winter sets in. Ifthe bowels get loose give them scalded milk, which will generally correct the evil. Well-fattened and well-dressed tur- keys will bring two or three cents a pound more than smaller birds. It will not only be better for the purse, but for your manhood, to send nothing but finished products to the market. Preserving Eggs.—Several Practiced Methods.—Seyeral ways of preserving eggs are practiced. The object is to prevent evaporation from the egg. Cutting off the air from the contents of the egg preserves them longer than with any other treatment. An egg which has lain in bran even fora few days will smell and taste musty. Packed in lime eggs will be stained. Covered with a coat of spirit varnish eggs have kept so perfectly that after the lapse of two years chickens were hatched from them. A good egg will sink in a body cf water; if stale, a body of air inside the shell will frequeutly cause it to float. When boiled, a fresh egg will adhere to the shell, which will have a rough exterior; ir stale, the outside will be smooth and glassy. Looking through a paper tube directed toward the light, an egg held to the end of the tube will appear translucent if fresh; but if stale it will be dark—almost opaque. Spirit varnish for preserving eggs is made by dissolving gum shellac in enough alcohol to make a thin varnish. Coat each egg with this and pack, little end down, so that they cannot move, in bran, sawdust, or sand; the sand is best. Whatever is used for packing should be clean and dry. For preserving in lime, a pickle is made of the best stone linte, fine, clean salt and water enough to make a strong brine, usually sixty or sixty-five gallons of water, six or eight quarts of salt, and a bushel of lime are used, The lime should be slacked with a portion of the water, the salt and the re- TEE PO URNE RY: SY ACR :D 215 mainder of the water is added. Stir at intervals, and when the pickle is cold and the sediment has settled, dip or draw the liquid off into the cask in which the eggs are tobe preserved. When only a few eggs are to be pickled a stone jar will answer. At the Birmingham Poultry Show, England, prizes were offered for the best dozen preserved eggs that had been kept two months. The eggs were tested by breaking one of each set competing for the prize into a clean saucer, also by boiling one of each lot. The eggs that had been preserved in lime-water, it was found on breaking them, presented cloudy whites. Eggs preserved by rubbing over with bees- wax and oil showed thin, watery whites. Eggs that stood best the test of boiling and which gained the first prize had been simply packed in common salt. These had lost little, if any, by evaporation, had good, consistent albumen, and were pleasant to the taste. The exhibit which took the second prize was served as follows: Melt one part of white wax to two parts of spermaceti, boil and mix thoroughly; or two parts clarified suet to one of wax and two of spermaceti. Take new-laid eggs, rub with antiseptic salt and fine rice starch. Wrap each egg in fine tissue paper, putting the broad end downward; screw the paper tightly at the top, leaving an inch to hold it by. Dip each egg rapidly into the fat heated to 100 degrees. Withdraw and leave to cool. Pack broad end down- ward in dry, white sand or sawdust. The judges were inclined to believe that had the trial been for a longer period than two months, this latter method would perhaps have proven the better of the two. The eggs were excellent, and on stripping off the waxed paper the shells presented the clean, fresh appearance of newly laid eggs. The following is a recipe for packing in salt: Cover the bottom of a keg, cask, jar, hogshead, or whatever you choose to pack in, with a layer of fine salt two inches deep; upon this place the eggs, small end down, and far enough apart so that they will not touch each other or the sides of the re- ceptacle; then put on another two inch layer of salt, then another layer of eggs, and so on until the package is full. This is the method that we used, and is on the whole the best method for housekeepers and for those who have only a small number to pack for market. The salt can be used over and over again. The following recipe is also given for keeping eggs: Put them in an open- work basket or colander and immerse them for a moment in boiling water; let them stay just long enough to form a film on the inside of the shell; this excludes the air. Then place them in some convenient vessel, small end down, and set them in the coolest part of the cellar, where they will keep till wanted for use. Cheap Poultry Houses.—The following directions for building cheap poultry houses are clipped from W. H. Todd’s descriptive catalogue: We find the best and most successful plan to manage and make fowls pay is to scatter them over a large range in fields and orchards. For this pur- pose cheap, convenient, and comfortable houses are best. My plan is to build 16 feet long and 8 feet wide, 7 1-2 front (facing south), and 4 1-2 back, boarded upright and battened, with a shed roof, shingled. Sills are 2x4 inch-plank halved together. Plates, same size. Rafters,2x2. Lay the sills on sleepers, and on these lay a tight floor, which cover with dry earth 4 to 6 inches deep, removing and renewing twice a year. This keeps fowls dry, warm and healthy. Place an entrance door near one end, on the front, and 216 THE FARM. at least two windows of six 8x10 lights. Partition across the middle, with a door. Fix ventilators at the highest point in each end, sheathed to exclude storm and wind. Erect roosts 20 inches high, for twenty fowls, with a mova- ble nest or two, and a box, partly filled with dust and ashes, and you are ready for “‘ business.” Forty large fowls can be accommodated and thrive well. Since the house is double we are in shape for running two breeding yards. Fence can be built cheaply with lath nailed upright to two 1-inch-thick pieces, the lower one 8 vr 10 inches wide, and the upper about 2, 30 inches apart; the lath may be 3 inches apart, and a short piece 16 inches long, tacked to the bottom board, and to a light strip running lengthwise the panel. It is best to make this fence in panels about 12 feet long. Set a post where they come together, and pass a wire around panels and post, fasten, and you have light, cheap, strong fences. The house can be made warmer if necessary by lining with tar-board sheathing. An Inexpensive Chicken Cocop.—aA correspondent writes as follows: ‘“‘ Having made a good discovery, I am desirous of giving it to the people. Being engaged in raising chickens for profit, it was necessary to make cheap coops to keep them in for a few weeks. I take an old barreland tack every hoop on each side of a seam between the staves with an inch wrought nail; after clinching the nail, I saw the hoops off on the seam. Then Ispread the barrel open, as shown in the illustration, by cutting a board about twenty inches long for the back of the coop, and two small pieces to tack laths on for the front part. I have the upper section of the back fastened with leather hinges, so that I can open it at pleasure. Every- body has old barrels which are almost valueless, and the trouble and ex- pense of making a coop of this description is so small that it is not worth mentioning, while to buy the material and make a coop of the same size, it would cost about one dollar.” AN INEXPENSIVE CHICKEN COOP. Chicken Cholera.—A New Jersey correspondent gives this remedy: Take of pulverized copperas, sulphur, alum, cayenne pepper and rosin, of each equal parts, and mix one teaspoonful in four quarts of meal. Give three days in succession, then once a week as a preventive. I have seen it used successfully. It will not cure those which have it, but will prevent spreading of the disease. For a disinfectant, use crude carbolic acid—one tablespoonful in one gallon of water. Sprinkle the hen house often, say about twice a week. Another correspondent says: I used a strong tea made of white oak bark, which I used in the drinking water as a preventive. When a fowl was taken sick I used it pure, giving several teaspoonfuls at a time, four or five times aday. Ihave taken fowls so far gone that they were past eating or drinking, and cured them in a few days with this simple remedy. As a disinfectant I use crude carbolic acid, pouring it on a board in the chicken house and on the perches, coops, etc., or anywhere that the fowls frequent. If you will try this plan for awhile, removing all infected fowls from the flock, and keep the surroundings clean, I think you will soon get rid of the disease, CAE POULT BY YARD. 217 The following prescription we find in the Southern Cullivator, and it is said to be very efficacious in chicken cholera: Glycerine and water, each a half ounce; carbolic acid, ten drops. When the first symptoms of the dis- ease are apparent, give five drops, and repeat at intervals of twelve hours. Usually the second dose effectsa cure. A neighbor informed me that cholera was very destructive among his poultry, and at my suggestion he tried the foregoing recipe. He reports that the progress of the disease was promptly arrested, and in almost every case a cure was accomplished. Infertile Eggs.—There are many reasons why eggs hatch so poorly, when from pure bred stock, one of the greatest being want of stamina in the flock from which the eggs came, caused by being kept too closely confined. As a rule it is best to procure eggs for hatching from fowls which have free range, which is a great promoter of healthfulness, though there is no reason why eggs should not hatch well when from fowls in confinement, if those fowls are given good care, plenty of food, and have good sized yards to run in. Want of fertility may be due to running too many hens to a cock; about ten hens of the Asia- tics (Brahmas and Cochins), and from ten to fifteen of the laying breeds (Leghorns, Hamburgs, ete.) to a cock being about the right number to secure good re- sults, other things being equal. A Cheap Chicken Foun- tain.—Take an emptied tomato can, bend in the ragged edges where it has been opened, make a hole in the side one quarter of an inch from the edge, fill it with water, put a saucer on it, A CHEAP CHICKEN FOUNTAIN. and quickly invert both. The water will then stand in the saucer constantly at the height of the hole. Chickens can drink, but cannot get in the water, which remains clean. Chicken Lice.—The first signs of lice are with the early setting hens. Frpm their nests soon a whole house will be overrun with the pest. Chicks show the presence of lice very quickly, and lice are certain death to them if they are not protected. Have all nests movable, and change the contents frequently. With sitting hen’s nests be sure to haye the nest clean and the box and surroundings whitewashed before she is placed. Whitewash and the dust box are the surest preventives oflice. Put two or three coats of white- wash on every interior spot in the building; the lice harbor in the crevices of the rough sidings, and on the under side of the perches. Let the fowl house have a dust box. Mix hot ashes with the dust occasionally to dry it. Do all this early in the year, before spring laying and sitting. Kerosene and lard when applied is a sure cure, but they are too often dangerous in their effects. A little castor oil on the head and under the wings of sitting hens is very effective. Don’t keep a brood hen ina little coop without a dust wallow. If you want your fowls to be free from lice you must keep their habitation clean. The best way to do that is by occasional change of the nest contents and a thorough whitewashing of the apartment, 218 THE FARM, Raising Turkeys.—The difficulty of raising turkeys is a serious draw- back to the profits of the business, but the exercise of care will obviate the difficulty. At first, and for about six weeks, turkey chicks are very delicate, so much so that even a warm shower will finish them. If they can be kept alive for about two months they begin to assume a more robust character, and will soon become the very hardiest of poultry. The chicks, therefore, should be provided with shelter, and the shed which furnishes this would be all the better if it had a wooden floor. The best feed for the first week is hard boiled eggs, mixed with minced dandelion. It is thought the dande- lion serves to keep the bowels in order. At all events the young birds pre- fer dandelion to all other green food. At the end of the first week add gradu- ally to the boiled eggs bread crumbs and barley meal, constantly lessening the amount of egg until at the end of three weeks it may be entirely discon- tinued. Now give boiled potatoes as a part of the food, and a small portion of some small grain may be added, in fact making the food very much like that of other poultry. If fed in this way and kept dry, they will come along all right. How to Raise Ducks.—A writer who thinks unlimited water a bad thing for young ducks, recommends the following treatment for them: ‘‘ Ducks are easily hatched, and, if properly managed, they are easily raised—much more so than chickens or turkeys. Probably the worst thing for ducklings is the first thing they usually receive, and that is unlimited range and water toswimin. The little things arc, ina measure, nude, and should be kept in pens with dry soil floors or stone pavements that can be washed down daily. No kind ot poultry will succeed on bare boards. All the water they need is best furnished by burying an old potin the ground and laying a round piece of board on top cf the water with room for the ducks to stick their heads in and fish out the corn that is put in the water. This amuses them and does no harm, while, if allowed to go off to ponds or streams, they are very liable to fall a prey to vermin in some shape, or to get their bodies wet and chilled from remaining too long in the water. Their pens must be kept clean if they are expected to thrive. Gapes in Fowls.—The parasite that causes gapes in fowls is of a red color and about three-quarters of an inch long. The remedies are numer- ous, but chiefly consist in removing the worms. One way is to moisten a feather from which all but the tip of the web has been stripped, with oil, salt water, or a weak solution of carbolic acid, introduce it into the wind- pipe, twist it around once or twice, and then withdraw it. A teaspoonful of sulphur mixed with a quart of corn meal and water, and fed to the fowls morning and evening, is also a good remedy. The Poultry World says: As soon as we discover any symptoms of gapes among our chickens, we know that there are worms—very small red worms —in their windpipes, and we give them camphor in their drinking vessels strong enough to make quite a taste of the camphor. Then, if any get the disease quite badly before we discover it, we force a pill of gum camphor down the throat, about the size of a small pea, and the fumes of that dose will kill the worms. No kind of worms can live in camphor; hence, camphor must be a powerful vermifuge. A Connecticut poultry raiser writes: ‘‘ Perhaps some who raise fowls will be interested in my experiment tried last season on a chicken with the gapes. I gave it about a quarter of a teaspoonful of kerosene, and as it seemed bet- LEE NORE Te 1 YA TD. 219 ter for a day or two, I repeated the dose, giving nearly one half a teaspoon- ful for the second time. The chicken was about the size of a robin at the time, but is now full-grown, weighing several pounds. I cured chickens affected with a disease we thought cholera, by giving powdered alum dis- solved in water.” Eggs.—How Increased.—lIf an increase of eggs be desired in the poul- try yard, before large sums are expended in the purchase of everlasting lay- ers, we would recommend the system of keeping no hens after the first, or at most, after the second year. Tarly pullets give the increase, and the only wonder is that people persist, as they do, in keeping up a stock of old hens, which lay one day and stop the next. In some parts of Europe it is the in- variable rule to keep the pullets only one year. Feeding will do a great deal—a surprising work indeed—-in the production of eggs, but not when old hens are concerned; they may put on fat, but they cannot put down eggs. Their tale is told, their work is done; nothing remains to be done with them but to give them a smell of the kitchen fire, and the sooner they get that the better. Late Chickens.—Late chicks may be more profitable than early ones. Chickens from eggs set in August and September may be kept warm in a tight, glazed house, and fed so that they will grow continually through the winter, and if they come later all the better, if they are well kept and fed. The early broods will be salable at good prices, when the market is bare of chickens, and the later ones will furnish spring chickens long before the usual supply comes to hand. Spring chickens hatched in fall, or even in winter, are rare, but not entirely unknown to a few persons who made the discovery that with good feed, warm quarters, a warm mess at least once a day, warm drink and cleanliness, there is no difficulty at all about raising them, and at a good profit. Cure for Scaly Legs in Fow!.—A sure cure of scaly legs in fowl is effected thus: Insert a feather in the spout of a coal oil can so that too large a stream will not run out; get some one to hold the fowl by the wings; take hold of a toe of one foot at a time, and pour a fine stream from the hock joint to the end of each toe, taking care that all parts of the foot are wet with it. One application a year is enough, if done at all, and at the time when they need it, say during January or February. The scaly appearance is caused by an insect, which the oil most effectually kills, and leaves the legs clear and bright looking. This will answer even when the legs are twice their natural size, which is frequently the case when neglected. Roup.—Fowls exposed to dampness in severe weather are apt to take cold, which often culminates in roup. The writer has cured this disease by injecting kerosene into the nostrils by the means of a bulb syringe, and then using it to gargle the throat. The latter is effected by holding the throat close enough to prevent swallowing, and, after the gargling, pouring the liquid out on to the ground. Repeat this once the next day; then feed with boiled rice and scalded milk, keeping water away for a few days. To Get Rid of Skunks.—To rid your poultry yard of skunks, purchase afew grains of strychnine, roll it up ina ball of lard, and then throw it at night outside the yard, where the animals’ tracks are seen. As they are very fond of lard, they will swallow it quickly, and in the morning you will 220 THE FARM find your enemy dead. But you must be careful to shut up the dogs and cats, as they are equally fond of lard. It is the easiest way to kill any ver- min, as they die very soon. Skunks will kill and eat full-grown ducks and hens, and suck their eggs, whenever they can gain entrance into the poultry- house. Road-dust for the Hennery.—Collect a few barrels of dry earth, road- dust, fine dry dirt in the cornfield or potato patch, or anywhere that is most conyenient. This is a handy thing to have in the fall and winter for sprink- ling under the roosts and on the floor of the poultry-house. It absorbs am- monia, keeps down smells, and keeps things ship-shape. It will pay to at- tend to this when it can be so easily done. It costs but little, and is a real advantage. The Langshans.—There is a prominent feature of the Langshans not possessed by the Black Cochins, which is activity. They come in as an ex- tra desirable breed, between the leghorns and the sitters, for they commence to lay early, and when about to enter upon incubation are easily broken. They are large in size, fine-boned, hardy, and grow rapidly. They are the strongest rivals for public favor that the Plymouth Rocks have, and are just as certain to go to the front as if they had been known for centuries. Their qualities as a farmer’s fowl are good, and they will entirely supersede many other breeds in time. Poultry Manure.—Collect the droppings as often as possible, and com- post them with dry dirt. If dry dirt is inconvenient on account of the earth being frozen, use good ground land plaster instead. The mixture of ground plaster and poultry droppings is better than either alone, and the ammonia is thereby saved. A good dusting of plaster over and under the roosts, and plentifully scattered all over the floor of the poultry house, conduces to the health of fowls and destroys foul odors. How Nests Should be Made.—Kggs hatch much better if the nests are made by placing a cut turf, and shovel of mold, sand or ashes in the box or basket, and on this a little short straw, than if straw only is used. In this way a convenient hollow is obtained that prevents the eggs rolling out from under the setting hen. In cool weather the eggs are thus kept of a much more equable temperature than in nests made simply of loose straw. To Fatten Geese.—To fatten geese, an experienced practitioner says: Put up two or three in a darkened room and give each bird one pound of oats daily, thrown on a pan of water. In fourteen days they will be found almost too fat. Never shut up a single bird, as geese are sociable and will pine away if left alone. Nests of Sawdust.—To prevent hens from scratching their nests make the nests of sawdust. Do not have the boxes too large—only long enough for two nests, with a partition. Place a little hay on the sawdust until the hens get accustomed to it; also sulphur, to prevent vermin. Hens Eating Eggs.—If hens get into the habit of eating eggs, take enough bran and corn meal of equal parts for one feeding, and enough vine- gar warmed to make the meal wet enough for the hens to eat. Mix together and feed it to the hens. THE DAIRY. Apparatus for Milking.—Absolute cleanliness in milk is as much to be desired as in any other article of food. We fear that farmers and dairy- men, as a rule, do not give as much attention to this mat- ter as it really requires. We present herewith an _ illus- trated article on this subject from the pen of a practical daixryman, which we consider worthy of attention, and trust that many will profit by its suggestion: “* Every reasonable person desires to have his or her food perfectly clean. Milk and dairy products are not always clean, to put it very mildly, and the filth that finds its way into milk is of a very dis- agreeable, if not unwhole- some, kind. As a large por- tion of the milk of a family cow—and much of that sold —is used by children, owners DAIRY PAIL.—FIG. 1. of cows should be excessively careful to have the milk perfectly clean and pure. This is easy to be done if it is desired. It requires only the determination to do it, and a very little attention. The cow is not a cleanly animal, by any means, and some cows seem to delight inmaking themselves filthy. One of my best cows will take pains to lie down di- ~rectly in her droppings, so that the udder is always besmeared, and other cows are very careless about it, at the best, so thatitis neces- sary that a part of every milking apparatus should consist of a pail of water, a sponge and towel. Before the cow is milked the udder should be washed and wiped dry. For this = purpose I have used a pail arranged as shown ’ in the engraving (Fig. 1), which is taken to the barn at every milking. Previously the MILKING PAIL.—rFIG, 2. stable-man has brushed and carded the cows, and has cleaned and sanded or littered the floor, so that there is no coarse filth to remove, and only the remaining smears. But if these are left on the teats, the filth will get into the pail in 222 THE FARM. spite of all efforts. The pail has a hook on one side upon which the sponge is carried, and a box on the other, in which an old towel or pieces of cloth are kept. With these the udder and teats are washed and dried before the cow is milked. The time used—not lost—is well spent. “The milking pail should be provided with a strainer, and I have found none made for sale free from some sbjection, either as regards the difficulty of cleaning or dura- bility. I have my pails made to order with the strainer upon the half cover of the pail at the edge, and with a lip at the edge to cause the milk to flow easily. (See Fig. 2.) There is no difficulty in washing this pail, the wire gauze cannot be broken in the washing, and it is perfectly cleaned with ease. Hairs cannot be kept out of milk at some seasons, and a fine hair carried lengthwise will pass through the finest wire cloth. Itis therefore necessary to use precautions in straining. A hair will not pass through a cotton cloth, and in strain- ing milk into a deep pail I use the strainer shown at Fig. 3, which has a piece of washed, somewhat STRAINER.—FIG. 3. coarse and thin, white muslin, fastened around the bottom hoop. This causes the milk to pass through three strainers at one time, which is sufficient. Where the milk of several cows is strained, the strainer should be rinsed after each use, other- wise the after milk passes over all the impurities gathered in the strainer, For shallow pans the double strainer, Fig. 4, is excellent. The middle strainer fits closely into the bottom of the basin over the fixed strainer, and the basin rests in the perforated hoop which stands in the milk pan. A cloth may be tied over the top of the basin if thought proper. With all these precau- tions the most complete cleanliness is within easy reach, and if the cow is healthy and well fed, the most fastidi- ous person may drink the milk without any apprehension. While it is so easy to be clean the conscientious dairyman need have no excuse for violating pro- priety, and excuse himself by the idea that it can’t be helped. *‘Every dairy utensil should be of tin. No wooden vessel should be used in milking, as the wood absorbs the milk, which sours in the pores and there curdles, and every particle of curdled milk, whether effected by rennet or by L acidity, like the leaven of yeast, is an DOUBLE STRAINER.—FIG. 4. active agent for souring other milk. As curd of milk is hardened by heat and made insoluble, dairy utensils should first be washed with cold water and soap, and when thoroughly well cleaned they may then be scalded. Curd is dissolved by alkali, and the free alkali of the soap not only removes the grease of the milk, but also any particles of milk which by an accident may have been retained in a crevice or corner, THE DAT RY, 223 and there soured or curdled. To make the cleaning of dairy vessels more easy, it is well to have no sharp corners, but to have all the joints made round, and this may be done easily if one has the milk pails made to or der.” Milk Cooler.—There are quite a number of devices for this purpose, and some of them are too com- plicated, which must al- ways be a serious objection. Our engraving represents an English milk cooler, which is heartily commend- ed. In this apparatus a very small quantity of cold water, passing upward in a very thin stream between two corrugated sheets of metal, rapidly abstracts the heat from two shallow streams of milk descending outside the metal sheets , (Fig.1). D is the inlet and } F the outlet of the water, which, being supplied from a higher level, flows through the refrigerator (B) by the force of gravity. A tap of the milk receiver (A) regulates the flow of milk into a small trough at the top of the refrigerator, punctured with holes, through which the milk runs, and is spread into so MILK COOLER.—FIG. 1. fine a sheet that, instead of falling rapidly from step to step, it follows the corrugations of the surface. In the enlarged section (Fig. 2) of a part of the refrigerator the descending arrows indicate the current of milk gradually cooling as it descends. The current of water passing upward is warmed, so that when it passes out of the spout at F it is very nearly of the same temperature as the milk = in the receiver. This device appears to S \\ be quite simple. aN \ How to Make Good Buatter.—Be sure the pasture is of the best, and that it contains a variety of the sweetest grasges. Do not change from winter feed to spring MILK COOLER.—FIG. 2. pasture too suddenly, and, particularly, do not turn out your cows too early to shift for themselves. Let the milking be done by quiet persons, whether male or female, at regular times morning or evening, knowing always that the milking is conducted as cleanly as it is quietly. Know that the utensils for holding the milk are of the best description and always scrupulously clean. 224 THE FARM. See that the milk is perfectly cooled to free it of animal odor. A ther- mometer is an absolute necessity in all well regulated dairies. Be sure the room for setting milk is cool, and so it may be darkened at will. Thorough ventilation is one of the golden rules in dairying. The temperature of the dairy room should never be more than sixty degrees, nor less than forty degrees. Skim the milk as soon as the first indications of getting thick from lopper are shown. Turn the cream slowly into the jar, and stir thoroughly when more cream is added. Keep the receptacle for the cream cool, from fifty to sixty de- grees, and cover with some fabric that will keep out minute insects, and at the same time allow access of air. POWER FOR CHURNING.—FIG. 1. Churn when the cream is ripe, that is, when the cream is sour, every day in spring, and every day insummer. Do not allow the cream in the churn to rise much above sixty degrees. Do not churn too fast. There is nothing gained by seeking to bring the butter in a few minutes. From twenty to thirty minutes is about right. Good grass will make nice colored butter. At such seasons, when the color of butter is pale, use coloring carefully. It is better that butter be rather light than a dark yellow. When the butter comes in granules, stop churning. Wash with cold water or cold brine; work only enough to bring it to a firm uniform mass. Do notsalt heavily; from three-quarters to one ounce of salt to a pound of butter is enough. Pack in tight, clean, sweet packages; fill to within a half inch of the top, cover with a clean cloth, and add brine to fill until sold. Keep it in the coolest place you have, and there is no reason why you should not get the top prices for your butter. Power for Churning.— a We present four illustrations, POWER FOR CHURNING.—FIG. 2. with brief descriptions, showing practical methods for labor saving in the usually tiresome and monotonous business of churning, from which may be gleamed some valuable hints. Fig. 1, although not a power churn, is, nevertheless, a labor-saving arrangement. It is simply a hickory sapling about twelve or fourteen feet long, fastened firmly at the butt end, while at the other end is fixed a seat in which a child can sit and perform the work with more ease than a grown person in the ordinary way. The dash of the churn may be fastened at any THE DAIRY. 225 point to accommodate the spring of the pole. Fig. 2 is a vertical wheel with a rim about two feet in width, on the inside of which the animal treads. It is necessary to have this wheel as much as eight or ten feet in diameter. The engraving gives ample insight into its mechanical construction. Fig. 3 is a water-power churn, showing the water wheel fitting easily into the box or flume, at the outlet of the dam, or it may be simply placed in a swift-running brook, as it does not require much power or speed. The wheel should be about three feet in diameter. The power can be transmitted any dis- tance by means of two = eM fastened upon poles wit a swing trees that receive a = is MU backward and forward motion THE ql Remtcs from the crank of the water- Bi wheel. Fig. 4 represents a cheap churn power, which is both simple and practical. A is a \ log, squared and set in the POWER FOR CHURNING.—FIG. 3, ground far enough to be solid. B is the sweep—a four-inch scantling sixteen feet long, with a two-inch hole in one end and an axle on the other, and holes in the center for the standard, according to the length of the dash. C is the drive-wheel, eighteen inches in diameter, three inches thick. D, the churn, which stands still on a small one- legged table, with the leg running through the sweep (B) and into the stationary block. This arrangement gives the dasher (E) two motions, and causes the but- ter to “come” in shorter time. F, beam guide; G, beam; H, standard; I, hitch- ing stick; J, whiffletree; K, pitman. It is very easy to ¥ operate. ———_ POWER FOR CHURNING.—FIG, 4, Hard Churning and Blue Cream.—It is a very common thing for a person with one cow to complain that her cream will not churn, or that it churns with great difficulty. The reason is the cream is kept so long to get a churning that it becomes too sour. Putting in either 226 THE FARM. bicarbonate of soda or sal soda will reduce the acid and help the butter to come, but the butter thus made is always inferior. The remedy is to churn oftener, say every other day, or if the weather is a little cool, twice a week, and to put in milk to make sufficient bulk for churning. The skimming, too, should be done early—as soon as the cream is all up, or pretty near all up. It is better to take in the top of the milk in which the last rising of the cream lingers, than wait for the milk to get stale before removing the cream. The practice which many people follow of letting the whey start on the milk before skimming or on the cream before churning, is to a high degree detri- mental both to the churning and to the quantity and quality of butter. If easy churning is desired, the cream must be churned while it has a fresh and new taste—not later than the first stage of sourness. The ‘ blue or moldy-looking cream ” is not peculiar to any breed, and it occurs in the milk of all cows if they and their milk are improperly cared for. The cream of any milk may take on a dark or moldy appearance if too long exposed to light and to a damp atmosphere. Itis more easily induced in the milk of cows which, from any cause, have had their blood heated, or by exposure to hot sun, by too fast or too much driving or from feverishness by excessive feeding, etc. Milk inclined to have flecks in its cream is very easily made to assume a moldy condition, for the dark coloris derived from an actual fungus which develops in the milk and cream. An unusually ready development of it is evidence that the cow is in some way sick—from over feeding or other causes. There is always in milk a variable quantity of albuminous matter which turns dark-colored upon exposure to air and light, but it is heavier than cream and heavier also than the serum of milk, and is inclined to settle to the bottom. This has probably no connection with dark- colored cream; it is more likely the result of unfavorable health and damp- ness of cellar. To Keep Butter.—It is said that a compound of one part sugar, one part nitre, and two parts of the best Spanish salt, beaten together into a fine powder and mixed thoroughly with the butter in the pro- portion of one ounce to the pound, would keep the butter in every respect sweet and sound during two years. It is also said to impart a rich marrowy flavor that no other butter ever acquires, and tastes very little of the salt. Cream and Cold.—Ii has been discovered by a French scientist that the rising of cream is quicker, and its volume greater, the nearer the temperature is to that of freezing water; further, that the yield ot butter is greater, and the skim milk, butter and cheese are all of the better quality under like conditions. These facts should be worth the attention of dairy keepers. Waterproof Butter Wrappers.—At the Pennsylvania State Fair in 1882 waterproof butter wrappers attracted considerable attention from dairymen. Advocates of the waterproof paper claim for it that, being air- tight, it preserves the freshness and flavor of the butter, and is about one- sixth as expensive as cloth. To Restore Rancid Butter.—Rancid butter can be restored by first washing it thoroughly in cold water, then to every one hundred pounds add two pounds pulverized sugar, two ounces powdered saltpetre, and salt to suit. TET 3D AIRY 227 An Improved Butter-Workex.—This butter-worker consists of a table of maple (Fig. 1), or other hard sweet timber, in the form shown in the en- graving, with three feet sides and six feet on curve, without side pieces. At each edge is a deep groove to conduct the brine. At the front end is a rim, projecting one-half inch above the plank. At the lower end is a deeper cross- groove, with outlet at one side of the projecting bed-piece, In this bed-piece is loosely set a post with a round tenon fastened by a pin beneath. In this post is set the lever, so loosely as to admit of lifting the han- dle of the lever a foot or more. This lever is held in the mortise by a pin, and sets one-eighth of an inch above the table at the post; is of maple, four inches wide and three inches thick; lower side square cornered plain, upper side rounded or cornered. The handle is = wrought at the upper side, IMPROVED BUTTER-WORKER.—FIG. 1. leaving a shoulder below, which sets just within the rim of the table. Fig. 2 shows the frame-work of the table, into which the legs are formed. The entire cost of this butter-worker will not exceed $3. The operation, which differs from that of other workers in use, consists of pressing the but- ter with a direct vertical pressure—no grinding strokes allowable. Then strike the left side of the butter with a right upward motion of the lever a few strokes, and it lies in a roll parallel to the lever. Now turn the roll at right angles to the lever, and continue the three operations of pressing, rolling, and turning, until it is sufficiently worked. French Butter Making. —In the French system the butter is made from very sour cream, is washed in the churn, not salted, but sold for present use in Paris and England, and the keeping quality is not much studied. Notwithstand- ing the extreme sourness of the cream when churned, the but- IMPROVED BUTTER-WORKER.—Fia. 2, ter has almost the same ap- pearance as that made from Sweet cream—this is the result of the washing. The finest French butter is shipped at once to the consumers, and generally consumed before the end of three days; so its keeping qualities are not material. No salt is used for the home market. Itis put up in large balls of 28 lbs. to 40 Ibs., each ball being covered by a piece of fine flannel and placed in a willow basket. Second and third-class butter is made up in one pound rolls and packed in grape leaves. For the English market, butter is put up in one pound rolls and covered With jaconet and lace paper, and’packed in small boxes 14x9x6 inches, twelve 228 THE FARM. rolls in each box. M. Lepelletier is the largest exporter of this kind of but- ter, and is said to ship 1,200 boxes per week, his trade amounting to 12,000,- 000 francs per year. Itis sentin refrigerating cars. In Paris all butter is sold by auction at ten markets. Women are mostly the buyers. Three or four hundred lots are sold every hour. Sworn officials weigh and register the butter, and make up the accounts of sale. The different kinds of butter are named from the places where they are made, and classified according to quality. The best butter is sold at 50 and 75 cents per pound. Preparing Butter for Market.—After the milk has been kept in the spring or cooling house about forty-eight hours, it is then taken out and skimmed, and after the butter is made it is put up in half-pound prints for market. Itis shipped in boxes, having an ice chamber in the center. The boxes are 31 by 161-2 inches and 15 inches deep. The ice chest is of tin, placed in the center of the box, and is 16 1-2 by 5 inches, 15 inches deep. At the bottom there is a hole, which extends also through the box, for the es- cape of water from the ice as it melts. Movable shelves with cleats on the edges, are fitted in each side of the ice chest, one above the other, for hold- ing the prints. The box holds 10 shelves, 5 on each side of the ice chamber, and the shelves, when in place, leave a space between each of 2 1-2 inches. We give a rough draft of the movable shelf in our illus- tration. Each shelf holds 20 prints, or 10 pounds of butter. In packing the but- ter a plain board is used to receive the prints at the bottom of the box; then the shelf, as illustrated, is placed on top, and thus con- tinued until the whole number of prints are in. A movable shelf just com- ing to the top of the box is placed over the top prints, so that when the lid of the box is brought down it presses tightly on it and thus keeps the shelves from shaking and prevents any injury to the prints. MOVABLE SHELF FOR HOLDING BUTTER PRINTS. Keeping Butter for Winter Use.—Good butter put up after the follow- ing directions will keep in sound condition one year: Use for a package a tub somewhat tapering, with heavy staves and heads provided at both ends, so as to make a package that will not leak. In packing the tub is turned on the small end, and a sack of cotton cloth is made to fit the tub, and into this the butter is packed until it reaches to within an inch of the groove for hold- ing the upper head. A cloth is next laid upon the top of the butter and the edges of the sack brought over this and neatly pressed down; then the head is put in its place and the hoops driven home. The package is now turned upon the large end and the sack of butter drops down, leaving a space on the sides and iop. Strong brine is then poured into a hole in the small end and until it will float the butter. The hole is tightly corked and the butter is pretty effectually excluded from the air. Where only a small quantity of butter is to be preserved, pack it in self-sealing fruit jars. By this plan a little brine is put into the jar, which is then packed not quite full of granu- lated butter. Some bleached muslin is laid over the butter, then the little THE DAIRY. 229 place above filled with salt, and finally enough strong brine, made from butter salt, poured in to fill the can. When packing roll butter in jars the brine should be made strong enough to bear an egg. To three gallons of this brine add a quarter of a pound of white sugar and one tablespoonful of saltpetre. Boil the brine, and when it is cool strain carefully. Make the butter into rolls and wrap each roll separately in white muslin cloth. Pack the jar full, weight the butter down, and submerge in brine. Suggestions in Milk-Setting.—Professor L. B. Arnold says: First—To make the finest flavored and longest-keeping butter the cream must undergo a ripening process by exposure to the oxygen of the air while itis sweet. This is best done while itis rising. The ripening is very tardy * when the temperature is low. Second—After cream becomes sour, the more ripening the more it depre- ciates. The sooner itis then skimmed and churned the better, but it should not be churned while too new. The best time for skimming and churning is just before acidity becomes apparent. Third—Cream makes better butter to rise in cold air than to rise in cold water, but it will rise sooner in cold water, and the milk will keep sweet longer. Fourth—The deeper milk is set the less airing the cream gets while rising. Fifth—The depth of setting should vary with the temperature; the lower itis the deeper milk may be set; the higher, the shallower it should be. Milk should never beset shallow in a low temperature nor deep in a high one. Setting deep in cold water economizes time, labor and space. Sixth—While milk is standing for cream to rise the purity of the cream, and consequently the fine flavor and keeping of the butter, will be injured if the surface of the cream is exposed freely to air much warmer than the cream. Seventh—When cream is colder than the surrounding air, it takes up moisture and impurities from the air. When the air is colder than the cream, it takes up moisture and whatever escapes from the cream. In the former case the cream purifies the surrounding air; in the latter, the air helps to purify the cream. The selection of a creamer should hinge on what is most desired—highest quality, or greatest convenience and economy in time, space and labor. First Principles in Butter Making.—Butter is finished in the dairy, but not made there. The stamp of the dairywoman puts the gold in market form; but the work must be commenced in the field or in the feeding stables; and this leads at once to the consideration of feeding for butter. During the early, sunny summer month, when nature is profuse of favors, there is little to be done beyond accepting her bounty. The tender grasses are full of the needed nutrition, and they afford the constant supply of moisture without which the secretion of milk is greatly lessened. Yet, at this season, as well as all others, a pure supply of water is absolutely necessary. It does not meet the requirement if cattle have a wet hole full of surface drainage in the pasture, or a frog pond. While it is not probable that the tadpoles and wrig- glers sometimes found in city milk have been, drunk by thirsty cows, many infusions do exist in such pools that are hardly eliminated or rendered en- tirely harmless by the wonderful milk secretions of the animal. The cattle should drink from spring-fed boxes; and as often as these, under the hot sun, are seen to produce green growth or floating scum a pail of coarse salt may be put in, and the curreutchecked until the fresh-water growths are 230 LEE, Per AC Ta irs killed; the salt water is then drawn off, and for a long time the trough will remain pure and the water bright. Bitter Milk.—Bitter milk is a matter of frequent occurrence every fall and winter, or soon after the cows are off from grazing. It is caused, first, by bitter herbs in the hay—such as May weed, rag weed, John’s wort, ete.— and also by the use of too much over-ripe food, such as straw, corn stover, or late-cut hay. It never occurs when cows are fod on good food, and are thriving, or even holding their own, and are kept comfortably warm. It can be avoided, first, by correcting the error in feeding and exposure; and, sec- ondly, by scalding the milk when it is first drawn, by setting it in pans over a kettle of boiling water till the skin which forms on its top is well wrinkled, and then setting it away to cool for the cream to rise. This treatment will drive out the cause of the bitter flavor, and improve the butter and make it easy to churn. Borax for Salting Butter.—The Italian minister of agriculture ad- dressed a communication to the chamber of commerce of Milan relative to experiments in salting butter with borax which have been carried out at the agricultural station at Florence. From the account which appears in the Giornale di Agricollura, borax would appear to have a most marvelous effect in insuring its absolute preservation. Samples of fresh butter made at the Florence station, and purposely not carefully freed of their buttermilk, were found, on the addition of about eight per cent. of borax, to maintain their natural fine flavor, without the least change whatever, for upward of three months. To attain this satisfactory result, it is necessary that the borax should be perfectly dry, and in a very fine powder, and care must be taken to its thorough mixture with the whole mass of the butter operated on. Among the further advantages of this plan, it is noted that borax imparts no flavor of any kind to the butter, while it is entirely harmless in its nature, and also reasonably cheap. Still later experiments have shown that a very much smaller proportion of borax suffices to produce the desired effect, and also that simple solutions of the salt act quite as well as the dried powder. Don’t Flavor Your Butter too Much.—TIt is too true that unless we adopt the improvements of the day and look carefully after our interests, we shall be left in the background as to quality and profit. But why is it that western creamery butter brings a better price? We are told it is because of its uniformity of quality. The butter is made from day to day, from week to week under the same conditions, and always free from anything that would impart unpleasant flavors. Milk set in a farmer’s kitchen or in any place where it will absorb unpleasant odors from cooking vegetables, from to- bacco smoke or from clothing fully charged with the odor of the stables, cannot make butter free from unpleasant flavor. We complain of low prices received when we ourselves are to blame. The flavor of the butter is af- fected by the feed of the cows. We lay the blame at the door of the dairy woman, when he who feeds the cows is responsible. To Color Butter.— As a rule, it is absolutely essential in the winter to color butter in order to make it marketable, or at all attractive as an article of table use at home. There may be a possible exception to this rule, in cases where cows are fed largely upon yellow corn, pumpkins, carrots, etc., but this does not lessen the importance of the rule. Of the various sub- stances used in coloring butter, we think that carrots (of the deep yellow THE DAIRY .- 231 variety) give the most natural color and most agreeable flavor. Annatto, however, is principally used, with most satisfactory results. If carrots are used, take two large-sized ones, clean them thoroughly, and then with a knife scrape off the yellow exterior, leaving the white pith; soak the yellow part in boiling milk ten or fifteen minutes. Strain boiling hot into the cream; this gives the cream the desired temperature, colors it nicely, and adds to the sweetness of the butter. How to Detect Oleomargarine.—A Frenchman points out in a note to the Belgian Academy a simple way of distinguishing between natural and artificial butter, based upon the different behavior of the two substances when exposed to a temperature of from 150 degrees to 160 degrees in a cap- sule or test tube. At this temperature artificial butter produces very little froth, but the mass undergoes a sort of irregular boiling, accompanied by violent jerks, which tend to project some of the butter out of the vessel. The mass grows brown, but this is by reason of the caseous matter separa- ting into clots on the walls. The fatty portion of the sample sensibly retains its natural color. Natural butter, on the other hand, at the same tempera- ture, produces abundant froth, the jerks are much less pronounced, and the mass grows brown, but ina different way. A good part of the brown color- ing matter remains in suspension in the butter, so that the whole mass has a characteristic brown look. All natural butter behaves in the same way. Firm Butter Without Ice.—In families where the dairy is small, a good plan to have the butter cool and firm without ice is by the process of evaporation, as practiced in India and other warm countries. A cheap plan is to get a very large-sized, porous, earthen flower-pot, with a large saucer. Half fill the saucer with water, set it in a trivet or light stand—such as is used for holding hot irons will do; upon this set your butter; over the whole invert the flower-pot, letting the top rim of it rest in and be covered by the water; then close the hole in the bottom of the flower-pot with a cork; then dash water over the flower-pot, and repeat the process several times a day, or whenever it looks dry. Ifsetin a cool place, or where the wind can blow on it, it will readily evaporate the water from the pot, and the butter will be as firm and cool as if from an ice-house. THE APIARY. Wintering Bees.—For the benefit of those who are interested in the subject of bee-keeping, we present herewith an illustrated article upon win- tering bees, the suggestions in which we think will be found both valuable and timely. Prepare, or any sound matched flooring, a plat- form nailed to 2x4 or 3x3 joists. When ready, set it upon blocks or stones, and it will appear as shown in Fig. 1. On this you are to FIG. 1.—PLATFORM. put the bee hives, eight in number, and arranged as stated further on; also a north-end board, two side boards, a south-end board and a movable cover or roof. The arrangement of your hives should be as shown in Fig. 2, where a is the north-end board, made c c c 6 square, but with cleats, as in the next figure; and bb g are two hives with their en- trances facing the south; cee are three hives with | «| | ¢ | their entrances to the east; ddd are three hives with their entrances to the west. FIG. 2.—ARRANGEMENT OF HIVES. The object of this arrange- ment is to vary as far as possible the entrances, that the bees be less con- fused when they fly out in winter. Experience shows that most of them find : out their own hives by this arrangement. Fig. 3 shows the inside of the north- end piece of the boxing about the hives, the outside of which is perfectly plain, and aa are two cleats that hold the ; Y boards together, with the square wall Ba (| cleat at the bottom and the longer cleat close by the first cleat, the three cleats FIG. 3.—INSIDE OF END PIECE. making an inch space, marked dark, which dark places allow the side pieces to rest in and be held to the north piece. Fig. 4 shows first the outside of the south-end piece, and that it has two cleats, but that the boards do not go down to the bottom of them. The construction of this south piece is further seen in the end view, at the right hand of the larger view. THE APIARY. 233 Fig. 5 is a view of the west side boxing piece. It has two cleats at the ends, aa. The one at the left hand is a little in from the end, as that end fits the dark place in the left end of Fig. 3. Two cleats, shaped as in the small figure of Fig. 4, are on the mid- dle parts of the view. They serve the same purpose as in the large figure in Fig.4. You need not be told that a corre- sponding east piece is to be tii ee a FIG. 4.—OUTSIDE OF END PIECE. made. Now arrange hooks, or other contrivances, and put this boxing to- FIG. 5.—VIEW OF SIDE PIECE. gether about your hives, ar- ranged as shown in Fig. 2, and you have it ready to pack the bees. The best packing is dry saw-dust, or cut straw; cut it not over an inch long. Pack all about the hives, and at least six inches thick over the top of the hives. Now make a roofing; the form, as shown by Fig. 6, which is made of triangular boards, with boards nailed on the top of them. When done, the whole will appear as in Fig. 7, which shows the two hives, the south-end hay- ing three small entrances, too small for a mouse or rat to get in at, and an inch round hole just over the three entrances, which hole is covered with wire cloth; these are all the holes for venti- lation necessary. The dotted fon —— FIG. 6.—-DESIGN OF ROOF. oy il n lines show the form of an ordinary box hive, a foot square and a foot high. Of course, in making your platform and boxing, you will make them to fit core FIG. 7.—APPEARANCE WHEN COMPLETE. the hive you use, which will alter lengths and breadths a little, but not the general shape of what we have de- scribed. The side view would be so similar to Fig. 7 that we do not give it. Ob- serve this in putting your bees in winter quarters: If November 1st to 16th passes so cold that bees fly little, this is a good time to pack _ them in this boxing. [If it is so warm that they fly a good deal till December 1st or 16th, then that time is the best. Let them have a few coolish days without protection, and be shut up a week or so before you change them from their summer stands to this win- 234 THE FARM. ter packing. Leave the bottom boards of your hives on, and put a little sawdust under them. A bee-house is useful if it has a large window in the floor, for all operations that require to let the bees out in a room; then they fly to the window and get in bunches at its bottom near the floor, and when i i | | ! THE MAIN BEE HOUSE, SHOWING TIERS OF HIVES. you are through with the changes to be made, they go easily into the hive. Makea tin reeling ma- chine; reel out your honey; put it in neat glass packages; make holes ou the side of your old- fashioned box hives, and get boxes every where—that is the se- cret of non-swarming; and make winter packing sheds as we have told you. Bee Farming in Australia. —We present herewith a very in- teresting article on the subject of bee farming, as practiced in New South Wales, Australia, where, as will be seen, the industry is carried on on a very extensive scale. The article is carefully illustrated and the methods em- ployed plainly described, and we trust that all who take an interest in the subject of bee keeping may gain some yaluable hints and suggestions from a perusal of the same. The operations in bee culture going on in Paramatta are well deserving of being ranked as bee farming. They are carried on after the most approved system of the German apiarians, which differs only in the form of hive used and a few minor details from the approved system fol- lowed in Britain and America. But to get at the history of the company whose operations we illustrate: It appears that, in December, 1881, a skilled bee master, Wilhelm Abram, arrived in Sydney from Germany, where bee culture is a recognized indus- try and subsidized by the State, and is under the care of scientific entomolo- gists, for the purpose of teaching the art of bee culture to those desirous of making it their study, and at such an institution Mr. Abram was trained. Before leaying Germany he purchased some of the prize swarms at an exhi- bition of Italian bees in Germany, and the Italian Bee Company commenced THE APIARY. 235 operations with these at Parramatta, in January, 1882. An importation of prize queens from America was made, and the operation of queen rearing AOA THE SWARMING BAG, A GREAT IMPROVEMENT. was entered on. In the meantime a number of colonies of the com- mon black or English bee had been secured and transferred to frame hives, and as Italian queens were reared, the black queens were removed and replaced by Italians, the progeny of which replaced the black bees, as the latter died out. Not much attention was paid to producing honey until the race of Italian bees could be firmly established, and the result was that in the spring of last year there were about eighty colonies of gold-banded Italians actively at work. The bee master is an adept at his profession. With a pipe in his mouth, oe ee Na tidbit bppppyyy i \ i a is THE QUEEN BREEDING HIVES. 236 THE FARM. he opens hive after hive, blowing a whiff of smoke upon them, to give the bees something else to think about when they seem any way refractory, a projection from the stem of the pipe allowing this to be done conveniently. The hives used are of the German bar-frame kind. They open from the back, and each hive is two stories high, so that ample space can be given to the bees when they are storing honey rapidly. The main house is about 150 feet in length, 10 feet high, 10 feet wide, and two tiers of hives are arranged on each side, as shown in the sketch. The swarming bag is one of the best things we have seen in bee culture. It is about six feet in length and one foot in diameter, and formed of alter- nate lengths of calico and mos- quito netting, each length having fade a ring of cane inside to hold out = the bag, as shown in the sketch. ss - 4 When the bees are about to CENTRIFUGAL MACHINE, SHOWING INSIDE. swarm, the bag is fastened on to the front of the hive, and the other end fastened to a stake. When the queen emerges she bounds up into the upper end of the bag, and : is quickly surrounded by her followers. Thus the swarm is captured with ease, the alternate breadths of mos- quito netting and calico mak- ing the interior light and enticing for the bees to enter and cluster. They are then shaken into a bar-frame hive. The queen breeding hives are much smaller than the others, and are arranged at distances of about twenty feet apart alongside the fences. Two or three frames of brood comb are put into each hive, with a queen cell coming to maturity. When = the queen bee hatches out of THE QUEEN CAGE. the cell she makes a flight (the only flight of her life) in order to meet a drone or male bee. She is then fertilized, and becomes the mother and queen of a family, laying eggs DERE AUP TARRY 237 at the rate of 2,000 daily when the season is good and stores abundant. The centrifugal machine is used for extracting honey without destroying the comb. The caps with which the bees seal up each cell of honey are sliced off with a very thin-bladed knife of simple form, and the frames are set in the metal basket of the inside of the machine. Then, by turning the handle, the honey is thrown out and runs down the sides of the machine, from which it is drawn by a tap, leaving the comb undamaged and ready to be returned to the hives for the bees to fill over and over again with nectar. In this way absolutely pure honey is got without any other substance whatever, and without injuring the bees or annoying them. The queen cage, as shown in illustration, is drawn to scale, as is the queen or mother bee seen inside. The Culture of Buckwheat for Bees.—Prof. Cook gives the following on this subject: Buckwheat is valuable as a honey plant, as it can be made to bloom when there would otherwise be a dearth of flowers. We have found in our experi- mental beds that the Silver Hull variety has more flowers in the panicles, and yields more to the acre. The honey is dark, but is preferred to all other kinds by some people. It blooms from four to six weeks after sowing. It will do fairly well on any soil, but thrives best on a rich soil. It should be sown broadcast, three pecks to the acre. It is usually sown here late in July, but for bees it had better be sown early in June. «Then it will bloom about the middle of July, when bloom is usually absent, and will, I think, yield just as well; though I judge simply from observing small plots. The cultivation before sowing should be deep and thorough. When ripe it is cut and allowed to lie on the ground to dry. When dry it is bound and drawn to the barn, where it may be threshed at once, if it is desirable todo so, In fact, the cultivation, scil and harvesting of buckwheat are much the same as that given to oats. It is safe in estimating that each acre of buckwheat sown within one and one-half miles of an apiary is worth $100. Buckwheat, like other plants, is capricious. Some seasons it yields but. little honey. It is not a favorite of bees; at least I have known bees to leave it for other plants. Perhaps it contained no nectar at the time. Will Bee Keeping Pay ?—Of course it will. There is nothing that either men or women can engage in that will pay anywhere as well as bee culture; and there is nothing so well adapted for the farmers’ sons and daughters as bee keeping, and if they would take hold of four or five colonies of Italian bees they neyer would want for a few dimes to go to a strawberry festival, or perhaps they might want to go to that world-renowned exposition that always visits every village about the July days, and if they have been good, industrious boys and girls, and will have looked after bees, they will have the satisfaction of having their own money, and will not have to ask father for the money when he is so pushed with his crops and so short of money to pay his hands. But to make the keeping of bees a success, you must go into it understandingly, and if you have not already the bees on hand, you will have to purchase a few colonies, and be sure to get Italians. If they are not ina movable comb they will have to be transferred. You will then have them in a hive that you haye complete control over, eyen to examine every comb and seeing every bee or queen in the hive. Clipping the Queen’s Wing.—The clipping of the queen’s wing hay- ing become a matter of acknowledged good policy, as we knew it would, the 238 THE FARM, question naturally arises, What is the best method for clipping it? We have tried all plans, and find the quickest, easiest and the least risk attend- ing the following: Lift from the hive the comb on which you find the queen, slant it toward the hive with the lower end resting on the ground and the upper end against the hive, make no rapid motions to alarm the queen, but deliberately wait till she is in a position that you can grasp the end of one wing between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, then with a sharp pocket knife and an upand backward motion cut off about one-third of the wing. If deliberate in your movements, the queen will not beeome nervous, nor will she be aware she had been meddled with, no scent of the fingers will be left on either her wings or body, and no commo- tion created in the hive. An Unpatented Bee Hive.—Apiarians know full well the im- portance of providing the honey bee with a properly constructed and well arranged hive, in which these little workers may safely store the nectar care- fully gathered from the blossoming sweets of earth. Many good and valuable hives for this ¥ purpose have been constructed, and are . the subject of letters _ patent, for the manu- facture and use of : Ag Zs r\ A Uy 2 a) : : fee ~2tny SI MW — yn Which a royalty is re- Uae NN out tg ent ae quired by the owners aes Se ee . ere a. ———— ” pee Re | therecol. ite NISENTISE \ Rene ee The hive shown in a ee WS IN Se ‘ : ‘ SS raza, uN Deal connection with this ar- ite hp Teas Sh Oa CO ticle is, beyond ques- BEE HIVE.—FIa. 1. tion, the simplest, cheapest, and best ar- ranged unpatented hive extant. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the hive as it appears upon the sand. In appearance it has a neat, unpretending look of self-recommendation. The advantages gained by having a passage for the bees at the bottom, and six inches upward therefrom, at one side of the hive, are: First. Dur- ing winter snow and ice accumulate in sufficient quantities to entirely fill and cover the lower series of holes, while the upper ones remain open, ad- mitting fresh air, the importance of which all apiarians are familiar with. Second. Bees alighting at the upper series of holes, upon returning from a long and fatiguing flight, have but a short distance to traverse to reach the place where the accumulated sweets are to be deposited. THE TAP TARY. 239 The hive proper is 12x12x15—2,160 cubic inches, inside measurement. When filled with honey it weighs eighty pounds—a sufficient quantity to feed a large colony of bees during the season not fruitful of flowers. For supporting the comb in the desired position, small round sticks are used in the same manner as in the old box hive. The cover to this portion has its upper surface beveled near the edges, to receive and retain in position a small or upper hive, seven inches high and _ twelve inches square, inside dimensions. It is shown in proper place in Fig. 1, and raised in Fig. 2, disclosing the surplus honey boxes, which are two in number, 11 1-2x6x5 1-2 inches, outside measurement, made from quarter-inch pine lum- ber, with glass ends or sides, either plain or ornamental, as the contents may be designed for home consumption or exhibition at the sale-room, or to compete for pre- miums at fairs. Each of said boxes connects with the lower hive by four one-inch holes, which are made in hive and boxes at the time of their construction. They afford a sufficient passage-way to and from said boxes. The top of the | hive is delineated in Fig. 3. One BEE HIVE.—FIG. 2. series of holes is shown, while the other is covered (in use both should be) by securing a thin strip in the proper position by screws. They remain thus until the hive is thought to be filled, or a sufficient quantity accumulated to successfully winter the bees. At this juncture carefully remove the screws, slightly raise the strip, place one of the surplus boxes at the end of the strip, and gradually, or by a dextrous movement, get it in place, as shown in Fig. 2. When both are in position, place over them the cover, and, unless you are care- less, not one bee is injured by the operation. Should the surplus boxes be provided with glass ends you may at any time during the season view the stores therein accumulated by raising the cover. At or soon after the ap- pearance of autumnal frosts, remove BEE HIVE.—FIG. 3. the surplus boxes, cover the series of holes as aboye stated. At the approach of winter again remove them; thereby all vapor arising from the breathing of so great a number of insects passes into the empty space above, thus ina great measure, preventing death by the congealing of this vapor. Other points of merit could be noticed, but will suggest themselves. Advice to Young Bee Keepers.—Beginners in bee keeping should not, when going into the business, build costly bee houses, provide high- 240 THE FARM. priced, untested, patented hives, purchase a large number of colonies, or buy “‘ three-banded” Italian queens at a time when, as yet, they can hardly tell a drone from a worker. Begin moderately and hasten slowly. The needful experience in practical bee culture is much more easily and far more efficiently acquired by careful attention to a few choice stocks, than by a hur- ried supervision of a large number, even with the aid of manuals and text- books. Plain, simple, movable frame-hives, too, will be found better suited for the requisite manipulations than fanciful and complicated contrivances devised by persons really ignorant themselves of the habits and wants of bees. And colonies placed in an open situation, with their hives readily accessible from all sides, and somewhat sheltered or shaded by trees or vines, will be much more conveniently managed than when placed in ordinary sheds or out-door bee houses. Study first to know what is required for success, and then extend your operations when you are sure that you can. have the business “‘ well in hand.” How to Catch Swarms.—fFor the past ten or twelve years, says a cor- respondent of the American Bee Journal, Ihave not cut my fruit trees to catch swarms. I get an ordinary sized basket, and nail a three-eighth-inch board on the bottom, with some suitable springs under it; then bore a hole in the center, and put an iron down through, with a loop on the top and a nut on the inside, and screw it fast; buckle a strap, six or eight inches long with a Snap on it, in the loop. Have a pole cut from the edge of a two-inch plank, dressed any length, from eight to ten feet, with a ferule on each end and one-quarter inch iron rod sixteen inches in length; take a small ring, and bend an eye on the end of the rod, with the ring in it; taper the other end, and make it secure in the end of the pole; then curve it so as to project it six or eight inches, in which snap the basket catcher. To use it, push it among the branches of the tree which the bees are making for, and if they do not light upon it, when they begin to cluster, put the catcher up against them, and when you get part of them on your basket, move it a little away and toward the branch that they are on, and they will all settle on the basket in five minutes. To complete the pole, get a one-half inch rod of iron, twelve inches long, tapered at each end, and secure it in the lower end of the pole; and when the bees begin to settle on the basket, stick the spear in the ground and let it stand, while you are preparing the hive, etc. Then take down the pole and unhook the basket with bees, which may be carried any distance you wish. Shake off the bees on an open sheet in front of the hive, showing them the way, and they will go in faster than a flock of sheep into a yard after the gate is open. Mice in the Apiary.—During the winter mice are sometimes trouble- some guests in the apiary, especially if the hives are surrounded by straw in which they can harbor. The best preventive is to have hives so tight that they can gain no admittance. For the sake of ventilation it is not well, how- ever, to have the entrance closed air-tight; therefore, fasten a piece of wire gauze over the entrance of the hives that may be in the cellar, or that may be buried in the ground; this will exclude mice and admit air; and over the entrance of hives that are covered with boxes, fasten a piece of tin about a quarter of an inch above the bottom board, so that the bees can just pass under the edge of it, while the mice are excluded, FARM IMPLEMENTS. Combined Roller and Vibrating Harrow.—The thorough pulveriza- tion of the soil is, and will be, an important item in the tillage of the earth. The most effective method, therefore, of attaining this re- sult, is one of interest to every individual. Our engraving on this page is intended to rep- resent an arrangement of a combined roller and vibrating harrow, the successful work- ing of which we have had the opportunity of witnessing. The invention consists of the frame, A, roller, B, which may be constructed of either iron or wood, the axle of which terminates at each end in astrong crank, C, C, of from six to nine inches in diameter. These cranks are keyed upon the axle in opposite positions. Connected to the wrist pins of each crank are the connecting rods, D, D, which extend back- wards, and are attached to opposite corners of the har- row, E. The attachment of the connecting rods to the cranks is made with universal joints, so as to allow of a free and easy working of all the parts, and to permit the roller and harrow separately to ac- commodate themselves to the inequalities of the ground. The manner in which the har- \ row is vibrated through the COMBINED ROLLER AND VIBRATING HARROW. medium of the crank in rota- ting with the roller, it is not necessary further to explain. If the machine is used as shown in the drawing, the last operation performed will be that of harrowing, but if it is desired to leave the ground in a rolled condition, all that is necessary to do is to turn over the tongue, F, of the roller, until itrests upon the cross pieces, G, and attach the team by a chain, to what will then be the front corner of*the harrow. Or should it be desired to use 242 THE FARM. the roller or harrow separately, they may be readily disconnected by driving out two of the bolts in the universal joints. This invention is public prop- erty for the benefit of the world at large. Hay Elevating Apparatus.—We present herewith a sketch and de- scription of a new hay elevator, in the form of a suspended track and hay- fork traveler, which we think will not only prove a timely suggestion, but a positive boon to mauy farmers. This track can be suspended in any barn, high or low, without any additional timbers. The hay can be run up, and over beams, without any scattering or dragging. Another great advantage in this plan is having the rope double from the fork to the traveler. This gives the HAY ELEVATING APPARATUS. horse great power on the fork just where it is needed, that is, when the forkful of hay is separating from the load. It consists in part of a track made of hard wood, in the form shown. The center piece A is six inches wide and one and a half inches thick, put to- gether with dowel-pins, until as long as wanted. The slats BB are two inches wide and one inch thick. They are nailed on the lower edge of A, breaking joints as they are put on. They are put on each side of A as shown in sketch. There is a pulley C, six inches in diameter by one and a half inches thick, put in the back end of the track. The box for this pulley is made by bolting a short piece, six inches wide and one inch thick, on each side of A. A, clevis; D goes over the track and is fastened on with the bolt that goes through the pulley. C, a rope is put through the cleyis and this end of the track is drawn up close to the rafters. The frontend is suspended by a clevis and two ropes; it is hung a foot or so lower than the back end. Screw into A the hooks that come with the fork, about eight feet apart, and into each puta strong link six inches long by one and a half inches in the FARM IMPLEMENTS. 2438 opening, a8 shown at EH, EK, E; these are for the rope to pass through, and also to suspend it by. The traveler consists of a pulley and pulley box, H, with sides four inches apart, extending up some seven or eight inches, which carry two rollers, N N, four inches in diameter and one inch thick, which roll on each side of A, and directly on BB. There is an eye, O, on the traveler, in which one end of the haul rope is tied; it then passes around a pulley on the fork, then through the pulley in box H, around pulley C, through the links EE E, around pulley P, and around a pulley at the floor, then to horse. There is a latch, as shown at the right of the drawing, to hold the traveler over the load until the fork is elevated; when the pulley on the fork strikes the bottom of the latch and raises the catches up, then the fork moves back; when the fork returns, the catches slide over the pin. There is a small rope (1) fast- ened to the traveler by a clevis, 2; said rope passes over a pulley, 3, down to weight, 4, around the pul- ley fastened to the weight, up to the eye, 5, where it is tied. By this arrangement a long track can be used in a low barn. The weight will bring the fork back without pulling on the trip cord. In using this plan, the horse, after he has drawn up a forkful, is turned to the left; around to the side of the rope, and walked back to the starting place; he is then turned around to the right, on the same side of the rope that he came back on; by so doing, there is no stepping over the rope, which gen- erally twists or untwists it, and renders it very liable to loop around a horse’s legs as the fork comes back. The weight must be only just heavy enough to bring the fork back slowly, then the rope will not pull on the horse when he is coming back. Home-Made Tools.— Fre- HOME-MADE TOOL.—FIa. 1. quently the farm and garden tools and contrivances that are home-made are quite as effective as expensive boughten ones, and farmers that are blessed with a little ingenuity are con- tinually “ fixing ” up some kind of a labor-saving machine to work with. Our illustrations represent two very handy and useful implements, of which a farmer writes as follows: ‘‘ While using to-day a tool which justsuits me for killing weeds, it struck me that it might just suit others, even if it1s home- made and not patented. To make it, take an old twelve or fourteen-inch half round file; grind off the teeth, bend it as shown in Fig. 1, and put it in an ordinary handle. Now, if you want to loosen the soil, or pull out sods or large weeds, you have a light pick to doit. If you want to kill ordinary 244 THE FARM, weeds turn the hoe flat on the ground and scrape away. Now, as the file or hoe has two sharp edges, you can use either side; as itis long it will work very rapidly; as it is narrow it will work easily, and not draw the dirt over the weeds and re-plant them, but will tumble them on top for old Sol to deal with. ** Another home-made tool now in season, and which has saved me much labor between rows of mangel wurtzel, carrots, etc., is made by taking a piece of old, thin, sharp tire, reversing the bend so as to bring the flat side down, bending it to fit between the rows and with the two ends brought to- gether so as to bolt to an old plow beam, as shown in Fig. 2. Make one, hitch old Tom before it, and go to work, and if it don’t work to a T, tell.” Care of Farm Implements.— Any implement that with good usage and protection will last eight years, will become weak and defective and generally useless, if exposed during four years to dews, rain and sun. It cannot be otherwise. Dew is very destructive to all wood, and sun cracks admit rain and moistare to the interior fibres, to work injury there. To leave implements thus exposed is a direct loss of fifty per cent., a heavy tax. But to state it mildly: An implement which, left unprotected would last five years, will undoubtedly last six years if always kept dry and in the shade when not in actual use. This will save one-fifth of its efficiency, or twenty per cent. A few boards or a straw cover, and attention to haying implements always put under, is far more profitable than to ‘‘ work out” the twenty per cent. to buy new ones. Woodwork that must be left exposed, will be greatly benefitted by a fre- quent application of paint, or simply a coat of painting oil and by filling up all sun cracks, as soon as formed with such oil. The use of crude petroleum tends to the preservation of wood, and may be applied to all unpainted wood- work of implements. HOME-MADE TOOL.—FIG. 2. Improved Tread Power.—In the tread-mill power we haye here illus- trated, the endless traveler consists of cast-iron chain links joined together and carrying lags which are connected to the links by a tenon on each end fitting in a corresponding mortise in the link. Carrying rollers are fitted to run in boxes attached to the frame, so that the chain links run along on them from one to another, and in order that the rollers may be of larger than or- dinary size and placed farther apart, the chain links have abutting shoulders above the pivotjoints, which hold the lags up level for the horse to walk on. Each lag has a rib or cleat nailed on the upper surface just back of the front FARM IMPLEMENTS. 245 edge. The rollers that sustain the weight of the horse may be larger, stronger, and easier running than where the rollers are attached to the chains. For a brake to regulate the speed of the machine, a couple of centri- fugal levers are pivoted to a couple of the arms of the flywheel, and having a brakeshoe on the short arm to act on a friction rim attached to the frame, the long arms of the levers being connected to the rocker bar by rods, and to the rocker one of the levers is connected by a coiled spring and adjusting screw, which tend to keep the brakes off the rim when the speed is not too high; but when excess of speed throws out the centrifugal levers the shoes will be pressed on the rim till the speed slows to the proper limit. The machine is provided with a simple stop device and is improved in other details. IMPROVED TREAD POWER. A Good Corn-Marker.—_The worst difficulty with ordinary three or four tooth corn-markers results from the inflexibility of the long bar to which the teeth or marker are attached. In passing over uneven ground eS — Th some of the teeth will not upright wires on each side. The treadle X is also oak, working on the upright pin O, as a fulcrum, and being held in place by the wire hook V working on a pivot at P, and on the lower end of which the bait is placed. One side of the trap is represented as set, the other as sprung. i f f i H 1 1 TRAP—FIG. 1. é co Trapping the Mink, Skunk, TRAP—FIG, 2. Ete.—Next to the weasel, the mink is most dreaded among poultry. In localities near salt marshes, swamps, ponds, and sluggish streams they most abound. The ravages of the mink are easily told from those of the weasel or any other animal. He almost always carries off a portion of his prey and tries to secrete it. If you find a half-grown chicken or old fowl dead and dragged wholly or partly into a stone wall or under some building, you may be certain it is the work of a mink; and if you go to work right, you will be just as certain to trap him. One peculiarity of the animal makes his capture easy—he always returns to a spot where he has hidden his quarry, or where he has made a raid; and AROUND THE FARM. 261 if he misses it, will go searching around for it. A knowledge of this fact led to the invention some years since of the trap we now illustrate. It is un- patented and our readers our free to make and use it. The trap should be three feet long, one foot wide, and one foot high, out- side measurement, and may be made of ordinary faced pine boards. Nis the only solid part of the top, to which is hinged the lids L and D, and also in which the standard § is mortised. ‘The lid L is held up by the rod A, in which are one or more notches to elevate it the desired height, eatching or hooking over the pin B, and projecting a few inches beyond. Under A, and hinged into the standard by the pin P, is the lever T, also pro- jecting an inch or more beyond. C is a treadle board, hinged at Y to the bottom of the trap, and connecting by the wire W to the lever T, elevating it about two inches when set. H is the bait box, separated from the main trap by a wire screen, XX. O is a window, of which there should be one on each side about three or four inches square, also covered with wire or wire cloth, and D is the lid of the bait box, fastened down by the pin EK. If you have a chicken or fowl that has been killed by the mink a night or two preceding put that into the bait box and close the lid, placing the trap as near the spot where the dead fowl was found as you can. If a live fowl is putin, no harm can be done to it, the screen effectually protecting it. The mink enters the trap, and a8 soon as his weight gets well up on the treadle it pulls down the lever T, the projecting end of which dislodges the rod A, and drops the lid L. It is best to have a weight upon L, or else a catch to hold it down when sprung, a8 we have known an old mink to A MINK TRAP. pry up the lid and get out. We have never known this trap to miss when set immediately succeeding the depredations of one of those varmints. Next to the mink, the skunk is the most destruotive to poultry. The best way to trap him is with eggs, of which they are passionately fond. They are not particular about the qualily, as they seem to favora rotten one, or one with a dead chicken init. Tie the egg in a piece of netting, and fasten it to the treadle of a steel trap, or toa common box trap. Find their burrow, and set your trap near the mouth. It is nearly useless to set a trap where a theft has been committed. The animal may not go back there for months. He might possibly be caughtinanightortwo. But the chances are against it. Crows and hawks are to be classed among the enemies of poultry. The former prey only on young chickens and eggs. Catch one and hang it in your poultry yard; no other crow will come near it. The quickest and surest trap for crows is to place a steel trap in the shallow water of a pond, so that the jaws when open, are just under water. On the treadle place a small tuft of grass or moss, making a miniature island. Then cut a small stick with three branches, forking in such a manner as to support an egg on them; stick this about six or eight inches from the trap; lay a little moss, grass, or leaves over it, and place the egg on the forks, so it will appear as if floating on the water; cover the remainder of the trap lightly with grass, so as to hide it from sight, for Mr. Grow is very observant. To obtain the egg the 262 THE FARM. crow will light on the ‘‘ island,” and find too late he is caught. When hawks are troublesome the only remedy is to shoot them. You will soon notice that he visits your yard about a certain time every day, and by watching for him you can soon rid yourself of the troublesome visitor—of course provided you are a good shot. Trapping Ground Moles.—We give an illustration upon this page of a very good and simple trap that may be successfully used in catching that troublesome little pest, the ground mole. It is made of two ash boards, a full inch in thickness, seven inches in width, and two feet six inches long, attached to one end by a broad butt hinge. The form given to the bottom board is shown in the cut, the central slit being made to admit the free play of the trigger, which is represented by itself in the right-hand corner of the sketch. Itis of iron, ten inches long; the lower part shaped like a paddle, five inches long, one and one-eighth inches wide, and the left-hand end, notched as shown, and three-quarters of an inch wide perpendicularly. The post, sixteen inches high, is curved to the circular sweep of the top board on its hinge. The teeth, six in number, on each side, are riveted seven-eighths of an inch apart, in a plate five and one- fourth inches long and one inch wide, contain- ing four screw holes, placed zigzag, and this is found much firmer and more secure than if the teeth were in- serted directly in the + upper plank. The trap = is set, a8 shown in the SS cut, across a mole se are aha track, first digging a A GOOD MOLE TRAP. hole eight inches square and six inches deep, and returning the soil, taking care to exclude all stones and large pebbles. Press the earth down pretty firmly, and set the trap so that the trigger touches the surface of the ground exactly over the line of the track. When the mole goes along his accustomed road, and finds it obstructed, his move- ments in reopening the track inevitably heaves up the surface, so as to set off the trigger, and the teeth on one side or the other will catch him. Weight the trap with a heavy flat stone. Ridding the Land of Stumps.—We have frequently noticed persons when clearing land make a brush pile over a green stump, with the expecta- tion, apparently, that they were pursuing the right course to effectually rid the land of its presence immediately, while in fact no better means could be resorted to in order to insure its indefinite preservation. It has been the experience of the writer that a stump should never be fired until it has be- come sufficiently ‘‘seasoned” to insure its entire consumption, else the charred remnant becomes impervious to the action of the elements, and it will remain a troublesome customer to deal with for long years after. These thoughts are suggested from a quite recent experience in dealing with some very “‘old settlers,” which the hands on the farm wished to fire AROUND THE FARM. — 268 several years back, and were only prevented from doing so by a positive command to the contrary. By a little patient waiting we are gratified with seeing “the places which once knew them, know them no more forever,” This is one plan of treatment. Martin Boxes.—The box-house does very well if made of any small box about fifteen inches square (which can be had of any grocer), with a division put in it so that two families can inhabit it. A square hole should be sawed out atthe bottom edge opposite each division, and the bottom nailed on. ff his Place the box on a pole from twelve to “ill a a NS which are quite attractive to the eye. ny 4 | | The illustration given on this page will \ mental and picturesque. We have seen them built twostories high, made and go to “housekeeping.” By all means give them some kind of a home. yi fi / fifteen feet high, or on the gable end of a roof, or even in a tree, and your house is finished. It can be painted A | or not, or even made in fancy designs, ° i | convey the idea. A hop, or other 1 Ni rapid-growing climber, if planted at i Lei | i Sg the bottom of the pole, will climb up Sita: itt TILA it and cause it too look quite orna- like a diminutive gothic cottage, which is quite pretty. The house should be made before the martins come, as they are generally in a hurry to locate Cisterns.—Many who have cisterns and depend upon them for their sup- ply of water for family use, hardly realize the importance of keeping them sweet and clean. Rain water as it comes down from the clouds is prob- ably as pure as any water can be, but after it has washed over a roof and down the conductors into the cistern, carrying with it dust, leaves, and other rubbish that may have gathered on the roof or in the gutters, it is not strange that the cistern should need to be MARTIN BOX, cleaned out every year or two. If the cistern is not much used the water is quite likely to become bad. It may look all right, and not taste very bad either, and yet not be healthful. Of course all cistern water should be filtered, and a soft brick filter is perhaps the best; but even then it will be- come necessary to clean the cistern as often as every two years, and better every year. To Purify Cisterns.—Throw in two ounces powdered alum and two ounces borax to a twenty barrel cistern of rain water that is blackened or oily, and in a few hours the sediment will settle, and the water will be clari- fied and fit for washing . 264 THE FARM. Silos and Ensilage.—The new system of preserving and feeding ensi- lage, says an intelligent writer, is one of such simplicity that doubting minds are incredulous as to possible results. Ifthe building of a silo and the sub- sequent process of filling with ensilage were some wonderful secret, or per- haps a new discovery protected by a series of patents—if the use of the sys- tem were permitted only under the payment of heavy royalties—there is a class of skeptical minds who fatten on uncertain qualities, and who have but little faith in any practice which is within the reach of persons of ordinary intelligence and common sense. It is difficult for many minds to realize the facts claimed for ensilage or to explain to themselves why such results should be secured by processes 80 simple and by apportions so economical. Yet proof, absolute demonstration, is within the reach of every inquiring mind, or of every enterprising farmer who is willing to spend fifty dollars for commencing experiments upon his own farm. It is a most singular fact that the doubting minds are those who have had no practical experience on the subject, but whose conservatism is on the parade. It is equally surprising that no intelligent, practical attempt at silo building or ensilage feeding has resulted in failure, although men of all classes and attainments have experimented with the new system. It would be reasonable to expect many failures among so many beginners of varying capacities, were there anything intricate or uncertain in the process and its auxiliaries. No authority in this country is competent to pronounce posi- tively upon the future success or failure of this new system; it is for the in- terest of no one to urge or induce the adoption of the system by any unwill- ing farmer, and no one is to be enriched by the multiplication of silos, except, perhaps, the individual owners. Many a conservative farmer will await the report of his more enterprising neighbor, who has built a silo, yet it is certain that before many years every one will have an opportunity to judge the merits and drawbacks of the system of ensilage. New Way with a Silo.—A Massachusetts farmer records his experi- ence as follows: We had always raised more or less Indian corn, using the stalks for wintering our limited number of cattle. After increasing our herd we planted fodder corn to help out our stock of corn stalks. However, the hard labor attending the cutting, binding, shocking, and curing the fodder made us willing investigators of the new and highly recommended system of ensilage feeding. From all who had constructed silos and tested ensilage we heard uniformly favorable reports. We could not learn of a failure, hence we determined to test ensilage for ourselves, only hesitating on ac- count of the probable labor and expense attending the erection and weight- ing of a stone silo. Learning that wooden silos found favor with some farmers who pro- nounced them equally as good, so long as they lasted, as the more costly stone affairs, we determined upon constructing our silo of wood. Our barn is a two-story building, measuring 40x80 feet. It contains several large bays, the dimensions of which are 20x24 feet. We sealed up one of these bays with 1 1-4 inch matched spruce boards covered with tarred paper. We cemented the bottom of the silo, also the walls under the sills of the barn. We coated the inside of the silo with coal oil to prevent the effects of mois- ture upon the boards. We stored about 125 tons of corn fodder in the silo, treading it down by men, instead of horses, by reason of the small size of the silo. We were about three weeks storing the whole of our fodder on account of the lack of AROUND THE FARM. 265 help. For covering the silo we used hemlock boards and tarred paper, no other weighting being applied until some three or four weeks later, when we stored a quantity of dry corn stalks upon the top of the silo. Upon opening the silo we found the fodder in a perfect state of pre- servation, the ensilage showing no mold, except a little on top, just under the cover. In preparing the fodder, we employed a two-horse power to run our cutter, the latter being provided with a carrier for delivering the fodder in the silo. Rustic Seats for the Lawn.—The garden and lawn are incompletely furnished if they are not sup- plied with some kind of seats whereon one may recline at ease. Fortunately these seats need not be costly; it would, indeed, show bad taste to have them so, Something easy, graceful, fan- Rustic seat.—ria. 1. tastic, rustic— something that the sunshine or the wind will not harm, or have its beauty destroyed by the rain. The materials for such seats are nearly always at hand—at least on every farmer’s prem- ises. All that is required is a little skill and patience to construct them. The branches of the trees may be bent and shaped into tasteful chairs, and any desired form given to them. The branches of the red cedar tree and wild — W744 | Neenue* A . . > ° “tag sprletscetiar™ grape vine furnish the best of material RUSTIC SEAT.—rFIG. 2. for this style of rustic seat. Our illus- tration, Fig. 1, shows a very pretty chair made in this manner. A few pine boards cut out and nailed together, as represented in the engraving, Fig. 2, will form a cheap and convenient rustic seat, which will be admired for its very simplicity and quaintness. A favorite shade tree on the lawn may be surrounded with seats so at tached that one in sitting may lean against the trunk Our illustration, Fig. 8, will give a good idea of how seats of this kind may be constructed. Of materials there are plenty around glmost every homestead— tasteful labor only is wanting to make appropriate rustic seats. The position of such seats is worthy of A consideration. As they are mainly : intended for use in warm weather, ‘W& \ they should be amply shaded. A RUSTIO SEAT.—FIG, 3, 266 THE FARM. position should be chosen that commands a good prospect—if not a distant landscape, then of the beauties of the lawn and the flower garden. Some, at least, should be screened from observation by shrubbery—fragrant if pos- sible—where one may read or work. It is during the warmer months that the garden and lawn offer their greatest attractions, and everything that tends to make them more enjoyable should be provided. How to Preserve Cider.—A pure, sweet cider is only obtainable from clean, sound fruit, and the fruit should, therefore, be carefully examined and wiped before grinding. In the press use hair cloth or gunny in place of straw. As the cider runs from the press let it pass through a hair sieve into a large open vessel, that will hold as much juice as can be expressed in one day. In one day, or sometimes less, tho pomace will rise to the top, and ina short time grow very thick. When little white bubbles break through it draw off the liquid through a very small spigot placed about three inches from the bottom, so that the lees may be left behind. The cider must be drawn off into very clean, sweet casks, preferably fresh liquor casks, and closely watched. The moment the white bubbles before mentioned are perceived rising at the bunghole, rack it again. Itis usually necessary to repeat this three times. Then fill up the cask with cider in every respect like that originally contained in it, add a tumbler of warm sweet oil and bung up tight. For very fine cider it is customary to add at this stage of this process about half a pound of glucose (starch sugar), or a smaller portion of white sugar. The cask should then ke allowed to remain in a cool place until the cider has acquired the desired flavor. In the meantime, clean barrels for its reception should be prepared, as follows: Some clean strips of rags are dipped in melted sulphur, lighted and burned in the bunghole and the bung laid loosely on the end of the rag 80 as to retain the sulphur vapor within the barrel. Then tie up half a pound of mustard seed in a coarse muslin bag and put it in the barrel, fill the bar- rel with cider, and add about a quarter of a pound of ismglass or fine gela- tine dissolved in hot water. This is the old fashioned way, and will keep cider in the same condition as when it went into the barrel, if kept in a cool place, for a year. Professional cider makers are now using calcium sulphite (sulphite of lime) instead of mustard and sulphur vapor. It is much more convenient and effectual. To use it, it is simply requisite to add one-eighth to one- quarter of an ounce of the sulphite to each gallon of cider in the cask, first mixing the powder in about a quart of the cider, and giving the latter a thorough shaking or rolling. After standing bunged several days to allow the sulphite to exert its full action it may be bottled off. The sulphite of lime (which should not be mistaken for the sulphate of lime) is a commer- cial article, costing about forty cents a pound bythe barrel. It will preserve the sweetness of the cider perfectly; but unless care is taken not to add too much of it, it will impart a slight sulphurous taste to the cider. The bottles and corks used should be perfectly clean, and the corks wired down, A little cinnamon, wintergreen or sassafras, etc., is often added to sweet cider in the bottle, together with a dram or so of bi-carbonate of soda at the moment of driving the stopper. This helps to neutralize free acids, and renders the liquid effervescent when unstopped; but if used to excess, it may prejudicially affect the taste. AROUND THE FARM. 267 What Birds Accomplish.—The swallow, swift, and hawk are the guardians of the atmosphere. They check the increase of insects that other- wise would overload it. Woodpeckers, creepers, and chickadees are the guardians of the trunks of trees. Warblers and flycatchers protect the foli- age. Blackbirds, crows, thrushes, and larks protect the surface of the soil. Snipe and woodcock protect the soil under the surface. Tach tribe has its respective duties to perform in the economy of nature, and it is an undoubted fact that if the birds were all swept off the face of the earth man could not live upon it, vegetation would wither and die; insects would become so numerous that no living being could withstand their attacks. The whole- sale destruction occasioned by grasshoppers which have devastated the West is to a great extent, perhaps, caused by the thinning out of the birds, such as grouse, prairie hens, etc., which feed upon them. The great and in- estimable service done to the farmer, gardener, and florist by the birds is only becoming known by sad experience. Spare the birds and save the fruit; the little corn and fruit taken by them is more than compensated by the quantities of noxious insects they destroy. The long-persecuted crow has been found by actual experience to do more good by the vast quantities of grubs and insects he devours than the harm he does in the grains of corn he pulls up. He is, after all, rather a friend than an enemy to the farmer. Recipe for Curing Meat.—To one gallon of water take one and one- half pounds of salt, one-half pound sugar, one-half ounce saltpetre, one- half ounce potash. In this ratio the pickle can be increased to any quantity desired. Let these be boiled together until all the dirt from the sugar rises to the top and is skimmed off. Then throw it into a tub to cool, and when cold pour it over your beef or pork. The meat must be well covered with pickle, and should not be put down for at least two days after killing, dur- ing which time it should be slightly sprinkled with powdered saltpetre, which removes all the surface blood, etc., leaving the meat fresh and clean. Some omit boiling the pickle, and find it to answer well, though the opera- tion of boiling purified the pickle by throwing off the dirt always to be found in salt and sugar. If this recipe is strictly followed, it will require only a single trial to prove its superiority over the common way, or most ways of putting down meat, and will not soon be abandoned for any other. The meat is unsurpassed for sweetness, delicacy, and freshness of color. Value of Drainage.—As a matter of fact there is very little land in our country that would not be improved by drainage.. Many light soils are springy, and the crops are injured in them by stagnant water. Heavy land can never do its best until drained. Vast areas of low-lying but rich land are practically valueless for want of drains to carry off the redundant mois- ture which forbids the growth of any but aquatic plants. Many who admit the importance of this improvement are puzzled about the ways and means of effecting it. The Drainage Jownal mentions the following plan, which is well worthy of serious consideration: ‘‘ Some enterprising tile manufacturers select careful farmers who own flat lands, and make them something like the following proposition: That the farmer make a careful estimate of his average crops, and the tile manufacturer proposes to furnish the tile neces- sary to drain thoroughly the lunds designated in the agreement, the farmer to furnish the labor of putting in the drains at a stipulated price, to be paid out of the excess of crops grown on the land over and above the average yield before agreed upon, and the tile manufacturer agreeing to take the 268 THE FARM. balance of the increase in four or five crops (as agreed) to cover the cost of the tile. On ievel lands, where the average crop runs low and the land by nature is rich, it is a safe proposition for the tile manufacturer, if the farmer honestly performs his part of the contract. On rich level lands that need drainage, and need it badly, it will pay twenty-five per cent. annually on the investment, and in some instances more.” Rustic Garden House.—No accessories to the garden add more to its beauty and comfort than pleasant, comfortable seats and resting places. They may be composed of a few sticks, forming a simple seat under the shade of some tree, or may be made in the form of rustic houses. Simpli- city, however, must not be Jost sight of, and no foolish attempt should be made to eclipse the simple beauty of nature by any expensive display of art. Tn our travels on the Hudson we once stopped at the beautiful garden of A. J. Downing, and after admiring the fine specimen trees it contained, and surveying the finely-kept lawn, we found ourselves reclining in a pretty rus- tic house, a view of which is given in the engraving on this page, and we now present it as a model for this kind of work. A lit- tle patience and taste and a very few tools will enable one with ordinary mechanical skill to erect such a house at leisure times, almost without cost. How to Make Sorgo Vinegar.—A _ corre- spondent writing from Loutre Island, Mo., in the Rural World, tells how he made 1,000 gallons of ‘ No. 1 vinegar mostly from sorgo skimmings. He says: ‘‘Of course the first skimmings are not used. T had two 160-gallon tubs. Into these I put about 70 gallons of apple pomace (cider and all), 25 to 30 gallons of skimmings, according to thickness, then filled up with rain water. I let it remain for two or three days, then drew it off and put in a large 1,000-gallon cask, which I finished filling by the latter part of October. . Next spring I drew it off in 40-gallon barrels, put them in a warm place where the sun shone on them part of the day, and I soon had the very best of vinegar. The above casks were in an out-house where it was as cold as out of doors. Of course it had no time to sour that fall, as winter set in early in November; consequently freezing did not hurt it, though it should not freeze after once becoming sour. Pressed or dry po- mace is just as good, only add skimmings and water for the cider taken. Vinegar made this way is better, I think, than when made of sorgo alone. It can hardly be detected from pure cider vinegar, and is justas good. Bear in mind that only enough water should be added to reduce the strength of the skimmings to about that of cider. You need saccharine to make good vinegar. You can’t make vinegar from a few apple peelings and a barrel of rain water.” <= — = RUSTIC GARDEN HOUSE. AROUND THE FARM. 269 Blasting Stumps.—The following is the modus operandi of blasting atumps with dynamite: Make a hole an inch in diameter near the stump, inclining at an angle of about forty-five degrees, so as to reach underneath the body of the stump. This hole may be made with a crowbar through the soil, but if there be a large deep tap-root it will be necessary to continue the hole into the body of the tap-root by means of a long auger. A cartridge containing three or four ounces of dynamite is then inserted to the bottom of the hole, and a slow match having a peculiar percussion cap on the end is inserted in the cartridge. The hole is then tampered with earth, and when all is ready the outer end of the match is lighted, and the operator retires to a safe distance. The explosion usually not only extracts the stump from the ground, but tears it into pieces small enough to handle easily. The dynamite costs about forty cents per pound, so that a three or four ounce charge, with its fuse, would cost about ten cents—making the cost of blow- ing up a stump about ten cents, besides the labor. How to Thatch Roofs.—Rye straw threshed with a flail and kept straight, with the short or broken straws raked out, is the best material. The roof is made ready for thatching by nailing strips of boards, say one by two inches, across the rafters, putting them a foot apart. The pitch should be steep, to in- sure a waterproof and durable roof. The straw should be cut to a uni- form length, and care taken to have it straight and all right. The HOW TO THATCH ROOFS. sketch shows how the roof is prepared for the straw, and the manner the courses are laid. Tie the straw in bundles that will average six inches in thickness. The band should be close to the upper end, the one which is fastened to the cross strip. The courses should overlap, so a8 to make the roof the thickness of three bundles. Fish Culture for the Farm.—No farm should be without a fish pond, well stocked, any more than it should be without poultry. This may be a startling announcement to farmers who have to go one hundred feet to water, but it is none the less practical, as much as to keep stock on such a farm. Water must be produced in either instance. On most farms the drainage is favorable to ponds by throwing a dam across some sag or ravine and retaining the water that would naturally run off. The pond would serve the purpose of both stock and fish. Where this plan is not practicable, a pump worked by a wind-mill will answer as well if kept running; the sur- plus water drained into an artificial pond would supply the water. The pond should be at least eight feet deep in the center. This would give the fish an opportunity to place themselves beyond the reach of ice. A pond of fifty feet in diameter would accommodate a reasonable supply of fish for an 270 THE FARM, ordinary family if the fish are properly fed. Perhaps there is no fish so well calculated for this character of farming as the carp. It feeds on vegetables, and in its habits has about the relation to an ordinary game fish that the farm yard fowl has to the game fowl. A Suggestion for Drainage.—A Missouri farmer relates an experience which offers suggestions, which, while they may not be exactly new, may have for many, great practical value. There were upon his farm several depressions which in wet seasons held ponds of water. To drain these by ordinary means would have been very expensive, because no gravel could be got near the farm, and there was no tile factory in that vicinity, Open ditches were out of the question. The services of an expert well-borer were secured. He sank several test shafts in various parts of the farm, and found that the underlying ground was a tenacious blue clay, fourteen to sixteen feet thick, and almost perfectly impervious. Beneath this was found a strata of white sand. The well-borer and his machine were placed in a wagon, which by means of a long rope was hauled to the deepest parts of a pond about an acre in extent. Here he bored a well down to the sand, completing the operation before sunset of the day when the work began. In thirty-six hours the water had disappeared and the pond was dry. To make this short perpendicular drain permanent he had it cleared of sediment, sunk the shaft about two feet into the bed of sand, and filled to the top with clean, coarse gravel from a creek bed. The gravel was heaped about a foot high above the shaft to strain the water properly that the shaft might not become choked. They are thousands of places in the West where, year after year, farmers have plowed around such wet spots, giving them up to the possession of rushes and frogs. Yet they could be drained easily by a few hours’ work. In Western Michigan a large swamp lay for years on the southern edge of a village, a noisome barrier to progress and a bone of contention in village and township politics. To Grain it a large ditch a mile or two long would have been required; but some one, fortunately, discovered that a thin sheet of clay was all that kept the water from going down into a deep strata of gravel, boulders and sand. The wells were sunk and the swamp thoroughly drained at an almost nominal cost, leaving rich black soil, which is the most produc- tive and valuable in all that district. There may be thousands of similar swamps, where two or three days spent in sinking test shafts would show a ready means for converting sloughs or swamps into fields of wonderful fertility. Important Use of Coal Oil.—A Southern farmer says: “I once read an article enumerating some of the practical uses to which coal oil can be suc- cessfully put, in which the writer suggested that it would be an effective remedy against the apparently indestructible bott or grub in horses. I had a horse which had always been sohopelessly infected with both grubs and the small intestinal worm, that he could never be kept in a better condition than that of a skeleton, and with a ravenous appetite, and the best of treat- ment with the use of all known remedies, appeared to be nothing more or less than an improved type of a successful worm manufactory. Out of pa- tience and disgusted with my patient, and not knowing how much kerosene a horse could take without injury, yet determined to “ kill or cure ”—not caring much which—I commenced to drench with a gill of oil, intending to double the dose every day till a “cure” or a “ kill” was effected. On the AROUND THE FARM. 271 first day I gave a gill, on the next a half a pint, and on the third a pint, and it was very soon apparent that that was enough both for the worms and the horse. Large quantities of both kinds passed, and the horse appeared to be on the point of passing too, but he didn’t; and soon after all the usual symp- toms of worms had disappeared, and the horse commenced to improve rap- idly in flesh and general condition, and is now in better condition than I have ever seen him, and still impr-ving. “T also experimented with kerosene on cut nails to make them take the place of wrought nails in a cart body I was building. I brought the nails to a red heat, dropped them into the oil and let them stand until cool, when they could be clinched, bent and twisted into any desirable shape almost with as much case and safety as a piece of wire, of the same size. My cart body required 100 nails, for which any blacksmith would have charged me one dollar. Two pounds of ten penny nails cost ten cents, leaving a balance of ninety cents in favor of the kerosene. This is asmall item, but the farmer can save many such during the year, and it is the little things that pay.” Draining Wet Land.—The objects of draining are: 1. To carry off surface water, by open drains. 2. To lower the water line. 3. To prevent waste of the surface-applied manure, by washing off the soluble elements before they become incorporated in the soil. 4, To put the soil in a condition to be benefitted by the use of lime, ashes and alkaline substances. There is no use in manuring or liming land that lies under water half the year. 5. To make the land a better absorbent of ammoniacal, nitrogenous and carbonic acid gases—so necessary for the growth of all crops. 6. To make the soil more porous, so that rains and melted snow shall descend through the soil, leaving their fertilizing elements in the earth that has acted as a filter, instead of flooding the surface and carrying all their rich freights off of the land. The infinitely wise Father has provided a vast reservoir of the richest agricultural elements which He pours upon the earth, in the rain and snow, for us to utilize. The science of agriculture is teaching the wise how to se- cure and utilize these elements. One way to do it is, to render the soil porous and friable, ready to receive and hold the nitrogen and carbonic acid gas that is precipitated upon it in showers and snow. The nitrogen thus precipitated by rains goes down to the alkaline elements constantly being liberated in the soil and unites with the potash, soda and lime, forming the nitrates of lime and soda and potash, thus making the soil one vast labora- tory, on nature’s grand scale, for the production of a fertilizer that will never deplete but constantly enrich the lands of the intelligent agriculturist. 7. To enable the farmer to start his plow from ten days to three weeks earlier in the spring, and to keep it going when lands undrained are unfit to work. The time lost on undrained lands in the spring and fall and after heavy rains, which can be improved on well drained lands, will be sufficient in from one to three years to satisfactorily drain most farms. 8. To make the land earlier and later. Well drained land is much warmer and advances the growth of plants faster than land saturated with water. As we can start our plows from ten days to three weeks earlier on drained fields than on undrained, there is more than a corresponding differ- ence in maturing of the crops in consequence of a warmer and quicker soil. And as the plow can run later in the season when the fall rains are made to 272 THE FARM. percolate through the soil into drains, s0 the season is not only earlier in the spring but correspondingly prolonged in the fall, enabling one team to accomplish during the season much more work. Every farmer knows what a rush and hurry there is, when ground is undrained, to push things when soil is tempered just right for work. Well drained land is always tempered right. Steady work, which accomplishes the most, and not hurry, becomes the order of the day, while there is always time to do everything well. 9. Another object of draining is to deepen the soil. Where the water line has been six inches from the surface, thatis the depth of the man’s farm for all practical purposes. Neither cereals nor root crops will go down below the water line. Trees dobadly. Apples, pears and quinces blight when the top roots go below the water line. Lowering the water line twelve inches gives the tiller of the soil a new farm more valuable than the first. The potash, soda, phosphoric acid and lime of the first six inches has sunk down into the strata below. As these substances, so necessary to the growth of plants, sink down into the earth when wet, so they rise in the form of nitrate when the ground is dry. So that underdraining gives the farmer control by clovering and root cropping, of more valuable elements and greater quantities of them, than he can afford to buy. 10. The last object of draining we will mention is, to render the farm and neighborhood more healthy. This is no unimportant consideration. We know of districts of country many miles square which twelve years ago were greatly subject to chills and feyers, but which, by only partially draining and liming, have become almost entirely free from these maladies. It is just what any thinking person would suppose. Where the land is low and the water lies either on the surface or within an inch or two of it, the surface vegetation is decomposed by the action of the moisture as soon as the warm rays of the sun fall upon it. Malarial marsh gas is eliminated; bilious and intermittent fever, stomach and bowel afflictions, that carry off numbers of children, follow as a natural and necessary consequence. Where there is only a small pond hole, that dries up in summer, near the house, doctors are sure to be in demand. We hardly know where to stop writing on this important subject. Many other reasons for draining will readily suggest themselves, and farmers should study the various methods of draining wet land. How to Cure Hams.—This receipt is fifty years old, and it is the best. To each twenty pounds of fresh meat make a mixture of one-fourth of a pound of brown sugar and a dessertspoonful of ground saltpetre; rub this well by hand into the meat; then with coarse salt cover the bottom of a bar- rel, say to half an inch; put in hams, and cover with half an inch of salt, and so on until the barrel is full; hams should remain in a cvol place four weeks; when salted, wipe and dry them, and get some whole black pepper, which you must grind yourself, and pepper thoroughly, especially about the hock and bone; let the ham lie for two days; then smoke for eight weeks. Axle-Grease.—A first-rate axle-grease is made as follows: Dissolve half a pound of common soda in one gallon of water; add three pounds of tallow and six pounds of palm oil, or ten pounds of palm oil only. Heat them to- gether to 200 or 210 degrees Fahr.; mix, and keep the mixture constantly stirred until the composition is cooled down to 60 or 70 degrees. A thinner composition is made with half a pound of soda, one gallon of water, one gal- lon of rape oil, and a quarter of a pound of tallow, or palm oil, ARUVUUND THE FARM. 273 Driving Nails Into Hard Wood.—The editor of an agricultural peri- odical witnessed an experiment of driving nails into hard seasoned timber, fairly dried. He says that the first two nails, after passing through a pine board, entered about one inch, and then doubled down under the hammer; but on dipping the points of the other six or eight nails into lard, every one was driven home without the least difficulty. Carpenters who are engaged in repairing old buildings sometimes carry a small lump of lard or tallow for this purpose on one of their boots or shoes. Good Well Curbing.—The best timber for curbing a well is hemlock, which is very durable when under water, and gives no flavor to the water. Of the woods some mention, all would rot very quickly except pine and tamarack, but pine is objectionable on account of its strong flavor. If hem- lock cannot be procured, tamarack would be the best. The timber should be cut in two or three inch planks, and put together by halving the timbers at the end, and holding the halved parts dovetailed or cornered together, so that the sides cannot be forced in by the pressure of the earth, the upper half of one piece fitting upon the lower half of the other piece. To Repair Leaky Roofs.—One of the very best preparations for repair- ing roofs that leak is to procure coal tar at the gas-works, and mix finely- sifted coal ashes or road dust with it till about as thick as mortar. Plaster with this carefully around leaky-roofed valleys or gutters, or about chimney flushings. It will soon set as hard as stone, and apparently as indestructi- ‘ble. This preparation is very cheap, and would probably answer equally well spread all over a roof previously laid with felt or roofing paper. Once put on properly, it would seem to be there for all time. A Cheap Rain Gauge.—To make a rain gauge for farmers’ use, just as good as if it cost three dollars, take a quart fruit can free from dents, hold the top in the fire until the solder is melted, then knock: it off; place the can on a post, with brackets nailed around to keep it in place. Make a rule six inches long, divided into tenths of inches—one made out of a strip of slate is best. Measure the rain every morning after falling. An inch of rain is a good rainfall, if it comes gently. This in weight will be 226,875 pounds, or 113 tons 875 pounds to the acre. Burning Stumps.—Tree stumps are said to be easily removed by boring a two-inch hole eighteen inches deep into the stump. Do this in the fall, and fill with a concentrated solution of saltpetre, and plug up to keep out water. By spring it will have permeated every part. Then fill the hole with kerosene, set on fire, and the whole stump, it is said, will be consumed, even to the roots. It would seem to be feasible, and it is certainly an easy way to get rid of stumps. The ashes will remain to fertilize the soil. How to Get Rid of Rats.—The English Standard says: ‘‘ Several corre- spondents write to announce the complete extirpation of rats and mice from their cow-stalls and piggeries since the adoption of this simple plan: A mix- ture of two parts well-bruised common squills and three parts finely-chopped bacon is made into a stiff mass, with as much meal as may be required, and then baked into small cakes, which are put down for the rats to eat.” Whitewash That Will Stick.—To make whitewash that will not wash off by the rain, one peck of lime should be slaked in five gallons of water, in which one pound of rice has been boiled until it is all dissolyed. The rice 274. THE FARM. water should be used hot, and the mixture covered up closely until the lime is slaked. Then add a pound of salt, and the wash heated to boiling when used. It is not an expensive preparation. It can be prepared by any person wishing to use a good wash, and is highly satisfactory. Brother farmers, try it. Signs of a Prosperous Farmer.—\When lights are seen burning in his house before the break of day, in winter especially, it shows that the day will never break on the breaking in of the winter of adversity. When you see him drive his work instead of his work driving him, it shows that he will never be driven from good resolutions, and that he will certainly work his way to prosperity. When he has a house separate from the main building purposely for ashes, and an iron or tin vessel to transport them, it shows that he never built his dwelling for a funeral pyre for his family, and perhaps himself. When his hog-pen is boarded outside and in, it shows that he is ‘ going the whole hog or none,”’ in keeping plenty inside his house and poyerty out. When his sled is safely housed in summer, and his farming implements covered both winter and summer, it plainly shows that he will have a good house over his head in the summer of early life and the winter of old age. When his cattle are properly shielded and fed in winter it evinces that he is acting according to Scripture, which says that ‘‘ a merciful man is merciful to his beast.” When he is seen subscribing for a newspaper and paying for it in advance, it shows that he is speaking like a book respecting the latest movements in agriculture, and that he will never get his walking papers to the land of poverty. To Clean an Old Roof.—Those wishing to know the best means of re- moving moss and earth accumulations from an old shingle roof, are advised to sprinkle lime freely along the comb of the roof, and let the rains dissolve and carry it over the shingles. Every particle of dirt and moss will be re- moved by it. If kept clean, shingles will last much longer. This method is as good and cheaper than any direct application to the shingles. Paint for Farmers.—Farmers will find the following profitable for house or fence paint: Skim milk, two quarts; fresh slaked lime, eight ounces; linseed oil, six ounces; white burgundy pitch, two ounces; Spanish white, three pounds. The lime is to be slaked in water, exposed to the air and then mixed with about one-fourth of the milk; the oil in which the pitch 1s dissolved to be added a little at a time, then the rest of the milk, and after- ward the Spanish white. This is sufficient for twenty-seven yards, two coats. This is for white paint. If desirable, any other color may be produced; thus, if cream color is desired, in place of the part of Spanish white use the other alone. To Prevent a Carriage from Spotting.—A newly-varnished carriage is liable to spot. To prevent this some wash the carriage two or three times in clean cold water applied with a sponge instead of using a hose; this will help harden the surface, and prevent it to some extent from being injured by the mud or water getting splashed on the job. Never let mud dry on the surface, and then wash off expecting to see no spots on the varnish. You will certainly be disappointed, and the only way to remedy this eyil will be to haye it revarnished, Soft water is better than hard water for the washing a AROUND THE FARM. 275 of carriages, as the lime which is in the hard water is very liable to injure the varnish. Removing Carbonic Acid Gas or Foul Air from Wells.—A corre- spondent gives an account of an extemporized apparatus for removing car- bonic acid gas from wells. It was simply an opened out umbrella let down and rapidly hauled up a number of times in succession. The effect was to re- move the gas in a few minutes from a well so foul as to instantly extinguish a candle previous to the use of the umbrella. Whenever there is an escape of gas inan apartment, the adoption of this plan will be found useful. To Render Wood Uninflammable.—Professor Kedzie, of the Agri- cultural College of Michigan, an expert chemist, says that a paint or wash made of skim milk, thoroughly skimmed, and water brine, will render wood uninflammable, and he proved it by experiment. He said this paint, or white- wash, is durable, very_cheap, impervious to water, of agreeable color, and, as it will prevent wood from taking fire, urged its use, particularly on roofs, outbuildings, barns, etc. Remedy for Burdocks.—TI{ is said that a certain and speedy remedy for burdocks has been found in kerosene oil. A small quantity poured into the heart of a plant, directly after cutting, leaves no trace of their existence saye a small hole in the earth where they stood. Refined or crude oil will accomplish the purpose just as well. Paint for One Cent a Pound.—To one gallon of soft, hot water, add four pounds sulphate of zine (crude). Let it dissolve perfectly, and a sedi- ment will settle at the bottom. Turn the clear solution into another vessel. To one gallon of paint (lead and oil), mix one gallon of the compound. Stir it into the paint slowly for ten or fifteen minutes, and the compound and paint will perfectly combine. If too thick thin it with turpentine. A Good Word for Toads.—Toads, according to Prof. Miles, live almost entirely upon slugs, caterpillars, beetles and other insects, making their rounds at night, when the farmer is asleep—and the birds, too—and the in- sects are supposed to be having their own way. French farmers understand these facts so well that they purchase toads, at so much a dozen, and turn them loose. Protect the Swallow.—Among insectiyorous birds the swallow is worthy of great encouragement. An examination of the stomachs of eight- een swallows killed at different seasons of the year showed that they con- tained an average of 406 undigested insects each, and not a single grain of corn (of any kind), or the least particle of fruit or a trace of any vegetable. Plan for Keeping Hams.—A very good way of keeping hams is to wrap them in strong brown paper so that the ashes cannot come in contact with them. Then pack them in clean, hard wood ashes, in dry boxes or barrels. This will keep well cured hams quite sweet, as the ashes serve as a protec- tion against insects. The boxes should be set in a cool, dry place. Improving Lawns.—For ridding lawns of unsightly weeds, such as plantain and dandelions, the following plan is recommended by an experi- -enced gardener: To the end of alight wooden rod attach a small sponge, or better, wind a few thicknesses of cloth around it, dip the sponge in oil of 276 THE FARM. vitriol, and with it touch the heart of the weed. The oil of vitrol may be car- ried in a wide-mouthed bottle at the end of another rod. Mold in Cellars.—To get rid of mold in cellars, put some roll brimstone into a pan and set fire to it; close the doors, making the cellar as nearly air- tight as possible, when the fungi will be destroyed and the mold dried up. Repeat this simple and inexpensive operation every two or three months for two or three hours at a time. Thawing Frozen Apples.—It is stated by those who have had the ad- vantage of experience, that if apples which have been frozen are thawed in the dark they are uninjured; but ifin the light, they very soon become unfit for use. We should suppose the same result would most likely appear if the experiment were tried with potatoes. Washing Harness.—TIt is bad policy to wash harness with soap, as the potash injures the leather. Ifthe harness becomes rusty rub off the dirt as well as possible with a soft brush, and apply a dressing of grain black, fol- lowed with oil or tallow, which will fasten the color and make the leather soft and pliable. A Good Suggestion About Harness.—Add a little glycerine to the grease applied to harness, and it will be kept in a soft and pliable state, in spite of the ammoniacal exhalations of the stable, which tend to make it brittle. Gas Tar for Wagon Wheels.—A farmer who has tried it speaks in the highest praise of gas tar for painting wagon wheels, stating that it tightens tires and spokes better than anything that can be tried. Mice in the Grain Chest.—If you are troubled about the grain chest with mice, watch for their holes and scatter a little copperas in them. A few grains will drive them away. Rats and Mice.—Rats and mice will go into a trap much more readily if a piece of looking-glass is put in any part of the trap where they can see themselves. They are social little creatures, and where they can see any of their tribe, there they will go. gerry TOUSERHOLD. COOKING RECIPES. Breakfast Dishes. To Make Good Coffee.—French cooks are famous for the excellence of their coffee, which they make so strong that one part of the liquor requires the addition of two parts to reduce it to the proper strength. This addition is made with hot milk. The large proportion of hot milk, in the place of so much warm water, gives the coffee a richness like that made by the addition of cream in the ordinary way. By this means any housekeeper desirous of making good coffee, can have it without cream. Hominy Muffins._ Take two cups of very fine hominy, boiled and cold; beat it smooth and stir in three cups of sour milk, half a cup of melted butter, two tablespoonfuls of salt and two tablespoonfuls of white sugar; then add three eggs well beaten, one tablespoonful of soda dissolved in hot water, and one large cup of flour; bake quickly. Corn Muffins.—One pint of corn meal, one pint of sour milk, two table- spoonfuls of soda, two eggs, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, three tablespoon- fuls of melted butter, a little salt. Stir soda into the milk and mix with the meal; add the eggs, melted butter, sugar and salt. Beat briskly, and bake in cups ina hot oven. Very nice breakfast cakes. Breakfast Muffins.—Set a rising as for bread overnight. In the morn- ing, early, warm a pint of milk and beat into the dough sufficient to make it as for ordinary muffin batter; beat well for five or ten minutes and set to rise for breakfast. Bake in rings on a very hot griddle, and turn frequently to prevent burning. Buttermilk Muffins.—One quart of sour milk, two eggs, one teaspoon- ful of soda dissolved in warm water, a teaspoonful of salt, and flour suffi- cient to make a good batter. Beat the eggs well, stir them into the milk, then add the flour and salt, and lastly the soda. Bake in a quick oven. Bread Griddle Cakes.—To a pint of bread crumbs add one pint of boiling milk; cover closely and let it stand over night. In the morning mash to a smooth paste and beatin the yelks of two eggs; then slowly add one- half pint of cold milk, beating all the time; and one-half pint of flour with which a measure of baking powder has been sifted; lastly add the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth; fry like griddle cakes. Buckwheat Cakes.—The best buckwheat cakes are made with an addition of corn meal flour and oat meal flour to the buckwheat, in this pro- 278 THE HOUSEHOLD. portion: Six cups of buckwheat, three cups of oatmeal flour, or if this cannot be obtained, substitute graham flour in its place, and one cup of corn meal flour; to this adda dessertspoon evenly filled with salt, two tablespoonfuls of molasses, and lukewarm water sufficient to form a batter; stir through the flour well four teaspoonfuls of baking powder before wetting; but these cakes are much better raised over night with yeast. French Pancakes.—To make French pancakes, take two eggs, two ounces of butter, two ounces of sifted sugar, two ounces of flour, half a pint of new milk. Beat the eggs thoroughly and put them into a basin with the butter, which should be beaten to a cream; stir in the sugar and flour, and when these ingredients are well mixed, stir in the milk, keep stirring and beating the mixture for a few minutes. Serve with a cut lemon and sugar, and pile the pancakes ona dish, with a layer of preserves or marmalade between each. Egg Pancakes.—Beat six eggs light, add some salt, and one pint of flour, and stir in gradually enough milk to make a thin, smooth batter. Take a hot griddle or skillet, butter the bottom, and put in enough batter to run over it as thin as a dollar piece. When brown turn it. When done take it out on a dish; put a little butter, sugar and cinnamon over it. Fry another and treat likewise, and so on until a plate is piled. Send hot to table for dessert or breakfast or tea. Cream Pancakes.—Take half a pint of thick cream, two ounces of sugar, and a teaspoonful of finely-powdered spice; beat the yelks of three eggs, add them to the cream; mix well together; simply rub your pan with a bit of frilure, make it hot, putin a small quantity of the batter, so as to have the pancakes as thin as possible. Serve them sprinkled over with grated lemon peel and pounded loaf sugar. Corn Griddle Cakes.—Two cups of coarse corn meal, two cups sour milk, or buttermilk, one egg, one tablespoonful graham flour, one teaspoon- ful soda dissolved in boiling water; make a batter of the meal, milk, eggs, and flour; ifitis too thick add a little milk; then stir in the dissolved soda, beat well, and bake immediately on a hot griddle; do not scorch the cakes. Wheat Griddie Cakes.—One quart of sour milk, two even teaspoonfuls of soda and one even teaspoonful of salt, flour enough to make a good batter; stir until the lumps are broken; fry at once. To Make Batter Pancakes.—Well beat three eggs with a pound of flour, put to ita pint of milk and a little salt, fry them in lard or butter, grate sugar over them, cut them in quarters, and serve them up. Breakfast Corn Cakes. -Two eggs, one cup sweet milk, two table- spoonfuls sweet cream, one-half cup sugar, three-fourths cup flour, two cups Indian meal, three teaspoonfuls baking powder. Lemon Flapjacks.—-One pint of milk, four eggs, juice of one lemon, a pinch of soda, and flour enough to make a light batter. Fry in hot lard. Serve with sugar and nutmeg. Delicious Wafiles.—One and one-half pint sweet milk; one teacup butter and lard, or one cup of either melted and put in the milk, then stir in the flour; next beat the yelks of four eggs, and add with two tablespoonfuls COOKING RECIPES. 279 of yeast and beat very hard. Beat the whites last, and stir them in gently. The consistency of the batter should be about like griddle cakes, or so it will run easily in the irons. Hominy Fritters.—Cook the hominy well; let it boil down pretty thick before using; add to one quart of boiled hominy about half a cup of sweet milk, one egg, a little salt, and flour enough to fry and turn without running; only enough lard required in frying to prevent burning; too much milk and flour toughens them. Omelet.—Comparatively few of our housekeepers dare attempt an omelet, but there is nothing difficult about it. The chief cause of failure lies in not having the spider hot enough, or in making an omelet too large for the pan. For a spider eight inches in diameter, not more than four eggs should be used. For an omelet of this size, use four eggs, one teaspoonful of salt, and two tablespoonfuls of cream, or in place of that, use milk. Beat the yelks alone to a smooth batter, add the milk, salt and pepper, and lastly, the well-beaten whites. Have the frying-pan very hot. Putin a tablespoon- ful of butter, which should instantly hiss. Follow it quickly with the well- beaten mixture, and do not stir this after it goes in. Cook over a hot fire, and as the egg sets, loosen it from the pan without breaking, to prevent burning. It should cook in about ten minutes. When the middle is set, it is a good plan to place the pan on the high grate in the oven to brown the top. This is not needed if you turn half of the omelet over upon itself before turning the whole from the pan upon a hot dish. Eat while hot. Scrambled Eggs.—Many use only eggs with butter and salt for this dish—for four eggs, one tablespoonful of butter. Melt the butter and turn in the beaten eggs, and stir quickly one or two minutes over a hot fire. A common practice is to increase the quantity without impairing the quality by adding milk—a small cup to six eggs, and a tablespoonful of butter with salt and pepper as preferred. Stir these ingredients over a hot fire, putting in the butter first, until the whole thickens. It should be soft and creamy when done. It is very fine served on toast. Eggs a la Creme.—Hard boil twelve eggs, and slice them in thin rings. In the bottom of a deep baking dish spread bits of butter, then a layer of bread crumbs, and then a layer of boiled eggs. Cover with bits of butter, and sprinkle with pepper and salt. Continue thus to blend these ingredients until the dish is full or nearly so. Crumbs over which bits of butter are spread, must cover all of these bits of eggs, and over the whole mixture a pint of sweet cream or sweet milk must be poured, before it is baked in a moderately heated oven. Eggs Newport Style.—Take one pint of bread crumbs and soak in one pint of milk. Beat eight eggs very light, and stir with the soaked crumbs, beating five minutes. Have ready a saucepan in which are two tablespoon- fuls of butter, thoroughly hot, but not scorching; pour in the mixture, season with pepper and salt, as the mass is opened and stirred with the “‘scram- bling,” which should be done quickly with the point of the knife, for three minutes, or until thoroughly hot. Serve on a hot platter, with squares of buttered toast. Stuffed Eggs.—Six hard boiled eggs cut in two, take out the yelks and mash fine; then add two teaspoonfuls of butter, one of cream, two or three 280 THE HOUSEHOLD. drops of onion juice, salt and pepper to taste. Mix all thoroughly, and fill the eggs with the mixture; put them together. Then there will be a little of the filling left, to which add one well-beaten egg. Cover the eggs with this mixture, and then roll in cracker crumbs. Fry a light brown in boiling fat. Cupped Eggs.—Put a spoonful of high-seasoned brown gravy into each cup; set the cups in a saucepan of boiling water, and, when the gravy heats, drop a fresh egg into each cup; take off the saucepan, and cover it close till the eggs are nicely and tenderly cooked; dredge them with nutmeg and salt. Serve them in a plate covered with a napkin. Eggs a la Mode.—Remove the skin from a dozen tomatoes, medium size, cut them up in a saucepan, add a little butter, pepper and salt; when sufficiently boiled beat up five or six eggs, and just before you serve, turn them into the saucepan with the tomato, and stir one way for two minutes, allowing them time to be well done. A Nice Dish for Breakfast.—Take some slices of bread cutting, off the crust; make a batter of three eggs and a pint of milk; soak the bread in it; put some butter in the frying pan; fry the slices of bread till brown. A Good Way to Cook Eggs.—Heat and grease the muffin irons; take a dozen eggs, break an egg in each muffin ring; put pepper, salt and a lump of butter on each; then put in the oven; as soon as it is slightly browned remove with a fork; dish and send to the table hot. Breakfast Dish.— of fresh water for final cleansing, in which they should remain for an- other day. From this TOILET BOTTLE OASE.—FIG. 1. they should be re- moved, placed between the folds of a soft linen cloth, and allowed to dry; they are then — to be pressed, curled, or arranged into ornamental designs, according to fancy. Another method of disintegrating the pulp of the leaves, which is sometimes followed, is to place themin \ a dish of water, keeping them beneath the water by the *S® use of a sheet of glass, and exposing them to the sun- light. The disintegration takes place slowly, requiring two weeks or thereabouts to complete it. The subse- quent operations are the same as those above described. Toilet Bottle Case.—The case is made on a circular foundation of cardboard, four inches wide, lined with black silk and covered with black cloth vandykes round the edge. The latter is embroidered in satin overcast and feather stitch (see Fig. 2). The flowers are worked alternately in white and blue, the rosebuds with pink, and the wheat ears with maize silk. The branches and sprays are worked with several shades of olive and fawn- colored silk. On this foundation is sewn a cylindrical case of cardboard, two and a half inches high, and lined within and without with black satin. Two box-plaited ruchings of satin are arranged round it, and above these is a yandyke strip of black cloth embroidered in the same designs and colors as above described. TOILET BOTTLE CASE,—FI4. 2. Parlor Ornament.—Purchase a plain Indian straw basket, one of neat manufacture and pretty shape; paint it black; this gives an effective background for the fruit designs painted on the sides and ends; line the basket with brightly tinted velvet, cover the LADIES’ FANCY WORK. 363 handle with silver or gold cord; the same should run along the edges of the opening. This dainty piece of home art forms a lovely card basket. A common straw hat, a size to tit a boy of six years, can be made into an artistic novelty. Face the brim with satin nicely pleated; fill the crown with artificial flowers; secure them from tumbling out by long loops of threads; suspend the hat from the top of a cabinet or music stand; the effect is very bright and pleasing. Industrious fingers willing to devote time to the manipulation of home decoration may shape out many lovely things from bits of silk, satin, velvet, and scraps of all wool goods. The top ofa table coyered with work of this kind is very handsome, and a like decoration for a carved bracket is remarkably showy. Catch-All.—The frame-work of this article is made of pieces of cardboard sewed together The materials required for the outside are drab Holland cre- tonne, flowers, fancy braid, and worsteds to match flowers in color. A cord is drawn through eye- | let holes at the top # of the bag, and a {pi large tassel of wor sted finishes the bot- tom. A Rosette.— Rosettes are often useful in tidies, bor- ders and the like. To make the above, begin with a chain of four stitches, and unite in a ring. In this loop work twenty trebles. Second round.— CATCH ALL. Work one cham and one treble over each treble of the last round. Third round.—* On the treble and next chain make a leaf thus: The cotton twice round the needle, take up the stitch, work through two, cotton on the needle, draw through two; cot- ton on the needle, take up the stitch again, work through two, cotton on the needle, work through two; cotton on the needle, take up the next stitch, and work all off the needle, two loops at a time; then four chain. Repeat from *. Fourth round.—One DC on the middle of the four chain, * five chain, one DC on the middle of the next four chain; repeat from*. Fasten off neatly at the end of the round. 364 THE HOUSEHOLD. Ottoman.— Materials: Wine and canary-colored cloth, heavy cord and tassels. Make a cushion of ticking a foot square, fill it tightly with curled hair, then make a case of the wine-colored cloth, and in the seam round the edge of the case full in one edge of the piece to form the puff, then turn it up, and turn in the upper edge and box-plait it, and sew firmly on the top of the case, leaving a space in the center nine f inches square. Cut ofthe light cloth a piece for the center like the design, : : and braid it with gilt, OTTOMAN. red, blue, and black braids, having the edge of the star pinked. Fasten it to the cushion in each point with a large bead, and finish each corner with a tassel. Draw the cord round the ottoman firmly, and tie in a knot, leaving a loop in the center to lift it by. Toilet or Werk Basket.—Use black, polished, round wooden or bamboo rods, an inch in circumference, : two thin plates of wood four inches long and two and three- - fifths inches wide, white satin, green velours, shaded green, pink, purple, and brown twist silk, fine gold cord, green silk ribbon one-fifth of an inch wide, four white Venetian beads, four bronze rings, stout cardboard, small steel tacks, white sewing silk. The frame of our model is constructed of four pillar-like rods, each eight inches long, and holding between them two boxes, each consisting of eight wooden or bamboo rods, and a thin wood bottom four inches long, and two and three-fifths inches wide. The lower box, which is one and four-fifths inches high, requires four rods five and three-fifths inches long, TOILET OR WORK BASKET, and four rods four and one-fifth inches long. The upper box, which is two and one-fifth inches high, is of exactly the same size at the bottom, while for the top, which curves out- ward, the two long rods must be each six inches long, while the cross rods require a length of five and one-fifth inches. Small steel tacks connect the cs LADIES’ FANCY WORK. 365 various parts, those which are arranged into squares being notched where they intersect. Each of these squares encloses a pasteboard box covered with green velours on the inside, and on the outside with white satin, deco- rated by an embroidery of colored silks. The box is fastened at the top to rods by means of overhand stitches of gold cord, making the rod appear as if twisted with the gold cord. The bows decorating the upper corners of the boxes are made of green ribbon, ten inches long, sewed to the rods in the middle and then tied. The handle, which is fastened to the upper box by means of steel tacks, and is decorated with two ribbon bows, measures fif- teen inches in length, and is to be wound about with gold cord. The four pillars are decorated at their tips by Venetian beads resting on bronze rings. Sofa Pillow.—Knitting or crochet. An exceedingly comfortable pillow to hang on a chair-back or to use when traveling is well illustrated in the cut herewith presented. Knit or crocheted in squares of different colors, Clentog i Pale CROCHET SOFA PILLOW OR BOLSTER. almost any stitch may be used, according to the fancy of the workers, and when stuffed and finished, with cord and tassels for the ends, and hung on the back of the “ old rocking chair,” it forms no mean addition to the com- fort and ornamentation of a room. The predominant colors of the room will suggest the appropriate ones to be used, but should there be no decided color prevailing, a pillow made of alternate dark red and olive squares will be found both handsome and durable, as far as showing dust or soil from the head. Plush Mosaic.—The designs for this new and beautiful work can be pur- chased all ready prepared for use; but as many would like to try it who may find it difficult to procure them, they can, by following the given direc- tions, cut and arrange theirown. One best suited to it is a border of autumn leaves, as the rich, variegated colors can be very effectively rendered in gold, crimson, brown and green. Maple leaves are prettiest, both in form ana color, and the size should be varied, some large, others small, arrang- ing them as a border. If possible, select several of the natural leaves, and cut the exact pattern in paper. The plush may be purchased in small quan- 366 THE HOUSEHOLD. tities, an eighth of a yard of each color sufficing for a number of leaves. Lay the paper patterns on the plush and cut with a pair of sharp scissors leaves from the different colors. The groundwork is of plush; for instance, a scarf for the top of an upright piano may be of olive plush with a lining of cardinal satin, and a border of autumn leaves. These should be prettily arranged across the ends of the scarf, and each leaf basted to keep it in place. The edges are fastened down with tinsel or gold thread, and as it sinks into the soft plush, shows only a slight, glistening outline. The stems should be worked with silk matching the different shades of the leayes. The veining of the leaves is also worked with the same color of silk, and as it makes only a slight depression or crease in the plush, gives a very pretty natural effect. The leaves can be shaded by using different shades of plush. For instance, one-half of a Jeaf may be light crimson, the other a shade or two darker; or the point of a leaf may be turned over, showing light green against dark. Arranging them in this way gives variety, also less stiffness of design, HANDKERCHIEF BOX. These same plush designs may be used on sateen or cloth, although in this case the term ‘‘ mosaic” would not be applied. The design described would, however, be very pretty arranged on a ground-work of either of these ma- terials. This work is very beautiful for table covers, lambrequins, portieres or any large article that may require a decorative border. Handkerchief Box.—Take a fancy letter-paper box that is square, and opens in the center; make a tufted cushion of satin on the top, and put an insertion of white lace around it with the same color underneath. If careful, with a very little glue, the sides can be covered with satin, finishing the edges with a silver or gilt cord. Complete the box by placing a little per- fume sachet inside. This makes a pretty present and is not expensive, as often small pieces of silk will answer the purpose of coyering. Knitted Insertions.—No, 1, Twist pattern—Cast on six stitches for each pattern. First six rows: Plain. Seventh row: Slip three loops on a spare needle, leave them and knit the next three; then Imit those on the spare needle. Repeat these seven rows. No. 2, Feather Pattern—Cast on twenty- LADIES? FANOY WORK. 367 five stitches for each pattern. First row: Knit two together four times; then over and one plain eight times; then knit two together four times, and purl the last stitch. Second, third, and fourthrows: Plain. Repeat from first row. Wall Pocket.— Wo give herewith an illustration of a wall-pocket, which is ornamental and useful. It may be used for visiting cards, letters, papers, sewing-materials, slippers, and various odds and ends. Almost any kind of WALL POCKET. material may be used, but something bright has more attractiveness. The one the drawing was made from was of silk, of blue silk, lined with corn color, with cord of blue and gold, and with raised embroidery in silk, The framework is cut from stiff paper. When designed with especial reference to slippers, the pocket is cut quite in the shape of a slipper, with a loop at the heel, from which it is hung. For Christmas gifts they form pretty ob- jects for devoted fingers to manufacture. Floral Transparency.—The pretty transparency represented on next page is made by arranging pressed ferns, grasses, and autumn leaves on a 368 THE HOUSEHOLD. pane of window-glass, which should be obscured, laying another transparent pane of the same size over it, and binding the edges with ribbon, leaving the group imprisoned between (use gum tragacanth in putting on the binding). It is well to secure a narrow strip of paper under the ribbon. The binding should be gummed all around the edge of the first pane, and dried before the leaves, ferns, etc., are arranged; then it can be neatly folded over the second pane without difficulty. To form the loop for hanging the trans- parency, paste a binding of galloon along the upper edge, leaving a two-inch loop free in the center, afterward to be pulled through a little slit in the final binding. These transparencies may either be hung before a window, or, if preferred, secured against a pane in the sash. In country halls a beautiful effect is pro- duced by placing them against the side-lights of qi} the hall door. Where iii the side-lights are each Ail] of only a single pane, it Hii is well worth while to place a single trans- parency against each, filling up the entire space, thus. affording ample scope for a free arrangement ofthe ferns, grasses, and leaves, while the effect of the lightis very fine. Leaves so arranged will pre- serve their beautiful ap- pearance throughout the entire winter. 3 Flower Patterns | for Embroidery.— qi|| Great taste can be dis- ell} played in selecting ap- propriate flower patterns = a for an embroidered de- FLORAL TRANSPARENCY. sign. The double and single hyacinths, com- bined with a tulip, give a lovely effect. The fine dark blue of the former and the scarlet-margined yellow of the latter show to splendid advantage on black velvet or deep brown satin. White and purple lilacs mixed with the gold and yellow crocus give a striking design for floss and bead needlework, on a dark brown of some rich goods. The light blue crocus, with its pretty tippings of snow white, combines richly with the double red anemone, a de- sign well suited for a center-piece on a table or a piano coyer. The border would look handsome worked in some sort of creeping plant, with the cor- ners finished off in star anemones clustered with autumn leaves. The Belle Laura tulip is of a lovely violet hue enhanced in beauty by the mixture of white; this flower is very effective in large pieces of embroidery with a touch LADIES’ FANCY WORK. 369 of brilliant green foliage. A cluster of oxalis, with their brilliant hues and dark green leaves, give a charming effect. Combined with pansies, this de- sign is a lovely pattern for the center of a sofa pillow; the border should be worked in buds and smilax, A bunch of heliotrope wrought in silk and worsted on black velvet gives a handsome design for applique work on satin to be used for various decorative effects in upholstery. The best and most correct designs in flowers are made from the natural plants. The tints are easily matched in silk and worsted, and even in beads the various colors are given. Lamp Shade.—JMaterials: Three sheets of tissue paper, each one a shade darker than the other; six fancy colored pictures, one-eighth yard of white tarlatan, and one sheet of gilt paper. Cut six pieces of cardboard the shape of pattern, cover them with the tarlatan, then glue the gilt paper on si re bes Sg LAMP SHADE. one side of each, just turning it over the edges. Then cut of the tissue paper square pieces the size of pattern; fold them across from corner to corner; then fold again, and run the four edges together and draw up tightly, form- ing the leaves. Sew them on as seen in the design, putting in the different shades. Fasten each section of the shade together by just tying at the top and bottom with coarse, waxed thread. Glue a fancy picture in the center of each section. Quilt Lining.—A handsome lining for a fancy silk quilt is made of plain surah sill, or, if that is too expensive, plain soft cashmere of a pretty color serves very nicely. It is often a question how the lining shall be tacked to the outside without marring its beauty. A very pretty way is to first baste the outside carefully on the lining—then divide the lining into squares, marking the corners of each square with a thread. A pretty star may then be embroidered at every point, catching the two sides together, but taking care that the stitches do not show on the right side. A cardinal lining with 870 THE HOUSEHOLD. stars embroidered in yellow silk is quite showy. A darker or lighter shade of the same color as the lin- ing used for the stars makes a tasteful combination. Glove Box and Cover. —A glove box of the kind we illustrate may be cut and made from a large paper box. After the edges are neatly sewed, paste neatly over the outside a cover of white muslin, to make the box strong. Line and cover both box and eoyer with silk, finishing the edges with large silk cord or chenille. The outside may be ornamented in a variety of ways. Additional ornamen- tation may be secured by cutting curves in the sides of the cover. Both admit of much ingenuity and display of taste in arrangement and trimming. Attached covers are convenient for careless users, and much more easily trimmed. being simply fastened at the back, and lifted and closed like a trunk cover. Instead of using silk as a cover- ing, perforated paper (never get that in white, a8 it soon soils) lain against a smooth paper or cloth of a different color, and the silver and gold paper, perforated with large, square meshes, with initials or other ornament wrought in chenille, silk, or worsted, may be used to advantage. GLOVE BOX AND COVER. Sachet.—The sachet is of old-gold plush, embroidered with rosebuds and leaves, and trimmed with lace and bows of ribbon. Handkerchief Cases.—Tf fora gen- tleman, the size of the case would be eleven inches by eighteen inches, doub- ling down the center; for a lady, four- teen inches square; it should be lined with silk, and lightly wadded, the wad- ding being scented. Cut a piece of satin, twenty-six inches long, and eleven inches broad, and line it with fine flan- nel, and a piece of satin quilted before- SACHET. hand over it. Turn in the edges all round, and sew over neatly; fold the two ends in toward each other, until they meet to within about an inch. Sew over the double edges at the sides, and fold up the case. The handkerchiefs slip in on either side, into the two LADIES’ FANCY WORK. 371 pockets thus formed, the plain ones being arranged on one side and the fancy ones on the other. These cases are convenient if they are scented, which is done by sprinkling sachet on to the flannel before the satin lining is added, and with a thin layer of cotton wool above. We may add that the satin should be quilted on toa thin piece of lining. We have given the dimen- sions to allow for turning in. There is another shape made like a large en- velope. The size and shape must be similar to the other, only the upper part which forms the flap to the envelope is brought to a point in the center, with each side turned in. A silk cord is sometimes added all round the sachet, and finished off at the point with a loop, which forms the button-hole, while the button is placed on the lower side of the case. Ladies’ Fancy Bag Purse. —The lower part of the purse bag is formed of black silk, in spider-web lace, lined with crimson silk, as also the upper part of the bag. Cords of crim- son silk draw the purse together near the top, and tassels are placed at each division and one at the bottom. Crocheted Shaw l1.— Mate- rial: Six ounces of Shetland wool. Make a chain the length of the longest edge of the shawl, which is three-cornered. The chain should be a multiple of six. After making the chain * throw the thread over the needle and catch into the third stitch from the needle, draw the thread through, thread over, draw through two, thread over, through two. This is the treble \ crochet stitch. Make eight more LADIES’ FANCY BAG PURSE. of these stitches in the same chain stitch. Put the needle through the third stitch from the shell and draw the thread through this stitch and the one on the needle. This is single crochet stitch. Repeat from * to the end of the chain and break the thread. 2. Catch the thread in the middle stitch of the first shell of the preceding row. * Make three chain stitches, thread over the needle, put the needle through the next stitch to the one in which the thread is fastened, draw thread through, thread over, through two; keeping this loop and the former one on the needle, put thread over and make the same kind of stitch in the next stitch of the shell. Continue in this manner until there are ten stitches on the needle, then throw the thread over and draw through all the stitches, pin chain and single crochet into the middle stitch of the next shell. Repeat ‘om * 372 THE HOUSEHOLD. 3. Catch the thread in the same stitch as the preceding row and * make nine trebles in the middle of the first shell of the second row, single crochet into the single crochet at the end of the first shell in second row. Repeat from *. 4, Like second row. 5. Like third row. Scissor Case and Needle Cushion.—This is a neat little case intended to hang upon the wall near the sewing machine or work table. Our pattern is made up of brown silk, and finished with three rows of cords. The cords are also stitched on as finish for the pockets, which are sewn on the case itself. Cut from the illustration a pattern in pasteboard and a similar one in silk, allowing a margin to turn in. To make it more substantial line the silk with thin muslin. The back can be covered with cam- bric to match the color of the silk. The needle cushion measures three inches across, : lined with muslin, and drawn in at the edge with a small cord to give it the proper curve; fill with emery, fine sand, or wool, if preferred. Table Mats.— Make a chain of twenty-five stitches. DC. all around to the beginning and ae OE ETRE TOIT turn the work. There SCISSOR CASE AND NEEDLE CUSHION. is one stitch upon the hook; put the hook back through the last loop through which the cotton was drawn, put the cotton over the hook and draw it through that loop alone; then put the cot- ton over the hook and draw through the two loops upon the hook—DC. the row of loops on the back side of the mat to the end. Crochet twice in each of the three adjoining loops at the end—DC. to the other end. Crochet twice in each of the two adjoiming loops at that end, bringing the ends of the first row around the mat together. Bring the cotton in front of the hook which has upon it one loop, put the hook through a loop at the end of this row where it commenced, and draw the cotton through the two loops upon the hook joining the row. Turn the work over, put the hook back through the last loop that the cotton was drawn through, put the cotton over the hook, draw through that LADIES’ FANCY WORK. 373 loop alone, put the cotton over the hook and draw through the two lcops. Crochet twice in the first loop of each of the two loops that had two stitches put in them. Proceed down the side to the other end—crochet twice in the first of each _ of the three loops that had two stitches put in them, then go on to the begin- ning of the row, join and turn oyer the mat as before. Continue until the mat is of sufficient size. For the border pass one loop and make in the second five TC. stitches. —. one loop and fasten down by DC. in the next and so on around the mat. The length of the chain in the middle of course determines the size of the mat. For coffee and tea pots make a chain of six, and fasten toget)er. Crochet twice in every stitch to start the six points for widening. The cotton suitable is Dex- ter’s No. 6 four threads. A hook small enough to make it very compact should be used. The stitches to be crocheted all the time are upon the back of the mat. The mat is worked in ribbed (DC.) crochet, the hook being placed in the out- x side half of each loop, and TAIT (ay the work turned at che aad of 4 ri each round. The increasings qi are, of course, to turn the = corners, and the rounds are completed by an SC. before turning back. i Hanging Portfolio.— This is made of pasteboard, covered with gilt or white satin paper. It can be of any size you wish. It may be left HANGING PORTFOLIO. plain or a picture pasted on in front. Lace the sides together with a cord or ribbon. Hang with a cord and tassel. This is ornamental and useful for holding small articles. Plush Thermometer Frame.—]iemove from the tin frame an ordinary thermometer, and cui a piece of stiff pasteboard to fit it like a picture frame. It should be about two inches wide. Cuta piece of light blue plush to fit the frame exactly, and gum it on the back. Draw this smoothly over the frame and turn the raw edges of the plush over to the under side of the frame. Paint on the plush a pretty design of golden-rod. Cut a piece of pasteboard, exactly the size of the frame, and cover with light-blue silk or paper muslin. Overhand the edges of this and the plush together with blue sewing silk. Sew across the back a loop by which to hang it, or if it is pre- ferred standing, fasten securely at the back a long wire, shaped like a hair- pin. This makes a very good stand. 374 THE HOUSEHOLD. Visiting Card Stand.—The frame is made of black varnished rattan, but may be made of wood in the form of rustic work. There are two flat plates which may be ornamented to suit by painting. The edges of these are hung by bead ornaments. Take a small strip of oil-cloth which fits around the edges of the respective plates, measure equal distances, sew black jet buttons on and string bronze beads, thus constructing the first row. Then take gold or amber-colored beads and make a second row; the third row of white beads. Stick these around the jet buttons to the oil-cloth. The four double twisted rows may be made of different colored beads. The ends of these can be sewed on to the oil-cloth, and, after they are se- curely wana: cut the oil-cloth which shows from under the ornaments, an and then fasten it to the edges of the plates. Bag for Knitting- Work.—In these days of knitting and crocheting, a small pocket or bag is con- venient to hold the balls of wool, silk or cotton, and the needles or crochet hooks. This knitting-work pocket is worn attached to the belt, and is made of ecru linen and lined with red satin, or any other material that one may fancy. Cut from each of these materials five pieces of the following dimensions: Two inches wide at the top, not al- lowing for seams, one-half inch wide at the bottom and sixinches long. These pieces - are cut so as to bulge out at ' the sides, and are each four = inches in width at the widest part. Embroider the linen in any design that you may fancy, but it seems desirable that this should be in outline stitch, and done with red silk. Join the linen pieces so that the seams are on the right side; notch them so that they will lie flat, and cover them with red silk braid, crogs-stitched with some con- trasting tone or color. Join the lining and place inside this, and bind the top with the same braid and fasten down in the same manner. Work a red silk eyelet hole in one of the side pieces to allow the end of the wool you are working with to come through. Close the bottom of the bag with a bunch of loops of red satin ribbon, and sew an end of the same ribbon at the top of each of the seams, joining them together with a bow of the ribbon, in which is sewed quite a large shield pin to fasten it to the dress belt. Pin-Cushion.—A pretty little pin-cushion in the shape of a bellows can be made as follows: First cut four pieces of cardboard (visiting or invitation VISITING CARD STAND. LADIES’ FANCY WORK. 375 cards are the best), to the size required, and the shape of a small bellows; coyer these four pieces singly with pretty silk or satin, by turning over the edges and lacing them from side to side with a needle and thread to make them fit. Then join two pieces together, and sew over the edges neatly; sew a little piece of fine flannel or merino filled with needles to one joined side piece at the point; then put the two sides together and sew them well together at the point, leaving space enough for a gilt bod- kin to pass through and make the real point. Put pins in all around the edge, add a narrow ribbon band fastened by a pin at the handle end, to keep the sides together. The inside of the bel- FIG. 1.—WORK BASKET (OPEN). lows looks best with satin or plain silk, and the outside with brocade. If a small design is embroidered or painted on the outside, it has a very beautiful effect. A common length of the bellows is three inches from the handle to the point. Work Basket..—An octagon-shaped box or basket is used for the founda- tion; it is lined with quilted blue satin, ornamented with a small silk button at the cor- ner of each dia- mond. The out- side of the basket is coyered with old-gold satin, put on in four large puffs; each puff is divided by a band of blue velvet em- broidered with a cross-stitch de - sign; it is edged with lace and a fine gold cord. The lid is covered with velvet, also ornamented with lace, and a handle of wire covered with gold cord. In Fig. 1 the basket is shown open, and in Fig. 2 closed. Fig. 2 shows plain velvet bands, and in this figured silk is used instead of the old-gold satin, . FIG. 2.—WORK BASKET (CLOSED), 376 THE HOUSEHOLD, Knitted Dressing Slipper.— Vaterials required: Four ounce blue and four ounce white Berlin wool; four pins No. 12 (Walk- er’s gauge), and a pair of cork soles. Commence the slipper at the toe with blue wool, cast on ten stitches, increase by putting FIG. 1.—_KNITTED DRESSING SLIPPER. the wool over the pin at beginning of each row to make a stitch. Fig. 2 shows the outside of work, and Fig. 3 the inside with loops of white wool. When knitting with the white wool take it from two balls so as to have two lengths. 1st Row: Knit plain. 2d Row: Make one, knit one, * take the dou- ble white wool, turn it twice over the pin to form a loop of about three-quarters of an inch (see design), with the left-hand pin pass the last knitted ioop over the four loops of white, knit two, repeat from * to the end of the row. 3d Row: Make one at the beginning of the row, slip the loops of white wool, knit the blue; in knitting the blue stitch pass the blue wool with which you are knitting round the double white wool; in knitting the Q, FIG. 2.—DETAIL oF Fig. 1. FIG, 3.—DETAIL oF Fia. 1. next stitch this will draw up the white wool close to the work, and 80 carry it to the other side to be ready for working the next row of loops. 4th Row: Make one, knit the blue stitches plain, knit the four white loops at the back as one stitch. LADIES’ FANCY WORK. 377 5th Row: Make one, knit to the end of the row. Repeat from second row, increasing at the beginning of each row until the work is wide enough across the instep. Now divide the stitches for the sides, casting off ten in the center; with the third pin continue to work on the side stitches as before, without in- crease or decrease, until you have the length from the instep to the back of the heel, then cast off and work the other side in the same way; sew the two sides together at the back with a needle and wool. Now pick up the stitches round the top of slipper, on three pins, and with a fourth pin and blue wool knit ten rows, cast off, turn this plain piece over, and hem it down to the top of inside of slipper to form a roll round the edge. Sew the bottom of slipper neatly and firmly to a strong cork sole lined with wool. Stand for Cigar Ashes.—Our engraving megrcens a stand for cigar ashes. It consists of a bowl with a piece of wire running around it, by which it is mounted on three sticks, which are joined together in the middle. The upper ends are fastened to the bowl, and the fastening and bowl cov- ered by lace or pressed leather, or any other material. The stand may be made by any young man or woman, of rustic work, using for the bowl piece the half of a cocoanut-shell, scraped, finished, and varnished. It will make a neat, unique, and useful ornament. The Hungarian Bow.—This is a novelty in home decoration, and is used instead of a scarf upon chairs and sofas. It is formed of a long scarf with em- broidered and fringed ends, but plain in the middle, and is arranged in a knot : ——— or bow. This is fastened to the back of STAND FOR CIGAR ASHSS. the chair or sofa, and the ends prettily draped over it. Bronze and gold colors are the most used, embroidered in tulip design, with shaded red silk and gold thread. The fringe may be of gold, or red silk and gold. Handsome Roman scarfs that were bright for personal wear, but are now a little “‘ off-style,” may be utilized in this way, and are as handsome as anything bought at the decorative or art stores. Star Mats.—Have four knitting needles; cast on three stitches, on each of three needles, then tie like the beginning of a stocking; then knit two plain rounds, then widen every stitch all around, then knit one plain round, then widen every two stitches all around, then one plain round, then widen every three stitches all around, then a plain round. Continue so till you get thirteen stitches between. Knit a plain round every time after widening, then widen and narrow, and widen again, then knit two plain rounds, then widen and narrow, widen and narrow again, then widen, then knit two plain rounds. Continue so till the star is complete, adding one more widened. stitch every two rounds. Then bind off. 378 THE HOUSEHOLD. A Table Scarf.—A useful table scarf, and one that is particularly pleasing to the eye, because it does not suggest almost endless labor, is made by taking a strip of all wool Java canvas of the proper length for the table on which it is to be used. Line it with some stiff cloth and then with silesia. At about three inches from the outer edge sew on two strips of black velvet ribbon two inches wide. Through the center work a handsome seroll pattern, using bright yellow silk; the velvet stripes may be put on perfectly plain, or may be worked in old-fashioned cross-stitch, or in some modification of feather stitch. Finish the bottom of the scarf with yellow silk balls. This is suitable for the common sitting-room; it is so bright that the dust can be shaken from it with ease. Baby Basket._Procure a large brown basket and a small camp-stool. BABY BASKET. Measure the size round the top of the basket; get that quantity of material; measure the depth of the basket, and allow for the scallops to fall over the edge. Bind the scallops; fasten it to the edge of the basket; draw it down lightly to the bottom in plaits. Cut a round piece of material the shape of the bottom of the basket; fasten it round the edge, and finish with a box- plaiting of ribbons. Make the cushions and pockets to please the fancy. A box-plaiting round the top of basket; also round the scallops. Between each scallop put a bow or cord and tassels of worsted; fasten this on the camp-stool, around which put a ruffle of the same material the basket is lined with. Neat Mats can be made by cutting a stiff piece of woolen goods into the shape desired, and crocheting an edge or border of fancy-colored yarp LADIES’ FANCY WORK. 379 Star Stitch.—Crochet a chain of twenty stitches. Without putting the wool over first, put the needle into the second chain, thread over and draw through, leaving the two loops on the needle; do the same in the next threo chain successively, drawing the wool up longer and having five loops on the needle, put wool over and draw through all, and make one chain to hold it *. Put needle into the stitch where the five loops are, draw thread through put the needle into the back part of last loop of the star before, draw through, put the needle into the next two chain just the same, drawing them up longer and thread over, draw through all five loops and make one chain *; repeat between the stars. Embroidered Chair Cover.—Embroidered slips are much used now instead of chintz covers for _— ; chairs. They can be made of thin woolen material, or of linen. When of wool they are embroidered with crewels. The better way to have the covers fit nicely, is to lay the material on the chair, pin it in place to hold it firmly, and lay the plaits and seams just where they should be, and cut the ma- terial then. There are no two chairs exactly alike in shape, and it will be found far more easy to fit them in this way. The seams and edges are bound with braid and the corners are laced down with cords. The caps for the arms are fastened with buttons and button- holes. Pega SSAA} yd Hritint Whi ill Feather Edged Braid Trimming.—Fasten the thread toa loop in the braid —chain seven stitches, put the needle in the second loop from where you commence, draw the thread through the loop and the stitch on the needle, chain four more and fasten in the next second loop, then take up three more loops by putting the needle through each one, and drawing the thread through the loop, and the stitch on the needle, chain four stitches and fasten as before, chain four more and fasten, take up eight loops as the three were taken, chain two and fasten around the last four chain stitches, chain two more and fasten in the second loop from the eight taken up stitches, chain two, and fasten around the next four chain stitches, chain two, and fasten in second loop, then take up three loops, chain two, fasten around the four chain stitches, chain two, fasten in second loop, chain two, fasten around the seyen stitches, chain four, fasten in second loop, double the braid together from this loop, and on the right EMBROIDERED CHAIR COVER. 380 THE HOUSEHOLD. side of the work take up a loop of each piece of the braid, draw the thread through these loops, leave the stitch on the needle, and so continue until all have been taken up, as far as the loop above the eight taken up stitches, on the opposite side of the braid, then draw the thread through two stitches at a time until only one stitch remains on the needle, then commence the second > scallop same as before. Crochet across the top of the completed edging, to sew on by. And TI think it washes and wears better to cro- chet a chain of three between each loop on the lower edge, except those close between the scallops, simply drawing the thread through these. The needle must be fins and straight. ACA Ladies’ Work-Stand.—The skeleton of the work-stand we have illustrated is made of rattan. The squares between the rods should be covered with green, plaited silk, which is drawn together and either fastened with a button or a small rosette and a flat tassel. The bag, for the reception of embroidery or other fancy work, is made of green silk, drawn together by a green cord, at the end of which is a tassel of the same color. To hide the joints of the rods, a scarf of green ribbon is put at each juncture. In the lower part of the stand is a pin- cushion, which is made in the same style as the filling-in of the squares above, and also drawn and held together with a button. WORK-STAND, Mosaic Embroidery.—Mosaic embroidery is very effective for mantel drapes, piano covers, and screens, and is quite easily made. Take whatever material is chosen for the ground work and sew on to it with some fancy stitch odd patterns cut from various colored plushes FLORICULTURE. Ivy for Picture Frames.—lIvy is one of the best plants to have in the house, as it bears a large amount of neglect and abuse, and gratefully repays good treatment. It is not rare to see a pot of ivy placed where it can be trained around picture frames or mirrors, and thus border them with living green. A good plan is to dispense with the pot, or rather, have a sub- stitute for it, whichis kept out of sight. Our illustration shows a picture frame wreathed with ivy after this method. Only a good-sized picture or mirror can be treated in this way, and as such are usually hung so that the top of the frame leans forward, the space between the frame and the i wall is available for the re- ive ceptacle for the plant. A pot ie or pan of zinc, of a wedge ( shape, and size to suit the ‘) .\¥e space between the frame and 2% 2 the wall, can be readily made by any tinsmith. This is to be hung against the wall so as to be quite concealed by the pic- ture, and the ivy tastefully trained over the frame. A rus- tic frame is better suited to this purpose, as it not only affords better facilities fer at- taching the stems to the frame, but its style seems _ better i adapted to this kind of decora- IVY FOR PICTURE FRAMES. tion than more pretentious ones. Still, a gilt frame may be made beautiful in the same way. There is only one precaution to be used, viz.: not to hang such a frame over the fire- place, for the combined heat and dust would soon destroy the plant. Let it hang so that it may face a north or east window. Don’t forget the water; the mee holding the plant is out of sight, and, therefore, should be kept in mind. Malt va 7 \ | Diseases of Room Plants.—The leaves of plants when in a normally healthy state are generally of a deep green color, but when diseased they 382 THE HOUSEHOLD. become yellowish or white. In the majority of cases such a diseased appear- ance is produced by an excess of light or a lack of it, too much or too little water, unsuitable, overrich, or impoverished soil, or lack of drainage. When the discoloration first shows itself—and this is generally on the younger shoots —the condition of the roots should be ascertained by turning the plant out of the pot. If the roots are healthy and fill the ball, or appear overcrowded, the discoloration indicates lack of nutriment, or too little or too much light. In the first case it can be remedied by shifting the plant into a larger pot, or watering the plant with liquid manure. If excess or lack of light is the cause, reference must be had to the character of the plant. Ferns, selaginellas, and plants of similar character that naturally grow in shady places, become pale or yellowish when grown in bright light, while those whose habitat is in open, exposed situations, become discolored when not having a sufficiency of light. In either case, when grown in pots, plants are more liable to become diseased through this cause than when grown in the open air. The remedy, of course, is only to shift the position of the plant and place it where the light will better suit its nature. If the ball is not filled with roots, and they do not appear to be fresh and healthy, the discoloration, in all probability, proceeds from excess of moist- ure or unsuitable soil. To remedy the first, see that the drainage outlet is kept free and unchoked; if after a week or two this does not affect a change, then it is probable that the diseased appearance arises from unsuitable soil. Some plants, such as azaleas, camelias, and rhododendrons, in such case will not throw out a single rootlet from the old ball into the new soil, but gradually die back or make but weakly, spindling shoots. If the discolora- tion has been produced by bad drainage, excessive watering, or unsuitable soil, and is of such long standing as to cause the roots to decay, or the soil has become sour, the proper remedy is to shake off all the earth from them and wash them by shaking them thoroughly in clean water, cutting off the decayed parts with a sharp knife, and replanting into light fresh earth, and seeing that the drainage is kept free. Rich soil or large pots should not be used, the latter should be but little larger than the diameter of the roots. When the roots are well developed the plant may be shifted into a larger pot and richer soil. The leayes of plants from warm countries—oranges, for in- stance—will sometimes become yellow when exposed to a low temperature, especially when accompanied with much moisture; the remedy in this case is either to raise the temperature or decrease the amount of water given. Sometimes the discoloration is caused by insufficiency of water, which causes the roots to shrivel up. It may also proceed from giving too much water at one time, and then letting the ball become dry, or by only giving enough of water to moisten the surface of the soil for an inch or two, while below it may be as dry as powder. Carefulness and watchfulness are the only modes of preventing injury to the plants from such causes. When the leaves of deciduous plants fall off as their season of rest approaches, they should be placed in a lower temperature, and not have as liberal a supply of water as when growing. If evergreen plants, such as we generally grow in greenhouses, shed their leaves profusely and suddenly, it indicates that they have not light enough, or that the temperature of the room is too high, or the atmosphere is too dry; the proper mode of treatment in such cases is self-apparent. Occasionally plants will die off suddenly near the surface of the soil, although the roots, leaves and shoots look quite healthy. This is often caused by the collar of the plant—the part where the roots are joined to the FLORICULTURE. 383 stem—being set too deep into the soil. Watering with very cold water when the soil in the pots has been exposed to the sun will also cause them to die off suddenly. Plants in pots should never have the pots exposed to the full blaze of sunshine, especially in the middle of the day. The crowns of her- baceous plants that have been kept dry, or comparatively so, during their season of rest, will rot away if the balls of roots are too liberally supplied with water. They should be kept in the shade, and but sparingly supplied with water, and that rather tepid, until they develop a leaf or two. Some plants, especially roses, when kept in rooms, are very apt to become mildewed, to the certain destruction of the leaves and flower buds. As soon as it shows itself the leaves should be washed with soap and water, rinsed off and flowers of sulphur dusted on with a dredging-box or a pepper-box, washing it off after it has been on for two or three days. The whole art of keeping plants in rooms is to provide an equable, moist temperature, light according to the nature of the plants, regular moderate watering, good drainage, suitable soil, cleanliness, and an avoidance of all sudden checks or shocks to the plant either in temperature or humidity. These are always injurious, as they produce disease and render the plant liable to the attacks of insects and fungoid growths. Cheap and Pretty Hanging Baskets.—The sweet potato, which is basket and contents in one, has, when successful, a very ornamental effect. Truth compels us to state that it is not always successful, and a yellow, scragey appearance of foliage will sometimes reward the best-intentioned en- deayvors; but given ordinarily favorable surroundings, whichinclude heat and sunshine, this curious hanging basket thrives and covers a large space with bright-hued verdure. A large, sound root should be selected, and the top for some distance down is then remoyed. Next comes the disagreeable process of removing the inside—leaving a wall all around, and a thicker one at the bottom. Three holes are then bored at equal distances, about half an inch from the top; and into these the suspending cords, which unite at the upper ends, are fastened. When filled with water up to the holes, the sweet potato basket is completed; and if placed in a sunny window, it should be covered with shoots and leaves in a few weeks’ time. Some of the sprays can be trained upward, and others allowed to droop. The red-skinned sweet potato has a pretty streak of silver in the foliage, and the two varieties on either side of a window make an agreeable contrast. If preferred, the hollow root can be filled with earth or sand instead of water—if with the latter, there should be two or three small pieces of charcoal at the bottom.. A carrot treated in the same way sends forth a mass of feathery foliage whose vivid green brings a sort of sunshine into the dreariest day; and even a large sponge suspended by cords, thoroughly moistened and planted with flax, rape-seed, or any low growing verdure, is not to be despised. A very pretty basket can be manufactured by taking an ordinary one of wire and fastening to it raisin-stems, or bits of thin wire properly bent, and then dipping the whole into melted sealing-wax of a vermilion color until it is thoroughly coated. Brushing it over with the mixture would take less material. The effect of theses coralized sprays, glowing through delicate green vines, is really beautiful. Every one cannot succeed with a basket of growing plants, but almost any one can succeed with ivy; and a very ornamental hanging basket that requires little care can be made in the following way: Almost any kind of basket will answer, and there should be a good collection of autumn leaves varnished and prepared in sprays. Six or eight two ounce 384 THE HOUSEHOLD. bottles should be filled with water, and have one or two well-grown sprays of ivy in each, placed in wads of cotton to keep them upright, the leaves ar- ranged in between and around the edge of the basket. The ivy will grow, and can be trained to run up the cords, as well as to hang over the sides; the only care required is to fill up the bottles as the water evaporates, and to keep the leaves free from dust. Window Gardening.—What adds more to the cheerfulness of the home during the lonely, dreary days of winter, than flowers? All can have wee ‘hy due a io | FIG. 1.—DOUBLE WINDOW WITH PLANT SHELF. them, the poor as well as the rich, if a little care and forethought is used in growing and arranging them. The preparatory work consists in transplanting and fairly starting in small pots, in August or September, the Madeira vine, creeping Charlie, cypress vine, balloon vine, the common English, the German, or the Kenil- worth ivy, or morning glory, flowering bean, or sweet-scented pea, or, if you are disposed to be more aristocratic, smilax, lophiospermum, or, if the win- dow is large and the foliage is not deemed too rank, the clematis or the FLORICULTURE. 385 passion vine. Nearly all of these, if thus started, will grow finely and festoon your windows in a few weeks; some of them have fine blossoms, which will add to the beauty of their foliage. Next, for the plants to make a display in your windows. What these shall be, and how they shall be arranged, de- pends very much upon the size, shape and character of your windows. If you have a bay or oriel window, either large or small, you can make it the most attractive feature of your room ata very small expense. First place your pots with climb-vines at the sides on low brackets, and the vines to make a beautiful frame for your windows. If the window is a deep bay, other and more delicate vines may be placed between the side windows and the main one--such as smilax, the Kenilworth ivy, or the cypress vyine—and trained over the ceiling of the bay. At the base of the windows have a shelf six or eight inches wide (eight is best), supported by the ordinary FIG, 2.—PRETTY ARRANGEMENT FOR SITTING-ROOM WINDOWS. metal brackets, and in front tack the expanding framework (such as is shown in Fig. 1), which is now to be found for sale by the yard very cheap at all the flower stores—the black walnut is the prettiest, though the holly wood is very neat; stretch it to its full extent before tacking it on. Then selecting your hardiest and most freely-blooming plants—geraniums, pelargoniums, rose geraniums, all from slips potted in July or August, periwinkles, fuchsias, heliotropes, bouvardias, cuphias, and newly-potted slips of ver- bena, with such other beautiful small plants as you may find desirable— place each pot in one about three sizes larger, which is partially filled with fine earth, and the space between loosely packed with moss. Set these on your shelf, arranging them with reference to complementary colors; put in the center where the main partition between the two divisions of the central window is, a good and shapely ardisia, which, if it has been plunged during 386 THE HOUSEHOLD. the summer, will, by this time, be loaded with its beautiful berries, which are in November just beginning to turn to a beautiful scarlet. These ber- ries will hang on till June; and, while the plant is of very moderate price, it has no superior as an, ornamental shrub. In the corners put callas, which should have been heeled or turned over to rest, as early as July or August 1st. Their position should be partially shaded, and where they will not have too much heat; when they begin to bud, they should have a plenty of warm, almost hot, water furnished them daily. They, too, should be placed ina ie i | | ‘ FIG. 3.—BAY WINDOW WITH PLANT PLATFORM. pot surrounded by a large pot, and the interstices filled in with moss. Across the center of the windows place other shelves with pots of smaller flowers, and, among the rest, creeping plants, such as vyerbenas, sweet alyssum, nemaphila lobelia, mesembryanthemum, etc., etc. On a table in the center, if you can have a neat box, zinc-lined, you can set in pots, hyacinths, amaryllis, cyclamens, iris, and the finest sorts of crocus, and, packing moss around them, keep them moist. From the ceiling of the bay may be suspended hanging baskets, taking the precaution to keep them moist. The outlay for all this is very little, and if you are ingenious you can Go it all yourself, FLORICULTUORE. 387 But everybody has not bay windows, or even double windows. For these unfortunates, among whom we are sorry to be obliged to reckon ourselves, the simpler arrangement indicated in Fig. 2 is almost as effective. A shelf at the foot of each window supported on brackets, and, if preferred, protected by the expanding framework, will give room for four or six pots at each window, while the vines can be trained around the windows, as in the other case. A swinging bracket large enough for two pots can be attached to the outer side of the framework of cach window, midway of its height, and a rustic basket attached to a hook projecting from the top of the window frame, if desired. On a table or slab between the windows a small jardiniere, containing an ardisia, or Tahiti orange, dan be placed. In the selection of climbers for trimming the windows, avoid the climbing fern, which is offered 80 abundantly at all the flower stores. It cannot be made to live in parlors, FIG. 4.—DEEP BAY WINDOW WITH BRAOKETS. and in spite of all the care which may be taken with it will soon become dry and unsightly. The ivies, Madeira vine and cypress vine are the best, though several other climbers are pretty. The blossoms of the Madeira vine, which will come out if it is well cared for in February or March, are very fragrant, and will fill the parlors with their delicate perfume. The wall pockets so plenty in these days of scroll sawing, can be very easily adapted to the purpose of plant cultivation, and add greatly to the beauty of these simple decorations. How to Kill Insects on Plants.—Slugs are occasionally seen eating large holes or notches in the leaves of all succulents and begonias. They usually feed at night. Cut potatoes, turnips, or some other fleshy vegetable in halves, and place conveDiently near the plants. The slugs will gather 388 THE -HOUSEHOLD. upon the vegetable, and are easily destroyed. The white worm which infests, occasionally, all soils where plants are kept in pots, may be removed as follows: Sprinkle lime water over the soil, or sprinkle a little slacked lime on the earth, and in the saucer of the pot. Lime water.may be easily made by slacking a large piece vf lime in a pail of cold water, letting thiw settle, and then bottle the clear water for use. Give each pot a tablespoon- ful twice a week. To destroy the little bugs on the oleander, take a piece of lime the size of a hen’s egg, and dissolve it in about two quarts of water. Wash the stock and branches with this water. To destroy plant lice, take three and a half ounces of quassia chips, add five drachms Stavesacre seed in powder, place in seven pints of water, and boil down to five pints. When cold, the strained liquid is ready for use, either by means of a watering-pot or a syringe. Hot alum water will destroy red and black ants, cockroaches, spiders and chintzbugs. Take two pounds of alum and dissolve it in three or four quarts of boiling water. Let it stand on the fire until the alum is all melted, then apply it with a brush (while nearly boiling hot) to the places fre- quented by these insects. Any choice plants may be preserved trom the ravages of slugs by placing a few pieces of garlic near them. No slugs will approach the smell of garlic. Greenhouse slugs often become a nuisance in the greenhouse. A certain remedy is to sprinkle salt freely along the edges of the bench or table, the crossing of which is sure death to the slug. Another way of destrcying insects on flowers is to water the plants with a decoction of tobacco, which quickly destroys. Independently of the re- moval of the insects, tobacco-water is considered by many persons to improve the verdure of the plant. Prepare it as follows: Take one pound of roll tobacco and pour oyer it three pints of water, nearly boiling. Let it stand for some hours before it is used. Kerosene oil may be used for destroying insects on plants by taking a tablespoonful of oil and mixing it with half a cup of milk, and then diluting the mixture with two gallons of water. Apply the liquid with a syringe, and afterward rinse with clear water. This substance is death to plant insects, and we have never heard of its injuring the most delicate plants when used as here directed. The following is recommended as a means of destroying the rose slug: Add a teaspoonful of powdered white hellebore to two gallons of boiling water. Apply when cold, in a fine spray, bending the tops over so as to reach the under surface of the leaves. One application is usually sufficient. This is a good way to treat the currant worm. The red spider may be banished from plants by the simple process of cutting off the infected leaf. A leaf once attacked soon decays and falls off; but then the animals remove to another. By carefully pursuing this ampu- tation plants will become remarkably healthy. A new method for the getting rid of worms which destroy the house plants is a number of sulphur matches placed in the flower pots with their heads down. The experiment has been tried with success. Ammonia fer Plants.—If the house plants become pale and sickly, a dose of ammonia, a few drops in the water you water them with, will revive them like magic. It is the concentrated essence of fertilizers, and acts upon plant life as tonics and sea air upon human invalids. FLORICULTURE. 389 Ornamental Wardian Case.—The sides of the box are of mahogany, 1 1-4 inch in thickness, and the bottom of deal, 1 1-2 inch thick, well framed and dovetailed together, and strengthened with brass bands, and with two cross-bars beneath. The upper edge of the box is furnished with a groove for the reception of the glass roof, and this groove is lined with brass, to —— ORNAMENTAL WARDIAN CASE. prevent the wood from rotting. The roof is composed of brass, and glazed with the very best flattened crown glass. The brass astragals are grooved for the reception of the glass, and not rebated, as in ordinary glazing. Eyed studs are cast on the inner side of the ridge astragal, about half an inch in length, for the purpose of suspending small orchids or ferns from the roof. The inside of the box is lined with zinc, and at one of the corners an aperture is formed into which a copper tube, two inches long, is inserted, and fur- 390 THE HOUSEHOLD. nished with_a cock for withdrawing any superfluous water that may at any time accumulate within the box. One of the panes is made to take out—this provision is necessary for the occasional arrangement and airing of the plants, but the general arrangement is made by lifting the top off entirely. Rose Culture.—Situation.—A place apart from other flowers should be assigned to them, if possible, sheltered from high winds, but open and not surrounded by trees, a8 closeness is very apt to generate mildew; where they cannot have a place to themselves, any part of the garden best fulfilling these conditions will answer. Soil.—A most important item in their successful culture. That in which they especially delight is a rich, unctious loam, that feels greasy when pressed between the fingers. Where this is not to be had the soil must be improved; if light, by the addition of loam, or even clay, well worked in; where heayy, good drainage and the addition of coal ashes in small quanti- ties will help it, but in such places draining is more important. Planting.—Mix some loam and well-rotted manure together, open a good sized hole, and fillit with fresh soil; plant firmly. Shorten any very long shoots, and, if exposed to winds, secure the plant by short stakes. Manuring.—Roses are strong feeders, and will take almost any amount of manure; pig manure is the best, except in hot soils, when cow manure is preferable; stable manure is generally available and good. Exhibitors gen- erally apply a top-dressing in spring, but it does not improve the appearance of the beds; a good top-dressing may be laid on the beds in autumn, and be dug in in the spring. Watering.—When coming into bloom, if the weather be dry, give a good drenching twice or three times a week; continue after blooming to prevent mildew. If greater size be required, liquid manure may be used. Syringe daily for green fly. Pruning.—This may be done any time after the beginning of March, ac- cording to the season. Cut out all wood over two years old and all weakly shoots. Weak-growing kinds should be pruned hard—that is, down to three or four eves; stronger growing kinds may be left longer. Cut to an eye that points outward, so as to keep the inside of the plant open. Teas and noisettes require less cutting back; the tops should be shortened and the weak shoots cut out, and they should not be pruned until May. Usea sharp knife. Rustic Hanging Basket.—The accompanying drawing represents a rustic hanging basket that any person can make with the common house tools, axe, saw, knife, hammer and a few brads. First, procure from the woods two or three sticks of iron wood, or such as may suit the fancy. They should be selected, small trees, about three inches in diameter. After selecting the tree, cut itup into pieces fourteen or fifteen inches in length; then, taking one of these round sticks, split off the four sides; this, if it splits well, will give eight pieces from two sticks, the number required to make the basket. The sticks, or pieces, should be narrower and thinner at one end than the other, as shown in the cut, and rounded at each end. Then procure a block or piece of inch board, and cut out a circular piece about three inches in diameter, slanting it a little so that the pieces will have the taper towards the bottom when tacked to the block. This gives the basket a little flare. They should fit close together at the point where the block is, and may be a little open, nearer the top, in order to fill between with moss. FLORICULTURE. 391 Now, the pieces being nailed to the block with brads, begin to ornament it with grape-vines and roots. Roots are tacked to the under side of the block, to fill it all up, and atthe lower points of the pieces where they match, al- ways keeping in view one thing—to preserve the tapering form and matching the roots in every way that will bring them all towards the center with uni- formity. Next put vines on the sides, as per engraving, bring- ing two together over the places where the sticks match; also, weave in around the top two vines, in and out alternately, and, fastening with brads, tack roots on the pieces between the ornamental work. Next put on a handle of grape-vine, giving it a single knot; tie at the top to form a loop, interweaving it with a smaller yine; then give the basket a coat of varnish and put in suitable plants. Keep the , basket partially in the shade, and occasionally dip it in a bar- rel of rain water. To Prepare Plants for Winter.—It is a great mistake to delay the work of prepara- tion for winter until it is sug- gested by cool nights or a warn- ing given by blighting frosts. When a plant has been taken from a pot and planted in open ground it usually outgrows its former place, and is too large for any vessel of convenient size. The root should be cut away to a considerable extent and likewise the top or foliage must be correspondingly re- duced. Novices often fail at this point, for they dislike to part with any of the new growth, and set the plant in a pot un- pruned, and expect what is not RUSTIC HANGING BASKET. possible, that it will flourish. Out back root system and branch system equally is the rule. Plants when thus transplanted need to be favored by being kept in the shade and shel- tered from the drying winds until they have made a good start in the pots. Many of the house plants are kept in their pots during the summer and will need repotting, or the pot washed and the surface soil replaced by fresh, rich earth. A larger pot is needed by those plants whose roots have formed a mat along the inner surface. The ball of earth can be examined quickly 392 THE HOUSEHOLD. by spreading the left hand on the vessel—the stem passing between the fingers, and with the other hand on the bottom invert the pot and give the edge a downward tap against some object. If this does not succeed, pour some water around the edge, and after a short time repeat the operation. All old pots should be clean, and if the new ones are used soak them in water until the pores are filled. A piece of broken vessel is placed over the bottom hole before filling in the potting earth. All the necessary pots, soil, etc., should be abandoned now, that they may be at hand when needed at any time during the winter. Selection of House Plants.—Select fresh, healthy plants for winter cul- ture, for they will repay all the labor you bestow upon them by bright flow- ers. The old geraniums, heliotropes, fuchsias, etc., which have flowered all summer, will be of no value for window gardening, while young plants will soon be covered with buds and flowers. Small plants in small pots are far more desirable for house culture than large plants in such cumbrous pots that it requires a man’s strength to move them. There are several winter-flowering fuchsias which will continue to bloom from October until May, in beautiful luxuriance, if you will only give them a spoonful of ‘‘ Soluble Pacific Guano” once in two or three weeks, or give it in a liquid form by dissolving a tablespoonful of it in three quarts of hot water. It will also destroy the white worms which are so apt to infest the soil of plants that have not been repotted frequently. At least it proved an antidote with me last season. But if it does not exterminate them, take a piece of unslacked lime as large as a man’s fist, and slack it in hot water in an old pail, and when the lime has sunk to the bottom, water the plants with it, and it will make their foliage luxuriant and destroy worms of all kinds. The lime can be used over several times. Tea roses, if well treated, make lovely plants for winter. Purchase well- rooted plants of Bon Silene, Safrano, Bella, and other varieties, and put them close to the glass and stimulate weekly with weak liquid fertilizers; or a Jacqueminot rose which bloomed in the summer may be taken up and potted in an eight-inch pot, with the richest compost made friable with sand or sharp grits, cut back all the old wood and pull off every leaf and place it in a frost-proof window, but where the sun shines in well, and you can force as handsome rose-buds as the florists. For a small amount of money a collection of winter-flowering plants can be procured; and though they will neither feed nor clothe the body, yet they will minister to the needs of the soul, which sometimes hungers, thirsts, and shivers, while the body is luxuriously fed, and clothed in fine raiment. Soil for Plants.—Knowing that nearly every lady in the city finds it hard to get manure of the right quality for her plants, I thought this sug- gestion might be of some use to them. Gather up the fallen leaves and put them in an old box, or in some obscure corner where they will not have to be removed. After getting all you want, pile them in as close quarters as possible, then throw on them all of your dish-water, wash-water, or any water that will help to make them rot. Every week or two take a stick and turn the leaves over, and keep on doing this until they are all rotten, which they will be in a short time, and you will have as good a manure as any florist could want. If you could get the droppings from a cow and put them in an old dish and pour water on them; let it stand for a day or two; then take the liquid and pour it around the roots of the plant; it will give it a FLORICULTURE. 393 dark green color and make it grow very fast; but in putting the last named on the roots do not let any get on the leaves. As nearly every lady has some plant which they cannot pot, from its large size, they would be very glad to know of some way in which they can enrich the soil without going to the trouble of taking the plant out of the pot. By putting the liquid on eyery month it will make the soil nearly as rich and do the plant as much good as if they had put it in rich soil. Fime charcoal is excellent to mix with the soil when potting plants, or to sprinkle on the surface of the soil of those already potted. It stimulates the growth of the plants and deepens the colors. Iron filings from a blacksmith or machine shop worked into the soil for plants, will add greatly also to the rich and bright color of the flowers. Smilax for a Curtain.—T[ast season, writes a lady, I slipped some smi- lax out of a small pot into a box which I set on a shelf that was on the out- side of a south window. This shelf was eight inches below the top of the ‘window-sill. The box was six inches deep, and so was a little lower than the sill. With a red-hot poker I burned a row of holes around the sides of the box, and filled it with a light, rich soil. When the plant was fully es- tablished and had sent up nice thrifty sprouts, I drove nine small nails along the top of the window-pane, and slipped on to them the looped-up ends of a fine cord; the other ends of the cord were tied each to a nail which was stuck in the box by the sprout it was intended to support. The vines grew rapidly, and in a few weeks’ time had reached the top of the window; a week or two more, and the ends were drooping down from the top, thus forming a graceful valance to my beautiful curtains—a curtain far more beautiful than any made by mortal hand could ever be. In October, when the nights were growing frosty, I slipped the looped ends of the cords that supported the vines off the nails, and placed the box with the vine on a stand on the inside of the window and slipped the loops over nails, and so, without any trouble at all, had my window adorned with this lovely vine until Christmas. This vine so airily light, and so graceful, is peculiarly appropriate for the adorn- ment of thin evening dresses, and as lovely for the hair. Hot-Water Cure for Sickly Plant;._M, Willermoz some time since stated that plants in pots may be restored to health by means of hot water; ill-health he maintains, ensues from acid substances in the soil, which, be- ing absorbed by the roots, act as poison. The small roots wither and cease to act, and the upper and younger shoots consequently turn yellow, or be- come spotted, indicative of their morbid state. In such cases the usual remedy is to transplant into fresh soil, in clean pots with good drainage, and this often with the best results. But his experience of several years has proved the unfailing efficacy of the simpler treatment, which consists in watering abundantly with hot water at a temperature of 145 degrees Fahr., having previously stirred the soil of the pots so far as may be done without injury to the roots. Water is then given until it runs freely from the pots. In his experiments, the water at first came out clear; afterwards it was sen- sibly tinged with brown, and gave an appreciable acid reaction. After this thorough washing, the pots were kept warm, and the plants very soon made new roots, immediately followed by vigorous growth. Golden-Leaved Horseshoe Geranium.—TIf those who have the golden- leaved horseshoe geraniums will put them in the brightest sunlight, the colors will be brought out so that the plant will be as beautiful as if it were covered with blossoms. ° 394 THE HOUSEHOLD. The Mud System of Slipping Plants.—The following interesting article we find in the Babyhood Magazine: A child of five years can cut off a slip from a geranium, verbena, heliotrope, carnation, fuchsia, or even a rosebush, taking care that the slip is made from the young or green shoot; and in a plate or saucer filled with wet sand it will root just as quickly and as well as if put in by the hands of a gardener—provided care is taken that the sand in the saucer is kept wet by add- ing a little water to it each day until the slips show the small roots. The slip should be cut in the way shown in the draw- ing, taking it off either between or below the joints. The sau- cer holding the slips should be placed in some sunny window where it is warm enough for a little child. Nearly all kinds of slips can be rooted at any time of the year; but some, such as the coleus, salvias, and various plants called ‘‘ warm-blooded,” had bet- ter not be slipped until the warm weather comes in May. The slips will begin to show the little roots in from two to three weeks after being put in the saucers. They should then be potted in little pots about two inches deep, which the gardeners call thumb-pots. The slips should be potted in rich, soft mold, which can be procured from any florist, Good garden earth will also do, only it must not be wet and sticky. If it can only be got in a very wet condition, dry stove-ashes may be mixed with it. When the slips are to be potted, first fill the little flower-pot full of earth, then with the fore-finger make a hole in the center big enough to put the roots in. Gently press the earth all around the roots, making it level and smooth on the top; then with a watering-pot sprinkle slightly the slips, now plants. Every other day they willrequire fF watering until they begin to put f little white roots to the edge of the pot, which can be seen by giving the pot a tap on the table, and turning the contents out just like jelly from a glass. After the soil in the little pots gets filled with roots, which will be in four or five weeks from the time the slips were placed in them, it will be well to trans- plant into pots three or four inches deep. By May the slips that were put in the saucers to root in February or March will have made plants large FLORICULTURE., 395 enough to set out in the open garden, and by midsummer will be fine bushes covered with blossoms. Fuchsias.—Fuchsias, after being exhausted with blooming, should have the terminal shoots all chpped off, and be repotted in a soil composed of leaf mold. In a few weeks new shoots full of flower buds will start all over, growing rapidly. Rustic Flower Stand.—A very simple and graceful arrangement for flowers requiring no more space than the tiny violet or crocus, or some Ne A \\ NAN NW NN . \ ~ RUSTIC FLOWER STAND. bright blossoming dwarf plant. A box frame, with four ‘‘ posts” to sup- port the roof, is all the foundation required. The rest is made of neatly cut pieces of straw, braided with three rows of red-stained willow or cane. The pretty flower pavilion is ornamented with wheat sheafs and grasses. Bright colored autumn leaves, pressed and varnished, would look charming mingled with grasses. They can be fastened about the frame with wire. The Verbena.—The verbena is one of our most popular bedding plants, and is also used by many persons as a window plant, though for this pur- pose itis not generally recommended, as it does not do well in an atmos- 396 THE HOUSEHOLD. phere warmer than 50 degrees or 55 degrees, and must have plenty of sun- light, two requisites which but few persons can command. In the conserva- tory they should be given a top shelf, kept moderately dry and never watered in the morning, or when the sun would be likely to shine upon them before the foliage is dry, as it causes mildew; give fresh air whenever itis practicable to do so, and keep the plants stout and bushy by pinching back stray branches. A soil composed of two parts loam, two parts well- rotted manure and one part sand suits them best. Keep the surface goil loose and porous, to allow air to reach the roots, and provide good drainage, If green fly appears fumigate with tobacco. To perpetuate the verbena use small cuttings taken from fresh growth instead of layers or oldroots. The best way is to start the plants from seeds in the spring. By this means the plants do not bloom quite so early, but they are more hardy and vigorous, and flower more profusely than those grown from cuttings. Seedling plants are always the most satisfactory for bedding, and the only fault that can be found with them is, that the colors do not always come true from seeds. Preserving Autumn Leaves.—Autumn leaves are used in yarious methods, the most popular being, perhaps, to dry them flatly and carefully, and take great care to preserve their stalks. When thoroughly dry they are varnished, which gives them a pretty gloss and also acts as a preservative to them from all insects and moths. After this they are carefully laid aside for the decoration of the winter dinner table, and may be most safely pre- served in a tin box with a well fitting cover. Grasses added to them are very effective, and when dry they may be dyed. They may be also frosted when dry, by dipping each stalk into a solution of alum and leaying them to dry upright. With the grasses and leaves may be used the dried everlast- ing flowers and the prepared moss, but I must warn my readers that no little taste is needed in their arrangement to avoid the least heaviness of effect. I have found that glass vases and stands are the most effective for their ar- rangement, as the transparency of these increases the wished-for likeness and grace. Another way of using the dried leaves is for the ornamentation of tables, blotting books, or boxes. Old cigar boxes, when painted black, are very favorite articles for decoration, but now we know the value of var- nished unpainted wood, I fancy that many people will prefer the effect of the cigar boxes unpainted, with the unvarnished leayes gummed on, and the box and leaves varnished afterward. If, however, a black ground be especially desired, use ‘‘ Brunswick black” to stain the wood, or “ Brunswick black” and turpentine mixed to make a rich looking brown grounding. Then gum on the leaves in a central group, being careful to cut away all the under parts of the leaves, which will be hidden by others above, as too many thicknesses of leaf will make an uneven gurface, and give an ugly appear- ance to the work when finished. The Tuberose.—Because many farmers’ wives cherish the belief that some wonderful skill attends the cultivation of this plant, they deny them- selves the pleasure of its possession. The bulbs must be lifted before there is any danger from frost, and spread in a warm, sunny place to thoroughly dry. If they become chilled in any way, either before being lifted or during the winter, their value is destroyed. But if kept in a warm closet, they will repay for all the trouble by their spikes of beautifully pure and fragrant blossoms. Tuberoses are reproduced very rapidly. Therefore, after a start has FLORICULTURE. 397 once been made with a collection of bulbs of one, two and three years’ growth, the owner can continue to set the same, and there will be no trouble in having all that are desired. There is no difficulty about the planting and cultivation. They will do well on any soil that will produce a good crop of corn. The soil should be made mellow, so as to be easily worked, and the bulbs set at such distance apart as the extent of surface will allow, and covered with the soil. All the cultivation that is necessary is to keep the soil mellow and free from weeds. If desired for early blooming the bulbs may be set in boxes the latter part of the winter, and kept watered, and in a warm © room. They will then come Ss to flowering earlier than if oC a aw not set in the ground until all danger from frost is past. Let every farmer’s wife and daughter cultivate a few of these plants that so beautify and adorn the home. A Miniature Green House.—This is a conveni- ent and ornamental ap- paratus for growing flower- ing house plants, or for starting cuttings or seeds early in the season that are afterwards to be transplant- ed to open ground. B B is a large earthen vessel or pot, in the center of which, at the bottom, the small pot, A, is inverted. The space G G around this is filled with drainage material. On = the top of this pot a smaller \ one, C, of porous earthen, ————— = and having nate sides, is QQ set, and the space around A MINIATURE GREEN HOUSE. this, D D and E E, is filled with mold and sand in which two circles of plants may be set. The pot, C, is filled with water, which percolates through the porous sides and keeps the mold moist enough for purposes of vegetation. Over all the bell glass, F, is placed. If the bell glass and large pot cannot be obtained conveniently, the same principles can be nearly carried out by constructing a square box of wood and framing panes of glass for the cover. Novel Method of Enriching Plants.—A French writer recommends a novel mode of enriching and promoting the growth, especially of gera- niums. Namely: Watering the plants with a solution of 150 grains of glue in about two gallons of water, 398 THE HOUSHHOLD. A Beautiful Basket Plant.—The finest hanging baskets we have ever seen, have been of single plants of the ivy-leaved geranium. The richness and elegance of the foliage, and the drooping or trailing habit of this plant are qualifications it possesses, rendering it eminently serviceable for baskets and vases. One plant is enough for a basket, but except in rare cases, it will require more time than is afforded the first season to show in its best condition. The plant is easily kept over winter, and the second season, if attention is given by the use of manure-water to sustain it, the growth will be exuberant. There are now so many yarieties of this plant, that one has the opportunity to indulge his taste in selection. There are golden yellow- leaved ones, bronze, green with white margin, and one, L’Elegante, that has its green leaves margined with white that is tinged and streaked with pink. The colors of the flowers are different with each variety; there are scarlet, and crimson, and rose, and pink and white; again, there are single and double flowers. One of the best varieties for a hanging basket, on account of its fine foliage and free growth, is the double-flowered sort, Kcenig Albert, having mauve or purplish lilac-colored flowers. The double flowers last much longer than the single ones, and this adds much to the value of the plant. For large baskets, where the best effect is desired in a short time, several of these plants of different kinds could be used for the margin, with other plants in the center Growing House Plants in Moss.—In one of the Swiss villages nearly all the inhabitants are engaged in watch making. They work in large rooms, which, being abundantly lighted and well warmed, allow the workmen to cultivate plants that, on account of the uncertainty and rigor of the climate, cannot be grown in the open air. The president of one of the local horti- cultural societies in Switzerland gives an account of the great success with which plants are cultivated in moss in these watch factories. One great ad- vantage in the use of moss is the readiness with which plants may be grouped in large vases and boxes. In France a “ fertilized moss ” is sold, but ordinary moss, with occasional application of liquid fertilizers, will answer as well. Ordinary sphagnum, or peat moss, such as is used by florists in packing, may be employed, but the writer prefers the moss which grows in sheets upon rocks, and around the trunks of trees at their base. Wire baskets lined with this moss are used, as are jardinieres of metal, glazed pottery, etc., taking care to provide sufficient drainage. The liquid fer- tilizer used on these house plants should be without unpleasant odor; weak guano water, solutions of nitrate of soda, or sulphate of ammonia may be employed, and very fine flour of bone may be mixed with the moss. Dutch Honeysuckle in the House.— well when the planting is a TTT == TL Wail, done, and they will require | AN I ES SN) watering but once cr twice a =z A = fit MW month. They will need ven- tilation by removing the slid- ing pane or opening the door of the case occasionally, when ,the moisture on the glass seems in excess, 80 as to ob- = scure the glass. Not only ferns and A WARDIAN CASE. mosses, but wintergreens, princess pine, partridge berry, the trailing arbutus, and scores of other pretty wood -plants, can be grown and arranged with rock and shell work, to suit the fancy and please the eye. We are astonished that these cases are not more common in the homes of the people. = Fresh-Blown Flowers in Winter.—Choose some of the most perfect buds of the flowers you wish to preserve, such as are latest in blooming and are ready to open; cut them off with a pair of scissors, leaving to each, if possible, a piece of stem about three inches long; cover the end of the stem immediately with sealing wax, and when the buds are a little shrunk and wrinkled wrap each of them wp separately in a piece of paper, perfectly clean and dry; then lock them up in a dry box or drawer, and they will keep without corrupting. In winter, or at any time, when you would have the flowers blow, take the buds at night and cut off the end of the stem sealed with wax, and put the buds into water wherein a little nitre of salt has been FLORICULTURE. 405 diffused; the next day you will have the pleasure of seeing the buds open and expand themselves, and the flowers display their most lovely colors and breathe their agreeable odors. Parlor Ornament.—.Wo saw, in the parlor of a friend, a very beautiful conceit. Itis, of course, the fancy of a lady, and consists of the burr of a pine tree placed in a wine glass half full or water, and from between the different layers of the burr are shooting forth green blades—pbright, beauti- ful, refreshing. For a little thing, we have seen nothing that so pleased us by its beauty and novelty. And the secretis this: The burr was found dried and open; the different circles were sprinkled with grass-seed, and it was placed in a wine glass with water inas above. Ina few days the moisture and nourishment gaye the burr life and health, the different circles closed and buried within themselves the grass-seed, and a few days more gave to the seed also life, sprout and growth, and now a pyramid of living green, beautifully relieved by the somber hue of the burr, is the result—as pretty and novel a parlor ornament as we have for a long while seen. We do not know whether the idea was original with the lady, but we do know that its success is beautiful. Arranging Bouguets.—The art of arranging bouquets is very simple. Having collected the flowers to be used on a tray, all the superfluous leaves should be stripped from the stems, and by placing the flowers side by side, you can easily see the order m which they can be most advantageously dis- played. A very pretty hand bouquet can be made by taking a small, straight stick, not over a quarter of an inch in diameter, tie a string to the top of it, and begin by fastening on a few delicate flowers, cr one large, handsome one, for the center-piece, winding the string about each stem as you add the flowers and leaves to the bouquet. Always place the flowers with the shortest stems at the top, preserving all those with long stems for the base, and finish off the bouquet with a fringe of finely cut foliage. Then cut all the stems cyenly, wrap damp cotton around them, and cover the stems with a paper cut in pretty lace designs. In making bouquets from garden flowers, such as are most easy to procure, the flowers can be arranged flatly, and a background made from sprays of evergreen. A Cheap Plant Stand.—We made a yery effective plant stand for our front yard last summer in the following manner: A cedar stake, two or three inches in diameter, was driven into the ground so as to stand firmly, and of the required height, a small piece of board nailed across the top, and another piece, a little larger, nailed over this, so as to make a substantial base, and a cheese box nailed to this. Then we filled the box half full by putting in a couple of inches of sand and sphagnum over it. The whole was then covered with pendent lichen, and the box filled with plants in pots, tall ones in the center and smaller one around them, with trailing plants to hang over the sides. It was shaded by trees during the hotter portions of the day, and such plants as gleechoma, alyssum, ivy, etc., succeeded finely by merely pressing a handful of sphagnum around the base of cuttings and pressing them into the spaces between the pots. A Fern Paradise at Home.—It is not only the poor who have to live in gardenless dwellings and look out from sunless windows. The mansions of the rich, und thousands of houses of the well-to-do and of the middle classes are necessarily in great cities placed where the sun cannot exert his 406 THE HOUSEHOLD. charming life-giving influence. Many a window of a grand house looks out upon nothing but brick walls, which tower up high, and blot out the sun’s rays. The occupants of these houses are often bound by the exigencies of business to make their homes for weary months in these shadowy dwelling places. Why then do they not bring the beautiful ferns into requisition ? What exquisite grace would be shed over every room in a house it every available space were occupied by the feathery fronds of those beautiful plants! On tables and side boards, on mantel pieces and on window sills; hanging from window rods, on the landing of the stairs, in the hall, in the bedroom—every- where in fact. We give an illustration of a cane stand lined with zine and filled with ferns and be- gonias, which might be af bought for a dollar or two, 4 and which would not be out =e of place in the most elegant apartment. House Plants.—Contrive some cover over them at sweeping time. This may be, for plants on shelves, a cur- tain of some light material; if on a table, an upright post or stick set ina hole in the mid- dle of the table, to hold up the center ofa spread of some kind; or contrive s0me method of using old news- papers. Let this covering remain until the dust has completely settled. All smooth-leayed plants, espe- cially ivy, camelias, cape jessamine, and the like, should have their leaves washed with a soft sponge— a rag will answer—on both sides, with tepid water, at least once a week. It will be found much less trouble than one would suppose, and the increased beauty of the foliage will lead to its repetition. Rough-leaved plants, such as geraniums, and many others, cannot be washed to advantage. Set these in a bath tub, or ina sink, and give their leaves a good drenching by using a garden syringe or a watering- pot with fine holes, holding it up high so that the water will fall with force upon the leaves. Be sure that the water is not too cold, as it would tend to check the growth. STAND FOR FERNS. FLORICULTURE. 407 To Preserve Scarlet Geraniums through the Winter.—Take them out of the borders in autumn, before they have received any injury from frost, and let this be done ona dry day. Shake off all the earth from their roots, and suspend them, with their heads downward, in a cellar or dark room, where they will be free from frost. The leaves and shoots will be- come yellow and sickly; but when potted about the end of May, and ca hay to a geptle heat, they will recover and vegetate luxuriantly. The old plants, stripped of their leaves, may also be packed closely in sand; and in this way if kept free from frost, they will shoot out from the roots, and may be re- potted in the spring. Manure for Bulbs.—An ounce of nitrate of soda dissolved in four gal- lons of water is a quick and good stimulant for bulbs, to be applied twice a week after the pots are filled with roots, and the flower spikes are fairly-visi- ble. Simple Disinfectant.—The following is a refreshing disinfectant for a sick-room, or any room that has an unpleasant aroma pervading it: Put some fresh ground coffee in a saucer, and in the center place a small piece of camphor gum, which light with a match. As the gum burns allow suffi- cient coffee to consume with it. The pertume is very pleasant and healthful —being far superior to pastiles and very much cheaper. To Protect the Lungs from Dust.—In farm labor one has often to en- counter a hurtful amount of dust. Asimple and cheap protection from such an annoyance is to get a piece of sponge large enough to cover the nostrils and mouth, hollow it out on one side with a pair of scissors, to fit the face, attach a string to each side and tie it on. First wet it well, and squeeze out most of the water. Repeat this whenever the sponge becomes dry. All the dust will be caught in the damp cavities, and it is easily washed out. Fainting.—Fainting is caused by the blocd leaving the brain. Place the patient flat and allow the head to be lower than the body. Sprinkle cold water on the face. Hartshorn may be held near the nose, not to it, A half teaspoonful of aromatic spirits of ammonia, in a wineglassful of water, will tend to revive the patient. Ifthe symptoms recur, send for a physician. Bee Stings.—Take a pinch in the fingers of common salt, put on the place stung and dissolve with water, rub with the finger. If not relieved in one minute wet the place with aqua ammonia. Care should be taken not to get the ammonia into the eye. I have used this remedy for several years and it has never failed with me. It has always arrested the poison and pre- vented swelling. Cramp in the Leg.—A garter applied tightly round the limb affected will, in most cases, speedily remove the complaint. When it is more obsti- nate, a brick should be heated, wrapped in a flannel bag, and placed at the foot of the bed, against which the person troubled may place his feet. No remedy, however, is equal to that of diligent and long-continued friction. Boils.—These should be brought to a head by warm poultices of camo- mile flowers, or boiled white lily root, or onion root by fermentation with hot water, or by stimulating plasters. When ripe they should be destroyed by a needle or lancet; but this should not be attempted until they are fully proved. Pulmonary Complaints.—-When an effusion of blood from the lungs takes place, a prompt and infallible resource might readily be provided, so as to meet the occasion with a safe and decided effect. From twenty to thirty-five drops of the spirits of turpentine in a glass of water will produce THE HOME PHYSICIAN. 457 an instantaneous collapse of the mouth of the blood vessel. Itis also asserted that, in the above case, a tumblerful of strong gin-toddy, or gin and water, will have the same effeet. Tobacco Antidote.—Buy two ounces or more of gentian root, coarsely ground. Take as much of it after each meal, or oftener, as amounts to a common quid of ‘ fine-cut.” Chew it slowly and swallow the juice. Con- tinue this a few weeks, and you will conquer the insatiable appetite for to- baeco, which injures both mind and body, and from which thousands strug- gle to be free, but give up in despair. Ice for Teething Children.—The pain of teething may be almost done away, and the health of the child benefited by giving it fine splinters of ice, picked off with a pin, to melt in its mouth. The instant quiet which suc- ceeds hours of fretfulness is the best witness to this magic remedy. Odor from Perspiration.—The unpleasant odor produced by perspira- tion is frequently the source of vexation to persons who are subject to it. Nothing is simpler than to remove this odor. Put two tablespoonfuls of spirits of ammonia (hartshorn) in a basin of water, and wash. This leaves the skin clean and fresh. The wash is perfectly harmless and very cheap. Swelled Feet and Ankles.—Take plantain leaves (which can be found in almost any grass-plot, and in our public parks); wilt them by putting separately between the hands; cover the swollen parts with them, and keep in place by wrapping the limb with rags or a towel on going to bed at night, or keep them on during the day if not obliged to be upon the feet. A cure will be speedily effected. Acid Stomach.—A little magnesia and water will sometimes correct the acidity of a child’s stomach, and render unnecessary any stronger medicine. Powder a teaspoonful of magnesia, and put it in half a glass of water; it will not dissolve, of course, but will mix with the water so that an infant can swallow it. Give a teaspoonful of this three times a day until indications warrant you in discontinuing it. Diet During Diarrhcea.—Tea without milk, and very little sugar; mutton and chicken broths, or beef tea, thickened with a little flour or arrowroot; boiled rice, tapioca, sago; rice-water or toast-water to drink. If the attack is severe, or of long continuance, the patient must be kept in bed. The feet must be kept warm, and the covering to suit the feelings of the pa- tient. To Prevent Sunstroke.—Sunstroke is prevented by wearing a silk handkerchief in the crown of the hat, or green leaves, or a wet cloth of any kind; but, during an attack, warm water should be instantly poured on the head, or rags dipped in the water and renewed every minute. The reason is two-fold—the scalp is dry and hot, and the warm water not only removes the dryness but carries off the extra heat with great rapidity by evaporation. To Ascertain Fractures.—Fractures of the ribs may be ascertained by placing the tips of two or three fingers on the spot where the pain is, and desiring the patient to cough. Ifa rib be broken, a grating sensation will be felt. All that is necessary is to pass a broad bandage round the chest so tight as to prevent the motion of the ribs in breathing, and to observe a low diet. e 458 THE HOUSEHOLD. Removing Substances from the Ear.—Take a horse-hair about six inches long, and double it so as to make a loop at one end. Introduce this loop as deeply as possible into the auditory canal, and twist it gently around. After one or two turns, according to the originator of the plan, the foreign body is drawn out with the loop. The method is ingenious, and at all events causes little pain, and can do no harm. Deficiency of Wax in the Ear.—Deafness is sometimes the conse- quence of a morbidly dry state of the inner passages of the ear. In such cases, introduce a bit of cotton wool dipped in an equal mixture of oil of turpentine and oil of almonds, or in the liniment of carbonate of am- monia, Snake Bites.—Turpentine is said to be a sure cure for a bite of a snake. It should be put in a bottle, and the mouth being placed over the spot, the liquid brought directly in contact with the wound by inverting the bottle, which should be held there until relief is obtained. A complete alleviation of pain has been known to ensue in less than a quarter of an hour. An im- portant discovery. Sore Eyes.—Get the roots of linwood (some call it bass-wood), wash and scrape the outer bark clean, then scrape the inner bark very fine, filling a tumbler about one-third full. Then fill the tumbler nearly full of rain-water. Tt will, in a little while, thicken like jelly. Now take a thin, soft cloth, the thinner the better, put some of the mucilage between two pieces and place it upon the eyes. It is very soothing. Laxatives.—Infusions of Epsom salts and senna are often taken as laxa- tives, or opening medicines. It is a well known fact that a teaspoonful of salts in a tumbler of cold water, if drunk before breakfast, is as effectual a dose as the usual ounce. Senna, too, if steeped in cold water, is equally efficacious, and free from the nauseous bitter taste which it has when in- fused in boiling water. To Prevent Gray Hair.—To check premature grayness, the head should be well brushed morning and night, with a brush hard enough to irritate the skin somewhat. The bristles should be far enough apart to brush through the hair, as it were, rather than over it. Oil, rather than pomade, should be used. Common sweet oil, scented with bergamot, can be recommended. Cholera Infantum.—For cholera infantum, the whites of two eggs, well beaten; then mix with water; add one teaspoonful of orange flower water and a little sugar; a tablespoonful every hour. It will, says an authority, cure the worst case of cholera infantum, the egg coating the bowels. Treatment for Fever.—If the patient has a burning fever, take an earthen wash-bowl, fill two-thirds full of tepid water, in which put one tablespoonful of common baking soda; then bathe the face, body, and limbs freely with it and wipe dry. This treatment for fever was learned from one of our best physicians. Blood Blister.—When a finger is bruised so as to cause a blood-blister under the nail, it should immediately be drilled with a knife or other sharp- pointed instrument, and the blood allowed to escape. This affords instant relief to an injury which may otherwise become exceedingly painful. THE HOME PHYSICIAN. 459 A Vapor Bath.—A vapor bath may easily be prepared at home. Place a pail of hot water under a cane-bottomed chair, or if you have not one, put x narrow piece of board across the pail; on this the patient should sit for half an hour, covered by a blanket reaching to the floor, so as to keep in the steam. Ventilation.—The best way to admit pure air in the night (where win- dows are the only mode of ventilation) is to open the sleeping-room into a hall where there is an open window in order to avoid the draught. A win- dow with a small opening at the top and bottom ventilates more than one with one opening only. A Cheap and Simple Way to Disinfect a Room.—Heat a common iron fire-shovel hot, but not quite red hot, and pour an ounce of carbolic acid fluid on it. The fumes will penetrate the room everywhere and cleanse the air of its impurities. This should be repeated daily so long as it is necessary. Deafness.—Put a tablespoonful of bay-salt into nearly half a pint of cold spring water; and after it has steeped therein for twenty-four hours, now and then shaking the phial, pour a small teaspoonful in the ear most affected, nightly, when in bed, for seven or eight successive nights. Tetter.—Procure some strawberry leaves, and lay the outside, or woolly side of the leaf on the parts affected. They must be laid on very thick, and be changed occasionally. They will draw out inflammation, and cure the disease. Stiff Neck.—Apply over the place affected a piece of black oil-cloth with the right side to the skin, then tie up the neck with a thick handkerchief. In a short time the part will grow moist, and, by leaving thus twelve hours, the pain will be removed. Food for a Young Child.—If a very young child has to be fed, take the top crust of good, sweet home-made bread; soak it in cold water half an hour, and then boil twenty minutes; cover tight; then beat with a fork until smooth and sweet. This will agree with the stomach better than anything else. Piles.—The ingredients are: Two tablespoonfuls of tar, eight tablespoon- fuls of lard, not heaped. First wash the parts effected with castile soap and water, and then apply the ointment. The ointment should be used once or twice each day. Cramp, in Bathing.—For the cure of the cramp when swimming, Dr. Franklin recommends a vigorous and violent shock to the part affected, by suddenly and forcibly stretching out the leg, which should be darted out of the water into the air if possible. Spasms.—To cure this distressing form of malady, take two pennyworth of camphor, and infuse it in one pint of brandy. Let it stand forty-eight hours, and then it is fit for use. When the attack comes on, take one tea- spoonful in a wineglass of water. Gum-Boil, or Weakness of ‘the Gums.—Take of acetate of morphia, two grains; tincture of myrrh, six drachms; tincture of krameria, one ounce; spirits of lavender, three ounces and a half. Let a lotion be made. 460 THE HOUSEHOLD. Choking.—To prevent choking, break an egg into a cup and give it to the person choking, to swallow. The white of the egg seems to catch around the obstacle and remove it. If one egg does not answer the purpose, try an- other. The white is all that is necessary. Serofulous Sore Eyes.—Take blue violets, which are growing wild in most places, dig them up, top and root, wash clean, dry them and make a tea; drink several times a day, wetting the eyes each time, and it will soon cure. Weak Ankles.—Bathing them in wine-lees will strengthen them; fre- quent bathing in salt and water—four ounces of salt to one quart of water— is also beneficial. Skating moderately indulged in, will be attended by good results. Hot Milk as a Stimulant.—Tf any one is fatigued, the best restorative is hot milk, a tumbler of the beverage as hot as can be sipped. ‘This is far more of a restorative than any alcoholic drink. Cold Feet.—Cold feet are the precursors of consumption. To escape them, warm your feet well in the morning, and covering the sole with a piece of common paper, carefully draw on the sock, and then the boot or shoe, Drink in Cases of Fever.—There is no more refreshing drink in cases of fever than weak green tea, with lemon juice added instead of milk. It may be taken either cold or hot, but the latter is preferable. Frozen Limbs..—Dissolve from one quarter to half a pound of alum in a gallon of warm water, and immerse the feet or hands in it when frozen, for ten or fifteen minutes, and a cure will be effected. Foreign Bodies in the Throat.—‘ Foreign bodies lodged in the throat can be removed,” says Dr. Beveridge, a British naval surgeon, ‘‘ by forcibly blowing into the ear.” The plan is so easily tried and so harmless that we suggest its use. Hiccough.—Hiccough effects some persons very persistently, and where a simpler remedy does not check it, a half teaspoonful of nitre in a half tumbler of water is recommended as an instantaneous remedy. Cankers.—Those whitish-looking specks which appear on the inside of the cheeks and lips, may be easily removed by touching them with burnt alum. Enlarged Neck.—To cure enlarged neck, take two tablespoonfuls of salt, two of borax and two of alum, dissolve in two of water and apply three times a day for three weeks. A Prompt Emetic.—The ingredients are: Tartar emetic, one grain; powdered ipecac, twenty grains. Take the above in a wineglassful of sweetened water. Swelled Feet.—For swelled feet a good remedy will be found in bathing them in vinegar and water. THE TOILET. Tooth Powder.—(1) Dissolve two ounces of borax in three pints of boiling water, and before it is cold, add one teaspoonful of the spirits of camphor, and bottle for use. A tablespoonful of this mixture, mixed with an equal quantity of tepid water, and applied daily with a soft brush, pre- serves and beautifies the teeth, extirpates all tartarous adhesion, arrests decay, induces healthy action of the gums, and makes the teeth pearly white. (2) The dark colored substance which collects on neglected teeth cannot be removed with a brush and water. Pulverized charcoal will take it off, but this scratches the enamel and leads to decay of the tooth. A better sub- stance is pumice stone in powder. Dip a pine stick intoit, and scour the teeth. After this treatment the daily use of the tooth brush and tepid water will be sufficient. (3) A good way to clean teeth is to dip the brush in water, rub it over genuine white castile soap, then dip itin prepared chalk. A lady says: ‘I have been complimented upon the whiteness of my teeth, which were origi- nally anything but white. I have used the soap constantly for two or three years, and the chalk for the last year. There is no danger of scratching the teeth, as the chalk is prepared, but with a good stiff brush and the soap, is as effectual as soap and sand on a floor. (4) Mix six ounces of the tincture of Peruvian bark with half an ounce of sal-ammoniac. Shake it well before using. Take a spoonful and hold it near the teeth; then with a finger dipped into it, rub the gums and teeth, which must afterward be washed with warm water. This tincture cures the tooth- ache, preserves the teeth and gums, and makes them adhere to each other. (5) Prepared chalk, one pound; camphor, one or two drachms. The camphor must be finely powdered, by moistening it with a little spirits of wine, and then intimately mixed with the chalk. (6) Ingredients: Powdered charcoal, four ounces; powdered yellow bark, two ounces; powdered myrrh, one ounce; orris root, half an ounce. (7) Ten cents’ worth ground chalk, five cents’ worth orris root, five cents’ worth myrrh, one teaspoonful powdered castile soap, Mix all well together. (8) A mixture of honey with the purest charcoal will prove an admirable cleanser. Freckles.--(1) Freckles are easily removed by the following treatment, but the directions must be followed regularly: Five grains corrosive sub- fimate, two ounces alcohol, four ounces water. Apply two or three times during the day. At night use the following ointment: One ounce of white wax, one teacupful of nice white lard, lump of camphor the size of a chest- nut, one teaspoonful glycerine. Put the wax and camphor in a tin to melt, crumbling the camphor; when melted, add the other ingredients. Stir thoreughly, and pour into molds which haye been dipped in water. 462 ' THE HOUSEHOLD. This recipe will be found to remove pimples as well as tan and freckles. (2) A good freckle lotion for the cure of freckles, tan, or sun-burned face or hands is made thus: Take half a pound of clear ox-gall, half a drachm each of camphor and burned alum, one drachm of borax, two ounces of rock salt, and the same of rock candy. This should be mixed and shaken well several times a day for three weeks, until the gall becomes trans- parent; then strain it very carefully through filtering paper, which may be had of the druggist. Apply to the face during the day, and wash off at night. (3) Wash in fresh buttermilk every morning, and rinse the face in tepid water; then use a soft towel. Freckles may also be removed by applying to the face a solution of nitre and water. Another good wash for freckles is made by dissolving three grains of borax in five drachms each of rose water and orange flower water. There are many remedies for freckles, but there is none that will banish them entirely. (4) Take one ounce of lemon juice, a quarter of a drachm of powdered borax, and half a drachm of sugar. Mix and let them stand in a glass bottle for a few days, then rub it on the face and hands night and morning. Two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice would equal an ounce. (5) Rectified spirits of wine, one ounce; water, eight ounces; half an ounce of orange flower water, or one ounce of rose water; diluted muriatic acid, a teaspoonful. Mix. To be used after washing. (6) Take grated horseradish and put in very sour milk. Let it stand four hours; then wash the face night and morning. To Prevent the Hair Falling Off.—(1) When the hair, after being naturally luxuriant, begins to grow thin, without actually coming out in par- ticles, use the following receipt: Take of extract of yellow Peruvian bark, fifteen grains; extract of rhatany root, eight grains; extract of burdock root = and oil of nutmegs (mixed), of each, two drachms; camphor dissolved with spirits of wine, fifteen grains; heef marrow, two ounces; best olive oil, one ounce; citron juice, half a drachm; aromatic essential oil, a8 much as is suf- ficient to render it fragrant; mix, and make into an ointment. Two drachms of bergamot and a few drops of attar of roses would suffice. This is to be used every morning. (2) Onions must be rubbed frequently on the part. The stimulating powers of this vegetable are of essential service in restoring the tone of the skin, and assisting the capillary vessels in sending forth new hair; but it is not infallible. Should it succeed, however, the growth of these new hairs may be assisted by the oil of myrtleberries, the repute of which, perhaps, is greater than its real efficiency. These applications are cheap and harmless, eyen where they dono good; a character which cannot be said of the numer- ous quack remedies that meet the eye in every direction. (3) To prevent hair from falling out or turning gray, take a teacupful of dried sage, and boil it in a quart of soft water for twenty minutes. Strain it off and add a piece of borax the size of an English walnut; pulverize the borax, Put the sage tea, when cool, into a quart bottle; add the borax; shake well together, and keep ina cool place. Brush the hair thoroughly and rub the wash well on the head with the hand. Then, after a good hard rubbing, brush the hair well before the fire so it will become dry. (4) Put equal quantities of rum and sweet oi] into a bottle, and, before using, shake them well together. This mixture should be applied with a THE TOILET. 463 soft brush to the roots of the hair every night; it should be tried for a month at the least, before any improvement can be expected. (5) Put one pound of unadulterated honey into a still, with three hand- fuls of the tendrils of vine and the same quantity of rosemary tops. Distill as cool and as slowly as possible. The liquor may be allowed to drop till it tastes sour. (6) To prevent the hair from falling out apply once a week a wash made of one quart of boiling water, one ounce of pulverized borax and half an ounce of powdered camphor. Rub on with a sponge or a piece of flannel. (7) Take a piece of saltpetre the size of a hickory nut, and put in a quart of water, and wet the head daily. To Soften the Hands.—(1) To soften the hands, fill a wash-basin half full of fine, white sand and soap suds as hot as can be borne. Wash the hands in this five minutes at the time, washing and rubbing them in the sand. The best is the flint sand, or the white, powdered quartz sold for filters. It may be used repeatedly by pouring the water away after each washing, and adding fresh to keep it from blowing about. Rinse in warm lather of fine soap, and, after drying, rub them with dry bran or cornmeal. Dust them, and finish with rubbing cold cream well into the skin. This effectually removes the roughness caused by housework, and should be used every day, first removing ink or vegetable stains with acid. (2) Soap is an indispensable article for cleansing hands, but it often leaves the skin rough; cracks on the hands come, and soap is often unpleas- ant. Use honey, rub it on when the skin is dry; moisten a little, rub harder, use a little more water; finally wash thoroughly and your hands will be as clean as though the strongest soap were used, and no cracks or roughness will annoy you. (3) Keep a dish of Indian meal on the toilet stand near the soap, and rub dhe meal freely on the hands after soaping them for washing. It will sur- prise you, if you have not tried it, to find how it will cleanse and soften the skin, and prevent chapping. (4) Before retiring take a large pair of gloves and spread mutton tallow inside, also all over the hands. Wear the gloves all night, and wash the hands with olive oil and white castile soap the next morning. (5) After cleansing the hands with soap, rub them well with oatmeal while still wet. Honey is also very good, used in the same way as lemon- juice, well rubbed in at night. To Whiten the Hands.—(1) Keep some oatmeal on the washstand, and, as often as the hands are washed, rub a little oatmeal over them; then rinse it off, and, when dry, put ona little bit of pomade, made as follows: Take about five cents’ worth each of white wax, spermaceti, and powdered camphor, and olive oil enough to make it the thickness of soap; put it-in a gallipot, and let it stand in an oven to melt; mix it up, and, when cold, it will be found yery good for the hands. Gloves, worn either in the day or night, will help to keep the hands white. (2) A eake of brown Windsor soap scraped into thin flakes, and then mixed with a tablespoonful of eau de cologne, and a tablespoonful of lemon juice, is said to make a useful preparation for this purpose. There is nothing injurious to the skin in the composition. When the soap has been thoroughly blended with the lemon juice and eau de cologne, it should be pressed into a mold—one made of cardboard in the form of a small 464 THE HOUSEHOLD. box, the size of a cake of soap, will answer the purpose—and allowed to dry before it is used. (3) Half an ounce of white wax, half an ounce of spermaceti, quarter of an ounce of powdered camphor. Mix them with as much olive oil as will form them into a very stiff paste, and use as often as you wash your hands. (4) Mixtures of two parts of glycerine, one part ammonia, and a little rose water whiten and soften the hands. Pimples.—(1) It requires self-denial to get rid of pimples, for persons troubled with them will persist in eating fat meats and other articles of food calculated to produce them. Avoid the use of rich gravies, or pastry, or anything of the kind in excess. Take all the out-door exercise you can and never indulge in a late supper. Retire at a reasonable hour, and rise early inthe morning. Sulphur to purify the blood may be taken three times a week—a thimbleful in a glass of milk before breakfast. It takes some time for the sulphur to do its work, therefore persevere in its use till the hu- mors, or pimples, or blotches, disappear. Avoid getting wet while taking the sulphur. (2) Try this recipe: Wash the face twice a day in warm water, and rub dry with a coarse towel. Then with a soft towel rub in a lotion made of two ounces of white brandy, one ounce of cologne, and one half ounce of liquor potassa. Persons subject to skin eruptions should avoid very salt or fat food. A dose of Epsom salts occasionally might prove beneficial. (3) Wash the face in a dilution of carbolic acid, allowing one teaspoonful toa pint of water. This is an excellent and purifying lotion, and may be used on the most delicate skins. Be careful about letting this wash get into the eyes. (4) Oil of sweet almonds, one ounce; fluid potash, one drachm. Shake well together, and then add rose water, one ounce; pure water, six ounces. Mix. Rub the pimples or blotches for some minutes with a rough towel,” and then dab them with the lotion. (5) Dissolve one ounce of borax, and sponge the face with it every night. When there are insects, rub on flour of sulphur, dry, after washing, rub well and wipe dry; use plenty of castile soap. (6) Dilute corrosive sublimate with oilof almonds.